Dear Editor,
While the 5TJT has endorsed the president, I don’t believe that you have made the critical case for why all Jews should be voting to reelect Donald Trump. This past weekend, Jewish Americans, exercising their First Amendment rights for free speech and showing their support for the president, were attacked by thugs on the left who have been emboldened by Democrat leaders who stated that violence is acceptable. The attack included Jewish children being hurt. From Hillary Clinton’s statement, “You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you are all about” to the silence emanating from the Biden campaign on BLM and Antifa, endorsement of thuggery continues with Harris and her minions providing bail for those who have violated our laws and created chaos in our cities. America is not a third-world country. Civility is the name of the game if you want to debate ideas.
For those Jews who put the “social justice” cause above all, including the survival of the State of Israel, or, for that matter, Judaism as a religion, wake up! They’re coming for us whether you are religious or not. When Jews were marched to the Nazi extermination camps, no one took a census as to what their level of observance was. Robert Reich just stated in a tweet on October 7, 2020, “When this nightmare is over, we need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It would erase Trump’s lies, comfort those who have been harmed by his hatefulness, and name every official, politician, executive, and media mogul whose greed and cowardice enabled this catastrophe.” How frightening is that?
Jews who are voting for Biden have no sense of history, being neither familiar with the run-up to the Bolshevik Revolution, nor events leading to the rise of Nazism and Hitler’s “Final Solution.” Since my relatives were involved in both tragedies, I feel called upon to elucidate this travesty. My husband’s great-grandmother watched her entire family being dragged out of the house by the Bolsheviks and shot. She only survived because her father fell on her to protect her. So much for social justice. The Bolsheviks instituted Communism where everyone was equal, but some were more equal than others (George Orwell, Animal Farm). Those in charge believed that the rules governing others didn’t apply to them, like Bernie Sanders who says bread lines are a good thing, but still has three homes!
My mother and grandmother were rounded up by the Nazis for being Jewish and sent to the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen. They were both rescued because the U.S. military fought to free Europe from fascism. Now young punks don black outfits and call themselves “Antifa.” In this upside-down Alice-in-Wonderland world, they consider themselves fighting fascism when they themselves are the fascists. My father was in the infantry and fought across Europe for an ideal — freedom to choose the direction his life will take. No one who was fighting believed the U.S. was a racist country — not the Jews, the Blacks, the Asians, or the Hispanics. We were evolving. When I grew up in the 1950s there were signs up that said “No Jews, No Negroes, No Dogs” on exclusive beach clubs and hotels. We have come a long way since then, and for Joe Biden to say that we are deeply racist is an insult to everyone because of civil rights legislation that Biden’s KKK buddies in the Democrat party tried to block. (President Johnson was only able to pass civil rights legislation with Republican votes.)
Donald Trump is on the side of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He is guaranteeing freedom of speech on college campuses where conservative voices against BDS have been drowned out, and freedom of religion is curtailed by Democratic mayors and governors who attempt to stifle religious gatherings while allowing violent protests that are labeled “peaceful” all in the name of containing coronavirus. Big tech and most of the media have banded together to try to stifle information regarding the fact that more than 99% of the children can go back to school safely. While there is a rise in cases worldwide, the U.S. is in the forefront thanks to President Trump who provided unprecedented assistance in fighting the pandemic with PPE, ventilators, and building hospitals with staff that were not used by Governor Cuomo. He has also delivered on getting therapeutics that make having the disease survivable. Have you heard that Dr. Fauci’s 96-year-old mother survived the disease?
My last appeal to the Jews who are not voting for Trump is to remember what occurred the month of Kislev 2019. There were attacks on Jews almost daily in New York. Did the governor or the mayor do anything except offer hollow words? Did the House of Representatives censure Ilhan Omar for her diatribes against Jews? Local communities held “walks against fear” and the “need for unity.” No marches for antisemitism because, obviously, the Jews had no greater discrimination than anyone else, or so we were told! I believe we as a people are asleep at the wheel!
My only hope is that there are enough Americans who can change the outcome of the election so that our freedoms will remain intact, especially speech and religious liberty. In Judaism, G-d’s blessings are channeled through the priestly caste; still, our sages taught (Megillah, 15a) “Never let the blessing of a common person be insignificant in your eyes.” How much more so should we all take note of the recent phenomenon of tens of thousands of common folks (deplorables?) shouting in unison to President Trump in Allentown, Pa., “G-d bless you!”
Jan Henock
Woodmere
