Image September 2026

WHAT THE MONTH OF ELUL Teaches Us About Growth THE MEANING OF SUKKOT Inspiring Lessons SWEET BEGINNINGS Recipes for a Flavorful New Year

HELP YOUR CHILD SUCCEED IN SCHOOL Without Pressure or Struggles BECOMING MORE OPTIMISTIC Seven Easy Steps

A Graduate’s Journey

Life after Magen David Yeshivah High School

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Eli J. Mann • eli@middlegate.com Miro A. Sutton • miro@middlegate.com 8 WEST 40TH STREET NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10018 T: 212-382-9500 F: 212-391-7312 WWW.MIDDLEGATEFACTORS.COM

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TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURES COVER STORY

COMMUNITY NEWS

INSPIRATIONAL

20

68

100

A Graduate’s Journey Life after Magen David Yeshivah High School

By Yvonne Orfali

Library of Congress Gala Honors Joseph M. Betesh a'h and Charles Saka a'h

What Rome’s Great Synagogue Taught Me About Change

By Rabbi Dr. Yosef Lynn

DEPARTMENTS 155 CALENDAR 153 CLASSIFIEDS 154 COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS 110

32

108

By Ben G. Matsas

124 132

COMMUNITY EVENTS Community Photo Album Summer in Our Community FINANCE Giving the Next Generation a Head Start

12

FOCUS ON One Community. One Voice.

One Election That Will Define Our Future

96

92

By Ari Baum, CFP®

14

By Eddie Esses

24 28 36 40 44 50 52

CARE DAY The Summer of Nonstop Fun at the DSN Beach Club Randi’s Care Celebrates Its Second Annual Fundraiser Table Set Go 2026

By Stefanie Diamond

56

Planting the Seeds of Tomorrow at MDY

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Apples, Honey, and the Space in Between

88

By Joanne Gerr, LCSW

Seven Steps to Becoming More Optimistic

When Flossing Doesn’t Help

By Dr. Leslie M. Gutman

By Dr. Jacques Doueck

118

122

INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHTS G-D’s Alarm Clock

By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt”l

The Meaning of Sukkot 5 Inspiring Lessons

60

104 JEWISH HISTORY Van Cleef & Arpels’ Jewish Roots

134

MARRIAGE Six Things Women Really Want from Their Husbands

By Debbie Gutfreund

128

114

NUTRITION The Holiday Food Hangover

By Laura Shammah, MS, RDN

PARENTING How to Help Your Child Succeed in School Without Pressure or Power Struggles

By Adina Soclof, MS, CCC-SLP

PROFILE Batia Shems Growing Up in Beirut

By Sarina Roffé

The Oldest Love Affair in History

By Dr. Yvette Alt Miller

How to Stop Assuming the Worst About Other People

By Devora Levy

By Jeff Jacoby

138

PERSONAL GROWTH The Internal Audit

By Jeff Sitt

By Slovie Jungreis-Wolff

By Lydia Ezon

The LEV Organization’s Summer Event An Incredible Night in Deal for Pantry Packers & Colel Chabad What Mount Kilimanjaro Revealed

The Business Success Formula Start, Run, Grow

RECIPES Sweet Beginnings Recipes for a Sweet and Flavorful New Year

158 RESTAURANT GUIDE: NY

72 73 83

66

ROSH HASHANAH Holiday Greeting from Chief Rabbi Shaul J. Kassin Holiday Greetings from NY Politicians Holiday Greetings from NJ Politicians WRITERS’ THOUGHTS An Audience Is Not Influence

By Linda Argalgi Sadacka

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From The Editors Welcome to our September issue, filled with inspiration as we prepare to welcome the Jewish New Year, 5787. The High Holiday season gives us an opportunity to reflect on the year behind us, look ahead with hope, and focus on what matters most. From Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur through Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simhat Torah, these special days remind us of our faith, our traditions, and our connection to one another.

This issue offers meaningful articles for the season, including The Internal Audit, G-D’s Alarm Clock, The Oldest Love Affair in History, and The Meaning of Sukkot. We are also honored to share holiday greetings from Chief Rabbi Shaul J. Kassin and our elected officials. Our recipe section features Sweet Beginnings, with recipes for a sweet and flavorful New Year, while The Holiday Food Hangover offers practical advice for enjoying holiday meals without guilt, restriction, or trying to compensate afterward, while maintaining a healthy relationship with food.

Our cover story, A Graduate’s Journey, follows members of Magen David Yeshivah High School’s Class of 2026 as they prepare for the next stage of their lives. The article highlights how MDYHS helps students discover their individual paths through strong academics, Judaic studies, college guidance, internships, and close relationships with rabbis and teachers. From students heading to universities to those continuing their Judaic studies in Israel, the story reflects the school’s focus on helping each graduate develop confidence, purpose, and a lasting connection to Torah and community.

We also look back at a summer filled with community events, including CARE Day, The Summer of Nonstop Fun at the DSN Beach Club, Randi’s Care Celebrates Its Second Annual Fundraiser, The LEV Organization’s Summer Event, and the Morris I. Franco Cancer Center’s Table Set Go 2026.

Our Community News section recognizes Joseph M. Betesh a’h and Charles Saka a’h, honored at the Library of Congress Gala, while our profile introduces readers to Batia Shems and her remarkable story of growing up in Beirut.

Personal growth and family remain important themes. Seven Steps to Becoming More Optimistic, How to Stop Assuming the Worst About Other People, and the especially timely How to Help Your Child Succeed in School Without Pressure or Power Struggles offer valuable guidance as families begin a new school year.

With an important election approaching, we urge everyone to make their voices heard at the ballot box. Read One Community. One Voice. One Election That Will Define Our Future for more on why this election matters to our community.

May 5787 bring our entire community and the Jewish world a healthy, happy, and peaceful year filled with blessings, success, semahot, and good news.

Ben-Gurion Matsas and Rachelle Fallas Matsas

VOLUME 36 ISSUE 4 SEPTEMBER 2026 ELUL 5786 – TISHRI 5787

Ben-Gurion Matsas PUBLISHER/EDITOR Rachelle Fallas Matsas EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JEWISH IMAGE Brooklyn, NY (718) 627-4624 image@imageusa.com www.imageusa.com

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© 2026 JEWISH IMAGE™. All rights reserved. No material may be reproduced without the express written permission of the publisher. All advertising is subject to the applicable advertising agreement or insertion order. Advertisers are solely responsible for their content. The publisher does not independently verify advertising content. Advertisers agree to indemnify, defend, and hold the publisher harmless from any claims, liabilities, damages, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising from such content, including claims of copyright or trademark infringement, false advertising, or defamation. All articles and letters reflect the opinions of their authors and not necessarily those of the publisher. The publisher assumes no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, or omissions in editorial or advertising content. JEWISH IMAGE™ does not certify or guarantee the Kashrut of any product or establishment and does not endorse any products or services. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the publisher shall not be liable for any damages arising from the use of this publication or its content. The publisher reserves the right to edit, reject, or cancel any material at its discretion. This publication is governed by New York law, with exclusive venue in New York courts. If any provision is held invalid, the remaining provisions shall remain in effect.

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I N S P I R A T I O N A L

T H O U G H T S

G-D’S ALARM CLOCK RABBI LORD JONATHAN SACKS ZT”L

THERE ARE MANY LOVELY EXPLANATIONS FOR WHY WE BLOW THE SHOFAR ON ROSH HASHANAH, BUT ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL IS GIVEN BY MOSES MAIMONIDES. FOR MAIMONIDES, THE SHOFAR IS G-D’S ALARM CLOCK, WAKING US UP FROM THE “SLUMBER” IN WHICH WE SPEND MANY OF OUR DAYS. WHAT DID HE MEAN?

G

-D’s greatest gift to us is time, and He gives it to us on equal terms. Whether we are rich or poor, there are still only 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week and a span of years that is all too short. Often we spend our time on things that, in Maimonides’ words, “neither help nor save.” How many people, looking back on a lifetime, say, “I wish I had spent more time at committee meetings”? By contrast, how many say, “I wish I had spent more time with my children, or helping others, or simply enjoying being alive”?

Sometimes we can be so busy making a living that we hardly have time to live. Experts on time management speak about two types of activity: the urgent and the important. Often our days are spent on the urgent, and we lose out on the important. I remember a conversation with someone who had been a workaholic, busy seven days a week. As a result of a personal crisis, he decided to keep Shabbat. He later told me it was the best decision he ever made. “Now,” he said, “I have time for my wife and child and for my friends. Going to shul has made me part of a community. The strange thing is that the work still gets done, in six days, not seven.”

Shabbat teaches us to take time for what is important, even though it isn’t urgent. Thirty years ago, when technology was less advanced, most people who wrote 12 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

about the future saw it as an age of leisure when we would have far more free time. It has not happened that way. We seem more pressurized than ever and less relaxed. Mobile phones, e-mails, and pocket computers mean that we are constantly on call. As Wordsworth said, “The world is too much with us; late and soon / Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.” The Psalmist put it best: “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are when we number our days. Asking to be written in the book of life, we think about life and how we use it. In this context, the three key words of the “Unetaneh Tokef” prayer are fundamental: teshuvah (repentance), tefillah (prayer), and tzedakah (charity).

Teshuvah is about our relationship with ourselves. Tefillah is about our relationship with G-D. Tzedakah is about our relationship with other people.

Teshuvah means not only “repentance” but also “returning”: to our roots, our faith, our people’s history and our vocation as heirs to those who stood at Sinai more than 3,000 years ago. Teshuvah asks us: did we grow in the past year or did we stand still? Did we study the texts of our heritage? Did we keep one more mitzvah? Did we live fully and confidently as Jews? Teshuvah is our satellite navigation system giving us a direction in life.

Tefillah means prayer. It is our conversation with G-D.

We speak, but if we are wise, we also listen, to the voice of G-D as refracted through the prayers of a hundred generations of our ancestors. Tefillah is less about asking G-D for what we want, more about asking G-D to teach us what to want. A new car? A better job? An exotic holiday? Our prayers do not speak about these things because life is about more than these things. It is less about what we own than about what we do and who we aspire to be. We speak about forgiveness and about G-D’s presence in our lives.

We remind ourselves that, short though our time on earth is, by connecting with G-D we touch eternity. Tefillah is our ‘mobile phone to heaven.’

Tzedakah is about the good we do for others. Sir Moses Montefiore was one of the great figures of Victorian Jewry.

He was a wealthy man and devoted much of his long life to serving the Jewish people in Britain and worldwide (he built the windmill in Jerusalem, and the area of which it is a part, Yemin Moshe, is named after him). Someone once asked him how much he was worth, and he gave him a figure. “But,” said the questioner, “I know you own more than that.” “You didn’t ask me what I own, but what I am worth. The figure I gave you was how much money I have given this year to charity, because we are worth what we are

willing to share with others.” That is tzedakah.

Certain mitzvot in Judaism are rehearsals for a time to come. Shabbat is a rehearsal for the messianic age when strife will end and peace will reign. Yom Kippur, when we do not eat or drink or engage in physical pleasure, and when there is a custom to wear a kittel like a shroud, is a dress rehearsal for death. It forces us to ask the ultimate question: what did I do in my life that was worthwhile? Did I waste time or did I share it with my faith, with G-D, and with those in need?

Knowing that none of us will live forever, we ask G-D for another year: to grow, to pray and to give. That is what Maimonides meant when he called the shofar “G-D’s alarm call,” asking us not to slumber through life, but to use it to bring blessings.

May the Almighty bless us, our families, and the Jewish people, and may He write us all in the Book of Life. 

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks ZT”L was an international religious leader and philosopher. The author of over 30 books, Rabbi Sacks received multiple awards in recognition of his work. Sadly, he passed away in November 2020.

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F O C U S

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One Community One Voice One Election That Will Define Our Future EDDIE ESSES

FOR YEARS, MANY BELIEVED OUR COMMUNITY SIMPLY DIDN’T HAVE A MEANINGFUL VOICE IN GOVERNMENT, THAT WE HAD NO SWAY OVER THE DECISIONS MADE ON OUR BEHALF BY THOSE IN ALBANY AND CITY HALL. THOSE DAYS ARE OVER. OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, OUR COMMUNITY HAS UNDERGONE A POLITICAL AWAKENING. THROUGH RECORD VOTER REGISTRATION AND UNPRECEDENTED CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, WE HAVE BECOME A FORCE THAT POLITICIANS CAN NO LONGER IGNORE.

A

t a moment when New York is being pulled more and more toward the extreme by radical socialists who attack our values, our schools, our neighborhoods, and our support for Israel, there has never been more at stake. This November is not just another election. It is a referendum on the future of our community.

State Senator Sam Sutton is seeking reelection in the 22nd Senate District, while his chief of staff, Joey Saban, is running for the State Assembly in the 45th District. Their victories would give our community something it has never truly had before, strong, unapologetic representation in both chambers of the New York State Legislature. And make no mistake. Who represents us in Albany matters.

Every day, radical voices are gaining influence in New York politics. Politicians who want to weaken law enforcement, slash support for Israel, impose policies that threaten religious institutions, and prioritize ideological agendas over public safety are becoming louder and more powerful. While ordinary families worry about antisemitism, rising crime, and the future of their children’s education, too many elected officials are focused on appeasing activists and political extremists.

The question facing voters this November is simple, Who will stand up and fight back? Sam Sutton already has.

At a time when antisemitic incidents have exploded across New York, Senator Sutton led the fight to establish protec14 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

tive buffer zones around houses of worship, ensuring that families can attend synagogue without fear of intimidation.

He helped secure $20 million in security funding for yeshivas and Jewish schools from Governor Hochul and delivered millions of dollars more for our community institutions. These are not empty promises or campaign slogans.

They are real victories that have made our community safer and stronger.

And behind many of those victories has been Joey Saban. Joey has worked alongside Senator Sutton every step of the way, helping write legislation, secure funding, and advocate for our community. Unlike politicians who suddenly appear every election season asking for votes, Joey has already spent his time fighting for our community in the halls of government. Now he is ready to take that fight to the State Assembly.

Joey’s campaign is built around the issues that matter most: combating antisemitism, strengthening public safety, supporting the NYPD, protecting yeshivas and private education, increasing security funding for schools and synagogues, and standing firmly against extremist and socialist policies that threaten our community.

But perhaps the most important reason this election is so important is that we need our voice represented in the majority conference in Albany. Simply put, New York is overwhelmingly controlled by Democrats. Unfortunately,

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F O C U S

O N

members of the minority party are not able to accomplish anything in Albany, and their voices are considered meaningless.

Real change will not come from politicians shouting from the sidelines. It will come from strong voices inside the majority who are willing to challenge their own party when it embraces dangerous ideas. Joey Saban would immediately become one of the strongest moderate voices in Albany, standing up loudly and strongly every day to the growing influence of the Democratic Socialists and politicians like Zohran Mamdani, who seek to push New York in a radically different direction.

He would be a voice for common sense, public safety, religious freedom, and unwavering support for Israel.

Together, Sam Sutton and Joey Saban would create a powerful partnership capable of fighting for our community’s priorities in both houses of the Legislature.

But this election is about more than two candidates. It is about whether our community will continue the political revolution that began years ago or retreat into complacency while others shape the future of New York without us. The truth is uncomfortable: If we do not organize, others will organize against us. If we do not vote, others will decide our future. If we do not fight for our values, we cannot expect anyone else to do it for us.

The last few years have proven that civic engagement works. When our community registered to vote in record numbers, Albany paid attention. When we became politically active, politicians started listening. When we showed up at the ballot box, we gained influence that previous generations could only dream of.

Now, the stakes are even higher. The forces reshaping New York are organized, motivated, and determined. The only question is whether we will match their energy and 16 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

determination. This November, every vote is a statement.

Every volunteer matters. Every conversation counts.

The future of our schools, our synagogues, our neighborhoods, and our community’s place in New York politics will not be decided by pundits or activists. It will be decided by the people who show up on Election Day. For the first time in a generation, we have an opportunity not simply to participate in government, but to help shape it.

The question is whether we are willing to seize it.  Eddie Esses has been civically engaged in the community for many years, alongside Joey Saban. He is an active board member of the SCF, senior advisor to Senator Sutton, and owns multiple retail franchise stores.

SEPTEMBER 2026 JEWISH IMAGE 17

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S T O R Y

A GRADUATE’S JOURNEY LIFE AFTER MAGEN DAVID YESHIVAH HIGH SCHOOL YVONNE ORFALI

W

ith the world at their fingertips, Magen David Yeshivah High School 2026 graduates set out to begin life after high school. Given the tools for skill-building and success, each young adult is navigating his or her path for what’s to come.

“In Magen David Yeshivah it’s all there for you to capitalize on,” said Sam Hamway, who graduated from the MDY Scholars Program this past spring. “MDY High School formulated my four years into a pathway to success,” he reflected.

Sam heads to NYU Stern in fall 2026 and credits MDYHS with helping him gain acceptance. Head of School Dr. Daniel J. Vitow was highly instrumental and met with Sam frequently to ensure he was on the right track.

Ms. Laura Miller, Director of College Guidance, reviewed which classes and APs Sam needed to take in order to build his resume and receive acceptance into the college he wanted.

He participated in the Bloomberg

20 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

Financial Analysis club, which met after school hours, to further achieve his goals. “I took advantage of every single thing MDYHS offered,” said Sam. “But you need to be wellrounded. Rabbi Mansour is a big advocate for balancing secular with Judaic studies.” While Sam always enjoyed studying the stock market trends and focusing on finance, he surrounded himself by Torah classes as well. Every area of growth is significant and part of our multi-dimensional graduates. They truly find the balance.

The beauty in MDYHS lies in its ability to cater to what students’ interests are. Rabbinical Leader Rabbi Eli J. Mansour works seamlessly with Dr. Vitow and leads an extensive Judaic Studies program while encouraging students to be well-rounded on all fronts. “There are people who help you with everything and anything you want to do,” said Philip Elo, a 2026 graduate who will be attending Lev Aharon in Israel this year. Philip is spending this summer working as an athlete coordinator for NFL players at

Sparx Marketing Group, while maintaining a connection to MDYHS rabbis and teachers and focusing on his goals. “All of the rabbis really encouraged me and helped me grow spiritually,” he said. “I want to be able to learn Gemara without having someone teach it to me.”

Magen David is known for being a second home with its warmth and personalized care. “Leaving MDYHS was bittersweet,” said Barbara Ezon, 2026 valedictorian and member of the Jeff and Rachel Sutton Scholars Program.

“I loved going to school and am sad to leave, but I feel like I got the most out of my experience,” she said. With acceptances to NYU Stern, Boston University, Northeastern NYC Scholars, Fordham, Brandeis, Drexel, and Yeshiva University, Barbara ultimately decided to attend Barnard College this fall. “I chose Barnard because I wanted to be part of a community of strong, motivated women who challenge one another to excel. I wanted to be a part of an ambitious environment,” said Barbara.

MDYHS helps cultivate that ambitious environment from a pre-college age through its internship program, the Next Senior Internship Program, geared to placing students in high school internships that are applicable to their preferred area of college study. Barbara spent her internship learning about law under the guidance of Judge Gina Abadi, attending court every day. Shirley Kabariti, a Scholars’ graduate who plans to attend Macaulay Baruch College to pursue an accounting degree, said, “MDYHS set me up in the Next program in an internship at Wietschner Ziegler, LLP, which really taught me a lot about what my future would look like and the backbone of accounting.”

Each student appreciates the personalized attention for his SEPTEMBER 2026 JEWISH IMAGE 21

C O V E R

S T O R Y

or her placement, and the internship program prepares them for what’s to come after high school.

Applying to college can be daunting, but Ms. Laura Miller greatly eases the process. “Ms. Miller was there for me every step of the way,” said Barbara. “I was in her office every day, even after school hours. She helped me write essays, and if I didn’t get into a school I applied to, she comforted me.” MDYHS also helps students prepare for college and life after high school by teaching how to balance multiple activities and stay organized. “For example, if I had tests or homework and also had a basketball game that night, I would have to manage my time correctly,” said Barbara. When asked what she sees herself taking with her after high school, Barbara was quick in her response.

“Having emunah and praying every day. Those are some of the values Magen David instilled in me.”

“Success at Magen David is not measured against a single yardstick. It is measured one student at a time,” said Associate Principal Audrey Abade. “Our task is not to move every graduate along the same track but to help each one find their own passion, their own voice and their own path.”

MDYHS opens a multitude of doors at once, allowing students to encounter their interests, discover inner strengths, join teams that speak to them, and begin to shape a direction that is theirs alone.

“For one graduate that path may be to spend a gap year in Israel, which strengthens the bond to Eretz Yisrael and Torat Yisrael,” said Mrs. Abade. “For another the journey will lead to university, where the critical thinking and disciplined study MDYHS cultivated have room to stretch.

For another it means the first steps toward a career, work22 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

ing beside professionals in a field they had only imagined.”

Although the destinations differ, the heart beneath them remains the same. “Wherever our graduates go, they carve out time for lifelong learning, they give back to the community, and they step into an ever-changing world not warily but confidently, grounded, curious, unafraid to explore it,” shared Mrs. Abade. And that is the multi-faceted young adult that emerges from MDYHS. Regardless of the path each student takes, he or she carries a sense of pride for our community at large, our Jewish nation and strives to be the best version of themselves.  Yvonne Orfali is a member of the board as well as a parent of MDYHS.

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CARE DAY A DAY THAT BROUGHT OUR COMMUNITY TOGETHER THE AIR WAS FILLED WITH GOOD ENERGY AND LOVE ON AUGUST 16, AS OVER 4,000 COMMUNITY MEMBERS JOINED TO SHOW THEIR SUPPORT FOR CARE! THIS YEAR WAS OUR BIGGEST TURNOUT YET AT DEAL SCHOOL FROM 11 A.M. TO 4 P.M. THIS INCREDIBLE TURNOUT DEMONSTRATES THAT PEOPLE UNDERSTAND HOW NECESSARY CARE IS FOR OUR COMMUNITY!

F

rom grandparents to toddlers, everyone in the family had lots of fun. Sports fans enjoyed softball tournaments all day long. Players were treated to a beautiful VIP lounge, with comfortable couches, separate food and two massage therapists on hand to help them relax between games. We are incredibly grateful to every player and every team that raised money in order to participate. They turned their love of the game into playing for a good cause!

The kids raced from one attraction to the next, enjoying boardwalk-style carnival games, water slides, rock climbing, bungee jumping, swings, axe throwing, and so much more. They used the tickets they won at the games to enter raffles for amazing prizes.

The food was a hit with the perfect BBQ for a summer Sunday sponsored by TL Management. Snacks kept everyone going, with tables of churros, popcorn, cotton candy, hot pretzels and cookies from Shore Sugar Co. and ice cream from Pints n Pies. CARE Day merch and swag were available throughout the event, including custom softball gloves personalized with your name to make a great gift.

Happiness was in the air as the DJ got everyone dancing, 24 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

and there were so many smiles everywhere you looked.

The event was led by Abe Saka, Morris Kassin, and Ray Esses, who worked for months to bring this incredible day to life, together with event planner Jessica Esses, who did not leave out a single detail of this magnificent event. We are deeply grateful to more than 70 generous corporate sponsors and countless volunteers who gave their time,

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resources, and energy to make CARE Day possible!

New for this year, attendees could Spin The Wheel for the chance to win $18,000 cash. The excitement came from not knowing where the wheel would land, with amounts ranging from $1 to $360. Whatever amount a participant landed on was the amount they paid, giving everyone a fun and affordable way to take part while supporting CARE. Beyond all the games and activities, there was something even more special in the air: a feeling of togetherness.

CARE Day was a reminder of what happens when an entire community comes together for a cause that matters. “I see why this is called the best day ever.” Hearing those words 26 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

from one of the attendees was the perfect way to end the day!

Behind every game, every team, every sponsor, and every smile is a child with special needs who knows they are not alone. Hundreds of families rely on CARE to walk beside them, support them, and help them navigate every step of the journey.

To everyone who came, played, volunteered, sponsored, and enjoyed: thank you for believing in CARE’s mission to support every child with special needs. You created a feeling of togetherness and made CARE Day an amazing event.

To view the CARE Day gallery or learn more about CARE, visit careforspecial.org. 

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THE SUMMER OF NONSTOP FUN AT THE DSN BEACH CLUB IF THERE WAS ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE SUMMER AT THE DSN BEACH CLUB, IT WOULD BE UNFORGETTABLE. WITH MORE THAN 60 EVENTS AND PROGRAMS THROUGHOUT THE SEASON, THE DSN BEACH CLUB WAS BUSTLING ALL SUMMER LONG, A PLACE WHERE COMMUNITY MEMBERS COULD ESCAPE, CONNECT, CELEBRATE AND BE ENTERTAINED.

