Five Towns Jewish Home - 7-8-21

July 8, 2021

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The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Dear Readers,

I

am not one of those people who dreads Visiting Day. I like to head upstate for a day in the summer with my family and show the kids where I spent the summers of my youth. Some of the landmarks and signs in “the country” have remained the same for decades (take it from Teek, take it from Vee), and it’s exciting to be able to reminisce for a few hours.

This year, as we headed upstate, we knew we had a few hours to entertain the kids in the car and so we decided to put on Shlomo Carlebach stories for them to listen to. I am embarrassed to say that although I’ve heard the story “Shvartze Volf” many times, I never heard it from Shlomo Carlebach. And so, I also settled in to listen as we drove upstate.

One of the stories that we listened to was about the Piaseczena Rebbe. In the “Holy Hunchback,” Shlomo Carlebach recalls meeting a man, hunched over, who would sweep the streets of Tel Aviv. When asked where he was from, the man told Shlomo Carlebach that he was from Piaseczena and that he learned from the Piaseczena Rebbe when he was a child.

The Piaseczena Rebbe had a special connection with the children of the town, and he would teach the children and connect with them. Sadly, the Piaseczena and almost all the children who learned from the Piaseczena were murdered in the Holocaust. And so, when Shlomo Carlebach heard that this man was a student of the Piaseczena, he begged him to share the Rebbe’s teachings. But the man, a survivor, said that after five years of being enslaved in Auschwitz he didn’t remember any teachings from the Rebbe.

Shlomo Carlebach pressed him. And so, the man readied himself and told Shlomo Carlebach one thing that he still remembered from the Piaseczena.

“I want you to know that there never was such a Sabbath as this one,” the hunchback recalled to Shlomo Carlebach. “We danced, hundreds and maybe thousands of children, and the master was singing a song to greet the holy angels, and at the meal he would teach between every course. And after every teaching, this is what the master would say, ‘Children, kinderlach, der groyseh zach in de velt iz tuen emetzen a’tovah – the greatest thing in the world is to do somebody else a favor.”

That is the one teaching that stayed with this man forever. In Auschwitz, he kept his Rebbe’s words close to his heart and would walk from person to person, sharing in their pain and listening to their words of woe. And years later, when he finally got to Eretz Yisroel, this survivor spent his days sweeping the streets of Tel Aviv, in his efforts to do somebody else a favor.

Driving back from Visiting Day, it was quiet in the car, as the kids were sleeping after a long day. At one point, I felt a little finger poking me on my shoulder.

“Mommy,” my seven-year-old said, “today I did Shlomo a favor when I lent him my pillow.

And I also did another favor for someone but I forgot what it was.”

My heart swelled. Such innocence, but so profound.

During these Three Weeks, as we mourn the loss of the Beis Hamikdash, perhaps we could keep the Piaseczena’s teaching close to our hearts and go out of our way to do for others. In this way, we can all do our part to become closer to each other and bring the geulah closer.

Remember, the greatest thing in the world is to do somebody else a favor.

Wishing you a wonderful week, Shoshana

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

8

COMMUNITY 8

Readers’ Poll Community Happenings

44 This Week We’re Talking to…

69 Camp Shira NEWS

79

Global

12

National

32

That’s Odd

42

ISRAEL Israel News

28

Don’t Eat That by Rafi Sackville

82

JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Wein on the Parsha

74

Jewish Warrior by Rav Moshe Weinberger

76

Delving into the Daf by Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

79

Enjoying Every Step of the Process by Shmuel Reichman

80

PEOPLE TJH Speaks with Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem The IDF’s Powerful Weapons by Avi Heiligman

84 108

HEALTH & FITNESS Is It Possible to Get Quick Results? by Dr. Deb Hirschhorn

92

Portion Control by Cindy Weinberger, MS RD

94

FOOD & LEISURE The Aussie Gourmet: General Tsao’s Salmon

98

LIFESTYLES Dating Dialogue, Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW Parenting Pearls

42

Your Money

116

It’s So Alarming by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS

118

HUMOR Centerfold 72

POLITICAL CROSSFIRE 102

Biden’s Big Mistake on the Infrastructure Deal by Marc A. Thiessen 106

CLASSIFIEDS

Dear Editor, How can Matot and Maasei coexist together? Matot connotes leadership, harshness, unbendingness and “stick”- like behavior, while Maasei connotes travels, boundlessness, openness and mutual togetherness.

Borrowing on an idea from my late relative Rav Avrohom Genechovsky, zt”l, previous rosh yeshiva of Tchebin, perhaps the contradiction Continued on page 10

96 100

A Criminal Case Against a Huawei Executive by David Ignatius

Dear Editor, A neighbor hosted a July 4th bash complete with outdoor music and fireworks. Swarms of people came to our quiet street from other neighborhoods. There was so much noise and activity late into the night that not only was illegal and dangerous but didn’t allow for any sleep. Neighbors called the police but no one came. I myself called THREE times over an hour and a half but was consistently told that they do not have the manpower to respond to all the calls.

I pay sky-high taxes to live here and find this response totally unacceptable. The precinct must know from previous years that there will be calls about illegal fireworks and sound disturbances on July 4th and should have beefed up their staff on this day. If I cannot get the services that I pay so much money for, why even live here?

SG

88

Mind Your Business

Notable Quotes

Dear Editor, We all live within the greater Jewish community. A community where everyone is inter-connected in six degrees or fewer to everyone else.

We all know what’s going on in other people’s lives, whether it’s abuse, separation or divorce. Most importantly, we must all know that the children are never guilty.

Yet time and time again, the schools, the day camps and the sleepaway camps lose their sensitivity when it comes to the children. Children will be separated from a group because payment isn’t received on time. Children will be pulled out of class because of a payment issue.

We talk about the kids “at risk,” the kids “off the derech,” and we bemoan this challenge. There are so many organizations to help the kids who are struggling; many due to being treated like lepers because of something in which they are not only not guilty; they are literally victims in every way.

They say that an ounce of prevention leads to a pound of cure. To our school administrators and camp directors I say: stop punishing the children. Stop singling them out. Stop victimizing them further. Where is your compassion? Where is your ounce of prevention?

To get involved please contact: Esther Miller Esther@JCCRP.org Project Coordinator Success Space for Women

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Continued from page 8

can be solved.

He said, we should use the world as a model for our behavior. We should be flexible on the outside just like water that covers the outside of the earth. On the inside, we should be firm and unbending like the inner rock of the universe. In our center, we should be consumed by the flames of Torah just as fire is at the center of the earth.

Therefore, with others, we must be open and flexible as a traveler who must enter new terrain with accommodative behavior. But on the inside, we must be firm like a stick in our belief and practice.

Steven Genack Dear Editor, Holidays and days of commemoration customarily are kept for tradition and convenience. Reflecting on traditions, customs, and the meanings of a holiday are all nice in conjunction with a day off from work. The natural reaction to a more relaxing day is to put off the true meaning of the holiday to the side.

Instead of reflecting on those that served their country on Veterans Day, for example, the focus switch-

es to the barbeque or the trip to the beach. July 4th has similar reactions and sentiments. Freedom, the main essence of the United States, can be expressed in any fashion. Living in times, however, when conventional and unifying ideas of the founding of the United States are mixed in political controversy is no time to be complacent with a barbeque.

July 4, 1776 was the day that the founders of this nation signed their independence from England as a result of differences of opinions in the way the British government should rule the 13 colonies. Even at such a revolutionary time, there were some who for years resisted separation from the British government. Many felt such way because they were loyal to the British government despite the negatives associated with their rule; the cons of British rule outweighed the pros of self-rule. After some time, when the British grip on the United States strengthened to the strength of a tyrant, the passions of the first Americans would not continue to sit and be quiet. Americans rose to save the preexisting freedoms that are inherent in human beings. The right of free speech, free expression, to bear arms were all under threat by the tyranny of the British government.

The first Americans didn’t react by being complacent and allowing the British to violate the inherent rights of the people; instead, they stood up against that which threatened their way of life!

America, for a while but especially in the past year, has been undergoing a change in the sentiments that people have to the founding of this nation and the current existence of this nation. Their beliefs are based on that this nation was solely founded to continue the institution of slavery and racism, even though slavery existed throughout the world at that time, including in the British Empire. Those that have advocated for the requirement that this false history be indoctrinated to the next generation have a clear agenda.

They recognize that their assertions are false and can be easily refuted with a quick history lesson, but ultimately, the facts don’t matter to them, instead, the narrative does.

These are the same people that want Americans to pretend that our current American systems are systematically racist, despite no evidence.

Their claims are founded upon falsities and disparities, not on facts or specific circumstances.

These people aren’t stupid – they know exactly what they are doing – all that they are relying on is people not thinking and listening to them.

Unfortunately, we are past the time where our political climate can be defined based on some differences, while unified behind the basics; in-

stead, we are divided even on things that used to unite us.

In a time where the flag, anthem, and being patriotic are considered racist, the American reaction should be to fight back. This fight isn’t based on political ideology; it is based on the fight to save the freedoms that each individual is endowed with.

Let us come out of this July 4th not only with some hot dogs and burgers in our stomachs but some courage and bravery to fight the enemies within.

Sincerely, Donny Simcha Guttman Dear Editor, Unfortunately, having spent many days and nights over the last several months in various hospitals, I would like to publicly recognize our community organization, Achiezer.

Every hospital I have been in has had a Bikur Cholim room. The difference between ACH’s room and the others is tremendous. When one walks into a Achiezer BC room, they are greeted with a fully-stocked, clean, neat, and well-organized room. You walk out feeling like a mentsch, as though you are the one they specifically filled the room for. You feel loved and cared for. It is a comfort to know that there is a place you can go that is warm and inviting, despite whatever hardships you may be dealing with.

Thank you to BB Bender and staff, and all ACH volunteers, for all that they do.

A Reader

Make your voice heard!

Be part of TJH’s weekly poll.

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

Views expressed on the Letters to the Editor page do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jewish Home.

Please send all correspondence to: editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com.

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

The Week In News

Worldwide Ransomware Attack

Hundreds of companies around the world have been affected by a ransomware attack. Software vendor Kaseya said that around 50 of its direct customers were breached in an attack that began to unfold on Friday.

But hundreds of other companies – between 800 to 1,500 businesses – were affected due to the many of Kaseya’s customers who provide IT services to small businesses.

“Our global teams are working

around the clock to get our customers back up and running,” Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola said in a statement. “We understand that every second they are shut down, it impacts their livelihood, which is why we’re working feverishly to get this resolved.”

The company met with U.S. government agencies including the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

It had also engaged with the White House and cybersecurity firm FireEye Mandiant.

Kaseya said that it had discussed “systems and network hardening requirements prior to service restoration” with the FBI and CISA. The company said that “a set of requirements” will be posted “to give our customers time to put these counter measures in place in anticipation of a return to service on July 6.”

An analysis of the malicious software by the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft shows that it was created

by REvil, a ransomware gang which is believed to operate out of Eastern Europe or Russia.

REvil has demanded a $70 million payment in Bitcoin for a decryptor tool to restore the businesses’ data.

So far, it does not look like any

major companies were compromised in the attack.

“We’re not looking at massive critical infrastructure,” Voccola said.

“That’s not our business. We’re not running AT&T’s network or Verizon’s 911 system. Nothing like that.”

Canadian Town’s Extreme Heat

Residents of Lytton, British Columbia, a town dubbed “Canada’s hot spot,” were ordered to evacuate last week due to the threat of uncontrolled wildfires.

Early last week, Lytton broke successive Canadian heat records, with temperatures peaking at 121 degrees before the fires broke out at approximately 6:00p.m. on Wednesday, forcing around 1,000 people to evacuate the area.

Village Councilor Lilliane Graie

wrote in an email that most of the town’s residents escaped with “only the clothes on our backs” and that the damage was probably “catastrophic.” She added that the message was sent on behalf of the mayor and other town officials who lacked internet access due to the fires.

Speaking at a news conference, provincial officials said that the fire’s impact is still being assessed.

According to British Columbia’s Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth, the fire destroyed most of Lytton’s homes and structures, as well as the ambulance station and the local RCMP detachment. He also said that some of the residents were unaccounted for because people scattered when they evacuated. Around 90% of the town is destroyed.

The province’s Premier John Horgan said that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had offered assistance, adding that the risk of fire was still “extreme” in nearly every part of British Columbia.

“Lytton has been devastated,” Horgan said, “and it will take an extraordinary amount of effort to get that historic location back to what it was.”

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“The town burnt down,” Lytton Mayor Jan Polderman said. “I noticed some white smoke at the south end of town, and within 15 to 20 minutes, the whole town was engulfed in flame.”

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Bomb Plot Thwarted in Hong Kong

Nine people were arrested in Hong Kong this week after authorities uncovered an alleged plot to bomb train stations, court buildings, and tunnels by those pushing for the city’s independence from China.

Steve Li, the senior superintendent of the police’s National Security Department, said nine people between the ages of 15 and 29 had been arrested, including six high school students, a high school employee, and a university staff member. “[The] plans are shocking because it seems to target a lot of people,” Li said. The alleged plot aimed to “maximize damage to society,” he added.

The suspects had rented a hotel room in Tsim Sha Tsui to build explosives. Although the room had been rented last month, it was only “recently” set up to build the explosives. The suspects had the tools and materials to make triacetone triperoxide (TATP), police said. TATP is a powerful high explosive that was used in terrorist atrocities like the 2015 Paris bombings and Brussels attacks in 2016.

Officers said they found an “operation manual” which allegedly contained plans for an attack in early July.

Speaking at her weekly news conference ahead of the announcement by the police, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam warned of “underground hidden terrorist activities” and urged the public “to join hands to say no to violence.”

“We should not find any excuses for attackers. Violence is violence,” she said.

The alleged plot was investigated by the Hong Kong Police Depart-

ment’s National Security Division.

The national security unit was enacted shortly after Beijing promulgated a national security law for Hong Kong last year, without any input from local leaders.

The legislation was meant to bring an end to the type of political unrest that rocked the city in 2019, a movement that began in opposition to a bill that would have allowed extradition to mainland China but morphed into a grassroots, occasionally violent campaign for universal suffrage and independent inquiries into alleged police misconduct.

The law criminalizes acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security – with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for all four offenses.

Though Lam said the law would only target a “handful” of people, more than 50 lawmakers and opposition activists were arrested for “subverting state power” for participating in an unofficial primary election the previous summer.

Last month, 500 police officers raided the newsroom of pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, seizing journalists’ materials and arresting the paper’s directors. A former journalist at the paper tried to leave Hong Kong on June 27, only to be arrested at the airport under the national security law.

This is not the first time authorities have uncovered alleged bomb plots in Hong Kong since the 2019 unrest. Two years ago, authorities made what was then the “largest ever” seizure of explosives in a suspected bomb-making warehouse. Months later, authorities defused two completed bombs that were found at a middle school.

Lebanon’s Boiling Point

Lebanon is on edge. According to caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab, the country is mere days away from a “social explosion” as the country’s economic disaster worsens. The

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

make t∑e nine days meaningful wit∑ t∑ese titles Understand the tears — and the hope — of the Three Weeks and Tishah B’Av

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The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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leader made these remarks in a meeting with ambassadors and diplomats on Tuesday.

“Lebanon is a few days away from the social explosion. The Lebanese are facing this dark fate alone,” Diab asserted.

Diab appealed for regional and international leaders to help rescue Lebanon from a crisis that has seen the local currency lose 90% of its value and has left 77% of households without enough food, according to the United Nations.

The Lebanese spends hours at long lines at gas stations and face power outages up to 22 hours a day.

“I am calling on kings, princes, presidents and leaders of our friendly countries, and I am calling on the United Nations and all international organizations ... to help rescue Lebanon from its demise,” Diab told the ambassadors.

Diab has been serving in a caretaker capacity since resigning in the wake of the catastrophic Beirut port explosion on August 4, 2020. Since then, fractious sectarian politicians have been unable to agree on a new government.

Diab also said only a new cabinet could restart talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“This government does not have the right to resume negotiations with the IMF to implement the recovery plan set by the cabinet, for this entails obligations on the next government that it may not endorse,” he said.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief told Lebanon’s leaders last month that the political and economic crisis facing the country stems from a lack of stability in the government and lack of reforms in the land.

Diab asserts that holding back assistance is not helping to implement reform and is not affecting the corrupt members of society.

He added that the Lebanese were running out patience and “linking Lebanon’s assistance to the formation of a new government has become a threat to the lives of the Lebanese and to the Lebanese entity.”

The Hezbollah terror group plays an important role in the Lebanese government, and not only has access to government coffers but also conducts executions and provides a separate but parallel network for health, construction, banking, and supermarket services. As the middle class in Lebanon continues to hurt, Hezbollah members continue to gobble up state assets and key positions in the government.

U.S. Journalist Remains in Myanmar Prison

American journalist Danny Fenster will remain in a Myanmar prison, despite the country’s release of other imprisoned media employees.

Fenster, 37, was arrested in May on charges of incitement. Currently, Fenster is the managing editor of Frontier Myanmar, an online news outlet, but his arrest was in connection with his previous work as reporter and copyeditor for Myanmar Now, his lawyer said.

He resigned from Myanmar Now in July 2020, and his lawyer does not know the basis for his arrest.

Fenster, who is Jewish, remains in custody after a court on Thursday extended his pretrial detention.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, told AP, “The Myanmar junta’s continued detention of journalist Danny Fenster is outrageous and unacceptable.

Independent reporting of what’s happening on the ground in Myanmar should not be considered a crime.”

If convicted, Fenster, who was detained as he attempted to board a flight to the U.S. for a family visit, could face up to three years in prison.

His next hearing is scheduled for July 15, but it is unlikely to go to trial then due to court backlog, his attorney said.

Fenster’s court appearance came a day after authorities began a release of about 2,300 prisoners who were charged in connection with protests that erupted after the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February. The new government has tried to silence independent news media by withdrawing their licenses and by arresting journalists.

Forty-nine of 88 journalists who were arrested after February’s military takeover have been released, including 14 on Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning local time, Fenster was able to speak to his brother, who is located in Detroit. It

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was the first time that Fenster had spoken to an American family member since his May arrest.

The U.S. government has also requested repeatedly that Fenster be released.

China’s 100 Years of Communism

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On Thursday, China celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, which challenged the nationalist Kuomintang government and prompted an intermittent 12-year long civil war a century ago.

Founded in 1921, the party only gained control of China in 1949.

In 1927, a civil war began, leaving as many as 4.9 million dead. In 1949, party chief Mao Zedong became China’s leader, and in 1951 the country annexed Tibet. In 1958, Mao launched the “Great Leap Forward” campaign, forcing millions of rural Chinese to join mass communes. Between 1958 and 1962, up to 45 million Chinese were decimated, many dying from starvation.

At the same time, extreme discipline became more common, with between 2-3 million people tortured to death or executed in the name of communism. It is estimated that more people were killed in the “Great Leap Forward” than by Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler.

In 1966, Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution, closing schools and pushing youth groups to purge “impure” elements of Chinese society. The estimated number of deaths during the Revolution ranges from one million to 20 million though, according to Tufts University’s World Peace Foundation, it is probably closer to one million.

Some scholars believe Mao’s rule caused up to 80 million “unnatural deaths.”

Following Mao’s 1976 death, Deng Xiaoping, the new leader, launched a voluntary one-child policy in 1978, which became mandatory in September 1980.

In April 1989, the People’s Lib-

eration Army was called in to clear out a protest, with 200,000 troops and 100 tanks. Soldiers opening fire on the student protesters used expanding bullets, bayonets, and clubs, killing what the Communist Party claimed were 200 civilians.

Responding to the Communist Party’s celebration last week of 100 years in China, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers submitted a resolution condemning the number of human rights abuses China has committed over the past century.

The resolution, sponsored by three Republicans and three Democrats, has “tripled” its number of co-sponsors over the past week, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, who led the resolution, said.

In a statement, Gallagher asserted, “For the last century, the Chinese Communist Party has repeatedly violated basic human rights and brutalized its own citizens. The story of the Party is one of repression, torture, mass imprisonment, and genocide.”

Iran Says No to Inspections

Iran has restricted United Nations (UN) inspectors’ access to the Natanz nuclear site, due to claims of “security concerns” following an alleged attack on the site in April.

On Thursday, diplomats told Reuters that the situation has been going on for weeks but expressed hope that it may be resolved soon.

One Western diplomat said, “They are provoking us.” Another said the restrictions have had “very little impact on the agency’s ability to carry out verification.”

Iranian officials were not immediately available for comment, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) declined to comment due to policy.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Monday said it has not yet come to a final decision regarding whether to extend the agreement granting the IAEA access to surveillance footage at its nuclear sites.

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In a statement, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said, “No decision, either negative or positive, has been made. Neither the continuation of the deal nor the erasure [of data]. We are in the previous position for the time being.”

Toxic Smoke in Thailand

It took firefighters more than 24 hours to douse flames that ignited when a factory housing chemicals exploded outside the Thai capital earlier this week. Plumes of toxic, thick, black smoke blanketed the air, as the accident took the lives of one person and injured dozens more.

The explosion took place around 3 a.m. on Monday morning. The blast could be heard for a mile away and blew out windows and doors of nearby homes.

Despite efforts by firefighters to keep the highly flammable chemical styrene monomer from reigniting by continuing to douse the site with water and foam, flames broke out again and burned for about an hour on Tuesday afternoon.

Little was left of the Ming Dih Chemical factory other than the twisted metal frames and charred remains of its warehouses that were destroyed in the explosion and fire.

More than 60 people were injured in the disaster, including a dozen emergency responders, and more than 30 of them were hospitalized.

One man, an 18-year-old volunteer firefighter, was killed in the blaze.

“We were seeing huge clouds of black smoke again with chemicals in the plastic factory catching fire,” Tony Cheng, of Al Jazeera, said.

Some 200 residents in the area were “quickly moved out” again, he said, adding that they are wary of returning to their homes.

The factory manager said that he and eight staff members were woken from their sleep on the site by a strong chemical smell and fled just before the blast.

Authorities ordered a 3-mile area around the foam and plastic pellet manufacturing factory – near Bang-

kok’s main airport – evacuated as the factory burned, telling residents to avoid inhaling any fumes and warning that they could cause dizziness and vomiting, and cancer in the long term.

On Tuesday, Attapol Charoenchansa, who heads the country’s pollution control department, said teams were testing the air quality and water in the area of the factory, and were considering narrowing the evacuation zone to allow some residents to return home.

Rain, though, could wash chemicals into water sources, which could pose extreme danger.

Styrene monomer is used in the production of disposable foam plates, cups and other products, and can produce poisonous fumes when ignited.

The chemical itself also emits styrene gas, a neurotoxin, which can immobilize people within minutes of inhalation and can be fatal at high concentrations. Last year, in the Indian city of Visakhapatnam, a leak of styrene gas from a chemical factory killed 12 people and sickened more than 1,000.

28 Killed in Plane Crash

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Bad weather is being blamed for a plane crash that took the lives of 28 people on Tuesday in Russia.

Officials from the Kamchatka region said the plane was on approach in fog and clouds, but it missed a scheduled communication and disappeared from the radar before crashing. As of now, it doesn’t seem that any of the 22 passengers or six crew members survived.

Russia’s state aviation agency, Rosaviatsiya, said that parts of the plane were found about 3 miles from the airport’s runway. Part of the fuselage was found on the side of a mountain, Russia’s Pacific Fleet told news agencies, and another part was floating in the Okhotsk Sea. Sergei Gorb, deputy director of Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise, said that the plane “practically crashed into a sea cliff,” which wasn’t sup-

posed to be in its landing trajectory.

The aircraft was in operation since 1982. The director of Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise, Alexei Khabarov, told the Interfax news agency that the plane was technically sound before taking off from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

The head of the local government in Palana, Olga Mokhireva, was among those on board.

In 2012, an Antonov An-28 plane belonging to Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise crashed into a mountain while flying the same route as Tuesday’s flight. A total of 14 people were on board and 10 of them were killed.

Both pilots, who were among the dead, were found to have alcohol in their systems.

Elephants Return to the Wild

In a first, a whole herd of elephants residing in a British zoo is going to be released into the wild in Kenya.

The 13 elephants live at Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent, southern England, and will be flown more than 4,350 miles to Kenya, according to a press release from animal conservation charity the Aspinall Foundation this week.

The group weighs 25 tons in total and includes three calves. It will be the first time that a herd of elephants has been “rewilded” in the world, organizers say.

Rewilding aims to restore ecosystems to a natural state and often involves the reintroduction of native animals.

The charity said that it hopes the project will discourage the global trade in elephants and encourage the return of animals to the wild where possible, adding that no elephants belong in captivity.

“This is an incredibly exciting project and a genuine world-first,” said Damian Aspinall, chairman of the Aspinall Foundation, in the press release.

“As with any conservation project of this magnitude, there are obviously big risks, but we consider them

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well worth it to get these magnificent elephants back into the wild where they belong.”

While rewilding elephants is “uncharted territory,” according to the foundation website, other species have been released “very successfully.” Last year, the foundation sent two cheetahs back to the wild in South Africa.

“Since the 1970s, we have been helping elephants, providing a wild future to more than 260 rescued orphans and operating extensive protection projects to ensure they, their wildborn babies and their wild kin are best protected throughout their lives,” said Angela Sheldrick, CEO of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

“We look forward to offering that same opportunity to these 13 elephants when they set foot on African soil – home, where they belong, and able to live wild and free as nature intended.”

The elephants will be transported in individual cages customized to their needs, and vets will be on hand throughout the flight.

Meanwhile, search teams have discovered the bodies of four people believed to be Egyptian laborers. The victims, ages 22-29, were found outside the village of Orou; officials believe they had tried to flee the flames but that their truck veered off the road and fell into an embankment.

Though the laborers then attempted to flee on foot, they did not succeed.

Trade Union PEO has asked for an investigation into the workers’ deaths, as well as their work safety conditions.

Police spokesman Christos Andreou said that a 67-year-old man is being investigated on arson charges and that “more than one witness” had seen the suspect leave his orchard shortly before a fire broke out there.

Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean Sea with a population of approximately 1.2 million residents.

Deforestation Decimates Some Species

Fatal Forest Fire in Cyprus

A forest fire which claimed four lives is now described as the most destructive fire since Cyprus became independent, local authorities said on Monday.

The flames have been brought fully under control, Cypriot authorities added. The joint effort involved firefighters, police officers, Civil Defense and Wildlife Service staff, soldiers, and volunteers, as well as over 70 firetrucks, 14 bulldozers, and several water tanks. Joining the efforts were nine Cypriot firefighting planes, police and National Guard helicopters, two British military helicopters, two Greek aircraft, and two Israeli planes.

According to Cyprus’ Forestry Department, the fire forced the evacuation of nine villages and scorched homes, businesses, orchards, and forests along more than 21 square miles. It took over 600 people to contain the blaze.

Deforestation is continuing at an alarming rate around the globe, despite warnings from scientists that some species may soon become extinct.

According to the World Animal Foundation, the Earth is losing approximately 137 species of plants, animals, and insects every day due to deforestation.

Among those at risk are the harpy eagle, which lives in the Amazon rainforest and is one of the largest eagle species worldwide. As the Amazon slowly disappears, the natural habitat for the eagles’ prey – twotoed sloths, brown capuchin monkeys, and grey woolly monkeys – is disappearing as well, a new study published in Nature Scientific Reports found.

The study also found that as the eagles’ prey disappeared, the species did not seek out alternative sources of food. As a result, they fed their young less frequently in areas where food was scarce, leading to eaglet deaths from starvation. In areas with over

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70% deforestation, researchers found that the eagles did not nest at all.

Currently, the harpy eagle is listed as a near-threatened species with a decreasing population.

Another species at risk is the Sumatran orangutan of southeast Asia, endangered due to the deforestation caused by the palm oil industry. All of these orangutans live in Indonesia and Malaysia, where, according to the World Wildlife Fund, their habitats are under “constant threat” of deforestation.

Less than 80,000 of the species remain worldwide, and according to the Orangutan Conservancy, up to 3,000 of the species are killed every year. When orangutans search new areas for food, they often come in contact with humans, who kill them either as “pests” or for the bush meat trade; as a result, the species is considered to be “critically endangered.”

Other endangered species include the koala, which live in Australia’s eucalyptus trees and is listed as “vulnerable” with a decreasing population; and the jaguar, which tends to live in the Amazon rainforest or in the Maya Forest in Central America. Jaguars are listed as “near threatened” with a decreasing population.

Tsunamis of Mud in Japan

A mudslide in Atami, Shizouka, southwest of Tokyo, Japan, has killed at least four and left 24 people missing. The mudslide was caused by torrential rains.

According to Atami’s City Fire Disaster and Management Agency, over 130 homes were swept away in the mudslide.

The city has three evacuation centers, and two private hotels are also sheltering 562 people.

Speaking at a Sunday news conference, Shizouka governor Heita Kawakatsu promised that the prefecture will investigate whether the mudslide was caused due to deforesting in the area.

Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide

Suga sent condolences to the victims, emphasizing that workers are doing their best to rescue people and aid with evacuations. He also urged Japanese citizens to check local hazard maps and remain updated as to weather warnings and evacuation information.

More than 100 homes were destroyed after 18 inches of rain fell in the area.

China Heading into Afghanistan

As U.S. troops prepare to leave Afghanistan, China is hoping to fill the void and exert influence over the country.

Authorities in Kabul, Afghanistan, are considering extending a $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The initiative, launched in 2013 by China’s President Xi Jinping, became part of China’s constitution in 2017 and aims to expand China’s connection to the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has warned NATO to exit Afghanistan

by U.S. President Joe Biden’s September 11, 2021 deadline, or be treated as “occupying forces.”

