As one of the thousands of Passover travelers preparing to make my way back home from Florida to the tri-state area, I started my trek this morning watching the frightening video of a family being removed from a Spirit Airlines flight from Orlando. The scene was all to familiar to Jewish travelers everywhere. Today it was an innocent maskless 2 year old eating a yogurt. Last month it was an 18 month old committing the same “offense.” After publicly embarrassing the family by removing them and then everyone from the plane, Spirit finally came to their senses and let the “offending” 2 year old and her family back on the flight. Understanding the public relations nightmare unfolding, Spirit actually removed the complaining flight attendant to cheers from the passengers.

We can’t thank you enough for all that you always do for us. Living here in Eretz Yisroel has given us the most amazing opportunities and we can never be makir tov enough for you allowing this to happen. Both physically and emotionally, the support you give us is always appreciated. We know it’s not always easy and we most definitely never take it for granted. Baruch HaShem in today’s day and age, we are able to stay in touch so easily. We are able to speak to you daily and show you pictures and videos of our children within minutes after they’re taken. We are so excited to be able to stay connected to you even from here. However, these opportunities come with a serious risk which is why we are writing this.

Dear Yeshiva World News, I didn’t think that I would be writing this, but the meshigas has been going on now for almost two weeks now and no one else has written anything, so I have to! I am a normal person who moved from Brooklyn to Toms River. I have a few children, some married, and some in seminary and yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel. We don’t do hotels for Pesach, but we do go to Florida every year as a family. This past year has been very hard for all of us. We were not together last year Pesach or summer because of COVID. We were moser nefesh to send our kids to E”Y this past year. My daughter had to give birth without her mother, husband or any other family in Yerushalayim. The seminary year for my daughter has been a far cry from the year we imagined.

So here we go again. Another week, another לוָי’ָ, another one of our brethren is gone. I know it sounds cliché but it’s really the truth. And what a family it is. Like any family that has aged over the last 50 years this should not be unexpected or come as a surprise. We have lost a number of our elders in recent years, many who have lived long and fulfilling lives, leaving behind the legacies of the early years as our founding fathers. Unfortunately, many of the recent losses have been tragic and untimely. Today, we accompanied Moshe to his final stop on the way to his seat next to the ריבונו של עולם where he will be rewarded for all of the lives he wasזוכה to have been able to save as well as for the countless people who he inspired while going through his own personal יסורים.

I have nothing but praise for the Roshei Yeshiva and Rabbonim of Lakewood. They took a bold move and put out strict guidelines for this coming Purim. They cancelled their Purim Mesiba. These decisions were likely painful and hard to make. Yet they did them, and they should be lauded and commended. The Rabbonim of Los Angeles have released a letter calling on out of towners NOT to come and collect there. It was signed by just about every Rov in Los Angeles. What about Flatbush, Boro Park, Williamsburg, Monsey, Five Towns, Chicago, Crown Heights etc etc? Will we hear similar announcements from our leadership? Besides for the sakonas nefashos of even one person getting sick and rachmana litzlan dying, what about the potential Chillul Hashem that will be caused?

Dear YWN, I have two children currently in Eretz Yisroel. My son is in a prominent yeshiva, and daughter in a well-known seminary. It is becoming very worrisome, that our children may not be able to return to Eretz Yisroel if they come to the United States for Pesach. Some Yeshivas have told their sons that if they go home for Pesach they should take all their belongings home with them. Some told them they can’t leave for Pesach. Some told them they are leaving at their own risk. Some haven’t said anything. The seminaries are no different. There are a hundred different rumors and emails and letters, and some haven’t said anything. My children are supposed to come home in 3 weeks. Why are we not discussing this major issue?

Diversity and Inclusion and Getting Assaulted in Target: Has the Pendulum Swung Too Far the Other Way? I was shopping with my wife at a Target store in Brooklyn, NY yesterday on Flatbush Ave. As we were headed out, my wife went to the checkout line to pay and I headed to the restroom. We were perhaps 25 feet from security at the front of the store. A women with a shopping cart at an angle going the “wrong way” blocked my natural path so I went in the opposite lane of shopper traffic. I attempted to pass two African American men in the other “lane” by going all the way to the outside.

(By: B.A. Mentch) Four years ago, in early November 2016, I wrote a scathing article about President Trump titled: The “A to Z Bumps. Why I – an Ohio Republican Frum Jew – Will Never Vote For Trump!”. Although I feel that nearly all of what I previously wrote stands true, I have now decided the time has come for me to support the reelection of President Trump. Looking ahead, I believe he deserves another term. Consider the following; Leader: He has proven over the last 4 years that, even with all his deficiencies and shortcomings, he is still able to effectively run our country. Incumbent: While to elect a president whose moral faults may be incorrect, an incumbent who has proven their competency should be considered for reelection, despite their shortcomings.

I once criticized a Jewish friend of mine for verbally attacking other Jews with the offhand comment that he was an anti-Semite. “If so, I come by it honestly,” replied this educated, observant man. And his reply gave me pause—a pause I’ve returned to again and again. Honest anti-Semitism—what does that mean? After saying modeh, I skim the headlines. Especially during the pandemic, there’s an aspect of doom-scrolling, but the changing nature of COVID makes being informed a component of remaining safe. I check to see what’s occurring with my brethren around the globe. Lockdowns and restrictions in various Jewish communities concern most of us and we also seek to see how our leaders are responding.

I’m a simple person. I ain’t no doctor. I ain’t no Rov. I can’t tell you if masks will stop/slow the virus or if masks are killing more people than Aunt ‘Rona. (It is a bug, no? I ain’t no immunologist either.) But, I’ve been wearing a mask. Why? Well, because as a simple person, I see things simply: The community doctor asked us to wear a mask – so I wear a mask. The community Rov asked us to wear a mask – so I wear a mask. Are they in on some conspiracy? Are they compelled by government pressure? Maybe, maybe not. But, they asked – so I listen. Simple, no? Do I get confounded, tzumished, and tzutumuled by conducting my own ‘independent’ research (-with Google, everyone is now a certified “researcher”!) to see what other white coats claim?