THE JEWISH VOICE AND OPINION Promoting Classical Judaism
December 2014
Vol. 28 • No. 3
Kislev 5775
In Jerusalem, the PA Incites to Violence, Wants Jews off the Temple Mount; Jews Want to Pray There; Bibi Wants the Status Quo While some reports described the
Nov 18th shooting of three AmericanIsraeli rabbis, one British-Israeli rabbi, and an Israeli-Druze police officer in the Kehillat Bnai Torah Yeshiva Synagogue in Har Nof in western Jerusalem as the apex of Arab violence in Israel’s capital, it was hardly the first terror incident in the city. There had been bloodshed in Jerusalem throughout most of the fall. At the beginning of October, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat sent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an open letter in which the mayor used the word no one had dared utter publicly: Intifada. In the letter, he stressed that Jerusalem had experienced “a significant rise
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17 acres and still no room for Jewish prayer on Judaism’s holiest site
In His Speech to the UN General Assembly, Israel’s Ambassador Ron Prosor said, “J’Accuse!” to the Europeans November 24th, 2014 Mr. President, The fact of the matter is that when members of the international community speak about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a fog descends to cloud all logic and moral clarity. The result isn’t realpolitik, its surrealpolitik. The world’s unrelenting focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an injustice to
tens of millions of victims of tyranny and terrorism in the Middle East. As we speak, Yazidis, Baha’i, Kurds, Christians and Muslims are being executed and expelled by radical extremists at a rate of 1,000 people per month. How many resolutions did you pass last week to address this crisis? And how many special sessions did you call for? The answer is zero. What does
this say about international concern for human life? Not much, but it speaks volumes about the hypocrisy of the international community. Free Arabs in Israel I stand before you to speak the truth. Of the 300 million Arabs in the Middle East and North Africa, less than half a percent are truly free—and they are all citizens of Israel. Israeli Arabs are some of
the most educated Arabs in the world. They are our leading physicians and surgeons, they are elected to our parliament, and they serve as judges on our Supreme Court. Millions of men and women in the Middle East would welcome these opportunities and freedoms. Nonetheless, nation after nation, will stand at this podium today and criticize Israel—the
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Inside the Voice Justice for Holocaust Survivors............5 Kol Ami: Jewish State Law?................. 6 The Current Crisis............................... 7 Carlebach Off-Broadway................10 New at Holy Name...........................12
Visit with “Wiesenthal”...........................14 Kosherica Lineup....................................20 The Log..........................................................24 Just in Time for Chanukah.............28 School and Camp Open Houses.29
Mazal Tov.............................................30 Ess Gezint: Spiritual Cooking...............38 Index of Advertisers ........................41 Honor the Professional...................43 Letters to the Editor ........................44
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New Law and Lawyers to Help Promise Dignity and Justice for Holocaust Survivors and Heirs To Rabbi Dr. Wallace Green,
few causes are as dear as fighting for the rights of victims of the Holocaust. This applies whether Rabbi Green is debunking Holocaust deniers and validating that six million Jews were indeed systematically murdered, or—as his current endeavor—working to see that all forced-labor survivors (and their heirs) who toiled in ghettos, factories, and labor camps, receive the German pensions to which they are entitled. “Germany has recently recognized forced labor in ghettos, factories, and labor camps on territory occupied by the Ger-
mans or under Nazi influence as meeting the conditions for making pensions payable to Holocaust survivors. In fact, a persecuted person who simply was forced to live in a ghetto may now be eligible for a pension. Children of recently deceased survivors may also be eligible,” said Rabbi Green. He singled out Beit Ahava VeTorah as the organization best qualified to help survivors and their heirs in the US and Canada exercise their rights and obtain the funds to which they are entitled. A consultant to Ahava VeTorah, Dr. Green said the Brooklyn-based group’s purpose is “to provide
support to Holocaust survivors wherever it is needed.” While not a non-profit organization, Beit Ahava VeTorah takes no money upfront for its application fee. The help it is offering Holocaust survivors and their heirs is not based on a class-action suit, but rather on a claim to be filed on behalf of the individual survivor. Compensation History Compensation from Germany for victims of the Holocaust is not new. In 1945, after Germany surrendered, Chaim Weizmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, filed a claim in the name of the Jewish peo-
ple for compensation. The suit alleged that Jewish property stolen during the Holocaust, and left without owners during the Nazi extermination, belonged to the Jewish people he represented. The suit was rejected by the German parliament and courts. But, in April 1951, at a meeting in France with Israeli representatives, post-war Germany’s first Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, recognized that “in our name, unspeakable crimes have been committed and demand compensation and restitution, both moral and material, for
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THE JEWISH VOICE AND OPINION, Inc. © 2014; Publisher and Editor-in-Chief: Susan L. Rosenbluth Phone (201)569-2845 Managing Editor: Sharon Beck, Advertising: Rivkie Stern The Jewish Voice & Opinion (ISSN # 1527-3814), POB 8097, Englewood, NJ 07631, is published monthly in coordination with The Central Committee for Israel. A one-year subscription is $25. Periodicals postage is paid at Englewood, NJ and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Jewish Voice and Opinion, POB 8097, Englewood, NJ 07631. All advertising in the Jewish Voice and Opinion must conform to the standards of the Orthodox Rabbinic kashruth. Editorial content reflects the views of the writer and not necessarily any other group. The Jewish Voice is not responsible for typographical errors.
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Kol Ami: The Jewish State Law? Most people agree Israel’s proposed “Jewish State Law” is little more than a restatement of Israel’s raison d’être. It will declare the State of Israel the national homeland of the Jewish people in which Jews can exercise self-determination in accordance with their historical legacy. It says schools will teach Jewish history as well as Jewish tradition and heritage. Hebrew will be recognized as the country’s only official language, and Arabic will be given “special status.” It says every resident, regardless of
religion or nationality, is entitled to preserve his or her heritage, culture, and language. It is to be enshrined among Israel’s Basic Laws of the State, the closest thing the Jewish state has to a Constitution. While some say it will forge a sense of unity among Israel’s historically diverse and contentious Jewish population, others say it will inflame the Arabs. The question asked on the Facebook pages of The Jewish Voice and Opinion and Susan L Rosenbluth was: Should this law pass? Y
The new law is essential because the world no longer takes it for granted that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people. Some Israelis have even proposed replacing Jewish state symbols with non-Jewish ones. It might inflame the Arabs and their supporters, but Israel should not avoid dealing with issues just to appease anyone anywhere in the world. Dina Grossman Korsør Denmark
Israel’s problem has always been Islamic refusal to accept any non-Muslim sovereignty over land that, at any point in time, was under Muslim control. If Israel does not take this opportunity to define itself formally as the National State of the Jewish people, it will be turning its back on the Balfour Declaration. It will be throwing away Zionism. Hadar Israel Turin, Italy
Israel should be formally defined as the Jewish State because that is what it is and anyone who does not like it should feel free to move somewhere else. The Arabs have 22 countries which define themselves as “Muslim” in which they can settle. So the problem is solved. Jews are long overdue to get rid of their ghetto mentality. Eva Deutsch Costabel New York, NY
Thislawisnotonlyagoodidea,it’s essential.ThePalestinianshaveresisted the “Two States” solution, and while theyarewinningtheircampaigntobe recognizedbytheworldas“Palestinians,”theyhaverejectedtherightsof theJewishpeopleforself-determination anywhere. If Israel fails to affirm itself as the nation state of the Jewish people, it will lose legitimacy in a world that is not keen to recognize Jewish rights to statehood. Barry Shaw Netanya, Israel
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The Current Crisis: “Even in Laughter, the Heart Can Ache” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given Israelis and their supporters an early Chanukah gift: the country will be heading back to election booths on March 17, two years ahead of schedule. Bibi appears to have had it with his Finance Minister, demagogic media personality-turned-demagogic politician Yair Lapid and Likud-Princess-turned-whiny-Liberal Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. He took them initially because having a liberal or two in the coalition keeps the left-wing media somewhat at bay, and he fired them for their constant attacks against him and the government as well as hints from the demagogue, who admits his closest political advisor is former Prime Minister and current jailbird Ehud Olmert, that he and the princess were ready to form an alternative coalition. Polls show that Israel’s nationalist camp has a lot to smile about. Lapid and Livni, not so much. All things being equal, Bibi will stay right where he is. Most Israelis just can’t imagine anyone else as PM, and he’s double digits ahead of his closest opponent, Labor’s Yitzhak Herzog. Likud now has 18 seats in the Knesset, but polls show the party will win between 23 and 30. Lapid’s Yesh Atid, on the other hand, is likely to drop from its current whopping 19 to between 7 and 11. The big winner will be current Economics Minister Naftali Bennett, whose Jewish Home Party won 12 seats in the last election and is slated to jump to between 16 and 17, mak-
ing the party the second largest in the Knesset. The word is the articulate and dynamic Bennett, who reminds many of a young Netanyahu, is on the fast-track for Defense Minister in the new Knesset. The hope is that Bibi, who seemed to be doing everything possible to avoid Bennett after the last elections, while Bennett did everything to show his loyalty, has finally understood that it’s time to give up the Groucho Marx Philosophy of Political Thought: Never be nice to anyone who might support you for Prime Minister. All-in-all, the right-religious parties (for some reason, pollsters think all of Likud is “right-wing”), which now have 61 seats, are expected to control between 77 and 84 mandates in the new Knesset. The center-left-Arab parties (for some reason, pollsters include Livni and Lapid in the “center”) now has 59 seats, but that is expected to drop to between 36 and 43. The Knesset has 120 seats all together. When Secretary of State John Kerry heard about the call for new elections, all he had to say was that he hopes the next Israeli government “will be ready to negotiate with the Palestinians,” by which he means “capitulate.” Our advice to Mr. Kerry is that he should not hold his breath. Which is also fair warning to Kerry’s boss in the White House and his boss’s boss, namely the Iranian-born Valerie Jarrett. Happy Chanukah, Everyone, SLR
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December 2014 / Kislev 5775
Justice for Holocaust Survivors the persons and properties of the Jews who have been so seriously harmed.” In September, 1952, two sets of agreements were signed at The Hague. The first, between the new Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and Israel, required the FRG to provide goods and services to the newly born Jewish state. The second, between the FRG and the Claims Conference (representatives of 23 Jewish organizations which had major interests in Jewish refugee problems on a worldwide or national scale), required the FRG to enact laws that would compensate Jewish victims of Nazi persecution directly, called Protocol No. 1, and, in addition, provide funds for the relief, rehabilitation, and resettlement of Jewish victims of Nazi persecution, called Protocol No. 2. Social Security Recognition In 1975, the Treaty for Social Security Recognition between the FRG and Israel was signed. It serves as the legal basis for the compensation of Holocaust victims under Germany’s General Social Security Law. In 2002, as an extension of previous compensation laws, Germany passed The Ghetto Workers Compensation Law (ZRBG), which recognizes that Holocaust survivors who were pressed into service as slave laborers in ghettos, factories, and labor camps are entitled to social insurance pensions,
above and beyond any other reparations which they may have been receiving. According to Rabbi Green, who has taught Holocaust courses at Upsala College, and for more than twenty years has been a member of the Holocaust Commemoration Committee of the Jewish Federation of Northern NJ, ZRBG was not fully implemented until 2011. Today, almost four years later, there are still many Holocaust survivors and their heirs who have not even applied to claim their rightful compensation. A Mitzvah According to Rabbi Green, eligibility is one thing, and actually receiving is another, which is why he is asking those who believe they may be entitled to funds to contact Beit Ahava VeTorah. “Beit Ahava VeTorah is staffed by lawyers and volunteers who see offering compensation assistance to Holocaust survivors as a mitzvah. Our experienced legal experts will fight for the full compensation of all Holocaust survivors and their heirs,” he said. According to Rabbi Asher Vaknin, director of Beit Ahava VeTorah, doing whatever is possible to assist survivors and their loved ones “is our victory.” “We, the Jewish people, survived and raised families. Holocaust survivors went through hell, and they and their families are owed compensation and care.
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That is why Beit Ahava VeTorah was established and that is why we will do whatever it takes to provide them with the desired results,” said Rabbi Vaknin. Joining Forces To accomplish its goals with respect to the new ZRBG law, Beit Ahava VeTorah, which has worked chiefly in the US and Canada, has joined forced with the Israeli law firm of Eliahu Weber and Company. Since its establishment in 1971, Weber, with legal teams in Tel Aviv and Germany, has similarly focused on the rights of Holocaust survivors. For decades, the firm has filed thousands of legal cases against the FRG, forcing Germany to acknowledge individual Jews’ rights to receive pensions from Berlin. Weber was especially helpful in convincing the German government to acknowledge the rights to compensation of Romanian Jews who were sent to Transnistria during World War II. Some Germans had argued that because the Jews were persecuted by the Nazis’ Romanian allies, compensation may not have been warranted. Banks and Insurance Since the 1990s, Weber has worked on various legislation and compensation programs, including the efforts to force Swiss banks to agree to a $1.25 billion settlement with Holocaust victims who claimed the Swiss financial institutions collaborated with and aided the Nazi regime by retaining and concealing assets of Jewish victims and accepting and laundering illegally obtained Nazi loot and profits of slave labor. It was successfully argued that Swiss financial institutions knowingly retained and concealed assets of Holocaust victims, and accepted and laundered illegally obtained Nazi loot and profits of slave labor.
Weber was also involved in the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC) to resolve disputes over unpaid insurance policies issued before the war by a number of major European insurance companies to Holocaust victims. Efforts in Israel In 2000, Weber was among the leading players whose suit against Germany resulted in the Slave Labor Fund. Throughout this period, members of the Weber firm acted as external consultants to Members of the Israeli Knesset as well as to the government itself, assisting in clarifying legal issues relating to German and Israeli law. As a result of their efforts, more than 30,000 Holocaust survivors in Israel were recognized by Germany as eligible to receive monthly pensions. In addition, Weber led the largest ever retroactive case against the Israeli Finance Ministry, resulting in an Israeli Supreme Court decision ordering the government to compensate retroactively some 20,000 Holocaust survivors in the Jewish state. 1997 Ruling The ZRBG compensation law is based on a 1997 German Supreme Court ruling in which Weber argued that Holocaust survivors who served as slave laborers in ghettos were entitled to additional pension funds. Prompted by that success, Weber continued bringing cases to the German Supreme Court. In 2013, the German Parliament called on the government to submit legislation that would allow all applicants to receive retroactive payment as of July 1997. “Weber is pleased that the German government has decided to bring the issue of ghetto pensions to an end and recognize all cases as of 1997,” said Rabbi Green.
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Soul Doctor: Shlomo Carlebach Off-Broadway Shlomo’s Back! Direct from
Broadway, the new production of Soul Doctor has been completely re-imagined, involving the audience as an integral part of the “Shlomo Carlebach Experience.” Based on the life of the iconic “Rock Star Rabbi,” Soul Doctor explores his dramatic journey from pre-war Vienna to the Village Gate and Berkeley Folk Festival. Filled with songs you will be singing long
after you leave the theater, the new Soul Doctor invites the audience to become part of the extraordinary life story of Shlomo Carlebach, father of contemporary Jewish music and 20th-century spiritual guru. Beginning with his childhood escape from Nazi Germany, the show follows Rabbi Carlebach’s surprising journey as he becomes a rabbinical prodigy in America and discovers gospel and soul music through his
Justice for Holocaust Survivors Complex Laws However, he cautioned, the complexity of these laws probably makes legal advice for the claimants “essential” and might make a difference in the size of the pension and retroactive payments. Even Holocaust survivors who have never filed applications for German pensions, but who believe they might meet the requirements, should fill out a pension application form and start the process as soon as possible, said Rabbi Green. The same is true for survivors who have filled out forms and were rejected for one reason or another, or who decided to waive an application. “The rejection may have been based on a previous interpretation of the law, which means the case can be re-ex-
plored, leading to, perhaps, a new decision. If a benefit already has been claimed or paid according to the ordinance of recognition, the claim for a pension under the ZRBG does not conflict with that,” he said. New Interpretations He explained that by law, victims of Nazi persecution are entitled to receive payment for unforced labor in a ghetto, and this claim does not supersede the pension application under ZRBG. “The changes in the interpretation of the ZRBG law are allowing more survivors to claim compensation. Even those who are already receiving pensions may receive increased payments,” he said. To apply, survivors must be able to prove that they were forced to live in a ghetto lo-
friendship with legendary jazz singer Nina Simone. With the “High Priestess of Soul” as his inspiration and a multitude of ’60’s icons like Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead as his friends, Rabbi Carlebach created a joyous new sound with melodies that fused his spiritual roots with American popular music. Starring Jewish pop sensation Josh Nelson as Rabbi Carlebach and rising star Dan’yelle
Williamson (Wicked, Memphis, and Rocky) as Simone, this dazzling new production has been re-staged in an intimate and historic synagogue, the Actors Temple Theater on Manhattan’s West Side. Soul Doctor is a holistic experience for the senses and a celebration of life for people of all walks of life. For tickets and more information, go to www.SoulDoctorBroadway. com Y
continued from page 8 cated in a territory that was occupied by the German Reich or under Nazi influence. Incarceration in concentration camps is not covered by the ZRBH, but the period of time can be counted as a substitute after the individual reached the age of 14. Few Americans In the case of Holocaust survivors who received old-age pensions and died after 2002, ZRBH allows the heirs to receive retroactive payments from the time the pension should have been paid until the time of the Holocaust survivor’s death. This may affect many Jews in the US. Because a compensation agreement was never signed between Germany and the US, most Holocaust survivors who are US citizens never received any compensation.
