Five Towns Jewish Home 10.12.23

October 12, 2023

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Dear Readers,

S

ometimes, there are no words.

Sometimes, the pain is so great, so penetrating, so piercing, that words are inadequate. They are too finite to describe the agony and the aching, the grief and the sorrow. You are left gasping, heaving, doubled over in the magnitude of the horror.

I think that most of us felt so stunned by the terror of what we were hearing and witnessing that words became trapped in our throats. The reports of the slaughter were too heavy to bear, too horrifying to comprehend. Men and women, babies and grandmothers, whole families, blocks of houses, sleeping soldiers – a pogrom we could never have imagined.

On Shabbos, when we first heard of the massacre, I was told that there were reports of 300 people killed. Three hundred people! Three hundred people who had eaten dinner the night before, brushed their teeth, hugged their parents and children, and went to sleep. Three hundred people who had hopes and dreams, worries and concerns. Three hundred people who were looking forward to spending another day at school or at work or on vacation.

Three hundred people who were murdered by sadistic savages who thirst for Jewish blood.

But then, on Simchas Torah, we heard that the number of those who were killed rose to 500. Then the numbers increased to 700. Today, on Wednesday morning, we are hearing that 1,200 Israelis were massacred by Hamas terrorists this week.

And I reminded myself, as I grieved for my brothers and sisters, that it wasn’t 1,200 people who were killed. It was one person. And then another person.

And then another person. And then another person.

And then another person. And then another person – twelve hundred times!

Think about one person whom you know. His or her smile, their voice, their sense of humor, their likes and dislikes, their opinions, their family, their friends – one person! It’s a whole world.

Do you even know 1,200 people? Do you know them by name and by face, speak with them at least once a year? I don’t. I don’t personally know so many people, know their faces and names and hopes and dreams. It’s as if someone’s whole personal community had been brutally snuffed out.

We can’t grasp such horror.

And now, our hearts grieve for them and their families, who are left grappling with the pain of having their loved ones ripped from them in such a brutal and vicious manner. May Hashem, as only He can, bring them a true nechama.

For those who are trapped in Gaza, who had been snatched from their homes and off the streets and at festivals, we are devastated that you are not with us. We know you are suffering; we know that you are being subjected to the whims of Hamas. We’ve seen their brutality and sadism. We are terrified for you.

We are davening for you each day. We think of you all the time. We are begging Hashem to bring you back to your families healthy and whole in body and spirit.

And to our brothers and sisters who have bravely enlisted to fight the embodiment of evil, we are so grateful to you for fighting for our nation and our country. You are fearless and courageous and are going in knowing that our nation’s survival depends on you. May Hashem watch over you and protect you and bring you home victorious, safely and whole.

For those of us who are witnessing this slaughter and feeling the terror, aching with pain and stunned in horror, the only words we have are the words of prayer and faith. We know that He is watching over us. We know that He protects us. We ask Him, beg Him, beseech Him, please watch over Your nation.

Please bring our brothers and sisters home safely.

Please let there be no more pain or suffering. Please, Hashem.

May we share in besuros tovos, Shoshana

Yitzy Halpern, PUBLISHER

publisher@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Yosef Feinerman, MANAGING EDITOR ads@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Shoshana Soroka, EDITOR

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Shabbos Zemanim

Weekly Weather | October 13 – October 19

Friday, October 13 Parshas Bereishis

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Candle Lighting: 6:00 pm Shabbos Ends: 6:58 pm Rabbeinu Tam: 7:29 pm

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OCTOBER 12, 2023 | The Jewish Home

‫בס״ד‬

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

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We mourn the more than 1,200 Yidden who died al kiddush Hashem in the recent terror attacks.

May Hashem accept the outpouring of tefillos and maasim tovim being offered: For the safety and the speedy return of those being held captive, For the success and safety of the Israeli soldiers who are protecting Am Yisroel, For those suffering from pain and injuries, For a complete nechama for all the families who have lost their loved ones.

l`xyi xney l`xyi zix`y xeny

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Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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COMMUNITY Readers’ Poll

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Community Happenings

42 NEWS

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Global

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National

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That’s Odd

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ISRAEL Israel News

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World Builders

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Please, Hashem, Let There Be Light! by Rav Moshe Weinberger

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Shabbat Morning, 10:45 AM by Ronit Segev

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On the Gaza Border by Dan Schwartz

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What Should Be the End Game in Gaza by Martin Oliner

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Tools For Countering the Horror in Eretz Yisroel Within the Home and Classroom by Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox

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JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Wein on the Parsha

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Rising Above Sin by Rav Moshe Weinberger

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The Deeper Purpose of Torah Wisdom by Rabbi Shmuel Reichman

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Delving into the Daf by Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

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Headlines and Halacha

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PEOPLE Inspiration Nation

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Escort Characters by Avi Heiligman

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HEALTH & FITNESS Eat the Rainbow by Tehila Soskel, RDN, CDN

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FOOD & LEISURE The Aussie Gourmet: Vegetable Tian 99 LIFESTYLES

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Dear Editor, After Sharon unilaterally disengaged from Gaza, Rav Ovadia Yosef said about Sharon, “He will sleep and never wake up.” Soon after, Sharon fell into a coma, a sleepless state, and later perished only after Rav Ovadia Yosef passed away.

Giving away Gaza was a death sentence for the Jews.

A rav said that due to the current circumstances, one should have extra kavanah in the last bracha of Shemoneh Esrei, “Hamevarech es amo Yisrael bashalom – He Who blesses His people, Yisrael, with peace.” This is logical as the Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 21:1) and Talmud Yerushalmi both say, “Ein kli machzik bracha eila shalom – the only vessel to contain blessing is peace.” If we are showered with peace from Above, we can withstand as a nation

and as individuals.

It’s interesting that in Bereishis many divisions in the creation process take place, yet on most occasions the days are called tov. It seems there can still be peace amidst dividing parts, with a message that separate individuals can come together despite differences; a core message for these times.

It may be argued that shalom is even a life-and-death proposition, for the Misha (Avot 1:12) says, we should be “ohav shalom v’rodef shalom – love peace and run after it.” Many are bothered by the word rodef in regard to the message of peace.

Perhaps the language is most fitting as a rodef in Jewish law may be stricken fatally, indicative of the fact that we should see our pursuit of peace as an imperative proposition that is essential to survive.

We now hope that peace will prevail over barbarism and hope over despair.

Steven Genack Dear Editor, Fourteen Americans and hundreds of Israel citizens have died as a result of the Hamas terrorist attack. Other Americans and Israel citizens have been taken hostage. Iran provided Hamas with financial support and training. President Biden paid a $6 billion ransom payment to Iran in exchange for freeing five hostages. He now has blood on his hands.

Sincerely, Larry Penner Great Neck, NY Dear Editor, To all the people who persistently criticize and vilify former President Trump, perhaps some serious soul searching is Continued on page 12

Dating Dialogue, Moderated

by Jennifer Mann, LCSW

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Parenting Pearls

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School of Thought

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JWOW!

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Mind Your Business

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Your Money

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HUMOR Centerfold

Dear Editor, Now is not the time for finger-pointing or blame. Now is the time for us to unite. For us to show each other love and support. We can unite and support our loved ones in Israel by saying Tehillim for them and praying for them.

But we can also unite and support each other here. So many people are suffering, are worried, are filled with anxiety.

Show sensitivity to each person around you. Smile. Reach out to your neighbor who may be feeling lonely or sad or stressed. Deliver some cookies or flowers to bring a smile to someone’s face. Listen to your family and friends as they share their concerns. Be there for others.

Am Yisroel is stronger when we are united together.

Rena Lang

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POLITICAL CROSSFIRE A Hard Choice Lies Ahead in Ukraine by David Ignatius

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Hamas Attack is an Intelligence Failure by David Ignatius

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CLASSIFIEDS

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Have you taken a kabbalah on for yourself as a zechus for the situation in Israel?

74 26 %

Yes

%

No

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Continued from page 10

now in order. As the bloody war on Israel escalates, is it not improbable that the Iranian engineered invasion, by its Hamas proxy, may have been aborted if Donald Trump was president?

Mr. Trump, a mercurial, dynamic and volatile leader, who once threatened to nuke the Taliban, may have caused Iran sufficient uncertainty as to the American response to an invasion as to negate its implementation.

May G-d speedily heal the thousands of wounded and safeguard the State of Israel and its courageous citizens from any further attacks.

Sincerely, Henry Moscovic Flushing, NY Dear Editor, We are spending millions of dollars in money and equipment to assist Ukraine to save their country. On top of it, President Biden is considering to contribute another 24 billion!

At the same time, we turn a blind eye to our own country.

We have an invasion on our Southern border, and nobody seems to care about it! How many more millions of illegals must we accept before we wake up? We

don’t know who they are, where they come from, and what their intentions in trespassing on our soil are? There is no doubt that terrorists might sneak in too and plan another 9/11!

Does anybody know how efficiently our money is being utilized in Ukraine?

On and off top officials in Ukraine are getting laid off for either mishandling the money or enriching themselves. There are various reports of embezzlement including accusations of stolen money intended for troops. Apart from that, the French paper Le Monde reported that the wife of Ukrainian President Zelensky went on a holiday shopping spree in Paris spending Euro 40,000.

Regardless, Ukraine continues to urge their allies to aid their defense. The Ukrainian government must bring proof that the funds already given, or funds that still will be provided, won’t go to waste!

In the past, Ukraine was a corrupt country, and most likely still is!

Heinz Mayer Dear Editor, I really thought Ettie Siegel’s “School of Thought” article in the Rosh Hashana issue addressing the concerned mom who is worried that her preschool child is de-

layed in recognizing the alphabet letters was very intriguing. A big shoutout to this mother who is tuned into her child’s academic needs and wants to make sure that her child gets the correct help that he needs as soon as possible.

As Etti mentions, “The earlier we catch any issues, the more we can intervene,” so the child can become a successful reader which, in turn, will make him into an accomplished learner. In the preschool and early elementary school years, the students are learning to read. Once students reach third grade, they are already reading to learn in every subject, including math. As a result, children who are not reading fluently by third grade like their peers will start to feel stressed, anxious, and, worst of all, feel like a failure which, in turn, affects their self-esteem.

As a reading specialist, I have met middle school students who still had difficulty remembering all the alphabet sounds and were embarrassed that they needed to practice reading simple one syllable words. They didn’t like it that they had to read “babyish words.”

Additionally, struggling readers and those who are dyslexic DO NOT outgrow their reading delays. In fact, without the correct help, the reading gap gets wider and wider, and the students fall further behind in their reading skills. Therefore, the earlier these students with reading delays are identified, the earlier they can get the necessary reading assistance and the faster they can catch up to their grade level reading. However, it is never too late to start getting the reading help that they need. Children can always catch up, though the learning may be at a slower pace.

Another very important point is that research has found that learning to speak occurs naturally, while learning to read does not and must be directly taught with explicit, direct instruction. Research has also found that in order to become fluent

readers, all students must be taught the five reading concepts: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension. “According to the International Dyslexia Association, all students, and especially students with dyslexia, can benefit from an approach to reading instruction called structured literacy. This framework is based on the science of reading.” This means that children learn to read with direct, explicit, systematic, cumulative and multi-sensory instruction.

Wilson is one such program that follows this approach and must be taught by teachers who were trained and fully certified in these methods to ensure its effectiveness.

Finally, it is essential to have your children read to you or another caregiver, preferably every night for 10-15 minutes.

The constant reading practice and constructive feedback will help your children become fluent readers, which will lead to reading comprehension. They should start with decodable books, and as they progress, move on to passages, poems or books that are of interests and enjoyable to them.

It is my hope that with the appropriate teaching methods, interventions, and positive parental support not only will your children thrive in their academics, but many of them will make reading their hobby and passion. As a reading specialist, I get so much happiness from watching my students progress into thriving fluent readers so they too can have the opportunity to enjoy reading books as much as I do.

For further information on how I can help your child, send me an email. mra01385@yahoo.com.

Miriam Massouda MS ED/SPED Wilson Dyslexia Practitioner

Make your voice heard!

Be part of TJH’s weekly poll.

Email the editor to be included in the weekly poll at Editor@FiveTownsJewishHome.com

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While the world has been watching anxiously as the situation unfolds here in Israel, around 20% of our staff, and even more of our family, friends, and neighbors have been called up for reserve duty.

The reality of what is happening here is difficult to put into words but we are grateful for every message of support and safe wishes.

We continue to ask Hashem to strengthen and protect our soldiers, to guide and illuminate our leaders, to protect and give strength to our people, and of course to guard and return those in captivity.

Please scan the below code to download the prayers for the State of Israel, the IDF, and those in captivity. Print, and share these tefillot with your community and friends and may we be able to share good news soon.

OCTOBER 12, 2023 | The Jewish Home

A MESSAGE FROM KOREN JERUSALEM

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The Week In News

seriously. No denial. And no hysteria.”

Still, other countries are concerned that travelers can bring the pests back home. The Eurostar is trying to reassure customers that its seats are cleaned regularly against the insects.

Paris Has a Bedbug UN Forces to Head Problem to Haiti

The week before Paris Fashion Week, reports of bedbugs invading the French city began circulating. The insects were seen in homes, theaters, trains and hospitals.

Paris is the world’s most visited city in the world. Just last year, 44 million tourists came to the City of Lights. But bedbugs have also visited the city before.

Between 2017 and 2022, more than one in 10 French households reported bed bug infestations, according to ANSES, the French health and safety agency. ANSES reports that the “upsurge in bedbug infestations in recent years has been due in particular to the rise in travel and the increasing resistance of bed bugs to insecticides.” In other words, these bugs have become superbugs, evolving to create defenses against certain chemicals used to destroy them.

The insects typically reside in mattresses and bedframes, lying in wait for humans to go to sleep before they crawl up and suck blood from their victims. But they can also travel via humans, hitching a ride on clothing, suitcases and hand luggage to travel the world and explore new horizons.

Last week, it was reported that a school in Paris became infested. Senior officials from the health, economy and transport ministries met on Friday at the prime minister’s office to coordinate a plan of action against the insects. Many sightings, they claim, have been unverified and come from the public’s panic.

Transport Minister Clément Beaune said on Wednesday that of nearly 50 reported sightings of bedbugs on metro and SNCF trains, not one had been verified.

“I wouldn’t like to see a kind of French-bashing take hold… as it does sometimes in Anglo-Saxon countries,” he said. “The problem needs to be taken very

Last week, the United Nations Security Council agreed to the deployment of an armed multinational force to Haiti, as the Caribbean nation wrestles with rampant gang violence and political paralysis.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry had repeatedly called for military assistance.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the United States have also strongly urged the international community to back such a mission.

Thirteen members of the council voted in favor of the resolution, with Russia and China abstaining.

Though approved by the powerful UN Security Council, the force would not formally be under UN control. It is expected to be led by Kenya, which has pledged 1,000 police to spearhead the mission. Several of Haiti’s Caribbean neighbors – Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, and Jamaica – have also offered support to the mission.

The “multinational security support” force will have a 12-month mandate in Haiti.

Warring gangs control much of Port-au-Prince – Haiti’s capital city and main port – choking off vital supply lines to the rest of the country. Gang members have also terrorized the city’s population, forcing some 200,000 people to flee their homes amid waves of indiscriminate killing, kidnapping, arson and assault.

The mission is expected to strengthen local security and to reinforce the Haitian National Police in its pursuit of the gangs. Haiti’s security forces already receive some international support but remain understaffed and outgunned.

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Fatal Flash Floods in the Himalayas

At least 74 people were killed by a glacial lake bursting its banks in the Himalayas in India last week. That number is expected to rise, with at least 101 people missing in the flash floods.

Following days of torrential rain in the northeastern state of Sikkim, torrents of water swept down narrow river valleys from Lohnak Lake, in the northern part of the state, damaging a dam and wreaking destruction in villages and Rangpo town.

The search for survivors was hampered by damaged roads, poor communications and bad weather. Residents were struggling to clear sludge and debris in the wake of one of the worst disasters in the remote region in more

than 50 years.

Sikkim, a Buddhist state of 650,000 people wedged in the mountains between Nepal, Bhutan and China, received four inches of rain in the first five days of October, more than double normal levels.

Lhonak Lake is a large glacial bullet-shaped water body that sits at the foot of a melting glacier.

An analysis of the images shows more than 60% of the water held in the lake drained out after the extreme rainstorm triggered a glacial lake outburst. This phenomenon happens when a glacial lake rises too high or the surrounding land or ice gives way and the lake bursts, sending water and debris rushing down mountains.

Known as the rooftop of the world, the ecologically sensitive Himalayan region is prone to flash floods and landslides, and flooding is not unusual in Sikkim.

Pakistan Wants Afghanis Expelled Hundreds of police officers flooded into a Karachi slum around midnight

over the weekend, surrounding the homes of Afghan migrants and pounding at their doors. Under the harsh glare of floodlights, the police told women to stand to one side of their homes and demanded the men present immigration papers proving they were living in Pakistan legally. Those without documents were lined up in the street, some shaking with fear for what was to come: Detention in a Pakistani prison and deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

The police raid Friday in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, followed an abrupt decision by Pakistani authorities last week to deport the more than 1 million Afghan migrants living illegally in the country.

“Police entered every house without warning,” said Abdul Bashar, an Afghan migrant whose two cousins were among the 51 people who police said were arrested during the neighborhood sweep. “The

fear has left us restless, making it difficult for us to sleep peacefully at night.”

On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry announced that migrants residing illegally in the country had 28 days to leave voluntarily, and it offered a “reward” for information leading to their arrests once that deadline passed.

Although Pakistani officials say the crackdown applies to all foreign citizens, the policy is largely believed to be targeting Afghans, who make up the vast majority of migrants in Pakistan.

While Afghans have faced harassment in Pakistan for decades, this announcement was the government’s most far-reaching and explicit action affecting Afghan migrants. It was widely seen as a sign of the increasing hostility between the Pakistani government and the Taliban authorities in neighboring Afghanistan as they clash over extremist groups operating across their borders.

Over the past year, Pakistan has experienced a surge in terrorist attacks, both by militant groups that have found haven in Afghanistan under the Taliban administration and by others whose fighters have been pushed into Pakistan following a brutal Taliban-led crackdown on their ranks. Some former Taliban fighters have also migrated to Pakistan to wage jihad

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against the Pakistani government.

For months, Pakistani authorities have pleaded with the Taliban to rein in extremist violence stemming from Afghan soil. But Taliban officials have rebuffed those calls, instead offering to mediate talks between Pakistani authorities and the militants.

The growing animosity between the two countries has threatened to further destabilize a region that is already a political tinderbox. (© The New York Times)

Earthquakes Shake Afghanistan

According to the agency, 465 houses were completely destroyed by the tremors, with around 4,200 people, making up 600 families, having been affected by the disaster. An additional 135 houses sustained damage.

“Partners and local authorities anticipate the number of casualties to increase as search and rescue efforts continue amid reports that some people may be trapped under collapsed buildings,” the agency added.

Following the disaster, the Taliban posted on X, asking their “wealthy compatriots” to assist in the effort to help those displaced and injured by the earthquake, as well as to aid in the rescue efforts to save potential survivors who are still stuck under debris.

China Connects to Latin America On Saturday, Afghanistan was struck by powerful earthquakes, resulting in more than one thousand deaths and over 1,600 injuries, according to the World Health Organization and the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The magnitude-6.3 earthquake hit western Afghanistan, completely wiping out at least six villages and covering hundreds in debris. At 11 a.m. local time Saturday, the first earthquake hit twenty-four miles west of Herat, an oasis city in Afghanistan, and the provinces of Badghis and Farah were affected as well.

“Initial assessments indicate that as many as 100 people have been killed across eight villages in Zindajan Province, Herat Province ... with a further 500 people injured,” the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan said in a statement at the time, with the caveat that “unconfirmed reports suggest this figure may be closer to 320 people.”

In response, the WHO sent twelve ambulances to help those in Zenda Jan, a district with four villages hit by the natural disaster.

“As deaths & casualties from the earthquake continue to be reported, teams are in hospitals assisting treatment of wounded & assessing additional needs,” the U.N. agency posted on X, a social media website formerly known as Twitter. “WHO-supported ambulances are transporting those affected, most of them women and children.”

As a part of the G77 annual conference, China met with hundreds of countries with whom it discussed plans of a “new world order” – one in which the East Asian country would dominate the United States.

The G77, a bloc of 135 developing countries (a group in which China does not take part), was hosted by Cuba this year, and much of the summit’s focus was on China’s relationship with Latin America.

The conference was also filled with jabs at the United States and capitalism, with many countries going out of their way to criticize – directly or not – the U.S. “Unilateralism and hegemonism are becoming rampant. Some countries are resorting to such practices as unilateral sanctions, erection of ‘fences and barriers,’ decoupling, and disruption of industrial and supply chains, seriously undermining the legitimate development rights and interests of developing countries,” said Li Xi, a Chinese Communist Party official who served in Xi Jinping’s place during the summit.

A day prior to the G77, Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela, met with Xi Jinping in Beijing, marking the first time in five years that the Venezuelan politician stepped foot in China. During

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The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

Mohammadi, who was sentenced to spend over thirty years in jail and has been prohibited from seeing her husband and kids as punishment for her activism, is famous in Iran, a country where women are forced to comply with strict dress codes and where violators of such laws are given extreme punishments. The Middle Eastern country’s draconian rules were highlighted just over a year ago when a woman named Mahsa Amini died in prison after she was arrested for wearing her headscarf “incorrectly.”

the two leaders’ meeting, they discussed how to grow China and Venezuela’s relationship. The two countries now have an “all-weather strategic partnership,” which is a partnership China only has with its closest allies. In fact, Venezuela is the first Latin American country to have such a relationship with the PRC. In addition, China will, according to Maduro, bring Venezuelan citizens to the moon with the East Asian country’s spacecraft.

China has committed to advancing

the development of Venezuela as a country, particularly so that the PRC can strategically benefit from South America’s proximity to the USA. China also plans on constructing a military base in Cuba.

Additionally, by involving itself with Latin America, China has become the recipient of the region’s wealth, as the area contains trillions of dollars’ worth of important minerals needed to build ever advancing technologies.

Jailed Iranian Wins Nobel Prize Narges Mohammadi, a 51-year-old women’s rights activist jailed in Iran, was awarded the Nobel Prize for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all,” by the Norwegian Nobel Committee last week.

“[Narges Mohammadi’s] brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs. Altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, during the announcement. “Ms. Mohammadi is still in prison as I speak.”

In fact, no one knows if Mohammadi is even aware that she has been selected for this prestigious award, seeing as she’s in Iran’s infamous Evin Prison, where prisoners’ communication with the outside world is limited. Nevertheless, Mohammadi pre-recorded a video response to be released in the event that she won, in which she insists that she will remain in Iran “even if I spend the rest of my life in prison,” in order to continue fighting for women’s rights in her country.

“Standing alongside the brave mothers of Iran, I will continue to fight against the relentless discrimination, tyranny, and gender-based oppression by the oppressive religious government until the liberation of women,” she added.

“Although the years of her absence can never be compensated for us, the reality is that the honor of recognizing Narges’ efforts for peace is a source of solace for our indescribable suffering,” her family said in a statement, responding to the news of her win.

“It has been more than eight and a half years since she has seen her children, and she has not heard their voices for over a year. All of this signifies what she has endured on the path to realizing her aspirations. Therefore, for us, who know that the Nobel Peace Prize will aid her in

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achieving her goals, this day is a blessed day,” Mohammadi’s family added.

Nasser Kanin, Iran’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson, criticized the award as “a political maneuver in line with…interventionist and anti-Iran policies” and asserted that the award is a biased political statement.

France Vaccinates 64M Ducks

To protect its flocks and its foie gras from the ravages of bird flu, France has begun a mass vaccination of 64 million ducks.

The campaign, which started this week, aims to prevent the spread of a deadly variant of avian influenza that has forced French farmers to cull more than 30 million birds in the past three years,

contributing to a downturn in the production of foie gras.

“A real glimmer of hope,” Éric Dumas, a duck farmer and the president of France’s foie gras federation, said in a statement after the agriculture minister, Marc Fesneau, visited his farm near Bordeaux to inaugurate the campaign.

But the bird vaccination program, which Fesneau described as the first in the European Union, has led to a quick reaction from the United States, which said it would restrict imports of ducks and other poultry from Europe. “France’s decision to vaccinate presents a risk” of introducing the disease into the United States, the U.S. Agriculture Department said.

In recent years, the disease, known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or HPAI, has spread through poultry farms across the globe, causing the deaths of nearly 60 million farmed birds in the United States alone.

Marie Pierre Pé, the foie gras federation’s director, said in a phone call that the vaccine program was fundamental for the farmers in her group. “We’ve paid a heavy price for the avian flu,” she said.

“We are going to protect the animals.”

Foie gras is the term for the liver of a duck or goose that has been fattened by

forced feeding. For many the dish is a hallmark of French gastronomy; others say that the way it is produced constitutes torture and animal cruelty.

The Agriculture Department’s action was announced September 29. The restriction covers imports of poultry, live ducks, duck eggs and untreated duck products from Europe. The announcement said the restriction stemmed from France’s decision to vaccinate ducks, because vaccinated poultry may not show signs of bird flu, thus masking whether the virus is circulating.

The French Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement that talks between the two countries had begun “to provide all the elements of reassurance which will allow the American restrictions to be quickly lifted.” (© The New York Times)

Shufersal Backs Out of SPAR Deal

Although Shufersal, the biggest supermarket chain in Israel, was set to open up a chain of SPAR stores, a Dutch food retailer, the Israeli company opted out of the NIS 28 million deal last Thursday, due to new market conditions and regulations.

In March, Shufersal signed an agreement to become a shareholder of a new company operated by Amit Zeev, an Israeli businessman. This corporation, according to plans at the time, would open up SPAR stores, which Shufersal held a 19.9% stake in, with Zeev owning the rest.

“Following changing market conditions and regulatory requirements, and in accordance with the estimates we made during the period from the signing of the agreement until receiving the conditional approval from the competition authority recently, the company decided not to complete the deal,” Uri Watermann, the CEO of Shufersal, announced.

While the Israeli food giant failed to

go into specifics when mentioning the market conditions and regulations which forced the company to back out the deal, reports suggest that certain contributing factors include the fact that Shufersal can now legally only have, at max, a 15% stake in Zeev’s company, no veto rights, and would only be given a five year permit for its part in the company after which the future of the partnership would be decided by the competition watchdog. All of these rules have been set in place in order to limit big Israeli companies’ power in controlling smaller companies.

Additionally, seeing as SPAR is a Dutch-owned retail chain, all items would have to have been imported from Europe, which is very expensive since the shekel, especially in the last few months, has significantly weakened when compared to the strength of the euro. Over the last twenty years, food prices have risen 50% in Israel, and continue to hover 25% to 80% over the average prices recorded by the intergovernmental OECD organization. The inflation rate has gone up 5 percent since the start of 2023, the highest the country has seen since 2008. And in 2022, Israel’s cost of living was the highest out of all the countries in the OECD.

Hezbollah Fires Rockets

As Israel goes to war against Hamas, the terrorist organization responsible for the recent heinous attacks against Jews, another terrorist group has decided to support the “Palestinian resistance” – which has killed over 900 Israelis in this current war – by creating more conflict.

On Sunday, October 8, on the morning of the second day of Operation Iron Swords, the Iran-backed Hezbollah fired a “large number of rockets and shells” at Israeli military bases near the border Israel shares with Lebanon, the terrorist organization said. As of now, there have been reported injuries as a result of the attack.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the IDF fired back and hit “Hezbollah infrastructure” with a drone strike and artillery fire. The IDF is said to have hit a militant tent which Hezbollah built on

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Israel’s side of the border line several months ago. The Israeli military added that it had warned members of Hezbollah against reconstructing the tent with warning shots. At some point, the IDF spotted an unknown object moving towards the northern border, and out of concern that it might present a danger to Israel, the army shot it with a Patriot interceptor missile, although upon further investigation, the IDF concluded that “[the object] is no threat to residents.”

Thus far, there have been no known Lebanese casualties.

In response to this conflict, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has been trying to defuse the situation and keep the peace.

“Our peacekeepers remain in their positions and on task. They continue to work, some from shelters for their safety,” the peacekeeping force said. “We urge everyone to exercise restraint and make use of UNIFIL’s liaison and coordination mechanisms to de-escalate to prevent a fast deterioration of the security situation.”

Months ago, two tents were built by Hezbollah on the disputed land of Mount Dov. The terrorists disassembled one of the tents, but left the other one up and warned that it would attack if Israel destroys the remaining structure.

Hashim Safi al-Din, the leader of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, warned that if Israel and the United States continue in their “foolishness,” the entire nation of Islam would attack the Jewish state alongside Hamas.

