MENACHEM STARK’S FATHER & BROTHER SPEAK OUT SPECIAL ISRAEL ISSUE
SHARON’S MIXED LEGACY BETRAYAL OF POLLARD TAKANOS FOR A SHUL
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My mother was hurt and it was bitter cold outside.
I had to get her to the hospital, but didn’t know how I’d get her into the car. Before I even knew what I needed, a wheelchair materialized and the owners of the Belvedere themselves personally got my mother into my car. I couldn’t have managed it alone. I was panicked and overwhelmed. But I need not have been. After all, I was at the Belvedere… The doctor put my grandfather on a new essential medication. It was New Year’s Day, and I was frantically calling every pharmacy in the neighborhood, but nobody was able to fill the prescription. It wasn’t a problem for the incredible staff at the Belvedere though; Mr. Friedman personally found a pharmacy that would supply my grandfather with his new medication, and we didn’t have to wait another day. I didn’t need to worry. After all, my grandfather was at the Belvedere… My father sat glumly in a chair, and it didn’t take more than a few minutes for one of the owners himself to notice that
something was bothering my father. It was his watch; the battery had died. Mr. Friedman personally took my father’s watch to be repaired. The small gesture really made my father’s day. But I wasn’t surprised. After all, he was at the Belvedere…. My aunt needed to get to the hospital, and I couldn’t go along. A caring staff member of the Belvedere accompanied my aunt all the way there—and didn’t leave her side, staying with her at the hospital throughout the night. I used to think that I am all she has, but that isn’t true anymore. After all, she was at the Belvedere…. To the Schonberger and Friedman family every resident at the Belvedere is family. The Schonberger and Friedman family have accomplished a lot more than the numerous gorgeous renovations of the Belvedere; they’ve completely overhauled the atmosphere of their newly acquired assisted-living facility. There’s more than just fresh new carpeting and updated fixtures at 5110 19th Avenue in Boro Park. By taking a deep personal interest in each and every one of the Belvedere’s residents they’ve revitalized the residents themselves. They’ve revamped the menu, providing residents of the Belvedere with delicious food under the supervision of the Tartikov beis din. With their hands-on approach, the Schonbergers and Friedmans are tuned into each and every resident’s
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personal preferences. They’ll notice before anyone else if there is a change in Bubby’s appetite—it’s just another critical piece of information that doesn’t pass by this detail-oriented family. They’re committed to caring for all of their residents’ needs. They’ve updated everything from the entertainment to the in-house shul’s accessibility, from the lighting to the brand-new medication dispensing room. The Schonbergers and Friedmans have raised the bar for assisted living. That’s because the owners of the Belvedere care. With over 50 years of experience in caring for the elderly, they are personable, approachable and patient; the Schonbergers and Friedmans are described by the residents as “an ever-present calming presence in our lives.” Their motto is “You have to care.” And it shows.
Small Things That Make a Big Difference to Your Loved Ones from the Staff at the Belvedere projects that come home from • Offer to take your Bubby to the They gave us life, and we school, and no one would appreshaitelmacher, your Zaidy to a want to give them quality of ciate the masterpiece more than shiur or on an errand. Even a stroll life in return. There is no pill grandparents. around the block with your baby to combat loneliness, and it’s in the carriage is a great opportuni• Make sure Bubby and Zaidy feel ty for quality time spent together. up to all of us to help Bubby relevant. Bank on their wisdom; and Zaidy thrive. ask them for advice. • Call your Zaidy to share a short • Send Bubby and Zaidy a short letter, note, or a picture of a grandchild. It’ll warm their hearts many times throughout the day! • Share your little ones’ artwork. You’ve surely got piles of
dvar Torah or to tell him what you are learning. The nachas will infuse him with so much joy.
• Bake a smaller version of that cake, two small challos, or reserve some of the cookies you are baking for Bubby or Zaidy.
• Visit as often as you can.
• Keep Bubby and Zaidy “in the know.” Even a quick phone call can keep them updated on all the latest family news.
• Send even a single flower to your Bubby on a special occasion. She’ll look at that small token a thousand time on that special day.
• Small gifts show that you care. “Bubby, I got you this hand cream; I was thinking of you while I was shopping.”
• Last but not least, don’t keep score. Bubby and Zaidy need attention and love; it doesn’t matter who visits most often.
1.15.2014 1 4 S H VAT 5 7 7 4
Departments
10 16 20
DITORIAL E Open season on Orthodox Jews
LETTERS NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS YOS SI KRAUSZ
24 26 28 34
IN THE NEWS TURX
SIGHTINGS AND CITINGS BEN ROSEN
JEWISH NEWS Menachem Stark’s father and brother speak NESANEL GANTZ
JEWISH LIVING IN: Beitar Illit, Israel
36 38
Y. KLEI N
BUSINESS YEDI DA WOLFE
AMBASSADORS Only in Israel TIRTZA JOTKOWITZ
Features
40
46
44
50
LUNCH BREAK With Rami Levy NE SANEL GANTZ PARNOOOSA Finding our focus MAURICE STEI N
112 114
MY WORD! ASH ER V. FI NN
THE JOURNEY From Ukraine to South Sudan
116
RABBI SHOLOM FRI EDMANN
ASK Simchah guidelines in shul
118
RABBI MOSH E TAUB
120
THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE An escape and an esrog AS TOLD TO SARAH PACHTER
STREETS OF LIFE Men without a country RABBI MORDECHAI KAM ENETZKY
AVI TUCHMAYER
SPYVIEW: SHARON’S SECRET PT. I Arik Sharon betrayed Pollard, Israel and America JOHN LOFTUS
56
FINDING AN ISRAELI HOME The difficulties of Israeli real estate and innovative solutions AVI TUCHMAYER
62
A N INSIDE LOOK AT ISRAELI REAL ESTATE Real estate maven Shia Getter explains how to find an apartment in Eretz Yisrael
RABBI SHAI S TAUB
THE SHUL CHRONICLES The rabbanim of Israel
124
CONFLICTED LEGACY Israel debates Ariel Sharon’s record
NESANEL GANTZ
82
K EEPER OF THE GATE An exclusive interview with Chaim Cohen. RABBI YITZCHOK FRANKFURTER
98
S NAPSHOTS OF ISRAEL Numbers and facts that give a picture of Israel’s economy and society YOSSI KRAUSZ
104
ON GEULA’S TEEMING STREETS A shopper’s paradise with a touch of local color SHIFFY FRIEDMAN
98
8 AMI MAGAZINE // OCTOBER 2, 2013 // 28 TISHREI 5774
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Open Season on Orthodox Jews
L
ast Monday, at 10:27 a.m., I sent an email to Professor Ari Goldman, which read as follows: “Ami would like to get your perspective on the New York Post’s coverage of the Stark murder. Can we speak soon?” At 11:03 a.m., Ari Goldman replied: “Hi. Sorry, but I’m writing a column about this for The Jewish Week. I think I’ll have to save my ideas for that forum. Good luck. AG.” I immediately responded: “Oy. The Jewish Week is even worse than the New York Post in this regard. You can quote me on that.” I wasn’t trying to be cute or flippant. The Jewish Week is, in fact, worse. Its coverage of Orthodox Jews is biased, not merely for the sake of sensationalism. It intentionally seeks to demean and besmirch religious Jews. The same holds true of the Forward. For these Jewish tabloids to criticize the New York Post would therefore be hypocritical. Someone once said that black reporters are as capable of racism as anyone else. Similarly, Jewish reporters are as capable of anti-Semitism as anyone else. The Jewish Week and the Forward prove that point on an almost weekly basis. The secular media in Israel prove it ten times over. Freedom of the press is certainly one of the most cherished freedoms in the world. Thomas Jefferson wrote that “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.” Yet what value is there to liberty when it results in bigotry and intolerance? While the print media are still guided by some code of ethics, the Internet is a total free-for-all. Some people have proposed a code of ethics for blogging, but applying any standards to such a diverse blogosphere would be pragmatically impossible. Orthodox Jews in particular should be concerned about the Internet’s lawlessness and anarchy, as they are a frequent target of bigots, both Jewish and otherwise. There are countless blogs with an agenda to reform the Orthodox community through hatemongering and slander. There is 10 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
one Jewish blogger who maintains a particularly odious and virulent “anti-chareidi” blog, notwithstanding the fact that his own children and grandchildren are all chareidim. Does anyone ever stop to think where all this incitement will lead? Last week, after Menachem Stark, Hy”d, was murdered and his family was bereaved beyond consolation by his untimely passing, he was lambasted and his name was shamefully dragged through the mud by some members of the press. Was his murder a result of the same bias that was openly and publicly expressed after that crime? It’s too early to know. But one thing is certain: Prejudice can have devastating results. One would have assumed that the Holocaust adequately demonstrated the dire consequences racism and stereotyping can have on a society. Yet many Jews, the primary victims of the Holocaust, have apparently failed to learn that lesson, and continue to turn a blind eye to their fellow Jews who spew hatred and intolerance. Even the Anti-Defamation League seems to tolerate Jewish anti-Semitism. Logic, however, dictates that we should be even more mindful and sensitive to any manifestation of it within the Jewish community. As the Rambam writes in Hilchos Matnos Aniyim 10: 2, extolling the importance of helping the Jewish needy: “The entire Jewish people and all those who join them are like brothers, as it states [Devarim 14:1], ‘You are the children of the L-rd, your G-d.’ If a brother won’t have mercy on his brother, who then will have mercy upon him? And to whom will the poor of Israel lift up their eyes? To the gentiles who hate them and pursue them? Indeed, their eyes are directed to their brethren alone.” If nothing else, Menachem Stark’s tragic murder and the abominably prejudiced media coverage that followed should serve as a wake-up call for the Jewish community to denounce all forms of bias, and specifically endeavor to eradicate all traces of Jewish bigotry, both in the real world and the virtual one. If we send the message to all haters, especially those within our midst, that we will not tolerate hate, maybe we will finally come together as a unified people and make the world a far better and safer place than it is today.
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LETTERS EXECUTIVE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
Chesky Kauftheil
LESSONS FROM EVERY PARAGRAPH The gadlus of Rav Eliyahu Levin
In reference to “When Should a Yeshiva Bachur Get Married?” Issue 150
Dear Editor:
EDITORIAL EDITOR IN CHIEF
Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter SENIOR EDITOR
Rechy Frankfurter MANAGING EDITOR
Yossi Krausz
RABBINIC EDITOR
Rabbi Moshe Taub CONTRIBUTORS
Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky Nesanel Gantz•John Loftus Shmuel Sokol•Maurice Stein Rabbi Shais Taub•Turx•Yedida Wolfe FEATURE EDITOR
I read with great pleasure your article and interview with Reb Eliyahu Levin, shlita. Living in Lakewood we have all heard of Reb Eliyahu, the pride and pe’er of Lakewood. We have heard that Lakewood has its own talmid chacham par excellence who can offer an original psak on any new sh’eilah that comes up. But your interview really expressed his gadlus in a way no write-up could. Every paragraph was another lesson. We learned about the correct derech halimud, the correct way to be nichna to divrei Chazal, how to view marriage from a Torah standpoint and the true meaning of civic and personal achrayus. The lesson in the paragraph demanding parents and boys take responsibility for their own actions, not relying on public beliefs and outside influences, was worthy of a whole article in itself. Thank you, Ami Magazine, for bringing us these true words of da’as Torah and allowing us a rare glimpse into the mind of a talmid chacham who lives amongst us. You reminded us how to observe the life and words of a talmid chacham and I hope you continue bringing us such inspiration for many years to come.
Yitta Halberstam Mandelbaum FOOD EDITORS
Victoria Dwek•Leah Schapira EDITORIAL COORDINATOR
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M E D I A PA RT N E R
Ami Magazine. Published by Mezoogmag LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form without prior written permission from the publisher is prohibited. The publisher reserves the right to edit all articles for clarity, space, and editorial sensitivities. Ami Magazine assumes no responsibility for the content of articles or advertisements in the publication, nor for the contents of books that are referred to or excerpted herein.
Avigdor Rutstein Lakewood, NJ
STRAIGHT AFTER SHABBOS Touched by a damaged heart
In reference to The Human Experience, Issue 151
Dear Editor: I have never written to a magazine before, but I felt compelled to congratulate you, straight after Shabbos, for the story “Damaged Hearts” in this week’s issue. It was beautifully written and full of warmth. It was thoroughly enjoyable and made me laugh and cry. One of the best aspects of this article was that it was so refreshingly honest and thoughtful. Wishing you all the best, Mrs. Y. Kestecher
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LETTERS THE WRONG KIND OF CLEANING Informing the public
In reference to “Silent No More,” Issue 149
Dear Editor: Machla Abramovitz’s article about the plight of Jews from Arab countries was wonderful, with excellent research. I hope that you can continue to follow this issue in depth. Ami has made an amazing effort to inform the public about the difficulties of these Jews and the ethnic cleansing that takes place in Arab countries. As an Iraqi Jew, I thank you for shedding light on this pivotal issue, which goes to the very heart of why a Jewish state is necessary. My compliments to the writer, Machla Abramovitz, and to Ami Magazine! Carole Basri
THE HARD WAY Reaping the rewards
In reference to “Silent No More,” Issue 149
Dear Machla Abramovitz: I was most impressed by your article about Jews in Arab countries, which was both well-researched and sensitively written. Many major publications have written on this subject in a somewhat lazy and unprofessional manner, copying from each other without checking sources or doing real research, but you chose the hard way—and the result was an excellent article. Edwin Shuker Vice President, European Jewish Congress
HATS OFF TO YOU AND HATS ON FOR SOMEONE ELSE And a question of phrasing In reference to Streets of Life, Issue 149
Dear Rabbi Kamenetzky: Great article, as usual! Two he’aros: 1. The Shabbos bottle caps are the brainchild of Reb Ze’ev Rothchild of Lakewood. 2. My father (Rav Dovid Cohen), zol gezunt zein, always admonished me never to say, “For the life of me” since it is a lashon shevuah; we find the expression “b’chayai” used this way in Tanach. All the best, Ami Cohen
NEWS
NATIONAL AND WORLD
ANALYZING THE NEWS THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
Israel’s African Migrant Problem MASS PROTESTS CONTINUE
C
lose to 20,000 African migrants took to Israeli streets last week in unprecedented protests against recent government policies aimed at dealing with their status. A flow of Africans north through Egypt into Israel for over a decade has developed into a problem for the Netanyahu government, despite its move to stop newcomers by building a fence at the Egyptian border. The phenomenon has also raised serious moral issues for the Jewish state. Reports of crime associated with the Africans led to a crackdown on these illegal immigrants, many who claim they are refugees from violence in countries like
Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan. The government passed a law in November that required immigrants to stay in the Holot detention center—described by critics as an “open-air prison”—in southern Israel at night, while their claims are being investigated, and it has offered a cash incentive for migrants who are willing to leave to their home countries. Israeli New York consulate spokesperson Shahar Azani explained to Ami why the migrant worker problem has grown in recent years: “[Illegal immigration] has increased significantly both in numbers and intensity, specifically over the past decade. Moreover, with the concentration
20 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
of a large population of migrants in southern Tel Aviv, the urban challenges have become more distinct and tangible.” There are special problems dealing with these cases: “It is worthwhile to remember the fact that many of the migrants arrive from places such as the Sudan, with which Israel has no diplomatic relations, and other troubled regions in Africa.” Sudan, in fact, imposes a ten-year prison sentence for even entering Israel. “Moreover, the Middle Eastern political and civil turbulence makes it very difficult to create a regional mechanism to address the issue in Israel’s immediate vicinity. This includes, among others, the humanitarian
BY YOSSI KRAUSZ crisis in Syria, which alone is responsible for hundreds of thousands of refugees and millions of internally displaced people.” The Foreign Ministry, in a recent statement, said that Israel is uniquely affected by African migration, since it is the “only developed nation with a land border with Africa,” making it a particularly interesting destination for migrants. (Cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen pointed out recently that few migrants seem excited to stop in Egypt on their way to Israel.) But Azani says that Israel is not alone in having problems with African illegal immigration. “The issue of migrants and the policy towards them is a challenging issue not only in Israel but throughout the world. (Recent examples from Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Switzerland demonstrate this reality.) It requires a balancing of rights between different groups in the population, based on needs and allocation of resources, and each nation needs to make its own decision as to the appropriate policies in this regard. “In this case, Israel chose to enact new legislation that aims to lower the financial incentive for economic migrants to enter Israel illegally, while still granting protection to those in real need, in accordance with Israel’s legal obligations. “The reality is that only some of these migrants may be ‘refugees’ by its legal meaning and terminology, whereas many others may only be seeking a better life for
Shahar Azani
“The reality is that only some of these migrants may be ‘refugees’ by its legal meaning and terminology.”
themselves through illegal immigration, which is not an uncommon reality in today’s world. [That, he explained, is why the government uses the term ‘economic infiltrators’ or ‘economic migrants,’ rather than ‘refugees.’] “Israel makes sure to examine each and every individual case, as stated by Minister of the Interior Gideon Saar, who only this week stressed the intensive work done by his ministry for that purpose in collaboration with all involved. Moreover, in order to increase the rate of processing, the minister recently doubled the number of personnel at the units involved. The screening process is carried out in accordance with Israel’s international legal obligations, based on the UN Refugee Convention.” He claimed asylum is being considered. “Israel has a diverse population, over 70,000 of whom (in accordance with Ministry of Interior data as of September 2013) are foreigners granted legal permission to work in Israel. Moreover, asylum seekers who are granted refugee status in
Israel enjoy all the relevant rights, as has been demonstrated in the past—including when Israel invited Vietnamese boatpeople in the 1970s and Bosnian refugees in the 1990s. Israel examines requests for asylum from Sudanese and Eritrean citizens, but while almost 50,000 Sudanese and Eritreans alone have illegally entered Israel, only about 1,800 of them have requested asylum.” The strikes and protests that are being carried out by the migrants stopped at the beginning of this week, both out of respect for the mourning of Ariel Sharon and because many of the migrants were having financial difficulties staying away from their work (which is illegal at the moment). This question has been framed in the media with a contrast between Israel’s openness to Jewish refugees after the Holocaust and the country’s rejection of these present-day migrants. Whether the comparison is fair is doubtful. But it’s clear that leftists and the world media will continue to use the issue to batter the Jews.
WHAT ARE THE DANGERS FACING THE AFRICAN MIGRANTS? The Israeli government says that these migrants are merely looking for work. But what are the dangers that would be involved in returning to their home countries? E R I T R E A — F o rmerly a part of Ethiopia, this country has been engaged in various border disputes with its neighbors, Sudan and Ethiopia. Ten thousand people were displaced within the country during the border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia from 1998 to 2000. People continue to flee the country to avoid forced conscription
into the military, which can be extended indefinitely. Human trafficking is rampant in the country. According to human rights groups, 90 percent of asylum claims by Eritreans are normally accepted. SUDAN—Two civil wars have rocked Sudan during recent years. One, in the
south of the country, eventually resulted in the creation of the separate country of South Sudan. Before that war ended, more than four million people had been displaced; according to some sources, two million had died. A separate conflict, which broke out in the western region of Darfur in 2003, led to between 200,000 and 400,000 deaths and the displacement of two million.
SOUTH SUDAN— Since becoming independent in 2011, internal disputes among tribal groups and border problems with the Central African Republic, on South Sudan’s western border, have roiled the country. Human trafficking remains problematic. Since mid-December, a rebellion has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
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21
NEWS
NATIONAL AND WORLD
Stopping Emergency Services and Yom Kippur WILL GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE SURVIVE BRIDGEGATE?
A
llegations that aides of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie of documents on Friday about the scandal. One of the most seemclosed two lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge ingly dangerous to Christie is an email that showed a meeting in September to punish a mayor who didn’t endorse Chris- between him and the Port Authority chairman he put in place a week before the “traffic problems,” tie for governor have threatened the which has indicated to some that the presidential aspirations of the popular governor may know more than he Republican. New documents released has said. But several of the emails also show that threats to emergency services and to the observance of Yom Kippur, directly implicate higher-level staff in a which was the next day, were cited cover-up of the lane-closure scheme. when the Port Authority’s executive Several other New Jersey mayors who director forced the bridge back open. declined to endorse Christie have also said that they saw signs of retribution The closures of two out of three afterwards, including with regard to local access roads from Fort Lee, New funding for Hurricane Sandy recovery, Jersey, onto the bridge sparked immediate speculation and a state congresand some of those who supported him sional investigation into the possibility feel they received benefits. TIMELINE OF THE GEORGE that political payback against Fort Lee While Christie still appears to be WASHINGTON BRIDGE Mayor Mark Sokolich, rather than a the Republican frontrunner for a 2016 SCANDAL: traffic study, was the cause. Several top presidential run, and his performance at his press conference was praised by Christie appointees resigned (and got many Republican pundits, not all of themselves lawyers) over the intervenSept. 9, 2013—The lanes are closed. ing months. Sept. 13, 2013—Port Authority Execuhis enemies are on the opposite side of But the brouhaha over the GWB tive Director Patrick Foye orders the lanes the aisle. Christie has been targeted by started in earnest last week, Wednesday, reopened. a number of Republican operatives for when The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 17, 2013—The New Jersey State his perceived moderate stance. Senate, investigating the closures, subpoethat Bridget Anne Kelly, a top Christie Matt Doyle at Breitbart commented, aide, had emailed Christie-appointed “The Christie episode today shows nas the Port Authority. Nov. 7, 2013—The Wall Street Journal traces Port Authority official David Wildstein that non-conservative Republicans, the closures to Christie Port Authority appoinjust before the lane closures, writing like Democrats, are prone to improper tee David Wildstein. that it “was time for some traffic probuse of the power of government.” Ben Dec. 6, 2013—Wildstein resigns. lems in Fort Lee.” Shapiro, from the same site, wrote, “In Dec. 13, 2013—Port Authority Deputy ExecThe next day, Christie, who had preany sane world, this Christie bridge utive Director Bill Baroni resigns. story would invalidate him as a 2016 viously made light of the bridge controversy and accused Democratic state Jan. 8, 2014—Bridget Anne Kelly’s email Republican nominee.” Radio talk show legislators of using it for political points, about “traffic problems in Fort Lee” is reported host Steve Deace tweeted, “This may on in The Wall Street Journal. called a press conference in which he be the rare time conservatives cheer on announced that he had fired Kelly and MSNBC and other liberal media outlets Jan. 9, 2014—Christie gives a press conferdenied that he had knowledge of any as they down a (alleged) Republican.” ence, in which he says he has fired Kelly. It seems that Christie has as much to plan to close the lanes for political reaJan. 10, 2014—The New Jersey legislature worry about from his right flank as from sons. releases documents about the scandal. his left. The state legislature released a series 22 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
BY YOSSI KRAUSZ
U P D AT E S New Info on Stories We’ve Run We reported last week on the suicide bombings that have been worrying Russian officials in advance of the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Two separate incidents last week have caused increased concern. A series of dead bodies have been found in cars in the territory of Stavropol, including in one car that exploded. One of the cars, with three dead men inside, also contained explosive material.
A recent In the News column looked at China’s air-pollution problems. An article in the January 2014 issue of Environmental Chemistry Letters describes a new plan by a scientist to install huge water sprinklers on tall Chinese buildings to clean the air. The water would remove particulates from the air, researcher Shaocai Yu says, like rain does. He calculates that his methods could reduce fine particulate matter in the air from the dangerous highs of 500 micrograms per cubic meter that have been measured to more reasonable levels of about 35 micrograms per cubic meter. We’ve reported in recent months on revelations concerning the NSA’s collection of phone-call metadata. President Obama has been reviewing the NSA’s programs in recent days. A new report by the New America Foundation has shown that only one known legal case has been based on such metadata collection, involving several men who sent donations to the terrorist group Al-Shabaab. No direct terrorist attack was threatened in that case. Obama’s NSA review board has also concluded that the NSA phone-call program is unnecessary. The Senate bill intended to increase Iran sanctions if talks break down between the two countries may be going nowhere. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is reportedly keeping the bill from being voted on, at the behest of President Obama. A national security staff member of Obama’s sent a blistering statement accusing pro-sanctions members of Congress of desiring war. Things are getting rude on the Iran front.
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The question of whether the Israeli army will remain in the Jordan Valley in the aftermath of any peace deal with the Palestinians has been causing controversy, as we recently reported. A new poll by Ma’ariv reported that 73 percent of the Israeli public is opposed to the IDF leaving the Jordan Valley.
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IN THE NEWS
BY TURX
Israel-Boycotting for Dummies
I
BECAUSE ANYONE WHO ISN’T DUMB ISN’T BOYCOTTING…
ntroduction Why boycott Israel? Because now you can spend the day sleeping on that busted couch in your mother’s basement and still feel accomplished! Because all countries that embrace long-term boycotts of Israel seem to be flourishing! Because that’s what your great-grandfather marching in Nuremberg, Germany, would’ve wanted! Step One: Learn to Read You’re probably anxious and excited to get started. Be warned! A boycott of Israel is much more complex than just a simple boycott; it’s a way of life. The first thing you’ll need to know is how to read, because unfortunately, most people calling for, or boycotting Israel, don’t know how to read and inadvertently end up using Israeli products. But don’t learn how to read too well, because then you might get too educated and withdraw from boycotting altogether! Step Two: Move to a Country That Still Lives in the Stone Age This isn’t a prerequisite but is highly recommended. Almost all the boycotters of Israel just happen to live in the most third-world of countries, and that’s because it’s so much easier to observe a boycott properly while not surrounded by Israeli goods, products and technology. Step Three: Pick the Best Country to Fit Your Personal Budget and Agenda There are lots of countries from which to choose. Almost any poor, dictatorial, Arab or Muslim country will do. Most African countries work too. We suggest Sudan because it’s a poor ArabMuslim-African country that is run by a dictator. Step Four: Prove That You’re Not Anti-Semitic The only way to boycott Israel successfully is to boycott Jews as well, because of their close ties to Israel. For that to work, you’ll have to explain why you’re boycotting Israel and not the 120-plus countries with a significantly worse human rights record. You can deny those atrocities exist. You can deny those countries exist. Either way, you’ll need to come up with something. Anything. 24 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
Step Five: Divestment
The only way to divest is to have actual money to invest elsewhere. Ordinarily this doesn’t seem like such a problem, but living in a third-world country and earning the kind of money needed to launch a meaningful divestment will be next to impossible—especially because you won’t be able to use any Israeli-linked products to earn that money. But the opportunities are certainly out there! For those of you in Central Asia, there’s lots of money to be made in the drug production industry. In East Asia it could be child labor. North Africa still has its slave trade. So check your local listings to see what they’ve got to offer. Step Six: Sanctions Sanctions are not for everyone! But with a little work and a lot of money, you might get democratically elected to a position of leadership and use that to influence meaningful sanctions in your country. However, there’s a 96 percent chance you live in a third-world country, with nothing to offer sanction-wise. Also, there’s a great chance that your country of residence is run dictatorially, which means the only way to be in a position of influence is by assuming leadership after having killed all of your county’s leaders. In the event you survive that stage, be forewarned! Your country will need lots of capital if it wants the sanctions to bite. But your country won’t be able to do business in almost any industry on earth, with almost any country in the world, because all of them are linked to Israel in some way. Once again, we suggest you looking to the drug-trafficking, slave-trading, and child labor industries since they don’t do business with Israel. Step Seven: Drop Dead Once you’ve seen the extensive list of Israeli products, companies and inventions, you’ll come to realize that living life without them is not feasible or worthwhile. But before you kick the bucket, be warned! Many types of weapons are made or developed by Israel. And you certainly don’t want to be killed in a drone strike, because those are Israeli-made as well. We believe that the most effective way to die (while making your point) would be to contract one of the many third-world diseases that are so easily cured by Israeli medicine.