“This is why many Holocaust survivors who are US citizens will now be entitled to receive an increased payment of five percent per year as of their 65th birthdays,” said Rabbi Green. He urged all those who think they may be eligible to contact Beit Ahava VeTorah at 888-888-2180 or info@beitahavavetorah.com. The website is www.beitahavavetorah.com. “In collaboration with Eliahu Weber, Beit Ahava VeTorah is confident that American and Canadian survivors and heirs will obtain their well-deserved rights and compensation. Through its work and experience, Beit Ahava VeTorah can help many survivors and their heirs go through this detailed, long, complicated, and important process,” said Rabbi Green. S.L.R.
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In His Speech to the UN General Assembly, Israel’s Ambassador Ron Prosor said, “J’Accuse!” to the Europeans
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New at Holy Name This Month Teaneck’s Holy Name Medical
Center (HNMC) recently celebrated its Magnet Recognition by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the largest and most prominent nursing credentialing organization in the US. As part of its review, HNMC also was cited for exemplars in the practice of patient safety and nurse satisfaction. Just after the medical center’s ANCC recognition, a nine-yearold Russian orphan was brought to HNMC for life-altering orthopedic surgery. The child’s hands must be realigned in order for him to grip or pick up objects. End-of-Life Doula Further evidence of HNMC’s dedication to community education and service will be a presentation on December 10 at 7pm on the topic of “End-of-Life Doula.” The program will feature Henry Fersko-Weiss, LCSW, who has had more than ten years’ experience leading doula volunteer programs, which offer compassionate presence, knowing support, caring touch, and respite for a dying person and his or her caregivers. As part of the program, Mr. Fersko-Weiss will explain the training program HNMC plans to offer to volunteers who wish to learn how to serve as end-of-life doulas. After the program, potential volunteers may register for the free training.
Top Six Percent HNMC won its Magnet Recognition after a rigorous review process, which placed the medical center among the top six percent of hospitals nationwide. The Magnet Recognition Program, a four-year designation, signifies HNMC’s continued commitment to maintaining outstanding nursing practice. Fewer than 400 hospitals across the country and only 24 in New Jersey have received Magnet Recognition. HNMC won its recognition after ANCC appraisers met with 352 Holy Name nurses and 18 community members. The Magnet Recognition Program has identified five major categories of excellence that serve as its foundation: “transformational leadership,” “structural empowerment,” “exemplary professional practice,” “new knowledge, innovation and improvement,” and “empirical quality results.” These principles, when precisely implemented, translate to a culture of safety, quality care, excellent patient outcomes, innovative practices, meeting or exceeding national standards, attracting and retaining top-notch staff, and maintaining high job satisfaction among nurses. Impressive Dedication Deb Zimmerman, chairman of the ANCC commission, said the group was “impressed” with HNMC’s “dedication to excellence.” She called Holy
Name “truly exemplary” and “a role model in several areas, including how patient safety is embedded in [the medical center’s] organization.” Michael Maron, president and CEO of HNMC, said the ANCC designation is “symbolic of the excellent care we provide.” “It goes to the core of what we do and the manner in which we deliver services,” he said. Major Reconstruction There is no doubt that nine-year-old Boris Oborin, who was born with both his hands turned at 90-degree angles from his arms, agrees. Living in an orphanage in Kazakhstan, he had some dexterity, but was quite limited in performing many tasks. For example, if he needed to pick up a cup, he had to put his hand inside the vessel to grasp it. The challenge for HNMC’s staff was to realign his right hand first. In a few months, his left hand will also be corrected. Boris’s initial two-hour surgery at HNMC on October 13 was performed by Dr. Brian Bauer, who had to cut and realign the bones and remove tendons from one area and transplant them to another. “It’s a major construction to turn a hand around,” said Dr. Bauer. Joint Effort Boris was brought to the US through Healing the Children New Jersey, Inc., an organiza-
tion in Hawthorne that provides free medical care for local and international children. Dr. Bauer and Holy Name have worked with the group numerous times in the past and have waived all fees for the procedures. Healing the Children arranged for Boris to stay with a host family, Sue and Martin Eagan, and their three children, ages 6, 8, and 10, in Montville. Boris will continue to stay with the Eagans until it is determined when he will undergo surgery for his left hand as well. “Culture of Excellence” For more information on Healing the Children New Jersey, call 973-949-5034. For more information on the End-of-Life Doula program, call HNMC’s hospice program’s volunteer coordinator, Jamie Anderson, at 551-404-8446. According to Lori Perlstein, who has a doctorate in Nursing Practice as well as advanced certification as a Nurse Executive and serves as HNMC’s director of Professional Practice, the Magnet status is emblematic of HNMC’s “culture of excellence.” “It must be imbedded in the organization at all times— you have to live it, breathe it. Excellence isn’t something you just decide to talk about when you submit an application. It permeates the organization Y every day,” she said.
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“Wiesenthal” Offers a Personal Visit with a Jewish Hero The writer or the actor of a one-man
play whose title character is an unquestioned hero, well-known to almost everyone in the audience, will find it hard to be surprising. That is the challenge faced by Tom Dugan, the writer and actor of “Wiesenthal,” which is now playing OffBroadway in Manhattan’s Theater Row. What the production lacks in startling revelations it makes up for in power and charm. The undeniable truth of accounts like this play will allow the history of the twentieth century to come alive for future generations, for whom “Wiesenthal” will not be a household name.
As the intrepid, dogged Nazi-hunter who strove not for vengeance but for justice, Mr. Dugan’s Simon Wiesenthal is forceful, but not insufferable; poignant, but never maudlin; justifiably proud of his accomplishments, but not self-congratulatory; and charming, but not saccharine. Set director Beowulf Boritt helps him accomplish this by setting the 90-minute, no-intermission performance in a faithful replication of Mr. Wiesenthal’s office in Vienna’s Jewish Documentation Center. The year is 2003, and it is the 95-year-old Mr. Wiensenthal’s last day at work. He is finally agreeing to his wife’s wishes and will retire. While there have been many
accolades for him over the years, there have also been death threats. In 1982, after a bomb placed by neo-Nazis exploded outside his home, police were stationed there around the clock. No Fourth Wall The play’s conceit is that before closing the office door for the last time and taking home with him whatever he wishes to keep, he agrees to meet with one final group of student visitors from the United States, which is the role played by the audience. In some ways, the theater becomes very much like a classroom when a Holocaust survivor is invited to address a group of schoolchildren. By definition, the narratives of these survivor-witnesses all have a common thread, but each is different: each represents an individual family, situation, and story. Put them together, and there is a historical account of an era. Six million did not emerge; others did, and many of them took as their mission to tell the world what happened. In 1945, when Mr. Wiesenthal was liberated from the Mauthausen concentration camp, he weighed 90 pounds, but was nonetheless eager to get to work. Within three weeks of his liberation, he had prepared a list of around 100 suspected Nazi war criminals—mostly guards, camp commandants, and members of the Gestapo—and presented it to the War Crimes office of the American Counterintelligence Corps at Mauthausen. Eschewing his early training as an architect, Mr. Wiesenthal took as his post-war professional mission the collection of information and testimony to be used in war crimes investigations and to help refugees locate lost family members and friends. His personal mission was to keep a promise made to a child whose memoirs he had read but never met: “I did not forget you.” Rebuilt Lives His own personal post-war life was a triumph. By a quirk of luck, he was reunited with his wife, Cyla. He had helped her escape from the Janowska concentration camp in 1942, and then believed she had been killed. But after the war, when Mr. Wiesenthal was beginning to make a name for himself as a Nazi hunter, a friend of Mr. Wiesenthal’s came to see him. The friend had found a woman he wanted to marry, but she kept insisting she was Mrs. Wiesenthal. The friend fig-
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ured if the real Mr. Wiesenthal disabused her of this notion, she would be free to marry. Instead, she was indeed Cyla. Shattered by the loss of 89 close relatives, the Wiesenthals slowly rebuilt their lives. They considered making Aliyah, but he felt his work as a Nazi-hunter was better served by remaining in Europe, where their daughter, Paulinka, was born in 1946. By 2003, when the play takes place, he and Cyla were grandparents to three sabras, all of whom had traveled to Vienna to celebrate his retirement. Alois Brunner Mr. Dugan wrote the play because his father served as a US soldier who helped liberate the Langenstein Camp in Germany. In between stories and remembrances, Mr. Dugan allows the audience to see exactly how Mr. Wiesenthal worked. While he tells his visitors about his role in the capture and trials of some of the 1,100 Nazi war criminals he brought to justice, notably Erich Rajakowitsch, responsible for the deportation of Jews from the Netherlands; Franz Murer, the commandant of the Vilna Ghetto; Karl Silberbauer, who had arrested Anne Frank and her family; and, of course, Adolf Eichmann. The audience actually gets to experience how Mr. Wiesenthal goes about trying to locate Alois Brunner, an Austrian SS officer who served as Eichmann’s assistant. In 2003, Brunner, who was responsible for sending at least 140,000 Jews to the gas chambers, was living under the protection of President Hafez al-Assad in Syria, where the British Guardian described him as “the world’s highest-ranking Nazi fugitive believed still alive.” He had already been condemned to death in absentia in France in 1954, and, in 1980, he had lost an eye and the fingers of his left hand as a result of letterbombs sent to him by the Israeli Mossad. One That Got Away On his last day before retirement, Mr. Wiesenthal is still trying to track down Brunner, who was using the alias of Dr. Georg Fischer. Recognizing that using technology is easier than legwork—one can only imagine what wonders Mr. Wiesenthal would have accomplished with computers—he works the phone. After discovering the pharmacy Brunner has been using to fill prescriptions, Wiesenthal tries flattery, cajolement, and even threats to convince the Syrian girl on the phone to give him a clue. He calls her back periodically
throughout the performance, calling her one last time before he finally makes his exit. Brunner was one who got away, not only from Mr. Wiesenthal, but from several other Nazis hunters and governments as well. In 1987, Brunner gave his last interview, by telephone to the Chicago Sun Times, in which he declared that his sole regret was that he had not murdered more Jews. Given Mr. Wiesenthal’s reaction to seeing Eichmann—“The door opens, and out from the very pit of hell steps— a bookkeeper”—one can only imagine what he would have thought of the oneeyed, fingerless Brunner. Bring the Teenagers Mr. Wiesenthal’s retirement lasted less
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than two years. He died in September 2005 at the age of 96, and was buried in Herzliya. The subject matter discussed in “Wiesenthal” is devastating, but the effect is achieved without using any footage. What shines through is that despite it all, the Nazi hunter retained his humanity, his optimism, and his determination. At a recent performance, most members of the audience were old enough to have seen the real Mr. Wiesenthal in person. It’s a pity there were not more young people there; it’s the right play for them to see during Winter Break this year. “Wiesenthal” is at the Acorn Theater at Theater Row, 410 W. 42nd St, Manhattan, 212-239-6200. S.L.R.
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small island of democracy in a region plagued by tyranny and oppression. PA State Is Not the Issue Mr. President, Our conflict has never been about the establishment of a Palestinian state. It has always been about the existence of the Jewish state. Sixty seven years ago this week, on November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted to partition the land into a Jewish state and an Arab state. Simple. The Jews said yes. The Arabs said no. But they didn’t just say no. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon launched a war of annihilation against our newborn state. This is the historical truth that the Arabs are trying to distort. The Arabs’ historic mistake continues to be felt—in lives lost in war, lives lost to terrorism, and lives scarred by the Arabs’ narrow political interests.
Population Transfer According to the United Nations, about 700,000 Palestinians were displaced in the war initiated by the Arabs themselves. At the same time, some 850,000 Jews were forced to flee from Arab countries. Why is it, that 67 years later, the displacement of the Jews has been completely forgotten by this institution while the displacement of the Palestinians is the subject of an annual debate? The difference is that Israel did its utmost to integrate the Jewish refugees into society. The Arabs did just the opposite. No Concern for the Arabs The worst oppression of the Palestinian people takes place in Arab nations. In most of the Arab world, Palestinians are denied citizenship and are aggressively discriminated against. They are barred from owning
land and prevented from entering certain professions. And yet none—not one— of these crimes is mentioned in the resolutions before you. If you were truly concerned about the plight of the Palestinian people, there would be one, just one, resolution to address the thousands of Palestinians killed in Syria. And if you were so truly concerned about the Palestinians, there would be at least one resolution to denounce the treatment of Palestinians in Lebanese refugee camps. But there isn’t. The reason is that today’s debate is not about speaking for peace or speaking for the Palestinian people—it is about speaking against Israel. It is nothing but a hate and bashing festival against Israel. No Reliance on Others Mr. President, The European nations claim to stand for Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité—freedom, equality, and brotherhood—but nothing could be farther from the truth. I often hear European leaders proclaim that Israel has the right to exist in secure borders. That’s very nice. But I have to say—it makes about as much sense as me standing here and proclaiming Sweden’s right to exist in secure borders. When it comes to matters of security, Israel learned the hard way that we cannot rely on others—certainly not on Europe. Yom Kippur War In 1973, on Yom Kippur— the holiest day on the Jewish calendar—the surrounding Arab nations launched an attack against Israel. In the hours before the war began, Golda Meir, our Prime Minister then, made the difficult decision not to launch a preemptive strike. The Israeli Government under-
stood that if we launched a preemptive strike, we would lose the support of the international community. As the Arab armies advanced on every front, the situation in Israel grew dire. Our casualty count was growing and we were running dangerously low on weapons and ammunition. In this, our hour of need, President Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, agreed to send Galaxy planes loaded with tanks and ammunition to resupply our troops. The only problem was that the Galaxy planes needed to refuel on route to Israel. The Arab States were closing in and our very existence was threatened—and yet, Europe was not willing even to let the planes refuel. The US stepped in once again and negotiated that the planes be allowed to refuel in the Azores. The government and people of Israel will never forget that when our very existence was at stake, only one country came to our aid—the United States of America. Europe Failed the Jews Israel is tired of hollow promises from European leaders. The Jewish people have a long memory. We will never ever forget that you failed us in the 1940s. You failed us in 1973. And you are failing us again today. Every European parliament that voted prematurely and unilaterally to recognize a Palestinian state is giving the Palestinians exactly what they want—statehood without peace. By handing them a state on a silver platter, you are rewarding unilateral actions and taking away any incentive for the Palestinians to negotiate or compromise or renounce violence. You are sending the
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message that the Palestinian Authority can sit in a government with terrorists and incite violence against Israel without paying any price. Sweden’s Failure The first EU member to officially recognize a Palestinian state was Sweden. One has to wonder why the Swedish Government was so anxious to take this step. When it comes to other conflicts in our region, the Swedish Government calls for direct negotiations between the parties— but for the Palestinians, surprise, surprise, they roll out the red carpet. State Secretary Söder may think she is here to celebrate her government’s socalled historic recognition, when, in reality, it’s nothing more than an historic mistake. The Swedish Government may host the Nobel Prize ceremony, but there is nothing noble about their cynical political campaign to appease the Arabs in order to get a seat on the Security Council. Nations on the Security Council should have sense, sensitivity, and sensibility. Well, the Swedish Government has shown no sense, no sensitivity and no sensibility. Just nonsense. Forget the International Community Israel learned the hard way that listening to the international community can bring about devastating consequences. In 2005, we unilaterally dismantled every settlement and removed every citizen from the Gaza Strip. Did this bring us any
closer to peace? Not at all. It paved the way for Iran to send its terrorist proxies to establish a terror stronghold on our doorstep. I can assure you that we won’t make the same mistake again. When it comes to our security, we cannot and will not rely on others—Israel must be able to defend itself by itself. One Simple Truth Mr. President, The State of Israel is the land of our forefathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is the land where Moses led the Jewish people, where David built his palace, where Solomon built the Jewish Temple, and where Isaiah saw a vision of eternal peace. For thousands of years, Jews have lived continuously in the land of Israel. We endured through the rise and fall of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek and Roman Empires. And we endured through thousands of years of persecution, expulsions and crusades. The bond between the Jewish people and the Jewish land is unbreakable. Nothing can change one simple truth—Israel is our home and Jerusalem is our eternal capital. PA Changing the Status Quo At the same time, we recognize that Jerusalem has special meaning for other faiths. Under Israeli sovereignty, all people—and I will repeat that, all people— regardless of religion and nationality, can visit the city’s holy sites. And we intend
to keep it this way. The only ones trying to change the status quo on the Temple Mount are Palestinian leaders. President Abbas is telling his people that Jews are contaminating the Temple Mount. He has called for days of rage and urged Palestinians to prevent Jews from visiting the Temple Mount using (quote) “all means” necessary. These words are as irresponsible as they are unacceptable. You don’t have to be Catholic to visit the Vatican, you don’t have to be Jewish to visit the Western Wall, but some Palestinians would like to see the day when only Muslims can visit the Temple Mount. You, the international community, are lending a hand to extremists and fanatics. You, who preach tolerance and religious freedom, should be ashamed. Israel will never let this happen. We will make sure that the holy places remain open to all people of all faiths for all time. Only a Strong Israel Mr. President, No one wants peace more than Israel. No one needs to explain the importance of peace to parents who have sent their child to defend our homeland. No one knows the stakes of success or failure better than we Israelis do. The people of Israel have shed too many tears and buried too many sons and daughters. We are ready for peace, but we are not naïve. Israel’s security is paramount. Only a strong and secure Israel can achieve a comprehensive peace. The past month should make it clear to anyone that Israel has immediate and pressing security needs. In recent weeks, Palestinian terrorists have shot and stabbed our citizens and twice driven their cars into crowds of pedestrians. Just a few days ago, terrorists armed with axes and a gun savagely attacked Jewish worshipers during morning prayers. We have reached the point when Israelis can’t even find sanctuary from terrorism in the sanctuary of a synagogue. Arab Indoctrination and Incitement These attacks didn’t emerge out of a vacuum. They are the results of years of indoctrination and incitement. A Jewish proverb teaches: “The instruments of both death and life are in the power of the tongue.” As a Jew and as an Israeli, I know with utter certainly that when our enemies
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say they want to attack us, they mean it. Hamas’s genocidal charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews worldwide. For years, Hamas and other terrorist groups have sent suicide bombers into our cities, launched rockets into our towns, and sent terrorists to kidnap and murder our citizens. And what about the Palestinian Authority? It is leading a systemic campaign of incitement. In schools, children are being taught that “Palestine” will stretch from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. In mosques, religious leaders are spreading vicious libels accusing Jews of destroying Muslim holy sites. In sports stadiums, teams are named after terrorists. And in newspapers, cartoons urge Palestinians to commit terror attacks against Israelis. Children in most of the world grow up watching cartoons of Mickey Mouse singing and dancing. Palestinian children also grow up watching Mickey Mouse, but on Palestinians national television, a twisted figure dressed as Mickey Mouse dances in an explosive belt and chants “Death to America and death to the Jews.” Palestinians’ Joy I challenge you to stand up here today and do something constructive for a change. Publically denounce the violence, denounce the incitement, and denounce the culture of hate. Most people believe that at its core, the conflict is a battle between Jews and Arabs or Israelis and Palestinians. They are wrong. The battle that we are witnessing is a battle between those who sanctify life and those who celebrate death. Following the savage attack in a Jerusalem synagogue, celebrations erupted in Palestinian towns and villages. People were dancing in the street and distributing candy. Young men posed with axes, loudspeakers at mosques called out congratulations, and the terrorists were hailed as “martyrs” and “heroes.” This isn’t the first time that we saw the Palestinians celebrate the murder of innocent civilians. We saw them rejoice after every terrorist attack on Israeli civilians and they even took to the streets to celebrate the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center right here in New York City. Imagine the type of state this society would produce. Does the Middle East
really need another terror-ocracy? Some members of the international community are aiding and abetting its creation. One State Too Many Mr. President, As we came into the United Nations, we passed the flags of all 193 member States. If you take the time to count, you will discover that there are 15 flags with a crescent and 25 flags with a cross. And then there is one flag with a Jewish Star of David. Amidst all the nations of the world there is one state—just one small nation state for the Jewish people. And for some people, that is one too many. As I stand before you today, I am reminded of all the years when Jewish people paid for the world’s ignorance
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and indifference in blood. Those days are no more. No Apologies We will never apologize for being a free and independent people in our sovereign state. And we will never apologize for defending ourselves. To the nations that continue to allow prejudice to prevail over truth, I say “J’accuse.” I accuse you of hypocrisy. I accuse you of duplicity. I accuse you of lending legitimacy to those who seek to destroy our State. I accuse you of speaking about Israel’s right of self-defense in theory, but denying it in practice. And I accuse you of demanding con-
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Temple Mount Status Quo in breaches of public order” and “an ongoing harming of the feeling of security among residents.” Increased Resources He listed incidents of live gunfire by Palestinian terrorists, at least two near-fatal lynchmob attempts against Jews, and countless rock and firebomb attacks, whose targets included an infant day-care center. To control the violence, Mr. Barkat demanded a dramatic increase in the number of Yassam special forces to deal with the Palestinian riots, especially on the Temple Mount; special forces on the so-called “seam line” that divides Arab- and Jewish-majority neighborhoods; more and better tactical intelligence for Jerusalem police; and more severe punishment meted out to perpetrators. Rioting had become especially dangerous on the Temple Mount itself. According to the status quo arrangements at the site, while only Muslims are allowed to pray openly, tourists and visitors are permitted to ascend to the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site
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and one considered holy by many Christians as well. Where the World Began The Temple Mount is the traditionally accepted site of two Jewish Temples, the second of which was destroyed in 70 CE. According to some Jewish traditions, is the spot on which the creation of the world began. Hundreds of years later, following the Islamic conquest of the Middle East, the Dome of the Rock was built on top of the ruins of the Jewish Temples by Muslim Ummayad Caliph Abd al-Malek. Since the end of the 1967 Six-Day War, when the Temple Mount was won by Israel and the city was reunited, activist Jews have sought the right to pray openly on the site. An entire culture has grown up regarding ways to prepare for a visit to the site and how to pray silently. On occasions, non-Muslim visitors to the Temple Mount have been ejected from the site simply for closing their eyes for more than a few seconds if Muslim or Jewish authorities suspect they may be praying.
