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Another Shooting

Yiddish Limerick

N

o doubt, there is
Why can’t America get it togeth-
more good than bad
er? What is wrong with our soci-
in the world, but
ety? Why haven’t we made changes
lately it has not felt that way:
to our legislation and reformed our
307 mass shootings in 311
gun policies?
days. 378 people dead.
Why should I wake up every day
People were shot dead
and be concerned for my life? At
Lola
at the bar. A person who
this point, it doesn’t matter where
Belchinsky
managed to survive the mass
I am or where I am going, there is
shooting in Las Vegas was
always the thoughts in the back of
faced with death yet again.
my mind … what if … what if some-
A senseless and ignorant man
one came into my school, my dance
walked into a bar with a gun and now
studio, my restaurant, my synagogue,
12 people are dead, never to be seen
my movie theater, my nail salon, my …
again. And, in a few days, never to be
the list could go on and on.
heard about again. Once people and
What if, what if I’m shot dead or the
the media stop talking about it, they
people I love are gone, their heartbeats
are forgotten.
gone, never to be heard again? Their
A 97-year-old woman survived
next appearance would be on the TV
Hitler and the Holocaust just to be
screens of thousands of Americans to
killed in a synagogue? A place of
“mourn” their deaths. But shortly after,
worship and a place to pray in peace?
their presence on this planet would be
She is dead like so many others. An
forgotten.
innocent woman was shot dead by yet
There’s so much talk about change
another senseless gunman.
and action, but yet nothing gets done.
Nowhere is safe anymore … not
How much more devastation and hurt
places of worship, nightclubs, a bar,
and depression before something is
school, concerts, McDonalds, work,
done?
offices, a movie theater. There are so
Something needs to change.
many places that are not safe anymore. Something has to change. How many
We wake up every day to news head- more times am I going to wake up and
lines announcing a new mass shooting say “What if?” before I am next? Let’s
and more dead, innocent people —
talk and think about what we can do as
men and women, sons and daughters,
a community to make a change. ■
cousins, aunts, uncles, moms, dads,
Lola Belchinsky, 14, a freshman at Berkley High
grandmas, grandpas, never to be seen
School, wrote this after the last mass shooting
again. Gone from the world and from
in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
the lives of those who loved them.

THANKSGIVING

Eib ich zitz or eib ich shtay
A dhank ich zog each year today.
Far shayne kinder, a shtoob, a lakh
Un gelt a bissl or a sakh.
A dhank Thanksgiving, what a day.

Eib ich zitz- if I sit
Eib ich shtay- if I stand
A dhank ich zog- A thank you I say
Far shayne kinder- for beautiful kids
A shtoob- a house
A lakh- a laugh
Un gelt a bissl- And a little money
A sakh- a lot

By Rachel Kapen

letters

The JN Got it Right

It is truly wonderful that our commu-
nity is large enough to offer different
educational options for families with
different types of Jewish affiliation.
However, I am disappointed that two
heads of school and eight observant
families saw the need to become defen-
sive about their schools in response
to the Jewish News’ statement that
Orthodox children cannot be expected
to attend non-Orthodox institutions
and programs.
Unfortunately, their statements were
unnecessary and misguided, as the JN’s
statement did not say that Orthodox
families could not choose to send
their children there, but rather said

10

November 22 • 2018

jn

that Orthodox children could not be
expected to attend those programs.
The accuracy of that statement is
reinforced by the fact that (only) eight
families signed the letter, but there
are hundreds of Orthodox families
who choose other options for their
children, largely (but not exclusively)
because most Orthodox families do
not want their children to be taught
that adherence to traditional Halachah
(Jewish law) is only an option rather
than a requirement mandated by God.
It is admirable that those schools
make all families who choose to go
there comfortable, but that does noth-
ing to refute the accuracy of the state-
ment made by the JN that Orthodox
children cannot — and should not

— be expected to attend a non-Ortho-
dox program. This time, the JN got it
exactly right, and I applaud you for
giving an honest, realistic assessment
of the future demographic breakdown
of our young population and the
resultant needs and demands that we
will face in both our Orthodox and
non-Orthodox institutions.

— Joseph Greenbaum
Southfield

What Spurred
Anti-Semitism?

I re-read Mr. Jacobs’ Nov. 8 column
a few times, thinking I had somehow
missed his analysis of how Donald

Trump’s inflammatory language had
spurred the rise of anti-Semitism
in the U.S. But the column implied
(although he claims otherwise) that the
ramblings of Farrakhan were the pri-
mary inspiration for the white suprem-
acist Tree of Life murderer. I’m willing
to bet that’s not the case.
And although “Sarsour” has become
a buzzword, nobody except those who
are immersed in political news and
opinion knows who she is.
I remain gobsmacked at the glaring
omission of the real influence behind
the catastrophe that our country has
become.

— Cynthia Brody
Beverly Hills