•
DAFIM BEING LEARNED
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בבא מציעא לג מד
ביצה ב יב
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$7,911
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הוריות ב יד
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E V E N T
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גיטין כד לב
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מאורי וגדו
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לי ישראל שליט״א
$15,804
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T O P
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Ben Rosen
Sightings&Citings Synopses of and excerpts from interesting items that have recently appeared here and there —and sometimes way over there—in the media MOST BENIGN GUYS IN THE UNIVERSE AWARD One way to explain a deal Shas head Aryeh Deri made a deal recently with the Israeli Ministry of Education to include secular subjects in some Shas schools in return for full funding for those schools. Schools without the full curriculum will only receive 75 percent funding. MK Dov Lipman was asked in an interview with the Five Towns Jewish Times what it meant that the Ministry of Education, presently run by Yesh Atid’s Shai Piron, would be “in charge of the finances.” He answered: “It means that the schools cannot decide how to use the money because this leads to corruption and abuse. Yes, of course, it could lead to issues on the Torah side if we were anti-religious in any way, but they know this is not the case and know that we won’t hurt the Torah side on any level. All the public anti-Yesh Atid and anti-Yair Lapid proclamations are nothing other than posturing and politics. They know Of course. If he would just wear his tzitzis outside his pants, he could make as many female rabbis as he wanted.
the truth, and that is why they agreed to this.” “ Oh, sure I know how wonderful you are,” said the man, looking nervously at the (economic) gun in the other man’s hand.
MODERNITY REVISITED Yet another boycott gets under way The latest move against Israel by the BDS movement came at the annual conference of the Modern Language Association, where the governing body of the organization passed a resolution calling on the US government to condemn Israel for supposedly keeping Palestinian academics from entering the West Bank, according to a report by The Jerusalem Post. The delegates voted 60 to 53 for the resolution. Despite the fact that they voted down another BDS resolution entitled the “Emergency Resolution in Support of the American Studies Association,” referring to another boycotting organiza-
tion, by 59 to 41, the presiding officer decided to send that resolution on to the group’s executive committee nonetheless. Professor Cary Nelson of the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, who had campaigned against the BDS effort, told the Post: “I found it shocking that members I spoke with told me that, despite agreeing we proved our case that the resolution was factually incorrect, they still voted for it out of a single-minded opposition to the State of Israel.” I think they don’t realize that “Judenrein” isn’t part of modern language.
TAKING REFUGE IN REFUGEE STATUS UN strike sets off Palestinians Palestinians rioted near Ramallah on Sunday to protest a strike by the UNRWA, the United Nations group that supports Palestinians (and the only such UN group for any such population). Forty Palestinian policemen were injured, according to reports, when protestors threw
PRACTICAL THINKER OF THE WEEK “We don’t aspire to obtain a nuclear bomb, but it is necessary so we can put Israel in its place.” —Iranian parliament representative Muhammad Nabavian, in a speech last Friday, translated by MEMRI. Our aspirations? We want to be poets and artists. The nukes are necessities.
rocks at them. The police fired tear gas and threw rocks in response, and may have fired live ammunition in the air. Strikes by Palestinian workers for UNRWA—the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, founded in 1949—are apparently due to reduced funding because of a new focus on refugees from the Syrian civil war. A fter 65 years, even the UN realizes they’re not refugees anymore.
DIPLOMATIC INCIDENT
“Rabbi Avi Weiss does not wear a black hat, nor have a long beard, nor hang his tsitsith outside his pants. But he surely is Orthodox, and proudly so.” —Rabbi Marc D. Angel, writing in The Times of Israel about the Israeli Chief Rabbinate’s recent refusal to accept a letter about the Jewish status of a couple from Open Orthodoxy founder Avi Weiss.
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JEWISHNEWS
Father’s Memories of a Son and Updates on the Investigation
“E
RAV YISROEL STARK REMEMBERS HIS SON
very half an hour,” began Rav Yisroel Stark in an interview with Ami about his son Menachem, “I am learning more and more things that Menachem was able to accomplish in his lifetime. His biggest gadlus was that everything was b’hatzneia leches. Everything was performed in a manner so that nobody should know about it. He didn’t want to receive any kavod for himself by doing the tzedakos that he did. “There were people who used to go visit people in prison and they would take a car shuttle to visit the prisoners. Recently, the driver turned to the passengers on the way to the prison and he asked them to pay for the ride. “They replied, ‘What do you mean? We thought it was free?’ “He responded, ‘Not anymore; the sponsor passed away.’ “Menachem had paid for these rides and the passengers never knew about it. “He would do the same thing for Bonei Olam, which is having a dinner next week in honor of his neshamah. There were couples who could not afford to travel to and from the many doctor visits. Menachem created an account with a car service so that every time a couple needed to visit a doctor, the cost would be covered. “He was so good-hearted, he was unbelievable. I cannot understand how he gave so much money. I used to think that he gave several thousands of dollars a year, but now I am almost certain it was over a million dollars a year. I don’t have an exact amount, but at least a million dollars a year. He recently sponsored a Shabbos for a mossad, Meoros, that cost $50,000. I’m not sure what his calculations were in giving tzedakah, but he did things all the way. “He gave money to all sorts of tzedakos. There is a rich man I know who is known for the large amounts of money he gives to tzedakos. He told me that Menachem gave more money than he does to tzedakah and additionally that there was a big difference: “‘I would receive honors for my donations,' he told me, ‘whereas Menachem’s tzedakah was all a secret; no one was supposed to know. “ “He was…he was…oy. Did you know he also helped boys and girls who could not find schools or could not afford them? He would often go down to the school to speak to the principals and fight for a child to be enrolled, and then would provide head checks so that the school should not be worried about tuition.” Last week, Menachem’s family told Ami that he was extremely dedicated to his parents. His father echoed their sentiments: “He was a great son,” said Rav Stark, fighting back tears. “I was first for everything. He could be in the middle of the most impor28 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
Menachem Stark with his father.
tant meeting or could be meeting the most important people with an important deadline. If I had a need, he ran to help me. He didn’t care about anything else. “A bachur told me that he once lost his tefillin and was afraid to return home after yeshivah because he was afraid of his father finding out that he had lost them. Menachem saw him looking sad and searching for his tefillin. After the bachur told him the story, Menachem went together with this bachur from beis midrash to beis midrash trying to find the tefillin. Here he was, a busy man on the way to his office, and he spent close to an hour trying to help a bachur that he just met. The truth is that that’s the way he was. Not just with me, but with anyone; if he saw anyone in trouble, he ran to help him.” Rav Stark, a grandfather to dozens of grandchildren, told Ami that he will be taking a more active role in Menachem’s children’s lives. He said he hopes and davens for their success, that they merit to follow in Menachem’s ways. “Hashem ya’azor. Today it’s
BY NESANEL GANTZ
hard to grow up without a father.” Rav Stark said, “If someone wants to, there are a lot of things you can learn from my son. He had such mesiras nefesh to do a tovah [something good] for a Yid, such a mesiras nefesh for kibbud av, such a mesiras nefesh for bringing visitors to the prison or doctors or any other act of chesed. You can’t imagine what he did. Besides the money, he put in the effort himself. For a man who had no time, he had time for everyone.” Rav Stark takes no credit for raising such a special son. “Hashem raised him, not me.” As patriarch of the family, how has Rav Stark been able to provide comfort to the other mourners? He said, “The thing is like this, it hit me the worst. I’m the most broken here. I’m so broken. Nobody is as broken as me.” But he shared what he would say to others: “Hashem nasan v’Hashem lakach [Hashem gives and Hashem takes]; you have to be a ma’amin. We can only possibly understand the gashmiyus’dige cheilek [material part] of what went on. We don’t understand the ruchniyus’dige cheilek [spiritual part]. Why should a person want to be down here? There’s no reason. It’s much better already up there in the olamim [upper worlds]—no danger, no nothing. We are aveilim but he’s the happiest person possible. But it’s very difficult, very difficult.” Rav Stark concluded that if a reader can learn from Menachem’s life and internalize his middos, that will be a tremendous aliyah for his neshamah. Yehi zichro baruch.
T
YITZY STARK ON THE ONGOING INVESTIGATION
he brutal murder of Reb Menachem Stark of Williamsburg sent shockwaves throughout the collective Jewish world. One of his brothers, Yitzy Stark, spoke to Ami about recent developments. “Basically, I can tell you that the police are finding lots of leads. They are getting thousands of calls daily, literally thousands of calls. The Police Department is taking the case very seriously. You should know that they brought from downtown Brooklyn a special investigation team that set up a special office in the 90th Precinct in Williamsburg. Their sole purpose of being there is to help solve Menachem’s case. “They are working non-stop. I’m not sure if you heard, but Mayor de Blasio said on Shabbos that he is promising an arrest. I will tell you that they have many leads that they are not giving out. They are only releasing leads that they want the public to know about for whatever reason." Yitzy shared certain leads that the police are working on. “The police were able to obtain fingerprints from the dumpster where Menachem was found. Amazingly, they also found DNA from where the perpetrator breathed on the dumpster. They found half a handcuff outside Menachem’s office as well. “You might not know but Menachem was found with a ski
mask. The detective told us that it is a special type of ski mask that is meant to obscure the person’s eyes although the wearer can still see out. He said that there were only 150 of this particular ski mask sold around the world. They have already visited the manufacturer and are in the midst of going through the list of purchasers.” Various news sources have reported that a cell phone was found attached to Menachem Stark’s car, apparently in order to track it. Yitzy told Ami, “Despite what you might have read, it wasn’t a cell phone—it was an extremely sophisticated tracking device. In fact, the tracker was not picked up by the NYPD in their initial sweep of the car. The NYPD sent the car to a special lab that performed a full scan on the car in order to detect such devices. The lab found the tracking device, but only after the second scan! This was the work of professionals. “One of the possible leads the police are pursuing is the possibility that the attackers were related to two buildings on South Fourth Street owned by Menachem. There was a default on one of the buildings and several contractors were stuck without payment. They were promised that after refinancing they would be paid back with interest; however, the police are looking into the possibility that a disgruntled contractor came after Menachem. The detectives visited Menachem’s office and spoke with Men1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4 / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / A M I M A G A Z I N E
29
JEWISHNEWS
BY NESANEL GANTZ
Media presence at a news conference
achem’s secretary for over four hours, looking for details surrounding every transaction related to these buildings.” Are the detectives in constant contact with the Stark family? “They are,” Yitzy said. “They are only talking to my sisterin-law [Menachem’s wife], my brother Ari and me; we relay the information we receive to the rest of the family. As far as being in constant contact, I will tell you that I receive a call from them at least every four hours for updates. The detectives are very helpful. In fact, they told me that I am invited to come down to the special headquarters at any time to ask questions and even to observe them working.” Has he taken them up on their offer? “Yes,” said Yitzy. “I was down there a few hours ago; they are working very hard. It’s a large team and you can see that they are taking this very seriously. It’s unbelievable. They told me they are looking into surveillance cameras within a tenmile radius from where Menachem was found in Great Neck. They told me they have a lot of evidence from Great Neck to Brooklyn.”
Does he believe the police have their eyes on a specific suspect? “I don’t think so.” Is he confident that the detectives will find the murderers? “A million percent; they will find them. The murderers have to have made one small mistake, and they will be caught, with Hashem’s help.” This past Sunday was the hakamas hamatzeivah of Menachem Stark. Rav Yankel Gruber from Monroe spoke, as well as Rav Mechel Schlesinger from Williamsburg. “Menachem was very close with Rav Schlesinger,” Yitzy explained. “Menachem used to give him a lot of tzedakah to give to others. Rav Schlesinger also felt a close friendship to Menachem and was very tzebrochen [broken] when he spoke. When he began his speech and said the words ‘Menachem, Menachem’ everyone burst out crying. It was so emotional, so spiritual, and so sad.” How are Menachem’s wife and children faring? “They are very shtarke neshamos,” said Yitzy. “The boys are just like Menachem. The oldest boy, Avrumi...what a special bachur. Today was his first day back in
30 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
yeshivah since the story. I told him he can call me every day at 8:30 pm when he comes home from yeshivah and I will go and pick him up. Avrumi told me, ‘I have to move on. I will come to you for Shabbosim but you don’t have to pick me up.’ Such strong emunah! “I asked Avrumi if he felt shy or embarrassed about going back to yeshivah. His reply was unbelievable: ‘I feel that my father went up with a full kedushah; why should I be afraid?’ The way he speaks can only come due to the way he was raised by Menachem and his wife. “The children’s mother always says constantly that everything is from Hashem. Not only now, but for many years since I’ve known her. She has such strong emunah and always explains how everything is from Hashem. This gives her koach during these times.” Yitzy commented: “She has to give chizzuk to her children. However, I believe that by giving chizzuk to others, she herself becomes mechuzak. The strong words of emunah and strength she gives over to her children are no doubt a comfort to her as well.”
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JEWISH LIVING IN
Beitar Illit, I “The city of Torah and chasidus in the Judean Hills.”
I
f you want to speak with a typical Beitar resident, you’ll have to bend down. Over 60 percent of Beitar’s population of 50,000 are children—the highest percentage of any city in Israel. Despite this happy status, Beitar is peaceful, quiet, and delightfully clean. In fact, for the past 17 years in a row, it has been awarded five-star status by the Council for a Beautiful Israel. Beitar, nestled in the Judean Hills, was the first city established especially for chareidim, and it is a kiddush Hashem li’mehadrin. What began 24 years ago as a motley collection of tin trailers with no local shopping has developed into a noted Torah metropolis with high-standard housing, malls and supermarkets galore. Every element of the city has a Jewish feel to it—the low stone wall that welcomes visi-
tors to the city of Torah and chasidus in the Judean Hills; the pomegranate, grape and menorah sculptures in the traffic circles; and the names of the neighborhoods, streets and parks. Stroll down Rabbi Akiva Boulevard in the Etrog neighborhood or down Pachad Yitzchak Street in the Gefen neighborhood. Stop off at the Shivat Haminim Park (or one of the city’s 93 other parks and playgrounds); the kids will enjoy the jungle gym and ziplines. If you’re hungry, try one of Beitar’s massive American-style supermarkets, such as the famous Rami Levy store, where you can get hot pizza, freshly grated cheeses and fresh carp. You can watch the fish swimming in their holding tank on Erev Shabbos. Just don’t say you weren’t warned about the lines. The best day to shop for Shabbos is Sunday! Beitar Illit is named for the Second
34 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE 2-bedroom apartment with a terrace or garden in B: 1,050,000 NIS 4-bedroom apartment with two porches/ prefab in A: 1,400,000 NIS. FOR RENT 1-bedroom starter units: 1,800-2,350 NIS; 2-bedroom apartments: 2,3503,000 NIS
Temple–era village of Beitar, the last standing fortress during the Bar Kochba revolt, which was destroyed by the Roman Emperor Hadrian on Tishah B’Av in 135 CE. Ruins of the fortress are located about one kilometer
BY Y. KLEIN
Israel
Cost of Living TUITION Elementary school is free, with an annual fee of 550 NIS for partially government-funded schools. Independent elementary schools and chadarim cost 120 to 220 NIS per month, depending on whether or not you opt for the hot lunch. Yeshivah ketanah costs 550 NIS per month; yeshivah gedolah ranges from 600 to 800 NIS per month.
WEATHER
Beitar has about the same pleasant weather (and occasional show-stopping snowstorm) as Jerusalem. There are really only two very obvious seasons. Winter is pleasant and mild, with occasional rain and even some snow. Summer is always sunny, with temperatures regularly rising above 86°F from June through September, but with low humidity levels.
ing is conducted in a range of Litvish, Sephardic and chasidish settings, in Hebrew, Yiddish and some English. The population is about 20 percent Litvish, 30 percent Sephardic and 50 percent chasidish, with the largest representation from the Boyan and Karlin-Stolin communities. Lectures and activities abound; the city’s Department of Culture brings in speakers and programs to support every possible subculture, including a social group for daughters of Russian immigrants and Torah classes for French-speakers. About 10 percent of Beitar’s population are English-speakers, the majority of whom settle here long term. This community encourages all of its members to engage in public projects, providing meals and assistance in times of simchah or crisis, and arranging shiurim and social events. Residents even have the opportunity to act in a spectacular show every other year. They can also turn to many esteemed English-speaking rabbanim. The current heimish Beitar phonebook lists 58 nonprofit organizations and 507 gemachim. The central charity fund of the city, Hakuppah Hatzedakah Haklallit, and the One Family Fund, run by Mayor Meir Rubinstein, work in conjunction with many individual organizations to assure that every resident has the necessities of life. Considering that Beitar is the poorest city in Israel, that is no small undertaking. Most residents do not own cars, but public
Getting There
(0.6 miles) from its modern-day namesake. But these aren’t simply dusty historical facts. We remember ancient Beitar every time we say Birkas Hamazon since the brachah “Hatov V’hameitiv” was added to the text to commemorate the miracle that enabled the Jews to finally provide the city’s victims with an honorable burial. The city is built on two mountains, Givah A and Givah B. A is the original settlement, with more established families that have older children. Givah B was started 15 years ago and is still expanding. Plans to expand to hilltops C and D are currently on hold due to government opposition. Beitar buildings are generally covered in attractive beige Jerusalem stone. The rooftops all have matching red tiles, and the sidewalks, carefully laid with handsome colored bricks, have a European flavor. Every effort has been made to create an aesthetically beautiful infrastructure conducive to Torah living. But the gashmiyus is only a background for this genuine Torah community, where the kol haTorah never ceases. During the day, its 140 shuls, 72 kollelim, 25 yeshivos ketanos (mesivtas), 10 yeshivos gedolos, 27 chadarim, 18 Bais Yaakovs, 11 seminaries (high-school and post-high-school programs) and 225 preschools and day-care centers infuse the atmosphere with kedushah. At night, the dedicated avreichim in the various kollel chatzos programs confer their unique protective zechus on the area. Learn-
GROCERIES Milk,1 liter—5 NIS ($1.40) Grape juice, 1 liter—13 NIS ($3.70)
From New York: 10 to 11 hours to Tel Aviv, then about another hour to Jerusalem From Jerusalem: 25 to 30 minutes southbound by car; 45 to 70 minutes by bus, depending on where you get on and traffic conditions
transportation is clean and efficient. Recently the city mounted electronic signposts with schedule information for the local, Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Bnei Brak and other bus lines. There are some local employment initiatives for both native Israelis and Englishspeakers, but more are needed and many people commute 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) to Jerusalem to work. When looking for a neighborhood to call home, my family was advised to find a place where the neighbors were richer spiritually and poorer materially so that we would focus on what is truly important. Based on these sound criteria, it’s safe to say that many more families could find their place in Beitar.
•
To submit a community’s story or to have your community featured here, please contact us at submissions@amimagazine.org.
1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4 / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / A M I M A G A Z I N E
35
l NEWS
TOP 10
BUSINESS
WORLD’S
B Y Y E D I DA WO LF E
MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES IN ISRAEL
1
SodaStream—The world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of DIY home carbonation systems, it sells its brands in more than 60,000 retail outlets in 45 countries.
Dutch Pension Fund Joins Boycott Trend IMPACT STILL UNCERTAIN Holland’s second largest pension firm announced last week its decision to divest from five Israeli banks: Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, First International Bank, Israel Discount Bank, and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank. Citing its “responsible investment policy,” PGGM blamed the banks’ involvement in financing Israeli settlements, considered illegal by international humanitarian law. Yet the Dutch firm has not pulled out funds from the Bank of China or China Construction Bank—both of which have investments in Tibet, which many consider occupied by China. Sime Darby, the Malaysian palm oil producer that has paid $1 million in reparations for human rights violations, also remains in PGGM’s portfolio. Dutch water company Vitens recently broke its contract with Israel’s Mekorot. Despite the Dutch pullout, Israeli exports to the European Union increased 4% last year. (Source: JTA, Haaretz)
Data Point
7
Israel is the 7th largest foreign investor in US commercial real estate.
Israeli Small Businesses Have Less Loan Access IN COMPARISON TO OTHER OECD MEMBERS
Israel’s small businesses receive loans on less generous terms than most other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to a new report. State-guaranteed loans represent just 1% of total small business lending nationwide; in the US, Italy and France, government-guaranteed small business loans reached 4%. (Source: Haaretz) 36 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
2
Xsight Systems—Its FAA-approved FODetect system uses hybrid radar and electro-optical technology to detect dangerous and costly airport runway debris at Boston’s Logan Airport, Paris’ Charles De Gaulle and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi.
3
Waze Mobile—It crowdsources map information in real time with updates from its 30 million app users, providing best route information, traffic updates and fuel prices. Friends can monitor each other’s travel time to a meet-up spot.
4
Argo—The company's ReWalk exoskeleton technology gives people with paraplegia the ability to walk at a normal gait, climb stairs, and sit and stand, while giving them new hope.
5
Agricultural Knowledge Online—It enables Chinese officials to monitor fruit, vegetable, dairy, poultry and meat production with its computerized technology, developed with IBM.
6
TaKaDu—It saves water worldwide by helping utilities detect leaks, bursts, zone breaches, faults, errors and inefficiencies in real time—including London’s Thames Water.
7
Kaltura—Wikipedia just implemented Kaltura’s open-source HTML5 video platform, joining 150,000 Web publishers, media outlets and education services who use the software for video content.
8
InSightec—The FDA just approved InSightec’s combination MRI and ultrasound technology to treat pain from bone metastates in patients unable to undergo radiation treatment. The technologies eliminate operations by locating, heating, and destroying tumors and enables other non-invasive procedures.
9
Pythagoras Solar—The creator of the first transparent photovoltaic glass unit that delivers solar power while producing natural light, eliminating the need for daytime artificial lights.
10
Better Place—It has delivered electric vehicles along with a nationwide network of battery switch stations, including 10,000 Renault Zero Emission cars in Israel and Denmark. (Source: FastCompany)
BUSINESS
l AMBASSADORS / / KIDDUSH HASHEM IN THE WORKPLACE
Only in Israel
ISRAELI CABBIES NEVER FAIL TO SURPRISE
D
BY TI RTZ A J OTKOW I TZ
Seeing the cabbie in a yarmulke reciting Tehillim, we were encouraged to trust him.
uring the 64 years I lived in America, I took more cab rides than I can count. Of all of those rides, there’s not one experience that sticks out in my memory. But when I think about the hundreds of cab rides I’ve taken during my past three years in Israel, a number of meaningful encounters spring to mind. The Seemingly Irreligious Driver Once, my sister and I flew to Israel and spent hours searching for our lost suitcases at the airport. When we finally found them and got into a cab, my sister’s cell phone rang. The secretary of the school where she is an administrator called to inform her that the principal’s husband had died and the levayah would take place in an hour on Har Hamenuchos. We asked the driver, a seemingly irreligious Jew, to give us a flat rate to drive to Har Hamenuchos, wait in the parking lot and then drive us home. We got to the parking lot just as the niftar’s sons were unloading the coffin from the hearse. Seeing this, the cabbie retrieved a yarmulke from his pocket and started reciting Tehillim. We took our suitcases and walked with them towards the hearse. When the sons saw us schlepping our bags, they remarked, “The burial site is too far away to carry those suitcases.” From behind, we heard the cabbie say, “Leave them with me while I wait for you.” We didn’t know what to do, but seeing the cabbie in a yarmulke reciting Tehillim, we were encouraged to trust him. Sure enough, upon our return, he and the suitcases were there; he also refused to charge for the time he had waited. The Obviously Religious Driver This past summer, I was hired to kasher someone’s kitchen and was given money to buy a complete set of new utensils. I
38 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
bought the dishes, flatware and pots at a store in another neighborhood because there was a keilim mikvah across the street there. My two shopping carts full of purchases came to 1,000 shekels— and my next challenge was how to get all this stuff across the street to the mikvah. I decided to hail a cab. This time the driver was wearing a yarmulke. He put all the items in the trunk and asked me, “Were you planning to toivel all this alone? This job is too hard for a woman to do, especially in the hot sun. It will take a few hours to peel the labels off each item and toivel them. If you pay me 300 shekels, I will do it for you.” I hesitated for a moment, thinking that if the cabbie never returned with my purchases, I would have to buy them again, this time at my own expense. However, the way he described what needed to be done and his accurate assessment of my inability to handle the task convinced me to leave it to him. Three hours later, he returned and carried the toiveled items into the kashered kitchen. The “I Don’t Know What He Is” Driver Soon after moving to Israel, my husband and I spent a Shabbos in Ramat Beit Shemesh. During a cab ride back to our apartment in Jerusalem, we decided to stop at the airport and surprise friends who were arriving from Monsey. In our rush to exit the cab, my husband left his tallis bag in the back seat. A day later, he received the following call from the driver: “Sorry for not calling right away, but I knew I had to give you time to get back to America. I’m happy to tell you that I found your tallis bag in my cab. I looked inside and found an American phone number in your siddur. How can I get this bag back to you?” My husband answered gratefully, “Actually, the American phone number you are calling rings in my Jerusalem apartment.” An hour later, the driver delivered the tallis bag to the apartment and refused compensation for his time and effort in “doing a mitzvah.”
•
To submit your story for this column or to have your story featured here, please contact us at submissions@amimagazine.org.
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BUSINESS
l TALK // WEEKLY INSIGHTS FROM BUSINESS LEADERS
B Y N E S A NE L G A NT Z
Name: Rami Levy Age: 58 Company: Rami Levy Shivuk Hashikma Established: 1976 Employees: 5,000+ Sales in 2013: Over 4 billion NIS ($1.14 billion) Stores: 27 Rami Levy Supermarkets, 20 stores of Levy Tikshoret (cell phone service) Ticker Symbol on Tel Aviv Stock Exchange: RMLI Price of Stock at Printing: 20,910 NIS ($6,000)
LUNCH BREAK with Rami Levy
R
ami Levy is one of the successful and well-known businessmen in Eretz Yisrael. He is the founder and owner of Rami Levy Shivuk Hashikma Supermarkets. With close to 30 stores and still more coming, it is the third largest supermarket chain in Israel. Its headquarters, interestingly, is in the rundown Talpiot Industrial Zone in Jerusalem. Rami was born in a poor neighborhood of Yerushalayim and grew up a dyslexic child of Kurdish immigrants, one of five siblings, in a one-bedroom home with a shared kitchen and bathroom. His company also manufactures many products under the brand Hamutag (lit. the brand), including food items as well as soaps and other products. Rami also founded Rami Levy Tikshoret, a cellular company offering cellphone service at low monthly rates. His company was the first MVNO —mobile virtual network operator—purchasing large blocks of minutes from other companies and reselling them to consumers in Israel for less than the competition. In 2007, Rami offered shares in his company in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange at an initial evaluation of 430 million shekels. His holding company, Rami Levy Shivuk Hashi40 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
kma, controls 52 percent of the stock. Fidelity Investments and Michael Dell have both invested in the company to the tune of 10 and 7 percent respectively. Its growth has been phenomenal. The year 2012 saw a turnover of more than $750 million, four times the value of the company when it went public five years earlier. Although all businesses claim to have the customers in mind, Rami Levy has become famous for his hyper-focus on customer satisfaction and for his hands-on managerial style, regularly visiting his stores, arranging the merchandise and listening to his employees’ suggestions and his customers’ complaints. He garnered major media coverage when he charged extraordinarily low prices on staples like chicken and milk. Recently, Rami Levy ventured into real estate, investing over $50 million in the last decade alone. Rami Levy owns the land that 65 percent of his supermarkets stand on. Rami employs twenty members of his family, and several serve in high positions within Rami Levy Shivuk Hashikma. Rami lives in Yerushalayim with his wife, Adina Levy, who is CFO of the company. They have four children and three grandchildren. Rami is also a member of the Jerusalem City Council.
