By Eric Wolf Schoen
Sometimes when I go to synagogue, a particular prayer hits home with me. This Yom Kippur during our Service of Healing and Hope, a service to give us strength everyday to overcome obstacles before us, a particular prayer made me think of what goes on in the world around us and what we should be doing but may not be.
I’d like to share the words with you: Whenever we hear the sound of a passing ambulance, instead of being annoyed because we are delayed, we offer a prayer that the ambulance arrives in time. We should pray to God that the fire trucks arrive in time to save the endangered people and home. We should also pray that no firefighter be injured. And when we hear police sirens, we should implore God that the police respond in time for the emergency. Thus, we become better, more loving people. The very act of praying motivates us to empathize with those who are suffering and in need of our prayers. Loving one’s neighbor is usually carried out through tangible acts. (Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Values).
The prayer encourages us to relax, take our time and worry about those that need to be worried about. Think about this next time you fall into one of the situations or anytime an emergency occurs!
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When my sister heard that migrants were being housed at the Roosevelt Hotel, she said to herself that hotel sounds very familiar. Then we both remembered that was the hotel where our parents were married. Now neither of us were there on that July 4 summer day, but it is sad that one of the most fashionable hotels in New York City is not being put to its original use as one of the most glamorous wedding venues of New York City!
I think it’s time Senator Bob Menendez gives it up. Gold bars in this stash? He may not be our Senator but like the Senator who wears hoodies to work and now has the approval of the Senate, his repeated indictments reflect poorly on the institution and our country. At press time the junior Senator from New Jersey, Cory Booker has called for his resignation. He should!
Several people have written to me that the Red Light Camera at Midland Ave and Yonkers Avenue is sending out tickets to people who never crossed the intersection. Make sure before you pay that you review the ticket online to make sure it’s your car and the correct intersection where the infraction took place.
Congestion pricing in New York City is scheduled to start in the spring and no one has told the people of Westchester including those of us in Yonkers what it will mean to us. This is the big mystery. In fact the whole program is one big mystery that will truly spring on us. Will we have to pay $23 to cross 60th Street in New York. Will discounts come with paying the toll on the Henry Hudson Bridge. Kudos to the Yonkers City Council for challenging this in court.
The big news in Yonkers is of course the October 22 Target opening. I was talking to a member of the overnight crew who told me the staff is as excited as Yonkers area residents are.
Can you believe fentanyl is being sold out of a Day Care Center. And the drug was being stored on the mats the children were resting on? Let’s be real here there are a lot of places where drugs are being sold illegally camouflaged as other types of businesses. If you know something say something so another poor baby doesn’t get killed.
Years ago Yonkers had a League of Woman Voters that would not only study issues and present position papers but around Election Day serve as moderators for candidate debates at civic groups all over town. Sometimes 2-3 debates in one night. Now Yonkers is part of the Rivertowns League, and the one Mayoral candidate debate will be online. My have things changed!
I’m tired as you probably are of those disgusting spotted lanterfly pests flying around, quite often landing on our car windshields. And they don’t move when the car moves, they are like stuck to the windshield.
They are big and disgusting. WESTCHESTER County will try to eliminate them with high powered vacuums. Kudos to County Executive George Latimer. But remember, the best way to get rid of them is to step on them. They seem to be easier to catch and slower then other pests, and stepping on them, well gets rid of them!
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com, follow him on Twitter (X) @ericyonkers or friend him on Facebook Eric Schoen…just look for him in the picture with Joan Rivers!
