“Seeing this magazine lying around my home over Shabbos with a rasha on the cover was not only disturbing, it was unacceptable”

Bias Against Chassidim? [Court Secrets]

Your serial Court Secrets is highlighting something I’ve been noticing for a while in your magazine: a subtle bias against the chassidish community.

Although it’s clear the writer has done his research, those of us intimately familiar with rebbish courts find the descriptions irksome.

A rebbe is not some popular leader whose actions and decisions are meant to be analyzed by laymen. The same goes for his children and grandchildren, who deserve the utmost respect.

Somehow, I doubt Mishpacha would feature a full-length serial describing the personal and communal struggles of a prominent litvish gadol.

In another example, a recent personal story described the protagonist as coming from an insular chassidish community, where the parents, like many others in the community, got married young, and didn’t really know how to parent....

You don’t start stories by saying, “I come from an insular Brisk family/litvish community” but instead suffice with, “I come from the Tristate area/an out-of-town community.” Why does it sound like the chassidish community is being portrayed as uneducated and simpleminded?

A little more sensitivity and respect would be appreciated.

Riki Stern

Masterpiece [Worldview / Issue 1068]

Though I have yet to read an article written by Gedalia Guttentag that has not been incredibly informative, insightful, and well researched, not to mention well written, this week’s masterful article was above and beyond. In one page, it encapsulated the feelings of a nation poised at an unprecedented point in history.

His comparison of the war edition to an esrog after Succos illustrated our ironclad knowledge in the power of ein od milvado. If we were ever in need of a concrete example of our deliverance coming k’heref ayin, these past few weeks were an indisputable proof.

Thank you to Mishpacha and their incomparable staff for accompanying us through this incredible journey. We look forward to getting to know all of you, im yirtzeh Hashem, bimheirah b’yameinu amen!

Mrs. R. Snyder

Lifesaving Information [Perspectives / Issue 1068]

Thank you for publishing the outstanding article by Dr. Daniel Berman, M.D., a highly experienced inpatient physician, who shared with us his illuminating stories and perspectives about how our society’s changing medical values can threaten the lives of our loved ones. It is not an exaggeration to say that this article can save lives if we take it with the seriousness that it deserves.

Working with Chayim Aruchim, Dr. Berman has been able to help many patients whose lives were threatened by the mistaken dire assessments of their physicians, as hospitalists and palliative care specialists increasingly dominate our medical environments.

May Dr. Berman have many more years of medical practice and much hatzlachah in teaching his skills and insights to younger physicians!

Barbara Olevitch, PhD

Values First [It’s Up to You, New York / Issue 1068]

I am writing as a deeply upset and disappointed reader.

As a South African living in Israel, I was not familiar with Zohran Mamdani prior to purchasing your recent issue. Had I known who he was and what he represents, I never would have brought this magazine into my home. To feature so prominently on the front cover an individual who actively promotes positions that are antithetical to our values and openly antagonistic toward Israel is, in my view, a serious misjudgment.

In Jewish homes, we place pictures of rabbanim and gedolim on our walls. We strive to surround ourselves — and our children — with role models of Torah, yiras Shamayim, and emes. Seeing
this magazine lying around my home over Shabbos with a rasha on the cover was not only disturbing, it was unacceptable.

I urge you to consider the message and influence you are projecting into our homes. Mishpacha has long been trusted to uphold certain standards. Please do not let journalistic curiosity come at the expense of our values.

Naomi Rumbak

Facing Evil [It’s Up to You, New York / Issue 1068]

As a longtime Mishpacha subscriber, I deeply value Mishpacha’s commitment to Torah values and thoughtful journalism. Precisely because of this, I was troubled by the recent cover featuring a full-page photo of Zohran Mamdani — a public figure whose values and actions you yourself describe as opposing the Torah and the Jewish people.

Chazal and sifrei kodesh are clear: It is forbidden to gaze at the face of a wicked person. Many sources warn of spiritual harm from even looking at the image of such individuals. As cited in the Teshuvos Ohr Yitzchak:

“The reason that it is assur to gaze at them is that the very act of gazing at their face or image or picture has a negative effect on the person.... Yitzchak Avinu lost his eyesight as a result of gazing at his own son Eisav, even though he [Yitzchak] didn’t know he [Eisav] was a rasha....”

If so, what justification can there be for his face staring at us from the magazine cover for an entire Shabbos?

I fully understand the importance of informing readers about political threats and cultural challenges. But must this be done with a glorified image that dominates the cover, inviting every family member — including our children — to stare at the face of someone we are taught to spiritually distance ourselves from?

I urge you to consider future editorial choices in light of these Torah values. Mishpacha is more than a magazine — it enters our homes, our seudos, our minds. Let us be careful what faces we let in with it.

Rabbi Moshe Rosenstein

Yerushalayim

Hit the Nail on the Head  [Screenshot / Issue 1067]

I can’t imagine how hard it must be to run a weekly magazine and stay relevant, especially when the news sometimes changes faster than flying missiles. Here in Israel, each day of the Iran war felt like an ever-evolving feed of news and information; from one week to the next my candlelighting kavanos transformed from begging Hashem to save us from threat of annihilation to thanking Him for an overwhelming number of open miracles.

So when last week’s magazine arrived on Wednesday and the cover page brought up distant memories of war (that, mind you, had ended about 24 hours prior), it felt stale. I couldn’t bear to look at it. But, I thought, perhaps we could get some chizuk in recalling where we had been when this issue went to print.

And I was not disappointed. More specifically, when I read Shoshana Friedman’s Screenshot, it took me right back to the fear and the doubt, the stretches and the struggles, the emunah and the hope. She hit every nail on the head.

No, we didn’t always see ourselves as cornerstones of strength smoothly handling the daily nisyonos. (I often felt like my counterparts in chutz l’Aretz were davening more than I was. We were in survival mode, in every sense.)

No, we didn’t always know how to express ourselves to family members across the ocean who asked how the kids were doing or how we were holding up. Or those who tried not to ask and chose to maintain “normal” conversations in the face of our abnormal reality.

But Mrs. Friedman’s words also reminded me of the muscles we flexed both in the past two weeks and the last two years, which have given us a foundation upon which to maintain some level of composure even when the world around us was, in every sense, crazy. She recalled the gratitude and the greatness that came from living through “The 12-day war,” and that truthfully can be accessed in any challenge both big and small.

Thank you, Mrs. Friedman, for an article which, though written for a specific moment in time, is timeless in its value and message.

Mindel Kassorla

Great Icebreaker [Open Mic / Issue 1067]

Rabbi Wartelsky’s article, highlighting the impact and growth that comes from being a counselor, really hit home. I also have sons who have been campers, counselors, and now run summer camps themselves, and I myself run a camp for children with special needs in Montreal called Camp Yaldei. The girls who work at my camp are volunteers, and reading Rabbi Wartelsky’s article — adjusted to fit girls — served as a great icebreaker. It really made them feel even more excited and confident about the journey they’re about to embark on.

Thank you for this meaningful article that highlights the value young counselors receive from the experience and the important role they play in the lives of children.

Mrs. Chana Dvora Treisser

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1069)