Dear Mr. President:
I am moved to write this letter due to a news article Headlined: “Holocaust Memorial Moves Bush to Tears.” I would like to quote the article: Yad Vashem Chairman Shalev quoted President Bush as asking Condoleezza Rice, “why didn’t President Roosevelt bomb it?”
It is well documented, Mr. President, that Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl, may his name be blessed, drew a detailed map of the train tracks leading to Auschwitz and pleaded with many influential people within the Roosevelt administration that while America was bombing Germany they should also bomb the railroad tracks and save thousand of Jews.
His cries were unfortunately unheeded. And thousands more perished while the Allies continued to bomb Germany. (Fuchs, Abraham “The Unheeded Cry”, Artscroll/Mesorah Publications 1984)
David Wyman, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Massachusetts, has asked: “How could it be that the governments of the two great Western democracies knew that a place existed where 2,000 helpless human beings could be killed every 30 minutes, knew that such killings actually did occur over and over again, and yet did not feel driven to search for some way to wipe such a scourge from the earth?” (Wikipedia)
Mr. President you are courageous in discussing issues that others would not go next to with a ten foot pole. Roosevelt erred in not bombing those tracks.
Mr. President, what the left fails to understand is, that You learned from history. You get it. You understand evil. You understand the depravity in Iran. They do not.
Each and every week you are lambasted in the media. If they cannot mention the “quagmire in Iraq”, they will try anything to undermine your Presidency.
Mr. President do not be disheartened, there are many people that respect you; pray for you, and wish you only the best in your final year as President.
As you wrote in the visitor’s book at Yad Vashem: “G-d Bless Israel, George Bush.
May G-d bless you Mr. President for being a great friend of Israel and of the Jewish people.
History will judge you kindly.
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
30 Responses
“I was most impressed that people in the face of horror and evil would not forsake their G-d. In the face of unspeakable crimes against humanity, brave souls – young and old – stood strong for what they believe.”
-President George W. Bush, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Jerusalem, Israel, January 11, 2008
I would love to know who wrote that letter. It was so well written. I am proud to have such words represent the Jewish people.
very nice!!
I recently visited Yad Vashem, indeed its very depressing going from section to section, while everything is arranged in great detail, it takes a full day to cover the whole museum, by the time you are finished with all the exhibits you realy need some tranquilizer to calm you down
I must say its humanly impossible to go thru all of the exhibits as it realy boggles the mind of what one human being was able to do to another human being for no reason what so ever at all.
However the real pain is the knowledge that these gas chambers & the railroad tracks could have been bombed very easily towards the end of the war as the Allies controlled the air completley & all of the hungarian jewery could have been saved & that would mean 800,000.00 hungarian jews would have steel been with us today.
Rabbi Weissmandl, wrote many letters to the jews in America however not to many paid attention & the only one who did was Rabbi Eliazer Silver, if i remember correctly he did march to Washington with a small demonstration & however we should never forget that Pres. Roosevelt was not a friend of the jews at all.
And that my friend is the real reason why he did not bomb the gas chambers & railroad tracks
he did not care much at all of what Rabbi Weissmandl wrote & to put it simple, he was just ignored & please dont forget if you go back in history nobody ever cared about the Poor Jew.
May Hashem keep watch over us & send our reedemer the Moshiach in our time speedily
does george w bush read yeshiva world?????
like, whatever.
Send it to Bush, don’t put it on YW
Nice letter
G-d bless our President. A truly special individual with good moral values who is both devoted and sincere. History will indeed judge him as one of America’s greatest presidents.
Did Roosevelt – historians disagree. But yes, he should have done more.
With that, Darfur. WE KNOW ABOUT THE KILLINGS, RAPES, etc.
May I ask, what has the Yeshiva world done to stop the killings there?
John (Yonason)
Unfortunately President Bush and especially Condo loser Rice is not a friend of Israel.
They are fully aware that Fatah is just as bad as Chamas and yet they are pushing forward this deadly plan in order to placate their Arab friends. Bush has recently been mechadesh the inyan of Palestinian right of return or reparations which no one ever accepted before.
His whole approach to Israel is a contradiction to his so called war on terror. Why doesn’t America negotiate with Al Qaeda? Negotiating with Fatah (who really is aligned with Chamas) is the same thing.
For further insight read Daniel Pipes analysis.
