Five Towns Jewish Home - 11-21-19 by Yitzy Halpern

November 21, 2019

Distributed weekly in the Five Towns, Long Island, Queens & Brooklyn

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Your Favorite Five Towns Family Newspaper

A Small Newspaper Ad… 50 Years Later

Around the

Community

48 Community Comes Out in Support of Shalom Task Force

Rabbi Dovid Refson Chats with TJH about His Five Decades at the Helm of Neve Yerushalayim

IMPEACHMENT 2019 How It Came About and Where It’s Going

70 Local Schools Join in Unified Challah Bake

Middle Eastern Gyrations

60 When Bubby and Zeidy Go to School

112

124

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26 / 28 KISLEV With Guide Eve Harow OFF ROAD IN WESTERN BINYAMIN, FROM WHERE THE HASHMONAIM WAGED THEIR SUCCESSFUL REVOLT.  Na’ale, where we get on jeeps and go behind the scenes in this stunning area. We’ll visit established towns and ﬂedgling farming communities, ending at Neve Tzuf.  A visit to Ateret and then Chanuka candle lighting and toy distribution with the families of uprooted Migron.  Bring your own picnic lunch, drinks, and snacks. This trip involves 4 hours of on and off jeeps and driving and walking on uneven terrain. Chance to buy products during the day. (Honey, meat).

One Israel Fund supports over 200 unique projects in Israel each year. Please consider an additional gift to help further our vital work in protecting and strengthening our most historic and strategic communities.

TRIP COSTS*: $99 Per Person $75 Students Learning in Israel (350/265 Shekels) Special Discount for Lone Soldiers Cost includes transportation, guide, entry fees if applicable.

Trip Departs promptly at 8:15am (please arrive 15 minutes early) from the Liberty Bell Parking Lot (behind the Sonol Gas Station) and returns approximately 6:30pm. Itinerary subject to change due to security, weather and/or other considerations. *Day trip payments are NOT tax deductible

With a charitable gift of $1,000 or more to One Israel Fund, you will receive a gift of up to 6 trip reservations. FOR RESERVATIONS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

www.oneisraelfund.org/daytrips |

% daytrips@oneisraelfund.org

Sarah Tacher | US: 516.239.9202 x18 | Israel: 050.587.7710

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

INSPIRING JEWS ... ONE BOOK AT A TIME

FROM

This book is presented by “The Jewish World of Wonders”

New for the entire family.

KIDS COOKING

Bring the Parashah to LIFE LIFE!!

Weekly Parashah

with Chef Shiri

THE

Easy Recipes, Fun Facts, Torah Tidbits, and More! by Efraim Harari

An illustrated retelling of the Chumash with Midrash SEFER BEREISHIS

24 Shiri’s Kitchen

By RABBI NACHMAN ZAKON Illustrated by TOVA KATZ

MORE THA JUST A N COOKB OOK! Ingredient s CO OL IO N IN VE NTblender

tric The elec nted in was inve just for 1922 — kshakes! g mil makin

UTENS ILS NEEDE D Electric blender

1 pint vanilla ice

‫ספר בראשית‬

cream

½ cup milk

Measuring cups and spoons

1 tablespoon honey 1 teaspoon vanilla

extract

Ice cubes

4 tall drinking glasses

Easy Shmeezy

Difficulty Level:

104

Whipped cream, for topping 4 Maraschino cherrie s, for topping

R KOSHE C TI O N CONNE

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

No one is really sure, but some people say milkshakes got their name from being served in restaurants. If the customer enjoyed the milkshake, he gave the waiter’s hand a shake, while giving him a tip. If the customer didn’t like it, the waiter didn’t s get aFood “shake” of the of All , with little g” get hands, and he “Kin didn’t a tip! be eaten right away Bread — also the tree can the other hand, is a whole from starting Fresh fruit picked . Making bread, on licated list of activities, ration ons. No or no prepa It includes a long, comp baking the bread. other creati make with e are from all like when we different story.the grain and finishing different peopl ed toward Hashem, ng how growi shows with from grain holy and direct us, that person is called . make bread actions are He commanded creatures of the world The ability to that. When a person’s as hos berac do all the other “king” animal can the “king” over ls, bread is the its own, HaMotzi anima all of all is king over ate berachah first at a meal. Just as man . It has a separ is the food that is eaten l blessing foods all over HaAretz. BreadBircas HaMazon, a specia ate during you Lechem Min you must recite all the other foods that Afterward, that includes ate bread. after the meal this is all because you that meal. And

T he Wonders

of Creation

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ters Prayer Poin

should hold However, most rabb in his . A person the food berachah should hold saying the ded person a left-han

Kids Cooking with Chef Shiri:

• Wonders of Creation: Let’s read about the awesome world Hashem created for us. • Buzz the Brachos Bee: Buzz tells you about berachos. • A Dash of Humor: You’re going to love these jokes!

Rising Star

Here are some amazing features in

Level: Difficulty

left hand.

OD FA CT FUN FO slightly berries are

ies – , straw fewer calor Ounce for ounce in C – and have higher in vitam than oranges!

• Chef Shiri Says: Tips to make you an even better cook • Torah Tidbits: Short, interesting Torah thoughts • Kitchen FAQs: Find out about the laws of keeping kosher. • Fun Food Facts: Strange … but true!

TANGY

TACOS

The Promise of

the Rainbow

oach was afraid to start working to rebuild the world. descendants sinned What if his and Hashem

destroyed it again? So Hashem said There were times in history to Noach and unbreakable agreem his sons, “I am in which people making an were so ent with you and all your descend good that Hashem animals, birds, ants, and with never wild beasts, and all considered destroyin every living thing will there be a g the on earth. Never Mabul to destroy world. When that again the world.” happened Then across the there were no rainbows sky a dazzling rainbow appeare ! “This rainbow d. is a sign of the For example, in the agreem time ent we made.” When we see of King Chizkiyah a rainbow, we u and in say a blessing promising not the time of Rabbi , to thank Hashem to flood the world Shimon for again. From then on when bar Yochai, no rainbow ever turned gray! difference Avraham’s hair appeared in the could tell the agreed, and sky. Hashem old. Now people young. ers, old and old, they looked people got s and daught ah and sons, mother in the Tor between fathers oach was a man of the

Who’s

who

Drunk!

a farmer who land. After the ing worked the he yth planted Ever a vineyard, using him hMabul vines wit he had brought the small grapeBlessed with Hashem had blessed

Eliezer

earth. He was

same day he planted d old age, him to the Teivah. left to Eretz had m reache wealth, heMiraculously, the When Avraham the grapevines, gave the time Avraha ywine they ous grew grapes. Besides enorm ’t sin. out of the everyth Yisrael, King Nimrod his grapes ing. He couldnNoach then made the same ay gift: desire to sin! “bakol” — with had noday. him a going-aw the let him live Avraham yetzer hara and servant Eliezer. defeated his and now Hashem that 34 THE so much all his ten tests, WEEKL trusted Eliezer had passed his Y PARAS HAH Avraham which has the he let Eliezer manage ld. son, peace. his in househo his “ben,” rest of his life both t blessing was rical value] of all the gematria [nume Avraham’s greates Eliezer learned (the “bakol” and ical value as teachings of Avraham same numer with a others. is 52). taught them to he was blessed “ben” and “bakol” “bakol” means went to fight one opinion When Avraham According to Eliezer was the “Bakol.” the five kings, her name was went with him daughter, and only one who to the battle.

dduch tly The First Shi turned out differen would have

and he would d that if things been killed vraham realize would have mission? h, Yitzchak on Avraham’s at the Akeida have carried d. After all, n! Who would to get marrie have no childre for Yitzchak d it was time Avraham realize forty years old. ch. . shiddu Yitzchak was student, Eliezer of the first Jewish servant and This is the story m’s trusted finding a wife was Avraha about go han” on how to The “shadc instructions should be looking him careful of girl Eliezer Avraham gave ed the kind and he describ for Yitzchak,

that his Eliezer hoped marry daughter would r, Eliezer was Yitzchak. Howeve would a Canaanite. Avraham marry to not allow Yitzchak children of the because her, cursed by Canaan had been Yitzchak and Noach. Avraham of Shem, were descendants blessed. had whom Noach someone A match between e blessed cursed and someon would not work.

The Jaffa Family Edition

Hashem Which angel did send with Eliezer? angel — Avraham’s special Metatron.

for.

im!

No Canaan

to Eliezer, “Swear vraham told s of the holines Hashem by not of bris milah the mitzvah to marry Canaanite girl I was to bring a where y to the countr Yitzchak. Go for Yitzchak back a girl born and bring ” from my family. t want to s if she doesn’ k there? “What happen d I take Yitzcha asked. “Shoul “Hashem will come?” Eliezer m answered. not!” Avraha bring a wife “Absolutely and you will to go with you, send an angel son. back for my

LY PARASHAH 102 THE WEEK

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NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

‫ת‬ ‫יי‬ ‫ך‬ ‫ריך מ‬ ‫ל‬ ‫ש‬ ‫ב‬ ‫לם‬ WITH DISTINGUISHED HONOR WE WELCOME TO OUR COMMUNITY THE ILLUSTRIOUS LUMINARY, O N E O F O U R G E N E R AT I O N ’ S F O R E M O S T GEDOLEI TORAH AND CHASSIDUS IN ERETZ YISROEL, SUCCESSOR OF THE LEGENDARY DYNASTY OF CHERNOBYL

‫כבוד קדושת אדמו”ר מטשערנאביל שליט”א‬

The

CHERNOBYLER

REBBE

SHLIT”A

A RENOWNED FACILITATOR OF BRACHOS AND YESHUOS OF THE HIGHEST STATURE May his exalted presence enrich our community with an abundance of bracha, strengthening and expanding our spiritual anchors of Torah and Yirah and may we merit to reap the goodness and fulfilment of bracha and success in all endeavors.

RABBI MEIR BRAUNSTEIN

HARAV CHAIM MORDECHAI KATZ

Agudath Israel Of Long Island

Khal Bais Shmuel Abba

HARAV EITAN FEINER

RABBI URI ORLIAN

Cong. Kneseth Israel – White Shul

Congregation Shaaray Tefila

HARAV ELISHA HOROWITZ

HARAV DOVID SPIEGEL

Khal Agudas Achim of Lawrence

Bais Medrash Ostrove-Kalushin

HARAV YEHOSHUA KALISH

HARAV MORDECHAI STERN

Bais Medrash of Harborview

Beis Medrash Heichal Dovid

‫ב‬ ‫א‬ ‫ה‬ ‫ב‬ ‫ך‬ ‫ש‬ ‫ו‬ ‫ם‬

‫בר‬

’‫ה‬

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

‫כ"ק מרן אדמו"ר‬

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NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Dear Readers, Yitzy Halpern

here’s a lot going on in politics these days – both in the United States and in the Holy Land. In the U.S., it’s hard to follow exactly what’s transpiring with the impeachment proceedings, as you have to have time to listen to hours of testimony and be able to take notes to untangle the intrigue and innuendo that’s surrounding Ukraine and President Trump. And in Israel, the talk of elections once again – the third one! – looms large as Benny Gantz struggles to form a coalition. By this time next week, we’ll know if Israelis will wearily be standing in lines at the polls next month to vote for someone to lead the country. I’m sure that many Israelis are secretly throwing in the towel and don’t really care who runs the state – just as long as they can put this election saga behind them. If only the politicians can compromise – yes, there are major compromises that have to be made – but for now, the country is at a standstill, like it’s waiting for a bus to the Kotel and

Weekly Weather |

there’s none in sight. I know that the intricacies of politics can be stressful for some people. They feel like Chicken Little as they follow the media reporting on the day’s events. Headlines blare, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” Their hearts race as they hear the news and wonder, “Can it really be? Will our country be able to weather this tumultuous time?” But there’s a lot that goes on behind closed doors in Washington and in Jerusalem – and all over the world. There’s a lot that doesn’t get reported and a lot that goes on behind the scenes. What may look like the sky is falling could actually be a smokescreen for something else or a skewing of actual events. We can ponder; we can pontificate; we can panic – or we can remain calm and know that tomorrow will give us better insight (or not!) into what went on today. Wishing you a wonderful week, Shoshana

Cloudy / Wind

Partly Cloudy

Showers

Mostly Sunny

Showers

AM Showers / Wind

47° 37°

48° 37°

51° 44°

55° 43°

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Yosef Feinerman MANAGING EDITOR

ads@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Shoshana Soroka EDITOR

editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Nate Davis Editorial Assistant Nechama Wein Copy Editor Berish Edelman Adina Goodman Mati Jacobovits Design & Production Gabe Solomon Distribution & Logistics P.O. BOX 266 Lawrence, NY 11559 Phone | 516-734-0858 Fax | 516-734-0857 Classified Deadline: Monday 5:00PM classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com text 443-929-4003 PAYMENT VIA CREDIT CARD MUST BE SUBMITTED ALONG WITH CLASSIFIED ADS

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

Shabbos Zemanim

November 22 – November 28

57° 34°

PUBLISHER

publisher@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Friday, November 22 Parshas Chayei Sarah Candle Lighting: 4:14 pm Shabbos Ends: 5:16 pm Rabbeinu Tam: 5:44 pm

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COMMUNITY Readers’ Poll

Community Happenings

38 NEWS

134

Global

National

Odd-but-True Stories

Impeachment 2019

112

ISRAEL

Israel News

Of Highs and Lows by Rafi Sackville

JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Wein

The Living One Who Sees Me by Rav Moshe Weinberger

Parsha in Four by Eytan Kobre

Your Unique Creation Story by Shmuel Reichman

PEOPLE A Small Newspaper Ad…50 Years Later: Rabbi Dovid Refson Chats with TJH LSTs by Avi Heiligman

98 126

HEALTH & FITNESS He Didn’t Want to Let Go of His Anger by Dr. Deb Hirschhorn 109 My Personal Journey Through Gallstones by Cindy Weinberger, MS RD CDN 110

Dear Editor, As a shadchan, I completely understand where the person writing into the Dating Dialogue column is coming from. I am not a shadchan full-time, as I do this as a chessed and love setting people up. Each couple I set up is the result of many hours of work and dates with other people or even themselves that never resulted in anything. So it’s a lot of work and not a lot of recognition. And I don’t complain, because I know that this is a hard parsha for many and I’m there to help them get to the chuppah. But I do have to say that the words “thank you” are said too few and far between from singles and parents in this parsha. Yes, I know this is a stressful situation. And yes, I know that many times the person I am setting you up with is not for you. But a full-hearted thank you – whether on the phone or in a text – would be so appreciated. Shadchanim try their hardest to set people up with the right dates. They are there to help. And sometimes they make the wrong call. It’s true – we’re people, too! But we tried

and we’re trying. Remember: even if someone is not for you, just by being redt that shidduch or by going on that date you are being moved one step closer to your bashert. So, have some hakaras hatov for those who are working to help you get down the aisle. Wishing all those singles out there a smooth and easy time in meeting their bashert! Sincerely, Chanala Y. Dear Editor, “We Can All Use Some Seasoning” by Rivki Rosenwald is a refreshing way to look at the year. I loved how she showed us how each season has its ma’alos and to make the best of its characteristics! This week, I walked outside and the weather was dreary and grim. But I thought of Rivki and decided to make the most of day – by buying a delicious hot chocolate and drinking it while reading my paper! When would I be able to do that in the summer? Yocheved Wuntig

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

FOOD & LEISURE The Aussie Gourmet: Whole Wheat Crescent Rolls

111

LIFESTYLES Dating Dialogue, Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW

104

Your Money

132

Mama Mia! by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS

134

HUMOR Centerfold 82 POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Notable Quotes

118

Incompetence is Not an Impeachable Offense by Marc A. Thiessen 123 Middle Eastern Gyrations by Daniel Pipes CLASSIFIEDS

124 128

Fall is here! Do you enjoy the taste of pumpkin-flavored food and drinks?

YES

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Dear Editor, I was touched by your article on Ohel. After reading about it, I went about my day and I realized that there are many people who I know who have been touched by this organization. Of course, I’m sure there are many others who have been touched as well, although I may not know that they have. What made this so interesting to me was that this organization has been around for so many years and has played such an important, vital role in our community. And yet, it wasn’t started because it wanted to become a huge “organization.” It was started by individuals who saw a need and wanted to help some children who were in an unfortunate situation. Can I say that it was “small steps for man, a giant leap for our community”? It shows you the power of what a simple act can become. Sincerely, Yossi Deutsch Cedarhurst, NY Dear Editor, I have to say that the person writing into the dating forum this

week rubbed me the wrong way. I know that shadchanim work hard, and I know that some singles – just like any other “population” – can be “rude.” But those are not the norm. The norm are the people who are appreciative and respectful; who don’t text you numerous times and don’t text you late at night; who respect your time and your family obligations. They also don’t go on dates in dirty cars and don’t drive away before making sure their date is home safe. They buy their dates drinks and consider her tastes and feelings. These are the norm. If you find that the singles you are setting up are not exhibiting respectful behaviors, then I suggest that you stop setting them up. And I also suggest that (if you wish) you gently tell them that it’s rude to text numerous times and at all hours of the night. They’re apparently either socially inappropriate or don’t realize (also socially inappropriate) that you are not their friend. Kudos to you for helping find and make shidduchim for those in our community. What a huge zechus! Hatzlacha, G. Lichter

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NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

ERETZ YISRAEL Binyanei Haumah December 28, 2019 ‫ תש”פ‬,‫ל‘ כסלו‬

Yad Eliyahu January 9, 2020 ‫ תש”פ‬,‫י”ב טבת‬

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Prudential Center, NJPAC and Newark Symphony Hall February 9, 2020

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The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

The Week In News

Bombshell: Iran Secretly Took Over Iraq

A trove of over 700 secret documents obtained by The Intercept and The New York Times exposes how Iran effectively turned neighboring Iraq into a client state.

The archive contains hundreds of reports and documents written mostly from 2014-2015 by officers serving in the Iranian intelligence agency (MOIS) who had been deployed on Iraqi soil. The 700 pages were sent anonymously to The Intercept, which translated them from Persian to English and shared them with The New York Times. The leaker used extreme methods to hide his identity, such as refusing to meet anyone from the newspaper face-to-face and communicating via encryption. During one exchange, he said that he had only agreed to publish the documents because he “wanted to inform the world what Tehran is doing in Iraq.” The documents illustrate how Iran tightened its hold on Iraq immediately after the U.S. military left the country in 2011, with the documents noting that Iran saw spying on the U.S. forces as crucial to its national security. More recent documents described how Iran is working to squash the anti-Iran protests that have rocked Iraq over the past month. After Iraqis first took to the streets, Iran’s Quds Force Com-

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mander General Qassem Suleimani flew to Baghdad to prevent the ouster of pro-Tehran Prime Minister Adel Abdul Al-Mahdi. Holding talks with senior Iraqi military officials and with influential politicians, Suleimani pulled out all the stops in order to keep Iraq’s friendly leader in power. According to one document, al-Mahdi was described as having had a “special relationship” with Iran while he was Iraq’s oil minister in 2014. The nature of the relationship was left unmentioned, although a former senior U.S. official said that “special relations” doesn’t necessarily mean the al-Mahdi is an Iranian agent. However, no Iraqi prime minister in the post-Saddam era could accept the position without the blessing of the Islamic Republic. Al-Mahdi, who took office last year, was seen as a compromise candidate between Iran and the United States. The documents also showed the advanced spy craft Iranian agents demonstrated. Usually meeting in dark alleys, airports, shopping malls and birthday parties, Iranian intelligence officers commonly targeted those who were once on the CIA’s payroll. These were Iraqis who had

provided intelligence to the U.S. for years. After the U.S. military pulled out, these aforementioned agents found themselves stuck. Not only did their income suddenly dry up, they were shunned by their neighbors for cooperating with the enemy. Faced with almost certain bankruptcy and even possible death, these sources turned to Iranian intelligence and offered them their services. The result was an intelligence bonanza for Iran. Having worked with the CIA for years, the spies revealed highly classified information to their new bosses. This included knowledge of CIA tactics, spying programs still in operation, names of CIA officers and their sources, and U.S. military doctrine. One example out of many is the case of Agent 134992, who spied for the CIA but eventually defected to Iran out of fear that his espionage for the United States would cost him his life. As the Iranian intelligence officer wrote, “Agent 134992 swore on the Koran and declared that he would no longer work for the United States. He also promised to hand over to Iran all documents and videos he had since he was drafted into office.”

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The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Shabbos of Insppatii with renowned mashpia and mechanech

Rabbi Shmuel Zucker Rav of Kehilla Kedosha Ramat Eshkol Yerushalayim, Ir HaKodesh

THIS SHABBOS, PARSHAS CHAYEI SARA Leil Shabbos Kehillas Aish Kodesh, Woodmere Divrei Torah before Maariv Tish for the Community Home of R’ Leon Mayer 28 Neptune Ave., Woodmere 8:00pm Shabbos Day Nusach Sfard Minyan of the White Shul, Far Rockaway, 8:30am Divrei Torah at Kiddush Shalosh Seudos for the Community Home of R’ Chaim Rothstein 818 Central Ave., Lawrence 4:20pm

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

SS Guard on Trial

The trial for a former SS concentration camp guard has begun, in what many say could be the last such trial ever. Bruno Dey, 93, is being charged for war crimes for his role in the deaths of 5,320 Jews at the Stutthof death camp in Poland. The trial began this week in Hamburg and will take place over 23 days until the final verdict in February. Dey had been posted at Stutthof in 1944 and served there until the war ended. While Dey admits having been present at the death camp, he claims that he had no idea of the site’s true purpose and would not have collaborated had he had been aware of the mass murder taking place. Dey’s denial comes despite hav-

ing already acknowledged witnessing Jewish inmates being forced into the gas chambers and then overseeing the disposal of their bodies. If convicted, he faces 10 years in prison. Joining the case are three dozen Holocaust survivors and their families. One of Dey’s accusers is 89-year-old Zigi Shipper, who has dedicated his life to telling others about the misery he experienced. Yet despite the horrors he witnessed, Shipper wonders if there’s a point in locking up Dey for what amounts to a life sentence. “At his age, will he come out a better person?” Shipper asked during an interview with the London-based Independent. “It won’t help anybody. The important thing is that our voices are heard. “We must not forget the dangers of hatred and where it can lead,” he added. Many see the trial as the last possible instance of seeking justice against those who participated in the 20th century’s worst killing campaign. With the last of the death camps having been liberated in 1945, few survivors and guards remain alive to bring those guilty to justice. War crimes trials held immedi-

ately after the Holocaust also generally focused on the organizers of the Nazi death machine, allowing many low-level Nazis to walk free. In recent years, many of those who committed war crimes against Jews have died before reaching trial, and few survivors that can testify against them still exist. Stutthof was constructed by Nazi Germany near Danzig in 1939 in order to be used as a transit camp for Polish Jews. The site was later turned into a fully functioning death camp. Over 65,000 Jews were killed at the camp by the time the war ended.

Fatal French Bridge Collapse Two people were killed after a suspension bridge collapsed near the French city of Toulouse on Sunday. The dead were identified as a 15-year-old girl who had been in a car with her mother, and a truck driver who had been driving over the bridge when the suspension snapped. Another five people were hurt, including two rescuers and two other locals

who jumped into the water in an effort to rescue the victims. Rescue efforts continued through Tuesday, with more than 60 firefighters, divers, and police participating. Police have begun probing why the bridge collapsed, with preliminary reports finding that the disaster was similar to a suspension bridge collapse in Italy last year.

The bridge had been linking the towns of Mirepoix-sur-Tarn and Bessieres around 30 kilometers north of Toulouse and was not known to have any structural problems. First constructed in 1931, the bridge had been certified as safe by engineers in its most recent inspection in 2017. The Environment Ministry said in a statement that checks had “shown no security defects.”

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However, Mirepoix-sur-Tarn Mayor Eric Oget blamed drivers that frequently ignored the span’s weight limits. “From time to time I have actually seen very heavy vehicles using the bridge,” Oget told the BBC. “We have always been vigilant in carrying out checks with the municipal police, to stop them when we see it, but there are times when we do not see them.”

Fine for Unvaccinated Parents in Germany could face thousands of dollars in fines if they fail to vaccinate their children for the measles under a law passed last Thursday. The law, which takes effect in March 2020, mandates that par-

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In an address to parliament, Jens Spahn, Germany’s health minister, called measles an “unnecessary risk” while rejecting criticism from antivaccine advocates who say that requiring immunizations infringes on their individual rights. “My understanding of freedom does not stop at my level as an individual,” Spahn said. “It is also a question of whether I am unnecessarily putting others at risk. “Freedom also means that I will not be unnecessarily put at risk and that is precisely why, from the point of view of preserving freedom, this law is a good law, because it protects freedom and health,” he added. The law also requires immunizations for adults born after 1970 who work with children in daycare centers schools, hospitals, or other public institutions. Medical exemptions will be allowed if approved by a doctor. Older children in school must be vaccinated before July 31, 2021. Schools and other institutions will be required to report parents who fail to immunize their children to local health authorities.

Simple Spy Swap

Lithuania and Russia swapped spies at the border on Friday, with two Lithuanian citizens and a Norwegian handed over in exchange for two Russians. Earlier that day, Lithuanian Pres-

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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ident Gitanas Nauseda pardoned the two Russians, who’d been sentenced to 10 years each in 2017 for espionage, to clear the way for the exchange. “We’re very pleased that this long and laborious operation has been completed successfully,” said Vaidotas Zukas, Nauseda’s defense adviser. “Citizens must know that the state won’t abandon them.” The unusual operation included two North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies and led Russia to release Frode Berg, a Norwegian who’d been sentenced to a 14-year prison sentence in Russia for spying on that country’s navy submarines. “We are glad that Frode Berg is now coming home to Norway as a free man,” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in the statement. “I would like to thank the Lithuanian authorities for their cooperation and for their efforts to free Berg.” Lithuanians Jevgenij Mataitis and Aristidas Tamosaitis, convicted in Russia in 2016 on spying charges, were also freed. On the Russian side were Nikolai Filipchenko, a Russian security officer who sought help from Lithuanian counterparts to bug a former Lithuanian president, and Sergei Moiseyenko, a military surgeon who asked a childhood friend working at an airbase to provide information on NATO air policing.

Iran Hit by Widespread Protests

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei expressed his support for fuel rationing on Monday despite the controversial move having sparked demonstrations across the country. Khamenei also called demonstrators “anti-revolutionaries” and accused them of “sabotaging” the nation. “There are some people who are obviously worried about the decision, but sabotage and arson are done by hooligans, and not our citizens,” stat-

ed the cleric. “Unfortunately, problems were caused, some people lost their lives, and several centers were destroyed.” Three protesters had been killed on Saturday in clashes with security forces after protests erupted throughout Iran, including in Tehran, Mashad, and other major cities. The cause of the protests was a recent hike in fuel that sent prices rising by as much as 50%. As part of the protests, drivers stopped their cars, blocked traffic, and tried to ignite an oil refinery in Isfahan before being stopped by police. Protesters also took rare aim at the country’s Islamic leadership, with a crowd of thousands in Tehran burning pictures of Khamenei. When set upon by police, protesters called them to join them, chanting, “Don’t be afraid – we’re all in this together.” In Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, dozens of protesters blocked traffic, leading police to make mass arrests. In oil-rich Khorasan province, police opened fire on demonstrators with tear gas and live ammunition. The outpouring of rage began after authorities reduced oil subsidies to curb the impact of the U.S. sanctions that have already had a severe impact on the Iranian economy. The announcement, which came without warning, followed months of speculation in the rogue state that the regime would embark on widespread austerity measures. According to Iranian media, authorities have also set a monthly limit of 60 liters per vehicle, with the price being raised to 13 U.S. cents per liter. If drivers pass the cap, the price will double to 26 cents a liter. Until Saturday, the monthly limit was 250 liters a month per vehicle at only eight cents a liter. Iranian authorities have imposed a total news blackout regarding the protests, and the disturbances have not been covered by any of the country’s main news outlets. Internet access throughout Iran has also been disrupted, with the NetBlock group calling the move “a response that attempts to limit attendance at protests and media coverage.” While Iran has been suffering from economic problems since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the U.S. exit from the 2015 nuclear deal has exacerbated the problems and has led to widespread protests in the country that saw 25 protesters killed in 2017.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

15 Die in Chinese Coal Mine Explosion

A gas explosion inside a coal mine in northern China has killed 15 miners and left another nine injured. The blast occurred on Monday afternoon at a mine operated by the local Feng Yan Group in Shanxi province’s Pingyao county. Eleven miners were able to escape to safety. The cause of the explosion has yet to be ascertained. While relatively small in scale, the mine had been cited last year for failure to provide adequate training for workers. Gas explosions in mines usually occur when volatile methane, also known as coal gas, is not proper-

ly ventilated after leaking from the seam. At a high concentration, the gas can be ignited by a simple spark, open flame or electrical equipment, setting off second explosions of coal dust in the air. Such a scenario was blamed for the world’s deadliest mining accident at the Benxihu, or Honkeiko, colliery in northeastern China’s Liaoning province in 1942 while it was under Japanese military management. A total of 1,549 workers were believed to have been killed, almost all of them Chinese. China’s mines have long been the world’s deadliest, accounting for about 80% of all mining deaths globally. A drop in the price of coal, safety improvements, better training, and the closure of smaller mines have reduced the toll considerably in recent years.

A New Constitution for Chile Chile’s Senate recently hammered out an agreement that would

implement far-reaching constitutional reforms in an attempt to quell the month-long protests that have rocked the South American nation.

Chile has been struggling to deal with massive protests that exploded over the high cost of living back in October. A major point of contention was the country’s constitution, which protesters said enshrined the free market policies that caused Chile’s economic boom to leave them behind. Speaking at a press conference in Santiago, Senate President Jaime Quintana said that a new constitution would provide a “peaceful and democratic exit to the crisis.” Contending that the new constitution would “build a true social contract” and be “100% democratic,” he said that he hoped the deal would finally send demonstrators home.

“This has become possible thanks to the citizens who have been mobilized,” Quintana said. The agreement, which was signed on Friday, mandates that Chilean citizens vote on the new constitution in April 2020, in which they will be asked how they would like for it to be drafted. After the first draft is finished, the country will head to the polls once again to vote on the new constitution. Chile has been in turmoil since citizens took to the streets to protest expensive subway fares in October, with the protests later mushrooming to cover broader issues of economic inequality. Currently, more than 35% of Chilean citizens are stuck working part-time jobs and only half of the country is literate. In massive rallies that saw demonstrators wage pitched battles with police, protesters demanded a slew of economic reforms including pension raises, cheaper medical insurance, and a reduction in medicines and electricity prices. The protests also saw widespread police brutality, as authorities killed more than 20 people and injured over 2,000.

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A top U.S. military official has said that a severe financial crisis in Venezuela and a general lack of law and order has led to drug smuggling from the country to skyrocket. According to Admiral Craig Faller, who is currently the commander of the U.S. Southern Command based in Miami, current Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro is the direct cause of the uptick in smuggling and is personally benefiting from the narcotics trade. The U.S. officer tasked with overseeing the Pentagon’s interests in Latin America and the Caribbean, Faller warned that the growing narcotics trade in Venezuela was causing radical communist militias such as FARC to regain power. “We’re seeing an increase in drug trafficking placed out of Venezuela that is aided and abetted by the illegitimate Maduro regime,” Faller said at a Caribbean security conference. “In fact, the Maduro regime has a negative impact on every single security aspect in this hemisphere. All the challenges are made worse by the Venezuelan crisis.” A far-left wing socialist, Maduro has been in power since 2013. His rule is not recognized by the United States. Maduro oversaw a brutal crackdown this past year on protesters denouncing his rule following an election marred by fraud. As the senior officer put it, the resulting political chaos allowed drug cartels and far-left groups such as FARC to flourish, with Maduro pocketing the income the narcotics trade brings. With over 5 million Venezuelans having fled the country’s economic crisis, the Maduro government has replaced the lost tax money and oil income by skimming the proceeds of drug trafficking. “There’s over a 50 percent in-

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Drug Smuggling from Venezuela Skyrockets

crease of narcotrafficking in and through Venezuela, and Maduro and his cronies are lining their pockets, in cahoots with the illicit narcotrafficking,” Faller said. He went on to warn that the refugee crisis caused by Venezuela’s deterioration into a failed state was threatening the stability of the entire region, as the millions of expats overtax neighboring countries’ infrastructure. “When you have over a million people pour into your country, as Colombia has, that stresses those systems. I applaud the democracies of the region for how well they’ve handled it, but more needs to be done,” Faller asserted. “I visited...and saw firsthand the stress that the Venezuela crisis – now close to five million migrants – has placed on all the systems, all the governments, all the legitimate democracies in the region,” Faller added. “We’re here to talk at our Caribbean security conference about the security challenges that we all face. And some of those underlying root causes [of security problems] are exacerbated by all things Venezuela.”

