The Jewiish Star 02-23-2024

Pull out and display the ‘Stand with Israel’ posters in centerspread

Feb. 23 and Mar 1, 2024 14 and 21 Adar I, 5784 • Vol 23, No 8

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Israelis fight for their lives, and Americans don’t get it A visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza tells the story

JoNATHAN S. TobIn

JNS Editor-in-Chief

T

he world looks a lot different from Kibbutz Kfar Aza than it does in the United States or any other point on the planet. The difference is obvious in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or anywhere else in Israel.

Throughout the world in most mainstream media accounts and commentary from supposedly enlightened members of the chattering classes, the current war being fought in Gaza between Israel and Hamas is seen as merely the latest twist in a long cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. From that perspective, it’s just more evidence of the cruelty of war to which the only possible moral response is to tell everyone involved to stop it, especially when the alleged underdogs — the Palestinians — are being defeated.

To those who look on from afar, the history of the conflict or the rights and wrongs of how the war started — even the unspeakable atrocities committed on Oct. 7 at Kfar Aza and 21 other Israeli communities when Palestinians associated with Hamas violated a ceasefire, crossed the border and murdered, raped, tortured and kidnapped people — are just details that act to incite the combatants.

But those details matter, especially if they involve the right to live in safety and relative peace.

A just war

This war is between a democratic nation fighting for its existence against an Islamist movement whose goal is the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people.

Yet many outside of Israel, even those who do know the history and essential nature of the two

Wrecked cars from attendees of the Nova music festival piled up as a gruesome reminder.

Jonathan S. Tobin

sides in this struggle, such as President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, are increasingly speaking as if the only thing to do is to end the war as soon as possible. They say the aftermath of the war must mean that Hamas survives — and gets away with mass murder. That means the Palestinians are rewarded for such abominations with an independent state that will likely have the ability to pursue the terrorist organization’s goal for many more days like Oct.

7. Somehow, that makes sense in Washington and other places.

But not in Israel.

The overwhelming majority of Israelis, including many, if not most, of those who oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, see it very differently. And to understand why, maybe you need to go to Kfar Aza and see the ruins and makeshift memorials to the people who lived in that small kibbutz near the Gaza border who

were brutally murdered, raped or kidnapped by Palestinians.

If so, you’ll soon realize that the battle with Hamas isn’t one about Israelis ruthlessly harming Palestinians. Nor is it about “white” oppressors seeking to dominate powerless “people of color,” as many left-wing Americans think. Nor is it one in which tired diplomatic theories about a “two-state solution,” which have repeatedly been rejected by the Palestinian people, can be employed to get a messy situation under control, not to mention ease some of Biden’s political problems.

To be in Israel during this war is to experience both the strength and the fragility of the Jewish state. Yet the general public wouldn’t necessarily think that if all they know of the Middle East is what’s seen on news shows. After all, life goes on pretty much as normal, even if some businesses and farming areas in southern and northern Israel have clearly suffered due to the absence of employees because so many people have been called into active military service. The buses and trains are running, and people still go to the movies and concerts, as well as other normal activities.

The hotels are also full, but not with tourists.

That is a key giveaway that something isn’t right.

Walk into many hotels in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, and something is a little off. They’re packed with people but not tourists on vacation from abroad.

Chat with even a few of the hundreds of thousands of Israelis — families with small children and elderly people prominent among them — who were forced to flee their homes in the south near Gaza and the north near Lebanon, and you get a view of the war that is omitted in the breathless coverage of Palestinian suffering.

See Americans on page 2

Trump dumps on Pilip, a ‘very foolish woman’ After Mazi Pilip steadfastly refused to throw former President Donald Trump under the bus in her failed congressional campaign, Trump declined to return the favor.

He mocked Pilip, the Republican candidate who lost by eight points to Democrat Tom Suozzi in last week’s 3rd CD special election to replace George Santos, and claimed the defeat was caused by

her failing to display adequate fealty to the fomer president.

Trump called Pilip a “very foolish woman.”

“Republicans just don’t learn, but maybe she was still a Democrat?” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “I have an almost 99% Endorsement Success Rate in Primaries, and a very good number in the General Elections, as well, but just watched this very foolish

woman, Mazi Melesa Pilip, running in a race where she didn’t endorse me and tried to ‘straddle the fence,’ when she would have easily WON if she understood anything about MODERN DAY politics in America.”

Pilip, elected twice as a Republican to the Nassau County legislature, is a registered Democrat.

Trump claimed his supporters “STAYED HOME” because Pilip was not supportive enough

of Trump, “AND [the MAGA movement] ALWAYS WILL, UNLESS IT IS TREATED WITH THE RESPECT THAT IT DESERVES.” Suozzi, who served three terms in the House before deciding to leave Congress to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul, campaigned as a centrist against a right-wing Pilip.

The Pilip campaign sought to paint him as a radical leftist in bed with the anti-Israel “Squad.”

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Americans don’t understand what’s happening…

Continued from page 1 These people were chased out of their homes by either the Oct. 7 attacks and continued rocket fire by Hamas, or the ongoing missile fire from Hezbollah. They can’t go home until the terrorist threat at both borders is eliminated.

United by grief and determination

To understand what’s going on, you need to talk to Israelis who have been called back into the military and willingly risking their lives fighting in Gaza. Though they’re eager to resume their regular lives, many I spoke with are just as ready to return to the battlefield because they know the job of destroying a deadly threat to their country isn’t finished.

While international opinion deplores the possibility that Israel will attack the city of Rafah — Hamas’s last major enclave inside Gaza — few Israelis I spoke to, including those who have served, are prepared to halt the war until all of the perpetrators of the Oct. 7 massacres are stripped of the ability to repeat their crimes.

You don’t have to do a lot of reporting before you realize that morale among Israeli soldiers is high and stretches across all the cultural, political and religious debates that divide Israeli society. It’s not because they relish war or bloodshed.

They don’t want to kill Palestinians and also grieve the loss of so many of their comrades — casualties made more likely because of the strict rules of engagement that prevent the Israel Defense Forces from fully utilizing the firepower at their disposal to lower the number of civilians killed because Hamas uses them as human shields.

Their spirit remains strong. They know that what they are doing has nothing to do with the lies about “apartheid,” settler-colonialism,” “occupation” or “genocide” that are thrown about at antisemitic demonstrations in U.S. cities or on

college campuses and are treated as acceptable discourse in mainstream publications like the New York Times.

Israeli soldiers — young conscripts and veteran reservists alike — aren’t down about the war because they know that what they are doing is defending their homes and families. It’s the civic faith in the justice of their cause that resonates throughout Israeli society and pervades the thinking of those who have sent their loved ones to battle. It is also felt by the grieving families of those who didn’t come home. Israel is a nation that is united by both anguish and determination.

Americans view war differently

This may come as a shock to Americans, who are used to thinking of wars in a very different way.

Since World War II, Americans were sent to fight dismal and bloody proxy wars in Korea and Vietnam, where the rhetoric about defending democracy against communism rang hollow for many. That was just as true about the attitudes toward the wars fought in Afghanistan and Iraq in this century.

Despite any initial enthusiasm about punishing the perpetrators of 9/11 or toppling dictator Saddam Hussein, those conflicts turned into messy quagmires that most Americans — whether on the right or the left — wished to escape. Though the opponents of the United States were clearly evil, by the time both wars ended in what history will record as defeats, they hardly seemed worth the sacrifice of blood and treasure that had been expended on them.

Even before the final rout of Americans during the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, these wars had already been sealed in the country’s collective memory by both popular culture and the opinion of most

A poster in memory of Aviad Edri, murdered on Oct. 7 in Kibbutz Kfar Aza by Hamas terrorists.

Jonathan S. Tobin

serious commentators as terrible mistakes.

Coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas makes it seem as if it is another version of hapless and brutal Westerners fighting Muslims in futile efforts that cannot succeed, similar to the way Americans failed in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the overwhelming majority of Israelis — from secular left-wing Tel Avivians to pious Jerusalemites and all points in between — know their war is different.

They understand that their opponents are not in far-off lands like America’s in recent decades, and their raw violence directly threatens them.

Though Israel has prospered in the 75 years since the Jews regained sovereignty in their ancient homeland, it hasn’t known a day of complete peace. Palestinian Arabs, their foreign allies and enablers in the Muslim and Arab world, as well as those in the West and international community, have never given up their quest to destroy the one Jewish state on the planet.

The horrors of Oct. 7 were not a one-off act of despicable and pointless anti-Western terrorism like the Sept. 11 attacks. Israel has suffered many terrorist attacks in which large numbers of civilians were killed by Islamist murderers, but Oct. 7 was the worst of them all.

Despite the barbarism shown by the Palestinians involved, what made it resonate throughout Israeli society was the certain knowledge that it was intended as a trailer for what Hamas — and the majority of the Palestinian population that supported and still supports those actions — intends to do to the rest of Israel.

Places of pilgrimage

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That’s why the view from Kfar Aza, and other Israeli kibbutzim and towns throughout southern Israel, is so different.

The sites of the massacres have become places of pilgrimage for Israelis and visitors to the country — and rightly so. To see the homes in places like Kfar Aza that were riddled with bullets and/ or burned by the terrorists, and to learn of the horrible fates of their inhabitants, is a searing experience. The same is true for the fields where the Nova music festival took place, and where hundreds of young people were slaughtered, raped and kidnapped — and which are now filled with makeshift memorials to the victims and those taken hostage. Just as haunting are the nearby fields where the wreckage of hundreds of burned-out cars of festival attendees have been piled up and for the time being, left as a gruesome reminder of their fate.

After a brief period of interest and empathy, most of the international media lost interest in the story of Oct. 7. Americans don’t hear from those who survived the attacks or those who risked their lives to rescue some of the victims.

But their stories do resonate with fellow Israelis, who understand that they could have just as easily found themselves the prey of Hamas murder-

ers hunting for Jews to torment and kill on that terrible day.

The fate of the hostages also hangs over the country. The pain of the families of those who are still held in captivity by Hamas is felt by everyone there. And while politics has intruded into the discussion—as the anti-judicial reform movement that paralyzed the country has taken control of the weekly “hostage square” protests in Tel Aviv and focused their animus at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rather than Hamas—support for the war effort remains largely unshaken.

