Five Towns Jewish Home May 16 2013

137 SPRUCE STREET

516-569-2662

— See page 5, 60 & 61 —

Around the Community Mercy Medical Center and Lev Leytzan Team Up to Celebrate World Laughter Day

THEJEWISHHOME A PUBLICATION OF THE FIVE TOWNS & QUEENS COMMUNITY may 14 - May 17, 2013 | Distributed

Weekly

In The Five Towns, Queens & Brooklyn

Wishing our readers a

Happy Shavuos

Page 52

The King and Queen of Sweden Join in the Unveiling of the Raoul Wallenberg Gold Medal Design Page 65

American Friends of Ateret Cohanim Hold 34th Anniversary Gala in NY Page 54

Yeshiva of South Shore’s Pre1A Learns About Tefilin and Sefrei Torah from a Sofer

Meet the Candidates of the Upcoming School Board Election

Page42

Page 68

Divrei Torah ~ Recipes ~ Table Art ~ Jewish Thought ~ Stories of Inspiration

t: 516.791.4444 ext 105, e: Dinner2013@achiezer.org A n s w e r t h e c A l l . fax: 516.592.5643

sundAy, june 2, 2013 | The SandS aTlanTic Beach

— See page 24 —

— See page 21 —

T h e J e w i s h H o m e n MAY 14, 2013

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>>Community Community Happenings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

>> News Global . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 National . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Odd-but-True Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

>> Israel My Israel Home: The Emerging Har Choma Neighborhood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

>> People From Song to Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 A World After This: The Story of Lola Lieber . . . . 113 The Courage of the Harel Brigade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

>>Parsha The Shmuz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

>>Shavuos Blooming with Sweetness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Bobker on Shhh..vuos: The Undated Anniversary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Ruth: The Matriarch of the Eternal Davidic Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Dear Readers, Yesterday was Mother’s Day and while most mothers were eating breakfast in bed or in the kitchen preparing for Shavuos, I was working on putting out our special Shavuos issue. So although I was not baking cakes or kugels or roasts, I was learning about Shavuos and the significance of this yom tov. Mr. Joe Bobker, in his essay, Shhh…vuos: the Undated Anniversary, points out that Shavuos is the unsung holiday on our calendar. Every person, regardless of their affiliation, knows about Chanukah and about Pesach. They are familiar with the menorahs and latkes and matzoh brei. But too many people in the world have never even heard about our beautiful yom tov of Shavous.

And even when we try to explain the importance of the day, we end up talking about cheesecakes and flowers. But Shavuos is much more than that. As Mr. Bobker points out, it is the day when the Jews received the privilege of living a “heaven on earth” through the Torah.

Andrea Eller has written for The Jewish Home numerous times. I love her writing. I feel that her articles take the reader to a different time and place. This week, Andrea regales us with a personal story of her own and tells us of her journey from stage singer to Orthodox mother. I was inspired by her search for the substantial in a world that is filled with sparkly, ethereal delights.

Next week, the Five Towns is going to vote for our local school board. The school board has been in the headlines recently because of the recent Number 6 School referendum. The candidates are all worthy candidates who will work hard for our community. This week, we asked each candidate to share their views and tell you more about themselves. During a campaign, every candidate’s dream is to be able to speak to each constituent individually. But alas, that is not practical. In this issue, the candidates are reaching out to you to earn your vote. You get to hear about what’s important to them. As of now, I don’t know who I will be voting for but I do know that I will be going out to vote. It is our right and our privilege to be let our voices be heard.

As always, we love hearing from our readers. Please feel free to reach out to me at editor@fivetownsjewishhome. com.

>> Jewish Thought

Wishing you and your family a wonderful Shavuos—and don’t forget the cheesecake!

Shavuos and the Ten Dollar Gym,

by Rabbi Jonathan Gewirtz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Shoshana

>>Parenting

Yitzy Halpern

Social Smarts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Publisher

publisher@fivetownsjewishhome.com

>>Health The Single’s Top Seven Warning Signs of an Unhealthy Relationship, continued,

by Deb Hirschhorn, PhD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Classifieds classifieds@fivetowns jewishhome.com 443-929-4003

>> Food & Leisure

Yosef Feinerman

Shoshana Soroka

ads@fivetownsjewishhome.com

editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com

managing editor

Nate Davis

Rachel Bergida Berish Edelman Mati Jacobovits

Editorial Assistant

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Design & Production

Recipes: Dairy Delights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Recipes: Salmon En Croute Florentine Style

by Chef Shaul Silverstein. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Travel: New Jersey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108

>> Lifestyles Ask the Attorney. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Weekly Weather

Architecture at its Best, by Rivki Rosenwald. . . . 104 Centerfold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

>> Art

P.O. BOX 266 Lawrence, NY 11559 Phone | 516-734-0858 Fax | 516-734-0857

Tuesday, May 14 — Shavuos Candle Lighting: 7:47 Friday, May 17 — Parshas Nasso Candle Lighting: 7:50 Shabbos Ends: 8:57 Rabbeinu Tam: 9:22

Recipes: Dishes to Enhance Your Yom Tov Meal. . 96

>> Humor

Editor

wed. thurs. fri.

May 15 May 16 May 17

sat. sun.

May 18 May 19

mon.

May 20

tues.

May 21

few showers

partly cloudy

From My Private Art Collection: Shavuos Flowers with Creative Qualities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

>> Political Crossfire Upcoming School Board Elections: Meet the Candidates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Notable Quotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

>> Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 The artwork on the cover, V’Zos HaTorah, is a painting by local artist Brocha Teichman.

Brocha is an instructor at the Art Studio of the Five Towns located at 48 Frost Lane in Lawrence, NY. She can be reached at 516-374-1904.

MOSTLY sunny High LOW

62° 56°

MOSTLY cloudy High LOW

66° 59°

partly cloudy High LOW

66° 56°

partly cloudy

High LOW

71° 57°

MOSTLY cloudy

High LOW

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72° 57°

The Jewish Home is an independent weekly magazine. Opinions expressed by writers are not neces­sarily the opinions of the publisher or editor. The Jewish Home is not responsible for typographical errors, or for the kashrus of any product or business advertised within. The Jewish Home contains words of Torah. Please treat accordingly.

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The Week

Global Russia’s Mega-Rich Hide Assets from Putin

Russia’s twenty richest people have a collective net worth of more than $227 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. All twenty billionaires control a portion of their fortune through holding companies registered outside of their home country, angering President Vladimir Putin. But he is the primary reason these magnates attempt to conceal their wealth. Many of the entrepreneurs grew their fortunes during

the violent and unpredictable post-Communist economic environment.

Last year, Alisher Usmanov, Russia’s single richest person, moved control of most of his $20 billion fortune to a holding company based 5,600 miles away from Moscow, in the British Virgin Islands.

“Offshores are the main tool for Russian businessmen to protect their assets from state authorities, rivals and all kinds of raiders,” Valery Tutykhin, an attorney whose firm specializes in wealth management, said.

Viktor Vekselberg, 56, holds the majority of his $14.8 billion fortune through Bahamas-based Renova Holdings. Vladimir Lisin, 56, controls his 85% stake in publicly traded OAO Novolipetsk Steel, Russia’s most valuable steelmaker, through a Cyprus-based holding company, Fletcher Group Holdings. Mikhail Fridman, 49, controls his banking, retail and telecommunications assets through Moscow-based Alfa Group, which is owned by Gibraltar-based CTF Holdings.

Putin is desperate to bring some of those millions “home.” Last year, the dictator took control of the Federal Fi-

In News nancial Monitoring Service, an executive body intended to combat money laundering. The State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, introduced a series of amendments to existing laws, tightening control over companies’ financial transactions.

In a speech to the nation in December, Putin criticized the country’s legal system and the elements that led to accusations of wrongdoing, vowing to eliminate the factors that have turned “economic disputes into score-settling.”

Putin said in a televised news conference the following week that he “hoped” the billionaires who sold their 50 percent stake in TNK-BP, Russia’s third-largest oil company, for $28 billion, would reinvest the proceeds in their home country.

“Russia was and always will be the basic platform for investment,” billionaires Vekselberg, Fridman, Len Blavatnik, and German Khan said in a joint statement released six days after Putin’s comments.

However, as of now, there’s been minimal money flowing back to Russia.

Fridman and his partners at Alfa Group announced on March 18 that they would

create a global investment company to pursue energy and telecommunications assets. Two weeks later, through Altimo, a unit of Alfa based in the British Virgin Islands, Fridman offered to buy out minority investors in Cairo-based Orascom Telecom Holding SAE in a deal for as much as $1.8 billion.

Swiss attorney Tutykhin predicts that Russian billionaires will strategically continue to hold their main assets out of Russia, despite Putin’s harsh talk.

I speak as an amateur, but sounds like a smart plan to me.

Auschwitz Guard Arrested in Germany German state police arrested a 93-year-old man on Monday. He is suspected of being a former guard at the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust.

In accordance with German law, the news release did not reveal the suspect’s name but it confirmed that the individContinued on page 12

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communiTy Service award

Moshe & nechama ratner

Alan & sharoni Botwinick

reuven (ronald) & Barbara spirn

communiTy hakoraS haTov award

phySician appreciaTion award

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The Week ual had been arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to murder. Allegedly, the suspect had served as a guard at the camp in Poland from the autumn of 1941 until its liberation in early 1945, the prosecutor’s office said in the statement.

Following a search of the man’s apartment, the suspect was brought before a judge and was put in investigative custody while an arraignment was being prepared. According to German media reports, the prosecutor’s office had launched an investigation against the man in November 2012.

It’s upsetting that this man got to live most of his life without paying for his actions.

Man Uses Spoon to Escape Russian Prison

For those of you who thought escapes from prison only occurred in books like The Count of Monte Cristo, think again. Recently, it was reported that Oleg Topalov, 33, escaped from one of Russia’s most infamous prisons using only a spoon. He used the utensil to dig a hole through the ceiling of his cell.

Topalov is only the fourth person in 20 years to escape from the prison.

Authorities blame his escape on prison staff who they claim engaged in a “dishonest or careless attitude.”

Topalov was sentenced to prison for double murder and arms trafficking.

In News But apparently he’s a skilled escape artist. He used the spoon to open a ventilation shaft, climbed on the prison’s roof and escaped over the building’s perimeter fence.

“Because of the building being rundown, Topalov had no difficulty in widening the vent of the air-shaft, through which he got to the prison’s roof,” Russian Federal Penitentiary Service representative Kristina Belousova explained.

“Using sheets tied one to another he managed to go down the wall, then jump over the fence and run away.” An unnamed witness says the prisoner used rope from the psychiatric ward instead of the sheets to commit his escape.

Interestingly, under Russian law, Topalov only faces an additional four years of incarceration if he is captured. The prison he escaped from, Matrosskaya Tishina, was first opened in 1946 and is considered one of Russia’s most secure prisons. Inmates are checked daily for illegal objects. Topalov was singled out as someone who would be likely to try to escape.

The last person known to have escaped from the prison was hit-man Aleksandr Solonick who used mountain

climbing equipment provided by a prison officer to escape in 2005. They both rappelled over the prison’s walls using 20 feet of rope and have not been recaptured.

Taiwan’s Asthma Patients Don’t Seek Regular Medical Care

Just a day before World Asthma Day, the Taiwan Association of Asthma Education revealed that more than 20 percent of Taipei first-graders suffer from asthma and 50 percent of them

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Rabbi Shaya Cohen, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Zichron Aryeh and Yeshiva Zichron Aryeh invite you to

M ay 1 4 , 2013

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10:30 AM B 1213 Bay 25th Street Far Rockaway, New York 11691 Refreshments will be served * Rain Date May 26th

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14 M ay 1 4 , 2013

The Week

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have allergic rhinitis.

Each year, World Asthma Day is celebrated on the first Tuesday in May, this year it fell out on May 7th. The association and the Taipei City Government Department of Health held a fair to promote asthma and allergy prevention.

Association chairwoman Huang Lihsin announced that a recent survey conducted by the group found that, while about 50 percent of Taiwanese experience allergy symptoms, 60 percent of those polled believe they are not allergic to anything.

“According to surveys done over the past three years by the city government, about 50 percent of the first-graders in Taipei have allergic rhinitis, 20 percent have asthma and nearly 10 percent suffer from atopic dermatitis,” Huang said.

However, a Bureau of Health Promotion official said that a more alarming phenomenon is that, according to statistics compiled by the bureau, of the children under the age of 12 who were diagnosed with asthma in 2009, 72.4 percent have failed to visit doctors regularly in the past year. “This has resulted in 15 percent of these asthma patients going to emergency rooms at least once because of acute asthma attacks,” Huang said.

The association is urging patients and parents of patients to seek proper medical care for asthma and related allergies.

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There is not much that is worse than waiting for your flight while you are sleep-deprived and groggy. One airport now has a solution to that problem. Abu Dhabi International Airport unveiled cocoon-like sleeping chambers inside one of its terminals. The 10 “GoSleep pods” are chairs that convert into flat beds and feature a sliding shade that isolates the occupant from noise, light and crowds.

In News Travelers can rent a pod for $12.25 per hour of use.

“Abu Dhabi Airports Company continually strives to enhance the experience of passengers traveling to, from or via Abu Dhabi International Airport,” Mohammed Al Bulooki, the airport’s chief commercial officer, said in a statement.

“The introduction of ‘GoSleep’ sleeping pods is another step towards exceeding customers’ expectations and delivering world-class levels of service.”

Another way to enjoy the Abu Dhabi Airport experience is by not going there at all.

Rodman Urges Kim Jong-un to Free American Prisoner

Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman keeps interesting friends. He begged his new BFF, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jongun, to release the Korean-American man who was sentenced to 15 years of labor and is currently jailed in N. Korea “Do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose,” Rodman said via Twitter on Wednesday.

Bae was sentenced by North Korea‘s Supreme Court to 15 years of hard labor for unspecified “hostile acts” against the country. He was arrested in November while working as a tour guide. He’s a resident of Washington state who frequently travels to North Korea to work, to feed orphans, and to perform other acts of charity.

Bae is the sixth American to be detained in North Korea since 2009. The previous five were all released and deported.

Rodman has been open about his affection for the North Korean dictator.

Back in February, he visited the country and spent time with the oppressive leader at a basketball game and told him, “You have a friend for life,” CNN reported.

Umm, stick to your day job, man.

Leave politics to politicians.

15 The Jewish Home n

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The Central African Republic (CAR) and Venezuela may face diamond export ban. This will be decided at the Kimberley Process (KP) initiative, set up to stem the flow of conflict diamonds, on May 10. Controls there have collapsed after a March coup, Welile Nhlapo, KP chairman, told reporters at a meeting of the World Diamond Council in Tel Aviv.

The CAR’s new leader, Michel Djotodia, toppled President Francois Bozize’s regime after leading thousands of his Seleka rebels into the capital Bangui, triggering days of looting. Mining continues in areas controlled by the rebels “and the diamonds that are being mined are not finding themselves in the rightful place where they can undergo all the processes that are KP compliant,” Nhlapo said.

The CAR agreed to attend the May 10 meeting to discuss the possibility of allowing a KP review mission to establish what is happening in the mining areas. However, there are no guarantees that the systems are in place for KP certification to be issued declaring those diamonds to be “conflict free.”

“There is sufficient evidence that diamonds have been used by the rebels, who have been extracting and trading them to acquire the necessary resources that they managed to get in order to overthrow the elected government that was in place,” Nhlapo said.

Nhlapo said an “overwhelming” number of members of the KP ballot need to approve the export suspension but he did not specify how many. The ban, if approved, will last until the KP can send a monitoring team to establish what is happening “so that no diamonds that are illegally mined by the rebels find their way through the KP certification scheme because some of them are

31 Arrested in Connection with Belgium Airport Diamond Robbery Three months ago, a group of thieves pulled off a brilliant $50 million diamond heist at Brussels Airport.

Last Wednesday, authorities arrested 31 people involved with the scandal across three different countries.

An unnamed man from France is allegedly one of the robbers at the airport; he was arrested in France. Six to eight people were detained in Geneva, along with another 24 in and around Brussels.

Police did not reveal the involvement of the other suspects.

Authorities claim that they have hard evidence that diamonds that showed up in Switzerland were part of the theft.

“In Switzerland, we have found diamonds that we can already say are coming from the heist, and in Belgium large amounts of money have been found.

And the investigation is still ongoing,” said Jean-Marc Meilleur, a spokesman for the Brussels prosecutor’s office.

Meilleur didn’t offer many details and did not disclose how police were led to the arrests.

The February 18 robbery is one of the biggest diamond thefts of recent times. The exact value of the diamonds is still being appraised. As TJH reported a few months ago, on a cold winter evening, the diamonds had been loaded on a plane bound for Zurich when robbers, dressed in dark police clothing and hoods, drove through a hole they had cut in the airport fence in two black cars with blue police lights flashing. They drove onto the tarmac, approached the plane, brandished machine guns, off-

loaded the diamonds, and then made their getaway. The entire operation took just five minutes. Leaving police with only a tiny clue, investigators discovered the charred remains of a van most likely used in the heist.

Belgian authorities said that about 10 of the 24 people detained in Belgium had previous criminal records. The suspects ranged in age from 30 to 50.

Eventually, his career took him away from the back-breaking work of construction into administration and management, and slowly he began accumulating road paraphernalia.

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Could Diamonds be Banned from the Central African Republic?

in government, they can have access to those certificates.”

Diamonds are an important resource for the CAR that can help post-conflict reconstruction and development.

Venezuela has already suspended itself because of lack of compliance with KP. “They wanted to return to KP but because of complications in that country, particularly in the passing of the president [Hugo Chavez] there was no possibility of getting a firm response for a review mission,” Nhlapo said, noting there are claims that mining is taking place. Venezuela has not been able to supply statistics about the amount of diamonds in its mines.

In News

The World’s Most Unusual Museum Try getting your kids to go to this museum…

Juozas Stepankevičius, 79, is the proud director and curator of the Lithuanian Road Museum. Road making is Stepankevičius’s (say that 10 times) passion which turned into one of the strangest and most eccentric museums in the world. He began building roads after graduating high school. He saw a flyer offering a stipend for students learning road construction and chose it over a course in plumbing, which didn’t offer as much money.

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The Week

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The Lithuanian Road Museum is located between the country’s two largest cities, Vilnius and Kaunas. The museum opened its doors in 1995 to mark the 25th anniversary of the road’s comple-

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The Week tion. The museum’s exhibits showcase a collection of models, rock samples, documents, heavy machinery and road signs. They celebrate an industry that survived and occasionally thrived despite war, invasion, occupation and liberation. It attracts about 6,000 visitors each year, many of them school kids and construction-industry students.

Israel Google Accused of Halting Peace Negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians A senior Israeli official accused Google on Monday of negatively affecting Middle East peace hopes by putting the name “Palestine” under the banner of its search page for the Palestinian territories.

Of course, Palestinians welcomed Google’s move as a cybernetic victory.

With peace negotiations paused for two and half years over Jewish settlement building, the Palestinians have campaigned for foreign recognition of statehood and were upgraded to “non-member state” at the United Nations in November. Following the U.N. lead, Google’s Palestinian homepage and other products previously labeled “Palestinian Territories” were changed on May 1 to read “Palestine.”

“I think that the Google decision from the last few days is very, very problematic,” said Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“When a company like Google comes along and supports this line, it actually pushes peace further away, pushes away negotiations, and creates among the

In News Palestinian leadership the illusion that in this manner they can achieve the result,” he said on Israeli radio. “Without direct negotiation with us, nothing will happen.”

A Google spokesman responded that their actions were not coming from their own ideas and principles. “We are following the lead of the U.N. ... and other international organizations.”

A consultant to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described the move as a “victory for Palestine and a step toward its liberation.”

Google had “put Palestine on the Internet map, making it a geographical reality,” the adviser, Sabri Saidam, told the official news agency WAFA, adding that the Palestinians had invited Google’s mapmakers to come and gather more data for their online maps.

Currently, Google Maps shows little or no detail for major Palestinian towns such as Nablus and Ramallah, while many Jewish West Bank settlements have streets and parks clearly labeled.

Saidam said Israeli opposition to Google’s new rubric was rooted in fear that “the recognition will destroy Israel’s concept of ‘Judea and Samaria’” – the biblical names that the Jewish State uses for the West Bank.

Netanyahu Opens New East Jerusalem Road, Angering Palestinians

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ceremoniously opened a new road in East Jerusalem on Sunday that eased traffic congestion but angered the Palestinians who oppose all Israeli activity over the pre-1967 lines.

The completion of the NIS 180 million project for 400 meters of Highway 20 asphalt allows residents of the Jewish east Jerusalem neighborhoods of Pisgat Ze’ev and Neveh Ya’acov to connect with Route 443 without traveling through French Hill and jamming up

its roads. It will also benefit Israeli Arabs living in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina. The road’s interchange was named for Netanyahu’s father, Benzion, who passed away on April 30 last year at the age of 102.

Netanyahu was accompanied by Transportation Minister Israel Katz and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

“We are working continuously and systematically to link Jerusalem with itself and to the other parts of the country, because Zion is important to us and it was important to my father,” said Netanyahu. “He wasn’t named ‘Benzion’ for nothing. It says everything – Benzion, literally ‘Son of Zion,’” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu said that his father had taught him “that our state is a deposit for the generations of Jews who dreamt and prayed and fought and sacrificed so that we might return to our land and renew in it our independence. He taught me about the enormous responsibility that we have to ensure the security of the State of Israel and build up its future.

This heritage needs to unite us all every day, and so it does,” Netanyahu said.

“The opening of Highway 20 and the Benzion interchange will ease traffic congestion in northern Jerusalem and allow hundreds of thousands of visitors and tourists additional access that is easy and quick,” Barkat said.

Fatah spokesman Husam Zomlot criticized the opening of the road and said it is proof that Israel is not serious about a two-state solution. “It is just another proof that Mr. Netanyahu has only one plan for one state – and that is the state for the settlers,” Zomlot said. “It is another proof that his entire agenda is that of further colonization and providing all the services possible for the settlers.” He continued, “The position of my movement, the leading party of the PLO, is that there shall be no peace and no political settlement without east Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.”

Netanyahu has always maintained that a united Jerusalem will remain under Israeli sovereignty in any possible two-state solution scenario.

Ex-Mossad Agent’s Mission Questioned Australian news outlets are claiming that the late Mossad member Ben Zygier was arrested for interfering in a secret operation to recover the bodies of

Hawking: Selective Boycotter of Israel Weeks ago, it was reported that physicist Stephen Hawking would be visiting Israel for the fifth annual Presidential Conference. But just this week, it was announced that the professor will not be making the trip. The announcement came amid back-and-forth suspicions that the decision not to attend the

conference was due either to health-related issues or a desire to boycott the State of Israel.

After much debate among media outlets, it came to light that the scientist was pressured by Palestinian groups to boycott the State of Israel. This comes after Cambridge University’s Tim Holt, Acting Director of Communications and Hawking’s spokesperson said that the noted physicist’s decision to cancel his visit to Israel for the President’s Conference was caused solely by health complications. Holt said, “Professor Hawking will not be attending the conference in Israel in June for health reasons – his doctors have advised against him flying.”

But it has come to light that pro-Palestinian Noam Chomsky added his name to a letter sent to Hawking by the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) campaign group.

The letter to Hawking declared: “Israel systematically discriminates against the Palestinians who make up 20% of its population in ways that would be illegal in Britain,” its treatment of the people of Gaza amounts to “collective punishment,” the construction of Jewish settlements breaches the Geneva convention and “Israel places multiple roadblocks, physical, financial and legal, in the way of higher education, both for its own Palestinian citizens and those under occupation.”

The letter continued: “Israel has a name for the promotion of its cultural and scientific standing: ‘Brand Israel.’

This is a deliberate policy of camouflaging its oppressive acts behind a cultured veneer.”

This letter and pressure from pro-Palestinian groups seem to be the reason why Hawking has cancelled his trip to Israel. It’s interesting to note that on Friday, liberal academic David Newman of Ben Gurion University pointed out that an academic boycott “just destroys one of the very few spaces left where Israelis and Palestinians actually do come together.”

Even more interesting about Hawking’s boycott is the fact that if not for

the country of Israel and its brilliant minds, Hawking may not even be alive.

The physicist suffers from Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) and much of his communication system runs on a chip that was developed in Israel. “Hawking’s decision to join the boycott of Israel is quite hypocritical for an individual who prides himself on his own intellectual accomplishment,” said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center in a statement.

“His whole computer-based communication system runs on a chip designed

by Israel’s Intel team.” She pointed out, “I suggest that if he truly wants to pull out of Israel he should also pull out his Intel Core i7 from his tablet.”

Hawking has been using this Intel chip since 1997. With a combination of hand movements and cheek twitches, he has been able to write at a rate of around 15 words a minute.

Darshan-Leitner points out, “He calls it an independent decision based on the unanimous advice of his own academic contacts here [to boycott the event]. I propose he first seek the advice of Intel engineers working here. He

seems to have no understanding of this world,” she said.

Italian Politician Makes Aliyah

Fiamma Nirenstein was born in Florence, lived in Rome, served as a parliament member in Italy on behalf of Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative party, and recently decided to make aliyah.

Nirenstein’s mother is from a Jewish Italian family and her father is of Jewish Polish descent. She has been named one of the most influential Jewish women and now many are wondering if she is headed to Knesset.

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soldiers killed in the 1982 Lebanon war.

The version of their story begins with Siad al-Homsi, former mayor of a Lebanese village, who was approached by the Mossad in 2007. The Mossad hired him as a spy. The spy agency’s mission was supposedly to unearth the bodies of three Israeli tank crewmen captured and killed in a battle with Syrian forces. “At the last meeting they informed me about the location of the corpses exactly. I had to find a way to get the bodies and keep them,” Homsi said.

The mission failed after Homsi was arrested on May 16, 2009 by Lebanese Special Forces and sentenced to 15 years for spying for the Mossad. He served only three years.

Zygier’s alleged crime was accidentally revealing Homsi’s identity to a Lebanese man he was trying to turn into a double agent, but who actually worked for Lebanese intelligence. The plan reportedly went wrong when Zygier tried to prove his credentials by giving up the name of Homsi and another Lebanese agent for Israel named Mustafa Ali Awadeh. Zygier’s mistake caused Israel to abandon the mission.

In response to this report, a former senior said that those claims are completely “science fiction.”

In December 2010, Zygier, 34, took his own life while serving time in a high-security jail cell.

Rami Igra, who headed the Mossad’s MIA and Captive Persons Division, said the soldiers had been declared dead by the Military Rabbinate, and that it was incorrect to believe that Mossad would launch an operation to retrieve the bodies. “The rabbinate would not declare them dead unless it had undeniable evidence. The claim that an operation would be launched to retrieve [the bodies] is not only empty, it is science fiction,” Igra said.

“Zygier was facing 22 years in prison – that kind of charge is for treachery, not an imaginary operation,” Igra said.

“These claims are nonsense.”

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The Week “Life is full of surprises,” she says.

Nirenstein was one of the most outspoken activists in Italy in the war against anti-Semitism and anti-Israel propaganda. “One cannot just talk about Zionism; it’s time for deeds too,” she said.

The Italian Jew has authored 12 books, most of them dealing with the Israeli-Arab conflict, which have turned her into a local authority on Israel and the Middle East. Many give her credit for Italy’s sympathetic policy towards Israel, as well as for the fact that the country is a safe haven for its Jewish residents.

Nirenstein always kept a vacation apartment in Jerusalem which will now become her permanent residence.

men who served in the Israeli Defense Forces found jobs after fulfilling their service and being discharged. The Ministry of Economy’s Research Administration also noted that 25% of graduates of IDF programs specifically for Charedi men are employed in banking and financial services sectors. More than one-third of Charedi men who served in the army feel that their services prepared them for the real world and positively altered their attitude towards the secular public.

Chareidi Soldiers Have High Employment Rate

In News The IDF’s Shachar program, which stands for “Shiluv Haredim,” was launched in November 2007 and now has some 1,300 Charedi soldiers in different positions and tracks. The study reveals that the average monthly salary of Shahar graduates who worked after their military service stood at NIS 6,250 (about $1,753).

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett met last week with representatives of the Manufacturers Association, who told him that the Israeli industry had high hopes for the integration of Charedim into the labor market.

Generally, the Charedi population has a relatively low employment rate as many men choose to remain in yeshiva.

The industry is focused on this demographic as the next source of high-quality manpower.

Texting While Driving Kills More People than Drinking and Driving

National

Research conducted by Ministry of Economy reveals that 70% of Chareidi

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According to a new study by Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, more than 3,000 teens die annually from texting while driving, compared to about 2,700 for driving under the influence of alcohol. Despite the fact that New York is one of forty states that has a texting-while-driving ban, the study reveals that 50 percent of students text while driving and half of high school kids who drive say they text behind the wheel.

There are a number of innovative solutions to this problem, such as several companies which make smart phone docks that prevents a vehicle from actually starting until a phone is inserted, ensuring the distraction remains out of the hands of the driver. As our society continues to become progressively hooked on texting, it is likely that automakers will start inserting such devices into cars.

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tween 1970 and 1995, either Jessica or Jennifer were the number one name in 23 of those years. According to Babynamewizard.com, King and Messiah are among the fastest-rising baby names for American boys.

Then we wonder why our kids have delusions of grandeur.