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Last week, the tide reached 187 inches, causing such enormous damage that residents called it “an apocalypse.” The tide was the highest the city has experienced since the 194 inches Venice saw in 1966. While the Italian government has already earmarked 20 million euros for the recovery, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini warned that recovery efforts would cost an astronomical sum. Residents whose homes were destroyed are entitled to 5,000 euros in immediate aid, while those owning businesses can get up to 20,000 euros. The floods come at a sensitive time for Venice, whose infrastructure is crumbling under the 50 million annual tourists who visit the city and as the city’s historic buildings have begun to sink. In addition, the lack of economic opportunities has caused native Venetians to flee for greener pastures, resulting in an aging and dwindling population. In 1945, Venice had 250,000 residents; today, only 50,000 call the city home. While Italy’s government has spent tens of millions of euros on a flood protection system in order to protect Venice, the project has suffered from frequent delays and cost

overruns. In October, the Venice Nova Association responsible for the project announced another delay resulting from tremors in some of the drainage line pipes.

China Fighting Deadly Plague

Two Chinese patients are being treated for the Plague, the same disease responsible for the Black Death pandemic which killed around 50 million people in the Middle Ages. According to state media Xinhua, the Chinese patients are receiving treatment in Beijing, and authorities have implemented measures to prevent the spread of the disease, which is caused by bacteria and can be transmitted through infected animals and flea bites. These cases are not isolated, as

the Plague has made a comeback in recent years. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were over 3,248 reported cases globally between 2010-2015, which included 584 deaths. Peru, Madagascar, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the most endemic countries. Within the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that there are anywhere from a few to a few dozen cases of Plague each year. The Plague is now categorized by WHO as a re-emerging disease. While there currently is no effective vaccine, researchers are exploring various approaches, including a combination of different vaccines. Furthermore, modern antibiotics can treat most infections if caught early enough. The CDC reports that a key step for prevention includes eliminating nesting places for rodents around the house and yard area, and reporting sick or dead animals to local health officials. Other steps include using insect repellent containing DEET, treating pets for fleas on a regular basis, and not allowing pets to hunt for rodents.

U.S.: Settlements Not Illegal

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Monday that the U.S. is softening its position on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the latest in a series of Trump administration moves that weaken Palestinian claims to statehood. Pompeo repudiated a 1978 State Department legal opinion that held that civilian settlements in the occupied territories are “inconsistent with international law.” The move was welcomed by the government of

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, angered Palestinians, and immediately put the U.S. at odds with other nations working with both sides. The Trump administration views the 1978 opinion, the basis for longstanding U.S. opposition to expanding the settlements, as a distraction and believes any legal questions about the issue should be addressed by Israeli courts, Pompeo said. “After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate,” Pompeo told reporters, the United States has concluded that “the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not, per se, inconsistent with international law. “Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law hasn’t worked. It hasn’t advanced the cause of peace,” Pompeo added. “The hard truth is that there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict, and arguments about who is right and who is wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace.” This is not the first policy change that has angered Palistinians. U.S. moves that have weakened Palestinian efforts to achieve statehood have included President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as

Israel’s capital, the movement of the U.S. Embassy to that city, and the closure of the Palestinian diplomatic office in Washington. These moves have been welcomed in Israel. “This policy reflects a historical truth – that the Jewish people are not foreign colonialists in Judea and Samaria,”Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a statement, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, condemned Pompeo’s announcement and said settlements are illegal under international law. “The U.S. administration has lost its credibility to play any future role in the peace process,” he charged. Even though the decision is largely symbolic, it could give a boost to Netanyahu, who is fighting for his political survival after he was unable to form a coalition government following recent elections. In addition, it could spell further trouble for the U.S. administration’s oft-promised peace plan, which is unlikely to gather much international support by endorsing a position contrary to the global consensus. The 1978 legal opinion on settlements is known as the Hansell Memorandum. It had been the basis

for more than 40 years of carefully worded U.S. opposition to settlement construction that had varied in its tone and strength depending on the president’s position. In the final days of the Obama administration, the U.S. allowed the UN Security Council to pass a resolution declaring the settlements a “flagrant violation” of international law. The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements illegal. This is based in part on the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bars an occupying power from transferring parts of its own civilian population to occupied territory. Israel rejects the position that the territories are occupied, saying they were captured from Jordan in a defensive war. Pompeo said that the U.S. would not take a position on the legality of specific settlements, that the new policy would not extend beyond the West Bank, and that it would not create a precedent for other territorial disputes. He also said the decision did not mean the administration was prejudging the status of the West Bank in any eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War.

Terror Victims Sue Hamas

The families of five terror victims have filed a $500 million lawsuit against the Hamas terror group for causing the deaths of their loved ones. The lawsuit was filed in the Jerusalem District Court and says that Hamas must be held responsible for planning and coordinating the attacks. Represented by the Shurat Hadin legal advocacy law firm, the victims’ families say that they hope the legal action will bankrupt Hamas and prevent it from carrying out additional attacks. “It’s a never-ending battle, but the only way to weaken terrorist or-

ganizations is to damage their funding channels,” said Shurat Hadin Chairwoman Nitzana Darshan Leitner. “Money is what allows Hamas to control the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, it allows their production of rockets and mortars, and it allows them to maintain an army of killers ready to do their bidding.” Notably, the lawsuit includes action against three moneychangers who Israel says had transferred money to the terrorists. The three Gaza-based moneymen, who are named as Muhammad Kamal Salameh Alai, Fawaz Muhammad Ali Nasser, and Kamel Abdel Rahman Araf Awad, funneled money from Iran to Hamas through a financial body called “Beit Elmal.” “Make no mistake, Hamas are all terrorists,” said Herzl Hajaj, whose 22-year-old daughter was killed in a 2017 ramming attack. “This is a terror organization, and we should not try to reach any (diplomatic) agreements with them. “It is vital to take financial measures against them as there is an entire monetary scheme in play making them a profit from killing Jews.” Other plaintiffs included the family of Erez Orbach, a soldier killed in the same attack as Hajaj; the family of Nehemia Lavi, a father of seven stabbed to death in Jerusalem’s Old City; and the parents of Amiad Yisrael Ran, a baby who was murdered last year after his mother Shira was shot in an attack near Jerusalem while eight months pregnant. “We as a society and people must fight the terrorists and those who help them in every way,” said Amiad’s grandfather, Rafael. “The evil terrorists need to know that we will beat them in every way possible, including the economic aspect. Money allows terrorist attacks, so we want to make sure that even those who made the financial funding hurt financially.”

Almost All-Aboard at JerusalemTel Aviv Train In a significant step towards its grand opening, Israel’s Transportation Ministry began operating test runs on the electric train line between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

With the successful test run, Israel Railways says that the train will likely begin direct operations between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv by the end of 2019. Currently, those traveling to Tel Aviv must first switch trains at Ben Gurion Airport, something that adds an estimated 45 minutes to the journey between Israel’s two biggest cities.

The test runs started last Thursday after Israel Railways completed constructing the electrical infrastructure on the tracks between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, as well as the electric infrastructure at the main operating complex in Lod. For the next month, engineers will run two test runs an hour in order to ensure that the rails can handle the heavy workload. While the trains will run without passengers,

the tests mean that the long-delayed direct line is close to finally operating following years of delays. The direct line, which is supposed to ferry travelers from the Yitzchak Navon station in Jerusalem to Tel Aviv’s Haganah stop in under 28 minutes, was first slated to open in 2008. The opening was then delayed repeatedly due to infrastructure problems and budgetary constraints, and only opened partly last year. Since the original estimated launch date 11 years ago, the plan has been repeatedly delayed, first to 2014 and then again to 2018. Once operations are underway, the train is expected to drastically reduce the traffic plaguing the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway.

Schindler’s List Producer Passes Away Branko Lustig, the Jewish producer of Schindler’s List, passed away last week in Croatia at the age of 87.

Lustig was born in the city of Osik in Croatia in 1932 and was sent to Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps after the German invasion. Lustig turned 13 while imprisoned in Auschwitz and did not have a bar mitzvah. Decades later, he returned to the death camp to have a public bar mitzvah, which he called his “ultimate victory over the Nazis.”

After the war ended, Lustig succeeded in finding his mother, but his father and most of his extended family had been murdered by the Nazis. Lustig began working in the Yugoslav film industry in the mid1950s and was known as a talented filmmaker. He received an Academy Award for producing the searing Holocaust drama Schindler’s List, as well as another one for his work on

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The Gladiator. Despite his long and distinguished film career, Schindler’s List would remain Lustig’s claim to fame. He would repeatedly reiterate that he saw the film as the height of his career due to him being a Holocaust survivor. “It is a long way from Auschwitz to this stage,” Lustig said upon being receiving an Academy Award for Schindler’s List. “The dying ones left me the legacy to tell – if I survive – how it was.” “Through the film, I tried to tell what my eyes saw,” Lustig later said at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem. “This Academy Award symbolizes to me all the murdered and survivors of the Holocaust – everything they went through. It represents all the people who asked us before they were murdered to tell their story.” Later in life, Lustig was chosen to be an honorary citizen of the city of Zagreb for exemplifying the values of democratic society, film arts, and culture. He also headed Croatia’s annual Jewish film festival since 2008 and was honored by the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust a year later.

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The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Bibi: Arabs in Govt is “Existential Threat”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that a potential minority government that would be propped up from the outside by Arab parties would be an “existential threat to the State of Israel.” Netanyahu’s accusations came amidst reports that Kahol Lavan leader Benny Gantz was ready to establish a government that would need the support of the Arab Joint List party. The potential government would include Kahol Lavan, the leftwing Labor-Gesher and Democratic Camp parties, and perhaps Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party. Such a government would be ex-

tremely unstable and is expected to last only a few months but would crown Gantz as prime minister, likely ending Netanyahu’s political career. Surrounded by all of the Likud’s 32 lawmakers, Netanyahu said at a raucous Sunday evening rally that such a government would “topple the Jewish State” and accused Gantz of having “lost it” for even contemplating such a move. Referencing last week’s escalation with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, Netanyahu rhetorically asked how Gantz, a former IDF chief of staff, could form a coalition with those who supported Israel’s enemies. “At the same time that our soldiers were putting their lives in danger, the Blue and White leadership held negotiations with the very members of Knesset who support the terror organizations and who want to destroy the country,” Netanyahu said. Reminding the crowd that the Arab Joint List had called for Gantz to be tried for war crimes due to his actions as IDF chief of staff, Netanyahu said that such a coalition “will be celebrated in Tehran, Ra-

mallah, in Gaza, just as they celebrate every terror attack. “But this will be a national historic terror attack on the State of Israel,” he added. The rally, which took place at the Tel Aviv Expo convention center, was billed as an “emergency rally” in order to “stop the dangerous minority government that is reliant on terror supporters.” Following Netanyahu’s incendiary statements, the Knesset’s Arab lawmakers filed a complaint with the legislature’s chief security officer, claiming that the prime minister’s speech constituted incitement. In a missive, Joint List leader MK Ayman Odeh said that Netanyahu’s language put Arabs throughout Israel in physical danger from rightwing extremists. “In recent days Netanyahu has crossed every line with his dangerous and wild incitement. He is spreading lies and claiming our Knesset members are terror supporters. The Arab community and its representatives are legitimate like every community,” Odeh said. “We appeal to President Reuven Rivlin and the attorney general, Avichai Mandelblit, to take a stance against incitement, which has led to dozens of death threats against our members.”

A Look at Operation Black Belt

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Last Tuesday, IDF warplanes dropped a Hellfire missile into the bedroom where Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Bahu Abu AlAta slept. The resulting explosion killed him and his wife instantly and kicked off 48 hours of tit-for-tat fire between Israel and the Gaza-based terror group. While Israel had been ready to kill the terror leader for over a year, the operation was carried out after it was determined that Abu Al-Ata was what security officials define as a “ticking time bomb.” According to

the IDF, the PIJ was preparing to launch a massive amount of rockets into heavily-populated central Israel during morning hours, in hopes of killing as many civilians as possible. Yet the assassination didn’t spare Israel from the lethal air barrage. Over the next two days, the PIJ fired over 200 missiles into Israel, sending hundreds of thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters and totally shutting down much of Israel south of Tel Aviv. The escalation finally ended after a ceasefire was hatched between the two sides, permitting affairs to return to normal. During the escalation, Israel showed off its new target acquisition capabilities and succeeded in killing 23 senior militants in pinpoint strikes. The IDF had struggled in recent years to locate wanted terrorists who would hide underground during rounds of hostilities, leading it to invest millions of dollars over the past two years aimed at developing new tactics. Titled “Black Belt,” the operation also marked a return to targeted killings. While Israel pioneered the tactic of taking out senior terror leaders during the Second Intifada, it largely refrained from employing such moves in recent years. Until last week’s operation to take out Bahu Abu Al-Ata, the only other recorded assassination was in May when warplanes killed a Hamas moneyman who was smuggling tens of millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip. Notably, the Hamas terror group chose not to respond to the terror mastermind’s liquidation. Despite ruling the Gaza Strip, Hamas has been at odds with the PIJ for years and frequently clashed with its leadership. While Hamas would frequently reach tactic agreements with Israel that would require the group to cease its rocket fire into the Jewish State, the Islamic Jihad would frequently declare that it was not bound by deals with the Zionist entity. The resulting clashes would torpedo the hard-fought agreements and resulted in deep tension between the two rival terror groups. The restraint demonstrated by Hamas last week was controversial in the Gaza Strip, and thousands of residents took to social media to accuse the organization of “treason.” Furious Islamic Jihad leaders also refused to allow Hamas officials to visit Abu Al-Ata’s mourning tent, with the former accusing the latter on its website of “collaborating with the Zionist enemy.”

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Another Tragic School Shooting

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Roger Stone Found Guilty A U.S. court has found the longtime associate of President Trump, Roger Stone, guilty of perjury for false remarks he made to Congress regarding his ties to Wikileaks. Stone was also found guilty last week of six counts of witness tampering and obstruction for his efforts to thwart Robert Mueller’s probe into

Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. The self-described “master of dirty tricks” now faces as many as five decades in prison.

Following the verdict, Trump bashed the decision as “a double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country” and called on authorities to prosecute a slew of public officials he claimed had colluded to end his presidency. “So they now convict Roger Stone of lying and want to jail him for many years to come. Well, what about Crooked Hillary, Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, Shifty Schiff, Ohr & Nellie, Steele & all of the others, including even Mueller himself? Didn’t they lie?” Trump tweeted. The 67-year-old Stone has been accused of misleading Congress regarding his relationship with Wikileaks and for pressuring a confidant named Randy Credico to back up his lies. During the trial, the jury was shown

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Contributing to the low death toll was the quick thinking of choir teacher Kaitlin Holt, who barricaded the door of her classroom upon hearing gunshots. Using a gunshot kit in her classroom to dress the injuries of one of her students, authorities credit her quick thinking for preventing a further massacre. However, Holt denies that she was a hero and points to the school’s frequent active shooter drills for teaching her how to react under fire. “Because I had the training, my instincts were good,” Holt told CNN. “If I hadn’t had that training, I don’t know that I would have walked myself through what I truly had done in that situation. It probably made a big difference.”

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Two high school students were killed and another three wounded after a gunman opened fire at Southern California’s Saugus High School in the United States’ latest mass shooting. The shooter, who was identified as 16-year-old Nathaniel Berhow, was a junior at the school. Dressed in black, he burst into Saugus High School armed with a 45-caliber semi-automatic handgun and opened fire, shooting five students before killing himself. Those who perished were identified as 15-year-old Grace Anne Muehlberger and 14-year-old Dominic

Blackwell. Three other students were moderately wounded, including two 14-year-old female students and one 14-year-old male student. “Detectives have reviewed the video at scene, which clearly shows the suspect in the quad withdraw a handgun from his backpack, shoot and wound five people, and then himself in the head,” L.A. County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Kent Wegener told the press. Police said they were investigating the shooting but were unable to pinpoint a motive at this stage. The shooter had been living with his mother since his father passed away two years ago and was known as a quiet teen who rarely got into trouble. He also failed to leave a will or screed and did not seem to have any personal motives against the two people that he had killed. “There’s nothing really that stands out [with the suspect]. He wasn’t a loner. Wasn’t socially awkward. Was involved in student activities. Student athlete,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva. “This is kind of out of the blue, shocking pretty much everyone who knew him.” He added, “He wasn’t chasing anyone. The victims appeared to be who was around him, available at the time.”

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The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

threatening texts and emails Stone had sent Credico which included “Prepare to die,” “You’re a rat. A stoolie,” and “Stonewall it. Plead the Fifth. Anything to save the plan”. During the 2016 election, Wikileaks released a batch of emails from the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Court: ISIS Fighter Not U.S. Citizen

A federal judge ruled last week that a woman from Alabama who joined ISIS is not a U.S. citizen, despite having been born in the US. The verdict keeps 25-year-old Hoda Muthana and her son stranded in a Syrian camp. In his ruling, Judge Roger Walton agreed with the Trump administration that Muthana was not a U.S. citizen and that a previous U.S. passport she had been issued in error. Walton added that Muthana’s grandparents are forbidden from providing her any financial assistance due to legislation forbidding Americans from supporting terrorism. Muthana had traveled to Syria in 2014 to join ISIS after becoming radicalized online. While in Syria, she married an ISIS fighter who was later killed, and she has since said that she has repudiated her extremist views. Muthana attempted to return to the U.S. but was prevented from doing so after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ordered that her citizenship be revoked. In February, the State Department said in a statement that Mutahan “is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States.” Calling her a “terrorist,” Pompeo added in a press conference that “Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States.” A day later, Muthana’s father, Alil, filed a federal lawsuit, setting off a high-profile legal battle. Much of the case had revolved around until what point the ex-terrorist’s parents had been considered diplomats. Muthana had been born in Alabama to a Yemeni diplomat stationed in the U.S. Despite the clause

in the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing birthright citizenship, children born to diplomats stationed in the United States do not automatically receive citizenship due to the diplomatic immunity their parents have. Muthana’s diplomat father had abandoned his post several months before Hoda was born, leading lawyers to claim that she was entitled to birthright citizenship. Her arguments were rejected by Judge Walton, who said that the federal government had only been notified that her father’s diplomatic status was revoked after Hoda was already born. In the ruling, Walton said that while he sympathized with Muthana’s predicament, “he is bound by the statement of the Department of State as to when it received notice of Mr. Muthana’s termination of his position as a diplomat.”

A Win for Dems in Louisiana

Louisiana Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards narrowly beat Trumpbacked Republican nominee Eddie Rispone this week in a hard-fought race. According to projections, Bel Edwards beat Rispone by around 40,000 votes, winning a total of 51% of the vote. “How sweet it is!” the victorious governor said at a victory rally on Saturday night. “And as for the president, G-d bless his heart. Tonight, the people of Louisiana have chosen to chart their own path. “We both agreed that the time for campaigning is over, and now our shared love for Louisiana is always more important than the partisan differences that sometimes divide us.” The race had been closely watched around the country as a bellwether for President Trump’s chances of winning reelection in 2020. Trump had been a strong supporter of Rispone and appeared in three rallies over the past month, including two in the week leading up to the election. While Trump’s efforts boosted the Republican turnout, it also brought out liberals who otherwise would have stayed home to flood the

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

polls in order to show their opposition to Trump. The huge Democratic turnout was particularly pronounced in liberal enclaves such as New Orleans and Baton Rouge and among the African-American community. Coming in a state that Trump won by 20 points in 2016, Bel Edwards’ victory suggests that the president is facing an increasingly uphill battle to retain his presidency. Edwards’ victory despite Trump’s heavy support for his opponent is just the latest indication that strong Republican constituencies are possibly turning away from the party. Last week, the Democratic Party swept Virginia’s legislative races and also won the Kentucky’s gubernatorial race in what observers say should be a red flag for the GOP. Upon conceding the race, Rispone thanked President Trump for his assistance and called on supporters to give him a round of applause for his efforts. “That man loves America and he loves Louisiana,” Rispone said. Edwards, 53, is a former Army Ranger and ran on a platform significantly more conservative than that espoused by the Democratic Party. Rejecting far-left positions such as gun control, Edwards eschewed social issues and focused on job creation and

public services. “They talk about I’m some sort of a radical liberal. The people of Louisiana know better than that. I am squarely in the middle of the political spectrum,” Edwards said. “That hasn’t changed and that’s the way we’ve been governing.”

U.S. Can’t Stop Chinese Spying

The United States has been struggling to stop Chinese efforts that focus on stealing sensitive data from American universities. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, Beijing has been concentrating its mammoth spying efforts on college campuses. With an estimated 20,000 Chinese scientists visiting U.S. universities every year, U.S. counterintelligence thinks that they are often co-opted to steal information on behalf of Beijing. The illicitly stolen data covers

a variety of subjects. From nuclear technology to special metals used by the U.S. Navy to counter rust, Beijing wants all of it to boost its efforts in becoming a world superpower. The numbers of suspected spies has only grown; by 2018, a U.S. intelligence report fingered 2,629 scientific experts who were suspected of exploiting the Department of Education’s “Thousand Talents Plan” to commit espionage. Key to this effort are the challenges U.S. law enforcement agencies face when attempting to foil such spying. Currently, laws countering intellectual property theft are extremely vague and make it difficult to prosecute. In addition, university findings are often peer-reviewed and thus shared all over the world; prosecutors cannot legally charge someone with espionage for taking information that is already freely available. Recently, law enforcement agencies have been taking a different approach. Rather than go after suspects on espionage or intellectual property theft, officials are trying to nab Chinese scientists on charges of lesser severity that are easier to prove in court. The first time this new approach was tested was in August. Instead of hitting University of Kansas engineering expert Franklin Feng Tao with national security charges, authorities charged him with defrauding the U.S. government. Tao had failed to disclose that he was also employed in China when applying for U.S. grant money to work in Kansas, allowing him to illegally receive taxpayer funds. Based off the strategy used to bring drug barons to justice, intelligence officials say that the case can be a blueprint in how to crack down on Chinese spying.

New Hope for Peanut Allergy Sufferers A new pilot study from Stanford University has found an injection which can control reactions to peanut allergies for several weeks at a time. The study, published in the JCI Insight journal, followed 20 individuals with severe peanut allergies over the course of six weeks. Fifteen were given the injection, made up of an antibody known as “Etokimab,” and five were given a placebo. During the study, 73% of those who had received the injection were able to tolerate small amounts of peanut protein, as

opposed to 0% of those who had received the placebo. The drug is not particular to peanuts, but rather targets the mechanism in the body that causes the reaction. As such, researchers hope it can be utilized to prevent reactions for other allergies as well. Researchers emphasized that the drug does not cure the allergy but rather is intended to protect against accidental exposure. At present, approximately 200,000 Americans require emergency care each year as a result of allergic reactions. “Although this is still in the experimental stages, we’re delivering on the hope of testing a drug that won’t be for one food allergy but for many, and for other allergic diseases, too,” noted Dr. Kari Nadeau, lead author of the study and professor of medicine at Stanford.

Picasso for a Pittance

Want to own a painting by Pablo Picasso? It may not cost you all that much. A canvas by the Spanish master worth more than one million euros ($1.1 million) is to be raffled off for charity, and anyone who buys the 100-euro ticket in the international drawing has a one-in-200,000 chance of winning the piece of art. The painting that is set to go to the lucky winner is a still life of a stylized glass of absinthe and a newspaper Picasso created in 1921. The raffle, whose proceeds will go to the charity CARE to combat poverty in Africa, was launched at the Picasso Museum in Paris Tuesday. This is not the first time a Picasso was being raffled off for a song. The organizers held the same fundraising event six years ago. Picasso’s “Man with Opera Hat” was won by a 25-year-old Pittsburgh fire safety official, Jeffrey Gonano, who was looking for something to decorate his home. 50,000 people – mostly from the U.S., Britain, Mexico and Brazil – had taken part in that drawing.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

“Art and charity usually come together at gala dinners, where a few [wealthy] people fork out millionaire sums for a painting,” noted Peri Cochin, the French television producer behind the drawing. She hopes to raise up to 19 million euros for CARE from the new raffle: The painting this time comes from the billionaire Lebanese-born collector David Nahmad, who has one of the biggest private collection of Picassos in the world. He will get one million euros from the drawing with the rest going to the charity. Picasso Museum director Laurent Le Bon said the painting comes from a period when Picasso “synthesized the realist and cubist currents” of his work. According to Picasso Museum director Laurent Le Bon, it is a painting “that makes people think and dream.” You know what they say: all it takes is a dollar and a dream.

A Child in College If you see a nine-year-old sitting next to you in college, he’s not there with his mother.

Laurent Simons, a child prodigy from Belgium, is on course to earn a bachelor’s degree at the tender age of nine. Simons is studying electrical engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE) – a tough course even for students of an average graduate age.

Described by staff as “simply extraordinary,” Laurent is set to finish his degree in December. He then plans to embark on a PhD program in electrical engineering while also studying for a medicine degree. Laurent’s parents, Lydia and Alexander Simons, said they thought Laurent’s grandparents were exaggerating when they said he had a gift, but his teachers soon concurred. “They noticed something very special about Laurent,” said Lydia. Laurent was given test after test as teachers tried to work out the extent of his talents. “They told us he is like a sponge,” said Alexander.

What’s the secret behind Laurent’s genius? His mom jokes, “I ate a lot of fish during the pregnancy.” According to Sjoerd Hulshof, education director of the TUE bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, “Laurent is the fastest student we have ever had here. Not only is he hyper-intelligent but also a very sympathetic boy.” While Laurent is evidently able to learn faster than most, his parents are careful to let him enjoy himself too. “We don’t want him to get too serious. He does whatever he likes,” said Alexander. “We need to find a balance between being a child and his talents.” Laurent said he enjoys playing with his dog Sammy and playing on his phone, like many young people. However, unlike most 9-year-olds, he has already worked out what he wants to do with his life: develop artificial organs. After finishing his bachelor’s degree, Laurent plans on taking a vacation to Japan for an undoubtedly well-deserved break. Because that’s exactly what I do when I complete my degree in electrical engineering.

Your Weight in Wine

In Dubai, everything is over-thetop. Take the Fusion Club at Cassells Al Barsha Hotel. The eatery is offering free drinks for women depending on how much they weigh. For every pound a female customer weighs, she will receive $0.12 in free drinks. In other words, if you weigh 150 pounds, you’re looking at $18.50 worth of free drinks. Customers can weigh themselves in the restaurant – there’s a scale at the bar – but the establishment also allows patrons to tell their weight to the bartenders. “We believe in the magnanimity of our lady guests,” Ani Kumar, the hotel’s food and beverage manager, explained. “They can just write the weight on a paper and give it to the bartender discreetly, and enjoy drinks equal to the value they wrote on the paper. Very simple, no strings

attached.” The promotion’s motto? “It’s good to gain weight.”

Record-Breaking Flight

It took decades to bring it to fruition, but last Friday, a Qantas airplane loaded with 100 metric tons of jet fuel flew 11,060 miles from London to Sydney – nonstop. The journey lasted 19 hours and 19 minutes and shattered two records, becoming the longest commercial airline passenger flight for both distance and duration. The new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner departed from Heathrow Airport at 6 a.m. on Thursday morning and flew over Germany, Russia, Poland, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, the Philippines, and Indonesia. This was a test flight, and while the plane can hold up to 256 people, there were only 50 on board. All passengers were outfitted with monitors, and researchers from Australia’s Charles Perkins Centre were on-hand to study how sleep patterns, movement, and food consumption on an extremely long flight affect a person’s health. Passengers were privy to two sunrises and one sunset while on board. The plan to establish regular nonstop routes between London and Sydney and between New York and Australia has been dubbed “Project Sunrise.” The last time Qantas attempted to fly this route without stopping was in 1989. The airline used a Boeing 747, ripping out most of the seats and loading the plane with as much fuel as possible, even towing it to the runway in order to conserve gas. “Flying nonstop from the east coast of Australia to London and New York is truly the final frontier in aviation, so we’re determined to do all the groundwork to get this right,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said. Qantas is hopeful it can start offering nonstop flights from London to Sydney and vice versa in 2022. Remember, folks. That’s 20 hours with a lot of people in a small space without a shower. I’m thinking that it could feel a lot longer than 20 hours.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

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Community Camp in the Fall

EP/Nageela hosted dozens of children at Camp Nageela in the Catskills this Veteran’s Day weekend. The action-packed trip included tons of activities, fun, and delicious food. The girls enjoyed cake decorating, a spa night with face masks, t-shirt designing, archery,

blindfolded painting, and quality time with new and former Nageela BFFs. The boys went deep into the woods for paintball, played sports, had a bonfire, and also went swimming in Nageela’s indoor pool. This is just one of the ways JEP/Nageela unites Jewish children for inspira-

tional fun during the school year. Follow us on Instagram @campnageelaeast. To find out more about upcoming activities including the one-on-one learning that takes place each week locally, volunteerism and donations to help build our programs, contact Jen S. Zwiebel at

516-374-1528, ext. 240 or jenz@jepli. org. Coming soon...February 2020 – Harmony XIII and JEP REN (Real Estate Networking) event with lots of sponsorship opportunities to get exposure for your business and support JEP/Nageela’s children.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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Gobble Gobble Book Fest

n Sunday, November 17, Hindi’s Libraries hosted its first annual Gobble Gobble Book Fest at Make It Too in Cedarhurst. The pre-Thanksgiving event, a fundraiser for the nonprofit, focused on the power of literacy and importance of gratitude. Guests had the opportunity to be a part of the Hindi’s Libraries donation process by sorting through donated books (some of which they brought to the event themselves), labeling them with the organization’s dedication label, and creating beautiful care packages that will be delivered to the less-fortunate over the holiday weekend. The event’s highlights also included interactive story-time by two children’s authors. Glen Kinnaird, author of Tony the Theatre Dog: Puttin’ on a Show, brought along his friend Tony, the adorable dog that was the subject of the book. Anthony Tucker, author of Tied In, was joined by two ballet dancers who accompanied the author reading with a beautiful dance. Children also enjoyed several hands-on activities, including arts and crafts stations, candle making, cupcake decorating, and musical chairs. Event sponsors included the Hoffman Family at Make it Too for providing the venue and candle making/ cookie decorating activities, Azamra Entertainment and Events for providing the music, Jerry Meyer Studio & Mrs. Ilanit Oknin for supplying the photographers, Shelley Wapniak for providing face painting services as

well as two beautiful art pieces created for Hindi’s Libraries, Blue Door Books for overseeing the Gratitude Gift Packaging Station, Connection to Creativity for coordinating various aspects of the day, and Yitzchok Moully for providing a custom painting created for the organization. This event, a collaboration with several members of the Five Towns community, was a tremendous success simply because people who cared came together to do good. Hindi’s Libraries is a nonprofit organization formed in memory of Dr. Hindi Krinsky who passed away in August of 2018. The group collects new and gently used books and donates them to more than 380 organizations throughout the world that support families in need. Since the organization’s inception, more than 65,000 books have been collected. For more information visit www. hindislibraries.com or email info@ hindislibraries.com.

