Baltimore Jewish Home - 3-2-23

Dear Readers,

HaRav Moshe Wolfson in his sefer on Purim quotes the Maharal who says: All of the episodes that took place in Megillas Esther and the miracle of Purim, took place in haste. They rushed to bring perfumes to Esther, the messengers hurried to deliver the decrees of the King, Achashveirosh rushed Haman to lead Mordechai on the horse, amongst other examples. He explains that the neis of Purim happened in the loftiest of sources- a place which is above and beyond time. Therefore, Megillas Esther is constantly punctuated with speed beyond conventional time. Rav Wolfson adds that Chazal wanted to reveal that the hidden miracle of Purim was above and beyond time- similar to the neis of Yetzias Mitzrayim, which was also performed in haste, and above and beyond time! In so many of our lives the day of Purim rushes by. The day is always over before we know it. On Shushan Purim it’s common to wonder what I accomplished this Purim? For some of us, it’s because we’re past our prime years when the day was just one big party. For others, the social aspects of the holiday can be extremely overwhelming. But for many, we want to enjoy the day and make the most of it- but we neglect to take the necessary steps to make it meaningful. And that’s understandable. There are so many different mitzvos throughout the day that we just rush through them without meaning. Here are some ideas to help us slow the day down and assist us and our families appreciate Purim.

Megillah: Take an hour or two in the week before Purim to review the Megillah. Yes, we all know the general story but it's the intricacies and hidden messages and storylines that make it so much more impactful.

Mishloach Manos: Choose a couple of people that would really benefit from your Shaloch Manos. Visit them together with your family, and spend time with

them. For some, this may be the only visit they’ll receive. The visit will change their Purim- and yours!

Matanos La’evyonim: Take the opportunity to make sure your kids or family members can take part in this Mitzvah. Yes, the barrage of people collecting for different causes is relentless, but give happily- to everyone! Go to the bank and take out $100 in onedollar bills (or any other appropriate denomination!) and let it rain. Let your children see how as Jews we don’t ask questions- we just give!

Torah: There are various learning programs throughout our community. Between Yeshivas Mordechai HaTzadik for kids, and sedarim for men at night, there are numerous opportunities to establish the day around Torah.

Mesibas Purim: For many, the memories of Purim are built at the public Purim celebrations. To see people enjoying Simchas Purim at peak levels of happiness, with rocking music and good vibes, leaves a lasting impression. Get out of your basement and take a few minutes to enjoy the evening!

Seudas Purim: Prepare. Not just food- which is important of course! Prepare Divrei Torah, music, song, and structure. Figure out ways to involve everyone. No one enjoys a Seudah that falls off the rails early, so take it easy and pace yourself! This Purim, let’s all slow things down. We can’t allow another year to slip through our fingertips without grasping some of the significant meaning. Perhaps, by slowing down the day, it’ll spark the deliverance of Moshiach, speedily!

Have a restful Shabbos, and an amazing Purim!

Aaron Menachem

Moshe Meir Rubin PUBLISHER editor@baltimorejewishhome.com

Berish Edelman LAYOUT

Yitzy Halpern MANAGING EDITOR

Michael Czermak ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Aaron

COPY EDITOR

Around the Community

Bais Hamedrash and Mesivta of Baltimore Chanukas Bais Hamedrash and Siyum

HaShas lz”n Harav Zvi Dov Slanger zt”l at  the Yeshiva Campus

A Tribute to Habochur Chaim Moshe Hakohen Cohen Z’L By

Ispoke to Chaim Moshe the night of his sudden and shocking Petira. While I was giving a shiur to a few boys at the Monday Night Chaburah he asked me if I needed any help bringing up the boxes of hot food to the third floor. I had become so absorbed with the shiur that I had totally forgotten about it. So I said that would be a huge help. It’s a lot of food and its heavy. Oleg from KB told me that even the delivery man found it challenging.

You see, the previous week I had started a shiur in Hilchos Shabbos for a few of the boys who needed Chavrusas. Since I could not be in two places at once, someone had to bring the Kosher Bite delivery from the hallway at Agudah to the third floor. So I had asked Chaim Moshe, if he could help me for a minute to bring up the boxes. Which he generously did.

He went searching for the food until he discovered that someone else had already done it. He came back to tell me so I could continue teaching. He was totally relaxed by it at all. He didn’t feel that I had sent him for naught. Just a huge smile and he was happy that the job had been done. Which was a Chesed in and of itself.... this allowed me to focus on the boys. It’s only me and the many boys in the program.

Following the program, I offered Chaim Moshe some of the hot food. It was my way of showing my appreciation. He refused to take until he saw that every boy had food. B”H I didnt give out

seconds and was so happy that he agreed to join us and eat. He helped me so much and yet never ever asked for anything in return. No deals, no requests.

After eating he saw me cleaning up and once again asked me if I need any help. It’s almost like he felt bad just eating and wanted to give something back again.

I didn’t want to be matriarch him. I felt that it’s not his job. Also I wanted him to have the food as my appreciation to him, but he was so sincere in wanting to help. So I mentioned a small thing that he could do just not to deny his request.

I asked if he could please take the forks off the table and place them a few feet away in the small room on the side. And I would put them away later. It was just him and me in the Beis Medrash. It was a moment of connection. It was a really sincere gesture.

He again did this graciously and disappeared.

It reminded me of the time that he brought over a beautiful set of Mishnah Brurah as a Bar Mitzvah gift for my son Betzalel. It was expensive and unexpected. He noticed that I was surprised by the gift and told me something that made such a deep impression. “I want to be a giver not a taker”

I was pretty taken aback by his powerful words. Wow! He was in essence saying that although this is above and beyond this is the person that he wants to be.

I think that said everything about

him.

Rabbi Zvi Schwartz

He was a giver.

Just a few weeks ago, Mr. Reuven Abedon was away and asked Chaim Moshe to be in charge of Shalosh Seudos. He took the achrayus. He called me during the week to make sure that he has everything that he needs and knows what to do with set up, opening bottles and so on.

I often order the tuna and eggs, pastries, and challah rolls for the shul shalosh seudos. He was so responsible to make sure that it was all going to be done right. He took on a job that had to get done with no glamour. Chaim Moshe loved to do a Chesed, especially for the Tzibur.

It was a beautiful Shalosh Seudos.

Since it was Rosh Chodesh Adar, we don’t do hespaydim. Yet there is so much to say.

Perhaps his Helige Neshmah left us the week of Parshas Terumah to be menachem us.

The Torah tells us that its not enough to be inspired or well meaning to donate to the Mishkan. It had to be done with Nedivos Lev. It had to be real giving with a full heart. Rashi also teaches us that it had to be המשל as he says that the Posuk of המורת ”יל“ וחקיו means ימשל יל it had to be done lishmah. It has to be wholesome and without personal interest.

Chaim Moshe embodied these midos. He was המשל and he gave with a בל תובידנ.

He helped me so many times at

Agudah. We shlepped bookcases together. I asked him if he could help bringing chairs and tables to the sukkah and back again to the shul. We worked on a Ride G’mach bulletin board to help bochurim post rides in the Agudah kitchen. He bought the original Bulletin Board and the Post Its and was so excited about it.

He was always so involved with the Shaimos and the boys that volunteered to help move the heavy shaimos bags in the Agudah basement.

He made so many friends . He touched so many..

He was always available to give a hand with his huge smile, laugh, lots of energy and a conversation.

He gave.

Perhaps Even a Hesped might have a level of “talking about the Niftar” as he hears the speeches of his great qualities and midos.

Chaim Moshe only wanted to “Give”

That was his Hesped.

The night of his Petira he asked me if it was ok to play music when we had refreshmants. I said םיברמ רדא סנכנשמ החמישב go ahead! He confirmed that this was his intention. He wanted to be Misameach with the boys.

He was Niftar B’Simcha and as a Giver.

I miss him and all he accomplished and I am so pained for his loss. He made a huge impression in his short time on this world. He will always be remembered as special person, a giver and b’simcha.

Yehi Zichro Baruch.

Talmudical Academy celebrates 5th Grade Haschalas Gemara

By: Mrs. Judy Landman

Iattended my sons Hascholas Gemorah program at Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim Talmudical Academy on Sunday, February 19. It was a was a very special event and one that left an impression on the talmidim embarking on this journey

with his own. There was a video presentation in which the 5th grade Rebbeim spoke, encouraging the boys and congratulating them on this special milestone. One Rebbe told the boys that they are now travelling on a train trip with the tracks taking them to different places. Who knows where they are going, but it will be a

Enjoy it!

Rabbi Yissochor Frand was the keynote speaker, but he was also a very proud Zaidy of two of the boys partaking in this Simcha. He shared with the audience that when he was growing up, there were no celebrations for the Haschalas Gemorah. One had a bar mitzvah, with some assorted gifts,

his mother, yb”ct, a toddler, was ensconced in a nunnery.

Concluding this special program, the boys sang two songs that really captivated the feeling of the day as four classes stood on the stage, in tiers, so that they could all be seen by their family. After this, the boys were called one at a time by their Rebbe,

as well as their proud parents and grandparents, and great-grandparents. Participants and guests were treated to a delicious breakfast seudah, set elegantly by a group of dedicated TA mothers. The program opened up with Rabbi Sass, the Menahel, giving Divrei Brocho, followed by Rabbi Hexter, the Associate Menahel,

beautiful and lifelong trip. Another Rebbe, likened the learning to that of a branch that is being collected and added to a stack of other branches for the building of a beautiful bonfire. One more Rebbe simply said this is what the boys have been waiting for their whole lives; to learn Torah!

and that was it. His parents gifted him with a Shas that he lovingly used and still cherishes. Rabbi Frand made us all cognizant and truly appreciative of the Mesorah that continues and flourishes today. Many of the grandparents in the crowd could not have envisioned this moment in seeing this actually happen. And here we were, in a room with 400 people all witness to Ki Lo Sishachach MiPi Zaro.

This was especially poignant for me and my husband, as we are both children of survivors. My father, a”h, lived through Auschwitz, losing many family members along the way, HY”D, and joined Ner Yisroel, shortly after. My mother, yb”ct, was born at the very end of the war In Budapest. My husband’s grandparents, a”h, hid in a barn, somewhere in Poland while

presented with their long-awaited treasure, their gemorah, that they proudly held as they walked back to their tables. And then it was time to learn! In the sweetest moment, a room filled with pure Neshamos and yiddishe nachas, engaged in the most precious Eisek, with the beautiful Kol Torah permeating the air as each boy learned with his family, ensuring another link in the chain.

Mazal Tov to the 5th grade of YCCTA! May you continue to shteig and always have a cheishek for Torah!

Judy Landman is author of Seasons of the Rain available on Amazon. She does Write for You creative writing workshops for groups and individuals.

Baltimore Chesed League By “Columbia Group” Kicks Off Its Sixth Season!

The sixth season of the Baltimore Chesed League for boys is now underway! Teams of boys between 5th and 8th grade can be seen all over the

community, helping with chesed projects of all types. The boys are easily recognizable around town in their BCL sweatshirts, generously sponsored by Orshan Legal Group and

Rosenbloom Pest Control.

For the 2023 season, the league is comprised of 20 teams (a total of 140 boys). The season kicked off on February 19th at Suburban Orthodox

Toras Chaim with an opening ceremony generously catered by Knish Shop, and from there the boys were off and running to do Chesed!

to help others when the opportunity arises.

Team Advanced Root Canal Specialists brings cheer through song to the residents at Sterling Care

an activity with their Menucha friends.

Team

families on behalf of the Friendship Circle.

Teams

Purim cheer to the residents of Sterling Care Assisted Living.) Team Quarry Orthodontics puts on a magic show and musical performance for the residents of King David Nursing and

Team Kelemer Brothers Replacement Windows partners with Yachad to create Purim cards

Team Erez Seiferas helps Misaskim organize their storage room.

Team CBT Baltimore helps package food boxes for a local chesed organization

Team Israel Bonds WesBanco match brings Purim cheer to the residents of King David Nursing and Rehab Center.

Team Aventura Assisted Living helps package mishloach manos for Chai Lifeline. Team Union Bridge helps clean our neighborhoods in support of CHAI.

Team Keren Reva Costume Gemach brings

Rehab.

Pikesville Remodeling helps bake delicious desserts for Bikur Cholim of Baltimore

JTAP Tennis Tournament helps deliver mishloach manos and some extra joy to

Team Sage Ventures participates in

Team Shimon Hoffman Erie Insurance helps clean our neighborhoods in support of CHAI

Team Chesed Monkeys helps sort shaimos at the Agudah Park Heights

Team DC Dental partners with Menucha on a number of fun activities

Team David Flamm Nationwide Insurance learns important auto maintenance skills from Chaverim, preparing them

Team Naomi Center performs a series of songs for the residents of Aventura at the Park to help brighten their day.

Team King David Nursing and Rehab helps package mishloach manos for the Friendship Circle.)

Team Donny Ankri Architects helps Connecting the Kids repurpose technology to go to those in need

Team Winner Insulation helps code, organize, and shelve books in the Jewish Library of Baltimore

Give a Mishloach Manos gift that will last from

Uplift Your Shabbos Davening

Rav Chaim Kanievsky On Siddur for the weekdays changed our dayto-day davening. Now, Rav Chaim Kanievsky On Siddur – Shabbos will do the same for our Shabbos davening. This volume includes insights on the Shabbos prayers shared directly by Rav Chaim and collected from his extensive writings, as well as dozens of stories about Rav Chaim and his family. Compiled by Rabbi Shai Graucher, who was an almost-daily visitor to Rav Chaim’s home, this is a work that will bring your Shabbos davening to a whole new level

Smile. Think. Laugh. Learn. With Rabbi Fishel Schachter

NEW!

No one tells a story quite like Rabbi Fishel Schachter, and in Did This Ever Happen To You? this popular speaker, columnist and storyteller, combines practical advice in chinuch and middos development with anecdotes and stories that are always engaging and often laugh-out-loud funny.

So open this book and be prepared to laugh ... and to learn.

A Treasure Trove of Precious Stories by Rabbi Yechiel Spero

When you read a story from Rabbi Yechiel Spero, you know there will be more. More inspiration. More surprises. More lessons and more uplift These stories are a treasure trove, gems sparkling with emunah, ahavas Yisrael, and the power of prayer and hashgachah pratis: a precious gift from a master storyteller

Powerful Stories to Open Your !Eyes to Everyday Chessed

NEW!

In Living Chessed, Rabbi Avrohom Asher Makovsky shows us how we “ordinary” people can also be “gedolim in chessed”— by grabbing the countless opportunities to help our fellow Jews.

Living Chessed includes inspirational insights and guidance about doing chessed and, above all, incredible stories of how chessed can transform the lives of both the giver and receiver.

Laniado Hospital Gives Back to Baltimore & Beyond

Israeli organizations rely heavily on support from their partners. This necessitates fundraising from various communities throughout the US, Canada, Europe and beyond.

While Laniado Hospital of Netanya, Israel also looks to their partners for support, the hospital is happy to be able to give back to communities through lectures and programming.

Lydia Lanxner, Laniado’s Director of Emergency Preparedness & Disaster Control, is a renowned expert on public safety. Mrs. Lanxner is the liaison to the IDF Home Front Command and Ministry of Health Emergency Department. She is also the ICU head nurse and has nearly 40 years of clinical and administrative health care experience.

Mrs. Lanxner, who was in the US recently helping raise funds to purchase new equipment for Laniado’s new ICU, delivered lectures throughout Maryland. She spoke to 11th and 12th graders at Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville, Yeshiva of Greater Washington’s Girls Division High School, Young Israel Shomrai Emunah in Silver Spring, Bnos Yisroel of Baltimore’s Middle School, and a private lecture for medical professionals.

Mrs. Lanxner shared her own story of hashgacha about growing up as a young girl from Belgium, the child of Holocaust survivors. She moved from Belgium to the US when she was newly married, studied nursing, and eventually made aliyah to Eretz Yisrael with her family. She ended up working for Laniado Hospital where she established herself as a leader in

nursing and public safety. Mrs. Lanxner impressed upon the students that they all have the ability to help – at home, school, shul, community etc. –and she noted that it is a bracha to be on the giving, and not receiving end. She shared how high school students from the Kiryat Sanz neighborhood in Netanya participate in volunteer practice drills in order to be prepared in the event of a crisis, G-d forbid. Most importantly, she described Laniado’s modus operandi of running according to Jewish law and infusing everything with chesed, compassion, and empathy, as was established by its founder the Klausenberger Rebbe.