The top names reflect changing cultural preferences. From 1913 through 1946, Mary was the number one girl’s name, now it is not even in the list of top 10. In the 25 years be-

In 2009, when President Obama gave the commencement speech at Arizona State University, after the university’s conservative president publicly stated that he would not bestow an honorary

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The Week degree on President Obama, the president jokingly stated: “President [Michael] Crowe and the Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS.” Three years later, Conservatives are finding that there is “some truth” contained in this joke.

For the past few years, Tea Party groups have been complaining about being audited and harassed by the IRS. It turns out that these groups were not just being paranoid conspiracy theorists, as is often their media bestowed caricature. In truth, they were directly targeted by the IRS. On Friday, the IRS apologized for what it acknowledged was “inappropriate” targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status. The agency blamed low-level employees, saying no high-level officials were aware.

However, it seems like the targeting of conservative groups was more extensive than the IRS initially acknowledged. According to a draft timeline of events compiled by the IRS inspector general, the IRS official responsible for

tax-exempt organizations was actually briefed in 2011 that her unit was targeting Tea Party groups for additional scrutiny.

Legendary conservative columnist George Will reacted angrily during an ABC News Panel on Sunday. He stated, “This is the 40th anniversary of the Watergate summer,” and then read a passage from President Richard Nixon’s articles of impeachment, which stated:

In News endeavored to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, confidential information contained in income tax returns for purposed not authorized by law, and to cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.”

In response to George Will’s insinuation that President Obama should be impeached over this scandal, News White House correspondent Jonathan Karl quipped to him, “You better get ready for your audit.”

Notice to our readers: TJH pledges allegiance to the Obama Administration.

10 Most Exciting Cities in the U.S. “[Nixon] has, acting personally and through his subordinates and agents,

Movoto.com, which is a site dedicated to the “lighter” side of real estate, recently completed its ranking of the 10 most exciting cities in the U.S. “Certainly,” you say, “Manhattan is

number one.” Well, you are wrong, it is not even in the top 5. To formulate their list, Movoto examined 10 criteria which they determined makes a city exciting.

Among the criteria are parks acreage per person, percent of population between 20 and 34-years-old, fast food restaurants per square mile (the fewer the better), big box stores per square mile (the fewer the better) and music venues per square mile.

The result is as follows: 1. Oakland, CA 2. Boston, MA 3. San Francisco, CA 4. Seattle, WA 5. Washington, D.C. 6. New York, NY 7. Milwaukee, WI 8. Atlanta, GA 9. Philadelphia, PA 10. Portland, OR Quite shockingly, none of the hubs of excitement that make up the Five Towns make the top 10, despite our bustling Dunkin Donuts. Perhaps if they knew that you live here, we would have made the list.

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The Week 10 Cities with the Most Millionaires This time you are certain that the Five Towns makes the list, right?

Wrong. According to WealthInsight, a London-based independent research firm, the city with the most millionaires is not even in the U.S.! The list is as follows: 1. Tokyo (461,000 millionaires) 2. New York City ( 389,000) 3. London (281,000) 4. Paris (219,000) 5. Frankfurt (217,000) 6. Beijing (213,000) 7. Osaka (190,000) 8. Hong Kong (187,000) 9. Shanghai (166,000) 10. Singapore (157,000) However, when it comes to billionaires, New York City reigns supreme with 70 billionaires, followed by Moscow which has 64 billionaires. The top five is rounded off by London, with 54 billionaires; Hong Kong, with 40 billionaires; and Beijing, which has 29 billionaires.

Feeling sad that your city didn’t make the list? And even if it did, you did not contribute to its prominent placement? As the saying goes, “The city of happiness is in the state of mind”... unless you have a million dollar yacht, in which case the city of happiness is on your yacht.

The Rich are Enjoying Life in Sunny California Only about one-fifth of the nation’s households earn a six figure salary. According to recent research, those six-figure families tend to reside in specific cities.

New analysis by Census data by

In News NerdWallet informs that there are 16 U.S. cities where more than 50 percent of the households earn six-figure incomes.

San Ramon, California is home to companies ranging from Chevron Corp. to 24-Hour Fitness, and 63.5% of the city’s households earn annual incomes exceeding $100,000, while one-quarter earn $200,000 or more making it America’s top-earning city.

Flower Mound, Texas, a Dallas suburb, has the second-lowest crime rate in the U.S., according to the FBI’s latest crime report and it was recently included in the 100 best places to live in the U.S. and I couldn’t agree more… Its 62.8% percent of residents take home more than $100,000 and 18.6% percent earn $200K or more.

Another California city makes it to the list with Pleasanton, California, home to Safeway and Ross Stores. Just south of San Ramon, some 59.8% of its residents earn over $100,000 and 22.3% earn more than $200,000.

California is the place to be….Yorba Linda, California also made it to the top earners list. This Southern California community is the birthplace of former president Richard Nixon. Yorba Linda brags that 58.8% of its residents earn upwards of $100K and 18.6% earn $200,000 or more.

At number five is Carmel, Indiana, just a short commute to Indianapolis; it ranked first in Money Magazine’s best places to live in the U.S. With wide bike lanes and friendly residents, it’s also got a lower-than-average unemployment rate and better-than-average earnings, with 58.4% of households earning over $100,000 and 23.2% earning over $200K. California, here we come….Palo Alto, California, is home to Facebook, Hewlett-Packard and Stanford University. But with 57.8% of its households earning more than $100,000 and 28.2% earning more than $200,000 it takes the number 6 spot.

Newton, Massachusetts, is a suburb just outside of Boston; its real estate is

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The Week among the most expensive in the nation, with the average home selling for more than $1.2 million. As for wages, some 55.4% of Newton households earn over $100,000 and 25.7% earn more than $200,000 annually.

Naperville, a Chicago, Illinois, suburb was named the second-best place to live by Money Magazine in 2006; it was also cited as one of the wealthiest towns in the nation in 2010. Now, it ranks eighth among America’s cities for the percentage of households earning six-figures, with 54.8% over $100K and 22.8% taking home more than $200,000.

Frisco, Texas, some 20 miles north of Dallas, brags four professional sports teams, 150 outdoor sculptures, plenty of luxury hotels and restaurants – as well as average incomes that make this city of 131,510 residents among the nation’s richest towns. Some 53.7% of Frisco residents earn $100,000 or more, and 13.3% take home upwards of $200,000.

The Woodlands, Texas, founded by oilman George P. Mitchell in the early 1970s, was designed to be an attractive community that “would entice city slickers” to move there. Well, appar-

In News

ently some rich “city slickers” got the message. Now with some 55,000 residents, it is among the nation’s wealthiest cities, with 53.4% of the population earning more than $100,000 and 15.3% of the population earning upwards of $200,000.

Does moving to California make you rich or are these people rich before they move? Maybe it’s the air, or the land, or the juice…

Americans Trust Carter Former President Jimmy Carter is the most trusted politician in the country, according to the Reader’s Digest’s poll of the 100 most trusted people in America.

The four most trusted Americans were actors. The first politician, Carter, appears at spot number 24. This is a testament that Americans have lost trust in their government.

First Lady Michelle Obama was number 19, way ahead of her husband, President Obama, who occupied spot 65, behind his contemporary Hillary Clinton who was at 51.

Readers found newsman Matt Lauer of the “Today Show” not that trust-worthy coming in at number 87. At least he beat cable favorite Shepard Smith, anchor of “The Fox Report,” who was the very last.

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This is the validation that many mommies have been waiting for…

It’s happened to the best of us: you’re in the mall, your baby is having a tantrum, he throws his pacifier on the floor, you quickly snatch it up (10 second rule), you suck it to get off the germs and then stick it back into his mouth to calm him down. Many might look at you in disgust but Swedish researchers are saying that you may actually be helping your kids avoid eczema and asthma.

“It was surprising that the effect was so strong,” says pediatric allergist Dr. Bill Hesselmar of Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, lead author of the study published in the journal Pediatrics.

Of 136 infants who used a pacifier in their first six months, 65 had parents who reported sucking the pacifier to clean it. In those children, both eczema and asthma were strongly reduced when they were examined at 18 months of age. At 36 months of age, the protective effect remained for eczema but not for asthma.

The study didn’t specify how mom and dad’s saliva acted as a protective agent. But it did reveal that spit-cleaning the binkie had no effect on respiratory illness. Meaning, babies aren’t more likely to get cold or flu viruses from their parents sucking on their paci.

“Transmission of colds/virus infections are common in a household because of ‘close contact,’ independent of if the parents suck on their child’s pacifier or not,” Hesselmar says. When parents clean a pacifier with saliva, they’re introducing gut microflora, the microscopic organisms, mostly bacteria, that live in the digestive tract. “We know that if infants have diverse microflora in the gut, then children will have less allergy and less eczema,” says Hesselmar.

“When parents suck on the pacifier, they are transferring microflora to the child.”

Scientists hypothesize that those tiny organisms help prevent allergy, eczema and asthma by stimulating an infant’s developing immune system. “The most exciting result was the eczema,” says Christine Johnson, chair of the public health department at Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital. “I’m a bit more skeptical about the asthma findings because asthma is hard to measure before a child is five or six years old.”

So next time your child’s pacifier falls to the floor, proudly pick it up, give it quick wipe with your tongue and give him those protective agents.

Tennessee: The Retirement Place for Me

Planning (or dreaming) for retirement? Consider these states.

Bankrate’s list of best states to retire in factors in all the obvious aspects of a retirement state: sunshine, swimming pools and year-round golf. But it also considers the real important stuff like access to medical care, cost of living, local crime rates, state and local taxes.

Although North Dakota is a cold state, it made it to the list because of

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Kentucky offers retirees an extremely low cost of living, making it number 4 on the list. The Council for Community and Economic Research, or CCER, which collects data on the relative costs of groceries, housing, utilities, transportation and health care in communities across the U.S., found that retirees in Kentucky are paying less than

many of their counterparts across the country. The Bluegrass State also has warmer-than-average temperatures and a crime rate that’s slightly lower than average.

South Dakota, Mount Rushmore’s state, definitely lacks warmth but it makes up for that factor in a variety of ways. South Dakota has the lowest crime

rate in the nation. The Tax Foundation also says South Dakota residents have an estimated state and local tax burden of 7.6%, which is lower than every other state except Alaska. Its temperatures are comparable to New York and Colorado with an average of 46 degrees.

Louisiana offers retirees an excellent combination of low taxes (the Tax Foun-

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its incredible access to hospital care and low crime rate. There are five beds available for every 1,000 people in the state, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and it has the second-lowest crime rate in the nation. The state and local tax burden, which takes into account income, sales, property and other taxes, is a relatively mild 8.9 % of income.

Nebraska ranks at number 9 for its excellent access to hospital beds and FBI statistics show that its crime rate is slightly lower than average. Its cost of living also is one of the lowest in the country, according to the Council for Community and Economic Research, which tracks the cost of groceries, housing, utilities, transportation and health care in most major U.S. cities. The state and local tax burden is near the national average at 9.7%, according to the Tax Foundation. The negative factor is that the average temperature of 49.2 degrees is colder than the national average.

Alabama boasts a trio of benefits that retirees may find alluring. It has some of the lowest local and state taxes in the nation. Its cost of living also is relatively low and its temperatures are among the warmest in the U.S. However, Alabama has relatively high crime rates, with 4,026 property and violent crimes per 100,000 people (compared to the national average of 3,253).

West Virginia ranks No. 7 on Bankrate’s list of great retirement states for three main reasons: It has a lower-than-average cost of living, boasts a lower-than-average crime rate, and residents also have better access to hospital beds than the national average. Last year, temperatures in Charleston, W.V., ranged between a low of 12 and a high of 103 degrees Fahrenheit, and the 30year state average is about 52 degrees.

Virginia ranks better than average in most categories, including cost of living, warmer temperatures and access to physicians. With only 2,446 property and violent crimes per 100,000 people, Virginia has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.

Mississippi, the Magnolia State, is not just one of the warmest in the U.S., it also has relatively low state and local taxes and a lower-than-average cost of living. Those factors make Mississippi an accommodating place for retirees, even though its crime rate is a little higher than average. It also has only 178 doctors per 100,000 people – one of the lowest physician-to-resident ratios in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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The Week dation ranks it as the fourth lowest in the nation) and pleasant weather. Louisiana has a 30-year average temperature – that includes both winter lows and summer highs – of 66.7 degrees. That’s higher than every other state except Hawaii and Florida. It also has better-than-average access to medical care and a relatively low cost of living. The only downside is the crime rate; it’s one of the highest in the nation. The FBI says there are 4,244 property and violent crimes per 100,000 people in Louisiana.

The ultimate retirement state is Tennessee. Its cost of living is the second lowest in the country, just behind Oklahoma, according to data collected from the Council for Community and Economic Research. And the Tax Foundation puts Tennessee’s state and local tax burden as the third lowest in the nation.

Tennessee also ranked among the best in the country for access to medical care, and its weather is warmer than average.

The one main drawback is Tennessee’s crime rate which is among the worst in the U.S. Where you heading? When the time is right, of course.

In News data is less manageable as intelligence agencies have gotten better at figuring how to extract information from the oceans of data.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s name was entered into TIDE by the CIA in 2011 after the U.S. spy agency received a request from Russian authorities to investigate him for suspected radical Islamist activities. The CIA also entered the name of Tsarnaev’s mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva’s, into the TIDE database.

Unfortunately, adding his name did not prevent him from carrying out his bloody attack.

FBI Adds Woman to Most Wanted List

Terrorist List Grows Five years ago, there were 540,000 names on a highly classified U.S. central database used to track suspected terrorists. That number has soared to 875,000, a U.S. official familiar with the matter said. The increase in names is due in part to security agencies using the system more in the wake of the failed 2009 attack on a plane by “underpants bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in Detroit.

Intelligence and law enforcement officials acknowledged in Congress that they had missed clues to that attack despite Abdulmutallab’s name appearing in the main database, known as TIDE. Maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center, the highly classified database is not a “watchlist” but instead is a repository of information on people whom U.S. authorities see as known, suspected or potential terrorists from around the world.

The “Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment” is a master database which agencies use to build other catalogs of possible terrorists, like the “nofly” list which prevents people who feature on it from boarding airplanes.

The official said that even though the number of TIDE entries has grown substantially, this does not mean that the

The FBI added a woman to its most wanted list for the first time. The agency and the state also doubled the bounty for her capture to $2 million.

Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, is a 1970s black radical who authorities say shot a New Jersey trooper and made a daring daylight escape from prison and fled to Cuba. As part of the Black Liberation Army, she became one of the most notorious fugitives in New Jersey history.

“While we cannot right the wrongs of the past, we can and will continue to pursue justice no matter how long it takes,” said Aaron Ford, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Newark office.

In a direct appeal to Chesimard, he said: “Give yourself up, come to America and face justice.”

Chesimard was found guilty of murder in the killing of Trooper Werner Foerster, who was shot dead on May 2, 1973, after stopping her and two associates. The trooper was killed with his own weapon, and the FBI says Chesimard’s gun was found at his side. She was convicted in 1977 and sent to prison, but she broke out two years later with the help of accomplices from the BLA and the Weather Underground, a left-wing radical organization. Chesi-

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The Week mard lived in safehouses before fleeing to Cuba, where she took the Shakur name and was shielded from the United States by the Communist government of Fidel Castro. She is now 65.

Last Thursday was the 40th anniversary of the trooper’s killing and authorities feel that bringing her to justice would close a wound for New Jersey state police and prove that they will not give up when one of their own is slain.

Asked whether authorities were encouraging bounty hunters in Cuba, New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said, “I’m not going to get into exact means. What we’re saying is there’s now $2 million for her safe return to New Jersey that’s available.”

But frosty relations between the United States and Cuba have frustrated American efforts to get her back ever since. Ford said Chesimard “remains an inspiration to the radical, left-wing, anti-government, black separatist movement.” He said there was no specific new threat that led the bureau to add her to the list.

“Some of those people, and the people that espouse those ideas, are still in

this country,” he said. “So we’d be naïve not to think that there’s some communication between her and the people she used to run around with.”

Shakur is the 46th person added to the list of most wanted terrorists since President George W. Bush established it after the September 11 attacks. Osama bin Laden was on the list until he was killed in 2011.

USPS Workers Too Afraid to Deliver Mail in Brownsville

Planning on sending mail to 11212?

In News Well, if you really want to make sure it gets there, you might be better off sending it UPS or FedEx. “The neighborhood is bad,” a U.S. postal worker said outside the Brownsville Station Post Office on Bristol Street. “I wouldn’t want to go into those buildings.”

Any mail that goes undelivered eventually finds its way back to the post office, where it can sit for several days until a carrier decides to deliver it or residents choose to come pick it up.

“Have you seen this neighborhood?

It’s on the news every day,” a terrified employee said.

About 50 angry residents organized by the neighborhood chapter of New York Communities for Change gathered in front of the post office last week to protest the epidemic of late mail and parcels that never arrive.

Residents acknowledged the violence but say it’s not a good enough excuse for carriers to slack. “The postal workers have a right to fear for their life,” said Quantanya White, 38, a home health-care worker. “It doesn’t give them the right not to deliver the mail.

Just because this place is bad, you’re not going to deliver the mail? But I do understand why the mailmen feel fear. If I feel unsafe going into certain buildings, they must also.”

“That is unbelievable. Government services can’t be stopped at the boundaries of high-crime areas,” Senator Eric Adams said. “They need to re-read that motto — through hail, sleet and snow.”

Adams, who represents Brownsville and is running for borough president, said he hasn’t heard anything about postal carriers being assaulted or robbed in his district but added that, if that’s the case, the police should start protecting them.

“We do pay taxes,” said Crystal Caesar, 30, a social-service worker.

“They could make more of an effort to ring my bell when I have a package. It’s a headache to come to the post office.”

“Our carrier had a heart attack, so she can’t walk upstairs,” said Yolanda Matthews, 58. “Now we have a different person delivering every day, and it’s inconsistent. They don’t deliver mail until after 8, and if they can’t get in the building by buzzing someone, they don’t come in because they don’t have a key.”

She has missed letters from her lawyer and her doctor, as well as checks from the state.

“We’re getting bad service here because it’s Brownsville — people on Riverside Drive get their mail at 10 in

the morning,” she said “Something’s got to change.”

Perhaps the residents should work on making their streets safer instead of spending their energy discussing their late mail.

Many Newborns Die at Birth in the U.S. This is a heartbreaking statistic. The U.S. is the worst place for newborn survival out of 68 other countries, including Egypt, Turkey and Peru, according to a report released by Save the Children.

A million babies die every year globally on the day of their birth, including more than 11,000 American newborns, the report estimates. The group claims that most of them could be saved with fairly cheap interventions.

“The birth of a child should be a time of wonder and celebration. But for millions of mothers and babies in developing countries, it is a dance with death,” the report reads. “A baby’s first day is the most dangerous day of life— in the United States and countries rich and poor,” it adds.

“The United States has the highest first-day death rate in the industrialized world. An estimated 11,300 newborn babies die each year in the United States on the day they are born. This is 50 percent more first-day deaths than all other industrialized countries combined.”

Generally most babies who die at birth die because they were born preterm. About 35% of all newborns who die are preemies. Another 23% die because of complications at birth, such as a failure to draw breath right away.

Another 23% die from severe infections and 9% die because of birth defects.

Save the Children says it’s not clear exactly why the United States does so poorly in protecting newborns, but says politics and culture both play a role.

“Many babies in the United States are born too early. The U.S. preterm birth rate (1 in 8 births) is one of the highest in the industrialized world (second only to Cyprus). In fact, 130 countries from all across the world have lower preterm birth rates than the United States,” the report reads.

Teen births are partly to blame, the report says – echoing other research that has shown this. The U.S. has the highest teenage birth rate of any industrialized country. “Teenage mothers in the U.S. tend to be poorer, less educated, and receive less prenatal care than

That’s Odd A Good Ending to Three Bad Days It was luck that Tim Weidman walked by Justyn “Jay” Ambrozia’s home in Pasco County, Florida, and heard Jay’s muffled screams. It seems that the 90-year-old man was locked in his car for three days until Tim walked by and called police for help.

“I can’t get out of my car. Can you help me?” Jay pleaded.

The story began three days earlier, when Jay visited the Publix supermarket for groceries. Unfortunately, while shopping, he fell and broke his wrist and hip. Jay managed to drive home, but

couldn’t open the handle of his car door because of his swollen wrist.

His bad day got worse. His car battery soon died after he pulled into the garage so he couldn’t honk his horn. He used the remote to open and close the garage door in the hopes that someone would be alerted to his condition; but that was to no avail. Jay realized that he may just have to settle in for a few days in the vehicle. Thankfully, he bought some nutritious food at Publix—ice cream cones, Fig Newtons, and pound cake. He began to worry, though, because he didn’t have any water.

“It’s been three days,” he remembers thinking. “I hope I don’t die in this car.” Thankfully, after three long days, his savior, Tim, walked by and heard his cries for help.

This is not the first time the army veteran was left stranded. He and his troops got lost in Paris for six hours during World War II. For that, he was demoted one stripe. But that incident taught him a valuable lesson and helped him through this ordeal.

“I can’t complain,” he said. “When something like this happens, it happens.”

Man Leaves Behind $40M Estate, No Will When Roman Blum died last year at age 97, his body lingered in the Staten Island University Hospital morgue for four days, until a rabbi at the hospital was able to track down his lawyer.

Mr. Blum survived the Holocaust and rebuilt his life in America as a real estate developer. Sadly, all of his family perished in the Holocaust and he had no children, leaving behind no heirs to his fortune. His wife died in 1992.

His funeral, held graveside at the New Montefiore Jewish Cemetery in West Babylon, N.Y., was attended by a small number of mourners, most of them elderly fellow survivors or children of survivors.

He never created a will so his estate of an estimated $40 million was left to no one. This is the largest unclaimed estate in New York State history, according to the state comptroller’s office.

Gary D. Gotlin, the public administrator handling the case, sold Mr. Blum’s home on Staten Island, auctioned off his jewelry and his furniture and is putting other properties that he owned on the market. Mr. Gotlin’s office, which is overseen by Surrogate’s Court in Rich-

mond County, is also using Mr. Blum’s estate to pay his taxes, conduct an indepth search for a will, and hire a genealogist to search for relatives. If none are identified, the money will pass into the state’s coffers.

“I spoke to Roman many times before he passed away, and he knew what to do, how to name beneficiaries,” said Mason D. Corn, his accountant and friend for 30 years. “Two weeks before he died, I had finally gotten him to sit down. He saw the end was coming. He was becoming mentally feeble.

We agreed. I had to go away, and so he told me, ‘O.K., when you come back I will do it.’ But by then it was too late.

We came this close, but we missed the boat.”

“He had deeds on his desk piled up to the ceiling of properties he owned,” said Vincent Daino, who was Mr. Blum’s neighbor for 25 years and became his unpaid driver when the older man’s eyesight began to fail. “There were royalties from oil rigs in Alaska, money from his stocks — about once a month he would have me drive him to the bank so he could deposit $100,000 checks.”

This sure makes you reflect on what’s truly important in life.

Christie the Spider Slayer

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are not very happy with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. (Not that they are ever really happy with anyone.)

The New Jersey governor killed a spider that found its way onto his desk in front of a class of fourth graders. Christie shows off his fearless spider-swatContinued on page 36

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older mothers. Because of these challenges, babies born to teen mothers are more likely to be low-birth weight and be born prematurely and to die in their first month. They are also more likely to suffer chronic medical conditions, do poorly in school, and give birth during their teen years [continuing the cycle of teen pregnancy],” the report says.

“Poverty, racism and stress are likely to be important contributing factors to first-day deaths in the United States and other industrialized countries,” the report adds.

The March of Dimes, a charity that promotes healthy births, says infant mortality fell by 12 percent between 2005 and 2011, and premature births have fallen by 8.5 percent since 2006.

“This rate reduction has meant 125,000 fewer premature births and an estimated cost savings of about $2 billion,” the group said in a statement. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 24,586 U.S. babies died before they turned 1 in 2010, compared to 23,910 in 2011.

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New Rescheduled Date!

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The Week ting skills in a video entitled, “Governor Christie Saves School Children From Spider.”

After the tiny insect caused a commotion amongst the 10-year-olds, the fearless leader of the Garden State stepped in and saved the day eliciting cheers from the classmates of his daughter, Bridget.

He jokingly told the school children that it’s just one of the many perks of be-

In News

ing governor. “Any bugs on your desk you’re allowed to kill them and not get in trouble,” he said.

The short 26 second video was published by the governor’s office on Friday. But when members of PETA saw the video, they were displeased.

PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said, “He probably did it without thinking. Some people put the spider outside, but spiders are often scary to people,

and that can prevent them from pondering their worth,” she said.

This is not the first time insects and politicians caught the attention of PETA. In 2009, the organization was in an uproar after seeing a video of President Obama swatting a fly during a televised interview. PETA labeled it an “executive insect execution.”

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The Invasion of the Giant Rubber Duck

“Rubber ducky you’re the one…”

Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor got a friendly little visitor on May 2, 2013.

Dutch conceptual artist Florentijin Hofman constructed a replica of every toddler’s favorite bathtime friend.

Hofman’s inflatable floating duck sculpture is called “Spreading Joy Around the World.”

But this yellow bird is not a cuddly toy. The “Duckie” is 16.5 meters high (about 54 feet); it will stay in Hong Kong until June 9. Since 2007, “Rubber Duck” has traveled to 10 countries and 12 cities.

I was wondering where my kids’ bath toys went…now I know!

How Not to Quit Smoking Etta Mae Lopez, 31, certainly figured out an original way to kick her smoking habit: smack a cop. The Sacramento resident walked up to a Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputy and slapped him because she wanted to go to jail in order to stop smoking. She was arrested and when brought in front of the judge, pled “no contest” which is essentially the same as a guilty plea. She was sentenced to 63 days in prison.

No doubt she is counting the days to her release...so she can light up a smoke.

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Ice Cream Robbery I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! But New Yorker William Hotz steals for ice cream!

The 59-year-old man has been charged with robbery after he allegedly tried to use an expired “free cone” coupon to pay for an ice cream and punched the store worker who confronted him Continued on page 40

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KINDERGARTEN BOYS & GIRLS PRE-1A TO 8TH GRADE GIRLS

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The Week about the unpaid $3.50 as he left.

Authorities believe that Hotz walked into the Carvel on Dutch Broadway in Valley Stream in Long Island on Wednesday morning and ordered an ice cream cone. The 55-year-old store employee handed him his scoop, and Hotz presented a “One Free Ice Cream Cone” coupon that had expired.

When the employee kindly pointed out the expiration date and asked him to pay for his treat, Hotz allegedly ignored her and left the store. The worker confronted him outside the store, at which point Hotz allegedly punched her several times in the face, giving her a cut lip and swelling.

When police arrived at the scene and attempted to arrest him, he allegedly resisted, flailing his arms and twisting his body out of their reach. Eventually, police pinned him down and put him in handcuffs.

That’s what we call a cold-hearted perp!

Why Our Bees Are Doing Less Buzzing Since 2006, honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing from the U.S. A new federal report claims that the intertwined factors for their demise are a parasitic mite, multiple viruses, bacteria, poor nutrition, genetics, habitat loss, and pesticides. Of course, the many factors make it difficult to fix the problem called a colony collapse disorder, experts say. The disorder has caused as much as one-third of the nation’s bees to just disappear each winter since 2006.

I bet you’re thinking, great, a whole lot less of your 10-year-old daughter running inside from the deck screaming her loudest, but the thing is we actually need honeybees; they are responsible

for pollinating crops. Pollinators, like honeybees, are crucial to the U.S. food supply. Experts believe that about $30 billion a year in agriculture depends on their health. “It affects virtually every American whether they realize it or not,” said EPA acting administrator Bob Perciasepe.

The federal report issued by the Agriculture Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, said the biggest culprit is the parasitic mite varroa destructor, calling it “the single most detrimental pest of honeybees.”

This epidemic has spread to colonies in Europe. There regulators are considering a ban on a type of pesticides known as neonicotinoids that some environmental groups blame for the bee collapse. The U.S. report cites pesticides, but has placed them near the bottom of the list of factors. And federal officials and researchers advising them said the science doesn’t justify a ban of the pesticides yet.

May Berenbaum, a top bee researcher from the University of Illinois, said in an interview that she was “extremely dubious” that banning the pesticide would have any effect on bee health.

Berenbaum said more than 100 different chemicals, not only the pesticides that may be banned in Europe, have been found in bee colonies. She added that scientists find it hard to calculate how they react in different dosages and at different combinations.

The environmental group, Pesticide Action Network North America, blasted the federal government for not following Europe’s lead in looking at a ban of certain pesticides.

Let’s hope our busy bees will be able to find a safe home once again… we need them for Rosh Hashana!

Woman’s Surprising Secret to Long Life

Pearl Cantrell has a secret.

The 105-year-old Texas woman revealed her answer to long life. She has seven children, has outlived three of them and her husband.

Strangely, Pearl has revealed that

In News her key to longevity is bacon. The centenarian eats bacon almost every day.

She said in an interview with a local NBC station, “I love bacon and I eat it every day. I don’t feel as old as I am, that’s all I can say.”

Her recent 105th birthday bash was a three-day affair that included more than 200 guests. I don’t have that many friends and I’m only 30!

I wonder if there is a kosher version to her secret.

Baby Born at Sam’s Club Fritz Rosales and Josephine Rosales had their fifth child in a Sam’s Club parking lot. The others were born in the hospital, but baby number five was really eager to get out.

The couple was en route to the hospital but the ride wasn’t so smooth.

First, they realized they were on empty so they were forced to refill on gas.