MTA Juniors Compete at NCSY JUMP

By Jonathan Sherman

our MTA juniors, Aryeh Kolber, Yitzy Shaykevich, Jonathan Sherman, and Yeshurin Sorscher, had an unforgettable experience at the NCSY JUMP Create-AThon competition. Held on November 10-12 in Stamford, Connecticut, students from 14 high schools across the country learned the ins and outs of starting a non-profit organization and the effort required to run it. Representatives from each high school were tasked with creating their own non-profit and pitching it to a group of judges in order to get a grant to fund their project. The MTA team spent countless hours over the

course of the event researching ideas and creating “Family For All,” a nonprofit whose mission is to provide a safe space for children with parents who are going through a divorce. Attendees were also privileged to receive business plan tips from Dr. Noam Wassermam, Dean of Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business, before presenting their organization to the panel of judges. The MTA team placed in the top six schools and were grateful for this opportunity to gain leadership experience and learn important new skills. The team hopes to continue working on the project and expand their non-profit organization.

Pen of the Soul

iscover music with meaning to uplift you during MarCheshvan, a month described as bitter and lacking job. On Monday night, November 25, renowned teacher and scholar-in-residence of Chabad of the Five Towns, Rabbi Shais Taub, will be joined by popular Jewish singer, Eli Marcus, for a special presentation on the spiritual significance of music in Judaism. Eli Marcus will sing and accompany himself on piano while Rabbi Taub will share insights. The presentation will include songs from throughout the ages and from Jewish communities across the globe. The title of the presentation

is based on a chassidic saying that “words are the pen of the intellect, but music is the pen of the soul.” The event will be held at the home of Dr. Leon and Debbie Eisikowitz, 143 Harborview South in Lawrence on November 25, at 8:00 p.m. Rabbi Shais Taub gives weekly classes in the Five Towns for women: Soul Maps at Chabad, Mondays at 10:30 a.m.; Weekly Parsha Insights at the Levi Yitzchak Library, Wednesdays at 11:00 a.m.; for men: Maamer Moment at Chabad, Mondays at 8:00 p.m. Visit Chabadfivetowns.com/rabbitaub to learn more.

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MAY Open House Draws Record Attendance

t was standing room only at the Mesivta Ateres Yaakov Open House this past Sunday, as the yeshiva hosted over 150 prospective students, along with their parents, all eager to learn about what Ateres Yaakov has to offer. Held in the yeshiva’s beautiful facilities, and with the rabbeim, faculty and hanhalah present to answer questions, the day’s program was an opportunity to educate parents and students about the yeshiva’s unique mission, objectives, and resources. It was a busy, exciting, and educational experience that included informative panels, video displays, passionate presentations, engaging dialogue, Torah brain teasers, sports challenges, raffles, a gala luncheon, prizes, custom mini basketballs, an elaborate Student Fair, slushies, competitions, and more. Upon arrival, attendees were warmly greeted by the MAY hanhalah, its talented and dedicated faculty, and scores of student and parent volunteers. Guests were ushered into the elaborate Student Fair, held this year in the yeshiva’s brand-new, expansive gymnasium where a multitude of booths, manned by current Ateres Yaakov talmidim, described the school’s myriad extracurricular programs and activities. Following the Student Fair, the Rosh HaYeshiva, Rabbi Mordechai Yaffe, addressed the enormous crowd in the Mesivta’s Bais Medrash. He explained that “the goal in our Mesivta extends far beyond the high school years” and that “the ultimate purpose is to build better husbands, fathers and ovdei Hashem. Therefore, literally everything that occurs within the yeshiva is aimed at facilitating that goal.” Rabbi Yaffe concluded his remarks by clearly explaining each phrase of the Mesivta’s slogan: “Rabbeim for Life. Education for

Life. Torah for Life.” Rabbi Yaffe’s address was followed by an emotionally charged, informative video presentation that immersed the guests virtually into the Mesivta experience. Following the video presentation, the students then enjoyed a mad science presentation with one of MAY’s master science teachers, Mr. Pinchas Fiber, stimulating brain-teasing shiurim delivered by ninth grade rebbe, Rabbi Tsvi Greenfield and tenth grade rebbe Rabbi Shlomo Karp, and a Q & A About MAY. The afternoon concluded with a delicious Chinese buffet and multiple amazing raffles! Parents attended panel discussions focusing on limudei kodesh, general studies and MAY alumni. Prospective parents asked current parents and panelists a variety of questions and received enthusiastic responses. These included:

Are the rabbeim really involved in the lives of the talmidim even “after” graduation? Alumni talked about their many experiences receiving weekly calls in Israel from multiple members of the faculty, about daily conversations and weekly chaburos or Shabbos meals with rabbeim, about rabbeim helping them with challenges after marriage, about rabbeim making their shidduchim, and more. Mark Gold, president of MAY, noted that, “Our talmidim are often shocked to find that their Israel yeshiva peers do not have the kinds of close relationships with, and ready access to, their Mesivta rabbeim that they take for granted.” How does MAY challenge their Honors level students? A parent panelist noted that “MAY has adapted the curriculum to assign frequent essays and other writing assignments to build advanced

writing and communication skills and to provide constructive criticism to facilitate revision.” Parents learned “A Few Current Facts about General Studies at MAY,” which included that the average Regents scores in Honors classes were 91%-96% in 2019, that MAY has produced five National Merit Scholarship finalists, semifinalists or commended students in the past four years, and that 75% of MAY’s General Studies instructors hold Master’s Degrees or beyond. How does MAY compare to the other yeshivos in our community? A member of the hanhalah responded that “there are many excellent local options. Each school has its own emphasis and areas in which it excels. MAY is uniquely outstanding in that it excels in limudei kodesh, limudei chol, and in extracurricular activities, and its relatively small size facilitates the extra attention and long-last-

ing relationships that help students of all capabilities succeed.” One parent noted, “It’s clear that the rabbeim, faculty members, and hanhalah I spoke with have a very strong emotional connection with their talmidim and truly care about their success.” The yeshiva’s talmidim really made the event a success. Visitors challenged Ateres Yaakov talmidim in Ping-Pong, hockey, football and basketball while being cheered on by friends. The Mesivta’s numerous chessed opportunities were represented by blood drive coordinators, Ohel Bais Ezra volunteers, and many other student representatives. Attendees picked up the Mesivta’s Chessed Directory, listing the ample opportunity for different chassadim available to its talmidim. The Mesivta Publications booth was represented by the MAY student’s showcasing the Ateres Star newsletter, the popular, weekly Torah publication Ateres HaShavua, and the Mesivta’s creative writing journal, Vision. Athletics and Competitions were represented by various members of the Mesivta’s football, basketball, softball and Torah bowl teams who were happy to show off the school’s many championship trophies. The ample Torah L’shma opportunities were represented by regulars of the Pre-Shacharis Cocoa Club, Post Shacharis Mishnayos Shiur, 12th grade Advanced Bikiyus and Night Sedarim, Shnayim Mikrah Program, Shakla v’Tarya Ba’al Peh Club, Bein Hazmanim Learning Program, and voluntary Monday and Tuesday Night Sedarim. Applications for the 20202021 z’man are now being accepted. For more information contact the Mesivta at (516) 374-6465 or visit their website at www.ateresyaakov.com.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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Around the Community

Rabbi Kviat’s kindergarten class in Siach Yitzchok collected leaves outside and made leaf collage while they learned about the season of fall

Rav Dovid Yankelewitz, first grade rebbi, and Rav Shmuel Strickman, menahel, with first grade talmidim of Yeshiva Darchei Torah as they celebrate the start of learning Chumash by reading from – and dancing with – a Sefer Torah

A Small School with Big School Opportunities

ave you ever dreamed about the perfect school for your daughter, a place where she can shine academically and sparkle while she pursues her extracurricular activities? In your mind’s eye, your daughter will not get lost in the crowd and her teachers are nurturing and warm so she can build her self-confidence and self-awareness. This seemingly “unicorn-like” school challenges your daughter to strive to create a course load that is both academically challenging and personally fulfilling, aimed to prepare her to not be intimidated by the world but to be prepared for it. And what if your dream was not a fantasy at all and that perfect school already exists? That school is MSH – Midreshet Shalhevet. Rosh HaYeshiva Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman articulated MSH’s mission of inspiring self-confidence in our students on Sunday, November 3 at the packed Open House for prospective students and parents. MSH, sister school to Rambam Mesivta, hosted our largest Open House to date with young ladies from 15 different elementary schools around Long Island, Queens, and Brooklyn who came to see for themselves just what MSH stands for and the stars they can become there. After breakfast, over 300 people gathered in the packed sanctuary

to hear from MSH students and administration. Ninth graders Shaindy Hacker and Shany Steinberg began by describing their transition to high school and just how at home they already feel within the halls of MSH. Shany explained, “What sets MSH apart from other schools is that its main focus is on YOU.” Shaindy added that she “chose a high school that is warm, challenging, and exciting all at the same time.” Extracurricular options are open to students in all grades, student government has representation from all four grades, and lead roles in the play are given out based on merit not class rank, explained Assistant Principal Shaindy Lisker, though her favorite part of her job is getting to know these exceptional students and guiding them as they develop.

Every student gets involved and teamwork always leads to the special MSH school spirit. Emily Weintraub, an eleventh grader, spoke about her experiences on mock trial and how she has been able to channel her love for Israel through the committee of Israel activism . This year, the school play is Alice in Wonderland, following a long line of runaway hits. Leah Cohen, an eleventh grader, added that what is most important to the teachers and administration is “that each of the students is growing,” not merely grades or reaching benchmarks. Of course, that means that each of the teachers has to really know her students; the good news is that they do. In short, the students grow into remarkable young women; aside from their SAT, ACT, and AP scores,

top notch colleges and seminaries that they are accepted to, it is their true love of Torah and learning that stands out. Mrs. Eisenman, menahelet, gave tribute to the outstanding educators that form the backbone of the school, guiding students to evaluate and analyze the material, to search for solutions and achieve a lasting understanding, rather than mere memorization, highlighting MSH’s educational approach – critical inquiry. Questions in class are not only welcomed, they are encouraged. The attention to each individual that permeates the entire school and, of course, the classrooms is really what sets MSH apart. No one gets overlooked; everyone matters. Her final message to the attendees was that MSH is a smaller school by design, with big school opportunities both academic and extracurricular. Following the speeches, the parents and students took part in mini class lessons, followed by a dessert reception and personalized sweatshirt pick up. If you missed out on this wonderful experience, you are invited to join us at the school any day for a personal tour of our wonderful classes or at our upcoming parlor meetings. Please contact Sari Kahn, Director of Communications, at 516.224.0240 x204 or admissions@midreshetshalhevet.org for more details.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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Around the Community

YOSS sixth graders, with their rebbi, Rabbi Meltzer, enjoyed a melave malka and kumzitz at the home of Steve and Yonina Wind last week

Greenhouses Come to Life at YOSS

he Yeshiva of South Shore sixth grade students are learning in science about the effect of heat and light on plants, and Mrs. Slansky, the sixth grade science teacher, is taking it to a whole new level. They are learning how to build a greenhouse and its impact on plants specifically, and the environment overall. The students are learning how increasing the heat and sunlight will help the plants grow for a longer period of time, even if it’s not in season. The greenhouses provide just the right amount of heat and sunlight for optimal plant growth. reenhouses also help the environment by reflecting some of the radiation from the sun away from the planet. The students really appreciate Mrs. Slansky’s efforts in bringing science to life!

Digital Citizenship at HAFTR

s part of HAFTR Middle School’s robust social and emotional learning curriculum led by Dr. Yali Werzberger, Director of Guidance and PPS, all seventh grade students participate in a Digital Citizenship curriculum where they learn how to engage with technology in a way which allows them to learn more about the world, express themselves, and communicate with one another in a positive and adaptive manner. As all people are vulnerable to developing unhealthy and unsafe relationships with technology, HAFTR students learn how to maximize the benefits of technology and minimize its deleterious effects through conversations and hands-on activities. Dr. Werzberger is currently working with the first group of seventh

graders who have learned topics such as privacy in the digital age, impulsivity involved in poor digital decisions, and cyberbullying. Students

created posters highlighting each of these topics and then presented their work to the class. The posters are now hanging in HAFTR’s halls,

reminding all students of the things each of us can do to be a good digital citizen.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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Around the Community

Hundreds Attend Annual Brunch to Support Shalom Task Force

Dr. Shana Frydman, executive director; Rachel Marks, VP of Shalom Task Force; Lisa and Rabbi Yehuda Septimus, Community Leadership Award

n Sunday, November 17, 2019, Shalom Task Force greeted over 300 community members at their Annual Brunch at the Sephardic Temple in Cedarhurst. This standing-room-only crowd came together to support the critical services that Shalom Task Force provides to the community. As

Esther Williams, president of Shalom Task Force; Dr. Shana Frydman; Shaindy Urman, Pillar of Strength Award; and Avital Levin, Director of Education

Dr. Shoshannah D. Frydman, executive director, reflected in her opening remarks, “This full room is a statement to survivors that we see them, hear them, and support them.” This year, Shalom Task Force honored Miriam Ellenberg as the Guest of Honor. Rabbi Yehuda and Lisa Septimus received the Commu-

Dr. Shana Frydman, Miriam Ellenberg, Guest of Honor, and Esther Williams

nity Leadership Award. Shaindy Urman was honored with the Pillar of Strength Award. NYC Councilmember Rory Lancman, NYS Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi, and NYS Senator Todd Kaminsky were presented with the Distinguished Service Award. Their remarks strongly reflected their united commitment to combatting domestic violence and assisting survivors with critical services. Rabbi Yehuda and Lisa Septimus conveyed that in their community roles that they often rely on Shalom Task Force as an important resource for congregants and students. Guest of Honor Miriam Ellenberg reflected on her many years of working as a volunteer at Shalom Task Force- and how she has seen the community shift to acknowledge the needs of victims and the importance of prevention. While accepting the Pillar of Strength Award, Shaindy shared that she is a survivor of abuse. She gracefully spoke about the fact that

“domestic violence is such a deeply misunderstood world, and the devastating impact it has on its survivors and their families are immeasurable. To fight it, we first need to understand it. And that’s the work that needs to be done, the work that Shalom Task Force does each and every day. Dispelling the darkness and mystery that is domestic violence.” Ms. Urman challenged the crowd to help support victims. She eloquently concluded her remarks by sharing, “There are hundreds of you here today supporting an organization that combats domestic violence. That’s powerful. If we take that power and we take these numbers and we keep multiplying, perhaps, together, we can actually fight this.” We were also honored to hear from NYS Assemblyman David Weprin, NYS Assemblywoman Stacey Pfeffer Amato, and NYS Senator Anna Kaplan. They all shared words of encouragement and support. The Honorable Audrey Pheffer and Councilmember Donovan Richards at-

NYS Assemblymember David Weprin, Honorable Audrey Pfeffer, NYC Councilmember Donovan Richards, and NYS Assemblymember Stacey Pfeffer Amato

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Around the Community

Elizabeth Forspan, Esther Williams, NYS Senator Todd Kaminsky, NYS Senator Anna Kaplan, Debbie Meizlik, and Dr. Shana Frydman

Shalom Task Force board member Elizabeth Forspan, NYS Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, Esther Williams, NYC Councilman Rory Lancman, NYS Senator Todd Kaminsky, and Dr. Shana Frydman

tended and demonstrated again their strong dedication to this organization. Through its confidential hotline, legal services, education and community programs, Shalom Task Force promotes safe relationships, healthy families, and a supportive community. If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, please reach out to Shalom Task Force at 718-3373700, or 888-883-2323 or info@shalomtaskforce.org. The dedicated brunch committee

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Mesivta Basketball Association Launches

unday, November 3, marked the launching of the Mesivta Basketball Association (MBA) right here in the Five Towns. With much encouragement and support from local menahalim and educators, Rabbi Yossi Bennett, S’gan Menahel at Mesivta Ateres Yaakov, began researching the need for such a program last year. “It was clear after speaking with just a few menahalim and rebbeim in the neighborhood that the time was right to begin an inter-Mesivta basketball league, one that rebbeim and parents alike would approve of and appreciate,” commented Rabbi Bennett. Hosted by Mesivta Ateres Yaakov in their state-of-the-art Shaulson Gymnasium, the MBA include six local yeshivos in its inaugural Junior Varsity Division: Mesivta Ateres Yaakov, DRS High School, Mesivta Netzach HaTorah, Yeshiva Nishmas HaTorah, Yeshiva Darchei Torah, and Mesivta Sha’arei Pruzdor. Games are currently played on Sunday evenings back-to back, giving bochurim from the participating yeshivos the opportunity to come together in one central location and enjoy a healthy, kosher way to spend their Sunday evenings. “Boys from other teams sometimes come early or stay late to watch

the other games being played that evening,” said Assistant Commissioner, Mr. Zack Kessler, “That’s part of the novelty of this League. It’s like a community gathering at MAY on Sunday nights.” Modeled after the successful Me-

sivta Football League (MFL), the League follows the same hashkafa guidelines as that of the MFL, primarily being that only men attend games, yarmulkes are worn throughout play, and the conduct and demeanor of players reflect those of b’nei Torah.

The League plans to follow the JV Division with its Varsity Division after the winter intercession.

Or a pleasant conversation with your spouse at a restaurant. Or you are learning with your favorite chavrusah. And you hear someone nearby asking our opening line, “Hey, did you hear the latest hock?” Intellectually you grasp that it is highly unlikely that the “news” he’s about to relay is of any significant value. But are you perhaps at least somewhat tempted to listen in? What allows us to be distracted from our work, our relationships, our learning to “be in the know” about nonsense?! Sorry to have to deliver the diagnosis, but this is a symptom of FOMO. The good news, though: it can be cured! The root cause of this unhealthy FOMO can be treated with an injection of another FOMO – a healthy, kosher FOMO – the recognition that I am FINE ON MY OWN.

Not an egotistical, gaavah-infused haughtiness, chas v’shalom. This positive FOMO is simply the perspective that I can be perfectly fulfilled without knowing every piece of news about the goings on in other people’s lives. The Mishna in Avos teaches that the ashir, the rich man, is the one who is content with his lot. This is usually understood to refer to his material possessions. But it might be broader than that as well. How “wealthy” is someone who feels “broke” if he’s not up-to-date on the latest goings-on? How rich is someone who feels deflated if he’s the last to find out about whatever not-soimportant-but-everyone’s-talkingabout-it hock? When it comes to our material “chelek” [lot], the Mishna teaches us to appreciate that Hashem has given me exactly what I need. Financial wealth that has not come my way is

simply not relevant to me. What I lack is not of consequence and therefore can’t reduce my “wealth.” So too, when it comes to our “social-chelek.” Hashem has provided my social needs. “Hock” and social-connectivity that has not come my way is not relevant to me and therefore can’t affect my “wealth.” If I wasn’t informed about something, that’s not my chelek and is of no concern to me. If I wasn’t invited to such and such event or so and so’s simcha, I am no less choshuv. When I am Fine On My Own, I can be healed of the Fear Of Missing Out, and pay better attention to the more meaningful elements of my life. This can boost our productivity, our relationships, and our learning and help us be more likely to achieve our tachlis!

For more information, email mesivtabasketball@gmail.com or check out their website mesivtabasketball.com.

Kosher FOMO

“D

id you hear the latest hock?”

If this question captured your attention, you may be among the many who suffer from some degree of the often-undiagnosed disease popularly known as “FOMO”. Most of us are infected with some degree of this “Fear Of Missing Out” disorder. Those of us who are a little older tend to associate FOMO with the “younger folk” who are stricken to the degree that their phones have become extra appendages that can’t be severed from their palms. But truth be told, we are all far from immune. FOMO sneaks into our lives and reduces our capacity to achieve our true tachlis. Try this sample test. Picture yourself in any of the following scenarios: You’re having a work-related discussion with a colleague.

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Around the Community

A Successful Night for Yeshiva Nishmas Hatorah

eshiva Nishmas Hatorah hosted their open house on Sunday, November 17. Roshei Yeshiva R’ Yissachar Blinder and R’ Pinchus Weinberger addressed the

packed room of parents and kids as well as general studies principal R’ Nachum Dinowitz and two current students of the yeshiva. Yeshiva Nishmas Hatorah has a

kollel, beis medrash, and mesivta. All three facets of the yeshiva come together to offer a unique setting where talmidim can connect and grow together.

To learn more about the yeshiva, please visit nishmashatorah.org.

Chernobyler Rebbe to Visit U.S. for Special Partnership Journey

hassidim and supporters of Bais Chernobyl and Torah communities across the U.S. are looking forward to the upcoming visit of the Chernobyler Rebbe scheduled for the weeks of Parshas Toldos and Vayeitzei. Unlike previous brief visits to America, this multi-community trip has been dedicated as a partnership journey called Pe’ulas Tzaddik. As many are aware, the primary focus of the rebbe’s leadership is the Yeshiva and its network of kollelim, with over 2000 alumni in communities around the world. Overriding dedication to Torah and avodah are the hallmarks of Chernobyl. In keeping with the vision of his illustrious father, Rav Meshulam Zusia, ztzvk”l, the Rebbe began building the yeshiva and the kollel almost immediately after assuming the mantle of leadership. The goal of the yeshiva was to fill the void that existed amongst chassidishe communities that didn’t have yeshivos of their own. Over the years, the yeshiva has grown to over 600 talmidim, across its various divisions. Several years ago, when it became obvious that the building in Bnei Break could never accommodate such growth, the Rebbe undertook the construction of an all new campus for the yeshiva in Elad.

The 50,000 square-foot, six-story campus has a staggering total cost of $8.2 million. With tremendous mesirus nefesh and siyata d’Shmaya, close to $6 million has been raised to-date. With the campus now nearing completion, the Rebbe has now untaken this taxing journey in search of shutfim – partners to help him bring the project to its completion. This is a rare opportunity for individuals to earn a veritable partnership in the Rebbe’s personal project of building accomplished talmidei chachamim and yirei shomayim al taharas hakodesh. Founded over 250 years ago in the heartland of Jewish Ukraine, Chernobyl is likely the oldest chassidus to still carry its original name and identity. The holy Me’or Einayim – Harav Menachem Nochum Twersky, founder of the Chernobler dynasty – was a disciple of the Ba’al Shem Tov and, later, of the holy Maggid of Mezritch. Nearly a century after this dynamic chassidus was decimated by the Ukrainian Bolsheviks; it has once again re-emerged as a vibrant continuum of this illustrious legacy. Heir to an illustrious legacy dating back eight generations, the Rebbe, shlit”a, has earned world renown as one our generation’s foremost tzaddikim and gedolim. Over the years, the Rebbe has traveled to com-

munities around the world, connecting with Yidden from all walks of life, who are enamored with the Rebbe’s personality and his yiraso hakodemes lechochmaso. Thousands of Yidden from across the spectrum of Klal Yisroel have developed and maintain a personal kesher with the Rebbe, whom they turn to for chizuk, guidance, brachos and yeshuos. Despite the Rebbe’s exalted stature and his complete disconnect from the mundane facets of the world around him, he has a remarkable ability to empathize with another Yid no matter how far removed he might be from his way of life. While in his own personal life, the Rebbe is completely removed from the excesses of contemporary society, he has a keen grasp of the trials and tribulations facing those who seek his counsel in virtually all facets relating to their personal lives or business situations. In addition to taking interest and offering insight, the Rebbe personally undertakes to daven and facilitate yeshuos for those in need. Indeed, many of the communities visited by the Rebbe have witnessed firsthand the tangible brachos manifested by the Rebbe’s presence in their city. The Rebbe exudes an overwhelming sense of gratitude to the supporters of his mosdos. The Rebbe’s recog-

nition and sense of beholdenness to those who take a share in the yeshiva into which he has invested his entire heart and soul, is manifested in the generous brachos, chizuk, and counsel that flow from his lips. Upon his arrival to the U.S., the rebbe will be greeted at the airport by a contingent of elder chassidim and distinguished yedidim of Bais Chernobyl. On Thursday evening, Rosh Chodesh Kislev, the rebbe will be warmly received at a special Kabbolas Ponim and Mesibas Rosh Chodesh. The Kabbolas Ponim will be hosted by the Skulener Rebbe, shlit”a, of Lakewood in his Bais Medrash on Park Avenue with the participation of the roshei hayeshiva, admorim, rabbonim and manhigim of Lakewood. The bulk of the Rebbe’s stay will be in Lakewood. An uplifting Shabbos Parshas Toldos, with large tishen and tefillos, is scheduled to take place in the Rachmestrivka Bais Medrash on County Line Road. Over the course of the journey, the Rebbe will also visit the communities of Toms River, Far Rockaway, The Five Towns, Monsey, and Williamsburg, among others. For more information or to set up a private audience with the Rebbe, please contact 424-362-7142 or 718-208-0851.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Hands-On Learning

irls in Kitah Daled of Cheder Chabad Girls of Long Island (CCGLI) experienced hands-on learning through creating a 3D chart to remind us whether to say morid ha’tal, mashiv ha’ruach, v’sein bracha, and v’sein tal u’matar, etc. in Shemonah Esrei We learned many of the intricate details concerning the proper time to

begin each phrase. In the process of learning about v’sein tal u’matar, we used Google Street View to help us calculate how long it would take the Jew who lives farthest from Yerushalayim to return “home” after Sukkos. Learning comes in all forms, and in this Kitah Daled, we are happy to experience many of them!

YOSS Rocks!

t the YOSS ECC our boys are climbing to new heights as our brand-new rock-climbing wall was added to our already amazing SENS-A-TIONAL gym this week. Boys have also been “going fishing” in our new sensory Hug Boats. There were also new additions to our classroom this week, as each kindergarten

and Pre1A class got two new laptops from CIJE to add to and update the Waterford computer programs. These programs allow our moros to give children enrichment and/or resource help in their math and reading skills. Thank you to the CIJE grants for our computers.

Music at BYAM

ne of the innovative programs at Bais Yaakov Ateres Miriam is the amazing music class run by Morah Shira Biegeleisen, an acclaimed music teacher who graduated from Tav L’Taf Music Institute in Yerushalayim with a diploma in Music and Movement Instruction and studied piano at the Royal Conservatory of Music. The girls are in the midst of learning basic notation, which will result in learning to read a rhythm. They add one or two notes to their repertoire weekly and practice tapping, clapping or banging out different rhythmic arrangements. The girls enjoy an array of different music/ rhythm activities with a variety of materials such as rhythm sticks, bean bags, boomawhackers, and more! Besides for the rhythm, the girls

are exercising their cognitive flexibility and getting used to cognition in a whole different capacity. They are getting exposure to different instruments and their sounds and doing a lot of imaginative play connecting to different thematic units that they learn. They are practicing coordination and simply having a wonderful time exploring the world of music. The older girls are even learning notation and how to read and write their own rhythm. Music and movement has been shown to be an effective method of positive learning. Each class is custom coordinated to engage the children, bring out creativity, invigorate even the more difficult students, and impart lessons related to the season, yom tov and integral social skills.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Captain Ephraim Travis, an alumnus of Yeshiva Darchei Torah and a former chaplain in the U.S. Army, addressed the Yeshiva’s seventh grade talmidim in connection with Veterans’ Day. He spoke about some of his experiences in Iraq and elsewhere and the guiding Yad Hashem that he encountered throughout his life

Ezra Academy Extracurricular Off to a Great Start

his past week was an extremely productive week for Ezra Academy’s extracurricular programs. The week started off when Ezra sent a team of four students to participate for the school’s very first time in NCSY’s JUMP competition. JUMP is a high school competition where teams from all over North America come together and try to help solve or at least address important issues affecting their communities. The first part of the competition took place last Sunday to Tuesday at the Stamford Crowne Plaza. Teams were expected to pinpoint an area of interest and create ways in which they hope to help rectify the issue that they chose. With many exciting programs, sessions, and a tremendous amount of work, three teams out of fourteen were chosen to receive grants towards their project. Ezra Academy was selected as one of the three winning teams. Their focus on spreading the awareness of how dangerous vaping is and the deadly effects it carries was an idea the panel of judges felt was worthwhile invest-

ing in. While they received the first grant, there are three more opportunities for any of the teams to receive more grants throughout the duration of the competition. The Ezra JUMP team has been hard at work in their resolve to help prevent vaping and look forward to making a huge impact on this dangerous habit. The week then came to a close but not before a team of students participated in the Apprentice Challenge on Friday. Hosted by Adelphi University as one of their admission events, two hundred and fifty students from the local New York area were given a marketing challenge influenced by this year’s event sponsor, Geico. Teams were given the task to create a promotion to raise awareness and change the behavior pertaining to distracted driving, specifically texting while driving. Five students from all the participants were chosen as the top presenters and asked to speak in front of all of the people present. We are proud that our very own senior, Benjamin Borokhov, was among those chosen.

Rambam at AIPAC

ambam Seniors Avi Balsam and Avi Koenig recently traveled down to Washington, D.C., for the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Schusterman High School Summit. The summit was focused on educating high school students on the nuances of the Arab-Israeli conflict and how to become better advocates for Israel in high school and on college campuses. On Sunday, the conference was opened by several AIPAC campus fellows speaking about their experiences advocating for AIPAC. One of them interviewed avowed AIPAC supporter and CNN correspondent Bakari Sellers on how he became interested in Israel advocacy as an African-American man from North Carolina. Following this, the delegates participated in a simulation demonstrating how AIPAC effectively lobbies members of government on behalf of Israel. On Monday, the day started with sessions with officials from the CIA and AIPAC briefing the delegates on the political situations in various parts of the Middle East from Turkey to Iran and, of course, Israel. Then came lunch, and a general session with a panel of people, including members of President Obama’s negotiating team, as well as a Palestinian-American woman who discussed pathways to peace. The message by the panel was one of understanding and of moving past one-sided narratives by all parties to achieve peace. This transitioned to the next portion of the day, which was discussing how to become effective advocates in our communities, whether through productive conversation or in leader-

ship positions, and how to best structure those leadership roles. Finally, the day ended with a nighttime college fair and the carnival, which was a time for everyone to relax with great food and various games such as ping-pong and minigolf. On the last day of the conference, delegates attended lobbying sessions with their representatives. Avi Balsam joined Congresswoman Kathleen Rice to help lobby for her signing a letter to the U.N. regarding Hezbollah tunnels in Southern Lebanon. Rep. Rice’s staff met the delegates and informed them that she had signed the letter but thanked them for their show of support and expression of gratitude for coming to lobby. After this, the conference concluded, but the lessons learned are going to stay with all who attended for the future.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Rabbi Stein’s fifth grade class at Siach Yitzchok celebrated a beautiful siyum after finishing the first three perakim of Mishnayos Bava Kama. After enjoying the nice outdoor weather, the boys enjoyed a delicious seudah/barbecue. A special thank you to Reb Aaron and Rebbetzin Kayla Mirel Stein for hosting the siyum. Thank you to Mrs. Ahuvah Halpern, grandmother of Yehuda Aryeh, for making the delicious dessert.

