Coming Together as a Community

I wanted to respectfully share a thought with you regarding the choice of your editorial this past week (“Strong Leadership In Perilous Times,” March 20).

I rarely share my opinion, and in my note along with a donation I sent in December I expressed that while I usually don’t agree with the editorials of the paper, the primary importance of having a community newspaper geared towards the local diverse Jewish community is paramount.

I believe however that this week’s choice of an editorial was misplaced. At a time when the local community, the state, nation, and world, is dealing with tremendous change and anxiety including related to financial struggles, isolation, fear of where the elderly will obtain food, what will happen for the holidays, etc., the editors decided to take the opportunity to once again criticize the president. I am not suggesting that the handling of this crisis does not warrant criticism, but perhaps instead of quoting from Berachos (using the timely Daf Yomi), you could have chosen to write about the week’s Torah portion of Vayakhel, of coming together as a community, describing what is being performed in our community and what can be done moving forward — this would been a lot more in line with the benefits of such a publication like The Jewish Week and the New Jersey Jewish News.

Please know I have tremendous respect  for you as individuals and the mission of the paper. However, as a reader who understands where the editors stand politically (I don’t think anyone has any question about this), I humbly request that the paper focus its editorials especially at this time to what the community is in need of most. And that is not more ways to blame the president. Rather perhaps, words of possible comfort, guidance, perhaps even some pleasure in hearing what some people in our community are doing for each other, would be of greater value.