Hundreds have been murdered and kidnapped, while thousands were left injured by Hamas’ surprise invasion during Simchas Torah, on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, marking the worst days for Jews since the Holocaust.

Iran Planned Hamas Attack

According to the Wall Street Journal, Iranian security officials helped to plan Hamas’ pogrom this week, which left hundreds of Israelis dead and wounded more than a thousand innocent civilians.

More than 150 Israeli men, women, and children were kidnapped sadistically and brought to Gaza.

The plans for the slaughter had been in the works since August. Officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked with Hamas to orchestrate the three-pronged attack, utilizing air, land and sea incursions against Israel. Just last Monday, at a meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, the plan was given final approval.

Mahmoud Mirdawi, a senior Hamas official, claims that the group planned the attacks on its own. “This is a Palestinian and Hamas decision.”

A spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations said the Islamic Republic stood in support of Gaza’s actions but didn’t direct them.

“The decisions made by the Palestinian resistance are fiercely autonomous and unwaveringly aligned with the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people,” the spokesman said. “We are not involved in Palestine’s response, as it is taken solely by Palestine itself.”

Israel has blamed Iran, saying it is behind the attacks, if indirectly. ​​ “We know that there were meetings in Syria and in Lebanon with other leaders of the terror armies that surround Israel so obviously it’s easy to understand that they tried to coordinate. The proxies of Iran in our region, they tried to be coordinated as much as possible with Iran,” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said on Sunday.

Hamas has publicly acknowledged receiving support from Iran. On Sunday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi talked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.

One of Iran’s primary motives is to annihilate Israel, forgoing its feud in Yemen with Saudi Arabia to focus now on the Jewish state.

“We are now free to focus on the Zionist entity,” an Iranian official said. “They are now very isolated.”

Iran had been concerned that talks of normalization agreements between Israel and Saudi Arabia would threaten the Persian regime.

Building on peace deals with Egypt and Jordan, expanding Israeli ties with Gulf Arab states could create a chain of American allies linking three key choke points of global trade—the Suez Canal, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Bab Al Mandeb connecting the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea, noted Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

“That’s very bad news for Iran,” Ibish

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Israel and Egypt have organized plans on bringing the injured and the remains of the two deceased Israelis back home to their loved ones via a military plane.

Video taken after the attack show the two Israelis lying on the stone path of Pompey’s Pillar. The injured Israeli was on the stairs. Egyptian policemen spoke to each other near the scene, but at the time, no one was helping the people who desperately needed medical attention.

A few Israeli female tourists who were a part of the same group cried for help, screaming, “Ambulance! Ambulance!”

According to reports, the scene of the crime was immediately closed off to the public.

The suspect has been apprehended, according to reports.

This attack happened just over a day after Hamas began invading Israel, raining missiles on the Jewish state, slaughtering Israeli civilians en masse, and taking women, children, and the elderly captive for use as bargaining chips and human shields, torturing and assaulting the innocent in unspeakable ways.

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1,000 Birds Hit Chicago Building

said. “If they could do this, the strategic map changes dramatically to Iran’s detriment.”

Ismail Qaani, the leader of the IRGC’s international military arm, the Quds Force, has been the lead on coordinating attacks with Hezbollah and Hamas.

Qaani launched coordination among several militias surrounding Israel in April during a meeting in Lebanon, according to The Wall Street Journal. It was at that meeting that Hamas began

working more closely with other groups such as Hezbollah for the first time.

Around that time, Palestinian groups staged a rare set of limited strikes on Israel from Lebanon and Gaza, under the direction of Iran. “It was a roaring success,” according to an Iranian official.

Hamas has called on Palestinians in the West Bank and Palestinian citizens of Israel to take up arms and join the fight.

Israeli Tourists Killed In Egypt On Sunday, October 8, two Israelis were killed and another Israeli was moderately hurt, after an Egyptian police officer shot them as they were touring the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Their Egyptian tour guide was killed in the same attack, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Millions of birds fly over Chicago during the fall migration season, and a number of them die after being confused by bright lights or after trying to fly through a window, but the carpet of bird carcasses outside a convention center last Thursday morning shocked people who have been monitoring birds in the city for decades.

At least 961 dead birds were found outside the McCormick Place Lakeside Center, according to the Field Museum, a natural history museum about a mile north of the convention center.

Volunteers and scientists at the museum go to the convention center, which overlooks Lake Michigan and has an

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exterior made mainly of glass, each day during the spring and fall migration seasons to search for birds that have clattered into the building overnight.

Douglas Stotz, a senior conservation ecologist at the museum, said he was “blown away” by how many birds were migrating Wednesday night and early Thursday, as well as by how many were found dead.

The previous record had been around 200 dead birds. Some days, no birds die. The nearly 1,000 dead birds found Thursday were the most the museum had recorded in the four decades that it has been keeping track, Stotz said.

Stotz said a large number of birds were migrating that night because their travel had been delayed by unfavorable weather conditions. Before Wednesday night, the temperature had been unusually high and the birds encountered a headwind.

When the temperatures dropped and the wind shifted, a huge number of birds took advantage of the improved conditions and flew over Chicago.

Around 3:40 a.m., a small storm system moved through the city.

“The birds hit this storm and they drop out, they don’t want to fly through the storm,” Stotz said. “So they come down to the ground, and that sets up the conditions for the incredible migration we saw — and for the big kill we saw.”

A large number of dead birds were also found Thursday in other parts of downtown Chicago, said Annette Prince, director of Chicago Bird Collision Monitors. (© The New York Times)

RFK Jr. Running as Independent

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced this week that he will be running as an independent in the upcoming presidential elections, dropping out of the race for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination and instead running as a third-party candidate.

“I’ve come here today to declare our independence from the tyranny of corruption, which robs us of affordable lives, our belief in the future, and our respect

for each other,” Kennedy told supporters on Monday at an event in Philadelphia.

“But to do that, I must first declare my own independence — independence from the Democratic Party and from all other political parties. I haven’t made this decision lightly. It’s very painful for me to let go as a party of my uncles, my father, my grandfather and both of my great-grandfathers.”

With an independent presidential bid, Kennedy occupies an increasingly crowded field of big-name alternatives to a two-party system that appears likely to nominate President Joe Biden and Donald Trump in a rematch of the 2020 election.

American Values 2024, the super political action committee that supports Kennedy’s campaign, has raised about $17 million so far and expects that number to grow after the announcement, said Tony Lyons, the super PAC’s co-chair and co-founder.

Cornel West, an academic and progressive activist, said last week he was abandoning his bid for the Green Party nomination to run as an independent.

The centrist group No Labels is laying the groundwork for a bipartisan “unity ticket” to run against Biden and Trump.

An independent candidate has a very slim chance of winning the presidency.

Still, they can play a spoiler in an unpredictable election. Under the Electoral College system, an independent candidate might only need to tip the balance in one or two states to change the outcome of a close election.

Kennedy is the son of Robert F. Kennedy, the former New York senator and U.S. attorney general whose own presidential ambitions were cut down by an assassin’s bullet in 1968. His uncles include President John F. Kennedy and Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, prominent members of the Democratic Party.

Four of Kennedy’s siblings — Kerry Kennedy, Rory Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend — said they were saddened by the announcement. “Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment,” they said in a statement.

Kennedy found himself having a hard time challenging Biden within the Democratic Party. Biden used his influence to change party rules to punish candidates who campaign in New Hampshire — a state where Kennedy’s libertarian-tinged brand of New England liberalism might have an appeal — in favor of South Carolina, a Biden stronghold.

His views also did not jive with the

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classic Democrat rhetoric, and he found much of his support coming from Republican and independent voters. A Messenger/HarrisX poll last month showed Biden leading Kennedy 61% to 16% among Democratic voters nationally. But the poll also found that Republican and independent voters view Kennedy more favorably than Biden, perhaps giving him more room to grow his support outside the Democratic Party.

“The country is sitting on top now of a powder keg,” Kennedy said Monday.

“Americans are angry at being left out, left behind, swindled, cheated and belittled by a smug elite that has rigged the system in its favor.”

The Republican National Committee responded to the announcement by calling Kennedy “a typical Democrat politician” who was trying to fool Republican voters.

“He’s not even close to an ‘independent,’” said RNC Rapid Response Director Jacob Schneider. “RFK Jr. knows full well he’ll ‘take more votes’ from the Republican nominee; that’s why he’s running.”

Kennedy said he hoped to take votes from both parties. “The Democrats are frightened that I’m going to spoil the election for President Biden. And the Republicans are frightened that I’m gonna

spoil it for President Trump. The truth is, they’re both right. My intention is to is the spoil it for both of them.”

Butler Takes Feinstein Seat

After Senator Dianne Feinstein died at the age of 90 two weeks ago, California Governor Gavin Newsom selected Laphonza Butler to fill the vacant seat.

Newsom pledged to name a Black woman to the Senate but many were disappointed that he didn’t select Barbara Lee, a congresswoman from the Bay Area who is already running for the position in 2024.

Butler, 44, will be the only Black woman serving in the U.S. senate. She currently leads Emily’s List, served as a strategist and adviser to Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, and was a for-

mer labor leader of SEIU California, the state’s largest union, representing more than 700,000 workers.

Ironically, Butler does not even live in California. She is currently living in Maryland, although she owns a house in California and will re-register to vote in the state before taking office, according to the Newsom administration.

Democrats control the Senate 51-49, though Feinstein’s seat is vacant. The quick appointment by Newsom will give the Democratic caucus more wiggle room on close votes, including nominations that Republicans uniformly oppose.

Butler, who said she was honored to accept the nomination, posted on X: “No one will ever measure up to the legacy of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, but I will do my best to honor her legacy and leadership by committing to work for women and girls, workers and unions, struggling parents, and all of California. I am ready to serve.”

Will Hurd Ends His Campaign

You probably never heard of Will Hurd, and you’re going to hear even less of him now as he announced this week that he will be ending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

The former Texas representative is endorsing former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for the presidency.

“Unfortunately, it has become clear to me and my team that the time has come to suspend our campaign,” Hurd wrote in a statement, adding that “it is important to recognize the realities of the political landscape and the need to consolidate our party around one person to defeat both Donald Trump and President (Joe) Biden.”

The former congressman and CIA

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officer, who had struggled to gain traction in a crowded GOP field dominated by Trump, offered a stark warning to his party: “If the Republican party nominates Donald Trump or the various personalities jockeying to imitate his divisive, crass behavior, we will lose.”

Hurd entered the race in June as an outspoken critic of the former president and was one of the few Republican contenders willing to attack Trump directly. He accused his fellow GOP candidates of being afraid of Trump and argued that the former president was running for a second term in order to “stay out of jail.”

But Hurd had difficulty getting out that message and didn’t make it to the stage for either of the Republican National Committee’s two debates.

In backing Haley, a former ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, Hurd praised her as a leader who can navigate national security challenges. “Ambassador Haley has shown a willingness to articulate a different vision for the country than Donald Trump and has an unmatched grasp on the complexities of our foreign policy,” he said.

CA Bans Red Dye No. 3 On Saturday, California became the first state to ban the use of red dye No. 3 and other food additives that can be found in many candies and drinks.

Also known as the California Food Safety Act, Assembly Bill 418 — introduced by Assemblymembers Jesse Gabriel and Buffy Wicks in February — prohibits the manufacture, sale or distribution of food products in Califor-

nia containing red dye No. 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil or propylparaben. It was signed into law over the weekend by California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Potassium bromate is added to baked goods to help dough strengthen and rise higher. In some beverages, brominated vegetable oil emulsifies a citrus flavoring, preventing separation.

Propylparabens are used for antimicrobial food preservation.

Nearly 3,000 products use red dye No. 3 as an ingredient, including sweets such as Skittles and some gummies; protein shakes; instant rice and potato products; and boxed cake mixes.

These chemicals are banned in the EU, “due to scientific studies that have demonstrated significant public health harms, including increased risk of cancer, behavioral issues in children, harm to the reproductive system, and damage to the immune system,” according to Gabriel’s March news release.

“Signing this into law is a positive step forward on these four food additives until the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviews and establishes national updated safety levels for these additives,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom in a letter to the California State Assembly on Saturday.

Companies have time to comply.

The bill won’t be implemented until

2027.

The National Confectioners Association, a trade organization based in Washington, D.C., said in a statement that “Newsom’s approval of this bill will undermine consumer confidence and create confusion around food safety” by acting independently of the FDA, and called on the FDA to weigh in on the topic.

Because of the size of California’s economy, “this groundbreaking law may affect food across the country, not just in California, so all Americans will likely benefit from the ban,” according to a news release from Consumer Reports. “It is unlikely manufacturers will produce two versions of their product — one to be sold in California and one for the rest of the country.”

Democratic Socialists Rally for Hamas Supporters of Hamas gathered in New York City over the weekend, praising the terrorist group for its slaughter of hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians.

“And as you might have seen, there

was some sort of rave or desert party where they were having a great time, until the resistance came in electrified hang gliders and took at least several dozen hipsters,” one speaker joked about the Hamas assault on a desert rave, where horrific scenes of murder and assault took place.

The rally in Times Square was hosted by Democratic Socialists of America, a group that includes several prominent House members in its ranks, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, both of New York, Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who is the first Palestinian woman in Congress, and Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, an outspoken critic of Israel. The rally was called “All Out for Palestine.” Supporters waved Palestinian flags and swastikas.

After the Hamas attack, Tlaib said, “The failure to recognize the violent

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reality of living under siege, occupation, and apartheid makes no one safer.”

At the rally, the crowd chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” calling for the complete elimination of Israel. They also chanted “700,” a reference to the number of innocent Israelis who were slaughtered in the Hamas pogrom.

U.S. Soldier Turned Chinese Spy

A former U.S. Army soldier who fled to Hong Kong has been charged with trying to deliver classified secrets to the Chinese government, according to federal court documents unsealed on Friday.

Joseph D. Schmidt, 29, who served in a military intelligence battalion in Washington state, was indicted in Seattle on two counts of violating the Espionage

Act. He was arrested this week after flying from Hong Kong to San Francisco and appeared in federal court Friday. Each count carries up to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors accused Schmidt of trying to help the Chinese government after he finished active duty with the Army in January 2020. While Schmidt was stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Tacoma, Washington, he supported the Indo-Pacific Command, which includes China, giving him access to sensitive materials.

During Schmidt’s time in the Army, where he rose to the rank of sergeant, he showed an interest in China and visited in 2017.

During a trip to Istanbul in February 2020, Schmidt tried to contact the Chinese Consulate.

“I also am trying to share information I learned during my career as an interrogator with the Chinese government,” Schmidt wrote, according to court documents. “I have a current top secret clearance, and would like to talk to someone from the government to share this information with you if that is possible.”

He added: “My experience includes training in interrogation, running sources as a spy handler, surveillance detection and other advanced psychological opera-

tion strategies.”

While in Turkey, Schmidt searched online for phrases like “turkey extradition military defection,” “can you be extradited for treason” and “what is china’s intelligence agency.”

In March 2020, Schmidt traveled to Hong Kong, where he repeatedly tried to supply China with national security secrets, the court documents said.

That same month, he flew to Beijing and appeared to travel close to the headquarters of China’s intelligence service, known as the Ministry of State Security, according to his Apple Maps history, which the FBI recovered from Schmidt’s iCloud account.

Prosecutors also said that he had a security token from his time in the military that could gain access to secure military computer networks and that he had offered the device to China. (© The New York Times)

Lithium Mining

can reduce demand for minerals by just changing habits.”

On the other side are people who say that lithium is essential to “saving the environment” as it will enable the U.S. to eventually phase out gas cars, which climate activists say contribute to climate change.

“Climate change is so important, and lithium is so important for electrifying the transportation industry,” Glen Miller, a former researcher at the University of Nevada, said. “[Some] environmentalists will say we should drive less, we should not use anything that requires us to pull these metals up. Nobody’s going to do that.”

Besides environmental concerns, some allege that the land sitting on lithium deposits is the site of one of the tragic massacres of Native Americans. However, this claim is disputed, and courts sided with Lithium Americas, a mining company that asserts that there is no historical significance to the land.

Regardless of the environmental or historical debate, Lithium Americas has won the legal right to mine for lithium in the area. Such lithium will not start being used until 2026 or later, and once produced is set to go to General Motors.

More Border Walls?

Lithium is a metal used to make electric vehicle batteries. Since the United States is placing more of an emphasis on moving away from gas cars, the U.S. has been making an effort to acquire more of the chemical.

While nearly 100% of the U.S.’s lithium in 2022 was imported from countries such as Australia, China, and Chile, President Joe Biden has hopes that the country can begin mining lithium in U.S. territory in the coming years, particularly in Nevada, close to the Oregon border, under which lies a enormous amount of the desired metal. However, locals are split on the matter, as many object to mining, while others assert that it’s absolutely necessary. The debate largely concerns lithium mining’s impact on the environment, and on both sides are people who call themselves environmentalists.

Alternatively, there are people who say that mining will have a negative impact on the environment.

“Mining operations are in fact very damaging to the environment. And we’ve got to be very careful how we permit these things,” asserted John Hadder, the director of Great Basin Resource Watch. “We

While campaigning as a presidential candidate, President Biden made the border wall issue one of his prime concerns and pledged that there will “not be another foot” of the wall built once he becomes president. Now, though, more border walls are being built.

These new barriers will be built using money provided by a 2019 appropriations bill, which forces the Biden Administration to use the funds for the specific purpose of border wall construction.

“I’ll answer one question on the border wall: the border wall – the money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate it, to redirect that money. They didn’t, they wouldn’t.

And in the meantime, there’s nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated.

I can’t stop that,” Biden said in response

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to reporters’ questions in the Oval Office.

The deadline for the funds’ use is the end of the 2023 fiscal year.

Still, Biden made clear that he believes that border walls are an ineffective means of keeping migrants out of the country. In order to use the funds by the set deadline, the Biden administration had to forgo twenty-six laws, including the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Endangered Species Act. The Department of Homeland Security decided that “it is necessary to waive certain laws, regulations, and other legal requirements in order to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads,” explained Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. These barriers will be built in Starr County, Texas, at the border the U.S. shares with Mexico.

“There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas,” Mayorkas said.

“I want to address today’s reporting relating to a border wall and be absolutely clear: There is no new administration policy with respect to the border wall,” Mayorkas added. “Allow me to repeat

that: There is no new administration policy with respect to the border wall.

“We have repeatedly asked Congress to rescind this money, but it has not done so, and we are compelled to follow the law.”

Healthcare Strike Ends

After three days of the biggest healthcare strike in U.S. history, over 75,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers are going back to their jobs. However, many suspect another strike is in the near future, perhaps this time even larger in scale.

No deal was reached as the strike ended at 6 a.m. PT on Saturday, October 7, although talks will continue on Thursday, October 12. Present at those negoti-

ations will be Julie Su, the acting Labor Secretary, who will “assist the parties in advancing talks towards a fair contract for this critical workforce,” according to a statement released by the Labor Department.

However, the union warns that “if Kaiser executives continue to commit unfair labor practices and bargain in bad faith” they will not hesitate to organize more strikes in the coming weeks. The Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers West union (SEIUUHW) has similarly threatened to start a “longer, stronger” strike on October 31 once an employment contract for more employees in Washington state expires.

“We are pleased to welcome back our employees who participated in this week’s strike,” said Kaiser Permanente, one of the U.S.’s biggest nonprofit healthcare plan companies, on the day the strike ended. “With the current strike behind us as of 6 a.m. Saturday, our collective focus is a return to normal operations.”

Strikes were set in California, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon, while a small strike of two hundred workers occurred on a single day in Virginia and Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, October 4. Some of the chief complaints of the workers include extreme understaff-

ing and very low pay. According to Rocio Chacon, one of the union committee members who works for Kaiser, a lot of workers can only afford to live at a non-commutable distance to their jobs, and as such are forced to sleep in their cars during the week and can only go home for the weekends.

Kaiser Permanente has claimed that it pays its employees very well and has at one point discussed giving its workers a potential pay increase of around 3% to 4% over the next four years. However, the union has demanded a 6.5% raise in the first two years of a deal and a 5.75% raise for the two years following that period.

McCarthy Voted Out

Following an unprecedented and sudden vote which removed Kevin McCarthy

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as House Speaker, McCarthy has said that he will not run for speaker again and is now contemplating his future as a congressman.

The vote, initiated by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, saw only eight Republicans voting to oust McCarthy, and thus ended in a 216 to 210 vote, in which every House Democrat voted against McCarthy. The House was unable to block the vote, as a few Republicans sided with the Democrats in allowing the vote to happen, thus marking the first time in American history that a House speaker was removed from speakership through a vote.

The end of McCarthy’s speakership came as a government shutdown was once again just barely prevented.

“I don’t regret standing up for choosing governing over grievance. It is my responsibility. It is my job. I do not regret negotiating. Our government is designed to find compromise,” McCarthy said.

Immediately following McCarthy’s ousting, GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry was appointed as interim House Speaker.

While the GOP candidate for the upcoming Speaker of the House election has yet to be determined, the current frontrunner seems to be House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, while the Democratic candidate will likely be House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who called the GOP’s current issue a “House Republican Civil War.” “Nobody knows what’s going to happen next, including all the people that voted to vacate (they) have no earthly idea what, they have no plan. They have no alternative at this point. So it’s just simply a vote for chaos,” said Tom Cole, the House Rules Chairman and a Republican Congressman who sided with McCarthy.

The House is expected to resume its sessions this coming week, at which point House Republicans will likely select a candidate for the upcoming Speaker of the House election.

piece measures 40 feet in length, 11.4 feet in height, and 16.7 feet in width.

According to Guinness World Records (GWR), Daga spent 41 days building this structure that has the city’s Writer’s Building, the Shaheed Minar, Salt Lake Stadium, and St. Paul’s Cathedral. He had a lot to plan. Daga visited all four sites to closely study their architecture and work out their dimensions before he started stacking the cards to build the structure.

After achieving the world record, Daga told GWR, “It is definitely overwhelming and feels like I am living my dream which I saw back in 2020. For me, the journey has just begun.”

Daga nabbed the title from American Bryan Berg who had built replicas of three Macao hotels.

Guinness World Records also shared a timelapse video of Daga building the structure. “Building the largest playing card structure,” the record-keeping organization wrote as the title of the video shared on YouTube.

The video shows Daga arranging cards inside a basic outline on the floor to ensure that they were accurately aligned before he started stacking. His technique involves using grids and vertical cells to build the structures.

It took him almost six weeks to complete his magnificent structure. But how long will it last? Well, it is a house of cards.

Slow but Steady

Play Your Cards Right Arnav Daga is a real card. The 15-yearold boy from India has smashed the world record for the “world’s largest playing card structure.” He used a whopping 1,43,000 playing cards to build a structure that features four iconic buildings from his hometown, Kolkata. His master-

We all know that the tortoise wins the race at the end of the fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare.” And Tank the tortoise does not disappoint the tortoise species.

The reptile was finally spotted – more than a week after he escaped from

a Pennsylvania veterinary clinic.

Tank was found around 2 miles from where he escaped his outdoor enclosure.

The intrepid animal belongs to veterinarian Mike Nelson and lives at the animal hospital.

This is the third time that Tank escaped his home.

Hospital officials said they are planning to outfit Tank with a GPS tracker so he can be found more easily if he escapes again.

Slow but steady wins the race.

104-years-old, so what?”

She’s certainly young at heart.

Blingy Banners A few years ago, Bob Benyo gave his wife a pretty original present: a Twilight Purple 2016 Rolls Royce Wraith.

“It stands out. I mean, it’s kind of hard to miss,” Benyo said. He noted that there are around six of them in the country.

Age is Just a Number

Dorothy Hoffner may be 104 years old but that’s not stopping her from taking to the skies.

The Chicagoan is hoping to be certified as the oldest person to ever skydive.

She made the jump after leaving her walker on the ground and making a tandem jump in northern Illinois last week.

“Age is just a number,” Dorothy told a cheering crowd moments after touching the ground at Skydive Chicago on October 1.

The Guinness World Record for oldest skydiver was set in May 2022 by 103-year-old Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson from Sweden. But Skydive Chicago is working to have Guinness World Records certify Hoffner’s jump as a record.

Last Sunday, she left her walker behind just short of the plane and was helped up the steps to join the others waiting inside to skydive.

“Let’s go, let’s go, Geronimo!” Dorothy said after she was finally seated.

This is not Dorothy’s first foray into the skies. She first skydived when she was 100.

“What has age got to do with what you’re doing?” the octogenarian told the Sun-Times a day after the jump. “I’m

That may have been what attracted thieves to steal the car. Two people in a silver Mercedes followed Benyo’s wife home last month and stole the vehicle.

“I can’t replace that car. Even though it’s not brand new — it’s a 2016 — it’s special. It was an anniversary gift,” the Florida resident said.

Benyo said he worked with law enforcement, combed through surveillance footage, and reached out to Rolls Royce for assistance in the hopes of finding the stolen vehicle. But then he took matters into his own hands.

Benyo’s company, Aerial Banners, takes people’s messages to the skies. Benyo has used the company creatively in the past, asking a business to pay him money he said he was owed.

This time around, Benyo used one of his planes to tow a sign asking the citizens of Miami-Dade County if they’d seen the regal dark purple automobile worth over $200,000.

“Stolen Purple Rolls-Royce Reward,” the aerial sign read, with a phone number attached.

He offered a $5,000 reward. And it worked: Soon, the tips came in.

Benyo received more than 300 calls about the stolen car.

One call, from a woman named Fay, helped get the car back in his garage. She said that she was renting an Airbnb in Fort Lauderdale and saw the unusual car parked outside her window.

Benyo now has his car back. We’re hoping he locks it up somewhere safe.

Did you know?

Only one in 10,000 acorns will develop into an oak tree.

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Community Sukkah Celebration for Holocaust Survivors at The Five Towns Premier

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he Five Towns Premier Rehab and Nursing Center hosted their fifth annual Sukkos celebration for Holocaust survivors on Thursday of chol hamoed Sukkos. Over 35 survivors from The Marion and Aaron Gural JCC took part in this joyful event of singing, danc-

ing and uplifting live music. The sukkah was adorned beautifully, and a delicious 3 course meal was served. Each survivor was so touched by the genuine warmth, kindness and hospitality of Joe Benden, administrator of The Five Towns Premier and his staff.

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Despite the raging storm, fathers and sons joined together at the annual Erev Sukkos learning program at Bais Tefilla of Inwood l’zecher nishmas Avraham Shmuel ben Shlomo Eliezer

HAFTR students joined in meaningful assemblage reciting Tehillim, tefillot, and heartfelt prayers for the well-being and safety of the soldiers and citizens of Israel.

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The War at Home: Mercaz Academy Students Pray for Peace

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wo weeks ago, students at Plainview’s Mercaz Academy left school, excited and anticipating a joyous Sukkot break; but the world was a different place when they returned, and many were aware of the tragic events that happened in Israel last Shabbat.

“We felt that it was important to address this potential tension with our older students, to teach them how to cope in times of crisis,” explained Rabbi Kalman Fogel, the principal of Mercaz Academy.

Throughout the day on Monday, Rabbi Fogel, accompanied by school counselor Mrs. Stephanie Bobroff, visited every class in the school. The visits to Early Childhood classes, as well as first and second grades, were just check-in visits to confirm that all was well with these younger students. On Tuesday, Mrs. Bobroff returned to the first and second grades, explaining that in Israel, the soldiers are working hard to keep people safe. Therefore, as part of the general Mercaz Kindness Project, the children were delighted to make beautiful thank you cards for IDF soldiers and were not

burdened with information they are not ready to process.

Their visits were of a different character in grades three through six, where students knew–often in a confused way– what is going on in Israel. Rabbi Fogel and Mrs. Bobroff encouraged students to share any questions they had or concerns they wanted to discuss. Rabbi Fogel and Mrs. Bobroff then answered the questions, mostly asking who was attacking

and why. They answered gently but clearly in general terms, without going into specifics. To reassure worried students, Rabbi Fogel briefly explained the security measures in place at Mercaz.

Of course, these older students wanted to know what they can do to help, and Rabbi Fogel empowered them to do so by telling them how important it is for people around the world to pray. “The tefillah of children is the most powerful,” he told

them, citing support from the Gemara.

Together, each grade recited Tehillim in support of Israel, and this will be continued every morning for as long as necessary.

Mercaz Academy students, staff, and parents continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Israel, for a refuah shleimah for those who need healing, and for their peace and security always.

