Baltimore Jewish Home - 5-29-14

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BaltimoreJewishHome THE

‫ יד׳ בסיון‬- ‫כט׳ אייר‬

may

29 -

june

12 . vol 1, #8

Mens 5K JCN Race has over 300 Participants PAGE 15

Mercaz Torah U’Tefilla Breaks Ground PAGE 15

Ahavas Yisroel First Buffet Reception a Big Success!

PAGE 14

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Thanks for your help.

Michele

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FOGLEMAN GARRETT LOEWENTHAL

3. Lewyn Scott

of the Orphans’ Court for Baltimore City

Authority: Orphans’ Court Campaign Committee, Robert M. Horne, Treasurer

4. Michele E.

MAY 29, 2014

Judge. I hear cases ea of estates Eli Schlossberg involving disputes in the ar a member 0 and probate law. I have been for over 3 l a h t n e ent le Loew ity un m m ge Miche and excell co d ox k u od r J th o Or e w n or r m w lti e o of the Ba and h calib I have kn ersonally vided hig p o r h p t o s b a , h y e n attended munit team years. Sh and her imore com for over 30 years. My childre r lt e a h B t e r h o t ourt o supp service to . rphans’ C as rge you t iv O u sh ye y I d it . an s y C ol ll ho e sc a r n ltimo the local days professio ction. of the Ba s e g d imary ele u r J p g 4 in 1 t e 0 th it 2 in of S e 24, I am seeking your support ming Jun o c p u e h in t ary im pr 14 20 , 24 ne Ju in g in m upco an) Berl m r e H ( Chaim vote, for election by asking for your agues, Judge me and my esteemed colle Primary ElEction Day: June 24 ephan Lewyn Garrett and Judge St Early Voting: June 12-19 a as er th ge to ll we rk wo We Fogleman.

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THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

Hi. I am Michele Loewenthal and I am currently a Baltimore City Orphans’ Court

Judge Michele Loewenthal has served our community and all of Baltimore extremely well both as an attorn ey and as a judg e. She, together with her experien ced ticket, deserv es our vote for the upcomin g Baltimore City Orphans’ Court election. I know her both in a pe rsonal and professional capa city and recomm end her and he outstanding tick r et for the conti nued position as Judges for the Baltimore City Orphans’ Court .

MAY 29, 2014

4

CONTENTS COMMUNITY Around the Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

JEWISH THOUGHT

Dear Readers, It has been a busy few weeks in Baltimore, and we tried to get it all in the paper this week. Look through all the photos; you may be in there!

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

Moving Forward While Looking Back . . . . . . . . . . . 42 The Observant Jew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Rabbi’s Musings and Amusings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

HUMOR & ENTERTAINMENT Centerfold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Notable Quotes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

EDUCATION Forgotten Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

SHAVUOS Fruity Florals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 The Magic of Shavuos 1967. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Cheesecake Then and Now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Yes, I did run the 5K race for the Jewish Caring Network this past Sunday and was very happy I did. It is a great cause and I was happy to be a part of it. The entire race was done very professionally. I have to say the massage at the end was not bad either. Good luck to all the women running on Sunday.

In this week’s issue we have a fascinating interview with Rabbi Berel Wein. I had the opportunity to spend a Shabbos by his apartment in Rechavia a few years ago, which was really quite a treat. I always enjoy listening to his views on various subjects, including how the pulpit rabbi position has changed over the years. The interview really covers a good portion of his life.

A Trip Up the Mountain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 The Art of Flower Arranging. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

COVER STORY A Conversation with Rabbi Berel Wein . . . . . . . . . . 35

LIFESTYLES Get PEYD and Get Going. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Dairy Made Easy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 New Country, New Careers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

NEWS Global News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 National News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

As we all know by now, Shavuos is next week, so we are giving our readers some extra material to read. The recipes, floral decorations, and “Fruity Florals” should keep everyone busy, while making sure everything looks and tastes up to par.

As always, we enjoy hearing from our readers, so feel free to reach out to me at Editor@Baltimorejewishhome.com

Wishing you a most enjoyable Shabbos and a happy Shavuos!

Yaakov

That’s Odd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

ISRAEL

Israel News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

The Baltimore Jewish Home is an independent bi-weekly newspaper. Opinions expressed by writers are not neces­sarily the opinions of the publisher or editor. 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 MAY 29, 2014

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MAY 29, 2014

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Community

Lag B’Omer Bonfire at Yeshivas Kochav Yitzchok/Torah Institute

By Sara Gross, a YKY/TI parent

YKY/TI’s Lag B’Omer Father and Son Bonfire was one of the highlights of the year. Fifth through eighth grade boys and their fathers joined together for a spectacular evening of achdus and warmth. It started out with a delicious barbeque manned by several capable fathers. Rabbi Shimon Hirsch, Sgan Menahel, then lit the bonfire, and the boys sat with their fathers and friends around the crackling fire.

Rabbi Yechiel Spero warmed the boys’ hearts with two inspiring stories, and with great hislahavus, the boys and their fathers began to sing together. Rabbi Spero gave over the

powerful message that every person has a spark of kedusha inside them.

The strength of the fire depends upon how much that person fans the flame.

We each have the potential to be great, but we must fuel our inner flame with Torah and mitzvos done with enthusiasm and sincerity in order to reach that greatness.

The event was planned by a wonderful group of parents, who put tremendous effort into making the bonfire a success. Daniel Ely, Dovid Feinberg, Moshe Hefter, Mickey Katz, Yehoshua Morgenstern, and Reuven Verschleisser saw the fruits of their la-

bor as everyone who attended enjoyed every minute.

The special feelings engendered by this event are an important part of the chinuch that YKY/TI works hard to impart. The focus of learning and middos is beautifully complemented with the Ahavas Hashem and Ahavas Yisroel brought out with events such as this one. As Rabbi Daniel Skurnik, Director of Development, said, “A love and closeness for Yiddishkeit and a beautiful achdus is brought out and nurtured through such an event, and we’re happy to foster that.”

As one of our parents commented,

“It was a fantastic event done well, due to parent volunteers and school coordinators who put in hours and hours of time to create a truly amazing night.”

The feeling of achdus and warmth was palpable, as the fathers, sons, and Rebbeim sang together around the fire.

A deeper connection was formed between the students and their fathers to the yeshiva. They felt the love that the rebbeim have for them, and the ruach of the experience was one that they will hold dear for years to come.

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MAY 29, 2014

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STAR-K Certification Launches STAR-K Kosher Classroom at Torah Umesorah Convention

By Margie Pensak

Earlier this month, STAR-K Kosher Certification was represented at the sold-out Torah Umesorah 58th Annual National Leadership Convention by STAR-K President Dr. Avrom Pollak, STAR-K Kashrus Administrator Rabbi Baruch Beyer, and STAR-K Director of Special Projects Rabbi Zvi Holland, who introduced mechanchim to the STAR-K Kosher Classroom.

The STAR-K Kosher Classroom, which debuted at the convention, is an initiative to develop curricular materials for elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. The first group of educational posters and videos were prepared to present to the 1,800 attendees from throughout the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere around the world, to generate interest, feedback, and partnership from those who will actually be presenting the materials.

“Just as we do not charge for our extensive kashrus education programs and community services, we are not charging for these materials,” noted Rabbi Holland. “We wanted the teach-

ers to tell us what materials they would like to see and how they would want them to be designed, rather than us telling them how to teach it. Hundreds of participants, including Roshei Yeshiva, rabbonim, principals, rebbeim, administrators, and morahs--Chasidishe and Litvishe--stopped at the STAR-K booth to ask for materials, discuss halachic topics, and to offer their encouragement and advice.”

For decades, as the only major non-profit kashrus agency dedicated exclusively to kosher, STAR-K Kosher Certification has devoted itself to promoting kashrus through education.

It does so through the distribution of nearly 100,000 copies of its quarterly newsletter, Kashrus Kurrents, which are distributed free of charge around the world; its various yearround Kashrus Training Seminars and practicums offered, gratis, around the country; the STAR-K Kashrus Hotline (410-484-4110) which fields over 100,000 calls annually; its extensive educational website (www.

star-k.org); and its ground-breaking Kashrus videos on topics such as Nikkur and Bedikas Tolaim.

“The STAR-K Kosher Classroom is an expansion of our educational efforts,” explained Rabbi Holland.

“Our Kashrus programming for the classroom is age-appropriate for children across the spectrum. We are acutely aware that kashrus might be our most extensive engagement with practical halacha as adults. Yet, it is apparent from the phone calls we field that there is a gap in our schools’ curriculums in this area. Educators have told us the reason why there is so little classroom education about kashrus-related halacha is because of a lack of information and materials. Many of these topics

TA Hosts Annual Science Fair

require experts in the field, who are intimately involved in production procedures.”

Torah Umesorah’s Director of Development Rabbi Binyomin Holland asserted, “STAR-K’s participation in the Torah Umesorah Convention has demonstrated, once again, that its dedication to Klal Yisroel goes beyond hechsherim.”

For inquiries, call 410-484-4110.

To receive access to the STAR-K Kosher Classroom, email kosherclassroom@star-k.org .

9 s“xc

Shomrei Emunah’s Annual Annual Seforim Sale Sale Shomrei Emunah’s Seforim

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

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MAY 29, 2014

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All Artscroll Books 25% off list price All Feldheim, Menucha, IBS and Judaica Press books 20% off list price All Seforim 10% off our already low prices Plus! 10% off everything else in store!

All specials limited to available stock • No special orders • Not responsible for typos • No gift certificates sold during sale • No Shabsi’s gift certificates redeemed at sale • No gift wrapping during sale

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Shabsi’s Judaica Center 6830-A Reisterstown Road • Baltimore,MD 21215 • 410-358-2200

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

MAY 29, 2014

10

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Community

LYC, Preparing for a Successful Future

By Sara Gross

Zelig was a bright boy, but he had trouble sitting still. How do I know he was bright? He has this ability to figure things out. Put something into his hands and he could take it apart and put it back together. Zelig had trouble in school. His rebbeim didn’t know what to do with him. He was always busy, but not busy with his sefer or with his learning. Sometimes Zelig

was sent out of class. He didn’t understand why when he was in the hallway he would get into more trouble. A few times Zelig’s parents had to find him a different Yeshiva to attend. Zelig is not a bad kid, but he does need something different. I’m afraid to think what might happen, where he may wind up, if he can’t continue in a Yeshiva setting. Yaakov is a kind, caring, and helpful young man. He has some learning issues that make it hard

for him to focus over long periods of time. This makes a Yeshiva day very difficult. When Yaakov runs of out steam, he often daydreams. Yaakov has missed a lot of skills and yedios (concepts) over the years. For all of these reasons, he has not yet found a Yeshiva that is interested in accepting him.

The list goes on, and with every name is another story. These are not your classic “at risk” boys. Not yet; but they are very much at risk of becoming “at risk” unless we do something and provide some form of alternative Yeshiva setting for these boys. There also exists another issue that requires our attention. A number of years ago William Rapfogel, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, was quoted as saying, “The Orthodox community often places so much emphasis on religious learning that even some young men who are not academically inclined feel pressure to pursue rabbinic studies.” He said that the phenomenon of people coming out

of Yeshiva without adequate employment skills is a “significant issue.”

The Lancaster Yeshiva Center (LYC) strives to resolve these various aforementioned issues.

LYC has developed a very unique program offering Yeshiva limudim (studies) in small groups and scheduled, limited periods of time, combined with hands-on experiential vocational training in a host of contracting/construction-related fields.

Bochurim live in a structured, religious environment of davening and learning, while preparing themselves with technical job skills training. The entire program is conducted in a nurturing environment where the boys enjoy their learning, grow emotionally, and have fun participating in a cadre of activities. In general we have a wonderful Yeshiva system with dedicated rebbeim. However, it is time to realize that one size does not fit all. Our Yeshiva system should be offering alternatives to the mainstream Yeshivos.

Once again, The Lancaster Yeshiva Center is such an alternative; a place where boys can experience success now, as well as prepare for a successful future.

For more information about Lancaster Yeshiva Center, please call Rabbi Shaya Sackett at 717-9402777 or email info@lancasteryeshiva.org

OCA Spend Lag Ba’omer at Patapsco State Park On Lag Ba’omer, Ohr Chadash faculty, parents and excited students loaded into buses and cars on the way to Patapsco State Park for their annual Lag Ba’omer Outing. Hours of fun was had by all. The younger grades spent their time climbing and playing in the tire park; it was hard to get them off. The older students enjoyed the nature and water hikes. A delicious barbecue of hot

dogs and hamburgers was served for lunch with stories and divrei Torah by our Rebbeim, Rabbi Tuvia Danziger and Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lazewnik.

“It was awesome,” said Avi Gunzburg, parent of four children at OCA. The day came to an end with a great kickball game - staff and parents against students - and everyone went home with smiles on their faces.

11

ROSENBLUTH

Safety. Stability. Leadership.

To vote for your community member

Ronald Keith Rosenbluth 1

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REGISTERED DEMOCRAT You can switch your affiliation from republican or independent to democrat for this election and still vote your wish in general elections.

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BALTIMORE CITY RESIDENT

Election day: June 24th

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MAY 29, 2014

DELIVERS

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

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MAY 29, 2014

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Eitan Katz Concert in Baltimore! spiring words at the event given by Rabbi Shmuel Silber of Suburban Orthodox. This will add another dimension to what is already expected to be an extraordinary event.

The cost of the show is $15 for 1 ticket, 2 for $25, or 5 for $50. Reservations can be made by calling the Suburban shul office at (410)484-6114 Ext 2, or calling Bayli Schor at (410)3580969. Tickets will also be available at the front door.

Sponsorships include the Baltimore Chessed Fund, www.wrapunzel. com, Pikesville Pharmacy, Shabsi’s Judaica, Perns Judaica, Goldberg’s Bagels, and Shaindee’s Makeup.

For more info on Eitan Katz and Yisroel Juskowitz, go to www.eitankatz.com and www.yisroelworld. com

On Sunday night June 22nd at 7:30 PM, Suburban Orthodox will be hosting a concert with world-renowned singer/songwriter Eitan Katz. Eitan is most well-known for his beautiful soulful song “Limaancha” as well as other hits such as “Boruch Hu” and “Yehai Raava.” He is also well-known for doing wonderful remakes of classic songs from Shlomo Carlebach.

Eitan is known to create energy at his shows that can inspire Jews of all walks of life.

The evening will start with a special opening by Yisroel Juskowitz.

Yisroel is an up and coming star in the Jewish music scene whose singing and songwriting has received much critical acclaim, and is in a similar style to the late Shlomo Carlebach. Yisroel is also a gifted writer and artist, having written his first book recently, as well as producing his first album.

In addition, there will be some in-

Preparations Underway for the First Ever Community-Wide Daf Yomi Siyum and Shiur Anticipation is mounting across town, and preparations are underway for the first ever community-wide daf yomi siyum, to be held on the evening of Thursday, June 12, in conjunction with the finishing of Maseches Rosh Hashana. A project of the Baltimore division of the Daf Yomi Commission of Agudas Yisroel of America, the siyum will unite all of Baltimore’s daf yomi learners under one roof in an unprecedented display of achdus and kavod hatorah. “This has the potential of being a tremendous Kiddush Hashem, and a real chizuk not just for the lomdim, but for the entire community”, says Rabbi Eliyahu Simcha Bamberger, National Coordinator of the Daf Yomi Commission of Agudas Yisroel. “We have helped organize similar events in a few other communities, and they have all been truly inspiring. Baltimore has the uniqueness of its special achdus among all

of the shuls, and we look forward to strengthening that through bringing everyone together in a communal simcha.”

The community of Baltimore currently boasts over 20 Daf Yomi shiurim, ranging in size from two members to around 30, and spanning the entire day. The first shiur in town starts at 5:20 a.m., and the last one ends at 10:00 p.m. “We have seen a real increase in daf yomi learners since the last siyum hashas,” says Mr. Meir Raskas, president of Suburban Orthodox Congregation, home of the largest daf in town. “Rabbi Silber’s ever popular, early morning shiur has remained consistently well attended.

Initially, we discussed a Bais Medresh expansion to accommodate an overflow crowd for the start of Meseches Brachos. At first I did not believe that the excitement and crowds would last beyond Masechta Brachos. We are

now well into Rosh Hashana, and on some days it is standing room only!”

Currently in its ninth masechta, the current daf yomi cycle began in July of 2012, after the record breaking Siyum Hashas at MetLife stadium in New Jersey.

There is a bittersweet aspect of the siyum, however. With the recent passing of Mr. Dovid Hess, a great void has been left in the Baltimore Torah community. Mr. Hess was extensively involved in promoting kavod shamayim through daf yomi and many other community projects.

“I am happy to hear that the local Baltimore Daf Yomi Commission is alive and well after the sad passing of Dovid Hess “, said one popular maggid shiur.

The highlight of the siyum will be an internationally broadcast shiur, given by Rabbi Dovid Heber, on topics from the masechta. Daf yomi shi-

urim in communities across the globe will have the opportunity to join together with Baltimore in this simcha through the broadcast of the siyum program, including the shiur.

The siyum, to be held at K’hal ahavas Yisroel Tzemach Tzedek (Rabbi Heber), will begin with Mincha at 7:10 p.m. It will be followed by a catered seudas mitzvah, siyum program and the shiur. There is no charge for this event, but reservations are required. Those who learn daf yomi with a shiur are asked to reserve with their maggid shiur or another representative of their shiur. Individuals not associated with a shiur may reserve by contacting baltimoresiyum@gmail.com, or by calling the siyum hotline at 410-504-1681. We look forward to seeing you there.

13

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Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social 2nd Day of Shavuos

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MAY 29, 2014

14

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Community

Ahavas Yisroel First Buffet Reception a Big Success!

Jeff Cohn/BaltimoreJewishLife.com

Around the

Community

Photo Credit: Lev Bar-av/National Photo

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

Mens 5K JCN Race has over 300 Participants

15

MAY 29, 2014

Mercaz Torah U’Tefilla Breaks Ground Jeff Cohn/BaltimoreJewishLife.com

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MAY 29, 2014

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A Graduates View of MMC

by Avrumi Goldstein

About two decades ago, my grandfather, Professor Avraham Schwartzbaum z”l, was instrumental in establishing Maalot schools in various communities in America. He understood the importance of providing post-seminary girls with a program that would enable them to not only continue their Limudei Kodesh studies, but also have the opportunity to obtain degrees in higher education for the purpose of obtaining a career.

