Baltimore Jewish Home - 4-2-20

CURBSIDE PICKUP & DELIVERY Available NOW! As we attempt to keep our customers and employees safe in these trying time we ask for your understanding and cooperation as we roll-out these services. We are waiving delivery fees through the end of April with the coupon code C 19FREEDLVRY.

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

Delivery in Baltimore County Only

As we approach Passover we are going to miss seeing everyone for our kosher tasting which unfortunately had to be canceled. Since we have had to cancel the tasting we will be offering the kosher sale pricing -- 15% OFF ALL KOSHER WINES AND 10% OFF SELECT KOSHER FOR PASSOVER SPIRITS -during the two week period of Monday, March 23rd - Saturday, April 4th (excludes pre-existing sales; no further discounts can be applied).

These discounts will be available for online orders, both curbside pick up and delivery.

** We must see a valid ID for every order, no exceptions **

We appreciate your patience and support as we navigate the situation at hand. We will be sure to keep you informed as any new developments arise.

410.486.9463

info@quarryws.com

We want to thank you for your patronage and support, particularly during these trying times.

We have unveiled a new website WWW.QUARRYWS.COM (same site, new look)

that allows for online ordering and has a live, complete inventory. You have the choice between curbside pick-up OR delivery. We hope that our customers will utilize these services to minimize contact with each other and our staff. The site is fully mobile compatible.

(Additionally, we are in the process of developing an app for iPhone and Android phones. A notification will be sent when it is available.)

2516 Quarry Lake Dr., Baltimore MD 21208

Ruby Lasker Designs

Ruby Lasker Designs

Ruby Lasker Designs

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

APRIL 2, 2020

2

‫ואהבת לרעך כמוך‬

“US has more known cases of coronavirus than any other country.”

- CNN

“NYC hospitals ‘overwhelmed’ by coro

- Fox News

navirus patients, resident warns.”

“Whoever infects one person, it’s like he infected the entire world.”

Covid-19 is spreading dramatically and will create a dire situation in Baltimore as it already has in New York, if we are not proactive.

It’s a matter of Pikuach Nefesh!

APRIL 2, 2020

- Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR EACH OTHER!

3

Follow these 2 critical precautions to help prevent a major health crisis and even deaths.

1.

Limit the amount of times you go shopping by choosing delivery, if available, asking a friend or neighbor to pick things up for you, and creating a shopping list to include as many items as possible.

2.

When shopping make sure to follow these procedures: Leave children or spouses at home.

Use hand sanitizer when entering and exiting the store, if available.

Wash fruits, vegetables, and other applicable food items.

Wipe down shopping cart handles.

Social distance with shoppers and at checkout.

Don’t socialize.

Wash your hands with soap when you get home.

Please visit Jcovid.com for the latest health and community information.

 STAY SAFE, STAY HOME, SAVE LIVES!  Preparing Our Community Today For a Safe and Secure Tomorrow TM

&

The Chesed Fund Limited is dedicated in memory of Mordechai & Rebecca Kapiloff, ‫ע”ה‬, Dr. Bernard Kapiloff, ‫ע”ה‬, and Rabbi Norman & Louise Gerstenfeld, ‫ע”ה‬,.

Project Ezra of Greater Baltimore, Inc. is dedicated in memory of M. Leo Storch, ‫ע”ה‬.

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

• • • • • • •

4

CONTENTS

COMMUNITY

Around the Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Community Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

APRIL 2, 2020 THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Zvi Teichman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

HUMOR & ENTERTAINMENT

PEOPLE 613 Seconds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Centerfold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 A Healing Laugh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 On the Lighter Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

LIFESTYLES Turning Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Engaging Your Children in the Pesach Seder . . . . 42 When The Lubavitcher Rebbe Self-Quarantined for the Seder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Master Storyteller Rabbi Yitzy Erps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Life Coach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Forgotten Heroes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 World Builders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Dating Dialogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 The Top Mossad Spy Who Befriended His Target. 61 The Economist Turned Medical Czar. . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Mental Health Corner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Your Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Gluten Free Recipe Column. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Dear Readers, It’s said in the name of the Maggid of Mezeritch, “See how precious the body of a Jew is to the Almighty; because of it we have forgone countless mitzvos!”

Billions of individuals are currently home. No school, work, entertainment. Just us and our families. It’s extremely unnerving, to say the least, but it’s a forced opportunity to go back to basics: Who are we? What do we believe? What role does Hashem play in our lives?

It’s as if everything we’ve learned until this point was all practice for how we’ll respond to the spread of this virus. With fear and panic, gobbling up every forwarded email, post, or text filled with the most dreadful news from around the world? Or acting safely and full of trust in Hashem?

We should feel confident that: 1. He still controls the world, everything in it, and that anything that happens comes from Him and not from a new deity called “coronavirus.”

2. This will pass with the fewest possible casualties.

3. This is very much tied in with the last moments of our long golus.

Perhaps we need to be shaken up from our indifference. Perhaps certain evil regimes needed to be to be taken down in the natural order. Perhaps we needed to internalize the concept of personal responsibility, or perhaps this was the best way to show us that there’s no such thing as “I can do what I want, I’m not bothering anyone.”

Perhaps all of the above.

We now know with certainty that individual decisions affect whole communities and eventually the entire globe.

As Jews we always look for a call to action. Let us all think of those around us worst affected by this— the elderly, certain businesses, families with members not feeling well, etc.—and try to find ways to help them get through this.

The Rambam writes that it is middas achzariyos, cruel to respond to natural disasters as if they’re simply a natural phenomenon, ignoring the message they are supposed to be telling us: “Wake up sleepers from your sleep and return to your Creator!”

May each one of us fulfill our obligations both with regard to physical precautions and in regard to spiritual self-reckoning, so that we are zocheh, in the very near future, to a time when there shall no longer be sickness or disease, for the world will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem.

Wishing you a healthy and enjoyable Pesach, Shalom

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

NEWS Global. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Israel News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 National. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 That’s Odd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

The Baltimore Jewish Home is an independent bi-weekly newspaper. All opinions expressed by the journalists, contributors and/or advertisers printed and/or quoted herein are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME, their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, Internet or another medium. The Baltimore Jewish Home is not responsible for typographical errors, or for the kashrus of any product or business advertised within. The BJH contains words of Torah. Please treat accordingly.

5

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

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APRIL 2, 2020

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B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

CATERING SERVICES

6

Around the Community

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

APRIL 2, 2020

On a Regular Day

D

earest Baltimore Community, As I sit in my home-office, I am compelled to share with you my thoughts.

On a regular day: I get up at 6 am and go to Daf Yomi, drive my son to yeshivah, hurry back to shul for Shacharis, rush back home, and grab a bite before staring my busy work day. The day would start with reviewing all medical cases with our Service Coordinator and the heads of our various service departments.

On a regular day: I would be busy visiting patients in Sinai, Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, GBMC and any other hospital with a member of our community.

On a regular day: I would be meeting a doctor, speaking to care-management staff, a physical therapist or another clinician.

I would be sitting in my office doing research, consulting our medical community for a doctor’s referral or on a conference call with a doctor’s office trying to help expedite an appointment.

On a regular day: I would be facilitating an emergency transfer from Israel, New York or anywhere around the world to one of our local world-renowned Medical Institutions.

These past two weeks: There is no minyan. Shiur is on the phone. There is no carpooling.

I am not allowed to see patients personally. All my work now is being done by phone, email, and zoom conferencing. Our world has changed all around us. The streets are empty. The non-essential stores are closed.

It has been two weeks that our schools have closed and more than a week that our shuls and yeshivas have been shuttered. We sit at home with our families and venture out only for essential needs .

And why is this?

Because this is what our Rabbonim told us to do!

As we sit at home and check the news in Eretz Yisroel, New York, New Jersey and other states, we can only wonder…

We still do not know what is in store for us... but…

This is a time to give thanks to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This is a time to give thanks to our beloved Rabbonim who with their Syaate D’shmaye, Daas Torah had the courage to come up with a decision that must have been the hardest in their respective careers. To close our yeshivas and shuls. For all to daven at home without a minyan. To

forgo Krias Hatorah, Limud Hatorah B’rabim. To forgo Amen Yehey Shmai Rabbah…

This is a time to thank all our school minahalim and their respective school boards and presidents who are always on the lookout for the best for our children. It could not have been easy to come to the decision to close our schools. With the encouragement of our Rabbonim they did the correct thing.

This is a time to thank all the medical professionals and doctors in our community who helped the Rabbonim come to the correct decision. A time to thank all members of Hatzalah who not only put their lives on hold to help others, but literally put their lives on the line as well.

This is a time to thank all the great organizations in our community. Specifically, Ahavas Yisroel for spearheading a program to deliver food and help to people in their homes and keep

them safe. A time to thank all our community volunteers who selflessly and safely help all others in need. We look out for and check in on one another!!

I would like to personally thank the volunteers of Bikur Cholim of Baltimore for the work they do in keeping our Kosher Hospitality Pantries in hospitals up and running despite having to adhere to special safety rules.

Your mesiras nefesh for the community does not go unnoticed.

We are praying that the hospitals will allow us to continue and we will make a concerted effort to keep you informed.

This is a time to thank the entire community of Baltimore who put our Rabbonim first. We listen, we respect, and we know that they are always there for us. Let us remember that our Rabbonim of Baltimore always have our ruchnius and gashmius in mind.

May Hashem watch over our great community and all of Klal Yisroel.

May He give us only Simcha and Nachas! May we have a Chag Kosher V’sameach Resectfully yours, Rabbi Pinchos Rabinowitz Executive Director Bikur Cholim of Baltimore

Ahavas Yisrael Emergency COVID-19 Update By: Eli W. Schlossberg, trustee

O

nce again as always the Baltimore Community is responding generously to Ahavas Yisrael Charity Fund.

This fantastic response is to the health and financial crisis never seen in our community or the world, that we are all now experiencing. Many people in our community have lost jobs or have been temporarily laid.

Rabbi Boruch Brull and his over 160 volunteers are in full operation addressing the needs of the community.

Besides for providing all basic needs to those in financial need during this crisis, a new service has been launched to service individuals over the age of 60, the immunocompromised, or those in quarantine, with basic food and grocery needs. For this service, if it is needed, please call either 410-6350461 or 410-645-0744.

With the Emergency campaign

and our usual Moas Chittim needs the Rabbonim have urged Ahavas Yisrael to launch this Emergency Campaign to handle the severe demands that lay ahead of us in the weeks to come. Do-

nations can be made at Ahavasyisrael. org or by mailing a check to Ahavas Yisrael Charity Fund 115 Sudbrook Lane suite E Baltimore Maryland 21208.

Calls can be made to 410-358-2525 or in emergency after hours to 443621-0298. On behalf of all the Board of Directors, Trustees and volunteers of Ahavas Yisrael we wish all a wonderful, healthy Pesach. May Hashem bring this crisis to an end through your actions of Chesed and Tzedakah.

7

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

APRIL 2, 2020

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

8

Around the Community

APRIL 2, 2020

Maryland Governor Hogan Issues Stay-Home Directive Amid Coronavirus Pandemic Effective 8 PM Monday March 30th By: Staff Reporter BaltimoreJewishLife.com/Jeff Cohn

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

M

David Flamm 410-616-9186

flammd1@nationwide.com

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

FOR YOUR AUTO, HOME, LIFE AND BUSINESS NEEDS

aryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued a stay-home directive statewide amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The executive order took effect at 8 p.m. Monday March 30th. Anyone who violates the order will be guilty of a misdemeanor of up to one year in prison and/or a fine of up to $5,000.

“This virus is spreading rapidly and exponentially,” Hogan said. “We are no longer asking or suggesting that Marylanders stay home, we are directing them to do so.”

Hogan added: “No Marylander shall be leaving their home unless it is for an essential job or an essential reason such as obtaining food or medicine, seeking urgent medical attention or for other necessary purposes.”

Only essential business are allowed to remain open in Maryland, and those businesses are to scale down operations and staff.

Hogan said the state has reached a critical turning point.

“Every single Marylander can be a hero just by staying home and by practicing social distancing. This will not only keep you and your family safe, but it could also save the lives of thousands of others,” Hogan said.

“In the days to come, we are all going to need to depend on each other, look out for each other and to take care of each other because we are all in this together.”

As of Monday morning, there are 1,413 confirmed coronavirus cases in Maryland and 15 deaths. There have been as many as 13,316 negative test results. The youngest case to date is that of a 1-month-old infant.

Hogan’s message for anyone still downplaying the severity of the virus and refusing to take it seriously: More American deaths are expected from the virus than from the Vietnam and Korean wars combined.

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Around the Community

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

APRIL 2, 2020

Guests for Yom Tov Message from Local Physicians

A

s Pesach approaches, a Yom Tov celebrated among multi-generational families and friends, it is hard to imagine that we cannot enjoy this special time with others, as we have had in past years. Unfortunately, this year is not like most years.

We are very troubled by many reports of Baltimore community members hosting family and other out of town guests, as well as in-town family and friends.

The current situation with COVID19 represents the highest degree of Pikuach Nefesh, and is a very real threat to each and every member of our community. Numerous community members have been diagnosed and even hospitalized in Baltimore over the last two weeks, in addition to deaths of Jews in communities all over the world, even of young and healthy individuals. Several of us have seen patients, neighbors, or family members admitted to hospitals, close to dying, even here in Maryland.

The only way to protect ourselves and our community is for us to continue STRICT social distancing.

By having any company – even close family and friends from outof-town or in-town – you are endangering your own life and the lives of your neighbors and community. This includes all family not currently living in your home — even parents, grandparents, or newlywed children. It does Daniel (Chaim) Ambinder, MD Brian (Itzi) Barr, MD Yaniv Berger, DO Jason Brookman, MD Justin Cohen, MD Menachem Cooper, MD Moshay Cooper, MD Hal Crane, MD Robert Edelman, MD Ari Elman, MD Michael Elman, MD Derek Fine, MD Dov Frankel, MD Mordy Gardyn, MD

not matter if they have been isolated at their home for 14 days prior to coming.

Having company is a direct violation of the instruction of the Baltimore Vaad Harabanim.

In addition to the above, travel from Baltimore to other communities should be strictly avoided, as it poses a danger to the community upon your return, even if you have no symptoms.

We recognize that there are very

specific questions regarding this issue.

Questions will be shared in confidence with a small group of physicians and a community Rav, one of whom will return your call with the consensus recommendation.

We beg and insist that you to take this seriously, as difficult as it may be not seeing close family on Yom Tov. Please keep in mind that these extreme measures are a temporary necessity to guard one’s health. Just as we empathize with patients undergoing difficult treatments, we also understand the difficulty that these guidelines impose, and do not mean to suggest these measures are easy to follow. They are however medically necessary.

G-d forbid that any of us should even indirectly contribute to someone’s illness or death.

rare cases where the risk must be weighed against other variables. The only clear exception to these recommendations are for individuals for whom isolation poses a substantial physical or psychological danger. No one can consider themselves an exception without specific permission granted to them personally.

For these cases or for other medical questions regarding Coronavirus, we recommend calling your Rav or a new confidential Google voice line - 484-483-5030 - where community members can leave a message with

Lastly, if you develop symptoms of COVID19 or are suspected of having the infection, you should disclose this to all recent contacts so that they can take the appropriate precautions. One should not feel any shame or stigma in doing so, and should be proud to help others stop the spread of the disease.

Again, please understand that these restrictions are for your protection, for the protection of your family, and for the protection of our community.

Let it be the will of the Ribbono Shel Olam that our kehilla kedosha be spared any pain and misfortune.

Aaron Goldberg, MD Jeremy Gradon, MD Daniel Grove, MD Craig Haber, MD Todd Heller, MD Yonah Heller, MD Jonathan Aryeh Henesch, MD Yoel (Julian) Jakobovits, MD Peggy Lazerow, MD Robert Aaron Lehmann, MD Yosef Levenbrown, DO Lauren Mayer, MD Eli Miller, MD Nicole Minkove, MD

Sam Minkove, MD Yehuda Mond, MD Chana Weinstock Neuberger, MD Brian Neuman, MD Gabi Orner, MD Dani Poliakoff, MD Elie Portnoy, MD Aaron Rapoport, MD Joseph Rabin, MD Chana Richter, MD Jonathan Ringo, MD Avi Rosenberg, MD, PhD Josh Rosenblum, DO Ron Samet, MD

Sid Schechet, MD Netanel Schwob, MD Dani Sova, MD Ethan Spiegler, MD Josh Steiner, MD Aaron Weinberg, MD Edward Wolf, MD Joshua Wolf, MD This letter has been endorsed by the Baltimore Vaad Harabanim.

11 INSPIRING JEWS ...

ONE BOOK AT A TIME

FROM

Reb Aharon Leib Shteinman Compiled by Rabbi Avraham

Yeshayahu Shteinman

W

Dedicated by Mr. and Mrs. Yussi Rieder

R

abbi Paysach Krohn knows better than almost anyone how powerful a true story can be.

Now, he takes his amazing talent for finding unusual and inspiring stories and combines it with an incisive and absorbing commentary on the Haggadah.

So come and join Rabbi Krohn At the Maggid’s Seder, and see how much this Haggadah will enhance and enrich your own Seder as well.

THE INSPIRING STORY AND LEGACY OF

M RIES FRO

NEW STO

Rabbi l Yechieo Sper

• The Kopycznitzer Rebbe found a way to sing and brought a spark of joy during the Holocaust.

• The second grader was sitting all alone. Until one Zeidy saw him, and adopted a new grandson for a day.

• No one, but no one, could understand the rabbi’s last words. Until they discovered why he’d bought a ticket to the movies …. pero stories.” They are unique and engaging, with a “wow” factor that will leave you amazed, surprised, and delighted. Most of all, they will touch your soul and ignite a spark. And that spark will light up your life.

REBBETZIN ESTHER JUNGREIS HER LIFE, HER VISION, HER LEGACY

by Rabbi Nachman Seltzer

• Esther Jungreis was a young Holocaust survivor who became a friend, advisor, teacher, and often even a surrogate mother to thousands: singles and families, prime ministers, presidents and prisoners, and spiritual seekers throughout the world.