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cessions from Israel, but asking nothing of the Palestinians. In the face of these offenses, the verdict is clear. You are not for peace and you are not for the Palestinian people. You are simply against Israel. Europe’s Choice Members of the international community have a choice to make. You can recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, or permit the Palestinian leadership to deny our history without consequence. You can publically proclaim that the so-called “claim of return” is a non-starter, or you
The Jewish Voice and Opinion
can allow this claim to remain the major obstacle to any peace agreement. You can work to end Palestinian incitement, or stand by as hatred and extremism take root for generations to come. You can prematurely recognize a Palestinian state, or you can encourage the Palestinian Authority to break its pact with Hamas and return to direct negotiations. The choice is yours. You can continue to steer the Palestinians off course or pave the way to real and lasting peace. Thank you, Mr. President. Y
To Go Up or Not Jewish halachic authorities are divided on whether visits to the Temple Mount are permitted. Some rabbis discourage visits, fearing that the complex laws of ritual purity which apply there may be violated. Other rabbis say visits are not only permitted, but meritorious. The Jewish Home party, which is the newest reincarnation of Israel’s National Religious Party, is split on this issue. Some Jewish Home MKs regularly visit the Temple Mount; others do not. But the party’s position is that Jews who want to go to the Temple Mount should be allowed to pray. “It is unthinkable that a democratic society such as Israel should be implementing blatantly discriminatory policies regarding freedom of religion,” said Jewish Home party Secretary-General Uri Bank.
In fact, several Israeli Supreme Court rulings have upheld the rights of Jews to pray at the site, but these rulings have been ignored by Israeli police, citing security concerns. Changing the Status Quo This fall, the Palestinian Authority and Jewish activists have sought to change the status quo. The PA has demanded that Jews be forbidden even to ascend to the site, while Jews want to be allowed to pray there openly. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, in a broadcast that was aired 19 times in three days on official PA TV, called on Arabs to prevent Jews from entering the Temple Mount using “all means necessary.” He maintained that, by their presence, Jews “defiled” the site. Calling all Jews “settlers,” Mr. Abbas said, “They have no right to enter [The Temple
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December 2014 / Kislev 5775
Temple Mount Status Quo Mount]. They have no right to defile it. We must prevent them. Let us stand before them with chests bared to protect our holy places.” Mr. Abbas called on all Palestinians to carry out “Ribat,” a Muslim principle which demands religious conflict and war over land claimed to be Islamic. On its official Facebook page, Mr. Abbas’s Fatah faction of the PLO called on Fatah members in Jerusalem to wear identical black clothing when staging incidents on the Temple Mount, making it harder for Israeli security forces to identify individuals and arrest them.
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An Intifada? Although Mr. Abbas insisted he was not calling for an intifada, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), an organization that monitors and translates Palestinian media incitement, pointed out that Mr. Abbas’s call to bar Jews from the Temple Mount bore an “uncanny similarity” to the demands made in 2000 by then-PA Chairman, Yasir Arafat. In response to then-MK Ariel Sharon’s tour of the Temple Mount, Mr. Arafat said the Jewish leader had “defiled” the site. Mr. Arafat then went on to instigate the Second Intifada, a five-year terror campaign
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to “defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque” which resulted in the murder of 1,200 Israelis. More than 4,000 Palestinians were also killed, the vast majority while attacking Jews. According to the UN, more than 600 Palestinians were killed by other Palestinians during the Second Intifada. Israeli-Arab MK Ahmed Tibi, who has served as an advisor to the PA, told Israeli Channel 2 that “Jews have no right to pray at the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque” and that allowing them to pray there “is a misuse of the concept of equal rights.” He noted that the Temple Mount compound consists of more than 17acres, and, he said, “Every single meter is holy to Islam.” His rhetoric prompted Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) to join the calls for Israel to change the status quo and allow Jews to pray at the site. “Jews must be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. There is enough room for everybody,” said Mr. Ariel. Police Reluctance Although violence rose not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Judea and Samaria, Israeli officials insisted that talk of a “third intifada” was overblown. While the number of violent incidents had undeniably increased, they said, the acts of Arab terror were still “local,” that is, not part of an organized Palestinian campaign, as were the intifadas in 1987 and 2000. Despite the evidence, such as Palestinians purposefully ramming cars into crowds of passengers waiting to board trains in Jerusalem (one of those attacks resulted in the deaths of Chaya Zisel Braun, a three-month-old Israeli-American infant, who was nestled in her mother’s arms after her parents had been praying at the Kotel; and Ecuadoran citizen Karen Yemima Mosquera, 22, who had come to Israel to convert to Judaism), Israeli officials insisted the Palestinian street was not “interested” in an intifada. “Hero” Abdelrahman Shaludi, a 21-year-old Palestinian affiliated with the terrorist organization Hamas, drove the car that killed the baby and Miss Mosquera, and wounded eight other Israelis. He tried to flee on foot from the crime scene, but Israeli police
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December 2014 / Kislev 5775
The Jewish Voice and Opinion
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December 2014 / Kislev 5775
Tell Our Advertisers “I Saw It in The Jewish Voice and Opinion”
The Log: Motzei Shabbat, Dec 6
Former Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR), spons by NORPAC, private home in Englewood, 7pm, drben@norpac.net Sisterhood Book Club: “Gertruda’s Oath” by Ram Oren, spons by Cong Beth Aaron, private home in Teaneck, 7:30pm, 201-837-0651 Film: “Killing Kasztner: The Jew Who Dealt with Nazis,” moderated by producer/director Gaylen Ross, Cong Rinat Yisrael Teaneck, 7:30pm, 201-837-2795 Jewish Learning Experience Evening, Rabbi David Pietruszka, private home in Teaneck, 7:45pm, 201-966-4498 Frisch Yeshiva High School Class of 1994 20th Reunion, dedicated to Leah Hait Goldman, z”l, at the school, Paramus, 8pm, 201-267-9100 “Tapping into Your Inner Greatness to Maximize Your Potential,” for men and women, Charlie Harary, in memory of Chaya Newman, z”l, includes melave malka, Bruriah High School, Elizabeth, 8pm, 973-325-9490 Melave Malka, for women, with hairdresser Rachel Cohen, Cong Ahavas Yisrael, Edison, 8pm, info@ayedison.org Meet and Greet with ZOAIsrael Director Jeff Daube, spons by ZOA, private home in Englewood, 8:30pm, lfein@zoa.org or jdaube@zoa.org Café Night, featuring NYC’s Chicago City Limits, a Chinese Auction, and food by Herb ‘n’ Spice and Simply Sushi, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 8:30pm, fjcantor@hotmail. com or aabjdsisterhood@gmail.com
Sun, Dec 7
Davening and Bikur Cholim at Daughters of Miriam in Clifton, meet at Cong Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, 8:15am; davening, followed by breakfast and bikur cholim, 8:45am, samapprais@aim.com Trip to US Holocaust Memorial Museum and World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, for teachers and survivors, spons by the Goodwin Holocaust Museum and Education Center, leave JCC, Cherry Hill, 9am, 856-424-4444 or hkirshbaum@jfedsnj.org Kavvanah Tefillah, Rabbi Steven Exler, includes meditation, song, and breakfast, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 9am, 718-796-4730
Breakfast and Learn, Rabbi Elie Mischel, Synagogue of the Suburban Torah Center, Livingston, 9:05am, 973-994-2620
Cong Beth Tefillah Sports Breakfast, with Yankees announcer Michael Kay, includes raffle of autographed items by Yogi Berra, Graig Nettles, David Cone, and others, at the shul in Paramus, 9:30am, congregationbethtefillah@yahoo.com Trip to the Ohel of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, zt”l, in Brooklyn, includes lunch, leave Chabad House of Basking Ridge, 9:30am, chabad@chabadcentral.org Nefesh B’Nefesh Program: Aliyah Workshop for Empty Nesters, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Englewood, 10am, 866-4-ALIYAH “Jewhooing the Sixties: American Celebrity and Jewish
Identity—Sandy Koufax, Lenny Bruce, Bob Dylan, and Barbra Steisand,” David Kaufman, includes bagel brunch, JCC, Edison, 10am, 732-494-3232 Horror and the Supernatural in the Movies: What’s Jewish about That?” Dr. Eric Goldman, spons by the Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies, at Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, Teaneck, 11:45am, BAdler@bchsjs.org Cong Adath Israel of Hillside 60th Anniversary Dinner, honoring Lynn and Marvin Rosenzweig and Tehilah and Yudi Abraham, Renaissance Newark Airport Hotel, Elizabeth, 5:30pm, aidinner@gmail.com Yeshiva Ner Boruch (Passaic Torah Institute) and Ateres Bracha (Neve Passaic Torah Institute) Dinner, with Rabbi Paysach Krohn and Tuvia Lieberman, honoring Dovid and Shoshana Bobker, Samuel and Paula Gershonowitz, and Marty and Joy Goldbert, reception, Ohel Miriam Hall, Passaic, 5pm; dinner, Ohel Rivka Hall, Passaic, 6pm, 646-284-3377 “Dina Bat Yaakov: What Really Happened to Her? Was It Consenual? Is She the Mother of Yosef’s Wife?” for women, Janice Michaelis, includes watching “The Red Tent” on Lifetime TV, spons by Cong Ohr Torah Sisterhood, private home in West Orange, 8pm, margot.freedman@gmail.com TV: “The Red Tent,” based on the novel by Anita Diament, Lifetime, 9pm
Mon, Dec 8
Jewish Federation Networking Breakfast, featuring IDF combat soldiers who took part in Operation Protective Edge, Cong Ahavath Torah, Englewood, 7:30am, 201-820-3911 “Raising Children to be Passionate about Judaism in Today’s Times,” Rebbetzin Leah Kohn, private home in Teaneck, 9:45am, 201-692-3757 Lunch and Learn: “The Aliyah of Three Hundred Rabbis to Israel in 1210: Motives and Messages,” Rabbi Dr. Ephraim Kanarfogel, Young Israel of Fort Lee, noon, 201-592-1518 Jewish Association for Developmental Disabilities Hand-
Made: Open Art Exhibit and Sale, to benefit J-ADD’s group homes for those with developmental disabilities, Bressman Group Home, Teaneck, 6-8pm, 212-224-0140 Jewish National Fund Dinner and Dessert Reception, featuring Yedidya Harush from Halutza, to raise funds for a dental clinic, honoring Beryl and Harold Steinbach, David and Richard Heisler, and members of Cong Rinat Yisrael who went on a mission to Israel during Operation Protective Edge, Cong Beth Sholom, Teaneck, 7pm, jinglis@jnf.org “Serving Our Creator with a Healthy Body, Mind, and Soul: To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate? A Halachic Perspective,” Rabbi Larry Rothwachs, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 8:30pm, 201-836-6210 TV: “The Red Tent,” based on the novel by Anita Diament, Lifetime, 9pm
Tues., Dec 9
“Jewish Family Names,” Dr. Nathan Reiss, includes bagel lunch, JCC, Bridgewater, noon, 908-725-6994 x210 “Parenting Jewish Teens: Connecting to Our Kids, Tradition, and G-d,” Bess Adler, Hummus Elite, Englewood, 12:30pm, 201-569-5600 Film: “Movie Mavens: Yiddish Theatre,” JCC, Edison, 1:15pm, 732-494-3232 West Orange Shuls’ Sisterhood Book Club: “The Girl You Left Behind” by Jojo Moyes, private home in West Orange, 8pm, 973-669-0938 Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus, separate programs for men and women, Rabbi Adam and Rebbetzin Sara Frieberg, spons by Rutgers Hillel and the Orthodox Union, includes dinner and shiur, private home in New Brunswick, 8:30pm, 732-545-2407
Wed., Dec 10
Film: “Sarah’s Key,” Riverdale YMHA, 10am, 718-548-8200 Jewish Association for Developmental Disabilities HandMade: Open Art Exhibit and Sale, to benefit J-ADD’s group homes for those with developmental disabilities, Bressman Group Home, Teaneck, 6-8pm, 212-224-0140 Israeli Singer-Songwriter Sandy Cash, in concert, JCC,
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December 2014 / Kislev 5775
The Jewish Voice and Opinion
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“Separate Yourself Not from the Community” Tenafly, 8:15pm, 201-408-1418 “Prepare Your Child for Winter,” for Israeli parents raising children in the US, Mor Balaban, JCC, Tenafly, 8:30pm, 201-408-1427 “Perspectives on the Tragic Events in Har Nof,” for men and women, HaRav Asher Weiss, Cong Agudas Yisroel Bircas Yaakov, Passaic, 8:30pm, 973-773-1149 Cong Ahavas Achim Sisterhood Book Club: “The Sunflower” by Simon Wiesenthal, private home in Edison, 8:30pm, 732-247-0532 Beit Midrash Chavrusa Program, Rabbi Adam Frieberg, Rutgers Hillel, New Brunswick, 8:30pm, 732-545-2407
Thurs., Dec 11
“Money Management: Learn to Budget Your Money and Pay Down Debt,” Jewish Family Services Women’s Center, Milltown, 10:30am, 732-777-1940 “Haftarot of the Fall: Malakhi, Amos, Hoshea, and Zekhariah,” for men and women, Rabbi Hayyim Angel, spons by Lamdeinu, at Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 11:45am, info@lamdeinu.org “Israel through Film: How
Israeli Society Is Reflected in Films,” JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 1pm, 845-362-4400 Friends and Torah, for retired adults, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 1pm, 718-796-4730 Rutgers University Chabad House National Founders Dinner, honoring Deal Mayor Harry Franco, z”l and his sons, Isaac and Jack Franco, and Jeffries Shein, includes dedication of the Rutgers Chabad Sephardic Synagogue, at the Chabad House, New Brunswick, 6pm, 732-296-1800 Friendship Circle Adults, Jewish-themed social experience for special-needs adults, in conjunction with J-ADD residential care for special-needs adults, private home in Englewood, 6pm, 201-262-7172 Kulanu Chaverim, for special-needs individuals, includes pizza, art, music, and conversation, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 6:30pm, 718-796-4730 Film and Falafel Dinner: from the Ma’Aleh School of Television Film and the Arts in Jerusalem: “Jeptah’s Daughter,” “Cornerstone,” and “Mikva,” JCC, Bridge-
water, 6:30pm, 908-725-6994 x201 “The Holocaust as Seen through Films,” Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg, South Plainfield Public Library, 7pm, 908-754-7885 Mishmar, Rabbi Adam Frieberg, includes pizza, Rutgers Hillel, New Brunswick, 8pm, 732-545-2407 “Trying to Find Meaning in Mitzvah Observance,” Rabbi Mark Staum, LCSW, spons by The Jewish Learning Experience, at Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 8:15pm, 201-966-4498