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HALB students wrote letters of support to the chayalim in the IDF

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More than 6,000 people joined in a rally in support of Israel, organized by County Executive Bruce Blakeman, at Eisenhower Park on Tuesday night

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At the community-wide Simchas Beis Hashoeiva held by Aish Kodesh and Khal Mevakshei Hashem

Central Strengthens YU Ties With New Leadership Track

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entral faculty and administration are constantly searching for ways to identify and develop student talent. With this in mind, the school is partnering with Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership to launch its newest initiative: the Central Leadership Track. Based on the idea that leadership is less a mysteriously acquired talent and more a learned asset that can be shaped with education and experience, the track is designed to locate and nurture students who are interested in becoming leaders both within and outside the Central community.

The point person for the project within YU’s Office for Values and Leadership is Program Director for Leadership Scholars (and former Central Associate Principal) Mrs. Aliza Abrams Konig. At Central, the program is led by current Central Associate Principal Ms. Leah Moskovich, who stressed the importance of Central’s collaboration with the university.

“We are so excited to strengthen our

connection with YU through the leadership track,” said Ms. Moskovich. “Our students are so lucky to be able to learn from some of the best leaders in the Modern Orthodox community.”

Along with tailored curriculum, the track will pair Central students with YU Leadership Scholars for mentorship and host Student Leadership Training Workshops with guest speakers such as Dr. Erica Brown, Vice Provost for Values and Leadership at YU and founding director of the Sacks-Herenstein Center, and Rabbi Ari Rockoff, the David Mitzner Community Dean for Values and Leadership at YU. These seminars will provide students with inspiration and valuable real-life experience. The program’s ultimate goal: to produce young women who will be informed, creative, and compassionate leaders within the Jewish community. Central Student Ambassadors, members of the school’s Government Organization (G.O.), and Central F.I.R.E fellows will take part in this new track.

Senior Aviva Kessock spoke to the tremendous potential of this new program.

“I hope to gain a stronger connection to the larger student body from this opportunity,” she said. “As F.I.R.E. Fellows, we get to help create exciting school-wide programs immersed in Jewish values,”

said senior Aviva Kessock. “My goal as a F.I.R.E. Fellow is to instill a deeper love for Judaism throughout Central and raise the ruach and excitement for religious activities.”

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Shari Safra Leads as President of AMIT Children

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hari Safra, an experienced attorney and committed advocate for education and Jewish causes, assumes the role of the 26th President of AMIT Children. Mrs. Safra will lead the organization with a continued focus on academic excellence and the expansion of transformative educational opportunities for Israeli children and future leaders.

Raised in Sayville, NY, where Jewish families were few, Shari always felt a strong connection to her Jewish heritage.

Her dedication to Jewish causes grew deeper after her marriage, as she became an integral part of New York’s vibrant Jewish community.

Shari involvement in AMIT began at an event in 2008 where she met an alumnus who grew up at AMIT’s Beit Hayeled and Kfar Blatt Youth Villages. It was heartbreaking and inspiring to hear him share how AMIT educators were the first people who supported him, and how living there changed the direction of his life. As a new mother, his story resonated with her and motivated Shari to learn

more about AMIT. Not long after, she visited Israel for the first time on an AMIT mission. She had the privilege of visiting the youth villages that had inspired her initial interest. As she got to know the children there, she was struck by just how proud they were to show her their homes. Some of them lived in beautifully renovated apartments on campus, and others resided in units that were “well loved” and in need of refurbishment. Regardless, the pride they took in simply belonging somewhere stuck with her. From that moment, she committed to making a difference in the lives of Israel’s children.

Learning about the challenging backgrounds these children come from and getting to know actual students who overcame so much because of AMIT were eye-opening experiences. She became more involved in AMIT and helping Israel’s children became a personal passion of hers. She took on different leadership roles at AMIT over the last 15 years and is proud to be AMIT’s new President.

Her vision includes the integration of

co-ed secular schools, vocational institutions, and facilities across diverse cities in Israeli society.

“I am deeply inspired by the remarkable educators at AMIT, who empower our students to dream bigger and then skillfully guide them in bridging the gap between those dreams and reality,” says Mrs. Safra. “Our AMIT schools are not just buildings, they are sanctuaries of potential for our students,” she adds.

Under Shari’s guidance, AMIT is set for expansion, with the flagship project being the AMIT Kfar Batya campus in Ra’anana, Israel. This $70 million educational initiative is expected to be completed by 2025 and will promote educational innovation. AMIT Kfar Batya will foster an entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, and collaboration among students and staff. Shari is enthusiastic about introducing supporters to the life-changing experiences this campus will offer.

“We’re thrilled to have Shari at the helm of AMIT at this very pivotal time of growth for the organization” says AMIT’s Executive Vice President, Andrew Gold-

smith.

Prior to her presidency, Mrs. Safra was a member of AMIT’s Executive Committee as VP Financial Resource Development and Ambassadors’ Club Chair.

She joined the AMIT Board of Directors as Associate NewGen Chair. Shari’s professional journey includes a successful tenure in commercial litigation before transitioning to human resources. She currently serves on the board of the Hebrew Free Burial Association. She pursued her undergraduate education at the University of Pennsylvania and holds a law degree from Fordham University School of Law. “I look forward to working with our supporters to be architects of change who will build a legacy of empowerment and opportunity for the children of Israel,” says Mrs. Safra.

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Motzei yom tov, Shulamith School for Girls had a beautiful Simchat Beit Hashoeva at the home of Mrs. Farbman

HALB students joined together singing and davening to support our brothers and sisters in Israel

Ahava and Achdut at Ezra Academy

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he school year at Ezra Academy got off to an amazing start as students celebrated their return to school. Seeing friends and teachers after the long break was exciting. New changes to the building, new members of the staff, new programming all added to the anticipation of a great year. From the welcome

back bowling trip to the spiritual tashlich that the senior girls had, the year seemed to be heading in the right direction. Sukkot always brings out the best in the Ezra community as operation Ezra builds sukkot all over Queens as part of their chessed commitment and the students voluntarily come to school for a morn-

ing activity in the sukkah and an all-day event at Luna Park.

After the tragic news over Shemini Atzeret, a student body already committed to chesed and growth has committed further to achdut and ahavat chinam to contribute in their own way to the yeshua for Klal Yisrael. As each student vol-

unteered to daven for an individual chayal every day and to take on a personal change in their observance of bein adam lachevro, we hope that the combined efforts of the Ezra student body will have a positive effect on the efforts of all of Jews all over the world to see peace in Eretz Yisrael as soon as possible.

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Chabad of the Five Towns Annual Simchas Beis Hashoeva

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By Rabbi Pesach Lerner

I

write this report from Yerushalayim where we spent a beautiful Sukkos holiday with our family – beautiful until Shabbos Simchas Torah morning when news began to trickle out. The neighborhood we are in is all religious, so no one was listening to radio or checking their emails. The information we received was minimal, but enough to worry everyone. As the afternoon progressed, more news was coming out. After Havdala, Motzei Shabbos/Yom Tov, we began to hear more detail, more horror, more deaths, more captives, more sorrow.

As everyone already knows, this was probably the worst day in Israel’s history. Close to 1,000 people were butchered and murdered, soldiers, men, women, kids, even babies; over 150 people taken as captives, again, soldiers, men, women, children – we pray that Hashem protect them – and over 2,500 people injured.

There is so much information missing; all the dead have not been identified, all the missing have not been identified, families are still in shock, the country is still in shock. The IDF has called up over 300,000 soldiers of the reserve with another 250,000 to be called up soon.

That’s another 500,000 families whose lives will be interrupted even more. Most schools have not opened, many businesses are closed.

For those of us here, we feel the tension in the air. Depending on where one lives, one hears air raid sirens throughout the day. And Israel is a small country; everyone knows someone who has a family member either killed, taken hostage, or badly injured.

The IDF was not prepared. The army does not have enough battle gear, bulletproof vests, battle helmets, communication devices, and such. Many soldiers went to war from shul, wearing their Shabbos clothes; they need undergarments, socks, warm clothing, battery charges for cell phones, etc. How does an army feed 300,000 soldiers they were not prepared for? And, I could continue… I am sure everyone understands the situation.

And the end is not yet in sight.

But Klal Yisrael reacted and reacted beautifully. The entire Klal Yisrael gathered to say Tehillim right after Havdalah, black hats, shtreimels, all types of yar-

mulkes, and even no yarmulkes – men, women, kids. And the tefillah gatherings continue. Women are baking and cooking and sending so much food to the soldiers.

Men are going to the stores, buying whatever they can and taking it to the soldiers.

As chairman of Eretz Hakodesh, I called our Israeli team into action. They contacted our friends in Knesset and in the army, and asked what the soldiers really need. They contacted soldiers on the frontlines and asked them, “What are you missing?” They told us, and in order of priority, these soldiers need bulletproof ceramic vests, battle helmets and such battle gear.

Eretz Hakodesh then launched into action. (Please remember, the day after Shabbos/Simchas Torah in Israel was Sunday, when most businesses in the United States are closed, and Yom Tov Sheini when it was still yom tov for the American Torah community.) One team opened a website, a charity campaign to be ready to launch after yom tov in America. One team started contacting manufacturers of military gear in Israel and the U.S., to be in a position to purchase that gear. On Monday, we went into full battle mode. We began to purchase the gear, arrange to get it shipped to Israel, and start the fundraising. Word got out and soldiers started contacting us with their needs; remember, everyone knows someone in the IDF. As I write this, we are expecting a shipment of 1,000 bulletproof vests – a cost of $650,000. And many more have been ordered. We are purchasing underclothes, blankets, warm coats, phone charger battery packs…the list goes on. Yes, there are many groups doing what they can; and every one of them is needed. Eretz Hakodesh is buying, in most cases, directly from the manufacturer and delivering the items, directly to the soldiers. We have spent money we have not raised yet.

This war will not be over very soon; we must be there in every way possible to support our soldiers on the frontlines and to support their families. We need to support the families of those taken hostage.

We need to support those injured along with their families.

Eretz Hakodesh will continue iy”H to raise the funds to purchase the military gear; the soldiers need another 5,000 bulletproof vests and battle helmets; that is multi-millions of dollars. We need your

OCTOBER 12, 2023 | The Jewish Home

They are Acheinu; They are Our Brothers support.

Visit https://thechesedfund.com/ eretzhakodesh/acheinu to contribute to our brothers and sisters on the frontlines.

Please, be educated. Stay informed.

Please speak out in support of Israel. They are acheinu; we must be there for them.

We pray that HaKadosh Baruch Hu keep our soldiers and all of Klal Yisrael safe.

Rabbi Pesach Lerner is chairman of the Eretz Hakodesh party in the WZO. Eretz Hakodesh represents Torah Jewry in Israel’s national institutions, and beyond.

Rabbi Lerner can be reached at info@ eretzhakodesh.org.

TAG elementary school introduced a special Birchas Hamazon kavanah program in the zechus for the safety and security of our brothers and sisters in Israel

Did you know?

Squirrel nests are called “dreys” and are shaped like a football.

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Shomer Shabbos Ice Hockey Program

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n erev Sukkos and Hoshana Raba, approximately 25 kids – ranging from 7 to 12 years old – gathered at the Freeport Recreation Center Rink for two successive sold-out ice hockey clinics, in what the organizers hope were the first steps toward establishing a shomer Shabbos travel ice hockey team in Nassau County.

The parents organizing the effort have multiple objectives. In the short term, they’re trying to identify existing players in Long Island and Queens who either already play travel ice hockey or are ready to make the transition from house leagues and Learn To Play programs. In the longer term, they’re hoping to work with existing youth hockey organizations to establish a shomer Shabbos ice hockey team. They point to the Ice Cats and North Jersey Avalanche as inspiration for having already accomplished this in other parts of the New York metropolitan area. No such option currently exists for players in Long Island or Queens.

Travel ice hockey presents unique

challenges for Orthodox Jews. Teams typically have 2-3 practices per week and games every Saturday and Sunday, from September through March. As a result, shomer Shabbos players miss at least half the regular season games, in addition to weekend tournaments. Over the years, in response to this issue and the lack of ice rinks at their schools, floor hockey has become popular among Modern Orthodox Jews in New York and New Jersey.

Only recently have a small handful of yeshiva high schools started fielding ice hockey teams.

The demand for ice hockey is growing. “There are so many shomer Shabbos floor hockey players in Nassau County and Queens, many of whom probably would love to make the jump to ice hockey if they had the chance and knew how.

We’re hoping to fill that void by offering an accessible team and also help players make the transition,” according to Mike Davidman, one of the parents leading the effort. He says the group hopes to eventually develop a pipeline for teams at dif-

ferent ages.

There has already been interest from several existing local organizations about hosting the team(s).

Organizers say they’ve heard from parents of more than 65 potential players across different ages but are still looking for more players of all abilities, especially those born in the years 2012 through 2017. Any tryouts for an eventual team

would occur this spring. In the meantime, the focus is on finding potential players and opportunities for those players to improve their skating and skills.

Anyone interested or with questions is encouraged to email jewishtravelhockey@gmail.com to be added to the growing email list and be kept up to date about future clinics and updates.

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At the Gural JCC Sukkos Fair in Cedarhurst Park featuring singers Nachas and Simcha Leiner

Community Sukkah Decorating

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he eighth graders of Shulamith combined chessed and hiddur mitzvah around the community. The students decorated a number of sukkot throughout the area for those who were unable to perform this mitzvah on their own.

The day began at The Esplanade in Woodmere. The girls were joined by the Shulamith Early Childhood and decorated, sang, and danced with the residents of the Esplanade who commented that the joy the Shulamith girls of all ages

brought to them will not be forgotten. In the afternoon, Shulamith girls went to the Premier and to Congregation Sons of Israel. The girls beautifully decorated these sukkot and created a festive atmosphere in preparation for the Chag.

This was a meaningful day which positively impacted our students and those they assisted. Iy”H our community should continue to do chessed and bring the yeshua needed to end the war in Israel.

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Amud HaYomi to Begin on Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan

By Chaim Gold It is an eis tzarah l’Yaakov. The murderous barbaric attacks on Acheinu Bnei Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael have cast a pall of mourning upon Jews all over the world.

As maaminim bnei maaminim we know that we who are not fighting at the front must do our part in this milchama. We know that Hashem is the Ish milchama and the way to invoke rachamei shomayim is through Torah and tefilla. Whether it is taking on a new kabbalah to join the new worldwide Amud HaYomi program that begins on Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan or to increase Torah learning in any other meaningful way, that is the response that is needed for Klal Yisrael. All Torah learning brings down a shefa of rachamei shomayim and indeed, on Motzoei Simchas Torah, the venerated senior posek, HaGaon HaRav Moshe Sternbuch, shlita, called on all Yidden to increase their Torah learning.

The Launch of the Amud HaYomi Initiative Rabbi Shalom Yachnes, one of Dirshu’s coordinators overseeing the opening of new Amud HaYomi shiurim, commented, “When I speak to rabbanim, and talmidei chachomim who have undertaken to deliver shiurim, there is a great sense of excitement and anticipation.”

Just in Florida alone eight shiurim have already been established. In Los Angeles, as well, several shiurim have been set up as well as shiurim in locales including Providence, Rhode Island; Dallas, Texas; Toronto and Montreal, Canada; Highland Park, NJ; and Philadelphia, PA!

This is, of course, in addition to the hundreds, yes, hundreds of shiurim established in major centers of Yiddishkeit in Eretz Yisrael and America, such as Brooklyn, Lakewood and Monsey.

In Lakewood, there all already more than ten Amud HaYomi shiurim that will begin on Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan including shiurim given by such prominent maggidei shiur as Rav Chaim Weg, Dayan at the Beis Havaad, who will be giving the shiur in the vibrant Torah center of Lutzk and Rav Eliezer Ralbag, Rav of the Lakewood Courtyard, and Rav Abish Zelishovsky who will be delivering a shiur in Khal Zichron Yaakov.

As of this writing, over twenty shiurim have been established in Brooklyn with many more to come. A sampling of the maggidei shiurim in Flatbush are Rav Michel Spitzer in Khal Tiferes Tzvi, Rav Elliot Jemal at Congregation Ketter Torah and Rav Shlomo Cynamon at Kollel Bnei Torah. In Boro Park, some of the maggidei shiur are Rav Yitzchok Zalman Gips, Rav of Khal Birkas Avrohom, Rav Sender Rechinitzer, Belzer Dayan, Rav Chaim Meir Friedman in Klausenberg, Rav Gershon Fleishman in Rachmastrivka and Rav Yechezkel Landau in Williamsburg.

In Monsey, Rav Daniel Field will be delivering a shiur at Khal Mevaser Tov, Rav Yeshaya Zelig Shapiro at Beis Tefillah, Rav Gabi Fried will be delivering two shiurim one at Chayei Olam Community Kollel and one at Kehillas Ateres Rosh, Rav Chaim Meir Tabak will say a shiur at Vizhnitz on Francis Place, and Rav Mordechai Stresser at Klausenberg.

According to Rav Avigdor Berenstein, a senior member of Dirshu’s hanhala,

Rav Dovid Hofstedter discussing the new Amud HaYomi Program with HaRav Isamar Garbuz

Dirshu’s offices has already signed up some 6,000 new learners of Amud HaYomi in Eretz Yisrael alone. In addition, hundreds of shiurim have already been established across the length and breadth of Eretz Yisrael, ready to begin daf beis amud aleph of Masechta Brachos this coming Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan.

Numerous Gedolei Yisrael have undertaken to deliver daily shiurim in the Amud HaYomi. Gedolim such as HaGaon HaRav Chizkiyahu Yosef Mishkovsky, shlita, Mashgiach in Yeshiva Orchos Torah; HaGaon HaRav Moshe Tuvia Dinkel, shlita, Rav of the Nachala Umenucha neighborhood of Beit Shemesh, Rav

Moshe Sirota, dayan in the Bedatz of the Eidah Hachareidis, Rav Mattisyahu Deutsch, Rav of Ramot.

Another remarkable development in Eretz Yisrael is the enthusiasm among night kollelim for the new Amud HaYomi.

The Amud HaYomi is the perfect limud for a night kollel and Dirshu’s offices have already signed up tens of night kollelim which reached out and asked to join the Amud HaYomi.

A Kehillah-Wide Initiative In addition, Rav Bernstein relates, “Entire kehillos are adapting the Amud HaYomi as the collective limud for the entire kehillah. For example, the Kehillas

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A Program that Transcends Boundaries The enthusiasm for Amud HaYomi transcends any geographical location or any particular faction of Klal Yisrael. It is being embraced by everyone - Ashkenazim and Sefardim, Yeshiva types, Chassidim and Modern Orthodox.

It doesn’t matter where one is in the world, Amud HaYomi shiurim from some of the world’s most popular maggidei shiur will be available in English, Yiddish and Hebrew via video and audio on major platforms such as Torah Anytime, the OU’s All Daf Shiurim and Kol Halashon.

At this point, the shiurim available online are given by Rav Dovid Hofstedter, Nasi Dirshu, Rav Shlomo Cynamon, Rav of Khal Bnei Torah of Flatbush, and Rav Herzka Greenfeld, in Yiddish.

Indeed, HaGaon HaRav Isamar Gerboz, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Orchos Torah and a talmid muvhak of HaGaon HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman, zt”l, related, “I remember once a group of yungeleit came to Rav Shteinman and told him, ‘Yes, we learn in kollel all day with great iyun but we would also like to review masechtos that we have learned to ensure that we retain bekius in many masechtos in Shas. What should we do?’ Rav Shteinman proposed that they learn one amud per day, saying, ‘Learning an entire daf is not appropriate for everyone. Some people have a nature that they need to go slower. They need time to stop, think and digest what they have learned. For them, an amud a day is easier.’ Indeed, that group of avreichim used this Amud HaYomi system to learn the masechtos of Zevachim, Menachos, and Niddah and they saw great success.”

Getting in on the Ground Floor Perhaps Rav Avigdor Bernstein of Dirshu said it best when he explained the magnitude of the zechus to get in on the ground floor of such a Klal Yisrael initiative that is destined to have a transformative impact on Klal Yisrael all over the world for generations to come. He said, “Of course, the zechus of establishing the Daf HaYomi and all of the millions or perhaps billions of dafim learned combined with the zechus of the impact that the Torah learning of all those who have learned Daf HaYomi since its establishment are to the credit of Rav Meir Shapiro. It is important, however, to realize that so many others have an integral part in that zechus. Rav Meir Shapiro couldn’t have done it alone. Certainly, there were other Gedolim who supported the Daf HaYomi and were instrumental in its success such as the Imrei Emes of Ger, who publicly made a point of learning the first daf on Rosh Hashana, 1923, and his tens of thousands of Chassidim followed through. There was the Chofetz Chaim who greatly encouraged the new program. There were the other Yidden at the Knessiah Gedolah who enthusiastically embraced the idea. There were those pioneering maggidei shiur and Daf HaYomi learners who ensured that the Daf HaYomi was here to say and the early participants in the shiurim, and the list goes on.

“Today, too,” Rav Bernstein concluded, “every person who begins to learn the Amud HaYomi, who establishes a shiur in his community, who delivers a shiur… is getting in on the ground floor of the zechusim of the millions and millions of amudim that will yet be learned in this new program for Klal Yisrael. The greatness and enormity of this opportunity for the infinite zechusim that it will bring is available for any person to grab. Now is the time to get in on the ground floor of the Amud HaYomi program that will change Klal Yisrael.”

It is our fervent hope that Hashem should continue to protect His Nation, especially our brethren in Eretz Yisrael, and may the zechus of the enhanced limud HaTorah protect Yidden worldwide.

To join the Amud HaYomi, to find a shiur or to get assistance with establishing a shiur in your community please contact Dirshu at er@dirshunj.org or 732-9873948 x 106.

OCTOBER 12, 2023 | The Jewish Home

Hamasmidim which has tens of branches in numerous locales throughout Eretz Yisrael, will be having a special, kehillah-wide gathering on Erev Shabbos Bereishis where the entire kehillah will collectively undertake to learn the Amud HaYomi and will open up tens of shiurim for the kehillah. There will also be hundreds of chavrusah partners doing the amud together.”

The Kehilla of Vizhnitz is another kehillah that is embracing the Amud HaYomi. The Skverer Kehillah New Square has already established three separate Amud HaYomi shiurim given by wellknown, veteran maggidei shiur, Rav Epharim Greenbaum, Rav Sender Austerlitz and Rav Benish Silberman.

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

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1. *

TJH

Centerfold

Facts of Life Laws



Law of the Line: If you change lines, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now.

 



Law of Encounters: The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are dressed in your rattiest clothes.



Law of the Telephone: When you dial a wrong number, the person always picks up.

Law of the Results: When you try to prove to someone that a machine won’t work, it will.

Law of Mechanical Repair: After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.



Law of the Workshop: Any screw, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

WORDS OF WISDOM



Law of Biomechanics: The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.



Law of Coffee: As soon as you sit down for a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

Set your Wi-fi password to 2444666668888888. This way, when someone asks you for your password, you can tell them that it’s 12345678.

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There are 11 bottles in front of you. You have a headache (perhaps from doing this riddle) and are told that one of the bottles contains an antidote that will make you feel better. The rest of the bottles are either Empty Bottles, Water Bottles or Poisoned Bottles.

You know the following facts about the order of the bottles...

Bottles:

You also know that:

1)

•

There are 4 Empty Bottles in front of you.

2) Empty Bottle

•

There is always a Poisoned Bottle next to another Poisoned Bottle, but never on both sides.

•

There are two other bottles between the Water Bottles.

•

There are only 2 Water Bottles.

•

Empty Bottles are just like Poisoned Bottles, there is always one of the same kind next to it but never on both sides.

•

The Antidote is in between a Poisoned Bottle and an Empty Bottle.

3) 4) 5) 6) Poisoned Bottle 7) 8) 9) Empty Bottle 10)

Find the bottle with the antidote.

11) Poisoned Bottle 7) Antidote 8) Empty 9) Empty 10) Poisoned 11) Poisoned Answer: Bottles: 1) Water 2) Empty 3) Empty 4) Water 5) Poisoned 6) Poisoned

You Gotta be Kidding Me! A college student calls home from school.

“How are your friends doing?” he asks.

“How are your classes?” asks her father.

“Good,” she says.

“Good,” replies the student.

“What are you thinking of majoring in?” the father

“How is your soccer team playing?” he inquires.

“Good,” she answers.

probes.

“Communications.”

OCTOBER 12, 2023 | The Jewish Home

Riddle Me This

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

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Torah Thought

Parshas Bereishis

By Rabbi Berel Wein

I

n the whirlwind cascade of events that fill this opening parsha of the Torah, one can easily be overwhelmed by the sheer number of subjects discussed. Nevertheless, I think we can all agree that the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, after they exercised their free will to disobey G-d’s commandment, is an important issue to dwell upon and discuss.

What life was like within the Garden of Eden is pretty much an unknown to us. It is obvious that human nature was differ-

ent there and that the prevalence of shame and desire was absent – certainly in a way that our world cannot countenance. But once driven from the Garden and apparently prevented from ever again returning, Adam and Eve and their offspring engage in a life and live in a world that is very recognizable to us.

Sibling rivalry, jealousy, murder, psychological depression, laxity and abuse are now all part of the story of humankind.

Human beings are now bidden to struggle

for their very physical and financial existence in a world of wonder – complete with ever-present dangers and hostility.

But the memory of the Garden of Eden has never departed from Adam and Eve or for that matter from their descendants, no matter how many centuries and millennia have passed since their expulsion.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the Torah records for us the hundreds of years that early human beings lived – to emphasize that even over nine hundred years later, the memory of the Garden still

not feel that this is a vain and foolish hope on our part. Within each of us there still is a fragment of memory that recalls that human beings once lived in the Garden of Eden and were spared the woes of human society as we know it from our past history – and even from today.

It is interesting that human society never has really despaired, in spite of all historical evidence to the contrary as to the impossibility of the task, of creating this better world of serenity, spirituality, harmony and good cheer. It is the mem-

It is this memory that still fuels within us our drive for a better and more ideal world.

burns bright in the recesses of the brains of Adam and Eve and their descendants.

It is this memory that still fuels within us our drive for a better and more ideal world. Once human beings, albeit only Adam and Eve alone, experienced what human life and our world can be – life in a Garden of Eden – the drive of society to constantly improve our world and existence is understandable. We are always trying to return to the Garden.

Even though human society has unfortunately perpetrated and witnessed millions upon millions of murders over its long bloody history, we still strive to create a murder-free society. And we do

ory of the Garden that gives us no peace and does not allow us to become so desensitized that we would readily accept our current human condition as being unchangeable.

The angels that guard the entrance to the Garden were also represented in the Holy of Holies on the lid of the Ark that contained G-d’s message to humankind.

Those angels have the faces of children in order to indicate to us that somehow, someday, in G-d’s good time in the future perhaps, we will be able to once again enter the Garden and truly live in the better world promised to us by our holy prophets.

Shabbat shalom.

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From the Fire Parshas Bereishis

Rising Above Sin

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf With the horrific attacks in Eretz Yisroel this week, I must begin the new year with a tefillah that we quickly see the fulfillment of this week’s Haftarah (Yeshayahu 42:13), “G-d will go out like a warrior, like a man of wars He shall arouse His vengeance!”

W

hen Hashem does not accept Kayin or his korban, the pasuk (Bereishis 4:5) says, “Kayin became very angry and his countenance fell.” Why was Kayin angry? The baalei mussar teach that he was not angry because his korban was not accepted. He understood perfectly well that his korban was not accepted because he gave Hashem an inferior gift. Rather, he was jealous because Hevel and his korban were accepted. The Ohr Hachaim on this pasuk explains that Kayin was angry at Hevel’s success and he was crestfallen because of his own descent.

It was also understandable why Kayin was crestfallen. He knew that he was a son of Adam HaRishon. He could not have been closer to the Source, to the direct work of Hashem’s hands. He may not have realized it consciously, but he felt sadness and depression because despite his lofty status, he had succumbed to jealousy, desire (see Bereishis Raba 22:7), and ego (cf. Avos 4:21). Kayin did not know how to contend with the shame he felt because of his own fall from grace in contrast with Hevel’s success. There were no therapists or twelve-step programs for Kayin, so he lacked the tools to cope with his feelings of anger, jealousy, sadness, and depression.

Hashem therefore approached Kayin before he did anything rash to give him some advice and show him how to use his feelings of anger and shame to his advantage. He first opens up the conver-

sation with Kayin by asking him (Bereishis 4:6), “Why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen?” Hashem knew why Kayin was upset, and Kayin knew that Hashem knew. So why did He ask the question? It must be that Hashem was trying to tell him something. He was telling Kayin, “Why are you depressed about your descent into anger and jealousy?! Most people’s problem is that they never become self-aware. They remain blind to their own faults and defects. They go on emotionally murdering their wives, children, or parents for years on end. But you, Kayin, can use your feelings as a call to action to improve yourself!”

