A Tribute To The Kennedy Family – Ask Not What G-d Can Do For You, But What You Can Do For G-d

BS”D

I am writing this article in hopes that this brings an end to the suffering of the Kennedy family with the news of the sudden passing of Robert Kennedy’s granddaughter. Saoirse Roisin Kennedy-Hill, was 22years old and so that number 22 comes up again.

I am not trying to take away from the sorrow the Kennedy family is feeling at this moment. Even when I talked about President Reagan’s assassination attempt vs. that of the assassination of JFK, I refused to detail anything negative about JFK’s father in a previous Blog. But here I just want to include few items which will help readers understand how he viewed our people, and the fact that the Kennedy family refused to follow in JFK’s father’s footsteps.

In fact, in the movie Golda, Ingrid Bergman playing Golda is quoting JFK in her conversation with Frank Cover; who played Hubert Humphrey, in a way that indicates she also admired JFK for who he was.

That was my impression as well, and this is why by quoting JFK’s father I in no way intend to hurt the Kennedy’s feelings. I just wanted to point out the facts I have uncovered. And to say I admire them for being a friendly family toward our people.

NY Times May 1, 1964

BOSTON, April 30 (AP)—Joseph F. Dineen, author and lecturer and a former reporter for The Boston Globe, died tonight  after a long illness. He was 67 years old.

Mr. Dineen, who retired in 1956 after 34 years with The Globe, gained national attention for his stories of the $1.2 million Brinks robbery in 1950. His book, “Anatomy of a Crime,” was made into the movie, “Six Bridges to Cross.”

He also wrote on Popes Pius XI and XII and the late Boston politician, James M. Curley, and a study of the Kennedy family.

Kennedy told the reporter Joe Dineen:

It is true that I have a low opinion of some Jews in public office and in private life. That does not mean that I. … believe they should be wiped off the face of the Earth. … Jews who take an unfair advantage of the fact that theirs is a persecuted race do not help much. … Publicizing unjust attacks upon the Jews may help to cure the injustice, but continually publicizing the whole problem only serves to keep it alive in the public mind.

According to Harvey Klemmer, who served as one of Kennedy’s embassy aides, Kennedy habitually referred to Jews as “kikes or sheenies”. Kennedy allegedly told Klemmer that “[some] individual Jews are all right, Harvey, but as a race they stink. They spoil everything they touch.”^[42] When Klemmer returned from a trip to Germany and reported the pattern of vandalism and assaults on Jews by Nazis, Kennedy responded, “Well, they brought it on themselves.”^[46]

Remember those last words of JFK’s father, who agreed basically with the quote that appeared in my last Blog regarding the voyage of the St. Louis.

When we talk about Tzut Avot  it is  quite true that children can suffer for many generations  from the actions of a parent or parents.  And unfortunately this has come true for the Kennedy family.

Here is a brief history of what the Kennedy family has had to endure until today-

Kennedy curse

From Wikipedia

The Kennedy curse is a term for a series of deaths and calamities involving members of the American Kennedy family.^{[1][2][3][3][4][5][6][7][8]} Ted Kennedy publicly wondered whether a “curse actually did hang over all the Kennedys” during his own testimony about the Chappaquiddick incident in 1969.^[9] However, skeptics argue that many of the events are normal, and that it is not improbable for a large extended family to experience them.^[10][11]

Chronology

Events that have been cited as evidence of the family’s misfortunes include:

