Subscribe to The Jewish Standard free weekly newsletter

 
font size: +
 

Choose a cause dear to your heart

 
 
 

On Oct. 27, 2002, while serving in the Israeli army, Yitzhak Zahavy of Bergenfield was waiting with his platoon for a transport pickup at a gas station/bus terminal at the entrance to the west bank town of Ariel.

A suicide bomber suddenly appeared and the soldiers sprang into action. Three of Yitz’s comrades were killed in trying to prevent the terrorist from detonating his explosives belt. These heroes — Amihud Hasid, Tamir Masad, and Matan Zagron — gave their lives to save the lives of many others. They also prevented the destruction that an explosion in the gas station would have caused.

Yitz, also a hero, was injured in the attack, but has since recovered. On Sunday, he will participate in the New York Triathlon to raise money for the families of his fallen comrades, as well as for the families of other victims of terrorism in Israel.

There are many people taking part in this Sunday’s triathlon who are doing so for worthy causes. We encourage you to choose a cause (or better still, causes) dear to your heart and to contribute (battling breast cancer, for example, by supporting Team Sharsheret).

For our part, we say “Yasher koach, Yitzhak” and urge you to include his cause in your list of causes. After all, his cause is our cause. When terrorists strike, when Jewish lives are needlessly lost, we are all victims.

To donate online, visit Yitz’s secure website at https://www.teamonefamily.org/yitzhakzahavy

To donate by mail, send checks payable to Team One Family, and include Yitzhak Zahavy’s name in the memo line. Mail to:

One Family Fund

1029 Teaneck Road #3B

Teaneck, NJ 07666

 

Disclaimer
The views in opinion pieces and letters do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jewish Standard. The comments posted on this Website are solely the opinions of the posters. Libelous or obscene comments will be removed.
 
 

Not goodbye, rabbi

In a little over a month, Rabbi Neal Borovitz will be stepping down as rabbi of Temple Avodat Shalom in River Edge. For many years, Borovitz has been a tireless worker for the benefit of our entire community. He has unstintingly engaged in interfaith work, interstream bridge building, social causes, and communal needs, most recently as the current chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey.

 

The greening of Shavuot

Recalling nature’s fury naturally leads to considering nature’s bounty.

Shavuot is only 11 days away. It has several designations, including the one given by the Torah itself — the Festival of First Fruits (Chag Habikurim). Among the popular Shavuot traditions is decorating our homes and synagogues with colorful flowers, blooming plants, and leafy branches and boughs.

 

Blood libel

 

RECENTLYADDED

Critical issues

We predict that our state’s next senator will be a staunch supporter of the State of Israel, and a dear and close friend of Jewish communities in New Jersey and worldwide. He or she will do all that is constitutionally allowable to ease the pressure on the shoulders of day school parents locally, while increasing the pressure on the people of Iran to reverse that country’s rush to build a bomb.

With that out of the way, we can concentrate on other issues, such as how the federal government can help kickstart “the New Jersey comeback” Gov. Chris Christie touted for most of 2012, but has now all but admitted has not yet begun.

New Jersey’s unemployment rate is 8.7 percent, 1.2 percent higher than the national average and higher than those of our three neighbors — Pennsylvania (7.6 percent), New York (7.8 percent), and Connecticut (8 percent). What role, if any, the four Democrats and two Republicans vying for the seat see for themselves in restoring the state’s economy, and what role, if any, do they see for the federal government?

 

 

A Melton mazal tov

 

A profound loss

The death of Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg leaves a gaping hole in the national body politic — not only because it will make it even more difficult for the Democratic-controlled upper legislative chamber to actually legislate, but also because he was one of the last true gentlemen in a deliberative body that once prided itself on being the world’s most exclusive gentleman’s club.

To be sure, Lautenberg, a Democrat, was fiercely partisan when partisanship was called for, but he also understood that the Senate was about helping to make the United States better tomorrow than it was yesterday, and that this required pragmatism, not parochialism; compromise, not confrontation.

 

 
 
S M T W T F S
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30