The Jewish Star 06-07-2024

1 nation with 1 heart will never walk alone

Lovers of Zion march together on 5th Ave

By

The Jewish Star and JNS

With t-shirts broadcasting their support for the Jewish state, an estimated 100,000 people marched up Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue on Sunday. Two New York schools joined others in conveying a clear message, with students from HAFTR in the Five Towns (top left) proclaiming “Israel You Will Never Walk Alone,” while those from SAR in Riverdale (top right) declaring, in Hebrew, “One Nation One Heart.”

The Jewish Star will not publish next week, as we all celebrate Shavuot. We will return, B”H, on Wednesday, June 19.

Israel Day on Fifth (previously called the Celebrate Israel Parade) drew more than 100,000 attendees to its 60th annual event, “breaking all previous records,” according to UJA-Federation of NY.

“What you’re seeing today are larger crowds of marchers than ever before,” said UJA CEO Eric Goldstein, “showing just how determined the New York community is to stand in solidarity and love with Israel.”

New York city and state officials turned out in full force with Eric Adams, the city’s mayor, saying that “our message is extremely clear: Destroy Hamas, bring home the hostages.”

Adams marched alongside family members of hostages.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish and has a long history of supporting Israel, drew heavy and sustained jeers at the start of the parade route when he spoke. Schumer has been highly critical in recent weeks

of the Israeli government and the Israel Defense Forces.

Referring to Hamas, Schumer said that “we know who is responsible for this evil.” A man standing mere feet away shouted, “You.”

Three New York area Democratic members of Congress — Ritchie Torres, Tom Suozzi and Dan Goldman — held a press conference with the families of Omer Neutra and Itay Chen. Both families have long-standing ties to the city.

The Long Island-born Neutra, a tank commander serving near Gaza, has been missing since Oct. 7. Chen, a Brooklyn native who was also serving near Gaza, was killed on Oct. 7 and his body is still being held.

“We all want to see an end to the war in Gaza —but an end to the war requires above all else the release of the hostages,” said Torres as he stood with the families of Neutra and Chen.

See New York parade on page 2

Parade…

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“Hamas has the power to end the war it began and release the hostages,” he said.

For Suozzi, the issue was personal.

“I know this family well,” he told JNS, of the Neutras. “It turns out that I had met Omer Neutra when he was in high school. And I have a 22-year-old son, and I can’t imagine what they’re going through. We’re going to do everything we can to fight to bring them home.”

Suozzi said that no matter where any member of Congress stood on Israel, the fact that American hostages are still being held in Gaza should be enough to bring them together.

“Whether you’re a right-wing conservative or left-wing progressive, everybody should agree,” said Suozzi. “We want to bring home our American hostages, and in doing so, hope to bring an end to this conflict and bring all the hostages home.”

“This is the most important parade in my lifetime,” Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, which organizes the parade, told JNS.

The grandson of Holocaust survivors and son of Soviet parents who fled religious persecution, Treyger said that “strength and resiliency is in me both as a New Yorker and as a proud Jew.”

Treyger called the parade “an affirmation of our unwavering commitment and pride in our Jewish identity, our love for our heritage [and] our support for Israel.”

Goldstein, of the UJA, told JNS that it’s necessary to have joy and pride about Israel.

“It would be really inappropriate this year to have pom poms and beach balls,” he said. “That said, we have to still celebrate the miracle that is the modern day state of Israel. We need to carry the concerns of the hostages, the devastation, that destruction.”

Anti-Israel protesters are usually assigned a place on 59th Street along the parade route, but due to particularly violent pro-Hamas protests, demonstrators were pushed a block off the route.

Met Council b’fast hears survivor

By Mike Wagenheim, JNS

As with everything in the Jewish world post-Oct. 7, this year’s pre-parade Met Council legislative breakfast in Manhattan had a much different feel.

The event featured the haunting personal story of Michal Ohana, who broke down as she recounted her survival of the Nova festival massacre.

Seventy-five local, state and federal elected officials joined more than 300 attendees in recognizing the work of America’s largest Jewish poverty charity.

BRING A MEZUZAH TO EVERY IDF DOOR

“Met Council’s mission each day is tzedakah, rooted in the Hebrew word ‘justice’,” said Met Council CEO David Greenfield, who met Ohana on a recent trip to Israel. “Beyond the work that we do to fight poverty, domestic violence and elder abuse, we must also lift the voices of our sisters and brothers who were attacked and are still being held hostage in Gaza.”

Footage that Ohana recorded on her phone on the fateful day was shown before and after her painful address.

Ohana was left for dead by Hamas terror-

ists after being shot, only to be found and rescued more than eight hours later by the Israel Defense Forces. Her account of the horrors brought many in the audience on Sunday to tears.

“As the home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel anywhere, when the people of Israel are hurting, the people of New York are hurting,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul. “To me, that’s what this parade is all about: to stand with the hostages and their families and to make sure they are reunited once and for all.”

Israel’s courageous soldiers deserve our spiritual protection

Israel is fighting for its survival. That is why FIDF has launched an effort to provide mezuzot to every IDF doorpost — some destroyed by fighting, some missing, and some no longer kosher. With your help, IDF base rabbis will place the mezuzot according to Jewish law.

Your mezuzah gift of $75 is meaningful and visionary. You can touch the heart of hundreds of brave soldiers every day!

Each mezuzah dedication will include an educational program for the soldiers and be documented with a photograph.

To donate a mezuzah for an IDF doorpost and give soldiers added protection, visit https://www.fidf.org/mezuzot fidf.org

Attendees of the Met Council pre-parade breakfast. Among those pictured: UJA-Federation of NY CEO Eric Goldstein and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. Met Council

FIDF honors 5 Towns attorney Ben Brafman

By Melissa Berman, LI Herald

More than 400 supporters of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces honored Lawrence resident Benjamin Brafman, a nationallyacclaimed defense attorney, at group’s 2024 Five Towns and Greater South Shore Evening of Solidarity, at The Sands in Atlantic Beach on May 29.

Sgt. Maj. (Res.) Hannah, a Lone Soldier from France who moved to Israel to serve in the IDF when she was 17, has been serving as a combat paramedic in Gaza, the only woman in her unit.

“I spent three months sleeping in fields along the Gaza border and taking care of wounded soldiers,” Hannah said. “When I entered Gaza, I felt like my life was in danger more than ever. I knew that I was in enemy territory, and I must do the best that I can to protect my team.”

After spending a month in Gaza, Hannah was deployed to Nablus, in the West Bank. For the past six months she has been arresting terrorists in their West Bank homes.

“Every day, I use the life-saving medical equipment FIDF provides to treat injuries and save the lives of our soldiers, Hannah said. “This includes plasma, oxygen, blood warmers and monitors. My team even received a new, fully stocked, FIDF combat ambulance, our moving emergency room, that sped our soldiers to helicopters or to hospitals while we treated them inside.”

“Their job is to look after Israel,” FIDF Chief Executive Rabbi Steve Weil said of the IDF. “Ours is to look after them.”

The keynote speaker was Major (Res.) Yadin from Sayeret Matkal, one of the IDF’s most elite special forces units, who received an urgent call at 6:30 am on Oct. 7th summoning him to immediately deploy with his team. Within an hour, Yadin and his fellow comman-

dos were on a daring rescue mission to save hostages at kibbutzim in the South.

“The 7th of October was the most horrific day for Jews since the Holocaust. And in the darkest time, what we Jews did, is unite, put our differences aside and unite as one strong nation and stand together,” said Yadin. “Our mission is not finished, we will keep fighting to bring back the hostages, and we will keep fighting this terror and evil that is spreading around the world.”

“The message of tonight is our soldiers’ needs are more pressing than ever, and we hope that everyone will come together to re-

ally support them,” said Stephanie Feit, the organization’s associate director for Long Island. “At FIDF, we are fortunate to be in contact with the IDF and Ministry of Defense every day to find out exactly what the soldiers need.”

The FIDF is in constant contact with the IDF and Israel’s Ministry of Defense, and regularly packages and sends supplies that the IDF needs — everything from food and clothing to medical kits for soldiers’ backpacks, to fully stocked ambulances.

For the past 11 years, Brafman has served as the master of ceremonies for FIDF. When

asked to be the honoree this year, he thought, “If not now, then when?” he said.

“If I were 25, I’d be in the Israeli Army, but I’m not, so there’s a couple of things I can do to help,” Brafman said. “This is one of the most appropriate honors I’ve accepted in my life. Israel is a part of my heart.”

This year’s emcee was Izzy Ezagui, an IDF decorated squad commander, who lost an arm in combat and returned to the battlefield.

Brafman was presented with a soldier statue by Rabbi Weil and Ronny Ben-Josef, a national board member of the organization and its Long Island chair.

From Left: FIDF CEO Steven Weil, Benjamin Brafman, Maj. Yadin, Sgt. Major. Hannah, Israeli Naval Attache to Washington Guy Barrak, and FIDF Long Island Chair Ronny Ben-Josef. Andrea Klerides, FIDF

The Pr ise of The Best of

THE UNITED

LAWRENCE PARTY

Sam “Shlomo” Nahmias, Aaron Felder & Steven Gottesman are focused on preserving the best of Lawrence’s past while delivering on the promise of our future.

Stop Overdevelopment -

Develop a plan to curtail overdevelopment & ease tra c congestion.

Control Spending & Taxes -

The village must curtail out-of-control spending to stop large tax hikes.

Fix our Roads & Streetlights -

Our roads need a major repaving investment & we must repair the streetlights along the Nassau Expressway for safety’s sake.

Israel urged to prep for influx of European Jews

By Amelie Botbol, Amsterdam, JNS

As hundreds of Jews descended on Amsterdam for an “emergency summit” on Monday, the chairman of the European Jewish Association called on Israel to prepare for a mass influx of immigrants as antisemitism skyrockets across the continent.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, who had previously criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for encouraging European Jewry to make aliyah, has, given the current situation, changed tack.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu, we are not there yet but be ready. Get your government agencies ready. Because if European governments carry on as they have so far, if they continue to tolerate this flood of Jew-hatred, they can expect hundreds and thousands of us to leave,” Margolin said in his address to open the summit.

“Europe is our home, and whilst Israel is our insurance policy, we will not call it in until absolutely necessary,” he added.

The EJA summit is taking place on Monday and Tuesday in the Dutch metropolis on the backdrop of widespread antisemitism that has reached concerning heights amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

“Every logical person, every person who looks after his family and children wants to live in security, and if this very basic condition does not exist, people will look to find an alternative. So the answer is yes, I fear for the future of European Jewry,” Margolin told JNS in Amsterdam on Monday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz expressed his support in a pre-recorded video message.

“You are our brothers and our family. I wish you success and extend my hand in partnership. The people of Israel lives,” Katz said. The conference was organized in collaboration with the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, the Centraal Joods

Overleg (umbrella group of Dutch Jewry), the Jewish communities of Hungary, Paris and Porto, Portugal, the Federation of Synagogues (UK), Christians for Israel and others.

Also attending was Katharina von Schnurbein, European Commission coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life.

“We have the ambition to say we want a European Union free from antisemitism. We know we are far from it at the moment,” Schnurbein told JNS. “It is for all of us, the society at large and governments to address these issues,” she said.

One panel discussion focused on policies and solutions to strengthen European governments’ response to antisemitism, and was moderated by EJA senior adviser Ruth Wasserman Lande, a former Israeli lawmaker.

“We must unite in order to be able to deal with this challenge, which is very significant. I appreciate the privilege and the opportunity to

come and meet with leaders of Jewish communities throughout Europe and bring in operative solutions and best practices so that Jewish peoplehood can improve,” Wasserman Lande said.

She cited a EJA forum that took place on May 22, in which the organization brought in legal experts to discuss existing and potential legislation in European countries to counter Jew-hatred.

“We focused on how to explain to law enforcement agencies current laws and how they can be applied to actually combat antisemitism, as opposed to having laws on the books that agencies don’t know how to enforce,” Wasserman Lande said.

Based in Brussels, the EJA works to strengthen Jewish identity, expand Jewish activities in Europe and defend Jewish interests, including by creating political initiatives against the BDS movement and by representing Jews in European conversations affecting minorities.

“The situation is becoming as dangerous as it was in the Holocaust days, there are so many similarities,” said Tal Rabina, EJA director of strategy and head of EJA’s Israel office. “The extremism, the hate speech, writing antisemitic messages on walls, this is how it all began. One should remember that the Nazi regime started in ‘liberal’ universities.”

Rabina explained that Jewish communities in Europe were not seeking decision-makers’ sympathy but rather action.

“Some leaders are following populist trends instead of leading and this is a catastrophe,” he said. “Blaming Israel and the Jewish people, which you don’t do in any other conflict in the world is terrible and effectively increases antisemitism. We must fight back.”

On Tuesday, conference participants were to visit Amsterdam’s Portuguese Synagogue, the National Holocaust Museum and the Hollandsche Schouwburg (Hollandic Theater) museum (used as a deportation center during the Holocaust) and tour the Anne Frank House.

“It is our priority to make sure that Jews can live their culture and their identity in the freest way because that is the core value that we built our European society on,” Eddo Verdoner, national coordinator on combating antisemitism in the Netherlands, told JNS.

“The government is working on a plan to make sure that students receive in-class education but also give them incentives to go out of the class and visit Holocaust memorial centers. This is one of the most effective tools against disinformation and conspiracy theories,” he said.

