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RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #203 (3/7/2026): I’ve Got Mail!

This Rabbinical Reflection first aired March 7, 2026 on the Dave’s Gone By video podcast.

Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflections are heard on the long-running Dave’s Gone By radio/video podcast program (davesgoneby.com) and then archived as text and audio on the Rebbe’s blog, Shalomdammit.com, where a transcript of this Reflection may be read.

Rabbi Sol is also the creator of the stage show, “Shalom Dammit! An Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon,” which played in NYC in Nov. 2011 and Aug. 2012.

More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com

More on Rabbi Sol: shalomdammit.com

TRANSCRIPT:

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for early March 2026.

My friends, I do so much talking and sermonizing in these Rabbinical Reflections, sometimes I forget that being a clergyman goes both ways. I don’t go both ways, I like the frum pussy, but in terms of relating to you, my flock, I should take more opportunities to acknowledge your responses — give feedback to your feedback, if you will. And you will.

So in this Reflection, I am skinnydipping into my mailbox to reply to your queries with the naked truth.

Back in June of last year, I expressed worry that Zohran Mamdani would become the Mayor of New York City, which, alas, came to pass. A YouTube viewer wrote, “Zohran’s refusal to acknowledge the existence of Israel as a Jewish state during the debate is telling.” Darn tootin’ it’s telling, and I told you so. Big surprise that last week’s joint attack by the United States and Israel on Iran led Mamdani to hyperventilate about what he termed “a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression.” No word about the thousands of Americans who died, directly or indirectly, at the hands of the last two cockamamie Khamenis. No memory of the American hostages held for more than a year during the Carter administration. No acknowledgement of the mass executions these dictators have ordered of their own people, all the way from 1988 through last week. Zohran, you may think President Trump is a bad guy. Sometimes he is a bad guy. But he took out a worse guy. And if you ignore the difference, you’re dumber than the left-wing schmucks who voted for you.

Also last summer, when media was running the false narrative of Palestinian children languishing because Israel was blocking their food supplies, an Arab Facebooker chided me. He wrote, “You laugh on Palestinians dying of hunger.” No, I don’t laugh on Palestinians dying of hunger. I laugh at Palestinians dying of hunger – but only because it’s not true, or if it were true, it’s because Hamas created the conditions for starvation: they started a war with an act so barbarous, starvation is too good for them. And might I add that a Jewish poster then joined the conversational thread and wrote, “Spot on, Rabbi! Preach on!” I will, my friend. And I do have a spot on my x-ray that my neurologist is looking at.

Responding to my February Reflection about anti-Zionist, semi-intellectual hypocrite Noam Chomsky showing up in the Epstein Files, a YouTube viewer with a Greek name so long you have to breathe twice in the middle of it, wrote, “God bless you, Rabbi Sol Solomon!” He followed it with emojis of an Israeli flag, a Greek flag, and two fingers making a peace sign. All I can say is thank you, Ileos! I am honored to know that you are right behind me, which is the Greek way.

Finally, a Mr. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey, writes, “Dear Rabbi Sol Solomon, Aren’t you worried that by toppling the Iranian government, we are further destabilizing a region that is already a powder keg?” Fair question. Of course I’m worried. I’m worried about everything. I worry about putting too much fabric softener in with my dress socks. But as for making the Middle East worse, is that even possible? Not to mention that after we struck Tehran, the Iranians responded by bombing not America, but Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain… Hey, maybe if we pull their coattails, they’ll bomb Lebanon and Syria, too.

After 50 years of Sharia shit, Iran has the chance to become a real country again. And when populations of nearby Caliphates and oligarchies see that change is possible, those dominos just might fall, too. Let the liberals kvetch, “How dare Donald Trump institute regime change! Only Congress can do that.” Well, since the hostage crisis, 24 Congresses had the chance to knock out the Supreme Leaders of Iran. Instead, they bobbed and weaved and allowed terrorists to land blow after blow in Israel, America, and around the world.