An Evening of Awareness at BBY Intergeneration Day at n a rainy and cold Monday HALB Lev Chana

night, Bnos Bais Yaakov Jr. High School parents battled the weather for an informative and enlightening evening, gaining a better understanding and appreciation of what life looks like through the eyes of their adolescent daughters. BBY is privileged to have forged a partnership with OHEL, teaming up to bring an exciting new program to our sixth grade students. The Coordinator of OHEL’s School-Based Services, Rabbi Meir Mark, helped bring this important program to fruition. Parents were given a taste of the unique curriculum that will soon be presented to their daughters in a weekly class seamlessly woven into their busy junior high schedules. Mrs. Cheryl Chernofsky, OHEL team member and school psychologist, who will be teaching this class, gave an overview of the topics and skills that she will be presenting. This tailor-made curriculum will undoubtedly help our students gain awareness and unlock the tools that can help students ride the natural, and sometimes stressful, waves that come with adolescence. The evening climaxed with a keynote address from Dr. Norman Blumenthal, Zachter Family Director of Trauma and Crisis Intervention for OHEL Children’s Home and Family Services. Dr. Blumenthal’s unmatched experience in the field, real-life anecdotes, and expertise

helped widen parental lenses to the overt and more subtle changes and challenges that our daughters face as they navigate this transitional stage in life. By helping parents gain awareness, Dr. Blumenthal stressed the utmost importance of infusing parents, and teachers alike, with a proactive approach in communicating with our children, thereby minimizing the need for being reactive. Students who are most prepared for life’s challenges, both big and small, are those who come with a toolbox filled with tools. The goal of this program is to help students increase their capacity to cope, manage, and reduce stress by learning specific techniques that foster growth, development, and resiliency, as they progress to the next stage of their developmental lives. We would like to thank all of the faculty members involved in OHEL and BBY for making this program a reality in our school.

all is here and that means it is time for the beloved Intergeneration Day program at HALB Lev Chana. Every day, for a week, our grandparents journey from as close as the Five Towns to as far as Monsey, Passaic, Chicago and Lakewood, not to mention one or two international travelers who plan their vacations around this special event. Grandparents and great-grandparents zip out their smartphones and iPads and are totally engrossed as they watch and

listen to the beautiful voices of their precious grandchildren performing a medley of songs. Family portrait magnets are taken in front of a beautiful colorful backdrop created by the kindergarten children. Grandparents and beloved grandchildren then sit at various centers whose themes include Shabbat and family, creating cherished memories of this special time together at the HALB Lev Chana Early Childhood Center.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

The talmidim of Yeshiva Darchei Torah’s Harriet Keilson Early Childhood Center were introduced to the letter “hay” in the Alef-Beis with the help of a visit from Hatzoloh men and their ambulance

Rambam Hosts and Honors Wounded IDF Heroes

his past week, the Rambam community hosted two wounded Israeli soldiers in a special assembly. Following an introduction by Rabbi Yotav Eliach, the principal of Rambam Mesivta who has dedicated over 20 years of his life to serving in the IDF, Rambam alum and veteran of the IDF Sam Cohen (Class of 2014) addressed the students of Rambam and shared his journey of development from being a talmid at Rambam to an IDF soldier. Sam then introduced the wounded heroes, Dror Zickerman and Oren Or Bittoun, who both gave presentations outlining their moving and heroic lives. Dror was seriously injured while manning a checkpoint that was attacked by a suicide bomber. Tragically, the attack ended up killing Dror’s commander. He remarked that, for over a decade after that, he suffered from the effects of severe PTSD before finally realizing that he had to get himself the help necessary

to become a part of society again. He now speaks about his story to raise awareness of issues of PTSD suffered by soldiers and helps them on their own journeys of recovery. Oren similarly suffers from PTSD

following a raid on a terrorist’s house in which his commander was killed. He told the students that he was supposed to enter the house first instead of his commander, who was killed, but his commander told him to enter

the home second, saving his life. Currently, like Dror, Oren speaks to audiences around Israel and the world about PTSD and the importance of getting proper treatment. He has written a book, Powder Keg, currently available in Hebrew and English on the subject of his life, struggles, and continued recovery. Following the moving stories, Sam and Rabbi Eliach presented the heroes with plaques recognizing their contributions to the continued security of Eretz Yisrael. Rabbi Meth’s ninth grade class took a picture with the soldiers to send to their Israeli pen pals who’ve they’ve been communicating with from Neveh Shmuel. The Rambam students walked out of the assembly with a great lesson in what it means to have real courage and what a hero really looks like; an experience that will hopefully stay with the students for the rest of their lives.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Fire Safety at IVDU

he students at IVDU Long Island hosted the heroic volunteers of the Valley Stream Fire Department and reviewed important fire safety rules as well. The firefighters patiently reviewed the important rules of evacuating quickly and staying low when there’s smoke. The students enjoyed the animated and child-friendly video reviewing these rules. Getting to climb into their shiny fire trucks was by far the highlight of the visit, as well as watching one of the firemen geared up in jacket, helmet, mask, and all to demonstrate how some of their gear and equipment works. They even demonstrated the use of an oxygen mask. Did you know that firemen often

carry over 150 pounds of gear with them at one time? The students were engaged throughout the presentation and asked insightful questions of the firemen. At the end of the visit, the firemen presented the children with their very own firefighter helmets, as well as activity books teaching about fire safety. IVDU LI thanks former Chief Garofalo of the Valley Stream Fire Department for organizing this visit and for the hands-on and interactive presentation that captured the attention of all. Hands-on learning is a key component to all learning at IVDU Long Island, which provides a warm and stimulating self-contained K-5 special education option in the Five Towns.

Yeshivat Kol Yaakov Writes for Veterans Day

eshivat Kol Yaakov is connecting with local seniors in the Great Neck Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Classes are visiting seniors every 3-4 weeks to do a “Read With Me” activity that has younger students joining hands with seniors as they read either a selection or book together. Last week, for Veterans Day, Miss Abdolazadeh had her class wrote thank you letters to veterans which they then read aloud and delivered to the veteran residents at Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing. The veterans received their thank you letters with heartfelt thanks after the students’ presentation. Boys then split into groups and joined smaller groups of residents to read and discuss an excerpt from the novel they’re reading as a class: Because of Winn Dixie.

Morah Bracha Katz’ first grade also visited seniors for a Dr. Seuss read where they paired and shared with residents, many of whom offered praise and encouragement for their reading initiative. One resident asked boys lots of questions as they read to make sure they understood the book and another commented on how funny the book was. All seniors loved being read to by first graders and enjoyed being needed to provide encouragement and even some reading help at times. It was a beautiful example of chessed reciprocity where both parties give and receive. Yeshivat Kol Yaakov thanks Mrs. Shiela Cassidy, Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing’s Recreation Director, for partnering with us to help our boys share their love of reading and bring joy to seniors at the same time.

Like a Brother: Achiezer’s Annual Gala

he Five Towns and Far Rockaway communities are gearing up for Achiezer’s annual Gala, to be held at The Sands Atlantic Beach on January 5, 2020. An evening of energy, excitement, hope and reflection, this event will be an opportunity to celebrate Achiezer’s tremendous accomplishments on behalf of the community and to pay tribute to a group of outstanding honorees. The theme of the dinner, “Achi – My Brother, Ezer – My Helper,” will highlight the remarkable work of this trailblazing organization.

From Achiezer’s comprehensive hospital and medical support network to its Westwood Financial Management Program, its landmark community-wide Zichron Dovid Chevra Kadisha, its 24-hour Urgent Community Hotline, its Mental Health Department, and its many other programs, Achiezer is there for the community and the individual, never taking a day off, never resting. A brother is someone who you trust and makes you feel safe and cared for, with respect, devotion and sensitivity.

A brother holds you up, puts you first, and lets you know that you’ll never be alone. Ever. A brother is…everything.

And like a brother…Achiezer is there. Stay tuned for exciting Gala details in the coming weeks.

Did you know? Monarch butterflies fly south in the fall. They travel between 12 and 25 miles an hour, the only insect that migrates up to 2,500 miles for nicer weather.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

HAFTR HS Welcomes Future Class of 2024

ighth graders and their parents from neighborhoods around the Long Island area, Brooklyn and Queens packed HAFTR High School’s auditorium on Sunday for the annual Open House. HAFTR High School is certainly proud that their graduates attend the finest seminaries and yeshivot in Israel, as well as the most selective universities in our nation, but just as important as the wonderful schools they attend is that HAFTR graduates are fine young men and women with middot tovot, who embrace Modern Orthodoxy and are leaders on college campuses and in the Jewish community. The Open House program began with engaging student and administrator presenters. HAFTR senior Molly Vashovsky, currently in her 13th year as a HAFTR student, served as emcee and passionately spoke about her strong connection to the school and how the warm environment, teachers, and college guidance counselors helped pave the way for her to activate her potential and her future successes. “As I reflect on my past three years at HAFTR High School, I realize how much I have benefited from all that HAFTR has to offer its students,” she recalled. As co-captain of HAFTR’s Mock Trial team, a head of the big sibling program, an editor for the yearbook, a columnist for the school newspaper The Tattler, a member of the Environmental Action Committee, an editor for the school Spanish newspaper, and a member of the Science

and Engineering Institute, Molly truly has taken part in so much of what HAFTR High School has to offer during her tenure. Freshman Effie Willner shared that he really “enjoys being surrounded by so many great rabbis and teachers who care about you and what’s truly the best for you.” Effie added, “In addition to its unique atmosphere, HAFTR has an outstanding academic program that meets each and every student’s needs with diverse offerings in both limudei kodesh and general studies. Each student is assigned a guidance counselor that stays with them all four years. If a student needs to switch classes, they work with their counselor to find one of the several different levels of the same course offered at the same time, so it doesn’t impact the rest of their schedule.” He noted, “I am proud to already be involved in

many programs at HAFTR, including Sci-Tech Engineering, a double Gemara class, and the accelerated mathematics program.” Principal Ms. Naomi Lippman, Associate Principal Dr. Joshua Wyner, and Dean of Limudei Kodesh Rabbi Yitzchok Riselsheimer discussed the inclusive school culture, close kesher (connection) of staff and students, and excellent academics of HAFTR High School. “Yes, our academics and Torah learning are extraordinary, and our co-curricular activities, guidance and mentoring programs are breathtaking in scope and substance, but there is one more ingredient that makes us such a wonderful and successful yeshiva high school: our unique school culture,” Ms. Lippman stated. “Dr. Wyner, Rabbi Riselsheimer, and I know every child in our yeshiva, and every student knows that we

appreciate him or her as a unique individual,” said Ms. Lippman in her address to the audience. “Our engaging, gifted teachers are devoted to the learning of every student whom they teach. Our students are warm, mature, respectful young men and women. They are inclusive of each other, and they celebrate their classmates’ special talents and accomplishments.” “We understand that our students come to HAFTR with a range of skills and abilities, and we have developed different level courses to facilitate the success of every child.” related Ms. Lippman. “We create an individualized schedule for every HAFTR student, allowing each child to excel in his or her areas of strength. With the assistance of our renowned College and Academic Guidance Department, our students are admitted to outstanding univer-

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Around the Community sities, including Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, YU and Stern Honors, Macaulay Honors, and a range of wonderful private universities and city and state colleges that are the best match for the individual student.” “HAFTR High School is constantly innovating to enhance our students’ educational experience,” she continued. “Last year, we opened a magnificent new state-ofthe-art STEM and Innovation Center, equipped with sophisticated science and technology tools to allow students to engage in advanced research and development. “I am so proud of the students who addressed you this morning. They are truly representative of what we effectuate at HAFTR,” said Ms. Lippman, now in her 22nd year at HAFTR. “We have created a culture of warmth, kindness, caring, support, and achdut (unity). Our students’ parents tell us that their children love to come to school ev-

ery day, and that is because every student has a sense of belonging and value in our school community. Our students are imbued with a love of Hashem, a love of learning, a love of Israel, and a desire to achieve their own unique potential as dedicated, religious Orthodox Jews.” During his remarks, Dr. Wyner emphasized that HAFTR High School prides itself on being patient, empathetic and genuinely kind to students. “The Torah education, academic program, school spirit, and co-curricular activities are superb, but what makes our yeshiva unique is the fact that these pillars are built on a foundation of heartfelt, mutually respectful relationships between rebbeim, morot, teachers, administrators and students; with the goal of perpetuating the mission of Avraham and Sarah to build a nation that thrives in midot tovot, chesed and unconditional care and concern for others,” said Dr. Wyner. “This event is a wonderful display of our warm,

positive, and inviting school culture. We’re looking forward to welcoming many new faces to the HAFTR High School family.” Rabbi Riselsheimer noted that “the kesher our students have with our rebbeim and morot is created in and out of the classroom; during highly engaging shiurim, on school trips, Shabbatonim, mishmars at the rebbeim and morahs’ homes, Friday nights at a morah’s house, our Friday ‘Kumzitz and Kugels,’ at athletic games, or just shmoozing in the halls.” He added, “We have designed our Limudei Kodesh curriculum to empower our talmidim and talmidot to be challenged, involved, and excited to learn in a meaningful way.” “It is always nice to see that the success of HAFTR is being recognized and has piqued the interest of so many,” commented Mr. Ari Solomon, Executive Director, on the large turnout for the Open House. “With our incredible administration

and talented faculty, it’s no wonder so many students are interested in attending our school.” After the presentations, prospective students and their parents joined smaller groups to tour the building and experience what makes HAFTR’s educational programming so special, including HAFTR’s impressive new STEAM space. The Technology and Innovation Center includes a Media Studio, two state of the art science classrooms, a brandnew STEM Lab, and an all-inclusive Art Room. Prospective families were also treated to presentations about College & Israel Guidance, Limudei Kodesh, Humanities, Student Life, and Student Support. What more could you want in a local yeshiva high school? For more information about HAFTR High School or to arrange an appointment, please contact hsadmissions@ haftr.org. Deadline for applications online at haftr.org is December 6, 2019.

decorated frames that contained the blessings for lighting candles, which was a gift for their special guests. Together, the grandparents and children completed a question and answer sheet that compared the different traditions that take place on Shabbat in their homes. At the conclusion of the event, each grandparent was presented with a HANC tote bag that contained a personalized HANC bencher and a booklet. This inter-generational event was the culmination of a lot of plan-

ning under the leadership of Mrs. Liz Pazornick, HANC’s Director of Development. Hakarat hatov also goes to Mrs. Lisa Lowy, Director of Admissions, and the kindergarten and first grade teachers who created the projects and packets and helped make the experience so meaningful. Additional thanks to Mrs. Randi Silber, Morah Dafna Berman, and Mrs. Phyllis Itzkowitz for their help setting up as well as assisting throughout the course of the program.

Grandparents Day at HANC

he kindergarten and first grade students in HANC’s Samuel and Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School in West Hempstead eagerly awaited the arrival of their grandparents and special guests on Thursday, November 14. As the guests entered the auditorium, they were treated to delicious pastries, coffee, and fruit and had the opportunity to greet each other. The guests came from near and far, including one grandparent who traveled from Israel to enjoy this special event with his triplet grandchildren. Following opening remarks by Rabbi Yaakov Sadigh, Head of School West Hempstead campuses, the guests viewed a video showing students enjoying their time at HANC. After much anticipation, the

kindergarten children entered the auditorium and eagerly found their grandparents. The children and their special guests decorated a picture frame that contained the erev Shabbat children’s blessing, personalized with the child’s photograph. They also completed a Shabbat activity packet together. When the first grade students came to greet their grandparents, they got very busy creating a myriad of projects designed to enhance Shabbat. The children and their guests assembled Shabbat bags which included a kiddush cup, battery-operated candles, and cinnamon sticks for Havdallah. The packages will be donated to a hospital to enable patients to celebrate Shabbat as they recuperate. The children also

Did you know? It takes roughly 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

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The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Revolution at SHS

Shulamith ECC Has Our At-tent-tion

he children at Shulamith ECC spent the week of Parshat Vayeira learning about the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim in the most developmentally appropriate way possible – by being involved in hands-on meaningful mitzvah opportunities. Eager to emulate Avraham Avinu, the girls discussed the best possible ways to do this special mitzvah. Although they are young, the children came up with wonderful ways that they can be involved in the welcoming guests. They even discussed how to be a good guest when they are invited to someone else’s house. Finally, it was time to put their ideas into action. The kindergarten classes invited the Pre 1-A classes to a beautiful “Blueberries for Sal” tea party featuring blueberry jam on crackers and, of course, iced tea. The children enjoyed reading the wonderful classic picture book which

ties right into their animal theme as both animals and people get ready for winter. Both guests and hostesses were very conscious of their special roles and carried them out perfectly. At the same time, the children worked hard constructing a tent outdoors that they could actually use to play in and invite their own guests. It was challenging to figure out how to make a tent with four usable doors. The real STEM challenge was how to figure out how to keep the sides of the tent (made of sheets) from blowing in the wind. The children furnished the tent with signs and drawings, cushions, and even a Persian rug! Come visit Shulamith ECC. Our banot are eager to host you!

ast week was an incredible week at Shulamith High School. The week began with chayalim from El Ami, an organization for injured IDF soldiers, speaking to the students and sharing their stories along with a presentation. The presentation came at an appropriate time as the students were focused on saying Tehillim for the situation in Eretz Yisroel. The week continued with two basketball victories for the Shulamith Sharks! Senior Tamar Mann scored a combined total of 38 points as the entire team proved that hard work pays off. While the Sharks were all about the baskets, over fifty SHS students were kneading dough at the LI Teen Challah Bake. The largest representation of any local high school, Director of Student Activities Esty Munk helped run this successful event. Finally, the week ended with tenth and eleventh graders taking the Pre-ACT. However, SHS students are given a tremendous opportunity. Revolution Tutors has been brought in to help families make an educated decision about which test

to take: the SAT or ACT. Taking their PSAT and Pre-ACT scores, students, with their parents, will sit with a Revolution Tutors representative to compare scores, both by section and the composite scores. The scores will be analyzed and allow students to see their specific strengths and challenges. “This allows younger students, specifically sophomores, to figure out early on what test plays to their strength. This not only allows them more time to plan and prepare, but grants them confidence and assurance in the exam they are taking,” Ariel Cohen, tutoring director, stated. “You don’t wake up one day and decide to run a marathon. It takes preparation, mentally and physically,” Mr. Cohen added as he administered the Pre-ACT. Revolution Tutors boasts improvements of scores of over 200 points. As the ACT is in discussion to allow students to take individual sections over (there are a total of four) beginning in 2021, pinpointing strengths and weaknesses is important to do early on. SHS is grateful to Dean of Students Ricky Gaerman for arranging this opportunity.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Science Research at Central

As the weather dropped last week, Rabbi Pfeiffer, Sgan Menahel of Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island, was not deterred, wellbundled up for another dismissal

“Count” on Fun Math at BYQ

ath is engaging, rigorous, and fun at Bais Yaakov of Queens! The sixth grade math students created Venn Diagrams while learning prime factorization. They compared and contrasted the prime factors of two numbers. They used their Venn Diagrams to determine the greatest common factor and least common multiple for those numbers. The girls appreciated the graphic organizer as a visual model to make abstract math more concrete. “The girls enjoyed ‘playing around’ with the numbers,” said Mrs. Lindell, the sixth grade math teacher. They look forward to more engaging activities to make math come to life! In the fourth grade, the girls worked in groups to solve GIANT multiplication examples. They practiced multiplying with regrouping, a new and challenging skill, in an engaging way.

“It’s amazing to see the girls so happy to learn. I hope that by making learning so much fun, the girls will continue to have a love of learning and feel the joy of mastering new skills throughout their lives,” said fourth grade teacher Mrs. Rauch.

Shabbat at HANC

n honor of this week’s worldwide Shabbat project, HANC ECC held a beautiful, interactive Bereishit Fair. Each Nursery Aleph classroom was transformed into a “Day of Creation.” The yeladim in each Nursery Aleph class visited every classroom in order of the Days of Creation and were taught a hands-on lesson about each day. Our Nursery Bet classes took turns in our audito-

rium visiting tables labeled by each day of creation. They too had an interactive hands-on lesson regarding each day of Creation. Our Shabbat Project culminated with a schoolwide Shabbat party with music and dancing. Each class baked their own challah which they ate at the Shabbat party, along with grape juice for kiddush and special cupcakes.

Hannah Hamerman, Lauren Stiefel, Mrs. Ruth Fried, Meirav Grajower, and Mrs. Miriam Chopp at the Science Institute Summer 2019 Garcia symposium

he goal of YUHSG’s science program is to engage, excite, and inspire each student’s interest in the sciences, possibly as a future career, but more importantly as a vital component of everyday life. The Science Institute is a highly innovative research program that gives select students the opportunity to concentrate their high school studies on scientific knowledge, science literacy, and research methodology. The students attend off-site lectures, participate in a research methodology course, and perform independent research. The Science Institute prepares participants for summer research internships and national and international science research competitions. Science Institute students have been accepted to prestigious summer internships at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AECOM), Stony Brook University, New York University, Cooper Union College, and others. Student participation in these research opportunities has resulted in recognition and awards, including Siemens Math, Science, and Technology Regional Finalists, New York City Science and Engineering Fair Finalists, and representation of New York City at the International Science and Engineering Fair Competition. Senior Science Institute student, Meirav Grajower, reflected on the program: “The highlight of my experience in the Science Institute has been the opportunity to conduct independent research. During the summer of tenth grade, I interned at the AECOM Diabetes Clinical Trials Unit, where I learned about what goes into conducting a clinical trial. This past summer, I participated in the Garcia Summer High School Research Program at Stony Brook University. I studied how dental pulp stem cells respond to differences in the moduli of the substrate on which they grow and divide. Understanding the triggers of dental

cell differentiation advances the field of tissue engineering and contributes to the goal of creating tissue for implantation, removing the need for artificial implants. “I have presented my research at the Renewable Energy and Sustainability Competition at Farmingdale State College, and I will be presenting my research at the Material Research Society (MRS) in Boston. In the future, I hope to compete in the New York State Science and Engineering Fair.” Senior Science Institute student, Lauren Stiefel, reflected on her experience: “The four years I have spent in the Science Institute program have shaped my future. My first exposure to independent research and research techniques was in my tenth grade Research Methodology course. My research journey continued that summer at AECOM, where the Science Institute director, Mrs. Ruth Fried, arranged an internship for me to study the genetics of elderly Ashkenazic Jews. I grappled with the bioethical issues related to the research being performed, and the study of the human brain. “A year of College Board Advanced Placement science and math courses later, I participated in the Garcia Summer High School Research Program directed by Dr. Miriam Rafailovich. There, I worked on developing a flame-retardant cream for firefighters that could protect human skin from burning in a fire. I have continued traveling to Stonybrook University to advance my research, and I am currently writing a paper on our findings. My research was accepted to the MRS conference in Boston, where I will be presenting my work. “What has really stood out for me throughout my experience in the Science Institute is the support the faculty at Central provides for me and my fellow researchers. I am so grateful for this entire experience.”

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Hungarian Government Officially Recognizes Country’s Orthodox Jewish Community

PHOTO CREDIT: MTI

he Hungarian government signed a special agreement with the Orthodox Jewish Communities Association (EMIH) this week that grants the country’s Orthodox Jewish community “special status,” an official recognition from the state for the first time since World War II. This development follows decades of injustice during which only Neolog (Reform) movement in the Hungarian Jewish community have been officially recognized and allocated money from government budgets. Inequality has grown over the years as the Chabad-led Orthodox community continues to thrive. The agreement was signed by the Deputy Prime Minister, Zsolt Semjén and the Chief Rabbi of EMIH – Association of United Hungarian Jewish Congregation Rabbi Shlomo Koves who, as a result of the recognition, became an official representative of the Jewish community in Hungary. The agreement was signed in the presence of the chief of the Orthodox Rabbinate of Budapest

Rabbi Baruch Oberlander, Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi David Lau, President of EMIH Mr. Sandor Sarkadi, Director of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe Rabbi Arie Goldberg, and Chabad (EMIH) community rabbis. The Hungarian Jewish community, estimated at between 75,000 and 100,000, is the largest in East Central Europe. Over the years, the Hungarian government has given “special status” to a number of different religious organizations. The distinctive title allows for a representative from each organization who oversees and receives government funding for the educational and religious institutions of his or her respective movement. Catholics were the first ones who acquired “special status,” the agreement of which was signed with the Vatican as early as 1998. Two years later, the neolog-reform streams of Judaism in Hungary which enjoyed a cordial relationship with authorities during the Communist-era and had been affiliated with succeeding leftist

Did you know? The Autumn Equinox, which took place on September 23, is one of two days a year when the sun is exactly in line with Earth’s celestial equator. As a result, Earth receives exactly 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.

governments, were granted “special status.” Rabbi Baruch Oberlander said, “The Lubavitcher Rebbe bore the weight of concern for the fate of Hungarian Jewry, and so he sent us thirty years ago as his emissaries to lead a religious revival among the Jews in Hungary. Thank G-d, our operations have been successful and are increasing. Today there are 17 rabbis (more than half of all Hungarian rabbis) serving Hungary’s Jewish community using the Chabad movement’s unique approach towards loving other Jews. Today is a historic day as the authorities have recognized our operations and feel the need to support them. This has also fulfilled the prayer in the will of the Chatam Sofer that the spring of Hungarian Jewry not dry out, that the tree of Hungarian Jewry not be cut down and that Judaism continue to always thrive.” Today, eight synagogues operate throughout Hungary under EMIH with seventeen rabbis and Chabad emissaries serving members of the local community as well as many tourists in Budapest, Miskolc, and Debrecen. Hundreds of students attend the Chabad elementary and high schools. EMIH operates a canteen for needy, publishing house, kosher slaughter, restaurants and more. The number of community institutions is increasing year by year. The number of institutions in the community continuously increases year by year.

This past September, two new synagogues on the banks of the Danube were inaugurated in memory of the Jews who were murdered on the river’s bank during the Holocaust. Last year, the historic synagogue in Buda was inaugurated after nearly 400 years. Built in the middle of the 13th century along with the establishment of the city, it served the local Jewish community, almost continuously, until the early 15th century. The central synagogue in Obuda opened nine years ago and was returned to the community after a 60-year stint. The “Obuda” synagogue, recently dubbed “the Hungarian Hurva,” was built some two hundred years ago in the “Buda” section of the Hungarian capital. Its magnificent prayer hall spans 400 square meters and has 600 seats along with a 15-meter high ceiling. The building has two more floors, which offer an event hall and activity rooms for the children of the Jewish community.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

CAMP DIRECTOR: LEEBA BRISK PROGRAM DIRECTOR: ELISHEVA SEGELMAN phone: 718.324.6724(ORAH) EMAIL: ORAHDAYCAMP@GMAIL.COM W E B S I T E : O R A H D A Y C A M P. C O M

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

MTA Open House Captures Warmth, Energy, and Excitement

TA welcomed more than 580 people at its Open House on Sunday, November 10. Participants reflected the many geographic locations that make up the MTA community and hailed from Monsey, Riverdale, Queens, Manhattan, West Hempstead, and Brooklyn to Highland Park, Passaic, Teaneck, Bergenfield, Hillside, Springfield, as well as several other states and countries. Everyone enjoyed meeting MTA’s warm and caring rebbeim, expert faculty, and friendly parent and student ambassadors, as they explored the inspirational Torah learning, strong academics, amazing extracurriculars, and unique programs that MTA is known for. The event captured the warmth, excitement, and energy that MTA talmidim, rebbeim, and faculty experience every day and enabled participants to share in these feelings.

The program began with a d’var Torah from Head of School Rabbi Joshua Kahn, followed by parent speaker Mrs. Jessica Landa, who shared her experience as the mother of three MTA talmidim, and student speaker Gedalya Aeder (‘20), who discussed the ways in which MTA shaped the person he is today. Prospective students and parents had the opportunity to learn about MTA’s curriculum and unique programs during informative sessions and discover its extensive array of extracurricular activities and academic initiatives at the Curricular Fair. MTA’s rebbeim, faculty, and talmidim look forward to spending more time getting to know prospective students and parents over the next few months. Prospective families can visit yuhsb.org/apply to submit an application from now through December 15.

The teachers at HAFTR Early Childhood Center turned the lesson on Avraham's tent into an immersive learning experience

SKA Chessed at the Challah Bake

he Long Island Style Teen Challah Bake held on Tuesday, November 12 got a helping hand from the juniors and seniors of the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls. The SKAers spent the morning assisting in setting the tables at the Sands of Atlantic Beach, preparing the ingredients needed to make the challah, and placing them with instructions in the big plastic bowls at each place setting. The girls had an inspiring time at the actual Challah Bake that evening! The event, which was open to public and private school teenagers across Long Island, Queens and Brooklyn, was a real opportunity for Jewish unity, and the SKA students were thrilled to be part of this amazing project.

Shevach Gears Up as an “Army Base”

n Monday, November 11, Shevach High School introduced its yearly Mishmeres initiative with a “bang.” The school’s entire multi-purpose room was transformed into an army base, reflecting this year’s theme of “Combat Your Speech.” Tanks, soldiers, and many other army-related items decked the walls of the MPR, including quotes such as “Our Speech is a Weapon” and “Surrender Your Negative Words.”

After watching a video on the power of speech, delivered by sought after speaker and founder of The Shmuz, Rabbi Benzion Shafier, the Mishmeres heads Chana Shira Haim, Simi Schwartz, and Rina Steinberg, under the guidance of Mrs. Sarah Davidson, presented their original song. The entire school joined in the singing and dancing, creating an exciting atmosphere. The Mishmeres heads then very

creatively introduced this month’s theme of “Seal Your Lips,” connecting it to the well-known and respected Navy SEALs. The girls were encouraged to focus on “sealing” their lips and refraining from saying anything that may cause harm to others, corresponding to their theme of fighting negativity. As a culmination of this special event, the Mishmeres heads handed out containers of lip balm imprint-

ed with their “Combat Your Speech” logo. Every time a student uses the lip balm, she will be reminded to seal her lips and refrain from speaking negatively. Rebbetzin Rochelle Hirtz, Shevach High School principal, along with the rest of the Shevach staff, agreed that the breakout was very impacting and look forward to a year of growth, positivity, and inspiration in this important mitzvah of shemiras halashon.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community PHOTO CREDIT: IVAN H NORMAN

Last Thursday night, Yeshiva Ateres Shimon of Far Rockaway held a siyum on Mishnayos/Mishna Daily. The siyum was conducted by Rabbi Mordechai Groner, Rosh Hayeshiva. The very large gathering was addressed by HaRav Shimon Galai of Bnei Barak. There was singing, dancing, and wonderful food. Seen in the photo, L to R: Rabbi Mordechai Groner, Rosh Hayeshiva; HaRav Shimon Galai of Bnei Barak; and Rabbi Aryeh Zev Ginzberg, rav of the Chofetz Chaim Torah Center of Cedarhurst

Eretz Chemda Zooms into TAG

YCQ Torah Bowl Meet By Sarah and Chana Owadeyah

n innovative, current, and fascinating program was inaugurated in TAG’s Jr. High this year for our fortunate kitos vav, spearheading the learning of mitzvos t’luyos ba’aretz in a most delightful and interactive way. Rabbi Moshe Efrati, the founder and dynamic force behind the Eretz Chemda program, visited TAG in the summer and offered us this unique medium of teaching our talmidos the myriad of mitzvos exclusively practiced in our Eretz Hakedosha. While many of the yeshivos have implemented this program, TAG has taken the initiative to add this valuable program as well for its talmidos. Twice a month, an English-speaking teacher is “zoomed” into our

Computer Room. One sixth grade at a time is captivated by the interactive lesson they learn using handson demonstrations and outstanding videos. The teacher is actually speaking from the Eretz Chemda office in Har Nof, Yerushalayim, housed in the Kollel Building where they learn agricultural halacha in depth. Each student received a beautifully illustrated workbook that they use in conjunction with the lessons learned. We look forward to the mornings that TAG talmidos get to learn live from across the world. Our love and appreciation of our beloved Eretz Yisrael is blossoming and growing!

hursday, October 31 was Yeshiva of Central Queens’ first Torah Bowl meet of the year. The meet was held at YCQ. The students from each of the participating yeshivot were asked hundreds of questions on the parshiot of Vayikra and Tzav and their respective Rashis. Parshat Vayikra discusses animal sacrifices and flour scarifies. It explains how to offer them and who may and may not eat from them. Parshat Tzav is a continuation of Vayikra. It discusses the rules and offerings brought during the seven days during which Moshe initiates Aharon and his sons into Kohanim. The team members worked hard with their coaches learning all aspects of these parshiot. The YCQ girls team went on to easily handle Ramaz (twice) and the Yeshiva of Flatbush and Manhattan Day School as well. The YCQ girls’ team plowed through the competition, winning all four of its games while never trailing

behind. Elmira Kohen, grade 7, said, “It feels amazing to win because we see how all of our hard work pays off.” The YCQ boys’ team did an amazing job winning three out of four matches. All of the YCQ students came to the meet prepared and ready for the challenge. The students have started learning Shemini and Achrei Mot in preparation for the next meet. Stay tuned for the exciting results of our upcoming matches as the students work hard to make it to the Torah Bowl championships.

Did you know? The word “pumpkin” comes from the Greek word pepon, which means “large melon.”

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

On November 10th, 2019, over 100 MAY talmidim, Rabbeim, alumni, fathers and friends came together to enjoy the 2nd Annual FM Home Loans MAY 5K Run on the Far Rockaway Boardwalk. This event once again brought talmidim, Rabbeim and friends of the Mesivta together to raise much needed funds for scholarships and Student Government activities. A tremendous Yasher Koâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ach to the G.O. representatives who took this venture from idea to reality.