“Some Jews have said that they left the Netherlands because of antisemitism, and this is very regrettable. If people want to move to Israel, that’s their right, but it must be done out of choice. It must never be done out of fear. When that happens, we fail as a state and we fail as a European Union,” said Verdoner.

European Jewish Association Chairman Menachem Margolin addresses the EJA’s conference in Amsterdam on June 3. Yoav Dudkevitch

An Indiana farmer cares for red heifers in Israel

By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS

SHILOH — When a small conference was held this spring in Israel’s biblical heartland on the laws related to the red heifer, both Hamas and Hezbollah posted the ad for the event on their Telegram pages.

Months earlier, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza had chosen the 100th day of the Israel-Hamas war to report the relocation of five red heifers to Israel from Texas as the reason for the Oct. 7 massacre.

“It seems like the whole world is talking about the red heifers except in Israel,” said Moriyah Shapira, a spokeswoman for Ancient Shiloh, the Samaria region where the Tabernacle once stood and the home, for the last six months, of the select reddish-brown ginger calves which are a theologically prerequisite to the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple.

Christians and Muslims “understood the importance of red heifers more than us,” said Shapira.

When Indiana farmer Larry Borntrager, 76, first chanced upon the prized cows during a wartime trip to Israel last fall, he was appalled by the sorry state of their lodgings.

“If they’re going to be used for such a holy [purpose], then they should at least be presentable,” he told JNS in an interview, recounting his first impressions of the heifers.

There and then Borntrager got to work. The retired farmer quickly made friends with the animals, cleaned their small shed, renovated the stalls and installed fans ahead of the coming summer heat.

In the months since, he has be-

come an inseparable part of their lives when he is in Israel, caring for them and checking in on them a couple times a week.

A new visitor’s center is under construction at the site, where the curious will be able to watch a film about the history of the red heifers, according to Shapira. The center is slated to be completed this fall.

In the meantime, three of the five animals, who are routinely checked by a group of rabbis for any blemishes that would strip them of their ritual eligibility (such as two hairs of a different color), have been disqualified and will be bred in the coming weeks via artificial insemination to produce more promising offspring, she said.

Feasting on hay and feed in their upgraded lodgings, the five affable calves — aptly named Tikva (Hope), Geula (Redemption), Segula (Virtue), Techiya (Rebirth) and Nechama (Comfort) — were glad to see the sprightly Indiana farmer as he entered their barn last Thursday. Borntrager knows them all by name, and keeps a small notepad in his shirt-pocket with sketches of the distinct characteristics of each.

Borntrager, of Amish ancestry, is a Noahide, even declaring before a rabbinical court in Jerusalem that he observes the Seven Laws of Noah. It was this that allotted him special dispensation to care for the calves, if not as of yet a long-term visa to Israel.

His calling to Israel began back in the 1970s when he and his wife served as Mennonite missionaries

in Central America. After the 1973 Yom Kippur War broke out, Borntrager says he was drawn an “inner calling” to the Jewish state.

He was spending time in Israel’s Arava region with his wife and three sons in the 1980s when he first heard about the red heifers, and got connected with a dig in the Qumran caves looking for ashes of the ceremonies that took place over 2,000 years ago.

His plans to continue with the excavation were interrupted by the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023. Instead, he volunteered in an Israeli agricultural community near the Gaza border. It was during his visit to an Israel at war that he learned the red heifers he had first

heard about a quarter-century earlier were actually in Israel; a friend took him to see them in Shiloh.

The calves, too, have had an unusual journey. Born in Texas to a special breed of cows known as Red Angus, they were only a month or so old when their owner connected with a group of people from Jerusalem who had put an ad out in a US farmer’s magazine in search of the elusive red heifer, which hadn’t been seen in two millennia. They were offering a whopping $15,000 per cow (the going rate was $300-$1,000), according to Shapira.

After getting a deluge of replies, the group first conducted tests across the Atlantic via Zoom to see if the cows qualified before traveling to the

Lone Star State to perform the intricate checks in person. One farm was of particular interest; the Christian owner told them by phone that he had indeed chosen the breed thinking that they could potentially serve in the Temple.

In the end, five female calves who because of COVID had not been branded — which would have disqualified them by religious law — were selected. Then, to circumvent restrictions on the import of livestock, they were granted special dispensation to fly to Israel as pets in first-class luggage.

Despite the stir their presence in Israel has created abroad, the idea that they would actually be ritually sacrificed is presently far-fetched, even if a small group of rabbis is studying the relevant religious laws. Such animals were rare even in antiquity. Jewish sources state that only nine were slaughtered in the period from Moses to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. According to the 12th-century Jewish sage Maimonides, the Messiah will offer the tenth red heifer.

“This ceremony hasn’t been performed for 2,000 years,” Shapira said, downplaying concerns of a religious war. “The idea is to be ready with what we can.”

For now, the biblical quote, with a sample of the cedar wood and hyssop used in the ancient ceremony, are the only things on display outside their pen, and the calves seem destined both for longevity and popularity as a tourist attraction after the war with Hamas ends.

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Tikva (Hope), Geula (Redemption), Segula (Virtue), Techiya (Rebirth) and Nechama (Comfort). The enigmatic red heifer, or Parah Adumah, is first mentioned in Bamidbar.

Shavuot Wine & Dine

Happily preparing special dishes for Shavuot

Kosher Kitchen JoNi SChoCKett

Jewish Star columnist

Shavuot is one of my favorite holidays. Yes, it is an excuse for making cheesecake and blintzes and my kids favorite mac and cheese, but it is also a day to reflect on Judaism and what receiving the Torah, the center of our religious law and wisdom and of the cycle we follow each week, has meant to our people for thousands of years.

Shavout also celebrates the valor of Ruth, one of the first converts, who took an unprecedented leap of faith to commit to the unknown. The Jews did the same. It is said that G-d offered the Torah to several different nations, all of which refused the sacred words. The Jews accepted without question. They took a leap of faith and that faith has endured through more than could have ever been imagined on that mountain in that desert.

In celebration of this joyous holiday we eat dairy foods. One midrash tells us that for three days before Moses returned with the Torah, the Jews refrained from slaughtering animals to ensure clean hands when Moses gave them the holy tablets. We are also told that the Promised Land flowed with “milk and honey,” so we eat sweet dairy foods to celebrate the sweetness of the Torah and the joy of the promise G-d made to the Israelites.

Enjoy this joyous, sweet holiday. Bring some beautiful spring flowers inside to decorate your table and add to the beauty of the holiday.

Vanilla Bean Never-Crack Cheesecake (Dairy)

The water below the cheesecake prevents cracking. Make the cake a day before to allow for cooling.

CRUST:

• 2-1/3 cups graham cracker crumbs

• 1/3 cup golden brown sugar

• 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds or hazelnuts (about 3/4 to 1 cup before chopping)

• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, melted Place the graham crumbs and golden sugar in a bowl. Mix well. Place the nuts in a food processor and pulse until very fine. Add onehalf cup to the graham cracker crumbs. Mix well. Melt the butter, add to the crumbs and mix. The mixture should hold together when pressed between your fingers.

Spray the bottom of a 9-inch spring-form pan with nonstick spray. Pour the crumb mixture into the pan. Press over the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the pan. Place the pan on a piece of heavy foil. Press the foil up the sides. Place in the refrigerator to set.

FILLING:

• 2 lb. block-style cream cheese, softened

• 1 cup sugar

• 4 extra-large eggs

• 1 cup sour cream

• 3 Tbsp. whipping cream

• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

• 1/2 vanilla bean seeds

Place the cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed until creamy. Add the sugar and beat until blended. Add the eggs one at a time. Scrape the bowl as each is blended. Add the sour cream and mix just to blend. Set aside.

Slice open the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into a very small bowl. Add the vanilla extract and use a fork to break up the seeds and mix them into the extract. When the seeds are separated, pour the extract mixture into the cheese and blend briefly. Scrape down the sides once more. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Place the pan in a large roasting pan and place in the oven. Immediately add boiling water halfway up the side of the pan. Add the vanilla bean pod to the water to add a bit more vanilla essence to the cake.

Bake for 70 to 95 minutes. The cake will jiggle slightly. Remove from the oven and the water bath and let cool. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Run a thin knife around the sides of the pan and then remove the ring. Serve with chocolate drizzle or fresh berries. Serves 10 to 12.

• 20 oz. jar of Dulce de Leche

CRUST:

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs

• 3 Tbsp. dark brown sugar

• 3/4 cup butter, melted

CHEESE FILLING:

• 2 eggs, slightly beaten

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 2 tsp. vanilla

• 1 lb. brick style cream cheese, regular or low-fat

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

CRUST: Line two muffin tins with cupcake papers, using two papers per cup. Combine crumbs, sugar and melted butter and press 1-1/2 tablespoon of the mixture into each cup. Place in the oven for about 10 to 13 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Refrigerate for 20 minutes once cool.

Pour about 1 tablespoon of the Dulce de Leche over the cooled base and refrigerate while you make the cheese filling. Break the eggs into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat to blend. Add the sugar and beat until well blended. Add the vanilla and the cream cheese and beat until smooth. Fill cupcake papers 2/3 full with the batter. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 14 minutes. The middles should still move a tiny bit when shaken gently. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Top with more Dulce de Leche Sauce or Caramel Sauce (from 20 oz. can or jar) and refrigerate.

Makes about 24.

You can use very dark chocolate for a less sweet flavor or add some espresso powder to the melted chocolate to enhance the rich flavor.

CRUST:

• 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

• 3/4 cup finely ground chocolate sandwich cookies (recommended: Oreo), chocolate cookie part only, no white filling

• 4 Tbsp. (1/2 stick) butter, melted

• 2 Tbsp. sugar

Place the oven rack in the center and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Place the graham cracker crumbs and chocolate cookies in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until crumbs are fine and even. Add the melted butter and sugar and pulse until the crust is the consistency of wet sand.

Press the cookie mixture into the bottom and an inch up the sides of a 9-inch spring-form pan. Bake the crust until fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 15 minutes before adding the filling.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Make the FILLING:

• 6 oz. excellent quality semisweet chocolate

• 2-1/2 lb. cream cheese, softened

• 1-1/2 cups sugar

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

• 4 large eggs

• 1/2 cup sour cream

• 1 (1-1/2-oz.) milk or dark chocolate bar

Place semisweet chocolate in a microwaveproof glass bowl or measuring cup and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave the chocolate on high power for 30 seconds and stir it. Continue to microwave the chocolate on high, stopping to stir every 15 seconds, until it is just barely melted. Stir until smooth. Set aside to cool. Stir every 20 to 30 seconds to cool the chocolate evenly. Place the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium speed until creamy and smooth, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping the sides as needed. Sift the cocoa powder into the cream cheese mixture and beat to incorporate.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the sour cream and the melted chocolate. Beat until smooth and evenly blended, scraping the bowl as needed. Using a rubber spatula, transfer the batter to the prepared pan with the baked crust. Smooth the top.

Place a roasting pan half filled with hot water on the bottom rack of the oven. Place the cake above it on the center rack. Bake at 350 degrees until the cake rises and puffs and the center is just set but still slightly wiggly, 60 to 75 minutes.

Turn off the oven and slightly open the door. Let cool for at 60 to 90 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Grate the chocolate bar over the top of the cheesecake while it’s still warm.

Let the cheesecake cool for 1 hour more. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.

When you’re ready to serve the cheesecake, gently run a thin sharp knife around the inside edge of the spring-form pan to loosen the cake’s sides, then unhook and carefully remove the outer ring of the pan. Drizzle with some good hot fudge and/or top with some whipped cream if you like. Slice and serve. Serves 10 to 12.

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bites (Dairy)

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bites. melskitchencafe.com

Vanilla Bean Never-Crack Cheesecake. Adobe

Fresh Blackberry Swirl Chocolate or Graham Crusted Cheesecake (Dairy)

Chocolate Cheesecake (Dairy)

I always make one cheesecake for Shavuot. The fresh blackberries this season have been remarkable and this was just gorgeous and naturally sweet. I have included an alternate graham cracker crust if you do not like the chocolate.

CRUST: • 3 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (about 60 cookies or 30 Oreos, centers removed)

butter, melted

Chocolate Cheesecake. sugarspunrun.com

GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST:

• 1-3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

• 2 Tbsp. sugar

• 1/2 to 1 stick butter, melted

BLACKBERRY SWIRL:

• 2 to 3 cups blackberries, divided

• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (for blackberries)

• 2 to 3 tsp. sugar, depending on sweetness of berries

FILLING:

• 1 cup sugar

• 3 pkgs. (8 oz. each) brick style cream cheese softened, at room temperature

• 1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract

• 3 extra-large eggs

• 2/3 cup sour cream FOR CRUST:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Break the cookies and place them in the bowl of a food processor. Process until fine crumbs form. Add the melted butter over the crumbs and pulse several times until blended and a few clumps form. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch nonstick spring-form pan. Pour the crumbs into the pan and press on the bottom and about an inch up the sides.

Place in the oven and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes or until firm and fragrant. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

For Graham cracker crust, mix crumbs, sugar, and melted butter together in a large bowl, using a fork. Press into the bottom and about an inch up the sides of the spring form pan. Bake as above. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees.

