BoroPark24 Editorial: Questions we Need to ask Ourselves Before Today is Over

As a website that has its finger on the pulse of life in Boro Park, as an organization that reports on so much of what takes place in and around our neighborhood and our community, and which cares deeply about matters affecting the quality of life of Boro Parkers—in ruchniyus as well as b’gashmiyus—we put forth the following questions in an effort to encourage our readers to make their voices heard:

 Have we enjoyed watching New York City unravel?

 We have all watched the descent of New York into lawlessness and chaos. We have watched in horror as people looted establishments and individuals with impunity. Aside from emboldening these criminals, it has driven businesses out, and further eroded the quality of life of New York City residents—which directly affects our community.

 Have we not been frightened witnessing instance after instance of our brothers and sisters being assaulted on our streets, with law enforcement doing precisely nothing about it?

 You have watched it here, and you have watched it elsewhere: Jewish men and women being viciously assaulted simply for the crime of being obviously Jewish. If that doesn’t shake us to the core—75 years after the Holocaust—what will? Had this happened to any other minority, there would have been riots in the streets, and a forceful response from law enforcement. Yet, we have been abandoned.

 How has it made us feel when elected officials at the highest echelons of government have not hesitated to single us out, and practically scapegoat us for spreading disease, a la Nazi Germany?

 Have we asked ourselves how they dared to do so? Would they have dared to do so to any other minority community? It is clear that had we been an engaged community who votes en masse, they would’ve have dared to attack us either. Today, we can change that perception.

 How have we enjoyed the attacks on our yeshiva system, and the very real looming threat of more government intervention in our chinuch?

 As has been reported here again and again, the onslaught from the State education department is very real, and continues apace at this very moment. The next mayor will determine how to implement and enforce regulations. They will have no reason to protect us if we continue to stay home.

 Do we really want change?

 The forces aligned on the other side—leading an intense assault on values of law and order, and tearing down Torah values and our yeshiva system—active, engaged and galvanized. If they prove to get out to vote, and our community stays home, can we really expect our politicians to lift a finger to protect our quality of life… and our way of life?!

 If we want our politicians accountable to us, we must earn that accountability by voting (not by our neighbors voting, but ourselves getting down to the polls and casting a ballot).

 We implore everyone in the community to please take the few minutes to make our voice heard as a united community:

 So we can stem the unraveling.

So we can protect our community from physical harm.

So we can earn the respect of our elected officials who will depend on our votes to stay in power.

So we can protect every value that is near and dear to us which is currently under attack.

 Vote. For us, for our children, for our future.