How did you come up with the idea to open a supermarket? In 1976, I was home visiting my mother before I left for the army when she asked me to accompany her to the local shuk (open-air market) on Rechov Hashikma. She wanted to buy some puree but they would not sell it to her, their excuse being that they only sell that to wholesalers. Although he was probably not a bad person, the stall owner did not speak nicely to my mother. Right there on the spot, I resolved to open a supermarket that would treat customers well and sell to the consumer at wholesale prices, something that had never been done before.
How did you act upon your idea? My grandfather had left us a 40-squaremeter [430-square-foot] stall, and that was my first store. I purchased foods from the wholesalers and for the first three months sold at cost even though I didn’t make a penny. I had promised I would sell food at wholesale prices and I did just that. That was my main goal at the time. I was going to sell my products, providing service with a smile and good prices. After three months, due to the volume I was selling, I was able to purchase my inventory more cheaply, directly from the source, and not through the wholesalers.
Has anyone followed your business model? A lot of people have tried to copy my model and that’s okay, because I can’t provide for all of klal Yisrael. My goal is to provide to everyone eichut v'sherut (quality and service); however competition is good for everyone. That said, it is difficult for people to follow my business model. Aside from offering top-notch service, my business plan is to sell a large volume of merchandise with low profit margins. Its hard to reach our volume.
business was to convince the producers and manufacturers of food and other items to sell to me directly. It wasn’t easy.
How did you convince them? Often with various incentives. Eventually, they saw I was serious and meant well, so they sold to me.
Was there one thing in particular that you attribute to your enormous growth? Yes. I always made sure to provide good, friendly service, combined with low prices and that brought people to my stores. I showed the customers that I needed them in order to succeed. With high demand for stores like mine, I was able to open more and more stores. This applies to any business, for example, a restaurant. If you provide the right service, you will be able to expand. The expansion from one small store to what today is 27 megastores was my first success.
You branched into the cell phone business, as well as the insurance business. Why? There is really one answer to both. I looked into the cell phone business and I saw there existed a way for me to benefit the customer and do good for people, specifically, lowering the price from 500 shekels a month to 100 and still making a profit. So I went into it. That’s my general rule. Any area of business in which I can see a way to benefit the consumer, both in price and in service, I will then look to see if there is money to be made as well. I believe that customer satisfaction is a prerequisite to a successful business. If I see a potential moneymaking opportunity in which the customer does not benefit greatly, I won’t touch it, because I see it as bad business.
Is there a difference between the typical Israeli consumer and the What were some of the difficulties you experienced in the begin- American consumer? ning of your business? I believe that Americans are more careThe hardest thing when starting my
ful about their purchases, whereas the
B Y N E S A NE L G A NT Z
BUSINESS
l TALK // WEEKLY INSIGHTS FROM BUSINESS LEADERS
Israeli consumers will often purchase items whether they need them or not. By offering lower prices than everyone else it illustrates to the customer that a choice exists. My customers then become passionate buyers at my stores.
Does the Israeli government encourage small business? Things are turning around. I have been in touch with Knesset members several times about this issue and I know they are listening to me. The mentality in Israel once was to be extra
The best advice I ever received— and that I give over to others—applies to hiring workers. When you look at a prospective employee, check his middos. Make sure he has derech eretz, that he’s trustworthy and that he’s loyal. Never hire a worker solely based on his skills. I look at good middos in workers as a foundation upon which to build great skills. If he lacks the prerequisite derech eretz, there is nothing with which to work. I cannot stress this enough.
When you look at a prospective employee, check his middos. careful about lending to small businesses for fear that they will default on the loan. However, when it came to big business, the government would encourage lending at low rates for what they felt was a safe bet. I explained to the government that they were looking at it the wrong way. When you lend to small businesses, even if they fail, you are not losing a large amount of money in the defaulted loan. On the other hand, when big businesses fail, the lender stands to lose significant sums of cash. Slowly, they are taking my words to heart, and you can see the tide turning to encourage small businesses to grow and to thrive.
What is the best piece of business advice you ever heard?
you can create that distinction, then by all means go ahead.
How is working with family for you personally? If you are my family and you work for me, you have to realize you won’t get anything more, or more easily, than anyone else. You will receive no preferential treatment. Even more than that, as my family members you have to set an example and go above and beyond. You receive the same considerations as all my employees, no more, no less.
Why did you take your company public and put it What advice would you give on the Tel Aviv to the young Israeli who wants Stock Exchange? to go into business?
I wanted to ensure that the future of my business is safe and secure for many years to come. When you have to hand over a large business, it is always easier when it is a public company; it is less problematic all around.
Base your business on satisfying the client and you will be matzliach regardless of what business you go into. This is my motto in business and I live it. It brought me to where I am today. All of my success is based on aminut, ne'emanut and being yashar—loyalty, trustworthiness, and uprightness. And always remember: Customer first.
You have a lot of family Do you find being religious members who work with/for a hindrance for you as a you, including your wife, who businessman in Israel? manages your company. What No, I believe a dati person can make advice would you give to it just as easily as anyone else. In fact, people who work with or are as I have said before, yashrut is integral considering working with fam- to a business and a dati person should ily members? be able to excel in that aspect. If someone is hiring and working with family he is doing a good thing; however, you have to make sure one thing is crystal clear before beginning to work with family: Work is work and family is family. You and your family member must be able to keep those relationships separate and not mix one with the other, especially when you bring family issues into business. If
42 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
How did your life change since your meteoric rise to success? It didn’t. One should not forget where he comes from. I still remember where I come from and vividly recall shopping with my mother on Rechov Hashikma. Of course having money changes certain things, but I always try to be a person of tzniut.
•
BUSINESS
l PARNOOOSA
BY MAURICE STEIN
THE TOTAL BUSINESS MAKEOVER OF
BY MAURICE STEIN
Morning Glory We’re helping the Frankels, owners of Morning Glory Soaps, to grow their brand and refine their product line—and we could use your help. Let’s start by discussing the products Morning Glory currently offers and our options for how to market them. 1. MORNING GLORY SHAMPOO
Right now Morning Glory Shampoo is the flagship product of the Morning Glory line, and as such merits the most careful consideration. The shampoo is all-natural and works as an insect repellent. It also helps to relieve dry scalp and controls dandruff. All of these benefits and more are listed on the bottle. The problem with such a useful product is that the more claims one makes about it—even if they’re true—the less inclined the customer is to believe them. Sometimes, when marketing a product effectively, less can be more. There is also the issue of lack of a focus point for the product. However that can be resolved by marketing it as either one of the following. A natural shampoo We can communicate the fact that the shampoo contains natural bulbinella and jojoba oil, which soothe and protect, leaving the user feeling refreshed and energized without the use of harsh artificial chemicals found in other shampoos. Our target can be stores that sell natural products, pharmacies and even
grocery markets. A special shampoo to control dandruff, eczema, psoriasis and dry skin The second approach is to focus on people who are suffering and need a special shampoo to treat their condition(s). In this case the main focus would be the shampoo’s ability to heal and control dry skin in a natural way so that it doesn’t damage hair with the chemicals found in most dandruff-control shampoos. Our target consumer would be a person seeking a natural alternative to dry skin. Lice repellent shampoo The third approach is to position the product as a natural shampoo that repels lice. Our target audience would be people who are struggling to stay licefree; the product could sell online as well as at pharmacies and grocery stores. Insect repellent shampoo for the outdoor market This is a slight modification of the previous one. We would position
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this product as the best shampoo for people who spend time outdoors. Our target audience would be people who go hiking, camping or hunting and spend a lot of time outdoors, where they are exposed. But shampoo isn’t all that Morning Glory offers. Let’s take a quick look at the rest of its product line: 2. FORMULA 52 PET SHAMPOO
This product is geared towards pet owners and professionals who take care of pets. The pitch for the product is simple: Formula 52 (like Morning Glory) doubles as an insect repellent and is all-natural. People who care about their animals don’t want to expose them to harsh chemicals or leave them vulnerable to insects any more than they would themselves. So these are strong selling points. It’s worth noting the sizable potential market here, with over 50 percent of American households owning at least one pet. The main challenge here is the problem of brand recognition. Pet owners are picky and will only buy brands they know and trust. Our challenge, then,
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is to break into the marketplace and earn that trust. 3. SOAP FOR ACNE
A simple Amazon search for “soap for acne” gave me 8,737 results, which means that there is a big need for the product but also a lot of competition. This makes it challenging to build up a brand and a market for it. 4. INDIVIDUAL NATURAL SOAPS
The fruit-shaped soaps look, smell and feel amazing. They are invariably geared towards gift shops and specialty stores. The advantage of this product line is that it’s unique and offers a lot of value. The drawback from a sales standpoint is that it’s not an item people are actively looking for; you would have to put it in a lot of places to get people’s attention and pique their interest. 5. SOAP GIFT PACKAGES
Right now, the Frankels have different gift arrangements available for sale online and in their home store. There are definitely people who love to give these soaps as gifts when they stay at someone’s house; it’s a nice item to have on your bathroom sink or shelf. The challenge with these gift packages is the same as with the individual soaps: How do we get them in front of enough potential buyers?
$1000 per Month
While we can work on a few different product lines at once, I find it’s better to take one category at a time and focus on it until we make it successful, and then look at the rest.
Company name: MORNING GLORY Owners: ARON & KAILY FRANKEL Established: 2002 Base: BROOKLYN, NY Employees: 1
Which product should
Morning Glory start with?
TEXT THE PRODUCT'S CODE TO 22333 MORNING GLORY SHAMPOO: 369226
Remember at the beginning I said we could use your help? Well, the fact is, I’m not sure which of the above product categories we should start with. Where do you think is the best place to start, and why? We’d love to get your vote. (See sidebar.) Look for the results in next week's issue. Until then, make it a great week. Maurice maurice@amimagazine.org
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SOAP FOR ACNE: 369227 INDIVIDUAL NATURAL SOAPS 369228 SOAP GIFT PACKAGES 369230 FORMULA 52 369231
E T O VOTING ENDS AT 5P.M. MONDAY, JANUARY, 20
Conflicted Political Legacy THE DEATH OF ARIEL SHARON LEAVES ISRAEL DEBATING HIS RECORD
I
last visited a group of Gush Katif evictees in the summer of 2013. I was on assignment at Yevul, a non-religious moshav, so I took the opportunity to detour around the section of the moshav set aside in the summer of 2005 to house former residents of the Atzmona community who were made homeless overnight by Ariel Sharon’s “disengagement” plan. By any standard, the mobile-home encampment at Yevul is dismal, as are those at other sites. Seven and a half years after being evicted from their homes in Gush Katif, nearly half of the 1,850 families remain in “caravillas,” the mobile homes that were prepared for them in the weeks leading up to the disengagement. There is little infrastructure to speak of and
1928
19421948
Born Ariel Sheinerman in Kfar Malal, near Tel Aviv.
1953
Member of the Haganah, the pre-state Jewish fighting force.
19641965
Founder and commander of the Unit 101 anti-terror force, which carries out raids in retaliation against Arab attacks. One raid by Unit 101 leaves 69 dead in the Jordanian-controlled West Bank village of Qibya and draws international condemnation.
1967
The Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, Yitzhak Rabin, appoints him to be chief of staff for the Northern Command.
few signs of life. On a hot weekday afternoon in June, the windswept streets are empty and silent, bringing to mind the image of an abandoned ghost town in the American Old West. A ten-minute drive away, however, there are clear signs of life at Bnei Netzarim, the permanent community currently under construction 500 meters from Israel’s international border with Egypt, and just 15 miles from the ruins of the original Atzmona. There, construction teams have completed a synagogue and several dozen private homes, and continue to work on creating the new community.
19691973
During the Six-Day War, commands an armored division in the Sinai Desert and directs a battle that successfully recaptures the Mitla Pass and the corridor to the Suez Canal.
Heads the IDF’s Southern Command. After August 1970, focuses on fighting Palestinian terrorism in the Gaza Strip.
19731974
19751976
Elected to Israel’s eighth Knesset, under the Likud banner. Proposes that Israel negotiate with Palestinians toward the establishment of a Palestinian state in Jordan.
19771981
Appointed special defense adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Forms the Shlomtzion Party. The party wins two Knesset seats, but soon merges into the Likud.
Minister for agriculture and chairman of a ministerial committee for settlement under Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Considered a patron of the Gush Emunim settlement movement, Sharon advocates establishing a network of Jewish settlements.
BY AVI TUCHMAYER
19811983
1982
Appointed minister of defense by Begin. Carries out last phase of Israeli evacuation from northern Sinai as part of peace agreement with Egypt.
19831984
With Sharon as defense minister, Israel invades Lebanon in Operation Peace for the Galilee.
1984
Resigns as defense minister but remains as minister without portfolio after a government commission finds Sharon indirectly responsible for the September 1982 massacre of Palestinians by Lebanese Christian forces at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
19901992
Files a libel suit against Time magazine over article on Sharon’s role in the Lebanon war. A New York jury eventually rules that the article was defamatory but did not have malicious intent. Serves as minister for industry and trade in national unity government.
1996
Named minister for construction and housing in a Likudbased government formed. Continues to encourage development of settlements in territories and oversees vast construction effort to create housing for massive wave of immigration from former Soviet Union. Objects to Madrid peace conference under Shamir.
1998
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu creates national infrastructure portfolio for Sharon in new Likud-led government.
1999
Becomes foreign minister following resignation of David Levy; helps negotiate Wye River accord.
Netanyahu resigns as Likud leader and appoints Sharon as caretaker. Sharon later wins the position outright in a party vote.
Timeline courtesy of JTA and may not be reproduced without JTA’s permission. More information about JTA is available on its web site at:www.jta.org If you would like to receive your FREE subscription to JTA’s Daily Briefing, sign up atwww.jta.org/briefing/index.htm
Along the perimeter of the new town, greenhouses dot the landscape. Upon arriving from Gaza in late 2005, the settlers set about repairing their fractured lives in the best way they knew how— building, planting, tending, sowing. The community has become a hub for the organic market in Israel and abroad. Despite the challenging surroundings, it currently exports more than $250 million in goods annually. This, then, is the legacy of Ariel Sharon. Like Israel itself, Sharon was a study in contrasts. He was known as an emotional, devoted, passionate family man, but also as a man who would not hesitate to trample political enemies and allies alike in order to achieve the goals he believed were in the national interest. There is no doubt that Sharon will be remembered as his country’s greatest builder—no one, including the legendary Menachem Begin, did more to advance the settlement cause in Judea and Samaria—but also as its greatest destroyer. His self-assurance and willingness to take leadership responsibility made him the country’s greatest military hero—but it also earned him a reputation as a loose cannon and his nickname “the Bulldozer,” and eventually kept him from being named IDF chief of staff. That reputation followed Sharon into politics, first as the head of the Shlomzion (“Whole Land of Israel”) Party, later as the unifier of several right-wing factions that banded together to form the Likud Party. As far back as 1953, Sharon had earned the enmity and mistrust of Palestinians when he commanded the legendary Unit 101, overseeing a ferocious attack on terrorists in the Jordanian town of Qibya in response to the murder of an Israeli woman and her two children in the Tel Aviv suburb of Yehud. The reprisal operation accidentally left 69 people dead, including many women and children, and infrastructure damage. In a separate incident, Israeli historian Benny Morris claims to have heard testimony from a retired Israeli police chief, who said he had seen Sharon execute a captured terrorist in the Gaza prison courtyard. On the other hand, Sharon later impressed upon Jordan’s King Hussein that he no longer viewed Jordan as the “true” Palestinian state. Egyptian General Kamal Hassan Ali admitted to the Hebrewlanguage Yedioth Ahronoth that Egyptian military commanders could not help but grudgingly admire Sharon for his power and limitless cunning. “That is what we try to instill in our soldiers,” said Ali. His political decisions could be legendary and set in stone. He conducted his visit to the Temple Mount in September 2000, de-
2000 Prime Minister Ehud Barak is left without a parliamentary majority when Shas, National Religious Party and Yisrael Ba’Aliyah leave the government over the Camp David summit. Barak’s resignation forces new elections for prime minister. Sharon becomes the Likud Party candidate.
2001 Sharon wins prime ministerial election in a landslide, garnering 62 percent of the vote to Barak’s 38 percent. He forms a unity government with the Labor Party.
2002
2003
After escalation of Palestinian suicide bombings in the second intifada, Sharon launches Operation Defensive Shield and Operation Determined Path. Sharon also begins construction of a separation barrier between the West Bank, Gaza and Israel.
spite warnings from security and political advisors that the move could spark mass Palestinian rioting. The visit provided the excuse for Yasser Arafat to ignite the second intifada. But Sharon also knew how to be practical when necessary, or at least when he perceived that a political reality required a change of direction. He crafted the Wye River Accord in 1997 after having strongly opposed the Oslo peace process as administered by Labor Party Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres (a move that was greeted by the Palestinian press as a “great day” because the Israeli right wing had come to renounce its claim to at least part of the biblical Land of Israel). As a result, Sharon inspired both loyalty and revulsion across the political spectrum. For years, he was reviled by the Israeli left as the man who led the IDF into its unpopular 18-year presence in south Lebanon, and especially for his “responsibility” for the 1982 massacre of hundreds of Palestinian civilians by Phalangist militia in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps—it is widely forgotten that no Israeli soldiers were implicated in the atrocity. On the other hand, Israel’s religious Zionist communities were willing to overlook his decidedly secular lifestyle in order to benefit from his commitment to the Whole Land of Israel; his initial foray into politics had been as the head of the Shlomzion Party. Later, however, political alliances shifted 180 degrees. As Sharon turned on the settlement community, his one-time rivals wasted little time joining forces to back the disengagement plan as soon as he revealed it at the December 2003 Herzliya Conference. Nor did his longtime allies in the settler movement hesitate to abandon him when the political winds had changed. In the final analysis, then, Sharon’s story is the story of Israel itself. He was a man with an uncanny ability to read and understand a political map, and to act accordingly. At the same time, he felt little responsibility to defend or explain his position. One Gush Katif evictee, Eliyahu Uzen of Bnei Netzarim, told me that he could forgive Sharon for destroying Gush Katif, but that he would never forget the pain his community felt at Sharon’s refusal to visit Gaza to explain his change of heart. After eight years in a vegetative state, Ariel Sharon’s death is anticlimactic. But his life and legacy will loom large for Secretary of State Kerry, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen as negotiations continue for a new deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. And like Sharon, the future is impossible to predict.
2004
Sharon wins a second term as prime minister, and Likud doubles its Knesset faction to 38 seats. Sharon surprises his base by announcing disengagement plan, wherein Israel would withdraw fully from the Gaza Strip, relocating almost 10,000 settlers.
2005
Sharon sparks controversy by calling on French Jews to make aliyah due to rising anti-Semitism in France. Yasser Arafat dies. Sharon says he will meet with the new Palestinian leadership but continues advancing his disengagement plan.
2006
The IDF executes the disengagement plan, encountering widespread civil disobedience but little violence from settlers. Sharon addresses the Israeli public. Facing opposition from the Likud due to the disengagement, Sharon breaks off from his party and forms the centrist Kadima Party ahead of the 2006 elections. Sharon’s allies in Likud, as well as several Knesset members from other parties, join Kadima.
2014
Sharon suffers the second of two strokes in quick succession, leaving him in a vegetative state.
After eight years in a coma, Sharon dies from multiple organ failure on January 11, 2014, at age 85.
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by John Loftus
Sharon’s
Arik Sharon betrayed Pollard, Israel, and America
Secret
Part One
by John Loftus
I
t was Major General Ariel “Arik” Sharon who was the secret controller of Jonathan Pollard, the American intelligence analyst. When Pollard’s espionage for Israel was discovered, it was Sharon who betrayed both Pollard and Israel by withholding key evidence from American and Israeli investigators in order to protect his own political career. Sharon’s cover-up irreparably damaged America’s special relationship with Israel and has kept Jonathan Pollard in prison long after the American government would have released him. Worse, it permitted Soviet spies inside the CIA and FBI to use Pollard as the scapegoat for their crimes. Sharon is the guilty man in the shadows of the Pollard affair. He has blood on his hands.
The Pollard Conspiracy One of Sharon’s business associates approached me at my home in Florida to find out how much I knew. I replied that I had found documentary evidence that unequivocally connected Sharon to the Pollard spy operation. In his greed for an expense account, Sharon left an incriminating paper trail of evidence that links him to the Lakam espionage program. Inside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, is an archive of travel expenses. At the time, there was an airline shuttle between New York and Washington. There is a block of prepaid shuttle tickets in the archives to be used by Israeli dignitaries traveling on official business. At the time of the Pollard affair, General Sharon was no longer the minister of defense. He had resigned the previous year over the Lebanese massacre controversy. The shuttle tickets clearly indicate, in Sharon’s own handwriting, that he charged his travel from New York to Washington to another government office, the Bureau for Scientific Liaison, known by its Hebrew acronym Lakam (or Lekem). In 1984, Lakam
had one, and only one, operation in Washington, DC: the supervision of Jonathan Pollard’s espionage inside US Naval Intelligence. The dates of Sharon’s shuttle travel coincide with the times when Pollard dumped his stolen records at the Lakam safe house in Washington, an apartment used by a secretary who worked for the Israeli Embassy. In the apartment, Lakam had installed a super-fast copy machine so that Pollard’s documents could be returned before US intelligence noted their absence. The dates and signature on the shuttle tickets charged to Lakam prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sharon was intimately involved in the Pollard espionage operation. Although Pollard did not know it, Sharon had hands-on control of the entire operation and traveled to Washington repeatedly in order to be the first to assess the value of Pollard’s stolen goods. Again, there were no other Lakam operations in Washington except Pollard at the times Sharon traveled to Washington on the Lakam expense account. It was Sharon’s greedy desire to have Lakam pay for his travel costs that led him to sign the incriminating documents that place him repeatedly at the scene of the crime on the dates those crimes were being committed. As a former federal prosecutor, it is my opinion that sufficient evidence exists to convict Major General Sharon of conspiracy to commit espionage against the United States. Worse, his cover-up did substantial harm to the national security of Israel and America. Sharon has betrayed us all.
A Letter to Sharon In the 1990s, Sharon sent one of his American business associates to find out how much I knew. Toward the end of our discussions, this business associate made several polite suggestions about a college scholarship for my young daughter, suggestions that smelled of a bribe. I politely declined even to pursue this topic.
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Instead, I asked the business associate to arrange for someone to hand-carry a very sensitive letter from me to General Sharon. An Orthodox rabbi who traveled frequently to Israel was suggested to me as the courier. I interviewed the rabbi and explained my conditions of confidentiality, which he accepted. In my letter, I explained to General Sharon that I was aware of his heroic military reputation and of his many contributions to the survival of the State of Israel. Before I tarnished that reputation, I wanted to give him a chance to explain, reply or rebut my understanding of what he had done. In sum, I respectfully accused him and his subordinate, Rafi Eitan, of engineering the Pollard affair from the beginning, in deliberate violation of an Israeli national policy not to recruit American Jews actively employed by a US intelligence agency. Neither Sharon nor Eitan ever informed their lawful superior, Defense Minister Moshe
Lakam had one, and only one, operation in Washington, DC: the supervision of Jonathan Pollard’s espionage inside US Naval Intelligence. Arens, of Pollard’s identity and sensitive status. Lakam withheld this information because of the almost certain risk that the Israeli government would have promptly shut the Pollard operation down if they had known the facts. It was in substantial part a rogue operation, run without the knowledge or consent of the government of Israel. Furthermore, Lakam failed to return all the stolen material to the US government despite direct orders from the Israeli government. This breach of duty allowed the intelligence services of the USSR to exploit the void of ignorance that Lakam had created. The USSR then used Pollard to divert attention from their own spies inside the CIA and the FBI. As a direct result of Lakam’s misconduct, the USSR framed the State of Israel for negligent security, which resulted in the imprisonment or death of nearly every British and American spy behind the Iron Curtain.
Lakam’s misconduct was the direct and proximate cause of the perhaps irreparable breach of the American-Israeli special intelligence relationship. I avoided harsh rhetoric in my letter and simply outlined the facts as I knew them. I suggested the possibility (albeit remote) that perhaps Sharon himself had been kept in the dark. It was unclear to me whether his subordinate, Rafi Eitan, had gone behind his back and withheld several key pieces of the intelligence that Pollard had stolen. A superior officer is responsible for the conduct of his subordinates, and knowledge held by a subordinate is imputed to the superior. Therefore, unless Sharon told me otherwise, I would have to believe that he was fully aware of every aspect of Eitan’s misconduct and was fully implicated in the resulting damage. That was the gist of what I wrote to General Sharon. Several weeks later, the Ortho-
dox rabbi said that he had hand-delivered the letter. Because of its importance to him, Sharon had the letter translated and studied it extensively in Hebrew and in English. After much reflection, he informed the rabbi that there would be no reply. I explained to Sharon’s business associate that I was not disappointed. Sharon’s failure to rebut, clarify or explain the charges set forth against him and Eitan in my letter provided me with a strong defense in any lawsuit. General Sharon was well known for his tendency toward litigation, having sued Time magazine for libel. Although Sharon’s case was dismissed on technical grounds, the legal cost to defend the case was staggering. Since I gave him a chance to defend his reputation in advance of publication, Sharon could not accuse me of negligent defamation of his character. I had gone the extra mile to hear his side of the Pollard affair. No innocent man would have remained
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53
by John Loftus
silent after receiving my letter accusing him of extremely serious misconduct. It is my belief that Sharon accepted my assessment of his personal guilt and perhaps was relieved that I would give a balanced approach to the story of his crime. Sharon did not try to shift all the blame to Rafi Eitan but agreed, by his silence, to accept his share of responsibility as the man in charge of Lakam at the time of the Pollard debacle.
Opinion polls currently list General
Lakam existed. For many years, Lakam was the most clandestine part of Israeli intelligence. Not even the head of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, was informed of Lakam’s operations at the time of its creation. To put it simply, Lakam was Israel’s version of the Manhattan Project, the security system surrounding the creation of America’s atom bomb. In the 1950s, the Labor Party ruled the government of Israel and embarked on a secret project to build a nuclear weapon without the knowledge of any foreign power.
