BDE Mayor Koch | Imamother

oodlesofnoodles

Fri, Feb 01 2013, 7:18 am

Former Mayor Ed Koch passed away this morning at the age of 88. He had been in and out of the hospital for the past few months.

He is credited with helping to turn NYC around.

etky

Fri, Feb 01 2013, 7:37 am

oodlesofnoodles wrote:

Former Mayor Ed Koch passed away this morning at the age of 88. He had been in and out of the hospital for the past few months.

He is credited with helping to turn NYC around.

DH told me he saw it on the news about an hour ago. I was sad - he was such a character and did a lot of good. I hadn't realized he was so old. He seemed like one of those ageless, indestructible types.

Isramom8

Fri, Feb 01 2013, 7:41 am

This makes me sad.

Baruch Dayan Emes.

I was offered the chance once to march alongside him at the Israel Day Parade, but my friend said it wasn't tznius, so I turned it down.

Isramom8

Fri, Feb 01 2013, 8:05 am

Full, very interesting article:
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com......html

ChossidMom

Fri, Feb 01 2013, 8:29 am

Isn't it just so sad that he wanted to be buried in a Christian cemetery?

Isramom8

Fri, Feb 01 2013, 8:32 am

ChossidMom wrote:

Isn't it just so sad that he wanted to be buried in a Christian cemetery?

He wanted to be buried in Manhattan and supposedly that was the only available spot. He wrote on his tombstone that he is a proud Jew.

Conflict-ridden, like him.

zaq

Fri, Feb 01 2013, 9:35 am

After they made Ed Koch, they broke the mold. John Lindsay may have coined the term "Fun City", but Ed Koch was New York's fun mayor. Right up to the very last, he was never, ever boring. "How'm I doing?" will live on in our memories.

imamiri

Fri, Feb 01 2013, 10:30 am

BDE.

rae gi

Fri, Feb 01 2013, 10:37 am

Ed Koch was one of a kind. BDE.

BetsyTacy

Fri, Feb 01 2013, 11:29 am

In 2008, the New York Times wrote a piece about Koch's choice to be buried in Trinity Church Cemetery.
This is a quote:

He called a number of rabbis to see if this was doable,” he said. “I was going to do it anyway, but it would be nice if it were doable traditionally.”

He said he had been advised to request that the gate nearest his plot be inscribed as “the gate for the Jews,” and the cemetery agreed.

He was also instructed to have rails installed around his plot, so he ordered them.

Being buried in Manhattan, Mr. Koch said, would also make it easier for former constituents to visit.

“I’m extending an open invitation,” he said.

BDE

seeker

Fri, Feb 01 2013, 3:44 pm

Isramom8 wrote:

Full, very interesting article:
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com......html

Most interesting line of the article: "He was a champion of toeiva rights." And we thought imamother's autocorrect was interesting... LOL

evie

Sat, Feb 02 2013, 2:32 pm

BDE

Hakol Letovah

Sun, Feb 03 2013, 6:30 pm

BDE. He will be missed. He asked to write "shma Yisrael" full posuk on his grave as well as "I am a Jew".
He was a jew lover and an honest leader.
We need more like him...

etky

Mon, Feb 04 2013, 2:58 am

Hakol Letovah wrote:

BDE. He will be missed. He asked to write "shma Yisrael" full posuk on his grave as well as "I am a Jew".
He was a jew lover and an honest leader.
We need more like him...

Indeed - also for his staunch, outspoken and unwavering support and love of the State of Israel. His death, along with that of Hawaiian Senator Daniel Inouye last month is a huge loss.

mimivan

Mon, Feb 04 2013, 6:44 am

we have lost so many friends of Israel in America...the actor Ron Silver was outspoken about his pro-Israel stance after 9-11, but he died of yena malcha, Senator Daniel Inouye, who was vociferous in his support of Israel, died a few months ago, and now Mayor Koch, who constantly reminded the Democratic party of how they have abandoned the cause. Who else is left? Only Senator Chuck Schumer, who after shmoozing with this anti-semite Israel Hater Hagel a bit, decided it was okay for him to be Sec of Defense.

