Chabad races to offer food, shelter and support
Why do politicians and celebrities visit the Ohel
A winter salad to boost your immune system
One Canadian woman rescued 3,228 Syrian Jews
Annette Miklofsky reflects on her father’s survival of Auschwitz 80 years after its liberation
The Jewish outreach and education network of Southern Arizona 2443 E 4th Street, Tucson, AZ 85719
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Rabbi Yossie Shemtov
REBBETZIN
Chanie Shemtov
OUTREACH DIRECTOR
Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Feigie Ceitlin
Affiliates: Congregation Young Israel, Chabad at the University of Arizona, Chabad on River, Chabad of Oro Valley, Chabad of Sierra Vista, Chabad of Vail and Lamplighter Chabad Day School of Tucson
EDITOR
Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin
COPY EDITOR
Suzanne Cummins
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Zalman Abraham, Feigie Ceitlin, Zachy Hennessey, Mendel Kalmenson, Miriam Metzinger, Moshe New, Menachem Posner, Mordechai Schmutter, Samuel Eli Shepherd, Benjamin Weiss
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Note: “G-d” and “L-rd” are written with a hyphen instead of an “o .” This is one way we accord reverence to the sacred divine name. This also reminds us that, even as we seek G-d, He transcends any human effort to describe His reality.
A new federal administration will take office in Washington, DC, on Monday, January 20, and it is no secret that a considerable number of people are not happy with who will be standing at its helm.
In a democracy, it is inevitable that close to half of the voters could be dissatisfied with the people who are elected to the White House, governor’s office, city council, homeowners’ association, or PTA.
How does one handle such defeat? The answer, as Jewish teachings instruct, is with good intentions, a grain of salt and respect for the office.
In the final pages of Genesis, our forefather Jacob requests that his son Joseph facilitate his burial in the Holy Land of Israel. Joseph promises to do so, and Jacob then bows in gratitude. The commentator Rashi explained that Jacob’s bowing to Joseph reflects the relative position Joseph held at that time.
The Talmud (Megillah 26b) used a parable to explain this:
Animals once took turns ruling over the forest. Each month, a different animal reigned, and even the fox had a month to rule. However, the fox was not fit to be king. Nonetheless, the sage advice is: “When the time is ripe, bow to him!” This is his moment, so you bow before him. Though a father’s stature is greater than the son’s, nonetheless, he must bow to his son when his son takes on the role of leader.
By Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin
And even a fox, though unworthy, must be allowed to lead as he can. This does not mean one has to agree with all the fox’s decrees. But one must give the fox the respect of his time to rule, and try to help him do the best that he can—to the extent he can do it.
Of course, our sages still alert us to keep a healthy sense of skepticism by telling us, “Be cautious with the authorities” (Avos 2:3). But their more encompassing suggestion is, “Pray for the integrity of the kingdom (“malchut”), for were it not for the fear of its authority, a man would swallow his neighbor alive” (Avot 3:2).
The commentary Tosafot Yom Tov points out that the word malchut refers to the king and the ministers and advisors running the kingdom and executing law in the land. Hence, the sages chose the word malchut, “kingdom,” instead of melech, which means “king.” That implies that a government is more than just the person or persons in charge.
As Theodore Roosevelt wrote in May 1918, “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him in so far as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise, he fails in his duty to stand by the country.”
We stand by the country not out of blind loyalty, but because we want it to prosper. We are citizens of this nation, and we are better off when our country is the best that it can be.
Partisanship is part of American politics and culture, but when it becomes a harmful force, it needs to be reconsidered. We are entitled to disagree. We are encouraged to do so. But we should express it constructively rather than destructively. We should all want America to succeed, no matter who is in office. We shouldn’t push against leadership to force it to fail because we voted for the other side.
–Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin is the Outreach Director of Chabad Tucson, the Jewish network of Southern Arizona
Amid hostile winds and drought-stricken ground, separate wildfires across Los Angeles County sparked and engulfed homes and other buildings over thousands of acres. As of Wednesday, January 8, more than 1,000 buildings burned, five people had been killed, and tens of thousands of individuals had fled from their homes.
Chabad-Lubavitch has been on the ground assisting the community in affected areas.
“It’s a very serious fire, people are losing their houses, full blocks are being destroyed,” said Rabbi Sholom Ber Diskin, youth director of Chabad of Pacific Palisades. “We can’t get into the city because the smoke is too thick and it isn’t safe to go back. We’ve set up a civilian command center to help people relocate.”
Chabad of Pacific Palisades was not untouched. Its leaders, Rabbi Zushe and Zisi Cunin, had just finished removing their public Chanukah menorahs when the center’s parking lot and storage units exploded with fire. Images of the menorahs engulfed in flames quickly spread on social media. Thankfully, the Torah scrolls were brought to safety, and the center, which includes a synagogue, was not harmed as of this writing.
Meanwhile, Chabad is doing what it can. “We’re acting as middlemen for people stranded and those wanting to check in on their loved ones,” Diskin said. “Times like these remind us how essential it is to come together, and we want to do everything we can to support one another.”