Hashem continues, “If you improve, you will be forgiven, s’eis, and if you do not improve, sin crouches at the door. To you is its longing. But you can rule over it!” On a simple level, the word s’eis means “carry” or “lift.” In other words, Hashem was telling Kayin that if he improved himself, G-d would carry – forgive – his

sin of not bringing a proper korban.

On a deeper level, however, Hashem was telling Kayin that if he improved himself, he would be lifted up above and beyond his sin. Rashi (on Kiddushin 30b) explains that the word s’eis here means, “You will be lifted up over your evil inclination.” Rabi Abbah further explains (I Zohar 54b) that Hashem was telling Kayin, “Lift yourself up higher and do not descend below!”

The present Slonimer Rebbe, the Darchei Noam, shlita, has a related comment on the pesukim at the beginning of the parsha (Bereishis 1:2-3), “And the earth was empty and void and the darkness was on the face of the depths. And the spirit of G-d was hovering over the face of the waters. And G-d said, ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light.” This is how life in this world appears sometimes – empty, void, and full of darkness.

This was what Kayin felt in his heart.

But Hashem told Kayin, and tells us,

that while there may be much darkness in our lives, we must also remember that “the spirit of G-d was hovering over the face of the waters.” If we lift ourselves up to see Hashem’s Presence, then He says, “Let there be light” and we will find light.

The key is to turn to Hashem and recognize His presence, thereby lifting ourselves up, then we will rise above our sins and not be subject to them. “The way of life leads upward for the wise in order to turn away from the depths below” (Mishlei 15:24). If we turn toward the “way of life” by focusing our attention away from our defects and toward Torah and mitzvos, then we will automatically “turn away from the depths below.”

We must recognize that when we feel angry, it is a type of early warning system. When we blame everyone around us for our misery, it is a signal hinting at the fact that we are really angry at ourselves.

It is a sign that we must stop criticizing other people’s faults and begin examining and cleaning up our own side of the street. We must stop being angry and lift ourselves up above whatever defects threaten to bring us down. If we cling to G-d’s light, the darkness inside disappears on its own.

How can we lift ourselves up above our jealousy, desire, and ego? One way is by learning Torah. The Mishnah says (Avos 6:3), “Anyone who involves himself in Torah study is elevated.” Another way is by davening, which Chazal describe as “a matter which stands at the height of the world” (Brachos 6b). And a third way is tzedakah and doing kindness for others, as the pasuk (Mishlei 14:34) says, “Tzedakah elevates a nation.” By throwing oneself into Torah, tefillah, and tzedakah, he connects to the “spirit of G-d hovering over the face of the waters.” When one does that, Hashem says, “Let there

place, he would never have peace of mind or tranquility to focus on Hashem.

Kayin would never have the ability to focus on recognizing Hashem’s Presence hovering over the waters of this world. He would never again merit to hear Hashem say, “Let there be light” in his life because his lifestyle would never permit him to focus on Hashem’s light in order to lift himself up above the ever-changing landscape of his life. He said that because

constantly running from place to place physically and our minds wander from one end of the earth and back on our phones, computers, and devices. So Hashem responds to Kayin and us: “And G-d placed a sign on Kayin so that no one who would find him would smite him” (ibid.

15). What is this sign that will stop one’s character traits and desires from killing him? The seforim hakedoshim teach that it is Shabbos, which is also called a “sign”

If we cling to G-d’s light, the darkness inside disappears on its own.

G-d would be hidden from him, “whoever finds me will kill me.” In other words, when a person lacks centeredness, when he lacks G-d’s light, every bad character trait will bring him down. Every earthly desire threatens to kill him spiritually because he has lost the ability to raise himself up above his sins.

We too often feel that we lack the ability to find tranquility and peace. We are

(Shemos 31:13). While our bodies and minds may rush around throughout the week, Shabbos is the time when we can re-center ourselves by recalling Hashem’s light in our lives.

To the extent that we fail to use our anger at those around us as a reminder to improve ourselves, that anger, depression and sadness will only fester more and more. If we fail to recognize that our

anger at others is actually misplaced anger at ourselves, we will only continue to make ourselves and others more miserable.

While one should indeed share positive, constructive suggestions, if he finds himself becoming very emotional and angry because of his complaints about others, he should recognize that Hashem, in His great kindness, is sending him a sign that he should work to lift himself up, to bring more light into his life with Torah, tefillah, or tzedakah. This will address the true cause of his misplaced anger at himself.

May Hashem help all of us lift ourselves up with His light to a place higher than sin, where it cannot touch us. And in that merit, may we see Hashem carry out his justified wrath against our enemies when “G-d will go out like a warrior, like a man of wars He shall arouse His vengeance” with the coming of the ultimate redemption, may it come very soon!

Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.

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be light” in his life because he is taking the advice He gave Kayin, “If you improve yourself, you will be lifted up!”

Unfortunately, Kayin himself did not take Hashem’s advice. He remained lost in his anger and depression and ultimately murdered his brother Hevel.

The consequence was that Kayin became “a wanderer and an exile on the earth” (Bereishis 4:12). Kayin then said, “My sin is too great to bear, mi’niso” (ibid.

13). Kayin used the same word Hashem used in His advice to him (mi’niso, s’eis).

He recognized that his sin came from the fact that he did not elevate himself over it.

According to Chazal (Vayikra Raba 10:5), Kayin did teshuvah. Kayin therefore begins a dialogue with G-d about his future exile (Bereishis 4:14): “Indeed you have driven me today from the face of the earth. I shall be hidden from before you.

I will be a wanderer and an exile on the earth, and it will be that whoever finds me will kill me.” Why does Kayin say that he will be hidden from G-d? Hashem never told him that this would be part of his punishment. It must therefore be that Kayin recognized that as a natural result of his status as a wanderer and exile, concealment would separate him from G-d.

Because he would always go from place to

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Think. Feel.Grow.

The Deeper Purpose of Torah Wisdom

By Rabbi Shmuel Reichman

A

s we begin the new Torah cycle, let’s take a moment to contemplate the deeper purpose of Torah. Some may refer to the Torah as a history book; others may think of it as a book of law or a source of Jewish wisdom. While these are all true, they only scratch the surface of the Torah’s true nature. Torah is not simply a guide to living a life of truth within this world; it is the blueprint and DNA of the world itself. Our physical world is a projection and emanation of the deep spiritual reality described in the Torah. This is the meaning behind the famous Midrash, “Istakel b’Oraisa u’bara alma, [Hashem] looked into the Torah and used it to create the world.” (Bereishis Rabbah 1:1).

Torah is the spiritual root of existence; the physical world is its expression.

Imagine a projector: the image that you see on the screen emanates from the film in the projector so that everything you see on the screen is simply an expression of what’s contained within the film. So too, every single thing that we see and experience in the physical world stems from the spiritual root — the transcendent dimension of Torah. To illustrate further, the trees you see outside originally stemmed from a single seed. Similarly, each and every one of us originated from a zygote, half a male and half a female genetic code. From that single cell ultimately manifested a fully developed and expressed human being. You are the expression of your original seed, just like the world is the expression of its original seed and root — the Torah. Thus, the world in which

we live is an avenue to the spiritual; we can access the spiritual, transcendent world through the physical world because the two are intimately and intrinsically connected.

To relate to this concept, think of the way in which other human beings experience and understand you. All they can see of you is your physical body. They cannot see your thoughts, your consciousness, your emotions, or your soul.

All they can see are your actions, words, facial expressions, and body language, i.e., the ways in which you express yourself within the world. They cannot see your inner world, but they can access it through the outer expressions that you project. The same is true regarding human beings trying to experience Hashem and the spiritual. We cannot

see the spiritual; we cannot see what is ethereal and transcendent, only that which is physical. However, we can use the physical to access the spiritual; we can study the Torah’s expression in this world to understand its spiritual root.

To fully grasp the depth of this concept, we must understand the nature and purpose of a mashal. A mashal is an analogy, an example one gives in order to explain an abstract, conceptual idea to one who does not yet understand it. If a teacher wants to share a deep principle with his or her students, they might share a story or analogy that depicts the idea through a more relatable medium.

While the mashal does not fully convey the idea itself, it leads the listener toward it, aiding him or her in the process of understanding. Deep ideas cannot be

dent. If this is true, how can we relate to and understand the spiritual world? We cannot see, touch, or feel the spiritual.

Thus, if all learning occurs through the use of analogy, what mashal did Hashem give us to help us access spiritual truths?

The ultimate mashal is the world itself. The physical world guides us toward deeper, spiritual truths. Everything in this world is a mashal — a

sefer, “The Journey to Your Ultimate Self,” and take this journey with me into the deepest and most inspiring ideas of Torah thought. This sefer serves as an accessible and inspiring gateway into deeper Jewish wisdom, living a life of higher truth, and achieving your ultimate purpose. It is organized according to the weekly parsha, providing a consistent for learning and spiritual

It is the blueprint and DNA of the world itself.

tool guiding us toward a deeper reality.

Every physical object, every emotional phenomenon, every experience in this world is part of a grand mashal leading us toward the root of all existence. With the Torah as our guide and teacher, we can navigate the physical world and understand how to trace ourselves back to our ultimate Source, Hashem.

As we begin the new parsha cycle, I invite you to get a copy of my parsha

growth. The ideas in this sefer are rooted in the full range of Torah wisdom, spanning Tanach, Gemara, Midrashim, and the writings of classical Jewish thinkers, including the Maharal, Ramchal, Nefesh Ha’Chaim, and Sfas Emes.

And each chapter concludes with a summary to help you remember the main concepts and ideas, as well as action points and discussion questions to help close the gap between intellect and ac-

tion. I can’t wait to embark on this journey with you as we continue journeying to our ultimate selves!

Rabbi Shmuel Reichman is the author of the bestselling book, “The Journey to Your Ultimate Self,” which serves as an inspiring gateway into deeper Jewish thought. He is an educator and speaker who has lectured internationally on topics of Torah thought, Jewish medical ethics, psychology, and leadership. He is also the founder and CEO of Self-Mastery Academy, the transformative online self-development course based on the principles of high-performance psychology and Torah.

After obtaining his BA from Yeshiva University, he received Semicha from Yeshiva University’s RIETS, a master’s degree in education from Azrieli Graduate School, and a master’s degree in Jewish Thought from Bernard Revel Graduate School. He then spent a year studying at Harvard as an Ivy Plus Scholar. He currently lives in Chicago with his wife and son where he is pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago.

To invite Rabbi Reichman to speak in your community or to enjoy more of his deep and inspiring content, visit his website: ShmuelReichman.com.

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taught, as they are beyond words. They can only be hinted to and talked about.

The job of the teacher is to guide the student toward the idea until the idea falls into the student’s mind with clear understanding. A mashal serves as a guiding force in this process, leading the student toward an understanding of that which defies simple explanation.

This process itself can be understood through a mashal. You cannot teach someone how to ride a bike. You can only help them, holding on while they practice, and perhaps showing them an example of how it is done. Ultimately, though, you must let go, and the student will have to learn how to ride independently. (This is a mashal to help explain the concept of a mashal. Think about that.) Once you learn how to ride a bike, it’s hard to imagine not being able to ride one. We often can’t understand what took us so long to learn. Yet, despite the fact that we now know how to ride a bike, we will not be able to explain how to ride a bike to someone else. It is simply beyond words.

A mashal is the only tool a teacher can use to teach spiritual truths; the learning and understanding must be done within the inner mind of the stu-

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Delving into the Daf

Egg-sploring the Halacha

By Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

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ith the enormous amount of responsa that have been written over the past thousand years, there are countless ones about some rather interesting questions. How about this one: What is the halacha if a man offers his bride an egg instead of a ring under the chuppah? Are they halachically married? Who hatched up that question?

The Tosefes Rid suggests that people once paid their mikveh fee with eggs. It seems it was commonplace at one point in time. But why exactly would a chassan offer his wife an egg? Presumably, the chassan had egg on his face when he realized he left the ring at home. Someone scrambled over to the caterer to ask him if he had anything that could be used in its place. “Why not use an egg?”

The chassan was chickening out, thinking, “That won’t go over easy. My kallah will think I’m an egghead.”

“Nonsense! I know your kallah; she’ll accept the egg. Worst-case scenario, she’ll crack up.”

What is the halachic question surrounding the use of an egg for kiddushin? Only an item that is worth a perutah may be used for kiddushin. In ancient times, a perutah was the smallest coin.

Back then, the price for a small fruit was a perutah. It would seem that an egg is certainly not worth a perutah, as an egg generally costs less than a fruit. My brother, Rabbi Yosef Sebrow, estimated that the purchasing power of a perutah stated in today’s currency would be around thirty cents. If we assume that a dozen eggs cost $1.99, the value of each egg is less than twenty cents. Granted, they are not a dime a dozen, but each egg is still worth less than two dimes.

Rebbe Yosi (Eiruchin 27a) says that one may use an egg instead of coins to redeem an item that was consecrated to the Beis HaMikdash. Tosfos explain that an egg was worth a perutah in ancient times.

Presumably they weren’t even referring to jumbo eggs. Commentators cried fowl:

“How is it possible that a standard egg was worth a perutah back then? Were egg purveyors poaching their customers?”

The Piskei Tosfos suggests that an egg was only worth a perutah in Yerushalayim. There was a rabbinic decree that one may not raise chickens in Yerushalayim

However, a Mishnah in Yoma says that the courtyard of the Temple in Yerushalayim was already full on holidays by the time of “kiriyas gever.” Rebbe Shelah says (Yoma 20b) that this refers to an actual rooster’s call. Evidently, some chickens were allowed in Yerushalayim. The

“Nonsense! I know your kallah; she’ll accept the egg. Worst-case scenario, she’ll crack up.”

for fear they might spread tumah. The chickens might pick up an impure item from a refuse heap and deposit it on a walkway before coming home to roost.

A kohen or Yisrael might unwittingly walk over the item and become tamei.

To forestall this possibility, the sages forbade raising chickens in Yerushalayim.

Hence, all eggs had to be imported from elsewhere. This led to eggs in Yerushalayim being worth a perutah or more.

Dovev Meisharim explains that people in Yerushalayim were allowed to raise chickens in coops. Only free-range chickens were prohibited. This still reduced the supply of eggs enough to raise the price to a perutah or more.

In ancient times, if someone tried to use an egg for kiddushin in a city outside of Yerushalayim, we would tell him that an egg is not worth a perutah. Anyway, it’s a rotten thing to use for kiddushin;

he should shell out money for something worth more. However, according to the Rosh, the Rambam holds that as long as the item is worth a perutah somewhere in the world, it is still valid for use in kiddushin. The Rosh himself says that if an item was used for kiddushin that is not worth a perutah in the locale of the wedding but is worth a perutah somewhere else, the couple would be considered married rabbinically. So even though the man used an egg for kiddushin in Teveria, not in Yerushalayim, he would be married at least rabbinically.

However, if we determine the value of a perutah by the amount of silver it bought back then, then a perutah today would be worth a little more than a penny (based on $22/troy ounce). Expressed in today’s dollars, silver in ancient times used to be worth around $500 a troy ounce (R’ Yosef Sebrow). Using this system, a chassan may use any item that is worth two cents as kiddushin. So if his brain was fried, he can attempt to use an egg for kiddushin. But please don’t egg him on, because it’s certainly not conducive to e-ggreat marriage.

As an aside, a friend of mine told me that his wife was befuddled when she was asked by the mesader kiddushin under the chuppah, “Is this ring worth twenty-five cents?” She certainly hoped it wasn’t worth only twenty-five cents!

Properly phrased, the question should have been: “Is this ring worth at least twenty-five cents?” That’s an “eggcellent” question.

We should be zoche to merit our return to Yerushalayim speedily in our days.

Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow is a rebbe at Yeshiva Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway. In addition, Rabbi Sebrow leads a daf yomi chaburah at Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park in West Hempstead, NY. He can be contacted at ASebrow@ gmail.com.

Headlines

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Halacha

OCTOBER 12, 2023 | The Jewish Home

Raising Awareness

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman

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here was a remarkable talmid chochom who, by all accounts, represented serious rosh yeshiva material. He plumbed the depths of Gemara and halacha. He was fully fluent in chassidus and the pathways of Litvishe mussar. He authored numerous seforim, had exemplary middos, and had all the qualities of great leadership.

But this remarkable individual was unjustifiably marginalized like so many others in our community. Why? Because he was single and faced a dirty little secret that exists in our community. That secret is best explained and understood with a term from the lingua franca of the yeshiva world: We are not “gorais” single people – both “single women” and “single men.”

Just in time for Rosh Hashana, the OU issued a remarkable and ground-breaking study, telling us just how to address this problem.

The authors who conducted the research were Matt Williams, Michelle Shain, Guila Benchimol, Channah Cohen and Elisha Penn. They also conceived of the study, design the study, collected and analyzed all the data, wrote it, revised it and revised it again and again. And, to use contemporary parlance – “they nailed it.”

These authors (and the OU itself) deserve a tremendous yasher koach. What they discovered could be a new set of “al chaits” in Vidui – all involving an abnegation of the remarkable mitzvah of v’ahavta lareiacha kamocha.

• Al chait that we have caused single men and single women to feel a sense of loneliness during their search for a shidduch and thus negated this mitzvah.

• Al chait that we have made the single men and single women in our community feel invisible, blamed, and judged.

• Al chait that we have treated them like children.

• Al chait that we have inadvertently hurt them and have criticized, degraded, and dismissed them.

These four “al chaits” could actually be put on a Post-It note when we recite the Vidui for the mitzvos assei and lo saaseh. (This is what the Chayei Odom essentially did when he applied contemporary examples for the other al chaits.)

What changes to language and behaviors, on both an individual and communal level, would convey this recognition?

How can we create a place for belonging within the Torah community for

How can we recognize single men and women as full, adult members of our community, rather than treating them like “boys” and “girls”?

The OU report respectfully has brought this issue front and center and seeks answers to five crucial questions: How can we recognize single men and women as full, adult members of our community, rather than treating them like “boys” and “girls”?

those who are searching for a spouse, and for those who perhaps may not find one?

How can we expand communal structures and roles to include single people?

How can we offer single men and

women opportunities to learn more about relationships, as they so desire?

Essentially, the report’s recommendations are: We need to increase the conversation. We have organizations for addictions, for fertility issues, even for people in prison – but this issue has not been adequately addressed.

We have to first appreciate who they are and not refer to them disrespectfully by calling them “boys” or “girls.” Even the term “singles” identifies them by this one description – and they are so much more.

Invite single men and women for Shabbos and Yom Tov meals more frequently and to do so with much greater and more attuned sensitivity. It should not be a “chessed project” but as friends, and it should not be an after-thought, chalilah.

We should avoid offering unsolicited advice b’tachlis harichuk.

We have to realize that “I am happy to have you, call if you ever need a meal” is not the way to go.

This Author’s Suggestion If possible, at the very first shul and school board meeting of the year 5784, this issue should be placed on the agenda. Every board member should read the report and try to create programming to address this long-ignored issue.

The full 27 page report can be read here: https://research.ou.org/content/uploads/2023/07/the-challenges-of-singlehood.pdf Oh, and what happened to the individual mentioned at the beginning of this article? He did get married, baruch Hashem.

The author can be reached at yairhoffman2@gmail.com.

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The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

World

Builders

“Being a Paramedic is a Way of Life”

By Raphael Poch

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tzik Kara, a nurse and United Hatzalah volunteer paramedic who works at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, experienced a unique morning recently. While making a routine stop at a gas station near the Shoresh interchange, he received an alert on his communications device regarding a birth occurring at the station. He immediately sprang into action to deliver the baby.

Kara, who works as the manager of the revenue unit in the economics department at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital after serving for many years as the director of the nursing division of the operating rooms and the ICU, also dedicates his time to volunteering as a paramedic with United Hatzalah.

He serves as the regional paramedic of the organization in the Modi’in area and rides an ambucycle when he is not doing shifts on one of the organization’s intensive care ambulance. This particular day, his morning began with a minor delay due to his son’s bicycle having a

flat tire. After resolving the issue, he set off on his ambucycle on the way to the hospital and pulled into the gas station at approximately ten to seven in the morning.

What happened next was far from ordinary. Moments after his arrival, a call came through from United Hatzalah

nized that if I was going around the gas station looking inside cars, I probably came to help. He approached me and guided me to their vehicle.”

“I approached the distressed woman, who was lying in the back seat, and she said she was in severe pain and feeling like the baby was about to come out,”

“Her husband quickly recognized that if I was going around the gas station looking inside cars, I probably came to help.”

about a birth taking place right there at the gas station.

“Thanks to the delay at home, I was in the right place at the right time,” Kara recounted. “I was searching for the vehicle in which the expectant mother was located, and her husband quickly recog-

the volunteer related. “I conducted a brief assessment of her pregnancy.

This included inquiring about her medical history, ascertaining the current situation, and determining the stage of her pregnancy. Then I returned to my motorcycle and retrieved my delivery

kit and other necessary equipment to prepare for the birth.”

Kara recounted that after a few moments of pain, a precious baby girl was born, her cries echoing throughout the station. Kara performed a quick APGAR assessment to ensure the baby’s well-being. Once he confirmed her health, he placed her gently into her mother’s arms for their first tender moments together. Meanwhile, an intensive care ambulance arrived at the station. Staffed with numerous paramedics and EMTs, the ambulance team quickly transported the newborn and her mother to the nearest hospital for further care.

“It was an amazing and moving way to start the day. It’s obvious that being a paramedic and a nurse is a way of life.

You are on call all day long, no matter where or when. You are there to assist in the moment of truth. Thankfully, everything went smoothly, and less than twenty minutes later, I was on my way to my regular duties at Hadassah Ein Kerem.”

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nspiration Nation

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

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new

Saul Blinkoff:

column!

Dreaming of Disney and of Davening

By Ayelet Siev

T

hink back to a moment that inspired you. A moment that felt like perfect clarity. Now think about after the moment ended. What did you do with that inspiration? Did you let it fly by or did you take it with you and turn it into something?

Saul Blinkoff is currently an inspirational speaker, singer, director, and animator who has worked on Tarzan, Pocahontas, Mulan, Winnie the Pooh, and more and lives a fully religious Orthodox life. For much of his Conservadox upbringing, he simply wanted to be an artist. But at only eleven years old, in a Long Island movie theater, Blinkoff

experienced his first moment of true inspiration. Watching the movie E.T., he immediately knew he wanted to be a filmmaker.

With a new life plan in mind, eleven-year-old Saul did all the research he could on filmmaking. He began to shoot movies at home. In high school, however, someone informed him that Hollywood was for weirdos, and Saul surely did not want to be one.

“It’s amazing how often we allow other people to push us off of the trajectory – off of the path of the goal that we want,” Blinkoff reflected.

Slightly defeated, he decided he want-

In His Words…

He said, ‘Just so you know, out of the 750 of you, maybe, just maybe, four of you will ever work there.’ When he said that, i remember

” ”

thinking one thing: i wonder who the other three will be.

We’re going to have to experience pain, but you don’t have to go through the pain – you grow through the pain.

this is the story of a guy who was the worst artist at his school who

” ”

got his dream. Because nobody wakes up great at anything.

instead of going for a life of happiness, shoot for something a little bit sweeter; it’s a life of meaning. And meaning doesn’t come from what i accomplish; it comes from what am i striving to accomplish.

ed to be a regular artist again.

A short while later, Saul went to see The Little Mermaid and, while watching, officially decided on his dream. Being a Disney animator combined his love for drawing and filmmaking. Additionally, Disney had an Orlando studio, away from the LA “weirdos.” As only a junior in high school, at a loss for what to do to achieve this, his parents took him to Disney World and simply asked around.

A cast member gave them a list of art schools Disney hired from. Determined to fulfill his dream, Saul went to Columbus College of Art and Design and was the only Jew in the entire school. At one point, a Disney representative came to the school. He asked how many people wanted to be Disney animators, and every hand went up.

“He said, ‘Just so you know, out of the 750 of you, maybe, just maybe, four of you will ever work there.’ When he said that, I remember thinking one thing: I wonder who the other three will be.”

In order to secure a Disney animation job, an internship was needed. To get one required an impressive and packed portfolio. Saul made one, sent it in but got rejected. But he refused to give up. One freezing day, about a year later, Saul, his best friend, and about 15 students went to the zoo to draw animals. They went into a cafe to warm up. Saul and his best friend then went outside, saw an elephant, drew pictures, and went to meet their friends on the bus. As they compared pictures,

the pair turned to everyone else and asked what they drew. The group said it had been too cold to leave the cafe. Saul found himself shocked.

“Oh, it’s your dream unless it gets a little too difficult, unless it gets too painful,” Blinkoff admitted to thinking.

“If you want to be great at something, it will always take effort.”

At that moment, Saul knew he would achieve his dream because he wasn’t afraid to struggle.

Upon his second time applying to Disney, Saul’s best friend got in, but Saul did not. He decided to give up…for a week. A week later, his friend offered him a ticket to the movie Rudy. Rudy is a true story about a kid who was rejected three times from his dream football school but got in the fourth time. Saul found himself crying while watching the movie and vowed to never give up again. His third time applying, he got into Disney.

After completing three movies, Blinkoff got hired for Tarzan. As an animator, he had six months of downtime while the script was written, in which Disney provided him with access to their hotels, theme parks, and resources. One day, out on the lazy river in one of the Disney parks, Saul decided he wanted to go to Israel to learn more about his Jewish identity. Years earlier, in Israel, he had met a yeshiva bachur who seemed very normal. Saul asked why he was there, and the boy responded that he wanted to find out how he fit into the

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and bought a Chumash to read the parsha. Slowly, he became fully religious.

Years later, Blinkoff found himself as the director of a new Winnie the Pooh movie. Before signing off on the animations, he drew and hid a mezuzah next to the door. “Now he’s not Winnie the Pooh, he’s Winnie the Jew,” Saul joked.

He confessed that he did not see himself as a filmmaker anymore, rather, a Jewish filmmaker. Saul began infusing Judaic messages into his movies. For example, the Lion King is about a relationship with a father in heaven who tells his son, Simba, “Remember who you are.” Saul says this is a direct parallel to our relationship with Hashem.

When asked how he maintains a Jewish life while living in Hollywood, Blinkoff countered asking how he could not. How can you be influenced by a town where people are motivated by materialism when you have Shabbos and mitzvos? Joy comes from striving to do the right thing.

Despite his many accomplishments in the filmmaking industry, when asked about his legacy, Saul said this, “I want to look back on today – forget about the end of my life, today – I want to know that I made an effort to grow as a human being, to be a better version of myself, and that I just impacted somebody… I want them to see their potential more

than they do, to see that each one of us is created unique… We must have a unique purpose.”

He added, “At the end of the day, I shouldn’t be the same person just a day older; I should become a different person every day.”

Saul Blinkoff’s story is one of persistence, effort, and emunah. Despite only consciously becoming religious as an adult, his story is infused with Jewish values from the beginning. Hashem promises that if we try, He will complete, and it only took Saul three inspiring movies and ten days in Eretz Yisrael to understand His role in Hashem’s world.

How many of us can say the same?

This article is based on a podcast, “Inspiration For the Nation,” hosted by Yaakov Langer. To catch more of this conversation, you can watch it on LivingLchaim. com or YouTube.com/LivingLchaim or listen wherever you listen to podcasts (just search for “Inspiration For The Nation”) or call our free hotline: 712-432-3489.

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OCTOBER 12, 2023 | The Jewish Home

Jewish people. His parents had raised him with their own identity, and he wanted to know what Judaism meant to him.

Saul had felt envious that he couldn’t do the same. With the break before Tarzan, he now could go.

Saul went on a ten-day program to Israel which changed his life, specifically when he found out about the meaning behind the mitzvah of mezuzah. A doorway is a place of transition, and a mezuzah is an opportunity to ask yourself what kind of world you are going to step into and what kind of home you are going to enter.

Saul decided he wanted to live a frum life.

He began to take off weekends for Shabbos

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

78

Please, Hashem, Let There Be Light!

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Prepared for publication by Ahron Rosenthal

“B

ereishis bara Elokim.” In the beginning...

We were so excited a few weeks ago to bring in this new year filled with hopes and dreams for a beautiful year. It’s hard to believe that such a short time later we’re in a place of, “Ve’haretz haysah sohu va’vohu, and the land was unformed and void.” Our lives feel right now astonishingly empty with “chosech al pnei sehom, darkness upon the depths.” Each and every one of us is experiencing that in our own way, our children, our relatives and our brothers and sisters everywhere in the world, especially in Eretz Yisrael.

There’s a poet who goes by her pen name of Ruth Lewis. I never met her but very often in the shul I share some of her poetry. She was a ba’alas teshuva who ended up in Meah She’arim, originally from Baltimore, and I found in this poem words that I couldn’t find within myself. It’s called “Pomegranate Seeds,” which Ruth Lewis wrote after a year of many bus bombings.

