Letter to the editor

Dear Editor,

Your story on the Borscht Belt has special significance for me. My parents met at Grossinger’s in 1946 and were married four months later. They were married for 62 years before his death in 2002. For their three children, the Borscht Belt was where it all started.

Sincerely,

Rob Weidenfeld,

Lebanon, OH

Dear Editor,

To Stephen D. Strauss,

The article about Judah Touro Cemetery was informative and interesting. I have only one correction. You said that it was unique because it was named for a person.

In fact, Schachnus Cemetery was also named for a person—Rabbi Schachne Isaacs. The cemetery established by his congregation was originally known as “Schachne’s Cemetery”. From that, it was called Schachnus I know this because I attended a lecture by Rabbi Max Newman z”l, who told us this. I still have a tape of his presentation.

In addition, I think Montefiore might have been named for a person.

Judah Touro is the only local cemetery to include both the given name and surname of a person.

I am not a historian, and this is the extent of my knowledge.

Sincerely,

Josephine Rosenblum

Cincinnati, OH

Dear Editor,

A Lag B’Omer afternoon of spirited Jewish pride was hosted and run by the students and staff of our hometown yeshiva, Yeshivas Lubavitch of Cincinnati.

The grounds of Losantiville School were filled with young families enjoying a carnival staffed by the teenage yeshiva students. Face painting, games, moon bounces and refreshments kept the children busy. A rally followed, with dancing clowns, music, and prizes raffled off.

The yeshiva’s annual parade followed, and headed to the brand new Beis Medrash of the yeshiva, in the former Masonic Temple building. Banners, clowns, several floats, were followed by a stream of community members, as in past years. This year’s parade was also a Hachnoses Sefer Torah, a traditional procession of honor and joy to welcome a newly refurbished Torah scroll to its home, the new study hall. A marching band on wheels, accompanied the Torah, and continued to play amidst dancing at the yeshiva.

The Torah ceremony marked the inauguration of the yeshiva site.

“Our students are so excited about their new home that they volunteered to construct the new bookcases and Aron Kodesh for our study hall,” Rabbi Gershon Avtzon, the principal, related. “They wanted to contribute in a hand- on way, and we were happy to give them an opportunity to use their many talents.” The students were also guided in all the Lag B’Omer preparations by the eight 20 year old student mentors, who organize many extracurricular activities and community service projects for the boys throughout the year.

“In the Kabbalah, it says that the world was created by G-d as he looked into the Torah. A new Torah and new home for the Torah brings new energy, spirituality and blessings not only to our school, but to our whole community,” Rabbi Avtzon concluded.

Sincerely,

Anonymous,

Cincinnati, OH

Moshiach Now!

Dear Editor,

Regarding the article for The American Israelite aimed at seniors. If you are a senior who needs money, avoid “reverse mortgages.” Choose a “lease-back” instead.

In recent years there’s been a surge of advertising for seniors to get “reverse mortgages.” It’s a way for seniors who are short of cash to stay in their home for a longer time. The seniors get access to about 50 percent of their home’s equity. They make no mortgage payments. But after a certain number of years when the cash dries up, the equity they started with disappears. “Equity” is the difference between what the home is worth and what is owed. It’s a bad deal.

A much better alternative is what is known as a “lease back” whereby a relative or friend buys the house. The investor/relative then rents it back to the seniors who pay a rent that provides a reasonable return to the investor/relative and allows them to stay longer in the home longer than a reverse mortgage.

To illustrate, let’s say a widow needs an extra $1000 to remain in their home. Their son, who has good credit and savings, agrees to buy the house.

Let’s say the home is worth $200,000. The son pays Mom $200,000 by borrowing 80 percent ($160,000) at 4 percent. The remainder of $40,000 is from his savings.

Ownership then goes to the son. The $200,000 goes into Mom’s checking.

The rent can be based on the 4 percent interest paid to the bank.  In this example, that’s around $700 a month. So mom pulls $700 a month for the rent to her son and $1,000 for her extra monthly expenses.

The son breaks even as her $700 pays for the son’s mortgage and a small return on his $40,000 downpayment. As a small bonus, the son also gets to write off a depreciation expense of about $2000 a year. Depending on his tax bracket, that could save him an extra $700 a year.

Mom continues to pay for the real estate taxes and upkeep just as she would with the reverse mortgage.

The result is that Mom would get around 12 years before the money she was paid runs out.  With a reverse mortgage, she would have gotten around 8 years. With a reverse mortgage, the mortgage wipes out Mom’s equity. With a lease-back, the equity is preserved.

More important, the home remains with the family. The son gets a nice investment and Mom can stay in her home a much longer time.

Sincerely,

Ed Rothenberg,

Cincinnati, OH

Dear Editor,

Dear Chuck, I am a Liberal and a Democrat, but I don’t think I am an elitist. I grew up in South Avondale and Bond Hill and went to the same public high school with you. I think we can safely say I am not an elitist. Graduating from the University of Cincinnati in 1964 hardly places me as receiving an elitist education.

So, let us examine your concern with the word fair. I agree we can look up the definitions of fair and still not come away with a complete definition of the word. I would suggest that we look at the synonyms and the antonyms of the word fair to give us a more full picture.

Synonyms such as impartial, unprejudiced, aboveboard, civil, decent, equal, equitable, even-handed, honest, honorable, sincere, and unbiased are just a few words that are substitutes for fair. The antonyms also help has bring the definition of fair into focus with such words as biased, partial, prejudiced, unjust and unreasonable.