By Moshe New
Nearby Chabad rabbis and rebbetzins have been rushing to help. Channa Hecht of Chabad of Brentwood had 50 kosher pizzas and cases of water and Gatorade drinks delivered to the front lines for firefighters and first responders. Jews nearby have also been encouraged to wrap tefillin, light Shabbat candles, give charity, and increase in acts of goodness and kindness.
The Eaton Fire broke out later on January 7. Rabbi Zushi Rivkin, director of the Pasadena Jewish Academy, which is based out of Chabad of Pasadena, was watching the coverage closely. “Our Chabad center is less than five miles from Eaton Canyon, where the fire started,” he said. “We know the area well.” He was ready.
Chabad of Pasadena’s first priority was high-risk individuals like the elderly, the infirm and those with other special needs.
“Everyone in the area is watching the news
and having anxiety; you see it on the news all the time, but you never expect it to happen to you,” the rabbi said. On Tuesday night, Rivkin and other Chabad rabbis in the area opened their own homes to those forced to evacuate. Each of them has people staying in their homes and offices.
On Wednesday morning Pacific time, a little after morning prayer services, the Chabad center began filling up with dozens of locals looking for a safe place to recover. Many houses in the area were without power, and high winds had brought down trees that blocked major thoroughfares, making it difficult to drive around town. Chabad of Pasadena packaged 200 readyto-go meals for people to take home.
“We plan to adapt our services based on the needs of the community,” Rivkin said. “As of now, the fires are still raging at zero percent containment.”
Rabbi Meir and Simi Rivkin, who co-direct Chabad-Lubavitch of Granada Hills, were on the ground responding to the Hurst Fire which started hours later than the others.
“First, we were watching everyone else— the other fires in the area. Then suddenly, we were at the center of it,” the rabbi says.
Residents got notice at 1 AM on Wednesday to pack a bag and be ready to leave, should the situation escalate. At that point, the Rivkins realized that they were in a unique position to help the community.
“We have many friends and contacts on the outside,” Rivkin said. “I immediately began messaging people outside the high-risk zones to see if they would host evacuees. It’s more comfortable for someone to evacuate if they know they are heading to a home as opposed to a shelter.”
The Chabad center in Granada Hills is on the same street as the fire department, and Rivkin was able to offer support while coordinating evacuations.
One community member was stranded with no power and unable to open his garage to evacuate. He called the rabbi, who managed to send a car to him to bring him to safety.
“We do what we can to help,” Rivkin said. “Sometimes, it’s big things; other times, it’s the small things. Everything makes a big difference.”
Annette Miklofsky reflects on her father’s survival of Auschwitz 80 years after its liberation
On January 27, 2025, memorial events around the world will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp complex where over 1 million people were exterminated. The United Nations designated the day as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“I live with the knowledge and the feeling every day, not just on Liberation Day or any other specific date,” says Annette Miklofsky, a longtime resident of Tucson. “Horror like that is so unimaginable that I can’t mentally celebrate liberation—it’s too overwhelming. Of course, you’re grateful, but the negative outweighs everything.”
The weight of that memory is indeed a heavy one. Her father, William “Bill” Kugelman, was 15 years old when the German Nazi forces rounded up the Jews in the industrial Polish city of Sosnowiec in 1941. The Kugelman family moved there when Bill was a little boy and has opened a thriving footwear manufacturing facility and retail shoe store.
Bill, along with his mother Sophie and siblings Monyick, Regina, and Joseph, were then deported to a concentration camp. (His father Joel had passed in 1935). Bill Kugelman, a sturdy young lad, was taken to four different concentration camps. In each, he experienced various degrees of slave labor, starvation, beatings, and suffering.
By the time Auschwitz was liberated on January 27, Kugelman had already been transferred to Mauthausen, an Austrian concentration camp that would not be freed until May 8, 1945. “There was no enthusiasm,” he recalled the day he was freed. “We weren’t greeting, I’m happy. I’ll be free. All I knew was I was hungry and rags, and I lost a brother.” Monyick passed away 2 weeks before they were liberated.
At the age of 97, when Kugelman was interviewed by Arizona Public Media in 2022, the numbered tattoo that was inked on his arm in Auschwitz was still visible. He said he tried not to remind himself of the atrocities he experienced while still just a teenager. “You try to eliminate those thoughts in your daily life,” he said. “You pretend you weren’t there. Otherwise, you would go
bonkers.”
Hemingway’s Line
For many years, Kugelman rarely discussed his experiences in Europe, preferring to concentrate on rebuilding his life. In 1951, he immigrated to the U.S. and met his wife, Ruth. They moved to Tucson in 1967 and launched Zev’s Famous Brands Shoes, a local shoe store chain. Their marriage lasted 46 years until Ruth passed away in 2003. They had a daughter, Annette, and three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Growing up, Annette Miklofsky only remembers one instance when her father discussed his harrowing youth. “When I was very young,” she says, “my father once spoke about his experiences,
but I was too young to comprehend. He told me that bad men came to take him away. I asked, “Why didn’t you run to your mother?” I don’t remember him talking about it afterward.”
Externally, when his shirtsleeves covered his tattoo, Kugelman’s scars from the Holocaust were not noticeable. He would cheerfully approach people with a boisterous voice, relishing the sweet moments and the people around him.
