Queens Jewish Link
Connecting the Queens Jewish Community Approaching its 50th anniversary, Laniado Hospital – Sanz Medical Center reflects on five decades...
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein and ZOA Chairman Mark Levenson, Esq. released the following statement:
Visit included trip to the site of the former death camp
In late August 2019, I had the opportunity to visit Poland as a guest of the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation. Together, our delegation of federal government employees spent one week diving into graduate level coursework on the heart-wrenching history of atrocities perpetrated against mankind, and atrocity prevention strategies so that we may better identify, counteract and prevent future acts of violence against humanity. Genocide has been perpetrated over the centuries all over the world, but the scope of the Holocaust is unparalleled. Two-thirds of the Jews in Europe were exterminated during this time.
CNN came under fire this week when two of their employees were exposed for vile, anti-Semitic tweets back in 2011. Although there has been one resignation so far, anyone familiar with CNN’s history should not be surprised that their vetting process did not catch this, prior to hiring these employees. They have long since turned a blind eye to a certain type of bigotry, namely bigotry towards Jews.
A Parents’ Story
We are blessed to have a beautiful family, with six wonderful children. Four of them have special needs.
A story we heard long ago about the Netziv, Rav Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, has framed our perspective and given us the ability to feel truly blessed. At a siyum upon completing his famous sefer, The Ha’amek Sheila, the Netziv told his talmidim that as a young boy he had been less focused, until one day he overheard his father telling someone that he was upset about his son’s inattentiveness. Realizing the pain he was causing his father was the push he needed to turn things around, to become a serious student. “Imagine,” he said to the assembled, “if I had not heard about my father’s distress. I would have grown up, living as a good Jew, and would have died without ever having written seforim. In heaven, I would have been asked where The Ha’amek Sheila was and I would have thought they were mistaking me for someone else. We each have a purpose in life. Boruch Hashem, I was fortunate enough to overhear a conversation which helped put me on the right path.”
Part 2
Continued from last week
After living peacefully among their non-Jewish neighbors for many years, the lives of the Jews of Kittsee changed drastically right after the Anschluss. They lost their rights, were humiliated, and eventually were thrown out of their homes on Pesach. They wandered from border to border for days with no food or drink, begging to be admitted to another country but no country would take them in.
This year’s Independence Day marks the 245th year of the United States, a country that has been attracting more immigrants than any other throughout its existence. The freedom of religion and economic opportunities made this nation the leading diaspora country for the Jewish people. Our expression of gratitude for this country is limited this year not only by the coronavirus pandemic that restricts our presence at public celebrations, but also this year’s Fourth of July occurring on Shabbos.
