By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Greenland and Canada

If you had told me last year the United States would threaten war to annex territory in Europe and start an economic battle with one of our greatest long-term allies, I would not have believed you. Now, I would be forced to admit that you were prophetic. Yes, our president cannot rule out violence as a way of forcing a democratic country to become part of the United States. Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, has made it clear to that it has no desire to be part of our country. Can you blame its citizens? They have free healthcare, among other things, that no one in their right mind would give up.
As for Canada: I’m not sure how our neighbor and close friend became an enemy. Seriously, I don’t recall any voters asking to start an economic war with Canada or annex it. And Canada as one state? Did our president ever look at the map? That would be one big state. (If you include the water within its borders, its territory is larger than that of the continental U.S.) Canada is divided into 10 provinces, so treating it as one state would be ridiculous. That is, if Canadians even wanted to join the U.S., which no one there has said they want. (See free healthcare above.) As for an economic war, that is probably going to hurt us more than it’s going to hurt them.

Kidnapped

Imagine if six masked men approached your daughter, wife, mother or granddaughter, refused to show any identification and whisked her away in a vehicle. If a mask man tried to do that to me, I would assume that I was being kidnapped and would fear for my life. The advice usually give to women in this position is to do anything to prevent being placed in a vehicle because you are then at risk for your life.
That’s why people are so disturbed by the fact that masked men abducted Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University graduate student. Yes, according to Snopes, which investigated videos taken of the event, this actually occurred. I could have sworn that law enforcement was supposed to identify themselves. But, hey, maybe I just watch too many law enforcement shows on TV, you know the ones, where they yell, “NCIS” or “New York City police” or “FBI” when entering an apartment or a building. 
I don’t care if Ozturk wrote an essay supporting Hamas (although there is no record of her doing so, at least as of the writing of the Snopes article). Everyone should get due process. That’s the law of the land. If we want people to follow the law, then everyone, including police and immigrant enforcement officials, should be doing the same. Kidnapping people off the street is far too close to what happened in Argentina in the 1970s. (And if you don’t know what I mean by that, you can educate yourself here.)

Hunger in the U.S.

Many of those who voted for President Donald Trump did so because they believed he would reduce food prices. Why did they believe that? Because he told them on numerous occasions he would make that happen. Not only has that not occurred, it looks like food prices will increase. Yes, I know Trump says his tariffs and other economic acts will result in price reductions in the future, but most economic analysts disagree with him. But even worse are this administration’s cuts to programs that exist to feed the hungry.
According to a Reuters article, “Food banks across the country, already strained by rising demand, say they will have less food to distribute because of at least $1 billion in federal funding cuts and pauses by the Trump administration, according to Reuters interviews with organizations in seven states.” Farmers are also struggling because the government purchases some, and in some cases all, of their produce; this reduction means they are losing a good portion of their income. 
One of the major themes of the current administration is the claim that American ideals are based on Judeo-Christian ethics. I could have sworn that both the Jewish Bible and the New Testament emphasize the importance of feeding the hungry. Unfortunately, it seems that feeding the hungry, caring for the sick and loving the stranger are no longer American values, even though the Bible – both parts – make it clear these are fundamental Judeo-Christian values.