Ain lanu lehishaen eleh al Avinu shebashamaim.
HE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST PRESIDENTS WE EVER HAD.THE LIBERAL MEDIA BLINDS THE WORLD.ITS A CHILLUL HASHEM THAT JEWS VOTE DEMOCRATIC,FOR THE KESEF. BLACKS AND REFORM JEWS AND CHASIDEM ARE DEMOCRATIC.THE REFORM BECAUSE OF A GUILTY CONCIENCE,THE OTHER TWO FOR KESEF. ITS OSSUR FOR A DECENT GOY TO BE LIBERAL,AGAINST THE SHEVAH MITZVOS BNAI NOACH.
“Roosevelt erred in not bombing those tracks”
Excellent letter but a bit too generous to Roosevelt. The word erred is too kind. Roosevelt is getting his!
He is a great one, the most we could expect probably, and I respect him.
However, I would point out to him his great blindness in supporting Abbas, a double-talk terrorist, instead of explaining to the world that this is no grounds for piece.
And maybe one day, another good president will visit some memorial museum, and ask: “Why did President Bush do this?” I hope Moshiach will be here by then…
We sincerely hope that HASHEM YISBARACH will have the President and Vice President continue to be strong supporters of Israel and the Jewish people, the well-meaning but misguided statements of the Secretary of State (sympathetic with the “plight” of terrorists) notwithstanding.
Let us pray that all plans to take Yerushalayim and Eretz Yisrael from us will be unsuccessful.
Very nice.
But why is the Prez in cahoots with Saudi Arabia and attacking another country with just a chush that maybe they have weapons of mass destruction?
I’m happy he’s a friend of ours but memreish: to call him someone with “good moral values”…hmmmm I don’t know.
Gee, The Israelis weren’t that innocent either guys. Do your research. How many boats loaded with Jewish refugees did the Israelis turn away from the port only to be sent back to the chambers? Was it Herzl that said one inch in Israel is worth more than 100 European Jews?
Nice of them to make a whole Yad Vashem and shed tears. I guess it’s a good tourist attraction.
President Bush is one of the very few gentiles who can very truthfully be characterized as a true friend of the Jews.
How often do you see a goy publically shed tears for the attempted genocide of the Jews? How frequently do you have anyone admit the great failings of that rosha Frank Roosevelt for his callous disregard of the great plight of the genocide being perpertrated against world Jewry? When else do you have the leader of the free world shamelessly and publically invoke G-d?
President Bush will be recorded in history as one of
Judaism’s few great external friends. Despite all the hatred spewed against him by the self-declared pundits in the hard-left ”mainstream” media, history will credit his Presidency for its tremendous success in combating terrorism and preventing a reoccurance of a 9/11 C’V.
G-d Bless America and its righteous President George Walker Bush.
#8 you said it well….I agree!! President Bush is a decent man doing and saying what may not always be popular but needs to be done and needs to be said. He is a moral man not afraid to have others disagree with his deeds but stedfast and resolute in his actions and words. Disagree with him if you choose, but respect his honor.
It is a known fact that the nazis repaired train tracks very fast, within hours. I doubt it would have had much affect, unless they bombed it every single day.
Couldn’t have said it better! He’s a president who has to make 300 million people happy, so obviously you are going to find things he does that you find questionable. However, how can one question that he consistently does what he thinks is the right thing? He obviously has no care for opinion polls! A friend of mine told me he once went to capitol hill to visit a lobbiest he knew. President Bush saw him from a distance and walked across the lawn to him. Seeing his beard and yarmulka, the {resident said that he came over to say hello because he has tremendous respect for the religious Jews. If he isn’t a politician that’s a friend, then I don’t know who is! And #11-torahyid- you are 100% percent right! I even heard (maybe someone can verify) that R’ Avigdor Miller said it was asur to vote for someone who is pro-abortion. It’s disgusting that people throw away Torahdikka values for a quick buck (with no care that it negetively effects the economy, and if they don’t absolutely need it, that they’re taking away from others who do- but that’s a different shmooze)
well said
#4: Rabbi Silver marched with 400 Rabbis to Washington. Roosevelt refused to meet with him.
#17: That was the British, not the Israelis, who turned away boats from Eretz Yisrael. The country “Israel” came into existence in 1948.
Lev melachim vesarim beyad Hashem. Let’s daven for good things for all Klal Yisrael.