Fri., Dec 12
Carlebach Minyan, Cong Netivot Shalom, Teaneck, 4:30pm, 201-801-9022 Prof Shnayer Leiman, scholar-in-residence, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, through Shabbat, Dec 13, 201-837-2795 Rabbi Jeremy Stern, scholarin-residence, Cong Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, topics include: “Breaking the Chain: A Roadmap to Resolving the Agunah Crisis;” “The Role of the Community in Combatting Abuse;” and “Why the Agunah Crisis Has Not Yet Been Resolved,” through Shabbat, Dec 13, 201-791-7676 8th Grade Yachad Shabba-
ton and Adam Ferziger, scholarin-residence, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, through Shabbat, Dec 13, 973-736-1407 Bnei Akiva Shabbaton, for high school students, Young Israel of East Brunswick, through Shabbat, Dec 13, 732-254-1860 “Medical Miracles: Mystical Concepts in Healing,” Rabbi Michoel Seligson, scholar-in-residence, includes Shabbat dinner, Chabad of Riverdale, 5:15pm, 718-549-1100 ext 10 “Noach, Yonah, Lot, and Avraham: What It Takes to Start Up a Nation,” Rabbi Jesse Horn, scholar-in-residence, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 7:45pm, ineug@ yahoo.com “The Emergence of Modern Orthodoxy in 19th Century Western Europe,” Prof Shnayer Leiman, scholar-on-residence, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 7:45pm, 201-837-2795
Shabbat, Dec 13
Tefillat Esther Women’s Tefillah, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 9am, 718-796-4730
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The Log
December 2014 / Kislev 5775
Tell Our Advertisers “I Saw It in The Jewish Voice and Opinion”
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Rabbi Michoel Seligson, scholar-in-residence, Chabad of Riverdale, “Four Seasons of Weather According to Kaballah,” 11am; “Rabbi Schneuer Zalman Liadi Triumphs over the Dzat,” includes lunch, noon, Chabad of Riverdale, 718-549-1100 ext 10 Shiur, Prof Alan Brill, private home in Teaneck, 2:50pm, shalomk@hotmail.com Prof Shnayer Leiman, scholarin-residence, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, “The Failed Eulogy of the Maggid of Vilna,” 10:30am; “Masorah and Halacha,” 4pm, 201-837-2795 Rabbi Jesse Horn, scholar-inresidence, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck “Shimshon’s Leadership, Individuality, and Central Role in Sefer Shoftim,” 3pm; “Shevach: What Are the First Three Brachot of the Shemona Esrei All About?” between mincha and maariv, ineug@yahoo.com
Motzei Shabbat, Dec 13
Cong Beth Aaron Men’s Club Book Club: “Hard Choices” by Hillary Clinton, for men and women, facilitated by Ari Schaffer, at the shul, Teaneck, 6:30pm, 201-833-4432 or 201-907-0343 Inspirational Chassidic Gath-
ering, with Rabbi Michoel Seligson, scholar-in-residence, Chabad of Riverdale, 7:30pm, 718-549-1100 Young Israel Ohab Zedek of North Riverdale Dinner, honoring Roz and Toby Feinerman and Rosesara and Jonathan Greenspun, at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 7:30pm, yiozshul@gmail.com Jewish Educational Center Elmora Avenue Shul Dinner, honoring Charles and Bayle Tarlowe, Yehuda and Fagie Greenberg, and the Eruv Committee, at the shul, Elizabeth, 8pm, 908-355-4850 Project Ezrah Dinner, honoring Rabbi Yossie Stern, z”l; and the community’s rabbis and neighbors, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 8pm, 201-569-9047 Tiferes Chofetz Chaim Foundation Program, for women, featuring DVD: “How Do I Know Hashem Loves Me?” with Rabbi Jonathan Rietti and Tzippy Reifer, private home in Edison, 8pm, siegelmom@optonline.net. Nshei Agudah Melave Malka, for women, featuring “The Divine Art of Chinuch Habanim,” Rabbi Menachem and Debbie Feinsod, Nshei Agudah, Passaic, 8:15pm,
leadanprice@hotmail.com or dovhelen@gmail.com Project Inspire Melave Malka, for men, featuring “Why Are We Frum? Transmitting the Mesorah to Our Families and Klal Yisroel,” Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, private home in Passaic, 8:30pm, 973-818-4316
Sun., Dec 14
Free Sober Birthright Trip to Israel, for young adults 18-26 who are in recovery or impacted by an addiction, trip will return Thurs., Dec 25, 212-632-4724 or sdarak@jbfcs.org Shiur, Rabbi Yonason Sacks, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 8:30am, 201-836-8916 “Bagels, Tefillin, and Breakfast,” Rabbi Eliezer Zaklikovsky, Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe, NJ, 9:30am, 732-656-1616 Highland Park Community Kollel Breakfast, at Cong Ohr Torah, Edison, 9:30am, 732-266-9354 Opening Reception for Exhibit: “Judaism: A Visual Conversation with Lowinger, Coppelson, Kanter, Moses, Jachnowitz, and Ohring,” JCC, West Orange, 11am-1pm, exhibit runs through Thurs, Feb 12 Nefesh B’Nefesh Pre-Aliyah Planning Meetings, Eli Bialik, Crowne Plaza, Englewood, 11am-7:15pm, 866-4-ALIYAH Singles Bagels and Lox Brunch, for singles over 65, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 11am, 845-362-4400 Mitzvah Volunteer Program Finale, for boys and girls in 6th grade who learned how to interact with special-needs children, Zeesy Grossbaum, spons by The Friendship Circle, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 1pm, 201-262-7172 BBQ Bat Mitzvah to Raise Funds for Chai Lifeline, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and Da-
vid, West Orange, 2-8pm, alyssa@ koshergourmetmart.com Jewish-Russian Cultural Club, includes dinner, Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County, South River, 4pm, 732-698-9213 Jewish Family Services Dinner, Show, and Raffle, featuring “Voices of Legends” with Eric Learns, and chance to win a cruise, to benefit Kosher Meals on Wheels and Holocaust Survivor services, at JFK Conference Center, Edison, 5pm, 732-777-1940 Young Israel of East Brunswick Dinner, honoring Miriam Margolis, Kathy and Josh Brody, and Sara and Bruce Fischer, at the Freehold Radisson Hotel, 5:30pm, 908-227-2618 or 908-421-0192 Mesivta and Yeshiva of Zichron Boruch-Clifton Dinner, honoring Mr. and Mrs. Teddy Katzenstein, Rabbi and Mrs Schachne Weinberger, Rabbi and Mrs. Jacob Schwab, and Mr. and Mrs. Shabsi Goldman, at the Empire Meadowlands Hotel, Secaucus, 5:30pm, 973-779-4800 Super Sibs, support group for sisters in grades 1-6 of special-needs siblings, Zeesy Grossbaum, Friendship Circle, Paramus, 6:30pm, 201-262-7172 Rockland and Bergen County Adoptive Families Meet-Up and Support Group, for those who have already adopted or are in the process of adopting, internationally and domestically, private home, 7:30pm, www. meetup.com/Rockland-and-Bergen-Adoptive-Families Salon Minyan Tiferet: Rabbi David Silber, for scholars and intellectually curious adults with diverse Jewish backgrounds, private home in Englewood, 8pm, 201-567-3323 or hochberg@post.harvard.edu
The Log is a free service provided to the Jewish community in northern and central New Jersey, Rockland County and Riverdale. Events that we list include special and guest lectures, concerts, boutiques, dinners, open houses, club meetings, and new classes. Announcements are requested by the 25th of the month prior to the month of the event. Due to space and editorial constraints, we cannot guarantee publication of any announcement. Please email them to : susan@jewishvoiceandopinion.com
http://jewishvoiceandopinion.com Telephone Study Group: “My Mother, My Father, My Child,” Simon Yisrael Feuerman, PsyD, LCSW, 8pm, 973-249-8111 Night of Learning and Questions and Answers, Rabbi Avi Weiss and Rabbi Steven Exler, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 8pm, 718-796-4730
Mon, Dec 15
“Raising Children to be Passionate about Judaism in Today’s Times,” Rebbetzin Leah Kohn, private home in Teaneck, 9:45am, 201-692-3757 Yachad Dinner, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 6pm, grossmane@ou.org Rabbinical College of America National Founders’ Dinner, featuring keynote speaker Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer, Hilton Meadowlands, East Rutherford, 6pm, 973-267-9404 Chabad of Northwest NJ Dinner, honoring Dr. Edward Yaw, David Slossberg, Larry Gold, and Maureen Miller, at the Cystal Plaza, Livingston, 6pm, 973-625-1525 “Serving Our Creator with a Healthy Body, Mind, and Soul: Matters of the Mind—What Everyone Needs to Know about Mental Illness,” Rabbi Larry Rothwachs, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 8:30pm, 201-836-6210
Tues., Dec 16, 1st Night of Chanukah
“Albert Einstein: His Life and Connection to Judaism and Israel,” Dr. Barbata Rosoff, JCC, Edison, 10:30am, 732-494-3232 “Judah Benjamin: The Jewish Secretary of State in the Confederate Cabinet,” Dick Burnon, JCC, Tenafly, 11am, 201-408-1453 or 201-408-1450 “Parenting Jewish Teens: Connecting to Our Kids, Tradition, and G-d,” Bess Adler, Hummus Elite, Englewood, 12:30pm, 201-569-5600 “There Will Never Be Another Year like 1945,” Bud Livingston, JCC, Edison, 1:30pm, 732-494-3232 Refa’enu Peer-Led Mood-Disorder Support Group, for those with depression, bipolar, and/or related anxiety and a separate group for their loved ones, Ben Porat Yosef, Paramus, 7:30pm, dena@refaenu.org
Wed., Dec 17, 2nd Night of Chanukah
“Jewish Views Facing Se-
December 2014 / Kislev 5775
niors,” Rabbi Gary Katz, JCC, Tenafly, 1pm, 201-569-7900 NJ Devils Jewish Heritage Night: Devils vs Ottawa Senators, includes Party Zone, pre-game Menorah lighting, t-shirt, group welcome on the big screen, access at center ice with the Devils’ team photographer, and post-game concert with the Maccabeats, at the Prudential Center, Newark, 7pm, 973-757-6100 or 973-757-6600; trips spons by Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 973-736-1407; Cong Beth Abraham, Bergenfield, 201-3840434; Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 201-836-6210; The Synagogue of the Suburban Torah Center, Cong Etz Chaim, and Cong Israel, Livingston, gsegall@yahoo.com; Rutgers Chabad House, New Brunswick, rabbimendy@ chabadnj.org; Young Israel of East Brunswick, markdweissman@comcast.net; and Cong Ahavath Torah, Englewood, 201-568-1315 Abused Women’s Confidential Support Group, Jewish Family Service, Teaneck, 7:15pm, 201-837-9090 “Chicks with Sticks Knitting Circle,” hats for preemies, children with cancer, and IDF soldiers in Israel, private home in Highland Park, 8pm, 732-339-8492
Thurs., Dec 18, 3rd Night of Chanukah
Last Day to See: Raoul Wallenberg Poster Exhibit and “Waldsee: 1944,” art exhibit of artistic renderings of postcards Germans forced Jewish deportees to send to their families, Life Hall, Montclair State University, 8:30am-4:30pm, 973-655-4185 “Haftarot of the Fall: Malakhi, Amos, Hoshea, and Zekhariah,” for men and women, Rabbi Hayyim Angel, spons by Lamdeinu, at Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 11:45am, info@lamdeinu.org Film: “Judgment at Neurenberg,” discussion with Renee Weiner, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 1pm, 856-362-4400 Film: “Beneath the Helmet,” discussion with Linda Scherzer, Loews AMC Theatre, New Brunswick, 7:30pm, 732-588-1800 “Trying to Find Meaning in Mitzvah Observance,” Rabbi Mark Staum, LCSW, spons by The Jewish Learning Experience, at Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 8:15pm, 201-966-4498
The Jewish Voice and Opinion
Fri., Dec 19, 4th Night of Chanukah
Carlebach Davening: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat, Jewish Center of Teaneck, 4:12pm, 201-833-0515 Rav Simcha Hochbaum, scholar-in-residence, Cong Ohr Torah, Edison, through Shabbat, Dec 20, 732-985-2593 or 732-777-6840 Shabbat Chanukah, Dec 20 Carlebach Minyan, Cong Darchei Noam, Fair Lawn, 8:45am, rabbidonath@gmail.com Tefilat Shlomo: The Carlebach Tefila of Riverdale, includes light and healthy Kiddush, at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 9am, 718-796-4730 Educational Prayer Service, spons by the Jewish Learning Experience, includes discussions and commentary, prayers in English and Hebrew transliteration, at Cong Zichron Mordechai, Teaneck, 9:45am, 201-966-4498 or 201-836-4334 Tisch, with Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski, for families,Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 8pm, 201-837-2795
Motzei Shabbat, Dec 20, 5th Night of Chanukah
Shiur, Rabbi Mordechai Willig, Young Israel of Riverdale, 6:30pm, 718-548-4765 “Bitulmania Concert,” with the Lads from Chopped Liverpool: Willick, Schaffer, Stein, Weinraub, and Holczer, at Cong Ahavas Israel, Passaic, 8pm, 973-777-5929 ext2
Sun., Dec 21, 6th Night of Chanukah
Davening and Bikur Cholim at Daughters of Miriam in Clifton, meet at Cong Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, 8:15am; davening, followed by breakfast and bikur cholim, 8:45am, samapprais@aim.com
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Chug Ivrit, for men and women, spons by Hadassah, private home in Highland Park, advancedbeginner Hebrew speakers, 10am; intermediate-advanced Hebrew speakers, 11am, 732-819-9298 Trip to the Big Apple Circle in Manhattan, for members of Shake It Up, a social group for special-needs young adults ages 18 and over, spons by NJ Yachad, transportation provided, leave NJ Yachad office, Teaneck, 11am, 201-833-1349
Mon, Dec 22, 7th Night of Chanukah
10-Day Inclusive Trip to Israel, for families with a specialneeds member, spons by the Jewish Federation of MetroWest, through Jan 2, 2015, 973-929-3054 “Soulmates: Jewish Secrets to Meaningful Relationships— Judaism’s View of Intimacy,” for women, Rebbetzin Altie Kasowitz, spons by the Rosh Chodesh Society, Chabad of West Orange, 7:30pm, 973-325-6311 Women’s Circle: “Household Chores—How to Get Your Children More Involved,” for professional Israeli women, JCC, Tenafly, 8:30pm, 201-408-1427
Tues., Dec 23, 8th Night of Chanukah
“The Jews of Khazaria,” Bruce Tucker, JCC, Edison, 10:30am, 732-494-3232 Dor LeDor Lunch and Learn, with Rabbi Shmuel Goldin and a musical program, Cong Ahavath Torah, Englewood, noon, 201-568-1315 TV: “Sacred Journeys” with Bruce Feiler, Public Broadcasting, Pilgrims to Jerusalem, Israel, 8pm; Muslim Pilgrims Journey on the Hajj to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, 9pm Y
THE JEWISH VOICE AND OPINION
Promoting Classical Judaism
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December 2014 / Kislev 5775
Tell Our Advertisers “I Saw It in The Jewish Voice and Opinion”
Just in Time for Chanukah Motzei Shabbat, Dec 6
Last Day to Drop Off a Chanukah Gift for OHEL and Bais Ezra Residents, toys and gifts for adult and teen residents, Young Israel of East Brunswick, 732-254-1860
Sun, Dec 7
Chanukah with Yachad, menorah making and scavenger hunt, Home Depot, Milltown, 12-2pm, avrahamb@ou.org or 732-432-0500 Hands on Chanukah, includes photos with Danny the Dreidel, Chanukah face-painting, and color-your-own placemat, at the Brunswick Square Mall, East Brunswick, 2-4pm, 908-875-0767 Cong Ohr Torah Chanukah Carnival, at the shul in West Orange, 3-5pm, 973-669-7320 Graduate Student Chanukah Party with Latkes, Rutger Hillel, New Brunswick, 7pm, 732-545-2407