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he programming was intentionally diverse, with something for every age, interest and stage of life.

From concerts and family nights to women’s programming, singles events, shopping experiences, nonprofit gatherings and everything in between, the Beach Club truly became the place to be this summer.

The spirit of the season was simple. We were here to enjoy summer. And what made this year’s programming so special was its incredible variety.

Mother-and-child programming created memorable opportunities to connect and spend meaningful time together, with embroidery events, the much-anticipated Taylor Swift concert experience, Marielody and more.

Families enjoyed exciting entertainment from magician and mentalist David Rosenfeld, while the Beach Camp Overnight gave kids an unforgettable summer adventure of their own. And, of course, there was Bingo, because summer at the Beach Club should always include a little friendly competition and a lot of laughs.

For the women of DSN, the programming was equally

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dynamic. Art experiences featuring Sara Harary, Jill Levy, Jaclyn Bailey and Sylia Aboudi offered creative escapes, while Esther Tawachi led a parenting class designed to provide insight and inspiration. La Femme Phoenix’s Nicole Betesh, Summer Essentials with Gal Abadie, and Rita Inspired for Tu B’Av created even more opportunities for women to gather, learn, shop and celebrate together.

Of course, no summer at the Beach Club would be complete without music, and DSN delivered. Music took center stage with a concert calendar featuring something for every generation and musical taste. Nobeh, Rock the Shore, Doo Wop, Back to the Roots, and David Clark’s Billy Joel and Elton John Tribute transformed the Beach Club into a summer concert venue. Members gathered under the stars for evenings filled with music and that unmistakable feeling of being on vacation without ever having to leave the community.

The response to the summer’s programming was extraordinary. The Deal Shark event, presented in partnership with Victor Braca and Momentum, drew more than 400 people. Braca captured the excitement of the evening,

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saying, “This event is going to change how the community does business.”

The Beach Club also became a destination for shopping and discovering something new. Multiple boutique shows brought a curated selection of vendors and products to the club, while Selena Gindi’s curated experience with Revolve/FWRD introduced members to an elevated shopping experience. Moda Operandi and LoveShackFancy added another stylish dimension to the summer calendar. It was all part of creating a Beach Club experience that went far beyond simply spending a day at the beach.

Some of the summer’s most meaningful moments came through DSN’s nonprofit and community partnerships. The Beach Club welcomed organizations and events including the Kameo Foundation Carnival, IDFWO Bar Mitzvah, Ball 4 Israel, Lev Avi and more. “These amazing gatherings brought people together around causes that matter while adding even more energy and purpose to the summer calendar,” said Jen Sasson, DSN’s Nonprofit Coordinator.

Programming also expanded opportunities for singles to connect. The summer included a Shabbat lunch, Mazza on Friday for singles over 30, and other special gatherings, including an exciting event with Two Cuzzos benefiting Toys for Hospitalized Children, combining a memorable singles experience with support for an important cause.

And if anyone thought the summer was winding down, DSN had other plans. The Beach Club kept the energy going with even more entertainment, including Ladies 30 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

Mahjong Night, The Clash cover band, The Bee Gees, and an end-of-summer singles get-together.

As Beach Club Program Director Caleigh Silvera noted, “At DSN Beach Club, summer doesn’t only mean slowing down and vacationing. It means one more concert. One more night with friends. One more family memory. One more reason to get dressed, head to the Beach Club and enjoy all it has to offer.”

Victoria Sutton, DSN Executive Board member and Chairperson of Beach Club Programming and Events, reflected on what made the season so meaningful. “There was something so special about walking into DSN Beach Club on a summer day and seeing it come alive, the building full, the lobby bustling with Jeli’s and Outpost, Teva filled for lunch and dinner, our singles gathering at Teva on Saturday nights, the beach and basketball courts full, Group Exercise classes busy in the mornings, special events and programs happening, and nonprofits bringing our community together. It was truly a blessing to see it all come together.

“We are incredibly grateful to our members and our entire community and, above all, we thank Hashem for the blessing of this special place where we can come together, connect, celebrate and create memories. We look forward to a beautiful fall season and, BH, many more great things to come. We wish everyone a happy, healthy and joyous New Year filled with blessings and special moments together.” 

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GIVING THE NEXT GENERATION A HEAD START WHAT PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT TRUMP ACCOUNTS ARI BAUM, CFP®

EVERY PARENT WANTS TO GIVE THEIR CHILD A HEAD START. EVERY GRANDPARENT WANTS TO LEAVE SOMETHING MEANINGFUL BEHIND. WHEN IT COMES TO BUILDING WEALTH, THE GREATEST ADVANTAGE ISN’T HOW MUCH A CHILD STARTS WITH. IT’S HOW EARLY THEY START.

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hat’s what makes the new Trump Account a meaningful planning opportunity for many families. Since officially launching on July 4, 2026, Trump Accounts have generated plenty of attention, and a fair amount of confusion. Depending on the headline, they may sound like a college savings account, a retirement account, or something entirely new.

Eligible children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, who are U.S. citizens with a valid Social Security number may qualify for a one-time $1,000 contribution from the federal government. However, the account must be opened and the required enrollment must be completed. Nothing happens automatically.

Standing alone, $1,000 may not seem life changing.

The Council of Economic Advisers projects that the seed money alone could grow to roughly $5,800 by age 18 if

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nothing else is ever added. Helpful, but not transformative.

Now imagine parents and/or grandparents adding $50 or $100 a month alongside it. That’s where the math changes, and it changes not because of the amount, but because of the runway.

MORE THAN JUST ANOTHER SAVINGS ACCOUNT Trump Accounts are not 529 plans, Roth IRAs, or a brand-new category of tax-free account. Section 530A accounts, better known as Trump Accounts, are a type of traditional IRA created specifically for children. Contributions are invested in eligible low-cost U.S. stock index funds, which keeps costs low and decisions simple.

That distinction matters because the account doesn’t later “convert” into an IRA. A Trump Account is a traditional IRA from the day it’s opened. What changes at adulthood

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is that nearly all of the special rules fall away, and the account simply continues as an ordinary traditional IRA for the child’s benefit.

UNDERSTANDING THE TAX RULES The most common misconception is that Trump Accounts are tax-free. They aren’t. Like a traditional IRA, they are tax-deferred. Investments have the opportunity to grow without annual taxation, and withdrawals are generally taxed as ordinary income.

One important nuance is that family contributions are made with after-tax dollars and are not deductible. Because of that, they create basis in the account, meaning your own contributed principal isn’t taxed a second time on the way out. Only the government’s seed money and investment growth are fully taxable. That distinction matters, and it’s the part clients most often get wrong.

THE MONEY IS LOCKED UP UNTIL 18, BY DESIGN This is the question I get first, and the media often skips it. Before the child turns 18, both the investment choices and access to the money are restricted. Beginning January 1 of the year the child turns 18, the account is treated like any other traditional IRA. Distributions become possible, but withdrawals before age 59½ may be subject to a 10% additional tax unless an exception applies.

Two of those exceptions are worth knowing because they change how a family thinks about the account. They are qualified higher education expenses and a first-time home purchase. So this is not emergency savings, and it shouldn’t be positioned as a college fund. It’s a retirement account that happens to start at birth, with a few doors available earlier if life requires them.

DON’T LEAVE THE $1,000 ON THE TABLE To receive the government contribution, an authorized individual must open the account and make the enrollment using IRS Form 4547. The deadline is generous. The cost of waiting isn’t. An enrollment can generally be made until December 31 of the year when the child turns 17. You are 34 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

unlikely to miss the $1,000 outright. What you lose by waiting is compounding, and that’s the part you can never buy back.

BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATION Parents, grandparents, other family members, and even certain employers may contribute, subject to a combined annual limit of $5,000 per child under current law. Claiming the government’s $1,000 contribution and deciding whether to contribute additional money are two separate planning decisions. The federal contribution may be worth claiming if your family qualifies. Whether further contributions make sense depends on how the account fits alongside your 529 plan, retirement savings, emergency reserves, and other financial priorities.

Families ask me, “How much should we contribute?”

I think the better question is, “How early can we begin?”

THE BIGGER LESSON This is the first opportunity to begin investing for a child from birth with the benefit of a government contribution.

Whether the account holds only the initial $1,000 or grows with contributions from parents and grandparents over two decades, the greatest advantage isn’t the amount invested.

It’s the years those dollars have to grow.

One of the greatest gifts we can give the next generation isn’t simply money. It’s time. And while none of us can create more time, we can choose to start sooner. Families can learn more, review eligibility, and access the official Trump Accounts app at TrumpAccounts.gov.  This material is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, tax, or legal advice. Trump Account rules are new and subject to further IRS guidance and possible legislative correction. Individuals should consult their financial, tax, and legal professionals regarding their specific circumstances before making investment decisions.

All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.

Ari Baum, CFP® is the Founder and CEO of Endurance Wealth Partners. For nearly three decades, he has helped individuals, families, and business owners turn complex financial decisions into plans they can execute with confidence.

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RANDI’S CARE CELEBRATES ITS SECOND ANNUAL FUNDRAISER ON FRIDAY, JULY 17TH, SUPPORTERS GATHERED AT THE HOME OF SARAH AND ELLIOT TAMIR FOR RANDI’S CARE’S SECOND ANNUAL FUNDRAISER, A CELEBRATION OF AN ORGANIZATION QUIETLY TRANSFORMING THE LIVES OF COMMUNITY SENIORS.

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andi’s Care offers free one-on-one in-home and nursing home visits, filling the days of seniors, especially those who are alone or without family, with hope, laughter, and companionship. From Mother’s Day to Rosh Hashanah, the team shows up for every holiday with art, baking, music, and movement, meeting each senior where they are and working with every ability to keep hands, legs, and memories active. Again and again, families watch their loved ones grow sharper and more alive.

No one captured this better than Joyce Silverman, whose father, Victor Dabah, receives regular visits. “Randi keeps our seniors alive,” she said. When Randi arrives, Victor talks business again, dances with his wife, laughs,

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and plays. Joyce spoke movingly of kibud av va’em (honoring one’s father and mother) and the duty of children and grandchildren to give back to those who gave them everything. Randi’s volunteer Chaim also helps Victor and other men lay tefillin each morning.

Randi’s son, Jacob Levy, reflected on watching his mother devote her life to others. Randi lost her own mother when she was young and cared for her ailing father, still taking him to the beach and to Bloomingdale’s even when he believed he no longer could.

“Everything I am, the way I treat people, I learned from watching you,” Jacob said. “I’m so proud to be your son.”

The morning also honored Volunteer of the Year Lena Waingort and Susan Salame, who lovingly styles seniors’ hair.

Harry Adjmi praised Randi for doing what no one else does, and Rabbi Joey Haber reminded everyone that those who spread happiness b’simcha earn a great portion in the world to come.

With tears in everyone’s eyes and a standing ovation, the morning affirmed a simple truth. Nothing is impossible.  38 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

Wishing You a Happy, Sweet New Year Best wishes for a happy, healthy new year from the team at Rambam Family Health! We are all set to be your home for Primary Care, providing you and your family with a full continuum of adult & pediatric primary and specialty healthcare. You’ll find personalized service and exceptional care in our easily accessible location.

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TABLE SET GO 2026 LYDIA EZON

THE MORRIS I FRANCO CANCER CENTER’S 16TH ANNUAL TABLE SET GO WAS RECENTLY HELD THIS PAST JULY AT THE HOME OF DOUGLAS AND JOYCE JEMAL, AND BOY, WAS IT BETTER THAN EVER!

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able Set Go is the Cancer Center’s biggest fundraiser of the year and it is so much more than just your typical chinese auction. What makes it so extraordinary is the themed table settings curated by several talented community women who display their artistic, creative visions, and the most inspiring panel led by Morris Kassab who interviews some of the Cancer Center’s clients.

This year’s table theme was hobbies. Each tablesetter had the opportunity to take either something they love or something meaningful to someone they love and bring it to life with a memorable tablescape. The mother and daughter duo Elyse Tebele and Michelle Shuster created an absolutely beautiful crochet table in memory of their grandma, Evelyn Massry a’h. The table was designed as a tribute to “the love she stitched into everything she made.”

The table was full of the colors Evelyn loved most, but what made it so special were all of the personal touches woven throughout it. One of Evelyn’s actual crocheted blankets was used as the tablecloth, and her tea set was incorporated into the setting, making her family feel as though she was right there with them. Even the smallest details, from the napkin rings and yarn bouquets to the adorable cakes, were crocheted!

Another table that completely brought this year’s theme to life was a tennis-inspired table created by Claudette Savdie, honoring her grandma, Cleo a’h and the game she loves. But like the crochet table, the tennis theme rep-

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resented so much more than just a hobby.

The table celebrated Cleo herself and the values she represents, which include friendship, authenticity, community, and bringing people together.

Every detail told a piece of her story.

Vintage-style rackets were incorporated into the décor to represent “the connections and memories made along the way,” while tennis balls were tucked into a gorgeous centerpiece overflowing with florals and greenery. Even the place settings carried meaning. A seat at the table was described as “an invitation to connect,” reflecting the way Cleo has always welcomed others with authenticity and kindness.

Claire Cheika, vice president, credits the dedicated team of women who begin working months in advance and put countless hours into making the day possible. “They inspire me every day!”

Another powerful part of the day was, as always, the panel. There is something so different about hearing directly from the Cancer Center’s clients. You hear about the services the Center provides and see the work being done all year long, and listening to someone sit in front of the community and openly share what it feels like to actually go through cancer, and what it means to have this family beside you through it, is something so special.

For client Albert J. Savdie, speaking on the panel was about giving back some of the strength that had been given to him. “I wanted to share my experience with the community because I went through a difficult time, and I know I could

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not have gotten through it without Hashem, my family, and the incredible support of the community and the MIFCC,” Albert shared. “It was truly incredible to see how the Center mobilized on behalf of me and my family and supported us throughout my journey.”

What made sharing his story even more meaningful was what happened after the panel was over. In the days that followed, Albert was stopped by people who had been in the audience and told him that his words had inspired them. “If my story can give even one person hope, strength, or the motivation to never give up, then sharing it is worth it,” he said.

Alice Tawil also felt a responsibility to share her story as a way of giving back to an organization that had given so much to her. She spoke about something that can sometimes get lost when we talk about cancer, the challenge of continuing to live while simultaneously navigating your health.

Last summer was especially difficult for Alice. She described struggling between wanting to enjoy her summer and dealing with everything that came along with her health journey. The Cancer Center gave her somewhere to go and, more importantly, people to go through it with. Pool aerobics, toning, yoga, book club, cooking classes and other activities kept her busy, connected and happy during a time when she needed it most.

“I can say with confidence that Hashem and the Cancer Center helped me to the other side of this health challenge,” she shared. “The people I have met through the Cancer Center, the amazing volunteers, and the warriors who have faced their challenges head-on with strength and grace, have become my friends.”

That feeling of friendship and family is something we hear from Cancer Center clients year after year. Cancer can 42 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

be scary and isolating, but the Cancer Center makes sure no one in our community has to navigate it alone.

President Nancy Sutton explains, “This day is so much more than a fundraiser. It’s a chance to make a difference and show the community who we are and that our doors are open to anyone in need.” This articulates exactly what it means when the Cancer Center welcomes a new client into their family.

“At the Center, we do everything we can to turn anxiety into hope and pain into comfort, all with care and compassion.” We’d like to give a round of applause to our community for making days like this possible.  Lydia Ezon has been a proud member of the Cancer Center family, serving as an intern for the past five summers. She feels blessed and deeply grateful for the opportunity to contribute, learn, and grow through this meaningful experience.

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A NIGHT OF INSPIRATION THE LEV ORGANIZATION’S SUMMER EVENT THIS SUMMER, MORE THAN 500 PEOPLE GATHERED FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE EVENING OF INSPIRATION, COMMUNITY, AND PURPOSE AT THE LEV ORGANIZATION’S SUMMER EVENT, HOSTED GRACIOUSLY AT THE BEAUTIFUL HOME OF BARBARA FALLAS KLAUS AND SHIRLEY AND JORDAN GRANGER.

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he evening was filled with powerful speakers, meaningful stories, and a shared commitment to strengthening Jewish families, supporting children, and helping individuals navigate some of life’s most difficult challenges.

The event also demonstrated something that has become part of The LEV Organization’s identity: the ability to push forward no matter the circumstances. When unexpected challenges arose surrounding the evening’s planned program, The LEV team quickly scrambled, adapted, and came together to create an incredible night that exceeded expectations. It was a true reflection of the organization itself. When challenges arise, LEV does not stop. It finds a way forward.

THE MISSION OF LEV The LEV Organization was founded with a simple but powerful goal: to strengthen Jewish families and help individuals and children navigate difficult moments in their lives. LEV began by helping Agunot and Agunim facing

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the painful and complex reality of being unable to move forward from a marriage. Over the past five years, LEV has helped resolve 61 cases, with countless additional individuals and families receiving support along the way.

As the organization’s work grew, so did its mission.

LEV recognized that when one person in a family is struggling, the entire family can be affected. Today, LEV serves the broader needs of Jewish individuals and families through three divisions: Shalom Bayit, LEV Youth, and Client Services. Together, these divisions provide support, guidance, resources, and hope to people who need help moving forward.

STRENGTHENING MARRIAGES BEFORE THEY BECOME CRISES At the heart of LEV’s expanded mission is its Shalom Bayit Division, led by Rabbi Ali Cohen. Rabbi Cohen has dedicated more than ten years to chinuch and the past five years to professional counseling. He is also the author of the bestselling book Where You End and I Begin. Through

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his work with LEV, Rabbi Cohen privately counsels couples, helps spouses navigate difficult situations, and provides couple mediation for those experiencing marital conflict.

His work extends beyond helping couples who are already in crisis. LEV believes that every couple can benefit from learning how to communicate better, manage disagreements, and strengthen their relationship before problems escalate. Through weekly Shalom Bayit classes, private counseling, mediation, educational programs, and community events, LEV is working to create stronger marriages and healthier homes.

This work is also supported by the community’s rabbinic leadership. With the backing and guidance of rabbis who believe in the importance of strengthening Jewish homes, LEV is building a culture where couples can seek help, guidance, and support without waiting until their marriage reaches a breaking point. The message is simple: marriage does not have to be in crisis for a couple to invest in making it stronger.

SUPPORTING THE NEXT GENERATION LEV’s Youth Division focuses on children and teenagers, particularly those whose families are experiencing difficult circumstances. Every child deserves to feel valued, supported, and remembered. LEV works to create positive experiences and meaningful memories through birthday and holiday gifts, special activities, programs, and opportunities that help young people feel connected to their community.

One example was LEV’s support of a 12th-grade student whose graduation trip to Israel was made possible through the organization. The experience represented more than a 46 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

trip. It allowed a young person to share an important milestone with peers and create memories that will last a lifetime.

These moments are a reminder that supporting children means more than helping them through difficult times. It means giving them reasons to smile, experiences to look forward to, and a community that reminds them they matter.

BEING THERE WHEN FAMILIES NEED HELP LEV’s Client Services Division continues the organization’s original work of helping individuals and families facing complex and difficult situations. The division provides support and resources based on each family’s unique needs, including assistance navigating challenging family circumstances, support programs, holiday assistance, and other services that help individuals move forward with greater dignity and hope. LEV’s goal is to meet people where they are and help them take their next step forward.

The organization also works to ensure that those it serves have access to qualified professionals and appropriate resources, including counseling, social work, mediation, and other forms of support when needed. These services help families receive guidance suited to their individual circumstances.

A NIGHT OF POWERFUL VOICES The evening brought together speakers who each offered a different perspective on family, resilience, and hope. President of The LEV Organization, Sean Dweck, opened the evening with a brief but powerful speech highlighting the organization’s recent successes and outlining the work that lies ahead. The message was clear: The momentum is real, and there is no slowing down now.

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Rabbi Joey Haber spoke about what it truly means to be a hero. He reminded the audience that heroes are not always found in headlines. Sometimes, a hero is the single mother who works tirelessly to care for her children or the father who continues to support and be there for his children even when a marriage unfortunately does not work out. True heroism, he explained, can be found in the everyday acts of sacrifice, responsibility, and love that parents demonstrate for their families. He also shared that, in his eyes, The LEV Organization itself is a hero for being there for individuals when they are in some of the darkest and most difficult places in their lives, standing beside them when they need support the most.

Rabbi Ali Cohen spoke about the importance of creating peaceful, healthy homes and the work being done through LEV’s Shalom Bayit Division to help couples strengthen their marriages and relationships. Adina Kamkhatchi, founder of Adina Eden Jewels, delivered an especially inspiring and personal message. Having experienced some of these challenges herself, she spoke from a place of firsthand understanding and reminded the audience of the strength and resilience that can emerge from difficult experiences.

Politician Joey Saban offered a particularly meaningful perspective as someone who personally experienced the challenges of growing up while his parents faced marital issues. His story demonstrated that the struggles a child experiences at home do not have to define their future.

Despite the challenges he faced as a child, Joey did not allow his family’s circumstances to stop him from becoming the person he is today. His story served as a powerful reminder of the importance of supporting children and families through difficult times, while also recognizing the strength and potential that exists within every child.

THE LEV HASHRA’AH HEART OF INSPIRATION AWARD One of the evening’s highlights was the presentation of the LEV HASHRA’AH Heart of Inspiration Award to Zevi 48 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

Samet, the all-time leading scorer in Yeshiva University history. The award was created to recognize individuals who serve as positive role models and sources of inspiration, particularly for the next generation. Zevi was recognized for the example he sets through dedication, perseverance, hard work, and the pursuit of excellence.

LOOKING AHEAD The summer event was more than a single evening.

It was a reflection of how far LEV has come and how much work remains ahead. In just five years, 61 cases have been resolved, changing the lives of individuals and families. But the work of LEV cannot be measured only in numbers.

It is measured in the couple who finds a way to communicate again. It is measured in the family that receives support during a difficult time. It is measured in the child who feels remembered and valued. And it is measured in the individuals who find hope when they thought there was nowhere else to turn.

With three divisions working together, Shalom Bayit, LEV Youth, and Client Services, LEV continues to expand its reach and strengthen its ability to support the community. The evening showed what can happen when a community comes together with a shared purpose. Even when circumstances change and challenges arise, LEV continues to push forward. Because the mission remains the same: to strengthen Jewish families, support our youth, help individuals in need, and bring hope to those who need it most.

LEV is always looking for people who want to make a difference. Whether you are interested in volunteering, supporting our work, or simply want to learn more about how you can get involved, we invite you to reach out. And if you or someone you know is facing a difficult family or relationship situation, or you have questions about how LEV can help, please do not hesitate to contact us. Reach out to us at info@thelev.org or call +1 (732) 320-2617. 

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AN INCREDIBLE NIGHT IN DEAL FOR PANTRY PACKERS & COLEL CHABAD ON THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2026, THE DEAL COMMUNITY GATHERED AT THE DEAL CASINO BEACH CLUB FOR COLEL CHABAD’S ANNUAL TOGETHER WE RISE CONCERT. THE EVENING FEATURED PERFORMANCES BY MORDECHAI SHAPIRO AND NECHEMIA KATZ, INSPIRING WORDS FROM RABBI ELI MANSOUR, AND AMI KOZAK AS HOST. FAMILIES AND FRIENDS CAME TOGETHER FOR AN EVENING OF MUSIC, UNITY, AND SUPPORT FOR ERETZ YISRAEL. 50 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

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very ticket, sponsorship, and donation helps Colel Chabad provide food, care, and dignity to families, seniors, widows, orphans, children, and Holocaust survivors across Israel. Since 1788, Colel Chabad has supported Jews facing poverty, illness, loneliness, loss, and crisis through food assistance, hot meals, holiday support, and personal care.

As the Chagim approach, this assistance is especially vital. While many families look forward to preparing for Yom Tov, others worry about putting food on the table. This year, Colel Chabad is distributing $18 million in holiday food cards and assistance, helping families across Israel celebrate with dignity and peace of mind.

Special thanks to Rabbi Eli Mansour, David Edelstein, Raymond Zaytoune, Albert Savdie, Joey Esses, David Simhon, and Jack Cohen, to the Syrian community and the families of Deal, and to everyone who made the evening a success.

This Chag, you can bring the joy of Yom Tov into a home in Eretz Yisrael.

Give today and help a family celebrate with a full table, dignity, and peace of mind. Donate to Colel Chabad’s High Holiday campaign. Colelchabad.org/ img See highlights of the concert here.

Colelchabad.events.  SEPTEMBER 2026 JEWISH IMAGE 51

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Shira takes in the scenery and reflects on her achievement after passing the halfway mark on her journey to the Roof of Africa.