Then they got held up at a train crossing as two freight trains crawled across the tracks. “It was probably going 25-30 miles per hour, and it was probably a 90car train,” Fritz. “Then, just as soon as that train cleared the crossing, another train came along the same track. I was like, ‘Are you serious?’”

When they realized that they were not going to make it to the hospital in time, Fritz made a quick decision to pull into a well-lit Sam’s Club parking lot.

He called 911 and immediately began coaching his wife through a quick labor.

When the baby was born, his dad caught him. For the first instant, the baby wasn’t breathing but he quickly gave out a cry that calmed his worried and traumatized parents.

Although Samuel would have been a more appropriate fit for a baby boy at Sam’s Club, the couple named their son Alexander.

Woman Celebrates DUI with a DUI Erin James, 58, of Brookfield had just gotten her license back after being arrested for DUI and she went out with her friends to celebrate.

But Ms. James did not learn her lesson. At about 2:10 a.m. on Friday, a Riverside Police officer observed a driver speeding while on the 3400 block of South Harlem Avenue. After stopping the speeding vehicle, the officer realized that the driver may have been

under the influence of alcohol. After she failed multiple field sobriety tests, she was taken into custody for driving under the influence of alcohol. Her blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit when tested at the police station.

Her breath sample showed an alcohol content of .155, almost double the legal limit of .08 A check of Ms. James’ driver’s license showed that her license was currently suspended stemming from a 2012 DUI arrest in North Riverside.

She was arrested again and charged with felony aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol, the police release said.

“James was supposed to be operating a vehicle with a breath alcohol ignition interlock device (BAIID) which would have prevented her from driving intoxicated,” Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel said. “The fact that she was driving a vehicle not equipped with a BAIID shows that she had every intent of drinking and getting behind the wheel. Ms. James purposely drove a car that she did not own to avoid the ignition lock device and was driving back from a Forest Park bar where she was celebrating that fact that she would finally have her driving privileges back after her 2012 conviction for DUI. Ms. James is exactly the type of motorist I want kept off the road permanently under a new proposed habitual DUI law that I will be proposing in the very near future.”

Weitzel’s proposal will include loss of driving privileges for 10 years, confiscation of vehicle and a mandatory seven year sentence upon conviction for repeat offenders, the release said.

Some people clearly don’t learn from their mistakes.

Monster Insurance Legend has it that there’s a sea monster living in Loch Ness Lake in the Scottish Highlands. Dubbed the Loch Ness Monster, the creature is a large unknown animal.

The creature was first brought to the world’s attention in 1933 and since then its existence has been doubted. Evidence of its existence is only anecdotal, with minimal and much-disputed photographic material. If this monster is indeed alive, then it turned 80 this week. Happy Birthday Monster!

Although “Nessie” hasn’t reportedly harmed a soul or ship to date, one cruise company is opting for the cautious side.

Tremendous Beehive in Utah Paul Bertagnolli and his family own a quaint little cabin in Eden, Utah. They generally only visit a few times a year for short-periods of time but when it came time to remodel their primary home, they decided to relocate to the cabin for a few months.

Paul, his wife, and two children moved to their temporary dwelling only to discover that they had some roommates—about 60,000 of them. Apparently, a gang of honeybees had made themselves a nice little home in a cavity in the Bertagnolli’s vacation home in Ogden Valley.

Although only a few bees found their way inside the house, the hive was just outside a window of the children’s bedroom and the parents felt that for safety reasons it had to be removed.

They didn’t want to kill the honeybees, a species in decline that does hard work pollinating flowers and crops, so they phoned Vic Bachman, owner of Deseret Hive Supply, a hobbyist store that can’t keep up with demand for honeybees. Bachman says that it was the biggest beehive that he has ever removed.

He had to take apart a panel that hid roof rafters; the space was about 12 feet long, 4 feet wide and 16 inches deep. “We figure we got 15 pounds of bees out of there,” said Bachman, who said that converts to about 60,000 honeybees.

Bachman used a vacuum cleaner to suck the bees into a cage. “It doesn’t hurt them,” he said. He also used smoke to pacify the bees.

The job took six hours. At $100 an hour, the bill came to $600. “The bees were expensive,” said Paul Bertagnolli.

Bee careful!

Single Mom Accidentally Wins Millions

ange County mom checked the winning ticket with her friend. After ticking off the matching numbers one by one, Le was so excited, she ran screaming from the store, according to a news release from California Lottery.

Le said she plans to use her winnings to buy a house, travel and visit her parents in Vietnam. She will also use it to support her four sons.

“We thought she was joking,” one of her sons told Lotto officials, “but we thought would she really joke like this? My older brother said, ‘Yes, she would.’”

Le’s lucky numbers were 5, 33, 25, 46, 32, and the Mega number 26. CVS Pharmacy will receive a bonus of one half percent ($70,000), for selling the winning ticket.

We all learn from our mistakes…

WWII Jacket Finds its Way Back Home Thuan Le, a single mother of four sons, made a lucky mistake and she’s not too upset about it.

She accidentally spent $1 more than usual on Lotto tickets at a Mission Viejo, California, CVS, where she typically purchases $4 worth of Powerball tickets and $1 on a SuperLotto Plus ticket.

Well, this mistake earned her fourteen million dollars!

She bought the winning ticket through a self-service machine. The Or-

John Dodds was browsing the racks at a Washington Goodwill with his daughter. At one point, his daughter excitedly called him over; she discovered an exceptional find: an authentic WWII leather bomber jacket.

The jacket was in decent shape and on the back was a bearded, red-headed man with a winged helmet, along with the words “Red Raiders” and “22nd Bomb Group.” The inside label was inscribed with the model and order num-

ber. The lieutenant bars were in place on the shoulders. The jacket even had a leather name tag sewed on the front: Robert G. Arand.

Dodds, a Pentagon employee and self-proclaimed military history enthusiast, purchased the jacket for $17. He was on a mission: Dodds made some calls, and the next day located 90-year-old veteran Robert Arand, the original owner of the jacket.

Dodd contacted Arand by phone and told him that he wanted to give him the jacket instead of keeping it. Arand explained that the jacket was most likely given away by his wife. The Red Raiders were named after a commander with red hair, Col. Richard Robinson, Arand explained. He had flown more than 40 missions during his time in the US Army.

He flew the 22nd Bomb Group’s final bombing attack, a strike on the Kiangwan Airdrome in China. His last mission was an exploration flight from Okinawa to Tokyo and back on September 2, 1945, the day the Japanese signed the surrender in Tokyo Bay. Arand retired from the Air Force in 1982 as a major. He has five children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

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Scottish cruise line Jacobite Cruises isn’t taking any chances, so they recently purchased a $1.5 million insurance policy against any potential damages incurred

by Scotland’s storied monster.

Jacobite owner Freda Newton explained, “I don’t know what the odds of this actually happening might be, but this is Loch Ness and how silly would we look if it did and we weren’t covered for it?”

Director of Inverness-based insurer Towergate Moray Firth, which issued the policy, admitted, “This is probably the most unusual insurance request we have ever had, but we were delighted to provide cover to Jacobite Cruises.”

This is just as unusual as the policy England’s Royal Falcon Hotel took out for more than $1.5 million in 2002, in the case that their resident ghost should harm any staff or clients. Or the policy purchased by folks at Goodfellow Rebecca Ingram Pearson who have got you covered in the case of alien abduction. If you’re worried about vampires sucking your blood, just contact Lloyd’s of London who insures the medical costs caused by vampire bites.

Get yourself Home, Car, Life, Health, Disability, and Gullible Insurance today!

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While learning about Shavous, Rabbi Betzalel Kotkofsky, a distinguished Sofer visited the Yeshiva of South Shore Pre 1a to teach them about how Tefilin and Sefer Torahs are made. Each child own’s name was written by the sofer on an actual piece of parchment.

Shavous Night: Another Productive Night at Work

“Kollels Chatzos” – Tikun Leil Shavous Observed Every Night

As Jews all over the world get ready to celebrate the holy Yom Tov of Shavous, a large portion of those preparations involves the staying up and learning through the first night. It is a wonderful personal achievement for each individual and instills an amazing sense of fulfillment. The clarity and freedom of immersing in Torah during those late night hours is unparalleled, as so much learning can be accomplished without the usual obstacles that occupies a person during the day.

Welcome to a typical night and life of a learner of “Kollel Chatzos.”

A Night in Life of a “Kollel Chatzos” Member As midnight descends on the busy New York suburb of Monsey, the last of the late evening learners wearily make their way home, keen for some sleep to

re-energize them for another day of Torah. At the same time, an eager group of men awaken, refreshed and ready, to start the day at “Kollel Chatzos” and thus maintain Torah around the clock.

They immerse themselves in their learning all night long and then top it off with a captivating davening at Vasikin.

The esteemed kollel participants, among them dayanim and magdei shiurim shlit”a, all declare that time seems to pass in a wink with the level of intensity and enthusiasm that shrouds their learning! The learners themselves will be among the first to agree that something special and holy seems to surround the halls and people of “Kollel Chatzos”. No one is busy on the phone or taking care of mundane tasks, since there are no other people to talk to at that time of the night! Their only interactions are between their fellow kollel mates and the holy Torah!

Kollel Chatzos – Hub of Torah and Protection Learning after Chatzos is hardly a new concept, Tikun Leil Shavous being a prime example. The segulahs pertaining to this practice are countless, including many cited by the Zohar Hakodesh.

He pledges that those who get up during the night regularly to learn are bestowed the unique gift and power to have their blessings upon others be fulfilled!

That is the reason that “Kollel Chatzos” has emerged as the central “Segulah address” for Jews all over the world, who have purchased a “Chatzos Partnership” and have been reaping the benefits and successes.

At the same time that you have the honor of supporting such an esteemed center of Torah, one that has no comparison, as it is written in the Kaf Hachaim and in the “Choitzois D’Meshek”- in the era of the holy Ari Hakodesh – that Jews who cannot get up at chatzos for whatever reason, should sustain those who do, and they will have the same rewards in the learning and will merit all the success and help that “Kollel Chatzos” reaps.

In the current days, the kollel administration is gearing up for openings of more “Kollels Chatzos” in other localities, which is being received with joy and open arms by everyone!

If you would like to submit a name to be mentioned for a yeshuah, to recite Mishnayos in the merit of a loved one’s Yahrtzeit, or have the kollel learn in your family’s zechus on the night of a child’s wedding, please call 1855-CHATZOS 24 hours a day, six day a week or email mail@kollelchatzos.com, and you will be presented with a host of options to choose from.

NEWS

Community

Five Towns/Far Rockaway Prepares for an Unprecedented Evening of Community Achdus The honorees include: Mr. & Mrs. Alan Botwinick— Residents of Bayswater and a Partner at Roth and Co. LLP public accounting firm, Mr. Botwinick has served as Achiezer’s Treasurer virtually since its inception. Under his careful and exacting guidance, Achiezer has earned commendations from donors and organizations across the country for what one admirer termed, “Achiezer’s pristine financial reputation.” Mr. Botwinick played a particularly critical role in overseeing Achiezer/CAF’s post-Sandy fundraising campaign, which distributed nearly $8 million with zero overhead.

Rabbi Yehiel M. Kalish—A fairly new resident of Far Rockaway, Rabbi Kalish is a familiar figure to many for his exemplary work in Agudath Israel of America. Immediately following Hurricane Sandy, Rabbi Kalish, unasked, parked himself in Rabbi Boruch Ber Bender’s Achiezer office to spearhead an international fundraising campaign. For six weeks, Rabbi Kalish did not return to work at the Agudah, devoting himself exclusively to rebuilding our community— a still-ongoing effort that has dramatically assisted over 900 families in our neighborhood.

Dr. Norman Saffra—A resident of Lawrence, Dr. Saffra serves as Chief of Ophthalmic Surgery in Maimonides

Medical Center, and is currently one of the most sought-after eye surgeons in the country. Dr. Saffra has made himself available to the community in an unbelievable way, never refusing to treat a patient in need, regardless of time of day or ability to pay.

Mr. & Mrs. Reuven (Ronald) Spirn, Esq.—A Cedarhurst resident and esteemed eldercare attorney, Mr. Spirn works hand-in-hand with Achiezer in guiding community members through knotty legal issues and seemingly impossible bureaucracy. A featured lecturer at Achiezer’s well-attended eldercare conference, Mr. Spirn makes himself available for legal counsel on a regular basis—and considers it a privilege to do so.

Mr. & Mrs. Moshe Ratner—A resident of Woodmere, Mr. Ratner is the CFO of the companies responsible for owning and managing Gourmet Glatt.

Mr. Ratner has been a vital partner in Achiezer’s food voucher and budgeting initiatives, through which tens of thousands of dollars in food vouchers are distributed and families are helped to create a viable financial plan for the future.

Mr. Phil Goldfeder—A Far Rockaway resident, Mr. Goldfeder is better known as Assemblyman for the 23rd district of the New York State Assembly, a district that includes Far Rocka-

way and Bayswater. Even prior to his election to office, Mr. Goldfeder distinguished himself in consistently going above and beyond the call of duty to assist the community in any way possible.

As an elected official, he continues that incredible record of selflessness in an even greater capacity.

The Dinner Chairmen include Mr. Ben Lowinger, Mr. Moti Hellman, Rabbi Zvi Bloom, Mr. Azriel Ganz, Mr. David Sokol, and Mr. Jay Gelman, as well as Honorary Chairman Rabbi Hershel Billet (Rabbi, Young Israel of Woodmere) and Mr. Michael Krengel. Journal chairmen are Mr. Meir Krengel and Mr. Alon Goldberger. Put together, the chairmen themselves represent a broad cross-section of the community—and that is just a representation of the evening to come.

Achiezer invites everyone in the community to come out and join this unforgettable evening, which will also provide an enormous amount of information about Achiezer, and the numerous ways that each individual can get involved.

Ask anyone; our neighborhoods are special. We work together, we face hardship together, we triumph together and on June 2nd we will join together.

CAHAL Navi Project at Torah Academy for Girls The CAHAL students in Grade 5-6 in TAG began learning the Navi Yehoshua this year. Each perek was taught by presenting the general storyline to the students and then having them work in partners to answer specific questions in the Navi. Perek Vav discusses the very first conquest attempted by the Jewish nation in Eretz Yisroel: the capture of Yericho. The students learned about how the Jews surrounded Yericho for seven days, blew the shofar, saw the heavily fortified walls crumble to the ground, and successfully capture Yericho—all without a single Jewish casualty.

The students were assigned to groups and charged with the task of collaboratively building a model of Yericho in one particular stage of its capture.

Each student was given a specific task within her group, such as group leader,

supplies monitor, writer and time-keeper. The project’s emphasis was on working together to solve problems, being prepared and ready to help the team, accepting feedback to improve one’s work and treating teammates with respect. The students worked primarily in the classroom, for one week, with materials brought from home and supplied by the school. At the project’s due date, the students had created three beautiful dioramas of Yericho, complete with Rachav’s house embedded in the walls, a red string hanging from her window and a tiny Aron Kodesh carried by Kohanim. These models, accompanied by a written summary of the Perek, were displayed on a table outside the classroom, which allowed for many students in the school to observe and comment on the CAHAL students’ work. Howev-

er, it was the improved communication skills, increased sensitivity, shouldering of responsibility and sense of accomplishment displayed by the CAHAL students that characterized the true results.

CAHAL is a coalition of twelve community yeshivas sponsoring class-

es and related services for children with various learning disabilities. By establishing special education classes in the local yeshivas, CAHAL children can receive the education they require and deserve without being isolated in a separate school. The CAHAL program prides itself on integrating our children within each school in order to mainstream them and allow them to participate in all activities of the yeshiva they attend, such as the Navi Project at Torah Academy for Girls.

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It’s been said that all it takes to bring together a Satmar Chassid and a YU graduate is a flat tire on a Friday afternoon.

It has been proven that all it takes to bring a diverse community, like ours, together are acts of chesed.

Achiezer, the only one-stop resource organization serving the Five Towns/Far Rockaway and surrounding communities, is preparing for a unique display of Achdus at its first ever Evening of Recognition Dinner, slated to take place on June 2 at The Sands Atlantic Beach.

The event will be different than any the community has ever seen—thanks to the unique nature of the organization behind it. Achiezer is an organization that provides every type of resource that any community member may need, by maximizing the strengths of all members of the community. Achiezer gives the Five Towns/Far Rockaway community a medium to reach across party lines, disregarding yarmulke styles and Shul affiliations, to help friends, neighbors, and community members in need—whatever the need may be.

The dinner itself will include an impressive cross-section of community members from every corner. They are all coming out to pay tribute to an array of diverse individuals, who have given their all to the community, each in their own way.

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City councilmember Donovan Richards of 31st district in Queens, with Kosher World manager Yoely Goldstein, while reaching out to the Jewish community at Far Rockaway’s kosher supermarket.

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Our community gathered on May 7th for a special screening of Names, Not Numbers 2012-2013, a documentary created by HAFTR Middle School & Lawrence Middle School eighth graders. Public and private schools students joined together to create a moving documentary which introduced incredibly brave men and women who survived one of the most horrific events in history, the Holocaust.

The documentary was filmed, edited and compiled by the students. With the help of a professional filmmaker and newspaper reporter, the students learned video and interview techniques, including the use of the hi-tech equipment. The

students then met with their survivor to hear their recollections of World War II and the Holocaust. The survivors shared their experiences with these students, the last generation to hear these accounts firsthand, and with the support of HAFTR and Lawrence Middle School staff members, the students compiled their very own documentaries.

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Students of Lawrence Middle School and HAFTR Middle School, with guidance counselor Stephanie Henderson and Principal Rochelle Brand at the Names Not Numbers Holocaust Memorial Program

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Super Science at the 2013 YKLI Science Fair At this year’s annual YKLI Science Fair, our Junior High scientists scored high for learning and effort when they produced some of our best science projects to date. Seventy plus middle school students in our 6th and 7th grades participated and wowed the judges, parents, teachers, and students alike with their additional supporting data, better experimental design and larger sample sizes. Always impressive, the Science Fair, a popular part of the annual science curriculum, was even more scientifically accurate this year than years past. Led by their science teachers, each student conceived, planned, and executed projects representing a branch of earth science, biology, chemistry, and physics. Some boys paired with a partner in order to explore their topic, although many opted to go it alone. They presented projects covering every imaginable topic from All about Hydropower to Zero Degree Snow Melting Tips.

Each student researched his topic and then created a report listing his hypothesis, materials list, procedure, results section, conclusion, and even plans for further investigation. Many students used computer technology to create an eye-catching display replete with colorful graphics (including charts, graphs, tables and Venn Diagrams) to display their data. Some charts and presentations included photos and videos to explain and engage. As viewers went from project to project, our young scientists used verbal explanations, real-time science demonstrations and even ran further testing to engage their audience. The younger Science Fair attendees (grades 1-5) learned a lot of science and also about future expectations and Science topics from this year’s high caliber presentations.

The Science Fair lasted all afternoon as relatives, staff members, and students toured to admire the projects and to applaud each and every one

of YKLI›s “Westinghouse Wannabe Winners.” Each boy was carefully “graded” on a scale from 1-30 by a panel of three to five judges. Using the same list of criteria, judges were asked to objectively evaluate the Science Experiments and Research Projects in terms of clarity with respect to the purpose of the projects, appropriateness vis-à-vis the curriculum and the discipline, and creativity of the science concept, oral presentation and display board design. Judges also considered the accuracy of reporting data including supporting evidence and experimental design. Verbal explanations demonstrating thorough knowledge of their topic, and an ability to think about and answer questions posed by the judges were carefully reviewed. Scores were tabulated and prizes were awarded to many of YKLI’s Einstein worthy students: Congratulations go to all the YKLI Scientists participating in this year’s

dynamic Science Fair event!

The following 7th graders represented YKLI at the Inter-Yeshiva Science Fair Competition which took place at HALB. Their winning standings are as follows: Rafi Levin Shocking Science – First Place Bentzi Steele Why You Do the Things You Do First Place Eitan Carroll Jumping Genes – Second Place Avi Greenberg Turf vs. Grass – Second Place Avi Herskowitz The Dissolution Rate of Ibuprofen Pills– Third Place

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Mercy Medical Center and Lev Leytzan Team Up to Celebrate World Laughter Day World Laughter Day was celebrated at Mercy Medical Center with a heightened enthusiasm and, well, laughter this year with the inclusion of the world-renowned therapeutic medical clowns of Lev Leytzan.

Established in Mumbai, India in 1998, World Laughter Day traditionally takes place of the first Sunday of the month of May. Fifteen years after its start, the medical clowns of Lev Leytzan: The Heart of Therapeutic Clowning brought their best to the lobby of Mercy Medical Center kicked off with the delivery of a written Proclamation signed

by Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano in recognition of World Laughter Day and acknowledging the important work of Lev Letyzan and its hard working, talented volunteer medical clowns.

Team OHEL Crosses the Finish Line!

Twenty five members of TEAM OHEL completed 42 miles this past Sunday, May 5th as part of the TD Bank 5 Boro Bike Tour. TEAM OHEL’s youngest rider, 12-year-old Michael Cohen, is a sixth grader at the North Shore Hebrew Academy in Great Neck, and a member of Great Neck Synagogue. His Bar Mitzvah is October 19th and he has raised money in honor of his upcoming celebration. Michael says, “I learned about OHEL through my school and thought it would be a great Bar Mitzvah chesed project to help raise money so that a boy in foster care could have a Bar Mitzvah celebration too.” These programs are not covered by government funding and are very important to the children and families we serve at

OHEL. OHEL is thankful for fundraising efforts of young men like Michael and our entire Team OHEL and their sponsors in raising thousands of dollars for this event.

Many of TEAM OHEL athletes do these races to challenge themselves physically as well as for own personal journeys. Our TEAM OHEL has many amazing personal stories. Please know that your choice to join TEAM OHEL elevates the lives of the children and families we serve. If anyone would like to join TEAM OHEL, please contact Laurie Szenicer at Laurie_Szenicer@ ohelfamily.org or by calling 718-6863316.

TEAM OHEL: Know that you can FEEL good, while DOING good!

Bringing “joy and playfulness,” as Margarita M. Fox, Development, Communications and Community Relations Manager at Mercy Medical Center put it, “the clowns navigated through the hospital rooms, making patients and their families laugh and smile all along the way.”

Mrs. T. Kopelowitz and two of her sons, all residents of nearby Far Rockaway (Queens, NY), were at the hospital visiting her father when the clowns arrived: “I have had trouble getting my kids to visit my father because of the whole hospital atmosphere,” Kopelowitz said. “Having the clowns there lightened the whole experience and they were really happy to be there.

The clowns made the environment so much more relaxed…not just for the patients but also for the families… that’s really what made all the difference.”

In a letter to Dr. Neal Golberg, Ph.D., founder and Executive Director of Lev Leytzan, Fox wrote, “Yesterday might have been ‘Cinco de Mayo’” but at Mercy it was “Dia de muchas sonrisas” or day of many smiles. (Our) patients’ faces lit up when they realized what was happening.” Fox continued, “Bright happy faces, colorful costumes, red clown noses, smiley face balls and impromptu songfests, what a treat! On behalf of our patients, thank you, thank you, thank you for doing what you do!”

The statements above encapsulate

the work that Lev Leytzan has been doing routinely since its establishment in 2004. After rounds were finished, and all the clowning around was through, the patients and families of Mercy Medical Center came away with a day that they will always remember.

“It is fitting that we recognize the importance of the role of laughter in medicine and the role it plays in the healing process,” said Noah Gordon, Director of Development for Lev Leytzan. “After Sunday’s program, more people may understand why.”

About Lev Leytzan™ - Lev Leytzan, a 501 © (3) non-profit, headquartered in Lawrence, New York. Founded in 2004 by Dr. Neal C. Goldberg Ph.D., its

mission is to train ambitious youth and adults in the art of medical / therapeutic clowning so that they may help heal others with doses of laughter, joy and empowerment. In concert with medical personnel, our therapeutic clowns engage the medically ill and residents at hospitals, nursing homes, senior centers and private homes both in the US and abroad. Our directed play not only lifts the spirits of the sick, it has been shown to have an impact on their healing process as well. We serve people of all ages and affiliations with sensitivity, compassion and lots of love.

NEWS

Community

Every Camper At Atara Is A Gem age, ability, and safety in mind; yet they still benefit from all the regular and specialty activities offered in the upper divisions. From swim to water park, baking to ballet, music to drama, Shabbos parties and more, RUBY DIVISION campers are rarely seen without ear-to-ear smiles across their angelic little faces.

For campers entering 2nd – 5th grade, ATARA offers an impressive line-up. Each bunk in the EMERALD DIVISION enjoys an exciting trip every single week. Throughout the day, the enthusiasm felt in the upper division is palpable-even their daily lunch (aka ruach session) is an adrenalin rush!

Combined with special contests, creative weekly onegs, and of course, an exhilarating array of daily activities, the ATARA program is unsurpassed by its competition.

Back once again by overwhelming demand, ATARA’s exclusive JHS trip-travel program, the DIAMOND DIVISION, anticipates closing out for another year. This ‘tween’ program is unique in its appeal to girls who have outgrown the typical day camp routine and crave a summer with a bit more independence and individuality. The ATARAdventurers function as a cohesive unit with their own qualified and experienced division head and specially selected supervisors whose goal it is to ensure our oldest campers an unparalleled experience that keeps them coming back for more. This exciting program is an expanded trip and travel camp exclusive to girls going into 6th, 7th, & 8th grades.

Ask around and you’ll hear about the unique and fun-packed trips these girls go on every day, on their own air conditioned bus! New for 2013, ATARA is offering weekly rates for those girls who aren’t able to join us for the full July or August sessions.

ATARA also provides free bussing with bus counselors on each run, nutritious hot lunch, outstanding daily trips, special programs, shiurim, daily snacks, ices before heading home, and so much more!

Ensuring each camper’s safety is ATARA’s highest priority. With this in mind, supervision in every division ex-

ceeds NYC Health Department recommendations. RUBY division bunks are cared for and managed by qualified and experienced adult Morahs, assisted by counselors and junior counselors. The EMERALD division is staffed with capable high school and college students, all of whom are trained by ATARA’s directors prior to assuming their positions.

The ATARA administration understands that they are entrusted with the most valuable treasures, your children, and they view this honor as their primary responsibility.

At the helm of Camp ATARA is a duo of educators by profession, each of whom is dedicated to the needs of each and every ATARA camper. Mrs. Shonie Schwartz and Mrs. Leah Mond are committed to the parents and families of our community, devoting their time and energy throughout the year to the entire

ATARA family.

“What’s most amazing to us is seeing the girls’ smiling faces each morning. They are so excited to arrive and that excitement remains with them the entire day,” says Shonie Schwartz. Leah Mond agrees and added, “The achdus and friendships they experience in the summer remain with them for life. The atmosphere is one of constant ruach and delight.”

ATARA is the place where excitement, safety, and positive experiences is their focus, their goal, and their priority.

You can fill out a camper or staff application at campatara.com.

To reach the camp office with any questions or concerns, call (718)4718444 ext 234 or email campatara@ gmail.com.

Anshei Shalom’s Post-Hurricane Shavuos Project

It was a combination of thoughtfulness, sweet treats and the upcoming Shavuos holiday that brought a bunch of junior high and high school students together to work on an exciting chesed opportunity. On Monday night, May 6th, the group met at Congregation Anshei Shalom in West Hempstead for a marathon of candy bag packing. In assembly-line fashion, they stuffed bags with different kinds of children’s favorites. They slipped a note into each bag, hoping the recipients see there are still people who have them in mind.

The more than 300 candy bags will make their way to Oceanside and the

Five Towns. The goal is to bring smiles to children before Shavuos. The candy-shaped paper reads, “Adding more sweetness to your Yom Tov! From your friends at Congregation Anshei Shalom, West Hempstead,” adding a nice touch to the package.

Associate Rabbi Elon and Mrs. Estee Soniker really enjoy watching the congregation’s youth engage in such wonderful events. Estee added, “I was so impressed with them when they volunteered to do this. Seeing them work together, and with such energy, are such meaningful middos for children to develop toward those in need.”

M ay 1 4 , 2013

On June 26th, Camp ATARA will open its doors with a bang to royally welcome all new and returning campers to an auspicious and memorable summer! Since 1998, ATARA has won acclaim for its warm, close-knit atmosphere, vibrant ruach, innovative and creative program, wide-ranging specialty activities, and thrilling trips. Their hand-picked staff represents the best talent and dedicated individuals in the realm. It’s no wonder this camp boasts a loyal and royal following, one that keeps growing with each successive summer. For the past 15 years, they have earned a stellar reputation as the supreme summer camp in the neighborhood with professional leadership, qualified and experienced staff, and a first class program.

This summer promises to be a remarkable one! They are looking forward with untethered anticipation to once again enjoy their brand-new outdoor, state-of-the-art swimming pool, one that complements their existing indoor pool; at ATARA, there is never a day without swim! ATARA is the only camp in the community to offer two separate, fully licensed swimming venues, for both heated indoor and outdoor swim. Their pools are licensed by the NYCDOH. ATARA’s aquatics director has over 19 years of lifeguarding experience and runs an unparalleled comprehensive swim program in camp which includes personalized swim instruction daily. This program is part of the American Red Cross certified learn-to-swim program. Further, all instructional swim time is based on individual level and need with all the instructors having WSI certification. The lifeguards are all CPR trained, as are all of their administrative staff. The camp’s medical director is on campus at all times.

Their new sports program boasts a colossal sized indoor auditorium and two rooftop play decks, ensuring that their girls have a summer of guaranteed fun! There is a real focus on skill, as well as sportsmanship.

