CHOCHMAS NASHIM: BALAK: ELECTIONS,
PEARSALL DEVELOPMENT
By: Suri Davis
It’s insulting already how there has not been one Orthodox woman put on a meaningful election ballot in Nassau County. The last time there was a meaningful Jewish female candidate was Carol Berman: Wikipedia:
Carol Berman (born September 21, 1923) is a New York Democratic Party politician from Lawrence, in Nassau County, New York, United States, who served in the New York State Senate from 1979 to 1984. Berman first achieved attention for her efforts to prevent the landing of Concorde and other supersonic transports at nearby John F. Kennedy International Airport.[1]
Berman had been part of the leadership of the Emergency Coalition to Stop the SST, which sought to stop Concorde from using Kennedy Airport, whose runway approaches pass over her Lawrence home. Protesters led by Berman and other groups opposed to Concorde ran a series of protests at Kennedy Airport starting in May 1977 in which as many as 1,000 cars drove along the main airport roadway at the 6:00 p.m. peak, driving at 5 to 10 miles per hour.[2] Berman announced in August 1978 that her group was seeking to raise $100,000 to be used to help fund a lawsuit against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and encouraged other area residents to sue the Port Authority.[3]
Berman had been a district aide in the offices of Assemblyman Eli Wager and of Representative Herbert Tenzer. She had been vice chairman of the Nassau County Democratic Committee and was a delegate for Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson at the 1976 Democratic National Convention in New York City.[4]
Election history[edit]
Berman was a member of the New York State Senate from 1979 to 1984, sitting in the 183rd, 184th and 185th New York State Legislatures. She was first elected in November 1978 in the 9th District which included portions of southwestern Nassau County, including the Atlantic Ocean communities of Point Lookout and Long Beach, along with the Five Towns, and then crossed over into southeastern Queens, including Rosedale, Springfield Gardens and South Jamaica, all of which encircle Kennedy Airport. The district was split evenly between Queens and Nassau, contained roughly equal numbers of African American and White voters, and had a strong Democratic majority. The New York Times opined in 1979 that “Berman could make a lifetime career in the Senate seat since the district is predominantly Democratic with a large Jewish population in Nassau and a large black population in the Queens portion.” In the Senate she served on the Corporation and Authorities Committee, the Transportation Committee and was the ranking minority member on the Commerce and Economic Development Committee.[4]
In 1984 Skelos challenged Berman in a rematch. This time, Skelos, who had President Ronald Reagan visit the district and campaign for him, defeated Berman in a two-way race.[9][10] Berman challenged Skelos in their third consecutive state senate contest in 1986. Skelos, running on the Republican and Conservative party lines, defeated the Democratic-Liberal candidate Berman in a three-way race.[11][12]
On the last day of the Republican convention in the Garden City Hotel this year, I happened to have entered the wrong room, a room filled with about 400 white men, who were core Republican influencers. I spoke with a man there who told me jokingly, “it is the women’s hater” club. No doubt.
It is time for an Orthodox woman to get on the ballot not for library or school district, for Congresswoman and Senator, and Town of Hempstead and Nassau County office. Tonights election for Sanitary District Commissioner represents a woman who was nominated by the Republican Old Guard and an Orthodox man, who is challenging the old guard. There is Howard Koppel, Ari Brown, Bruce Blakeman and tonight Gabriel Boxer. Do you see an Orthodox woman among them?
I was interviewed by the Republican party for a possible position in government. There were a dozen people interviewing me at once, 11 white man and one black woman. The Republicans talk diversity in Nassau County, and they sprinkle a few around for show, but it is still an all men’s club and it has to stop NOW. Write:
JOSEPH G. CAIRO, JR.
Chairman
Nassau County Republican Committee
164 Post Ave, Westbury, NY 11590
Let the Republican Party know you want candidates who represent our community, which includes Orthodox women.
PEARSALL PROJECT
Yes there will be more traffic. Yes more development will tax our infrastructure, and yes, we need more housing for young couples and those who want to move out of their homes into small residences within our community. There should be a balance.
WHAT IS INEXCUSABLE is that in the development of the Woodmere Club and now Pearsall, the governments should have been more vigilant, and still should be, to look at the zoning in their communities and change the zoning so that these developments cannot “take us by surprise.” There should be universal zoning which disallows development which heavily burdens the village/town and its infrastructure. Wake up government, get it together, review your zoning permits and change what is necessary NOW.
What’s nice about democracy is that we have the ability to promote what we the people feel is correct by the power of the ballot. Go to the ballots tonight to vote for Sanitation Commissioner attend the Cedarhurst meeting tonight, tell Town Hall what your thoughts are, and if you feel they are representing your interests, ensure you re-elect them when the time comes and thank them for their tireless efforts on behalf of the community.
King Balak hired Bilam to curse the Jewish people. Bilam replied “mah ekov, lo kaboh El/I cant curse a nation that G-d doesn’t want to curse.” One might ask, Bilam desires to curse the Jews, G-d has given all people the choice to do good or evil, how could it be that G-d prevents Bilam from cursing the Jews? It appears to me thusly: If Bilam did not believe in G-d, he would have believed in his own omnipotence, he could have uttered the curse words, but nothing would have happened, and his reputation would have been ruined. It is because he believed in G-d, and that his power to bless or curse a nation lie in G-d’s powers that he knew that cursing the Jews could come about only if G-d willed it so. At first Bilam went through the motions of attempting to curse the Jews, when he opened his mouth, praises came forth.
Brilliantly, Bilam came up with the idea of seducing the Jews to sin, so got would anger and then permit Bilam to curse the Jews, and the plan worked. He brought women to seduce the Jews to idolatry and adultery, and at that moment, the Jews were vulnerable to curse.
HIshtadlut/human effort v. ratzon Hashem/the will of G-d. As to the elections, it will be determined by the number of voters who aren’t too tired to go to a remote area of Lawrence to cast their votes, and that is human effort coupled with G-d’s influence over the will to vote v. the will to sit in a chair and smoke a cigar and relax.
As to Pearsall Project, Gam zeh, v’gam zeh, it’s good to have more residences, and it’s good to have less traffic, in either case, it is the will of G-d in the hands of the wise Mayor and Trustees of the Village of Cedarhurst, whom G-d determined will grapple with this issue. As the Lubavitcher Rebbe said, think good and it will be good. Mah tovu ohalechah yaakov/how pleasant are your tents, Jacob.
I’ll see you at the Gural JCC dinner.
Good Shabbos.
-Suri