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Dirshu Holds Siyum at the Home of Sar HaTorah, HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, Shlita Dirshu Nesius Comprised of Senior Gedolei Roshei Yeshiva and Admorim Attend Event By Chaim Gold

ny time there is a siyum at the home of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, shlita, it is a moving maamad, certainly it is exponentially more inspiring when that siyum is attended by senior gedolei yisrael such as HaGaon HaRav Berel Povarsky, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Ponovezh, the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, shlita, HaGaon HaRav Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Ateres Yisrael, the Sanzer Rebbe, Hagaon Harav Dovid Cohen, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Chevron, and the Modzhitzer Rebbe, shlita. The siyum on Daf HaYomi Bavli, Mesechta Middos and on Daf HaYomi B’Halacha, Chelek Daled of Mishnah Berurah, at Rav Chaim’s home took on a much more pronounced significance due to the fact that, in just over a month, the multiple events of marking the Dirshu World Siyum

Rav Dovid Hofstedter at the vasikin minyan with HaRav Chaim Kanievsky

will begin. Those siyumim to be held in stadiums from Yerushalayim and Tel Aviv, to Manchester, Paris, Johannesburg and more, will culminate in the grand finale of the world siyum at the Prudential Center and NJPAC, in

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Newark, NJ, where the accomplishments of the lomdei Dirshu will be hailed and publicly recognized. The siyum at the home of Rav Chaim was divided into two parts. Dirshu’s nesius gathered at Rav Chaim’s house in the evening where the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, Rav Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi, the Sanzer Rebbe, and Rav Dovid Hofstedter gave addresses. Rav Chaim, who was not feeling well, asked that the mamad continue in his house without him and asked the leaders of Dirshu to return to his home the next morning after vasikin davening. He also sent his son, Rav Yitzchok Shaul Kanievsky, with a letter that was read publicly at the maamad. There is a well-known Gemara in Masechta Shabbos:34 that teaches that one of the questions that a person will be asked when he is brought to judgment is whether he has set aside fixed times for learning Torah. The Mishnah Berurah takes great pains to tell us that a person should never neglect a set time for learning. It is also well-known that the ultimate level of Torah learning is when one learns in order to come out with practical halacha. The Chofetz Chaim, in his introduction to the Mishnah Berurah, explains that if a person doesn’t have enough time to learn everything, the first thing he should learn are the practical things so that he will not inadvertently transgress halacha. It is therefore

incumbent on us to thank Dirshu and our dear friend, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, shlita, who for decades has been and continues to be moser both his nefesh and his resources to promote the learning of Daf HaYomi and the other programs in order to increase knowledge in all of Shas among yungeleit and bochurim. It is in his zechus that thousands know Shas, Mishnah Berurah and Shulchan Aruch….” Rav Chaim concluded with a heartfelt bracha to all of the learners who will be making a siyum and whose accomplishments will be celebrated and hailed at the upcoming World Siyumim. The Pivotal Importance of Review The Vizhnitzer Rebbe, in his passionate remarks, focused on the fact that Dirshu has promoted the idea of chazara, reviewing one’s learning in an unprecedented way. “With Dirshu, there is no such thing as learning the Daf HaYomi once and then just moving on. That is perhaps what the pasuk after which Dirshu is named means when it says, ‘Dirshu Hashem v’uzo, bakshu fanav tamid –the way to seek out Hashem is by tamid, constantly reviewing, over and over again.” “Dirshu is a Chiddush” Rav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi took the opportunity of the siyum, the last siyum before the major siyum haShas, to talk about the siyum haShas and Dirshu’s role in promoting learning, chazara and yedias haTorah among the masses in an unprecedented way. He said, “Klal Yisrael is about to finish Shas! Is that a small accomplishment? Think about it for a second. You know who has thought about this and keeps thinking about this? Dirshu. Dirshu is a chiddush. In a certain sense, they have done something that no one else has been zocheh to achieve. They are an organization with one objective – to seek out ways to increase Torah leaning and Torah knowledge among Klal Yisrael and to increase kavod haTorah…”

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Around the Community

PASSOVER at

L-R: HaRav Dovid Cohen, Sanzer Rebbe, and the Vizhnitzer Rebbe

I Am Jealous of Such a Zechus The Sanzer Rebbe said, “I want to tell you something,” continued the Rebbe emotionally, “The Gemara tells us that when the Bais Hamidash was destroyed, the Shechina went into galus. The only way to bring the Shechina back is through Torah. I think we can say that Dirshu has brought back the Shechina! “I want to share a personal thought with you. When Dirshu started, I didn’t think – and no one thought – that it would grow to such a worldwide movement. The Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Boruch Mordechai, said in his address that there is no comparison to it [Dirshu] in Klal Yisrael. He is right! In every country where there are Yidden who learn Torah, Dirshu is there, assisting them and helping them maximize their learning. It is a movement that has revolutionized the entire world. Rav Boruch Mordechai said that we have to be makir tov to Dirshu and Rav Dovid, that is true, but I also want to say that I am jealous. I am jealous of such a zechus. What Rav Dovid Hofstedter has done is a tremendous mechayev. It obligates us all. It isn’t just money that has led to Dirshu’s success. It is zechusim. You need zechusim to facilitate so much limud haTorah all over the world. There are many wonderful, ehrliche Yidden, many philanthropists who want to do big things, but not everyone is zocheh. “My bracha is that the upcoming siyumim increase the kavod haTorah and encourage more and more people to learn Torah. After all, ultimately, the more Torah that is learned, the more people chaser,

the closer we are to bringing the ultimate geulah sheleimah that we all so long for, may it be b’mheira b’yameinu!” “A Manifestation of the Shechina’s Presence in Klal Yisrael” Rav Dovid cited the words that the Sanzer Rebbe had just spoken – the fact that the way to bring the Shechina to Klal Yisrael in our time is through limud haTorah. Rav Dovid added, “In the time of the Bais Hamikdash, the Shechina was there. In our times, however, the Shechina resides when there is a gathering of Gedolei Yisrael. When Gedolei Yisrael come together to give advice and bracha, it is a manifestation of the Shechina’s presence in Klal Yisrael. That is why we at Dirshu feel so fortunate to have the constant bracha and guidance of the leading Gedolei Yisrael of our time, who, both in the past and in the present, have been our guiding lights, advising us on which programs to start and how to promote them. “This year, especially, we have the zechus of receiving so much guidance and bracha from the Gedolim as we embark on World siyumim all over the world. It is their guidance that will enable us to make a kiddush Hashem, to be mechazek Torah learning and to be mechazek ameilus in Torah and yegiah in Torah. We feel so deeply fortunate to benefit from this constant guidance. “It is our fervent tefillah that Hashem should preserve our gedolim in good health, and they should continue to accompany us and guide us to increase Torah and to be mekadesh shem Shamayim!”

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Country Bumpkin Computer Terms Backup – What you do when you see a skunk in the woods. Bar code – The fightin’ rules down at da’ local tavern. Bug – The reason you give for calling in sick. Byte – What yer pit bull dun to cuzin Trevor. Chip – Yer cuzin’s uncle’s mother’s husband’s name. Terminal – Time to call da undertaker. Crash – When you go to Junior’s party uninvited. Digital – The art of counting on your fingers. Hacker – Uncle Trig after thirty years of smoking. Hardcopy – Picture looked at when selecting tattoos. Internet – What cafeteria workers put their hair in. Keyboard – Where you hang the keys to the John Deere. Mac – Big Bob’s favorite fast food. Megahertz – How your head feels after seventeen beers. Modem – What ya did when the grass and weeds got too tall.

You gotta be kidding There was once a young man whose goal in life was to be a great writer. To anyone who was willing to listen, he would say, “I want to write stuff that the whole world will read, stuff that people will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, howl in pain and anger!” He now works for Microsoft, writing error messages.

Mousepad – Where Mickey and Minnie live. Network – Scoopin’ up a big fish before it breaks the line. Online – Where to stay when taking the sobriety test. Rom – Where the Vatican is. Screen – Helps keep the skeeters off the porch. Serial port – A red wine you drink with breakfast. Sup erconductor – Amtrak’s employee of the year.

?? ?

Riddle me

this?

A computer walks up to two stores, one called “1,” and one called “0.” Which does it choose? See answer below

Answer to Riddle Me This: 1, because 0 is always closed. In computer science, 1 and 0 correspond to whether a transistor is opened (1) or closed (0).

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The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2015 2019 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29,

Computer Trivia 1. How many square feet did the first computer, completed in 1946, take up? a. 50

b. $1.2 billion c. $7 billion d. $38.7 billion 3. What letter is between Q and E on a computer keyboard?

b. 270 c. 760

a. W

d. 1,800

times does the average person blink per minute while staring at a computer screen? a. 1 b. 7 c. 35 d. 55

b. A 2. The MyDoom virus, which came out in 2006, is the most expensive virus ever in terms of monetary damage. How much economic damage did it cause?

c. D d. C 4. The average person blinks 20 times per minute. How many

5. What year was the word “computer” first used to describe a mechanical calculating device? a. 1897

d. 1954 6. What is “Moore’s Law,” an observation made in 1965 by Gordon E. Moore, the co-founder of Intel, and which is widely considered to still be true today? a.

 Wisdom Key 7-8 correct: What are you building in your garage? 3-6 correct: Not bad, you just need a ROM update and you will be good. 0-2 correct: The MyDoom virus must have hit you particularly hard.

d. N2 +3H2 →2NH3 if ∆[NH ∆t3]=2×10 4mol l–l s–1 7. What do Microsoft, Apple, and HP all have in common?

b. They were all started in a garage.

c. 1942

 Answers

c. Any piece of software reflects the organizational structure that produced it.

a. They all started in 1983.

b. 1926

a. $256 million

doubled in capacity every 18 to 24 months.

The smaller the computer, the more it can do. b. On average, computers have

c. They all use the IOS operating system. d. They all made profits of more than $2 billion in their first year of business. 8. The fastest supercomputer in the world, called the Summit, is located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. How many calculations can it make per second? a. 4 million b. 2 billion c. 79 billion d. 200 quadrillion (200 petaflops)

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8. D

4. B

7. B

3. A

6. B

2. D

5. A

1. D

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 | The Jewish Home The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

Torah Thought

Parshas Chayei Sara By Rabbi Berel Wein

t is very difficult to sum up the experiences, worth, and influence of an individual purely in words. That is why many times at funerals people who hear eulogies of the deceased feel that somehow the words of the tribute really did not capture the essence of the individual being memorialized. In the Torah reading this week, Abraham is said to have eulogized his beloved wife Sara. The Torah

does not describe for us the words that he used in speaking about her. However, Rashi, in commenting as to why the Torah listed her life as consisting of 100 and then 20 and then seven years, states that all of her lives – the one that was 100, the one that was 20, and the one that was 7 – were devoted to goodness. That simple statement is the true eulogy for our mother Sara. Everything was for the good, and, there-

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fore, all her life was devoted to being and creating good for her family and for others. When people say that the person was “a person of goodness,” that phrase encompasses many details and many actions. However, enumerating an individual’s actions of goodness is really unnecessary because we understand what a person of goodness is and does. This is a state of mind, an emotion of the soul that drives human behavior and actions. When we say someone was or is a good person everyone immediately knows what is meant by that statement, and, therefore, no further explanations or illustrations are necessary. We often mistakenly associate

severe and painful steps to safeguard her son Isaac from the ravages of his half-brother Ishmael. Even when her husband Abraham seemed to be in doubt as to how to treat the matter, she stayed firm, and, eventually, the L-rd, so to speak, told Abraham to listen and obey whatever Sara instructed him to do. Goodness should never be seen as weakness. Rather, it is to be seen as the search for the ultimate benefit the person himself or herself and for the general society. In a good society, justice is done, and corrective measures are taken to make certain that evil will is not allowed to flourish or go unpunished and unchallenged.

That task of accomplishing goodness has been the challenge to the Jewish people for millennia and remains our mission and goal in our time as well.

the trait of goodness with a certain weakness of character and a compromise of willpower. We think that good people must automatically be soft people, and in a world that is often harsh and hard, softness is not always a virtue. Nevertheless, when we review the life of our mother Sara, we cannot help but be impressed by the fact that she was a strong-willed and powerful personality. She took

This is the type of world that Abraham and Sara were striving to build, and it was the influence of their personalities that marked their generation and gave it a stamp of goodness and purpose. That task of accomplishing goodness has been the challenge to the Jewish people for millennia and remains our mission and goal in our time as well. Shabbat shalom.

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From the Fire

Parshas Chayei Sara The Living One Who Sees Me By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

e have a tradition that the names of the parshios reflect the essence of the parsha. Yet the name of our parsha, which means “the life of Sarah,” is not about Sarah’s life. It starts with her passing, recounts the events surrounding her burial, and covers Yitzchak’s marriage to Rivka. Why is the parsha called “the life of Sarah”? In order to understand the answer to this question, we must first study some Chumash. On the way to Akeidas Yitzchak, Avraham and Yitzchak seem inseparable, as the pasuk (Bereishis 22:6) says, “And they walked together.” Yet when Avraham returns, the pasuk (Id. at 19) says only “and Avraham returned to his young men.” Where was Yitzchak? Avraham had even told his servants (Id. At 5), “I and the boy will go there, prostrate ourselves, and return to you.” Why didn’t Yitzchak return with Avraham? The Midrash Hagadol offers a number of explanations of Yitzchak’s

whereabouts after the Akeida. It quotes one opinion that Yitzchak remained on the mountain. According to another, he remained hidden for a period of time in Gan Eden. And according to third opinion, he went to learn Torah. But according to all of them, Yitzchak disappeared and did not return home with Avraham even to eulogize his mother. Yitzchak’s whereabouts during the three years between the Akeida and his marriage to Rivka are a mystery. The Torah does, however, tell us something about Yitzchak’s location. When he met Rivka for the first time, the Torah (Bereishis 24:62-64) says, “And Yitzchak came from coming to Be’er Lachai Ro’i for he lived in the Negev. And he went out to meditate in the field toward the evening, and he lifted up his eyes and saw and behold, camels were coming. And Rivka lifted up her eyes and she saw Yitzchak and descended from upon the camel.” The pasuk identifies Yitzchak’s location! It

was Be’er Lachai Ro’i. What is Be’er Lachai Ro’i? Where is it? The Torah actually told us about Be’er Lachai Ro’i earlier on. When Hagar fled from Sarah, an angel appeared to her, told her she would have a son, and said (Bereishis 16:11), “And you will call his name ‘Yishmael’ because Hashem has heard your affliction.” Hagar then davened to Hashem (Id. at 13-14): “And she called the name of Hashem who had spoken to her [through the angel], ‘You are the G-d of seeing,’ because she said, ‘I have seen the One who sees me.’ Therefore, she called the well ‘Be’er Lachai Ro’i, [meaning, the well of the Living One who sees me]’ which is between Kadesh and Barad.” Hagar was telling Hashem, “You are the only One who saw me! You saw what I was feeling and my pain! You heard my cries and saw my pain!” Rav Shimshon Refael Hirsch offers a beautiful explanation of the name Be’er Lachai Ro’i:

When Hagar began to flee, she looked in every direction to see if anyone was chasing after her. She therefore fled to the desert, a place she thought no one would see her. But then she understood that while it may be possible to run away from man, it is impossible to flee from G-d. Hagar essentially said, “When I got here, I was no longer worried so I stopped to look in every direction to see if anyone can see me. But you are the “G-d of seeing.” Your eyes are everywhere and no one can escape from you… This is the faith the angel wanted to instill in Hagar: Hashem’s knowledge reaches not only to everything that happens in the world. He knows every whisper and feeling in the heart of man… Hagar had to understand the following: One can flee from the yoke of another person. But it is impossible to free oneself of Hashem. Hashem sees every place and ev-

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erything. [Because she internalized this message,] she did not call Hashem “The G-d who sees me.” Rather, she called Him “The G-d of seeing,” the G-d of absolute vision. The explanation of “the Living One who sees me” is that Hashem does not change throughout the course of the generations. His power and strength exist forever. He is the omnipotent G-d who never wearies or becomes tired. He never gets old. He is the faithful G-d who guards the covenant. There is no falsehood in Him and He never changes His mind. He is as close to the last generation as He is to the first. Only someone who knows that Hashem is watching over him just like He watched over Hagar by the well understands that Hashem is the “Living One who sees me…” Hagar learned in Be’er Lachai Ro’i that Hashem is with a person at all times, no matter where he goes. That is where Yitzchak went after the Akeida, to the place in the desert called Be’er Lachai Ro’i, to remember G-d’s providence even in the most desolate place in the world. But this truth was revealed to Avraham after the Akeida as well. The pasuk (Bereishis 22:14) says that Avraham called the place on which the Akeida occurred, “‘Hashem will see,’ because it will be said today on the mountain, ‘Hashem will be seen.’” Perhaps after the Akeida, when he willingly gave up his life to G-d and heard the news of his mother’s death, Yitzchak felt empty and desolate, like a desert. Before he could come back to the world, he first had to spend some time in Be’er Lachai Ro’i. The Ramban comments on the significance of the fact that the pasuk says, “And Yitzchak came from coming to of Be’er Lachai Ro’i” rather than simply that he “came from Be’er Lachai Ro’i.” He infers from the Torah’s choice of words that Yitzchak continually came back to that place. I once heard that while Avraham returned to the world after the Akeida, Yitzchak lived alone in the Negev and returned repeatedly to Be’er Lachai Ro’i, a place designated for pouring out one’s heart out in prayer, hisbodedus, and meditation. As the Gemara (Brachos 26b) says, “‘And Yitzchak went out to meditate, la’suach, in the

field toward evening.’ And meditation, sichah, means prayer, as the pasuk (Tehillim 102:1) says, ‘A prayer for a poor man when he enwraps himself and pours out his speech [‫ ]שיחו‬before Hashem.’” Chana also expressed this same feeling of desolation and desperation when she cried out to Hashem. She explained her prayer to Eli, the Kohein Gadol, saying (Shmuel 1:1:15-16), “I have poured out my soul before Hashem… out of the greatness of my misery and grief I have been speaking, sichi.” One who is suffering feels alone, like he has no friends or loved ones, like there is no one in the world who sees and understands what he is going through. After leaving the world on some level when he was bound upon the altar and then losing his beloved mother, Yitzchak returned to Be’er Lachai Ro’i to pour out his heart to G-d and internalize the fact that G-d was still with him, G-d understood him, and G-d was watching over him. When Yitzchak completed his davening in Be’er Lachai Ro’i, he returned, lifted up his eyes, and found Rivka, the answer to his prayers. As the pasuk (Bereishis 24:67) says, “And Yitzchak brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent and he took Rivka and she became his wife, and he loved her and Yitzchak was comforted for [the loss of] his mother.” Perhaps this is why the parsha is called “the life of Sarah.” In the end, through davening to Hashem and remembering that He was always with Yitzchak, he was comforted and Rivka filled the void left where Sarah’s life used to fill the world. She filled Sarah’s empty tent and the vacuum left by losing Sarah. I read an article by Rabbi Emmanuel Feldman in which he questions how the scandals which seem to rack the religious Jewish community almost every week are possible. We read about indiscretions in financial matters, immorality and even abuse. How can religious Jews do these things? Rav Feldman writes that while our community has all of the trappings of a very religious society, with shuls, yeshivos, mikva’os, and seminaries, we lack one simple and fundamental thing: We don’t know that Hashem is watching us. We may daven three times a day, say Selichos and pray for hours on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kip-

pur, but we do not actually believe G-d is watching and listening to everything we do. We must once again see the One who sees us. I must share a poem called “Clinging” by Ruth Lewis, from one of my favorite books of poetry, “Memo to Self:” The best moment of the morning is bowing during Shemoneh Esrei. As a small child, I used to throw myself onto my father’s lap as he sat in his deep armchair sipping hot tea, munching gingersnaps and lemon snaps from a crinkly, crumply paper bag as he tried to read the evening papers. I made his trouser leg my sliding board. Even when, after a while, he would laugh, try to get up, go to the kitchen for more tea, I would cling. He would have to carry me along, still clinging.

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The rest of the day, you may think you see me going about my business – peeling onions, taking down the winter clothes, loading the washing machine, picking up the toys. But I am still there, where I bowed that morning. I am still there, still clinging. May we merit to hang on to Hashem, to “see the One who sees me.” In that merit, may Hashem reveal Himself once again on that mountain about which Avraham Avinu said, “Hashem will be seen” with the arrival of the complete redemption, may it come 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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Parsha

in 4

Parshas Chayei Sara By Eytan Kobre

Weekly Aggada But to the sons of Avraham’s concubines, Avraham gave gifts; and he sent them away from Yitzchok his son, while he still lived eastward, to the east country (Bereishis 25:6) In the days of Alexander the Great, the Arabs complained that the Jewish people had taken the entire Land of Israel even though the Arabs’ ancestor, Yishmael, was the firstborn (and should have inherited a double portion).

The Jewish people did not know who would represent to this claim until Geviya ben Kosem volunteered. “Be sure,” the Jewish people warned Geviya, “not to lose our land to them.” “I will go and dispute the matter with them,” replied Geviya. “If I defeat them, great; if not, you can always disassociate yourselves from me, saying, ‘Who is this imbecile that he should purport to litigate the matter on our behalf?’” And so the dispute was presented to Alexander the Great. “Who claims from whom?” he asked.

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“We claim from them,” the Arabs answered, “and our claim stems from their Torah. As it says, ‘For the firstborn, the son of the hated one, he shall recognize’ (Devarim 21:17). So it is only proper that Yishmael (and his progeny) take a double portion.” Geviya ben Kosem opposed. “My master, the king! Does a person not do for his children what he wishes during his lifetime?” After Alexander answered in the affirmative, Geviya continued. “And it is written, ‘Avraham gave all that was his to Yitzchok’ (Bereishis 25:5).” Alexander was still not convinced. “Perhaps Avraham gave to Yitzchok and also to Yishmael,” countered Alexander. “Where do we find that Avraham specifically excluded Yishmael?” “‘But to the sons of Avraham’s concubines, Avraham gave gifts,’” Geviya quoted – “a gift, not an inheritance.” Hearing this, the Arabs left defeated (Bereishis Rabba 61:6).

Weekly Mussar And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and he went, with all goodly things from his master in his hand, and he got up and he went to Aram-Naharaim, to the city of Nachor (Bereishis 24:10) Since the Torah records that Eliezer took ten of Avraham’s camels “and he went,” why is it necessary to restate that “he got up and he went” to Aram Naharaim? It seems repetitive. The Alter of Novardok, R’ Yosef Yoizel Horowitz, observes that Eliezer seems to have invested tremendous effort and concern into finding a wife for Yitzchok. He repeatedly prays to G-d to grant him success; when he arrives at Besuel’s home, he refuses to

eat until he has been heard; and, contrary to Lavan’s request, he refuses to permit Rivka to remain in Besuel’s home any longer than necessary. All of this seems like overkill; after all, didn’t Avarham already pray for Eliezer’s success and bless Eliezer’s efforts? Why was it necessary for Eliezer to be invested so personally in the outcome of his mission? Because Eliezer himself had a daughter who he had hoped would marry Yitzchok (Bereishis 24:5), Eliezer was concerned that he might be incapable of acting impartially on Avraham’s behalf. His own self-interest necessarily made him biased and partial, to the point where he could not rely on his own judgment. So, acknowledging his potential partiality, Eliezer went to great lengths to carry out Avraham’s mission zealously. He prayed for success and refused to relent until the mission was accomplished. And perhaps that is the reason the Torah records twice that Eliezer “went” to Aram Naharaim – to stress how motivated Eliezer was to execute this mission for Avraham. To obliterate any potential self-interest, Eliezer redoubled his efforts to succeed, including proceeding with the mission forthwith and with zeal.

Weekly Anecdote And I came today to the well and said, “Hashem, the G-d of my master Avraham, if you please now make successful the path on which I go” (Bereishis 24:42) Eliezer departed for and arrived at Aram Naharaim on the same day, as the “earth jumped for him” and made his journey speedy – i.e., he experi-

men. We must be angels! And so the horses galloped along proudly until reaching their final destination. By that point, however, the horses were ravenous. They couldn’t contain themselves and went straight to the feeding trough, digging-in voraciously. When they were done and their bellies were bloated with hay and water, acknowledging their true nature, they turned to one another knowingly. Horses. You see, the horses had mistaken their wondrous and miraculous journey for genuine growth and development. Miracles and wonders are just fine, but one must never be content to remain unchanged after experiencing them.

enced kefitzas haderech (Rashi, Bereishis 24:42). The Ba’al Shem Tov and his disciples were reputed to make use of kefitzas haderech somewhat regularly to meet communal needs or to save those in peril. Once, to carry out a critical mission, the Baal Shem Tov’s horses were hitched up to his wagon, unaware of the wondrous journey they were soon to experience. When the Ba’al Shem Tov was ready, the horses began to gallop, pulling the wagon and the Ba’al Shem Tov behind them. They flew with such rapidity that, after only a few minutes, the horses had covered a great distance. The horses could not believe it. We’ve covered such a great distance, they thought, but yet we are not at all hungry. We must not be horses. We must be men! Several minutes later, the horses had sped yet further and faster along their way, but still they were not hungry. Oh, we must be far greater than

Weekly Halacha Rather, to my land and to my birthplace you shall go, and you shall find a wife for my son, for Yitzchok (Bereishis 24:4)

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One who arranges or facilitates the making of a marriage match ordinary is paid a fee, known informally as “shadchanus.” While many regard shadchanus as mere custom or nicety, it is a halacha imperative (Rama, Choshen Mishpat 185:10; Rama, Choshen Mishpat 264:7; but see Responsa Teshuvos V’Hanhagos 1:736 [quoting Sephardic custom not to pay shadchanus]). Most authorities maintain that the matchmaker must be paid just as any other negotiator or hired worker would be (Rama, Choshen Mishpat 87:39; Rama, Choshen Mishpat 264:7). After all, the matchmaker performs a service just as any other negotiator or worker – why shouldn’t there be a fee? Indeed, some are of the opinion that a matchmaker has the status of a hired worker, even without being hired per se (Biur HaGra, Choshen Mishpat 185:13; Biur HaGra, Choshen Mishpat 264:13; Biur HaGra, Choshen Mishpat 87:117). There is no set shadchanus fee;

rather, the local custom determines the amount of the shadchanus and when it should be paid (Rama, Choshen Mishpat 264:7; Rama, Choshen Mishpat 185:10). Others maintain that the payment deadline is the wedding day or when the marriage agreements are finalized (Taz, Choshen Mishpat 185:10; Aruch HaShulchan, Even HaEzer 50:42). If the wedding is called off after payment of the shadchanus, the matchmaker need not return the money, unless his or her withholding of critical information contributed to the break-up (Aruch HaShulchan, Even HaEzer 50:42). The Weekly Halacha is not meant for practical purposes and is for discussion purposes only. Please consult your own rav for guidance.

Eytan Kobre is a writer, speaker, and attorney living in Kew Gardens Hills. Questions? Comments? Suggestions? E-mail eakobre@outlook.com.

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Think, Feel, Grow

Your Unique Creation Story By Shmuel Reichman

ichelangelo was once asked: “How are you able to create such wondrous sculptures and works of art? How can something so ingenious and innovative emanate from mere mortal hands?” Without skipping a beat, Michelangelo responded: “Before I even begin my work, the sculpture is already complete within the marble block. My job is simply to discover it and then chisel away the superfluous material.” In other words, the dormant potential already exists beneath the surface, and the job of the artist is simply to discover that which is hidden within, transforming the concealed into the revealed.

Your Creation Story This idea touches upon a deep truth within Jewish thought. While many think that Adam Harishon alone was worthy of a fascinating Creation story, every single one of us has our own unique “creation” story as well. The Gemara in Niddah 30b dis-

cusses a very enigmatic tale describing the initial stage of each of our formations. The Gemara explains that when you were just a fetus, you were in a perfected and transcendent state of being; a malach taught you kol ha’Torah kulah, all of Torah, and you saw all of reality with a crystal clear lens. However, the Gemara continues with an anticlimactic punchline (literally): just before you were born, this malach struck you on the mouth, causing you to forget everything you learned. Two obvious questions arise: Why does the malach make you forget what you’ve learned? But, more importantly, if he’s going to cause you to forget it, why even teach it to you in the first place? The Vilna Gaon answers as follows: When the Gemara states that the fetus learns all of Torah, it doesn’t mean that you were learning basic Chumash with Rashi. Rather, it refers to the deepest realms of Torah, a transcendent Torah that is beyond this world. This Torah is the very

root of reality, and you understood every aspect of it clearly. Not only were you shown this level of Torah, but you were also learning your specific share of Torah – you were being shown your unique purpose in the world and how your unique role fits into the larger scheme of the human story as a whole. You were given a taste of your own perfection, of what you could, should, and hopefully will become. But most importantly, when the malach struck you, you didn’t lose this Torah; rather, you lost access to it. Instead of it disappearing completely, this state of self became buried deep within your subconscious. What you received in the womb wasn’t real, it was merely a gift, something unearned and undeserved. The goal of life is to come into this world and rebuild all that you once were in the womb. However, this time, it will be real, since you’ve built it yourself. In essence, your job in this world is not to create yourself, but rather to recreate yourself; to re-attain your

original state of perfection, as you were shown by the malach. This time, however, it has to be done through free will, by choosing to become great. Only by overcoming challenge and difficulty, and asserting your willpower, can you fulfill your true potential. In essence, our entire life is a story of teshuva – returning to our original, higher, and true self.

Learning or Recognizing? Perhaps this is why we sometimes have a sense of recognition when we hear a deep thought or a profound insight. Instead of feeling like we are learning it for the first time, everything just clicks, almost as though we already knew the idea. This is because we do already know it. We’re not learning, we’re rediscovering what we already learned in the womb, what’s engrained within us. Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik speaks of a similar idea, explaining that we learn all of Torah in the womb to enable us to learn it in this world. The Torah is already there, now we must

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invest the effort to build it and manifest it into reality. This explains an interesting Gemara in Bava Metzia 6b. The Gemara says that if someone claims to have exerted himself in learning, but has failed to succeed, you should not believe him. Likewise, if he claims to have put no effort into his learning, but has succeeded, you should not believe him either. Only someone who claims to have exerted himself in his learning and succeeded should be believed. The Vilna Gaon raises a fascinating question: The wording of the Gemara is yagati u’matzasi, if he exerted himself and succeeded. However, the word metziah doesn’t mean to succeed, it means to find. Shouldn’t the Gemara have used words such as asisi, pa’alti, or hitzalti, which refer to accomplishment or achievement? The Vilna Gaon explains this in consonance with the aforementioned idea. Genuine learning isn’t about discovery or achievement; it’s about finding what already lies dormant within your subconscious, what you learned when you were in the womb. This same idea is what lies at the heart of the classic debate between Plato and John Locke. Locke claimed that the human mind begins as a blank slate and that a human being is then molded and imprinted upon based on everything he or she learns and experiences throughout life. Plato, however, quotes Socrates, who believed that everyone is born with the knowledge of everything but has simply lost access to it. Therefore, the job of the teacher is not to teach new material, but to help the student come to understand on his or her own what they already know deep within themselves. This is why the word “educate” comes from the Latin word which means to “take out” or “draw forth” – because teaching is nothing more than drawing out the potential that lays dormant within each student.