At ATARA, girls entering Nursery – 1st grade enjoy the exclusivity and security of their own RUBY DIVISION. Their schedules, trips, and special programs are all planned with the children’s

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Celebrating Yom Yerushalayim with Jerusalem’s Redeemers American Friends of Ateret Cohanim Hold 34th Anniversary Gala in NY

By Daniel Perez Photo credit: Three Star Photographer

Yom Yerushalayim—the holiday commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty in 1967—came a day early for many New Yorkers as the American Friends of Ateret Cohanim (also known as “Jerusalem Chai” and the Jerusalem Reclamation Project) celebrated the organization’s 34th anniversary at the luxurious Elite Palace in Woodside, Queens. Among Monday night’s many distinguished dignitaries: Rabbi Yaakov and Rebbetzin Elana Kermaier of the

those in attendance with the Jewish nation’s political, cultural, and spiritual capital. Indeed, the reception was immediately followed by live music and dancing, which was itself kicked off by a procession of the evening’s guests of honor, who had even donned corsages and boutonnieres for the occasion.

Discussing the work of Jerusalem Chai, Dr. Joseph Frager, chairman of the organization’s executive council, said: “It’s a great privilege for American Jews to help Eretz Yisrael, especially

Seated (L-R) Bonei Yerushalayim Awardees, Marcus & Sara Lehmann and Jack & Barbara Beyda. Standing (L-R) Rabbinic Leadership Honorees, Elana & Rabbi Ya’akov Kermaier; Dr. Joe Frager, Chairman, Executive Committee; Mel Wadler, Dinner Coordinator and Member, Executive Committee; Guest Speaker, Lt. Col. Ralph Peters; Oheiv Yisrael Awardees, William K. & Mark Langfan. Behind podium is Dinner Emcee Chaim Leibtag. At right of Dais is Daniel Luria, Executive Director, Ateret Cohanim--Israel.

5th Avenue Synagogue, recipients of Jerusalem Chai’s Rabbinic Leadership Award; Jack & Barbara Beyda and Marcus and Sara Lehmann, who were honored as Bonei Yerushalayim (“Builders of Jerusalem”); and William and Mark Langfan, a father and son who received the organization’s Oheiv Yisrael (“Lover of Israel”) Award. The event was also graced with a number of dynamic speakers, including members of Ateret Cohanim/Jerusalem Chai’s senior leadership, popular talk radio host Steve Malzberg, and a keynote address by U.S. Army officer turned political commentator and bestselling author Lt. Col. Ralph Peters.

The celebration possessed an ebullient, wedding-like atmosphere, apropos of the gathering’s purpose given the intimate connection felt by

Yerushalayim.”

“The fact is that we do count, and our brethren in Israel, the Israeli public, need our support,” Frager explained.

“They’re doing the hard work of living over there, but we can do a lot of hard work over here, doing what we do. And I think it’s crucial that we continue, and G-d should give us the strength and fortitude to do just that.”

Noticeably absent from the proceedings was Jerusalem Chai’s Executive Vice President Shani Hikind, who was in Israel observing shiva for her recently-departed mother Mrs. Miriam Kahan (z”l). Addressing the event on Mrs. Hikind’s behalf was her husband, New York State Assembly Member Dov Hikind. In a one-on-one interview, Assemblyman Hikind spoke with great admiration of his wife’s work with the

organization, noting that regardless of her title, “it’s all about Jerusalem.”

“There are a lot yeshivot, a lot of hospitals, and a lot of great causes, but there’s only one Jerusalem,” Hikind said, expressing a sentiment that he would later repeat to the assembled crowd.

“And every single Jew, in some way, should be Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, noted writer, strategist and media commensupporting Jerusalem. If tator was the keynote speaker at the 34th Anniversary Dinner of Cohanim/Jerusalem Chai. With him are Dr. Joe Frager (L), you would ask the people Ateret chairman of the Executive Council, who introduced him, and Dr. out there, ‘what have you Paul Brody, member of the Executive Council. done for Jerusalem?’ most all the Jews, and all lovers of Israel, people would not know what to say.” He went on to explain forever.”

Ateret Cohanim is “at the very front Ateret Cohanim’s role in fulfilling this line of the battle for the Jewish people,” fundamental Jewish obligation.

“What Ateret Cohanim does is just declared Langfan, redeeming land in amazing... If not for Ateret Cohanim, East Jerusalem on behalf of the Jewish Jews would not be living in the Old people.

The award ceremonies were City in the [Muslim, Christian and Armenian] Quarters, which [in fact] are interspersed with video presentations far larger than quarters. What Ateret featuring each of the guests of honor.

Cohanim does is to make sure that Jews Those videos showed how the honorees, are living in every part of Jerusalem. while being fully involved in Jewish And you have these young families who life locally, nonetheless give of their move in, who are committed, dedicated, time and energy to support the cause and not afraid … because they believe of restoring the Jewish nation’s Holy in the cause and they understand [the City. Rabbi Yaakov Kermaier, spiritual leader of Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue importance of what they are doing].”

Mark Langfan, a New York-based Synagogue, and his wife Elana, are attorney and outspoken Israel activist an example of this. The Kermaier’s known for his 3-D topographical map of credentials in the area of supporting Israel—which he uses in presentations Jewish life are extensive. A graduate to policy makers and other persons of of Yeshiva University, Rabbi Kermaier influence to explain Israel’s strategic has served as a member of the national security concerns—was honored council of the America-Israel Public alongside his father, William. William Affairs Committee, president of the Langfan is an American veteran of the New York Board of Rabbis, and Second World War, and was one of the rabbi of the Ohel Leah Syngogue in liberators of the infamous Buchenwald Hong Kong. Presently, he chairs the concentration camp. Speaking with this Manhattan Eruv Committee and serves reporter prior to the award ceremony, as a dayan (religious judge) on the Mark Langfan proudly discussed his RCA’s Beth Din for conversion.

Jack and Barbara Beyda have been involvement as an American friend of Ateret Cohanim. “I have been backing actively involved in Jewish life in Ateret Cohanim for 20-plus years. In Florida, New York, and New Jersey fact, 20 years ago, I received an award for many years. Jack is known for from Ateret Cohanim for my map.” He his support of Israeli religious even recalled the day: May 19, 1993. institutions, having served as President “Ateret Cohanim has been there for of Ohr Yaacov Yeshiva and Kollel. In a Eretz Yisrael, for Yerushalayim and for similar vein, Mrs. Beyda has taken on Judea & Samaria from the beginning. a substantial role in supporting Jewish And we’re going to be with Israel, and charitable causes, such as Jerusalem’s

Community

forever.” To underscore this point, Malzberg went on a rant criticizing an apparent anti-Israel bias among key U.S. leaders. In particular, he lambasted Secretary of State John Kerry for his support of the defunct Saudi “peace plan,” a plan which entails an Israeli retreat to the pre-1967 borders, and a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. In a particularly poignant challenge to Kerry’s diplomatic competence and moral authority, he reminded The 34th Annual Yom Yerushalayim Dinner of the American Friends of Ateret Cohanim/Jerusalem Chai at the Elite the audience of Kerry’s dismal Palace began with the singing of Hatikvah by Executive Committee member Dr. Paul Brody. From left to right: attempt to persuade Turkey Radio personality Steve Malzberg; Chaim Leibtag, Dinner Emcee; Mel Wadler, Executive Committee member and dinner coordinator; Dr. Joe Frager, Executive Committee chairman, and keynote speaker Lt. Col. Ralph Peters. to hold up “their end of the Dr. Meyer Abittan, who sang the Star Spangled Banner, is partially obscured. agreement” to re-establish diplomatic ties with Israel York Post, the Wall Street Journal, and husband, and through the condolences following the Jewish state’s apology USA Today, offered his own insights and well wishes of the other presenters. for defending itself against a pro- on foreign policy issues as they pertain “Shani Hikind is really the moving terrorist flotilla. Kerry had attempted to to Israel, which he also discussed in a spirit behind the whole American scene demonstrate empathy for the Turks by private interview (see sidebar). of Ateret Cohanim.” pointing out that we in America know Following the presentations, Dr. Paul “The honorees were magnificent,” the anger of losing loved ones, as in the Brody, a member of the Jerusalem Chai said Brody with a smile. recent Boston Marathon terror attacks. Executive Board who, along with his “Nobody really mentioned it tonight, With contempt in his voice, Malzberg wife Drora helped chair the evening’s but Shani Hikind always likes to say that recalled how Secretary of State Kerry event, offered his own reflections on it really ought to be called the ‘Kotel “equated the death of an eight-year-old the night’s proceedings. Brody, who Quarter,’ not the ‘Muslim Quarter.’” boy who was blown up on purpose, led those assembled in the singing of he added. with the death of terrorists who were “Hatikva,” the Israeli national anthem, “We’re really trying to re-inhabit fighting when [Israeli soldiers] boarded mentioned how honored he felt to have something that was ours before. So the ship.” been selected for the task. He also Ateret Cohanim is striving to put Jews Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, whose political praised Executive Vice President Shani back in places they used to be.” commentary has been featured in dozens Hikind, who, while physically absent, of publications, including the New made her presence felt both through her

Lag B’omer Carnival Fun at Yeshiva Darchei Torah Preschool

M ay 1 4 , 2013

Zichron Menachem Cancer Center.

Presenting their award, Jerusalem Chai Executive Council Member Dr. Jonathan Halpert spoke glowingly of the Beydas. “Jack and Barbara Beyda have dedicated their lives to the building of the Jewish community throughout the United States and Israel,” he said, “and therefore it is only fitting that they receive this year’s Ateret Cohanim Bonei Yerushalayim Award.”

Also recognized as “builders of Jerusalem” were Marcus and Sarah Lehmann. Among their many accomplishments, Marcus Lehmann, who works in real estate management by day, is very involved in Jewish outreach, and tutors weekly at Aish Hatorah in Manhattan. Sara Lehmann, who has a degree in English literature, puts her writing skills to good use, expressing her love of Eretz Yisrael through activism, her work often appearing in the Jewish Press. Together, the Lehmanns frequently host singles and baalei teshuvah (returnees to traditional Jewish observance) in their home, as well as a variety of charity functions.

Following the award presentations, popular Newsmax radio show host Steve Malzberg shared his insights on the situation in Israel, as well as his thoughts on Ateret Cohanim. He emphasized the importance of Ateret Cohanim continuing “its fine work to establish Jerusalem as the one and only undivided capital of the State of Israel

NEWS

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Rabbi Binyomin Finkel shlita from Mir Yerushalayim speaking in Yeshiva of Far Rockaway

Councilman Donovan Richards Visits Yeshiva Darchei Torah

Councilmember Donovan Richards, Rabbi Yaakov Bender and Rabbi Boruch Rothman discuss items pertaining to children’s education.

Councilman Donovan Richards overlooks recent electrical projects completed by Yeshiva Darchei Torah students while touring their Vocational program.

HANC Prepares for Shavuot Students at HANC’s Samuel & Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School in West Hempstead are preparing for Shavuot!

First graders in Morah Shoshana’s class have been very busy counting the Omer, from Pesach to Shavuot. The students created a beautiful Har Sinai mural, full of flowers, to use as a Sefirat HaOmer chart. Every day after davening, the students count the Omer and log the number on their mural. In addition to fulfilling the mitzvah of Sefirat HaOmer, counting the Omer from their siddur has allowed the students to practice their Kriah skills and study their Hebrew numbers.

The Art Room at HANC 609 has been full of flowers for the past few

weeks as we get ready for Shavuot and the students have been hard at work cre-

ating their own personal Har Sinai. The students in kindergarten and first grade drew vividly colored, patterned flowers and vases. The second graders explored color by mixing liquid watercolor paint and twisting their circular painting into beautiful floral stems with chenille sticks and beads. The students in third grade learned about Eric Carle’s painted paper collages and then they painted and created their own floral collage.

Students in fourth grader created coil flower pots from clay.

The students can’t wait for Shavuot and share their beautiful flower projects with their families!

NEWS

Community

Bridging Fine Wine, Delectable Delights, and Elegant Interior Décor with Gesher

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In just its first year, the Gesher Early Childhood Center has become recognized as a highly regarded educational option for children. Gesher focuses on students who require a proper synthesis of the varied elements of preschool education. True to its hallmark, Gesher will be hosting a special evening for the Five Towns and Far Rockaway community.

The event, An Experience of Excellence and Grace, will showcase some of the essentials of style and sophistication. This demonstration will highlight the importance of well planned synergy.

We’d Like to Hear From You Please send all correspondence to:

editor@ fivetownsjewishhome.com.

Guests will be treated to a delicate satisfaction of the senses. The evening will feature a combination of savory palatables, striking ambiance, and stimulating insights into education.

Certainly the prevailing sense of enjoyment will come from touring Sam and Rachel Septimus’ newly renovated showroom of elegant interior design, The Studio. The seamless blend of colors, shapes, and textures generates a natural feeling of excitement. While slowly perusing, one detects the subtle differences in walls, ceilings, and furnishings.

Rachel, well-known as an accomplished designer, allows the observer to appreciate her artistic style and talented eye.

As a complement to the fashionable visuals, Gesher will be presenting two displays that will delight the sense of taste. Mark Glicksman will be offering a wide selection of fine wines. Besides carrying familiar brands, Mark produces his own label which will also be available. Dairy delicates will be provided by The Upper Crust. The authentic brick-oven café is highly reputed for its excellent international cuisine. An exclusive selection of attractive foods will be served.

At the event Gesher will exhibit its unique blend of educational components. Gesher is the only preschool that combines a Yeshiva Day School curriculum with full support of children with learning differences. This approach has been encouraged by the Principals of our local Yeshiva Day Schools.

Gesher employs a trans-disciplinary model. The staff is trained to develop individualized education methods that focus on the educational requirements

of each child. Additionally, techniques used by related service providers are integrated naturally into the curriculum.

Reaction to the program has been incredibly supportive. The parent body and the professionals who have worked with Gesher have consistently expressed praise and approval. Gesher has earned recognition as a vital resource for children who struggle to succeed in the typical classroom setting.

Gesher’s Experience of Excellence

and Grace will take place on Tuesday evening May 28th at 8:00 pm. The Studio is located at 487R Central Avenue in Cedarhurst; enter from the municipal parking lot off of Cedarhurst Avenue.

For a consultation or to learn more about Gesher’s programming, Gesher may be reached at 516-730-7377 or at gesherschool@gmail.com. More information is available at www.gesher-ecc.org.

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Root Canals • Implants • Family Dentistry Sunday & Evening appointments available Only 5 Minutes From Cedarhurst PPO Plans Accepted As FULL payment

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59 The Jewish Home n M ay 1 4 , 2013

St. John’s Offers a Bikur Cholim Suite

Family members of Orthodox patients at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital can now spend the Sabbath at the newly opened Bikur Cholim Suite with kosher meals, Hebrew books and a bathroom en suite. The suite will accommodate family members who are unable to travel due to religious observances during challenging periods of hospitalization.

The suite features sweeping views of the ocean, Jewish-themed artwork on the walls, and separate microwaves for meat and dairy products. There is also a Sabbath elevator.

We offer: Rabbi Available Day and Night Jewish Chapel Pre-Sabbath & Pre-Holiday Services

Prayer Books, Talleisim, and More Bikur Cholim Electric Sabbath Candles

Sabbath Accommodations for Families upon Request Sabbath Elevator

St. John’s Offers Quality Healthcare You Can Have Faith In.

327 Beach 19th Street Far Rockaway, New York 11691 • www.ehs.org

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Around the Community Chief of Security in Chevron visits DRS This past Wednesday, to commemorate Yom Yerushalayim, the students of DRS received the tremendous privilege of hosting and hearing from Mr. Yoni Bleichbard, the chief of security for the holy town of Chevron.

Yoni coordinates all of the security details in Chevron, including the EMT service, Special Forces, and security check points in the town. Yoni explained to the students that for two years straight, he and his family were living under constant fire on their home for day and night.

With the help of an incredible and powerful PowerPoint presentation, Yoni gave the students a detailed account of a terrorist plot that occurred in Chevron almost 10 years ago. As he was sitting down to the Friday night Shabbos meal with his wife at home, three terrorists opened fire on the town of Chevron,

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and engaged in a heated crossfire with Chevron soldiers. Many died that day, and Yoni’s participation in the crossfire helped bring down the terrorists, and ultimately restored safety back to the resident on that Shabbos.

Yoni showed the students a real video from a drone that was flying over the city as the attack was going on. As Yoni explained, on that day “all gave some, but some gave all.” Many of his colleagues died that day, as they protected our land. Yoni’s story gave the students a newfound appreciation for those who risk their lives every day on behalf of the State of Israel.

We continue to pray every day for their ongoing safety, and look forward to a day when we can join them together in Chevron and Yerushalayim Ir HaKodesh.

ABA Program – Center & Home Services Routines Based Interventions & Collaborative Coaching l

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TO REFER YOUR CHILD TO THE EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAM CALL 311.

This Early Intervention Program (EIP) is a public program for children under the age of three who are either suspected of having or at risk for developmental delays or disabilities. EIP is funded by NYS and NYC. All EIP services are provided at no cost to parents. Health insurance may be used for approved services. A child’s eligibility for the program can be determined only by state-approved evaluators under contract, and all services must be authorized by the NYC Early Intervention Program.

For more information about CHALLENGE call:

718.851.3300

Tragic Fire Leaves Family Homeless Mesivta Yam Hatorah Parents and Students Respond Word traveled fast when a member of Yam Hatorah’s parent body, the Fuzailov family, whose son Boruch is officially a senior at the school and learning full time in Bais Medrash, suffered a horrible tragedy on Shviei Shel Pesach.

At 1:30am a fire broke out and destroyed their second floor apartment, leaving them literally with only the shirts on their backs. Heroically, the father saved his family by running back into the apartment several times to help his children escape the flames. The father collapsed and was saved by firemen and

is still in intensive care in the hospital.

Boruch Hashem, the family was saved but, having lost all their possessions and with their breadwinner incapacitated, they are in great financial need.

Mesivta Yam Hatorah parents and students have mobilized and taken up the Fuzailov cause. At this time they have decided to donate 50% of their annual raffle to the family.

To purchase tickets or to find out how you can help please e-mail: yamhatorah@gmail.com or call the mesivta office at 718-471 7471.

63 The Jewish Home n M ay 1 4 , 2013

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Around the Community Navi Comes to Life at HANC The Fourth Grader girls in Morah Dafna’s class at HANC Samuel & Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School in West Hempstead travelled back in time to the days of Yehoshua during their Navi class. Using toy soldiers, Lego men, a Lego fortress and their creativity, the girls re-enacted the battle of the Jews against the city of Ai. The re-enactment gave the students a hands-on understanding of the special tactic of war that was used and brought to life the psukim of the Navi. As expected, the Jews won the battle, the city was burned and the king was hanged. It was a very handson and fun way to bring Navi to life.

Safety First Third graders at HANC Samuel & Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School in West Hempstead learned all about pedestrian and bike riding safety during a visit to Safety Town at Eisenhower Park.

Students learned how to properly use crosswalks at traffic lights and how to use hand signals while riding a bicycle. Our third graders will now always remember to stop, look and look again

before crossing the street. We hope the students have many fun and safe walks and bike rides in the future!

NEWS

Community

The Unveiling Of The Raoul Wallenberg Gold Medal Design Photo Credit: Shmuel Lenchevsky

portrait of Wallenberg depicting him as he is last remembered with the inscriptions: RAOUL WALLENBERG, ACT OF CONGRESS 2012 and HERO OF HEROES. The tails side features Wallenberg presenting the schutz-passes and a view of those bound for a concentration camp. The inscriptions read: HE LIVES ON FOREVER THROUGH THOSE HE SAVED around the upper border and ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE were inspired by Peter Rebenwurzel, Chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Centennial Celebration Commission, who is a Hungarian-born child of Holocaust survivors. His father, z”l, worked with Wallenberg to provide food and provisions to residents of the Budapest ghetto, and his father in-law was saved by Wallenberg.

Many of the people Wallenberg saved have been influential citizens con-

tributing to American institutions and culture, including Congressman Tom Lantos (February 1, 1928-February 11, 2008) and the Liska Rebbe, Rabbi

Yoizef (Joseph) Friedlander, who carried forth the Liska Chassidic dynasty from Hungary to the United States after being saved by Raoul Wallenberg.

Unveiling of the design of the Raoul Wallenberg Congressional Gold Medal L-R: Ezra Friedlander, CEO The Friedlander Group; Jacob J. Lew, Secretary of the US Treasury; His Majesty King Carl XVI of Sweden

Congressman Gregory Meeks with the Wallenberg Commission L-R front : Stanley Treitel, Robert Rechnitz, Ezzy Rappaport, Rabbi Ellie Abadie, William Nussen, Ezra Friedlander, Leon Goldenberg, Congressman Gregory Meeks, Allen Gross, Joseph Stamm, Meir Laufer L-R back: Michael Treitel , Eliot Klein, Steve Grauer, Peter Rebenzurzel - Chairman

The Raoul Wallenberg Centennial Celebration Commission with the unveiled design of the Wallenberg Gold Medal Rebecca Harary, Rabbi Ellie Abadie, William Nussen, Joseph Stamm, Peter Rebenwurzel - Chairman of the Wallenberg Commission, Meir Laufer, Senator Johnny Isakson, Annette Lantos, Stanley Treitel, Robert Rechnitz, Steve Grauer, HE Gyorgy Szapary - Ambassador of Hungary to the US, Sidney Greenberger, Ezzy Rappaport, Ezra Friedlander, Leon Goldenberg, Rosa Rios - Treasurer of the United States

M ay 1 4 , 2013

On Thursday, May 9, 2013, The United States Mint unveiled the design of the Raoul Wallenberg Congressional Gold Medal in the presence of their Majesties, King Carl XVI and Queen Silvia of Sweden. This event was hosted

by The Honorable Jacob L. Lew, Secretary of the United States Treasury. The Congressional Gold Medal recognizes the achievements and heroic actions of Wallenberg during the waning days of the Holocaust.

Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York, the original sponsor of the Wallenberg Gold Medal Legislation, in his opening remarks attributed the efforts of Ezra Friedlander, CEO of The Friedlander Group which spearheaded the effort to recognize the heroism of Wallenberg through the creating of the Raoul Wallenberg Centennial Commission established in honor of the centennial of Wallenberg’s birth to the driving force behind awarding Raoul Wallenberg with the Congressional Gold Medal.

Born in Sweden, Raoul Wallenberg graduated from the University of Michigan and returned to Sweden where he became a businessman and then to give him cover for his rescue efforts became a Swedish diplomat. Wallenberg’s is credited with saving 100,000 lives primarily through the issuance of the schutz-pass, a document that was respected by the German Nazi’s that conferred official Swedish protection of the bearer which was handed out to desperate Hungarian Jews. Wallenberg also prevented the liquidation of the Budapest ghetto by threatening the German General that he would be brought up on war crimes if he allowed the deportation of Jews to Auschwitz, a ploy that was successful.

At the unveiling ceremony, Secretary Lew stated, “The War Refugee Board was commissioned two floors above of where we stand today, here in the Cash room.” The War Refugee Board was critical to the success of saving over 100,000 Jews, especially in Hungary, to escape persecution. It was this board that gave Wallenberg authority to commit to a plan of action that would save the lives of many.

The United States Mint worked closely with the Wallenberg Commission, who was dedicated as the liaison to the Mint on the design of the medal.

As prepared by the U.S. Treasury the medal features, on the heads side, a

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You Gotta be

Riddle

Kidding!

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, the stewardess announces over the intercom, “Ladies and gentlemen, we are ready for takeoff and are just waiting for the pilots to board.”

The passengers look out the window and see two men dressed as pilots walking towards the plane. Both men are using guide dogs and appear to be blind.

There are murmurs among the passengers, and some believe it is a joke.

The men board the plane and go into the cockpit. More concerned murmurs and uneasy chuckles from the passengers. The plane taxis normally to the runway and begins its takeoff. As passengers look out the window, they realize they are nearing the end of the runway. The entire passenger cabin begins screaming but the plane lifts off just before the end of the runway. The passengers calm down and chuckle to themselves, at this point believing that they fell for a joke.

In the cockpit, the pilot turns to his copilot and says, “You know, one day those people are gonna scream too late and we’re all gonna die!”

When do we have Kri’as Hatorah five days in a row, other than on Pesach Chanukah, and Sukkos?

What is the one mitzvah in the Torah that you cannot have kavanah before doing it?

Answers on next page

Did You Know?

•

Noach was a vegetarian for more than 500 years.

•

In order to attract guests, Avrohom planted a beautiful orchard in Beer Sheva.

•

Avrohom was kept in the furnace in Ur Kasdim for three days and nights.

•

The sinews of the ram from Akaidas Yitzchok were used for the ten strings in David’s harp.

•

Most Kohanim Gedolim died within the year of Yom Kippur in the time of the Second Bais Hamikdash.

•

Rochel died during childbirth as she gave birth to triplets. (Binyamin and two girls.)

•

Yaakov tied a note around Osnas’s (daughter born from Dina) neck that stated, “Whoever marries this girl, marries one of Yaakov’s family.” An angel transferred Osnas to Egypt where she was brought to Potifar’s home and raised. She eventually married Yosef.

•

Four people were named by Hashem before their birth: Yitzchok, Yishmael, Shlomo Hamelech and Yoshiahu.

•

The guests at Yaakov’s wedding sang “O-ley, O-ley” to hint to him that the bride was really Leah so he couldn’t blame them later.

•

Yaakov was 84 when he got married. (And you thought your 23-yearold son was old!)

•

Each of the Shevatim was born with a twin sister who married another brother.

•

Eisav was born with a mouthful of teeth.

•

Yaakov and Yosef were both born circumcised.

•

Serach bas Asher entered Gan Eden alive.

•

Yaakov was the first person ever to become very ill before his death.

•

Cham’s wife gave birth to the giant Sichon in the Taivah.

• A Jewish king is required to have a Sefer Torah written for himself.

The kings used to attach a mini Torah to their arms and carry it with them constantly.

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TORAH TRIVIA 5. Who was the oldest person ever? a. Adam b. Lemech c. Mesushelach d. Enosh

4. Who were Avraham Avinu’s brothers? a. Serug and Terach b. Serug and Nachor c. Charan and Terach d. Nachor and Charan

Answers: 1. A, C, D, E (And I think F as well) 2. B 3. B 4. D 5. C- He lived 969 years 6. D 7. B 8. A

9. Before he died, Moshe went on top of which mountain to see Eretz Yisroel? a. Har Chorev b. Har Mistakel c. Har Seyir d. Har Nevo 10. Under whose rule did Klal Yisroel split into two kingdoms? a. Rechovom b. Shlomo Hamelech c. Azaria d. Achav

9. D 10. A Wisdom key: 8-10 correct: You are a true Torah scholar 4-7 correct: Learn hard on Shavuous night and before you know it, you too will be full of knowledge 0-3 correct: Rabbi Akiva did not know anything until 40 years old...it’s never too late

GOT FUNNY? Let the Commissioner decide.

Send your stuff to centerfold@fivetownsjewishhome.com

11. iaisn 12. glanerin 13. wfslreo 14. alllhe 15. ohhiascm 16. oddvi 17. egaarm 18. hhumasc 19. litebszn 20. eaisrf

Answer to riddle: Answer to first riddle: When Rosh Hashana falls out on Thursday and Friday. The third day is the regular Shabbos leining, the fourth day is Sunday which is Tzom Gedalyah, the fifth day is Monday, in which we always lein.

Answer to second riddle: The mitzvah of Shechicha. In the part of the field that we harvest for ourselves we are obligated to leave over for poor people any of the produce that innocently falls from our hands. So, if one had kavanah before doing the mitzvah, the produce that fell would not be legitimate shechicha produce.

3. What did Hashem create on the fourth day? a. Animal b. Lights in the sky c. Plants d. People

8. Which of the following women was NOT married to Dovid Hamelech? a. Tamar b. Michal c. Avigayil d. Batsheva

1. haeasn esivanmh 2. invsa 3. eehesc 4. uhtr 5. hellieecm 6. azob 7. daamosk 8. hgilmisc 9. aattmn rtoah 10. smohe

11. Sinai 12. Learning 13. Flowers 14. Hallel 15. Moshiach 16. Dovid 17. Gemara 18. Chumash 19. Blintzes 20. Sefira

2. Which Yom Tov was Yitzchok Avinu born on? a. Shavuos b. Pesach c. Chanuka d. Shmini Atzeres (Succos)

7. What was Boaz and Ruth’s son’s name? a. Peretz b. Oved c. Ram d. Hezron

Ƨhavous Ƨcrambler

Answers 1. Na’aseh venishma 2. Sivan 3. Cheese 4. Ruth 5. Elimelech 6. Boaz 7. Akdamos 8. Milchigs 9. Mattan Torah 10. Moshe

1. Who were the four men who never sinned in their lifetime? a. Binyamin b. Mesushelach c. Amrom d. Yishai e. Kilav (the son by Dovid HaMelech and Avigayil) f. TJH Centerfold Commissioner (Son of Good Humor) g. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai

6. What object did Moshe hold up, which healed the people when they looked to it? a. A replica of the Asseres Hadibros b. His walking stick c. A small Torah d. A copper serpent

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Politics Today

Special School Board Election The Candidates Speak

Meet Nahum Marcus

I

am seeking re-election to the LawI have also helped to improve sperence Board of Education. The rea- cial-needs services for children at Kulason: There is more good work that nu Torah Academy, Cahal For Children I hope to accomplish for our children, With Learning Disabilities and other their parents and our entire community. specialized schools.