Fair does not mean legal. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 in Nazi Germany were legal, but I think most people would agree that they were not fair. Jews living and working in Germany were prohibited from practicing their profession or working in the government. Yes, there were Jewish bureaucrats and even Jewish men serving in the military in 1933. Was it fair to remove these people from their service just because they were Jewish?

Chuck, you seem to be mainly concerned with giving up what is yours that you feel the government has no right to. As you stated, “fairness is not fair if it forces someone else to give up what’s fairly theirs.” When you live in a society, a democracy, a republic, you give up some of your liberty to be governed by the laws of the country passed by those elected. You really have a choice. You can work to change the laws you do not like, or, you can find another country with laws that are more in accordance with your personal beliefs.

We all have choices we can make. I live in the city of Cincinnati, in the neighborhood of Northside and I don’t carry or own a gun. I also shower and get my hair cut and beard trimmed on a regular basis. Those are my choices And, I don’t mind the government, state, local or federal, using my tax dollars to help out those less fortunate than me.

I was once told that there are 3 legs to Judaism, like a stool that stands upright on 3 legs. One of those legs I remember had to do with giving to help those less fortunate. Giving to the government, perhaps helps all of us to be better Jews. How is that for a Jewish Liberal’s interpretation of taxes?

Sincerely,

Fred Zigler

Cincinnati, OH

In recent years there’s been a surge of advertising for seniors to get “reverse mortgages.” It’s a way for seniors who are short of cash to stay in their home for a longer time. The seniors get access to about 50 percent of their home’s equity. They make no mortgage payments. But after a certain number of years when the cash dries up, the equity they started with disappears. “Equity” is the difference between what the home is worth and what is owed. It’s a bad deal.

A much better alternative is what is known as a “lease back” whereby a relative or friend buys the house. The investor/relative then rents it back to the seniors who pay a rent that provides a reasonable return to the investor/relative and allows them to stay longer in the home longer than a reverse mortgage.

To illustrate, let’s say a widow needs an extra $1,000 to remain in her home. Her son, who has good credit and savings, agrees to buy the house.

Let’s say the home is worth $200,000. The son pays Mom $200,000 by borrowing 80 percent ($160,000) at 4 percent. The remaining $40,000 is from his savings.

Ownership then goes to the son. The $200,000 goes into Mom’s checking.

The rent can be based on the 4 percent interest paid to the bank.  In this example, that’s around $700 a month. So mom pulls $700 a month for the rent to her son and $1,000 for her extra monthly expenses.

The son breaks even as her $700 pays for the son’s mortgage and a small return on his $40,000 down payment. As a small bonus, the son also gets to write off a depreciation expense of about $2,000 a year. Depending on his tax bracket, that could save him an extra $700 a year.

Mom continues to pay for the real estate taxes and upkeep just as she would with the reverse mortgage.

The result is that Mom would get around 12 years before the money she was paid runs out.  With a reverse mortgage, she would have gotten eight years. With a reverse mortgage, the mortgage wipes out Mom’s equity. With a lease-back, the equity is preserved.

More important, the home remains with the family. The son gets a nice investment and Mom can stay in her home a much longer time.

Sincerely,

Ed Rothenberg,

Cincinnati, OH

Dear Editor,

Dear Chuck, I am a Liberal and a Democrat, but I don’t think I am an elitist. I grew up in South Avondale and Bond Hill and went to the same public high school with you. I think we can safely say I am not an elitist. Graduating from the University of Cincinnati in 1964 hardly places me as receiving an elitist education.

So, let us examine your concern with the word fair. I agree we can look up the definitions of fair and still not come away with a complete definition of the word. I would suggest that we look at the synonyms and the antonyms of the word fair to give us a more full picture.

Synonyms such as impartial, unprejudiced, aboveboard, civil, decent, equal, equitable, even-handed, honest, honorable, sincere, and unbiased are just a few words that are substitutes for fair. The antonyms also help has bring the definition of fair into focus with such words as biased, partial, prejudiced, unjust and unreasonable.

Fair does not mean legal. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 in Nazi Germany were legal, but I think most people would agree that they were not fair. Jews living and working in Germany were prohibited from practicing their profession or working in the government. Yes, there were Jewish bureaucrats and even Jewish men serving in the military in 1933. Was it fair to remove these people from their service just because they were Jewish?

Chuck, you seem to be mainly concerned with giving up what is yours that you feel the government has no right to. As you stated, “fairness is not fair if it forces someone else to give up what’s fairly theirs.” When you live in a society, a democracy, a republic, you give up some of your liberty to be governed by the laws of the country passed by those elected. You really have a choice. You can work to change the laws you do not like, or, you can find another country with laws that are more in accordance with your personal beliefs.

We all have choices we can make. I live in the city of Cincinnati, in the neighborhood of Northside and I don’t carry or own a gun. I also shower and get my hair cut and beard trimmed on a regular basis. Those are my choices And, I don’t mind the government, state, local or federal, using my tax dollars to help out those less fortunate than me.

I was once told that there are three legs to Judaism, like a stool that stands on three legs. One of those legs I remember had to do with giving to help those less fortunate. Giving to the government, perhaps helps all of us to be better Jews. How is that for a Jewish Liberal’s interpretation of taxes?

Sincerely,

Fred Zigler

Cincinnati, OH