Human Growth With this principle in mind, let us explore the process of human growth. Many people grow from the outside in. They look around at society, their friends, the people around them, and then they shape themselves to fit their surroundings. The clothes they wear,

the food they eat, and the things they talk about all become a reflection of their external surroundings. In other words, many people feel like they are a slab of clay and mold themselves to fit in to their environment. But what if we realized that, much like Michelangelo’s sculptures, we, too, are already perfectly formed beneath the surface. Our job in life isn’t to take a slab of stone and sculpt something beautiful; our job is to discover who we truly are, who we already are, to “chisel away the superfluous material” and express our inner and true self. Growth isn’t about becoming

kamocha, love your fellow as you love yourself. To do this, you must first fall in love with yourself, only then can you expand outwards and love someone else. Likewise, before you can know anyone else, you must first know yourself. So many people spend their time trying to get to know everyone around them that they forget to understand themselves. They wake up in the middle of life, not knowing who they are or what their life is about. True growth requires us to grow from within. We need to go into a room, by ourselves, and ask the real ques-

Instead of becoming a mirror, who reflects everything outside himself, we can become projectors.

great, it’s about become you; learning isn’t about discovery, it’s about self-discovery. You are a masterpiece covered with stone; your job in this world is to uncover yourself. This is why the Torah compares man to a tree (Devarim 20:19). An apple seed already contains all of its potential within it. It then spends its life expressing the potential that once lay dormant. You never hear an apple seed looking around and saying, “I want to be a pear seed!” As human beings, we, too, have all of our potential contained within us from the very beginning. As a fetus, we were each given our unique purpose, our unique tree to grow. Our job in this life is to take our seed and harness our potential. True happiness is when you are becoming you. When you are on the journey to becoming your true self, spending each day bringing out more and more of what you are meant to become. In order to do this, we must understand the importance of self-awareness. Before you can love anyone else, you need to love yourself. As the pasuk says: v’ahavta l’rei’acha

tions: Who am I? What drives me? What makes me unique? What are my talents? What are my passions? What can I contribute to the Jewish people and the world as a whole? Instead of becoming a mirror, who reflects everything outside himself, we can become projectors. We can build something majestic and beautiful within ourselves and then express that out into the world.

Live with Purpose After developing one’s self, the next step towards greatness is contributing that uniqueness towards something greater than yourself, finding your “self” within a greater whole. This is why the greatest thinkers and talmidei chachamim are the ones who are both loyal to the mesorah and are able, at the same time, to express their uniqueness and develop the mesorah further. This is the very essence of Torah Sheba’al Peh, the ability for the human being to express his unique Torah into the world, while still being loyal to the objective body of Torah. Torah Shebiksav doesn’t change from its origi-

nal form as given by Hashem. Torah Sheba’al Peh, however, is in continuous development and is the medium in which human beings can become part of Torah. The Vilna Gaon builds upon the previous idea with an absolutely chilling message. The Gemara states that when you leave this world, you will meet three malachim. One angel will ask you: “Where are your mitzvos?” the second angel will ask you: “Where are your aveiros?” and the last angel will ask you: “Where is your Torah?” Although the first two questions make sense, the third one is puzzling. After all, learning Torah is a mitzvah and should therefore be included within the first angel’s question. Why then is it a separate, unique question? The Vilna Gaon explains that when you see this third malach, you will recognize him; he is the same malach who taught you kol ha’Torah kulah in the womb, and who showed you your individual greatness in this world. Now, he is here to greet you as you leave this world and to ask you: Where is your Torah? I gave it to you in the womb for free, but did you build it yourself? Did you make it your own? Did you fulfill your purpose in this world? Avraham was told to leave his home and go on his journey. Hashem tells him two unforgettable words: “lech lecha.” Lecha can also be read as go “to yourself.” Avraham was being commanded to embark on a journey to “himself” because the genuine journey of life is the journey to the self. As we begin this year’s Torah cycle, we should each be inspired to bring our own Torah into the world and express our unique purpose. Shmuel Reichman is an inspirational speaker, writer, and coach who has lectured internationally at shuls, conferences, and Jewish communities on topics of Jewish thought and Jewish medical ethics. He is the founder and CEO of Self-Mastery Academy (ShmuelReichman.com), the transformative online course that is revolutionizing how we engage in self-development. You can find more inspirational lectures, videos, and articles from Shmuel on his website, ShmuelReichman.com.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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Israel Today

Of Highs and Lows By Rafi Sackville

Rehov HaTayasim in Ashkelon

his is a sad story I wish to share with you. It involves three people, two of whom I

knew; one I considered a friend. In each instance, the person in question lost their life. Like I said,

it’s not a happy story. We had driven down to Ashkelon to spend time with two of my oldest friends and their spouses. The company was great, the food was good, and the constant sights and sounds of the sultry coastline was relaxing. The apartment sits adjacent to an identical apartment block that shares the same street entrance. I walked in from shul on Shabbat morning and found my wife on the balcony. She asked why I hadn’t gone to the earlier minyan. I told her it had been cancelled due to the death of Rabbi Ben Zion Mizrahi, who had run the Afrider Shul’s beit Midrash’s early Shabbat minyan. In the six years we had been coming to Ashkelon, Rabbi Mizrahi was a welcoming presence. He had been a school principal for many years and, despite his advancing years, still carried himself with a modest air of authority. He would greet me in his deep-throated Hebrew, spoken precise diction, helped find me a seat, and never failed to give me an aliyah. Looking onto the street from the balcony I noticed two ambulances parked in front on the sidewalk. Paramedics were frantically running in and out of the building. What they were doing or who they were seeing was beyond the knowledge of anyone on the balcony. The commotion

in the street had brought tenants out in numbers. And then the lights went out. There was no sign of any fuses blowing, and upon mentioning it out loud, a neighbor on the balcony opposite us confirmed that he, too, had lost power. Later it was revealed that a large section of Ashkelon had lost power. A few minutes later we heard the distinct sound of fire trucks. They pulled up outside of the building and ran in to assess the situation. A fireman walked out into the road to stop traffic. A huge ladder truck came rolling to a stop on the street. Two firemen walked up to the green steel poles that blocked vehicular traffic from entering the walkway between the two buildings. One of them took an electric circular saw and neatly cut two of the poles down to size. Once they were removed, the ladder truck slowly lumbered up the path between the buildings. It was rather exciting, particularly when the operator of the ladder truck took out four large blocks of wood and began extending the stabilizing legs. We watched as he suited up, got into the crane’s cab and began extending the ladder. He was so close to us as he passed that I could see the whites of his teeth and the sweat under his hard hat. Up he went, beyond

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us on his way to the top floor. I stood on the inside ledge of the balcony and looked up. Not satisfied, I walked down to the ground floor to survey what they were doing. As I looked up, I saw four paramedics waving to the crane operator. I overheard them say the electricity had come back on. As slowly as he had gone up the outside of the building, the fireman descended back to his starting position. Once the stabilizing legs were retracted, he got into his cab and drove away. It was like a Sherlockian mystery. The ladder truck had obviously been brought in due to the electrical outage. I figured that now that the elevator was working, they could bring down whoever it was who was ill. And then one of the paramedics walked out of the building and took up a conversation with his supervisor. He explained how they had tried to save the life of the occupant on the top floor, but after 45 minutes they

had failed to resuscitate him. The supervisor nodded and told him to bring the body down. And then the puzzle of the previous hour unscrambled itself rather quickly. The patient in question was Igor Romanovsky, the head of Urol-

Back in Ma’a lot, we quickly returned to our schedules. Up at 4:30 a.m. the following morning, I was in shul at 5:00 a.m. for daf yomi. We are a small group of five. The shiur has been ongoing for years. Rav Eran told us that one of our members was

A reminder that we are, all of us, mortal.

ogy at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. He was 57 years old at the time of his untimely death. It was difficult not to notice how, once the doctor had been moved into the ambulance, life around the two buildings quickly gained its composure as if nothing tragic had just happened.

gravely ill after a procedure to put in a stent had gone wrong. This was no ordinary man. Yehoshua Weinstein was quite remarkable. Living in Haifa, he would leave home every morning at 4:10 a.m., make his way to the daf and daven with us before driving to work at Iscar, the industrial complex just

south of Ma’alot, where he had been a manager of one of the complexes for years. Quiet-spoken and humble, he was always on time, sometimes driving in even on his days off. If there was a siyum at the end of the day, he’d be there. But so quick was his physical deterioration that he was placed on a heart-lung machine and put into an induced coma. Then, as suddenly as he got sick, 68-year-old Yehoshua passed away. Within a matter of days, three people I knew had passed on to the next world. It was not easy to digest – a reminder that we are, all of us, mortal. The chair to my right during daf yomi remains empty, while our visits to Ashkelon will forever be tinged with sadness. Yehi zichram baruch.

Rafi Sackville, formerly of Cedarhurst, teaches in Ort Maalot in Western Galil.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

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A SMALL NEWSPAPER AD…

50 Years Later BY SUSAN SCHWAMM

was forty-eight years ago when an advertisement was placed in a newspaper in Jerusalem. The posting announced openings in a yeshiva in town for people looking to learn about Yiddishkeit. The person placing the ad, Rabbi Dovid Refson, was looking for young men who needed chizuk and wanted to learn more about their heritage. “A ‘yeshiva’ in England is only for boys,” Rabbi Refson notes. A native of the United Kingdom, he was asked by his rosh kollel to start a program for these men who needed a softer, warmer touch and were thirsting to know more about Yiddishkeit. “I didn’t know that a yeshiva in Israel and in the United States could also be for women.” When a few women answered the ad that he had placed, Rabbi Refson ascertained that there was a need for

a yeshiva for women looking to know more about Judaism. And so, Neve Yerushalayim was born. That first year, there were four women in Neve. Since then, 27,000 women have passed through its doors.

abbi Refson, when opening the women’s school, understood where many of the women were coming from. He grew up in a small town in the northeast of England. There was no Jewish school there, and he went to a non-Jewish school until he was 17 years old. There was a cheder in town that he attended as well. “The good part of my public school education,” he quips, “is that I know how to speak English really well.” His father was a wealthy businessman who assumed that young Dovid would eventually take over his businesses. But fate intervened. When R’ Dovid finished high

school, he went to Israel. While there, his father asked him to give grus, regards, to Rav Elya Lopian. Rav Elya had spent twenty-five years in England. But life was hard in England, and R’ Dovid’s father would help Rav Elya financially and with the minutiae of life there. Eventually, in 1950, fulfilling a life-long dream, Rav Elya moved to Eretz Yisroel and assumed the role of menahel ruchani of Kfar Chassidim. When R’ Dovid met with Rav Elya, the esteemed menahel asked the young man which yeshiva he had attended. “Gateshead,” R’ Dovid replied, since he had learned in Gateshead for a few months. “For how long?” Rav Elya probed. “K’mat a yahr, almost a year,” R’ Dovid answered. “K’mat a yahr?” Rav Elya proclaimed. “Well, that means you’re an am ha’aretz!”

We don’t usually take in boys like you, Rav Elya told the young man – who was really there just to give regards – but I am appreciative of all that your father has done for me. As young Dovid sat in front of Rav Elya, his fate very rapidly shifted. Rav Elya called the rosh yeshiva, Harav Mishkovsky, and asked him to accept a young man with not much experience in learning into his elite yeshiva. When recounting the story, Rabbi Refson recalls that he didn’t hear much “simcha” on the other end of the line, but he was accepted into the yeshiva. “And that,” he states, “transformed my whole life.” Rabbi Refson learned in Kfar Chassidim for a few years. His father, at one point, visited him in the yeshiva and pointed out to Rav Elya that he had other plans for his son that did not include a shtender and an open sefer. Rav Elya asked him, “Do you want

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Learning in the early years of Neve

to see nachas from your son?” R’ Dovid’s father answered, “When Rav Elya says ‘nachas’ does he mean in this world or the next?” Rav Elya thought for a while before answering, “Both.” “In that case,” R’ Dovid’s father said, “he can stay.” R’ Dovid was taken by the values that were imparted at the yeshiva. On one Shabbos, for instance, the baal korei made a few mistakes when he was laining. One bochur “tsked” as another mistake was made. Rav Elya turned to Rabbi Dov Yaffe, his assistant, and told him, without knowing who the boy was, “The one who clucked like a chicken – he needs to leave the yeshiva.” Without knowing if the boy was an older bochur or someone new, Rav Elya declared that when a person is suffering and stumbling, you can’t make him feel worse and put him down – especially not in a time of pain – miskabed be’kalon chaveiro. R’ Dovid remembers writing to his parents, “They’re for real here. They really mean what they say.” R’ Dovid spent four formidable years in Kfar Chassidim and then went on to the Mir, where he received semicha. After marrying, Rabbi Refson joined Machon Harry Fischel, one of the top kollelim in Yerushalayim. After a few years, Rav She’ar Yashuv Cohen, who ran the yeshiva at the time, asked Rabbi Refson to help him with his nephew. Rav She’ar Yashuv’s nephew had come from Toronto with some friends to study in a program,

which eventually fell apart. Rav She’ar Yashuv asked Rabbi Refson to open a program for this young boy and his five friends, a program that would offer them chizuk and help them navigate their way in Yiddishkeit. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Rabbi Refson accepted the task and created a full-day program for these boys and other baalei teshuva, which eventually became Dvar Yerushalayim. The iconic advertisement that was placed in the Jerusalem paper forty-eight years ago was published to help drive attendance to this yeshiva. When women showed up yearning to learn and to be inspired, Rabbi Refson opened Neve.

he first year of Neve Yerushalayim was painful but productive. The first few women who joined Neve had been searching for a long time. They each had been to myriad universities, flitting from one to the next. They all had their own “meshugenah” diet – this one was macrobiotic, this one was vegan, the other was gluten-free. And so, there was no dining room for them, as it would have been impossible to accommodate all their disparate dietary needs. But they were united with one goal: they all came to Neve searching for meaning and for answers. These women had questions. Questions, Rabbi Refson knew, to which he may not have known the answers. And so, he commissioned others who were “older and wiser” than him in these

Rabbi Refson and other rebbeim addressing students, circa 1970

matters. He worked with Rabbi Chalkowski, who is still his partner until today, and Mrs. Levy, a choshuve woman. For many years, Rabbi Munk, zt”l, taught every morning in Neve. He was extremely knowledgeable and was able to give over his ideas to the women and the rebbeim clearly. Once a week, Rabbi Refson and the other teachers in Neve would visit Rav Wolbe, zt”l, who had opened the first baal teshuva seminary after the war. Rav Wolbe would patiently answer their questions and give them his advice. Over the years, Neve became home to scores of rebbeim and teachers who understood their students and helped them learn about Judaism in an enlightening, inspirational way. The students developed a connection with their teachers both in and out of the classroom, many of them first experiencing a Shabbos meal or visiting

Rabbi Refson teaching a class, circa 1970

a frum home for the first time during their year in Neve. That first year entailed a lot of work. But the work was satisfying, as the staff at Neve realized that a semi-

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Rabbi Refson giving a tour of the campus to U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye and philanthropist Mr. Zev Wolfson, a”h

Rabbi Chalkowski, Rabbi Geisler, Rabbi Kramer, Rabbi Refson, and Rabbi Abramov

Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen giving a class

nary for women who were not yet frum was necessary for the Jewish nation. It was at the end of that first summer that they realized that Neve was here to stay.

he point of Neve is not merely to provide knowledge. Rabbi Refson asserts, “People don’t make life changes on the basis of knowledge. “Kiruv,” he says, “is about inspiration.” This was not a popular concept fifty years ago, but Rabbi Refson understood the psyche of those attending his school. He notes that Chazal say that no one ever worshipped avodah zara except to give themselves a heter for arayos. His rebbe, Rav Elya, explains that it means that philosophy is a project of psychology. In other words, if someone wants to be mechallel Shabbos, chas v’shalom, then instead of saying that they have a taiveh for doing melacha on Shabbos, they’ll excuse their behavior by saying that they don’t believe that Hashem created and runs the world. Their “philosophy” is their excuse to make

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Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller giving a class

themselves feel better about committing aveiros. Philosophy is a very easy mechanism to use to get out of obligations and responsibilities. Take, for example, the young woman who came to Neve one year. She had been taking tennis lessons since the age of 12; her whole world was tennis. In fact, her family moved to Florida so she could attend a prestigious tennis academy in Fort Myers. She received a tennis scholarship to Stanford, and then, during her senior year, she fell and tore her tendon, ending her career in competitive tennis. Her spirit broken, her family took her on a trip to Israel, where she met the famous “Kosel kiruv rabbi,” Rav Meir Schuster, zt”l, who brought her to Neve. This young woman was doing won-

And then it all came pouring out. She had recently gone to Hadassah Hospital, where the doctor told her she would be able to play tennis after all. But then, after playing for a bit, she tore her tendon once again. It’s all what we want out of life, Rabbi Refson says, and then the philosophy arranges itself to fit. Was she questioning Hakadosh Baruch Hu? No, she was questioning herself and the unknown path that she will now have to navigate in life. In speaking about the concept of kiruv, Rabbi Refson points out, “The idea that you can ‘make people frum’ is ridiculous. How can you ‘make people’? What you can do, though, is present Yiddishkeit in a way which removes the klipos (shell) for them, and they can begin to see the truth. “Don’t think that it’s you. You’re

“The idea that you can ‘make people frum’ is ridiculous.” derfully in Neve. But one day, she approached Rabbi Refson and told him that she was not sure that the Torah is m’Sinai. Rabbi Refson looked at the young woman and sat her down, “What,” he asked, “is the real story here? What really are you questioning?”

just giving them the tools, removing the outer trappings, and shining the light on certain things. It’s not you – it’s them seeing the truth.” He adds that the young women who come to Neve nowadays are a different breed than those who came decades ago – or even four, five years ago. Ev-

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ery few years, the generations seem to change. Recently, a young donor came to Neve with his wife and met with a few women in Neve. Each woman had her own story to tell him about her life before Neve. They spoke of the universities they’d been to, the law firms they’d worked at, the cities they’d lived in. After fifteen minutes of speaking, the donor prodded, “But why did you come here? You had everything in life. Why did you want to become frum?” The women looked at each other, and each of them gave a powerful explanation of how ruchniyus enhances a person’s life. “There’s nothing else in life that can make your life more enriched,” they emphasized. You can have money and position and status, but if you want to feel good about yourself, Yiddishkeit is the answer, they said. “When you’re zocheh to meet someone who influences you and opens up your mind to things – that’s life-changing,” the women said. These are the types of women who come to Neve.

abbi Refson is a builder and a visionary – and he builds concepts and institutions that are before their time. Just a few years after Neve opened, Rabbi Refson saw a need for a seminary for Bais Yaakov girls. There were many naysayers. After all, BJJ was open at the time, and the frum world didn’t see the need for more post-high school institutions for frum girls. When he spoke at the Torah Umesorah Convention about his vision, there were only two high school prin-

cipals who encouraged Rabbi Refson to move forward. One of them offered to send his daughter to Rabbi Refson’s new school. And so, Machon Devoroh was born. Each school that Rabbi Refson has opened throughout the years has two people at the helm in addition to himself. Eventually, if the school feels that it wants to become more independent, it moves off the Neve campus with Rabbi Refson’s blessing. When Rabbi Refson decided to open a seminary for Bais Yaakov girls, he thought that the frum girls on campus would influence the baalei teshuva, perhaps helping them learn Shabbos zemiros or experience a Shabbos atmosphere. “But this was a total miscalculation on my part,” he notes. “No Neve girl has ever been influenced by a frum girl. In fact, it’s the frum girls who have become transformed by seeing the inspiration in the Neve girls on campus.” Just a few months ago, a graduate of Bnos Sara, a current Bais Yaakov seminary on Neve campus, wrote a letter to Rabbi Refson. She told him how she loved seminary, how the classes were great, and that the girls were wonderful. “But the most transformative episode in my seminary year took place in the Neve shul,” she wrote. The girl came to shul to daven Shacharis and sat near a Neve girl who was davening – in English. Slowly, with meaning, the Neve girl davened, “How great is our lot in life” – the English translation of “Ashreinu mah tov chelkeinu.” “I heard this girl expressing her love

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

for Yiddishkeit with such meaning, and I said to myself, Why is it that I don’t do this? Why do I not daven and live my life the same way?” the girl wrote, expressing her admiration for this girl – filled with inspiration and enthusiasm – who was just beginning to learn about her heritage. Many Bais Yaakov graduates, Rabbi Refson notes, come out of high school with loads of information but they can’t integrate their piles of knowledge into their lives and bring it to bear on useful subjects. Learning from the same teachers who teach baalei teshuva helps to open their lives to the richness of Yiddishkeit and the meaning behind it all. Some of these girls, he says, are still incorporating lessons they learned years ago into their lives – when they should have grown past some of those ideas. Take tefillah, for example. Many Bais Yaakov girls believe that tefillah is an opportunity to ask Hashem for whatever we want. This, of course, is true. But tefillah is much deeper than that. It’s to connect with our Creator. Rabbi Refson shares, “I told the girls two weeks ago, ‘Imagine: your sister marries the best boy in Lakewood. You go to their house and you see gold stars on their fridge. “What are those gold stars for?” you ask your sister. “Oh,” she answers. “They’re for Moshe. Every time he takes out the garbage, I give him a gold star.” ‘“You tell your sister, “Are you out of your mind?” And she innocently answers, “But that’s what Mommy did with us.”’ “It’s the same concept here. There

are many ideas that are true and they were ideas that were taught in Pre-1A and throughout the years, but you’ve got to develop them. You’re a mature person, and your ideas and life outlook need to develop in the same way.” That, he says, is the challenge for countless Bais Yaakov students. Yiddishkeit, for many, has been reduced to “heimeshkeit.” The amount of religious inspiration in many girls’ lives is very little. It’s their teachers’ jobs to help them understand the deeper levels and intricacies that Yiddishkeit encompasses. Additionally, many girls adhere to other values in their lives than the values espoused by Yiddishkeit. And that’s a problem if you are looking to become a more developed Jew.

ince opening Machon Devoroh, many other schools have called the Neve campus in Har Nof their home. In the ‘70s, Rabbi Refson opened a school for Russian baalei teshuva. Years later, he opened Midreshet Tehillah, a school for Modern Orthodox graduates. Maalot was started to give women a post-seminary degree. Offshoots of Maalot dot the globe. Twenty-eight years ago, Rabbi Refson noticed that the charedi community was not going for psychological assistance, fearing that psychologists would minimize and erode their Yiddishkeit. Hoping to give the community the help it needs, Rabbi Refson established a master’s program in clinical science. Now, the program offers master’s and post-master’s training in clinical psychology, along with a clinic that sees 450 patients a week. Lapidot was founded for those who

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made aliyah whose children were not fitting into the Israeli high schools. Rabbi Refson opened it, he says, “because I saw the need and I saw that nobody else wanted to do it.” Bnos Sara and Bnos Avigayil are the two Bais Yaakov seminaries currently on the Neve campus. There’s a large Israeli program there as well. Rabbi Refson teaches at the schools on the Neve campus, connecting with the students in each one. He focuses on Mishlei, but, he stresses, he uses it as a springboard to impart life lessons to the students. And despite teaching Mishlei for years, Rabbi Refson notes that he never teaches the same subject matter. Every year he focuses on different pesukim, so as not to be imparting “stale” material to the women. He admits that preparing for the classes is a lot of work, but “it’s the most enjoyable part of my day.” He also advises that a good teacher shouldn’t be teaching the same subject matter over and over again – their lessons will become rote and insipid, a turn-off for students. Despite the successes of Rabbi Refson’s numerous programs, there have been failures as well. But Rabbi Refson says that the disappointments are not something he takes to heart. “My father, a”h, was an extremely successful person,” Rabbi Refson shares. “And I noticed very early on how makpid he was to talk about things which had gone well along with things that had failed. I grew up with the belief that failing is part of the process – sheva yipol tzaddik v’kam.”

He adds, “Rav Hutner, zt”l, used to say, ‘You don’t have to win the battles, you have to win the war.’” Nowadays, he notes, children are bred to be scared of failure. The emphasis on how every student is always right, always doing great, creates an environment where a student has never learned the pain of failure.

life, a parent needs to model proper behavior for their children. “I’m not a big fan of chinuch,” Rabbi Refson asserts. “I’m a big fan of modeling,” he says. He explains, “Kids do what their parents do. You don’t have to say much; you just have to do. Why do you have to tell a kid something? Why

“It’s the frum girls who have become transformed by seeing the inspiration in the Neve girls on campus.” They’ve never experienced a disappointment, and so the fear of failure looms large. Eventually, people refuse to take responsibility or be creative because their fear of failure is so engrained. But parents can help assuage their children’s fears in this area – and help bring up well-rounded individuals as well. The key, Rabbi Refson says, is about how a parent acts at home. Just as Rabbi Refson learned from his father to admit defeat and appreciate the disappointments in

isn’t it evident in your home? Well, because, many times, the parents aren’t doing it. They aren’t modeling the proper behavior. This goes for having hakaras hatov, for how you act at your Shabbos table, how you talk, for respecting rabbanim – it’s all how the parents model the correct behavior. The children will follow accordingly.”

wenty-seven-thousand students is a lot of people to pass through a school’s doors. But

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that’s how many women Neve has touched in the five decades since it’s opened. Rabbi Refson maintains that Neve needs to service its graduates after they leave Yerushalayim. Unlike Harvard and other institutions that milk their graduates for money, Neve wants to provide for their graduates to help them navigate the world when they come home. In New York, Esther Rosenbaum, who was a madreicha in Neve, is tasked with looking after alumni in the area. On any Shabbos, she knows where the women are for meals. She helps them with shidduchim and with other issues that may arise. Another woman is dedicated to helping alumni in the Los Angeles community. At a recent Shabbaton for ten couples, Rabbi Refson was taken by the strength of his graduates. But he noticed that these women, many times, need support. Baalei teshuva frequently do not have a family network that can help them with the myriad responsibilities that come along with raising a family. Perhaps, he says, Neve can set up a network, a community, to help these women with their challenges. He adds that Neve wants to increase its offerings in the world. That, he quips, “requires money.” But knowing Rabbi Refson, there’s little that’s going to stand in his way. “After all,” he says with a twinkle in his eye, “if you love what you do, you don’t work a day in your life.”

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Dating Dialogue

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

Dear Navidaters,

I’m a Modern Orthodox, professional guy in my late twenties. I’m seeing someone now. She’s smart, beautiful, educated, and well-rounded, and I am really enjoying our time together. Strong feelings have developed and “I love you” is just around the corner.

Recently, my parents invited us over for Sunday brunch to get to know Tamar*. I was pleased with how well the gathering went. My family and Tamar hit it off immediately, though my mother mentioned to me afterward that she noticed Tamar seemed to be overly confident and ungracious. My mother is a tremendous supporter of me and all her children and wants us to be happy. She is the furthest thing from controlling or one of these caricature manipulative moms who tries to sabotage her sons so she can keep them to herself. She has warm relationships with my sisters-in-law. I take her opinion seriously. Two weeks later, I was invited to meet Tamar’s family at her home. Everyone was very warm – almost too warm and over the top. I felt like I walked into a great show. Something about the family felt inauthentic. When we sat down to eat, her father began to criticize and nitpick the meal her mother prepared. At another point, the father and adult sibling left the table to have an argument. When they came back, the sibling looked miserable and sat in uncomfortable silence and the father was jovial. Nothing was acknowledged. And as if it didn’t happen, the show continued. I could list a handful of what I consider to be unusual behaviors and dynamics. But most importantly, the woman I am dating did a 180. She snapped a few times at her mother and barely made eye contact with her father. I’m not a psychiatrist, but something is off. Tamar and I went out together after we left her house. She told me that she hates her family and can’t stand being around them. Hate is a strong word. I understand the reasons why she doesn’t like them, which I will not disclose. What I don’t understand is that she insists she must spend time with them because if she doesn’t, they will make her life difficult in ways my mind doesn’t compute. It seems very manipulative and controlling.

Disclaimer: This column is not intended to diagnose or otherwise conclude resolutions to any questions.

Our intention is not to offer any definitive

conclusions to any particular question, rather offer areas of exploration for the author and reader. Due to the nature of the column receiving only a short snapshot of an issue, without the benefit of an actual discussion, the panel’s role is to offer a range of possibilities. We hope to open up meaningful dialogue and individual exploration.

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I have strong feelings for Tamar, and I don’t want to walk away from her. But this dynamic is hard to swallow. In my family, we fight, we make up, we move on. I don’t want to seem judgmental, but I want to know if this is something I should pay attention to. If Tamar had a healthier attitude about her family and either had healthy distance or made her peace with them, I think I may feel differently and would be more apt to stay together. But it is the way she relates and interacts with them that concerns me. Her level of hatred she expresses makes me think she has some issues to work through before she can be married. My mother told me that anger isn’t going to disappear into thin air once we are married. It’s going to stick around until she decides that she wants to work through it. And it’s going to have to be placed somewhere, quite possibly on me. I’d like to run my game plan by all The Navidaters. I want to spend more time with Tamar and her family to get more of the dynamic at home. If I continue to see Tamar very angry with her family and insisting on spending time with them, I’m going to ask her if she is in therapy or would consider being in therapy because whatever happened in that house is not even the point anymore, it’s what she does with it NOW, right? If she says yes to therapy, do you think someone can work through this intense anger at her parents in a reasonable amount of time? And if she says no, do you think someone transfers this kind of self-righteous, self-unaware anger onto a spouse? Could it be something other than anger? I’m using that term but not sure if it’s appropriate. I promise I’m not a mama’s boy (LOL), but my mother thinks so. She told me she is concerned that what she is hearing from me are red flags. I enjoy reading your column weekly, and I have seen Jennifer Mann in the past about a different issue. I would like to hear from everyone. Would it be possible to have a man’s perspective as well for my question? Thank you. *Jonathan

The Panel The Rebbetzin Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz, M.S. onathan, your instincts are right. There are deep issues here that need to be pursued. If a grown woman has not resolved her issues with her parents, expresses hate, interacts with them with difficulty, and cannot control her anger, clearly there are both relationship and communication issues present. These need to be resolved by her in therapy. This will not be a shortterm situation that will be resolved in a few sessions. Yes, it’s about what she does with her feelings and her commitment to dealing with them is what is important, regardless of you. It’s her responsibility, and mature people bite the bullet. You should not

be the catalyst for her going into therapy. The fact that there are other family issues became evident at the one meal you shared with them. There must be plenty more problems beneath the surface. Observing them longer is not going to help you in this relationship. Your mother is right. There are many red flags in Tamar’s relationship and communication skills besides for her family dynamics. You should stay away, in my opinion. However, I do think that you need to go back to discuss why you doubt yourself and want validation from your mom and the Navidaters. Deal with your insecurity and work on your reluctance to give up on someone who seems toxic. Analyze why you are attracted to Tamar and how she has responded to your needs in the relationship. Do you need to be

a giver in a relationship? Grow from this experience and move on.

The Mother Sarah Schwartz Schreiber, P.A. he venerable Mr. Rogers used to ask, in sing-song: “Who are the people in your neighborhood?” I’m happy to report that I have no idea! And that’s a good thing. Because when evening descends upon my little corner of the world, what really goes on behind shaded windows and bolted doors – the idiosyncrasies, the humor, the drama, the daily give-and-take among the neighbors – thankfully remains within the family. Mah tovu ohalecha Yaakov! Family dynamics, when viewed

Like carbon monoxide, initially it may be undetectable, but trust me, it can poison the sweetest marriage.

by outsiders, can range from admirable to incomprehensible to negative to – as with Tamar’s family – downright terrifying. You can take comfort in the fact that you will be

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marrying Tamar (who acknowledges and “HATES” the dysfunction) and not her father, mother and siblings. Strike that; Tamar, like the rest of us, is a product of and an amalgam of her upbringing, as bizarre as it seems. She may appear to have surmounted the unfortunate, possibly abusive parenting she was subjected to; she can enumerate all the reasons she abhors her family, but the skewed parenting has caused her to become angry, bitter, and resentful. More incongruous, she insists on spending time in their controlling, manipulative clutches! If you think that’s weird, google Stockholm Syndrome. I side with your mother on this one. She’s got great instinct; she sensed something was awry when she noted Tamar’s overly confident and ungracious attitude. She’s spoton about anger; like carbon monoxide, initially it may be undetectable, but trust me, it can poison the sweetest marriage. If you truly have “strong feelings” for Tamar, you owe it to yourselves to put your relationship on hold. Make sure Tamar understands why she needs to begin a course of therapy. Before committing to a relationship, Tamar needs to work through the anger with her family; she must recognize the compulsion that causes her to re-visit the crucible of abuse time and again. With time, therapy, and the proper tools, Tamar may be able to transcend the adverse behaviors she grew up with and forge a healthy marriage of her own.

