[](/sites/default/files/uploads/2012/05/r-AMERICAN-CROSSROADS-SUPER-PAC-large570.gif)In a turn of events The Huffington Post called “eye-catching,” Dr. Irving Moskowitz recently donated $1 million to American Crossroads, the Karl Rove-linked super PAC. What is more “eye-catching” is that anyone in the Jewish community can support Obama – the worst U.S. president Israel has ever faced. The great Jewish religious leader, Hillel, one of the most important figures in Jewish history, said: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am for myself, what am ‘I’? And if not now, when?”
Dr. Irving Moskowitz and his wife Cherna epitomize the essence of what Hillel spoke – acting and working tirelessly for the people of Israel. And they do it with tremendous self-sacrifice, facing perpetual negative publicity and threats to their safety. There are those in the media who have an obsession with these Jewish heroes – and what is it that has caused this obsession? The Moskowitzs have devoted their lives to their love for the Jewish people. An Orthodox Jew who lost 120 relatives in the Holocaust, Dr. Moskowitz asks: “What could be more natural for a person with [my] upbringing than to want to help his people in Israel who are being surrounded by people that want to destroy the country?”
A Jew can buy a home in Harlem or East Los Angeles, Moscow or Tokyo. Is there a reason that a Jew (even one named Moskowitz) can’t buy a home in any area of Jerusalem? Does not the whole world speak of human rights, equality amongst people and recognize the rights of Jews as equals? So why this big news about a Jew who is so passionate about helping his people? Universally, the Jewish community and every single Israeli government since 1967 has been firm that Jerusalem will remain united under Israeli control – one of the few things that all of Israel (and nearly every Jew in the world) agrees on. Moskowitz puts his money where his mouth is: putting facts on the ground and ensuring that Jerusalem remains the eternal and undivided capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Worldwide, Jews should stand up and say: “Thank you, Cherna & Dr. Irving Moskowitz.”
Media can spread misinformation with words like “occupation” and “settlements,” but in reality, as Mrs. Moskowitz has said, “It is a continuation of a 2,000-year-old habit of Jews being told where they can and cannot live. This spanned from the ghettos of medieval Europe, to severe zoning restrictions in czarist Russia and finally to the edicts of Nazism where we were eventually told that we could not live at all.”
I have known these fine people personally for many years – and there are so many stories which are untold regarding the amazing things the Moskowitzs do quietly, away from the glare of the cameras. The Moskowitz Foundation provides millions of dollars annually to help people in need regardless of race, creed, politics or religion. As Dr. Moskowitz says, “I remember growing up hungry, but I cannot sit idly by and watch children in our community grow up without food to eat.”
One wonders what other community leader is condemned for helping so many people. The Moskowitzs’ latest donation, which didn’t capture worldwide headlines, was $1.5 million for the construction of a California middle school sports complex. Is California not occupied territory of the American Indians? The story that the media should be telling is a very simple one: these humble, decent grandparents have devoted their lives to helping the Jewish people. They have been needed in Jerusalem and Israel for many years, and have delivered. This modern day Maccabee made his largest donation to an American political race to date because of the vast importance of this presidential race to the Jewish people.
I am blessed to have known the Moskowitz family for many years. They know their way is right and are concerned with good deeds and doing the right thing – as these holy people do. At the Passover Seder, we recently sang “Next Year in Jerusalem.” Any Jew who believes that Jerusalem is Jewish and must remain united can only say thank you for all that the Moskowitzs do. As Irving Moskowitz says: “After 2,000 years of sacrifice for the dream of returning to Jerusalem, we cannot allow it to be taken away.”
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