Experience the warmth of community at L'Chaim Day Program! We're a place where you can feel at home, in a supportive environment, and a loving atmosphere.
Daily interactive activities led by Rabbi Tzvi Karp, Rebbetzin Malka Zweig, and Mrs. Deborah Bandos
Shiurim and daily Mincha Minyan
Kosher meals prepared with love by Chef “CB” Goldfein
L’Chaim is a licensed adult medical day program, where participants benefit from:
Medical care and daily monitoring by a registered nurse
Case management by a licensed clinical social worker Physical, occupational, and speech therapy
Dear Readers,
Each year, after I drop my kids off at the bus heading to camp, I sit in the car and my wonderful camp memories come flooding back. I remember the songs, the freedom, the independence, the camaraderie, and the pure happiness.
As a child, the school year was a slog, and I always looked forward to summer vacation. It meant long days free to play ball, hang out with friends, and step back from the rigors of the school year. Most of all, though, it meant I got to spend a summer at camp. To me, camp had just enough structure to keep us in line, but enough freedom to allow us to experience some of the best moments of our childhood.
I attended Camp Naarim, nestled in the Pocono Mountains in Waymart, PA. The camp was led by the legendary Rabbi Shmuel Kunda, who imparted his creativity into all its activities. The counselors and staff led us with energy and ruach. Davening and learning groups were never a chore, leagues were fun and competitive, and the programming was always entertaining.
We didn’t care that twelve of us were crammed into a small bunkhouse, with no air conditioning, terrible mattresses, and even worse showers. The songs from camp still play a pleasant soundtrack in my mind. I can still hear Avraham Fried’s “Sisu V’simchu” playing on the loudspeakers and remember entire color war songs:
TTTO: The Voice of a New Generation by Yisroel Williger
I can’t wait to come back to Naarim Where it’s fun ‘round the clock every day Sunny skies, gorgeous lake I’m not making a mistake To make Naarim my home is my dream.
I made friendships that have lasted a lifetime, and I still admire my camp Rabbeim like Rabbi Moshe Brown, Rabbi Yaakov Bender, Rabbi Yaakov Eisgrau, and Rabbi Emanuel Golfeiz. The positive experiences from Camp Naarim certainly helped mold me and so many other Jewish children through the years.
So, if you see a parent getting emotional as they drop their kids off at the bus to camp, know that it’s not only the inevitable separation that’s prompting it. There’s also a part of the parent yearning for, or reflecting on, the wonderful years they experienced at camp and praying that their child has those same experiences.
Have a wonderful summer and a peaceful Shabbos Aaron Menachem
The Chesed Fund & Project Ezra Honor Baltimore’s Outstanding Heroes!
Over 150 happy guests joined together at a special ceremony to honor and proudly celebrate the well-deserving winners of the 10th Annual Community Safety & Service Award. Sponsored by Mr. & Mrs. Bruce and Lois Kauffman, in memory of Phillip Kauffman, a”h, and Morris & Rosalie Zwagil, a”h, the award ceremony highlighted Baltimore’s invaluable chesed and safety superstars. This year, winners were also nominated in two special categories; the Yesodei Yisroel Award for people who went above and beyond in their support of Israel, and the Gibor Milchama Award which was for IDF soldiers who defend and protect Am Yisroel.
Youth winners ranged from sisters Tsippi and Dani Brookmyer and Shani Kopel, who ran a bake sale and donated the funds to support Israeli soldiers, to Moshe Golfeyz who stopped his very young neighbor from running into the street. Another young winner, Tziporah Simanowitz rescued her younger brother when he was drowning in the deep end of a pool.
Since some winners of the Gibor Milchama Award are currently in Israel serving in the IDF, their families represented them while the awardees were able to watch a livestream of the event. Originally from Baltimore, Staff Sergeant Arky Staiman, who went viral for his inspirational videos since October 7th, was honored, as well as other brave and inspirational soldiers - First Sergeant Yoseph Prigal, Master Sergeant Didi Rand, Sergeant Yoni Rose, Sergeant Elya Rothstein, and Master Sergeant Gabriel Yair Shabtai. Captain Eyal Twito, h”yd, who spent his gap year as a beloved Shinshin at Ohr Chadash Academy, and who risked and tragically lost his life in the war, was also honored. “When I called Eyal’s mother to let her know about the posthumous award, it made all the difference. She was so touched knowing how much people cared, even here in the US, helping her family heal from this huge loss. A plaque was also provided to Ohr Chadash so students can remember him and in this way, his sacrifice won’t be forgotten,” said The Chesed Fund and Project Ezra’s Director, Frank Storch.
Adult winners also included one of Baltimore’s chesed “power-couples,” Drs. Gerald and Suzanne Insel. As our community’s beloved leading cardiologist and Torah Institute’s General Studies Director, respectively, they were recognized for their exceptional commitment to their patients and students. Mrs. Tamar Schulman, a remarkable two-time organ donor and the dedicated director of Kehal Chasidim, was recognized as well. Another welldeserved Yesodei Yisroel award went to Mrs. Esti Taragin, who paused her life as a busy mother and as Sinai Hospital’s Outpatient Rehabilitation Services Manager. She traveled to Israel twice since October 7th volunteering to show solidarity and support by using her physical therapy experience to aid Israelis suffering from the war’s impact.
Youth Division
Moshe Golfeyz
Tziporah Simanowitz
Adult Division
Rabbi Moshe Herzog & TAG
Dr. & Dr. Jerald & Suzanne Insel
Mrs. Zahava List
Rabbi & Mrs. Yakov & Shanni Majeski
Mrs. Tamar Schulman
Good Neighbor Award
Mrs. Betty Cherniak
Rabbinical Award
Rabbi & Rebbetzin
Noam & Cohava Cohen
Gibor Milchama
First Sgt. Yoseph Prigal
Master Sgt. Didi Rand
Sgt. Yoni Rose
Sgt. Elya Rothstein
Master Sgt. Gabriel Yair Shabtai
Staff Sgt. Arky Staiman
Captain Eyal Twito, ד יה
To learn more about the many and mostly free and essential programs and literature provided by The Chesed Fund & Project Ezra provide, visit chesedfund.com.