Sharon as the eighth most important person in Israeli history. I am afraid that my revelations will substantially diminish his standing on the list. As I write this, Ariel Sharon has just passed away after several years in a coma. I tried repeatedly to reach Rafi Eitan but he was away in Cuba at the time, and in any event, I already knew what he had done from several sources, including my interviews with Jonathan Pollard. In order to understand the extent of Sharon’s guilt (along with the mitigating circumstances), it’s important to understand the history of their covert organization, Lakam. The CIA did not even know that
The man in charge of atomic bomb security was Benjamin Blumberg. Born in Palestine in 1923, Blumberg became the first chief of the “Bureau of Special Task Force,” whose aim was to protect the Israeli nuclear weapons program, in 1957. Later renamed the “Bureau for Scientific Liaison,” its Hebrew name was “HaLishkah L’Kishrei Mada,” the acronym for which is Lakam. Blumberg’s unique spy service reported directly to the prime minister. Lakam was a truly top-secret organization, outside the supervision of the Ministry of Defense, or anyone else in Israel, for that matter. It was a bad organizational precedent, as we shall
The Israeli Nuclear Project
54 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
see. The Lakam structure explains why the Israelis were telling the truth when they said that Pollard was a rogue operation of which they had no knowledge. But at the same time, Pollard and American intelligence were also telling the literal truth when they said that Lakam was still a part of the Israeli government and that they were responsible for its operations, whether they knew the details or not. In the long run, Lakam leaked secrets like a sieve. Throughout its history, Lakam’s security was poor, and several Israeli governments suffered for their lack of direct supervision. A little more than three years after its creation, the Americans had discovered the nuclear secret that Lakam was supposed to protect. Prime Minister Ben-Gurion and Lakam chief Benjamin Blumberg were summoned to a meeting with President John F. Kennedy. JFK’s brother, Robert, had been a war correspondent in Israel during the War of Independence, and both brothers appreciated Israel’s need for military strength. JFK offered to pay for a nuclear-powered desalinization plant to give Israel all the water it would ever need if Ben-Gurion agreed in return to halt plans to build an atomic bomb. JFK was afraid that a nuclear arms race would begin in the Middle East. What the Israelis knew, but JFK did not, was that the arms race had already begun. The Israelis have always brushed off nuclear questions with the mysterious comment that Israel will not be the first nation to introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East. The truth is that the West Germans were building their own atomic bomb behind Kennedy’s back. West Germany was afraid that President Kennedy was so young and weak that he might back down from a Soviet threat in Berlin. Kennedy’s defiant words “Ich bin ein Berliner” were a serious linguistic error; translated literally, JFK had said, “I am a doughnut.” These were hardly the words to inspire confidence among the West Germans. They secretly decided to create their own nuclear shield in case JFK vacillated and pulled out. A significant number of German scientists (both Nazis and non-Nazis) had settled
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or both sides of the family, the marriage of Yonasan Kupperman to Miri Ashkenazi last spring was a dream come true. But for both sides, the excitement leading up to a chuppah in Jerusalem was tempered quickly when the young couple began looking for a place to live. With housing at a premium throughout Jerusalem, and especially in chareidi neighborhoods, the only dwelling the young couple could afford in the city was a tiny, windowless, 25 square meter (270 square foot) basement closet that had been turned into an apartment by constructing a makeshift plaster wall to separate the “bedroom” from the dining area. Asking price for the space was NIS 3,000 a month. Instead, the Kuppermans moved to Ramat Beit Shemesh, an up-and-coming chareidi town about 45 kilometers (30 miles) from the capital. For the same price, the couple now lives in a two-bedroom apartment, with a full-sized kitchen on the third story of a walk-up. SELLER’S MARKET Yonasan and Miri Kupperman are fictional characters, but their story is the reality faced by Israeli couples in all major cities here. Secular, Modern Orthodox and chareidi Israelis alike have been priced out of the country’s major cities, with rental prices for a two-bedroom apartment in chareidi neighborhoods in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and Ashdod easily topping NIS 4500 (US $1300) per month—far out of range for average chareidi couples trying to make ends meet on a meager kollel stipend. 56 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
For secular Israeli twenty-somethings, the shortage often means doubling up with four people in a two-bedroom apartment as university students, then either moving back home or heading out to suburbs like Ma’ale Adumim, Ariel and Alfei Menashe as they finish their studies, get married and begin careers. Of course, things are more complicated in the chareidi sector. With many couples married by their early 20s, there is no option to double- or triple-up in rental apartments, and living with parents (most of whom already house large families) is untenable. Furthermore, the expectation in Israel’s chareidi community that young men will continue their yeshivah studies until their midtwenties, and often beyond, means that the newlyweds’ ability to support themselves financially is limited. The combination places many parents in a position of having to help support several married children, in addition to their own nuclear families, leaving limited resources to finance many obligations. To be sure, the housing crisis facing the chareidi community is hardly new. As early as 1990, chasidic courts of Belz, Ger and Pittsburgh set their sights on creating a new chareidi community in the seaside city of Ashdod. The community expanded when seven Vizhnitz families joined them, followed by a small core of families from the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. Rabbi Avraham Gutman, headmaster of the Vizhnitz Yeshiva Gevoha in Ashdod, said that the Rebbe sent avreichim from Bnei Brak every day that first year to bolster numbers for the new kollel, as well as little children to the yeshivah ketanah. “The Rebbe’s foresight was like Yaakov Avinu’s, who sent Yehudah ahead of him to pave the way for the Jews in the Egyptian wasteland,” Rabbi Gutman recalls. The experiment was a success: Today, Ashdod is the third-largest chareidi city in Israel, with approximately 15,000 families, comprising well over 60,000 residents, or about 30 percent of Ashdod’s total population of 235,000 people. At the same time, however, Ashdod’s success proved also to be a liability for many chareidi families, and here, too, many chareidim have been priced out of the market. According to Numbeo, an online database that surveys living conditions and cost of living in cities around the world, renters in Ashdod can expect to pay about NIS 4,000 ($1140) a month for a three-bedroom apartment. Purchase prices run about NIS 15,500 ($4400) per square meter. Significantly, the housing shortage in Israel crosses all community lines. Indeed, the issue was a major catalyst for the social protest movement that broke out in June 2011. Later, housing became a central campaign issue last year when Israel elected the 19th Knesset, and sources close to the coalition negotiations told this reporter at the time that the fight for the housing portfolio was one of the biggest stumbling blocks in creating the current government. But little has changed in the two and a half years since 58 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
The housing crisis facing the chareidi community is hardly new. As early as 1990, chasidic courts of Belz, Ger and Pittsburgh set their sights on creating a new chareidi community. protesters set up a tent city on Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard. To the contrary: According to statistics released by the Ministry of Housing to mark the end of the civil year on December 31, prices for new homes rose countrywide by 3.9 percent in the third quarter of 2013 compared with the corresponding quarter of 2012, and 8.4 percent compared with the preceding quarter of last year. For second-hand homes, average prices actually fell 2.5 percent in the third quarter compared with the preceding quarter but rose 1.5 percent compared with the corresponding quarter the previous year. According to Alyssa Friedland, broker-owner of RE/MAX Vision in Jerusalem and an 18-year veteran of the real estate market, the reason for the shortage can be summed up in two words: supply and demand. “Have a look around,” Friedland told Ami in early January. “People want the resources available in the major cities, but there is a limited amount of room to build there. So demand is perpetually high, while supply is necessarily limited. There’s not much that can be done about that, and I don’t see that situation changing any time soon.” Friedland points out that there are several factors at play that make the shortage even more acute for the chareidi community. “I guess the most important factor for the black-hat community is the strong desire to live close together, in reasonably homogeneous communities. That drives prices up in areas like Har Nof, Bnei Brak and Ramat Eshkol. “Second, Israel obviously has a spiritual draw for the Orthodox that other places do not have. In Bnei Brak, there is an historical connection that comes from the Haggadah. I meet many people from Teaneck, Boro Park and Stamford Hill who are almost brought to tears by the thought of owning an apartment in holy Jerusalem. That kedushah, or holiness, of Jerusalem isn’t going anywhere, which means the apartments here will retain their value, provided that Israel’s security situation does not deterio-
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rate,” Friedland said. The laws of supply and demand notwithstanding, when looking down at Jerusalem or Tel Aviv from the air, the view is dotted with cranes and construction sites. A simple panoramic view of Jerusalem from the top of Mount Scopus, or of Tel Aviv from the top of the Diamond Exchange building located adjacent to the Ayalon Freeway, shows clearly that there is no shortage of building projects currently under way in and around those cities. But much, or even most, of the construction is aimed at wealthy investors, not at ordinary Israelis. In Jerusalem alone, luxury housing projects are under construction on Bar Ilan Street, a major thoroughfare that abuts Geula and Kiryat Belz; next to the International Convention Center, a short walk to Geula; and next to Jaffa Road, close to Meah Shearim. Across town, similar projects are being marketed to foreign chareidi and Modern Orthodox communities in the German Colony, Old Katamon, Talpiot neighborhoods, and farther afield. The phenomenon appears to entrench a phenomenon known as “ghost towns”: luxury apartment buildings and complexes that remain empty most of the year, coming alive in the weeks leading up to Jewish holidays only to return to dormancy when Yom Tov has ended. To many Jerusalemites, complexes such as David’s Village, at the foot of the Old City walls next to Jaffa Gate, have come to signify their feelings that the city is slowly, but surely, being taken from them. In order to combat the phenomenon, civic and rabbinic authorities in Israel have set policies in place to discourage the practice. Inside the chareidi world, some rabbis in Jerusalem’s Ezras Torah and Sanhedria Murchevet neighborhoods have created informal oversight on rental apartments, ensuring that landlords don’t price young couples out of the market. On a national level, the finance ministry now collects higher city taxes from apartment owners who leave their properties unoccupied for more than four months a year. In addition, absentee buyers are now subject to significantly higher purchase taxes than local or first-home buyers. “The current law specifies that any foreigner who buys a first home in Israel—even if he continues to own a home abroad— will be treated like an Israeli first-time buyer, and will enjoy a slew of tax breaks. “But now, unless they make aliyah, foreign buyers will pay higher purchase taxes on their Israeli properties, sometimes as much as three times higher than the lower rate. On a NIS 2 million ($550-570,000) apartment, for instance, that can easily add up to a purchase tax bill of NIS 150,000 ($67,000),” Friedland said. 60 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
Still, these changes are unlikely to change the behavior of wealthy buyers. THE UPSIDE For local and foreign investors, the obvious upside of the housing shortage is the fact that real estate in Israel is considered to be one of the country’s best investment options—for those who have the capital to get into the market. Furthermore, the financing model that drive’s Israel’s real estate market appears to be healthier than its American counterpart, at least prior to the market crash of 2008. In contrast to American mortgage banks, many of which offered total or near-total financing on overpriced properties to individuals who could not afford them, Israel’s banks maintain a more conservative lending policy. Here, buyers of both new and second-hand homes must put down a 30 percent deposit in order to qualify for a mortgage. The system serves as a buffer for both buyers and mortgage banks: Large upfront deposits mean buyers are more likely to limit their home purchases to properties they can afford, and the individuals will likely try hard to prevent foreclosure, because they have already invested significant capital into the home. In addition, the government has announced several housing projects aimed at the general and chareidi communities. Near Arad (another city with an up-and-coming chareidi community), construction is set to begin on the city of Ksif, an urban center that will eventually provide housing for about 100,000 people and will be marketed to the chareidi community. Other similar projects have been announced in Har Yonah, near Nazareth Illit, and Ahisamach, near Lod. Closer to Jerusalem, Ramat Beit Shemesh is expected to expand its current population of 100,000 to 250,000 in the next decade. Several of the new projects will be backed by the housing ministry’s “Buyers Price” program, aimed at keeping prices low for first time buyers. Bidding for the development tenders will be conducted by an “opposite bidding” process in which developers bid for the construction contracts based on the sale price they will offer the finished apartment unit for to buyers. Development contracts will be awarded to the developers who offer the lowest price per square meter to the consumer, subject to terms of the tender. It’s been the dream of Jews around the world for thousands of years to live in Israel. Hopefully new policies and innovative thinking on the part of buyers, sellers communities and the government can keep that dream from turning into a waking nightmare.
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An Inside Look at the Israeli Real Estate Rental Market
Real estate expert Shia Getter explains
BY NESANEL GANTZ
Shia Getter, the founder of The Getter Group, a real estate management company focusing on Yerushalyim and Beit Shemesh. Originally from London, Shia’s longtime success in the Israeli market has given him an insider’s view on finding a home in Eretz Yisrael.
three-bedroom apartment?
How much should a typical young American couple expect to pay for an apartment in Yerushalayim?
Why are there so few two-bedrooms?
It depends very much on which area they want to live in. There are certain areas where the chutz la’aretz [non-Israeli] people like to live. These places are more expensive. A typical apartment for a young couple would have a monthly rent of around $1,750 for a two-bedroom.
Do Israeli landlords charge more to an outsider than to an Israeli? No. It’s just that the areas the chutz la’aretz people like to live in are nicer, so they are more expensive.
What areas are those? Ganei Geula, Gush Shmonim, and Ramat Eshkol and Ma’alot Dafna. Ramot Eshkol and Ma’alot Dafna are the cheapest of the ones I mentioned. Ganei Geula is the most expensive, and then Gush Shmonim.
Does the average young couple who comes to live in Israel usually take a one-, two- or
They usually look for two bedrooms, but there aren’t many of those available for rent, so most of the time they have to rent three-bedroom or one-bedroom apartments. One-bedroom apartments here are very small. Most of the apartments here are not really built as rentals. They were built for the buyers to live in. So the developers didn’t really build two-bedroom apartments. That was until recently when a law was passed that developers must build smaller apartments for those people who can’t afford the larger ones. So now each new development has a certain percentage of smaller apartments. But at the moment there aren’t too many yet. Ramot Eshkol and Ma’alot Dafna are older areas, dating back about 30 to 40 years. There are more two-bedroom apartments available there.
What’s the best way for an American to find an apartment in Eretz Yisrael to rent? Do you need a broker? If you have friends who live here, they might be able to find an apartment for you by word of mouth. But it’s very hard to find one yourself, because there’s a very big demand—so many people are looking for apartments to rent. If you don’t hook up with a broker, you’ll have to search for a very long time.
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The rental market is more or less filling up every month. There isn’t anybody out on the street with no place to live.
Are rental prices going up or down? They aren’t going down. But they aren’t going up very much.
Why is that? There’s no over-demand and no over-supply. That’s why it’s stable.
What about purchase prices in Israel overall? Purchase prices are going up by a few percent every year.
Why? There are so many people interested in buying in Eretz Yisrael that it causes the prices to always go up. The price of land is also going up. The amount of space to build in Jerusalem is limited and more and more people want to buy an apartment here in Yerushalayim.
What are a tenant’s rights in Israel? Are there any? Tenants have very few rights here in Israel. Its a landlord’s market. There aren’t many rules in favor of the tenant.
Why is that? Because there aren’t too many rental apartments available in all of Israel. Israelis have a mindset that they want to live in their own apartment. That’s why developers build apartments in a way that they should be good to live in for a lifetime. Now Finance Minister Yair Lapid is trying to make a program to build 150,000 units all over Israel just for rental—so people who can’t afford to buy should be able to rent. Until now, there weren’t any developments that were built as rentals.
Is there a housing department in Israel specifically for tenant-landlord disputes? No.
You’d go to regular court? Yes. There’s a different venue for a case in which a tenant doesn’t pay, called “halich maheir,” a quick route. It’s a way to get a court order within two to three months to evict a tenant who doesn’t pay.
When bachurim go to Eretz Yisrael, what’s the best way to find apartments? I know that there is a va’ad for the Mir bachurim that helps them find apartments. I think in all other places the yeshivah has dorms or arranges places if they don’t have enough space in the dorms.
There’s also Brisk [where there are no dorms or arranged apartments]. Our management once rented an apartment to bachurim in Brisk. We had one or two bachurim in charge of collecting the rent from the others. But I don’t know that much about it.
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Do landlords charge more for bachurim? Yes, because they charge per bachur and it comes out to more in total.
Is that legal? One bedroom: $850-$1150 Two bedrooms: $1200-$2000 Three bedrooms: $1800-$3000
Yes. You can charge as much as you want. There’s no control of rent prices as long as it’s in the contract.
BEIT SHEMESH
Do more people rent for Pesach or Sukkos, and which is more expensive?
One bedroom: $550-$715 Two bedrooms: $750-$1000 Three bedrooms: $850-$1200
ASHDOD
One bedroom: $625-$1000 Two bedrooms: $950-$ 1150 Three bedrooms: $1150-$1650
TEL AVIV
One bedroom: $850-$1650 Two bedrooms: $1575-$2000 Three bedrooms: $2150-$3150
Sukkos is more expensive because foreigners love to come here for Sukkos and there’s a major demand. Pesach isn’t as expensive. People begin looking for a space two to three months before Sukkos. There are a lot of tenants who live here and go overseas for Yom Tov, and they sublease their apartments to guests who come for Sukkos.
What are the average rates? In Yerushalayim during Pesach the average isn’t much higher than what it would be for short-term rentals the rest of the year. It depends on the apartment, but it could be about $200 to $250 for two nights. Sukkos is much more expensive. It doesn’t go per night. A typical threebedroom could be $4,000 just for Sukkos.
What’s the best way for people to protect themselves from surprises when renting in general and during the Yom Tov season? For a long-term rental, make sure that the person who lived there before is still there. You can ask him about the apartment. You have to ask around. The same is for short-term. If you’re coming for Yom Tov and renting some unknown apartment, you have to ask around about the person, the place and the apartment. It’s the same as buying an oven or some-
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thing. You ask people if the oven is good before you buy it. When you come for a rental, you have to ask around.
But what about someone just coming to Israel for short-term? Everyone has friends who were here before.
The Gerrer Rebbe told people not to buy in Yerushalayim. Have takanos affected the market at all? The Gerrer Rebbe mainly said that parents shouldn’t buy apartments for their kids in Yerushalayim until a certain number of years after their wedding. But that doesn’t really affect business. First of all, a lot of Gerrers recently bought in the new Schneller project near the Gerrer beis midrash. They call it Marom Yerushalayim but people call it Schneller, which was the name of the army base that was there. It’s very expensive—more than any other development in this chasidishe area.
Is there still a trend for parents to buy their kids apartments when they get married? It’s much less than it used to be. The reason it was that way and the reason a lot of people still buy apartments for their children is because it’s very hard for a yungerman who starts off life here to pay rent. Rent is very high and there’s no government assistance for it. The parents want the kids to at least have an apartment, to have something to start with. But it’s much less prevalent than it used to be. It used to be that people couldn’t do shidduchim if they didn’t buy an apartment.
How is the process of purchasing an apartment in Israel different than it is in America? There are very significant differences. I tell people that even though their contract is written with Hebrew characters, they look at it like it’s in Chinese, because they don’t really understand it all.
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Building site of Haachuza
The Builders W of Yerushalayim Eli Klein of the AKA Real Estate Company shares his vision of developing Jerusalem's skyline BY CHANANIA BLEICH
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ith all the talk about a USinduced “building freeze” in numerous places in Eretz Yisrael, it’s amazing to realize the enormous construction boom going on in the city of Jerusalem and the large numbers of building projects throughout the capital. The AKA real estate company, run by chareidi entrepreneur Reb Eli Klein, a Belzer chasid, is the company building the most projects in Jerusalem today. AKA is building seven projects in various places around the city, mainly in the vicinity of the Romema neighborhood. These projects involve many hundreds of apartments and commercial plots of land. To understand the Jerusalem building market, Ami met with the company’s top executives in their corporate headquarters on Oholiav Street near the city’s entrance. Next to their offices, a new high-rise tower, being built by AKA, was going up. The tower’s rise makes a fitting metaphor for the success of the company building it. “Occupation will begin after Pesach,”
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Dvir Granot, marketing vice president, told Ami. “We will move there, as will a number of leading companies. We rented five and a half floors of this building to government authorities, including Israel’s Chief Rabbinate.” As we settle in AKA’s offices, Granot pointed out that AKA has been in the real estate industry for more than a decade. There’s more than just business strategy behind their growth. Eli Klein says: “The trend involving foreign residents purchasing apartments in Jerusalem is only getting stronger. Entire communities in Europe and South Africa are looking for new horizons today, mainly because anti-Semitism is spreading like wildfire. My personal vision is to settle 50,000 well-to-do Jews in Jerusalem, in order to generate an economic and perceptual transformation that will endure.” ALL AROUND THE CITY
Klein had been working on bringing that vision to fruition in and around the city, and with many sections of its population. Dvir Granot says: “AKA, Jerusalem’s largest entrepreneurial construction company today, tailors itself first and foremost to the chareidi community. However, AKA also operates within other sectors and tailors to their needs too. Projects such as Strauss Towers that is being built together with the Minrav company; and Mishkenot Kiryat Moshe close to Mossad Harav Kook at the entrance to the city, a dati leumi (nationalist religious) area, are examples of such developments. “We are the force behind another project, which is now in its advanced planning stages, at the corner of Jaffa and Haturim Streets near the Ashdar company’s Seidoff Tower. There we plan to build a luxury tower that will house a health and physical fitness facility, including a gym and swimming pool, next to a private shul for the project’s tenants. Also on the drawing board is a multipurpose hall that will serve the tenants. We are also planning a small boutique hotel in the building. The place is situated on the fringes of the Makor
Baruch chareidi neighborhood, but appeals to the general public. “There are additional projects we are examining, in Jerusalem and other places as well. We are studying projects involving hundreds of additional housing units. In addition to the new tower which will house our corporate offices, we have additional commercial sites such as Psagot Yerushalayim (“Jerusalem Heights”), which will contain hundreds of square meters for commercial space, and other places throughout the city. “In general,” adds Granot, “we are planning to further increase AKA’s activities in the course of the next two to three years." THE OVERSEAS BUYER
Klein’s description of the desire of Jews in the diaspora for Jerusalem property is no theoretical musing. AKA understands the importance of the buyer who lives overseas. One of their main operations on behalf of these clients was the establishment of an AKA office in London for company meetings and for providing information to investors and clients throughout Europe. These overseas clients might be inter-
ested in one of AKA’s flagship projects, called Mitzpe Nof (on the former “Amcor site”) on Oholiav Street in the Romema neighborhood. Mitzpe Nof will contain 156 apartments, and is the newest project that has begun construction. We later visited the construction site, which sports an attractive sales office with a model of the project as it will look when completed; the office manager explains to us that the contractors and workers have been meeting their deadlines on the construction. He also tells us that the project, close to all the chareidi and religious centers at the entrance to Jerusalem and in the city center, has met with meteoric success. AKA is also building the Ha’achuza project, slated for 140 apartments, out of which 100 have already been sold. Another project under AKA’s wing is Mishkenot Hatechelet, situated on Techelet Mordechai Street near Kiryat Belz. Only a few apartments, out of a total of 50, are still available. The apartments were snapped up by all sectors of the chareidi community, from Gerrer chasidim to Litvishe avreichim. Many of the buyers of apartments in places like these (sometimes close to a majority) live overseas.
Reb Eli Klein 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4 / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / A M I M A G A Z I N E
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ADVERTORIAL Sales office and construction site of Mishkenot Hatecheles
NO GHOSTS HERE
Pisgot Yerushalayim building site
"My personal vision is to settle 50,000 well-to-do Jews in Jerusalem, in order to generate an economic and perceptual transformation that will endure.” Granot tells us that, “Demand is enormous because of the attractive location in Jerusalem, but also because the public has comprehended that plots for building in Jerusalem are running out. No doubt this is also a cause for the rise in prices, because the companies can build much less than the demand. “Every Jew overseas has children and grandchildren, and he feels that even if he himself does not go to live in Jerusalem, his offspring will hopefully move here. You have to understand that in the past
dozens of years, the center of Torah has moved to Eretz Yisrael and especially Jerusalem. To many people it is important to learn here and afterwards marry and live in Jerusalem. “When someone living overseas wants to buy an apartment in Israel, his first preference will always be to purchase an apartment in Jerusalem. We have a wide variety of projects in Jerusalem, and anyone looking for an apartment in the city sooner or later will reach our office.”
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We spoke about the increasing problem of absentee homeowners in Israel, due to speculators snapping up property. In Israel, absentee homeowners’ apartments are nicknamed “ghost apartments.” Granot told us: “This phenomenon almost does not exist in our projects. The reason is that even a foreign Jew, certainly a religious or chareidi Jew, spends all his vacations in Israel and comes here at every opportunity. He also has children or relatives, and the apartments are usually populated. In other words, even if he technically views it as an ‘investment apartment,’ the investment is not just an economic one but an investment in himself and his children.” He says that foreign homeowners have different expectations than native Israelis. “First of all, overseas residents expect a different kind of service that is familiar to them from where they live: first of all, professional; and second, the kind of service that knows how to be attentive, to be flexible, to understand them, even in the planning stages. They want to know that there will be an organized va’ad bayit (building committee), that the building will be kept up properly, that there will be parking, gardens, and so forth, and that everything will be taken care of. They are accustomed to different standards and they want everything to be top-notch. “Some also need help with regard to funding issues and we know how to advise them and refer them to the places that are appropriate for them. We have a battery
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of lawyers we work with, and we are open and know how to deal with all the different languages. We don’t only try, we do. That’s why we initiated the opening of an office in London, and deal directly with agents in a number of countries.” The “social” issue arises. Will the tenants connect with their neighbors in the building? The question is especially relevant regarding people from overseas. Granot says: “Since a very large segment of our buyers are overseas residents, it is natural that the second language will be English. In addition, in all our projects we build an area for kindergartens so that the area will be more pleasant and serve everyone’s needs. Also, the projects are close to main transportation arteries such as the light rail and the train that will begin operating in the upcoming years. In the places we’ve built so far, real communities have coalesced right on site.” At this point we touched upon the subject of prices in AKA’s various projects. In general, the average price is around 25,000 NIS ($7,142) per square meter (1.2 square yard). The price is predicted to rise over the next decade to 35,000 NIS per square meter. “This price per meter is not cheap,” Granot said, “but remember: We are talking about Jerusalem and land that is probably the most expensive in the world. Also, our attention to detail and finishing touches cost us a lot more money because we don’t compromise on contractors and quality. Our objective is to be ‘a bridge to the good life.’” WHY AKA?
