Dear President Trump;
I am writing to you from Israel, where I have lived for the past 18 years, as one who voted for you via absentee ballot from Philadelphia, PA. Please understand that my prayers are with you, as well as with the current government here.
I am writing to you, Mr. President, regarding your response to the question posed to you by the young reporter who is an observant Jew and who represents Ami magazine (if I heard correctly).
In my humble opinion, you misunderstood this young man’s motivation regarding his question. In fact, I’d bet my last NIS (shekel) that this young man and his family voted for you. I have no doubt that this reporter meant no slur against you and meant only good and kindness in asking his question regarding what government actions are planned to be taken against antisemitic threats on institutions through the US where Jews frequent — Synagogues, community centers, etc.
I know that you recognize that antisemitism is a heinous canard and I know that throughout your lifetime, you have been a rock-solid supporter of Israel. I also know how outrageous the media, and the democratic party have been toward you — they all need to, as the saying goes, “get a life!” They need to “get over it” and move on.
This young man meant no ill-will to you. I repeat, he meant no ill-will. When you seemed to “blow him off”, equated him with the rest of the fake news media and told him to sit down, you may have crushed him and his self-respect and self-worth in ways which you would never want to happen to you.
Mr. President, please know that I am 68 1/2 years old — my birthday is 2 May, 1948 within days of Israel’s modern-day statehood. As a Jew myself, and knowing that your daughter and son-in-law are Jews, we share a history and heritage as well as centuries of expulsions, mass slaughters, pogroms, mass exterminations of millions and more. These have left scars upon we Jews, as a people, as a nation, and those scars have manifested themselves in diverse ways, whether by solidifying observance of our Torah and strong identification with Israel and our biblical roots, or, unfortunately, rebelling or by way of Marxism, liberalism, progressivism, atheism.
Mr. President, I hope that you will accept what I am about to write in the spirit of love and admiration with which I mean this: I know that as you begin your presidency, you are busy with appointments and with cleaning up the myriads messes of the past eight years — as you say, “draining the swamp.” But I urge you, as a staunch supporter, to first sit down with Ivanka and Jared for a meaningful, frank discussion of their deepest feelings as Jews and the evolutions of Jewish history. Once having achieved, intellectualized and absorbed such a discussion, I humbly ask: if you feel as if an apology to this young reporter might be appropriate?
With much respect, and high regard,
Moshe (Mark) Burt (United States Ex-pat)
Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel
Skype: mark.burt3
P.S. This will be posted to my blog which has a small readership (less than 100), aside from my weekly commentary on the Torah portion. I will be forwarding this to Ivanka and Jared only via link on Twitter.