Letters to the Editor

Face The Issue

Dear Editor,

I’m writing to express my deep concern and even horror about the growing trend in your newspaper’s advertisements. It has become more common that women’s pictures are deliberately removed or excluded alongside photos of males in the cases of dinner honorees, speakers at lectures, presenters at Pesach programs, and even, shockingly, replaced with the image of a flame in the case of a deceased woman. I love your paper and read it weekly, and each week I see more and more ads like this and cringe each time.

This growing trend is an embarrassment to frum Yiddishkeit. Since when did showing the face of a Jewish woman become immodest? Since when did acknowledging a dignified woman in public become something to erase? We are not the Taliban. If these organizations don’t feel that pictures contribute anything positive, then leave out the men’s pictures as well.

When ads for a girls’ school dinner list the parents as “Mr. and Mrs. Husband Name” with just a picture of the father, what message does that send? If frum women are systematically absent from public view, what are we teaching our sons and daughters? How are young men and women supposed to date and build healthy relationships with this message? Should they date from behind closed doors because girls cannot be seen? How will our children view their mothers, teachers, and rebbetzins if the message is their presence is inappropriate?

We are treading a fine line, and the direction in which this trend is heading is deeply troubling—indeed, potentially dangerous. Erasing women from ads does not uphold modesty; it distorts and misrepresents it. This was not an issue 20 years ago. Have we truly become so much frumer than our parents and grandparents, or are we redefining values in ways that undermine them?

I understand that the newspaper may not be initiating these ads. However, by agreeing to run them, and benefiting financially from them, the paper becomes complicit in normalizing this standard. Just as I am certain you would refuse to run an explicit or inappropriate ad regardless of the revenue offered, I urge you to view this issue with similar seriousness. Financial considerations should not outweigh communal responsibility.

I strongly request that you adopt a policy of refusing to publish ads that deliberately erase women. What may seem incremental is becoming mainstream, and if we do not draw a line now, we risk redefining normal in a way that does not reflect the values of Torah.

Thank you for your consideration,

Leba F.

Invisible Neighbor

Dear Editor,

I am your invisible neighbor. I might live next door to you or around the corner from you. But I’m here. My husband was niftar three years ago and I often wonder what happened to all the friends with whom we shared simchas and life events. Where are all the chavrusas my husband learned with, all the people who sat around our table? All the rabbis and rebbetzins who don’t call to check up on women who don’t go to shul anymore, where are you? The pain and loneliness of a widow’s life is painful. Where is the chesed? A phone call, a bouquet of flowers, a box of chocolates, or just a smile would do wonders to know that others are here for us.

A Freilichen Purim,

A Lonely Widow

Negotiations With Terrorists

Dear Editor,

Many Americans and Westerners believe that Islamic extremism can be negotiated with. However, when an ideology teaches that a better place awaits after death regardless of earthly consequences, it creates a dangerous dynamic—one in which traditional deterrence may not apply in the same way, because fear of death is diminished.

During World War II, Japan employed kamikaze (“divine wind”) attacks, sending pilots—often flying Mitsubishi A6M Zero aircraft—on deliberate suicide missions against American naval vessels. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which caused massive casualties—estimated between 150,000 and 246,000 deaths—ultimately played a pivotal role in forcing Japan’s surrender.

Today, Iran’s ruling regime projects what many view as an even more rigid extremist posture, though it is important to recognize that many Iranian citizens themselves appear to seek meaningful change.

Reuven Guttman

Lawrence, NY

Fly With Me

Dear Editor,

I was appalled by your Heard in the Bagel Store column (“Fly with Me,” page 4), essentially making light of the hundreds of thousands of people who died from Covid-19 (including my own parents), joking about gaming the system, buying negative testing cards, and suggesting that masking and other precautions that people were asked to take while flying were nonsense. The government’s response to this novel virus was not always perfect, and there was a lot of learning as you go, but I can assure you that thousands of people with no comorbid conditions also died, many suffered and continued to suffer with long Covid, including many young people, and so making jokes about pretending you got a booster, buying negative testing cards, and suggesting that Dr. Fauci, an honorable, lifelong public servant, profited from his service, is incredibly offensive. He had a book deal after the pandemic, earned money from speaking engagements, and is an honorable public servant. He did not cut profit from Covid.

Contrast his lifelong service in public health to the billions of dollars of grift on record to President Trump.

Anonymous

Covid Vaccine

Dear Editor,

I’m sorry to hear that you were sick for 16 hours after you received the Covid vaccine. I too was temporarily ill for 24 hours. However, I would never reject it because I have family members who are immunocompromised and Covid could be a death sentence for them. I also have two friends who have recently had chemo. B’H, they are doing well. However, they too are severely compromised. I think a day or two of discomfort is a small price to pay to protect the greater kahal. I’m happy for you that all your friends and acquaintances are healthy, but do you really know that? Many people do not disclose their private health issues. I think we owe it to all Am Yisrael to be protected.

Thank you for your consideration,

Sharon Senderowicz

Bringing the Geula

Dear Editor,

When it comes to world events, many people like to feel that they’re in the driver’s seat, Yet, according to the Rambam at the beginning of Hilchos Taanis, what happens in Iran and Eretz Yisrael is far more dependent on our teshuvah (repentance) than on the decisions made in D.C., Tehran, or anywhere else.

As we witness a crescendo of Heavenly wakeup calls in the news every day, these current events have many thinking about what we can do to expedite the geulah (Final Redemption). I humbly submit that countering the multitude of Amalekite influences is one place to start.

And what was Amalek all about? In short, rebellion against Hashem. Contemporary examples of this include making a shitah out of rishus, which is the legalization or social acceptance of iniquity.

Why is our opposition to Amalek’s rebellion so crucial now? Because, according to the Chofetz Chaim, those who rebel against Hashem will not merit the Geulah. We should not support even passively those who rebel against Hashem, no matter how powerful or popular they may appear.

Many are unaware of the ongoing crisis of Israeli girls being drafted into the IDF. Like very few countries in the world, Israel drafts girls into the Army despite the corrosive, exploitative, and immoral environment endemic in a male-dominated military. Girls deemed to be “religious” by the Army establishment are entitled to an automatic religious exemption, but the saintly Brisker Rov, zt’l, was even more opposed to nonobservant girls being drafted into the IDF than Torah-observant girls because the Chiloni and even some Masorti girls would generally fall further and faster in a military environment.

As we approach Purim, when we were saved in the merit of righteous women, we should consider the repercussions of allowing the drafting of Jewish girls, the next generation of Jewish mothers, into the Israeli military, a clear violation of halacha according to all Torah authorities across the Orthodox spectrum. Also consider the tremendous reward that is in store for those who help save such girls (regardless of their level of observance) from being drafted.

For more information, contact us at [email protected] and may we be saved in the merit of our righteous women.

Good Shabbos,

Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter

Executive Director

Help Rescue Our Children

Monsey, NY