“The award ceremony today was a beautiful event and I am so honored to have been a part of it. How uplifting to see the many faces of chesed our people have!” said award winner Judy Landman. Together with Michele Anflick, the song “Mission to Live” was composed to uplift and thank soldiers and bring achdus to am yisroel during these challenging times. It can be viewed at https://youtu.be/ Ei4adE4NE2A
Yesodei Yisroel
Mrs. Michelle Anflick
Mrs. Adi Yahav Brito
Ms. Dani Brookmyer
Ms. Tsippi Brookmyer
Mr. Shimi Carroll
Mr. & Mrs. Eric & Elaine Gerstenfeld
Rabbi Yisroel Juskowicz
Mr. Ami Klein
Ms. Shani Kopel
Mrs. Judy Landman
Rabbi Etan Mintz
Rabbi Dr. Avrom Pollak
Sgt. Ariel Rice
Mrs. Esther Rosenbloom
Ms. Yocheved Ruttenberg
Mr. Yonah Ruttenberg
Dr. Sidney Schechet
Mrs. Bracha Shor
Mrs. Esti Taragin
Mrs. Tova Taragin
Mr. Avi Thav
Photo Credits: Baruch Bitman
OCA 8th Grade
Congratulations to the 8thgrade graduating class of Ohr Chadash Academy (OCA)! The graduation ceremony began with inspiring remarks from Head of School, Dr. Rapoport, Middle School Principal, Rabbi Bennett, and Board President, Mr. David Reidy. Two student speakers eloquently represented their peers, and a
touching video showcased each student reflecting on their journey at OCA. Each graduate received a diploma, accompanied by heartfelt wishes from their chosen teacher or Rebbe. Following graduation, the 8th graders culminated their OCA experience with a very special trip to Chicago! Mazel Tov to all the graduates!
My partner is both very knowledgeable and an exceptionally warm, accepting person. She tailors our learning for my interest, ability, and growth, and each session is very meaningful.
-TR
I have gained from the aspect of learning with a partner and having interaction between her and me! I feel rewarded because my partner is so appreciative. We both learn from each other! Thanks to Toby for this opportunity!
I have gained so much from TT, friendship, advice and always something I can use in my everyday life. I look forward to Wednesday night each week. Being in a room filled with other Jewish Woman is just an amazing experience! Thank you for bringing it to Baltimore.
I’ve only been learning for a few weeks. My mentor is warm, engaging and I love that she is working with me at an entry level of learning.
When Toby Friedman asked me to be a mentor for Torah Together, I didn’t expect that I would be a partner rather than a mentor! My partner wanted to learn Emunah, while I had been expecting to learn something more text-based. Learning Emunah weekly has literally been a life-changer for me. This learning is so important to both of us that we continue learning even when Torah Together is not in session. Thank you Toby for pairing us up!
Torah Together has been a pleasant experience in which I have gained a new friendship and progressed in my knowledge of Hilchos Shabbos. We have covered areas of halacha in which I was previously unfamiliar. Thank you Torah Together for this valuable opportunity!
-Mrs Jane Menchel
Learning with my chavrusa is an honor and a pleasure! I couldn’t have asked for a better chavrusa! We have been learning about emunah, Shabbos and character building. I have definitely grown in my emunah thanks to Torah Together.
Torah Together will provide you with a carefully selected Torah mentor for an hour a week of study and discussion, free of charge. Weekly Wednesday Nights 8-9pm | Shomrei Emunah
For more information or to register, please contact Toby Friedman: 443-468-4598 • toby@torahtogether.org
Girls Chesed League Baltimore
TWith the culmination of another successful year of GCL, let’s take a look at some stats from this year’s season:
70 girls.
20 Mom coaches
11 team sponsors
1 league sponsor
4 community schools
4 assisted living/rehab facility visits.
6 community organizations.
1 gmach.
Multiple shuls. Immeasurable impact.
From the environmental activities like cleaning up the grounds surrounding the Cross Country Creek and planting flowers for Netivot Shalom, to bringing joy to the residents of Aventura at the Heights, Sterling Care, King David Rehab, and North Oaks Senior Center the girls engaged in chesed in a handson and meaningful way. Through the activities, the girls gained insight into the invaluable impact of organizations such as Ahavas Yisroel, AIM, Bikur Cholim, imadi, and The Friendship Circle. We are incredibly grateful to
Blue Ocean Realty for sponsoring GCL for the 4th consecutive season, and to the 11 team sponsors: Baltimore Jewish Home, The Candy Store, Chic Events by Shira, The Crafty Engineer, Details by Dena, The Mimi Boutique, The Naomi Center, Nina Elman Interiors, Simcha Steps, Talint Consulting, and Yehudis Wigs, who are partners in the opportunities provided for all the participants!
We ended our season with a celebratory dinner and games hosted by Wonderfly Arena where we had
an opportunity to reflect on the experiences and the lessons we gained from them. Chesed opportunities are all around us and it is our fervent hope that ALL girls in our community will take the opportunity to be a giver whenever they can. We look forward to next year’s GCL and know we will up our stats each year!
Jewish Educational Services Cohort Helps New Teachers Succeed
Your heart is pounding, and your palms are sweaty. You know the danger ahead and you’ve prepared as best as you can. You grab your bag, straighten your back, take a deep breath, and enter. You’re a brand-new teacher and it’s your first day of school. You’re feeling anxious and unsure of what’s to come.
At Jewish Educational Services, the New Teacher Cohort (NTC) strives to alleviate those feelings by providing coaching and peer support and much more. Research shows that teachers who receive coaching and support are reflective, make better use of feedback and are more effective in the classrooms which has a direct impact on their students having better learning experiences and outcomes. Most importantly, they are also more likely to stay in teaching.
