Jewish Action Spring 2014

SPRING 5774/2014

THE MAGAZINE OF THE ORTHODOX UNION

VOLUME 74, NO. 3 • $5.50

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JEWISH ACTION FEATURES 6 Rabbi Matis Greenblatt:

S P R I N G 5 7 74 / 2 0 1 4

V O L . 74 , N O . 3

DEPARTMENTS 2 LETTERS 8 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

68 New Books from OU Press

THE CHEF’S TABLE 70 Gluten-Free Healthy

A Dedicated Editor Retires By Joel M. Schreiber SPECIAL SECTION 14 Fighting the Taf Guys

Celebrating NCSY at Sixty By Martin Nachimson 10 CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

Passover Pleasures By Norene Gilletz WELLNESS REPORT 74 Conquering Potato Fatigue

By Jack Abramowitz 16 The Real Story of

Gerald M. Schreck 12 FROM THE DESK OF

By Shira Isenberg BOOKS 76 Rebbetzin Kanievsky:

Hebrew Pronunciation By Seth Mandel RABBI’S DIARY 20 The Rabbi As a Rastafarian Consultant By Akiva Males COVER STORY 22 Anglos in Israel: Their Lives, Their Communities, Their Influence on Israeli Society By Zvi Volk 39 How Much Hebrew is Enough?

RABBI STEVEN WEIL, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT The Lightning Rod JUST BETWEEN US 56 Why Making Your Children

Work Matters: How Cleaning for Pesach Can Develop Your Child’s Self-Esteem By Dinah Bucholz ISRAEL 58 On and Off the Beaten Track in . . . Manara A View from the Heights By Peter Abelow INSIDE THE OU 60 NCSY Turns Sixty

A Legendary Mother to All By Naftali Weinberger, Naomi Weinberger and Nina Indig Reviewed by Rivki Rosenblatt 77 Short & Sweet: Text Message

Responsa of Ha-Rav Shlomo Aviner Shlit”a Piskei Shlomo, 3 vol. Rabbi Mordechai Tzion, Ed. Reviewed by Gil Student 80 Like Dreamers

By David Olivestone 40 Anglos Who Have Made an Impact

By Toby Klein Greenwald By Elli Fischer PESACH 48 A Greenwich Village Seder:

By Yossi Klein Halevi Reviewed By Yitzchak Etshalom LEGAL-EASE 82 What’s the Truth about . . .

Still Groovy, Neat, Hip, Awesome After All These Years By Bayla Sheva Brenner 66 Marror in December?

What’s It Like to Lead a Seder for Sixty NYU Students? By Gideon Black MEMOIR 52 A Life Not With Standing Chava Willig Levy Sets Out to Shatter Stereotypes about People with Disabilities

Mishloach Manot? By Ari Z. Zivotofsky LASTING IMPRESSIONS 88 Frogs Were Everywhere.

OU Kosher Begins Preparations for Passover Well in Advance of the Holiday By Bayla Sheva Brenner

But Where Was Shirley? By Ann D. Koffsky

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Jewish Action seeks to provide a forum for a diversity of legitimate opinions within the spectrum of Orthodox Judaism. Therefore, opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the policy or opinion of the Orthodox Union.

Jewish Action is published by the Orthodox Union • 11 Broadway, New York, NY 10004 212.563.4000. Printed Quarterly—Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, plus Special Passover issue. ISSN No. 0447-7049. Subscription: $16.00 per year; Canadian, $20.00; Overseas, $60.00. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Jewish Action, 11 Broadway, New York, NY 10004. Spring 5774/2014 JEWISH ACTION 1

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Letters The Erev-Shabbos Jew In his article “Shabbos Is More Than One Day a Week” (winter 2013), Rabbi Hillel Goldberg quotes Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik as saying that “America has many Sabbath-observant [shomer Shabbat] Jews, but no erev-Sabbath-observant Jews.” Interestingly, the word “shomer” is typically translated as “to watch” or “to guard.” After Yosef tells his brothers and father his dreams, the Torah tells us “v’aviv shamar es hadavar, and his father watched the matter.” Noting the unusual usage of the word “shamar,” Rashi comments that Yaakov Avinu was, in fact, “mamtin u’mitzapeh masay yavo, waiting with eager anticipation for the time when [Yosef’s dreams] would come true.” Drawing upon this Rashi, I would like to add that “shomer Shabbos” should not be translated as “Sabbath observant,” but rather as “Sabbath anticipant.” A shomer-Shabbos individual doesn’t just “observe” Shabbos by refraining from doing melachah, forbidden activities, and by eating three seudos; rather, he waits all week, excited about the upcoming Shabbos and anticipating its arrival. In his article, Rabbi Goldberg managed to answer a question that has bothered me for quite a while. The Sefas Emes Siddur (Roedelheim) does not print the last three pesukim of the “Shir shel Yom” (Daily Psalm) for Yom Revi’i (Wednesday), beginning with “Lechu Neranena,” et cetera. The siddur directs the reader to the beginning of the Kabbalas Shabbos prayer recited on Friday night. I always wondered about this. The siddur in general is very well organized and attempts to be reader friendly. Why not print the three verses at the end of the “Shir shel Yom”? Most likely, Chazal wanted us to “feel” Shabbos coming at the earliest possible moment. Since one may recite Havdalah until Tuesday evening, the earliest possible time to appreciate the coming Shabbos is Yom Revi’i. Hence, Chazal placed “Lechu Neranena” at the end of the “Shir shel 2 g

Yom” of Wednesday. The editor of the siddur must have intentionally wanted the reader to turn to Kabbalas Shabbos, leading to a greater anticipation of the coming Shabbos.

JOEL (YOSSI) SHANDELMAN Monsey, New York

THE MAGAZINE OF THE ORTHODOX UNION www.ou.org/jewish_action

Jewish Action Editor Nechama Carmel carmeln@ou.org

I was privileged to attend Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik’s shiur where I heard—more than once—the Rav describe the erev-Shabbos Jew in very beautiful language. Rabbi Goldberg’s cogent articulation of the importance of erev Shabbos made me think about my grandfather, William (Zev) Taub. He came to America on the eve of WWI to escape the czar’s forced conscription and remained shomer Shabbat throughout. Despite the fact that he was fired from countless jobs, together with my grandmother, he persevered. It was not only my grandfather, but people like him who remained shomrei Shabbat under difficult conditions who inspired me and earned the respect of Rav Yerucham Gorelick, a rosh yeshivah of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He would call them the “real heroes of Shabbos preservation.” Whatever Rabbi Goldberg writes is enlightening. This article is no exception.

RABBI BARRY D. HARTMAN Orthodox Chavurah Minyan of New Bedford New Bedford, Massachusetts

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Literary Editor Emeritus Matis Greenblatt Assistant Editor Rashel Zywica Contributing Editors Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein • Dr. Judith Bleich Rabbi Emanuel Feldman • Rabbi Hillel Goldberg Rabbi Sol Roth • Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter Rabbi Berel Wein Editorial Committee David Bashevkin • Binyamin Ehrenkranz Mayer Fertig • David Olivestone • Gerald M. Schreck Rabbi Gil Student • Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb Advertising Director Carrie R. Beylus Advertising Coordinator Eli Lebowicz Subscriptions 212.613.8146 Design KZ Creative Advertising Sales Joseph Jacobs Advertising 212.787.9400 ORTHODOX UNION Executive Vice President Rabbi Steven Weil Executive Vice President, Emeritus Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb Chief Communications Officer Mayer Fertig Chief Financial Officer Shlomo Schwartz Chief Human Resources Officer Lenny Bessler Chief Technology Officer Samuel Davidovics Senior Director of Institutional Advancement Paul S. Glasser President Martin Nachimson Chairman of the Board Stephen J. Savitsky Chairman, Board of Governors Mark Bane Communications Commission Gerald M. Schreck, Chairman Joel M. Schreiber, Chairman Emeritus Barbara Lehmann Siegel; Dr. Herbert Schlager; Rabbi Gil Student; Michael C. Wimpfheimer © Copyright 2014 by the Orthodox Union. Eleven Broadway, New York, NY, 10004. Telephone 212.563.4000 • www.ou.org Periodicals Postage Paid, New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices.

Remembering Rabbi Wohlgemuth g

Kudos to Steve Lipman for his evocative retrospective on the long and distinguished career of Rabbi Dr. Isaiah Wohlgemuth at the Maimonides School in Brookline, Massachusetts (“Rabbi Dr. Isaiah Wohlgemuth: A Beloved Teacher of Tefillah,” winter 2013). It was my great privilege to have Rabbi Wohlgemuth as my teacher at the Hebrew school in Chelsea, Massachusetts—his first position in America. Rabbi Wohlgemuth taught the art of the siddur—an intensive eight-

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week, five-day-a-week program during the school’s summer session. Like Leah Lightman, mentioned in the article, I too became very emotional when reading about my beloved first “rebbe.” Steve, thanks for the memories.

JOEL SAIBEL Deerfield Beach, Florida

must be laid. The tefillah teacher must be the real deal, and the school environment must promote “God talk” in the hallways. Where speaking to and about Hashem is part of life, tefillah makes sense.

D’VORAH MILLER Cape Town, South Africa

Are Community Schools an Option? g Non-Orthodox day schools may be the right choice for some families, but your article “Community Day Schools: Are They an Option?” by Rachel Wizenfeld (winter 2013) understates how “diverse” some community schools really are. At some schools, for example, girls are invited to wrap tefillin in the morning, while boys are not expected to do so. Some classes are taught by openly homosexual teachers. Prospective parents will want to do their homework before making such an important decision.

Making Tefillah Meaningful g

In the winter issue of your enlightening and thoughtprovoking magazine, you address the fact that Modern Orthodox schools are struggling to make tefillah meaningful (“Can Schools Do a Better Job of Teaching Tefillah?” by Steve Lipman). Teaching tefillah must seamlessly follow and intertwine with talking about Hashem throughout the day. Where some Modern Orthodox schools in America are failing is in inviting Hashem into the entirety of their students’ lives. As one graduate from a Modern Orthodox school put it, “I couldn’t wait to get to seminary, where I could talk, without feeling self-conscious, about recognizing Hashem in my life.” The teenage years are an incredibly opportune time to take connection to prayer to a whole new level. Unfortunately, this time is often overshadowed by the focus on getting into a university of choice, and sadly, talk of the Source of all success is lost. In this environment, a class on tefillah won’t cut it. For tefillah teachings to be successful, the groundwork of discussions about Hashem’s purpose in creating us and His involvement in our lives

MICHAEL STEINBERG Bethesda, Maryland

The Earliest Cookbook g In “The Little-Known Story Behind the Latke” (winter 2013), author Carol Green Ungar claims that the earliest American Jewish cookbook, entitled Aunt Babette’s Cookbook, was published in 1889. However, I have in my possession a paperback version of The First JewishAmerican Cookbook by Mrs. Esther Levy, published in 1871 in Philadelphia. The original title was Jewish Cookery Book: On Principles of Economy. It is filled with wonderful recipes from that era.

PHYLLIS SCHEINBERG JAY Scarsdale, New York

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Life Beyond New York I read with great interest the “Life Beyond New York” cover story in the winter 2013 issue. As a member of the Shomrei Torah Fair Lawn New Jersey Community Growth Initiative Committee, we also participated in this past year’s OU Communities Fair. After reading the article and especially the quotes by Rabbi Steven Weil, Rabbi Judah Isaacs and Stephen Savitsky, I could not be prouder of our accomplishments. Over the past five years, over seventy-five families have moved to Fair Lawn and have joined Shomrei Torah. Mr. Savitsky wrote, “The most important element in community building is the strength, leadership and vision of the rabbi and rebbetzin.” That quote certainly embodies Rabbi Benjamin and Rebbetzin Shevi Yudin and Rabbi Andrew Markowitz, our assistant rabbi, and his rebbetzin, Sarah. Rabbi Weil wrote, “A shul should allocate a growing percent of its operating budget to quality youth programming.” One of the attractions that continue to fuel Shomrei Torah’s growth is our focus on our youth. Not only do we have an in-house nursery school, but we have programs and groups for children of all ages, including Shabbat youth groups, a junior congregation and a youth minyan. As important is our award-winning NCSY chapter, under the leadership of Rabbi Ethan Katz. Your article had a section entitled “Alternatives to Teaneck.” Fair Lawn is certainly a wonderful alternative (and only eight minutes away, east on Route 4!). Our houses are affordable and our proximity to the New York and New Jersey job markets is an important factor. I encourage your readers to spend a Shabbat with us.

WILLIE HOCHMAN Fair Lawn, New Jersey g

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Your article “Rebuilding Oceanside in the Aftermath of Sandy” by Bayla Sheva Brenner (winter 2013) stated that “Oceanside stepped up to rebuild its shul.” That would indicate there is but one Orthodox shul in Oceanside, when in fact there are four, all of which suffered damage from Hurricane Sandy. All of us share in the joy of the Young Israel of Oceanside, and are happy that it was able to mount a campaign enabling it to rebuild. However, other shuls with less resources have not been so fortunate.

Robert Avrech Responds g

RABBI AVI J. KASTEN Congregation Shaar HaShamayim Oceanside, New York g

It was inspiring to see in the wake of the Pew Study’s disheartening news that Orthodoxy is planting new communities in places that have had Jews for a while. This is the hope that we need and that may save Jews in the US.

JOSEF FLASCHNER Queens, New York

Debating Hollywood Culture I cannot agree with Robert Avrech’s assessments of Hollywood culture (“Confessions of a Shomer Shabbos Hollywood Screenwriter,” winter 2013). The struggle for marriage equality does not in any way undermine our values as a Torah community, any more than the latest advertisement for a nonkosher fast-food eatery does. As a religious Jew, I don’t have to endorse either McDonald’s or same-sex marriage, but I should, as an American, be ready to affirm that the rights of equal protection under the law be extended to all of my fellow citizens. And then there is the obvious question one has to ask Avrech: if he is so dissatisfied with the culture of Hollywood, why does he opt to make his living there?

DAVID BLATT Chicago, Illinois g

I am a screenwriter and producer who has worked in Hollywood for my entire professional life. I know all the players in town, and even those who are the targets of my critique, privately (and proudly) allow that my article is accurate. My agent chuckled when he read my article and joked that, “You will never work in this town again because no one likes a whistle-blower.” My agent was kidding, but not really. Marriage equality? Why not make it legal (and fashionable) for three people to get married? In short, polygamy (which actually has a long history in human society). And then we should legalize incest. So where does the letter writer draw the line? Is there a red line? The premise of my article is that Hollywood is the most powerful propaganda machine the world has ever known. And most people are not immune to it. Finally, I write and produce movies because I love movies, because it is the only thing I know how to do, because I do it really well. Because I meet and work with some of the most talented people on the face of the Earth, because my films are at odds with the politically correct trends, because my films make an impression on millions of people and because I make a nice parnassah doing what I love.

Correction In our article on Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in the winter 2013 issue, we neglected to mention Rabbi Mendy Mangel of Chabad Lubavitch of Camden and Burlington Counties and his pioneering efforts to grow the community. We deeply regret the error. A corrected version of the article is available on our web site at www.ou.org/jewish_action /11/2013/ground-growing-torah-garden-state.

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Good taste is rewarding enough.

(But it’s nice when others agree.)

Names Baron Herzog Chenin Blanc a Global Value

AnAppreciation

By Joel M. Schreiber

RABBI MATIS GREENBLATT: A Dedicated Editor Retires t was 1985 and the then-president of the Orthodox Union, Professor Shimon Kwestel, requested that I, chairman of the OU Publications Commission at the time, create a magazine that would disseminate and further the values of the organization. After attending a meeting with a group of various individuals, Sheldon Rudoff, a”h, suggested I speak to one of the attendees—Rabbi Matis Greenblatt. Matis and I subsequently met in my home and after a few hours of intense discussion, we decided to turn the organization’s four-page newsprint throwaway—known as Jewish Action— into a full-fledged magazine. Matis was to serve as the literary editor. Almost thirty years later, reflecting on years of tireless work and effort, one realizes that without Matis’s contribution—his insight and extraordinary talent—the magazine would never have succeeded. For decades, we conferred at least two or three times a week—sometimes daily—and during those times, I realized the depth of his remarkable talents. We would discuss, deliberate and debate for hours on end. Matis is a consummate talmid chacham—an expert, whether in Talmud, midrash, Jewish philosophy or the history of machshavah. Whether it was Klezmer or classical music, novels or biographies, Chassidism or Mitnagdism, politics or organizations, Matis had an interest in and a firm knowledge of the subject matter.

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Rabbi Matis Greenblatt Photo courtesy of Elisheva Schlam

Working closely with editors Heidi Tenzer, Charlotte Friedland and Nechama Carmel respectively, Matis brought an intellectual rigor to the publication. Matis, along with the editorial committee, conceptualized many

Jewish Action from the late 1980s.

Joel M. Schreiber is chairman emeritus of Jewish Action and chairman of the board at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University.

of our celebrated issues, such as the 1998 issue marking the OU’s centennial which profiled the “Pioneers of Orthodoxy,” the 1993 classic issue on the life and legacy of Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik published shortly after his

death, as well as the special edition in 2002 devoted to highlighting NCSY alumni who are current leaders in the Jewish community. Because of Matis’s personal connections, Jewish Action began featuring some of the most prominent thinkers and rabbis in the Orthodox world, such as Rabbi J. David Bleich, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. Jewish Action’s intellectual breadth is due to Matis’s influence as well. Under his guidance, we published articles covering the full range of Orthodox Torah scholarship, from Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook to Rav Yitzchak Hutner, from Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik to Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. In our quest to challenge our readership with fresh thoughts and new insights, Matis was a continual source of ideas. His eclectic knowledge and dedication to excellence made working with him both interesting and challenging. His deep faith infused our work with value and importance. Ironically, although Matis was practically unknown to the OU administration and officers, he was the spark that helped create and sustain interest in Jewish Action, not only in the formative years but for decades thereafter. After nearly three decades of tireless devotion to the magazine, Matis has retired, leaving a definite void. We are grateful that he will continue to serve Jewish Action as literary editor emeritus. As he enters a new stage in life, a stage meant for reflection and study, we wish him long life and good health. We can all be certain in the knowledge that his literary creation will remain an enduring gift to the Jewish public. g

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President’sMessage

By Martin Nachimson

CELEBRATING NCSY AT SIXTY his year we celebrate a momentous occasion: the sixtieth anniversary of NCSY. To truly appreciate the enormous contribution NCSY has made to strengthening Orthodox life in America, we must take a trip back in time, to America in 1954, the year of NCSY’s birth. In the 1950s, Orthodoxy in America was fragile. In many cases, children came from homes where the parents were Holocaust survivors, traumatized immigrants struggling to find their way in a strange land. They were eager to Americanize, and had difficulty conveying the significance of religious life to their American-as-apple-pie children. Across the country, the decline of Orthodox Judaism was apparent, especially among the youth. What will become of Judaism? This was the question leaders of the Orthodox Union asked back in the 1950s. (Sadly, this same question haunts us sixty years later, as the recent Pew Report indicated. But that’s for a different article.) At the OU convention in 1954, a resolution was passed that would, over time, address the escalating assimilation among the youth: the creation of a national youth movement. And so, due to the vision and persistence of OU National Secretary Harold Boxer and his wife, Enid, NCSY was born; and for those fortunate Jewish teens who have been touched by NCSY, their lives have never been the same. Who needed to be reached? Certainly the unaffiliated teens. But there were also young people who had knowledge of Judaism but no passion for it. There was an emerging day school movement, but informal Jewish education was virtually nonexistent. NCSY realized it needed to teach kids about Judaism, but more important, it needed to teach kids to love Judaism. The fledgling youth movement introduced the “NCSY Shabbaton”—an incredibly impactful weekend where kids would experience Shabbat as they never had before. It introduced teams of advisors, inspired young adults who could serve as role models, as well as the innovative idea that the movement should be run for and by the kids. Teens would lead the minyanim at Shabbatons, they would decide the programming, they would be given the reigns to make NCSY their organization. But despite these forward-thinking ideas, the new movement faced many challenges. It had to remain firm and uphold halachic standards in the face of opposition. NCSY leaders refused to host events that would feature so8

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cial dancing or include services without a mechitzah. Shul members were skeptical: would the young people come if there was no social dancing? If there was a mechitzah? They came. By the hundreds. Eventually, by the thousands. Despite the fact that NCSY was run mostly by volunteers and had an extremely limited budget, the movement exploded. NCSY entered shuls across the country, and slowly but surely transformed families, congregations and entire communities. “There is hardly a major yeshivah in the country that doesn’t have its dorm room of former NCSYers,” stated an article in the OU magazine Jewish Life in 1969. What would we say today—decades and thousands of teenagers later? NCSY graduates are at the forefront of Orthodox Jewish life today. Many are respected talmidei chachamim, rabbanim and community activists who have changed the American Jewish landscape in profound ways. NCSY blazed a new trail, helping to spur the teshuvah movement and guide others in the nascent kiruv world. Look around, and take note: quite a few of the heads of kiruv organizations have their roots in NCSY. The impact this organization has had on frum life is inestimable. I do not say this boastfully. We cannot take the credit for NCSY’s extraordinary success, or for the fact that it reaches more than 20,000 teens annually in the US, Canada, Israel, Chile, Argentina and Germany through its diverse array of programming. Baruch Hashem, OU leaders had the foresight and vision to realize the pressing need for a youth movement and to create one. But credit must be given to the teens themselves, who, despite significant obstacles, sacrificed and persevered. With the support of their peers and advisors at NCSY, these courageous teens began keeping Shabbat and kashrut, exhibiting remarkable spiritual fortitude and determination. The story of young people returning to their roots occurs in NCSY chapters throughout the country over and over again; amazingly, it’s a story that never grows stale. For with each teen who decides to embrace a religious lifestyle, we can be assured that a new Torah home will be established and new generations of Torah Jews will have NCSY to thank. We at the OU are honored and privileged to continue to carry on the NCSY torch and to ignite the hearts of teens throughout the world. g

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Chairman’sMessage

By Gerald M. Schreck

W

e are all familiar with the expression “two Jews, three opinions.” The fact that the Jewish people are opinionated is nothing new. Our Sages argued and debated endlessly in the Talmud; in fact, the Talmud is one long record of rabbinic disagreement. Why does controversy play such a major role in our tradition? For one thing, disagreement is indicative of passion. The rabbis debate Jewish law because they are passionate about it, because every halachic nuance is imbued with untold significance and meaning. Moreover, arguing and questioning, when done respectfully, can yield deeper insight and understanding. Isn’t this what the holiday of Pesach is all about? The Four Questions sets the stage for everything that follows on Seder night. At the Pesach Seder everything is either framed as a question or is designed to elicit one. We are bidden to assist the “Child Who Does Not Know How to Ask” and provoke him to ask. Questioning and debating are the keys to learning and understanding. In these pages, we raise questions. We do not shy away from controversy or from topics that are delicate or uncomfortable. We take pride in the fact that our magazine is known for offering refreshingly honest and broad perspectives on issues. While Jewish Action is the family magazine of the Orthodox Union, our mission, as stated in each issue, is not to present the opinions of OU leaders, but to “provide a forum for a diversity of legitimate Gerald M. Schreck is the chairman of the OU Communications Commission.

opinions within the spectrum of Orthodox Judaism.” The role of Jewish Action, as we see it, is not to tell readers how or what to think; it is to present differing points of views—all within the halachic framework—and allow our readers to arrive at their own conclusions. We offer thoughtful, sometimes provocative, articles in order to inspire meaningful conversation and debate. Sometimes these debates can be intense. Especially because our readership is so broad—it spans the Orthodox spectrum—our articles can provoke passionate responses. But receiving a flurry of impassioned letters and e-mails is actually a positive sign: it shows our readers care deeply about issues, about ideas. In fact, our popular Letters Section serves as an additional forum for the expression of various viewpoints. Some of our recent issues have elicited unusually strong reactions from readers, and I thought I would take the time to respond to some of their concerns here. First, there was our cover story on communities (“Orthodoxy on the Move: Life Beyond New York,” winter 2013), which some

readers felt unfairly overlooked their particular community. We stated clearly in the introduction to the section why we selected certain communities. We deliberately chose to focus on communities across the country “that have witnessed significant growth over the past few years.” The point of the article was not to provide free publicity to these communities; it was to share their stories of success and the secrets behind them. Our goal was to strengthen smaller struggling communities by exploring what it takes to grow a community. Another article that some readers took issue with was Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen’s essay on the painful topic of off-the-derech kids. A master educator and international lecturer, Rabbi Kelemen is also the author of the wellknown parenting book To Kindle a Soul: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Parents and Teachers. He asserted—somewhat controversially—that there is one main reason why kids leave the frum way of life: a lack of shalom bayis. He wrote, “We mistakenly think our kids go off the derech because they saw something on a cell phone, weren’t exposed to the beauty of Shabbos or haven’t learned an intriguing Maharal from an inspired teacher. In certain segments of the community, some think that perfectly stable children are spiritually blown to pieces by college courses or cell phones equipped with texting technology. In reality, the crack is in the foundation. It starts at home, and it can be remedied at home. A child’s spiritual health depends on his parents’ spiritual health, their shalom bayis and the love and acceptance they show their child.”

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Especially because our readership is so broad โ it spans the Orthodox spectrumโ our articles can provoke passionate responses.

