Jews who might think of trading antisemitism and chaos in the United States for peace and tranquility in the Great White North (in what President Trump has dubbed America’s 51st state) might want to reconsider. Backgrounder by Jerry Grafstein
Former Canadian Senator
Jews first landed in Canada in the 1740s, along with the earliest French and English soldiers and émigrés, settling in the Maritime provinces, according to Sheldon Godfrey, Canada’s pre-eminent scholar of Canadian Jewish history.
Jews continued to immigrate to Britishruled Lower Canada (to the southern portion of present-day Quebec and to the Labrador region), especially to Quebec City and Montreal. They came decades before the ancestors of Canadian leaders like Louis St. Laurent, Justin Trudeau or Jean Chrétien.
Among the Jews who arrived with British troops in 1760 was Aaron Hart, who settled in Trois Rivières (Three Rivers). His son, Ezekiel Hart, was elected by the people of Three Rivers to the Assembly of Lower Canada in 1807 — only
Space lasers and plague: GOP kills
By Andrew Bernard, JNS
Republican House leaders axed a planned vote on Monday for a bill intended to protect Israel from boycotts, amid a backlash from some conservatives over free speech concerns.
Former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida compared provisions in the legislation to the tenth plague of Egypt — the death of the firstborn.
“If this bill becomes law, how many Israeli
products do I need in my home to avoid fines or prison?” Gaetz asked. “If I leave an Israeli-made product outside my home, is it the 2025 version of lamb’s blood that keeps my family safe?”
The bipartisan bill, titled the International Governmental Organizations Anti-Boycott Act, would extend existing anti-boycott legislation that bars Americans from complying with bans imposed by foreign countries to also forbid compliance with
boycotts imposed by such international governmental organizations as the United Nations.
While the legislation does not mention Israel explicitly, the Jewish state has long been the target of international boycott efforts.
GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Thomas Massie of Kentucky were among the Republicans to speak out against the bill.
to be barred because he was Jewish. He was re-elected again in 1809 — only to be barred again. Although he never sat in the Assembly, he was the first Jew elected in the British Empire.
Finally, in 1832, the Quebec Assembly, led by Joseph Louis Papineau, passed the Emancipation Act allowing Jews to hold public office.
In the 1880s, Jews began to move across western Canada, establishing several Jewish agricultural settlements in
In a post on X, Greene wrote: “It is my job to defend American’s rights to buy or boycott whomever they choose without the government harshly firing them or imprisoning them.” Greene famously speculated in 2018 that the Rothschilds might have caused wildfires in California by “beaming the sun’s energy back to earth.”
Luna wrote that “Americans have the right to boycott, and penalizing this risks free speech.”
A spokesman for Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, a co-sponsor of the bill, said “it’s beyond outrageous and offensive that House leadership bowed to extreme-right forces and pulled this commonsense, bipartisan bill that makes antisemitic and hate-driven boycotts illegal.”
“Who was behind this effort?” Tony Wen, Gottheimer’s communications director, told JNS, referring to Greene. “None other than a member of Congress who once claimed that Jews have space lasers, and another who refused to condemn Hamas. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie should be ashamed of themselves.”
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, a bill sponsor, defended the legislation on the grounds that it simply enhanced the underlying anti-boycott act President Trump signed in 2018.
“When did you become a defender of the United Nations?” Lawler snapped at Greene.
Legal challenges arguing that similar statelevel anti-boycott legislation violates the First Amendment have fared poorly in court.
In 2023, in separate cases, the Fifth, Eighth and 11th Circuit Courts of Appeals each upheld state laws designed to counter BDS (the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement). The Supreme Court has declined to consider appeals to those rulings.
The Jewish Star contributed to this report.
DRS
divrei
zemiros,
kov Trump, mara d’asra of YILC. On Shabbos afteroon, Rav Moshe Weinberger offered
Aryeh Lebowitz. The Shabbos L’Maalah
Gal Gadot turns 40: Israeli cool, Israeli power
By Inbal Chiat, Israel Hayom
Hollywood is full of actresses but few are like wonder woman Gal Gadot.
The pretty and athletic girl from Rosh Ha’ayin — who can identify a weapon from any distance, lift a car, close multi-million dollar real estate deals, and still be home in time for dinner with her four daughters and husband — is one of the leading and strongest stars in Hollywood.
Having turned 40 on April 30, she rose from Israeli model and beauty queen to a mighty Hollywood force. Her films to date (“Wonder Woman,” “Red Notice,” “Death on the Nile,” recently “Snow White,” and more) have grossed more than $2 billion at the box office, and she has entered the list of highest-paid actresses with $20 million per film, not to mention ancillary revenue.
In Hollywood’s digital currency, that’s not just money — it’s a superpower. Especially if we take into account her latest achievement, receiving her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
No matter what critics and wellmeaning souls often say about her acting skills, studios choose her for coveted roles in multi-million-dollar productions time and again, and it’s not just because of her penetrating gaze or inviting smile. Gadot is one of the few actresses who performs most of her dangerous scenes herself.
“I trained like crazy for half a year before ‘Wonder Woman’,” she said in interviews. “Fencing, capoeira, jiu-jitsu, horseback riding — every day, six hours. It was harder than the army,” she stated, which says something com-
ing from someone who served as a fitness instructor in the IDF.
But not everything was perfect in the meteoric rise.
In 2008, Gadot slipped during a Castro fashion show and created a viral moment that people still remember today. In 2010, she broke an elbow while filming a commercial also for Castro, and in 2014, a dance in another Castro commercial that many people perceived as provocative threw her into the center of a feminist storm.
Her response each time was a symbol of her Israeli cool: “A commercial is meant to sell jeans, not ideology. It should be fun and light,” she said. This approach, staying focused and matter-of-fact when everyone around is getting worked up and hoping she’ll break down and join the festivities, has become her business trademark.