A few years ago, Rabbi Zvi Teichman, the Rav of Ohel Moshe in Baltimore, together with Mr. Jordan Wiener and Mr. Azi Rosenblum, two askanim in the Baltimore Jewish community, saw the need to provide post-high school yeshiva boys with the same opportunities. So together they joined forces, recruited Mrs. Cindy Ring as the registrar, and created Machon Mevakshei Chaim (MMC). The program began in

September 2012. In addition to Rabbi Teichman, the Limudei Kodesh staff includes a wonderful rebbe and noted author, Rabbi Boruch Leff.

The morning program goes from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The first two shiurim are given by Rabbi Leff, and include subjects like Megillas Esther, Mesilas Yesharim, Kisvei HaRav Dessler, and many other well-known sifrei mussar.

Rabbi Leff gives over a class in a way that gets everyone involved. If a guy has a question on anything, he feels comfortable asking it. No one worries about whether it’s a good question or not because Rabbi Leff makes everyone feel that his question is important. He is always looking to build a person up and always seems to have an answer that satisfies the person asking the question.

The final shiur is in gemara and is given

by Rabbi Teichman. His gemara shuir is very enjoyable and relaxed. Whether

you are a strong learner or a weak learner, everyone walks away knowing the gemara.

The students are then off in the afternoon during which time they either

work part-time or take online classes or attend classes at a local college for additional credits. The program resumes in the evening and the students take college classes. The classes go from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and are taught by a highly qualified staff of teachers. My friends and I not only enjoyed the classes, but we also came away really knowing the material.

The program is run behind the scenes by the registrar, Mrs. Ring. Mrs. Ring sits down with every student before he begins the program to find out which profession he would like to go into and which classes will best suit him. She then sets up a schedule for each person outlining for him which classes he will be taking and what he needs to do to complete the program. If anyone has a problem regarding their education, Mrs. Ring is the one to whom everyone turns.

She is there to make sure all the students are happy, and tries her best to accommodate students who need help. She is also always open to suggestions whether it be regarding a teacher you would like to have teach a class or a class you would like to take. Whenever you need advice on which career path to choose, Mrs. Ring is there for you.

I graduated from MMC in February 2014. During my time in the program, I developed a close and strong kesher to both Rabbi Teichman and Rabbi Leff.

The atmosphere in the program is just like a big family. Friendships are forged at MMC that last a lifetime. Everyone is very warm and caring to one another.

The stronger students help prepare the weaker students before exams. In addi-

tion, the teachers are always available for students when they need help with anything. I have such great memories of late-night study sessions preparing for mid-terms and finals. Also, on Chanukah, Rabbi Teichman hosts all the guys for a mesiba at his house. Some of the guys bring their guitars and other musical instruments. The singing and music is so beautiful. On Purim, Rabbi Leff has all the guys over for an incredible Purim mesiba with delicious food, and everyone always has a great time.

For me, the thing I cherish the most is my relationship with Rabbi Teichman.

There are no words to describe just how amazing he is. It is so easy to talk with him about anything. No topic is off-limits. He is such a loving and caring rebbe and always seems to have a solution that makes everyone happy. Upon graduating MMC, Rabbi Teichman asked me if I had anyone to learn with now that I am not in the program anymore and working full-time. When I told him I did not, he set up a learning seder with me every morning so that I can continue learning. My chavrusa with Rabbi Teichman is the highlight of my day. This really shows you the love and care the rebbeim have for the students in MMC. Even after one has completed the program, they are still involved in your life and continue to look out for you.

The past two years that I have been in MMC have been the best years of my life. I forged friendships with all the guys, and they are like brothers to me. The relationship I have with Rabbi Teichman and Rabbi Leff will last a lifetime, be”H. I know that they will always be there for me when I need them. Last but not least, I would like to thank Mr. Wiener and Mr. Rosenblum for creating this program. MMC has given me an incredible two years where I was able to not only earn my college degree, but most importantly, continue to learn and grow in Torah and become a better person, all the while creating friendships that will last forever.

For more information about Machon Mevakshei Chaim, please contact Mrs. Cindy Ring at 443-839-6576 or mmcmachon@gmail.com. Rabbi Teichman can be reached at 410-570-3333 or ravzt@hotmail.com.

Around the

Community

by Nadiv Sugarman

petitive game and was invented and first played in the late 60’s by Jewish high school students in Maplewood, NJ. It combines the non-stop movement and endurance of soccer with the passing skills of football. The game is played by two teams with a disc on a field, similar to football, with two end zones and boundary lines. The object of the game is to score by catching a pass in the opposite end zone.

A player must stop running while he possesses the disc, but may pivot (as is in basketball) and pass to a teammate on the field. When a pass is dropped, intercepted, or passed out of bounds, the disc is turned over to the other team.

Ultimate is typically organized at college levels as well as local pickup games. People of all skill levels and ages come together to enjoy a game of Ultimate. For many years, the Pikesville community has fostered many occasional pickup games at parks, schools, and in backyards. In the spring of 2010, Ultimate players from around the community established a weekly men’s Sunday morning pickup game at Wellwood. This pickup game became a great opportunity to meet other players

and improve individual skills. Towards the end of the 2013 Ultimate “season,” the players of the Sunday morning pickup game created PUDA (Pikesville Ultimate Disc Association) to help grow the game and share the joys of Ultimate with the entire Pikesville community.

On March 23rd, PUDA kicked off the 2014 season with a skills clinic with separate divisions for boys (12-and-under) and men (13-and-up) in partnership with the DC Current semi-pro team. Representatives from the Greater Pikesville Recreation Council, USA Ultimate, and Sports Boosters of Maryland attended and supported the development of the sport locally, under the auspices of PUDA. The clinic attracted over 35 players of different ages and experience levels. “The mission of the Sports Boosters of Maryland is to support local youth athletics,” said Jon Herbst, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sports Boosters of Maryland, Inc. and candidate for Baltimore County Council, 2nd District. “It’s no secret that Ultimate is one of the fastest growing and exciting sports in the nation. We are impressed with PUDA’s efforts to create new opportu-

nities to play and learn Ultimate right here in NW Baltimore.” In light of this success, PUDA will continue to focus on continuous improvement, and provide a welcoming portal for beginners to explore the sport.

If you are looking for a great, inexpensive workout, exciting plays, and positive competition that includes players of all ages and skill levels, come join us every Sunday morning.

The game starts at 9:00 AM and is held at a reserved, lined field at Pikesville Middle School. All you need to bring is some water and a positive attitude, and we guarantee that you will have a blast! We’ll also have a booth at the upcoming Community Block Party Day on June 8th at the Owings Mills JCC. A four-week summer youth clinic program for boys ages 8-12 is planned for four Tuesday evenings: June 10, 17, 24 and July 1.

All this information and more can be found at www.PUDA.moonfruit.com or by contacting nadav.singerman@ gmail.com.

MAY 29, 2014

A spinning disc soaring through the air is a common sight at beaches, parks, and other recreational areas.

Discs, often referred to as Frisbees®, are often enjoyed as a form of bonding and relaxation among friends and family. You might think, as I once did, that a relaxing and laid-back game of toss is the extent of the enjoyment that can be had from a spinning disc. I was surprised to find out that so much more is possible with just a disc, an open field, and a few cones.

Ultimate is a fast-paced and com-

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The Week 4 Killed in Belgium’s Jewish Museum

“This is once again, much like the savage murders in Toulouse, a clear example of where hate and anti-Semitism leads,” he said. “European governments must send out a clear message of zero tolerance towards any manifestation of anti-Semitism.”

Henry Goodman, president of the Jewish Community Center in Brussels, also drew a parallel with the attacks by a gunman in Toulouse, France, two years ago when a rabbi, three Jewish

children, and three French paratroopers were killed, saying it “must be the same logic.” He added, “They, whoever they are, are not going to close the community activities. Jewish people know what anti-Semitism means.

They are not going to silence us. ... We are going to survive and fight.”

Goodman told reporters he was “horrified” by what had happened Saturday. “We didn’t expect such a terrible act. Since we don’t know who

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Global

and said Belgium stands united with the Jewish community of 40,000. His office said he also called Netanyahu “to express the deep solidarity of Belgium with the Israeli population.”

Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, pointed out, “Attacks on Jewish targets in Europe do not exist in a vacuum, but are part and parcel of an overall climate of hate and incitement against Jewish communities.”

In News

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MAY 29, 2014

Tragedy struck this week when the Jewish Museum of Belgium was the attacked by a lone gunman. Three men and a woman lost their lives. Two of them were a middle-aged Israeli couple from Tel Aviv.

The shooter arrived by car at the museum in Central Brussels, entered, and quickly opened fire with an AK-47 before fleeing the scene, Belgian Interior Minister Joelle Milquet said. The shooter remains at large, and the nation’s terror alert level has been raised.

Authorities say their efforts at locating the gunman has been hampered because he was wearing a baseball cap.

Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Reynders, who was nearby when the shooting occurred, told reporters he saw the victims inside the museum, called the emergency services, and put witnesses in touch with police. “It seems that a car was double-parked and that a person went in and came out of the museum quickly after shots were fired,” Reynders said. One witness managed to see the license plate of the vehicle used in the attack.

“You can’t help thinking, when you see a Jewish museum, to think about an anti-Semitic act, but the investigation will tell more,” he said.

The person involved in the attack was carrying bags, and police were asked to look inside the museum to ensure that no devices were left behind, Reynders added.

Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo swiftly condemned the attack

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

MAY 29, 2014

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The Week has done it or the reason, we can only imagine that it is an act of pure anti-Semitism,” he said.

The Consistoire Central and the Coordinating Committee of Belgian Jewish Organizations have opened a crisis center, and community leaders are in direct and permanent contact with police, local authorities, and emergency services.

Amsterdam Returns Fines to Holocaust Survivors

Amsterdam is finally repaying some of its Jewish residents who had to flee from the Nazis in World War II and were forced to pay overdue taxes if they were lucky enough to return.

The compensation will include all of the late fees that the taxpayers were charged during their time in concentration camps.

The city council said in a statement that it will repay survivors or their families 820,000 euros ($1.1 million). It plans a wider investigation into unfair postwar charges.

Mayor Eberhard van der Laan said, “With the eyes of today, but also with the eyes of then, the city levying fines on war victims was formalistic and inappropriate.”

A student, Charlotte van den Berg, found documentary evidence of the abusive practices in 2011 in city archives. Letters from Holocaust survivors complained that the city was charging them for property seized after their deportation to Nazi concentration camps.

In News Japan Takes the Day Off

Japan’s workers are so overworked and stressed the country is practically forcing them to take off. The Japanese government has created a 16th national holiday, called Mountain Day, scheduled for August 11. The holiday, which officially recognizes the country’s beautiful mountainous regions, is ostensibly a way to make sure the already overworked population takes a day off. In the U.S., there are only ten national holidays, but the average

worker takes another 10 out of 14 paid vacation days. In Japan, workers take an average of 8.6 days off a year. “In Japan, there is of course paid vacation, but people don’t take it,” Seishiro Eto, a member of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, which led support for the new holiday, said. “I hope with Mountain Day, people will be able to take more of their vacation.”

In fact, Japan as a country is so overworked, they have a word there that describes the stressful condition brought on by the trauma: karoshi, which literally means “death from overwork.” A 2012 Pulitzer Foundation investigation concluded that “with the recession of the 1990s, many Japanese companies departed from the tradition of lifetime employment and went through massive layoffs, replacing costly full-time workers with lowpaid temporary workers who have no benefits or job security. As a result, salarymen increasingly work longer hours because of a shortage of manpower and the fear of losing jobs.”

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The Week dition for productivity? In France, a county well-known for its relaxed working attitude and generous mandatory vacation policies, the worker productivity ranks among the highest worldwide. “When you have a longer working day, at some point because you’re becoming tired, it decreases your productivity,” French economist Renaud Bourlès pointed out to Businessweek.

But mandatory vacation may not be an answer for the workingman’s blues. For one, national holidays just mean congested roadways and high airline ticket prices for most people. I guess the only solution is to work like the French. I’ll drink to that!

World’s Former Heaviest Man Dies On Monday, the man who was the world’s heaviest person at one point died at the age of 48. Manuel Uribe once weighed a whopping 1,230 pounds, certified in 2006 as a Guinness World Record. He had slimmed down to about 867 pounds since then.

Uribe, a resident of Mexico, was confined to his bed for years, unable to walk on his own. He was taken to the hospital by crane on May 2.

Uribe’s weight gain wasn’t just a recent thing. He was chubby as a child, weighing 250 pounds as an adolescent. Unfortunately, his weight prevented him from partaking in many activities we take for granted. Since 2002, Uribe had been bedridden. His mother and friends took turns feeding and cleaning him.

Karzai Says No to Meeting Obama

On Sunday, President Obama arrived at Bagram Air Base outside of Kabul in a surprise visit before Memorial Day. Afghan President Hamid Karzai was offered a meeting with the president, but declined to meet with him.

U.S. authorities said they were not surprised by his refusal to meet with the American leader. “As we said, we weren’t planning for a bilateral meeting with President Karzai or a trip to the palace, as this trip is focused on thanking our troops,” an official said.

“We did offer him the opportunity to come to Bagram, but we’re not surprised that it didn’t work on short notice. The president will likely be speaking by phone with President Karzai in the days to come, and also looks forward to working with Afghanistan’s next president after the election is complete.”

Obama and Karzai are not best of friends and have a rocky relationship.

Washington has been deeply frustrated by the outgoing Afghan leader’s refusal to sign a bilateral security agreement that would allow it to lock in a post-2014 US troop training mission in the country.

Terrorist Killed By His Own Bomb A member of a well-known terrorist group was killed this week when planting a bomb. Security officials in El-Arish, Egypt, say the would-be bomber was planting a roadside bomb when it detonated prematurely. The explosion took place in the restive Sinai Peninsula.

The bomber’s father lost an arm as well. Both men are members of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which has been blamed for some of the bloodiest attacks in Egypt in recent years. Their assaults increased dramatically after the overthrow of the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last July.

The two terrorists were trying to plant the bomb on a road frequently used by the army.

In News Israel Hizzoner Honored in Jerusalem Former NYC mayor and billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg was awarded the first Genesis Prize in Jerusalem last week. The prize, endowed by the Genesis Philanthropic Group, awards the world’s leading contributor to Jewish values with respect to philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, preserving human rights, and generally improving the world through innovation and compassion.

“The Genesis Award is being called the Jewish Nobel Prize,” comedian Jay Leno noted, as Bloomberg and Prime Minister Netanyahu sat side by side a few rows away in the Jerusalem Theater. “That’s news to me – I thought the Nobel Prize was the Jewish prize. I mean, who else wins it?” he quipped.

Leno, who hosted the event, then asked, “Did you hear Ehud Olmert’s defense strategy? He said he blamed it all on the Jews… I was stunned by how many Israeli politicians have gone to prison. When you ask a former politician here what his cell number is, it takes on a whole new meaning.” One of the biggest laughs of the night came when Leno took aim at Barack Obama, noting that he “describes America’s bond with Israel as unbreakable, because he’s been trying to break it for five years.”

In another jab against the U.S. administration, 64-year-old Leno said that according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the most popular name for a child in Israel is Noam. “The least popular?” he asked. “John Kerry.”

After introducing his “Israeli pen pal” and “new best friend” Netanyahu, the prime minister took the stage to honor Bloomberg, whom he described as an “exceptional man.”

Eschewing hot-button political topics, Netanyahu focused on the enduring nature of Jewish tradition, values, and thirst for knowledge and innovation, while drawing parallels to Bloomberg’s many accomplishments.

“We cherish our heritage, but are always seeking new things,” he said.

“I think that’s what the State of Israel is about, and I think the world marvels at that… Michael has revolutionized an industry, opened vast quantities of information, and placed one of the most challenging cities in the world on solid footing,” the prime minister said proudly.

Netanyahu continued, “Like Michael, we have taken giant risks and shown the world what chutzpah is…

He is a man with the ability to identify solutions, and before that, the problem. Thank you for making this a better world.”

Bloomberg said he would use the million-dollar prize to fund the “Genesis Generation Challenge,” an inaugural global competition to find the “next big idea and invest in it to ensure the next generation of Jews will be inspired.”

While contestants for the new prize do not have to be Jewish, President of the Genesis Prize Foundation Wayne Firestone noted that the winning project must embody Jewish values and contribute to areas that environmentalism, public health, and other social entrepreneurial endeavors.

Bloomberg told the audience, “G-d put us on the earth to take care of others, and it’s important not to talk about it, but to do it.”

Kids Strike Gold

Talk about a wealth of education!

Sixteen gold and eight silver medallions with Arabic inscriptions were unearthed by a group of fifth graders from the Ramat Korazim School in northern Israel on a class archeological dig at the Korari National Park.

The treasures are assumed to be from the Ottoman era.

“We hope the find that was uncovered on the first day of excavations will be a harbinger of more interest-

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The Week ing and historically valuable finds that will spill more light on the past of the Korazim town,” said Dr. Yossi Bordovitz, an archaeologist employed by the Parks Authority.

“The young archaeologists of the Ramat Korazim dug excitedly — at the moment the medallions were discovered, the excitement was great,” he described.

Korazim is an ancient town, located just north of the Sea of Galilee. The Talmud mentions the site as producing fine wheat. Remnants of a shul and a mikvah have already been uncovered at the site.

try’s largest food company, has announced that it will be selling 56 percent of their company to Bright Food Group, which is owned by the Chinese government.

Jordan Releases 2 Israelis Held on Suspicion

According to the deal, Bright Food will make the purchase via British private equity house Apax Partners.

Although the agreed-upon price is undisclosed, Tnuva is reportedly valued at 8.6 billion shekels, or $2.5 billion.

The deal, one of the largest in the history of the Israeli market, will give Bright Food access to Israel’s technologically advanced dairy production.

Tnuva earned more 7.17 billion shekels, or $2.05 billion, in 2013.

“Israel is a country with highly developed agriculture and animal husbandry techniques. Tnuva, as Israel’s largest food company, has a long history and various products and large market share,” a Bright Food spokesman said.

Two Israelis and a man from Britain were released last week at the Jordan-Israel border. The men had been held in Jordan for four days on suspicion of fraud and counterfeiting currency charges.

The three men “were released and deported to their countries,” said a Jordanian official to the press. “They were interrogated, and the authorities got the necessary information from them,” he said, refusing to give any other details.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli foreign ministry said that they were aware that two Israelis had been arrested, but gave no further details. Jordan and Israel have a peace treaty agreement that has been active since 1994.

Tnuva Sells Major Stake to Chinese Israeli dairy firm Tnuva, the coun-

In News vorite among car thieves, leading a list of the 10 most stolen and recovered vehicles for 2013.

According to a list released by LoJack Corp, the Honda Civic, Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla and Chevrolet Silverado were the next most popular stolen cars. Rounding out the top 10 for 2013 were the Acura Integra, Cadillac Escalade, Ford F350, Nissan Altima and Chevrolet Tahoe. (It’s interesting to note that the Integra was last available in the U.S. as a sedan or coupe in 2001. Where are these thieves getting them from?)