• A pioneer in Jewish outreach and the founder of Hineni, she made history in Madison Square Garden, where she proved that Torah could interest, engage, and energize all Jews.

• Through her newspaper columns, bestselling books, and standing-room-only speeches, OVER 650 PAGES she ignited the “pintele Yid” that lies within INCLUDES every Jew. • She shared her passion for Torah and Jewish HUNDREDS continuity and enriched the lives of millions OF PHOTOS throughout the world.

The Rebbetzin was written by Rabbi Nachman Seltzer, one of the Jewish world’s premiere authors, who interviewed close to one hundred people — family, shul members, students, neighbors, and many others — whose souls she touched, who shared her devotion to Klal Yisrael. In these stories he vividly captures the life of one of the twentieth century’s most fascinating, charismatic, and spiritually inspiring Jewish personalities.

Available at your local Hebrew bookseller or at www.artscroll.com • 1-800-MESORAH (637-6724)

Fallstaff Shopping Center 6830 Reisterstown Rd Baltimore Maryland 21215 Phone: (410) 358-2200

Available at your local Hebrew bookseller or at www.artscroll.com • 1-800-MESORAH (637-6724)

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE!

“S

Rabbi Paysach Krohn

APRIL 2, 2020

ritten by the grandson of both Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman zt’l and yb’lch, Rav Chaim Kanievsky shlita. this unusual Haggadah gives us a fascinating look at Rav Aharon Leib’s Pesach minhagim and his insights into Yetziyas Mitrayim and the Haggadah.

Includes dozens of stories of Rav Aharon Leib and his illustrious family. This Haggadah will enrich your Seder — and your life!

NEW HAGGADAH FROM

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

IMAGINE PESACH WITH

12

In 18 minutes you can make a Matzah.

E TO DONATE N M I O ST

Name _____________________________________________________________________________________________

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

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Individual Seder Meal

o $36

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o $100 Yom Tov Family Meal o $250 Family Seder Sponsor

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o $500 Passover Family Sponsor

Mail to: Ahavas Yisrael Charity Fund • 115 Sudbrook Lane • Suite E • Baltimore Maryland 21208

o $1000 Passover Gold Sponsor

Over four decades of helping assure that no one in our community goes to bed hungry.

Office: 410-358-2525 Rabbi bORuch bRull • 410-358-7975 • Brull@juno.com MRs. aviva isbee • 410-764-6020 MR. eli W. schlOssbeRg • 410-358-4464 • eli@ahavasyisrael.org

Call One of the Numbers Above or Donate Online: www.AhavasYisrael.org

Ahavas Yisrael Charity Fund is a 501c3 yearly audited charity, based in Baltimore, benefitting the needy of the Greater Baltimore area Jewish Community

staiman.com

I would like to donate $_______ toward the Passover Food Drive for the needy of our Baltimore Community.

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Please take two minutes to think about those who can’t afford to make Pesach, and give generously so that this Yom Tov can be a special one for all.

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For 42 years, Baltimore’s Ahavas Yisrael Charity Fund has discreetly helped our local poor and needy. Ahavas Yisrael is

Last year, we distributed over $3 million in food and basic needs right here in our community.

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Unemployment, sickness and other adversities have left some of our neighbors impoverished.

Many suffer quietly, with no one even aware of their distress.

run almost entirely by hardworking, dedicated volunteers.

Due to our very low overhead, 92¢ of every dollar you donate goes to the needy.

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As we celebrate the holiday of our freedom, please remember those in our greater family whose lives are still oppressed.

!

W

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

APRIL 2, 2020

In 2 minutes you can make a family’s Pesach.

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VID-19

APRIL 2, 2020

We are living through unprecedented times. Due to the impact of the Coronavirus, members of your community, many of whom have always been on the giving side, find themselves having to ask for help. Please help Ahavas Yisrael to do what it always does: to be there for your friends and neighbors and provide for them in this desperate time with sensitivity and discretion. Every dollar that you generously give, will help local families to stay in their homes, have food for yom tov and maintain a semblance of normalcy. While we are socially

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

C

AHAVAS YISRAEL

distanced, lets keep our hearts where they belong: close to one another.

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Emergency Response Campaign

NEEDS YOU. Donate Today!

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B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

BALTIMORE

14

Around the Community

Yeshivas Toras Simcha’s Grand Contest

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

APRIL 2, 2020

T

he talmidim at Yeshivas Toras Simcha were challenged with an engaging and educational at home activity of making a model seder table out of any materials they chose to use. They were judged for creativity and incorporating as many halachos and minhagim as they and their sibilings were able to think of.

Eli and Ezra Kastner

Yehuda Rubin - 2nd grade

Chaim Deutsch -Pre1A

Shmuel Breuer - 1st grade

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At the Passover Seder, we tell the story of our ancestor’s journey out of slavery. “This year we are slaves, next year, may we all be free.”

As The Associated celebrates its Centennial anniversary, we honor the countless Jewish families who have fled oppression and antisemitism to start over in a new land. For over 100 years, The Associated has cared for and assisted those who immigrated to Baltimore and made this community the thriving and vibrant community we are proud to call home.

Thank You To Our Centennial Sponspors: BB&T • Brown Advisory • MedStar Health • Miles & Stockbridge • M&T Bank • PSA Insurance & Financial Services Advance Business Systems • American Office • CANDA Solutions • Eastern Savings Bank • Hoffman & Co. • Howard Bank • Merritt Properties • RBC Wealth Management • Residential Title & Escrow Company • Schoenfeld Insurance Associates • Seven Mile Market • SOS Technology • WMS Partners •WYPR

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On behalf of The Associated, we want to wish all those who have made Baltimore their home a healthy, happy Passover.

Wishing a happy and joyous Passover to All!

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Dr. Dan Grove

Where are you from and how did you end up in Baltimore?‎ I grew up in a non-religious family in Phoenix, AZ. I went to medical school at Emory ‎University in Atlanta, where I got connected to the Atlanta Scholars Kollel and started learning ‎about Torah Judaism. I became more observant and made the decision to go to Israel to learn. I ‎spent a year between my 3rd and 4th year of medical school at a yeshiva for ba’alei teshuva ‎called Machon Shlomo. While there I met and married my wife. We came back to Atlanta ‎where I finished my medical training in internal medicine and then pulmonary and critical care ‎medicine. After training we wanted to move closer to my wife’s family in New Jersey. We had ‎always heard wonderful things about the Baltimore Jewish community and were very ex-

can take the ‎pandemic seriously while not being overly panicked. ‎ What advice would you like to give our 10,000+ readers?‎ Take the recommendations of the government, the community doctors and rabbis ‎seriously. ‎ Don’t obsess over the news coverage, it will only feed your panic. ‎ Take this time to enhance the bonds with your spouse, your children and other family. ‎ Use technology to connect with those who are isolated and alone.

Reconnect with ‎relationships that have fallen by the wayside. ‎ Make your davening and Torah learning in the merit of all who are sick, alone and afraid. ‎ Make the focus of your Seder creating an experience of the exodus for your children and for ‎the child in yourself. ‎ Remember that the last time we were all forced to stay in our homes, the night of Pesach, ‎was the night of the exodus. ‎ I will try to update the blog “mycovidjourney.com” daily with new information in the news, ‎distilling it and explaining it in simple terms, to help keep us all healthy and safe. ‎ Have a happy, healthy, and truly freeing Pesach

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days I ‎developed what felt like a bad flu, but then slowly recovered and am now back to full strength, B”H.‎ I had the feeling during this time What do you do for a living?

I spend half my time working as that people were not being honest an attending physician in the intensive about being infected, because ‎they care unit and seeing ‎patients with lung were ashamed or embarrassed. I indiseases primarily at Medstar Union formed all the people I had contact.

Memorial Hospital and occasionally I also wanted ‎to change the narraat ‎Medstar Good Samaritan Hospital. tive about the infection. I started a The rest of the time I work at an office website; (mycovidjourney.com) to in Towson where I ‎see people with ‎publicize my infection more widevarious lung conditions like asthma, ly, to show that there was no reason to be ashamed. The ‎publicity would COPD and sleep apnea. ‎ Tell us about getting coronavi- also let people in the community know that people near them were infected. I rus?

It was an atypical week in the ICU ‎hoped that this would show them that as we were preparing for a large surge this is no longer something in a far off of sick patients. I was ‎going about my place, but was here ‎as well. I hoped business as usual, but after a few days, this would motivate them to take the I started noticing that I was getting restrictions recommended by the pub‎hoarse. I then developed a dry cough. lic ‎health authorities more seriously.

I was on high alert for any respiratory After publishing the site, I started resymptoms, so I ‎immediately left the ceiving a seemingly ‎endless stream hospital and got back up coverage. of questions about the virus. I realThe next day I jumped through multi- ized that many people were reacting ple ‎hoops to get tested and eventually at two ‎opposite extremes. Some had I found out I was positive. My most overwhelming anxiety nearing panic, pressing feeling was guilt ‎knowing while others had an ‎unhealthy skepthat I may have exposed my col- tical nonchalance and were risking leagues and other staff at the hospital further spread of disease. Both were to the infection. I ‎also was upset that based on ‎general ignorance. I decided I was not informed by the people who to expand the blog to include informainfected me that they were feeling ill. ‎I tion I was researching about ‎the virus, would have pulled myself off the unit with the goal of educating the commuearlier had I known. Over the next few nity about what I had learned, so they

cited ‎when there was a job opening here. We moved here in 2013.‎

The Week In News

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Arreaza denied the charges on Monday, slamming the Trump administration for “using a new form of coup d’état on the basis of vulgar, miserable and unfounded accusations” and “trying to minimize the recognition that Venezuela has achieved in the fight against drug trafficking.

“The deep frustration of the White House is a product of the peace that reigns in Venezuela today, whose authorities have managed to neutralize coups and destabilizing attempts planned and financed from the United States,” said Arreaza.

The U.S. Department of Justice hit senior Venezuelan leaders, including President Nicholas Maduro, with a slew of criminal charges on Monday.

Maduro and the other officials from Venezuela’s military, legislature, and government were charged with narcoterrorism and drug trafficking.

The indictments were filed in New York’s Southern District, Washington, D.C., and Miami.

The State Department also designated them as international drug traffickers and issued a $15 million bounty for any information that would lead to Maduro’s arrest and conviction. Prosecutors accuse the aforementioned officials of collaborating with Columbia’s FARC terror group to send massive amounts of cocaine into the United States.

“We estimate that somewhere between 200 and 250 metric tons of cocaine are shipped out of Venezuela…

Those 250 metric tons equates to 30 million lethal doses,” said the Justice Department.

Other than Maduro, officials who were charged include Diosdado Cabello Rondón, leader of Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly; Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez; Supreme Court Chief Justice Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios; and ex-military intelligence chief Clíver Antonio Alcalá Cordones.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge

A painting by famed artist Vincent Van Gogh was stolen from a Dutch museum last week while it was closed due to the coronavirus.

According to police, the breakin occurred at 3:15 a.m. on Monday morning at the Singer Laren Museum in Amsterdam. The thieves made off with the painting known as “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884.”

The work was completed by the master in 1884 and was on loan from Holland’s Groninger Museum. It is unknown how much the painting is worth.

“I am shocked and unbelievably [annoyed],” said Singer Laren director Jan Rudolph de Lorm. “It is very bad for the Groninger Museum. It’s also very bad for Singer.

“But above all it is horrible for all of us, because art is there to be seen and shared by all of us, for society as a whole, to bring enjoyment, to bring inspiration.”

The Singer Laren Museum was founded in 1950 to preserve the personal art collection of American steel baron William Henry Singer and his wife Anna. Knowing that the building was empty due to the coronavi-

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The Week In News rus, thieves smashed a glass door to enter the museum. Although they set off an alarm, they managed to escape before police arrived.

The Singer Laren Museum has been raided before, with thieves making off with seven sculptures in 2007.

The majority of the works were recovered within a few days.

Countries with More than 1 Capital City

While most countries around the world have a single capital city, there are a number of nations with two or more capitals.

“The very concept of a capital city is relatively new. In 1900, only around 40 countries had capital cities,” wrote professor David Gordon in an introduction to the book, Planning Twentieth Century Capital Cities. That number expanded to over 200 by the year 2000, as the collapse of the French and British empires, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia gave rise to new countries.

Gordon, an urban planning professor at Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, noted that “this is a place where politicians get together to pass laws, where the central administrative apparatus of the country are generally located... There are very much synergies in locating these all together.”

In Chile, the capital cities of Santiago and Valparaíso are located 72 miles apart. Santiago, home to the country’s administrative and judicial bodies, rests among mountains, while the national legislature at UNESCO-listed Valparaíso has a colorful sunset view of the Pacific Ocean.

Bolivia’s administrative capital, La Paz, is located in the Andes Mountains. Hundreds of miles away

sits the constitutional capital of Sucre, where in the early days of colonial rule, nearby mines filled with silver served to raise the city’s profile.

In the Czech Republic, the president’s official office is located in Prague Castle, part of the city’s UNESCO-listed historic center. Yet the supreme court sits in the country’s second capital, Brno.

The Netherlands’ official capital, Amsterdam, is a common tourist destination with much to see and do.

However, the country’s government takes place in The Hague, where the state’s general, executive branch, and supreme court are all located.

Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur is the national capital, as well as home to the country’s monarch and the seat of the legislature. But in 1995, as a getaway of sorts from city life, the government began work on Putrajaya, a quieter metropolis surrounding a massive artificial lake. The new capital is home to landmarks such as the pink Putra Mosque.

Sri Lanka’s national and executive government bodies are along the coastal city of Colombo, though the official capital is nearby in Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, often called Kotte. In Kotte, one can find the Sri Lankan Parliament Building in the middle of the manmade Diyawanna Lake. The Kingdom of eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland, has its administrative capital in Mbabane.

Yet King Mswati III, along with his family, calls the Ludzidzini Royal Residence home, located in the royal capital of Lobamba.

South Africa is the only country in the world to have three capital cities: Cape Town, Pretoria, and Bloemfontein. Cape Town, the former capital of Britain’s Cape Colony, is the legislative capital of South Africa until today. The remaining branches of government are split between Pretoria and Bloemfontein, in the emerging country’s attempt to help with the distribution of power across regions.

Plastic-Eating Bacteria Scientists have discovered a bacteria strain capable of degrading polyurethane, a synthetic chemical

compound used in plastic products that typically end up in landfills.

These findings, which could be a step towards reducing plastic pollution around the world, were published last week in the Frontiers in Microbiology journal.

German researchers identified the bacterium Pseudomonas putida, which fed on polyurethane diol, a compound generally applied to materials to protect them from corrosion.

“The bacteria can use these compounds as a sole source of carbon, nitrogen and energy,” noted Hermann Heipieper, study author and senior scientist at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig.

“This finding represents an important step in being able to reuse hard-to-recycle (polyurethane) products.”

Polyurethane foam is commonly used in mattresses, car parts, building materials, and spandex clothing and shoes, among other things.

Polyurethane is a polymer, a large molecule made up of numerous smaller molecules called monomers.

This complex structure is partially why plastics are so difficult to break down and end up clogging landfills.

The bacterium Pseudomonas putida is capable of metabolizing the “building blocks” of polyurethane, but it alone would likely be unable to break down large polyurethane polymers.

The researchers said further research is required before pursuing commercial biodegradation procedures, but that these findings still represent an important step toward tackling plastic pollution.

500 Iranians Imbibe Faux Cure At least 480 Iranians have died over the past week after drinking industrial alcohol they were told was a cure for the novel coronavirus.

Consumption of the faux cure has skyrocketed in recent weeks as the

death toll in Iran from the coronavirus surpassed 2,000 people. According to rumors that circulated, a British teacher had cured himself of the coronavirus after ingesting whiskey along with honey.

Other reports spoke of the wondrous healing powers of methanol, industrial-grade alcohol that causes quick death when imbibed. In one case, a 5-year-old in Tehran passed away after he was fed the toxic brew by his parents. In videos taken in Iran’s Khuzestan province, dozens of patients can be seen with IVs as they detox from the poisonous substance.

While consumer alcoholic drinks are banned in Iran, methanol is permitted for sale as long as it is dyed a special color to prevent mistaken consumption. As the rumors of alcohol’s “wondrous” effects on the novel coronavirus, criminals manufactured bootleg methanol dyed white to appear safe to drink.

Adding to the high death toll in Iran is the fact that methanol is tasteless without any aroma. Almost undetectable, many who drank it were unaware that the supposed miracle cure would, in fact, lead to an early death.

Commonly, methanol kills people by causing organs to shut down, with symptoms including chest pain, blindness, and a sudden coma.

“Other countries have only one problem, which is the new coronavirus pandemic. But we are fighting on two fronts here,” Iranian Health Ministry official Dr. Hossein Hassanian said. “We have to both cure the people with alcohol poisoning and also fight the coronavirus.”

UK Shadowing Russian Warships The United Kingdom’s (UK) Royal Navy announced on Monday that it has been shadowing seven Russian warships sailing between the English Channel and the North Sea. Saying that it was alarmed by the “unusual amount of activity,” the Royal Navy used nine vessels to monitor the Russian fleet until it left the English Channel. Executive Officer Lieutenant Nick Ward said in a statement that monitoring constituted a major operation for the British fleet that demonstrated their “enduring

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commitment to uphold the security” of the UK. “Royal Navy sailors and aircrew were monitoring every movement of the Russian ships using state-of-theart radar, surveillance cameras and sensors, allowing them to track their course and speed as they passed the British Isles,” said the Royal Navy.

“Portsmouth-based HMS Tyne spent more than a week working in the English Channel, in often challenging seas, keeping a close eye on the Russian vessels as they pass the south coast.”

While Russian ships commonly transit the English Channel, they aroused suspicion by remaining off the coast of Britain for several days instead of continuing to the Mediterranean Sea. Included in the Russia armada were three Project 20380 Steregushchiy-class corvettes, two Project 775 Ropucha-class amphibious crafts, and Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates, plus auxiliary ships and tugs.