Granot says that AKA has specific qualities that have made it successful. “We offer a very professional company that does large-scale construction with maximum responsibility. We’re not a company limited to a small neighborhood, dealing with only one project, and we are not run like a shtiebel. We are a large nation-wide company, and when a tenant comes to purchase an apartment from us,
we provide him with an in-house architect at our expense, so that he can realize all his fantasies and ideas regarding how he wants his apartment to look. “We have a customer service department for our clients for issues ranging from the planning stage to making changes, to the final fixtures, finishes and more. We have our own engineers, and we work with the best architects and engineers and also take responsibility for the construction process. Finally, we have a team of ten consultants for planning, landscaping, roads, water, air conditioning and more. “AKA builds on a standard that has never before existed in Jerusalem. For example, we install foreign-built underfloor heating in the apartments. Even the prestigious towers in Tel Aviv don’t feature these things. “True, these extras make the apartment more expensive but you have to remember that we are talking about a life-time asset, not something that expires after four years. We invest a great deal of time and resources in planning the apartments so that each owner can give it his own touch, such as if he wants a bigger bedroom or kitchen. We build, from the start, so as to provide a variety of options to satisfy everyone, with apartments of three to six rooms. We are probably the only company that cooperates with literally every one of Israel’s banks.” All of AKA’s sales managers are English-speaking. Most also speak Yiddish or another language, such as German or French. That’s because AKA’s clients hail from all over the world, from countries such as the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, Australia and more. Only last week, a deal was made with a Dutch customer who lives in…China. The company has numerous contacts in the United States and in European countries. Klein added another perspective on AKA’s success and strength. “We are a conservative group that avoids risk-taking and is not willing to pay any price. We insist on very wide security margins. To oper-
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Dvir Granot
ate quickly yet also conservatively requires creating professional management patterns, without compromises or short-cuts. We acquire expensive plots of lands on a cash basis. Our well-oiled machine must operate efficiently and transparently, starting from the stage of our inquiries about the potentials of a project until the stage of handing over the apartments to hundreds of meticulous, demanding tenants with high standards and tastes.” Klein says that the company’s careful attitude means that despite the credit shortage, multiple banks have rushed to provide funding. He’s had to make a firstcome, first-served policy with banks in some cases, rather than choosing favorites. “I don’t want to get in a fight with a bank,” he says, smiling. It’s clear that Eli Klein, who has pulled himself up by his bootstraps, is a major part of AKA’s success. Granot talks about his boss with real admiration. “I worked in the best real estate companies in Israel and in the world, and I never worked with someone in this line of work who was both entrepreneur and promoter of a company and also managed it in practice, someone who really understands the entire process in depth. That’s because Klein is a self-made man, but one who also has an enterprise-wide view. I had never seen such a phenomenon before, and I think it is because he combines real belief in his vision with professionalism. He is most definitely a person who knows how to see beyond the horizon.”
•
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Rafi Eitan had kept the entire government in the dark and deserved the severe sanction of permanent termination from the intelligence service. in Argentina and South Africa after World War II. In a secret addendum to a German-Argentine trade treaty, Peron agreed that Argentina would supply the German scientists in South Africa with yellowcake uranium ore. West Germany had several nuclear reactors built by the Westinghouse Corporation and eagerly shared the American technology with their fugitive scientists. Israeli intelligence stumbled across this secret nuclear network and informed the West Germans that Israel would be their new silent partner. In return for not informing JFK about the German nuclear program, Israel would have complete access to South African facilities to build and test its
own nuclear weapons. The deal was struck. Benjamin Blumberg of Lakam became the new Israeli liaison to their former Nazi enemies working to build nuclear weapons in South Africa. At the same time, the Mossad was assassinating German scientists in North Africa who were helping the Arabs build rockets. It was more than a bit strange. One wing of the Israeli government, Lakam, was recruiting and paying German scientists to build nuclear warheads, while another wing of the government, the Mossad, was hunting down and killing German scientists who were only building missiles with conventional warheads. Even from its infancy, Lakam caused a series of potentially
embarrassing scandals and was not Israel’s best-kept secret. No secrets last forever. Shimon Peres (now President of Israel and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize) recruited a famous American movie producer named Arnon Milchan to help Lakam. Blumberg and Milchan smuggled hundreds of nuclear triggers (krytrons) out of the United States. German tankers carrying uranium ore offloaded their cargo at sea to Israeli ships. American nuclear supplies were diverted through webs of front companies. Blumberg was awarded the Israel Prize for his work on military defense. Pretty soon Israel had enough of a nuclear stockpile, and Lakam went to work
by John Loftus
on other matters involving conventional weapons. In the book Every Spy a Prince, Israel intelligence historians accuse Blumberg of arms smuggling, claiming that all of his friends became rich in the arms trade. Some of them became very, very rich. It should be noted that Blumberg himself never profited personally. He is now an 88-year-old man living on the edge of poverty in a third-floor walk-up and has been turned down for a bank loan to pay for his medical care. Lakam made many people rich, but not him. There is significant corroboration for Lakam’s ventures into the arms trade. It is perfectly natural that persons who risked arrest helping Israel purchase nuclear components should be rewarded with defense contracts and arms purchases. The beneficiaries in turn made large donations to the Labor Party. In fact, the arms deals were so lucrative that Sharon envisaged using Lakam’s arms deals to raise money for Likud’s campaigns. However, when Likud finally controlled the government, Blumberg initially convinced them to keep him on as head of Lakam. Quite frankly, Blumberg was rather a paragon of virtue. He had served his country at great risk and significant financial sacrifice. He never made a dime.
Turning a Blind Eye Blumberg may have been a good and honest man, but the potential profit from the arms deals was too great to ignore. By 1981, greed had raised its ugly head. Blumberg was finally fired, and Rafi Eitan, a good friend of the Likud Party leadership (and Sharon) became the new head of Lakam. Prime Minister Begin appointed Sharon as defense minister, and in this capacity Sharon appointed Eitan as chief of Lakam. In addition, Eitan reported directly to Begin as his advisor on terrorism. Now, Rafi Eitan of Lakam is not to be confused with General Raful Eitan, who had once served with Sharon in an elite commando unit. During this time, Labor and Likud often
rotated ministries as part of a unity government. In Sharon’s case, his rotation out of power occurred for a different reason: scandal. During the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, General Sharon surrounded a refugee camp and allowed his Lebanese allies to enter the particular camp where their enemies resided. Sharon exhorted the Lebanese to act like “a dignified army,” but instead they massacred their fellow citizens. Blame was heaped on Sharon for not preventing the mass murder of civilians by Lebanese partisans under his control. An Israeli investigating commission was convened. Sharon testified vehemently that he had seen nothing and received no reports that a massacre was under way. Skeptics recalled a prior incident involving Sharon in which 83 Palestinian civilians, many of them children, were killed when Sharon detonated explosives to destroy what he thought were uninhabited houses. His claim not to have seen anything was wearing a bit thin the second time around. Although its members concluded that Sharon bore no legal or criminal responsibility for the Lebanese massacre, the Israeli commission also recommended that Sharon step down as minister of defense because he had exercised bad judgment during the whole affair. Sharon fought the dismissal at first but eventually agreed to step down as minister of defense in 1983, remaining in the Cabinet as a minister without portfolio.
The Rising Star Sharon traveled frequently to New York to assist his lawyers in his lawsuit against Time for defaming him about the massacre. Supposedly there was a “secret appendix” to the commission’s report, which documented Sharon’s misconduct in Lebanon, or so Time alleged. It was a terribly unfair rumor apparently based on anonymous sources. Sharon eventually lost the case on a technicality, but the vigorous fight had restored his reputation and saved his political career. The lawsuit does explain, however, why Sharon was constantly running back and
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forth to New York, allowing the opportunity for occasional side trips to Washington to work on the Pollard case. Remember that in 1984, Sharon held no government office at the time Jonathan Pollard was recruited, yet he was constantly on the scene in Washington to supervise Pollard’s progress. The shuttle ticket evidence, in Sharon’s name but charged to Lakam’s budget, confirms my sources’ allegations that Sharon was the power behind the throne of Lakam and the man who made the decision to break all the rules and hire Jonathan Pollard. Since a 1950s spy scandal in the Eisenhower administration, the government of Israel had issued a flat prohibition against the recruitment of Jews on active service with any American intelligence agency. Pollard had previously applied to work for the Mossad but had been flatly turned down. Undeterred, Pollard passed word that he would like to volunteer to work for Israeli military intelligence. Sharon probably heard about Pollard’s approach to play spy from his old friends in military intelligence. Sharon told Rafi Eitan to ignore the long-held prohibition and recruit Pollard secretly as an asset for Lakam. Since Eitan, on paper at least, was the chief of Lakam, that meant Sharon worked for him. The reality was the other way around. Eitan had a distinguished intelligence career, including the capture of the notorious Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. But his political weight was slight compared to Sharon’s. Sharon was a major general and a national hero. It was he who crossed the Suez Canal and effectively halted the 1973 Egyptian invasion of Israel. The press lauded Sharon as the “Lion of Judah” and even “King of Israel.” Sharon did not want to be king. He would settle for prime minister. Rafi Eitan decided to hitch himself to a rising political star. Sharon needed campaign funds. He wanted Lakam to do for Likud what the Mossad was doing for the Labor Party: raise political funds through offshore arms and oil deals. Pollard confirmed to me in one of my interviews with
him in prison that he had been solicited to become an arms trader for Lakam. In fact, Pollard said, if he had not been arrested, he would have resigned in a month or two to start the new business. I asked Pollard to explain. He said that Israel had trouble buying a copy of the French Exocet missile, which had been very efficient in the Falklands War. As an American, Pollard had no trouble finding a seller of the Exocet. All Lakam had to do was set up front companies as the buyer. I later recalled that setting up front companies was exactly the type of thing at which Lakam had been quite expert under Benjamin Blumberg. Indeed, Blumberg had a reputation for establishing very profitable entities outside of Israel whose revenues helped defray the international expenses of acquiring nuclear components. Now that Israel had the bomb, Rafi Eitan and Sharon were allegedly planning to divert Pollard’s future offshore revenues into campaign funds for the Likud Party. During his CIA debriefing, Pollard admitted that he was also trading in oil contracts. Indeed, he expected to repay his Lakam salary in that manner since he felt uncomfortable taking even a modest amount of money for helping Israel. It should be noted that Pollard passed an FBI polygraph test on these disclosures. While he had started at Lakam as a one-man intelligence library, he planned to move on to the more lucrative field of international trading. Unfortunately for Eitan and Sharon, the government was contemplating shutting Lakam down completely, just as Pollard was getting started. This was, of course, the period of unity governments where Labor and Likud were trading positions. The cancellation of the Lakam budget was a question primarily for the minister of defense. During the 1984-1985 lifespan of the Pollard affair, there were two ministers of defense: Moshe Arens (from February 24, 1983, to September 13, 1984) and Yitzhak Rabin (from September 1984). Both were victims of Rafi Eitan’s deceit.
unleash your miles {Corporate accounts our specialty}
Lakam and Party Politics I went to Israel to visit Mr. Arens, who had been described to me as the most honest man in Israel. When I repeated that to him, Mr. Arens laughingly called his wife to come listen; she seemed quite proud. We met in the kitchen of his modest but delightful home in the suburbs near Ben Gurion Airport. It was clear from our discussion that Rafi Eitan had completely pulled the wool over Arens’ eyes. When Arens signed Eitan’s budget request prolonging Lakam’s life, he had no idea that Lakam had broken all the rules and recruited an American Jewish intelligence officer. Eitan allegedly snarled at the Israeli investigators, saying that if Arens wanted more information, all he had to do was ask. The investigators did not think much of that attitude. They wrote a scathing report saying that Rafi Eitan had kept the entire government in the dark and deserved the severe sanction of permanent termination from the intelligence service.
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The sad thing is that if Eitan and Sharon had told the truth to the prime minister and the Israeli government, the whole breach of trust with the Americans could have been averted. In addition to keeping his own minister of defense in the dark, Rafi Eitan flouted the government’s order to turn over all of Pollard’s stolen material to the Americans. When Pollard itemized the documents he had stolen, the CIA realized that its Israeli counterparts had not been fully forthcoming. President Shimon Peres told the Americans (truthfully) that he had no idea of this operation and had never heard of Jonathan Pollard working for Lakam. The CIA found this very hard to believe since Peres had founded the Lakam organization, and concluded that he must have heard something. In hindsight, as head of the Labor Party, Peres would have been the last person Eitan and Sharon would want to have known about their plans to turn Lakam into a fundraising machine for the Likud Party. But keeping Prime Minister Peres in the dark caused a disastrous embarrassment for Israel as a whole and a severe loss of trust on the part of the Americans. From that point on, the CIA pressed the Justice Department to include Israel on the watch list of hostile nations. The special relationship was over. Worse, the only entity that understood what had really happened was the Russian intelligence service. Among the purloined documents that Eitan had not given back to the Americans was a top-secret compartmentalized intelligence volume called the Blue Book. It was an encyclopedia of spies listing every known agent working for an Arab intelligence service, along with key
identifying data such as telephone numbers. With the help of the Blue Book, Eitan could have started his own counterintelligence service. Another document Pollard had stolen was the blueprint for a Russian spy satellite. The blueprint had been hanging on the wall of the Naval Intelligence office where he worked. According to Pollard, the blueprint was so sensitive that it had to be covered whenever a foreign intelligence officer came to visit. Even our British allies were not allowed to see the Russian satellite blueprint. Eitan’s initial refusal to give these documents back to the Americans gave the Soviets a window of opportunity. Ames and Hansen, the two superspies inside the CIA and FBI, desperately needed someone to blame for the simultaneous murder of all the American “assets” they had betrayed. Sharon and Eitan’s clumsy cover-up played right into the hands of the Russians. The Russians planted the story that Israeli intelligence leaked so much that Pollard’s information found its way into the hands of a Russian spy in Israel named Shabtai Kalmanovitch. According to the Russian legend, it was Kalmanovitch who informed Moscow that someone was leaking Russian satellite secrets to the Americans. The KGB and GRU (Russian military intelligence) quickly joined forces to narrow down the list of suspects. They found a retired Russian general who confessed under torture that he was the American agent code-named Top Hat/Tricycle. The
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CIA believes that this heroic old gentleman, who had risked his life to protect America during the Cold War, was burned alive because of Pollard’s betrayal. The sad thing is that if Eitan and Sharon had told the truth to the prime minister and the Israeli government, the whole breach of trust with the Americans could have been averted. I interviewed the Mossad agent who had been Kalmanovitch’s case officer. He said Kalmanovitch was just a cocktailparty spy. Everyone knew he sold gossip to the Russians. The Mossad was on the verge of arresting him when the KGB sacrificed its lowly little spy in Israel in order to protect its much more valuable spies inside the CIA and FBI. Sharon’s silence gave the Russians the opportunity to frame Pollard, Kalmanovitch and the State of Israel for negligently betraying the identities of all 41 British and American assets behind the Iron Curtain. Eitan was only following orders. The guilt falls primarily on Sharon’s shoulders. But there are others to blame. As we shall see in the next part, Bibi Netanyahu also has a secret role in the Pollard affair. To be continued...
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Attorney John Loftus, author of America’s Nazi Secret, is a retired Army officer, intelligence analyst and federal prosecutor. He previously held a Q clearance for nuclear top secrets while working for the US government.
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When Begin met Ricotta When I asked a chubby taxi driver, "How you get to Ricotta?" He told me, "Uhhh… it's no big deal, you go onto Begin, drive around a mile until you see a right turn to Har Chotzvim, that's where Begin meets Ricotta." We sat there, four friends for a casual get-together; we ordered grilled salmon on a bed of lettuce and mashed potatoes. What can I tell you? A taste of Gan Eden! If you are looking for a place to sit and enjoy a Yerushalmi experience with a touch of Italy, kosher l'mehadrin. Just go right there, to the place where… Begin meets Ricotta
Italy. Dairy. Kosher.
Kiryat Mada 3 Har Chotzvim Jerusalem Tel. 02-5870222
ADVERTORIAL
A separate Taglit Birthright Israel program – it does exist, and you’re invited!
T
here is almost no one who has not heard of the Taglit Birthright Israel project. It is the largest project in the Jewish world today, through which hundreds of thousands of young Jews from around the world come to Israel to discover the land, to experience Jewish tradition, and to meet other young Jews with whom they share common interests. A new and exciting Taglit Birthright Israel program has recently been developed. A separate program, kosher l’mehadrin, in a Torah atmosphere. We asked Rabbi Hillel Wosner for a few minutes of his time to describe this new program. So Rabbi Wosner, a separate Taglit Birthright Israel program?
Yes, a separate Taglit Birthright Israel program, one which matches our halachic standards in every area—from the hechsherim, the participants, the sites, and the staff—everything suitable for our community. It is truly wonderful that Taglit Birthright Israel has decided to offer this amazing opportunity to our community. Sounds really great. Who is eligible?
Young people from the ages of 18-27 are eligible if they have not participated in any educational program in Israel from the age of 18, and if they are not learning full-time in a yeshivah or seminary. Whoever is learning part-time is eligible. All details can be found on our site: ezraolami.org. What can you tell us about the atmosphere and the spiritual level of the group?
The program has been designed meticulously with an 80 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 3
emphasis on high-level educational themes. It is not that we sit in a classroom and study—the participants do and will do enough of that at home. The Israel program is a total educational and spiritual experience in which the participant experiences the places he has learned about. You will have the zechus to visit the graves of the great rabbis of the Jewish people from previous generations, beginning with the Rashbi and the Tanaim, to the Rambam and the Ari. We will tour Tsfat, Tverya, Yerushalayim, and many other well-known places which are meaningful to anyone who is familiar with traditional Jewish texts. The less ancient sites as well, such as Yad Vashem, and meetings with Israeli young people—all of this will make the ten days of the trip a meaningful and moving experience.
ADVERTORIAL
How will Yiddishkeit be expressed on the tour?
Yiddishkeit is part and parcel of the whole tour. Our counselor, a certified tour guide, is chareidi and lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh. He teaches the participants about the Land of Israel in an experiential way which brings together what you are seeing with what you have learned in the past. In addition, we set aside regular time for learning (optional for the men’s group). Shabbos is an uplifting experience, where you will eat delicious meals, sing zemiros and listen to divrei Torah. Great. What hechshers will be served during the tour, and where do we sleep?
All logistical arrangements, including the places where we stay, will be according to the criteria set by Taglit Birthright Israel. These criteria have been written in a way that will enhance the participants’ experience. All busses will be examined to make sure that they are air-conditioned properly and that they are modern and appropriate for our needs. This will also be true as to the places where we eat and stay overnight. We will be staying at hotels with a minimum of three stars which have received the Taglit Birthright Israel authorization. We check the hechshers of each and every hotel. Because there are not enough hotels with appropriate hechshers, we make use of hotels that have mehadrin hechshers and upgrade their kitchens by coming to the hotel, meeting with their mashgiach, and making sure that everything is on the highest possible standards: every vegetable is “Chasalat” with the authorization of Badatz, and all meat has one of the private hechshers in Israel: Eida Hacharedit, Landau, Rubin, Kehillot, or Machpud. These are the highest level hechshers that are available according to the Ashkenazim or the Sephardim. I personally visit every place where we will be eating and every site we will visit to make sure it is appropriate for the participants of our tour. Which yeshivos and seminaries do the tour participants come from?
The groups provide a framework which ensures the highest level of behavior and halachic observance, and welcomes anyone interesting in participating to register, come for an interview, and join. In this way, we have participants of all kinds, chasidish, chareidi and yeshivish in addition to more modern participants. 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 3 / / J A N U A R Y 1 4 , 2 0 1 4 / / A M I M A G A Z I N E
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Jerusalem
is as pristine and fair on this January day as in mid-spring. Here and there one can still see remnants of the snowstorm that recently made international headlines, but today they are dissolving lazily in the warmth of the Middle Eastern sun. I was looking forward to getting out and walking the whitewashed streets of Jerusalem’s Rechavia neighborhood in the mild weather. But as my interviewee is scheduled to visit me at my hotel, I keenly await his arrival in its windowed lobby. My visitor reminds me of someone I know, but I can’t put my finger on it at first. Then it comes to me: Chaim Cohen shares a resemblance with MK Eli Yishai of the Shas Party. I soon learn that Chaim Cohen was in fact recently asked by Aryeh Deri to join the Shas ticket but he declined. I don’t find any of that surprising. Spending 20 years at Rav Elyashiv’s side has made Chaim Cohen politically astute. But as he is also a very successful businessman, there would have to be an extremely compelling reason for him to give that up, and there isn’t. Chaim Cohen seems very comfortable in his own skin. He is poised and self-assured. He is also very warm and amiable. Perhaps that is why the rags-to-riches story of his life that he so candidly shares with me keeps me transfixed.
Chance Encounter
An exclusive conversation with Chaim Cohen, confidante and right-hand man of Rav Elyashiv, zt”l BY RABBI YITZCHOK FRANKFURTER
Without much prompting he begins at where it all began. “I was in my shanah rishonah [first year after marriage]. I was driving through Kikar Shabbos, in the Geula neighborhood, on a wintry rainy day. As I was cruising down the street I saw an elderly lady with an umbrella. I stopped my car and told her that it was unsafe to be walking around in such weather. She said she’d try to hail a taxi. I replied, ‘That’s dangerous. Come, I’ll take you home.’ She got into my car and
Interview photography by Ezra Landau
I’m only a yungerman in shanah rishonah and suddenly I have the key to Rav Elyashiv’s house. What am I supposed to do?”
his whole life. I didn’t know the woman I was helping, but because I helped her, everything else followed. I’m not a gevir [wealthy person], not a relative, not a mechutan. It was pure siyata dishmaya.”
started directing me. ‘Turn right here. Then left.’ This went on till we reached our destination. “Then she said that if I wanted to, I could come back the following day for a brachah because ‘he’s learning now.’ I asked whom she was referring to. ‘My husband,’ she replied. “‘Who’s your husband?’ I asked. “‘Rav Elyashiv,’ was her response. “I took her up on her offer, and the next day went to see him. She escorted me into the room where he was sitting at a table. Rav Elyashiv started to thank me profusely.‘Yasher koach. Yasher koach.’ He then mentioned that his wife needed to go to the hospital for some tests. I offered to take her. ‘Why?’ he asked. ‘There are taxis available.’ I said, ‘I just got an honor from the Rav. Now I feel slighted that the Rebbetzin won’t come with me.’ “‘Chas v'shalom.’ “‘B'seder,’ I said. ‘I’ll take her.’ “‘On one condition,’ the Rebbetzin interjected, ‘that you don’t wait for me there.’ “‘Fine.’ So I took her. And waited. When she came out she started to yell at me. ‘You weren’t supposed to wait!’ But she got into the car and I drove her home. I remember that her daugh-
ter, Rebbetzin Auerbach (the wife of Rav Azriel) was there when we got back. She took care of her mother and then later her father. “The next day I got a call from the Rav’s grandson: ‘The Rav asked if he could see you tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.’ When I went there, he said, ‘You should know that the Rebbetzin is a very good judge of character. If she let you give her a ride twice, that’s all I need to know about you.’ He then took out his house key and told me to take it. “Now, I’m only a yungerman in shanah rishonah and suddenly I have the key to Rav Elyashiv’s house. What am I supposed to do? I couldn’t sleep that whole night. I decided to go there the next day before Shacharis and wait inside the stairwell so he’d see me on his way down to davening. A lot of people were waiting outside, but I now had the ability to open the outer door and wait on the stairs. “When Rav Elyashiv emerged he made no indication that he had even seen me. I asked if I could carry his tallis and tefillin. He said no. The same scenario repeated itself for many years. ‘Shalom. Ich ken nemen der tallis?’ To which he always responded, ‘Nein.’ “We had a kviyus [set time]. He knew I’d be there every morning. That’s how it started. Then I began to take him to brissim where he was sandek, and later wherever he needed to go. “I learned a great lesson from all this. With one small deed, a person can change
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Roots “Are you originally from Yerushalayim?” I ask him. “I’m from Uruguay.” “Sefardi?” “Syrian. But I learned in Satmar cheder,” he adds with a grin. “So you speak Yiddish?” “A little.” “How long were you in Satmar?” I ask with keen interest. “Until I was ten. I learned in the period of the talmidim of Rav Yoelish,” he says, referring to the Satmar Rebbe, “who came over after the War. When Rav Yoelish came to America, there was a group that went to South America. There were 300 shtreimels in Uruguay, Holocaust survivors who kept the chasidishe look and didn’t change anything. They established kashrus, built a mikvah and a cheder with 400 kids, a seminary—everything. “After Rav Yoelish was niftar, most of the younger generation left for America, and the older generation passed away. Today there’s really nothing left.” Looking at him, with his fashionable dress and somewhat modern appearance, the last thing that comes to mind is that he’s a talmid of Satmar. But nothing about Chaim Cohen is predictable. “My kesher with Satmar actually started earlier, with my father, z”l,” he adds with a smile. “My father arrived in Argentina
Rabbi Frankfurter speaking with Chaim Cohen
in the 1940s from Eretz Yisrael. Then he became the first bachur to leave home and go off to learn in a yeshivah. “There was a rav in Argentina at the time named Rav Raphael Eisenberg. He was a big talmid chacham from Yerushalayim who authored several sefarim. He was also a big gevir. His brother was the well-known Reb Shaul Eisenberg. Yidden like him didn’t exist in Argentina; he was a novelty. My father was a kid who worked like everyone else in that country. He got up in the morning, davened in shul and then went off to work. This rav got to know him and explained the concept of a yeshivah. My father was interested and said he wanted to go learn in one, so he told him he would arrange it. “Rav Eisenberg wrote to Rav Aharon about my father, and spoke so highly of him that Rav Aharon sent my father a couple of letters that are still in my possession. In one, he accepted him into his
yeshivah. This letter was written in English by Rav Shneur Kotler and signed by his father, Rav Aharon. The second letter was to the American consulate in Argentina asking them to issue a visa. My father traveled to America to join Rav Aharon Kotler’s yeshivah. My father was the first bachur to come from Argentina to America to learn. He was in Lakewood for close to six years. “At one point he told Rav Aharon that he needed to find a parnasah. Rav Aharon advised him to learn shechitah. He did, and received semichah in shechitah from Rav Moshe Feinstein. I have the document of semichah and a lot of correspondence with Rav Moshe, to whom he wrote all his sh’eilos. “In his second year in America he visited Williamsburg and Satmar and got a kviyus to go in to Rav Yoelish. Rav Yoelish drew him very close for many years. When he wanted to go to Eretz Yisrael, Rav Yoelish told him to wait. Within
a month war broke out. After the war ended he went back to Rav Yoelish. ‘Now you can go,’ he told him. ‘Mazal tov.’ “He went to Eretz Yisrael and learned in Yeshivas Mir. He was a ben bayis in the home of Rav Shaul Eisenberg, who made the shidduch with my mother. After they got married they came back to Argentina, where my father was the first shochet. He later went to Uruguay to set up shechitah there as well. The only two chadarim in town were Satmar and Mizrachi, so I went to Satmar because of my father’s connection.” “Where’s your shtreimel?” I ask him lightheartedly. “I have brothers who wear shtreimels,” he answers with a smile. “I wore a kapote until I got married so I wouldn’t look any different from my brothers, at least in my youth.” “Where did you learn when you were older?”
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Rav Elyashiv with Chaim Cohen at the wheel
“In the yeshivah ketanah in Slonim, by Rav Shalom Noach. Then I went back to Argentina and learned by Rav Shmuel Aryeh Levine, a talmid of Rav Shach. It was a Litvishe yeshivah, with shiurim in Ivrit. Then I went to Eretz Yisrael and got married here, and became connected to Rav Elyashiv soon afterwards."
Day by Day “My day with the Rav started at 5:00 a.m.,” he begins, referring to the years in which he served the gadol. “I would remain with him until after davening, when he was usually sandek at a bris on a daily basis. He always tried to accommodate every avreich who asked. When I asked him why specifically avreichim he said, ‘If I can give someone chizzuk to be an avreich in kollel for one more year, I want to.’ In later years he was willing to be sandek at any bris that was held in
the beis haknesses. “Around 1:00 p.m. he’d begin to accept petitioners. Rav Efrati would arrive to handle the halachic queries and help people articulate their sh’eilos. Rav Elyashiv was makpid about knowing every little detail. I was never involved in any of that; I kept out of halachah-related discussions. I just escorted people in and out. If there was a sh’eilah that impacted the community, he would sometimes ask me to investigate. If he told me to do something I did it. But otherwise I never mixed in.” “Did you offer any guidance to people at all?” “Rav Elyashiv always ruled according to the specific circumstances of each particular case, so I’d tell people not to apply his psak in other instances. He would say, ‘I’m only paskening this specific case for this specific person.’ It wasn’t an acrossthe-board ruling. So I would never repeat his psakim.