But it’s not just about type of car you have that makes you vulnerable to car theft. Residents of California had the most thefts and recoveries in 2013.

(Guess they should have just surfed to work.) Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Arizona, Georgia and Washington were the next most popular places for thieves to pilfer vehicles.

Wherever you live, if you want to hold onto your vehicle, you’ll be best off staying far away from black colored cars. Buy a turquoise one instead. No joke.

You’ve Got Mail, But Not at Your Door

leave their homes would be able to get waivers. And if you don’t think that you will be able to manage the change, you could pay extra for door delivery.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., mentioned that this project “provides an interim opportunity to achieve some significant cost savings.” Apparently, door delivery costs $380 annually per address compared with $240 for curbside and $170 for centralized methods.

Democrats objected to the plan. “I think it’s a lousy idea,” Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., said.

Other lawmakers raised concerns that in urban areas there is no place on streets to put banks of “cluster boxes” with separate compartments for each address.

Issa pointed out that communal boxes offer a safe locked location for packages, eliminating the need for carriers to leave packages on porches and subject to theft and inclement weather conditions.

The postal service reported a $1.9 billion loss for the first three months this year despite continued cost-cutting, a 2.3 percent rise in operating revenue, and increased employee productivity.

Work Perks

National Car Thieves Love Accords

If you’ve ever stolen a Honda Accord, you’re not alone. It seems that this cute car seems to attract thieves like bees to a hive. For the fifth year in a row, the Honda Accord is the fa-

On Wednesday, the Republican-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved a bill to direct the U.S. Postal Service to convert 15 million addresses over the next decade from door delivery to communal or curbside boxes.

Although this method will be less convenient for residents, it is less costly for USPS. Converting to communal or curbside delivery could save $2 billion annually. Thankfully, individuals with disabilities who are unable to

Want to whistle while you work and bring home a nice paycheck?

Forbes has compiled a list of America’s best companies for compensation and benefits. Turns out that happiness 9 to 5 is not as elusive as we may think.

The top company to work for in the U.S. according to this list is…Google.

Well, I’d be happy to with free all-day meals that serve employees dishes like porcini-encrusted grass-fed beef and

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The Week parmesan creamed onions. Yum. Can I have seconds?

That’s not all that Google workers enjoy. In addition to fat paychecks, the company offers free buses that pick up employees around the Bay Area for work. If you don’t like mass transit, the company also offers bikes to commute around campus and even a fleet of electric cars for certain work outings. Healthy insurance is amazing and even more than that, if someone should pass on, their spouses get 50% of their salary for the next decade and any children receive $1,000 a month until they reach 19, or 23 if the child is a fulltime student. But Google wants their employees happy and healthy. There are the on-site doctors, physical therapists and chiropractors, smoking cessation programs, cooking classes.

Do you like shopping at Costco?

Well, it seems that Costco’s workers really like working there. Part-time employees are offered full insurance benefits, and cashier assistants, entry level employees who bag items and check prices, make $11.75 an hour; front-end cashiers, who handle check out, start at $16.07. No surprise that it’s number 2 on the list.

Facebook is number 3 on the list and their employees really feel like they’re all “friends.” With these perks, they are certainly sure to “like” going to work. According to spokesperson Slater Tow, Facebook offers: “Three free meals a day – and our campus includes two main cafes, a BBQ shack, a salad bar, a noodle bar, a hamburger stand, and others (yesterday we even had our annual luau), 100% paid health insurance, four weeks vacation per year, on-site, free dry-cleaning and laundry service, annual game day, where we take a day off of work to go outside and play games as a company, new parent benefits that include $4,000 in cash for each new baby, four months of paid leave for parents of either gender and subsidized daycare.”

Wow! Can I submit my resume?

Adobe, Epic, Intuit, USAA, Chevron, Salesforce.com, and Monsanto all rounded out the top ten places for compensation and perks for employees to work in the U.S. Keep smiling!

In News

A Piece of Fahrenheit

uated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money.

I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years,” he once said.

Although there is talk of a group of collectors buying the home in order to preserve it, the LA home market is so hot that such an outcome is unlikely.

If only a group of Martians would be able to move in.

The late eccentric science fiction author Ray Bradbury’s house is up for sale for $1.5 million. The three bedroom, three bath home on the Westside of Los Angeles may be stripped of all the Fahrenheit 451 and Dandelion Wine’s author’s personal effects, but his imprint on the abode is indelible.

The split level house still has a worn out grab-bar that helped support the 91-year-old’s hefty frame built into the wall, and the refrigerator handle remains soiled from all his late night binges. Of course, the house’s exterior is painted a cheery dandelion-yellow.

Upstairs in the house, there are countless shelves which held everything from stuffed animals, books, “golf balls, bird nests, [and] bits of iron from the demolished railroad tracks,” according to his friend Bill Goodwin. The walk-in shower even contains shelves as does the basement, where Bradbury did most of his writing.

Interestingly, Bradbury used to credit an event that took place in 1932, when he was just a young boy, for his love of reading and writing. During a visit to the carnival with his mother, an entertainer, Mr. Electrico, touched the young Ray on his nose with an electrified sword, made his hair stand on end, and shouted, “Live forever!”

Years later, Bradbury remarked, “I felt that something strange and wonderful had happened to me because of my encounter with Mr. Electrico...[he] gave me a future...I began to write, fulltime. I have written every single day of my life since that day 69 years ago.”

The author never attended college and was a big supporter of libraries.

“Libraries raised me. I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I grad-

eBay Site Hacked

Last week, eBay Inc. confessed that their network was hacked. Hackers gained access to 145 million users’ records three months ago. The company said that the breach was detected in early May, and security experts and law enforcement officials were immediately brought in to investigate.

The records that were obtained included passwords as well as email addresses, birth dates, mailing addresses, and other personal information; thankfully, credit card numbers or other personal financial information was not released.

This is being considered one of the biggest data breaches in history, based on the number of accounts compromised. Customers were strongly advised to change passwords instantly and to be on the alert for fraud, especially if they are in the habit of using the same passwords for other accounts.

“People need to stop reusing passwords and should change their affected passwords immediately across all the sites where they are used,” advised Trey Ford, global security strategist with cybersecurity firm Rapid7.

The Twist is Out The tourists have done it! In an ironic “twist,” the San Francisco MTA is shutting down the famously crook-

ed Lombard Street, a longtime tourist attraction in the city, during weekends in the summer because of the amount of congestion caused by sightseers. An average of 2,000 vehicles generally descends the street on weekend days.

The closure will not affect residents of the area.

The street, which has eight hairpin turns, has been the subject of complaints by residents because of gridlock caused by posing tourists. “This will be a test to improve the safety for residents, pedestrians and motorists in the area,” MTA spokesman Paul Rose said. “There are often a lot of people who come to either take pictures or drive down the street and it can cause lengthy delays.”

Tourist Dylan Giordano, 21, of Los Angeles, agreed. “It’s an insane amount of traffic and it must be difficult and obnoxious for the wealthy residents who live here and can’t even get into their own driveway.”

Those crooked tourists!

He Knows the World by Heart

Akhil Rekulapelli is only 13-yearsold, but he has a solid plan for his future. He wants to attend Stanford University for medicine and one day become a surgeon. But for now, Akhil is happy to travel the world. Actually, much of his traveling has been done in his head; he is now the first place winner of the National Geographic Bee. Rekulapelli, who placed fourth last year, was named the champion out of nine other finalists last Wednesday.

“I probably want to be the head of a department at a hospital, try to grad-

The Week

oil fracking. “It’s a challenge to continue to provide services to the rising population when you’re competing with the same workforce and labor that the oil field is. So that means that the municipalities have to adjust their pay scale ... to try to attract the labor,” said Richard Morton, Odessa’s city manager. “We’re growing, but we’re not growing fast enough.”

San Marcos, TX, the number one fastest growing city in the nation, was right on track in keeping up with the population surge. According to Mayor Daniel Guerrero, the city had enough money socked away to feed the boom, but then the Great Recession hit and all development had to come to a grinding halt. Now, it is forced to pick up in the middle of all the projects that were left abandoned a few years ago.

“So throughout San Marcos you see a

Big and Bigger in Texas

Dakota’s Da Place to Live New programs begin October 2014

I’m in a New York state of mind… try North Dakota. According to Gallup’s new well-being index, there’s a lot that goes into having a positive outlook, including physical and emotional health, along with work opportunities—even one’s gleaming incisors. So while cities like San Jose and San Francisco may rank high on the well-being index because they are host to quite a few billionaires, the rest

Everything may be big in Texas, but in some fast growing cities there, things don’t seem to be big enough.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Lone Star State is home to 3 out of the country’s 5 fastest growing cities and 7 of the top 15. The explosive growth has been the product of a recent oil boom. And while people are flocking to Texas, developers are having a hard time keeping up with the demand for homes and infrastructure, such as roads and schools.

In Odessa, TX, the eleventh fastest growing U.S. city, for example, the school system is bursting at the seams and the water supply is stretched thin after a recent drought. The city has benefitted from high salaries and work opportunities that came about through

multitude of construction,” Guerrero said.

I guess there’s a reason they call us the Supersized Nation.

NY Living Comes at a Price

MAY 29, 2014

of the state of California does not fare as well.

“Colorado, for example, is always at or near the best in the nation for the lowest obesity rate,” reports Gallup.

“Utah has the fewest smokers. Massachusetts has boasted the highest level of residents with health insurance all six years. New Jersey has the lowest levels of depression. [Say what?!] And Vermont rules America every year in produce consumption.”

But it’s Middle America that’s got the best overall outlook. Montanans have incredibly low obesity rates and tremendous job satisfaction; Minnesotans are a bundle of energy and are very good to their teeth (seriously); Nebraskans, while not being so keen on exercise, are very “well rested”; and the Dakotas love their jobs, have great healthcare and have the fewest headaches in the U.S., making those states the highest ranked on the well-being index.

The dourest of all states? West Virginia. I guess cheap beer and cigarettes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

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THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

uate at the top of my class, but I think, right now, this is probably the biggest accomplishment I’ll ever achieve in probably 20, 30 years,” said Akhil, an eighth grader from Sterling, Virginia.

“It’ll be a while.”

Akhil was rewarded with a $50,000 scholarship, a trip to the Galapagos Islands with his family, and a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society. The winning scholarship was doubled from last year thanks to a donation from “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, who stepped down a year ago as host of the bee. Broadcast journalist Soledad O’Brien hosted this year’s competition.

“Definitely felt a lot of pressure,” the teenager said. “I’ve done something I’ve been wanting to do my whole entire life, and I’m so happy it’s actually come to reality now.”

So what was the question that declared him the winner? Here’s one for you to figure out: what African country is building a new capital called Oyala in the rain forest, 65 miles east of Bata? If you’ve guessed Equatorial Guinea, you got it right.

Well, Akhil, can you now tell us where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

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THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

MAY 29, 2014

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The Week Cities that are chockfull of amenities come at a high price. Kiplinger’s has compiled a list based on the research of the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) of the most expensive cities to live in the U.S. These cities generally offer great social settings, excellent jobs and diverse communities. Still, says Dean Frutiger of C2ER, whether you would be willing to pay the high cost of living in certain areas is a “highly subjective question.”

The city with the highest cost of living is, of course, New York. The median home value is over a half million dollars and the average cost of living is a whopping 120% above the U.S. average. All that money for all that congestion and pollution. After NYC is Honolulu, where the cost of Tiki Bars and palm trees is 60% above the rest of the country. Gas costs 20% more in Hawaii and even eggs carry an 80% premium. But that shouldn’t matter to you if you’re busy catching some waves. Aside from having to live near slimy politicians, Washington, D.C., also has a cost of living that is higher than 40% of the US. Then there’s California where everywhere, from top to bottom, Oakland to Los Angeles, San Francisco to San Diego, is just pricey to live. That may be because of the robust job markets in those cities, as well as the high housing prices there.

That sounds like California dreamin’…I mean California nightmares.

That’s Odd Pack ‘n’ Pay

As if sleep away camp isn’t expensive enough, the New York Post’s Tara

Palmeri reports that parents are hiring pros to pack their children’s suitcases.

Well-paid organizational consultants are inundated by calls from mothers who want to make sure their children will be just as comfortable at camp as they are at home.

While sending plastic bins and drawers to camp is not new, hiring someone to pack it certainly is. And some mothers have requested that the packers help parents recreate their child’s room so that the little camper won’t feel homesick.

The consultants make sure to order all the right linen and accouterments for clients—like scented candles and special soaps—and are paid $250 per hour for services. On average, each suitcase needs three to four hours of packing time. Yes, that’s right—$1,000 to pack one suitcase.

And note the timing of this article: yes, some little campers have suitcases are all ready to go—two months in advance.

Rescuer Reunited In a heartwarming story, an Illinois Good Samaritan who rescued an abandoned newborn from a cemetery surprised her once again by stopping in on her graduation at Charleston High School in Charleston, Illinois.

In 1995, Charlie Heflin found a blood-covered newborn, still attached to its umbilical cord and clinging to life, lying in a graveyard. The infant, Skyler James, was adopted by a local family five days later and always wanted to meet the man who gave her a chance to live and hear his version of the miraculous events surrounding her birth. Skyler’s adoptive mother, Bonnie, spent years searching for Skyler’s rescuer and finally found Heflin on Facebook just weeks before Skyler’s graduation.

At the tearful graduation/reunion, Heflin shared newspaper clippings and photographs of when the two first met, and even gave Skyler the leather jacket he was wearing the night he found her. “They took me over to Charlie and he introduced himself to me and told me the whole story again,” Skyler said. “I was totally shocked. It’s something that I’ve dreamed of since I was

In News a little kid, and it’s amazing.”

Heflin says that Skyler’s story was the inspiration for the Illinois “safe haven” law, which allows unwilling parents to abandon their infants at fire and police stations.

Sinking Fast

In a million dollar disaster, an 85foot yacht capsized into the water as it prepared to launch on its maiden voyage. Six people were aboard the Northern Marine Industries boat in Anacortes, Alaska, as the boat tipped over; none were hurt.

As the boat began to roll forward, several crew members ran to the engine room to adjust the ballast, but the room soon filled with water. Five people were able to escape immediately.

One, who was trapped, was rescued a short while later. Thankfully, none of the 120 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from the boat.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Jordan Akiyama said, “I’m just happy to be on the ground.” An incident management team is looking into the incident.

Rolling in the deep.

Oldest Cat in the Book

Old people certainly can be catty, but there’s a cat in Bournemouth, England, that’s vying for the top spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for oldest living person (except she’s a cat). Poppy, a 24-year-old tortoiseshell

puss, is 114-years-old in human years, just one year younger than Misao Okawa of Japan, the oldest person in the world.

Blind and deaf, Poppy spends most of her wizened time indoors in the house of her owner, Jacqui West, who brought her from her mother’s house after getting married fourteen years ago. She is the boss of a house that includes two boys, four other cats, a rabbit and a hamster.

Last year, after the death of Pinky, a 23-year-old cat from Kansas, Poppy claimed the title of “Longest Living Cat” in the Guinness Book of World Records. Craig Glenday, Guinness World Records editor-in-chief, said: “We’ve been overwhelmed with claims for the ‘oldest living cat,’ with owners from across the globe making applications on behalf of their cats. Today, though, I’m pleased to confirm that we’re recognizing Poppy from Bournemouth in the UK as the world’s oldest living cat, at the age of 24 years. If anyone thinks their cat beats this, and can prove it, then we’d encourage them to get in touch with us.” The oldest cat to ever live was Crème Puff, a 38-yearold from Austin, TX. Meow.

Says owner Jacqui West, “She can get up the stairs but we won’t let her walk down. Over the last yea,r her health has gone down and we know the end is near. We knew she is old but to be officially recognized is just great.

We are all chuffed for her. I think all old cats deserve recognition of their achievement.”

She continued, “As a family, we are so pleased that she is still with us as well. There have been times in this last year when her health has declined and I’ve thought it was the end on several occasions but then she recovers and carries on. Poppy does seem to be out-living all our other pets too. We unfortunately had a hamster and bunny die on us last year. Each time we tell the grandparents we’ve lost an animal, they all assume it’s Poppy. I’ve said goodbye to her a few times but she keeps on going.” Seems like she has more than nine lives.

So what’s the secret to her longevity? As with all mammals, diet and exercise: “People always ask what we put Poppy’s longevity down to and I guess she has a good diet and lots of exercise.

She keeps herself fit by walking around and she eats a lot. She has biscuits in the morning and tinned food later on.

The Week

A Pie in the Sky

Pretty in Pink Parking That’s not chauvinistic at all! The city of Seoul is spending over $100 million in initiatives aimed at women, including 7,000 female restrooms throughout the city and sidewalks made

Some South Koreans are supportive of the plan, noting that the spots’ proximity to elevators and escalators at malls is a positive touch. Whether or not male drivers with poor parking skills will be fined for using the spots is unclear.

Any plans for newly-licensed teenager spots?

Hunting for Cash

Want $100? Start searching.

A millionaire with cash to burn is playing hide and seek with strangers in the San Francisco Bay Area. The anonymous man, who is a successful real estate investor, is hiding envelopes stuffed with greenbacks across town, waiting for people to find his hidden treasure.

“People complain that the price of real estate here is pretty high and I have benefited from that,” he told ABC

News. “I wanted to do something fun for the city of San Francisco, something that would get people excited.”

Luckily, the cash isn’t hidden in random places. The donor has set up a treasure hunt by posting clues about his hiding places on Twitter. He had given away nearly $4,000 in just four days— and lucky for us, he plans on heading to New York and Los Angeles soon.

The happy finders of the cash have posted their smiling countenances on social media. Some have found their stash taped to ATMS, on parking meters or under benches.

Richard Rodriguez was one of the lucky ones. He raced to a street in San Francisco’s Mission district on Sunday seconds after the Twitter account gave a hint the cash would be hidden on a parking meter there. “It’s about 10 blocks from us, so we did a power walk down there,” he said. “When we got to the parking meter it wasn’t there and we thought, ‘Wow, how could anyone have gotten here so fast? Then a guy was driving by and threw an envelope out the window. I guess he didn’t even have

a chance to drop it off!”

Inside the envelope was $66 in cash and a lottery ticket Rodriguez cashed in for $5.

“The money was great but it was also so much fun doing something like this. It was a scavenger hunt,” he said.

“It’s not a lot of money. It’s not going to change your life. But the camaraderie it brings out in people is a lot of fun,” he added.

“You’re usually feeding them but today they’re feeding you” was the clue that led Sergio Loza to a parking meter that held the cash. “It’s like a riddle,” he said.