The students were enlightened and inspired from Mrs. Lanxner’s talks. Many inquired about volunteering in the hospital during their year in Israel or during the summer. Many girls had questions about applying to Laniado’s Tessler School of Nursing. The main highlight was that they left with a sense of empowerment, realizing they have so much to offer and can make a difference even at a young age.

For the adult audiences, Mrs. Lanxner described the changing face of terror threats in Israel since the intifada and consequently the need to adapt in order to be prepared for such threats. She further shared how various other potential disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, or gas line explosions require preparedness. Taking it a step further, Mrs. Lanxner outlined the methods behind preparing, implementing, assessing, and updating safety protocols which Israel has taught to other countries throughout the world. For example, as this article is being

written, Mrs. Lanxner’s colleagues are in Turkey assisting with the search & rescue and humanitarian efforts. As soon as this team returns to Israel, they will be debriefed and everything they learned from this mission will be documented, vetted and appropriately implemented as part of future earthquake preparedness measures.

Mrs. Ahuvah Heyman, Bnos Yisroel’s school director shared, “Lydia’s warm personality, combined with the important message about combining refuah and halacha in a hospital setting, resulted in a beautiful and meaningful message that the girls really enjoyed. Hearing about the history of the hospital, and the exceptional middos of the Klausenberger Rebbe, was enlightening. We hope some of us get

to go to the hospital to see the amazing work that Laniado is doing to keep the people in Eretz Yisroel safe.”

Rabbi Chanan Daniel Skurnik, Laniodo’s Mid-Atlantic Director stated, “As an organization that partners with communities throughout the world, Mrs. Lanxner’s visit was an opportunity to give back and make the Laniado-Maryland partnership two-ways. Laniado has a wealth of knowledge and inspiration – whether medically, halachically, or in terms of chizuk - and it is an honor to share it with our supporters and friends.”

To learn more about Laniado Hospital visit www.laniadofund.org or email Rabbi Skurnik at dskurnik@laniadofund.org

Yeshivas Toras Simcha Interim Menahel Rabbi Hillel Mandel Welcomes Incoming Menahel Rabbi Hillel Shepard at Parent Melave Malka

This past motzei Shabbos, current and incoming Yeshivas Toras Simcha parents were delighted to welcome Rabbi Hillel Shepard to the YTS family. Both Rabbi Mandel and Rabbi Shepard shared inspiring words of chizuk, both quoting their namesake, Hillel Hazaken. Among many other things, Rabbi Shepard explained

from both Hillel Hazaken and Parshas Teruma that our chinuch goal is to inspire a foundation of ahava in our children - to love Torah and mitzvosso that they love to do what they will ultimately need to do throughout their lives. Torah founded on simcha! That is the dream of Toras Simcha that has been and will continue to be so special to the entire Toras Simcha family.

BJH: Rabbi Lapidus, you are young to be such a successful Menahel of a new, vibrant, growing Mesivta. I have been told that you possess the unique qualities of exuding stern authority, and yet, at the same time, you are exceptionally warm and approachable. A Shaarei Chaim parent said that the students revere, yet adore you.

YYL: The truth is that the tremendous hatzlacha we have seen in our 2 ½ year old mosad comes, first and foremost, from incredible Siyata D’Shmaya. The next factor to which we attribute our success is our allstar team of mechanchim. The Rosh Mesivta, HaRav Daniel Wilhelm, was a talmid muvhak of HaRav Meir Soloveitchik, zt”l, the youngest son of the Brisker Rav, for 17 years. The depth and breadth of his knowledge in both Torah and chinuch inspires both the Rebbeim and talmidim. In addition, HaRav Wilhelm has the unique ability to meet a young talmid, quickly

insights into the chinuch process adds to his exceptional ability to foster growth in every talmid. HaRav Avraham Yeshaya Rayman’s combination of chachma, exuberance and dedication makes him a role model not only for his shiur, but for all talmidim of the Mesivta. HaRav Aharon Jager teaches bekiyus, and masterfully combines erudition, geshmak and clarity to make him a beloved Rebbi.

BJH: What about your secular studies department?

YYL: The general studies faculty at Shaarei Chaim, led by our extremely dedicated and capable principal, Rabbi Gershon Riselsheimer, has very high standards. Our faculty is comprised of Bnei Torah who are knowledgeable and competent so that they can be effective instructors and, at the same time, role models of “middos tovos” and “hashkafos yesharos”. We teach our talmidim that whatever they undertake, they have to do with dedication and a striving for excellence, and general studies is no exception. In terms of our curriculum, we follow the guidelines of the Maryland Depart-

ates fertile ground to facilitate satis faction and learning well. There is a school-wide emphasis on positivity; our entire setting is non-pressured and wholesome – even while we strive for high standards. In addition, we have “chazara” programs with exciting incentives; a weekly, highly inspiring “shmooz”; and prominent guest speakers before Yomim Tovim. We also try to incorporate aspects which show our caring into the programming of the Mesivta. We pride ourselves on our large food budget to ensure delicious, yet high quality nourishment; we serve hot, homemade Friday afternoon potato kugel; as in the last 2 years, we just returned from a phenomenal Shabbos retreat with our staff and their families; last year, we had a spectacular summer getaway to create additional opportunities for the talmidim to further connect with Rabbeim and peers.

BJH: If you had to sum up the “mission statement” of Shaarei Chaim in just a sentence or two, what would it be?

YYL: We want each of our talmi-

ing a true Ben Torah who can skill fully and enjoyably learn is a realistic goal for every bachur. We want them to understand that the true measure of someone’s greatness in learning is his clarity, knowing how to ask and answer properly. Can I add one more sentence?

BJH: Of course.

YLL: We want our talmidim to know that once we help them develop this clarity, they will not only have tremendous simcha in their learning, but in life itself. It will foster growth in all areas of their self-confidence and menshlichkeit.

BJH: You are having a Purim campaign March 5-6 to raise much needed funds for the Mesivta. What would you like our readers to know about it?

YLL: Someone once went to the Chazon Ish to ask about raising money to perpetuate the legacy of his recently departed parent. The Chazon Ish told him, “Take a fine, solid bachur and give him the skills and the desire to develop into a real Ben Torah. You will have doros to show for your investment.” We would like our donors to know that our talmidim are already developing into fine Bnei Torah. On March 5-6, Mesivta Shaarei Chaim is having a campaign where we are offering unparallel opportunities for investments which will multiply exponentially. Please join us!

WE ARE HIRING!

The Week In News

TRANSPORTATION

Menucha is looking for a driver to shuttle Menucha participants and volunteers to and from our afternoon program. Van Provided 4:30pm7:00pm Tuesdays & Thursday

ASSISTANTS & JOB COACHES

Menucha seeks dedicated, caring assistants and job coaches for the Menucha Day program.

Responsibilities Include:

Guiding the participants in recreational activities and supported employment. Assistants will act as positive role models and guide the participants in appropriate social interactions. Great experience for those going into the health sciences, education or psychology.

Heartbreak as Brothers Killed

On Sunday, Hallel Yaniv, 21, and Yagel Yaniv, 19, were killed as they drove through the Palestinian town of Huwara.

On Monday, they were buried at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem by their loved ones and thousands of others who joined in the pain of the family.

“Words can’t describe this disaster,” their mother, Esti Yaniv, said at a press conference ahead of the funeral. “Instead of accompanying children to the wedding canopy, we need to bury them.”

The mourning mother called for unity among Israelis.

the Yaniv family lives, also spoke at the funeral, noting how Hallel and Yagel, “full of vigor and vitality, were killed for the sanctification of G-d.” While their lives were cut short, Rabbi Melamed added, “in the real world, they are very much alive — and the girls and boys who play and are happy around the country are due to their strength.”

Rabbi Melamed said that the fate of the Jewish people has always been “to carry the flag of morality, and to bring a blessing to the world… We did not return to our land to dispossess Arabs of their property but to add blessing to the world,” he said. “Whoever rises up against us, we will fight them, and we will win — all within the confines of the law, through the army and the police.”

Hallel had just finished his army service in the Navy as the deputy commander of a missile boat. He was in a Hesder yeshiva when he was killed. Yagel was hoping to join a top elite unit when he started his military service.

Shimon Naumberg, their uncle, told Ynet that they were “the salt of the earth.”

He described them as having different personalities, Hallel being more introverted, Yigal full of alacrity, and “jumping from place to place.”

“People, we are brothers,” she said. “We love the country, we love the army and we want security,” she continued. “The army is everyone’s, and we shouldn’t use it for anything political.”

Their father, Shalom, added: “I plead that this is the last such incident. That all the children can marry, have children, and build homes.”

“They were both full of goodness, giving benefit to all around them, each in his own way,” Naumberg said. “So different, so similar… They were children who lived for the land of Israel, the Jewish people.”

The Yaniv family has three other children.

U.S. Citizen Killed in Attack

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410.635.1034 | office@menuchainc.org

Rachel, who lost her brothers in the terror attack, said, “We are trying to accept with love the hard news that G-d gave us yesterday. This is hard, and this hurts. We are going through not-so-simple times. But we are strong, and the Jewish people have gone through so many other difficult things. I am sure we will be able to bear it.”

At the funeral in Jerusalem, Chief Rabbi David Lau lamented, “When we are here, next to a fresh grave, how can we possibly be comforted?”

Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, the rabbi of the Har Bracha settlement where

Elan Ganeles, an American-Israeli citizen, was visiting Israel for a friend’s wedding when he was shot to death on

The BJH sat down with Mrs. Rus Malta Ifrah MSN, FNP-C, to find out more about her new medical weight loss and wellness program.

What is Shalva Health?

Shalva Health is a new medical weight loss and wellness clinic serving the Baltimore community. Our mission is to decrease barriers to optimal health, and we pride ourselves on making your health goals easily attainable. I’m a family nurse practitioner with additional training in medical weight loss. I have over 12 years of experience in healthcare, and personally work with every patient throughout their weight loss journey. I’m also a wife and mother, so I understand the challenge of making room in one’s life for proper self-care. Serving both men and women, we offer individualized weight loss plans based on your needs and lifestyle. We have convenient appointment options with multiple modalities and will do our best to accommodate your schedule. Our popular telehealth and home-visit options can be conducted exclusively from the comfort and privacy of your home. If you prefer to come into the office, we’re conveniently located in

What is medical weight loss?

Can you explain what the process entails?

Medical weight loss plans are similar to other types of weight loss programs, but are supervised by a licensed healthcare professional and include a medical component to help increase effectiveness. At the initial consult, we do a comprehensive review of your medical history, including exploring previous weight loss attempts. Lab work ensures that the medication of choice is safe for you, and provides a baseline for gauging improvement of overall health. It can also identify underlying metabolic issues that can be addressed to encourage weight loss. The Shalva weight loss program is multi-faceted, and is designed to address the underlying causes of excess weight. We’ll discuss recommendations for changes in lifestyle habits, including nutritional goals and physical activity regimens. An individualized schedule will be implemented regarding frequency of follow-up visits.

Which medications do you offer?

There are many weight loss medications available on the market, and we are happy to explore any option you

maintenance plan that requires less medication and is more cost effective.

Do patients have to inject themselves, or do you do that for them?

We offer the option of in-office administration, self-administration, or administration at home by a provider.

Besides for looking good and fitting into smaller sized clothing, what are the benefits of losing weight?

There are many benefits of achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight. It helps prevents issues such as diabetes, some cancers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and others. A healthy lifestyle promotes higher energy levels, increased brain function, and overall disposition and wellbeing. Achieving optimal weight is not only about the numbers on the scale, but has very significant broader health implications.

Do you offer any other services?

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Josh Zaslow

Aryeh & Gitty Zigdon

Zuckerman Family

Eliezer Zweig

Dovid Zweig

*COMPLETE LIST AS OF TIME OF PUBLICATION

The Week In News

It took a while for police officers to quell the rioting, even though they knew that a protest was planned. Troops were also searching for the gunman who slaughtered the two boys.

ment in the rampage, which saw one Palestinian killed and dozens of Palestinian homes and cars set on fire. As of Tuesday morning, all the people had been released from prison, although some were released to house arrest.

Military chief Herzi Halevi vowed to investigate the “lawlessness” and to “thoroughly investigate” the riots.

Halevi also vowed to capture the gunmen who carried out a deadly shooting attack near the West Bank city of Jericho on Monday that killed American-Israeli Elan Ganeles.

“We will thwart terror of any kind, and we will continue to use all operational and intelligence means in order to capture the terrorists,” Halevi asserted.

after police attempted to engage them.

Maoz Quits Coalition

lition deal.”

Maoz is the Noam party’s only lawmaker in the government.

Maoz was slated to be given control over an Education Ministry department that oversees external programming vendors for public schools. The appointment was met with outrage by pro-liberal forces, who see him as someone outspoken and critical of their beliefs.

Still, Maoz said he will remain in Netanyahu’s 64-MK coalition, though had he decided to quit that as well, it would not have brought the coalition down.

Eight people were detained by Israeli troops and police officers on Sunday night over their alleged involve-

The attacker who carried out the deadly shooting in Huwara, killing the Yaniv brothers, was believed to be hiding out in one of the Palestinian towns in the area. The gunmen who killed Ganeles fled toward the Jericho area

On Monday, MK Avi Maoz sent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a letter saying that he was resigning as deputy minister because he wouldn’t be effective in his role. He wrote that he “was shocked to find there was no serious intention of honoring the coa-

In the letter to Netanyahu, Maoz wrote that he had unsuccessfully worked to roll back a number of policy points pushed by the last government during his short stint as a deputy minister in the premier’s office.

Among them, Maoz tried to reintroduce the labels “father” and “mother” on official government ministry

Y E A R S

The Week In News

forms, instead of the titles “parent 1” and “parent 2” that was adopted by the government under Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.

In addition, Maoz tried to change state policy towards an egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall. In February, the government told the High Court of Justice that it still plans to improve the section marked for non-Orthodox, egalitarian prayer. Maoz decried the position, writing in his resignation letter that he tried to get the government “to preserve the sanctity of the Western Wall and stop the actions to divide it.”

Along with the external educational programming unit, Maoz was promised control over Nativ, the organization responsible for processing Jewish immigration from former Soviet states. This decision was also controversial, as Maoz has supported restricting the criteria for who is eligible to immigrate to Israel, hoping to tighten the Law of Return and getting rid of the so-called “grandchildren clause.”

Papua New Guinea to Open Embassy in Jerusalem

embassies in the Israeli capital following the landmark move by the U.S. under President Donald Trump.

The move was agreed upon during a phone conversation between Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his Papua New Guinea counterpart Justin Tkatchenko.

The two men also discussed expanding bilateral economic relations, especially in the field of advanced agriculture. Tkatchenko promised that his government would continue its support for Israel in the international arena, the Foreign Ministry statement said.

and Kosovo maintain their Israel embassies in Jerusalem. (JNS)

Reptile Café

What can be better than sipping a cup of coffee on a warm spring day? How about a slithering snake with that?

The Oceana nation of Papua New Guinea will open its first embassy in Israel in Jerusalem this year, Israel’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs announced on Sunday.

The Christian island nation of some 9 million inhabitants will become one of only a handful of countries to have

“I would like to thank Papua New Guinea for the courageous ties, their overwhelming support in international institutions, and their decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem,” Cohen said in a statement. “This is further evidence of the warm and important relationship between the countries.”

He pledged to work to encourage other countries to open or relocate their embassies in the capital.

The U.S., Guatemala, Honduras,

Engagements

Yap Ming Yang is the owner of the world’s first reptile café. The Malaysian reptile enthusiast hopes visitors to his eatery will learn to enjoy spending time with scaly and slithering creatures as they sip their drinks.

Noah Weiss (Ranana) & Rashi Pachino (Baltimore/Ramat Beit Shemesh)

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The Week In News

Bearded dragons, leopard geckos, and corn snakes are among the species resting in glass tanks stacked around Yap’s cafe on the outskirts of Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur. These are not exotic creatures in the Asian country, but not many people spend too much time with them.

At the café, though, customers, including children, hold and pet the scaly animals while ordering drinks and food.

“People only care about furry animals, cats, dogs, but people always leave out reptiles and snakes,” lamented Yap, who has a background in environmental science and is part of a community of Malaysians with an interest in herpetology, the study of reptiles.