Beginning with two back-toschool workshops in August, the cohort of twelve teachers from five community day schools, participated in monthly meetings, where topics such as Systems and Routines, Effective Parent Communication, Lesson Planning and Developing Outcomes were covered. The cohort provided an opportunity for new teachers to learn pedagogical concepts from two expert presenters, Mrs. Chaya Tropper, and Mrs. Yael Zelinger, both JES staffers. In addition, the new teachers appreciated hearing from their peers and sharing both successes and challenges. One of the participants expressed, “Having a space to assess how my teaching is going and learning how to improve” was a big benefit of the cohort. Another said, “The cohort has helped foster a culture of innovation and collaboration.”
Creating, Reflecting and Sharing were the themes of the final New Teacher Cohort session held in early June. Using a wide variety of materials, teachers created collages, models, wordles and illustrations to reflect on their teaching journey this year. A common thread was the overall feeling of satisfaction and excitement to do it all again next year.
One participant summed it up best, “In this cohort, teachers have a safe space to discuss their triumphs and struggles without fear of judgment. They celebrate each other’s successes and brainstorm solutions to common problems. As a result, they grow professionally and personally, developing strong bonds that extend beyond the classroom.”
JES is pleased to offer NTC 20242025 for new teachers in the first or
second year of teaching. For more information about what this program can offer you please contact Faye Friedman at ffriedman@jesbaltimore.org
613 Seconds with Rabbi Ari Koretzky, Executive Director, MEOR Maryland
BJH: Tell us about yourself. Where are you from?
Rabbi Ari Koretzky: I grew up in Baltimore and attended Beth Tfiloh from nursery through 12th grade. After that, I spent three years in Israel, then went to Ner Israel, while simultaneously earning a Master’s in Creative Nonfiction Writing from Hopkins. While at Ner, I slowly helped launch a small kiruv program - called Maimonides - at University of Maryland, College Park, alongside Ben-Zion (Bruce) Luchansky and Rabbi Azriel Burnham. This ultimately blossomed into what is now a full service kiruv organization called MEOR, part of a national network of similar projects.
BJH: Where do you live? Tell us about your family.
RAK: I live in Kemp Mill and daven at Ohr HaTorah, as well as other community shuls. My wife, Malka, is a speech therapist and plays a supporting role in our work. We k”h have four children: Meir, 22, learning in the Mir; Rena, almost 20, who just returned as a madricha in Neve and works for our umbrella, Ola-
mi; Shalom, 18, heading to Eretz Yisroel this Elul; and Ahuva, 14, about to begin high school at YGW.
BJH: What initially interested you in getting involved in Kiruv?
RAK: Both of my parents are baalei teshuva who actually first met in Rav Noach Weinberg’s apartment in the early 70’s. Growing up at Beth Tfiloh, I was surrounded by a diverse group of peers, and I was also heavily involved in NCSY, ultimately serving on its national board. I have always felt an intuitive drive to spread Torah and generate kiddush shem Shomayim. And I have always been bothered by the discord and factionalism that exists within our tiny People. So, outside of a teenage stint at Colonial Pharmacy (shoutout Mel Pacino!), this really has been my only job!
RAK: In the more proximate sense, in summer 2003 I met a group of prominent kiruv rabbabim - including my current boss, Rav Beryl Gershenfeld, as well as Rabbi Avraham Jacobovitz. I’ll never forget Slichos night 2003, when I attended a recorded video presentation of “Rabbi J”, who I had just met in person several weeks prior. He thundered: “Ashrei Yoshvei Veisecha! There are 400,000 Jewish students on campuses across North America who do not understand how precious it is to be a Jew!” I remember thinking to myself how much I would love to get involved in this effort, and as hashgacha would have it, around Succos I was offered precisely such an opportunity.
BJH: What makes MEOR unique?
RAK: MEOR focuses primarily on education and deep personal relation-
ships. We offer Shabbos meals, chavrusas (one-on-one or small groups), and a wide array of programs to help students explore Judaism in a sophisticated manner. Our goal is to help students disrupt their own Jewish story, take ownership of their future, and make proactive choices as educated “consumers” in a very complicated world. We work to communicate the “soul” of Judaism through warm and authentic relationships, and ensuring everyone feels welcome, regardless of their starting point.
BJH: What are you most proud of?
RAK: Nothing quite competes with the joy of attending a chuppah of a student who made the courageous and comprehensive choice to embrace Yiddishkeit and live a committed Torah life. We should only celebrate many more such simchas!
BJH: What keeps you motivated day-in and day-out?
RAK: In any venture that demands this much time and emotional output, creativity and innovation are vital simply to stay fresh and inspired. Of course, we need to adapt constantly anyway, as the world changes - sometimes dramatically - and our students change along with it. When I started in this “business,” smartphones did not really exist - okay, there was the Trioand the students had land lines attached to their dorm room walls. So while the principles and “scaffolding” remain the same, the dynamics are constantly evolving.
BJH: Do you have any hobbies?
RAK: I enjoy playing sports - specifically racquetball and basketball - and
being an active member of the beautiful Silver Spring community.
In 2017, I introduced one of the first major Jewish interview podcasts, “Jews You Should Know,” which has since featured a fabulous blend of over 200 community builders, thought leaders and more. I recently launched a new podcast, the “Iyun Podcast,” in conjunction with the Iyun Institute, exploring the nexus between the Chareidi community and broader Israeli society: challenges, inflection points, and possibilities. This latter podcast is a bit more niche, and is more ideological than biographical, so it’s been a nice change of pace and a stimulating process.
BJH: Do you have any final advice about the world of Kiruv?
RAK: B”H we enjoy the blessings of a thriving and flowering Orthodox community, with every conceivable amenity. We could, understandably, be led to believe that such profound Jewish engagement is ubiquitous, when in fact, tragically, it is anything but. In fact, the Jewish People is alarmingly disconnected, and hemorrhaging each year. Our highly educated, highly passionate corner of the Jewish world must become a lighthouse for the millions of others. This can mean many things, from davening for all of our brothers and sisters, to reaching out personally, to materially supporting those laboring day and night to remediate this tragic state of affairs.
To learn more about MEOR Maryland, please contact rabbik@jterps.com. To contribute please visit: Meormarylandonline.org
The Week In News
The Week In News
terrorist organizations.