Israel is a traumatized nation facing genocidal foes, united behind a war whose aim is the preservation of their very existence.

Americans don’t comprehend this reality.

The notion of stopping the fighting to allow Hamas to survive while still armed and in control of part of Gaza is widely considered reasonable elsewhere, but not in Israel. There, they understand that if Hamas is allowed to fully escape the consequences of the war it started, it will only mean that it will be allowed to make good on its promise to repeat the Oct. 7 atrocities again and again.

The widespread assumption in America— even among major Jewish organizations that are supposed to have Israel and the Jewish people’s best interests at heart—that a Palestinian state must be created after the war ends is opposed even by most on the Israeli left. They know that rewarding Hamas and its supporters with such a gesture isn’t just an invitation to more bloodshed.

It’s also immoral and will ensure that the conflict never ends. The independent Palestinian state in all but name ruled by Hamas in Gaza before Oct. 7 was evidence of what such a “solution” would mean for Israel. They understand that a state in Gaza, as well as one in Judea and Samaria, controlled by genocidal terrorists and their morally equivalent political rivals—the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah Party—could place the entire country in danger.

But that’s hard to see in Washington, even by those not motivated by leftist ideologies to hate Israel and to cheer the slaughter of Jews. Still, it’s a truth that is hard to escape when looking at the ruins of Kfar Aza.

3 THE JEWISH STAR February 23, 2024 • 14 Adar I 5784

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Canada and Mexico not Hamas, but point is…

Gov. Kathy Hochul apologized was regularly firing rockets into for an “inappropriate analogy” US cities. and “poor choice of words” in “I wonder why there’s shock making a geographical compariover Israel’s ground invasion of son between Hamas and Canada.

Gaza. Imagine the US response if “If Canada someday ever atMexico kidnapped and killed hundreds of Americans,” Sacha Royttacked Buffalo, I’m sorry, my man, CEO of the Combat Antisemfriends, there would be no Canitism Movement, wrote on Oct. 27. ada the next day,” Hochul said “Think of France’s reaction to in a speech on Thursday night to Belgium if they were attacking the UJA-Federation of New York.

French citizens and firing thou“That is a natural reaction. You sands of rockets. Nations act to have a right to defend yourself defend their citizens and neutraland to make sure that it never ize threats,” he added. “This is happens again. And that is Israel’s Gov. Kathy Hochul. what Israel does and don’t be surright.”

Lev Radin, Shutterstock prised.”

The governor apologized not Danny Ayalon, former deputy Israeli foreign for slandering Canada and comparing it to a terror organization, but instead for, as the New York minister and former Israeli ambassador to the Times put it, for implying “that Israel would be United States, wrote that then-Israeli Prime Minjustified in destroying Gaza because of the Oct. 7 ister Ariel Sharon made the same comparison in March 2001, when he accompanied Sharon on Hamas attack.”

“While I have been clear in my support of Is- his first meeting with then-president George W. rael’s right to self-defense, I have also repeatedly Bush at the White House.

“The meeting was during the height of the said and continue to believe that Palestinian civilian casualties should be avoided and that more Second Intifada. 9/11 didn’t yet occur and Shahumanitarian aid must go to the people of Gaza,” ron wanted to be sure Bush understood Israel’s need for self-defense: ‘Mr. President, you were Hochul told the Times.

Warren Kinsella, a non-Jewish Canadian col- governor of Texas,’ Sharon said, ‘Imagine if Mexiumnist and author, who is a strong support of co fired rockets over the border into Texas’,” AyaIsrael and who is penning a book about rising lon wrote. “‘If that was the case,’ Sharon added, ‘I’m sure antisemitism after Oct. 7, saw things differently.

“Kind of a weird thing to say,” he wrote of Ho- in one hour, there would be no more Mexico,’” Ayalon added. “There was an awkward silence, chul’s suggestion of Canada attacking Buffalo.

Many pro-Israel advocates have made similar then Bush shook his head. ‘Why?’ Bush asked. comparisons to the one that Hochul made — sug- ‘Why what?’ Sharon replied. ‘Why 1 hour?’ Bush gesting that Americans would think differently if exclaimed, ‘In 10 minutes there would be no a terror organization, either in Mexico or Canada, more Mexico’!”

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We are Jews.

The indigenous people of the land of Israel

We are Zionists.

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The Jewish national liberation movement

In prison, Navalny wrote Sharanksy

By David Baron, Israel Hayom Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in prison last week, had been carrying on a correspondence with former prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky, the Free Press reported on Monday.

After managing to get a copy of Sharansky’s memoir, “Fear No Evil,” through his lawyers, Navalny read it in the “Polar Wolf” arctic penal colony where he died under dubious circumstances on Friday, according to the report.

This fact is contained in two letters Navalny wrote to Sharansky, in March and April 2023. In the letters, Navalny discusses the memoir, and also quotes the Bible, writing that “what has been will be again” and adds that he “continues to believe that we will fix this and that one day in Russia there will be what has not been.”

Sharansky told Israel Hayom after the disclosure of the correspondence that “Alexei Navalny was dangerous to the Russian tyrant [Vladimir Putin] for two reasons: He did more than anyone else to expose the nature of the Russian dictatorship to the eyes of hundreds of millions of people, and he challenged the system. Navalny proved that it is possible to remain a free man until your last breath in prison.”

In the first letter, dated March 30, 2023, Navalny writes: “I am now in penal colony IK-6 ‘Melekhovo,’ but from

the Vladimirskaya prison they are writing to me that a cell is being prepared for me there. So I will likely find myself in the same facility that you were in. Only now there will probably be a plaque saying ‘Natan Sharansky was held here.’

“Please forgive the intrusion and a letter from a stranger, but I believe it’s permissible in author-reader relations,” he continues. “I am writing as a reader. I have just read your book … while I was held in the PKT [solitary confinement]. And now I am writing from SHIZO [a punishment cell] — it will be 128 days in total. I was laughing when I was reading the passage where you wrote, ‘I was penalized with a series of 15 days at SHIZO, and then, as an offender who broke prison rules, they sent me to the PKT for 6 months.’ I was amused by the fact that neither the essence of the system nor the pattern of its acts has changed.”

The memoir “has helped me a lot” writes Navalny. “Yes, I am at SHIZO now, but when reading about your 400 days spent in the ‘punishment cell’ on decreased food rations, one understands that there are people who pay much higher prices for their convictions. I look at the postcards sent to you by [your wife] Avital, all the words have been blacked out. Then I go to court where they try to convince me that burning the letters that were sent to me is legal. After all, there was

Bingo opens in Inwood

Bingo Wholesale, a store that’s been referred to as a “kosher Costco,” opened at 603 Burnside Ave. in Inwood last Wendesday. Pictured: Judy Keehn of Lawrence, the first shopper to enter when doors opened at noon. Keehn said she shopped at several local supermarkets and expected that she’d continue to do so. At left: David Weiss and Bingo owner Abe Glick.

Ed Weintrob, The Jewish Star

a ‘code’ embedded in them.”

“The ‘virus of freedom’ is far from being eradicated,” Navalny wrote, “It is no longer tens or hundreds as before, but tens and hundreds of thousands who are not scared to speak out for freedom and against the war [Russia’s war against Ukraine], despite the threats. Hundreds of them are in prisons, but I am confident that they will not be broken and they will not give up.

“And many of them draw strength and inspiration from your story and your legacy. I am definitely one of them.”

Navalny concludes the letter with the words, “Next year in Jerusalem,” written in Cyrillic letters.

In a five-page replay dated April 3,

2023, Sharansky wrote, “I respond to you not only as an ‘author to reader,’ but also as your admirer.”

Sharansky recounts that his book was published when the Soviet Union was already in the process of disintegration, and that therefore, with the passage of time, was increasingly read as a historical novel “about the Dark Middle Ages.”

“And now — ’the idiot’s dream has come true’!” he writes with bitter irony, referring to the Putin regime.

“My horror over your poisoning changed to amazement and exhilaration when you started your own independent investigation,” Sharansky wrote. [After recovering in Germany, Navalny and his team published a massive investigation into Putin’s se-

cret palace, and also exposed the assassination squad].

“I was very angered by the question of a certain European correspondent the day after your return to Russia.

‘Why did he return? We all knew that he would be arrested in the airport — does he not understand such simple things?’ My answer was pretty rude: ‘You’re the one who doesn’t understand something. If you think that his goal is survival — then you are right.

But his true concern is the fate of his people — and he is telling them: ‘I am not afraid and you should not be afraid either’.”

Sharansky concludes the letter (written just before Passover) by wishing him and all of Russia an “exodus from Egypt.”

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WINE AND DINE Discovering greens for health and deliciousness Kosher Kitchen

JONI SChOCKEtt

Jewish Star columnist

N

o one really knows what our ancient ancestors ate in their caves, but scholars who have studied them believe they ate mostly vegetation, and some evidence shows they ate as much as 4 to 6 pounds of 20 to 25 varieties of vegetation and leaves each day. Even though we envision a caveman with a club and a mastodon leg (a la Fred Flintstone), the truth may be precisely the opposite of this image.

Research and unearthed remains prove that cavemen, around 50,000 years ago, ate a diet consisting of mostly plants, tubers, nuts, wild barley, legumes and flowers. They knew how to use fire, so they may have cooked many of these vegetables and grains with water to soften them, especially for children. And the caveman liked sweets also. About 12 years ago, Slate reports, some residue of dates was found in the teeth of a 40,000-year-old fossilized Neanderthal man!

We do not eat the grasses and leaves that our ancestors ate; evolution has changed them, as has domestication and farming, but we do eat their relatives. Kale and cabbage may be the modern incarnations of much hardier and fibrous greens that those humanoids ate. Interestingly kale, spinach cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts all come from the same plant, but over thousands of years were propagated differently so became different vegetables.

Fibrous leaves, too tough for our teeth, eventually became much more easily chewed kale, chard, collards, and even, have purple cabbage and purple, and orange cauliflower!