BLACKBERRY SWIRL:

Rinse and dry the food processor bowl and add 1-1/2 cups of the blackberries. Reserve and refrigerate the rest. Purée and pour into a fine mesh strainer over a medium sized bowl. Press the liquid through the strainer using the back of a spoon to get all the liquid through. Discard the seeds. You should have about 1/2 cup of puree. Add the vanilla and 2 teaspoons of sugar, more if the berries are not too sweet. Mix well and set aside to allow the sugar to dissolve.

CREAM CHEESE BASE:

Place the cream cheese and remaining 1 cup of sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed until blended, scraping the bowl often. Add the vanilla extract and mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the sour cream and mix well. Spoon half batter into the cooled crust and smooth the top.

Drop spoons of the blackberry mixture evenly around the cheese mixture, using about half the purée. Use a toothpick or thin bamboo skewer to swirl the blackberry throughout the batter.

Gently spoon the rest of the cheese mixture over the blackberry swirl and smooth the top. Drop the remaining blackberry purée onto the cheese and swirl in a pretty pattern being careful

not to place the skewer too deep. Place a pan filled with about 2 inches of boiled water in the bottom shelf of the oven. Place the cheesecake on the rack above and bake for 50 to 70 minutes, or until the edges are set and the center jiggles just slightly when you move the pan.

Turn off oven and open door a few inches or prop with thick handled wooden spoon. Leave cheesecake in oven 60 to 90 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Cover and place in refrigerator. Chill several hours or overnight.

TO SERVE:

Slide a thin knife around the cake and remove the ring. Mound the remaining blackberries on the center of the cake and add some pretty mint leaves. Serves 10 to 12.

‘S’Mores and More’ Cheesecake Cupcakes (Dairy)

Remember s’mores from camp? These are a bit more elegant and don’t include mosquitoes!

BASE:

• 2 packages graham crackers

• 1/2 to 1 stick melted butter

• 2 Tbsp. sugar

FILLING:

• 2 extra-large eggs

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 2 tsp. vanilla

• 1-1/4 lb. brick style cream cheese, softened

TOPPING:

• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, or several chocolate bars broken into 2-inch square pieces

• 1 package kosher mini marshmallows

Line 24 muffin cups, 2 tins, with doubled cupcake liners. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place graham crackers in a food processor bowl and pulse to produce fine crumbs. Add sugar and melted butter and mix until the crust holds together, using only as much butter as needed.

Press about 1 to 2 Tbsp. of crumb mixture into each cupcake liner. Reserve the rest.

Place the softened cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until creamy. Add the

sugar and eggs and vanilla and mix well on low speed. Scrape the bowl and increase speed, mixing until soft and creamy, about 1 minute. Spoon into cupcake liners, filling each 2/3 full. Bake at 375 for 10 to 13 minutes, until just a tiny bit golden at the edges. Let cool and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a few chocolate pieces on each cupcake and top with several mini marshmallows. Place back in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes, until the chocolate is melted and the marshmallows are browned. Let cool and serve. Makes 20 to 24 s’mores cheesecakes. Note: You can top some of the cheesecakes with strawberries or cherry pie filling or another favorite topping or eat them plain, for those who do not like s’mores.

Mount Sinai Dessert (Pareve)

A very simple meringue recipe for the younger members of the house to make and decorate.

• 6 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature

• Pinch salt

• 2 cups sugar

• 1-1/2 tsp. vinegar

• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

• 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract

• 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

• several kinds of berries and cut up fruits

• OPTIONAL: Food coloring

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the egg whites in the bowl of the electric mixer. Beat on high speed until frothy. Add the salt and cream of tartar. When the whites reach soft peak stage, add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time. When the whites are very stiff, add the vanilla and the vinegar and blend.

Draw circles 2 to 3 inches in diameter on a piece of parchment placed on a cookie sheet. Keep circles 2 to 3 inches apart. Spoon the meringue onto the circles, heaping each about 3 to 4 inches high. Keep the sides uneven with “ledges” in places. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Carefully place in the oven. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave for several hours until the oven is completely cool.

Note: Add a tiny drop of any food coloring to the meringue.

Assembly: Place the mountains on plates and surround with fruit and berries.

Variations: Mix some confectioners’ sugar with lemon juice and a tiny drop of blue food coloring. Let children paint some blue clouds on the mountain. Makes about 10 to 14 mountains.

S’Mores and More Cheesecake. Adobe

Mount Sinai Dessert … snow-capped meringues mountains. Adobe

Shavuot’s tableau of riches, from table to Torah

Shavuot, which begins at sundown on Tuesday, June 11, is rooted (like Pesach) in the agricultural season (originally, the beginning of the wheat harvest).

Before the fall of the Temple, thousands of Jews traveled to Jerusalem with thanksgiving offerings. The High Priest placed twin loaves baked from newly harvested wheat on the altar.

Families arrived carrying baskets laden with bikurim, the “first fruits” or Israel’s Seven Species (figs, grapes, pomegranates, wheat, barley, olives and dates). The holiday also marks the receiving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, and so at synagogues the world over, Jewish adults and children hear them read. Shavuot has always been a special observance and a joyous celebration.

Besides the wheat harvest, one of the oldest customs is that dairy dishes are served on Shavuot. One explanation is that at Shavuot time, animals give birth, and there are tender, new grasses to feed on. Thus, milk is plentiful. Another reason is that milk products are white, symbolizing the purity and sanctity of the Torah.

White rice dishes are popular at Shavuot among Jews of Middle Eastern origin, who also call the festival “The Feast of Roses.” Dairy dishes are set out on tables decorated with leafy branches and colorful flowers, a beautiful custom bringing a fresh spring look to the two-day holiday.

In Russia and Eastern Europe, milk and dairy products were abundant in spring, so cheese, eggs and cream were key ingredients in Shavuot cooking. Think rich, filling kugels heavy on eggs, sour cream and butter. The number seven is considered to hold special significance in Jewish mysticism. The first sentence of the Torah has seven words in Hebrew, and the number is repeated in other cycles of Jewish life. In the recipe below, feta cheese is steeped in a seven-ingredient marinade. The combination of dairy and seven ingredients makes for a traditional dish and takes just minutes to prepare.

As for the Butternut Squash Casserole, this recipe was given to me by a Viennese friend after I got married. It’s delicious, fail-safe and also makes for a succulent fall dish at Sukkot time.

These days, more and more people have trouble tolerating dairy. And so, there should be something on the table for guests who have trouble digesting lactose products. Try a dairy-free “cheesecake” using ingredients that were never available to past generations.

Biblical Mushroom Soup (Dairy)

Serves 4 to 6

Cook’s Tips: Wild mushrooms grow abundantly in Israel, but in America, it’s safer to buy from the market. Many wild mushrooms are poisonous and can even be fatal if eaten.

Ingredients:

• 2 egg yolks

• 2 Tbsp. sherry

• 1 cup plain yogurt

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil

• 1/2 lb. mushrooms such as cremini, shitake and/or porcini, coarsely chopped

• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

• 1 Tbsp. matzah cake meal or matzah meal

• 1-1/2 cups milk

• 1/4 tsp. dried pepper flakes or to taste

• 1 Tbsp. snipped fresh thyme or 1 tsp. dried

• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sherry and yogurt. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and onion.

Cook for 7 to 8 minutes, or until vegetables are softened. Add the matzah cake meal or matzah meal, and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add the milk, pepper flakes and thyme. Bring to a simmer, stirring often. Remove from heat.

Gradually pour in the egg-yolk mixture, whisking constantly until combined. Return to stovetop. Heat through to thicken but do not boil.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Butternut-Squash Casserole (Dairy)

Serves 4 to 6

Cook’s Tips: To make pareve, substitute margarine for butter, and nondairy creamer for milk.

Ingredients:

• 1 (10-oz.) package of frozen mashed squash, thawed

• 1 stick (4 oz.) butter, melted

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 3 large eggs, beaten

• 2 cups whole milk

• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 1-1/2 quart casserole with nonstick baking spray. In a large bowl, mix the squash, butter, flour, sugar, eggs, milk and cinnamon. Pour into prepared casserole. Bake in preheated oven until set in center, about 1 hour. Serve hot.

Bulgur with Summer Herbs (Pareve)

Serves 4

Cook’s Tips:

•Bulgur wheat is wheat kernels that have been steamed, dried and crushed; it’s a nutritious staple in the Middle East. •A bit more herbs in this “bursting with flavor” recipe always work.

Ingredients:

• Boiling water

• 1 cup bulgur wheat

• 1 cup each of loosely packed fresh parsley, mint and basil, coarsely chopped

• 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 Tbsp. cider vinegar

• 1 tsp. coarse kosher salt

• 2 tsp. lemon-pepper seasoning

Directions:

Place bulgur in a medium heatproof bowl. Pour enough boiling water to cover. Soak for 15 minutes to soften. Drain well, squeezing with your hands to remove as much moisture as possible.

Stir in parsley, mint, basil, olive oil, vinegar, salt and lemon pepper. Add more seasoning, if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Feta Cheese in SevenIngredient Marinade (Dairy)

Serves 3 to 4 as an appetizer

Cook’s Tips: •May use firm tofu. •Prepare ahead and chill overnight.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. of feta cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Seven-ingredient marinade:

• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 tsp. sesame oil

• 1/2 tsp. dried crushed red pepper

• 2 bay leaves, crumbled

• 1 tsp. dried sage or thyme

• 1/2 tsp. chopped garlic from a jar

• 1/2 cup lightly packed, shredded basil leaves

Directions:

Place feta in a serving dish. Set aside. In a small saucepan, place all ingredients

except basil. Heat over medium heat until hot but not boiling. Remove from heat. Stir in the basil. Pour over the feta cheese. Serve while hot or chill for flavors to develop.

Serves 6 to 8

Cook’s Tips: •Use a graham-cracker crust

pie shell instead of making your own. •Process nuts and cookies in a food processor. •Freezing the shell prevents loose crumbs from mixing with the filling.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup ground walnuts

• 1 cup cookie crumbs

• 2 Tbsp. butter, melted

• 1 lb. cream cheese at room temperature

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Topping:

• 2 medium apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch slices

• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar

• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions: Spray a 9-inch pie dish with nonstick baking spray. Set aside.

In a bowl, place the walnuts, cookie crumbs and butter. Mix well to moisten thoroughly. Press the mixture into the bottom and sides of the prepared dish. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Filling: In a large bowl, whip together the cream cheese and sugar till fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, until smooth and blended. Beat in the vanilla. Pour mixture into crust. In a medium bowl, toss the apples with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Arrange over the filling.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce to 350 degrees. Bake until set, about 35 minutes longer (filling should spring back when pressed lightly). Loosely place aluminum foil over the dish for the last 35 minutes of baking.

Adonyig, Pixabay

etHel G. HoFMAn

Mushrooms. Congerdesign, Pixabay

Bulgur. Sahinseker, Pixabay

Apple Cheesecake Pie. Ethel G. Hofman

Butternut squash. Webdesignnewcastle, Pixabay

Feta or Tofu Marinade. Ethel G. Hofman

Thinking of hostages with peanut butter cookies

As we prepare for the upcoming holiday of Shavuot, I can’t help but think that we are at another holiday without our brothers and sisters home. The hostages remain in my thoughts each and every day that passes. Our families make food for the holiday and sit around the table, and yet we are missing people. The hostages aren’t home, they aren’t spending the holidays with their families, and they don’t get to have their favorite foods.

This Shavuot, a cookbook — “Shavuot of Longing — Their Recipes on Our Table” — was published by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, featuring recipes of favorite foods that the hostages enjoy. While they can’t have them, maybe we should enjoy something for them.

One of the hostages that I athink about is Omer Neutra. He is the son of Ronen and Orna Neutra. Omer was born and raised in Plainview on Long Island, captain of his basketball and soccer teams. He chose to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, deferring from going to Binghamton University.

Actively participating in the Metropolitan New York region of USY — and frequently taking on the responsibilities to advocate and strengthen connections to Israel — led Omer to being president of the entire region.

Since Omer grew up on Long Island many people from the community that Omer grew

up have been reaching out to the Neutra family. They have been speaking up and showing their support for their family member and friend who they dearly miss. Rallies have been continuously happening and people are sharing pictures and videos of him on social media.

Recently at a rally, Omer’s brother Daniel spoke about him. He said, “Omer is a best friend.”

During a gap-year program in Israel 4 years ago, Omer connected to the land and culture “but most importantly the people, a people with a rich history and a volunteering sprit, but a people that is constantly under threat,” Daniel recalled.

This led him to serve in the IDF. He was a tank commander at the border on Oct. 7th and his family hasn’t heard from him since.

Every holiday that passes, I wonder how much longer are we going to be on edge waiting to hear something about the hostages. I think to myself, has it really been as long as it’s been?

While we are getting ready for Shavuot, think about a hostage and prepare one of 75 recipes included in “Shavuot of Longing — Their Recipes on Our Table.” Each recipe is accompanied by information about a hostage. The purpose of the cookbook is to honor the connection between food, family and longing for loved ones.

I am choosing to make Omer’s favorite, Peanut Butter Cookies.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Peanut Butter

• 1 cup Dark Brown Sugar

• 1 large Egg

• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda

• 100 grams (4 oz. or 1/2 cup) Chocolate Chips/Chopped Chocolate

Directions

• Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl

• Scoop them into balls using an ice cream scoop

• Bake 8 to 10 minutes at 350-degrees

Just like I have the opportunity to spend the holidays with my family so should the hostages. Let’s all bake in preparation for Shavuot and remember the hostages. Bring them home NOW!