As a six-year incumbent board trustI adhere to the mantra that it is never ee, I have worked diligently to improve wrong to do the right thing for a child. the quality of education and services our This is especially true when it comes to district provides to all public and private special-needs children. I wish to conschool students. tinue to be an advocate for our specialI am currently the most indepen- needs children and ensure the strides we dent and outspoken voice on our school made remain in place and are enhanced. board, and I consistently stand up for Dedicated to Quality Education the people who have twice elected me.

I believe our school board’s top Let’s review some of the positive prog- priority is to ensure that all children reress our school district has made during ceive the best possible education. I have my tenure as a board trustee. served on the academic excellence comSpecial Needs Advocacy mittee that seeks new ways to enhance As many people may know, my wife our educational ability. I also helped enDevorah and I have three children – a sure that private school students receive 19-year-old daughter and twin 14-year- the proper textbook allotment from our old sons, one of whom has Cerebral Pal- district. sy. My son’s needs inspired me to be a I want to continue to find the most better, more effeccost-efficient ways tive school board to improve the trustee. quality of educaI know firsttion of our chilI pledge to work hand the chaldren. I will condiligently to preserve lenges and frustratinue to promote tions that face the professional deand improve quality parents of specialvelopment for our of life for all Five Towns needs children. teachers and paraThat is why I try professionals to residents. to champion the enhance their skill needs of other speand effectiveness. cial-needs children I also will work and their families throughout our com- to ensure that all students have access munity. to extracurricular and after-school proWith my wife’s support, guidance grams. and tenacity, I helped revise our district’s Equitable Student Transportation special education policies enabling speEvery child deserves fair and equicial-needs students in private schools to table access to public school transportareceive all of the crucial therapeutic ser- tion. As a board trustee, I helped many vices to which they are entitled. parents resolve transportation issues and Working with district staff, I helped I helped remedy a variety of bus route to properly equip occupational and issues so children don’t spend more time physical therapy rooms in each of our than necessary on buses. public and private schools so therapists If we can find a cost-effective way, I can better serve our special-needs chil- would like our district to provide transdren. I also helped ensure that each pub- portation to Yeshiva students after their lic school is now handicap accessible. mandatory mishmar, to make existing

bus routes more efficient, and to stop sharing buses between two or more schools with dissimilar schedules.

Careful Scrutiny of School Sales Since talks arose about selling the Number Six School, I insisted the bidding process and sale be done fairly and transparently to instill public confidence.

Many times, I was the board’s lone voice of dissent—especially when it became obvious that fairness and transparency were not prioritized. I vocally objected to selling the property to Simone Healthcare Development because its proposal was not in the best interest of our community.

I joined forces with parents and property owners from the Community Coalition of the Five Towns to block this

sale. Working together, we demonstrated to the public how unfair and unbalanced this closed-door deal was for our community.

In March, the highest voter-turnout in recent memory delivered a clear mandate to our school board — the sale of the Number Six School must benefit our entire community. So, the final reason I am seeking re-election is to fulfill that mandate and to closely monitor the next bidding and sale process.

Dov Herman and I are our community’s candidates. Our first priority will always be to work in the best interest of the children, their parents, taxpayers and the community. Our only agenda is to serve our entire community with integrity, honesty and compassion.

The Candidates Speak

Meet Dov Herman

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mong the things no one men- advocates for the tions when you decide to run public good. for elected office is how many This realizatimes you will be asked: Why are you tion came about when our school board doing this? For me, that answer is easy. made a deal to sell the Number Six I have the best interests of all Law- School that would have ruined a quiet rence School District children and my residential neighborhood and damaged community at heart. the quality of life for all Five Towns I believe every child deserves the residents. best possible education from our pubThe Community Coalition of the lic schools and every parent and tax- Five Towns (CC5T) – of which I am payer should expect their school board an active member – helped unite our to safeguard their community and tax dollars and rally our residents protect their into action. The eyeterests. I want be opening lesson Our first priority that kind of school that we learned will always be to work board member. from the March I am a 46-yearreferendum is in the best interest old Woodmere that a majority of the children, their resident. I am a of school board home inspector members had not parents, taxpayers and and successful acted in the best the community. small business interests of the owner. I have people who electbeen married to ed them. my wife Vickie That is one of for 20 years and we are the proud par- the reasons I decided to run for a vaents of five children who range in age cant school board seat in the May 21st from age 2 to 18. election. It is also why I am running Over the last several months, our with six-year incumbent trustee Rabbi community learned that the Lawrence Nahum Marcus, who was first to sound School Board needs more trustees who the alarm about the goings-on behind are independent-thinkers and vocal the Number Six School sale.

budgets item-by-item to find and eliminate the kind of wasteful spending that drives up our taxes.

Residents should also remember that the Number Six School remains a significant issue. The referendum defeat gave all of us a second chance to see the Number Six School property used in a way that benefits our community and our children.

Our school board will soon accept new bids for this property. Nahum and I want to ensure this process reflects

The Candidates Speak

Meet Tova Plaut

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y name is Tova Plaut and I worked on behalf am running for the District of our community 15 School Board on Tuesday, for so long.

May 21. I am running for this volunteer For those of you who are new to the position because I know that as a woman neighborhood, you may not be aware of and an educator I will bring a unique the situation which we faced in the Lawperspective to the current school board rence School District more than a dewhich will benefit all the children in our cade ago. Taxes rose by 10% every year. district.

Yeshiva students were routinely denied I am a teacher and the Director of access to services which they were ena school. I hold a degree in community titled to receive and the state mandates and human services with a concentration for services were ignored by district ofin early childhood studies, a child devel- ficials. Some of the services often denied opment credential and New York State our children were textbooks, busing Administrator Credential. In addition to school, special education services, to these credentials I have also received speech therapy, occupational therapy, certificates for training in school health and physical therapy. and safety, fiscal management, educaThen a brave member of the board tional programming, medication admin- stepped forward. Dr. David Sussman, istration and other whose support I am various certification proud to enjoy in areas. this election, stood As a woman up for the needs of It’s time for a and an educator I yeshiva parents and woman and an will bring a unique yeshiva students. perspective to the Eventually, Asher educator to serve on board. I have lived Mansdorf stepped the school board. in Cedarhurst for up as the lone Or17 years with my thodox voice. Then husband and five others followed. children, and I have The board has been an active community volunteer and kept our taxes low and our taxes are half activist for the betterment of our neigh- those of our neighbors in District 14 who borhood and children. Some examples are paying TWICE the amount in taxes of this are: running marathons (five and for a comparable house than residents of counting) with my kids for the chil- District 15. I am committed to continudren of Chai Lifeline, volunteering for ing the efforts to maintain a fiscally reAchiezer after Hurricane Sandy by help- sponsible board. ing to run the relief center and coordinate The issues before the school board crews to clean up our neighbors homes, include the management of a large school chairing school dinners and taking an budget, providing a quality education for active role in promoting public safety in all our students, and maintaining and imour community. proving the services which our children Perhaps the most important local are entitled to receive. Our community volunteer projects I have taken on are cannot afford to be divided. We have in relation to School District 15. I have worked too hard for too many years to been involved in every school board elect a school board that is responsive to election for more than a decade and this the needs of the entire community. It’s has given me insight and respect for the time for a woman and an educator to current members of the board who have serve on the school board.

the best interests of our community.

We also want to ensure that our school board adheres to the mandate it received from 4,155 committed voters.

Those voters sent a clear message that our neighborhoods are important to us; that our quality of life is not for sale; and that our children’s ball fields and open spaces should be preserved.

There will be another public referendum on whatever proposal the board ultimately accepts. My presence on the school board will ensure that the entire

process is done fairly and openly.

Like other dedicated participants in CC5T, my goal is to continue to be a positive and unifying force for good in our community. I pledge to work diligently to preserve and improve quality of life for all Five Towns residents.

My sincere hope is that on May 21st, residents of our community take a similar view and elect me to the Lawrence School Board and re-elect Nahum Marcus for another term to continue to protect their interests.

I am running to ensure that the gains we have made as a community remain intact and that the services which our children are entitled to are not only maintained but improved. I believe in children and in the value of a quality education. I will never stand by while our children lose or are denied services, such as busing and special education services, as they were many years ago.

Most importantly, I am a teacher, administrator and a career educator who will bring teaching and education management skills to the board for the benefit of all the children in School District 15.

Please do not divide the community.

We have achieved so much with our unity.

It is time to elect a woman. It is time to elect me—Tova Plaut.

The Candidates Speak

Meet Michael J. Hatten

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y name is Michael Hatten reer Schools, defined in Education Law and I am running for a seat 5010. I was appointed by the Governor on the Lawrence School as Chairman. This Council reports to Board. I decided to return to the Board, the Commission of Education and the at this time, because I believe our com- Legislature on all matters affecting the munity needs experienced leadership, 500 licensed postsecondary non-degree as we deliberate schools in our state over the significant that educates over challenges fac200,000 students ing our District: annually.

During my three Teacher contracts, Many of you in the #6 school, stuthe community will years on the Board, dent outcomes, remember when I taxes never rose and allocation of rewas first elected to sources and fiscal the School Board special needs children discipline. These in 2006. The three received the services are serious issues years I served on that will impact the the Board were they deserved. lives of ALL of us. some of the most This is why I am tumultuous years running. in the history of This is why I our District. feel I am the right candidate for a seat During my three years on the Board, on the Board. taxes never rose, special needs children I am currently the President of received the services they deserved, Global Business Institute, a two year transportation became a non-issue, ball non-degree business school, the Chair- fields and other school facilities were man and Chief Executive Officer of now accessible to the entire community New York Automotive and Diesel In- and the hateful rhetorical finally died stitute, an automotive and diesel tech- down. nical school and the Chief Executive We live in a great and wonderfully Officer of National Career Institute, a diverse District. Our unique commuparamedical and construction trades nity dynamic presents multiple chalschool. I employ 132 faculty, staff and lenges, but it also presents multiple school administrators. I am responsible opportunities. If you believe I am the for educating over 2,500 students annu- best candidate, who will make thoughtally. I am the Chairman of the Advi- ful decisions, then I would be honored sory Council for Licensed Private Ca- to represent you on the School Board.

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Nahum is often the lone voice of public advocacy on our school board.

His continued presence on the board will help make it more open and more responsive to our community.

Together, we will ensure that our school board behaves in an open and transparent manner; and that it does a better job of uniting our community.

I am fiscally conservative. So, I will also work hard to stabilize or reduce taxes, but never at the expense of our children. I will examine our school

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Blooming wit h Sweet ness Shavuos

Esther Ottensoser

Looking for a bouquet of flowers that will satisfy everyone’s taste?

Have we got a sweet (and easy!) idea for you!

This beautiful “arrangement” (as easy as Alef, Bais, “Vase”) can be simply assembled and is sure to be a most popular bunch of flowers. All it takes is a trip to the candy store...and let your creativity blossom!

Supplies 2 glass vases, one to be placed within the other Jelly beans of different colors Flowers to coordinate with jelly beans Directions Place flowers and water in the smaller vase. Place small vase in larger vase. Surround the smaller vase with jelly beans (mixed or layered).

This is a great way to involve the children in the yom tov. They’ll love adding and layering the jelly beans; just make they don’t sneak too many to eat!

All the flowers that grace your Shavuos table will surely be a delight to your eye; these will surely be a delight to your palate as well.

Create them at any level, simple or sophisticated; any way you make them they’re sure to be a sensation.

Supplies Flowerpot—4” opening 4” Styrofoam ball 16 mini cupcakes Small silk leaves Fondant or frosting in color of your choice Choice of flower plunger, flower mold or pastry bag with tip (available at baking supply stores) Toothpicks Directions I used rolled fondant for my bouquet, however, there are many ways to create the flower cupcakes. Here are some suggestions:

Fondant: Form flowers with a fondant plunger or mold. You can stick the flowers to the cupcake with a little icing or just by dabbing a little bit water on them.

Frosting: There are many ways to make flowers using cream. Using different tips will create different flowers from roses to hydrangeas to sunflowers…You can even tint the pastry bag with food coloring to create different shades of colors in your flowers.

Place the Styrofoam ball into the planter. Push it in to secure. Push the toothpicks into the Styrofoam and then attach the cupcakes. (I put 9 cupcakes around the bottom, 6 in the middle and one in the center.) Fill the gaps with leaves.

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Brilliant Blossoms

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Jewish Thought Mr. Joe Bobker

Bobker on Sssssh-vuos

THE UNDATED ANNIVERSARY

S

havuos is a late-spring, early-summer yom tov, and our only festival with no well-defined date despite its association with a singularly imposing theophany, Sinai; a time when “no bird put forth their song, no bird took wing, no ox gave bawl, no angel moved a feather...the sea did not roar… no creature said a word.”

In Torah vocabulary, G-d is only “heard” via an echo known as a bat kol, literally “the daughter of a voice,” and only “appears” via indirect anthropomorphic images such as a dream or vision.

The terminology tension is obvious: V’chol ha’am ro’im et hakolot, “And all the people saw the thunder that announced the Revelation” – but isn’t thunder seen, not heard?

Yes, ro’im means to “see,” but this vision must coexist on two levels; by sight and by perception as in, “I see your point,” in order to truly see the overwhelming importance of the occasion.

In fact, our entire Judaic belief system is that Judaism lacks an intermediary; that G-d spoke directly to an entire people, not through a “son” (Christianity) or a “prophet” (Islam), and that through the Jews He revealed universal laws for all mankind known as sheva mitzvos Bnei Noach, “the seven Noachide laws.”

Sinai was the day Jews made the transition from being “a people to G-d” (in theory) to accepting Torah min haShamayim, by way of, in Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz’s description, a “Cosmic Contract, with no escape clause.” Technically, this phrase means “Torah from Heaven” but in reality it describes a lifestyle that gave Jews heaven from Torah.

SHAVUOS DOES NOT CELEBRATE A PART OF JUDAISM, BUT JUDAISM AS A WHOLE.

G-d surfaces not once but twice at Sinai, sending Jewish mystics into a search for the episode’s hidden shtei bechinos, “two aspects.”

When the Divine Presence (Shechina) first descends on “the whole mountain in the sight of all the people,” the Torah text bursts with descriptive adjectives: “trembling, fear, thunder, lightning, dense clouds, loud blasts of a horn,” stapled to a vivid use of words (“stoned, smitten”) within emphatic expressions of awe, fear, death.

The second appearance, to only the “top of the mountain,” is more subdued; all the fire ‘n brimstone rhetoric conspicuous only by its absence.

The first dramatic emergence was for the entire nation of Israel, united as a people of prophets; the next was reserved for the nation’s elite; individual Jews, such as Moses and Aaron, who aspire to climb the spiritual peaks of Judaism and who are not in need of the fiery rhetoric.

But there is a vagueness: when G-d “spoke all of these words,” the Torah doesn’t tell us to whom.

R’ Ibn Ezra argues that the entire nation heard all ten com-

mands; R’ Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam) claims, based on his theory of prophecy, that only Moses understood the contents (the Jewish people hearing, but not comprehending). Rashi argues that the Jews only heard the first two (“I am the Lord,” and “You shall have no other G-ds”), and the remaining eight from Moses (based on the Torah’s switch from first person singular to third person).

Meanwhile the Ramban suggests a compromise – all ten were given by G-d however only the first two were understood by the children of an Egyptian polytheistic culture, the other eight required further explanation by Moses.

Shavuos is the day when Jews listen to the unique melody of the Torah’s “user-guide,” the Aseres Hadibros, read Ezekiel’s prophetic passages, and are riveted by the compelling and idyllic Akdomus, an exquisitely beautiful poem and “celebration of Torah” penned in Aramaic by 11th century German Rabbi Meir Nehorai, a chazan and teacher of Rashi, whose son was killed

by Crusaders and who himself died soon after a “forced debate” with the local Christian clergy.

The day is synonymous with Revelation, an einmalig tzayt, “once only, forever,” when the Heavens attempted for the third time (after the Flood and Abraham) to fulfill the journey which began at Creation.

The Children of Israel participate “like one man, with one heart” in the grand premiere of their own arrival on the stage of history and yet the exact calendar rendezvous, the “marriage” of Jews to Torah and the giving of the most compelling kesuba (Torah) of all time (“Shavuos” means oaths, in that on this day both parties exchanged certain vows: G-d “promises” to stick with the Jews as His chosen nation, and, in return, the Jews promise to stick with G-d), is Judaism’s best kept covert secret; a day shrouded in clandestine theology, hidden from centuries of great scholars and deep thinkers.

This calendar uncertainty is extraordinarily unusual in a religion that “worships” dates and times.

Remember: The very first commandment the Jews receive as a people is time-orientated (Rosh Chodesh) and the very first Mishna discusses the “right time” to say the Sh’ma.

Perhaps the reason lies in its own structure; ein mukdam u’m’uchar ba’Torah, the view that the Torah “unfolds” in no particular chronological order.

Rashi, the “prince” of Torah commentators, is of the opinion that the mitzvos in the Torah are organized thematically, by topic, without regard to the actual chronological order in which G-d gave them to Moses (e.g.: the mitzva to build the Mishkan was given after the Golden Calf saga because of the thematic similarities to that event).

But the Ramban disagrees, claiming Yaish mukdam

u’m’uchar, the Torah is in chronological order. So what do we know?

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clude through the experience of time that the gift of Torah was worth rejoicing over.

This linkage between Sinai and Time is found in the way the Torah spells ShaOnly the year (2488), and the day of the week (Shabbas) when the Jews reach vuos, with a shin, beis, ayin, vav, sof, rearranged by our kabbalists as Shebo eis, “in Sinai, described in a single teasing reference: either in the “third month” of Sivan, it [Shavuos] is the meaning of Time.” or “on the third new Moon,” after leaving Egypt. Thus, depending on which formuWhen Rabbi Meir Alter, saintly son of the Gerer Rebbe (Imrei Emes), was asked la one chooses, the encounter could have occurred on the 6th, 12th, or 15th of Sivan. why Shavuos is referred to as z’man mattan Torataynu, “the time of the giving of What is the universally accepted date? The 6th and 7th of Sivan, making Shavuos the Torah [my italics]” and not “the time of receiving,” he replied that with each the only festival that fluctuates year-by-year in a state of calendar non-conformity; giving comes a bit of receiving, and that “the giving of the Torah happened at one caused by being halachically anchored not to itself but specified time, but the receiving of it happens at every to the climax of a mandated seven-week math formula time and in every generation.” (s’firas ha’omer) that began in Pesach.

Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik, the brilliant Rav and rosh Shavuos is thus in an awkward position: not only is it yeshiva of YU, considered Shavuos a beginning, not an held spiritual hostage to a previous yom tov but even as ending; a gate through which the rabbis of each generalate as the final days of the Talmud it still lacked its own tion were to preserve an unfolding yet timeless “season of identity, being viewed simply as a “closure” (atzeres), as Torah knowledge.” in atzeres shel Pesach, “the end of Pesach,” in much the Thus since this was a continuum gift semper et ubique, same manner that Shemini Atzeres “closes” the festival of designed to link generations, it required no fixed time, no Succas. fixed laws, and no dated “receipt.”

And more: Unlike every other Jewish festival, this In fact, Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, America’s premier yom tov’s title is unrelated to its historic self.

20th century halachist, would refrain from calling Shavuos Consider: Whereas Pesach, Chanukah and Succos are a “Torah Day” out of fear of giving the impression that Ruth was chosen to symbolize Shavuos all intrinsically linked and underpinned by their respecTorah was special only on this day. Rabbi Samson Raphabecause of her good middos tive past events, the three designated titles of Shavuos are el Hirsch, the extraordinary leader of German orthodoxy, not: Hag Shavuos (“The Festival of Weeks”), Hag ha-Kazir (“The Harvest Festi- went one step further: he saw an actual danger in creating a specific holiday for val”), and Yom Ha-Bikkurim (“First Fruits”) are all totally foreign to what Jews the Sinai-Torah axis, concerned that this would somehow “box-in” G-d’s Words in today associate the day with: Torah and Sinai. contradiction to the Torah’s own wish that it be with Jews at all times.

When asked what Shavuos meant to him, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi The question is obvious: why then does the Torah not explicitly and openly link of the British Empire, replied from a personal perspective, as he echoed an ancient the holiday of Shavuos with the giving of the Law (matan Torah)? observation, that “the Priestly caste did not support the Ark; the Ark supported To R’ Yehuda Liwa ben Betzalel of Prague (Maharal), the seminal thinker of those who carried it.” the 16th century, the answer lies in the fact that although Jews are automatically “My great-grandfather, Rabbi Aryeh Leib Frumkin, left Lithuania in 1871 to obligated to embrace all Jewish festivals with simcha, such emotions cannot be make his home in the Holy Land, where he became the historian of Jerusalem. He legislated nor coerced but must originate from within.

Therefore, it was left up to the Jew to “find” his own way to Shavuos and to con- took one item with him – a Sefer Torah, which he held in his arms throughout the

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sea voyage, and while riding on a donkey from the coast to Jerusalem....

For me, the image of my great-grandfather cradling the Torah as he journeyed to Jerusalem became a metaphor of Jewish life through the ages.

We were the people who, wherever we traveled, carried the Torah with us.

And though we thought we were carrying, in truth it was carrying us.

More than the Jewish people gave life to the Torah, the Torah gave life to the Jewish people.”

Judaism is thus a religion of constant rebirth, evidenced each year by Shavuos, a festival that not only joyfully receives the Torah anew but sternly imposes an annual reminder: that there is a responsibility (first) on the fathers and (then) on the teachers of Torah to replicate Sinai dor to dor (generation-to-generation) “in the same manner that it was first given.”

RAV MOSHE FEINSTEIN, ZTL, WOULD REFRAIN FROM CALLING SHAVUOS A TORAH DAY OUT OF FEAR OF GIVING THE IMPRESSION THAT TORAH WAS SPECIAL ONLY ON THIS DAY.

Shavuos customs include eating dairy foods, (cheesecake, blintzes, yogurt with honey, lasagna, kreplach); decorating the synagogue with greenery (this custom is so old that even Haman complains that Jews spread grass on synagogue floors on Shavuos as a reminder to worship the laws of a grassy Sinai instead of the laws of King Achashveirosh); participating in a tikkun layl Shavuos, literally, “The Repair of the Night of Shavuot,” an all-night stand of Torah study to help Jews re-experience Sinai on an annual and recurring basis; and the public reading of Megillas Ruth, “The Scroll of Ruth” (which, incidentally, contains a Purim-style absence of any involvement of G-d: whatever references exist are portrayed as vayiker mikreha, natural, non-miraculous chance events).

This is the oldest of the five megillas that are read on separate Jewish festivals: the others being Pesach’s Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs); Succa’s Koheles (Ecclesiastes); Purim’s Megillas Esther (The Scroll of Esther), and Tisha b’Av’s Eicha (Lamentations); with the exception of Koheles, all are dedicated, allegorically, to women.

Ruth enters the pages of Judaism as the young beautiful widow of Mahlon who sacrifices her family, religion, and burial among her own people to “walk in the ways” (vehalachta bidrachav) of the G-d of the Jews, a tale told against a background of the barley harvest that echoes the festival’s theme of the Jewish people’s acceptance of Torah at Sinai. (And, if gematria is your hobby consider this: Ruth is 606. Add the seven Noachide laws she was obligated to keep before her conversion and the total is 613, the number of mitzvas given at Sinai on Shavuos).

As a result of her commitment, Ruth is transformed from a simple sequestered woman supporting an aging destitute mother-in-law (Naomi) to become the wife of Boaz, a prominent judge.

Our Sages describe her lure not in terms of “beauty” but in her exemplar qualities of courage and determination, loyalty and faithfulness.

It is Ruth who pens the famous declaration that has now resonated and ricocheted off the walls of Jewish history, “Your people shall be my people, your G-d my G-d, where you will go I will go, where you will be buried I will be buried.”

But the question is obvious: in the context of Jewish history, Ruth is just one of many proselytes, so why is she selected for such calendar prominence?

A list of other contestants is impressive: it would include Yisro, Moses’ Midianite father-in-law priest; Joseph’s wife Asenath (daughter of the Egyptian priest of On); David and Judah’s wives (Philistine and Caananite); Rahab (one of the world’s four outstanding beauties, along with Sarah, Avigayil, and Esther) who not only married Joshua, but became ancestor

Shavuos gave the Jews a life of heaven through the Torah

to no less than eight priests and nine Prophets (including Jeremiah and Hulda); Onkelos the Ger was a Jew-by-choice, and let’s not forget such distinguished Talmudists as Rabbis Akiva, Shmaiah and Avtalyon who were all proselyte descendants.

Why Ruth? Because of her personality traits (gitter middos), specifically of chesed and, according to R’ Ze’ira, “acts of loving kindness.”

And more: as the great bubba (grandmother) of King David, “the Sweet Singer of Israel” and author of the indispensable Book of Psalms (Tehillim), who was born and died on Shavuos, her role in Jewish history is decisive (this is why David, aware of the public unease of his “non-kosher” genealogy, reminds his nation in his farewell speech, that all are “strangers” in front of G-d.”)

Meanwhile on Shavuos we can eat what, when, and where we want, in contrast to Pesach when we can’t eat what we want, Succas when we can’t eat where we want, Rosh Hashana when we can’t eat when we want, and Yom Kippur when we can’t eat at all!

Shavuos is thus unique because it is the only Jewish festival with no specific Torah-derived halachic rituals. The day might have nothing on a halachic par with, say, an esrog, matza, or shofar, and yet its whole is far greater than its parts. Why? Because Shavuos does not celebrate a part of Judaism, but Judaism as a whole.

It is thus unconcerned with any one particular mitzva whilst being synonymous with the entire body of Jewish ideas, the Torah as a whole.

Regrettably in many Jewish communities, Shavuos is the most ignored (or unknown) festival of them all; even in its heyday it was seen as nothing more than the finale of Pesach, the most minor of the three pilgrimage festivals (aliya le-regel).

I remember in college how even Jewish professors didn’t believe me when I said I couldn’t attend a class because of Shavuos; and how the official Department of Education calendar listed all the Jewish holidays as days which “teachers of the Jewish faith” were entitled to take a day off without any pay penalty – but left this one out (in malice? no, in ignorance!).

This adjunct minor role for Shavuos is highly unfair: for if Pesach gave us freedom, Shavuos gave a free people a law that infused liberty with a challenging and exhilarating purpose.

Our Sages tell us that even a sefer Torah needs mazal to be chosen from among the others in the Ark; and it seems that even Jewish festivals need mazal to be “chosen and used.” Hopefully the year will come soon when Shavuos is no longer Ssssshvuos.

79 Yehoshua Levy

Ruth

The Matriarch of the Eternal Davidic Dynasty

To answer these questions we have to explore the roots of Moav. Moav’s father, Lot, was raised by his uncle, our forefather, Avraham Avinu. Lot was educated in an atmosphere of Torah and chesed. Even after residing for years in the hedonistic, penurious, and craven culture of Sodom, he still displayed dedication to the hospitality he learned from his uncle, and even opened his house to strangers at great personal risk. (see Rashi 19:1)

On the other hand, he was hardly a saint when it came to other moral issues. Lot lived for lust. The salacious nature of Sodom’s society was what attracted him to settle there (Horios 10b).

This ultimately led him to consort with his own flesh and blood (Rashi 19:35).

While Lot seemed to be a complex individual with paradoxical convictions and values, his core character can be understood in light of a concept elucidated

by Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler. The Michtav M’eliyahu explains that unbridled chesed can manifest itself in forbidden expressions of love. When not properly

corrupt character bereft of any positive side to their natural essence, they could no longer marry into the Jewish nation. (The women, however, were not expected to go out, as it could be justified as an expression of modesty. By no coincidence was it her trait of modesty that Boaz noticed, and ultimately chose Ruth to be his wife.)

In contrast to rest of her nation, Ruth, who was a direct descendant of Moav (she was the daughter of Eglon, king of Moav), managed to do the exact opposite. She showed great concern for others and was a paradigm of chesed

Is failing to organize a massive soup kitchen in the desert for two million people worse than organized premeditated genocide? channeled, a corruption of chesed will develop, often in the form of immoral relationships. The Torah even describes the act of incest as chesed. Chesed and z’nus (immoral and forbidden relationships) both emanate from passion and love for another human being.

Our sages teach us that our deeds affect our spiritual character and are genetically passed down through our “soul-DNA.” (By contrast, physically acquired traits resulting from adaptation to climate and such, do not get passed on. Darwin was right about that.) Moav was the child born to Lot’s eldest daughter after she consorted with him.

From conception, his very essence was one of incest and immorality.

Even generations later, his father’s licentiousness was still the defining fiber and form of his nation. It remained a trademark trait of his progeny, as was evidenced by that mass attempt by the Moabites and Midianites to seduce the Jewish soldiers to sin before conquering Canaan. The sole redeeming quality of these people was the underside of their fatal flaw: the trait of chesed and hospitality. By nature, they were inclined to extent hospitality to the Jewish refugees who had just been liberated. But they chose to not greet the tired and hungry Jews as they left Egypt, and they went against their good nature. As a collective entity, they uprooted their sole redeeming quality. Now left with only

(Ruth 2:11). Yet, she displayed great modesty (see Ruth 2:5, Rashi ibid) in spite of her nature, and channeled this trait of loving-kindness only for good, purging her DNA from every vestige of its corrupted mutation. Even when she was given a mandate to “seduce”

Boaz for the fulfillment of a mitzva, she immediately accepted his counter argument, obeyed his words, and restrained herself until the time was proper. She had acquired the trait of chesed in its purest form. Boaz too was a man who showed heroic restraint in matters pertaining to intimacy (See Sanhedrin 19).