Conventional wisdom tells us to include more green foods in our diets. Many of these “greens,” as they are called, are grouped together because they are so similar, can be cooked in similar ways and most have similar flavors and textures.

Eating some greens takes getting used to.

Many need to be cooked and others, when cooked, take on a texture that some do not like.

However, there are ways to cook greens to they are palatable and I urge you to try as many of them as possible. Start with eating more spinach and cabbage. These are more common and easier to incorporate into diets.

Green Factoids:

•Greens are practically carb free and will not affect blood glucose levels.

•They are loaded with Vitamin K needed for proper blood clotting and may offer some protection from osteoporosis. Vitamin K may also help prevent diabetes and help lower inflammatory reactions such as arthritis. Interestingly, vitamin K is a fat to soluble vitamin so serve the greens with a bit of olive oil to get the most benefits.

•Greens also contain calcium, vitamin A, C and E and many B vitamins. They also have tons of antioxidants and phytonutrients.

•They have lots of fiber which is great for digestion and for those on a lower calorie diet.

•Greens need thorough washing as they are grown in sandy soil. To wash them completely, fill a large bowl with cold water, separate the leaves and swish them around the bowl. Lift them out, drain the water and repeat until there is no more sediment in the water. Wash only what you will use for each meal. Keep the rest dry in a plastic bag in the refrigerator and use within a few days.

•Leaves cook more quickly than the stems.

Stems are great when braised and leaves can be stir to fried or steamed, and some can be eaten raw in salads. When cooking the leaves and stems together, slice the stems very thinly.

NOTE: Greens also contain oxalates, which, for some people, may present a health risk as oxalates are known to be a factor in kidney stone formation.

Consult your physician if you have any questions.

Any Greens with Garlic, Lemon and Olive Oil (Pareve)

Any greens can be cooked this way, remove the center rib from larger to leaved greens such as kale and chard.

• 1 lb. greens such as spinach, collard greens chard, kale, broccoli rabe, or a mix • 2 to 3 Tbsp. extra to virgin olive oil • Several cloves of garlic, finely minced • Zest from one lemon • Lemon juice from one lemon to taste • Salt and pepper to taste OPTIONAL: Red pepper flakes to taste NOTE: If the greens are very bitter, add just a bit of honey to the dish.

Wash and dry the greens. Set aside. Juice one lemon and set the juice aside.

Use a micro to plane grater and grate the zest of one lemon. Place the zest into a small bowl and set aside. Finely mince the garlic and set aside.

Heat a large skillet. Add the olive oil and the minced garlic. Stir until fragrant, about 30 to 45 seconds. Add the lemon zest and mix well, about 10 seconds. If you like, add the red pepper flakes and mix well. Add the greens and sprinkle with about 1 Tbsp. of the lemon juice. Use tongs to turn the greens often to cook them evenly.

Cook until wilted and bright green. If the greens still seem tough, cook a bit longer. Remove to a serving plate and season with salt and pepper. Add more lemon juice if desired. Serves 2 to 4. This is great mixed with pasta or rice or any other grain or legume.

Veggie Lentil Stew with Spinach (Pareve)

• 3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil • 1 to 2 Tbsp. minced garlic • 1 onion, diced • 1 leek, white and light green part only, sliced

• 2 to 4 carrots, peeled and sliced • 3 cups vegetable broth • 1 to 2 Tbsp. tamari sauce (low sodium is fine) • 10 oz. baby red bliss potatoes, cut in half • 1 to 2 cups green or brown lentils, rinsed • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste OPTIONAL: Red pepper flakes to taste; 6 to 10 oz. baby spinach leaves OPTIONAL: Crumbled feta or goat cheese, to taste NOTE: You can add any veggies to this dish.

Choose your families favorites. You can also add some cannelloni beans or other beans of your choice.

Heat a deep skillet or a Dutch oven. Add the olive oil and the onions and leeks and sauté until softened. Add the carrots and sauté about a minute. Add the broth and tamari sauce and mix.

Bring to a boil and add the lentils. Mix and cover.

Reduce heat to simmer and simmer about 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and mix. Add more broth if needed.

Cook, covered, until the potatoes and lentils are soft, about 15 to 20 minutes, longer with brown lentils. Add more liquid as needed. Add salt and pepper to taste and adjust tamari. Add the red pepper flakes and mix well. Add the baby spinach leaves and mix. Cover and simmer about 2 minutes, until the spinach just wilts. Taste and adjust seasonings. Just before serving, add some crumbled cheese if you like. Serves 2 to 4.

Orange Fennel and Arugula Salad with Cheese Croutons (Dairy or Pareve)

This is a light, refreshing salad that is delicious before a fish dinner.

• 2 cara cara, satsuma or naval oranges or other juicy, sweet orange • 1 fennel bulb • 1 red beet • 4 to 6 oz. arugula leaves • Sweet red onion OPTIONAL: 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese DRESSING: • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice • 2 to 3 Tbsp. extra to virgin olive oil • 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar or white balsamic vinegar • 1/2 very small clove garlic, finely minced See Discovering greens on page 10

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Discovering greens for health and deliciousness…

Continued from page 8 • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste OPTIONAL: 1 tsp. honey Peel the oranges and cut each segment from the white membrane. Place in a bowl and squeeze any remaining juice into another cup. Set aside.

Cut the fennel in half and slice each half paper thin. You can use a food processor fitted with the thinnest cutting blade for this. Place in a large bowl.

Peel the beet and cut into very thin matchstick pieces. Set aside.

Cut the onion in half and then slice half thinly.

Separate rings and set aside. Retain other half for another use.

Place the arugula in the bowl with the fennel.

Mix well. Add the onions and beets and toss.

In a smaller bowl, place the garlic and the oil and mix well. Let sit for about 5 minutes.

Add the orange juice, vinegar and, if using, the honey. Mix well. Add salt and pepper and taste.

Adjust seasonings and add more vinegar, oil, honey, or orange juice, if desired.

Add the oranges to the salad and top with the dressing. Garnish with a few cheese croutons on each plate.

FOR CHEESE CROUTONS: Heat a large non to stick skillet and add a drop of oil and about a tablespoon of cheese to in about 4 piles in the pan. Let cook until golden and bubbly. Remove with a spatula and place on a flat plate to cool. Serve two with each salad. Serves 4.

Risotto with Edamame, Arugula, Spinach and Mushrooms (Dairy)

• 1 oz. dried porcini mushrooms • 2 cups water • 1 package (10 to 12 oz.) frozen edamame or baby lima beans • 1 to 1/2 cups Arborio rice • 4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, divided in half • 1/3 cup finely chopped shallots • 2 cups torn mix of arugula and baby spinach leaves • 1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice • 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste Place the dried mushrooms and the two cups of water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat.

Once the water boils, turn off the heat, cover the pan and let sit for about 15 minutes or until the mushrooms are softened.

Place the edamame in another small sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes or until cooked through.

Turn off the heat and set aside.

Line a large strainer with a paper towel and place the strainer over a large bowl. Slowly pour the mushroom liquid through the strainer until all the liquid has passed through. It’s ok if the mushrooms fall into the strainer. Take any mushrooms

ture and blend. Add the herbs and mix. Add the chard mixture and mix well. Add the shredded cheese and half the Parmesan cheese and mix.

Add the rest of the olive oil and butter to the pan set over low heat. Mix to blend. When the butter is melted, add the egg mixture back to the pan and cook over low heat for about 15 minutes without disturbing or mixing. The eggs will be set, but still liquid on top. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese and place under the broiler for about 2 to 3 minutes or until the cheese is browned. Slide the trouchia onto a plate and cut into wedges. Serves 4 to 6.

Spinach Kugel Soufflé (Dairy)

out of the strainer and place them on a cutting board or plate. Don’t dump them; you want to catch any grit in the paper towel; you don’t want to pour it out with the mushrooms. Coarsely chop the mushrooms. Set aside.

Measure the liquid and add enough water to make a total of 4 to 1/2 cups. Place back in the saucepan and heat until just barely simmering.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet and add half the olive oil. Add the shallots and sauté until lightly golden, about 5 to 8 minutes. Place the shallots in a small bowl.

Add the rest of the oil to the pan, add the rice and stir often until it becomes translucent, about 7 to 9 minutes. Add a ladle full of the warm mushroom broth and stir until the rice absorbs the liquid, about 5 minutes. Add another ladleful of broth and repeat the process until most or all of the liquid is used and the rice is al dente.

While the rice is cooking, place the spinach and arugula on a plate and sprinkle with a bit of lemon juice. Microwave for about 1 minute or until wilted. Set aside.

Add the cheese to the rice and mix well. You can add as much or as little cheese as you like or none at all for a dairy to free dish. Add the shallots, edamame and mushrooms to the rice and mix well. Add the spinach and arugula and mix.

Turn off the heat, cover the pan and let sit for about 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4 to 6.

Chard, Herbs and Onion Omelet (Dairy)

The key to this delicious dish, called “Trouchia,” is the “low and slow” cooking process that allows for the greens to sweeten and all the flavors to meld

and produces a creamy delicious dish.

• 4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, divided • 1 Tbsp. butter, divided • 1 large red onion, quartered and thinly sliced • 2 shallots, finely minced • 1 bunch chard, leaves only, chopped • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste • 1 clove garlic • 8 extra to large eggs • 2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, minced • 2 Tbsp. fresh thyme, minced • 2 Tbsp. fresh chives, minced OPTIONAL: 2 Tbsp. fresh basil, minced • 1 cup grated cheese (Gruyere is good; I like Monterey Jack which is a bit sweeter) • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided Wash the chard as directed above and chop the leaves. Save the stems for soup or for braising.

Heat a large oven to proof skillet, 10 to 12 inches, and add 3 tablespoons of the olive oil.

Add the onions and shallots and cook over low heat until completely softened and barely beginning to turn golden, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add half the butter and mix until melted.

Add the chopped chard and mix well. Cook until all the liquid is absorbed and the leaves are tender, about 15 minutes or a bit more. Season with salt and pepper.

While the chard is cooking, mince the garlic and place it in a small bowl with about a quarter teaspoon of salt. Mix well and set it aside.