Her legendary 2007 photoshoot for Maxim magazine in the “Women of the Israeli Army” project still echoes in pop culture. Her picture in a minimalist bikini changed the perception of “Israeli beauty” in the world and transformed the image of the female soldier from a threat to an object of global desire. When asked whether she regretted the sexy photo and the storm it caused, she replied with her characteristic coolness, “I’m a model, not a doctor. It’s the profession.”
Film history loves the “almost.”
Gadot almost became a blue, bald Nebula in the Marvel universe (a role that went to Karen Gillan) and almost became a Bond girl (the role was ultimately given to Olga Kurylenko).
But fate had something bigger in store for her when Justin Lin chose her
for the role of Gisele in 2009’s “Fast & Furious 4” because of her knowledge of weapons, skills that continue to play to her advantage (literally) to this day. The “masculine” skills she brought from the Middle East made her an asset in an industry still not accustomed to women who know how to hold and operate a gun convincingly without requiring a line of stuntmen.
The transition from being the face of a brand or movie to being the face of a country at war is Gadot’s real battle often, especially in recent times. From 2021’s “Operation Guardian of the Walls” to the ongoing “Operation Iron Swords,” she finds herself at the forefront of public diplomacy as someone who is perceived, willingly or not, as Israel’s No. 1 ambassador.
On one hand, huge contracts with Dior, Revlon and Gucci, on the other hand, toxic hashtags and boycotts that threaten her career. In Israel, she’s accused of political “softness,” in Hollywood of excessive nationalism. In a world of extremes, she navigates the stormy waters of dual identity — a business maneuver that few can perform without drowning.
Her 2020 “Imagine” video is a lesson in crisis management. What started as an innocent gesture of goodwill to spread some mutual responsibility and hope became a symbol of privileged, disconnected celebrities while the world was collapsing into doom.
Seth Rogen called her an [expletive] idiot on his podcast, and the internet pounced on her mercilessly, but Gadot did the almost impossible in the age of viral shaming — she absorbed, stayed silent, moved forward, and two years later even laughed at herself at the Critics’ Choice Awards.
While the media is busy with her outfits on the red carpet, Gadot is quietly building a thriving business empire — a production company (Pilot Wave) she founded with her husband, Yaron Varsano, that develops content about groundbreaking women, a real estate deal that yielded $25 million when the couple sold a hotel in Tel Aviv’s Neve Tzedek neighborhood to Roman Abramovich, and a Goodles food startup that upgrades her beloved macaroni and cheese to a protein-rich version.
“I don’t want to be just a face on a poster,” Gadot said. “I want to be the power that decides which posters get printed in the first place.”
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Israeli actress and fashion model Gal Gadot seen in Tel Aviv’s Neve Tzedek neighborhood in 2014. Mendy Hechtman, Flash 90
Trump quits fight as Houthis double down on Israel
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States would stop its strikes on the Houthi terrorists in Yemen “effective immediately,” even as the Yemini terror group has stepped up its attacks on Israel.
A Houthi missile struck near Ben Gurion Airport’s central terminal on Sunday, a first. Eight people were wounded after both the Israeli Arrow and US THAAD missile defense systems failed to intercept it.
Trump said the Iran-backed group “agreed to stop interrupting important shipping lanes in the Middle East,” suggesting it would leave the US alone while continuing to pound the Jewish state.
A few hours before Trump spoke, a Houthis statement said they were confronting an “Israeli-American-British” enemy in a “holy war in aid of the wronged Palestinian people in Gaza.”
Israel was not informed in advance about President Trump’s announcement regarding the Houthis, an informed source told The Jerusalem Post. Pentagon officials told the New York Times they were also not informed in advance and were scrambling to discern the policy implications of Mr. Trump’s announcement.
“They just don’t want to fight. And we will honor that and we will stop the bombings,” Trump told reporters ahead of a meeting with nearly-elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “They have capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.”
Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, said in a statement on social media that Oman had mediated the agreement between the Houthis and the United States.
“In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping,” he said.
Following Trump’s surprise announcement, a senior Houthi figure, Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, said that if the US stopped its attacks on Yemen, the Houthis would halt their attacks on “American military fleets and interests” — while continuing military operations “in support of Gaza.”
“Our military operations in support of Gaza will not stop unless the aggression on Gaza ends,” Al-Bukhaiti said.
The Houthi’s anti-Israel determination would continue until the Jewish states ends its siege on Gaza, “no matter the sacrifices, even if we have to fight until Judgment Day,” he said.
The Trump administration previously reported that the US had struck hundreds of targets in Yemin in a bid to reopen international shipping lanes in the Red Sea,
“They said please don’t bomb us anymore, and we’re not going to attack your ships,” the president continued. “I will accept their word, and we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis effective immediately.”
Trump also said a “very, very big” and “positive” announcement is coming before he departs for his trip to the Middle East, according to the press pool. He did not specify the announcement or subject.
On Monday, Israel conducted a wave of strikes on Yemen’s Hudaydah Port in retaliation against the Houthis’ strike near Ben Gurion. Report from JNS and other sources.
Adams strongarms venue to cut anti-Israel singer
A pop singer, whose anti-Israel vitriol crossed even a Cornell University red line, was set to perform in New York City’s Central Park — until Mayor Eric Adams strongarmed the City Parks Foundation to pull her plug.
The foundation, a nonprofit that works with and receives funding from the city, canceled the June 26 Central Park concert that was to feature Kehlani Parrish, amid scrutiny from City Hall over the performer’s statements.
City Hall is grateful to the foundation “for responding to our concerns and canceling the Kehlani concert in Central Park,” a spokesman for Adams told JNS. “We look forward to an exciting
lineup of other performances this summer.”
