Strong moral compass
Regarding “Trumpeting their views” (Sept. 7), you have not missed your calling, Gabe Kahn. A “window cleaner” you are not, but consider that you are a human being and editor who is committed to clearing readers of their blind spots.
I was an avid follower of Andrew Silow-Carroll and could not imagine any replacement with his intellect, moral compass, and eloquence.
Your Garden State of Mind revealed who you are: an editor and a Jew with a strong moral compass. NJJN is fortunate to have you.
Arlene Chasek
New Providence
Gabe Kahn agreed that hysterical media critics, such as himself, aren’t satisfied with the speed or timing of the president’s condemnation of evil-doers. The saying goes, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” It says nothing about timing.
Trump is a good man who speaks out against all violence, on both sides, as should Kahn. I didn’t hear an equivalence being made over their motives.
Kahn sees anti-Semitism in all things. When he misses a train — did the train hate Jews? His attitude makes us all look like the whiney Woody Allens and maybe most of us are. I’d rather not be looked at that way.
I agree with the sentiment that I am special and I want my president to address the wrongs against me but he has to deal with hurricanes, dictators, Congress, and the Middle East. He has a lot on his plate and shouldn’t have to deal with Kahn’s near-hysterical paranoia, too.
Dr. Alan Meyerberg
Morganville
I agree with Gabe Kahn’s column about President Trump’s weak response to Charlottesville, “White supremacists emboldened by the president” (Aug. 24), but that isn’t why I’m writing. Kahn seemed surprised at the vehemence of readers’ responses and that is what I want to address. We are an incredibly polarized country, often described now as “tribal.” We are split between Trump supporters and antagonists, and the views of each tribe do not lend themselves to rational debate. You responded to many of the comments you received as if logical argument would prove your point. As candidate Trump said, he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and his supporters wouldn’t care. Therefore, as they say in Talmudic study, how much more so is it unlikely that anything you write will persuade one of his supporters that your criticism was well founded?
Peter Lewin
Via njjewishnews.com
I was born in 1940, ergo I was not aware of the Holocaust that descended upon our people during my lifetime. I have read the history that led to the persecution of the Jews in a very “well-educated” Germany. Unfortunately, I am seeing terrible parallels today in the United States of America.
We have elected a president, just as the Germans did in the 1930s, in a fit of nationalism and our president has defined his scapegoats just as the German chancellor did. Somehow the Jews always become the target of that nationalistic fervor.
When I read about the synagogue in Charlottesville, Va., being marched upon by neo-Nazis shouting “Burn the temple” while carrying torches and forcing Jews to exit a rear door carrying the Torahs for protection, I realized that this nation is on the same road as Germany was.
Some of my brethren are apparently oblivious to that fact. To those readers who have expressed their disdain for your analysis and writing, I would suggest that you advise them to stash their current reading material “How to Grope Women for Dummies” by Donald Trump and get their passports ready in order to be welcomed aboard the “Ship of Fools.” After all, this group of Nazis and David Duke followers in the KKK, whom the president has designated as having some “fine” people, is only a “passing fad” and will soon pass, so not to worry!
Joel F. Braverman
Long Branch
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