“My mother had a warm and pleasant personality, and she really helped him - she taught him how to be okay,” Miklofsky says. “He needed to be fun and likable so customers would shop and return for more shoes. His outgoing nature was a survival tool—something positive he could tap into, and it helped him in the shoe business.”
In 1982, Kugelman sold one of his stores to his son-in-law, Alan Miklofsky, who rebranded it as Alan’s Shoes. Kugelman retired in 1986. He remained actively involved in the Jewish community, attending services and events and regularly contributing time and money to charitable organizations that supported important causes.
“My father was a proud, tough, and mentally strong person,” Miklofsky says. “That toughness helped him survive everything—from the Holocaust to illness to life’s challenges. He even volunteered twice with the Israel Defense Forces for a few weeks. He felt it was part of who he was; those soldiers were his people. The soldiers were kids, like his grandchildren, but he fit in because he didn’t act like an old man.”
Kugelman often quoted Ernest Hemingway’s line, “A coward dies a thousand deaths, but a brave person only dies once.” His daughter recalls how a person once shoplifted a pair of shoes from the store, and her father ran outside to retrieve the stolen item. Asked if he wasn’t afraid, he said: “What more can they do to me that they
haven’t already done?”
Over the years, Kugelman became more comfortable sharing his story with the public. He spoke to all types of groups, including teenagers in schools, police officers, Christians, and Jews. He was instrumental in building the Holocaust Center at the Tucson Jewish Museum, helping to ensure that the world doesn’t forget the outcome of antisemitism and hate.
“The group he enjoyed talking to the most was the kids in juvenile detention,” she said. “He would say that other groups of listeners were sympathetic, but the kids in juvenile detention were empathetic. They knew what trouble was. They came from a place where their lives were disruptive, so he felt they understood what trouble really was in a way others couldn’t.”
While Kugelman may not have spoken about the horrors at home to
his daughter, Miklofsky detected the trauma in subtle ways that were only fully understood with adulthood. “My father never wanted me to do anything risky; he just wanted me to stay at home where he could see me and make sure I was okay,” she recalls.
“He carried the nightmares with him all his life,” Miklofsky says. “My mom told me he had terrible dreams about his past, but I never understood how severe they were. After he moved into a retirement community, I learned that he would fall out of bed at night because he was dreaming about fighting his jailers. He had sores on his forearms from these falls that never fully healed. I guess at night, when you’re asleep, the things you suppress find a way out.”
That trauma has not ceased with Kugelman’s passing on March 24, 2023, just shy of his 99th birthday. “Transgenerational transmission” shows trauma behaviors passed through generations, like overprotectiveness and emotional detachment. A Psychological Trauma study found resilience and vulnerability in Holocaust survivors’ offspring, highlighting complex intergenerational impact effects. The second-generation of survivors are often referred to as “2Gs.”
“Being raised by a Holocaust survivor makes you different—not just from others, but even from other Jewish people,” Miklofsky admits. “I’ve been protected from the horrors my father witnessed, but I can feel the results. I know the stories were whitewashed for my sake, but I still carry some of it with me - I’m always vigilant and on guard.”
“I see being a child of a survivor as a responsibility,” she adds. “I can’t speak about the Holocaust firsthand—I don’t have that knowledge. What I know is that the world hasn’t proven that hatred is ever truly done. What I try to do is teach my children to be Jewish and vigilant. As my father would tell me, don’t ever close both eyes at the same time.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and President Donald Trump visited the Rebbe’s resting place last year
New York City Mayor Eric Adams credits an unlikely source for helping him win the 2021 mayoral election: the Chabad Lubavitcher Rebbe, who died 30 years ago.
At a City Hall roundtable for Jewish journalists this week, Adams said that while he and Andrew Yang were fighting for votes in the Orthodox Jewish community, Deborah Halberstam, a Haredi Jewish woman in Crown Heights whose teenage son, Ari, was killed in an antisemitic terrorist attack in 1994, told Adams that she had a dream that the late Chabad Lubavitcher Rebbe urged him to visit the Ohel: the Rebbe’s resting place in Springfield Gardens, Queens.
“I did just that,” Adams told the journalists. “And as you know, we are standing here as Mayor Adams and not Mayor Yang.” Adams has visited the Ohel six times — twice since being indicted on bribery charges in September. He’s not the first major politician to make a trek to the Rebbe’s resting site. President-elect Donald Trump visited the Ohel on the one-year anniversary of October 7. Last year, Argentinian President Javier Milei visited the Ohel shortly after winning the 2023 election.
By Samuel Eli Shepherd
But what is the Ohel, and why are powerful figures like Adams and Trump visiting?
What is the Ohel?
The Ohel, Hebrew for “tent,” is the resting place of Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He is buried in the Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, next to his father-in-law Yosef Schneerson, also a former Rebbe.
The gravesite sees approximately one million visitors a year, and it is the most visited religious site in Judaism outside of Israel, according to the Chabad’s public relations manager Rabbi Motti Seligson.
The visitor’s center is open six days a week (it is closed on Shabbat) and 24 hours a day. While the Ohel’s visitor center doesn’t track exact numbers, Seligson said that the Ohel receives the most visitors in the spring, around the Rebbe’s birthday (11 Nissan on the Hebrew calendar) and the summer, around the date of the Rebbe’s passing, or yahrzeit (3 Tammuz). Major Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah also see an uptick of people coming to pray.