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“Sometimes I’d ask him questions for my own personal guidance, but I kept them to myself because they weren’t intended for anyone else. He was sometimes more stringent with me than with others because he knew me personally. “He was very meticulous in his psakim. For example, if someone asked him a medical question and told him that he had already spoken to Elimelech Firer [the founder of Ezra Lemarpeh, an organization that provides medical assistance to the needy] he’d say, ‘Devarim beteilim [That’s irrelevant]! You have to ask a doctor.’ “‘But Firer knows better…’ the person would counter. So he’d say, ‘I go by the Shulchan Aruch, and it says you have to consult a doctor. Firer is not a doctor.’ This would include things like when you’re allowed to break a fast on Yom Kippur. ‘Even if Firer knows a lot, he’s not a doctor according to halachah.’” “So you never told people how he had
previously ruled?” “Never. Sometimes one person would ask a sh’eilah and get an answer, and a week later someone else would have the same question. I would never reveal what the Rav told the first person. I knew from experience that the answer could be different. The Rav could hear the same question a hundred times and act as if it were a new question each time. He never made a hekesh [inference]. So, of course, neither could I. “Many people make this mistake. They don’t understand what a gadol is saying and try to make an analogy to something else. They think they understand. If people didn’t try to speak in a Rav’s name the world would be a different place. This happened a lot in the Rav’s final years, when he was weak. There were people who sometimes misstated things in his name. “Sometimes he refused to answer halachah-related inquiries. ‘I can’t answer that. Ask someone else.’ “I also never asked sh’eilos on behalf of other people. Sometimes people would call me from America and want to know when they could reach the Rav. I’d ask him what I should say to them. The first thing he’d want to know was, ‘Where does he live? In Flatbush? Who’s the rav there? If the rav in Flatbush wants to call me he can. I can’t take calls from every private person, because maybe his rav already said something else and he’ll use my psak to go against him.’ “This was his strict policy when it came to overseas calls. He only wanted to speak to a rav. His connection in New York was Rav Feivel Cohen; all the sh’eilos came through him. He would sometimes ask me to get Rav Cohen’s opinion on something; as a man of halachah and a dayan, he had probably already looked into these matters. In Lakewood, he had Rav Malkiel Kotler. He had a contact everywhere. “If he got a sh’eilah about a get, he would decline to answer and insist that the beis din ask him. Only then would he answer. “In the last five years of his life he was makpid to find out what Rav Shteinman
had said about public matters in Israel. Whenever an MK came to him he would say, ‘What does Rav Shteinman have to say about it?’ “They were actually mechutanim. Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman's son Rav Shraga married his son-in-law Rav Chaim Kanievsky’s daughter. But that wasn’t the kesher that bound them; it was mutual respect. In his final years he sent everything to Rav Shteinman, instructing them to go to him first and then tell him what he had said. It was a conscious decision. “Before then, there was never a situation in which he didn’t have an answer. Not once did he ever say, ‘I don’t know.’ He never left anyone hanging in the air. He always had an answer, a bit of advice. Sometimes I didn’t immediately understand it. But I would come to understand it years later.” “He was revered by the gedolim in Eretz Yisrael,” I say. “The Steipler held that Rav Elyashoov (as he pronounced it) was the greatest authority in psak. Yet he fought a veritable war against him when it came to IVF [in vitro fertilization]. Rav Elyashiv permitted it and the Steipler was against it, probably taking into account matters of kedushah, pirtzah, etc. But Rav Elyashiv only looked at halachah. Rav Shlomo Zalman also allowed it. It actually escalated into a big dispute. It all started when Rav Moshe permitted it, and Rav Elyashiv depended on Rav Moshe’s psak. When the psak was brought to Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach to approve it in writing, he refused to sign on. He said, ‘You can depend on Rav Elyashiv.’ He was always a man of peace. I think he might have signed a psak about this together with Rav Elyashiv towards the end of his life, but I’m not positive. “An avreich once came to the Steipler’s son, Rav Chaim Kanievsky, and told him that his wife was undergoing IVF. Rav Chaim said, ‘I give you a brachah that it shouldn’t succeed.’ Rav Chaim always followed his father’s approach in halachah. The Steipler looked at the kedushah aspects because he was a mekubal. Rav Elyashiv
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Rav Elyashiv blessing Chaim Cohen's son
was also a mekubal, but he was first and foremost a posek.” “Did Rav Elyashiv openly discuss Kabbalah?” “I never heard him discussing it nor did I ever see him learning it, but it is known that he learned Kabbalah with his famous grandfather, the Leshem. When the Rav was 13 years old the Leshem wrote in his hakdamah that his grandson had looked over his sefer and helped him whenever he had difficulties. The Rav knew Kabbalah backwards and forwards, but he was primarily a man of halachah. “Rav Yaakov Ades, grandfather of the current one with the same name, was on the beis din hagadol. When Rav Elyashiv became a member of it he was 40 years old. At the time, Rav Ades was one of the oldest members and most recognized mekubalim. But when 40-year-old Rav Elyashiv came on, he cleared his
place for him. When some people protested, ‘He’s only a yungerman!’ he replied, ‘As much as he is a talmid chacham in nigleh [the revealed aspects of Torah], he is a thousand times greater in nistar [its esoteric aspects].’ “But I never, ever heard him say anything about Kabbalah. It is known that when the Beis Yosef came to Tzefas, the Ari didn’t allow him to attend his Kabbalah shiur. He snuck in anyway, but when the Ari began to speak he dozed off and woke up right after the shiur ended. The Ari told him, ‘Everyone has a neshamah with a specific purpose. Yours is to be a posek.’” “Which gedolim in America did Rav Elyashiv admire?” “Rav Moshe Feinstein. The Rav wasn’t one to be impressed by people. But the way he spoke about Rav Moshe was unique. If he heard there was a teshuvah from Rav Moshe he would say, ‘Where is it? I have to see it!’ And he didn’t go against
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Rav Moshe’s rulings. “Ninety percent of the Rav’s pesakim were straight from Gemara, Rashi and Tosafos. He didn’t consult many Acharonim and definitely not later poskim. That was the gadlus of his psak. But his attitude toward Rav Moshe was different. Even though he never met him in person he had a tremendous respect and even awe for him.” He then offers this interesting anecdote, which illustrates Rav Elyashiv’s approach to halachah: “There was a certain rav who was very erudite and was one of the few people Rav Elyashiv truly enjoyed speaking to in learning. When he died, they found a notebook of piskei halachos he had written. A grandson brought it to Rav Elyashiv and asked if it should be published. Rav Elyashiv immediately said no. ‘Should we even look at what he wrote?’ “‘No,’ he replied. They wanted to know why.
At His Service “Did you ever make enemies by not letting people in to see Rav Elyashiv?” I want to know. He responds with a joke. “It says that Yitzchak loved Eisav. Everyone asks: Why didn’t Rivkah just tell her husband the truth? Because Chaim Cohen wouldn’t let her in to see him! It may be a joke, but there’s an element of truth to it. People had no idea what the Rav might have instructed me before they arrived. Sometimes he would say, ‘Do me a favor and watch the door. Make sure it’s locked and don’t let anyone in.’ One time he told me before Shacharis, ‘I’m really not feeling well. I can’t speak to anyone. But there’s a certain individual who has a kviyus. Let him ask one sh’eilah. If he starts asking a second one, take me out of the room.’ “How do I explain to that person that he can’t ask a second sh’eilah? Well, the man started asking a second one so I began to lead Rav Elyashiv out. He started screaming, ‘You rasha merusha! This is pikuach nefesh!’ I had to accept his curses. My responsibility was to the Rav. “Here’s a story I’ve never related publicly. I was once helping the Rav go upstairs when he told me he wasn’t feeling well. I asked him if he wanted to lie down. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I’m going to learn. But lock the door to the study and don’t let anyone in under any circumstances.’ I got him seated, prepared his sefarim and went to lock the
downstairs door. At that very moment Rav Dan Segal pulled up in a car. ‘Wait!’ he said. ‘Don’t lock it! I have a sh’eilah of pikuach nefesh. I have to go in!’ But I had to say no. I was in the Rav’s service. My job was to guard the door and not permit anyone to disturb him. That’s what was expected of me. “I told him, ‘Mashgiach, if the Rav were sleeping, would you tell me to wake him?’ He said, ‘Chas v'shalom!’ “‘Well, that’s how it is,’ I explained, and he left. But I saw that it bothered him. “I saw him about an hour later and he said, ‘Yasher koach. You did the right thing. I wasn’t acting properly.’ This is gadlus. That afternoon I told the Rav what had happened and he said, ‘Kaftor vaferach.’” “You had situations like this every day?” “All the time. Sometimes I’d ask him about the people who were scheduled to come and he would give me specific instructions: ‘Do this, this and this.’ He wouldn’t say why he didn’t want to meet them; he’d just say, ‘You don’t need to be involved in this problem. Just do as I tell you.’”
Diligence “How would you describe his gadlus?” I inquire. “In my opinion, it was his kviyus and hasmadah. He never compromised on his seder for anything. That was my inyan as well; I was the only one who could keep up with his schedule. And his key to being a masmid was his kviyus. He had the same seder every single day. He went to sleep at 10:30 p.m. and woke up around 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning. “I knew I had to be there for him every day at 5:00 a.m.—and five o’clock meant five o’clock. If I wasn’t there on time he wouldn’t wait for Chaim Cohen to arrive; he’d walk by himself in the dark. When did I sleep? On Shabbos; that’s when his family took over. I hardly ever slept during the week; only as much as he did. “When it snowed I slept in my car. I had to be there, but I couldn’t sleep in the Rav’s house because he’d yell at me, ‘Meshugener!
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“‘He was a big baal regesh,’ he explained. ‘He was too emotional to be a posek. He knew kol ha’Torah kulah, but a person who isn’t in control of his emotions cannot be a posek.’ Rav Elyashiv, on the other hand, was cold, completely in control of every emotion and everything that transpired in life. He stood motionless throughout davening. “But it wasn’t really coldness. Once, when I mentioned to him that my son was sick, he asked me for days how he was feeling. He wasn’t cold; he had control over his emotions. He knew when to use them and how.”
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When it snowed I slept in my car because I didn’t want the Rav to see that I hadn’t gone home.”
What are you doing here in the middle of the night?’ But if he couldn’t walk to shul he’d wait for me to come. “I was special to the Rav because he knew he could always depend on me. Nothing could stop me from being there. My only claim to fame was that I was the only one who could work according to his schedule. After I had established that, he started depending on me for other things as well. “My wife was in full agreement with the arrangement. I told her that the Rav came first and she came afterwards. I never even went with her to the hospital when she gave birth. I would take her to the entrance at 4:30 a.m. and get someone to bring her upstairs and take over. It turned out that every single time she went to give birth it was time for me to be with the Rav! I would go and take him to Shacharis, and only afterwards ask him for a brachah for my wife. ‘What?!’ he would say. ‘What are you doing here? Go to her!’ Only then would I leave. Baruch Hashem, everything worked out. All my kids are yereim ushleimim, and there were no repercussions because of my absence. “Tell me about your kids.” “First we had a set of twins, a boy and a girl. Then I had a son whom I named
Shlomo. The Rav was very opposed to adding a name for a sick person or worrying that a certain name would be a problem for a future shidduch. He wasn’t concerned with names at all. When my son was born I told Rav Efrati that I wanted to ask the Rav what to name him. He warned me that the Rav would yell at me but I told him it was worth it. I went in and told him I was considering three names: Raphael, after Rav Raphael Ankawa, who was like Rav Yaakov Abuchatzeira; Shlomo, after the Leshem; and another name, after a grandfather. The Rav gave me a look and I thought I was in for it. But I was wrong. “‘Do you know who the Leshem was?’ he asked me. ‘The Leshem was the Leshem!’ And he lifted his hands as if to illustrate his greatness. That was my answer. “When it came to brissim, the Rav had a rule: If he was sandek, he didn’t make the brachos. When he asked me where my son’s bris was being held and I told him in the regular Caravan Shul, he insisted that I needed a big, respectable venue, and also said to do it in the afternoon after Minchah. I rented the Beis Yisrael hall and the place was packed. The Rav came and we davened Minchah. Rav Elyashiv, of course, was sandek. The mohel was the famous Reb Moshe Weissberg. After he performed the bris he prompted me, ‘Brachos?’ “‘The Rebbe will recite them,’ I replied. “‘Are you crazy?’ he said. ‘You know the rule.’ “‘Well, I’m the balebos here, and I’m telling you to announce that the Rav will say
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the brachos,’ so he complied. Rav Elyashiv looked at me and asked, ‘Mah nishtanah?’ “I said, ‘The Rav knows which name I chose and I want it to come out of his holy mouth.’ So he put on the tallis, took the cup, recited the blessings and, turning to me, he said, ‘Veyikarei shmo b’Yisrael?’ “‘Haleshem!’ I whispered in his ear. “Every Chanukah, he’d write out a check for Chanukah gelt and inscribe it with the words ‘kleine Leshem’ and he’d laugh. “My son actually resembles the Leshem. He has the same blue eyes, even though there aren’t any blue eyes in my family. “The Rav always wanted Rav Weissberg to serve as mohel. With others he’d say, ‘Oy, tzaara d’yanuka.’ One time, a chasidishe mohel was in the Caravan Shul and wanted to speak to the Rav after the bris. I could tell he just wanted to be able to say he had gotten the Rav’s endorsement. I told him, ‘It’s a free country—you can do whatever you want. But I don’t recommend it.’ As we were leaving he ran over and called out, ‘Rebbe, how was the bris?’ The Rav turned around and said, ‘He can eat the korban Pesach [because he’s not an areil].’ He was so sharp. He came up with that retort in a split second.” “Tell me to which schools you send your children.” “My oldest is currently learning in a girls’ school I founded at Rav Elyashiv’s behest. In fact, his very last letter was in support of it. Rav Yaakov Hillel was very helpful and got funding from America. Today it’s one of the best schools in Yerushalayim. It’s about 40% Sefardim and 60% Ashkenazim. The level of learning is very high. “At the time, the three biggest high schools in Yerushalayim weren’t accepting many Sephardic girls because they felt
Rav Elyashiv and Chaim Cohen in the golf cart
it would change the school’s character. Even the small quota they did accept was only their ‘type’ of people. Rav Elyashiv believed we had to open a new school on a very high level so that girls would have another option. “Are you part of the hanhallah there?” “No. I helped in the beginning, but I’m not involved in running it.”
Politics “The Rav shared a lot of things with me,” he says. “What kind of things?” I ask.
“Everything, especially politics. He told me stories all the time. He asked me my opinion and sometimes wanted me to investigate certain things.” “Did he understand politics?” “I don’t know. But his outlook was so black and white that perhaps he didn’t have to understand political machinations. To him, everything was clear. “People would sometimes ask him to make a decision and he’d want to know how much time he had to give an answer. If they said he had until Sunday, he never answered on the Thursday before. Why? Because things might change. He did this
with all public matters. He would only issue his decision when he had to. “The Minister of Defense once came to ask him some questions. The Rav said, ‘Tell me, why are you asking me these questions?’ He replied, ‘You’re a smart man. I want to know what you think.’ The Rav understood that he was only soliciting his opinion out of curiosity and declined to answer.” “Were you his liaison for politicallyrelated matters?” “Yes, quite frequently. I subsequently made a lot of friends but never got involved or accepted a political position
Many people don’t understand what a gadol is saying and try to make an analogy to something else.”
myself. Degel Hatorah wanted me to be their representative in the municipality but I turned them down. I only related what the Rav said. “If I accepted a position I would have been a nogeia badavar, and my discussions with the Rav wouldn’t have been the same. He always trusted me to be impartial and tell him the truth so he could reach his own decisions. I didn’t want to be beholden to anyone. I recognized that I could either keep my relationship with the Rav or work for them; it was one or the other.” “How did you support yourself?” “Up until five years before the Rav’s passing I never took any money or stipend at all. I didn’t have any parnasah. At that point I saw that he was getting weaker and sending sh’eilos to Rav Shteinman and others. I understood that the time had come for me to do something for myself. I asked him if I should get involved in business and politics. ‘Here in Israel?’ he asked. “‘No,’ I replied, ‘in South America.’ He was very supportive of the idea. This strengthened my belief that he had never wanted me to be involved in politics in Eretz Yisrael. So I undertook certain ventures in Mexico and in other places. But he stipulated that I do everything there,
not here. No one will ever be able to say that I received any favors for helping them with Rav Elyashiv. Nothing I’m involved in now has any connection to Israeli politics. A couple of doors may have been opened here and there but no more than that.”
Affiliations “So your days of involvement in politics in Eretz Yisrael are over?” I wonder aloud. “I wouldn’t say that; a lot of people still ask me my opinion about certain things. Hashem gave me a certain facility and insight, but I don’t conduct business here. I was once sitting on a plane next to the mayor of a city in Mexico and we became friends. Now I’m part of his campaign for president. “Nationality doesn’t matter when you’re playing a game of chess. You can be Russian and I can be Japanese, but the game is always the same. The same is true with politics. It’s the same all over the world. You don’t need to know the language; you just need siyata dishmaya. I can make a living from politics without having to physically be there or be personally involved. “However, Israeli politicians do still consult with me. In the last elections, my good friend Aryeh Deri was running for Shas. He told me he needed people to work with and asked me to run for Knesset on the Shas ticket.” “Do you think Rav Elyashiv would have been upset had you joined Shas?” “I don’t know. But if there was even a one
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percent chance that he didn’t want me to do something I wouldn’t do it. “I have never been beholden to anyone. Nowadays, I’m connected to Degel, Agudah and Shas to the exact same extent. I’m not owned by any of them. I was always careful to ‘belong’ to Rav Elyashiv and no one else. If people say that Rav Elyashiv was connected to Degel Hatorah I say, ‘Fine! He was Rav Elyashiv; he was connected to Degel. I’m not Rav Elyashiv.’ “I’ve never been affiliated with any party or division. I’ve worked with all of them: Litzman, Porush. I did whatever Rav Elyashiv told me to do. I never worked for anyone else. It was just like I told my wife: ‘I work for him first; you’re second.’ That was my rule. “So I told Aryeh Deri, ‘I know that you want me; I’m not stupid. But I come with a price you wouldn’t be able to pay.’ "‘What’s the price?’ he asked. I told him, ‘I spent the 20 best years of my life—the years between 20 and 40, when most people are busy building up their lives— dedicated to being close to a great man like Rav Elyashiv. I sacrificed those years to him. If I sacrifice the next X number of years to you, I won’t be able to marry off my kids on what you can offer me. I can’t work for what you guys make. I’m not willing to sacrifice anymore for public affairs. Don’t be offended. “Baruch Hashem, doors have opened up for me. Things are working out. I have no doubt that the Rav is helping me from Above and arranging things. I still have the connection. I’m not prepared to give up this arrangement for shtuyot [nonsense].” “You’re calling politics shtuyot?” I ask, somewhat bemused. “Yes,” he answers without hesitation. “I
Chaim Cohen making a point
know what goes on. I know all the politicians, all their personal interests. How do I know? Because they only want to meet with me in private. They know I’ll say what I think, and that’s fine. But G-d forbid that someone else should hear what I’m saying. “I had many chances—to be on the municipality, to be an MK—but I knew Rav Elyashiv didn’t want me to be bound to others or to be like them. That’s why he trusted me. “They’ve all consulted with me. Before Shimon Peres went to Mexico his men met with me. We spoke about the political situation there, who’s on which side, whom to deal with and how.” “How did Peres know you?” “Before Peres became president he wanted the votes of the Degel MKs. At that
time, the municipality was considering hosting a parade celebrating non-traditional marriage. The Rav was very much against the parade, and asked who could be our ally. I told him there was one powerful man who was really opposed but didn’t want to come out openly: Shimon Peres. The Rav asked what he would want in return, and I said that I knew what he was interested in now, but he might want more in the future. Right now, I explained, he probably wants the four MK votes for president. Okay. Later, I added, he’ll probably also want a meeting with the Rav. The Rav replied, ‘Al rishon rishon, v’al acharon acharon’ [First things first]. We have to do what we need to do now. As far as the future, he probably won’t want a meeting until after he’s president, and by then he’ll be too busy.’
“I made an appointment and went to Peres’ office. I told him exactly what was going on: what we wanted, what we’d promise him, and how important this was to Rav Elyashiv. Peres got up and declared, ‘This is a man who speaks from the heart. He has never tried to ask for favors. If this is what bothers him, I’ll take care of it.’ “He spoke to the committee (It was a week before the scheduled parade) and explained that Yerushalayim wasn’t the right place for it; he was worried about the Muslims’ and Christians’ reaction. They listened and changed it to Tel Aviv! The Rav said, ‘Good. If it’s not in Yerushalayim ir hakodesh people will think, what’s the difference if it’s in Tel Aviv or Berlin?’ “And that’s how I came to know Shimon Peres. Four years later, he called me. Like Achashveirosh he couldn’t sleep one night
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Rav Elyashiv learning
and wanted to come see Rav Elyashiv. It was before Rosh Hashanah. The Rav instructed me to push him off because of the timing. “On Chol Hamoed, there was a lot of Palestinian stone-throwing by the Kosel because people were going up to the Har Habayis. Peres wanted to get a psak halachah from the Rav that it’s forbidden for Jews to go up to the Har Habayis. Rav Elyashiv had been screaming that it wasn’t permissible for decades, but now they wanted a psak from him for political expediency. Shortly thereafter it was all over the newspapers in his name that it’s forbidden to go there.”
Otherworldly “People used to tell me,” he continues, “that I was only a chauffeur. I’d say, ‘For me, this is olam haba!’ No one in the whole world had the same opportunity
to speak to him like I did as I was driving him around. “Each time he got into the car, three or four times a day, he’d say, ‘Va’ani bechasdecha batachti yageil libi biyshuasecha. Ashirah la’Hashem ki gamal alai’ (‘I trust in Your kindness; my heart will rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to Hashem, for He has dealt kindly with me’). He would also say this on Shabbos, whenever he stepped out of his house to go somewhere by foot. Everything G-d bestows upon us is a chesed. “In the mornings, he’d usually tell me how he’d slept, how he felt, or who had come to see him the previous day.” “In Yiddish?” “Usually, but sometimes in Hebrew. I received a blessing from him every day: ‘brachah v’hatzlachah bechol ha’inyanim.’” “Did you drive the Rav around in his famous golf cart?” “Certainly. At first when it was hard for
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him to walk he was given a wheelchair. But the Rav was very makpid to avoid seeming like an invalid even in the privacy of his home. He was particular about how he looked even in pictures. He refused to use the wheelchair. So I came up with the idea of a golf cart. Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski arranged to get one from America through the chesed organization Yad Sarah. The Rav liked it. He used it for seven years going to shul and back, a distance of about 100 meters. You could drive it right up to the door. “I agreed to collect the money for it on condition that after 120 it would be mine as a zikaron. I asked the Rav permission but he said that it should probably be given to Yad Sarah, ‘if it didn’t bother me.’ It didn’t. Afterwards, it was used by Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel of Mir, who later bought an identical one for himself.” “You drove Rav Elyashiv around often?” “He was makpid to see the makom hamik-
dash every 30 days. On Erev Rosh Chodesh I would take him until Shaar Yafo, from where he could see the gold dome. The last time we went he was very weak. I drove up to Porat Yosef and he picked up his head and said, ‘Shoyn! Now I can see it.’”
Departures “Each time I traveled to Mexico I’d go to him for a brachah before leaving. He’d tell me, ‘Fohr gezunt. Go in peace and return in peace.’ The last time I went was during the last year of his life. By then I wasn’t taking him to Shacharis anymore; either he davened at home or Rav Efrati would take him. He wished me ‘brachah v’hatzlachah’ before I departed, but he did not look good. I said, ‘Rebbe, maybe I shouldn’t go.’ “‘Drei nisht keyn kop,’ he replied, and insisted that I go. “As soon as I arrived they called to tell me he’d been taken to the hospital. It was a Thursday. I wanted to go back right away but I couldn’t get a flight before Shabbos. I put myself on standby but didn’t find a flight until Monday. I arrived early Wednesday at 4:30 a.m. By then he’d been hospitalized for almost a week. His eyes were open but he wasn’t speaking. His son-in-law, Rav Binyomin Rimmer, was there with his daughter Rebbetzin Rimmer, and their eldest son, Eli. When I walked in he said, ‘Borchi nafshi es Hashem.’ I didn’t know that he had stopped talking, because that’s what he said every day when I walked into his house and it was time to put on his tallis. But they were flabbergasted. I think he associated me with Shacharis, but I explained that there were still two hours to go and he gave me a little smile. I asked him for a brachah and he blessed me, my wife and my children. Rav Rimmer was going crazy. He said, ‘We want a brachah too!’ He proceeded to give brachos for exactly half an hour, including one for the head nurse in Hadassah. He never spoke again. “I really believe he felt he had to take
a proper leave, thanking me for everything I’d done and give me a blessing. He didn’t want to go up to Heaven without taking care of his obligation to me. “A day after his petirah I retired the special phone on which he used to call me. My job was now over. People asked me to speak, to write a book, but I decided not to. There was one media outlet that succeeded in squeezing half a page out of me about him but it took them two years, and they only got to me through my family. “I usually don’t like speaking to reporters, but for some reason I decided to speak to you and share my recollec-
tions for the first time. I just hope it will be a kiddush sheim shamayim, especially today, when people think that everything is done for personal gain and politics. People don’t understand what’s going on in Eretz Yisrael. I wanted to give a true portrayal of a gadol. “I was zocheh to have something special in my life that I no longer have. Whenever I had anything to ask, I got a clear answer and advice on the spot. Nowadays when I have sh’eilos I have the Kosel. It doesn’t cost anything. I don’t need protektzia. After I got married, I started going to the Kosel every Motzaei Shabbos for ten minutes. No one can take that from me. I believe that
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my Rebbe is still protecting me. Hashem helps me.” “What were Rav Elyashiv’s last words to you?” “‘Brachah v’hatzlachah bechol ha’inyanim.’ When I mentioned my wife he said, ‘She too should have a brachah.’ And my son? ‘He should be a talmid chacham and yerei shamayim.’ My daughter is named Shaina Chaya, after his wife. I asked about her. ‘Ah, gam brachah.’ And what about Shlomo, my Leshem? ‘Gam brachah.’ “You should know that I have a unique semichah from the Rav. I once bought something for him and he asked how much it cost and wrote a check to ‘Harav Chaim Cohen,’ giving me the title of rav. I kept the check. He did this four times. The fifth time he asked me to go to his drawer and get some cash. I told him I wanted a check. ‘Why?’ he asked. ‘So you can keep it and not deposit it again?’ He knew how much money was in his account. “He used to give everyone cash for Chanukah gelt, but he gave a check to my son Shlomo. He knew that I wouldn’t deposit it. The check was the present. It’s worth far more. “I once asked him if there was any Chanukah gelt for me. He said, ‘Oh, you want some too?’ So he wrote me out a check for 50 shekels, which of course I kept. My son’s was in the amount of 20 shekels. “We don’t have elections to choose a gadol hador; they have to be accepted by the people. The Rav was certainly accepted throughout the Jewish world as such but he was oblivious to it. He would always say, ‘All I need is my Gemara and shtender.’ He never forced his opinions on anyone. He said what he said and if people wanted to listen that was fine. If not, that was also good. “These days I personally have a big problem. I had the zechus to have a kesher with a man who lived with Hashem every day. What can I say? I no longer have that. I also no longer have his ‘brachah v’hatzlachah’ each morning.” As he says that, I’m pretty sure that I can see tears welling up in his eyes.