One source told The Daily Beast that “there is a discussion on a Peshawar-Kabul motorway between the authorities in Kabul and Beijing.”

The source added: “Linking Kabul with Peshawar by road means Afghanistan’s formal joining of CPEC.” Peshawar is a city in northwestern Pakistan; for at least five years, China has attempted to extend the BRI into Afghanistan, but the Afghanistan government was hesitant to agree due to fears of the U.S.’s reaction.

“There has been continuous engagement between the Afghan government and the Chinese for the past few years… [but] that made the U.S. suspicious of President Ashraf Ghani government,” a source told the Beast. “Ghani needs an ally with resources, clout and ability to provide military support to his government.”

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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Officials in both countries called the deal, which was inked earlier in the day, a “win-win.”

Knesset Ends Covid Unemployment Benefits

Israel’s Knesset approved a bill on Thursday ending unemployment payments to those who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The bill, which followed the expiry of special regulations allowing the continuation of the payments, passed 35-0.

Under the new plan, only those over the age of 45 will continue to receive unemployment, but payments will be lower and continue only until mid-October. Those over age 67 who lost their jobs due to the pandemic will also continue to receive a reduced payment, but only until the middle of September.

Meir Spiegler, Director-General of the National Insurance Institute, which is in charge of the payments, told Channel 12 News that the plan “is balanced, gradual and provides a solution for quite a few populations that have fallen into crisis and have not yet found the ability to enter the labor market.”

“This framework is not a perfect framework,” he admitted, but noted that “people knew that on June 30 the reliefs expire.”

Vaccines to S. Korea After Palestinians rejected vaccines offered to them from Israel, the Jewish State is sending them to South Korea.

More than 700,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine that are set to expire in a few weeks were flown to Seoul on Tuesday, as part of a deal between Israel and South Korea that will see the Asian nation send fresh vaccines in exchange later in the year.

Israel has been scrambling to use up or trade over 1 million doses of the vaccine that expire at the end of July. According to South Korea’s Disease Control and Prevention Agency, negotiations had originally been for 800,000 doses, but the amount was lowered due to a spurt of interest in vaccinations in Israel, where authorities have begun pushing for teens aged 12 to 15 to be inoculated.

Jung Eun-kyeong, Korea’s top infectious disease expert, said the Seoul government will continue to pursue swap deals with other countries.

“We are expecting to have a sufficient number of vaccines during the fourth quarter while we proceed with our vaccination campaign,” said Jung, director of the agency.

The deal comes weeks after the Palestinian Authority backed out of a similar agreement, saying the vaccine doses were too close to their expiration date, despite Israel using the same batches to vaccinate its teens.

“This exchange arrangement was made based on the thoughts shared by all countries, including South Korea and Israel, that even a single drop of a vaccine should not go down the drain,” South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Choi Young-sam said.

South Korea has so far administered first doses to just 30% of its population of 51 million. Israel has fully vaccinated nearly 5.3 million people of its population of 9.3 million.

Knesset Votes Down Citizenship Law

Israel’s Knesset on Tuesday morning struck down a bill to prevent the unification of Palestinian

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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Authority Arab families.

The law tied with 59 MKs voting in favor, 59 voting against, and two abstentions.

First passed in 2003, the Citizenship Law blocks the automatic granting of Israeli citizenship to Palestinian Authority Arabs who marry Israeli Arabs.

The law expired Tuesday, and the government had aimed to extend it by another year.

Prior to the vote, the factions comprising Israel’s coalition agreed to extend the law by six months instead of one year, Arutz Sheva noted.

According to Israel’s Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina), there are currently 9,000 people residing in Israel on residency visas, and 3,500 who have received permanent residency.

Jewish Athletes at Tokyo Olympics The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, rescheduled for summer 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, includes several Jewish athletes, among them

Israel’s first Olympic surfer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.

The games will run from July 23 to August 8.

Among the athletes to watch for are gold medal winner Sue Bird, 40, whose father is Jewish and who is representing the USA in women’s basketball. The 2020 Olympics will be her fifth, and likely last, Olympic games. She gained Israeli citizenship in 2006, to allow her to play for European teams.

The women’s basketball tournament will begin July 26, and the gold medal game will be held August 8.

Another athlete is Linoy Ashram, 22, representing Israel in rhythmic gymnastics, who will compete in her first Olympic games after winning the European Championships in her field in 2020. Her competition will take place August 6-8.

Diego Schwartzman of Argentina

is the highest-ranked Jewish tennis player in the world, and listed in the US Open at 5-5. Schwartzman, 28, is set to compete in his first Olympics this year; the men’s tennis tournament begins July 24.

Alix Klineman, a 31-year-old beach volleyball player from the U.S., failed to make the Olympic team in 2016, prompting her to make the switch from indoor volleyball to beach volleyball. She has teamed up with two-time Olympian April Ross, and the pair are entering the games with a world ranking of No. 2. Her tournament begins on July 24.

Anat Lelior, 21, is an Israeli surfer who will be Israel’s first Olympic surfer. Surfing is new to the games this year, with just 20 men and 20 women competing this year. Lelior qualified for the games as the highest-ranked female surfer from Europe.

The surfing competition is subject to change based on wave conditions at the Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach but is tentatively scheduled for July 25-28.

Jessica Fox, 27, an Australian canoe slalomist, has won 10 World Championship medals, including seven gold medals and seven overall World Cup titles. She is known as the greatest paddler of all time. The women’s K-1 slalom competition is

scheduled for July 25-27, while the C-1 slalom is scheduled for July 2829.

Eli Dershwitz, a saber fencer, is currently ranked No. 2 globally and is representing the USA in the Olympics. He aims to become the fifth U.S. man to win a medal in saber fencing; no American man has ever won the gold in that category. The individual competition is scheduled for July 24, while the men’s saber team competition is scheduled for July 28.

Other athletes to watch include Jemima Montag, who is representing Australia in racewalking and who will compete on August 6; and Ori Sasson, a 30-year-old Israeli judoka likely in his last Olympics and competing in the heavyweight competition and team competition, as well as the judo lineup. Sasson is scheduled to compete in the 100+kg competition on July 30, and in the team competition on July 31.

Another Israeli judoka, Sagi Muki, 29, will compete in the men’s under-81kg competition on July 27.

Maru Teferi, a marathon runner, is set to compete in his second Olympics, along with his wife Selamawit “Selam” Dagnachew Teferi. The two will be the first married couple to represent Israel at the Olympic

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

games, JTA added. The men’s marathon will take place on August 8, while the women’s competition begins July 30, with finals on August 2.

The women’s 10,000m is scheduled for August 7.

Avi Schafer, 23, will be playing basketball for Japan in the Olympics, after leaving his sophomore year to go pro in Japan. While the tournament begins July 25, Japan’s first match is scheduled for July 26.

Maor Tiyouri, 30, is a marathon runner who will represent Israel in the women’s marathon competition.

The marathon is scheduled for August 7.

Award for TopNotch Defense

Outgoing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Defense Minister Benny Gantz (Blue and White) on Monday presented Israel’s top de-

fense prize to four classified projects considered to have substantially contributed to Israel’s security.

The prize is usually granted to just three projects, the Times of Israel noted.

Speaking at the ceremony, Gantz praised the programs for providing Israel with military capabilities allowing it to increase precision during the May 2021 “Guardian of the Walls” operation in Gaza.

“We saw these advantages during Operation Guardian of the Walls, with accurate strikes, unprecedented intelligence and a campaign that saw minimal harm to bystanders in relation to the extent of the aerial operations, and precision in strikes against terrorists that was effective and powerful,” Gantz said.

He added, “The entire Middle East is on the verge of an emerging arms race should Iran continue to advance toward a nuclear threshold.

Our eyes are open to all these threats.

Our defense systems, most of which were developed in Israel, are deployed, and intelligence is working more hours to locate targets and identify intentions.

“We are aware of what’s going on in our region, and our policy is unequivocal: We will not accept vi-

olations of Israeli sovereignty, not by incendiary balloons or rockets [from Gaza] and not anything else by Iran and its proxies. We will respond forcefully, based on our needs and at the time that’s right for us.”

Rivlin noted, “The person behind the system is the foundation and is the most important thing, without which the most high-tech developments wouldn’t be able to defend us.

The person behind the machine and their spirit — the spirit of dedication and belief in the justness of their path — these are what make the difference and they are what make you, my esteemed ones, the best among us.”

A Heartbreaking Search A fire official in Surfside, Florida, on Tuesday reported that four more victims had been pulled from the rubble of a collapsed 12-story condominium building.

As of Wednesday morning, 46

bodies had been found.

Speaking during a closed-door briefing on Tuesday morning, Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said rescuers have also been locating more human remains and noted that there had been a twohour delay early on Tuesday due to lightning.

More than 5.5 million pounds of debris have been removed from the site.

On Sunday, the standing portion of the Champlain Towers South was demolished in order to allow rescue crews to speed up their work, with hopes of increasing the chance of locating survivors, as well as locating as many remains as possible before tropical storms hit the area.

Commenting on the demolition, Jadallah said, “As a result of the contractor who brought it down, he did it in such a way that literally we actually were back on the original pile in

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Your Beauty is Our Secret We Understand Your Unique Concerns and Needs

Isaac Herzog was sworn in as the 11th president of Israel, succeeding Reuven Rivlin, in the Knesset on Wednesday, July 7

less than 20 minutes.”

No one has been rescued alive since the first hours after the collapse last Thursday morning. More than 100 people are still missing.

On Tuesday, the first funerals for those who perished in the disaster were held. The Guara family – Marcus, 52, Ana, 42, and their daughters, Lucia, 10, and Emma, four – were mourned at a church a few blocks away from the collapsed building.

They had lived on the eighth floor of the 12-story building.

Top 10 Senate Seats Likely to Flip in 2022

As the 2022 Senate race nears, there have been a few changes to the July 2021 ranking of which seats are more likely to flip, according to CNN. Pennsylvania remains the most likely to flip, but New Hampshire may be more likely than Nevada to do the same. Meanwhile, Florida is now more likely than Ohio to flip.

The July start of a new fundraising period means more candidates are likely to launch campaigns.

In Pennsylvania, incumbent Republican Pat Toomey is retiring, making his seat the most likely to flip, followed by Georgia, where Herschel Walker has announced his decision to run, backed by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Next in line is Wisconsin, where Republican Ron Johnson has not yet announced whether he plans to run for a third turn. If Johnson decides not to run, he would put Democrat candidates at a disadvantage, since they will be running against an asyet-unknown Republican.

Meanwhile, in Arizona, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly is running for a full six-year term, with Republicans looking at possibly messy primaries.

In North Carolina, retiring Sen. Richard Burr may be leaving a vacancy, but Trump’s unexpected endorsement of Rep. Ted Budd sparked fireworks as his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, said she would pass on the race. The race isn’t over yet, though, since both former Gov. Pat McCrory and former Rep. Mark Walker are still running, as are former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, state Sen. Jeff Jackson, and former state Sen. Erica Smith.

New Hampshire is also undecided, with first-term Sen. Maggie Hassan without a top-tier challenger, but remains above Nevada, where first-term Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto still does not yet have a clear opponent, other than former Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who CNN noted doesn’t quite fit the required profile.

Eighth on the list is Florida, which moved up in likelihood to flip after Democratic Rep. Val Demings announced a decision to run against GOP Sen. Marco Rubio.

Following Florida is Ohio, where Sen. Rob Portman is planning to retire, and author JD Vance officially entered the Republican primaries.

The winner of those primaries will face off with Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, but the state is less likely to flip now that there is a big-name candi-

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Bo’i B’Sholom

Watch over two hours of education and inspiration by Gedolim and community Askanim:

Why are there so many contentious divorces nowadays?

What can parents do to avoid the pitfalls of divorce for their children?

Moderated by: Rabbi Yitzchok Hisiger

speCial message

opening remarks

Marital Strife Must be Avoided at all Costs

Building a Mishkan L’Sholom

Maran Posek Hador HaGaon HaRav Moshe Sternbuch, Shlita

HaGaon HaRav Hillel David Chaver Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah

Keeping the Peace

The heskem Chosson v’kallah

innoCenT karBanos

Rabbi Moshe Meir Weiss

Agreeing (on how) to Disagree: A Halachic Perspective

The Effects of Marital Friction Upon Our Children

HaGaon HaRav Noach Isaac Oelbaum Mara D’Asra of K’hal Nachalas Yitzchok

HaGaon HaRav Yaakov Bender Rosh Yeshivas Darchei Torah

Binyan adei ad

sTarTing on The righT FooT

Exploring Today’s Marital Challenges

Preparing Our Children for a Successful Marriage

Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser Rav K’hal Bais Yitzchok

Rabbi Yosef Greenfeld Rav Kehillas Chestnut, Lakewood

Editor, ArtScroll / Yated Ne’eman

The Cries of the Mizbe’ach Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel Executive Vice President, Agudath Israel of America

A Therapist’s Perspective Rabbi Benzion Twerski, PhD Therapist

Rav, Agudas Yisroel of Staten Island

Destruction in Our Times Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein Founder & Director, Ohr Naava

Tying it All Together Mr. Charlie Harary Motivational Speaker

Tzaischem B’Sholom: Having an Exit Strategy Mr. Eli Goldbaum Cofounder, Yashar Initiative

The Yashar Initiative provides a framework for healthy marital conflict resolution. Rabbanim, legal professionals, and experienced therapists developed the Heskem which enables couples to enter marriage with an ideal arrangement in place in the event of future conflict. Yashar’s goal is to promote honest discussion about the relationship and provide common ground acceptance between husband & wife.

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The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

!

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‫תשעה‬ ‫ב'אב‬

Strengthening our Mikdash Me’at ‫כל המגרש אשתו ראשונה אפילו מזבח מוריד עליו דמעות‬ On the day that we mourn the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, we explore the unfortunate phenomenon of contentious divorce facing our community.

Together, we’ll discuss solutions to prepare out children for successful marriages that are destined to be Binyanei Adei Ad. This Tisha B’av, join thousands of Yidden around the world in safeguarding and enhancing Sholom Bayis.

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

date in the running.

Last on the likely-to-flip list is Missouri, where Rep. Vicky Hartzler has announced her candidacy to replace retiring Republican Roy Blunt, further splintering the primary vote and lowering the threshold that the Democrats need to win the nomination.

Gypsy Moth Caterpillars’ “Devastating” Effect

Gypsy moth caterpillars have wiped apple trees and berry bushes clean of their fruits in some areas of the Northeast.

Mark Boltz-Robinson, tree warden for Monkton, Vermont, and chair of the town’s Forest Committee, said that the outbreak is Vermont’s worst

in 30 years.

“Normally, the things that I am able to make and pass to friends and family members is not going to happen this year,” he said. “It’s devastating. I grew up in Vermont and I remember some bad years in the late 1980s, and I have never seen anything this bad.”

The gypsy moths are a European species introduced to the U.S. in the late 19th century; according to entomologist and researcher Margaret Skinner, outbreaks occur every 6-8 years.

According to the USDA, the larvae feast on the foliage of hundreds of trees, including oak and aspen.

The eggs hatch in the spring and feed until June or July, following which they transition into adults which live a few days, mating and laying eggs on trees.

They have since spread beyond New England, affecting additional areas of the U.S. as well.

According to USDA research entomologist Toby Petrice, the caterpillars affect wildlife, timber production, recreation, and overall forest health, as well as crops.

Gypsy moth caterpillars can cause skin rash and respiratory problems in some people.

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According to Boltz-Robinson, wrapping a tree in burlap sprayed with glue can help limit the damage by trapping larvae scaling the tree trunk, but he added that “it’s effective on a small scale, but if you have 10 acres of trees that’s an awful lot of duct tape.”

Sandy Liebhold, a research entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service, noted, “In the 1980s, there was 12 million acres defoliation, and in the 1990s, 17 million acres. Between a million and 10 million acres of forests are expected to be defoliated over the next year due to this year’s outbreak.”

An Anti-Semitic Attack

A Boston rabbi stabbed multiple times on Thursday said that the attack against him was “unequivocally” anti-Semitic in nature, the Times of Israel reported.

Rabbi Shlomo Noginski was speaking on his phone on the steps outside a Jewish day school in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood at approximately 1:00p.m. local time on Thursday afternoon when he was approached by a suspect wielding both a gun and a knife.

The criminal ordered Rabbi Noginski to take him to his car, but when he tried to force him inside, Rabbi Noginski attempted to flee.

The suspect then chased him down, stabbing him several times.

Rabbi Noginski was hospitalized for treatment and was released on Friday. Khaled Awad, 24, has been arrested and is being charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Speaking to Channel 12 news, Rabbi Noginski said, “It hurts. I was stabbed eight times, mainly in the arm, some in the stomach [area].”

He added that the attacker “tried to hurt me dozens of times. I thank G-d for this big miracle, thank G-d it ended this way.”

“Unequivocally, it was an anti-Semitic incident,” he emphasized. “This is how I feel, I felt in that moment that he was trying to kill me, not [trying]

to steal my car. He wanted to capture me and kill me.”

Noting that he had offered the attacker his car keys, Rabbi Noginski said, “He didn’t want the car, he didn’t ask for my wallet, or for money, or anything. He didn’t want anything. He really tried to aim for my heart, my body, which is significant.”

Rabbi Noginski, a father of 12, experienced anti-Semitism as a child in the Soviet Union when he was badly beaten in one attack. In response, his mother put him in martial arts classes and he is now a black belt in judo.

The family eventually moved to Israel where Rabbi Noginski became a successful businessman and was a city councilman at one point. He moved to Boston to serve the city’s Russian-speaking Jewish community.

At a vigil not far from the scene of the attack, District Attorney Rachael Rollins said, “We have to recognize that anti-Semitism is on the rise, and we need to hold people accountable when they do this, so that they are made an example of.”

On Friday, Awad pleaded not guilty to the charge. He is being held without bail pending a hearing to determine whether he presents a threat to the public.

Awad has faced charges of battery and theft in Florida and, according to court documents, pointed what seemed to be a firearm at police when they came to arrest him, before kicking one of the officers in the stomach.

Bezos Leaves Amazon

On Monday, Jeff Bezos, whose competitive zeal made Amazon a dominant force in the world of online retail, stepped down as CEO. He turned over the reins to Andy Jassy, who runs the cloud computing business.

One of the world’s most powerful business figures and also one of its wealthiest, Bezos will transition to the role of executive chairman.

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has become normal. People yawn.

That yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive,” Bezos, 57, said upon announcing the move.

“When you look at our financial results, what you’re actually seeing are the long-run cumulative results of invention. Right now, I see Amazon at its most inventive ever, making it an optimal time for this transition.”

Bezos is closely associated with his company’s brand.

Since founding Amazon as an online bookseller nearly 30 years ago, he has expanded into selling just about anything you can buy. On his watch, the company grew into a $1.7 trillion retail monolith that employs more than 1.2 million workers.

“Amazon is big simply because it has given customers what they want.

To grow it had to take share from other giants of retail, some of which were once seen as unassailable,” Neil Saunders, managing director of consultancy GlobalData Retail, said.

Among Amazon’s biggest success stories is its cloud computing business, which launched in 2006, and is led by Jassy, who has long been viewed as Bezos’ heir apparent. Jassy’s ascension was made possible in August when the company announced that another possible successor, Jeff

Wilke, would soon retire.

Jassy, who is Jewish, was born in Scarsdale, New York. He and his wife, Elana, have two children.

Gun Violence on July 4

July 4th weekend turned deadly throughout the nation this year as at least 150 people lost their lives in more than 400 shootings.

The data, which includes the number of shooting incidents and gun violence victims nationally over a 72-hour period from Friday through Sunday, was compiled by the Gun Violence Archive and is still evolving and will be updated.

In New York, where gun violence has been rising to levels not seen in years, there were 26 victims from 21 shootings from Friday to Sunday. Last year, over the same period, 30 people were shot in 25 shootings. On July 4,

the city experienced 12 shooting incidents that involved 13 victims, an increase from last year when there were eight shootings and eight victims, according to the NYPD. So far this year, gun violence incidents in New York have spiked almost 40% over the same period in 2020, with 767 shootings and 885 victims.

In Chicago, 83 people were shot, including 14 killed, in shootings from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday. The injured included a 5-year-old girl wounded on Sunday afternoon and a 6-year-old girl shot early Monday.

One of the 14 people killed was a member of the Illinois Army National Guard.

In suburban Atlanta, golf professional Gene Siller was fatally shot at a country club on Saturday. Siller, 41, was found unresponsive with an “apparent gunshot wound to the head” and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Two other gunshot victims were also found on the course.

In Norfolk, Virginia, four children were shot on Friday afternoon, including a 6-year-old girl who was initially reported to be suffering life-threatening injuries but is now in stable condition, according to Norfolk police. The victims also included a 14-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl, and a 16-yearold boy, all of whom are expected to fully recover.

Trump CFO Indicted

The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, were charged last week in what prosecutors said was a sweeping, 15year scheme to compensate top executives of former President Donald Trump’s company “off the books” and help them avoid paying taxes.

The Trump Organization pleaded not guilty to charges that included tax fraud and falsifying business records.

Weisselberg, 73, pleaded not guilty to grand larceny and tax fraud charges, among others, after prosecutors accused him of personally avoiding taxes on $1.7 million of his income.

Prosecutors say it was an “orchestrated” scheme to compensate executives “off the books” to avoid taxes.

“Contrary to today’s assertion by the company’s former CEO, this is not a ‘standard practice in the business community’ nor was it the act of a rogue or isolated employee,” Carey Dunne, an assistant district attorney, said in court. “Instead, it was orchestrated by the most senior executives, who were financially benefiting themselves and the company by getting secret pay raises at the expense of state and federal taxpayers.”

Former President Trump sounded off against the charges. “The political Witch Hunt by the Radical Left Democrats, with New York now taking over the assignment, continues,” he said. “It is dividing our Country like never before!”

“Make no mistake — this is not about the law; this is all about politics,” a spokesperson for the Trump Organization said in a statement.

The grand jury indictments were obtained by the offices of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and Letitia James, the New York state attorney general.

In the indictment, “we allege, among other things, financial wrongdoing whereby the Trump Organization engaged in a scheme with Mr. Weisselberg to avoid paying taxes on certain compensation,” James said in a statement. “This investigation will continue, and we will follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead.”

In a statement Thursday morning, a spokesperson for the Trump Organization said that Weisselberg is “a loving and devoted husband, father and grandfather who has worked at the Trump Organization for 48 years.”

“He is now being used by the Manhattan District Attorney as a pawn in a scorched earth attempt to harm the former President,” the spokesperson said. “The District Attorney is bringing a criminal prosecution involving employee benefits that neither the IRS nor any other District Attorney would ever think of bringing. This is not justice; this is politics.”

Geffen Grants Yale Drama Free Ride Billionaire David Geffen is giving $150 million to the Yale School of Drama, allowing the program to cease charging students its $32,800 per-year tuition.

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ven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, was born in Boro Park, Brooklyn. His parents were Jewish immigrants who met in Israel and then moved to the U.S. Geffen struggled early on in school, barely passing New Utrecht High School due to what he said was challenges with dyslexia.

Geffen is worth approximately $10.8 billion.

Eric Adams Wins Primary

its programs, which include acting, design, directing, and playwriting.

Announcing the gift last Wednesday, the school said it would rename itself the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, in honor of Geffen’s generous contribution.

The school added that it will eliminate tuition for MA, PhD, and certificate programs in August, and that it believes Geffen’s gift is the largest in the history of American theater.

Drama school dean James Bundy said, “We know, because people have told us, that there are potential applicants out there who think they could never afford graduate theater train-

ing at an Ivy League school.

“Not every artist is going to break through at the age of 25 or 26 or 27.

Certain kinds of careers take time to build, and entering the professions with less debt is going to make for more interesting and more resounding choices in the long run.”

University President Peter Salovey noted, “In general, what should be happening in higher education is an attempt to reduce the financial burden on individuals and families associated with undergraduate education and graduate and professional education.

“I’d love to do this for other pro-

grams as well, but it will take the generosity of donors to make it happen.”

Yale’s School of Music eliminated tuition in 2005.

David Geffen, most famous for co-founding DreamWorks with Ste-

Two weeks after the primaries, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams emerged victorious in the Democrat primary race for New York City mayor.

His key opponent, former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, formally ended her quest to become New York City’s 110th mayor on Wednesday, conceding the hardfought Democratic primary to Adams.

According to the latest numbers from the Board of Elections, Garcia trailed Adams by more than 8,000 votes.

“This campaign has come closer than any other moment in history to breaking that glass ceiling and selecting New York City’s first female mayor,” Garcia said.

Many hailed Adams’ victory as tantamount to winning the actual mayoral elections in November, as winning the primary in the heavily Democratic city is practically equivalent to winning the race. Adams is set to run against Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.

“This city is like many of our cities in America, we’re ready to finally look after working class people,” Adams told CNN. “And I’m going to be the mayor to symbolize that [and] partner with the other mayors across this country.”

The primary elections ended on June 22.Adams had a strong lead in the initial in-person voting results, with 31.7 percent of the firstpreference votes, compared to former mayoral counsel Maya Wiley’s 22.3 percent and Garcia’s 19.5 percent.

Adams’ lead was chopped sig-

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

nificantly last week after successive rounds of ranked-choice voting numbers were factored in.

The shifting numbers came after an embarrassing flub by the Board of Elections, which released voting information that included 135,000 test ballots.

“The Board apologizes for the error and has taken immediate to ensure the most accurate up to date results are reported,” it said in a statement after the foul-up.

Perfect Burglar?

A burglar in Washington State made himself at home last week when he entered a home in Covington and fixed himself some food and began to do the laundry.

The thief entered the home through an open window at around 4 a.m.

“Remember that Don Henley song, how does it go? ‘Well I coulda been an actor but I [wound] up here... people love it when you lose, they love dirty laundry,’” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.

“But this story isn’t a top 10 Billboard hit, but real life. On 6/30/2021 a Covington family called 911 when they found this dude doing laundry in their home just after 4:00 a.m.”

The thief ran out of the house when the occupants woke up. Police nabbed him a few blocks away and found that he was in possession of a number of items which had been taken from the couple, including car keys, headphones, and some cash.

Wonder if the thief remembered to add fabric softener when he did the laundry.

Baby Boom

There were a lot of diapers and screaming babies in one Texas hospital recently, when the facility delivered 100 babies in two stretches totaling 91 hours.

“While Andrews Women’s Hospital is known as a high-volume delivery hospital, the influx in births was considered rare and exceptional,” Baylor Scott and White medical center said in a press release.

Beginning on June 24, Andrews Women’s Hospital in Fort Worth said it delivered 52 babies in 47 hours.

Then, on June 28, the hospital’s labor and delivery team delivered 55 babies in 44 hours.

This is not the first time that the hospital was bouncing with babies.

In 2018, the staff delivered 48 babies in 41 hours.

With so many babies, there are bound to be some more-frequent baby names. For boys, Atlas and Daniel were popular. Six of the baby girls were named Gianna.

“The hospital averages about 16 deliveries per day, and welcomed nearly 6,000 babies in 2020, including 100 sets of twins and two sets of triplets,” the hospital stated.

Oh, baby!

Hot Dog!

Joey Chestnut reigned again as hot dog-eating champion by scarfing down a whopping 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes – one more wiener than his own world record set last year – as he nabbed the title at the annual Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog-Eating Contest on Coney Island this week.

This is Joey’s 14th victory in 15 years.

“I feel like I could eat a little more,” Chestnut, 37, said afterward, although he admitted feeling “a little bloated.”

He added, “I’m just super happy.

In the second half, the crowd pushed me.”

The second place finisher trailed Joey by 26 hot dogs.

New York City Mayor de Blasio was on hand, wearing a hot dogshaped hat, to congratulate and share his insights. “It is a dog-eat-dog world … We should relish this moment!” he quipped.

The winner of the women’s division, Michelle Lesco of Tucson,

downed 30 and three-quarter hot dogs, including a piece she dropped on the ground but picked up and ate nonetheless to cheers from the crowd.

“I feel awesome,” she said, adding, “The crowd was crazy.”

Crazy, Michelle, is someone who eats 76 hot dogs at a time.

Too Sweet for the Beat

Dogs that work for the police force need to be tough. In fact, if they’re not tough enough, they can be booted from the program.

That’s what 54 dogs in China learned recently. The canines are being auctioned off so they can find themselves new homes after they flunked out of a police academy training program.

The Criminal Investigation Police University of China in northeastern Liaoning province announced that the dogs – primarily German shepherds, Dutch shepherd hybrids and Belgian malinois – will be auctioned this week.

The canines were rejected from the police dog training program for having timid personalities, physical weakness or frailty, failure to follow instructions, and refusing to bite when prompted.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world.

Picasso Puzzle

A painting by Picasso is finally seeing the light after being hidden in a closet in a house in Maine for half a century.

John McInnis Auctioneers, based in Massachusetts, confirmed that the painting entitled “Le Tricorne” sold on Saturday.

The 16 x 16 inch painting is signed and dated in the year 1919. It is believed to be a study for the stage curtain Picasso painted for a ballet of the same name that debuted that year in London, according to the New-York Historical Society.

That curtain has been on display at the historical society in New York City since 2015.

The mixed-media painting sold for $150,000.

The painting was found in a closet in a home the seller’s father inherited from a female relative who studied art in Europe in the 1920s.

“This painting was discovered in a house owned by my great-aunt which was passed down to her from her uncle in the late 1930s,” a statement from the seller statement reads. “There were several paintings kept in a closet for 50 years which were left by her at the time of the passing of the house to my father and now to me.”