“I’m giving right now about a thousand a day,” the very private— and fun—philanthropist said. “For me, that’s definitely manageable. I know that for most people it’s more than they earn, but I’m in the top 1 percent. I can keep doing this.”

If he’s looking for more clues, I’ll gladly give him my address.

MAY 29, 2014

Mama Mia! Soon you may not have to wait for the pizza delivery guy to putter up to your front door with your already cold order. A pizza chain in Mumbai has done something that only Amazon.com had previously ventured toward: a delivery drone. The drone flew at speeds of 30 km per hour from the pizza outlet to an apartment building 3 km away before it dropped a half kilo, 13-inch Margherita pie onto the 21st floor roof. Whether the pizza arrived more intact than a Domino’s pie is unknown. The entire delivery took less than 10 minutes; the average manual delivery takes 30.

The CEO of the unnamed chain said that he had his auto engineer friend design the custom made robot for his business. In India, however, regulations do not permit the sale of goods via commercial drones. The pizza delivery was made to a friend of the CEO’s, and thus was not a sale, but the CEO insists that his company will be at the forefront of drone deliveries when his country’s regulations are modified to allow drones. “While the technology exists, we cannot use it commercially at present,” a company official said.

Watch your rooftops!

from spongey materials which are easier for high heel wearers to walk on. That all sounds very gracious, almost chivalrous, to most people, except when they hear of the other special initiative targeted at women: female parking spots.

The spots, dubbed “she-spots” are wider and, better lit and not located near concrete pillars, in a silent testament to women’s parking abilities. They are outlined in pink and feature a pink skirted outline to mark their special status.

One Twitter user wrote: “‘Really?

What century is it in?” In Triberg, Germany, a similar plan was scrapped a few years ago. Triberg Mayor Gallus Strobel said he was accused of “male pigheadedness.”

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

She’s never been a big cat, though.

She is partial to the odd takeaway. We sometimes give her a bit of KFC chicken, fish and chips and even the odd bit of kebab meat.”

Feisty feline.

In News

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MAY 29, 2014

30

The Week

In News

Acheinu Kiruv Conference Inspires Mesikus Hatorah HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, Shlita, and HaGaon HaRav Shalom Cohen, Shlita, Present Keynote Session

By Chaim Gold

“Mesikus haTorah cannot be transmitted without understanding the importance of Torah. One develops a taste for the Torah’s sweetness when he understands its importance,” said HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Slabodka, a prominent talmid of HaGaon HaRav Aharon Kotler, at the Acheinu Kiruv Conference in Yerushalayim. “The primary vehicle for this is personal example. Seeing how important Torah is to one’s Rebbe, the talmid recognizes its sweetness.”

Hundreds of Roshei Yeshiva, rabbanim, and kiruv activists participated in the conference focusing on kiruv rechokim and kiruv kerovim, and cultivating that sweetness. Aside from Rav Hirsch, who gave the inspiring keynote session, the other speakers at the conference were HaGaon HaRav Shalom Cohen, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Porat Yosef, and Nasi of Shas’s Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah, as well as the Nasi of Dirshu and founder of Acheinu, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, shlita.

“His Eyes Lit Up at the Word Torah!”

Rav Hirsch quoted HaGaon HaRav Yitzchok Hutner, who once said that whenever he spoke with Rav Aharon Kotler, he would steer the conversation so that Rav Aharon would say the word “Torah.” “His eyes would light up! It was clear he was talking about the greatest treasure! I would feel my love of Torah increase and my chashivus for Torah transformed. Rav Aharon’s own chashivus for Torah transmitted the Torah’s sweetness.”

Targeted Roundtable Discussions Chaired by Expert Rabbanim An important innovation at the Acheinu Kiruv Conference was the 30 concurrent roundtable discussions on issues that mechanchim and mekarvim face today, consisting of rabbinic authorities and kiruv professionals. These roundtable discussions dealt with bochurim who have been orphaned of a parent, the transition from a baal teshuvah yeshiva to a mainstream yeshiva, and the transition from yeshiva ketana to yeshiva gedolah. Among the

mechanchim and rabbinic leaders were HaGeonim Rav Chizkiyahu Yosef Mishkofsky, shlita, of Yeshiva Orchos Torah, and talmid muvhak of Rav Aharon Leib Shteiman, shlita; Rav Binyamin Finkel, shlita, Mashgiach in Mir Yerushalayim; Rav Yisroel Gans, senior R”M at Yeshiva Kol Torah, and posek of the Mattersdorf neighborhood of Yerushalayim; and many others.

Pre-Conference Guidance from Gedolei Hador Before the conference, Rav Dovid

Shas’s Nasi of the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah. Rav Cohen, who has expressed his admiration for Acheinu’s activities in the Sephardic and Ashkenazi communities, spoke about the imperative of a rebbi or mentor creating a bond with each talmid. “A talmid who feels his rebbi or mentor loves him like a father will accept guidance. That is how Torah and yiras shamayim are transmitted.”

“The Gemara says the world exists in the merit of the Torah of children. We must ensure that the world continues to

Hofstedter and senior Acheinu members visited gedolei hador, who offered enthusiasm and advice. HaGaon HaRav Shteinman said, “The more one learns Torah, the sweeter it becomes. Those involved in kiruv should teach as much Torah as possible.” HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky smiled and seemed to almost not understand the question! “All you must do is open a sefer and learn to see how sweet it is!” Senior Ponovezh Rosh Yeshiva, HaGaon HaRav Gershon Edelstein, added the importance of davening with fervor in birchas haTorah when saying: “Please sweeten the words of Torah in our mouths and our children’s mouths.”

The Critical Ingredient: Loving a Talmid Like a Son A Conference highlight was the keynote session presence of the senior Sephardic gadol, HaGaon HaRav Shalom Cohen, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Porat Yosef, newly appointed successor to HaGaon HaRav Ovadiah Yosef zt”l as

exist because of our children’s Torah.

The only way they will learn properly is if they feel their rebbi truly cares about them. Everyone who teaches Torah must do so in a way that his talmidim can learn from his example, thereby sustaining the world.”

“The Rebbi Himself Must Possess Mesikus HaTorah and Ahavas HaTorah” Acheinu’s founder, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, noted that the sweetness of Torah comes after investing great effort into learning. Without ameilus, it is virtually impossible to achieve mesikus haTorah.

To inculcate mesikus haTorah, one must himself toil in Torah. One must himself possess mesikus HaTorah and Ahavas HaTorah to impart these.”

A Dream Come True A moving siyum haShas by alumni to mark Acheinu’s 20th anniversary was a dream come true for Rav Hofstedter.

The greatest nachas, he often remarks, is to see alumni so attached to Torah that

they complete entire masechtot and take Dirshu tests!

Acheinu’s Executive Director, Rabbi Shlomo Fisherowitz, remarked, “It was moving to see a multitude of tables with rebbeim and avreichem representing the cross-section of Jewry, joining to bring today’s youth closer to Hashem. It is a zechut to be part of a movement whose transforming kiruv produces b’nei Torah!”

Acheinu’s Yeshiva L’Tze’irim “Yom Shekulo Torah” for Parents and Students Acheinu’s Yeshiva L’Tze’irim in Modiin Illit has put countless young men on the path to greatness. Its recent “Yom Shekulo Torah,” where parents learn with their sons, opened with a siyum on Masechet Megilah by the talmidim. HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Amar, former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, addressed them, “The true bond between father and son is forged through learning Torah together.”

Fathers learning with their sons gained a newfound appreciation for their budding talmidei chachamim. Rav Zev Hofstedter, Rosh HaYeshiva, said, “Parents were amazed to see their sons progress in midos and Torah.

HaGaon HaRav Asher Arielli, Shlita, Tests Acheinu Yeshiva Talmidim Students of the Acheinu Yeshiva Hakedosha in Yerushalayim for baalei teshuvah with no learning background recently completed the entire Masechet Bava Metzia!

The Gaon, HaRav Asher Arielli, senior R”M at Yeshivat Mir, came to test them and praise them for their significant accomplishment. “Talmidim who began learning a year or two ago speak in learning just like those who learned all their lives. One sees how happy they are, and how much they love Torah and Hashem!”

Rabbi Ariel Elbaz, a R”M at the yeshiva, said, “We stay with each bachur, tapping into his strengths. That is how, with great siyatta d’Shmaya, they completed the entire masechta!” `

31 THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

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In the Kitchen

SP

Say Cheese!

INGREDIENTS WARM MOZZARELLA STICKS

3 russet potatoes, cut into 8 long wedges 2 TBS olive oil 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 ½ tsp dried thyme flakes ½ cup grated Parmesan Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste 2 TBS chopped parsley leaves, for garnish

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly oil a baking sheet with olive oil and place potatoes in a single layer. Add olive oil, garlic, thyme, and Parmesan; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Gently toss to combine.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and crisp, tossing occasionally. Serve warm, garnished with parsley, if desired.

PREPARATION

Slice string cheese pieces in half, for a total of 32 pieces. Place flour in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and milk. In another bowl, combine panko bread crumbs with parsley flakes.

One by one, roll mozzarella sticks in flour, then dunk in egg/milk mixture, then place in panko crumbs.

Make sure the whole mozzarella stick is covered in crumbs. Place tray in freezer for 20 to 30 minutes to flash freeze.

Heat 1 ½ inches of canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add mozzarella sticks 8 at a time. Watch closely and turn over to evenly brown, cooking less than 2 minutes. Do not allow cheese to bubble and leak.

Remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Serve immediately with warm marinara sauce.

GARLIC PARMESAN FRIES

MAY 29, 2014

INGREDIENTS

16 pieces string cheese ½ cups flour 2 eggs 3 TBS milk 1 TBS dried parsley flakes 2 cups panko crumbs

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1 pou TBS ½ cup 2 TBS 12 ou ½ cup 2/3 cu 2 tsp 1 cup Mint

CH

INGREDIENTS CAPRESE ON A STICK

24 grape tomatoes 24 fresh mini mozzarella balls 24 fresh basil leaves 1 ½ TBS extra virgin olive oil 1 ½ TBS balsamic vinegar 1 clove minced garlic Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 24 fancy toothpicks

PREPARATION

Place a tomato, basil leaf, and mozzarella ball on each toothpick. Place on a serving plate or tray. Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, and garlic and drizzle over the appetizers. Sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

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Shavuos

Fruity Florals

by Esther Ottensoser

Fruit Cake

This fruit “cake,” like the ones my mother always made for special occasions, will allow you to have your cake and eat it too!

Supplies: 1 whole watermelon 2-3 kiwis 1 mango blueberries

cantaloupe green grapes, halved toothpicks flower-shaped cookie cutter (optional)

Directions: When choosing your watermelon, try to pick one that is oval-shaped.

Cut off both ends of the watermelon, leaving a six-inch wide slice to form the base of your “cake.”

Lay the cake base flat and remove the rind with a sharp knife while trying to keep the watermelon as round as possible. For best results when removing rind, leave a thin layer of white flesh, and then remove the white layer while rounding out a perfect circle.

Place on large platter.

Peel and slice kiwi and arrange slices on the top of the watermelon at the outer edge, slightly overlapping.

Cut one side off of a mango and thinly slice lengthwise.

Peel and arrange in center of cake in a pinwheel fashion.

For a finished look, place a few blueberries in the middle to cover mango tips.

Break toothpicks into halves and use to attach blueberries along the top and bottom edges of the cake.

To decorate the sides of the cake, use flower-shaped cookie cutters to cut flowers out of cantaloupe slices. For best results, stand cantaloupe upright and cut thin slices from its side. Attach flowers and green grape halves with toothpicks.

To serve, slice as you would any round cake.

This originally appeared in Mishpacha. Photography by Dan Engongoro

Watermelon Flower

After years of writing food/craft articles, I’ve learned that most people are looking for simple, practical, and healthy ideas. Here is an idea that certainly accomplishes all three. To top it off, this idea is quite classy too and will make a cool and refreshing entree or dessert.

Supplies: Watermelon Blueberries Lemon leaves (available at florist)

4 ½” flower cookie cutter 1 ½” round cookie cutter Sharp knife

Directions: 1) Cut the watermelon in half.

2) Using a sharp knife, remove the rind (this will make slicing easier).

3) Cut 1” thick slices from the watermelon.

4) Cut a flower shape from each slice with the cookie cutter.

5) Cut a circle in the center of the flower using your round cookie cutter.

6) Place leaf on the plate, then place the “flower” on it.

7) Fill center of watermelon “flower” with blueberries.

(Small “flowers” are easier to make. Use smaller sized cookie cutters and simply cut out of regular sized watermelon slices.)

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Cover Story

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A Conversation with Rabbi Berel Wein

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

Naftali Halpern

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While in in America town lastlast week, Rabbi Berel graciously While week, Rabbi BerelWein Wein graciouslysat satdown downwith withTJH TJHfor foraawide-ranging wide-ranging discussion on on Jewish Jewish history, history, the thecurrent currentstate stateof ofJewish Jewishaffairs, affairs,and andaacandid candidperspective perspectiveon on discussion Jewish life. life. The Thefollowing followingare areexcerpts excerptsofofthat thatconversation. conversation.

Jewish

NH: Who in your life influenced you the most?

RBW: My father, my grandfather, my rabbeim in the yeshiva, my wife. People—people have influence. You know, the yeshiva I went to in Chicago had a library—a real library, a big room with oak panels and many books. And they had a woman who was a librarian, the daughter of one of the roshei yeshiva and her husband was the head of the Vaad Hachinuch in Chicago. I was maybe 14 years old, and I wasn’t that great at sports and we had an hour and ten minute break between sedorim and lunch. Now, lunch was pretty sparse so you always had an hour to kill. So when the other guys went outside to play sports, I would wander into the library; she was always looking for customers. And she would say to me, “Oh, good, I have a book for you to read.” She’s the one who got me started on reading history books. So maybe she’s the one who was the biggest influence on me.

I understand that you recently put out a new autobiography.

Yes. It’s called Teach them Diligently. It’s a memoir of what I have done in the past years. My grandchildren asked me to write it. So I only wrote it for them and then the publisher said that they wanted to make a book out of it. So that’s how it happened.

You were a lawyer, a rabbi, head of the OU, a rosh yeshiva…

What was your most challenging job?

I don’t think there is anything more challenging than being a rabbi.

Why? People have unreasonable expectations of rabbis. Many times the frustrations that they can’t take out in their homes or in their businesses, they take out on their rabbi.

Is this a new thing or has it always been this way?

Well, the rabbinate in America is far different than what the rabbinate was like in Europe.

In what way?

In Europe they were not pastoral rabbis and they were not psychological advisors. They basically were scholars. They weren’t orators; they didn’t have to speak on a regular basis. To a certain extent they were community administrators and not even that. In many communities, the rav didn’t even pasken the shailos; there was a dayan for that.

Reb Chaim Brisker in Brisk had Reb Simcha Zelig Reiger who was the dayan. But nowadays a rav has to be able to pasken everything in

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an instant. It’s also very challenging because everybody can shop the shaila around the world. And, to my amazement, there are rabbis who are 5,000 miles away who are willing to answer!

You mentioned [at a recent forum in the White Shul] that you merited to “see the backs of the European gedolim.” Is there a character trait that they had in common?

Yes. There were three defining characteristics. First of all, they were all driven people. They were driven by the Holocaust, the trouble of the Jewish people, the destruction of Judaism in America. They didn’t look at it and say, “Zeh ma she’yaish.” They were driven to try and do something about it.

The second characteristic that they had is that they were patient and tolerant and they had a joy of life in spite of all of their troubles.

They had difficult lives, yet they had a joy for life and if you were in their company they infused you with that.

The third characteristic that they had was that their breadth of Torah knowledge encompassed everything.

When the other guys went

outside to play sports, I would wander into the library.

Where did their joy come from? Was it necessarily from Yiddishkeit or, ironically, the simplicity of the world at the time?

Well, basically speaking—all rumors to the contrary notwithstanding—Judaism should be about simplicity. It should be less, not more.

The affluence we have today is destroying us. It is absolutely destroying us. Material things—money, houses, cars—that didn’t exist in my time. In my time we were all equally poor, so nobody was poor.

So practically, how does somebody who is living in today’s world remove himself from the stream of opulence?

Everybody has a choice. You don’t have to swim with the herd, to use a mixed metaphor. I know a lot of people who are wealthy people—very wealthy people—who live a simple life and use their money for education, charity, helping people, etc. But they themselves live a relatively simple life. Now, I don’t advocate that people should live in a one room hovel. You can’t preach poverty. But on the other hand, there’s no question that there has never been—in my opinion— in the history of the Jewish people as affluent and wealthy a Jewish community as there is today.

The feeling that many have today is that we no longer have the caliber of gedolim of previous generations. Is that correct or does each generation feel that way when looking back at previous generations?

It’s “dor v’dor shom.” Every generation has what it needs, what it deserves. The Gaon of Vilna would not have fit into our generation.

I don’t think that, to a certain extent, the gedo-

The Volozhin Yeshiva

lim of the last century would fit into our generation either.

People always look back. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky told me that the concept of yeridos hadoros is a constant in the Jewish world. But there’s no question— and I’m not a young man anymore—that the people who I saw 60 years ago don’t exist today.

Which gadol who you saw fascinated you the most?

The Ponevezher Rav. I had a connection with him for a long time.

What drew you to him?

First of all, he loved all Jews. Second of all, he was brilliant—brilliant in The Ponevezher Rav loved all Jews Torah and brilliant in everything. He had an incredible worldview and he was an optimist, despite all of the problems. His whole secret in fundraising—and he was a tremendous fundraiser—was that he loved people and they felt it and therefore they gave him money. But he was a very clever person, and he built a lot of bridges. He knew Ben Gurion well and he knew every spectrum of the Jewish people. All of that was reflected in him.

All of that despite the tragedies that he lived through.

Certainly. He lost his wife and his whole family, with the exception of a son. And he swam upstream. He told me that when he came to build the Ponevezher Yeshiva, great rabbis in Israel told him that it would be a failure and not to bother.

I understand that you also had a connection with the Satmar Rav. Yes, I knew the Satmar Rav when I was in Miami Beach and he used to come spend time there.

Did you ever discuss his views on Israel with him?

I never did; I never discussed controversial topics with him.

You weren’t tempted to discuss with him his views on Israel?

No. I knew what he felt.

But, he befriended me. I was a young rabbi who didn’t have a beard. I certainly wasn’t in his league. He gave me good advice. He promoted me. He protected my flank against his own chassidim who came to Miami Beach. He was a very, very personable, clever and humorous person, and he understood the world—he wasn’t fooled by anything. Also, later when I was the head of the OU we did things together. He was a fascinating person; an absolutely fascinating person.