“So I hope showing the public how interesting (they) are, we can cause them to have a better outlook on reptiles and less loved animals.”

Yap had first intended to make his café for other reptile enthusiasts like himself to schmooze with each other and hang out with their scaly friends. But then he noticed that other people

enjoyed the vibe. Ssss-ounds ssss-uper.

Flight of Light

Passengers onboard a flight to Manchester Airport were in for a real delight when the pilot got on the speaker system to let them know of a small detour.

The easyJet had been flying from Reykjavik, Iceland, to the UK on

The Week In News

Monday evening when the pilot told passengers that he would be making a 360-degree turn so they could view the “amazing display” of the Northern Lights.

The controlled detour to the west of the Faroe Islands took just less than 10 minutes and occurred shortly after 8:30 p.m., while the Airbus A320 was flying at an altitude of 37,000 feet.

Passengers were able to take photos and delight in the spectacular lights.

A spokesperson from easyJet said, “We are pleased that the captain on our flight from Reykjavik to Manchester yesterday evening was able to perform a controlled maneuver in order to allow passengers to witness an amazing display from the air of one of nature’s greatest sights, the aurora borealis.

“Our crew will always go above and beyond for our customers, and we’re delighted to have been able to share this special view of the northern lights with them.”

Photographs of the Northern Lights taken by the easyJet passengers have been shared widely on social me-

dia, showing hues of green and pink lighting up the night sky.

Talk about a light flight.

Whatever the Weather

The Maine resident has been working for the bureau since 1965 as an official weather observer. She is among a nationwide network of about 7,500 volunteers who track the weather conditions for NOAA, which uses the observational information to measure long-term climate changes. Cole took over the job after a friend of hers died.

According to Cole, her first recording was on May 13, 1965. On that day, the high temperature was 62 degrees; the low was 43.

It is estimated that Cole has contributed more than 20,000 readings to NOAA over all these years.

Cole said it’s an easy job. All she has to do is glance out her kitchen window to see how much snow is on the ground. There is a giant 60-inch ruler in clear view.

think it’s interesting. I think everybody is interested in the weather, don’t you?”

Cole takes the official readings at 5 p.m. She then writes them down in her official book.

“There are times when it’s dark at night, 5 o’clock, and the snow has piled up eight inches deep, and I look at myself and say, ‘Why are you in this?’ But you go put your boots on, put your jacket on, your mittens, and you find it’s not bad at all,” she said.

At the end of each month, Cole mails her findings to NOAA, as she’s done for 57 years. She doesn’t have email.

“I don’t like it. It’s one more thing to get mixed up. I’m always fighting with that computer,” Cole said.

Rain, sleet, or snow, Arlene Cole is on it.

The 92-year-old has been tracking the weather for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for nearly 60 years from the warmth of her kitchen.

Last week, she noted, “Six inches right now. Six inches of snow on the ground. That’s what the stake says.”

As for the temperature, the outside thermometer is wired through her kitchen, so she can see the temperature outside while she sips her coffee.

When asked why she likes to gather weather information, Cole said, “I

Cole said she would continue to do the job until she couldn’t anymore.

“I told them that when I couldn’t do a good job, I would retire. I take it a day at a time. At my age, it’s foolish to pretend you’ll be here next year,” the nonagenarian said.

Rain or shine.

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The Week In News

Lucky Girl

leaf clovers.

After tallying up the lucky leaves, Guinness noted that Gerhardt was the proud owner of 118,791 of them.

Gerhardt had already held the record for largest number of four-leaf clovers collected in eight hours – 887 of them – and most four-leaf clovers collected in one hour – 451.

For this feat, she brought her entire collection to the Fitchburg Public Library on Saturday to be counted by a team of 21 witnesses.

Gerhardt’s 118,791 four-leaf clovers fortunately broke the previous record of 111,060.

Gerhardt, who has been collecting clovers since 2010, applied in January to break the records for largest collection of five-leaf clovers, 1,440, and largest collection of six-leaf clovers, 210.

still get that little magic feeling; it’s a little boost of serotonin,” she told WMTV.

We be-leave you.

$$$ for Cash

“CASH” registered in his name since 1970 is now selling the coveted plate. The asking price? $2 million.

Claude Arthur Stuart Hamrick, 83, a retired San Jose patent lawyer, is offering the rights to his vanity plate for sale via website PlateBroker.com.

“Every time I traded cars, the dealers tried to buy it from me. Every car dealer in San Jose wanted that plate,” Hamrick told the San Jose Mercury News. “I told them I wouldn’t sell it for a million dollars.”

Hamrick is sticking with that statement, asking for $2 million.

License plate rights have made for lucrative sales in the past. Delaware, a state where low-numbered license plates are highly sought-after, saw a plate featuring the number 20 sell for $410,000 in 2018.

Gabriella Gerhardt is one lucky woman.

The Wisconsinite earned a Guinness World Record after showing the record agency her collection of four-

“In order to really find a clover, you have to let your mind clear. It’s a mindfulness exercise, and so it was a very soothing experience. Every time you find one – I’ve found over 100 thousand – every time I find one, I

A California man who has had a customized license plate reading

The most expensive license plate in the world hails from California. It has the letters “MM” on it and is valued at $24.3 million.

Hoping you’re not driving a Kia with that blingy plate.

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Torah Thought Knowing You Inside Out

By Rabbi Zvi Teichman

If you ask the average ‘man on the street’ what their goal in life is, you’re more than likely to hear them respond; ‘finding happiness’. We all want to be happy, the question is how to achieve it.

There is only one instance in the entire Torah where someone is described as genuinely ‘happy’.

When Moshe upon returning from Midyan hesitates to assume the role of leadership that was held until then in the hands of his brother Aharon, G-d assures him not to worry for when he [Aharon] sees you [accepting authority], חמשו — he will rejoice in his heart (ד תומש)

What great secret to ‘joy’ lies in this sole portrayal of — החמשhappiness?

As a reward for this display of generosity of spirit towards his brother, Aharon merited to wear the remarkable Choshen, the Breastplate of Judgment, upon his ‘heart’. (

It was at this episode due to Moshe’s reluctance, that G-d decided to reverse his original intent and rather now give Aharon the הנוהכ— Priesthood, and Moshe the role of a יול— Levite. The designating of the Choshen to Aharon then seems to be symbolic of the הנוהכ— Priesthood in general. What is its special quality?

There were two sets of stones that served the vestments of Aharon and all subsequent High Priests.

The two םהש ינבא— Shoham Stones, that had engraved on each of them, six of the names of the twelve tribes — were attached to the end of the woven straps of the Efod, an apron

like garment. These straps rose up the back of the Kohen Gadol from the waist upward, ending up on the shoulders of the High Priest.

The Torah states that these ינבא ןרכז— Stones of Remembrance, were borne by Aharon, and he shall carry their names before Hashem on both his shoulders as a remembrance. (חכ)

The second set were the twelve stones that were set into four rows on the Choshen, which was worn on his chest. Each gemstone was of a different type and was engraved each with a name of one of the tribes. Additionally, the names of the Four Patriarchs — Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov, as well as the phrase ןורושי יטבש— Tribes of Yeshurun [Israel] were engraved in them as well.

These letters would light up to communicate messages from G-d when inquired by the Kohen Gadol. Here too, a similar sentiment is expressed — Aharon shall bear the names of the children of Israel on the Breastplate of Judgment on his heart... as a constant remembrance before Hashem. ( טכ םש),

The two garments housing these stones were connected, with a turquoise woolen cord, so they would not separate.

There are two unique characteristics that are described regarding the engraving of the names on these stones. Firstly, the Torah directs the stones, הנייהת— to be, תומש לע — on the names of the children of Israel. Secondly, it requires the names to be etched in like the engraving of a signet ring. ( אכו אי םש)

This formula seems odd. Weren’t

the names engraved on top of the stones? Why does the Torah tell us the stones were ‘to be on the names’? Even more intriguing is the similarity to the letters on a signet ring. Aren’t the letters of a signet ring implanted backwards and in their mirror image, so that when they are impressed into the wax they appear in proper direction and order!?

The great and brilliant Gaon, the Maharil Diskin, suggests a fascinating solution.

The names were indeed engraved inversely at the base of the stones where they rested on the Efod or Choshen. Being that the stones were translucent, when viewing the face of these stones upon the garments, the stones indeed were literally, atop — on the names, but nevertheless readable in the normal way due to the letters having been engraved at their base, exactly like a signet ring!

What is the mystery behind the unusual nature of this process of engraving?

Aharon bore the names of the people on his shoulders and on his heart. The shoulders represent responsibility. The heart signifies love. One can only bear the burden of duty to his fellow man if his heart is filled with love for them equally. The heart of Aharon didn’t view the nice and neat external image but rather the implied confused state and complexity of their ‘inverted status’. He understood them well, and embraced them all, flaws notwithstanding!

Their ‘remembrance’ before G-d is contingent on an equal dose of ‘remembrance’ between fellow man, as modeled by the great לארשי בהוא—

Aharon.

But there is much more to it than that.

One who truly wants to understand his fellow man must ‘don his clothes’ and ‘stand in his shoes’. One must be able to perceive another from inside out. Too often, we judge the outer layer without delving beneath the surface. One can only comprehend another human if he develops a sincere ability and desire to fathom the other person’s perspective.

Most of our unhappiness, especially in relationships, stems from not fathoming the other person’s outlook correctly. Aharon was happy because ‘'ךארו — and he saw ‘you’, he melded totally into the other person’s perspective, without concern for his own personal emotions.

No wonder he epitomized, projected, and instilled so much happiness!

There is a custom to wear costumes on Purim. There are many theories as to the significance of this tradition. Perhaps we can offer that on Purim we strive for new levels of true החמש — joy, by showing our willingness to step out of our own assumptions, our own ‘garments’, and don clothing that is not ours so that we may gain a more profound appreciation of another’s perspective, by looking from within outward.

May we rise to this challenge in deepening our appreciation for one another, and in that newly gained ‘light’, may we merit to experience absolute and unadulterated joy!

You may reach the author at: Ravzt@ohelmoshebaltimore.com

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Purim is full of mysteries and enigmas. The masks of Purim hide much, reflecting the fact that Esther is hinted at in the Torah in the pasuk (see Chulin 139b) where Hashem hides His face. Yet, one of the greatest mysteries is why the entire yom tov is called Purim based upon the lottery, called a pur (Megillas Esther 9:26). On the surface, it would seem that the word “lottery” is not the most significant word in the saga of Mordechai and Esther. Yet, every child knows that we are about to celebrate the yom tov of Purim, based upon Haman’s lottery (9:24). Why does the lottery loom so large in the danger and then salvation of Klal Yisrael?

A number of commentaries, especially that of Rav Gedaliah Schorr, zt”l, (Ohr Gedalyahu) explain that that goral or lottery is really the essence of what happened in the Megillah. Amalek is the enemy who attempted to convince us and the world at large that everything

Jewish Thought

Purim: A Day Of Miracles For Us All

By Rav Yaakov Feitman

happens by chance. Whatever happens is mikreh – coincidence – and therefore nothing really matters. Amalek tries to cool our ardor and avodas Hashem by claiming that actions have no repercussions or consequences. The world is constantly in a state of chaos and anarchy; in other words, the universe sometimes seems like one big lottery. But, of course, it’s not. Hashem runs every single detail, from the microscopic to the telescopic – and one of the greatest proofs is the Purim story. Every segment and even seeming fragment fits in with the purpose and design of the whole. Yet, we don’t really get the entire picture until the very end. As Rav Dessler points out in his Michtav M’Eliyahu, the actions of the Megillah take nine years, but the sof davar – the end result – as we sing in Lecha Dodi , was always be’machashavah techilah – in Hashem’s Mind from the very beginning.

But there is another equally profound thought embedded in the name

“Purim.” Rav Yonasan David, Rosh Yeshivas Pachad Yitzchak, Yerushalayim , shlita, points out (Kuntres Mesibos Purim 6:5; 33:4; 35:7) that on Purim we are enjoined to lose our daas. It seems at first to refer only to drinking a certain amount of wine. But in a deeper sense, it means yielding our human finite understanding to the infinite and limitless daas of the Creator. He demonstrates that although a lottery seems and is defined by the random and uncontrolled, the Purim story teaches that this is all superficially viewed, while in reality Hashem is pulling all the strings from High Above.

Rav Zalman Sorotzkin, zt”l, offers an amazing proof to this interpretation. He notes that Achashveirosh in the Megillah is always acting rashly and impetuously. When Vashti refuses to come to the party – and she may have had good reason – the king has her executed immediately. When he has a bad dream and discovers that Mordechai has never

been rewarded, he commands that he be repaid at once. When he gets angry at Haman, he acts swiftly to hang him on the tree. Now, we know from Chazal that Achashveirosh was as rabid an anti-Semite as Haman. Yet, when he agrees to Haman’s plan r”l to wipe out all the Jews, he waits a full year. What’s going on here?

The answer is wonderfully obvious. Hashem wanted to give us an entire year to do teshuvah. And so it was. There was a wave of repentance in Klal Yisrael which affected Jews all over the world. Haman made a lottery thinking that it would give him a magical day when it would be propitious to wipe us out. They were so happy when it turned out to be Moshe Rabbeinu’s yahrtzeit, for in their minds this was a bad day for the Jews. In reality, of course, it was also Moshe’s birthday, a very good day for the Jews. However, Hashem not only makes everything turn out for the best, but venahafoch hu – He turns everything up -

side down so that we always know that He is running the world, whether that is visible or not. At the Yam Suf, it was readily visible; on Purim, it was hidden. But either way, Hashem is always there. Even Achashveirosh’s usual behavior and alacrity are stifled and his sense of procrastination shines forth so that we could accept the Torah freshly and do a total teshuvah. A lottery indeed! It was the yad Hashem.

Rav Shlomo Brevda , zt”l, would always point to the Gra’s commentary on the Megillah to discover hints of eternity. One of them was that when Haman went, at Achashveirosh’s command, to reward Mordechai, he finds him davening. Thousands of children were learning Torah in front of him. Haman actually asked them what they were learning, and they answered that it was a section of kodashim – korbanos He was shocked. Everyone knew that

of our being. It was then that Haman began to realize that it was over for him (Esther Rabbah 9).

We just lived through what our bitter enemies called a “Day of Hate.” Boruch Hashem, we stayed in our shuls and batei medrash, learning and davening as usual. We didn’t go demonstrating

that Mordechai innovated new methods of davening and entreating Hashem to help and save us. The Megillah is replete with guidance for all of us in times of crisis. It is not politics or even diplomats who will save us. It is turning to Hashem with total emunah and bitachon . Eventually, even Haman understood

Father Who can and does all, we can ask for anything, since a child need not limit his entreaties to his parent. Rav Chaim Falagi (Sefer Moed Kol Chai ) writes that before the Seudas Purim begins, a women should light two candles in memory of the souls of Mordechai and Esther. Then she may recite all the requests that she usually does when she lights the Shabbos candles. On Purim, it says that we must give tzedakah to everyone who extends a hand to us (Rambam Hilchos Megillah 2:16). Since Hashem, so to speak, keeps the Torah as well, it is said that He, too, answers each one of our prayers. The Brisker Rav, zt”l, taught that this is clear from the words of Shoshanas Yaakov as well: “To make known that all who hope in You will not be shamed, nor ever be humiliated, those taking refuge in You.”

through the streets or flooding the evil

that that is what distinguishes us from

May we all find the wisdom to take advantage of this wonderful opportu-

Hashem runs every single detail, from the microscopic to the telescopic – and one of the greatest proofs is the Purim story.