Sounds like it’s (e)state of the art.

Bad Bills Bail

What happens when you can’t pay bail? Well, a man in Maine decided to take things into his own hands and posted his $200 bail with counterfeit bills.

The man had been picked up when police responded to reports of a stolen vehicle. Although he was not involved in the call, there was an outstanding warrant for him for theft from a Walmart and so he was picked up by police.

While in the slammer, he told officers that had enough money to post $200 in bail but when the bail commissioner arrived, he tried to pay with two counterfeit $100 bills.

He was subsequently denied bail and was returned to jail with the additional charge of forgery.

He later posted bail of $100 later in the day.

You know what they say: fake it till you make it.

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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Community Five Towns Residents Support Ohel at Rosemil Healthcare Golf and Tennis Classic Zalmie Rosenberg, co-lead sponsor of the event, in action

A

hot, sunny day greeted the 165 players who supported Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services at Ohel’s Rosemil Healthcare Golf and Tennis Tournament on Monday, June 21 at Alpine Country Club in Demarest, NJ. The annual event supports Ohel’s many essential services including mental health services, which never faltered during the global pandemic that saw soaring rates in depression, anxiety, stress, and grief.

“This summer’s tournament is different than last year, as it feels like we’re really seeing the end of the crisis,” said Michelle Sulzberger of Woodmere. “We know, however, that mental health issues don’t recede so easily.

While we’re happy to enjoy a round of golf or tennis game together, we’re happier still to know that it’s all in support of a great cause that will help thousands of people get back to their best, healthiest selves.”

Through the dedication and leadership of the event co-chairs, the event raised a record-breaking sum and signaled the community’s

support for Ohel’s impact in our community. We’re grateful to Steve Milstein and Zalmie Rosenberg of Rosemil Healthcare for its lead sponsorship and to our excellent co-chairs: David Brecher, Yossie Eisenberger, Mendy and Kiki Haas, Mendy Schreiber, Yaakov Zachter, Ben Englanger, Izzy Kaufman, Jonathan Marks, and Michelle Sulzberger.

“This was a beautiful day of golf, but, more importantly, the day allowed us to support lifesaving work,” said Yossie Eisenberger, president of The Triple Net Group, another major sponsor. “As a co-chair of this tournament for a second summer, I’m so proud that we can come together as an expression of our mutual values and in support of Ohel, especially in light of the increased need for mental health services in the past year and a half.”

Ohel has long been a leading expert in the field of mental health. Our expert staff is trained to help people and communities cope when crisis hits. When Covid-19 forced new social distancing mandates, we quickly pivot-

Howie Hershkovich Second Place Team: Menachem Gelbtuch and Michael Pilevsky

Steve Milstein, co-lead sponsor of the event, enjoying the day with Elliot Jacoby

ed to offer remote counseling and support to our thousands of families with children with special needs who were forced to stay home. We created toolkits for students dealing with an unprecedented school year to be able to acclimate to a rapidly shifting landscape, and we launched support groups for new populations of people who lost a loved one to Covid-19. We’re able to pivot so quickly thanks to our expertise, experience, and the partnership of those who sustain our services and allow us to be the lifeline our community needs in diverse situations.

We congratulate our tournament winners in golf

and tennis: Golf: First Place Foursome: Zalmie Rosenberg, Liz Breed, Yair Talmor, Eric Hackel Second Place Foursome: Larry Rosman, Rafi Rosman, Josh Rosman, Scott Fein Third Place Foursome: Ben Englander, Aiden Englander, Michael Schreiber, Ben Schreiber Closest to the Pin:Eli Lunzer Longest Drive: Jeff Landy Straightest Drive: Gary Katz Tennis: First Place Team: Nechemia Weiss and

About Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services: For more than 50 years, Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services has provided transformative social services and mental health services in the New York metropolitan area. Today Ohel cares for thousands of individuals through a broad range of programs including mental health services, housing and programs for people with disabilities, older adult services, outpatient counseling for everyday people with everyday problems, and trauma resources for communities in New York and across the country. Ohel’s Camp Kaylie allows children of all abilities to have the summer of their lives.

If you, or someone you know needs assistance with mental health services, please contact Ohel at 1-800-603OHEL.

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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46

JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

OU Awards $100K in Grants to 35 Shuls

T

he Orthodox Union (OU), the nation’s oldest and largest umbrella organization for the North American Orthodox Jewish community, has awarded $100,000 in grants to 35 synagogues in 15 U.S. states and one Canadian province in an effort to bring communities back to shul as more people are vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.

The OU received over 300 submissions across 34 states, from a range of synagogues large and small.

The 35 winners chosen by the OU Grant Committee represented both out-of-the-box thinking and opportunities that are more likely to rebuild and reaffirm the value of synagogue and community and therefore encourage congregants to return for the long term. The submissions represent a large depository of ideas and are available to any synagogue that could benefit from the innovative thinking. Ideas included hosting a communal kiddush celebration as a “make-up” for missed milestones, a back-to-shul fair, and a communal parlor meeting project to truly understand the changed needs of congregants. A full list of the winning submissions is available at www. ou.org/grant21.

Shuls receiving grants include: Darchei Noam in Fair Lawn, NJ; Congregation Or Torah in Skokie, IL; Congregation Beth Jacob in Atlanta, GA; Adas Torah in Los Angeles, CA; Congregation AABJ&D in West Orange, NJ; Congregation KINS of West Rogers Park in Chicago, IL; Congregation Ohav Zedek in Wilkes-Barre, PA; Beth David Synagogue in West Hartford, CT; Beth Haknesseth Ohr Hamizrach in Brooklyn, NY; Congregation Rodfei Sholom in San Antonio, TX; Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park in West Hempstead, NY; Young Israel Aish in Las Vegas, NV; Young Israel of the West Side in New York, NY; Young Israel of West Hartford in West Hartford, CT; Lido Beach Synagogue in Lido Beach, NY; Young Israel of Brookline in Brookline, MA; The Jewish Center in New York, NY; DAT Minyan in Denver, CO; Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah (MMAE) in Baltimore, MD; Young Israel of Oak Park in Oak Park, MI; Young Israel of Scarsdale in Scarsdale, NY; Congregation Machzikei Hadas in Ottawa,

ON; Boston University Hillel, MA; Congregation Emek Beracha in Palo Alto, CA; Young Israel of Sharon in Sharon, MA; Kesher Israel in Harrisburg, PA; ASKT - Anshe Sfard Kehillat Torah in Glendale, WI; Shaarei Torah Orthodox Congregation of Syracuse, NY; Am HaTorah Congregation in Bethesda, MD; Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation AG Beth Israel in Lincolnwood, IL; Young Israel of Cherry Hill, NJ; Young Israel of Great Neck, NY; LINK Shul in Los Angeles, CA; Boca Raton Synagogue, FL; and the BACH Jewish Center in Long Beach, NY. “The COVID-19 pandemic reminded us all that the shul experience creates a sense of community that is irreplicable,” said OU President Moishe Bane. “Shul leaders across the country are discovering new ways to bring back our communities stronger than ever – our families, our singles, our seniors and our youth – and we are thrilled to be able to partner with them on this endeavor.”

“In every Jewish community the shul is meant to be central to communal infrastructure and experience,” said OU Executive Vice President Rabbi Moshe Hauer. “The COVID reset is enabling shuls to rethink and enhance that role, identifying ways to strengthen the communal bond and the connection of all community members to Torah and Jewish life.

Throughout this grant-making process, it has been inspiring to see the energies and thought being brought to bear on this issue.”

“In going through all of the submissions, it became abundantly clear that shuls are seizing the opportunity to re-engage our community in the essential experience that shul offers,” said OU Synagogue Initiatives Director Rabbi Adir Posy. “We’ve collected so many ideas and put together a database so that shuls of all sizes and from all over the world can have access to this great thinking and utilize it for their own shuls.”

“While we wish we could fund many more shuls as they implement their plans to bring people back our hope is that this repository of ideas can serve as a launching pad for others,” added Rabbi Posy.

Rav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi, shlita, visited Chazaq headquarters last week and met with Rabbi Yaniv Meirov

A Mezuzah Means Home

By Jen Reiz

L

ike a mother waiting for her children to return home, JEP of Long Island’s Camp Nageela staffers couldn’t wait to welcome their campers back again. Baruch Hashem, we were able to open Camp Nageela last week and greet dozens of happy campers back to the place they love best for the summer.

On their first full day at camp, Nageela Girls learned about the significance of a mezuzah by Rabbi Dovid Shenker, founding director, JEP/Nageela, as part of a meaningful “Hakamus Mezuzah” ceremony at the new Nageela activity Center.

The building, to be named “Harvey’s DEC,” is named for Harvey Kaylie, a”h.

“Harvey would want us to enjoy this building,” said Rabbi Shenker to the campers and staff. “He and his family dedicated much of their energy to helping make sure every Jewish child can have a Jewish education. You girls will be able to do that in this building thanks to his support. Spreading Jewish education and pride is what attracted Harvey to Camp Nageela and to support this beautiful new building.”

“The second word of the name ‘Harvey’s DEC’ stands for three of the four values at Camp Nageela that we will accomplish in this building: Discovery – we’ll discover talents in ourselves that we didn’t know we had; Exploration – we’re

going to be able to do all kinds of new things; and Community – we’re going to enjoy each other’s company, all in these rooms.”

Rabbi Shenker put up the first mezuzah after he made the bracha followed by campers who had the opportunity to follow his lead. After all the mezuzos were placed on the doors, Nageela Girls enjoyed a big celebration with music and dancing to celebrate the wonderful occasion. It was good to be back home at Camp Nageela.

A formal building dedication ceremony will take place this month during the Nageela Boys’ session to include all who helped contribute to the new Nageela building and room dedications. There are a few mezuzos dedications still available to dedicate. If you would like to dedicate one, please contact jenr@jepli. org or call 917-715-2415. Thank you for your support to help our Jewish children continue to enjoy Joyfully Jewish experiences.

Jen Reiz is the Director of PR & Development at JEP/Nageela.

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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Around the Community

YLX Kicks Off With an Electrifying First Week

R’ Moshe Barth learning with YLX chevra at the White Shul

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LX: the YID Learning Experience kicked off its first week. YLX is the summer night program open for all teenage boys in the Five Towns-Far Rockaway community. Now in their eighth season, the program is larger and more exciting than ever.

This summer, YLX launched a second location at The White Shul in Far Rockaway. YLX is now divided by age. High school boys attend YLX at Heichal Dovid and boys in middle school attend YLX at The White Shul. YLX founder Rabbi Aryeh Dachs is joined

by R’ Lazer Weiss at Heichal Dovid in Lawrence.

R’ Dovi Eisenberger and R’ Eli Davison run the

Pinchas Fiber leading a high school chevra at Beis Medrash Heichal Dovid

programming at The White Shul.

The first week was certainly electrifying. On Tuesday, opening night, the boys were treated to pizza and fries, partially sponsored by Pizza’le.

The boys then began the sugya on tefilla with their rebbeim. The YLX batei midrashim were quickly abuzz with exciting Torah learning. On Wednesday, everyone enjoyed a lavish spread sponsored

by Traditions Eatery. Thursday night at YLX is the ultimate summer experience. The YI of Bayswater/Shaar Hashamayim once again is hosting the Thursday night program. YLX’s legendary barbecue and basketball started off soggy. Per-

sistent rain kept the YLX chevra at bay under the awning. But then the rain subsided, somewhat, and basketball games started and Rabbi Weiss was even able to get a roaring bonfire going. The night was memorable and muddy, a wonderful capstone to the first week of YLX 2021.

YLX is open to all boys in the community ages 13 and up. There is no charge for the program. To register email YIDLearningExpereince@gmail. com.

How Do You Face the Face of Antisemitism?

You Can’t Afford to Miss This Project Witness Tishah B’Av Program

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oday, we are all once again facing the multiple national challenges posed by virulently proliferating antisemitism, by a decreasing sense of Jewish identity, and by the diminishing ability of the world to practice tolerance and respect for others. In contrast, we hold up the Holocaust generation as an example and acknowledge the debt we owe them for the faith in mankind they demonstrated in the face of unspeakable horrors.

Deeply committed to its goals to educate, inspire and transform, Project Witness is determined to promote Jewish awareness and identity, working tirelessly to guarantee that the courage and faith of the past become a guiding light for future generations.

On Tishah B’Av, you will have the opportunity to unite and sustain Klal Yisrael in a singular manner.

On that sad date, Project Witness will be presenting a unique program as a community service.

“Facing the Face of Antisemitism” is a program that cannot be missed. It presents highly relevant discussions on this rapidly developing topic of antisemitism by a representative group of leaders from a variety of vantage points.

Chaired by former New York City Councilman David Greenfield, the program’s speakers will address antisemitism from a multiplicity of critical perspectives.

Among the speakers, Project Witness is privileged to present Harav Elya Brudny; Dr. Michael Berenbaum; Mr. Malcolm Hoenlein; Rabbi Yonoson Rietti; Mr. Avi Schick, Esq.; Mr. Abe Foxman; NYPD Deputy Chief Raul Stephenson, Commanding Officer, NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force; Deputy Inspector Jessica Co-

rey; Mr. Michael Cohen of the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and more.

This once-in-a-lifetime program can be accessed on July 17 and 18 on the Project Witness website at ProjectWitness.org.

May we very soon see the day when Tishah B’Av is no longer connected to sadness and mourning, but rather to joy and gladness, as all of Klal Yisrael welcomes the imminent Geulah.

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Amb. Houda Nonoo Speaks with Dr. Alan Kadish

I

n a conversation with Touro President Dr. Alan Kadish, Ambassador Houda Nonoo, Bahrain’s former ambassador to the United States, shared that while anti-Semitism is on the rise in the West, it is not an issue in the Arabian Gulf. Hundreds participated in the virtual event, hailing from Bahrain, Brazil, Israel, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Egypt, South America, and Spain.

In a wide-ranging, hour-long discussion as part of the Touro Talks program, Touro President Dr. Alan Kadish and Ambassador Nonoo recounted her experience as the Arab world’s first Jewish Ambassador, the Abraham Accords, and the Bahrain Jewish community’s experience when it was announced that the Kingdom would be participating in the historic Accords. Ambassador Nonoo spoke about visiting Israel for the first time in November 2020, when she joined the Foreign Minister’s delegation. The conversation concluded with a lengthy discussion about the growth of Jewish life in

the Arabian Gulf and the role that the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities is playing in providing resources and services to the Jewish communities in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Jews Living Alongside Muslims According to Ambassador Nonoo, the Kingdom of Bahrain has a longstanding commitment to interfaith dialogue and coexistence.

Jewish life has flourished there, with Jewish families living alongside Muslim families, sharing their cultures, celebrating holidays, and attending each other’s weddings.

Bahrain is home to the only indigenous Jewish community in the Gulf, the oldest synagogue in the GCC, and the only operational Jewish cemetery. Today, the local community numbers around 50 in addition to many expats and U.S. military personnel stationed there. The community recently renovated its synagogue and is beginning regular

in-person Shabbat services as the pandemic recedes.

While non-Bahrainis were surprised when Nonoo was appointed ambassador, her fellow citizens were not.

“When I arrived in the United States as ambassador, a lot of people could not fathom that I was both Arab and Jewish,” she said.

Building Relationships, Not Walls On September 11, 2020, Bahrain announced that it would be the second Arab country to sign the Abraham Accords, after the United Arab Emirates.

“One of the drivers for the Accords was to create a better future for our children. We are setting an example for them that focuses on building relationships, not walls.

Bahrain was primed for this,” Nonoo said.

Nonoo sees many economic opportunities for collaboration between Bahrain and Israel, including oil and gas, cyber security technol-

ogy, manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, education, and travel and tourism. Already, hotels in Bahrain have begun providing kosher meals for Jewish visitors.

As the conversation came to a close, Dr. Kadish expressed optimism about future opportunities to collaborate and help support each other’s efforts.

“As part of an international Jewish community, I hope we can further peace, economic prosperity and build a better life for all of us,” said Kadish.

Ambassador Nonoo invited Dr. Kadish and the Touro leadership to bring a delegation to visit the Kingdom – and plans are underway to bring a Touro delegation soon.

them with a certificate. It was an exciting moment for the children, their families, and their very proud teacher, Rabbi Elie Bashevkin, who has nurtured their writing skills during the course of the school year.

Rabbi Bashevkin, a fifth grade teacher at HANC, encouraged all of his students to participate in the contest.

“There Ought to Be a Law provides students with the opportunity to utilize the writing skills they de-

veloped throughout the year to compose a persuasive essay addressing a real-life issue,” Rabbi Bashevkin said. “This program is an authentic experience which shows students that written communication skills are very important for life. It also provided the students with an opportunity to become civically active, which is important for their future as well.”

HANC wishes the students mazal tov on this tremendous achievement.

There Ought to Be a Law

F

or the third year in a row, three fifth graders from HANC’s Samuel and Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School in West Hempstead were selected as semi-finalists in New York State Assemblyman Ed Ra’s “There Ought to Be a Law” writing competition. Assemblyman Ra, who represents District 19, sponsors this writing contest annually and calls upon local fifth grade students to help him craft new laws for the State of New York.

The students were asked to write a persuasive essay proposing a new law that would benefit the citizens of his District. Hundreds of students submitted essays, and each school selected semi-finalists for consideration by Mr. Ra’s office.

This year’s HANC semifinalists were David Alper, Jasmine Brand and Dovi Lemel. David Alper’s essay recommended that the Covid vaccine should be required for all eligible people in order to protect the community.

Jasmine Brand proposed that all residents over the

age of 70 should be required to retake the driving test to ensure safety, and Dovi Lemel suggested that utility bills should be lowered for new homeowners. When asked how he came up with this idea, Dovi explained, “Utility bills are expensive.

People in their first house should have their utility bills reduced by 30% for the first six months. This law would encourage people to move to District 19 and would help them save money that they could spend on other things that they need for their homes or their children. The six-month reduction would give new homeowners extra time to earn more money to pay their bills.”

When asked how he felt when he heard that his essay had been selected for consideration, he replied, “I was proud because I wasn’t expecting to be a finalist.”

All of the semi-finalists were invited to a special awards ceremony that was held at Mineola Memorial Park. Assemblyman Ra called each student up to the stage to present

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The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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eidim zomemim. In that case, Avraham and Baruch would have $1,000 to Mordecha to pay i, since that is the amount of money they tried make him lose. to

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In the words of the Torah: “When you go out to war against your enemies, and you see horses and chariots, people (soldiers) many more than you, you shall them, for Hashem not fear your God is with you, Who brought you up the land of Egypt.” out of

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community Non-stop minyanim, brachos, food, and love from the Nikolsburger Rebbe in Woodbourne, NY

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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Around the Community

Touro Alum Finds a Balance

T

alia Wall, PharmD, is accustomed to being surprised. On her first day of classes as a new pharmacy student at Touro College of Pharmacy (TCOP) four years ago, she became engaged when her soon-tobe-husband came to school and, unexpectedly, proposed marriage.

Fast forward to this past spring and on the eve of graduation came another unforeseen development.

Out of the blue, Wall was recruited by the school to apply for its prestigious Academic Fellowship – a one-year program that provides pharmacy professionals interested in academic pharmacy with postgraduate training. She had never thought seriously about applying for the fellowship, since she lacked the residency training typically required.

If she was offered the job and accepted, it would mean jettisoning her plans to go right to work as a staff pharmacist at a CVS pharmacy. But the fellowship was too intriguing to pass up, and so she threw her hat in the ring and, after a round of interviews, was hired. Work started July 1.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” she says.

Aspired to Teaching Wall had thought often about teaching, which is a central focus of the fellowship experience at TCOP. At the same time, while growing up in Woodmere, Long Island, math and science became her favorite subjects in school. As an undergraduate at Lander College for Women-The Anna

Ruth and Mark Hasten School, where she was an honors student, it was her chemistry professor she most admired. This led her to contemplate a career in medicine or as a physician’s assistant – were it not for her aversion to seeing blood.

“I wanted to do something in the medical field. I wanted to be able to help patients and make a difference,” Wall recalls.

Pharmacy seemed like it would be a great fit, and when she toured TCOP she loved what she saw. “The students seemed happy. The staff and professors were friendly. The curriculum seemed impressive – scary, at first – but also exciting in that I would complete it all and walk away with all of that knowledge.”

She recalls at her infectious diseases class, the instructor trying to prepare the students for the amount of work ahead. The professor began with a slideshow, and the first image was of someone trying to drink from a firehose.

“That’s how the professor described it. The topic was very big and very new to everybody. She said it would seem like we were trying to drink from an open firehose! It was very true,” says Wall. In fact, the slide accurately depicted what the entire pharmacy school experience would be like, says Wall. “The class schedule is jam-packed and we learned a lot in all of them. And the pharmacy curriculum is all very new – it’s not something you learn as an undergraduate.”

In addition to juggling tight class

schedules, Wall would participate in experiential rotations at nearly a dozen sites, learning about clinical practice, general medicine and pharmacy practice. Her favorite rotations were at hospitals.

“I really enjoyed the patient care,” she says. At her rotation at St. Barnabas during the pandemic, for example, she found herself spending entire shifts reconstituting remdesivir and preparing IV bags with the antiviral drug to help stop the spread of the coronavirus in patients unable to breathe on their own.

Finding a Balance After graduation, many of Wall’s classmates would be going on to residency programs, a path she knew she, too, should follow if her ultimate goal was a career clinical pharmacy. Yet taking on a residency did not seem like a practical option. She’d given birth to her two young children while at TCOP, and her husband was busy studying full-time out of the house.

So, Wall opted for a job as a staff pharmacist at a local CVS pharmacy and was set to go when she received the surprise call from TCOP about the academic fellowship.

On the phone was her former professor, Dr. Nelly Adel, who told Wall she was interviewing candidates for the position and encouraged her to apply. The fellowship would provide postgraduate training in teaching, scholarship and practice – all things she loved and excelled at, and would be great experience should she decide

to pursue either academic or clinical pharmacy down the road.

“I would be able to develop myself and add to my skills,” says Wall.

“What appealed to me most was that it’s balanced.”

Academic fellowships are rare in pharmacy, offered by only about ten schools in the country, says Adel, who chairs TCOP’s Department of Pharmacy Practice and oversees the program.

In the coming year, Wall will teach in the classroom as well as precept students on rotation. She will also help design courses and assess student progress. She’ll get more clinical practice through rotations, and also participate in a research project and present the results at a major national conference. At the end, she will receive two certificates – in teaching and in leadership.

Adel interviewed applicants from other schools for the position but says she is confident that she, and Wall, have made the right choice. “Talia is very intense, sharp and no-nonsense,” observes Adel, who had Wall as a student during her second and third years at TCOP. “She’s a shining star!”

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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Camp Areivim Senior Division Back in Action for Summer 2021

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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Around the Community

Scenes from Camp Lemala

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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Around the Community

Back & Better Than Ever

H

illel Day Camp 2021 is back and better than ever! The first week of camp introduced us to new bunks, new bus routes, new staff, new medical forms, and new camp maps.

We had new opportunities to create and rekindle friendships. We had new opportunities to experience Hillel Day Camp’s passion and care that the dedicated

morot and counselors give towards their campers. We had new opportunities to see how much our campers have grown in the last year (or in this case, two).

The little city of Hillel Day Camp is truly a remarkable place with over 1,000 people participating in swimming, activities, specialties, sports, and special events! It’s going to be an incredible summer!

YCQ Participates in Names, Not Numbers Program PHOTO CREDIT: MAXINE LIPSHITZ

By Noam Traeger

T

he Yeshiva of Central Queens gratefully acknowledges the Names, Not Numbers Program that has taught our students about the Holocaust through the accounts of eyewitnesses, provided them with interviewing, filming and editing skills, and, most importantly, enabled meaningful relationships to be forged between the survivors and our students. YCQ has benefitted tremendously from its participation in this Legacy Heritage project.

On Wednesday night, June 23, YCQ’s eighth grade students concluded the Names, Not Numbers program of 2020-2021. Twenty students from the grade interviewed four Holocaust survivors, including Dorothy Berman from Katowice, Poland, the only child survivor of the Krakow Ghetto. She survived with both of her parents who were all allowed to remain in the ghetto to work for the Nazis after liquidation. She was interviewed by students Eli Bokhour, Avi Finkel, Gabriel Khaimov, Gavriel Kramer and Noam Traeger.

Another survivor, Pauline Gutwein Berger, from Antwerp, Belgium, says she owes her life to the Queen Mother of Belgium. She opposed the Nazis and made a deal to pro-

tect the children of Belgium and placed Pauline in a children’s home until her mother came to get her after liberation.

Rebbetzin Adele (Koffler) Ginzberg from Vienna, Austria, was interviewed as well. She spent the war in hiding and eventually made it to Switzerland on foot, where she was placed with a Jewish family until the war ended.

She was interviewed by students Ari Ben, Ariel Elazar, Eli Opoczyński, Eli Shaye, and Nadav Suleymanov.

Survivor Rachel Epstein is from France. Her parents were Russian and were arrested, however, they did not arrest the French children.

She and her brother were taken in by their neighbors, Suzanne and Henri Robouleau, and their sons Rene and Marcel, at great risk and hidden throughout the war. They were the only Jews from their town in Compiegne, France, to survive the war. After the war, she was sent without her brother to an aunt in America. There she married, raised a family, and, 13 years after her arrival, was able to sponsor her brother and his family and bring them to America.

She was interviewed by students Daniella Czegledi, Shira Fisher, Nanetta Katayev, Odelia Soleimani, and Ashley Toobian.

The students formulated and asked questions to

the survivors based on their research on the life of each survivor. They learned filming techniques and filmed and edited interviews with the survivors. The students created a documentary film based on the survivors’ stories.

The completed Names, Not Numbers film was presented to the participants, the YCQ faculty, the survivors, Dov Rosenberg, Tova Fish-Rosenberg, and Rabbi Mark Landsman and their families at YCQ during a dinner and viewing event. The students were very inspired and moved by the survivors’ stories of resilience This dinner was not only meaningful to the students, but to the survivors as well.

Dorothy Berman, one of the interviewed Holocaust survivors, said that doing programs like Names, Not Numbers is meaningful because “it’s so important that they actually meet us, hear from us, so that when they get older, they can tell their children they actually met a Holocaust survivor and know more about it than just from a textbook.”

The students and everyone involved were grateful for the opportunity. This was very important because this is one of the last generations that will be able to meet Ho- students as well as other Holocaust Oral History Film locaust survivors and hear students around the world Documentary Project. Over their stories as firsthand ac- by Tova Fish-Rosenberg, 6,000 students have particithe creator and producer of pated in the project together counts.

This amazing opportuni- the acclaimed Names, Not with 2,000 survivors in the ty has been brought to YCQ Numbers Intergenerational U.S., Canada, and Israel.

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Around the Community

Achiezer at 13: A Talk with Shalom Jaroslawicz Part 9 of a Series

By Avi Shiff

I

n honor of Achiezer’s 13th year, we are conducting a multi-part series celebrating the various facets of this remarkable organization. For Week #9, we spoke to Shalom Jaroslawicz of Achiezer’s Zichron Dovid Chesed Shel Emes Division.

What is the role of the Zichron Dovid Chesed Shel Emes Division?

This division serves as Achiezer’s landmark community-wide chevra kadisha, comprised of local community members who avail themselves on a moment’s notice, whether to assist in disconnecting medical equipment from a niftar in a hospital, to perform a taharah for a community member, or to ensure that a niftar is sensitively attended to with the utmost respect. This team is on-call 24 hours a day, 6 days a week, with coverage in place by a non-Jewish staff member for Shabbos and Yom Tov. In addition to performing taharahs, arranging burials and so on, we also send volunteers to complete minyanim, whether at a gravesite or in shivah houses.

Who typically reaches out to the Chesed Shel Emes Division for assistance?

Anyone from a person whose relative has passed away, to a rav dealing with a congregant’s loss, to a Hatzolah member calling from the scene of an accident. I’ve even had an attorney call me and relate that a Jewish client of his who had passed away had requested a Jewish burial, but he didn’t know how to go about it.

We took care of the taharah, getting a burial plot, arranging a minyan, and so on. We are also contacted from time to time on behalf of those who don’t have family. Achiezer steps in to take care of all the funeral and burial arrangements.

Walk us through the process that follows the initial phone call.

Once we have the basic details, we

put together a team for the taharah.

We have two groups with about 1015 men and 10-15 women who volunteer their time. The taharah is either performed by our volunteers or by the funeral homes we work with, both locally and in Brooklyn or even beyond. Depending on the case, we may be working at that point with medical examiners, district attorneys or police officials who we have strong relationships with. Whether it is to prevent an autopsy or simply to expedite the process, our relationship with the medical examiners specifically has proven crucial and important.

How did this division of Achiezer come about?

Several years ago, we realized that while some local kehillos had their own chevrah kadisha, there was no central communal chevrah kadisha across the Five Towns and Far Rockaway. Along with Boruch Ber Bender, we put together teams of men and women and had them trained in doing taharahs. In fact, as we speak, we’re in middle of constructing a mikvah to allow for taharahs to be done locally, which will save a lot of time, ensuring that local levayos can be held in a timely manner and that those flying to Eretz Yisroel can do so without extra delay. Boruch Ber has made it clear that anything we can do to enhance kavod hameis, can, will, and must be done.

Our volunteers who perform taharahs have undergone extensive training, coordinated by Achiezer with Rabbi Elchonon Zohn of the National Association of Chevra Kadisha. We’ve also done other additional training with his chevrah kadisha, under his auspices.