Last week, Cornell University canceled a performance by the singer after backlash over Kehlani’s history of anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric on social media and in the performer’s music.
The mayor’s office shared with JNS a May 5 letter that it sent to the foundation’s executive director, in which it told the nonprofit that hosting the anti-Israel singer could jeopardize its license to hold concerts.
“Gven the controversy surrounding Kehlani’s scheduled performance at Cornell University (causing university officials to cancel the appearance), the security precautions needed for an event like this in Central Park and the secu-
rity demands throughout the city for other pride events during this same period of time,” Randy Mastro, the city’s first deputy mayor, wrote.
“If the foundation does not promptly take steps to ensure public safety, the city reserves all rights and remedies with respect to the foundation’s license,” Mastro wrote. “I therefore expect to hear back from you by close of business tomorrow whether we need to proceed with having the NYPD conduct this security assessment.”
City Parks Foundation told JNS on Monday that the concert was cancelled due to security concerns.
“We strongly and emphatically believe in artistic expression of all kinds,” the nonprofit told JNS. “However, the safety and security of our
For Long Beach girl, faith and
guests and artists is of the utmost importance.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres of the Bronx criticized the foundation and the mayor’s office on Friday.
“The Second Intifada, which [Kehlani] invokes, unleashed a wave of suicide bombings, shootings and stabbings that murdered more than 1,000 Israelis,” the pro-Israel congressman said. The largest US city has no “business subsidizing or sanitizing antisemitism at taxpayer expense,” Torres added. Adams wrote to Torres that the foundation is a private organization that receives City Council discretionary awards. “Our administration will not fund organizations that promote antisemitism or any other form of hate,” Adams wrote.
country, with sports
By Brendan Carpenter, LI Herald
The Maccabiah Games — an international, multi-sport event for Jewish and Israeli athletes of all religions — is often referred to as the “Jewish Olympics.”
Thousands of athletes compete in a large number of events every four years, battling it out in archery, baseball, volleyball, basketball, chess, cycling, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics and more.
Hannah Austin, of Long Beach, will be one of this year’s athletes, representing the American volleyball team as one of the under-18 players at the games in Israel in July.
Austin, 16, went to the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach in Woodmere and is now a junior at Yeshiva University High School for Girls in Holliswood.
Austin mostly played soccer growing up, but since it’s only a one-season sport, she wanted to find something else to compete in during the offseason. That’s how she stum-
bled across volleyball.
“I need sports to ground me,” she said. “They help keep me sane.”
She started learning and playing volleyball as a freshman two years ago. Although she hadn’t been playing for too long, she picked it up quickly, and sent in her film to Maccabi USA. She was chosen to play alongside other girls to represent the country.
“I’m very excited to go because most of the girls on my team who are going aren’t religiously affiliated,” Austin said. “This might sound weird, but I want to take it upon myself to show them why certain aspects of Judaism are so great. Then maybe they will start to have some of the same values that I do.”
Austin and her team will be in Israel for the games for about three weeks, from July 1 to July 23. While she’s excited to be going there, it won’t be her first time. She was most recently in Israel in January, when she did an exchange program and went to school there for a month.
St. John’s Hospital gala supports new maternity unit
By Brian Norman, LI Herald
St. John’s Episcopal Hospital’s ICARE Foundation will honor community members and hospital doctors at its second annual Blue Phoenix Gala on Thursday, June 5, while raising funds for the Far Rockaway hospital’s new state-of-the-art labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum unit.
More than 300 people attended last year, and the foundation raised $345,000 for philanthropic projects and hospital renovations.
This year, all proceeds will support the new unit, which is set to open in late summer with six delivery rooms, two advanced cesarean operating rooms, two recovery rooms, and four triage rooms, the hospital said.
Nancy Leghart, the foundation’s executive director, said the unit is crucial for residents in Far Rockaway, the Five Towns and surrounding com-
munities to have access to proper maternal care.
“This is going to be a supportive environment that really aims to decrease maternal and infant health disparities,” she said.
Dr. Sheldon Genack, chairman of the department of surgery at St. John’s, and Felicia Johnson, district manager of Queens Community Board 14, will be honored at the gala, for their lifelong service to their communities.
Genack will receive the inaugural CEO Distinguished Service Award. He has worked at the hospital for 30 years, and has helped recruit several surgeons in various specialties, including vascular, plastic, colorectal and bariatric surgery. He has also been involved in helping the hospital beyond his clinical role, previously serving as president of its medical executive committee and helping direct the education and training of resi-
dents and medical students.
Johnson will receive the Dr. Edward Williams Jr. Community Service Award, named after Dr. Edward Williams Jr., founder and CEO of Regional Ready Rockaway, an organization focused on educating the community about natural and man-made disasters, and former co-chair of the St. John’s Community Advisory Committee. She previously served on Community Board 14 for 25 years, overseeing the Youth Services and Education, Land Use, and Health and Social Services committees.
Leghart said she hoped the gala would raise around $400,000 for the new unit, with more than 200 people already registered for the event. The Blue Phoenix Gala will take place at the Garden City Hotel on June 5. For more information, or to register, visit BluePhoenixGala.org.
By Vita Fellig of JNS, with The Jewish Star
Dr. Sheldon Genack, center, has played a key role in shaping the surgery department at St. John’s, helping mentor young surgery residents like Zachary Onkeo, left, and Maria Sava.
Courtesy Denise Shields
Hannah Austin, third from right, will represent the US at the 2025 Maccabiah Games in Israel in July.
Courtesy Hannah Austin
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HALB and Lev Chana cheer 77th Yom Ha’atzaut
The excitement was palpable all day at Lev Chana and HALB as students and teachers celebrated Israel’s 77th birthday.