Meanwhile, the American left abandons Israel and the U.N passes resolution after resolution against us, ignoring the atrocities in Syria and Darfur. What is Hashem trying to tell us? Koch represented a Democratic party I used to love and there is nothing now standing between them and complete sympathy with our enemies.

Baruch dayan he emet....b'emet.

vintagebknyc

Mon, Feb 04 2013, 7:03 am

mimivan wrote:

we have lost so many friends of Israel in America...the actor Ron Silver was outspoken about his pro-Israel stance after 9-11, but he died of yena malcha

I always laugh when I hear his name... of all the dreams I've ever had in my life, the only one that every involved anything amorous was with ron silver, who told me he loved me in the dream.

vintagebknyc

Mon, Feb 04 2013, 7:14 am

also... koch did a whole lot of amazing things and changed the landscape of the city. but there was a whole lot he did not do, and I feel we should look at the whole picture (as most newspapers did by the end of the day of his death):

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/......html

The New York Times revised its Friday obituary of former New York City mayor Ed Koch after several observers noticed that it lacked any mention of his controversial record on AIDS.

The paper's obituary, written by longtime staffer Robert D. MacFadden, weighed in at 5,500 words. Yet, in the first version of the piece, AIDS was mentioned exactly once, in a passing reference to "the scandals and the scourges of crack cocaine, homelessness and AIDS." The Times also prepared a 22-minute video on Koch's life that did not mention AIDS.

This struck many as odd; after all, Koch presided over the earliest years of AIDS, and spent many years being targeted by gay activists who thought he was not doing nearly enough to stop the spread of the disease. Legendary writer and activist Larry Kramer called Koch "a murderer of his own people" because the mayor was widely known as a closeted gay man.

The Times' omission did not go unnoticed on Twitter:

@johnjcook
John Cook
One thing I can't tell from this NYT Koch obit: was AIDS a thing while he was mayor? How'd he do?

@lucymadison
Lucy Madison
In 8-pg NYT Koch obit, the word "AIDS" appears once, in passing ref to "the scourges of crack cocaine, homelessness and AIDS"

@natives
Nat Ives
zero(!) mention of AIDS crisis in 22 min-intvw? RT @CBSMatt: Must watch this: RT @nytimes: Video: Ed Koch's Last Word http://t.co/BwSypt56

@MarkHarrisNYC
Mark Harris
In its epic-length obit of Ed Koch, the NYTimes completely omits any mention of his (non-) reaction to the AIDS crisis.

In response, the paper's obituary editor Bill McDonald told New York magazine that the issue was being "addressed."

A few hours later, three paragraphs were added in. The meatiest one read, "Mr. Koch was also harshly criticized for what was called his slow, inadequate response to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Hundreds of New Yorkers were desperately ill and dying in a baffling public health emergency, and critics, especially in the gay community, accused him of being a closeted homosexual reluctant to confront the crisis for fear of being exposed."

Even there, the Times got it wrong, as journalism professor Joe Cutbirth noted:

@jcutbirth
Joe Cutbirth
Times revises Koch obituary to report "hundreds" of New Yorkers sick of dying of AIDS in the 80s. The number is actually closer to 30,000.

Isramom8

Mon, Feb 04 2013, 8:15 am

When a Jew with some merits dies, appropriate behavior on our part is is to say baruch dayan emes and mention true, good things about the niftar.

vintagebknyc

Mon, Feb 04 2013, 8:18 am

Isramom8 wrote:

When a Jew with some merits dies, appropriate behavior on our part is is to say baruch dayan emes and mention true, good things about the niftar.

a: you'll note that I did say things about his merits.
b: I don't appreciate your questioning my level of frumkiet (sp?)

merelyme

Mon, Feb 04 2013, 8:23 am

vintagebknyc wrote:

Isramom8 wrote:

When a Jew with some merits dies, appropriate behavior on our part is is to say baruch dayan emes and mention true, good things about the niftar.

a: you'll note that I did say things about his merits.
b: I don't appreciate your questioning my level of frumkiet (sp?)

Where is your level of frumkeit questioned?