Talk about your response to scenes of accidents and other times when your services are needed.

We have a team of about 20 volunteers who are available to go to accident scenes to ensure kavod hameis. Thanks to the Misaskim and Chesed Shel Emes organizations,

they are trained to work hand-inhand with the police, fire departments, detectives, medical examiners and other agencies. For incidents in Nassau County and the Rockaways, we are contacted directly by the aforementioned organizations to respond to the scene.

It’s hard to imagine how the community dealt with these important matters prior to the formation of Achiezer’s Chesed Shel Emes Division.

There’s no question about that.

People used to call their rav, who would often put them in touch with someone in Brooklyn. With our division operating right here in our community, there’s much less traveling for the niftar and much more kavod hameis all around. It is no wonder that we have the strong support of all the rabbonim in the community, who have recognized how vital these services are.

Someone remarked that we’ve become “a rav’s best friend.” Indeed, the rabbonim will often tell people to do whatever Achiezer recommends.

How did the Covid-19 pandemic affect this division?

We definitely felt it. There was high risk all around. We helped out with some of the Brooklyn funeral homes, expediting the process and removing niftarim from their premises. Some of our volunteers who went to Brooklyn to help were doing 20-30 taharos a day. Because of what was going on, we unfortunately had to prepare for whatever might come our way and we quietly had a makeshift morgue set up right here in our community.

Any final thoughts?

We must express our gratitude

to the Adest family, who dedicated this division in memory of their beloved father, Mr. David Adest, z”l. I remember when the family called us at 3 a.m. from a Manhattan hospital when their father passed away, unsure of what to do and what the next step should be. They recognized then that there was a void and threw their support behind Achiezer’s Chesed Shel Emes Division, which, today, is an incredible resource. When they saw that there was a need, they pushed us to put it into place as a real, concrete program.

Finally, we must thank our volunteers and their families, who give up their time for this true chesed shel emes, no matter what the case might be. It is inspiring to watch how people respond to do pure chesed, with no ulterior motive. Many outsiders might not realize what’s involved.

We have people traveling in the wee hours of the morning to do taharahs or respond to a desperate call for help. There’s so much going on behind the scenes, being carried out with such care and sensitivity. And that’s what Achiezer is all about.

Did you know?

The average cow produces enough milk each day to fill six one-gallon jugs, about 55 pounds of milk.

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

Around the Community

Summer Fun at Camp Maaminim

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Just Kids Early Childhood Learning Center of Far Rockaway (formerly On Our Way) thanked Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato for her advocacy on behalf of special education preschool students throughout New York State. Steve Held, Just Kids’ Executive Director, expressed appreciation for Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato’s ability to take legislative action on an issue that will help to improve the lives of so many.

Rabbi Juravel had his seventh grade class of Siach Yitzchok visit his house this week for some fresh hot wings and soda in celebration of many accomplishments from over the year

A Musical Evening of Connection with Abie Rotenberg

W

hat happens when a famously super-creative musical personality puts on a special performance to benefit one of the Jewish community’s most creative educational initiatives?

Guests at an upcoming Five Towns evening of song and inspiration with musical legend Abie Rotenberg are about to find out.

Billed as a “Musical Evening of Connection,” this exclusive program on July 19 at an upscale Lawrence venue will open with an elegant buffet dinner, wine tasting and cocktails. And then, the much-anticipated main event: the incomparable Abie on the piano, accompanied by singing stars Shlomo Simcha and Baruch Levine.

The theme of the evening is “connection,” reflecting the fact that it is being tendered on behalf of Priority-1, which is a leader in helping frum teens and adults to reconnect and deepen their existing connection to Yiddishkeit. And so, the choice of performer to headline the event was obvious, too. No one knows how to connect with the Jewish heart quite like Abie Rotenberg, with an entire generation having grown up on his deeply moving melodies and inspiring, entertaining lyrics.

For a number of years now, Rabbi Cohen, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva

Zichron Aryeh, has been the guiding force behind the “Teach to Reach” movement which aims to bring passion and purpose back into the lives of frum Jews. A decades-long chinuch and kiruv pioneer, he became alarmed upon seeing large numbers of teens and pre-teens drifting away from Yiddishkeit, sometimes all the way off, along with many others for whom learning Torah and doing mitzvos has become a rote, lifeless experience. And then there are the many instances, too, of adults who are walking away from frum life to one extent or another, leaving the beautiful Jewish families they built shattered.

Teach-to-Reach has one overarching objective: To bring Yahadus alive again for our children through education and inspiration for mechanchim and parents. Rabbi Cohen likes to quote the observation of the legendary Rav Meir Shapiro of Lublin, who said, “Just think, we demand a highly rigorous process of qualifying to become a shochet. He must be thoroughly knowledgeable in the laws of shechitah, adept with his hands and devoutly observant.

And all so that we can entrust him with an ox! Consider, then, what qualifications a mechanech ought to have before we entrust him with our precious children and our entire

Jewish future…”

Priority-1’s full gamut of creative programming prepares parents and teachers to understand the world our children are experiencing, to recognize the areas in which they need strengthening, and to give them approaches to presenting Yiddishkeit that will reach our young people, inspiring and exciting them and giving them an appreciation for learning Torah and doing mitzvos that will be long-lasting.

“The answers are all there – in the Torah Hakedosha,” says Rabbi Cohen, “and we just have to know how to access its wisdom, which is what the Teach-to-Reach resources enable educators and parents to do.

We also have an outstanding program for menahelim, guiding them in how to work with their teaching staffs and enhance their ability to relate to and connect with their talmidim.”

For Abie Rotenberg, this upcoming event is not just an opportunity to uplift and entertain us with his musical genius, but to reconnect, too, with Rabbi Shaya Cohen. They share a long and close relationship that began when Reb Shaya was studying in Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim’s kollel and a teenaged Abie was in its high school.

When Rabbi Cohen moved to Los

Angeles in the mid-‘70s to found Valley Torah, he brought Abie and some friends out West to learn and teach there. After his marriage – for which Rebbetzin Cohen, a”h, was the shadchan – Abie spent several years learning in Yerushalayim, in a small kollel headed by Rav Leizer Plachinsky, a towering talmid chacham who also happened to be Rabbi Cohen’s father-in-law. So the interconnections between the two are many and deep.

It has been a difficult year-anda-half that we’ve all been through, marked by tragedy and travail that sometimes seem never-ending. Tisha b’Av is the day on which we ponder the distance from Hashem and from our fellow Jews that brings tragedy into our midst.

And the “Musical Evening of Connection” on the evening following the Tenth of Av (July 19) promises to be an unforgettable moment in time when Abie and friends will give us a much-needed dose of uplift and reconnection – to Hashem, to His Torah, and to each other.

For more information on our programs or to become a sponsor at the event, please reach out to Yaakov Jaffe at 516-295-5700 x102 or yjaffe@priority-1.org.

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

Around the Community

Boatloads of Fun at Machane Hakayitz

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community Last Sunday was the yahrtzeit of Harav Yaakov Joseph, zt”l, Chief Rabbi of New York City. Hundreds of people visited his kever at Union Field Cemetery in Queens.

Among them were Harav Dovid Goldwasser and Hamodia’s Rabbi Yosef Gesser, noted tour guide to kivrei tzaddikim.

Harav Dovid Goldwasser and Rabbi Yosef Gesser

Camp Maxx at CMY

W

e don’t know if you have heard about the Camp Maxx program at Machaneh Yisrael but this is a program that you will not find any place else.

While the other campers are playing sports, those in Camp Maxx are busy using their hands, minds, and creativity for all types of projects.

This year, Camp Maxx undertook a project that is beyond anything they have done in past years. The camp bought a used trailer and gave the campers a task: design something. Yes, just, design something!

Work together, rip apart the inside of the trailer and start over, make a plan, create a design and build the trailer the way we want it with our Maxx campers in full control! There were so many great ideas of what to do with this trailer that it saddens us that we don’t have enough time or trailers to do them all.

The previous owner of the trailer did not care for it properly. We are not only tasked with converting the

trailer but also with cleaning and fixing up the parts we are keeping. We have already removed the garbage that was left inside and have begun the process of doing some demolition. This project will not only have the Maxx campers showing their creative side, they will be hands-on with wiring, sheet rocking, plastering and so much more.

The real challenge is going to be making sure we have enough time to finish this project as this is not all we are busy with. The campers are all learning with their amazing rebbeim in the morning and still have other afternoon programing, like our trips, swimming, experiments, bonfires, and so much more. The only way for this to happen is for Maxx to work together as a team to get everything done, but, we have complete faith in them that this will be completed on time.

So what will our trailer become?

Stay tuned to find out and keep track of our progress.

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

Around the Community

Smiles Abound at Camp Areivos

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Around the Community

Are You Poorly Misguided About Summer Fun at Camp Areivim’s Estate Planning?

Preschool Division

By Monet Binder, Esq.

Y

ou have worked hard for years, have family members and friends you care about, and have approached a time in your life when “estate planning” sounds like something you should do but you are not exactly sure why. You may feel that you are not wealthy enough or not old enough to bother or care.

Or you may already have a Will and feel that you are all set on that front.

Whatever your current position, consider these common misconceptions about estate planning: 1. Estate planning is for wealthy(ier) people.

False. Anyone who has survived to age eighteen and beyond has likely accumulated a few possessions that are of some monetary or sentimental value. While things like your home, your car, and financial accounts are self-evident assets, you may have a collection of particular items that also deserve proper attention. There is no minimum asset value required to justify having a Will, especially since there are many low-cost options.

2. Estate planning is for old(er) people.

False. Tragedy can strike at any moment, and it is best to have your affairs in order so your loved ones don’t have to needlessly suffer more than they already are, by daunting financial or bureaucratic processes, while they are grieving. Young parents should ensure that proper guardians are in place to take care of their children if they are no longer around, to prevent their children from ending up with the most irresponsible member of the family or, worse, a complete stranger.

3. Estate planning means having a Will.

False. Having a Will is smart

because it puts you in charge of the decision-making process of who gets your belongings when you’re gone. A Will allows you to pick your executor (the one(s) who will manage your belongings when you’re gone), designate the guardians for your minor children, and name any individuals and charitable organizations as beneficiaries of your estate. If you were to pass away without a Will (i.e., intestate), the law of the state where you reside at your death would decide who receives what part of your estate, who distributes your estate, and who takes care of your children. There are some situations where state law may override the provisions in your Will (e.g., a spouse’s elective share), but for the most part, you are in the driver’s seat.

However, a Will is only one tool in the estate planning toolbox. There are other planning options that allow you to remain in control of your possessions and family’s future during life and upon death. Depending on your situation, a Will alone may not be the most efficient or the most cost-effective means to achieve your goals and wishes.

Call Monet Binder Law, PC to discuss how to do the type of planning that will make it as easy as possible to pass on your estate. You can email us at monet@mbinderlaw.com or call 718-514-7575. Call our office today and mention this article to get this session FREE of charge. This is a $500 value, but worth so much more.

MONET BINDER, ESQ., has her practice in Queens and Brooklyn, New York, dedicated to protecting families, their legacies and values.

All halachic documents are approved by the BAIS HAVAAD HALACHA CENTER in Lakewood, under the direction of Rabbi Dovid Grossman and the guidance of Harav Shmuel Kaminetsky, shlita, as well as other leading halachic authorities.

Did you know?

A cow chews its cud for up to 8 hours each day.

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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Donors usually return to their normal lifestyle within 2-4 weeks post transplant, with Renewal available to cover lost wages.

Donors do not need to take life-long medication nor are they restricted with their diet.

Renewal is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping living kidney donors navigate all aspects of the donation process.

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Around the Community

Non-Step Fun at Simcha Day Camp

A

nother incredible week flew by here at our Simcha Day Camp campus! With all the constant action, it’s almost too hard to keep up with all the Hackety – ‘Shmakety! The 40’s had an adrenaline pumping time at the world famous Launch Trampoline park! Flips, dives, resounding dodgeball games and so much more!

Red Day was a smashing success as well. Excited campers came decked out all in RED! There were tons of Red activities throughout the day, including Red rover; Red light, green light; and Red 32-hike! It was all about the Red smiley faces!

Red day culminated with a massive Red yarn hunt. The campers tied their strings together to see who had the longest string aaaaaaaand the winner was…the 20’s. With a whopping 475 feet of yarn! Congratulations!

And we haven’t even gotten to the Carnival yet! Yes, that’s right! Only the greatest, most amazing, most awe-inspiring, death-defying, thrill-driv-

ing, heart-pumping carnival ever seen at Simcha Day Camp this week.

With 40-foot-tall towering slides, electric-cinching flips on our bungee jumping trampolines, the inflatable, awesome dodgeball pits, there was

something for everyone. The delicious snow cones were an especially delicious treat!

There ain’t no fun like SDC!

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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Introducing Emet 2.0: The Next Level of Impactful Programming

I

t’s the beginning of a new era at Emet Outreach.

Thanks to an outpouring of support during their recent Charidy campaign, Emet is officially launching “Emet 2.0.” What is Emet 2.0? It’s an expansion of Emet’s programming to have a greater impact on the Jewish future of the Queens community and beyond.

Emet 2.0 means that Emet will continue to connect one-on-one with students with their signature warmth and long-lasting relationships, but they will now also be able to reach more college students, young professionals and married couples with the beauty of Torah and mitzvot.

“As we start our 18th year, we are incredibly grateful to our devoted students, alumni, community partners, family and friends who rose to the occasion and supported us during our fundraising campaign for Emet 2.0,” said Rabbi Akiva Rutenberg, Emet co-founder and director. “During the past year, we were fortunate to launch the men’s Emet Olami Beit Midrash, many daily women’s learning initiatives, a halacha hotline, EmetMatch.com and EmetTorah.com. We saw more

participation in our classes than ever before, and we realized that now is the time to do more and reach more students.

“Since our inception, we’ve introduced approximately 3,800 college students to a Torah lifestyle.

Emet 2.0 will enable us to strengthen the spiritual foundation for so many individuals and help build and sustain more Jewish families.”

Emet 2.0 represents a new level of meaningful, relevant and personalized programming. Currently, Emet engages 500 students week-

ly with 17 programs and 15 full-time staff members. In addition to allowing Emet to increase its base programming with more mentoring, educators, classes, events, Shabbatons and transformative trips, Emet 2.0 will mark exciting changes in the Campus and Couples Divisions. Emet plans to expand their introductory College Fellowships and presence on college campuses. Since Emet’s ultimate goal is to prevent assimilation and build Jewish families, there will now be a dedicated Couples Division to offer more comprehensive program-

ming to both existing Emet couples and new couples.

This division will be headed

by Shay Yonaiev, who just joined the team. Shay brings a unique perspective since he was a student at Emet in the early days and also worked as an HR director.

Shay’s skills should be put to

good use as there is typically one wedding of an Emet couple every week!

“The most significant thing about Emet 2.0, is that it really allows us to support and educate more students and couples as they embark on their personal, spiritual journeys,” said Mrs. Rivka Muskat, Associate Director.

“There is nothing more important than being able to share and elevate people’s lives with real Torah study.

It is our greatest bracha and wish as Emet moves forward.”

While the initial fundraising campaign is over, anyone interested in partnering with Emet 2.0 can still visit EmetOutreach.org.

For further information about Emet programs visit EmetOutreach.org, and to experience Emet’s comprehensive video library of Torah lectures visit EmetTorah.com.

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HAFTR and Gural JCC Present The Event

H

AFTR and The Marion & Aaron Gural JCC, two foundational organizations of the Five Towns, are proud to join together to celebrate our community as they present The Event, a day of golf and tennis, followed by a night of casino games and poker at The Seawane Club on August 9. Casino Night is cosponsored by the HAFTR PTA, and will honor Candice Fieler and Chani Jeter in recognition of their many contributions to the HAFTR community.

Foundations of Our Community For over 40 years, HAFTR has set the standard of excellence in yeshiva education on both the lower and secondary levels. Likewise, the Gural JCC has been a dynamic and vital resource providing educational, enrichment, recreational and social services to individuals and families in the Greater Five Towns community for the past 40 years.

Excellence in education, a focus on kindness, and meaningful volunteerism, are values shared by both organizations. These two vital and foundational community institutions have worked closely together over the years to ensure that our community has the resources to help those in need and to educate our youth with an emphasis on chesed and kindness. HAFTR students and families often volunteer at the Gural JCC’s Kosher Food Pantry and participate in intergenerational programming with holocaust survivors at the JCC’s Chaverim program.

HAFTR stands on a strong foundation of celebrating the uniqueness of each student by providing innovative, stimulating, and varied learning opportunities that address individual developmental needs. HAFTR’s administration and faculty facilitate their students’ pursuit of academic

excellence and development of middot tovot. HAFTR is preparing critical thinkers, bnei/bnot Torah, and future representatives and leaders of the Jewish people.

The Gural JCC enhances and enriches the lives of people of all ages.

It is a place that encourages unity, where anyone can take advantage of the services it offers and where community leaders can make the biggest impact. Among its many services, The JCC provides over 1000 families with monthly food distributions from its Rina Shkolnik Kosher Food Pantry at The SHOP. The JCC’s social workers care for hundreds of Holocaust survivors, frail elderly, adults with special needs and Jewish single parent families weekly. It engages over 400 volunteers a year adding joy and fulfillment to both the volunteer and the individuals they assist. It is the heart of the Greater Five Towns community.

HAFTR PTA will recognize the contributions of two women who have been instrumental in their success over recent years. Candice Feiler has steadfastly served as PTA president for the last three years. In those years, she has helped rebuild after a devastating fire at HAFTR Lower School and has been a key player in keeping the school safe during the pandemic, while still running PTA programs. Candice never says no, instead she says, “What can I do to help?” She is the heart and soul of HAFTR PTA, and she is what has made it so successful for so many years.

Dependable, caring, and one of a kind are just some of the many ways to describe Chani Jeter. Chani has been an integral member of the HAFTR PTA and has helped to ensure that both parents and students have a warm and inviting school experience. She is always the first to lend a helping hand planning fundrais-

Did you know?

The natural yellow color of butter comes mainly from the beta-carotene found in the grass cows eat.

ing events or running programming.

Chani is a true leader who always manages to leave her special mark on whatever she does.

COVID Response HAFTR has been visionary and proactive throughout this pandemic.

HAFTR has utilized varied forms of digital technology in all aspects of teaching for many years, and the school was able to seamlessly transition to virtual learning when the pandemic first hit. Understanding that the school’s function during the pandemic would not be merely an educational facility, it began integrating activities to keep the school community connected and engaged.

Activities included daily challenges for families to take part in during learning down time, website links to interesting and fun activities and virtual tours, evening events for the whole family to take part in, drive-by pickups and celebrations, and even drive-in graduations!

Administration, lay leaders, and health professionals met on a regular basis throughout the 2020 summer to formulate a reopening plan for the new school year. Thankfully and gratefully, all HAFTR campuses opened in August 2020 for full-time in-person learning. It was a challenging year, but the school remained open the entire school year.

The Marion & Aaron Gural JCC admirably led the community’s pandemic response, providing critical services and serving as a safety net for those suffering from food insecurity, financial hardship, loneliness, and mental health issues.

The Gural JCC has steadfastly supported the community in numerous ways over the past 15 months.

They have provided over 300 tons (600,000 lbs.) of food to those in need. Food distribution to those in need increased by 175%, from 400 to over 1,100 families being served monthly at the Rina Shkolnik Kosher Food Pantry at The SHOP. Volunteers delivered thousands of cooked meals to isolated older adults, including a seder in a box for Pesach. The JCC distributed over $125,000 in emergency cash assistance helping keep families in their homes with heat and electricity. Hundreds of vulnerable seniors, including Holocaust survi-

vors and those affected by dementia, were engaged with daily phone calls and vital Zoom socialization programs. A drive-thru COVID testing site was set up at The Harrison Kerr Family Campus.

This past February, The Gural JCC’s Harrison Kerr Family Campus was turned into a pop-up vaccination site for Holocaust survivors and frail elderly. HAFTR immediately answered the call and had tens of volunteers help to ensure that every senior had an uplifting experience. Over 150 elderly and vulnerable members of the community, including 60 Holocaust survivors, were vaccinated, and another 250 individuals were assisted in making vaccination appointments. The pop-up vaccination site was truly a joint effort by HAFTR students, staff, and parents volunteering their time side by side with many staff and volunteers from the JCC and UJA Federation of NY and the Northwell Health team.

Through it all, The Gural JCC continued to provide services our community has grown to rely on, such as virtual support groups for caregivers, support for Jewish single parent families, and nurturing the next generation of the community at the Early Childhood Center.

Supporting the Community While the challenges posed by COVID-19 have been unprecedented, the culture of collaboration and innovation that HAFTR and the Gural JCC cultivated within the Five Towns since well before the pandemic allowed both organizations to successfully respond to the pandemic’s challenges.

We have learned how strong our community is. We have come together and come out stronger. Our collaborative efficacy in surmounting these obstacles is a testament to the strength of our teams and the ability of our community to work together in service of a common vision.

We look forward to celebrating our extraordinary community on August 9 at The Event, a day of golf and tennis, followed by a night of casino games and poker at The Seawane Club. Sponsorships, event registration, raffles, and more can be found at theevent.haftr.org.

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

Around the Community

The Avnet ’21 Adventure Begins!

S

miles were all around, as campers at HALB’s Avnet Country Day School enjoyed the first week of their summer adventure. The preschool campers in the Tipot division settled in while making special Independence Day treats and projects. The Ma’ayanot girls were thrilled to reconnect with their friends and enjoyed awesome activities like gymnastics, swimming, and an extra bouncy trip to Launch. The Agamim and Naharot girls practiced

their fine arts and culinary skills and demonstrated their need for speed at RPM Raceway.

Trips to Laser Bounce and Casa De Spin kicked things off for the Ma’ayanot boys, who were also back on the fields playing their favorite sports. Over at the DRS Campus, the boys in the G’vaot and Harim divisions were drafted for softball and net leagues. The G’vaot division spent a day fishing in Freeport, while the Harim showed off their driving

abilities at RPM Raceway.

“We’re so thrilled that our campers enjoyed Avnet’s amazing array of activities during their first week,” said Daniel Stroock, Avnet Director.

“We’re especially grateful that we were able to bring trips back to the schedule and our campers appreciated the off-campus adventures! After such an unpredictable year, there is nothing better than seeing happy campers. We can’t wait to share more fun next week.”

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Around the Community

Kiddush Hashem in Congress Rep. Don Bacon: “I Committed to Rabbi Hofstedter That We in Congress Will Do Everything in Our Power to Ensure the Safety of the Jewish People”

By Chaim Gold

S

ometimes, wonderful, illuminating flashes of light can come from the most unlikely of places.

The U.S. Congress is often a place of such strife, such acrimony and enmity but, for a small chunk of time last week, it was a place of tremendous kiddush Hashem and achdus!

Who would have believed that the millions of people watching C-Span would hear words of the deepest praise and value for limud haTorah from the podium in Congress?! Who would have believed that a prominent congressman would get up and hail Torah education and limud haTorah as very important American values while expressing appreciation that there are lomdei Torah throughout the country devoting their time to learning Jewish texts of Torah?

That is exactly what happened last week when Congressman Don Bacon, a representative of the 2nd District of Nebraska, took the floor last week and made an unprecedented speech.

Certainly, there has never been a time when the walls of Congress heard such praise for the ideal of limud haTorah and of learning Jewish texts.

Indeed, the congressman told the august body that advancing Jewish scholarship and learning is what should be done in the face of evil.

“The World Needs to See This!”

Mr. Bacon’s unique remarks on the floor of Congress came in the aftermath of a seminal meeting between Rav Dovid Hofstedter and the congressman last month. At that meeting, Mr. Bacon, who had somehow even heard about the Dirshu World Siyum held last year in Newark’s Prudential Center, expressed his admiration over the fact that such a massive public gathering was held to praise engagement in Torah scholarship and the moral lifestyle promoted by the Torah.

When Rav Hofstedter asked the congressman whether gatherings such as these should perhaps be minimized because of potential anti-Semitism, Congressman Bacon replied, “No! The world needs to see this. The world needs to see how your

community studies and embodies the uprightness and morality reflected in the Jewish texts that you study.”

At that meeting, they discussed the terrible rise in anti-Semitism in America, especially against those who wear distinctive Jewish dress as chareidim do. Indeed, in his speech from the podium Rep. Bacon said, that “Those who clearly identify as Jews, with their garb and outward trappings, have been viciously and frequently targeted.”

In his speech to Congress, after condemning the serious uptick in anti-Semitism and pledging that he, as well as all members of Congress, would do their utmost to stop it and bring the perpetrators to justice, Rep. Bacon spoke about Dirshu.

He said, “Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting one of the prominent members of the Orthodox community, Rabbi Dovid Hofstedter, a son of Holocaust survivors who founded Dirshu, the largest Torah organization in the world.” Bacon went on to say that he had spoken to Rav Hofstedter about the troubling rise in anti-Semitism that perhaps has not been this pronounced since the 1930s.

Rep. Bacon then said something that might have seemed surprising coming from a non-Jew in Congress, but it perhaps attests to the impact that Dirshu has on a global level as well. He said, “Rabbi Hofstedter and Dirshu represent the true antidote to this venomous hatred that has been exhibited toward the community...

The community will never stand down. They will continue to practice their Jewish heritage with their heads held high!”

Mr. Bacon then said, that, “Out of the darkness of the Holocaust, Rabbi Hofstedter decided to dedicate his life to reviving the levels of Jewish scholarship and education to the levels that were predating the Holocaust.

As the son of Holocaust survivors, Rabbi Hofstedter’s personal life’s mission that he has chosen to undertake and execute upon, ought to serve as a source of inspiration for every Member of this legislative body.”

Congressman Bacon concluded his remarks by saying, “I thank Rabbi Hofstedter and all members of the Dirshu organization for all that they

Congressman Don Bacon greeting Rav Dovid Hofstedter

do to advance Jewish education and scholarship…”

A Two-Fold Objective After Rep. Bacon’s remarks were broadcast throughout the world on C-Span, it was clear that the objective for Rav Hofstedter to go to Washington was accomplished. In fact, at first glance it seemed incongruous that Rav Hofstedter, who heads Dirshu, a purely Torah organization led and guided by the most senior Gedolei Yisrael, that unifies all lomdei Torah from the various shevatim of Klal Yisrael, should go to Washington to advocate on behalf of Klal Yisrael. In truth, however, the kiddush Hashem displayed and the increased awareness as well as praise for limud haTorah heard in the congressional chamber have shown just how very important that mission was.

When Rav Hofstedter acquiesced to the lawmakers’ invitation, he had several objectives. First and foremost, to engage in promoting kiddush Hashem and k’vod Shomayim, by highlighting so many of the Torah community’s positive contributions to American society. Second was in the realm of shtadlanus, to try impressing upon those lawmakers who still retain some appreciation for moral values to stand steadfast against efforts to completely erode the moral climate of the United States.

That meeting with Congressman Don. Bacon, coupled with Rav Hofstedter’s powerful address to many members of Congress as well as individual meetings with other members of Congress including Congressman Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis of New York and Congressman Randy Feenstra, not only made a kid-

dush Hashem but has also shown concrete results.

The visit to Washington was covered in various secular media outlets as well, such as the National Post of Canada and others. They focused on the issue of anti-Semitism, and the fact that Rav Hofstedter told Congressman Bacon that what was so concerning was “as the son of Holocaust survivors, it is deeply disturbing to witness the violent attacks against the Jewish community and the singling out of the visibly Orthodox community.” Rep. Bacon mentioned those remarks in his speech to Congress.

Indeed, The Economist, a national magazine with millions of readers worldwide, recently reported that the U.S. government is now drafting legislation to combat anti-Semitism.

Clearly the message is being heard.

Dirshu as an organization that facilitates kiddush Hashem every day by unifying Klal Yisrael and bringing together Jews from the entire crosssection of Torah observant Jewry, has displayed an ability to extend that kiddush Hashem to the halls of Congress and throughout America.

We live in a time where Torah is being attacked by many, not only in the diaspora but in Eretz Yisrael itself, where the new government has made very troubling declarations about how they view Torah. The fact that, in the chamber of Congress and entered into the Congressional Record for posterity, profound praise for limud haTorah was heard is historic. The fact that in Congress praise was heard for an organization whose entire mission at the behest of Gedolei Yisrael is to encourage Jews of every type and in every country to learn Torah, may serve as an antidote to the attacks on Torah from within and without.

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The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

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THIS WEEK, WE’RE TALKING TO…

Camp Shira

BY SUSAN SCHWAMM

1, 2, 3…8 weeks of amazing summer fun! For the last few weeks, our children have been basking in the sun, swimming, singing, and soaking up the fun every day. How are they spending their time away from their desks? In this series, we speak with camp directors and head counselors to learn more about our community’s amazing, spectacular, incredible, marvelous, unbelievable (you get the point!) camps.

ALTHOUGH CAMP SHIRA OPENED ITS DOORS JUST A FEW SUMMERS AGO, CAMP SHIRA HAS BECOME ONE OF THE HOTTEST CAMPS IN TOWN. AT CAMP SHIRA, CAMPERS HAVE SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT. WITH A BEAUTIFUL CAMPUS, ENERGETIC STAFF, OUTSTANDING ACTIVITIES, AND NONSTOP FUN, A SUMMER IN CAMP SHIRA BUILDS MEMORIES FOR A LIFETIME. WE SPOKE WITH CAMP DIRECTOR MRS. YAFFA SCHREIER IN THE MIDDLE OF HER BUSY SCHEDULE TO LEARN A BIT MORE ABOUT THE NON-STOP FUN.