His greatness in Torah and everything... To a certain extent, he was misunderstood. It’s true of all the great people that I met; it’s hard to capture them. I always felt that they were misunderstood.

Did they feel misunderstood?

I think they all realized that they were misunderstood, but that was part of the ballgame. Let’s put it this way—you have to be the Satmar Rav to understand the Satmar Rav. I had a lot to do with Rabbi Soloveitchik as well. I wasn’t his student per se; I never learnt in Yeshivas Yitzchak Elchanan, but I would attend his lectures and visit him in his apartment. I read all of the books about him and I spoke about him with his disciples and students and I see a different person than they see.

As someone who is well-versed in pre-war yeshivas and who was himself a rosh yeshiva for many years, what do you think is needed to better the yeshiva system today?

Part of the problem is that it’s one size fits all. Every yeshiva imitates the other yeshiva. You know, in Eastern Europe, Slabodka wasn’t Telshe, Telshe wasn’t Grodno and none of them were Volozhin. They were all different. Today, they are all the same.

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Today we have a utopian image of the Eastern European yeshivas. Were they really that perfect?

Not at all. All of the Communists came from those yeshivas! All the revolutionaries, all of the Zionists— where did they come from?

They came from the cheder, the yeshiva, the shteeble, the Chassidic court. The Jewish world fell apart in Eastern Europe; it didn’t fall apart here. We are the residue of what happened. The same thing with Israel—it fell apart in Eastern Europe.

So do we whitewash that?

Well, it depends who the “we” is. But certainly in the hagiographical world of Jewish literature and the way it’s taught in our schools, there is [an attitude] that there it was perfect and it’s our fault.

accomplishments are tremendous; its goodness is tremendous; its problems are tremendous.

So are you saying it’s not our fault?

No. I think we have done great. Considering everything, we have rebuilt the Jewish people and we have rebuilt Torah in a manner that was unimaginable 50 years ago!

Which gedolim influenced klal Yisroel the most over the last 100 years?

Probably the Netziv, the Chofetz Chaim and the Gerrer Rebbe.

I understand the Gerrer Rebbe and the Chofetz Chaim, but why the Netziv?

The Netziv is the one who really created the yeshiva system and also created the return of the religious community to the Land of Israel. And the Netziv had a very unique outlook on what was happening and it was reflected by many of the gedolim who were influenced by him directly and indirectly.

Metaphorically speaking, if the Jewish community is a boat, are we headed towards an iceberg, a tropical island or are we drifting in the sea?

Probably none of the three. It’s very hard to predict the future. Nobody could have predicted what we look like today. Jewish history shows us that the Jewish people and Torah have great resilient powers.

Like I said, I am looking back at a perspective of 60 years in the Jewish field already. I look back at it and to me it’s wondrous.

I became a lawyer because my father, who was an Eastern European rabbi and a great talmid chacham, called me in one day and said, “Listen you are going to get married and I can’t “You have to be the Satmar Rav to understand the Satmar Rav” support you.” I got married

Did you realize then that he was unique?

He was younger than I was. We learned Mishnayos together in the morning. He was a regular American kid. We called him “Natie.”

Did you keep up with him?

I kept up with him when I moved to Israel 17 years ago. And he was very kind to my grandchildren who were in the Mir. He was a great, great man. But, he was a regular American boy. No one would have predicted that either.

Why did you leave law to become a rav?

I was jaded. Many times as a lawyer you see people at their worst.

It jaded me. I saw terrible things from people from whom I expected better. And, I liked speaking, writing and I was very active in the community. And I liked learning. And then an opportunity arose that I never imagined would arise—to become the rabbi in Miami Beach.

How old were you?

I was 30 when I went into the rabbanus.

A lot of people here are very confused about what’s going on in Israel. Is there a way not to be confused?

There’s no way not to be confused. Look, Eretz Yisroel is like one big shul meeting. But meanwhile the country is built.

Do you see anybody at fault?

Everybody’s at fault and nobody is at fault. How could you be at fault—you have a kibbutz galiyos from 80 different countries. You have everybody coming from all different directions. You throw the Communists and the Niturei Karta together in the same neighborhood; I mean, what do you expect?

Let’s live with what it is. I am more than happy. Israel is tremendous—its accomplishments are tremendous; its goodness is tremendous; its problems are tremendous. The L-rd here threw everybody together and you have to make something out of it.

The whole idea of the Chief Rabbinite when it was founded was that there would be a unified voice and perhaps there was an opportunity for that. But today I don’t see it, so you gotta live with it.

But, I think it is wrong to bash Jews. I think it is wrong to bash the Chareidim. I think it’s wrong to call them parasites. I think that contradicts everything. I also don’t think it’s right to bash the non-Orthodox because many of them today are on the level of “tinok shenishba.” It’s not a question of ideology today.

One of the tenets of Yiddishkeit is Moshiach. Can you tell me in a nutshell what a proper perspective on Moshiach is?

The Rambam in Hilchos Melochim gives us a perspective on it.

Shmuel says in the gemara, “Ein bein yimos haMoshiach le’olam hazeh elah shibbud malchiyos bilvod”—that the only difference will be that John Kerry won’t come and visit us every Monday and Thursday; so that’s a pretty bland thing.

After 2,000 years this is what it looks like? I think that is part of the problem with Israel, too. After the miraculous creation of Israel, this is what a State looks like? In Monsey, I never saw a car on Shabbos and I come to Jerusalem and ... this is what I came for?! So that’s part of the problem.

Therefore, we expanded the expectations to such an extent that we almost can’t talk about it. So for instance, the Rambam says that Moshiach has nothing to do with techiyas hameisim, yet, you’ll ask the average person on the street and they will certainly talk about te-

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Israel is tremendous—its

at a time when nobody knew that someone would give you money to marry their daughter. He said, “You have to go out and get a profession and make a living.” So I went to law school. I was in yeshiva for the first two sedorim and at 5:30 in the afternoon I would travel to downtown Chicago and went to law school until 10:30 at night. Then I got home and did cases until one in the morning, and then at six in the morning I was back in yeshiva because I had chavrusas. But no one felt that there would be any future... Actually, one of my chavrusas was Reb Nosson Tzvi Finkel zt”l.

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And if they are not the same, they claim to be the same; no one wants to admit that they’re different. No one wants to admit that their yeshiva is for a different young man.

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So how do we learn about it?

Well, certainly you have to have some knowledge of the gemaras and meforshim. But basically the Rambam says, “When it happens, we’ll let you know.” And that was always the attitude because whenever the Moshiach button was pushed, disaster followed. That was Christianity; that was the Karoim; that was Shabtei Tzvi; Yaakov

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chiyas hameisim as part of Moshiach. And many other things. So, I don’t think that it’s taught because we don’t have a handle on it.

Considering everything, we have rebuilt the Jewish people and we

have rebuilt Torah in a manner that was unimaginable 50 years ago!

Fronk; there is a whole string of that. And to a certain extent that was Zionism too; Zionism was the secular Moshiach. Everything Zionism said it would accomplish it didn’t accomplish, but it made the State.

As someone who knows history so well, when you hear science talking about how the world is millions of years old, is there a way to reconcile that with the Torah view?

The Torah never tells us how old the world is. There is no verse in the Torah about that. The Torah, in fact, taught us nothing about creation. Look at the beginning of Beraishis, it says, “Yehi ohr, vayehi ohr.” So what happened? The Torah doesn’t tell us. It doesn’t tell us how the animals came; it doesn’t tell us anything about that.

I have never been troubled by any scientific beliefs. The only problem is that science changes its mind every so often. And the cardinal rules of science 60 years ago may no longer be so. So, I am not in any haste to adopt any position. But none of this has to do with the veracity of Torah; none of this has to do with faith. You are asking for trouble if you interpret the Torah according to your literalism, when the Torah doesn’t say that.

If you were a young person in today’s crazy world, what would you do to keep yourself anchored?

Chazal gave us the advice: first of all, “Assai lecha rav.” You have to have somebody who is bigger than you are in Torah and who is a wise person and a compassionate person and use him as a sounding board and for guidance. And you have to realize that the rav is not infallible. That is why it says, “‘Assei’ lecha rav”—you have to make it work.

Is there a specific sefer or method that you suggest for someone who wants to strengthen their emunah?

Well, I am very prejudiced…to me, the biggest chizuk in emunah is knowing Jewish history.

So where should one start?

[Laughing] The Destiny Foundation. I am serious. For instance, I have a 5 CD series called 5,000 years in 5 hours. If you want to start somewhere, that’s where you start. You don’t have to know the name of Reb Sadyia Gaon’s mother, but you have to know that there was a Reb Sadyia Gaon. Again, I am speaking only for myself—for me that has always been my chizuk in emunah, so whatever happens today in Israel or to the Jewish community of America, I am able to say to myself, “You know, I saw this movie once before.” I mean, look what happened to the Jews in Spain! Look what happened to the Jews in France! Look at Germany before 1914! Look at it—it plays itself out.

Did we really have this level of acceptance and power in those places?

No. That’s new.

Do you think it’s dangerous?

So far, the United States has been the exception to every rule in Jewish history. I hope that it remains so. But, it comes with all sorts of dangers and all sorts of challenges.

You know, we have the famous dispute between the Riminov Rebbe and the first Lubavitcher Rebbe regarding Napoleon. Napoleon promised the Jews in Eastern Europe freedom from persecution; equal rights, citizenship, a chance to get out of grinding poverty when he invaded Russia. So the question was: should the Jews support the Czar or should they support Napoleon? The Riminover said they should support Napoleon because the Czar is terrible. He was persecuting us, he was destroying us. The Baal HaTanya said we should support the Czar because if Napoleon wins, when we get all of those rights, Jews will abandon Judaism. So that’s the two poles of the argument.

Who was right?

No one was right. History very rarely gives you a right and wrong answer because circumstances change.

This 5 CD series is available online?

Yes, at the Destiny Foundation, www.rabbiwein.com. You know, if you are willing to put in the five hours, you will have a different view of the Jewish People.

Of your many books, which one is a good starting point?

I wrote a small book called Patterns in Jewish History—if you can’t afford the big books that I have. This book gives a person an overview and that overview helps.

It’s the difference between looking through a microscope and a telescope. You have to be able to do both, but if you are only doing one you miss the point.

Do you have history books for children?

It’s called Sand Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel‘s zt”l yearbook photo –“We called him Natie” and Stars. I wrote it together with Yaffa Ganz.

When you look at what is happening in Ukraine, does that move you at all or is it just small-time geo-political posturing?

There is a great historian Orlando Figes who has written about Russia. If you know Russian history over the past 200-300 years, it’s all the same: Communists, Czarists, etc. It’s an expansionist country. It’s big, it’s powerful, but it has no soul. It never found itself. It doesn’t know what it’s there for and it keeps on reflecting itself. And it is very, very sensitive to its inferiority to Western culture and Western civilization. At the time of the Czarists, the Czar sent his laundry to Paris because the Russians didn’t know how to wash clothes and the French did.

Do you think Putin has a design to conquer more?

No, he is a bully and an opportunist. He didn’t predict what was going to happen in Ukraine. He didn’t predict Crimea. It fell into his lap, so he took it.

Do you have any opinion of President Obama?

I don’t live in the United States so I don’t really know. America’s far different now than when I left 17 years ago, in many respects…

You know, older people always have nostalgia that “I lived in the good old days,” but I think I lived in a better America than there is toTJH day. On the other hand, the United States is still the United States. 

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Jewish History Larry Domnitch

The Magic of

SHAVUOT 1967

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O

ver the last two millennia, Jews have visited Jerusalem in honor of the festivals in lieu of the Biblically ordained pilgrimages.

On the holiday of Shavuot there was also the custom to visit the grave of King David on Mount Zion, since according to tradition, the date of his birth and passing is on Shavuot.

When Shavuot arrived in 1948, it was one month after the establishment of the State of Israel and Jews could no longer continue to make the pilgrimage to the Western Wall. The Jordanians, who occupied the eastern half of the city since the War of Independence, blocked all rights of passage. However, the pilgrimage to King David’s tomb on nearby Mount Zion, located on the Israeli side of divided Jerusalem, continued.

Over the next nineteen years, crowds made their way to Mount Zion, where they could view the “Old City,” and the Temple Mount.

On the morning of Shavuot, June 15, 1967, just six days after the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem following the Six Day War, the Old City was officially opened to the Israeli public. For the first time in almost two thousand years, masses of Jews could visit the Western Wall and walk through the cherished streets of Judaism’s capital city as members of the sovereign Jewish nation. Each Jew who ventured to the Western Wall on that unforgettable day represented the living realization of their ancestors’ dreams over the millennia; it one of those rare euphoric moments in history.

From the late hours of the night, thousands of Jerusalem residents streamed towards the Zion gate, eagerly awaiting entry into the Old City. At 4 a.m., the accumulating crowds were finally allowed to enter the area of the Western Wall.

The first Minyan soon began. Over fifteen hundred people shared that special moment. As the sun continued to rise, there was a steady flow of thousands who made their way to the Old City. A reported 200,000 visited the Western Wall on that day. It was the first pilgrimage en masse of Jews to Jewish-controlled Jerusalem on a At the Kotel on Shavuos 1967

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Jews straining to see the Kotel, circa 1929

Jewish festival in two thousand years—since Temple times.

The Jerusalem Post described the epic scene: Every section of the population was represented. Kibbutz members and soldiers rubbing shoulders with Neturei Karta. Mothers came with children in prams, and old men trudged steeply up Mount Zion, supported by youngsters on either side, to see the wall of the Temple before the end of their days.

Some wept, but most faces were wreathed in smiles. For thirteen continuous hours a colorful variety of all peoples trudged along in perfect order, stepping patiently when told to do so at each of six successive barriers set up by the police to regulate the flow.

An eyewitness described the moment: “I’ve never known so electric an atmosphere before or since. Wherever we stopped, we began to dance. Holding aloft Torah scrolls, we swayed and danced and sang at the tops of our voices. So many of the Psalms and songs are about Jerusalem and Zion and the words reached into us a new life. As the sky lightened, we reached the Zion gate. Still singing and dancing, we poured into the narrow alleyways beyond.”

On Shavuot, three thousand, two hundred and seventy nine years earlier, the Israelites stood at Mount Sinai and felt the gravity of the moment as a unique relationship was formed between themselves and their Creator. On the day of Shavuot following Israel’s amazing victory of the Six Day War, multitudes ascended to the Western Wall, as their ancestors had done in the past, and they celebrated the holiday just a short distance from the Temple Mount. They too, felt the magic of the moment.

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90

Notable

Quotes

Compiled by Nate Davis

“Say What?”

A man in Phoenix accidentally shot himself in the leg while in line at Walmart on Saturday. Or, as they call that in Arizona, “taking a selfie.”

- Seth Myers

CNN had to fire an editor after discovering that she plagiarized 50 stories. CNN said, “Can you imagine if somebody actually saw them?”

- Jimmy Fallon

We know that people die every day.

- Sen. Bernie Sanders (VASocialist) on CNN arguing that the disclosure that many vets died due to inferior service at VA hospitals is not a scandal

According to the court’s ruling, the Zionist director of the company of Facebook, or his official attorney, must appear in court to defend himself and pay for possible losses.

- An Iranian Internet official after an Iranian court ruled that Facebook causes privacy violations

Today, Merriam-Webster announced 150 new words being added to the dictionary, including selfie, dubstep, hashtag, and spoiler alert. Also, they’re considering removing the word “dictionary.”

- Seth Myers A high school girl has invited Joe Biden to be her prom date. Isn’t that nice? However, her father is refusing to let her go with a guy who can’t really describe what he does for a living.

- Conan O’Brien I’m sorry; we’re doing a science fair…C’mon. C’mon.

- President Obama when a reporter asked him a question about Afghanistan while he was visiting a children’s science fair

Scientists in London say they have invented a process that can actually turn light into matter, but warned people that their results won’t be visible to the human eye. Well, in that case, I invented it too.

- Jimmy Fallon Welcome to San Diego. If you love animals like I do, stay away from SeaWorld.

– A billboard put up by PETA at San Diego airport

While the hypotheses described in that original story seemed right at the time, climate scientists now know that they were seriously incomplete.

- Peter Gwynne, who in 1975 wrote a Newsweek article about impending doom due to global cooling, recanting that article in a new article featured in Inside Science News Service

This week is the 40th anniversary of the Rubik’s Cube. If you kids don’t know what a Rubik’s Cube is, it’s what people would stare at without human interaction before cellphones.

– Conan O’Brien Are you real?

- A surprised tourist to the president, when he went for an unannounced walk along the National Mall Yes, I am. I’m not wax.

- President Obama in response

We’ve proved that Communism works. If you give everybody a good government job, there’s no crime.

- Rep. Joe Garcia (D-Fla), discussing a city which has a high rate of government workers and a low crime rate

It’s springtime and earlier today Chris Christie closed the George Washington Bridge for a pollen study.

– David Letterman The NBA gave Donald Sterling until Tuesday to respond. His lawyer asked for a three-month extension to prepare. I’ll tell you what’s happening here. He is stalling. Sterling is going to keep this in court until he dies. He is basically trying to run out the clock on being alive.

- Jimmy Kimmel Who is he to judge? Who is he to judge, seriously? If he wants to judge people, why doesn’t he get a job in court somewhere?

- Vladimir Putin in an interview with CNBC, dismissing President Obama’s criticism of Russia An optometrist is saying that Google Glass can cause sharp eye pain. Yeah, especially when people see you wearing it and punch your face in.

– Conan O’Brien

– President Obama during a White House announcement about a troop drawdown in Afghanistan

Kraft is recalling more than a million cases of cottage cheese because they weren’t stored at the right temperature. Isn’t that how you make cottage cheese?

– Jimmy Fallon

One day after recalling 2.4 million vehicles, GM has announced it’s recalling another 218,000 Chevy Aveos. Apparently, their defect is that they’re Chevy Aveos.

– Seth Myers Tomorrow the chareidi tzibur will not have a bus.

- Israel’s Finance Minister Yair Lapid at a conference, saying what will happen if Chareidim don’t stop the practice of having separate bus sections for men and women

That the White House was very upset and that I needed to call the president and apologize.

- Dr. Ben Carson, disclosing what organizers of the National Prayer breakfast told him after he famously bashed Obamacare in the presence of the president last year

But why are we surprised the government that runs the post office badly and runs Amtrak badly can’t run a health care system? Delivering a postcard from A to B or a passenger from point A to point B is a lot simpler than delivering health care. So, we shouldn’t be surprised by this.

– George Will on Fox News, discussing the Veterans Administration scandal A group of scientists have started attaching sensors to sharks to help predict hurricane intensity. They’re hoping the information they gather will save enough lives to offset the number of lives lost attaching sensors to sharks.

