Luke Ford

How many kinder were able to attend Yeshiva because of the tzedaka that this enabled?

Chaim Amalek: “I’m thinking of establishing a Fair Play for Sheldon Silver Committee to fight the antisemitic Obama administration as it seeks to take out our leaders. If they can topple Silver, Goldman cannot be far behind and then Hollywood. Yidden Unite!”

From the comments section in Vosizneias: “Shelly Silver is a politician who has shown a kiddush Hashem all his years in his behaviors as a politician. I don’t know if he is guilty or not guilty. But to all nay sayers out there, it is his liberal agenda that brought an increase in food stamps , medicaid, Yeshiva college tuition assistance and various other assistance that is helping us yidden cope in todays expensive NYC. You may not agree with him but he has done good for us.”

REPORT:

The powerful speaker of the New York State Assembly, Sheldon Silver, was arrested on federal corruption charges on Thursday and accused of using the power of his office to solicit millions in bribes and kickbacks, according to court documents.

The arrest of Mr. Silver, a Democrat from the Lower East Side of Manhattan who has served as speaker for more than two decades, sent shock waves through the political establishment and upended the new legislative session.

I prefer to remember the good things Sheldon did, as elaborated in a March 23, 2014 New York Times article:

Nearly four decades ago, a new assemblyman named Sheldon Silver and his young protégé escorted Edward I. Koch, then a mayoral candidate, through the Orthodox Jewish enclave on Manhattan’s Lower East Side where the two had both grown up.

It was the first day of Rosh Hashana, 1977, and Mr. Koch and his opponent, Mario M. Cuomo, had agreed not to campaign, even as they were locked in a frantic runoff for the Democratic nomination.

But the air of religious observance provided cover for Mr. Koch to walk along Grand Street with his two new friends, shaking the hands of influential rabbis and throwing bread into the East River, part of the ritual casting off of sins.

Six days later, Mr. Koch carried the Jewish vote and won the primary. His team long remained grateful for the guided tour by Mr. Silver and the protégé, William E. Rapfogel, then a recent college graduate who ran his own Jewish newspaper.