Baltimore Weekday Minyanim Guide

Shacharis Mincha

Neitz Beit Yaakov [Sefaradi] M-F

Khal Ahavas Yisroel/ Tzemach Tzedek M-F

Ohel Yakov S-F

6:00 AM Shomrei Emunah Congregation M-F

6:10 AM Agudath Israel of Baltimore M, Th

6:15 AM Kol Torah M, TH

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah M-F

Shearith Israel Congregation M, TH

The Adas: Chofetz Chaim Adas Bnei Israel M, TH

6:20 AM Agudah of Greenspring M, TH

Agudath Israel of Baltimore S, T, W, F

Arugas HaBosem (Rabbi Taub's) S-F

Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion Congregation M, TH

Kehilath B'nai Torah M, TH

Shomrei Emunah Congregation S, M, TH

6:25 AM Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion Congregation T, W, F

The Adas: Chofetz Chaim Adas Bnei Israel T, W, F

6:30 AM Agudah of Greenspring T, W, F

Chabad of Park Heights M-F

Darchei Tzedek M-F

Kehilath B'nai Torah T, W, F

Khal Bais Nosson M-F

Khal Ahavas Yisroel/ Tzemach Tzedek M-F

Kol Torah T, W, F

Ohr Yisroel M-F

Shearith Israel Congregation T, W, F

Shomrei Emunah Congregation T, W, F

6:35 AM Aish Kodesh (downstairs Minyan) M, TH

Ohel Moshe M, TH

6:40 AM Aish Kodesh (downstairs Minyan) T, W, F

Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion Congregation M, TH

6:45 AM B”H and Mesivta of Baltimore (Dirshu Minyan) S-F

Beth Abraham M, TH

Greenspring Sephardic Synagogue M-F

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F

Ner Tamid M-F

Ohel Moshe T, W, F

Suburban Orthodox Congregation Toras Chaim M-F

6:50 AM Agudath Israel of Baltimore M, TH

Ahavat Shalom [Sefaradi] M, TH

Bais Medrash of Ranchleigh M, TH

Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion Congregation T, W, F

Community Kollel Tiferes Moshe Aryeh M, TH

Derech Chaim M-F

Kol Torah M-F

Ohel Moshe S

Ohr Hamizrach [Sefaradi] M-F

Shomrei Emunah Congregation M, TH

The Shul at the Lubavitch Center M, TH

6:55 AM Beth Abraham T, W, F

Kol Torah M, TH

7:00 AM Aish Kodesh (upstairs Minyan) M-F

Agudath Israel of Baltimore S, T, W, F

Ahavat Shalom [Sefaradi] T, W, F

Arugas HaBosem (Rabbi Taub's) S

Bais Medrash of Ranchleigh T, W, F

Beth Tfiloh Congregation M-F

Community Kollel Tiferes Moshe Aryeh T, W, F

Greenspring Sephardic Synagogue S

Khal Ahavas Yisroel/ Tzemach Tzedek S

Kol Torah T, W, F

Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah S-F

Ohr Hamizrach [Sefaradi] S

Shearith Israel Congregation S, M, TH

Shomrei Emunah Congregation T, W, F

Shomrei Mishmeres Hakodesh M-F

The Shul at the Lubavitch Center T, W, F

Tiferes Yisroel M-F

7:05 AM Machzikei Torah (Sternhill's) M, TH

7:15 AM Kedushas Yisrael S

Kol Torah S

Machzikei Torah (Sternhill's) S, T, W, F

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F

Ner Israel Rabbinical College S-F

7:15 AM Shearith Israel Congregation T, W, F

Shomrei Emunah Congregation S

Suburban Orthodox Congregation Toras Chaim S

The Adas: Chofetz Chaim Adas Bnei Israel S

Tzeirah Anash M-F

7:20 AM Agudath Israel of Baltimore M, TH

Kol Torah M-F

Shomrei Emunah Congregation M, TH

7:30 AM Agudah of Greenspring S

Agudath Israel of Baltimore S, T, W, F

Ahavat Shalom [Sefaradi] S

Bais Haknesses Ohr HaChaim S-F

Bais Hamedrash and Mesivta of Baltimore S-F

Bais Medrash of Ranchleigh S

Beit Yaakov [Sefaradi] S

Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion Congregation S

Chabad of Park Heights S

Community Kollel Tiferes Moshe Aryeh S-F

Darchei Tzedek S

Kedushas Yisrael M-F

Khal Bais Nosson S

Ner Israel Rabbinical College (Mechina) S-F

Ohr Hamizrach [Sefaradi] S-F

Shomrei Emunah Congregation T, W, F

7:45 AM Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion Congregation M-F

Talmudical Academy S-F

Darchei Tzedek M-F

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F

Mesivta Kesser Torah S-F

Mesivta Shaarei Chaim S-F

7:50 AM Derech Chaim S

Ner Tamid S

Ohel Moshe M-F

8:00 AM Agudath Israel of Baltimore S-F

Beth Abraham S

Darchei Tzedek S

Khal Ahavas Yisroel/ Tzemach Tzedek S

Kehillas Meor HaTorah S

Ohel Yakov S

Ohr Yisroel S

Pikesville Jewish Congregation S

Shearith Israel Congregation S

Shomrei Emunah Congregation S-F

The Shul at the Lubavitch Center S

Tiferes Yisroel S

Tzeirah Anash S

Yeshiva Tiferes Hatorah S-F

8:15 AM Kehilath B'nai Torah S

Kol Torah S

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F

8:20 AM Bais Haknesses Ohr HaChaim S-F

8:30 AM Agudath Israel of Baltimore S-F

Beth Tfiloh Congregation S

Machzikei Torah (Sternhill's) S-F

Ohel Moshe S

Ohr Hamizrach [Sefaradi] S

Shomrei Emunah Congregation S-F

Shomrei Mishmeres Hakodesh S

8:45 AM Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F

9:00 AM Aish Kodesh S

Agudath Israel of Baltimore S-F

Bais Haknesses Ohr HaChaim S

Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion Congregation S

Shomrei Emunah Congregation S-F

Suburban Orthodox Congregation Toras Chaim S-F

9:15 AM Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F

9:45 AM Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F

For

Mincha Gedolah Mercaz Torah U’Tefillah

Khal Ahavas Yisroel/Tzemach Tzedek

12:30 PM Kol Torah

12:50 PM Neuberger, Quinn, Gielen, Rubin & Gibber

1:00 PM Agudath Israel of Baltimore

10055 Red Run Blvd Suite 295

Milk & Honey Bistro 1777 Reisterstown RD

1:25 PM Bais Haknesses Ohr HaChaim

1:45 PM Ohel Moshe

2:00 PM Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah

Agudath Israel of Baltimore

Big Al @ The Knish Shop Party Room

Market Maven

Reischer Minyan 15 Walker Ave 2nd Floor

Snider Law Firm 600 Reistersown Rd 7th floor

2:30 PM Bais Medrash of Ranchleigh

Ner Israel Rabbinical College

Tov Pizza Mincha Minyan

Community Kollel Tiferes Moshe Aryeh

Mesivta Shaarei Chaim (Etz Chaim Building)

Shearith Israel Congregation

3:00 PM Agudath Israel of Baltimore

Bais Haknesses Ohr HaChaim

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah

3:05 PM Kedushas Yisrael

3:15 PM Hat Box

4:00 PM Agudath Israel of Baltimore

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah

Mincha/Maariv

Aish Kodesh

Agudath Israel of Baltimore

Agudah of Greenspring

Bais Haknesses Ohr HaChaim

Darchei Tzedek

Kehillas Meor HaTorah

Kehilath B’nai Torah

Khal Ahavas Yisroel/ Tzemach Tzedek

Machzikei Torah (Sternhill’s)

Mercaz Torah U’Tefillah

Ner Tamid

Ohel Moshe

Shearith Israel Congregation

Shomrei Emunah Congregation

Maariv continued

8:55 PM Community Kollel Tiferes Moshe Aryeh

9:00 PM Agudath Israel of Baltimore

Bais Medrash of Ranchleigh

Beit Yaakov [Sefaradi]

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah

Shomrei Emunah Congregation

Suburban Orthodox Congregation Toras Chaim

9:20 PM Khal Ahavas Yisroel/ Tzemach Tzedek

Kol Torah

9:30 PM Agudah of Greenspring

Agudath Israel of Baltimore

Kedushas Yisrael

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah

9:45 PM Bais Haknesses Ohr HaChaim

Kollel Erev Birchas Yitzchok (Luries)

Machzikei Torah (Sternhill's)

Yeshiva Tiferes Hatorah

9:50 PM Aish Kodesh

Community Kollel Tiferes Moshe Aryeh

Ohel Moshe

10:00 PM Agudath Israel of Baltimore

Darchei Tzedek

Kehilath B'nai Torah

Khal Ahavas Yisroel/ Tzemach Tzedek

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah

Ohr Yisroel

Shomrei Emunah Congregation

10:05 PM Kol Torah

10:10 PM Ner Israel Rabbinical College

10:15 PM Derech Chaim

Khal Bais Nosson

Before Shkiah

10:30 PM Agudath Israel of Baltimore

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah

11:00 PM Agudath Israel of Baltimore

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah

Agudah of Greenspring - 6107 Greenspring Ave

Agudath Israel of Baltimore - 6200 Park Heights Ave

Ahavat Shalom - 3009 Northbrook Rd

Aish Kodesh - 6207 Ivymount Rd

Arugas HaBosem - 3509 Clarks Ln

Bais Haknesses Ohr HaChaim - 3120 Clarks Ln

Bais Hamedrash and Mesivta of Baltimore - 6823 Old Pimlico Rd

Bais Medrash of Ranchleigh - 6618 Deancroft Rd

Beit Yaakov - 3615 Seven Mile Ln

Beth Abraham - 6208 Wallis Ave

Beth Tfiloh Congregation - 3300 Old Court Rd

Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion Congregation - 6602 Park Heights Ave

Suburban Orthodox Congregation Toras Chaim

The Adas: Chofetz Chaim Adas Bnei Israel

The Shul at the Lubavitch Center

Maariv

6:30 PM Agudath Israel of Baltimore

7:00 PM Agudath Israel of Baltimore

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah

Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah

7:15 PM Shomrei Emunah Congregation

7:30 PM Agudath Israel of Baltimore

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah

7:45 PM Talmudical Academy

Ohel Moshe

8:00 PM Agudath Israel of Baltimore

Bais Haknesses Ohr HaChaim

Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah

Pikesville Jewish Congregation

8:10 PM Kol Torah

8:15 PM Khal Ahavas Yisroel/ Tzemach Tzedek

Shomrei Emunah Congregation

8:30 PM Agudath Israel of Baltimore

Ahavat Shalom [Sefaradi]

Mercaz Torah U’Tefillah

8:45 PM Darchei Tzedek

Ner Israel Rabbinical College (Mechina)

Ohr Yisroel

8:50 PM Mesivta Shaarei Chaim (Etz Chaim Building)

Chabad of Park Heights - 3402 Clarks Ln

Community Kollel Tiferes Moshe Aryeh - 3800 Labyrinth Rd

Darchei Tzedek - 3201 Seven Mile Ln

Derech Chaim - 6229 Greenspring Ave (Weekday)

Greenspring Sephardic Synagogue 6611 Greenspring Ave.

Kedushas Yisrael - 6004 Park Heights Ave

Kehilath B’nai Torah - 6301 Green Meadow Pkwy

Kehillas Meor HaTorah - 6539 Pebble Brooke Rd

Khal Ahavas Yisroel/ Tzemach Tzedek - 6811 Park Heights Ave

Khal Bais Nosson - 2901 Taney Rd

Kol Torah - 2929 Fallstaff Rd

Machzikei Torah - 6216 Biltmore Ave

Mercaz Torah U’Tefillah - 6500 Baythorne Rd

Mesivta Kesser Torah - 8400 Park Heights Ave

Mesivta Shaarei Chaim - 3702 Fords Ln

Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah - 7000 Rockland Hills Dr

Neuberger, Quinn, Gielen, Rubin & Gibber One South Street, 27th Floor

Ner Israel Rabbinical College - 400 Mt Wilson Ln

Ner Tamid - 6214 Pimlico Road

Ohel Moshe - 2808 Smith Ave

Ohel Yakov - 3200 Glen Ave

Ohr Hamizrach [Sefaradi] - 6813 Park Heights Ave

Ohr Yisroel - 2429 Lightfoot Dr

Pikesville Jewish Congregation - 7644 Carla Rd

Shearith Israel Congregation - 5835 Park Heights Ave

Shomrei Emunah Congregation - 6221 Greenspring Ave

Shomrei Mishmeres Hakodesh - 2821 W Strathmore Ave

Suburban Orthodox Congregation Toras Chaim - 7504 Seven Mile Ln

Talmudical Academy - 4445 Old Court Rd

The Adas: Chofetz Chaim Adas Bnei Israel - 5915 Park Heights Ave

The Shul at the Lubavitch Center - 6701 Old Pimlico Rd

Tiferes Yisroel - 6201 Park Heights Ave

Tzeirah Anash - 6706 Cross County Blvd

Yeshiva Tiferes Hatorah - 6819 Williamson Ave

edits, additions, or sponsorships, email ads@baltimorejewishhome.com

Mental Health Corner

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

By Rabbi Azriel Hauptman

PTA conferences have always been perplexing for Shimon’s parents. All of the Rebbeim and teachers deliver the same report: “Your son is an angel and I wish that all of the boys were as respectful, cordial, and well-behaved as your son.” Indeed, whenever Shimon goes to a friend’s house to play, his parent wait for the inevitable phone call describing how Shimon is an absolute pleasure to have over, and that he is a role model for all other children. Shimon’s parents have yet to see that side of their son. When he is home, he gets into fights with his siblings, occasionally has a tempertantrum, rolls his eyes at his parents, and even yells at them. His mother gets the worst treatment of all as Shimon is especially rude to her. Does this sound familiar?

If you have had such an experience with your child, you should begin with a pat on your back. If you have raised a child that can go out into the world and be polite, respectful, considerate, well-mannered, and courteous, then you are doing an excellent job as parents! You are definitely doing something right. So, how come your child is the polar opposite when he or she is home? That requires some background in attachment theory and behavioral psychology.

Emotional wellness is heavily influenced by the nature of one’s attachment to primary caregivers in childhood. Children are considered as having a secure attachment to their parents when they feel that they can rely on their parents to provide emotional support, physical protection, and to attend to their needs. Such a

child can function well in their ventures out of the home (such as in school) since they have the peace of mind of their secure base.

A side-effect of feeling their home as a safe space is that they have the freedom to misbehave! For many children, being cordial and respectful outside of their home requires an enormous amount of effort and energy. When they come home, they are emotionally exhausted. Their home is their sanctuary where they can misbehave as much as they want and will still be unconditionally loved. In other words, view your child’s behavior as the greatest compliment. They feel how much you love them!

Another factor in this phenomenon comes from behavioral psychology. When behaviors are rewarded, we tend to increase the frequency of those behaviors. When children are outside of their home, they quickly learn that

over, the opposite form of reinforcement is commonplace. Many children learn that if they whine and nag you long enough, they can compel you to do what they want. Do not call this manipulative! It is simply a learned behavior that you conditioned them for.

This begs the question, what exactly should you do with your child when he or she turns into a monster when they walk in the door? Alas, that will have to be the focus of another article. But for starters, bear this in mind. Your child is not fully developed and cannot be expected to have the emotional maturity to regulate their emotions. As parents, you are in the position to teach them how to calm and soothe themselves when they feel agitated or stressed. Unconditional love combined with guidance is a winning combination to raising children who will, B’Ezras Hashem, grow into emotionally mature adults.

This is a service of Relief Resources. Relief is an organization that provides mental health referrals, education, and support to the frum community. Rabbi

THE BJH PRESENTS: A BOOST OF “INSPIRATION”

A Snippet From Judaism’s Number One Podcast

ow can a couple host on the average seventy people each Shabbos?! Who would dream of extending that to helping 10,000 people a week to find a place for? What gives birth to such an innovative idea?

The story begins in Cleveland, where Rabbi Bentzion Klatzko was born. He received smicha from Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn, married and learned in Kollel for several years.

At 21, the young Bentzion accepted an offer to serve as Rabbi of the 14th Avenue Agudath Israel of Brooklyn, New York. After seven years, he took a position at Shaarey Tzedek Congregation in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.

that it needed to be a social network platform so that people keep coming back to the website, therefore he and his team created a feed, with likes and comments, giving each participant a “profile.” Before COVID, the website generated six shidduchim a month!

HIn our interconnected world, the power of the media cannot be overestimated. Internet websites, social media, radio, newspapers, and magazines increasingly control the fate of politicians and governments, world finances and morality. In the chareidi world, the messages conveyed by religious media can shape and strengthen emuna, enrich charitable efforts, and ferment new shul and yeshiva policies. Therefore, it was a great privilege to interview the highly influential Rabbi Eli Paley, owner of Mishpacha Media Group and publisher of the Mishpacha Hebrew and English weekly magazines.

unanswered questions.