Many readers disagreed with him. They asserted that a variety of other causes are responsible for this phenomenon including learning disabilities, social environment, negative experiences in school, attractions of the Internet, abuseโ including sexual abuseโ as well as normal adolescent rebellion and the need for exploration and independence. When kids go off the derech, they maintain, it is rarely the result of just one factor; it is usually determined by multiple factors. One letter writerโ a parent of a child who went off the derechโ felt Rabbi Kelemen was unjustly placing the blame on parents. She wrote: โ Rav Mattisyahu Salomon [the mashgiach of Lakewoodโ s Beth Medrash Govoha] has explained that in todayโ s times children straying from the path is a magaifah . . . much the same as the staggering rate of cancer. It is happening across the boardโ in every country, every city . . . within the frum world. No one is โ safeโ even if parents do everything right . . . โ Will we discover the cause for the agonizing problem of at-risk youth in these pages? Most likely not. Why then did we publish Rabbi Kelemenโ s controversial essay? Because our mandate is to initiate intelligent and lively conversations on issues of importance to the Orthodox Jewish community. Healthy and vigorous debate has always been the hallmark of traditional Judaism. It has made our tradition strong and energetic, and has helped carry our people throughout the millennia. I wish you all a chag kasher vโ sameach. g

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Spring 5774/2014 JEWISH ACTION 11

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From the Desk of RABBI STEVEN WEIL, Executive Vice President

The Lightning Rod

here is a fascinating debate among the Tannaim in Tractate Ta’anit regarding an issue that at first glance seems purely academic, since it is about an institution we no longer practice today. However, upon taking a closer look, we find that the debate, which is so extreme in its positions, is actually extraordinarily relevant to how we, as committed halachic Jews, relate to the world. The topic that is so hotly debated is the Nazir, found in Sefer Bamidbar, chapter six. Any man or woman who wishes to become a Nazir would make a vow and abstain from consuming wine and grape products, from any form of shaving, trimming or cutting hair and from any association with death. All of these deprivations are targeted at removing the Nazir from the realms of the instinctual, aesthetic and emotional. Refraining from grape products, wine and alcohol precludes the Nazir from intoxication and loss of control. Hair is an external manifestation of a person’s inner state, and by neglecting it, one minimizes the attention to one’s appearance. And by distancing himself from death, the Nazir disassociates

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with the most acute and poignant emotions that accompany that experience. To conclude the period of nezirut, a man or woman would bring a series of sacrifices, including a chatat—a sin offering. This sin offering is the lightning rod that sparks passionate and opposing interpretations of how the Nazir should be viewed, and whether he is to be admired or pitied. The debate is centered around the obvious question: why would the Nazir be required to bring a sin offering? What sin has he committed by engaging in this period of nezirut? The Ramban views the Nazir as an individual who is “kadosh,” someone holy who heeds an inner calling to exist on a higher spiritual plane. He is similar to a kohen, who also abstains from associating with death in order to be able to maintain a state of objectivity

and rationality, unaffected by acute and intense emotions. The Nazir has no need for, even feels encumbered by, the instinctual and the aesthetic components that are intrinsic to man and vows to disassociate in order to climb the ladder of sacred elevation. The Nazir can only be looked up to, as he towers above us, almost at the level of the angels. The only sin of the Nazir, says the Ramban, is when the term of nezirut is completed and the Nazir descends and leaves behind this transcendent state of purity. That is why he offers a korban chatat. The Rambam’s understanding of the Nazir is diametrically opposite. The Nazir is a chotei—a sinner. Mankind is blessed and charged with the opportunity and mission to experience and transform the physical and material world. Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch used to say that one of the questions a Jew will be asked by the Almighty at the end of his life is: “Have you seen My beautiful Alps?” Meaning, did you take advantage of and appreciate the beautiful world God created? Did you experience and engage with the world in all of its splendor? The Nazir, says the Rambam, would answer no. He not only

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can’t engage with and appreciate the world, he can’t function in it either. The Nazir is an unhealthy personality who needs to enter a state of spiritual detox, where the only way to maintain a healthy grasp on the instinctual, aesthetic and emotional realms is to abstain from them completely. The Nazir’s sin is needing to cloister himself from the legitimate pleasures Hakadosh Baruch Hu created; therefore, he is required to bring a sin offering when the term of nezirut ends. This debate, in which the opinions are so passionate and so radically different, is not just about the Nazir. In truth, it is a debate about how we, as committed, thoughtful and spiritual Jews, relate to the physical world and the pursuit of holiness. How do we balance the yearning of our souls with the cloak of the physical world that envelops us? Some of us are followers of the Ramban, idealizing a life where we can shed the instinctual, aesthetic and emotional bonds and exist as exclusively as possible in the spiritual realm. Others are followers of the Rambam, feeling a keen sense of responsibility to engage with the world in which we live and to experience what it has to offer. This is not a conflict but a complement to kedushah. This is a choice that is made with fervor and zeal. Rare is the voice that is neutral on this issue. Tragically, the passion regarding this issue is often so intense that we tend to delegitimize the opposing view. “The Jews in that community live like monks, closed off and isolated from the real world.� Or, “the Jews in that community are such gluttons, so lustful, ba’alei ta’avah.� These types of criticisms are not constructive or healthy, especially since both approaches are rooted in our mesorah. Rather than denigrate others or get defensive over an issue that has always been so fiercely debated, we would be wise to continue the dispute with respect and intellectual honesty. If the debate over the Nazir is the lightning rod, then we should let it spark a healthy and thoughtful debate over how we should view and relate to the physical world. g

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Spring 5774/2014 JEWISH ACTION 13

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LANGUAGE

FIGHTING TAF GUYS THE

BY JACK ABRAMOWITZ Shabbos. There, I said it. Shabbos. Sukkos. Shavuos. Mitzvos. Matzos. Shalosh seudos. Baba Basra. It feels good to get that off my chest. eaders may not realize how much I’m getting away with here, because at the Orthodox Union the convention is to publish those words as Shabbat, Sukkot, mitzvot, et cetera.* This is a battle I have fought many times over the years. As editor of the OU Torah section on the OU web site, I win some (see “HaShoneh Halachos”1 on OU Torah) and I lose some (see “Mishna Yomit”2 on the same site). I have heard tales of Sepharadic Jews feeling marginalized by the Ashkenazic majority; that’s how I feel when it comes to my pronunciation. Somehow the fact that I call a citron an “esrog” means that I must love Israel less (because Sepharadic pronunciation has been adopted in Israel) or that I’m a funda-

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Rabbi Jack Abramowitz is the editor of the OU Torah section on the OU web site. He is the author of five books, including The Tzniyus Book. His latest work, The Taryag Companion, is available from OU Press as well as on Amazon.

mentalist (because those perceived to be fundamentalists often use the Ashkenazic pronunciation). Differences in dialect—and fighting about them—are nothing new. In the Book of Judges, chapter 12, we are told of a minor civil war against the Tribe of Ephraim. The people of Gilad identified Ephraimites who were trying to flee by asking them to pronounce the word “shibboleth,” meaning a stream. The Ephraimites pronounced it “sibboleth” (since they could not pronounce the “sh” sound), giving themselves away and thereby falling into the hands of the Giladites. Well, at least no one has come after me with a sword for saying “Megillas Rus.” Upbringing aside—or, perhaps because of it—I just don’t understand the Sepharadic pronunciation. A beis is different from a veis. A kaf is different from a chaf. A pei is different from a fei. So why should a taf and a saf be the same? A dagesh (the dot sometimes found in Hebrew letters) has many functions. It can double a letter; for example, a dagesh in the gimmel makes the word “Haggadah” properly transliterated with two g’s. In a “mapik hei,” the dagesh makes the vowel precede the letter hei, e.g., “Elo-Ah” rather than “Elo-Ha” in Hallel. But what purpose does the dagesh serve in the last letter in Hebrew if it is always pronounced like a t? *Editor’s Note: This magazine’s policy has always been to use Sepharadic pronunciation unless an author is known to use Ashkenazic pronunciation.

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And then there’s the issue of the kamatz, the little tshaped vowel that Ashkenazim pronounce “aw� and Sepharadim pronounce “ah.� The pasach (the straight line) is already pronounced “ah.� Since the vowel symbols, like the trope marks, were designed by the Masoretes3 as an aid to reading the Torah, why would they come up with two vowels to represent the same sound? And how would they determine where to put each one? Sharing my personal befuddlement is not meant to disparage Sepharadic pronunciation, which is a legitimate, accepted form of the language—but so is Ashkenazic! Can I feel some love in return? Rabbi Moshe Feinstein addressed this matter several times. In Iggeros Moshe (Orach Chaim 3:5), he writes that both pronunciations are acceptable in halachah to those who use them. As an example, he discusses the chalitzah ceremony, used to dissolve the bond between a widow and her deceased husband’s brother. This ceremony must be performed in Hebrew to be considered valid. A woman who performed chalitzah using one pronunciation would still be considered separated from her brother-in-law, even to members of a community that uses the other. Nevertheless, since we have no way of knowing which modern pronunciation most closely approximates the way our forefathers spoke, Rav Moshe rules that one is absolutely forbidden to change his pronunciation in prayer from the way his family says it. It is not permitted to reject one’s received tradition in favor of another practice that is not necessarily more accurate. In a recent debate on this topic, a colleague asked me if I really thought that my pronunciation was the most authentic. I informed him that I do not. (Surprised?) Honestly, I think that the Yemenite pronunciation—from which we get “brith milah,� “kashruth� and “beth Israel�—is probably closer to the mark than either the Sepharadic or the Ashkenazic pronunciation. Ultimately, what’s important is that Hebrew is Lashon Hakodesh—the Holy Language—which is most suitable for Torah study and prayers, however one pronounces it. So forgive me if I feel a little strongly about this matter. I don’t begrudge others their “metivta� or their “pat Yisrael,� so please don’t try to take my kesubos away. g *Author’s note: The entire point of this article is how authors feel when editors change transliterations, attributing to us pronunciations that we ordinarily would not use. The topic of this piece notwithstanding, Jewish Action is insisting on the four-syllable “Sepharadic� for this piece rather than “Sephardic,� which I would actually say. The irony is not lost on me.

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Notes 1. “HaShoneh Halachos� is an OU Torah e-mail program run by the author (sign up today at www.ou.org/torah/halacha-series/hashoneh-halachos), whose name comes from a Talmudic dictum. It means “the one who learns Jewish laws.� Alternately, “HaShoneh Halachot.� 2. Mishna Yomit is another OU Torah program, which features a daily teaching from the Mishnah. 3. Masoretes were ancient scribes who devised the system of vowels and trope, and set the definitive Biblical canon called the Masoretic Text.

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The Real Story of Hebrew Pronunciation

By Seth Mandel hanne he cam and was nyȝ þe hous, he herde a symphonie and oþer noise of mynstraleye.” In modern-day English, the sentence above—written in fourteenth-century Middle English—means: “When he got close to the house, he heard a band and chorus.” About 400 years earlier, in Old English, the same sentence would have appeared as follows: “þā hē þām hūse genēalæhte, hē gehȳrde þone sweg and þæt weryd.” One of the first rules one learns in historical linguistics is that all spoken languages are in a constant state of change; only the rapidity and significance of the changes

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Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel is a rabbinic coordinator at OU Kosher. He has a PhD in Semitic languages from Harvard University and has taught Hebrew, Aramaic and other languages in various universities.

vary. Indeed, everything in a language changes: the sounds, the morphology (word forms), the syntax (how words are put together to form a phrase) and even the intonation. Native speakers are aware of the different dialects of their own language. When a Brit talks about the “boot of the lorry” (the trunk of the truck), many Americans will have no idea what he means, even if they are able to understand the pronunciation. This principle has several corollaries. One is that the more time passes, the more difficult it is to understand the older forms of a particular language. Another is that one language, whose speakers become separated from one another, will diverge, first into two dialects, and with time, into different languages. Spoken Latin diverged over time into many separate languages, of which Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and Romanian survived.

Psalm 116, copied in a twelfth- or thirteenth-century Oriental (possibly Yemenite) square hand with Babylonian supralinear vocalization.

Courtesy of The Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, MS L508, p. 17r. Please note that the image has been digitally altered to avoid printing sheimos.

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Unfortunately, there are no YouTube videos or vinyl recordings illustrating how Avraham Avinu or Moshe Rabbeinu spoke.

While we would all like to think that we read the Torah the same way our ancestors did three or four thousand years ago, the likelihood is that we don’t. As with other languages, Hebrew changed over time. Even in the time of the Shoftim, we find that members of different tribes pronounced Hebrew differently, as the story in Shoftim 12:5 illustrates. Today, three main traditional pronunciation systems of Hebrew have survived and are used in synagogues around the globe: Ashkenazic, Sepharadic and Teimani. (The Samaritan community also preserves its own Hebrew pronunciation, which differs greatly from the Jewish traditions.) Since numerous and significant differences exist between the three traditional systems, the obvious question is: which pronunciation system adheres most closely to tradition? In other words, which is more “correct�? This question has no simple answer. Unfortunately, there are no YouTube videos or vinyl recordings illustrating how Avraham Avinu or Moshe Rabbeinu spoke. No one can prove that one pronunciation system more accurately reflects how the Jews in Eretz Yisrael spoke thousands of years ago. We have only written evidence. Yet written records do not record the pronunciation of words (how would one know how to pronounce “laugh� correctly from written evidence alone?). Hebrew uses the original alphabet, which was invented for Hebrew or a close cousin to it. As with other Semitic languages, only the consonants were written down (no vowels). Around 700 CE, various systems for writing vowels were developed for Semitic languages, with each language developing distinct vowel symbols. Thus, despite the fact that Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic and Amharic all share the same consonants—of course, the forms of the letters change over time, so nowadays the Arabic alphabet looks different than the Hebrew alphabet—they all have very different symbols representing vowels. Obviously, one cannot discuss Hebrew pronunciation without first discussing Hebrew vowels. What most people don’t realize is that at least three different notation systems for denoting vowels (vowel symbols or nekudos) were invented for Hebrew, each in a different center of Jewish society. In manuscripts, one finds evidence of the “Babylonian vocalization� (developed in Bavel), the “Palestinian vocalization� (developed in most of Israel) and the “Tiberian vocalization� (developed in Tiberias, a center of Biblical scholarship at that time). The systems all came into being at around the same time. The Tiberian notation (which later

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was universally accepted) has seven different vowel symbols—the nekudos we are familiar with. The Babylonian vocalization has six vowels and the Palestinian has five. The traditional Sepharadic pronunciation most closely corresponds to the Palestinian notation, as it does not distinguish between the pasach and the kamatz. Nor does it distinguish between the segol and the tzere. Similarly, it is clear that the traditional Teimani pronunciation is descended from the Babylonian vowel notation system, since it uses only six vowel sounds. Most fascinating, until recently, Teimani scribes used the Babylonian nekudos. It is important to note that although the written vowels came about in 700 CE, they reflect a much older oral tradition. Why is the Tiberian notation system the only one still in use today? Because it was used in the Tiberian Masorah, which was considered the most authoritative. Thus, all Chumashim today adhere to the Tiberian system and feature the nekudos we are all familiar with. Interestingly, Jews universally adopted the Tiberian nekudos, even though, for most groups, the vowel system did not correspond to their traditional pronunciation at all. Today, many Israeli children do not understand why there are two vowel signs, kamatz and pasach, when they are pronounced identically. Among Jews who use the traditional Ashkenazic pronunciation, there are dialectal variations. Considerable differences in pronunciation exist among those from Germany, Galicia

(Poland), Hungary and Lithuania. The most obvious differences involve the cholam: the German pronunciation is au (sounds like “ow” as in “cow”); the Galician and Hungarian pronunciation is oi (sounds like “oy” as in “toy”); and the Lithuanian pronunciation is ei (sounds like “ay” as in “lake”). Within the Sepharadic groups, Iraqi pronunciation differs significantly from Moroccan, and both differ greatly from the pronunciation of Sepharadim from Amsterdam. Even within the Teimanim, there are some groups who pronounce the cholam like the tzere (as the Litvish pronunciation does). Traditions differ with regard to the pronunciation not only of vowels but of consonants as well. Rabbi Jack Abramowitz, in his article in this issue, “The Taf Guys,” is correct in stating that the Sepharadic pronunciation does not distinguish between the taf and saf. Traditional Sepharadic pronunciation (as opposed to Modern Israeli pronunciation) also does not distinguish between the beis and veis. Nor do Ashkenazim distinguish between saf and samech. Even the Teimani pronunciation, which distinguishes between all of these consonants, may have undergone changes through the years. The Sages in the Gemara speak about errors in pronunciation. In Megillah 24b, Chazal state that residents of Beit She’an and Haifa who do not pronounce the ayin and alef correctly should not duchen (recite the Priestly Blessing for the congregation) or serve as the shaliach tzibbur (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, 53:12; 128:33).

In the twentieth century, due to sociolinguistic factors, other dialects came into being—first among them contemporary Israeli pronunciation. The father of Modern Hebrew, Eliezer ben Yehudah, and the proponents of reviving Hebrew (mostly secular Zionists) adopted the Sepharadic pronunciation of the vowels. They felt that the Ashkenazic pronunciation was tied to European Judaism and religious tradition, which they, for the most part, were rejecting. However, since European Jews had difficulty pronouncing the Hebrew consonants of the Sepharadim (the ayin and ches in particular), Modern Hebrew uses Sepharadic vowels but the Ashkenazic pronunciation of consonants (except that it does not differentiate between the hard and soft taf). Mention must also be made of another new dialect that came about in the twentieth century: Chareidi Yeshivish Hebrew. This dialect, which evolved after the Holocaust, both in Israel and America, is a blend of the Lithuanian and Polish pronunciations, which ironically enough originated with the Yiddishists. In the early part of the twentieth century, the Yiddishists set out to standardize Yiddish pronunciation by combining elements of Lithuanian and Polish pronunciations of Yiddish. This pronunciation was subsequently adopted by the Yeshivish community. Of course, no one from Slabodka, Radin, Mir, Lublin, Pressburg or Satmar ever used this dialect in Europe. Getting back to our original question: which is the “correct” pronunciation? From a linguistic point of view, any of the three ancient pronunciation systems mentioned above that are found in manuscripts could be candidates, but we have no recordings of what exactly they sounded like. Linguistically, there is absolutely no way of deciding among them, but historical linguistics indicates that in all probability each has some original elements as well as some changes. So which one is

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correct? What does “correct� mean in this context? What Chazal spoke? Well, Chazal’s Hebrew was very different from Biblical Hebrew in morphology, syntax, phonology and, in all probability, in pronunciation as well. Most people would probably say that “correct� means the way Moshe Rabbeinu pronounced Hebrew. Since we have no way of knowing which pronunciation he used, the pronunciation one uses today depends on how one was taught, on his family tradition or on sociolinguistic considerations, such as does one want to identify with modern Israeli society or with Chareidi society? For English speakers, this conundrum should be easy to grasp: which is the “correct� pronunciation of English? Texan? Chicagoan? Bostonian? Given that there is no certainty regarding the authenticity of one tradition over another, it is not surprising that most posekim, including Rabbi Yitzchak HaCohen Kook—despite his nationalistic bent and positive feelings toward the revival of the Hebrew language—took the position that one may not change his ancestral custom regarding pronunciation. Years ago, when I first started leining at the Maimonides Minyan, a Shabbos minyan held at Maimonides School in Boston under the guidance of Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, I asked the Rav about my pronunciation. With my Eastern European background, I was accustomed to using the Ashkenazic pronunciation. However, I had had a Kurdish Hebrew tutor and therefore pronounced the ayin and ches using the Sepharadic pronunciation. The Rav told me that while we cannot know which pronunciation is more authentic than the next, the Gemara rules that one must differentiate between an ayin and an alef. Since most Ashkenazim (the Rav included himself ) cannot pronounce the ayin, they are not required to do so when praying, but since I could, I was obligated to. Similarly, he insisted that I make a distinction between a ches and a chaf, as pronunciation affects the meaning of words. The Rav did not encourage me to use the Sepharadic vowels, because the Sepharadic pronunciation makes no distinctions between certain vowels. This is similar to the position taken by Rabbi Yehuda Henkin (Eidus LeYisrael, p. 156-157), who says that one should adopt the Sepharadic pronunciation of the consonants but not the vowels. At the end of the day, I can do no better than quote Rabbi Elazar Mayer Teitz, rav and dean of the Jewish Educational Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, who, upon hearing that I would be writing about the taf and the saf, noted the Hebrew expression “Sof tov, hakol tov, If it ends well, everything is good.� Dare we say “Saf/taf, hakol tov?� g Special thanks to Jay Rovner, PhD, manuscript bibliographer, The Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary.

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Rabbi’sDiary

THE RABBI AS A RASTAFARIAN CONSULTANT

By Akiva Males 1. Requests for a “hair length exemption” to allow for the growth of dreadlocks—generally granted for inmates who have shown sincere commitment to their Rastafarian faith. 2. Requests for a “no animal products diet” (i.e., vegetarian)—generally granted for inmates who have shown sincere commitment to their Rastafarian faith. 3. Requests to wear a large knit hat (aka a “crown”) over one’s dreadlocks— always denied, as an inmate can stow all sorts of contraband under there. At that day’s meeting, however, a Rastafarian-related request had come in which no one had ever dealt with before. An inmate requested a diet free from all traces of vinegar, as he claimed consumption of vinegar was a violation of the Rastafarian faith. The group was stumped. No one had been aware that consuming vinegar was a violation of the Rastafarian faith. Furthermore, if this was a genuine problem, how could the Department of Corrections realistically accommodate this faith-based dietary concern? In addition, since Pennsylvania’s Rastafarian inmate population is so small, the state had not yet developed a relationship with a knowledgeable Rastafarian spiritual leader whom they could consult. How was the committee supposed to deal with this request? I found this situation fascinating. While reading the inmate’s request more carefully, I noticed that he mentioned the Biblical Nazirite vows a few times. I asked the committee’s chair if he knew anything more about this. He informed me that Rastafarians do indeed see themselves as being bound by Biblical Nazarite vows—in fact, that is why Rastafarians do not cut their hair. That being the case, I told the group I could explain what the vinegar

“Rabbi, we received a letter from a Jewish inmate who’s worried that his blanket contains both wool and linen. What on Earth is he talking about?” As a pulpit rabbi in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, most of my appointments involve shul matters. However, one of my scheduled meetings is completely different. On the last Tuesday of each month I take part in a Pennsylvania Department of Corrections meeting. Our committee reviews the religious petitions filed by the state’s diverse prison population. My role is to help the group better understand the requests from inmates identifying as Jews. As I see it, I accomplish several important goals at these meetings: sometimes I’m able to assist remorseful Jewish inmates; I try to help others better understand Judaism; and lastly, I can build bridges with leaders of other faith communities. The usual committee meeting includes the group leader, a Protestant minister, an Islamic imam, me, the rabbi, a Wiccan priestess (to represent all pagan groups), a Native American spiritual leader, a prison security officer, a food services manager, a legal expert and a Corrections Department administrator. Although my role is to help everyone better understand the requests related to Judaism, at a recent meeting I was able to provide a great deal of help with a Rastafarian-related request. Toward the end of the meeting, the committee was taken aback by a request from a Rastafarian inmate. Until that point, the requests from Rastafarian inmates had always been limited to the following three matters: Rabbi Akiva Males is the rabbi of Kesher Israel Congregation in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

issue was, and how it could easily be solved. In describing the Nazir’s restrictions, the Torah states (Bamidbar 6:3): He shall abstain from wine and aged wine, and he shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of aged wine . . . I explained that the Torah only imposes three prohibitions on the Nazir: 1. Having his or her hair cut 2. Coming into contact with the dead 3. Consuming grapes or anything derived from grapes The Torah lists vinegar produced from wine as an example of consuming something derived from grapes. I suggested that this inmate did not fully understand this. He probably thought that the Torah prohibits a Nazir from consuming any and all types of vinegar, and that is just not the case. A Nazir would have no problem consuming vinegar derived from a source other than wine or grapes. I recommended that the Department of Corrections verify that the vinegar used by its Food Service Department is not a product of wine or grapes. This would solve the matter. (I was informed the next day that all of the vinegar purchased by Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections is, in fact, apple based.) The group was incredibly satisfied and relieved by my solution. One of the committee members even exclaimed how thrilled he was to have me on board; after all, who would have guessed that a rabbi was also knowledgeable about the Rastafarian faith? Truth be told, I know very little about the tenets of the Rastafarian faith. However, each day I study mishnayos with the minyan at Kesher Israel Congregation between Minchah and Maariv. It just so happened that we were in the middle of Tractate Nazir when this incident occurred. I left that day’s meeting happy to have been helpful and armed with a great story to share at shul that evening—after first studying another mishnah or two in Tractate Nazir with the minyan, of course. g

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COVER STORY

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Until recently, any native English speaker living in Israel was considered Anglo-Saxon. That’s “Anglo-Saxim” in Hebrew. That has changed a bit in the past decade. English speakers are now called “Anglos.” About 200,000 North Americans currently live in Israel, according to the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI). Nefesh B’Nefesh (NBN), the umbrella organization for virtually anything related to making aliyah for those from North America and the United Kingdom, estimates that 3,700 olim arrived from North America and the UK in 2013.

Aliyah in the Twenty-First Century nglish-speaking olim, according to NBN, are moving to areas stretching from the south of Jerusalem to the north of Tel Aviv. Most singles move to Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. Families are moving to places like Modi’in, Beit Shemesh, Ramat Beit Shemesh, Efrat, Raanana and Ma’ale Adumim. In other words, Anglos tend to move to the center of the country. According to Marc Rosenberg, director of NBN’s Pre-Aliyah Department, many olim dream of living in Jerusalem but they either find it too expensive or can’t find jobs, so they move elsewhere. Approximately 30 percent of Anglo olim move to the north and the south of Israel. Popular communities in the north include Karmiel, Nahariya, Ma’alot, Safed and Haifa; in the south, common choices are Be’er Sheva, Ashkelon and kibbutzim in the Arava.

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When it comes to choosing a specific community, olim often have preconceived notions. “People have told me they are looking for a ‘YU community’ or a ‘Chareidi community,’” Rosenberg says. “Just because potential olim might look for a certain type of community in America, that doesn’t mean that that is the right choice for them in Israel. It’s different here.” Why would a family making aliyah move to an English-speaking community? In a word: comfort. In the past, olim have always talked about integration and acculturation as their goals; “becoming Israeli” was their mantra. Is this still true for those making aliyah in the twenty-first century? Choosing where to live when one makes aliyah is very personal and includes multiple factors such as proximity to friends, job opportunities and financial realities, says Rabbi Avi Berman, executive director of the Seymour J. Abrams OU Israel Center.

Zvi Volk is a staff writer in the OU Communications and Marketing Department. He has lived in Jerusalem since the mid-1970s.