The suspicious Russian maritime activity comes amid rising tensions between Moscow and London in recent weeks. In early March, RAF jets intercepted two Russian Tu-142 strategic bombers after they approached the Shetland Islands.

“Our successful integration into the maritime group proves our ability to adapt to task group operations at short notice,” said Lieutenant Hannah Lee, who serves as an operations officer on a frigate involved in the mission. “Having proved we can work together and contribute once again to NATO operations, we now look to return to UK national tasks in support of the very highest defense priorities.”

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North Korea Launches Projectile North Korea launched two unidentified projectiles into the Sea of Japan in what is the rogue state’s sixth such test in this past month alone.

According to the South Korean military, the launches were assumed to be short-range missiles based in the Wohsan area. The rockets landed

outside of Japan’s 200-kilometer Exclusive Economic Zone.

Japan’s Coast Guard first reported the launch at 6:00 on Sunday morning. Tokyo’s military warned that it viewed the test with extreme concern and that it would not hesitate to take action in order to protect Japan’s interests.

“It is a serious issue for the whole international society including Japan that North Korea has repeatedly launched the missiles lately,” said Japan’s Self Defense Forces. “We continue to put the utmost effort to collect and analyze information and vigilance to protect the life and property of Japanese citizens.”

A Trump administration official said that it “will continue to monitor the situation and are consulting with our allies.”

Pyongyang appears to have ramped up its ballistic missile program, having conducted six missile tests over the last four weeks alone.

On March 9, North Korea launched three missiles into the sea, followed by another two tests on March 21.

Jihadi Sentenced to 10 Years A Tunisian national was sentenced last Thursday to a 10-year prison term by a German court for planning a biological terror attack together with his wife.

Sief Allah H., 31, and his wife Yasmin, a 41-year-old German citizen, wanted to “create a climate of fear and uncertainty among the German population,” wrote presiding judge Jan van Lessen. The planned attack could have potentially murdered as many as 13,500 people.

Sief Allah H. was a supporter of ISIS who had previously attempted twice to join the Islamic State as a combatant in Syria. He had ordered castor seeds and metal ball bearings online in order to construct the deadly poison ricin, which, according to the court statement, was intended to murder “other believers” who don’t embrace Islam. The statement elaborated that the couple had begun working on their “jihadi motivated explosive attack in Germany” back in 2017.

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The Week In News The components were confiscated by authorities from the couple’s apartment in Cologne-Chorweiler.

“The accused were well advanced in the manufacture of an explosive device and had already made a significant amount of the ricin toxin from the castor beans they had ordered online,” according to the court.

“Radical Islamic content had been found on their mobile phones, demonstrating their radicalization and the decision to commit a terrorist attack based on it. The planned attack would most likely have resulted in numerous fatalities and injuries.”

Sief Allah H. appealed his sentence, while the ongoing trial against Yasmin will continue with the next court hearing slated for April 1.

Greek World War II Hero Dies

Manolis Glezos, who became famous for resisting the Nazis during World War II, passed away on Monday at the age of 97.

Glezos was known for his open defiance of the Nazi regime after it occupied his native Greece in 1941.

While only 18 years old, he and his friend Apostolos Santas famously climbed the Acropolis in order to tear down the Nazi flag.

As the birthplace of Athenian democracy, the Acropolis is a national Greek institution and many viewed Gleznos’ effort to remove the swastika as a symbol of their opposition to the Nazi occupation. The Nazi regime arrested the pair after discovering the identity of the perpetrators but Gleznos managed to escape from prison. He was sentenced to death in absentia in 1942.

“Hitler had said in a speech that ‘Europe is free.’ We wanted to show him that the fight was just be-

ginning,” Glezos recalled in 2011.

“Greece conquered its freedom, but not its independence.”

After the war ended, Glezos was elected to the country’s parliament for a variety of far-left and communist parties. He was later imprisoned during the 1967-1974 military dictatorship but never renounced his radical politics. After Greece declared bankruptcy as a result of the global financial meltdown in 2008, Gleznos led the public opposition to the harsh austerity that was imposed on the country.

Tributes poured in after news of Gleznos’ death was announced, with the country’s most prominent politicians hailing him as a national hero. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis eulogized him as a “lionheart” and “the sweetest man” whose actions continue to inspire him today.

“The death of Manolis Glezos leaves Greeks poorer, but the legacy of his life leaves Greece richer,” said Mitsotakis. “His example, that of a true patriot and fighter, is a guiding light for us all. And it gives us the strength to unite to overcome difficulties, like those we are experiencing today.”

“For all eternity he will remain the symbol of a fighter,” added former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. “The left, all of us today, feel like orphans but also so lucky to have walked with him.”

Philippines Grounds All Lionair Flights The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has grounded all flights belonging to the Lionair carrier after a fire on one of its planes killed eight people.

“While investigation on the medical evacuation plane RP-C5880 is ongoing, it has been decided that Lionair’s entire fleet will be grounded,” said the CAAP in a statement.

Lionair is the country’s largest provider of helicopters and charter aircraft.

The company has seven total aircraft listed on its website.

The move comes after a twin-engine medevac jet went up in flames on March 29, killing all eight people on board. The Westwind 24 aircraft erupted in smoke during a routine takeoff at Ninoy Aquino International Airport at around 8:00 p.m.

The plane was headed to Japan and had six Filipinos and two Japanese nationals on board. The airport’s runway was closed following the disaster, and all international flights were diverted.

CAAP has recovered the black box and is leading an investigation into what caused the accident.

“The recovery will further aid the investigation and help answer why the crash might have occurred,” CAAP said.

In India, “Social Distance” is a Middle-Class Privilege

Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a national 21-day lockdown to prevent the coronavirus from further spreading among the country’s 1.3 billion inhabitants.

“Social distancing is not just for the sick, but for each and every person, including you and even your family,” he said in a nationwide address.

Yet for one-sixth of the population, the 74 million people who reside in slums, social distancing is physically as well as economically impossible. In Dharavi in Mumbai, there is only one toilet per 1,440 residents, and 78% of community toilets in Mumbai’s slums lack a water supply, according to a 2019 Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation survey.

Furthermore, migrant workers generally earn between 138-449 Indian rupees ($1.84-$5.97) per day, according

to the International Labour Organization. As they often live hand-to-mouth, they simply cannot stop working if they are to feed themselves and their families.

“Supply chains have shut down.

Employment is lost. They have no money to purchase essentials,” said economist Arun Kumar. “And unlike the rich, they cannot afford to stock up.

They buy on a daily basis but now the shelves are empty.”

At least one person in a Mumbai slum has already tested positive for coronavirus. As thousands of migrant workers seek to flee the slums for their rural homes, they have sparked fears of transferring the virus to the countryside. On Sunday, Prime Minister Modi urged all states to seal their borders in an effort to prevent the virus from being imported into rural areas. Officials are now scrambling to locate millions of migrant workers, who had already returned to their small towns and villages across the country, in order to quarantine them for 14 days.

In Sunday’s radio address, Modi acknowledged the chaos brought upon India’s poor by the lockdown and asked the nation for forgiveness. He also urged listeners to understand there was no other option.

Bringing Israelis Home

Israel’s Foreign Ministry dispatched a fleet of chartered jets to bring home a group of Israelis that were stranded in New Zealand and Australia.

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The Week In News “In these countries are the largest concentration of Israelis who are interested in returning home,” said the Foreign Ministry in a statement.

The ministry has been involved in an intensive operation to rescue tens of thousands of Israelis who had been stuck all across the globe after their host countries implemented travel bans to prevent the coronavirus from spreading. Now, the vast majority of them have returned home from places such as Peru, Argentina, India, and Moldova.

On Sunday, Israir Airlines CEO Uri Sirkis announced that his company would bring back Israelis free of charge from Kishinev, Berlin, Tbilisi, Belgrade, Frankfurt, and Vienna. This follows the estimated 1,000 backpackers in Peru who were rescued by El Al early last week.

Hundreds more were brought back from countries such as Bolivia that do not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, complicating the effort.

Twenty-three Israelis were eventually brought to Santa Cruz by a private plane ordered by Israel’s embassy in Brazil, where a Bolivian Air Force Jet was waiting to take them to Brazil.

Once in San Paolo, they boarded a direct El AL flight to Tel Aviv.

While 12 Israelis remain in Peru, Israeli Ambassador to Lima Asaf Ichilevich promised that “we will make every effort to bring them home.”

Meanwhile, seven Israelis stranded in Honduras were flown by the Honduran army to Costa Rica, where they were collected by a waiting El Al flight.

In India, 300 Israelis were brought back by a private jet chartered by the Amsalem Tours travel agency, while another 23 that got on a plane sent by Germany to collect its citizens from Peru were dropped off in a third country. The joint effort was hailed by German Ambassador Susanne Wainer-Rasum as an “important symbol for the strength of [German-Israeli] cooperation in crisis times.”

As countries around the world began to close their airspace in early March, Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz ordered staff to prepare a “national emergency plan” to repatriate Israelis stuck on foreign soil.

“More than 600 Israelis came back from India, 200 students from Jordan, 150 Israelis from Central Europe, and another 150 from Costa Rica,” not-

ed Katz. “We managed to get tourists out from all parts of Bolivia, and even those that were unable to board [last week’s] El Al flight from Peru will return to Israel soon, after they went on rescue flights organized by the German Foreign Ministry.

“Israeli citizens can be proud of their diplomats around the world.”

A Unity Government?

Negotiations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kahol Lavan leader Benny Gantz have stalled over disputes regarding the division of government ministries.

Last week, Gantz ended his political partnership with Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid and former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon. Reversing his vow not to join a coalition led

by Netanyahu under any circumstances, Gantz said that Israel needed a stable government in order to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

With 17 seats, Gantz’s willingness to join a government that includes the Likud, the haredi UTJ and Shas parties, and the Religious Zionist Yemina would give Netanyahu more than the 61 votes needed to establish a coalition. The talks between the two parties for a national unity government had been going well, leading to speculation that it could be sworn in as early as this week.

However, such optimism now seems misplaced after a fresh round of mudslinging between the Likud and Kahol Lavan.

Originally, Kahol Lavan was slated to receive the Justice Ministry, a highly influential portfolio that controls the country’s legal system. Yet Netanyahu reportedly reversed the decision after seeing the backlash within his party to such a move, with lawmakers worrying about the center-left party enabling the High Court’s judicial activism.

Other matters under dispute include who will be Knesset Speaker.

Gantz is currently the Knesset Speaker but had agreed to vacate the post after a new government is sworn in.

While Netanyahu wanted to return Yuli Edelstein to the position he held until last week, Gantz ruled out the idea, accusing the Russian-born MK of destroying democracy by ignoring a High Court ruling last week.

Yet according to Likud sources, Netanyahu has threatened to tap Tourism Minister Yariv Lavin for the speakership instead if Gantz doesn’t remove his veto of Edelstein. Lavin is known for his vehement opposition to the High Court and is likely to promote far-reaching steps to limit the power justices currently wield over the government.

In addition, Netanyahu demanded that Gantz support annexing large swaths of Judea and Samaria under President Donald Trump’s “Deal of the Century.” Gantz has refused the idea, saying that such a move would hurt future peace prospects despite Netanyahu refusing to back down.

Finally, Gantz had demanded that the Health Ministry be given to Gabi Ashkenazi. A former IDF Chief of Staff, Ashkenazi has vowed to rebuild the country’s collapsing health system just as he rebuilt the military after the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

While Netanyahu agreed to the demand, current Health Minister and UTJ leader Yaakov Litzman has refused to give up his post. Kahol Lavan has since made receiving the ministry a non-negotiable demand, creating an impasse that remains unsolved.

Sabena Airlines’ flight 571 in 1972, died at the age of 65 in Jordan this week.

Born to a Christian family in Acre, Khalsa’s family ironically had warm relations with Jews throughout her childhood.

“We lived very close to the Jews. I had Jewish friends. On Saturday they asked us to turn on the gas and electricity in their home. We went in and out as a family,” she later told Haaretz.

Nevertheless, Khalsa joined the Black September terror group in 1967 and was part of the four-member squad that smuggled explosives and pistols on the Vienna-Tel Aviv flight five years later. At the end of the journey, they charged the cockpit and took over the plane.

Landing in Lod Airport, they separated the Jewish and the non-Jewish passengers and demanded that Israel release 315 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the 97 hostages. After a 30-hour standoff, the IDF’s elite Sayeret Matkal unit successfully stormed the plane by dressing up as airport mechanics, killing two of the hijackers and capturing Khalsa and Rima Tannous.

The mission, which has since been immortalized in a series of movies and books, was led by current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former premier Ehud Barak. Netanyahu was wounded after being hit by friendly fire, as were two other passengers.

Khalsa was arrested and sentenced to 220 years in prison but was later released as part of a prisoner swap in 1982. She would remain proud of her role in the hijacking for the rest of her life, saying in 2015 that “I wanted to blow up the plane. That’s the truth.”

End for Black September Terrorist Tom Coburn Dead at 71 Theresa Khalsa, the last surviving member of the squad responsible for the hijacking of the Tel Aviv-bound

Tom Coburn, a maverick Oklahoma Republican senator and congressman known for his ultraconservative views, passed away following a battle with cancer. He was 72.

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The Week In News The news of Coburn’s passing was announced in a statement his family released via the Oklahoman daily.

Coburn is survived by his wife Carolyn, 51; his daughters Sarah, Katie, and Callie; and nine grandchildren.

Born in Oklahoma, Coburn worked as an obstetrician and reportedly delivered more than 4,000 babies. He first joined politics in 1994 as part of a new generation of Republicans vowing to shrink the size of the federal government.

Serving in the House of Representatives until 2001 and then from 2005 until 2015, Coburn was famous for his hawkish views on foreign policy and his opposition to government intervention in the economy.

Throughout his career, Coburn frequently took aim at Republicans and Democrats alike for their support of budget deficits and high taxation. Coburn refused to accept federal funds that were earmarked for state projects and vowed to “fight big spenders so that our children and grandchildren have a future.”

After leaving the Senate in 2015, Coburn pushed for a constitutional convention and continued fighting conservative fiscal causes. “I’ve got a flat forehead from beating my head against the wall,” Coburn said.

Coburn was eulogized by a slew of prominent conservative politicians on Sunday who remembered his fierce commitment to balancing budgets and cutting spending.

“Tom Coburn was a great conservative voice in the United States Congress and American physician whose legacy will live on,” tweeted Vice President Mike Pence.

In a statement, Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma called Coburn a “friend and a leader.”

“Oklahoma has lost a tremendous leader and I lost a great friend today,” said Lankford. “Dr. Coburn was an inspiration to many in our state and our

nation. He was unwavering in his conservative values, but he had deep and meaningful friendships with people from all political and personal backgrounds.”

Probe into Lawmakers

The Justice Department has opened a probe into lawmakers who sold their stocks shortly after receiving a classified briefing about the potential impact of the coronavirus.

The investigation is being conducted in tandem with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is still in its preliminary stage. However, the FBI has already attempted to speak with North Carolina Senator Richard Burr about his suspicious stock dump right after being briefed about the pandemic’s economic fallout.

The probe will focus on whether legislators sold their portfolios on the basis of what they heard in government briefings. If so, the market trades could potentially run afoul of federal insider trader laws, which prohibits engaging financial activity based on confidential access to information.

Burr had come under public scrutiny after selling off $1.7 million of his stocks after attending a Senate Intelligence Committee meeting in February about the coronavirus. As the furor over his trading refused to die down, the North Carolina Republican asked the Senate Ethics Committee to dispel talk that he violated federal law.

“The law is clear that any American – including a senator – may participate in the stock market based on public information, as Senator Burr did. When this issue arose, Senator Burr immediately asked the Senate Ethics Committee to conduct a complete review, and he will cooperate with that review as well as any other

appropriate inquiry,” said Burr’s attorney Alice Fisher on Sunday.

Other lawmakers under fire for suspicious trades included Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler, who made between $1.275 million and $3.1 million in a stock dump after attending a Senate briefing. Loeffler and her husband also earned close to a million dollars for purchasing shares in Citrix, a cloud computing company whose stock has doubled since the pandemic began.

Members of Congress were once allowed to buy and sell shares based on non-public information they were exposed to as part of their job until the 2012 Stock Act put an end to such activity.

and a private drug company.

Johnson & Johnson said that it had begun producing a vaccine for the coronavirus in January based on its successful discovery of the drug that decimated ebola. It tested the first coronavirus vaccine on March 17 and has ramped up production in all of its 125 factories around the world to meet demand.

Biden’s Bid to Attract Young Voters

A Possible Vaccine?

The U.S. government has signed a $1 billion deal with the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company to produce 1 billion doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine.

Johnson & Johnson said that it already had a vaccine candidate and would begin human testing by the fall.

Should the trials go as scheduled, the drug could be ready to hit the market

by February 2021.

As part of the deal, the U.S. will spend $421 million in order to build a U.S. manufacturing plant for the pharmaceutical giant. In addition, Johnson & Johnson will dedicate $1 billion to develop other vaccines along with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

Overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), BARDA is tasked with spearheading the development of new lifesaving drugs. The deal is the largest one ever signed between the U.S. government

Despite his victories in the March primaries, Joe Biden finds himself often regarded as one of the least-inspiring Democratic candidates by the younger participants of the progressive voter base.

Biden lost badly among young people to candidate Bernie Sanders, who gained a fan base with his proposed “Medicare for All.” Currently, Sanders would need to win more than 60 percent of the remaining delegates in order to still obtain the nomination.

On March 11, the day after Biden beat Sanders in five out of six states, Biden’s campaign spoke with staffers from liberal think tank Data for Progress regarding climate change policy.

The group shared a memo with Biden’s aides that recommended he adopt Jay Inslee’s clean energy standards and proposal to end fossil fuel subsidies, among other climate-related issues.

