Opinion

The Simon Wiesenthal Center sponsors the Museum of Tolerance on East 42^nd Street in New York City. The museum is dedicated to teaching the importance of tolerance – that is, the evils of bigotry against all races, religions, and ethnic groups. I have never visited the museum, but it has a fine reputation for living up to its mission.

I wonder if you will ever get to see a poll conducted by the media with the following questions:

Do you think Putin would have attacked Ukraine if Trump were president?

I recently spent quite a bit of time in the hospital. Baruch Hashem, to date, I have responded well to all my treatments. During my stays, I had white gentile, Korean, Chinese, and, of course, Jewish roommates. Some were more interesting and conversant than others.

I did not know Rav Chaim Kanievsky. I never had the privilege of visiting him or consulting him on any matter. I do not recall hearing a drashah or inspirational speech from him. I read very little of his writings. Yet, like perhaps millions of Jews in Israel and throughout the world, I felt a very personal loss upon his passing.

This past Shabbos, my wife and I were, baruch Hashem, privileged to attend the bar mitzvah of our grandson Yehoshua Buchwald, son of Rabbi Naphtali and Shira in Houston, Texas. In previous articles, I wrote about the very special character of the Houston Young Israel/Community Kollel neighborhood. The bar mitzvah was magnificent in every way imaginable. It was a great source of nachas for my wife and me, plus our entire family, bli ayin ha’ra.

I was going to title this article in a much harsher way. It was to be called “The Surrender of Orthodoxy.” But I decided that the questions that I have for Orthodoxy are so painfully obvious that I must be misunderstanding something. Perhaps I need things explained to me more clearly. Also, our focus now really needs to be what is happening in Ukraine, so I don’t want to be a startling distraction from that critical matter.