Rabbi Benzion Klatzko ELI PALEY

We discussed the Mishpacha’s origin, the challenges he is faced with policy decision making, and the overall goals he hopes to attain through the publication.

When he was 30 years old, his younger brother, Gavriel (the original Rav Gav) passed away suddenly at the age of 28 from a heart attack. This left Rabbi Klatzko in total shock; and began to live life with an urgency, valuing every moment, driven to accomplish even more with his life.

He left the Rabbinate and moved with his wife and six children to do kiruv on the campus at UCLA. He was not afraid of his children living in the non-frum college environment because his belief that the main influence on children is the home. Rabbi Klatzko remained involved in campus outreach for the past two decades as a regional director of Olami.

In 2019, the Jewish founder of WhatsApp heard about the Shabbat.com website and met with Rabbi Klatzko. He suggested that the whole website be rebuilt with more modern technology and offered to provide the initial funding to build an incredible site. Now, everything has been rebuilt under the guidance of the CEO of Whatsapp.

Havdalla.com is where Rabbi Klatzko live-streams his family’s havdalah every week. The family is musical and each of the children plays a different instrument. They also invite various singers to join the live stream.

Eli was born in in the Mattesdorff neighborhood in Yerushalayim. His great-grandfather and grandfather arrived in Eretz Yisroel in 1925 to establish the Slabodka Yeshivah in Chevron. Later his grandfather became the assistant to Rabbi Herzel, the chief rabbi of Israel.

Today, Shabbat.com is the largest Jewish Social Network in the world.

Eli himself is an alumni of Chevron yeshiva. When he married his wife, a graduate of Michlala in Bayit Vegan, his dream was to continue learning. However, a few months after his marriage, his brother mentioned a new monthly publication called Mishpacha was looking for someone to work as a distributor in Yerushalayim for a day and a half once every 5 to 6 weeks. With flex hours like that, Eli took the job, earning twice as much as he would be for an entire month in a kolel. Financially independent, he continued to learn diligently.

Endorsed by the gedolim and active in 220 countries, 10,000 people a week take advantage of the Shabbat.com service. Anywhere in the world, a person can find a place for Shabbos.

His father, Rabbi Yehuda Paley, bought the Mishpacha Magazine business. To help his father, Eli got involved in the editorial angle of the magazine figuring out how it could make a unique contribution to the field of journalism. He left learning to pursue his new mission to inspire and influence the Chareidi community. It is that idealism that still drives him in his work so many years later.

Each week, he and his family entertained 60 to 70 people. In 2010, he was struck with the realization that not everyone who wants Shabbos guests can find them…and each week so many people need places to go for Shabbos! This triggered the creation of “Shabbat. com,” an online platform, where people can find a place to go for Shabbos.

From the incredible success of Shabbat.com, Rabbi Klatzko realized the power of the web in spreading Yiddishkeit. Besides his own website projects, Rabbi Klatzko likes to support others with their projects and assist them as they build websites. He describes it as “helping people get their wings and letting them fly.”

While Mishpacha is well-received around the world, the goal of Mishpacha is to serve, elevate and be the voice of the Chareidim, particularly in Eretz Yisroel. The real customers are not the advertisers but the audience. Mishpacha seeks to portray an independent voice which is unaffiliated with any political party. In the early years, in the chareidi world of pollicization, this was perceived as a weakness. However, the years have passed, and this freedom has become one of the most salient factors of its success.

Mishpacha was the first Charedi publication to give the same respect to the Sephardi and Ashkenazi societies, attempting to create a sense of unity. Over time, this adherence to equality and ahavas Yisrael became the secret to the business’ success.

Mishpacha’s quest in elevating frum society is done through sincere, honest writing. Mishpacha does not engage in pretending that society is perfect. While recognizing the great achievements and accomplishments in the frum world, Mishpacha will tackle even unpleasant issues, albeit in an extremely sensitive way.

The next year, Rabbi Klatzko decided that if Shabbat.com could fix people up for Shabbos with hosts, it could help the many singles looking for shidduchim as well. He realized

Want

A deeply creative individual, Rabbi Klatzko is also an author, music composer and producer, expert Judaica appraiser and collector, and a mohel. He has started over 15 organizations including Akiva Trips, Chazkeinu, Hashem.com, and many more!

Chazkeinu is one example. It is a women’s organization that deals with the issue of postpartum depression and mental illness.

Hashem.com is a website for people who have questions as to whether Hashem exists, aiming provide answers to seekers and sparing them the confusion and agony of waiting with

The topic of poverty among Charedim and the poor economic situation in the Israeli community lay heavily on Eli’s heart. As part of the solution, Eli started the Charedi Institute of Public Affairs to engage with the government with hopes to resolve this in a way that will allow the Charedi society to retain its Torah values.

Illuminatetheworld.com show cases inspirational articles about frum people who have gone out of their way to make not just the religious world, but the world at large a better place.

Purplejacketpeople is linked to illuminatetheworld.com and was created to explain what it means to be Jewish and how the Jewish people are changing the world.

While American Jews may have difficulty in relating to the issues overseas, Eli, as a born and bred Israeli is certainly in touch with the masses. He recalls the issue he faced during his kolel years when distributing the magazine. The government regulation forbid a yingeman from receiving Kollel benefits if he had any other source of income. Therefore, he was forced to register his side job under his wife’s name, a desperate solution used by many. In his publication, he attempts to broker a better solution.

Rishon Art. He markets his artwork to support some of his outreach projects. In addition, there is a room in the art gallery where he gives shiurim.

One of Rabbi Klatzko’s big projects is called the Akiva Trip where he takes 30 to 40 students to Eretz Yisroel. His aim? To inspire them to take the next step in their Judaism.

Another example of difficulties that Israeli chareidim face is the draft. Mishpacha discussed population statistics -- one out of four children is Charedi– and how the army and Charedi society can possibly reach a solution.

The paper is faced daily with Hashkafa decisions that have far-reaching effects on our society. The issue of printing pictures of women in the magazine has been debated back and forth in many forums. When Hilary Clinton was running for President, Mishpacha shocked many readers by publishing a blurry photo of Donald Trump and Hilary on the cover. “We just wanted to see how people would react,” Eli confides.

Another one of his latest projects is Siyum Yomi. He encourages everyone in Klal Yisroel to sign up for just one Mishna – resulting in a siyum every night, another innovative way Rabbi Klatzko strives to unify Klal Yisroel.

Rabbi Klatzko encourages us all to invite someone for Shabbos every week. When Moshiach comes, there is going to be a battle between the malach of Klal Yisroel and the malach of Yishmael, Islam, each claiming to be the chosen nation. Although both Yitzchok and Yishmael were Avrohom’s sons, whose descendants can lay claim to being the true inheritors of Avraham Avinu and his path?

The office did receive some complaints, but the Gedolim the magazine consults advised them to include her since there was a real possibility Hilary would indeed become president. However, in Israel, an anti-Mishacha publication blasted Mishpacha , claiming they were breaking the rules of modesty and Torah by publishing a picture of Hilary Clinton.

When he was younger, Rabbi Klatzko composed songs, and always wished to “get his music out there”. In 2016, he finally put out an album and some of the songs went viral. The song “Chupa” is played all over the world.

This became a real issue because it was very hard for Eli to justify in his mind why they could not print modest pictures of women, particularly considering how hard it seems to be to explain to ba’alei teshuvah why women are “ignored.” In order to make Mishpacha, often one of their first exposures to Yiddishkeit, more palatable, Eli is comfortable with his decision.

Chazal tell us that the final verdict will be dependent on hachnasas orchim. Since this was the mitzva in which Avrohom Avinu excelled, we have to excel in hachnosas orchim. “Your children should ask, ‘Who are we having over for Shabbos?’”

He’s on a big mission: to expose our brothers to true Torah values, and he bears the responsibility seriously. He often employs a different way of thinking, a creative model, a stretch and a twist, that can support our lifestyle while at the same time show that we care about the Israeli economy, security, and its welfare system. “Instead of just complaining about why we are not understood,” Eli explained during the interview, “we must ask what we can do in this field. While we have to make sure that our kids are not too exposed to the big world, the (outside) world exists, and we have to face reality and come up with practical solutions. “

During COVID, when the family was stuck at home, he and his children recorded a song called “Al Tira Avdi Yaakov.” Yisroel Ament, a musical arranger, was also stuck in the Klatzko house during COVID, and they collaborated on another song. Since then, they have been producing beautiful music with the goal of touching people’s hearts and souls.

“Being creative makes us feel alive!” For every project that Rabbi Klatzko is involved with and passionate about, there are still more that he wishes he could undertake.

Rather than hiding his head in the sand, he is ready to take on the problems in our neighbourhoods and cities, working with the authorities instead of against them. Slowly, he believes, we will be able to build better trust.

From a passion for art, Rabbi Klatzko launched an art gallery called

He and his wife Shani and their 11 children currently live in Monsey where hosting 70 or more people for Shabbos is their norm. If we live life with urgency, says Rabbi Klatzko, and we love people, we will always have time for them.

Eli is proud that Mishpacha does not try to be sensationalist. Rather he makes an effort to keep his editorial policies responsible and sensitive. “If you’re going to do it le’shaim shamayim” Eli ended, “you’ll have disyata d’shmaya to do it right.”

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Tech Triumphs

Unexpected Influx As Told to Rebbetzin Sara

As a grant writer, I have the convenience of working from home on my own schedule. As anybody who works for themselves knows, there are perks and pitfalls to being your own boss. I definitely enjoy the convenience of not having to commute and flexible schedules, but I found the distraction of my job getting in my way. I had a smartphone and constantly felt the need to check my email and look things up. The pull to look was really getting out of hand, and I felt that I had to put some boundaries in place. I decided once and for all to get rid of my smartphone and get a flip phone instead, without email and internet. The change was just what I needed

to get things under control. I was able to make times for checking my email and set up a more defined schedule to work. That benefit was what I expected. What shocked me was the immediate influx of business that came my way after I made the switch. The explosion of clients was a clear sign from Above that I was doing the right thing. I know that many people who run businesses feel that it can’t be done without a smartphone, but the clarity and bracha that flowed from my decision was a stamp of approval from Hashem

Gross by Mrs. Rochel Horan

DID YOU KNOW?

Google Photos is an accessible social media platform that has become very popular with Bais Yaakov girls. With a link, a girl can connect to any google photo group where thousands of people can post pictures and comments, likes or dislikes, and there is no way to filter out who is on the chat. It can have anyone on it, and they can

post without anyone monitoring content. Seemingly innocent class google photo groups can turn into problematic chats with no control. Awareness is the first step to control.

To share a tech triumph or story of chizuk, please email Techtriumphs@tagbaltimore.org.

This is a service of TAG Baltimore. TAG Baltimore is an organization that provides technology awareness, education, and support. They can be reached at 410-449-1824 or help@ tagbaltimore.org.

Do More with Your Career

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CONTACT: Heidi Fuchs, Assistant Dean, Admissions & Enrollment

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• Nine, six-week rotations, more than most other colleges of pharmacy.

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• Our values are your values. All our campuses follow the Jewish calendar and serve only kosher food.

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Health & F tness A Positive Purim

By Tehila Soskel, RDN, CDN

And with a blink of an eye, Purim is here. The mishloach manot are being prepared, and the fresh smell of hamantaschen lingers through the house. The kids are all anticipating putting on their costumes – some already wearing them – and eager to spend the day to its fullest. The essence of Purim goes beyond all the delicious food and silly costumes.

On the day before Purim, Taanis Esther, we fast and abstain from all food. After a day of fasting, we go right into Purim where we indulge for the seudas mitzvah and eat the most scrumptious food and tasty drinks. It’s interesting how the days go from one extreme – from fasting, to having a mitzvah to indulge and eat a seudah. The Rambam says that the goal in life is to embark on the middle road, “Shvil ha’zahav/the golden road,” and not to be too extreme. In this case, yes, we go from one extreme, a day of fasting, to a day of indulging, but the idea in life is to find a happy balance between the two. The same goes with your mindset and overall eating habits. Having an “all or nothing” mindset will leave you feeling lousy and unsettled. It’s important to have a healthy outlook and consume an overall wholesome diet.

With all that being said and with Purim being so connected to food, let’s enjoy this yom tov without feeling sick to our stomachs.

Taanis Esther/Post-Fast

As with most fasts, I recommend breaking it the same way. First things first: hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! Drink two cups of water to hydrate your body before eating anything else. After fasting, its imperative to replenish and hydrate your body.

Another important thing to remember when finally eating is to start small and slowly. However hungry you may be, overeating and eating ravenously will leave you feeling unpleasant. Make a plate for yourself, sit down to eat, and put your fork down between bites.

Remember, the break-fast meal is not

meant to make up the calories lost from the whole day. By doing that, it’ll leave you feeling sick. Try to skip on the desserts and eat a wholesome meal. An example for a great meal to eat post-fast can be toasted whole wheat bread, scrambled eggs, roasted vegetables, and a fruit.

Purim Day

The day of Purim is so lively and gets really busy real quickly. It’s crucial to take care of your health and make time for yourself.

As I mentioned, hydrate and drink all your water during the day no matter how busy you may get, especially if you will be running around all day. If you are consuming alcohol, keep in mind that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend 1 alcoholic drink or less per day for women and 2 drinks or less for men.

However busy you may get, it’s important you treat the day like you would any other day and not skip on your meals. Prepare for yourself a protein-filled breakfast and try to make time to sit for lunch.

Snacking smart is going to help prevent going into the next meal ravenous. Try preparing for yourself fresh, cut-up fruit or buy a small fruit platter to snack on to ensure you get your fruits in and snack on that instead of all the sweets and desserts that will be delivered in most mishloach manos. Another great snack is popcorn, and while it’s low in calories

and high in fiber, keep in mind the portion size, which is around 3 cups.

If you’re going to be running around and don’t have much time, there are many quick meals you can put together to keep you satiated. A yogurt parfait is a great option when you’re pressed for time. A plain Greek yogurt, topped with berries and chia seeds for that extra boost of fiber, would be a great option and is super quick to put together. If you have more time, an omelet with sautéed veggies with whole wheat toast will also be a delicious option to keep full until your seudah. Another option is a tuna sandwich or tuna topped on a big salad.

Making time to sit and eat your meals will set you up for success and will prevent you from overeating at the seudah.

The Purim Seudah

Although it may seem obvious to some, sit for your meal. Mindless eating happens when we are distracted and not focusing; therefore, make a plate for yourself and sit while you are eating. A balanced plate can look something like this: half your plate vegetables, a quarter protein, and a quarter whole grains.

If you’re the one making the seudah, try incorporating vegetable side dishes. Some vegetable side dish ideas are broccoli kugel, crispy roasted vegetables, salads, and vegetable boards – which make a fun addition to the meal.

Here’s a delicious salad recipe to make for your Purim seudah, or bring to your host:

• Kale

• Roasted chickpeas

• Butternut squash

• Pomegranate

• Dried figs

• Pumpkin seeds

• Avocado

Dressing:

• ¼ teaspoon minced garlic

• 1 tablespoon water

• 1 tablespoon maple syrup

• ½ cup tahini paste

• ½ cup fresh lemon

Directions: Roast chickpeas and butternut squash cubed in the oven until crispy. Once ready, set aside. Combine all the dressing ingredients and drizzle the dressing over the salad components before serving.

After Purim

I hope you all have a meaningful and enjoyable Purim. Here are some tips to help get you feeling back to your best post-yom tov.

First, it doesn’t matter if you ate more than usual on this day. The most important tip I can give you is to jump right back into routine. Remember, one day cannot ruin all your progress and hard work so get right back into your usual regimen after Purim.

The next day is a new day, which means you should eat all your meals even if you ate more the day before. Be sure to drink lots of water and get some movement in. In addition to all the physical benefits of exercise, the mental health benefits are endless.

Have a freilichen Purim!

Tehila Soskel is a registered dietitian nutritionist with a private practice in the Five Towns. She sees clients for weight loss, diabetes, and other various diseases. Appointments can be made for in-person or virtual sessions: 516-457-8558, tehilasoskelrd@gmail.com, tehilasoskelnutrition.com.

Israel Today Auntie Belle

By Rafi Sackville

Even before we were married, I had heard about my wife Keren’s greataunt Belle Kirschenbaum. At the time,she was almost 80 years old, living on Rehov Alozorov in Rehavia, Yerushalayim. She was an institution to her family and friends – a fiery, opinionated woman, who carried her strong New York accent like a badge of honor. She’d been coming back and forth to Israel since 1948 and eventually moved here after she retired.