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Snapshots NUMBERS AND FACTS THAT GIVE A PICTURE OF ISRAEL’S ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
Tourism
Tourism is a large industry in Israel. Profits from tourism make up about 2% of the country’s GDP, which is a percentage slightly greater than agriculture and a little less than half of the construction and transportation industries. In 2011, tourists brought about $3.5 billion in income to the country. Jews make up a significant number of tourists to Israel, but for the last four years they’ve only been about a quarter of total visitors, because non-Jewish tourism has bounced back strongly as Israel has regained its reputation as a safe place to visit. There were 3.5 million tourist arrivals in Israel in 2012, higher than any year in the 2000s. Israeli tax policies intended to promote tourism exempt tourists from paying the high Israeli value-added taxes on rental cars, hotel rooms, and similar expenses. Yossi Landau of Plan-It Israel, a trip-planning company, says that while in the past a passport stamp would enable the exemption, new laws mean that tourists must remember—as many don’t—to take along a separate paper exemption to take advantage of the tax break. Rivkah Jacobs of Artzeinu Tours points out that tour companies in Israel have specific needs that might not be required elsewhere, like bulletproof buses for certain areas and special care to guard against dehydration of their clients, but they also have the advantage of a land full of spiritual and physical wonders to show to visitors.
Top tour requests from Jewish clients SOURCE: ARTZEINU TOURS AND PLAN-IT ISRAEL
What percentage of the total number of tourists to Israel in 2012 came from which countries?
20% 13% 9% 6% 5% 4% 4%
US RUSSIA FRANCE UK GERMANY ITALY UKRAINE
Old City and Kosel tunnels
Judean Hills Masada, Ein Gedi, Dead Sea
Rosh Hanikra Tsfas, Meron, Amuka, Teverya
Banias, Tzuk Manara Chevron, Kever Rachel
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BY YOSSI KRAUSZ
Startup Nation
Despite being a very small country, Israel is a great place to start a business, especially in high-tech industries. There are a large number of patents applied for by Israeli companies, either in the country or outside it. In 2011, there were 497 patent applications; 49% of those were bio-technological in nature. Many of the high-tech companies are located in the so-called Silicon Wadi of Israel’s coastal plain. Israel ranks highest in the world in percentage of its workforce employed in high-tech; in 2010, that included 12 percent of men aged 15 through 74. For its size, Israel is highly competitive in terms of startups. In Australia, there were 15 startup companies associated with universities, started in 2011. In Israel, which has a population almost three times smaller, there were 11. (In the US, there were about 617.) One of this past year’s big success stories for Israeli companies was Waze, a company that makes a driving app of the same name. In June, it was bought by Google for about $1.3 billion. The company had previously been courted by Apple, Microsoft and Facebook. And the purchase doesn’t mean that Israel is losing the company; Waze will still be based in Israel, where its 100 employees are located.
Israeli high-tech companies raised in venture capital investments in 2011
$2.14 billion Total startups in Israel
4,800
Incubators in just the Tel Aviv area
24
Number of Israeli venture capital firms
70
Amount of money raised by Israeli venture capital firms in 2012
$607 million
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Snapshots NUMBERS AND FACTS THAT GIVE A PICTURE OF ISRAEL’S ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
Education In a country of Jews, it’s not a wonder that schools are a primary concern, even among the less religiously affiliated. That’s one reason that Israel ranks second among OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries for percentage of 25- to 64-year-olds who have a tertiary-level (college or other post-high-school training institution) education, surpassed only by Japan and tied with Canada. Israel also has a nine percent higher school enrollment rate than the OECD average, because of high attendance and low school dropout rates. And the growth of yeshivos is truly incredible. Public education at the elementary or high school level— whether in secular or religious schools—is generally free. College is also relatively cheap. Public colleges, which are highly prestigious in Israel, cost on average around $2,700 a year in tuition. Private colleges cost more, about $8,500 a year. But there are numerous problems, as well. Israel has the most crowded classrooms among the OECD countries and pays teachers the least. A larger percentage of funding has been directed toward higher education than has been sent to younger children. Yeshivos, of course, have been affected in an extreme way. A lack of funding even at the higher education level has made many students flee the country. In 2008, for every 100 Israeli-born university faculty members working in Israeli universities, another 29 were working abroad. That represents the worst brain drain level of any country. The fact that two of the three 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipients were Israeli-born academics working outside the country added emphasis to that. And that has a financial effect: In 2012, Israeli companies generated $6 billion in direct business activity in Massachusetts and $12 billion in total economic impact on the state. There are more than 200 Israeli companies in that state alone, many started by people who went to school there. Several attempts to win Israeli academics back to the country have begun. The basic ingredient for all of them? Money, to attract people back.
AVERAGE SPENDING ON STUDENTS (2009) ISRAEL
OECD average
P R E - P R I M A R Y E D U C AT I O N
$4,000 $6,000 P R I M A R Y E D U C AT I O N
$5,000 $7,000 S E C O N D A R Y E D U C AT I O N
Growth of Chareidi Yeshivos:
$6,000 $9,000 T E R T I A R Y E D U C AT I O N
$11,000 $18,000
Total number of Israeli primary school students in 1960: Percentage in regular state schools: Percentage in state religious schools: Percentage in chareidi schools:
357,644
Total number of Israeli primary school students in 2013: Percentage in regular state schools: Percentage in state religious schools: Percentage in chareidi schools:
681,087
66.9% 26.5% 6.6%
52.2% 18.5% 25.2%
In Israel, there are 135 scientists for every 100,000 workers, the world’s highest such ratio. 100 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
BY YOSSI KRAUSZ
Agriculture As the land of milk and honey and the land of the seven species, Israel has a strong agricultural sector. In 2013, there were about 740,000 acres dedicated to agriculture in Israel, including aquaculture. Israel is known for a number of specific products. There were more than 1.2 billion flowers exported by Israel in 2000, the last year individual flowers were tallied. In 2012, the total value of flowers and garden plants
exported was over a billion shekels ($287 million). As an individual crop, potatoes, perhaps surprisingly, is one of Israel’s biggest; the country’s farms produced more than 565,000 tons in 2012. (That’s a lot of cholent.) Peppers brought in the most money of any vegetable, with crops worth more than 1.4 billion shekels. Citrus fruits are a major Israeli cash crop,
MILK AND HONEY: Number of beehives in Israel (2012): Number of milk cows in Israel (2012)
97,000 119,000
as well. In 2012, 667,400 tons, worth 1.62 billion shekels, were grown. Interestingly, one of the citrus fruits most often associated with Israel, Jaffa oranges, aren’t always from Israel. The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture licenses the Jaffa brand to South American and southern African citrus products when the Israeli fruit is not in season.
Total Israeli land growing esrogim: Number of esrogim produced a year in Israel: Number used domestically: Number exported from Israel:
250 acres 1,000,000 700,000 300,000
Five Israeli agriculture innovations, from among thousands:
1
Drip irrigation, to conserve water and make the desert bloom
2
The modern cherry tomato
3
Dry-climate potatoes
4 5
Closed water reservoir system for growing fish in the desert
The Soil Aquifer Method of usedwater reclamation
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Snapshots NUMBERS AND FACTS THAT GIVE A PICTURE OF ISRAEL’S ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
Tzedakah and Chesed
There is an incredible amount of tzedakah and chesed that goes on in Israel on a daily basis. A study in the early 2000s found that 77 percent of adult Israelis had given a monetary donation to charity. There is a great need for that kind of giving, though. Israel’s National Insurance Institute released a study in 2011 that showed that 19 percent of Israeli families suffer from food insecurity, 10 percent suffer from hunger, and two percent suffer from extreme hunger. It also found that a third of Israeli families have chosen to buy other necessities rather than food. The recent financial crisis caused a number of Israeli nonprofit organizations to suffer; a study by Ben-Gurion University found that in 2010 one out of seven were facing a shutdown. But numbers like that—fueled by a reduction in charitable giving by big US foundations—obscure the intense numbers of private donations, many of them made one-onone to Israel’s poor, that keep flowing. And Israeli giving can’t be measured just in a monetary sense. In 2013, almost five million Israelis, out of a population of just under eight million, reported performing volunteer work. Out of those, 39 percent reported working more than 10 hours a month as volunteers.
Number of active non-profits in Israel (2007)
Who were the Israeli Jews involved in volunteer work in 2013?
17,000
Percentage of the Israeli GDP generated by non-profits
12%
Percentage of the Israeli workforce employed by non-profits
10%
35.9% 30.9% 18.8% 18.2%
of all chareidim
346,000 people
of all dati’im
393,100 people
of all chiloni’im
1,666,400 people
of all masorti’im (traditional)
1,500,200 people
700,000 Israeli children live below the poverty line. 102 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
Twin
yourSimcha!
and make it last forever...
NEW BABY
BAR MITZVAH
WEDDING
Your newborn’s very first Mitzvah… Feed a hungry baby in Israel in gratitude for the precious gift of a new life in your family.
Your son’s Bar Mitzvah is on the horizon… Make tzedaka an integral part of his entry into adulthood by giving a boy in Israel his first pair of tefillin.
“Host” a wedding in Israel on the same night as your own, giving another bride and groom a day of true celebration.
You contribute: $360 to feed an infant for his/her first year of life $180 to feed a baby for six months.
You contribute: $1,000 for tefillin and a small celebration $500 to provide a pair of tefillin
You contribute: $1,000 for a wedding sponsorship $2,600 for a wedding package
We will send you: A “Baby’s First Mitzvah” certificate acknowledging that this birth was the inspiration for a unique act of giving.
We will send your son: His own “Mitzvah Memento,” a certificate in recognition that he has shared his special day with a boy in need.
We will send you: A decorative certificate for your new home elegantly depicting the joy you brought to others.
Yad Eliezer
USA: 1102 E. 26th St Brooklyn, NY 11210, 718-258-1580 CANADA: Canadian Friends of Yad Eliezer, 1 Forestwood Toronto, QC M5N 2V5 ISRAEL: POB 41074 Jerusalem 91410, 02-591-2200
www.YadEliezer.org
By Shiffy an Freidm s by Photo er Esth owski Tchelk
n O la’s u e G ming e e T ets e r t S nter isp wi his r c s i be th s of t descri h the street ix of o t d g r u o cm the w ay thro an eclecti is lined s w i y ” s m h loriou as I wend ng wit israel, s Teemi , Malchei Y ent of ware ng i . n d r o o o m t h e r m e t o r r t b asso in s eigh lafel. its ma ng an lem n r Jerusa nd tourists, l shops selli pizza and fa the place fo l o a , s t a i s s t , l k m e r a g s e of loc str dra two ozens aica and ar of the main ll down its world d h t i w o ud in the s I str l name ricey J from p , the origina xperience. A ery country says Anna, a tes, G e u l a s h o p p i n g e e m s t h a t e v od falafel,” een bi e w o t s e e G t u “ b i q a uni k in hand, ive to visit. iddle East, o M at ar y notebo a represent tour of the d culin s e n a t a . n e n s e n i r chi has s lian o hand glimp Austra ing down he of its merc ict offers a r y native p t t ful dis e varie ah drip techin ide from th d and color But as this crowde lity. gs, enta offerin country’s m e into th
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Numb er of yarmu betwe lkes s en Ro old sh Ha Yom K shana ippur h and : 14,00 0
Jerusalem Yarmulka
A
Most Popu lar Ca "I can’t p: afford a Bors I sent m alino b y daug ecause hter to semina ry"
profusion of rainbow colors catches my eye as I step into this Judaica store. I begin to count the neat bins—black, brown, red, yellow, burgundy, gray—until Yuda, dubbed the “press spokesman” by his fellow salesmen, comes to the rescue. “We have 20 colors!” The shop, teeming with customers and young, jovial salesmen, offers a lot more than yarmulkes, although Yuda admits they’re the bestsellers here. “We sell kippot for all kinds of men,” he says. “And women too!” a guy named Avi chimes in. “Do you tell the women what you think about that?” I ask. They laugh. “We’ve had a lot of non-Jews ask to put on tefillin,” Yuda points toward the counter, where a salesman is holding a pair of tefillin. “They want to do it with the outer case on, so that it looks better in the pictures.” Jerusalem Yarmulka opened its doors 12 years ago, under the ownership of Schneur Ehrentrau, so that every Jew could find a piece of Judaica that’s meaningful to him. “We were the first ones to offer computerized embroidery,” Yuda says, showing me some tallis bags with intricate designs. “We use four machines, including one that’s big enough to accommodate a paroches.” I’m swept into the fun atmosphere as I observe customers at the mirror trying on all kinds of colorful textile yarmulkes and baseball caps with amusing captions and logos. “There’s a lid for every pot, and a yarmulke for every head,” says Yuda, smiling. Number of yarmulkes sold between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: 14,000 Most popular caption on a cap: “I can’t afford a Borsalino because I sent my daughter to seminary.”
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Jerusalem Impressions
P
eering through a window reflecting the dazzling Jerusalem sun, I peek into the Jerusalem Impressions gift shop and see shelves filled with magnificent works of art. When I step inside, I’m greeted warmly by proprietor Meir Andibo, whose artistry and skill are evident everywhere.
“Every item in the store,” Meir says, motioning toward displays of ceramic giftware, leather artwork and gold-plated brass designs, “is created by our own small team of artisans.” Six years ago, when Israeli-born Meir Andibo returned from Mexico where he and his wife had been running a coffee business, he opened up a small factory with a vision of producing artwork. (“Why did we come back?” asks Meir, a ba'al teshuvah. “As I said to my wife, ‘Why should we travel on a crowded airplane with everyone else when Mashiach comes? Let’s just go now.’”) Meir is still the visionary behind each piece, but he employs two graphic artists for the computer-based aspects of the work. “I considered going to China for ing part of the manufacturing process,” he admits, “but we wanted only the best for our e. her eryth v e E n customers.” ler: eryo tsel r ev “Feel at home,” Meir tells a customer who enters the shop at that moment and asks o f Bes hing to see some ceramics. met o s “My original dream was to create a museum display, each piece depicting another re’s The chapter in our nation’s history starting from yetziat Mitzrayim, but the investment was too great.” After each piece is formed, the brass base is etched with acid and the final result dipped in gold. I take a closer look at some of his handmade pieces. Each one is uniquely magnificent. “You have a real talent,” I tell him sincerely. “Baruch Hashem,” he says, shrugging his shoulders and smiling. “It’s a gift from Above, and I try to repay Him as much as I can. Just yesterday our company was in the news. We’re going to be selling 1,000 gold-plated necklaces that regularly cost 120 shekels for just 29 shekels, less than cost, to any woman who undertakes to recite the entire Tehillim twice as a merit against the giyus [induction into the army]. “So many tourists come into my shop each day, and I’m here to change their negative perception of ‘the aggressive Israeli.’ If they leave the store having purchased something, I’m happy. But even if they don’t, I’m glad to have made a kiddush Hashem.”
Bu s Sum iest s ea Ho mer son tte : st Key cha item ins 150 : -20 0p er d a
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Olive Wood Art
A
s I descend the six stairs leading to the shop, I’m greeted by a fusion of cigarette smoke and the aroma of fresh wood. Nadav Ezra, who’s owned the store for 55 years, sits on a stool facing the entrance, blowing puffs of smoke in my direction. “I took over from my father,” he tells me. “He’s the one who started this place, and thank G-d, we’ve been inundated with tourists ever since. Nowadays we have a factory in Mishor Adumim making all these pieces.” “Where do you get the olive wood from?” I ask. “From the army. They deliver it to us after they chop down trees that are blocking their view for security purposes.” I’m amazed to see the array of original creations Nadav and his team have produced: key chains, pens, hairbrushes, hat brushes—even an olive wood tefillah for cholent! “I can’t take credit for coming up with everything,” he tells me. “Sometimes customers come in with a request, and if we like the idea we produce them in bulk. That’s what happened with our backscratcher.” The originality of some of these tchotchkes keeps people coming back year after year. “Customers are always coming in to show me pictures,” says Rachel, an artist who’s been working here for 27 years. “They like to show me how much their friends and family are enjoying their gifts. A lot of people have stayed in touch over the years. It’s wonderful to watch their families grow!” “Who was your most famous customer?” I ask. “I don’t know a lot of these people,” Nadav tells me, “but when I see them coming in with cameras,” he crouches down on the ground in an attempt to imitate the paparazzi, “I know they’re big. We had a few popular singers, and someone once bought an Eishes Chayil plaque for the Clintons!” Their most popular item by far is the conventional shtender, which Rachel decorates at the customer’s request. They also sell hundreds of holiday-related items such as esrog boxes, dreidels and megillah cases. Nadav bangs on the wooden table with a gavel. “The Knesset bought some of these here for their judges,” he says proudly.
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very tourist, without fail, has walked down the narrow corridor of 7 Malchei Yisrael en route to this famed leather store that’s been in existence for eight years. “If you ever come across an interesting leather creation, take it from me that we were the first ones to make it,” says Tami, the saleswoman. I am surrounded by leather kippot, necklaces and brightly colored, leather-bound siddurim. Without a doubt, this is the go-to place for anyone wishing to bring home a souvenir. As someone recently asked me, “What did we do in the olden days, before the leather store was around?” There’s a perfect gift for every occasion and family member. “My friend’s son was just bar mitzvah,” I tell her, “and I wanted to give him something. A trip to the leather store solved the problem. I got him the clever tefillin mirror and had his name engraved on the cover.” “There are always all kinds of people in here,” she says. “Whenever someone is promoted in the police department, his coworkers come in to buy him a nice Tehillim. We get a lot of government officials too, but of course, tourists are our main customers. They always manage to find something for their friends and family back home. We’re always full.” I can attest to that. Standing right next to me is a young mother and three girls whose hands are filled with items, excitedly trying to decide between colors and shapes. “Then there are times when we can’t catch our breath, like Sukkos and before Purim and Lag Ba’Omer. Last year, a lot of people came for a Satmar wedding. It was pandemonium!” Tami says, and the saleswomen laugh as they remember. 110 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
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s soon as I step into Shlomo’s Falafel, Yisrael Gamliel, its friendly Yemenite proprietor, waves me into the back kitchen. The heat here is so suffocating that I have newfound respect for the gray-bearded gentleman standing and frying balls of chickpea mash to the rhythm of Yemenite music. “Seventy more!” shouts a worker from the front as he sends over#1 a plastic flying Frisbee. Israel’s trustedbowl source forlike all ayour real estate needs Uziel moves quickly as he refills the blue bowl for what must be the umpteenth time today. “It’s a family business,” Yisrael explains. “My father-in-law’s father started with a pushcart in 1934 and sold the best falafel in town. His son opened a shop across the street, and we moved here in 1964. The place is named for my father-in-law, Shlomo Amir.” I wonder aloud what it is about this falafel that makes it so delicious. “It’s a family secret,” he says. “And people keep coming back because we smile a lot.” The falafel is served with one of five toppings: techinah, charif, hilba, amba and za’atar. “We’ve merited to have some very distinguished customers, like Rav Cheshin and Rav Ovadia Yosef z”l. They used to send their talmidim here.”
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my word! A S H E R V. F I N N
Each week, “My Word!”—penned by the esteemed president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to English—highlights often-misused or misspelled phrases or words, common grammatical challenges, unusual expressions or neologisms. Or it just calls attention to curious or interesting locutions. So if you want to learn some new things about English—or are already expert in the language and want to prove it to yourself—you’ve come to the right place.
Woody Words
O
n Tu Bishvat, Sylvan and Sylvia are driving to Pennsylvania, which, of course, is only fitting. That would be because their names and the name of the state where they are vacationing all derive from the word “sylvan,” which means “pertaining to woods.” (Actually Sylvan and Sylvia’s Jewish names are Ilan and Ilana. And Sylvan’s friends, of course, call him Woody.) As to Pennsylvania, it is commonly thought to have been named after William Penn, who did, in fact, receive the land so called as payment for a debt to Penn’s father, by England’s King Charles II. But Mr. Penn Jr. claimed that the first syllable in truth reflected the Welsh word for “head” and that he was embarrassed by people’s thinking he had named it “Penn’s Woods” rather than that the king had named it “Head Woods.” He even wrote a friend that he had tried to bribe the royal secretary to change the name to “New Wales,” to no avail. But we digress. The “-sylvania” part of the state’s name (and Sylvan’s and Sylvia’s) clearly derives from the proper name “Silvanus,” used by the Romans for what they believed to be the spirit of woods and fields, identified with the Greek deity Pan (the half-goat fellow with a flute you may have seen in paintings). Lest we digress yet further, this time into the admittedly entertaining but irrelevant realm of the ancient Greeks’ imaginings, let us turn to real things, like the fact that Tu Bishvat is, as the Mishnah in Rosh Hashana informs us, the new year for trees (at least according to Beis Hillel, whom we generally follow, as we do here). The import of that designation has to do with various halachic agricultural laws. 112 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 S H VA T 5 7 7 4
The holiday is often called the “Jewish Arbor Day,” after the “Goyish Arbor Day” (usually abbreviated just plain “Arbor Day,” a cultural celebration conceived by a Nebraska newspaper editor in 1872—approximately 1500 years after the writing of the Mishna). Which leads us to our next woody word, “arbor.” It means a “leafy, shady recess formed by tree branches,” although its Old French root, erbier, means a grassy plot, derived from the Latin herba—the obvious source of our word “herb” (whose “h,” incidentally, unlike that of Herb— or Herb himself, if you know him—is silent). A fancy name for a garden of trees and shrubs, you may know (and, if not, you will in a second), is “an arboretum.” And then, of course, we have the word “tree.” It is rooted in the Old English treo. Remarking on what an Old Englishman might have called a threesome of trees would yield a very lame joke indeed. And, finally, we have “wood,” which like the Hebrew etz, can mean either a tree or a piece of it. It is from the Old English wudu. The word “wood,” like the substance, serves us in many ways. A “wooden expression” means a face that doesn’t communicate any emotion. A woodwind is a breath-played instrument like a flute, clarinet, or oboe, which once were made exclusively of wood. Being “out of the woods” means having achieved safety. “Woodwork” means the part of a structure made of wood; and “out of the woodwork” means “suddenly” or “of indeterminate origin.” And if this column has “board” you, well then, just take me to the woodshed.
•
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News From the Resistance A POLISH NEWSPAPER YIELDS AN INSPIRING READ
S
ome of you may remember that musty old basement shop that I like to visit when I’m in Krakow. In issue #130 of Ami Magazine, I wrote about the treasures I’ve found among the assorted items there and how the proprietor saved a Kiddush becher for me. Well, recently I got another surprise from one of my purchases. The last time I was in Poland, I stopped by the antique store again. I spent a while sifting through the piles of old newspapers, looking for articles related to the war. Although I don’t speak Polish, I can usually figure out what the article is about by the dates and pictures. I finally found some World War II-era newspapers. I bought the whole stack and donated them to the Kleinman Family Holocaust Education Center. The papers joined hundreds of other artifacts and items of interest that are being carefully examined and catalogued by the collections staff at KFHEC. I swing by the collections department regularly to see how this delicate work is progressing, and last week I watched as
The 1944 Polish underground newspaper (Property of KFHEC)
our team began to examine the pages. At first, nothing unusual turned up. Most of the newspapers were copies of the Goniec Krakowski (Bishop of Krakow), a Nazicontrolled Polish newspaper that was published in occupied Krakow. There was a
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New Year’s message from Hitler, ym”s, and news about German advances and how the Soviet beast was being crushed. But as I was turning to leave, I heard, “Wait! Rabbi Friedmann, look at this!” Among the German propaganda, there
Reb Lazer Rosenzweig’s DP camp identification card (Property of KFHEC)
was a paper called Nowe Zycie. The top of the front page was emblazoned with the slogan “Death to the German invaders!” It was not too difficult to translate the general message of the articles. Nowe Zycie means “new life,” and the paper was filled with news of the antiNazi resistance and the impending defeat of the German forces. The newspaper was one of many underground Polish newspapers published during the war. This particular one was funded by the General Jewish Labor Bund. Perhaps most astonishing was the fact that it was dated 1944! During the darkest years of the war, after most of Poland’s Jews had been killed, a voice of resistance was still in print. I am often asked if it’s disheartening to devote so much of my time to Holocaustrelated work. My answer is that although the horrible loss of life is heartbreaking and much of the work we deal with involves tragedy, I am always amazed and inspired by the remarkable perseverance and strength displayed by so many of the victims and survivors. One such recent incident comes to mind. In Ami #136, we featured a copy of a list of people in the Salzburg DP Camp who focused on getting kosher food immediately after the war. Not recognizing any of the individuals listed, I wondered what became of them. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when we received a call from Mrs. Pearl Engelman, who had noticed the name of her father, Reb Lazer Rosenzweig, a”h, on the list and decided to donate her father’s collection of Holo-
caust-era artifacts to KFHEC. A Stropkover chasid from Košice, Slovakia, Reb Lazer was deported to Auschwitz and was one of the only survivors of his family. After marrying in the DP camp, he moved to the United States and settled in Williamsburg. With great emunah and mesiras nefesh, Reb Lazer was zocheh to rebuild and became the father and grandfather of a large chasidishe family. Uplifting stories about keeping kosher, even finding out about an underground secular newspaper, can be a spark of light that dispels a lot of darkness. Far from getting depressed, I have found a new sense of pride the more I learn of the commitment and resolve of these great Yidden. Whether in the confines of the death-filled ghettos and concentration camps or in the postwar DP camps, our parents and grandparents forged ahead despite unimaginable hardships. As plans for the different exhibits take shape at the Kleinman Family Holocaust Education Center, we continue to focus on this theme. I believe it is very important that the lessons of the Holocaust be integrated into our everyday lives—because surely the greatest zechus for those who died al kiddush Hashem is that we are inspired by them to live al kiddush Hashem.
•
Rabbi Sholom Friedmann is the director of the Kleinman Family Holocaust Education Center, located in Brooklyn, NY. To learn more, visit kfhec.org. You can also contact the center at info@kfhec.org or at 718-759-6200.