The recipe is from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum website — tasteslikehome.co.il/ all-recipes-en

The book can be purchased from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum website — solidarity.bringthemhomenow.net

For LIer Omer Neutra, who chose to serve in the IDF, peanut butter cookies were a favorite.

Tableau of riches…

Continued from page 18

Cool on a wire rack. Then refrigerate until chilled. Cut into wedges and serve.

Dairy-Free No-Bake Cheesecake (Pareve)

Serves 6 to 8

Cook’s Tips: •Prepare the crust ahead. Cover and refrigerate. •Dairy-free items may be found in organic stores such as Moms or Whole Foods. •Freezes well but cut into wedges first.

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp. vegan butter, melted

• 1-1/2 cups dairy-free cookie crumbs

• 1 cup dairy-free heavy whipping cream

• 16 oz. dairy-free cream cheese, softened slightly

• 6 Tbsp. confectioners’ sugar

• Finely grated peel of 1 large lemon or orange (optional)

• 4 Tbsp. fresh squeezed orange juice

• 6 large strawberries to garnish

Directions:

Spray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie dish with olive-oil cooking spray. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir the melted butter into the cookie crumbs. Mix well. Press the mixture into the bottom and sides of the prepared pie dish. Chill for 45 minutes or until firm.

In a medium bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form.

In a larger bowl, whip together the cream cheese, sugar, orange juice and grated orange or lemon peel (if using). Fold the whipped cream into this cream-cheese mixture.

Spoon into the pie shell, smoothing the top. Chill for 6 hours or overnight.

Before serving, garnish with sliced strawberries.

Continued from page 20

Key Lime or Lemon Curd Mini-Pies (Pareve)

Makes about 1-1/4 cups

Cook’s Tips: •For sweet, tangy lemon curd, substitute fresh lemon juice for lime juice. •For a dairy meal, use butter instead of margarine.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup bottled Key lime juice

• 1 Tbsp. grated lime rind or juice and grated rind of 3 limes

• 3 eggs

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 4 Tbsp. pareve margarine, melted

• Store-bought kosher pareve phyllo cups or mini-tartlet shells, ready to eat.

Directions: Place the lime juice and grated rind, eggs and sugar in blender jar. Turn on to medium speed; pour in the melted margarine gradually. Whirl 15 seconds to thoroughly blend.

a

Peanut butter cookies made just in time for Shavuot. . Nechama Bluth

Pour into

small heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 4 minutes. Do not boil. Chill. Mixture will thicken as it cools. Spoon into phyllo cups or tartlet shells after filling has cooled a bit, but before it sets. Serve same day; refrigerate any leftovers.

Dairy-Free No-Bake Cheesecake.

Carin M. Smilk

Key Lime Mini-Pie. Pixabay

Lemon Curd Mini-Pies. Pixabay

Think different: Pie-in-sky Father’s Day Shabbat

ethel G. hofMan

very year, it’s the same standard setup: brunch for Mother’s Day and a barbecue for Father’s Day. But why fight the Sundaymorning breakfast crowd? And why sweat on a hot June day, if you don’t have to? More than that, why be so predictable?

There’s nothing that says a hearty Shabbat meal couldn’t satisfy; plus, you get an entire evening to relax and share stories, mixing fine food and company without having to get up early for work the next day.

There’s also no commandment that says chicken soup and roast chicken must be served on Shabbat. In fact, for many, meat has been completely replaced, with vegan dishes making center-stage on Friday-night tables.

On the island north of Scotland where I grew up, fish was fresh and abundant. We ate it every night — from gefilte fish and crisp oatmeal herring to the ubiquitous fish and chips, all homemade. My mother cooked up fish in a score of different ways, her Ashkenazi cuisine marrying deliciously into her neighbors’ Scottish recipes. Varieties such as herring, haddock, sole and halibut was dished up in a matter of hours, so fresh that the tails curled up.

But on cool-weather Shabbats or when the family craved comfort food, she prepared Shepherd’s Pie, bubbling and enticing from the oven. Ground lamb stew studded generously with root vegetables, seasoned with plenty of onions and crowned with clouds of mashed potatoes, it not only was a glorious dish but a thrifty one as well. And it could be prepared early in the day and then reheated before dinner time.

It’s said that Shepherd’s Pie originated in Scotland (makes sense). Root vegetables and potatoes were cheap, and it wasn’t uncommon for families to slaughter a lamb, and salt and wind-dry it to store over the winter. If the dish is made with another meat, such as beef and a pastry crust, replacing the potatoes, it’s referred to as Cottage Pie.

My mantra, as always, is to make the preparation easy. Use your freezer. Frozen items like veggies and fruits are nutrient-rich and sometimes even better than fresh, which may have been trucked in over days from miles away. As for meats, when on sale, stock up your freezer and save.

I have also included a vegan recipe for the main dish, to be accompanied by the borscht and broccoflower salad — perfect with fresh challah and wine.

Happy Father’s Day … and Shabbat Shalom!

Vegetable Beet Borscht (Pareve)

Serves 4 to 6

chopped

• 1-1/2 cups shredded salad vegetables

• 1 (8 oz.) can stems and pieces mushrooms, drained

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 1 to 2 tsp. sugar or to taste

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until vegetables are wilted. Serve hot.

Shepherd’s Pie (Meat)

Serves 4 to 6

Cook’s Tips: •Ground-beef or a mixture of beef and turkey may be used instead of turkey.

•Use store-bought pareve mashed potatoes or make your own; 3 cups mashed potatoes, moistened with 2 Tbsp. melted pareve margarine or non-dairy creamer. •Correct seasonings? It just means season to taste.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp. of olive oil

• 1 lb. ground turkey

• 1/4 cup frozen chopped onion

• 1-1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

• 1 (8 oz.) can stems and pieces mushrooms, drained

• 1 rounded Tbsp. all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup ketchup

• 1/2 tsp. chopped bottled garlic

• 1/2 tsp. each salt and fresh ground pepper or to taste

• 3 to 4 cups mashed potatoes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add turkey and onion. Cook over medium high heat, stirring often, until no pink in turkey remains.

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie (Pareve)

Serves 4 to 6

Cook’s Tips: •Fresh sliced leeks and cubed butternut squash are available in markets. •If using whole leeks, separate leaves and wash well in cold water. •Vacuum-packed, precooked lentils are available in markets.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cubed butternut squash

• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

• 1 cup sliced leeks

• 2-1/2 cups cooked lentils

• 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed and drained

• 1/2 cup vegan tomato purée

• 1 tsp. dried thyme

• 3/4 tsp. dried basil, divided

• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

Add the leeks. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring often, until leeks are softened.

Add the lentils, mixed vegetables, tomato purée, thyme and 1/2 teaspoon basil. Stir to mix. Transfer to a 2-quart ovenproof casserole dish. Set aside.

Place squash in a microwave dish. Cook for 7 minutes on High, or until squash is tender. Spoon over the lentil mixture. Sprinkle with remaining basil.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until lentil mixture is bubbly. Serve hot.

Crunchy Broccoflower Salad (Pareve)

Serves 4 to 6

Cook’s Tips: •Use bottled Asian sesameginger dressing. •Broccoflower salad may be prepared up to 8 hours ahead of time. Cover and refrigerate. •Roasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds available in markets.

Ingredients:

1 package (approx. 12 oz.) fresh or frozen broccoli and cauliflower florets

1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries

1/3 cup roasted pumpkin seeds

1/3 cup sesame-ginger (Asian) salad dressing

Directions:

Microwave broccoli and cauliflower in bag for 1 minute to soften very slightly.

Transfer to a medium bowl. Add the pumpkin seeds and cranberries.

Pour the dressing over and toss to mix. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Sabra-Soaked Bananas (Pareve)

Serves 4 to 6

Cook’s Tips: •For a dairy meal, substitute butter for the margarine. •Bananas may be soft, though firm enough to hold shape. •Substitute any fruit liqueur for Sabra, (i.e., cherry brandy).

•May make ahead of time and chill. Zap for 30 seconds on High or until warm. •Substitute shredded coconut or grated pareve chocolate for the almonds.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. pareve margarine

• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar

• 3 Tbsp. Sabra liqueur or other fruit liqueur

• 3 medium bananas, sliced 1 inch thick

• 2 Tbsp. slivered almonds (optional)

Directions:

Melt margarine in a medium nonstick skillet. Add the brown sugar and stir over medium heat until bubbly, about 2 minutes.

Add the bananas, stirring to coat with sugar mixture. Cook 2 to 3 minutes longer, stirring often, until bananas are barely softened. Serve warm in compote dishes. Sprinkle with slivered almonds, shredded coconut or grated pareve chocolate (optional).

See It’s different on page 19

Cook’s Tips: •Start off with a jar of storebought borscht. •Cooked beets are available in markets. •Store-bought packaged shredded salad veggies. •May be made ahead of time, chilled and reheated.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups bottled beet borscht

• 2 medium beets, cooked and coarsely

Add all remaining ingredients, except the mashed potatoes. Cook over medium heat, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Correct seasonings. Transfer to a 2-quart ovenproof casserole dish. Spoon mashed potatoes over top, roughing with a fork.

Bake in a preheated oven 20 to 30 minutes, or until meat mixture is bubbling and potatoes beginning to brown. Serve hot with a crunchy salad.

These bananas need to soak in Sabra for a celebratory end to the meal. Steve Hopson via WikiCommons

Vegetarian and meat Shepherd’s Pie for sale at the Granville Island Public Market in Vancouver. Joe Mabel via WikiCommons

A bowl of borscht garnished with dill and a dollop of sour cream. WikiCommons

Crunchy Broccoflower Salad. Ethel G. Hofman

Shephard’s Pie.

Ethel G. Hofman

Nassau County Bridge Authority

160 Beach 2nd Street

Lawrence, N.Y. 11559-0341

516-239-6900

PUBLIC NOTICE

Amended Atlantic Beach Bridge Drawbridge Operation Regulations

Effective June 6, 2024

As published in the U. S. Federal Register Vol. 89, No 89 Tuesday May 7, 2024/ Rules and Regulations, the U. S. Coast Guard amends the drawbridge operations of the Atlantic Beach Bridge as follows:

Section 117.799 Long Island New York Inland Waterway from East Rockaway Inlet to Shinnecock Canal

PART 117—DRAWBRIDGE OPERATION REGULATIONS

■ 1. The authority citation for part 117 continues to read as follows: Authority: 33 U.S.C. 499; 33 CFR 1.05–1; and DHS Delegation No. 00170.1. Revision No. 01.3

■ 2. Amend § 117.799 by revising paragraph (e) to read as follows:

§ 117.799 Long Island, New York Inland Waterway from East Rockaway Inlet to Shinnecock Canal * * * * *

(e) The draw of the Atlantic Beach Bridge across Reynolds Channel, mile 0.4, shall operate as follows:

(1) From October 1 through May 14 the draw shall open on signal from 8 a.m. to midnight.

(2) From midnight to 8 a.m. year-round, the draw shall open on signal if at least eight (8) hours of notice is given by calling the Bridge Tower at 516–239–1821.

(3) From May 15 through September 30, the bridge will open on signal except from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays, Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day, when the bridge will open on the hour and half-hour.

Sunday 5K in 5 Towns will aid IDF wounded

By Melissa Berman, LI Herald

Five Israeli Defense Force soldiers who fought in the war launched by Hamas on Oct. 7 have stories to tell.

Four of them — all except Lt. Eden Ram, 21, from Jerusalem — will be attending the 15th annual Five Towns 5K run/walk in North Woodmere Park on Sunday to raise funds for Friends of Israeli Disabled Veterans (FIDV). Registration is open until the event gets underway at 10 am. Ram, serving in the Home Front Command, was stationed at the Orim base observing the Sabbath when the day’s tranquility was shattered by the terrrorists’ surprise attack. The infiltrators unleashed chaos; a hail of gunfire killing four out of six soldiers on the spot.

Bullets tore through Ram’s left leg, left hand and pelvis. She lay wounded and alone for over four hours. Her life was hanging by a thread. The terrorists returned, but she defied all odds and survived long enough to be rescued by Unit 669 soldiers, who moved her, in critical condition, to Shaare Zedek Hospital.

After nine days fighting for her life with the help of medical teams working around the clock, Ram was taken to Beit Halochem (House of Warriors) in Tel Aviv for rehabilitation. Beit Halochem is the primary recipient of FIDV funds.

Ram continues her journey of rehabilitation and shares her story to serve as a beacon of courage and inspiration.

First Sgt. Shahar Firshtman, 23, from Tel Aviv joined the IDF in 2019 as a volunteer in the Special Forces unit named Okets, which is the K9 military unit.

After 14 months of hard physical and mental training, Firshtman was injured parachuting and was released from the unit.

He was transferred to the Givati brigade and after spending four months deployed at the Lebanon border, he was promoted to commander. After eight months, he was released from the army as a sergeant.

When the war broke out, Firshtman grabbed his personal handgun and drove south to reunite with his unit. After three weeks of training, they were sent into Gaza- Beit Hanoon.