The gravesite of a tzaddik
To understand the significance of the Ohel, Seligson explained, one must first understand the importance of Schneerson, who is considered a tzaddik, or righteous person in Jewish tradition.
Schneerson was a leader in the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a branch of Hasidic Jewry that originated in Russia over 250 years ago and came to America in the 20th century. The movement’s philosophy was informed by the teachings of seven Rebbes, who expanded upon existing Jewish texts with their own mysticism and leadership.
Schneerson, a Ukrainian immigrant to New York during World War II, was the seventh and final Rebbe, appointed by his father-in-law in 1951. According to Schneerson’s biographer and former Forward editor Ezra Glinter, the Rebbe was revered.
During his life, Schneerson gave advice to thousands of people from the movement’s Crown Heights headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway. From Yitzhak Rabin to Bob Dylan, some of the world’s most influential leaders sought the Rebbe’s spiritual counsel. According to Glinter, Schneerson advocated for the inclusion of prayer in public school education. After his
death, the United States even established a day, April 9, in his honor as Education and Sharing Day.
When Schneerson passed away in 1994, his gravesite in Queens became a popular pilgrimage point for members of the Chabad Lubavitch movement and the broader Jewish community. Seligson emphasized the beauty of Schneerson’s teachings, which included his outreach to all Jews, regardless of denomination or level of observance.
Seligson added that while the Ohel is a relatively recent religious site, it is not a “novel” idea. Since Biblical times, Jews have made the gravesites of religious figures into holy pilgrimage sites, from the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, to the Tomb of the Prophets in Jerusalem. “Jews have been doing this for the past 4,000 years,” Seligson said.
What does a typical visit to the Ohel look like?
On a rainy Monday afternoon in December, Jews from around the world huddled into a small building on the outer perimeter of the Montefiore Cemetery. People flowed in and out of the visitor center in raincoats,
some rolling suitcases, chatting in English, French, and Hebrew.
A sign near the entrance advised men to put on yarmulkes and women to don modest clothing. At a cubby in the corner, visitors swapped out their street shoes for slippers. A 24-hour refreshment station in the corner offered apples, cookies and styrofoam cups of instant coffee.
A group of Hasidic women in long skirts sat down along a row of desks beside men — some dressed in dress-pants and yarmulkes, others in sweatpants and toques — scribbling down prayers and requests, otherwise known as ‘pan’ - pidyon nefesh, on blank sheets of paper. Visitors folded their notes and walked through the center’s back door to pay their respects to the late religious leader.
Once outside in the cemetery, visitors can light a memorial candle on a shelf outside the grave. Then, they enter the Ohel itself, which has separate men’s and women’s entrances in the threshold leading to the grave room. Visitors stand while davening and then rip up their notes into the paperlined pit surrounding the two tombstones. Most visitors only spend half an hour at the Ohel, but some people hang around at the visitor center for much longer. Cindy Itzkowitz, 62, spent three and a half hours at the Ohel last Monday afternoon. A Long Island resident, she said she has come to visit the Ohel once a month for the past 20 years.
“It’s a special place to go to,” said Itzkowitz, who came to the Ohel to pray for her sister’s health.
Her favorite aspect of the Ohel was seeing
visitors from far away, who often made the Ohel their first destination after landing at the airport. “From Paris, from Israel, from all over the world,” she said.
Other pilgrims were making the trip to the Ohel for the first time. Odelia Karo, from
According to Schneerson’s biographer Glinter, a trip to the Ohel can be both a way to improve community relations with and show respect for the ChabadLubavitch movement, as well as a way to honor the Rebbe’s teachings. Since the war in Gaza began, after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, a visit to the Ohel can sometimes also be seen as a symbolic way of showing support for Israel or global Jewry.
The Ohel has seen more visits from Israeli figures since October 7. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara Netanyahu – as well as freed Israeli hostage Noa Argamami and several hostage families – all visited the Ohel earlier this year.
The Rebbe’s influence extends beyond the political and humanitarian spheres. Actor Michael Rappaport visited the Ohel in September. Long before the war, in 2019, British fashion model Naomi Campbell also visited the Ohel and shared social media posts praising the Rebbe’s legacy.
“With so much discord and division across our society, the Rebbe’s words are more relevant than ever,” said Campbell. “Today, I rededicate myself to the Rebbe’s life-long mission of creating more light and goodness and making a better future for ourselves and all of humanity.”
Petah Tikva, Israel, visited the Ohel with her brother, Nadir, on her 49th birthday. She wrote a note praying for her mother’s health.
Why do politicians and celebrities visit the Ohel?
–This story originally appeared in the Forward (forward.com). To get the Forward’s free email newsletters delivered to your inbox, go to forward.com/ newsletter-signup
By Feigie Ceitlin
This vibrant vegetable salad with sesamemolasses dressing is perfect for winter.
Packed with broccoli, cauliflower, and peppers, it boosts your immune system. The warming sesame oil and molasses add comfort, while the crisp veggies provide a satisfying crunch. Light yet filling, this salad energizes and complements any winter meal.