No question, Iran could become our next Afghanistan. But maybe it’ll be a new Romania. And unlike Dracula, that would not suck.

If you want to write to me — and why wouldn’t you? – please address your letters to shalomdammit@aol.com. That’s shalomdammit@aol.com. I admit, our mail carrier has a hard time delivering those letters, but I do get `em, and I appreciate the time you take to engage with me, particularly when you glorify and exalt me.

For now, though, it’s time to close the mailbox and wait for your missives to pour in. I can’t wait. I mean, I can wait, I will wait, but you know I embellish.

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.

RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #32 (12/11/2011): Post Office

Aired Dec. 10, 2011 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: Post Office

Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of December 11th, 2011.

Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor gloom of night, nor budget cuts will stay these couriers from the swift completion of – oh, wait, the budget-cut part. Yeah, that’ll keep them from their appointed rounds.

Starting in 2012, the United States post office will continue doing what every other company in America is doing – charging more and giving less. First, they’re gonna raise the price of a stamp from 44 cents to 45 cents. A penny for your thoughts? Oh, I think they know what we’re thinking.

But okay, it’s only a cent, and it’s easier to make change with 45 than 44 anyway. But wait, there’s more. They’re also going to close processing centers and fire workers, meaning that delivery of first-class mail will slow down by a day or two. Just what customers in a society that demands everything yesterday want. No wonder people are P.O.’d at the P.O.

But, let’s be honest. Does anybody really send a first-class letter expecting it to be there the next day? If it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight, you empty your wallet and you give it to FedEx. Or a courier service. Or a really stocky carrier pigeon.

Honestly, this whole business of first-class mail not getting first-class service – we’re used to that. If you still pay bills the old-fashioned way, write the checks a day or two earlier, just to be on the safe side. And if you’re expecting pharmaceuticals in the mail, well, you can suffer a few hours of pain and distress. It’ll just make you appreciate the medicine more when it finally arrives.

But it won’t arrive on a Saturday. That’s right, Uncle Sam will also do away with all weekend delivery. While it’s nice that they want to take Shabbos off, does it occur to you like it does to me that the post office is making cuts that will only result in people using them less? It’s a vicious cycle: revenues are down, so prices go up and services get cut, leading customers use more email, fax and Skype. This brings revenues further down. Prices go even higher, more services get cut, customers start using snail mail only for emergencies. Which makes revenues go down, prices go – all right, you get what I’m saying.

How about a new model? The post office is almost bankrupt anyway, so why not try something radical? Five cents to mail a postcard. Ten cents for a letter, $3 to mail a Christmas gift. Already, overnight mail is half the price of UPS and FedEx, but add guaranteed delivery and tracking. Make the USPS the first choice rather than the last resort. Give people a reason to run to the Post Office – “Ooh, I can send my uncle a birthday card for a dime.” “Wow, I can send my kid a care package for camp and have money left over to throw in two more candy bars.” “Hey, if I send an envelope filled with anthrax to a politician, I know it’ll be there in time for me to alert the media.”

I realize the postal service is in terrible, $14 billion debt, and that mail carriers would rather face a backyard full of Dobermans than the digital revolution. But you have two options in this world. Either you adapt and change. Or you keep doing what you’ve always done at your highest standard – and somehow find ways to make that as appealing as it used to be. Think about it. People either want a brand new Honda Civic with heated seats, satellite radio, anti-lock brakes, or they want a 1958 Plymouth Fury, painted, restored and polished to a T. What they don’t want is a 1972 Ford Pinto with a broken aerial and just enough horsepower to get you to the Safeway in one piece.

I just hope the post office brings its jalopy to the shop before it crashes on the information super highway. And when those 28,000 workers get laid off next year, well, the post office can save about 13 grand if they send the pink slips via email. Just a thought.

This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches.

–> https://davesgoneby.net/?p=29464

Tag: mail

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #203 (3/7/2026): I’ve Got Mail!

Dave’s Gone By Skit: RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #032 (12/11/2011): Post Office