Mon, Dec 8
Fried Fiesta for the Festival of Lights, spons by Rutgers Hillel, at the College Ave Student Center, 8pm, 732-545-2407
Tues., Dec 9
Last Day to Donate to the Bergen County Chanukah Toy Drive, drop off new toys, games, jewelry, teen accessories, or electronics at a private home in Bergenfield, 201-387-9116 Café Europa Chanukah Party, for Holocaust survivors, music by Tuvia Zimber, spons by the Jewish Family Service of North Jersey, Fair Lawn Jewish Center, 11am, 973-595-0111
Wed., Dec 10
Karaoke Pre-Chanukah Party, for members of Shake It Up, a social group for special-needs young adults ages 18 and up, spons by NJ Yachad, at the Teaneck General Store, 7pm, 201-833-1349 “Hanukkah in America: Why Did Hanukkah Become More Important to American Jews Than It Is to Jews Around the World?” Dianne Ashton, spons by the Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life, Douglass Campus Center, New Brunswick, 7:30pm, 848-932-2033 “Latkes and Lattes,” for women, Chabad Jewish Center, Haskell, 7:30pm, 718-501-2162
Thurs., Dec 11
“Messages of the Menorah and a Grand Latke CookOff,” for women, Chabad Jewish Center, Basking Ridge, 7:30pm, mherson@chabadcentral.org
Fri., Dec 12
Shabbat Chanukah Celebration with Grandparents or Other Special People, for preschoolers with a senior adult, making challah, JCC, Tenafly, 3:15pm, 201-408-1418
Shabbat, Dec 13
Chanukah Family Tish, includes games, latkes, and songs, Jewish Center of Teaneck, 11:45am, 201-833-1515 Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus Chanukah Lunch, Rutgers Hillel, New Brunswick, noon, 732-545-2407 Motzei Shabbat, Dec 13 Pre-Chanukah Menorah Creating, for children of all ages, especially 2-12, Cong Beth Tefillah, Paramus, 6:30pm, 917-533-6301 “Learn Your Oils: Learn How Different Oils Can Boost the Flavor of Your Food,” Naomi Nachman, Young Israel of Teaneck, 8pm, rbk@yiot.org
Sun, Dec 14
“Chanukah 101: The Whys and Hows of One of Judaism’s Most Popular Holidays,” Rabbi Avrohom Rapoport, Chabad House, Margate, 11am, 609-822-8500 Chanukah Family Concert: The Macaroons, includes Chanukah activities, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 11am, 845-362-4400 Chanukah Wonderland, for children ages 2-9, spons by Chabad of Riverdale, includes grand olive press, cookie baking and decorating, Chanukah-candle making, carnival booths, and lunch, private location in Riverdale, Early Learning Center performance, 12 noon; Chanukah crafts, 12:30pm; kosher puppet theater, 1:30pm, 718-549-1100 Chanukah Chagiga, spons by Cong Ahavat Shalom of the Teaneck Apartments, at the Teaneck Moose Lodge, 12-4pm, fays621@gmail.com Shirah Chanukah Concert, with director Matthew Lazar, songs in Hebrew, English, Yiddish, and Ladino, JCC, Tenafly, 1:30pm, 201-569-7900 Hands-on Chanukah, includes photos with Danny the
Dreidel amd Chanukah facepainting, Menlo Park Mall by Nordstrom’s, 2-4pm, 908-875-0767 Latkefest: Latke Bingo and Dreidel Tournament, for children, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 4pm, 201-837-2795 “Lights in the Darkness: A Chanukah Program for Bereaved Jews,” Rabbi Steven Exler and social worker Anna Kirshblum, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 6:30pm, 718-601-9714 Chanukah Concert: Eitan Katz, Riverdale Jewish Center, 7:30pm, 718-548-1850
Mon, Dec 15
Chanukah Celebration and Lunch, for seniors, Mark Levy, JCC, Tenafly, 11:15am, 201-408-1455
Tues., Dec 16, 1st Night of Chanukah
Menorah Lighting, spons by Bris Avrohom, Newark Airport Terminal B, 10:30am, 908-289-0770 Café Europa Chanukah Party, for Holocaust survivors, with Tuvia Zimber, includes lunch and transportation, spons by the Jewish Family Service of North Jersey, Fair Lawn Jewish Center, 11am, 973-595-0111 “The Books of Chagai and Zecharya: How They Explain Chanukah, Our History, and Our Siddur,” Rabbi Menachem Leibtag, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 11am, 201-907-0180 CTeen Chanukah Party, for teens, Chabad, Margate, 5pm, 609-822-8500 Menorah Lighting, Chabad of Fair Lawn, at Fair Lawn Borough Hall, 5pm, 201-794-3770 Chanukah Wonderland, featuring menorah lighting, latkes, donuts, dinner, chocolate gelt, a Chanukah craft fair, Jerry Brown the Monkey Man & Django the psychic money, Devonte the Magician, and Balloon Man, Chabad of Fort Lee, 5:30pm, 201-886-1238 Menorah Lighting, spons by Chabad of West Orange, Roseland Borough Hall, 6pm, 973-325-6311 Menorah Lighting, spons by Friends of Lubavitch of Bergen County, at Englewood City Hall, 6pm, 201-907-0686 Hadassah Chanukah Party, private home in Highland Park, 7:30pm, 732-819-9298
Wed., Dec 17, 2nd Night of Chanukah
Chanukah Luncheon, for seniors, entertainment by Chaim Zadok, Riverdale YMHA, 11:45am, 718-548-8200 Chanukah Luncheon and Concert, featuring Jason Craig, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 1pm, 856-362-4400 Chanukah Celebration: Make a Dreidel, for families, JCC, Tenafly, 3-5pm, 201-408-1418 Menorah Lighting, spons by Bris Avrohom, with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, Jersey City Hall, 4pm, 908-289-0770 Chanukah Festival, includes menorah lighting, Suffern Community Center, 5pm, 845-368-1889 Menorah Lighting, spons by Chabad at the Shore, Ventnor Library, 5:30pm, 609-822-8500 Community Chanukah Extravaganza, includes dairy buffet dinner, entertainment, and menorah lighting, spons by Torah Links, at Churchill Junior High School, East Brunswick, 6pm, 732-613-1613 Menorah Lighting, spons by Friends of Lubavitch of Bergen County, at Riverside Mall, Hackensack, 6pm, 201-907-0686 Menorah Lighting, spons by Chabad of Cherry Hill, Chanukah treats and music, Barclay Shopping Center, Cherry Hill, 6pm, 856-874-1500 Fish Tank Menorah Chanukah Party, includes Chanukah treats, toy drive, and fish crafts, spons by Chabad, Haskell TowneCenter, 7pm, 201-696-7609 Menorah Lighting, spons by Bris Avrohom, with Hillside Mayor Angela Garretson, Hillside City Hall, 7pm, 908-289-0770 Edison Township Menorah Lighting, JCC, Edison, 7pm, 732-494-3232 Thurs., Dec 18, 3rd Night of Chanukah Menorah Lighting, spons by Bris Avrohom, with Union Mayor Brian Stack, Union City Hall, 11am, 908-289-0770 The Joys of Chanukah, with violinist David Podles, JCC, Tenafly, 11:15am, 201-569-7900 Chanukah Luncheon, JCC, Edison, 11:30am, 732-494-3232 Chanukah in the Park, spons by Chabad of Passaic-Clifton, fea-
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December 2014 / Kislev 5775
The Jewish Voice and Opinion
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School and Camp Open Houses Sun, Dec 7
Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey Preschool Preview, for prospective preschool students and their parents, at the school, River Edge, 9:30am, 201-986-1414 Open House Parlor Meeting for Boys Zone and Girls Zone Summer Camps, private home in West Orange, 7pm, 973-495-5702 Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy Parlor Meeting, for parents of 8th grade students, private home in Highland Park, 7pm, 732-777-7951
Tues., Dec 9
Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy (SAR) Information Session, for prospective parents of children in grades pre-K-8, 9:30am,
Chanukah
718-548-1717 ext 1206 Jewish Educational Center’s Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy Parlor Meeting, for parents of 8th grade boys, private home in West Orange, 8pm, 908-355-4850 Parlor Meeting for Camp Moshava Ba’ir, with Shlomo Stern, private home in Teaneck, 8:30pm, 201-836-4860
Thurs., Dec 11
Parlor Meeting for Moshava B’ir Day Camp, with director Shlomo Stern, private home in Teaneck, 8:30pm, yvettebraunstein@gmail.com
Sun, Dec 14
Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy Open House, for prospective parents of children in grades preK-
8, Livingston, 10am, 973-597-1115 Yeshiva University High School for Boys Parlor Meeting, for parents of 8th grade boys, private home in Edison, 8pm, 212960-5400 ext 6676 or 732-572-5991
Thurs., Dec 25
Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva “Taste of Honey” Open House, for prospective parents of children in grades preK-8, Edison, 9am, 732-572-5052 Lubavitch on the Palisades Elementary School Open House, for prospective students and parents, at the school in Tenafly, 10am1:30pm, 201-871-1152
Sun, Dec 28
Mesivta of Clifton Open
House, for 8th grade boys and their parents, with Rabbi Moshe Halberstadt, at the school, Clifton, 4pm, 718-779-4803
Mon, Dec 29
Jewish Educational Center’s Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy Parlor Meeting, for parents of 8th grade boys, private home in Passaic, 8pm, 908-355-4850
Motzei Shabbat, Jan 3
ASHAR Open House, for prospective parents of students in grades pre-K-8, Monsey, 8pm, 845-357-1515
Sun, Jan 11
Clifton Cheder Open House, for prospective parents of children in grades K-8, at the school in Clifton, 8pm, 973-472-0011 Y
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turing Grand Menorah Lighting with Mayors Alex Blanco and James Anzaldi and Chai Tots Preschool presentation, Boathouse Café, Third Ward Passaic Park, 5pm, RabbiSebbag@gmail.com Family Chanukah Chagiga, featuring the Parrot Rebbe, private home in Passaic, 6pm, leadanprice@hotmail.com Chanukah Youth Event, featuring the Chicago Boyz Actobatic Team, candle-lighting, and Chanukah treats, spons by Teaneck and Bergenfield shuls, at Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 6:30pm, 201-907-0180 Wanaque Menorah Lighting, spons by Chabad, Wanaque Municipal Building, 7pm, 201696-7609 Vodka and Latke Chanukah Party, Chabad at the Shore, Ventnor, 8pm, 609-822-8500
Fri., Dec 19, 4th Night of Chanukah
Shabbat Chanukah Dinner, Cong Anshe Chesed, Linden, 5pm, 908-486-8616 Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus Chanukah Tish, Rabbi Adam and Rebbetzin Sara Frieberg, private home in New Brunswick, 8pm, 732-545-2407
Shabbat Chanukah, Dec 20
Junior Congregation Chanukah Luncheon, for children, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, noon, 201-907-0180
Motzei Shabbat, Dec 20, 5th Night of Chanukah Chanukah Party, Chabad of West Orange, 6:15pm, 973325-6311 Family Lego Building: A 14-Foot Menorah, with Stephan Schwartz, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 6:30pm, 845-362-4400 Chanukah Family Chagiga, includes magic show, laser show, dinner, raffle, and prizes, Cong Ohav Emeth, Highland Park, 6:45pm, 732-247-3038 Chanukah on Ice, carved ice menorah, treats and crafts, skate to Jewish music, spons by Chabad of Cherry Hill, The Flyers Skate Zone, Voorhees, 7pm, 856-874-1500 Community Candle-Lighting, includes giant menorah, latkes, and sufganiyot, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 8pm, 845-362-4400 Chanukah Unity Concert, featuring 8th Day, Rockland Community College Cultural Art Theater, 8:30pm, 845-574-4422
Sun., Dec 21, 6th Night of Chanukah
Sensational Sunday: Chanukah Cookies and Projects, for children, Riverdale Jewish Center, 10am, , 718-548-1850 Menorah Lighting, spons by Bris Avrohom, includes donuts and arts and crafts, Jersey City Gardens Mall Food Court, 11am, 908-289-0770 Chanukah Wonderland, in-
cludes juggling and stunt show, Ben the Jester, and photo ops with Chanukah heroes and mascots, spons by Chabad at the Shore, at the Hamilton Mall South Jersey Children’s Museum, Mays Landing, 12:30pm, 609-822-8500 Lighting the Largest Menorah in the Bronx, spons by Chabad of Riverdale, at the Bell Tower Monument, 4pm, 718-549-1100; also TuesThurs, Dec 16-18 and Mon-Thues, Dec 22-23, 4pm; Fri, Dec 19, 3pm; and Sat, Dec 20, 6:30pm South Jersey Car Menorah Parade, spons by Chabad of Cherry Hill, menorah on top of the car, 4:30pm; parade leaves Chabad Center, 5pm; Sahara Sam’s Oasis, 5:45pm; menorah lighting at Sahara Sam’s, 5pm, 856-874-1500 Ringwood Menorah Lighting, spons by Chabad, Ringwood Wells Fargo Bank, 5:30pm, 201696-7609 Chanukah Dinner and Community Choir Performance, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 5:30pm, 718-796-4730
Mon, Dec 22, 7th Night of Chanukah
Smile on Seniors Chanukah Party, children invited,spons by Bris Avrohom, Elmora Hills Rehab Center, Elizabeth, 2pm, 908289-0770 Menorah Lighting, spons by Chabad of West Orange, West Orange Town Hall, 3:45pm, 973325-6311
Chanukah Celebration, for special-needs children, their families, and volunteers who work with them, spons by The Friendship Circle, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 5:30pm, 201-262-7172 Menorah Lighting, spons by Chabad of Cherry Hill, Library Point, Haddonfield, 6pm, 856-874-1500 Community Menorah Lighting and Celebration, photo-op with Danny the Dreidel, dreidelspinning contest, Chanukah facepainting, East Brunswick Library, 5:30-8:30pm, 908-875-0767 West Milford Menorah Lighting, includes children’s entertainment, glow giveaways, and crafts, spons by Chabad, West Milford Town Hall, 7pm, 201-696-7609 Women’s Circle: “The Great Latke Cook-Off,” Chabad at the Shore, Chabad House, Margate, 7:30pm, 609-822-8500
Tues., Dec 23, 8th Night of Chanukah
Chanukah Concert with Mark Levy, JCC, Edison, 1:30pm, 732-494-3232 Chanukah Party, for families, includes food, music, and a magic show, Cong Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, 5:30pm, 201-791-7676 Car Menorah Parade, spons by Chabad of West Orange, 6pm, 973-325-6311 Grand Zot Chanukah Dinner and Celebration, Cong Ohr Torah, Edison, 6:30pm, marcgberg@ verizon.net Y
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December 2014 / Kislev 5775
Temple Mount Status Quo shot and captured him. When he later died of his injuries, he was lauded by Hamas as well as Sultan Abu Al-Einan, a senior aide to Mr. Abbas, as a “hero.” On Mr. Abbas’s Fatah faction’s website, an obituary for Mr. Shaludi ended with “We are loyal to you.” Mr. Shaludi’s mother responded to her son’s act with pride. “Praise Allah, he’s a martyr,” she told reporters. Terror or Traffic Accident The family strongly protested Israel’s demand that the funeral for Mr. Shaludi be held after 9pm with no more than 20 mourners allowed at the ceremony to prevent rioting. Israeli authorities allegedly threatened the family that if they did not acquiesce to those demands, Israeli officials would bury Mr. Shaludi’s body on their own. While the US condemned the terrorist attack against the
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continued from page 22
baby, who was an American citizen, the Obama administration urged “all sides to maintain calm and avoid escalating tensions in the wake of this incident.” Ironically, soon after the US condemnation, most PAcontrolled newspapers suddenly reported that Mr. Shaludi’s action was a “traffic accident” that Israel had “exploited” in order to “exacerbate the oppression in Jerusalem and to incite against the PA.” Jump in Incidents On October 25, Hamas declared that the violence in Jerusalem was in fact an intifada. A few days later, Tayseer Khaled, a member of the PLO Executive Committee and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Political Bureau, told the PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadeda, that “the Jerusalem Intifada” will continue because Jews keep visiting the Temple Mount.