Ingredients:
1 small bag of cut broccoli
1 small bag of cut cauliflower
1 package of snow peas
1 red bell pepper, sliced into sticks
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced into sticks
1 zucchini, sliced into rounds
1 (8-ounce) package of sliced mushrooms
Dressing:
6 tablespoons sesame oil
6 tablespoons soy sauce
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1/2 teaspoon mustard
Directions:
1. Combine the following in a large serving bowl: broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, zucchini, and mushrooms.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the sesame oil, soy sauce, olive oil, sugar, molasses, and mustard until smooth.
3. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss well to ensure everything is evenly coated.
4. Let the salad sit for 10–15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld, then serve and enjoy!
* The Blessing on Vegetables
Baruch atah A-donay, Elo-heinu Melech Ha’Olam borei pri ha-adamah.
Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d, King of the universe who creates the fruit of the earth.
— Rebbetzin Feigie Ceitlin is the program director of Chabad Tucson and head of school of Lamplighter Chabad Day School.
For 28 years, Judy Feld Carr knew and lived “the best-kept secret in the Jewish world.” The Canadian musicologist and mother of six supported her household and raised a family while almost single-handedly rescuing 3,228 Syrian Jews. “There were no typical days,” recalls Judy Feld Carr. “This wasn’t like the Russian exodus that was done by the world. This was me running the operation at home and in secret.”
While Judy Feld Carr has received many honors for her work on behalf of Syrian Jewry, including the Order of Canada (the highest award given by the citizens of Canada to an individual), the labor was not easy. “The rescue was very difficult and stressful,” she said. “When you are buying somebody’s life, it can be horrible.”
Judy Feld Carr and her late husband, Dr. Ronald Feld, developed a mutual interest in the plight of Syrian Jewry in the 1970s. An article in the Jerusalem Post about twelve young Jews whose bodies were mutilated when they stepped on a minefield while trying to escape from Qamishli, Syria, captured the sympathy of the couple,
The remarkable story of the woman who rescued 3,000 Jews from persecution in Syria
By Miriam Metzinger
and they brainstormed for ways they could help Syrian Jews.
Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Syria has vented its rage by burning synagogues and forbidding Jews from leaving the country. Restrictions reminiscent of the Nuremberg Laws, which ushered in the Holocaust, were passed in Syria; Jews were not allowed to travel more than three kilometers without a permit and were forced into ghettos. Business and educational opportunities for Jews were strictly limited, and those who tried to escape were often tortured or killed.
Raising awareness about Syrian Jewry was one thing, “but if you had told me in those days that I would eventually be running a rescue operation, I would have told you that you’re mad,” said Judy Feld Carr.
Hebrew Code Words
She made the one and only phone call she ever placed to Syria, a call which began her 28-year journey of international intrigue. She managed to reach the home of a Jew who was in the service of the secret police, and
he gave them the address of Ibrahim Hamra, the Chief Rabbi of Syria. “To this day, I cannot comprehend why we were allowed to make that first contact,” she recalls. “Never again did I make another phone call.”
The Felds sent a pre-paid telegram to Rabbi Hamra asking if he needed Hebrew books. A week later, they received a telegram with a list of titles. They carefully removed any evidence that the books were printed in Israel, including the first page containing the publisher’s name; these precautions were necessary, or the books would have been confiscated. Like the Marranos of Spain 500 years earlier, the Felds and Rabbi Hamra communicated in code using verses of the Psalms.
Judy Feld Carr was approached by a friend in Toronto who had returned from Syria and said her brother, a rabbi in Aleppo, was ill with cancer and had been tortured in prison because two of his children had escaped. She was dedicated to the task of getting her brother to Canada and asked Judy Feld Carr if there was anything she could do.
After a year and a half of negotiating prices for the prisoner and facing a myriad of obstacles, the message arrived that Rabbi Eliyahu Dahab was released from prison and sent to Canada for medical care. Judy recalls Rabbi Dahab weeping tears of joy when the nurse said “Baruch Habah,” meaning “welcome” in Hebrew. When he was told he would only have a brief time to live, he told Judy Feld Carr of his dream to have coffee with his mother in Jerusalem one last time. He died on Tisha B’Av, a few weeks after the reunion with his mother, but not before making a dying wish that his daughter also be released from Syria.
Rabbi Dahab’s words sparked a cycle of rescues that led to the creation of Judy Feld Carr’s underground network, of which only she knew the details. After her young husband died of a heart attack in 1973, Judy’s rescues were done solo, and the pressure was often almost unbearable.
“I was going to quit almost every second day, but I couldn’t because I had figured out an underground system and had people depending on me. And all they knew was that their way out of the country was ‘Mrs. Judy in Canada.’
It was hard, but I had no choice.” Judy Feld Carr added, “I never contacted one Jew in Syria. They or their relatives had to find me, and that was difficult because they didn’t even know my last name.”
Donations for the rescue missions arrived at a synagogue in Toronto, Beth Tzedek Congregation, by word of mouth and covered the expenses of paying for the release of Syrian Jews. When ransoms could not be negotiated, escapes were planned. Amazingly, there were no casualties of the 3,228 individuals Judy Feld Carr helped rescue. Often, this required splitting up families and parents giving up children. On one occasion, she rescued almost an entire family unit; Judy Feld Carr recalls delaying her father’s funeral an hour because she had to plan an escape for the mother and six children. “The last day of the mourning period, I got a call – ‘Judy, we have them.’ It was very difficult to worry the entire week.”