Firshtman’s last mission was on Dec. 4, it comprised of capturing and taking control over Beit Hanoon’s town hall area. His squad ransacked training facilities, laser gun ranges and a kindergarten.

While covering the west side of the compound, two Hamas terrorists appeared from a tunnel and shot two rocket propelled grenades at them, 400 meters away. Five of his soldiers suffered injuries.

“I felt my arm burning and saw all of my squad full of blood smoke, I heard them scream and thought I am in the best condition so I will get help,” Firshtman said. “I started to roll over my left arm thinking that’s how I will kill the fire.”

After what felt like an eternity of laying on the ground calling for help, the commanded ran in to rescue them with his squad.

“They got to me first and I saw how his face changed but like a lion he came to me wanting to start taking care of me,” he said. “I told him to leave me alone and go take care of the others.

When the medics reached Firshtman, his leg was bleeding from multiple bullet wounds. He was taken to the hospital where he received two blood transfusions and was told that it was dangerous to remove the fragments in his leg.

Sgt. Shalom Sheetrit, from Afula, was a soldier in Golani’s 13th Battalion. He survived a deadly attack by Hamas at his outpost, 250 meters from the Gaza border. Though he lost his right leg, Sheerit said never lost his faith in the IDF, Israel and it’s people.

Sheetrit and eight fellow soldiers were awoken by the “Code Red” alert on Oct. 7, as they ran to the bunker without vests or cartridges. He went to retrieve supplies as missiles exploded nearby shaking the ground beneath him. After the rockets stopped, they were ambushed.

“I faced a terrorist just two meters away and neutralized him, but another shot me, injuring my right leg,” Sheetrit said. “My comrades applied a tourniquet, and I awaited evacuation.”

Sheetrit was taken to Soroka Medical Center, where his leg was amputated. He was led to Tel HaShomer Hospital for rehabilitation and long-term care and support.

After leaving the hospital, he also went to Beit Halochem for specialized rehabilitation of wounded soldiers. The therapy helped him regain strength, mobility and a renewed sense of purpose.

Noam Guez’s story is one of remarkable resilience and technological innovation. After sustaining a devastating injury from a grenade while serving in the IDF, he spent five days in a coma with multiple brain injuries. Guez turned his life-altering event into a springboard for groundbreaking achievements.

Despite his severe injuries and living with a prosthetic left arm, he radiates optimism in everything he does. After being released from the hospital, Guez also spent time at Beit Halochem for rehabilitation, to regain strength and reclaim his life.

After regaining consciousness, less than a month later he returned to judo tatami, judo that uses mats as flooring in traditional Japanese-style rooms. He then re-enlisted into the army, pursued a degree in computer engineering and developed an innovative 3D printed prosthetic limb. This all occurred within the first year of his recovery.

Guez gives presentations about living life with one hand and spreads messages of optimism and interest.

Naor Partush, 35, suffers from post traumatic stress disorder from his time as a police officer and fighting in the war in Israel. He is currently receiving therapy at Beit Halochem. After receiving notifications about an unusual incident and suspected kidnapping of civilians in the Gaza envelope, Partush went to provide operational assistance.

He immediately noticed the magnitude of the event and casualties. Partush teamed up with a policeman and began rescuing civilians. He was aiming to reach a girl named Nitzan who was hiding under bodies at the entrance to the Bari settlement and was surrounded by terrorists. Dozens of people were trapped near Bari and Reim, along with a parking lot filled with attendees from the Nova Festival. Despite being fired at by terrorists, they managed to rescue roughly 60 people and arrest several terrorists for questioning. Unfortunately, during the fight Partush lost his commander and subordinate. Two members of the station’s staff were injured and friends were injured or killed.

All proceeds from Sunday’s run/walk will benefit rehab facilities for wounded IDF soldiers.

Lt. Eden Ram

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

תבש לש בכוכ

Fri June 7 / Sivan 1

Bamidar Candles: 8:06 • Havdalah: 9:15

Tues June 11 / Sivan 5

Erev Shavuot • Tues Candles: 8:08

Wed Candles: 9:09 • Thurs Havdalah 9:18

Fri June 14 / Sivan 8

Nasso

Candles: 8:09 • Havdalah: 9:18

Fri June 21 / Sivan 15

Beha’aloscha

Candles: 8:11 • Havdalah: 9:20

Fri June 28 / Sivan 22

Sh’lach • Shabbos Mevarchim Candles: 8:11 • Havdalah: 9:20

Fri July 5 / Sivan 29

Korach

Candles: 8:10 • Havdalah: 9:19

Double celebration: Thinking about Shavuot

rabbi sir jonathan sacks zt”l

The festival of Shavuot is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Here is how Shavuot is described and defined in parshat Emor:

“From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off 50 days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the L-rd. … On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. (Leviticus 23:15-21)

These are the difficulties. In the first place, Shavuot, “the feast of weeks,” is given no calendrical date. All the other festivals are — Pesach, for example is “on the 15th day” of the “first month.” Shavuot is calculated by counting “seven full weeks” from a particular starting time. Secondly, as long as the New Moon was determined on the basis of eyewitness testimony (until the fourth century of the Common Era), Shavuot could have no fixed date. In the Jewish calendar a month can be long (30 days) or short (29). If Nissan and Iyar were both long months, Shavuot would fall on 5 Sivan. If both were short, it would fall on 7 Sivan. And if one were long and the other short, it would fall on 6 Sivan. Unlike other festivals, Shavuot is (or was) a moveable feast.

Thirdly, the point at which the counting of days and weeks begins is signaled in a profoundly ambiguous phrase: “From the day after the Sabbath.” But which Sabbath? And what is the reference to a Sabbath doing here at all? The previous passage has talked about Pesach, not the Sabbath.

This led to one of the great controversies in Second Temple Judaism. The Pharisees, who believed in the Oral Law as well as the Written one, understood “the Sabbath” to mean, here, the first day of Pesach (15 Nissan). The Sadducees, who believed in the Written Law only, took the text literally. The day after the Sab-

Those who celebrated Shavuot as ‘the time of the giving of the Torah’ ensured Jewish survival through nearly 20 centuries of exile and dispersion.

bath is Sunday. Thus the count always begins on a Sunday, and Shavuot, 50 days later, also always falls on a Sunday.

The fourth mystery, though, is the deepest: what is Shavuot about? What does it commemorate?

About Pesach and Succot, we have no doubt. Pesach is a commemoration of the exodus. Succot is a reminder of the 40 years in the wilderness so that, as our sedra says, “your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the L-rd your G-d.”

In the case of Shavuot, all the Torah says is that it is the “Feast of the Harvest” and the “Day of First-fruits.” These are agricultural descriptions, not historical ones. Pesach and Succot have both: an agricultural aspect (spring/autumn) and a historical one (exodus/wilderness).

This is not a marginal phenomenon, but of the essence. Other religions of the ancient world celebrated seasons. They recognized cyclical time. Only Israel observed historical time, time as a journey, a story, an evolving narrative. The historical dimension of the Jewish festivals was unique. All the more, then, is it strange that Shavuot is not biblically linked to a historical event.

Jewish tradition identified Shavuot as “the time of the giving of the Torah,” the anniversary of the Divine revelation at Sinai when the Israelites heard the voice of G-d and made a covenant with Him. But that connection is not made in the Torah itself. To be sure, the Torah says that “in the third month after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt, on that very day, they entered the wilderness of Sinai” (Ex. 19:1), and Shavuot is the only festival in the third month.

So the connection is implicit, but it is not explicit. For this, as for the festival’s date, we need the Oral tradition.

What then was the view of the Sadducees? It is unlikely that they linked Shavuot with the giving of the Torah. For that event had a date, and for the Sadducees Shavuot did not have a date. They kept it on a Sunday, they observed it on a specific day of the week, not on a specific date in the year.

How did the Sadducees view Shavuot?

There is a fascinating episode recorded in the Rabbinic literature (Menachot 65a) in which a Sadducee explains to R. Yochanan ben Zakkai why, according to them, Shavuot is always on a Sunday: “Moses our teacher was a great lover of Israel. Knowing that Shavuot lasted only one day, he therefore fixed it on the day after the Sabbath so that Israel might enjoy themselves for two successive days.” Shavuot gave the Israelites a long weekend!

From this starting point we can begin to speculate what Shavuot might have meant for the Sadducees. The late Louis Finkelstein argued that they were landowners and farmers. In general, they were wealthier than the Pharisees, and more closely attached to the State and its institutions (the Temple and the political elite.) They

were as near as Judaism came to a governing class.

For farmers, the agricultural significance of Shavuot would have been clear and primary. It was “the festival of the harvest, of the first-fruits of your work, of what you sow in the field” (Ex. 23: 16). It came at the end of a seven-week process that began with the bringing of the Omer — “a sheaf of the first grain of your harvest,” the first of the barley crop” (Lev. 23: 10).

This was the busy time of gathering in the grain (this is the setting of the Book of Ruth, and one of the reasons why we read it on Shavuot). Farmers would have a specific reason to give thanks to G-d who “brings forth bread from the ground.” They would also, by the end of harvesting, be exhausted. Hence the Sadducee’s remark about needing a long weekend.

We can now see the outline of a possible Sadducean argument. Pesach represents the beginning of the Israelites’ journey to freedom. Sukkot recalls the 40 years of wandering in the desert. But where in the Jewish year do we recall and celebrate the end of the journey: the entry into the promised land? When, in fact, did it take place? The Book of Joshua (5: 10-12) states:

On the evening of the 14th day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.

It is this text that Maimonides takes as proof that “the day after the Sabbath” in fact means, as the text states here, “the day after the Passover.” Seen through Sadducean eyes, however,

this text might have held a quite different significance. The Omer recalls the day the Israelites first ate the produce of the promised land. It was the end of the wilderness years, the day they stopped eating manna (“bread from heaven,” Exodus 16:4) and started eating bread from the land to which they had been traveling for 40 years. The reason Shavuot is given only agricultural, not historical, content in the Torah is that in this case agriculture was history. The 50 day count from the first time they ate food grown in Israel to the end of the grain harvest represents the end of the journey of which Pesach was the beginning and Succot the middle. Shavuot is a festival of the land and its produce because it commemorates the entry into the land in the days of Joshua. So the Sadducees may have argued. It was Israel’s first Yom ha-Atzma’ut, Independence Day. It was the festival of entry into the promised land.

It is, perhaps, not surprising that after the destruction of the Second Temple, the Sadducees rapidly disappeared. How do you celebrate a festival of the land when you have lost the land?

How do you predicate your religious identity on the State and its institutions (Temple, priests, kings) when you have lost those institutions? Only a movement (the Pharisees) and a festival (Shavuot) based on the giving of the Torah, could survive. For the Torah was not completely dependent on the land. It had been given “in the wilderness.” It applied anywhere and everywhere.

To be sure, the Pharisees, no less than the Sadducees, loved the land. They knew the Torah in its entirety could only be kept there. They longed for it, prayed for it, lived there whenever they could. But even in exile, they still had the Torah and the promise it contained that one day

On Shavuot: The 10 commandments and Ruth

Rabbi

tzvi

The Ten Commandments and the Book of Ruth are each as important to the intellectual appreciation and religious experience of Shavuot as blintzes and cheesecake are to the culinary celebration of this beautiful holiday. Yet they are strikingly different from each other, and we are puzzled to find them sharing center stage.

What connects the Book of Ruth, a simple pastoral tale, to the central theme of this festival, “the time of the giving of the Torah”? Why commemorate the momentous occasion of G-d’s Revelation on Mount Sinai with this charming, but surely not momentous story?

To answer this, let us ponder the plot of the Book of Ruth. A careful reading of the book reveals that this is by no means merely an idyllic morality tale.

Its characters suffer almost every conceivable human tragedy: famine, betrayal, exile, sudden death, bereavement, widowhood, loneliness, poverty and shame. The book begins with the depiction of a demoralized nation of Israel, devastated by famine.

One noble family deserts its brethren and betrays its homeland. The family soon experiences the pangs of exile. Its sons marry women of an alien culture, further betraying their heritage. Death strikes swiftly, leaving three widows, and one bereaved mother. Two of the women return home in shame and loneliness, with a life of poverty in store for them.

Both women, mother-in-law Naomi and daughter-in-law Ruth, return home with hope. Naomi’s is the hope of desperation; she has no choice but to hope. But Ruth’s is the hope of courage and commitment: “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you dwell, I will dwell; your people shall be my people and your G-d my G-d” (Ruth 1:16).

This makes for a stirring and inspirational narrative. But the question remains: What does this drama have to do with zman matan Torateinu, the “time of the giving of the Torah?”

Does this tale match up to the majesty and power of the Ten Commandments? What connection is there between G-d’s Universal Laws, His do’s and don’ts for the human race, and this sad tale? How does this story, in which G-d barely plays a role, find its way into the liturgy of a day which celebrates the most foundational religious experience?

For me, the answer is apparent.

Two texts are chosen for Shavuot. The Ten

Famine, betrayal, exile, sudden death, bereavement, widowhood, loneliness, poverty and shame.

Commandments incorporate the Torah’s highest values: compassion, generosity, loyalty and responsibility for each other — the laws, standards and requirements of a just and successful society. The Book of Ruth proffers but one example of a society which defies those values with disastrous consequences but achieves inspiring results when it abides by them.

