I am very grateful to The Philadelphia Inquirer for printing my letter.

To the editor:

I feel sickened watching Donald Trump play Russian roulette with lives—taking over the Washington, D.C., police force as he plans his Midas ballroom, revealing his ruthless endgame: Do all possible to rule out a 2028 presidential election. I feel rage watching Benjamin Netanyahu turn Israel, once respected as a principled democracy and trusted friend of the U.S., into a pariah nation. I cannot control a racing heart and tears as I see the tormented faces of the starving in Gaza, the wide-eyed children too weak to cry, and the agonized faces of Israelis, waiting to know the fate of their missing loved ones.

It is necessary to understand what causes hatred to destroy decency, allows envy and jealousy to destroy love. And to unite to protect ourselves, our country, our future, from leaders with these deficits.

Psychologically, I believe Trump was terrified of his father’s capacity for cruelty, which he saw destroy his brother. Trump knew if he disappointed his father, this rage would be turned on him. To protect himself, he became his father’s bullying clone. Netanyahu lives in the shadow of his older brother, Yonatan (Yoni), his parents’ adored oldest son and favorite child. Revered in Israel, Yoni was the architect of the brilliant, successful 1976 Entebbe hostage rescue mission, where he died at age 30.

Netanyahu’s blind determination to hold onto power has led to world condemnation of himself and his country. Going back to ancient times, Abraham’s abandonment of his older son, Ishmael, begs impact examination — it has led to centuries of Arab hatred toward his father’s chosen son, Isaac, an embodiment of the Jewish people.

Trump does not have the inner resources to recognize the damage of bullying and shaming. Netanyahu will never see the roots of his refusal to grow honorably to maturity. But the long standing pain of hatred, humiliation, envy, and rivalry between brothers can be healed when awareness is strengthened by action. Jews worldwide must determine somehow, someway to recognize the horrific impact of Ishmael’s rejection—and take the lead in plans to enter a decimated Gaza under U.N. protection, bringing food and medical supplies, offering healing and preservation. In this way, working together, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, parents and offspring, will transform desert into homeland. Millions worldwide will not only embrace this effort. They will actively participate in it.

SaraKay Smullens
Philadelphia

Published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 22, 2025

I am very pleased that my review of this excellent series appears in The New Social Worker. Its societal implications are profound.

Read the full review on socialworker.com

by SaraKay Smullens, MSW, LCSW, DCSW, CGP, CFLE, BCD

     However full your schedule, find time for The Pitt, nominated for 13 Emmys in major categories. You will be rewarded by a riveting 15-episode Max series, each episode documenting an hour in the 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. shift of Michael Robinavitch, MD, a.k.a. Dr. Robbie, played by Noah Wyle. In real life, Wyle’s mother was an OR nurse who took home a brain retractor to use as a butter knife, as well as gauze and tubing for her kids to play with. Wyle continued to cut his medical teeth on ER, the highly acclaimed Chicago-based medical drama, winner of 23 Emmys, which ran from 1994 to 2009, in which he played medical student John Carter.

     Robbie is the leading force behind the effectiveness of emergency med physicians, residents, nurses, ambulance drivers, hospital administrators, and one highly adept social worker. This team sees, faces, and treats everything you can imagine, including but not limited to patients presenting with heart attacks, addiction, measles, problem pregnancies, a fentanyl overdose, and mass shootings. All of this is amidst lack of funding for an acclaimed, financially strapped teaching hospital, lacking staff and space, facing patient dissatisfaction as well as targeted violence against them.

     “The Pitt” is shorthand for Pittsburgh Medical Trauma Hospital. It is also how employees reference the ER. But, to me, this title also holds far deeper meaning. The Pitt is symbolic of societal pitfalls, such as the breakdown of our crucial public health system, and the subsequent melding of both public and professional burnout, which—if not addressed—causes both withdrawal and dangerous acting out, each adaptation destructive to our vulnerable democracy. It begs the question: How can our country be the only existing democracy without universal health care? This leads to further examination: Can seeing, experiencing overload and suffering in a stunning series promote societal changes necessary to protect our collective future?

At this tragic time in the Middle East, where, like previous leaders, Hamas has no concern what-so-ever about the well being of the Palestinians -- how the millions invested in pervasive, underground tunnels could have benefited them!  -- and when Israel, like the US, has a leader devoid of any semblance of character, I was pleased that The Washington Post printed my letter about suffering, traumatized children.

To the editor:

Regarding the Aug. 1 Style article “How Ms. Rachel built her neighborhood”:

Undoubtedly, Rachel Griffin Accurso, better known as Ms. Rachel, is a kind, sensitive talent who well deserves the success of her appealing videos for children. Still, I wish she featured both a Palestinian child and an Israeli child who was taken hostage by Hamas. Accurso says she cares for all children. However, in only featuring a Palestinian child, she seemingly picked a side.

Like Accurso, I adored the comforting messages depicted by “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” During a horrific divorce process, my little girls, who were 4 and 7, watched the show with rapt attention, and I joined them, never wanting it to conclude. When it inevitably did, I would assure my daughters that Mister Rogers would visit us the next day. (On Fridays, I would show them a calendar and point to Monday.) However, Rogers’s decision to invite a man of color to join the talent of his show is in no way analogous to Accurso’s decision to platform only one side of the horrifying Israel-Gaza war.

SaraKay Smullens
Philadelphia

Published in The Washington Post August 7, 2025

You may be interested in my review of the documentary, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor”. https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/reviews-commentary/wont-you-be-my-neighbor-mister-rogers-return-visit-fills-urgent-void/