Belle had a coterie of close friends and scores of acquaintances with whom she kept in contact. She had an antiquated olive-green rotary phone that sat on her hallway desk in stark contrast to the soft colors of her apartment. The phone, however, wasn’t her choice of contact. Instead, Belle loved writing long, handwritten letters. She kept a record of her correspondence in two large tote bags that she’d shlep with her everywhere.

When staying with us over Shabbat, I’d pick her up early on a Friday morning. Upon arriving at our apartment, she’d set herself up at the dining room table which soon became strewn with letters and envelopes. She’d spend hours on her correspondence before she had to vacate the table for the Shabbat tablecloth.

She had a knack of identifying lonely people and befriending them. Some were her age, but many were youngsters. There were occasions – too many to count – when she’d introduce us to someone, who in turn mistook us for one of the befriended. During one visit, we were introduced to Ruth, just Ruth, one of Golda Meir’s close friends.

Our children quickly learned to adjust to her appearance; her choice of attire was anchored in post-war America. She was never into style, even if she always sport-

ed large, black sunglasses that eventually spooked our youngest daughter.

She worked in the same bank in New York City for years. She never married. She had a reputation for being different. Family folklore has it that the numerous trips she made to Israel post-War of Independence were a ruse to smuggle documents into and out of the country. Even if it had been true, she wouldn’t have told us.

Belle was instrumental in funding the Braille siddur.

With no one else to look after her, she arranged her affairs meticulously. During

we have to travel from the north. The excuses I make cannot detract from the frustration at always going through the same ritual at the Eretz HaChaim Cemetery just outside of Beit Shemesh.

We drive through the gates, and, car still running, I visit the gravesites of my late Rav, Harav Ze’ev Chaim Lifshitz and his family. Then it’s back into the car and down the road where we park at the long tap on the right side of the road. We then walk up our steps to the left and start looking. Ironically, every time we do find her grave, it seems to be in a slightly different

Rabbi Freilech has been working in Eretz HaChaim since 1980. Soft spoken and mild of manner he carries about him an air of comfort that must certainly be a blessing for families who are looking for support in their hour of need.

“Whose grave are you looking for?” he asked.

“Belle Kirschenbaum.” Rabbi Freilech looked up and shook his head.

“Not Belle,” he said. “You mean Bluma.” Belle had died twenty-eight years earlier. How could Rabbi Freilech be so sure? He continued, “AACI (The Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel) block 7, plot 5, third row.” He raised a thick booklet from his desk. “Just let me check. Kirschenbaum, aha, yes, here she is. Yes, just as I told you.”

the late 1980s, she took my late motherin-law on a trip to show her the tombstone she had designed for herself. She’d joke that the only thing missing was the date of her death.

When she did succumb to old age and ill health in November 1995, we soon discovered she had not only taken care of her tombstone and burial plot but her estate as well. As her closest relatives living in Israel, there was no tidying up to do.

Since her passing, Keren and I have visited her gravesite on numerous occasions.

Unfortunately, we always seem to have a problem locating the grave. Perhaps it’s the irregularity of our visits due to the distance

location. As ridiculous as that may seem, when after searching, Keren and I do eventually find the spot, we are always left unsure about the distance between the grave and the road.

In January, we traveled south for a few days and went to visit Belle. This time, we had no luck finding her. It was as if she was hiding from us. Back and forth and up and down the roads we traipsed until we had to give up and continue on our way to Yerushalayim.

A few days later, we decided to try again. This time, I walked into the office where I met Rabbi Freilech, whom I recognized from previous visits to the cemetery.

I walked back to the car where Keren was waiting for me. I told her that either Rabbi Freilech was a savant, or he had an amazing memory. We followed his instructions, and within minutes, we were standing at Auntie Belle’s grave. I insisted that it looked to me that she was closer to the road than on our previous visits. That was just my fancy, however.

A few days later, I called Rabbi Freilech to once again thank him for his help. I told how amazed I was that he had been able to remember the exact position.

“Does the Rav remember every grave in the cemetery?” I asked him.

“No, I don’t. But Mrs. Kirschenbaum’s I recall. She stood out.”

“She was a very special lady,” I said.

“Yes, she was,” said Rabbi Freilech. “Very special.”

Rafi Sackville, formerly of Cedarhurst, teaches in Ort Maalot in Western Galil.

Family folklore has it that the numerous trips she made to Israel post-War of Independence were a ruse to smuggle documents into and out of the country.

My mother-in-law, Evelyn Grossman, left, with Belle Kirschenbaum at our wedding in 1985

Eretz HaChaim Cemetery just outside Beit Shemesh

Over the years, we have been to Canada many times. Montreal and Toronto were the destinations that we went to most often. Though we explored tourist sites in those cities, our trips were for the most part related to simchos or other obligational visits.

My first trip to Canada was in 1967 before I got married when I traveled there with my friend Motel Bergman to take part in the World’s Fair Expo 67. Many years later, I journeyed with Pesi to the provinces of Ontario (Toronto), Quebec (Montreal), Nova Scotia (Hali-

The Wandering Jew Canada and More Part I

By Hershel Lieber

fax), and British Columbia (Vancouver and Victoria). Ever since my mother, a”h was in Quebec City and sent us postcards from there, I developed a desire to tour the capital city of this French province. At the same time, we could visit the two neighboring provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. This past summer, in August of 2022, after the Covid epidemic subsided considerably, we took this two-week journey and enjoyed it immensely.

The driving time between Lakewood, NJ, and Quebec City is about ten hours,

so we decided that we will make two overnight stops on the way. Our first stop would be in Albany, NY, and the second night we would spend in Montreal.

We left Lakewood on Monday and were looking forward to the upcoming journey. After spending a night in Albany, we made two stops which were somewhat nostalgic for us. Both Saratoga Springs and Lake George brought back memories of the times we were there well before we even knew each other. We also recalled the trip that we took there with our own children when they were very young. We

strolled Saratoga’s well-manicured Congress Park, where the fountains gushed with natural geyser water which was available for drinking. We also arrived within two minutes of the departure of the Minne-Ha-Ha steamship for a twohour cruise on Lake George.

Then we headed for an overnight stay in Montreal. Our son-in-law Volvi Feldman, whose business is located there, took us out for a sumptuous dinner at the upscale restaurant, Chops. The next morning, after Shacharis and a hearty breakfast at District Bagel, we began our

Chateau Frontenac

three hour drive to Quebec City. Quebec City is one of oldest European settlements in America, and its fortified city walls are a rarity in the Western Hemisphere. The relatively small population of half a million residents allows the cosmopolitan metropolis to retain a provincial and relaxed atmosphere. The French language and culture add to the

feeling of being on the other side of the Atlantic. The cafes lining the sidewalks with its authentic French cuisine (not that we could eat anything) reminded us of our stays in Paris. Many buildings with their stone exteriors and decorative ironwork facing the tree-shaded streets make strolling the city truly a gratifying event. The numerous picturesque parks,

some adjacent to the Saint Lawrence River, are great places to unwind and meditate. This was our image of the city we were going to explore.

Our stay at Hotel Chateau Laurier was in a great location – about a seven-minute walk to Parliament, ten minutes to the Citadel, twenty minutes to Old Quebec, Chateau Frontenac and Palace

Royale, around the corner from Plains of Abraham, and, most importantly, five minutes away from Chabad. Thursday was our first full day in Quebec, and we walked for hours on end to soak in the ambience of this charming city. We took a self-guided tour of the massive Parliament building and then started our descent to the Lower Town. We descended

Cruising on Lake George

At the Garrison

our hotel room, and then we started to get ready for Shabbos.

Similar to many of our excursions, we reached out to Chabad to help us regarding minyanim, davening, and kosher food. Quebec City was not an exception, I spoke to Rabbi Dovid and Rebbetzin Devora Leah Levin long before we left

and some Israelis, as well as some locals. The tish resounded with a babble of languages including English, French, Hebrew, and Spanish. Everyone introduced themselves and had to relate some significant life experience. I offered my 1979 “Arrested by the KGB” story which kept the listeners in suspense throughout my

ers. When everyone left the table, we sat and schmoozed with Levins and then we formed a minyan for Mincha.

After a short nap in our hotel room, we took a walk in the Plains of Abraham park where the numerous sections of flower beds resembled a botanical garden. We then returned to Chabad for Shalosh Seudos where we continued our conversation with the rav and rebbetzin and their children. We played Chabad geography as I related the well over forty shluchim that we had the pleasure to connect with over our years of traveling. Rav Dovid even invited me to join him at the upcoming Kinus HaShluchim.

After Havdalah and the traditional photo taking session, we returned to our hotel and started to make plans for the next leg of our journey, the Canadian Province of New Brunswick.

To be continued…

by riding the funicular instead of walking the winding streets to reach Dufferin Terrace and the Chateau Frontenac. That general area is magnificently quaint, and we were especially overwhelmed with the interior of the Chateau, which is a luxury hotel boasting Old World charm. Walking the narrow cobblestoned streets with its enchanting shops and unique dangling signs was an exciting treat in itself. The walk back was a lot more difficult since we were hiking uphill. We stopped for an hour at the Museum of Civilization before heading back to our hotel.

Friday was another day of continuous exploration. In the morning, we took a walking guided tour of the Citadel, a historic army base. This was followed by an hour-long sightseeing tour on the upper level of an open air coach. We saw a lot of the same places as the previous day but with a narration explaining the historic significance of the sights that we were seeing. We returned and ate our lunch in

for our trip and made arrangements to join them and their guests for the Shabbos seudos. We would also daven with them at their shul which was located in their house one long block from our hotel. Aside from Chabad, there is only one other Orthodox synagogue in the city.

I finally met Rav Dovid on Erev Shabbos when I went to the pristine mikvah that they built for the locals as well as for guests. We arrived a bit before Shabbos so that Pesi could light candles there, and we joined a group for Kabbolas Shabbos sans minyan. Rav Dovid said that it is rare that they do not have minyan, but during the summer when people are on vacation and the universities are closed, it can occasionally happen. The seudah was beautiful, the food plentiful and delicious, and the company was eclectic.

We met a frum family from Argentina

recitation. We sang zemiros, drank a bit of vodka, and shared our lives with the other guests. Rav Dovid and Rebbetzin Devora Leah are great hosts, and he treated us to divrei Torah from the Rebbe, zt”l.

As we retraced our steps back to the hotel, we passed the open restaurants and bars lining both sides of Grande Alee with their blaring music and the loud chitter-chatter of the patrons. The contrast to the lofty spiritual level of the Shabbos seudah that we just experienced at Chabad was very apparent.

Shabbos morning we had well over a minyan. I got an aliyah and was the shliach tzibbur for Mussaf. What started as an elaborate kiddush culminated with a full seudah. Pesi related her “Leningrad earring smuggling story” which elicited oohs and aahs from the listen-

Hershel Lieber has been involved in kiruv activities for over 30 years. As a founding member of the Vaad L’Hatzolas Nidchei Yisroel he has traveled with his wife, Pesi, to the Soviet Union during the harsh years of the Communist regimes to advance Yiddishkeit. He has spearheaded a yeshiva in the city of Kishinev that had 12 successful years with many students making Torah their way of life. In Poland, he lectured in the summers at the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation camp for nearly 30 years. He still travels to Warsaw every year – since 1979 – to be the chazzan for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur for the Jews there. Together with Pesi, he organized and led trips to Europe on behalf of Gateways and Aish Hatorah for college students finding their paths to Jewish identity. His passion for travel has taken them to many interesting places and afforded them unique experiences. Their open home gave them opportunities to meet and develop relationships with a variety of people. Hershel’s column will appear in The Jewish Home on a bi-weekly basis.

Gardens facing Quebec’s Parliament

A quaint street in Quebec’s Lower Town

Funicular descending to Quebec’s Lower Town

Many buildings with their stone exteriors and decorative ironwork facing the tree-shaded streets make strolling the city truly a gratifying event.

With Rabbi Dovid and Rebbetzin Devora Leah Levin

TJH Centerfold

Dear Underlings,

到它的 18,000

Oops, I forgot that I am supposed to speak to English to you guys. Seriously, learn another language! It’s a great hobby— around six weeks ago, I decided to teach myself Mandarin, and now I’m fluent.

Anyway, yes, yes, yes, Purim is here. I will be manning a spy balloon over the Five Towns to get pictures of all the amazing costumes. But I need to send the photos back to my handlers in China so I’m not sure that I will get them back in time to print in the TJH’s Purim Photo Album. So, just to make sure that everyone gets to see your IDF costume, send in your photos to TJH. Seriously, snap away and keep the Purim spirit going for another few days.

Send in your Purim pics to editor@fivetownsjewishhome. com. They specifically asked me to mention that in the subject line you should write “Purim Pics.”

I know that the TJH office is going to get at least six phone calls:

“Yeah, hi, I by mistake wrote Purim Photos in the subject line. Is that a problem? Do I have to resend the pictchaaaas?”

for you at the office and will submit it for approval with the subject-line department. And it’s even OK if you didn’t capitalize the “P” in Purim; we will handle that as well.

But if you don’t send it to the correct email address, then you are on your own. I don’t want to have to have this discussion with you:

Oh, wow, really, I must have sent it to the wrong email address. You mean you can’t find it?

Sally, if you sent it to the wrong email address, there are around 15,000,000,000,000 possibilities of where that email may be. I don’t have the time to find it. So do me a favor— now that you know that you sent it to the wrong address, instead of making me do the search (I’m kind of tied up in America right now), do you mind sending it again, but this time to the correct email address?

Oh, Sally, I was also joking at the beginning of this letter when I said that I’m flying a Chinese balloon over the Five Towns on Purim. I could explain to you why I made that joke but, as E.B. White said, “Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process.”

Sally, you don’t want us to start dissecting frogs here, do you?

Happy Purim, Sally!

No, Sally, you don’t have to resend the pictchaaaas. We will fill out the wrong subject line form [Form WSL246-TJH(B)(ii-a)]

- Comrade Centerfold Commissioner

Your Favorite Hamantash Quiz

Using our proprietary algorithms, once you answer the following questions, we will be able to discern with 99% probability what your favorite hamantash is. So, let’s play ball. You got people to meet and hamantashen to eat!

1. Hamantashen are a true love of mine. If you were an herb, you would be:

a. Parsley

b. Sage

c. Rosemary

d. Thyme

2. If you could learn another language, which of the following would you choose?

a. Klingon

b. Xhosha (Clicking language)

c. Khoisan

d. !XOO (pronounced “Taa”….Don’t blame me, I didn’t make it up)

3. Which of the following do you prefer to visit?

a. New York underground sewer system (AKA “The Subway”)

b. Dial Seven Car Service dispatch booth

c. The library

d. Galapagos Islands

4. If you can give yourself a new name today, would you give yourself the letter X as your middle initial?

a. Yes

b. No

5. Which of the following careers would you choose?

a. Zip line instructor

b. Food taster

c. Beekeeper

d. Pistachio nut collector

6. What’s the one thing you can’t live without?

a. Your pet lizard

b. TJH

c. Your perm

d. Your gold-plated dentures

7. If you could talk to one of the following people, who would you choose?

a. Zvika from Bazooka gum

b. W.B. Mason

c. Mr. Clean

d. Aunt Jemima

8. Which of the following books do you like the most?

a. How to Lose Friends and Not Influence People

b. The Seven Habits of Highly Dysfunctional People

c. The Road Less Traveled (A Guide to Brookville Boulevard)

d. Man’s Search for Meating (How to Make the Perfect BBQ)

9. If you could eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

a. Poppy seeds

b. Raspberry

c. Chocolate

d. Prunes

e. Apricots

f. Pizza

g. Steak

h. Sushi

i. Ice cream

Your favorite Hamantash is:

Poppy Seed Hamantash - If you answered A to at least three questions and C to at least two questions, and you answered A to question 9.

Raspberry Hamantash - If you answered B to at least five questions and D to at least two questions, and you answered B to question 9.

Chocolate Hamantash - If you answered C to at least three questions and B to at least two questions, and you answered C to question 9.

Prune Hamantash - If you answered D to at least three questions and C to at least two questions, and you answered D to question 9.

Apricot Hamantash - If you ignored the first eight questions because you were too busy eating apricots and you answered E to question 9.