WHAT MOUNT KILIMANJARO REVEALED A NEW LENS ON ABILITY AT 19,341 FEET STEFANIE DIAMOND

AS A PHOTOGRAPHER, I AM OFTEN CALLED TO PHOTOGRAPH LIFE’S MOST PRECIOUS MOMENTS, AND THOSE MOMENTS AND THOSE PEOPLE OFTEN CHANGE ME IN SOME WAY. IN AUGUST, I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME TO CAPTURE AN EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY TO TANZANIA. I CAN SAY WITH CERTAINTY THAT I AM IMPACTED AND CHANGED IN MORE WAYS THAN I CAN FULLY PROCESS YET.

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had been to Tanzania once before on a trip that opened my eyes and heart to the people of East Africa, and when I boarded the plane to come home, I did so with tears in my eyes, afraid I’d never get the opportunity to return. But six years later, when I had such an opportunity, I excitedly accepted but wasn’t sure I’d see or experience anything that would impact me like my first trip. How very wrong I was. This time I came to Tanzania to photograph two teams climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. My job was to capture them bonding as a team on the ground, to walk alongside them and take photos of them as they started their climb, and then to capture one group’s return a week later. And somewhere between those two moments, the story changed.

Across two consecutive #AccessibleTogether expeditions organized by Accessibility Accelerator in partnership with Paratrek, 66 climbers of different abilities, backgrounds and life experiences approached Africa’s highest mountain.

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Among them were adults with spinal cord injuries, a teenager with a genetic disease which has affected his ability to walk, injured soldiers, students, educators, physicians, first responders, families, advocates and community leaders. Some used adaptive equipment or required physical assistance. Others carried challenges invisible to my lens.

They did not arrive with the same abilities, and they would not reach the same altitude.

That was never the point. What they shared was the right to discover what was possible. From the ground I learned a lot about the mountain, namely that Kilimanjaro offered no concessions. At 19,341 feet, the mountain remained demanding and indifferent. The air did not get easier to breathe for a climber with a disability. The terrain did not soften for someone carrying an injury. Inclusion did not make the mountain easier. Careful preparation, adaptive equipment, medical planning, staffing and logistics simply made the opportunity to attempt it broader.

That distinction is powerful because our world so often does the opposite. We see a wheelchair, an injury, or a different way of moving and begin calculating limitations.

Sometimes we decide what another person cannot do before that person has been given the chance to try. This has been the greatest lesson to me after spending time with those who needed the assistance of Paratrek’s trekkers.

Jamie Lassner, executive director of Accessibility Accelerator, explained, “The achievement was never that everyone reached the same place. It was that everyone was given the dignity to discover their own possibilities.

Inclusion begins when we stop deciding another person’s limits and start creating the conditions in which possibility has a chance.”

As a photographer, those words stayed with me.

Photography is about what we see, but this expedition repeatedly reminded me of everything my camera cannot capture. A lens can record a wheelchair, adaptive equipment or a hand extended toward another person. It cannot photograph determination. It cannot show years of struggle inside a single frame. It cannot capture trust, fear, faith or the courage required to accept help. By spending time talking to the participants, I got to see some of this struggle, trust, fear, and courage.

During that first kilometer I hiked alongside them, I watched climbers, guides and porters begin moving together. Equipment was adjusted, people waited for one another, encouragement came easily. Then I turned back, and they continued upward. I got to know these incredible individuals for a few days before we laced up those hiking boots.

They shared their stories. I saw their souls. And while I only walked up the first kilometer of the mountain with them, a part of me followed them. I was surprised to be so invested

At 12,205 feet, the team celebrates an important milestone on the journey toward Kilimanjaro’s 19,341-foot summit.

Stefanie meets Masoud, who was once laughed at by Tanzanian officials for dreaming of climbing Kilimanjaro. Supported by Stefanie’s daughter Sami’s Bat Mitzvah project, Masoud proved what was possible, summiting with #AccessibleTogether in both 2020 and 2026.

in their stories and in their journey, but what happened higher on Kilimanjaro was theirs to experience.

When the teams returned, however, their stories revealed something striking. Achievement on the mountain was rarely singular. A guide steadied a climber. A porter carried weight. A physician watched over a team. Someone struggling physically became another person’s emotional strength. The roles of helping and being helped shifted constantly.

“No one climbs Kilimanjaro alone,” said Omer Zur, founder of Paratrek. “Every guide, porter, and climber becomes part of one team. Every person contributes something that helps another person move forward.”

We live in a culture that prizes independence, sometimes to the point of confusing needing help with weakness.

Kilimanjaro suggested something more honest. We can only accomplish extraordinary things through interdependence. There is strength in extending a hand, but there is also courage in taking one.

The mountain also challenged the definition of success.

Asking a climber ‘how high did you climb?’ and ‘did you summit?’ only tells where a person stood, not what it took to get there. Some participants reached Kilimanjaro’s outer summit rim while others continued toward its highest points.

For one person, success might have been another step.

For another, it was knowing when to stop. For someone else, it was slowing down so a teammate could continue.

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#AccessibleTogether 2026 Team 2 approaches Kibo Huts, the final base camp before beginning its midnight ascent toward the summit.

Dawn breaks as #AccessibleTogether 2026 Team 2 enters the final kilometer of its climb toward the Roof of Africa.

For me there was incredible pride in just watching them begin. Perhaps success was never a place on the mountain.

Perhaps it was having the opportunity to stand at the bottom and begin, and then to find your own place upon it.

Tanzania was inseparable from that story. The guides and porters were not supporting characters in someone else’s adventure. Their knowledge, endurance and humanity were fundamental to it. Drivers, hotel staff and local partners surrounded the teams with warmth. Some of the most 54 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

memorable moments were the quietest. A hand offered without hesitation, laughter between people who shared little language, someone patiently waiting for another person to catch up.

Photography teaches you that what is visible is never the whole story. Disability should teach us the same thing.

A wheelchair may be visible. Ambition is not. An injury can be seen. Determination cannot. Adaptive equipment can be photographed. Courage, intelligence, humor and generosity refuse to fit neatly inside a frame.

Eventually, everyone leaves the mountain. That is when Kilimanjaro’s lesson becomes more demanding. Most barriers in life are not 19,341 feet high. They are a staircase without another entrance, a classroom designed without considering one student, an emergency plan assuming everyone can run, or a workplace treating accessibility as an inconvenience. Sometimes the greatest barrier is invisible. An invitation never offered because someone else decided the answer would probably be no.

These climbers did not prove that everyone can climb every mountain. They demonstrated something more important. No one should have their mountain chosen for them. I went to Tanzania to photograph an expedition. I returned thinking about how we see one another.

Kilimanjaro did not become lower. The trail did not become shorter. The mountain changed nothing. What changed was who had the opportunity to approach it. And perhaps that is what inclusion looks like at its best, not lowering the mountain, but refusing to stand at its base and tell someone else they do not belong there.  Stefanie Diamond is a New Jersey based photographer and happily married mother of three. Her work has taken her around the world, where she has documented humanitarian missions and the extraordinary people and stories behind them.

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PLANTING THE SEEDS OF TOMORROW INSIDE MDY ECC’S LIVING ROOFTOP CLASSROOM ABOVE THE BUSY TRAFFIC AND DAILY HUSTLE OF MCDONALD AVENUE, A QUIET TRANSFORMATION IS TAKING PLACE. PERCHED ON THE ROOFTOP OF THE MAGEN DAVID EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER, AMIDST THE ONGOING CONSTRUCTION AND EXPANSION OF OUR GROWING SCHOOL, LIES A BRAND-NEW GREEN OASIS. THIS ISN’T JUST A GARDEN. IT IS A LIVING CLASSROOM DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR OUR YOUNGEST CHILDREN TO EXPERIMENT, DISCOVER, AND CONNECT WITH THE WORLD AROUND THEM.

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s spring arrived and our students headed outdoors, their classroom curricula came to life.

From our littlest toddlers to our oldest kindergarteners, every child at MDY ECC stepped into the role of caretaker, getting their hands dirty to plant, nurture, and watch something very real grow.

In our Reggio-inspired spaces, where the environment serves as the third teacher, we had to be highly intentional from the very start. Designing this from a truly child-centered perspective required working backward from a tight deadline. We knew our families would begin traveling for the summer in mid-June. We wanted these concrete learners to experience the patience of planting, but we also knew they needed immediate feedback to stay engaged. To bridge that gap, we made two deliberate choices. We bypassed seeds in favor of seedlings to foster an immediate sense of responsibility, and we opted for plants that would mature quickly. This allowed the children to see rapid growth and harvest edible plants before the school year concluded.

The rooftop quickly became a shared community effort.

Each grade, class, and child had the opportunity to plant something that anyone in the MDY ECC building could enjoy. The bright flowers now beautifying the front of our center are a point of immense pride for our students. They eagerly share their achievement with their parents and caregivers, take turns with the watering cans, and beam when passersby notice their work.

The edible garden has been equally collaborative.

When making pizza in honor of Shabuot, classes headed to the roof to harvest fresh rosemary, thyme, and basil to flavor

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their dairy treats. On warm afternoons after playing outside, they picked fresh mint to turn their classroom water into an extra refreshing treat.

But a living classroom isn’t just about successful harvests. It is about real-world science and life lessons. When our classes completed their lifecycle experiments, watch-

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ing caterpillars turn to butterflies and larvae to ladybugs, they learned how these insects benefit an ecosystem and released them directly onto the roof to help our garden thrive. In another classroom, after a nutrition lesson on avocados, students saved and sprouted the pits. Once they noticed roots forming, they knew the pits were ready for soil and proudly moved them to the rooftop.

More importantly, the garden taught our children patience and how to manage disappointment. The truth is, not every plant thrived. Some grew for a short period and stopped. Some flowered before we could enjoy them, and others didn’t grow at all. And sometimes, that is just how life goes. Navigating these moments allowed the children to experience a whole spectrum of emotions, turning mistakes and natural mishaps into profound teaching moments.

As educators, we devote ourselves to the development of the whole child, and the garden offers a perfect landscape for social-emotional growth. The children explored the world through all five senses, smelling herbs, tasting greens, and feeling the rich texture of the soil. While some children immersed themselves immediately, others needed time and space to gain comfort before choosing to participate. Watching the children navigate their own boundaries and comfort levels was a beautiful testament to their growth over the year, and it has already inspired a spark of new sensory activities for our future curriculum.

Big shifts always begin with a single vision. What started as an adult passion project shared among a few dedicated people ultimately became a canvas of infinite potential for our children.

As our hallways grew quiet and our families enjoyed 58 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

the summer, this rooftop oasis stands as a vibrant symbol of what our community can achieve together. The physical garden will continue to change over the next few months, but the true growth has already happened within our children. They will return from break not just as students, but as scientists, caretakers, and collaborative members of a community, ready to reunite with a living classroom that will continue to teach, inspire, and bloom. 

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P R O F I L E

BATIA SHEMS GROWING UP IN BEIRUT SARINA ROFFÉ

AFTER THE 1967 WAR WITH ISRAEL, BEIRUT WAS NO LONGER A SAFE PLACE FOR JEWS TO LIVE. WHILE MANY JEWS WERE STILL ESCAPING FROM SYRIA TO FIND SAFE HAVEN IN BEIRUT, THE COMMUNITY WAS HAVING ITS OWN INTERNAL DIFFICULTIES.

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atia Shems née Sasson grew up in Beirut, the daughter of Edouard Sasson and Corine Pinto.

Edouard Sasson came from a family with a long Sephardic heritage. He was an executive for Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), an American company in the Middle East, and was responsible for the distribution of films to theaters.

Her mother was Corine Pinto, an only child who moved to Lebanon at the age of five from Istanbul, part of the Ottoman Empire. The Pintos hail back to 15th-century Spain. “I think her father had a premonition about what was going to happen to the Jews in that region and moved them to Beirut,” said Batia about her mother. “They ended up opening up a boutique called A L’Extra Luxe Michel.”

“My father’s sisters and brother happened to travel to Palestine. At the time, it was accessible, an easy bus ride from Lebanon to Israel before Israel was created in 1948,” said Batia. “After the war broke out, they remained in Israel while my father and his mother were left in Beirut. They never saw each other for years. The only way to communicate was through letters back and forth that went through other family members in other countries. You couldn’t write anything about Israel in those letters because the mail was censored. One time, one of the relatives made a mistake and referenced Israel in the letter and it was caught by Lebanese officials. “They came up to my father’s office and warned him, ‘Edouard, we know that you have family there, but be careful.’” Given his status in society, the officials left him alone.

“My father was well known in the Lebanese government, because we used to host a lot of actors and MGM executives. Jews in Lebanon felt that Beirut was a peaceful place to live. Compared to other Arab countries, we were much better off. We learned how to live in our surroundings and not draw attention to ourselves. But we did not

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Corine and Edouard Sasson in Egypt for the premiere of the movie Ben-Hur.

have free speech like here in America and there were many competing political and religious factions.”

The Alliance Israelite Universelle school was bombed in March 1950. News reports said a time bomb was planted

by Arab saboteurs under cover of a rainy night. The school principal and the custodian lost their lives in the blast. Years later, Batia attended the Alliance school along with most of the children of the community.

“When the Suez Canal was nationalized in 1956, you could feel life changing for the Jewish community,” said Batia. “There were more uprisings in Beirut. Between 1956 and 1958, there was an influx of immigrants from Syria into Beirut. It was during the civil war between the Maronites and the Muslims in Beirut. “Shula Cohen and the community helped them to get to Israel, but it was very dangerous.

The atmosphere changed significantly. We had a lot of riots especially on Fridays. Muslims would come out of the mosque and run down the main road, with entrances to the Jewish community. They would burn tires and roll them into the streets, into our neighborhoods, into the Wadi (Jewish community) and chant ‘The Jews are our dogs and Palestine is our home.’ It rhymes when chanted in Arabic.

“At the time, Shula’s work wasn’t talked about, at least not to us kids. It was known that a lot of people came from Syria and they were hidden in the Wadi and then smuggled out. I wouldn’t be surprised if my father was involved in helping the Syrians flee to Israel.”

The films shown by MGM were often the subject of controversy as many Muslims objected to the content, often confronting Edouard and urging him not to show certain films. The PLO was trying to show their own propaganda documentary, Koulouna Fedaiyn, in support of the Palestinian resistance. Even though Edouard insisted he had no control over the company’s decisions, he was blamed.

He went to his bosses at MGM to express his concern.

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Moise Shems and his parents used to ride this bus from Beirut to visit family in Israel, 1948.

Edouard Sasson, right, with Grace Kelly and Sam Goldwyn.

Sarah and Michelle Pinto in front of their boutique in Souk Tawile, an upscale shopping street.

Edouard Sasson with Sam Goldwyn at the MGM studio in Los Angeles with the live MGM lion.

However, the company insisted on showing the films. They did not truly understand the Arab mind or the idea that Edouard and his family were in danger. This raised security concerns to the extent that Edouard was concerned about his own safety and that of his family.

On February 28, 1970, Edouard was ambushed in his office and shot at point-blank range with a 9mm firearm reportedly from Syria. He was 54. “My mother was absolutely distraught,” said Batia. She was advised to leave her apartment and move out to a friend’s house for her safety.

“My brother Albert had two years left of medical school. He was married with a baby on the way. As soon as his wife delivered, my mother, grandmother, my brother 62 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

and his family moved to Israel. It was a difficult move for my mother. Besides the language she had to adjust to a new life. In Beirut, my dad took care of everything, groceries and day-to-day life. “When the family moved to Israel, my brother was able to finish his medical school and complete his thesis in Lyon, France since it’s the sister school of the French Faculty in Beirut. Albert a’h became a very wellknown and respected orthopedic surgeon in Israel.

“We were often subjected to threats and kidnapping, so my father had us escorted to many places. I was a ballet dancer and many times, especially after a show in one of the movie theaters that were owned by Muslims, I was driven back by a Muslim guard to ensure my safety.”

For high school, Batia attended the American School for Girls and was driven to and from school by a bodyguard. “When I went to the American school, I was the only Jewish girl there. I was long exposed to the Americans, and I wanted to perfect my English. At one point, the headmistress had some puppies and I took a puppy and a Muslim

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P R O F I L E

Batia’s Lebanese ID card. Notice that the religion is stated as Israeli.

The Alliance in the 1950s and 1960s.

An estimated 6,000 Lebanese Jews emigrated in the wake of the classmate of mine took one. For about 1967 Arab-Israeli War, shrinking six months or so, she would come over the community down to 450 by to my house, and we played with the 1975. Albert Elia, the secretary of puppies. I would never go to her. She the community, was kidnapped in didn’t know I was Jewish. “When it was 1971 by the Syrian Mukhabarat. He Passover, I didn’t go to school. When I was never heard from again, nor came back, they asked me how come was his body returned to the family.

I wasn’t there. I said it was Passover.

“As young kids, we thought everyThey looked at me. ‘You’re Jewish?’ thing was beautiful. But there were They were shocked because my classcases of murders and kidnaping of mates were princesses from neighborcommunity leaders that happened ing Arab countries. They would run out in the early 1970s. A candy store and meet guys and I would cover for owner was murdered in his office them, until they learned I was Jewish. in his shop. The Syrian government Then I was off their radar.” basically controlled Lebanon by the Batia met her husband when 1970s. A doctor was abducted to Moise came to Beirut from New Jersey, treat wounded Palestinians, then during Passover 1966 to see his famkilled and tied to a tree.” ily. He was in the second year of a Jews were targeted in the later medical residency in urology in the years of the Lebanese civil war.

United States when they met. They got Isaac Sasson, a relative of Batia and Batia and Moise Shems in the hall married in August at the synagogue in leader of the Lebanese Jewish comof the synagogue.

Bhamdoon. munity, was kidnapped at gunpoint on “In December 1969, my grandmother had not seen March 31, 1985, on his way from the Beirut International her kids for many years, so my father took her to Cyprus to Airport after a trip to Abu Dhabi, never to be heard of. From see them and his sisters insisted that their mother go back 1985 to 1987, there was a wave of abductions and murto Israel with them. That was the last time my grandmother ders of Jewish leaders in Lebanon. Complete chaos marked saw my father alive. The news of his assassination was Lebanon, and the Lebanese government became powerbroadcast on the radio in Israel and that’s how the family less. By 1985, there were fewer than 100 Jews left in Beirut. heard the news. My grandmother passed away just a month The Jews of Lebanon are now living in the four corners later from a broken heart. of the world. Despite being uprooted from their homeland, “There is one letter from my father that was sent to his they succeeded in making a new life for themselves and sisters the day before he was murdered saying that he’s their families.  looking into things and wondering when he can leave. He knew something was going on. There were insinuations in Sarina Roffé, a genealogist and historian, is the author of Branching the letter. He even asked his sisters in a different way of Out from Sepharad (Sephardic Heritage Project, 2017). She is currently researching her next book, Syrian Jewish Paths to Freedom. phrasing, like ‘if a person came to your country and would Sarina holds a BA in Journalism, an MA in Jewish Studies, and an it be easy for him to learn a new language?’ There were MBA. really a lot of insinuations in these letters.”

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W R I T E R S ’

T H O U G H T S

AN AUDIENCE IS NOT INFLUENCE LINDA ARGALGI SADACKA

A FEW DAYS AGO, NEW YORK STATE SENATOR SAM SUTTON PRESENTED ME WITH A SENATE PROCLAMATION RECOGNIZING MY COMMUNITY ADVOCACY THROUGH JOURNALISM AND SOCIAL MEDIA. I WAS GRATEFUL FOR THE RECOGNITION. BUT THE WORD THAT STAYED WITH ME WAS NOT HONOR. IT WAS IMPACTFUL. WE USE THAT WORD FAR TOO CASUALLY.

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post reaches 100,000 people and we call it impactful. An article goes viral and we call it impactful. A speech receives a standing ovation and we call it impactful. Yet none of those things, by themselves, tell us whether anything actually changed. That is the question I believe journalists, activists, political organizers and Jewish communal leaders need to ask much more aggressively. What happened because people heard us?

Did someone vote who would otherwise have stayed home? Did a legislator receive enough calls to understand that an issue could no longer be ignored? Did a parent recognize what was happening on a college campus? Did a donor step forward? Did an institution finally act? Did someone who had been sitting quietly decide that silence was no longer acceptable? If the answer is no, then perhaps what we generated was attention, not influence. And in the Jewish world, particularly after October 7, we can no longer afford to confuse the two.

I have spent years writing about Israel, antisemitism and political issues, including for World Israel News.

One of the stories that has stayed with me most involved Ava Rosenberg, the daughter of New York radio host Sid Rosenberg, and the vicious antisemitic harassment she faced while studying at Cardiff University in Wales.

When I reported her story for World Israel News, this was not an abstract piece about the troubling climate on university campuses. Ava was a young Jewish woman living through it. She had been accused of supporting genocide and killing Palestinians. She was subjected to a campaign of harassment serious enough to transform ordinary university life into something frightening and deeply personal.

The reporting was supported by texts and photographs and

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brought a specific case into the wider public conversation.

That distinction matters because statistics about antisemitism can numb us. A human story can mobilize us.

When readers encounter another report showing that antisemitic incidents increased by some percentage, they may shake their heads and continue scrolling. When they see what happens to one Jewish student, when they understand the names, the accusations, the institutional response and the price that young person is paying simply for being openly Jewish and pro-Israel, the issue becomes harder to dismiss.

That is what journalism can do at its best. It can expose what institutions would prefer remain obscure. It can give a human face to a political problem. It can force people who have been comfortable with abstraction to confront consequences. But even that is not enough.

The purpose of advocacy journalism cannot simply be to make the reader angry. Anger is plentiful. We have entire industries devoted to producing it. The more difficult task is converting outrage into action.

That lesson became equally clear to me in politics.

When Sam Sutton ran for the New York State Senate, I did not view political communication as an exercise in posting an endorsement and hoping people noticed. I worked to help mobilize Conservative and Republican voters and bring people to the polls. That is less glamorous than social-media politics. It is also considerably more important.

Elections are not won by the number of people who tell you privately that they agree with you. They are won by the people who actually vote. That sounds self-evident, yet our politics suggests that many people have forgotten it.

Citizens will spend hours consuming political content,

forwarding articles, arguing in WhatsApp groups and expressing outrage about candidates they cannot stand, and then ignore a primary election in which a relatively small number of votes may determine who eventually governs them.

We have created millions of politically opinionated spectators. What we need are participants. An audience watches. A constituency acts.

That is a distinction the Jewish community in particular needs to understand.

We have become exceptionally good at communicating with ourselves. We attend conferences with people who share our concerns. We circulate articles among people who already support Israel. We applaud speakers who tell us what we already know.

We post videos that travel rapidly through Jewish social-media networks and interpret the resulting engagement as evidence that we are winning an argument. But preaching to the choir is not persuasion. And applause is not political power.

If we want to defend Israel, fight antisemitism and protect Jewish life in America and abroad, then our communications strategy must begin with a harder question. Who is not already with us, and how do we reach them? That means writing differently.

It means explaining rather than merely declaring. It means documenting rather than exaggerating. It means understanding that a person who knows very little about Israel may need facts and context before he needs rhetoric.

It means refusing to surrender every uninformed voter, student or neighbor to a propaganda machine simply because they did not begin the conversation on our side.

It also means giving people something to do. Every serious piece of advocacy should contain, explicitly or implicitly, an answer to a simple question. What should the reader do next? Register. Vote. Vote in the primary, not merely the general election. Call your representative. Write the university president.

Attend the hearing. Support the organization doing effective work. Send accurate information to someone outside your ideological circle. Bring five people with you. Ask the candidate the uncomfortable question. Then remember the answer when Election Day arrives. This is not activism as theater. It is civic organization.

There is another uncomfortable lesson here for those of us who work in media and advocacy. Social media has given us extraordinarily sophisticated ways to measure almost everything except what matters most. We know how many people viewed a reel. We know how long they watched it. We know how many shared it. We know our

reach, impressions, engagement and follower growth.

But none of those numbers answers the most consequential question. Did anyone behave differently because of what we said? Ten thousand likes cannot cast one ballot. A million impressions cannot make one telephone call to Congress. Virality cannot substitute for organization.

The same principle applies to Jewish institutions. Success cannot be measured only by gala attendance, press mentions, panels, photographs with officials or the size of an email list. Those things may have value, but they are tools, not accomplishments.

The proper measurement is harder. How many people were educated? How many people were activated? How many relationships were built outside the usual circle? How many voters were moved? How many policymakers understood that ignoring the Jewish community would carry a political consequence? How many people who previously believed they were powerless discovered that citizenship gives them considerably more power than they imagined?

That is where journalism and activism meet. Reporting provides information. Argument provides interpretation.

Organization provides direction. Voting provides consequence. Remove the final step and much of what precedes it becomes noise.