To thousands of Syrian Jews who reached safety, their rescuer was known simply as “Mrs. Judy from
Canada,” a person to whom they owed everything but didn’t expect to meet. A few, however, enjoyed the privilege. Judy Feld Carr and her husband attended an event in a senior home in Bat Yam, Israel. A man named Zaki Shayu spoke about his experiences as a prisoner in Aleppo. He suffered four years of torture, during which the authorities had told his mother that he died.
After the speech, Donald Carr asked him, “How did you get out?”
“There was a lady in Canada. Her name was Judy,” Zaki replied.
“Do you want to meet her?”
Zaki Shayu’s eyes widened in excitement. “Do you know her?” he asked.
“She’s sitting right here. She’s my wife.”
“The whole hall got very emotional,” recalls Judy. “It was the most amazing thing. Everyone was crying.”
A Toronto antique dealer went to the old section of Jaffa, Israel, and saw a
small shop with Canadian flags in the window. Curious, she asked the shopkeeper, “Why do you have Canadian flags here?”
“Maybe you know Mrs. Judy. She arranged my escape. I put all these flags in the window in case one day she will come into my store.”
The shopkeeper’s wish was granted when Judy Feld Carr visited the shop during a trip to Israel. To express his gratitude, he gave her an inlaid box he had made for Judy and had been saving for years.
The last rescue took place an hour before the terror attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. A grueling yet rewarding 28 years of rescue missions came to a close. During those moments when the task seemed impossible, Judy remembered a neighbor from her childhood, a woman named Sophie, who lost a daughter in Auschwitz. “She told me, ‘You can never let this happen again to the Jewish people.’ I never
forgot those words.”
–MiriamMetzingerisafreelance writer and editor who lives in Jerusalem with her husband and three children. She also writes a column for “LivingJewish,”anEnglish-language publication,andistheJewishFamily bloggeratFamilies.com.
Reality is not all that it seems.
Put a pebble under a powerful microscope, and you will witness a world alive and buzzing with energy. Scientific observation demonstrates that any substance, when viewed at the atomic level, is comprised of 99.999999999% empty space. This means that everything we see and touch is just projecting an illusion of solidity.
When we walk upon the ground, for instance, we’re really walking on a shifting field of energy that only feels solid. Similarly, when we sit on a chair, we are actually sitting on energy —the energy of our body and the energy of the chair propel each other, keeping one from passing through the other. In either case, we don’t fall through the ground because energy places the particles that allow us to keep us suspended above it.
Hundreds of years before science discovered the anatomy of an atom and understood that matter is mainly comprised of energy, Jewish mystical teachings described the physical substance of reality as an expression of Divine energy.
Commenting on the verse: G‑d, forever Your word stands fixed in the heavens, the Baal Shem Tov taught: The words and letters that G‑d uttered during the Six Days of Creation stand fixed in the heavens, forever keeping them in existence. If these letters were to disappear for even a single moment, the heavens and earth would return to absolute nothingness as if they never existed.
This same life force is present within everything, including so called inanimate objects.
The word inanimate is derived from Latin and means “without life.”
In Hebrew, inanimate objects are
By Mendel Kalmenson and Zalman Abraham
Photo: Andrik Langfield/Unsplash
referred to as domem, which means silent, implying that there is, in fact, life in them, even if that life force is not outwardly expressed or revealed in a perceptible way, such as through self generated movement or sound.
This philosophy, which considers all aspects of existence to be alive, has real-world ramifications. In fact, Judaism has a long history of promoting sensitivity and respect for all beings, from animals to vegetables to minerals, regardless of their capacity for intelligence or emotive expression.
A moving expression of this idea is found in the Biblical injunction: You shall not ascend with steps upon My altar [rather build a ramp] so that your nakedness will not be uncovered upon it.
Rashi explains, “[There was] no actual exposure of nakedness, for it is written, And make for them linen pants. Nonetheless, taking wide steps [on stairs] is close to [appears to be] exposing nakedness and therefore treats the stones in a humiliating manner…”
The inconvenience of a kohen made to climb a ramp instead of taking
the more direct path up steps while fulfilling his sacred duty comes second to the dignity of a slab of “lifeless” stone.
A few more examples of Judaism’s sensitivity towards the inorganic world should suffice to demonstrate this point:
On Shabbat, it is customary to cover the challah while saying Kiddush over the wine. This is so that the challah does not feel overlooked, as it, too, would have wanted the honor of Kiddush. We cover the challah while we bless the wine to avoid “insulting” it.
Similarly, when a festival coincides with Shabbat, some people practice singing the traditional Shabbat songs in a lowered voice so as not to give Shabbat greater attention than the festival.
It is important to point out that the Torah’s basis and motive for advocating kindness and compassion towards all of creation is not fueled by simple self interest or even the fear of our delicate futures, i.e., “If we don’t take care of the planet today, tomorrow it won’t be there to take care of us.” Or, in the case
of human rights efforts, “If we don’t campaign for the freedom of all, one day we might lose our own.”