Not bad, huh? Don’t ever accuse me of not being a genius. That’s why they call me Dr. Centerfold, Md., PhD, LCSW, LCPC, MSW, TJHCFC

Notable Quotes

“Say What?!”

Certain parties should stop rehashing the “lab leak” narrative, stop smearing China and stop politicizing origins-tracing.

- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning in response to the U.S. Energy Department’s finding that Covid originated in a Wuhan lab

I will just make the observation that the Chinese government, it seems to me, has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here, the work that we’re doing, the work that our U.S. government and close foreign partners are doing. And that’s unfortunate for everybody.

– FBI Director Christopher Wray, in an interview with Fox News, talking about the FBI’s assessment that the origins of the pandemic are most likely from a lab incident in Wuhan

No, thank you. What’s the matter with the snow?

The larger problem with all of this is the inability to discuss things that are within the realm of possibility without falling into absolutes and litmus-testing each other for our political allegiances as it arose from that. My bigger problem with that was I thought it was a pretty good bit that expressed kind of how I felt, and the two things that came out of it were I’m racist against Asian people and how dare I align myself with the alt-right.

- Former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart in his podcast talking about the wrath that he took from the left last year when he said that it was obvious that Covid originated in a Wuhan lab

Local officials and Gov. DeWine have been telling us it’s safe to go home. But how do they know it’s safe? They don’t … They think we’re all dumb hicks who voted for Trump and they can pull anything over on us… It’s not surprising Biden chose going to Ukraine over us. Why would he care about us? He knows we’re not going to vote for him.

- East Palestine, Ohio, resident Lindsay Johnston in an interview with the New York Post talking about the government’s response to the toxic train derailment in the town

- Arlene Cole, 92, of Newcastle, Maine, who has been tracking the official weather for Newcastle on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for nearly 60 years, when asked whether she would ever move to Florida

Introducing 6 new projects in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, RBS and Eden Hills.

Opportunity to meet one-on-one with developers, lawyer, property manager, mortgage broker, forex professional, and communal leaders.

Plus: Presentations and panel discussions on a wide variety of topics.

Meet Rabbi Larry Rothwachs, who will be making aliyah and leading a new community in Rotshtein Heights!

We look forward

It’s time to find your home in Israel!

I know this is called the World Government Summit, but I think we should be a little bit concerned about becoming too much for a single world government. We should avoid creating a civilizational risk by having, frankly this may sound a little odd, too much cooperation between governments.

If you look at history and the rise and fall of civilizations... Throughout history, civilizations have risen and fallen, but it hasn’t meant the doom of humanity as a whole because there have been all these separate civilizations that were separated by great distances.

Say like, while Rome was falling, Islam was rising. The Caliphate was doing incredibly well while Rome was falling. And that actually ended up being a source of preservation of knowledge, for many scientific advancements.

And so, we want to be a little bit cautious about being too much of a single civilization, because if we are too much of a single civilization, then the whole thing may collapse.

I’m obviously not suggesting war or anything like that, but I think we want to be a little bit war of cooperating too much. That sounds a little odd, but we want to have some amount of civilization diversity such that if something does go wrong with a single part of civilization that the whole thing doesn’t collapse and humanity keeps moving forward.

Great Poll numbers are springing forth for your favorite President, me, against Ron DeSanctus (& Biden). I guess people are finding out that he wanted to CUT SOCIAL SECURITY & RAISE THE MINIMUM AGE TO AT LEAST 70, at least 4 times. LIKEWISE WITH MEDICARE, WANTED BIG CUTS. HE IS A WHEELCHAIR OVER THE CLIFF KIND OF GUY, JUST LIKE HIS HERO, failed politician Paul Ryan, the FoxNews ratings destroyer who led Mitt Romney’s Presidential Campaign down the tubes. GLOBALIST’S ALL! WE WANT AMERICA FIRST!!

– Social media post by Trump as many are calling for Gov. Ron DeSantis to run for president

If Florida Governor Ron DeSantis becomes president of the United States, which he is clearly aiming for, America will become the land of total government control over…how you can teach, learn, read, think, even talk!

- Joy Reid,

MSNBC

My most negative opinion is we don’t have any privacy anymore because everything about us is now recorded someplace and accessible to somebody who has enough intense desire to get it.

I may be a white boy, but I’m not stupid. I know where the power is.

Elon Musk, at the World Government Summit in Dubai

- Martin Cooper, 94, who has been credited with inventing the cellphone, to the Associated Press after receiving a lifetime award

- Pres. Joe Biden at a Black History Month event

It is a zero-sum game, and so the kind of rhetoric there is is that there can be only one victor. And I think that’s an interesting metaphor of the way that our capitalist system works in the United States.

- From a show on PBS about Monopoly, titled “Ruthless: Monopoly’s Secret History”

The dynamics written into the rules of this game were never intended to be the rules. It should come with a health warning, like a packet of cigarettes.

- Ibid.

Oof. That’s a little bit too much to deal with right now.

I wish I could go to Target sometimes and walk into Starbucks and have my name on the cup just like regular people.

- LeBron James in an interview with The New York Times

There is more democracy in Mexico than could exist in the United States. If they want to have a debate on this issue, let’s do it.

- Former Black Panther Angela Davis upon being informed on a PBS show that she is a descendant of the Mayflower

– Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, responding to criticism from the U.S. about election freedom in Mexico

Dating Dialogue What Would You Do If…

Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters

Dear Navidaters,

My husband and I sometimes invite his still-single friends over for meals on Shabbos. Recently, my husband asked me why I don’t try to help set up one of his friends, whom I’ll call Shlomo.

Shlomo is a put-together, successful man in his late-thirties. He seems to have everything going for him. But I noticed that he could be very self-centered and very stuck in his ways when it comes to certain things.

Here are my three questions for you:

1. Should I not set him up because I see these two issues and those issues could get in the way with someone being a good spouse?

2. Is it possible that Shlomo is self-centered and stuck in his ways because he is single now but will not be like that when he is married and needs to focus on someone else?

3. How much thought should a shadchan put into making a shidduch? Should the shadchan have to make sure that the people they are setting up have only good middos? Or should they rely on people doing their due diligence when checking out a potential spouse?

Thank you, Adina*

Disclaimer: This column is not intended to diagnose or otherwise conclude resolutions to any questions. Our intention is not to offer any definitive conclusions to any particular question, rather offer areas of exploration for the author and reader. Due to the nature of the column receiving only a short snapshot of an issue, without the benefit of an actual discussion, the panel’s role is to offer a range of possibilities. We hope to open up meaningful dialogue and individual exploration.

The Panel

Adina, you have some very good questions, and I venture to say the answers will help both you and our readership.

Making shidduchim is SO HARD, both on an emotional level (riding the roller coaster helping the couple navigate their relationship), physical level (the long days and nights of always being on call, dealing with many difficult characters) , and even a spiritual level (davening for your couples and constantly feeling the urge to allow Hakadosh Baruch Hu to bring about bracha through your efforts). It is intuitive and socially appropriate people who make shidduchim that make singles feel heard and cared for. It sounds like you are one of those people, so I would like to applaud your efforts.

In terms of your husband’s self-centered friend, if something seems “off” about his behavior, if he comes across narcissistic and self-centered, the best thing you could do is stay away from setting him up. When I was young and naïve, I used to hear the term, “every lid has it’s pot” and truly believed it. Now, however, I believe every lid still has its pot, but not every lid has been fully manufactured in a way not to explode while on the stove. Your hishtadlus is to set up people who seem like stable, healthy people. That is not to say they won’t have issues or things to figure out. But, if you would not set your own daughter up with this boy (knowing what you know), wait until he works on himself before you set him up.

A shadchan must put a lot of thought into a shidduch, and not just haphazardly make matches. That being said, it is up to the singles themselves to do their due diligence finding out about the middos and personalities of their prospects. A shadchan will make a recommendation to a single based on her personal impressions, and it is not the shadchan’s job to call references.

Keep doing your amazing work, hatzlacha!

The Single

Tzipora Grodko

It’s so refreshing to see someone take extra sensitivity while trying to make a shidduch. I’ll answer your question very simply.

Making a “successful shidduch” doesn’t mean that both parties agreed to a date or even got married. Making a “successful shidduch” means that both parties walked away from the experience feeling dignified and with a positive experience (especially from the shadchan and hopefully from the date). Knowing this information, it’s important to do YOUR part in the most dignified and respected way possible. The only thing in your control is your efforts; the outcome is up to G-d.

If you have concerns, I wouldn’t embellish the idea but rather use your judgment. For example, “I don’t know if it’s a good idea, but my husband keeps bringing it up and I wanted to share it with you in case you’re interested in giving it a try.”

Everyone has flaws. But you need to use your judgement to determine if they’re severe enough to compromise an entire idea.

The Zaidy

Dr. Jeffrey Galler

When I first read your questions, I considered consulting with, and getting advice from, a successful matchmaker who asks singles to fill out a nine-

As Dr. Abraham J. Twerski used to say so vividly, “Marriage is not a hospital.”

The Shadchan

Michelle Mond

page online questionnaire and then uses a sophisticated computer algorithm to determine which singles might be compatible.

But, then I remembered the folk tale about a centipede who had no trouble walking, until asked how he managed all those legs. He started thinking about the process and immediately became frozen in place and unable to do it anymore. In psychology, the effect is known as “hyper-reflection.”

The point of the story is that overthinking and overanalyzing something isn’t always a good idea. It can lead to analysis paralysis, and nothing ever gets done.

Of course, if you do want to set someone up, you must do it intelligently. You cannot simply say, “Let’s see. He’s Jewish. She’s Jewish. They’re both single. Sounds per -

fect!” Use common sense. For example:

Do not set up a very religious yeshiva boy with a girl who likes to wear sleeveless shirts and miniskirts. The boy might get a heart attack on their first date.

Do not set up a very cheap, stingy guy with a girl who likes to be wined and dined. If he takes her to a nice restaurant and then asks her to pay for her half of the bill, she might lean across the table and pummel him with her steak knife and salad fork.

Do not set up a man who feels strongly that a woman’s place is in the kitchen with a highly successful, fulltime, university professor. She is likely to give him (and you) a failing grade.

Do not set up a young man who feels that paying taxes is for suckers, and makes his living via undeclared income,

Pulling It All Together

The Navidaters

Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

Dear Adina, Kudos to you and your husband for inviting his single friends over for Shabbos meals. I guess the very first thing I’m wondering about is if your husband knows how you feel about this. If he does, then it is now also on him to decide how he feels about setting Shlomo up with your friends. You are not in this alone. So, how does your husband feel about it?

Have you asked your intuition what it knows to be true? What do you think is the right thing to do? Trust your gut. I can share with you what my in-

stinct is, but it is only my instinct. My instinct is the following:

If Shlomo is some - one that you and your husband care about, and genuinely want to see him married, then depending on the relationship(s), your husband, or you, or you and your husband can invite Shlomo to a conversation in which you share your conflict with him. You know that we really care for you. We really want to set you up. We have noticed that you can be a bit set in your ways. Is this something that

with a young woman who works as the compliance officer at the Internal Revenue Service. Trying to send your date to jail, after a very first date, is not a good way to start a long-term relationship.

Do not…well, you get the idea.

But, Adina, back to your questions. I did ask a very successful, local shadchan if she had any advice. She remarked:

“I can certainly see how the character flaws that you are describing, although not dangerous, may be undesirable. Being put-together and successful may sometimes come with being a bit self-centered and inflexible. You should simply tell a prospective date that your husband has a very good friend, who is successful and very self-assured.

“If he goes on a date that you recommend, listen carefully to the woman’s feedback afterwards. If she reports that the guy is much too stubborn and too full of himself, then you will understand that Shlomo may be a nice

Shabbos guest, but you may not wish to be involved in setting him up.”

In any event, Adina, please don’t be like that centipede; follow your natural instincts, take that decisive first step, and good luck!

has come up for you in dating and relationships? I realize that this is very direct, and you may lose your relationship with Shlomo because of this. You can also choose to not get involved at all. And not set him up and ignore it entirely. Personally, I feel that if you have known him over time, and you see a set pattern of behavior and difficulty in his personality that you believe in your heart of hearts has the potential to hurt someone else, I can’t imagine setting him up. This is not an easy situation to be in. Don’t forget that you can completely put this one in your husband’s court after telling him the truth of how you feel. You absolutely do not have to get involved.

With regard to your second question,

should you or your husband decide to be honest with Shlomo about your concerns about setting him up, that is something you can ask Shlomo himself. If you do decide to take the direct and honest route, and Shlomo is angry with you or you lose the friendship over this, then how in the world is he going to be in a relationship with a woman, which requires constant self-awareness, self-honesty, and feedback from his wife... which you’d be trying to make happen for him?

I will leave question three for Michelle Mond, shadchan extraordinaire.

All the best, Jennifer

Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and certified trauma healing life coach, as well as a dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in private practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 718-908-0512. Visit www.thenavidaters.com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email JenniferMannLCSW@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.

Do not set up a man who feels strongly that a woman’s place is in the kitchen with a highly successful, fulltime, university professor.

By Mrs. Chayala Isbee

Teen Talk Dear Teen Talk,

I am a 17-year-old girl who attends a Bais Yaakov type of school. I come from a good family and get along with my parents and siblings. Everything is stable during the week. The problem I am writing to you about is SHABBOS. Our Friday night and Shabbos seudahs are nightmares. I am reaching out to you for help. It seems to me that my parents have Shalom Bayis, but the tension that results from them bickering at the Shabbos meals is too much for me and my siblings to handle. The crazy thing is the reason there is stress is because they both want the meals to be peaceful, but they each have a different idea of what that means. My father grew up with Shabbos meals that were more formal. The table was set with beautiful dishes, and the family members would sit the whole time exchanging divrei Torah. My mother was raised in a home where the Shabbos seudahs were more casual. There was a lot of singing and joking, and they were not expected to be sitting around the table the whole time.

I’ll give you a little glimpse of a typical scenario. We gather around the table as my father sings “Shalom Aleichem” and recites Kiddush. About a half hour into our seudah, my 15-year-old sister will move to the couch to relax and read. My younger siblings then join her. That leads my father to call everybody back into the dining room, which leads my mother to respond to my father saying something like, “Let them do what they want to do.” He then gets upset as he feels my mother is contradicting him. She, then, gets visibly aggravated and reacts to him. They start bickering at the table. This leads to a lot of tension.

I used to scream at my parents to stop, but I saw that didn’t help.

Dear S.D.,

We all look to Shabbos as the main resource of comfort and rest in our busy and complicated lives. Shabbos is the culmination of a week of hard work and stress. “Shabbos Menucha” is the reward Hashem gives us for the labor we exert to support our families, to perform well in school, to manage the day-to-day tasks of running a household, etc. A relaxing Shabbos also may be a predictor of a subsequent productive week. At the end of Shacharis each day, as we recite “Shir Shel Yom,” we refer to each day as it relates to the proximity of Shabbos. Our mun-

Teen Talk, a new column in TJH, is geared towards the teens in our community. Answered by a rotating roster of teachers, rebbeim, clinicians, and peers (!), teens will be hearing answers to many questions they had percolating in their minds and wished they had the answers for.

Now, I just place my silverware down and bang my plate against the table. At that point, I usually run out of the dining room into my bedroom, and my siblings follow suit. What ensues after that is more arguing. (I can hear from my bedroom.) They start blaming each other for the breakup of the seudah. Furthermore, any possibility of divrei Torah, singing, or of basic camaraderie is down the drain.

I admit that my “walking out” is not helping. I don’t know what other options I have!

I would love for this situation to improve! I never invite friends for Shabbos or even for a meal for this reason. What can I do to deal with this in the best possible way?

Respectfully, S.D.*

dane weekdays revolve around counting down the days till Shabbos. In other words, Shabbos is the anchor of every single day.

I admire your desire to improve your own behavior in a difficult situation. We all long for a peaceful and serene experience as we usher the Shabbos into our homes. Your pursuit of shalom at your Shabbos table is looked upon favorably by Hashem. As you indicate, your parents both strive for a beautiful Shabbos meal. Unfortunately, they are

sabotaging it with getting upset and irritable with each other. If your parents were writing about this issue to “Teen Talk,” then I would help them realize the damage they are causing by getting upset at each other in front of the children. But they are not the ones writing. You are the one addressing the problem, and you have the power to initiate real change. It’s obvious you have tremendous kochos and can be a real mashpia to your siblings and even to your parents.

