Letters – Winter 2024
A Touching Tribute
Beit Knesset Hanassi’s Simchat Torah mantle in the name of Sgt. David Mittelman, of blessed memory. Courtesy of Pessy Krausz
Our shul, Beit Knesset Hanassi in the Rehavia section of Jerusalem, participated in the project of acquiring a Simchat Torah mantle (Torah cover) in the name of a fallen soldier. Ours, in the name of David Mittelman, of blessed memory, arrived right before Simchat Torah.
Wishing to learn more about this brave soldier, I found the online tribute to Sgt. Mittelman by Jewish Action writer Adina Hershberg (“Tribute to a Lone Soldier,” Jewish Action digital edition, February). Mittelman, twenty years old, was killed battling terrorists at the Kissufim outpost on October 7.
I found Ms. Hershberg’s tribute to be particularly poignant, especially her ending:
. . . hundreds of Jews from across the religious and political spectrum—most of whom had never met Dovid—came out of their deep desire to accompany and honor a lone soldier who had given his life for Am Yisrael. I pray that this achdut will remain forever etched on our hearts and in our souls.
His memory will truly be blessed, as our shul has been honored to receive the Torah mantle bearing his name. Shabbat will see him wrapped around our holy Torah, carried tenderly, so to speak, and kissed by loving fingers.
Yehi zichro baruch.
Pessy Krausz
Jeremy Phillips, shul president
Rehavia, Jerusalem
Shining a Light on Widowhood
A widow for the past fifteen months after a fifty-six-year-long marriage, I did not have the chance to read the article “Navigating Widowhood in the Frum Community” by Merri Ukraincik (spring 2023) until recently. I read the article with great interest. It was a poignant portrayal of the topic, which is not always easy to achieve.
Unfortunately, however, the article does little to address what I found to be most challenging facet: the financial aspect. I am not referring to “how am I going to pay the bills?” I am referring to a plethora of financial situations to which one must attend, often “dancing in the dark” without getting much help. To wit: 1. Claiming my husband’s social security benefits 2. Bank issues 3. Sale of my husband’s car 4. Investments; changing everything over to my name . . . the same for credit cards, billing, et cetera 5. Filing taxes
The author should have mentioned this challenging aspect that is part of the process of grief.
Thank you for shining a light on this topic.
Michelle Bergman
Brooklyn, New York
Jewish Unity
Rabbi Moshe Hauer’s article “An Inflection Point in Jewish Life—Mi va’Mi Haholchim” (summer 2024) is nothing less than a fair and complete analysis of the sad present state of our internal Jewish affairs.
The great challenge for the Orthodox Jewish world is, as Rabbi Hauer wrote, to maintain our commitments and values and to simultaneously cultivate a loving tolerance of those outside of our camp. What makes that challenge all the more difficult is the insularity that comes with living in an Orthodox Jewish environment. I grew up in the tiny community of Mount Vernon, New York, taught my last twenty-five years in the Five Towns before retirement and now live in Lakewood. It is so easy for those raised in the latter two communities to believe that the entire Jewish world looks like those places. My Mount Vernon upbringing left the following indelible mark on me: our olam is at best 10 percent of world Jewry. That hard-to-come-by realization will make Rabbi Hauer’s pragmatic approach to Jewish unity a tad easier to internalize.
After the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Ben Franklin is reported to have said something to the effect of “Well, gentleman, we had better all hang together now because if not . . . we will undoubtedly hang separately.”
David Friedman
Lakewood, New Jersey
My Jewish Self at Work
Yasher koach to Rabbi Dr. Josh Joseph for his insightful piece “Bring Your Jewish Self to Work” (fall 2024). Beyond working around duties that fall on major Jewish holidays, I’ve found Torah values an essential compass for improving the work/life balance and navigating politics at the public university where I’m a professor. I’ve also found it incredibly meaningful when I explicitly connect Judaism to my research area (statistics/mathematics education), yielding a grant, journal articles, et cetera. This helps me readily share more of my whole self and connect with my students (80 percent of whom are Mexican American), and I create lessons that honor their identity/culture as well.
Larry Lesser
El Paso, Texas
Affected by War
Even in the best of times, kids at risk can get lost in the fray of our educational and social systems. During times of war, when all of us are stretched thin, things can be even more difficult for these precious but vulnerable children of our community.
In addition to the considerations for kids at risk in Israel discussed in the article “Supporting At-Risk Youth in Israel Post–October 7” (fall 2024), it is important to be conscious of how kids at risk in America have been affected by the war. As an educational advocate for Work At It, I have seen young people whose lives were already in turmoil be affected in various ways by the situation in Israel. Some young people, after years of difficulties, had found their calling serving in the IDF as lone soldiers and were starting to put their post-army lives together before having to drop everything to serve. They now have to “restart” their lives. Young people who finally found a place to study and train for a meaningful career could not remain there due to campus antisemitism. Kids who were desperate to escape the negativity of their past and experience one of a myriad of special opportunities for growth and fulfillment in Israel were robbed of that chance.
In addition, with so much charitable funding going to support the war effort and those in need in Israel, raising funds for other worthy causes has been more difficult, limiting the resources available for worthy causes like the needs of kids at risk. This war has taken its toll on Am Yisrael across the globe in so many ways. Thank you for not overlooking this segment of our community.
Yaakov Mintz
Educational Advocate, Work At It
Brooklyn, New York