The Rabbis (Yalkut Ruth, 594) tell us that the Book of Ruth is read on Shavuot, the anniversary of the giving of the Torah, to teach us that one must be prepared for suffering and poverty in one’s search to master Torah. Mastery of Torah does not come easy, and a life led according to the Torah’s precepts calls for significant sacrifice. But eventually, the difficulties entailed by a total commitment to the Torah’s demands prove to be the very sources of a life of

happiness and fulfillment.

The tragic circumstances of the Book of Ruth gradually recede. The loneliness is overcome by a caring community, the shame is lifted by understanding and forgiveness, the poverty is ended by charity, and the widowhood is overcome by love. Even the bereavement is eventually softened by rebirth.

Rabbi Zeira in the Midrash (Ruth Rabbah 2:15) wonders: “This scroll teaches us nothing about ritual purity or impurity, nor does it inform us about what is forbidden and what is permissible. Why then was it given a place in the Biblical canon?” To which he answers, “It is in order to teach us about the benefits which ensue from a life lived with compassion and loving-kindness.”

Our sages teach us that the Book of Ruth was written by the Prophet Samuel. In it he tells us a story which is but an illustration of the lesson that our father Abraham taught us by his example centuries before Samuel: “Loving-kindness, exemplified by simple hospitality, pre-empts even the direct experience of the Almighty’s Presence!”

The Ten Commandments describe the ultimate encounter of Man with G-d and declare Gd’s expectations of His people. The tale of Ruth and Naomi epitomizes His people’s history. Our people have known all of the tragedies de-

Moving beyond time and place to find our place

From heart of Jerusalem

Rabbi binny FReeDMan

Jewish Star columnist

Next week, on Shavuot, we commemorate a moment, 3200 years ago when we all stood together, beneath a wind-swept mountain, deep in the Sinai desert. The power of that moment was that, more than at any other time in our history as a people, we truly became people.

There is a legend about Moses Mendelssohn, grandfather of the well-known German composer, who was far from handsome. Along with a rather short stature, he had a grotesque hunchback.

One day he visited a merchant in Hamburg who had a lovely daughter named Frumtje. Moses fell helplessly in love with her. But Frumtje was repulsed by his misshapen appearance. When it came time for him to leave, Moses gathered his courage and climbed the stairs to

her room to take one last opportunity to speak with her. She was a vision of heavenly beauty, but caused him deep sadness by her refusal to even look at him.

After several attempts at conversation, Moses shyly asked, “Do you believe marriages are made in heaven?”

“Yes,” she answered, still looking at the floor. “And do you?”

“Yes, I do,” he replied. “You see, in heaven at the birth of each boy, G-d announces which girl he will marry. When I was born, my future bride was pointed out to me. Then G-d added, ‘But your wife will be humpbacked.’

“Right then and there I called out, ‘Oh G-d, a humpbacked woman would be a tragedy. Please, give me the hump and let her be beautiful.’ “Then Frumtje looked up into his eyes and was stirred by some deep memory. She reached out and gave Mendelssohn her hand and later became his devoted wife.

Sometimes, we have a sense that we have been there before. On our journey through life, we often experience the feeling that we are not

traveling a new, undiscovered path, but rather coming back to where we have somehow been.

Shavuot and indeed, the giving of the Torah itself is one of the strangest experiences in Judaism. The Torah shares no date for this festival, describing only the agricultural significance (the beginning of the harvest) of this celebration, leaving us to rely on tradition for the historical perspective.

Even stranger is the place where this momentous event occurs: deep in the heart of the desert. We don’t even know exactly where Mount Sinai is, and amazingly, we gave it away in the peace accord with Egypt and no one even noticed!

The giving of the Torah has no date and no place.

And that is precisely the point. Torah is the recipe we are given to make the world a better place. It is the sum total of why we are here and how we can make a difference. The Torah is essentially one long love-letter written by G-d, for us, all of us. It contains the secrets of how we can tap into who we are, and become all that we can be.

And of course, if the Torah is about discovering

who we are, about being and becoming, then that can never be about a specific time or place.

Nonetheless, we receive this beautiful treasure in the desert, because sometimes, in order to take a good look at who we are and who we need to become, we need to find a little bit of desert.

So many experiences in Judaism are about getting beyond time and space. On Shabbat, we step back from the week, and experience the joyful opportunity to take a good look at where we are and where we are headed. Traditionally, we take a little time in the allegorical desert every morning, in prayer, to consider, again, where we really are, and where we hope to go.

But make no mistake about it. Judaism is not about staying in the desert. We don’t believe in staying up on the monastic mountain.

The Jewish people travel, ultimately, for 40 years, to arrive in the Land of Israel. To be a nation, you need a place you can call home.

In fact, one of the most basic rules in life, an essential piece of achieving one’s goals and getting organized, is that everything needs a place.

Considering the chesed legacy of Ruth and Boaz

In his essay “Megillat Ruth and the Story of Yehuda and Tamar: A Study in Biblical Contrast,”

Rabbi Alex Israel of the Pardes Institute quotes the following the following from Ruth Rabba 2:14:

Rabbi Zeira said: This Megillah contains not impurity nor purity, not the forbidden nor the permitted. Nonetheless, it has been written to publicize the extent of the reward that is bestowed upon people who engage in acts of kindness and welfare — gemilus chasadim.

The Book of Ruth is all of four chapters, a total of 85 verses. The year in which this column was first published, two scholars wrote two high-quality extensive commentaries. This column’s primary focus will be on the first, entitled “Ruth: From Alienation to Monarchy” (Maggid Books, 2015)

by Dr. Yael Ziegler, who teaches at the Matan Women’s Institute for Torah Studies in Jerusalem and is assistant professor of Bible at Herzog College in Gush Etzion. This book explains the narrative of the midrashic details that teach us the deeper meaning of the plot, subplot and events, especially the interactive roles played by Ruth and Boaz. The author demonstrate show these distinct individuals, each in their own way, perform small acts of kindness that ultimately serve to change the course of history thus restor-

ing hope to the Jewish people of that most troubled era.

“This book is a book of chesed, but not just ordinary chesed,” Dr. Ziegler wrote to this author. “This book records acts of extraordinary chesed, the kind that even undermines one’s own interests in order to do chesed with the other. This is of course the case with Ruth, whose every act involves selflessness to the point of self-abnegation.

“While this chesed may not be expected from the ordinary citizen, it is an absolute sine qua non for our leaders, and especially our kings. Having so much power concentrated in the hands of one dynastic family is a recipe for tyranny and debauchery, unless this king is able to take his own interests out of the picture. Ruth is the worthy Mother of Kingship because of the specific

type of chesed that she practices, advocates and models for her monarchical descendants.”

In the introduction to the book, Dr. Ziegler sets up the scene to follow in an excellent essay:

“The Book of Ruth documents the manner in which people lead their humdrum lives, without dramatic events, obvious conflicts, or extraordinary miracles. And yet, while it records ordinary interactions, it also features the extraordinary behavior of two great individuals who succeed in reversing the negative direction that society has taken during the period of the judges. This is a deeply optimistic story, despite its setting in one of the most troubled periods of biblical history.

“Ruth and Boaz teach us how two individuals can act in accordance with their own conscience and in contrast to the social alienation and apathy that prevails. In doing so, they offer the possibility of bringing this lawless and hopeless situation to an end, and pave the way toward a well-functioning society in which the nation can build a strong and unified house.”

See Weinreb on page 30

See Freedman on page 30

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10 pro-Palestinian lies

Anybody who’s been to college can understand the allure of a wild party on the quad: Everybody singing together, wearing cool costumes and flipping off the establishment.

Unfortunately, the theme of the riotous parties we’ve seen on university campuses over the last seven months is “Kill the Jews and destroy the world’s only Jewish state.” Even more unfortunate is that the reasons these “kids” say they want to perpetrate another Holocaust are based on obvious lies.

If you watch recent videos of journalists interviewing “pro-Palestine” demonstrators, you notice a remarkable thing: The protesters refuse to answer questions. Journalists are often referred to “the communications tent” where the “media staff” brush them off: “We don’t talk to corporate media.”

Preeminent Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan visited the Columbia encampment and invited a group of keffiyeh-clad women to “come over and tell me what you think.” All ignored her except one, who declined to talk, explaining, ”I’m not trained.”

It’s no wonder these demonstrators are forbidden by their leaders to talk or at least not until their brains are sufficiently washed. The precepts behind the banners, placards and riotous chanting are based on untruths.

Most of their hysterical claims — genocide, apartheid, “it’s all ours, Zionists are white supremacists” — can’t stand up to a few simple facts, let alone a disciplined academic debate.

The lies come from the demonstrators’ leaders — students and faculty — who have been “trained” in a neo-Marxist ideology based on critical race theory, which holds that society’s fundamental conflict is between “oppressed” and “oppressors.”

The oppressors are white people and the oppressed are generally black or brown. Jews are labeled as white — against all Jewish historical experience and today’s reality — and therefore deserving of murderous defeat by Hamas thugs or the demonstrators themselves “by any means necessary,” as one of their slogans encourages.

Major media, which have a sacred charter to reveal truth and expose lies, refuse to take up this cause, especially on behalf of Jews, whose lynching is viciously demanded today on the majority of college campuses in the United States. Would the truth behind these lies change the minds of the tens of thousands of student pro-

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idiots’

testors swept up in a genocidal frenzy reminiscent of Hitler rallies in Germany’s Nazi heyday? Sadly, it’s doubtful. The students screaming for Jewish blood are not interested in a discussion, much less in critically confronting facts. They are what Vladimir Lenin called “useful idiots.”

Yet ultimately, it’s the obligation of good people, moral people and rational people to tell the truth and defeat the lies. It’s our job to disrupt the campus party and discredit the liars.

Here are ten of the greatest lies pro-Palestinian protesters tell themselves and try to sell us:

Lie #1: “Zionists are white supremacists.”

A white supremacist believes that white people constitute a superior race and should therefore dominate society. The Jewish people originated as people of color in the Middle East. Zionists believe in the right of Jews to have a state in their ancient, indigenous homeland, where they have lived continuously for 3,000 years. Today, over two-thirds of Israel’s population are people of color.

Lie #2: “Jews go back home, Palestine is ours alone.” In other words, the Land of Israel

belongs exclusively to the Palestinian Arabs even though they never owned any of it or ever had sovereignty or a state there. This denies the right of Jewish people to self-determination in a land they purchased, settled and defended against Arab invaders and the United Nations recognized as their country in 1948.

Lie #3: “Zionists are oppressors.” An oppressor is someone who maliciously exercises power to discriminate against specific groups. Israel completely exited Gaza in 2005. It has no power over the daily lives of Gazans. However, Hamas’s acts of terror — like killing Jews and attempting to destroy the Jewish state — caused Israel and Egypt to blockade Gaza. In Judea and Samaria, the Oslo Accords deny Israel virtually any role in governing Palestinians’ daily lives. There is no oppression.

Lie #4: “Israel commits genocide.” Genocide is the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members. Israel does not nor has it ever targeted innocent Palestinian civilians for killing. All Palestinian civilian deaths have occurred as Israel fights terrorists hiding in residential and public areas. Tellingly, the Palestinian population in “Palestine” has mushroomed since 1948 from about 700,000 to seven million today. There is no genocide.

Lie #5: “Israel is an apartheid state.” Apartheid is a system of legalized racial segregation in which one racial group is deprived of political and civil rights. Israel has no laws or policies separating or limiting the rights of any

of its citizens, including its two million Israeli Arabs. The political and civil rights of all Palestinians outside Israel are controlled by two brutal dictatorships that allow their people virtually no rights or freedoms. There is no apartheid.

Lie #6: “Israel is a colonial settler state.” A colonizer is a foreign nation that conquers and exploits another nation. The Palestinians never controlled land in Palestine, nor were they ever a nation. However, Jews have for 3,000 years fought colonizers such as Romans, Muslims, Turks and the British. Jews are not foreigners, they are decolonizers.

Lie #7: “End Israel’s occupation, no peace on stolen land.” An occupation exists when one country illegally controls the territory of another country. Palestinians never owned or controlled any part of “Palestine,” nor was it ever a “country.” Israel has never stolen or occupied Palestinian land, but it made many offers of a Palestinian state, which the Palestinians always refused.

Lie #8: “Free, free Palestine.” Protestors imply that Israel keeps Palestinians in chains. On the contrary, it is the Palestinians’ own dictatorships that prevent their freedom. Palestinians are denied virtually all civil rights, such as speech and the press, women are treated as property and often beaten or killed, and LGBTQ+ people are frequently murdered. In fact, not a single Arab nation is free, while Israeli Arabs enjoy more freedom than Palestinians anywhere in the region.

Lie #9: “Right of return for refugees, by the millions we’ll return.” This slogan refers to millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees from Israel’s war against invading Arab armies in 1948. No refugees in world history have ever been granted a return to land that they and their brethren attacked, let alone such rights for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Of the original 700,000 refugees, only about 20,000 are still alive. There is no legal right of return.

Lie #10: Zionist settlers, leave us alone.” After Israel defeated Jordanian invaders in 1967, Israeli “settlers” began moving into relatively unpopulated parts of Judea and Samaria. Palestinians never owned this land. In the Oslo Accords, Israel and the Palestinians agreed to Palestinian autonomy in areas where 97% of the region’s Palestinians live. Israelis living in Judea and Samaria do so legally.