Mrs. Schreier, this is Camp Shira’s fourth summer! Tell us about Camp Shira.

We are a premier girls and toddlers camp in the Five Towns. We have kids from all over, and we try to give them a really enjoyable summer – especially this year! We have a great location and an amazing campus. We actually made some exciting post-Covid pivots and rebranded the camp a bit.

That sounds like a blast! Tell us about your changes and your different divisions.

We have two awesome divisions.

We combined our Shira Juniors/Seniors, led by Mrs. Tehilla Ben-Ari, to

feature preschoolers from Nursery – Pre1a and girls from 1st – 4th. She made an adorable Dr. Seuss theme this summer, and we gear activities to the boys and girls in the younger bunks and more advanced activities for 1st to 4th grade girls.

Shira Travel/Sensations, led by Mrs. Chavsie Friedman and her head counselor Zoe Poznanski, is for girls entering 5th – 7 th grade. First half is an action-packed travel program and 2nd half is called Shira Sensations and focuses on weekly skills classes in activities from volleyball to flower arranging to tennis to cooking!

Each division has its own program uniquely suited to that age group.

Our goal is for every camper to feel like the

camp was specially designed for them!

Sounds awesome! How many campers enjoy Camp Shira?

We have 250 kids in Camp Shira.

Mostly girls, but our boys in nursery – Pre1A love the specialties we created just for them like sports and kosher karate. Every bunk gets a schedule daily that is jam-packed with fun activities, specialties and shows.

Shira Travel and Shira Sensations sound like so much fun!

Tell us a bit about it.

Last summer, we called this age Shira EXTREME. This summer, we felt like it was time for a change and made two distinct half summer programs that each offered unique programming. We wanted every girl who came for a half or for the whole thing to feel like every day was special and exciting. Some girls are more excited for Travel and others are waiting for Sensations! We have had many adults comment that they would like to ex-

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

perience some of the exciting skills that will be taught during Sensations!

You have a great campus.

We are located on the Shulamith campus. We have a huge auditorium for shows, a spacious backyard, and a lot of summer-only exclusives! Each summer, we add a gymnasium room, a water park, a foam pit and more!

Wow – like Disneyland in Cedarhurst! How is the day structured?

Every day starts with davening and breakfast. Then we have a schedule of the day for each bunk. Each day is filled with different games, activities, and fun! Some days include trips, others include shows, but every day is packed with specialties run by our very talented adults.

What are the campers’ favorite activities?

Every camper has a different favorite activity. We have a great assortment of specialties led by fantastic morahs. Water park is definitely a favorite of many campers – this summer we added a new, huge double slide! Campers really enjoy the variety of art activities and food art activities. Some campers report that sports are a favorite and some choose ballet or another dance as their favorite. Baruch Hashem, there are so

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

many activities to choose from!

As you walk around camp, what are three things that you hear the most throughout the day?

The Camp Shira song from this year is super cute! Plus, we hear

“OUR GOAL IS FOR EVERY CAMPER TO FEEL LIKE THE CAMP WAS SPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR THEM!” campers chanting and cheering for their bunk and tons of laughter!

Tell us about some of their other “favorites,” like their favorite lunches, sports or other activities.

We have a kid-friendly menu with main dishes and a healthy serving of fruit and veggies on the side. So far it seems that everyone is enjoying the lunches.

Our oldest girls seem to really enjoy learning how to needlepoint with Mrs. Lemor Rosenfeld. They were

surprised to learn what a fun and relaxing activity this could be. Our littlest campers love having music with Mrs. Lynne Blander as she goes from bunk with her guitar, and they get to play their own instruments, too!

Sports this year is real serious stuff with Mrs. Rachel Stahler. The campers are having a blast and learning a lot.

Your slogan is “Camp Shira: Something to Sing About.” Are you doing anything special in relation to that? Concerts? Choirs?

We have featured music significantly since we launched three years ago. Every summer we have a professionally recorded camp song, and the campers LOVE singing it and dancing with the motions.

Tell us more about this summer’s theme.

This summer, the theme for the younger kids is “A Rhyme of a Time.” Each week ties into a theme related to a Dr. Suess book. Each Wednesday is a theme-related dress up day where campers and staff dress up! Specialties create projects and games to go with

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The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

the theme. For example, one week is The Cat in the Hat, so we have a crazy hat day. Another week is Oh, the Places You Will Go!, so that week is an around-the-world theme!

Are there special trips now that venues are finally reopened?

Last summer, most trips were closed so we compensated with two

shows in camp per week. This summer, we have lots of shows but we can finally do weekly trips again! We even have an entire Division centered around Travel! This summer we will

71

be going to such a fun variety of places! Our campers really can’t wait to see what fun is in store for them!

By the Numbers...

4 Water Slide Inflatables 2 Foam Pits 3 Major Late Night Trips 80 Travel Division campers

1

Amazing Summer to Sing About!

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

1. *

TJH

Centerfold

Hot Diggity-Dog 

Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

 If you were to [walk] into any vendor of fine hot dogs, and  ask for a hot dog sandwich, they would probably report Noblest of all dogs is the hot dog; it feeds the hand that bites it. - Dr. Laurence Johnston Peter

you to the FBI. - Anthony Bourdain

 

Brother Joey, You never cease to amaze me with your incredible accomplishments. I am inspired by your devouring 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes during this year’s

Now I have been known to say, “I need a new set of screwdrivers. I need a new wrench. I need some hammers,” and of course I don’t need any of those things; what I need is a deep-fried hot dog and I just don’t know how to say it. - Alex Guarnaschelli

Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog

Limiting the hot dog’s significance by saying it’s “just a sandwich” is like calling the Dalai Lama “just a guy.” Janet Riley, of the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council

it in 10 minutes; it took me pretty much

 You know what I love best about baseball? The pine tar,  the resin, the grass, the dirt – and that’s just in the hot

They say hot dogs can kill you. How do you know it’s not the bun? - Jay Leno

dogs. - David Letterman



Congrats Brother Joey!

It’s addicting, beating the [daylights] out of people and eating hot dogs and making people smile. I do feel like garbage afterwards, but so what? Most people feel like garbage after a long day of work. - Joey Chestnut

 We have beaten you to the moon, but you have beaten  us in sausage making. - Former Soviet Premier Nikita 

A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz. Humphrey Bogart

Khrushchev

Eating Contest, making you, Joey Chestnut, the back-to-back reigning hot dog champ. Although I ate the same amount of hot dogs this past Sunday, I didn’t do all day. So, kudos to you for proving to us once again that a person can accomplish anything that they set their mind to accomplish. Reach for the stars! Make a difference! Accomplish big things! I learn all of this from you, my hero.

Anyways Joey, we are proud of you; keep up the good work. I know that you are a dedicated Centerfold reader, so this one is in your honor.

With admiration, respect, reverence, and awe, Centerfold Commish

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

Hot Dog Trivia Source: National Hot Dog and Sausage Council 1. Is a hotdog a sandwich? a. Of course b. Are you crazy? No way!

b. Superman c. Spiderman d. Goofy

2. During peak hot dog season, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, how many hot dogs in total do Americans consume? a. 150 million b. 400 million c. 1.2 billion d. 7 billion 3. Residents of which city consume the most hot dogs? a. Chicago b. L.A. c. New York City d. Miami 4. What is the average weight of a fully loaded baseball park hot dog vendor’s bin? a. 25 pounds b. 40 pounds c. 80 pounds d. 120 pounds 5. Whose first on-screen words were “hot dog”? a. Mickey Mouse

Answers: 1. B…seriously!

2. D 3. B 4. B 5. A 6. D 7. A 8. A

6. What is the approximate annual licensing cost, paid to NYC, to have a hot dog vending cart outside of the Central Park Zoo? a. $90,000 b. $150,000 c. $200,000 d. $300,000 7. True or false: Kosher hot dog sales are growing at twice the rate of total hot dog sales. a. True b. False 8. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, how many bites should it take to eat a regular size hot dog? (There is a different set of rules for a footlong) a. 5 b. 7 c. 10 d. 12

Wisdom key 7-8 correct: You should consider trying to get a seat on the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. I’ve been working on my application process for a while now, and it’s not really that hard.

You just need to commit to eating at least 10 hot dogs a day for the rest of your life, which is something I do anyway.

4-6 correct: Not bad, but I ain’t

gonna’ call you Frank!

0-3 correct: You know nothing about hot dogs. You probably eat your hot dog “sandwich” with ketchup, which, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, is not proper for anyone over 18 years old. (In other words, if it was a crime rather than just a wrong thing to do, you may actually face jail time for putting ketchup on your hot dog.) Hot dog!

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3

Torah Thought

Parshas Matos-Maasei

By Rabbi Berel Wein

T

he combination of these two sections of the Torah constitutes the question, raised by all commentators over the ages, as to whether there is a connection between these two parshiot or is it just a matter of calendar convenience that unites them is one Torah reading on this coming Sabbath.

I have always believed that there are no random occurrences or events as they appear in the text in the Torah and in other holy writings. The Torah is not a random work, and these sections of the book are also not randomly put together. There must be a connecting bond, a common denominator, that unites these

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two apparently disparate and different sections of the Torah.

I feel that it is in the relationship between the Jewish people and the land of Israel that is the connection that links Matot and Maasei. In this reading of Matot, we are told of the request of the tribes of Reuven and Gad to settle themselves and their families, their flocks, their wealth, and talents outside the strict borders of the land of Israel. They point out to Moshe all the advantages that they would enjoy if he allowed them to take their share in the land of Israel east of the Jordan River.

Moshe resists their plan, and sharply criticizes them for advancing it publicly. However, he is powerless to change their minds and alter their demands. He reaches an accommodation with them, i.e. that they will participate in the conquest of the land of Israel itself and not forsake their brothers in the struggle to obtain the land of Israel for the tribes of Israel. However, it is obvious that, even this result – to settle east of the Jordan River – is a disappointment.

Advancing in history, we see that centuries later, the tribes of Reuven and Gad were the earliest ones who were forced into exile, losing their land and independence.

In the second section of this week’s Torah reading, we have the entire list of all the way-stations that the Jewish people experienced during their sojourn in the Desert of Sinai. Rashi is quick to point out that every one of these places had memories for the Jewish people and were not just simply names of plac-

es, but, rather, descriptions of past events. Each place was a challenge and a test.

We find in Judaism and Jewish thought that maintaining Jewish values is not always convenient. It demands sacrifice and memory of historical importance. In our time, many Jews, if not most of them, have again chosen to live outside the confines of the land of Israel. I do not mean to criticize any of them for this choice, but I merely make the observation that for almost all these Jews, it is a matter of convenience. It is the same type of convenience that led the tribes of Reuven and Gad to prefer the pasture lands of Transjordan over the land of Israel itself. It certainly was more convenient for them to do so, but the hard truth about Judaism is that it is never convenient – it is demanding, insistent and unwavering.

Remembering fondly all the way stations that we have experienced over our long exile in this world may create within us a feeling of nostalgia, but that is only because we do not directly face the lessons of exile and what was endured throughout the centuries. It is certainly not for me to criticize Jews who choose to live outside of the land of Israel. It is their choice, and many, if not most, have good reasons to do so. But none of this changes the historical fact that only in the land of Israel do the Jewish people have a future, and only there will they be able to truly fulfill the mission set forth for them at Mount Sinai.

Shabbat shalom.

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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63

From the Fire Parshas Maasei

Jewish Warrior, King of Opposites

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

T

he Degel Machaneh Ephraim, zy”a, teaches, in the name of his grandfather the Baal Shem Tov, zy”a, that the forty-two journeys of the Jewish people in the desert correspond to the journeys each individual takes in his life. When a person leaves the womb, this corresponds to when the Jewish people left Egypt. And when the Jewish people entered Eretz Yisroel, this corresponds to a person’s journey into the land of eternal life after 120 years in this world.

How do we retain a sense of equanimity and centeredness when we must transition from one journey to another throughout our lives? Reb Leibele Eiger, zy”a, points out that the word “of them, bam, in the pasuk, “And you shall speak of them,” has the numerical value of forty-two. And the pasuk continues, “And you shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” We must speak of them, words of Torah and emunah, wherever we go and wherever we travel. We can thrive through every test and trial we face if we hold onto truth and faith. If we remain certain in our purpose, then we will succeed despite all of the contradictions and challenges of a world in which many people seem to have taken leave of basic human decency and morality.

But the Baal Shem Tov’s teaching about the 42 travels of the Jewish people does not only apply to people on an individual level. It also speaks to the travails of our nation as a whole as we journey on toward the times of Moshiach.

The Encampments – A Paradox of Opposites We know that the names of our stops during our journey in the desert (Bamidbar 33:5-49) have profound meaning. And as I read through the names of our encampments in the parsha with the upheaval in Eretz Yisroel in mind, I was struck by the contradictions implicit in those names and how they speak to the contradictions of life today, particularly in Eretz Yisroel.

On one hand, it says we camped in Miska, from the Hebrew word meaning sweetness. Many aspects of our lives are sweet and we have much to be thankful for. But we also camped in Mara, meaning bitterness. Dozens of our brothers have been killed sanctifying G-d’s name and millions of our brothers, sisters, and friends in Eretz Yisroel are running for bomb shelters multiple times every day. Their lives

are in a state of upheaval and they experience bitterness day after day.

The Jewish people camped in Har Shafer, meaning “beautiful mountain.”

Sometimes are on top of the world. The view is stunning. But at other times, we camp in Tachas, meaning “low.” When we watch the parents, brothers, sisters, and wives of all of the soldiers killed protecting our people, we feel like we are living at the opening of Geihinom, at the lowest place.

We camped at Refidim, which means weakness. Our Torah, mitzvos, and emunah suffer, and we often do not do what Hashem expects of us. But we also camped in Midbar Sinai, where we received the Torah, attaining the highest level of prophecy and connection to G-d’s will. Today, too, we have seen how even people with little outward connection to Torah and mitzvos have begun saying Tehillim, lighting Shab-

bos candles, putting on tefillin, and doing many other mitzvos and acts of kindness in order to merit the salvation of the Jewish people.

At one point, the pasuk tells us we camped in Makheilos, meaning, “community” or “congregation.” We were united. And we see how, in the past few weeks, our people have been united more than any other time in the recent past. We are united in prayer and resolve, knowing that our cause is righteous. But at other times, we stop off in a place called Chatzeiros, meaning “courtyards.” Especially when we are not besieged from the outside, every Jewish group separates itself into its own courtyard and unfortunately barely views other Jews as part of the same people.

We camped in Sukkos, a place named after temporary, rickety structures. With thousands of rockets falling all over Eretz Yisroel, with tunnels dug under our communities and neighborhoods, we feel vulnerable and frightened. We feel as if our entire existence is dependent on the protection of some flimsy walls and roof which the wind could blow away at any moment, leaving us completely exposed. But at other times, we feel we are camped in Eisam, meaning, strong. We feel grateful for how Hashem has blessed our people with the resolve, ingenuity, resources, and intelligence to build up one of the most powerful militaries in the world in just a short time.

We sometimes feel we are encamped by the Red Sea, encircled on all sides by enemies and pushed up against the sea. We feel we have no escape. But

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at other times, we sense that we are camped in Eilim, where the pesukim tell us there were wellsprings, date palms, and where we were able to rest from the weariness of our travels. We enjoy the prosperity and economic success with which Hashem has blessed our people.

But at other times, we feel we are camped in Dafka, meaning “stricken” or “beaten.” We feel pressed, hit, and beaten by attacks from all directions, physically, emotionally, and diplomatically. We feel we are under siege wherever we live in the world, whether it is in the U.S., Britain, Paris, Morocco, or anywhere else in the world.

We sometimes feel camped in Rimon Paretz, meaning “break through.”

We break through every attempt by our enemies to attack us and put us on the run. But, sadly, too often we are camped in Charada, meaning “trembling.” Our brothers and sisters tremble in fear in their bomb shelters and safe rooms. And now, our enemies are wearing IDF uniforms, so that it becomes even more difficult to discern the difference between fellow soldiers and our enemies. Even the Nazis, as far as I know, never stooped to such a tactic.

We sometimes feel we are camped in Chashmonah, where we feel as mighty as the Chashmonayim, or in Etzyon Gaver, meaning “effective strategy” and “strength.” At those times, we take pride and comfort in how our military neutralizes our enemies while protecting our soldiers and minimizing the battle’s impact on civilians.

But at other times, we feel like we are in Kivros Hata’avah, buried in the desires of this world, completely helpless to use all of our might to reign in our own animalistic desires. And at other times, we camp at Kadesh, meaning “holiness.” Our connection to holiness and our desire to do Hashem’s will is often strong and we use those times to increase our connection to Hashem and improve ourselves.

Dovid Hamelech, King of Opposites As the events in Eretz Yisroel swirl through my mind all day, every day, my thoughts continually return to the ultimate hero of the Jewish people: Dovid Hamelech.

The tzaddikim teach that our job at

the end of days is to reveal the great soul of Dovid Hamelech, as the pasuk (Hoshea 3:5) says, “And they sought Hashem, their G-d, and Dovid, their king.” In all of his journeys, he seemed to be full of contradictions. The Gemara (Moed Katan 16b) says that “when [Dovid Hamelech] would sit and study Torah, he would be as refined as silk, and when he went out to war, he hardened himself like wood.” Chazal are not

Writings; those generations that were engaged in war – they are great people we cherish and glorify. We understand that the spark of soul is the determining factor: that state of the world that necessitated war caused these souls (whose inner feeling was whole) to appear.

The battle for existence, for existence of the nation, the War of G-d, was with an inner consciousness.

If we remain certain in our purpose, then we will succeed despite all of the contradictions and challenges of a world in which many people seem to have taken leave of basic human decency and morality.

teaching us that Dovid suffered from multiple personality disorder. Rather, his personality was so great and all-encompassing that it contained everything within it. He was simultaneously composed of the might of war and the highest and most refined level of ethics and morality. These two extremes complement one another. The more perfection one has attained, the more he includes apparent opposites within himself.

That is why Reb Leibele Eiger teaches that the 42 journeys of the Jewish people in the desert, which seem to contain so many opposites within them, are hinted at in the mitzvah of “And you shall speak of them when you sit in your home and when you go on your way…” We must be prepared to cling to the Torah and the certainty of our faith in the midst of the full range of disparate experiences during our travels through this world.

The Illumination Within War Who else but Rav Kook, zy”a, could have written a section in Oros called “Oros Hamilchama, The “Illumination of War?” Rav Kook writes, as translated

by Rabbi Betzalel Noar, as follows: We regard the early generations, recounted in Torah, Prophets, and

Mighty in spirit, they knew in the depth of darkness to choose good and eschew evil. Yeah, though I go in the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil. When we meditate on them, we, with all the spirituality that we so desire, long for their strength, for the solid life force that dwelled in their midst, and out of this longing our spiritual strength is hardened and our physical strength is softened, and those strong souls return to live in us as ever.

Rav Kook is teaching us that we cannot view the strength and might of warriors as somehow alien to our religious, Torah-based life. During our two-thousand-year exile, we have become accustomed to thinking of a Jew purely as the refined, pale student in the beis medrash. We began thinking that we should only be encamped in Maska, a place of sweetness. We forgot that we must sometimes set up camp in Etzyon Gaver and Rimon Paretz, places of strategy, might, and breaking through all obstacles.

Dovid Hamelech and Rav Kook teach us that while there is a time for gentleness and refinement, there is also a time to kiss our Gemaras, place them down, pick up our weapons, and go to battle against the enemies of the Jew-

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ish people who seek to destroy us. That is no less a part of Torah and Yiddishkeit than the study of Torah. Indeed, even a simple reading of Tanach reveals that most of it is comprised of how the Jewish people conducted themselves in war.

Now is the time in history when we must enclothe ourselves for battle and clean the world of the cockroaches of Hamas and their ilk. The whole world is trembling in fear as radical Islamists populate their countries. They look on helplessly. Right now, our people are the only ones making way for Hashem’s kingship in the world. We are the only ones who have taken it upon ourselves to finally clean house, ridding the terrorists of their missiles, guns, grenade launchers, and attack tunnels. We are the only ones standing up to the evil of Hamas, which prides itself on its love of death and bloodshed.

We are like Dovid Hamelech, “redhaired with beautiful eyes” (Shmuel I 16:12); red like Eisav the warrior with the refinement and elevated spirit reflected in his beautiful eyes. Chazal say (Bereishis Raba 63:8) about Dovid Hamelech, “He killed with the consent of the Sanhedrin.” Even when Dovid Hamelech expressed the warrior aspect of his personality, he did not do so with cruel abandon. He conducted himself in war according to halacha and morality. We also see this in our brave brothers in the IDF. While the enemies of our people stoop to lower and lower depths of cruelty both to our people and their own, the Jewish warriors in Eretz Yisroel never stoop to the level of their degraded enemies. They go above and beyond what any nation has done when defending themselves against the imminent threats we face today.

When I see how our nation is rising to the challenge against it with greater moral clarity, more davening, more mitzvos, and more resolve to use the truth to fight against the attacks, lies, and propaganda of our enemies, I feel a surge of pride in our nation. In this current conflict, I am filled with love and nachas when I think about the Israeli soldiers, commanders, political leaders, and people. I am proud to be a Jew. Indeed, when we hold onto our faith and know with certainty that destroying terrorists who attempt to kill every single Jew as they hide behind

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their own women and children is G-d’s work, we have nothing to fear.

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Many people have seen the most inspiring letter which was sent by Colonel Ofer Winter of the Givati Brigade to his reservist soldiers as they were being called up to serve in Gaza years ago. It perfectly captures the Jewish spirit of righteous battle.

This is what he wrote: We have been bestowed a great privilege to command and serve in the Givati Brigade at this time.

History has chosen us to be on the cutting edge of the war against the terrorist enemy, the “one of Gaza” [cf. Yehoshua 13:3] who curses, reviles, and defames the G-d of the battalions of Israel. [Cf. Dovid’s encounter with Golias, the Plishti, Shmuel I 17:10, 26, 36, 45.] Let us prepare and ready ourselves for this moment when we accept upon ourselves this mission with a sense of

agency and complete humility and with a readiness to put ourselves in danger or give up our lives in order to protect our families, our nation, and our birthplace.

Let us work with resolve and strength and with initiative, strategy, and hard work in our encounter with the enemy. We will do everything we can to fulfill our mission to cut down the enemy and to remove fear from the people of Israel. Our credo is “We do not return before the mission is done.” Let us work and do everything we can to bring back our boys in peace by utilizing every means at our disposal and with any effort that is required.

I am relying on you, on each and every one of you, to do your duty in this spirit, the spirit of Jewish warriors who go out in in front of the camp. “The spirit which is called ‘Givati.’” I lift up my eyes to Heaven and say with you, “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad.”

May Hashem, the G-d of Israel,

bring success in our mission in which we stand to do battle for the sake of Your people Israel against the enemy who curses Your Name.

In the name of the warriors of the IDF generally, and in particular, in the name of the warriors and commanders of our Brigade, may Hashem act and fulfill in us that which it says in the pasuk, “Hashem your G-d goes out with you to do battle with your enemies for you to save you” [Devarim 20:4], and let us say Amen.

“Together, and only together, will we be victorious.”

Ofer Winter, Aluf Mishneh Commander, Givati Brigade Colonel Winter’s words leave no doubt in the hearts of his men that he understands that G-dliness and actively doing battle to protect the Jewish people and defend Hashem’s honor are not mutually exclusive.

The parsha is named after our “journeys,” not our encampments.

Why? Because the main thing is that

in life we do not stop. We must keep moving forward, looking for how G-d’s will expresses itself in all of the various permutations of life’s challenges.

May each of us and all of our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel merit to reach a level on which we can contain all of the disparate aspects of life in this world within us. May we recognize that we must serve G-d in all of the different ways the Torah demands for the vast array of differing life circumstances we encounter in our journeys. And may Hashem take vengeance upon every terrorist snake who has harmed even a single hair on the head of any Jew. May Hashem soon send Moshiach to remove every evil regime from the earth to make way for the great-grandson of the greatest king, Dovid Hamelech, soon in our days.

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

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79

Delving into the Daf

Shopping Cart Considerations

By Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

O

ne Thursday night, I was shopping at a supermarket. That store is open until midnight on Thursday nights, which is perfect for people who wait until the last minute to do their Shabbos shopping. I can’t say I’m proud of this distinction, but I was the last shopper in the store that night.

All the workers were waiting to go home. The only obstacle in their path was my shopping cart overflowing with groceries waiting to be scanned or weighed. I can’t blame my wife for the long shopping list; if she gets me to go shopping, she has to milk the opportunity for all its worth.

After the groceries were rung up and paid for, I told everyone that I was sorry for being so late, and I made my way to the exit. The manager unlocked the door for me, and I went to the parking lot. After I unloaded all the groceries into my car, I noticed a case of seltzer on the shelf underneath the shopping cart.

I made my way back to the exit and banged on the doors. (It’s not worth coming back as a gilgul for a case of seltzer!) Needless to say, the workers were not happy with me. However, most of the wrath was directed to the cashier who rang me up and missed the seltzer.

The following week, unfortunately, I had the same distinction of being the last shopper at the store.

On my way out, the same manager as the week before unlocked the

door and let me out. I told him that he doesn’t need to worry – this week I remembered to pay for the seltzer.

He responded that he remembered what happened last week and noticed the seltzer again on the bottom of my cart. He told me that he thought about asking me if it was paid for, but then he thought better of it. Better leave well enough alone. (To his boss: don’t be so hard

butcher might assume that Rav does not intend to pay. However, it may simply be that Rav is waiting for the butcher to come and collect the money owed, or perhaps he intends to pay in a few days. Still, since this is not the most common practice, Rav says it is a chillul Hashem.

According to Rashi, the reason it is only a chillul Hashem for him, is that people view him as a role mod-

Would someone think I was stealing?

on him, it was late. Everyone wanted to go home.) By the way, I, baruch Hashem, have since improved, and it has been a long time since I was the last shopper in the store.

If this manager did not know whether or not I paid for my carbonated beverages, would a casual observer know? The second time around, there was a small red “paid” sticker on top of one of the bottles.

However, since it was under my cart, it was hardly visible. Is that a problem? Would someone think I was stealing?

Rav said it would constitute a chillul Hashem if he would not pay the butcher soon after his purchase (Yoma 86a). Rashi explains that the

el and would learn from him. Keeping things on the bottom of a cart without any indication that they were paid for is a common enough practice that it would not constitute a chillul Hashem to the general public. People realize that the items were probably paid for.

However, the Ben Yehoyada has a different approach to our Gemara.

He understands that Rav is saying that even if it is the common practice not to pay right away, an adam gadol should pay right away. An adam gadol should always keep himself above even the slightest suspicion. Perhaps, according to the Ben Yehoyada, an adam gadol should always make sure that every-

thing in his shopping cart is bagged or clearly marked “paid,” although now it is a common sight to see people carrying loads of groceries in their hands to avoid paying for plastic bags.

It is interesting to note that the Chasam Sofer has an altogether different approach to this Gemara.

He points out that Rav specifically mentioned meat being purchased from a butcher as opposed to any item being bought from a store. The Chasam Sofer says that a rav should not accept free meat from a butcher. People might erroneously assume that the free meat was a tradeoff for a lenient ruling on a question of the kashrus status of an animal. Moreover, an onlooker might mistakenly assume that a delayed payment for meat is, in fact, free meat. To clear himself of any suspicion, Rav said that he must make payment immediately specifically for meat purchased from the butcher.

Mazal tov to all those who finished Yoma!

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

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Think, Feel, Grow

Enjoying Every Step of the Process

By Rabbi Shmuel Reichman

N

o one knew what to do. The homeless man had charged straight through the lobby of a major office building in New York City, immune to the protests and questions of the well-dressed staff and security guards. “Excuse me, you can’t go in there,” protested the secretary.

But to no avail; he stomped right past her, entered the elevator, and rode straight up to the penthouse, where he met the CEO’s private secretary. “Do you have an appointment? You can’t just barge in here like that,” she said with a distinct edge of alarm. But before she could finish her sentence, he stomped past her as well.

Bursting into the CEO’s office, the homeless man sat down opposite the CEO, put his feet up on the desk, and smiled. “Hi Dad,” he said. “How are you doing?”

“Son, I’ve told you a thousand times, you are not welcome here. You are an embarrassment and a disgrace.

Look at yourself! When was the last time you showered; when was the last time you ate a meal? All you do is hurt yourself and waste your life away. I gave you every opportunity in life. I opened every door for you. Gave you everything you could possibly want.

But you’ve thrown it all away, and now look at you. You are a failure and a disgrace.”

The homeless man nodded, as if he had heard this speech hundreds of times.

“You’re one to talk, Dad. You might have made it big in finance, but where were you for your family? Where were you during my childhood when I needed you most? You missed my birthdays, school events, and celebrations. I can’t remember the last time

passed through. Why is it necessary to mention every single place, every single stage of our journey?

I would like to develop several deep themes related to these encampments, from which we can learn inspiring and profound ideas. While each theme will be developed separately, they also interconnect into a greater whole.

The Importance of Every Step you showed up to anything that wasn’t a business meeting!” the homeless man said. “You’re so caught up in being ‘successful’ that you have no idea what life is actually about. How much of life have you experienced? What has all your money, success, and fame brought you other than stress and worry? I may not have made anything of myself, but at least I know how to enjoy life! At least I know how to live in the now, to enjoy what I’m doing.

Can you say the same?”

This argument is rehashed year after year. CEO and homeless son, success and failure. But which is the success, and which is the failure?

Some think the CEO is right, while others relate to the son’s emotional plea. Many think they’re both wrong.