Break the eggs into a large bowl and beat with a fork until evenly blended. Add the garlic mix-

I have been making this since my children were little. It got them to eat spinach! They loved it. In fact, this is probably the recipe that my kids still ask for most often. From having a cold to having a baby, this is the dish they want me to bring to them! It is also a great dish to bring to any gathering, because it is delicious at any temperature to from piping hot to room temperature or even cold.

It makes a great appetizer or a nice dairy side dish.

Delicious topped with good marinara or salsa! We have even eaten it as a main dish with a salad and good, crusty bread.

• 1 stick melted (salted) butter, divided • 4 to 5 pkgs. Frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (10 to 12 oz. each) about 3 lb. total • 3 cups low fat cottage cheese (I use Friendship Whipped) • 1 lb. shredded cheddar cheese and Monterey Jack • 5 extra to large eggs • 6 to 7 Tbsp. flour to up to 1/2 cup • Salt and pepper, to taste OPTIONAL: Some grated onion for a bit of onion flavor Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt 3/4 of the butter in a cup and pour half into a 3 or 4 to quart, oblong glass baking dish. Brush along the bottom and up the sides. Set aside.

Defrost the spinach and squeeze well over a strainer. Place the squeezed spinach into a large bowl. Add any spinach that fell into the strainer.

Add the cottage cheese and eggs and mix well.

Add the cheddar cheese and mix. Sprinkle the flour, salt and pepper over the mixture and mix well. Scrape into the prepared baking dish. Drizzle the remaining butter over the top.

Bake at 350 for 60 to 75 minutes, or until deep golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Cut into small pieces and serve alone, or with marinara sauce or salsa. Serves 8 to 12 or more, depending on size of pieces.

NOTE: This can easily be increased for a larger crowd. For each 10 to 12 oz. of spinach, add 1 egg, I cup cottage cheese, 1 to 1/2 Tbsp. flour and 2 to 4 oz. shredded cheese. The measurements do not have to be exact.

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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 contributing writers: •Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks zt”l,

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.

contact our columnists at: Publisher@TheJewishStar.com Five towns candlelighting: From the White Shul, Far Rockaway, NY

Fri Feb 23 / 14 Adar I

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Tezaveh • Purim Katan Candles: 5:21 • Havdalah: 6:31

Ki Sisa Candles: 5:29 • Havdalah: 6:39

Shekalim • Vayakhel • Shabbos Mevarchim Candles: 5:37 • Havdalah: 6:47

Pekudei Candles: 6:44 • Havdalah: 7:54

Zachor • Erev Purim • Vayikra Candles: 6:52 • Havdalah: 8:02

Purim

Fixed separation: Counterpoint of leadership rabbi sir jonathan sacks zt”l One of the most important Jewish contributions to our understanding of leadership is its early insistence of what, in the eighteenth century, Montesquieu called “the separation of powers.” Neither authority nor power was to be located in a single individual or office. Instead, leadership was divided between different kinds of roles.

One of the key divisions — anticipating by millennia the “separation of church and state” — was between the King, the head of state, on the one hand, and the High Priest, the most senior religious office, on the other.

This was revolutionary. The Kings of Mesopotamian states and the Pharaohs of Egypt were considered demigods or chief intermediary with the gods. They officiated at supreme religious festivals. They were regarded as the representatives of heaven on earth.

In Judaism, by stark contrast, monarchy had little or no religious function (other than the recital by the King of the book of the covenant every seven years in the ritual known as hakhel.)

Indeed the chief objection to the Hasmonean Kings on the part of the Sages was that they broke this ancient rule, some of them declaring themselves High Priests also. The Talmud records the objection: “Let the crown of kingship be sufficient for you. Leave the crown of priesthood to the sons of Aaron.” (Kiddushin 66a) The effect of this principle was to secularise power. o less fundamental was the division of religious leadership itself into two distinct functions: that of the Prophet and the Priest. That is dramatized in this week’s parsha, focusing as it does on the role of the Priest to the exclusion of that of the Prophet. Tetzaveh is the first parsha since the beginning of the book of Exodus in which Moses’ name is missing. It is supremely the priestly, as opposed to prophetic, parsha.

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The glory of Judaism is its insistence that only in heaven is there one commanding Voice. Here on earth no individual may ever hold a monopoly of leadership.

Priests and Prophets were very different in their roles, despite the fact that some Prophets, most famously Ezekiel, were Priests also. The primary distinctions were: 1. The role of Priest was dynastic, that of Prophet was charismatic. Priests were the sons of Aaron. They were born into the role. Parenthood had no part in the role of the Prophet. Moses’ own children were not Prophets.

2. The Priest wore robes of office. There was no official uniform for a Prophet.

3. The priesthood was exclusively male; not so prophecy. The Talmud lists seven women who were Prophets: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah and Esther.

4. The role of the Priest did not change over time. There was a precise annual timetable of sacrifices that did not vary from year to year. The Prophet by contrast could not know what their mission would be until G-d revealed it to them.

Prophecy was never a matter of routine.

5. As a result, Prophet and Priest had different senses of time. Time for the Priest was what it was for Plato: the “moving image of eternity,” a matter of everlasting recurrence and return. The Prophet lived in historical time. Their today was not the same as yesterday and tomorrow would be different again. One way of putting this is that the Priest heard the word of G-d for all time. The Prophet heard the word of G-d for this time.

6. The Priest was “holy” and therefore set apart from the people. He had to eat his food in a state of purity, and had to avoid contact with the dead. The Prophet by contrast often lived among the people and spoke a language they understood. Prophets could come from any social class.

7. The key words for the Priest were tahor, tamei, kodesh and chol (pure, impure, sacred and secular). The key words for the Prophets were tzedek, mishpat, chessed and rachamim (righteousness, justice, love and compassion). It is not that the Prophets were concerned with morality while the Priests were not. Some of the key moral imperatives, such as “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” come from priestly sections of the Torah. It is rather that Priests think in terms of a moral order embedded in the structure of reality, sometimes called a “sacred ontology.”

Prophets tended to think not of things or acts in themselves but in terms of relationships between persons or social classes.

8. The task of the Priest is boundary maintenance. The key priestly verbs are le-havdil and lehorot, to distinguish one thing from another and apply the appropriate rules. Priests gave rulings, Prophets gave warnings.

9. There is nothing personal about the role of a Priest. If one — even a High Priest — was unable to officiate at a given service, another could be substituted. Prophecy was essentially personal. The Sages said that “no two Prophets prophesied in the same style” (Sanhedrin 89a).

Hosea was not Amos. Isaiah was not Jeremiah.

Each Prophet had a distinctive voice.

10. Priests constituted a religious establish-

ment. The Prophets, at least those whose messages have been eternalised in Tanach, were not an establishment but an anti-establishment, critical of the powers-that-be. he roles of Priest and Prophet varied over time. The Priests always officiated at the sacrificial service of the Temple. But they were also Judges.

The Torah says that if a case is too difficult to be dealt with by the local court, you should “Go to the Priests, the Levites, and to the Judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict” (Deut. 17:9). Moses blesses the tribe of Levi saying that “They will teach Your ordinances to Jacob and Your Torah to Israel” (Deut. 33:10), suggesting that they had a teaching role as well.

Malachi, a Prophet of the Second Temple period, says: “For the lips of a Priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the L-rd Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth” (Mal. 2:7). The Priest was guardian of Israel’s sacred social order.

Yet it is clear throughout Tanach that the priesthood was liable to corruption. There were times when Priests took bribes, others when they compromised Israel’s faith and performed idolatrous practices. Sometimes they became involved in politics. Some held themselves as an elite apart from and disdainful toward the people as a whole.

At such times the Prophet became the voice of G-d and the conscience of society, reminding the people of their spiritual and moral vocation, calling on them to return and repent, reminding the people of their duties to G-d and to their fellow humans and warning of the consequences if they did not heed the call.

The priesthood became massively politi-

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cized and corrupted during the Hellenistic era, especially under the Seleucids in the second century BCE. Hellenised High Priests like Jason and Menelaus introduced idolatrous practices — even at one stage a statue of Zeus — into the Temple. This provoked the internal revolt that led to the events we recall on the festival of Chanukah.

Yet despite the fact that the initiator of the revolt, Mattityahu, was himself a righteous Priest, corruption re-emerged under the Hasmonean Kings. The Qumran sect known to us through the Dead Sea Scrolls was particularly critical of the priesthood in Jerusalem. It is striking that the Sages traced their spiritual ancestry to the Prophets, not the Priests (Avot 1:1). he Kohanim were essential to ancient Israel.

They gave the religious life its structure and continuity, its rituals and routines, its festivals and celebrations. Their task was to ensure that Israel remained a holy people with G-d in its midst. But they were an establishment, and like every establishment, at best they were the guardians of the nation’s highest values, but at worst they became corrupt, using their position for power and engaging in internal politics for personal advantage. That is the fate of establishments, especially those whose membership is a matter of birth.

That is why the Prophets were essential. They were the world’s first social critics, mandated by G-d to speak truth to power. Still today, for good or otherwise, religious establishments always resemble Israel’s priesthood. Who, though, are Israel’s prophets at the present time?

The essential lesson of the Torah is that leadership can never be confined to one class or role.

It must always be distributed and divided. In anSee Sacks on page 22

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rABBi Dr. tzvi hersh weinreB Orthodox Union

P

eople are motivated by many things. The search for pleasure is certainly one of the great motivators of human beings. So is the search for power and the search for riches. There are also those among us who seek to be liked by others, to the extent that the search for adulation is their primary motivation in life.

Others hope for a place in the World to Come.

For them, a vision of eternity is a major motivation. Still, others devote their lives to the search for meaning, wisdom, or spiritual enlightenment.

For me, while all of these motivations are interesting and deserve study, there is yet another that is more noteworthy: the search for fame.

We all know individuals who are devoted — even obsessed — by their urge to become famous. For them, just to be mentioned in a newspaper article or to be glimpsed on television for a

fraction of a minute is a powerful reward.