According to Russian law enforcement agencies, the militants were “adherents of an international terrorist organization.” Six terrorists were killed.
Terror Attack In Dagestan
Terrorists struck two synagogues, two churches, and a police post on Sunday in Russia’s Dagestan Republic, murdering fifteen police officials and four civilians. The city of Derbent and the province’s capital, Makhachkala, were targeted in the attack, which has yet to be claimed by any
Some of the militants were named, including Gadzhimurad Kagirov, a former mixed martial arts fighter, along with the son and nephew of Kagirov’s cousin, Magomed Omarov, the head of the Sergokalinsky district. Sergei Melikov, the head of Dagestan, announced that Omarov had been removed from his position and kicked out of the United Russia party, which is one of the leading parties in the country’s parliament. Additionally, an investigation into Omarov will be conducted.
Following the deadly series of attacks, three days of mourning were declared in Dagestan, according to Melikov, who promised that the victims’ families would receive financial assistance.
Christians are a small minority group in Dagestan, and there are even fewer Jews in the province. As part of
the attack on an Orthodox Church in Derbent, a priest named Father Nikolay was murdered. Earlier in the day, a security guard was shot dead at a cathedral in northwest Makhachkala. Nineteen others sheltered at the cathedral and are now safe.
According to the Russian Jewish Congress, a synagogue in Derbent and another one in Makhachkala were attacked. The Derbent synagogue was raided forty minutes prior to evening prayers by terrorists who “set the building on fire using Molotov cocktails,” the RJC added. Police and security officials stationed outside the synagogue were killed.
“As far as is known, there were no worshipers in the synagogues at the time of the attack, and there are no known casualties from the Jewish community,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
According to Yad Vashem, the Jewish community in Dagestan is part of the Mountain Jews, who descend from Jewish communities who lived in areas of Azerbaijan and Russia’s Caucasus for centuries.
Synagogues in Dagestan have been guarded by security personnel since October when a mob of pro-Palestinian rioters stormed Makhachkala Uytash Airport in an effort to stop a passenger plane that had flown from Tel Aviv from landing. Some attackers waved Palestinian flags. At least ten individuals were wounded during the airport attack.
A police traffic post was also attacked in the province’s capital, killing “Dagestan Lights” police department head Mavludin Khidirnabiev and other law enforcement officials.
“Unknown persons made attempts to destabilize the social situation. Dagestan police officers stood in their way. According to preliminary information, there are victims among them,” said Melikov earlier, adding that officials are in the process of identifying the terrorists.
Barcelona Not for Rent
Barcelona is becoming unaffordable for residents. Now, authorities are attempting to soften real estate prices by barring apartment rentals to tourists by 2028.
The city’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, said that by November 2028, Barcelona will scrap the licenses of the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals.
“We are confronting what we believe is Barcelona’s largest problem,” Collboni explained.
The boom in short-term rentals in Barcelona, Spain’s most visited city by foreign tourists, means some residents cannot afford an apartment after rents rose 68% in the past 10 years and the cost of buying a house rose by 38%.
“It’s about making all the necessary efforts to guarantee access to affordable housing,” she posted on X.
No new tourist apartments have been allowed in the city in recent years. The local government has ordered the closure of 9,700 illegal tourist apartments since 2016, and close to 3,500 apartments have been recovered to be used as primary housing for local residents.
Protests Rock
Some Russian officials have blamed Ukraine and NATO for Sunday’s attacks, although others, such as Russian senator Dmitry Rogozin, dismissed those assertions, claiming that attributing all terror attacks to Ukraine and NATO could cause Russia “big problems.” A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said that any claims that Ukraine and NATO were responsible for the attacks are “ridiculous.”
Rabbi and Mrs. Zacharia and Elka Reisch on the birth of a daughter
Dr. Josh and Itta Steiner on the birth of a son
Mr. and Mrs. Nochum Eskin on the birth of a son
Menachem and Leah Lasdun on the birth of a son
Reuven and Malky Prero on the birth of a son
Mr. and Mrs. Baruch Gordon on the birth of a daughter
Want to see your simcha here? Email mazeltov@baltimorejewishhome.com or text
Greater Washington Weekday Minyanim Guide
6:15 am Young Israel Shomrai Emunah M-F
6:25 am Southeast Hebrew Cong., Knesset Yehoshua M-F
6:30 am Beth Sholom Congregation M-F
Beit Halevi (Sfardi) M, T
Chabad of Silver Spring M-F
Ohev Shalom Talmud Torah OLNEY M-F
Young Israel Shomrai Emunah S YGW M, Th
6:35 am Ohr Hatorah M, Th
6:40 am YGW S, T, W, F
Magen David Sephardic Congregation M-Th
6:45 am Beit Halevi (Sfardi) S, T, W, F
Kemp Mill Synagogue M, Th
Ohr Hatorah T, W, F
Young Israel Shomrai Emunah M, Th
6:50 am Woodside Synagogue/Ahavas Torah M, Th
Silver Spring Jewish Center M-F
Chabad of Upper Montgomery County M-F
6:55 am Young Israel Shomrai Emunah T, W, F
7:00 am Kemp Mill Synagogue T, W, F
Southeast Hebrew Cong., Knesset Yehoshua S Silver Spring Jewish Center S
BETHESDA
Magen David Sephardic
GAITHERSBURG
Woodside Synagogue/Ahavas Torah T, W, F
Young Israel Ezras Israel of Potomac T,W,F
7:05 am Kesher Israel M, Th
7:15 am Kemp Mill Synagogue M, Th
Kesher Israel T, W, F
Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah/The National Synagogue M-F
Ohr Hatorah S
7:30 am Chabad of DC M-F
Chabad of Potomac M-F JROC M-F
Kemp Mill Synagogue T, W, F
Southeast Hebrew Cong., Knesset Yehoshua M-F
Young Israel Shomrai Emunah S
Young Israel Shomrai Emunah (Sfardi) M-F
7:45 am YGW (Yeshiva Session Only) S-F
8:00 am Beth Sholom Congregation S
Kemp Mill Synagogue S
Kesher Israel S
Ohev Shalom Talmud Torah OLNEY S
Southeast Hebrew Cong., Knesset Yehoshua S
8:00 am Chabad of Upper Montgomery County S
edits or additions email ads@baltimorejewishhome.com
Woodside Synagogue/Ahavas Torah S YGW (High School; School-Contingent) S-F
Young Israel Ezras Israel of Potomac S Young Israel Shomrai Emunah (Sfardi) S
8:15 am Ohr Hatorah S
Kehilat Pardes / Berman Hebrew Academy S-F
Silver Spring Jewish Center M-F
8:30 am Chabad of DC S
Chabad of Potomac S JROC S
Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah/The National Synagogue S
Silver Spring Jewish Center S YGW (Summer Only) S-F
8:45 am Young Israel Shomrai Emunah S-F
9:00 am Chabad of Silver Spring S
Kemp Mill Synagogue S
mincha/maariv Before Shkiah, S-TH
Beit Halevi (Sfardi)
Beth Sholom Congregation
Chabad of Potomac
Chabad of Silver Spring
Chabad of Upper Montgomery County
JROC
Kemp Mill Synagogue
Kesher Israel
Magen David Sephardic Congregation
Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah/The National Synagogue Ohr Hatorah
The protests have spread across the country and have been dubbed the “7 Days of Rage,” calling for a “total shutdown” of Kenya on Tuesday. The protesters say they want to “occupy” parliament. The demonstrations stem from proposed tax increases in the Finance Bill 2024.
