I felt pained upon reading the headline “Chabad seeks to transform tragedy into opportunity” in the Dec. 19 Chronicle.
Could you imagine a headline, “Milwaukee Jewish Federation uses Hezbollah attack as opportunity to raise funds”?
Why is raising funds to rebuild a devastated Chabad House, specifically the one in Mumbai — which became the symbol of Chabad emisarries’ selfless dedication to serve the Jewish people in the farthest and loneliest corners of the world — a questionable issue?
To reiterate the words quoted in the article, those of Chabad’s spokesman, Milwaukee’s home grown Zalman Shmotkin, who learned to keep his cool when talking to the press: “Chabad emissaries are engaged in honest, genuine work and are not simply seeking to cash in on a situation.”
Like Donna Margolis, in her letter to the editor in the same issue, I feel disappointed in The Chronicle’s lack of sensitivity to the happenings in Mumbai, to the massacred Jews, to Chabad and to the Jewish people.
Yes, I read the editor’s note explaining why The Chronicle did not deem it necessary to express its opinion or publish the news.
However, from the hundreds of press releases, articles and opinions floating around in the Jewish and non-Jewish media, the one The Chronicle found fitting to publish was the one casting aspersions on Chabad’s right or intention to raise funds.
Sam Stern
Mequon
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