The New York State Senate proclamation I received is meaningful to me because it recognizes work across journalism, social media and community advocacy. But the recognition is useful only if it reinforces the principle behind that work. The objective was never simply to have a voice.

There are plenty of voices. The objective is to use words to move people from passive agreement to deliberate action.

We are living through a moment in which Israel is being challenged not only militarily but narratively, in which antisemitism has migrated from fringe corners into universities, cultural institutions, political movements and public streets, and in which elections decided by people who bother to participate can have consequences for Jewish communities thousands of miles away.

In such a moment, spectatorship is a luxury. Read, certainly. Share. Argue. Educate. But eventually, do something.

Because the real test of advocacy is not whether people applaud what you wrote. It is whether they do something they would not otherwise have done.  Linda Argalgi Sadacka is a writer and strategist whose work explores Jewish life, culture, and public affairs. She is the founder of Shabbat 250, a grassroots initiative strengthening Jewish identity through the shared experience of Shabbat, and the host of The Silent Revolution podcast.

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N E W S

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS GALA HONORS JOSEPH M. BETESH a”h & CHARLES SAKA a”h PROJECT LEGACY RECOGNIZES TWO LEADERS WHOSE VISION, FAITH, AND SERVICE HELPED SHAPE THE DEAL COMMUNITY BENEATH THE SOARING MARBLE COLUMNS AND MAGNIFICENT ARCHITECTURE OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, FAMILY MEMBERS, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, DIPLOMATS, BUSINESS LEADERS, RABBIS, AND COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVES GATHERED FOR PROJECT LEGACY’S CELEBRATE AMERICA 250 GALA, AN EVENING RECOGNIZING INDIVIDUALS WHOSE LIVES HAVE STRENGTHENED THEIR COMMUNITIES AND EMBODIED THE VALUES OF FAITH, SERVICE, LEADERSHIP, AND THE AMERICAN SPIRIT.

H

osted by Project Legacy under the leadership of Ezra Friedlander, the gala featured remarks by Eric Trump, Executive Vice President of The Trump Organization, and welcomed numerous Members of Congress, foreign dignitaries, and civic leaders from across the United States and abroad. During the evening, Project Legacy also announced its national initiative supporting legislation for a United States commemorative coin honoring the 100th anniversary of Anne Frank’s birth, furthering its mission of preserving history and educating future generations.

Among the evening’s most meaningful moments was the recognition of Joseph M. Betesh a”h, a pioneer whose vision and leadership helped lay the foundation for the modern year-round Deal community, and

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Charlie Saka a”h, one of the leaders and principal drivers who helped the entire Deal community mature and flourish.

A MEANINGFUL VOICE FOR THE OCCASION One of the evening’s highlights was the address delivered by Chief Rabbi Saul Kassin, the spiritual leader of the Syrian Sephardic Jewish community. Introducing Chief Rabbi Kassin, Project Legacy founder Ezra Friedlander explained that it was especially appropriate for him to address the gathering during America’s 250th anniversary celebration because Sephardic Jews established the first Jewish synagogue in America. Chief Rabbi Kassin’s participation underscored the enduring contributions of Sephardic Jewry to the nation’s history and

reflected the values of faith, community, and religious freedom that have shaped American life since its earliest days.

His remarks provided historical perspective that beautifully complemented the recognition of the lives of both Joseph M. Betesh a”h and Charlie Saka a”h.

JOSEPH M. BETESH a”h A LIFE OF SERVICE Joseph M. Betesh a”h’s story began in Brooklyn, New York, where he was born in 1924 to immigrant parents who believed deeply in faith, family, and the promise of America. That promise was tested in 1943 when he was drafted into the United States Army. Serving as a medical technician with the 534th Amphibian Engineer Medical Detachment during World War II, Joseph M. Betesh a”h participated in the New Guinea and Luzon campaigns, repeatedly risking his own life while caring for wounded soldiers under combat conditions. His courage earned him the Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, Philippine Liberation Ribbon, American Campaign Medal, and World War II Victory Medal. Later in life, Joseph M. Betesh a”h often reflected that G-D had protected him through the war for a greater purpose.

A VISION THAT CHANGED A COMMUNITY After returning from the war, Joseph M. Betesh a”h and his brothers established a successful business in Philadelphia before relocating to Deal, New Jersey. In the 1970s, West Deal was still a small community with only a handful of year-round Sephardic Jewish families.

Where others saw an undeveloped neighborhood, Joseph M. Betesh a”h saw the opportunity to build a permanent community centered on Torah, family, and communal responsibility. Together with his wife, Sonia Betesh, and

with the help of Charlie and Morris Cohen a”h, Joseph M. Betesh a”h founded Magen David of West Deal in 1977, purchasing the synagogue’s original property and helping establish what would become one of the cornerstone institutions of the Deal community. He later spearheaded the creation of the Deal Sephardic Youth Center, among many other community organizations. What began with a handful of dedicated families has since grown into the largest and most vibrant year-round Orthodox Sephardic community in New Jersey. Thousands of families today benefit from institutions whose foundations were laid by Joseph M. Betesh a”h, who believed in a vision long before it became a reality.

LEADERSHIP THAT INSPIRED OTHERS Accepting the tribute to Joseph M. Betesh a”h was his son, Daniel Betesh, who reflected on his father’s extraordinary life and enduring influence. He spoke about his father’s belief that G-D had spared him during World War SEPTEMBER 2026 JEWISH IMAGE 69

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II for a greater purpose. That purpose, he said, became the building of a community where families could live yearround, educate their children, strengthen their faith, and create opportunities for future generations.

“My father’s greatest success,” Daniel remarked, “wasn’t simply the institutions he helped build. It was the people he inspired to build alongside him.”

Those words captured a philosophy that guided Joseph M. Betesh a”h throughout his life. Leadership, in his view, was measured not by recognition but by the ability to encourage others to step forward and continue the work.

Today, thousands of families benefit from institutions that grew from the vision shared by Joseph M. Betesh a”h and the community’s earliest builders.

Daniel Betesh also acknowledged the honor of accepting the award in the presence of Mr. Eric Trump, representing the Office of the President of the United States. Betesh expanded on that by calling President Donald Trump “the greatest president our country has ever had since its Founding Fathers!”

Among those Daniel recognized was Charlie Saka a”h, whose leadership would later help strengthen and expand many of the institutions established by the community’s founding generation. “Charlie was one of the leaders my father helped inspire and was proud to work hand in hand with.”

CHARLIE SAKA a”h A LIFETIME OF COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP While Joseph M. Betesh a”h represented the pioneering generation that helped establish the community’s institutional foundation, Charlie Saka a”h became Joseph M. Betesh a”h’s partner, who would go on to expand and continuously build upon that foundation. Over the course of his life, Charlie Saka a”h, along with his wife Brenda, earned the admiration of countless families through his generosity, humility, and unwavering commitment to communal service.

His life reflected a combination of business success and communal leadership. After founding Sakar International in 1977 and growing it to a globally recognized electronics 70 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

company, he devoted countless hours to strengthening the Deal community. As a driving force behind institutions such as the Magen David Complex, Deal Sephardic Network, and other community organizations, Charlie left a lasting impact for future generations.

His leadership extended across many of the community’s religious, educational, and charitable organizations.

Whether supporting schools, synagogues, youth programs, or families in need, Charlie Saka a”h believed that strong institutions required continuous investment, not only financially, but through personal involvement and leadership.

Those who worked with Charlie Saka a”h often described his ability to bring people together around a common purpose. He understood that every successful community depends on volunteers willing to dedicate their time, energy, and resources for the benefit of others.

His son Mr. Sammy Saka, the chairman of Hillel Yeshiva, received the award on his family’s behalf and spoke about his father’s contributions that helped strengthen all the Deal organizations that serve thousands of families throughout the Deal community and beyond. It is important to note that each of Charlie and Brenda’s children has continued his legacy by continuing to help build the Deal community through various charities they spearhead. His recognition at the Library of Congress celebrated not only a lifetime of philanthropy and communal leadership, but also the countless lives touched through decades of service.

A COMMUNITY BUILT ACROSS GENERATIONS Although Joseph M. Betesh a”h and Charlie Saka a”h came from different generations, their lives reflected a shared commitment to building a stronger community. Their contributions reflected different stages of the same story.

One generation laid the foundation. The next ensured that foundation continued to grow.

The recognition at the Library of Congress was more than a tribute to two remarkable men. It was a celebration of a legacy that continues to live in the institutions they helped create, and in the community they both helped build. 

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R O S H

H A S H A N A H

Shaul J. Kassin, Chief Rabbi

‫ הרב הראשי‬,‫ קצין‬.‫שאול י‬

Dear Community Member,

Rosh Hashana 5787

As the High Holidays approach, I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy, peaceful, and spiritually uplifting New Year.

As we prepare for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, each of us naturally takes stock of the year that has passed and thinks about what we would like to improve in the year ahead. But where do we begin? King David gives us a remarkably simple formula: ‫בַ ֵקׁש ָׁשלֹום ו ְָר ְדפֵ הּו‬, ‫ֲשה טֹוב‬ ֵ ‫“ סּור מֵ ָרע ַוע‬Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” (Tehillim 34:15) There are really two different parts to spiritual growth: defense and offense. ‫“ סּור מֵ ָרע‬Turn away from evil” is our defense. We identify the things that are hurting us spiritually; the habits, behaviors, words, and choices that we know we should leave behind, and we work to stop them.

We also need to go on the offensive .‫ֲשה טֹוב‬ ֵ ‫“ ַוע‬And do good.” We don't only ask ourselves, what do I need to stop doing? We also ask, what can I begin doing? How can I add more Torah, more prayer, more kindness, more patience, more time for my family, and more connection to Hashem?

Interestingly, we express this very idea every time we conclude the Amidah. We first pray: ‫ ְנצֹר ְלׁשֹונִי מֵ ָרע ושפתותי ִמ ַדבֵ ר ִמ ְרמָ ה‬, ‫אֱ ֹלהַ י‬ “My God, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking deceit.” That's defense: ‫סּור מֵ ָרע‬. We ask Hashem to help us control ourselves, to protect us from saying and doing the things we know we should not. But our prayer doesn't end there. Moments later we say: ‫ֹותיָך ִת ְרדֹף נ ְַפ ִׁשי‬ ֶ ְ‫וְאַ חֲ ֵרי ִמצ‬, ‫תֹור ֶתָך‬ ָ ‫“ ְפ ַתח ִל ִבי ְב‬Open my heart to Your Torah, and may my soul pursue Your commandments.”

That's offense: ‫ֲשה טֹוב‬ ֵ ‫ ַוע‬.

We have all entered a New Year with sincere resolutions. We mean them when we make them. Yet too often, a few weeks or months later, we find ourselves right back where we started. Perhaps the problem is not our desire to change. Maybe we need a better strategy for change.

So this year, I would like to suggest something simple: One play on defense and one play on offense. Don't try to remake your entire life on Rosh Hashanah. Choose one ‫ ;סּור מֵ ָרע‬one behavior, habit, or weakness that you are going to work seriously to leave behind.

Maybe it is being more careful with the way we speak about others. Maybe it is controlling our temper. Maybe it is setting a boundary with our phones or technology. Maybe it is removing something from our lives that we know is interfering with the person we want to become. That's our defensive play.

Then choose one ‫ֲשה טֹוב‬ ֵ ‫ ; ַוע‬one positive practice that you are going to bring into your life. Perhaps it is setting aside more time for Torah study or concentrating more seriously on one prayer each day. It could be calling someone who is lonely, giving more tzedakah, or making more time for our spouse and children. That's our offensive play.

The Rambam reminds us never to underestimate the power of even one positive change. He writes that a person should view himself as balanced between merit and guilt, and that by performing one mitzvah, he can tip himself, and indeed the entire world, toward merit. (Hilchot Teshuvah 3:4) Sometimes, one meaningful ‫ֲשה טֹוב‬ ֵ ‫ ַוע‬can make all the difference. If each of us can strengthen one area of ‫ סּור מֵ ָרע‬and add one meaningful ‫ֲשה טֹוב‬ ֵ ‫ ַוע‬, then when we stand before Hashem next Rosh Hashanah, we will be able to look back and see genuine growth.

May Hashem inscribe each and every one of us, our families, our community, and all of Am Yisrael in the Book of Life. May the coming year be filled with tranquility, prosperity, and great Beracha. ! ‫כתיבה וחתימה טובה‬

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H A S H A N A H

September 2026 My Dear Friends, On behalf of myself, the Clarke Family, and the people of the Ninth Congressional District of New York, please accept our wishes for a most happy Rosh Hashanah! Across Brooklyn and around the world, the contributions of our Jewish friends and neighbors have bettered our communities and strengthened our civil society. As we embark upon this new year and embrace all the hope, opportunities, and possibilities for positive change it carries, I pray this High Holy Day brings each of you only the utmost health and happiness you deserve. May this new year bring your families peace, prosperity, and joy, and may we continue to celebrate at each other’s sides for all new years to come.

L’Shanah Tovah U’Metukah!

Respectfully,

Yvette D. Clarke Member of Congress

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H A S H A N A H

August 13, 2026 Jewish IMAGE Magazine 1985 West 6th Street Brooklyn, NY 11223 Dear Friends, It is my pleasure to extend my warmest wishes to the readers of Image Magazine and to everyone celebrating Rosh Hashanah.

As the Jewish New Year begins, we are reminded of the importance of faith, family, and community. Rosh Hashanah offers an opportunity to reflect on the past year with gratitude, embrace new beginnings with hope, and look ahead with renewed purpose.

I am honored to represent one of the nation's largest and most vibrant Jewish communities and I remain grateful for the opportunity to work alongside community leaders and organizations dedicated to preserving cherished traditions, strengthening families, and enriching the cultural and spiritual life of our neighborhoods.

I also want to thank Image Magazine for its continued commitment to informing and connecting New York's Sephardic Jewish community while highlighting the people, traditions, and stories that make it so special.

As you gather with loved ones to celebrate, may the coming year bring you peace, good health, happiness, and abundant blessings.

Sincerely,

Nicole Malliotakis Member of Congress

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R O S H

H A S H A N A H

September 2026 Dear Friends: It is with great pleasure that I extend greetings and best wishes to the readers of Image Magazine and the entire Sephardic community for a sweet, happy and healthy Jewish New Year.

September 2026 As we reflect upon this year, we must remember how important it is for Jews around the Dear worldFriends: to stand united in solidarity with the people and State of Israel. We must continue to search for peace in the coming year, while also ensuring the safety and security of all Jews. Our is Israel with great greetings and best wishes to the readers of Image supportIt of mustpleasure be strongthat andI extend unwavering.

Magazine and the entire Sephardic community for a sweet, happy and healthy Jewish New Year.

Again, I send you my warmest regards as we gather to celebrate the wonderful richness of reflect this year, we must remember how important it is for Jews around the life, inAs thewe new year upon of 5787. world to stand united in solidarity with the people and State of Israel. We must continue to searchShana for peace the coming year, while also ensuring the safety and security of all Jews. Our tovainu’metukah. support of Israel must be strong and unwavering.

Sincerely, Again, I send you my warmest regards as we gather to celebrate the wonderful richness of  life, in the new year of 5787.

Shana tova u’metukah.



JERROLD NADLER Member of Congress Sincerely,

 

JERROLD NADLER Member of Congress

SEPTEMBER 2026 JEWISH IMAGE 75

R O S H

H A S H A N A H

STATE OF NEW YORK OFFICE OF THE STATE COMPTROLLER 110 STATE STREET ALBANY, NY 12236

September 2026

Rachelle and Ben-Gurion Matsas Chief Editor and Publisher Jewish IMAGE Magazine 1985 West 6th Street Brooklyn, NY 11223 Dear Friends: Greetings and a Happy New Year to the readers and staff of Jewish IMAGE Magazine. Since 1990, Jewish IMAGE has connected and celebrated New York’s Sephardic Jewish residents by promoting local events and highlighting the community’s rich heritage and customs.

Based in Brooklyn, IMAGE explores all aspects of daily Jewish life. Its print magazine and website reach over 260,000 readers, featuring local, national and international news reports about the Sephardic Jewish community. The magazine staff works closely with rabbis, politicians, yeshivahs and community leaders to make important information available to the community. IMAGE promotes the values of respect, tolerance and unity, as well as celebrating the diverse Sephardic Jewish community. The dedicated officers, board and members of Jewish IMAGE Magazine are honoring cherished traditions and enhancing the quality of life for New Yorkers.

Best wishes for a joyful New Year and continued success. Shanah tovah!

Sincerely,

Thomas P. DiNapoli State Comptroller

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R O S H

H A S H A N A H

Dear Neighbors, As we prepare to welcome the New Year, I want to take a moment to extend my warmest wishes to you and your families for a ‫ שנה טובה ומתוקה‬- a sweet, healthy, and meaningful New Year.

This season is a time for reflection, growth, and renewal. It is also a time to express gratitude for our families, our community, and the opportunity to live our values openly and proudly. I am honored to serve as your representative in the New York State Senate, and to be the first Sephardic Jew elected to this office in our state’s history. That distinction is not just personal, it is deeply communal. It speaks to the strength, vibrancy, and continued growth of our Sephardic and broader Jewish communities.

But we enter this new year during a time of uncertainty. The rise in antisemitic rhetoric and violence across our city, our state, and the world is deeply troubling. These are not abstract threats. They affect our safety, our dignity, and our future. Now more than ever, we must stand united, support one another, and continue to live our lives with purpose, conviction, and pride.

Part of that strength comes from making our voices heard. I urge every eligible voter to participate in our democratic process. Voting is not only a right, it is a responsibility. It is how we shape the future for our children and our community, and it is one of the most powerful ways we can stand up to hate, push back against rising antisemitism, and ensure that our values are represented at every level of government.

As your State Senator, I will continue to advocate for your needs and defend our values, whether it’s fighting for safety and resources, defending our yeshivas, or ensuring that the government works for everyone. May this next year bring peace, safety, and blessing to you and your loved ones.

With heartfelt wishes,

Senator Sam Sutton

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R O S H

H A S H A N A H

SIMCHA EICHENSTEIN

Assembly Member • 48th District

DISTRICT OFFICE 1310 48th Street Brooklyn, New York 11219 Phone: 718-853-9616

ASSISTANT MAJORITY WHIP CHAIR Subcommittee on Outreach and Oversight of Senior Citizen Programs COMMITTEES Aging Cities Governmental Employees Housing Real Property Taxation Social Services

THE ASSEMBLY STATE OF NEW YORK ALBANY

ALBANY OFFICE Room 519 Legislative Office Building Albany, New York 12248 Phone: 518-455-5721 EMAIL eichensteins@nyassembly.gov

‫אלול תשפ״ו‬ Dear Friends: As we approach this meaningful time of year, we reflect upon the past while looking ahead with hope to the future.

Rosh Hashana reminds us to pause from our daily routines and consider both our challenges and our accomplishments. Like many of you, I’ve experienced my share of struggles, but as the New Year draws near, I choose to focus on the achievements.

This past year, my staff and I worked hard to serve our community. Whether we were advancing important legislation in Albany or assisting neighbors with social services in Brooklyn, we remained dedicated to serving you. I am proud of the success that we’ve achieved in many areas, and I assure you that I will remain committed to continue advocating for you.

Rosh Hashana is a time of renewal, growth, and self-improvement. I look forward to a year filled with meaningful moments and with G-d’s help abundant blessings. Representing the 48th District is a tremendous honor, and I am continually inspired by our vibrant community, its extraordinary individuals, and its flourishing organizations. Together, we will build an even brighter future.

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy, healthy, and sweet New Year filled with good health and many blessings. May this Yom Tov bring peace, joy, and serenity to us all.

Sincerely,

Simcha Eichenstein Member of Assembly District 48

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R O S H

H A S H A N A H

THE ASSEMBLY STATE OF NEW YORK ALBANY KALMAN YEGER Member of Assembly 41st District • Kings County

District Office 3520 Nostrand Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11229 718-648-4700 The Capitol Legislative Office Building Albany, New York 12248 518-455-5462

‫אלול תשפ״ו‬ My Dear Neighbors, Serving as your representative is the honor of my life.

Our community is ‫ ברוך ה׳‬strong and vibrant. As your representative in the State Assembly and before that at City Hall, I’ve worked hard to keep it that way.

Through good and challenging times, we are a resilient people – no matter what we face, we rise together and stand together. While we continue to see increased antisemitism, even from those who hold high public office, we know there is no challenge too great for us to meet.

This time of year is one of reflection. We look back, and we look to the future. We continue to pray for peace and safety here and for our family in ‫ ארץ ישראל‬who need ‫רפואה וישועה‬.

I am grateful for the opportunity to serve my neighbors – to be your voice and champion, and to fight for our community with every ounce of energy I have.

I could not do this without your unwavering friendship, support and ‫חזוק‬. I have been given a sacred trust to serve as our community’s representative in Albany, and I am most honored by the faith and confidence you continue to place in me. !‫תזכו לשנים רבות‬

KALMAN YEGER Member of Assembly

SEPTEMBER 2026 JEWISH IMAGE 79

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H A S H A N A H

Dear Friends, I am proud to wish all of Brooklyn a very happy Rosh Hashanah!

Every autumn, my heart is warmed as Brooklyn’s Jewish community gathers to celebrate the new year.

Rosh Hashanah is a sacred time – a time for prayer, reflection, and renewal. And there is no better way to bring in the New Year than with family, friends, and neighbors.

As Brooklyn Borough President, I take great pride in representing the home of the largest population of Jews in the United States. It brings me great joy to see our neighbors all over the borough gather at homes and shuls to pray, to eat apples and honey, and to practice centuries-old traditions in celebration of Rosh Hashanah and the High Holy Days.

May this be a sweet and healthy new year for you and your families and may all of your celebrations be joyous.

Shana Tova, Chag Sameach, and a very happy Rosh Hashanah to all!

Sincerely,

Antonio Reynoso Brooklyn Borough President

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R O S H

H A S H A N A H

̳​̳

DISTRICT OFFICE

ͳͷͳͶ ͸Ͳ ǡ ͹Ͳ͵ ǡ ͳͳʹͳͻ

TEL: (718) 853-2704 FAX: (212) 676-8595

LEGISLATIVE OFFICE 250 BROADWAY, SUITE 1738 NEW YORK, NY 10007

̷ Ǥ Ǥ

SIMCHA FELDER

ǡ ͶͶ ǡ

Tishrei 5787

COMMITTEES

Ƭ Ƭ

SUBCOMMITTEES

Dear Image Magazine Family, As we approach Rosh Hashana, I extend my warmest wishes for a New Year blessed with health, happiness, prosperity, and safety for you and your loved ones.

Shanah Tovah!

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R O S H

H A S H A N A H

September 10, 2026 Dear Constituents, As we begin the year 5787, I wish you and your families a Shana Tova U’Metuka.

Rosh Hashanah is a time for reflection and renewal. It calls on us to look back at the year that has passed and to look ahead with strength and purpose. For Jewish communities across New York City, this past year has not been easy. Antisemitism remains a serious and ongoing concern, and too many in our community have felt its effects.

As Co-Chair of the New York City Council’s Bipartisan Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, I remain committed to confronting this hatred head on. I have worked to hold individuals and institutions accountable, strengthen protections for our communities, and support the agencies charged with fighting hate crimes. One concrete result of this work was advocating for and securing $750,000 in funding for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Hate Crimes Bureau, which was the only borough left completely underfunded.

The Jewish people have always met challenges with resilience, faith, and a deep commitment to community. That same spirit continues to guide us today. I am proud to stand with you and will continue fighting to protect our way of life.

May Hashem bless you, your families, and our entire community with a year of health, strength, and peace.

Sincerely,

Hon. Inna Vernikov, Esq. Councilmember, 48th District

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R O S H

H A S H A N A H

RANKING MEMBER COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE

FRANK PALLONE, JR. 6TH DISTRICT, NEW JERSEY

REPLY TO: 2107 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON, DC 20515 (202) 225-4671 _________ 504 BROADWAY LONG BRANCH, NJ 07740 (732) 571-1140 _________

September, 2026

67/69 CHURCH STREET KILMER SQUARE NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ 08901 (732) 249-8892 https://pallone.house.gov/

Dear Neighbors, I wish you and your loved ones a life full of wonderful blessings and an amazing year ahead. Happy Rosh Hashanah!

May the Jewish New Year bring you peace, renewal, and happiness. Rosh Hashanah is a time to reflect on the year behind us and look forward with optimism.

It’s a chance to pause, reconnect, and set intentions for the future.

May the coming year be filled with good health, family, and many blessings.

Shana Tova!