At Lev Chana, the entire school building was transformed into different cities in Israel. Students made their own passports, boarded their flight, and landed in Ben Gurion airport. They went from city to city, milking cows, training at an IDF base, picking oranges, fishing and of course davening at the kotel.
At HALB, students joined for a musical Hallel. Shoshana and Chen, HALB’s Bat Ami girls from Israel, ran an chidon for each grade.
The day ended with a Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration where families joined together for good food, music, dancing, and fun with the Shnitzel Guy.
News supplied by HALB.
Zucker kids embark on a ‘flight’ to Eretz Yisroel
Zucker Jewish Academy of Five Towns in South Valley Stream took a “flight” to Eretz Yisroel, visiting cities throughout the country. They squeezed fresh orange juice on a Kibbutz, went fishing in the Kineret, shopped in Machne Yehuda, painted in Tzfat and did salt art in Yam Hamelech, culminating their trip at the Kotel where they put notes in while davening for their brethren in Eretz Yisroel.
News supplied by Zucker.
HAFTR students join the
HAFTR students demonstrated the unbreakable bond they share with Israel and the Jewish people, sremembering Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror on Yom HaZikaron, then celebrating the joy of Israel’s independence and resilience on Yom HaAtzmaut.
On Yom HaZikaron, HAFTR campuses became spaces for reflection, as powerful tefillot and heartfelt tributes filled the air. At the High School, students heard from Lt. Yaniv Galkovsky, a wounded IDF chayal, who shared his story of service and the memory of five comrades from his combat unit who were lost in Gaza.
In Middle School deepened their understanding and personal connection to the day.
In Lower School, younger students were helped to grasp the relevance and meaning of this national day of remembrance, planting seeds of identity and pride.
As the sun set, HAFTR transitioned from mourning to joy, marked by the Lower School’s annual Tekes Ma’avar, featuring the fifth grade daglanut performance for their parents and a special concert with singer Mendy Worch.
Middle Schoolers celebrated with Israeli-themed activities such as hearing from an IDF soldier, listening to Israeli music, and a
celebration
history of Israel lesson, and spirited tefillot at Beth Sholom that echoed with energy.
Kindergartners got an in-class “trip” to Israel. High School stu-
dents capped it off with spirited tefilah and a joyful day at the park with friends.
Two days. One people. News supplied by HAFTR.
WINE AND DINE
Light up the bonfire and let’s have a picnic!
Kosher Kitchen
JoNI ScHocKEtt Jewish Star columnist
Passover is long gone. A half-filled box of matza still sits on my dining room table; we promised we would finish it, but neither my husband nor I have any intention of eating it right now.
The week that seemed to last so long also seemed to speed by, merely another blip of time as we move towards the quick succession of spring holidays that culminates with Shavuot, the most joyous of them all.
As we count each day leading up to Shavuot, we are reminded to think of each one as a year, a decade, many decades, that the Jews wandered enroute to the Promised Land that had been promised to Moses as they left Egypt. Survival in the desert was a monumental feat for Moses and the many who were in search of a place to call home. A generation would pass in that desert before our homeland became a reality.
The weeks between Passover and Shavout are a time of mourning and reflection on those decades. No weddings or celebrations may take place and even simple things, such as haircuts, are prohibited. The specificity of the counting, ticking off each day, reminds us of the link between the beginning of Passover, the first steps toward freedom, and the many dark years spent wandering in uncertainty, until Moses delivered G-d’s law, the Torah, to us on Shavuot. Freedom from slavery and our redemption was not complete until Moses brought those Torah scrolls down the mountain. The intervening days were filled with darkness and despair. We commemorate those days as we count each one with deliberation and reflection.
There is, however, one bright light in this dark time — Lag B’Omer, or the 33rd day of the counting of days. It is the one day during which we can hold celebrations, listen to music and rejoice before we resume counting the days up to Shavuot. Lag B’Omer is typically a day of outdoor activities, sports events and picnics, a day of play and joy, marked, in Israel, by giant bonfires and great food, and in America by outdoor activities and, also, great picnic food. Enjoy the beautiful spring weather with a picnic and some delicious food on Lag B’Omer.
Asian Honey Drumsticks (Meat)
This is a great dish for a picnic. It is a bit sticky, though, so bring lots of packaged wet cloths for clean-up. Great cold!
• 2-6 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. dry mustard
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 to 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 cup tamari sauce
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
• 20 to 30 chicken drumsticks
Place the garlic in a food processor and pulse to finely mince. Scrape down the side and add the dry spices. Pulse once or twice. Add the oils, honey and tamari sauce and pulse to mix completely. Scrape as needed. Place the chicken legs in a large glass bowl, pour the sauce over the chicken and toss to coat. Marinate for about 30 minutes, turning once.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking dish with heavy aluminum foil. Spray with a non-stick spray. Put the chicken pieces in the pan place in the oven. Pour the remaining sauce into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for about 1 minute and turn off the heat.
Bake for 15 minutes. Baste with additional sauce, turn and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes. Baste again and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle with Sesame seeds. Serve immediately or, to take on a picnic, let cool, transfer to a container that has a tight fitting cover, drizzle with any remaining sauce, cover and refrigerate. Makes 30 drumsticks.
Really Garlicky Falafel (Pareve)
Bring containers of shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, pita pockets, the falafel balls and tahini sauce and let everyone make their own falafel pockets.
• 6 to 8 cloves garlic
• 2 large onions
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely minced
• 4 cups canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 6 Tbsp. breadcrumbs
• 1 to 2 tsp salt, to taste
• 1/2 to 1 tsp. ground cumin
• Dash cayenne pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 small bunch scallions, thinly sliced
• Canola oil for deep frying
Place the garlic and onions in the bowl of a food processor and mince. Add the parsley and process until finely minced. Add the chickpeas
and process until finely ground, about 25 to 35 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the baking soda, breadcrumbs spices and eggs. Process until smooth, scraping the bowl as needed. Add the sliced scallions and mix by hand. Set aside for about 3 minutes.