“The dirty little secret is everyone’s talking to Biden’s campaign,” said Sean McElwee, co-founder of Data for Progress. “There will be fights, but at the end of the day, progressives still hold votes in the Senate and increasingly Democratic voters stand behind our views. I expect we’ll see Biden embracing key planks of the

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The Week In News ambitious agenda progressives have outlined on issues like climate and pharmaceutical policy.”

Biden’s team has formed an internal working group designed to better outreach to progressives, with a timeline of engagement for the coming weeks.

“Young people are an important constituency in the Democratic Party,” noted a Biden advisor, “and we are committed to earning their vote.”

Biden held a “happy hour” virtual roundtable last week to engage young Americans, and in an op-ed published in Crooked Media, he addressed fears regarding the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

Recently, he has also backed proposals from Sanders and Elizabeth Warren regarding student debt and free college, respectively. Other progressives have reported that they see room to mold Biden’s policies regarding gun control, climate change, and immigration.

the driver’s seat. A man sitting in the passenger seat was steering and pushing the gas pedal for the canine.

The pursuit ended after police deployed spike strips and arrested 51-year-old Alberto Tito Alejandro, who was booked on multiple felonies including driving under the influence of drugs.

“When we took him into custody... he admitted to our troopers that he was trying to teach his dog to drive,” state trooper Heather Axtman said.

“I’ve been a trooper for almost 10 years and I’ve had a lot of excuses when I’ve arrested people or pulled people over, but I’ve never had an excuse that the dog was driving,” she added, laughing.

Axtman said the female pit bull, which was not aggressive toward the arresting officers, had been placed in an animal shelter.

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Dog Driver If you thought that the car in front of you was being a bit erratic, blame it on the dogs.

On Sunday, a resident of Washington State was arrested following a high-speed chase after police heard that a car had hit two vehicles and then sped away. Onlookers told police that the car was being driven erratically at more than 100 miles an hour.

As officers gave chase, they got close to the vehicle – a 1996 Buick – and were shocked to see a pit bull in

After the final buzzer of Kobe Bryant’s last-ever game in which he scored 60 points, Kobe delivered his “Mamba Out” speech to the crowd at Staples Center, during which he had a towel draped over his shoulders. As he walked off the court, a fan snatched the towel.

The piece of cloth, which originally sold at a 2016 auction for $8,365, was put up for auction again last week. This time – months after basketball great’s death in a helicopter crash – the towel fetched $33,077.16.

The winning bidder, David Kohler, is an avid Lakers collector who is known for having the largest collection of Lakers memorabilia in the

world. Earlier this month, Kohler paid nearly $30,000 for a middle school yearbook that was signed by Bryant.

“In a few years you probably will be dunking on me – Not!! How about those Lakers. Your friend, Kobe Bryant,” reads the inscription in the 1992 yearbook.

Dating in a Bubble

When Jeremy Cohen – who was adhering to the CDC’s self-quarantine guidelines — looked out of his Brooklyn apartment last week, he saw a young lady dancing on a rooftop and thought she would be a good match for him. Screaming out to her from his porch was not a viable option. So the ingenious young man got out his drone, jotted down his number, and piloted his drone over to her. His plan worked – the woman texted him and the two agreed to go on a date.

But how to date while adhering to the CDC’s social distancing guidelines? Well, Cohen had a plan for that as well. Cohen set up a table for two on his porch, and the young lady, named “Tori,” sat at a table for two on her own rooftop. They each had a bottle of wine and Face-timed. In other words, it was two tables-for-two.

Of course, both of these events were recorded by Cohen and garnered millions of hits on social media.

It is the next step, though, that has people wondering whether this whole thing was staged, despite Cohen’s insistence that it is not.

Last weekend, Cohen shared a video of himself leaving his apartment, getting into a plastic bubble, inflating it, and walking over to meet Tori in front of her building. The two then took a walk throughout the neighbor-

hood.

“Just because we have to social distance doesn’t mean we have to be socially distant,” Cohen said via onscreen message in the video, which also featured clips of Cohen and Tori wandering the streets while separated by a thin layer of plastic.

Although it would certainly be understandable if Tori thinks that Cohen is a bit wrapped up in his own bubble, she has agreed to go out again. Cohen posted that he is considering what their next social distancing-compliant date will be.

Facetime anyone?

When Life Hands You Onions, Make Onion Rings

English couple Laura Acton, 25, and Adam Woods,32, had been planning their wedding for over two years.

The big day was going to be on March 22. Unfortunately, their wedding was cancelled one day before the big event.

Heading out on a trip together, the two of them stopped off for lunch.

“We hadn’t eaten anything since Friday night because we were so sick, so we stopped off at Burger King on the way to Liverpool,” Laura said.

“Adam ordered some onion rings and when he came back to the car, he told me to put them on – and said we can still exchange rings. You just had to laugh.

“Seeing as we couldn’t exchange wedding rings, we exchanged onion rings.”

I bet that was the first time somebody was ever asked if they wanted ketchup with their wedding ring.

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Torah Thought

Pulling Ourselves Out of the Mud

By Rabbi Zvi Teichman

We find ourselves currently subjected to new sorts of enslavement, struggling to provide for our families’ emotional, financial and physical health. The enemy may be different but the challenge for survival remains the same.

Surely we cannot compare the torture they faced to our predicament, nevertheless it is still a formidable task, and we must draw strength from our ancestors fortitude that buoyed them through those difficulties until they were freed.

What was the secret of their survival that prevented them from sinking into the mud?

During the retelling of the story of our exodus from Egypt we recount the harrowing years of slavery at the hands of the evil Pharaoh and his taskmasters.

The back-breaking work activities we were subjected to are enumerated throughout the Midrash and various commentaries. There it describes the full array of mindless, painful and difficult tasks we were forced to do in an effort to diminish our collective body and spirit.

Yet of all the possibilities, the Torah reports specifically of only one: They embittered their lives with hard work, ‫בחמר ובלבנים‬, with mortar and with bricks... )‫(שמות א יד‬ The Midrash )‫ (שמות רבה א כז‬reports that the, ‫מלאכת הטיט‬, the labor of mud and clay, is indeed the most difficult of all work. What is unique to this job that makes it so difficult?

Of all the symbolic mitzvos we do on the night of Pesach, from the eating of matzah that commemorates freedom, to the consumption of Marror remembering the bitter servitude, there is one item we use which reminds us of the painful and laborious

creating of mortar and bricks. The dipping of Marror in Charoses which is ‫זכר לטיט‬, memorializing the mud. (.‫(פסחים קטז‬ The Talmud states that not only must we make the Charoses thick to resemble mud, but we should also add spices (such as cinnamon) to resemble the ‫תבן‬, straw, that was thrown in to the mortar to fortify the clay bricks.

Additionally, the Gemara continues, we should add something sour, ‫זכר לתפוח‬, reminiscent of an “apple”, to mark that which is referred to in Shir HaShirim, )‫(שה"ש ח ה‬, Under the ‫תפוח‬, the apple tree I awakened you... there was she in labor and brought you forth.

This verse pertains to the tradition that the women in Egypt aroused their dejected husbands to family life under the apple tree, and dauntingly birthed their children there, far away from the snooping eyes of the Egyptian troops.

Thus, our custom to add apples to the mixture of Charoses.

Why is this relevant to the ‘mud’ mixture of Charoses specifically?

In Pirkei deRebbe Eliezer ‫(פרדר"א‬ )‫ מח‬we find a remarkable convergence of these two ideas: ...they would trample the straw together with their donkeys,wives, sons and daughters and the straw of the desert would penetrate their soles causing blood to mix into the mortar and Rochel the granddaughter of Shuselach was pregnant about to give birth and was assisting her husband in treading on the clay as the fetus suddenly exited from her womb and mixed into the brick mould and her cries rose to the heavenly throne when the angel Michoel descended and brought the brick before the throne and that night Hashem smote the firstborn and revealed himself...

It seems that the fulfillment of

the famous saying; in the merit of the righteous women we left Egypt, was affected amidst the clay mixture of ‫טיט‬, mud!

It was this courageous woman who epitomized what Shlomo HaMelech so poignantly described in his Song of Songs. Is it then any wonder why we integrate these two events in the Charoses?

What is the deeper significance of memorializing these episodes particularly though?

The difficult slavery we endured was certainly varied. But in this detail of brick making lies something especially perverse. In establishing a system of quotas for each individual as the Torah specifies ( see chapter 5, verses 7-19), it created a competitive atmosphere that prodded them to achieve their goals by devising creative means of productivity enabling them to survive by quashing the competition. In their desperation to relieve themselves of the weight of their respective assignments they developed into a cutthroat rat race of survival of the fittest. Their lives became intensely bitter. In their pursuit of their goals they lost sight of their own true essence and personal values.

It was the women who never lost focus of their roles. Accepting the dangers of childbirth under such taxing conditions and unwilling to descend to the level of forfeiting children for a more immediate goal.

They kept their spouses on track, never allowing them to slip into the bitter pit of cut throat competition.

The reference to ‫חומר ולבנים‬, brick and mortar, appear first in the Torah in the ‫דור הפלגה‬, the generation of the dispersion. In their ‘noble’ goal of conquering nature and shackling it to their needs they declare: Come let us make ‫לבנים‬, bricks, and the brick served them as stone, ‫והחמר‬, and the bitumen served as mortar. )‫(בראשית יא ג‬

They intended to diminish the rights of the individual for the sake of the greater community, by building a tower that will unite their skills and energies in overcoming the effects of the divine plan. They failed miserably, as Hashem proved His ability to confound their intentions.

When the value of a ‘brick’ was greater than the worth of a human, that is when society must be disrupted.

The generation in Egypt are to overcome the same challenge but from a different angle. Will the individual rise in his blind quest for survival and diminish his own self-worth and that of his ‘competitor’ at all costs, in that process or not?

It was the women who kept our moral compass intact. It was their constant awareness of our greater purpose and the confidence that Hashem will provide, despite the odds, that remains forever their legacy in the Jewish home.

During these trying times we must remain focused on others around us.

We must avoid the instinct to hoard at the expense of others, or to jeopardize the safety of others merely to preserve our own selfish comforts and ‘needs’.

The world is quickly learning that material success is fleeting; our health should never be taken for granted; the greatest value in life is appreciating life itself and being attuned to the welfare of others, because without that we are all doomed.

May we never sink in the mud of illusory and misdirected goals that endanger our very purpose in life.

In that merit may we see many generations stemming from us that will increase the glory and honor of Hashem and his will as expressed so exquisitely in the brilliant lessons of our beloved Torah.

May we merit a Chag Kasher V’Someach, and lead the way back to our eternal home soon.

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Nissan 25

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Nissan 19

Nissan 12

Nissan 5

Monday

see page 41

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Nissan 26

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May Tuesday Nissan 6

Nissan 13

Nissan 20

Nissan 27

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PESACH VI CH’M

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1

8

Nissan 28

after 8:26 PM

P E SACH VII

Nissan 21

7:19 PM

Nissan 14

Nissan 7

Wednesday

15

22

2

Friday Nissan 9

7:14 PM

Nissan 16 PE SACH II

7:21 PM

Nissan 23

7:28PM

Iyar 1

11

Saturday

Nissan 10

8:16 PM

Nissan 17

8:44 PM

Iyar 9

8:37 PM

Iyar 2

8:30 PM

Nissan 24

8:23 PM

PESACH III C H’M

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25

2

D-1 9

Iyar 8

7:35 PM

C OV I

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Community Calendar

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17

10

3

Nissan/Iyar 5780

Thursday Nissan 8

Nissan 15

Nissan 22

after 8:20 PM

PE SACH I

see page 41

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16

Nissan 29

8:28 PM

P E SAC H VI I I

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U E TO L E D D Next BJH HEDU Issue RESC EEN Iyar 7 1 Iyar 5 29 Iyar 6 30 27 S HIyarA4V E28B T

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Turning Point A Perspective On Pesach

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APRIL 2, 2020

By Michelle Mond

It is highly ironic how things change as we get older. The experience of the paradigm shift when our outlook on things so routine manages to turn over on their head. It is that moment we realize that the FedEx logo which we’ve all seen a million times actually has an embedded hidden arrow. It is the moment we realize that the little shiny button in your junk drawer is not actually a button but part of a pure gold pendant you never knew existed. We all have these moments, which change our outlook on an item or occurrence forever.

Last Pesach I thought I had my turning point. Unlike many of my married friends who camp out at their parents’, we have been making our own Pesach for 11 years. The thing with Pesach though is, the days leading up to it are always a dread. We can’t even enjoy Purim because all I can think of is, The Day After Purim.

Since, as we all know, the day after Purim begins the four week countdown until Pesach.

What happens the day after Purim is extraordinary, and I can almost predict what will happen ahead of time.

Walking into the grocery store the day after Purim you are surprisingly no longer blinded by the shiny cellophane wrapped wafers that have been donning the store’s entrance for the past few weeks. You are now blinded by other products such as mile-high piled boxes of matzoh. You walk past the front of the store and see Bragging Breindy in aisle two browsing the array of Pesach baked goods. After some brief chit chat she starts talking to you about potatoes. Ah the dreaded yet infamous potato conversation you simply can not escape.

“How are you making your potatoes this year?” She asks.

“How am I making my potatoes?”

I ask, out loud. To no one.

I hallucinate about potatoes. She elaborates about how to make the most delicious Pesachdik deli-roll out of potatoes. I make a casual excuse and make a beeline for the cereal aisle because I will be safe there. Anyone

who already finished Pesach cleaning and started cooking would not be shopping for cereal, I assuage my fears. That is the moment I see Machmir Mindy, if we had not locked eyes at that moment I would have backed up slowly and gone to Aisle one instead. She loves discussing the latest chumros like kosher-for-pesach linen and lightbulbs.

We all know, at the end of the day it gets done. Why must it turn into such a fierce competition early on?

This year rolled around and as Purim approached I thought I had the situation all figured out. I would be calm and collected. But as the adage goes, “Man plans G-d laughs”. Little did I know that the world was about to change. Terms like quarantine, corona, and tissue shortages were compartmentalized under the folder in my brain labeled, “Apocolypse”.

And yet, here we are. This is now reality. Homes around the world are packed with children of all ages, practicing social distancing from neighbors. Frum moms around the world have been quickly thrown into the roles of teacher as well.

Our scales are going up as our tolerance goes down. Our laundry piles are growing at lightning speed. Those

who are usually scrambling to buy the matching tights and for all new outfits are thinking of their families basic health. Who has time to think about tights, let alone matchy patchy ones.

The programs that put down payments on endless amenities now have to close up shop leaving them vulnerable. Sedarim will be small family gatherings. Some elderly will be having their sedarim at home for the first time in decades. We must think about our elderly relatives, who will need help setting up sedarim of their own if they do not have family in town.

And now, my dear readers I must confess. I miss you all terribly, every single one of you. I miss the Bragging Breindys & the Machmir Mindys. I miss the potato conversations because they were back in the days when we did not have to stand six feet apart. I miss the excitement in the air when we start seeing matzos piled up, even if it makes our hearts thump faster.

This is one of those years where I think I have finally had a real, meaningful turning point. Yidden throughout the world, are yearning for the rush. No, I do not mean the rush of zig-zagging through the store to buy the most extravagant ingredients. Nor do I mean the rush of packing suitcas-

es with just enough matchy outfits for the entire Y’T. This year we stand six feet apart but couldn’t be closer together. We yearn to sit together with family at a meaningful seder table, even if it is just with the basics. It would be enough if we did not go away, get any new clothes, or buy any fancy ingredients at all. If we were only able to go to Shul and daven together b’yichidus it would be enough.

We are davening to be able to stand in long lines at grocery stores, not buying toilet paper, in unison because that would mean there would no longer be a health risk. We are now davening to have the opportunity to have quiet at home to clean, because that would mean our situation would be safe for our children to be in school. This year Hashem showed me what a real turning point and shift in perspective is.

This is a lesson that I will never forget.

And most importantly, memories of this year will leave us all yearning for the days of old, and appreciate going back to the basics. We will remember just one year ago, when getting ready for Pesach was in retrospect actually considered quite peaceful, easy and beautiful. Chag Kasher V’sameach.

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Engaging Your Children in the Pesach Seder

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42

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Can This Year Be Different?

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

By Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman

A

s parents and grandparents, we all look forward to the Seder each year and anticipate the opportunity to transmit our mesorah and essential Jewish values to our children and grandchildren, along with memories they will cherish forever. Somehow, what we envision is usually a far cry from the reality – sullen teenagers who’ve retreated to the couch, crying toddlers, spilled grape juice, fights over who found the Afikoman, and broken matzah everywhere. As heads of households, we often find ourselves standing alone in our kittels at an empty table, perplexed at the turn of events.

There’s still time to rewrite the script for this year. As with anything else that’s worthwhile in life, a little

planning and preparation will go a long way. There is no right way to engage children at the Seder. What’s important is to adapt each Seder to meet the needs of the particular children who will be in attendance.

The goal of transmitting heritage and history to children is lofty and large. The way to do it is to make them feel connected and positive. If they have a good experience at their own Seder, they’ll feel connected to their families and be able to listen to the loftier messages and ultimately, feel connected to Klal Yisrael.

The story of the Jews in Egypt took place thousands of years ago, and young children typically have no concept of time. How can you make it real for them? Unlike other holidays, there are lots of objects and symbols at the Seder, and our job is to show the children why this is different and how it relates to

them. Pick what speaks to you and, more importantly, select what you think will speak to your children.

Here are some concrete tips to arouse your children’s interest and capture their attention: 1. Dress up for the Seder.

If you have very young children, wearing clothing that approximates the type of garb worn in Egypt can help set the stage. Try a kaffiyeh or robe or do some online research on the exact clothes worn in that time period. Your outfit will spark questions from the children regarding why you are dressed that way and a discussion will ensue.

2. Make the Afikoman exciting. Hiding the Afikoman is a time-honored tradition in every Jewish home, but you can kick it up a notch by creating a treasure hunt with clues along the way. The clues could be related to Pesach

facts and information so they will be educational for your children. Offer rewards or treats for those who decode any of the clues.