Rather, the Torah’s concern is rooted in the fact that Judaism, as highlighted in Chasidic philosophy, maintains that there is a point of life, or “a spark of G‑d,” in every element of creation. That spark is an extension of the Creator and should therefore be treated accordingly.
The respect we give each other and all of existence is thus not utilitarian for the benefit they can give us. Still, for the sake of the individual “soul” and unique purpose each being possesses, in and of themselves.
Ultimately, Judaism is a religion of spiritual sensitization to the immanence of the Divine within creation. It engenders a heightened sense of respect for all life forms, which then becomes the basis for how we treat each other.
The Big Idea: All of creation has a soul and song; it’s up to us to give it voice.
—An excerpt from People of the Word, by Mendel Kalmenson and Zalman Abraham, exploring 50 key Hebrew words that have been mistranslated
By Zachy Hennessey - israel21c.org
As the winter months draw in and temperatures dip, feelings of isolation and loneliness can become more pronounced.
While this is particularly true for vulnerable groups like the elderly and those living with mental health challenges, people of every age and inclination are potentially susceptible to feeling socially disconnected.
In the United States alone, around 50 percent of adults (some 140 million people) report experiencing loneliness, according to the US Surgeon General.
The problem extends around the globe: According to a recent survey by MetaGallup, approximately 24% of people worldwide report feeling very or fairly lonely, translating to over a billion individuals. Behind these numbers are real people struggling with isolation and disconnection.
Technology offers unprecedented opportunities that can connect, support, and uplift individuals.
If you’re concerned about using AI to
resolve feelings of loneliness, you’re not alone. In fact, some research suggests that an over-dependence on AI-driven solutions could exacerbate loneliness rather than alleviate it.
However, that’s not to say that the technology can’t be applied in certain scenarios that can help — and while a machine can never replace the warmth of another human, it may help you feel less lonely until they invent a way to teleport you to your friend’s house.
With that in mind, here are four Israeli innovators developing technologies designed to combat loneliness and provide meaningful connections that are changing how we approach social isolation:
1. ElliQ: Robotic companion
When it comes to Israeli tech solutions to loneliness, one company stands out as the clear leader: ElliQ.
Developed by Intuition Robotics, ElliQ represents an intriguing approach to addressing loneliness among seniors. It’s designed to help older adults navigate
they’re navigating, such as “coping with depression,” “loneliness,” or “increasing happiness.” The platform then allows them to find others at similar stages of their journey, offering group discussions and oneon-one conversations with individuals who have navigated similar experiences.
3. Kai.ai: Mental health coaching
Kai.ai is an AI chatbot app that offers emotional support for individuals who may feel that their issues aren’t “serious enough” for therapy with a licensed professional.
The platform provides AI-based mental wellness coaching, which is monitored by humans and tailored to users’ needs by Kai’s staff.
modern technologies, supporting video chats, online games, and social media interactions.
To become an “active aging companion,” the system expresses itself using a combination of speech, sounds, lights, images, and “body language” (though the device is intentionally built to look more like a lamp than a person).
The potential of this technology has already caught the attention of some governmental agencies, such as the New York State Office for the Aging, which distributes ElliQ units to elderly New Yorkers to help combat isolation.
2. Wisdo: Connecting through shared experiences
Wisdo is a mobile app that aims to create connections through shared life experiences. The platform allows users to explore and connect via more than 100 life challenges and experiences, ranging from mental health concerns to personal growth opportunities.
Users can select specific experiences
In addition to its app, Kai has recently expanded its services to support Israeli reservists and war victims and offers help tailored exclusively to Israelis who have undergone trauma since the onset of the Iron Swords war.
The company also markets its platform to employers seeking to provide their workers with a WhatsApp-based emotional support coach.
4. MyndYou: AI-powered health monitoring
MyndYou is developing an AI-driven virtual nurse that healthcare providers can use to address social isolation and monitor patients’ health.
The AI nurse, Eleanor, makes automated check-in calls to assess patients’ medical and personal health and analyzes their voices to detect potential changes in their health.
When the bot detects an at-risk patient who needs follow-up, it sends the conversation transcript and data to the patient’s care team. Thus, the bot acts as a filter that allows caregivers to focus on clients who need additional assistance.
For links to these apps, visit: tinyurl. com/4Israeliapps
By Mordechai Schmutter
As someone who uses words for a living, I find it increasingly difficult to say anything nowadays for fear of offending someone. But I don’t complain (about that). After all, our very ability to use words is a gift that G-d gave us. Isn’t that what makes us better than the animals?
Not according to PETA, the worldfamous animal-rights organization that, as far as I know, still hypocritically only employs people.
But whatever – in general, their hearts are in the right place. They’re very instrumental in stopping tzar baalei chaim, the Jewish law prohibiting cruelty to animals. Recently, PETA folks have (tongue in cheek) flagged animal-insensitive idioms and offered substitutes.
For example, take the expression, “Kill two birds with one stone.” This seems morbidly anti-bird. Why is this considered a grand accomplishment?
