The following is the “Editor’s View”, By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz. It appears in this weeks Yated Ne’eman.
I look at the picture of his face,
And see his smile.
I hear his children saying Kaddish.
And his father.
Overwhelmed with grief,
Wife, 8 children,
Awash in tears.
Communities around the world
Mourn.
A young life cut down,
Giving, loving,
Holy soul,
Snuffed out.
I look at the front page of the paper
I see mean,
Vicious,
Hatred,
Screaming loudly to the city and world.
I think back to
Lavan.
Eisov.
Nevuchadnetzar.
Trotsky, Lenin & Stalin.
All the way back in time.
Until this very day.
Who hasn’t wanted to see us dead and buried?
Jewish blood has always been cheap,
Nobody cared when they came after us.
We’ve been burnt at the marketplace.
Stomped.
Gassed.
Shot.
Given up for dead.
Yet here we are,
Persevering,
Succeeding,
Growing.
They can’t stand it.
They can’t stand us.
We are alive.
Where are they?
Titus.
Ferdinand, Isabella.
Mussolini.
Hitler.
Why, they ask, are the Jews titans of industry and commerce?
Real estate, stocks and bonds?
Why do they have influence?
Why aren’t they dead?
They are all cheaters.
They are all liars.
Underworld cut-throats.
They poisoned the wells,
They killed our babies,
For matzos.
They froze us in the winter,
Boiled us in the summer.
The Jews.
It’s all their fault.
The rotten,
Smelly,
Jews.
Till today they wonder
How to get rid of us.
They cover their hate with smiles,
Feigned ignorance,
And legal shenanigans.
“We love the Jews,” they say.
Sure, just as Paroh did.
All types of charges,
Allegations,
Fraud.
The Jews, they say, don’t care about laws,
Violations,
Fidelity,
Children,
Abuse victims.
They kill their baby boys,
To satisfy an ancient rite.
They rob, cheat and steal.
They can’t be trusted,
Disloyal citizens.
They control the banks,
The press,
But not the Post.
We thought it was different here.
America is not Russia,
Or Germany,
France or Rome.
It’s not,
But the hatred is here as well.
The quiet murmurs,
Suspicions,
And tricks.
We need reminders,
From time to time.
Don’t get complacent.
Don’t get too comfortable.
Remember we’re not home,
We’re far away,
Homeless,
On a comfortable bench,
In a nice park.
We pine for geulah,
Moshiach,
Redemption,
Salvation.
Uva leTzion goel.
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22 Responses
WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!!!! AWESOME AND SO SO TRUE!!!!!!!!!!
I hope the NYpost got a copy of this. Most of the jewish Poshim writing there will definitely understand every word here.
excellent piece. powerful. Thank you R’ Lipschutz!
oh please what stuz it is the post that has a history of outrageous and intensive headlines.
antisemitic no insensitive yes
lets not scream antisemitism in every case remember the story of the boy who cried wolf
sometimes other people react to us. For example we never ever condemn fraudster in our mist or slumlords or money launderers or people who steal from the goverment even more so if it is a yeshiva
we still say they are tzadidkim what are others suppose to think that we do not care if a yid steal from the goverment or goyim as long as he is religious or gives charity to our causes.
You think people do not know that they do.
maybe this is why the post relished to find fault in this case or others.
again in almost every single case there is never ever any condemnation of the scammers in our mist.
PS I am not talking about Stark just in general terms
Well written , America is a מלכות של חסד you can practice your religion as you wish that dose not mean that they love you remember they still hate you don’t forget that
Where was all the uproar when the NY Post had a front page picture and full page article on the Dodelson-Weiss Get fight?
That was a Pro-Jewish article??
Like I asked last night, since when does the Chasidishe world care about the NY Post??
to #5
The NYPost has a major history of insensitivity but is also run by some real poshim. I don’t remember reading an article about a frum person that painted the frum world positisvely. That being said, sometimes unfortunately it takes time for people to chop. Unfortunatly because they werent stopped in the past and were also being fed with information by our own communities it had to get to this. Not only in regards to the case you mentioned but also in regards to another high profile williamsburg case where pple were so willing to feed the post with all kinds of info for a second of feeling wise and or fame that they were having hay day. weather that story was true or not, the fact that we assist the post with info ever caused this end. All they want to do is find “that skeleton in the rabbis closet” they’re full of jewish runaways or reform jews. In addition, the example of the case you just mentioned is probably not a fair example because divorces get ugly as this one did. This article was blatant baseless pleasuring themselves with jewish blood spilled.
Peakman
Your last line doesn’t pull you out of the hole you’ve dug. there is a line the tween being sensational and being incendiary, and the post crossed that line. They knew very well what they were doing. None of the other cases you cited go anywhere near this one. we do criticize our selves, but it’s done in a quiet way to make sure things get done.
The newspapers would have us think that the public has a right to know. No such right exists; rather, we need to fight for our right to privacy.
Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz is right!!!!!!!!!
I live abroad, same time I did not know this “Kodosh” personally, still I spent much time calling friends in USA asking them for their opinion on this tragic matter, I was shocked and pained with their answers!!! basically what they said in one way or another is: that “he deserved it”, Chas VeSholom to say so about another fellow Yid.