3. Use visual aids in the form of frogs and other “makkos” toys that you find in the Judaica store or order online as you’ll need to do this year. Keep them on the table the whole time and refer to them as needed throughout the evening.

Find other dramatic and unusual objects that will engage children throughout the night.

4. Involve the important people in your family’s life. Ask grandparents what their Seder was like growing up and see if they will share memories of their own parents to give your kids a sense of history. You can also ask what freedom means to them and what message they want to share with the grandchildren. This year, when so many

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a relationship with and let them know in advance that it is their role to encourage the child to ask questions. Adults should be tuned in to the children seated next to them, notice when they seem ready to speak, and encourage them to share their thoughts with the whole family.

You can take any or all of the above tips and incorporate into your Seder, but the most important advice is to do what you think will be fun and what will make for warm and positive memories for your family. Remember that attention span often aligns with chronological age, so a five-year-old has a five-minute attention span and so on. During the limited time that our children are focused on the Seder proceedings, our job is to fan the flames of their curiosity and not to extinguish it.

A final thought about the Seder that I wanted to share relates to the four sons mentioned in the haggadah. Chazal understood, long before

modern psychology, that children come in varying types, personalities, and abilities, and yet, they must all have a seat at the table. We have an obligation to respond to each of them with customized answers that speak to them individually, not with pat responses. As parents, we must reach out to them to come to the Seder and show them we are prepared to answer their questions, regardless of their talents. Some are geniuses, some are physically, intellectually, or emotionally disabled and some can’t read, but they should all be welcome. Each one has a place at the Seder and a way he or she can contribute to the family and to Klal Yisrael.

Here’s to your meaningful, fun, and engaging Seder!

APRIL 2, 2020

expresses the theme of Pesach.

7. Let older children lead.

They can work with younger children to produce a skit or song that will be unveiled at the Seder. There is a great opportunity to foster creativity and let our children express talents they don’t always have a chance to use in school.

8. Consider doing a mini pre-Seder for the youngest children who can’t stay up all night but who will want to share what they learned in preschool and say the Mah Nishtana.

9. Ask children in advance what the concept of freedom means to them and have them write their thoughts down and bring to the Seder. Ask them to relate it to their personal life and to the mission of the Jewish people in the world. You can go around the table at the Seder and discuss everyone’s insights.

10. Be strategic about where you seat people at the Seder. Seat adults next to the children they have

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grandparents will not be present at the Seder, consider calling or Zooming with them in advance to record their answers and then share them for discussion at the Seder. Or have the children ask their own questions of grandparents on the Zoom call.

5. Involve your key audience. Ask children in advance what they would like to see at the Seder, what would make the evening special for them. Ask if there are specific topics they want to discuss, portions of the haggadah they would like to focus on or games they would like to play.

6. Ignite creativity. Offer opportunities for participation beyond the intellectual. Not every child is academically gifted, but every child has a unique talent that he or she can bring to the table. Ask children to prepare something for the Seder and let them know it could be a song that reflects freedom, a painting they drew about Yetziyat Mitzrayim, a dance or even a Lego creation that

Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman is a psychologist and chair of the Jewish Childhood Education and Special Education programs at the Touro College Graduate School of Education.

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WHEN THE LUBAVITCHER REBBE

SELF-QUARANTINED FOR THE SEDER

By Rabbi Pini Dunner

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

O

ne of the issues that has been coming up again and again in the past week during phone calls I have been having with my community, and with others from further afield, is the fact that people will be on their own for the Seder this year, or their Seder will be drastically reduced in numbers, with children or parents elsewhere, all isolated in the midst of the current coronavirus social-distancing self-quarantine situation which is so important to prevent the spread of the disease.

Some people will literally be by themselves, solitary, with no one to do the Seder with at all.

“How can we do Seder by ourselves?” they ask me. “Doesn’t the Pesach Seder need to be done with family and guests?”

I have thought about this a lot, and would like to address everyone’s concerns by sharing an extraordinary conversation with you that I had about eighteen months ago.

I

just happened to be in New York at the time, and a friend of mine messaged me that his daughter had

become engaged. I texted him back that I was around and would be able to attend the engagement party, and that night I drove to Monsey to celebrate the simcha.

While I was at the party, I bumped into a friend of mine, Rabbi YY Jacobson, a well-known inspirational speaker on the East Coast. I knew that Rabbi Jacobson grew up on Montgomery Street in Crown Heights, in the heart of the Chabad community, just a few blocks away from the home of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe.

There is an aspect of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe’s life that I feel is often overlooked, and we got to talking about it.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe was incredibly down-to-earth, and, together with his late wife Rebbetzen Chaya Mushka, the Rebbe led a very simple life. Indeed, as hard as it may be to believe, their life together was very private.

Rabbi Jacobson often tells stories about the Rebbe when he speaks to audiences, so I asked him if he ever focuses on this particular aspect of the Rebbe’s greatness. Namely that the Lubavitcher Rebbe had no airs and graces at all, nor was he interested in

the pomp and ceremony that is often the hallmark of other Hasidic leaders and “courts.”

“For example,” I asked Rabbi Jacobson, “do you ever tell audiences that in their sixty years of marriage, the Rebbe and his wife ate every Shabbos meal together on their own? No guests, no attendants, no public spectacle… just a married couple eating together – bringing the food in, eating, clearing the table, doing the washing up. A man who had literally tens of thousands of people at his beck-and-call! What a powerful lesson!”

Rabbi Jacobson paused for a moment, and then he smiled. “I’ve got one better for you,” he said. “A few weeks ago, I led a workshop for single mothers, and at the end of the session, I took questions from the women and encouraged them to ask any question that was on their mind. One of the ladies put her hand up, and this is what she asked me… it’s a crazy story.”

“A few months ago,” she said, “it was Pesach. The thing is, my ex-husband and I went through a very difficult breakup. After years in court over our kids, we finally settled on a shared

custody arrangement, which means that we alternate Jewish holidays.

This past Pesach it was my turn – my children were coming to me for Seder, and I was so excited. I changed over my home for Pesach and prepared everything beautifully; it was going to be just me and the kids.”

“I was so happy about them being with me that I told everyone: my family, my friends, my neighbors. Then, one hour before yom tov, I got a phone call from my ex – for some reason, the kids were not going to be coming. I almost fainted from shock and heartache. I was also so ashamed. I guess I could have called my parents, or I could have called my neighbors – and gone to them for the Seder. But how could I actually do that? I had told everyone my kids were coming! Truth is, I did not have the energy to even be with anyone. I felt completely and totally numb – dry and lifeless.”

“So I did the Seder by myself. On my own. It was the worst and most bitter Seder I have ever had. I just sat there crying the whole way through.

Weeping. It wasn’t Pesach. It was Tisha B’Av. I did not have to eat marror.

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“A few of us yeshiva boys did not go home that night; we waited outside in the street – and after a couple of hours, the Rebbe opened the door to welcome Eliyahu Hanavi and recite Shefoch Chamascha. He walked outside holding a candle and

O

ver the past couple of weeks, as the coronavirus crisis has unfolded across the world, and the reality of our isolated situations has become ever more evident – this incredible and very moving story about the Lubavitcher Rebbe has been

at the forefront of my mind.

This year, so many people – probably more people than at any other time in Jewish history – will be having the Seder on their own or without their families. All of our Seders will be

With many thanks to Rabbi YY Jacobson, who was kind enough to check through a draft of this article to ensure accuracy; wishing a refuah sheleima to Rabbi Leibel Groner, and also to Ari Halberstam’s sister who needs a refuah from the coronavirus – may Ari’s concern for the Rebbe that Pesach in 1988 be a zechus for her speedy recovery (Chanie Apfelbaum aka Busy In Brooklyn).

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his Haggadah, said the prayer, gave us a wave, and then went back inside to finish the Seder – by himself.”

“My dear lady,” said Rabbi Jacobson, “if it was good enough for the Lubavitcher Rebbe to have the Seder on his own, trust me, your Seder was perfect!”

“He could have had his Seder with 100 people, 1,000 people, or 10,000 people. He personally arranged for all the army Seders in Israel to be sponsored. He was responsible for hundreds of thousands of people celebrating Pesach on Seder night, from Kathmandu to Alaska, from San Francisco to New Zealand. But at the end of the day, he went and did the Seder on his own. He didn’t need anyone else to be close to G-d. He didn’t need adulation. He didn’t need validation. He sat alone and relived the Exodus from Egypt.”

“I was only 15 at the time,” concluded Rabbi Jacobson, “but despite my youth, I felt sad that the Rebbe had nobody to be with for the Seder.

Why did he not invite even one person to be with him? But today, after hearing your story, I may have discovered the answer—and it is just a personal feeling. As a true Jewish leader, the Rebbe wished to empower all those souls who would ever need to do their Seder alone. He wanted them to know that their solitary Passover Seder was powerful, meaningful, and real. Jewish history and the Divine presence would dwell at their Seder just as it does at a Seder that has many people there.”

Rabbi Pini Dunner is the senior rabbi of Beverly Hills Synagogue in California.

APRIL 2, 2020

“He walked outside holding a candle and his Haggadah, said the prayer, gave us a wave, and then went back inside to finish the Seder — by himself.”

diminished, and anxiety will be hovering in the air. And all of us will be thinking to ourselves: is this really a proper Seder?

I think Rabbi Jacobson’s story about the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1988 answers that question, and it eases any doubts we may have about our impending “depleted” experience. After all, “if it was good enough for the Lubavitcher Rebbe to have the Seder on his own, trust me, your Seder is going to be just perfect!”

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I – my entire life! – was marror. Yes, I went through the Haggadah and ate the matzah but the entire Seder took me 25 minutes.”

“Rabbi Jacobson, did I do the right thing? Did I fulfil my Seder obligation?

Was it even called a Seder? Because it did not feel like a proper Pesach.”

Rabbi Jacobson told me – and believe me, as a public speaker, I know exactly what he means – sometimes your most inspirational moments in a speech are not prepared. They are a gift from G-d. You can prepare for hours. And then inspiration drops into your lap. Right then and there, Rabbi YY Jacobson had such a moment.

“Lady,” he said, “in 1988 the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s wife died, and he was left on his own, as they sadly had no children. She passed away in February, and two months later was Pesach. Every year, the Rebbe and his Rebbetzen had Seder together, but this year he was on his own, totally by himself. Who would the Rebbe conduct the Passover Seder with?”

“I recall that a young boy, Ari Halberstam -- who was later tragically gunned down on Brooklyn Bridge, in 1994 –approached the Rebbe after Maariv on the first night of Pesach and, on behalf of his mother, invited the Rebbe to his home for Seder. Ari’s family lived at 706 Eastern Parkway, just one block away from 770. The Rebbe smiled at Ari, and shook his head.

He thanked him profusely, but told Ari he would be having the Seder in his private office in 770.”

“I was a yeshiva student at the time,” continued Rabbi Jacobson, “so I am a firsthand witness to this story.

In fact, the Rebbe’s longstanding assistant Rabbi Leibel Groner offered to stay with the Rebbe, but the Rebbe sent him home to have Seder with his wife and children.”

“And so, the great Lubavitcher Rebbe – the man who inspired countless people around the world for their Seders, who personally undertook to provide a meaningful Pesach Seder for Israeli Army personnel who were on duty on the first night of Pesach via his shluchim in Eretz Yisrael – had the Seder on his own. Not one other person was present. As the Talmud says: if you are on your own, you ask yourself the ‘Ma Nishtana’ questions, and then you answer them to yourself.”

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APRIL 2, 2020

I Master Storyteller

Rabbi Yitzy E rps B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

on the Art of

Storytelling

By Malky Lowinger

f you grew up on the classic children’s CD called “Yanky at the Pesach Seder With Zeyde,” then chances are you are already a huge fan of the multi-talented master storyteller Rabbi Yitzy Erps.

Rabbi Erps has enchanted and entertained three generations of Jewish children with his incredible voices, his simple yet clever stories, his meaningful lessons, and his humorous characters. Brilliant yet unpretentious, educational yet entertaining, his work is in a class of its own.

Unfortunately, lots of kids will not have the opportunity to join Zeyde at the Pesach Seder this year, which makes this production more relevant than ever. So it may be a good idea to dust off an old copy and play it for your children just for fun.

I

ntrigued by the Yanky story and

by Rabbi Erps’ unique talents, we spoke to him about his career and garnered some good advice about how to be a spellbinding storyteller. Even during a routine interview, Rabbi Erps answers questions by utilizing his wide range of voiceovers, from silly to scary to sophisticated.

It’s like interviewing the entire cast of a feature Disney production.

But Rabbi Erps is just one person who has the ability to transform his voice into countless characterizations, leaving his listeners riveted.

When did he discover that he had this totally random and unusual talent?

“I started discovering this,” he says, “when I was nine years old.”

Nine??

“Believe it or not,” he says, “I was extremely shy when I was young.

Like really shy. But I broke through my shyness with my characters. I use a special technique called method acting, and I literally become the character when I do its voice. So if the character isn’t shy, then I’m not shy.”

Eventually, Rabbi Erps realized that changing his voice is a talent that is uniquely his own. “When you’re young, you think everyone can do it,” he says. “Later, you realize that it’s something unique to you.” Rabbi Erps insists that he

never trained for this, it just came naturally to him.

And his talents as a storyteller were put to good use early on. In the early 1960s, Rabbi Erps was appointed as a Pirchei leader in Boro Park. In those days, Rabbi Shmuel Kunda, z”l, and Rocky Zweig, z”l, were both master storytellers on the Pirchei circuit. And while they were each super talented in their own way, young Yitzy Erps learned from them both as he also developed his own personal style.

“I tried to incorporate the exciting movements of Rocky and the shtick of R’ Shmuel, while using my own voices,” he says. “I eventually developed my own shtick and added in some acrobatics. Kids loved it.”

Eventually, Yitzy Erps was asked to tell stories at mass Pirchei rallies.

Former Pirchei director, the legendary Rabbi Josh Silbermintz, z”l, was so impressed that he asked Yitzy to utilize his talents to entertain patients at local hospitals. Later, he joined the team at 613 Torah Avenue and did the artwork and narrations for 613 Torah Avenue Volume 3, Vayikra.

If Rabbi Erps learned from the great storytellers of a previous generation, he is also considered a mentor for the next generation of popular storytellers including Rabbi Fishel Schachter, Rabbi Yoel Ferber, and his own son, Rabbi Mayer Erps. In fact, Rabbis Erps and Schechter successfully collaborated together on the WonderWorks telephone hotline for kids sponsored by the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation.

So how does he do it?

“Basically,” says Rabbi Erps, “I’m blessed with a lot of voices, I don’t even know how many. Hashem just sends me different voices and different accents. Not only that, but I can also take a voice and change the level of the pitch to create a whole different character. So, the possibilities are endless.”

How To Tell a Story

Many families will be home for Pesach this year and making their own Seder for the first time. The mitzvah of V’higadetah L’bincha is an integral part of the Pesach Seder.

But how to tell the story when your

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story has to have a happy ending.”

Finally, he adds, have no fear.

You can do it. You really can.

An Offer He Couldn’t Refuse …

But He Did

Storytelling is just one of Rabbi Erps’ talents. He is also a master of martial arts. “I’ve been practicing this for forty-nine years,” he says.

Aside for its many mental and physical benefits, Rabbi Erps’ expertise in karate turned into an opportunity. He was called by the director of Camp Romimu some years ago to break out color war by doing a karate demonstration. One thing led to another, and about a year later, he was approached by chassidishe camp directors to perform some of his incredible feats for their campers without wearing the karate gear and without demonstrating actual karate moves except for feats of strength.

“Martial arts requires internal power and mind control,” he explains. “We put together a show where I do feats of strength that these kids never saw before. Thus my show, Koach Foon Dem Moach, was born.”

“Koach foon dem moach” literally means “power from the brain.” During his performance, Rabbi Erps breaks wood and bricks, has wood broken over him, and more. The show is interactive. One of the best parts is when Rabbi Erps stands a certain way; ten or sixteen kids can’t push him over despite their best attempts. Then he stands on one foot and asks one or two adults to push him.

Invariably, they usually can’t.

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APRIL 2, 2020

Rabbi Erps clearly enjoys his chosen career and nothing makes him happier than entertaining and educating young children. But things could have turned out differently for him. He tells a personal story about a nisayon that could have dramatically changed the trajectory of his life.

Many years ago, Rabbi Erps was hired to tell a story at a kiruv program in North Carolina. He did his usual voiceovers, and the crowd was spellbound. “When the show was over,” says Rabbi Erps, “a man came on stage and told me he was amazed at my performance. He said I must’ve practiced for hours. I told him I didn’t. He asked how it’s possible that I don’t confuse my voices.

I explained that this is G-d’s gift to me.”

As it turned out, that man was director of Animation at a large production company in Charlotte. “He introduced himself and then offered me a job on the spot. Just like that, he offered me a six-figure income.”

Rabbi Erps was flattered, but he explained that his family lived in Brooklyn, not exactly North Carolina. The man refused to back down.

“He offered to move my family south and to buy me a house. He told me he has seasoned professionals working for him who cannot do what I do, and he wants me on board. But I told him that I prefer to use my talents for Jewish audiences.”

So the man handed his business card to Rabbi Erps and urged him to reconsider and give him a call.

“When he was out of sight,” says Rabbi Erps, “I ripped it up. I didn’t even look at his name. I just didn’t want to have the nisayon.”

It’s been years since that encounter, and Rabbi Erps has never regretted his decision.

“Look,” he says. “I may not be a millionaire, but I make children happy and I help them learn Jewish values at the same time. So, in a sense, I suppose you can say that I am a millionaire.”

Koach Foon Dem Moach

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kids are either bickering or bored?

We asked Rabbi Erps for a few pointers. And while most of us clearly aren’t blessed with his singular talents, there are some basic guidelines that he suggests.

“When you tell a story in third person, the kids are bored. You need to become the character,” he asserts.

“You need to act out the stories and change the pitch or tone of your voice to reflect different characters. Yes, it’s a performance. And you’re the star of the show.”

