Last night I gathered at my synagogue with others to mourn the deaths of the six hostages murdered this week by Hamas. Just now I finished watching the livestream funeral from Israel of one of them, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American. So heart-wrenching and tragic. Many of the speakers talked about how “we failed you” in regard to Hersh and not letting his death be in vain. For over 330 days he and five other hostages lived in captivity and then were murdered by Hamas just prior to being rescued.
Enough is enough. This must all end. All governments — Israeli, American, all Arab countries and every country in the world — should be saying enough is enough. The remaining 101 hostages, those alive and those who have died, must be released now. All the fighting in the region must stop. Let quiet, not gunshots and screaming, pervade the region. Let there be peace for all the people. May Hersh’s memory always be a blessing.
Sheldon Berkowitz, St. Paul
In response to Jack Uldrich’s commentary “In praise of quiet competence” (Strib Voices, Sept. 2), I’d like to point out that Labor Day is a holiday celebrating the heroism of organized union members who faced violence, arrest and even death to end child labor and secure basic rights like bathroom breaks, eight-hour workdays, five-day workweeks and safe working conditions for all workers. The example Uldrich gives of four men being underpaid to risk their lives to do a job that multiple engineers said could not be done safely or cheaply is an example of the kind of business greed and disregard for human life that unions fight against every day.
Labor Day is a day that celebrates the heroism and sacrifice of our labor ancestors in the same way that Memorial Day celebrates the heroism and sacrifices of our military predecessors.