How can it be: that we have No sympathy for his family who are shattered into millions of pieces!!! and will be for… HOW INSENSITIVE can we be? The only thing that bothers my friends is the front page of the NY Post, how low have we stooped Klall Yisroel? Why is there such a lack of Achudus by us?
…AND WE STILL WONDER WHY MOSHIACH IS NOT COMING TO REDEEM US.
Please I beg you fellow Yidden, lets hold hands and once again reunite to be worthy of the Geulah.
What a piece of garbage.
You cannot have it both ways. Push ourselves front and center, tell politicians what to do, have arrests and embarrassments, and because we say we are better, get up in arms when others point out our flaws.
Your born “Chosen,” you have to MAKE yourself “better.”
This was the post being the post and the US is not Germany or Russia, and it is irresponsible for a major Jewish media outlet to compare it as such.
Guess who points out our flaws the most? OTD kids. Because something pushed them there. Are they anti-semites too?
To GeshmakMan:
You are %100 right! When this Dodelson girl went public, defaming a Gadol BiYisroel in the NY Post, no less, the oilam was shtill! No one cared! Kavod Hatorah didn’t matter! Now suddenly it hit the Chassidishi velt & suddenly the world came to an end as we know it!
#8 chessed:
If I were you I would rethink my friends. You come across as a normal, sensitive guy with the mind in the right place. Any man that says “he deserved it” and takes halacha and law into his own hands and gives a man a death sentence like that doesn’t seem to fit the picture of a decent human being.
voseppes, did you even read what peakman said?
I agree with Peakman.
The lesson to learn from all this is to make sure you run your business super ehrlich so even such claims wouldn’t be said about you.
It seems that Peakman is the same individual who posts as sheepsheadbayyid or shredready on other sites.
His posts are not more intelligible there. Nor are they more truthful.
I am not congratulating Yated – not even complimenting them. It’s true that the NY Post is a vulgar newspaper and has been for many years, but it’s not antisemitic. We live in the age of the Internet and we can verify or disprove a lot of what is reported and we can even determine where the NY Post got its information from. We have tools that allow us to go back in history and see what was posted about a person years ago even if the page has been updated since. Do your own analysis.
2qwerty
You should not even imply that someone isn’t ehrlich until you understand his business.
Tell me, who else got this kind of treatment by the Post, justifying his murderers? Can you even begin to compare?
#12 2qwerty :
You must be a saint, can I have a blessing?
some pple commenting here reflect a VIN attitude. Lets keep these comments sympathetic, yiddish, believing and wholesome. Those that want to be mekalkel our hashkafos and become politically correct, loving to find suspicion instead of seeing the good and lekaf zechus, are jealous and hateful don’t belong commenting on a frum website like this. Go back to VIN.
nishtdayngesheft says:
January 9, 2014 at 11:29 am
It seems that Peakman is the same individual who posts as sheepsheadbayyid or shredready on other sites.
His posts are not more intelligible there. Nor are they more truthful.
if they are intelligible how do you know they are not truthful
which is it it cannot be both
what is not truthful show me one case when the frum media or the frum felt condemned a frum scammer. One or two would be enough. someone who only stole from yiddin does not count.
your argument is the same as Catholics when the post splashes a story about priest doing bad things.
the post is anti Catholic and so on instead of dealing with the issue at hand
my main point be careful before you label a paper antisemitic.
The post has a long history of insensitive headline yes of other people who where brutally murdered do a simple search.
nobody cared when they had other headlines that put people in a very bad light or made even fun of a murder victim.
To compare it to Nazi Germany is insane and diminishes the horrors of that time
I am pretty sure R Lipshitz is seriously misguided in his op ed that is basically comparing Nazi Germany to the NY Post fiasco. We live in a country that allows us to practice our religion freely, shuls , Yeshivois are given protection and we are afforded every right that any Citizen is afforded. In addition to that we have Jewish Politicians that are voted in to high office positions. Yet when a rag paper makes insensitive headlines we are forced to believe that we will all be thrown into the Gas Chambers R”L. Its absurd. That rag paper has ridiculed everyone they deem necessary, from Priests, to Celebrities to regular folks. Its what they do. If the headline would have screamed, Who Didn’t want the Jew dead? Or who didn’t want the Hasid dead? Granted, his argument would be warranted. But that was not the case. In a nutshell , I think his comparison minimizes the real persecution we experienced throughout the ages. For shame
Rachmana Litzlan!! Gevalt!! What does such an author want to do? Encourage people to think that frum Jews are all paranoid?? If the victim had been of another group in NY, would askanim have run to condemn the paper? The paper is made to make money! What do people expect, that a newspaper is expected to adhere to the Torah laws of loshen horah? Or check with a local posek before printing a story emitting from an unusual community where crime is almost non-existent? For heaven’s sake, COOL OFF THE PARANOIA or we are likely to face real problems. And if the askanim are really upset, so TAKE THEM TO COURT FOR LIBEL! Besides, where there is smoke there is fire, and as far as the media is concerned frum Jews do not deserve more slack than anyone else!
As you all make your point about wether or not to agree with what other people have posted remember that a fellow Jewish brother was murdered and we have no right to judge him or his action and that we have a bigger battle to fight. The New York Post gave themeselves a saleable headline regardless of the cost to anyone else they only saw and heard dollar signs. With that in mind lets try to give nechama to the grieving family and help each other against the evil that we face each day.