Pomegranate seeds.

Bright ruby jewels.

Juice sweet sticky on small smiling faces, trickling deliciously down tiny chins, stubbornly staining small white shirts, small white festive dresses.

Pomegranate seeds that symbolize our merits.

We are jam-packed with merits.

We burst with only merits, each and all, as pomegranates burst their shells.

Explode with only seeds, with sweet bright ruby seeds.

Pomegranate seeds, new fruit of a new season.

I wish to bless the one who has kept us in life, who has sustained us to reach this day.

But why do I see blood?

I see bright blood spilling, splashing, splattering.

Shadows of blood darkening small shirts, dresses, tiny faces, bodies.

Red blood staining, trickling, gushing, flooding city streets.

Why do I hear screams? Shrieks, sirens wailing?

“In your blood shall you live.

In your blood shall you live.”

The shofar blast ascends, hear now its wail.

Hear our wail.

Recall the one whose blood upon that altar poured.

Gather our blood, count our tears.

Safekeep them each and all within your book.

End the year with all its curses.

Begin a new year with all its blessings.

A year of life, peace, many merits.

A year, the year of our complete redemption.

A year that’s bursting bright abundant overflowing joyous sweet, as jewel red ruby pomegranate seeds.

This past Monday night was the yahrtzeit of the great tzaddik, Reb Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev, the defender, the advocate of the Jewish people. This pasuk in Bere-

ishis describes the horrible emptiness and darkness at the beginning of time, which is how we feel right now.

The Rebbe read the pasuk in the following way: “Va’yomer” – A Jew has to say, not just to say, but a Jew has to scream out, “Elokim!” Please, Hashem! “Ye’hi ohr!” Let there be light! We can’t go on with this darkness.

I’ve been trying to stay away from the images, from seeing anything. I saw a little bit recently of a family that was killed. We saw a grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, taken away as a hostage. We’ve all heard about it; we’ve all seen some of these images that we’re never going to forget.

The Berditchever said that when it’s “Tohu va’vohu, darkness and emptiness,” a Jew has to scream out, “Ye’hi ohr!” We’re begging You for light! We don’t know a way to see any light in this situation. We only know, “B’orcha ner’eh ohr.” Only in Your light, do we see light. As the Berditchever said, “Hashem promised in the beginning of time that when He hears Jews crying and begging for light, then ‘Va’yehi ohr, there will be light.’” If we storm the heavens and we scream and we beg, then we can be zocheh to hear the words of “Va’yehi ohr.”

But I know that what we’re feeling most – more than

bring vengeance onto His enemies and He will cleanse the land. The time of reckoning is coming, and Hashem is going to clean Eretz Yisrael. Many of our children, our brothers and sisters, are going to be in great danger, but the time has come for Hashem to clean Eretz Yisrael. It will be cleansed of the filth of our enemies, and Hashem will avenge every single drop of blood. As Chazal has told

If we storm the heavens and we scream and we beg, then we can be zocheh to hear the words of “Va’yehi ohr.” us, found in the Zohar HaKadosh, Hashem has a certain “coat” that He puts on. And what’s on that coat? It is engraved with the name of every single Jew throughout history who was ever killed for being a Jew. The Zohar tells us that the time will come that Hashem is going to take out that coat, and He’s going to put it on and judge the murderers. As it says in Tehillim, “He will ex-

act judgment upon the nations, and He will pile up their corpses.”

Ribbono Shel Olam, it’s Bereishis now. We are crying out to You, “Ye’hi ohr, give us light!”

There was once a tzaddik who saw that at the end of Simchas Torah everybody was very, very down. It’s very hard to go back into the rest of the week, the rest of the year, the winter and the darkness. And so, the tzaddik reached into the cabinet and took out the Chanukah Menorah and said, “Nu, chevra, let’s get ready for Chanukah.” Yom tov is over and we’re going to get ready to light the Chanukah candles. We’re not going to be discouraged. We’re not going to be depressed. We’re not going to be broken.

I was raised in a home by parents who went through terrible, terrible, horrible things. The things that they saw we can’t imagine. They were never broken. They were never depressed. We are going to be strong. We said this past week, “Chazak, chazak, v’neschazek.” Yoav said to the army of the Jewish people, the army of Dovid HaMelech, “Be strong, strengthen yourselves. For the sake of our land and our people.”

This is leading to something bigger than we ever dreamt of. All of the fulfillments of the words of the Neviim are going to be seen by our eyes with the coming of the final redemption, speedily in our days.

Rav Moshe Weinberger said these words at the community-wide evening of Tehillim and Chizuk at Young Israel of Woodmere on Monday evening. This article was prepared for publication by Ahron Rosenthal.

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the misery, more than the memories, especially those who are children or grandchildren of survivors – all of us who have seen, heard and read images that have not been since the time of the Holocaust, numbers of Jews that were killed in one day that have not occurred since my grandparents were killed – there’s a terrible feeling of helplessness. We want to do something. There were some boys and some girls from our community that went immediately to Israel, but those of us here, we don’t know what to do.

When Moshe Rabbeinu left this world, he was able to extract from Hashem two good things: “Shema Hashem kol Yehuda.” The tzaddikim say that the “Kol Yehuda” is Tehillim. Moshe Rabbeinu said to Hashem before he left the world, “I’m leaving. There are going to be hard times coming up. There is going to be a person coming forth from Yehuda, Dovid HaMelech, and he’s going to leave our people with Sefer Tehillim. So I’m begging You, ‘Kol Yehuda,’ listen to the voice of Yehuda.”

Hashem, listen to Jews wherever they are in the world who are brokenhearted, who are crying out with the words of Dovid HaMelech and Sefer Tehillim. Bring all of Your children home! Bring all the boys, bring all the girls who are out there, bring every single Jew who’s out there in Gaza, in the north, wherever they are, bring them home!

Moshe extracted this from Hashem Yisbarach. We will be victorious, and Hashem will help us. That’s the first promise.

The second promise is Moshe said, “Dam avodov yikom,” He will avenge the blood of His servants and

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

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Shabbat Morning, 10:45 AM

By Ronit Segev

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habbat morning, the sort of peaceful morning you wake up mildly groggy and astonished that it’s so late. A disbelieving glance at the clock convinced me to scramble out of bed, into clothes, trip into the bathroom for netilat yadayim, and hurry to recite some morning prayers before confronting the dismaying mess on the table from last night’s feast. We’d been so involved in conversation, and so tired when it ended, that the table was still laden with last night’s dishes and an open, halffilled bottle of wine. I decided to clean up quickly – appeasing both conscience and sense of aestheticism – and then run to shul to join the hakafot.

The door opened. My husband had left only minutes before. He must have forgotten his tallis, I thought. He hadn’t. He told me he had bad news. War. Outside, the green rolling hills of the Shomron radiated peace. A soft wind blew through the open window. Children’s voices filtered in from the playground nearby. “Campaign,” I

corrected him. My husband is a New Yorker, not an Israeli like me. He must think every rocket from Gaza is a war, and he must be talking about Gaza – we’ve been fighting with them every two years, like clockwork, in bloody, meaningless cam-

to the kiddush. The kiddush was over, but some salmon remained in the kitchen.

He’d made it himself. We live in a small and poor community; everyone brings what they can, and on such a festive Shabbat, many put great effort into preparing

Perhaps, in an odd way, “in your blood you shall live” is a blessing. Even in your blood, you shall live. Even in fear and uncertainty and death, G-d is with you, there is life.

paigns to “teach them a lesson.” He probably meant that he heard that a few rockets were launched; the IDF probably attacked munitions factories instead of killing terrorists, as they usually do; and in two or three days, it would all be resolved and the army would brag that a “resounding blow” was dealt to Hamas or the PIJ. We’d have “peace” for a little while.

I did not believe my husband, not even when we reached the shul, and I was shocked by how empty it was.

Then I thought, of course: hakafos are tiring; people dropped off and went home. A neighbor greeted us and offered us a plate of his best cured salmon which he’d brought

delicacies. The neighbor was his normal self, I thought, discussing food first and making sure everyone around him was not hungry. He explained the curing process, reassuring me that even though the fish was homemade, I shouldn’t be concerned about listeria. My husband was wrong, I thought. Campaign. This is why everyone is so normal.

When I was laden with a plate of salmon and crackers, our neighbor told us that nine Jewish border towns were overrun by terrorists. I glanced at the other members of our small group, clustered outside the shul. Terrorists don’t overrun and control towns. They just don’t. We’re in our land, a proud and capable people.

But no one argued with him. No one told him it was impossible. No one said he was exaggerating.

From the large synagogue doorways, a cheerful neighbor, the one who loves roasting his own coffee and teaching us the nu-

ances of light-medium-dark roasts, the one who can fix anything from a computer to a car engine (really), clapped a friend on the back. I couldn’t hear what he said, but I saw his jovial smile. If he was smiling, everything must be normal. Simchat Torah.

A joy and celebration of the Torah, which outlines our divine purpose living here as Jews in the Land.

A car sped down the street near the shul. The screeching of tires startled me into staring at the rushing driver. Our town is comprised mostly of religious people; this man, I guessed, was one of the few non-religious ones who lived on the hilltops. But he was in such a hurry, on Shabbat, when everyone knows children play on the streets and are careful to drive slowly. And he was wearing a faded old army uniform. I noticed cars were parked by the shul when none were the night before. How strange that people should drive to shul. My neighbor was still talking. He said something about losing communication with those towns, something about hostages, about dead, about terrorists with machine guns in the city of Sderot.

He asked me if the salmon was good, why I wasn’t eating, if he should get me more. I have friends in Sderot. I remembered that when I visited them, I disliked the place; it had been summer, and every rock and paving stone pulsated with humidity. It was such a normal city, plain and unremarkable, just like every other. Terrorist infiltrations do not happen there, just like they don’t happen in Rishon Letzion. My neighbor must mean rockets.

The loud singing from the shul formed

Our morning seudah was quiet. We didn’t talk about anything at all. From our tiny house, located by the small town’s main road, we heard the speeding of cars leaving the town. Always leaving. No one was coming back.

When I visited a friend a few hours later, she told me her husband left two hours ago for his base. On Motzei Shabbat, I didn’t look at the news. I didn’t look at the Home Front Command application that my husband downloaded on my phone despite my not wanting it. I called my family, wanting to hear about their chag, the Torah topics they discussed, and the funny, irritating little squabbles my younger siblings typically indulge in. When my brother answered the phone, he was terse. Seven to nine towns overrun. Rockets that shook the house. Sirens heard from afar. People being called up. Hostages. Four hundred murdered. In the darkness of Motzei Shabbat, the scenario he outlined was a nightmare: terrifying, and not quite real.

Then one friend from the hilltops texted me and asked me to daven for her cousins in the south. She sent me their names.

They hadn’t been heard from for hours.

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a bizarre background to the strange words I was hearing. The few men who remained – perhaps thirty – were singing so loudly, with such concentration. Ecstasy? Or desperation? Words around me became disjointed. More people were interjecting.

Someone said the rabbi told everyone to turn on their phones. Reserves were being called up. The rabbi was expected to be enlisted soon. Off duty soldiers needed to contact their commanders. Someone mentioned the number “two hundred.”

Two hundred dead, two hundred missing, two hundred terrorists. I was no longer sure what I was hearing. Words were being strung together in such weird ways, forming such odd messages. Language no longer made sense.

More tires sped over the street near the shul. There aren’t that many non-religious people living on the hilltops. It must be someone giving birth, rushing to the hospital. But the cars were empty except for one man, then another car, another man.

The rabbi told the shliach tzibbur to hurry.

Within half an hour, all the hakafot and Mussaf were done.

Back at home, my husband switched on his phone and downloaded the Home Front application. But it wasn’t real, so I wasn’t going to interrupt the sanctity of Shabbat to do the same. The evening before, we’d sat around a festive table with family and friends, discussing the Shema. If you read the simple words and focus on them, they describe a consciousness of G-d so great it pulsates from every doorway. It fills you with wonder, enthralls you, captivates you so much so that this is what you speak of to your children, what you think of when you wake and when you sleep. One of my friends asked why the Shema is so fundamental. I told her I didn’t know, but this is the prayer you say all the time, morning and night. It’s what you say before you die.

I

t’s three days since the Gaza catastrophe. They call it “Simchat Torah War,” literally meaning Joy of Torah War. How bizarre. Joy and war in the same phrase. Or could that be precisely why we are at war?

Because we the Jewish People scrupulously observe the Torah commandments and have returned here, to our home, as G-d ordered us to?

The prophet Yechezkel says, “Vaomar lach bedamayich chayi, in your blood you

Time and again, we’re surprised, shocked and grieving; and time and again, we rely on a miracle and then, when we miraculously do survive, brag that the IDF is the strongest army in the world.

Three minutes later, she texted again.

Their bodies were discovered. They were shot in their home at point blank. Their son was in the hospital. They’d laid on top of him to protect him.

That’s when I started crying.

shall live.” I’ve always felt uncomfortable with that pasuk, uncomfortable and not understood it. Why should it be that we must live in such a way, in our blood? How many people died saying Shema? And how many more died in confusion and pain and fear and horror?

As I sit in front of my laptop, all I can feel is this dull ache, and a pain that seems to stretch on and on, an abyss of desolation.

Yehoshua, an army medic, was supposed to get married in three weeks. He is now up in the base in the north. Assaf fought on the ground in Gaza in 2014.

That’s when he lost his belief in G-d. He’s now up north, too. Ran, our neighbor who owns the biggest farm in the Shomron and succeeded in instilling fear in the hearts of Arabs who dare not attack his sprawling compound, is burying his son, a commander who was killed during the first 48 hours in the desperate fight to retake control of the Jewish towns by the Strip. Shimon’s kallah was terrified when he left during

davening, called up to reserves for the first time in his life. One family we know has five boys. They are all on the lines. My brother has eight months of basic training to go. This Thursday should have been his swearing-in ceremony by the Kotel. He will be deployed to a base in two weeks. Two other brothers are flying back from the States to join combat units. My cousin, a commander of a combat unit and father of three, is enlisting in reserves. Yosef Chaim, our neighbor, is severely wounded and in Soroka hospital. My sister is a medic, riding in ambulances where the drivers and paramedics are Arab – because the Jewish ones have all been enlisted.

The names of people I know, and my friends know, and my family knows, who serve in emergency services, live on border towns or in danger zones goes on and on and on. When I see names on the news – and I’ve stopped checking the news – they blur and go on endlessly, and I want to vomit.

I grew up with stories of a time like this, a time when you learned from the news that your neighbor and friend won’t be coming home. Husbands and wives would not travel in the same car in case one was murdered, so there would be one living parent remaining for the children.

Funerals occurred every day.

My parents made aliyah a few weeks before it began, and my mother was pregnant and on bedrest with me. When she felt contractions, they sped through army checkpoints, screaming “hospital, hospital,” praying the soldiers would not shoot at them, praying they would not be attacked by terrorists on the road. I was born in the car, minutes after they passed the walls of the Old City on the way to the hospital.

When I was told this story growing up, I thought of it as romantic: my newly immigrant parents who were committed enough to stay, especially when my mother was pregnant with a new life while being sur-

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rounded by so much fear and death. And how symbolic to bring a new life into the world in the Old City, the place we Jews have been trying to reach and rebuild for two thousand years. How poignant to bring life “on the way,” not when you’re safe and cocooned, but when you’re on the road, on a purpose, on a journey with the Jewish people. Perhaps, in an odd way, “in your blood you shall live” is a blessing. Even in your blood, you shall live. Even in fear and uncertainty and death, G-d is with you, there is life.

Today, we’re facing a potential war on three fronts – Gaza, Lebanon, and Judea and Samaria. I’m nine months pregnant.

It’s no longer a romantic story for me.

Besides the pain and the fear, there is rage. If you read on the news it was unexpected, don’t believe it. Top officials have been warning of this scenario for years.

Friends of mine who served on bases by the Gaza borders a few years ago described to me, even back then, the sounds of drilling they heard every night. They knew tunnels were being dug; they knew they could be overrun. My friend told me her commander requested she “not tell the others,” so they would not be scared. I spoke to her this Motzei Shabbat. She told me some of her friends are reported missing.

Others were murdered. Ignoring a problem is certainly one way of coping, and so time and again, we’re plunged into a cycle of war, a war that’s more horrible than the previous one; time and again, we’re surprised, shocked and grieving; and time and again, we rely on a miracle and then, when we miraculously do survive, brag that the IDF is the strongest army in the world. The price for this blindness is too high.

Preparations are being made in our small town for a scenario of a coordinated attack from Nablus. Women are canning meat. The fruit and vegetable supplies were temporarily cut off; our produce came from the hothouses and farmlands near the Strip. I hear from friends about attempted terror attacks in Jerusalem, Shomron and Judea. It’s not on the news; perhaps in order to avoid copycats, or perhaps because we’re too busy with Hamas and the PIJ. Each town is assembling an emergency force. Armed civilians are called upon to guard and patrol.

And yet, there is what brings an occasional laugh and joy. That picture of baffled and amused combat soldiers down south opening care packages from civilians – which were stocked full of products specifically for females; the “health nuts” who sent whole grain rice and buckwheat

noodles to the base next to their town, with a scribbled note that they’re sorry, but this is the type of food they have; and the stories of remarkable wit and bravery of individuals who saved not only their own lives but also their neighbors and their friends.

Volunteer groups for almost anything you can think of have sprung up. Women cook for the hundreds of reserve soldiers called to fight; massage therapists and other alternative health care providers are giving free treatments all hours of the day; men who haven’t been enlisted are pitching in wherever needed, including guard duty and planning defense strategies of their towns. People are standing for hours on end to donate blood; so many college students are volunteering in hospitals that in some cases they are turned away because there are too many. Vacation resorts and

schools are opening up their facilities for families from the borders towns and cities to move to. Men and women ferry soldiers to their bases and make runs to the pharmacies to buy medicine for the elderly. Even the youth are busy: teenagers as young as thirteen roam the towns, dismantling sukkahs for those whose fathers and brothers have been called up; they play with younger children so mothers can work; they fill in for workers in the local stores and distribute food.

While the tears flow freely, so does the love.

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On the Gaza Border

By Dan Schwartz

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e was a tall, dark man, with a hawk-like nose, the commander of Nahal Oz’s Kitat Konenut, the Kibbutz’s civilian counterterror rapid-response team.

If a terrorist were to infiltrate from across the nearby Gaza border, the Kitat Konenut would be the first on the scene. Its members would use their expert knowledge of the local geography to apprehend the terrorist before he infiltrated too deeply, to guide the nearest IDF unit to the danger area as efficiently as possible.

That nearest unit was us. We stood around him, about twenty young men barely out of basic training, and listened carefully to every word the man spoke. It was our first deployment, our first time so close to Gaza, and we were excited. We were also nervous, despite the fact that we were obviously safe. The army would not have trusted such an inexperienced unit with any dangerous duty.

The commander of the Kitat Konenut confirmed that impression. It had been years since any terrorist had successfully infiltrated. The kibbutz was a tranquil place, and he hoped we would keep it that way.

We were to patrol along the perimeter road; but we weren’t to enter any of the streets – at least not in uniform. He did not want any of the local kids frightened by the sight of armed soldiers. It might alarm them into thinking that something was actually wrong. I was initially puzzled by the instructions. Most Israelis are used to the presence of soldiers and even find it reassuring. Why were the residents of this beautiful kibbutz so touchy? It was clearly a border town, so why insist on maintaining the facade of normality? I soon found out that the semblance of normality is what was keeping the kibbutz going. Just five years earlier, a rocket fired from Gaza hit a home in the kibbutz, killing two children. Young parents, fearful for their children’s safety, abandoned the kibbutz in droves.

The kibbutz had since begun a slow, painful recovery.

New families were gradually drifting in. Some of the old families were making a tentative comeback. The commander of the Kitat Konenut was so strict with us precisely because he was afraid that even the smallest whiff of danger would jeopardize this recovery. He had grown up in the kibbutz and had moved away shortly after completing his military service. Now he was back raising a family in Nahal Oz, because he refused to let his childhood home turn into a ghost town. I did not even know his name, but the man’s earnestness and resolve etched themselves in my mind.

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he memory of that briefing in Nahal Oz raced through my mind as I read about Hamas’ terrible attack last Saturday. I wonder what came of him.

Did he die defending his kibbutz? Was he carried off, a captive, deep into Gaza’s concrete jungle? Or did he somehow survive his kibbutz being overrun? What happened to his family? His dream of saving the kibbutz was dead. Saturday’s attack made sure of that.

When I heard the news, I focused on that man because the big picture was too terrible and bizarre for me to comprehend. The videos purportedly showing armed terrorists riding on the backs of pickup trucks in the southern city of Sderot could not possibly be real. They had to have been fakes. There was no way that the terrorists in the video were Hamas commandoes. They must be old videos of ISIS terrorists parading through the streets of a failed Mideastern dictatorship, maybe Syria or Libya.

But those videos were real. And they were from Sderot. The very idea of Hamas launching a cross-border invasion was ludicrous. The border was guarded by a fence so sensitive that it warned the IDF even when a stray dog crossed the border. That fence was guarded by powerful, remotely-controlled machine gun posts

and regularly patrolled by guards, some of whom are expert trackers. The whole area is crisscrossed by cameras and motion sensors. And just a few miles from the border lay the headquarters of the brigade that would rush to the border to stop any infiltration or invasion in its tracks. And even in the worst case scenario, the Israeli air force could scramble its jets to the border in a matter of minutes. At most. Just a week ago, few Israelis would have believed that an attack could have even made it as far as the border. It was public knowledge that Israeli intelligence had infiltrated Hamas through and through. Israeli cameras and spy balloons monitored the whole Gaza Strip around the clock. Hamas’ massive attack must have taken years to prepare. Plans should have leaked out. IDF analysts should have seen the unusual concentration of forces ahead of the attack. At the very least, they should have noticed the Hamas vehicles thunder across the fields towards the border. But they did not. Horror and disbelief soon gave way to anger. Not just at the terrorists who were murdering, raping, and kidnapping but also at the army. Israel had just marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Israeli newspapers were full of glowing columns about how the army had learned its lesson. Hubris and groupthink have been banished forever; the army now respected its enemies’ abilities, and senior officers listened when their subordinates questioned their beliefs. Of course, not all Israelis believed the army’s backslapping.

Perceptive civilians noticed that despite the army’s assertions that the country’s enemies were all thoroughly deterred, it was always those “deterred” terrorists who kept looking for fights with Israel, and it was Israel that was always afraid of escalating those conflicts. Just over the past few months, Hezbollah troops had pitched a camp on the Israeli side of its Lebanese border. Israel responded – not by chasing

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amas launched its suicide drones against the Israeli border cameras, sensors, and machine guns.

Bulldozers and explosives punched holes in the border fence, and a thousand Hamas commandoes streaked across the border in their vehicles. To add to the confusion, that attack was supported by amphibious raiding parties and motorized paragliders.

Those commandoes rapidly overran nearby military bases, including the headquarters of my former battalion. Pandemonium reigned. The IDF chain of command was broken; the officers who were supposed to direct the defense of the border were either dead or

being held captive. The Hamas commandoes were able to turn their attention to the now-undefended Israeli border towns. The local Kitot Konenut were butchered as they radioed for help in vain. Small bands of soldiers and armed civilians defended themselves valiantly against an overwhelming enemy force that seemed to appear out of nowhere. They made a conscious decision to sacrifice their lives in order to buy precious time for civilians to escape and for reinforcements to arrive. Many civilians did escape. But reinforcements were painfully slow. For some inexplicable reason, the air force seems to have done virtually nothing for the first two hours of the attack. When the warplanes finally attacked, they went after targets inside the Gaza Strip instead of supporting the Israelis trapped in the border towns. For a few hours, Hamas had more than doubled the territory under its control, with terrorists murdering, maiming, and kidnapping at will.

to pay the price, what next? Unless Israel commits to an open-ended, expensive occupation of Gaza, Hamas would just re-appear as soon as the IDF withdraws.

Although decision-makers are yet to adopt a strategy and clear war aims, they have at least adopted General Brik’s recommendation that the government arm as many law-abiding and able-bodies civilians as possible, rather than trusting the military to keep them safe. It is too late for many of the Gaza border towns but that policy is going to save many lives during the bloody weeks and months which lie ahead.

May Hashem soon bring all of our brothers and sisters home, healthy and whole.

For those who wish to do more for our brothers and

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ational disasters usually bring Israelis together, and this is no exception. Barring a few sorry, bitter souls, Israelis have shed the past months of acrimony and collective tantrums – the time for finger-pointing and head-rolling will come – but first there is a war to win and hostages to bring home. People who have spent the last few months calling each other Nazis, parasites, and antisemites are now working side by side to help the many victims and fight the real enemy. Hardcore secularists from Tel Aviv are delivering the refugees warm meals, cooked by charedi women in Bnei Brak. Thousands of charedi men have requested to take a military crash course so they could help support the mostly-secular and Religious Zionist troops on the front lines. Thousands of yeshiva students have been called back to yeshivas to pray for those affected, and mostly-charedi ZAKA volunteers are working on the gut-wrenching task of collecting the bodies of the slain and preparing them for burial. It is clear that a long, multi-front war is coming.

Israeli will be forced into a costly ground invasion of Gaza; and once the regular army is fully committed there, Hezbollah’s elite veterans are likely to attack from Lebanon. Jihadis in Judea and Samaria are going to attack Jewish settlements with redoubled ferocity.

Israel’s regular army is not big enough to fight such a large-scale war, which is why the IDF has called up its reservists.

The public response has been overwhelming. Israeli former soldiers from all around the world are flocking to join their units, resulting in some units actually being overstaffed to such an extent that recruiting stations have to turn away eager volunteers, who have to find other ways to support the war effort. Israelis hope that this war will end with the destruction of the Hamas regime. Sadly, they are likely to be disappointed. The government has spent the past decade working with the Hamas regime rather than trying unseat it; now that Hamas has forced Israel to acknowledge that it is an enemy rather than a partner, decision-makers seem to be out of ideas. Even worse, Hamas is in a great strategic position. It holds over a hundred Israeli hostages and has fortified Gaza enough to make an invasion extremely costly. Even if Israel is willing

sisters in Israel, consider contributing to these worthy organizations, who are providing for those in Israel at this time.

Eretz Hakodesh https://thechesedfund.com/eretzhakodesh/ acheinu Magen Adom Israel https://www.mdais.org/en/donation Hadassah Hospital Israel https://www.hadassah.org/donate/simple United Hatzalah Israel https://israelrescue.org/ Leket Food Israel https://www.leket.org/en/online-donation/ IDF Soldiers Fund in Israel https://www.ufis.org.il/en/donation-en/ Zaka Israel https://zakaworld.org/ Yad Eliezer https://www.charidy.com/YadEliezer Just One Chesed https://jocdonors.donorsupport.co/page/ aid4israel Nahal Haredi https://nahalharedi.org/israelatwar/ Colel Chabad https://colelchabad.org/ Orthodox Union https://www.ou.org/

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the “deterred” terrorists back into Lebanon – but by trying to negotiate. Apparently, that was not enough to shake the military’s confidence in its assessment that the terrorist groups which had formed with the explicit goal of destroying Israel were now so terrified of Israel’s might that they had given up.

For years, soldiers had been aware that the military standards were steadily crumbling, undermined by a spreading culture of bootlicking, cover-ups, and arrogance. Back in 2019, when my unit was posted to the Gaza border for the final time, our charismatic captain shared with us his belief that this was Hamas’ last opportunity to strike. Israel was about to complete its underground barrier, which will deprive Hamas of its greatest weapons – the cross-border attack tunnels.

Once the barrier is completed, our captain claimed, Gaza’s tunnel rats would be safely boxed up in Gaza, effectively defanged. They might express their impotent outrage by firing some rockets at Israel, but that was it.

Unsurprisingly, few of us believed him. We assumed that he was either lying in order to get us to be extra vigilant in the coming weeks, or that he was genuinely foolish enough to believe that Hamas was not creative enough to come up with a new, deadly method of attack. Seemingly everyone, apart from the captain’s superior, knew that he was an overconfident, foolish, serial liar. It wasn’t just ordinary soldiers who were worried. Major General Yitzhak Brik, the IDF’s former ombudsman, wrote an explosive report in which he blasted the military’s groupthink and coverup culture and warned that the army was not prepared to fight a major war and that, in the event of war, the military would prove to be completely incapable of defending Israel’s civilian population. It is telling that Brik chose to publish the report only when he was close to retiring. He knew that his superiors would be angry, and he was right. A committee of generals soon published their own counter-report. They conceded that the problems Brik pointed out were real, but they fiercely disputed his conclusions. The IDF was not perfect – no army is – but the big picture, according to those generals, is that the IDF is largely highly competent and effective.