– Seth Myers

At some point in your life, you have to sort of take sides. I tend to side with the Jewish point of view on many things, especially issues like this one. I realize how important Israel is. I’m a huge supporter of Israel and always have been. It is a democracy in the Middle East and I don’t like to see the little guy getting picked on by the big guy.

- Jay Leno in an interview with the Associated Press during his trip to Israel President Obama has declared the month of May Jewish American Heritage Month. He is calling it an opportunity to renew our “unbreakable bond with the nation of Israel.” And he knows it’s unbreakable because he’s been trying to break it for the last five years.

– Jay Leno at an awards ceremony in Israel I’ve been doing my research. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, here in Israel the most popular boys name is Noam. The least popular boy’s name? John Kerry.

- Ibid You guys are tough. You sentenced your former Prime Minister to six years in prison! Did you hear Olmert’s defense? Not the best strategy. He blamed the whole thing on the Jews.

- Ibid I was stunned by how many Israeli politicians are going to prison.

When you ask an Israeli politician what his cell number is, it has a whole other meaning.

- Ibid

Some Republicans are taking aim at Hillary Clinton’s age, saying she will be almost 70 when she runs. Republicans said, “Being old and white is our thing.”

- Conan O’Brien

Republicans are antigovernance, they’re antiscience, they’re anti-Obama.

They’re a triple threat.

They have a trifecta going.

Everything is to obstruct the president. Anything that is evidence-based is unimportant to them…One evidence of governance would be how we rolled out the Affordable Care Act—it is intact; it’s beautiful.

- House Minority Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a recent interview The New York Times: Unfair to Jill Abramson? Definitely Unfair to Israel.

- A new billboard across the street from the New York Times’ Manhattan headquarters

Here is my one sentence, all-purpose commencement speech: Now get out there and do stuff until you die.

-Conan O’Brien We are a nation founded in violence, grew our borders through violence, and allow men in power to use violence around the world to further our so-called American (corporate) interests…guns don’t kill people—Americans kill people.

- Facebook posting by Michael Moore after the recent shooting in Santa Barbara

MAY 29, 2014

A 24-year-old-cat in England has been named the world’s oldest cat. That cat is so old, if you give it a ball of yarn, it knits.

- Seth Myers

Google is continuing its mission to make sure we’re never NOT looking at ads.

Google says it hopes to put ads on refrigerators, dashboards, glasses, watches, and other items.

This is what the smartest people in the country are working on. Instead of winning a Nobel Prize, their obituary is going to say, “Bill used his 187 IQ to figure out how to put commercials on your windshield.”

- Jimmy Kimmel

T H E JTHE E W IBALTIMORE S H H O M E n JEWISH M AY 2 9 HOME , 2014 T H E J E W I S H H O M E n M AY 2 4 , 2012

I think Americans have learned that it’s harder to end wars than it is to begin them.

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A Parsha Thought Naso 5774: Moving Forward While Looking Back Rabbi Shmuel Silber

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

MAY 29, 2014

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This week’s Parsha, continues with the theme of counting the tribal families and enumerating their responsibilities and tasks. The Torah begins with what appears to be a simple phrase,

“Naso Es Rosh Bnai Gershon, Count the sons of Gershon …. (Bamidbar 4:22).” It is interesting that this mirrors the verbiage found in last week’s Parsha, “Se’u Es Rosh Kol Adas Bnai Yisroel, Count all the congregation of the Children of Israel …. (Bamidbar 1:2).” In each of these instances, the Torah uses the word, Rosh, head.

The Shelah HaKadosh (Rav Yishaya Horowitz, 1565-1630), explains that we see from here that in the Eyes of God we are each considered a Rosh, a head, someone exceptionally significant. Although society has many metrics by which we measure the success, value and worth of an individual, in

the eyes of God we each possess personal greatness, each of us is a Rosh.

But how do we activate this personal greatness? I believe the answer to this question can be found in Pirkei Avos, Ethics of our Fathers. The great sage Yehuda ben Teyma states, “Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, strong as a lion, to carry out the will of your Father in Heaven (5:23).” The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (Rav Shlomo Ganzfried, 18041886) explains, Be bold as a leopard – Don’t be afraid to the Mitzvos, commandments even if others will mock you. Doing what is right is often difficult and can raise the ire of those around you. Be bold and do what needs to be done. Light as an eagle – The eagle flies high and has to direct its sights to the heavens above. Don’t get mired in the negativity that often surrounds us. There are many things that seek to tether us to our current reality and prevent us from achieving growth. Set your sights above and learn to soar. Swift as a deer - One should always run to do good. Run swiftly and grab the opportunities to accomplish something great. Strong like a lion – Be committed in your service of God. Develop the strength to honor your obligations towards God and your fellow man on an ongoing basis. Continuity is the cornerstone of a religious identity.

It is here in this seemingly simple statement that Yehuda ben Teyma gives us the key to activating our personal greatness. Stand up for what you believe in, even if the world mocks you. Focus on upward growth and don’t get mired in downward negativity. Run to seize your life opportunities. Live a life of committed and continuous service to your God and your people.

Yehuda ben Teyma looks to the

animal kingdom for examples of character traits that we are to emulate.

The comparison to the leopard, eagle and lion are clear. But why the deer?

The fastest animal is not the deer – it is the cheetah. If Yehuda ben Teyma wanted to convey the need for speed in our performance of mitzvos and in the seizing of life opportunities why doesn’t he tell us to be “swift like the cheetah?”

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (17721810) explains that the deer is unique within the animal kingdom. Whenever the deer takes flight, whenever it moves forward to a new destination – it always looks back. It looks back to see if the herd is safe. It looks back to make sure its fellow deer are settled and secure. And as it continues to move forward – it continues to look back.

Yehuda ben Teyma intentionally chose the deer to teach us an important lesson. As we strive for self-actualization; as we try to become bold, committed and soar to the heavens – we must always remember to look back.

We must remember our responsibility to our people. I cannot focus on selfgrowth to the exclusion of my national responsibilities. If I am growing but not keeping an eye as to what is happening with my brothers and sisters, my growth is deficient. If I move forward but don’t look back and figure out how to help the rest of the herd – then I am not serving God, I am serving myself.

We are each a Rosh, we are each important and significant. We have so much to offer, so much we can become, and so much we can accomplish. But I can only be a Rosh, if I maintain the connection to Kol Adas Bnai Yisroel, the nation of the Children of Israel.

We must grow as individuals - but we must always remember to look back.

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In the Kitchen

T HT HE EJ EJ EWWI SI SHHH HO OMME Enn MMAY AY 2294,, 2014 2012

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

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Cheesecake THEN AND NOW The History of Cheesecake

BY BRENDY J. SIEV

I

t’s that time of year again.

Cheesecake time.

Ahh…Shavuos. All our holidays have deep symbolic meaning and beautiful mitzvos and minhagim. Along with that, each yom tov is about what you eat.

(Except Succos—that’s about where you eat.

Location, location, location.)

Rosh Hashanah is all about apples and honey.

Chanukah is about latkas and doughnuts. Purim is about hamantashen. Pesach is about matzah.

And Shavuos is all about the cheesecake.

Chalav, with its gematria of 40, symbolizes the number of days Moshe spent above Har Sinai with Hashem. It symbolizes the Torah, which Shlomo HaMelech likened to “chalav u’dvash” in Shir HaShirim.

So why the cheesecake? Ashkenazi Jews have a long, fond relationship with soft cheeses. Most could not afford the meat or the time to ripen hard cheese in Europe. Recipes were often based on soft cheese—kugels, blintzes, and, of course, cheesecake.

When most of us think about cheesecake, we imagine a layer of thick, creamy cheesy richness with a thin crust. In fact, we savor variations of a New York cheesecake. But it wasn’t always that way. The history of cheesecake is actually more complicated than a sweet tradition. Believe it or not, if, say, you traveled back in time and found yourself in Ye Olde Cheesecake Factorie you would barely recognize the taste of their top menu offerings. In fact, cheesecake as we know it is barely more than 100 years old.

So what did our forefathers’ cheesecake look and taste like?

Cheesecake then.

Goat Cheese Loaf: A Food Fit for the Gods Cheesecake was popular in ancient Greece. It was served to athletes during the first Olympic Games in 776 BCE. Greek brides and grooms opted for cheesecake wedding cakes.

How do we know this? The first recorded mention of cheesecake was found in a book written by a Greek physician, Aegimus, about the art of making

The Scots enjoy salmon-topped cheesecakes

cheesecake. His cheesecake—more like a cheese loaf—involved a goat or sheep cheese (yes, think feta), honey, flour, and bay leaves.

Later, the Romans showed up and really liked that Greek cheesecake. They decided to add an egg to the original recipe. In a world before bound books, way before the printing press, Marcus Cato the Elder felt that cheesecake was important enough to merit two recipes in his book, er, scroll.

One of his recipes, translated from the original

Latin, reads something like this: “Break up two pounds of cheese well in a mortar. When they will have been well broken up, put in a pound of wheat flour or, if you wish it to be more delicate, half a pound of fine flour and mix it well together with the cheese. Add one egg and mix together well. Then make into bread, place [bay] leaves beneath, and cook slowly on a hot hearth under an earthen pot.”

Remember: they used sheep or goat cheese. That meant a lot of cheese prep time, prep time that in-

With the advent of cream cheese, cheesecake completely changed. Now, almost all modern cheesecakes in the United States and Canada are cream cheese based.

Truth be told, American cheesecake may actually be a custard or torte rather than a cake. (Tortes use eggs for leavening; custard pies use a soft filling and a crust.) Cheesecakes are usually baked in a springform pan, often with a water bath, like a custard. They are so dense that they continue to bake for a while after they come of out of the oven. In fact, some cheesecakes are not baked at all.

But let’s take a moment to remember the man behind the New York cheesecake. In the 1920s, Arnold Reuben, a German émigré, was so taken by the taste of an American cheesecake that he was determined to perfect it. Reuben, owner of the Turf Restaurant in New York City and generally remembered for the Reuben sandwich, created the New York-style cheesecake with its added sour cream or heavy cream. It’s extra rich and creamy, freezes well, and includes vanilla and sugar.

Other American cheesecakes vary in lightness and firmness. Some add fruit like a tart. The Pennsylvania Dutch still use farmer’s cheese. But everyone else uses cream cheese.

Around the World.

Of course, people still adapt cheesecake to their cultural preferences. Predictably, Asian cheesecakes are often flavored with lychee, mango, and green tea. The Japanese use cornstarch and eggs to create a flan-like cheesecake. Brazilians add condensed milk, gelatin, and mulberry jam.

Colombians use honey, wheat or maize flour, and serve their cheesecake with fruit jam.

Europeans still follow their traditional recipes. The British and Irish often top their cheesecake with fruit compote. They don’t bake their cakes, but refrigerate them. The Scottish prepare a smoked salmon cheesecake.

German-style cheesecake comes with impressive names like Kasekuchen, Quarkkuchen, and Matzkuchen. The crust is made from dough; the unbaked Kasesahnetote uses cream. The baked Quarkkuchen uses quark The Greeks baked cheesecakes as a gift for the gods

cheese made from sour milk.

The French use Neufchatel cheese in their light but short cakes that congeal because of gelatin. Polish cheesecake, called sernik, is one of the most popular local desserts, and uses twarog, a type of Polish cheese.

And for those bold enough to create Swedish cheesecakes, get ready to make your own cheese.

Yes, the Swedish style requires some real farm-totable, maker movement, dedication. The first step is actually about making the cheese by adding rennet to milk; then curdling it, baking it, and serving it warm with jam and whipped cream.

Back to the Romans and Greeks…

The Romans may have spread the word, but Italians have not adopted our cream cheese to their original recipes. They use honey and a ricotta-like cheese and shape their cakes into loaves. Sometimes they add barley flakes or small bits of candied fruit.

But most Greeks, who still make cheesecake with sheep or goat cheese, whose ancestors recorded the first cheesecake recipe, ironically believe that cheesecake is an American import.

They call it cheezz cake.

Bubby’s Famous Cheesecake Ingredients ½ lb. cream cheese ½ lb. farmer cheese 1 cup sour cream 3 eggs, separated ½ cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla Crust: Package graham crackers ¾ stick margarine Preparation Finely ground the graham crackers and blend with the margarine. Press into greased pan.

Cream the cheeses and then add the egg yolks. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat egg whites to a snow and then slowly add into the batter.

Pour into crust.

Bake at 350° for 40 minutes. Shut the oven and then leave in the oven for one hour until set.

MAY 29, 2014

Cheesecake now.

Italian cheesecakes are made with honey and ricotta-like cheese

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Welcome to America! The Birth of Cream Cheese In 1872, an American dairy farmer, William Lawrence of Chester, NY, tried to recreate the French Neufchatel cheese. In one of those great mishaps that brought us Post-Its, silly putty, and penicillin, Lawrence accidentally developed cream cheese.

This was a real breakthrough: cream cheese, an “unripened cheese,” didn’t need time to develop like hard cheese and was heavier and creamier than other

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cheeses.

Delighted, Lawrence started distributing cream cheese in foil wrappers under the name Philadelphia Cream Cheese. By 1903, the Phoenix Cheese Company bought Lawrence out. Soon James L. Kraft figured out how to pasteurize cheese in 1912.

He bought Philadelphia Cream Cheese in 1928, where it remains a centerpiece of the Kraft Foods company.

Until today, it is the most popular cheese used for making cheesecake.

WIISSHH HHOOMMEE n MMAY TTHHEE JJEEW AY 2249, , 2012 2014

volved instructions like: “Soak 14 pounds of sheep’s cheese (sweet and quite fresh) in water and macerate, changing the water three times. Take out a small quantity at a time, squeeze out the water thoroughly with the hands, and when it is quite dry, place it in a bowl. When you have dried out the cheese completely, knead it in a clean bowl by hand, and make it as smooth as possible. Then take a clean flour sifter and force the cheese through it into the bowl.”

Believe it or not, it must have been quite the ancient delicacy, a food fit for the gods. For what it’s worth (and we did not triple test Cato’s recipe, so don’t try it at home), cheesecake in loaf form or tucked into a pastry dough was often used as an offering in Roman temples.

Aside from dessert, the Romans liked a good fight and liked to expand their empire. Their soldiers brought cheesecake with them and spread the recipe throughout the empire and Europe.

Roman-European Fusion Cheesecake: Butter, Sugar, and the Well-Whipped Egg Of course, whenever a new recipe comes to town, each country and culture tweaks it to their taste. So cheesecake became an early example of fusion dessert.

The Europeans, as you can imagine, added butter and sugar.

Henry VIII, a man noted for his quick temper and expansive appetite, enjoyed an original version of cheesecake. His chef diced hard cheese, soaked it in milk for three hours, strained the mixture, added eggs, butter, and sugar and—voila!—a new cheesecake, fit for a king and his queen-of-the-day.

But by the 1700s, European chefs started to beat their eggs to make their breads and cakes rise. This meant that cheesecake didn’t need so much flour.

And so cheesecake began to taste less like a sweet cheese loaf and more like the cake we know today.

Naturally, the Europeans made sure to bring their cheesecake recipes to the New World and the Americas. It was American innovation that made the cheesecake they knew to the cheesecake we love.

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Tammy Mark

Get PEYD and Get Going PEYD Travel is Open for Business

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ondering how to turn those accumulating credit card points into that much needed summer getaway? Trying to tighten up your company’s travel expenses and increase your bottom line? The company that made it easy to maximize those unused credit cards points has now expanded its menu of concierge services to help get you wherever you need to be. Get PEYD, the credit card reward and consultation company, has now launched PEYD Travel, a premier airline & hotel reservation service.

Started by four friends Pinny Ackerman, Eli Schreiber, Yaakov Portnoy and Dudi Akerman whose initials inspired the company name, PEYD has helped people best utilize their credit cards rewards for the things they really need.

They help consumers spend wisely by evaluating their lifestyle and financial needs. Whether for tuition or home improvements, Get PEYD helps you use or convert the rewards in a way that make the most financial sense. They can even purchase your points, whether they are airlines miles, hotel or any other points program, thereby leaving you with complete flexibility in your rewards. They also assist businesses and individuals in choosing the credit cards best suited for their needs and goals for the long term.

“We care about helping our customers get the most out of their miles and points. We understand how important

every dollar is and when we provide our credit card reward redemption services, we make sure that at the same time, our customers are familiar with the many options available to them to help them increase their bottom line,” says Moshe Fried, one of the members of the PEYD team.

Since 2011, the specialists at Get PEYD have been advising clients on how to maximize their credit card rewards. Working with both individuals and corporate clients, Get PEYD helps redeem, buy and sell points and miles for cash and travel. They are now using that travel savvy to further help consumers.

The numerous travel sites, mileage options and price structures can be overwhelming, and the newly expanded PEYD Travel department can simplify these complex itineraries while still maintaining the best value for the customer. Using their experience in rewards travel, they are better able to research and book the desired and often unavailable flights, and get people where they need to go quickly and efficiently.

Discounted Business and First Class, and Last Minute Domestic Coach The PEYD Travel department will focus on providing corporate and business travelers with great deals on business and first class flights, and many last minute domestic options as well, while

providing personal travel specialists to assist with all travel needs from start to finish. The service is geared towards companies of any size, those who travel regularly as well as sole proprietors and individuals who need to fly even on short notice.

With the help of PEYD Travel, a last minute meeting, impromptu celebration or family emergency can be facilitated smoothly and economically.

“So often we hear from our customers that the flights and itineraries they require are either unavailable, way too expensive or that they are unfamiliar with all the different flights and options available to them to get them where they need to go. At PEYD Travel, business and personal travel is our specialty, and we are happy to offer this new service to the general public,” says Pinny Ackerman.

Pay With Points for…Anything!

Whether you are dreaming of visiting your daughter in seminary, going to Israel for your nephew’s Bar Mitzvah, or booking a private kosher villa to vacation in Miami Beach, you are coming to the right place. Get PEYD is pleased to offer a service that allows customers to bundle all of their points and miles to

evaluate the plans and consult their clients on how to receive the biggest return on their purchasing. At PEYD Travel, they will be offering advice as to the best travel programs to maximize the value for their employees’ business travel; they will even review companies’ overall travel expenses to see if they can reduce the overall expenditure.

Get PEYD also works with companies on how to maximize their bottom line in other ways. When companies advertise on Google for example, simply charging that on an American Express Gold card can earn double the points.

This is just one of the many insider tips that the guys at PEYD have made it their mission to know. They have worked with customers throughout the United States, Canada, England, Israel, and beyond. Their roster of clients includes local small businesses and Madison Avenue corporations.

Their specialized niche and unique concept, whereby the customer gets paid for their product, is just one of the basic elements that keep the company growing. Their unique mix of talents and personalities combine to infuse every endeavor with passion and professionalism. They have a large network of clients and they believe in making a per-

“We care about helping our customers get the most out of their miles and points.” book trips, to go towards flights, apartments, maid service, catering and more.