Mazal Tov Mazal Tov to the Bar Mitzvah Boys: Zev Tzvi Arons, Uriel Awerbuch, Samuel Mordechai Belizon, Sam Bendheim, Nathan Brody, Ariel Chechik, Amichai Citron, Shmueli Coates, Sam Cohen, Jonathan Comet, Gabriel Einhorn, Tzvi Eisen, Yonatan Akiva Feuerstein, Shaya Field, Dovi Forman, Gidi Fox, Benjamin Friedman, Meir Gasner, Seth Goldman,Yaakov Greenman, Joseph Gross, Yonah Hook, Yoel Jacobson, Baruch David Kahane, Yonatan Kaye, Calev Koppel, Shalom Korn, Nachman Sholom Kroll, Noam LevySmith, Michael Lowinger, Joshua Eli Miller, Yosef Morrison, Shmuel Padwa, Matthew Plotsker, Dani Poloner, Jake Rabinowitz, JJ Rosenblum, Yosef Rothenberg,Yisrael Rothwachs, Yoni Safier, Aaron Shamsian, Jacob Shobe, Yehuda Snow, Zev Tobin, Yoni Weinreich, Avraham Wiener, Michael Zuckerman, and Mordechai Elchanan (MoEli) Ziegler; and the Bat Mitzvah Girls: Leah Baron, Dara Berger, Laura Brandwein, Nicole Burbank, Sara Tehilla Cohen,Talia Elkin, Talia Frisch, Leora Goldberg, Sara Grayman, Josie Jakubovic, Chani Kaminetzky, Tzippora Malka Kaplan, Hannah Kirsch, Joelle Kuperman, Raizel Littwin, Dalia Loeb, Kayla Miriam Mantell, Yael Marcus, Gabi Mugrabi, Nechama Rivka Ness, Eliana Oshinsky, Yonah Pretsfelder, Shayna Raice, Keren Raskin, Emma Reich, Dina Rothwachs, Maddie Sausen, Carly Sheinfeld, Atara Weil, and Sonia Weiner
The Israel Security Agency reported that terror incidents had risen from 22 in May and June to 152 in July and August, but Mr. Barkat disputed those numbers, claiming that even before Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last summer, there were some 200 rock-throwing incidents every month in the city. After Protective Edge, he said, the number jumped to “5,000 events every month.” “Throwing rocks on cars is life-threatening, as is throwing firebombs at the homes of Jews who live in Arab neighborhoods. There is a huge mass of disturbances. The Jerusalem police fanned out with its available forces as defense. It defends Jewish homes and the seam line, and we all realize this cannot continue,” he said. Police Failure Likud MK Miri Regev, who chairs the Knesset’s Interior Committee, accused the police of failing to provide security in Jerusalem in general and on the Temple Mount in particular. “Eastern Jerusalem is part of Jerusalem, this is our capital. A person who riots in Jerusalem should be treated just like someone who riots in Taibeh or Tel Aviv,” she said. Jerusalem City Councilmen Arieh King, who resides in Ma’ale Hazeitim on the Mount of Olives, said he was convinced that the Israeli government had decided “to abandon the Jewish cemetery” there. “In recent weeks, terrorists have taken control of large parts of the mountain,” he wrote on his Facebook page, noting that the gravesites of several well-known rabbis had been destroyed. He said vandalism at the cemetery had become rampant and that Jewish visitors have filed hundreds of complaints regarding rock-throwing attacks
as well as vandalism of graves. “The police and security guards at the cemetery—placed there by the government—do not even deal with the terrorists,” said Mr. King. Reinforcements On October 26, the Israeli government began to fulfill Mayor Barkat’s demands. An additional 1,000 Israeli police and Border Patrol forces were sent to Jerusalem with orders to work with the Tax Authority, the Bailiff’s Office, and the Jerusalem municipality to deal with rioters and carry out law enforcement actions, especially in the eastern neighborhoods of the capital. In addition, the Jerusalem municipality launched an aerial surveillance unit consisting of five balloons to provide realtime intelligence to Israeli security forces working in eastern Jerusalem. The unit’s job is to help in locating rioters, massive mobs, unruly protests, rock and Molotov-cocktail throwing, shooting of fireworks, and other attacks that have been plaguing the city. To prepare the new influx of police officers for their duties, Mr. Barkat toured the Temple Mount with the commander of the Israel Police’s David District, Col. Avi Biton, and Jerusalem City Director Amnon Merhav. They were met by frenzied Muslim women shouting “Allahu Akbar,” a traditional Muslim declaration of adherence to Allah that has devolved into the jihadists’ battle cry. One day before he was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt by a Palestinian terrorist, Rabbi Yehuda Glick, the 50-year-old director of the Liba Initiative for Jewish Freedom on the Temple Mount, an organization that encourages Jewish tours of the Temple Mount and lob-
http://jewishvoiceandopinion.com bies for Jewish prayer to be allowed there, commended Mr. Barkat for making the visit. “We hope he understand now, after seeing things first hand, the anguish of the pilgrims to the Temple Mount, and that he will show greater involvement in taking action for the rights of Jews on the Mount and for realizing Israeli sovereignty at the most important and sacred national
December 2014 / Kislev 5775
site of the Jewish people,” said Rabbi Glick. Assassination One day later, on October 29, after participating in a conference at the Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem, Rabbi Glick was shot by 32-year-old Mu’taz Hijazi of Abu Tor, in southern Jerusalem, who fled the crime scene on a motorcycle. Rabbi Glick, who was struck by four bullets, including one right
The Jewish Voice and Opinion
next to his spinal column, was rushed to Sha’arei Tzedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where he would stay until his release one month later. An Israeli Special Forces SWAT team was dispatched to Abu Tor to arrest Mr. Hijazi. When approached, Mr. Hijazi shot at Israeli security, who returned fire and killed him. Mr. Hijazi was an employee at the Teresa restaurant, lo-
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cated inside the Begin Heritage Center, where Mr. Glick had spoken just before he was shot. Mr. Hijazi had been hired by the cafeteria despite having been released from prison in 2012 after serving 11 years for committing acts of terror against Jews. When he was released from prison, he told Palestinian media that he was happy
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December 2014 / Kislev 5775
Temple Mount Status Quo to return to Jerusalem, where he “wished to be a thorn in the throat of the Zionist plan to Judaize Jerusalem.” An examination of his motorcycle convinced Israeli police that Mr. Hijazi was likely also responsible for an attack last August against a soldier near the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus. Not Quite Alone The terrorist organization Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was “vengeance” for Israeli police efforts to quell the Arab rioting. Although police said Mr. Hijazi had acted alone and spontaneously, there are indications that he was guided by Islamist-run websites that urged Arabs to protest and interfere with Rabbi Glick’s speech at the Begin Center. Several of the sites had Rabbi Glick’s photo prominently displayed, calling him a “settlement leader” who was planning a “mass invasion” of the Temple Mount that would bring tens of thousands of Jews to the site. They said he was also behind a plan to eliminate Muslim presence from the Mount altogether. Immediate Intervention According to PMW, hours before Rabbi Glick was shot, former PA Prime Minister Ahmed
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Qurei called for “immediate intervention” against the event at the Begin Center. In a statement issued to the official PA news agency, WAFA, Mr. Qurei, who is a senior member of the PLO executive committee, warned of “extremist biblical plans encouraging settlers and extremist Jews to carry out large-scale invasions of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and calling on the entire Jewish nation to invade the Mosque.” He added that Jerusalem is “undergoing one of the most dangerous periods since the beginning of the Israeli occupation,” and he called for “immediate intervention in order to protect the ‘first direction of prayer’ (Jerusalem) and rescue it from the threat of Judaization.” No Jobs for Terrorists Jewish Home MK Nissan Slomiansky said the discovery that Rabbi Glick’s would-be murderer worked for the Begin Center convinced him to file a bill making it illegal to employ convicted, unrepentant terrorists in Israel. He called on all business owners in Israel to stop employing released terrorists. “These people will continue to attack and kill Jews at every opportunity. Employers who seek to give them a ‘second chance’ are in reality setting
the stage for wide-scale terror attacks, giving the terrorists opportunity to carry them out,” he said. The bill he intends to file will require the state to publicize the names and personal details of convicted terrorists who are released from prison, along with the types of crimes they committed. “Thus, an employer will be able to avoid hiring these dangerous people, and give the appropriate people an opportunity to return to society,” he said. No Security Many supporters of Israel around the world expressed surprise that given his outspoken views, Rabbi Glick had not had better security. His family said he had reported many threats against his life to the police, but all had been ignored. After Rabbi Glick’s attack, police said they had “no record” of any such complaints. A few days later, it became clear that police were well aware of the threats on Rabbi Glick’s life. A recording of a meeting between Col Biton, Rabbi Glick, and another Temple activist, Yaakov Haneman, made during a period when Rabbi Glick had been barred by Israeli police from visiting the Temple Mount, surfaced and was played on Israeli radio. On the tape, Col. Biton likened Rabbi Glick’s relationship with the radical Muslims
in charge of the Temple Mount to “a red rag” in front of a bull. He told Rabbi Glick that the Israeli police wanted “to create balance.” “OK, by the way, you have been warned here. You’ve been warned to avoid getting hurt. We did, after all, have some intelligence information that someone wants to hurt you,” Col. Biton told Rabbi Glick on the tape. Rabbi Glick responded that he received threats on Facebook daily. 14 Others at Risk Despite the tape, Jerusalem District Police said none of the threats against Rabbi Glick were on his life. The police admitted that Rabbi Glick had made 16 complaints between 1995 and 2014 over various threats. But the police said that they were mostly threats of harassment. It subsequently became clear that 14 other Jewish Temple Mount activists have also been threatened, including The Temple Institute founder, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, and the organization’s director, Rabbi Chaim Richman. According to Rabbi Richman, the Israeli police have been notified, but he said the Institute would continue its mission. “We will increase our visits to the Temple Mount to pray peacefully there, and no amount of threats or intimidation can extinguish 2,000 years of Jewish yearning and hope,” he said.
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December 2014 / Kislev 5775
Temple Mount Status Quo MK Protection An examination of the new threats prompted Israel’s security establishment to give Mr. Ariel and Deputy Knesset Speaker Moshe Feiglin (Likud) 24-hour police protection. Mr. Feiglin has been an active proponent of Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount and may be the most frequent MK visitor to the site in Knesset history. Police also warned Mr. King, telling him that his outspoken words in favor of Jewish rights to the Israeli capital of Jerusalem have been noticed by terrorists who are now targeting him. Mr. King was advised not to walk alone, to check his vehicle regularly, and to scan his surroundings for suspicious individuals. His home on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives has already been the target of a shooting attack. Geographically Challenging According to Mr. King, Jerusalem police ignored his request for an investigation for nearly a month, until he spoke with a personal aide to the police superintendent. Mr. King has warned that the more than 40,000 illegal Arab housing units in Jerusalem constitute an inherent security risk. He has also charged that those units, coupled with an unofficial, but de-facto, Jewish building freeze, form the
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basis of an organized effort to divide the capital. Keeping Mr. Ariel safe may become difficult because he has announced his intention to move his family to the Ir David section of Jerusalem, the City of David, where according to Jewish tradition, King David had his government some 3,000 years ago. It abuts the area of the city the Palestinians have claimed as their capital. Red Line Few doubted that the assassination attempt against Rabbi Glick meant the violence was taking a new direction. Speaking for many in Israel, Economy Minister and chairman of the Jewish Home party Naftali Bennett said the attack on Rabbi Glick was “a red line of blood.” Ms. Regev stressed the personal security issue the attack on Rabbi Glick represented. “A situation in which a Jews who fights for his ideals finds himself in the midst of a murder attempt cannot happen. Those who do not fight for the right of Jews to live in peace and security in Jerusalem, will receive murderous Palestinian terror throughout the country,” she said. Mr. Bennett’s Jewish Home party colleague, MK Motti Yogev, said Israel’s response to the Glick shooting should be
“a ‘Defensive Shield’-style operation in Jerusalem to arrest all the leaders of terrorist organizations.” Mr. Yogev said that although he is not among those who aspire to ascend the Temple Mount, “we should make it clear from a national perspective that the Temple Mount is in our hands.” Closure Fearing more violence after Rabbi Glick was shot, Israeli officials closed the Temple Mount to all visitors, Jews and Muslims. Mr. Abbas reacted with outrage. Without mentioning the shooting of Rabbi Glick that precipitated the measure, Mr. Abbas termed the closure “an attack” and “a declaration of war.” “The state of Palestine will take all legal measure[s] to hold Israel accountable and to stop these ongoing attacks,” said Mr. Abbas. His Fatah faction praised the assassination attempt on Rabbi Glick’s life and called for a “day of rage.” “Fatah calls to its fighters and to the masses of the Palestinian people to aid the Al-Aqsa Mosque and occupied Jerusalem,” said Fatah in a statement that was translated by PMW. The statement went on to ask for violence “throughout the homeland and in countries which are home to refugees, to express the Palestinian people’s opposition to any attack on the holy places and foremost among them the AlAqsa Mosque.” Celebrations Fatah called Rabbi Glick an “extremist Zionist” and “despicable,” while praising Mr. Hijazi as an “heroic martyr… who rose to Heaven…after a gunfight with the forces of the Zionist occupation in Jerusalem.”
In another post, also translated by PMW, Fatah wrote about “celebrations throughout the Old City of Jerusalem” over “the attempted assassination of the extremist Zionist Yehuda Glick.” In fact, as news of the shooting spread, Arabs in Jerusalem were videoed dancing in the streets and handing out sweets. Passersby told Israeli reporters, “May Allah bless the shooter,” while celebratory fireworks went off and music was played. On Facebook pages, messages such as “We are all happy about the shooting” and “Who will be the next to redeem the honor of Palestinians and punish the Zionists” were common. Abbas’s Letter of Support Mr. Abbas himself wrote a personal letter of support to Mr. Hijazi’s family, condemning Israel for killing him. The letter prompted Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman to call Mr. Abbas “a partner to terror, to terrorists, to murderers.” Calling the letter to the Hijazi family “despicable,” Mr. Liberman demanded that the international community “purge and denounce” Mr. Abbas, “who is leading the IsraeliPalestinian conflict to violent, terrible places.” Mr. Netanyahu also condemned the letter, saying that while Israel was “trying to calm the situation,” Mr. Abbas “sends condolences over the death of one who tried to perpetrate a reprehensible murder.” “The time has come for the international community to condemn him for such actions,” said Mr. Netanyahu. While Rabbi Glick underwent emergency surgery and then made slow but steady progress, Israeli police were
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PESACH
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December 2014 / Kislev 5775
Temple Mount Status Quo involved in Mr. Hijazi’s funeral plans. It was to be held at 11pm with no more than 45 family members present. After the funeral, some 3,000 Israeli police and Border Patrol officers were deployed to Jerusalem’s eastern neighborhoods, especially in alleys and near the Kotel, in preparation for Muslim outrage over the Temple Mount’s security closure. Jordanian Voice Jordan’s Islamic Affairs Minister Hayel Daoud denounced the closure, calling it “state terrorism.” He called on the international community to pressure Israel “to raise the terrorist blockade” on the holy site. Jordan’s Minister of Media Affairs and Communications and a spokesman for the Jordanian government, Mohammed Al-Momani, threatened to revoke the peace treaty be-
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tween Israel and Jordan if the Temple Mount were not reopened. It is a threat made regularly by Jordanian officials over issues ranging from Israel’s democratic system which allows MKs to propose bills which would change the status quo and allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount, to the government’s decision to allow Jewish building in Judea and Samaria. Under Jordan’s auspices, the Temple Mount has been rife with antisemitic graffiti. Ancient Jewish artifacts have been destroyed. But Jordan has reserved its condemnations for Israel’s attempts to quell the frequent Arab rioting on the site. While saying nothing about those activities on the Temple Mount, Sunni Islam’s flagship institution Al-Azhar in Cairo called on the Muslim and world community to “im-
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mediately step in to stop this barbaric action [the closure of the site] that exacerbates religious conflict.” American Values Criticism of the closure came also from the US State Department, which pressed Israel to return to the “status quo,” banning all but Muslim prayers on the site. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki condemned the shooting of Rabbi Glick, who holds American citizenship and made aliyah with his family, including parents and five siblings, 40 years ago, when he was nine. Although he has fought for Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount, Rabbi Glick has never called for the expulsion of Muslims or any reduction of their rights. His goal has been to share the Temple Mount with Muslims similarly to way the Cave of the Patriarchs is shared in Hebron. According to some reports, Rabbi Glick maintains cordial relations with many of Jerusalem’s moderate Muslim residents. No International Condemnation When Mr. Netanyahu addressed the issue of the attack on Rabbi Glick, he asked the international community, why there had been no condemnations of Mr. Abbas’s demand that Arabs prevent Jews from ascending the Temple Mount. “I still have not heard from the international community so much as one word of condemnation for these inflammatory remarks. The international community needs to stop its hypocrisy and take action against inciters, against those who try to change the status quo,” said Mr. Netanyahu. The one bright spot in the international community for Israel is the US Congress,
where Democrats and Republicans clearly condemned the PA leadership and specifically Mr. Abbas “for creating a fertile environment for deadly assaults.” No Jews Allowed One day later, Israel reopened the Temple Mount, but only “for dawn prayers after midnight” and only for Muslim men over the age of 50 and Muslim women. No Jews were permitted on the site. Jewish Home MK Zevulun Kalfa, who serves on the Knesset’s special committee on Temple Mount issues, said, “Closing the Temple Mount to Jews while allowing rioting Arabs to traipse freely on the holy site, shows our weakness and our willingness to surrender sovereignty. This is the appropriate time to increase our presence and sovereignty there.” That would be accomplished “only through standing up for the rights of Jews to pray at any place in Jerusalem,” he said. Offensive Many Israelis expressed anger at Mr. Netanyahu’s efforts to calm tensions with assurances that Israel would maintain the “status quo.” Allowing Jews to visit the site, but forbidding Jewish prayer there amounts to accepting the Muslim view that Jewish prayer is “incitement,” they said. Mr. Feiglin argued that considering Jewish prayer on Judaism’s holiest site as “incitement” is offensive. He noted that in the past, prayer at the Kotel was seen as “incitement” by Arabs who started riots throughout the area when Jews prayed at the Western Wall. “Several years before that, in Europe, to be a Jew was ‘incitement,’ and the fact that you
http://jewishvoiceandopinion.com were a Jew ‘provoked.’ Apparently, it still provokes,” he said. “Whoever thinks that a quiet ascent and prayer by a Jew at the holiest place to the people of Israel is incitement, he is the one who invites violence.” One Jewish Prayer During the time that the Temple Mount was closed to Jews, one young Jew was permitted not only to ascend the holy site, but also to pray there. Yehuda Glick’s son, Haggai, was given permission to pray barefoot for his father’s recovery on the Temple Mount. The irony was not lost on Helen Freedman, director of Americans for a Safe Israel, who accompanied Haggai. “Obviously, the prohibition against Jews praying on the Mount was lifted for this emergency situation,” she said, noting that the heavy Jewish security presence on the site resulted in quiet. This, she said, was “testimony to the fact that the Israeli police are capable of controlling the Arab violence and stone-throwing.” “They simply must be allowed to carry out the law. At a minimum, this has to be the ongoing situation,” she said. Going Up Mr. Feiglin, who tried to go up on the Temple Mount while it was officially closed, said opening the site to Muslims and closing it to Jews “gave the terrorists what they wanted.” “A murderer was given what he wanted in full. This conduct will certainly not bring about peace, only more murders,” he said. Jordan’s threat to cancel the peace treaty with Israel unless Jews were excluded from the Temple Mount as well as Mr. Netanyahu’s request for MKs to refrain from visiting the site, did not deter several MKs who were determined to ascend the Temple Mount themselves.