Sincerely,

FRANK PALLONE, JR. Member of Congress

SEPTEMBER 2026 JEWISH IMAGE 83

ERIK ANDERSON

HALL OF RECORDS ONE EAST MAIN STREET FREEHOLD, NJ 07728 TELEPHONE: 732-683-8855

R OCOMMISSIONER S H H A S H A N A H

Monmouth County B o a r d o f C oSeptember u n t y C2026 ommissioners Rosh Hashanah 5787

ERIK ANDERSON COMMISSIONER

HALL OF RECORDS ONE EAST MAIN STREET FREEHOLD, NJ 07728 TELEPHONE: 732-683-8855

Dear Neighbor, September As we approach the High Holidays, I wanted to take2026 this opportunity to wish you and your Rosh Hashanah family a very happy, healthy, and sweet New Year. 5787 Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are among the holiest days in the Jewish calendar. The High Holidays are a time for families and the community to come together, reflect on the past year, Dear Neighbor, and look ahead with hope and optimism for the future.

As approach Holidays, I wanted to take this Commissioner, opportunity to wish your I amwegrateful for the the High privilege of serving as your County and Iyou am and proud to family a very happy, sweet New Year. represent a strong andhealthy, vibrant and Jewish community that contributes so much to the fabric of Monmouth County. It is an honor to work alongside my fellow Commissioners to keep our Rosh and Yom among the holiest days in the Jewish calendar. The High countyHashanah the very best placeKippur to live, are work, and raise a family.

Holidays are a time for families and the community to come together, reflect on the past year, and look you ahead with hope andones optimism for the future. in the year ahead.

Wishing and your loved peace and prosperity I am grateful the privilege of serving as your County Commissioner, and I am proud to Shanah Tovahfor U’Metukah! represent a strong and vibrant Jewish community that contributes so much to the fabric of Monmouth County. It is an honor to work alongside my fellow Commissioners to keep our county the very best place to live, work, and raise a family.

Wishing you and your loved ones peace Very and prosperity in the year ahead. truly yours, Shanah Tovah U’Metukah!

Erik Anderson Monmouth County Commissioner Very truly yours,

Erik Anderson Monmouth County Commissioner

“SEPTEMBER 2d, 1609

THIS IS A VERY GOOD LAND TO FALL IN WITH AND A PLEASANT LAND TO SEE.”

Entry in the log of Henry Hudson’s Ship Half Moon made after the Dutch Explorer became the first European to come ashore in what was later known as Monmouth County

84 JEWISH IMAGE“SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 20262d, 1609

THIS IS A VERY GOOD LAND TO FALL IN WITH AND A PLEASANT LAND TO SEE.”

Entry in the log of Henry Hudson’s Ship Half Moon made after the Dutch Explorer became

R O S H

N E W

H A S H A N A H

J E R S E Y

BOROUGH OF ALLENHURST 125 Corlies Avenue Allenhurst, NJ 07711 Phone (732) 531-2757 Fax: (732) 531-8694 www.allenhurstnj.org Frieda O. Adjmi Theresa Manziano-Santoro Joseph R. Dweck Donna M. Campagna

Mayor Commissioner Commissioner Clerk Administrator

Welcome to Allenhurst Welcome to Allenhurst

A Rosh Hashanah Message to Our Community

On behalf of Borough the Borough of Allenhurst, is pleasure my pleasure to welcome residents, families, friends, On behalf of the of Allenhurst, it is itmy to welcome our our residents, families, friends, visitors to another wonderful summer in Allenhurst.

Whether have called Allenhurst home andand visitors to another wonderful summer in Allenhurst.

Whether you you have called Allenhurst home As generations we welcome Hashanah, I asend myare warmest wishes toshare alleverything of everything our Allenhurst families and for orRosh are joining usaas guest, we are delighted to makes for generations or are joining us as guest, we delighted to share thatthat makes our our community such a special neighbors celebrating the place.

New Year. community such a special place.

Welcome to Allenhurst

Rosh Hashanah such beautiful time - a time for prayer, reflection, family, meaningful meals, Allenhurst offers the best of both worlds.

On the side of town, beautiful beachfront Allenhurst offers the is best of aboth worlds.

On the easteast side of town, our our beautiful beachfront andand On behalf of the Borough of Allenhurst, it is my pleasure to welcome our residents, families, friends, Beach provide a classic shore On west the side, Deal Lake offers apples and honey, and theshore hope thatexperience. the yearOnahead willwest be even than the opportunities one before.

Beach ClubClub provide a classic experience. the side, Dealsweeter Lake offers opportunities for for and visitors to another wonderful summer Allenhurst.

Whether youand have calledpark.

Allenhurst home fishing, kayaking, canoeing, enjoying ADA-compliant waterfront park.

Residents fishing, kayaking, canoeing, andand enjoying ourinour ADA-compliant dockdock and waterfront Residents for generations oralso are joining us as a guest, weand areand delighted to share everything that makes our and visitors enjoy our pickleball courts, we are about continued improvements and visitors can can also enjoy our pickleball courts, we are excited about continued improvements As families walk to and from shul throughout the holiday, Iexcited ask everyone to please use our community such a special place. to our parks, including a new sunshade sensory equipment designed to make public to our parks, including a new sunshade andand sensory playplay equipment designed to make our our public sidewalks and takeand extra care when our streets. Our Allenhurst Police Department will be spaces welcoming accessible forcrossing everyone. spaces welcoming and accessible for everyone. here throughout thebest holiday, asworlds. always,On helping to keep our community safe.beachfront and Allenhurst offers the of both the east side of town, our beautiful Club provide ato classic shore experience.

On the west side, Deal events, Lake offers opportunities We looking forward to another exciting summer filled with community events, including WeBeach are are looking forward another exciting summer filled with community including our our for As we gather by the ocean for Tashlich, may we leave behind the worries and burdens ofNight the past fishing, kayaking, canoeing, and enjoying our ADA-compliant dock and waterfront park.

Residents weekly Farmers Market, Allenhurst Carnival, Italian-themed Coffee & Cars Show, National weekly Farmers Market, Allenhurst Carnival, Italian-themed Coffee & Cars Show, National Night and visitors can also enjoy our pickleball courts, and we are excited about continued improvements year andIllumination, begin this new one Contest, with lighter hearts, renewed and gratitude forevents thebring people Beach Illumination, Fishing Contest, Movie Nights on the Beach.

These bring we Out,Out, Beach Fishing andand Movie Nights on hope, the Beach.

These events toneighbors, our parks, including a new sunshade and sensory playthe equipment designed to make our public families, and friends together while showcasing the unique charm of our community. neighbors, families, and friends together while showcasing unique charm of our community. love. spaces welcoming and accessible for everyone.

May thealso yearpleased ahead be filled the withthe good health, peace, laughter, beautiful family to welcome addition ahappiness, Hatzalah ambulance stationed in Allenhurst, We We are are also pleased to welcome addition of aof Hatzalah ambulance stationed in Allenhurst, We are looking forward to another exciting summer filled with community events, including helping to provide rapid emergency response enhanced service to our community helping to provide emergency response andand enhanced service to our community andandour moments, and rapid many sweet reasons to celebrate. weekly Farmers Market, Allenhurst Carnival, Italian-themed Coffee & Cars Show, National Night neighboring towns. neighboring towns.

Out, Beach Illumination, Fishing Contest, and Movie Nights on the Beach. These events bring Wishing you and your familiestogether a very happy, healthy andthe sweet New Year.of our community. neighbors, families, and friends while showcasing unique charm As you enjoy the summer, please remember that safety remains a priority.

Unless otherwise As you enjoy the summer, please remember that safety remains a priority. Unless otherwise posted, all Borough streets have a speed limit of 25 miles per hour.

Norwood Avenue remains posted, all Borough streets have a speed limit of 25 miles per hour. Norwood Avenue remains 35 35 We are also pleased to welcome the addition of a Hatzalah ambulance stationed in Allenhurst, miles per hour.

Please also be aware that many surrounding communities have reduced local Shanah Tovah U'Metukah! miles per hour. Please also be aware that many surrounding communities have reduced local helping to provide rapid response andLogan enhanced service to our community roadway speeds tomiles 25 emergency miles hour, including Road and Wickapecko Road inand Ocean roadway speeds to 25 per per hour, including Logan Road and Wickapecko Road in Ocean neighboring towns.

Township, Main Street in Asbury Park, other neighboring shore communities.

Township, Main Street in Asbury Park, andand other neighboring shore communities.

With love,

As youthe enjoy the summer, remember that safety remains a priority.

Unless otherwise With growing popularity of e-bikes, we encourage all riders to familiarize themselves With the growing popularity ofplease e-bikes, weMayor encourage all riders to familiarize themselves withwith NewNew Frieda O. Adjmi posted, all Borough streets have a speed limit of 25 miles per hour.

Norwood Avenue remains Jersey’s e-bike laws and safety requirements.

Please obey all posted speed limits, ride in Jersey’s e-bike laws and safety requirements. Please obey all posted speed limits, ride in the the35 Borough of Allenhurst miles per hour.

Please also be that surrounding communities have reduced local direction of traffic, avoid riding the wrong way on streets or sidewalks, wear reflective gear direction of traffic, avoid riding theaware wrong waymany on streets or sidewalks, andand wear reflective gear roadway speeds to 25 miles per hour, including Logan Road and Wickapecko Road in Ocean when riding at night. when riding at night.

Township, Main Street in Asbury Park, and other neighboring shore communities.

While enjoying all that Allenhurst to offer, we encourage everyone to support business While enjoying all that Allenhurst has has to offer, we encourage everyone to support our our locallocal business With the growing popularity of e-bikes, we encourage all riders to familiarize themselves with district and visit the many establishments, including our kosher establishments, that contribute to district and visit the many establishments, including our kosher establishments, that contribute toNew Jersey’s e-bike laws and safety requirements.

Please obey all posted speed limits, ride in the the character, charm, and vitality of our community. the character, charm, and vitality of our community. direction of traffic, avoid riding the wrong way on streets or sidewalks, and wear reflective gear when riding at night. family a safe, healthy, memorable summer forward to seeing We We wishwish you you andand youryour family a safe, healthy, andand memorable summer andand looklook forward to seeing around town. you you around town.

While enjoying all that Allenhurst has to offer, we encourage everyone to support our local business district and visit the many establishments, including our kosher establishments, that contribute to JEWISH IMAGE 85 SEPTEMBER 2026 the character, charm, and vitality of our community.

R O S H

H A S H A N A H

190 Norwood Avenue, P.O. Box 56 Deal, New Jersey 07723 (732) 531-1454 Mayor SAMUEL M. COHEN

Department of Public Affairs and Public Safety

Commissioner DAVID SIMHON

Department of Public Works, Parks & Beaches and Public Property

Commissioner JACK A. KASSIN

Department of Revenue and Finance

www.dealborough.com

AUGUST 2026 Dear Community Members, Family, and Friends, As we welcome the season of our New Year, Rosh Hashanah, we want to extend our warmest wishes to you and your families. This special time of year offers a unique opportunity for reflection, renewal, and togetherness.

Rosh Hashanah signifies a fresh start, a time to gather with our families, share delicious meals, and engage in meaningful conversations. More than ever, it is a moment for us to come together as a community, appreciate our shared values, and nurture the spirit of kindness, compassion, and support that lies at the heart of our Jewish heritage.

Together, let us embrace the changes ahead with optimism and hope. As we hear the sound of the shofar, may it inspire us to make positive wishes for ourselves, our community, and the world around us. Let it serve as a reminder of the power we hold to shape a brighter future, one filled with peace, safety, and harmony.

Wishing everyone a sweet and meaningful Rosh Hashanah, filled with joy and prosperity. May this New Year bring health, happiness, and countless blessings to you and your families.

Warmest regards, Mayor Sam Cohen Commissioner David Simhon Commissioner Jack A. Kassin

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R O S H

H A S H A N A H

SEPTEMBER 2026 JEWISH IMAGE 87

P E R S O N A L

G R O W T H

THE INTERNAL AUDIT WHAT THE MONTH OF ELUL TEACHES US ABOUT GROWTH JEFF SITT

BEFORE WE ASK HASHEM FOR A BETTER YEAR, ELUL ASKS US TO TAKE AN HONEST LOOK AT THE YEAR WE’VE JUST LIVED.

E

very successful business conducts some form of review. What worked? What didn’t? Where did we grow? Where did we waste time, money, or energy?

What problems keep repeating themselves? What needs to change before we move forward? We understand this in business. We review numbers, people, systems, inventory, and performance because we know something important, you can’t improve what you’re unwilling to look at honestly.

But how often do we conduct that same audit on ourselves? That’s one of the great opportunities of the month of Elul.

By the time you’re reading this, we’re already in Elul, 88 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

the Hebrew month leading into Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Judaism doesn’t simply give us a new year and tell us to make some resolutions. It gives us an entire month beforehand to reflect, take stock, and prepare. Think about that. Before asking, “What do I want from the year ahead?” we’re encouraged to ask, “What did I do with the year I was just given?” That’s a very different question.

Most of us are good at looking forward. We have goals, plans, business targets, things we want to buy, places we want to go, and problems we want solved. But growth doesn’t only come from setting a better destination.

Sometimes it comes from becoming honest about who’s doing the driving. That’s the internal audit.

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P E R S O N A L

G R O W T H

Where am I today? Where have I grown? Where am I still repeating the same patterns? What conversations am I avoiding? How am I showing up for my spouse, my children, my employees, my partners, and the people who depend on me? Am I leading my business, or is my business leading me? And perhaps the hardest question of all, Who am I becoming?

Elul isn’t meant to be an exercise in beating ourselves up. An honest audit isn’t about shame. It’s about awareness. If a business discovers a weakness in its systems, the answer isn’t to sit around feeling terrible about it. The answer is to understand it, address it, and build something better. Why should personal growth be any different?

We all have areas that need work. Maybe you’ve become more reactive. Maybe you’ve stopped listening.

Maybe success has made you less present at home. Maybe you’ve been so busy taking care of everything that you’ve stopped taking care of yourself. Maybe there’s a conversation you know you need to have. Or maybe, when you really look at the past year, you realize something else. You’ve actually grown more than you’ve given yourself credit for.

That’s part of the audit too.

Elul asks us to look honestly, not negatively. There’s a big difference because awareness creates choice. Once I can see a pattern, I can decide whether I want to continue it. Once I recognize how I’m showing up, I can choose how I want to show up differently. Once I know where I am, I can begin deciding where I want to go.

So here’s a simple exercise for this month. Take ten 90 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

quiet minutes. No phone, no email, no distractions. Ask yourself five questions. Where have I genuinely grown over the past year? What am I doing today that I know I need to stop? What am I avoiding that I know I need to address?

What is one improvement I can make to strengthen my spiritual connection with Hashem? Who do I want to become before this time next year?

Don’t try to solve everything. Just pay attention. In Hebrew, there’s a beautiful phrase, Sim Lev, to place your heart, to pay attention. Maybe that’s what Elul is really asking of us. Pay attention to your choices, your relationships, your patterns, your blessings, and the person you’re becoming.

Rosh Hashanah will soon arrive, and we’ll ask Hashem for health, blessing, success, peace, and a good year. But perhaps one of the greatest preparations for a new year isn’t deciding what we want to accomplish next. It’s taking an honest look at who we’ve become this past year, and deciding who we want to become in the year ahead. That’s the internal audit. And there’s still time to make an adjustment.  Jeff Sitt is a Business & Life Strategist, speaker, and author who helps individuals and business leaders move from stress, reactivity, and overwhelm to greater clarity, focus, and purpose. Drawing from decades of business experience, mindfulness practices, and practical Torah-based wisdom, he combines mindset, emotional awareness, and actionable tools to help people perform better at work and in life.

Jeff is the author of “Driving to Thriving: Reduce Stress and Increase Profits.”

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T H O U G H T S

THE MEANING OF SUKKOT 5 INSPIRING LESSONS SLOVIE JUNGREIS-WOLFF

PLUG INTO THE JOY AND SPIRITUAL DEPTH OF THIS INCREDIBLE JEWISH HOLIDAY.

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he holiday of Sukkot brings us to a place of joy, celebrating our newfound connection to the spiritual energy we’ve plugged into during the High Holidays.

Here are five life lessons to reflect upon as we sit within the walls of our sukkah.

1. LOOK UP When sitting in the sukkah one must be able to see the sky through the covering of the roof made out of leaves.

It’s as if a mystical voice is calling out to us and whispering, “Look up.” Know that you will go through moments in life that will be terrifying. Your forefathers left Egypt and came into the desert wilderness not knowing how they would survive. No food. No water. The sun was scorching hot.

There were snakes and scorpions. But G-D enveloped His children with Clouds of Glory that served as protection that continues to serve as a lesson until today.

The sukkah is our reminder that faith and trust in G-D are the greatest weapon to combat fear. With recent events we’ve realized how much is out of our control. The world is 92 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

spinning. It may feel difficult to hold on. Lift your eyes and see the Source of life. Don’t crumble. The sukkah is here for every single one of us to experience. Bask within the shelter of faith.

2. WE DON’T NEED ALL THE STUFF The sukkah is a temporary dwelling. We leave our homes and for seven days we live in the sukkah. All the comforts of home are inside. Somehow we are content, even tasting joy, as we join those we love in celebration.

What happened to all the stuff we thought we needed to be happy?

The seven days represent the seven decades of a person’s life. What really counts in the end? Life is temporary.

No one wishes that they had amassed more ‘stuff’. Rather, we wish we would’ve spent more time with those we cherish.

We regret moments lost, words not said, and opportunities for love that never return.

Sukkot liberates us. We are given time to take a spiritual time out and think about what really matters.

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T H O U G H T S

3. WE COME FROM GREATNESS Each night we are given a beautiful prayer to say as we invite a holy guest into our sukkah. Altogether there are seven ushpizin (guests) who grace our sukkah with their spiritual presence, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Josef, Moses, Aaron and David.

These seven transformed a morally desolate world into a place of kindness, compassion and awareness of G-D. Each of us is given an ability to draw upon the blessings of those who came before us. Their every struggle and challenge becomes a stepping stone for our personal life journey.

When we realize the greatness we come from, we are given the strength to pick ourselves up and keep walking.

We, too, can bring light into a world of darkness. We must only invite greatness into our lives.

4. DISCOVER THE GIFT OF HUMILITY A sukkah taller than 20 amos (cubits), around three stories, cannot be used. The lesson is deep. If there is one character trait that pushes godliness out of our lives, it is arrogance. When you are so full of yourself, there is no space for anyone else, even G-D. If you want your life to be filled with love and meaning, discover the gift of humility. Know how to put others first.

Don’t live a ‘selfie life’, where the lens is only turned on yourself. Feel the pain of another. Each day ask yourself, how is this world better because I exist? Make space for others. Be a giver.

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When my child was once crying, my six-foot-two father bent down to hear him. He picked my little boy up, cuddled him on his shoulders and said, “No one should ever be too high to hear the cries of a child.”

We are all that child. And none of us can ever feel too high to hear the cries of another.

5. FEEL G-D’S HUG A sukkah requires at least two complete walls plus a third wall that can even be one handbreadth.

The image is that of a hug. The sukkah is G-D’s embrace of us. Each and every one of us is precious. When you give someone a hug, you wrap your hands around their back and pull them close. Their face is not seen. So too, we are being embraced. It does not matter what we think we look like, spiritually, or mistakes we made that we believe may create obstacles as we try to plug into our souls.

Enter the sukkah and know that you are loved. Every person who wants to come close is hugged. Unconditionally.

The sukkah is speaking to us. We just need to open our hearts to hear its whisper. 

Slovie Jungreis Wolff is a noted teacher, author, relationships and parenting lecturer. She is the leader of Hineni Couples and daughter of Rebbetzen Esther Jungreis. Slovie is the author of the parenting handbook, Raising A Child With Soul. She gives weekly classes and has lectured throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Panama, and South Africa.

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THE OLDEST LOVE AFFAIR IN HISTORY AMID RISING ANTI-SEMITISM, THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK REJOICE WITH THE TORAH

O

JEFF JACOBY

n Oct. 14, 1663, the English civil servant Samuel Pepys decided to pay a visit to the Jewish synagogue in London’s Creechurch Lane. Jews were a novelty in Restoration England. They had been expelled from the realm nearly four centuries earlier, and it was only in 1656 that they had once again been permitted to live on English soil. Pepys, knowing nothing of Judaism, wasn’t aware that his excursion happened to coincide with the most euphoric day in the Jewish calendar, the festival of Simchat Torah.

What he saw bewildered him. “But, Lord!” he recorded in his famous diary, “to see the disorder, laughing, sporting, and no attention, but confusion in all their service, more like brutes than people knowing the true G-D, would make a man forswear ever seeing them more and indeed I never did see so much, or could have imagined there had been any religion in the whole world so absurdly performed as this.”

What Pepys had unwittingly walked in on was a celebration of the oldest love affair in history, the infatuation of 96 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

the Jewish people with the Torah. In Judaism, there are no saints to adore or icons to venerate. Rather, there is a book to study and teach: the scroll of the law, the Torah given by G-D to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai, the essential text with which Jews have engaged intellectually and by which they have been sustained emotionally for more than three millennia.

That book is “our most cherished possession,” writes Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the noted British theologian and member of the House of Lords. “We stand in its presence as if it were a king. We dance with it as if it were a bride. We kiss it as if it were a friend. If, G-D forbid, one is damaged beyond repair, we mourn it as if it were a member of the family.” If a Torah scroll is accidentally dropped, everyone who witnesses it is expected to fast in penance. When a synagogue is burned, whether by accident or by arson, there is an immediate, palpable anxiety to know whether the Torah scrolls were saved or lost.

Simchat Torah occurs on the last day of a three-week sequence of fall holidays. It follows Rosh Hashanah,

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T H O U G H T S

Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. Unlike those holidays, however, Simchat Torah is not biblically ordained. It was not imposed by religious authorities from the top down, but grew organically from the bottom up. Its roots reach back 15 centuries to the ancient Jewish community of Babylonia, which formalized the practice of publicly reading the entire Torah, from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Deuteronomy, over the course of a year. The completion of the annual cycle became an occasion of joy, marked by singing and dancing around the synagogue with the Torah scrolls.

Adults and children alike take part in the festivities. And as soon as the final verses of Deuteronomy are chanted from the end of one scroll, another is opened and the first chapter of Genesis is chanted: “In the beginning, G-D created the heavens and the earth.” The Jewish engagement with the Torah never ends; as soon as we finish, we start again.

The “people of the book,” Jews are called. The phrase comes from the Koran, where it appears 31 times, an apt emphasis, for no nation has ever been as closely identified with a book as have Jews with the Torah. Sacks notes that by the time Simchat Torah had spread throughout the Jewish world, Jews had lost everything that would seem indispensable to national survival: land, sovereignty, political freedom, a military. Yet they still had their book to study and teach and rejoice with. Somehow, that was enough to keep Jewish peoplehood alive.

Three centuries after Pepys made his diary entry, another renowned writer encountered Jews celebrating Simchat Torah. In 1965, Elie Wiesel traveled to the Soviet 98 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

Union, where Jews lived in fear and religion was repressed.

And yet, he discovered, on one day of the year, Simchat Torah, throngs of young Jews streamed to the remaining synagogue in Moscow, bravely defying the KGB to openly celebrate their Jewishness.

Wiesel was astonished. “Where did they all come from?” he marveled. “Who told them that tens of thousands of boys and girls would gather here to sing and dance and rejoice in the joy of the Torah? They who barely know each other and know even less of Judaism, how did they know that? I spent hours among them, dazed and excited, agitated by an ancient dream.” It was a harbinger of the coming struggle to save Soviet Jewry, which would eventually crack open the Iron Curtain and change the trajectory of the Cold War. Simchat Torah returns amid a rising global tide of antiSemitism. After the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh, and after the Yom Kippur shooting in Halle, Germany, Jews increasingly require police protection when they gather in prayer. Nevertheless, synagogues the world over will be filled anew with the same euphoria that so startled Pepys and amazed Wiesel. The People of the Book will once again rejoice with the Law, dancing with the scrolls that have been, for 33 centuries, the ultimate source of their identity and strength.  Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe, where this article originally appeared.

I N S P I R A T I O N A L

T H O U G H T S

WHAT ROME’S GREAT SYNAGOGUE TAUGHT ME ABOUT CHANGE RABBI DR. YOSEF LYNN

STANDING INSIDE THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE OF ROME, I COULDN’T STOP STARING AT THE ARCHITECTURE AND EVERYTHING SURROUNDING IT. THE BUILDING IS SHAPED LIKE A CROSS BECAUSE JEWS DIDN’T DESIGN IT. ROMAN AND GREEK COLUMNS WERE BUILT INTO IT ON PURPOSE, A REMINDER, ETCHED IN STONE, OF THE TWO EMPIRES THAT ONCE BELIEVED THEY HAD CRUSHED THE JEWISH PEOPLE FOR GOOD. WHEN THE NAZIS OCCUPIED ROME, THEY MADE PLANS TO PRESERVE IT AS A MUSEUM, A MONUMENT TO AN EXTINCT RACE.