Organizers have called on all Kenyans to participate in the nationwide strike.
“Gen Z are granting all hardworking Kenyans a day off,” read a widely circulated poster.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindami urged protesters to remain peaceful and warned against the destruction of property.
“Protesters must not obstruct, block, vandalize, or otherwise destroy any private or public property,” Kindami said at a media conference in Nairobi.
Footage of a demonstrator being forcibly taken into a SUV have rattled and concerned Kenyans.
The Law Society of Kenya’s President, Faith Odhiambo, described the incident as an abduction and accused intelligence officers of misconduct.
“Evidently, this was not an arrest as the police did not identify themselves or engage in any conversation prior to the arrest to inform him of his rights,” wrote the president of Law Society of Kenya Faith Odhiambo in a statement. “These criminals pretending to exercise police authority must be stopped.”
M15 Alert to Detract from Partygate?
In January 2022, the UK’s MI5 security service agency issued an alert, accusing British lawyer Christine Ching Kui Lee of acting “covertly in coordination” with the Chinese Communist Party and of being “involved in political interference activities in the UK.”
Lee had made donations to members of parliament, including former MP Barry Gardiner, who received over $600,000 from Lee from 2014 to 2020. The money Lee donated to politicians allegedly came from officials in China and Hong Kong who sought to interfere in the United Kingdom’s
However, recently, Gardiner, a Labour MP who served in the House of Commons from 1997 to 2024 and chaired the now-defunct Chinese in Britain All-Party Parliamentary Group, claimed that the alert was a political ploy meant to divert the public’s attention away from former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Partygate scandal when Johnson and other members of the Conservative Party came under fire for hosting several gatherings during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Partygate controversy forced Johnson to resign in 2022.
Just one day after Johnson issued an apology to the House of Commons for Partygate, the MI5 issued the alert against Lee, whom they accused of being a Chinese spy.
A friend of Lee forwarded a text to her from Gardiner in which the former MP said that “many people” have said that “they believe the reason for putting out the story when they [the security services] did was to detract attention from Boris’ Partygate apology.” The London-based Investigatory Powers Tribunal is reviewing Gardiner’s assertions, although, as of last Monday no evidence has been given to support the former lawmaker’s claims.
“I had never believed that the Security Services would be overtly party political in that way…. What has also been suggested to me is that the Security Services may have wished to ‘pick a fight’ or to ‘detract attention’ from something else and that we were simply collateral damage,” said a part of Gardiner’s text, which was read to the court by Lee’s attorney.
The MI5 accused Lee, who was a part of Gardiner’s All-Party group, of orchestrating “financial donations to political parties, Parliamentarians, aspiring Parliamentarians and individuals seeking political office in the UK, including facilitating donations to political entities on behalf of for-
eign nationals.”
“Ms. Lee denies the allegations and is taking legal action against the Security Service with her son, Daniel Wilkes, who lost his job with Mr. Gardiner following the alert, arguing that issuing the alert was unlawful and interfered with their human rights,” reported the PA news agency.
Although the MI5 accused Lee of being a spy, she didn’t technically do anything illegal. When she made the donations, there was no law in the UK banning individuals from acting as agents for foreign parties such as the Chinese Communist Party. A UK foreign agents law will likely come into effect in late 2024.
Gardiner has claimed that he didn’t derive any personal benefit from Lee’s donations and that the money was reported appropriately and determined to be from a legitimate source.
Arrests After Greece Forest Fire
Thirteen members and passengers of a yacht crew were detained on Saturday by officials from Greece, following the launching of fireworks that purportedly started a forest fire on Hydra, an island in Greece.
“The arrests come after allegations that the forest fire was sparked by fireworks launched from the yacht on Friday night,” said an official, adding that the arrested individuals were detained at a marina in Athens.
The forest fire consumed a portion of Hydra’s only pine forest in Bisti, a remote area on the island. Fire officials got control of the fire early that day.
Hydra is a popular destination for tourists and people who take yacht rides. The island is in the Saronic Gulf and sits southwest of Athens, the capital city of Greece.
The island’s mayor, George Kouk-
oudakis, reacted to the news of the fire, saying, “We are outraged. If it’s true, it is something that really saddens me.”
On Saturday, firefighters fought against many wildfires raging in Greece and its islands which had been stirred by gale-force winds.
S. Korean Lithium Battery Factory Fire
At least 22 individuals died on Monday as a result of a fire at a South Korean lithium battery factory, according to officials. Twenty of the victims were citizens of other countries, with most hailing from China, while two were Korean, said Kim Jin-young, a Hwaseong Fire Department official.