December 2014 / Kislev 5775
In addition to Mr. Feiglin, those who went to the site included Jewish Home MKs Shuli Mualem and Ayelet Shaked, Likud Deputy Minister Tzipi Hotovely, and Mr. Bank, Jewish Home’s Secretary-General. “There is no law that says Jews can’t pray there, so there’s no law that has to be changed. We just have to convince or force the Prime Minister or the police to implement the letter of the law,” said Mr. Bank, who admitted he had prayed for Rabbi Glick’s speedy recovery while visiting the Temple Mount. Not Just the Kotel He said Jews need to reconnect with the central importance of the Temple Mount and stop “making do” with praying at its outer wall, the Kotel. “The Kotel became sanctified and holy only because it was the closest the Muslims let us get to the Temple Mount. By accepting that arrangement, Jews are facilitating their own oppression,” said Mr. Bank, explaining that he has refused to pray at the Kotel for the past ten years and now urges other Jews to do the same. “Our willingness to suffice with the Kotel is what is allowing the Muslims to feel like they are in control of our holiest site. If all Jews would decide that the Kotel isn’t good enough, that we’ve come home to our homeland and the Temple Mount is in our hands, we’d have true impetus to affect a change in the whole situation here,” he said. New Interest in the Mount Despite Mr. Netanyahu’s efforts, the arguments of those who want Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount seem to be making an impact. Almost 40 percent of Israel’s Jewish population believes the government’s policy of not allowing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount must
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be changed, even if it means bloodshed, according to the “Peace Index” survey published by the Guttman Center at the Israel Democracy Institute and the Evens Program for Solution Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University. However, 56 percent of respondents said Jews should be restricted from praying on the Temple Mount “to prevent friction with the Muslim world.” Forty-seven percent support the ruling of the majority of hareidi and national-religious rabbis that Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount is forbidden, while 26 percent support those rabbis who permit Jews to pray at the site. Supporting Change Those most supportive of changing the status quo on the Temple Mount come from the traditional-religious population (49 percent), the religious (46.5 percent), and the traditional non-religious (44
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percent). Support for changing the status quo was much lower among the secular (34 percent) and the hareidi ultraOrthodox (17 percent). 96 percent of hareidi respondents were opposed to contesting rabbinic rulings forbidding prayer on the Temple Mount, while only 60 percent of the traditional-religious felt that way. One-third of secular respondents declined to answer the question. When asked if an agreement could be reached with the Muslim Waqf regarding the Temple Mount, only 31 percent said there is any chance of reaching a compromise in which both faiths would share the site and pray there. Motivated to Go A Miskar poll on Jewish attitudes toward the Temple Mount revealed that 74 percent of Israeli Jews felt the same way about the Temple
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December 2014 / Kislev 5775
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Ess Gezint: Spiritual Cooking Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, and his rebbetzin, Yael, are a traditional Jewish couple who, since 1983, have led the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, an organization that encourages Christians to work on projects promoting the safety and security of Jews in Israel and around the world. Now living in Jerusalem, Rabbi Eckstein has been honored by the government of Israel, and, this
past year, Mrs. Eckstein published a kosher cookbook, Spiritual Cooking with Yael: Recipes and Bible Meditations from the Holy Land (Winters Publishing). The book allows Christian supporters of Israel a window into Jewish spirituality, and Jews can enjoy it, too. They are especially good for Chanukah. Happy Chanukah, everyone! Y
Creamy Peanut Butter Noodles
Spinach Cheese Quiche
2 cups cottage cheese thawed and drained 1 8-oz pkg of spaghetti ½ cup vegetable broth 1 cup yogurt, plain ¼ cup feta cheese, crumbled or rice soba noodles 1½ Tbs brown sugar 5 eggs, beaten together ¼ tsp salt ½ cup peanut butter ¼ tsp salt 1 onion, sliced Pepper, to taste 3 Tbs soy sauce 1 scallion, chopped 3 Tbs pine nuts 1 pie crust, prepared ½ tsp lemon juice 2 Tbs sesame seeds ½ cup frozen spinach, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated Cook noodles or spaghetti according to package directions. Preheat oven to 400°. In a bowl, combine cottage cheese, In another saucepan, combine peanut butter, soy sauce, lemon juice, broth, sugar, and salt. Stir over a low flame for two min- yogurt, eggs, onion, pine nuts, spinach, feta cheese, salt, and utes, until ingredients are mixed well. Mix noodles and sauce pepper. Mix well and pour into pie crust. Top with grated moztogether. Top with scallions and sesame seeds. Serve hot or cold. zarella cheese. Bake for 25 minutes or until top is golden brown and eggs are cooked.
Spice Crusted Salmon 6 2-inch wide salmon fillets Juice from 1 lemon 2 Tbs olive oil 1 tsp sweet paprika 1 tsp garlic powder ½ tsp ginger powder
1 tsp dried dill Salt and pepper, to taste 1 cup Japanese bread crumbs (panko) or bread/cornflake crumbs
Preheat oven to 375°. Place fillets in greased baking dish. Cover fish with lemon juice and olive oil. Sprinkle all seasonings over the fish and top with bread crumbs. Bake covered for 20 minutes and then uncovered for 5 minutes, until salmon is cooked through.
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December 2014 / Kislev 5775
Temple Mount Status Quo Mount before Rabbi Glick was shot as they did afterwards. That broke down such that 40 percent had no interest in going to the Temple Mount before the shooting and no interest afterwards. The other 34 percent told the pollsters: “Before I wanted to go up [to the Temple Mount,] and now I will definitely go.” Some 15 percent reported that the shooting had made a difference in how they felt. Just 2.1 percent said they had considered visiting the site before the shooting, but afterwards decided not to go. A full 13 percent said that while they had not wanted to visit the site before the shooting, after the shooting, they intended to do so. “The results reflect a tangible sense of defiance among many Israeli Jews to attempts to prevent them from worshipping at or even visiting Judaism’s holiest site,” said Ari Soffer of Arutz Sheva. Philosophical Change Religious-Zionist personality Rabbi Benny Lau announced that after the shooting , his entire philosophy towards The Temple Mount changed. While before the shooting, he had opposed Jews’ going up on the Mount. Afterwards, he said, he was “very much in favor.” “It can’t be that Muslims stand on the Mount, pray as they wish, administer it as they wish, via the Waqf, and the Israeli people should be humiliated to the lowest depths. This is not possible,” he said. None of the Israeli officials who visited the Temple Mount after the shooting seemed concerned about the Jordanian threats. Mr. Bank said Israel should tell the Jordanians that the Jewish state “has the responsibility to ensure freedom of religion for everyone.” That
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should be “a very easy sell,” he said. He also dismissed the notion that Jordan would go to war with the Jewish state over the issue. Jordan is dependent on Western and Israeli support and in fear of extremist violence, he said. Middle Ground When Mr. Netanyahu addressed the prayer issue, he explained that while he was dedicated to law and order in Jerusalem and staunchly opposed to the “systematic and continuing attempts by Islamic extremist elements to stir up unrest,” especially on the Temple Mount, he was equally committed to maintaining the status quo. He condemned those who “are disseminating lies to the effect that we intend to destroy or harm the Al-Aqsa Mosque and that we intend to prevent Muslims from praying there.” “They are using verbal and physical violence in an effort to exclude Jews from going up to the Temple Mount. We will not allow this to happen; neither will we alter the worship arrangements and the access to the Temple Mount that has been customary for decades. We are committed to the status quo for Jews, Muslims and Christians,” he said. He accused Mr. Abbas of being the one to change the status quo on the Temple Mount by exerting efforts to oppose Jews’ right to enter the site. Mr. Netanyahu then appealed to MKs from the right- and left-wing factions, not to “play into the hands of our extremist enemies.” He asked them to join him “in the effort to maintain the existing order,” which includes Jewish access, but not Jewish or Christian prayer. He also asked for private initia-
tives to be avoided “as well as unbridled statements.” Visits or “Break-Ins?” His call for calm went unheeded by Mr. Abbas, who in blatant disregard of the status quo arrangement, again warned Jews against visiting the Temple Mount. Mr. Abbas said that despite Mr. Netanyahu’s calls for calm, there had been an “escalation” in the number of “break-ins by settlers and Jewish extremists” to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. These actions, he said, are a violation of “Muslim feelings.” Those “feelings” also prevented Israeli security from installing metal detectors with new facial-recognition technology at the entrances to the Temple Mount. Israel hoped this would prevent armed Islamists from provoking further confrontations at the site. Interior Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, who is charged with overseeing Israel’s security forces, tried to explain to the Waqf that the device would improve the supervision of people entering the compound, “both Jews and Muslims.” But the Islamic Waqf rejected the idea. “This is unacceptable to all Muslims. It cannot be installed,” said Sheikh Azzam al-Khattib, head of the Waqf.
International Media Advisory Going one step further, Mr. Abbas’s Fatah faction issued an advisory to members of the international media, urging them to stop using the term “Temple Mount” and to refer instead to the holy site as “the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound” or “Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary.” Ignoring the site’s importance to Jews and Christians, the advisory erases any reference to the Jewish character of the Temple Mount, claiming that the entire compound “has been under exclusive Muslim control since the construction of the Dome of the Rock in 692 CE” and that it is “sacred to approximately 1.6 billion Muslims around the world, and a symbol for all Palestinians.” Claiming that Israel’s presence in “East-Jerusalem” is “illegal,” the advisory concludes that “all international media representatives are advised to adhere to international law and correct any other existing terminology used.” “The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is not a disputed territory and all other terms, therefore, are null and void,” says the advisory. “Temple Denial” According to Rabbi Rich-
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Temple Mount Status Quo man, the advisory is “another outrageous example of the relatively recent phenomena that can best be described as Muslim ‘Temple Denial Syndrome.’” He pointed out that a guide book entitled “A Brief Guide to Al-Haram AlSharif,” published by the Supreme Muslim Council, or Waqf, before the State of Israel was declared in 1948, calls the site “one of the oldest in the world” whose “sanctity dates from the earliest (perhaps from pre-historic) times.” “Its identity with the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond dispute,” says the guide. According to Rabbi Richman, every subsequent edition of this guide that was published before 1948 features this reference to Solomon’s Temple. After 1948, that text was expunged. The newer editions claim that the site “has been identified with Islam from the beginning.” Uptick in Violence The incitement from Mr. Abbas and other Palestinian sources had an effect on the ground. The number of violent incidents in Jerusalem shot up. Shortly after Rabbi Glick was shot, Roi Gifman, who resides in the Ma’ale Hazeitim neighborhood on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, was the victim of Arab rioters who ambushed him and pummeled his car with a hail of rocks as he drove to the center of the city, just south of Mount Scopus. He said he escaped “by a miracle, thank G-d.” Israeli Druze Police Superintendent
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Jadan Assad, who resided in the Galilee with his pregnant wife and three-year-old son, and Shalom Ba’adani, a 17-year-old yeshiva student, were not as lucky. Just like Chaya Zisel Braun and Miss Mosquera, Messrs Assad and Ba’adani were murdered by a terrorist who drove his vehicle into a crowd of pedestrians at the Shimon Hatzadik train station, just north of the Old City. A dozen others were wounded, some seriously. After plowing into the crowd, the terrorist, Ibrahim al-Akari, 38, a member of Hamas, came out of his car with a crowbar and began attacking passersby. He was shot and killed by police at the scene. Mr. al-Akari resided in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat. Hate-Fueled Car According to Likud Central Committee chairman MK Danny Danon, Mr. alAkari may have driven the car, but the “fuel,” he said, was Mr. Abbas’s letter of support for Mr. Hijazi. Mr. Bennett agreed. “Abbas was the driver of the death car in Jerusalem, and the terrorists were only his emissaries. The State of Israel must state with a clear voice that the Fatah-Hamas government is a terrorist authority and we must act against it accordingly. There is no Iron Dome against drivers, and the citizens of Israel cannot live with intimidation and lack of sovereignty in their capital city. Security is not a luxury,” he said. Like the other terrorists, Mr. al-Akari was declared a martyr-hero by Hamas,
who said his action was “a natural response to the crimes of the [Israeli] occupation against Al-Aqsa Mosque and occupied Jerusalem.” “Car-Intifada” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri echoed Mr. Abbas, urging “all Palestinians to use all means to oppose the crimes of the occupiers against Al-Aqsa.” Mr. Abbas’s Fatah faction posted a barrage of cartoons on its official Facebook site, demanding more car attacks, including one post that simply said, “Run over, friend, run over the foreign settler.” Palestinian social media buzzed with graphic violence and rhetoric, urging Palestinians to run over and/or kidnap Jews. One of the terms for the current spate of violence became “Car-Intifada.” Many of the messages say that Jews should be run over because the Temple Mount is under attack. A pair of Palestinian musicians released a music single entitled “Run over the Settlers,” which went viral amid rave reviews by the song’s Muslim admirers. Riots Mr. al-Akari’s death prompted a riot at the Temple Mount during which Israeli police came under assault by terrorists throwing rocks, firecrackers, metal bars, and firebombs. The Muslims also sprayed fire extinguishers at the police. The Muslim assailants had collected their weapons inside the Al-Aqsa structure and set up barricades to prevent police from closing the doors of the mosque to shut them inside, which is the usual police method of dealing with these confrontations. When the police removed the barricades, quiet was restored, but not before a guard of the Jordanian Waqf was arrested after he threatened an Israeli police officer. In retaliation, Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel. The following day, rock-throwers in the Galilee, Samaria, and Jerusalem left at least six Israelis wounded, including a three-year-old boy. Police Action or Execution? In the Galilee, Hir Al-Hamdan, a 22-year-old, knife-wielding Israeli-Arab reportedly charged at a police officer, who then shot and killed him. The policeman said he believed his life was in danger.
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The incident sparked riots by thousands of Arabs, who accused the police of killing the man “in cold blood.” Arab youths set tires on fire and hurled rocks and firebombs at police. Some protesters bore signs saying, “His only crime was being an Arab.” Others shouted, “Zionists, get out of our lives.” The Israeli group Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights, called the incident “an execution.” Mr. Al-Hamdan’s death prompted a nationwide strike among Israeli Arabs who demanded a full investigation. Another Accident? During the demonstrations, three IDF soldiers in Hebron were injured, one of them critically, when a terrorist driving a commercial vehicle tried to run them over as they were on duty near a guard stand. The driver fled from the scene. When security officials found his car, it was traced, and the father of the driver was arrested. This prompted the terrorist to turn himself into security forces. Israeli Security forces claimed the incident was “only an accident,” an assertion that was rejected by the victims’ families as well as by the head of the Etzion Bloc Regional Council, Davidi Perl. Mr. Perl said the police’s claim that it was not a delib-
erate attack was intended “to calm the public and convince them that there is no escalation in terrorism.” Roni Aharoni, whose son Yehonatan was seriously wounded in the incident, told reporters that his son had told him in the hospital that he was certain the driver had aimed for them, speeding up as he veered towards the group. Negating the Israel police’s “accident” label, Hamas, welcomed what it called an attack on the soldiers and “proof that the Palestinian resistance continues and that [Judea and Samaria] are a strategic part of it.” Level C By the middle of November, police raised the terror alert level in Israel to “Gimmel,” or “C.” That did nothing to save Almog Shiloni, a 20-year-old soldier, who was mortally wounded in a terrorist stabbing attack at the entrance to Tel Aviv’s Hahagana Train Station. He was attacked by Nur Al-Din Abu Hashiya, an 18-year-old resident of Shechem in Samaria who had illegally entered Israel proper. According to reports, Mr. Hashiya tried to snatch a weapon from Mr. Shiloni, but was prevented from doing so by citizens at the scene.
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Temple Mount Status Quo with the most lethal consequences was the death of 32-year-old Arab bus driver, Yusuf Hasan al-Ramuni, who was found hanged and dead in his Egged bus at the Har Hotzvim industrial zone bus depot in Northern Jerusalem. Experienced police immediately thought he had committed suicide, a hunch that was confirmed by a forensic autopsy at the Kabu Kabir Institute in Tel Aviv. But the Israeli police and medical examiner’s reports were not accepted by Mr. alRamuni’s fellow Arab bus driver, Muatasem Fakeh, who told reporters “we saw signs of violence on his body.” Mr. Fakeh claimed the body was found “hanging over the steps at the back of the bus in a place where it would be impossible to hang yourself alone.” Mr. al-Ramuni’s brother, Osama, claimed the body “had bruises on it.” He went so far as to suggest that his brother had been “tortured” before dying. Riots were organized throughout Jerusalem, and violence again exploded, even though a Palestinian pathology lab came to the same conclusion, namely that there was no evidence of foul play and Mr. al-Ramuni had committed suicide.