In addition to giving suggestions that will

be helpful, I have to give you a little constructive criticism, as well. Just as you realized that screaming at your parents during their quarreling doesn’t help, so, too, reacting by abruptly walking out of a room is destructive and only furthers to enflame the atmosphere. As you have observed, your parents’ tempers get flared by this “demonstrative behavior.” Even though you’re not doing it to enrage your parents, but rather to detach yourself from the situation at hand, it definitely triggers escalation. I know this is a tall order, but I’m going to advise you to stay put and work through the tension.

Now that you understand that leaving the room is damaging, you have to be prepared with powerful positive ideas that will enable you to persevere.

I don’t know what the mood is like in your home Erev Shabbos. There are usually myriads of tasks to do before Shabbos starts, and it is easy to lose ourselves and snap at others. Ensuring we interact with our family members with patience enables us to have a smooth transition to Shabbos. In a sense, the Friday night meal starts way before the men come home from shul. It begins as we get ready. The more we speak kindly as we help, the more prepared we are to deal with any sort of adversity during the Shabbos seudahs. When you’re doing chores Erev Shabbos, maybe put on your mother’s favorite music. As you’re cleaning up, perhaps sing your father’s favorite song with your siblings. These small gestures will make your parents feel valued. Even if your parents don’t hear the songs, you and your siblings do. The message of parental recognition amongst you guys will seep in and will probably impact your decorum at the meal.

Maintaining an environment of positivity and good cheer can greatly impact the atmosphere of your home. Giving personal compliments to both your mother and father throughout the week will surely make your parents feel special. They, in turn, will probably compliment you back and will try not to disappoint you. Encourage your siblings to thank your parents throughout the week. Letting your parents know that you are appreciative of all they do for you will only increase the respect they have for you. Greeting your parents when they arrive home from work or when you get back from school

Are you a teen with a question?

If you have a question or problem you’d like our columnists to address, email your question or insight to editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com , subject line: Teen Talk.

does a lot to promote their esteem for you. Hopefully, the positive vibe at home will precipitate a calmer, more chilled meal. Just as children learn more from modeling, so do adults. As your parents are arguing, if you would scream at them to stop, not only won’t they stop, but they will probably get angrier (as you expressed). At the start of the meal, give tribute to your father in front of the family, i.e. “because you studied with me the other night, Daddy, I was able to understand the Chumash lesson.” Make sure to praise your mother as you begin, i.e. “Mommy, you put together a delicious meal; it smells so good here!” Giving compliments is actually quite catchy, and your siblings will copy you. It will also prompt your parents to compliment, too. They will develop real admiration for you and may be embarrassed to act out in front of you.

My grandmother, Mrs. Raizy Rauzman, z”l, possessed a remarkable middah. She had the ability to sit through animated or heated conversations and not flinch. She did not need to raise her voice over everyone’s in order to be heard. You didn’t want to fight in front of her. Her very presence was soothing and subconsciously instilled a certain awareness to behave. Perhaps this “power” had its roots in her past, when as a teenager, she was hidden in a chimney during the Holocaust. She was not allowed to speak, lest even move, out of fear that she would be caught by the Nazis.

Try to remain still. The fact that you can remain seated and stay chilled displays tremendous strength of character. Your siblings will hopefully do the same, and your parents will be able to focus on their own self-discipline. Your actions speak louder than any words.

Your sitting demonstrates true gevurah (courage), not just to your parents and siblings, but to yourself. My father, Harav Binyamin Halevi Jungreis, zt”l, was a Holocaust survivor. When his father, Harav Avraham Halevi Jun-

greisz, zt”l, sang “Shalom Aleichem” to the family in Bergen Belsen concentration camp, my father, who was a little boy then, asked, “Totty, I don’t see the angels. Where are they?” My grandfather answered, “You, my precious children, are the angels.” When your father sings “Shalom Aleichem,” think of you and your siblings as angels. Expect of yourself to act angelic, even though inside you’re reeling and want to storm out. As you hold yourself back from marching out, the inner strength you feel is invigorating. This determination will impress your parents and mitigate the fighting. Reviewing the parsha with a sibling or reading through their school newsletters when your parents argue may be a good distraction for you and may also make at least one parent halt the bickering.

Speaking to your parents may also be helpful; you just have to be careful, of course, to address them with utmost derech eretz. It’s also important to talk to them at a time when the house is calm; certainly not during the time these altercations take place. If you speak with them, it is vital to remind yourself to remain calm and not get overtaken by hysteria. Hysteria is what exacerbated the problem in the first place. Whether you speak to them together or individually, keep in mind, they may get caught off-guard and feel accused. Outwardly, they may blame the children for the upheaval, while inside they’re blaming each other. Hopefully, they will realize that each one is responsible for themselves.

Heeding this advice, I have hope that the atmosphere surrounding your Shabbos seudahs will improve. At the very least, your patience and dignified interaction with your parents and siblings will shine through. If the problem persists, please seek hadracha from your rav or trusted teacher.

With much respect, Mrs.

Chayala Isbee

Mrs. Chayala Isbee is a long-time educator and school counselor at Bais Yaakov of Baltimore.

Cross Keys Pediatrics

Common Cents

By Elliot Pepper, CPA, CFP®, MST

Gambler’s Fallacy – What Casinos and Markets Have in Common

Bright lights, constant noise, flowing drinks, and cheers of celebration punctuated by groans of defeat – welcome to the casino! I am not an avid gambler, but my wife and I have been to a number of casinos together and with friends. As my interest in behavioral finance grows, I realize that the casino industry has had us humans figured out for years – there is a reason the “house always wins”. What is the Gambler’s Fallacy?

The Gambler’s Fallacy, is a cognitive bias in which an individual believes that a certain event is more or less likely to occur based on previous events or the outcome of a series of events. Casino’s are well aware of this bias and exploit it. Below are 3 common tactics:

1. Using streaky games: Games such as roulette and craps have a significant element of chance, and players may see patterns in the outcomes. Casinos will often highlight these patterns to players, encouraging them to believe that a particular outcome is more or less likely to occur based on past results.

2. Using near-misses: Slot machines are programmed to have near-misses, where the player almost wins but just misses out. These near-misses can create the illusion of a pattern, encouraging the player to believe that a win is more likely to occur soon.

3. Using non-random sequences: Some games, such as baccarat and blackjack, use non-random card sequences, which can create the illusion of patterns and influence the player’s betting decisions.

I recall vividly picking a roulette table based on the number of black or red hits in a row, believing that the opposite color was certainly due to hit and selecting this table would put me at an advantage. The casino laughs all the way to the bank and I head back to my hotel room with a much lighter wallet.

How the Gambler’s Fallacy Impacts Investors

In investing, the Gambler’s Fallacy can manifest in the belief that a stock or

market will change direction based on past performance.

The Gambler’s Fallacy expresses itself in a number of ways within financial markets, including:

1. Chasing hot stocks: If an investor believes that a stock’s past performance is an indicator of its future performance, they may be more likely to invest in a stock that has had a recent string of positive returns, even if the stock is overvalued.

2. Anchoring: The tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information encountered when making decisions. Investors who are anchored to a stock’s previous price may make decisions based on that price, rather than on the stock’s fundamentals or current market conditions.

3. Trend-following: Investors may follow trends in the market, believing that past trends will continue into the future. This can lead to buying high and selling low, rather than buying low and selling high.

4. Herding behavior: Herding behavior is the tendency to make decisions based on the actions of others, rather than on one’s own research and analysis. Investors who exhibit herding behavior may make investment decisions based on what they believe other investors are doing, rather than on the fundamentals of the stock or market.

How can an investor avoid falling victim to the Gambler’s Fallacy?

1. Conducting thorough research: One of the best ways to avoid the Gambler’s Fallacy is to conduct thorough research and analysis of a stock or market before making an investment. This includes analyzing the stock’s fundamentals, as well as its historical performance and current market conditions.

2. Having a well-diversified portfolio: Diversifying one’s portfolio across different asset classes, sectors, and geographic regions can help to reduce the risk of being affected by the Gambler’s Fallacy. By not put-

ting all eggs in one basket, investors are less likely to fall for the illusion of patterns in a specific stock or market.

3. Sticking to a well-defined investment strategy: Having a well-defined investment strategy and sticking to it can help an investor to avoid the Gambler’s Fallacy. This includes having a plan for entry and exit points, and not deviating from it due to short term fluctuations.

4. Being patient: Patience is key when it comes to investing. It’s essential to not to get caught up in short term fluctuations or the illusion of patterns, and to focus on the long-term objective.

5. Seeking professional advice: If an investor is unsure about how to avoid the Gambler’s Fallacy, they may want to seek professional advice from a financial advisor. They can provide guidance and help to ensure that investments are being made based on facts and fundamentals, rather than on past outcomes. In short, the Gambler’s Fallacy in investing is the mistaken belief that the future outcome of an investment is influenced by past outcomes. Investors should base their decisions on facts and fundamentals instead of past outcomes. There are so many psychological quirks, biases, and shortcuts that humans use which have very real implications for our financial lives. While many of the cognitive shortcuts we use are essential to survival, they don’t always align with what is needed for a long term investment plan. After all, for the majority of humanity’s time on earth we were all much more focused on surviving the night and finding the next meal, not on getting our 401(k) account to $1 million before age 60. Pattern recognition is certainly an im-

portant cognitive requirement and was probably pretty important for human survival over the millenia, but as behavioral economist Dr. Daniel Crosby says there is a difference between the world of Wall Street and everywhere else. The gambler’s fallacy is a reminder that some of the behaviors we are conditioned for in the world, simply don’t hold true in the financial world.

In my view, both market timers and roulette players have one thing in common – a chance at being right, but a larger chance at being wrong. The house always wins – whether it’s the Belaggio or the NYSE.

The decision to start saving and investing is yours, but the “how” can be hard. We suggest speaking with a “fee only” financial planner operating as a fiduciary - having a CPA or tax background is a huge plus. Email commoncents@northbrookfinancial.com to schedule a free financial planning consultation with our team.

Elliot Pepper, CPA, CFP®, MST is Co-Founder of Northbrook Financial, a Financial Planning, Tax, and Investment Management Firm. He has developed and continues to teach a popular Financial Literacy course for high school students.

Along time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi warned a young Luke Skywalker that he would “never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy” than the Mos Eisley Spaceport. ObiWan was wrong, of course. That place is Washington, DC, for obvious reasons. However, the scum and villainy seem to repeat themselves across the universe wherever wealth and power play together.

For one week every January, that scene shifts to the Swiss ski resort of Davos, home since 1974 to the World Economic Forum. That’s where thousands of politicians, academics, and corporate leaders from across the globe – Very Serious People, all of them – gather to rub elbows and solve each other’s problems. (When populists warn about “shadowy global cabals,” this is exactly who they mean.) This year, they heard speeches from the leaders of Finland, Spain, Morocco, Germany, Korea, and Ukraine. They sat in on sessions like “What Next for Monetary Policy,” “DeGlobalization or Re-Globalization,” and “Mastering New Energy Economics.”

They attended lavish banquets. And Microsoft sponsored a concert for just 50 people the night before announcing

Your Money Tiny Violins

By Allan Rolnick, CPA

plans to lay off 10,000 employees.

Last month, the group was greeted by something new. A group of 205 millionaires and billionaires from thirteen countries sent an open letter with an urgent request: “The history of the last five decades is a story of wealth flowing nowhere but upwards. In the last few years, this trend has greatly accelerated … The solution is plain for all to see. You, our global representatives, have to tax us, the ultra-rich, and you have to start

two percent on net worth over $5 million, three percent over $50 million, and five percent over $1 billion could have raised over $1.7 trillion in 2022. Of course, enforcing that sort of tax would be the sort of nightmare that would make an auditor’s hair stand on end. That’s especially true here, where many millionaires spend lobbying dollars to cut IRS staff.

Abigail Disney has been leading this particular charge for years, and she’s

of touch they really are.” It’s not the only example, either. Would you be shocked to learn that one in ten of those Very Serious People flew their carbon-spewing private jet to this conference dedicated in part to tackling global warming?

Fortunately for our unhappy fat cats here in America, there’s nothing preventing them from raising their own taxes right now. They can give as much as they want to the U.S. Treasury. Unfortunately, those gifts all wind up in a special fund dedicated to paying down our $31.4 trillion national debt and not supporting the social programs most Patriotic Millionaires seem to favor.

now.” Signers included Disney heiress Abigail Disney, oil heiress Nicole Getty, and even the Incredible Hulk. (Whoops, sorry, that was just Mark Ruffalo, the actor who plays him.)

The letter doesn’t propose a specific tax. However, a group called Patriotic Millionaires, which helped sponsor the letter, argues that a global wealth tax of

fired up. She says, “I’ve been to Davos. I’ve sat in the same room with some of the richest and most powerful people in the world as they talk about how they can make a difference, so I can say this with firsthand experience – Davos is a farce. Until Davos attendees start talking about taxing the rich, the entire gathering will remain a very public example of how out

Realistically, the Patriotic Millionaires aren’t likely to do anything more than keep income inequality a little closer to the center of the Davos discussion. But just in case such a thing does come to pass, we’ll put our own Jedi planning skills to work to let you keep control!

Allan J Rolnick is a CPA who has been in practice for over 30 years in Queens, NY. He welcomes your comments and can be reached at 718-896-8715 or at allanjrcpa@aol.com.

“You, our global representatives, have to tax us, the ultra-rich, and you have to start now.”

Yosef Loewy, 6

Tova Baron, 3

Rochel Tehilla S. Rivka Rosenbaum, 6 Ovadia Radfard, 4

Devorah Preis, 8

Dassi Hoenlein, 7 Caroline Orner, 8

Bracha Dina Salazar, 6

Ariella Berger,

“Noah

“Klickel

“Professor Ball T. Moore” Ari Moskowitz Age 11

“Newsie”

Hannah Massre Age 11

“Bentzy”

Chaya Frankel Age 17

The winner will not only have their creation featured as our official mascot, but will also receive a prize that would make Willy Wonka jealous.

“The Big Joking Hotdog”

Dalya Klein Age 10

YOU SHOWED US YOUR SKILLS, NOW ITS TIME TO VOTE!

The BJH is now holding a vote to end off the mascot making contest for the best and most outrageously awesome newspaper mascot (and it’s name)!

The BJH reserves the right to improve and refine the mascot design of the winning entry.

Knows” Fischler Family Ages 9-15

the Pickle” Avigayil Masinter Age 12

In The K tchen

Korean Style Ribs

Meat / Yields 6-8 servings

By Naomi Nachman

I plan to make these ribs for my Purim seudah his year.

Miami ribs are flanken ribs that are cut thin, which makes them perfect for grilling. Ribs usually need many hours in the oven to soften, but these cook quickly because of the high heat and their thinness. You can also broil them in the oven if you can’t grill outside.

Ingredients

◦ 1 cup soy sauce

◦ ½ cup pure maple syrup

◦ 1 cup mirin

◦ ½ cup rice wine vinegar

◦ 6 cloves garlic, minced

◦ 1 inch ginger, minced

◦ 2 tablespoons gochujang

◦ 3-4 pounds Miami ribs

◦ 4 scallions, chopped, for garnish

◦ Sesame seeds, for garnish

Preparation

1. Combine soy sauce, maple syrup, mirin, vinegar, garlic, ginger, and gochujang in a large bowl. Add meat; marinate for few hours, covered, in the fridge.

2. Preheat broiler, grill pan, or outdoor grill to medium-high heat.

3. Remove meat from marinade, discarding any remaining marinade in the bowl. Broil rubs for 3-4 minutes per side.

4. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and chopped scallions before serving.

Naomi Nachman, the owner of The Aussie Gourmet, caters weekly and Shabbat/ Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighboring communities, with a specialty in Pesach catering. Naomi is a contributing editor to this paper and also produces and hosts her own weekly radio show on the Nachum Segal Network stream called “A Table for Two with Naomi Nachman.” Naomi gives cooking presentations for organizations and private groups throughout the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area. In addition, Naomi has been a guest host on the QVC TV network and has been featured in cookbooks, magazines as well as other media covering topics related to cuisine preparation and personal chefs. To obtain additional recipes, join The Aussie Gourmet on Facebook or visit Naomi’s blog. Naomi can be reached through her website, www.theaussiegourmet.com or at (516) 295-9669.