Instead, they say, why not replace it with, “Feed two birds with one scone”? Well, for one, I’m not sure what a scone is. I’m not flying to England to buy a scone. But assuming I have a scone, I still think the expression isn’t as strong. How hard is it to feed two birds with one scone? I would say a scone can probably feed more than two birds, so isn’t the expression saying that you’re accomplishing less than you should?
Unless we’re talking about ostriches.
Or take the expression, “Let the cat out of the bag.” There are a lot of expressions about people doing horrible things to cats. Instead, PETA says, why not say, “Spill the beans”? Okay, first of all, “Spill the beans” is already an expression. And why are beans such a big secret, anyway? “Oh no, he spilled them! Now people know we have beans!” And second, isn’t letting the cat out of the bag a good thing?
They also take issue with the
expression, “Opening a can of worms,” as this is cruel to worms, notwithstanding that putting them in the can is crueler than opening the can. Either way, they want to change the expression to “Opening Pandora’s box.”
Yeah. Um, isn’t this offensive to people who don’t believe in Greek gods? Which is basically everyone nowadays? PETA’s really opening a huge can of pre-cut onions with this one. What about – I don’t know -- “Opening a fire hydrant”?
They also say that “Bring home the bacon” should be changed to “Bring home the bagels.” Well, that sounds antisemitic. At least we’re not offending pigs. Not that I ever loved bringing home the bacon. You can’t eat it anyway, and it ruins your whole attaché case.
And finally, they want to turn “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” to “Don’t put all your berries in one bowl.” Isn’t that called a fruit salad?
So I shouldn’t make fruit salad? And anyway, it’s not the same at all. We use eggs for everything. There are no berry emergencies. Also, if you drop a basket of eggs, they all break. If you drop a basket of berries, you wash them off, and they’re good as new. Even the bruised ones are still edible. It’s just cosmetic, like all these expressions.
“These expressions really get my goat,” said one PETA spokesperson. “Get my throat? Get my coat?”
And there are plenty of expressions they left out:
- “I could eat a horse” (“I could eat a horseradish”)
- “You can catch flies with honey” (“You can catch guys with money”)
- “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day” (“Give a man a knish and he’ll eat for a day. But teach him how to knish…”)
Here’s the thing: I don’t love the original expressions either. I make fun of them all the time. But if you’re coming up with a new expression that you expect to take off, it has to be at least as good. If you say, “Putting your berries in one bowl,” that will inevitably lead to someone asking, “What?” and then you have to explain it by way of using the metaphor of the egg, and what did you accomplish? All your eggs will be offended.
Wait. No, they won’t. The animals themselves are not protesting because either:
1. They don’t know English, or
2. They do know English, but they don’t care. They have bigger things to worry about, like the food chain. If other animals are hunting you, you’re not worrying about expressions.
The last time animals actually protested in the streets was in ancient Egypt, where they protested the unethical treatment of the Jews. So I guess they had our backs, and we should totally have theirs.
You will need:
Salt
Colored chalk
A glass or clear plastic jar
White, liquid glue
Plastic plates
Directions:
1. Pour some salt onto your plate. Choose which color chalk you want to use. Rub the chalk over the salt, until the salt becomes
colored. The more you rub the chalk over the salt, the brighter the color will be.
2. Set the plate aside, and repeat with another color.
3. Once you have all your colors, pour the salt into the jar in layers. If you want to create sloping layers, tip the jar to the side slightly while pouring.
4. Once your salt art is complete, pour a layer of white glue over the top and set aside to the dry. The glue with hold the salt in place so the layers don’t get mixed.
By Menachem Posner
1. The month of Tevet always starts in middle of which holiday?
A. Chanukah
B. Chag HaTevet
C. Chol Hamoed
D. Lag BaOmer
2. True or False: The First Holy Temple was destroyed in the month of Tevet
True
False
3. What do we do on Tevet 10?
A. Play chess
B. Play Mahjong
C. Fast
D. Feast
4. What tragedy happened on Tevet 10?
A. The Babylonians besieged Jerusalem
B. Jerusalem was overrun by Vandals
C. The original recipe for Jerusalem kugel was lost
D. Jerusalem fell to the Jebusites
5. What occurred on the 10th of Tevet that is linked to the story of Purim?
A. Esther was chosen by Achashverosh as queen
B. Mordechai led the battle of Shushan
C. Haman and his sons were hanged
D. King Achashverosh dreamed about Mordechai
6. During which season does Tevet occur (in the Northern Hemisphere)?
A. Spring
B. Summer
C. Fall
D. Winter
7. Which great Jewish leader passed away on 9 Tevet?
A. Samuel the Prophet
B. Aaron the High Priest
C. Shmerel the Ganef
D. Ezra the Scribe
8. True or False: Tevet has 31 days True
False
9. What is the zodiac sign (mazal) of Tevet?
A. Gedi (goat, Capricon)
B. Akrav (scorpion, Scorpio)
C. Moznayim (scales, Libra)
D. Keshet (bow, Sagittarius)
10. Which month comes after Tevet?
A. Kislev
B. Shevat
C. Adar
Answers: 1-A, 2-False, 3-C, 4-A, 5-A, 6-D, 7-D, 8-False, 9-A, 10-B.
(and even non Jew)
Six Tuesdays 7:00 PM starting February 4, 2025 Presented by Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin at Tucson JCC
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