Just like the few intelligence officers who correctly predicted the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, Brik is now witnessing the unfolding of a disaster he warned against. Exactly a day after Egypt celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its surprise attack on Israel, Hamas exploded the myth of the IDF’s competence and invincibility for the second time.

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Israel Today

What Should Be the End Game in Gaza

By Martin Oliner

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fter the horrific acts of merciless barbarism against innocent Israeli civilians perpetrated by bloodthirsty Hamas terrorists on Simchat Torah, it is hard to write looking forward and not back.

As this is being written, tens of thousands of IDF soldiers are stationed near Gaza, ready to enter. Israel’s security cabinet has met multiple times and made decisions that have remarkably not been leaked to the press.

Chances are that the ministers were briefed about the IDF’s operational tactics and targets. But has anyone decided the actual goals of the war?

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, the minister closest to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke generally about his government’s objectives in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday, a day in which he attended security cabinet meetings and was on the phone when U.S. President Joe Biden called Netanyahu.

“We need to cripple the capacity of the terrorists,” Dermer said, without revealing too many details.

What does that mean? We obviously don’t know. But we know it means a very different end result than all other wars and operations in Gaza that ended up with Hamas completely uncrippled.

It means there will be a change in the paradigm, because if not, what is the point of risking the lives of Israel’s impressive soldiers and the reservists who left lucrative jobs to fight for the country?

Here is an important suggestion: the IDF needs to craft a security zone around the Gaza Strip to prevent future infiltrations. The security zone would be no man’s land and would not enable additional surprises.

It was not safe to have communities so close to the Gaza Strip that has been controlled by terrorists since the 2007 Hamas takeover.

Such a security zone would obviously not stop rocket attacks, but it would give the Iron Dome missile defense system additional precious seconds to protect people.

Israel has had security zones on its border before, including in Lebanon. A security zone on the Lebanese border can be restored.

During the time the security zone in Gaza is in place, international efforts must be made to inculcate a culture of peace in the next generation of Gazans and eliminate a culture of terrorism.

Dermer spoke about how Iran initiated the war in an effort to “scuttle a historic breakthrough in the Middle East.”

It is interesting that after betting pools were created on whether the potential agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia would be sabotaged by Israel, the Palestinians, or Biden, it ended up being Iran.

Biden, of course, did his part, too.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s attacks after authorizing them at a meeting in Beirut last Monday.

The Biden administration admitted on Saturday that there was “no doubt” Tehran has been providing support for Hamas in the form of funding and arms, the Journal reported.

What connects these two reports is that the Biden administration has enabled Iran to receive access to billions of dollars that were frozen in South Korea.

It also distributed hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer funds to the Palestinians.

Internal documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon in August found that despite internal assessments that such funding could boost Hamas, the Biden administration allocated the money anyway. The internal documents included

the draft of the exemption request and internal emails about the need for the Treasury Department to grant it.

“We assess there is a high risk Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from U.S. assistance to Gaza,” the State Department wrote in a draft sanctions exemption request circulated internally in March 2021, shortly after Biden took office, according to the report. “Notwithstanding this risk, State believes it is in our national security interest to provide assistance in the West Bank and Gaza to support the foreign policy objectives.”

The Biden administration must acknowledge its role in facilitating the worst terrorist attacks on Israeli soil in the 75 year history of the Jewish state.

It must make up for this strategic error by giving full support for Israel to do everything necessary to ensure that Hamas and Islamic Jihad will never be able to attack Israel again from Gaza, Judea or Samaria.

Finally, Biden must seek a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia along the parameters of the Abraham Accords, with no Palestinian involvement or concessions to the corrupt Palestinian Authority or the terrorist organizations.

That would prove that lessons have been learned from mistakes.

Moving forward while never forgetting the atrocities of October 7, that should be the end game of the war in Gaza.

Martin Oliner is chairman of the Religious Zionists of America, chairman of the Center for Righteousness and Integrity, president of the Culture for Peace Institute, and a committee member of the Jewish Agency. He was appointed by former U.S. President Donald Trump as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. He is the former mayor of Lawrence, NY. The views expressed are his own.

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Parenting Pearls

Battlefronts Tools For Countering the Horror in Eretz Yisroel Within the Home and Classroom

By Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox

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he stunned sadness that is circulating throughout the Jewish world right now has left us with an aching wound. The images, the statistics, and the timing of the attacks on our loved ones, our brothers and our sisters in the Holy Land, are painful to envision and are very frightening.

As the rest of the world looks on from a safe distance and forms its opinions, the Jewish people are, collectively, right there in Eretz Yisroel in our hearts, our minds, and in our souls. A discerning adult will pause, look inward, and connect with their thoughts, their emotions, their visceral reactions, and their spiritual strife.

We adults must also formulate a discerning and sensitive response to our young ones, our children, and our students.

Please consider and utilize the following tools and pointers in addressing children, because it is most important to speak with them, to model for them your best wholesome responses, and to guide them through their own reactions.

1. Be self-aware. It is normal to react to tragedy, and it is not particularly normal to have no reaction. Notice your own thoughts, feelings, and internal activity. It is common to feel scared, sad, confused, stuck, angered, and worried.

There are very few reactions that are “abnormal” during abnormal times like this. Share your reactions with your spouse, a close friend, or a trusted peer.

Talking things through helps ground and center us so that we can then attend responsibly to children.

2. Speak with your children but listen more than you talk. Their

reactions are real and are likely ageappropriate, so do not try to talk them out of what they express nor give them glib assurance that there is nothing to worry about. Validate, assuring them

them gently that you are their supportive, caring adult and will guide them through this. Do not unload onto your child your own fears and worries.

Focus on them and their reactions.

Talking things through helps ground and center us so that we can then attend responsibly to children.

that their fear, sadness, or worry is directly related to the scary and horrible news that they are hearing. Normalize their reactions for them.

3. Soothe your child. Console

Avoid making promises that you cannot guarantee. Agree to keep them informed as you learn more, and prompt them to share with you whatever they hear. The classroom and playground are often

arenas for distortions and inaccuracies so remain their primary source of accurate updates.

4. Research has demonstrated that flooding the mind with images and visual media portraying tragic scenes is very unhelpful, and even disruptive to mood, attention span, and even interpersonal sensitivity. Discourage a child from gluing themselves to media which will flood them with images that may be difficult to forget or erase.

5. For the Jewish people, our role on the remote “battlefields” is our prayer.

Teach your child this, model this, speak with them about how we pray and what we focus on as we turn to Hashem to save, to protect, and to heal. Prayer is an essential tool for grounding the soul as well as the mind and emotions.

6. Love and appreciate your children and your family, especially at a time of tragedy. When the world does not feel safe and secure, your home – and your classroom, too – can provide structure, encouragement, and increased feelings of well-being. Make use of your finest skills as a caring, compassionate adult.

May our efforts to be supportive of one another at this time augment our fervent prayers that Bnei Yisroel will soon be safe.

Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox is the director of Chai Lifeline’s Crisis Services team. During this difficult time, we encourage anyone in need to contact Chai Lifeline Crisis Services at 855-3-CRISIS or email crisis@chailifeline.org.

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Dating Dialogue

What Would You Do If… Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters

Dear Navidaters,

Our son has been married for a year and a half, has a baby, and is living out of state. His wife seemed like a good girl though we saw red flags while dating but chose to let it go, since she went to a top seminary and was supposedly from a good frum home – seriously picture perfect!

After marriage, we saw the true side of her. She is controlling, manipulative, narcissistic, has severe anxiety, and is incapable of taking care of the baby. She is making our son’s life a living hell. We have seen her yell at him, call him names, and shows him no respect. Yet our son is in denial – he is not willing to divorce her or even let her parents know what is really going on in their marriage. He keeps treating her to gifts and vacations, in the hope that she’ll treat him better. He is avoiding moving back to town or even coming to visit for the summer or chagim, since he is scared that we will see more of her bad behavior. He told us they have started seeing a therapist but there has been no improvement. He also admitted to us that he is unhappy but is hopeful that she will get better. We are broken and crying that our son is suffering, yet he is choosing to stay with her and not take our help and support. We don’t understand why he wants to live miserably and protect her bad behavior. Please advise what we can do to save our son!! He deserves to have a healthy, loving wife and a happy marriage. Thank you and we are patiently awaiting your reply.

Disclaimer: This column is not intended to diagnose or otherwise conclude resolutions to any questions. Our intention is not to offer any definitive conclusions to any particular question, rather offer areas of exploration for the author and reader. Due to the nature of the column receiving only a short snapshot of an issue, without the benefit of an actual discussion, the panel’s role is to offer a range of possibilities. We hope to open up meaningful dialogue and individual exploration.

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The Panel The Rebbetzin Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz, M.S.

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hear your pain. It is very deep. You feel for your son and his marital situation. It sounds very difficult to manage your pain.

Your desired role, to save him, may be misplaced. Your son seems to be trying to give things a chance. He is married to a woman with an identifiable mental illness. And he is trying to get her help and to get the marriage support. That is responsible behavior.

Anxiety can be managed; it is not a death sentence. But improvement takes time; it is a journey with therapy, medication, cognitive behavioral therapy, and more components.

I think that your son’s absence from

your home for yom tov is probably related to her behavioral health right now. It’s probably not about you and you seeing them. It could be that it was suggested to them that they not come for yom tov.

Your help and support should be directed at your son. It should not be conditional on his plans to divorce his wife. He is trying to keep things going in a positive direction. Support is about where the person is at. It’s not about where you think he should be and trying to impose that.

You will probably need some help to adjust your attitude and communication with your son right now. He is particularly vulnerable right now when he has a baby and a wife who is unwell. He is trying to deal with his reality right now.

Your grief and feelings need to be dealt with separately. Crying and feeling broken right now is not a good place to be. Neither is feeling that he doesn’t

deserve this. Get professional help for yourselves to help process the reality and handle your feelings.

You also need to learn about anxiety from a professional and understand its onset, manifestation, and treatment.

This is a serious situation for parents to be in; get serious support for yourselves.

What happens with your son and his wife ultimately cannot be known right now. Deal with the present reality for your own sake and for his.

The Shadchan Michelle Mond

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our question brought tears streaming down my eyes, as if they weren’t already streaming from the current news coming out of Eretz Yisroel. What a sad predicament for your dear son, and for you, his dear mother watching from the sidelines, feeling helpless. I have truly no words and cannot offer much advice as this is not even close to within the caliber of issues I’ve dealt with in shidduchim.

What I can do, however, is urge our readers to read and re-read this letter.

Do you feel the pain? If you have a son or a daughter in shidduchim with known middos issues, narcissistic tendencies, personality issues, anger issues, or if you yourself are single and dating with one or more of these issues, heed this advice: do not sweep these issues and personality flaws under the rug! You might not need to deal with your child’s issues anymore, but their naive spouse will. DO NOT assume marriage will change them. These singles should not be pushed into dating; they should be pushed into therapy to heal their traumas, emotional dysfunction, and inner child wounds.

I understand that in yeshivos and seminaries our boys and girls are learning about themselves, and it is a much more egocentric time. The boys are so used to “chilling” with the guys; the banter and sarcasm game is strong. Perhaps they’re not a nice person, but they

A good character and good middos, chemistry and respect are the only things that matter when choosing your life partner.

are considered a “top” guy or “top” girl because of how well they learn or how much yichus or money they have. None of that matters, as attested by a letter like this written by a pained mother.

How can we as a community prevent these types of situations? Perhaps there should be a mandatory course, curated for ALL yeshivos, seminaries, and high schools, teaching our young men and women practical communication skills, anger management techniques, self-regulation, emotional competence and practical strategies to deal with common arguments. I have heard too many stories coming from people like you, dear letter writer. I hope that you are able to just show your son as much love and support as possible despite everything going on. I hope you are able to help him get closure soon.

May we only share good news.

The Single Tzipora Grodko

M

y heart breaks for you and your family. Sadly, these stories are not uncommon. When it comes to abuse, a spouse can often be in denial until forced to realize that circumstances have changed. It makes sense that your son is trying to exercise every resource to determine if his marriage can be resolved. As parents and family members, it’s extremely difficult and painful to be patient with his process. It sounds like you are doing everything in your power

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guided, if you trust that guidance, and how to continue to manage during this very difficult process.

Sending much warmth and support.

The Zaidy Dr. Jeffrey Galler he problem that you describe cannot be properly addressed by a group of well-meaning panelists in a weekly publication.

Your son needs the unlimited love and support from his family. He needs a referral to a sensitive and competent attorney who can protect his interests

We can’t save adult children from their own choices.

T Pulling It All Together The Navidaters

and the future and safety of the child.

The wife needs a medical referral to a qualified psychiatrist, not a therapist or counselor.

Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

T

he situation you are in is heartbreaking. To see one’s child suffering and refusing to be helped is anxiety provoking and devastating. No one wants to hear what I am about to say, but I am not going to sugarcoat this. You cannot save your son. We can’t save adult children from their own choices. Working toward surrender and acceptance of this fact and getting the support you need to cope through your son being abused is ultimately the only thing you can do... to save yourself.

What you can do is offer to pay for him to see his own therapist so he has his own place to process his feelings and the role he plays in the abuse. While abuse is never the victim’s “fault,” ultimately he is the only one who can get himself out of it. It is his decision whether he stays or leaves.

Having had the many experiences of working with true abuse victims, I can tell you that it is very hard to get out.

Most victims are in a state of “cognitive dissonance.” That is because most abusers aren’t always “bad.” There is typically a cycle of abuse that confuses its victims. There is the “honeymoon” stage, when the abuser is delightful, charming, sweet, loving, giving, etc.

Tension begins to build, followed by an

incident of abuse, followed by reconciliation and then c a l m.

The cycle starts over a nd beg ins again, leaving its victims with a whole host of emotions. Many victims of abuse have a hard time focusing on themselves because they are completely consumed with every thought and action of the abuser. They become like detectives, searching for clues of escalating bad behavior and work extra hard to avoid it by being “good.”

What can we do when a loved one is being emotionally abused? Offer oodles of support. Oodles of love. Oodles of patience. The fact that your son told you he is unhappy is a very good sign.

You have done a great job under these circumstances already. He is communicating with you, through her attempts at isolating him from his support system.

I view abuse victims as hostages. They can’t necessarily tell you too much because they fear their captors and begin to believe their captors. You can also offer to see a therapist with him and have a safe and constructive space to express your concerns.

As hard as it is, try to stay away from commenting on his behaviors and her behaviors and their toxic dynamic. He

will likely only continue to be defensive.

Focus on a few key points which are the underpinnings of the psychology of an abuse victim. Let your son know is that he is not responsible for her behavior and you will never judge him. Let your son know that you respect his relationship and his choices and his family and that you admire how he is working hard on his marriage. Once he feels safe with you, you have your best chance of him approaching you and talking about his situation. Try to stay away from telling him how you feel about his marriage and how it pains you. You can offer sentiments such as, “I heard her call you a name. Are you alright? How are you feeling? That must have been hard.”

Your son is fortunate to have you as his mother. Too often, parents of abused adult children turn a blind eye and insist everything is fine. Their children are in so much pain in the confines of their own private therapy with parents insisting everything is fine or will work out. Know that you are doing everything in your power to save your son. I believe he likely already knows how much you love him and how much you are there for him. That is what will ultimately pave the way for him to get out. I hope your son chooses to seek his own therapy and/or alone, finds the strength he will need to break free from this abuse.

In the meantime, please take good care of yourself in the form of your own therapy, and/or Codependent Anonymous Support Groups (CODA). I hope your daughter-in-law gets help as well.

We know that most real abusers believe they are entitled to treat their victims the way they do, making it more often than not absolutely impossible for them to change. They don’t believe they have a problem.

Sincerely, Jennifer P.S. To our readers: if you see any signs of abuse, if a friend or family member sees any sign of abuse, take it very seriously. Do not ignore it. Do not push away your feelings while you are dating. Pay very close attention to your intuition. If something feels off, it is off. Hashem gave you your intuition.

It is a gift. Do not ignore it. “Top seminaries” and “top families” are sheker (falsehood.) A good character and good middos, chemistry and respect are the only things that matter when choosing your life partner. If you don’t like who the person is, you will never come to truly love this person. Marry someone you enjoy and respect, have that “special something” with, and are proud of. And, as my friend Sharon always says, “It should be smooth sailing!”

Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and certified trauma healing life coach, as well as a dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in private practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 718-908-0512. Visit www.thenavidaters.com for more information.

If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email JenniferMannLCSW@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.

OCTOBER 12, 2023 | The Jewish Home

to be supportive and helpful. I would strongly advice connecting with your son’s rabbi (if he has one) to try to gain a better understanding if he is being

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The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

Parenting Pearls

Speaking of the Unspeakable

By Sara Rayvych, MSEd

I

t sounded like a sick movie plot, but I quickly realized it was reality as my son told me that Hamas (ym”sh) had invaded Israel. A part of me kept hoping I would wake up just to find this was simply a nightmare. Even more shocking than the news that trickled down to us in shul were the news reports we read on motzei yom tov. Like many others, we davened for our brethren in Israel. Tehillim was said as we anxiously discussed the situation.

It was a day of contradictions. We wanted to weep as we danced and whisper Tehillim as we sang. Desperately, we inquired of any news trickling in from Israel while trying to shield our children from the very same information.

As adults, we understand the seriousness of the situation, and it’s truly frightening. Our children, too, can become fearful but they lack our maturity.

As parents, it’s our job to assist our children through this challenging time. Even well-meaning comments can accidentally increase our children’s fear, and parents want guidance in navigating this storm.

I know that in the coming days many mental health professionals will provide

guidelines and helpful information. This article is not meant to replace their expertise but to simply add a few thoughts on this topic.

As this article is due Monday evening, I know much can change between submission and printing. I can only daven we will hear better reports within that timeframe.

Innocence vs. Informed It’s a tremendous challenge to know when we should share something painful with our child and when we should maintain their innocence. There is no answer I can give in an article since so many factors will determine the appropriate response. Parents will want to assess their child’s emotional maturity and the age appropriateness of the topic among the relevant factors to decide if it’s better to inform their child or keep them sheltered.

I would like to discuss one factor that I think parents may find helpful to consider when making this decision. In my humble opinion, I think that if your child will hear the information anyway then it’s best that it comes from you first.

Our children are around others, and they overhear more than we realize.

Whether it’s an adult in shul, an older child in school, or a neighbor, our children are exposed to far more information than we recognize.

As we all daven for Eretz Yisroel, it’s on everyone’s minds and the topic of conversations. Most children will hear about the war and tragedies, and we can’t pretend they won’t know the latest news.

We don’t need to give every detail nor do we want to overly frighten them, but we should make time to have that discussion with each child. Just knowing they can speak with a trusted adult can be one step in helping them assimilate the information and respond to the news.

Information Flooding We are inundated with information in ways that previous generations never experienced. As helpful as it can be to find a recipe, see updated weather reports or local traffic, we’re also equally exposed to negative and painful information. It’s a challenge for adults to filter what we read and limit what we permit to enter our minds. Many people find they obses-

sively check news sites, emails and text messages, always concerned they may be missing something important. They’ve even coined a term “FOMO” to describe the fear of missing out. If this is difficult for adults, we can only imagine the problems kids experience navigating a world full of information they are incapable of processing.

There is a reason to shelter children from seeing every tragedy, crime and misery that is published. It’s truly risky to allow children unfettered access to the news and social media. When they need to hear of something that has occurred, it’s best if it comes from a loving adult who can present it in an age-appropriate manner, answer questions, and recognize when the child is hearing too much or feeling confused.

The current situation is foremost in our minds and a major topic of conversation. Just because it’s appropriate for adults doesn’t mean it’s meant for children. Watch out for little ears before speaking. They have incredible hearing and can catch soundwaves through walls.

Adults can get heated when discussing politics and similar topics. It’s bet-

can’t handle more. It’s OK to need a break, and they should respect their own needs. Not only is this empowering for them in the present but it’s an important skill they can use in the future.

Parents as Their Guide It’s interesting to watch infants when they are exposed to something unfamiliar. Their first response is to look to

news is devastating but we still want to be conscious of our response when our children are watching. Some parents may prefer checking the news in a private area which will give them the ability to express their natural emotions but prepare themselves before a child sees them. Again, we shouldn’t appear as if we don’t care about others or that we’re unaffected by such devastation.

Knowing there is always One to turn to may be the most important lesson we teach them.

their parents to see their reaction. If we look calm, they will be reassured, but if we look fearful, they will cry in panic.

Our children look to us to see how to respond.

We should watch our behavior in front of our children. We shouldn’t look cheerful and unaffected when hearing about the horrors, but it can be unhelpful for our children to see us continuously distraught or not coping. The

During difficult times, it’s normal to want to stay up to date on the latest news. It can be emotionally unhealthy to continuously or obsessively scroll the news sites, and this isn’t the example we want to show our child. It’s far more helpful to daven, say Tehillim, learn Torah or focus on improving ourselves. It can make a powerful impact on a child when they see a parent turn to Hashem during nisyonos. Knowing there is

always One to turn to may be the most important lesson we teach them.

Help is Available We don’t need to do this alone, and there are many resources available. Our community is fortunate to have experts for unfortunate situations. Many organizations will publish guidelines and talking points to assist parents. These can be very helpful during this painful time.

Some children will experience anxiety or other emotional issues. Don’t hesitate to reach out to a mental health professional or their pediatrician if there are any concerns. These professionals expect to hear from parents, and they have resources to help you and your child.

We look forward to hearing of shalom for Klal Yisroel and for the day when there will no longer be war. May Hashem watch over His people wherever they are.

Sara Rayvych, MSEd, has her master’s in general and special education. She has been homeschooling for over 10 years in Far Rockaway. She can be contacted at Rayvych Homeschool@gmail.com.

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OCTOBER 12, 2023 | The Jewish Home

ter to avoid having these conversations when children are present. Everyone seems to know best what Bibi should do but our children don’t need to be exposed to it.

In general, news reports tend to sensationalize information as well as pick and choose what they feel is relevant to their readers. It’s unhelpful for children to read these intentionally dramatic reports. Additionally, we know which information is important to stress and what is less beneficial to our precious youngsters.

“Ain sh’miyah k’reiyah” (hearing isn’t like seeing). Even when we want to share updates coming from our holy land, we need to be extra cautious before sharing a video. As painful as it is to hear the number of kedoshim lost, it’s even more traumatic to see a video of it in action.

Alternatively, we don’t want to desensitize our innocent children by showing them every gory detail.

Learning to recognize their own needs and respect their personal emotional boundaries is important. Let your child know they don’t have to hear or see everything available. They should feel comfortable saying when the information is too much for them and they

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

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Health & F tness

Eat the Rainbow

By Tehila Levine-Soskel, RDN, CDN

A

dding color to your plate does not just add to the aesthetics of your dish, it’s a good choice for your health. Consuming a diet that includes a variety of fruits or vegetables with lots of colors helps ensure we are getting many crucial vitamins and nutrients. This article explores the health benefits that the colors of our food contain.

Anthocyanins

ed with anthocyanins. With chronic inflammation contributing to potential chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes, including foods rich in anthocyanins may help protect you from these conditions.

Anthocyanins can be found in red, blue, and purple fruits and vegetables like blueberries, cherries, and pomegranates. Anthocyanins are part of the same group of antioxidants found in foods like dark chocolate, tea, and wine.

Other food sources include red onion, dates, eggplants, grapes, plums, prunes, purple figs, and raisins.

A well-rounded diet with varied colors may help ensure you are getting enough important nutrients. With that being said, it’s essential to explore a variety of colors in your meals as opposed to focusing on a few. Consuming a wide range of colorful foods can help you obtain many crucial nutrients, so be sure to mix it up. For example, if your meal looks something like this: grilled chicken, cauliflower, and rice, try switching it up to grilled chicken, a mixed green salad, and roasted butternut squash.

Keep in mind that cooking methods like steaming and roasting vegetables can help maintain their vibrant colors and their nutritional content. Likewise, overcooking these foods can lead to a more dull color and to nutrient loss.

A simple way to boost your health is incorporating a variety of colorful foods to your diet. By focusing on this, you can benefit your health and enjoy a more aesthetically pleasing meal. The next time you are at the grocery, find additional colors of fruits and vegetables to add to your cart for a healthier you.

Anthocyanins are part of the flavonoid family contributing to many health benefits which include antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, and more. In two studies, one that included individuals with high cholesterol and another one that included overweight or obese individuals, lower signs of inflammation were seen with those who were supplement-

Tehila Soskel is a registered dietitian nutritionist with a private practice in the Five Towns. She sees clients for weight loss, diabetes, and other various diseases. Appointments can be made for in-person or virtual sessions: 516-457-8558, tehilasoskelrd@ gmail.com, tehilasoskelnutrition.com.

Lycopene Lycopene, a powerful antioxidant, is found in red/pink foods like tomatoes and grapefruit and is known to help reduce the risk of certain cancers.

It is also associated with improved heart health and may help lower blood pressure. Additional potential health benefits include improved eyesight.

Lycopene may help reduce the risk of macular degeneration (leading cause of blindness) by delaying the formation of cataracts. More so, lycopene may help reduce pain as well as contributing to stronger bones. The antioxidant function may help keep your bones strong and healthy.

The biggest food source of lycopene are tomatoes – the more ripe the tomato, the higher amount of lycopene it contains. Other food sources include beets, cherries, cranberries, grapefruit, pomegranates, radishes, red apples, red grapes, red peppers, strawberries, and watermelon.

Beta-Carotene Rich sources of beta-carotene, a form of vitamin A, are carrots, sweet potatoes, and oranges (think the color orange). This plant pigment gives vegetables their vibrant color. Beta-carotene is known as a provitamin, which means our bodies convert it into a vitamin, in this case vitamin A (retinol). Aside from beta-carotene acting as a provitamin, it is also an antioxidant, therefore helping boost our health.

Beta-carotene includes many health benefits like promoting healthy vision, improving our immune system, and

supporting healthy skin. According to some studies, due to the effects of the antioxidants, beta-carotene may help improve cognitive function.

Other food sources high in beta-carotene include acorn squash, apricots, butternut squash, cantaloupes, mangoes, oranges, pumpkin, and winter squash.

Vitamin C Vitamin C is an antioxidant and is essential for collagen production, which is vital for wound healing and healthy skin. Some of the other processes vitamin C help support are immune function, cardiovascular health, bone and tooth health. Vitamin C deficiency symptoms include bleeding gums, frequent bruising, anemia, and poor wound healing. This water-soluble vitamin is found in many fruits and vegetables like bananas, yellow peppers, lemons, and corn.

Folate Folate is found in many foods like spinach, kale, broccoli, and avocado.

Folic acid is added to foods like flour and breads. Our bodies need folate to help with the DNA process, help our

cells grow, and produce certain proteins. Lack of folate can lead to health problems like anemia and is especially crucial during pregnancy. Pregnant women need to take enough folate to help prevent neural tube defects. The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for folate is 400 mcg for men and women ages 19 years and older. The RDA for pregnant and lactating women is 600 mcg. Consult with your doctor or a healthcare professional first before taking these supplements.

Food sources of folate include artichokes, asparagus, avocados, broccoli, celery, cucumbers, green beans, green grapes, kale, kiwi, leeks, limes, pears, peas, lettuce, and spinach. These fruits and vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

School of

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Thought

OCTOBER 12, 2023 | The Jewish Home

By Etti Siegel

Q: A:

Dear Etti, All the kids are talking about what is going on in Israel, and I want to say the right things.

What are your thoughts?

- A Concerned Teacher

Dear Concerned Teacher, I realize that by the time this article is read, you have asked for appropriate guidance and have already addressed the issues involved. However, while we daven that the war will be over, it is unlikely that the situation will be resolved, and you might find the suggestions below helpful.

This is a very difficult time, especially because everyone knows someone in Israel, and many of our friends and neighbors went to Eretz Yisrael for Sukkos.

For elementary school children: Remind your students that they are able to daven for the welfare of the Jewish people and that their tefillos matter. Otherwise, keep to the normal schedule. Children need to know that the class is a secure place and that their routine is being honored.

At the appropriate time, allow children to read whatever names they bring in (soldiers called up, people who are hurt) quietly to themselves and then have the class say a perek of Tehilim. If some children don’t have names to say, they can think about all Jewish people who need our tefillos.

If you see that something more tangible would be of benefit, this would be a good time to make a mitzvah wall for the zechus of those in Eretz Yisrael. This can help make the class feel that they are actively doing something to show their support for those directly affected by the war. Hang a large oaktag (you might need more than one over the next few days), and have children sign in when they do mitzvos.