Which brings us to Rabbi Erps’ number one rule: “Don’t be afraid to be a storyteller.” Parents and mechanchim may think it’s below their dignity to do funny voices and shtick to engage the children. It’s not. “Get over it,” says Rabbi Erps.

“Lower your ego for a few minutes.

Become a kid at heart. They’ll love you for it!”

Rabbi Erps also recommends walking around while speaking, moving your hands, and using gestures. Actions will keep your audience interested. Maintain eye contact at all times, and don’t pause or hesitate. “Don’t speak to fast or too slow, but talk at a pace that will make it easy for them to listen.”

When telling stories to young children, Rabbi Erps recommends choosing a protagonist that kids will identify with who’s not necessarily a super tzaddik.

“Make the character human,” he says. He himself often uses a character named Yossi when telling stories, and the kids really respond to him.

“Yossi is mischievous. He interrupts me sometimes. He can be annoying sometimes. But through Yossi kids learn derech eretz and self-control. I use a character who’s not perfect to teach kids important lessons.”

Rabbi Erps also recommends building up a story.

“Capture their interest by embellishing,” he suggests. “Find elements that they can identify with. Yankele walked down the street and saw a bicycle in the store window. He really wanted that bike. That’s how you capture their interest.”

It’s also okay for a character to suffer sometimes or to be overwhelmed, says Rabbi Erps. “That’s real life,” he explains. “But every

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THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

Did You Know?

When three-letter airport codes became standard, airports that had been using two letters simply added an X.

If you start counting at one and spell out the numbers as you go, you won’t use the letter “A” until you reach 1,000.

Rhode Island is the smallest state but has the longest name.

The official name, used on all state documents, is “Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.”

The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

Alaska is the only state that you can type out its name using only one line of a keyboard.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “set” has the most definitions, with 464.

The word “run” runs a distant second, with 396 definitions.

No word in the English language rhymes with month.

Centerfold A normal, relaxed blinking rate is 6-8 blinks per minute, and the eyes are closed for about 1/10th of a second.

The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called “aglets.”

Diet Coke was only invented in 1982.

There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long (eye, hip, arm, leg, ear, toe, jaw, rib, lip, gum).

If you have 3 quarters, 4 dimes, and 4 pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.

Riddle me

this?

You are given a 5-gallon barrel and a 3-gallon barrel. You are told to go to the sink and fill the 5-gallon barrel with 4 gallons of water. You don’t have any measuring devices. What do you do to make sure the 5-gallon barrel has only 4 gallons of water using the items you have?

See answer below

Answer to Riddle Me This: You fill the 5-gallon barrel up and pour it into the 3-gallon barrel. Then dump the 3-gallon barrel out and pour what was left in the 5-gallon barrel into the 3-gallon barrel so that you have 2 gallons in the 3-gallon barrel. Then fill the 5-gallon barrel up and pour it into the 3-gallon barrel to fill it up. Now you have 4 gallons in the 5-gallon barrel.

APRIL 2, 2020

TJH

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

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So you think your IQ is in the top 2% of the population and you belong in the Mensa Society?

Here are 10 sample Mensa questions. See whether you really belong:

 Answers

9 p.m.

3)

CON

2)

25

1)

8) 7) 6) 5)

No 8 DAY

10) 20 9)

Parachute years from now, Jane will be 16 and Sam will be 12

 Wisdom Key 2. Which same three-letter word can be placed in front of the following words to make a new word?

SIGN, DONE, DUCT, FOUND, FIRM, TRACT, DENSE 3. If it were two hours later, it would be half as long until midnight as it would be if it were an hour later. What time is it now?

4. Pear is to apple as potato is to: (a) banana, (b) radish, (c) strawberry, (d) peach, (e) lettuce.

5. The same three-letter word can be placed in front of the following words to make a new word: LIGHT, BREAK, TIME

7.

There are 1,200 elephants in a herd. Some have pink and green stripes, some are all pink, and some are all blue. One third are pure pink. Is it true that 400 elephants are definitely blue?

8. Four years ago, Jane was twice as old as Sam. Four years on from now, Sam will be 3/4 of Jane’s age. How old is Jane now?

9. What is the following word when it is unscrambled: HCPRAATEU 10. If you count from 1 to 100, how many 7’s will you pass on the way?

8-10 correct (in approximately 10 minutes): Genius alert! Umm, check out Mensa...for real.

5-7 correct: You probably won’t make the cut, but you are smart enough for people to believe you if you tell them that you are a member. (Essentially, I am telling you that if you are a liar, this would be a great lie for you to say.)

2-4 correct: Not exactly a genius but you got enough correct that you are free to let your hair grow out in all directions, especially if you have a good bald spot.

0-1 correct: You are the Albert Einstein of our time! You should also see if you can sign up for the Mickey Mouse society; it’s real prestigious.

You gotta be kidding Seymour comes running into shul one night, all out of breath and very excited. “What is happening, Seymour?” asks Yankel.

“Oh, you would never believe it, Yankel,” says Seymour. “I was trying to catch the bus back from work and I missed it. So I chased it to the next stop, and I missed it again. I kept missing it, and before I knew it, I chased it all the way to here.”

Yankel says, “So, why are you so excited?”

Seymour replies, “What do you mean? It’s amazing! I got here and saved the money that I would have had to spend on the bus.”

Yankel shoots back, “You should have chased a taxi. You would have saved a lot more money!”

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

6. If a circle is one, how many is an octagon?

APRIL 2, 2020

4)

12 — 4 years ago Jane was 8, Sam was 4. In 4

How many four-sided figures are in this diagram?

B - Both grow in the ground

1.

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Mensa Quiz

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Life C ach

APRIL 2, 2020

Eee-ke Out a Smile

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By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., MFT, CLC

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

W

hat does humor do?

When you smile and laugh, there are benefits.

“Research has shown that individuals with a deeper sense of happiness possess lower levels of inflammatory gene responses and higher levels of antiviral gene responses.”

“Happy individuals typically possess healthier blood fat profiles, lower blood pressure, and a stronger immune system.”

“Laughter, which often starts with a smile, increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, which improves your resistance to illnesses. That’s right, smiling or laughing activates and relieves your stress response.”

Sure, you could look this up on your own. And you are free to believe it or not. However, try this first: Say, “Uhhhhhhh…” How does that feel?

Now say, “Eeeeeeee!”

You tell me which feels better?!

We are going to enforce those eeeez!

It’s not always eeeezy! You’re not always feeling on an eeeeven keel.

However, whenever possible, eeeeze into a smile.

There are times in our lives when “E” eeeeludes us. And those are the times to take charge of our lips and our voice boxes.

ment! Our moment to say to ourselves: A “E” is what I O U! And even sometimes Y! Because Y (why) no matter what comes at us, ‘reaction’ is what is in our hands (or in this case our lips and voice box!).

I’m really not one to make light of a serious situation. Yet, I know staying in negative or dark thoughts

Whenever possible, eeeeze into a smile.

Sure, it’s simple to smile and laugh when things are just going absolutely great or when you are being physically tickled.

However, at times, it’s not going to come from the outside.

So, that’s our super-vowel mo-

only deepens our downfall.

We all want to do more. Since we can’t get out there and change the world, let’s see what we can do from inside. We all want to hug and be hugged by others more. Yet, we can’t. We are told to keep our hands

even from our own faces.

So, let’s use our lips to do some independent work. We can help eeeeliminate negative thoughts by eeerupting into a smile.

We don’t always get the ABCs of how life works but we can always recite an EEE. Eeeven if you don’t feel you have it in you right now. Try it.

It can help you and it can eeze the fears of others around you.

Tough times pass. Solutions you never imagined crop up. Just the way problems you didn’t forseeee came along, solutions you can’t envision will too!

So, don’t just give me “lip service” and say sure, sure, whatever you say....

For now, try changing from eat, drink, and be merry to: eaaat, eeee, and be merryeee!

Rivki Rosenwald is a certified relationship counselor, and career and life coach. She can be contacted at 917-7052004 or rivki@rosenwalds.com.

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USING HUMOR TO COPE WITH STRESS

APRIL 2, 2020

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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

On The Lighter Si e “Say What?!”

STEVEN WRIGHT

BOB HOPE

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.

It’s so cold here in Washington, D.C., that politicians have their hands in their own pockets.

Borrow money from pessimists – they don’t expect it back.

Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.

Everyone has a photographic memory.

Some just don’t have film.

I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, “Hey, the sign says you’re open 24 hours.” He said, “Yes, but not in a row.”

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

I went to a restaurant that serves “breakfast at any time”. So I ordered French toast during the Renaissance.

I worked in a health food store once. A guy came in and asked me, “If I melt dry ice, can I take a bath without getting wet?”

I wrote a song, but I can’t read music so I don’t know what it is. Every once in a while I’ll be listening to the radio and I say, “I think I might have written that.”

If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving definitely isn’t for you.

One time a cop pulled me over for running a stop sign. He said, “Didn’t you see the stop sign?” I said, “Yeah, but I don’t believe everything I read.”

Following his doctor’s orders, Nikita (Khrushchev) has cut his drinking in half. He’s leaving out the water.

You know, marriage is making a big comeback. I know personally that in Hollywood people are marrying people they never married before.

I have a wonderful make-up crew.

They’re the same people restoring the Statue of Liberty.

RODNEY DANGERFIELD My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met.

I could tell that my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.

I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous – everyone hasn’t met me yet.

I told my dentist my teeth are going yellow. He told me to wear a brown tie.

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

JERRY SEINFELD

People who read the tabloids deserve to be lied to.

Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.

There [are] just two things I’d need to find out everything I want to know about everyone: 1) Let me see them drive; 2) let me hear them talk about marriage … That’s going to tell me exactly your relationship to the world.

I once had a leather jacket that got ruined in the rain. Why does moisture ruin leather?

Aren’t cows outside a lot of the time? When it’s raining, do cows go up to the farmhouse, “Let us in!

We’re all wearing leather! Open the door! We’re going to ruin the whole outfit here!”

I WAS THINKING ABOUT HOW PEOPLE SEEM TO READ THE BIBLE A WHOLE LOT MORE AS THEY GET OLDER; THEN IT DAWNED ON ME – THEY’RE CRAMMING FOR THEIR FINAL EXAM. PEOPLE WHO SAY THEY DON’T CARE WHAT PEOPLE THINK ARE USUALLY DESPERATE TO HAVE PEOPLE THINK THEY DON’T CARE WHAT PEOPLE THINK. HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED THAT ANYBODY DRIVING SLOWER THAN YOU IS AN IDIOT, AND ANYONE GOING FASTER THAN YOU IS A MANIAC? “I AM” IS REPORTEDLY THE SHORTEST SENTENCE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. COULD IT BE THAT “I DO” IS THE LONGEST SENTENCE? I’M DESPERATELY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY KAMIKAZE PILOTS WORE HELMETS. YOU HAVE TO STAY IN SHAPE. MY MOTHER STARTED WALKING FIVE MILES A DAY WHEN SHE WAS 60. SHE’S 97 NOW, AND WE HAVE NO IDEA WHERE SHE IS.

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

I read that the number one fear of the average person is [public] speaking … Number two was death. To me, that means that, to the average person, if you were going to be at a funeral, you would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.

GEORGE CARLIN

APRIL 2, 2020

It’s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper.

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The Swiss have an interesting army. Five hundred years without a war. Pretty impressive. Also pretty lucky for them. Ever see that little Swiss Army knife they have to fight with? Not much of a weapon there. Corkscrews, Bottle openers. Come on, buddy, let’s go. You get past me, the guy in back of me, he’s got a spoon. Back off. I’ve got the toe clippers right here.

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Forgotten Her es

APRIL 2, 2020

Turning the Tide in the Middle East

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By Avi Heiligman

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

T

owards the beginning of the summer of 1942, it seemed like the Axis Powers were unstoppable. The Japanese were making considerable gains in the Pacific and mainland Asia, and the Germans had a strong foothold in Russia. German divisions had also pushed back a Canadian assault at Dieppe, France, that seemed to demoralize Allied troops. German U-boats were conducting a devastating war against Allied shipping in the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, one of the best generals of all time was advancing steadily in North Africa and was pushing towards Cairo, Egypt. General Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps was nearing the Suez Canal, which threatened to stop the flow of vital war materials to the Allies. The Desert Fox, as he was nicknamed, needed to be stopped. In October 1942, an epic battle took place at El Alamein.

The commander of the British Eighth Army was General Claude Auchinleck. Even with the advantage of numbers, he was barely able to stop Rommel. The Allies had suffered recent defeats at Gazala and Mesa Matruh and were backed up further inside Egypt.

The British needed this victory badly as the morale of citizens and soldiers alike was declining rapidly. The top

brass decided to do something to raise their spirits.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Egypt in the summer of 1942 and realized that General Auchinleck was a problem. He was replaced by General Harold Alexander as the commander-in-chief of the Middle East Command and by General William Gott as the commanding officer of the Eighth Army. However, Gott was killed when his plane was attacked by a Messerschmitt and a bullet pierced his heart. His replacement was the controversial General Bernard Law Montgomery (the British loved him but the Americans that served under him did not share in the sentiment). The Eighth Army was truly an international force with troops hailing from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Poland, Greece and the Free French and had air support from the United States.

The Germans now had the advantage of defense and digging in fortified positions. The British would have to face minefields and pre-sighted killing fields in addition to the Afrika Korps and the Luftwaffe (the German air force). However, the German supply chain was overextended, and it would be very hard to get reinforcements.

The Eighth Army received reinforcements and was excited with their new commander Montgomery. They also had the advantage of knowing the German fight plan as intercepted coded signals were decoded by Ultra.

The Germans had no idea that their top-secret plans were being read by Montgomery. Rommel wasn’t present when the British attacked which created another advantage for the Allies.

His temporary replacement was General Georg Stumme while he took sick leave in Italy and Germany.

The battle was a complex strategy of several phases including three days of a standstill. Before the main battle started, the Germans tried to attack the Brits but were repulsed and were forced to defensive positions. Several German Panzer tanks were blown up by mines, and Montgomery planned for the main attack. On the night of October 23, the battle began with an Australian diversion and a heavy artillery barrage.

German minefields proved a problem, and by sunup on the 24th limited gains had been made. Monty (the affectionate nickname for the commander) gave the go-ahead for his crack troops from the New Zealand Division to attack on the northern corridor.

However, Monty ran into problems

and tried to blame them on his tank commander. The Germans, though, had far worse problems. General Stumme had gone forward to see the front lines and while under enemy fire suffered a heart attack and died. Rommel was quickly recalled from sick leave. The next two days saw the two armies in a back-and-forth battle with minor gains on either side. The Germans were down to 300 tanks, while the Brits still had 900 in working order. The air forces fought pitched aerial dogfights.

On October 26, Rommel was back in full command and took stock of his depleted forces and ordered a counterattack. However, his Panzer tanks couldn’t find a soft spot and stalled. The British attacked at night but couldn’t exactly find German positions and suffered many casualties. After several unsuccessful counterattacks by Rommel, he was forced into a defensive battle. This meant that the Germans could easily be forced out of their fortified positions and in the open. It was perfect for a British breakthrough.

On November 2, Montgomery gave the order to start Operation Supercharge. At first it met with heavy resistance but Rommel was forced to use all of his reserves. After losing over 100

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tanks, Rommel asked Hitler for permission to withdraw but was refused.

With less than 50 tanks remaining, he overrode the Fuehrer’s order and gave the signal to retreat. Two days later, Montgomery struck again and four Italian divisions attached to the Afrika Korps were annihilated.

APRIL 2, 2020

General Rommel, the Desert Fox

General Bernard Law Montgomery with Winston Churchill

30,000 German troops were captured in the retreat. Rommel had very few vehicles left and fewer tanks in the withdrawal. Finally, the Allies had a victory that turned the tide of the war.

Even though it would be a year and half before they could invade mainland Europe, a huge hurdle had been

overcome. Over the next few months, the Germans were forced out of North Africa altogether, and the Middle East breathed a sigh of relief.

In the next article, we will discuss the role of the Jewish soldiers and airmen who took part in the battle that saved Eretz Yisrael from being overrun

by the Nazis.

Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@ gmail.com.

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World

Builders

From Agony to Empathy EMT Overcomes Pain to Help Others

By Raphael Poch

O

n a recent Wednesday afternoon, United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Yitzchak Levinger received an alert to a serious accident on Keren HaYesod Street in Beit Shemesh, which was right near his location. He immediately dashed to his ambucycle and raced over to

the scene. His brother, who lives a few streets over and is also a United Hatzalah ambucycle volunteer, arrived at the location as well.

The two brothers found a 60-yearold man sprawled on the asphalt. He had been walking at a crosswalk when he was struck by an electric scooter.

Show your love with life insurance.

The man had suffered a powerful blow to his head and the bleeding was massive. The duo worked quickly to stem the potentially fatal blood flow. They applied pressure and secured the wound with trauma bandages, and soon the injury site was neatly covered with white dressings.

Yitzchak and his brother then took the man’s vital signs, performed an on-site neurological assessment, and

er. For me, it is always special to meet one of my brothers at an emergency.

I have been a volunteer with United Hatzalah for over 10 years and both of my brothers joined in the past few years. Yisrael, our third brother, wasn’t at this call, but we have had times where we all get together for family meals and need to rush out to deal with an emergency in the neighborhood as our parents live in Beit

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“How can I leave someone else hurting when I can help him?”

affixed a neck brace to the victim.

The duo stayed on scene monitoring the victim and reassuring him as they waited for an ambulance. Finally, thirty minutes after the initial call, an ambulance arrived. The man was swiftly placed on a backboard and whisked off to the hospital for emergency treatment.

“I had just finished responding to a different emergency where a young man had fallen off of a building and was in need of CPR. After regaining a pulse there, I received the alert and rushed over to this emergency,” Yitzchak relayed.

“I met my brother Avraham at the scene, and we treated the man togeth-

Shemesh as well.”

As having been previously injured in an accident Yitzchak empathizes with those in a similar situation.