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he synagogue sits in what was once the Roman Ghetto, deliberately placed beside the Tiber River, which flooded regularly and was expected to help finish the job the empires couldn’t. Churches once ringed the ghetto, built there in the hopes of pressuring conversion. The Greeks are gone. The Romans are gone.

The Nazis are gone. And there I was, praying in that room with a minyan of living, breathing Jews.

I’ve never felt anything like the wave of hope that hit me in that moment. I felt a bone-deep certainty that the eternal promise made to the Jewish people is real. No empire, no ideology, no river was ever going to be the end of the story.

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HOPE CHANGES EVERYTHING Charles R. Snyder, a researcher in the field of positive psychology, spent decades studying why some people manage to change their lives, break a habit, heal a relationship, rebuild after collapse, while others, facing the very same circumstances, stay stuck. What he found surprised many.

More essential than willpower was the power of hope.

You need to believe a better outcome actually exists, and that you have some way of getting there. Take away either piece, and people stop trying. Why put in the work to change if you’re convinced nothing is going to be different on the other side?

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I N S P I R A T I O N A L

T H O U G H T S

Hope is the prerequisite for change. Before you can build new habits, repair a relationship, or start over after failure, you have to first believe that starting over is possible for you. Everything else is built on that.

SPIRITUAL LESSON OF THE JEWISH CALENDAR This is a fascinating sequence embedded in the Jewish calendar. You walk out of Tisha B’Av flattened. You’ve spent the day mourning the destruction of the Temple, the exile, the long catalog of catastrophes that fell on this specific date across history. By the time the fast ends, you are spiritually and emotionally in pieces.

And yet, a few weeks later, you’re expected to walk into Rosh Hashanah, the day you stand before the King of the universe and ask to be written into a new year of life, to dream about life, and to set new goals.

How do you go from “everything I had is destroyed” to “I am worthy of a fresh start” in seven weeks? That’s an enormous emotional distance to travel. The answer is the seven Haftarahs read on the Shabbats between Tisha B’Av and Rosh Hashanah, the Shiva D’Nechemta. Each one is a message of comfort from the prophets to a broken nation. Before the Jewish people can be asked to do the difficult work of teshuva, of real change, they first have to be handed hope and taught to believe that restoration is actually possible.

Transformation cannot begin from a place of despair.

So the Jewish calendar doesn’t rush you from ruin straight into judgment. It gives you seven full weeks of being told, in seven different ways, that the story isn’t over and that rebuilding is indeed possible. That’s what hit me in that synagogue in Rome. Empires tried to write the Jewish people out of history, and in the end became background scenery for a people still standing, still praying.

BUT WHAT IF YOUR PAST ARGUES AGAINST YOU? But you’ve made this same resolution before. You stood at this crossroads last Rosh Hashanah, and the one before 102 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

that, working on the same weakness, praying about the same relationship, still stuck in the same place. Your own track record can undermine any feeling of hope for change.

How do you believe change is possible when the evidence in front of you says otherwise?

Snyder’s research offers an answer, because hope is built from two separate ingredients. The first is having an actual pathway to your goal. The second is believing you’re capable of walking it. Most people’s yearly disappointment isn’t proof that change is impossible for them. It’s proof that they tried the identical pathway that already failed them, and expected a different result the second, third, or tenth time around.

So the practical shift is this: stop asking, “Will I change this year?” Start asking, “What am I doing differently this time?” If your strategy is unchanged from last Elul, the result will be unchanged too. A different pathway, smaller, more specific, built around your actual patterns instead of a vague hope for willpower, is what turns “I’ve tried before” from a reason for despair into simply useful information about which pathway didn’t work.

And look for the evidence you already have, even if it’s small. You don’t need a full year of transformation behind you to justify hope. You need one moment when you didn’t do what you would have done a year earlier. That single data point is enough to make the belief legitimate, not naive. So before you make a single resolution for the new year, start strengthening the key prerequisite, the inner belief that things can actually be different. Your future growth rests on that conviction.  Rabbi Dr. Yosef Lynn is an executive coach who focuses on helping individuals thrive in their professional lives and beyond, giving them the tools to achieve their goals in all of their personal endeavors, especially in their relationships and serves as the Dean of Students at Machon Yaakov, the Dr. David Robinson Institute for Jewish Heritage, Jerusalem. He holds a Doctorate in Human and Organizational Psychology (PsyD) from Touro, and a Master in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) from the University of Pennsylvania.

R E C I P E S

SWEET BEGINNINGS Four Rosh Hashanah Recipes for A Sweet and Flavorful New Year ROSH HASHANAH IS THE PERFECT TIME TO BRING A LITTLE EXTRA SWEETNESS INTO THE KITCHEN. HONEY, APPLES, DATES, PEARS, AND MAPLE SYRUP ADD SEASONAL FLAVOR WHILE STILL KEEPING THESE DISHES BALANCED AND SAVORY WHERE THEY NEED TO BE.

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hese four recipes offer a mix of comforting classics and fresh ideas for the holiday table. From tender brisket and stuffed chicken to roasted sweet potatoes and a pear dessert, each one is practical enough for home cooking and special enough for Yom Tov.

HONEY MUSTARD BRISKET WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS Meat Yields: 1 brisket Serves: 8 to 10 Ingredients • 4 to 5 pounds first cut brisket • 2 tsp salt • 1 tsp black pepper • 2 tbsp olive oil • 4 large yellow onions, thinly sliced • 4 cloves garlic, minced • 1 cup beef broth • ¼ cup honey • ¼ cup Dijon mustard • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar • 1 tbsp tomato paste • 1 tsp paprika Instructions 1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Pat the brisket dry. Season both sides with the salt and pepper.

3. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or oven safe roasting pan over medium high heat. Brown the brisket for about 4 minutes per side. Transfer it to a plate.

4. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions and 104 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

cook for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.

5. Stir in the beef broth, honey, mustard, apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, and paprika. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer.

6. Return the brisket to the pan, fat side up. Spoon some of the onions and sauce over the meat.

7. Cover tightly and bake for about 3 to 3 and a half hours, until the brisket is fork tender.

8. Remove the brisket from the pan and let it rest for 20 minutes. For easier slicing, refrigerate the brisket until cold, then slice it thinly against the grain.

9. Return the sliced brisket to the sauce. Cover and reheat at 325 degrees until hot, about 30 minutes.

MAPLE ROASTED SWEET POTATOES AND APPLES Parve Yields: About 8 cups Serves: 8 Ingredients • 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces • 3 firm apples, peeled, cored, and cut into thick wedges • 3 tbsp olive oil • 3 tbsp pure maple syrup • 1 tsp ground cinnamon • 1 tsp salt • ¼ teaspoon black pepper • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice Instructions 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Place the sweet potatoes in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, the cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Toss until evenly coated.

3. Spread the sweet potatoes in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet.

4. Roast for 20 minutes.

5. Toss the apples with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, remaining 1 tablespoon maple syrup, and lemon juice.

6. Add the apples to the baking sheet and gently toss them with the sweet potatoes.

7. Return the pan to the oven and roast for another 20 to 25 minutes, stirring once, until the sweet potatoes are tender and lightly browned and the apples are softened but still hold their shape.

8. Serve warm.

• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley • ½ tsp ground cinnamon • ½ cup chicken broth • 2 tbsp honey • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

DATE AND WALNUT STUFFED CHICKEN Meat Yields: 8 stuffed chicken breasts Serves: 8 Ingredients • 8 thin chicken breast cutlets • 1 tsp salt • ½ tsp black pepper • 1 cup pitted dates, finely chopped • ¾ cup walnuts, finely chopped • 1 small onion, finely diced • 2 tbsp olive oil, divided

Instructions 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly coat a large baking dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil.

2. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until soft.

3. Remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the dates, walnuts, parsley, and cinnamon. Let the filling cool for several minutes.

4. Lay the chicken cutlets on a work surface. Season them with the salt and pepper.

5. Place about 2 tablespoons of the date mixture near one end of each cutlet. Roll the chicken around the filling and place it seam side down in the prepared baking dish.

6. Stir together the chicken broth, honey, and lemon juice. Pour the mixture around the chicken.

7. Cover the baking dish tightly and bake for 20 minutes.

8. Uncover and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and reaches 165 degrees in the center.

9. Spoon some of the pan juices over the chicken before serving.

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R E C I P E S

HONEY PEAR UPSIDE DOWN CAKE Pareve Yields: 1 9 inch cake Serves: 8 to 10 Ingredients • 3 ripe but firm pears • 3 tbsp honey • 2 tbsp neutral oil • 1 ½ cups all purpose flour • 1 tsp baking powder • ½ tsp baking soda • ½ tsp ground cinnamon • ¼ tsp salt • 2 large eggs • ½ cup sugar • ¼ cup honey • ½ cup neutral oil • 1 tsp vanilla extract • ½ cup unsweetened applesauce Instructions 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

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2. Peel the pears, cut them in half, and remove the cores. Cut the pears into thin slices.

3. Spread 3 tablespoons honey over the bottom of the prepared pan. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil.

4. Arrange the pear slices over the honey in an even, slightly overlapping layer.

5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

6. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until well combined. Add the quarter cup honey, half cup oil, vanilla, and applesauce. Whisk until smooth.

7. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir just until no dry streaks remain.

8. Pour the batter carefully over the pears and spread it evenly.

9. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the center is set and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

10. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes.

11. Run a thin knife around the edge of the cake.

Place a serving plate over the pan and carefully invert the cake onto the plate.

12. Remove the parchment paper and let the cake cool before slicing. 

F O C U S

O N

THE BUSINESS SUCCESS FORMULA START, RUN, GROW

S

BEN G. MATSAS

tarting a business is incredibly exciting, but building something that lasts requires a solid game plan. Today, modern tools allow small startups to compete with giant corporations. However, opening your doors is only the first step. To truly succeed, every entrepreneur needs to master three crucial stages, Start, Run, and Grow.

START CREATE THE RIGHT FOUNDATION Every great business begins with a strong foundation.

Choosing a legal structure, such as an LLC or a corporation, is an important early step toward establishing your company. In the past, many founders thought that incorporating required expensive lawyers and endless piles of confusing paperwork. Thankfully, modern tech and online electronic filing services have changed the game. Today, business owners can complete their formation steps faster and more efficiently than ever before. A professional filing service can easily handle the heavy lifting, helping you complete and submit vital business formation documents.

Getting this right from day one gives you the confidence to focus on what matters most, building your dream.

RUN OPERATE LIKE A PROFESSIONAL Once your business is legally official, your next big challenge is creating a professional image. Customers 108 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

judge companies by their online appearance long before making first contact. To build instant trust, your business needs a cohesive digital setup, including a clean, modern website, a dedicated business email address, a professional business phone number, a verified Google Business Profile, and an internet presence in search engines. These simple tools make your business look credible, keep your communications organized, and prove to potential clients that you are the real deal.

GROW TURN VISIBILITY INTO SUCCESS The final piece of the puzzle is long-term growth.

Having a great product or service is a wonderful start, but it only succeeds if people actually know it exists. Growth requires smart, modern marketing strategies to reach your ideal audience. Today’s most successful entrepreneurs leverage smart digital solutions like search engine visibility, targeted social media, automated email campaigns, and automated follow-up systems to turn casual visitors into loyal customers. Marketing creates the awareness and trust that keeps your business moving forward.  Ben G. Matsas is the founder of Liberty Filing. Liberty Filing provides electronic filing assistance, professional services, and the essential tools entrepreneurs need to seamlessly start, run, and grow their businesses with confidence.

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C O M M U N I T Y

E V E N T S

SUMMER IN OUR COMMUNITY THIS MONTH’S COMMUNITY PHOTO ALBUM CELEBRATES OUR COMMUNITY MAKING THE MOST OF SUMMER. FROM CHILDREN ENJOYING CAMP AND FAMILIES SPENDING TIME TOGETHER TO TOURNAMENTS, BAKE SALES, AUCTIONS, FUNDRAISERS, CONCERTS, SINGLES EVENTS, FAMILY PROGRAMS, COMMUNITY GATHERINGS, NONPROFIT EVENTS, AND OTHER MEANINGFUL SUMMER ACTIVITIES, THESE PHOTOS CAPTURE THE ENERGY AND SPIRIT OF THE SEASON. SUMMER BRINGS COUNTLESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR COMMUNITY TO CONNECT, GIVE BACK, CELEBRATE, AND SPEND MEANINGFUL TIME TOGETHER. WHETHER ENJOYING CAMP, ATTENDING A LOCAL PROGRAM, SUPPORTING AN IMPORTANT CAUSE, PARTICIPATING IN A COMMUNITY EVENT, OR SIMPLY SPENDING TIME WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY, WE ARE PROUD TO SHARE THESE SPECIAL MOMENTS FROM ACROSS OUR COMMUNITY.

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C O M M U N I T Y

E V E N T S

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P A R E N T I N G

HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILD SUCCEED IN SCHOOL WITHOUT PRESSURE OR POWER STRUGGLES SIX PRACTICAL WAYS TO SUPPORT YOUR CHILD’S SUCCESS, WITHOUT TURNING INTO THE HOMEWORK POLICE

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ADINA SOCLOF, MS. CCC-SLP

very parent wants their child to succeed in school.

The most powerful things you can do have less to do with grades and more to do with relationships, responsibility, and emotional support.

struggling in school shouldn’t also carry the weight of feeling like they’re disappointing their parents. So the first step is this, try not to make your child’s school performance mean too much about you. Your child’s grades are not your report card.

Here are six ways to help: 1. CHECK YOUR OWN MINDSET FIRST Parents naturally care about their child’s school performance. But sometimes, without realizing it, we start seeing our child’s grades as a reflection of our own parenting. If our child succeeds, we feel successful. If they struggle, we feel like we’ve failed. That mindset creates enormous pressure for kids.

Children pick up on what’s not being said out loud.

Even if you never tell your child “you need top grades,” they sense your anxiety, disappointment, or fear, and school starts to feel heavy instead of manageable. A child already 114 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

2. MAKE SURE YOUR CHILD KNOWS YOUR LOVE ISN’T BASED ON GRADES Children need to know they’re loved for who they are, not for their test scores or report card.

A child who feels pressure to perform just to keep a parent happy can become anxious, discouraged, or oppositional. Sometimes kids “act out” because they’re really asking, Do you love me for me, or only when I do well? If I don’t get an A, will I still be okay in your eyes?

Protecting your relationship with your child is protecting their ability to learn. Kids who feel deeply loved and emotionally safe are less consumed by fear and more able

P A R E N T I N G

to focus, try, recover from mistakes, and keep going when school gets hard. Before you even look at a test grade, it helps enormously for your child to hear, “I hope you know I love you no matter what your grades are.” Don’t spend all your energy managing schoolwork. Spend some of it building connection, talk, laugh, spend time together that has nothing to do with homework or performance.

3. STAY AT A SAFE DISTANCE FROM YOUR CHILD’S SCHOOLWORK Parents often think being involved means checking every assignment, monitoring every grade, and reminding kids about every piece of homework. But when we take over our child’s academic life, we accidentally teach them that we’re in charge of it. Your child needs ownership over their work. That doesn’t mean ignoring school, it means staying supportive without taking over.

You might say, “When were you planning on doing your homework?” Or, “Oh, you’re not doing your homework tonight? I sure hope you don’t get in trouble with your teacher tomorrow. Let me know what happens.”

Then step back and let your child deal with the natural consequences. This will look different depending on your child’s age and temperament, a first grader needs more structure than a middle schooler. But even young kids benefit when parents resist becoming the homework manager, reminder system, and emotional enforcer all at once.

4. PRAISE EFFORT, NOT JUST INTELLIGENCE It’s tempting to say “you’re so smart!” or “you’re the brightest kid I know!” But this kind of praise can backfire.

Kids praised mainly for being “smart” start to feel their worth depends on always looking capable. When school gets hard, they shut down or give up rather than feel “not smart.”

Instead, praise effort, persistence, and problem-solving. You might say, “You really stuck with that even when it was hard.” You could also say, “I noticed how carefully you studied for that test,” or, “You kept trying even when you got frustrated.”

This teaches children that effort matters, growth is pos116 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

sible, and mistakes are part of learning, and it helps them feel more in control of their own progress.

5. STAY CALM WHEN YOUR CHILD GETS A BAD GRADE If your child comes home with a bad grade, don’t panic, even if it stirs up your own old fears or disappointments.

When parents react with anger or harsh criticism, kids feel shame, not motivation. And shame rarely helps anyone learn. More often it leaves them defensive or hopeless.

Instead, respond with calm and confidence. You might say, “I’m sure you’re disappointed with that grade. Let me know if I can help.” Or, “I will always love you. I believe you can turn this around.” You might also say, “Let’s think about what might help next time.”

This keeps responsibility where it belongs, on your child, while you remain a steady, supportive presence.

6. BE A PROBLEM SOLVER, NOT A BLAMER If your child is consistently struggling, resist the urge to blame your child, the teacher, the school, or yourself.

Blame rarely helps kids improve. Instead, calmly name the problem, “My son came home with a D. That’s too bad.”

Then ask yourself what your child is missing that they need help with. Do they need help with organization, reading, attention, or study habits? Is something going on socially or emotionally that’s affecting school? How can you support your child without taking over?

Sometimes a child isn’t struggling because they “don’t care.” They may be overwhelmed, disorganized, anxious, or confused about the material, and need more structure, tutoring, or better communication between home and school. Stay calm and curious, and you’re far more likely to land on a plan that actually helps.  Adina Soclof, MS, CCC-SLP is a Parent Educator, Professional Development Instructor and Speech Pathologist working with children in a school setting. She received her BA. in History from Queens College and her MS. in Communication Sciences from Hunter College. Adina is the founder of ParentingSimply.com. She delivers parenting classes as well as professional development workshops for Speech Pathologists, Teachers and other health professionals

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SEVEN STEPS TO BECOMING MORE OPTIMISTIC DR. LESLIE M. GUTMAN

OPTIMISM IS A SKILL YOU CAN BUILD. HERE ARE SEVEN RESEARCH-BACKED STEPS TO TRAIN YOUR BRAIN TOWARD HOPE, RESILIENCE, AND A BETTER OUTLOOK ON LIFE.

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ost of us are not naturally optimistic. When life gets difficult, our minds often jump to worry, self-criticism, or the belief that one bad moment predicts a bad future. But psychology research finds something encouraging. Optimism is not a fixed trait. It is a learnable skill, shaped by the way you interpret events, the habits you practice, and the thoughts you choose to strengthen. This coincides with Jewish tradition. The idea of gam zu l’tovah (“this too is for good”) is a mindset that inspires us to look for the good in every situation, even when the circumstances feel disappointing.

Optimism matters. People who think optimistically recover faster from setbacks, persevere longer, and feel more capable of shaping their lives. Optimism supports emotional resilience, improves relationships, and even benefits physical health. This is different from toxic positivity. Toxic positivity insists on being happy at all costs. It tells you to “look on the bright side” even when you are hurting.

It shuts down emotional honesty. Optimism, by contrast, acknowledges your difficulties, but emphasizes interpretations that support your healing and growth, not your denial.

Here are seven steps to a more optimistic mindset.

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1. CHANGE YOUR EXPLANATORY STYLE FOR NEGATIVE EVENTS The way you explain setbacks to yourself has a big impact on how you feel about your life. A pessimistic explanation treats problems as permanent, pervasive, and entirely personal. An optimistic view sees them as temporary, specific, and influenced by many factors.

Imagine someone who makes a mistake at work and immediately thinks, “I always mess things up.” That interpretation drains their motivation. A more optimistic interpretation is, “I struggled today, but tomorrow I can try again.”

Tip. When something goes wrong, ask yourself whether you are exaggerating its impact on your life, the role you played, or how long it will last.

2. SPEND TIME WITH POSITIVE PEOPLE Optimism spreads through social contact with others.

When you spend time with people who see their lives with hope and positivity, their mindset influences yours. Think of a friend who responds to challenges with problem-solving instead of panic. Being around that person changes your own reactions.

The people you surround yourself with shape your inner world.

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Tip. Notice who leaves you feeling more hopeful and who leaves you feeling depleted, then adjust your time with them accordingly.

3. IMAGINE A MORE POSITIVE FUTURE One of the most effective optimism exercises is imagining your “best possible self.” Picture your “future self” living a meaningful and fulfilling life. This is not just a fantasy.

Research finds that visualizing your “best possible self” improves your mood and increases your expectancies for a positive future. For example, a student who imagines herself succeeding in her studies becomes more willing to take steps toward that future. Hope begins with the ability to picture something better.

Tip. Spend five minutes each day imagining your future, full of hope and possibility.

4. FIND A ROLE MODEL Optimism becomes easier when you can see someone who lives it. A role model shows you how positivity looks in action. Think of someone who has faced hardship with dignity and grit. Seeing how they interpret setbacks models how to interpret your own challenges in ways that are productive, not pessimistic. A role model gives you a mental template for your own optimism.

Tip. Choose one person who is honest about their struggles yet still inspiring. Notice how they speak about their own challenges and how they frame their setbacks.

5. REDUCE YOUR EXPOSURE TO THE NEWS Constant negative input trains your brain to expect the worst. You do not need to avoid the news entirely, but you can curate what you take in. Someone who scrolls through alarming headlines all day long will naturally feel more pessimistic. Someone who checks the news once a day from reliable sources will feel more balanced. What you take in influences your mindset.

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Tip. Set a specific time to read the news and avoid checking it outside that window.

6. FOCUS ON YOUR SUCCESSES The human brain has a negativity bias. It remembers your failures more vividly than your successes. To counter this, intentionally notice what is going well in your life. A person who ends the day thinking only about what went wrong will feel discouraged. A person who remembers things that went right will feel more capable and motivated.

Appreciating your wins strengthens your confidence and builds momentum.

Tip. Write down three successes at the end of each day, no matter how minor.

7. GIVE YOURSELF POSITIVE FEEDBACK Optimism grows when you speak to yourself with encouragement rather than criticism. Imagine someone who finishes a project and immediately thinks, “It’s not good enough.” That mindset erodes confidence. A more optimistic approach is, “I worked hard on this, and I’m proud of my effort and progress.” Being kind to yourself is not self-indulgent. It is a psychological tool that strengthens resilience.

Tip. When you hear yourself slipping into self-criticism, take a moment to rephrase your thoughts with more selfcompassion and encouragement.

Optimism is not pretending everything is perfect. It’s seeing the world through a more positive lens. When you do so, you pave the way for more resilience, more opportunity, and a more hopeful future.  Dr. Leslie M. Gutman is Professor of Psychology and Director of the MSc Behaviour Change at University College London. She writes and speaks widely about resilience, mental health, wellbeing, behavior change, and the intersection of Jewish teachings and contemporary research. She lives in London with her family.

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HOW TO STOP ASSUMING THE WORST ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE A LATE HUSBAND, AN UNANSWERED TEXT FIVE WAYS TO STOP ASSUMING THE WORST ABOUT THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE DEVORA LEVY

SARAH’S HUSBAND PROMISED TO BE HOME EARLY. DINNER WAS READY, THE KIDS KEPT ASKING WHEN THEIR FATHER WOULD ARRIVE, AND THEN SIX O’CLOCK CAME AND WENT. BY THE TIME HE WALKED IN, SHE WAS DISAPPOINTED AND HURT. IN HER MIND, THE STORY HAD ALREADY WRITTEN ITSELF: HE FORGOT AND DOESN’T CARE. HE IMMEDIATELY EXPLAINED: A BAD ACCIDENT HAD TRAFFIC BACKED UP FOR MILES. THE HURT DISAPPEARED INSTANTLY. THE DELAY WAS REAL, BUT THE PAIN HAD COME FROM THE STORY SHE’D BUILT AROUND IT.

W

e all do this. A friend doesn’t say hello and we assume she’s upset with us. A text goes unanswered and we feel ignored. Psychologists call this cognitive appraisal: our emotions follow the meaning we attach to events, not the events themselves.

Ethics of the Fathers teaches: “Judge every person favorably.” It’s a practical reminder that our first read on a situation is rarely the full picture. Here are five ways to put that wisdom to work in your own relationships.

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1. YOUR FIRST EXPLANATION IS RARELY THE ONLY ONE People rarely fight about the event itself. They are usually fighting about what they believe the event means.

A client felt crushed by her business partner because he had stopped including her in some early-stage emails. She became convinced that he was quietly trying to push her out of the business. The reality turned out to be completely different: he knew she was caring for an ill parent and was

trying to protect her time and energy. She interpreted the fewer emails as betrayal. When she paused to ask, “Is there another way to understand this?” she discovered her partner was in fact acting with kindness and sensitivity.