The Shadchan Michelle Mond here is a reason the most common comedy movies and Purim shpiels throughout the ages revolve around meeting the parents. Meeting the parents is either hilarious, cliché, sometimes wonderful, or downright scary. My biggest concern is how you are so deeply committed to a relationship with Tamar and have no prior knowledge of her hatred to-

wards her parents. How come she has never felt the importance of bringing this issue to light? If you would have been warned about the family situation, the whole experience would have been less traumatic. Furthermore, if she would have confided in you beforehand, it would be with a heavy dose of reassurance and an explanation of the boundaries she has practically put in place. But alas, there was no warning, and with it, no reassurance. Based on your assessment, it is understandable why her mood and personality shift in her parents’ presence. The way you described Tamar’s father speaking to her mother about the meal she graciously prepared is shocking. Can you blame her for avoiding eye contact with her father after putting on such a show? Human beings are so multifaceted, and some people’s personalities bring out the worst in others; unfortunately, sometimes those people are family. The question is not why Tamar did a 180 around her parents, since that seems quite clear based on your portrayal of the atrocious meeting. Her family made a fool of themselves in front of the man she would like to marry! The question you must ask is: has this young woman worked through the trauma of having parents whom she hates and a dysfunctional family life. Find out why she did not disclose this crucial piece of her life with you sooner and how she copes with it. Find out if she has gone to therapy to work on her communication and problem-solving skills, which she clearly did not have the opportunity to learn at home. Furthermore, she must work with a therapist to set healthy boundaries with her family. The way you describe Tamar being forced to spend time with the dysfunctional family hints to manipulation which is not something you want to marry into so quickly. Bottom line: You have a lot of thinking to do. If you truly believe Tamar is emotionally healthy, or if you believe she will be open to working with a therapist, then by all means stick around. But if Tamar pushes the issue away or belittles your concerns, you may want to look

elsewhere. Much hatzlacha with this decision!

The Single Tova Wein he scenario you described sounds almost hard to believe. For someone to come across so amazing in every way, date after date, and then become a totally different person in the company of her family is a stretch. Either Tamar is the greatest actress on earth and she is acting when the two of you are together or she has such enormous family issues that trigger her uncontrollably. Either way, I agree that therapy would be in order because the dots don’t connect and there are lots of unexplained, over-the-top behaviors that you have witnessed. Most people don’t love having other people tell them they need to be in therapy. Usually it’s a successful endeavor when an individual comes to that conclusion on their own, recognizing that something in their life is out of kilter. And so, it will be interesting to see how Tamar reacts to your suggestion. If she doesn’t become defensive, then, of course, it pays to give the relationship some time to see whether she works through her “hatred” of her family and also becomes aware that the homes she grew up in is no role model for a healthy, happy marriage. If you have the time and patience, Tamar is a lucky woman and the effort on everyone’s part may prove to be worthwhile.

A Husband & Father Responds Yehuda M., MD an (and woman) are created with the potential, abilities, personal traits, and capabilities granted to them by our Creator. The young woman you are describing seems to possess an abundance

Sometimes we love someone so much, or we have so much joy and happiness inside of us, that we believe we can fix or help someone with their sadness, anger or pain.

of those positive traits. In addition, she seems to have overcome many hurdles and worked through many emotional ups-and-downs to get to where she is now. Coupled with your feelings for her, you and she certainly seem to have struck relationship gold. Having said that, the emotional baggage is undeniable, and I concur with your assessment that it is a major hurdle that can certainly wreck marriage and family life if gone unrepaired. So, as in all relationships, this will be a tough topic which you must discuss with her openly and honestly. The most crucial point pivots along with the following questions: Is Tamar aware that this is a problem, and is she willing to fix it? Can she discuss her emotional baggage honestly and objectively? Does she possess the maturity and insight to acknowledge that, if gone unchecked, her discordant family background can and will have a detrimental effect on her family life and marriage? If she tries to shy away from this issue, she will be demonstrating that she cannot acknowledge the problem, and you can expect this to be a constant Achilles heel in your relationship. Run for your life. However, if the answer is yes, then that is already a gigantic posi-

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tive step – as she has acknowledged the problem and is willing to face it head-on.

The next step, as you said, would be for her to undergo therapy, armed

Pulling It All Together The Navidaters Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

ours is one of those queries that pulls and pulls at me. I’ve written this column three different ways as I sit down to write this – my fourth draft. Intuition is a gift that some of us ignore because we either don’t trust ourselves or we can’t look at something inside of ourselves. Bodies have reactions to unhealthy situations. The twisting of the stomach, an accelerated heartrate, the reddening of a cheek; these are all the body’s way of gently telling us something. I don’t know how your intuition presents itself, but you have a loud voice of intuition in your life: your mother. I commend you for being the open person that you are and taking a deeper look at the situation. Let’s spend very little time focusing on Tamar and her family, and let’s spend more time focusing on you. What you described about Tamar’s family doesn’t sit right. Many, many people come from homes with all sorts of dysfunction and painful dynamics: control, rules for emotions, conditional love and manipulation... it’s more common than we’d like to believe. I have seen, firsthand, people who rise above and learn and release and become incredible, insightful, sensitive people. Tamar may be a lovely woman. You’re a stone’s throw away from I love you, so I’m thinking Tamar may be fairly incredible. And if Tamar “hates” her parents, and they are any of the above, her feelings actually make a lot of sense. We can’t judge her for that. Should she be gaga over them? Absolutely not! The part that concerns me, as well

as all the other panelists, is that Tamar has not yet begun working on her anger toward her family. I t seems as though Tamar feels beholden to her family because of unhealthy dynamics and repercussions that she may suffer should she break out of the dance. Let’s be real. No one enters a marriage as the picture of health, and we all bring some baggage with us. But this level of hatred and anger (though they may be the perfectly correct emotional response to her family) is indicative of the road that Tamar has ahead of her, should she choose to walk it. Now for the harder part. Focusing in on the self. I want you to ask yourself: What does my instinct tell me? You have to understand before you choose a path (breaking up or moving forward) that you cannot fix this for Tamar. Ever. Ever. Ever. Sometimes we love someone so much, or we have so much joy and happiness inside of us, that we believe we can fix or help someone with their sadness, anger or pain. But if that person doesn’t take responsibility to heal her pain (and beneath hatred is pain), not only will you not be able to help her, but you too will be in pain. This is what I want you to take away from this response. This is the most important piece of advice I have to offer you. Should you decide to move forward with Tamar, I urge you to look for her awareness and willingness to work through her hatred/pain. The second thing I ask/urge you

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with the knowledge that it is crucial to her future life. Even if the issue isn’t fully solved before your marriage, her awareness of the issue and continuous

dedication to fixing it through therapy and open discussion will ensure that the emotional baggage does not get in the way of your young relationship. I wish you the best of luck.

to do is to be brutally honest with yourself about her responses. Do not hear what you want to hear. Believe what she tells you. Some language you may hear around blame and unwillingness (or unreadiness) to grow are words or phrases such as: My parents did this to me. The way I feel isn’t my fault. My parents deserve.... This isn’t my problem. This has nothing to do with you. Things can’t change. I am the way I am. Some language you may hear around willingness to grow and let go are: I don’t want to feel this way anymore. I’m ready to feel/do differently. I’m scared. I don’t know how to stop. Help. I don’t want my feelings or my family to impact you in any way. I’m ready to go to therapy. How do you feel about all this? How did you feel sitting at the table? I don’t want to lose you because of this. It seems like there’s a lot of good

between you and Tamar. I hope that when you delve deeper with Tamar, she shares language around willingness to grow and let go. If that is the case, I advise you to date for a significant period of time before getting engaged. And if she shares language around blame and finger pointing and unwillingness, then believe what you are hearing and follow your intuition (/mother.) If a person cannot acknowledge that she is responsible for her feelings, how can she possibly acknowledge a spouse’s feelings? All the best, Jennifer

Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples and families in private practice in Hewlett, NY. She is looking forward to teaching a psychology course at Touro College in the fall. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 516.224.7779. Press 2 for Jennifer. Visit www.thenavidaters.com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email thenavidaters@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.

Hi Readers! Receiving your enthusiastic emails wanting to participate in the Reader’s Respond section has been wonderful! Just a reminder about how Reader Response works. Email thenavidaters@gmail. com with the subject line “Reader Response.” We will then ask you, in the order we receive your email, if you would like to respond to the coming week’s email. If you would like to respond to an already printed Navidaters Panel, please submit your answer to the editor at editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com. You can also join us on our FB page @thenavidaters on Sunday evenings to post your response to the week’s column. Interacting with you has been a pleasure! Thank you for all of your feedback. Jennifer

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Dr. Deb

He Didn’t Want to Let Go of His Anger By Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.

eing a bully has some perks! You get everyone doing what you want and you have no responsibilities – because you make everyone else do the things you don’t want to do. It’s great! And then for fun you hang out with your fellow bullies comparing how wonderful life is. But there are some requirements. Not everyone can do this, so you need to pay careful attention if you want to get served and waited on hand and foot. • First of all, you cannot have feelings. No good. Because your wife or mother or husband or whoever will start to cry or get mad back at you. Or they’ll tell you how much you’ve hurt them. The key is: don’t listen! Just ignore these things. Brush them off. And don’t think about this again. Not for a minute. But I’m sure this part is easy for you because you never did pay attention to your feelings. You probably don’t know what feelings are, anyway. Good. Keep it that way. • Second, they will try to drag you to therapy. You know what therapy is for? It’s to listen to them and their hurt feelings! Don’t go. Or if you have to go, just fall asleep in there. Or distract yourself in some other way. Again, do not let those sneaky therapists access your feelings. • Third, be prepared for the ultimate moment when they decide they’ve had enough of being your slave in the kitchen, slave in

the laundry room, and slave in the bedroom. They will get tired of it at some point, you know. And then you’ll have to go through divorce. But that’s fine because for reasons I can’t understand, there is always another sucker waiting to get entangled in your net. So don’t worry about it. • Of course, if you do get divorced and you do have kids, you may completely lose them. But that’s okay because if you don’t have any feelings anyway, you don’t care, right? And anyway, you can always bribe the kids with expensive toys so they’ll want to be with you! And then you can make them your slaves. Up to a point, anyway, but it’s still good. You get the adoration of the kids, you got rid of the spouse, and you still get waited on pretty much. • Now, an important part of this you have to be aware of is that you can’t ever have any meaningful conversations. But you don’t want that. You don’t want to go deep. Going deep means those feelings again, the ones you learned to hide when you were about ten. And you’ve done a great job of burying them all these years, so why start now? If you’re bored or you think your life is meaningless, you can always start drinking again. There’s nothing meaningful there, of course, but it makes you forget that your life is completely empty except for being served, like I said. • And you’ve got to crank up your voice box. If you’re kind of weak and squeaky, no problem, just

glare meaningfully when you make your nasty threats. The anger has to show, man. That’s your tool. That’s your ticket to getting whatever you want. You need a little rage once in a while to keep them all scared and in line. That’s the way to do it! • Just remember, there is a downside. I don’t want to mention it too much, but I promised to be level with you, so there is another downside. Research shows that we will die earlier than everyone else. Yup. That’s just a fact. The way to work yourself up into a good rage so you can bully everyone in your life requires a lot of stress. And stress will take its toll. You will get a heart attack, high blood pressure, diabetes, even cancer. People in constant rages do not have healthy bodies. Of course, you can always work out a whole lot at the gym to delude yourself into thinking you’re really healthy. Hey, even if the delusion doesn’t work, you’ll look so good that people will want to talk to you and be with you! You could die while lifting the weights, but oh well, you died having fun. Of course, there is an alternative. (Sigh.) I really didn’t want to have to share this with you because the perks of being a bully are so fun. But I think I need to come clean. Sometime before you die, you might realize that whatever perks you’re getting aren’t enough. That there’s got to be more. And you stopped drinking or gambling or whatever it was you were doing to

escape from this truth. So you’re faced with it: the reality that life is plain empty. That getting waited on when the other person doesn’t want to but is afraid to say “no” isn’t at all fun. You’d rather have them want to. You’d rather have them like you. Uh oh. That’s the scary part, right there. In the depths of a moment of truth, you know there’s nothing to like about you the way you’ve been acting. You do not want to go there. But then you have no choice. You know this is true. What a bind you’re in. So come out of your bind right now. Drop the ropes and chains that have held you to that awful place of rage and hate. You don’t need that to have a good life, and you know it. I can help you turn this around. I have the tools. Yes, you can learn to calm down, talk rationally, take care of your needs, fill the emptiness inside, and get loved in spite of what you’ve done. All that. Give me a call to see how it works. Together we can map out your journey forward. But only if you are willing to push through the pain of facing what you’ve done and creating a new you. It’s up to you: ditch the rage and create a good life or keep it up and die young. 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

My Personal Journey Through Gallstones By Cindy Weinberger MS, RD, CDN

was sixteen weeks pregnant. It was a regular night. I ate dinner about 7:30 p.m. Then I relaxed on the couch and was craving a salty snack about 9:30 p.m. I decided to go for some tortilla chips. I usually don’t like to snack after dinner so I only had about five or six chips. That was enough to upset my gallbladder. Shortly after, I went to bed. At about 11:30 p.m., I was awoken by terrible, yet unfamiliar stomach pains. I knew this was not an ordinary stomachache. After about an hour and a half of severe abdominal pain and vomiting, I could not move. I simply laid on the floor yelling in pain, and no movement or change in position provided relief of the pain. I called my OBGYN in fear for my baby. As soon as I described my symptoms she immediately said, “Go to the emergency room. It sounds like it’s your gallbladder.” We rushed to hospital where they started me on intravenous fluids for hydration and did an abdominal ultrasound. There was an attending physician and a resident there for me. The resident was the one performing the ultrasound, while the attending physician was watching his every move. As soon as the ultrasound machine was over the right side of my body, the attending’s eyes widened, waiting to see if the resident would notice what he was seeing. My husband nervously blurted out, “What is it? What’s wrong? Is it the baby?” The attending physician lost patience for the resident and answered, “No. It looks like there is a baby in her gallbladder.” The ultrasound showed one large stone taking

up almost my entire gallbladder and many small stones all around too. The gallbladder is a small organ, about the size of an egg, that sits right under the liver. The gallbladder releases bile after a meal to help digest the fat. However, sometimes the bile hardens and becomes gallstones. Gallstones can sit in your gallbladder for years undetected and without any symptoms. The gallstones can also

Since the gallbladder releases bile after a meal, the best way to avoid a gallbladder attack is by controlling one’s diet. Any gastroenterologist will advise one with gallstones to avoid fatty foods. “Fatty foods” is a very vague term. Of course, this includes avoiding meats, anything fried, and greasy foods. However, you would be surprised how many foods fall under the category of fatty foods. Pizza, French

The attending physician lost patience for the resident and answered, “No. It looks like there is a baby in her gallbladder.”

try to leave the gallbladder through the ducts, causing extreme pain and inflammation in what is known as a gallbladder attack. If the stones leave the gallbladder and clog the ducts, this can cause a serious infection, and if it blocks the pancreatic duct (the duct leading to the pancreas), it can cause pancreatitis. If the gallstones don’t cause any symptoms, then treatment is not required. However, if one experiences gallbladder attacks, it is advised to remove the gallbladder. One can live a normal life once the gallbladder is removed, yet some experience fat malabsorption resulting in diarrhea.

fries, all fast foods, processed snacks, cakes, cookies, salad dressings, anything with mayonnaise, avocado, and full-fat dairy should all be avoided as well. Unfortunately, some foods that are not considered fatty may cause an attack, too. Finding the right balance can be very tricky. The safest foods for one with gallstones are fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy. By following a very low fat diet, I was able to control my symptoms and avoid further attacks. Eight weeks postpartum, I had my gallbladder removed, and now I am able to enjoy the foods I was scared to

eat for so many months. The tricky part with a “gallbladder diet” is that since the diet is very limited, I needed to make sure my body was getting enough nutrients from the “safe” foods throughout my pregnancy. During pregnancy, the body requires an additional 500 calories a day. By limiting fatty foods, one’s caloric intake can easily drop 500-1,000 calories a day. Figuring out what foods are safe to eat to avoid another gallbladder attack while eating enough of the right foods to ensure that your body and baby are getting adequate nutrients requires the help of a dietitian. Gallstones are more common during pregnancy and most surgeons recommend waiting until after the baby is born to perform the surgery to remove the gallbladder. Therefore, pregnant women with gallstones require a very strict diet for a long period of time, yet still require a balanced diet to ensure proper nutrition for the mother and baby. If you have gallstones or know anyone suffering from gallstones, call 917-623-6237 or email CindyWeinberger1@gmail.com to set up an appointment. 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 located in Brooklyn and the Five Towns. She can be reached at CindyWeinberger1@gmail.com.

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In The K

tchen

Whole Wheat Crescent Rolls Pareve • Yields 16 rolls By Naomi Nachman

Photo credit: Miriam Pascal

These are the perfect rolls to serve at a brunch. The rustic look makes them so tempting to eat as is or smeared with butter or your favorite dip. They are quick and easy to make − no machine necessary. Note that because there is no egg wash, they will remain somewhat pale. It’s also perfect for your Thanksgiving meal.

Ingredients 2 cups warm water 1 packet (or 2½ teaspoons) instant dry yeast 4 TBS pure maple syrup 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups whole wheat flour 1 TBS kosher salt

Preparation Combine water, yeast, and maple syrup in a large bowl. Let stand for about 5 minutes, until bubbling and foamy. Add flours and salt to bowl. Mix by hand until a dough ball forms. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth. Let rise for 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut dough in half. Roll one half into a large circle; cut into 8 wedges, like pizza slices. Roll up each wedge, starting from the wide end (like rugelach); place on prepared baking sheets, pointed end down. Repeat with remaining half of the dough. Bake for about 25 minutes, until lightly browned.

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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IMPEACHMENT

2019 How It Came About and Where It’s Going

s the Democrat-led House of Representatives wades into impeachment waters, the picture of “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors” that is required to impeach a sitting president is still murky to most Americans – although Democrats in Congress point to it with conviction, while Republicans scoff at its existence at all. Is this what Founding Father Alexander Hamilton feared when he expressed his concern in the Federalist Papers that “in many cases [impeachment] will connect itself with the pre-existing factions, and will enlist all their animosities, partialities, influence, and interest on one side or on the other; and in such cases there will always be the greatest danger that the decision will be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties, than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt”?

Again, Democrats will say absolutely not – “[impeachment] is something we do with a heavy heart. This is very prayerful,” intoned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to reporters last week, before going on to say, “What the president did was so much worse than even what Richard Nixon did.” Republicans, on the other hand, argue that what is taking place is exactly what Hamilton was concerned about – “Democrats have been vowing to oust President Trump since the day he was elected,” according to Rep. Devin Nunez, who is the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, and are using the impeachment inquiry to “fulfill their Watergate fantasies.” If this sounds confusing, it’s because it is.

How Impeachment Works Although the first word that often comes to mind when people think of

impeachment is “Nixon,” the 37 th U.S. president, Richard Milhous Nixon, ended up resigning in 1974 before the House of Representatives formally voted to impeach him. The impeachment of a president has only happened twice in the history of the United States: in 1868 when President Andrew Johnson was impeached, and in 1998 when President Bill Clinton was impeached. Neither of them was removed from office though, as neither was ultimately convicted by the Senate. Although to some it may feel like the Clinton impeachment just happened, there are many adults who were too young or were not even alive during the Clinton impeachment (feel old?). Thus, how impeachment works is unclear to many people. An impeachment proceeding starts with an impeachment inquiry. That is the phase that the current proceeding

is in right now. During an impeachment inquiry, a Congressional committee, or multiple congressional committees, investigate whether the president engaged in impeachable offenses. Once the investigation is complete, the committee votes by a simple majority (50% plus one) whether to pass articles of impeachment, which are formal charges being brought against the president. Since the House Judiciary Committee consists of 41 members – 24 Democrats and 17 Republicans – it’s likely that the Democrats will be able to garner at least 21 votes to pass one or more articles of impeachment. Once that happens, the matter will advance to the full House of Representatives, where a vote is taken whether to uphold any or all of the articles of impeachment. At this point as well, the Democrats will likely succeed, as they have a 233-to-197 majority and only need 218 votes in order to uphold the

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The Schiff Show

By Tzvi Dear

articles of impeachment. Once the House votes by a simple majority to uphold the articles of impeachment, the president has been impeached. At this point, though, the president is not removed from office. The matter then advances to the Senate, where a trial is held. If a two-thirds majority in the Senate find the president guilty, then he is removed from office – something that has never occurred in the history of the United States. It is in the Senate that the march to remove Mr. Trump from office will likely end, as 67 Senators would need to find the president guilty in order to remove him from office. The Republicans hold a majority of 53-to-47 Democrats in the Senate. In order to remove the president from office, the Democrats would have to get 20 Republicans to vote with them, a feat that is close to insurmountable.

The impeachment inquiry is being led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who has been a vocal critic of President Trump since, as Trump would say, Trump “came down the escalator” to announce his candidacy for president in 2015. For several years now, Schiff has been the face of the Trump resistance in the House of Representatives. In an audio posted online last year by two Russian comedians nicknamed Vovan and Lexus, who have become notorious for their phony calls to high-ranking American officials and celebrities including UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Rep. Adam Schiff can be heard discussing information asserting that the Russian intelligence services has compromising pictures of President Trump. The pranksters claimed to be Russian intelligence officials and claimed to also have recordings of nefarious behavior by Trump from before his presidency. When the prank call was made public, Schiff stated that he notified authorities after the call that he thought it was bogus, although in the call itself he appeared to be incredulous and even discussed making arrangements to obtain the material. “Obviously we would welcome the chance to get copies of those recordings,” Schiff said in the recorded call, adding, “I’ll be in touch with the FBI about this, and we’ll make arrangements with your staff. I think it would be best to provide these materials to both our committee and the FBI. We’ll make arrangements between my staff and yours on how to facilitate that.” Although that call only gave shortlived hope to Rep. Schiff in quest to fell the president, the investigation into Russian collusion of the 2016 presidential election is what he really hung his hat on. Schiff declared on numerous occasions that he had seen “ample evidence of Russian collusion” with the Trump campaign. But Schiff’s promise of downing Trump fell flat after the several-year multi-million-dollar Mueller investigation found no evidence of Russian collusion. When Schiff publicly called Mueller in front of the House Intelligence Committee to obtain additional information, Mueller reiterated his report’s conclusion that

there was no Russian collusion, leaving Schiff dejected. But not for long. Within weeks of the Mueller investigation into Trump’s 2016 collusion with Russia grinding to a halt, the wheels were set in motion for the current proceedings to commence. Rep. Adam Schiff now has the crack at Trump that he has been waiting for. And he has a lot of power to call the shots. According to the Democrats’ rules devised for the current impeachment inquiry, it is Schiff’s decision to choose who testifies at the hearings. Additionally, he has been holding secret classified hearings of witnesses, auditioning those witnesses for the public hearings. This has led to Republicans charging that he is cherry-picking witness testimony and only presenting testimony that is damaging to the president. Whereas in both the Nixon and Clinton inquiries lawyers for the presidents were involved in the inquiry and were allowed to question witnesses and present their own witnesses, Schiff and the Democrats have barred President Trump’s attorneys from anything other than responding to evidence and testimony in writing. “Maybe in the Soviet Union, you do things like this where only you make the rules, where you reject the ability for the person you’re accusing to even be in the room,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise mused in response to the Democrats’ draconian rules. As such, if Schiff can “get the goods,” he may finally achieve his goal of taking down President Trump, assuring his place on the Mt. Rushmore of resisters.

The Whistleblower and Trump’s Wrongdoing The current impeachment inquiry kicked into motion when, in early September, Rep. Schiff announced that the Inspector General at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had informed him of a whistleblower’s complaint against President Trump. Schiff, however claimed not to know any details of the complaint. He announced that he would convene hearings to determine what the complaint was about. He promised that the whistleblower would be called to testify. It was later learned that Schiff’s office was already well aware of the whistleblower’s complaint when this “bombshell story” came out and that he knew a lot more information that he initially led the public to believe. In fact, the whistleblower had contacted Schiff’s office directly and raised concerns about a phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25 of this year. According to the whistleblower, the president pressed Zelensky to open an investigation into Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s dealings in Ukraine. At that time, it was believed that the whistleblower had firsthand knowledge of the call because he was on it. However, it was later revealed that the whistleblower was not on the call but was reporting what he was told by others who were on the call. As such, Republicans have noted that the whistleblower is actually not a whistleblower but a leaker.

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It was also later learned that the whistleblower is being represented by an attorney who, in January 2017, several days after Mr. Trump was inaugurated, tweeted conspicuously that a “coup has started” and that “impeachment will follow ultimately.” Once the July 25th phone call came into focus, Schiff promised hearings to learn exactly what was said on the call. But on September 24, President Trump – much to the shock of Washington – released a transcript of his July 25th call with the Ukrainian president. In a sense, this pulled the rug out from under Rep. Schiff because now the American people could learn the contents of the call without relying on witnesses who would characterize it in a congressional hearing. According to the released transcript, after discussing trade with the Ukrainian president, Mr. Trump mentioned the possibility that Ukraine was involved in creating, what Trump calls, “The Russia Hoax.” “I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it,” said the president to Zelensky. “I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say CrowdStrike... I guess you have one of your wealthy people... The server, they say Ukraine has it. There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation... I think you are surrounding yourself with some of the same people. I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people, and I would like you to get to the bottom of it. As you saw yesterday, that whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by

a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, it’s very important that you do it if that’s possible.” It is roundly believed that Trump

a possible scandal involving former vice president and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden. “There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution, and a lot of people want to find

ALTHOUGH THE FIRST WORD THAT OFTEN COMES TO MIND WHEN PEOPLE THINK OF IMPEACHMENT IS “NIXON,” THE 37TH U.S. PRESIDENT, RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON, ENDED UP RESIGNING IN 1974 BEFORE THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FORMALLY VOTED TO IMPEACH HIM.

brought up CrowdStrike because the company helped the Democratic National Committee investigate an intrusion of its systems during the 2016 presidential campaign. CrowdStrike eventually blamed the hack on the Russians. However, there is a theory that Ukraine was involved in the hacking, not Russia. President Trump also brought up

out about that, so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it.... It sounds horrible to me.” The scandal that President Trump was referring to involves Joe Biden, his son, and a Ukrainian energy company called Burisma. In 2014, then-

Vice President Biden’s son, Hunter, was placed on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma. He was paid approximately $83,000 per month despite having no background in energy or Ukraine. At the time, Burisma was facing foreign scrutiny over its business practices and was also being investigated for wrongdoing by Ukraine’s main prosecutor. However, in 2016, the prosecutor investigating Burisma was fired when then-Vice President Biden visited Ukraine and demanded that the president of Ukraine fire the prosecutor. While recalling the incident in 2018 – before announcing his candidacy for the Democrat nomination in 2020 – Mr. Biden spoke about his activities in Ukraine and boasted that he threatened to withhold one billion dollars in aid to Ukraine if Ukraine did not fire the main prosecutor. “I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a [gun] – he got fired,” Biden said. That was the very prosecutor investigating Burisma. Mr. Biden maintains that that incident has nothing to do with his son having been on the Burisma board and that the prosecutor was corrupt. Others – including Mr. Trump – see something more nefarious here.

A Perfect Call, An Improper Call, An Impeachable Call President Trump has repeatedly referred to the July 25th call as “a perfect call” and has repeatedly said that “there was no pressure put on them whatsoever.” Some Republicans aren’t as gung-

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ho about the call as the president. Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio echoed the sentiment of many Republicans when he said that “I thought it was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign government to investigate a political opponent,” while adding, “I also do not think it’s an impeachable offense.” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) echoed, “I think some of the things that were done were not wise. I think some of the statements may lack judgment. That’s different than being illegal.” But Democrats see the call as a lot more sinister than just bad judgment. One day after the call transcript was released, Rep. Schiff opened a hearing into the matter by broadcasting what happened on the call. “It reads like a classic organized crime shakedown,” Schiff declared. “In essence, what the President Trump communicates is this: We’ve been very good to your country. Very good. No other country has done as much as we have. But you know what? I don’t see much reciprocity here. You know what I mean? I hear what you want. I have a favor I want from you, though. And I’m going to say this only seven times, so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand? Lots of dirt, on this and on that. I’m going to put you in touch with people, and not just any people. I’m going to put you in touch with the Attorney General of the United States — my Attorney General Bill Barr — he’s got the whole weight of American law enforcement behind him. And I’m going to put you in touch with Rudy; you’re going to love him. Trust me. You know what I’m asking, so I’m only going to say this a few more times, in a few more ways. And don’t call me again. I’ll call you when you’ve done what I asked.” After Rep. Schiff’s false characterization of the phone call, President Trump promptly tweeted, “Rep. Adam Schiff totally made up my conversation with Ukraine President and read it to Congress and Millions. He must resign and be investigated. He has been doing this for two years. He is a sick man!” When Republicans on the committee called Schiff out for lying and making up a conversation out of thin air, Schiff said, “My summary of the

president’s call was meant to be at least part in parody.”

Quid Pro Quo & Hearsay Buttressing Democrats’ concern about the call is the fact that in mid-July the Trump administration placed a temporary hold on $391 million in military aid to Ukraine. They argue that on his July 25th call with

in September, even though Ukraine never committed to the investigations. Even if President Trump was striking a deal, it’s impossible, the Republicans note, to put forth a quid pro quo if one side isn’t even aware that the process is happening. According to the White House, the funds were held up while President Trump looked into whether Zelensky

IF SCHIFF CAN “GET THE GOODS,” HE MAY FINALLY ACHIEVE HIS GOAL OF TAKING DOWN PRESIDENT TRUMP, ASSURING HIS PLACE ON THE MT. RUSHMORE OF RESISTERS.

Zelensky, Mr. Trump, without mentioning it directly, was essentially saying that unless Ukraine committed to the investigations that Trump wanted, Ukraine would not get the U.S. aid. That, they argue, is a quid pro quo and grounds for impeachment. Although the timing of the freeze is suspicious, the Trump administration points out that when the call took place, Ukraine didn’t even know about the hold on the military aid and that the aid was eventually released

was serious about fighting corruption. While Democrats allege that Mr. Trump improperly used his office to try to get a foreign government to investigate a political rival, Republicans argue that the president’s opponents are trying to connect unrelated events, based largely on hearsay, to undo the results of the 2016 election. According to the public testimony so far, numerous government officials have given their opinion as to why President Trump held up the aid, but

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no witnesses had any actual firsthand knowledge as to why the aid was held up. For example, on the first day of the public hearings, William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, told the committee that one of his staffers was in a restaurant in Kyiv, Ukraine, when he overheard a call between EU Ambassador Sondland and President Trump. Following that call with Trump, the staffer asked Sondland what the president thought about Ukraine. “Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden,” which Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani had been “pressing for,” Taylor said. Taylor’s hearsay-riddled testimony prompted Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to quip, “I’ve seen church prayer chains that are easier to understand than this.” Although the impeachment inquiry is not technically bound by federal or state rules on evidence, one of the foundations of the American legal system is that barring certain exceptions – which are not pertinent here – hearsay testimony is inadmissible. However, Democrats are not concerned by hearsay-reliant testimony. As Democrat Rep. Mike Quigley said, “Hearsay can be much better evidence than direct.” Although this comment flies in the face of everything that the U.S. legal system stands for, to those who support the impeachment of Mr. Trump the statement is true…for now. Rep. Schiff has also presented a number of witnesses who, while admitting that they do not have any knowledge about whether there was a quid pro quo, do have an opinion that President Trump is engaged in bad foreign policy and that by having Rudy Giuliani serve as his proxy, he is undermining the career foreign policy diplomats. The Republican response to that argument is that, as president, Mr. Trump is free to carry out his foreign policy however he pleases.