The fire started at approximately 10:31 a.m. local time and was put out by firefighters at around 3:10 p.m. The factory, owned by battery manufacturer Aricell, was located in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, approximately 50 kilometers southwest of the country’s capital city, Seoul.
Seven others were injured, with two sustaining serious injuries. Burned bodies were recovered during officials’ rescue mission, while one individual passed away from cardiac arrest, according to Kim. Rescue officials had trouble identifying the victims, as the facility’s worker’s directory was burned, he said.
Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of South Korea, commanded the Interior and Safety Ministry and the head official of the fire department to “make all-out efforts” to save those in the factory by “mobilizing all available personnel and equipment.”
Although lithium-ion batteries are used in many everyday devices, including computers, cameras, phones, and EVs, they are flammable. If the batteries are used improperly, are old, or were manufactured poorly, the batteries could be dangerous.
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brother and sister.
Two Soldiers Mourned
Two IDF soldiers were murdered in a Hamas mortar attack on Thursday, June 20. A day later, funerals were conducted for both fallen heroes.
Sgt. First Class (res.) Omer Smadga, a twenty-five-year-old from Ganot Hadar, and Sgt. First Class (res.) Saadia Yaakov Derai, a twenty-seven-year-old from Jaffa, both served in the IDF’s Alexandroni Brigade’s 9203rd Battalion.
“Omer, we can’t believe that we are standing in front of your grave,” said Liat, the mother of Smadga who was buried in a military cemetery close to Netanya. “We were so proud of you, that you fought and stood your ground, and you won, and you served in full. On October 7, that cursed day, you were immediately called up. You didn’t hesitate for a second, you put on your uniform and went up north.
“When you were called up to reserve duty again, we were very afraid. My stomach turned over,” she added, “I had a very bad feeling. Every day, I texted you and asked for a sign of life. You were courageous and heroic, and you fell as a hero.”
Oren Smadga, the fallen soldier’s father and a judo champion, said, “We heard from the commanders what really happened there; we saw a commander who was shattered and pained. Here I say to you soldiers, hold your head up high, stay as strong as you can, continue to amp up, and don’t stop until we win.” On Thursday morning, Oren Smadga had celebrated his 54th birthday and received birthday wishes from his son, who tragically passed away later that day.
Smadga’s funeral was attended by Netanya Mayor Miriam Feinberg, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, MK Eli Dallal, and other officials. Smadga leaves behind his parents, as well as a younger
The other fallen soldier, Derai, was laid to rest in Holon’s military cemetery. He was a rabbinical student in Shirat Moshe Yeshiva in Jaffa. Derai leaves behind his father and mother, five siblings, his wife Racheli, as well as Halleli, his two-year-old daughter, and Yinon, his one-year-old son.
“You taught the love of the people of Israel. You were willing to give your life for Israel,” said his widow in her eulogy. “You said you couldn’t stay at home in the air conditioning when soldiers were getting killed. You went out to fight and didn’t come home.”
Derai’s parents live in Eli, a settlement in the West Bank. His mother, Laly, is a news expert, social activist, and member of the Central West Bank’s Binyamin regional council.
“We have a holy mission – to seek union between community and the individual,” said Derai’s mother. “We seek unity and equality, in the army and private life. You proved it’s possible to combine the two.”
“As a squadron commander you cared for your soldiers, you were like a father to them,” said Haim Derai, the fallen soldier’s father, adding that his son was as “gentle as a feather” and “knew the entire Torah.”
“You were sharp in wisdom and in the Talmud. A wonderful child,” his father added.
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, Health Minister Uriel Busso, Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman, and MKs Boaz Bismuth, Galit Distel Atbaryan, and Amit Halevi attended Derai’s funeral.
As a result of the same attack that killed Smadga and Derai, three others sustained serious injuries. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, which the terror group said was carried out at a military post near the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.
Since the start of Israel’s ground campaign in Gaza, which was launched in response to the tragic October 7 massacre, 314 Israeli soldiers have been killed.
$1B in UN Aid
For years, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency sent millions of dollars each month to the Gaza Strip to pay employees and support hospitals,
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schools and other infrastructure, according to a new lawsuit. The money was wired from New York, where the agency has an office, to the West Bank, where financial institutions loaded some of that cash onto trucks to be driven across Israel to Gaza.
The suit, filed Monday in federal court in Manhattan, said some of those dollars ended up funding the military operations of Hamas, the Islamist group that has controlled Gaza for nearly 20 years and has pledged to erase the Jewish state. The money trail is at the heart of the case against seven current and former top UNRWA officials who are accused of knowing that Hamas siphoned off more than $1 billion from the agency to pay for, among other things, tunneling equipment and weapons that aided its attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
About 100 Israeli plaintiffs — including at least one who was held
ing to cut off UNRWA’s funding. The case filed on Monday goes further, describing how the plaintiffs believe agency money ended up in the hands of Hamas and how the terrorists used its resources in the attack on Israel.
The suit says that in Gaza, unlike other places the agency operates, UNRWA pays its 13,000 local employees in U.S. dollars that must be changed into shekels, the Israeli currency that is used in Gaza, by Hamas-affiliated money-changers who take a cut for the organization.
The lawsuit faces many hurdles, particularly the question of whether a treaty affords the U.N. officials immunity. But if the case proceeds, it could allow other victims of Hamas attacks to seek damages from the U.N. Even if it fails, the suit could pressure nations donating money to UNRWA to reassess their support.
In 2023, the government instructed the army not to begin drafting charedi men into the army after the law allowing for blanket military service exemptions expired. This week, the court ruled that the government’s move was illegal.
The court did not tell the government how many students they need to draft at this time, indicating that the process can be gradual. It did say, though, that it has to start now.
The court ruling also permanently barred the state from funding charedi yeshivas for students who are studying in them in lieu of military service, asserting that those funds were bound up in the terms of the IDF service exemptions which now no longer exist.
Noting the massive number of young charedi men until now exempt from military service – more than 63,000 – the court wrote, “Non-enforcement of the provisions of the Security Service Law creates severe discrimination between those who are required to serve” and those who being exempted from army service.
