Your apology (Editor’s Note, July 14) for the front page (July 7) mockery of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, was troubling for two reasons.
While unbecoming at any time of the year, your publishing it at a time when Jews throughout the world were commemorating The Rebbe’s 23rd yahrzeit turns a senseless insult into a direct assault on the sacredness, this time of the year, being accorded to The Rebbe and to his lifetime.
This month also marked the 90th anniversary of the previous Rebbe’s liberation, rescued from his death sentence for the “crime” of keeping Yiddishkeit alive in the Stalinist Russian Empire.
A Jewish newspaper of your stature must not allow its front cover to be stained like this. Rather, as editor, your leadership is needed to return dignity to this iconic newspaper of the Jewish community.
The stain created by this hurtful silliness can be erased. Paying tribute in its place to these two tzaddikim, the rebbes of Lubavitch, who gave their entire lives for the Jewish people and are being sacredly remembered now on our calendar, will likely go a long way to achieving what is warranted.
Boynton Beach, Fla.
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