From Quid Pro Quo to Bribery to Food Fight After several days of testimony that has not produced any clear evidence either way of whether the president engaged in a quid pro quo, Democrats have changed their messaging

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and are now claiming that President Trump attempted to bribe Ukraine. Although there is no practical difference in the underlying charge, according to focus groups conducted by the Democrats, most Americans were not familiar with the definition of “quid pro quo” and the term “bribery” is easier to understand. Will this change of messaging work? According to Michael Goodwin of The New York Post, it won’t. “Dems throw words at walls, hoping something will stick. Quid pro quo, bribery, extortion, abuse of power, obstruction and witness intimidation are all getting a tryout,” he wrote. “The search for buzzwords proves the entire enterprise is 100% political. If impeachment were justified by facts, the right words would be obvious to the vast majority of Americans.” In the meantime, within the hearing room where the proceedings are taking place, the partisanship and bickering between both parties has accelerated to DEFCON 1. Democrats accuse the Republicans of a coverup, while Republicans accuse the Democrats of staging a kangaroo court. And, of course, every once in a while, when President Trump does his daily thumb exercises and sends out a tweet to his millions of followers, the whole proceeding goes sideways. On Friday, Rep. Schiff brought in the former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch to testify. She had been fired long before the July 25 th phone call and admitted that she could shed no light on whether there was a quid pro quo between the president and Ukraine. However, she had a gripe about being fired and blamed Rudy Giuliani for pushing Trump to give her the pink slip. Even though Trump’s predecessor summarily fired all of George W. Bush’s ambassadors upon assuming office, Yovanovitch thought that it was bad policy for Trump to fire her. While she was testifying, Mr. Trump tweeted, “Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a

U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors.” Mr. Trump added, “They call it ‘serving at the pleasure of the President.’ The U.S. now has a very strong and powerful foreign policy, much different than proceeding administrations. It is called, quite simply, America First!

she was testifying if Schiff would not have seized the moment to tell her about it while she was testifying; if there’s a crime, they say, Mr. Schiff is then an accessory to that crime. Additionally, they argue, there was nothing intimidating in the tweet, and Mr. Trump was merely exercis-

“DEMS THROW WORDS AT WALLS, HOPING SOMETHING WILL STICK…. IF IMPEACHMENT WERE JUSTIFIED BY FACTS, THE RIGHT WORDS WOULD BE OBVIOUS TO THE VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS.”

With all of that, however, I have done FAR more for Ukraine than O.” Rep. Schiff promptly and dramatically read the tweet aloud and asked Yovanovitch how the president’s tweets made her feel. “It’s very intimidating,” Yovanovitch said. Mr. Schiff then declared that he would consider an article of impeachment for witness intimidation. Republicans called out Rep. Schiff’s charade and pointed out that Yovanovitch would never have even known about the tweets while

ing his First Amendment rights and was defending himself against accusations in a proceeding in which he inexplicably has been prevented from presenting a defense.

America Doesn’t Care A recent poll by NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, shows that half of Americans say that they approve of the impeachment inquiry — about the same as the poll found last month. Respondents are also split on whether they think Trump should be impeached and removed

from office. 65% of Americans say they can’t imagine any information or circumstances during the impeachment inquiry where they might change their minds about their position on impeachment. Americans’ viewpoints have hardened in this matter, and regardless of any bombshell results, their opinions about the president will not change much. This presents the Democrats with a dilemma. If they don’t go through with impeachment, regardless of its flimsy foundation, their base, which has been clamoring for impeachment, will be dejected. This may temper their turnout in 2020. And if they do go through with impeachment, they will be cast as partisan Trump haters who are in Washington not to create productive policies for the American people but merely to try and nip at the president’s heels and clip his wings. Generally, voters – other than those that are heavily engaged already – tend to migrate to the party which at least claims to be putting forth good policies. Republicans too face risks during these proceedings. Even if the Democrats pass tenuous articles of impeachment, there are many who will have Trump fatigue by the time 2020 comes around and the fact that he was impeached may convince them to vote against him. This may also cause down-ballot harm to Republicans in Congress as they may be given a black mark for supporting Trump. On the other hand, if they abandon him, they will certainly lose as the core Republican-Trump base would be infuriated when they didn’t stand by the president’s side. Impeachment, Schiff, quid pro quo, bribery – there’s a lot going on in Washington. Americans, though, send their politicians to Washington so they can help the American people and create sound policies for the nation. The bipartisan bickering has made Americans tired. So tired, perhaps, that if the gavel goes down and President Trump ends up being impeached, they’ll look up blearily from their iPhones and say, “Who cares?”

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Notable Quotes “Say What?!”

In my opinion she represents the worst in politicians as she’s trying to demonize wealthy people because there are more poor people than wealthy people. As far as the accusations of insider trading, I won the case. She’s disgraceful. She doesn’t know who… she’s tweeting. I gave away more in the year than she has in her whole… lifetime. - Billionaire Leon Cooperman responding to an ad by 2020 candidate Elizabeth Warren which demonizes wealthy people and calls out Cooperman for insider trading

Elise Stefanik is a perfect example of why just electing someone because they are a woman or a millennial doesn’t necessarily get you the leaders we need. - ABC News Chief Political Analyst Matthew Dowd criticizing Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, age 35, after she reeled off a dozen statements by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) in favor of “the whistleblower” testifying in the impeachment hearings, before he changed his mind and blocked him from testifying, much to the ire of Republicans

I am proudly the opposite of AOC. - Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), responding to some calling her a Republican Alexandria Ocasio Cortez

It didn’t go wrong – it was the best 10 years of my life…I don’t look back with any regrets, that’s for sure…I wouldn’t want to turn the clock back. But I live a good, free lifestyle now, and I’m happier because I’ve got my life back. - Michael Carroll, who was known as the “Lotto Lout” after winning the equivalent of $13 million and blowing it on parties, talking to The Mirror about his life now and working seven days a week

Surprised to be featured in Sen. Warren’s campaign ad, given the many severe critics she has out there. Not my candidate, but we align on many issues. Vilification of people as a member of a group may be good for her campaign, not the country. Maybe tribalism is just in her DNA. – Tweet by Lloyd Blankfein, the former head of Goldman Sachs, responding to being featured in Warren’s ad by mocking her false claim of being a Native-American

We are not in a foreign country; this has been our homeland for over 3000 years. The reason why we are called “Jews” is because we came from here, from Judea. It does not prevent negotiations – on the contrary, it promotes peace because it is impossible to build true peace based on lies. - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call with President Trump thanking him for changing U.S. policy to no longer consider Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria to be contrary to international law

MORE QUOTES

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The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

Over time, I’ve come to understand something that I long struggled to admit to myself: I got something important wrong. I got something important really wrong. I didn’t understand back then the full impact that stops were having on the black and Latino communities. I now see that we could and should have acted sooner and acted faster to cut the stops. I wish we had. I’m sorry that we didn’t. But I can’t change history. However, today, I want you to know that I realize back then I was wrong, and I’m sorry. - Michael Bloomberg, who is preparing to enter the 2020 Democratic presidential race, apologizing at a Brooklyn black church for the New York Police Department’s promotion of “stop and frisk,” a controversial policing strategy that disproportionately affected blacks and Latinos while he was mayor

There’s no point to humanity. So many people are suffering. If humanity is extinct, Earth and animals would be happier. They’ll certainly be better off. Also no human will then suffer. Human existence is totally pointless.

After my injury I just didn’t know where to start life. To be honest I struggled, because I couldn’t go to the toilet myself, I couldn’t eat (by) myself or wash myself initially. - Hari Budha Magar, of Nepal, who had both of his legs blown off above the knee while serving in Afghanistan in 2010, talking to CNN about his plans to climb Mt. Everest

- 27-year-old Mumbai resident Raphael Samuel explaining to the BBC why he is suing his parents for giving birth to him, forcing him to live in this world

I must admire my son’s temerity to want to take his parents to court knowing both of us are lawyers. And if Raphael could come up with a rational explanation as to how we could have sought his consent to be born, I will accept my fault. - Samuel’s mother responding to his lawsuit, when asked about it by the BBC

Above knee and below knee is a huge difference. Having a knee is so advantageous. You can lift your leg up and down. But (without a knee) you’re like a penguin. - Ibid.

Lots of people say that I’m doing (this) for myself. To be honest, this is my second life, and I want to make my life as meaningful as possible before I die. - Ibid.

Meth, we’re on it. - Slogan of South Dakota’s new anti-drug campaign

If I have one message, it is that we stand shoulder to shoulder with you. We always have and we always will. - U.S. Air Force Chief David Goldfein to IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi, while visiting Israel last week

You’ve got to have something to look forward to. That is the secret. - Ruth Kundsin, age 103, talking to a Boston TV station about the secret of her longevity

A crow is never whiter for often washing. Anyone who dares slander the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK can never spare the DPRK’s merciless punishment whoever and wherever. And he will be made to see even in a grave what horrible consequences will be brought about by his thoughtless utterances. Rabid dogs like Baiden [sic] can hurt lots of people if they are allowed to run about. They must be beaten to death with a stick, before it is too late. Doing so will be beneficial for the U.S. also. - Statement by North Korea responding to 2020 hopeful Joe Biden’s criticism of Kim Jung Un and President Trump’s North Korea policy

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The new rules of the game are clear: the IDF will operate with complete freedom of action, with no restrictions. A terrorist who tries to hurt the citizens of Israel will no longer be able to sleep peacefully, neither in his home nor in his bed, nor anywhere in hiding. - Israel’s Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, after Israel killed 25 terrorists in raids inside Gaza

That’s what people need to understand. I’m not committing the murders. The police commissioner is not committing it. The council is not committing it. So how can you fault leadership? - Baltimore Mayor Bernard Young at his weekly press conference distancing himself from Baltimore’s incredibly high murder rate

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-Laurent Simons, 9, of Belgium, who studies electrical engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and is about to become one of the youngest people in the world to graduate from a university, when asked in a TV interview if he plays sports

- Jozef Walaszczyk, Poland’s oldest living Righteous Among the Nations – a title given by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust— talking about a surprise 100th birthday that was made for him last week by a Holocaust remembrance organization, a party that included Jozef being transported in a Ferrari

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Political Crossfire

Incompetence is Not an Impeachable Offense By Marc A. Thiessen

he problem with most conspiracy theories is that they presume too much competence on the part of the conspirators. The same may be true when it comes to President Trump’s alleged quid pro quo with Ukraine. As Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., put it, “What I can tell you about the Trump policy towards the Ukraine is that it was incoherent…. They seem to be incapable of forming a quid pro quo.” Graham may be right. Last Wednesday’s impeachment hearing certainly provided no new evidence that Trump had a coherent strategy to use U.S. security assistance, and the prospect of a presidential meeting, to get Ukraine to investigate his political rivals. The witnesses – William Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent – acknowledged that they had never spoken to the president and had no firsthand knowledge of Trump’s thinking. As former independent counsel Kenneth Starr explained on Fox News, there was “no John Dean” to testify “this is what the president told me.” If anything, Taylor testified that Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, told him the president said on more than one occasion “no quid pro quo” and that he was effectively cut out of the decision-making process by a separate unofficial channel. What we saw on display Wednesday were two dedicated, experienced

career foreign policy officials who had been desperately trying to figure out what the president wanted – and inferring his intentions based on snippets of information from others. But their efforts to divine Trump’s desires presume that the president knew what he wanted. It’s not clear he did. His handling of Ukraine seemed less the execution of an intelligible plan than a chaotic mishmash of constantly changing urges and demands. Ac-

Mick Mulvaney, a spending hawk who doesn’t like foreign aid to begin with, was trying to get Trump to enact a larger rescission of $4 billion in foreign assistance before the end of the fiscal year that included not just assistance for Ukraine but also development aid, economic support, military financing programs, global health programs in many countries, and funding for international organizations.

His handling of Ukraine seemed less the execution of an intelligible plan than a chaotic mishmash of constantly changing urges and demands.

cording to Sondland, “President Trump changes his mind on what he wants on a daily basis.” Trump surrounded himself with a toxic brew of individuals whispering into his ear and appealing to his worst instincts. His personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani was filling his head with all sorts of conspiracy theories about Ukraine that made the president very hostile to the country. At the same time, acting chief of staff

At one point on Wednesday, Taylor testified that then-White House aide Tim Morrison told him the “president doesn’t want to provide any assistance at all.” That means Trump, at one point, was considering not delivering the Ukraine aid, period – regardless of what they did on “the investigations.” Throw in Trump’s long-standing concern about burden-sharing by our European allies, and his anger over now-disproved

charges that he had conspired with Russia to steal the 2016 election, and the result is the mess we see before us. Is it possible that Trump is an evil genius who came up with a strategic plan to leverage U.S. security assistance and a presidential meeting? If so, he did an awful job. For one thing, Taylor confirmed on Wednesday that the Ukrainians were not aware that their aid was on hold until they learned about it from an August 29 article in Politico, more than a month after Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Taylor testified that Ukrainian officials “contacted me very concerned, asking about the withheld security assistance.... At that point, I was embarrassed that I could give him no explanation for why it was withheld. It had still not occurred to me that the hold on security assistance could be related to the ‘investigations.’” So, neither he nor the Ukrainians knew about the alleged quid pro quo. And then, less than two weeks later, the Ukrainians got the quid without delivering the quo. Maybe future witnesses will provide the smoking-gun evidence that Trump ordered them to execute a quid pro quo. But it looks as though the entire Ukraine debacle may be the result less of intent than incompetence. And, unfortunately for Democrats, incompetence is not an impeachable offense. (c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group

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Israel Today

Middle Eastern Gyrations Oil, Water, Islamism and Anti-Zionism in Flux

Prime Minister Netanyahu in talks with Sultan Qaboos bin Said in Oman in 2018

By Daniel Pipes

s ever, the Middle East is monumentally in flux. As usual, most developments are negative. Here’s a guide: Water replaces petroleum as the key liquid: Oil and gas still provide nearly 60 percent of the world’s energy, but this number is declining and even the wealthiest oil producers are feeling the pinch (“GCC states look to new taxes as oil revenues remain weak”). Contrarily, tensions over water are becoming a major source of international tensions (e.g., Turkey vs. Syria, Ethiopia vs. Egypt) and a driving force of domestic change (the Syrian revolt of 2011). It’s also a potential cause of massive migration; a former Iranian minister of agriculture predicts that water shortages will force up to 70 percent of the country’s population, or 57 million Iranians, to emigrate. Anarchy replaces tyranny: Of course, some tyrannies remain, notably in Turkey and Iran, but anarchy has become the region’s greater bane, including whole countries (Libya, Yemen, Syria) and parts of others (e.g., Sinai). Though generally less threatening to the outside world, anarchy is an even more miserable personal experience than tyranny, for it lacks guidelines. As a thirteenth century Koran scholar noted, “A year of the sultan’s tyranny does less harm than a moment of the people’s anarchy.” The failure of Arab youths’ efforts to make improvements: Around 1970, many Arabic-speak-

ing countries began an era of corrupt strongman rule. Starting in Tunisia in December 2010, efforts to overthrow the old order have shaken governments but had few beneficial consequences. In some cases (Libya, Yemen, Syria), they led to civil war; in another (Egypt), they merely brought on a younger strongman. Recent uprisings in Algeria, Sudan, Iraq, and Lebanon have yet

an era of anti-ideology might lie ahead. Iran is the most divisive country, not Israel: For decades, the issue of the Jewish state drove and divided Middle East politics; now, it’s Iran. The Islamic Republic dominates four Arab capitals (Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, and Sanaa), aggresses elsewhere, and spreads its radical version of Islam. Governments that once treated Isra-

Israel now enjoys better relations with Saudi Arabia than with Spain or Sweden.

to conclude but odds are, they too will end badly. The decline of Islamism: After peaking in about 2012, the radical attempt to apply Islamic law severely and in full has lost ground in the Middle East. Several factors account for this: a fear of wild-eyed fanatics like Boko Haram, Shabaab, ISIS, and the Taliban; the dismal experience of Muslim peoples who have lived under Islamist rule (e.g., Egypt in 2012-13); and the fracturing of Islamists (e.g., in Syria) into competing and hostile factions. What might come after Islamism is unclear, but after a century of failure with it and other extremist ideologies (including fascism and communism),

el as the archenemy, notably Saudi Arabia, now work with it in a range of ways, overt and covert. As a side note, the global left has inherited the Arab states’ old toxic anti-Zionism; Israel now enjoys better relations with Saudi Arabia than with Spain or Sweden. Iran and Turkey take up the Arab states’ anti-Zionism: The era of Arab state warfare on Israel lasted only 25 years, 1948-73, and ended 46 years ago because politicians found this conflict too expensive and risky. Instead, they abandoned it to sub-state actors like the Palestinians. Eager to take up the slack, Iran’s Khomeini and Turkey’s Erdoğan made opposition to Israel central to their messages. If so

far, they have mostly limited their aggression to words, that could dramatically change. Americans react against over-involvement: George W. Bush began nearly simultaneous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that many Americans found excessively costly and adventurous, prompting a long-term backlash. Barack Obama and Donald Trump each responded in characteristic ways (one critical of the United States, the other boisterously nationalist) to reduce U.S. military commitments in the region. Obama’s 2012 redline retreat and Trump’s 2019 pulling of soldiers, both involving Syria, symbolize this retreat. Russia makes noise but China builds: Vladimir Putin seems to be everywhere – closing commercial deals, selling arms, sending troops, convening conferences – but these are the pyrotechnics of a power in decline. Meanwhile, Xi Jinping’s China quietly builds its economic infrastructure, a network of political alliances, and military power in the region, to be called upon whenever Beijing decides to exert its will. Beijing, not Moscow, poses the great threat. One piece of unabashed good news (Islamism’s decline) stands out among these many and protracted problems.

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Forgotten Her es

LSTs, an Important Part of World War II Battles By Avi Heiligman

mphibious warfare has been around since ancient times but embarking and disembarking troops and material takes a lot of time and patience. It also is the perfect time for the enemy to attack as the ships and men are vulnerable and not in a defensive position. During the evacuation of the British beaches at Dunkirk in May 1940, the Allies left a lot of tanks, guns and other supplies because they focused on getting all of the soldiers off of the beaches first. In efforts to ameliorate the problem, engineers quickly went to the drawing board and came up with the LST – Landing Ship Tank. LSTs were built by the hundreds and were indispensible despite their shortcomings. A few days after the idea was proposed to the Bureau of Ships, a design had been sketched for the LST. It was designed by the Americans and could be built by both American and British shipyards. Unlike another famous vessel created for World War II operations, the Higgins boat, LSTs were ocean-going and could carry supplies and men directly from a friendly port to an invasion beachhead. Its unique design featured a flat bottom and sat high in the water. While in the ocean, it filled its large ballast system with water for stabilization for the long journey. The water would then be pumped out so the ship

could land on the beach. The bow (front of the ship) was composed of doors that would open up right onto the beach. This would allow tanks and other vehicles to roll right off the LST and into action. Twin propellers prevented it from grounding, and many had anti-aircraft guns that would prove useful. LSTs were over 300-feet in length and 50-feet wide. A complement of 150 to 250 sailors was stationed on board with the capacity to carry over 200 troops and a couple of dozen tanks depending on each ship’s particular design. There were several classes of the ship built between 1942 and 1945. Close to 1,100 were built, with eighteen shipyards contributing to the massive building project. There were some drawbacks to LSTs – or as some sailors nicknamed them: Large Slow Targets. Indeed, they were slow and difficult to maneuver. They had blunt bows, and with the flat bottoms, they were subject to bounce and hit the water with force while navigating in choppy waters. The crews were constantly seasick and were the targets of many air attacks. Despite this, the little-remembered crews of the under-produced ships, many more were needed, did their duties with diligence, and were invaluable in amphibious operations. The crews prevented many disasters, and only

26 were sunk during the war. First used in the Pacific during landings in the Solomon Islands, LSTs made their debut in the Mediterranean during the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. They participated in Sicily, Italy, Normandy, Southern France, several Pacific islands, the liberation of the Philippines, and in the capture of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Some LSTs became repair ships and floating barracks, and 38 were converted into hospital ships. Most were only called by their hull number, although some were given names. USS LST-1 was the first to be laid down and participated in the invasions of Sicily, Anzio, and Normandy – otherwise known as D-Day. Jewish sailor Robert Goldman served on LST-66 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944. Goldman was born in New York and grew up in Connecticut. In 1942, he enlisted in the Coast Guard where he trained as a pharmacist’s mate, which is similar to the navy’s rank of corpsman. The Coast Guard sent many of its personnel to man a variety of ships, including LSTs, and in the summer of 1944, Goldman was stationed on LST-66. They unloaded supplies for the landings in western New Guinea and soon were on their way to the Philippines. On October 20, LST-66 unloaded her

cargo of men, supplies, and tanks to the beaches of Leyte with very little Japanese resistance. A few days later, the Battle of Leyte Gulf took place. This was the first time the Japanese employed Kamikaze raids On Sunday, November 12, 1944, LST-66 returned to the shores of Leyte Island. At 8:30 a.m., the ship ran ashore on the grey sandy beaches near the town of Dulag, opened its protective bow doors, and dropped the landing ramp. The shoreline had been cleared of enemy defenses, so the LST’s doors would remain open for the day to deposit cargo and embark exhausted American troops from the invasion’s first wave. Japanese Zeros had been making Kamikaze attacks all day, and at 5 p.m., a Zero that had been chased by American fighters flew into the deck of LST-66. Four Americans were killed by the crash, while several more were wounded. Goldman was wounded when his back was sprayed with aviation fluid and soon caught fire. His leg was also injured heavily from shrapnel. Despite his wounds, he ran over to the 40mm gun mount, where the gunner had his legs pinned to the mount. Disregarding the hot ammo, his wounds and burning back, Goldman jumped into the mount and administered morphine to ease the gunner’s pain. After that, he ignored his wounds and helped his

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019

shipmates – many of whom were severely wounded. He kept on saying, “Others are hurt more than I am” before being helped for his wounds. A f ter recovering from his wounds, Goldman left the navy and worked for the Department of Agriculture. One of his sons joined the

air force, while another served with the IDF. For his heroic actions, Goldman received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals. His Bronze Star citation reads: “He persistently refused care for his own wounds until all others had been treated and ad-

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heroes who deserved to be remembered. 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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cedarhurst 3 Bedroom 2 Bath Colonial In The Heart Of Cedarhurst. Hardwood Floors, Basement With Outside Entrance, Cac, Jacuzzi, Mud Room. Low Taxes. Priced To Sell. Asking $685,000

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MILLER COMMERCIAL 680CENTRAL 5X3.qxp_2018 11/26/18 3:32 PM Page 1

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Classifieds

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Classifieds HELP WANTED YOUNG ISRAEL OF LONG BEACH IS SEEKING A VIBRANT YOUNG COUPLE (REBBE/MORAH TYPES) TO SERVE AS YOUTH DIRECTORS. The candidate(s) would run youth groups on Shabbos and develop youth programming for all ages and seek to engage the young couples in the shul. email cwakslak@att.net. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT LOCAL SCHOOL SEEKING AN EXPERIENCED EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT to assist Executive Director & Administrator. Responsibilities include managing schedules, coordinating with office staff, and working with vendors. Communication, computer and organizational skills required. Good pay & benefits. Email resume to mjaroslawicz@shoryoshuv.org TORAH ACADEMY FOR GIRLS, FAR ROCKAWAY SEEKS QUALIFIED, EXPERIENCED MOROS, ELEMENTARY DIVISION. Please email resume to mlevin@tagschools.org

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HELP WANTED

SEEKING INDIVIDUAL TO TRANSCRIBE INTERVIEWS FROM RECORDINGS TO A WORD DOCUMENT. PROPER WRITTEN GRAMMAR IS A MUST. Email resume and qualifications to layoutdesignersearch@gmail.com “NEW FIVE TOWNS RESTAURANT IS LOOKING TO HIRE THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS: Experienced grill man Laffa maker Dishwasher Delivery guy Please email Ronazohar@hotmail.com CATAPULT LEARNING Teachers, Title I Boro Park, Williamsburg and Flatbush Schools *College/Yeshiva Degree *Teaching experience required *Strong desire to help children learn *Small group instruction *Excellent organization skills Competitive salary Send resume to: Fax: (212) 480-3691 ~ Email: nyteachers@catapultlearning.com

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5 TOWNS BOYS YESHIVA SEEKING ELEM GEN ED TEACHERS Excellent working environment and pay. Only lic/exp need apply. Email resume to yeshivalooking@gmail.com SHULAMITH EARLY CHILDHOOD is looking to hire a full time teacher assistant for the current school year. Please email resume to earlychildhood@shulamith.org ASSISTANTS NEEDED FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, AFTERNOON SESSION. Email: fivetownseducators@gmail.com

MISC I have two field-level ($360) tickets for the upcoming Siyum Hashas. I will be in Eretz Yisroel so I can’t make it. If you’re interested, please text me at 917-969-2754. ARE YOU IN NEED OF A LIVER TRANSPLANT? LIVER DONOR AVAILABLE! If you are blood type A or AB and in need of a liver transplant call Chaya Lipschutz, Kidney & Liver Shadchan, (917) 627-8336, or email KidneyMitzvah@aol.com LOOKING FOR A CHAVRUSAH IN YOUR DAILY BUSY SCHEDULE? We connect you with experienced devoted individuals willing to teach. Time and place designed for your convenience. Please email Highfive613ys@gmail.com Tizku lmitzvos!!

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I am writing about my brother Yakov Suyunov, to let you know about his battle, and how you can help. This is not an easy letter for me to write, but I know that without sending this, someone who might be interested in helping won’t have that opportunity. My brother Yakov Suyunov is a wonderful man, one that is always giving and helpful. He is a deeply religious man who comes from a very religious family. He is a father of 4. Unfortunately Yakov suffers from kidney failure. Over time, his kidney disease has gotten worse causing his kidneys not to work well enough to keep him alive. This is what he is facing now, and his treatment options are limited to a kidney transplant only. I understand this is an extremely personal decision, one that takes much thought and courage. I am taking this action of writing publicly with the hope that it may yield a positive result for him. Thanks for taking the time to read this and for your consideration! If you think that you have an interest and have some questions about the process, then please call:

Aron Suyunov # (917) 351-4411

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Your

Money

TurboTaxed By Allan Rolnick, CPA

urn the dial on the Wayback Machine to 1849 and join us in California, where “there’s gold in them thar hills!” Two kinds of people are getting fabulously rich. Obviously, there are the prospectors, grabbing their shovels and racing for the latest strike. Then there are the shovel sellers getting rich on the prospectors’ dreams. 170 years later, shovel-selling is still big business. In fact, the richest gold-rush descendants started out as shovel sellers: the billionaire Haas family, heirs of the original Levi Strauss. You’d probably be happy to pony up for a shovel if your neighbor found gold in their backyard. But what would you do if you learned that someone was working overtime to make one of your least-favorite jobs harder, just to make a few bucks selling you the shovel to do it? (Or force you to hire someone to do it?) That someone is called Intuit, and an ongoing investigation blows the whistle on their continued scheming to make tax-filing season “holiday season in April” for the company headquartered less than 200 miles from the original gold strike at Sutter’s Mill. Columnist Dave Barry once described April 15 as “time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax

forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta.” Then Intuit came along with TurboTax and moved the whole messy exercise to your laptop. It’s hardly foolproof – back in 2009, former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner blamed TurboTax for his failure to pay tax on his International Monetary Fund

forms for them. That’s how it works in much of Europe. But it would cost Intuit millions of customers. So, Intuit spends millions lobbying Congress to keep the IRS out of the 21st century. Intuit helped establish the IRS’s own Free File program, which offers free filing for some families in ex-

Millions of filers wind up “TurboTaxed” when they don’t even use the software.

income. But it sure beats turning your dining room table into a paper-choked war room every year. That may sound like state-ofthe-art DIY tech in an age when most Americans count Dr. Google as their primary care physician. But millions of taxpayers with simple returns could skip the tax-filing hassle entirely. How? Just let the IRS take the information they already get from employers and fill out the

change for an IRS promise not to compete for the rest. But if you visit TurboTax’s “Free Edition” page – the one advertising “free, free, free” – you’ll discover it doesn’t even link to the IRS system. In fact, they’ve even dropped code into that site to hide it from Google. Back on their own turf, they use programming “dark patterns” to reinforce “fear, uncertainty, and doubt” and upsell users to paid add-ons like state

returns and audit defense. (Bait & switch, anyone?) Intuit is even more aggressive on Capitol Hill. The company’s longtime chief lobbyist describes himself as a Darth Vader character, and he supervises an operation that contributes millions to elected officials and interest groups. And just like that, millions of filers wind up “TurboTaxed” when they don’t even use the software! Here’s the ironic bottom line: sometimes, just having the tool to do something doesn’t mean you should actually use it. Fire up amazon.com and search for “orthopedic bone saw.” You’ll see them for as low as $12, with two-day shipping included. But just because you can buy the tool to, say, amputate your injured dachshund’s leg, doesn’t mean you have any business doing it. And when it comes to taxes, that’s where we come in. We don’t just have the tools. We have the knowhow to put them to work to create the savings you really want.

Allan J Rolnick is a CPA who has been in practice for over 30 years in Queens, NY. He welcomes your comments and can be reached at 718-896-8715 or at allanjrcpa@aol.com.

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Life C ach

Momma Mia By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., MFT, CLC

hen exactly is it that you really know that you have become a full-fledged mom? There are these epiphany moments that occur again and again throughout your life. The first time probably is when they hand you that tiny, newly born bundle of joy – that helpless little baby. And then, when what happens is that no matter how long you wait, nobody comes to take it back. Ever! That kind of is the beginning of when you have your first real flash. Coincidentally, it’s also when you realize how integral the dad piece is! Because you become immediately aware that he is a valuable partner in all this. And if you’ve chosen wisely, he gets that, too. However, let me not digress. Then what follows are all those nights that you don’t get to be what you use to be: “a sleeper.” And you start to really catch on that because you are now a mom. But it doesn’t end there... Because, eventually, as time marches on, “they” look for something to call you. And you, proudly believing that you have earned the title and that you’ll enjoy being called it, sweetly say, “Call me Mama!” Then, after that, every day, one hundred times a day, even if it could slip your mind, they don’t let it! You

hear the sweet, melodic sound of your title wafting toward you – continuously – “Mommy!” “Mommy!” “Mommy!” It’s totally etched into your brain. Interestingly though, sometimes still, you can go out with friends or other couples and have a really fun time. Even, perhaps start to think you are a person again, one that actually has her own identity.

you are in the mood to do. They’ll look you straight in the eyes and add those lethal words, that clearly identify your role forever, “You’re embarrassing me!” And in that moment, you realize you do not exist any longer as an independent entity. You are forever officially someone’s job to monitor. You are now aware that you are under surveillance, microscopically ob-

You are now aware that you are under surveillance, microscopically observed, almost 24/7.

So, when is it that you find out you’re not that person you used to be – at all? I think it happens around the bar and bat mitzvah years. It will happen organically. You’ll be somewhere, just thinking you are being you. And suddenly someone will run up to you and tell you to stop being you – to stop acting, talking, or behaving some way you think is just fine, or even not so fine, but what

served, almost 24/7. You are being watched to make sure that you are living up to your role as a bonafide version of a mom. It is right then and there, in that time and space, that you realize – in no uncertain terms – that you have truly and completely become- a mother! So what does all this mean moving forward? For kids: realize there is a real

person in there behind the title, who was once a kid like you, with independent thoughts, dreams, and feelings, who gladly became a mom for you. And with that job, she took on the responsibility to be a role model. Yet, at times, she wants to be free just like you. For moms: realize it was inevitable you’d get deeper and deeper into this the minute that kid entered the world. The writing was on the wall – you were, thankfully, destined to be a full-fledged mom. But no one says you don’t need a vacation. Just make sure that if on that vacation you want to wiggle out of mom mode for a bit there’s not a kid of yours or a friend of theirs for miles around because they’ll whip you back into mom-shape so fast you won’t know who else you still had the potential to be! Moms, I’m just saying that I understand. It’s not always as easy as we make it look (wink, wink) being a mom. And kids, I get it. It’s not always easy having a mom. But so far, it’s the best we’ve come up with. So give moms a break. One day you will, iy”H, be one too! Rivki Rosenwald is a certified relationship counselor, and career and life coach. She can be contacted at 917-7052004 or rivki@rosenwalds.com.

The Jewish Home | NOVEMBER 21, 2019 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

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