Spring 5774/2014 JEWISH ACTION 23

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rael, they included relatively small apartments, but new immigrants were given access to social workers to help them adjust and to an ulpan where they learned Hebrew. Most important, they knew they had a home when they arrived. Especially for Western olim, absorption centers were never intended to be their permanent homes. They were temporary solutions until olim decided where they wanted to live and found work for themselves and schools for their children. All that has changed. “The effect of the Internet is that olim today experience what we call a ‘soft landing,’” Rosenberg says. “Very few North American families go to absorption centers anymore. They get information about schools and communities before they come.” Thanks to NBN, the aliyah process is more streamlined today than ever before. Prospective olim do a lot of research on the Internet and then generally go on a pilot trip where Not the Same Aliyah Experience What makes aliyah different today compared to aliyah in the they visit one or two communities, find an apartment and register their children for school. In previous generations, 1970s or 1980s? There are two main differences: the Interolim made all their arrangements after they arrived. net and NBN. In previous generations, new immigrants were housed in Today’s olim have access to more research, which results in a different type of experience. “Nefesh B’Nefesh tries to absorption centers. Operated by The Jewish Agency for Isprovide them with as much pre-aliyah information as possible,” Rosenberg says. COMMUNITY RENTAL OF 3-BEDROOM APT. PURCHASE OF 3-BEDROOM APT. Following are stories about religious $1,140 and up $450,000 and up Ramot North Americans who made aliyah—some $800 to $900 $355,500 and up Beit Shemesh decades ago, others more recently—the $340,000 and up Ramat Beit Shemesh $995 to $1,140 communities in which they live and the lives they have made for themselves in $ $ Ma’ale Adumim 1,000 and up 284,000 and up Eretz Yisrael. $1,140 to $1,280 $340,000 and up Modi’in “When I look at the experiences of friends who moved to Israel when my family came in the mid-1980s, those who had the most successful transitions were those who chose to live in predominately Hebrew-speaking communities,” says Rabbi Berman. “They learned to swim by jumping right into the deep water. “Israeli society is based on networking and in order to ‘make it’ you’re better off networking with Israelis,” he says. “Israelis have obviously been here longer, they know the system better and they speak Hebrew, which is one of the most important factors if you plan to live in Israel. “Having said that,” Rabbi Berman continues, “the mitzvah of yishuv ha’aretz, settling the land, is what it’s all about. I respect every person or family who leaves any community anywhere in the world to come to Israel,” he says, “no matter where [in Israel] they ultimately choose to live.” *Prices are approximate **Based on the conversion rates as of February 2014. *All aliyah-related statistics provided by Nefesh B’Nefesh.

riving from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, just before reaching the entrance to the capital, if you look to the left (north) you see one of Jerusalem’s last open green spaces. The green ends with homes that are distinguished by their red-tile roofs. This is the suburb of Ramot Alon, better known as Ramot. The name Ramot is based on the Biblical city of Rama, where Shmuel the Prophet lived.

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Evy Gottlieb (left) and Karen Kirschenbaum are neighbors in Ramot Bet and consider each other “sisters.” Photo: Zvi Volk

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Haifa NORTH Zichron & HOF HACARMEL Raanana & SHARON Modi'in & CENTER Tel Aviv Ma'ale Adumim & SHOMRON Ramot Jerusalem

Beit Shemesh Area Beersheba SOUTH

Efrat & GUSH ETZION

Aerial view of Ramot, distinguished by the red-tile roofs of the houses. Maps courtesy of Nefesh B’Nefesh. Photo: Yehoshua HaLevi

The first homes in Ramot were built in the early 1970s, and today the area boasts an estimated 70,000 residents. The modern suburb is built on two ridges with Golda Meir Boulevard in the middle. “Golda,” as the highway is referred to in Hebrew, heads west toward Givat Ze’ev and Tel Aviv. Jerusalem’s Har Hotzvim hightech area is close by, providing plenty of employment opportunities. This is the home of a host of start-ups, as well as more developed companies including Intel, Teva, Amdocs and others. What makes Ramot attractive? As its name—which means “heights”— implies, it offers beautiful views. For the past few decades, residents have been taking advantage of the suburban location to build larger homes with more open space than is possible in the city. Today, there is a mix of singlefamily private homes, town houses, apartments, subsidized housing and assisted living for the elderly, including immigrants from the former Soviet

NBN estimates the Union and Ethiopia. Due Top Five Anglo number of English to its proximity to downDati Leumi speakers in Ramot at town Jerusalem, Ramot Communities about 20 percent. has long been an attractive Jerusalem “Perception of choice for Anglos. Ramat Beit Shemesh whether a city or town However, these days has a lot of English only a small number of reModi’in speakers is important,” ligious Anglo olim are Raanana Rosenberg says. “The moving to Ramot. Most Beit Shemesh fact is that a total of 20 choose to move into newer, percent English speakers smaller and more affordin a suburb or a small city is a signifiable apartments in communities a bit cant number of people.” Communities farther away from Jerusalem. like Ramot and Efrat are cases in In 2011, Ramot Mall opened with about fifty stores. The mall is closed on point. Israelis comment on how much English they hear while walking down Shabbat, as are almost all malls in Isthe street in both locations. rael. All the food is kosher, predominately mehadrin. While Ramot has strong Dati “Your Friends Become Your Leumi and Chareidi communities, Family” it includes a wide variety of residents Evy Gottlieb, who made aliyah in the across the religious spectrum. mid-1980s, and Karen Kirschenbaum, Synagogues and schools reflect who came right after high school in this diversity. the mid-1970s, are in their fifties. They Where do religious English speakboth grew up in the Riverdale section ers fit into this suburban mosaic? of the Bronx in New York, and while

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It’s not just our paramedics that are saving lives in Israel.

When you think of Magen David Adom, you may picture speeding ambulances. But one of MDA’s most important functions is to supply the people of Israel with blood — for everything from routine surgeries to emergency procedures. Every unit of blood is separated into three components and can save three lives. Can’t get to Israel to donate blood? You can still support MDA’s lifesaving blood services. Make a gift today.

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Ramot: A Genuine Kehillah

By Nachum Amsel wenty-five years ago, I moved to a neighborhood in Ramot Aleph called Neve Orot. My wife and I chose Ramot because my brother-in-law, Dr. Danny Weil, had recently moved to the community and we wanted the cousins to be able to play with each other. (To this day, the cousins remain very close.) Neve Orot is truly a kehillah. Similar to communities in the US where the shul is not simply a place to daven, our shul is the physical and spiritual center of the community. Most members of the kehillah attend the shul, which houses two kollels and offers ongoing cultural and social programs. We have a warm, friendly kehillah where communal issues are usually easily resolved. When the families in our building have to occasionally meet, for example, to decide on various building-related issues, none of the shouting and bickering usually associated with vaad bayit meetings occurs. The best illustration of the achdut in our community took place some ten years ago during a

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huge snowstorm. One of the residents was set to marry off his daughter the night of the storm, but because travel was so difficult, getting to the hall a few miles away proved impossible. In a matter of hours, community members managed to decorate the synagogue hall, cook a huge wedding feast and pull together volunteer musicians. A magnificent wedding took place that night in the shul, with the entire community participating (even those not previously invited). It was an experience that no one who attended will ever forget. Whenever discussions of moving to another neighborhood come up (Ramot has a lot of steps, which is difficult for older people), I always conclude that I cannot move. I cannot think of another place where I would rather spend the rest of my life than in Ramot, surrounded by the most wonderful friends and neighbors.

Rabbi Dr. Nachum Amsel is the director of education at the Destiny Foundation. He is a former teacher and school principal.

their families got together occasionally, the two women were not friends. That was then. Today they are neighbors who bought homes in Ramot Bet several decades ago. They weren’t aware that they were going to be neighbors. “But . . . we are walking through life together,” says Gottlieb. “We brought up our children together. We’re like sisters and our children are friends. “When you make aliyah without family, your friends become your family,” continues Gottlieb, who is a psychotherapist. “I don’t have any close family here and neither do a lot of my friends. We support each other.” Kirschenbaum, who has a PhD in Talmud from Bar-Ilan University, teaches at several Jerusalem midrashot. While many of her friends are English speakers, she prefers teaching in Hebrew and she doesn’t speak English to any of her children or grandchildren. “Because my husband is Israeli, I probably didn’t feel so Anglo,” Kirschenbaum says. “The most difficult times for me were when he was in miluim [IDF reserves] and I was at home with six children. I had to depend on my friends for support.” “Now that my parents are older, I often think, ‘chaval [too bad] that my family doesn’t live here,’” Gottlieb says. “But I never think, ‘chaval that I don’t live there.’”

Haifa NORTH

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he best view of Ma’ale Adumim is from the eastern edge of The Hebrew University campus on Mt. Scopus. Looking out at the desert on a clear day you can see a lovely suburb a few miles away. When the weather is exceptionally clear, you can also get a glimpse of the Dead Sea. The road from Mt. Scopus to Ma’ale Adumim goes from Jerusalem straight

into the desert. In fact, Ma’ale Adumim, twenty minutes from downtown Jerusalem, is surrounded on all sides by the Judean Desert. Around every corner you are treated to dramatic desert panoramas. The name Ma’ale Adumim, which means “Red Ascent,” refers to the red rocks that are visible when traveling up from the Dead Sea toward Jerusalem. Today, Ma’ale Adumim, which was founded after the Yom Kippur War in 1975, has a population of about 40,000. With its clean palm tree-lined streets, the city offers a high quality of life. It

Zichron & HOF HACARMEL Raanana & SHARON Modi'in & CENTER Tel Aviv Jerusalem Ma'ale Adumim & SHOMRON

Beit Shemesh Area Beersheba SOUTH

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has an enclosed shopping mall, parks and sports and recreational centers as well as a variety of educational and religious institutions. There are more than forty Ashkenazic and Sepharadic

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synagogues throughout the city, a leading hesder yeshivah, Yeshivat Birkat Moshe and a kollel. The population is reflective of Israel as a whole. This includes the complete spectrum from nonreligious to Chareidi. There is also a healthy mix of new immigrants and native-born Israelis. Mitzpe Nevo, one of the northernmost neighborhoods in Ma’ale Adumim, is built on cliffs overlooking the Judean Desert, Jerusalem Hills, Mt. Scopus and Har HaZeitim. Most of the houses in the neighborhood cling to the hillside. About ten years ago, conTop Five Anglo Yishuvim Efrat Neve Daniel Chashmonaim Yad Binyamin Alon Shvut

Rabinowitz, rosh yeshivah of Yeshivat Birkat Moshe, tell students, “You should come and live in Mitzpe Nevo.” He remembers thinking, “Why would I want to live in the desert?” he says. Then he and his wife, Bracha, made aliyah with their young family. As most olim did back then, they started off in an absorption center in East Talpiot, a neighborhood in Jerusalem, for a year and a half. “We decided to live in Mitzpe Nevo because we could get a decent-size house for less money than had we stayed in Jerusalem,” says Bracha, who

when you live on the edge of the desert is more subtle, more nuanced.” While the Schnitzers were not necessarily seeking only Anglo friends, their closest friends all happen to be English-speaking. This includes their next-door neighbors, Yitzhak and Bracha Zuriel. The Zuriels chose to live in Mitzpe Nevo because it was outside of Jerusalem and “still under construction, so the prices were lower,” says Yitzhak, who has a BS from MIT and works for a high-tech company in Jerusalem. Choosing Mitzpe Nevo en-

Mitzpe Nevo, a vibrant, friendly Dati Leumi community, is built on cliffs overlooking the Judean Desert, Jerusalem Hills, Mt. Scopus and Har HaZeitim. Photo: Sasson Tiram

struction started on an addition to the neighborhood consisting of mostly private homes. Yeshivat Birkat Moshe is located in Mitzpe Nevo, which is a vibrant, friendly Dati Leumi community. According to NBN, about 40 percent of

Of the 3,700 Anglo olim who arrived in Israel in 2013, 39 percent were single. the community is English speaking. This qualifies as a very large Englishspeaking community. What brings residents to Mitzpe Nevo? When Nachum Schnitzer was studying for semichah at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) in the late 1970s, he once heard Rabbi Nachum

has a BA from Stern College and an MA from NYU. Back then, the roads were in poor condition so Mitzpe Nevo was considered “far” from Jerusalem. Today this is no longer the case. “Now that we live in the desert, I realize that we really are living the connection between the mekorot [Torah sources] and our land,” Nachum says. “This is the landscape that Eliyahu HaNavi saw. The emptiness is awe-inspiring. It’s like a prayer that is waiting to be fulfilled. “When you’re in Jerusalem, you are reminded every day that you’re in the center of the Jewish world,” Nachum says. “The Temple Mount has a presence that just can’t be ignored. You know you’re walking in the footsteps of prophets and kings. “But the Biblical connection is not always so evident when you’re outside of Jerusalem. The connection you feel

abled them to buy a home that was large enough to accommodate their growing family. “We never spoke Hebrew [to the kids],” Yitzhak says. “We knew they would learn Hebrew from the neighborhood and in school. Being bilingual is our gift to them. “I think we are pretty well acculturated so that my native language doesn’t define me,” he says. “By and large, people who moved here in the mid-1980s thought it was important to integrate with Hebrew speakers. “But as I get older, I find that I read and listen better in English,” says Yitzhak, who is in his late fifties and has nine grandchildren. If his extended family of twenty is sitting around the Shabbat table, he finds it easier to listen to English. “There are times when the effort required to listen to Hebrew wears me out,” he admits.

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THE NBN GENERATION:

Twenty-Somethings on Making a New Life in Israel ike many of his friends, Max Rabin learned in a yeshivah in Israel the year after he graduated high school. That’s where his path diverged from most of his friends. Instead of returning to his hometown of Los Angeles, he stayed in Israel. He spent two years in yeshivah, then joined the IDF and finally spent four years at Machon Lev in Jerusalem where he received his BA in software engineering. It was in his final year at Machon Lev that he met his wife, Tammi, twenty-six. Today the Rabins have a two-yearold daughter and live in a rented apartment not far from Emek Refaim Street in Jerusalem’s German Colony, which is the heart of the action for many religious English speakers—especially twenty-somethings. “Sometime during my first year in Israel, I realized I wanted to make my life here,” Max says. “Once I finished the army it made sense to go to university here. And that helped me improve my Hebrew and develop a broader group of friends.” Max is a computer programmer who is working for his second startup. Because he had connections and there is a demand for software engineers, he didn’t have difficulty finding a job. Both companies were started by English speakers. “But I’ve been here long enough that my Hebrew is fluent,” he says. The Rabins are still trying to figure out where they want to live in the future.

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TOP:

Tammi and Max Rabin met in Israel. Today they have a two-year-old daughter and live not far from Emek Refaim Street in Jerusalem’s German Colony. Yehoshuah Levin, twenty-two, came to Israel to attend yeshivah after high school—and stayed. He’s now studying industrial engineering at Machon Lev in Jerusalem and plans to join the IDF when he graduates. Pho-

tos: Zvi Volk

Why Leave Jerusalem?

What would make them want to leave Jerusalem? The housing prices and the fact that Jerusalem is becoming so crowded. “The yishuv [small community] way of life appeals to us,” Tammi says. “We would like to live in a place where

we don’t have to worry where our children are all the time. I also want our kids to grow up knowing that there are people in the world who aren’t frum,” she says. “We want a place that’s accepting, more diverse. The problem is, the type of yishuv we would like probably doesn’t exist.”

Yehoshuah Levin: Home at Last Yehoshuah Levin, twenty-two, originally from Denver, came to Israel to attend yeshivah after high school—and stayed. He’s now studying industrial

engineering at Machon Lev in Jerusalem. “There’s no other place in the world where I can walk the same land as my forefathers,” says Levin. During his first year at Machon Lev, Levin was in the English program. He studied business and marketing for a year before switching to industrial engineering, which is taught in Hebrew. For Levin, learning in Hebrew was not a great hardship. “My Hebrew is at a very high level,” he says. “Now that I’m in the Israeli program, my lectures are in Hebrew, as is a lot of the reading. Israelis often ask me to translate from English to Hebrew for them. “One of the nice things about Machon Lev is that a lot of Americans teach here,” Levin adds. “So if I need to I can speak English. At the same time, I’m becoming a part of Israeli society.” Once he graduates, Levin plans to enter the IDF. “A lot of companies want to know what you did in the army,” he says. “So I expect it will be easier to find work once I’ve finished my army service.” Levin, who was active in NCSY, describes himself as “black hat but slightly modern.” Levin finds that people in Israel “go out of their way to help one another.” Levin does his own share of chesed. He works with a child who has Leigh syndrome, a rare disorder that affects the central nervous system. Last year, he and a friend pushed the child for six miles in the Jerusalem Marathon. He also volunteers with Yachad Israel, an OU-sponsored organization dedicated to addressing the needs of Jewish individuals with disabilities. Would he consider marrying a nonnative English speaker? “Yes,” he says, “but I think I would prefer a native English speaker. Not because of any language barrier, but there are still cultural differences.”

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Modi’in is a modern city that was planned by the world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie. An environmentally friendly city, it boasts wide streets, a covered shopping mall and direct train service to Tel Aviv. Photo: Sasson Tiram

HOF HACARMEL Raanana & SHARON Modi'in & CENTER Beit Shemesh Area Beersheba SOUTH Tel Aviv Jerusalem Ma'ale Adumim & SHOMRON

Efrat & GUSH ETZION

In the Footsteps of the Maccabees

By Elli Fischer In 2003, my wife, daughter and I spent the summer in Israel. We had already made aliyah, but had temporarily moved back to the US. On a whim, we checked out an open house in Modi’in, and by the end of the summer we had signed a contract to buy a home under construction that would be completed in 2006. We were attracted to Modi’in by many of the same features that attracted others, and a few things that were specific to us. Since we did not know where we would work upon our return to Israel, Modi’in’s central location kept more options open (as it turns out, I work from home and my wife works in Beit Shemesh). We felt that we were getting our money’s worth (I doubt we could afford Modi’in today). In the worst-case scenario, we figured we could sell our home and buy somewhere else. We also sought a city with a mixed population. Although Modi’in has a great deal of homogeneity—its population consists largely of college-educated, upwardly-mobile double-income families—it is religiously diverse, and as educators we wanted to live somewhere where we felt we could make a difference. As immigrants, we knew it would be important to have a supportive community that would serve as a “merkaz klitah” (absorption center) and a landsmannschaft where we could retain some familiar aspects of the “old country” while adapting to life in the new one. At the same time, it was important to us that our children become fully integrated into Israeli society and do not grow up in an “Anglo bubble” where their entire social sphere is AngloIsraeli. In Modi’in, we found an excellent balance, and our four kids are thriving in its schools. Two very personal elements really confirmed our choice. From our home, we have an astounding view of the Ayalon Valley. It is a wonderful privilege to be able to drink in that view constantly. And just a short walk from our home is Umm al-Umdan, the ruin of a Second Temple-era Jewish village (possibly the original Modi’in, but probably not) where a synagogue—one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in the world—was discovered and is presently undergoing preservation. It is a real privilege to be part of something so new and yet so ancient.

Rabbi Elli Fischer is a writer and translator living in Modi’in.

I

n ancient times, Modi’in was the home of the Hasmoneans who were among the leaders of the revolt against the Greeks during the period of the Second Temple. The Maccabees lived in this area. The cornerstone for the modern city of Modi’in was laid in the 1990s. Over the years, the city, located twenty-two miles southeast of Tel Aviv and twenty-one miles west of Jerusalem, has become home to more than 80,000 people. Modi’in is a modern city that was planned by the world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie. An environmentally friendly city, it boasts wide streets, a covered shopping mall and direct train service to Tel Aviv. Unlike cities that simply grew over the past few decades, Modi’in is a well-planned city. It offers lots of green open spaces—occupying half of the area within the city limits—including a large park with an artificial lake. Originally planned as a secular city, Modi’in has a religiously diverse and cosmopolitan population. While many religious olim feel comfortable in Modi’in, they are definitely in the minority. By and large, the residents are attracted to Modi’in’s urban mix and aesthetically pleasing environment. Many—but not all—of the English-speaking residents (about 20 percent of the city’s total population) are Orthodox professionals who have the

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About 65 to 70 percent of NBN families are Orthodox. option of working close to home or making the easy commute to either Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. It is not uncommon for spouses to work in different cities. Aliyah on Impulse Elliott Cahan, forty-six, and his wife, Ilene, made aliyah in 2004 from Balti-

more. Elliot was a nursing home administrator for about twelve years in the US. “We made aliyah almost on impulse,” he admits. “We came on faith and hoped for the best.” He worked at a variety of jobs for about three years before becoming COO of a Jerusalem yeshivah with a large program for students from abroad. The Cahans have three children, ages thir-

teen to twenty-one, all of whom were born in America. “All of our friends and our children’s friends are English speaking,” Elliot says. “That’s whom we’re comfortable with.” They all faced a myriad of challenges when they moved to Modi’in, he says. “The bottom line is that we had to learn a whole new set of rules.”

NORTH Zichron & HOF HACARMEL Raanana & SHARON Modi'in & CENTER Beit Shemesh Area Beersheba SOUTH Tel Aviv Jerusalem Ma'ale Adumim & SHOMRON

Efrat & GUSH ETZION

Picturesque street in Ramat Beit Shemesh.

Photo: Yehoshua Halevi

T

here are two towns midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem that many English speakers now call home: Modi’in and Beit Shemesh, particularly Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph and Sheinfeld. Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph is home to many religiously right-of-center families while Sheinfeld attracts a predominantly centrist population. Both Modi’in and Beit Shemesh are on the NBN list of most popular destinations for new olim from North America. The roots of the town of Beit Shemesh date back to Biblical times. Beit Shemesh is mentioned in the Book of Joshua as being on the border between the tribes of Judah and Dan.

Within a decade after Israel’s War of Independence, Beit Shemesh became the prototypical development town, with a population that came mainly from North Africa. Located about a thirty-five-minute drive from Jerusalem and a forty-minute drive from Tel Aviv, Beit Shemesh is today well served by buses and train lines, and most of the residents commute to work in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. Newer areas in Beit Shemesh, including Sheinfeld and all the various Ramat Beit Shemesh neighborhoods, are almost completely dati, with synagogues of every stripe and flavor. Today, Chareidim comprise nearly half of the population of Beit Shemesh,1 including Chassidic communities such

“We’ve been seeing more and more secular singles make aliyah in recent years as a result of Birthright.” —Nefesh B’Nefesh spokesperson as Ger, Belz, Satmar and Neturei Karta. In February 2012, Haaretz reported that in the 2012-2013 school year, 75 percent of the children entering first grade in Beit Shemesh were expected to be Chareidi.2 This population shift has led to unfortunate confrontations and tensions within the city, leading up to the recent invalidation of the mayoral election. However, little of this is reflected in daily life, and for the most part the various communities coexist harmoniously and enjoy the many advantages Beit Shemesh has to offer.

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ION T U L O S T BE H A N A H S C YEAR THE TA S T IC N A F A D AS H A FO R A UE TER H O CO N T IN R DA U G H T O S T N N O A S E? W YO U R UT COLLEG EL AND O A B R A IS T A N IN H UT W L E A R N IN G S GREAT, B T’S A H T . R A E SECOND Y

LLEG T O U RO C O

nd eminaries a S e id s g n lo urses ael works a ra college co llege in Isr n o a C c r ri o r ro e u m o T A ased o attend to heduled ans t Jerusalem-b eniently sc ur child pla v o n y o r c e e th e id h v ro . W s. rs ovides the ro to pro eer re e car , TCI pr y, Yeshivot to r university their colleg art ta st o anothe to o jumps to edits t re ary t r cr ssa e sf n a necess tr r o t e USA th ant. o College in ro our To T need and w urses they o c n a c ri e Am

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TOURO C TOURO COLLEGE OLLEGE E ISRAEL ISR AEL FO FOR RM MORE O R E INF INFORMATION FO RMATI O N Call (in Isr Israel) ael) 0 02-651-0090 2 2-651-0090 (in the USA) USA) 1-800-950-4824 1-800-950-4824 s www.TouroIsrael.org www.TouroIsrael.org s Email Israel@Touro.edu Is srael@Touro.edu *Academic * Academic c courses ourses taught b by yT Tour Touro ouro C College ollege in Isr Israel ael ar are e part of the curriculum of T Touro Tour ouro Ne New wY York ork and nd ar are e limit limited ed in Isr Israel ael t to os students tudents who ho ar are e not Isr Israeli aeli citiz citizens ens residents. Additional courses must taken New to complete the degree. Financial aid may be available to oq qualifying ualifying st students. udents. or permanent r esidents. sidents. A dditional c ourses mus t be tak t en in Ne wY York ork t oc omplete t he d egree. F inancial a id m ay b ea vailable t T ouro C ollege is an equal opportunity ins titution. Touro College institution.

Native-born Israelis often claim that all “Anglos” speak Hebrew with an American accent—even if the speaker actually grew up in Auckland, Johannesburg or Manchester. The late Prime Minister Golda Meir, who grew up in Milwaukee, spoke Hebrew with a very pronounced Midwestern accent. But most sabras can’t tell the di erence between a Midwestern and a Brooklyn accent.

Top Five Anglo Chareidi Communities Jerusalem Ramat Beit Shemesh Beitar Illit Ashdod Bnei Brak

OU Helps Anglos Find Jobs

By Michael Orbach he OU Job Board’s activities T aren’t limited to helping Americans find work. This year, the OU Job Board will be running its fourth job fair in Israel. Back in 2007, OU Job Board Director Michael Rosner realized that there was a population in need. “Once Anglos make aliyah, there are very few services helping them in the employment area,” Rosner says. “We wanted to fill that void.” The first OU Israel Job Fair was held in 2007 after the OU convention in Israel. What’s unique about the OU job fairs in Israel is that they cater to companies seeking primarily English speakers. The most recent job fair, held in August, attracted more than 600 job seekers and had a 10 percent success rate compared to the typical job fair rate, which Rosner estimates at about 1 to 2 percent. Companies at the fair included Teva Pharmaceuticals, Intel, Philip Stein and Associates and Tandem Capital. “It’s critical to help people understand that when they make aliyah, they’re not abandoned,” Rosner concludes. “There are people here to help them.” The next job fair will take place May 13 at the Jerusalem Gardens Hotel. More information is available at http://www.oujobs.org/.

Michael Orbach is a staff writer at the OU.

It was in the early 1990s that the Kiryat Aryeh Sheinfeld neighborhood started becoming popular with Orthodox English-speaking olim. Some of the reasons for its growing popularity were the same reasons the Schnitzers and the Zuriels were attracted to Mitzpe Nevo some decades earlier: it is outside of Jerusalem and was just being developed and therefore less expensive.

Jeff and Elyssa Aftel made aliyah in 2005 to Beit Shemesh. They have six children, ages four to twenty-one.

Photo: Zvi Volk

But the families choosing to live in Sheinfeld today are drawn to the area not only because of its affordable housing; they are looking for an active English-speaking community that offers the religious and social equivalent of the Modern Orthodox communities they have left behind in the Diaspora. Conversation in the streets, stores and shuls is largely conducted in English, although all the announcements in the shuls and almost all of the shiurim are in Hebrew. The children grow up bilingual, speaking English at home—and often also with their friends—and Hebrew at school. No Place Like Home Jeff and Elyssa Aftel made aliyah in 2005 and chose to settle in Sheinfeld. (Elyssa is Elliott Cahan’s sister.) The 36

Aftels have six children, ages four to twenty-one. Their youngest was born in Israel. “We chose Sheinfeld because of the schools, the shuls and our rabbi,” says Jeff. Like many Anglos, Elyssa, fortyfour, says she and her husband preferred to live among people who could relate to the huge adjustments they had to make. “It’s still a challenge for me to speak Hebrew, but I do it,” she says. “I came to Israel without a job,” says Jeff, forty-five, who has semichah from RIETS and a degree in computers from YU. He worked in Jewish education in the US. “I wanted to stay in education, but we couldn’t afford it,” he says. He took a course in technical writing and found a job quickly. He has been working for a major international computer hardware company for the past six years. “When we first came,” he says, “we were uncomfortable about a lot of things. But with time, life becomes less frustrating. “Our kids are light years ahead [in their Jewish education] compared to where they would be in America,” Jeff says. “That’s because their Hebrew is so much better. Language is such an important component of education. When you combine [proficiency in] Hebrew with the strong emphasis on Torah education that exists here, you end up with children who have a much deeper understanding and mastery of Torah text.” Elyssa adds, “What’s most important is that as Torah-observant Jews, there is no place for us to live other than Eretz Yisrael.”