Partnering with two exceptional vacation rental companies, Florida Kosher Villas of North Miami and Rentals of Distinction in Jerusalem, allows customers to use their own miles and points to pay for vacation they desire.

“Having the option to use their own miles and points and minimize or even completely eliminate their out of pocket expense is something we are happy to offer our customers, and we are proud to be partnering with two great companies whose reputation stands for themselves,” says Eli Schreiber.

Credit Card Rewards and Travel Concierge The guys at Get PEYD take pride in knowing the details and advantages of promotional offers so that they can pass on the advice to their customers. They

sonal connection in order to serve each one’s needs.

Always business-minded but civicminded as well, Get PEYD is dedicated to building its community presence as well. The company ran a seminar on the credit cards rewards industry, with proceeds to going towards the Levi Yitzchak Library of the Five Towns.

Get PEYD was also a corporate sponsor of a recent Priority-1 event to benefit atrisk teens, the Annual Sephardic Bikur Holim Golf Tournament, and the team looks forward to becoming even more involved in community needs.

Pinny, Eli, Yaakov and Dudi are always planning for the next way to help people spend wisely and save money, and of course, getting you PEYD. For more information, contact their office at 646-801-7393, www.getpeyd. com, or info@getpeyd.com.

T H E J E W I S H H O M E n M AY 2 4 , 2012

Around the Community

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Great Service is Good Business

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In the Kitchen

Dairy Made Easy

By Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek

French Mushroom Soup 6 servings

Ingredients 2 TBS butter 1 large onion, cut into thin strips 8 oz baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

5 cups vegetable broth 1 cup milk 1 tsp kosher salt 2 cups croutons 6 oz sliced mozzarella cheese

Preparation Melt butter in a medium pot over low heat. Add onion and sauté until golden, 10-12 minutes. Add mushrooms and continue to cook until soft, 5-7 additional minutes.

Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in milk and season with salt.

Add croutons to the surface of the soup. Layer cheese over the croutons. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted (some of the cheese will melt into the soup and the rest will remain on top). Serve by ladling the soup and some of the crouton/cheese topping into each bowl.

Pomegranate & Apple Salad 4 servings Ingredients 1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped 1 apple, diced or sliced Seeds of ½ pomegranate 1 grapefruit, supremed 2 TBS finely diced red onion

Dressing: ¼ cup light mayonnaise 2 TBS apple cider vinegar 1 TBS water 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp kosher salt Pinch coarse black pepper 2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation In a large bowl, combine lettuce, apple, pomegranate seeds, grapefruit, and red onion.

Prepare the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, water, sugar, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese. Toss dressing with salad.

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T H E J E W I S H H O M E n M AY 2 9 , 2014

Ingredients 1 lb. fusilli or penne pasta 2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved 2 red onions, cut into wedges 1 zucchini, cut into half moons ¼ cup olive oil

12 servings

Ingredients Batter: 1 cup sour cream 1 tsp baking soda ½ cup (1 stick) butter 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp almond extract

Preparation 1. Prepare pasta according to package directions.

2. Preheat oven to 400°F. In a 9 x 13-inch pan, combine cherry tomatoes, red onions, and zucchini. Toss with olive oil and garlic powder. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add pasta to vegetables and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Preheat oven to broil and broil for 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes.

5. Add feta cheese and basil; stir to combine (the heat will melt the cheese). Serve hot or at room temperature.

2 cups flour 1 tsp baking powder Chocolate-Nut Mixture: 1 (10-oz) bag chocolate chips 2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts 1 tsp cinnamon ¼ cup sugar

Preparation Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-inch tube pan.

In a medium bowl, combine sour cream and baking soda.

Sour cream should bubble and expand. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar.

Beat until light and creamy. Add eggs and extracts.

Add half the flour and baking powder. Add sour cream mixture, then remaining flour. Beat until just combined. Do not overmix.

In a medium bowl, combine chocolate chips, walnuts, cinnamon, and sugar. Sprinkle some of the chocolate nut mixture into the pan. Add half the batter over it, then half of the remaining chocolate-nut mixture. Add remaining batter and top cake with remaining chocolate-nut mixture. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until top is firm and crispy. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

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Recipes from Dairy Made Easy by Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek.

Reprinted with permission from the copyright holders: ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications. http://www.artscroll.com/Products/DMEP.html

MAY 29, 2014

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cake

½ tsp garlic powder Kosher salt, to taste Coarse black pepper, to taste 6 oz feta cheese, crumbled 1 TBS chopped fresh or frozen basil

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8 servings

T H E J E W I S H H O M E n M AY 2 4 , 2012

Baked Roasted Veggie Pasta

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My Israel Home

Gedaliah Borvick

New Country, New Careers

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e are all “works in progress,” hopefully always trying to grow and expand our horizons.

Making aliyah is a growth opportunity, affording people the opportunity to explore new career paths in the Holy Land. I, for example, had been involved in Manhattan investment sales –primarily office and apartment buildings – for many years. A few years after moving to Israel, I decided it was time for my work to make aliyah too, and I created a real estate firm primarily focused on helping families from overseas fulfill their dream of buying a home in Israel. And I am not alone; numerous friends have changed careers in Israel and are making their mark on society.

Therefore, I wasn’t completely surprised to hear that my interior designer and friend Nathan Zussman recently opened a furniture showroom in Beit Shemesh called “Interiors” which showcases top U.S. furniture makers.

Off I hiked to Nathan’s attractive new showroom to find out why he decided to open up a furniture store.

GB: What’s the motivation for this big move?

NZ: I have a passion for beautiful furniture. I love being around beautiful furniture, I love helping people select it, I like making people’s homes more beautiful.

After doing interior design work here for 15 years and being really frustrated by the relatively poor quality, comfort and selection offered locally in the high-end sofa market, I finally decided that I should import beautifully designed sofas that are high quality, relatively affordable, and incredibly comfortable.

GB: Why is the furniture that you’re importing from the U.S. better than Israel’s domestically manufactured furniture?

NZ: In a few words: quality, comfort, style and value. All of my upholstered furniture features either sinuous spring or 8-way hand-tied spring construction – both are industry standards for building a sofa and neither exists in any form here in Israel. The cushions are mostly filled with a variety of feather/down and inner spring pillows. All of

this provides not only exceptional quality that can endure many years of wear and tear, but also allows for an unparalleled degree of comfort and quality.

I also offer literally thousands of fabric samples in patterns that you won’t find anywhere else in this country. One fabric that I am particularly excited to introduce to the Israeli market is called “Sunbrella.” This material was originally created for outdoor use but has been

Nathan is his showroom

redesigned for indoor use, offering fabulous patterns and colors, and fabrics that are soft to the touch. These fabrics can weather heavy exposure to the sun, and can even be cleaned with a compound that includes bleach – making them extremely child friendly.

GB: How do your prices compare with furniture prices in the U.S.?

NZ: The prices that I can offer here in Israel are comparable to the 40% discount that people in the States can get buying the same furniture on the internet – except that I also have to charge 18% VAT (local “value added tax”) and pass on some of the shipping charges.

GB: What’s your vision?

NZ: I really want people in Israel to have nice furniture but I ideologically refuse to overcharge customers. I am thrilled that with this showroom, I can help people buy beautiful top-quality sofas at reasonable prices.

Nathan Zussman has exquisite taste and is a big mensch. I wish him all the success in the world.

Gedaliah Borvick is the founder of My Israel Home (www.myisraelhome.com), a real estate agency focused on helping people from abroad buy and sell homes in Israel. Gedaliah will be running a home-buying workshop on June 9th in Woodmere. Contact him at gborvick@gmail.com for details.

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Serving their Country with Honor The Emanuel-Twiggs and Myers Families

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vid was appointed as the military gov- him in 1863, which left Myers bitter ernor of Vera Cruz and was recognized for a long time. The family wound up

by Congress for his actions. The Medal moving to Germany for ten years probof Honor didn’t make an appearance ably because he couldn’t bear to see his for bravery on the battlefield until the country in shambles. Before the war Civil War so he was awarded a com- broke out, his father-in-law named the city of Ft. Myers, Florida, in his honor. memorative sword instead.

The son of Abraham Myers was For David’s commitment to the army, he was promoted to the rank of also a war hero who carried on the hisbrevet major general and given the De- toric name from his maternal heritage. partment of Texas as his new command. John Twiggs Myers was born when his Even in the mid-1800s, there was vio- family was in Germany and attended lence on the Mexican-American bor- the U.S. Naval Academy before joining the marines. He saw action der and a fifth of his command was during the Spanish-Amerused to patrol this area. When ican War, Philippines states began to secede from War, the Boxer Revthe Union in 1861, Twiggs olution, several was asked by Confederexpeditions, and ate representatives to World War I. surrender every miliDuring the Boxtary installation and er Revolution in all personnel in TexChina in 1900, as. Being from the Myers led a South, having the charge that gave itch to return home his forces an adto Georgia and havvantage against ing tendencies for the rebels. He the Southern cause, was injured in the he gave everything leg by a spear and to them. To the North issued the rare brevet this was considered medal for his actions. treason and he was subseDuring World War I, quently dismissed from Brig. Gen. David E. Twiggs he was the counterinthe army. The South telligence officer for gladly made him a major general and gave him the command the Atlantic Fleet. After his retirement, in Louisiana. Even so, he wasn’t able Abraham was promoted to lieutenant to take command because he was too general (3 stars) making him the highold and frail at the age of 70 and so he est ranking officer of his storied famiretired. David died a year later and is ly’s heritage. buried in Georgia. The three swords that he earned for his service in Mexico fell into Union hands and many years Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to later were returned to his family. They The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comare now on display in a Civil War mu- ments and suggestions.for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@ seum in Pennsylvania.

Many officers left the Union to fight gmail.com. for their home-states including David Twiggs’ son-in-law, Abraham Myers.

A graduate of West Point, Myers also served during the Mexican-American War as the quartermaster general for the troops fighting in Mexico. He held the same position for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Confederate President Jefferson Davis replaced

MAY 29, 2014

hile the Jewish population in 1814, he was released and returned to the United States has always the marines. Levi fought in the Semibeen just a small percentage nole Wars in 1836 and 1837, and by the of the nation, there have been many outbreak of the Mexican-American War who have made (1846-1848), he was their mark in hisa major. At the Battory. Families emitle of Chapultepec grated from Europe near Mexico City in and settled across September 1847, he the fruited plain, led the marine deand during the tachment against a Revolutionary War well-entrenched en(1775-1783), they emy. It was a bloody helped out in any battle and all of the way possible. The commissioned and E m a n u e l - Tw i g g s non-commissioned families certainmarine officers were ly did their share killed storming the while living in the castle, including Deep South for the Levi. Two destroyfirst century of our ers, one in each Lt. Gen. John Twiggs Myers country’s existence. world war, bearing The most prominent of this family was the name USS Twiggs were named in General David Emanuel Twiggs, who, his memory. at the age of 70, became the oldest ConMany famed army officers also federate general. saw action at the Battle of ChapulteJohn Twiggs was a Revolutionary pec including Ulysses S. Grant, RobWar hero who served in the Georgia ert E. Lee and Levi’s brother, David militia and was wounded on a battle- Emanuel Twiggs. David volunteered to field in South Carolina. He married the serve during the War of 1812 and was sister of one of his soldiers in his unit, appointed a captain in the infantry. In David Emanuel. Not much is known 1836, he was promoted to colonel in about David’s early life except that he the 2nd Dragoons (mounted infantry). was born in Pennsylvania to a Jewish The unit saw action during the Texas family. After the war, he was president Revolution and in the Seminole Wars. of the Georgia Senate, and in 1801, At the outbreak of the Mexican Amerhe was appointed the 24th governor of ican War, Twiggs led the dragoons in Georgia when his predecessor resigned. several battles and served valiantly unHe was the first Jewish governor of any der future president Zachary Taylor at state but he did not seek reelection and Palo Alto.

Twiggs was promoted to brigaserved for only eight months. Emanuel County in Georgia is named as a trib- dier general and given command of a ute for the service he performed for the division before they received new orders. They were to join General Winstate.

John Twiggs and Ruth Emanuel field’s Scott’s expedition into the heart had six children and two became war of Mexico. However, at the Battle of heroes—David and Levi. Levi was the Chapultepec—the same fight where his youngest of the Twiggs and became a brother was killed—David was woundlieutenant in the marines. He was sta- ed. His injuries weren’t debilitating so tioned on the frigate USS President he continued on all the way to capture when it was captured by the British of Mexico City. Many battles were during the War of 1812. The President fought as the Mexicans contested forfought a tough battle against four Brit- eigners in their country and it took a ish ships but couldn’t hold them off, general like Twiggs to lead attacks and and Levi was sent to a prisoner camp in give the rank and file soldier courage to Bermuda. After the Treaty of Ghent in continue fighting. For his bravery, Da-

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Avi Heiligman

T H E J E W I S H H O M E n M AY 2 9 , 2014

Forgotten Heroes

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A Trip up the Mountain A SHAVUOS STORY

BY RABBI MORDECHAI K AMENETZKY

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havuos is identified with Moshe’s trip up a Mountain. He returned with the Torah and gave it to Klal Yisrael. I don’t think we have an obligation to reenact the trek up the mountain and bring back the Torah. We have it already. But I once did bring a Jew up a Mountain where he indeed got the Torah.

Maybe he didn’t really get it. But in a way, he finally got it.

Let me explain: Thirty some odd years ago I spent my years in the dusty, unbearable heat of a city in Israel named B’nei Brak. It is known for its gedolim and its totally frum atmosphere. That’s all good for the hit and run tourist, but I was a bochur, living in a non-air conditioned dorm room sweltering in Sivan.

Most Americans choose Yerushalayim. Don’t ask me why I picked Ponovezh. Maybe it was a Rav Kamenetzky-Rav Shach thing. I was 18 and there were very few Americans there. The American program there consisted of someone asking you about Jimmy Carter. Otherwise it was pure B’nei Brak, Ivrit, Yiddish and Time

cigarettes.

It was hot and it was dusty, but I took it all in and loved everything about it. Even the dust. After all, each speck of dust, like the people it represents, contains a story that I believe can lift a person to the other inanimate representative of our people—the stars. Maybe my journey did not actually end in the stars, but it surely ended—or perhaps began—on the top of a mountain. Let me explain.

M

y journey up the Mountain began one very sweltering evening in front of my yeshiva. It began with a plume of holy Bnei Brak dust, kicked up by a not-so-holy brand-new Mercedes taxi that roared up at the base of the mountain, at the foot of the yeshiva’s many steps. I was behind the cab and nearly choked on its plume of smoke, grime, and holy dust.

In Bnei Brak there are two yeshivas that sit atop mountains. One is the Slabodka Yeshiva, the other is Ponovezh. As I explained, I chose

the larger of the two, forsaking my grandfather’s alma mater, for the yeshiva led by his contemporary, Rav Shach.

It was then, and still is, a majestic edifice.

It stands on a two-tiered mountain. A set of steps leads to the first level and another leads to the bais midrash one story higher.

Its jewel, the bais midrash, is a sight to behold. As you enter the huge hall, the unforgettable scene is the spectacle of nearly 1,000 swaying souls who are immersed in Talmudic texts and the commentators who expound on them. To the young scholars, the Talmud’s ancient adages ring as relevant as the everchanging news that pierces the Middle Eastern airwaves on a daily basis. The students grapple and banter over every nuance of every commentary whose smallest inflection could change the life course of a generation of Jewish families in ways more powerful than any political speech delivered in the halls of power.

And the energy of those students subtly colors the scene that greets the visitor upon entering

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I TOOK IT ALL IN AND LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. EVEN THE DUST.

the party in power.

T

he plume of dust that dirtied my pants began my career in the taxi business. I was right behind the reckless driver and luckily not run over. I happened to have been coming from the street below, on my way to night seder, when I was almost run over by the cab. As I dusted myself off, I debated my move. This particular driver had turned his motor off, waiting with a newspaper as if he had nowhere to go and all the time in the world. I approached him cautiously. He did not appear to be the least bit observant. No yarmulka on his head, and no buttons on his shirt.

I smiled as I complimented his car, and I saw the pride in which he felt about his new baby. I wanted to mention that the baby should have been wearing a diaper, as it had just soiled my trousers, but I decided to be positive. I looked him over. Forty-ish. European descent. Kibbutznik or the like. Hardened Sabra. Probably never went to shul a day in his life.

He felt as out of place in front of Ponovezh as a yeshiva boy would in front of a Tel Aviv dance hall. But I approached him, thinking that maybe he was lost. I asked him if he needed anything, and he replied that he was called to take three boys to a wedding in nearby Ramat Gan, a town not far from B’nei Brak – at

MAY 29, 2014

that kisses their words.

But gracing the entire scene, almost as a symbolic colossus declaring its sanctity, stands a most beautiful and equally majestic towering 16thcentury Italian wood aron kodesh gilded in gold leaf.

This all hit me the first time I entered the bais midrash as an 18-year-old student. I was an American. I was coming from the land of pet-rocks-for-fun to the land of thrown-onesfor-passionate-causes. As much as I wanted to fit in, I really couldn’t become an Israeli. At least to the Israelis. I was lucky, however. I was a grandson of Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky,

one of the oldest and most prestigious of the gedolei hador and a close confidant of the rosh yeshiva, Rav Shach. That privilege allowed me to be my American myself while remaining true to all the rules, protocols, and etiquette of the yeshiva.

Truth be told, little by little, I too began to adapt. I no longer used an American-style shaver prohibited by most of the authorities in Bnei Brak. I learned to eat vegetables and leben, to speak like a native, and how to manage with less food, fewer clothes, and fewer showers.

But there was one aspect that I could not adapt to. And that was the great and powerful societal divide between the cultures, religiosity, and political affiliations of Israeli society.

And that plume of dust began my crusade.

Bnei Brak did not have a sophisticated transportation system, and very few members of the yeshiva world had cars. When boys needed to go to a wedding out of Bnei Brak, they would call a taxi. The taxi would wait at the bottom of the two-tiered hill for the boys to descend. They would enter the cab, fight about the fare, and eventually arrive at their destination. The trip would usually not involve much conversation, other than the usual argument about yeshiva boys serving in the army, and, depending on the political affiliation of the driver, a soliloquy about what was wrong with

55 THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

the hall. That vibrancy transcends the beauty of the old wooden benches, the discourseworn shtenders, and the old, worn seforim that seem to be reinvigorated with each generation

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MAY 29, 2014

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119 57

I BROUGHT A FOREIGNER INTO SACRED TERRITORY. A STRANGER HAD ASCENDED THE MOUNTAIN.