#4 said it right: “dont forget if you go back in history nobody ever cared about the Poor Jew.”
Not Bush, Not Rice, Not the UN, NOBODY!
#10 said it better: Ain lanu lehishaen eleh al Avinu shebashamaim.
Well, it seems to be all said…. actually too much as been said.
But…. I will add my two cents.
That others made nice comments, or that there may be an element of controversy regarding the said bombing does NOT take away from the simple honesty of a good man, our President, Mr. George W Bush.
He does get it. He does have a heart. He does care.
We may not agree with every decision he makes, either to do with Iraq or the Palestinians, but neither are we in his shoes.
I think he is a fine man, and I respect him highly.
I had lunch 9 years ago a Democrat member of one of the houses of the state government in TX. I asked him what he thought of George W who it seemed had a good chance of becoming prez.
He replied, “He was the opposition, but he was always open and willing to listen to our side. We learned to trust him, and he trusted us. When we disagreed, he always took the time to listen, and hear us out. Sometimes he said he convinced him, and changed his mind. He followed his concience, not party line. He never went back on his word, and never lied to us. We knew where he stands at all times. Though he is a Republican, I would vote for him today for President. You can’t go wrong, he is an intelligent, honest man, with a conscience.”
I believe his presidency shows that statement to be true. We see in him a man with morals and strong beliefs.
To throw up what his family had done in the past is downright mean. To reply to the above letter by dragging in other issues, is thoughtless and mean.
To muddy the waters by bringing in other things to take away from the good things this man says or does is mean.
The letter above is not perfect. Nothing is. There is nothing in this world that one can’t think hard enough and find fault with. But it sums up very well what I think about MY president.
Mr. President, You are my president, and I am very proud of you. You are a real mensch. You have proved to ME, many times over, that you are moral man.
You are a highly intelligent man who has religious and moral convictions, and stands by what he thinks.
Your job is to do what you feel is best for The United States of America, while trying your best to do so in the most moral way possible, hurting the fewest people of the world in the process, but always putting the USA first. That is your job. Sometimes other peoples’ interests conflict with the actions you are obligated to take to fulfill the above. When that happens they get angry at you. That is not fair to you, but you understand that too. You understand those nasty things others say, and patiently go on with your job.
Well, please know that there are those who understand the position your job puts you in, and are VERY proud of how well you endeavor to do your job. You are a mensch.
Thank you, Mr. President,
and Thank you, Yeshiva World, for publishing the above “Out of the Mailbag” letter.
Winston Churchill was also to blame for not bombing the Aushwitz railtracks. He adamantly refused and he knew all too well the horror that was going on.I am sure him and his buddy roosevelt are burning nicely for their sick actions.
Town Crier:
I once again cry for you my friend. Your logic is unfortunately twisted.
I guarantee you this: If Reb Avigdor Miller ztz’l was living with us today and came election time He had a choice between Rudy or anyone from the democrats, R’ Miller would choose Rudy with all his flaws.
You can take that to the bank.
How do I know that you may ask? Because if as elected president, Rudy would appoint conservative Judges then He would appoint Supreme Court Justices such as Scalia, Alito, and Roberts.
As an educated person Reb Crier, I am sure you are aware that a presidents personal opinion on alternative lifestlyes is meaningless. To borrow a quote from your favorite president: “It is the Judges-stupid”
Billary on the other hand gave us Ms. ACLU Ginsburg so you know his (and her) judical philosophy.
#24: actually, it WAS the Zionists who helped the british turn away refugee boats. the Haganah, a zionist paramilitary organization, actually shot at a boat (the Altalena) loaded with jews, sinking it, and killing many on board. not that this has anything to do with the topic.
Crier, What the surprise that Rav Avigdor Miller would oppose Guiliani? Its poshut.
History will record President George W. Bush as one of America’s great President’s. In the same league as Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.
The Presidents views on abortion make a difference. He can veto or sign an anti-abortion bill (that reduces support for abortion.) If he supports abortion, he will likely have no compunctions appointing an abortionist to the bench, including the Supreme Court.
As such, Guiliani is a fatally flawed candidate who deserves no Jewish support and who would unquestionably be opposed by Rav Avigdor Miller.
I would vote for neither. I would vote for Fred Thompson. (Though Hillary Arafat is far worse.)