Notes 1. Harriet Sherwood, “The battle of Bet Shemesh,” The Guardian, October 31, 2011, accessed January 10, 2014, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/oct/31/

bet-shemesh-haredi-jews-school?newsfeed=true. 2. Yair Ettinger, “Three quarters of Beit Shemesh first-graders will attend ultra-Orthodox schools next year,” Haaretz, February 8, 2012, accessed January 10, 2014, www.haaretz.com/news/national/threequarters-of-beit-shemesh-first-graderswill-attend-ultra-orthodox-schools-next-ye ar-1.411748. Listen to Rabbi Avi Berman, executive director of the Seymour J. Abrams OU Israel Center, discuss the Anglo experience at www.ou.org/life/israel/avi-berman.

I JEWISH ACTION

Spring 5774/2014

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EVERYONE KNOWS OUR FAMOUS OU KOSHER SYMBOL — it’s on half a million products — BUT THE ORTHODOX UNION IS MUCH MORE THAN KOSHER. • YOUNG JLIC COUPLES on 16 secular college campuses help students maintain Torah observance. • YACHAD CHAMPIONS the inclusion of children and adults with disabilities into the full spectrum of Jewish life. • Plus KARASICK SYNAGOGUE SERVICES, OU PRESS, JEWISH ACTION, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, OU ISRAEL and so much more.

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L’Ayla: An Unparalleled Network for Anglo Women

By Zvi Volk

Women Reaching Higher

L’Ayla aims to provide Anglo women with a comfort zone and an opportunity to network with other Anglos while growing in Torah.

Dozens of young wives wearing sheitels, middle-aged women sporting headscarves as well as women with no head coverings come together every Sunday morning. These diverse women, hailing from Ma’ale Adumim to Kiryat Sefer, are all part of the 150 or so regulars who attend the OU Israel Center’s phenomenally successful program for Anglo women: L’Ayla. are learning in kollel or if ome seventy to the family is just starting eighty shiurim take to become Orthodox,” place each week at the says Segal, who was didynamic Seymour J. rector of the Women’s Abrams OU Israel CenInstitute of Torah (WIT) ter on Keren Hayesod in Baltimore before makStreet in central ing aliyah in 2005. Yerushalayim. Many of L’Ayla, which means the Torah classes are for both men and “to go higher” in Arawomen. But Sunday maic, has hosted promimornings are different. nent Torah lecturers and That’s when L’Ayla, a educators including Rav Rivka Segal, director of adult Torah study program Yitzchak Dovid Grossdesigned especially for education programs at the man, Rabbi Yitzchak OU Israel Center, says that English-speaking Breitowitz, Rabbanit achdut is one of the most sat- Yemima Mizrachi, Shira women, takes place. isfying aspects of the L’Ayla “Women from Smiles and Rebbetzin program. across the spectrum of Tziporah Heller. Photos: Zvi Volk Segal explains that ofreligious observance fering shiurim and leccome to L’Ayla protures in English is not just a matter of grams,” says Rivka Segal, director of comfort for new olim. “It’s more than a adult education programs at the OU Israel Center. Participants range in age question of language; it’s also a matter of culture,” she says. and come from different areas in and L’Ayla aims at providing Anglo around Jerusalem. “It brings together women with a comfort zone and an women from the whole community. It opportunity to network with other Andoesn’t really matter if their husbands

S

glos. “What we want to do is provide a forum for women to discuss issues they feel are important—topics they will benefit from,” Segal says. “We don’t have a specific agenda. In addition to Torah, our participants learn about social issues, discuss aliyah integration and go on trips around the country to reinforce what we’re learning. The idea is to create a sisterhood,” she says. To Segal, achdut is one of the most satisfying aspects of the L’Ayla program. “The women may come from different backgrounds and have diverse lifestyles, but we are all one community. That’s what the OU Israel Center is all about,” she says. “We offer an American cultural oasis in Israel.” In addition to offering L’Ayla and dozens of other shiurim each week for men and women, the OU Israel Center sponsors Torah Tidbits, the most popular English-language Torah publication in Israel, with a weekly readership of about 30,000; Yachad Israel, which addresses the needs of Jews with disabilities in Israel and Camp Dror, a sleepaway camp that is host to more than 150 boys and girls from English-speaking families in Israel and from abroad. For more information about OU Israel, visit www.ouisrael.org.

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hey say that the only time you hear T Ivrit spoken on Derech Beit Lechem, a major street near where I live in Jerusalem’s Baka neighborhood, is when a Russian meets a Frenchman. That may be an exaggeration but, as is evident from the accompanying article, most olim want to live in a neighborhood where they will feel comfortable, and that usually means living among others who speak their native language. In many cases, English speakers living in Jerusalem and some other cities can get by very well with little or even no Hebrew, since almost everyone you will interact with in stores, restaurants and museums, for example, will know English. But many other situations, such as talking with a customer service representative on the phone, necessitate at least a basic knowledge of the language. How much Hebrew you need to know also depends on your stage in life. Soon after making aliyah in January 2013, my wife, Ceil, and I began studying at an ulpan two mornings each week. Our classes consist primarily of people of retirement age whose declared aim is typically “to be able to understand the news on the radio and TV.” (By the way, that’s not such an

How Much Hebrew is Enough?

By David Olivestone

easy goal; even though most of us can handle the language fairly well, what we lack is the everyday vocabulary.) The five-day-a-week classes, on the other hand, tend to be populated by younger olim who are looking to work in an Israeli environment. For them, fluency in Hebrew is a must. Anglos who are raising a family in Israel have to decide what language to speak at home. When both parents are native English speakers, it is only natural that they will use that language between them and when speaking to their children. Their kids will certainly become fluent in Hebrew as soon as they begin to attend nursery school. For them, growing up bilingual is a gift from their parents.

Yet some educators have noted that children whose families and social environments are totally Anglo sometimes fail to achieve real sophistication in Hebrew language. Some even have trouble passing their bagrut (high school matriculation) exams because their Ivrit is relatively weak. Culturally too, some Anglo children find it difficult to blend in with Israeli society as adults because the influences in their childhood were overwhelmingly American. On the whole, though, Western olim—both adults and children—can become as “Israeli” as they want to be. But there are other languages—beyond spoken Hebrew—that olim such as us discover that we share with so many Israelis: the language of shul, the language of Torah study, the language of mitzvot bein adam lachaveiro and the language of kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh. These are the languages that we hear in Jerusalem every day, and these are just some of the languages which make living in Israel an experience beyond words.

David Olivestone, the former senior communications officer of the Orthodox Union, and his wife, Ceil, now live in Jerusalem.

Why did the Chofetz Chaim & R' Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky start EZRAS TORAH?

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TO SAVE TALMIDEI CHOCHOMIM FROM THE PAIN AND SHAME OF POVERTY

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n an ideal world, those who devote their lives to Torah would be recognized as the spiritual heroes that they are. Support Ezras Torah's Tzedakah Programs and make that ideal a reality. In Eretz Yisrael today, Ezras Torah provides Housing, Emergency Medical

Funds, Wedding Orphan Assistance, Yom Tov Grants and Special Need's Grants and Loans. Make a life of Torah devotion and commitment an everlasting edifice that will bring us the Rabbonim, Dayanim and Leaders of tomorrow!

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Please contact me regarding establishing an Ezras Torah Fund for a: Ì Endownment Fund Ì Emg. Medical Fund Ì Free Loan Fund Name Address City State Zip Phone Make payments to: EZRAS TORAH 235 East Broadway, New York, NY 10002, 212-227-8960 Ezras Torah is a non-profit 501(c)3 federally tax-exempt charitable organization.

Ezras Torah publishes the famed Ezras Torah Luach

Spring 5774/2014 JEWISH ACTION 39

I

COVER STORY

In this section, we take a look at Anglos who have had an extraordinary impact on Israeli society be it in education, medicine or the arts, among other fields. No attempt was made to be comprehensive. Rather this is a sampling of a few of the remarkable Anglos who have helped shape Israeli culture in profound ways.

ANGLOS WHO HAVE HAD AN IMPACT

Top Right: Kids participating in art therapy, offered by the Koby Mandell Foundation Middle Right: Campus of Yeshivat Har Etzion. Photo courtesy of Yeshivat Har Etzion Bottom Right: Women learning at Nishmat—The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women. Photo courtesy of Nishmat

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lmost everyone who knew Dr. David Applebaum, a”h, has a story to tell—about how he was ready to help on his offduty hours if a friend needed assistance, his wonderful sense of humor, his calm in the midst of crisis, his loving devotion to his family, how he put patients and their families at ease or how he taught erudite halachah classes for years at Midreshet Moriah. For in addition to being a renowned physician and innovator, he was a talmid chacham. Dr. Applebaum was a prodigy who received semichah from Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik, a master’s degree in biology from Northwestern University and a medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio. In 1981, Dr. Applebaum and his wife, Debra Spero, daughter of the well-known Rabbi Shubert Spero of Cleveland, made aliyah and settled in Jerusalem. Shortly after, he began working at MDA (Magen David Adom). In 1983 he became the director of the mobile intensive care units in Jerusalem and the changes he introduced were responsible for saving many lives. The book edited by Debra in his memory, David Avdi, includes derashot written by him, articles written about him, memories of colleagues and friends and a section documenting his innovations. He conceived of and developed, together with Hadassah Medical Center’s Cardiology Department, a system in which streptokinase (a medication used for heart attack patients) would be administered by physician-led ambulance teams to patients experiencing a heart attack before reaching the hospital, which proved to minimize damage to the heart. He helped draft the Paramedics Law, giving paramedics professional recognition by the Health Ministry. The law was drafted in response to a severe shortage of medical personnel trained in life-saving emergency medicine. It demanded a centralized authority over paramedics, along with a training course. Dr. Applebaum helped develop curricula, taught courses and ensured that his students received real-life experience by volunteering in the emergency room. He raised consciousness about the importance of providing CPR courses to the general public.

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Photo courtesy of Jason Schwartz/ Shaare Zedek Archive

Dr. Applebaum became a member of the MDA team that organized and managed medical efforts after terror attacks. At a terrorist attack on King George Street in Jerusalem in 1984, he treated a wounded man under fire, resulting in him receiving the Knesset Speaker’s Prize for Quality of Life. He also worked in the Shaare Zedek Medical Center’s Emergency Department where he saw severe overcrowding, as in most hospitals. He observed that both minor and serious emergencies were treated in the same location, impairing the staff’s ability to handle the most critical cases. This led to his establishing the Terem Emergency Care Clinics in 1989. Today there are ten Terem branches that have changed healthcare throughout the country by dramatically reducing hospital emergency room visits.

The horror in Israel was palpable when the news became known.

In 2002, Dr. Applebaum became the director of the Shaare Zedek Emergency Department and helped turn it around, enabling patients to be treated more efficiently. He revolutionized emergency medicine and became famous with the creation of a computer system that provided real-time and vital information for every patient in the ER. Debra describes how he always had his computer with him, even when abroad, so he could see what was happening in the ER. His methods were, unfortunately, put to the test when the ER was able to treat large numbers of victims following terror attacks. Debra writes, “Anybody who was cared for by David Applebaum felt like he or she was getting preferential treatment.” She also describes how he used to wear sneakers “to demonstrate by personal example to his staff his readiness to run from patient to patient.”

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Tragedy struck the Applebaum family and the world of Israeli medicine when Dr. Applebaum, fifty at the time, and his twenty-year-old daughter Nava, a young woman devoted to chesed in her own right, were murdered in a terror attack in Jerusalem on September 9, 2003, the night before Nava’s wedding. (Ironically, Dr. Applebaum had just returned from a conference in New York on terrorism.) The horror in Is-

rael was palpable when the news became known. Terem produced a film in Dr. Applebaum’s memory, and just as in the book, the admiration, love and gratitude of his colleagues pours forth. Miriam Dombey, who worked as Dr. Applebaum’s secretary at Terem, writes: “He was always one for the dramatic entrance, and here he made a dramatic exit. The kiddush Hashem he made with his

death was an extension of his life, because his whole life was a kiddush Hashem. Where there is an explosion, it destroys, but it also gives light. This man had a tremendous amount of light, ohr lagoyim and ohr zaruah latzaddik.”

Toby Klein Greenwald is an educator, a journalist and an award-winning director of the Raise Your Spirits Theatre. She lives in Efrat with her family.

Photo courtesy of Michlalah/Yossi Klein

n what was undoubtedly one of the biggest revolutions in women’s Torah study since Sarah Schenirer founded the first Bais Yaakov in Poland in 1917, Rabbi Dr. Yehuda Cooperman launched a new concept in women’s Torah learning in 1964. His vision: to establish an institute of in-depth Torah studies for women that would be founded on the principles of Torah MiShamayim and emunat chachamim; at the same time, it would be recognized as an institution of higher education that grants academic degrees. “What inspired me to start Michlalah was my experience while teaching in a more modern religious teachers’ college,” says Rabbi Cooperman. “A student in the class said to me, ‘Moreh, you have to know that we were educated to know that we may differ with Chazal.’” That day I resigned. I had thought about [resigning] before that, but I was enjoying [my career]; I was the principal of Boys Town, where I didn’t have to deal with administrative [duties] . . . I was studying in the Hebron Yeshiva kollel in the morning and had chavrutot in the evening. But I felt that something had to be done for women’s education.” Michlalah Jerusalem College for Women opened its doors with twenty-three students. “[In those days] a young woman who had a high school diploma could attend a teachers’ seminary, but to attend a university, one needed a bagrut [matriculation] certificate. [Many of ] the women who came to study [at Michlalah] chose to do so even though they had matriculation certificates,” says Rabbi Cooperman, [some at a very high level.] “We were the youngest teachers’ seminary in the country and the first one to achieve full academic accreditation.” Michlalah was granted accreditation by the Council of Higher Education of the State of Israel in 1978. Rabbi Cooperman was born in Dublin to parents who imbued him with a love for chesed, Torah and Eretz Yisrael. He earned degrees in law and Semitic languages from Dublin University. While there he was also involved in the activities of religious youth movements. He continued to study under Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler at the Gateshead Yeshiva, and later under Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna at the Hebron Yeshiva. He earned semichah from Rabbi Sarna and from Rabbi Herzog, the then-chief rabbi

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of the State of Israel. In 1952, he married his wife, Tzippora, and he returned to Dublin University where he received a master’s degree in Semitic languages and became the first Jew to be awarded the prestigious gold medal for academic achievement, recommended by the same professors under whom he studied Bible criticism and with whom he vehemently disagreed. Moving to the US, he earned a second master’s in education from the University of Chicago, and, in 1975, a doctorate from the Hebrew Theological College of Skokie for his supra-commentary to the Meshech Chochmah. The Coopermans made aliyah in 1956, and Michlalah became the life’s work of the late Rabbanit Cooperman as well. Since its inception, Michlalah has graduated more than 15,000 students, many of whom are in positions of education, research and leadership throughout Israel and the world. Five thousand of those

women are from abroad, and for a number of years there have also been specialized programs for men. Currently, there are more than 2,000 students in Michlalah’s various programs, which, in addition to limudei kodesh, include the humanities, sciences, arts, expressive therapies and leadership programs, to name a few. “Michlalah was a chiddush, offering Torah study at such a high level for women,” says Rabbi Cooperman. When asked what he feels are his greatest achievements, he says, “First of all, that my children are all yodei Torah.” Regarding Michlalah, he says his greatest achievements are, “the building of Torah homes by the graduates and Torah mechanchot [educators], and academic recognition by the government for teaching and learning Tanach [despite the fact that the college does not teach Bible criticism]. This is a kiddush Hashem, though, at the end of the third year, I give two lectures on Bible criticism so [my students]

will know what it’s about.” Michlalah is still the eclectic and nonpolitical institute that I remember attending as a student, when we heard lectures from rabbanim across the religious spectrum. “You see every possible hair covering for women [in the classes] and the same [diversity] applies to the men. I recently looked around in the middle of Minchah and noticed there was every possible kind of kippah represented,” Rabbi Cooperman says. “Baruch Hashem there are wonderful results, and I thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu that I was privileged to be the one to implement this vision,” he says. Rabbi Cooperman, in his eighties, still teaches four courses at Michlalah and has published many important works, including his commentary on the Meshech Chochmah and one on Seforno. The rav who began it all sees himself primarily as a “moreh b’Yisrael”—a teacher in Israel.

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Photo courtesy of Nishmat/Oded Antman

he wonderful rebbetzins and kallah teachers of the past (and present) notwithstanding, the yoatzot halachah are definitely a new breed. In 1997, Rabbanit Chana Henkin of Nishmat established the Keren Ariel Women’s Halachic Institute to train yoatzot halachah to be a resource for women with questions regarding taharat hamishpachah. She was fully supported, she says, by her husband, Rav Yehuda Henkin, a widely recognized halachic authority particularly known for his piskei halachah pertaining to women. She was joined by Rav Yaakov Varhaftig, a lecturer in halachah at Nishmat who has been the dean of the institute since the beginning. Rabbanit Henkin received her master’s degree in Jewish history from Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. The Henkins made aliyah in 1972 to Beit She’an, where Rabbanit Henkin was first a teacher and then an assistant principal before the couple moved to Jerusalem. In 1990 she founded Nishmat, an institute for advanced Torah studies for women. Her goal

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in founding Nishmat was “to open the highest reaches of Torah and halachic learning for women.” There are more than 200 women today learning in its various programs. The yoatzot program was created due to “a combination of two factors,” says Rabbanit Henkin, “both my own love of learning halachah and the awareness that there was a tremendous amount of suffering and faulty observance that I felt was due to the lack of a female address that understood both the halachot in depth and the way a woman’s body functions. Our yoatzot train in women’s health as well.” Since the creation of the program, there have been more than 200,000 questions asked of the yoatzot. Today there are eighty-five yoatzot halachah, including one in England, recently appointed by the chief rabbi, and eight in the United States. About 35 to 40 percent of the yoatzot in Israel are Anglos. “This is a vision that developed over the course of twenty-five years of experience as the wife of a rabbi. I taught in various forums and I saw that most people didn’t really understand what they were teaching, because they weren’t coming in on the ground floor. But the final straw was when I met a friend who started sobbing and said, ‘I can’t live this way any longer.’ She had what she thought was a halachic problem that had kept her and her husband from leading a normal

married life for six months. I thought, ‘No one else is going to do this, so I will.’” Rabbanit Henkin built up a broad coalition of rabbis including Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, Rav Yehuda Amital, z”l, Rav Nachum Rabinowitz and Rav Yaakov Ariel. “Only after the first class was ready to receive their certificates did we start publicizing [the program],” says Rabbanit Henkin. “[The community] saw that these women were a tremendous asset. “The Golda Koschitzky Women’s Halachic Hotline was born when the husbands of the yoatzot came to me and said, ‘We have no home life anymore!’ Women were calling them constantly. Now there are twenty-five yoatzot who work on the hotline.” Yoatzot are also reaching out to the secular community. Nishmat was recently awarded the tender of the Ministry of Religious Affairs to train balaniot (mikvah attendants) who work in all the publically funded mikvaot. “This has to do with sensitivity training,” says Rabbanit Henkin. “It’s an opportunity for kiddush Hashem or chillul Hashem, to either sanctify or desecrate God’s name. The work of a balanit is very difficult,” she says. “We train them so a well-meaning person doesn’t come [across as] overbearing to a secular woman, or to any woman, but [presents] a friendly face of halachah.”

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As we consider the many and varied contributions of American olim, primary consideration must be given to those

contributions that raise the quantity and quality of harbatzat Torah. In that sphere, many names stand out including Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, zt”l, Rabbi Nachum Rabinowitz and Rabbi Dov Fendel, among others. However, we have chosen to focus on one rosh yeshivah who made aliyah more than four decades ago: Rabbi Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein. A talmid of Rav Yitzchak Hutner, and of his father-in-law, Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, Rabbi Lichtenstein influences thousands of students not only with his tremendous brilliance but also through his personal example of integrity, humility and devotion to Torah learning.

Photo courtesy of Yeshiva University

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abbi Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein, who will be awarded the Israel Prize in Jewish Literature this May, hardly needs an introduction. He is well known as a gadol baTorah of the first rank, the rosh yeshivah of Yeshivat Har Etzion (“the Gush”) and an intellectual heir and son-in-law of Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik. Though he has been in Israel for over forty years, he continues to exert a profound influence on American Orthodoxy through his writings and lectures and hundreds of disciples in positions of communal and educational leadership throughout the Englishspeaking world. Indeed, he is no stranger to the pages of Jewish Action. His writings appeared in the magazine as early as fall 1986 and as recently as fall 2013. Much has been written, and has yet to be written, about his erudition, character and methodology. The present task, fortunately for this author, is far more modest than a full treatment of Rav Lichtenstein’s life work. It focuses instead on one aspect of it: his impact on Israeli society. Among the prominent disciples who spoke at Rav Lichtenstein’s eightieth birthday celebration in May 2013 was Rav Yaakov Medan, who studied under Rav Aharon in the early years of the Gush and now serves alongside him as a rosh yeshivah. Rav Medan noted that until Rav Lichtenstein’s aliyah with his family in 1971, the Israeli yeshivah world viewed Torah as one alternative in an either-or proposition: the more one draws upon other sources, the more one derogates from the Torah. Rav Lichtenstein introduced his students to a universalist di-

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mension—a common humanity and moral sense that forms the substrate upon which a Torah personality is built—that the Jewish people shares with mankind, and about which Rav Aharon believes we can learn from gentile writers and thinkers. The ideology of Israel’s National Religious community is dominated by the towering figure of Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook. Rav Kook is heir to a long tradition, beginning with Rav Yehuda Halevi, that views Jews and gentiles as being essentially and metaphysically differ-

ent. To the extent that there is a significant Religious Zionist alternative to Rav Kook, it is largely due to Rav Lichtenstein; if there is a flagship institution that may one day rival Mercaz HaRav in its influence over Religious Zionist education and thought, it is Yeshivat Har Etzion. Israel’s educational system does not foster well roundedness, and its colleges do not require that its students get a grounding in the liberal arts. This impoverishes the general discourse, as people tend to view issues through the particularly narrow

lens of their expertise. In this context, a rosh yeshivah with a PhD in English literature from Harvard offers a compelling alternative paradigm in which excellence in one discipline does not preclude greatness in Torah, and vice versa. To quote Matthew Arnold’s sonnet “To a Friend” (which Rav Aharon himself quoted in a fall 1992 article for Jewish Action, “The Source of Faith is Faith Itself”), Rav Lichtenstein’s “even-balanc’d soul . . . saw life steadily, and saw it whole.”

Rabbi Elli Fischer is a writer and translator living in Modi’in.

herri Lederman Mandell and her husband, Rabbi Seth, made aliyah in 1996, and shortly afterward they moved to Tekoa, overlooking the canyons and caves of the Judean Desert. It was one of those caves that their son Koby and his friend Yosef Ish Ran were exploring when they were attacked and bludgeoned to death with stones by Arab terrorists on May 8, 2001. They were thirteen years old. Up until that moment, Sherri had expressed her passion for writing (she has an MA from Colorado State University) by teaching writing prior to making aliyah at the University of Maryland and at Penn State University, writing Writers of the Holocaust and crafting humorous columns. An educator, Rabbi Seth served as the Hillel director at Penn State and later at the University of Maryland. But Koby’s murder changed everything. Sherri and her husband channeled their unbearable grief into the creation of the Koby Mandell Foundation, which runs

Photo: Debbi Cooper

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“Koby’s murder changed me as a person. I became somebody who reached out to others with much less fear because I knew how another person’s kindness had changed me and given me the ability to survive,” says Sherri. healing programs for families who have lost an immediate family member to a terrorist attack or an act of war. Since then, in addition to writing columns in numerous magazines and newspapers, Sherri has become a soughtafter speaker. “I used to be scared to speak in front of people, and now . . . because I have a sense of mission,” she says, “I put my fear to the side. I think the main difference in my life now is that sense of mission.” Her book The Blessings of a Broken Heart was a winner of the 2004 National Jewish Book Award. She re-

ceived the Jewish Women International’s Women to Watch Award and was also awarded an ADL Partners in Peace Award. She is featured as an expert speaker on the documentary Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in Israel and her book has been made into a stage play. She also wrote a book on resilience, which will come out next year. “Koby’s murder changed me as a person. I became somebody who reached out to others with much less fear because I knew how another person’s kindness had changed me and given me the ability to survive,” says Sherri. “Our family was surrounded by people who helped us.” The foundation became a healing place for her. “As I helped others I also understood the depth and need for community. Healing from a tragedy occurs in a community—with others who have suffered the same thing—and one needs to build this community.” She runs an annual summer camp for 400 bereaved children and a camp for American teenagers who volunteer at the camp. Among the foundation’s numerous projects is the Women’s Healing Retreats for Bereaved Mothers and Widows. Her sense of mission expresses itself also in protests against Israel’s release of terrorists who have committed the most horrific murders. In response to the releases, Sherri created the organization The Cry of the Mothers. “This should not be just a fight for bereaved parents,” she recently told the Jerusalem Post. “It should be a fight for all the people of this country.” “My vision for the future is that the Koby Mandell Foundation can help every bereaved family find support so that they can grow instead of becoming shattered by tragedy,” says Sherri.

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Photo: Sasson Tiram

n 1970, the Israeli government, under Prime Minister Golda Meir, sent pioneer farmers to Gush Katif to re-establish Kfar Darom, originally founded in 1946. For the next thirty-five years, Gush Katif continued to develop with the approval of every Israeli government. In 2003, the late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced his plan for unilateral withdrawal from Gush Katif, which meant the displacement of approximately 9,000 people and the destruction of hundreds of homes and successful businesses. Among the residents of Gush Katif were Anita and Stuart Tucker, who had made aliyah in 1969. When they first arrived in Israel, they settled in Beer Sheva, where they lived for seven years. They then decided to relocate to Gush Katif. Anita helped found Netzer Hazani, an extraordinarily successful agricultural community whose produce was highly sought after throughout the world. Anita became known as “the celery lady” as her family business produced thousands of heads of celery annually that were exported throughout the world. “We saw how the bald virgin sand dunes of Gaza turned into a paradise of flowers, trees and vegetables. And we lived in relative peace and mutual respect with our Arab neighbors for almost twentyfive years, until the world began talking about peace, a peace that tore us to pieces,” says Anita. Anita was always a leader in her community, but her mettle was really put to the test following the withdrawal in 2005. On the day of the withdrawal, the people of Netzer Hazani left their homes, with the now-famous menorah that adorned the top of their synagogue on their shoulders. During the years that followed, Anita, her husband and her children lived in various dormitories and

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“From the moment we were forced out, we spoke only about building anew. We rented land in the Jordan Valley, where no heating system is needed for winter growing, and we set up the cheapest tunnel greenhouses . . . The sole purpose was to keep going, so others in the community would see that one can and must continue.”

youth hostels until finally, they were transferred to a temporary caravilla site. Rather than falling apart after the withdrawal, Anita became a central figure in keeping her community united and in rebuilding Netzer Hazani. “We survived the expulsion . . . because my community [which insisted on staying together] . . . kept ourselves sane with stronger faith than ever,” says Anita. “From the moment we were forced out, we spoke only about building anew. We are working on finding new profitable crops to grow and investors to enable us to do it together, as no one has funds left, surely not after rebuilding their homes. We rented land in the Jordan Valley, where no heating system is needed for winter growing, and we set up the cheapest tunnel greenhouses and planted organic peppers for export. The sole purpose was to keep going, so others

in the community would see that one can and must continue. The first time I whiffed the intoxicating aroma of freshly growing pepper plants,” says Anita, “I knew for sure we were still alive and we can and will, b’ezrat Hashem, win the battle of building anew.” ••• In 2009, Netzer Hazani was reborn on land in the Nachal Sorek area between Ashkelon and Jerusalem in the foothills of the Judean Mountains. Anita moved into her new home and lives next to three of her five children and many of her former neighbors. “We felt ecstatic to move out of the caravilla [and into our new home in the newly established Netzer Hazani], but then you say, ‘Okay, now what? This is not home. It is not Gush Katif’ . . . the longing can never disappear. “Today I tell the story of Gush Katif to youth groups from the US— from secular to Chareidi. I speak about the concept of chazon, vision. I say, ‘Do you see the playground there—red, green and yellow? And the children sliding down the slide?’ They run to look and all they see is a field of thorns. “Then I say, ‘I can see it and, God willing, by the next time you visit me, it will be there!’ You dream, you work hard to make it happen.” In 2010, Anita was awarded the Moskowitz Prize for Zionism for her work as a trailblazer, leader, rebuilder and spokesperson as well as for creating many new chesed initiatives and business projects. The judges wrote, “With her great belief in the people of Israel, with her eternal optimism and her ever-present smile, Anita has succeeded in restoring hope to many of the former residents of Gush Katif, giving them the faith and the strength to begin anew.”

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Pesach

A GREENWICH

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SEDER

By Gideon Black or my wife and me, like many of this magazine’s readers, Pesach conjures up memories of being with family, sitting around a table together and sharing a special Seder with loved ones. Many of the same faces, year in and year out, make the Seder night a very warm, multi-generational, family-focused ritual. Its substantial religious and halachic importance is matched by the imprint it has on forming fond childhood memories of Jewish family life.

Washington Square Park in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village.

Rabbi Gideon Black was born in Scotland and grew up in London. He received a law degree from University College London and a master’s in Jewish philosophy from Yeshiva University in New York. Gideon and his wife, Aliza, and two-year-old son, Judah, have spent the last three years living on New York University’s campus in Greenwich Village.

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Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski

Yet one of the pleasant surprises of living and working on a university campus has been spending Pesach at New York University (NYU), in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, where I direct the Orthodox Union’s Heshe & Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC). Found on sixteen college campuses throughout North America, JLIC is a program that helps Orthodox students navigate the college environment. Though nothing compares to a beautiful Seder at home, with vehigadeta levincha being lived in the most meaningful way—children surrounded by their parents and grandparents, asking the Four Questions, singing the Haggadah’s songs, eating the meal and discussing yetziat Mitzrayim—Seder nights at NYU are nothing short of magical. This past Pesach we hosted Sedarim at the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life (NYU’s Hillel) and we were unsure how many people would attend. We tentatively prepared for thirty participants based on attendance the previous year, and were thrilled when more than double that amount showed up! The initial panic we felt when we had to set up more tables, chairs and place settings than we could fit quickly dissipated as we realized there is no better ice breaker than having to squeeze strangers around a table who, deep down, are seeking the same things: a sense of connectedness—to each other, to home and to the Jewish people. I can confidently say that Seder nights at NYU have been among the most meaningful experiences we have had since we began working on campus. The range of backgrounds represented around our Seder table was remarkable. We had students from Poland, Hungary, Israel, Hong Kong, France, Venezuela, Brazil, Spain and India. We had freshmen through PhD students. There were Ashkenazic Jews, Sepharadic Jews, students for whom this was their first Seder and students for whom

this was their thirtieth Seder. We were joined by students who were blessed to have had a yeshivah education and students who had never looked into a Haggadah before; there were students for whom this was their first Seder away from family and students for whom this was their first Seder because they were away from family. As we went around the table, introducing ourselves and sharing a little bit about our backgrounds, there was a feeling in the room that a small piece of nearly every Jewish community around the globe had found its way to our Seder. This served to underscore the notion that the secular university campus truly is where the future of diaspora Jewry is being formed. Generally, JLIC educators focus on the needs of their campuses’ Orthodox student body—building and facilitating the infrastructure of Torah learning, minyanim, kosher food, Shabbat programming and chesed opportunities. The vast majority of Orthodox students at NYU with whom we enjoy a close relationship year-round leave campus for the Sedarim (especially those who live in the tri-state area) and return home. Pesach, therefore, gives us an opportunity to work with students who are less affiliated and come from a more diverse background. On the first night, as an icebreaker, I asked each participant to share what he or she feels enslaved by today. For some, it was their iPhone or TV-show schedule. For others, it was the pressure to exceed a certain GPA or the weight of communal expectations or the job they are expected to get upon graduation. On the second night we broke the ice by asking each participant to share something bitter and sweet that had happened to him or her between last Pesach and this year’s Pesach. The number of people in the room who shared stories of loss was surprising, especially considering that most of us had never met one another before. Almost everyone had experienced some sort of traumatic family

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Seder nights at NYU have been among the most meaningful experiences we have had since we began working on campus.

Questions for a Thoughtful Seder 1. On Pesach we celebrate our freedom from slavery. What do you feel enslaved by in your life today? 2. The salt water on the table represents the tears that the Jewish people cried during their struggles. What has made you cry this year? Both tears of happiness and sadness count! 3. The egg that some have the custom of eating at the Seder represents aveilut. Its round shape symbolizes the cycle of life. Has anyone you cared for passed away since the last Pesach? Have any babies been born in your family? 4. The Sages in Bnei Brak stayed up all night discussing the story of the Exodus. What keeps you up at night? What was the last book you read that made you want to stay up reading? 5. Am Yisrael has observed Seder night each year since we left Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. Today, it is one of the most widely observed mitzvot in the Torah. What is the secret to its longevity and popularity? 6. “Ha Lachma Anya” is an invitation (in Aramaic) to those who are hungry to come and eat. Yet the Seder has already started and the poor on the streets can’t hear us in our homes. Why is it in Aramaic? What is its role in the Haggadah? And how do we really feel about hosting strangers, let alone homeless people, in our homes? 7. We start the Seder by listing the order of the night. The ritual stages are important. We don’t have this tradition before any other mitzvah, so why do we do so on Seder night? 8. After we eat, we bentch and then recite Hallel (prayers of praise and thanksgiving). What are you most grateful for in your life right now? (My rule: you can’t say something that someone else has already said!) 9. Which of the Four Sons were you most like as a kid? (Make sure to act out the Four Sons with dramatic voices!) *Names have been changed to protect the identities of those mentioned.

JLIC’s Rabbi Gideon Black teaching a weekly shiur at NYU’s Bronfman Center. Photo: Shulamit Seidler-Feller

event over the year—be it the death of a relative, a loved one contracting a disease, a parent losing a job or a family member undergoing a divorce. The stories brought a number of people to tears before we even made Kiddush. Yet the bitterness was tempered by stories of gratitude: births of nieces and nephews, soul mates found, internship acceptances, excitement about being admitted to NYU or the joy of being part of a loving family. For the three hours that followed, everyone listened intently as the meaning behind each step of the Seder was explained. We then enjoyed a delicious meal sponsored by the Bronfman Center. Some students offered personal memories of Sedarim with their grandparents during our responsive and beginner-friendly Haggadah journey. With students from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts at the table, we had a ready supply of actors who were eager to participate in a skit about the Four Sons. Everyone joined in as best as they could for the concluding songs, with “Who Knows One? One is Hashem!” being the highlight. As students left at the end of the evening, my wife, Aliza, and I lingered by the door so we could learn more about each individual and what had brought him to the Bronfman Center for the Seder. Their stories were remarkable: Three guys enrolled in the law school decided on their way to the gym to stop in for a few minutes so they could call their parents and tell them they had attended a Seder. A few minutes turned into a few hours. They could always go to the gym tomorrow, one noted, as he hugged me goodbye. Ido*, an Israeli MBA student, had been looking in vain for a sense of family ever since arriving in America. He admitted to me that initially he didn’t think it was worth attending a Seder, as one on campus could never compare to a Seder at home, surrounded by relatives in Tel Aviv. Yet he left so pleased that he showed up, it seemed that he felt at home again—even if only for a few hours. Jenn and Brian, seniors from Boston, were raised in traditional homes and lived around the corner from the Hillel all four years of college. They sheepishly admitted that they never once participated in a Jewish event on campus. I tried to understand why. “Well, we didn’t get involved as freshmen and always thought it would be awkward to start showing up to events in the middle of our college career.” They decided

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that before they graduate they should at least see what the inside of the Hillel looks like. Their regret at realizing what they had been missing out over the past four years was tempered by the knowledge that at least on this night they had made the right choice and would carry their college Seder experience with them after graduation. Josh, the Modern Orthodox student from Long Island, had decided to stay on campus for the Sedarim, as “I never really enjoy Seder at home—it’s so long and boring.” I sensed he was masking a deeper disconnect from his family back home. He left with a spring in his step: “I’m going to suggest to my parents that we run an explanatory Seder next year, rather than just rushing through [the Haggadah] in Hebrew. My younger siblings would love it!” Jasmine, a PhD student from Tennessee, was going

through the geirut process, but admitted to feeling unsure if she would ever be fully accepted in the community. She shared that the Seder gave her the confidence to continue with her conversion. “I didn’t know that at Yetziat Mitzrayim every Jew had to choose: do I leave Egypt and be part of the Jewish people or not?” Realizing that unfortunately some chose not to made her aware that in a certain sense, she wasn’t so different from the other people in the room who were born Jewish—everyone has to actively choose to have a meaningful Jewish life. “Vehigadeta levincha bayom hahu, And you shall tell your children on that day.” May we all be blessed to be part of meaningful and inspiring Sedarim this year in which we get to share the vitality, warmth and privilege of Yiddishkeit with Jewish children everywhere. g

Dos and Don’ts for Running an Explanatory Seder

DO:

• Make sure everyone at the table feels like a player on the field and not a spectator watching the action.

• Have all participants use the same Haggadah. A user-friendly Haggadah with clear, large-type Hebrew and English fonts, which includes a few colorful illustrations, is a better choice than one with extensive commentary. • Make sure that everyone in the room gets a chance to have his voice heard at least once during the evening. Provide opportunities for participants to answer questions (see page 50 for Seder questions), offer a devar Torah or share a memory of Seder experiences they have had in the past (on campus, this gives unaffiliated students an opportunity to recall things they learned from their grandparents who often led the Sedarim they attended as children). • Have family heirlooms at your Seder. Children will grow up cherishing the memories of using zeide’s Kiddush cup and will want to use it at their own Sedarim one day. • If you don’t have family heirlooms, start making them! Don’t get a new

Seder plate or afikoman cover every year—just because the item is not eighty-five years old or from Warsaw doesn’t mean it can’t create its own legacy. Familiarity with ritual items breeds a close relationship with those objects and offers security and meaning in a world where everything is replaceable and impermanent. • Use props. Place a few toy frogs around the room and have a costume on hand so someone can dress up as an Egyptian taskmaster—get the kids asking questions! • Act out parts of the Haggadah. Whether it’s the section on the Four Sons, the Sages in Bnei Brak or any other episode in the Haggadah, asking people to act it out (preferably give them advance notice) is a great educational method that often leads to laughter. • Sing! The concluding songs of the Haggadah should have the whole family out of their seats, and there should be actions accompanying the words. Everyone has been sitting patiently for a long time at this point, so it’s a great opportunity to end on a high. Make sure to choose tunes that everyone knows, or teach everyone your favorite one.

• Wait until Seder night to figure out how you are going to make it meaningful and participatory. Preparation is essential. • Have the Haggadah read entirely by the father of the house or the Seder leader. Go around the table and ask each participant to read a paragraph, whether in Hebrew or English. People will feel less like they are in class and more like it is a shared experience. Also, knowing you are going to be called on soon forces you to make sure you have the place. • Let the meal drag on. The end of the Haggadah is the best part and you don’t want to lose your audience. • Be inflexible. Adapt to the facts on the ground. If it’s very late and half the table is falling asleep, if you insist on reading every word, the Seder may become a negative experience. Use your discretion to skip some of the lengthy texts if necessary.

DOn't:

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Memoir

By Chava Willig Levy

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LI FE not with

S TAN DING Well-known author, editor and motivational speaker Chava Willig Levy, a polio survivor, recently published a heartwarming memoir, A Life not with Standing. With humor and wit, Levy recounts the painful surgeries and hospitalizations she experienced as well as the loving support of wonderful family and friends. This riveting and deeply moving saga tells how the brilliant and spunky Levy sets out to shatter stereotypes about people with disabilities.

Published by CreateSpace, A Life Not with Standing is available as a print book at http://tinyurl.com/k6qxwo8 and as an e-book at http://tinyurl.com/mos5gqr. Below, we publish a few excerpts:

“I Didn’t Come Running” eople ask me all the time if I remember what happened to me. I don’t. But my battle with polio became so embedded in our family lore that, if I close my eyes, I can see and hear everything that transpired. Saturday, August 13, 1955. Drenched by Hurricane Connie, my father had just returned from the synagogue, deeply disappointed to have been the only one there. But as soon as he dried his glasses, the silver gleam of his goblet on the secondhand table—and of my sister Temi’s Slinky under it— caught his eye. He smiled and rubbed his hands together. “Kiddush, everyone!” I didn’t come running. That got his attention. An impish strawberry blonde with an inordinate fondness for Malaga wine, I never missed kiddush, the blessing over the Sabbath

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wine. But I did that day, lying limply on our dilapidated couch and complaining of an unbearable headache. “No cause for alarm. Her fever is barely 101 degrees,” Dr. Lester, a fellow vacationer in Woodridge, New York, told my parents on Sunday morning. When he returned on Monday morning, my neck had stiffened. “Let’s get her to Dr. Mehlman in Middletown for a consultation.” So Imma and Abba drove forty miles to Middletown, sixty times the size of Woodridge. Dr. Mehlman took one look at me and took my parents aside. “I suggest getting her to the hospital immediately. This could be polio.” So they carried me back to their car and sped 110 miles from Upstate New York to Brooklyn’s Kingston Avenue Hospital for Infectious Diseases. My parents often told me what I was saying intermittently during that three-hour drive: “Look! A train!” But what were they thinking? Just four months earlier, on April 12, 1955, they had been jubilant. Dr. Jonas Salk had made it official: His polio vaccine worked. But by August, April’s euphoria had disintegrated into anguish. And the kicker: They had done everything to prevent this nightmare. Knowing that it would take months for the vaccine to be distributed across the country, knowing that polio thrived particularly in hot weather and in big cities like ours, they had decided—for the first and only time in our family history—to splurge on a summer in the Catskills. And for what? If that’s what they were thinking, they never told me. And they never told me that, of the hundreds of children populating their bungalow colony, polio came after me and me alone. Like a laser beam, it came in for a pinpoint landing. Instead, they told me I was a brave soldier when the doctor administered the spinal tap. (In the recesses of my memory, all I can discern is my mother lifting a polo shirt— navy blue with tiny red dots, or were they white?—over my head as I babble, unaware that my life is hanging in the balance.)

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AVOID A AV VO V OID C COSTLY OST TL LY Y AND AND PAINFUL PAINFU UL DIVORCE DIVORCE BATTLE! DIV BA BA ATTLE! TTLE! They told me I entered Kingston Avenue Hospital a curly top and emerged fourteen months later with my hair scared stiff. They told me about the doctors’ dire diagnoses and prognoses. “Mr. and Mrs. Willig, we’re sorry but your daughter has two kinds of paralytic polio: spinal and bulbar.” “But what does that mean?” “We don’t yet know to what extent, but at present the spinal polio has paralyzed her arms and legs. In addition, the bulbar polio has paralyzed her breathing muscles. That’s why we’ve had to place her in an iron lung.” “Mr. and Mrs. Willig, we’re sorry but we now know that your daughter will never walk again.” “How can you be sure?” “Her right quadriceps has been left completely paralyzed. Without at least partial use of the quadriceps in both legs, walking is impossible.” “Mr. and Mrs. Willig, we’re sorry but your daughter will have a severe curvature of the spine, affecting both her back and her neck.” “But she looks perfectly straight!” “That may be true now, but because her left side is somewhat stronger than her right, scoliosis will be increasingly apparent as she continues to grow.” They told me I had a new name. “Abba?” “Yes, Chavela?” Chava Willig Levy, a polio sur“The people [breath] vivor, recounts her story in her here think my [breath] new memoir. name is [breath] Choffa.” “I know, mamela. It’s hard for them to say your name because it’s Hebrew. English doesn’t have the sound that your name starts with.” “But I think [breath] they’re making fun [breath] of me.” “No, mamela, they’re not. But Imma and I have an idea. First, though, look what I brought you! Your favorite flavor too.” “But Abba, I [breath] can’t get it [breath] to go down.” “Maybe this time it will work. How about I hold the straw near your mouth? When you breathe air all the way out, try to take a tiny sip, real fast, before your breathing machine starts up again. You need to get strong, okay?”

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(516) 986-8717 (office) (917) ) 821-9465 (cell) mediation@gmail.com m nysfamilymediation@gmail.com “First tell me [breath] your idea.” “Yes, ma’am. You sure drive a hard bargain! Okay, it’s a deal. Let’s make it easier for the people here. Did you know that you have two names? Your first name is Chava—and sometimes we call you Chavela or Chavi. Chava is a lot like the English name, Eve. And your middle name is Yehudis. In English, that’s a lot like Judy. Is it okay if the people here call you Eve or maybe Judy?” I picked Judy. The name stuck for sixteen years. As for polio, its name has been around for 139 years. And long before Adolph Kussmaul coined the phrase “poliomyelitis anterior acuta” in 1874, some say for 5,000 years, the polio virus lurked incognito. Today, most people have forgotten polio. Not me. I don’t want to forget. And I don’t want to forget that although polio terrorized parents and children the world over, the disabilities it inflicted can’t hold a candle to the stigma the human race has attributed to them. All in all, it had hardly been a fair match. I was a threeand-a-half-year-old pipsqueak, my opponent a seasoned, globetrotting bandit with countless conquests to his name. He overpowered my muscles. He absconded with my ringlets. He stole my symmetry. He even snatched my name. But over half a century later, I can say with certainty and satisfaction that I gave him a run for his money.

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“You Have a New Friend” Ever the salesman (although an ordained rabbi, Abba earned his living selling mutual funds and raising money for Jewish charities), he took a client-centered approach. My friend Shifra remembers that Sunday morning when Abba joined her at her kitchen table, waiting for her to finish her bowl of Cheerios. “Rabbi Willig didn’t say anything about having a handicapped daughter. He just smiled gently and said, ‘You have a new friend. She’s just your age, and her name is Judy.’” Not every mission met with similar success. Because it had no elevator, Abba failed to convince our local Jewish day school to admit me. He never maligned. He simply moved on, rejoicing when our synagogue let me attend its thrice-weekly afternoon class for public school students. As for Imma, even without leaving home, she combed the neighborhood for guests. During our song-filled Shabbos meals, her designated seat gave her a full view of goings-on outside our dinette window. We’d be moments away from dessert when Imma would exclaim, “Look, the Bergers!” She’d practically leap from her chair, open our front door and call out, “You’re just in time for tea and cake!” Seconds later, the entire Berger family would be seated around our oval table. (Imma was an ardent advocate of round and oval tables. “Somehow,” she’d comment, “with a round or oval table, there’s always room for one more.” And she was right.) As happy as I was to be back home, I knew rough moments. But Imma believed that self-pity was a luxury I couldn’t afford. “Imma, those kids are staring at me!” “Then stare back.” Still, thanks to Imma’s open-door— and open-refrigerator—policy, our house frequently bubbled over with the laughter of children. Even if the only children in the house were the four Willig children, laughter abounded. Every night, lying nose to nose, Temi and I would pick a Broadway musical (West Side Story, more often than not) and our respective

roles (I Maria, she Tony). We’d start with the overture and keep going until the finale, invariably interrupted by three strident raps on our bedroom door. “Yooshena [Go to sleep]!” Abba would bark in mock rage. “It’s almost ten o’clock!” “But Abba,” we’d protest, “it’s 9:08!” “Yes, that’s what I said: It’s almost ten o’clock!” Giggling in the dark, we’d pick up where we had left off, only more softly.

••• “Matchmaker, Matchmaker . . .”

I had just graduated from college. Many of my classmates were married. Some were already mothers. And me, I couldn’t even get onto the playing field. I was willing to strike out, honestly I was. But nobody was giving me even that opportunity. All I was asking for was a chance at bat. Closer to home, marriage was also in the air . . . During my senior year, Temi announced her engagement to Yigal, the Israeli son of Americans with whom Imma had grown up. I rejoiced because Yigal’s gentle, kind nature was unmatched, except by that of his bride. And besides, following Temi in birth order, I believed I was entitled to be the next Willig to marry. With every passing year, I searched more and more frantically for someone, anyone, who believed it too. It’s not that my parents didn’t believe it. When I asked, they assured me that they did. But I didn’t want to ask. I wanted their words to reach me unbidden. I wanted to hear unshakable conviction, even righteous indignation, in their voices. I didn’t. I certainly heard righteous indignation in my own. “Imma, you believe this? Someone wants to set me up with a man who’s old enough to be my father! And why is she suggesting him? Three guesses and the first two don’t count. Just because he’s disabled!” “I’m sure she meant well,” Imma replied. “And remember, I married an ‘older man.’ I’m six years younger than Abba.”

“Six years?” I fumed. “We’re talking twenty years, for crying out loud! I’m telling you, she’s putting Yenta the matchmaker to shame. Doesn’t Yenta say something like, ‘He’s so good looking! And young! Well, actually he’s in his sixties. But he’s such a good, nice man’?” Truth be told, he was a nice man, a good man, not to mention a brilliant man. But I couldn’t get past his age. What’s more, his garbled, torturous speech, a consequence of his disability, tortured my musical ears. And my reaction to that dissonance tortured my conscience. Here I was railing against those who wrote me off as “damaged goods.” Was I guilty of the same offense? Resolution, slow in coming, finally arrived: Had I nixed the relationship after one date, my hypocrisy would have been incontrovertible. But I agreed to meet him again. I gave it my best shot. I concluded that I had a right to my aural sensibilities. I thanked the matchmaker for thinking of me. “By the way,” I added as casually as I could, “I have no objection to dating someone nondisabled.” “Chavi,” she countered without missing a beat, “if a man without a disability agreed to go out with you, I’d wonder what was the matter with him, you know, psychologically.” When I wasn’t sobbing into my pillow, I railed against my coreligionists’ hypocrisy. Every Friday night around the Shabbos table, we sang King Solomon’s ode to the woman of valor, “False is grace and vain is beauty; a God-fearing woman—she should be praised,” but I was no fool. I knew that outer beauty counted in the world, and the Jewish world was no exception. g Listen to Chava Willig Levy speak about her memoir at www.ou.org/life/health/chavawillig-levy/.

CHAVA MARRIED MICHAEL LEVY IN 1983. MICHAEL IS THE DIRECTOR OF TRAVEL TRAINING AT MTA NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT. THE COUPLE LIVES IN WOODMERE, NEW YORK. THEY ARE BLESSED WITH A SON, AHARON, DAUGHTER TEHILAH, SON-IN-LAW, TUVIA, AND GRANDDAUGHTER, TEMIMA.

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JustBetweenUs

By Dinah Bucholz

Why Making Your Children Work Matters:

How Cleaning for Pesach Can Develop Your Child’s Self-Esteem don’t believe in self-esteem. That is, I don’t believe in the way the self-esteem movement promotes the idea that parents and educators need to constantly shower praise on their children to make them feel good about themselves. In fact, falsely inflating your child’s self-esteem may hurt more than it helps. In a 1996 issue of Psychological Review, Dr. Roy Baumeister, professor of psychology at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, published the results of a study on self-esteem that showed that

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Dinah Bucholz is a New York Times bestselling author and certified parenting coach. Send questions and comments to ja@ou.org.

violent criminals all share the trait of high self-esteem.1 In 2010, National Review Online reported2 that among students from eight countries, Americans came in last in mathematical ability. But when asked how they rated their mathematical ability, they rated themselves first. Their mathematical skills were abysmal, but they sure had high self-esteem. Instead of telling kids they should feel good about themselves, it’s best to give them opportunities to feel useful, worthwhile and competent. By providing such opportunities, you are giving children the means to accomplish things they can legitimately be proud of.

It’s a huge relief for parents to learn that they don’t have to worry about making their children feel good about themselves by applauding their every move. Just realize that you can only point your child in the right direction and that ultimately, your child must develop self-esteem through feelings of usefulness and competence that can only be obtained through hard work and struggle; there are no shortcuts. Allowing your child to struggle toward self-discipline or mastery of a skill will do more for his feelings of self-worth than hollow, baseless praise. Once he gets there, through hard work and persistence, what he has attained is its own reward. The praise is certainly a nice acknowledgment, but it is mostly icing on the cake. The real reward is the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that one feels when he reaches a goal. My friend’s daughter was determined to teach herself how to knit. Armed with a ball of yarn, two knitting needles and a couple of how-to books and YouTube videos, she persisted. She often grew frustrated, and in such moments would throw down the yarn and needles and stomp around the dining room table yelling in frustration. My friend quietly observed. One evening, her daughter said through gritted teeth, “I will get this if it kills me!” And by the end of the evening, she was purling, a stitch that is hard for beginning knitters to master. She didn’t need her mother’s praise (“You see how persistence pays off? Good for you!”) because she was glowing with the inner satisfaction of mastering a skill by herself.

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Children need to feel needed and that they are contributing—just like adults.

You can help your kids feel truly competent in many other ways: don’t do their homework for them or have them rely on your help; don’t rush to solve their problems—let them feel frustrated and work through them. “I can’t” really means “it’s hard and I’m frustrated.” My son once told me he couldn’t do his homework; it was too hard. I said, “Really? You’re not ready for fifth-grade work? Should I call the principal and ask her to move you back to fourth grade?” Well, he went back to his room and figured out what to do pretty quickly. Most important, children need to feel needed and that they are contributing—just like adults. The best way to accomplish this is by assigning chores. Through chores, kids not only achieve competence at life tasks such as sorting and folding laundry, setting the table, washing dishes or loading the dishwasher, preparing simple meals and baking cookies (chores can include the fun stuff too!), but they also get the satisfaction of a job well done as well as the feeling of being needed and of contributing something of value to the family. They will also learn to be givers, so by enforcing chores you are helping them avoid the spoiled-brat syndrome that affects so many of today’s children. Assigning chores also helps teach children responsibility. Will your kids grumble? Sure they will. Feeling delighted about doing chores is not essential to achieving the sense of accomplishment and self-worth that accompanies their completion, so don’t worry if they complain. Do not pay your child to do chores. Part of raising children is preparing them for the real world. One day your child will grow up and leave home. He will have to do chores in his own home, and no one will pay him for them. He must learn that doing a service is essential to being a productive family member—and ultimately a contributing member of society. Do not underestimate your children. One evening, my husband and I left the house at 6:30 to attend a school function. The dinner leftovers were still on the table, along with everyone’s homework. I told the kids I would be home by 9:00, and that I expected the house to be spic-and-span and the youngest child in bed. When I came home, the house was gleaming, the dishes were washed and drying on the counter and my youngest was fast asleep. It had been my ten-year-old daughter’s job to clean up, so I made sure to let her know that I appreciated her job well done. The next morning I saw my six-year-old with a lollipop. “Where did you get that?” I asked her. “Sarah gave it to me for doing the dishes for her,” she said. Indeed, Toby had washed all the dishes and, I now noticed, had used the whole bottle of dishwashing liquid. Those dishes sure were clean—and I learned that I had been underestimating her by not giving her this chore. Pesach cleaning provides a wonderful opportunity for your children to reap all the benefits that come with helping out—and more. You can create happy memories for your children when they sit around the table peeling fruits and vegetables while listening to music and enjoying a spirit of camaraderie. It will also give them a sense of excitement for the impending yom tov. Because I experienced this as a child, Pesach is still my favorite holiday. You will also help to instill in your children a deeper connection to Pesach. Nothing beats the satisfaction a child feels when Pesach arrives and the house is sparkling clean while delicious yom tov aromas fill the air—and she knows that she helped make it happen. So this Pesach, enlist your children’s help. A nine-yearold is perfectly capable of cleaning out his own drawers. A six-year-old can polish silver. A twelve-year-old can do a whole lot more. And they can help with the cooking by peeling fruits and vegetables and so on. Who says you have to do all the work yourself? Once your kids reach a certain age, they should be doing most of the preparation—while you sit on the couch sipping a tea and reading a magazine. After all, it’s zeman cheiruteinu! g Notes 1. “Relation of Threatened Egotism to Violence and Aggression: The Dark Side of High Self-Esteem,” Psychological Review 103 (1996): 1. 2. Dennis Prager, “Self-Esteem and Character,” November 2010. Listen to Dinah Bucholz speak about children and self-esteem at www.ou.org/life/parenting/bucholz.

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Israel

By Peter Abelow

On and Off the Beaten Track in. . .

MANARA Breathtaking view of Mount Hermon, Israel’s tallest peak. The large amount of snow that falls on the mountain in an average winter not only provides the Jordan River with a major source of water during the summer but has enabled the development of Israel’s one and only ski site.

Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski

A View from the Heights agnificent scenery and spectacular views, fun activities for the entire family and opportunities to focus on history as well as on issues facing contemporary Israel. Manara, located in northern Israel, has it all. Kibbutz Manara, founded in 1943 by young immigrants from Germany and Poland, is perched on the top of the Naftali Ridge at an altitude of 888 meters (2,913 feet) above sea level and near the Lebanese border to its west. It is located in the section of Israel known as “Etzba HaGalil” (Fin-

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Peter Abelow is a licensed tour guide and the associate director of Keshet: The Center for Educational Tourism in Israel. Keshet specializes in creating and running inspiring family and group tours that make Israel come alive “Jewishly.” He can be reached at 011.972.2.671.3518 or at peter@keshetisrael.co.il.

ger of Galilee). Look at a map of Israel and draw an imaginary line along the Jordan River from Kiryat Shmona south. This was the border before the Golan Heights became part of Israel as a result of the Six-Day War in 1967. You can easily see why people associated this narrow protrusion of Israeli territory, barely a few miles wide and nestled between the Lebanese border to the west and the Golan Heights (which belonged to Syria prior to the war) to the east, with the image of a pointing finger. Israel’s main north-south highway, Route 90, runs through the Hula Valley to Kiryat Shmona, and then to Metula, Israel’s northernmost town, just a few miles further north. The dominant geographic feature of the region is a huge cliff, about halfway up the incline between the valley and the kibbutz above.

At that very spot, Kibbutz Manara opened Manara Cliff to the public in 1998, a site featuring the country’s longest cable car ride. The ride to the top of Manara Cliff, the highest cliff in Israel, takes about ten minutes and offers stops along the way, so visitors can enjoy the magnificent views of the Hula Valley, the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon. The cable car can be boarded at either the lower station, located on the west side of Route 90, just before the southern entrance to Kiryat Shmona or the upper station which is located in Kibbutz Manara on Route 886. Visitors can opt for a round trip or, if you have a driver who can leave you off at one place and pick you up at another, a oneway journey. Whether you arrive at the upper station by car or after the ascent by

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Lebanon

Mount Hermon Metula

Directly below is track. There is also a third cable car the beautiful Hula Valstation in the middle. This serves as Manara Cliff ley. The expansive the base for additional activities inRosh Hanikra Syria agricultural endeavors cluding a climbing wall and a 200meter (656-foot) zip line. During the of the various kibbutTzfat Acre summer, additional activities are prozim, moshavim and Karmel vided at all three stations. towns are spread out Haifa With the Lebanese border only like a beautiful patchTiberias yards away and the Golan looming work quilt of colors, Nazareth across the valley in the distance, Manshapes and textures. Jordan ara is also an ideal location to underIn the middle, the Zichron Yaakov stand some of the dynamics of Israel’s Jewish National existential challenges. There is no Fund’s efforts to reHadera comparison between hearing about store the Hula Lake stand out as patches of these struggles and witnessing firstcable car, you will be treated to a blue in the midst of swaths of shades of hand the proximity in which Israel cobreathtaking view of the entire region. exists with hostile neighbors. green. In the distance, beyond the Spread out below is the city of Kiryat It is advisable to check the cable car Hula, lie the foothills of the Golan Shmona. The city, which was founded schedule in advance (04.690.5830); Heights. The view from the upper in 1949, was named in memory of eight cable car station alone makes a trip to you do not want to be stranded on the heroes who fell in battle at nearby Tel top with your car 2,460 feet below! It is Manara worthwhile. Hai in 1920. Among the eight was a man named Yosef Trumpeldor who had emigrated from Russia and was instrumental in founding the famous Zion Mule Corps, which worked alongside the British during World War I and subsequently became the first Jewish defense units in Mandatory Palestine. After his death, Trumpeldor became a national hero and his last words, “Never mind; it is good to die for our country” are familiar to most Israeli schoolchildren. If you have some extra time, visit the impressive Tel Hai Memorial. Across the valley in the distance stands Mount Hermon. At 2,224 meters (7,297 feet) above sea level, Mount Hermon is by far Israel’s tallest peak. The large amount of snow that falls on the mountain in an average winter not only provides the Jordan River with a major source of water during the summer but has enabled the development of Israel’s Manara Cliff, which opened to the public in 1998, boasts the country’s longest cable car ride. Photo courtesy of Manara Cliff one and only ski site. There is frequently snow remaining on the highest also worth noting that there are many But there is more. Manara has departs of Mount Hermon well into June other things to do in the immediate veloped an entire recreation area. At and occasionally even into July. Standarea including the beautiful Tel Dan the bottom station of the cable car, ing on Manara Cliff in the heat and and Banias nature reserves and a numthere are all-weather trampolines and looking at the snow in the distance on a a mountain slide which winds its way ber of the popular routes for Jordan clear day is an amazing sight. River rafting. g along 1,200 meters (3,937 feet) of Kiryat Shmona RO U TE 90

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NCSY TURNS SIXTY

Still Groovy Neat Hip Awesome After All These Years

Inside the OU 60

Original NCSY logo

By Bayla Sheva Brenner

one are the days of saddle shoes, jukeboxes, love beads and disco. Ultimately, even Facebook will suffer the same fate. Teenagers grow up; rages fade. With one exception. NCSY. Six decades strong, NCSY continues to make traditional Judaism inspiring and relevant to teens, no matter what era. Back in the 1950s, when many American synagogues were filled with Jewishly uninspired baby boomers, OU National Secretary Harold Boxer and his wife, Enid, encouraged the OU to embark upon a bold endeavor: the creation of a national Orthodox synagogue youth movement. Fred Rabhan and Rabbi Abraham Rosenberg, communal leaders from Savannah, Georgia, attended the 1954 OU Convention to help promote the idea. At the convenBayla Sheva Brenner is senior writer in the OU Communications and Marketing Department.

tion, a resolution was passed to launch NCSY. And so, a new movement was born that would change Jewish teens forever. In October of 1955, Savannah welcomed NCSY’s initial chapter. For the first time, public school and yeshivah students came together to connect to the joys of Judaism in a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Over time, more chapters were created, as were more regions. Thanks to the vision, genius and resolve of Harold Boxer, Jewish teens from struggling Jewish communities across the nation began to meet other teens from similar communities with similar challenges. Together, through NCSY, they imbibed the words of Torah and grew spiritually, well beyond anyone’s—perhaps even Harold Boxer’s—expectations. “The American Jewish community was coming of age; the question was how affiliated was it going to be,” says Rabbi Moshe Krupka, who held senior positions within the OU and NCSY and is currently Touro College’s executive vice president for college affairs. Back then, says Rabbi Krupka, many of the kids were yearning for more meaningful religious experiences and ended up forging a new spiritual path not only for themselves, but oftentimes for their families as well. “There was a whole new genera-

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Ben Zakkai induction at NCSY’s 1968 National Convention. Standing, from left: (Rabbi) Menachem Gopin, (Dr.) David Luchins, Anne S. Weinrauch (Merzel), Elaine Goldstein (Strajcher), (Rabbi) Shalom Strajcher, Vivian Osdoby (Luchins), Alex Gross, Nahum Twersky, Toni Feltcher (Chernofsky), Yaakov Kornreich, Jack M. Gross, (Rabbi Yehuda) Jerry Cheplowitz, Devorah Abrams (Gasner). Seated, from left: (Rabbi) Jeffrey Feinstein, (Dr.) David L. Hurwitz, Debby Klaff (Dan), Ellen Kurzer (Federman), Marilyn Shaeffer (Arsham), Roberta (Rivka) Minkoff (Leff ), Arlene Ginsburg (Gross), (Rabbi) Joshua Freilich, Ezra Lightman (z”l), (Rivka) Reggie Singer (Powers).

tion of kids who didn’t want to be just ‘Yom Kippur Jews.’” For these kids, NCSY was a godsend. Making do on a shoestring budget, Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, NCSY’s first national director (whose proposed annual salary was $7,500), began his pioneering work with a secretary and a team of volunteers. Across the country, shul rabbis and rebbetzins served as the NCSY advisors. “If you were lucky, you had a frum teenager who could lead a chapter,” says Vivian Luchins, who joined New York’s Woodridge Chapter in the Sullivan/Ulster Region in 1961. (She now serves as vice chair of the OU’s Youth Commission, which oversees NCSY.) The success of the fledgling movement depended entirely on the devotion and determination of small community rabbis and youth directors in the Midwest, Southern and Upstate New York Regions.

The initial NCSY chapters began reaching out to Jewish youth who attended public school. Kids with day school backgrounds also joined. To all of them, NCSY was home. “[In those days], your best friend wasn’t the kid next door,” says Yaakov Kornreich, then a member of the Southern Region’s Miami Beach Chapter. “It was the kid you met at NCSY events who lived a few states away. [Shabbatons] were an opportunity to connect with other NCSYers from all over and experience the ruach of Shabbos together. For us, it was me’ein Olam Haba.” At Rabbi Stolper’s urging, the teens took on leadership roles, and were responsible for planning all the programs, such as bowling and picnic get-togethers, as well as Shabbatons and regional and national events.

“If NCSY has demonstrated anything over the past six decades, it’s the ability to adapt.”

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Respecting Teens. Teens are given significant leadership

The Power of Torah Study. One cannot overestimate the effect of pure, unadulterated Torah study. For thousands of years, traditional Judaism has been about learning and connecting to Torah. “NCSY provides multiple touchpoints for teens to experience the beauty of Torah,” says Rabbi Moshe Krupka, who held senior positions within the OU and NCSY and is currently Touro College’s executive vice president for college affairs.

“Someone could get up [at a Shabbaton] and talk about the experience of wearing tzitzis or keeping Shabbos for the first time and be cheered, not heckled for it,” says Rabbi Burg. “At NCSY, what makes you cool is excelling in spirituality.”

Making Religion Cool. NCSY makes keeping Torah cool.

combination of fun, ruach and spiritual connection. At the same time, they provide a space for teens to express their Judaism in a warm and tolerant atmosphere. They also get to interact with teens from diverse Jewish backgrounds in an open and accepting environment. “Any Jewish experience we give them, they experience without heavy-handedness,” says Rabbi Micah Greenland, current international director of NCSY. “They can incorporate whatever aspects [of Judaism that] resonate with them, without feeling they’ll be judged for what they do or don’t do.”

The NCSY Shabbatons. These weekends offer a unique

The critical role of advisors. Advisors are young religious men and women, mostly college age, whom the teens can relate to and admire. “In life, people need role models in order to understand who they can become,” says Rabbi Steven Burg, international director of NCSY from 2005 to 2012 and the current eastern director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “That’s a crucial role the collegiate volunteers have played throughout the years.” Moreover, there is no substitute for the personal relationships formed between advisors and NCSYers. “There’s no shortcut when it comes to outreach,” says Allen Fagin, chairman of the OU’s Youth Commission. “Outreach is a one-on-one activity.”

How does NCSY manage to speak to teens from diverse backgrounds? How does it stay relevant? Below are some of the key elements that have made the movement the phenomenal success it is.

“The Jewish leaders who have emerged from NCSY are countless,” says Rabbi Yehoshua Marchuck, director of Alumni Connections at the OU. “These leaders received their training during their high school years as chapter board members in NCSY.” In the early years, the majority of the participants—both frum and unaffiliated—attended public school, yet they all belonged to Orthodox synagogues. NCSY’s chapters were synagogue-based; Shabbatons were held and the shuls assisted by providing food and arranging housing. “In its formative years, the primary unit of organization was the synagogue,” says Allen Fagin, chairman of the OU’s Youth Commission. “That’s where you found Jewish teens.” “There were cities we used to go to on Wednesdays and make a mock Shabbaton,” says Rabbi Krupka. “It was practically impossible to hold a Shabbaton on Shabbos itself [in those cities] because the chillul Shabbos was rampant. There was no place to stay; there was not a single shomer Shabbos family in the whole community. Some of the teens from those events, however, are rashei yeshivah today.” Those “Wednesday Shabbatons” were powerful. “There were kids who became shomer Shabbos, went on to learn in yeshivos and are being mashpia today countless future generations because of a Shabbaton that took place on a Wednesday night,” says Rabbi Krupka. “Once the kids got inspired, they wanted the real thing.”

roles in NCSY, enabling them to essentially “run” the organization. “Teens want to be treated like mature decision makers,” says Rabbi Greenland. “That’s been the commonality throughout the different decades and eras. We respect teens, and that’s been the key to their growth.”

Noting the dearth of Jewish literature for the English-reading public, NCSY began publishing books by famed thinker Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan and also came out with The NCSY Bencher, which has been translated into numerous languages including Russian, Hungarian and German. To date, The NCSY Bencher, edited and translated by David Olivestone, has sold

Moving Away from the Synagogue

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The Atlantic Seaboard Region at the 1971 NCSY National Convention.

well over two million copies, making it one of the best-selling Judaica publications of all time. As Jews began moving to the suburbs, the synagogues started emptying out. Young people could no longer be found in shul. NCSY had to look elsewhere to find new recruits. So NCSY went where the unaffiliated Jewish teens could be found, launching Jewish culture clubs (now known as JSU, Jewish Student Union) in the eighties. With more than 200 clubs, JSU offers thousands of unaffiliated teens a great way to enjoy Jewish camaraderie, free pizza and an opening to other NCSY programs. “If NCSY has demonstrated anything over the past six decades, it’s the ability to adapt,” says Fagin. Indeed, the ability to shift focus and change directions has been one of the secrets behind NCSY’s extraordinary success. It moved its programming from synagogues to more neutral, less threatening coffee shops for “Latte and Learning” Torah sessions. And when it became apparent that summer experiences could have much more of an impact than Shabbatons, NCSY shifted gears once again and began beefing up its array of summer programs. “If you can get a kid for five or six uninterrupted weeks as opposed to seventy-two hours at a Shabbaton, it is so much more impactful,” says Rabbi Steven Burg, who served as international director of NCSY from 2005 to 2012 and is currently the eastern director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “Israel in and of itself has a tremendous power to affect someone spirituality.” This summer, NCSY hopes to bring around 1,000 teenagers to Israel. “JOLT [Jewish Overseas Leadership Training] was cool in the eighties,” says Rabbi Krupka about NCSY’s summer program that brings young people to Eastern Europe. “In those days it wasn’t so common for kids to travel overseas for the summer, and it was novel to go to a hotel [for Yarchei Kallah, NCSY’s weeklong Torah study program that takes place over winter break]; today it’s routine.” NCSY has continued to evolve in other ways as well, especially with regard to its professionalism. Once led by volunteers, the largest and most effective Jewish youth organization in the world currently boasts a staff of approximately 150 with a volunteer staff of roughly 500, who run programs in 200 cities throughout North America.

“The expectations that people have of NCSY, the communication, accountability and quality of programming are all much greater today,” says Rabbi Micah Greenland, current international director of NCSY who was a former NCSY national president. “That’s a direct outgrowth of having fulltime paid staff running the programs.” In recent years, sustaining and strengthening the connection to NCSY alumni has become a priority. Now, when teens graduate from NCSY, the OU stays in close touch and links them to authentic Jewish programs on and off college campuses. “Leaving high school and entering college can be a very confusing time,” says Rabbi Marchuck. “We work with kids in the twelfth grade and their freshman year of college to help connect them to programs on the campuses [they choose to attend] so that they will have that anchor to Judaism.”

Learning From Your Mistakes

Sixty years don’t go by without some hard-earned lessons. A newspaper report in 2000 revealed that years of complaints of inappropriate, abusive behavior by an NCSY employee had not been adequately addressed and a number of teens suffered as a result. An extensive internal investigation followed, concluding that profound errors in judgment had been made over a period of years, and complaints and warning signs had been ignored. The report proposed numerous changes in policies, guidelines and procedures. Several top NCSY and OU leaders were forced to leave the organization. Today, almost fourteen years later, the heightened sensitivity born out of those events continues unabated. The OU’s

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Spirited dancing at an NCSY national convention in the early sixties.

top priority is the safety and well-being of all students, volunteers and staff and all program participants are empowered and encouraged to anonymously report suspected misconduct. Noted therapists and other prominent professionals regularly train staff and advisors for NCSY, Yachad— The National Jewish Council for Disabilities, our Heshe & Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) and other programs. They cover topics such as preventing and reporting sexual abuse. Strict guidelines for proper behavior are published online and updated regularly and, even more importantly, are strictly enforced. OU programs today

Determined to remain cutting edge, NCSY will be changing focus once again, putting a lot more resources into enhancing its online presence. “Kids are online and [NCSY] has to go where they are,” says Rabbi Burg. “There was a period of time when sports was the opening [that attracted kids]. Now it’s technology,” says Rabbi Marchuck. “NCSY talks to teens where they are at.” Setting ambitious goals to reach the iPad Generation, NCSY hopes to develop engaging and Jewishly compelling online videos that speak to teens as well as online games that award points or rewards to users while bringing them closer to their Jewish roots. “The Jewish community as a whole has become irrelevant on that platform,” says Rabbi Greenland. “We need to become relevant in this arena, using mechanisms that reach kids.”

Changes Ahead

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Much has changed since the first NCSY chapter opened in Savannah almost six decades ago, but certain core elements of NCSY still remain, and perhaps always will. “Teens today are seeking the same things that teenagers sought in the fifties, and they’re finding it at NCSY,” says Luchins. While their methods of communicating with one another are markedly different today, teens continue to share the same essential need: to feel accepted and to experience a sense of belonging. The barriers to reaching teens haven’t changed much either. “The challenge is the same, no matter what era,” says Rabbi Krupka. “It’s to professionally, with integrity, relate to a teenager so he can think about very mature subjects, like who he is, what is his connection to a larger people? The ultimate challenge is, how do you inspire a generation of youth that has so many other things vying for their attention and their allegiance?” But NCSY has proven over and over that it excels at what it originally set out to do: to instill within young people a profound love and enthusiasm for Torah and mesorah. Rabbi Krupka recently attended the NCSY Yarchei Kallah. “I saw Rabbi Micah Greenland [interacting with the kids] and I can tell you that the spirit, the motivation, the mission and the objective of NCSY is alive, well and thriving.” g

Elements of Success

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01 02 03 04 05 06 UPLOAD OR SEND US YOUR OLD PHOTOS TUNE INTO 60 DAYS OF NCSY BEGINNING APRIL 29 ATTEND AN ALUMNI EVENT DONATE AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF JEWISH TEENS SIGN UP FOR THE LARGEST LEARN-A-THON IN NCSY HISTORY

MARCH WITH NCSY IN THE CELEBRATE ISRAEL PARADE (AND GET A FREE COMMEMORATIVE T-SHIRT)

VISIT NCSY.ORG TO GET INVOLVED

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By Bayla Sheva Brenner

Marror in December?

OU Kosher Begins Preparations for Passover Well in Advance of the Holiday hile the rest of us are playing dreidel and eating latkes, the OU Kosher staff is knee-deep in charoses and matzah balls. Alleviating the inevitable pre-Pesach panic that descends upon kosher consumers takes planning. So OU Kosher thinks marror in December. “We begin gearing up for next year’s Passover almost the day after this year’s Passover ends,” says Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of OU Kosher. “We also work with new companies to develop products to be certified for the upcoming holiday.” Thanks to advances in communication technology, this Pesach could very well be the calmest yet for consumers who take advantage of the OU’s expertise. Technologically savvy kosher consumers can access everything they need to know about the holiday via OU Kosher’s homepage (oukosher.org/passover/) as well as via Facebook, Twitter and the OU Kosher App. (This past Pesach season, some 5,000 consumers downloaded the app.) Consumers can also get information from the popular OU Guide to Passover, the OU Kosher Hotline (212.613.8241) or the OU’s online “Webbe Rebbe” (kosherq@ou.org). During this most frenzied time of the year, the hotline is staffed by a team of eight-

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een rabbis and five assistants; a full-time staff of three responds to e-mails and researches answers. Last year, in the weeks leading up to Pesach, the OU received some 2,000 e-mails and up to 500 phone calls a day. “Our consumers receive updates as soon as we get them,” says Mayer Fertig, chief communications officer at the OU. “We have real-time conversations with them.” The OU social media channels boast thousands of friends and followers worldwide, with a dramatic spike in traffic in the weeks and days leading up to Pesach. “We see a 200 percent increase during this time of year,” says Gary Magder, OU director of digital media. OU Kosher even makes staff available to answer questions on erev Pesach. Indeed, by the time we’re ready to sit down at the Seder to ask the Four Questions, OU Kosher has answered thousands more. On the cutting edge of kosher education, OU Kosher also presents popular pre-Passover webcasts, where viewers can pose questions to OU posekim via e-mail in real time. OU Kosher rabbinic coordinators also present seminars in various Jewish communities and Rabbi Moshe Elefant, COO of OU Kosher, and other OU Kosher staff answer consumer questions about the holiday on the radio. Every January, OU Kosher rabbis convene to discuss the Passover status of the hottest new products. Some of the products this year include chia and flax seed (kosher for Passover) and agave syrup (not kosher for Passover). The biggest news this year is that quinoa, the grain-like seed grown in South America, will bear the OU-P symbol. Some common questions the OU receives during the frenzied Pesach season: “Does water require special certification for Pesach?” (as long as it’s unflavored, no); “What about frozen vegetables?” (require certification). Other questions concern the kosherfor-Passover status of vitamins, baby formula, almond milk, coconut oil, ground meat, domestic verses wild salmon and lipstick and toothpaste. Amid the daily barrage of pressing Passover questions, a query comes in that prompts a chuckle—“What can I feed my finicky guppy on Pesach?” The rabbi ponders, and then jokingly suggests, “quinoa, perhaps?” Listen to an interview with Rabbi Moshe Elefant, COO of OU Kosher, about the intricacies of Pesach at www.ou.org/life/food/elefant-2/. g

Inside the OU

Bayla Sheva Brenner is senior writer in the OU Communications and Marketing Department.

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Yerach Tov: Birkat HaChodesh in Jewish Law and Liturgy By Rabbi Elchanan Adler OU Press erach Tov: Birkat HaChodesh in Jewish Law and Liturgy is a gem of a book. Rabbi Elchanan Adler treats the reader to a fascinating, in-depth study of Birkat Hachodesh, the prayer for the new month recited on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh. A high point of the Shabbat service, Birkat Hachodesh is often recited with fervor and emotion. Weaving together material from Talmudic sources, halachic writings from the Middle Ages to our own time, traditional commentaries both ancient and modern, different manuscript versions and scholarly articles, Rabbi Adler ex-

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amines the historical and halachic background of each component of Birkat Hachodesh. He also explores the themes and meaning of each portion of the prayer, as well as halachic issues that have arisen over the years. One aspect of the Birkat Hachodesh prayer that receives full treatment is its relationship to the ritual of Kiddush Hachodesh, the procedure followed for declaring Rosh Chodesh when the High Court in Jerusalem functioned. Kiddush Hachodesh was based upon witnesses who viewed the new moon and who testified before the High Court. In the aftermath of the Churban and the cessation of the High Court’s functioning, the determination of Rosh Chodesh, as well as all the festivals, has been based upon the fixed calendar that was developed during Talmudic times. Was one of the original purposes of the Birkat Hachodesh prayer to serve as a modern equivalent to Kiddush Hachodesh? Was it designed to be a remembrance of the Kiddush Hachodesh ritual which we, in our time, are not able to observe? Rabbi Adler delves into the sources and arrives at a nuanced conclusion to these questions. A highlight of the book is Rabbi Adler’s paragraph-byparagraph, line-by-line analysis of the text of Birkat Hachodesh. Although comprehensive in scope, the analysis is never dry. For example, in his analysis of the “Yehi Ratzon� paragraph, Rabbi Adler deals with the halachic issue of how we are permitted to include requests for personal welfare and sustenance given the general rule that on Shabbat one is not permitted to pray for one’s personal material benefit. Rabbi Adler also provides a full explanation of the molad, or the moment of the “birth� of the new moon, whose announcement is one of the components of Birkat Hachodesh. Other interesting themes include why the chazzan holds the sefer Torah during the “Mi She’asah Nissim� paragraph, and why Birkat Hachodesh contains a prayer for geulah, the redemption. An annotated bibliography of all of the sources and authors cited in the book provides a wealth of information. Rabbi Adler is well-equipped to provide us with a book that is both engaging and scholarly. He has served as a rosh yeshivah at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University since 1998. An accomplished speaker and author, Rabbi Adler has lectured in communities across the country and has published numerous Torah articles in both Hebrew and English on diverse topics of Jewish thought. Although unfailingly erudite, Rabbi Adler’s treatment of Birkat Hachodesh is written in a direct, appealing manner that is sure to be enjoyed by scholars and lay people alike. g

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YERACH TOV

by Rabbi Elchanan Adler Few of our prayers arouse as much nostalgic appeal as Birkat joyfu ul pr oclamation of the new new month. m Y et HaChodesh, the joyful proclamation Yet familiar tefillah abounds ab bounds with intr iguing questio ons. What What this familiar intriguing questions. rec citing a special prayer pra ay yer on the e Shabbat Shabbat is the source for reciting before the new new month? month h? What What is the connection between between e Birkat Birkat before anctification of the ne w moon in n previous sa previous HaChodesh and the sanctification new yewitness testimon ny? y Wh y? y is by the beit din, based on e times by eyewitness testimony? Why unce the astr onomical calculation calculati customary to announce annou ion of the it customary astronomical y does the e chazan chazan hold a sefer Torah? Torah? W What is the molad? Why What reciting g “Chaverim “Cha averim kol kol Yisrael”? Yisrael”? significance of reciting explored by by Rabbi Rabbi Elchanan are just some of o the issues explored Elchanan These are engaging gw ork. Gear ed to ward the sc h holar Adler in this engaging work. Geared toward scholar and la ayperson alik e, this bo ook is a boon for all who are are interested inte erested in layperson alike, book a greater liturgy. greater understanding understandin ng and appreciation appreciation of our liturg gy.

DERASHOT LEDOROT: A COMMENTARY FOR THE AGES Exodus and Leviticus by by Rabbi Norman Norman Lamm Each essay Each essa ay yi in n the tw two o ne newest west v volumes olumes of this series series fea features tures r o the w eekly par p sha, br illiantly illustra g Rabbi reflections eflections on weekly parsha, brilliantly illustrating ting Rabbi n Lamm’ s masterful pedagogy y, deep intellectual Dr. Norman Nor man Dr. Lamm’s pedagogy, taunch commitment to the w or rd of God. Readers Readers rigor, and staunch st rigor, word y the book’ s poetic language langu uage and dazzled by by charmed m b will be charmed by book’s ight into human nature. nature. sharp insight insi its sharp m Rabbi Lamm Rabbi offers timetimeoffers es less messages sed unsurpass of unsurpassed nd an substance and style. style.

Available A va v vaila ailable aila le a at t your yo ou u local ur local Judaica l J Ju udaica daica s d stor store tor to ore re or re r visit visit www www.OUP w www.OUPress.org ww w.OUPr w.OUPr UPr Pre re ess.o ss.o ss o org rg rg

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TheChef’sTable

By Norene Gilletz

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o you feel a sense of panic when trying to plan your menu for the Sedarim? Do you struggle to keep your Pesach menus as healthy as possible? Do you need recipes that are glutenfree or non-gebrokts? Are you tired of hearing your family complain that they’re hungry? A constant complaint during Passover is: “There’s nothing to eat!” This year, for the first time, the OU announced that quinoa (pronounced ‘keen’wa) is kosher for Passover when processed with special OU Passover supervision and bearing the OU-P symbol. This is welcome news for those who are celiac or gluten intolerant or do not eat gebrokts (matzah or matzah

meal combined with water or other liquids) on the first seven days of Passover. Quinoa is extremely nutritious and is often referred to as a superfood. It is lower in carbohydrates than most grains and is considered a protein. It is very versatile and has a neutral taste. You can use it instead of rice or couscous in many of your favorite recipes. Add cooked quinoa to chicken soup, use in salads or serve as a satisfying side dish. If you are “fed up” with preparing potatoes and other starchy heavy dishes for Passover in order to keep everyone feeling full, here are some healthy scrumptious delights that will fill you up, not fill you out! No one will believe that these dishes are non-gebrokts and gluten-free.

RAINBOW QUINOA, TWO WAYS! Some like it hot, some like it cold! Serve cooked quinoa cold as a colorful salad or hot as a pilaf. To keep this dish pareve, use vegetable broth. A food processor helps speed up preparation.

Norene Gilletz is the author of nine cookbooks and divides her time between work as a food writer, culinary consultant, spokesperson, cooking instructor, lecturer and editor. Norene lives in Toronto, Canada. For more information, visit her web site at www.gourmania.com or e-mail her at goodfood@gourmania.com.

Rainbow Quinoa Salad Yields 8 servings 3 cups vegetable or chicken broth 1 1/2 cups quinoa 2 cloves garlic 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley (or 2 teaspoons dried parsley) 1/4 cup fresh basil or dill (or 2 teaspoons dried) 4 green onions (scallions) 1 red bell pepper 1 yellow bell pepper 1 medium carrot 1 can of mandarin oranges, well-drained

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3/4 cup dried cranberries 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 cup orange juice Salt and pepper to taste Place broth in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Place quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer and rinse under cold running water for 1 to 2 minutes; drain well. Add quinoa to boiling liquid. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork, transfer to a large bowl and let cool. Insert the steel blade in the bowl of the food processor. Process garlic, parsley and basil or dill until minced, about 10 seconds. Add to quinoa. Cut the green onions, peppers and carrot into chunks. Process them with several quick on/off pulses, until coarsely chopped. Add to quinoa along with the mandarin oranges and dried cranberries. Add oil, orange juice, salt and pepper. Mix gently to combine. Cover and refrigerate up to 1 day in advance. Adjust seasonings to taste before serving. Note: Recipe can be doubled easily for a crowd. This will keep 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator. Do not freeze.

Mix gently, cover and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until heated through. Add a little extra orange juice or broth to prevent sticking, if necessary. Note: Freezes and reheats well.

CONFETTI VEGETABLE KUGEL Yields 12 servings So colorful, so delicious! This kugel is excellent for both vegetarians and nonvegetarians. 3 medium zucchini (about 1 pound), unpeeled 3 medium carrots, peeled 2 sweet potatoes (or regular potatoes), peeled (about 1 pound) 2 medium onions 2 cloves garlic 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (or 1 teaspoon dried) 6 eggs 1/2 cup potato starch 1 1/4 teaspoons salt (to taste) 1/2 teaspoon pepper (to taste) 1 tablespoon olive oil Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a 3-quart rectangular or oval casserole dish with non-stick spray. Grate zucchini, carrots and sweet potatoes. (This can be done quickly in the food processor on the grater.) Finely mince onions, garlic, parsley and basil. (Use the steel blade.)

Quinoa Pilaf Cook quinoa as directed. Reduce oil to 2 tablespoons and heat in a large deep skillet or pot. Add chopped green onions, peppers and carrot and sauté on medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender. Add cooked quinoa to skillet along with mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, orange juice, salt and pepper. (Don’t add any more oil.)

Rainbow Quinoa Salad

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Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Transfer vegetable mixture to prepared casserole dish and spread evenly. Bake uncovered for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until golden brown and firm. Note: Freezes and/or reheats well. Variations: Miniature Kugels: The vegetable mixture can be baked in sprayed muffin tins at 375°F for about 30 minutes, until golden brown. Recipe may be halved for a smaller family. Bake in a 1 1/2-quart sprayed casserole dish for 45 to 55 minutes.

Transfer the chicken and garlic to a large serving platter and drizzle with the pan juices. Garnish with thyme, and serve. Note: Keeps up to 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator; freezes and reheats well. Variations: Garlic Alert: Some people don’t use garlic on Passover. Instead, add 1 additional chopped onion, 2 chopped red peppers and 2 cups sliced mushrooms. Use 10 to 12 single chicken breasts, with bone and skin. Bake, covered, for 1 hour, then uncover and bake 20 minutes longer.

EXODUS CHICKEN Yields 10 to 12 servings This tender, succulent chicken is made with 40 cloves of garlic to commemorate the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years after their Exodus from Egypt. The garlic becomes mild and mellow from the long, slow cooking. It is also wonderful spread on gluten-free matzah or crackers. If you do not use garlic on Passover, see Variations (below). 40 cloves garlic (3 whole heads) 2 medium onions, chopped 4 stalks celery, chopped 2 chickens (3 1/2 pounds each), cut into pieces 2 teaspoons Kosher salt (or to taste) 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 teaspoons sweet paprika 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme (or 2 teaspoons dried) 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (or 1 tablespoon dried) 2 tablespoons olive oil 3/4 to 1 cup dry white wine or chicken broth Additional fresh thyme, for garnish Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a large roasting pan with non-stick spray. Drop the garlic cloves into a pot of boiling water for 1 minute; drain well. (Or place the whole garlic bulbs in a microwaveable bowl and sprinkle with water. Cover and microwave on high for 1 minute.) Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins—they’ll pop right out. Set aside. Place the onions and celery at the bottom of the prepared roasting pan. Rinse the chicken pieces well and trim any excess fat. Place the chicken pieces in a single layer in the prepared roasting pan. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, thyme and parsley and then drizzle with oil. Tuck the reserved garlic cloves around and between the chicken pieces. Pour wine or chicken broth on top and cover tightly with foil. (If desired, the chicken can be prepared up to this point and refrigerated overnight.) Bake, tightly covered, for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes longer, until nicely browned, basting occasionally.

HONEY-GLAZED CARROTS Yields 6 servings This is a honey of a dish because you don’t need to peel or cut the carrots, which is so a-peeling. Gluten-free, easy and delicious! 2 pounds baby carrots 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons lemon juice (preferably fresh) 2 tablespoons honey 2 tablespoons apricot preserves Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley or dill, for garnish Place the carrots in a medium saucepan and add enough water to cover 1 inch. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 12 to 15 minutes, until tender. Drain well and return the carrots to the saucepan. Add the oil, lemon juice, honey, jam, salt, pepper and thyme. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes longer, stirring to prevent sticking, until the carrots are nicely glazed. Garnish with parsley or dill and serve. Note: Recipe doubles or triples easily for a crowd. Keeps for up to 3 days in the refrigerator; reheats well. Don’t freeze. Variations: Replace the lemon juice with balsamic vinegar. Instead of using baby carrots, use grated carrots. Instead of lemon juice and apricot jam, use orange juice and orange marmalade.

PASSOVER APPLE CAKE Why is this apple cake different from all the others? Because it’s gluten-free! This cake is excellent year round for those who are on a gluten-free diet. Filling: 6 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar (white or brown) 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

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Batter: 2 eggs 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup oil 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons potato starch 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 cup apple juice Icing sugar for sprinkling (optional) Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 7 x 11-inch glass baking dish with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, combine sliced apples with sugar and cinnamon. (You can slice the apples in your food processor or by hand.) In a food processor fitted with a steel blade (or in the large bowl of an electric mixer), beat eggs with sugar for 1 to 2 minutes, until light. Gradually add in oil and beat 30 to 60 seconds longer.

Add potato starch and baking powder. Drizzle apple juice over the dry ingredients. Process with quick on/off pulses (or mix on low speed) until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Let the batter stand for 2 minutes to thicken slightly. Pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Spread the apples evenly over the batter. Top with remaining batter. Some apples may poke out—that’s okay. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until nicely browned. When cooled, sprinkle with icing sugar, if desired. Lighter Variation: Replace the 1/2 cup oil in the batter with 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup applesauce. Use 1 egg and 2 egg whites. g

May your Passover be a celebration of peace in your home, joy in your heart, and the love of family and friends.

SUPERMARKETS

Stores located in CT, MA, NH, NY, PA and VT. To find a location near you, please visit www.pricechopper.com.

Copyright © Norene Gilletz, February, 2014.

Exodus Chicken Photos: Doug Gilletz

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WellnessReport

By Shira Isenberg

Conquering Potato Fatigue

Q: I’m so tired of potatoes for every side dish on Pesach. What are other options if I don’t eat gebrokts?

As a self-professed potato lover, I feel that a meal is just not complete without potatoes. But I know not everyone enjoys these tubers to such an extent. Thankfully, we have a world full of interesting vegetables that can serve as stand-ins for the potato on Pesach. Use this as an opportunity to expand your palate. You may, however, need to venture beyond your corner grocery. Check local farmers’ markets or Asian grocery stores if you have trouble finding some of these less-common vegetables. Inside the OU

Eight Days of Potato Substitutes Day 1: Purple potatoes. I know they’re technically still potatoes, but they’re so much more exciting! Brighten your yom tov plates with a little color by roasting or mashing a few purple potatoes, which are sweeter than white potatoes. Their bright hue is courtesy of the antioxidant anthocyanin (also found in blueberries, cherries and eggplant), which may offer cancer-fighting and heart-protective benefits. Daily consumption of purple potatoes may also help lower blood pressure by a few percentage points, similar to oatmeal (which won’t be gracing your Pesach table). Day 2: Quinoa. Some people think this pseudo-cereal (quinoa is not a grain) is similar to rice, but it’s more closely related to beets and spinach. Naturally glutenfree and high in protein, quinoa is popular year-round, but especially on Pesach for people seeking potato alternatives. Following extensive research and on-site in-

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Shira Isenberg is a registered dietitian and writer in Nashville, Tennessee. She has a master’s degree in public health nutrition from Hunter College in New York.

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vestigation by OU Kosher personnel at quinoa-growing areas, OU Kosher announced that this year, for the first time, it is recommending quinoa for Passover when processed with special OU Passover supervision and bearing the OU-P symbol. Quinoa is great cooked simply with some chicken or vegetable broth or dressed up with added vegetables, dried fruit or a protein source like chicken, meat or cheese. For a nuttier flavor, toast it before cooking. Day 3: Cauliflower. For those on a low-carb diet, cauliflower is a great potato fake out. It’s the same color and, when mashed, has a creamy texture similar to potatoes, with a fraction of the calories and carbohydrates. It’s also delicious roasted or pureed into a soup or simply added to a salad or served with a dip. Plus, it’s loaded with nutrients and phytochemicals that can protect against cancer. Day 4: Rutabaga. This vegetable is surprisingly potato-like, with less than half the calories and carbs. It tastes kind of like a cross between a potato and a parsnip (although officially it’s a cross between a turnip and a cabbage), with a little bit of sweetness. As easy to peel and cut as a white potato, rutabaga is quite good mashed, like potatoes, or you can bake or roast it as well. Day 5: Squash. You should still be able to get winter squash, a rich source of carotenoids (plant pigments that also act as antioxidants) over Pesach. My favorite is butternut squash because it’s sweeter than the others—reminiscent of sweet potatoes—and it cooks very quickly. I love roasted butternut squash with olive oil, salt and pepper. Acorn squash is another good option, albeit less sweet. Bake it in halves for an attractive presentation. Zucchini is another versatile squash, available all year. It is delicious in an easy sauté with onions and other veggies, or if you’re feeling more ambitious, stuffed or even cut into thin strips to create a lasagna.

Day 6: Celeriac. If you like celery but hate the fibrous strands that get stuck in your teeth, celeriac is for you. Sometimes called celery root, it has that mild celery taste with a texture that’s like a potato. Its nutrient profile is also more similar to celery than a potato (that is, it’s low in calories and carbs). Peel and slice it thinly to add raw to salads, boil or roast it or drop it into your Pesach cholent instead of potatoes. Day 7: Sunchokes. This knobby tuber of the sunflower plant might look like ginger root, but the resemblance stops there. As their name suggests, they taste similar to an artichoke, which is why they’re also called Jerusalem artichokes. (Incidentally, they have nothing to do with Jerusalem; the moniker is thought to be a perversion of the Italian word for sunflower, girasole.) While Sunchokes are part of the sunflower plant, they should not be confused with sunflower seeds, which are, in fact, kitniyot. Sunchokes’ claim to fame is their high content of inulin, a starch which our bodies cannot digest and is instead broken down by bacteria in the gut. Inulin is thought to improve immunity and promote gut health. Day 8: Carrots. Try to think beyond your boring baby carrots and see this vegetable for the abundant strengths it brings to the table—it’s starchy, sweet, bright orange, packed with nutrients and inexpensive to boot. There are so many ways to prepare carrots: glazed, broiled, roasted, sautéed, boiled, braised, even shredded and fried like a latke. You can also pair carrots with another vegetable—perhaps parsnips or leeks or one of the other vegetables listed here. g Inside the OU

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Books

Rebbetzin Kanievsky: A Legendary Mother to All By Naftali Weinberger, Naomi Weinberger and Nina Indig ArtScroll/Mesorah Brooklyn, 2012 512 pages Reviewed by Rivki Rosenblatt or reasons I cannot begin to fathom, I had the incomparable zechut of knowing Rebbetzin Batsheva Kanievsky personally. I first met her in 2005, the year I spent learning in seminary in Israel. One Thursday night, a friend and I were walking down a street in Bnei Brak when we inadvertently (there are no accidents) walked into Rebbetzin Kanievsky’s apartment. She greeted us like long-lost friends although we had never met before, and we stayed for about two or three hours. As she personally escorted us out, she and her assistant, Yael, invited us to come back—not the following Thursday, but every Thursday. There was no doubt that the invitation was sincere, and we took her up on her gracious offer. We returned, week after week, until the end of the school year. When I returned to the States, I would call Yael (Rebbetzin Kanievsky did not have a phone) almost every Thursday to wish her and the Rebbetzin “Shabbat shalom.” Three years later, on a visit to Israel, I went to see Rebbetzin Kanievsky. She recognized me immediately (my “official” name was Rivki M’America), and greeted me lovingly. I spoke to her almost every week until a few months before she passed away. When I heard that a book on the Rebbetzin had been published, I was overjoyed and comforted—overjoyed because I thought people should be able to “meet” the Rebbetzin if they Rivki Rosenblatt lives in New York City. She works for OU Press, the publishing arm of the OU.

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The book, however, does have a deficiency. It has often been noted that the biographers of Torah personalities seem to exaggerate, attributing mythical qualities to their subjects. About other such biographies I cannot comment, but I noted, with some displeasure, that this book on the Rebbetzin’s life has its share of hyperbole. I personally witnessed a few events and anecdotes related in the book. And the retelling of those events, at times, has been ever so slightly changed or distorted. No disrespect was intended,

It has often been noted that biographers of Torah personalities seem to exaggerate, attributing mythical qualities to their subjects. hadn’t had the opportunity to do so when she was alive; comforted because it would give me an opportunity to fill in all the details I didn’t know about this extraordinary woman. And, in this regard, Rebbetzin Kanievsky: A Legendary Mother to All does not disappoint. I savored every page detailing the Rebbetzin’s wonderful qualities and holy practices. The book is a treasure trove of information about her life, filled with many interesting stories. The first few chapters discuss the backgrounds of Rebbetzin Kanievsky and Rav Chaim: the storybook Torah homes in which they were raised, the details of their shidduch and other insights about their life together. The ensuing chapters focus on the Rebbetzin and her exemplary character. Reading the biography, I was flooded with countless memories of her love for me and for everyone with whom she interacted. She had a love of people—all people—and a passion to help everyone. I’m sure, and the enhancements or embellishments are relatively slight. However, the Rebbetzin needed no embellishments. Our Torah giants’ lives speak for themselves. And the danger of such distortions is obvious: If we fail to attribute human characteristics to Torah personalities, we lose the opportunity to identify with them and are forced to give up our dreams of aspiring to be like them. I don’t think the Rebbetzin would have wanted that. Despite this minor flaw in the book, the 500 or so pages flew by. It provided me ample opportunities to laugh along with the Rebbetzin’s wonderful sense of humor and infectious simchah shel mitzvah, to cry with her as she shared the anguish of her beloved Am Yisrael and to fall in love with her all over again. The book is a fine tribute to a giant of a human being. If you didn’t have the zechut to know Rebbetzin Kanievsky while she was alive, getting to know her by reading this book is the next best thing. g

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Short & Sweet: Text Message Responsa of Ha-Rav Shlomo Aviner Shlit”a Rabbi Mordechai Tzion, trans. American Friends of Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim New Jersey, 2012 472 pages Piskei Shlomo 3 vol. Rabbi Mordechai Tzion, ed. Hava Books Jerusalem, 2013 320 pages Reviewed by Gil Student he communications revolution of the last two decades places a troubling premium on innovation. Those who can utilize the new media most effectively control the conversation, regardless of subject matter expertise. This makes the rare polymath, the accomplished talmid chacham with intuRabbi Gil Student, a member of the Jewish Action editorial committee, writes frequently on Jewish issues and is the publisher and editor-in-chief of TorahMusings.com.

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itive mastery of communications technology, so treasured. He can rise above the clutter by combining old with new, Torah and technology. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, rabbi of Beit El and rosh yeshivah of Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim, is a familiar name in Israel. His comments are regularly sought by the traditional media. His frequent writings appear in Torah newsletters and journals, his dozens of Torah books are ubiquitous and his phone number is among the most popular in Israel. Buzzing throughout the day, Rabbi Aviner’s cellphone is the vanguard of halachic decision making. People he has never met constantly text him questions on Jewish law and thought, to which he responds with brief but authoritative answers. While not the only rabbi who answers text message questions, Rabbi Aviner is by far one of the most active, responding to approximately 200 such questions each day. Two years ago, he published

a collection of his text message responsa in English translation (Short & Sweet), and last year he published a Hebrew collection of text message responsa and other brief discussions (Piskei Shlomo). But availability and speed are not always welcome. Many critics have decried the phenomenon of text message responsa, some with curmudgeonly condescension but others with serious points. How much information about the questioner and his dilemma can be conveyed in a text message? And how can a nuanced answer be so brief? These complaints are valid. Ideally, people will ask their she’eilot to their local rabbis who know their circumstances and understand often-unstated aspects of the inquiries. Nevertheless, for many reasons—some of them good—a growing number of people utilize the ubiquitous “ask the rabbi” features on web sites for religious guidance. Text message responsa are merely a variation of this widespread phenomenon of halachic e-inquiries.

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Brevity as an Art Torah is proverbially longer than the Earth and broader than the sea. A good question deserves a long, detailed answer with background, sources and explanations. Nevertheless, many of the Geonim’s responsa are extremely brief because the answers are straightforward. A good communicator can convey a complex message in a simple form. Rabbi Aviner is a master of such conciseness. In his text message responsa, he states the key points—what and why—and provides sources for further research. In this respect, he goes further than the Rambam. Rambam was criticized for including in Mishneh Torah, his classic halachic code, only rulings and not sources. This led to an entire genre of literature attempting to identify Rambam’s sources. Rabbi Aviner frequently includes sources in his text messages (and if he doesn’t, you can always text him asking for a source!). A recipient of such an answer, or a student of these books, can easily find lengthy discussions that support Rabbi Aviner’s conclusions. Additionally, these books—particularly the Hebrew set—contain expansions by the editor that provide further argumentation and sources. Still, when all is said and done, some questions do not allow for brief answers. When a question demands a more personal touch, Rabbi Aviner asks the questioner to call him: Q: What type of questions can I ask HaRav in a text message? A: It is permissible to ask anything. If it is complex, I will answer that we need to speak. More Than Halachah Responsa have never been solely about halachah. A review of medieval responsa quickly uncovers questions and answers about philosophical issues.1 Text message responsa are no different. Rabbi Aviner fields questions on the most difficult subjects.

While these books follow the order of the four sections of the Shulchan Aruch, the table of contents in each book includes additional areas of inquiry: Internet, leisure, Holocaust, Am Yisrael, faith, prophecy and much more. Fielding questions in all these areas with such frequency requires not just great breadth but clarity. The Gemara (Kiddushin 30a) explains that the requirement to learn Torah extends until it is clear-cut in your mouth; you must be able to answer a question in Jewish law without hesitation. Rabbi Aviner’s voluminous output of text message responsa proves that his ability extends even to areas of Jewish thought. Most Torah subjects are rich with varying opinions. While Rabbi Aviner is among the most tolerant and accepting of rabbis, in this context he generally offers only his own view. On rare occasions, Rabbi Aviner manages to include a dissenting opinion or a note that other views are also valid. Some may criticize him for failing to express more frequently that multiple views exist, but that critique fails to recognize the uniqueness of the medium. Questioners must understand that they are asking only for Rabbi Aviner’s brief ruling, not a survey of the issue. Benefits and Dangers We live in an era defined by media professionals. Even rabbis are often controlled by handlers and publicists. Public pronouncements are sometimes issued with forged signatures; halachic rulings are sometimes published in newspapers without rabbis’ knowledge. Rabbi Aviner and the other text message rabbis have shifted the paradigm because, thanks to their use of technology, anyone can easily clarify their views. This level of universal accessibility harks back to the days when Moshe ruled the entire nation before Yitro’s advice to delegate. These rabbis’ radical availability serves an important public service that, to a large degree, bypasses the system of assistants and gatekeepers

so common among other rabbis. Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik (Rav Chaim Brisker) said that just like God is close to all who call to Him (Psalms 145:18), so too a rabbi must be available to everyone without any handlers or intermediaries. Text message availability fulfills this requirement to a degree Rav Soloveitchik could not have imagined. The text message rabbis are not asking people to text them or demanding that others follow their rulings; they are merely making themselves as available as possible to answer questions in a way most convenient for the questioner. Apparently, some readers of text message responsa attempt to abuse this public service. They ridicule answers and try to sneak in silly questions to see whether Rabbi Aviner will take them seriously. When you look for something to ridicule, you will always find it. But, as Rabbi Aviner explains, that does not undermine the genre. Q: Perhaps we should stop answering text message questions since there are people who ask ridiculous questions and it shames the halachah? A: For every 1,000 serious questions I receive, there is one ridiculous one. It is not correct to punish all the serious people because of a few ridiculous questions. Technology and Torah Rabbi Aviner recognizes a simple truth: A new generation has arisen that communicates primarily electronically. If people ask questions of their lawyers and accountants electronically, why not their rabbis? Every rabbi should be available to answer his congregants’ questions via text message.2 I look forward to each new batch of text message responsa, published in Rabbi Aviner’s yeshivah’s journal and on his web site, for their Torah lessons. Both Rabbi Aviner’s conclusions and his concise style are worthy of study. Additionally, his refreshing and

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bold use of technology is worthy of broader recognition. Indeed, his activity is downright courageous. In this age of new-media cynicism, Rabbi Aviner is surprisingly willing to answer so many questions in writing, to make himself vulnerable to mischief and abuse. He submits himself to an excruciating level of scrutiny and vulnerability to which few would consent—all to make it easier for the smartphone generation to receive answers to their religious questions. g Notes 1. See Rabbi Ya’akov Ariel’s study in his Halacha BeYameinu, p. 19ff. 2. I thank Rabbi Mordy Friedman for pointing this out.

Responsa for the Smartphone Generation Q: I work in a store that plays background music. What should I do during the Three Weeks? A: Try your best not to listen. This is considered a benefit that comes to a person against his will (Pesachim 25b).

Q: Is the end of the world coming in the year 6000? A: No. Q: Is it permissible to hunt animals? A: For livelihood, it is permissible. For pleasure, it is cruel. Shut Noda BiYehudah (Mehadura Tanina, Yoreh Deah #10). Q: Are the prophecies of Nostradamus true? Many of them have come to fruition. A: No. Since they are indistinct, many events can appear to fit within them. Q: I am in mourning and am a musician. What should I do? A: It is permissible to perform for one’s livelihood (Nitei Gavriel, Aveilut, vol. 2, 14:5). Q: I was adopted and am a convert and fear that people will find out. Can I be called to the Torah by my Jewish adopted father’s name and not as “Ben Avraham Avinu”? A: Yes (Shut Iggerot Moshe, Yoreh Deah 1:161. As opposed to Shut Minchat Yitzchak 1:136, 4:49). Q: Who was greater—the Lubavitcher Rebbe or HaGaon Rav Avraham Shapira? A: Each one in his own way. Q: Can you be more specific? A: The greatness of Torah is not a subject for a text message.

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Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation By Yossi Klein Halevi Harper Collins Publishers New York, 2013 608 pages Reviewed by Yitzchak Etshalom

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nyone who can remember a pre1967 Israel will testify to the implausible impact that those magical six days had on his or her life. Many credit that miraculous victory with the push that impelled a Jewish renaissance— manifested in ethnic pride, a refocus on community and the seeds of the “teshuvah” phenomenon. Indeed, the Jewish world has never been the same. Much has been written about the 1967 war, from a military, geopolitical, geographical and even eschatological perspective. In parallel, monographs and books have been authored detailing the various ways in which Israeli society has grown since that halcyon summer of ’67, warts and all, and how the body politic strains ever tighter against its own unity. No one, however, thought (or dared) to chronicle those changes through the eyes, experience and perception of the most storied heroes of that epic war— no one, that is, until Yossi Klein Halevi unveiled this masterful and compelling work, following the paratroopers of the famed 55th Paratroopers Reserve Brigade from the days leading up to the June war until the present day. Those same youthful faces which adorn the iconic photo of

Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom studied at Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and Yeshivat Har Etzion. He is a prolific Internet educator, the author of Between the Lines of the Bible: Genesis (Yashar Books, 2006) and Between the Lines of the Bible: Exodus (OU Press/Urim Publications, 2012). He also serves as scholar-in-residence in numerous OU synagogues throughout North America.

the war as they stand in awe before the Kotel now belong to older men who took their ideals, politics and spirituality into the hell of war again and again (1970, 1973 and 1982) and came out, each time, with a few more answers—and some of them, with more questions. Klein Halevi’s ambitious and weighty tome follows the dramatic changes which have shaped—and continue to reshape—the Israeli national conscience, through the eyes of the members of that battalion and, to a lesser but significant degree, through the words of their spouses, coworkers, family members and neighbors. If there is one flaw in this chronicle, it is the author’s overweening sympathy and near-adulation of his subjects. Even Udi Adiv, an unrepentant terrorist sympathizer, emerges as more of a starry-eyed idealist gone wrong than the mentally unstable ex-soldier that is easy to discern between the lines of the narrative. Like Dreamers, although involving a cast of thousands, focuses on four central characters: Arik Achmon, the kibbutznik-turned-capitalist who introduced privatization into Israel’s air travel industry; Meir Ariel, the songwriter who penned “Jerusalem of Iron” in response to Naomi Shemer’s classic anthem; Rav Yoel Bin-Nun, the die-hard Bnei Akivanik who played a central role in the settlement movement and Avital Geva, the kibbutznik artist. The author draws an illuminating sketch of each one’s youth and gives us insight into the baggage each soldier brought with him into the war as well as the idealism that lifted each to the heights of heroism. Each of them was shaped by the moment of Jerusalem’s liberation—but in very different ways. They continued to meet,

at ceremonies honoring their bravery as well as on the battlefield, in 1973 and again in 1982. One note of caution: The description of the battle for Jerusalem in 1967 is, perhaps deliberately, somewhat confusing and leaves far too much to the imagination. This is not a war journal—such books have already been expertly composed and published. The confusion actually assists the reader in adopting a particular view—that of the paratroopers themselves. One almost feels the terror of the unknown, the sniper behind the wall and the wrong turn in front of the eastern wall of the city. To that end, the zig-zag of the narrative succeeds where a conventional battle journal would fail. The two central protagonists of this book are Bin-Nun and Achmon. The irony of Achmon, an arch-Kibbutznik, raised on one of the more ideologically “die-hard” kibbutzim, being the one to introduce privatization to Israel’s nascent air-travel industry is neither lost nor buried in the story. Klein Halevi makes much of it, especially in recorded conversations between Achmon and his fellow kibbutz ideologues. Achmon’s deep disappointment at the way he is ultimately treated by the board of Arkia [an Israeli airline]— a board that he helped nurture and develop—overshadows his reactions to the great upheavals taking place in Israeli society around him. All that said, Bin-Nun is undoubtedly and clearly the author’s “hero.” His unflagging belief in the “sanctity of the moment” and the unprecedented opportunities for geulah (redemption) afforded Am Yisrael at this historic moment, his unwavering commitment to settling all of Israel without allowing

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a wall to separate the religious from the secular and his close personal relationship with Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook and Rav Yehuda Amital, zichronam levrachah—all of this takes a back seat to his remarkable ideological flexibility. This is not to say that Bin-Nun’s ideology changed, was disrupted or even threatened by the events of 1967 through 2005; rather, his core ideals are so firmly anchored that the political winds that shift determine a new and (perhaps) unchartered ideological position. The firebrand who settled Sebastia in Chanukah of 1975 interpreted his emunah and hashkafah very differently in the summer of 2005 during the painful withdrawal from Gaza. (Full disclosure: this writer is a friend and student of Rav Bin-Nun.) The deep fissures in Israeli society that have developed and widened since 1967 are all felt in this book. The

paratroopers are national icons whose personal battles (and demons) are more than emblematic of the challenges facing Israeli society; they almost personify the different directions in which our society and our State are pulled. Bin-Nun has set the tone in his teachings and in his life for how a fully committed Jew will need to navigate the twenty-first century. It is not only the ideological flexibility mentioned above that is so vital in our miraculous and somewhat chaotic times. It is also the sociological flexibility that allows Rav Yaakov Medan, rosh yeshivah of Yeshivat Har Etzion, to leave his yeshivah for Shavuot and participate in a community-wide night of study in Tel Aviv, where he annually impresses young intelligent secular Israelis with his lessons. It is the pragmatic flexibility that, since

the 1980s, drove a small number of ideologues from Gush Emunim to refocus “settlement” into the inner city of Lod and Tel Aviv’s Hatikvah District, and the political flexibility that allowed a number of leading Religious Zionist thinkers to work with secularists to develop an “amanah chevratit” (social covenant) as a template for a modus vivendi between all factions in Israel. All of these are part of the vital vision of prizing Am Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael and working for its welfare, a vision exemplified by the hero of this most worthwhile volume. Thank you, Yossi Klein Halevi, for allowing us to remember how to dream and to reconnect with the vision that remains vital—a sovereign nation in its land, with the shining example of visionaries who aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and get the job done. g

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Legal-Ease

By Ari Z. Zivotofsky

WHAT’S THE TRUTH ABOUT . . .

Mishloach Manot?

A Purim Afterthought Misconception: The two foods sent on Purim for mishloach manot must be from two different categories of blessings. Fact: This widespread misconception has no halachic basis. Background: Mishloach manot is one of the four mitzvot established by Mordechai and Esther to be performed on Purim day. Alluded to in Megillat Esther, these mitzvot are: reading the megillah, eating a festive meal (seudah), giving money to the poor (matanot l’evyonim) and giving gifts of food to friends (mishloach manot). The mitzvah of mishloach manot is based on Megillat Esther (9:19 and 22), which states that Purim was established as a day “of gladness and feasting, [a yom tov] and of sending portions one individual to his friend [and gifts to the poor].” Like all of the mitzvot of Purim, it applies equally to men and women (Rema, OC 695:4), but there are various opinions as to how this principle is applied in practice. The Magen Avraham (695:14) and Mishnah Berurah (695:25) express surprise that Rabbi Dr. Ari Zivotofsky is on the faculty of the Brain Science Program at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

many women are not scrupulous about personally performing this mitzvah and suggest that a married woman possibly fulfills the obligation through her husband. Nonetheless, they say that it is proper to be stringent, implying that a married woman should, in fact, send her own mishloach manot. Regarding matanot l’evyonim, the Aruch Hashulchan (694:2) invokes the principle that a husband and wife are considered as one; however, when it comes to mishloach manot (695:18), he explicitly states that a woman does not fulfill her obligation via her husband and must send her own. He adds that the women in his region do so. Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Halichot Shlomo, p. 338, n. chaf zayin) states that a man should specifically send mishloach manot on his wife’s behalf or make it clear that it is from both of them. The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (142:4) rejects this idea and advises women to send their own. Why Send Mishloach Manot? Later authorities offer two basic reasons for this mitzvah. The Terumat Hadeshen (Rav Israel Isserlin [13901460], 111) viewed it as a practical way to ensure that everyone will have sufficient food for the festive Purim meal.1

Rav Shlomo Alkabetz, who lived in the sixteenth century and is best known as the author of Lecha Dodi, provides another reason. In his work Manot HaLevi, which he sent to his father-inlaw as “mishloach manot,” he explains that the mitzvah is intended to engender friendship and brotherhood among Jews.2 This is to counter Haman’s critical statement describing the Jewish people as “one nation dispersed and divided [among the nations]” (Esther 3:8). The posekim of the last several hundred years discuss many differences in the performance of the mitzvah, depending on the reasoning behind it. For example, according to Rav Alkabetz, sending non-food items is acceptable3 because such a package also engenders friendship, while the Terumat Hadeshen rejects any item that cannot be used at the seudah. If one sends mishloach manot anonymously, according to the Terumat Hadeshen, the sender fulfills his obligation; however, according to Rav Alkabetz, because the mishloach manot does nothing toward engendering good will, the sender does not fulfill his obligation (see Ketav Sofer 141). Based on the reasoning of the Terumat Hadeshen that the purpose of

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mishloach manot is to provide food for the seudah, the Magen Avraham (695:11), Chayei Adam (135:31), Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (142:2) and Aruch Hashulchan (695:15) rule that the food should not be raw. However, others opine that sending unprepared food is permissible and the Mishnah Berurah (695:20) cites both opinions as acceptable. He suggests (see Sha’ar Hatziyun 695:28) that the Taz permits uncooked food. Rav Ovadia Yosef (Yechave Da’at 6:45) rules that raw meat is acceptable. What to Send? The basic obligation is to send any combination of two portions of food to one individual (Megillah 7a; SA, OC 695:4). This is derived from the fact that the pasuk (Rashi, Megillah 7a, s.v. “shtei manot�) says “manot,� portions (plural) but “ish l’reiayhu,� an individual to his friend (singular). A drink would be considered a type of food, and thus two items, one food and one drink or even two drinks, may be sent (MB 695:20; AH 695:14).

The gemara (Megillah 7a-b) relates several incidents regarding mishloach manot from which the commentators derive some of the halachot governing this mitzvah. “[On Purim] Rabbi Yehuda Nesiah sent to Rabbi Oshaya the thigh of a third-born calf and a bottle of wine. Rabbi Oshaya told him that he had thereby fulfilled both the mitzvot of mishloach manot and matanot l’evyonim.4 Rabbah sent with Abaye to Mari bar Mar a basket filled with dates and a cup filled with the flour of roasted wheat . . . . [Mari bar Mar] sent back [to Rabbah] a basket filled with ginger and a cup filled with long peppers . . . �5 The basic requirement is to send two portions, but what exactly constitutes “two portions�?6 The Shulchan Aruch states “two portions of meat.� Based on this, some understand that even one large piece of meat that can be divided into two reasonable portions would suffice, and indeed Eshel Avraham (Buchacher, last comment in OC) entertains this possibility.7 The Mishnah Berurah and many other posekim do not discuss the need for different types of

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Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation 1. Publication Title: Jewish Action. 2. Publication No. 005-239. 3. Filing Date: October 31, 2013. 4. Issue Frequency: Quarterly. 5. No. of Issues Published Annually: Five. 6. Annual Subscription Price: $16.00. 7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: Orthodox Union, 11 Broadway, NY, NY, 10004. 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher: Same. 9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor and Managing Editor: Publisher: Orthodox Union, 11 Broadway, NY, NY, 10004. Editor: Nechama Carmel, 11 Broadway, NY, NY, 10004. Managing Editor: Mayer Fertig, 11 Broadway, NY, NY, 10004. 10. Owner: Orthodox Union, 11 Broadway, NY, NY, 10004. 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds: None. 12. Tax Status (For completion by nonprofit organizations authorized to mail at nonprofit rates): The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income purposes has not changed during the preceding 12 months. 13. Publication Title: Jewish Action. 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: Spring 2014. 15. Extent and nature of circulation: a. Total No. Copies (Net Press Run) b. Paid and/or Requested Circulation (1) Paid/Requested Outside-Country Mail Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541 (2) Paid In-Country Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541 (3) Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Non-USPS Paid Distribution (4) Other Classes Paid Through the USPS c. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation [Sum of 15b. (1), (2), (3), and (4)] d. Free Distribution by Mail (1) Outside Country as Stated on Form 3541 (2) In-Country as Stated on Form 3541 (3) Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS (4) Free Distribution Outside the Mail e. Total Free Distribution [Sum of 15d (1), (2), (3) and (4) f. Total Distribution [Sum of 15c. And 15e.) g. Copies Not Distributed h. Total [Sum of 15f. And g.] i. Percent Paid [15c. divided by 15f. times 100] 0 0 0 400 400 29, 967 154 30, 121 98 0 0 0 400 400 28, 931 236 29, 167 99 29, 467 0 0 28, 431 0 0 Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months 30, 121 No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date 29, 167

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food.8 Others understand (and this is the accepted halachah) that while two “types” of food are needed, the same item can be used as long as there are two distinct tastes. For example, Rav Auerbach (Halichot Shlomo 19:12) says that one can use two pieces of chicken—a top and a bottom—because they do not taste the same. Rav Nachman Kahana (Spinka Rebbe, late nineteenth century) suggests (Orchot Chaim 695:12) that in the Talmudic story, Rabbi Yehuda Nesiah fulfilled his obligation by sending meat because each limb of the animal tastes different. He quotes Rav Moshe Falk (nineteenth century) who discusses whether two types of wine, such as red and white, are considered two different types of food. Rav Falk (Tikkun Moshe, Purim 93a) also wonders whether roasted and cooked food would be regarded as two different types. He concludes that, based on the wording of

the Shulchan Aruch, it would appear that they are indeed different. Rav Yosef Teomim (author of Pri Megadim), in analyzing the Talmudic story (Rosh Yosef, Megillah 7a), implies that two different fruits are considered two types of food.9 Rav Yitzchak Yosef (Hilchot Mishloach Manot 6) rules that one can send two similar pieces of raw chicken (or meat) because they can be cooked in different ways. The accepted halachah seems to be that two cuts of meat (i.e., from different parts of an animal), even from the very same animal, or two different fruits or types of wine, are regarded as two types of food and therefore can be used to fulfill the obligation of mishloach manot. There is no source anywhere indicating that the two foods must have different berachot; in fact, from the above examples, it is clearly not the case. It is possible that this notion became popular as many were confused about what constitutes two types of food. To avoid confusion, they began sending food from two different categories of blessings. Chazal also comment on the quality of the food. The Mishnah Berurah (in Biur Halachah 695, s.v. “chayav”) states that the food should be worthy of the status of the recipient. Thus, it would seem to be halachically problematic for an upper-middle-class individual to send a very inexpensive item to his peer. Rav Moshe Sternbuch (Teshuvot v’Hanhagot 2:354) states that both items should be of significant value. The gemara (Megillah 7a) mentions sending a substantial piece of beef and a large quantity of wine. Rav Sternbuch expresses surprise that people are not scrupulous about sending the finest foods for mishloach manot. He states that it is preferable to give two items of significant value to one recipient rather than many items of lesser value to numerous people. The Aruch Hashulchan (695:15) says that those who send “little pieces” do not fulfill their obligation. While some authorities maintain that each portion need be no larger than the size of a k’zayit, most require that there be a substantial quantity of the food, enough to serve an important guest. In Yemen (see Halichot Teiman, p. 42), the custom was to send a cloth of about 3 x 3 feet filled with a meat dish and a bottle of wine or arak, in addition to a special treat consisting of nuts, seeds, candies and other items. In contrast, many people today send “junk food.” This might not be an entirely new practice as both the Knesset Hagedolah (seventeenth century, Shiurei Knesset Hagedolah on Tur, 695:10) and the nineteenth-century Turkish Rabbi Chaim Palagi (Moed Kol Chai 31:82) say that the custom in their day was to send sweet items.10 Sending candy is justified by Piskei Teshuvot (695, n. 88), who explains that it will help fathers get their children to eat the seudah, and thereby help them fulfill their obligation to educate their children in the mitzvot of Purim. Yosef Ometz (1099) suggests that after sending two items of significant value to one person, one

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can then send items of lesser worth to many others to foster good will and camaraderie. Another common assumption about mishloach manot is that it is preferable to use a messenger (shaliach). The Mishnah Berurah (695:18) relates that the Binyan Zion (44) wondered whether one fulfills his obligation if he did not use a shaliach.11 The Eshel Avraham (Buchacher) takes the opposite position and maintains that, as with all mitzvot, it is preferable to perform it personally. The halachah is that the mitzvah does not require a shaliach, but because the suggestion was put forth by an authority of such stature, Rav Auerbach (Halichot Shlomo, p. 337, n. 44) would give one mishloach manot via a shaliach. The Shulchan Aruch (695:4), based on the Rambam (Hilchot Megillah 2:15), writes that one who sends mishloach manot to more friends is praiseworthy. Nevertheless, the Rambam goes on to say (Megillah 2:17) that it is better to spend one’s resources on giving a greater amount of matanot l’evyonim rather than on the seudah and mishloach manot. This is because there is no greater simchah than gladdening the hearts of the poor, orphans, widows and converts. As seen, the obligation is to send two portions, i.e., two servings. This seems like a strange requirement; why send two servings to one person? Regarding the korban todah, the Torah mandates that a large amount of the korban must be eaten within a short period of time. The rabbis explain (see e.g., Ha’emek Davar to Vayikra 7:13) the rationale behind this puzzling commandment: the beneficiary of the miracle will then be forced to invite others to his meal and have the opportunity to share his story and express his gratitude to Hashem. Similarly, it may be that Chazal mandated the sending of two

portions on Purim to force the recipient to share his food with others. Unlike the case of the todah, where the purpose is to proclaim God’s greatness, or that of the korban Pesach, where the purpose is to transmit our national history, on Purim the goal is to increase camaraderie and unity. Very possibly, Chazal instituted that two portions be sent in order to encourage communal feasts, which help promote good will, friendship and achdut among Am Yisrael. g Notes 1. There are many authorities who link the mitzvot of seudah and mishloach manot. The Ran (Megillah 3b in Rif pages, end of s.v. “ela”) connects the day of giving mishloach manot to the seudah. The Magen Avraham (OC 688:10) cites an opinion that when the fifteenth of Adar is on Shabbat, those living in walled cities are required to have their Purim seudah on Shabbat; therefore, despite the inherent difficulties, mishloach manot must be distributed on Shabbat. 2. The Bach (OC 695) uses this reason for mishloach manot to give a creative, startling explanation to Rashi’s understanding of the story in Megillah 7b regarding the yearly practice of Abbaye bar Abin and Rabbi Chanina bar Abin. 3. Some reject non-food ideas for technical reasons. For example, the Gra (695 on seif 4) learns from Beitzah 14b that “manot” means specifically food. Some suggest that one can send money because it can then be used to purchase food. The Be’er Heiteiv (695:6) rules that nonfood items are acceptable as long as there is still time on Purim day to sell the items and purchase food. See Yechave Da’at 6:45 for a discussion of this. It was suggested that a talmid chacham who sends chiddushei Torah

has fulfilled his obligation because that fosters friendship. Rav Yitzchak Yosef (Yalkut Yosef Moadim, p. 323, n. 8) responded that this is mere pilpul and not halachah. 4. Rashi (Megillah 7b, first Rashi) states that with this gift Rabbi Yehuda Nesiah fulfilled his obligation because it contained two items. Of importance here is that Rabbeinu Chananel has a different version of this story that is similar to the version found in the Yerushalmi in which Rav Yehuda Nesiah was the sender and he sent a second gift of a calf and a barrel of wine. Many later authorities base their rulings on this version. See, for example, Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank, Mikraei Kodesh, siman 38. 5. Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik (Harerei Kedem, vol. 1, siman 206:3) learns from here that the recipient should reciprocate in kind. 6. The concept of two portions is also mentioned in the context of eruv tavshilin and the erev-Tishah B’Av seudah hamafseket. 7. See Tzitz Eliezer 14:65 and 15:31. 8. Note that some posekim distinguish between meat (where even one piece large enough to serve two people suffices) and other types of food where two kinds are required. 9. Nitei Gavriel (5760 ed.) 58, n. 8, seems to have understood the Rosh Yosef differently. 10. Nitei Gavriel (5760 ed.) 57, n. 8, understands this to mean not that they sent sweets, but rather that one should send sweet rather than sharp food. Note that Piskei Teshuvot and Nitei Gavriel cite this from Knesset Hagedolah while it is actually in the Shiurei Knesset Hagedolah. 11. The Kaf Hachaim (695:14) rejects the Binyan Zion’s derashah from the word “mishloach.” Chatam Sofer (Gittin 22b) says that ideally a messenger should be used.

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LastingImpressions

By Ann D. Koffsky

Frogs Were Everywhere. But Where Was Shirley?

O

ne morning King Pharaoh woke in his bed / There were frogs in his bed and frogs on his head / Frogs on his nose and frogs on his toes / Frogs here, frogs there, frogs just jumping everywhere! If you’ve been to any Seder with children in attendance in the past twenty-five years, you’ve heard that song. It’s so common that it’s practically a part of the Haggadah. So when I was searching for a topic for my next children’s book, the frogs were calling to me, “Ribbit!” Of course, I knew if I wanted to write a book based on the song, I needed to find the song’s author and obtain permission to use it. No problem. There had to be documentation . . . right? I dug around and found a nursery school song sheet. On top it read, “Song written by: Shirley Cohen.” Guess how many hits you get when you Google “Shirley Cohen”? 6,500,000. Really. And so began my quest for Shirley. I pursued every lead. I discovered the original records she made for a company called Kinor Records. Unfortunately, it was out of business. I found the song in the Florida State University Archive, which led me to the Brooklyn company that had bought Kinor Records. The man from Brooklyn with a thick—was it a Chassidic?—accent assured me that he had the master recording (AHA!), but not the rights to the song. Dead end. One Jewish music authority speculated that Shirley had moved to Florida. Other experts shrugged their shoulders. They all knew the song, but they didn’t know Shirley. After many more false starts and dead ends, Ina Cohen, Ann D. Koffsky is the author/illustrator of more than thirty books for children. See more of her work, including her newest book, Frogs in the Bed (New Jersey, 2014), at www.annkoffsky.com.

reference librarian at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, discovered an article on the Jewish Federation of Ottawa’s web site about Shirley’s upcoming performance at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre, where Shirley is a member. Unbeknownst to me, Shirley was no longer Shirley Cohen. Somewhere along the way, Shirley had become Shirley Cohen-Steinberg. Today, Shirley lives in Ottawa and is eighty-seven years young. She wrote “The Frog Song” and many other children’s songs in the 1950s for her Hebrew school students. Back then, there were virtually no Jewish songs targeted toward children. “There was very little that had any whimsy or fun—nothing playful,” Shirley later told me. She wrote three records worth of songs to fill that void, and recorded them for the grand sum of $100 per record. The rest is history. Today, her songs are used in Sedarim around the world. “For a long time I wasn’t aware of how far they had spread,” says Shirley. “But about three years ago I went to a Seder in Calgary, and a few guests from Australia were there. When they requested that we all sing ‘The Frog Song’—that’s when I realized.” While her songs have spread across the globe, Shirley rarely recieves credit. Song sheets appear, without attribu-

tion, and are copied and shared. Musicians record the song and assume it is in the public domain like “Chad Gadya.” However, Shirley wrote the song in 1951, and the rights remain with her. I needed those rights; I had to make that first phone call to Shirley. I was nervous—would she let me use her song? What kind of fee would she demand for the license? The phone call went surprisingly well. Shirley actually thanked me! For finding her. For offering to use her song in a book. No, I don’t have to give her a cent, she said. Could I please just make sure her name is in the book? Could I make sure her grandkids get copies when it comes out? She was thrilled that children would be able to enjoy her song. I was shocked. That’s all she wants? An attribution and a couple of books for her grandkids? That’s it for the song that has traveled the globe? Shirley could have been bitter and angry at the world for using her song without compensating her. But she isn’t. Instead, she is a creative woman who continues to write, is active in her JCC and is a loving mother and grandmother. She derives nachas from the fact that people are using her song to make children happy. This was an important mussar lesson for me. As a children’s author, I can get caught up in negotiations and asserting my rights. Sometimes I forget to step back and say, “Oh yeah, I’m in this for the kids.” Have a happy—and hoppy— Passover. (And don’t worry, Shirley is getting royalties for Frogs in the Bed, as she well deserves.) g To hear Shirley’s original recording, visit www.ou.org/jewish_action/02/2014/frogseverywhere-shirley/.

Illustration: Ann D. Koffsky

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