Heat a large skillet. Add about one-half inch of oil and heat until shimmery. Form the falafel
See Joni Schochett on page 14
Cold Eggplant Salad.
Jewish Star Torah columnists: •Rabbi Avi Billet of Anshei Chesed, Boynton Beach, FL, mohel and Five Towns native •Rabbi Binny Freedman, rosh yeshiva of Orayta, Jerusalem •Dr. Alan A. Mazurek, former ZOA chair, is a retired neurologist, living in Great Neck, Jerusalem and Florida.
Contributing writers: •Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks zt”l, former chief rabbi of United Hebrew Congregations of British Commonwealth •Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, OU executive VP emeritus •Rabbi Yossy Goldman, president of the South African Rabbinical Association.
Five Towns Candlelighting: From the White Shul, Far Rockaway, NY
Scarsdale Candlelighting: From the Young Israel of Scarsdale, Scarsdale, NY
Ours is a religion of love, but love is not enough
rabbi Sir JonaThan SaCkS zt”l
The opening chapter of Kedoshim contains two of the most powerful of all commands: to love your neighbor and to love the stranger. “Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the L-rd” goes the first. “When a stranger comes to live in your land, do not mistreat him,” goes the second, and continues, “Treat the stranger the way you treat your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were strangers in Egypt. I am the L-rd your G-d (Lev. 19:33-34).
The first is often called the “golden rule” and held to be universal to all cultures. This is a mistake. The golden rule is different. In its positive formulation it states, “Act toward others as you would wish them to act toward you,” or in its negative formulation, given by Hillel, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.”
These rules are not about love. They are about justice — or more precisely, what evolutionary psychologists call reciprocal altruism. The Torah does not say, “Be nice or kind to your neighbor, because you would wish him to be nice or kind to you.” It says, “Love your neighbor.” That is something different and far stronger.
The second command is more radical still. Most people in most societies in most ages have feared, hated and often harmed the stranger. There is a word for this: xenophobia. How often have you heard the opposite word: xenophilia? My guess is, never. People don’t usually love strangers.
That is why, almost always when the Torah states this command — which it does, according to the Sages, 36 times — it adds an explanation: “because you were strangers in Egypt.” I know of no other nation that was born as a nation in slavery and exile.
We know what it feels like to be a vulnerable minority. That is why love of the stranger is so central to Judaism and so marginal to most other systems of ethics. But here too, the Torah does not use the word “justice.” There is a command of justice toward strang-
There is an order to the universe: part moral, part political, part ecological. When violated, there is chaos. When observed, we become co-creators of sacred harmony.
ers, but that is a different law: “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him” (Ex. 22:20). Here the Torah speaks not of justice but of love.
These two commands define Judaism as a religion of love — not just of G-d (“with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might”), but of humanity also. That was and is a world-changing idea.
But what calls for deep reflection is where these commands appear. They do so in Parshat Kedoshim in what, to contemporary eyes, must seem one of the strangest passages in the Torah.
Leviticus 19 brings side-by-side laws of seemingly quite different kinds. Some belong to the moral life: don’t gossip, don’t hate, don’t take revenge, don’t bear a grudge. Some are about social justice: leave parts of the harvest for the poor; don’t pervert justice; don’t withhold wages; don’t use false weights and measures. Others have a different feel altogether: don’t crossbreed livestock; don’t plant a field with mixed seeds; don’t wear a garment of mixed wool and linen; don’t eat fruit of the first three years; don’t eat blood; don’t practice divination; don’t lacerate yourself.
At first glance these laws have nothing to do with one another — some are about conscience, some about politics and economics, and others about purity and taboo.
Clearly, though, the Torah is telling us otherwise. They do have something in common. They are all about order, limits, boundaries. They are telling us that reality has a certain underlying structure whose integrity must be honored.
If you hate or take revenge you destroy relationships. If you commit injustice, you undermine the trust on which society depends. If you fail to respect the integrity of nature (different seeds, species, and so on), you take the first step down a path that ends in environmental disaster.
There is an order to the universe — part moral, part political, part ecological. When that order is violated, eventually there is chaos. When that order is observed and preserved, we become co-creators of the sacred harmony and integrated diversity that the Torah calls “holy.”
Why then is it specifically in this chapter that the two great commands — love of the neighbor and the stranger — appear? The answer is profound and very far from obvious. Because this is where love belongs — in an ordered universe.
Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychologist, has recently become one of the most prominent public intellectuals of our time. His book “Twelve Rules for Life,” has been a massive best-seller in Britain and America. He has had the courage to be a contrarian, challenging the fashionable fallacies of the contemporary West. Particularly striking in the book is Rule 5: “Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.”
His point is more subtle than it sounds. A significant number of parents today, he says, fail to socialize their children. They indulge them. They do not teach them rules.
There are, he argues, complex reasons for this. Some of it has to do with lack of attention. Parents are busy and don’t have time for the demanding task of teaching discipline. Some of it has to do with Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s influential but misleading idea that children are naturally good, and are made bad by society and its rules. So the best way to raise happy, creative children is to let them choose for themselves.
Partly, though, he says it is because “modern parents are simply paralyzed by the fear that they will no longer be liked, or even loved
by their children if they chastise them for any reason.” They are afraid to damage their relationship by saying ‘No’. They fear the loss of their children’s love.