His name, Boaz, is a combination of the words “Bo Oz,” meaning, “In him was strength”. He too, was a paradigm of chesed and generosity, but with the proper measure and appropriate application.

A king must have a heart to bear the feelings of all his subjects (Maimonides Hil. Melachim). He must be willing to sacrifice his time, energy, and emotion for the sake his people, and it must come from pure love. Ruth created the potential for such an individual; someone who would compose Psalms that encapsulate the expressions of frustration, sorrow, and despair of all the suffering the Jews would ever endure, and yet uplift, and give faith and hope to all those who read his divinely inspired words. (Her name, Rus, alludes to the Psalms of David.) That is why Ruth was uniquely qualified to forebear the eternal Davidic Dynasty.

Random Facts You May Never Have Known • At Matan Torah, Moshe, Aron, Nadav, Avihu, and seventy Zekainim ascended Har Sinai to their respective positions as Hashem had commanded. They were then given a vision of the Kisai Hakovod, perceiving that Hashem was rejoicing with Klal Yisroel at the redemption from Egypt.

• As Yehoshua waited for Moshe at the foot of the mountain, a special portion of maan fell down in order to sustain him.

• Moshe entered the thickness of the cloud and was admitted into the Heavenly camp. Afraid for his life, he recited kapital Tehilim Yoshaiv Bisasar, which protects from harmful powers. He also asked Bnai Yisroel to beg Hashem that he should be able to return in peace.

• Before he left, each angel revealed his particular secret, a healing formula that was from Hashem’s Names in the Parshios of the Torah. At that time the Malach Hamaves revealed to Moshe that plague could be stopped by burning Ketores.

• As Hashem descended on Har Sinai in a burst of fire surrounded by a host of 22,000 malachim, there was thunder and lightning and the earth quaked.

• When the Bnei Yisroel passed out after each commandment, Hashem sprinkled a reviving dew to bring them back to life. (The same liquid that will be used for Techiyas Hameisim, b’karov.) After they awoke, they were still weak from shock so Hashem filled the air with the scent of fragrances and they recuperated.

• Besides hearing the Ten Commandments, the Bnai Yisroel also visualized all the Medrashim and Halachos, Kal Vachomers and Gzairah Shavas that pertained to each commandment.

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n Shavuos we read from the book of Ruth. The Medrash tells us that the purpose of this book is to teach the importance of chesed (loving-kindness) and the reward for those who are committed to chesed. How is this the central theme in the story of Ruth?

The Talmud (B.K.38b) tells us that if not for the fact that Ruth would eventually be born from the Moabites, convert to Judaism, and play a pivotal role in Jewish history and the Davidic dynasty, G-d would have destroyed the evil nation of Moav. Why couldn’t G-d destroy the Moabites, and arrange for a nice girl named Ruth to be born to a Philistine family, or maybe an Edomite clan, or any other nation for that matter?

Males of the Moabites are forbidden from marriage with a Jewess even after conversion. The reason given by the Torah: “Because they didn’t greet you with bread and water on the road when you were leaving Egypt.” (Devarim 23:5). This is hardly easy to understand. The Egyptians enslaved us for hundreds of years and drowned our babies in the Nile. They have to wait four generations before their converts can intermarry with an ethnic Jewess.

But Moav? They are forbidden for eternity. No matter how many generations pass, a Jewish woman can never marry a Moabite. Why? Because they weren’t generous and hospitable. Is that fair?

Is failing to organize a massive soup kitchen in the desert for two million people worse than organized premeditated genocide? How can this be the reason for their permanent exclusion when far worse crimes against humanity were perpetrated against our people by many nations, and their descendants are not permanently excluded from full integration into Jewish society?

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R’ Ben Tzion Shafier

Parshas Nasoh

I Never Do Anything Wrong “Speak to the Bnai Yisrael and say to them: any man whose wife shall go astray and commit treachery against him. . . ” — Bamidbar 5:12 The Parsha of Sotah The Torah describes the details of a sotah. If a woman acts in a manner that causes her husband to suspect her of infidelity, he should warn her not to go into seclusion with that other man. If she violates this warning, then the husband is to take her to the Kohain. The Kohain will give her the “bitter waters” to drink.

If she was unfaithful, she will instantly die. If she was not unfaithful, she will be redeemed and blessed.

When the Torah lays out the details, it uses an unusual expression: “If a man will ‘tistheh’ his wife.” The word “tishteh” comes from the root “shoteh,” which means insanity. It’s as if to say, “If a man will accuse his wife of insanity.”

Rashi is troubled by the use of this expression. He explains, based on the Gemara, adulterers do not sin until a wave of insanity enters them. The Siftei Chachmim explains this to mean, “until their yetzer harah teaches them it is permitted.”

It seems clear from the Siftei Chachaim that the modus operandi of the yetzer harah is to convince the potential sinners that the act tempting them is permitted. Only when it succeeds, and they are convinced, will they then transgress.

This statement — people only sin when they are convinced that it is permitted — seems difficult to understand.

If we are dealing with a pious, proper 



Jewish woman who got into a bad situation, she knows that the act that she wants to commit is forbidden. How can the yetzer harah teach her that it is permitted? On the other hand, the Torah may be speaking about the opposite extreme — a woman who has gone off the path and just doesn’t care. Why does she need the yetzer harah to tell her it is permitted? She doesn’t care.

So on both sides of the spectrum, the

The question is why? Why can’t man just admit: it is wrong to steal, but I want to do it anyway?

Our Imagination Creates Our Free Will The reason for this has to do with the inner working of the human. Hashem created man out of two distinct parts.

One is comprised all of the drives and passions found in the animal kingdom; it

The modus operandi of the yetzer harah is to convince the potential sinners that the act tempting them is permitted. yetzer harah either should not be able to convince the person that it is permitted, or it shouldn’t need to convince them.

The answer to this question is based on understanding one of the most consistent quirks of human nature: “I never do anything wrong.” Whether dealing with sophisticated adults or schoolchildren, whether Supreme Court justices or convicted felons, the human seems never to do anything wrong. Wardens will tell you that their jails are filled with self-proclaimed innocent men. Criminals aren’t wrong. Thieves aren’t wrong.

Murderers aren’t wrong. You won’t find a gangster proclaiming, “Yes, it is evil to murder and pillage, but what can I do?

I am weak and give into my desires.”

Instead, you will hear an entire belief system explaining that his approach to life is actually better for society and the world.





  

is simply base instincts and desires. The other part of man is pure intellect: holy, good and giving. That part of me wishes to be generous and noble and only aspires for that which is good.

Because this part of me is made up of pure intellect and wisdom, it would never allow me to sin. It sees the results too clearly. It understands that all of Hashem’s commandments are for my good and that every sin damages me. Because of this crystal clear insight, the human would not have the free will to sin. In theory, he could be tempted to sin, but he would never actually come to the act.

It would be akin to sticking his hand in a fire. In theory he could do it, but it would never happen. It’s a dumb thing to do. So if Hashem created man with just these two parts, man would not have free will in a practical sense.

To allow man to be tempted so that he can choose his course and be rewarded for his proper choices, Hashem put another component in man: imagination. Imagination is the creative ability to form a mental picture and feel it as vividly as if it were real. Armed with an imagination, man can create fanciful worlds at his will and actually believe them. If man wishes to turn to evil, he can create rationales to make these ways sound noble and proper — and fool himself at least. If he wishes, he can do what is right, or if he wishes, he can turn to wickedness. Even his brilliant intellect won’t prevent him. He is capable of creating entire worldviews that explain how the behavior he desires is righteous, correct, and appropriate. Now man has free will.

The answer to the Rashi is on two levels. First off, we see the power of rationalizing. Even a fully mature, pious woman who grew up in the best of homes can be convinced, on some level, that illicit relations are permitted. The yetzer harah will use her imagination and create clever and creative ways to explain that black is white, in is out, and arayos is permitted. As ridiculous as it sounds, that is the power given to the yetzer harah.

The second idea is that even the woman who seems to be off the derech and wouldn’t need an excuse really does.

No human can ever do something that is wrong. Because of the greatness of her soul and the truth that she knows deep down inside, she understands that for a married woman to go to another man is forbidden. The only way that she can perpetrate this act is if she has a rational way of explaining how in fact it is permitted. The human is incapable of doing something wrong. The only way he can do something wrong is by making it right.

There are two major concepts that we see in this Rashi. First, we see the greatness of the human. Without this superimposed force called imagination, man’s soul is so great that he couldn’t possibly sin. And second, because of the greatness of man’s soul, Hashem created the force of imagination that lets man believe exactly what he wants to, allowing him free will. So now even the very pious woman can be deluded into thinking the impossible: arayos is permitted. The power of her imagination is such that the yetzer harah can paint a picture that makes the forbidden permitted. And so, while we see the greatness of man, we also see how susceptible we are to being duped into believing whatever we wish to believe.

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Rabbi Jonathan Gewirtz

eople often come up to me and say, “I’ve got an article idea for you.” Usually it’s some pet peeve of theirs which they see as terribly rude, annoying, or wrong. Sometimes, it’s something inspirational or special, like when the rain stopped just long enough for chametz-burning to go on, and then started again.

This time, someone had a concept and said, “If anyone can come up with a good article about this, it’s Jonathan Gewirtz.” He had been speaking to the manager of a gym which charges $10 a month. “How can you make money on ten dollars a month?” he asked.

“Look around,” said the manager.

“You see all these people here? These aren’t the ones I make money on. I make money on the people who pay ten dollars every month and never show up.”

“I don’t understand,” asked our guest, “Why do they keep paying if they don’t come?”

“It’s just ten dollars,” replied the gym staffer. “They tell themselves, ‘I’m not going to cancel. I’m going to start going again next month,’ or ‘It’s almost January (or spring, or summer, or school season), I’ll start then and it’ll be great.’ And so it goes. They let it ride because they plan to come to the gym, but it never happens.”

Now, dear readers, I’m not focused on whether the gym is making money or not, or whether you will actually go to a gym if it costs you more money. I’m focused on the idea that keeps people paying month after month.

You see, the people who pay but don’t show up are not saying that they don’t mind throwing money away. I don’t think you’d see any of them take a ten-dollar bill and throw it into the street.

People like their money.

Instead, what they’re really saying, deep down, is, “It’s not too late. I want to stay a member in the gym because I know it’s good for me and I should start going more regularly. I can do it.”

What an idea! Think about it.

Deep down they know what’s good and that just because you don’t look like a body-builder today is no reason you can’t trim a few pounds tomorrow. You don’t need to devote major resources to it, just be dedicated and find it important.

If you’ve ever exercised, especially when you didn’t want to, you know how wonderful you feel afterwards. You’re glad you pushed yourself. You know it was time well-spent. You feel proud of

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PROGRESS MADE? “I beg you, please spread my story! It might serve as a lesson for others, especially Chatzos partners.” That was the request in a message we received a short while ago. yourself and rightfully so.

Now, what about if you were exhausted and just wanted to plop down on the couch with a book (or better yet, without a book!), but instead you picked up a sefer, called a friend who was down, or went out to a shiur. You pushed yourself to do what you knew was good for your soul. Afterwards, you probably felt like a million dollars; proud as a peacock.

I’ve been known to wake up very early in the morning to learn. It’s not easy pulling myself out of bed, but I can tell you that when I close the gemara or finish my weekly Dvar Torah, I am not thinking about the missing sleep. I’m thinking, “Wow, that was invigorating.

I’m so happy I did that. I rock. Go me!”

Shavuos is a time for everyone who has been pushing off their involvement in Torah until they’ve got more time, or more energy, or less stress, to say, “I want to do this for me. I can do it. This is the time I’m going to make it a habit and stick to it.”

Because, you know, when you miss it, it’s not just ten bucks. It’s time.

Even if you might throw ten dollars out the window, would you do it to 43,200 minutes each and every month?

Think time is money? Forget it.

Money doesn’t even come close.

So, as we approach Shavuos, resolve to get spiritually healthy, make good choices, and start leading a wholesome Torah lifestyle. Besides, when that’s your goal, you can still enjoy your cheesecake without feeling guilty. Not only that, it’s a mitzvah!

Jonathan Gewirtz is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in publications around the world. He also operates JewishSpeechWriter.com, where you can order a custom-made speech for your next special occasion.

For more information, or to sign up for his weekly Dvar Torah in English, e-mail info@JewishSpeechWriter.com. © 2013 by Jonathan Gewirtz. All rights reserved.

The story relates to a distinguished talmud chacham who was unfortunately going through a hard time with his daughter, who had fallen in with a wrong group of friends. Within a short time she was behaving and dressing inappropriately, much to the dismay and anguish of her worried parents. In response, they turned to “Kollel Chatzos” and signed up as yearly partners and submitted their daughter’s name for a positive transformation. “The Zohar Hakodesh writes that through the power of chatzos you will merit pious children” the man continued “have her in mind, learn and pray for her, that she should be pulled out of this dark abyss”.

Being enrolled as chatzos partners for an extended period, they had the opportunity to “interchange” the names and requests.

After a month, seeing no progress and no improvement in the situation, they decided to change the name to their son, who was in need of assistance at the time.

A short while later, he called us back with a new request: “I made a mistake! I want to add to my partnership and resubmit my daughter’s name!” He told us that he had just completed a conversation with a counselor who was working with his daughter and her friend, and relayed that although there seemed to be no improvement with the “friend”, their daughter was making strides for the better!

“Charge my card” he concluded “because I want to keep both of my kids on your list. With “Kollel Chatzos’s” help we have seen tremendous miracles for our children!”

Topic Source: They will Merit Holy and Pious Children! (‫)זוהר הק' ויקרא י"ב‬

THE HEAVENS REJOICE! “KOLLEL CHATZOS” WILLIAMSBURG BRANCH OPENING The announcement from the Central office of “Kollel Chatzos” about the Grand Opening of its latest branch in Williamsburg right after Yom Tov, has been greeted with pride and joy. The kollel will be located at the renowned address of 500 Bedford, home of the Satmar Rebbe zy”a, with its rich history and walls steeped in countless hours of Torah and holiness. Look out for future updates.the Chatzos-partners!

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Shavuos and the Ten-Dollar Gym

The Center for Torah and Shmurah

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In the Kitchen

Dairy Delights On Shavuos, many families enjoy a milchig “kiddush” before the yom tov meal during the day. Here are some easy and delicious treats to serve for kiddush or anytime you’re looking to impress your family and friends.

CHEESECAKE MUFFINS Ingredients Crust 1 cup graham cracker crumbs 1 tablespoon sugar 4 - 5 tablespoons butter, melted Filling 2 - 8 ounce packages of full fat cream cheese, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 2 large eggs, room temperature 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest 1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature

Preparation Preheat oven to 300° and place oven rack in the center of the oven. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a small bowl, combine the crushed graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter. Press a heaping tablespoon of crumbs onto the bottoms of the 12 muffin cups. Cover and refrigerate while you make the filling.

Beat the cream cheese on low speed until creamy and smooth. Add the sugar and salt and beat until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Add the vanilla extract, lemon zest, and sour cream and beat until smooth. Remove the crusts from the refrigerator and evenly divide the filling among the 12 muffin cups.

Bake for about 18 - 22 minutes or until firm but the centers of the cheesecakes still wobble a little. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Let cool and then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (a few hours or even overnight).

Serving suggestion: top each muffin with fresh strawberries or blueberries and then drizzle with melted chocolate.

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE Ingredients 2 eggs 1 ½ sticks butter, room temperature 1 cup sugar 1 cup sour cream 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla Topping: 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup mini chocolate chips 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Preparation Preheat oven to 350° degrees Fahrenheit. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and then alternate adding dry ingredients and sour cream to the cake batter.

In a separate bowl, mix topping ingredients (chocolate chips, brown sugar, cinnamon). Sprinkle 1/4 of the topping into a greased Bundt pan. Spread 1/2 batter into Bundt pan, add 1/2 of the topping, and then add remaining batter. Sprinkle rest of topping mixture on top of the batter.

Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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CHOCOLATE CANNOLI

Ingredients 15 ounce carton ricotta cheese ¼ cup granulated sugar 4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon vanilla ½ teaspoon finely shredded orange peel ¼ cup finely chopped dark or bittersweet chocolate 10 – 12 packaged chocolate cannoli shells (if you can’t find the chocolate ones, the others will do) Preparation For the filling, in a medium bowl stir together ricotta cheese, granulated sugar, 4 teaspoons cocoa powder, vanilla, and orange peel until almost smooth. Fold in chocolate. Cover and chill until needed.

Meanwhile, dip the ends of each cannoli shell in melted chocolate. If you wish, before it dries, dip the end into a bowl filled with chopped nuts. Let cool until they dry. Once they’re dry, spoon filling into a pastry bag fitted with a large open star or round tip. Pipe filling into cannoli shells. If desired, cover and chill for up to 1 hour. Before serving, sprinkle cannoli with powdered sugar and, if desired, additional cocoa powder.

SUPER-EASY INDIVIDUAL BROWNIE TRIFLES Ingredients 2/3 cup whipping cream or Rich’s Whip 1 tablespoon sugar ¼ teaspoon vanilla 2 cups brownies, crumbled into pieces (about 2 cups) (you can use store-bought) 2 cups fresh raspberries or dark sweet cherries, pitted 1 cup chocolate ice cream Unsweetened cocoa powder (optional) Preparation Combine whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form; set aside.

Divide half of the crumbled brownies between 4 large parfait glasses or water goblets.

Divide half of the raspberries, ice cream topping, and whipped cream between the glasses, creating layers. Repeat layers with remaining brownies, raspberries, ice cream topping, and whipped cream. If desired, sprinkle with cocoa powder. Serve immediately or cover and chill up to 4 hours.

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Inspiration Andrea Eller*

From Song to Song

F

loods, spots and stage lights glance off my glitter; I’m under scrutiny downstage-center in front of the band while a college-aged crowd of four hundred strong dances and parties at my feet. I’m wearing skinny beige jeans tucked into seven-inch platform alligator-skin boots; my jeans are studded from waist to ankle with silver rivets, a black mesh glove runs up to the elbow and a red silk scarf is tied to my wrist. Bordering my left eye is a fiery rose of glitter, its stem and leaves trailing, sparkling down my cheek, the glitter stuck on with clear nail-polish. My rock ‘n’ roll look. I’m singing Janis Joplin’s Cry, Cry Baby in a passion.

And part of me is trying to hide behind my mike stand. Diameter: one-and-ahalf-inches.

That was more than a generation ago. I was about 24 and had been singing professionally for seven years, graduating from fraternity-party bands to this group.

The talent, the music, the show, the swelling fan base, our group in demand, talents moving us up, up, up, almost reaching the big time...

And niggling at the back of my brain on the ascent was the half-consciousness of an inverse fall. My compatriots, brainy and interesting in earlier college days, had morphed into something less wholesome. The culture was now one of license, noxious lyrics, and ear-punishing sound. Yes, I did, after all, sing the stuff, but I’m happy to say that I was ridiculed for being just too straight, too “soft for rock ‘n’ roll.”

Only rarely would the image of my life harden into pitiless focus, but when it did, nanoseconds of clarity interposed. Like light sneaking under a door, the clarity finally broke through to frontal-lobe consciousness despite my firm resistance. It was the recognition that while we were jetting toward success, I was free-falling. The small, still voice inside asked of me, “What are you doing?”

I answered by quitting the band and going back to school. The idea was to learn something about music (I’d been depending on ear and instinct for the better part of a decade), and to work towards a degree. It was a great decision. I discovered to my delight that music is as logical as it is other-worldly, and Heaven knows I was in need of some logic.

Marrying one of my teachers wasn’t such a great decision. I’d been immersed in the distasteful for so long, that he looked good. The truth was that his quiet manner, which I confused with refinement, masked a quiet, constant hostility toward himself, toward the world, and toward me.

roll type, I had an odd pulling to things Jewish. Perhaps it was because Hostile Man was not Jewish. I’d occasionally drive to South Miami Beach on a Friday morning (this was before it went art-deco posh) for challah and kosher chicken – the makings of a Shabbos dinner. I hadn’t grown up with Shabbos and hadn’t many clues as to what it was all about, but I liked the Jewish-y feeling of entering the little butcher shops and bakeries on the beach.

On those Friday nights I’d light candles when the sun went down. I still remembered the Aleph-Bet from Hebrew school so I would stumble over the proper blessing in an old Hebrew book. I’d close my eyes and wait for… something….

But any Sabbath holiness thus invited would be punctuated – or punctured – by the football game Hostile Man would be watching in the same room. Something just didn’t feel right.

There were other Friday nights when I’d turn up at the local JCC where Jewish students from U. Miami would be seated on the floor, singing along with a folk guitar player. Someone would hold up a challah and make another kind of blessing, then everyone would reach out and tear off a piece.

I’d drive home hungry.

I even went to a Yom Kippur service in South Miami. After the service I asked the rabbi, “Do you believe in G-d?” I don’t remember her answer but do remember heading for the door. I might not have known much about Judaism, but I knew palaver when I heard it.

And most assuredly I can’t explain why one Friday night I drove to that synagogue on the beach. Oh, why had I parked right in front of the shul? I knew better! Outside, a gentle, little greybearded fellow, early-fifties, approached and invited me to dinner. That’s it, I thought. This guy is trying to pick me up. Get me OUT of here. (He was inviting me to join his family for a Shabbos meal, as I was to learn by experience – much later.)

Hostile Man and I moved to California. After three years of marriage we divorced.

In LA, I enjoyed some success singing with “big bands” (13 horns plus rhythm section), which claim a sphere in the music world more dignified than the one I’d abandoned. It was a trade-off, glitter and glove for gown and gloves. Then I began the earnest pursuit of an acting career: improv groups, headshots, agents, acting classes, auditions, industrial-film roles, bitsy movie roles, workouts, hair coloring, looks, looks, looks, me-me-me-me, meme-me-me… until I got sick of ME. Again, I went back to school – this time for a master’s in theater.

Ironic how I’d sung at least a dozen times in the Crystal Ballroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel, and here I was in that same room attending a Jewish seminar.

Jewish Butcher Shops

While we were living in Miami and in between singing gigs of the non-rock ‘n’

It was while studying Ibsen, Lorca, and Ianesco that my having no Jewish friends began to grate. I wanted to meet Jews. How would I do that?

One fine spring day a flyer flew into my mailbox. Coming: A four-part seminar on love, dating and marriage, the Jewish way. Jewish way? Hmm. The fellow I was dating wasn’t Jewish.

Ironic how I’d sung at least a dozen times in the Crystal Ballroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel, and here I was in that same room attending a Jewish seminar. A 30-something yarmulke’d rabbi, slight of build, beige polyester suit and a wildly red tie, began to speak about dating. So I listen, comfortable in a conference-room chair at the back of the room. Then I lean forward in the chair. I move a few rows closer, then closer again... He’s saying that “casual dating” is an oxymoron. An impossibility.

He’s saying, in short, that dating and becoming close are not casual. They leave their imprint on the heart and soul, and especially on the heart and soul of a woman.

How non-PC! Flash: Somewhere in the benthic depths of me I had known it.

The rabbi continues. He talks about why Jews should marry Jews – common sense reasons. The biggest question he addresses, however, is whether anything important inheres in being Jewish. I’d never, ever heard anyone address such issues – not in the Hebrew School I’d detested in my youth, nor at home where the refrain had been simply, “Don’t marry a gentile.” Whoops…

The 150 singles in the Crystal Ballroom break into groups to discuss the rabbi’s comments, discussions led by youngish men and women sensitive to those like me who know little about Judaism. Each of these monitors guides the colloquy toward Jewish thinking. It’s exhilarating.

I show up the next week for Part II, and the next day it’s curtains for my current suitor. Eight days after the first session, I’m resolved to date only Jews, and with the sole intention of marriage.

I clearly remember the fourth and final meeting. The rabbi speaks, and once again he’s smart, funny, sincere, engaging and honest, and this time his tie is bright green. We break up into groups for the last time, ours led by Manny, a seasoned Jew in his early 30s. The discussion is lively and challenging – and over. I corner Manny and say, “Now what? Is that it?” He excuses himself (turns out he consults with the rabbi) and in a while returns and invites me to join his regular Monday night Torah class – that he has put together in the last five minutes as I found out years later.

The evening has ended, but I want to talk to the rabbi. He’s sitting on the proscenium bordering the stage, so I sit down beside him, yanking my skirt down to what I deem an acceptable length. I ask, “Why do women have to sit separately in synagogues as if they’re pariahs?” I wax further indignant, insulted, and self-righteous for a good half minute. He’s calm as he looks at me straight on with a quizzical almost-smile, and asks, as if he truly wants to know, “What’s really bothering you?”

Perhaps it’s the caring tone of his voice, or maybe it’s his directness: I cannot vocalize an answer. Instead, my eyes well up. After a moment or two I manage an “I don’t know.” I have to think about this.

And think I do. Hard. What bothers me is that I really want my religion, this Judaism, to make sense to me. I don’t want to be seduced by something just because it’s sweet or homey, or welcoming. It’s got to be real.

Despite the caveat, I move toward things Jewish. I show up at an LA synagogue for Shabbos prayers. I accept a few Shabbos dinner invitations, although I’m baffled that these strangers want me to stay overnight. (You want me to sleep here?

But – why? I have my own place! I’ll come back tomorrow!) A few months pass and Manny encourages me to attend a Discovery seminar, Aish HaTorah’s threeday program focusing on the Torah’s origin. I can’t. I have Saturday afternoon and Sunday night gigs that weekend. Manny and his wife argue, successfully, that my missing a portion of the program doesn’t mean I won’t get something out of the rest of it.

I get something out of it all right. I get that things Jewish are not just sensible and stimulating, warm and sweet. Nor is it just a pleasure to hear the brilliance, intensity and logic of the lecturers. When the final speaker pulls together all the arguments for the veracity of the Torah, symphonic cymbals crash directly above my head. My whole being reverberates.

It’s not a fairy tale.

It’s real. Real.

Cymbal sound-waves thrumming, I decide to visit and explore Israel – and maybe learn more about being Jewish. Chalk up another good decision.

Gary, the guitar player on the Sunday night gig, observes that I look like the cat who swallowed the canary. Well, that’s how I felt. Stuffed. With relief. Life actually has meaning. Well what do you know.

Onstage Again

Two interesting, personal truths declared themselves subsequent to my Jewish re-education. I’d always wanted to write and perform my own show, but no theme had ever gelled. I might have had the talent, but I’d nothing to say. That and the bewildering compulsion to hide behind the mike stand had conflated, forging an insuperable barrier between me and creativity. Now I had something to say: Life has meaning. The spigot of inspiration was open.

The second realization was more central. Astonishing, actually.

I’d no conscious idea that under the glitter and gowns had been a soul that balked at being … well… being viewed the way men view adorned women onstage. The intrusion had resulted only in a disconnected, if profound, discomfort. Today I know no such discomfort performing for women, who view me impartially as I entertain them. Wait. That’s not quite right. Most women view me lovingly.

Thus I’m free to sing, to be silly, serious, confident, and even giving.

Onstage I can be who I am – or a deliberately hyperbolic version of who I am. Performing has become a joy. I no longer hide behind mike stands.

Musician, wife, singer, actor, writer. My connection to Torah has unified the parts. As well, the connection has brought forth another of my “parts”: a soul – a soul that had been hidden in those benthic depths. That soul has since wrapped all my abilities into the oneness of a real self. I do believe that even in its weakened state, my soul was pressing me to the sorta-kinda, sorta-not Shabboses, the synagogue hopping, and my cataclysmic response to the Discovery program.

I thank G-d every day for shepherding me toward what I could not articulate – the need to connect to my Jewishness, to a freed creativity, to G-d Himself… and to a soul embracing it all.

What bothers me is that I really want my religion, this Judaism, to make sense to me.

*originally published on Aish HaTorah’s website under the pseudonym Robin Ramon Silver Reprinted with permission.

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Notable

Quotes

Compiled by Nate Davis

“Say What?”

According to a new poll, Americans trust Judge Judy more than they trust Supreme Court justices.

She won her trust after her landmark decision in the case of Drunk Lady vs. Other Drunk Lady.

- Conan O’Brien

If I could just get your autograph on my copy of your first bill.

- MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on air, after discussing a bill she sponsored As I have said before, the woes of Iran, and the earthquakes that threaten us in particular, can all be blamed on immodest women.

-Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

I swear that if we had a nuke, we’d have used it this very morning.

- Jibril Rajoub, the Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee and Chairman of the Palestinian Authority Olympic Committee For the first time ever, girls in Saudi Arabia will be allowed to take part in school sports.

Of course, their moms won’t be allowed to drive them to practice. But hey, it’s progress.

- Jay Leno

In a land of freedom we are held hostage by the tyranny of political correctness.

-Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, responding to calls that the team’s name is offensive to Indians and should be changed

I’m calling on the Supreme Leader of North Korea or as I call him, “Kim,” to do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose.

- Former NBA star Dennis Rodman asking for the release of a Korean-American man sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea

A pencil is a weapon when it is pointed at someone in a threatening way and gun noises are made.

- A Virginia school spokesman explaining why a 7-year-old boy was expelled for making believe his pencil was a gun

Matt Harvey has Mets permission to skip game tomorrow and be at MSG to root on Rangers.