“In these days, in the midst of a severe war, the burden of inequality is more acute than ever — and requires the promotion of a sustainable solution to this issue,” the court declared.
In June 2023, the clauses in the Law for Security Service allowing for blanket military service exemptions for charedi yeshiva students expired, meaning that the IDF was entitled to conscript anyone eligible for military service, including charedim.
The government passed a cabinet resolution immediately before the exemptions clause expired, telling the IDF not to begin drafting such men for another 10 months while it formulated and passed a new law reinstating the exemptions. After October 7, the government did not get around to passing that law.
In its decision, the High Court stated that the June 2023 resolution delaying the draft of charedi yeshiva students had exceeded the government’s authority and was unlawful.
“We determine that there is no legal basis for avoiding the recruitment of yeshiva students at this time; that the state must act to enforce the Law for Security Service on yeshiva stu -
dents; that there is no legal authority to continue transferring the [financial] support for these students; and that government resolution 1724 was issued without authority and is void,” the court ruled.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, whose petition led to Monday’s High Court ruling, said that the court’s decision meant the government must begin immediately drafting all 63,000 ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students eligible for military service.
“This is a historic victory for the rule of law and the principle of equality in the burden of military service,” said the organization.
“We call on the government and the defense minister to implement the decision without delay, to comply with the High Court’s order, and to work immediately to draft [charedi] yeshiva students,” it added.
Hezbollah Storing Weapons at Airport
Hezbollah is storing weapons and missiles at Lebanon’s international airport in Beirut, according to Lebanese whistleblowers.
The Telegraph reported that the Iran-backed terror group is using the Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport to store a variety of weapons, including ballistic missiles, unguided artillery rockets, and laser-guided anti-tank guided missiles.
A highly explosive and toxic white powder known as RDX is also being stored at the airport.
But Hezbollah is denying the revelations. Lebanon’s Hezbollah-affiliated Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh held a press conference at the airport in response to the report, dismissing the “ridiculous” allegations.
Speaking to the British daily, an air-
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port worker said that the weapons arrive at the airport on flights from Iran in “mysterious large boxes.”
“When they started to come through the airport, my friends and I were scared because we knew that there was something strange going on,” he said, adding that the situation was “extremely serious.”
According to the whistleblowers, the shipments from Iran have increased dramatically since the start of the war in Gaza, leading to fears that the airport could become a military target if war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah.
“If they keep bringing in these goods I’m not allowed to check, I really believe I’ll die from the explosion or I’ll die from Israel bombing ‘the goods,’” one of the whistleblowers said. “It’s
has close ties with the customs managers.
“I feel like if we don’t do what they say, our families will be in danger,” the whistleblower said.
Hezbollah’s Hamieh said on Sunday that his office was in the process of filing a lawsuit against The Telegraph over the report, adding that details of the lawsuit would be “announced later.”
“We have been aware of this for years, but we are unable to do anything without international legal action,” a security source at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said. “We are hand-tied to do what we’d really like, which is to close the airport and have all the weapons and explosives removed.”
ties and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
Lost in the Woods
tains.
McClish was finally found last Thursday – ten days after he set on his hike – when a drone found him in Big Basin Redwoods State Park, California’s oldest state park and home to towering ancient coast redwood trees.
“There were multiple reports of witnesses hearing someone yelling for help, but the location of that person was hard to establish,” said Cal Fire.
McClish was found with “no major injuries and was reunited with his family,” according to the sheriff’s office.
McClish said he was “tired and a little sore” after his ordeal. “I lost my voice,” he added.
Living for ten days without any provisions was a challenge.
“I left with just a pair of pants, and
For all your auto home life and business needs , , .
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water every day, but then after, getting close to the end of it, my body needed food and some kind of sustenance,” McClish said.
Seeing the number of search and rescue workers who worked to find him was “really humbling,” he said. “It was an awesome experience.”
That lesson wasn’t lost on him.
Oldest Living Siblings
571 years – that’s the magic number.
The Overall sisters of Farmington, Missouri, are now the world record holders for the highest combined age of six living siblings.
“We’ve all been fortunate,” said Doris Griffith, one of the sisters who now holds the record.
Doris is 94 years old. The other siblings include Norma Jacob, 101; Lorene Kollmeyer, 98; Maxine Cole, 97; Margaret Norton, 90; and Elma Jennings, 88.
Their total ages combined add up to 571 years, 293 days and counting, according to Guiness World Records.
Kollmeyer, Norton and Jennings, all born in July, also continue a tradition that their mother started and get the whole family together to celebrate their summer birthday.
Jacob lives in Ohio in a memory care facility. The rest of the siblings live in Missouri. The sisters stay active; Cole -takes fitness classes and Griffith walks nearly a mile every day.
Jennings told Guinness World Records that she and her sisters “never stayed mad” at each other for long throughout their lives.
The sisters also attribute their ages to family genes. “We’ve all been fortunate, I guess,” Griffith said. “To have such long, good lives.”
They’re enjoying it in the long run.
Graduating at 105
Virginia Hislop, also known as Ginger, is now a proud holder of a diploma. The 105-year-old received her master’s degree from Stanford University last week in an educational journey that began more than 80 years ago.
The sisters were inspired to try for the record after learning of a group of siblings who set the record for having the combined highest age of 12 living siblings, according to the Columbia Missourian. The Overall sisters worked with other family members to submit various forms of proof, including birth and marriage certificates, videos and photos and witness statements from people who could confirm their ages.
The family sent in “at least” 100 documents before they received verification.
The sisters were born to Stanley and Ethel Overall in Farmington, Mo., and had one older brother, Stanley Overall Jr., who died in a 2003 bicycle accident at age 81. The sisters have stayed close over the years and often went on trips together to places like Washington, D.C. They also enjoy wearing matching t-shirts with their birth order on them when they go out.
“They each have a wonderful sense of humor and possess the ‘gift of gab,’” shared Norton’s son, Pat Adams.
When Ginger began her educational pursuit in 1936, she planned to get her bachelor’s degree in education, which she did in 1940, and obtain her master’s degree so she could teach.