The result is that they leave their children dangerously unprepared for a world that will not indulge their wishes or desire for attention; a world that can be tough, demanding and sometimes cruel. Without rules, social skills, self-restraints and a capacity to defer gratification, children grow up without an apprenticeship in reality. His conclusion is powerful:
Clear rules make for secure children and calm, rational parents. Clear principles of discipline and punishment balance mercy and justice so that social development and psychological maturity can be optimally promoted. Clear rules and proper discipline help the child, and the family, and society, establish, maintain and expand order. That is all that protects us from chaos.
That is what the opening chapter of Kedoshim is about: clear rules that create and sustain a social order. That is where real love – not the sentimental, self-deceiving substitute — belongs. Without order, love merely adds to the chaos. Misplaced love can lead to parental neglect, producing spoiled children with a sense of entitlement who are destined for an unhappy, unsuccessful, unfulfilled adult life. Peterson’s book, whose subtitle is “An Antidote to Chaos,” is not just about children. It is about the mess the West has made since the Beatles sang (in 1967), “All You Need is Love.”
As a clinical psychologist, Peterson has seen the emotional cost of a society without a shared moral code. People, he writes, need ordering principles, without which there is chaos. We require “rules, standards, values — alone and together. We require routine and tradition. That’s order.” Too much order can be bad, but too little can be worse. Life is best lived, he says, on the dividing line between them. It’s there, he says, that “we find the meaning that justifies life and its inevitable suffering.”
Perhaps if we lived properly, he adds, “we could withstand the knowledge of our own fragility and mortality, without the sense of aggrieved victimhood that produces, first, resentment, then envy, and then the desire for vengeance and destruction.”
That is as acute an explanation as I have ever heard for the unique structure of Leviticus 19. Its combination of moral, political, economic and environmental laws is a supreme statement of a universe of (Divinely created) order of which we are the custodians. But the chapter is not just about order. It is about humanizing that order through love – the love of neighbor and stranger. And when the Torah says, don’t hate, don’t take revenge and don’t bear a grudge, it is an uncanny anticipation of Peterson’s remarks about resentment, envy and the desire for vengeance and destruction. Hence the life-changing idea that we have forgotten for far too long: Love is not enough. Relationships need rules.
Putting Torah’s view of animal rights in context
Media pundits and missionaries are famous for taking quotations out of context. Before judging any statement you read or hear, it is important to know in what context it was expressed. Was the writer being sarcastic, rhetorical or straightforward? Was the speaker quoting someone else, or was he being dramatic or provocative to make a point?
Vayikra 17:3-4 has a statement that would make animal rights activists become bornagain Bible-thumping religious folks.
If any member of the family of Israel slaughters
an ox, sheep or goat, whether in the camp or outside the camp, and does not bring it to the Communion Tent to be offered as a sacrifice to G-d before His sanctuary, that person is considered a murderer. That person has committed an act of murder, and he shall be cut off [spiritually] from among his people.
There is no question that the Torah advocates animals being brought as korbanot and that such behavior is warranted in the context of a religious culture centered on the Temple as described in the Torah.
But the implication of this verse is that any animal that is killed outside of the sacrificial realm is a murder victim.
This quote must be understood in its context, and the context of the Torah is one in which humans and animals are not equal, and the killing of an animal is not equal to that of killing a human being.
To be sure, the Torah absolutely advocates the ethical treatment of animals when they are alive — tzaar baalei Chayim (causing pain to animals) is prohibited. But we believe animals were put on this earth for, among other things, our use.
The Sefer HaChinukh puts it this way: G-d only allowed humans to use animal flesh/ meat for atonement or for human needs such as food, health, or other uses that advance the human condition. But to murder them for no reason is wanton destruction and is considered murder. …
And even though it is not comparable to the
murder of a human [a human is a more advanced creation], it is nonetheless considered senseless spilling of blood, a.k.a. murder, because the Torah does not permit taking the lives of animals for no purpose. In the context of sacrificial offerings, an animal slaughtered outside of the Temple is a wasted sacrifice because it cannot be brought as a korban. If offered to G-d in the wrong place, it is viewed as idolatry or an improper form of serving G-d.
According to Torah sources, humans and animals were never to be viewed as equals. As such, animal advocacy that calls the killing of chickens for human consumption “a holocaust,” is an insult to all of humanity, particularly those who experienced a Holocaust themselves. Humans are in the right when they demand
Fireside chat: Thoughts of missiles and miracles
JERUSALEM — The past week in Israel was anything but quiet and peaceful. Besides the painful commemoration of Yom Hazikaron, followed by the jubilant celebration of Yom Haatzmaut, we experienced enormous fires across a great portion of the country, arguably the largest fires in Israel’s history. We continued to sustain rocket attacks, including a Houthi strike at Ben Gurion Airport. Most sadly, our young men and women continue to fight and die Gaza.
While the fires were so severe that Yom Haatzmaut celebrations had to be canceled, by the next morning, with the fire determined to be under control, what was the reaction of the country? Let’s party!
Yom Haatzmaut was back on. Barbecues that had only the day before been forbidden, were allowed, and the music blared till 5 am the next morning.
Blessedly, Shabbat came with its anticipated menucha, only to be punctured by a siren at 6:15 am. What’s the general reaction in shul that Shabbat morning? “Why couldn’t the Houtis have waited until 7:15 am? That would’ve been the perfect wake up call!”
Ireflected: the fires have been largely forgotten; the sirens greeted with a shrug. Is this resilience or complacency?
Let’s look at some some remarkable facts:
•Thousands of dunams of land, forests and agricultural land, have been burnt. Yet not a single person, firefighter or civilian has died. Not one. Injuries were described as light and relatively minor. Contrast that with the 2010 Carmel fires when 44 people died.