I sighed dejectedly. I really wanted no part of this. Andy was older than I and it was only a few months ago when he had taught me the power of an M-80 or cherry bomb firecracker.

He had described the way he had lit one in the change receptacle of one of the many local payphones in the Cedarhurst Long Island Railroad Station, and how all the change had come pouring out. Now I had to be the minister of

MAY 29, 2014

I

t was Sukkos, 1966. Andy Ferguson, who is Jewish, had just finished his paper route flinging the Newsday on our porch, when my father spotted him. He told me to call him into the sukkah.

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least geographically. He was 20 minutes early, so he’d read the paper in the car while taking the ubiquitous smoke. I asked him if he knew what the giant building was, pointing some two stories above to the edifice on the hill.

He looked at me quizzically. He was not used to yeshiva boys engaging him in conversation. Surely if they were not passengers in his “baby.”

“Zeh Yeshivat...Yeshivat....” He stammered, I finished the sentence for him – “Ponovezh.”

“Nachon (correct),” he remembered the name vaguely, “Rechov Vilkomeer,” he added as if it were just another address for a taxi pickup. To him the name Vilkomeer could have been an Indian tribe, like Ronkonkama or Massapequa. He did not know that he was talking to a kid from Woodmere whose father had learned in the city of Vilkomeer, one of the thousand majestic lights that had been extinguished on its native soil.

He added, “I am not from here. I am a Tel Avivite, but I did this run for a friend. I don’t come by these parts too often,” he added with a chuckle.

And then I had a flashback.

A flashback of encounters that I always had in my youth. Encounters that I had only because of my father’s encouragement. Encounters that were supposed transcend the simple exchange of information, but should stretch slowly with the savor of a kid pulling a soft piece of taffy.

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religion, cajoling him into a booth that Andy was probably sizing up in terms of “how many cherry bombs would it take to bring down this hut?”

“Andy,” my father called, “come in, make a bracha.” Andy was excited and hungry. The kugel evoked the admission that this was the first time he was in a sukkah, and he stood enraptured hearing the stories of the desert trek as he downed soda and my mother’s chocolate cake, and another piece of kugel. I stood sheepishly in the corner, not sure whether to be embarrassed of my overbearing father or proud of how he tamed the big, strong, and tough Andy Ferguson with a piece of potato kugel.

As I saw the aroma waft upwards from the kugel, and then suddenly, I heard a voice ask, “Ata Amaricai?”

I flashed forward 20 years and some few thousand miles east. I was no longer about to ask Andy into the sukkah, I was back in Bnei Brak, 1976.

And I had to serve some kugel too.

I ignored his query and countered in my rudimentary Ivrit, “May I ask you a question?

Tell me the truth. Tagid li ha’emet. Have you ever been inside a real yeshiva in your life?”

He looked at me in wonder. Why was I asking him this question? What did I care? I was not Lubavitch, and I was not offering him tefillin. Why did I care?

He shook his head.

“Shut the motor.” I continued, “You have 15 minutes. No one is stealing your car.” And in my strongest New Yawk accent, Stars and Stripes written all over it, I declared, “You’re comin’ with me!”

I held his hand as we walked up the stairs.

He had no yarmulka. I gave him the sweaty one that I was wearing under my hat. I marched him up the stairs. The eyes of Bnei Brak were staring at me.

“Who is that guy walking with Kamenetzky?” “A cousin from America?” When I brought him into the bais midrash his jaw dropped. He stood fixated at the scene, and scores of young men who should have had their eyes on the gemara sat fixated on him.

And me. I had breached their space. I brought a foreigner into sacred territory. A stranger had ascended the mountain.

Later I would tell my new Israeli friends that he was a distant cousin and that we shared an old grandfather named Avraham. But for now, I am sure that they stood, like myself 10 years prior, on the side of the sukkah, not knowing whether to be embarrassed or proud.

Ten years later, I was not unsure. I knew the answer. I was proud. Of myself and of my father.

But I was never prouder than after what happened in the next two minutes. The three boys who were about to leave to the wedding realized that this may have been their driver.

They walked up to him and thanked him for coming up to get them.

And as they walked out with him, he dropped back and turned to thank me. He never asked for my name. I had forgotten to ask his.

“Adoni,” he addressed me as if I were a statesman. “Todah. Thank you for bringing me up here.” His eyes glistened as he said his parting words to me, “I felt that for the first time in TJH my life I had climbed to the top of Har Sinai.” 

2014 T H E J E W I S H H O M E nn MMAYAY 2249, ,2012

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82 78

Riddle!

Some people’s names (such as “Will Power”) suggest a certain personality or career choice. Given below are some last names and professions. Can you think of a first name for each of the listed last names which would be suggestive of their professions? For example: Sonny Day would suggest a meteorologist. Each last name and profession may be used just once.

Last Names: Ball, King, Major, Mee, Soares, Turner Professions: Paleontologist, Author, Musician, Plumber, Astrologer, Lawyer Answer on next page

You Gotta be

Kidding!

Bill Gates decides to organize a convention to find the next chairman for Microsoft. 5,000 candidates are assembled in a large room.

One of the candidates is Yankel Cohen. Mr. Gates thanks all the candidates for coming and asks all those who do not know the programming language Java Plus to rise and leave. 2,000 people leave the room.

But Yankel says to himself, “I don’t know this language, but what do I have to lose if I stay? I’ll give it a try.”

Bill Gates then asks the remaining candidates who have never been team managers to leave. 2,000 people rise and leave the room.

But Yankel says to himself, “Oy, I never managed anyone but myself, but what have I got to lose if I stay? What can happen to me?” So he stays.

Bill Gates then asks all remaining candidates who don’t have a degree from an Ivy League university to rise and leave. 500 people leave the room.

But Yankel says to himself, “Oy vay, I left school at 15 so I never went to university, but what do I have to lose if I stay?” So he stays in the room.

Bill Gates finally asks all the remaining candidates who don’t speak Serbo-Croat to rise and leave. 498 people rise and leave the room.

But Yankel says to himself, “Oy vay zmir, I don’t speak Serbo-Croat, but whatever, I have nothing to lose.” So he stays in the room and finds himself alone with one other candidate – everyone else has left.

Bill Gates turns to them and says, “Apparently you are the only two candidates who speak Serbo-Croat, so I’d now like to hear you both have a little conversation in that language.” Calmly, Yankel turns to the other candidate and says to him, “Ma nishtana halaila hazeh mikol halelot?”

The other candidate answers, “Shebechol halelot anu ochlin chametz u’matzah.”

t s a L s u o m a F Words “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” – Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977 “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.”– Western Union internal memo, 1876.

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” – David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s “The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible.”– A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

“Who wants to hear actors talk?”– H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927, rejecting the idea of sound in film “A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.” – Response to Debbi Fields’ idea of starting Mrs. Fields’ Cookies.

“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” – Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles in 1962 “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” – Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895 “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” – Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899

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child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.”

1. “Call me Ishmael.”

9. “Where’s Papa going with that axe?”

3. “You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter.”

10. “The sun did not shine, it was too wet to play, so we sat in the house all that cold, cold wet day.”

4. “When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only.”

11. “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal.”

5. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...”

13. “He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.”

12. “Life is difficult.”

14. “Who is John Galt?”

6. “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like….”

15. “Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York.”

16. “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.”

8. “It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own

A.

Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling

I.

Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss

B.

Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

J.

Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

C.

The Road Less Traveled, Robert Frost

K.

Moby Dick, Herman Melville

D.

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

L.

Walden, Henry David Thoreau

E.

Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White

M. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

F.

Matilda, Roald Dahl

N.

Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

G.

To Kill a Mockingbird, Nelle Harper Lee

O.

A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

H.

The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway

P.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith

Wisdom key: 12-16 correct: Look at you, all proud of yourself…with your upturned nose. Vous êtes si cultivés.

0-5 correct: Hmmm. Perhaps you should start your reading career with Dr. Seuss…Dum, diddy dum, diddy dum dum dum

9-E 10-I 11-A 12-C 13-H 14-N 15-P 16-G

6-11 correct: Remember, “C students” are captains of industry.

Answers: 1-K 2-M 3-B 4-L 5-O 6- J 7-D 8-F

7. “It was a pleasure to burn.”

MAY 29, 2014

2. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

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You may not remember every line in a book, but do you remember which classic book each of these opening lines are from?

T HT HE EJ JE EWWI SI SHHHHOOMME E nn M M AY AY 22 94 ,, 2014 2012

Famous Opening Lines Trivia

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Answer to riddle: Crystal Ball - Astrologer ; Dinah Soares - Paleontologist ;Paige Turner - Author; Dee Major - Musician; Lee King - Plumber; Sue Mee - Lawyer

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

MAY 29, 2014

T H E J E W I S H H O M E n M AY 2 9 , 2014

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From My Private Art Collection Rebbetzin Naomi N. Herzberg

THE ART OF

Flower Arranging Once upon a time I was a floral designer… and so I recommend the following: “Say it with flowers.”

Proportion. The container must be the correct size to best accentuate the flowers placed in it.

Balance. Is it going to be asymmetrical, which means not completely balanced on both sides, or symmetrical, which are exactly even on both sides.

Contrast. Avoid monotony by using a combination of various textures, color combinations and shapes, which will automatically contribute to the design.

Shapes. The triangle, circular, crescent, curve, torch, and convex curve are all excellent additions to any floral design.

Style. They include those such as: traditional with an emphasis on using flowers that bloom generously; Oriental with an emphasis on lines in a triangular form; and modern with an emphasis on using many lines with excellent balance and color.

Traditional flower arrangements should be made in containers that match the style. Many traditional style flower arrangements can be copied from vintage prints and antique pictures.

Oriental flower arrangements are created with balance and harmony which are of the utmost importance. Before the flowers are picked, a form is created following specific lines.

Modern flower arrangements are created with the use of dramatic color combinations and foliage which is exotic, simplistic and sophisticated at the same time. This includes an appreciation of unusual effects and creations. Sometimes fresh flowers are combined with dried flowers.

Floral arrangements should be looked at as decorative accents which enhance and bring life to a room’s décor. The correct use of color will produce the effect that you are wishing to achieve.

Examples of how colorful flowers can speak to you Yellow is a color which can be used to bring warmth into a cool area such as in a blue room.

White is a great accent color, as it complements all colors.

Violet has a little bit of red in it which supplies added warmth to any decor.

Green owns the ability to work in almost any room as nature is universal.

Blue is a cool color, which complements many other color combinations.

Red is a vibrant color that adds excitement.

Important Tips *Make sure that you have the right tools to work with. *Reduce wilting by placing flowers in clean containers. *Always place flowers in water that is at room temperature—not too cold and not too hot. *Cut the stems of flowers at an angle before placing in the container. * Do not place floral arrangements in extreme temperature. * The designs of floral arrangements show up best in simple containers. *Branches will last longer if the leaves are pulled off on the lower 2 inches of the stems, which will end up being inside the water. *Favorite foliage which adds interest to floral arrangements include scotch broom, ti leaf, huckleberry, croton, pine, and hemlock. *Foliage can be used alone to create interesting arrangements. * Please note: keep this information handy as it will be useful to have when designing your own or ordering a floral arrangement from a florist shop.

Rebbetzin Naomi N. Herzberg is a professional art educator, artist and designer. Among her known artwork is a floral sculpture presented to Tipper Gore, Blair House, Washington, D.C. Presently she is the Director of Operations at Shulamith School for Girls. Please feel free to email nherzberg@optonline.net with questions and suggestions for future columns.

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‘I’m not going to cancel. I’m going to start going again next month,’ or ‘It’s almost January (or spring, or summer, or school season), I’ll start then and it’ll be great.’ And so it goes. They let it ride because they plan to come to the gym, but it never happens.”

Now, dear readers, I’m not focused on whether the gym is making money or not, or whether you will actually go to a gym if it costs you more money.

I’m focused on the idea that keeps people paying month after month.

You see, the people who pay but don’t show up are not saying that they don’t mind throwing money away. I don’t think you’d see any of them take a ten dollar bill and throw it into the street. People like their money.

Instead, what they’re really saying, deep down, is, “It’s not too late. I want to stay a member in the gym because I know it’s good for me and I should start going more regularly. I can do it.”

What an idea! Think about it.

Deep down they know what’s good and

lars out the window, would you do it to 43,200 minutes each and every month?

Think time is money? Forget it.

Money doesn’t even come close.

So, as we approach Shavuos, resolve to get spiritually healthy, make good choices, and start leading a

“I KNOW IT’S GOOD FOR ME AND I SHOULD START GOING MORE REGULARLY. I CAN DO IT.” that just because you don’t look like a bodybuilder today is no reason you can’t trim a few pounds tomorrow. You don’t need to devote major resources to it; just be dedicated and find it important.

If you’ve ever exercised, especially when you didn’t want to, you know how wonderful you feel afterwards.

You’re glad you pushed yourself. You know it was time well-spent. You feel proud of yourself and rightfully so.

Now, what about if you were exhausted and just wanted to plop down on the couch with a book (or better yet, without a book!), but instead you picked up a sefer, called a friend who was down, or went out to a shiur.

You pushed yourself to do what you knew was good for your soul. Afterwards, you probably felt like a million dollars, proud as a peacock.

I’ve been known to wake up very early in the morning to learn. It’s not easy pulling myself out of bed, but I can tell you that when I close the gemara or finish my weekly dvar Torah, I am not thinking about the missing sleep. I’m thinking, “Wow, that was invigorating. I’m so happy I did that.

I rock. Go me!”

Shavuos is a time for everyone who has been pushing off their involvement in Torah until they’ve got more time, or more energy, or less stress, to say, “I want to do this for me. I can do it. This is the time I’m going to make it a habit and stick to it.”

Because, you know, when you miss it, it’s not just ten bucks. It’s time.

Even if you might throw ten dol-

wholesome Torah lifestyle. Besides, when that’s your goal, you can still enjoy your cheesecake without feeling guilty. Not only that, it’s a mitzvah!

This article is an excerpt from Jonathan Gewirtz’s new book, The Obser-

vant Jew, a Refreshing New Look at the World, coming soon to a Jewish bookstore near you from Feldheim.

Jonathan Gewirtz is a frequent contributor to these pages whose mission is to inspire and make people think. You can achieve so much if you put your mind to it. Rabbi Gewirtz has been publishing a weekly Dvar Torah in English called the Migdal Ohr, for over a decade. It started with a firm decision and continues one issue at a time.

Subscribe for free by e-mailing info@jewishspeechwriter.com and writing subscribe in the Subject line.

Have a simcha coming up? Enhance your event with thought-provoking, entertaining words. Order a custom speech for your next simcha at visit www.JewishSpeechWriter.com © 2010 by Jonathan Gewirtz. All rights reserved.

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MAY 29, 2014

eople often come up to me and say, “I’ve got an article idea for you.” Usually it’s some pet peeve of theirs which they see as terribly rude, annoying, or wrong. Sometimes, it’s something inspirational or special, like when the rain stopped just long enough for chametz burning to go on, and then started again.

This time, someone had an idea and said, “If anyone can come up with a good article about this, it’s Jonathan Gewirtz.” He had been speaking to the manager of a gym which charges $10 a month. “How can you make money on ten dollars a month?” he asked.

“Look around,” said the manager.

“You see all these people here? These aren’t the ones I make money on. I make money on the people who pay ten dollars every month and never show up.”

“I don’t understand,” asked our guest. “Why do they keep paying if they don’t come?”

“It’s just ten dollars,” replied the gym staffer. “They tell themselves,

Shavuos and the Ten Dollar Gym

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

Rabbi Jonathan Gewirtz

T H E J E W I S H H O M E n M AY 2 9 , 2014

The Observant Jew

T H E J E W I S H H O M E n M AY 2 9 , 2014

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Welcome to the Royal Family

erhaps you heard about a major event that took place a few years ago in London. A million people were on hand while an estimated two billion people in more than 180 countries around the world watched or listened to reports about the “royal wedding” between Prince William and Catherine Middleton on April 29, 2011. Over 8,500 journalists were on hand to cover the event.

Facebook calculated that 2.8 billion people in America and Britain alone had written status updates about the royal wedding during the 24 hours prior, while Twitter users were posting 237 tweets per second.

There was tremendous discussion generated during the weeks prior about many of the details of the wedding, including such trivialities as the clothing the bride and groom would wear and how the procession would proceed.

There are, and have been, many events that seemed to capture the world’s attention but this one seems to have taken the cake. Two billion people in 180 countries!

Is there more to it than just everyone wanting to know the business of the rich and famous? Why was the world so hooked on this wedding?

The final of the Ten Commandments – “You shall not covet!” – seems rather peculiar. How can the Torah forbid us from feeling a natural emotion? If a person likes his neighbor’s home and feels a tinge of jealousy, is it his fault?

The great commentator Ibn Ezra notes that the emotion of jealousy is indeed within the purview of our control.

He explains that a sensible villager who sees a beautiful princess passing before him with her royal entourage is not jealous and he doesn’t desire to be close with her because he realizes that he is “out of her league.” She would never give him a second look, and he has absolutely no connection with her.

So too, if one understands and believes that G-d has given him whatever he is supposed to have and that whatever he does not have he is absolutely not

supposed to have, he will not feel any envy or jealousy for someone else or someone else’s things. He understands that his neighbor’s car, home, and wife is as foreign to him as a royal princess.

But what happens when the princess is not a princess at all? Kate Middleton was born to working class parents in Berkshire, England. Her parents built a successful mail order company that sold party supplies and decorations. The profits they made from their business allowed them to send their eldest daughter to the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where she met Prince Williams. There was quite a stir when the couple announced their engagement. How could the prince agree to marry a commoner?

Is the massive interest to the wedding due to covert envy? Did the wedding awaken within the hearts of every commoner the hope and possibility that she may yet be a princess one day?

Kate and William’s wedding may very well have tainted our generation’s ability to understand the poignant parable of the Ibn Ezra. For now it seems that anyone has a fair shot at joining the royal family. So let the envy flow.

For those who have enough sense to realize that they will never be the prince or princess of Wales, England, or even Boro Park, all is not lost. In fact, au contraire! The Mishna (Avos 6:5) states, “Do not lust for the table of kings, for your table is greater than their table, and your crown is greater than their crown.”

You already are part of the Royal Family, the genuine Royal Family. And this week you are invited to participate in the renewal of the vows we uttered at the Royal Wedding 3,325 years ago at Sinai.

And so we wish you a joyous holiday, Your Majesty!

Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW, is the Rabbi of Kehillat New Hempstead, and Guidance Counselor/Rebbe at Yeshiva Bais Hachinuch & Ashar in Monsey, NY. He is the author of Stam Torah and can be reached at stamtorah@gmail.com. His website is www.stamtorah.info.

63 THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

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MAY 29, 2014

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