This is hard to understand. Fame does not necessarily bring material rewards. Not every famous person is rich, nor is he powerful. Famous people are often not popular people; indeed, they are often disliked. And there are certainly no spiritual or intellectual achievements that come with fame. Furthermore, fame is notori-

Valuing our own integrity, and remaining impervious to the opinions of others. ously fleeting. Yesterday’s famous person often dwells in oblivion today. ince the beginning of the Book of Exodus, we have been reading about Moses. Surely he is the most famous person in the Jewish Bible. Yet for him, fame was of no consequence whatsoever. He was not motivated by a need to

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make headlines, to be immortalized for all eternity, or even to be popular and well-known. He would be the last to be concerned if a weekly Torah portion did not even contain his name.

This week’s Torah portion, Tetzaveh, is the only one, since we are introduced to the newborn Moses, in which he is not mentioned by name. Tetzaveh, a Torah portion rich in all sorts of particulars and details, fails to mention Moses.

Long ago, some keen Torah scholar noted this fact and attributed it to a verse in the next week’s parsha, Ki Tisa. There, we read of how Moses pleads to G-d to forgive the Israelites who worship the Golden Calf. He says, “If You will forgive their sin [well and good]; but if not, erase me from the book which You have written.”

“Erase me from the book!” I have no need for fame. Insightfully, this keen scholar found Tetzaveh to be the book from which Moses was indeed erased.

I suggest that Moses learned how unimportant fame is from his personal experiences with stigma. For you see, just as fame is no indication at all of the genuine worth of the famous person, so too negative stigma do not reflect the genuine worth of the stigmatized individual.

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ne of the most perceptive observers of human relations was a writer named Erving Goffman. Almost 50 years ago, he authored a classic work entitled “Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity.” There, he describes the psychology of stigma and of how society assigns negative labels to people, spoiling or ruining their identities as valuable members of that society.

A person who has suffered from being stigmatized learns how meaningless the opinions are that other people have of him. Should he shed these stigmas and gain the positive opinions of others, he would know full well how meaningless those opinions are.

Moses was a stigmatized individual earlier in his life. Goffman distinguishes three different varieties of stigma, and all three were experienced by the young Moses.

The first of these conditions, Goffman termed “abominations of the body.” Physical deformities result in such a stigma. Moses had such a physical deformity; he stammered and stuttered.

The second condition, Goffman called “blemishes of individual character.” In the eyes of the world, Moses was a fugitive, a criminal on the run, See Weinreb on page 22

Potpourri of books for upcoming Purim holiday Kosher Bookworm

AlAn JAy GerBer

Jewish Star columnist

W

ith Shabbos Shekalim and Adar II approaching, our minds, hearts and, yes, our pocketbooks are once again focused upon the most joyous of holidays, Purim.

In the winter holidays volume of his three book series, “Celebrating the Jewish Year” (The Jewish Publication Society, 2007), Rabbi Paul Steinberg reminds us that “throughout the month of Adar and on Purim, we are bound together as a community. Yom Kippur, which falls on the opposite side of the calendar’s cycle, is when we practice introspection; Purim is the holiday when we go outward. We put on costumes and act as something other than ourselves.

Prayer is peripheral, whereas going out into the community, singing and dancing together, and giving to others, is core to observing Purim.”

Besides interaction among our fellow Jews, we learn from a teaching by Rabbi Eliezer

Melamed (dean of Yeshiva Har Bracha and a prolific author on Jewish Law) that “there is no better time of year for dialogue between Israel and the nations than the month of Adar. As in the days of Purim, when evil decrees were transformed to good, so too in our days all the evil thoughts of the nations will be transformed to blessings and success.”

With that prologue, let us consider the real dynamic of this sacred season. Of all our holidays’ holy writ, only Purim through its Megillah omits the direct role of the deity in the miracles of its day. This orientation has never failed to mystify our sages and commentators. This is reflected in almost every tome devoted to the holiday’s theme and purpose. No other Jewish holiday shares this quandary.

Of the books that I wish to bring to your at-

tention, each deals in a comprehensive fashion, albeit in a different manner with the various historical and halachic nuances particular to Purim’s themes and practices.

Rabbi Yitzchak Sender’s classic, “The Commentators’ Al Hanissim: Purim” (Feldheim, 2000), deals with “the insights of the sages,” as its sub-title states. Rabbi Sender goes into great detail with an in-depth study of the various prayers, laws and practices unique to this holiday. He goes directly to the sources, and explains them in a clear and comprehensive manner.

Aside from that, he also spices up his literary repertoire with a vast array of parables and stories gleaned from our sages, from the Rambam, Rabbi Yonason Eybeshutz and the Vilna Gaon, to Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.

This book is both entertaining as well as informative and deserves an honored place on your bookshelf.

Another book dealing with Purim is titled, “Inside Purim: Fascinating and Intriguing Insights on Purim and the Megillah” (Targum Press, 2009) by Rabbi Aryeh Pinchas Strickoff.

The format of this book revolves around a series of questions and answers that are listed under five topical sections focusing on the laws of Purim. A special section unique to this volume, “Gevaldig Gematrias and Riveting Rashei Teivos,” is supplemented by a subsection about the historical context of Purim and a study explaining the calculation of the prophesized 70 years of Galus Bavel (Babylonian exile). No other English book on Purim covers all these topics within one volume.

In his introduction, the author sets out to See Gerber on page 22

When stepping back really means stepping up From heart of Jerusalem

rABBi Binny FreeDMAn

Jewish Star columnist

I

n 1860, a relatively unknown one-term congressman named Abraham Lincoln stunned the country by prevailing over three prominent rivals — William Seward, Salmon Chase, and Edward Bates — to win the Republican nomination for President.

But even more surprising was what he did

A leader has to be about the big picture — the cause, the people.

The smaller the ego, the greater the leader.

after being elected president: He appointed all three to his cabinet — Seward as secretary of state, Chase as secretary of the treasury, and Bates as attorney general.

••• The commentaries note a fascinating detail in this week’s portion of Tetzaveh: This is the only portion in the last four books of the Torah (after his birth) with no mention of Moshe’s name.

The Midrash suggests that when Moshe, in his attempt to save the Jewish people after the Golden Calf, pleas before G-d to be “erased from His book, if you will destroy this people” (Shemot 32:32), the decree of such a righteous person must be fulfilled to some degree. So Hashem leaves out Moshe’s name in this week’s portion.

The obvious question then is why this portion?

This is the second of two portions that discuss the mitzvah to build a Mishkan, and it focuses largely on the role of the kohanim — the daily lighting of the golden menorah, the special clothing they wore, some parts of their daily service, and the special ceremony inducting Aaron and his sons into the priesthood.

In short, this portion introduces the kehuna, the priesthood, even though the dedication and

commencement of their service will only begin in the next book, Vayikra.

One might have expected to find some jealousy or at least hesitation on Moshe’s part, considering this was a role neither Moshe nor any of his offspring would ever enjoy.

Yet Moshe displays not a hint of jealousy or struggle. And, perhaps to make this point, does not even include his own name in the entire portion. t is interesting to note that Moshe perhaps followed Aaron’s lead. When Moshe is first told to lead the Jewish people out of slavery, he suggests to G-d that Aaron might be a better choice.

Yet Hashem’s response is, “Aaron your brother will come out to greet you, and will rejoice in his heart” (ibid. 4:14). Aaron displayed no envy when Moshe was appointed leader, he simply rejoiced in Moshe’s arrival.

This is significant given the enmity often found between brothers in the Torah: Cain and Abel, Yitzchak and Yishmael, Yaakov and Esav, Yosef and his brothers.

One wonders where these brothers, along with their sister, learned this impressive humility. They must have had incredible parents. Yet we know

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very little about their parents; the first time we find mention of them, they are simply described as a man and a woman (“ish” and “isha,” ibid.

2:1-2).

This same term is used in Pirkei Avot when describing the value of stepping up when there is no one else to do the job: “Bemakom she’ein anashim, hishtadel le’hiyot ish.” In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man (Avot 2:6).

As a teenager (ibid. 3:11), Moshe ventures out and sees the suffering of his brothers, and sees an Egyptian beating a Jew. He “looks back and forth, and sees there is no man [ish]” (ibid. v.12).

Here, too, Moshe is not named, he is described as a “lad.”

To be a leader, it has to be about the big picture — the cause, the people. The smaller the ego, the greater the leader. It is not accidental that Moshe’s greatest trait was his extreme humility.

In fact, Pirkei Avot (end chap. 4; see Maimonides: Rambam Hilchot Deot 2:7) tells us there are three things that remove a person from the world: jealousy, desire, and pursuit of honor. What these three flaws have in common is that they involve See Freedman on page 22

THE JEWISH STAR February 23, 2024 • 14 Adar I 5784

Week without Moses’ name, and that’s just fine

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February 23, 2024 • 14 Adar I 5784 THE JEWISH STAR

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On antisemitism, Brit exceptionalism is a myth Global Focus

BEN COHEN

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hat old image of the Jewish family with a packed suitcase at the ready in case they are compelled to suddenly leave their home has returned with a vengeance across Europe.

In France and Germany, home to sizable Jewish communities, the “Should we leave?” debate is raging in earnest. Both of these countries experienced record levels of antisemitic incidents in 2023, most of them occurring after the Hamas pogrom of Oct. 7 in southern Israel. Similar conversations are being held in the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Belgium and Spain — countries with tiny Jewish communities that are nevertheless enduring a painful rise in antisemitism.

What about Britain, though? It’s a pertinent question insofar as there has always been a “British exceptionalism” with regard to the continent.

When it comes to antisemitism, the UK is very much part of the European rule.

During World War II, the Nazis failed in their quest to conquer the British Isles, in contrast to the rest of Europe. After the defeat of Hitler, the British supported efforts to transform Europe into an economic and political community that eventually became the European Union, even joining it. Yet Britain was never fully at peace with its identity as a European state, and as is well known, the “Brexit” referendum of 2016 resulted in the country’s full-fledged withdrawal from the European Union. hen it comes to antisemitism, however, Britain is very much part of the European rule, not the exception. Again, that’s important because while the British don’t deny that antisemitism is present in their politics and culture, they don’t believe that it’s as venomous as its German or French variations.