- Prank Tweet sent by Jay Horwitz (Mets’ vice president of media relations), which caused a frenzy amongst fans who purchased tickets to see Met phenomenon Matt Harvey

Yesterday, police arrested 31 people involved in that big jewel heist in Belgium.

One of the jewel thieves they captured yesterday was also a lawyer. That is a shame.

Now lawyers will get a bad reputation.

- Craig Ferguson

Chris Christie revealed he had lap-band surgery in February. President Obama wished him well. In fact, Obama is now thinking about having Joe Biden’s mouth stapled.

- Jay Leno Governor Christie is now saying that his decision had nothing to do with 2016, which by the way is his cholesterol.

-David Letterman New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says he’s still adjusting after his surgery to reduce how much he can eat. He said, “I now have six free hours a day I don’t know what to do with.”

- Conan O’Brien Chris Christie had weight reduction surgery. As a result, I’ll be going into surgery for monologue joke reduction.

- Conan O’Brien

I don’t think the Port Authority does a good enough job in anything that they do, quite honestly, but clearly in the area of security. Those cops get paid more than NYPD cops, and quite honestly — I know I’m going to get into trouble for saying this — they’re nothing more than mall cops.

- Mayoral candidate Joe Lhota at a candidate forum On 9/11 we searched together for 23 NYPD officers and 37 PAPD officers who sacrificed their own lives while evacuating others to safety. If that doesn’t speak to professional policing, then I don’t know what does.

- Patrick J. Lynch, president of the PBA I regret my unfortunate characterization of the Port Authority Police Department.

- Joe Lhota Every year for the past few years, on Mother’s Day...I’ve taken a delegation into Afghanistan or Iraq…to say thank you to our moms...who are serving there...I won’t be going this particular weekend because we don’t have—you know, under sequestration, we don’t have congressional delegations.

- Nancy Pelosi decrying the sequestration

Why do so many people like you, but don’t like me?

- Former Giants running back Tiki Barber interviewing his brother and former NFL player Ronde Barber on his CBS Sports show

I love bacon and I eat it every day. I don’t feel as old as I am, that’s all I can say.

-105-year-old Pearl Cantrell, in an interview with a local NBC station discussing the secret of her longevity

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the professional networking site LinkedIn. Which is weird, because on LinkedIn it says it has 15 years of experience.

- Jimmy Fallon

Bill Clinton was being interviewed recently, and he said that despite all the speculation, Hillary hasn’t said anything to him about running for president in 2016. Though in fairness, she hasn’t said anything to him since 1998.

- Jimmy Fallon

New predictions claim that 42 percent of Americans will be obese by the year 2030.

They say the only way to stop it is for government to step in. Oh, yeah, that will work.

When it comes to trimming the fat and tightening your belt, who knows better than the U.S. government?

- Jay Leno A Texas man has fired the first-ever gun created by a 3-D printer. Which raises the question: Don’t you think a gun created by a printer would jam?

- Conan O’Brien

You will address me as Dr. Gosnell.

- Abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, who is on trial for running an abortion house of horrors, to the sheriff You’re just an inmate now, Kermit.

- Sheriff in response The fastest way to reduce climate change shouldn’t seem impossible, because it requires no massive new investments, technological breakthroughs or long-term infrastructure projects.... it just requires us all to eat fewer animal products.

- David Sirota in Salon magazine

Our house is on fire. We’re getting the big stories wrong, over and over again.

- CBS anchor Scott Pelley in a speech at Quinnipiac University As I listen to your testimony I could not help but think of something that I said very recently -- two years ago now – in a eulogy for a relative.

I said that death is a part of life.

- Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) to Benghazi witnesses who were testifying about how the tragedy could have been prevented

CNN anchor Carol Costello was robbed of her iPhone in broad daylight while walking down the street in Atlanta.

Unfortunately, it was on CNN, so there weren’t any witnesses.

- Jay Leno Send Nikki Haley back to wherever ... she came from.

- South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman, Dick Harpootlian, talking about the GOP governor whose parents are from India I mean, I apologized yesterday...She is not from India, she is from Bamburg, South Carolina, where she was an accountant in her parents’ clothing store called Exotica, and all I’m suggesting is she needs to go back to being an accountant in a dress store rather than being this fraud of a governor that we have.

- Ibid., the following day

People are watching – and they are watching you.

All of us appearing on-air should take care to present ourselves in the best light possible, and that includes physical appearance. As many of our regular guests already know, neat and professional dress, combed hair and a quick visit to our resident makeup artist on the 6th floor is encouraged before each appearance for both men and women – even for just a quick dash of powder. You want the spotlight focused on your stellar journalism – not shining off your forehead.

- Wall Street Journal memos to employees

Give me my gun back and I’ll give you your phone that you dropped.

- What a crook in New Orleans said to an armed-robbery victim after the victim snatched the crook’s gun, but dropped his phone in the process

I felt horrible. I’ve played basketball a million times in my life and I’ve never elbowed anybody. So the first time I do this, it’s to the President of the United States? What is the probability of that? Nil, right?

- Reynaldo Decerega talking to the Boston Globe on 5/6/13 about the incident two years ago when he elbowed President Obama in the lip during a basketball game, causing him to get 12 stitches For Rey, the only guy that ever hit the president and never got arrested. Barack.

- Note attached to a threepicture sequence of the incident sent by the president to Reynaldo Decerega

Beginning Memorial Day 2013, Walmart will offer a job to any honorably discharged veteran within his or her first 12 months off active duty. We believe Walmart is already the largest private employer of veterans. And we want to hire more. We project that we’ll hire more than 100,000 veterans over the next five years.

- Statement by Walmart about their new policy Walmart’s recent announcement of a plan to hire returning honorably discharged veterans is more about public relations than honoring our heroes...

We owe it to our returning veterans to make sure they are treated as the heroes they are, rather than as symbols used to “greenwash” Walmart’s eroding brand.

After facing enemies abroad, is an $8.81 an hour part-time job the best we can offer returning veterans?

- AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka The cicadas are back after 17 years, but they don’t have their original drummer.

- David Letterman

89 91 w Ii Ss H h HH Oo M m Ee nn M M , 2013 TT Hh Ee JJ Ee W AYay2 41,4 2012

In all his recent interviews Mr. Bush has been modest, humorous, proud but unassuming, and essentially philosophical: History will decide. No finger-pointing or scoring points. If he feels rancor or resentment he didn’t show it. He didn’t attempt to manipulate.

His sheer normality seemed like a relief, an echo of an older age.

And all this felt like an antidote to Obama—to the imperious I, to the inability to execute, to the endless interviews and the imperturbable drone, to the sense that he is trying to teach us, like an Ivy League instructor taken aback by the backwardness of his students. And there’s the unconscious superiority. One thing Mr. Bush didn’t think he was was superior. He thought he was luckily born, quick but not deep, and he famously trusted his gut but also his heart. He always seemed moved and grateful to be in the White House. Someone who met with Mr. Obama during his first year in office, an old hand who’d worked with many presidents, came away worried and confounded. Mr. Obama, he said, was the only one who didn’t seem awed by his surroundings, or by the presidency itself.

- Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal

DrDeb

The Jewish Home n

M ay 1 4 , 2013

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Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.

TJH Staff

The Single’s Top Seven Warning Signs of an Unhealthy Relationship…continued…

W

hen people have long-term marriages and things are bad, there are ways to fix them.

It’s better to resolve problems so kids can grow up in a home with two loving parents. But you aren’t married and you have your life ahead of you, so why get bogged down with something hurtful when you don’t have to? Why suffer?

Life was not meant for suffering, not in my opinion.

Are you shocked to hear me say this? Aren’t we in the middle of a shidduch crisis? Shouldn’t I be promoting marriage? If you’ve read my articles or if you know me, you know I am very pro-marriage. If you want to save your marriage, I will do everything in my power to help you. On the other hand, perhaps one of the reasons for the shidduch crisis is fear. Perhaps people have seen their recently-married friends get divorced within a year. Perhaps their own parents divorced or were unhappy.

I have figured out a way around this fear. If singles would know exactly what to look for – and avoid it like the plague – then they can relax about their dating experience with everyone else.

I think we were meant, like the Constitution says, to pursue happiness.

Maybe it doesn’t come easily, not on a silver platter. But that doesn’t mean we can’t go for it. That’s why I wrote this.

I want you to have a simple blueprint for your relationships that will help you stay on the road to pursuing happiness rather than being stuck in misery. I’ve boiled it down to the top seven signs that something is not right. Tips one through four were discussed in last week’s issue. Here are the rest, starting from number five.

Sign 5: You’re always the bad one.

When something goes wrong, does your significant other manage to be the victim and you seem to always turn out to be the “bad guy”? Playing victim is a warning sign of someone who was emotionally abused growing up and always feels like he or she is being hurt. The problem is that no matter how innocent you are, no matter how kind your heart, you are always in the wrong. As much as you are concerned about the feelings of your friend, what

about your feelings?

It’s not right to make you out to always be the bad one. In a relationship of two equals, both people will make mistakes; both people can be responsible for problems that come up. When you always become the bad one, what happens to the other person? Simple: He or she is totally freed of responsibility. If it’s always your fault, it’s never theirs.

Do you see what a clever way this is to not have to look at themselves? This is

conversation like that: Lisa: My brother did the wrong thing in leaving you off the team, but he is usually a fair person. He must have had some kind of reason, even if it wasn’t a good one.

Paul: So, basically, what you’re saying is your brother can do no wrong.

Do you see where I’m going, here?

Lisa said the exact opposite! She is trying to see the good in her brother and help Paul to see it, but she is taking

Anger feeds on itself and it doesn’t go away.

It’s like a fire that is out of control another sign of a relationship you do not want to be in.

Sign 6: Conversations make no sense.

There are people in this world who just don’t like to think. And I’m not talking about doing schoolwork. They can be excellent academically or on the job. The thinking I’m talking about is what is involved in a chesbon hanefesh, a personal accounting of one’s actions.

It’s being reflective, looking at oneself.

Thinking: “Could it be possible that I hurt someone else’s feelings?” In order to do this, one must be logical. One must be willing to admit, logically, that if most people say something would hurt their feelings, then that behavior probably really is hurtful. It’s not logical to just defensively respond, “No, it isn’t!”

One way people who don’t want to look at themselves get around this is to misquote others. Ann will tell something to Bill and then Bill will quote Ann as saying the exact opposite!

Where in the world did Bill get that from? The answer is: It was more convenient to keep repeating something he wants to believe rather than sticking to the facts. Here’s another example of a

Paul’s side here. Paul, however, wants no part of that. It’s easier for him to just say that Lisa has not taken his side at all. Now, he can launch into Sign 5 and make her the bad one with himself the victim.

If you find conversations end up like the one above with Lisa and Paul, this is not a healthy relationship. People have to really be able to hear what you say and not misquote you. The really annoying thing is that if Lisa and Paul get married, he will keep doing this for the next 47 years if they stay together that long. If you’re Lisa, don’t get started with it; it’s not going to get better.

Sign 7: There’s too much anger.

There are angry people in this world.

Maybe they have good reason, but you know what? Anger feeds on itself and it doesn’t go away. It’s like a fire that is out of control: Everything in its path burns. People who are angry more often than not have bigger problems than you, as a friend, can handle. And you can easily become the target of their anger yourself. If your boyfriend or girlfriend often complains about others or is furious at them, this is not a relationship that will bring you joy.

I do understand how you might

feel compassion for the suffering your friend has had, but your compassion will not make that suffering go away.

All that will happen is the pain will suck you into that dark place your friend is in and then you will both be there in it together. There is no reason to throw away your whole life like that. And a good friend who really cares about you wouldn’t want you to be in that awful place anyway.

If the anger is directed at you, that’s even more reason to end the relationship. Anger escalates. Eventually, it could become dangerous.

So what do you do when faced with these seven signs?

The hardest thing is to confront someone who is making you uneasy or who frightens or depresses you. It’s scary. Step one is to reach out to the friends that you’ve been out of touch with and explain what’s going on. Explain that you’ve decided to break off the relationship and you want support.

Get them on board. And if there is any potential for violence, you might consider contacting the police to be in the vicinity.

Step two is to meet in a public place to make the break so as to ensure both physical and psychological safety. With friends in the area should you need them, you can calmly explain that this relationship needs to end. Prepare for it by taking deep breaths, getting calm and focused.

Finally, you might find that you are harassed afterwards. Depending on how dangerous the relationship was, it could be violent. Be sure the right people know. Do not keep this to yourself. That is another topic, but an important one.

Most of all, focus on creating the good life that you want for yourself.

And that begins by being treated well.

Dr. Deb Hirschhorn, a Marriage & Family Therapist, is proud to announce that readers of The Jewish Home will receive a $50 discount on every visit to her Woodmere office.

For more information, call 646-54-DRDEB or check out her website at drdeb.com.

Gedaliah Borvick

Emerging Har Choma

Location Har Choma is situated in southeastern Jerusalem and is bordered by Kibbutz Ramat Rachel to the north, the Judean Desert to the east, Bethlehem to the south and Derech Chevron to the west. As its name suggests, Har Choma is built on a hill. The apex of the hill reaches 775 meters above sea level and offers magnificent views of Jerusalem and the Judean Hills.

Har Choma is one of Jerusalem’s eight ring neighborhoods – so called because these communities form a ring around the capital – that were built after Israel’s miraculous victory in the 1967 Six Day War. Har Choma’s initial plans were drawn in the 1980s and, after fifteen years of struggles against environmental and political opposition, construction finally began in 1997.

Past In the mid-1940s, a Jewish group purchased a 130-dunam (32 acre) parcel, which comprises the majority of Har Choma. During the 1948 War of Independence, the hill served as the base for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and was utilized by Jordan’s Arab Legion. The name Har Choma – literally Mount of Walls – refers to the walls of a Byzantine church on the side of the hill, which were visible to the Palmach forces that were stationed nearby at Kibbutz Ramat Rachel.

Present Although Har Choma is barely over a decade old, the neighborhood

has grown to almost 25,000 residents. Har Choma’s popularity stems from its relatively inexpensive housing and suburban environment despite its proximity to the center of Jerusalem. It has been well planned, offering many small parks and large playgrounds, with a picturesque promenade encircling the neighborhood and connecting the larger parks.

Har Choma has over a dozen kindergartens, multiple elementary schools, three shopping centers, and numerous bus lines connecting the neighborhood to the rest of Jerusalem.

Har Choma is a mixed neighborhood, with a many families in the Chardal (charedi leumi or ultra-orthodox nationalist) camp, most of whom are affiliated with Yeshivat Mercaz Harav, founded by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. There is also a large dati leumi (religious nationalist) community plus secular Jews. Due to its relatively inexpensive pricing, scores of educators and civil servants – and many young families – live in this neighborhood.

Future Currently, only 5% of the population is comprised of English speakers.

However, there has been a recent push to attract and generate a nucleus of English speakers, which would address the strong demand for inexpensive housing for Anglos with restricted budgets desirous of living in Jerusalem. This effort should eventually gain traction as there are no alternative Jerusalem options offering both affordable and relatively new housing.

I am keeping my eye on Har Choma, as I believe it has strong potential in the near future to become a destination for a portion of my English-speaking clientele.

Gedaliah Borvick is the founder of My Israel Home, a real estate agency focused on helping people from abroad buy and sell homes in Israel. To sign up for his monthly market updates, contact him at gborvick@gmail. com. Please visit his blog at www.myisrael home.com.

Rifka Schonfeld

Recess is More than Just Fun! I keep hearing about how children need recess in order to perform better in school. I understand the general idea: you need to get your blood flowing and your body moving in order to get your brain working. However, I was wondering if there was some sort of educational philosophy behind recess?

There are two extremely important educational principles behind recess: an opportunity for socialization and physical activity. First, socialization is a key part of the learning process. Children who have friends in the classroom and are comfortable with their peers are more likely to participate, volunteer, and speak up. These interactive elements of the learning are what solidify information in a child’s brain. Therefore, the more comfortable a child is socially, the more comfortable he will be to apply his academic knowledge.

Recess, as an opportunity for socialization, provides a time for children to get to know one another on a more personal level, thereby enhancing the positive feeling in the classroom.

The second element of recess that is often overlooked is the idea that through recess children get their bodies moving. John Ratey, a professor at Harvard Medical School and the author of Spark: The Evolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, explains that “physical activity sparks biological changes that encourage brain cell to bind to one another… exercise provides an unparalleled stimulus, creating an environment in which the brain is ready, willing, and able to learn.” So, another added bonus of recess? The ability for children’s brains to function more proficiently after a little physical activity.

Because our schools follow a dual curriculum, it is often hard for teachers to fit in enough time for recess during the day. One exercise that I have found to be helpful both in the classroom and in my office, is a technique Michelle Gay writes about in her book Brain Breaks for the Classroom. These “brain breaks” are a great way to get your child focused when he is doing homework or if he is preparing his leining for his bar mitzvah. The basic concept of brain breaks is that when your child engages both is body and his mind, he will be better ready to accept the information presented to him.

Below are some sample “brain

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W

e recently received an assignment to sell a well-maintained 165 square meter (1,775 sf) 5-bedroom penthouse in Har Choma, Jerusalem. The apartment has two large sukkah balconies boasting panoramic views. The asking price is 2,500,000 NIS or approximately $675,000. If this apartment were located in more centrally located and better established Jerusalem neighborhoods, it would be sold for more than double the price. So why is this apartment so reasonably priced?

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Social Smarts

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breaks” that your child can do at home or in school: Brain Wave • Kneel on the floor. Put your feet down so that your toes are touching.

Put your knees down with a little distance between them.

• Rest your forearms and hands (palms down) on the floor. Spread your elbows wider than your knees.

• Put your forehead on the floor between your hands.

• Take a few deep breaths.

• Push forward for your knees toward your head, rolling up until most of your weight is resting on your head and hands. Curve your back like a C. • Move in reverse until returning to kneeling position.

• Repeat two times.

X’s and O’s • Sit on the edge of your chair.

Make sure your feet are touching the floor.

• Tuck in your arms, legs, and your whole body to make an “O” shape.

• Spread your arms and legs wide open to create an “X” shape.

• Curl back into the “O” position.

Repeat.

These are just two of the multiple short “brain breaks” you can take with your child in order to get his brain working – and his academic juices flowing!

The opinions expressed in this article reflect the view of the author and those cited by her.

In all matters of hashkafah and chinuch, readers should seek reliable rabbinical guidance.

Mrs. Rifka Schonfeld, founder and director of Strategies for Optimum Success (S.O.S.) in 1980, services all grade levels in secular as well as Hebrew studies. A long-time kriah and reading specialist, she offers evaluations, as well as G.E.D. preparation, social skills training and shidduch coaching. She can be reached at 718-382-5437 or at rifkaschonfeld@verizon.net.

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In the Kitchen To Enhance Your Yom Tov Meal After cooking so many meals, sometimes it’s nice to have a different side dish to offer your guests.

Here are some easy, delicious ideas for you to try!

Balsa mic Roasted Carrots

Broccoli Slaw

Ingredients 2 bunches fresh carrots, peeled and trimmed 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp salt ½ tsp pepper 5 sprigs fresh thyme 2 tbsp honey 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Ingredients 2 heads broccoli 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons raisins 1/2 cup finely chopped red onions 3/4 cup slivered almonds 1/2 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon salt freshly ground pepper

Preparation Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Slice the carrots in half lengthwise. In a large mixing bowl, toss with oil, salt and pepper until evenly coated. Arrange carrots in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet, and scatter thyme sprigs overtop. Roast in preheated oven for 15 minutes.

In small bowl, whisk together honey and balsamic vinegar. Pour over the carrots, and gently roll them around to coat. Roast for a further 15-20 minutes or until carrots are tender and caramelized. Serve immediately.

Preparation Shred the broccoli in a food processor, using the grater disk. In a large bowl, combine the shredded broccoli, raisins, red onion, and almonds.

Whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, vinegar, sugar, salt, and a few shakes of fresh pepper. Pour the dressing over the broccoli mixture and stir to combine. Taste and add more salt or pepper, to taste. Allow to sit for 30 minutes (or an hour in the fridge) so the flavors can mingle.

Baked Pastra mi Eggrolls

Quinoa ‘n Cranberries Ingredients 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained 2 cups water ½ cup chopped pecans, toasted ½ cup craisins 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 tablespoons lemon juice Salt and pepper, to taste Preparation Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to mediumlow, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Scrape into a mixing bowl, and cool until it is warm, about 20 minutes.

Once the quinoa has cooled, stir in the pecans, cranberries, olive oil, and lemon juice; season to taste with salt and pepper to taste. Let stand at room temperature about 1 hour before serving.

Ingredients 2 teaspoons canola oil 2 garlic cloves, minced (about 1 tbsp.)

1/2 cup chopped onion 2 cups shredded cabbage or cole slaw mix Salt and pepper, to taste 1 tsp. canola oil 6 slices pastrami, diced 3 tbsp. water + 1 tbsp. flour 10-12 eggroll wrappers 2 tsp. canola oil Directions Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat 2 tsp canola oil in a large frying pan, add minced garlic and chopped onions and sauté for 2-3 minutes until onion is soft and slightly golden around the edges. Add shredded cabbage or coleslaw mix to the onion mixture and stir for approximately 3 minutes or until cabbage begins to wilts. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove cabbage mix from pan and set aside in a medium-sized bowl.

In same frying pan, heat up additional teaspoon of canola oil and fry diced pastrami for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly until crisped. Remove from heat and fold into cabbage mixture.

In a small bowl, mix together water and flour. Cover a baking tray with parchment paper or spray with baking spray. Set aside. Place eggroll wrapper on a plate

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and cover with damp cloth to keep moist and fresh.

To make eggrolls: lay a wrapper flat on a workable surface, position the wrapper in a diamond shape. Place 1/4 cup mound of the pastrami-cabbage mixture in the bottom point of the eggroll (closest to you), roll the dough up, cradling the filling, fold sides over like you would a present, tuck in any extra dough. Roll up and seal top corner with a few drop of the water/flour solution. Seal top corner, and lay on baking sheet seam-side down, brush with canola oil. Repeat process until all ingredients are used up.

Cook in oven for 15 minutes or until eggrolls are golden brown and toasty. Serve warm with duck sauce on the side.

Potato Knishes Ingredients Dough 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon table salt 1 large egg 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon white vinegar 1/2 cup water (see Update, above) Filling 1 1/2 pounds (about 3 medium) russet potatoes, peeled and quartered 1 small yellow onion, peeled and diced small 2 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil 1/2 teaspoon table salt

Freshly ground black pepper To finish 1 large egg yolk 1 teaspoon water

Preparation Make dough: Stir together your dry ingredients in the bottom of a medium/large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, vinegar and water. Pour it over the dry ingredients and stir them to combine. Knead it until smooth, about a minute.

Place the dough back in the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Set it aside for an hour (or in the fridge, up to 3 days) until needed.

Meanwhile, prepare filling: Put potatoes into a large pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes can be pierced easily with a knife, about 20 minutes. Drain, then transfer to a large bowl to cool.

Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add oil until hot and then add onions and reduce to medium-low. Cook, stirring frequently, until deeply caramelized, which will take about 20-45 minutes. Transfer to bowl with potatoes and mash together until almost smooth. Stir in salt and black pepper and set the filling aside.

Assemble knish: Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 375°.

Divide the dough in half. On a well-floured surface, roll the first half of the dough into a very thin sheet, roughly in the shape of a 1-foot square. For moderate size knish, create a 2-inch thick log from half your potato filling across the bottom of your dough. Roll the filling up in the dough, but not too tight. A tiny amount of slack will keep the dough from opening in the oven. Keep rolling until the log has been wrapped twice in dough. Trim any unrolled length and add it to the second half of the dough; it can be used again. Repeat the process with the second half of your dough and second half of filling; you might have a small amount of dough leftover.

Trim the ends of the dough so that they’re even with the potato filling. Then, make indentations on the log every 3 to 3 1/2 inches (you’ll have about 3, if your log was 1 foot long) and twist the dough at these points, as if you were making sausage links. Snip the dough at each twist, then pinch one of the ends of each segment together to form a sealed knish base. Use the palm of your hand to flatten the knish a bit into a squat shape and from here, you can take one of two approaches to the top: You can pinch together the tops as you did the bottom to seal them; indenting them with a small dimple will help keep them from opening in the oven. You can gently press the dough over the filling but leave it mostly open.

Bake knish: Arrange knish on prepared baking sheet so that they don’t touch.

Whisk egg yolk and water together to form a glaze and brush it over the knish dough. Bake knish for about 45 minutes, rotating your tray if needed for them to bake into an even golden brown color. Let them cool before eating as the potatoes inside are hot.

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COMMON DIAGNOSES TREATED AT OUR FACILITY INCLUDE:

Chef Shaul Silverstein

•

Salmon En Croute F lorentine Style with Mushroom Sauce

•

•

Ingredients One sheet of puff pastry dough 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds 1/2 cup of chopped frozen spinach 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 3 pieces of salmon, can be day-old cooked salmon Pinch of salt and pepper to taste 1 egg for eggwash

• • •

•

• • •

Cindy Becker

Physical Therapist Certified Hand Therapist

Preparation Preheat oven to 350°F. Thaw out spinach. Mix with onion and garlic powder as well as salt and pepper to taste. Cut frozen puff pastry into three even pieces.

Place 1/3 of the spinach mixture in center of piece pastry dough. Lay salmon skin side up on top of spinach. Seal puff pastry so that the seam is on top center. Once completely sealed, turn over and place seam on the bottom. Brush egg wash on top of pouch and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cut 2 or 3 vents in puff pastry diagonally.

Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until a beautiful golden brown is achieved.

(If salmon is not precooked, it should be there for minimally 40 minutes.)

Note: If you are making this dish for a dairy meal, consider smearing some good quality cream cheese between fish and spinach.

Mushroom Sauce Ingredients 32 ounces vegetable Broth 1/2 cup of white button mushrooms, thinly sliced and sautéed with some salt 1/4 cup of sautéed onions 1 tablespoon of onion powder, not granulated 4 tablespoons of cornstarch 4 tablespoons of water salt and pepper to taste Preparation Add sautéed mushrooms and onions to broth. Bring broth to a boil. Mix cornstarch with water until fully incorporated, creating a slurry. Add slurry to broth and heat until thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste. If serving for dairy meal, consider adding a few tablespoons of warmed (as sauce should be served warm/ hot) cream at service time.

Recipe variations: If you have an aversion to spinach, you can substitute spinach with mushroom, onions shallots and herbs sautéed in butter, known as duxelles - process in food processor till somewhat spreadable. Alternatively, you can just spread some good quality whole grain mustard on top of salmon before encasing in the puff pastry.

Enjoy! Sh a u l Ch e f I encourage you to send me any or all suggestions to chefshaul@gmail.com. Also please notify me if there is any recipe or idea that you would like to see in this column. Bon appetit!

516.508.2010 cindybeckerpt@gmail.com

•

• 833 Central Ave Far Rockaway, New York 11691

We accept Medicare and most major insurance plans.

M ay 1 4 , 2013

This recipe is the perfect dish to serve with salmon left over from your yom tov meals.

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In the Kitchen

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101 Zehava Schechter, Esq

Starting a Second Marriage on the Right Track

The Attorney Responds: Mazal tov on your upcoming wedding! A marriage (like the birth of a child or a divorce or death of a spouse) is a life-changing event which requires and deserves careful thought and preparation. Planning now for your future will diminish later complications and enable better and happier family relationships.

First and foremost, please see an attorney about a pre-nuptial agreement (also called an ante-nuptial or pre-marital agreement) which will clarify who gets (or does not get) what in case of divorce or death. This contract, entered into before marriage, is not just for rock stars and famous athletes. Anyone marrying for a second (or third…) time with children from a prior marriage and/or separate assets (e.g. home, pension, 401(k) account, bank accounts) needs to have this Agreement. New York State law is quite specific as to the requirements for a binding pre-nuptial agreement so this is a contract for which you will need assistance from an attorney who specializes in this area. A properly negotiated and executed pre-nuptial agreement will be enforced by a court.

Please keep in mind that, in general, assets purchased or obtained by a married couple in New York State (other than those inherited or procured from distinct separate assets from before the marriage) belong to both spouses equally – even though they are acquired by only one spouse or are listed only in one spouse’s name. It would benefit you and your future wife to know where each of you stands economically (both credits and debts) prior to the marriage. An integral part of the pre-nuptial agreement is full disclosure by both parties (future

spouses) as to their financial stability (assets and liabilities).

This contract removes doubt and uncertainty as to financial matters between you and your future wife and therefore diminishes or eliminates monetary pressure between the two of you. Financial clarity is a great way to start a marriage and solidify your estate planning intentions!

Next on our checklist is insurance.

Do you have life insurance? Disability insurance? Long Term Care Insurance?

I am a big believer in having sufficient insurance in place to protect your family.

your assets to make sure they are as you wish them to be. Even though you are divorced from your prior spouse, she will receive the proceeds of any insurance policy, pension, etc. if she is named beneficiary despite the divorce. The divorce does not automatically negate her status as beneficiary on any asset you have. While you are checking your designations, make sure no beneficiaries have pre-deceased you which could trigger problems for your estate after you pass. Make sure to think of disability insurance, which is crucial if you become injured or incapacitated (physically or

Financial clarity is a great way to start a marriage.

