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Smoking honestly

In your issue of September 13, your story on page 3 about honest customers in Tel Aviv manning an all-night grocery store that was found on a recent Friday night without any staff reminds me of this famous anecdote from prewar Europe.

An Orthodox rabbi once met a non-observant Jew smoking on Shabbat.

The Rov said, “Surely, my son, you must have forgotten that today is the holy Sabbath.” The man answered, “No, rabbi, I am aware of the day.” The Rov continued, “Surely you must be unaware that smoking is considered a transgression on the Sabbath.”

The man responded, “No, rabbi, I am aware of the prohibition too.”

Without missing a beat, the rabbi turned his face to the sky and exclaimed, “Master of the universe, see how honest your children are.”

Abraham Weintraub
Fair Lawn

In defense of Donald Trump

After reading your anti-Trump screed in the Opinion section (Growing up Trumpish), I was quite disturbed. While we can agree that Donald Trump is a flawed candidate who inflicts a lot of unnecessary wounds on himself, you failed to list a single reason to vote for the Democratic candidate beyond that she, “ has already indicated her continuing support (for Israel).”

Kamala Harris says a lot of things, typically in a “word salad” style, but she is incompetent. Tasked with solving our border crisis, she never came within a hundred miles. In an interview with Lester Holt of NBC, she lied and said, “We went to the border (and) I was never in Europe either.” both lies.

Kamala changes her position to fit her situation. Iin the 2020 race, she told reporters that she would ban fracking, in favor of a one payer healthcare system, in favor of government funded “trans” surgery for illegal aliens, but now she favors all these positions. Has she ever offered a reason for the change of heart? To paraphrase Bernie Sanders, she is only saying whatever she needs to say in order to get elected.

Regarding the author’s claims about Trump’s remarks on the Charlottesville riots, she knew she was lying when she selectively quoted Trump as saying “there were good people on both sides.” This was debunked by every major media outlet; Trump was referring to the people who were arguing over the removal of Confederate statues. Why did your paper reprint that lie?

Regarding Israel, the Abraham Accords were an unmatched accomplishment in Middle Eastern politics, and you say he was “involved”. It was only through his direct influence that this became a reality. And yes, while five presidents before him promised to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, only Trump actually did it.

Please tell me one accomplishment of the current vice president? As a prosecutor she sent hundreds, to prison for marijuana possession. As a senator she authored no single piece of legislation. Her solution to supermarket prices? Price controls. High mortgage rates? $25,000 taxpayer money awards. How does that help people who can’t pay their mortgages? Child care? A $6000 tax credit (up from the current $3000). She does not even understand basic economic theory because she has strong socialist leanings, and was voted the most liberal member of the senate during her tenure. She is not up to the job.

What is Kamala’s record on Israel? In 2020 Harris pressured the House to advance the “No War Against Iran Act”. This year, the Biden/Harris administration, in violation of the law, held up critical arms shipments authorized by Congress to Israel. When Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed a joint session of congress, Kamala was visiting a sorority.

If you didn’t care for, Antony Blinken, don’t worry, according to the Wall Street Journal he will be replaced by Phil Gordon (now under congressional investigation) who worked with the National Iranian Council, a pro-Iranian lobby group. Kamala will have a new Director of National Intelligence, Maher, Bitar, the former leader of a pro-Hamas organization at Georgetown, Students for Justice in Palestine. Do you think that will make a difference in how a Harris administration will view Israel? Harris has also expressed a willingness to review the Israel-American relationship. She is the favored candidate of Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran, North Korea, Ilhan Omar, AOC, and many other anti-semites.

Ms. Harris is an empty suit who has no grasp of any issues affecting average Americans, and has articulated no vision for the country beyond her scripted memorized platitudes, and is without any record of accomplishment whatsoever. Her supporters ignore this. This past Saturday, when asked directly by a Philadelphia TV reporter for “one or two things” she would do to make life better for Americans, Ms. Harris repeated the very response she gave to a debate question earlier in the week, and refused to answer the question.

The author’s criticism about how bad President Trump is; how immoral, deceitful, and devoid of Jewish values makes no sense. Criticism such as this is precisely why there was a second attempt against the life of Donald Trump just this past weekend. We can have differing opinions without being accused of being evil. You should stop the personal attacks against the man who kept this country out of war, who eliminated ISIS in one week, who gave us the largest tax cuts in history, who kept inflation down, and who put money in the pockets of every American. The question is: Are you better off today than you were four years ago? Is the world?

I think the author knows the answer, but prefers cognitive dissonance over truth.

Steven Starkman
Englewood

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