“It is generally admitted that antisemitism is on the increase, that it has been greatly exacerbated by the war, and that humane and enlightened people are not immune to it. It does not take violent forms (English people are almost invariably gentle and law-abiding),” wrote George Orwell in an essay, “Antisemitism in Britain,”

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penned towards the war’s close in April 1945.

At the same time, Orwell conceded that British antisemitism was “ill-natured enough, and in favorable circumstances, it could have political results.”

To illustrate this point, he offered a selection of the antisemitic barbs that he had encountered over the previous year.

“No, I’ve got no matches for you. I should try the lady down the street. She’s always got matches. One of the Chosen Race, you see,” a grumpy tobacconist informed him. “Well, no one could call me antisemitic, but I do think the way these Jews behave is too absolutely stinking. The way they push their way to the head of queues, and so on.

They’re so abominably selfish. I think they’re responsible for a lot of what happens to them,” a “middle-class” woman said. Another woman, described by Orwell as an “intellectual,” refused to look at a book detailing the persecution of Jews in Germany on the grounds that “it will only make me hate them even more,” while a young man — a “near-Communist” in Orwell’s description — confessed that he had never made a secret of his loathing of Jews. “Mind you, I’m not antisemitic, of course,” he added.

I’d wager that were Orwell to tackle the same subject today, he would write a similar essay.

The rhetoric he quotes echoes eerily in what we are hearing almost 80 years later, particularly the denial that recycling antisemitic tropes makes one an antisemite, as well as the digs against chosenness — because antisemites have never understood (or don’t want to understand) that Jewish “chosenness” is not about racial or ethnic superiority, but a duty to carry out a specific set of Divine commandments. ast week, the Community Security Trust (CST), a voluntary security organization serving British Jews, issued its annual report on the state of antisemitism in Britain. The CST has been faithfully issuing these reports since 1984, and over the last few years, it has regularly registered new records for the number of offenses reported. 2023 was the worst year of all; there were a stomach-churning 4,103 incidents reported — an increase of 81% on the previous annual record in 2021, when 2,261 incidents were reported (largely due to that year’s conflict between Israel and Hamas for 11 days in May).

Instructively, the worst month in 2023 was October, in the days immediately following the rapes and other atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on that black day. Oct. 11 was, in fact, the worst day, with 80 incidents reported. As the CST pointed out, “[T]he speed at which antisemites mobilized in the UK on and immediately after Oct. 7 suggests that, initially at least, this increase in anti-Jewish hate was a celebration of

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A pro-Palestinian protest in London, a week after Hamas murdered 1,200 people in southern Israel and took hostage into the Gaza Strip.

Alisdare Hickson, Flickr via Wikimedia Commons

the Hamas attack on Israel, rather than anger at Israel’s military response in Gaza.”

Of course, the present situation in the United Kingdom differs from Orwell’s time for two main reasons. Firstly, in 1945, there was no Jewish state, and antisemitism revolved around cruder tropes invoking supposed Jewish rudeness, clannishness, financial power and so forth.

(Even so, Britain was also one of the first Western countries to experience antisemitic rioting linked to the Zionist movement and Israel; in 1947, after two British officers in Mandatory Palestine were executed by the Irgun, or “Etzel,” resistance organization, violence targeting Jewish communities broke out across the United Kingdom, thereby establishing the principle that all Jews, everywhere, are to blame for the alleged evils of Zionism.)

Secondly, in 1945 Britain was still largely a white, Christian society. In the interim, it has become far more diverse and is now home to nearly 4 million Muslims who constitute 6.5 percent of the population.

Since the late 1980s — when the Iranian regime issued a fatwa calling for the death of the Anglo-Indian author Salman Rushdie, alleged to have slandered Islam in his novel the Satanic Verses — what was once a relatively docile population has become politically animated, with the Palestinian cause pushed front and center.

In the four months that have passed since the Hamas atrocities, with weekly demonstrations in support of Hamas in London and other cit-

ies, Muslim voices have been disproportionately loud in the opprobrium being piled not just on Israel, but on those Britons — the country’s Jewish community — most closely associated with the Jewish state.

Of course, this doesn’t apply to every Muslim, and many of the worst offenders are non-Muslims on the left. Indeed, the Oct. 7 massacres have enabled the return to politics of a particularly odious individual whom I had forlornly believed had been banished to the garbage can of history; George Galloway, an ally of Hamas and one-time acolyte of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who is standing in the forthcoming parliamentary election in the northern English constituency of Rochdale for an outfit called the “Workers Party of Britain,” whose manifesto combines nationalism and socialism, but which would probably balk at the description “national socialist” in much the same way that some antisemites balk at the description “antisemitic.”

British Jews have weathered a great deal in recent years, especially the five years when the Labour Party, the main opposition, was led by the far-left Parliament member Jeremy Corbyn, who has since been turfed out of the party by his successor Sir Keir Starmer. Having survived that, the belief has spread that they can survive anything.

But there’s another question to be asked: Is the effort worth it? Increasingly, and worryingly, growing numbers of British Jews are now answering “no.”

melanie phillips

British journalist

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he war in Gaza is prying open a potentially game-changing fissure in British politics that has wider implications for the Western world.

Last weekend, a recording surfaced of a meeting of the Lancashire Labour party in late October. It revealed that Azhar Ali, who was subsequently selected as the Labour party candidate for a parliamentary byelection that will be held in Rochdale later this month, said Israel deliberately allowed the Oct. 7 pogrom to occur in order to give itself “the green light” to invade Gaza.

Despite this blood libel, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who has pledged to rid the party of antisemitism, said he was satisfied that Ali

In both Britain and America, politics is becoming increasingly distorted. had made a genuine apology for the statement.

Nearly two days later, after it emerged that Ali had also blamed people in the media “from certain Jewish quarters” for Labour’s suspension of one of its MPs for using the phrase “between the river and the sea,” Starmer stripped Ali of Labour support.

This was too late to stop Ali from standing in the byelection. Since Labour has withdrawn its endorsement, the party now has no candidate. his chaos is potentially disastrous. Rochdale is 30% Muslim. Also standing for election, as the candidate for the Respect party, is the demagogic, virulently anti-Israel George Galloway — who was himself expelled from the Labour party in 2003 for opposing the “war on terror.” He is now well-placed to capitalize on the explosive Muslim hostility to Israel and win the seat.

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Shortly after Ali was finally disowned, it was revealed that, at the same Lancashire meeting, Graham Jones — a former MP who is now a parliamentary candidate seeking to regain his former seat — repeatedly referred to “f***ing Israel.”

He also ranted that Britons who volunteer to fight for the Israel Defense Forces “should be locked up,” claiming falsely that such volunteering was illegal. Jones was suspended by the party, this time immediately.

Labour’s antisemitism crisis reveals various things about Britain, none of them good.

After the hard-left, pro-Hamas, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was pushed out, Starmer got rid of the most egregious antisemites in the party.

Nevertheless, Labour is still deep in this particular mire. The Times of London has identified nine Labour MPs who have demonized Israel with wild and defamatory allegations.

This is likely a gross underestimate of party attitudes. Apparently, not one person at the now infamous Lancashire party meeting pushed back against either Ali or Jones. Labour remains overwhelmed by antisemitism, having handled more than 700 complaints about it since Corbyn was ousted.

Yet Starmer, promising zero tolerance of antisemitism in the party, has imposed apparently brutal discipline against certain offenders. So why has his pledge failed?

The answer lies in the tsunami of antisemitism now coursing through Britain, and in the U.S. as well. ritain’s Jewish defense group, the Community Security Trust, reported this week that the Oct. 7 pogrom has driven antisemitism to its highest levels in more than 40 years.

•On police advice, the Jewish chaplain at Leeds University went into hiding with his wife and family after threats to murder him and rape his wife.

•Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Birmingham University were heard to call for Zionists to “burn.”

•A Jewish student at Brunel University said a Palestinian woman told her: “I’m an extremist, I’m proud of it, I don’t think your people should be alive.”

Britain’s Higher Education Minister Robert Halfon, who told the Jewish Chronicle that re-

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Anti-Israel protesters in London on Oct. 14, 2023.

Koca Vehbi, Shutterstock

cordings of the threats made to the Leeds rabbi made him “weep,” said the government plans to give a “seal of quality” award only to universities adhering to “the highest standards” in dealing with antisemitism.

The government’s concern is genuine. But while it wrings its hands, it is staring in horror at a crisis of anti-Jewish hatred that’s now out of control.

This is because, as in the US, the government has refused to acknowledge the cause of the crisis. In both Britain and America, there are two elephants in this particular room.

The first is support for the Palestinian cause, which is now the default position for western “progressives.” Pro-Palestinianism is by definition anti-Israel and anti-Jew. This is because it’s based on the denial and cultural appropriation of Jewish history in the Land of Israel in order to construct an entirely fictitious historical and legal “Palestinian” claim to the land. he Palestinian Authority, the mouthpiece of the supposedly moderate and respectable side of the Palestinian cause, pumps out theologically-based Islamic incitement through Nazi-style demonization of the Jewish

people and genocidal threats to destroy Israel and kill the Jews.

Since this is the cause supported by pro-Palestinians in Britain and America, why is anyone surprised that so many of them come out with deranged antisemitic conspiracy theories and blood libels?

The second rampaging pachyderm is Muslim antisemitism. Evidence overwhelmingly suggests that Jew-hatred is a default in the Islamic world. Not all Muslims are antisemites and not all antisemites are Muslims, but Muslims are disproportionately involved in antisemitic attacks.

Yet most politicians and Jewish community leaders in Britain and America won’t breathe a word about this. People who do so are denounced as “Islamophobic.” The Labour party has many Muslim candidates, selected under the rules of “intersectional” identity politics and thus considered untouchable as presumed “victims” of prejudice.

Starmer is therefore impaled on the elephant’s tusks. British Muslims have turned against him for his refusal to call on Israel to See Phillips on page 22

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Zombie policy establishment can’t process Oct. 7 Daniel GreenfielD Jewish studies

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ehold the latest genius idea from the foreign policy establishment: “Last month, Richard Haass, the former longtime head of the Council on Foreign Relations, approached top officials in the Biden administration, including Vice President Kamala Harris, with an audacious plan for changing the politics around the Israel-Hamas war,” reported Politico.