“It’s sometimes hard to respond to calls,” confided Yitzchak. “I suffered a slipped disk a year ago following a motor vehicle accident, and I am often in significant pain. That doesn’t stop me responding, though. There’s not much that can be done to alleviate my pain, but how can I leave someone else hurting when I can help him? I’m grateful that I am able to be on the side of the giving and that I have the tools and ability to reach out to people, treat their wounds, and make a difference.”

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Dating Dialogue

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME APRIL 2, 2020

What Would You Do If… Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters

Dear Navidaters,

Tova

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.

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I am 28 years old and am still looking for my bashert. It’s an incredibly vulnerable and delicate topic, but I want to get married so badly! I never wrote into a magazine before but I just had to tonight.... I received a message today that has been making me so depressed. This was a forwarded message that basically said shidduchim should ideally be put on hold for an undisclosed amount of time. In the world we live in today, with all the technology, and communication venues we have, I find that particular message to be extremely disheartening. How can we, the singles of post-corona world, navigate the dating scene? I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

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The Shadchan Michelle Mond hidduchim can never be put on hold, so whatever message you got that depressed you – delete it!

It is now more important than ever to come to terms with our new reality. In the coming weeks we are sure to hear updated halachos for every aspect of our lives which will be changed based on our current limitations. We are already hearing updated halachos and leniencies regarding Pesach preparation, toiveling keilim, etc. Halachos of simchos worldwide will be tweaked to allow our simchos to realistically go on within the realm of what is allowed and healthy. In a similar vein, we cannot halt potential shidduchim from happening. When klal Yisroel got to the Yam Suf with a wild ocean on one side and the Mitzrim on the other, it seemed to be an impossible situation. There was no good potential outcome one could think of al pi teva (according to the laws of nature). However, we all know that is not how the story ended. The brave Nachshon ben Aminadav knew that hishtadlus still had to be done. As the Chovos Ha’lvavos says, if we hold back from doing hishtadlus, Hashem cannot bring the shefa He wants into the world. Hashem does not make open miracles, and the only way one can achieve an outcome is by providing a kli, a vessel, for Hashem to make it happen within the realm of nature.

For Bnei Yisroel at Krias Yam Suf it was Nachshon who took the brave steps into the ocean up to his chin for Hashem to accept this hishtadlus and lift the waters of the ocean up to the sky allowing bnei Yisroel to walk through it. Although to us, with our limited knowledge, we do not understand how it would be possible for shidduchim to work out if couples’ only means to meet is through Skype and Zoom; we must also recognize that Hashem creates

S

the refuah before the makka. This is the first time our generations have faced such a challenge. It is also the first time in history that a society has faced such a seemingly communication limiting challenge, with such advanced communication technology.

We must learn from Nachshon at the Yam Suf and jump into a new age of dating that might seem like it would drown us. It might seem like there is no way for this to work.

Thoughts going through your head might be, “This is crazy” or “Why am I even doing this? Will we ever even be able to meet?” Let Hashem handle those answers, because when you are doing the only possible hishtadlus available to you, you can comfortably raise up your hands and leave the rest up to G-d.

For now, online Skype and Zoom dating will be the way for singles to continue to go on dates. With Zoom, as you get more comfortable, you can share screens, play games (Battleship/hangman, question-based games, tic-tac-toe), even a virtual paint-night using the paint app and sharing your screens! The options are endless. We as a community just need to be open to them, and I believe we will.

Iy”H you should be in touch soon with good news. May you and all our readers be blessed with good health, happiness, and many simchos to share!

Right now, common sense dictates that going out on a physical date is selfish and irresponsible.

However, there is nothing wrong with speaking on the phone or video-chatting, utilizing Skype, FaceTime, or the like.

2. Golden Opportunity Instead of being depressed over what you cannot do at this time, consider how valuable it is to learn how a prospective spouse reacts during this crisis.

Does a person spend the day moping around, depressed, watching meaningless television shows, while mindlessly eating junk food?

Or, does a person use the opportunity to daven unhurriedly, read meaningful books, log onto the myriad of available online shiurim, and help deliver food to the homebound and elderly?

“I

This is a unique and wonderful opportunity to really get to know what makes a person tick.

3. Creative Dating While speaking on the phone or video-chatting, how about these suggestions:

Flower Delivery Club

The Zaidy Dr. Jeffrey Galler t was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” (A Tale of Two Cities) Charles Dickens depicts how people react during a time of social upheaval. Does it bring out the very best or the very worst in people?

Here are some thoughts for you to consider.

1. Practicality

This is a unique and wonderful opportunity to really get to know what makes a person tick.

Join the

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59 old adage that “the boy chases the girl until she catches him.”

Engaged & In Quarantine An engaged couple speaks his virus is changing the landscape of how we function on a daily basis. The places we visit, the people we talk to, and the ways in which we interact with each other are all affected by this crisis. Adding to all of this change of pace is the uncertainty of how long these changes and new regulations will last. Will it be weeks, months, or perhaps will we still see these changes in place next Pesach, too?

A natural outgrowth from this new life we currently live includes how dating runs. Social distancing laws have closed most, if not all, physi-

T

There aren’t any replacements to an in-person, one-on-one conversation, but at this point, we have to work with what we have.

cal dating venues, and it seems as though dating will now have to shift to the digital world for the time being. Given that these times don’t seem as though they will be gone too soon, it doesn’t make sense to turn off the faucet on dating altogether.

APRIL 2, 2020

d. There are countless online shiurim of interest to both men and women that you can both “attend” and then compare notes with each other.

With modern technology, you have wonderful tools for spending time together and getting to know each other, albeit remotely.

4. This too shall pass Gam zeh ya’avoar.

Remember, that it might be several months, but this crisis will eventually come to an end. Think of all the great stories you will be able to relate to your children and grandchildren. Folks my age love reminiscing about what we did during the famous “Blackouts” in 1965 and 2003.

Meanwhile, stay calm. While video-dating, you do not wish to appear frazzled, or over-eager, or over-anxious. Sometimes, women who are calm and play slightly hardto-get seem to appear more attractive and desirable. Remember the

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a. You can both visit worldclass museums “together.” You can simultaneously log on to https://www.virtualiteach.com/ post/2017/08/20/10-amazing-virtual-museum-tours.

Your browsers will allow you to explore different exhibits, pause and discuss what you’re seeing, and discover what interests you might share.

Unfortunately, while on this “date,” you will not be able to share a coffee or Diet Coke at the museum snack bar. b. You can both google “Virtual Reality City Tours” and visit London, Rome, or Amsterdam “together.” Unfortunately, you will not accrue frequent flier mileage on these trips. c. Log on to “Ted Talks,” and, jointly, pick a topic of interest.

You can hear, and discuss, short lectures on a variety of subjects, such as science, technology, social change, nature, health, etc.

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Dating through video chat is a fantastic means of becoming more familiar with an individual – learning about their personality, hashkafa, and background are all possible over a video call. Yes, this mode has its drawbacks. There aren’t any replacements to an in-per-

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

APRIL 2, 2020

60 tle better? A couple could even have a candle-lit dinner in their respective kitchens! In fact, we can really use this time to introspect and think about what’s truly important in a partner without all of the externalities that come with ordinary dating. These video chats can actually break up the monotony of classical dating as we know it and make for very exciting experiences

in times of quarantine, isolation, and loneliness.

These times are unprecedented, so there isn’t one avenue we know to take that works, but everyone in the world is dealing with the same situation, so at least you’ll know that the person on the other side of the line understands the situation the same way you do and is also putting in every effort to find their match, even when all the obstacles seem to be standing in the way.

human race are coming to the forefront. I am hopeful that, when G-d willing this is behind us, shidduchim will be forever impacted for the positive. People will be “getting back to basics.” Maybe it won’t matter whose family has more money or if someone had a bad year in high school. On the other hand, we don’t want people jumping into anything too quickly either because of the isolation we are experiencing currently.

None of us have a crystal ball.

Could you meet your bashert in a Zoom chat? Maybe! The important thing for all of us to remember (myself included) is that we must remain calm and we must breathe our way through this. As the days progress, we will have more and more answers.

One of my now many daily mantras is this too shall pass. Tova, this

too shall pass. Many of the silly divisions that keep singles apart will hopefully dissolve, and may we see many more shidduchim in the weeks and months and years ahead!

All the best, Jennifer

Pulling It All Together The Navidaters Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

D

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son, one-on-one conversation, but at this point, we have to work with what we have. Who knows? Perhaps it’s even possible to play games or do activities over video chat, like going to the park with your phone or doing a trivia to get to know one another a lit-

earest Tova, I don’t know the posek you speak of and cannot comment on this crisis from a religious perspective. So, Tova and readership, please understand that I am speaking as a mental health professional. We have never lived through such a pandemic demanding social distancing. The ramifications this is having for all of us are deeply significant and will change the way we relate to one another. Our need for connection (well, for many anyway) is so heightened right now. To be in someone’s physical space without fear…to get in the car and meet a friend for coffee. I have lots of thoughts about this, but I will stick to topic at hand, virtual dating during the time of the coronavirus.

I don’t know why this posek called for a stop on virtual dating.

People are craving connection now more than ever. I can see how dating online through Zoom is far from the “real thing.” I don’t know what will be of the people meeting, dating, and even getting engaged via Zoom. Do we need to see each other in person? Do we need to be in different circumstances and see someone with the waiter, and her mother, and his friend? I think this is vital.

However, I cannot recommend that people do not meet now, either. Just

like with everything else coronav irus-related, so much is unknown.

Many single people are breathing a sigh of relief welcoming this “break” from dating. They are using this as a time to reassess their values, what is of importance to them in a partner. Other single people are aching to meet someone, and feel lost, anxious and afraid. They are so frustrated that dating is on hold.

Tova, you need to do what you feel comfortable doing. There are many people out there calling for many different things. What we know is that we must socially distance to help prevent the spread of the virus. What we also know is that human beings are wired for connection.

Should you decide to virtually shidduch date, take precaution.

Check in with yourself frequently. If it feels natural and good, proceed. If it doesn’t feel natural, the question may arise… Does it feel unnatural because we aren’t a shidduch, or does it feel unnatural because we are doing this via Zoom? I do not have the answer. You can decide to deal with that should the situation arise.

What I am fairly certain about is this: the world is changing. The things we truly value and need as a

Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in private practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. She also teaches a psychology course at Touro College. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 516-2247779, ext. 2. Visit www.thenavidaters. com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email thenavidaters@gmail.com.

You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.

Hi Readers!

Receiving your enthusiastic emails wanting to participate in the Reader’s Respond section has been wonderful! Just a reminder about how Reader Response works. Email thenavidaters@gmail. com with the subject line “Reader Response.” We will then ask you, in the order we receive your email, if you would like to respond to the coming week’s email. If you would like to respond to an already printed Navidaters Panel, please submit your answer to the editor at editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com. You can also join us on our FB page @thenavidaters on Sunday evenings to post your response to the week’s column. Interacting with you has been a pleasure! Thank you for all of your feedback.

Jennifer

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mon misnomer for multiple personality disorder. “My cover at the target [location] was my real life. If I didn’t believe in it, the next guy wouldn’t believe in it either.

“But when you get an instruction from headquarters you remember who sent you, why you’re here, and you carry out the mission.”

Agent D was sent by his bosses to live in the Beirut International Hotel.

Salameh was known to work out at the hotel gym. D’s job was to train at the gym and watch Salameh. But he was told explicitly not to speak to him or make any contact whatsoever, as doing so could risk his exposure and place him in considerable danger.

But it was Salameh who ended up making contact with him.

“One day after about six months [at the hotel], I’m minding my own business, doing ab crunches at the gym,” Agent D said. “There was no one there, it was quiet. Suddenly I hear a voice behind me: ‘You’re not doing it right, my friend.’ I turn back and see Ali Hassan Salameh standing behind me.”

Salameh then showed him how he should be doing the exercise, and the two began chatting.

“He said to me, ‘Do you play squash?’ I said, ‘No, unfortunately, I play tennis,’” Agent D recalled. There was a squash instructor at the gym, and Salameh suggested D take les-

sons as he was looking for a partner.

“So we started playing squash together,” Agent D told Channel 13. The two quickly became friendly.

The agent’s Mossad handlers were concerned for his safety but, given the circumstances, agreed to him maintaining the relationship.

“He was smart, a strong man, a man’s man, intelligent. We had a lot in common,” Agent D said of Salameh, openly admitting that he liked the terror chief. “But he killed 11 athletes in Munich before the entire world, massacred them in Germany, and so he deserved to die. I had no doubt. He can be the nicest man in the world. So what?”

Eventually, Salameh invited Agent D for drinks and dinner with his wife.

Refusing would be seen as very rude, so the spy agreed.

Salameh, who was always closely protected by a troupe of armed bodyguards, introduced the agent to his wife, Georgina Rizk, a former Miss Universe. He showed him his home, his room… — all information Agent D later conveyed to his handlers.

As the months went by, Salameh invited the agent over several more times. He later took him partying, bought him gifts, and even set him up with his wife’s sister.

Agent D enjoyed his time with Salameh, but could never afford to forget his true purpose.

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The 1972 attack at the Munich Olympics saw 11 Israeli athletes murdered by the Black September Palestinian terror group. In the years following the attack, the Mossad assassinated many of the figures behind the attack, as has been featured in Steven Spielu berg’s sometimes-controversial film Munich – but one target eluded the spy organization: Salameh, chief of operations for Black September.

Salameh, known as the “Red Prince,” was the son of a top Arab commander killed in the 1948 war over Israel’s creation. Living in the Lebanese capital Beirut, he was a key ally and potential successor of Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization. And he was known for his lavish, playboy lifestyle. But the Mossad couldn’t get near him.

Enter Agent D, who was sent to live in Beirut and Syrian capital Damascus under an assumed identity and spent years trailing Salameh and conveying information on his movements to the Mossad.

The agent spoke to Channel 13 as part of its “Hit List” docuseries. He described a life under cover that was both lonely and dangerous.

“Being there long-term when you’re alone and lonely includes a factor of mental, emotional and psychological stress,” he said. “A person gets worn down. He can suddenly make a mistake…and out himself.”

Such a mistake would likely mean death, as had become abundantly clear following the capture and hanging of spy Eli Cohen in Damascus in 1965.

Agent D said he had to completely dive into his assumed identity and accept it as his own in order to operate.

“I call it positive schizophrenia,” he said, apparently using the com-

By TOI Staff

APRIL 2, 2020

hen the Mossad in 1974 sent a solitar y agent to live under deep cover in Beirut and arrange the assassination of the mastermind of the 1972 Munich massacre, it gave him one clear order: make no contact with the target. The spy didn’t just defy that order. He ended up becoming one of Ali Hassan Salameh’s closest friends, before becoming one of his killers.

Today he is a figure celebrated in Mossad as something of a legend, responsible for one of its most famous successes.

Earlier this year, that spy, identified only as Agent D, spoke on television for the first time about his work to bring down Israel’s most wanted terrorist in the wake of the Munich killings.

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The Top Mossad Spy Who Befriended His Terrorist Target

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Ali Hassan Salameh, the Red Prince

Terrorist Ali Hassan Salameh, left, is seen with then Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat in an undated photo

“I know that’s my mission. That’s why I’m here, and the friendship is nice. I’m his friend, he did what he did in Munich – but still, that’s the mission. ‘À la guerre comme à la guerre,’ as the French say…in war as in war.

“I call him a friend and a mortal enemy at the same time. It’s not easy.

Not easy. You know, at your core, that he has to die.”

At that point, Mossad involved another agent, a woman the world later came to know as Erika Chambers. She would be the one to activate the bomb.

Chambers, who was of British origin, was drafted into the agency a few years prior. Her Christian-sounding name was seen as a great asset as it allowed her to travel using her own documents rather than a forged identity and could enable her to flee to the British embassy to ask for asylum in a worst case scenario.

The downside was that after the operation, her identity – her true identity – would become public knowledge.

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Agent D began scoping out potential methods of assassinating Salameh and proposed them to his bosses. In October 1978, a plan was agreed.

“Having driven with him a few

“I call him a friend and a mortal enemy at the same time.

It’s not easy…” times, I learned that his routine was to leave home around 11 or 12 and drive. The street, Madame Curie, was one-way for 300 meters. Then there’s a junction, and you can’t keep going straight. You have to take a right.

“After the turn there are three parking spots. If you can catch a parking spot in the morning and put a car there with a very serious bomb, you’ve got an operation.”

She would have to change her identity and leave her old life behind.

“She understood well what it meant,” said a woman identified only as Anna, who was authorized by Chambers – who now has a different name – to speak on her behalf. “To be cut off from her family, friends and identity totally – not enter England anymore. And she agreed. She thought it was worth it.”

Chambers rented an apartment with a view to the designated parking spot. In January 1979, the operation was given the green light.

When handlers asked Chambers how she felt about carrying out the killing, “She said she didn’t know because she’d never killed anyone,” Anna told Channel 13. “She’d tell him afterwards.

But for now, she was prepared to do it.”

One of the Munich Massacre terrorists

Agent D traveled to Jordan, ostensibly for a vacation but actually to meet a Mossad team. The agents gave him a large piece of furniture that contained the explosives, and Agent D had to drive it across two borders, Jordan-Syria and Syria-Lebanon. Border officials asked questions about the furniture, but didn’t inspect it. He was waved through.

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Days before the operation, a third agent rigged a car with the explosives Agent D had provided and provided Chambers with the detonator.

On the day of the hit, January 22, 1979, Salameh left his home in a convoy of two cars and drove to the corner, exactly as planned. Cham-

bers, watching from her apartment, activated the bomb, comprised of some 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of explosives.

Salameh’s four bodyguards were killed in the blast. He himself was critically injured and died at a hospital a short time later.

But the blast also killed four innocent bystanders and injured 16 others.

The three Israeli agents quickly escaped and eventually returned to Israel.

Anna said Chambers was long haunted by the death of one innocent woman who was just walking by. “She

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‫חג‬ ‫כשר‬ !‫ושמח‬

Wishing all our friends an inspiring & uplifting Pesach!