The teacher could write in the mitzvos he/she sees as well.

(I used to make this mitzvah wall yearly, during Chanukah. I wrote across the top: “Haha Yevonim, we are STILL learning Torah and doing mitzvos!” My class always felt so powerful as they wrote, “Bracha shared, Chani said a bracha, Talya davened nicely…” The boards got so full! Morah Merenstein in Bnos Bais Yaakov does this with her 4th grade and it is impressive.)

Some children will be very affected by the war talk around them, especially by the misinformation from other kids or overhearing parts of conversations from adults who forget they are nearby. Offer them paper to keep by their desk, and if they have any thoughts, to write them down

for you to read and respond to at refrom less sheltered friends and neighbors.

What should we do? cess or after class. This allows you a What you -Thoughtful Parents chance to ask for guidance if you are not sure of the right response. can do is be a Space and distance is a difficult concept for younger children. Your Dear Thoughtful listening ear, class might need to see a map and Parents, actually be shown where they live You are cora safe anchor and where the war is happening. It rect. You cannot your children is important for children to see how hide the news far they are from the action. (At the from your children. What you can do is be can turn to. time of this writing, even the people a listening ear, a safe anchor your children in Yerushalayim and the surroundcan turn to. ing suburbs are going about their Answer questions. Answer them daily lives almost normally, with insimply and reassuringly. Don’t tell them creased tefillah and occasional sirens. On a map it is not more than they are asking. Make your home a safe place far from where the action is taking place, which makes it emotionally. Have them hang around you. For example, all the more important to show children how “small the have them do homework at the kitchen table while you are area affected is.”) This might help calm their fears that the washing dishes or ride along with you as you do an errand. terrorists are coming for them next.

Children seem to be able to open up and share more fears Of course, teachers must always keep their emotions when they are near their parents but not staring at them. in check. Children look at their teachers to gauge how se- Even if they don’t talk, just being around a parent gives rious the situation is and how much they should panic and them a feeling of safety.

Don’t allow them near videos and news accounts. A picbe scared. Seeing the teacher have emotional constancy is important to keep everyone calm. ture is worth a thousand words, and the images being sent For Junior High and High School: out can cause harm. Whatever they are told by neighbors A teacher should be assigned to go through the facts and classmates, words are not as devastating as images. and take a few questions with each class. Someone with Keep to your regular family schedule. Insist on regular a strong knowledge of practical emunah who is ready for chores and structure. Children need stability and need to questions that might be hard to hear will need to be the one see life is going on. to address this topic. Our teenagers are fragile in their YidLimit your own exposure to the news. The video clips dishkeit and will be able to tell authenticity from scripted are grim, and therapists of all ages are advising people to lines. We have answers in our religion. We need the right stay away from them as they are triggering and cause anxpeople to share them. iety and nightmares. Say Tehillim at designated times, and otherwise keep focused on your family and their lives.

Remember that our history is replete with such attacks, as we read every Pesach in the hagaddah, “B’chol dor vador Dear Etti, We don’t have a TV, and my omdim aleinu l’chaloseinu, v’Hakadosh Boruch Hu matzilhusband and I are careful about einu miyadam; they try to destroy us and Hashem saves where and how we discuss the us from their hands.”

May it happen quickly, news coming from Israel. But we -Etti can’t control what our kids hear on the bus and at school

A:

Q:

Mrs. Etti Siegel holds an MS in Teaching and Learning/Educational Leadership and brings sound teaching advice to her audiences culled from her over 35 years of teaching and administrative experience. She is an Adjunct at the College of Mount Saint Vincent/Sara Shenirer. She is a coach and educational consultant for Catapult Learning, is a sought-after mentor and workshop presenter around the country, and a popular presenter for Sayan (a teacher-mentoring program), Hidden Sparks, and the Consortium of Jewish Day Schools. She is a frequent contributor to Hamechanech Magazine and The Journal for Jewish Day School leaders. She will be answering your education-based questions and writing articles weekly for The Jewish Home. Mrs. Siegel can be reached at ettisiegel@gmail.com.

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The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

jewish women of wisdom

Fluffometer by Design

By Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz

M

aybe it’s a Seussian invention that grows within the middle-aged adult. It’s got numerous gauges and meters that take readings from various sensors. It’s bright yellow and needs no processor to power its computer brain. It moves on its own volition, like a robotic vacuum cleaner that senses where it has to go and swivels around picking up dirt and debris with its brushes and suction.

We have fluff detectors within us that go off when someone is wasting our time. Images conjured by words, marketing magic spun into a sticky web, pseudo-inspiration, and airy-fairy content prompt our internal devices go off with an increasingly loud beep. Our discomfort level rises, and we just exit the room, the podcast, the speech, or the article. With so much competition for our attention, we become resentful when we pick up the emptiness in the slick product. There may be a useful nugget or two, but you feel cheated.

Sometimes, you have a sense in advance that the presentation isn’t going to be worth it. You’re sitting at a sheva brachos of a friend, and you have an obligation to be polite. You may be attending an institutional event where your family has a stake or an interest.

You may be a card-carrying responsible Jew attending a communal function and it was important to show up out of respect. You swallow the loss and put up with the speech, video, or gimmick. You may turn to your phone out of simple frustration even though you know it’s beneath you to respond like a teenager.

Leah demurred at my invitation to join me at a recent event in a nearby neighborhood. It featured a speaker who is well known in some circles. “I’ve learned to be selective about my time,” she said. She was right. The speaker was not worth coming out for, despite her media presence and prices. There was neither content nor Torah but rather art and buzz words. I’d suspected as much

but I felt I had to show up for particular reasons.

Just because it’s marketed doesn’t mean it is real. I know it. Leah knows it. My experienced peers know it. Our neon fluffometers are working just fine.

I worry, however, about my grandchildren. How can they learn to distin-

pages of coffee table literature.

One granddaughter has developed a comedy routine. It’s a dramatic rendition of verse geared for her preteen crowd. The dark words emoted slowly about angst and deep friendship questions are rendered ridiculous in her hamming. She gets laughs from the sib-

Just because it’s marketed doesn’t mean it is real.

guish between wisdom and slick jargon?

Between real Torah and cotton candy presentation of the spirit? Between slogans and solid content? Contemporary frum society sells so many messages, both rich and empty, with sophistication and style. Kids need to make sense of so much coming at them. Sometimes I see puzzled faces when things come up at the Shabbos table discussion or in the

lings, cousins, and aunts and is thrilled with her Sarah Bernhardt effect. The audience gets that she is making fun of what adults think lies in the hearts and minds of adolescents.

It’s not so cute when the kids can’t figure it out, however. As they reach for the glossies and glitteries, I wonder.

Will they wear bling in their hearts and minds as well as on their wrists, fingers,

shoes, and handbags? When the swag will hit the right tone, will they go for the slogans over substance? When the innocent young country mouse reaches the city of adult allure and its merch, how will she respond?

Smart friends, new experiences, parents, and skilled teachers will help. But only if there is time to talk the matters through. Processing and sorting out effectively involves filtering. Figuring out that some things are fine and some are not is a skill.

Filtering skills grow under the influence of others who have invested time in discussion and iteration of real values.

And those people listen and respond.

And time is short, even for tweens, teens, and young people.

A fluffometer is not assembly line product of automation. It’s not a modular system, either, with interchangeable parts that can be easily switched out.

It’s an outcome of a painstaking granular manmade process that includes monitoring, as well as conversation and debate with peers and adults. It must develop sensitive barometers and benchmarks.

It takes knowledge and sensitivity training to separate out the dross and floss. It involves helping the kids to pose the questions and make distinctions.

They have to develop knowledge, standards, and criteria.

Is building a fluff detector in my grandchildren part of my job description as a bubby? No. Is it my worry? Yes. We are grandmothers. We are allowed to worry. Our worry is rarely misplaced. Women of wisdom do more than worry, however. They act and they daven.

JWOW! is a community for midlife Jewish women which can be accessed at www.jewishwomanofwisdom.org for conversation, articles, Zoom events, and more.

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Easy Vegetable Tian

By Naomi Nachman

I a m busy preparing for the upcoming river cruise for Kosher River Cruises in Provence, France, as I will be running their culinary activities. The region has lots of Jewish and culinary specialties.

This easy Tian (pronounced Tyan) is a vegetable dish similar ingredient to ratatouille, but it is cooked in an earthenware or cera mic dish with layered vegetables. It is a strikingly pretty dish with colored vegetables and cheese on top like a gratin. For a parve version of this dish, you can leave out the cheese.

Ingredients

◦ 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided ◦ 2 large yellow onions, sliced

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a medium sauté pan heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook the onions over

◦ 2 garlic cloves, minced

medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for

◦ 2 green zucchini, sliced into ¼ inch rounds

another minute. Spread the onion mixture on the bottom of the baking dish.

◦ 2 yellow squash, sliced into ¼ inch rounds

Lay the vegetables alternately in a pattern in the dish on top of the onions,

◦ 2 -3 plum tomatoes, sliced into ¼ inch rounds

fitting them tightly, making only one layer. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme

◦ 1 teaspoon kosher salt

and drizzle with remaining olive oil. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake

◦ ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

for 35 to 40 minutes, until tender. Uncover the dish, sprinkle the cheese on top,

◦ 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

and bake for another 30 minutes, or until browned.

◦ 2 ounces your favorite cheese, grated Cook’s note: To make this dish parve, omit the cheese.

Naomi Nachman, the owner of The Aussie Gourmet, caters weekly and Shabbat/ Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighboring communities, with a specialty in Pesach catering. Naomi is a contributing editor to this paper and also produces and hosts her own weekly radio show on the Nachum Segal Network stream called “A Table for Two with Naomi Nachman.” Naomi gives cooking presentations for organizations and private groups throughout the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area. In addition, Naomi has been a guest host on the QVC TV network and has been featured in cookbooks, magazines as well as other media covering topics related to cuisine preparation and personal chefs. To obtain additional recipes, join The Aussie Gourmet on Facebook or visit Naomi’s blog. Naomi can be reached through her website, www.theaussiegourmet.com or at (516) 295-9669.

OCTOBER 12, 2023 | The Jewish Home

In The K tchen

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The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

Mind Y

ur Business

Jerel Benjamin: Empowering Your Team

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his column features business insights from a recent “Mind Your Business with Yitzchok Saftlas” radio show. The weekly “Mind Your Business” show – broadcasting since 2015 – features interviews with Fortune 500 executives, business leaders and marketing gurus. Prominent guests include John Sculley, former CEO of Apple and Pepsi; Dick Schulze, founder and Chairman Emeritus of Best Buy; and Beth Comstock, former Vice Chair of GE; among over

400+ senior-level executives and business celebrities. Yitzchok Saftlas, president of Bottom Line Marketing Group, hosts the weekly “Mind Your Business” show, which airs at 10pm every Sunday night on 710 WOR and throughout America on the iHeartRadio Network.

O

n a recent 710 WOR “Mind Your Business” broadcast, Yitzchok Saftlas (YS) spoke with guest Jerel Benjamin (JB), CEO of ProfitGOLD Group. * * * YS: What are the four points to energizing and empowering your team?

A lot of times, small businesses think, “Why do I need to empower the team? Everybody should know what we’re doing.”

And so, they think that they’re getting a team that can motivate themselves, get moving, and just remain energized on every objective that they have to accomplish. That’s not the case.

When I say you need to energize and empower your team, I see a lot of people with questions: “How do I accomplish

it?” That’s why we’ve worked so hard over the years to bring it down to four points.

The first point is mastery in resetting the overall vision. The second point is mastery in the articulation of the action steps needed to achieve that vision. That rolls right into the third point, which is establishing relevant accountability as those action steps are being executed. And the fourth point is to develop reporting systems that will energize and empower, while also reporting on the activity, and the action steps being taken.

Can you expand on the first point regarding resetting the overall vision?

A lot of companies forget that you constantly have to reset the vision. Working off of one, unchanging vision is like telling your loved ones you love them one

time and hoping they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. It’s not going to happen. You have to keep repeating it. And so, the first step to empowering a team is really creating an almost repetitive mantra out of “what is the vision?” What are we trying to accomplish? A vision that is just based on revenue – “we need to make this much” – is not a proper vision, because that only really matters to the executives. Everybody else is getting paid what they’re getting paid. Sure, they may get a bonus, but essentially, no matter how much the company makes, they’re going to get paid what they’re already getting paid. So, that’s not empowering or motivating. A vision is something that when you state it, the people who work with you not only see it and understand it, but they can also see themselves in it.

And because they can see themselves in

it, they now can evaluate and approve of the vision, and from that point, become energized to follow your leadership.

That’s really the key to resetting the vision. Are you saying it in a way where your employees are invited to embrace it because they see themselves in it? That’s how you energize and really empower a team. There has to be something tangible in there that they can grab onto that’s not just dollars and cents.

How often should one be recommunicating their vision?

The vision should always be recommunicated to the employees at least weekly. But as the owner of your company, find more creative ways to say it, so that it’s not just a formality that we say every Wednesday at the 10:00 A.M. sales

Why is it important to carry out the second point of articulating the action steps to achieve your vision?

As a business owner who’s trying to get your team motivated, you have to realize that 85% of the population cannot visualize. So, with that reality, you also have to really realize only 15% of your team can really take your vision and know what needs to happen next. The other 85% are going to need some direction, even if they see themselves in the vision. That’s something that we always forget. We feel like everybody understands it. “You know your part in the vision. You know your job title. Now, go.” And then, we get frustrated when they don’t go in the direction that we would expect them to. That’s because we didn’t articulate the steps. Now, it doesn’t mean we need to micromanage. You don’t need to give them steps 1-100. But, most people would at least love to get steps 1-5, so they can start moving in the direction required to fulfill their parts in your vision. Even though they see themselves in the vision, that doesn’t mean they necessarily know which foot to put in front of the other.

The first thing we do as leaders, when we’re trying to empower a team, is we say, “My definition of excellence as we move towards this vision is,” and we define excellence as it relates to their role. Now, you’ve not only given them practical steps to take, but you’ve also created space to add their own genius and creativity.

You’ve told them what excellence means as it relates to what they do. Now, they can start moving in that direction, owning what’s happening, and they don’t need you to restart their fire on those practical, tactical steps.

How can a leader be sure that they are articulating those steps as clearly as possible?

The first strategy of breaking things down for articulation, while still empowering the person, is what we call “chunking.” As I said, we define what excellence looks like as it relates to that

person’s role, and then we start “chunking off” little sections of what it would take to accomplish that excellence. Now, in order to achieve that, we set different waypoints to mark their progress. “At waypoint one, we have to make sure that we get this part accomplished. Then, waypoint two, means that this particular aspect has been accomplished.” The key is, don’t give them 42 waypoints. If at all possible, keep the waypoints at 3-5. Now, when you want to make sure that they’re on course, you can go to each waypoint

believe those waypoints should be. Once they speak to you about that, now you’re establishing accountability. “What do you believe I should see by waypoint one?”

What you’re actually doing, and this is the psychological spin to establishing relevant accountability, is putting them in a position where they will own the outcomes, because they set it themselves.

And when they’re able to say, “I believe, based on your vision, that you can expect to see waypoint one at this date and time,” you have now given them the most em-

“Use that creativity that led you to become an entrepreneur in the first place to find more interesting ways to communicate the vision to your team.”

and check that they have reached it at a set time. This gives you a reference point that the two of you can agree on, without having to micromanage. Now in between those waypoints, make sure the employee knows that they have the freedom to use their own creativity and genius, as long as they reach each waypoint at the set times. That will create dialogue, where if it’s not clear, the employee is empowered to ask for clarity. And the more questions they ask, the better, because they’re using that as fuel to empower their action steps moving forward.

Can you explain the third point of establishing relevant accountability?

“Relevant” is the key word in that step. Relevant accountability ensures that accountability in your business is based on the vision that everyone has participated in. In an online store, we can measure sales and success by clicks and all those types of things. That’s a type of accountability, but it’s not relevant to the vision by which you brought everyone in. You created a vision that they can see themselves in and be a part of it coming to fruition. Measuring success simply by “how many clicks did we get,” only means something to one sector of the business.

So, here’s the key that I always try to get business owners to do. Let the person that you’re speaking to be a part of establishing what that accountability is.

Once you establish the vision, ask them for their part in it. Ask them what they

powering incentive to achieve it, which is their own words. That is really the mastery of a leader, because now you’re not trying to sell every step.

How can one achieve the fourth point of creating reporting systems on activity?

As a business owner, the worst thing you can do is to set expectations and then not give your team the room to meet them.

When it comes to creating reporting systems on activity, you have to avoid the tendency and temptation to start looking at all of the tactical steps your employees are deploying to reach their waypoints.

And the way to avoid that is by establishing or creating reporting systems that are focused on those waypoints only. Say, for example, you’ve talked with key people on your team, those key people understand the vision, and you had the conversation about the waypoints and when you’re going to see certain activity to hit the overall vision. During those conversations, you let the person know, “I will be inspecting A, B, and C, at that waypoint.” What you’ve done is create a system where you can check on the activity. So, let’s say the person sets waypoint one a week from now and says you can expect to see A, B, and C. The way that we solidify that as an executive is we say, “Great. Then on Friday at 3:00 P.M., I will be looking solely at A, B, and C.” What we’re doing is, we’re creating a definitive line on what will be inspected. Because, as Chet Holmes said

in The Ultimate Sales Machine, “People respect what you inspect.” So, make it very clear what you want to inspect. That gives you the certainty that they are moving in the direction of your vision. Now, if you’re a business owner, and you’re doing that, don’t change the goalposts during the process. If you’re going to create a reporting system, “system” is the key word in that phrase. It is your job, as a leader, to be very clear on that from the outset, because it is very disempowering to a team when they feel that the goalpost is moving.

Should management still be checking in along the way to make sure that everything is on course?

Communication throughout the process is fine. If the person who’s assigned to a task is communicating with management back and forth, that’s okay. However, you need to make sure that they’re not using that communication as a way to shift accountability back onto you.

But, when you do check in throughout the week, you should be going to whatever platform you have agreed upon for them to input their progress. If you are that concerned about something that they’re working on, then don’t just set weekly checkpoints. Create a set of midweek checkpoints, because you can create a system at the outset with whatever frequency you need. But you need to stick to it. Don’t disrupt the flow. Stay in your lane, and that person will continue to feel empowered. If you start breaking the rules, then they’re going to feel like you don’t trust them, and that will result in a downward spiral.

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OCTOBER 12, 2023 | The Jewish Home

meeting. Really try to incorporate it into the conversations. Whenever you are doing check-ins with your team, ask, “How is this objective moving us towards the overall vision that we have agreed upon together?” Use that creativity that led you to become an entrepreneur in the first place to find more interesting ways to communicate the vision to your team throughout the week.

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

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Political Crossfire

A Hard Choice Lies Ahead in Ukraine, But Only Ukrainians Can Make It

By David Ignatius

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YIV - On a day when a horrific Russian missile strike killed more than 50 people in a grocery store and cafe in eastern Ukraine, a visitor asks a top official in her sandbagged office here how her nation can survive this brutal, exhausting war.

After a long pause, First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko answers: “We have no choice. It’s an existential war.

That’s not just a word. For our partners, it’s an option whether to help us or not. Even for Russia, the war is an option. But for us, there is no option.”

Svyrydenko, who is also the economy minister, describes her plans to keep the country functioning through a long, enervating fight: loans to start businesses and draw refugees home; subsidies for farmers to clear mines from fields; war-risk insurance to encourage foreign investment. It might sound like a dream. But she notes that there is a backlog of 40,000 people applying for government mortgages to buy homes in this ravaged country.

The war in Ukraine is at once heartbreaking and uplifting. People can’t disguise their fatigue or sorrow. The conflict is bleeding the country out. Ukrainians I spoke with during a four-day visit know they can’t keep fighting forever seeking what might be an unachievable victory. But they won’t stop, either.

“If you stop, nothing makes sense,” says Mariia Mezentseva, a member of parliament from Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border. “We attended so many funerals in the last 18 months. At every one, I say with tears in my eyes: I will not stop until we reach our goal” of expelling Russians from all occupied territory.

“We have to be honest. People are tired,” says Pavlo Klimkin, a former foreign minister, during a dinner at a restaurant here. “Last year, it was confidence, maybe overconfidence. Now, people feel it’s a classic attrition war.… Nearly every family has

someone killed. I would not try to sell the people an option that falls short of victory.

Because it’s personal.”

As winter approaches, hopes that the counteroffensive that started this summer would bring a breakthrough haven’t been realized. But Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says that the fight will continue and that he is planning a budget for next year that assumes 12 more months of war.

He spoke Wednesday in a meeting with a group from the McCain Institute, with which I traveled here this week. The group included representatives of companies such as Microsoft, Palantir, and drone-makers Fortem Technologies and Skydio that are aiding Ukraine.

Yet Ukrainians are now willing to talk more openly about ways to end the war than during my visits last year. At a dinner with a group of parliamentarians at a restaurant on the Dnieper River, there is a noisy debate about the best strategy for saving the country that is worth recounting at some length: Oleksiy Goncharenko, an opposition member from embattled Odessa on the Black Sea, presses members of the ruling party of President Volodymyr Zelensky. “I

am very concerned,” he says. “Why? Take a look at the front. It doesn’t change. For a year, it doesn’t change. But it was paid for by a huge amount of lives.… Ukraine can’t fight ‘as long as it takes.’ That will be a catastrophe.” Instead of battling, as Zelensky wants, to expel Russia from territories it has occupied since 2014, such as Crimea, he contends that Ukraine should seek security guarantees from NATO to protect the territory it holds.

But other parliamentarians loudly disagree. “Friends, we don’t have a choice; they want to erase us,” says Mezentseva.

“The military way of defending our country is the only way possible.” Olena Khomenko, who serves on the parliament’s foreign policy committee, agrees that Ukraine must fight on until it regains sovereignty in all its 1991, post-Soviet territory. “We can’t give up on Crimea,” she insists.

Gershenko is almost shouting as he responds: “We all want everything. But this is the real world, and we must make decisions from real options. We don’t have unlimited time, and we don’t have unlimited people.”

The next day, Ukrainian defense officials describe what they see as the abiding reality on the battlefield. “I don’t think we

will finish the war soon,” says Col. Hennadiy Kovalenko, an official at the defense ministry. “But we are convinced that this is a war of necessity.” He and other defense ministry officials say that continued (and if possible, expanded) U.S. shipment of weapons is essential.

“We depend 100 percent on the United States,” he says. Like other Ukrainian officials we met, he offers emphatic thanks for U.S. assistance and doesn’t seem worried that recent congressional turmoil will derail America’s commitment to aid Ukraine.

I’m left pondering the question that Ukrainians are struggling with so painfully. What’s the right way forward for a nation that is feeling the costs of war like a blast of shrapnel?

In just conflicts, the best strategy is surely to stay the course, especially when people begin to despair. And if Ukraine has the will to continue, and the United States and its partners remain firm in their commitments of support, then “as long as it takes” is the right course.

But if Ukraine seriously questions whether it can survive a fight that might take many years, then it needs to think about a way to freeze this conflict on its own terms – with a security guarantee from the United States as part of that deal.

“We are in grief,” Larysa Bilozir, a member of parliament from eastern Ukraine, tells me. She has just returned from her district, where 304 people have died in the war, and her visit coincided with the funerals of two young men.

Ukraine won’t sue for peace. As many people have told me this week, it’s too personal. As a superpower, the United States can try to steer this conflict toward a settlement that protects Ukraine and doesn’t reward Russian aggression. But don’t ask Ukrainians to give up their cause. They won’t do it. (c) 2023, Washington Post Writers Group

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Political Crossfire

By David Ignatius

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he vicious Hamas assault of terrorism on Saturday truly was Israel’s 9/11 – not simply in the anguished demand for revenge that has followed the attack but also in the strange blindness that preceded it.

True intelligence failures result not simply from a lack of information but also an inability to understand it. Israelis knew the malevolent hatred that animated Hamas and its backers in Iran. What they didn’t appreciate was the creativity and competence of their adversaries. This was a level of organized malice that was, literally, unthinkable.

Just as Americans never imagined that the Muslim fundamentalists of al-Qaeda would have the perverse genius to fly airplanes into buildings, Israeli analysts don’t seem to have appreciated that Hamas fighters could escape the barricaded compound of Gaza with paragliders. Israelis evidently didn’t credit their foe’s ability to operate simultaneously across air, sea and land. And they certainly didn’t appreciate Hamas’s and its allies’ ability to keep secrets.

Will we learn, as we did after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in the United States, that the information necessary to prevent the attacks was in the system?

Somewhere, the lights might have been “blinking red.” But in the haunting phrase that came to explain the 9/11 failure, Israelis evidently couldn’t “connect the dots.” They couldn’t see what, in retrospect, was staring them in the face.

In the United States in 2001, one big problem was that the CIA and the FBI were intense rivals and didn’t trust each other. They wouldn’t share (or when they did, couldn’t comprehend) the intelligence that was in their separate silos. I don’t know enough about Israeli intelligence to draw any firm parallels. But the intelligence world always has professional

Palestinians in Nablus, in the West Bank, celebrating after Hamas infilitrated Israel from Gaza

rivalries and jealousies. What’s more, this was a moment when top political leadership was so disorganized that it couldn’t have imposed order.

The Israel of 2023 – in the months that preceded the Gaza disaster – has been a domestic political nightmare. The country was more divided than I have seen it in more than 40 years of reporting there. The security establishment – meaning Mossad, military intelligence and the domestic security service known as Shin Bet – was bitterly opposed to the fragile government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And it showed.

The intelligence elite believed that Netanyahu was wrecking Israel by assaulting its Supreme Court. I say that because several senior Mossad officers, including a former director, conveyed that message to me directly in recent months. The security elite is secular; it lives in Tel Aviv and Haifa; it listens to Mozart. It deeply resented Bibi’s alliance with ultra-Orthodox parties who generally don’t serve in

the military and espouse a very different, much more religious Israel than the one created in courageous service by the security barons and their predecessors.

Israel seemed to be coming apart in the months before Hamas fighters broke through the Gaza cage. Thousands of Israelis were marching in the streets of Tel Aviv to protest Netanyahu’s attempt to alter what they saw as the fundamental character of the state. Did that political chaos contribute to the Gaza attacks?

I don’t know. But, surely, the domestic feuds of the past few months might have led Hamas and its backers in Tehran to believe that Israel was internally weak and, perhaps, vulnerable.

America before 9/11 knew something of that fragility. President George W. Bush came to office after a contested election that could only be resolved by the Supreme Court. Our divisions then seem like nothing compared with now.

But the 9/11 Commission documented how the Bush team didn’t pay adequate attention to warnings from CIA Director

George Tenet and his analysts of a possible al-Qaeda attack.

Intelligence failures involve a strange hubris. The tough guys get sucker punched. As journalists sometimes say, people start “reading their own clips” and believing their vaunted reputations.

Mossad and its fellow agencies have lived off their mythic aura for generations; they’re celebrated as lions in novels and TV shows even as their American brethren are ridiculed as “clowns in action.”

But sometimes tough guys don’t see the dangers that more cautious people might.

The Iranians and their Hamas allies play a more complicated game than some Israelis, in their justified hatred of the mullahs, might realize. Iran was genuinely threatened by Israel’s plan to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia and, in the process, neuter the Palestinian issue as Tehran’s trump card. In its consternation, Iran was considering an opening to the United States, even as its allies were planning a vicious attack, Arab sources tell me.

Intelligence failures begin with overconfidence. People who are running scared sometimes look more closely in the shadows.

A final thought: When we say that the Gaza outrage was an Israeli version of 9/11, we should remember the other big lesson of that catastrophe, other than our failure to see it coming. The United States overreacted. It didn’t simply take revenge and destroy its enemies. It sought to remake the Middle East, with long, mostly fruitless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Israeli power at its best is calculated and ruthlessly efficient. I hope that Israel, in avenging this assault, doesn’t create future problems that are even worse.

(c) 2023, Washington Post Writers Group

OCTOBER 12, 2023 | The Jewish Home

Hamas Attack is an Intelligence Failure That May Take Israel Years to Unravel

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The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

Forgotten Her es

Escort Carriers

By Avi Heiligman

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hroughout history, navies have always looked to build the biggest and most armored warships to put to sea. Before World War II, battleships dominated the high seas but that was soon to change. Threats from below and above changed the way global powers viewed capital warships as submarines and aircraft became prominent military machines during World War II naval engagements. The aircraft carrier was soon the ship of choice of frontline commanders, but the vast majority of American aircraft carriers from the war hardly garnered media attention, as 122 of the 151 carriers that the U.S. built during World War II were escort carriers.