• 1941 — Rosemary Kennedywas often believed to have been intellectually disabled, and due to her severe mood swings and the worry that she would damage the Kennedy family reputation,^[12] her father, Joseph Sr., arranged in secret for her to undergo a lobotomy. The lobotomy instead left her unable to walk or speak well, and as a result, Rosemary remained institutionalized until her death in 2005.^{[4][5][6][13][14]} Rosemary’s condition inspired her sister, Eunice, to initiate the Special Olympics in 1962.^[12]
• August 12, 1944 — Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.died when his plane exploded over East Suffolk, England, as part of Project Anvil during World War II.^{[citation needed]}
• May 13, 1948 — Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, daughter of Joseph Sr. and Rose Kennedy, died in a plane crash in France.^{[4][5][6][14]}
• December 19, 1961 — Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.suffered a massive stroke which left him paralyzed on his right side. Thereafter, he suffered from aphasia, which severely affected his ability to speak.^[15]
• August 9, 1963 — Patrick Bouvier Kennedydied of infant respiratory distress syndrome two days after his premature birth (which itself occurred on the 20th anniversary of his father’s World War II rescue). Jackie missed the funeral because she was still recovering from the C-section at Otis Air Force Base.^{[4][6][13][16]}
• November 22, 1963 — S. PresidentJohn F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald was shot dead by Jack Ruby two days later before he could stand trial. In 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin, but in 1979 the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy and that Oswald did not act alone.^[17]
• June 19, 1964 — S. SenatorTed Kennedy was involved in a plane crash in which one of his aides and the pilot were killed. Ted was pulled from the wreckage by fellow senator Birch Bayh and spent weeks in a hospital recovering from a broken back, a punctured lung, broken ribs, and internal bleeding.^{[4][5][14][18]}
• June 5, 1968 — U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedywas assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in Los Angeles immediately following his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary. Sirhan pleaded guilty to Robert’s murder and is serving a life sentence at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility.^{[4][5][6][14]}
• July 18, 1969 — In the Chappaquiddick incident, Ted Kennedy accidentally drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, which fatally trapped his 28-year-old passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, inside.^{[4][5][6][7][14]}Ted pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of the accident causing personal injury.^[19] In his televised statement a week later, Ted stated that on the night of the incident he wondered “whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys.”^[9][20][21]
• August 13, 1973 — Joseph P. Kennedy IIwas the driver of a Jeep that crashed and left his passenger, Pam Kelley, paralyzed.^[4][6][13]
• November 17, 1973 — Edward M. Kennedy Jr., then aged 12, had to have his right leg surgically amputated due to bone cancer; he underwent a long, difficult, experimental two-year drug treatment to cure the cancer.^[22][23]
• April 25, 1984 — David A. Kennedydied of a cocaine and pethidine overdose in a Palm Beach, Florida hotel room.^{[4][5][6][13][14]}
• April 1, 1991 — William Kennedy Smithwas arrested and charged with the rape of a young woman at the Kennedy estate in Palm Beach, Florida. The subsequent trial attracted extensive media coverage.^[24] Smith was acquitted.^{[1][3][4][13]}
• December 31, 1997 — Michael LeMoyne Kennedydied in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado.^{[1][4][5][6][13][14]}
• July 16, 1999 — John F. Kennedy Jr.died when his plane he was piloting, a Piper Saratoga, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard due to pilot error and spatial disorientation. His wife and sister-in-law were also on board and also died.^{[4][5][6][14]}
• September 16, 2011 — Kara Kennedydied of a heart attack while exercising in a Washington, D.C. health club at age 51. Kara had reportedly suffered from lung cancer nine years earlier, but she had recovered after the removal of part of her right lung.^[25][26]
• May 16, 2012 — Mary Richardson Kennedycommitted suicide on the grounds of her home in Bedford, Westchester County, New York.^[14][27]
• August 1, 2019 — Saoirse Roisin Kennedy-Hill, 22-year-old granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, was found dead of a suspected drug overdose at the Kennedy Compoundin Hyannis Port, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.^[28]

In summary, I hope that the Kennedy misfortunes have now come to an end.

If anything, this so-called Kennedy Curse should be transferred to another family who has a family history of refusing to make peace with our people and now the State of Israel. And that goes back for many, many generations.

And to quote JFK in his famous speech with a slight twist-

Ask Not What G-d Can Do For You, But What You Can Do For G-d

Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov