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Hamas-lovers run wild in NY; Torres predicts violence By Ed Weintrob Although genocide-supporting, intifada-spreading, Hamas-loving, traffic-stopping vandals continue to rampage through the streets of New York in unrestrained displays of hate, no one’s been seriously hurt. But that might change. “The time of violence or assassination of a congressmember is not a question of if, but a matter of when,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres, the gay, Black, Latino, Progressive Democrat from the Bronx who is one of Israel’s staunchest backers in Congress. Torres delivered his warning during an interview with the Riverdale Press following a trifecta of antisemitic

vandalism that targeted congressional offices — Torres’ office in Fordham, the Pearl River office of Hudson Valley Republican Rep. Mike Lawler on Dec. 27, and the office of Harlem Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat. “Most members of Congress like myself have no security,” Torres told CNN. “We’re soft targets. I worry that intimidation and incitement to hate could easily escalate into violence.” “This is the life we have chosen,” he said, paraphrasing the character Hyman Roth in Godfather II. “I accept the burdens that come with political and public life [and] I try not to stress over it.” Meanwhile, supporters of the Hamas terrorist regime

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Hablamos Español

have been blocking city streets, highways and major transportation hubs including Grand Central Station. On Christmas day, pro-Hamas demonstrators flooded the streets to “cancel” the holiday and demand a ceasefire, resulting in clashes between protesters and police. On New Years day, pro-Hamas demonstrators blocked access to JFK Airport before moving onto LaSee Hamas-lovers on page 2

No Arab peaceniks: The ‘shalom’ ‘salam’ divide Bennett Ruda recently interviewed Harold Rhode, who for 28 years was an adviser on the Islamic world to the US Department of Defense. He is now a distinguished fellow at the Gatestone Institute. Q: Do all signatories to the Abraham Accords, Arabs and Israelis, see the Abraham Accords the same way? A: We Jews want people to love us. And the peace we’re looking for is that you’ll stop fighting, and we’ll stop fighting, and everyone will live

Interview highlights essential facts together in peace. But the Muslims do not have a concept like that. They won’t stop until the whole world will be Muslim. They follow what their prophet Muhammad did. He signed a 10-year ceasefire with Quraysh. After two years, Muhammad realized Quraysh had weakened — so he attacked them, and won. There is a classic Latin phrase, “Bellum omnium con-

tra omnes, pace inter omnes interpellatur,” that war is the natural state of man, interrupted by periods of peace. We don’t look at life like that, but historically most people do. From a Muslim point of view, they can agree to have relations with their enemies — whether they be Muslims, Jews, or anybody else. They can make temporary agreements just like their prophet did.

Harold Rhode.

Those agreements can be renewed, renewed and renewed. But to think that the Saudis see peace the way we Jews see it is a pipe dream. In 1949, after Israel’s War of Independence, there was a peace conference in Rhodes. The Arabs insisted the borders be called “ceasefire lines” and not borders. The situation was not set in stone. Arabs do not have the concept that when the fighting is over, we can be friends. If we think we will have a peace agreement with See Understanding on page 4

Amid war, olim keep coming

Making aliyah in 2023.

Yonit Schiller for NBN

Nefesh B’Nefesh, together with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and JNFUSA, has helped more than 700 North American immigrants move to the Jewish state since Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, NBN announced on Sunday. More than 200 olim landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport in the last week of 2023 alone, the organization said. Nefesh B’Nefesh received 4,175

aliyah requests from individuals and families during the last quarter of 2023, up from 1,985 during the same period a year earlier. “Our olim never cease to amaze us as they prove their commitment to fulfilling the Zionist dream of making Israel their home,” said Tony Gelbart, co-founder and chairman of Nefesh B’Nefesh. “In light of the significant surge in aliyah submissions, we are entering 2024 with optimism and, together with our partners, are pre-

pared to welcome every individual who chooses the State of Israel with open arms,” Gelbart said. “The significant number of new immigrants to Israel during the Iron Swords war and the tremendous increase in requests to open aliyah files are an important demonstration of Zionism and a beautiful expression of solidarity,” said Minister of Aliyah and Integration Ofir Sofer. “Together with our partners at the Jewish Agency for Israel and See Olim keep on coming on page 2

NY’s Trusted Jewish Newspaper • Honest Reporting, Torah-True

Hamas-lovers wild… Continued from page 1

Guardia Airport. Police detoured traffic off the Belt Parkway and restricted access to the AirTrain in a bid to constrain the “Flood JFK For Gaza” protest, which was planned by Within Our Lifetime, a proPalestinian hate group. “NYPD, KKK, IDF you’re all the same,” protesters inside an SUV screeched through a megaphone, according to video posted to X, the New York Post reported. Sixty flights were delayed at JFK, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking service, including 15 caused solely by crews arriving at the airport late as the protests impeded traffic for over two hours, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Post said.

COURTEOUS &

“New York City is fast becoming unlivable,” former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman wrote on X on New Year’s day. “You can’t get to the airport or even cross a bridge without massive delays caused by ignorant and hateful people who don’t even know what they are protesting. The Governor and the Mayor are losing control.” On Christmas day, a doll symbolizing the founder of Christianity was placed at Torres’ office covered in red paint that simulated blood, set amid rubble to suggest a scene out of war-torn Gaza. Torres said the vandals left messages describing the doll as a “Palestinian child messiah.” Torres, whose district includes heavilyJewish Riverdale as well as Black and Latino neighborhoods, told the Riverdale Press that no topic gets him more harassment and death threats than the subject of Israel. “I see the vandalism as part of a broader pattern of intimidation,” Torres said. “I fully support the rights of every American who protests peacefully, but what we’ve seen increasingly from anti-Israel activists is not peaceful protests — we’ve seen attempts at intimidation, harassment, vandalism and even violence at times.” This was at least the third time in recent months that Torres’ Fordham office was defaced by anti-Israel protestors. Torres was also recently heckled at the 92nd Street Y while speaking about the Abraham Accords. He said that while members of his staff are shaken by the latest incident, they will soldier on. “This could only be the beginning,” he said. “In a post Jan. 6 world, the safety of members of Congress can no longer be heeded in silence,” Torres added. “I, for one, will not be intimidated.” At Lawler’s office, vandals stickers attached by vandals to the entrance stated, “Blood on your hands Mike Lawler,” “Ceasefire,” “Child murder Lawler,” “Gaza is half children,” “25,000+ murdered,” “Mike Lawl-

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The “blood”-splattered doll-in-rubble that was left at Rep. Ritchie Torres’ office in the Fordham section of the Bronx. @RitchieTorres on X

er resign” and “Palestinian lives matter.” Referring to the vandalism as “just the latest escalation in the tactics being used by those who sympathize more with Hamas than with Israel,” Lawler emphasized that “I want the Palestinian people to be free from their true oppressors — Hamas, a terrorist organization that has been the governing body in Gaza for nearly two decades and has used the Palestinian people as human shields.” Referencing the rising death toll Gaza, Torres told the Riverdale Press that the blame lies with Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7, and not with the Jewish state. “I think the United States has been constructively pressuring Israel to do everything it can to minimize casualties,” he said. “There should be three operations unfolding at once.” Those three operations, he said, should be — one, a diplomatic mission to release the hostages; two, a humanitarian operation to bring aid to Gaza citizens in distress, and three, a military operation to remove Hamas from power and prevent another Oct. 7. He emphasized that none are opposing goals and they should all be accomplished. Torres compared current political tensions to those of the 1960s, a decade that saw the assassinations of President John Kennedy, presidential candidate Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. “It was certainly much worse in the 1960s, but history has a way of repeating itself, and members of Congress cannot take their safety for granted,” he told CNN. “To my supporters, thank you for believing in me when few others did,” Torres posted on X on Tuesday. “To my detractors, I gladly suffer your disdain.

Olim keep on coming…

Shabbos Minyanim

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Continued from page 1 Nefesh B’Nefesh, we are working to improve the absorption process by easing the bureaucracy, as well as helping with Hebrew learning and job placements,” he added. In total, 3,020 persons from North America made Israel their home in 2023. Among the newcomers are 545 families, 616 children, 958 single men and women and 432 retirees. Their average age was 32 years, with the oldest being 100 and the youngest being a 3-month-old baby. Olim came from all over North America, most notably New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, Maryland and Ontario. The most sought-after destinations were Jerusalem,

Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Beit Shemesh, Netanya and Ra’anana. Some 230 young men and women who made aliyah in 2023 volunteered to serve in the Israel Defense Forces as part of the FIDFNefesh B’Nefesh Lone Soldiers Program, while 35 women became national service volunteers as part of the Ori Program. “Aliyah in these times is another expression of the partnership of world Jewry in building, and now in rebuilding, the State of Israel,” said Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog, chairman of the Jewish Agency. The Jewish Agency will continue to work “to strengthen the resilience of Israel’s society as a whole,” he said. Reporting by NBN via JNS

3 THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2024 • 24 Tevet 5784

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Understanding the ‘shalom’ ‘salam’ difference… Allah’s will through Islam. Shalom, on the other hand, means letting bygones be bygones, a concept that is totally alien to Islam. Clearly, “salam” and “shalom” do not mean the same thing. The following example illustrates the Arabic meaning of the word in a Muslim context: If you take a look at the correspondence between Yemen and Saudi Arabia during the war in 1934, the leaders of the two sides wrote the most threatening things to each other — and then closed their letters with “salam alaikum.” These leaders hated each other, but they were fellow Muslims addressing each other. So if “salam” meant peace, how could they end their letters to each other with “salam alaikum?” How could they close their letters with “Peace be unto you”? Because the phrase has nothing to do with peace — it is about submission to Allah, which both of them, as fellow Muslims, are required to do. So, we are dealing with cultures that are so incredibly different from ours, from the Western culture, which is partially based on the Hebrew culture. I am for the Abraham Accords, very strongly so. The Arab countries are interested because Israel is strong. The proof of that goes back to when contact between Israel and the UAE became serious.

ICYMI: At Harvard, Gay’s gone Harvard University president Claudine Gay resigned on Tuesday. Gay had been embroiled in dual controversies over her response to campus antisemitism at Harvard in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks, as well as accusations that she plagiarized substantial portions of her academic work. On Dec. 5, Gay was grilled by Republi-

cans on the House Education and Workforce Committee alongside other college presidents about whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate their schools’ respective codes of conduct. “It depends on the context,” Gay stated. Penn president Liz Magill announced her resignation on Dec. 9, four days after the hearing.

Netanyahu spoke before Congress against the Iran deal in 2015, in defiance of the United States. He showed Israel was an independent country that could make its own decisions, and was willing to stand up to the United States. That was when the Arab countries decided they could do business directly with Israel. It is why Saudi Arabia and Israel have had good relations for a long while. And both have a strong dislike for Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Q: But wouldn’t you think that at some point the “experts” would catch on to the fact that the Arab world is different? A: No, not at all. Few of these “experts” know the languages, or haven’t taken the time to learn about and understand the cultures of the Muslim world. They think anyone who speaks English is a closet American. The White House ignored the Kurds, but when Iraq was liberated during the Gulf War, the White House greeted them as part of Iraq. A State Department senior official approached the Kurds and told them, “You have to stop thinking of yourselves as Kurds; you have to think of yourselves as Iraqis.” The experts don’t read Bernard Lewis. They read Edward Said. His approach is that you can never understand another culture, so don’t waste your time trying to. Don’t learn the languages and don’t learn the culture. Bernard Lewis’s attitude was quite different. He said you had to immerse yourself in the culture and the language. You have to try to understand what they are doing and saying in terms of their culture. In modern parlance, what the experts are doing is the equivalent of telling a person not to think of themselves as a man or a woman, but rather as a human. I recall the reaction of a very senior leader when war broke out in Syria in 2011. I suggested this was nothing more than the return of the ancient Shi’ite-Sunni conflict. His response was, “Well, we can’t have that!” I said to myself it didn’t matter if we could or could not have it.

The fact is that they see it this way. The reality is the reality, and if you choose to ignore it, you do so at your own peril. Q: Let’s talk about Oct. 7. On the one hand, Israel’s weakness was revealed by the Hamas attack. On the other hand, Israel has entered Gaza and taken the battle to Hamas to a degree few could have predicted. A: Hamas misread the Jews. Q: But how do the Saudis and the rest of the Gulf states read this? Do they see this as a sign of Israeli weakness or do they see Israel’s reaction as a sign of Israel’s strength? A: They understand strength very well, and Israel has come back very strongly. That part of the world has immense patience — the Jews don’t, but everyone else there does. They know how to wait. Let the Saudis put off signing the agreement. I don’t really care if there is a formal agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, because their relationship is so strong. The relationship is between governments, because these Arab countries rule from the top down, unlike in a democracy, where leaders are elected by the people and must take into account the will of the people they lead. Q: Israelis seem to have a Westernized view of the Middle East. You would think they would have a keener insight and understanding of their Arab neighbors. A: Superficially, Israel is a Westernized country. But when you scratch the surface, you see how the Israelis have reacted to the issue of judicial reforms, which the Arabs saw as a weakness — it is another reason why Hamas decided to pounce now — but Israel has created a younger generation, who are going to have a huge say after this, a revolution against the politics, military, intelligence and the media: “We put our lives on the line — not for you, but for the Jewish people.” That is what they are saying. We will see where all this leads. It is only going to be healthy.

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Continued from page 1 the Saudis in the way we understand peace, we will be disappointed. Q: Does this mean the Abraham Accords are a pipe dream? A: No, that does not mean the Abraham Accords are an illusion. We can have agreements with the Arab countries — as long as we have things they want from us, such as hi-tech, connections to the outside world, and alternate routes in place of the Suez Canal. They are interested in what’s in it for them, not for the sake of friendship. Friendship is between people. Countries ally themselves because of common interests. The Abraham Accords are not about peace; they are about what is in both sides’ interest. The Arab word “salam” has nothing to do with the Hebrew word “shalom.” Shalom comes from the root for “completeness.” The [Hebrew] word “shalaim” means to pay. When two people come to an agreement on a price, that payment completes the process. In Arabic, the word “salam” is similar to the Hebrew word “shalom,” but they do not have the same meaning. “Islam” and “salam” come from the same Arabic root. Islam means “submission,” while “salam” means something like the special sense of joy that someone has by submitting to

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5 THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2024 • 24 Tevet 5784

Suozzi was outspoken, in his time in office, about calling out colleagues over anti-Israel comments — at times he was the most outspoken non-Jewish member on the issue. And he otherwise bucked his party when he believed it wasn’t sufficiently pro-Israel. He was also a leader on pushing the administration to take a harder line on Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah. 12/4/23 – Scan with your smartphone for the full story:

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Oct. 7 survivors want to share the aftermath

By Dave Gordon, JNS Shai DeLuca, a Canadian-Israeli interior designer, won a defamation suit on Dec. 22 against an anti-Israel Toronto restaurant owner who called him a terrorist and killer. “As much as this was my personal suit against Foodbenders, and Kim Hawkins, the win is a collective win and belongs to the Jewish community as a whole,” he told JNS. “What we are witnessing — the trampling through the streets of Western countries — is reminiscent of Europe in the 1930s. Instead of ‘Sieg Heil,’ we’re hearing calls for ‘intifada.’,” said DeLuca. “I lived through the second intifada. We are listening to calls for the murder of Jews. In public. Boldly. Loudly. And unapologetically.” While the defamation incident occurred in July 2020, well before Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, DeLuca thinks “the current resurgence of hate marches” and “vile, racist, xenophobic hate we are seeing today” mirrors the restaurateur’s attacks on him. “In the words of Menachem Begin, ‘I am not a Jew with trembling knees.’ I am a proud Israeli Jew,” the IDF veteran said. “I wear my Zionism proudly on my sleeve, as does the majority of Jews worldwide.” The court’s precedent has “made Jews a little safer in Canada, and I hope I have empowered others to stand tall in the face of such hate,” he added. Before Oct. 7, DeLuca’s posts on Instagram, where he has nearly 90,000 followers, often addressed Israel and antisemitism in a sea of posts about interior design, DeLuca’s husband and their dog. But since Hamas brutally attacked Israel, DeLuca’s social-media posts have focused overwhelmingly on Israel and the Gaza Strip. Last month, he led a delegation of five international influencers and journalists on a multi-day trip to Israel “to bear witness” at Kibbutz Kfar Aza and Sderot, as well as Kfar Vradim in northern Israel. The latter, DeLuca told JNS, helped the delegation learn about Hezbollah and the next possible front, and “what the topographical challenges are, how close the border is and how close the border towns are.” “I was there on the 7th. The country before Oct. 7 is a very different country than after

Oct. 7,” DeLuca, who is also a media personality, told JNS. “Before, it was really bad. After, I witnessed a unity that I don’t remember ever seeing. It was amazing to see.” “It didn’t matter what political party you belonged to. Nobody talked about politics anymore. Everybody was helping everybody,” he added. “It was surreal, but it was the most uplifting thing I’ve ever seen.” The delegation came together after a private donor approached the Consulate General of Israel in Toronto and offered to fund an excursion to Israel for people in the media. DeLuca was selected to assemble the group. He did so in an attempt to find those with varied reach, including among non-Jews. He was joined on the trip by Jill Schneiderman, editorial director and partner at the Canadian women’s magazine Divine; Kasim Hafeez, deputy communications director for messaging at Christians United for Israel (CUFI), based in Tampa, Fla.; British Internet personality Oli London; and Grant Cornthwaite, who sent his dispatches to his wife, Toronto-based beauty influencer Randi Cogan-Shinder, for future posting. “We need all the allies we can get,” DeLuca told JNS. Shani Azulai, deputy consul general of Israel in Toronto, told JNS that her office tries in many different ways to tell “the real Israeli story.” But sometimes, she added, “it needs to be told not from us, government officials.” She hadn’t previously met the delegation and didn’t approach them. “They can go in like a blank paper as much as possible,” she said. “All they needed to do was go and tell the story, bear witness, to be the eyes and ears for their followers.” DeLuca thought it was important for the group to start at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. The group met with various Israeli officials as well to “get different viewpoints of what was going on,” he said. Those included Ran Natanzon, head of innovation and country branding at the Foreign Affairs Ministry; Dan Oryan, head of the ministry’s Balkan department; Ronen Gilor, the ministry’s director for U.N. and human rights; and Rasha Athamni, deputy chief of mission at the Israeli embassy in South Korea and the first Muslim woman to serve as an Israeli diplomat.

Art depicting Israeli hostages at the hands of Hamas terrorists and damage at the Kfar Aza kibbutz.

In Kfar Aza, the visuals left an impression — burnt and bullet-riddled homes, grenade shrapnel holes. But beyond that, residents begged the delegation to tell their stories widely, according to DeLuca. “It was the reason we were there,” he told JNS. “It was the most infuriating part because had this happened to anyone else in the world, had this happened to any other people in the world, this story would be told nonstop. But for us, it stopped very quickly, and went onto something else.” “I want people to know that’s what survivors want — to tell their stories,” he said. Hafeez posted about the experience on Instagram. “Visiting Kfar Aza was one of the most difficult and truly disturbing experiences I’ve ever had,” he wrote. “I don’t want to hear the what about, what ifs and buts! We need to keep talking about what happened on Oct. 7, because we [can’t] let antisemites shift the conversation from this tragedy.” London posted several videos on Instagram, where he has 727,000 followers, of the Kfar Aza destruction and of media appearances, including one in which he said that influencers aren’t speaking out sufficiently about Israel. “This family home was among dozens burned to the ground as Hamas terrorists and Palestinians stormed the village, killing 62 and

kidnapping 18,” he wrote in one post. “During the attack, Hamas filmed themselves butchering the villagers, their pets and children. Dogs were shot and massacred, entire families killed in their beds. Babies executed.” “I did not want to have to come here and witness such horrors. But sadly, many in the world need to open their eyes,” he wrote in another. “It is the duty of all of us to show the truth of what happened that day. We owe it to all the victims.” Schneiderman told JNS that the terror attack has affected nearly every Israeli directly. “Every person there has a firsthand connection. They have a connection to the hostages, to an IDF soldier, a connection to somebody that was murdered on Oct. 7,” she said. “It reinforces that it’s a small country, and they really are confused about the world not believing what happened there.” “It’s so heart-wrenching, knowing how badly they want the stories told,” she said. The group saw rows of demolished buildings in Sderot and spoke with several residents, who fought back and fended terrorists off until the army arrived. “When you are connected to people and you see that desperate look in their eyes, you can’t turn away from it,” Schneiderman said. “Seeing their strength, resolve and spirit will always stay with me.”

It’s essential that Israel push UNRWA out of Gaza By David Isaac, JNS Israel’s Foreign Ministry has put together a classified report calling for the removal of UNRWA from the Gaza Strip in the long-term. The report sets out a three-stage process for shrinking and eventually eliminating UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, from the Strip: 1) Prepare a case detailing UNRWA’s cooperation with Hamas; 2) Reduce UNRWA’s field of activity and find replacement service providers; and 3) Transfer UNRWA’s responsibilities to another entity. Israel reportedly wants to move slowly, recognizing that the US sees UNRWA as a positive player in humanitarian efforts in the Strip. The ministry hopes to gradually build the case for ousting the organization, linking that goal to discussions on “the day after” Hamas. UNRWA was born in sin and exists in sin, therefore, it should be dismantled,” said Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies. “It was established because of pressure by the Arab world as a platform to leverage the interests of Arab leaders against the State of Israel using the Palestinian [refugee] issue.” Israel must convince the US and the international community of UNRWA’s unfitness by pulling together research, much of which has already been performed, on the group. Israel should also highlight what UNRWA’s own people have revealed about it, he said, noting especially James Lindsay.

Palestinians demonstrate in the Balata refugee camp against the policies of Scott Anderson, director of Nasser Ishtayeh, Flash90 UNRWA in Judea and Samaria, Sept. 17, 2017.

James G. Lindsay, an American civil servant, worked with UNRWA from 2000 to 2007 and as its general counsel from 2002. For more than a decade, he has called for a close examination of UNRWA’s activities, saying it doesn’t solve the Palestinian refugee problem, but rather perpetuates it.

The Palestinian refugee population is the only one that increases each year. Starting from 700,000 in 1948 it has grown to 5.9 million refugees registered with UNRWA as of mid-2023. “The idea that we are still talking about Palestinian refugees is not reasonable,” said Michael. “We’re talking about fifth-generation refugees

when actually they are not refugees at all.” The worst aspect of UNRWA is that it’s controlled by Hamas. “All the workers of UNRWA in the Gaza Strip — something like 13,000 — all of them are approved by Hamas,” he said. In 2020, 58% of UNRWA’s then-$800 million budget (it has since ballooned to $1.6 billion) went to education, with the curriculum in UNRWA-run schools repeatedly exposed for its glorification of jihad and antisemitism. Michael says education isn’t even part of its mandate. More than 100 of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who carried out terrorist attacks and murdered Israeli citizens on Oct. 7 were graduates of UNRWA’s education system, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) found. In another report, it found at least 14 teachers and staff at UNRWA schools publicly celebrated the Hamas massacre and other Hamas attacks on their social media accounts. “There is no doubt that Hamas uses UNRWA to promote its goals,” Michael said. As to what will replace UNRWA at war’s end, Michael proposes an international consortium made up of Western and Middle Eastern countries (similar to what the Netanyahu government is suggesting). Michael says this trusteeship will last for at least five years. During that time, it will train a professional technocratic class from the Palestinian population to run the Strip. “The process of reconstruction will require very deep changes to Palestinian society and leadership,” Michael said.

7 THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2024 • 24 Tevet 5784

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WINE AND DINE It’s tea time! Bringing ‘Downton Abbey’ home EThEl G. hoFmAN

he majesty of afternoon tea. No need to shell out megabucks in a fancy hotel for this refined pastime. Tea time is one of the simplest ways to entertain. It can be casual or swanky, and the guest list can range from family, friends and neighbors to members of a volunteer group or book club. It’s a wonderful way to get together on a winter evening (think rain, snow and ice outside, warm and cozy inside.) Pull out that rarely used wedding china, cake stand, flowered ceramic serving tray or whatever else is hidden in the cupboards. This is your opportunity to get a little extravagant with what you already have around the house. Think “Downton Abbey” tea right at home. Teatime can be anytime in 21st-century living, based on the tradition set by the Duchess of Bedford in the 19th century, who decided it was much too long between lunch and dinner to go without a snack. So she ordered a light repast of Lapsong tea, scones and cakes to hold her over. The “meal,” by the way, is not confined to adult entertaining. When it’s an early school closing or days off for the kids and they want something productive to do, let them try their hand at this basic style of cooking. Then they get to eat their creations in a civilized fashion. They can make elegant-looking peanut-butter-and-jelly, egg- and tuna-salad sandwiches, pressing the bread for a thin, crustless finale, just as British royal Princess Charlotte might do. And kids love to pat out the sticky dough for scones. Scones, the real British variety, are moist and spongy inside, and crunchy-crisp on the outside. Made with inexpensive ingredients — flour, butter and sour milk — they could be mixed and baked in minutes, and were served in both farmhouses and mansions. The triangular Petticoat Tails, or four-ingredient shortbread cookies, are said to resemble the long, frilly underskirts of 16th-century ladies. In the Shetland Isles where I grew up, a round shortbread cake was broken over a bride’s head as she entered her new home. The rich, buttery, cookie-inspired one Scottish chef called “shortbread” became the “jewel in the crown” of Scottish baking. I’ve added my version of Victoria Sponge, a favorite of Queen Victoria. Start off with a small angel-food cake, split and fill with whipped

Petticoat Tails.

cream and sliced strawberries. It can be made in minutes and tastes divine. If you want to be a purist, start off with a glass of sherry to sip, as did the mansion-house gentry. As for tea, the dry, aromatic leaves were scarce, expensive and highly taxed. British housekeepers kept it in a locked box, attaching the key to one’s belt so that it could be doled out as needed. Sandwiches, scones, shortbread and that precious tea — an elegant, easy, but necessary afternoon revival.

Cucumber Sandwiches (Dairy)

Makes 20 Cook’s Tips: •Buy a thinly sliced loaf, at only about 40 calories per slice. •Use a serrated knife to cut off crusts. •Make sandwiches 4 hours or so ahead of time. Cover loosely with a damp paper towel to prevent drying out and refrigerate. Ingredients: • 20 thin slices of white or brown bread • Vegetable cream cheese, at room temperature • 1/2 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced Directions: Pile 10 slices bread on a cutting board. Remove crusts. Place five slices flat on the board and spread thinly with cream cheese. Top with a layer of cucumber slices, then cover with remaining bread slices. Press down with your hand. Cut each sandwich into two triangles. Repeat with remaining bread. Arrange on serving platter. May garnish with sliced cucumber (optional).

Farmhouse Scones (Dairy)

Makes 8 to 10 Cook’s Tips: •No self-rising flour? Substitute 2 cups of all-purpose flour, plus 4 teaspoons baking powder. •Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Discard foil after baking. •Butter should be cold, not soft. •For sour milk, pour in 2 teaspoons white vinegar to 1 cup milk. Let stand 15 minutes. Do not stir. •Use thin latex gloves on hands to rub butter into flour. No need to wash the food processor. Ingredients: • 2 cups self-rising flour • 3 to 4 Tbsp. butter • 3/4 to 1 cup sour milk Directions: Place rack in middle of oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and sprinkle lightly with about 1 tablespoon flour. In medium bowl, rub butter into flour to consistency of coarse crumbs. If using plain flour, stir in baking powder.

Ethel G. Hofman

Take out your best trays for winter tea and fill them up with dainty delights, like these Cucumber Sandwiches. Ethel G. Hofman

Make a well in center. Add enough sour milk to make a soft, sticky dough. Turn onto a wellfloured board. Pat into a round circle about 3/4inch thick. Use a little more flour, if needed. Cut into rounds with a fluted 2-inch cookie cutter. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven 10 to 12 minutes until well-risen and golden. Remove to towel-lined basket. Cover with towel. Best served immediately or within 2 to 3 hours of making. Leftovers may be split, toasted and spread with preserves.

Petticoat Tails (Dairy)

Makes 16 to 20 Cook’s Tips: •Use salted butter, softened. •Add flour gradually, 1/2 cup at a time. •Chopped crystallized ginger or currants may be added. •No need to sift flour. •Orange extract may be used instead of almond flavoring. Ingredients: • 1/2 cup sugar • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened and cut into pieces • 1 tsp. almond flavoring • 2 cups all-purpose flour • Cinnamon-sugar to sprinkle (optional) Directions: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a jellyroll pan or Pyrex baking dish, approximately 11x14 inches, with nonstick baking spray. In a medium mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer, beat sugar and butter until wellblended, about 1 minute. Add the flavoring, then the flour, about 1/2 cup at a time. Beat well until the flour is completely blended before adding the next 1/2 cup flour. Mixture will be stiff.

If using ginger or currants, work into the butter mixture with a wooden spoon. Press into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar (optional). Prick all over with a fork. Bake in preheated oven, 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden and edges are slightly browned. Cool for about 10 minutes before cutting into squares. Cut each square into 2 triangles. Cool completely before storing in airtight container at room temperature. May be frozen.

Victoria Sponge (Dairy)

Serves 8 to 10 Cook’s Tips: •Buy a small angel-food cake. •Use refrigerated heavy cream to whip easily. •No strawberries? Use whole raspberries or blueberries. •Crumble angel-food cake crumbs, toast lightly, and sprinkle on fruit salads or icecream. Ingredients: • 1 store-bought angel-food cake • 1 small container (8 ounces) heavy cream • 2 tsp. sugar • 1-1/2 cups sliced strawberries • Confectioners’ sugar to sprinkle (optional) Directions: Slice the angel food cake in half, as for a sandwich. Scoop out the cake from the bottom half, leaving a 1-inch shell. Whip the cream until it peaks softly. Stir in the sugar and fold in the berries. Spoon into the cavity. Top with the remaining top half of cake. Press lightly. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. May refrigerate 4 to 5 hours before serving.

Peanut-butter-and-jelly crustless handhelds for the younger set.

Ethel G. Hofman

9 THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2024 • 24 Tevet 5784

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SPECIAL ELECTION TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13

orn in Ethiopia, Mazi was evacuated to Israel as part of an Israeli/U.S. mission, which provided sanctuary to people like Mazi, who lived in fear of antisemitism. This experience gave her a passion to serve in an Israel Defense Forces Paratrooper Brigade. She legally immigrated to the U.S. in pursuit of the American Dream. Mazi and her husband now live in Great Neck where they are raising their 7 children. In 2021, Mazi was elected to the Nassau County Legislature, where she added cops to the streets, held the line on property taxes, and stopped New York City from sending unvetted migrants to Nassau. Mazi is a national leader in the fight against antisemitism and Jew hatred. As part of the Republican majority in Congress, Mazi Pilip will be the critical vote to stop the disastrous policies of Joe Biden, AOC and The Squad.

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the topic, with three years of research resulting in this book, which seeks to identify the relationship between each haftarah and its parsha while exploring how this connection remains pertinent today. The Mosaica Press book, is available at Jewish bookstores and from Amazon. Golden, a retired attorney, is Shabbos gabbai and a past president of Congregation B’nai Avraham, the Orthodox synagogue in Brooklyn Heights. Q&A with the author: Page 4.

Students then packed Shabbos Bikur Cholim boxes for LĲ Hospital, making chesed one of the day’s priorities. The learning and chesed were dedicated for the zchut for refuah shelaima of Ruchama Chana Bat Chava.

on the country’s preparedness for earthquakes,” he said in a statement, adding that it was perhaps the country’s last opportunity to do so. The comptroller’s office will soon publish a report on the earthquake preparedness of local authorities and emergency services, mostly focusing on the Jordan Valley region. The report will also examine the implementation of the TAMA 38 plan to strengthen at-risk buildings, which previous reports have found to be insufficient. Experts have stressed that Israel’s current state of earthquake readiSee Israel, overdue on page 2

Jan 20, 2023

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See Universal Herzl on p. 4

It speaks to all people, not just Jews. Since Herzl’s dream of a Jewish state came true, everyone else’s can as well. Herzl was aware of this universality. It is best illustrated in his 1902 book Altneuland(OldNew Land). One of his characters says, “There is still one other question arising out of the disaster of nations which remains unsolved to this day, and whose profound tragedy only a Jew can comprehend. This is the African question. Just call to mind all those terrible episodes of the slave trade,

HAFTR cupcakes

spoons and gum wrappers. I have been collecting Herzl memorabilia for over 30 years. While people ask me many questions about the collection, I know they are all thinking: Why? What’s the point? Who cares? These are good questions. believe there is much we can learn from Herzl. He believed that we are not trapped in the conditions in which we find ourselves, that things can be improved and tomorrow can be better, that anything is possible. This is a universal message.

The “combat” was all in good fun on motzei Shabbat, as HAFTR middle school girls competed to decorate cupakes under the gun of a ticking clock. Callenges included designing treats representing the school as well as different chagim. Students prepared for the Cupcake War through a series of workshops run by Dr. Bracha Kasirer, psychologist and cupcake decorator, who taught the girls cupcake decorating skills as well as teamwork.

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Harvard changes course, drops antisemite: Tobin p. 18

Jan. 20, 2023 27 Teves 5783 • Va’era Vol 22, No. 2

WAR CRY Students demand a ‘Solution’: ‘Death to Israel, death to Jews’

See Jew-killing war cry on page 4

The Nazis murdered six million Jews in their blitzkrieg toward a “Final Solution.” Last week, students at the University of Michigan advanced their own “Solution”: an “intifada” leading to the demise of Israel and the death of Jews. Scenes from the Palestinian-driven anti-Israel protest on the Ann Arbor campus shook social media. Mainstream media, except for some conservative outlets, largely ignored it. Video of the protest showed marchers yelling “Intifada, Intifada! Long live the Intifada,” a call for the violent overthrow of the Jewish state inspired by deadly Palestinian riots in the late 1980s, early 1990s, and early 2000s. As a marcher chanted “There is only one solution!” the crowd behind her responded, “Intifada! Revolution! Marchers, screaming into bullhorns and waving Palestinian flags, chanted

DAVID MATLOW

at summer camps in Ontario. When I go to Israel, I revisit his grave to pay my respects. I celebrated my 50th birthday in Basel at the Three Kings Hotel, the site of the balcony on which the most famous picture of Herzl was taken (seen at left). My wife Leanne and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary at the Hotel Castille in Paris, where Herzl wrote “The Jewish State” in 1895. I also own the world’s largest private collection of Theodor Herzl memorabilia. At last count, it contained more than 5,000 pieces. They range from books and albums to postcards, pamphlets, coins, calendars, sculptures, signatures, pencils, posters, pen knives, ice tongs,

Herzl believed that no one is free until we are all free T

heodor Herzl has been with me my whole life. I know that is an odd statement from a Canadian who has lived his entire life in Toronto. I am not related to Herzl and, of course, I never met him. My earliest memory of Herzl is of a family visit to his grave in Jerusalem in 1966. I co-wrote and performed in a play about him when I was in seventh grade and organized Herzl-related programming

Feb 17, 2023

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Feb. 17, 2023 26 Shevat 5783 • Mishpatim Vol 22, No 6

CUNY’s failed portal an “all lives matter” response to Jew hatred. Rather than focusing on Jew hatred, which is a specific and growing problem, the portal encourages the reporting of 24 See Forget Jewish lives on page 18

Forget Jewish lives, it’s ‘all lives matter’

business as usual at the public school. Responding to demands for an easier way to report antisemitic assaults and intimidation across CUNY’s 25 campuses, CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez unveiled an online portal that critics say is

efforts to save his life, he died of his wounds the next day. Their 10-year-old brother, Moishie, whose injuries from the attack were far lighter, was treated and quickly released from the hospital. This enabled him, along with his five other siblings and their mother, to be present at both burials.

Hate robs 3 more lives: 2 kids and a man

By Mike Wagenheim, JNS Plagued by charges some of its administrators embrace Jew- and Israel-haters, the City University of New York — the nation’s largest urban university — says it is fixing the problem. But critics say it is antisemitic

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Jan 27, 2023

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Jan. 27, 2023 5 Shevat 5783 • Bo Vol 22, No. 3

Beer last summer. “If I had to compare parts of Israel to Iowa, it would be maybe the Golan Heights or the Negev and we have incredible response times there,” Beer told VIN News. “More people around the world die wait-

ing for help than they do from disease and that is preventable. If millions of people around the world get trained to handle nearby emergencies, a lot more people would survive heart attacks, car accidents and strokes.”

A road in Iowa passes one of the state’s famous corn fields. Top left: Former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman atop a United Hatzalah ambucyle, in Israel. Bottom left: During his inaugural address, Iowa Lt. Governor Adam Gregg discusses importing a United Hatzalah system to rural Iowa.

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only a day and a half in 1991. She later served in the IDF’s Tzanchanim Paratrooper’s Brigade. While studying occupational therapy at the University of Haifa (she also earned a masters degree in diplomacy and security from Tel Aviv University), Pilip met her UkrainianJewish husband who was living in the United States but had come to Haifa to study medicine. The two married and came to America, moving around for her husband’s medical rotations before settling in Great Neck. Santos wrested the swing district — CD3 on Nassau’s north shore and adjacent Queens — from a decade of Democratic control after the incumbent, Tom Suozzi, retired in a failed run for governor. He defeated his opponent, Robert Zimmerman, who is Jewish, by eight points. Pilip told JTA that her journey into American politics was propelled by her experience advocating for fellow Ethiopian immigrants in Israel and by her children’s experience with antisemitism in their Long Island schools. See Mazi Melesa Pilip on page 22

sylvania and a Zion in Maryland. Nearly every state has one or more towns named after biblical sites or individuals. Altogether, there are more than 1,000 biblically-named towns from coast to coast. EEE Towns such as East Palestine, Ohio were established by 19th-century religious Christian settlers. They chose those names to express their spiritual attachment to the land and people of the Bible. When they thought of Palestine, they recalled the Jewish kingdoms and temples of ancient times, as well as the events surrounding the origins of Christianity in the Jewish town of Bethlehem. In their prayers, they prayed for the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, which they understood to be inextricably linked to the coming messianic age. The area that became East Palestine was originally known as Mechanicsburg. There are a number of towns in the US that were originally settled by mechanics of various types — but in See America’s biblical heartland on page 16

Feb 3, 2023

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There was an outpouring of sorrow at the levayas of Eli and Natalie Mizrahi (pictured) and others slain in Jerusalem Friday night. Yonatan Sindel, Flash90

SKI alumnae in Israel

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TaMaR STERNTHal CaMERa

deadly since 2008 — multiple media outlets hurried to note the nine Palestinians killed in Jenin on Thursday. As did Mohyeldin, they egregiously omitted the key fact that at least seven of those Palestinians were affiliated with designated terror organizations and were killed in a gun battle with Israeli troops. As members of terror organizations

Irina Korolova.

Asher Natan.

Eli and Natalie Mizrahi

The couple, aged 48 and 45, respectively, had been married for two years. Eli’s father Shimon said that they had spoken with the shooter. “We were in the middle of our Shabbat meal. My son and his wife heard the gunshots, we all did. They went outside to see what was happening and tried to help the wounded,” he told Chan-

March 3, 2023 10 Adar 5783 • Mishpatim / Zachor Vol 22, No 8

Hallel Yaniv, 21, HY”D

Ilya Sosonsky.

Shaul Chai.

ity to give. Your hearts also connect you in death. Today you are teaching your ability to give to all the children of Beit Shemesh.” Natalie worked for 20 years in the food department at Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital. According to Ella Sakovich, Natalie’s aunt and a longtime employee in the hospital’s financial opSee 7 lives were stolen on page 2

Eli and Natalie Mizrahi.

nel 12. “Apparently, at some point, they spotted the terrorist and exchanged a few words with him. And then he just pulled out a gun and shot them both.” At their funeral on Saturday, Beit Shemesh Mayor Aliza Bloch said, “Your hearts connected the two of you in life. Nine years together. You wanted to grow a family and teach them your abil-

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Yagel Yaniv, 19, HY”D

From Israel

DOUGlAS AlTABeF

Israel bleeds Elan Ganeles, 27, HY”D

ing David’s plaintive and eternally mysterious question, ad matai? (until when?), which we recite daily with heads bent or in deep self-contemplation, has a particularly searing relevance when I look at the recent terror attacks unleashed upon our innocents. The murder two weeks ago of two young children — Yaakov Yisrael Paley, 6, and Asher Menahem Paley, 8 — invokes the exact inverse of the Talmudic wisdom that he who saves a life has saved the world. With these murders, the world has been destroyed; the world of decency, of compassion, of any kind of empathy — gone.

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By Shimon Sherman, JNS At the conclusion of Friday night prayers, a Palestinian terrorist opened fire on a crowd in Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood, killing seven and wounding three. The terrorist was pursued by Israeli police and killed after a short exchange of fire. The victims include a married couple and a 14-year-old boy:

Rafael Ben-Eliyahu.

These 7 lives were stolen from us on Shabbat

ttempting to explain away the horrific Palestinian terror attack on Israeli Jews outside a Jerusalem synagogue on Friday evening, MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin tweeted: “Just a reminder, as the Western media now begins to urgently and extensively cover the attacks in Jerusalem, in which at least 8 Israelis were killed, that 30 Palestinians (9 on Thursday alone) have been killed in 2023.” While Mohyeldin’s public disservice announcement is particularly explicit, it’s in no way original. In fact, it perfectly encapsulates the gist of coverage in several leading media outlets on Friday night’s attack, in which a 14-yearold boy and a couple who ran outside to assist the wounded were among the seven civilians shot dead. In reporting on the attack — the most

fighting Israeli troops, these fatalities are not remotely in the same category as innocent bystanders struck down on their way to prayer or Torah class, or good Samaritans who selflessly rushed into danger to help their neighbors bleeding on the street. While reporting that nine Palestinians were killed in an Israeli counter-terror raid is perfectly legitimate for a recap of major recent The funeral for Eli and Natalie Mizrahi, murdered in Jerusalem’s events preceding the Neve Yaakov neighborhood on Jan. 28. Yonatan Sindel, Flash90 terror attack, failing to note that almost all of them were terrorists who died in a firefight with Israeli forces is grossly deceptive. And yet, that’s exactly what major media outlets like CNN, Agence France Presse and the New York Times have done in the last several days. CNN’s Jan. 27 article, “At least seven See Deadly comparison on page 2

Neutralizing terrorists in Jenin isn’t same as murdering kids in J’salem

Israel to Iowa’s rescue It’s a deadly comparison For The Jewish Star In Iowa, sparsely populated rural areas exist with emergency medical services response times that are so long that they sometimes prove deadly. Now, the Hawkeye state is turning to the Jewish state’s United Hatzalah for help. “When an emergency occurs and 911 is called, nearby trained volunteers are alerted through an app on their phone, allowing them to respond quickly and stabilize the patient until an ambulance arrives,” Iowa Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg said during his inaugural address in Des Moines. He described the United Hatzalah method as Uber for emergency medical services. “We believe this concept can be adapted to help us address our EMS challenges in rural Iowa — and we’ll be funding a pilot program to do just that,” he said. “Our goal in all of this is to give Iowans the freedom to build the life they dream of no matter where they live. Preserving and empowering rural Iowa, and all of Iowa, means preserving the freedom and the values that underlie it.” With emergency response times presenting a formidable problem in Iowa’s rural areas, Gregg said he hoped to tackled the long-standing issue “with an assist from our friends in the Holy Land.” He learned about the United Hatzalah model during a trade mission to Israel, and he met with United Hatzalah founder Eli

Nassau Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip of Great Neck — the only woman in this photo that ran on The Jewish Star’s cover last May — spoke forcefully on Israel’s behalf at an event in Mineola where Shomron Regional Council Chair Yossi Dagan and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman shook hands after signing an economic, cultural and friendship agreement. At far left: Five Towns Assemblyman Ari Brown and former Boro Park Assemblyman Dov Hikind; in center, Rabbi Anchelle Perl of Chabad of Mineola; at far right, Rabbi Shalom Axelrod of the Young Israel of Woodmere.

When Santos exits, GOP may select Israeli-Ethiopian Orthodox woman For The Jewish Star At whatever point George Santos — who falsely claimed to be Jewish (later, “Jew-ish”) with Holocaust-survivor grandparents and a mother killed by the 9/11 attack, and who’s doubled down on a slew of other lies about his personal history — leaves Congress, a Nassau County legislator who is an IsraeliEthiopian Orthodox Jewish woman [really!] may be a potential Repulican replacement. Although Mazi Melesa Pilip of Great Neck was first elected as a Republican Nassau County legislator only in November 2021 — replacing four-term incumbent Democrat Ellen Birnbaum — she’s thinking big. “I’m not going to lie to you, people are definitely asking me to run,” she told JTA during an interview conducted while running preShabbat errands. “That doesn’t mean nothing.” Nassau Republican leaders, led by chairman Joseph Cairo, have asked Santos to resign. At age 12, Pilip came to Israel with her family in Operation Solomon, a covert airlift of 14,325 Ethiopian Jews to Israel on 35 planes in

Feb 24, 2023

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By Rafael Medoff A toxic spill has drawn the nation’s attention to the little town of East Palestine, Ohio, just as another tragedy, the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003, turned the nation’s gaze upon the town of Palestine, Texas, where much of the debris landed. The tragic spotlight now shining on East Palestine naturally leaves some people curious as to why it has such as unusual name. The answer is that it’s not a very unusual name at all. Elsewhere in Ohio, there are towns named Hebron, Gilboa, Canaan and Shiloh (two of them, in fact). There’s even a Sodom in Ohio, which was given its name after a prohibition advocate, disappointed at the small turnout for his lecture in 1840, jokingly compared the locale to that infamous biblical center of sin. (There’s another Sodom in New York’s Putnam County.) In Texas, in addition to Palestine, there are towns named Hebbronville and Joshua. There is a Hebron in North Dakota and a Sinai in South Dakota, a Jerusalem in Arkansas, a Jericho in Vermont, a Bethlehem as well as a Nazareth in Penn-

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Asara b’Teves became especially meaningful for the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls students who stayed after school to hear a shiur from Rabbi Shmuel Diamond about the significance of the fast day.

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sion.” The Palestinian Authority proclaimed it an “unprecedented provocation and a dangerous threat.” Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan also denounced the visit. The US demanded, once again, that Israel maintain the “status quo” at Jerusalem’s holy sites. The Temple Mount has been a

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Commentary by Dr. Alex Sternberg sraeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir’s recent visit to the Temple Mount was uneventful, as it should have been. After all, Ben-Gvir was an Israeli minister visiting sovereign Israeli territory. When Ben-Gvir announced his intention to visit the Mount, Hamas called it a “crime” and “brazen aggres-

unique flashpoint between Jews and Arabs for over a century. The cry of “AlAqsa is in danger” has long been a convenient libel used by unscrupulous Arab leaders to incite the masses to violence. The father of the libel was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini, a notorious antisemite and Nazi collaborator who began his nefarious activities in the early 1920s. An Islamist with a penchant for self-promotion, he realized that by exploiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the main symbol of Islam in British Mandate Palestine, he could further his political ambitions. An early enemy of Zionism, Husseini regularly engaged in incitement against the Jews of Palestine. In 1920, this resulted in five deaths and 211 injured. In 1929, Husseini used the occasion of Tisha B’Av to tell an Arab crowd that the Jews were coming to destroy Al-Aqsa and rebuild the Temple in its place. “Al-Aqsa is in danger!” he shouted, pointing to throngs of Jews squeezing into the narrow alleyway at the Western Wall to commemorate the Temple’s destruction. Angry mobs surged through Jewish communities, attacking peaceful Jews and raping, killing and looting. Hundreds were killed in Hebron, Safed and Jerusalem. Husseini was jailed by the British, released shortly after and then appointed Mufti of Jerusalem. This new title gave him a coveted position within the Arab community. In the years that followed, Husseini

See History’s 100-year lie on page 5

he found little information on the subject. Despite the haftarah’s antiquity and universality, we know little about its origin or purpose. No record appears to have survived informing us of the names, dates, and locations of the people who established it, and no record of the reasons for pairing particular verses from the books of the prophets with a particular parsha, other than what can be learned from the prophetic verses themselves. His curiosity grew into a deep dive on

Feb 10, 2023

viewed as a warning, he said, calling for immediate action. Experts were saying that Israel is overdue for a major, once-in-a-millennia quake that would be much stronger than the devastating earthquake that shook pre-state Palestine in 1927. “Do not wait for such a disaster to occur in Israel. Act immediately

Members of the Knesset Honor Guard, the IDF Home Front Command, firefighters, police and Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical services participate in an emergency drill simulating an earthquake near Ashkelon on Dec. Yaniv Nadav, Flash90 19, 2019.

Feb. 10, 2023 12 Shevat 5783 • Yisro Vol 22, No 5

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By Shimon Sherman, JNS The Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee has called for an emergency meeting to review the country’s earthquake preparedness in light of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria on Monday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi to “update and reiterate the steps we need to take.” State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman on Monday urged the government not to delay. The earthquakes that killed more than 7,500 in Turkey and Syria should be

Israel quake ‘overdue’

For The Jewish Star When did Jews start reading the haftarah? If you were asked that question, you might recall a link to the Chanukah story, to a decree by Antiochus that the Torah itself could not be read in public. But when Richard Golden (pictured), author of the newly released book “The Haftarah and its Parsha,” started examining the connection between the weekly Torah portion and its accompanying haftarah,

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The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini salutes the Bosnian Waffen SS in NoBundesarchiv via WikiCommons vember 1943.

T he Oslo Accords, now 30 years old, began with great hopes but swiftly descended into a bloody stalemate of Palestinian terror, Israeli overtures for peace and more Palestinian terror. If one asks what needs to change in order to find a viable off-ramp, an answer emerges: A new and thoroughly de-Nazified Palestinian leadership. Strong words perhaps, but history confirms it. Since the 1930s, the pre-state Zionist community and then the State of Israel sought to share their indigenous homeland with their Palestinian Arab neighbors. For just as long, See De-Nazify for peace on page 4

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting with US Secretary of Flash90 State Antony Blinken in Ramallah on May 25, 2021.

After Abbas: Will Israel hold its shaky handle on the pA? Analysis by Lt. Col. (res) Maurice Hirsch Senior Researcher, Israel Defense And Security Forum

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) is 87 years old. When he leaves the political scene, will Israel be able to continue supporting the Palestinian Authority, or even influence who stands at its head? Speaking in a closed session of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in Israel’s Knesset, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to answer the question affirmatively, saying, “We are preparing for the day after Abu Mazen. We need the Palestinian Authority. We can’t let it collapse. We don’t want it to collapse, either. We are ready to help it financially. We have an interest in the PA continuing to work. Where it manages to operate, it does the work for us, and we have no interest in it falling.” Israel’s ability to maintain the PA depends significantly on the identity of Abbas’s successor, and See Will Israel still have on page 10

Nov 3/10, 2023

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For Iraqi Jews, sukkah sitting was different By Orit Arfa, JNS For most Jews, a sukkah conjures a booth with canvas or wooden walls, and bamboo or some sort of foliage on top as schach. Sarah Sassoon, 42, had a very different experience. The sukkahs that her Iraqi-born father made were composed mostly of palm tree branches — both walls and schach. That and other Iraqi-Jewish traditions can offer hints of what Judean practices were like 2,000 years ago, according to Sassoon. Iraqi Jews, or “Babylonian Jews,” as she prefers to call them, are the closest geographically and historically to the exile of the Kingdom of Judah to Babylon in the late sixth century BCE. “Palm trees are such a deep symbol,” including on ancient Judean coins, Sassoon told JNS. From a young age, she was interested in her Iraqi roots, and she clung to her grandmother’s side as the latter cooked and baked Iraqi delights. When she made aliyah from Sydney eight years ago and See The Iraqi sukkah on page 2

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Letter to Cornell demands moral accountability

By David Suissa, Jewish Journal By now, we’ve all heard about the frightening wave of Jew-hatred spreading across many US college campuses in the wake of the Hamas massacres of Oct. 7. Mega donors have responded forcefully to compel universities to offer more protection to Jewish students. Activist groups have filed grievances. Parents and students have weighed in. In all this activism, I came across a letter from a Jewish parent of a freshman at Cornell that stood out as a model for other parents. It capSee Cornell campus hate on page 2

the foundation of the State of Israel. The population of Gaza has risen from around 185,000 in 1948 to over two million today, a point critical to understanding how it has changed over the decades. Following Israel’s victory against the Arab armies in the 1948-49 War

of Independence, the Gaza Strip was occupied by Egypt and became a refuge for many Arabs who fled their homes during the war. Egypt maintained civic and security rule over the strip until the Arab armies again joined forces against Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Columbia students rip U’s tolerance of antisemitism

Combined Sources Jewish students at Columbia University and Barnard College ripped their school administration’s “inaction against antisemitism” on the Morningside Heights campus, with Barnard senior Noa Fay complaining that “as a result of this inaction, there are Jewish students who do not feel physically safe on campus.” The students spoke after more than 100 professors signed a letter siding with students who voiced support for Hamas’ terrorist invasion of Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,400. See Columbia fails to act on page 4

Israel handily defeated them, and as a result was able to expand its borders to encompass eastern Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria, and Gaza. Immediately after the war, a bloc of Israeli settlements, known as Gush Katif, sprung up in the Strip to

Or Gat (right) told the Young Israel of North Riverdale on Sunday night about his family’s Oct. 7 trauma. His mother Kinneret ZDV PXUGHUHG +LV VLVWHU &DUPHO *DW OHIW DQG VLVWHU LQ ODZ <DUGHQ 5RPDQ *DW FHQWHU DUH EHLQJ KHOG FDSWLYH LQ *D]D

or teachers are prepared. Sadly, not all teachers act in good faith or understand the issues. So it’s up to parents to lead the discussion in their homes rather than outsource it. 2: Be ready to explain what Zionism is … and is not. Zionism is the movement for Jewish self-determination, free from persecution and discrimination. It is not a sinister disguise for apartheid or ethnic cleansing. It is a longing to return See Talking about Gaza on page 2

TheJewishStar.com

Meanwhile, last week, discussions of hostages returning to Israel (in exchange for convicted Palestinian prisoners) filled the headlines. For many adults, let alone children, this information deserves greater contextualization and unpacking. I am a professor of Middle Eastern history, Jewish history and Israel studies, and the mother of four pre-teens and teens. So it is both as an academic and as a Jewish mother that I offer this advice. 1: Don’t assume your child’s school

Dec. 8, 2023 25 Kislev 5784 • Vayeshev • Vol 22, No 38

t’s rare for an individual to be blessed with a “fresh start,” no less so for a community. That’s the enviable position residents of the 3rd Congressional District find themselves in, following George Santos’ ouster from Congress. In 2022, Republican Santos handily defeated an inept Democratic nominee in a nominally blue district, only to be exposed as a personal, professional and political fraud. Nearly everyone — local Republicans as well as Democrats — wanted Santos gone. A special election on Feb. 13 to choose Santos’ replacement offers voters in the 3rd CD a fresh start.

both expand Jewish settlement and create a security buffer. For the next 20 years there was intermittent violence between residents, often Arab-on-Arab crime but also Arab-Jewish clashes. Generally, though, there was peace beSee History lesson on page 10

port for the terrorist butchers of Hamas or who found words of condemnation for Hamas difficult to come by. “Dr. King once said that the greatest tragedy is not the strident clamor of the bad people, but it’s the appalling silence of the good people,” Torres said. “And we’ve seen too many in our society, from public officials to college and university presidents, who have shown appalling cowardice and indifference and silence in the face of barbaric antisemitism.” The evening featured remarks by Or Gat, whose mother Kinneret was murdered by Hamas terrorists at Kibbutz Be’eri near the Gaza border on Oct. 7. His sister Carmel Gat and sister-in-law Yarden Roman Gat are See Torres is with Israel on page 4

Sit back and relax.

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Read Schumer’s speech, beginning on page 6 rael positions, often justifying or even celebrating Hamas terrorism. “Many of the people who have expressed these sentiments in America aren’t neo-Nazis or cardcarrying Klan members or Islamist extremists,” the senator from Brooklyn said. “They are in many cases people that most liberal Jewish Americans felt previously were their ideological fellow travelers.” Young Americans, in particular, are being exploited for antisemitic purposes, and “our friends and allies” on the left have “brushed aside” conSee Schumer rips leftists on page 2

the first down (we’ll evaluate each party’s nominee after we’ve taken our measure of their campaigns), we offer the Republicans a pre-nomination suggestion: If Republicans opt for Mazi Melesa Pilip, a two-term Nassau County legislator from Great Neck, they’ll have nominated a powerful voice for Israel who, as a fresh face on Capitol Hill, would likely emerge as a unique asset to the national party. Imagine Pilip — an Ethiopian-born former IDF soldier and Orthodox Jewish mother of

THE JEWISH STAR EDITORIAL Who will be on the ballot is up to Republican and Democratic leaders (there’ll be no primary), and that decision may be known by the time you read this. he 3rd CD, which hugs Nassau’s North Shore and Northeast Queens, includes a significant Jewish vote in Great Neck, Roslyn, Plainview and neighorhoods in Queens. So Jewish issues — especially Israel (after all, this is a race for Congress, not town council) — will loom large. Without prejudging the end game before

seven — facing off against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, her diametrical opposite! Just as AOC represents antisemites and Israel-bashers nationwide from her pulpit as Congressmember in the adjacent 14th CD, Pilip would speak truth to power, fighting antisemitism in America and amplifying the righteousness of Israel’s cause. Certainly the Democratic nominee (or a different Republican nominee) will have something to say about this, and perhaps they’ll be equally persuasive. We know where Pilip stands; we’ll look forward to hearing their pitch.

Among pro-Israel candidates, Mazi Pilip stands out

Israel key to post-Santos race

By Andrew Bernard, JNS Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned against rising antisemitism on the political left in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, in a 40-minute speech on the Senate floor last Wednesday. “Not long ago, many of us marched together for black and brown lives. We stood against anti-Asian hatred. We protested bigotry against the LGBTQ community. We fought for reproductive justice out of the recognition that injustice against one oppressed group is injustice against all,” Schumer said. “Apparently, in the eyes of some, that principle does not extend to the Jewish people.” Schumer said that the American Jewish community has felt increasingly alone. He implicitly criticized Black Lives Matter and other left-wing advocacy groups that have taken extreme anti-Is-

Says social-justice allies abandoned his people

Schumer rips leftist Jew-hate

By Rachel Fish As the light of Chanukah fills our homes, it will be hard to avoid making connections between the thousandsyear-old story of Jews fighting oppression in their homeland and current events that tell a similar tale. For two months now, our children have been seeking answers and understanding, requiring parents to step into conversations in ways they may not necessarily feel equipped to do.

Explaining the war to our children

NY’s Trusted Jewish Newspaper • Honest Reporting, Torah-True

Dec 8, 2023

By Ed Weintrob One of Israel’s staunches supporters in Congress — Ritchie Torres, the black, Latino and gay Progressive who represents areas of the Bronx — told a bring-the-hostages-home event in Riverdale on Sunday night that “the abduction of the hostages is not simply an Israeli crisis, it’s not only an American crisis, it’s an international crisis.” Addressing 300 people at Young Israel Ohab Zedek in North Riverdale, Torres said that “the voices of the survivors deserve to be heard, their stories deserve to be told.” And he reaffirmed his long-standing support for Israel, “as it seeks to defend itself from the deadliest act of terrorism since the Holocaust.” Torres scoffed at those voicing sup-

Torres stands with Israel at bring-them-home event, says hostages are world’s problem

Analysis by Troy O. Fritzhand he Gaza Strip is a complex piece of land that has been at the center of disputes in the Land of Israel dating back thousands of years. Roots of the conflict that’s engulfing the roughly 25-mile-long coastal enclave can be traced back to

History lesson along Gaza 25-mile strip: 0RUH JUDVV PRZLQJ ZRQ·W HQG WKLV FRQÁLFW T

Students Eli Shmidman, Noa Fay, Yoni Kurtz and Jessie Brenner call on Columbia University to sup port students targeted by bold expressions of antisemitism on the Columbia and Barnard campus..

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Rabbi Leo Dee in Efrat on April 10.

By Ed Weintrob New York faith leaders gathered in City Hall on the first day of Chanukah to celebrate what Mayor Eric Adams called “a city built on religious and racial tolerance.” “In this moment of heightened tension around the globe, it is more important than ever

Organizers said 290,000 people showed up on Rosh Chodesh Kislev, with another 250,000 livestreaming the event or watching on C-Span. The New York area was well-represented, with schools, synagogues and organizations sending hundreds of busses that joined those from a wide swatch of America. Many coming from further afield flew in.

“We have indeed made history today,” William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told attendees. “This is the largest proIsrael gathering in history,” “Look what we can do in just over a week,” said Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America.

TheJewishStar.com

By Mike Wagenheim Shortly after Rabbi Leo Dee’s wife and two of his five children were murdered by a Palestinian terrorist on a Friday morning during Passover last April, he started to visit a psychologist. Dee says the psychologist told him he was suffering through constant reminders — in his thoughts and in the absence of his murdered family member when he came home each night. So he found a way to alleviate the pain. He began to fill his time with worthwhile projects, eliminating empty moments that might otherwise be spent wallowing in his sorrows, while also regaining a sense of accomplishment by undertaking missions in honor of his perished loved ones. In September, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen reached out to Dee with a proposal to join the government in some then-undefined role. In the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, that volunteer role, established as Israel’s special envoy for social initiatives, has taken on a greater meaning. “In my mind, everything I do now is dedicated See Rabbi Dee on page 6

that we stand together as one, united against the rising tide of hatred and religious intolerance,” Adams said. While statistics show that hate crime is up, “we don’t have polling that shows what love is doing in our city,” observed Pastor Gilford Monrose, who runs the mayor’s

Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships. He called the faith leaders assembled on Friday “angels of light … a snapshot of who we are as a city.” But while light breaking through darkness is a prevalent theme during ChanuSee NYC faith on page 2

Mayor Eric Adams is flanked by leaders of various faiths at City Hall on the first day of Chanukah, Dec. 8. In front row from left: Archpriest Thomas P Zain of St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Bay Ridge, Imam Shamsi Ali of the Jamaica Muslim Center, Mayor Adams, Pastor Gilford Monrose of the mayor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships, and Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of CongregaEd Weintrob, The Jewish Star tion Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side.

Adams brings the light of faith to NY City Hall

Oren Ben Hakoon, Flash90

The rally was broadly representative, drawing people with a full spectrum of religious and political views. While a number of charedi rabbis discouraged participation, some of their followers showed up nonetheless. “Two hundred and 30 years ago, President George Washington reassured the Jews of Newport [Rhode Island] that our new nation would give

Douglas Emhoff, the Jewish husband of Vice President Kamala Harris whom the Biden administration often tasks with representing it at Jewish events, is being mocked on social media for a post that confused the story of Chanukah. “The story of Chanukah and the story of the Jewish people has always been one of hope and resilience,” Emhoff observed. “In the Chanukah story, the Jewish people were forced into hiding. No one thought they would survive or that the few drops of oil they had would last. But they survived and the oil kept burning.” “During those eight days in hiding, they recited their prayers and continued their traditions,” Emhoff added. “That’s why Chanukah means

Ed Weintrob, The Jewish Star

bigotry no sanction and persecution no assistance; his meaning and his message were quite specific,” Deborah Lipstadt, US special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism told the crowd. “In the United States of America, the bigotry of antisemitism must have no place, no quarter, no haven, no home.” Echoing previous statements she See Organizers cheer on page 2

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calling criticism of Gay “specious and politically motivated.” Alumni, horrified by Gay’s nonchalant approach to a terror attack that killed 1,200 and included rapes, beheadings and hostage-taking, mobilized to drive her out. Some alumni pledged to withdraw financial support. “President Gay’s failures have led to billions of dollars [in donations to the university] canceled, paused and withdrawn,” hedge fund manager Bill Ackman wrote in a letter to the school’s governing board on Sunday. “I am personally aware of more than a billion dollars of terminated donations from a small group of Harvard’s most generous Jewish and nonJewish alumni.” He said Gay had done “more damage to Harvard’s reputation than anyone in the university’s history.” The Executive Committee of Harvard University Alumni’s Association had the president’s back, however, calling her “thoughtful” and “kind,” in a letter on Monday obtained by the Harvard Crimson. She “is the right leader to guide the See Harvard hate on page 2

dedication. It was during those dark nights that the Maccabees dedicated themselves to maintaining hope and faith in the oil, each other and their Judaism.” “In these dark times, I think of that story,” Emhoff said. The Chanukah story is not about Jews hiding for eight days with a little bit of oil. It is about the Jews, having won a military victory, rededicating the Temple and finding only a small amount of oil — enough for one day — which then miraculously lasted for eight. “Um this is definitely not the story of Chanukah,” wrote an attorney, who has a large following and uses the pseudonym AG Hamilton. “How could this have happened?” posted National Review senior writer Noah Rothman.

“How to say ‘I don’t anything about Judaism’ without saying ‘I don’t know anything about Judaism’,” wrote another user, Olia Klein. “This level of ignorance is embarrassing.”

Oy vey: 1st husband gets story of Chanukah wrong

By Combined Sources Harvard University is sticking with its president, despite her refusal to unequivocally denounce calls for the genocidal murder of Jews. In a statement released on Tuesday, the Harvard Corporation gave President Claudine Gay its unqualified vote of confidence. “We today reaffirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University,” said the corporation, the university’s governing body. “Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing.” Gay, who became Harvard’s first Black president in July, initially came under fire when she failed to immediately fully denounce Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack, and again last week when she equivocated during congressional testimony over whether calls at Harvard for the murder of Jews were violations of university policy. Harvard faculty rallied to her defense, however, with Black faculty members

Backs prez who green lit Jew-hate

with genocide

Rabbi Dee’s call to US students: Get involved Harvard stands

Dec. 15, 2023 3 Tevet 5784 • Miketz • Vol 22, No 39

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Dec 15, 2023

By Ed Weintrob The frequently divided American Jewish community pulled off what some were referring to as a miraculous show of unity and determination on Tuesday, rallying in massive numbers on the National Mall in Washington to support Israel, oppose fast-rising antisemitism, and demand that the hostages seized by Hamas be freed.

to free the hostages, against antisemitism’

Thousands march on rosh chodesh ‘for Israel,

CAMPUS HATE Tuesday in DC

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sit down to their Friday night meals. And yet, the world ignores it. There are “two sides.” In our synagogue, we put up a sign just before Yom Kippur two weeks ago. This is a sign [pictured at right in accompanying photo] that was made by OneFamily, an organization dedicated to the families decimated by terror. There are 1,707 faces and names on this poster of people who have been murdered, civilians who have been killed, families who have been ripped apart in the last 23 years. And I would like to show you something else. This is a picture put together in the last week [at left of photo]. It is already outdated — with over 1,300 faces on it in one day, in one day! This is a moment of moral clarity. When we realize that maybe finally the world will wake up and understand that what we’ve been dealing with for the last 23 years, just happened in one day. And it is therefore incumbent upon us, it is incumbent upon anybody who calls themselves a human, incumbent on any free nation on earth, to eradicate the scourge of the soul of See Thousands on page 2

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We weren’t struck by a bolt of moral clarity when Hamas terrorists murdered and pillaged in Israeli communities near the Gaza border on Oct. 7, “because for the last 23 years, we’ve suffered with terror, day in and day out,” Rabbi Ya’akov Trump of the Young Island of Lawrence-Cedarhurst told thousands gathered in Cedarhurst’s Andrew J. Parise Park on Sunday to demonstrate unity and support for Israel. For the rest of the world, however, the bloody terror appears to have been a revelation, he said. Here’s Rabbi Trump’s message, recorded by The Jewish Star: We understand the battle over there is not a battle between Israel and Hamas, between Jew and Arab; it is between good and evil. We’ve heard over the last 10 years stories — which everybody else ignores — stories of women killed in front of their children; 13-yearold girls murdered in their bed at night; young teenagers raped and decapitated as they go to the Jerusalem zoo; families decimated as they

Rabbi Trump: Moral clarity

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Nov 24, 2023

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Nov. 24, 2023 11 Kislev 5784 • Vayetzei • Vol 22, No 36

#BringThemHome

Our children. The future of Am Yisrael. Dec 22, 2023

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Bronx battle: Haters cheer Hamas, Riverdale loves Israel and Torres By Ed Weintrob While Hamas-lovers rallied outside the office of Rep. Ritchie Torres in the Bronx’s Fordham neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon, a larger proIsrael crowd assembled in Riverdale’s Seton Park. The Fordam protest denounced Torres, a Progressive Democrat, for his long-standing support of the Jewish state, displaying a wanted poster accusing him of aiding “genocide,” a blood-libel that radical haters of Jewish rights have been leveling at Israel. As the Riverdale rally, political leaders and students and a principal from Riverdale’s SAR See Riverdale on page 2

this is not our world.” Cohen canceled a private meeting with Guterres, he subsequently announced on X. “I will not meet the UN secretary-general. After Oct. 7, there is no place for a balanced approach. Hamas must be erased from the world,” wrote the top diplomat. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan also denounced the secretary-general’s speech, noting in a post on X that Guterres spoke as Hamas bombarded central Israel with rockets. “The secretary-general is completely disconnected from the reality in our region and … views the massacre committed by Nazi Hamas terrorists in a distorted and immoral manner,” said Erdan. “His statement … expressed an understanding for terrorism and murder. It’s really unfathomable. It’s truly sad that the head of an organization that arose after the Holocaust holds such horrible views,” the ambassador said.

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Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen blasted UN SecretaryGeneral António Guterres on Tuesday for remarks in which he appeared to justify Hamas’s Oct. 7 murder rampage in the western Negev. “It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,” Guterres had told the UN Security Council on Tuesday, claiming that “the Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. “They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced; and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing,” added the Portuguese diplomat. “Mr. Secretary-General, in what world do you live?” Cohen rebutted as he addressed the Security Council. “Definitely,

Dec 1, 2023

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Dec. 1, 2023 18 Kislev 5784 • Vayishlach • Vol 22, No 37

peoplehood since the Holocaust. Nothing reactive endures and so the prayer that it becomes a proactive unity after the war is won.

Trust and verify

and could never be taken by surprise again. But feeling invincible is the pathway to disaster. Now we see that we, like all people, are vulnerable. And recognizing vulnerability — even as we understand the strength of the enemy while still believing in our power — is, with the help of G-d, the pathway to victory.

The United States has stood shoulder to shoulder with Israel. In the spirit of hakarat hatov (acknowledging the good), we say: “Thank you, thank you!” The United States and its president, Joe Biden, deserve our deepest gratitude. Still, we wonder, will the United States pressure Israel as it did on the eve of the Yom Kippur War? Israel’s bowing to that pressure led to catastrophe. As the rabbis say, kabdeihu ve’chashdeihu (give credit with caution) a motto echoed by President Ronald Reagan, “Trust and Verify.”

The goal of Hamas on Oct. 7 was not only to murder Israelis but to attack Jews, forever shattering the canard that anti-Zionism is

We are all under attack

Ed Weintrob, The Jewish Star

‘We must find the courage to speak truth to power’

Rabbi avi Weiss

Showing up

Today, Jews worldwide are wearing a uniform. For hundreds of thousands in Israel, it’s the Israel Defense Forces’ green fatigues. For Jews in the Diaspora, it’s blue-andwhite Israeli flags, waved by hundreds of thousands before the seat of government in Washington and by tens of thousands more in cities throughout the world. For others, it’s calling friends and family in Israel to express support, or sending food and gear to IDF soldiers, or opening homes to Israeli residents of the south and north who seek shelter. In the midst of the darkness, we, as a people, are emanating light. We are all on our own front, writing the illuminating manual on endless giving.

Invincibility

Just a few months ago, we were commemorating the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In many of those 50th-anniversary ceremonies, there was an undertone of invincibility. We (and much of the world) thought Israel was invincible

Too often, those who seem to have the best academic credentials to know don’t know. During World War II and the Holocaust, many in the intelligentsia — professors, elite composers and artists — argued the righteousness and ethical superiority of the Third Reich. Today, too, elite faculty on North American college campuses can be heard justifying Hamas’s murders of Jews. We must find the courage to speak truth to power, declaring for one and all to hear: “The emperor has no clothes.” See Finding the courage on page 2

Intelligentsia

not antisemitism. If Hamas could have, they would have savagely murdered every Jew. We must feel, as the Passover Haggadah proclaims, as if we were personally butchered. And so, we must beware of anyone in the streets of New York and Los Angeles or on college campuses who support Hamas. Such support poses an imminent threat to every Jew. Hamas’s slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” is not simply a political cry; it is a genocidal slogan calling for wiping out a people from a land, which can inspire attacks. Words can lead to fatal deeds.

Some of the nearly 300,000 people who spoke truth to power when they rallied on the National Mall to support the righteousness of Israel’s cause, on Nov. 15.

Rabbi Emeritus Hebrew Institute of Riverdale

t has been a great zechut (merit) to be in Israel during Operation Swords of Iron. It is a zechut that we are living the dream of Israel, in both good times and bad. Dreams have their ups and their downs. Ultimately, we believe — we know, we just know — that good will prevail, and Israel will be victorious. As the war grinds on, I offer some humble thoughts and observations.

Unity

For years many have asked: What is a cause that would unite us as we were united in the movement to free Soviet Jewry? In the darkness of this war, we are living the answer. Jews with different political agendas and religious leanings have come together as never before, to stand with Israel. The unity is reactive, emerging as it has in response to the greatest assault against our

Dec 29, 2023

STAND WITH ISRAEL: Pull out and display poster in centerspread

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By Mike Wagenheim, JNS Critics of the United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinians — and there are many — say that Francesca Albanese’s historically chronic fault-finding of Israel and repeated comments and actions deemed antisemitic make her unfit for the job. An Italian lawyer, Albanese serves as what many supporters of Israel say is a microcosm of the UN’s hyperfocus on demonizing Israel at every turn, grounded in a disdain for the Jewish state and for Jews in general. Albanese sat down for an extended interview with JNS (published on page 6), and several of her comments

In Israel, Tom Suozzi, a candidate for Congress in the 3rd CD, visits Orna and Ronen Neutra, originally from Plainview. Their 22-year-old son Omer was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7.

the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), a watchdog, told JNS that Hamas did not aim to kill soldiers. “Its purpose was to brutally murder and kidnap every Jew it could get its hands on. The soldiers were just in the way,” he said. “That’s not ‘resistance.’ That’s an act of genocide.” Albanese has “a history of whitewashing the murder of Israeli civilians,” according to Litman. Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch and a frequent critic of Al-

Read exclusive interview: p. 6

and positions struck a chord with those who closely watch the United Nations and its treatment of Israel. Asked whether Hamas was justified in crossing the Israel-Gaza delineated border and killing Israeli soldiers on Oct. 7, Albanese told JNS: “Killing soldiers is not an international crime. I mean, why is this so unbelievable? You seem to be puzzled by this. What is the right to resist for the Palestinians? No one wants to live under oppression.” David Litman, a senior analyst at

tion of Israel and the murder of Jews.” He observed that Israelis were “very grateful to the United States and to the president, specifically, because he’s been so resolute and … I didn’t get any impression that they feel like their hands are going to be tied.” “You know, when we had to stop al-Qaeda, and when we had stopped Osama bin Laden, and when we had to stop ISIS, we didn’t want to hear people trying to tie our hands,” he continued. During his visit, Suozzi toured the Kfar Aza kibbutz less than two miles from the Gaza border, where on Oct. 7 around 70 Hamas terrorists murdered more than 50 residents — some burned alive, beheaded or dismembered — and took hostages. He also met with the family of hostage Omer Neutra, a 22-year-old Plainview native who attended the Solomon Schechter School on Long Island before moving to Israel and joining the IDF when he was 18. See Get educated! on page 2

UN’s Francesca Albanese at a press conference in July. UN Human Rights Council

ed the gathering from Israel on the hall’s giant screen. Those serving in the Jewish state’s armed forces “never know the extent of sacrifice that may be demanded of them,” he said. For those injured, “their courage is not confined to the battlefield — because wounded veterans are asked to reach deep for courage every day of their lives. See Disabled veterans on page 2

banese, was also taken aback by what she told JNS. “When she says that thousands of terrorists crossing the border and killing soldiers in their beds is the right of resistance, that’s absurd,” Neuer said. “It’s a crime of aggression and absolutely a violation of international law. She has a perverted morality, whereby she thinks that killing Israelis is always justified.” Albanese said in an interview with an Australian television station that Israel’s recourse for Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks included asking the United Nations to demilitarize See ‘Delusional’ UN exec on page 2

LI aids Israel’s disabled vets

By Ed Weintrob As the number of soldiers injured in the Gaza war mounts, the call to action was an urgent one. And Friends of Israeli Disabled Veterans (FIDV), which supports the Beit Halochem rehabilitation centers, has been answering the call. Five-hundred people turned out on short notice to a fundraiser at The Space in Westbury to salute the IDF wounded.

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From left: IFDV Co-Chair Shalom Maidenbaum; Eitan Ben Eliyah, retired IDF major general and Air Force commander; Nassau legislator Mazi Pilip, a former IDF soldier running for Congress in the 3rd CD; and wounded IDF soldier Amit Giant.

“Before the war, we were taking care of 52,000 wounded soldiers from all the wars. With this war, every week it’s increasing, and as of now it’s over 8,000 physically wounded from the war and over 15,000 PTSD,” Beit Halochem USA National Development Director Tzvia Wexler told The Jewish Star on Dec. 12. The event raised both awareness and money. President Isaac Herzog address-

‘Delusional’ UN exec mostly sides with Hamas

By Ed Weintrob When Tom Suozzi was asked what he’d tell young Americans marching in support of Hamas, he responded: “Get educated.” Suozzi spoke on Friday to Jewish-media reporters, via Zoom during a visit to Israel. He’s competing against Nassau Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip to fill George Santos’ 3rd Congressional District seat in a special North Shore election on Feb. 13. “Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and other enemies of Israel have been miseducating people — especially young people — for a long time,” he said. “This is a painful, difficult process, but Israel’s got to stop Hamas and we should be supporting them unequivocally.” “Hamas is not some random, loose coalition of desert fighters,” said the Democrat, who served three terms in Congress before giving up his seat to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul in last year’s gubernatorial primary. “They’re a sophisticated, disciplined and focused terror army that is set on the destruc-

Suozzi visits Israel, tells Hamasloving Americans: Get educated

Dec. 29, 2023 17 Tevet 5784 • Vayechi • Vol 22, No 41

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GOP picks ‘:RQGHr :RPDQ’ Pilip to face Suoz]L IRU 6DQWRV VHDW By Ed Weintrob Nassau Republicans rolled out their candidate to fill Rep. George Santos’ vacant Congressional seat on Friday, with County Executive Bruce Blakeman calling Mazi Melesa Pilip “Batgirl and Wonder Woman wrapped in one.” Pilip, 44, the Ethiopian-born former IDF paratrooper and mother of seven who represents Great Neck in the Nassau County legislature, will face former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, 61, in a special election in the 3rd CD on Feb. 13. Suozzi surrendered his seat in 2022 to run a failed primary campaign against Gov. Kathy Hochul and was succeeded by Santos. Great Neck Mayor Pedram Bral called Pilip “a supermom” who “understands what we all need.” “What we need today is law and order and family values,” Bral said. In prepared remarks to a partisan crowd in the American Legion Hall in Massapequa, Pilip called herself an “example of the American dream.” She echoed Republican talking points — opposition to tax hikes and support for police, secure borders and family values — while pledging to back “Israel and other allies.” Pilip’s husband Adalbert Pilip, whom she met in Israel, is a native of Ukraine. He See Wonder Woman on page 2

Jewish. “They have been spat on. They have been subjected to antisemitic rants where people have directly said to them, ‘F’ the Jews, and I hope you suffer.” The Columbia Law School student said that “there was a massive rally on campus which celebrated Oct. 7 as a great success, as a ‘resistance.’ They were calling for the globalization of intifada. Professors have come to the support of student organizations which issued statements that put the blame exclusively on Israel for Oct. 7, statements which have not offered any compassion or any empathy to the Jewish and Israeli students.” “Education is important,” she said. “I was fortunate to have received a really good public education on the Holocaust in Germany, which has greatly informed my understanding of antisemitism today. It’s important that professors and the administration combat the ongoing intentional misinformation campaign against Israel, which is a blood libel. It’s outrageous that these falsehood stand uncorrected.” “We are providing platforms for the endorsement of terrorism on our campuses,” said Long See Ivys are really bad on page 2

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By Ed Weintrob For Jews on American campuses, things may actually be worse than they appear. That’s a conclusion that might be drawn from a discussion Monday night among four Ivy League students on Touro Talks, an online lecture series hosted by Touro Law’s Jewish Law Institute. Reflecting on the explosion of antisemitic rage on campuses following Oct. 7, Brown University student Jillian Lederman said that is not how it should be. “When things of this scale happen in the world, college campuses really should be the best possible places to be,” Lederman said. “We should have been so lucky to be on college campuses when this happened because of exposure to experts in the field” and the opportunity to have debates and conversations about the issues at hand. “We haven’t seen that because when people define Zionists as being to their core evil or to their core racist, there isn’t a lot of opportunity for dialogue,” she continued. “My visibly Jewish friends have been deliberately targeted at Columbia,” recounted Marie-Alice Legrand, who is German and not

June 30, 2023

June 30, 2023 • 11 Tammuz 5783 • Chukas-Balek Vol 22, No 21

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Happy Birthday, America! The Jewish Star joins the celebration, taking next week off. B”H, we’ll be back on July 12.

Aug 25, 2023

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Fans make a minyan for Ma’ariv during the seventh inning stretch, across from the kosher stand. Nati Biurnside

A ‘secret’ elevator is path to kosher at Yankees’ home Kosher Dining

NATI BURNSIDE For The Jewish Star ankee Stadium is home to the winningest franchise in baseball, a rabid fan base, and a secret elevator. Well, maybe it’s not exactly a secret, but very few people know where it is. When the building was being designed, they planned this elevator to only access a small part of the stadium that can’t be reached any other way. Even those who might have seen it by chance likely have no idea where it goes and only a handful of people are allowed to use it. Even if you were somehow able to find this secret elevator and use it to get to the secluded See At Yankee Stadium on page 14

chology. Although she’s been working on three research projects, one occupied most of her time: a project fondly named “Depressometer.” The aim of this project was to understand what cues experienced clinicians use to evaluate the severity of depression and to use this understanding to create machine-based See 5 Towners on page 2

Chag Sameyach!

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¶5WH · /RYH VWRU\ WR WKH ODQG RI ,VUDHO By Alex Traiman, JNS The political achievements in the Middle East of two of America’s most impactful diplomats, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, were rooted in their strong faith in G-d and the values imbued by the mystical stories of the Bible. Now both out of politics, the diplomatic duo has teamed up once again to document some of their key geopolitical triumphs and the motivational religious underpinnings that guided them, while filming a tour of Israel’s most sacred sites. “Route 60: Israel’s Biblical Highway” is a trek down the road that runs through the center of modern Israel. The 146-mile highway connects several cities fundamental to both Judaism and Christianity, including Jerusalem, Hebron, Beit El, Shiloh, Beersheva, Bethlehem and Nazareth. The unscripted tour was filmed over a four-day period by Friedman, an observant Jew, and Pompeo, a devout Christian. As See Viewing ‘ancient mysteries’ on page 17

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By The Jewish Star

rabbi Sir JonaThan SackS zt”l

to be skeptical of an overweening scientism” regarding climate change. This week, Tobin writes that Stephens is “unashamed to exhibit … contempt” for other Jews, and that this “should stand as a warning to all sides in this conflict of the dangers of overheated rhetoric and a willingness to view opponents as somehow a lesser form of human being or Jew than oneself.” Those who follow Tobin in The Jewish Star and elsewhere (he is he a prolific writer in conservative circles, publishing several times a week) may be alert to his own form of vitriolic commentary, in which he calls out those who do not measure up to his own exacting standard of political-correctness regarding Israel. While Tobin asserts that “those who believe in Jewish unity are compelled to accept and even love all fellow Jews,” he concludes his column, published at right, by adding his own disdain as a right-winger to the flood of left-wing rejection that Stephens encounters regularly. Stephens’ “venting in the pages of the Times ought to repel you,” Tobin writes.

o those who fully open themselves to it, Yom Kippur is a life-transforming experience. It tells us that G-d, who created the universe in love and forgiveness, reaches out to us in love and forgiveness, asking us to love and forgive others. G-d never asked us not to make mistakes. All He asks is that we

rookiE biLLET For The Jewish Star

JoNaTHaN S. ToBIN

JNS Editor-in-Chief

n the days since the Knesset passed the first part of the judicial reform package put forward by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the bitterness of the debate over this issue has raised fears that Israel is on the verge of a societal crisis if not a civil war. In response to this dangerous situation, both supporters and critics of the measure have issued calls for unity. Those who love Israel can only hope that such appeals will be heeded. For all of its military prowess and wealth, Israel is still a small country beset by foes, and its security is not something to take for granted. Perhaps Israel’s greatest strengths are to be found in the genius of its people and a communal spirit that gives its society enormous resilience in the face of great challenges.

The IDF Military Intelligence Directorate trains young officers in light of the lessons of the serious failure. The reason is clear: All the dry intel that pointed to preparations for war in Egypt and Syria was in the hands of the IDF and yet, senior intelligence officials — led by Maj. Gen. Eli Zeira — were absolutely sure that a war was unlikely. This assessment by Zeira and his colleagues, which numbed the top political and military ranks in the face of the imminent danger, was accepted even though See The next war on page 23

The divisions that the debate about judicial reform has exposed are putting an enormous strain on that resilience. But the worst thing is that the spirit driving the mass protests seems not so much driven by convictions about constitutional principles or objections to the details of proposed changes to the system as by the anger of some groups of citizens against other Israelis. The discord is partly based on the idea advanced by some Jews that other Jews are not as good as they are; it is front and center in this political conflict. This is nothing new and is rooted in Jewish, Zionist and Israeli history, but that does not make it any easier to take. Among the worst elements of the commentary in the American media has been a willingness on the part of those who claim to care deeply about Israel to pour fuel upon the flames of this particularly unpleasant variety of communal strife. There is no better example of this willingness than a column by Bret Stephens published last week in the New York Times. See Zionist Stephens on page 20

remains a mystery but it is not a mere given. Freedom is like a muscle and the more we exercise it, the stronger and healthier it becomes. Judaism constantly asks us to exercise our freedom. To be a Jew is not to go with the flow, to be like everyone else, to follow the path of least resistance, to worship the conventional wisdom of the age. See Yom Kippur on page 16

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Together we have the power to change the world. Nor are we, as some scientific materialists claim, mere concatenations of chemicals, a bundle of selfish genes blindly replicating themselves into the future. Our souls are more than our minds, our minds are more than our brains, and our brains are more than mere chemical impulses responding to stimuli. Human freedom — the freedom to choose to be better than we were —

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nally, the Egyptians and Syrians signed new cease-fire arrangements. At the end of the war, the deep shock left its mark on Israeli society. In fact, the feeling of low morale in the face of serious failure and the conduct of the political-security echelons was one of the factors that led to the governmental change in 1977. Later, the results of the war motivated the processes that led to the historic peace agreement with Egypt. To this day, 50 years later, the consequences of that war are still present in the security establishment and the IDF.

n the forest with a breathtaking view of Jerusalem, hundreds gathered at Jewish National Fund-USA and KKL-JNF’s 9/11 Living Memorial. The memorial’s centerpiece is a sculpture of an American flag waving in the wind with its point curved upward like a flame.. Surrounded by US, Israeli and other flags blowing in the light breeze, the setting was tranquil and beautiful. Eloquent speakers acknowledged the donors who made the monument See 9/11 memorial on page 15

Analysis by Israel Kasnett, JNS At the White House on Sept. 13, 1993, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Palestine Liberation Organization official Mahmoud Abbas, US Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev signed the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, commonly referred to as the Oslo I Accord.

They did so in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and President Bill Clinton. Israel recognized the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, while the PLO renounced acts of terrorism and acknowledged Israel’s right to coexist in peace. The two parties reached a consensus to establish a Palestinian Authority, tasked with governing the “West Bank” and the Gaza

Strip, within a five-year transition period. Subsequently, discussions on permanent status, encompassing matters such as borders, refugees and Jerusalem, were planned. The Clinton administration invested significant time and resources facilitating the implementation of this agreement. However, when Clinton left office, the peace process faltered, and Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israel persisted. See Failure on page 2

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Boxes of letters covered a conference room table in the White House last Wednesday as 40 children from the Young Israel of Woodmere — the largest Young Island congregation in the United States — personally delivered 17,000 letters of thanks to the Biden Administration for its support of the Jewish state. The children discussed with Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff their connections to Israel. Emhoff offered words of encouragement. They were accompanied on their journey to the White House by YIW Rabbis Shalom

Axelrod and Shay Schacter. Afterward, YIW officials said, “We must take comfort knowing that the times have changed drastically, and that the highest elected officials in the United States are proactively doing everything they can to protect and support our people and our homeland.” While pro-Israel communities were elated by President Biden’s repeated explicit assurances of support for Israel, there was concern that the administration might be encouraging a “go slow” approach to a Gaza invasion.

Young Israel kids bring their thanks to Biden

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Oct 27, 2023

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, President Clinton and Yasser Arafat at Oslo Accord signing on Sept. 13, 1993. White House

oslo +30: anatomy of a failure

9/11 reflections at unique J’salem service

By Lilach Shoval, Israel Hayom Israel will soon mark the anniversary of one of the worst traumas it has ever experienced. On Saturday, Oct. 6, 1973, shortly before 2 pm, the Egyptian and Syrian militaries launched a coordinated surprise attack simultaneously on two fronts. The IDF was caught unprepared for the invasion, and a sense of real existential threat hung in the air. In 18 bloody days of fighting, the IDF fighters managed to turn the tide. The Arab armies were halted, the battles moved to the enemy’s territories and fi-

Looking ahead, 50 years after Yom Kippur

The next war

Sept. 22, 2023 7 Tishrei 5784 • Ha’Azinu • Vol 22, No 29

acknowledge our mistakes, learn from them, grow through them, and make amends where we can. No religion has held such a high view of human possibility. The G-d who created us in His image, gave us freedom. We are not tainted by original sin, destined to fail, caught in the grip of an evil only divine grace can defeat. To the contrary we have within us the power to choose life.

Sept 22, 2023

Referencing “fears that Israel is on the verge of a societal crisis if not a civil war,” JNS Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Tobin has written a 1,700-word column that attacks one of the most prominent Zionists in mainstream media, denouncing New York Times columnist Bret Stephens for urging moderation and a realpolitik approach to Israel’s judicial overhaul. Jonathan Tobin, whose column is regularly featured prominently in The Jewish Star, said the failure of Israeli leaders to find a workable compromise “is because of attitudes like the one Stephens exhibits,” calling Stephens’ approach to the issue “nothing less than a disgrace.” A political conservative and early neverTrumper — formerly, he worked for the Wall Street Journal, where he won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2013, and before that was editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post — Stephens has been a target of left-wing vitriol at least since publication of his first New York Times column in April 2017, in which he allowed that “ordinary citizens also have a right

Jonathan Tobin calls Bret Stephens ‘a disgrace’

JNS editor rips Zionist at Times

At last year’s American Jewish Press Association conference in Atlanta, columnist Bret Stephens (left) described life as a Zionist among Israel-haters at the New York Times, and JNS Editor-in-Chief Jonathan S. Tobin (right) accepted a first-place Rockower Award for commentary. Tobin’s column is featured regularly in The Jewish Star. Ed Weintrob, The Jewish Star

It’s Jew versus Jew, for the love of Israel

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Sept 8, 2023

‘Even if you are scattered to the furthermost lands under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and take you back … to the land your ancestors possessed and you will possess it.’ Devarim 30

The sages explained that 'sinat chinam' (baseless hatred) brought about the destruction we mourn on Tisha B'Av. May we achieve 'ahavat chinam,' loving each other through acts of kindless, and thus merit ultimate Redemption.

After sinat chinam, exile and shivat Tzion, may we achieve ahavat chinam and merit the ultimate Redemption.

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By Israel Kasnett, JNS Almost three years have elapsed since the signing of the Abraham Accords on the White House lawn on Sept. 15, 2020. Everything appeared to be progressing smoothly until early this summer, when a planned visit of Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to Bahrain was postponed due to “scheduling issues.” This set off concerns that Israel’s relationship with Bahrain is unstable. Critics at the time blamed the alleged cooling of relations on Israel’s security policy in Judea and Samaria, conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians in Huwara, and incidents like the ascent of government ministers to the Temple Mount. However, the reality seems to diverge from See Happy Birthday on page 16

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first met Alon Shaya when he was a lanky, handsome youth at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, NY. He radiated excitement and enthusiasm. He was a student in one of the finest professional culinary schools in America, and he couldn’t wait to get to classes. His goal? To learn more about the food he had grown up with and gain the ability to add his own creative spin to it. I knew then that he was going to have a brilliant culinary career. It wasn’t always easy. Born in Israel and raised in Philadelphia, he had a trouSee Rescued recipes on page 14

des in Jerusalem. “He’s a very thoughtful person, and has always been open and accessible,” said Nathan Diament, Washington director of the Orthodox Union. “He has an encyclopedic knowledge of policy issues, starting See Biden taps on page 16

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Friedman, an ardent Zionist who is also an observant Jew. Lew was White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama, and he directed the Office of Management and Budget under both presidents Obama and Bill Clinton. He would replace Thomas Ni-

%LGHQ WDSV /HZ DV ,VUDHO HQYR\ Another Orthodox Jew from New York is in line to serve as US ambassador to Israel. President Joe Biden on Tuesday nominated Jacob (“Jack”) Lew, 67 (pictured), to fill the position occupied during the Trump administration by Five Towner David

Oct 20, 2023

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Am Yisrael chai! Thousands rally in 5 Towns to support the Jewish state

Aug. 4, 2023 17 Av 5783 • Eikev • Vol 22, No 24

New York’s Trusted Jewish Newspaper • Honest Reporting, Torah-True

new reward will incentivize anyone who has any information in this case to step forward.” Devorah Halberstam, Ari’s mother, stated that she is hopeful “that … everyone involved can finally be brought to justice.” Seligson said that Devorah Halberstam’s achievements have been “extraordinary.” “Not just with regards to the Brooklyn Bridge shooting, but what she has done for national security by educating public officials and law enforcement about the nature of terrorism and how it needs to be fought,” he said

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ing many questions unanswered,” Seligson added. “Many feel that the shooter was covering for co-conspirators that he did not name.” For years, the FBI had classified the shooting as road rage. “I only shot them because they were Jewish,” Baz later said of the attack. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said it was “indisputably an antisemitic terrorist attack and a hate crime that sent shock waves through the Jewish community and the entire country.” “The question remains: Were others involved as part of a larger conspiracy? We hope that this

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July 21, 2023 3 Av 5783 • Devarim • Vol 22, No 23

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TheJewishStar.com July 14, 2023 25 Tamuz 5783 • Matot-Masei • Vol 22, No 22

3 frightful weeks By JNS Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Sunday compared Israel’s current political conflict to those that the Jewish people went through in the period leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. Speaking during a state memorial for Theodor Herzl, Herzog noted that Jews around the world are now observing a three-week period of mourning leading up to the anniversary of Jerusalem’s destruction. These days “demand of us to behave with dignity and responsibility, in issues that directly impact the unity of Israel, and the cohesion of Israeli society,” he said. “I don’t think there is anyone in Israel … who thinks that what is happening here is good for Israeli society. Families are being torn apart. Neighbors and friends are becoming rivals and enemies,” he continued. “We all know the historical examples from the ‘Three Weeks,’ but this is not history — this is our ‘here and now,’ and it speaks for itself. This shocking and dangerous reality is happening before our eyes,” he said. Herzog went on to say that many people from all sides of Israel’s political spectrum have been telling him, “What a waste. What a tragedy.” A compromise agreement on judicial reform, including the “reasonableness clause,” which early on Tuesday passed the first of three necessary votes in the Knesset, is still possible, but “no one is willing to sit down and talk, now, without preconditions. This is a blunder of historic proportions,” he said. Herzog added that this “is the moment to think about the bigger picture. Now is the time to think about the consequences. Put egos aside. Come and talk. Cease the terrible divisions. The people expect you to come to your senses, and quickly.”

Herzog says Israel’s political combustion recalls Roman destruction of Jerusalem

By The Jewish Star from Combined Sources At least 73 Israelis were arrested on Tuesday as opponents of the government’s judicial reform initiative packed Ben-Gurion Airport and blocked highways and interchanges across the country in the wake of the Knesset’s vote early Tuesday to advance key legislation limiting judicial oversight. Police ratcheted up their use of force to keep demonstrators in check, deploying water cannons and the movement of police horses against people blocking roads. Some injuries were reported. The “Day of Resistance” saw marches, demonstrations and convoys on highways in and around Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and the Binyamin region, as well as at Ben-Gurion Airport and in front of the US embassy in Tel Aviv, with several major roads blocked for a time during the evening hours. On Tuesday night, Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai said police handled the day’s events well. “We succeeded in safeguarding the right to protest and balancing between the freedom to protest and freedom of movement as much as possible,” he said. Diaspora Affairs and Social Equality Minister Amichai Chikli drew the US into Tuesday’s turmoil when he accused the Biden administration of conspiring with opponents of the See Chaos in Israel on page 2

‘Reasonableness’ vote ignites a chaotic Tuesday in Israel

Demonstrators blocked Route 1, the main highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and clashed with police near Ein Hemed on Tuesday morning, as a day of protests began in Israel. Chaim Goldberg, Flash90

was not the boys, but the Rebbe himself. “At the time, investigators — as in other areas of law enforcement — focused on just gathering adequate evidence to gain a conviction,” Motti Seligson, director of media relations at Chabad, told JNS. “This was a pre9/11 time. America did not understand how to investigate terror cases and the nature of terrorist networks and cells and how they operate.” “The case was not adequately investigated, and all leads were not exhausted in 1994, leav-

ADL offers cash to find Ari’s other killers By David Swindle and Menachem Wecker The Anti-Defamation League said Monday that it is offering a $50,000 reward for tips that lead to the arrest and conviction of those who were part of a 1994 attack on Jewish students. Rashid Baz, who killed Ari Halberstam and fired upon 14 other Jewish teens on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994, died in prison last year. The students were returning from a prayer vigil for the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who was in the hospital. Some have said that Baz’s intended target

Sept 1, 2023

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Sept. 1, 2023 15 Elul 5783 • Ki Tavo • Vol 22, No 26

Kosher Kitchen

JONI SCHOCKETT Jewish Star columnist

NOTES FROM THE BACK OF A TEL AVIV TAXI

Reporter’s Notebook

CARIN M. SMILK Managing Editor of JNS

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he cab driver took my suitcase and handed me a cold bottle of soda, which in Israel is plain-old seltzer. It tasted fizzier than usual. “It’s hot. Drink something, drink!” On this particular night in Jerusalem — morning, really, at 4:30 am — the weather was still muggy and oppressive, and the glass felt good to hold. The man introduced himself as David and asked where I was from. Upon hearing Philadelphia, he said in English: “Ah, take me there with you!” I’ve heard that before in Israel, and I smiled back at him. As if lives and locales can be changed just like that. It would be a minimum of 45 minutes before we got to the airport, so small talk was in order. We did so in a

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mix of Hebrew and English. “How many children do you have?” I asked. It wasn’t an assumption; he had mentioned that he was working late because he was attending the bris of a grandson later that morning, a Friday. “Six,” he replied, “two daughters and four sons.” I didn’t get the exact details, but one daughter had been injured during a war and needed special care. I shared that I had four sons of my own. His youngest was 11 and mine 12, so we both had bar mitzvahs to look forward to. David has been driving all his life; that’s what he does. He lamented that trains have sprouted throughout the country, especially the existence of light-rail systems in major cities. (That very day, in fact, Aug. 18, the Red Line opened in Tel Aviv.) I guess while beneficial to the majority, there are some who don’t welcome every new development. And Israel these days is all about development; not a week goes by without another advance in fields across the board. I’m betting that David has heard about the country’s progress in autonomous vehicles. See ‘I am Israeli’… on page 2

‘I am an Israeli. I can’t be anywhere else.’

ping, and cooking. I do try to stop and think about all that has transpired over the last year as I try to find spirituality in a pot of chicken soup for 25! There is, in fact, lots of spirituality in cooking. First, we put our hearts and souls into choosing the right menu items. We wonder if this chicken dish will be OK for Great Aunt Fanny’s tummy or palatable for the youngest members of the family. We make a glutenfree or vegetarian or salt-free dish because we want our guests to feel loved and respected and cared for, to know that their needs are important to us. We do this with care and intentionality. Later, once the menu is set, we begin the process of turning ingredients into dishes that we hope everyone will like. Cooking can become a meditation as we chop and cut combine, sauté and simmer. sychologists believe that cooking can induce a “flow state,” the state of being so totally engrossed in an activity that our heart rates slow and we do not think of anySee Cooking for Rosh Hashana on page 12

COOKING We did not cook and prepare and share for accolades. We did it for tradition and for love, and to give our FOR ROSH children part of the roadmap for their lives when HASHANA we are no longer sharing this joy with them. I

t is now time to switch gears from summer relaxation to the holidays, which are mostly on weekends this year, with Shabbat adding to the cooking challenges. My beloved grandmother cooked so much before the holidays that I wondered how all that food — from gefilte fish and chopped liver to brisket and chicken and pot roast and kugels and compote — ever fit in her small icebox and then her “modern” small refrigerator. Somehow, like Mary Poppins’ magical bag, the food kept coming and fed the dozens who surrounded her table at every holiday — many brothers and sisters, children and their spouses, grandchildren, neighbors and more. Sometimes, amid all the preparation for Rosh Hashana, I find it too easy to forget about the meaning and wonder of the holidays as I focus on the menu, guest list, shop-

Oct 13, 2023

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Aug. 25, 2023 8 Elul 5783 • Ki Seitzei • Vol 22, No 25

An oleh touches the ground on arrival in Israel. Shahar Azran, Yonit Schiller for NBN

ment can bind different individuals and groups together. Watching each of these olim walk onto the tarmac and witness their elation as they take their initial steps in their new homes is both inspiring and moving. We are honored to continue to be a part of the next chapter in each of their aliyah journeys.” “With each flight of new olim arriving to Israel, we are empowering the fulfillment of the Zionist dream and strengthening the state of Israel, ‘the one and only miracle’,” said Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Major General (res.) Doron Almog. “The families and young olim that are coming to Israel are a live example of unconditional love. We are welcoming them with a loving warm hug.” The flight also saw a heartfelt reunion. Amongst the olim was 77-year-old Carol Ginsberg, whose See NBN touching on page 6

Five Towns students at Bar-Ilan, from left: Effie Bluestone and Meira Steiner of Woodmere, Joshua Brafman of Cedarhurst, Sara Stein of Lawrence, and Emily Haller and Nicole Haller or Woodmere. Bar-Ilan University

fields while being mentored by leading Israeli scientists. During the seven-week research experience, the students conducted intensive internships in the University’s STEM research laboratories. Sara Stein of Lawrence was an intern in the Emotional Processing Lab headed by Prof. Eva Gilboa-Schechtman, from the Department of Psy-

Bar-Ilan hosts 5 Towns scholars Six students from Woodmere, Cedarhurst and Lawrence were among 28 college undergraduates participating in the 12th annual Summer Science Research Internship Program operated jointly by Bar-Ilan University and Yeshiva University. The program, on Bar-Ilan’s Ramat Gan campus, provides students with hands-on experience in emerging scientific

Glick:

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Touching ground Y on Promised Land Nefesh B’Nefesh’s 64th chartered aliyah flight brought 215 olim frm the United States and Canada to Ben Gurior Airport, last week. Onboard were 22 families with 75 children, 15 single men and women, 17 retirees. The youngest oleh on the flight was 4 months old, and the oldest was 77. Among those making aliyah were 7 doctors and 15 health professionals who will be integrating into the Israeli medical system, 27 people who are part of the Nefesh B’Nefesh-KKL Go Beyond initiative and will settle in Israel’s peripheral regions and Jerusalem. “Each and every oleh carries with them a unique story, yet what bonds them together is a unified love for our homeland, shared goals and collective action,” said NBN Co-Founder and Executive Director Rabbi Yehoshua Fass. “It teaches us that diversity exists within unity — that shared values and commit-

Olim on the 64th Nefesh B’Nefesh charter flight pose with the organization’s Cofounders Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and Tony Gelbart; Minister of Aliyah and Integration, Ofir Sofer; and Director-General of the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, AviShahar Azran, Yonit Schiller for NBN chai Kahana.

Sept 29, 2023 rabbi Sacks:

Bibi and MBS making a deal. page 20.

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Sukkot: Festival of overflowing joy. page 16.

new york’s Trusted Jewish newspaper • Honest reporting, Torah-True antiZionism is antisemitism

Sept. 29, 2023 14 Tishrei 5784 • Sukkot • Vol 22, No 30

Want peace? De-Nazify the Palestinian leadership Henry Kopel 5

Reparations Menahem Begin addressing a mass demonstration against negoGPO tiations with Germany, in Tel Aviv in 1952.

war reparations agreement between Israel and West Germany, a stormy demonstration was taking place outside by opponents of any connection with that country a mere seven years after the end of World War II. Menachem Begin, thenhead of the Herut party, vehemently opposed the move, saying it was tantamount to a pardon of Nazi crimes against the Jewish people. Addressing a crowd of some 15,000 people he gave a passionate and dramatic speech in which he attacked the government and called for its violent overthrow. See 1952 on page 12

German ‘blood money’ risked civil war This is the first in a year-long series of special articles recounting the history of the modern Jewish state in Israel. B”H, The Jewish Star, an unflinching champion of Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, looks forward to joining our readers in celebrating the country’s 75th birthday this spring. By Eldad Beck, Israel Hayom Sixty-nine years before the Capitol riot that shocked Washington, Israel went through its own insurrection, on the Knesset. On Jan. 7, 1952, while lawmakers were debating the Nazi

Our friends at the New York Times, for one, found it more important to interview the father of the murderer than the families of the victims. Jerusalem bureau chief Patrick Kingsley mentioned that grieving Israeli families sat shiva while the family of their Palestinian killer expressed pride. “He’s a legend and hero,” the terrorist’s father told Kingsley. “I raised him well.” Kingsley regurgitated the usual Palestinian justification for the murder of Jews — the Palestinians are being mistreated. Like other apologists for the Palestin-

ians, it would never dawn on Kingsley that murder is not the only possible response to “occupation.” Nor does it occur to him that decades of terror have not brought the Palestinians any closer to statehood. The word “terrorism” did appear once in Kingsley’s story. The context: Israeli officials admitting that the killer’s grandfather was killed in “an act of Jewish terrorism” (emphasis added). Kingsley acknowledged only that there are “armed Palestinian groups.” To him, Hamas is “the Islamist group.” See Murder on page 2

Murder in a shul: Not terrorism MITcHell BaRd even Jewish souls were massacred by a Palestinian as they left their synagogue in Jerusalem on Shabbat. An act of terror? Not according to the media. How unimportant does the media consider those lives?

March 24, 2023

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I urge any New Yorker who is concerned that they have been a victim of discriminatory behavior because of their religion, race, or background to contact my office immediately.” Brooklyn Assemblymember Simcha Eichenstein said that last year, when the problem was brought to James’ attention, “she swiftly issued a consumer alert for which we are grateful.” “As Passover approaches again, the attorney general is being proactive and has issued another consumer alert,” Eichenstein See Passover panic on page 4

Tu B’Shevat cheer Children in Morah Deena Schwartz’s first grade CAHAL class at TAG prodly display their apple creations (above) while students at SKA enjoy a Tu B’Shevat seder.

TAX REDUCTION

The editor-in-chief of the Jewish Press at the time of the Capitol riot was arrested last week and charged with interfering with law enforcement during the Jan. 6, 2021, violence. Elliot Resnick, 39, was a long-time Jewish Press staffer and the Brooklyn-based newspaper’s top editor when he joined the crowd at the Capitol. Resnick has been charged with interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder, and three charges related to entering and engaging in disruptive conduct while on restricted grounds. Videos show Resnick grabbing the arm of a police sergeant who was spraying a chemical irritant to stop rioters entering the building, and another officer tried to See Jewish Press editor on page 4

Jewish Press editor arrested for Jan. 6 role

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March 24, 2023 2 Nisan 5783 • Vayikra Vol 22, No 10

instead of offering a discount, charged higher prices. James previously sent letters to organizations representing car wash owners in New York to remind their members that any such business practice is illegal. “Taking advantage of someone’s religious observances and practices is offensive, discriminatory, and absolutely unacceptable,” said James. “For millions of observant Jews in New York and beyond, Passover is an important holiday, and their preparations should be respected, not manipulated for profit.

Passover panic again spurs carwash scams

State Attorney General Letitia James is alerting New Yorkers to be cautious of discriminatory pricing practices at car washes in advance of Passover. In previous years, car wash businesses in predominantly Orthodox Jewish communities have reportedly raised prices by as much as 50 percent for Jewish customers seeking chametz-removal cleanings close to the holiday. According to reports provided to the Office of the Attorney General, some companies have advertised “specials” for car washing services related to Passover, but

Palestinian rioters attack Israeli security forces in Bethlehem in 2021.

gripping Israel [regarding the government’s judicial reform program]. Terrorist organizations view the crisis as an opportunity to take advantage of and attack.” “They see that Israel is busy now and they perceive it as weakened.” Addressing Sunday’s regional summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, which was designed to secure a de-escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Hacham said the talks were “divorced from the reality on the ground.” Officials from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan and the US met in the Sinai resort. Jerusalem was represented by Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) director Ronen Bar and National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi. The Palestinian delegation was led by PA Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh and General Intelligence Service chief Majed Faraj. See More security threats on page 4

Israeli security threats just keep on coming

May 12, 2023 21 Iyar 5783 • Vol 22, No 16

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a situational assessment with top defense officials during Operation Shield & Arrow on Tuesday. Avi Ohayon, GPO

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nashe and others are “living in squalor,” Haokip told JNS. Those in the camps have to wait in line for three hours to receive basic meals, rice and lentils, with more than 100 people assigned to a single toilet and shower facility, according to Haokip. People are sleeping on mats on floors or in makeshift tents. The government has been trying to return people to their homes, but there are still reports of mobs attacking the camps and vehicles parked outside the camps, said Haokip. Disagreements about which “scheduled” tribes the Indian state recognizes triggered the recent violence. For years, the Meitei Hindus, who form the majority of Manipur’s See Bnei Menashe on page 6

Israel successfully targeted these Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders: PIJ poster Tarek Azaldin, Jahed Ahnam and Khalil Bahitini.

able to reach missing family members. “The conditions we face are appalling,” Lalam Hangshing, chairman of the Bnei Menashe Council, told JNS. The recent violence has broken out largely in the state’s capital, Imphal, and the village of Beit Shalom. Lemuel Haokip, another communal leader, told JNS that the homes of many members of the group were razed, and the Bnei Menashe had to flee to the forest to hide until the Indian military arrived. Individuals are now housed in military camps operated by the Assam Rifles — part of the Central Armed Police Forces under India’s home affairs ministry — and others are hiding in private residences. Conditions in the military camps are “very chaotic,” and the Bnei Me-

Dire rush to rescue Bnei Menashe

US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro met female entrepreneurs during a tour of Beit Shemesh.

ALIZA BLOCH Mayor Beit Shemesh

NYONE who reads what the media has to say about the situation in Israel today may have feelings of doubt, concern or even despair. After all, the country seems insolubly divided. Haredi vs. secular, settling Judea and Samaria vs. the creation of a Palestinian state, and now, of course, the fraught question of judicial reform, with all the protests and demonstrations that have resulted. But I am optimistic — because I have seen the See Beit Semesh on page 6

US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro joined locals in a Beit Shemesh sukkah last October, hearing how different sectors in the increasingly religious city were living together. Photos by US Embassy

Beit Shemesh recipe for Israeli unity

By Avi Kumar, JNS Caught in the middle of violence between northeastern India’s Meitei Hindus and Kuki Christians, the Bnei Menashe, who claim descent from a lost biblical tribe and whom Israel accepts upon conversion, have been displaced from their homes. The Bnei Menashe identify as Jews, most belonging to the Mizo and Kuki ethnic groups that hail from the hills of the Indian state of Manipur. Synagogues, Torah scrolls and a mikvah reportedly have been burnt; Yoel Bayta, a Bnei Menashe father of four, has been killed, and some 200 homes and churches set ablaze in Manipur. Many people have been living in shelters awaiting the chance to On June 25, 2015, 100 Bnei Menashe landed at Ben-Gurion Airport, headed for the Flash90 return home, and some have been un- Golan Heights, traditional homeland of the Menashe tribe.

Smoke and flames rise above Gaza City buildings struck by Israel early on Tuesday. Atia Mohammed, Flash90

‘Those who work tirelessly to harm Israel’s security will not remain unharmed’ — Page 4

Operation Shield & Arrow

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May 12, 2023

SEE SHABBAT STAR, STARTING ON PAGE 14

Rabbi Sacks’ call came during a yechidut with the Rebbe. Vayikra asks: Where will you hear your call?

By Yaakov Lappin, JNS The Israeli security establishment has received dozens of concrete alerts about plots to carry out terrorist attacks, both in Judea and Samaria and within the Green Line, a former defense official tells JNS. Col. (res.) David Hacham, a senior research associate at the MirYam Institute and a former adviser on Arab affairs to seven Israeli defense ministers, added that the March 13 roadside bombing by a terrorist who infiltrated Israel from Lebanon reflects an effort “to connect the arenas of conflict” — Lebanon and Judea and Samaria — likely by a coalition of Lebanese and Palestinian terrorist organizations. “It seems the attack was initiated by elements of Hezbollah and Hamas, and perhaps by others,” said Hacham. “There is a desire here to integrate arenas of conflict against Israel. And I also link the attack to the domestic situation, the crisis Wisam Hashlamoun, Flash90

8-year-old Asher Menachem Paley’s funeral. The previous morning, he and his brother, Yaakov, 6, had been among a group of Jews targeted by an Arab terrorist on a carramming rampage in Jerusalem’s Ramot neighborhood. Yaakov was killed on the spot. He was laid to rest a few hours later, before the onset of Shabbat. Asher was rushed, in critical condition, to Shaare Zedek medical center. Despite doctors’ Yaakov Yisrael Paley, 6. Asher Menahem Paley, 8.

emissaries from more than 100 countries, gathered in and around Crown Heights last weekend for the annual Kinus HaShluchos. The women posed for a classic picture

Alter Shlomo Lederman, 20.

in front of Chabad-Lubavitch heaquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway during the event, whose agenda included workshops, speeches and Shabbat gatherings.

Their father, Avraham, on the other hand, couldn’t attend either. The 42-year-old had been with the above three of his six kids when Hussein Karaka, 31 — an Israeli citizen residing in Issawiya in eastern Jerusalem — accelerated his Mazda into them and the several other people standing at a bus stop. Avraham could not part properly with his little boys or be present to comfort his devastated wife and surviving children. He was See Hate robs on page 2

Israeli journalist Sivan Rahav-Meir, a keynote speaker at the event’s banquet, said that the venue was “the most influential room in the world.” See Chabad on page 10

4,000 women at 770 for Chabad Kinus HaShluchos By Faygie Hoyt, JNS In what might have been the largest Jewish women-only gathering in the world, some some 4,000 shluchos, Chabad women

April 21, 2023

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April 21, 2023 30 Nisan 5783 • Vol 22, No 13

Remember

Survivors lit candiles at the Greater Five Towns Community Yom Hashoah Memorial Service for the Six Million Martyrs, Monday night at Beth Sholom in Lawrence. Survivor Esia Friedman delivered the Fanya Gottesfeld Heller keynote address (see page 2). Pictured from left, with family members: Sheila

corresponding this year to April 16-17, marking the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto pprising. International Holocuast Remembrance Day is marked each Jan. 27, marking the anniversary of the liberation of Hitler’s largest extermination complex: the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. Story, page 2.

Troyetsky, Felicia Kaufman and Regina Goodman. (Frida Parnes also lit, page 2). Tahra Mastour lit on behalf of Erna Bollag and Aviva Graf, two survivors who were unable to attend as planned, while Sharon Forgel, who co-chaired the event with Nathaniel Rogoff, told their stories. Ed Weintrob, The Jewish Star

Aging survivors mark Yom Hashoah with memories, tears and strength

At the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem on Monday evening, six survivors told their stories on video, then participated in a torch-lighting ceremony to honor the six million who were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 Nisan,

May 19, 2023 personnel and rockets on another barrage on the Jewish state in the immediate future. But like every other previous exchange with Gaza-based terrorists, even the most successful strikes do not solve the problem Israel created in 2005. Israel is unwilling to pay the price to wipe out the Hamas organization that rules Gaza with an iron fist and continues to terrorize Israeli civilians. This gives the Islamist groups a degree of freedom of action

enabling them to start hostilities time and again, disrupting Israeli life with relative impunity. This raises an important question that is hard for both Israelis and Americans to answer: How do you live with an essentially insoluble problem? The answer from most Israelis is the pragmatic one that Netanyahu and the country’s security establishment have settled on, albeit reluctantly. See Learning to live on page 18

Living with Gaza’s ‘insoluble problem’ JoNATHAN S. TobIN

JNS Editor-in-Chief

work during “Operation Shield and Arrow.” The five-day campaign exacted a heavy toll on the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization as the IDF took out several of the group’s leaders, along with rank-and-file members, as well as a considerable amount of its armaments and infrastructure. And thanks to the Iron Dome air-defense system, PIJ did very little damage to Israeli targets, making the terrorists much less likely to risk their remaining

Combined news sources Four days after two Jewish cousins were murdered by a terrorist outside a historic Tunisian synagogue on the island of Djerba, the country’s president compared Israel with Nazi Germany. “While Tunisians protected Jews during the Holocaust, today elderly, women and children are being bombed in Gaza,” President Kais Saied said, asserting that antisemitism See Tunisia says ‘Nazi’ on page 2

Tunisia prez: Israel is Nazi

they wanted to throw things at her so they could “knock out my Judaism,” she testified. Seeking help, Glassman informed her mother of what was happening and her mother called the school demanding that the situation to be addressed. The school’s action? Two months of inschool suspension for the offenders. Recently, Glassman was informed that swastikas were found in a boys’ bathroom See Antisemitism on page 2

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Fun (and some bonfire smoke) filled Andrew J. Parise Cedarhurst Park on Lag B’Omer. Fun in the park continues this Sunday, 12:30 to 5 pm, at the annual Kulanu Fair.

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pon its conclusion, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rightly lauded the Israel Defense Forces for its brilliant

May 19, 2023 28 Iyar 5783 • Bamidbar • Vol 22, No 17

C’hurst fun

Students tell Nassau panel: Antisemitism’s in the house Special to The Jewish Star Reported by Hernesto Galdamez, LI Herald Since she was a five-year-old on her school’s playground, Sofie Glassman has been encountering antisemitism. “A girl told me I wasn’t allowed to play with her because I was Jewish,” the East Meadow High School sophomore told the Legislative Task Force to Combat Antisemitism in Nassau County. The panel, meeting last week in Mineola, heard testimony on the prevalence of antisemitism across Long Island. As Glassman moved on to high school, the Jew-haters moved with her, she said. While eating lunch in the school cafeteria, she overheard a group of students saying

Shavuot Star break With Shavuot starting next Thursday evening, May 25, The Jewish Star is taking a holiday break, returning, B”H, on Wednesday, June 7. While our print edition is on pause, our website (TheJewishStar.com) will be periodically updated. The Star’s staff may be reached at 516-6227461 ext. 241, or Publisher@TheJewishStar.com.

At the Hebrew Free Burial Association breakfast, from left: HFBA board members Bryan Alter, Daniel Pilarski and Paul Nagelberg; Tikun Olam Award recipient Phil Clarke; board member and event co-chair Andrea Harris (top); Community Service Award recipient Shira Silver-

man (bottom); Avodat Hashem Award recipient Susan Cohen; HFBA Executive Director Amy Koplow; board member and event co-chair David Knapp; Chesed Shel Emet Award recipients Andrew and Dina Kramer; Oskim B’Tzibur Award recipients Lisa Licht Hirsch and Danny Hirsch.

determined to ensure that Jewish New Yorkers not suffer that fate, doing chesed shel emet by handling the burial of an average of 300 New Yorkers every year, and assisting with at least 125 additional cases. “We in this room should be grateful we are blessed to live comfortably in a warm and caring community,” Koplow told 200 people at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. “The reality is far different for many of our bretheren.” See Chesed on page 22

Chesed shel emet, 300 times a year By Ed Weintrob “Jews in our city are still dying penniless, many dying alone,” the executive director of the Hebrew Free Burial Association told a fundraising breakfast in Riverdale last week. “Without the intervention of HFBA, these people would end up in the city cemetery in a mass grave,” Amy Koplow said. “That is the grim fate for more than 1,500 New Yorkers every year.” Koplow’s organization is

-HZ KDWLQJ DXWKRU LQ FURVVKDLUV RI WKH ZRNH SROLFH erasing his predecessors from temples (and whose successors, in turn, erased him) to the Roman Senate’s damnatio memoriae (literally striking people from the historical record). There have been many instances since, with one of the latest iterations surrounding the literature of British novelist, poet and screenwriter Roald Dahl (1916-90), probably best known for his children’s books. Many grew up or are growing up with Dahl’s books, including “James and the But the other side to Dahl was an openly antisemitic and anti-Israel writer of vivid prose. “There is a trait in the Jewish character that See Jew-hating author on page 2

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Giant Peach” (1961), “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (1964), “The BFG” (1982), “The Witches” (1983) and “Matilda” (1988). Several have been made into popular films.

By Mike Wagenheim, JNS Two Jewish professors at Kingsborough Community College say the school is targeting them with retaliatory investigations for their complaints about antisemitism on Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn. They further allege that the college — part of the City University of New York — and its outside counsel acted in bad faith, failing to provide them with a copy of the complaint. CUNY has been under fire for years for failing to take action against rampant antisemitism throughout its sys-

tem, including within faculty, union and administrative ranks. JNS has viewed documents confirming that active CUNY investigations are underway against business professor Michael Goldstein and business department chair Jeffrey Lax, for “discrimination” and “harassment.” The investigation is “definitely retaliatory,” Goldstein told JNS. “There’s no doubt about it.” “They’re doing this because we’ve made accusations against them,” he added. “This has been go-

ing on for years. This is their way of getting back at us.” In 2021, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found evidence of discrimination against Jewish CUNY faculty, following an investigation prompted by one of Lax’s complaints. Lax and Goldstein are among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against CUNY administrators and its Professional Staff Congress (PSC), a union that holds exclusive rights to bargain on behalf of CUNY faculty members, irSee CUNY retaliates on page 16

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By Menachem Wecker, JNS One of history’s great literary revisionism discussions ensues when Moses and G-d converse after the Golden Calf fiasco. If G-d does not forgive the Israelites, “Erase me, now, from the book You wrote,” Moses says. In Exodus 32:34, G-d answers, “He who sinned against me I will erase from My book.” Erasing people as punishment for their bad behavior has an extended history, from the Egyptian ruler Akhenaten (14th century BCE)

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April 28, 2023

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April 28, 2023 7 Iyar 5783 • Vol 22, No 14

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A state of our own ‘The right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable. … [It is] the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.’

of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country. This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and reaffirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home. The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people — the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe — was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the comity of nations. Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland. In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations.

n the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable. This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State. ACCORDINGLY, we, members of the People’s Council, represenatives of the Jewish community of Eretz-Israel and of the Zionist movement, are here assembled on the day of the termination of the British Mandate over EretzIsrael and, by virtuae of our natural and historic right and on the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 [15th May, 1948], until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People’s Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People’s Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called “Israel.” See State on page 2

David Ben Gurion reading the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel in Tel Aviv on the 5th of Iyar 5708 (May 14, 1948). Hans Pin, GPO At left: The official scroll of the Declaration. Only the botton section, including the signatures, was actually ready in time for Ben Gurion’s reading. On the 5th of Iyar 5708 (May 14, 1948), on the day in which the British Mandate expired, the Jewish People’s Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum and approved the following proclamation, declaring the establishment of the State of Israel. The new state was recognized that night by the United States and three days later by the USSR.

RETZ-ISRAEL was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books. After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom. Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma’pilim [immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country’s inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood. In the year 5657 [1897], at the summons

June 9, 2023

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June 9, 2023 20 Sivan 5783 • Beha’aloscha • Vol 22, No 18

350 people in attendance, saluting both Israel and Met Council’s leadership in feeding more than 325,000 New Yorkers annually. Pictured top center: Gov. Kathy Hochul, presenting Met Council’s Community Leadership Award to UJA-Federation of New York CEO Eric Goldstein (flanked by Met Council CEO David Greenfield), and Mayor Eric Adams. To their right: Senate Speaker Charles Schumer and House Minority Leader

counts for inflation, Gates paid more for Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester.) He cites another work by the Renaissance man as a comparison to the Hebrew Bible he purchased and donated to the ANU — Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv. “I was enormously pleased to be able to acquire it for ANU, and I was thrilled to see it. I was also thrilled to see the ‘Mona Lisa’ five years ago in Paris. I’d be wonderfully pleased if the Jewish people in the future, in seeing the Sassoon Codex, have the same reaction that I had when I saw the ‘Mona Lisa’,” Moses told JNS. “It is truly inspiring.” Although he has an impressive group of paintings adorning the walls of his Georgetown home, Moses is adamant that See The Sassoon Codex on page 2

Alfred Moses with Codex Sassoon.

Courtesy

Hakeem Jeffries. Along the line of march — at far left, Lara Krinsky (director of content and production for Friends of the Israel Defense Forces) pauses for a selfie with Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan; at center, students from the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls in Hewlett Bay Park prepare to step off; and, at right, happy flag-holders from the Brandeis Hebrew Academy in Lawrence display their blue-and-whites.

NY’s pols and people cheer the Jewish State of Israel

It was the happiest of birthday parties — the 75th diamond jubilee for the modern state of Israel, the Jewish national homeland whose Jewish roots go back more than 3,000 years. Sunday’s hours-long Celebrate Israel Parade along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue drew an estimated 40,000 marchers and 100,000 spectators. The day began with Met Council’s see and be seen Legislative Breakfast. Scores of political leaders were among

it’s in remarkably good physical condition,” he said. Moses read from the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy in the manuscript without touching the pages, although Sharon Liberman Mintz, senior Judaica specialist at Sotheby’s, held the volume. “I would have been afraid to do that,” Moses told JNS. All looked good to him in the text from Deuteronomy. “If there are mistakes, I’m not knowledgeable enough to have picked them up,” he said, laughing. (He is fluent in Hebrew and has a home in Israel.) When Moses bought the Sassoon Codex — a nearly complete Hebrew Bible dating to around the year 900 — he took over, from Bill Gates, the distinction of having purchased the priciest book at auction. (Although if one ac-

Moses bought Sassoon Codex ‘for Jewish people, not for me’ By Menachem Wecker, JNS The Israelites famously declared in the book of Exodus at Mount Sinai, “We will do, and then we will hear.” Rabbinic tradition has taken that to mean that they accepted the Torah sight unseen, so it is fortuitous that Alfred Moses bought the most expensive book ever sold at auction — a Hebrew bible — before he saw it. “I wasn’t expecting such a sturdy book,” Moses told JNS a little more than 24 hours after he saw the Sassoon Codex, which he bought for $38.1 million (including buyer’s premium), for the first time at Sotheby’s in New York. “It’s quite readable, which I had not expected, and can actually be touched and handled. As precious as it is, being over 1,000 years old,

Parents and siblings of Hallel and Yagel Yaniv at the brothers’ levaya in the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on Monday. Yonatan Sindel, Flash 90

be called “taking the law into your own hands.” This is not the law; this is undisciplined and random fury. Actions like these demonstrate the critical need for clear and strong leadership. We need to speak consistently and clearly, pledging security and a decisive response to those who commit acts of terror and violence against Jews, but absolutely condemning and decrying indiscriminate violence committed by Jews against anyone, anywhere. What happened yesterday must never, ever happen again.

Furthermore, the murder this week of the Yaniv brothers and Elan Ganeles was the stamping out of the light of the best we have to offer the world. Three young men, who engaged heart, body and action to bring G-d’s light into the world, each in their own way — snuffed out. Three young men who loved Israel and the Jewish people have been taken from us. They are our martyrs. No, they did not martyr themselves, they “merely” lived lives of engagement, possibility and belief through action on behalf of the beauty and destiny of the Jewish people and its nation. ho can stand before such terror? How do we endure it? The answer to that heartsick question lies in the lives that these three beautiful young men lived. We not only go on, but we also rise, we increase, we double down, we shout our allegiance to their worldview, to the elevation of our lives here to that of lights. First and foremost, lights to each other. We need to remind ourselves that Israel is still very much a work in progress. It is a calling that must involve each of us, drawing on our creativity, resolve and above all our vision for a society that, with all its manifest flaws, projects humanity, decency and a great appreciation for the gift of beSee 3 more are slain on page 2

OU slams Jewish riots W Statement from the Orthodox Union EVP, Rabbi Moshe Hauer, on rioting in Hawara: How can such a thing happen? How could it come to this, that Jewish young men should ransack and burn homes and cars? We can understand the profound anguish at the horrific murder of young and dear friends. We can appreciate the frustration with the ongoing attacks on Jews and the lack of a decisive and effective army response. But we cannot understand or accept this. Attacking a village does not deserve to

STePHeN M. FlATOw lan Ganeles of Connecticut was murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists this week, thus becoming the 147th Ameri-

can citizen to be killed by Palestinians since 1968. Yet not a single Palestinian Arab terrorist has ever been brought to the United States to stand trial for any of those crimes. Think about that: 147 dead Americans and not one prosecution. The problem is not that we can’t find the suspects. The whereabouts of some of them are already known to the authorities. In fact, the Israeli government has publicly identified some of them

Beginning to look a lot like Purim

Purim spirit is in the air at the Stella K. Abraham HS for Girls. With a hilarious costume contest on Tuesday and a “Dress Up Decades Day” on Wednesday, students displayed extraordinary creativity. Several SKA faculty dressed as they did in high school and many girls continued wearing Purim garb throughout week. Chagiga, grade-wide programs and parties, and pre-school and I-Shine carnivals, are coming, with Purim beginning Monday night.

as members of the Palestinian security forces. One of the killers, Ahlam Tamimi, is living openly in Jordan and until recently was the host of her own radio show. Tamimi was one of the terrorists who carried out the August 2001 Sbarro Pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem, in which 15 people were killed — including 15-year-old Malki Roth and Mrs. Shoshana Greenbaum, both American citizens. In addition, 122 people were injured, among them four Americans.

The problem is not the extradition process. The US has an extradition treaty with Jordan, signed in 1995. So, Tamimi could be handed over right now. As for other suspects, the Palestinian Authority has one of the largest per capita security forces in the world, armed and trained by the US. If the PA wanted to find those suspects, it certainly has the manpower and resources to do so. See The US does nothing on page 2

P’stinians killed 147 Americans. From DC: Silence

May 5, 2023

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May 5, 2023 14 Iyar 5783 • Vol 22, No 15

“A Small Light,” produced by ABC Signature and Keshet Studios for National Geographic, is streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

Her writing was recovered after the war — subsequently published as “The Diary of a Young Girl” — and is the most well-known example of Holocaust literature. Rather than just the jottings of a bored teen, it is a genuinely great work of literature. A brilliant writer in the making, Anne’s keen powers of observation and honesty, mixed with the hopes and dreams of a child on the cusp of young womanhood who envisioned a productive life once her ordeal was over, make the Diary an essential book. Its power and evergreen popularity since it was first published in English in 1952 is rooted in the ability of ordinary readers, especially schoolchildren, to identify with Anne and the idea of having to hide to avoid being murdered by totalitarian thugs. For almost as long as it has been a literary bestseller, the story of life in the annex has also been fodder for entertainment on stage and in film. This week, National Geographic television offers us another entry in the list of Anne Frank adaptations in the form of “A Small Light,” an eight-part series (geared for See A Small Light on page 4

As memories of Shoah fade, search continues for its ultimate lesson JoNATHAN S. TobIN

JNS Editor-in-Chief

HERE is something about the story of the eight Jews who spent more than two years hiding in the secret annex at Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam that is irresistible to readers, as well as audiences for plays and movies. The travails of Otto Frank and his family, who were trapped in an intolerable prison with friends and a few others in an attic where they were forced to spend most of their lives in silence, were immortalized by his younger daughter Anne. Aptly characterized by Dara Horn as “everyone’s favorite dead Jew” in her book “People Love Dead Jews,” Anne has become more than just a famous victim. She is the conduit by which much of the world has been introduced to the Holocaust as well as the mechanism by which many also grant humanity absolution for its crimes and indifference to the fate of the Jews.

as he puts a note into the “Kotel.” below left: Over 1,000 people crowded the Young Israel of Woodmere last Tuesday night for the Five Towns Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’Atzmaut program. Right: SKA HS classes honored “Israel Across the Curriculum” last Wednesday morning, then spirit-filled blue-and-white clad students celebrated the Jewish state in dance. Top of page: The Jewish Star has added a “75” to its front-page star, and the newspaper will be featuring celebratory events throughout the year.

Party’s just getting started for Israel’s diamond anniversary

A two-day celebration is hardly enough when cheering the 75th anniversary of the modern Jewish state. While there were blowout affairs last Wednesday (on 5 Iyar, Israel’s Hebrew-calendar birthday) and there will be more on May 15 (the secular-calendar date), festive events are planned throughout the year. Next up: The Celebrate Israel Parade on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, on Sunday, June 4. Pictured left: A student in Chavatzelet Graber’s CAHAL kindergarten class at HANC wears a special birthday hat

June 23, 2023

to respond forcefully to the attack. “In recent months, we have already proven that we do settle the score with all of the murderers, without exceptions,” he said. “Anyone who harms us is either in prison or a grave. See Massacre this time on page 11

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An armed civilian killed one terrorist in a firefight. The second murderer abandoned their vehicle and fled in a second, stolen, car. He was located after an hourslong manhunt and killed by Israel forces. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed

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restaurant at a gas station on Route 60 located below Eli, which is north of Ramallah and south of Nablus (Shechem). At least three of the victims were killed inside the restaurant by the masked terrorists who were armed with M16 assault rifles.

Massacre this time: 4 lives lost Combined Sources Four Israelis were killed and four others were wounded in a shooting attack on Tuesday afternoon near the town of Eli in the Binyamin region of Samaria. The attack took place at the entrance to a

June 23, 2023 4 Tamuz 5783 • Korach • Vol 22, No 20

Waseem Awawdeh, arrested in antisemitic attack. Canary Mission Left: Anti-Israel activist Nerdeen Kiswani. Investigative Project on Terrorism

report “reveals a pattern of violent rhetoric and incitement perpetrated by WOL’s leadership and the resulting violent attacks on NYC’s Jews by some of the organization’s top activists.” The report contains 26 mini-profiles of the group’s leading activists, who led anti-Israel protests in New York City in 2021 and 2022, and an index cites 12 more activists. Most of the violent, antisemitic rhetoric associated with the group traces back to its founder and leader, Nerdeen Kiswani, according to the report. Canary Mission says group leaders frequently incite violence, and that eight acts of violence occurred during or shortly following Within Our Lifetime rallies where violent rhetoric and antisemitic chants were heard. Within Our Lifetime’s description of itself as pro-Palestinian is a “benign See NY loop feeds hate on page 2

NYC loop feeds anti-Jewish hate and leads to violence By Sergio Carmona, JNS In the days before the assault of Joseph Borgen on May 20, 2021, Waseem Awawdeh, who was recently sentenced to 18 months for the Borgen assault, attended two events held by the organization Within Our Lifetime. Awawdeh went to a WOL “emergency rally to defend Palestine” two days beforehand and three days before that, he was part of a WOL nakba rally in Brooklyn’s heavily Arab Bay Ridge neighborhood. He is one of seven antiIsrael activists who attended Within Our Lifetime rallies and awaits trial or has been convicted, according to a new Canary Mission report. At the May 18 rally Awawdeh attended, a mob attacked two pro-Israel activists. One member of the mob later posted an Instagram video of the assault with the caption “Every punch felt better than the last,” per the report. Canary Mission said its 52-page

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat shake hands at a trilateral meeting at the US Ambassador’s residence in Oslo, Norway, on Nov. 12, 1999. US Embassy

2023: Police block a lambsacrifice bid

Israeli activists were arrested on Monday for planning to perform a ritual sacrifice atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The “Return to the Mount” activists had in their possession a lamb they intended to slaughter at the holy site in accordance with the biblical practice. Police intercepted the activists outside one of the gates to the Mount and took them in for questioning. “Bringing a sacrifice is the signal to start the struggle to renew the Temple service,” Return See Lamb sacrifice bid on page 2

Israeli security forces escort a group of religious Jews as they visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City after it was reopened to the public on May 31, 2020. Sliman Khader, Flash90

Surrender or sacrifice on Har HaBayit 2000: Barack was willing to give it up The Barak administration agreed to give up part of Israel’s sovereignty in the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in December 2000, according to an official response to a Clinton administration proposal published for the first time by the Israel State Archives on Sunday. Israel agreed to relinquish its sovereignty over the area of the mosques on the Temple Mount, Ynet reported. Among the comments written in Hebrew in the margins of the Clinton administration proSee Barack giveaway on page 2

15 THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2024 • 24 Tevet 5784

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‫כוכב של שבת‬ Jewish Star Torah columnists: •Rabbi Avi Billet of Anshei Chesed, Boynton Beach, FL, mohel and Five Towns native •Rabbi David Etengoff of Magen David Yeshivah, Brooklyn •Rabbi Binny Freedman, rosh yeshiva of Orayta, Jerusalem

former chief rabbi of United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth •Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, OU executive VP emeritus •Rabbi Raymond Apple, emeritus rabbi, Great Synagogue of Sydney •Rabbi Yossy Goldman, life rabbi emeritus, Sydenham Shul, Johannesburg and president of the South African Rabbinical Association.

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Contact our columnists at: Publisher@TheJewishStar.com Five Towns Candlelighting: From the White Shul, Far Rockaway, NY

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The continuing challenge of Jewish leadership rabbi Sir JonaThan SaCkS zt”l

used to say, only half in jest, that the proof that Moses was the greatest of the prophets was that when G-d asked him to lead the Jewish people, he refused four times: Who am I to lead? They will not believe in me. I am not a man of words. Please send someone else. It is as if Moses knew with uncanny precision what he would be letting himself in for. Somehow he sensed in advance that it may be hard to be a Jew, but to be a leader of Jews is almost impossible. How did Moses know this? The answer lies many years back in his youth. It was then when, having grown up, he went out to see his people for the first time. He saw them enslaved, being forced into heavy labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He intervened and saved his life. The next day he saw two Hebrews fighting, and again he intervened. This time the man he stopped said to him, “Who appointed you as our leader and judge?” Note that Moses had not yet even thought of being a leader and already his leadership

Korach’s motives were wrong. He spoke like a democrat but wanted to be an autocrat.

was being challenged. And these are the first recorded words spoken to Moses by a fellow Jew. That was his reward for saving the life of an Israelite the day before. And though G-d persuaded Moses, or ordered him, to lead, it never ceased to be difficult, and often demoralising. In Devarim, he recalls the time when he said: “How can I myself bear Your problems, Your burdens and Your disputes all by myself” (Deut. 1:12). And in Beha’alotecha, he suffers what can only be called a breakdown: He asked the L-rd, “Why have You brought this trouble on Your servant? What have I done to displease You that You put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do You tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land You promised on oath to their ancestors? … I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how You are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me — if I have found favor in Your eyes — and do not let me face my own ruin.” Num. 11:11-15 And this was said, don’t forget, by the greatest Jewish leader of all time. Why are Jews almost impossible to lead? The answer was given by the greatest rebel against Moses’ leadership, Korach. Listen carefully to what he and his associates say: They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the L-rd is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the L-rd assembly?” Num. 16:3 orach’s motives were wrong. He spoke like a democrat but what he wanted was to be an autocrat. He wanted to be a leader himself. But there is a hint in his words of what is at stake. Jews are a nation of strong individuals.

“The whole community is holy, every one of them.” They always were. They still are. That is their strength and their weakness. There were times when they found it difficult to serve G-d. But they certainly would not serve anyone less. They were the “stiffnecked” people, and people with stiff necks find it hard to bow down. The Prophets would not bow down to Kings. Mordechai would not bow down to Haman. The Maccabees would not bow down to the Greeks. Their successors would not bow down to the Romans. Jews are fiercely individualistic. At times this makes them unconquerable. It also makes them almost ungovernable, almost impossible to lead. That is what Moses discovered in his youth when, trying to help his people, their first response was to say, “Who appointed you as our leader and judge?” That is why he was so hesi-

tant to take on the challenge of leadership, and why he refused four times. There has been much debate in British and American Jewry recently about whether there should be an agreed collective stance of unconditional support for the state and government of Israel, or whether our public position should reflect the deep differences that exist among Jews today, within Israel or outside. My view is that Israel needs our support at this critical time. But the debate that has taken place is superfluous. Jews are a nation of strong individuals who, with rare historic exceptions, never agreed about anything. That makes them unleadable; it also makes them unconquerable. The good news and the bad go hand in hand. And if, as we believe, G-d loved and still loves this people despite all its faults, may we do less?

With opening of Shemos, a new chapter of history Torah Questions

rabbi Dr. raYMonD aPPLE

he opening chapter of Sefer Shemos records a dramatic change: “There arose a new king over Egypt.” With the new king we commence new themes, new thoughts, new challenges. The familiar faces that began with Creation and introduced characters and countries — Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the Flood and the Tower of Babel, Canaan and Pharaonic Egypt, the

family of Abraham with Lot and the Pillar of Salt, the patriarchs and the matriarchs — are over. History now becomes really serious. Man is now an adult, no longer a child stepping gingerly into events and experiences. The chief character is Mighty Moses, and the Jewish people are no longer merely a colorful family but a nation drawn by a national destiny. ••• Life was tough in Egypt for baby boys. Girls were allowed to live but boys were to be thrown into the Nile. To confirm whether a baby was male or female the midwives looked at the ovnayim, literally “the stones” (Ex. 1:16). Ovnayim is sometimes translated as “birthstool,” but the word never again appears in this

sense in the Tanach. Indeed it only appears once more in the Bible, in Jeremiah 18:4, where it means a potter’s wheel. The Midrash regards it as “the place where the baby turns” (the womb). This seems to indicate that the womb is where the future is not only determined as male or female in the normal way but where every aspect of the child’s development is determined. ••• Is the name “Moshe” passive (bearing the meaning, “the one who was drawn out of the waters”) or is it active, (“the one who draws out (his people”)? The Biblical context appears to favor the first view, because the king’s daughter says, “ki min

hamayim meshitihu (I drew him out of the water).” Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch is unwilling to leave it at that but adds a further aspect. According to Rabbi Hirsch, what Pharaoh’s daughter’s words imply is, “Moses must never forget that I drew him out … and because he was drawn out of the River Nile, he is to be a deliverer of others.” How aptly this illustrates Jewish ethics: The person who was once poor must alleviate poverty; the person who was once sick must ease others’ pain; the person who was once homeless must help others to find a home; the person who was once degraded must aid everyone else and never tolerate racism; the person who once lacked freedom must never rest until everyone else is free.

Rabbi DR. tzvi heRsh weinReb Orthodox Union

often find myself disagreeing with the phrase, “It’s just a footnote in history.” I have found some of the most interesting and important facts buried, unseen by most people, in the footnotes of the books I read. Recently, I have begun to use a pocket-sized edition of the Talmud in my daily study. I have been doing a lot of traveling lately, and this miniature edition suits me well. I find that the print of the main text and major commentaries in this edition is in sharp focus and, although quite small, is perfectly

legible. However, this edition, known as Oz V’Hadar, contains an innovative feature. In the margins of every page are footnotes in very fine print, indicating variant readings of the traditional text. These footnotes supply minor corrections based upon ancient manuscripts or early print editions of the Talmud. These footnotes are so small that I can hardly make them out, even with my glasses. I resort to the use of a magnifying glass, which enlarges the size of the letters by four or five times. In one corner of the glass is a small circle with an even more powerful magnifier, which enlarges the size of the letters to ten or perhaps twelve times their size. I find these footnotes extremely useful in my study. Invariably, they suggest changes to the text that seem minor but are not at all trivial. Passages in the Talmud that I previously

Marginal footnotes have given me an understanding of passages I had previously found challenging. found vague or puzzling are elucidated with the change of a word, or sometimes even the addition of one single letter. Often, I am tempted to ignore these footnotes, passing up the opportunity to use the magnifier. But when I do so, I forfeit the opportunity of gaining surprising and edifying insights.

These marginal footnotes, together with this magnifier, have literally opened my eyes to the authentic meaning of the text and have given me a fresh understanding of passages that I had previously found challenging. n this week’s Torah portion, Shemos (Exodus 1:1-6:1), we encounter a phrase in Rashi’s commentary that my experience with the footnotes and the magnifying glass has helped me appreciate anew. The Bible has just concluded the account of baby Moses’ rescue by Pharaoh’s daughter. It is about to proceed to narrate the story of the mature Moses. It begins, “Sometime after that, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brethren and he saw their labors” (Exodus 2:11). Rashi comments, “He saw their labors: He directed [literally, ‘gave’] his eyes and heart, to feel See Weinreb on page 22

Excellent translations … as we begin Shemot Kosher bookworm

alan Jay GeRbeR

Jewish Star columnist

abbi Berel Wein, in his introduction to a translation of the Kli Yakar by his friend, Elihu Levine, said in regard to the art of translation: “To be truly faithful to the original, the translator has to be able to capture the thought process and true intent of the author. If this is true regarding translations of the usual run of books and journalism, how much more so is this skill necessary when translating works of the Torah. In Torah every nuance and aside

counts, and if the translator does not become a piece of the author himself, so to speak, the translation ultimately fails.”

Aside from the work he was addressing, the beautiful translation of the Kli Yakar commentary of the book of Shemot (Targum Press, 2002), Wein’s comments are applicable to the other works discussed here. Each measures up to the standard he set. ••• Perhaps the oldest translation of the Chumash extant today is Targum Onkelos, an Aramaic translation, and commentary of the first five books by one of the most remarkable converts to our faith, Onkelos. His translation provided for the Jews of his time, whose lingua franca was Aramaic, a clear explanation of the text as well as a built-in commentary within the context of 2,385 Targumic deviations from the original Hebrew text, thus the commentary.

“Onkelos On The Torah: Understanding the Bible Text” (Gefen, 2009), is unique in the fascinating organization of its page texts. There is the basic Hebrew Torah text, side by side with the Aramaic text. The English translation is that of the Aramaic, not that of the Torah text. This is the first novelty. In this translation, variances between the original Hebrew and the Aramaic are set in bold type. Beneath “the line,” these bold type words are given a full court press treatment wherein the English translators, Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin and Rabbi Stanley Wagner zt”l skillfully delineate the whys and wherefores of the deviations in word meaning, addition, or deletion that is Onkelos’s specialty. In addition, the authors provided an extenSee Gerber on page 22

About our mission, shedding light upon darkness torah

Rabbi DaviD etenGoff

Jewish Star columnist

ur parasha begins with the famous words: “And these are the names of b’nai Yisrael who came to Egypt, with Ya’akov, each man and his household came” (Shemos 1:1). In his Commentary on the Torah, Rashi offers this interpretation of our pasuk based on Midrash Shemos Rabbah, 1:3: “Although [Hashem] counted them in their lifetime by their names [Bereishit 46:8-27], He counted them again after their death, to let us know how precious they are (l’hodiyah chibatan), because they were likened to the stars,

which He takes out [from beyond the horizon] and brings in by number and by name, as it is said: ‘Who takes out their host by number; all of them He calls by name’.” Yeshayahu 40:26 The expression, “l’hodiyah chibatan,” is not found in the midrash; as such, it is Rashi’s original contribution to understanding our verse. The Sefat Emet expands on Rashi’s chidush in the following manner: “L’hodiyah is a special message regarding our unique purpose in this world, namely, that we are symbolically like the stars. Just like the role of the stars is to shed light within the darkness of the night, so, too, it is our task and mission to shed light upon the darkness of the world.” (Itturei Torah, Sefer Shemos) The Sefat Emet’s analysis is reminiscent of three pasukim in Sefer Yeshayahu that depict our unique role as Hashem’s or lagoyim (light unto

the nations): •I am Hashem; I called you with righteousness and I will strengthen your hand; and I formed you, and I made you for a people’s covenant, for a light to nations. (42:6) •And He [Hashem] said…I will make you a light of nations, so that My salvation shall be until the end of the earth.” (49:6) •And nations shall go by your light and kings by the brilliance of your shine. (60:3) t first glance, one might think that Yeshayahu is the originator of the concept or lagoyim. HaRav Herschel Schachter shlita explains that this is not the case; rather, its roots are found in Sefer Devarim 28:10 — the Navi Yishayahu says that we are an Or LaGoyim, a light unto the nations. But our role as a “light unto the nations” was not discovered by Yishayahu, for all the teachings

brought forth by the prophets must be rooted in the Torah. The original source for our people’s role as “light unto the nations” comes from the verse, “Then all the peoples of the earth will see that Hashem’s name is called upon you.” The phrase, “or lagoyim,” is often used, but little understood. Fortunately, Rav Schachter addresses this problem: “What does it mean to be a ‘light unto the nations?’ When all the nations of the world will see that we have succeeded in preserving our tzelem Elokim [image of the Almighty], they will learn from our people how to live with yirat shamayim — with fear of Heaven.” With Hashem’s help, and our dedication to all that is right and good, may the nations of the world soon recognize that His holy name is upon us, as we shed light upon the darkness, and bring all humankind close to Him. V’chane yihi ratzon.

Fielding questions on road to the Burning Bush Parsha of the week

Rabbi avi billet Jewish Star columnist

ne of the more mysterious narratives in the Torah concerns what is likely the final trip back to Egypt after the Burning Bush (the midrash suggests Moshe went back and forth a number of times, and that years may have even passed between the Burning Bush and Moshe’s first audience with Pharaoh). The Torah says the following in 4:24-26 (this is as literal a translation as I could create, with the understanding that even the literal transla-

tion is subject to debate and very different possible meanings): And it was on the way, in a hotel, and the L-rd met him, and he (He?) sought his death. And Tzipporah took a stone and she cut her son’s foreskin, and she touched his (its?) feet. And she said, “Because you are a ‘hatan’ of blood.” It subsided from him, then she said, “A ‘hatan’ of blood to circumciseds.” What was on the way? What hotel? Who was there? The L-rd met whom? Whose death was sought? By whom? What stone did Tzipporah take? From where? Did she merely cut the foreskin? Or remove it? Which son was circumcised? She touched whose feet? With the foreskin? What sense are we to make of the things she said? What is a ‘hatan’ of blood? What does this

have to do with circumcision? How did a circumcision end the danger? rying something different this week, I am going to offer a number of possibilities in answering each question (in some cases, with a few questions), without reaching a particular conclusion in explaining the narrative. What was on the way? Was this a journey similar to a journey made by Avraham? Is “the way” delineating a significant passage of time, of status? Who was even present? Moshe is not mentioned in the narrative by name. What hotel? Was it their first stop on the journey? Was it closer to Midian or to Egypt? Does the word “malon” (hotel) have anything to do with the “milah” (circumcision) that takes place there? Is the main point for us to take that they

are clearly no longer in Midian? Who was there? We know about Tzipporah and her son. Was Moshe there? Was another son there? Was anyone else present? There is a Midrash that the death seeking was perpetrated by a destructive angel or two. What does that mean? The L-rd met whom? Did G-d meet Moshe? The child? The destructive angel? Note that the name of G-d utilized here is the name typically associated with mercy. That seems rather strange if we assume G-d was trying to kill someone! Whose death was sought? Moshe’s death? One of their sons’? By whom? Was G-d trying to take someone’s life? Was an angel? Did Moshe have depressing feelings — and he sought his own death? See Billet on page 22

THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2024 • 24 Tevet 5784

Carefully examining a smorgasbord of footnotes

January 5, 2024 • 24 Tevet 5784 THE JEWISH STAR

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Israel-haters aren’t refighting Vietnam War Jonathan S. toBIn

JnS Editor-in-Chief

any Americans are baffled by the mobs on college campuses and the streets of major US cities chanting for Israel’s destruction and the genocide of its people. That so many of their fellow citizens — regardless of age, education, ideology or background — would openly take the side of Hamas, the terror group that started a war on Oct. 7 with the largest mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, remains mind-boggling. So is the fact that those who call themselves “progressives” are now rooting not just for the cessation of suffering for Palestinians but for the survival of a reactionary Islamist terrorist organization that despises their beliefs. Take, for example, “queers for Palestine,” who practice an alternative lifestyle that would have earned them a brutal execution in pre-Oct. 7 Gaza ruled by Hamas, but who sympathize with the Oct. 7 barbarians and deplore Israel’s efforts to eliminate them. It’s equally true about most others sounding the “from the river to the sea” slogan, whose grasp of the conflict is so flimsy that few can identify either body of water. The problem transcends such obvious absurdities. Even their manifest tone deafness about the way they are trafficking in traditional tropes of antisemitism similarly provides little insight into their motivations. How can anyone demand that Hamas be allowed to emerge triumphant from a war begun by atrocious crimes against humanity, or that the Islamists ultimately be allowed to enact their fantasy of a world without Israel and its 7 million Jewish inhabitants?

Today’s antisemites are modeling their campaign on 1960s protesters, even though the two conflicts are very different. Still, the same toxic ideology influenced radicals of both eras.

Believing self-righteously The answer is simple. They think they are the good guys and that their opponents are intrinsically evil. And that is why the attempts on the part of publications like the New York Times to analogize the anti-Israel protesters to those who demonstrated against the Vietnam War more than a half century ago are worth considering. Such claims are wildly inaccurate since the two conflicts have nothing to do with each other. But in some ways, this evocation of the past provides a telling insight into the psychology and motivations of contemporary left-wing antisemites. The first thing to understand about such a discussion is that the corporate press is desperate to legitimize protests rooted in Jew-hatred. The Times article is, like similar pieces — such as a Washington Post story that seeks to engender sympathy for “Young U.S. Muslims” marching for Israel’s extinction in even unlikely settings like Huntsville, Ala. — primarily an effort to treat a deplorable campaign as a righteous cause taken up by brave idealists. The anti-Israel bias of publications like the Times is no longer even open to debate. On the same day that it published its article titled, “In Campus Protests Over Gaza, Echoes of Outcry Over Vietnam,” it also ran a piece on its opinion pages by Yahya R. Sarraj, the Hamas operative who was mayor of Gaza City. The piece, which mentions Oct. 7 only in passing, focuses on the destruction that his organization brought to Gaza by starting a war with savage crimes like rape, torture, beheadings and the murder of entire families. But it concludes with a passage that is gobsmacking in its disingenuousness: “Why,” he asks, “can’t Palestinians be treated equally, like Israelis and all other peoples in the world? Why can’t we live in peace and have open borders and free trade? Palestinians deserve to be free and have self-determination.” The answer is so obvious that even a New York Times editor ought to know it, which should have led the passage to be deleted even under the newspaper’s current low standards. Palestinians can’t have peace, open borders and free trade so long as they are led by and overwhelmingly support groups like Sarraj’s Hamas, whose avowed purpose is to destroy Israel and slaughter its people. The idea that Israelis are simply supposed to sit back and await the next promised, vicious attack from Hamas would be considered ridiculous were it posed to any other nation than the one Jewish state on the planet. But that’s the assumption on the part of all those who are currently marching against Israel.

Protesters hold a “Queers for Palestine” sign in New York on Nov. 12.

It’s not Vietnam

But what has any of this to do with the Vietnam War? As even the Times was forced to concede, not much. America’s involvement in Vietnam began under the administration of President John F. Kennedy and escalated during that of Lyndon Johnson before Richard Nixon ended America’s direct involvement. It didn’t conclude until 1975 with the complete military conquest of South Vietnam by the Communist government of North Vietnam. But whatever one’s take on the rights and wrongs of that conflict, it has little in common with the century-old Arab war against Zionism or the events of the last three months. The Vietnam War was justified as an attempt to prevent the spread of communism around the world. The result of the North Vietnamese victory was the imposition of a brutal totalitarian regime in the South with millions put in “reeducation” camps and many more forced to flee as “boat people.” That proved that the pro-war cause was nobler than its critics, who damned it as imperialist oppression of Third World people, understood at the time. A radical core of the anti-Vietnam movement led by the far-left may have seen it as part of an ideological war against the West, in which Communist oppressors were to be lauded because they were fighting imperialists. But most Americans who opposed the war had a different perspective. The protests gained widespread support primarily because many believed that there was no good reason for a generation of young Americans to die in a civil war in Southeast Asia that wouldn’t ultimately impact the outcome of the Cold War

Syndi Pilar, Shutterstock

with the Soviet Union. The large-scale anti-war movement was a response not so much to an unsympathetic South Vietnamese ally. Nor was it really about the war’s mismanagement by Johnson and the Kennedy appointees that LBJ kept in place and allowed to drive the nation further into a war they were unwilling and unable to win. The real reason for the protests was self-interest. It was a response to the draft, due to which young men who couldn’t get out of being conscripted through various exemptions (primarily a function of their economic status) were forced to serve. As soon as Nixon stopped sending draftees to Vietnam and then ended the draft entirely, the antiwar movement evaporated. By the time the war actually ended, few Americans cared then or since about its consequences for the Vietnamese people. So, the notion that the alleged idealism of the groovy ’60s is making a comeback among the “from the river to the sea” crowd is pure bunk. Nobody is drafting American kids to go fight Hamas. That’s the obligation that young Israelis have willingly taken up to defend their homes and families. And if American protesters really are that concerned by the impact of war in Third World venues, there are plenty of opportunities to vent their concerns about other conflicts around the globe in which far more people have been killed.

DEI: Marxism’s comeback

Still, it’s not entirely wrong to see the roots of today’s anti-Israel protests in those radicals, who were the most violent elements of the protests against the Johnson and Nixon administrations. See Tobin on page 22

BEnjAmIn KERstEIn

sraelis, supporters of Israel and Jews in general are constantly asked: “You can criticize Israel without being antisemitic, can’t you?” There are various ways of answering this slightly irritating query. For my part, I believe that, in our current moment, all criticism of Israel must be either subjectively or objectively antisemitic. When mobs are rampaging through major cities calling for the annihilation of the Jewish people and the president of Harvard cannot bring herself to condemn it, there is no possible way that “criticism” of Israel, however well intended, is not going to feed the beast. I realize, however, that this is not a popular opinion. Most people, and indeed most Jews, feel that criticism of Israel is not by definition antisemitic. If we accept this for the sake of argument, then the next step is to find a way to define whether a specific criticism is antisemitic or not. There have been several attempts to do this, of which the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism is the most famous and widely adopted. It defines antisemitic “criticism” of Israel as Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor. Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation. Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis. Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to

that of the Nazis. Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel. nother definition was provided by former Prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky. It is similar but has the virtue of brevity. It uses “Three D’s” to distinguish legitimate criticism of Israel from antisemitism: “Delegitimization, demonization and double standards.” These definitions are both useful and largely accurate. In some ways, however, they miss the larger point. The real litmus test for criticism of Israel is not necessarily the nature of the specific criticism, but rather the nature of the critics. That is to say, one must examine the critic and ask: What is the measure of their hate? This goes to the heart of the matter in a way that more detailed methods cannot, because hate is what antisemitism is. If it does not hate, then by definition, it cannot be antisemitism. The issue of hate is also essential because attempts to rationally define antisemitism will always fail to one degree or another. In the final analysis, antisemitism is not rational. It is an extreme emotional state, akin to a neurosis or even a psychosis. Whatever seemingly rational arguments — or “criticisms”— it makes are purely coincidental, mere epiphenomena atop what is ultimately a derangement. Antisemitism is, in fact, something like an attack on rationality itself. No one driven by anything other than delirious emotion could believe that 0.2% of the population of the world somehow rules it. Nor could they believe that the call to slaughter an entire people may or may not be problematic, depending on the “context.” They certainly could not believe that the most well-documented series of atrocities in human history never happened. Nor could they dismiss, justify or celebrate horrific acts of barbaric terrorism. This is not even to mention insanities like the blood libel.

A supporter of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel at a rally in New York City on Oct. 9.

o, what is the measure of their hate? It is, of course, impossible to see into a person’s soul. We can only know what they say and what they do. Very well. •We know that “critics” of Israel openly call for the slaughter of at least 15 million people on the basis of their race, ethnicity, religion and nationality. •We know that they are willing to take to the streets in the tens of thousands to proclaim as much and are proud to do so. •We know that they emotionally and physically attack and abuse Jews at every opportunity. We know that, in at least one case, this has led to a wanton act of murder and that it may well lead to another.

Lev Radin, Shutterstock

•We know that they routinely deny the Holocaust, celebrate the Oct. 7 massacre and do everything in their power to truncate Israel and the Jews’ ability to defend themselves against such atrocities. •We know that they have made Jewish life virtually unlivable in many parts of the world. •We know that they engage in the most vitriolic rhetoric and incitement in order to bully others into agreeing with them or at least submitting to them by silence. •We know that they have built an industry, a regime, dedicated to furthering these activities. •We know that they have corrupted entire institutions and industries in order to do so. See Kerstein on page 22

It’s Shoah redux. And Israel isn’t moving on. RABBI HILLEL GOLDBERG Intermountain Jewish News

srael isn’t moving on. Nor are the Jewish people. Oct. 7 is like July 4: fixed in consciousness. It changed Jews inside and outside of Israel forever. I’m seeing double. So much flies by, but one hammer does not move: Oct. 7. I’m seeing the current take on Israel by the U.N., by Joe Biden, by the media, in the latest twists and turns on what Israel did or didn’t do, or should or shouldn’t do. None of this budges the anchor: Oct. 7. It seems that politicians and commentators think that because so many have died in Gaza that Israel will have to reevaluate. My guess is that the Israeli military doesn’t need the advice, as it reevaluates countless times daily; but it’s a pragmatic, strategic reevaluation, no doubt including ways to reduce both Israeli and civilian casualties in Gaza. But it is not a reevaluation of purpose. For that, there is a fixed reality: Oct. 7. It can no longer be flexibly modulated, let alone extirpated, just because of successes or failures in the prosecution of the war against Hamas. I’m searching for an analogy. Britain at Dunkirk? It was a devastating setback, but it

Jews had come to assume the Holocaust would ‘never again’ happen. Now we know that if it could, it would.

didn’t change anything basic. Britain was not going to adjust its goal against Nazism, no matter what. So, we have a new Israel. It and not reactions to it around the world is driving the future. new Israel — Not taking its existence for granted, not seeing redemption in a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia (if it comes), not tearing itself apart over judicial reform or anything else, not putting aside its grief over its fallen heroes; mostly, though, not able to set aside the reality of the inhuman depths to which Hamas and its fellow travelers sink to express their unbridled hatred of Israel and Jews. There is a psychology to being hated. It hasn’t torn so deeply into the Jewish psyche since the Holocaust, which, Jews had come to assume, would “never again” happen. Now we know that if it could, it would. That’s what Oct. 7 means to the Israeli psyche and the Jewish people. Whether the current Israeli administration stays in power, whether the U.N. stays hostile to Israel, whether Biden stays friendly to Israel, whether the Houthis or Hezbollah erupt against Israel, whether peace falls upon the land; no matter what, the meaning of Oct. 7 will not change. “How are you?” I, like everyone else, am asked routinely. Maybe I say “I’m fine” out of habit, but I am not fine. Today, few Jews I know are fine. Because of Oct. 7. Somehow, even the hypocrisy doesn’t rattle us over much. Many more killed by Ukraine in its defensive war than by Israel in its; many millions killed, injured or exiled by Assad in Syria in its civil war, without protest by progressives. Selective outrage. Even so, Oct. 7 trumps the hypocrisy as the sobering Jewish reality of the age. When we see Claudine Gay of Harvard and her two fellow presidents fumbling around when asked about the genocide of Jews, it matters. It shocks. But not nearly as much as Oct. 7.

A man whose father was murdered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 searches the rubble of his home for family mementos in Kibbutz Be’eri on Nov. 30. Chen Schimmel, Flash90

emember Israel’s 75th birthday? Remember all the commentators saying that in ancient Israel no independent Jewish state lasted longer? Remember all the predictions of Israel’s internal dissolution? Remember the perverse joy taken by Israel’s enemies at what they saw as the country’s inevitable collapse? All this was barely over half a year ago. No one remembers now. Not after Oct. 7. The Talmud says that after the destruction of the Second Temple only children and fools prophesy. I do not wish to be counted a fool. I don’t know how Simchat Torah will be celebrated next year. I do not know what will happen tomorrow. But I do know what is happening today.

Nothing is the same. A new and pervasive reality suffuses everything that Jews say and do. A new power suffuses their prayers. A new fear, a new hope, a new terror, a new gratitude are all inescapable. Perhaps even a new denial. A pain or fate too deep to face. Either way, it all stems from the utterly unexpected vulnerability of Oct. 7 and the utterly unspeakable realities that occurred that day. Abba Eban used to refer to “Auschwitz borders.” Enemies of Israel didn’t care. Even many friends of Israel thought this overwrought. Not now. Israel isn’t moving on. Neither are the Jewish people.

THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2024 • 24 Tevet 5784

Anti-Zionism: Is it antisemitism? Is there hate?

January 5, 2024 • 24 Tevet 5784 THE JEWISH STAR

Standing for national unity and national survival CarolIne glICk Israel Hayom

lot has changed in Israel since Oct. 7, but a lot has also stayed the same. What has changed is exemplified in the actions of the Kalmanzon brothers, members of the religious community of Otniel in the South Hebron Hills, on Oct. 7. On Oct. 7, Elhanan Kalmanzon, a reserve major in the Commando Brigade and a Mossad officer, realized almost immediately that Israel was being invaded. He organized the security team in Otniel and messaged his brother Menachem. “I’m packing up and going south. The nation of Israel needs us. Our brothers need us.” Menachem joined Elchanan, and with their brother-in-law Itiel Zohar Horovitz, they drove down south, ending up at the gate of Kibbutz Be’eri. Be’eri was one of Hamas’s primary targets for slaughter. Ninety-seven members of the small farming community were butchered that day. Greeting them at the entry gate were terrified residents. “My sister is inside.” “My brother is inside.” “Please save them.” The Kalmanzon brothers and Horovitz found an abandoned armored personnel carrier, and entered the kibbutz. For 14 and a half hours they went from house to house, rescuing families through the windows of their safe rooms, filling their vehicle, driving to safety, and returning to the farming community-turned-killing-field, over and over again. On their final trip into Be’eri, after having saved more than a quarter of the residents, Elhanan was killed as he entered another home. A delegation of members of Be’eri came to Otniel to pay a condolence call to the Kalmanzon family during their shivah. In the course of their meeting, Menachem praised the heroism and the hardened courage of the residents of Be’eri. “There were 70-year-old women there. We’d offer them a hand to help them down [from the window].” Swatting his hand in the air, as if pushing a fly away, Menachem continued, “This 70-year-old woman said, ‘No thank you.’ She’s a tough woman, a woman of labor. We laughed together and, ‘If they told you to go to the cow shed and do the morning milking in half an hour, you’d be off’.”