•As the fires raged out of control, it started to drizzle and then around 10 pm, there was an unseasonable and unexpected thunderstorm
over central Israel, where most of the fires had begun. Not a severe storm, but enough to the wet the ground and assist in firefighting efforts. Contrast that with the enormous fires in California this year, which were followed by severe rains resulting in mudslides, making rescue efforts more difficult.
•Several Arabs were arrested for starting fires, while 18 were arrested for incitement to arson, which filled the Arab social media. The battle cry was “burn the Zionist occupiers’ land.”
•In the last month and a half, 26 ballistic missiles from Yemen were successfully intercepted. The 27th struck near Ben Gurion, briefly closing the airport, with incoming flights having to turn back. Yet, Baruch Hashem, no
Remembering sacrifices in a thoughtful week
Literally translated, Acharei-Mot-Kedoshim means “after the death of the holy ones,” a reference that is all too appropriate following weeks that included Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’Atzmaut. This column, a portion of which was originally published for Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmut in 2012, is dedicated to the blessed memory of those Israeli soldiers whose selfless sacrifice gave and gives us a State we can call our own.
His name was Chaim Avner. The name was familiar to me for a long time, but I never really knew who he was, until one year on Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s national Memorial Day.
Chaim is close to a very dear and old friend of mine, about as close as you can get; his grave lies next to Dani’s on Mount Herzl, Israel’s National Military Cemetery.
To me, Dani Moshitz, of blessed memory, will always be 20 years old, which is how old he was when he was killed in an ambush at the Kasmiyeh Bridge in Lebanon in 1985. He was killed two days after Chaim of blessed memory, who was 27 at the time. Chaim was doing a 16 day stint of reserve duty in Lebanon when a Hezbollah terrorist drove his car bomb into their safari truck, killing him, along with 11 other
The sinner may cause cosmic consequences, yes. But each one of us, as individuals, can cause compassion and kindness, helpfulness and sensitivity, unity and friendship, and a world at peace.
It is no secret that many liberals and progressives are permissive regarding biblical proscriptions. This is especially true in the case of the recent weekly Torah portions in which a wide variety of intimate relationships are forbidden but are viewed in many sectors
of modern society as archaic and no longer relevant.
This week, we combine two weekly readings, Acharei Mos and Kedoshim (Leviticus 16:1-20:27). Toward the very end of this dual and, therefore, quite lengthy parsha, we encounter a forbidden behavior which even the most lenient progressive ethicist would not permit. Indeed, he would find it unforgiveable and even heinous.
I am referring to the primitive mode of worship which involved sacrificing one’s children to the pagan deity known as Molekh. Let’s examine the text of the passage describing the prohibition against “worshipping” Molekh and the punishment for doing so:
The L-rd spoke to Moshe: “Tell the Israelites: Any person — any one among the Israelites —
soldiers on patrol in Southern Lebanon. Every year at Yeshivat Orayta on Yom Hazikaron, the thought of staying isolated in our study hall in the Old City of Jerusalem while the entire country gathers in her cemeteries and memorials to remember those who fell in defense of the State of Israel, conflicts with the equally strong desire not to allow such a holy day to pass without the study of Torah, which after all, is the reason we had a home to come back to after 2,000 years.
So every year we study Torah together at the entrance of Mount Herzl Military Cemetery, after which many of the students join me at Dani’s grave to pay our respects.
At precisely 11 am a siren sounds, and the entire State of Israel halts for a moment of silence. People get out of their cars,
pedestrians on crowded streets all over Israel stand at attention and bow their heads, and even children stand in silence as an entire nation takes a moment to remember what it took, and how many gave up so much, that we might be privileged to have a state and a homeland to call our own.
And as the moment ends, and the siren winds down, four Israeli Airforce jets cross the airspace over the Old City, and one lone jet, peels off and flies up into the sky until no longer visible, representing all the lonely soldiers who will never come home to the beloved waiting arms.
And in that moment one year, I found myself again standing over the grave of Dani, my old and yet forever young friend who took me un-
or among the strangers residing in Israel — who sacrifices any of his children to Molekh shall be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him, and I Myself will set My face against that person; I will sever him from his people because, in sacrificing his children to Molekh, he defiles My Mikdash, he desecrates My holy name. If the people of the land should shut their eyes to that man as he sacrifices his children to Molekh — if they do not put him to death — I will sever
him from his people…”
Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, Ramban, has much to say about this passage. For one thing, he quotes Rashi, in translating the word Mikdash in the text above. That word is often translated as “sanctuary,” implying that the Molekh worshipper has somehow defiled the Mishkan (Tabernacle) or perhaps the Beit HaMikdash (Holy Temple).
But does an idolatrous act practiced elsewhere defile the Sanctuary? Definitely not! Therefore, both Rashi and Ramban insist that in this case, Mikdash refers to the Almighty’s holy people, Knesset Yisrael (the Community of Israel).
Ramban notes that the Molekh worshipper defiles not just himself and those who emulate
Parsha of the Week Rabbi avi billet Jewish Star columnist
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Here are the 10 big lies that Palestinians tell to deny Jewish history in the Land of Israel
Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas recently claimed that the First and Second Jewish temples were in Yemen, not Jerusalem, citing the Quran. Not only does all reputable archeological research locate the temples in Jerusalem, but the Quran does not assert that they were in Yemen. So much for Abbas’s “facts.”
Indeed, the Palestinian narrative claiming rights to “Palestine” is based almost entirely on deceitful attempts to nullify deep Jewish connections to the region. Lacking any evidence of Palestinian peoplehood earlier than the 20th century, let alone the existence of any ancient Palestinian governance, leadership, distinct culture or archeological artifacts, they resort to falsifying history using outright lies.
Just as Palestinianism is fundamentally a movement to eliminate the Jewish state rather than build one of their own, the focus of its leaders is to discredit the abundantly proven Jewish role in the region’s history.