“Haass believed that Joe Biden needed to separate himself from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose military campaign was hurting US credibility abroad and the president’s popularity at home. And he proposed that Biden do so by going to Israel to deliver a speech — possibly to the Knesset, the nation’s parliament — where he’d lay out his vision directly to the Israeli people,” the report continued.

“But by January, Haas was taking his advocacy a step further. Though he did not speak directly to Biden, he did pitch a Knesset-like speech to, among others, Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, according to two people familiar with the

sion would be pitched here to the Israeli people?

Haas is pushing a zombie foreign policy recapitulating the usual responses to Islamic terrorism against Israel, which was to double down on the two-state solution and then offer the Israelis a speech about Rabin and the future of peace.

Nobody has believed that stuff since the oughts, and after Oct. 7, it’s the equivalent of Chamberlain showing up to deliver a “Peace in Our Time” speech while the Nazis were bombing London.

This pernicious nonsense was bad enough in 2002 or 2012 or even 2022, but after Oct. 7 it’s the product of a mind that is either unable or unwilling to come to grips with what happened. hat message does Haas want to pitch to the “Israeli people”? Israelis have already rejected that message.

“About two-thirds (66%) of Israelis say they do not think Israel should agree to US demands to shift to a phase of the war with a reduced heavy bombing in populous areas. 75% of Jewish Israelis oppose meeting the demands, compared to only 21% of Arab Israelis,” according to the Israel Democracy Institute.

That’s the reality in Israel.

Oct. 7 was an Israeli 9/11. How would Americans have reacted to a speech a few months after 9/11 telling them to get over it and hug it out with Al Qaeda?

Even Biden’s people know that Haas is an idiot. And that’s saying something.

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A home in Kibbutz Be’eri after Hamas terrorists attacked civilians of all ages, on Oct. 25.

discussions but not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.

“The senior officials reacted coolly to his proposal, according to those two people. A White

Edi Israel, Flash90

House official confirmed Thursday that there had been no discussion of scheduling a trip to Israel.”

Biden officials know that Obama already tried that stunt, but a better question is what vi-

THE JEWISH STAR February 23, 2024 • 14 Adar I 5784

Admit it: Antisemitism crisis is out of control

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February 23, 2024 • 14 Adar I 5784 THE JEWISH STAR

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In the bright lights of Broadway, only darkness SUSAN TUCHMAN and

MORTON KLEIN ZOA

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f you’re a Broadway theater fan, you’re probably familiar with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. It’s a nonprofit organization that, as its name reflects, helps to mitigate the suffering of individuals affected by HIV/AIDS and other lifethreatening illnesses. Broadway Cares describes itself as “the philanthropic heart of Broadway, helping people across the country and across the street receive lifesaving medications, health care, nutritious meals, counseling and emergency financial assistance.”

Donations are often solicited at the end of a Broadway show: A cast member makes a compelling speech about helping people in need in the theater community. Audience members then leave donations in collection buckets stationed at the theater’s exits. Sometimes, posters signed by the show’s cast are available for purchase, with the proceeds purportedly going to

The Zionist Organization of America immediately contacted Broadway Cares and questioned the grants. We asked whether the organization would also be providing financial support to address the devastation, loss and heartbreak that Israelis have endured since the mass slaughter, rape and displacement of the Oct. 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas.

We received an immediate and respectful response from Broadway Cares’ executive director, though not one member of the board of trustees ever reached out. We felt the organization’s reaction was deeply troubling.

Broadway Cares identified the two organizations that received the grants: Doctors of the World and the International Rescue Committee. It is implausible if not impossible that either one is directing any of its grant money to Israelis in need. he website for Doctors of the World Juan Carlos Alonso Lopez, Shutterstock identified the places in the Middle Street signs on the corner of Broadway and 44th Street.

East in which the organization does its not support. work. “Palestine” is among them. Israel is Instead of responding to our requests, Broadway Cares pronot.

The website for the International Rescue Committee does vided us with the statement that the organization had posted not list Israel either. In October 2023, just after the Hamas on social media immediately after the Oct. 7 massacre. “As you massacre, the IRC issued a press release about it that failed to might imagine,” Broadway Cares informed us, “we took a good deal of heat for this.” condemn the massacre in any way.

The statement condemned Hamas and the massacre. It also The ZOA urged Broadway Cares to take two steps. First, we asked the organization to make similarly generous grants to expressed Broadway Cares’ “steadfast” commitment to “standgroups that are helping and supporting Israelis. We provided ing against antisemitism, terrorism and the hatred directed at Broadway Cares with the names of Israeli hospitals, emergency the Jewish people.” hile the statement was appropriate and commendable, service providers and mental-health organizations that provide there was nothing particularly courageous about it. grief and trauma counseling and support.

Broadway Cares simply took the right and moral posiSecond, we demanded transparency from Broadway Cares.

It must fully disclose where donations may be directed when it tion. If it “took heat” for the statement, then that is a horrifying solicits them from Broadway audiences. Continuing to tell au- and pathetic commentary on those who criticized it.

The statement did not address the fact that, through misdiences that their donations are going towards helping people who are battling HIV/AIDS and other serious illnesses is mis- leading appeals for donations, Broadway Cares is directing its leading and inaccurate. Jewish and non-Jewish theatergoers financial support to Gazans, but not to Israelis who are Hamas’s See Tuchman on page 22 should not be deceived into financially backing causes they do victims.

T The charitable organization must be honest with donors about where their donations go.

support the organization’s stated mission.

You may be surprised to learn that even though Broadway Cares claims to focus on helping people in the United States who are struggling with serious health issues, the organization has directed substantial funds elsewhere for other purposes.

Last month, Broadway Cares gave two grants totaling $400,000 to those in need in the Hamas-controlled terrorist enclave of Gaza. In publicizing the grants, the organization’s executive director said, “As those in Gaza continue to face seemingly endless devastation and loss, their rippling heartbreak resonates across the world and in our corner in the Theater District.”

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At the end of the day, will Hamas be the winner?

ALAN DERSHOwITz

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hat will happen if Hamas is allowed to win this war? If Hamas is permitted to accomplish what it intended by its mass murders, kidnappings and rapes? If the victims of these atrocities — the people of Israel and all countries fighting terrorism — lose? If the prospects for peace in the region and the free world are seriously damaged? If the relationship between the United States and Israel, and the loss of faith in the United States as the guarantor of freedom, continues to be fractured?

Instead, the Biden administration may be rewarding Palestinian terrorists by unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state, which will, of course, soon become militarized. The failures of UNIFIL to keep peace in South Lebanon and of UNRWA to counter terrorism in Gaza should suggest caution.

If these are the outcomes of the current war, Hamas will be encouraged to repeat — as it promised it would “time and again” — its barbarisms of Oct. 7, not only in Israel but in

Biden must be as dedicated to preventing a Hamas victory as he is to preventing a Russian victory.

other Western nations, including our own.

Why not? If a crime pays, it will be repeated. That’s one reason why we punish crimes.

President Joe Biden has said as much with regard to the Russian crimes against Ukraine.

He has correctly warned that if Putin is allowed to benefit from his attack on Ukraine, he will be encouraged to attack other nations.

Biden is right about that. Why hasn’t he said the same thing about Hamas? Why is he trying to prevent Israel from defeating Hamas? Is it his fear of losing votes from hard-left antiIsrael Democrats?

Biden is ignoring — and properly so — pro-Putin voters, but listening to anti-Israel voters. Why is he capitulating to the threats from hard-left elements within the Democratic Party? Doing so is not only wrong morally and diplomatically; it is foolish politically. These extremist anti-Israel zealots are not going to determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. Centrist voters, such as the ones who recently elected Thomas Souzzi to Congress, will. And centrist voters support Israel over Hamas. s important as are the domestic electoral implications of Biden’s weakening support for Israel, the international implications are far more consequential. The world will be a far less safe place if Israel is prevented from defeating Hamas and dismantling its military capabilities. The double standard Biden seems to be applying to a Russian victory, which he correctly says is unacceptable, and to a Hamas victory, which he seems to be willing to tolerate, is inexplicable as a matter of rational US policy and basic decency.

Biden must be as dedicated to preventing a Hamas victory as he is to preventing a Russian victory. That, however, is not his current approach. Instead, he is focusing on the death rate among Gazan civilians.

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Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, at a rally in Gaza City in 2021.

Israel is doing everything reasonable to decrease civilian casualties, while Hamas tries to increase them on both sides. American policy should be to help Israel defeat Hamas and prevent the recurrence and spread of its terrorism against civilians, rather than to help Hamas secure a victory by tying Israel’s hands.

The tragic reality is that Hamas is winning the war — at least by its own definition of winning.

It has turned world opinion against Israel, especially among the young. It has caused a rupture in Israel’s relations with America. It has gotten the International Court of Justice and the United Nations involved. It has damaged the prospects of peace with Saudi Arabia.

Atia Mohammed, Flash90

It has hurt relationships between Israel and its neighbors. And it has strengthened support for Hamas among Palestinians on the West Bank.

The costs have been high, but most have been borne by Palestinian civilians and by Israelis. Hamas could not care less about Palestinian deaths, as evidenced by the fact that it has never provided shelter for civilians, while building vast tunnels to protect its own fighters. The world may see the harm inflicted on Gazans as a cost of Hamas’s victory, but Hamas does not see it that way.

So, unless the Biden administration changes course and encourages Israel to achieve its legitimate military goal of defeating Hamas, terrorism will win and civilization will lose.

THE JEWISH STAR February 23, 2024 • 14 Adar I 5784

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Sacks…

Continued from page 16 cient Israel, Kings dealt with power, Priests with holiness, and Prophets with the integrity and faithfulness of society as a whole. In Judaism, leadership is less a function than a field of tensions between different roles, each with its own perspective and voice.