Progressivism, post-Zionism

Be’eri and the surrounding kibbutzim were founded by hardcore Labor Zionists. They believed that the Jewish people would liberate themselves from 2,000 years of exile and powerlessness, build their state and secure their freedom into the future through hard work, hard fighting and collective farming. They aspired to build a Jewish socialist state. Over the years, as they became prosperous, their socialism dissipated. Zionism, it seemed, had finished its job. Socialism was superseded by progressivism, Zionism by post-Zionism. Like the residents of neighboring kibbut-

Oct. 7 shattered the founding myth of the so-called peace process with the PLO — that there were ‘extremists’ and ‘moderates’ on both sides.

Ofir Engel, released from being held in Gaza, and families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip attend a press conference for the foreign media in Kibbutz Be’eri, Dec. 20. Yonatan Sindel, Flash90

zim, Be’eri’s members believed in coexistence with the Palestinians. They thought the biggest threat to that coexistence was people like the Kalmanzon brothers, who are religious and live in Judea or Samaria. They believed in the founding myth of the so-called peace process with the PLO — that there were “extremists” on both sides. The supposedly “moderate” PLO ruling Fatah faction had its “extremists” in Hamas. The “moderate” Israeli elite, of which the kibbutzim outside Gaza were very much a part, had its “extremist” religious Zionists, otherwise known as “settlers.” To reach peace, the “moderates” on both sides had to defeat their “extremists.” Oct. 7 shattered that illusion. Hamas didn’t slaughter the people of Be’eri and surrounding communities on its own. It was joined by Fatah terrorists and thousands of “civilians.” These Palestinian “moderates” were full participants in the atrocities committed that day. On the other hand, the people who arrived at the scene to save them, unbidden, were the Kalmanzon brothers from Otniel who were supposed to be their enemies. Since the ground operation began in Gaza, 45% of the soldiers killed in action have come from the religious Zionist community whose members comprise only 10% of the overall population.

agreement with the Palestinians. Ninety percent of Israelis (including Israeli Arabs) do not trust the Palestinians. On the eve of the massacre, Israeli society was riven by division and internecine hatred more bitter and dangerous than the state had previously experienced in its 75-year history. For 10 months, led by former and serving Supreme Court justices; disgruntled, politically radical retired generals and prime ministers; and the media, the left had waged an insurgency against the legitimacy of the democraticallyelected Netanyahu government and its voters.

Ideological landscape shifts

The Supreme Court

The slaughter of Oct. 7 provoked a radical shift in the ideological landscape in Israel. On the left, the revision was led by the refugees from Be’eri and the other kibbutzim that were subjected to Hamas’ one-day genocide, and saved by men they had seen as their greatest foes. More and more, the determination and pioneering spirit that the Kalmanzon brothers saw in the faces of the people of Be’eri has returned to the hearts of their communities and ideological partners. They returned to the Zionism they thought they no longer needed. The universalist progressive creeds that convinced them the monsters who invaded their homes were really just like them, have been cast aside. And just as Elchanan told Menachem “our brothers need us” and drove to Be’eri, so the people of Be’eri now realize that religious Zionists are their brothers, not their enemies. This state of affairs was captured in a survey carried out by the Direct Polls agency and reported last week on Channel 14. The poll showed that in the aftermath of Oct. 7, 44% of Israelis, including 30% of leftists, said their views have shifted to the right. And whereas the public was split more or less evenly on the question of the desirability of a Palestinian state on Oct. 6, after the massacre of Oct. 7, only 30% of Israelis (including Israeli Arabs) believe it is possible to reach an

We must marginalize the forces who seek to divide us even at the cost of national destruction, and work together towards victory at all costs. During the 10 months that preceded Oct. 7, the most polarizing issue on the national agenda was the question of the proper role of the Supreme Court in Israel’s democratic system. For the past 30 years, in a series of groundbreaking decisions, activist, progressive and post-Zionist Supreme Court justices led by retired Supreme Court President Aharon Barak enacted what Barak referred to as the “judicial revolution.” The Netanyahu government that entered office in late December 2022 was pledged to reform the judiciary in a manner that would restore the court’s position as a co-equal branch of government. Justice Minister Yariv Levin presented the government’s exceedingly limited program of reform weeks after being sworn in. His speech provoked a ferocious response. Aharon Barak spoke of civil war and so incited one. Barak’s successor, Supreme Court President Esther Hayut, stopped just short of declaring war on the government and its supporters. The furor they stoked quickly penetrated the IDF officer corps and intelligence services as officers in elite units signed letters pledging not to serve under the Netanyahu government. In the interest of lessening internal division and rancor, the government set aside almost every one of its proposed reforms. It

moved forward with only one bill. The bill — an amendment to Basic Law: Judiciary, which sets out the basis for the operation of Israel’s court system — placed a minor limit on the court’s arrogated power to cancel duly promulgated laws. In the past, Barak himself admitted that the court has no power to cancel Basic Laws, since they are the source of the court’s powers. All the same, Hayut immediately accepted a petition calling for her and her colleagues to cancel the amendment. Marathon hearings were carried out in mid-September, just a month before Hayut and Justice Anat Baron were set to retire at the mandatory age for judges of 70. Under the law, Hayut and Baron are only permitted to sign onto judgments until Jan. 16 and Jan. 12, respectively, three months after their retirements. On Monday, the 15-member court split 8-7 in favor of canceling the amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary. The two deciding votes are Hayut’s and Baron’s. In the aftermath of Oct. 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed his arch-rival, former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and his party into the emergency government and the War Cabinet. Gantz spoke for the public when he explained that the partnership was not political but rather a “fellowship in fate.” When Gantz brought his party into the Netanyahu government, the first thing they agreed to do was to postpone all discussion of legal reform until after the war. Recognizing that the dispute was serious because the issue is serious, Netanyahu and Gantz agreed it was essential to set it aside to keep the public unified. Their determination to put unity above even the most critical issues on the national agenda, including the form of Israel’s democratic system, reflected the will of the public. The Direct Polls survey last week showed that for 62% of the public, the top goal for the day after the war is ushering in a period of national reconciliation. Hayut’s decision to use her last weeks of residual power to issue her judgment has been likened to throwing a hand grenade into a crowded IDF barrack. The government and Knesset responded to Hayut’s hand grenade by saying they would not respond until the war is over.

Politicians and generals fail

Hayut’s allies — the same failed politicians and generals who incited the year-long riots— are using her assault to sow demoralization and reinstate their anti-government protests in the midst of the current war. Former IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. (res.) Dan Halutz, who oversaw the 2005 expulsion of all Jews from Gaza and the destruction of their communities in the framework of Israel’s withdrawal from the Strip, and then led Israel to military defeat in the Second Lebanon War in 2006, declared last week that Israel has lost the Hamas war. He called for the left to wage a civil war and promised that victory will come when Netanyahu leaves power. In his eulogy to his son Elhanan, Rabbi Binyamin Kalmanzon said, “Our sacred country is now experiencing one of the gravest crises in its history. The order of the day is unity! Disagreement can become a lethal bacterium, bacteria that escalate every possible disagreement. All ill will causes needless hatred. “The enemy picked up our discord and division and convinced itself that this is the time to defeat us. For the sake of humanity, in the name of love of humanity and repairing the world, for the infants and the elderly, for the women and children, we must expunge this murderous evil.” The mission of Israeli society today is to keep faith with the people of Be’eri and with the Kalmanzon brothers. We must marginalize the forces in our society who seek to divide us even at the cost of national destruction, set aside our differences, and work together towards victory at all costs.

Beyond the Tribe

CHRISTINE FLOWERS

spent months, and lots of ink, sounding the alarm about John Fetterman during his run for the US Senate from Pennsylvania. I saw him as a man who was to the left of Lenin on all of the social issues that mattered to me, including his refusal to consider any limits on abortion. I was also angered by his softness toward convicted criminals who came before him when he was on the commonwealth’s parole board, particularly because one of the men up for consideration had been involved in the murder of a good friend’s father. It got to the point where I sounded like Paul Revere, substituting my laptop for a horse. Unlike the Boston patriot, however, I was unsuccessful in alerting the populace to the imminent danger. Now, I am sorry for having treated John Fetterman as a clear and present danger to the commonwealth and the nation.

We still disagree mightily on abortion, on transgender surgery for minors, on gun rights, LGBT rights, parental rights and a host of other social hot potatoes. I still think he was wrong to essentially hide his health diagnoses from the public for so long. I doubt there will ever be any middle ground there; the differences are wider than the Susquehanna. But to maintain a semblance of honesty, integrity and authenticity, a person needs to acknowledge their errors. now detest all of the mean things that I said about his lack of character. Fetterman, unlike Pennsylvania’s other senator and many other legislators, has been unwavering in his support for Israel and the victims of the attempted genocide on Oct. 7. He has openly defied the angry calls of his progressive constituents to tone it down, and in one memorable instance waived the Israeli flag in front of a bunch of protesters screaming outside of his Senate chambers. His courageous, gutsy, and in-your-face support for Jews at a time when antisemitism is on the rise is a profile in courage, one that needs to be noticed by everyone who respects human rights.

Top names: Avigail, David

Israel’s first baby of 2024, a boy, was born at 12:16 am at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon to Coral and Daniel Sargo. “This is a serene and happy moment for us, the birth experience was amazing. At a time like this — this is our small victory,” said Coral. Meanwhile, the biblical couple Avigail and David furnished the top names for Jewish babies born in Israel, according to the latest

statistics for 2022 provided by the Central Bureau of Statistics over the weekend. The top three names for Jewish girls were Avigail followed by Tamar and Ayala, while among Jewish boys the most popular names were David and then Ariel and Lavie. The most popular child’s name in Israel remains Mohammed, with one in eight Muslim boys bearing the name of the founder of Islam, down from one in six two decades ago. — JNS

He has nothing to gain in alienating his uberleftist base, and everything to gain from the rest of us who don’t live in echo chambers. I know that some on the left think he’s doing this because of donations that he received from Jewish organizations, and I know that some on the right suspect he’s playing us, but I truly believe that this is something that denotes a deeply held conviction. I share that conviction — that there is only one victimizer in this scenario, and that while all lives matter, the ones that matter most are those that do not support terrorists. eyond his support for Israel and the Jewish victims of the Gaza massacre, Fetterman has also shown common sense on issues impacting the border. As an immigration attorney, I respect the fact

that he’s willing to acknowledge the chaos, and the need to do something to promote a more orderly process to enter this country. Chaos hurts immigrants, as he knows quite well since his wife had to go through the process of legalizing her status in a country that doesn’t make things easy for good people. In addition to his positions on Israel and immigration, the senator has also expressed dismay at the foreign purchase of a steel manufacturer and rightly called for the resignation of a Democratic colleague, Bob Menendez. The hits keep coming, so to speak. Again, I will never agree with this man on so many issues that define who I am. But my father taught me that you can respect a person because of their courage, even if you would be more comfortable with their cowardice.

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THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2024 • 24 Tevet 5784

I misread Fetterman’s character, and I apologize

January 5, 2024 • 24 Tevet 5784 THE JEWISH STAR

Weinreb... Continued from page 17 troubled for them.” Rashi’s comment is prompted by the words “he saw.” Of course, if he went out to his brethren, he “saw” their labors. Rashi, therefore, suggests an alternative and deeper interpretation of the words “he saw.” He is telling us that he didn’t merely see visually. He saw deeply. He took notice. Metaphorically, he used his “magnifying glass” to discover every footnote, to absorb every detail of his brethren’s toil. What he saw troubled him, and he suffered along with them. The Midrash, serving as our “magnifying glass,” provides an expanded picture of every “footnote” in the scene that Moses saw: He saw their labors, and he wept, saying, “Woe is me, I am willing to die for them.” He extended his shoulders to help carry the burden of each and every one of them. He saw the weak carrying heavy burdens, and the strong carrying lighter ones. He saw manly burdens being carried by women, and feminine burdens carried by men. He saw tasks appropriate for the elderly assigned to the young, and tasks befitting the young passed along to the elderly. He put aside his royal equipage and eased their labors. … So that the Holy One Blessed be He said to him, “You left behind your concerns, went to observe Israel’s pain, and reacted like a good brother. So too will I, G-d, leave behind My upper and lower celestial spheres and speak to you.” The Midrash’s implication that the Almighty, so to speak, took his cue from Moses is a daring one. But even more daring from a theological perspective is Rashi’s comment on a later phrase in the parsha: “G-d looked upon the Israelites, and G-d knew.” hat can “and G-d knew” possibly mean? After all, He is all-knowing, omniscient. Targum Onkeles, troubled by this question, renders the phrase “G-d knew” into Aramaic as, “and G-d gave His word that He would redeem them.” A widely-used English translation renders the phrase, “and G-d took notice of them.” Rashi offers a theologically daring comment: “He directed [literally, ‘gave’] His heart toward them and did not hide His eyes.” Returning to the metaphor I introduced above, G-d, so to speak, used His divine magnifying glass to scrutinize every footnote, to attend to every detail, of Israel’s enslavement. Rashi dares to apply the same terms that he used to describe Moses’ empathic response, “eyes” and “heart,” to the Almighty Himself. Rashi leaves his readers with an image of a G-d who demonstrates human-like sympathy for His suffering people. There is much more to these two passages in Rashi’s commentary than an account of Moses’ compassion. There is more to them than just a glimpse of G-d’s merciful ways. There is a lesson here for all of us. We often “see” our brothers in difficulties of one sort or another. Typically, matters stop right there. We “see” them, but we do not extend ourselves in the ways that Moses did. Quite the contrary: we tend to look away. But there is another, much more worthy option. We can utilize our magnifying glass to look at the footnotes. We can pay careful attention to the plight of our brothers, noting all the details of their plight. We can direct our eyes to the scene that is before us and can then open our hearts so that they feel the pain of others who suffer. Finally, like Moses, we can shed our inhibitions and plunge right into the fray, extending our shoulders to help bear our brother’s burden. Moses is called Moshe Rabbenu, Moses our Teacher. As we read the weekly portions for the next many months, we will learn many things from him. But this week, we can learn from his very first lesson, one that he modeled by his own conduct: Direct your eyes and your heart to your brother’s suffering.

Gerber...

Continued from page 17 sive introduction that serves to give both the scholar and novice a rationale of Onkelos’s method. Among these are how he changed the uses

of metaphors, basic grammar, clarity, and even changes in the names of geographic locations, from that of the Biblical era to his time. Most of these changes may be new to many readers, but after reading this work, your appreciation for Targum will take on a new cast. This work also includes a complete appendix, a “beyond the text” supra-commentary, and a translation of the Haphtarot based upon the various Aramaic Targumim, a first for this commentary. ••• The next I’m discussing today is the English translation of the Shemot volume of the famed “Miqra’ot Gedolot, The Commentators’ Bible,” edited, translated and annotated by Dr. Michael Carasik (JPS, 2005). Within this sefer can be found a translation of Rashi, Rashbam, Ibn Ezra, Ramban, and the added commentators, the Bechor Shor, Kimhi, Hizkuni, Ralbag, Abarbanel, and the Sforno, some in English for the first time, ever. The Hebrew text is in the middle of the page, with the NJPS (a freer and more readable translation) found to its upper left and the OJPS (a more literal translation) to its upper right. The various commentators are in the middle and lower right and left of the page, similar to the tzurat ha’daf (layout) of the Talmud. Additional comments and footnote are found at the bottom. Numerous literary aspects, definitions of terms and biographical data are provided within the context of the introductory material. The total effect is an attractive, well-organized work that is easy to read, and will serve as a valuable learning tool for home, school, and shul. My one reservation deals with the need for the use of both JPS translations. One is sufficient. ••• Next is a commentary on Shemot based upon the teachings of the classical commentaries, Chazal, and original thoughts by its author and editor, Rabbi Yitzchok D. Frankel of the Agudath Israel of the Five Towns in Cedarhurst. Titled “Machat Shel Yad” (Nehorah Publication, Urim, 2008), Rabbi Frankel utilizes the classic tools of p’shat, drush, hashkafa and philosophy to give a quality perush that will serve our people well for years to come. A special feature that is included in this work is a section geared to the Pesach Hagadah. Hopefully, this will serve as a model for future works on Sefer Shemot that will take note of the practical role of this sefer for use at the Seder table. Rabbi Frankel comes to this work with a life’s experience in rabbinics and education, as a prominent student of his mentor, Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l, from whom he received his semicha. This commentary on Shemot follows his previous, well-received commentary on Bereishit. ••• The last book on Shemot we’ll review is “Unlocking The Torah Text: An In-Depth Journey Into The Weekly Parsha” (Gefen, 2008) by Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, who was spiritual leader Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood for 33 years until making aliyah in 2017. The organization of this sefer is different from any other on the Chumash in that it brings the reader into the topics discussed in an almost-virtual classroom setting. Each parsha is divided into four or five learning sections. These, in turn, are subdivided into portions titled context, which leads into a pivotal question on that context. This is followed by several approaches, similar to speak outs, offering numerous likely answers to the question presented. At the end of each section is a series of points to ponder which place the whole “inyan” (topic) into a proper thematic perspective. This may sound a bit complicated; however, in reality, it is meant to serve as a challenge to the reader, a challenge well worth taking. Rabbi Goldin is both a skillful teacher and writer. When you read his work, remember that it is based upon oral presentation. Read in that context, the book will serve as a valued resource in better understanding all the events of the Exodus, Matan Torah (Giving of the Torah) and the Mishkan’s construction, as well as the incident of the Golden Calf. Of particular note is the 23-page section of sources with its valuable biographies. Each of these works deal with the Sefer Yetzi’at Mitzrayim and should serve a practical use at Pesach time. Each deserves a place at the Seder table to supplement the Hagadah. There-

fore, a word of caution: Keep these Chumashim and seforim away from the challah and cholent. Go and enjoy some quality learning time this coming Shabbat and may these commentaries help enrich each and every Shabbat that you will celebrate with family and friends. A version of this column originally appeared in 2009.

Billet...

Continued from page 17 What stone did Tzipporah take? From where? Was it sharp? Was it jagged? Did she carry it for emergency purposes? Did she merely cut the foreskin? Or remove it? The narrative uses the word “Va’tikhrot” which most likely means a full removal. How did she know to do that? What possessed her to take this particular action? How would she know what to do with the foreskin — or did her next move just come about in the heat of the moment, at the height of her concern over whatever was happening around her? hich son was circumcised? As best we know she had one son, Gershom, who was born at the end of chapter 2. We know about a second son from when she shows up in Shmot 18 at the beginning of Parshat Yitro. When was the second son born? Was he alive at the time of the Burning Bush? Was he born subsequent to the Burning Bush episode? By how many years? How old was Gershom at the time of this incident in the hotel? If she circumcised him, he could already be a teenager! She touched whose feet? Did her rock/knife cut the newly circumcised son’s feet? Did she touch the feet of a destructive angel? Did she throw the foreskin at someone’s feet? Was it blood that touched or reached someone’s feet? How do we know what touched what or what touched whom? What sense are we to make of the things she said? To whom is she speaking, and about whom is she speaking? The foreskin? Her baby? Her older son? Her husband? Does “hatan” automatically mean ‘groom’ as many translate it? Is it a Hebrew word? What is a “hatan” of blood? What does this have to do with circumcision? How did a circumcision end the danger? The only things clear in this story (to me) are that someone’s death was sought, and that Tzippoah’s circumcising her son ended the threat. So why does the Torah tell us this tale? I think the journey tells us much about Moshe’s quick transition from shepherd of sheep to Shepherd of Israel. To do this, Moshe needs to have experiences similar to that of Avraham — circumcision and near death (think Akedah) to be ready to take care of Avraham’s descendants, and to serve as the person who will bring the promise made to Avraham to its absolute completion.

which divides the world into two immutable groups: victims of racism and racist oppressors. This is a neo-Marxist dialectic not unrelated to the ideas of the so-called New Left that spawned SDS and the radical Weatherman terrorist movement that tried to blow up the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, the State Department and dozens of other targets during their campaign in what might well have been termed a real “insurrection.” And that is what blinds them to the fact that they are devoting their energy and passion to supporting a cause that is fundamentally evil. The ideological prism through which they view the world mandates that the side that is designated by leftist doctrine as “white” and colonial (Israel) must be wrong and the one labeled as the cause of the oppressed “people of color” (the Palestinians) must be right. They are insensible to obvious truths about a complex conflict that isn’t racial and that has always been driven by Arab refusal to share the land with the Jews. Their acceptance of the idea that Jews, who are the indigenous people of their ancient homeland, are colonizers in Israel much as Americans were depicted in Vietnam is as egregious as it is false. But that doesn’t matter to the protesters because they see the facts as irrelevant. Nor do they care about the horrors perpetrated by Hamas on Oct. 7 or even against their own people as they continue to sacrifice them on the altar of their never-ending war against the Jews.

Mainstreaming antisemitism

It’s true that Hamas’s useful idiots are using some of the same tactics pioneered by the antiVietnam movement. But what those seeking to lionize today’s demonstrators want to obfuscate in their alleged idealism about helping Gazans is given the lie by the antisemitism they are spreading. The arguments about Vietnam were not predicated on the horrible notion that wiping the only Jewish state off the map — an objective that could only be achieved by the genocide of the Jews — is a righteous cause. And even at their worst, the Vietnam protests didn’t target Jewish students, Jewish businesses or seek to drive Jews from the public square as these mobs seek to do. There’s no denying that the same core ideology driving the movement to destroy Israel is linked to the war on the West and the principles of American freedom that were championed by the Marxists of the ’60s New Left. Yet what is so damaging about demonstrators right now is not just their unabashed antisemitism. It’s the fact that their lies are being bought not by just a radical fringe but by a broad cross-section of young Americans who have been educated to believe that a genocidal, Jew-hating terrorist movement is the underdog deserving of support. This is the greatest tragedy of the post-Oct. 7 protests. And it is ultimately one that not just threatens Israel or the Jews, but the future of the United States as a free country.

Tobin...

Kerstein...

Continued from page 18 Unlike most Americans, the Marxists of the misnamed Students for a Democratic Society — veterans of which were featured in the Times article — wanted the Communists to win in much the same way those who compose the mobs tying up traffic, breaking up Christmas celebrations and intimidating Jewish students on campuses want Hamas to defeat Israel. Unlike most of the Americans who were against the war in the 1960s without expressing hatred for their own country, the motivations of the large number of young people and Muslims who have swelled the numbers of the antiIsrael movement are ideological in nature. They are the product of a generation of education in which leftists — many of them former ’60s radicals — who believe in the myths of intersectionality that falsely analogize the Palestinian war against Israel to the struggle for civil rights in the United States. They’ve been indoctrinated in the toxic catechism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), as well as critical race theory,

Continued from page 19 •We know, above all, that their fanaticism is of such an intensity that they will not stop unless they are stopped. This is the evidence. It is incontrovertible. In the face of it, the only defense offered is a rhetorical question that not only fails to contend with this evidence but strategically ignores it. In other words, the question of whether one can criticize Israel without being antisemitic is not a question. It is an attempt to do an end-run around reality. After all, everyone knows what hate looks like, including the haters themselves. Those who claim they do not are lying. So, we must say to the questioner: If you cannot see this hate, it is because you do not want to. And if you do not want to, you never will. That being the case, please stand aside and refrain from bothering us with questions to which you already know the answer.

23 THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2024 • 24 Tevet 5784

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