It is a bracha to your family to be taken care of financially whatever happens in the future. It is better to pay the premiums and not need the insurance. But, if you (or your family) rely on your income to pay the mortgage, etc., you need insurance in place. Let us start with life insurance, which is a basic component of estate planning. If you have young children and/or a spouse whom you want to protect if you die, term life insurance is a must. Term life insurance lasts for a specific term (usually 20 years) and is relatively inexpensive – especially if you are fairly healthy. Whole life insurance combines both life insurance and a savings component and is pricier. Check with a life insurance agent to see which makes more sense for you and how to structure your primary beneficiaries and contingent beneficiaries to ensure that both your children and future wife are covered and have the necessary monetary resources after you pass. Your future spouse will also want to look into term life insurance for your benefit.

Speaking of beneficiaries, please check all beneficiary designations for

mentally) and are unable to work.

Finally, Long Term Care Insurance is an important part of estate planning.

The ironic part of LTC insurance is that the younger you are when you obtain the insurance (and are probably at that time not thinking about future health problems), the more eligible you are, the more affordable the payments are, and the greater coverage is available to you. I urge you to consider LTC insurance at a younger (under 50) age. I was 40 years old when I purchased an affordable, comprehensive LTC policy. Look for a NYS partnership policy (which also provides you with a credit on your annual NYS tax return), a compound interest rider (3% or more) and a health home care rider which pays for

an aide so you may stay in your home, if possible, rather than go to a nursing home. When clients ask me about Medicaid planning, the first recommendation I make is to put a LTC policy in place.

The pre-nuptial agreement and insurance policies are great first steps toward peace of mind as you enter the next phase of your life with your future spouse. After the marriage, you may wish to update your advance directives (Health Care Proxy, Power of Attorney, and Last Will and Testament).

Behatzlacha to you and your future wife!

W. Zehava Schechter, Esq. specializes in real estate law, estate planning and administration, and business law. Her private practice is located on Long Island. Please send your comments to SchechterLaw@gmail.com.

CNG Networking Group is an Orthodox Jewish networking group which meets in Queens and Long Island. The attorney subgroup of CNG specializes in the following areas of law: Trusts & Estates, Real Estate, Matrimonial, Criminal, Personal Injury, Trademarks/Copyright, Tax, Non-profits, Bankruptcy, and Litigation. We welcome questions from readers on a wide range of legal matters. Please submit your legal questions to SchechterLaw@gmail.com. While we do not provide specific legal advice, we hope to present readers with a greater understanding of the issues presented and potential means of resolving difficulties. No column is a substitute for competent legal advice. Please consult with the attorney of your choice concerning specific legal questions you may have.

M ay 1 4 , 2013

I am a divorced man with two children and am engaged to a wonderful woman. I want to be fair to my two children and any future children I may have, as well as to my future wife.

What steps should I take to safeguard their financial interests?

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Fax Resume 718-261-3702 or email cara.challenge2@thejnet.com Due to expansion, Torah Academy for Girls in Far Rockaway, is seeking qualified, experienced and successful moros for our lower elementary and junion high school divisions for the September school term. Please fax resume to: 718-868-4612, att: Morah Drillman Teachers F/T General Studies PreK, 1st, 3rd, 4th Grades Co-ed progressive Brooklyn Day School Inspire students' hearts, minds & souls!

Email jobs@mazeldayschool.com call 718-368-4490 Growing shul in Inwood, NY seeking responsible, dynamic male to spearhead youth dept activites with an emphasis on geshmak. Starting with Shabbos morning groups, the leader will organize and spearhead davening, learning, and play for children in the Shul with plenty of room for growth.

Experience preferred and references required. Kindly submit qualified resumes in confidence to president@inwoodshul.com or fax to 516-813-4222.

Sales position available. Flexible hours, great commission, excellent communication skills needed, must have car. Please call 732-503-3760 if no answer leave message.

Boys Elementary School in the Far Rockaway / 5 Towns area seeks experienced and dynamic General Studies teachers for grades 1-5 and Junior High School SS, Sc, ELA and Math positions. Please email resume to educate128@gmail.com.

A wig salon in cedarhurst is looking to hire a full time shaitel macher with followers. (future potential partner ship) Please send resume by email tresjolieboutique@hotmail.com Seeking a full time administrative assistant for a busy roofing company.

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classifieds

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104

Life Coach

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isha B’Av really gets to me!

Shavuot.

I mean like practically any G-d has seen fit to share His architerrible thing you can name hap- tectural plan for this mystical world pened on that day. Destruction of the with us. “Histakalta Ba oraisa u’bara first Temple—Tisha B’Av. Destruction almah” (G-d looked in the Torah and of the second Temple—Tisha B’Av. built the world). We are celebrating Spanish Inquisition—Tisha B’Av. this precious inside view.

Need I continue?

Don’t miss the opportunity here.

I mean there we are, counting three Register the inside information we’ve weeks, then the been blessed last nine days, with to help us and what do we navigate best. get at the end?

In life, walls are We are so lucky to Tisha B’Av! Can always closing anything be sadin on us and vehave the blueprints der? neers are always Now think changing. But for life, delivered to about the past if we recall we us on a silver platter. seven weeks have the map of of counting…a what’s behind whole different it all, we won’t climax there. get led astray Shavuot—the time of receiving the To- by false passageways or unsupported rah, the blueprint of the universe. Can walls. We will know the true value of you imagine a better gift? Just think the universe we occupy and which arof your house, any time you need to eas offer the best protection and truest get anything shelter! accomplished, E n j o y fixed, or renoShavuot and vated—you’re embrace and kvetching for continue to the blueprints. study G-d’s gift Where are to us; the entire the studs? How roadmap for strong is the life, the original foundation? Is G.P.S; our Tothis a supporting rah. wall? Whoops, Many times I should people ask me have asked that before I swung what S.D.S stands for in my list of acthat sledgehammer. I guess we’ll complishments: “Space Design Spehave to call it a ranch from now cialist.” I work with you directly, or on! Oh, and is this electric socket assist your architect, to give you exactLLLIIIIIIVVVVVEE?!!!!?!?! Wee Ya! ly what you want in your entire home Hope I look good in an Afro! How of- design, and I design offices, kitchens, ten are we completely frustrated not to bathrooms, basements, etc. as well. have the original plans for our homes? And that is why I so respect and appreSo much would be known, so many ciate a good architectural plan! mistakes could be avoided.

Have an awe-filled and awesome We are so lucky to have the blue- Shavuot. prints for life, delivered to us on a silver platter. Focusing on the foundations, reviewing the plan, the layout, exploring the information clearly re- Rivki Rosenwald is a certified life coach vealed and delving into the mysteries and couples counselor. She can be contacthidden in the framework; this is what ed at 917-705-2004 or rivki@rosenwalds. helps to guide us on a constant ba- com. sis. This is what we pay tribute to on

105

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The Jewish Home n

M ay 1 4 , 2013

Leisure & Travel

From Sea to Shining Sea: New Jersey

N

ew Jersey is not just about roads, tolls and traffic.

Many songs have been written about the Garden State, and surprisingly, not all of them have been written by famous New Jerseyan Bruce Springsteen.

The small state may feel eclipsed by its famous neighbor, but New Jersey has more than enough attractions to hold its own. In fact, so many people want to live in New Jersey that it has the highest population density in the United States. And I guess all those people have to eat somewhere; New Jersey has the most diners in the world and is often called the Diner Capital of the World. “I’ll take a tuna on rye—but hold the mayo, please.” Oh, and while you’re eating your sandwich, make sure to keep an eye on your car in the parking lot. North Jersey is the car theft capital of the world, with more cars stolen in Newark than in any other city—even New York City and Los Angeles!

If you manage to hold onto your car and have finished your sandwich and fries, take a drive to one of New Jersey’s over fifty resort cities and towns. Some of these towns are famous across the nation including Asbury Park, Atlantic City and Cape May. Speaking of resort towns, guess where all the names for the streets in the Monopoly game came from? You guessed it—good, ol’ Atlantic City! While in Atlantic City, take a walk on its famous boardwalk which at one point was the longest boardwalk in the world.

Ever see any horses while traveling in New Jersey?

Neither have I, but New Jersey has more race horses than the state of Kentucky. There are also more Cubans living in Union City than in Havana, Cuba. I wonder why they traveled from Communist Cuba to New Jersey. It’s for sure not to save money—New Jersey has the highest cost of living and the highest property taxes in the nation. Perhaps people love living in New Jersey because they love the myriad malls there and the fact that they don’t have to pump their own gas. I love that too.

Things You Won’t Want to Miss Let Freedom Ring Did you know that most of Ellis Island is actually located in the Garden State? Yes, that took me by surprise as well. This symbol of our country’s freedoms is located in Jersey City. The first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island was 13-year-old Annie Moore from Ireland in 1892. She received greetings from officials and a $10 gold piece, the

largest sum of money she had ever owned. Arne Peterssen of Norway was the last immigrant to pass through Ellis Island in 1954. But alas, you won’t be able to pass through here as the island is now closed due to Hurricane Sandy but will hopefully open for visitors soon.

Up, Up and Away If you’re heading to New Jersey in the summer, make sure to spend some time at the Warren County Farmers Fair featuring a hot air balloon festival. The first week in August provides ample entertainment for the whole family with tractor pulls, hay bale rolling contests, demolition derbies, hot air balloon rides and carnival rides.

Spoons Reign Supreme For those of you who are interested in silverware, make sure to check out the Bertha Schaefer Koempel Spoon Collection at Lambert Castle Museum. The collection is home to 5,400 spoons—the largest collection of spoons worldwide. In fact, there are spoons from every state and almost every country in the world. Some spoons were made by jewelers and silversmiths. Others have mini paintings and some feature mechanical parts.

Farming for Fun During the fall season, the foliage in New Jersey offers visitors brilliant colors and hues. Spend time with the family at New Jersey’s farms where kids can get lost in a huge corn maze, go pumpkin picking, take a hay ride and meet farm animals up close. These farms are not just for kids; adults and teens will have a blast as well.

Susan Schwamm

109 The Jewish Home n M ay 1 4 , 2013

IN MEMORY OF

HARAV SHLOMO

FREIFELD ZT’’L DEDICATED BY RABBI MORRIS & DELECIA ESFORMES

RESCHEDULED SHIUR ON K’SIVAS SEFER TORAH

by Rav Naftali Jaeger Sh’or Yoshuv Bais Medrash Katan

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‫כ''ד סיון תשע''ג‬ SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 2013 at our campus

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SEUDAS MITZVAH Guest Speaker: Novominsker Rebbe, HaRav Yaakov Perlow, Shlita Yeshiva Dining Hall

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You can still participate in the writing of this Torah!

For opportunities and information, please call

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110

The Jewish Home n

M ay 1 4 , 2013

Forgotten Heroes

Avi Heiligman

The Courage of the Harel Brigade

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he Israeli War of Independence which was established on April 16, in 1948-49 was a struggle for 1948. The brigade consisted of about a tiny, fledgling country to sur- 1,400 soldiers originally from Palmach vive against enormous odds. She was units, and they were divided into three attacked by sevbattalions. Israel eral countries couldn’t afford that had powto provide the erful armies time for forand wanted mal training, war, unlike and they didn’t most countries need it anywhich were ways, so they sick of war at were sent to the the time. front lines right There were away. two types of Immediateexperienced ly after their soldiers in the formation, they newly created were given their IDF—Machal first assignment. volunteers from The mission was abroad and Palmach to assist in Operaveterans. While the tion Nachshon, which Machal soldiers helped had begun on April the country survive, it 5. They were to capture was the former Palmach the roads near Yerushalaymen and women that im and break through The insignia of the Brigade formed the backbone the Arab defenses. Arab of the army. One of the patrols weren’t letting units that were created from Palmach truck convoys with vital supplies and veterans was the Harel Brigade under food for the starving city pass on the the command of a future prime min- roads. The brigade, along with units ister. from Givati Brigade, opened the roads

The Palmach was the military and pushed towards Yerushalayim. arm of the Haganah during the Brit- The Arabs weren’t organized properly and their villages were taken over by the Israelis. The Arab leader was killed and the mission was for the most part a success even though not all the supplies made it through.

More missions were required to help break the siege around Yerushalayim.

Immediately after Operation Rabin (left) was put in charge of the Harel Brigade Nachshon, the ish mandate. Several notable person- brigade partook in Operation Yevusi. alities served in their ranks including The objective was to capture villages Yitzchak Rabin. He became the first around Yerushalayim in the two weeks commander of the Harel (10th) Brigade prior to the declaration of the state. In

gade died fighting in the War of Independence.

The Harel Brigade remained as a permanent unit in the IDF. They fought during the Suez Crisis in 1956, and three years later, they trained to become an armored brigade. They were used in this capacity during the Six Day War in 1967. Tanks from the brigade were vital in the capture of Radar Hill and Kever Shmuel, and they fought in one of the few tank battles that took place after WWII. Three Jordanian tanks were knocked out by the M-50 tanks from Harel Brigade, and members of the Harel Brigade in the ruins of a village in 1948 they captured key positions at Mivtar of the battle took place at Katamon, Hill, French Hill, Neve Yaakov and and the brigade lost 19 men. The Brit- Ramallah before reaching Yericho ish declared a ceasefire, and the Jews north of Yerushalayim. couldn’t complete the operation. Still, The Harel Brigade is still active in they conquered important neighbor- the IDF Reserve, and they were called hoods and acquired up in the Yom Kippur food for the starving War as well the 1982 Jewish population of and 2006 Lebanon the city.

Wars. They are part of The brigade then the much larger Israparticipated in the el Defense Forces and Operation Maccabi with their courageousaround Latrun to reness, they went from a ragtag group in the open roads to Yerushalayim. They succeeded Palmach to a force to in opening up part of be reckoned with that the road and went into all Jews and Israelis the Jewish Quarter of can be proud of and apthe Old City. However, preciate. Without them the overall operation it is doubtful that any failed as the Jordanipart of Yerushalayim ans retained control of would have been capRafael Eitan, commander East Yerushalayim and tured before the 1967. o f the 4th Battalion of the the Old City including Harel Brigade in 1948 the Kosel. Several battles were fought to capture Latrun but they failed. These included Operations Danny and Horev in which the Harel Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to Brigade participated. For Operation The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comDanny, Yitzhak Rabin was promoted ments and suggestions.for future columns to the deputy commander for the op- and can be reached at aviheiligman@ eration which included four brigades. gmail.com.

Altogether, 274 members of the brithe first week of the battle, the fighting was concentrated near Kever Shmuel with the brigade losing 33 men. They moved onto another village before the British intervened and declared it a demilitarized zone. The second week

111 The Jewish Home n

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SO MANY CANDIDATES… SO MANY CLOSED DOORS… WHY ARE THERE FOUR ORTHODOX CANDIDATES?

WHAT’S WRONG WITH CLOSED DOOR MEETINGS?

OUR SCHOOL BOARD IS SPLITTING OUR VOTE — THEY RECRUITED A CANDIDATE TO OPPOSE SIX-YEAR INCUMBENT NAHUM MARCUS.

TOO MUCH SECRECY CREATES MISTRUST, DIVIDES OUR COMMUNITY, SHOWS DISRESPECT FOR PARENTS, PREVENTS OTHER VIEWS FROM BEING EXPRESSED AND BREEDS BAD DECISIONS — LIKE BOTCHING THE NUMBER SIX SCHOOL SALE!

THEY HANDPICKED A LAST-MINUTE CHALLENGER TO OPPOSE COMMUNITY ADVOCATE DOV HERMAN, WHO WAS ALREADY A CANDIDATE. THIS IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF “DIVISIVENESS” AND A BLATANT ATTEMPT TO KEEP INDEPENDENT THINKERS AND WATCHDOGS OFF OUR SCHOOL BOARD.

WHAT’S OUR SCHOOL BOARD SO AFRAID OF? THIS BOARD LIKES TO OPERATE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS AND FEARS OPENNESS AND TRANSPARENCY.

EVERYTHING ISN’T FINE JUST BECAUSE TAXES WERE LOW. OUR TAXES ARE NOW RISING AND OUR CHILDREN ARE GETTING LESS.

WHY VOTE FOR NAHUM MARCUS AND DOV HERMAN? NAHUM MARCUS AND DOV HERMAN ARE MEN OF INTEGRITY, INDEPENDENT THINKERS WITH PROVEN RECORDS OF ADVOCATING FOR OUR COMMUNITY AND CHILDREN. VOTING FOR THEM WILL ENSURE OUR COMMUNITY’S BEST INTERESTS ARE REPRESENTED AND PROTECTED.

NAHUM MARCUS IS THE ONLY BOARD MEMBER TO FIGHT FOR THE PUBLIC’S RIGHT TO KNOW AND DOV HERMAN SHED LIGHT ON THE NUMBER SIX SCHOOL DEAL.

TUESDAY, MAY 21 – VOTE FOR MARCUS & HERMAN

Lola Lieber Schwartz

A World After This

A Memoir of Loss and Redemption

PART FIVE: A WAY OUT



Chapter 14 - Escape

M

echel and I went over the escape plan. The truck driver would make three trips.

The Millionaires, our bankers for this adventure, denied our request that our family leave together. We were the planners; we had found the liaison, the driver, the woodsman, but maybe they did not trust us fully. It was easy to imagine they might be leery of us.

We had just returned from three days in jail, which hardly added to our credentials as trustworthy escorts. Maybe we were being watched still. Everywhere one looked someone was being turned in by somebody, or sometimes it was an accidental remark that led to arrest and deportation. We did not argue with our sponsors because after all, however brilliant our plans might have been, without their funds we would be stuck.

Mechel and I thought that Mammiko and Tattiko should go first, as they were living with our financiers. My parents protested vehemently and we could not persuade them otherwise.

Late at night someone knocked at the door of our room. Standing in front of me was a young girl with blonde braids about fifteen years old. “Do you remember me, Lola? I am Rose Glazer of Niepolomice.” I realized she was the daughter of the rabbi who had married us. She came into the room and told her story in a straightforward and truthful way. It was very difficult for Mechel and me to hear and to accept, although we had heard other similar stories by this time. In every region where there was a Nazi presence, the officers tried to rob girls of their purity. She and a girlfriend of hers had been victims of this form of persecution, which happened often, especially to younger women.

Rose was a perfect candidate for abuse as she was gentile in appearance, not at all “worldly,” and heartbreakingly young. Those who resisted were often killed; a few did manage to evade the attacks and get away, but not everyone had the physical or emotional strength to fight or flee. For those of us who were spared these experiences, it is too easy to say what others should or should not have done. The atrocities perpetrated on Jewish women are individual tragedies inside the larger mayhem of the Shoah.

starvation and brutality, Lola and her husband held onto their faith and values.

It was Mechel’s words of encouragement, “There will be a world after this,” that helped them cling to the hope that there will be a life of light and joy waiting for them at the end.

This is the story of Lola’s life—from her grandparents’ “enchanted garden” to meeting Eichmann ym”sh to making the Pesach seder for the Bobover Rebbe during the war—her words will take you back to a different world. ing. She demanded we take her along or she would see to it that our plan failed.

It was sheer blackmail. She knew what she was talking about, though, and she regaled us with stories of failed escapes.

Rose did not spare us the graphic details of what Germans did with those they captured trying to escape. I wondered if she had learned about these incidents from her German patrons or from the brokers and go-betweens.

We just couldn’t trust her because we didn’t have a clue about her sources or

The atrocities perpetrated on Jewish women are individual tragedies inside the larger mayhem of the Shoah.

Rose was one of these victims. She had somehow learned of our escape plans, and this was the most alarming feature of her visit. Who told her? If she and her girlfriend were in the company were or captives of Nazis, should we assume that some Nazis knew? She assured us this was not the way she had found out. She said she had strong ties to the smuggling brokers. She was desperate to get away. Her girlhood had been sacrificed but not her good sense.

She was determined to free herself of the mess in which she had landed. We could not judge her. I felt only sadness for the direction her life had taken.

However, we had nothing to offer her.

Mechel spoke softly to her. “Rose, there is no room for you. We are going to be lying squeezed together like wooden matches in a tiny box as it is. There isn’t space for another person or even a tiny object. We will be crammed in there.

I wish we could take you, but we just can’t do it.”

Rose’s attitude changed dramatically. She became assertive and threaten-

how much she knew. She held us in the grip of her pathetic power. Mechel was enraged and told her it was extortion.

I saw it somewhat differently. Yes, it was extortion, but of the most miserable sort. Rose, the daughter of a rabbi, couldn’t see any other option to save herself and begin her life again. She had picked us because she thought we would take pity on her. She probably felt that because her father had taken a chance by marrying us during the restrictions in Niepolomice, we owed her this.

I took the initiative away from Mechel then. Rose could become a danger to us if her dispute with Mechel escalated. I realized that when I first opened our door to her, I hadn’t been sure she was Jewish, so I thought she might be a useful human decoy. I told her to dress like a Polish peasant and wear a babushka on her head. I added that she should carry a basket of eggs and take a train to the border. Mechel told her how to get to the woodsman’s cabin where she would meet us. By now she did understand that there wasn’t

room in the truck.

“If you can do this, then you can come with us,” I told her. “We will go together through the mountains with the guide. It is the best we can offer you.

Take it or leave it.”

That was really false bravado on my part, because she had us cornered. I had also come to realize her native and fluent Polish might serve us very well in case of trouble. She was reluctant to agree to our terms. Rose wanted to be in the truck with us. She probably did not trust us. Perhaps she thought we had given her fake instructions and there was no cottage and no woodsman. After a few minutes she replied. “I agree, but my friend must come with us too.”

I had to ask that awful question. It is one that many had to ask during those times. “Rose, does your girlfriend look like you or does she look Jewish?”

Rose paused and looked down at the floor. I could see her tough demeanor had been a façade. She was fighting back tears. Rose slowly shook her head no. We understood her non-verbal response: her girlfriend could not pass for a Polish peasant. She was saddened her friend would be left behind with the Nazis. Mechel ignored her. He was so angry he couldn’t speak. I went over to her. “Rose, you know we cannot risk anyone else. We don’t know your girlfriend. I am sorry but we can’t take any more chances or we will all be lost.

Time is short and soon the opportunities for these transports will end. It’s too risky. We can’t miss this opportunity.”

Rose nodded and did not put up any further resistance or request anything else. When she left, Mechel insisted we discuss the entire “Rose affair.” I could not do it and told him it was too painful for me as a woman to see what had happened to her. While I appreciated his rage, it was so different for me. I was overcome with the reality of what had become of the rabbi’s daughter from Continued on page 114

M ay 1 4 , 2013

Lola Lieber Schwartz is a world-renowned artist whose paintings have been exhibited in art galleries throughout the United States and are part of the Yad Vashem archives in Jerusalem. Most importantly, Lola is a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother to many. She has myriad friends and sees life in all its vibrancy and vitality. But life was not always easy. Lola was only sixteen-yearsold when Hitler ym”sh invaded Poland, and Lola was forced into hiding and spent years on the run with her husband, Mechel. Through six years of trying times, near

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Lola's Story

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Niepolomice. I was so grateful for my life and my personal circumstances.

“Mechel, you must hear me. Please.

I can’t talk about Rose. There is nothing to say and now there is nothing to be done except to meet her in the mountains.”

Mechel protested further that we needed to talk about it. I would not continue with the conversation. I said something then that stopped him. I said that although she had behaved badly with us, she was trying to undo a sordid chapter of her life and to begin again.

Her method was not admirable but she was trying to do the right and moral thing. Mechel understood, but of course we were both worried about the liability Rose might be.

floor of the truck and the false bottom.

We were lying on our stomachs. There wasn’t an inch between us. It was very cold. The only air came up from the cracks in the floor of the truck but we could at least breathe. The smell of the wet roads was unpleasant and reminded me of things I did not want to remember. It was the smell of fresh dirt, and for me that was the smell of the cemetery after the Aktion. This truck would either be the means to our survival or a

It was time for us to go. There were seven of us: Mechel, the Millionaires, their friends, and I. We went to the agreed departure point, which was a vacant lot. It was pouring rain. Somehow, in the macabre world we were in, the storm seemed the right backdrop for our departure. The pouring rain made us even more wretched. In fact the bad weather might actually have kept us from being observed as so few people were out in it. The truck with its false wooden floor was waiting for us. We squeezed into the space between the real

communal coffin on wheels.

More than an hour into the trip, the truck stopped so suddenly that we rolled on top of one another. We could see something through the slats but it wasn’t clear where we were or what was happening. When we heard German voices, we knew that we had come across a Nazi checkpoint.

“Where are you heading?” we heard the guard ask the driver.

pers in the cabin of the truck. He was producing the bills of lading for the coal, which indicated he was on his way to a legitimate factory. The Nazi guards surrounded the truck. We heard a voice command him to “throw down this load of coal.”

The driver began to shovel out the coal and he did so slowly. Presumably he did this to make sure we had enough warning and were silent. When all the coal was lying on the ground, a Nazi

By now our mutual resolve was harder than the steel rod that might have killed us.

We could not hear the driver’s response but did hear the rustle of his pa-

said, “And what’s under here?” He hit the false floor with something that sounded sharp and heavy. We could hear it just above our heads. Mechel reached over and clamped his hand over my mouth in case I couldn’t keep from crying out.

The driver was as calm as he could be. “There is nothing else in my truck,” he said with a tone of indignation.

Suddenly, a metal pole plunged through the false floor of the truck in several places. If it had penetrated even an inch in a spot where one of us lay, a

literal inch, the point of the rod would have impaled one of us. If we had been discovered, we would all have been killed, along with the driver. Death toll: eight. Miraculously, the point slipped between us. No one was touched and, just as miraculously, none of us lost nerve. By now our mutual resolve was harder than the steel rod that might have killed us.

One of the Nazis started to curse in vulgar German. Another guard said, “Forget it. He doesn’t have anything except his coal. Let’s go inside. It’s raining again.”

We heard the driver swiftly shoveling his coal over our heads, and then finally the truck lurched forward. It was such a close call that I worried about the consequences of shock to the older people. But they were strong and steadfast. A short time later the truck stopped again. The driver helped us out. He pointed to the closest mountain.

“Climb to the top and turn left. The cottage is there. They are expecting you.” Then to prove he had delivered his load of coal, he dumped the fake cargo before he turned the truck around and drove back down the mountain.

Continued next week

115 The Jewish Home n M ay 1 4 , 2013

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From My Private Art Collection Rebbetzin Naomi N. Herzberg

Shavuot Flowers with Creative Qualities

T

he smell of flowers permeates the house and adds that festive, exotic or romantic feeling that we all find inviting. Fresh flowers help create and bring that elegant ambiance into the room and Yom Tov table, especially enjoyed on Shavuot.

How can we create flower arrangements to be plentiful without spending a lot of money? As we all know, fresh flowers can be costly. Many years ago, I worked as a floral designer in a few very prestigious flower shops and had the opportunity to work under and be trained by experts in the field. I witnessed customers placing orders, never knowing styles, colors and of most importance, the hardiness of the flowers. “Eeny meeny miny moe, what do I choose” and “I will leave it up to you” is what I heard ringing in my ears many times. I questioned my trainers: is it just by chance that the arrangements always come out so magnificent? Does it have to do with choice of flowers?

What are all those fillers being used for? I noticed that the fillers added an enormous amount of character, design elements and personality to the flower arrangements. They supplied elements of surprise and interest as well. They added proportion and lines to the designs that were exotic.

There are many tricks of the trade which can be shared in order to produce Shavuot flowers with creative qualities. I have compiled a list of fillers that make it happen without breaking the bank.

So, what is a filler?

They consist of greens and flowers which will enhance and add elements of interest to the design. They are used to help create the illusion of fullness and add lines, shapes and forms to the creation.

Certain leaves will help create an exotic feeling. When you are in the process of purchasing flower arrangements for display on Shavuot, for either a shul or home, take advantage of this list. It will save you time and money when deciding what types of arrangements to choose, and how much that you want to spend. Flowers can become expensive, so one has to use ingenuity in figuring out how to get a beautiful look and stretch the dollar. This can be achieved by combining the more expensive flowers with a filler. Going shopping as an educated consumer will help you make intelligent choices.

I have compiled a listing of the names of the most popular greens and fillers. Question the florist as to what they can use to make the most beautiful piece for the money spent and which of these fillers mentioned can be used to execute the design.

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(1) Aspidistra Green (2) Aspidistra Variegated (3) Aster Solidago (4) Baby Blue Eucalyptus

(5) Baby Eucalyptus (6) Baby’s Breath (7) Banana Leaves (8) Bear Grass (9) Bells of Ireland (10 Bonsai Eucalyptus (11 Branches (12) Bupleurum (13) Calendula (14) Coontie Fern (15) Dusty Miller (16) Fiddlehead Fern (17) Foxtail (18) Galax (19) Green Trick Dianthus (20) Huckleberry

(21) Israeli Ruscus (22) Ivy Green (23) Ivy Variegated (24) Jade Green (25) Lamb’s Ear (26) Leather Leaf (27) Leucadendron Safari Sunset (28) Lily Grass (29) Larkspur (30) Monstera (31) Myrtle (32) Naqi Podocarpus (33) Phlox (34) Pittosporum Green (35) Pittosporum Variegated (36) Queen Anne’s Lace (37) Statice (38) Trachelium I hope that this information will assist everyone in choosing beautiful Shavuot flowers that possess creative qualities. Wishing all the readers of this column a wonderful and inspiring Yom Tov! Rebbetzin Naomi N. Herzberg is a professional art educator, artist and designer. Among her known artwork is a floral sculpture presented to Tipper Gore, Blair House, Washington, D.C. Presently she is the Director of Operations at Shulamith School for Girls. Please feel free to email nherzberg@optonline.net with questions and suggestions for future columns.

117 Tofutti

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119 T h e J e w i s h H o m e n MAY 14, 2013

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