Leadership in Judaism is counterpoint, a musical form defined as “the technique of combining two or more melodic lines in such a way that they establish a harmonic relationship while retaining their linear individuality.” It is this internal complexity that gives Jewish leadership its vigour, saving it from entropy, the loss of energy over time.

Leadership must always, I believe, be like this.

Every team must be made up of people with different roles, strengths, temperaments and perspectives. They must always be open to criticism and they must always be on the alert against groupthink. The glory of Judaism is its insistence that only in heaven is there one commanding Voice. Down here on earth no individual may ever hold a monopoly of leadership.

Out of the clash of perspectives — King, Priest and Prophet — comes something larger than any individual or role could achieve.

Weinreb…

Continued from page 17 who was wanted by the pharaoh for the murder of an Egyptian citizen.

Finally, the third source of stigma: “tribal identities.” Moses was a Hebrew, a member of an ostracized minority.

In contemplating what the life of Moses was like in the many decades he spent as a refugee before returning to Egypt as a redeemer, it’s clear that he suffered from a triple stigma: fugitive, stutterer, and Jew. I suggest that one of the greatest achievements of Moses, our teacher, was his ability to retain a sense of his true identity, of his authentic selfworth, in the face of the odious epithets that were hurled at him.

This is how, in his later life, when fame and prestige became his lot, he was able to retain his selfknowledge and eschew fame. This is what enabled him to say, “Erase me from the book.” This is why he was able to not only tolerate but to value this week’s portion, where his name is not mentioned.

The man Moses was humbler than all other humans. (Numbers 12:3) The deeper meaning of Moses’ humility was his ability to understand himself enough to remain invulnerable to the trials of stigma and insult, and to remain equally unaffected by the temptations of glory and fame.

When we refer to Moses as Rabbenu, our teacher, it is not just because he taught us the law. Rather, it is because he told us how to remain impervious to the opinions of others and to value our own integrity and character. Would that we could be his disciples in this teaching.

Gerber…

Continued from page 17 explain the purpose for writing the book. I was caught by this statement in particular: “This sefer was conceived with the objective of providing fascinating, inspiring, and geshmake divrei Torah to “drink up” between glasses of wine, for the purpose of enhancing the Purim seudos of Jews the world over.”

Well said, and I am certain that this sefer will be read and learned from long before the first l’chayim of Simchas Purim.

In all the learning surrounding the holiday, we are bound to come across a plethora of citations from the Midrash Rabbah on Esther. To many, this sefer was a closed, foreign resource, but there is an English translation to refer to when we come across quotes from this sacred text.

Published by the Machon HaMidrash HaMevo’ar in Jerusalem and distributed by Feldheim Publishers, this sefer, titled “The Midrash Rabbah Hamevo’ar” translates a complicated text into a lucid and accurate English translation.

According to institute director, Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberger, “We have tried to open the door to the Midrash, so to speak, so that all people should be able to experience the power of its message. The language and intent of the Midrash are often unclear, and we are dependent on the commentaries for clarification.”

This particular edition brings together the text in a line-by-line format, explanations with sources cited to everything, as warranted. Credit should also be given to the translator of this classic work, Rabbi Michoel Miller of Brooklyn, and to Rabbi Yaakov Reinman of Lakewood for his expert editing.

Speaking of Lakewood, the Israel Bookshop of Lakewood published a unique take on Megillas Esther titled, “Purim Revealed: The Inside Story of Megillas Esther,” by Rabbi Naphtali Winter.

Son of the last rabbi of Lubeck, Rav David Alexander Winter, zt”l, Rabbi Winter studied at the Gateshead Yeshiva in England before making aliyah in 1954, where he received semicha from the late Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog, zt”l.

Rabbi Winter’s vast knowledge is demonstrated on every page of this book. This is no mere “storybook.” Instead, “Purim Revealed” deals with the actual historical events of the Purim story, attempting to place the events of the Megilla within the context of world events at that time, thus giving the Purim story a broader meaning within the context of our total history.

There are many details here culled from the classic sources that are not well known and are revealed for the first time in English. Rabbi Winter explains many puzzling details that were usually glossed over by others, and he utilizes his skills to bring out a complete comprehensive picture of this dramatic story of miraculous redemption.

Taken together, these books represent a diverse array of Jewish scholarship that deserve your attention and patronage.

Originally published in 2009.

Freedman…

Continued from page 17 a person placing themselves at the center, rather than the higher purpose they are meant to serve. f a person is envious of what someone else has, it is a clear indicator that he or she has not accepted that G-d has a different role in mind for them.

Healthy systems of government have a separation or balance of powers, through which leaders realize not only what they are meant to do, but what they are not meant to do. When the president interferes with the judiciary, things get complicated. And the same is true of healthy institutions in general: if the CEO is too involved with the accounting department, it doesn’t work.

And one last thought, which provides a great example in the realm of education: Our portion opens with the mitzvah of the kohen to light the menorah every day in the Mikdash. From the word “leha’alot” (ibid. 27:20) which literally means the kohen is to raise up the flame in lighting, the Talmud (Shabbat 21a) infers that he is meant to kindle the flame until it rises on his own. The kohen would not remove his hand from the wick until there was an independently strong flame.

The Talmud suggests in numerous places that the menorah symbolized Torah (see Bava Batra 25b as an example). Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch suggests, therefore, that when we educate our children, our job is to make ourselves unnecessary. We have to get the flame to burn on its own.

Success in education is when our students or children can stand on their own. The wisdom of a good educator is knowing when to step back in order to let the child fly.

If we step back too soon, it can be disaster, as when the Jewish people (according to some commentaries) felt abandoned at the foot of Sinai in the debacle of the Golden Calf. But if we get it right, then they, our children and students, can build a Mishkan, a temple all their own.

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Phillips...

Continued from page 19 stop its war in Gaza.

With an estimated four million Muslims in a population of some 66 million, Starmer is faced with an acute dilemma that will come to a head next week when the House of Commons votes on a call for an immediate ceasefire. he Labour leader either loses the support of the Muslims or the Jews. But he can’t afford to lose either, the first on grounds of electoral math and the second on grounds of the party’s foundational claim to moral decency.

The Conservative government is also in a mess over this problem. It has expressed horror at the rise in British antisemitism and called it “utterly deplorable.” Ministers cannot begin to address it, however, unless they call out not just support for Hamas but support for the Palestinian cause itself.

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They have not done so. Instead, the accepted line is that Hamas is bad but the Palestinian cause is fine.

Worse still, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, like his counterpart in the U.S., Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has repeatedly demanded the establishment of a Palestinian state after the end of the war in Gaza.

Not only would this pose an insupportable danger to Israel from Palestinian Arabs no less committed than Hamas to the genocide of the Jews, but through such rhetoric, Cameron and Blinken are tacitly endorsing the antisemitism being inescapably promoted through the Palestinian cause.

In America, under the pressure of the presidential election later this year, the Biden administration is desperately trying to pacify the Democrats’ interrelated pro-Palestinian and Muslim constituencies.

It is doing so through an increasingly harsh attitude towards embattled Israel, with Blinken ramping up demands amounting to surrender to Hamas and the State Department sanctioning four Jewish “settlers” while defaming all Jewish residents of the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria.

Last week, a delegation of senior officials was dispatched to the key Democratic stronghold of Dearborn, Michigan to grovel to the Muslim community there. The principal deputy national security director, Jon Finer, actually apologized for the White House statement marking 100 days after Oct. 7 — which focused on the tragic plight of the hostages and the brutality of Hamas — and expressed contrition for “missteps” in America’s support for Israel.

In both Britain and America, the Muslim vote is increasingly distorting politics. The consequences are potentially devastating.

Tuchman…

Continued from page 20 A complaint was recently filed with the New York State Attorney General’s office against Broadway Cares for allegedly misleading theatergoers. So, Broadway fans, beware.

Think twice about supporting Broadway Cares until the organization demonstrates equal concern and financial support for those affected by Hamas’ atrocities and makes equally generous grants to groups that are helping and supporting Israelis in this unprecedented time of need and crisis.

Listen carefully to Broadway Cares’ appeals for donations. Solicitors should make it clear to the audience that their donations are not only going to individuals with life-threatening illnesses here in the United States. They are going to Gaza, too — but so far, not to Israel.

If Broadway Cares does not stay true to its mission and come clean about where donations are directed, theater-goers will have to decide whether this is an organization they can in good conscience support.

Susan B. Tuchman is director of the ZOA’s Center for Law and Justice. Morotn A. Klein is ZOA’s national president.

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February 23, 2024 • 14 Adar I 5784 THE JEWISH STAR

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THE JEWISH STAR February 23, 2024 • 14 Adar I 5784

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BONUS DEALS! Act Now! LY FULDED LOA

2024 Honda Civic Touring with Leather Seating, Sunroof, Navigation, Parking Sensors, Premium Audio, Wireless Phone Charger & Much More!

319

$

month* 39m lease, 7.5k miles/year

2024 Honda Pilot Elite AWD

FULL Y LOAD ED

with Leather Seating, Heated & Ventilated Seats, Panoramic Roof, Head-up Display, 8 Passe Navigation, Parking Sensors, nger Power Trunk & Much More!

589

$

month* 39m lease, 7.5k miles/year

Restrictions Apply

Plaza Auto Leasing & Sales

718.975.9000 Don’t Delay!

ArtFriedCreative.com

You Know Us, Let Us Know You!

2753 Nostrand Avenue | Brooklyn, NY 11210 | www.PlazaAutoLeasing.com

Lowest Prices. Any Make. Any Model. Any Time. Huge Invenry. *Expires 2/29/2024, **Expires 1/31/2024 or while supplies last, whichever comes first. “Subject to Credit Approval”. Due at lease signing is 1st month payment, Registration Fee and applicable taxes, and bank fee of $995. Some deals require taxes, bank fee and/or registration fees to be paid at signing. Some deals may require lease loyalty or lease conquest. Some deals require security deposit. Residency restrictions may apply.

Car(s) pictured in this ad, are for presentation purposes only. Not responsible for typographical errors. | Plaza Auto Leasing & Sales is a dba of Crystal Motors of Bayside, Ltd | DCA Lic#: 1312589 | DMV#: 7084665 |

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