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Fireworks The Palestinian street, egged on by some of the leadership in Fatah and Hamas, had decided that Mr. al-Ramuni’s death was a murder carried out by “Jewish settlers.” At his funeral, there were chants of “revenge,” and clashes erupted in Abu Dis as dozens of protesters burned tires and threw stones at police, who responded with tear gas. Arabs were seen trying to break down part of Israel’s concrete separation barrier which cuts through the neighborhood. During the current violence, it became clear that the Palestinians’ new weapon of choice had become fireworks. On Nov. 17, an IDF officer was rushed to Hadassah Ein Karen Hospital in Jerusalem for treatment after he had lost two fingers from fireworks thrown by Arabs in Kikar Hamoniot near Ramallah. According to a report on Israeli TV’s Channel 2, there were 130 reported riot-related injuries among Jerusalem police in September 2014, 30 of them—23 percent—from fireworks alone. “Revenge” A day after the IDF officer lost his fingers, two cousins, Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal, both of the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukha-
ber, burst into the Kehillat Bnai Torah Yeshiva Synagogue with guns, hatchets, and knives, and set out to slaughter as many worshippers as possible. After the fact, police were told that the cousins were taking revenge for Mr. al-Ramuni as well as defending Al-Aqsa against the Jews, especially the Israeli MKs who dared to go up on the Temple Mount. Police arrived on the scene five minutes after the slaughter began, and killed the terrorists, who came from a family solidly linked to terrorism. According to Councilman King, the cousins represented the third generation of terrorists in the family. One member of their family went free in the terrorist swap in exchange for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Like so many of the other terrorists this season, the Abu Jamal cousins held Israeli residency cards and enjoyed the privileges that came with it. One of them worked in a grocery store next door to the synagogue. The sister of one is a social worker who is employed by the city of Jerusalem. “Shouts of Joy” Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the terrorists’ families openly praised the massacre of the four defenseless rabbis, Moshe Twersky, Kalman Levine, Aryeh Kupinsky, and Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, and the 27-year-old police officer, Zidan Nahad Seif, who rushed into the synagogue, saved many more people in the shul from being hurt or killed, and was murdered himself by the terrorists’ guns. Five other worshippers in the shul were seriously wounded. The Abu Jamal family responded to the attack by
celebrating and handing out candy with “shouts of joy.” “Heroic Operation” On his Facebook page, Mr. Abbas’s advisor, Mr. Al-Einan, posted photos of the grisly attack in the synagogue with the caption “pictures from the scene of the heroic operation at the religious Zionist institute, in response to the assassination of the martyr Yusuf Al-Ramuni.” Fatah spokesman Jamal Tirawi announced that, like Arab residents of Gaza and the family of the terrorists, people living under the PA were passing out candy. The Jordanian parliament offered a prayer and a minute of silence to honor “the spirit” of the two terrorists. MP Khalil Attieh called the murders in the Jerusalem synagogue “a natural reaction to the occupation crimes against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Palestinians.” Congressional Condemnation Democrats and Republicans, once again, expressed shock. The National Jewish Democratic Council noted that the attack took place far from the neighborhood in which the terrorists lived, indicating “a premeditation that was encouraged by incitement within their community.” The Republican Jewish Coalition called for “American policy-makers to offer appropriate support and solidarity with Israel and Israelis,” noting that “a heavy measure of responsibility for this horror” must be placed “on a Palestinian leadership that has tacitly and explicitly encouraged terrorist violence.” Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle offered unequivocal condemnation of
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Pascrell Celebrated “Nakba”
Dr. Jonathan Gold and Robert Rogoff tried hard to defend Rep Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and you answered them (Letters to the Editor, Oct 2014), but why didn’t you mention what happened in 2013, on Yom Ha’atzmaut, when Mayor Jeffery Jones of Paterson organized “Palestinian-American Day,” so that Hamassupporting Arabs in Paterson could commemorate the “Nakba” (Catastrophe)? And who couldn’t wait to attend this lovely event commemorating the “tragedy” of Israel’s birth and independence so that he could present “a letter of Special Congressional Recognition?” Why none other than “our own” Bill Pascrell. In 2014, while he did not attend the celebration “due to a scheduling conflict,” he sent a proclamation instead. Clearly, Bill Pascrell is a politician who talks out of both sides of his mouth. Feigie Tarbell Passaic, NJ The letter by Dr. Gold and Mr. Rogoff and the response from Susan Rosenbluth is available at JewishVoiceandOpinion.com. Just scroll down, click on the October 2014 issue, and turn to page 36.
The Klinghoffer Letter NY Times Refused to Print
Last September, officials of the Zionist Organization of America sent a letter to the New York Times criticizing not only the antisemitic, anti-Israel opera, “The Death of Klinghoffer,” but also an article which appeared in the Times which tried to analogize “Klinghoffer” to “Othello.” The New York Times never printed ZOA’s letter, but the paper did publish another article, making the same flawed “Othello” analogy. In the first article, “Death of Klinghoffer” director Tom Morris disingenuously asserts that saying “Klinghoffer” condones murder is “the equivalent of saying that ‘Othello’…is an opera that tells people to kill their wives.” In fact, “The Death of Klinghoffer” does condone murder by presenting (false) purported “justifications” for Palestinian terrorists’ execution of an innocent American Jew. No one makes this point clearer than “Klinghoffer” composer John Adams, who states on a Met Opera video: “There have to be reasons why [the terrorists] did this act.” The opera falsely paints Israelis as “supplanters” who brutally dispossessed indigenous Arabs in 1948. In fact, Arab nations and the Arab High Committee urged Arabs to move to safe areas while they attacked Israel’s Jews. “Klinghoffer”’s Palestinian terrorists sing that they are “men of ideals.” None of the Arab terrorists, whether in the opera or in real life, regret their heinous cold-blooded act. By contrast, Shakespeare’s Othello is so stricken with remorse over his crime, he commits suicide. Othello clearly states that murder is wrong. “Klinghoffer” sends the message that murdering American Jews is justified. Morton Klein and Elizabeth Berney, Esq New York, NY Mr. Klein is president of the ZOA. Ms. Berney is the organization’s director of Special Projects.
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Letters to the Editor
Where Are the Rabbis?
After the horrific murders at the synagogue in Har Nof, Jerusalem, I found it amazing that in New York, there was a police car or policeman in front of almost every school and synagogue, just on the suspicion that something could possibly happen. In Eretz Yisrael, where this most terrible tragedy took place, did we see the same caring response? No. Did we see the Orthodox-parties’ leadership and rabbanim even asking for this most minimal level of basic protection? No. In Israel, the Orthodox community is so used to abuse, it does not bank together even to ask for this small action. We wonder how it is possible for the land to be given away under the rules of the Oslo Accords and yet Orthodox leadership is silent. It really becomes clear when the rabbinic response to the attack in Jerusalem is considered. If we do not see the rabbis asking the Israeli government and its officials to protect Jews on a community level, how can we be upset that they don’t lobby for protection on the national level? Raanan Isseroff Jersey City, NY
School Choice for DC—and the Rest of Us
The greatest breach of our constitutional right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is government control of education. Government has indoctrinated generations of Americans into accepting top-down, socialist-type government, the coddling of vicious criminals and terrorists, along with decreased liberties and protections for law abiding citizens. The new 114th Congress, which convenes on January 3, 2015, can set our nation on the path to Constitutional Government by sponsoring and passing the proposed D.C. Civil Rights Act for Equal Educational Opportunity, which can be found at the website of Alliance for Free Choice in Education. This will allow parents in Washington, DC, to send their children to approved nonpublic schools of their choice, at half current costs! This will also serve as a model and trail blazer for all 50 states. Please call your Congressman in Washington, at 202-2243121, to urge sponsorship of the bill, and ask your contacts to do the same. Rabbi Israel Teitelbaum Morristown, NJ Rabbi Teitelbaum is secretary of the Alliance for Free Choice in Education.
Supporting Rabbi Pruzansky
As much as it pains and depresses me, I concur with Rabbi Steven Pruzansky’s view that, in its struggle with Palestinian Arabs, Israel should consider expelling the families and, perhaps, neighbors, who celebrate when their terrorist relatives kill Jews. Israel’s enemies are the ideological descendants of the jihadist hordes of the 7th century. Their methods of war are identical. They are obsessively committed to the Qur’anic command that they must conquer, suppress, and slaughter all non-
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“Thought Is the World of Freedom” (R’ Dov Ber of Mazeritch) Muslims, especially Jews and “Muslim heretics.” “Truth” has no place in their lexicon. Death and martyrdom for Allah is their greatest joy. For them, the outcome of this cultural/religious war is not negotiable. Any compromise is seen merely as a ruse to deceive and soften the enemy until he can be attacked and destroyed. As they see it, peace can occur only when they ultimately overwhelm their enemies and establish a world-wide caliphate, especially on lands that they had overrun in the past and then lost. Eretz Israel is at the top of the list. I know that the vast majority of Muslims are not (perpetrating) terrorists. Most do not actively participate in the support of terror. Many are opposed. But, I fear all believing Muslims are part of the ancient Qur’anic culture which has emotionally conditioned them. I do not believe that socio-economic status plays a role in this at all. Jewish lives and future in the Jewish state are greatly threatened. We Jews are moral, 21st-century people. However, if we are to have hope for sovereignty and survival in our homeland, the enemy must be fought using his standards, which may mean fighting with 7th-century methods, as ugly a concept as that is. This is not a question of revenge or punishment, but rather recognition that it is a war for our very existence. Jerrold Terdiman, MD Woodcliff Lake, NJ SLR responds: Of course, collective punishment is dreadful, but so is getting hacked to death with an ax. More than deciding on suitable retribution, Israel needs a deterrent against terrorists, and coming up with one is hard. Western civilization’s struggle against Islamist extremism and terrorism amounts to asymmetrical warfare and the rules of the Geneva Convention no longer apply. Would that they did. The US knows this. According to recent reports, most of the deaths in the US attacks on ISIS have been of civilians. What is one to do? If Israel were filled with barbarians, the wives, children, and parents of the terrorists would be killed. But Israel is not barbaric. Therefore, the terrorists’ homes are often demolished and expelling their families is up for consideration. Perhaps those actions will make the next would-be terrorist think twice before he picks up a butcher knife and charges into a shul; or decides to send his car into a three-month old infant in her mother’s arms. The terrorist may not care about his own life—he thinks he’s on a
one-way trip to the tender mercies of 72 virgins in Paradise—but he may just care about his parents, neighbors, wife, or little son or daughter still in this world. It may be worth a try, because nothing else is working.
NIF Seeks to Protect Terrorists’ Families
While the State of Israel fights terrorism, some well-meaning Americans—including Jews—pay to protect the families of terrorists. Israel’s Supreme Court is preparing to rule on the planned demolition of several terrorists’ Jerusalem homes. Opposing this action is Israeli “civil rights” organization, Hamoked regularly accuses Israel of “collective punishment” and other untruths which does immense damage to the democratic state of Israel. What is worse is that Hamoked is a grantee of the New Israel Fund, which has granted Hamoked $688,901 from 2008-2013. What is more alarming is that our own government is funding it. The US State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative, which likely knows what NIF does, sends money to NIF to fund Hamoked. People and groups such as NY-based Stella and Charles Guttman Foundation, which gives almost exclusively to social and educational causes, funds the NIF program, Shatil, which openly advocates overthrowing Israel’s government. Recently, Birthright Israel ended its longstanding partnership with the New Israel Fund. When will others also see their way clear to stop the insanity of feeding Israel’s opposition from within the country itself? American money should not help the families of those who killed Jews praying in synagogue. Juda Engelmayer New York, NY The Jewish Voice and Opinion welcomes letters, especially if they are typed, double-spaced, and legible. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and style. Please send all correspondence to POB 8097, Englewood, NJ 07631. The phone number is (201) 569-2845. The FAX number is (201) 569-1739. The email address is susan@jewishvoiceandopinion.com
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Temple Mount Status Quo the attack and the PA. Sen Charles Schumer (D-NY) said the murder was “caused by Hamas, Mr. Abbas, and the PA’s reckless incitement of Palestinians.” Rep Ed Royce (R-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, described the attack as “yet another example of the PA’s campaign of incitement to violence against Israelis and Jews.” Mr. Royce called on the PA “to officially and publicly—in English, Hebrew, and Arabic—condemn this attack and reject its perpetrators.” Cutting Funds On the floor of the House of Repre-
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sentatives, Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (RFL) blamed “the supreme leader of Iran,” whom she accused of encouraging the Palestinians to launch attacks against Israelis. She also called for cutting off all US funding for the PA. Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) issued a lengthy statement in which he wrote that those who were murdered “were not victims of a senseless tragedy; they were deliberately targeted in a carefully planned attack.” “The Palestinian terrorists, incubated in a culture of violence and hate, were intent on killing Jews, and they singled out men of deep religious faith who would
not be armed to ensure maximum casualties. Their despicable actions have been hailed as ‘heroic’ by Palestinian groups such as Hamas and Fatah that are actively inciting these attacks,” said Mr. Cruz, insisting that the US “is not a disinterested bystander in this battle.” Like Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Cruz said, for the US and Israel, the attack was part of a common struggle “against the terrorists who have declared war on both our nations.” Sincere Demonstration? Under pressure of losing US funding, Mr. Abbas issued a condemnation of “the violence, no matter what the reasons behind it, and call to stop interference at Al-Aqsa and the incitement by Israeli ministers.” Rep Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who is close to the Lakewood community where Rabbi Twersky’s son Rafael is a spiritual leader, said Mr. Abbas’s words had to be “followed up by a sincere demonstration of leadership.” Mr. Menendez advised Mr. Abbas to “use every tool at his disposal to deescalate the worsening situation in Jerusalem and guide the Palestinian people to reject violence and promote peace.” Islamic-Approved Lies Mr. Menendez’s skepticism was well placed. After Mr. Abbas’s tepid condemnation, Fatah posted on its website an interview given by Mr. Arafat’s former bodyguard, Muhammad Dayeh, to BBC Arabic last April. In the interview, the bodyguard explained that whenever Mr. Arafat was pressured to condemn a terrorist attack, he did so with an Islamicsanctioned lie. Explaining that Islam permits lying for political purposes, Mr. Dayeh said, “Whenever an operation was carried out in Tel Aviv, Arafat would go out and say, ‘I’m against killing civilians,’ and that wasn’t true.” According to the former bodyguard, the politician who applied the most pressure on Mr. Arafat was former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Muslim Efforts Real words of condemnation of the synagogue attack came from Sheikh Samir Assi, who serves as the Imam of Akko, a mixed Jewish-and-Arab city near Haifa.
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Live Where You Can Walk To Shul
He called for interfaith tolerance, but his efforts were not appreciated by anonymous vandals who threw acid on his car. Police assume the perpetrators were Muslim extremists who oppose Mr. Assi’s gesture of solidarity. In Akko, some Arab residents have been flying flags showing solidarity with ISIS. Another Synagogue Attack Just hours after the terror attack in Har Nof, a young Jew in his 20s on a bicycle was attacked by two Arab assailants armed with iron bars in the Old City. And five days later, there were reports that the Nof Tzion synagogue, located in southeastern Jerusalem very close to Jabal Mukaber, where the Har Nof terrorists lived, was also being targeted for attacks. According to Chen Rosen, who lives in the neighborhood, as the massacre was taking place in Har Nof, “dozens of young men threw rocks at a Sephardic synagogue in our neighborhood.” He indicated that police were notified, but did nothing until the evening when the young men began hurling fireworks at the synagogue. When police arrived, they were targeted with fireworks, too.
Mr. Rosen said he found it frightening that the terrorists were Israeli citizens who were free to move about the capital. “Despite the police presence, observation balloons, and concrete barriers, there is no guarantee that the threat level has been lowered,” he said. He said that firework attacks occur almost nightly. Going after Students Not too far away, Arab attackers nearly lynched two yeshiva students, 21 and 24, at the Beit Orot Yeshiva on the Mount of Olives. In what seemed to be a preplanned incident, the Arabs attacked the young men with rocks, crowbars, and Molotov cocktails. According to the students, when they managed to notify the police, the officers blamed the students for “provoking” the attack. A few days later, Arab terrorists found two more victims, a 45-year-old man and another in his 30s. The first was stabbed and left in moderate to severe condition, while the second was said to have sustained minor injuries in the neck and hand. Both were treated at Shaarei Tzedek Medical center.
The victims were students from the Shuvu Banim Yeshiva, an institution that reaches out to the secular community. Three Arab suspects were arrested. But police said there were some suspicions that the stabbings may have been the result of an altercation rather than a random act of terror. No Altercation According to the victims, there was no altercation. “Three Arabs jumped on us. I didn’t see them coming. One of them stabbed me with a slab of iron or a knife, and it is big miracle it didn’t strike my heart,” said one of the men. According to the victims, the Arabs “shouted something against Jews,” and, at that point, the two Jews decided to fight back. The stabbing, they said, was the cause of the fight, not a result of it. “The big guy was the main one fighting with me,” said the 32-year-old. “I held my Talmud volume in one hand and fought with him until he fell to the ground. All that went through my mind is how to protect myself and, in the end, I saw him on the ground. He beat me until he ran away.” S.L.R.
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