2. THE STORY CREATES THE FEELING Your emotions respond to the meaning you give what happens. A friend doesn’t text back for several hours and your immediate thought is, She’s ignoring me. You will naturally feel hurt, anxious, or defensive. If your thought is, She’s probably busy and will answer when she can, your emotional experience will be completely different. The situation hasn’t changed; only the interpretation has.

Before you let a feeling determine how you respond, it’s worth examining the story underneath it. Your feeling may be real, while the explanation you attached to it may not be.

3. YOU COLLECT EVIDENCE FOR WHAT YOU ALREADY BELIEVE Once you settle on a fixed narrative about someone, that a spouse is inconsiderate, a teenager is irresponsible, or a colleague is difficult, your mind naturally begins to search for proof to support that belief. A forgotten errand, a delayed text, a minor mistake, suddenly everything gets folded into the same ongoing argument in your head.

You stop seeing individual moments and start seeing people through a rigid lens. You stop responding to the actual person in front of you and begin reacting to the version of them you have created in your mind. Judging favorably allows us to keep people open and complicated.

It reminds us that one moment does not define an entire person.

4. JUDGING FAVORABLY DOESN’T MEAN IGNORING REALITY Some people worry that giving others the benefit of the doubt means ignoring red flags, denying your feelings, or excusing genuine harm. That is not what the Torah is demanding. Judging favorably means separating facts from the conclusions you quickly add to those facts.

The fact: They didn’t call back.

The story: I don’t matter to them.

The fact: They spoke sharply.

The story: They don’t respect me.

Sometimes the difficult story will turn out to be true.

Sometimes people really do make mistakes, act carelessly, or hurt you. But leaving room for another possibility before jumping to conclusions is recognizing that you almost never have the complete picture of what is happening inside another person’s heart.

5. THE STORY YOU CHOOSE SHAPES THE RELATIONSHIP YOU BUILD The interpretations you believe influence your tone, your body language, and how willing you are to listen.

When you approach someone assuming good intentions, something changes. Your voice softens, your curiosity grows, and you become less focused on proving your point and more interested in understanding the other person.

People can sense whether they are being approached with suspicion or with trust, and they often respond accordingly.

Of course, relationships require honesty. Sometimes conversations need to happen, boundaries need to be set, and difficult truths need to be addressed. But there is a big difference between responding to reality and reacting to an assumption.

The next time you feel a sudden surge of frustration or hurt, try asking yourself two simple questions: What are the objective facts here? And what is the story I am adding to those facts? That small pause may be the difference between reacting to a story and responding to a person.

And often, that is where kindness, understanding, and stronger relationships begin.  Devora Levy grew up in South Africa and made Aliya 24 years ago.

She is a life coach and educator who works with women, teens, and couples—both virtually and in person. She also gives workshops on relationships, resilience, and personal growth. Trained through the Refuah Institute in Jerusalem, recognized by the American Association of Coaches, and certified in Reality Therapy, Devora lives in Israel with her husband and seven children.

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APPLES, HONEY, AND THE SPACE IN BETWEEN A THERAPIST’S NOTE FOR THE HIGH HOLIDAYS JOANNE GERR, LCSW

ON ROSH HASHANA, WE DIP APPLES IN HONEY AND PRAY FOR A SWEET YEAR AHEAD. A FEW DAYS LATER, MANY OF US WALK TO A BODY OF WATER FOR TASHLICH, AND EMPTY OUR POCKETS OF BREAD CRUMBS, A SMALL PHYSICAL RITUAL FOR SOMETHING MUCH HARDER. RELEASING WHAT WE’VE ACTUALLY BEEN CARRYING. I THINK ABOUT TASHLICH OFTEN IN MY WORK, BECAUSE SO MUCH OF WHAT I DO WITH THE PEOPLE WHO SIT ACROSS FROM ME IS EXACTLY THAT. HELPING THEM EMPTY THEIR POCKETS OF YEARS OF FOOD RULES, BODY-CHECKING, AND GUILT THAT NEVER ONCE KEPT THEM SAFE, AND THAT THEY’RE FINALLY READY TO PUT DOWN.

T

he shofar is supposed to wake us up, a call to pay attention before the year moves on without us. But for a lot of the people I see, what actually wakes them up this time of year isn’t the shofar. It’s the sound of their own stomach after twenty-five hours without food. It’s the quiet in the car on the way home from a family meal, where nobody says out loud what everyone was thinking while the food was on the table. It’s a comment about someone’s plate, or someone’s body, made lightly, that lands and stays for days.

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I think about the men in their cars, because they’re so rarely the ones anyone asks about. Many of the men I work with have spent years quietly overeating, managing stress, exhaustion, and pressure through food, without ever having language for what they were doing or permission to talk about it. More of them lately are coming in already on a GLP-1 medication, prescribed by a doctor who is treating a number on a chart. That’s a legitimate medical decision, and not mine to question. But a medication that quiets appetite doesn’t teach anyone how to sit with a hard feel-

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ing without needing to eat it away. That’s a different kind of work, and it’s the work we do together, whether or not there’s a prescription involved.

For the women I work with, the pattern often looks different but comes from the same place. Bingeing, bulimia, a private cycle of overeating followed by an attempt to undo it. Yom Kippur can act almost like a pressure valve for this. Some people overeat in the days before the fast, as though stocking up against what’s coming. Others find that breaking the fast at the end of the day turns into something they can’t quite steer, no matter how much they promised themselves it would be different this year. I say this to every person who tells me this about themselves, and I’ll say it here too. This is not a failure of willpower. It is a pattern your body and mind learned for a reason, and patterns that were learned can be unlearned.

And then there’s the exercise, the surge of it, every year around this time, as people try to outrun a holiday meal or manage their fear of a changing body by pushing harder at the gym. Healthy movement and exercise addiction can look identical from the outside. The difference lives in the why. Are you moving because it feels good in your body, or because you’re afraid of what happens in your head if you skip a day? Have you trained through pain an orthopedist told you to rest? Has a workout ever come before a holiday meal with people you love? I’ve worked alongside orthopedists treating stress fractures and worn joints in people whose real injury had nothing to do with bone or cartilage 126 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

at all. The orthopedist can mend the fracture. My job is to help someone understand what that fracture was protecting them from feeling.

Here’s what I want to leave you with. Recovery from emotional eating isn’t a smaller, quieter version of the problem you started with, something you manage forever instead of solve. In my years of doing this work, I have helped many, many people find real, lasting peace with food. Not a truce. Peace, the kind where a holiday meal is just a meal, where a mirror stops running the show, and where a person is finally, comfortably, living in the body they actually want to live in. That peace is attainable, and it’s permanent, in the same way tashlich is permanent, not because the current never carries anything back to shore again, but because you now know exactly how to let it go the next time it does.

If any of this sounds like your table this year, I’d be glad to talk with you. I see individuals, couples, and families, and I run support groups as well, with offices in Midtown Manhattan and Highland Park, New Jersey, and teletherapy for those who prefer it.

Wishing you a sweet and peaceful New Year.  Joanne Gerr, LCSW, is a psychotherapist with more than 15 years of experience helping men, women, children, and adolescents with eating disorders, body image and weight concerns, addictions, anxiety, and depression.

Wishing all a Happy and Healthy New Year!

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THE HOLIDAY FOOD HANGOVER YOU DON’T NEED TO MAKE UP FOR WHAT YOU ATE LAURA SHAMMAH, MS, RDN

THE HOLIDAYS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A TIME OF CELEBRATION, FAMILY, TRADITION AND CONNECTION. YET FOR MANY PEOPLE, THEY ALSO BRING SOMETHING ELSE, FOOD GUILT. After several large meals, desserts, challah and a schedule that looks nothing like your normal routine, it is easy to wake up thinking, “I ate way too much. I need to be good today.” So you skip breakfast. You promise yourself no carbohydrates. You decide you need an extra-long workout. You step on the scale and immediately regret it.

But what if the healthiest thing you could do after eating more than usual was simply go back to eating normally?

As a dietitian who specializes in eating disorders and helping people develop a healthier relationship with food, I see this pattern all the time. The problem usually isn’t the 128 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

holiday meal itself. It’s what happens afterward. We overeat, feel guilty, restrict to compensate, become overly hungry, eat more than we intended again and then feel even more guilty. That is how the restrict-overeat cycle begins.

One meal, one day or even several days of eating differently do not undo your health. Your body is much more adaptable than we give it credit for. You may feel bloated after the holidays. Your clothes may feel tighter. The number on the scale may even be higher. That doesn’t mean you’ve suddenly gained several pounds of body fat. Restaurant meals, salty foods, carbohydrates, desserts, changes in

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digestion and simply having more food in your system can all temporarily affect your weight and how your body feels.

You don’t need to punish your body for celebrating.

Instead of asking, “How can I undo what I ate?” ask, “What does my body need today?” Usually, the answer is surprisingly simple. Eat breakfast. Drink water. Have balanced meals. Include vegetables, protein, fat and carbohydrates.

Move your body because it feels good, not because you are trying to erase last night’s dinner.

Most importantly, don’t save up your calories for the next holiday meal. Going into a large meal overly hungry often makes it much harder to listen to your body’s cues.

Eating regularly throughout the day allows you to arrive at the table hungry, but not ravenous.

And when you are sitting at that holiday table, enjoy it.

Have the foods that are meaningful to you. Have challah.

Have dessert if you want it. You don’t need to make every holiday recipe “healthy” in order to be healthy. Health is not determined by one meal.

This is especially important for our children to see.

They are listening when we announce that we were “bad” 130 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

because we ate dessert. They notice when we skip meals after a holiday. They hear us criticize our bodies. Imagine instead what they could learn from hearing, “Dinner was delicious. I really enjoyed it.” And then watching us eat breakfast the next morning.

As we move through the Jewish holidays, there will be many meals and many opportunities to enjoy food. Let them be meals, not tests of your willpower. You don’t need to earn your food before the holiday, and you don’t need to compensate for it afterward. Enjoy the holiday. Enjoy the traditions. Enjoy the people sitting around your table.

Then, at the next meal, simply eat again. That is what a healthy relationship with food looks like. Wishing everyone a healthy and happy New Year!  Laura Shammah, MS, RDN, specializes in eating disorders and works with a wide range of clients, including those managing PCOS, infertility, hypertension, high cholesterol, Crohn’s disease, diabetes, and cancer. She also supports clients training for marathons, women who are pregnant, and individuals seeking to lose or gain weight in a healthy way.

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your teeth?” most people will answer, “I brush.” I then explain that F O C U S O N brushing is critical to clean at the gumline but it won’t remove the bacteria that hide between your teeth. For that you need either dental floss, WaterPik, Rotopoints, Proxbrush, Sulcabrush, or any other tool designed to get the bacteria that your brush can’t reach.

improve the condition of their gums and also eliminate cavities.

Let’s take care of it.

If you decide that you want to be in the 2 percent minority that flosses every day – make sure 718.339.7982 that you do it correctly. If you think that brushing alone will do the 563 Kings Highway trick… think again. We see patient after patient with Brooklyn, NYgum 11223disease and cavities that could have been prevented with a few minutes of “homework” every night.

It’s daily cleaning that will prevent damage and help you keep it’s a cracked crown, sudden swelling, your teethWhether for a lifetime.

In addition, the medical journals are or a toothache that won’t quit, we’re here with with gum loaded with repeated studies that show that people availability, years of expertise, and Those people who tell disease areemergency more prone tousheart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, and fast relief.

Call first thing in the morning to me they do floss will readily diabetes. Isn’t your health worth a few minutes a day? get your pain solved, STAT. admit, “Well not every day…

I floss maybe once or twice a week.” It’s important to remember that bacteria accumulate every day. If you clean between your teeth FAMILY DENTAL CARE � COSMETIC DENTISTRY � EMERGENCY APPOINTMENTS

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WHEN FLOSSING DOESN’T HELP

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FOR A DENTIST, THE STATISTICS ARE FRUSTRATING, ONLY 2 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION FLOSSES ON A DAILY BASIS. FOR THOSE WHO DO FLOSS, MOST ARE DOING IT WRONG, AND RATHER THAN HELPING, THEY ARE CAUSING DAMAGE. HOLDING THE FLOSS THE WRONG WAY OR PRESSING ON THE GUMS WITH THE FLOSS MAY TEAR THE DELICATE LIGAMENT AROUND THE TOOTH THAT SEALS OUT THE BACTERIA FROM DAMAGING THE BONE.

I

f you are going to floss, make sure you follow three rules. 1) Use your middle fingers as the “spool” to wrap the floss around. This will give you the most control. 2) Use your thumb and pointer to work the floss between the teeth. This prevents the floss from snapping into the gums, which would cause a lot of damage. 3) Don’t press on the gums, lean on the tooth. The bacteria stick to the teeth, not the gums.

When I ask, “How do you clean between your teeth?” most people will answer, “I brush.” I then explain that brushing is critical to clean at the gumline but it won’t remove the bacteria that hide between your teeth. For that you need either dental floss, Waterpik, RotoPoints, Proxabrush, Sulcabrush, or any other tool designed to get the bacteria that your brush can’t reach.

Those people who tell me they do floss will readily admit, “Well not every day. I floss maybe once or twice a week.” It’s important to remember that bacteria accumulate every day. If you clean between your teeth only once or twice a week, the bacteria will build up, causing gum disease and cavities (and then you’re surprised when you need a root canal or gum surgery!).

Another thing that surprises me is that many patients will say, “I’m too tired at night to do anything. I only brush in the morning.” Too bad for this group since bac132 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

teria do the most damage to teeth and gums while you sleep. The saliva is less effective while you sleep and the bacteria are much more damaging. This is why it’s so important to brush and clean between your teeth every night.

Because it is so difficult to floss effectively and without causing damage, I usually recommend the Waterpik.

Studies have shown that it is easier for patients to use and we see our patients greatly improve the condition of their gums and also eliminate cavities.

If you decide that you want to be in the 2 percent minority that flosses every day, make sure that you do it correctly. If you think that brushing alone will do the trick. Think again. We see patient after patient with gum disease and cavities that could have been prevented with a few minutes of “homework” every night.

It’s daily cleaning that will prevent damage and help you keep your teeth for a lifetime. In addition, the medical journals are loaded with repeated studies that show that people with gum disease are more prone to heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes. Isn’t your health worth a few minutes a day?

Dr. Doueck’s office is located at 563 Kings Highway.

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SIX THINGS WOMEN REALLY WANT FROM THEIR HUSBANDS HONEST ANSWERS, WITH PRACTICAL STEPS HUSBANDS CAN START USING TONIGHT DEBBIE GUTFREUND

E

very woman is different, but there are some things nearly all women want from their husbands. Here are six of them.

1. TO FEEL EMOTIONALLY SAFE Women want a husband who listens without judging, dismissing, or jumping straight to fixing the problem. They want to know their feelings matter. What you might hear, “Can you listen to the whole story?” “I don’t want advice. I just want you to understand how I feel.”

What you can do: Make eye contact, put your phone

134 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

away, and validate what she’s feeling. Ask how you can support her today.

2. TO FEEL PRIORITIZED Women want to feel truly seen every day and to know their husbands are consistently investing in the relationship.

They want to feel, “You matter to me.” What you might hear, “Can you call me if you’re running late?” “Can we talk for a few minutes?” “Can you help me with this?”

What you can do: Look for chances to help. Check in on how her day went. Schedule date nights or daily walks together.

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can stop if

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if I want to.

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3. RESPECT AND KINDNESS Women are sensitive to harsh tones, especially during disagreements. They want to be treated with courtesy, respect, and kindness. Jewish wisdom teaches, “A man should honor his wife more than himself” (Talmud, Yevamot 62b). What you might hear, “Why are you talking to me like that?” “I wish you’d give me the benefit of the doubt.”

“Would you talk to a friend that way?”

What you can do: Speak gently, skip the sarcasm, and only correct each other in private. Ask for her opinion, make big decisions together, and value her ideas even when they differ from yours.

4. AFFECTION WITHOUT AN AGENDA Sometimes women just want affection, no strings attached. They want to hold hands, hear a genuine compliment, and share touch that isn’t about sex, physical affection that expresses love, not just desire. What you might hear, “Can you just hold me for a while?” “Can you hug me just because?” “I don’t always want something to happen afterward.”

What you can do: Hold hands while walking or driving. Kiss her hello and goodbye. Sit close on the couch. Put your arm around her, just because.

5. HEALTHY COMMUNICATION Women want open, honest conversations with their husbands, ones that work through conflict instead of avoiding or escalating it. They want a relationship where both partners own their mistakes, forgive, apologize, and never take each other for granted. What you might hear, “Can we talk about what’s really going on?” “Please tell me what 136 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

you’re thinking.” “I want us to be able to talk without it turning into a fight.” “I’d rather you tell me you’re upset than pretend everything’s fine.”

What you can do: Share your thoughts even when it’s hard. Listen without getting defensive. Ask questions instead of assuming. Work toward a solution instead of trying to “win.”

6. SHARED GROWTH AND PURPOSE Women want a relationship built on more than logistics; they want to build a life together, shared values, family traditions, common dreams, and mutual encouragement to grow. What you might hear, “I don’t want us to get stuck in a routine.” “What goals can we work on together?” “Can we make time for what matters most to us?” “I want us to inspire each other.”

What you can do: Learn something new together. Go to synagogue as a family. Volunteer or set goals together.

Encourage each other’s growth.

A strong marriage is built on the daily choice to keep showing up for each other. Jewish wisdom teaches that where there is love, G-D’s presence can be felt.

Understanding what your wife truly wants doesn’t just strengthen your marriage; it brings more light into the world.  Debbie Gutfreund is an OCD and trauma therapist. She holds a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA in Family Therapy from the University of North Texas. In her free time, she is a competitive runner and skier. She lives in Parkland, Florida with her husband and children.

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J E W I S H

H I S T O R Y

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS’ JEWISH ROOTS TWO JEWISH FAMILIES CREATED THE ICONIC JEWELRY COMPANY DR. YVETTE ALT MILLER

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S TOP LUXURIOUS JEWELRY BRANDS, WITH AN ANNUAL REVENUE OF OVER HALF A BILLION DOLLARS AND NEARLY 200 STORES WORLDWIDE, SERVICING HOLLYWOOD STARS AND ROYALTY FOR OVER A CENTURY. BUT FEW KNOW THE COMPANY’S JEWISH HISTORY, AND HOW ITS OWNERS ENDURED THE HOLOCAUST AND REBUILT AFTER WORLD WAR II.

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n the “Belle Epoque” of the 1890s, Paris was the world’s most fashionable city. Creative artists and artisans flocked there to ply their trades and create the most up-todate styles. Among the jewelers who opened workshops was a young Jewish goldsmith and stone cutter from the Netherlands, Alfred Van Cleef.

Born in 1873 into a family of Dutch Jewish jewelers, Alfred learned how to cut precious gems from his father Charles. Alfred completed an internship in jewelry-making, then immediately moved to Paris to open a workshop of his own there. He was welcomed to Paris by the close-knit world of Jewish gemsmiths, including a friendly middle-aged cousin of his, Leon Salomon Arpels. Alfred and Leon Salomon’s daughter, Esther, fell in love, united in part by their love of high style and interest in jewelry-making. They married in 1895 and gave birth to a daughter, Rachel, in 1896.

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Alfred opened a cutting-edge jewelry atelier in Paris’ gritty 10th Arrondissement along with his new brothersin-law, Charles, Julien, and Louis Arpels. Their beautiful pieces and exquisite settings earned them a loyal following, and soon the young jewelers began looking for a larger space in a more fashionable quarter of Paris in which to work.

When the Ritz Hotel opened in the Place Vendome in 1898, Alfred and Esther, now going by the less Jewishsounding name Estelle, decided to move to this newly fashionable square. They opened a larger store at 22 Place Vendome, which remains the center of the Van Cleef & Arpels empire to this day. They first focused on pearl jewelry, which was all the rage at the time. Soon, their impeccable gem settings began attracting notice and a loyal customer base.

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J E W I S H

H I S T O R Y

Alfred and Esther Van Cleef

DECORATED DURING WORLD WAR I The Van Cleef and Arpels served with incredible bravery during World War I. Louis Arpels enlisted in a Field Artillery Regiment and fought in Verdun, among other battles, before being injured by poison gas and decommissioned.

Louis Arpels fought with distinction. Estelle worked as a nurse. Alfred Van Cleef, who was in poor health, worked for the army’s auxiliary service in Paris. After the war, Alfred Van Cleef, Estelle Van Cleef, Louis Arpels, and Charles Arpels were each awarded France’s Legion d’honneur.

During World War I, Van Cleef & Arpels produced jewelry out of cheap materials, eschewing finery during wartime. They introduced a wildly popular “touch wood” collection, combining decorative pieces made out of wood with a popular belief in France at the time that touching wood somehow brought good luck. When World War I ended, the company switched gears, expanding and emphasizing luxury for a population that was weary of austerity and craved expensive trinkets.

CREATING FRANCE’S ICONIC STYLE In the 1920s, Van Cleef & Arpels opened new stores in fashionable holiday destinations such as Nice and Monte Carlo. The company embraced the new Art Deco style and sold to actors and royalty. It introduced one of the first ladies’ wristwatches in 1923. In 1933 they introduced a cutting-edge way of creating invisible settings so that jewels appear to be floating on top of jewelry.

In 1939 they introduced a wildly popular piece that could be used as a necklace, belt, or broach. In 1939, Van Cleef & Arpels created a priceless diamond and 140 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

Rachel Van Cleef

Alfred

platinum set of jewels for Egyptian Princess Fawzia’s marriage to Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who became the Shah of Iran. Other fans included King Edward VII of England, who bought Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry for his paramour Wallace Simpson.

In 1926, Alfred and Estelle’s daughter Rachel Van Cleef took over as Artistic Director of the thriving company.

By now, the Van Cleef family was intermarrying into nonJewish French and European high society. Rachel ditched her Jewish-sounding name and went by Renee. She was briefly married to Emile Puissant, a dashing racecar driver, until his death in a crash in 1926. Renee threw herself into her family business, guiding its expansion and ensuring that Van Cleef & Arpels remained on the cutting edge of jewelry design.

DURING THE HOLOCAUST With antisemitism rendering life for Jews in France ever more difficult, the Arpels brothers who ran the company opened a branch in New York in 1939. (Often sickly, Alfred Van Cleef had died the year before.) The move to New York saved their lives. Other members of the Arpels family were living in the southern French city of Vichy when World War II broke out.

Estelle Van Cleef assumed a false identity and worked secretly for the Free French resistance forces, which commended her after the war. The only family member still living openly in Paris was Estelle’s daughter Renee, who worked to keep the store open amidst the chaos and death all around her.

German troops arrived in Paris on June 14, 1940.

Under Nazi rule, it became impossible for Jews to own businesses. In 1941 Renee transferred ownership of Van Cleef & Arpels to a French nobleman, Comte Paul de Leseleuc, in

‫ב"ה‬

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J E W I S H

H I S T O R Y

Hotels Parc et Majestic

Claude, Jacques, and Pierre Arpels circa 1975

order to “aryanize” the company and enable it never be known. Panicked, Renee threw herself to stay in business. Renee secretly packed the from the window and died on the pavement most valuable pieces in the Paris store into a below. suitcase – it weighed almost too much to carry – and travelled to Vichy, which by then was the BECOMING A UBIQUITOUS BRAND seat of France’s collaborationist government.

The Arpels family regained control of Renee rented a suite of rooms in Vichy’s Van Cleef & Arpels in 1944 after the Allied best hotel, the Hotel Parc et Majestic, which liberation of Paris. Julien Arpel’s sons Claude, also housed Marshal Petain, the Prime Minister Jacques, and Pierre became directors. They of Vichy France, the French republic which govcontinued to innovate, introducing playful anierned the south of France and actively colluded mal and floral styles into the brand’s jewelry with the Nazis. Renee was used to socializing design. In 1956, Prince Rainier of Monaco with people at the very pinnacle of French socibought a set of diamond and pearl jewelry as Their first boutique on ety, and was sure her friends would protect her a wedding present for his fiancé Grace Kelly, 22 Place Vendome, from the anti-Jewish decrees that targeted her giving the brand another boost to its growing circa 1906 co-religionists. She was sadly disappointed. prestige. In 1967, the Empress Farah Pahlavi At first, Vichy officials forced Renee to of Iran flew Van Cleef & Arpels artisans to Iran move out of her fancy hotel, refusing to countenance a to create a crown and necklace for her coronation made Jew living in the same building. Renee took daily walks with gems from Iran’s crown jewels. and worked in her company’s Vichy store, maintaining a The last Arpels family members to lead the business semblance of normality. In 1942, however, Nazi Germany would be Jacques Arpels’ children Philippe and Dominique took control of Vichy France directly. Renee appealed to her in the 1990s. In 1999, the brand was sold to the Richemont father’s old friend Colonel Rene Marty (who had signed her Group, a Swiss corporation that owns many luxury brands. uncle’s Legion d’honneur certificate after World War I), who Little memory remains of Van Cleef & Arpels’ Jewish was living in Vichy, to help her to no avail. origins. The company offers no Jewish-themed Stars of David Renee’s old friend Arlette Scali described: “She could or other Jewish designs. Among the company’s scores of not cope with all the goings-on, all the laws, and had been boutiques around the world, not one operates in Israel.  counting on Colonel Marty, the trusted administrator of her father, Alfred Van Cleef…. She was not only frightened, Dr. Yvette Alt Miller holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics and has taught at Northwestern she was sick with fright.” (Quoted in Les Parisiennes: How University, London Business School, and lectured around the world. the Women of Paris Lived, Loved, and Died Under Nazi She is the author of Angels at the Table: A Practical Guide to Occupation by Anne Sebba: 2016.)

