Silence debate and you lose your audience
Manhattan: Re “A 2028 letter to losing Brad Lander” (op-ed, June 30): Dear Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, I’m sorry to hear about another High Holiday season of standing-room-only security lines and rows of empty pews. Not because Jews disappeared, but because they stopped coming. Remember when you mistook attendance for allegiance? When every disagreement with Israeli government policy became, in your telling, the first step toward apostasy? When your sermons spent more time policing the boundaries of Jewish belonging than asking why so many younger Jews no longer saw themselves reflected inside them? You won those arguments. The people who remained all agreed with you. They also all qualified for the senior discount.
Young Jews left because they were told over and over that loving their people required surrendering their moral vocabulary; that asking impossible questions about occupation, war, Palestinian life or Jewish power was evidence not of engagement but betrayal. You imagined yourself defending continuity. What you defended was unanimity. Every generation inherits Judaism differently. Our parents inherited survival. Yours inherited sovereignty. Mine and younger generations inherited a desire to know what ethical responsibility looks like when Jews possess power as well as vulnerability. You taught that the greatest danger was Jews walking away from Israel. You rarely asked what would happen if they walked away from Jewish institutions first.
The doors remain open, Elliot. The question is whether anyone under 80 believes they’ll be welcomed once they walk through them.
Libby Lenkinski
Don’t assume support
Pleasantville, N.Y.: Being an Israel-born Jew, I found Voicer Nick Smith’s letter to be very appalling as if he claims that just about all Israelis support Bibi Netanyahu along with his administration and policies, when that’s hardly the case. I’ve never been a fan, and Israelis in Israel and living abroad dislike him also. If I were in Israel, I’d vote against him in the next election, as I’m a citizen. However, it’s one thing to criticize him and his administration and policies, but it’s another to believe that the country as a whole and Jews abroad are behind him. This is why such statements are viewed as antisemitic, especially when Jews are attacked even if they don’t have much of a stance on this. As for the claims of genocide and ethnic cleansing, those only have meaning if done intentionally, which they weren’t.
Tal Barzilai
Not news
East Meadow, L.I.: Our country is celebrating its 250th anniversary and you dedicate the front page and six more pages of your newspaper to those so-called celebrities Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce and their obnoxious wedding (“Taylor made wedding,” July 4). Teenyboppers might take an interest in this hoopla, but I doubt they even read newspapers. No wonder your readership is going down the drain.
P. Stein
Royal treatment
Brooklyn: How the hell does Taylor Swift get to close streets, cause major detours, etc. for her wedding!? How did we let this happen? Who does she think she is? Oh, wait — who did she pay to have this happen? She’s not even from New York!
Barbara Giuliano
Play it safe
East Brunswick, N.J.: To Sen. Bernie Sanders: I received an email from your team requesting a contribution. I’m a big fan and an Independent voter. The Republicans will use the democratic socialist tag against Democrats in the general election. When many people in this country hear “socialist,” they think of the USSR and all that came with it. I believe that the further left the Democratic Party leans, the less chance it has of defeating the Republicans, and I’m sure you agree that removing Republicans from power is the most important thing in November. A more centrist Democratic Party will stand a much better chance of unseating them. I’ll never vote for a Republican while Donald Trump and his cronies are the power in that party, but the current socialist movement will splinter the Democratic Party and its weak leadership!
Anthony Gesualdi
Brand burden
San Francisco: Although I agree with many of the ideas of Bernie Sanders, Zohran Mamdani, et al., I think it’s a mistake to use the descriptor “democratic socialist.” Ironically, things like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public schools, minimum wage, public transportation, fire and police departments and the military are all very popular socialist-style programs, but when someone says “socialist,” it seems like most Americans hear and think “communist.” I’m not advocating for a totally socialist government, but the last almost 100 years has proven that a combination of capitalism and socialism, when applied thoughtfully, can coexist and be beneficial to all. I believe it would be beneficial for candidates of this type to drop the word socialist when describing themselves.
Jimmy Layton
Insignificant wins
Bronx: The Daily News is acting more like a public relations organization than a newspaper in its description of the recent DSA victories in the Democratic primary. The New York congressional delegation totals 28 individuals (26 in the House and two in the Senate). Three victories does not an electoral mandate make.
Gene Roman
Priority placement
Manhattan: If we asked several people with different political views any question, we’d have just as many different answers. Let’s take one. Do you want a healthy citizenry, children in particular? There seems to be two answers: yes or no. Yes seems to be the answer with empathy and compassion. And no? You fill in the reason. Make your own list. Examine yourself. Leave out money. Oh, you say we can’t do that? Fair enough. Put on your list where money is currently being spent in this country and ask yourself if that’s more important than health or education, a good job or just being able to buy your kids a red, white and blue yogurt on July Fourth.
Don Cerrone
Slow the flow
Brooklyn: We’re in a severe drought warning. When do you think the numbskull politicians in office will issue a conservation of water order? Water is life, a precious resource we can’t afford to be without.
Josie Oliveri
Out of sight
Manhattan: Four years ago, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City quietly removed a statue of former President Theodore Roosevelt that stood in front of the museum for more than 80 years, as protesters found it controversial. There was no consideration of the fact that the Roosevelt family was heavily involved in the creation and funding of the institution. Theodore Roosevelt Sr., the 26th president’s father, cofounded the museum in 1869, signing its founding charter in his New York parlor. The statue was sent to North Dakota for storage until the presidential library would be built. The ribbon was cut on July 1 for the library’s opening , but among the many photos taken, I haven’t seen one of the famous statue I expected to see prominently installed. I hope we shouldn’t assume it’s in permanent storage.
Susan P. Forman