A few think they’re both right. But maybe they’re both wrong and they’re both right.

A Long Journey The Torah is not only a guide to living a life of truth within the physical world, it is also the literal blueprint and DNA of this physical world. Our physical world is a projection and emanation of the deep spiritual reality described by the Torah. This is

the meaning of the Midrash, “Histakel b’Oraisah u’barah almah,” Hashem looked into the Torah and used it to create the world (Bereishis Rabbah 1:1). The physical world is an emanation and expression of Torah, the spiritual root of existence. As such, every single word of Torah is of infinite importance.

The Rambam (Hilchos Teshuva 3:8), in line with this idea, explains that if one rejects a single letter of the Torah, it is as if he has rejected the entire Torah. The Ramban explains in the introduction to his commentary on Bereishis that the entire Torah is one elongated Shem Hashem (Name of G-d), one interconnected sefer (book), a single organic entity. Just as a single missing chromosome can affect an entire human being, the same is true for a Sefer Torah. Even a single missing letter renders the entire text pasul (invalid). Every single word and letter in the Torah is absolutely fundamental.

If this is true, the beginning of Parshas Masei is puzzling. The first forty-nine pesukim in the parsha list, one by one, the various places that the Jewish People passed through along their journey in the Midbar. In the majority of these places, nothing of note occurred; the Jewish People simply

Although we often focus on the end result, every single step of a process is of critical importance.

If we truly understood the power of this idea, our view of time and potential would forever change. Consider, for example, a single day of your life. Your day begins with infinite spiritual potential, with 86,400 seconds to utilize. At the very beginning of every day, you have the ability to learn new ideas, improve your relationships, and achieve any number of accomplishments. After 1,000 seconds of your day have passed, whatever you accomplished of that time – of that potential – is real, and the rest is lost. However, the potential for the remaining 85,400 seconds is shaped by how you spent the first 1,000 seconds. If you spent them well, taking full advantage of your time, sharpening your mind and awareness and building positive momentum, then you now have access to a higher version of yourself with which to continue building and creating your life. If you thought unempowering thoughts or failed to create a positive trajectory – instead choosing to engage in any number of self-destructive activities – then you have set yourself up for a very difficult journey ahead, perhaps

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diminishing the quality of potential for the rest of your day.

Every thought, word, action, and decision has infinite, cosmic reverberations and repercussions. This may be overwhelming to consider, and it may be unhealthy to continuously fixate upon the severity of each infinitesimal aspect of our lives, but the truth remains nonetheless. We should therefore contemplate this, as this realization will help awaken us to the importance of everything, something truly crucial to recognize.

Every single step in our journey creates ripples throughout every aspect of our lives. This is an example of true oneness, and this is the importance of every step.

We can now begin to appreciate why the Torah includes every single step of Klal Yisrael’s journey.

still helped us progress in the right direction.

The greatest joy does not come from arriving at our goals, but from the journey itself, the striving itself, the process of progress and the continued elevation of our existential self.

The Ramban quotes the claims of the fools who challenge the worth of pursuing truth. After all, if we will never reach absolute truth, as it transcends our limited minds, what then is the point in pursuing wisdom? Better

final ge’ulah (redemption). When Moshiach comes, we will suddenly see how all of history was leading us towards our ultimate destination.

This is why the end of days is compared to laughter: one laughs when there is a sudden change, and the destination one thought they were heading towards suddenly shifts into something completely unexpected.

The same is true in our own lives.

Sometimes, only by looking back and putting all the scattered pieces togeth-

The Purpose of the Goal In essence, the goal is necessary, but its importance lies only in how it allows you to journey towards greatness. Every goal is only temporary, for whenever you accomplish it, you will almost immediately create a new one.

There are even times when we realize that our goal was not even possible or appropriate to begin with, but it

the life-changing decisions and events that until now seemed meaningless and random. Whether it was choosing a specific school, meeting a friend or spouse at a specific time, or visiting a certain place when we did, our past becomes a masterpiece, ready for us to admire and appreciate. On a larger scale, only by seeing all the various stages and details of Klal Yisrael’s journey in Parshas Masei could we appreciate the bigger story that was taking place.

The Journey Towards Greatness

Find your unique mission, embrace the struggle, and head towards the infinite while enjoying every step of the process.

Enjoying the Journey Very often, we want to be perfect.

We don’t want to learn, we want to know; we don’t want to exercise, we want to be healthy; we don’t want to build our relationships, we want to have deep and intimate connection.

But the goal of life is not to be perfect or achieve all your goals instantaneously, because you will never “be” perfect. The goal of life is to become perfect, to endlessly strive for more.

You will never arrive at perfection, but you can get closer and closer every day. The goal is not to be on top, it’s to climb a little more every single day.

So many people hate the journey of growth because they want nothing more than to be at the destination.

The journey of growth is only enjoyable when you learn to enjoy the journey itself. When you fall in love with the process of growth, when you look forward to the daily struggle, to the incremental stages of progress, to each tiny step forward, that is when you find true happiness.

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not to journey at all. The Ramban responds with a profound insight.

The goal is not to reach absolute truth, as this is impossible. The goal is to endlessly strive along the winding path towards truth, getting ever closer, even if the ultimate endpoint remains elusive. Every single step we take is progress, and this is the goal of life. An endless journey, but one in which we enjoy every single stage of growth and evolution. This provides an additional explanation for why the Torah describes Klal Yisrael’s journey in such detail: the journey itself is infinitely important.

This is why all the places are listed in Parshas Masei. The Jewish People were on a spiritual journey, and every step along the way was essential to that journey. It wasn’t only about arriving at Eretz Yisrael, it was about growing through every step of the journey, every step of the process.

The Personal Megillah A worthwhile journey often includes a long winding path, twisting and turning in all directions, leading you on a seemingly endless quest.

Then, at the very last moment, there can be a sudden revelation which retroactively changes your perspective on the entire journey! Like a twist ending in a great story, the last turn can change the way you perceive the entire quest. This is the nature of the

er can we finally see the beauty and hashgacha in events that occurred throughout our lives. Any individual moment of your life might may seem meaningless, but held in context of your entire life, this moment suddenly shines with infinite brilliance; it’s now seen as fundamental and deeply meaningful. As we have mentioned before, this is why the Ba’alei Machshava suggest writing your own personal “megillah,” keeping an account of events, experiences, and choices that occur throughout your life. Megilas Esther contains no open miracle, but when you put all the pieces of the puzzle together, and read them in order, you clearly see the Yad Hashem, how all the seemingly random events fit together so perfectly to create the hidden miracle of Purim.

The word megillah shares the same root as the words l’galgel (to roll) and migaleh. When we roll through the scroll of the megillah, we reveal the presence and hashgacha of Hashem.

The same is true for our own personal story. Each individual event or experience may seem insignificant and happenstance, but if we put all the pieces together, connecting the dots between the seemingly random events, we begin to see the magic manifest in our own personal megillah. We can suddenly see the turning points in our lives; we retroactively perceive

We all traverse through the journey of life, trying to grasp the ultimate objective truth as well as fulfill our own personal purpose within that higher truth. As Parshas Masei teaches us, every step of our journey is of ultimate importance. But more important still is the necessity to be a journeyer, to continuously grow through life. We are here to achieve greatness, and living without a higher “why” is not truly living. We are the unique creation of Hashem that has been placed in a confusing and dark world, in a state of confusion, with the mission of becoming perfect.

Find your unique mission, embrace the struggle, and head towards the infinite while enjoying every step of the process.

Rabbi Shmuel Reichman is an author, educator, speaker, and coach who has lectured internationally on topics of Torah, psychology, and leadership. He is the founder and CEO of Self-Mastery Academy, the transformative online self-development course that is based on the principles of high-performance psychology and Torah.

After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree from Yeshiva University, he received semicha from RIETS, a Master’s degree in Jewish Education from Azrieli, and a Master’s degree in Jewish Thought from Revel. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago and has also spent a year studying at Harvard as an Ivy Plus Exchange Scholar.

To find more inspirational content from Rabbi Reichman, to contact him, or to learn more about Self-Mastery Academy, visit his website: ShmuelReichman.com

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Israel Today

Don’t Eat This

By Rafi Sackville

M

y addiction to chocolate and salty foods can be linked to my childhood in Melbourne, Australia. I’m certain it was the pocket money my father gave me that led me to the local Milk Bar, where I’d point at the “lollies” (candy) on display behind the glass counter and ask for “20 cents worth, please.”

The proprietor would fill a little bag with gummy worms, gushers, bananas and chocolates and watch me begin eating the contents before I walked out the door.

More than half a century later, my tooth remains sweet, my will to resist weak, and the variety of candy endless.

Today, I have trouble walking the candy aisles in supermarkets. When I see loose arrangements of candy, I’ll take a few with the intention, most oftentimes not realistic, that I’m tasting in order to buy.

Which is why I was surprised at the psychological effect the latest food label campaign has had on my predilection to indulge. Since the labeling campaign began its latest iteration at the start of 2021, I’ve seen my consumption of snack food drop.

The Ministry of Health developed four labels, three red and one green.

The former denote a high content of saturated fats, sodium or sugar. The green label is for healthy choices. The campaign was a result of a national increase in diet-related illnesses and an overall increase in obesity among Israelis.

The government website explains how the new label law aims to make the information on prepackaged food clear and accessible. This should, in turn, make consumers more “purchase knowledgeable” and help them make healthier choices. The campaign will eventually lead to restau-

rants being required to similarly flag and label their menu items.

In a paper on the general efficacy of food labels, the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research found that approximately 50% of Israelis said that labeling affects their purchasing choices, while 20% claimed they bought products high in sugar, fat, and salt content regardless of the warning labels. Their study reported that advertising campaigns were an imperative to “increasing individuals’ perceived confidence in understanding the information on nutrition labels.”

The criteria for which labels go on which products was calculated to take the Israeli Mediterranean diet into consideration.

The long-term view about labeling was researched many years earlier when statistics started to show the obesity rate in the country was rapidly increasing. Figures showed that this trend translated into a life expectancy reduction of almost three years.

An effort was made to convince food manufacturers to label positive food products with a green label because such food items do not require labeling – that is, any food in its natural state or with added herbs or spices, or foods that are minimally processed by using additives.

The green labels are just as noticeable. More than once I’ve overheard customers mention the healthy contents, and more than once I’ve overheard someone say that “green labeled healthy food is tasteless.”

Israel has come a long way from the corner makolet where you could buy a limited range of elite chocolate and candy and eat nothing more savory than Bamba (Israel’s winning strategy against peanut allergies).

The path to labeling was resisted for many years. In 2016, the Israeli food industry was pleased to discover that the labeling recommendations weren’t as strict as they first feared.

Manufacturers were initially vocal in their opposition to the new regulations. At the time, the ministry’s campaign against savory snacks was summarily pulled from circulation.

In the five years since then, the public perception has changed. The battle over the red stickers appears to be over. The labels are everywhere.

Research has rightly suggested that unless the labels on products are visible, colorful, and clear, their effect will be minimal.

Herein lies the paradox: some studies have found the warning labels effective; others have not. Because 50% of customers either don’t read labels or don’t care, this makes label efficacy harder, particularly due to the ubiquity of snack foods.

My wife and I recently flew out to see our children in Far Rockaway, NY. Our daughter Elisheva thought it might be nice if we bought some Israeli candy for the grandkids. I took ten photos of all the candy I could find on the supermarket shelves and sent them to her. Later the same day we video-chatted.

“Oh,” she said quite matter-of-factly, “regarding those pictures; we can get all that candy here in New York.”

It’s like the story of the boy who cried wolf; the more he cried wolf, the

less he was believed. The same logic applies to the amount of snacks on sale anywhere today; one becomes immune to their presence; we ignore the noise around them. We buy regardless of the strawberry-colored labels adorning the packaging. The more we see, the less likely we’re going to heed the warnings.

And yet! Personally, I’ve found the labeling quite sobering. When I see my favorite chocolate and candy bars labeled, or when I can’t avoid the stickers on even the most benign cracker box, I tend to bypass these products and head to the fruit and vegetable section instead.

Ehud Peleg, from Israel’s Consumer Council, says that what goes into a consumer’s mouth is “a basic right, and part of the consumer’s legally protected autonomy. The food guide will allow consumers to understand the significance of the markings on the label, so that they can make intelligent choices.”

It’s those last two words that get stuck in my craw with every label I eyeball. “Mate, make an intelligent choice,” I whisper to myself. “Be smart, Rafi. You’re not living in the Melbourne of your youth anymore.”

Besides, 20 cents of mixed anything nowadays wouldn’t buy me enough of a sugar rush to last me from the supermarket to the car.

Rafi Sackville, formerly of Cedarhurst, teaches in Ort Maalot in Western Galil.

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OCTOBER 29,| The 2015Jewish | The Jewish JULY 8, 2021 Home Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

“It’s the Capital City of the Jewish People” TJH Speaks with Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem

BY SUSAN SCHWAMM

Fleur, it’s a pleasure speaking with you.

Although you’ve been living in Israel for many years, you grew up in Gibraltar.

That’s right. I come from a traditional Sephardi family. My father, actually, was the chief minister, which is like the prime minister, of Gibraltar, for many years. He was the first chief minister of Gibraltar, and so I grew up in a political family. My father was a very humble man and tried to keep everything very simple for us. But I did learn from him, and my mother, of course, about public service.

I studied in England – I’m a lawyer by profession – and I made aliyah 20 years ago with my husband. Our children were born here. I was always a bit of a Zionist, and I’m so thrilled that I’ve spent most of my career serving the Jewish people. I worked in nonprofit for many years.

I was a Jerusalem city councilwoman for two-and-a-half years, and now, for two-and-ahalf years, I’ve been one of the deputy mayors of Jerusalem. I’m in charge of foreign relations, economic development, and tourism.

Those are interesting portfolios to hold, especially during a pandemic.

Absolutely.

It’s not only that tourism was affected during the pandemic. I would think foreign relations is so important now as well, along with economic development.

Agreed – especially in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is an international city. It’s a city that many people around the world love. Of course, it’s also the capital city of the Jewish peo-

ple, not just the state of Israel, and I’m very, very cognizant of that. During the Corona, for example, there were many moments when we actually did a very good job at combatting the virus, and so it was a privilege to be able to share those best practices and experiences with lots of different cities around the world to see how we could help them. And so yes, it’s been an interesting year.

The last month [during the Gaza conflict] has been a very negative part of the year with conflict and with the terrible, terrible attacks in the press.

We are watching from here all the anti-Semitic attacks in the United States and in Europe very helplessly. It’s very frustrating.

You’re involved in foreign relations for Jerusalem. Did the Gaza conflict and the situation in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbor-

The Jewish Home Home | OCTOBER 2015 The Jewish | JULY29, 8, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

can’t create a cohesive media strategy to fight the demonization and villainization of Israel.

That’s one of the reasons why I decided to go into politics.

Have Hamas and their associates gotten better at the social media aspect of the fight?

Yes. They’re great at it, and then you have a world willing to believe anything that is against Israel. It’s a combination of them having great social media and the world giving them the narrative, agreeing with their narrative. Additionally, I think, Israel does not have good PR. We don’t have good social media, and that’s our fault. This is something that I feel very strongly about, and we really need to fix.

What’s are some of the biggest accompli shme nt s that you felt you made in your position as deputy mayor of Jerusalem?

I think that the most important thing that I’ve managed to do, apart from some of the projects that I’ve done, is to tell the story of what’s really going on in Jerusalem. And what’s really going on in Jerusalem is the strengthening of the marginal population groups, like Arabs and ultra Orthodox Jews, who, many, live under the poverty line, through job opportunities, through development of educational programs, job placement, and infrastructural development.

We are the most diverse city in the country, and we are creating a shared society. It’s just that nobody sees it. Nobody knows about it. They see this as a city of conflict when, in fact, m’Zion tetzei Torah, from here, we will build true peace.

I do a lot of things with women and the women’s sphere of economic development, women in high-tech –charedi women, Jewish women, Arab women – we bring them together and help them develop in business.

We work together to bring investments to the city and to create great jobs in the city and to create cultural partnerships. It’s really never-ending, the energy in the city. I’m very proud of the story that we are telling the world about Jerusalem, the connection that we built with all sorts of cities around the world, and the main message is that Jerusalem is not just a special city, it’s also a regular city that is supposed to serve its residents.

Isn’t that ironic – that Israel is not good at social media but we’re known for our prowess in technology.

Yes. We are technological wizards, and yet we

A lot of people come from the U.S. to visit, and it’s an enjoyable tourism spot. But it’s also hard for us to realize that this is a place that a lot of people call home. How

At the signing of the UAE-Israel Business Council

hood make your job that much harder? Do you feel that there’s a perception around the world that Israel is the aggressor?

Absolutely. It was a very deliberate Hamas campaign. They made the linkage to Jerusalem very early on. They did this for political reasons, of course, because if you link it to Jerusalem, you justify conflict.

And of course, we were getting terrible press around the world, and I spent a lot of my time on foreign channels defending our position and explaining to people and to the press who were willing to listen what’s really going on and not what has been reported.

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many people live in Jerusalem?

It’s the largest city in the country by double.

Almost a million people live in Jerusalem. We’re 11% of the Israeli population, living in Jerusalem.

And so that’s very significant, and there’s a lot of work to do. But there’s a lot of great innovation here – cultural innovation, educational innovation. People are restless to save the world and fix society. We have the largest amount of NGOs per capita in the world; there is a huge amount of volunteers. It’s a city that is constantly changing, developed and built, and that’s something exciting.

What are some of your favorite spots in Jerusalem?

Well, there are a number of spots that I really love. Actually, today, I was just in the Aish HaTorah building in the Old City. The rooftop, I think, is the best view in the whole city. I love The First Station, which is a really fun, cultural hub with great restaurants. There’s always cultural activities going on, and it’s not far from my house. So we love going there.

And there’s all the various tourist sites – City of David, the Tower of David museum, all the places that you have to kind of pinch yourself to understand that this is a 3,000-year-old city that

“You have to kind of pinch yourself to understand that this is a 3,000-yearold city that is modernized and developed while still keeping the integrity of the history and the heritage of our city.”

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JULY 8, 2021 Home Home OCTOBER 29,| The 2015Jewish | The Jewish

is modernized and developed while still keeping the integrity of the history and the heritage of our city.

People are going to, God-willing, start to come to Israel over the next few months.

Please, G-d. We’re really waiting for that.

Is there anything that they should know before they come? Will things be different?

Well, the Tower of David museum by Jaffa Gate is finishing an incredible restoration, a building and development of a new area. There are also so many wonderful restaurants in the city.

We’ve also been focusing on green tourism and how to create experiences for tourists in parks and areas of nature. I think that most of all, people in Jerusalem have really missed tourism, and so everybody, all the vendors and all the tourism businesses, are just so looking forward to having everybody back.

The new coalition in the Knesset is proposing to open up the Kotel to many different factions, and it’s been a hot issue for the past few years. What are your thoughts on that?

I think there’s room for everyone at the the plaza and the Kotel and that whole historical area. I truly believe that every Jew should see themselves in this city. Every Jew should feel like they belong in this city. And so, I believe that there are ways of finding a compromise where every Jew finds their place here, and it doesn’t have to offend anybody else. I think if it’s done respectfully, we can find a place for everybody.

“They see this as a city of conflict when, in fact, m’Zion tetzei Torah, from here, we will build true peace.”

Let’s move on to the Jewish Agency. Isaac Herzog, who was head of the Jewish Agency, is becoming the president of Israel. You are in the running for his position. It’s a perfect position for you because you are from the Diaspora and you moved to Israel. Talk to us a little bit about the Jewish Agency and why you feel like you would be the right fit to lead that organization.

At the moment, it’s all so very new, and my name has been thrown in the ring, of course, though it still has not been an official process, so we never know.

Even so, I have the experience of the Diaspora Jew. I was born and grew up in the Diaspora, and I also have the experience of an immigrant.

I moved here 20 years ago, and now I’m here as an Israeli. It would be a complete privilege to serve not just my city, as I do now, but to serve the entire Jewish people, which is the work of the Jewish Agency. My whole career, I’ve been serving my people, my country, my city. And so for me, this would be widening the circle of being able to do the public service for Am Yisrael.

What does the Jewish Agency do?

The Jewish Agency is the main organization which was the predecessor of the Israeli government. The government of the Jewish people was the Jewish Agency before we had a state with an official government. And so the history of the Jewish Agency is the history of the creation of the State of Israel, and it is an enormous privilege to be able to work in an organization that basically created the infrastructure for the creation of the State of Israel.

Today, the Jewish Agency is involved in connecting Jews to Israel and connecting Israel to the Diaspora Jewry with programs of Jewish education, identity, and, to some extent, fighting anti-Semitism. It does programs of absorption.

It continues to play a pivotal role in the relationship and the connection between Israel and the

Diaspora. And so, to me, it’s in my DNA because this is what I’ve lived and this is what I believe in and this is what I am.

For now, it’s a long road to the position, but it would be an incredible privilege to be able to serve in that position.

There are many Americans living in Jerusalem who never officially made aliyah. Is there a way to get those Americans to actually go through that process?

And why do you think they haven’t done so?

Well, if anything is going to make them do that, it’s the Corona pandemic and the ultimate hassle, the complete hassle, of not being able to get in and out of the country when you’re not a citizen. So I think, if anything, the push to make people do that has been the last year-and-a-half.

And in fact, I actually do very much believe that what’s happened in the last year is going to drive the number of olim up. My friends at Nefesh B’Nefesh tell me that the demands that they’ve seen has tripled, quadrupled. And so, I think it’s already happening.

I think a lot of people are wary of making official aliyah for different reasons. Some communities don’t want to get caught up in making that kind of commitment. But ultimately, when you live here and you enjoy living here, that should be everybody’s commitment – to become a fullfledged citizen, to have voting rights, to be able to choose your government, and to be able to really fully partake in the country.

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

At the Gulf-Israel Women’s Forum

When somebody makes aliyah, they get a certain amount of services or benefits for the first few years. Is there any way to extend some sort of those benefits to help people, to sort of sweeten the deal for people?

Well, I actually think we need to do something else. People get benefits when they first move here, and they should. It’s a difficult thing to move countries. But I think that mainly what people need is a good absorption policy. And for me, making aliyah successfully is about three things: it’s about where you live and your community; it’s about where you work; and it’s about where your children go to school.

We should really create a very professional absorption solution for finding people the best jobs possible, almost like an HR firm placing olim. The startup nation lacks 15,000 engineers every single year. We import engineers. So what if we went out and recruited Jewish engineers from across the world to come and move here and be part of the startup nation? What if we had

“Almost a million people live in Jerusalem.”

real professional consulting services for people, for families, to understand which school best fits their hashkafa and their needs? And what if we also had the same advice about which community would absorb them in the warmest and the best way, again, in terms of their hashkafa – that would be so helpful.

Those are the things that I think we should be doing rather than more monetary benefits. There are enough monetary benefits. People don’t want handouts. People want a good job and to be in a lovely community.

And that’s what we would be concentrating on.

It’s like that saying, “Give the man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.”

That’s what the Rambam says.

What should American Jews be doing to help fight the anti-Semitism that we’ve been seeing?

Well, it’s a really good question. I’m actually organizing a solidarity mission soon with Gesher, an organization that connects different Jews in Israel and around the world, because I think that Israel has to show solidarity for the Jewish communities and the Diaspora. Normally, it’s the other way around, but now, they have to go and really show that solidarity.

I think that communities have to lobby their governments and their local Congress people in order to get the protection that they need. First of all, they need security in their synagogues.

And secondly, I think it’s about education and awareness of the wider community, and it’s about being able to make people understand and educate them about what anti-Semitism really is.

For many years, anti-Semitism has been cloaked in anti-Zionism, and many of the Jewish communities did not recognize it. “Oh, it’s about Israel.

It’s not about us.” And I think what’s become very clear in the last round of conflict and the consequent problems that occurred with Jewish communities around the world is that anti-Zion-

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ism is anti-Semitism. It’s just a politically correct, woke way to cover it up. Now, the game is up. It’s about what it is. And so, I think Jews have to understand that ultimately being on Israel’s side strengthens them and doesn’t weaken them.

And that it’s all the same. Thank G-d, we have a country today where we don’t have to run scared from anybody or anything.

You are a mother of four. Correct?

Yes. My oldest is 19 and my youngest is 11, almost 12.

It’s hard to juggle being a mother and being somebody who’s involved in politics or business. What advice would you give to women to be able to handle it? And how did you actually manage to juggle it all?

This is a great question, and I speak to a lot of women about this, and I mentor young women.

I always say to them a few things. First of all, in order to be involved and contribute to your community, you can do that in any way you can. It can be the PTA. It can be a neighborhood board.

It can be your synagogue. There are many ways to contribute. People who want to contribute find a way to contribute even with little kids.

Now, I always say to women, “I have four kids.

10, 15 years ago, I couldn’t have done what I’m doing today.” And so, women can have it all. But maybe, we don’t need to have it all at the same time. Maybe there is a moment for this, and there is a moment for that. And one thing doesn’t take away from the other.

I really feel that as my kids have gotten older, I’ve been able to get more involved. And so you have to do what you can do at the moment if you can do it, and then, as you become freer from dealing with little kids, for example, then you can do more, if that’s what you wish to do and you have the energy.

Don’t put pressure on yourself to have everything at the same time and being miserable at every aspect of your life. Everything has its moment. And so that’s, I think, what I’ve learned during my career and my rearing of my children.

Fleur, we appreciate your time and your commitment to the Jewish people, especially as deputy mayor of Jerusalem. We wish you all the best in your pursuit to lead the Jewish Agency.

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Dating Dialogue

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

Dear Navidaters, I have been going out with a wonderful girl several times now and we’re starting to get serious. The problem is I need to disclose a very “scandalous/bad” issue within my family. It’s not the usual parents are divorced and don’t talk or siblings off the derech type thing. It is actually very serious and uncommon. Overall, what is the general rule of thumb in terms of how many dates to wait until major issues need to be disclosed?

Thank you.

Yaakov*

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

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

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The Panel The Rebbetzin Rebbetzin Lisa Babich hank you for your question. I think different circles have different “rules” as to when you are “supposed” to share these things. I personally believe in developing an organic relationship with someone. As you feel comfortable and safe and your feelings start to grow, usually you start to open up with the person you are dating. It’s one of the most bonding things you can do as a couple who is getting to know each other and can bring a tremendous amount of closeness and add a lot of depth to the relationship.

We all have something to share, and your family background is part of the story that made you who you are.

Whoever is going to marry you is going to see you in your entirety. I would suggest that, as you feel safe with her, let her know that there is a part of your story that you want her to know. You can explain how that has shaped you into the person you are today. I think you will be surprised to see that the right one is going to listen to your story with an open and compassionate heart. If you are a good person then she will see that in your vulnerability, and the experience can make you much closer.

T

My first suggestion based on your background is to work with a therapist to make sure you are healthy-husband material. There are too many singles these days who are dating who shouldn’t be. Traumatized, un-workedthrough children become traumatized un-worked-through adults who then become trauma-inducing, un-workedthrough spouses.

You should know, I have seen many single men and women get married whose families have had less than stellar backgrounds. If you try hiding it, no matter how one tries to cover up dirt, often the debris linger right below the surface. Your date will know after a while of getting to know you that you are holding back.

The true test to your relationship will be opening up about those skeletons in the closet and see if she will embrace your relationship nonetheless. To cross the finish line, you will have to be vulnerable and open up about your background.

The time to do this is different for everyone. For the more yeshivish who get engaged very quickly, it might be early on, at about date 4 or 5. For the more modern who date for a while, the right time might be after getting to know each other for a month or so.

Tell the girl you are dating when things feel right. Trust me – you will know when your relationship has reached the right time.

Hatzlacha with everything!

The Shadchan Michelle Mond

T

hank you for writing in with this question; it is more common than you think.

Many people are walking around with untold stories; these are chapters of people’s lives going completely undisclosed. That is, of course, until you bring someone new in. Some may subconsciously not let anyone in, in fear that their secrets will be exposed.

Some may get to the finish line and then abruptly end it when anxiety creeps in.

The Single Rivka Weinberg

Y

aakov, this is an extremely important and common question, so thank you for writing in. As we go through life, we need to keep in mind that each person we meet has a story and has overcome specific challenges that make up who he or she is today.

Hakadosh Baruch Hu put us all in certain situations and has provided us the tools to navigate them and grow

throughout the process. With that said, when it comes to sharing information about your personal journey, I suggest you speak with your rav or mentor to understand when the appropriate time is to disclose it.

Bear in mind that you are being vulnerable, which inherently is overwhelming and scary, but is the key to successfully building a healthy and enduring relationship. Her reaction to you sharing your experiences will say a tremendous amount about her.

Does she respond with empathy and ask kind and compassionate questions to try and understand your hardships?

Do you feel comforted and heard? Or, is she asking specific unnecessary details about the situation in a judgmental way to get the hock?

Listen to your gut and be honest with yourself about how her reply makes you feel. If you are unsettled, remember this is the person you may be spending the rest of your life with, and ultimately there will be curveballs thrown at you in the future, so you are seeing a preview of how she will handle situations going forward. Vulnerability is crucial to building a relationship, so as awkward or uncomfortable as it may be, the benefits certainly outweigh all of the short-term discomfort involved.

In general, understanding and accepting that each individual has faced challenges, ranging across various degrees of difficulty, allows for additional possibilities in shidduchim and open doors you did not realize were possible.