Students who learn to think critically are encouraged to question authority. On American university campuses today, students are taught neo-Marxism, critical race theory and lies about Jews as if these concepts were unquestionable religious doctrine. Thus, students chanting or shouting “pro-Palestinian” slogans do so mindlessly. That is the shame.

Pro-Hamas events: Different and more dangerous

Over the last eight months, Jewish communities around the world have been both intimidated and repulsed by the surge in pro-Hamas demonstrations.

We’ve all seen the signs and heard the slogans variously telling us to “return” to Poland, that Zionism is the root of all the evil and cruelty in the world, that Israel has no right to exist, that Jews cry “antisemitism” to divert public attention from Palestinian suffering and Israel’s alleged crimes.

We’ve pretty much gotten used to our schools, synagogues, restaurants and community centers being targeted by protesters, to seeing stickers and posters damning Israel’s so-called “genocide” as we walk to the subway or the grocery store, to hearing the endless drumbeat of media pundits rounding on the Jewish state and its leaders. We hold up our hands resignedly at the indifference of these protesters to the real genocides that are taking place right now in Ukraine, Congo, Sudan, Burma/Myanmar, China’s Xinjiang province and so many other countries. We feel, in short, that the world is against us.

Much as it might feel that way, we aren’t alone.

The apologists for rape and murder who clog up our city streets or vandalize our university campuses with pro-Hamas encampments — and notice, by the way, how the plight of Palestinians in Gaza has been utterly overshadowed by the insistence of this mob in portraying itself as the victim of police brutality and “Zionist” influence! — have managed to alienate and irritate large swathes of the general public.

Imagine paying a six-figure sum to have your

children educated at university, only to have that precious graduating ceremony wrecked by the boorish chanting of “Free Palestine,” “From the River to the Sea” and all the other anti-Jewish chants the protesters recycle endlessly. That’s been the experience of too many American parents over the last few weeks.

Since the Hamas atrocities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, each day has been akin to a wrestling match with the principle of free speech attributed (wrongly, by the way) to the French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire: “I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Free speech essentially means giving bad speech a pass on the grounds of individual conscience. That is not a principle that any democracy can compromise on because doing so sets us on the path to becoming Russia, China, Iran or any other authoritarian state where words are regulated and restricted.

Yet the challenge with the pro-Hamas protests is that they can’t be reduced to free speech or peaceful rallies alone. The violence that lies at the heart of Hamas program has been duplicated by its followers in the West. And that should worry us, not least because there is a historical precedent as well.

In the wake of the global student uprisings of May 1968 and their consequent failure, many activists on the far left turned to political violence as a response. Arguably, the most well-known example emerged in Germany, where the Red Army Faction (RAF) — more commonly known as the “Baader Meinhof Group” after its founders, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof — threw in its lot with radical Palestinian groups like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The wannabe urban guerillas of the RAF traveled to Lebanon, where they were trained by Palestinians in the use of weapons, as well as the planning and execution of terrorist operations.

In 1976, a joint RAF-PFLP operation resulted

in the hijacking of an Air France flight from Tel Aviv, which was diverted to Entebbe Airport in Uganda, where the hostages enjoyed the dubious protection of the then-dictator of that country, the mass murderer Idi Amin. During the ordeal, the terrorists — like good Nazis — separated the Israeli passengers from the non-Israeli ones.

Once again, the order “Jews to the left!” was heard, only three decades after the liberation of German Nazi concentration camps. As is well known, the passengers were rescued in a daring operation mounted by the Israel Defense Forces; otherwise, there would likely have been a mas-

sacre described, much as Oct. 7 is now, as the worst act of violence targeting Jews since the end of World War II.

There is a justifiable fear that such violence, zeroing in upon defenseless Jews, could once again rear its head. Last week, the British government’s adviser on political extremism, John Woodcock, issued a report that examined the prospects for the aggressive rhetoric found in the furthest corners of far-left and far-right movements to mushroom into actual violence. The report observed that “activism around the

What I brought back from my 3 weeks in Israel

Our three-week visit to Israel was an exhausting but inspiring amalgam of activities focused on post-Oct. 7 solidarity with soldiers, hostages’ families and the wounded. We also enjoyed time shared with associates, friends and family. Just walking the streets with the diverse mix of Jews and non-Jews intrigued us. The plethora of babies in strollers and people carrying weapons was otherworldly and somehow comforting. The bomb shelter signs and ubiquitous hostage posters were somber reminders that despite everyday life, real evil sat tight on all borders.

Each morning before heading out and at the end of each day, we tracked the madness emanating from outside Israel. The frustrating stories included the Biden administration’s micromanaging of Israel’s campaign in Rafah and withholding of weapons from an ally; Joe Biden’s Morehouse College progressive pandering about the “humanitarian crisis in Gaza” without mentioning the Oct. 7 atrocities; the continuing campus obsession with Hamas; the International Criminal Court’s moral equivalence by calling for arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and the rush to reward the Hamas-collaborating Palestinians with statehood. The confounding news darkened our

mood but we pressed on with uplifting interactions with the Israeli people.

Towards the end of our stay, we began to wonder how we would tolerate American Jewish apathy and the general hostility at home. While most of our friends were engaged in pro-Israel politics, advocacy and philanthropy, we had been frustrated by those sitting on the sidelines or preparing to cast a presidential vote based on some progressive policy issue rather than the security of Israel and the Jews. These concerns cast a shadow on what was otherwise a singular focus on Israel and Israelis.

Afew days before returning to America, we joined the thousands of Israelis attending the funeral of IDF lone soldier Sgt. Ilan Cohen at Jerusalem’s national military cemetery on Har Herzl.

Walking to the gravesite, we passed the rows and columns of flat, raised graves, each with a plot of grass and a headstone engraved with the soldier’s name, parents’ names, date of birth and date of falling in battle; along with age, military branch and personal identification number. Each grave had been personalized with heartfelt mementos left behind by the grieving. They were traditional stones signifying the permanence of memory with photographs of the lost heroes and small Israeli flags.

The section where Ilan’s ceremony took place is for those who have fallen since Oct. 7. They join the over 25,000 who since 1948 have laid down their lives for the State of Israel. Like all of Har Herzl, the area is gracefully tiered with wide avenues bordered with native shrubbery and flowers. It is impossible not to appreciate the sacrifice so many have made in what feels like an endless struggle for the Jewish state’s defense and survival.

The ceremony lasted just over an hour with a mercifully speedy burial and traditional solemn prayers by senior rabbis. Commanders, family and friends struggled to choke back tears and wails as

they recalled the too-short life of this soldier. One forlorn comrade, wounded and in a wheelchair, looked on from the side. It is impossible to guess what he had seen and what he was thinking. The honor guard’s three rounds of shots cracked into the Jerusalem air, jarring everyone.

Days after Ilan’s funeral, we paid a shiva call to the Cohen family at a large hotel. Before entering the building, we assembled outside under a brilliant blue sky. It seemed as if none of the other mourners knew Ilan Cohen or the Cohen family.

At a table near the entryway, there were memorial candles and framed photos of Ilan. In one, he was standing in a field dressed in his combat gear, carrying his weapon. He was wearing a knitted yarmulke and tefillin. He looked very proud, with a humble and gentle smile.

We moved forward to share words of comfort with his parents. An interpreter conveniently

translated our English sentences into their native Argentinian Spanish. In this painful but intimate moment, with the warmth of the tight, caring, sad circle, we connected and our eyes watered. We can only assume that the terrible emptiness of their loss was slightly ameliorated by the knowledge that he had died proudly fulfilling his goal of protecting his beloved Israel.

Walking back from the shiva to our apartment just off Jaffa Street, we tried to comprehend Ilan Cohen’s commitment. The contrast between the dedication of Israelis with families or as lone soldiers and American Jews was very hard to reconcile.

Both are under attack, but the Israelis have their backs to the sea and know their children accept that it is their turn to fight. By contrast, American Jews are only now grasping the reality of rising antisemitism. Too many feel safe behind

A pro-Palestinian protest in London on Oct. 14, a week after Hamas murdered 1,200 people in southern Israel and took more than 250 others hostage into the Gaza Strip. Alisdare Hickson, Flickr via WikiCommons

Soldiers place flags on the graves of fallen comrades at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem on April 23. Yonatan Sindel, Flash90

Bernard-Henri Lévy: Post-Oct. 7, Israel is alone

here are few men who feel the pain of distant upheavals as acutely as Bernard-Henri Lévy, 75, a French philosopher, filmmaker and public intellectual.

Born to a wealthy Sephardic family in French Algeria, he cut his teeth as an international activist in his support for the war of secession against Pakistan by the erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. In the years that followed, Lévy threw himself into cause after cause, advocating eloquently — and influentially — for the Bosnians, the Kurds, the Georgians, the Christians of northern Nigeria and many others. Yet no cause has moved him as passionately, as indignantly, as that of his own people — the people of Israel — who experienced, on Oct. 7, 2023, the worst pogrom faced by the Jews since the Holocaust.

In only a few months since the attacks occurred, Lévy wrote what is, arguably, his most personal and heartfelt book, “Solitude d’Israël” (Grasset, 2024).

Tunku Varadarajan interviewed Lévy at the latter’s home in Paris for the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, excerpts of which we publish below, edited for clarity.

Q: You truly believe that Israel is alone?

A: Alone, yes. Alone to fight. Israel is alone.

Q: How so?

A: When America retaliated against Al-Qaeda after Sept. 11, there was a great coalition around America, standing alongside America. When France retaliated after Bataclan [the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris that resulted in 130 dead], there was a strong coalition with France. Now, we have a third democracy hit by terrorism and jihadism. Israel is retaliating in the same way that France did in Mosul, as America did in Afghanistan, but this time, they’re alone. No one is shoulder to shoulder with the Israeli soldiers defending their democracy. That’s a fact. It is the first element of solitude.

Q: Is this the first time that Israel has been alone?

A: No. But it is the first time that any democracy has been struck in such a way, that it’s been raped with such cruelty. And it’s the first time when citizens have been murdered, tortured, violated with such sadism and on such a large scale. So this time, I would have expected world solidarity with Israel. It was logical to expect this. It did not happen.

Even the support of the United States is not as steady as it should be. We saw it at the UN Security Council with the abstention of America on March 26. There are signs of an increasing chasm. You see it now in Biden’s statements on the supply of weapons and conditioning delivery to parameters around Israel’s operations. These are bad signs.

Q: How do you explain this rift? Because until now, Israel and America were in lockstep.

A: I never believed that. The pro-Israel lobby in America is not as strong as people say. The anti-Israeli feelings in the public opinion in America has grown very fast. You see what is happening on the campuses, in the universities. So, nothing can be taken for granted.

Q: Where do these anti-Israeli feelings come from in the United States?

A: In the best case, misinformation. In the worst case, antisemitism.

Q: But why is it happening now? I presume these antisemitic forces have always existed. Why have they had such traction?

A: Let’s take both, successively. The disinformation is happening because of social networks, because of the active efforts of unfriendly countries — the level of disinformation has grown very, very high in the last years. Does it come from Iran? Does it come from Russia? Probably both. I have never seen in America such a level of lies, of dangerous absurdity.

Q: And the antisemitism?

A: In America, you have two roots of antisemitism. One is the denial of the Holocaust. And the other is a competition of victims. The denial or minimization of the Holocaust is an attempt to delegitimize Israel. This phenomenon has grown to a very dramatic level in recent years, even in mainstream opinion. As for the competition of victims … While wo-

keness pays respect to all minorities, it excludes the Jewish minority [creating] a constellation of factors and yield[ing] a result in which public opinion distances itself from Israel and finds it more and more difficult to defend Israel.

Q: Have you experienced it yourself? Do you find that you have tried to defend Israel and you have found the people to have been resistant to your defense?

A: Yes, and it is not even about defending Israel. It’s just telling the truth. Israel is not the guilty party who should be defended. … If you dare to say that it is an idiocy to speak of “apartheid” in Israel, at some of the universities where I have been in the last years, people will look at you as if you’re telling a joke.

me, it’s writing this book; for others, volunteering, and so on. Together, the trend or the tide can be absolutely reversed.

Q: The tide can be reversed, do you think?

A: It can be reversed, yes. And I’m very much committed to playing my part. I’m not depressed. But it’s a real emergency.

Q: There are parts of the book where you appear to be quite sad.

A: Yes, maybe I am sad also. And not only for Israel. I’m sad for the Palestinian civilians. And I’m also sad when I think of so many martyred peoples who did not receive even a small drop of the concern we have devoted to the Palestinians. I feel sadness for the Syrians. For those in Darfur. The Uyghurs in China,

Q: Does it worry you that so many of America’s young people, particularly the educated young people, are so hostile to Israel? Because these are the people who are going to be running the country in 20 years.

A: Exactly. That’s why I wrote this book. This book is not only a tribute to the victims of Oct. 7; it’s not only a meditation on the new growing antisemitism — it’s also an attempt to give strong replies to the worst accusations against Israel.

Q: Such as?

A: Is Israel a colonial state? No. And I say why this is stupid. Is Israel an apartheid state? No, and I concretely say why it is not.

I try to reply concretely, precisely, historically, deeply to these sorts of questions and, therefore, to give intellectual weapons to those who are overwhelmed by this growing hatred of Israel.

Q: [Regarding Muslim antisemitism,] do you prefer to believe that the problem has been exaggerated, has been …

A: I don’t prefer, but I believe it.