Celebrating Shabbat, which had been praised as “life changing” and compared to having a friend guide the reader through a typical On December 11, 1942, all Jews in Vichy France were Shabbat, and of Portraits of Valor: Heroic Jewish Women You Should ordered to wear a Jewish star on their clothes. The followKnow, which describes the lives of 40 remarkable women who ing day, French police burst into her third-floor hotel room; inhabited different eras and lands, giving readers a sense of the vast diversity of Jewish history and experience. whether they were seeking to question her or arrest her will 142 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

SEPTEMBER 2026 JEWISH IMAGE 143

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We urge you to do whatever you can do to help Beth Shifra, RABBI AVIGDOR MILLER ZTʼʼL THESE ARE THE PROGRAMS BETH SIFRA RAN Separate Orthodox Boy Scout 8 Girl Scout Club • Matchmaking • Trips and Rallies • Free Legal Advice Jewish Films Jewish History Classes • Job Placement • Boxing & Wrestling • Men's Karate • Women's Karate • CSW on Premesis-Business School • Brisim Performed • Speakers Bureau • Free Hebrew School • Free Summer Camps • Nursery schools • Jewish Services • Boxing- High School Programs In Public Schools • Chess Tournament • Free Bar Mitzvahs • Several English Classes (Green Cards) • Work Release Programs • Release Hours • Free Flee Market • Homeless Shelter WE HELP MAKE MINYANIM FOR SHULS IN THE COMMUNITY

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144 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

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FEB RUAR Y202 5 JEW ISH I

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HELP WANTEED Seeking aid/companion in Borough Park.

Shomer Shabbat female for elderly woman.

Call 718-435-6393 HOUSE FOR SALE BKLYN PRIME BROOKLYN Detached center hall home on a 40 x 100 lot with four-plus bedrooms, 3.5 baths, and private driveway. Classic charm with modern living in a prime Brooklyn location. Call Karen Sardell, Sardell Realty, 917-751-7974.

AVE X Gorgeous detached brand-new two-family home built from the ground up with four floors, two duplex apartments, and private parking.

Call Eva Shammah, ES Realty, 917-579-2564.

MIDWOOD / MADISON Detached four-bedroom, 2.5-bath home on a 50 x 100 lot with back deck, two driveways, and approved plans.

Asking $2.1M. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

OCEAN PKWY / OCEAN CT Modern and sunny three-bedroom, 1.5-bath home with an additional two-room, one-bath walk-in level. Private driveway, one-car garage with interior access, modern kitchen, spacious living room, and prime location across from the Ocean Parkway promenade. Call Karen Sardell, Sardell Realty, 917-751-7974, or Sim Matalon, 718-551-7399.

QUENTIN ROAD / LOWER EAST Gravesend gem with five bedrooms, master suite, huge den, massive basement, central air, and private driveway. Move-in ready. Call Eva Shammah, ES Realty, 917-579-2564.

AVE N Semi-attached three-bedroom, twobath home with laundry/office, three additional rooms, walk-in apt, and parking. Reduced from $1.3M to $1.275M. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

EAST 2ND ST / AVE W Charming detached twofamily home that can also be used as a one-family home. Features six bedrooms, four bathrooms, spacious open living and dining area, bright eat-in kitchen, finished basement with high ceilings, rear patio, private driveway, and one-car garage. Call Karen Sardell, Sardell Realty, 917-751-7974.

HOUSE FOR SALE BKLYN

APARTMENT FOR RENT BKLYN

AVE S / PRIME EAST Detached one-family home on a 40 x 113 lot with seven bedrooms, master suite, central air, and beautiful condition. Priced to sell. Call Eva Shammah, ES Realty, 917-5792564.

AVE T / LOW TEENS First-floor two-bedroom, one-bath apartment with backyard and parking.

Asking $3,200 per month. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

AVE P / EAST 27 Detached six-bedroom, 4.5bath home on a 30 x 100 lot with private driveway, radiant heat throughout, state-of-the-art kitchen, Bose speaker system, and finished basement with separate entrance. Asking $2.25M. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

PRIME BLOCK AVE S-T Detached one-family home with three spacious bedrooms, 3.5 baths, private driveway, and sunny interiors. Lovely condition in a prime location. Call Karen Sardell, Sardell Realty, 917-751-7974, or Sim Matalon, 718-551-7399.

HOUSE FOR RENT BKLYN MARINE PARK Fully renovated seven-bedroom, 3.5-bath house with full basement and back porch. Asking $6,200 per month. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-3618268.

AVE N / LOW EAST Three-bedroom, two-bath house for rent. Asking in the low $5Ks. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917361-8268.

WEST 3RD Three-bdrm, two-bath house for rent.

Asking $4,250 per month. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

APARTMENT FOR RENT BKLYN AVE V / EAST 8 Second-floor apartment with no parking. Asking $3,700 per month. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-3618268.

AVE N / EAST 9 Third-floor two-bedroom, onebath apartment. Asking $3,100 per month.

Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

AVE O / EAST 12 Second-floor three-bedroom, one-bath apartment with parking. Asking $3,550 per month. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

AVE O / HIGH EAST Third-floor two-bedroom, one-bath apartment. Asking $3,500 per month.

Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

AVE P / EAST 2 First-floor and basement duplex with four bedrooms, two baths, and parking.

Asking $4,500 per month. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

AVE V / EAST 11 Three-and-a-half-bedroom, two-bath duplex. Asking $5,000 per month.

Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

AVE W / EAST 29 Walk-in studio with no parking.

Asking $1,800 per month. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

AVE P / LOW 30s Three-bdrm, 1.5-bath duplex.

Asking $4,500 per month. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

AVE I / EAST 10 Third-floor three-bedroom, 1.5bath apartment. Special pricing available. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917361-8268.

AVE L / EAST 10 Modern one-bdrm apartment.

Asking $2,250 per month. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

AVE T / MID-TEENS Two-bedroom, two-bath apartment with no parking. Asking $3,100 per month. Call Sarah Sasson, Homecrest Realty Group, 917-361-8268.

WINTER RENTAL NJ House for rent Deal–Neptune Ave bet Norwood & Richmond Winter rental Sept 7/26-May 14/27 6 bdrms 4 baths Excellent condition. Call Ninette 347-204-1823

West Long Branch, NJ

For Sale or Rent: 4,000 sq ft office space in West Long Branch, NJ, featuring parking for 12 cars, additional handicap parking, and wheelchair accessibility. Conveniently located near Route 36. The property includes a separate 2-bedroom house and an additional rear lot ideal for development. Offered at $1.99M.

Call or text: 917-385-9247 SEPTEMBER 2026 JEWISH IMAGE 153

A N N O U N C E M E N T S

CONGRATULATIONS Mabrouk, Mazal Tov BIRTHS Helen and Eddie Kassin – Boy Teri and Sam Anzaroot – Boy Rebecca and Ralph Matut – Girl Sally and Elliot Tobal – Girl Colette and Jack Cattan – Boy Simcha and Ben Sultan – Boy Laurelle and Raymond Shammah – Girl Sheila and Jack Dweck – Girl Joyce and Joe Sasson – Girl Eden and Eli Harari – Girl Nicole and David Shelly – Girl Jennifer and Gary Guindi – Boy Julie and Jack Hamadani – Boy Nora and Michael Chakkalo – Girl Renee and Ezra Naftali – Boy Junie and Albert Maimon – Boy Allison and Zeke Kassab – Boy Michelle and Judah Cohen – Girl Shirley and Ikey Akerman – Girl Mimi and Nissim Sananes – Girl Yvette and Joshua Greenough – Girl Grace and Morris Cohen – Twin Girls Paula and Nathan Betesh – Boy Frieda and Ricky Braha – Girl Gail and Mark Sardar – Girl Danielle and Douglas Mishan – Boy Jen and Mark Yadid – Girl Diane and Morris Ashear – Girl Stephanie and Steven Mizrahi – Boy Louise and Albert Khodari – Girl Sara and Clemy Jajati – Boy Lindsay and Jack Kassab – Boy Emily and Michael Guindi – Boy Lillian and Albert Manopla – Girl

ENGAGEMENTS Sharon Matalon to Noah Maze Gloria Nehmad to Moshe Ouaknin Cynthia Srour to Simon Abrahim

THE WORLDWIDE EVERYTHING GEMACH

929.248.8911 - 917.361.8268

ANNOUNCE YOUR SPECIAL MOMENT! If you would like to include a birth, engagement, or wedding announcement in our magazine, please email the details to: editor@imageusa.com 154 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

ENGAGEMENTS Allison Heskiel to Joe Beyda Rachel Keda to Jimmy Lalo Danielle Betesh to Solomon Mandalaoui Ashley Setton to Eddie Khaski Pauline Kameo to Joey Sakkal Naomi Azar Cohen to Gabriel Haber Evie Kattri to Moshe Kabariti Erica Lincer to Alan Mehani Ruthie Mizrachi to Shimon Mizrahi Camille Mosseri to Bruce Zekaria Frieda Catton to Isaac Dweck Florence Dabah to Lee Rishty Melanie Vesely to David Zuckerman Jessica Kravitz to David Didia Shelley Sakkal to David Dayan

BEWARE OF THE GROWING GOLD BAR SCAM New York Attorney General Letitia James is warning residents about a growing “gold bar scam” that has already cost victims millions of dollars. The scam often begins with a fake computer pop up, phone call, or message claiming that a person’s bank account, computer, or personal information has been compromised. Scammers may pose as representatives from a bank, technology company, government agency, or law enforcement and tell victims that they must act quickly to protect their savings.

Victims are then instructed to withdraw large amounts of money and use it to purchase gold bars, which are supposedly being moved to a safe location. In some cases, scammers even send a courier to the victim’s home to pick up the gold. The Attorney General is reminding New Yorkers that no legitimate government agency, bank, or law enforcement organization will ask someone to buy gold or hand valuables to a courier for safekeeping. Anyone who receives such a request should stop communicating with the caller. If there is an immediate threat or a crime in progress, call 911.

Suspected scams can also be reported to the New York State Attorney General’s Office at 1-800-771-7755.

BROOKLYN SAFE DISPOSAL EVENT COMING TO FLOYD BENNETT FIELD The NYC Department of Sanitation will hold a Brooklyn SAFE Disposal Event on Sunday, October 11, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Floyd Bennett Field. NYC residents can safely dispose of household items that should not go in regular trash or recycling.

Accepted items include motor oil, gasoline, antifreeze, car batteries, paint, pesticides, household chemicals, fire extinguishers, fluorescent bulbs, electronics, rechargeable batteries, medications, and syringes. The event is for NYC residents only, and business waste and commercial vehicles are not accepted.

SOCIAL EVENTS SEPTEMBER 2026 SUNDAY

ELUL 5786 – TISHRI 5787

MONDAY

TUESDAY

1

WEDNESDAY

2

THURSDAY

3

FRIDAY

4

SATURDAY

5 LEIL SELIHOT PARASHAT NISSABIM VAYELEKH MAQAM NAWAH - MEHAYAR Candle Lighting 7:05 PM NY/NJ 7:18 PM Miami

6

7 DSN BEACH ARGENTINIAN BBQ

13

8

9

LABOR DAY

DSN LADIES CARDS

DSN ARGENTINIAN BBQ

14

15 SOM GEDALIAH FAST DAY

ROSH HASHANAH II

SCC HEALING MUSIC FOR PARKINSON’S

10

11

SCC CAREGIVERS PARKINSON’S SUPPORT GROUP

EREB ROSH HASHANAH

DSN FAMILY FEUD NIGHT

16 SCC SNUG HARBOR TOUR

DSN LADIES CARDS

CHAIM MEDICAL DINNER

18 DSN STITCH CLUB

21 EREB YOM KIPPUR

22

23

24

DSN LADIES CARDS

YOM KIPPUR

SCC MEN’S CLUB

Candle Lighting 6:38 PM NY/NJ 7:01 PM Miami

27

SUKKOT III (H’’M)

SUKKOT II

25

SCC HEALING MUSIC FOR PARKINSON’S DSN FAMILY NIGHT

29

SHABBAT SHUBA PARASHAT HA’AZINU MAQAM HOSENI

26 EREB SUKKOT Candle Lighting 6:29 PM NY/NJ 6:55 PM Miami

28

Candle Lighting From Existing Flame 7:53 PM NY/NJ 8:02 PM Miami

19

Candle Lighting 6:41 PM NY/NJ 7:03 PM Miami

BEGINNERS HEBREW

20

ROSH HASHANAH I

Candle Lighting 6:53 PM NY/NJ 7:11 PM Miami

17

SCC BINGO & BASIL

12

SUKKOT I Candle Lighting From Existing Flame 7:29 PM NY/NJ 7:47 PM Miami

30

SUKKOT IV (H’’M) DSN MAGIC SHOW

SUKKOT V (H’’M)

SEPTEMBER 2026 JEWISH IMAGE 155

Servicing Brooklyn, Deal and Manhattan

Micheal Blaier

TABLE P A D S & GLASS TOPS C U S T O M

Easy Shop at Home Service

USHI STEINMETZ

Steve Jacobs

M A D E

NEW!

MAGNE LOCKINTIC SYSTEMG

917-776-7371

Monmouth Bottle Shop New expanded separate Kosher Department so you can shop with your eyes closed

Fully stocked Kosher liquor products. We cater to small and large parties in the Deal and surrounding areas.

201 Monmouth Road Oakhurst, N.J. 07755

Tel (732) 531-3080 Fax (732) 531-8940

Quick Delivery • Incredible Service

For All Occasions

Now booking for spring/ summer, camps, school, synagouges, events, corporate.

156 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

(732) 589-6982 COMING SOON Watch for the GRAND OPENING of our NEWEST LOCATION in the Jackson Premium Outlet Center.

Call Ronnie & Elliot Today for all your mattress needs.

WOOD OPTIONS Oak, Birch, Maple, Cherry, Walnut, Hickory, Alder & Pine Available in a wide variety of colors, styles and finishes.

Custom and Semi Custom Cabinetry Only Adelphi Dealer In Brooklyn

COUNTERTOPS Quartz, Natural Stone, Mica Laminates ACCESSORIES Sinks, Faucets, Handles & Knobs

Estimates, Budget Planning, Layouts & Installations Call for an appointment.

Sales 917 273 3310 2163 Coney Island Ave (Ave R & S), Brooklyn, NY 11223 info@lismatcabinetry.com www.lismatcabinetry.com

Moshe Moving and Delivery Professional & Reliable Special Low Rate for Pick Up & Drop Off To Deal NJ

Call Moishe 917-642-3044

“THE HANDY MAN”

Carpentry • Electrical • Plumbing • locks

Over 25 Years Experience Always

A FREE

Estimate

EDDY GINDI 917- 601-7317

Brooklyn, Deal Five Towns NYC

ARIK J. MOVING & STORAGE Special Local Job By Hour Only For This Month

2 Men w/Truck 3 Men w/Truck Fully Licensed & Insured 4 Men w/Truck 5% Off w/This Ad 5 Men w/Truck (Four Hr. Job min.)

646-261-7019

$79/Hr. $99/Hr. $119/Hr. $149/Hr.

212-321-MOVE • 212 321-6683

US Dot #130966 The Company has the right to change prices at any time.

ZEBLINDS Window Blind/Shades Aleen Hamra (646) 309-4560 @Zeblinds

Zebra Blinds Roller Blinds Roman Blinds Custom Drapery SEPTEMBER 2026 JEWISH IMAGE 157

f N E W

i n e

D

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N

Y O R K

BORDEAUX STEAKHOUSE 1922 Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn (718) 942-4040 CHINA GLATT 4413 13th Ave, Brooklyn (718) 438-2576 CORK & SLICE BROOKLYN 509 Avenue P, Brooklyn (718) 645-1963 GLATT A LA CARTE 5123 18th Avenue, Brooklyn (718) 438-6675 LA BROCHETTE 340 Lexington Avenue, New York City (212) 972-2200 LE MARAIS 150 W. 46th St., New York City (212) 869-0900 MEAT NY 123 Kingston Avenue, Brooklyn City (516) 888-1730 MIKE’S BISTRO 127 East 54th St., New York City (212) 799-3911 NOI DUE CARNE 141 W 69th St., New York City (212) 712-2222 PESCADA 1359 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn (718) 766-2759 RESERVE CUT 40 Broad St., 2nd level, New York City (212) 747-0300 TABERNACLE STEAKHOUSE 315 W 36th St. #2, New York City (212) 933-7001 URBANA 1305 53rd St., Brooklyn (718) 438-4448 N E W

J E R S E Y

656 OCEAN & STINGERS BAR & GRILL 656 Ocean Ave, Long Branch (732) 728-9656 ABU LAFFA 116 Norwood Avenue, Deal (732) 686-1409 158 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

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BASTA 118 Norwood Avenue, Deal (732) 686-1420 BUTCHER’S STEAKHOUSE 401 Main St, Allenhurst (732) 686-1498 CASA 232 Norwood Avenue, Deal (732) 508-9008 DOUGIE’S BAR & GRILL 256 Norwood Avenue, Deal (732) 517-0300 GRANDMA’S CHEESE CAFE 101 Brighton Ave, Long Branch (732) 895-3621 JELI’S RESTAURANT 125 Ocean Avenue N., Deal (732) 686-9595 OUTPOST RESTAURANT 125 Ocean Avenue N., Deal (732) 686-9595 PEPE KITCHEN 15 Morris Avenue, Long Branch (732) 955-7373 PKS BY THE SHORE 244 Norwood Avenue, Oakhurst (732) 813-5757 SALT STEAKHOUSE 15 Morris Avenue, Long Branch (732) 813-7258 SHENG MAO CHINESE 214 Roosevelt Ave, Oakhurst (732) 531-7086 SOYA 10 Ocean Ave, Long Branch (732) 588-7691 TEVA RESTAURANT 125 Ocean Avenue N., Deal (732) 686-9595 THE GRAY STREET 125 415 Spier Ave, Allenhurst (732) 686-1201 TRUFFLE GRILL & BAR 604 Second Ave, Long Branch (732) 749-1414

A Kosher American Bistro Glatt Kosher J.S.O.R

www.656oceanlongbranch.com 656 Ocean Ave, West End Long Branch, NJ 07740

(732)728-9656 Reservations Held For 15 Minutes Only

C O N S U M E R

1031 EXCHANGE SERVICES Atlanta Deferred Exchange .... 93,146 ABA SERVICES Dr. Randi Matsas ....................... 133 ACCOUNTANT Mitch Holsborg ......................... 146 ALARMS, CAMERAS & WIRING EJS Technology Systems ............. 156 APPLIANCE SERVICE Astre Appliance Service .............. 156 ATTORNEY Expert Legal Solutions .................. 97 Gad Shaharabani ....................... 89 Goldstein & Goldstein ............... 101 Jack Erdos .................................. 91 Robert Akerman ........................ 131 BAR MITZVAH LESSONS Bar Mitzvah Lessons................... 156 BATTERY BACKUP SYSTEMS YM Ventures................................ 41 BEAUTY CARE Laura’s Skin Care ...................... 125 BROADWAY/OFF-BROADWAY SHOWS Going Bacharach ........................ 99 Our Sinatra ................................ 99 BUSINESS CONSULTING Jeff Sitt Consulting ....................... 89 BUTCHER I&D Meat & Poultry................... 107 CAREER OPPORTUNITY New York Life .............................. 57 CLOTHING - MEN’S & BOYS The Garage Clothing ................ 160 COLLEGE Touro College ............................. 43 CONSTRUCTION HMS Construction ..................... 157 Joseph and Sons Builders........... 157 Nrz Luxury Builders .................... 103 DAILY LEARNING Bekiim Bahalacha ......................... 6 DENTIST Dr. Jacques Doueck................... 133 Tawil Dental .............................. 119 DR./INTERNAL MEDICINE Dr. Ezra Israel ........................... 127 DR./PRIMARY CARE Rambam Family Health ................ 39 DUCT CLEANING Remex ........................................ 97 EATING DISORDERS Joanne Gerr ............................. 125 EXTERMINATOR A&V Prime Exterminating LLC ..... 103

G U I D E

FACTORS Hedaya Capital Group .................. 7 Middlegate Factors ..................... 2-3 FILING SERVICES Liberty Filing.............................. 109 FISH MARKET Freund’s ..................................... 31 FISHING BOAT/FLORIDA Therapy IV, Capt. Stan ............... 143 FLOOD Remex ........................................ 97 FLOORS Modern Wood Flooring ............... 27 FOOD De La Rosa Real Foods .............. 61 HANDYMAN Eddy Gindi ............................... 157 HERB SHOP Roots and Remedies .................. 117 HOSPITAL Mount Sinai Brooklyn................... 93 INSURANCE Allstate David Cohen ................... 35 Eli Cohen Agency .......................... 1 Eric Derzie & Associates ............... 45 Steve Leiner ............................. 9,11 INSURANCE ADJUSTER Equitable Adjusters ........... IFC,18-19 JEWELRY/WATCHES Bangles by Kelly Shrem ................ 91 David Rudy ................................ IBC KITCHENS Lismat Designs ......................... 157 LASER HAIR REMOVAL Silky Laser ................................. 137 LIQUOR Monmouth Bottle Shop .............. 156 MATTRESSES Mattresses 2 Go........................ 156 MEDICAL Shabbos Lift Solutions ................ 157 MOLD REMOVAL Remex ........................................ 97 MOVIE THEATER Kent Theater ............................. 125 MOVING Arik J. Moving & Storage ........... 157 Moshe Moving .......................... 157 MUSIC SCHOOL Music On The Go ..................... 157 NONPROFIT CONSULTANT Sarina Roffé Group ..................... 65 NUTRITION Laura Sasson Shammah ............. 129 ORGANIZATIONS Accessibility Accelerator ............... 55 Beth Shifra ......................... 144-145

Bnai Yosef................................. 133 Care .......................................... 25 Efrat ........................................... 47 Lev Medical ................................ 95 Migdal Ohr ............................... 4-5 Ohel ........................................ 135 Randis Care ................................ 37 Safe ........................................... 95 Sephardic Heritage Project ......... 129 Simha....................................... 121 Special Children’s Center ............. 59 The Next Step ........................... 139 ORTHODONTIST Eisenberger & Taavar ................. 115 PAIN MANAGEMENT Dr. Kreizman & Dr. Suede .......... 131 PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO Mark Greenberg ....................... 125 NYC Photo Group..................... 146 PHYSICAL TRAINER Mendel Goodman..................... 156 PLAYGROUNDS Whee ......................................... 49 POLITICIAN Vote For Sutton & Saban .............. BC POWER WASHING SB Power Washing ..................... 156 RESTAURANTS 656 Ocean Restaurant .............. 158 SCHOOL Pathway Academy........................ 15 SUKKAH Sukkah Depot ............................. 71 Sukkah Emporium ....................... 29 TABLE PADS Table Pads by Ushi Steinmetz ...... 156 TABLECLOTHS Tablecloths by Gitta Steinmetz .... 101 TITLE AGENCY Madison Title Company ............... 17 TRANSPORTATION Steven’s Bus & Limo Service ....... 156 TRAVEL Royal Travel ................................ 23 TUTOR/READING SPECIALIST Leslie Matsas............................. 129 WALLPAPER Elegant Walls .............................. 91 WEALTH MANAGEMENT Endurance Wealth Partners........... 33 WEIGHT LOSS Thrive Weight & Wellness ........... 119 WINDOW TREATMENTS Window Treats .......................... 103 ZE Blinds .................................. 157 YESHIVA Safra Lubavitcher Yeshiva ........... 141 Yeshiva of Flatbush ...................... 63 SEPTEMBER 2026 JEWISH IMAGE 159

Happy Holidays!

Boys Holiday and School Clothing

160 JEWISH IMAGE SEPTEMBER 2026

Wishing a

Shanah Tovah U'metukah!