Of course, it is important and highly recommended to do proper research when looking into a shidduch. However, if the situation does not involve a serious mental or physical health concern that has a large impact, allow the person to tell his or her own story. We understand ourselves best, and should have the opportunity, when appropriate, to properly give over our own story at the proper time.

Much hatzlacha to all of those currently in shidduchim and keep in mind that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is The Ultimate Shadchan, so turn to Him for clarity along the way.

Traumatized, unworked-through children become traumatized unworked-through adults who then become traumainducing, unworked-through spouses.

The Zaidy Dr. Jeffrey Galler our letter is a bit short on details, but let’s assume that the “scandal” is more significant than cheating on a 7 th grade algebra test, is not a medical problem, and does not involve you personally.

Accordingly, there are three issues to consider regarding this information: first, when should you disclose it; second, how will the other party react to it; and third, how best to present it.

First, I asked several marriage professionals when to reveal negative information, and received answers ranging from as early as the third date to as late as a couple of months of dating. It seems to depend upon where you are positioned on our religious spectrum and on what the norms are in your particular community.

The best advice would be to ask knowledgeable local rabbis or shadchanim. Revealing it too early might stop a wonderful relationship from ever developing. Revealing it too late can be an unfair, crushing blow to a single, who has already invested much time and emotion in the relationship.

Second, you need to prepare for how the young lady will react to this news. If she and her family are the type who are extremely conscious of their social standing and position in the

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community, who can’t allow any perceived blemish upon how they perceive themselves, then there is no hope for your relationship. Let’s hope that they are more open-minded and accepting.

By the way, you might be surprised to find that your family’s deep, dark secret is actually more publicly known than you imagine. Today, because a simple Google-type search is very easy to perform, your girlfriend might al-

ready know about the “scandal.” I secretly hope that she knows about it and is at peace with it.

Third, you may wish to explain to her that having this skeleton in your family closet has actually made you a better, stronger person. You have learned and grown from not only the positives but also the negatives in your family history.

You may wish to talk about

Pulling It All Together The Navidaters Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

D

ear Yaakov, Thank you for writing into our column. It can feel so very scary to disclose a very “scandalous/bad” issue within one’s family. And though I don’t know the specific issue, I understand that you are speaking of something that isn’t every-day, something that may make the wonderful girl and/ or her parents choose to walk away from you, even though you had nothing to do with it. It is a family member’s scandal. Not yours.

Most human beings experience shame. Most human beings carry secrets; either their own or their family’s – things that if exposed to the public would feel like a death. The fear of being exposed, of being rejected, of someone being disgusted is a lot for a person to cope with. To experience that rejection from someone we love or potentially could imagine ourselves sharing a life with can be too much to handle.

Before I give you my personal opinion about this (and it is just that, an opinion...this isn’t a science and

there is often no one right way to about matters of the heart), I feel that I must address shame within shidduchim and the Orthodox (modern and all the way to the right) ideal of the “perfect family.”

Many years ago, I was in a medical office waiting room. And these two lovely (and clearly not Orthodox) ladies were chatting. Yes, my son went to rehab for alcohol and cocaine addiction.

He had been in and out of jail. And then my husband and I divorced because the pressure was just too much on the marriage. The woman went on and on. And the other woman began sharing about her life. And the two sat in this medical office, speaking audibly, enough for me to hear them. And all I thought was, Wow! Look how beautiful this is! These two women chatting so openly with as much as comfort as talking about a grocery list. And then I thought to myself, What a healing moment! There is no judgment. No shame. When we let out our most pri-

what Dr. Viktor Frankl says in his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning.” A Holocaust survivor, he decided, after four years in Auschwitz, that despite events that are beyond your control, you can still maintain your freedom to control and choose how you respond to these challenges.

Explain that your family background has forged, in you, an ironwilled determination to become an exemplary husband, father, and member of the community.

vate thoughts and our deepest pain to a safe person, we heal! We heal! We heal!

In certain c o m mu n i t i e s , we simply are not allowed to share because we must seem perfect. And please, please, please... please do not send me any letters or emails telling me this isn’t true because in my line of work I see firsthand how deeply this impacts families and individuals on so many levels and scales in the Orthodox world. People who cannot heal because they risk losing status in shidduchim.

The pain is real, and I will be a voice for all of you who suffer privately.

I want to tell you that you are human! And that I believe deeply that you are worthy of love, and worthy of getting married, with whatever “secret” you are carrying that has you mistakenly believing you are unloveable. It’s not true!

Back to you, Yaakov. We all have secrets. And revealing those secrets, especially in shidduchim is a scary, scary prospect within the manmade shidduch system. You need to truly listen to and trust what I am saying right now. It’s the truth. It is the only thing that makes sense to me, personally, on every level. It is also what I have seen time and time again in my line of work.

When it’s the right person, there is

If someone is your bashert, then you are already two halves of a whole.

Good luck! Please write to us and let us know how it all turns out.

nothing you can tell that person that will keep her away from you. Nothing.

Because if someone is your bashert, then you are already two halves of a whole. And your story is already hers.

And hers is yours.

When the time is right, you will feel it. And I want you to do it with no fear.

No fear. I want everyone to feel good about themselves, their families, where they come from. I want everyone to know that we all have a story. Most of us have family members who embarrass us or have done something shameful, on different scales. This is simply because we are all just human beings. And human beings make mistakes! We are all just having a human experience. And we are all still loveable and worthy. And instead of being taught to hide and feel shameful, in my opinion, we should be taught how loveable we all are. You know that bumper sticker we see on cars everywhere? Hashem loves you! I love that bumper sticker. I love it! It always makes me feel so good whenever I see it. It doesn’t say Hashem loves a part of you. Or, Hashem loves you, but that shameful family member makes Him not love you sometimes. He loves you!

Feel good about yourself, Yaakov. If she is the one, she won’t let you go because of something scandalous a family member did. And it’s as simple as that.

Sincerely, Jennifer

Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in private practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. She also teaches a psychology course at Touro College. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 718-908-0512. Visit www.thenavidaters.com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email JenniferMannLCSW@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.

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Dr. Deb

Is It Possible to Get Quick Results in Marriage Therapy?

By Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.

“O

h, I don’t know, Dr. Deb. I don’t see how it is possible to change my whole marriage around in 13 weeks.

“After all, we’ve gone to therapy for the last 3 years (5 years? 10 years?) and we still don’t have results.

“I got a lot out of my individual therapy. But you know, I’m a kind of stubborn person. I don’t make changes too quickly. It took two years of weekly work to overcome my ____. So how can I change things around so fast in my marriage?”

I have one answer to each of these concerns: You used the wrong vehicle.

Let’s dive into the particulars so you’ll see what I mean.

Wrong Vehicle #1: Behavioral Change Behavior modification works beautifully with young children, prison inmates, and institutionalized adults. Why? Because you, the parent or the supervisor, have control.

You can dish out reinforcers, you can punish, you can increase the reward ratio (how much of the desired behavior you expect before you give the reinforcer), and so on.

You’re in charge.

When you find the right incentives, little kids eat it up.

But what happens in a marriage?

Who holds the reinforcers?

Do you think you do? Think again. Here’s a true story about yours truly. When Covid hit, I had been a regular attendee at the gym.

I loved the classes because someone was barking at me to do this or that,

niques manage that?

They can’t.

Wrong Vehicle #2 Emotional Change

and I did not have to exercise any self-motivation.

Suddenly, all that came to an end.

My favorite teacher had a live online class and….I’m sorry to admit the truth, but at the last minute I always found something “more pressing” to do. See, in the past, picking myself up and getting out of the house (which was fun in itself) to go to the gym got the process started. The teacher did the rest.

So mid-way through Covid, I got the bright idea of telling my friend that I would tape a class and then we could “meet” by each, separately, doing the class at home. Knowing that she was expecting me to “attend” was the motivation I needed.

Here’s the funny part. To this day, if she does her workout, I do mine. If she has an appointment elsewhere, doggone if I don’t miss my workout.

We simply can’t expect ourselves to be in charge of our own reinforcement schedule, generally speaking.

(Yes, there are people who quit smoking on a dime and all that. I’m saying generally speaking.)

But there is an even bigger problem with behavioral change: How do you change that which is emotionally driven?

The limbic system – where emotions are catalogued, activated, and connected to the rest of our brain – is quick, unconscious, and driven by neurotransmitters that act more quickly than you can think. As an example, slow-acting neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin take seconds to minutes to transmit messages. The fast-acting ones like glutamate (present in 90% of brain synapses, or spaces) take one-thousandth of a second to move from synapse to synapse in the brain!

As people often complain, “I go from zero to 60 so fast I don’t know what’s happening.”

So how can behaviors, even well-intentioned behavioral tech-

It is specifically because of the limitation of behavioral change that therapy focused on emotions was developed. This is a major step in the right direction.

Yet, examination of therapies based on tuning into your own and your partner’s emotions doesn’t necessarily lead to controlling them.

Here is what Sue Johnson, the founder of Emotionally Focused Therapy, told an interviewer: One lady said to me recently: “Nothing has changed on one level, but everything has changed. I get that my whole life – even from the time I was very small, and now I’m 60 years old – has been an incredible fight. A fight between longing for closeness, feeling empty, alone and deprived of love, and being terrified of closeness. I feel that the only closeness I have known resulted in someone taking me over, me being powerless, me being hurt all the time. I’ve just bounced between those two things my whole life.” And now that she can make sense of her emotions, she finds a way to navigate.

The client made sense of her emotions. That is excellent. But the question is: Could she change them?

Could she, to use her own words, no longer feel powerless? Could she stop bouncing between extremes and overcome her fear of closeness?

Johnson explains, “What we do in couples therapy is to help people accept those longings and fears and to find ways to ask for what

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they need in a way that pulls the other person close.”

But how? How do they do that now that they understand their fears of vulnerability? How do they overcome the fear? Is understanding enough?

The truth is that as therapies go, this is positive because with the presence of the therapist, the couple may feel safe enough to open up. But it’s not because the couple was taught a new way to choose what emotion they want to have. Now, that would be helpful. I will return to this in a moment.

The couple – and the woman who bounced between closeness and fear of it – do not have a tool to actually come to grips with those two polarities.

Wrong Vehicle #3 Autonomic System Change When we look at the underlying systems in the body that govern reactions, especially emotional reactions, it becomes apparent that what is often left out of the therapy equation is giving due respect for mindfulness, breathing, and meditation.

We do love to hear ourselves talk, we therapists. I’m no exception; I wasn’t named Devorah for nothing.

But there’s a place for silence, for clearing the head through breathwork and bodywork. The problem with this approach is that it needs to be part of a bigger picture. What, exactly, are we clearing from our heads anyway? And what direction would we want our heads to go in if we could?

These are the primary therapy vehicles, the last one not used as much as it deserves. But individually, they are slow and hard to drive to the right place.

What Is Needed is a System That is Built on the Way Human Beings Actually Operate These three vehicles are like having a car’s motor, tires, and battery.

They’re all important, necessary, and useful. But they must work together to be a “car.”

We like to think. We like to figure things out. We feel more in control when we understand how the world

– and we in it – function. So there is a need for the thinking part of the brain to be included in the therapy process.

We also are totally emotional creatures. Most of our decisions are not rational. (See Antonio Damasio on the role of emotion in the making of consciousness.) Therefore, we need

I did a bit of mindful thinking.

Which mood did I want? Well, obviously, a happy one. So I thought of how it will be when I got out of jail.

I mean, quarantine. And my insides lit up. I imagined talking to the little cutie pies that lived right across the street. Well, I was already talking to them. I imagined talking to them

The moods that come over us are not us.

a way to track our emotions so as to be able to change them.

One way that has worked miracles for people in literally changing their emotions is meditation. The reason it works goes way beyond the fact that it distracts us from whatever was bothering us.

In addition, in slowing down our systems, it changes the body’s (and brain’s) chemistry and wiring.

Yet, there is one more tool, even more powerful than the others, that combines emotion, thinking, mindfulness with the ability to take action to make immediate changes, and that is called Internal Family Systems.

I can remember where I was standing when I discovered that this is actually possible.

I had gone to Israel last September for my grandson’s bar mitzvah.

I was stuck for two whole weeks in quarantine. In a basement apartment with one window that let in about one ray of light. I knew this would be the case so I took a course to maintain my licensure during the Israeli morning when everyone back here is sleeping. I kind of randomly chose Richard Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems.

So there I was, listening to him, and all of a sudden, it hit me: “You mean, I don’t have to stay in this dark mood because I’m stuck in this dark apartment and can’t even go exercise let alone hug the grandchildren I came here to see?”

Wow. That was powerful. I stood up and took stock.

The dark mood came from a part of me that was rebelling against reality. And I didn’t have to rebel. I could summon a different mood if I liked.

without our masks. And hugging them. A little tickle started inside me.

It was a great feeling. I smiled.

The key to understanding how to do this and why it works is that the moods that come over us are not us.

They’re only parts of us. Brush away – gently and appreciatively – these parts, and what is left is our essence, our Selves, our neshamas. That’s who

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we are and that’s who we can return to whenever we get “taken over” by a part.

So I rolled up my sleeves and completely redid the course that I had created to accompany marriage counseling so as to include – in addition to everything else – an intensive three weeks of IFS. Then, as people started to go through it, I took an extra step: I doubled that. The first three weeks was personal IFS; the second, couples IFS. Yes, people have been learning to do this in 13 weeks. Can you? Well, that’s not a problem for people who need a little extra hand-holding time.

I give that, too. Because sometimes young drivers need a few extra lessons. That’s personal.

Dr. Deb Hirschhorn is a Marriage and Family Therapist. If you want help with your marriage, begin by signing up to watch her Masterclass at https://drdeb. com/myw-masterclass.

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Health & F tness

Portion Control

By Cindy Weinberger MS, RD, CDN

S

ummer has officially begun!

The warm weather facilitates outdoor physical activity.

Once we are more physically active, we might as well watch what we eat, too! Losing a few pounds can’t hurt.

Dieting does not necessarily have to be something vigorous. Just a few minor changes and awareness can help shed a few pounds.

Using portion control as a healthy eating strategy allows you to eat almost any food while keeping calories in check. Even if the changes in portion size are minimal, every bit makes a difference. All the seemingly insignificant excess calories add up causing a significant change. By simply cutting 500 calories a day, you could lose a pound a week.

In order to decrease portion sizes, load up a small plate instead of using a big plate. The eyes can easily be deceived. When you see a full plate in front of you, it seems like a lot more food. Loading up a small plate is obviously the better option than loading up a big plate! Chew your food slowly, allowing time for digestion. The brain needs a few minutes before getting signals of

satiety. Once you finish your plate of food, wait 5-10 minutes before taking seconds. This break will help you differentiate between actual signs of hunger or cravings.

Using measuring spoons and measuring cups is also a helpful tool to better control your portions.

Many are unaware of what a serv-

your diet that much and leave you craving more. However, keep in mind that even healthy foods require portion control. The only food that can be eaten unlimited is non-starchy vegetables. Load up on as many vegetables as you want in any way, shape or form. From raw veggie sticks to salad, to roasted

The brain needs a few minutes before getting signals of satiety.

ing size actually is. For example, the serving size for most breakfast cereal is ¾ cup. Most of us have more than that in just our first bowl; forget about seconds! Using a measuring utensil can help paint a clearer picture of what the actual serving size is, allowing us to accurately keep track of calories.

Look for foods that are small eats and big flavor. Choose your favorite and most satiating foods so the smaller portions won’t hinder

and steamed vegetables – you name it, we got it! Fill up on as many vegetables as you want. If you feel a half a cup of rice won’t fill you up, bulk it up with vegetables. A hearty vegetable soup is a healthy and satisfying meal. Add vegetables to any meal and snack.

Salad every day can get kind of boring, so keep it creative and mix it up. In addition to the standard lettuce, tomato and cucumbers, you can add peppers, asparagus, beets,

green beans, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, hearts of palm, and other vegetables you like. Watch out for the extras, though: cheese, croutons, avocado, starchy vegetables and, of course, dressing. Dressing can change a salad’s calorie count into the fatty meat range.

Keep portion control at the forefront of your mind, and you will be able to eat freely while still “dieting.”

Make sure to measure out the protein and carbs, i.e., the high calorie food, and go wild on the vegetables.

Don’t forget to keep exercising in the beautiful sunny weather, and you’ll be healthier in no time!

Cindy Weinberger MS, RD, CDN, is a Master’s level Registered Dietitian and Certified Dietitian-Nutritionist.

She graduated CUNY Brooklyn College receiving a Bachelor’s in Science and Master’s degree in Nutrition and Food Sciences. She is currently a dietitian at Boro Park Center and a private nutrition consultant. She can be reached at CindyWeinberger1@ gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram @ EatBetterandFeelBetter.

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Parenting Pearls

Enjoy Your Children

By Sara Rayvych, MSEd

A

few years ago, I was speaking to an occupational therapist, and she made an interesting comment. Her observation was that, while the parents she met always loved their children, she didn’t feel that all of them enjoyed their children.

I found this statement to be very interesting. I can’t say whether or not it’s true, but I can say it gave me a different way of looking at parent-child interactions.

Too often, we get caught up in the daily grind of life and don’t take the time to really enjoy our children. We love them, care for them, and do all the necessary parenting tasks but we don’t as often take the time to enjoy the cute and funny things they do.

Kids are fun people and add lots of enjoyment to the day. Kids also see the world in ways adults no longer do.

Additionally, as much as we love our children, it doesn’t mean our children always feel it. It can be hard to express our love for them, and as much as we may feel it, they may not always sense it. Making an effort to ensure our children feel our love for them is important, too.

This does not mean we need to spend every waking minute with our children to show we love them. Everyone needs time to themselves and

this, too, should be respected. Pushing yourself too far past your comfort level can easily lead to feelings of resentment. Feeling resentment and anger towards your children is unlikely to make you enjoy them more.

Kids Enjoy Being Enjoyed Kids want their parents to be happy with them and enjoy their company. Don’t you like to know someone enjoys spending time with you? Kids are no different. Children naturally have a connection to their parents and a desire to be close to them. You can see that even children in abusive situations, chas v’shalom, can still want the attention and love of an abusive parent. Even more so, children will want to feel the devotion of a loving parent.

It’s innate for children to want to have the approval and attention of the adults in their life. This is not only natural but also important for their basic survival. By giving our children that extra connection, we are fulfilling a basic, inborn need.

Children thrive on parental love.

It’s a boost to your child when they see how much you care. Enjoying their companionship only adds to this. Think of how hurtful it is for a child to not think their parents love them and how incredible they feel knowing their adults adore them.

Again, even if we adore them more than they can imagine, they still need to know it.

Bonus Reward for Parents Parenting is hard. I don’t need to cover up this basic fact. It’s hard, tiring, and difficult, but we love our children and (hopefully) recognize they’re a gift. For all our hard work, we should get to enjoy them. When you take the time to sit back and just enjoy the little things they do, it makes parenting that much more enjoyable and rewarding. It also makes parenting a little easier during those even harder moments. How many of us have taken a few minutes after an insanely crazy day just to see how peaceful and sweet our little ones look when they’re sleeping? No matter what they do during the day, they look innocent and calm when they sleep. These little moments help recharge our parental batteries so we can face the next day.

Don’t wait till they do something big to feel that nachas; enjoy the little things they do throughout the day.

There are so many small accomplishments our kids do that we should enjoy them. The new big brother shares something with his little sister – that’s a sweet accomplishment.

Your child got the davening award at camp – enjoy it! Someone tells you

how well behaved your child is at the park – say “thank you” and smile big.

Take the time to feel that pride; you can even let your child know. Feel good that this accomplished child is your child.

Kids say the funniest things.

Toddlers, in particular, can say such interesting things that you wish you wrote down all of those pearls of wisdom. As their minds mature and expand their understanding, they begin to learn more and more about the world around them. As much as they understand, they often have so much more to go. They look at the world so differently that you can often think of your little one as a built-in comedy show.

Even teenagers add humor as they begin to show more and more of their personality. Enjoy their comments and their humor. Laugh a bit and keep that smile there.

Try to make some time to spend privately with each child. Even if it’s brief, quality time together is a relatively easy and meaningful way to not only show your child you value them but also to get a chance to see their unique self. Personally, I’ve often found that I get to appreciate my children in ways I don’t normally get to when I spend private time with them. They naturally open up differently when it’s one-on-one time.

Add in Your Favorites Even when you enjoy spending time with your children, it doesn’t mean you enjoy every activity they do. Don’t hesitate to suggest activities you do enjoy. You may prefer one park, trip, game or activity over another one.

As an example, I try to keep certain board games in the house that I can at least tolerate or even enjoy playing. My kids know which I prefer and will often suggest those over the ones I don’t like. This doesn’t mean I never play games I don’t like, but it’s easier to be motivated to play a board game that I do enjoy, especially if I’m tired and really don’t want to play anything. It can be better to play the game you can get excited over and really get involved with your child than the one you dislike and can’t wait to end.

Your child will pick up on your attitude. Often, the time spent with you is more important to them than the actual activity.

Watch How You Phrase Things I’ve heard parents talk about their kids, and sometimes it’s been rather negative. I don’t know if parents al-

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a frequent response is “I could never spend all day with my kids.” Parents say this to me in front of their children. We know parents (hopefully) don’t mean it the way it sounds, but

How many of us have taken a few minutes after an insanely crazy day just to see how peaceful and sweet our little ones look when they’re sleeping?

ways realize how their comments or parent-to-parent schmoozing sounds to their child’s sensitive ears. Saying how you chose the camp with longer hours to keep your child out of the house can easily sound hurtful to a child. Another example: when people hear I homeschool my children,

how do you think it makes their child feel? Let’s make an effort that when kids overhear us speaking to others, they feel good about our feelings for them and not like they’re a burden.

There are times we may need to discuss things that aren’t positive about our children, such as to their

teacher. In these circumstances, let’s make sure there aren’t any prying ears listening in. I will remind you that the walls have ears, as do the doors and kids hiding behind couches.

Enjoying your children and the things they do makes parenting them sweeter. It’s so much easier to parent children when you can enjoy them, laugh with them (or at their antics), and appreciate the natural insanity that comes with having kids. Also, ensuring our children feel the intense love we have for them can only help them develop into the fantastic people they’re on the way to becoming.

Sara Rayvych, MSEd, has her master’s in general and special education. She has been homeschooling for over 10 years in Far Rockaway. She can be contacted at RayvychHomeschool@gmail.com.

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In The K

tchen

General Tso’s Salmon

By Naomi Nachman

This is an updated recipe for General Tso’s chicken, but

instead of using chicken, we use fish. It is much lighter in calories. To make it even lighter, you can first batter the fish and then bake it for 25 minutes at 350�F (instead of frying it)� then continue with the rest of the recipe.

Ingredients

b ½ cup flour b 3 large eggs, whisked b 1 cup panko crumbs b ¼ cup vegetable oil b 1 ½ pounds salmon, cubed b 1/3 cup soy sauce b 1 cup apricot jam b 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar b¼ cup brown sugar b 4 garlic cloves, minced b ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Preparation

4.

1.

5. In the same skillet, wipe out excess oil, and on medium flame, add soy sauce, apricot jam, and balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, and garlic. Stir sauce together. Add the fish back in the pan and toss with sauce and cook on low for 10 minutes.

Set up three bowls. Place flour in one bowl, eggs in a second bowl, and crumbs in a third bowl.

2. Pat fish dry with paper towels. Working in batches, dredge fish in flour, then eggs, and then crumbs.

3. Then place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

In a large sauté pan, working in batches, fry the fish on all sides, drain on a paper towel and set aside.

6. Remove from the pan to a platter and sprinkle with scallions.

7. Serve with rice.

Naomi Nachman, the owner of The Aussie Gourmet, caters weekly and Shabbat/ Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighboring communities, with a specialty in Pesach catering. Naomi is a contributing editor to this paper and also produces and hosts her own weekly radio show on the Nachum Segal Network stream called “A Table for Two with Naomi Nachman.” Naomi gives cooking presentations for organizations and private groups throughout the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area. In addition, Naomi has been a guest host on the QVC TV network and has been featured in cookbooks, magazines as well as other media covering topics related to cuisine preparation and personal chefs. To obtain additional recipes, join The Aussie Gourmet on Facebook or visit Naomi’s blog. Naomi can be reached through her website, www.theaussiegourmet.com or at (516) 295-9669.

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 29, 2015 2015 || The The Jewish Jewish Home Home OCTOBER

Mind Y

ur Business

Country Yossi: “Create Yourself”

By Yitzchok Saftlas

T

his column features business insights from a recent “Mind Your Business with Yitzchok Saftlas” radio show. The weekly “Mind Your Business” show – broadcasting since 2015 – features interviews with Fortune 500 executives, business leaders and marketing gurus. Prominent guests include: John Sculley, former CEO of Apple and Pepsi; Dick Schulze, founder and Chairman Emeritus of Best Buy; Beth Comstock, former

Vice Chair of GE; among over 400+ senior-level executives and business celebrities.

Yitzchok Saftlas, President of Bottom Line Marketing Group, hosts the weekly “Mind Your Business” show, which airs at 10pm every Sunday night on 710 WOR and throughout America on the iHeartRadio Network.

O

n a recent 710 WOR “Mind Your Business” Broadcast, Yitzchok Saftlas spoke with noted musician, author, and entertainer Country Yossi. *

*

*

Your stature begs the question, was there a moment in your childhood where you imagined what you would accomplish?

The truth is, I never anticipated I’d have a career in radio and magazine publishing. By education, I’m a guidance counselor. I majored in psychology. When I graduated, there were no jobs in guidance counseling. There was a glut of guidance counselors at the time. I ended up being a diamond dealer on 47th Street for many, many years. And then I met Larry Gordon, currently the publisher of The Five Town Jewish Times.

During this time, he was doing the morning show for many years on Upsala College, right before Na-

chum Segal. But he ended up interviewing me because we put out our Country Yossi album at that time.

We did the interview and I said, “This is a nice way to make a living.”

He said, “Would you want to sit in for me sometime?” I said, “Yeah, next time you want to take off, give me a call.” A few weeks later, he gave me a call. I sat in, and I did the show.

We did it out of Smyrna Avenue in Staten Island at that time. And it was fun, but I was very subdued.

“Hi, thank you for calling.” It wasn’t the persona I developed once I got more experience. “It’s gevaldig! Unbelievable! Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! You got it right! You win a prize! Junk from my trunk!”

So that started my radio career.

Then I started the magazine career because people said, “I don’t want to advertise on the radio. It’s not our thing.” A lot of chassidish people didn’t even listen to radio. I started the magazine, and baruch Hashem, that took off. Did that for 32 years.

And one thing led to the other.

I used to write parodies of coun-

try music. Johnny Cash was popular at that time. “Because I’m a Jew, I do that too.” So, I started writing that kind of stuff, but I didn’t do anything with it. I just had it in the drawer, and I saved them up. Over the years, I saved up a lot of songs. It was a fortuitous meeting with Heshy Walfish that was a turning point.

He had an orchestra, the Messengers Orchestra, and I got friendly with him. He said, “Do you have any songs that you’ve written? Let’s hear them.”

So, I got all my songs, I started playing them for him. He said, “This is great. We should make a record!” OK, what should we call it?

We’ll call it Country Yossi and the Shteeble-Hoppers. We came up with the word Shteeble-Hoppers, and we put out that first album and it took off. It was amazing and popular among the heimishe oilam because they never heard the originals of all those songs. Matter of fact, years later, people would stop me in the street and say, “You know, Kenny Rogers stole your song. Johnny Cash

is recording your song. Do you know that?”

I had to explain that it’s the other way around, “vinehapoch hu.”

So that’s when the career started. I ended up leaving the diamond business because the radio show and the magazine took off.

If a great idea comes to mind – a song, a concept, anything – what’s your recommendation to put the “genie in the bottle,” to capture it?

Immediately, grab your cellphone and sing it into your voice memo. I’ve written songs right on the road; I’m in the car with no tape recorder. You’ve got to record it.

What’s very important to realize is that not every song you write is great. Some people think that if they write a song, you have to record it.

It’s going to be a hit, right? A lot of times I compose a song, spend hours working on it, only to listen to it the next day and say, “Not that great.

Well, I wasted my time.”

I think that’s a very important

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

point, not to rush into things. You have to let things chill. Any business decision, think it over overnight, discuss it with people, don’t rush.

What are some questions that you get asked all the time throughout the years?

Well, people want to know where the name Country Yossi come from.

What does it mean? “Why did you call yourself Country Yossi?” And the truth is, it’s because I’m up in the country, and we did a radio show up there for many, many years. Besides the country parodies which I used.

Could you give a tip that will give encouragement to people out there who have talent and want to express it?

You have to create yourself. Don’t let anybody try to mold you into something that they want you to be.

You have to be what you are intended to be, what Hashem wanted you to be. And of course, that’s to fulfill your entire potential as you grow up.

But you have to have “shtultz,” and a strong backbone. Keep trying for it.

Don’t give up. No matter how many failures. You’re not a failure till you don’t get up. You can get knocked down many times in a fight. But if you get up, you’re still in the fight, still in the battle. You’ve got to keep trying.

I was trying to sell radio in the beginning. That didn’t work, so I switched to a magazine. You’ve got to be flexible. You’ve got to maneuver around. Then the radio picked up, because the magazines started getting popular. So, one thing feeds off the other. You have to be willing to try new things and not to be afraid.

What are some other tips you would recommend to someone that has talent? How not to give up, to express it? To “grab that guitar.”