When examined rationally, Palestinian examples denying established records of Jewish sovereignty, religion, architecture and artifacts are almost comical or, at least, embarrassing in their blatant fabrication. But like most big lies, when told often enough to those with no other source of information, the locals (e.g., Palestinians) come to believe them, while many elites, who know better, patronizingly ignore them.
Ultimately, however, falsehood makes an unstable foundation for nationhood. Lies are not only deceptive and eventually disproven, they are also mean-spirited and thus morally brittle. In either case, they don’t wear well.
Here are 10 of the most egregious lies comprising the Palestinians’ argument they hope will justify their right to a state “from the river to the sea” in the Land of Israel.
Lacking evidence of Palestinian peoplehood earlier than the 20th century, they falsify history.
•Lie No. 1: There were no Jewish temples in Jerusalem.
Even Muslim scholars refute this lie. Persian historian Abu Jafar Muhammad bin Jarir al-Tabari (838-923), for example, described David’s and Solomon’s involvement in building on the Temple Mount in a way that corresponds exactly to the Bible’s description of the process. Extensive archeological evidence also confirms the existence of both temples. No wonder guidebooks published in the 1920s and 1930s by the Supreme Muslim Council, responsible for Muslim religious affairs in British Mandatory Palestine, unequivocally identified the Temple Mount as the location of Solomon’s Temple.
•Lie No. 2: Biblical figures were Palestinians.
Many Palestinians, for example, claim Jesus was a Palestinian. But the Christian Bible clearly identifies Jesus as a Jew, saying he was born in Bethlehem, circumcised according to Jewish law (Luke 2:21), attended synagogue on Shabbat (Luke 4:16), and celebrated Passover in Jerusalem (John 2:13). Moreover, the term “Palestine” didn’t even exist in Jesus’s lifetime. It was invented by the Romans decades later.
•Lie No. 3: Jews have no claim over Jerusalem.
Though Palestinians persuaded the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to designate Jerusalem and its Jewish sites as “Palestinian,” Jerusalem has always been the spiritual, religious and national center of the Jewish people. It was the capital of the biblical Jewish kingdoms and has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Furthermore, Jews have lived in Jerusalem, almost continuously, for 3,000 years.
•Lie No. 4: Jews have no right to sovereignty in “Palestine.”
In fact, Jews had sovereignty and self-rule during three ancient periods: the United monarchy under kings Saul, David and Solomon (circa 1047-930 BCE); the Kingdom of Judah (circa 930-586 BCE); and the Hasmonean Dynasty (circa 140-63 BCE). All periods are confirmed by major archeological evidence. In contrast, no archeological or historical findings reference a Palestinian people or state.
•Lie No. 5: Jews have no connection to Hebron.
Despite biblical references to Abraham settling in Hebron and purchasing the Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs as a burial site for his wife, Sarah, Palestinians convinced UNESCO to call the tomb the Ibrahimi Mosque, negating its Jewish origins. Hebron was the first capital of King David’s Israelite kingdom. In modernity, Jews lived there continuously for 500 years until 1929, when an Arab pogrom murdered many Jewish residents and exiled the remainder.
•Lie No. 6: Rachel’s Tomb is a mosque. Though centuries of Muslim tradition identify this Bethlehem site as the burial place of Rachel, Palestinians persuaded UNESCO to call it Bilal ibn Rabah Mosque. In fact, the Palestinian myth that Rachel’s Tomb was associated with Bilal ibn Rabah, who is actually buried in Damascus, took shape only in 1996, when Muslim religious authorities decided to apply the name to the site.
•Lie No. 7: Palestinians are descendants of the Canaanites, the first people to inhabit the region.
Canaanites disappeared three millennia ago, long before Arabs arrived. Some Arab Palestinians descend from Arab invaders who conquered the region in the seventh century. Many descend from 100,000 Arabs who immigrated during the British mandate in the 20th century. Noted Arab historian Philip Hitti clarifies: “There is no such thing as Palestine in history.”
•Lie No. 8: No archeological evidence connects Jews to the Land of Israel.
A trail of thousands of archeological artifacts confirms Jewish heritage in the region, including a 1,500-year-old limestone capital decorated with menorahs, whose discovery was announced last month by the Israeli Antiquities Authority.
•Lie No. 9: Ashkenazim are fake Jews.
Palestinians point to a debunked Khazar myth
that posits that European Ashkenazi Jews are descendants of a Turkic empire that existed over a millennium ago. But peer-reviewed studies have discredited this theory, proving that Ashkenazim have genetic markers linking them to the Middle East, where Jews originated. Furthermore, Jews lived in Europe centuries before the Khazar Empire.
•Lie No. 10: ‘Palestine’ was always an Arab country.
The Romans gave the Land of Israel the name “Syria Palestina” in the second century CE to disassociate Judea from its indigenous Jewish inhabitants. Arabs didn’t become a majority population in the region until after the Muslim conquests of the seventh century. Palestinian Arabs have never controlled any land in “Palestine,” always sharing the territory with Jews and descendants of other regional conquerors over the centuries.
Today, Palestinians still use the term “Palestine” to try to erase the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, which persuades many who are ignorant of the region’s true history. The fact is that the Palestinians’ national narrative is based on a series of big lies — a fiction that quickly crumbles when confronted with historical facts.
James Sinkinson is president of Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME).
Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
The Kotel in Jerusalem.
Courtesy G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection and the Library of Congress
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Mount Sinai South Nassau nurses have earned Magnet® Recognition, a national quality standard that few hospitals obtain, three consecutive times since 2014. A Magnet designation highlights the nurses and hospital’s commitment to patient care and is an indicator of better outcomes for patients. As we celebrate Nurse’s Week, we recognize the Mount Sinai South Nassau nurses who achieved this high standard of care.