The differences between the various types of aircraft carriers included size, speed and the amount of aircraft it carried as well as the types of missions it was assigned. Fleet carriers displaced 30,000 tons, could travel over 30 knots an hour, and carried up to 100 aircraft.

Escort carriers displaced between 8,000 and 11,000 tons, traveled around 12 knots an hour, and carried less than 30 aircraft. Light carriers specifications were closer to escort carriers but were often deployed alongside fleet carriers.

Escort carrier duties included defending slower convoys and supporting landing operations.

Escort carriers, also known as jeep carriers or baby carriers, were often converted from civilian merchant ships or built from the ground up to carry planes.

They were lightly armored and not designed to fight like fleet carriers. Howev-

er, on occasion, they found themselves in combat situations.

In 1942, the U.S. Navy lost a few of their large carriers, and each carrier that remained took on a bigger role until more carriers entered service. USS Long Island (CVE-1) was the first American escort carrier and was commissioned six months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. She started escorting convoys in the Atlantic before sailing to the West Coast.

There, she provided cover for battleships while the large carriers fought at the Battle of Midway. After receiving a load of marine planes, she departed for Guadalcanal where

the USS Card (CVE-11). The escort carrier had space for 24 planes and usually carried a combination of fighter and anti-submarine planes. Her first mission began in May 1943 escorting a very large convoy across the Atlantic, and on the return trip, the Card looked for U-boat targets. This was the beginning of the Hunter Killer Groups, and the Card became very proficient in hunting Nazi submarines. In total, she sank eleven U-boats with information about the enemy’s location coming from intercepted messages called Ultra.

The sinking of the U-117 was just one example of how Hunter Killer Groups op-

The sinking of the U-117 was just one example of how Hunter Killer Groups operated.

the American invasion forces desperately needed any supplies possible. These planes were the first to reach Henderson Field which had recently been captured by the Marines and was being turned into an American airbase. These planes were vital in the Marines’ successful mission to capture the island.

The two largest classes of escort carriers were the Casablanca class with 50 ships commissioned and the Bogue class with 45 ships completed. The Bogue class ships were first commissioned in 1942 and were converted from cargo ships. One of the first Bogue class carriers to enter service was

erated. The minelaying submarine was refueling another U-boat on August 7, 1943, when Grumman TBF Avenger from the Card appeared and dropped homing torpedoes and depth charges. More Avengers and Wildcat fighters arrived on scene and dropped more ordinances on the diving submarines. One of the homing torpedoes scored a direct hit and sank the U-boat.

The escort carrier was the intended target of three torpedoes courtesy of the U-664 but all missed. The carrier tracked the sub, and her planes sank the U-664 on August 9. For her outstanding service during this patrol, the Card’s task group was awarded

the Presidential Unit Citation.

After World War II, the Card stayed in service and underwent a few different reclassifications and refits. She was sent to Vietnam and on May 2, 1964, was the target for a Viet Cong frogman. The naval commando placed an explosive charge that killed five crewmen when it was detonated.

The ship was saved by her crew and was back in service by the end of the year. Her service record during the Vietnam War also included transferring helicopters for use in the land war. The escort carrier was taken out of service in 1970 and sold for scrap.

The USS Bogue (CVE-9) was the trendsetter for escort carriers in the Atlantic and has the distinction of sinking subs from multiple countries. She sank 11 German U-boats and one Japanese sub. One of her screening ships, the destroyer Badger, sank another U-boat. The Badger, along with three other destroyers that were part of the task force, sank a thirteenth sub.

The Bogue received the coveted Presidential Unit Citation for her actions during the Battle of the Atlantic.

Throughout the long war in the vast open waters of the world’s largest ocean, it was the smaller ships that made a big impact on the war effort. Ships like the escort carriers were celebrated as hero ships but their impact was soon forgotten.

Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.

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WOODMERE FAR ROCKAWAY CEDARHURST

Quality New Construction!!!

Stucco Young Col. withand 2 Story Entry 9 6 ft Br Ceilings, Zone Heat which NEW! Spacious Brick14Center Hall, includes Radiant Heat, Anderson Windows with Lots of Natural Banquet FDR, LgFlrFLR, EIK, Main Den, OPEN HOUSE 3:00-4:30 223Level Hickox Avenue Light Throughout, Fdnr,Chefs Magnificent Chefs Eik with High End Totally renovated Colonial.

New. High Ceilings, Chefs Finished Bsmt Guest Suite POR Appliances, Dblewith Ovens2 ,Br 6Like Burner Cooktop with Pot Filler,EIK, 5

Bdrms.

Prime Woodmere 2 Dishwashers, and more.location!

Master Bdrm Suite with Luxurious Bath $1.659M and Walk in closet,+4 Bdrms and 2 Beautiful Bths ,2nd Flr

Laundry Rm , Full Finished Basement with 10 ft Ceilings Huge Playrm 2 Bdrms and Bth laundry Rm storage, Beautiful Manicured Garden.

WOODSBURGH CEDARHURST CEDARHURST

HOUSES FOR SALE CAN’T AFFORD YOUR PROPERTY TAXES? MORTGAGE? Must sell for any reason?

Call for FREE Consultation.

Call now 212-470-3856 Cash buyers available!

WOODMERE Charming Colonial on beautiful tree lined street in the heart of Old Woodmere. Home features 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, kitchen, dining area, living room, full basement.

Relatively new heating system + hot water tank. Large & beautiful backyard. Great for entertaining.

Close to all. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

WOODMERE CEDARHURST LAWRENCE

Spacious Wide Line Expanded Ranch on Most Prestigious and Impeccably Renovated C/H Colonial, 4+Bdrms Serene Cul-de-Sac in Village of Lawrence , Main Flr Master Bdrm 3Bths, Chefs Eik, Fulland Finished Basement, Classic OPEN HOUSE 12:30-1:30 1068 Suite with Many Closets Bthrm, Addional Main Flr highland Bdrm & Bath, Center Hall Colonial with Main Level 3$2.2M BRs 23Bths Baths Lg Flr Fdnr Huge Den, EIK, Mudrm, +Den 4 Bdrms onFinished Second Flr, Charm with Contemporary Style.

Basment Beautiful Property Beautiful Wrap Around Property, $1.690M $999K

NORTH WOODMERE CO-OPS/CONDOS WOODMERE CO-OP LAWRENCE

261 Central Ave 1st Floor, Large Entry Foyer, Open Concept Kitchen.

Large LR/DR Overlooking the Courtyard $229K

LAWRENCE

240 Central Avenue Spacious 1 Bdrm 1 Bth Apt in Well Maintained Elevator Bldg with Terrace Overlooking Garden, Near All $229K

FAR ROCKAWAY

156 B 9th St Mint 2BR, 2 BTH

This spacious s/h col , in the prestigious village of woodsburgh, Charming Brick Center Hall, Offers 4+Large Bdrms, 3 sits on 1/2 acre property in a. most serene setting, with beautiful Baths and a Finished Basement, Tranquill Setting and waterviews, and magnificent sunsets . Flr banquet fdnr , COMMERCIAL RENTAL! NEW! 9 ,Room Drbdrm officesuite Suite, Located breakfast main levelTransportation. den /fpl master with his Close to rm, Shops yet inand theher Heart of Cedarhurst, Spacious waiting room, Reception closets and bth + 4 bdrms , new bths, newly renovated Reduced $1.599M Area and Exam Rooms, alllaundry on Mainrm, Floor.

Close to of Public finished basement with playrm, lots storage, Transportation many special details thruout $1.9M+ $6,000

Beachfront Condo Meticulously Renovated Home Boasts a new with Wraparound Terrace, Magnificent kitchen new Bthrms creating a Stylish & Sunrise & & Sunset $589K Contemporary 3 zone 29 Woodmere Blvd feel.

Apt 2BEquipped Renovated,w/ Mint, CornerHeat 1 Bdrm 9ft Ceilings.

Spacious Eat In Kitchen, 2 Sinks, Granite &with CAC Vac, The expansive Den area Provides Counter tops and S.S. Appliances.Large Lvgrm/Dnr and Large Ample Space for Gatherings and Relaxing.

SD#14 Bdrm/BR with Lots of Windows $1.329M REDUCED $299K

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HOUSES FOR SALE

HOUSES FOR SALE

HOUSES FOR SALE

HOUSES FOR SALE

CEDARHURST Move Right into This Very Spacious & Renovated 6 Bedroom, 3 Full Bath, Colonial on a Lovely Quiet Street.

5 Very Large Bedrooms All on 2nd Floor. Beautiful Den W/Fireplace & Playroom; Both on 1st Floor.

Gorgeous Hardwood & Granite Floors, New Wood & Granite Kitchen With Stainless Steel Appliances. Great Backyard For Entertaining! Very Low Taxes. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

WOODMERE Welcome to this stunning residence situated on a tranquil residential street in Lawrence SD#15. This spacious and flawlessly maintained home boasts 4 to 5 bedrooms. Bright, airy living room with vaulted ceilings, skylights and wet bar. Central air conditioning, elegant quartz countertops, eat-in kitchen, formal dining room, main floor den with fireplace, master bedroom with bathroom snd dressing room, Jacuzzi tub, three other bedrooms and two full bathrooms. Inground sprinklers, lush landscaping, alarm system. Spacious playroom. Two-car garage. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

WEST HEMPSTEAD Introducing a stunning new construction home. Nestled in a picturesque neighborhood. Large windows, open-concept layout that merges the various living spaces.

The expansive living room is bathed in natural light, thanks to the windows that offer great views of the surrounding area. Gourmet kitchen with top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances, sleek cabinetry, expansive center island with a breakfast bar.

Ample counter space and a welldesigned layout. Wonderful dining area providing. Large glass doors, spacious patio. Luxurious master suite with a spacious bedroom, a lavish ensuite bathroom and a large walk-in closet. Additional bedrooms.

High-end finishes, premium flooring, and custom details throughout. Call for pricing Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

CEDARHURST Open House In Prime Location Sunday Oct 15 Fro 12 To 2 Pm!!!

Completely Renovated 5 Bdrs, 3.5 Bath, Low Taxes $7000 Dining Room With Fire Place, Living Room, Brand New Kitchen, Granite Countertops, High End Stainless Steel Appliances, Wine Holder, Radiant Heated Floor, Beautiful Deck, Spacious 5 Bdrs, Oversized Walking Closets ,Finished Basement With 2 Add Rooms And Separate Entrance.

Walk To Cedarhurst Park, Gourmet Glatt ,Lirr, Houses Of Worships!!!

322 Madison Avenue Cedarhurst Call Alexandra At Realty Connect USA at 516.784.0856

FAR ROCKAWAY Price reduced. Built 2006, original owner, 3,000 sf, 4 br (easily 5), 2.5 bth, playroom, tons of storage, MBR with en-suite bath and 3 walk-in closets; gourmet kosher kitchen, 2-zone HVAC, deck with sukkah pergola, 2 add’l balconies, 2-car garage + 2 parking spots, fenced side yard, many extras. 889k. 917-882-6438 CEDARHURST Open house on Sunday 12 - 2 !!

Completely renovated 5 bdrs, 3.5 bath in the heart of Cedarhurst. High end kitchen, radiant heated floor, fire place, low taxes and much more. Just turn the key and move. 322 Madison Avenue for private showings call Alexandra at Realty connect usa at 516-784-0856 HEWLETT Lovely & Spacious 2 Bedrooms, 2 Updated Baths Unit on First Floor with Wonderful Terrace to Enjoy The Outdoors. Formal Dining Room Leads to Large Living Room, Granite Countertops in Kitchen. Prime Location. Steps Away From LIRR, Parking, Shopping, Restaurants + More! Don’t Miss Out! Must See!!!

Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com WOODMERE Woodmere just listed 3 bedroom 2 full bathroom hi-ranch in sd #15 with central air-conditioning , gas heat, 2 car garage, eat-in-kitchen, l/r, d/r, den, hardwood floors, minutes to transportation , shopping, and houses of worship Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

WOODMERE New to the market. 3 bedroom 2 full bathrooms with a full basement.

Ranch home in the heart of Woodmere, SD#15, on a lot sized 90x118, gas heat, garage.

Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com NEW TO THE MARKET Hewlett-Woodmere school district.

4 bedroom 3 full bathroom home features living room with a fireplace, formal dining room leading out to the deck, eat-in-kitchen with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, 2 dishwashers, double oven, new microwave, primary bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, plus 3 additional bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms, large family room, central air conditioning, gas heat, in-ground sprinklers, hardwood floors, modern high hat lighting, custom window treatments, driveway has recently been done, 2 car garage, beautifully landscaped plus so much more.

OPEN HOUSE SUNDAY OCTOBER 15 1:30-3:00PM 1027 DARTMOUTH LN Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com WOODMERE Spectacular 5 bedroom, 5 bath renovated home in SD#14 with in-ground pool & pool house, lot size 111 x 107. Formal living room & dining room, magnificent kitchen with SS appliances, tremendous den with fireplace and 4 skylights, vaulted ceiling, LED lighting, master suite, new CAC, new roof. Outside totally redone with Stone and Stucco.

Backyard with new pavers, park-like property, sandbox, great home for entertaining. Close to all. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

WOODMERE Spacious home within school district 14 with exquisite upgrades and central air conditioning, splendid kitchen with dual sinks, five bedrooms. Main level encompasses a spacious great room, office space, complementing the formal living and dining areas.

Unfinished basement, detached garage. Expansive lot, measuring 80 x 100. Conveniently located near shopping, railroad, restaurants and places of worship. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com WOODMERE Introducing a stunning 14-side hall colonial home in the Hewlett Woodmere School District.

Formal living room, formal dining room, den with a skylight. Eat in Kitchen, two sinks, a double oven, a warming draw and a microwave.

First floor bedroom, a full bathroom and laundry room. Two-car garage.

Upper level has four bedrooms, two full bathrooms. Finished basement with playroom, storage and utilities.

Well-groomed exterior with porch adjoining the master bedroom.

Hardwood floors and back patio.

Central air conditioning, inground sprinkler system, alarm system. Close proximity to schools, shopping centers, restaurants, and transportation options. OPEN HOUSE SUNDAY OCTOBER 15 3:00-4:30PM 1016 SOUTH END Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

FAR ROCKAWAY COMPLETELY DRY HOUSE in erev Sukkos storm. Low flood insurance.

Built 2006, original owner, 3,000 sf, 4 br (easily 5), 2.5 bth, playroom, tons of storage, MBR with en-suite bath and 3 walk-in closets; gourmet kosher kitchen, 2-zone HVAC, deck with sukkah pergola, 2 add’l balconies, 2-car garage + 2 parking spots, fenced side yard, many extras. 889k.

917-882-6438 WOODMERE Spacious home within school district 14 with exquisite upgrades and central air conditioning, splendid kitchen with dual sinks, five bedrooms. Main level encompasses a spacious great room, office space, complementing the formal living and dining areas.

Unfinished basement, detached garage. Expansive lot, measuring 80 x 100. Conveniently located near shopping, railroad, restaurants and places of worship. OPEN HOUSE SUNDAY OCTOBER 1511:30-2:30PM 223 HICKOX AVENUE. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com VALLEY STREAM Meticulously cared-for high ranch with four bedrooms and two full baths. Expansive dimensions, measuring 58 x 133. Two-zone, gas-heated system, central airconditioning, and an inground sprinkler system. The upper-level features three inviting bedrooms, accompanied by a full bathroom.

The well-appointed living room, elegant dining room, and an eat-in kitchen complete this level. On the ground floor, you’ll find an additional bedroom and bathroom, a spacious den with sliding doors that lead to the backyard, convenient washer and dryer facilities, and an attached garage. Great access to schools, shops, restaurants, and public transportation. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

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COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

APT./COOP/CONDO SALE

APT./COOP/CONDO SALE

APT./COOP/CONDO SALE

5 TOWNS – PARKING LOT FOR

WOODMERE Just listed - House Rental 6 bedroom residence. Living room with soaring vaulted ceilings and fireplace. Oversized den with fireplace. Family room. Central air conditioning. Five bedrooms on a single level. Close proximity to the railroad, shopping destinations, and houses of worship. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

WOODMERE Welcome to this exquisite and expansive 1 Bedroom co-op in the highly sought-after and prestigious Heathcote. Recently renovated, generously sized foyer. Vasr Eat-InKitchen. Situated in a classic pre-war building, this residence features 9-foot ceilings that add an air of elegance and sophistication. The convenience of an elevator ensures easy access to all levels, making everyday living a breeze. Private storage room. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

LAWRENCE JUST LISTED This amazing two-bedroom two full bathroom condo Features a luxurious lifestyle in the beautiful city of Lawrence. What more could you ask for? The building has a 24-hour doorman and elevator access, with a social room, library, washer/dryer inside the unit, and terrace. Plus, the added benefit of having a live-in super to ensure maximum safety and security! And don’t forget about your new kitchen complete with a gas stove, refrigerator, microwave, and even two dishwashers! The living room and dining room are spacious and have recessed lighting installed throughout. Both bedrooms feature lots of closet space for storage. To top it off, there’s even garage parking available to make your life just that much easier! Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity. Please call for a private showing Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 • mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

LEASE Great Location For 10-20 Vehicles. ~4000SF Call/Text/WA Owner: 516-206-1100

CONDO FOR SALE LONG BEACH Renovated one bedroom, 1.5 baths, duplex, 2 terraces with ocean views, 24 hours concierge, inground heated pool, gym, sauna, covered parking spot, pet friendly building.

Located near the beach, transportation and houses of worship.

Contact: Fran Adelson, Associate Broker CTR21 Verdeschi & Walsh, (516) 987-8649 Franadelson@aol.com

APT./COOP/CONDO SALE WOODMERE 1 bedroom apartment, elevator building, eat-in kitchen, full bath, hardwood floors, plenty of closet space. Ceiling fan in bedroom & kitchen, laundry room in the basement. Close to the railroad, shopping, and houses of worship. $179k Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

LAWRENCE New to the market Generously sized 1 bedroom 1.5 bathroom coop in an elevator building, with a 24 hour doorman, underground parking, double terrace, central air conditioning, washer/dryer and storage on the floor, eat-in-kitchen, living room and dining room, no steps into the building or to the apartment, minutes from shopping, park, transportation, and houses of worship. $479,000 Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

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Classifieds

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APT./COOP/CONDO SALE

APT./COOP/CONDO SALE

APT./COOP/CONDO SALE

ISRAEL REAL ESTATE

HEWLETT Totally renovated 1 and 2 Bedroom, Apartments with washer/dryer, kitchen with quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances. Recessed lighting, hardwood floors, storage in basement. Close to RR, shopping, and houses of worship. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

WOODMERE Generously proportioned, first-floor apartment in an elevator-equipped building in the heart of Woodmere.

This Co-op boasts three bedrooms, two full bathrooms. Lofty ceilings, spacious foyer, formal living area and dining space. Expansive kitchen with gas stove, microwave, dishwasher, washer-dryer. Hardwood floors provide an elegant touch, and the comfort of five air-conditioning units ensures year-round climate control. Three bedrooms, with the primary bedroom having en-suite full bathroom. Dedicated storage. Near shopping centers, railroad, dining and places of worship. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

LAWRENCE Spacious 2BR, 2 Full Bath Apt with an enclosed terrace in the heart of Lawrence. Well maintained & manicured building. New hardwood floors, updated Eat-in Kitchen with gas stove. warming draw, dishwasher & microwave. New windows on the enclosed terrace & one of the bedrooms. 3 New A/C Units & New Refrigerator. Close to shopping, transportation, library, schools, and houses of worship. $339K Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

RAMAT BEIT SHEMESH G1 *Available this summer in RBSG1* 5 bedroom/4 bathroom (3 full- 1 half) 1st floor • Building w/ an elevator Quiet street • Close to bussing (local and to Yerushalayim) Across the street from a few different Shuls Walking to G1 Mercaz Available July 12 - Aug 9 with flexibility For more info WhatsApp 347-831-5128 or call 053-412-7194

CEDARHURST 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments, totally renovated private entrance , central air conditioning, hardwood floors, washer/dryer, garage parking, dishwasher, recessed lighting, private playground, close to railroad, park, shopping and houses of worship.

Call for more details Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

WOODMERE Well maintained 1 Bedroom apartment. Elevator Building. Pet Friendly, SD#14, Corner Unit, Bright + Sunny, Hardwood Floors, Eat-in Kitchen, Full Bathroom, 3 Closets, 2 Ceiling Fans, 1 A/C Unit, Full Time Super on Premises. Minutes from the Railroad, Shopping, Houses of Worship, and Laundry Room on Premises. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 • $175K LAWRENCE New to the market Jr. 4 apartment in an elevator building with a terrace and underground parking, laundry on premises. Kitchen with granite countertops, 2 sinks, ss appliances, spacious step down living room with high ceilings, guest room/ office, spacious primary bedroom with 3 closets, full bathroom with full vanity, medicine cabinet, toilet and lighting, custom blinds, near the railroad, shopping and houses of worship.$289K Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com WOODMERE Totally renovated bright and sunny 1 bedroom corner unit apartment with a washer/dryer. Features quartz countertops, ss appliances, recessed lighting, bathroom with chrome fixtures, close to the railroads, shopping and houses of worship.

Call for details Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com LAWRENCE One Bedroom Renovated Apartment In Prime Lawrence. Efficiency Kitchen, Renovated Bathroom.

Sunken LR, Dining Room, Close to All, Transportation, Shopping, Worship. $275k Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

UNIQUE APARTMENT In the old city of Jerusalem, one of a kind! Inside private and quiet courtyard, features living/dining room, kitchen with high quality built in wood cabinets in excellent condition, three bedrooms, high quality built in wood closets, two bathrooms, 135 meters, including two sun balconies, newly built from the foundation up (early 80’s, very few such apartments in the old city), located on Chabad Street. $2.9M (negotiable) Contact Yukie at 1-760 227-0287 (US), +972 50 850-1400 (IL)

HELP WANTED ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Local school looking to hire a capable administrative assistant. Job responsibilities include data entry, database management, assisting the administrator in his daily tasks. Candidates must be detailoriented, organized, and have the ability to multi-task. Prefer full-time but would consider part-time for the right individual. Proficiency in Microsoft Office required. Enjoyable working environment, personal, sick, vacation days offered, Yom Tovim and certain legal holidays off. Salary commensurate with experience.

Please email resume to admin@shoryoshuv.org BOOKKEEPER Excellent growth potential, Frum environment, Excellent salary & benefits. Email resume to: resumetfs1@gmail.com SEEKING ELA TEACHER Teaching position for Gr. 6.

Mon.-Thurs., afternoon hours. Far Rockaway/5T area. Great salary, warm, supportive environment. Training in our curriculum is provided.

Teachersearch11@gmail.com 5 TOWNS BOYS YESHIVA Seeking Elem Gen Ed Teachers Excellent working environment and pay. Only lic/exp need apply.

Email resume to yeshivalooking@gmail.com

Classifieds

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HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

DELIVERY PERSON NEEDED to deliver Newspaper every Thursday morning to locations in Brooklyn. Must have Minivan or SUV and availability to work consistently every week!

Please e-mail gabe@fivetownsjewishhome.com or call (917) 299-8082

SHEVACH HIGH SCHOOL, the Bais Yaakov High School of Queens, seeks a dynamic, warm, and experienced Limudei Kodesh teacher for Chumash and additional subjects. Full morning hours, Monday through Friday. Please send resume to rwittenstein@shevachhs.org.

DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT A multi-tasker needed for general office work. The ideal candidate is someone who is detail-oriented, responsible, and can take ownership.

Looking for someone who is eager to learn, and expand his/her skill set while possessing the ability to work independently and as part of a team.

Experience with Excel required. Five Towns location. In-office position only, not remote. Please send resume to 5tpart.timecareer@gmail.com

SHEVACH HIGH SCHOOL in Queens is seeking dynamic teachers for the 2023-2024 school year in the General Studies department in English, Maths, and Sciences, some positions will require Masters’ degrees (positions are all in the afternoon).

There are a limited number of openings in the Limudei Kodesh department. Salary commensurate with experience. Resumes welcome.

Please send resumes to rwittenstein@shevachhs.org

JOIN OUR TEAM! ABA company located in the 5 Towns looking to fill multiple full-time administrative positions Knowledge of Central Reach a plus, but will train the right candidate Great work environment Call 516-670-5374 or Email your resume to: Careers@supportivecareaba.com IMMEDIATE OPENING ELA teaching position for Gr. 5.

Mon.-Thurs., afternoon hours. Far Rockaway/5T area. Competitive salary, warm supportive environment.

Teachersearch11@gmail.com

GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL IN QUEENS seeks a full time, experienced clinician (school psychologist, LCSW, LMHC, etc.) to work in conjunction with current school psychologist.

Salary commensurate with experience. Please send resumes to rwittenstein@shevachhs.org A YESHIVA IN QUEENS is looking for an experienced part/ full time secretary, 2-year-old morah, kindergarten morah, kindergarten morah assistant and Pre-1A English teacher for the 2022-2023 school year. Nice and timely pay. Please email resume to mshelt613@gmail. com or call/text 718-971-9799.

MDS REGIONAL NURSE 5 Towns area Nursing Home management office seeking a Regional/Corporate level MDS Nurse to work in our office.

Must be an RN. Regional experience preferred. 2-3 years MDS experience with good computer skills required.

Position is Full Time but Part Time can be considered.

Great Shomer Shabbos environment with some remote options as well.

Email: officejob2019@gmail.com

MISC. SHMIRAS HALASHON Text 516-303-3868 with a time slot of your choice to be careful on lashon hara. Be a part of the 1,000 people for klal yisroel!

KOLLEL IN 5 TOWNS UNDER R’ Y. Kalish - Limited slots available Option for 1 or 2 sedarim Competitive compensation Call/Text (718) 207-1050

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The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 12, 2023

Your

Money

Don’t Do the Crime If You Can’t Do the Time

By Allan Rolnick, CPA

A

mericans are raised from childhood to believe that crime doesn’t pay. But any adult who opens their eyes realizes crime actually pays quite well. As Glenn Frey sang in his 1985 hit, Smuggler’s Blues, “It’s the lure of easy money, it’s got a very strong appeal.” And so a Ponzi schemer buys lavish homes in Palm Beach and the Hamptons.

A U.S. Senator accepts gold bars and wads of cash to lobby for a foreign country. A crypto scammer collects penthouses in the Bahamas and makes lavish political donations that he candidly admits are bribes. On and on it goes, until the unexpected day comes when suddenly crime doesn’t pay, and the whole thing comes crashing to a halt.

It’s worth taking a closer look at some of the indictments that come down when the music stops. Bernie Madoff pled guilty to 11 felonies, including securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, making false statements, perjury, theft from an employee benefit plan, and making false filings with the SEC. New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is facing three felonies, including conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of offi-

cial right. And former crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried goes to trial next month on 13 charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and campaign finance violations. Notice what none of them were charged with? Failing to pay tax on their loot!

That’s right, boys and girls. Crime doesn’t just pay, it pays tax-free. Or does it?

fair market value,” unless “you return it to its rightful owner in the same year.”

The good news is, as long as you’re reporting your income, you can deduct most of your legitimate business expenses. Items that are “contrary to public policy,” like guns to whack a rival, are out. But if you’re in the protection racket business, you can deduct mileage to visit restaurant

Menendez says he’s innocent, but that stash of gold bars sure suggests he’s headed to Club Fed, too.

Code Section 61 states that “except as otherwise provided in this subtitle, gross income includes all income from whatever sources derived.” And you won’t be surprised to learn there’s no statutory exception for illegal income. IRS Publication 17 tells taxpayers to report “income from illegal activities, such as money from dealing illegal drugs.” Even worse, “if you steal property, you must report its

owners when you tell them, “Nice business ya got here…. Shame if anything happens to it.”

In practice, of course, few criminals bother reporting their loot. Most who report their illegal income do it to avoid going down for tax evasion if the government can’t convict them of their underlying crimes—that’s how they got Al Capone, after all. And reporting illegal

income even offers a planning opportunity: if you’re ordered to pay restitution down the road, your restitution will be deductible!

In the end, then, the real problem with crime is that when you get caught, you don’t just wind up owing the tax. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time! Madoff died in prison. Menendez says he’s innocent, but that stash of gold bars sure suggests he’s headed to Club Fed, too. And assuming Bankman-Fried is convicted, he’ll be there long enough to see people harvesting crops on Mars before he gets out.

While there’s not an immediate, practical tip in today’s discussion, the underlying lesson is what’s critical: understanding exactly what income is taxable and what expenses are legitimately deductible is the heart of effective tax planning. So count on us to guide you through that maze to help you pay less, and rest easy knowing it’s all by the book!

Allan J Rolnick is a CPA who has been in practice for over 30 years in Queens, NY. He welcomes your comments and can be reached at 718-896-8715 or at allanjrcpa@aol.com.

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