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The bombing that took Salameh’s life

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Spy Erika Chambers

thought about this girl almost every day for many years.”

Agent D said of the innocent deaths: “It would be playing dumb to say I didn’t take into account there would be what the Americans call ‘collateral damage.’ That innocents would be killed. You want to know if I had a problem with it? I always have a problem if innocent people are killed.”

D returned to Israel after the killing and went on to live a more normative life.

He said nothing ever quite matched the adrenaline highs of his days deep undercover in an enemy state, playing – and to an extent, being – the good friend of a mass murderer he was committed to eliminating.

But at least the deception and play-acting were done. While on assignment, he said, “You are always living with a mask on.”

Reprinted with permission from Times of Israel.

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THE ECONOMISTTURNEDMEDICAL CZAR How Israel’s “Barsi” is Protecting the Holy Land

By Tzvi Leff

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musician, a photographer, guests in their finest attire singing joyfully as the bride is escorted down the aisle by her parents – hardly an unusual sight at Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Merkaz Harav, much less anywhere else in the world.

Yet this viral video, passed along by Israelis and Americans alike, showed the smiling guests participating from their respective balconies, from the yeshiva’s rooftop, from neighboring buildings – anywhere but the actual grounds where the wedding itself was unfolding.

Earlier in March, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu had forbidden public gatherings of over 10 people in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Engaged couples throughout the country began getting creative – a wedding hastily moved up to that same night, right before the edict was to go into effect; a wedding in the grocery store Osher Ad, where the 10-person-limit did not apply; a wedding at the Prime

Minister’s residence for Netanyahu aide Shir Cohen; and weddings where the guests participated, loudly, strongly, and happily, from a six-meter-ormore distance.

Weddings were not the only events taking place on residential balconies.

Residents of Petach Tikva were treated to a concert by the Pirchei Yerushalayim children’s choir, performing Yishai Ribo’s popular song “Halev Sheli” from a residential balcony. The neighborhood audience sang along in throngs, accompanied by the twinkling lights of hundreds of cellphones.

“Someone proposed to me that we do a ‘balcony sing-along,’” recounted Pirchei Yerushalayim leader Ehud Hemo. “Just as we were getting organized, a wedding began in one of the building’s gardens, and we decided to uplift their spirits. We organized quickly and began.... It was an amazing experience.”

Trying to raise the spirits of new couples has been something of an uphill battle. After the Health Ministry initially banned gatherings of more

than 500 people, happy couples planning large weddings whittled down their guest lists. The number of invitations was further reduced when the directive was tightened to ban more than 150 people. When 150 became 10, those who couldn’t postpone the happiest day of their lives began to look for alternative solutions.

“This is a war. We have to adapt to a new way of life,” declared Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The war began in early December when doctors in the Chinese city of Wuhan noticed a sudden flood of patients suffering from something they had never seen before. Characterized by an infection in the lungs, a runny nose, and fever, medical staff knew that they had a problem.

Yet it took time for Chinese officials to realize just how serious the problem really was. Over the next few weeks, Communist Party mandarins did everything they could to suppress news of the crisis in Wuhan. One by one, top Wuhan medical officials were summoned to Beijing and ordered not to

spread any information about the happenings in their hometown.

Disobedience resulted in consequences. When Wuhan Hospital specialist Dr. Ai Fen posted a public health announcement regarding the still-unnamed disease, she was threatened with termination. Meanwhile, Dr. Li Wenliang was summoned for questioning by Chinese intelligence after sharing details of the new flu-like virus on messenger app WeChat. Another eight doctors were ordered to report to the Wuhan Public Security Bureau as well, regarding their various discussions about the illness.

Things only changed after the skyrocketing number of cases made it impossible for Beijing to suppress news about the phenomenon any longer. On December 31, a full month after everything began, China informed the World Health Organization (WHO) that the country was dealing with a new disease, but that everything was under control. At that point, there were only 27 reported cases.

That night, Wuhan held its annual

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Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman Tov, known as “Barsi”

THE TACTICS ISRAEL USED WERE SIMILAR TO HOW IT TRADITIONALLY WAGED WAR AGAINST ITS ENEMIES: QUICKLY, DISPROPORTIONATELY, AND WITH OVERWHELMING FORCE.

man-Tov joined the Finance Ministry to become part of a selected coterie of finance whizzes known as the “Treasury Youths.”

These are a group of young finance experts, most of them fresh out of college. Widely seen as some of the smartest people in the civil service, they are given outsized influence on

government policy. But even in this elite group nicknamed the “Treasury Department’s Commando Unit,” Bar Siman-Tov stood out for his ruthless approach to runaway spending.

“He sees numbers, not people,” fumed the head of Israel’s Medical Union after Bar Siman-Tov became Health Ministry Director-General

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eading the battle is Health Ministr y Director-General Moshe Bar Siman Tov. Known simply as “Barsi,” the grim and unsmiling 45-year-old economist was once completely anonymous to the public. Those days are now over. Appearing every night on prime time television to explain the ramifications of latest measures to the anxious public, he’s since been awarded the title of the “national calmer.”

Some might say Bar Siman-Tov’s background is perfect for coordinating the government’s battle against the coronavirus. Barsi grew up in a religious home and studied economics at Hebrew University. In 2004, Bar Si-

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s China struggled to contain the outbreak, leaders all around the world attempted to reassure their people that there was little to worry about. More concerned about the economic fallout than a possible health emergency, a slew of elected officials everywhere reiterated that there would be no new pandemic.

“No, not at all. We have it totally under control,” U. S. President Donald Trump said when asked about it in late January. “It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”

That nonchalance did not exist in Israel. Perhaps because of the country’s history of fighting for its existence, Health Ministry officials were monitoring the events from the very beginning and were not afraid to take aggressive steps when needed. The tactics Israel used were similar to how it traditionally waged war against its enemies: quickly, disproportionately, and with overwhelming force.

On January 26, well before most of the developed world took the disease seriously, Israel already called upon its citizenry to cancel all non-essential travel. Four days later, all flights to China were banned, cutting the country off from its second-largest trading partner.

As cases piled up in Japan, Israel an-

nounced a total travel ban on Japanese and South Korean nationals, resulting in heavy diplomatic fallout.

The backlash wasn’t only in foreign capitals. Taxi drivers, tour guides, and hotel managers penned angry opeds, contending that the government’s “hysterical response” was destroying the tourism sector “over something not more dangerous than the flu.” The criticism intensified over the following weeks as the Health Ministry ordered mandatory quarantines for anyone who had recently returned from abroad.

In recent weeks, however, it became clear that the quick response likely prevented the Jewish State from suffering the fate of countries such as Italy. Invasive as they were, the slew of quarantine orders and travel bans bought the country precious time, allowing it to “flatten the curve” and preventing a surging number of cases from overwhelming the hospital system. “[Israel] is accustomed to living on a knife-edge, pretty much constantly, a snap away from war-readiness and footing; a chronic condition that clearly promotes a natural sense of collective responsibility that seeps into all aspects of daily life,” wrote Canada’s National Post.

“Israel did not squander precious time on speculating about whether or not a public-health issue was racist or xenophobic or any one of a litany of irrelevant non-issues. As with most things here, responses are rapid and have the elegance of a sledgehammer.”

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Lunar New Year banquet. Tens of thousands of people, including an estimated hundreds of tourists, crowded together for a mass potluck dinner. Hundreds of millions of Chinese traveled around the country unhindered in order to visit relatives. The results would be deadly.

Within a week, cases of the coronavirus began to turn up in Korea and Taiwan, most likely brought by tourists who had just returned from Wuhan.

The virus continued to spread, confounding doctors who had no idea what they were facing. As January turned into February, China’s 27 cases ballooned into 2,000, with 56 people dead.

By that point, China was pulling out all of the stops to end the crisis. From building two brand-new hospitals in Wuhan in under 11 days to ordering most of the country under lockdown, Beijing was aware that it was at the early stages of a full-blown epidemic.

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any society,” Barsi once said in an interview regarding his economic viewpoint.

“But every decision like this has a cost. You’re always in a dilemma, in a conflict, because there’s no right or wrong.... The complexity of these issues is fundamental to them, and I thrive in these dilemmas.”

His ability to take unpopular measures for what he believes is the public’s best interest may have been what Israel needed to confront the coronavirus. In recent weeks, the ever-escalating measures Barsi ordered on the public have taken a heavy toll on the economy and are expected to lead to an unprecedented recession when this all ends.

Currently, the Finance Ministry estimates the potential economic damage at $50 billion. El Al has already laid off 20% of its workforce and is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Just this month, 250,000 Israelis filed for unemployment; the number is expected to rise in the coming months.

Closing schools. Shuttering most businesses. Putting 70% of state employees on unpaid leave. All have had the effect of completely changing people’s lifestyles.

APPEARING EVERY NIGHT ON PRIME TIME TELEVISION TO EXPLAIN THE RAMIFICATIONS OF LATEST MEASURES TO THE ANXIOUS PUBLIC, HE’S SINCE BEEN AWARDED THE TITLE OF THE “NATIONAL CALMER.”

in 2015. The first-ever person to run the ministry without a medical background, the young economist quickly raised hackles for his commitment to cutting ballooning government spending even when unpopular.

“My job is considered the least attractive among all the deputies in the department because I’m not paving roads and not bringing new operators into the cellular market. I’m doing things that are the building blocks of

A

nother difficult subject was how to pray, study Torah, and practice other rituals and commandments that Jews have faithfully adhered to for thousands of years.

The classic Jewish response in times of stress is prayer and study. But with the danger of coronavirus manifesting itself in crowds, such activities were suddenly curtailed.

The rabbinate acted swiftly, ordering the public to refrain from carrying out mass prayer rallies at the Western Wall. Most synagogues canceled minyanim or kept them to a strict quorum of 10 people. Yeshivas closed their doors or went online.

This resulted in some difficult moments. On Monday evening, Rabbi Zvi Arnon wrestled with himself over how to announce that the synagogue would be closed until further notice. His village of Moshav Nir Galim was founded

by Holocaust survivors who put having a daily minyan as the highest priority.

During the state’s early years,

founders braved marauding Arab bandits and Egyptian snipers to make the daily prayer quorum. For the 71 years Nir Galim had been in existence, the Beit Knesset always remained open, despite multiple wars and endless rocket fire. How could he be the first one to shut everything down?

Rabbi Arnon typed, erased, wrote some more, and stopped. Finally, as night turned into day, he gathered his thoughts. The subsequent message would go viral.

“It’s past midnight, and I sit down to write. My hands are shaking, and my eyes teary. It’s been a long week of discussions, thoughts, and deliberations. A tedious evening of discussions and attempts to find maybe, maybe a way to something.… And we didn’t find one.

“For 71 years, the light in the synagogue was never turned off. From the day the founders established it with joy and enthusiasm, prayer did not stop there. On weekdays and on Shabbat, on holidays and on days of joy and sadness.

“And today I have to write and tell you that in light of the situation and the plague, tomorrow morning we are turning off the lights. We will extinguish the light in all synagogues during the weekdays and on Saturdays.

“It’s hard for us all,” he confessed.

“The synagogue is the beating heart of the community. The synagogue is the place that defines us, our worldview and our way of life. It’s even harder in our little place.

“Over the years, I have heard stories from the founding generation how to pray with devotion. In concentration camps and ghettos, in wars and in the underground movements. And today, we are forced to close the gates of the synagogue and ask the public not to organize minyanim. Not in houses or yards. Neither for Mincha or for Maariv. Not Kabbalat Shabbat or for reciting psalms.”

He concluded, “But it is important for me to emphasize: We are closing the synagogue, but not the prayers and Torah study. On the contrary, it is precisely during this period that every home is obliged to strengthen the prayers of women and children. This is the time when children can see their parents conduct family prayer with intent and faith.”

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Mental Health Corner

Social Isolation and Loneliness

By Rabbi Azriel Hauptman

As the world has adopted a policy of social distancing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is an opportune time to delve into the mental health ramifications of social isolation and loneliness. These two terms sound almost interchangeable, but in reality, they describe two different situations, and each one has its own unique challenges.

Social isolation is when one is physically isolated from other people.

This can be due to living alone or in a place where there are not that many

people. Loneliness refers to someone who feels alone, whether the person is actually isolated or not. In other words, social isolation is an objective situation, whereas loneliness is an emotion.

Let us dwell on this for a moment.

Are we saying that loneliness is all in your head and is not a reality? No, that is not what we mean. Let us use an analogy to help us understand loneliness. We are all familiar with physical pain. Is physical pain a reality, or is it all in your head? Technically, physical

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pain is all in your head. Your brain is wired to make you feel pain in order to alert you to damage to your body.

If one would break their arm and not feel any pain, the sense of urgency to deal with the injury would be lost. In its essence, physical pain is therefore an alarm.

In a similar vein, loneliness can be understood as a social pain. We feel the emotion of loneliness in order to alert us to the need to increase our social connections and relationships.

Human beings are social creatures, and we thrive when we are engaged in meaningful relationships and healthy social interactions. Hence, when one is lacking in these vital social needs, one feels the social pain of loneliness.

However, just like there are some individuals who feels physical pain even in the absence of an actual injury (which is a misfiring of the pain system), there are also people who feel the emotion of loneliness even if they do not have any reason to feel lonely. We call this depression. Therefore, when one feels lonely, one must ask is this the healthy emotion of loneliness which is meant to encourage a person to seek out meaningful relationships, or is it a misfiring of the “social pain system” and therefore a mental health professional would be the person who would be most qualified to tackle the issue.

Another difference between social isolation and loneliness, is that one must be actually isolated in order to experience social isolation. But, one can be surrounded with people and still feel all alone. The teenager who is bullied at school and the adult who is in an unhealthy marriage are both examples of people who are not isolated at all, but probably feel a deep sense of loneliness.

Furthermore, one can be socially isolated and not feel lonely. Someone who lives by themselves, but does go out once a week with friends, might not feel lonely. Some people enjoy having a mix of time alone and time together with others. Similarly, we all know the stories of the great Tzadikim who would periodically go into Hisbodidus in order to achieve levels of Deveikus with Hashem that are easier to achieve in isolation.

For such a person, what are the drawbacks of social isolation? There are some health risks in living in isolation. If someone has a heart attack, stroke, or a similar medical emergency, there is a much greater chance of the person not receiving timely medical care if they are alone.

Loneliness has its own set of health risks. Studies show that there is a strong association between loneliness and high blood pressure, sleep disturbances, immune stress responses, declining cognition, cancer and strokes. It is not yet clear if these are correlations or if loneliness is a direct cause of these health risks.

In this period of quarantines and isolation, it is likely that there are individuals who are isolated or lonely. Pick up the phone and give them a call. Maintaining connections with friends and family who are isolated is easy to do and can make a real difference in their wellbeing.

Printed with Permission from Yated Ne’eman This is a service of Relief Resources. Relief is an organization that provides mental health referrals, education, and support to the frum community. Rabbi Yisrael Slansky is director of the Baltimore branch of Relief. He can be contacted at 410-448-8356 or at yslansky@reliefhelp.org

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

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Your

Money

By Allan Rolnick, CPA

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APRIL 2, 2020

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that. So we started cutting the cord, replacing pricey bundled cable service with a la carte streaming video subscriptions. By one estimate, 50 million Americans have dropped cable or satellite TV. That didn’t just cost the TV providers — it cost the governments taxing them.

Around the same time, streaming music services let us listen to our favorite artists without venturing out

people use Spotify, and that’s just 40% of the streaming music market.

Amazon sells more Kindle books than real books, and 82% of American households have Prime memberships.

That’s more Americans than attend church, own guns, or even vote.

So, within the past few years, 22 states have extended sales taxes to all those streaming services. And with coronavirus braking the economy

For those of you under age 30, a “record store” was a place where...oh, never mind.

to Target or the record store to bring home (taxable) CDs or vinyl. (For those of you under age 30, a “record store” was a place where…oh, never mind.) Apple and Amazon rolled out Kindle books and audiobooks.

Fast forward to 2020. Netflix reports its subscribers watch over 140 million hours of video per day, and that’s about to go way up. 250 million

to a screeching halt, you can bet the rest will be looking to do it, too. As Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said last year, “Our current sales tax is designed for a Sears Roebuck economy driven by over-the-counter sales.

Today we live in an Amazon economy, which is driven by e-commerce, digital downloads and consumer services.”

The best part about these taxes, at least as far as the states are concerned, is that they’re so tiny. Let’s say you’re paying $15.99 for Netflix’s priciest package. A 6% sales tax adds just 99¢ to your monthly bill — the tax man’s equivalent of hiding broccoli in your toddler’s cheesy quesadilla. That’s hardly worth complaining about — so nobody does. But add up all your subscriptions, and multiply it by the millions of taxpayers watching the same Office and Friends reruns, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.

Sales taxes on streaming services certainly won’t replace all the taxes that state and local governments lose on cable TV and physical books, DVDs, and music. That means you can still expect them to reach for more. We’ll be on the alert for ways we can help you pay less on whatever alternatives they roll out. The current crisis may make planning harder, but it remains just as important as ever!

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.

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f you’re like most Americans, coronavirus quarantines and “social distancing” mean you’re going to spend a lot of time in front of your computer binging on Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, and Disney+.

If you’re working from home, you’ll spend more time listening to your favorite music on Pandora or Spotify.

And believe it or not, even your lockdown entertainment choices have tax consequences.

Twenty years ago, your entertainment choice was easy. You paid way too much money for a bundle of cable or satellite TV stations, most of which you never watched. It seemed like every government in the world reached their hand out to hide a tax in that bill. Comcast’s website lists nine different government-mandated taxes and fees they collect: 911 fees, sales tax, state communications tax, gross receipts tax, and something mysteriously labeled the Federal Universal Services Fund. (Seriously, is there anything Uncle Sam does that can’t be described as “Universal Services”?)

Over time, though, subscribers grew disenchanted with those bloated packages. Remember Bruce Springsteen’s cynical 1992 hit, 57 Channels and Nothing On? Yeah,

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