People pick up the guitar and try to learn guitar. Then it hurts their fingers, so they give up. You have to get past that initial discomfort in a new endeavor. Eventually you’re going to get calluses on your fingers,

and you won’t feel anything. Everybody who plays guitar has calluses on their fingertips, and that’s how you learn how to play guitar. So, yes, it’s going to hurt in the beginning, but don’t give up. That’s the key. Learning how to play guitar is a life-changer. You have that talent, suddenly you’re the center of attention. You’re the life of the party. All you have to learn is three chords because you could play a hundred Carlebach songs with three chords.

And everybody has different talents. Not everything is musical talent. Not everything is radio tal-

Country, it’s been now roughly a year, close to a year, since the pandemic began. For some, it was devastating. For others, they had time to think and reflect. Do you have some reflection on the past year?

Well, with all the time now available with people locked up in their homes, I suggest people pick up a creative endeavor. Now’s a good time to learn how to play piano. A good time to learn how to play guitar. I’ve been spending time listening to a lot of shiurim on Torah Anytime. I’m listening to Rav

“Don’t let anybody try to mold you into something that they want you to be.”

ent. Everybody has their own talent that they have to nurture, figure out what it is, and use it to improve themselves.

You were producing some amazing Country Yossi albums. I’m sure they sold tens of thousands, and then you expanded the horizon to include children’s albums. Can you talk about that moment when you decided to expand into that?

We had the Country Yossi albums, which were big successes.

And then one night I said, “Why don’t we make a CD with songs for kids?” And I bounced it off Heshy and he said, “That’s a great idea.

Let’s do it.” So, I sat down with a legal pad and I started writing Kivi and Tuki songs and the dialogue started developing. And once you get the characters going, then it just writes itself, just, where should I take it? But the hard part is getting over that initial hump. Who are these characters? We introduce Kaili, the little girl into it. So, you keep adding things. We’re working on another Kivi and Tuki album now.

Moshe Meir Weiss. I have time for writing the new Kivi and Tuki album and spending a lot of time trying to improve my musical abilities. I told you I’m not a professional musician, but I’m working on it. There’s a lot of chords out there I still can’t play.

But now that we’re locked up in the house like many other people, you can’t get away. I usually have parties to go to and all kinds of simchas, baruch Hashem. But now that they’re minimizing participation in those things, it’s a good time to work on yourself.

Were you ever surprised on the type of feedback and reach that you’ve had?

We were on the air on Tuesday nights many, many years ago. I was taking phone calls and we were blowing the phone lines. We got a call from the phone company – really, it was in The New York Post the next day – we got a call from the phone company that I have to limit the calls to a certain geographic area because they were overloading the lines and people were losing telephone service. So, I started taking phone calls from men only for

101 59

one hour, then women only for the other hour, then children only for the third hour. And in that way, we were able to keep the service going on Staten Island and the surrounding environs.

We have this new feature where each guest shares a great tip that has to do with their initials. Now, in your case, “C.Y.” stands for Country Yossi. I’ll leave it to your creativity.

Well, like I said before, C.Y. was “create yourself.” You got to look deep inside yourself. Be true to yourself. Like Reb Shlomo said, “To thine own self be true.” Find out what your strengths are and pursue your goal without hesitation. Don’t get weak. Just keep going for it because every Yid is imbued by Hakodosh Baruch Hu with a certain talent. You have to find out what it is and when you find it out, exploit it and use it. And use it for what?

Not just to make money and not just to become famous. It’s going to be the little kinderlach, not the rich man, the famous man, the wealthy man. Kinderlach are going to bring Moshiach with learning Torah. A lot of the songs I write are funny, but my favorite songs are the ones that I call the mussar songs. “Tick Tock.”

“It’s Only Make Believe.” Songs about the essence of Yiddishkeit, what it means to be a Yid and to be a successful Yid at that. By success, I don’t mean monetarily or financially, I mean being all you can be, “ruchniysdik.”

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Notable Quotes “Say What?!”

Let me get this straight? You can be off by 135,000 votes in a New York City mayoral primary alone but if someone loses the White House by less than 45,000 across multiple states in a presidential election you can’t have any questions. Seems legit… if you live in China.

– Tweet by Donald Trump, Jr., after the NY City Board of Elections admitted to erroneously including 135,000 test votes in their counting of the votes after the mayoral primaries

My father raised me with love, loving everyone. He always told me and my siblings to do good, to share everything with others.

I don’t really care if I’m the youngest...it’s all about getting knowledge for me.

- Belgian student Laurent Simons, 11, who became the second-to-youngest-ever college graduate after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in physics at the University of Antwerp

If a child can play football well, we all think the media attention is great. My son has a different talent. Why should he not be proud of that?

- Emilio Flores Márquez, 112, of Puerto Rico, sharing his secret of longevity upon being crowned the oldest man alive by the Guinness Book of World Records last week

The assertion that Twitter is in coordination with any government to suppress speech has no basis in fact whatsoever.

– Statement by Twitter after they faced backlash for suspending a University of Canterbury professor’s account because he poking fun at Chinese President Xi Jinping

- Simons’ father

We’ve survived this long together because, first of all, we give each other plenty of space to do our own thing.

- Jimmy Carter talking to ABC News after his 75th wedding anniversary

We’re always looking to do things or find things we can do together, like fly fishing and bird watching and just going out to the pond, catch a fish.

When you’re living in a world where 40 million people have been laid off and I’m making $200 million, you won’t get no complaining from me.

– NBA great Shaquille O’Neal responding to LeBron James complaining about the grueling NBA schedule last season

You know what’s good about this? We’re letting the nation know we can cooperate.

I don’t complain and make excuses, because real people are working their tail off and all we gotta do is train two hours a day and then play a game for two hours at night and make a lot of money…so my thought process is a little different.

- President Biden, while visiting the site of the Surfside building collapse

- Ibid.

- Jimmy’s wife of 75 years, Rosalynn Carter

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

103 27

If you don’t like hot dogs, you may not care.

- White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki when asked about the White House’s press release that the cost of a cookout this July 4th is down 16 cents from last year, in light of the miniscule savings and otherwise rapid inflation that is taking place

Scientists found that vulnerable people and communities of color are disproportionately exposed to air pollution from firework celebrations - Tweet by National Geographic

The F.B.I. does not release full statistics until September, but homicide rates in large cities were up more than 30 percent on average last year, and up another 24 percent for the beginning of this year.

-The New York Times

In the aftermath [of George Floyd’s death], some criminologists attributed the spike in homicides to hesitancy among residents to turn to the police for help.

- Ibid.

We are seeing these headlines about percentage increases. Now, I want to say that any amount of harm is unacceptable and too much. But I also want to make sure that this hysteria, you know, that this doesn’t drive a hysteria and that we look at these numbers in context so that we can make responsible decisions about what to allocate in that context.

- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Dem/Socialist-NY)

Gun violence discriminates. The way COVID discriminates, gun violence discriminates: 59% nationally are non-white victims. In New York State, 68% are non-white victims.

In New York City, 77% are non-white victims. Black people are 10 times more likely to be victims of gun violence than white people. Latinos are 3.4 times more likely than white people. Gun violence is a major civil rights issue.

– New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo

So, the Declaration of Independence says all men are created equal.

Equal to what? What men? Only White men? Isn’t it something that they wrote this in 1776 when African Americans were enslaved?

They weren’t thinking about us then, but we’re thinking about us now!

- Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) in her July 4th message

When they say that the 4th of July is about American freedom, remember this: the freedom they’re referring to is for White people.

This land is stolen land, and Black people still aren’t free.

- Tweet by squad member Rep. Cori Bush, (D-Mo)

I really don’t understand the [Israeli Defense Force’s] involvement in rescue attempts of people tragically crushed under buildings in Miami. Their expertise is crushing buildings with people in them, not rescuing them.

- A retweet by liberal darling and Jew-hater Linda Sarsour

Do not expect those who worship violence and death to understand those who value life. The IDF, Israel’s army, the most moral army in the world, will always stand by our allies in times of need.

- Tweet by Israel’s former U.N. representative Danny Danon in response

Jews were able to make the world remember [the Holocaust], and the whole world bows to them, being afraid of saying one wrong word to them. On our part, we, being tolerant and kind, did not want to hurt anyone’s feelings and let the things down to the point when they have started to hurt us.

- Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko during a memorial service last week for Soviet soldiers who died in World War II

MORE QUOTES

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OCTOBER 29,| The 2015Jewish | The Jewish JULY 8, 2021 Home Home

Do you miss me? They miss me. They miss me. I know. They look at their bad ratings, and they’re saying, “We miss this guy.”

- Former President Donald Trump at his rally in Wellington, Ohio – his first rally since the 2020 election

We had great people working for me. We had some real losers too, by the way. But that can happen when I didn’t know too many people. In Washington, I was there 17 times in my life, and all of a sudden, the president of the United States. So we met a couple, but do I know the people? Do I know the good ones? I know the good ones. But we had some really great people.

- Ibid.

Hillary Clinton can complain about the election. By the way, she is the single most unhappy person in the United States because she said, “Why didn’t you do that for me? Why didn’t you create votes for me?”

-Ibid.

There has become a thing that’s gone on, especially in this last year, where ideology is more important than art. Ideology trumps art.

Ideology trumps individual effort. Ideology trumps good. Ideology trumps entertaining.

- Quentin Tarantino on HBO’s “Real Time” with Bill Maher

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Political Crossfire

Biden’s Big Mistake on the Infrastructure Deal

By Marc A. Thiessen

P

resident Joe Biden’s big gaffe was not his threat to veto a $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal he had just reached with Republicans. It was accidentally saying out loud what everyone in Washington knows, but most Americans do not: that he has not compromised on infrastructure at all – and does not intend to do so.

Standing with Republican senators, Biden boasted that “neither side got everything they wanted in this deal.” That is untrue. Biden does plan to get everything he wants from the deal. While he walked back his veto threat, he is still insisting that Congress pass not one, but two infrastructure bills: the bipartisan agreement he negotiated with Republicans, and a second passed with only Democratic votes using the budget reconciliation process that includes everything he gave up in negotiations with those Republicans. “The president intends to sign both pieces of legislation into law,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated last Monday.

Sorry, that is not compromise. If he signs two bills, Biden has given up absolutely nothing. Quite the opposite, he not only gets everything he wanted, he also gets false credit for fulfilling his campaign promise to reach across the aisle and compromise.

So why is this a good deal for Republicans? Because it is not clear Democrats can pull this scam off. Indeed, by agreeing to a bipartisan deal, Republicans have thrown Democrats into

disarray.

Just look at the chaos that has unfolded over the past few days. First, Biden came out to the White House driveway and praised the deal he struck with Republicans. Shortly after, he threatened to veto the deal he had just announced. Then, he issued an extraordinary eight-paragraph statement walking back that threat. Meanwhile,

Republicans gets approved. Before the deal, Biden’s plan was to use “infrastructure” as cover to pass all sorts of non-infrastructure spending – just as he used his “COVID-19 relief” bill to pass all sorts of non-COVID-19 spending. But by putting all the hard infrastructure spending into a bipartisan package, Republicans have taken away the sugarcoating from that reconciliation bill. Democrats will now have to pass trillions of dollars in liberal projects, and massive tax hikes to pay for it, without roads and bridges as cover.

That complicates things for Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck

He not only gets everything he wanted, he also gets false credit for fulfilling his campaign promise to reach across the aisle and compromise.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., contradicted Biden, threatening to kill his bipartisan deal unless the Senate first passed a Democrats-only package. “There ain’t gonna be no bipartisan bill, unless we have a reconciliation bill. … Plain and simple,” she said. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., piled on, tweeting, “Let me be clear: There will not be a bipartisan infrastructure deal without a reconciliation bill.” All this turmoil because Biden struck a bipartisan agreement with Republicans.

Second, Pelosi’s reaction suggests she’s not confident Democrats can pass a reconciliation bill if Biden’s deal with

Schumer, D-N.Y. If Democrats try to pass a partisan reconciliation bill first – as Pelosi insists – then they will be killing the bipartisan infrastructure deal. But if they try to pass the bipartisan deal first, it’s not clear they will have the votes to pass a reconciliation bill. Are moderate Democrats really going to vote for a package of tax increases and spending unrelated to popular infrastructure projects? In the House, where Democrats have a razor-thin majority, just a few moderate defections could kill it. And in a 50-50 Senate, Schumer can afford zero defections. He needs a package that

satisfies both Sanders and Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va. The outcome is far from assured.

Third, the Republicans who negotiated the bipartisan deal now look like the only adults in the room. By reaching a bipartisan agreement, they have shown that they are willing to compromise and work with Biden. They have also given their fellow Republicans something to vote for, without violating their core principles. If they had walked away, Democrats would have passed their entire infrastructure package using reconciliation – which would have forced Republicans to vote against funding roads and bridges.

Now they can vote for all the popular elements of an infrastructure package without any of Biden’s non-infrastructure spending or tax increases. Moderate Democrats are left holding the bag for those.

Finally, Republicans have thwarted Schumer’s attempts to get rid of the filibuster by painting Republicans as obstructionist. They delivered for the two Democratic senators – Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona – who have been pushing for bipartisan compromise, and whose votes they need to protect the filibuster. If that bipartisan deal fails because Democrats in Congress kill it, then Schumer and Pelosi will own that failure – and lose any justification for weakening or eliminating the filibuster.

How will this play out? No one knows for sure. But this much is certain: If Pelosi and Sanders are unhappy, then Republicans are in a much stronger position than they were before they struck a deal with Biden. (c) 2021, Washington Post Writers Group

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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Political Crossfire

A Criminal Case Against a Huawei Executive Poses a Test for the Biden Administration

By David Ignatius

C

hina is politically unpopular in Washington these days, and for good reason: Thursday’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party featured a strident threat from President Xi Jinping that China’s enemies will be impaled on a “Great Wall of steel” if they challenge Beijing.

The Biden administration’s counter to such bombast is to argue that it seeks the rule of law, contrary to Xi’s fulminations about “insufferably arrogant lecturing from those ‘master teachers’” in the United States. But making good on this promise of a rules-based order isn’t easy when China so routinely ignores legal standards at home and abroad.

An interesting test of this problem is a criminal case that has been pending for more than two years against Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei, the global telecommunications giant. She was arrested by Canadian authorities, at the request of the Justice Department, as she arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia, on December 1, 2018. The United States sought her extradition to face charges that she had concealed evidence from Huawei’s banker, HSBC, about the company’s activities in Iran that allegedly led HSBC to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran.

A Canadian court has been weighing the U.S. extradition request ever since. A judge there is expected to finish reviewing the evidence in August and rule by the end of the year. Meng has been detained in Vancouver, while her legal team maneuvers in Canada and the United States.

Was this a political case, a bargaining chip in the ongoing U.S. effort to combat Huawei and other big Chinese telecommunications companies? The Chinese certainly treated it that way.

Nine days after Meng’s arrest, Chinese authorities detained two Canadians, former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, on charges of espionage. The “two Michaels,” as they’re known in Canada, are seen there as hostages in a Chinese attempt to force Meng’s release.

President Donald Trump unfortunately gave the Chinese ample reason to regard Meng as a pawn in a larger power play. Asked by Reuters during a December 11, 2018, interview whether he would intervene with the Justice Department in Meng’s case, Trump answered: “Whatever’s good for the country, I would do.” He said that if he decided her release would produce a big trade deal with China, “I would certainly intervene.”

That doesn’t sound like the rule of

law but like the transactional power politics that Trump and Xi share as a guiding philosophy. This impression is reinforced by former national security adviser John Bolton, who writes in his memoir, “The Room Where It Happened,” that Trump described Meng as “the Ivanka Trump of China” and seemed sympathetic to releasing her if he could get concessions from the Chinese.

Now, President Joe Biden’s Justice Department is managing the extradition case, and it remains a political hot potato. Lawyers for Meng have talked with Biden Justice officials about the case, but there’s no sign of movement toward a settlement. Meanwhile, China becomes more unpopular every day on Capitol Hill because of its heavy-handed tactics against Hong Kong, Taiwan and its own Uyghur minority.

When it comes to Huawei, though, it’s important to avoid blurring issues.

It seems clear that the company itself poses a potential national security

threat to the United States and its allies if it dominates global 5G telecommunications. The Biden administration has been right to follow Trump in denying Huawei access to sensitive U.S. hardware and software. Maintaining U.S. primacy in key technologies is an absolute priority for whatever administration is in power.

The case against Meng should stand or fall on its own legal merits, rather than as proxy in this larger contest.

Her lawyers raise some good questions about the Justice Department’s case. John Bellinger, a former State Department legal adviser retained by Huawei as an expert witness, argued in a May 2020 affidavit that the charge that Meng lied to HSBC about Huawei’s activities in Iran was “unsupported” by facts and that the bank-fraud charges against her were “unprecedented” in their reach.

Could a prosecutor be confident of winning a conviction in a U.S. court on the available evidence? Meng’s attorneys shared with me a 2013 PowerPoint presentation she made to the bank in which she explained Huawei’s operations in Iran and asserted that it operated there “in strict compliance with applicable laws, regulations and sanctions.” The Biden Justice Department will need to prove to a court that Meng committed fraud. That is as it should be.

We face a long contest with China.

If that devolves into a battle of tit-fortat realpolitik, we’re likely to lose. The United States’ strength is that, in a lawless world, we play by the rules. (c) 2021, Washington Post Writers Group

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Forgotten Her es

The IDF’s Powerful Weapons

By Avi Heiligman

A soldier operating the VIPeR

A

number of Israeli-developed weapon systems have been in the news lately. Firstly, the Iron Dome was successful in shooting down over 90% of the rockets shot by Hamas and terrorists during the 11-day battle between Israel and Hamas. Then, Israel announced that it successfully tested a high-power laser system in several scenarios. This system is a low-cost, effective defensive weapon that was tested against UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or drones), and the plan is to develop it into use against long-range threats.

These are just two of the latest weapons in a long list of equipment used by the IDF in research that commenced even before Israel became a country.

Early on in Israeli history, the military relied on foreign countries such as France, and then the U.S., for many of the weapons and equipment used by its army. The Israel Military Industries (IMI) began weapons production in 1933 while under the British Mandate. These weapons were manufactured for the Haganah, and after World War II increased production once it became clear that a con-

frontation with the Arab neighbors was bound to happen. They produced their own versions of hand grenades, mines, the American mortar, and the British Sten machine gun with ammunition.

After the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, Israeli engineers and inventors began to work on their own weapons. The Uzi was designed

by IDF Major Uziel Gal and was first introduced in the 1950s. This submachine gun weighs less than 8 pounds and has a folding open-bolt stock, self-loading system that was first manufactured by IMI. Over 10 million Uzis were built, and 90 countries worldwide have used them at one point or another.

Other small arms designed and manufactured in Israel have been used by militaries and police around the globe. The Galil and the Tavor are two rifles that were also manufactured by Israeli companies. The Galil is an automatic rifle that was designed in the 1960s that started to see service in the following decade.

It was meant to be a cross between the ruggedness of an AK-47 and the accuracy of the M-16. In 1990, IMI in-

The Merkava IV tank

troduced a semi-automatic pistol, the Jericho 941, and it has been issued to Israeli police and foreign regular military and special forces units.

Tanks and fighting vehicles have been integral pieces in the battles and wars fought by the IDF since 1948.

Merkava tanks have been a mainstay in the Israeli army since the late 1970s. General Yisrael Tal was had been a soldier in all of Israel’s early wars. During the Yom Kippur War, he astutely pointed out that without American aid the Israeli tactic of a fast tank would have proven a disaster for Israel. All of the tanks on the southern (Egypt) front didn’t have capabilities for a defensive attack on Israel’s borders. As an armored commander, he understood the need for Israel to have the best tanks and took his knowledge to the drawing board.

The result was the Merkava that not only would be available for IDF purposes but could also be exported.

A recent variant is the Merkava IV, which saw its first action during the 2006 war in Lebanon. Unlike tanks of World War II and the Cold War that were built by the thousands, tanks like the Merkava are produced

in smaller numbers with less than 100 that roll of the production lines a year. Rising costs and the declining need for tanks have given way to armored fighting vehicles. To keep up with newer types of vehicles, the Merkava now can carry three wounded on stretchers and can shoot down helicopters while moving quickly.

In addition to its thick armor and other defense mechanisms, Merkava tanks also employ the Rafael Trophy system which can intercept and destroy incoming missiles and rockets.

In recent wars, the Trophy system has protected several tanks and their crews from being hit and has saved countless lives. During Operation Protective Edge in 2014, the Trophy system was used dozens of times, and not a single tank equipped with the system was lost.

In addition to their large array of UAVs, Israel has developed unmanned ground vehicles as well as unmanned boats. The VIPeR is a robot put out by Elbit Systems that can detect enemy soldiers, IEDs, booby traps, explosives, and other dangers. It is small, lightweight, and has an array of cameras. The VIPeR

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

The unmanned Protector, protecting Israel’s seas

can be configured to carry a gun with a scope, has a robotic arm, and can disarm explosives.

Elbit Systems also produces the Silver Marlin, which is an unmanned boat that can be on a mission for more than a day at a time.

Its array of missions includes reconnaissance, search and rescue, protection of personnel, patrol, and assessing damage and can go on the

offensive when the need arises. The Protector Unmanned Service Vehicle was developed by Rafael Systems and is a 30-foot rigid, inflatable boat.

It was created to meet enemy forces on the water without endangering lives. The Protector can also be used for surveillance and reconnaissance missions as well as anti-mine and electronic warfare operations. It has been used operationally in the Per-

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The Uzi being used by members of the American military

sian Gulf for peacekeeping missions.

From the time Israel became a country until today, the Jewish State has been engaging in the latest technology to better equip the IDF. A lot of the weapons, machinery and other inventions produced in Israel have been sold worldwide. While keeping up with new technology can be very expensive, as we have seen with the Iron Dome, these inventions have

saved countless lives and will, with G-d’s help, continue to do so in the future.

Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Your

Money

Pure Imagination

By Allan Rolnick, CPA

F

ifty years ago on June 30, Paramount Pictures released an enchanting spun-sugar delight of a movie that remains a classic. Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory features Gene Wilder as the reclusive confectioner who hides five Golden Tickets in his candy bars and promises the finders a tour of his mysterious factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate. It’s a magic ride down a river of chocolate, set to music that snagged an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score.

They say there’s a fine line between genius and insanity. I think we can all agree that Wonka just obliterates it. It takes a genius to stock a candy store with the likes of Squelchy Snorters, Gelatin Frogs, and Scrumpdiddlyumtious bars. But only a madman could look at that ouevre and think, “No, what I really need is some threecourse-meal gum, fizzy lifting drink, and flavored wallpaper you can lick.”

(The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!)

Sadly, though, Wonka’s genius doesn’t translate to tax planning. As the glass Wonkavator screams into the sky, carrying Wonka, Charlie Bucket, and Grandpa Joe high above the town, Wonka explains that he staged the entire contest to find someone worthy

enough to take over the factory when he retires. (It’s scary to think what a guy like Wonka could do in retirement when he has even more time to putter around in the kitchen.) Lucky Charlie doesn’t just win a lifetime supply of chocolate — he wins the factory that makes it!

Here’s the problem. It has to do with

your gift. And you’d be right! But it still means paying more.

However, if Wonka waits to bequeath the factory to Charlie at his death, Charlie gets something called “stepped-up basis.” That means if he sells, his basis is the factory’s fair-market value as of the date of Wonka’s death. That lets Charlie avoid tax on

Only a madman could look at that ouevre and think, “No, what I really need is some threecourse-meal gum, fizzy lifting drink, and flavored wallpaper you can lick.”

something called “basis,” and it’s boring to explain. We all know that when you give someone a gift, it’s gauche for them to sell it. But if they do, when it comes time to pay tax on their gain, they don’t get to start with what it was worth when you gave it to them. They have to use something called “carryover basis” — the amount you would have used if you had sold it. Now, you can say it serves them right for selling

the gains during Wonka’s lifetime entirely!

Let’s not forget transfer tax considerations. If Wonka gives the factory to Charlie, there’s gift tax due now — but he avoids transfer tax on future appreciation. If he bequeaths it, there’s an estate tax payable. Wonka appears young and healthy — Wilder was just 37 when he filmed the part — so maybe an irrevocable life insurance trust

makes sense. (The Princess Bride’s Dread Pirate Roberts solved a similar problem by creating what was essentially a “dynasty trust” for his title.)

The movie leaves a couple of other important questions unanswered.

We know that Wonka paid the Oompa-Loompas with cocoa beans. What are the Section 83(b) consequences of fluctuating commodity prices?

And what demented Hollywood producer woke up one morning in 2005 thinking, “Let’s remake the whole thing, but with Johnny Depp as a really creepy Wonka”?

At this point, you may be wondering why we’re spoiling childhood memories with boring tax talk. (At least we’re not fat-shaming Augustus Gloop.) But there’s a real lesson here.

Someday you might want to sell your chocolate factory, too, whether you inherited it, won it, or built it with your own two hands. When that day comes, we’ve got all sorts of tasty recipes for keeping your gains away from the Slugworths at the IRS!

Allan J Rolnick is a CPA who has been in practice for over 30 years in Queens, NY. He welcomes your comments and can be reached at 718-896-8715 or at allanjrcpa@aol.com.

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

COVID-19 Vaccines: What You Need to Know

H #1 YT

I can get COVID from the vaccine.

M

M

Jewish Orthodox Women’s Medical Association

H #5 YT

M

The Science: The coronavirus vaccines cannot give you COVID-19 because they do not contain live SARS-CoV-2 virus.

H #2 YT

The Science: SARS-CoV-2 infection presents a health risk to everyone. Young people can get seriously ill and even die. Even

The vaccine changes your DNA.

after recovering from COVID-19, they can experience symptoms months after infection and are susceptible to other long-term effects.

The Science: Neither the mRNA nor DNA-based COVID-19 vaccines interact

M

M

with, integrate into, or alter your DNA. H #3 YT

H #6 YT

The COVID vaccine has not been tested enough to prove it is safe.

M

H #4 YT

If I had COVID, I do not need to get the vaccine.

The Science: The strength and length of natural immunity varies from person to person and cannot be predicted. New variants also make people more vulnerable to reinfection.

The Science: All vaccines receiving FDA emergency use authorization in the United

Therefore, the CDC recommends people who had COVID-19 in the past to still get vaccinated.

M

States have been tested in preclinical, phase I, II and III trials to determine safety and efficacy with tens of thousands of participants. Since then, over 100 million doses of vaccine have been administered in the US and over 448 million doses worldwide.

I’m young and healthy, I don’t need the vaccine.

H #7 YT

My community has “herd immunity” so I don’t need to get the vaccine.

The COVID vaccine causes infertility.

The Science: “Herd immunity” doesn’t protect every individual from getting

The Science: There is no factual or theoretical evidence that the COVID vaccine affects fertility.

COVID-19 and can drop when individuals start losing immunity or the community is exposed to a new variant.

For more information about COVID-19 and the COVID vaccine, check out JOWMA’s Preventative Health Podcast, available on all major podcast platforms. Or, call the JOWMA Preventative Health hotline at 929-4-GEZUNT. All New Yorkers age 16 and above are now eligible to receive the vaccine.

To find a vaccination site near you, visit: VaccineFinder.org

This content is for general educational purposes only and not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment about your particular condition. Always seek the advice of your physician or other Jewish Orthodox Women’s Medical Association

qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

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43

Life C ach

It’s Just So Alarming

By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS

I

t’s ringing!

Where is it? I can never find where I put it. Where’d I put my cellphone?

Maybe it would help if I had it surgically implanted.

Perhaps that’s what the iPhone watch is kind of addressing? It’s the solution to having it continuously connected to you. But I’m just not ready to downgrade to a mobile phone as part of my jewelry just yet.

Oy, it’s still ringing. I must be in so much trouble with someone by now. They just don’t seem to stop.

They must need me badly.

Riiiiiiinnnnngggg!

Oh my, where is it already! Think.

Think. Where’d I have it last? Oh my gosh. There it is! Sticking right out from the couch cushion.

Hooray! Eureka! I got it.

Wait a second. I’m holding it, but I’m still hearing the ringing.

Must be my iPad? Where is….oh… there it is. Right in the kitchen. I can just grab it.

Whatttt?! Battery at zero? Hhuh?

Oh, my goodness….

The roast!!

I always forget that irritating oven timer! We are so trained to think that buzzing equals phone.

I usually forget to set the oven timer and that’s a disaster, or I triumphantly do set it but then forget all about it!

Both of these directions just aren’t working for me, obviously. Then when I hear something going off, I’m

is purchase a cellphone to give to the food I’m preparing. This way, I can train my dish to start calling me a half hour before it’s ready to come out of the oven. That will give me the time I need to locate my phone. And by the time I find my phone, I’ll be ready to take out what’s cooking.

That certainly sounds like a winwin. Food to the table uncharred!

Phone in hand! I could almost look like I’ve got it all together.

Now, if only I could actually teach my brisket to speak and also depend on a cellphone not to explode in extreme heat.

I think what I actually need to do is purchase a cellphone to give to the food I’m preparing.

running around looking for my phone while my food is burning!

Often, I’ve thought of setting the timer on my phone to remedy the food timer situation. But, as you can see, that wouldn’t work; I’d either not find where my phone is in order to set it or I’d set my phone and have no idea why it’s ringing.

I think what I actually need to do

Until then, the comedy continues.

The saga goes on and on….

Me in hot pursuit of my phone.

My cooking in hot pursuit of me!

Wait – What’s that going off now?

Got the phone!

Got the food!

Oh no, forgot about the doorbell!

Rivki Rosenwald is a certified relationship counselor, and career and life coach. She can be contacted at 917-705-2004 or rivki@rosenwalds.com.

The Jewish Home | JULY 8, 2021

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JULY 8, 2021 | The Jewish Home