Q: You believe it.

A: Yes, I believe that the problem of Muslim antisemitism has been exaggerated. There are a lot of Muslims in France who have no problem with Israel. You have most of the Muslims in Israel who are true patriots and who agree with the way that this war has been conducted. There are polls in Israel saying that 75% of Israeli Arabs stand behind the war cabinet.

Q: But the polls are different on the West Bank, right?

A: The West Bank is not Israel. I’m speaking about Israel. I’m speaking about Israeli Arabs who make up 20% of the population, which is significant. And they are, again, real and true patriots. So, I repeat, there is nothing in the fact of belonging to this minority who makes you systematically hostile to Israel. This is a political issue in Europe and in America.

Q: Are you depressed by the way things have evolved after Oct. 7? Or are you not depressed, but combative? Are you energized?

A: I have no time to be depressed. I believe we all have a role to play in the battle for truth. For

Biden. I think that they believe that.

Q: Were you shocked by the UN Security Council abstention?

A: Yes, it was a shock. A shock. It meant that Israel is alone and that the support of America is not a given as you seem to believe. We had the abstention of Barack Obama in December 2016 just before he left office. One of his last acts in office was his abstention and we have this new one just before the election.

Q: We haven’t mentioned Trump yet. How is Trump on Israel? After all, he did something that no American president has done. He moved the US embassy to Jerusalem.

A: I know, but he’s so unpredictable that I would prefer this move to have been rooted in a solid and consistent knowledge and love of Israel.

Q: And Trump doesn’t have that.

A: No, probably not.

Q: May I continue to insist that the United States is still a true friend?

A: Ok. Let’s hope. But Israel, in this war against Hamas, deserves 101% support, not support with conditions. Israel self-imposes conditions and limits in exercising power. Israel does not need to be asked, or to be ordered, to respect conditions.

I saw Kamala Harris saying, “I studied the map of Gaza and the Palestinian refugees of Rafah have nowhere to go.” What does that mean? The Israelis know the ground. They have an evacuation plan. They have a plan for provisional sheltering the innocent civilians, and they know what to do better than the vice president who studied the map for a few minutes or hours.

Israel is a democracy which has a code of engagement and is exceptionally careful in the conduct of war.

Q: Do you think part of Israel’s isolation right now is a result of the fact that the prime minister of Israel is a man who is very unpopular, not just domestically, but also globally?

the victims of terrible wars in Africa.

So I’m also sad about this double standard. I would so deeply like for even a small portion of this sympathy for Palestinians to go to the poor Somali people of Mogadishu or to the Afghan girls who we in the West abandoned to the Taliban.

And I’m also sad because I think that this war is a concern for the whole world and the whole West. Hamas is not just Hamas. Hamas is a small piece of a large game. Hamas is a magnet which attracts much more powerful actors: Iran, Turkey, Russia, Qatar, maybe China in the back office.

I have never seen in America such a level of lies, of dangerous absurdity.

Gaza is the vanguard of a very ugly and dark multinational group of crime. A massive gathering point. A magnet.

Israel is fighting for values which are not only the values of Israel, but are the values of the Americans, the French, and Europeans in general. And also oppressed people, in the Global South, who refuse tyranny; what’s at stake there is the big game.

Q: Is part of Israel’s isolation attributable to the manner in which the war in Gaza is being conducted?

A: Maybe, but I’m not sure at all. The isolation started the very day after Oct. 7, before Israel started the retaliation.

Q: Do you worry about Biden?

A: I do.

Q: And if I can continue the question, what do you think the implications for Israel are of the American elections coming up?

A: Democrat strategists believe that support to Israel can have a high cost for the candidate

A: Probably. I’m not sure. A part of me thinks that any prime minister of Israel, any other prime minister, would not make much difference. Today, the war is led by three men, one of the three, Benny Gantz, is the biggest opponent of the prime minister.

But if Gantz were the prime minister, I think the war would be conducted the same way, and I fear that the attitude of the rest of the world would remain very similar.

They don’t understand that there is no other option. They don’t see that Israel is taking precautions which are absolutely unique. I have covered a lot of wars in my life. I have never seen an army which is so careful to avoid civilian casualties. This is a fact.

Of course there are civilian deaths and each time it is heartbreaking. But it’s undeniable that Israel takes precautions, which no other army in the world takes.

People don’t want to see this. People don’t want to see that Hamas, on the reverse, deploys a strategy, which is completely new. It’s an underground strategy that puts the civilians on the ground and they bury themselves underground. They use the civilians not just as shields, but like “living bullets.”

The civilians are used by Hamas as weapons.

Q: Could you elaborate on that?

A: The strategy of Hamas is to kill as many Jews as possible but also as many Palestinians as possible. This is their strategy and their weapon. They use the dead Palestinian corpses as a weapon to augment public support in the West and in the world in general.

Q: Could you say, then, that Israel is playing into Hamas’s hands, that it’s giving them a gift?

A: For sure. Yes, in a way. But what’s the other option?

Q: The other option, in theory, would be not to fight the war.

A: Exactly. And that is not an option, of course.

Q: When did you go to Israel?

A: On Oct. 8.

Q: You saw the news and you got on a plane?

A: Yes [from Paris]. The day after. I tried the

Bernard-Henri Lévy at a UN General Assembly meeting on the rise of antisemitism, on Jan. 22, 2015. Eskinder Debebe, UN

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Jews would return, and recover their sovereignty, and rebuild what they had lost.

The argument about Shavuot turned out to be fateful for Jewish history. Those who celebrated it as “the time of the giving of the Torah” ensured Jewish survival through nearly 20 centuries of exile and dispersion. And we, who live in the era of the return, can rejoice in a double celebration: of the Torah and of the land.

From Rabbi Sacks’ archive.

Weinreb...

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scribed in the story, and more. But as we persisted through those tragedies we came to glimpse what a truly benevolent society can resemble. We have experienced, albeit thus far never yet completely, the blessings of redemption.

Those blessings result from our adherence to the values of the Ten Commandments. One example of those blessings is described in the exquisitely uplifting Book of Ruth, which culminates in the birth of King David, the symbol and progenitor of the Messiah, with whom will come the final redemption.

Sacks... Freedman

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When something has a place, you can always find it when you need it. And so that it will always be there to achieve its purpose in this world. This is true for files, household items, for everything in life.

And it is true for people as well. We all need our place in the world. So many people in this world are still searching and have not yet found their place.

Which is why the festival of Shavuot follows Pesach: If Pesach is about freedom, Shavuot is about what to do with it. Judaism has never believed in freedom for freedom’s sake. The Jewish notion is ‘freedom for.’ And so we arrive at Sinai, an unknown mountain deep in the heart of noplace, to discover why we got out of Egypt. We all have our own personal Egypt, and it is so hard to get beyond it. Often, it seems we can’t do it alone, and even if we could get out, then what? What would we do with our new freedom?

So the first time, G-d showed us how it works. And deep within each of us, is that collective sense, that if we really try, we can succeed, because we have been there before.

We don’t stay at Sinai, because Sinai isn’t the goal. The goal is what we choose to do with that newfound recipe. The challenge is to take that recipe and see if we can create a place that allows us to achieve our purpose here, in this world. For the Jewish people that place, ultimately, is the

land of Israel, at peace with the world, maybe one day soon.

But first, each of us has to find our own freedom, explore our own desert, and journey to discover, each in our own way, the place that will allow us to become all we can be.

May we all be blessed to experience the joy of discovering our place, and the power of the journey, together, soon. Originally published in 2012.

Gerber...

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Given the seriously troubled times that we all live in today, the Book of Ruth, as demonstrated in this commentary, will surely serve as a worthy tool that will point the way to a more focused, competent, honest, and truly efficient form of governance that ensures our personal as well as national safety.

This discussion must also seriously consider why the reading of Ruth occurs on the Festival of Shavuot. Rabbi Alex Israel, in his conclusion to the teaching cited above, explains the following:

“It certainly strikes me that Ruth and Matan Torah represent an ideal balance. The epic event of Matan Torah represents a national commitment to G-d and Torah, a bein adam laMakom event par excellence. The Book of Ruth is a perfect counterbalance. This is a story of a few private individuals, who also demonstrate absolute commitment. Commitment here is to people, to human dignity, to the values of bein adam lachavero.”

The other work dealing with Ruth is “Rising Moon: Unraveling the Book of Ruth” (Renana Publishers, 2015) by Rabbi Moshe Miller, deputy chair of the Department of Judaic Studies at Touro University’s Lander College for Women, with approbations by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Rabbi Berel Wein, Dr. David Shatz and Professor Elisheva Carlebach.

In describing his method, Rabbi Miller concludes his preface:

“G-d judges, evaluates, and analyzes by never losing sight of the forest for the trees. Every detail is lovingly and individually assessed within its context, with the environment remaining in full view, even at the very moment that the individual is assessed alone. Although our vision is not divine, G-d’s approach is a model for our own judgment and evaluation. Text must never be uncoupled from its context.”

Cohen...

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Israeli-Palestinian conflict stands out as being a focus of incitement and intimidation, as well as the use of law breaking by some activists.

There is a distinction here between mainstream campaigners who primarily focus on promoting the Palestinian cause through legal means and those that focus their activism on hostility towards Israel.” The latter group is riddled

with antisemitism, which is “often presented in connection with anti-capitalist conspiracy theories, such as the antisemitic trope of Jewish bankers controlling the globe.”

“It is this movement,” the report continued, “that has proven most willing to use law breaking, intimidation, and at times, violence.” Much of Woodcock’s analysis focused on the activities of a group called Palestine Action — a collective of anti-capitalists and anarchists who have engaged in “direct action” targeting Israeli companies with interests in the United Kingdom.

As Woodcock noted, Palestine Action has devoted its efforts to Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of the Israeli defense technology firm Elbit Systems, vandalizing its offices, intimidating its employees, and preventing Elbit from fulfilling its contracts with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense.

The specific targeting of Elbit has now evolved into more general targeting of Israeli interests and the British Jewish community. “Small groups of extreme activists sabotaging businesses with whom they disagree not only create a climate of intimidation for private companies and their staff, but they also have a detrimental effect on local economies and employment opportunities,” Woodcock’s report added.

In such circumstances, a ban on such groups — not because of their words but because of their actions — is entirely justified.

The pro-Hamas movement has, as Woodcock argues, adopted violence as a tactic, but then seeks to hide its use of violence behind the protections of free speech. This is an approach,

as the sneering social-media response to Woodcock’s report indicates, that carries a great deal of traction among progressives. But whether it’s Europe or the United States, violence and the advocacy of violence are quite separate from free speech.

As the various pro-Hamas groups, like Within Our Lifetime in America, careen towards a Baader Meinhof-like outcome, our laws need to stay one step ahead. And that begins with the acknowledgment of a basic truth: These are not peaceful demonstrators, and this isn’t about freedom of speech.

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their gated communities, ensconced in assimilated ways of life. To most, antisemitism feels like an aberration they hope will just go away.

When we touch down in America, we will do our very best to encourage American Jews and major Jewish organizations to step forward and act outside of their comfort zones, choose proIsrael candidates, and reprioritize and increase their pro-Israel charity.

American Jews need to smarten up, toughen up and take action to support the country that meant so much to Ilan Cohen.

Alan Newman an author and a pro-Israel advocate who holds leadership positions at AIPAC and StandWithUs.

Bernard-Henri Lévy...

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very day, on Oct. 7. There were no planes. Not even the possibility of a private plane. Everyone was overwhelmed. So the first possible plane was the day after, and I went.

Q: This is your first book about Israel. Why did you not write a book about Israel before?

A: I wrote a lot about Israel in my life. Many essays which are scattered, spread in collections. And I always had the plan to write a real book. I could not have imagined that I would write a book under such terrible conditions.

Q: I would describe you as a humane internationalist, a democrat of the European left. Would that be fair to say?

A: Yes.

Q: Given that position, in the past, in the years before Israel had faced this particular horror, when Israel was a country that seemed invulnerable, would you say that you had some ambivalence about the way Israel was dealing with the Palestinian question? Or were you always 100% supportive?

A: No. For example, in the last 20 years, I have believed that the policy of settlements in the West Bank is a mistake. And my consistent position has always been that Palestinians should have a state and that the only condition for this is to have a leadership which sincerely accepts Israel.

Until 2000, the settlements were not a real obstacle. Since then, they’re starting to be a real obstacle to peace. So I’m against that. I said it very often. I wrote very severe pieces against Netanyahu’s policy in the past.

Q: What do you think of Netanyahu’s coalition? What do you think of the Cabinet? Of Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich?

A: I don’t like them. I don’t like the fact that people like Smotrich or Ben-Gvir are members of the government. They don’t embody the true Israeli spirit. The last chapter of my book is called “If I Forget You, Jewish Soul.” It’s an implicit address to those who are not shocked by the presence in the government of people like that.

Q: How would you define the true Israeli spirit that is not represented by Smotrich and Ben-Gvir?

A: There is a lightness in the way of inhabiting the earth in Israel. This is an antidote against chauvinism.

For Jews, the land of Israel is a place which has been given to you and which you have to use properly. You have to enrich it, you have to nurture and nourish it, you have to create something in it. This is what Zionism says. Not just, “I’m here and that’s it.” No, I’m here with a mission, a human mission to do good things, good deeds.

Q: And it goes without saying you are a Zionist?