Are Takanos Appropriate in My Shul? Dear Rabbi Taub: I am always impressed with the clarity of your responses. The recent question about balancing our needs and societal norms touched upon an issue with which we are currently grappling. I would very much like to hear your opinion. Our shul board has opened discussion about instituting takanos for simchos held in the shul. I have mixed feelings about the idea. Clearly, some people feel overwhelmed about having to “keep up with the Joneses” in regard to spending on a simchah, and they would prefer that this pressure be minimized. As a child of Holocaust survivors, I appreciate the joy of making a simchah and doing our best to make it nice. We also encourage our children to share in others’ simchos. We have a very mixed crowd. Some prefer simplicity, some families create glorious displays, and others hire party planners (for convenience or to impress). This does not necessarily correlate with their financial means. I have always felt that takanos imply, “If I can’t afford it or don’t have the time or talent to arrange it, you shouldn’t have it either.” I feel stifled by unnecessary regulations that generally accomplish little in leveling the playing field of life but have the effect of dampening a person’s simchah. What is your view on this? I am clearly not the right person to decide because I’m not affected by peer pressure to begin with and could theoretically afford to make a more lavish simchah if I wanted to. (Also, I’m obviously biased against takanos.) Biased
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D
ear Biased: First of all, allow me to pay you a compliment. We all know that we are hopelessly biased toward our own positions; as the Sages say, “Adam karov eitzel atzmo” (Sanhedrin 25a). It’s one thing to know it, but it’s another thing to apply it. So your acknowledgment that you are biased against takanos and that you are “clearly not the right person” to make a decision about them is impressive. Many people would make the opposite argument—that if they really feel strongly about something, they are in a good position to make a decision about it. But your conclusion that your strong feelings are an obstacle to clarity shows great humility and wisdom on your part. Now that I have paid you a compliment, I want to pay you a debt of gratitude as well. The other column that you refer to— the one written to the Israeli kollel avreich whose father wanted to buy him a car— brought up many issues of community financial standards. I did not, however, address the issue of takanos that attempt to regulate these standards, so thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to talk about this subject now. My feeling about takanos is generally positive. On the whole, it has done a great deal of good. Is it artificial? Yes. Is it the answer to all woes? No. But there is no denying that takanos that govern the amount of money families spend on simchos have had an overall beneficial effect. You state that takanos convey an attitude that if one person doesn’t have the money, time or talent to make a lavish simchah, others should not be able to do so either. There may be some of that. But mostly, the honest attitude behind takanos is the recognition that social pressure is a very real thing, especially in a frum community where people really do share their lives.
In a typical American neighborhood, nobody knows what his neighbor’s kid’s wedding was like because he doesn’t go to his neighbor’s kid’s wedding. But in frummer kehillos, we are all in each other’s houses and attend each other’s lifecycle events. We mingle in ways that are uncommon in the larger society. In the world at large, people are pretty well segregated along socioeconomic lines. Rich people live in rich neighborhoods; poor people live in poor neighborhoods. There’s not too much mixing. So those who use paper plates and plastic cutlery at their wedding generally don’t socialize with people who hire ice sculptors for theirs. If you think about it, the purpose of takanos is to help preserve the economic diversity that most frum communities have. Without standards of some kind, what would eventually happen is that
to takanos made to preserve unity in large communities. What you are describing, however, is a single shul. I don’t know how big your shul is, but even presuming it is huge, that is still not the same thing as an entire chug within klal Yisrael. A community that has tens of thousands of followers is bound to be an economically diverse body that includes the full spectrum of wealth and poverty. Certain regulatory standards are unavoidable if one is to preserve unity in such a diverse group. But a single shul? Not everyone has to daven at the same shul; there are always other options. So your scenario is different from what people normally refer to when they speak of simchah takanos. The way in which your situation is different sheds light on the real issue here. The real issue is not takanos. The real issue is what it means to you to be a member of a shul community.
THE REAL ISSUE IS NOT TAKANOS. THE REAL ISSUE IS WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU TO BE A MEMBER OF A SHUL COMMUNITY. people would separate into economically homogeneous social groups. The poor man and the rich man would daven in two different shuls, send their children to different schools, identify with different groups. Essentially, the economic reality would force the community to split into mini-communities—but not before causing a lot of strain and strife first. Having said all of that, however, I want to point out how your situation may be an exception. The points I have made thus far pertain
Let me explain. Let’s say the shul board passes takanos and you don’t like them. Nu, nu. So don’t make your simchah in the shul. It’s not like you’re stuck. Nobody’s stopping you from renting a private hall or going to another shul. But if you say that you don’t want to go to a private hall or to another shul, that you want to celebrate davka in your shul, then I must ask, “Why?” What’s so special about your shul? Is it the building? There are other buildings. Or is it the commu-
nity? And if so, a community is made up of people who share common standards. And these people just got together and voted on what their standards were—and you didn’t like those standards. So the question is, what is so important to you about making your simchah with this community—with people who, as a whole, just determined that they don’t share your standards? In other words, mimah nafshach, either way you slice it…if you don’t like this community, then don’t make your simchah with them; and if you do like them, then accept their standards. It’s one or the other. And if this decision baffles you, then I think it’s a great opportunity to reflect on what a community really means to you. What is a community? Who are these people with whom we share every Shabbos and Yom Tov? Is a shul a building or a collection of people? Is there such a thing as a community having a personality? Can this personality be changed? Should it be changed? These are all questions that you can consider. But the main thing is that Hashem should bless you and your family with many, many simchos, and only simchos. With blessing, RST Rabbi Shais Taub is a noted expert on Jewish spirituality and addiction. He is the author of the best-selling G-d of Our Understanding: Jewish Spirituality and Recovery from Addiction. Questions for Rabbi Taub should be sent to ask@amimagazine.org.
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The Rabbanim of Israel PART 1: AMAZING ENCOUNTERS
Jews of the old Yishuv
B
efore there was a “Brisker Rav,” there was a “Brisker Rebbetzin.” Unconnected to the famed Soloveitchik dynasty (although the Beis Halevi was exceptionally close with him), the Maharil Diskin served as the rav of Brisk in the mid-1800s. After a tumultuous experience, he arrived in Israel on Rosh Chodesh Av 1877. His rebbetzin was known as a strong person who had great accomplishments to her credit, such as the still-active Diskin Orphanage. She became known as the Brisker Rebbetzin. (Until Rav Velvel Soloveitchik, the appellation “Brisker Rav” was used often for the Maharil; the 1905 book Jews in Many Places refers to him by that title.)
Just as the Maharil Diskin prepared Brisk for the Beis Halevi—by vastly improving its Torah institutions in order to return the city to its glory days—so did he prepare Yerushalayim for the arrival of the Brisker Rav years later. The politics, halachos and philosophical questions that came before the early rabbanim of modern Israel, both before and after the state’s founding, were staggering and can easily be taken for granted when we visit the modern city today. In fact, until 1878, the Turks did not even allow Ashkenazi rabbanim to shecht! Rejecting an offer to become chief rabbi of New York in 1880, the Maharil was crowned rav of Yerushalayim by Rav Shmuel Salant. Things were not very official back then. As Rav Salant once
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remarked, “They can’t fire me because they never hired me!” That was a critical period. Soon a great fog would descend upon the Land when the old yishuv would be met by the new. Many in the new yishuv were completely secular, and some of them had negative views toward the perushim. Difficult questions would have to be dealt with, sensitive issues broached. In The Brisker Rav by Rabbi S. Y. Meller (Feldheim), the rav is quoted as saying that in Europe the Maharil Diskin was a fiery misnaged, but once in Israel he realized that the issue of misnagdus had since passed and that he must direct all of his energies toward addressing any movement in the Land perceived to be a move away from the derech haTorah.
BY RABBI MOSHE TAUB
To many of the secular olim, the views of these rabbanim were seen as a roadblock to progress, even a danger to the state’s viability. Others were completely indifferent to what these rabbanim said, perhaps not even knowing of their existence. “All professions are conspiracies against the laity,” said George Bernard Shaw. A wonderful idiom, it explains that lay people often mistrust or misunderstand those in higher occupations. Certainly rabbanim understand this. Even Moshe Rabbeinu had to contend with those who challenged his judgment and choices. The purpose of the next few columns is to step behind the curtain and “eavesdrop” on some of the discussions that took place at meetings attended by disparate figures with contrasting goals in those early days of modern Israel. Amazingly, there is even a video of several rabbanei Yerushalayim leaving a meeting with the colonial secretary for Britain at the time—Winston Churchill! Here are snippets from some fascinating encounters: In 1909, the venerable monthly Pearson’s Magazine sent a reporter to the Middle East to investigate the slaughter of thousands of Christians. The writer was able to get an audience with Rav Shmuel Salant, then 95 years old, days before his passing. During this fascinating interview, Rav Salant expressed great joy that Jews were coming back to the Holy Land, encouraging other Jews to follow their lead. But the end of the interview is particularly striking: “I can recall conversations with many distinguished religious leaders,” the interviewer stated, “with Leo XIII in the Vatican; with the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lambeth Palace; with the Sheikh-ul-Islam in Constantinople… with cardinals and archbishops and patriarchs of many faiths—even with a great,
rumbling, mysterious mahatma from the Himalayas. But I cannot remember anything more impressive than the face of the grand rabbi of Jerusalem as he raised his white, withered hand in parting.” In 1954, a South American chareidi newspaper reported on a meeting between Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank and Rav Meir Karelitz (brother of the Chazon Ish) in the prime minister’s office. The entire exchange can be found in The Brisker Rav, Vol. 3 (p. 95). The topic under discussion was the National Service Law, which would make the draft mandatory for girls. Rav Frank began by marshalling a midrash to support the idea that drafting Bais Yaakov girls
because it will spit us out, Ben-Gurion responded, “Al tiftach peh laSatan!” (This proverb, while not found explicitly, to my knowledge, anywhere in Chazal, can be inferred from numerous places in the Gemara and midrashim.) Ben-Gurion went on to explain that just as in the days of the Gemara there was a Beis Shammai and a Beis Hillel, the same concept applied to this issue. There were many other rabbis, Ben-Gurion asserted, who agreed with him. When Rav Frank replied that these rabbis were like Yeravam ben Navat, who split the Jewish people into two monarchies, Ben-Gurion had the gall to retort, “Harav Frank, a little anavah (humility)!” Rav Frank responded, “Forgive me,
There is a video of several rabbanei Yerushalayim leaving a meeting with the colonial secretary for Britain at the time—Winston Churchill! would be like drafting them to another nation. “To another nation?” Ben-Gurion asked, nonplussed. Rav Frank responded that he was referring to the midrash that explains “am acher,” another nation, as “eim acher,” another mother. After a give-and-take about the dikduk involved in this extrapolation, Ben-Gurion charged, “Ein mikra yotzei midei peshutah (a verse must retain its simple meaning)”—a concept that would not apply to such a midrash. It is fascinating that for centuries, rabbanim appealed to and pleaded with gentile leaders, and now venerable sages were discussing a midrash in a Jewish prime minister’s office! When Rav Karelitz remarked that the Torah warns us not to defile the Land
Prime Minister, but you are unlearned… I say such a thing [that great rabbis disagree with us on this issue] is impossible. No rabbi who is great in Torah and a posek would say anything different from what we are saying, according to the Holy Torah!” Ben-Gurion did agree with these Torah giants that the sword and the bow would not save the new state, and he even remarked, “I know that until now our victories have come through spirit…but ein somchin al hanes!” To be continued… Rabbi Moshe Taub has served as the rabbi of the Young Israel of Greater Buffalo since September 2003, and also serves as the rav hamachshir of the Buffalo Vaad Hakashrus.
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An Escape and an Esrog
SWEPT OUT TO SEA IN A SMALL BOAT, I HOPED I WAS HEADED AWAY FROM NAZI TERRITORY
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was born in England to a traditional Jewish family. Ours was a home in which both our Judaism and our nationality were borne with pride. We swore allegiance to the mighty British Empire and were patriotic in every sense of the word. Although we were not, as is termed today, “ultra-Orthodox,” Shabbos mornings would still see me and my father walking through the drizzle to shul. The same was true of every weekday Minchah. As I grew up, my parents had great hopes that I would enter the workforce as a professional. But Hashem had other plans, and following a series of events orchestrated by Divine Providence, I found myself enlisting in the British Army. This was right in the middle of World War II, and I knew that enlisting meant I’d probably be shipped off to Europe as soon as my training period was over. And so it was. After a short period of instruction I became part of a bomber squadron in the Royal Air Force. But in addition to being a soldier trained to obey orders without question, I was also a Jew. As such, I carried out my duties with an extra sense of purpose. Each direct hit was a step toward helping my unfortunate brethren in faraway Russia and Poland. Our daily missions were filled with hope, apprehension and a sense of camaraderie. On one such mission we were headed toward Germany with four tons of explosives in the plane’s hold. Although it was July, at 12,000 feet we didn’t notice the heat; we were too focused on our mission. It was just the two of us—the pilot and me. We were flying over Rome when all of a sudden, without warning, we were confronted by an Italian fighter jet. He started
to strafe us relentlessly, and we knew that this would be our end. We were carrying too heavy a load to take risks; the explosives we had on board could turn us into a giant ball of fire within seconds. To avoid being burned alive, we bailed out and were apprehended by Italian ground troops almost as soon as we touched ground. The speed with which we went from being free men to prisoners was dizzying. Our new home, a former monastery, had
“How about trying to escape?” another officer whispered to me one day as we were playing. His question prompted me to look upward toward the barred windows, just in time to catch a glimpse of the dipping sun, and I suddenly remembered: Minchah. I no longer remembered all the words of the Shemoneh Esrei by heart but I stood at attention, feet together, and repeated over and over the few phrases I had committed to memory. I did this until the sun finally
“How about trying to escape?” another officer whispered to me one day as we were playing Monopoly. been converted into a POW camp for thousands of captured British officers. It was in a city called Chieti, a few hundred kilometers northeast of Rome. Baruch Hashem, I was offered the same privileges as all the other officers, who were not aware that I was Jewish. This meant I could receive parcels from home, as well as care packages from well-meaning strangers. Many of these packages contained books and games that helped us pass the time, which took on new meaning as it stretched ahead of us endlessly. The days were long, boring and empty, and Monopoly soon became a favorite pastime. For hours we would argue among ourselves about different strategies, as if by doing so we could figure out strategic moves for our own future.
disappeared from sight. Months passed, and on September 8, 1943, the news in the camp became official: Italy, the oldest ally of Nazi Germany, had surrendered unconditionally to the Americans and British, who now occupied the south of the country. That night our guards abandoned their positions and we were technically free to leave. However, the British had received orders that in the event of an Allied invasion, they should make sure all the POWs remained in the camp until the troops arrived. Little did they know that the Germans would move in quickly, sweeping through Italy and reaching the camp long before the Allies could get there. The camp thus went from Italian to German control, and all of the surviving prisoners were deported to Germany for
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As the day wore on, I started to hallucinate. I saw visions of my childhood home and my parents. the remainder of the war. As a Jew, however, I decided to take no chances. As soon as the guards disappeared, I made my escape. Breaking off the corner of the heel of my shoe, I extracted a number of Italian bank notes that had been concealed inside. Without looking back, I zigzagged through the darkness and headed for the relative safety of the surrounding countryside. I lay low for a while, wandering from village to village, hiding out in piles of hay and abandoned barnyards. Eventually the seasons changed and the weather started to get cold. At that point in the war, the Italian peasants were suffering. An atmosphere of sus-
picion and terror prevailed. Everyone was afraid. The Germans had been forced to withdraw their troops on several fronts to bring more manpower to Italy, and they were taking out their frustrations on their former allies. Very few farmers were openly friendly to me. I used my money sparingly, buying food only when I had absolutely nothing else to eat. But the net was closing in. The Germans were on the hunt for escaped prisoners, and the terrified peasants were afraid to help me. I had to reach safe terrain, the faster the better. I prayed to G-d when I found myself on the shores of the Pescara River one night.
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Untying one of the boats at the dock, I silently apologized to its former owner, a person whose name I would never know. It was a cold, windy night, and I was exposed to the elements aboard the weather-beaten vessel. I had no oars, and very soon I was swept out to the open sea. I had studied the map of Italy until I could draw it from memory, but now a map was of no use. I had almost no food or water; all I had was my belief that Hashem controlled the world. He could save me if He wanted to. More than once the small boat threatened to overturn. I had long since lost my sense of direction, but I hoped and prayed that I was being swept in a southerly direction, far away from Nazi territory. The winter winds that whipped at my torn flight jacket also increased the currents to maddening speeds. How could I be certain that I wasn’t headed for a Greek island, or the coast of Africa, where Rommel’s forces awaited me? The thought of this possibility filled me with nausea. After hours of being rocked by gale-force winds, the first rays of light appeared and the angry waters began to calm. There was still no sign of land. As the day wore on, I started to hallucinate. I saw visions of my childhood home and my parents, and began to relive the memories of my youth. I promised Hashem that if I survived this ordeal, I would make every effort to go to Eretz Yisrael and pay homage at the graves of our holy ancestors. I kept nodding off and waking up for an unknown period of time, until one night I awoke with a start to the sound of the boat hitting gravel. I had reached dry land! I got out of the boat tentatively, not knowing where I was. I could very well be stepping into the lion’s den, in which case I was breathing my last. I thought about my parents, who were probably sick with worry by now. No doubt they would find
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it hard to believe that their son, who had always been cushioned by love, was facing the elements all alone in the world. Once more I davened my watered-down version of Minchah. I must have repeated the same few lines hundreds of times over the past few days. The night was pitch-black. I crawled up the beach looking for some form of shelter or a sign of friendly natives. I climbed the nearest hill on all fours and sat down under a tree; it felt like an eternity until I reached cover. The cold rain that had begun to fall did nothing to help my physical condition, nor did it alleviate the exhaustion that threatened to drive me to the brink of collapse. The branches offered only partial shelter but it was better than nothing. I would wait until the morning, when daylight would guide me further. I will never forget the moment I opened my eyes. I thought I was hallucinating. For there, dangling right above my head, was a familiar fruit. I stood up and looked at it in amazement. It was yellow and bumpy, and as I turned it over in my hands I felt a lump forming in my throat. Memories flooded my mind. Yes, I recognized this fruit, and I knew for certain that I had reached safe ground. For what I was holding was none other than a Calabria esrog. I was in Calabria, in southern Italy. In those few moments of disbelief I wasn’t thinking of my frozen feet or torn clothes. I just stood there holding my esrog and recited the words as I’d never said them before: “Shehecheyanu v’kiyemanu v’higiyanu lazman hazeh!” I made my way to the nearest farmhouse. I was greeted with a fair amount of suspicion, but as I related my story the farmer’s apprehension fell away, and I was treated to a hot drink, a bowl of soup and some warm, dry clothes. Having been on the run for so long, I was totally disoriented. I asked the farmer
for the date. He told me it was Wednesday, February 9, 1944. I wrote it down and pocketed the scrap of paper. After meeting up with the army, I was eventually shipped back home and discovered that my parents had indeed been sick with worry over my whereabouts. The period of my recovery was one of great turmoil. I fluctuated between depression and relief, feelings that were fueled in large part by the news of the enormity of the Jewish bloodbath. Millions of my fellow Jews had been murdered across Europe, their fresh blood still bubbling upon the surface, yet I had been saved. It was a difficult concept to swallow. It took me years to make good on my promise to Hashem, for this was not only a physical journey but a spiritual one too. When one has experienced firsthand the transience of earthly existence, life takes on a different dimension. I wanted to walk in the ways of Hashem—all day, every day— so I closed up shop and devoted myself to the study of Torah. My first visit to the Kosel was moving beyond words. I davened the longest Minchah I’d ever davened (getting all the words right!), recalling all the memories, images and fears of my wartime experiences. When I came back home, I dug out that little scrap of paper I’d hidden in my pocket so many years earlier. For some reason I had neglected it, but I now wanted to establish that date as a time for introspection and giving thanks. Making a mental note of February 9, 1944, I decided to find out its Hebrew equivalent. What I discovered blew my mind. Wednesday, February 9, 1944, was Tu B’Shvat 5704.
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ISRAEL
Men Without a Country THE DIFFICULT BALANCE IN A COUNTRY SO PARADOXICAL
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n high school some of us read The Man Without a Country. It was the story of American Army Lieutenant Philip Nolan, who was accused of treason for collaborating with Aaron Burr in the early 1800s. During his testimony, Nolan bitterly renounced his citizenship, with the outcry, “I wish I
may never hear of the United States again!” The judge granted his wish and sentenced him to spend the rest of his life adrift at sea, aboard a Navy ship, never to hear news about his homeland again. For the rest of his life Nolan craved information about the country he once fought for but now had turned against. He died with that
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yearning in his heart. Sometimes, I reflect on my years in Eretz Yisrael and the lives of the hundreds of thousands of chareidi Jews who live there. In some ways, they, too, are “men without a country.” Though not quite the same as Nolan—these men do live on land, the most beautiful and holy land in
RABBI MORDECHAI KAMENETZKY
the world—they do live in a country they don’t recognize or at the very minimum have conflicted feelings about. They live apart from their fellow citizens who do not share their ideals and who disparage the Torah ways of their shared forefathers. Yet because of their shared destiny, they yearn for knowledge of every single detail of the political machinations that take place in the halls of a government they overtly disdain. My frame of reference goes back some 35 years ago when I learned in the Ponevezh Yeshiva. I recall my observations of many of my fellow yeshivah bachurim in the Ponevezh Yeshiva, and their dichotomous relationship to the country in which they lived as Jewish citizens. I arrived right before Menachem Begin was elected prime minister and the Likud party emerged as a formidable force in Israeli politics after almost 30 years of second-class status. It was very easy to discern that there was an internal theo-political struggle in the souls of many of my chaveirim. The official yeshivish party line was clearly anti-Zionist, yet I detected a sense of great pride in Begin’s election in so many of them. Even the most vociferous Agudist could look at Begin and have a tinge of pride in a man who publicly announced that he would not move into the official prime minister’s residence until they put up mezuzos. Even though they ridiculed Begin’s machinations as bombastic displays of religiosity, after decades of being on the receiving end of religious loathing from the Laborites, they finally had someone who identified, to some degree, with their team.
Arriving in Ponevezh Yeshiva after over five years of learning in the Philadelphia Yeshiva, I was puzzled by the apparent lack of overt display of the anti-Zionist spirit that I thought would pervade that yeshivah. Many of my rebbeim back in the US had painted a picture of Zionism that evoked images of divergent worlds that separated the two populations in Eretz Yisrael as
taking me around and explaining the process, when suddenly a young Yerushalmi boy thrust a brightly-colored flyer at me. Printed on it was a powerful directive, its screaming words absolutely forbidding any G-d-fearing Jew from voting in the upcoming election. I wanted to impress upon the young man my sense of American frumkeit.
I for one cannot imagine what it’s like to live in a state and be so diametrically opposed to everything about it. though there was an actual wall between them. Indeed, in Yerushalayim, I felt the divide strongly. The city was my first stop upon landing in Israel on the Thursday before Rosh Chodesh Nissan in 1977. I was still in Yerushalayim, my third day in Eretz Yisrael, the Shabbos before the election that would put Menachem Begin into power. Things were heating up with Agudah activists fighting for every seat. There were posters and pashkivilim everywhere, some ripped down and reposted, others too high to reach. Never-before-heard-of parties and personalities were popping up like the weasels of a Whac-A-Mole game: FlattoSharon’s eponymous one-man party, Yigael Yadin’s Dash party, along with the women’s Mifleget HaNashim and a whole host of parties that never got a seat. A cousin was
Instead of taking the flyer from his hand, I pushed it away and snidely snapped in a Yiddish with the most guttural reish I could roll, “Ich trrrog nisht oif Shabbos afilu mit daine eiruv,” meaning I don’t carry on Shabbos even with your (Yerushalayim) eruv. The kid didn’t miss a beat and snapped back with the speed of a whip: “Du trugst nisht, ober in bechiros gaist du ya arein?” Basically,he meant: You don’t carry but you vote? Or in other words: Some tzaddik you are! But Ponevezh, in Bnei Brak, was clearly different. When soldiers in uniform walked into the yeshivah, they were greeted warmly by the rosh yeshivah, Rav Shach, z”l. There was a theological divide, confusing for some, but it never really manifested in overt repulsion. In those days the diversity of the talmidim was pro-
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nounced. Of course there were Yerushalmis who towed the party line of the Eidah Hachareidis, but there were also the sons of former soldiers, there were Sephardim, there were guys who had once gone to yishuv chadash and ended up on the great hill of Bnei Brak; there were the sons of members of the Israeli rabbinate—including sons of dayanim—and a son of a chaver Knesset as well. Not to say that there were no heated debates at Ponevezh. My chavrusa was a native of Bnei Brak, a chasid of the Satmar Rebbe who vociferously exhorted his chasidim not to participate in the elections. He was a loyal chasid of his rebbe, yet a
vote.” But these Israelis weren’t holding their noses. It seemed like they were really into it. Still, I was confused by the apparent contradiction of their anti-Zionist rhetoric and what I perceived to be their deep-seated interest in every detail of every party and seat in the Knesset. Like it or not, it was their country, and I, for one, cannot imagine what it’s like to live in a state and be so diametrically opposed to everything about it. Thinking back to the times I have stood still for “The Pledge of Allegiance” or was moved when hearing the final strains of “The StarSpangled Banner” or “America the Beautiful,” I can only wonder what it’s like to
My chavrusa was a native of Bnei Brak, a chasid of the Satmar Rebbe, yet a devoted talmid of our rosh yeshivah who encouraged the talmidim to promote the Agudas Yisrael party. devoted talmid of our rosh yeshivah who encouraged the talmidim to promote the Agudas Yisrael party. In fact, I remember that there were days when students would leave the beis midrash and travel to small towns and villages, giving out posters and blessings to those who’d choose the letter gimmel on the ballot—the identifying letter of Agudas Yisrael back then. These contradictions were difficult for my chavrusa to bear. Although during the heated elections, politics pervaded the atmosphere, I was there to learn, not to politic. I always thought that in Israel, those who voted despite their avowed disassociation from Zionism, would “hold their nose and
be taught to cringe at every sign of secular national pride or accomplishment, be it in sports, science or anything in between. It was hard for a kid raised in a society where rebbeim and roshei yeshivah would quip about the Yehnkees or throw out the name of a ballplayer as nonchalantly as they would talk about their milkman, to enter a world in which the names of sports teams or players were as profane as idolatry. Of course I understood the difference, but it was a great change, especially when I heard some of the younger boys talking sports in hushed tones as if they were about to plant a bomb. I accept the theology or rationale for the divide, yet it is hard to come to grips with
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such powerful dichotomies. Remember, I live in a land where it is commonplace for rabbis and frum activists to actually invoke blessings on Christian politicians who are as inherently different from us as anything imaginable. Yet in Eretz Yisrael, those who strongly differ from another’s beliefs are not the only ones who are totally shunned. Even chareidim who may differ slightly in one way or another from their fellow observant Jews are the target of disdain. For some it may be easy to build a mental barrier between the Land and the State. But for the average Israeli chareidi who lives in a land he loves, but in a country he does not, it must be hard. There must be an inherent affinity for the land of one’s birth—even a land that may be filled with heresy and hatred—a yearning so powerful that it takes the command of the Almighty to get Avraham Avinu to leave his idol-filled birthplace of Charan—to leave the neighbors who had egged on the Yair Lapids and Shulamit Alonis of their day to throw Avraham into the fiery furnace. And still it took the command of Hashem to get him to uproot and move on. I saw the struggles in my friends some 40 years ago, and the struggle lives on. But from what I understand, because the divide is much greater, the internal struggle is way smaller and the lines are not as blurred. I believe that many would appreciate the words that Philip Nolan requested be put on his tombstone: “In memory of Philip Nolan/ Lieutenant in the Army of the United States./ He loved his country as no other man has loved her; but no man deserved less at her hands.” Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky is the rosh yeshivah of Yeshiva Toras Chaim at South Shore, a weekly columnist in Yated Ne’eman, and the author of the Parsha Parable series. He can share your story through the “Streets of Life” and can be reached at editorial@amimagazine.org.
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