According to the university, Hislop started on her master’s degree. But just after completing her coursework and before turning in her final thesis, her then-boyfriend George Hislop got called to serve in World War II.
George Hislop was a student at Standford and in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps when he got the call, prompting the pair to get married and Virginia Hislop to leave campus before graduating.
Eighty-three years later, Virginia Hislop returned to Stanford to finish what she started and received her graduate degree.
When she rose from her seat during last Sunday’s ceremony in her cap and gown, the crowd roared with applause.
“My goodness,” she said. “I’ve waited a long time for this.”
Live long and prosper.
Torah Thought HATZLACHA!
By Rabbi Zvi Teichman
After the nation was informed of the consequence for the sin of the spies, they grieved exceedingly. The next morning, evidently several of them regretted their previous doubts and decided they would take responsibility for their sin, admit their error, and ascend the mountaintop and take on the enemy and conquer the promised land.
Moshe immediately confronts, and addresses, them, “Why do you transgress the word of Hashem? It — חלצת אל — will not succeed.”
Moshe seems not only to be taking them to task for their insolence in defying G-d’s will, but also informing them they will not succeed. Why is this second point even worthy of mention? Is Moshe intimating that if they were to succeed it would justify their going against the dictate of G-d?
Rashi seeking to amplify on this last statement — It will not succeed, adds, חלצת אל ןישוע םתאש הז — What you are doing will not succeed, seemingly adding nothing to the self-evident understanding of the verse.
If you ask anyone randomly what their greatest desire is for in life, most often people will respond: Success.
In fact, one of the most expressed wishes we bestow on one another is that of החלצהו הכרב — Blessing and Success
Can one truly define success?
In truth, nowhere in all the written Torah does this exact word — החלצה , appear as a noun. Most often it is used as a verb or an adjective.
The first time this word appears is during the episode of Eliezer, the servant of Avraham, in his quest to find a wife for Yitzchok. After devising
a script for G-d to carry out detailing exactly how it should pan out, Eliezer observes how immediately after, Rivkah appears and accedes to his request for water, exactly as he planned it. The verse goes on to describe Eliezer’s silent astonishment and his wondering —
— whether G-d had made his journey successful or not.
Rav S.R. Hirsch elucidates on the etymology of this word and writes: חילצה, from חלצ related to חלש, to set something in motion towards a goal. The צ sound introduces the nuance in overcoming difficulties so that חלצ means to attain a goal by overcoming all the opposing difficulties... Perhaps חלס — pardon, is also related. A sinful man deserves to be frustrated in the progress of his life. To allow him, nevertheless, to progress to a new future, to grant him this progress again, is termed חלס
Yosef is known as an חילצמ שיא — a successful man, overcoming obstacles and progressing towards his goals.
So, the emphasis is not as much on the objective as it is on the way one gets there. Yosef was certainly enduring an uncomfortable life in Egypt, yet he forged ahead with perseverance in his goals. Even after being tossed into prison due to the false accusation of Potiphar’s wife, he is admired as a חילצמ, a ‘successful one’.
There is a famous quote attributed to Winston Churchill, although he never actually uttered it:
Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Whoever said it though, touched on the essence of what ‘success’ is.
It is not about the goal per se, nor negated by failure along the way, but rather defined by the drive to forge on, overcoming with equanimity the obstacles that may come in our way, but persisting, nevertheless.
The goal posts always move for those striving for true success — self-perfection and closeness to G-d, and there really is no objectively defined noun called ‘success’. It is the constant 'חלצ' — overcoming obstacles calmly and purposefully that makes one a ‘successful’ person. It is a state of being.
Moshe’s warning to the םיליפעמ — ‘Ascenders’, in telling them they would not succeed, was a profound lesson for life. They thought the objective is everything, thinking that now that they had sincerely repented, they could assume their mission as before. Moshe was teaching them that success is measured in how one approaches obstacles that are tossed in one’s path. If frustration and impatience is apparent, one has failed miserably. Only if one covets the challenge, realizing that in overcoming those difficulties with calm lays our greatness, one achieves ‘success’.
In their overeagerness they lost an opportunity for greatness. A generation of children would have to grow up in an environment of fathers who would never ‘touchdown’ in the holy land, but would relish instead the forty-year wait, achieving even greater success in their personal growth.
Perhaps that is what Rashi meant to add when he says: ןישוע םתאש הז — this that you place value only on the ‘accomplishment’, חלצת אל — is not the true definition of ‘success’.
The Midrash states that the ששוקמ — the ‘Wood-Gatherer’ who publicly violated the Shabbos, was mistaken
but well-intentioned. Since the populace had begun questioning whether they were still prohibited from keeping the Shabbos once they enter the land, he desired to display before them the unequivocal consequence of profaning the Shabbos, by violating it himself and being duly punished.
Some say this was none other than Tzelafchad, a righteous individual who nevertheless erred.
Others posit that Tzelafchad was not the wood-gatherer but rather one of the ‘Ascenders’.
May I suggest in a similar vein that if indeed Tzelafchad was among the ascenders he likewise sought to give up his life for the sake of teaching the people this vital lesson.
By defying the instruction not to ascend in battle at that time and risk the consequence of dying, the nation would finally get the message that success is not determined by achieving the goal, but rather in persevering with grace, faith, and courage, through whatever hindrances G-d throws in our path, especially when our objectives have not been met.
At the end of the day, it is that ‘courage to continue’ that really counts and defines us as truly successful.
You may reach the author at: Ravzt@ ohelmoshebaltimore.com
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PARSHA
OVERVIEW
The command to send the Spies to Eretz Yisroel. The Spies seek out the Land and report negatively. National hysteria ensues. The Jews are punished and must remain in the desert for 40 years.
Shelach also discusses libations, atonement, challah, Shabbos and Tzitzis.
Quotable Quote “ ”
To be holy means to bear witness to the presence of G-d in our, and our people’s, lives.
- Rabbi Lord J. Sacks zt”l
GEMATRIA
There are exactly 119 pesukim in Parshas Shelach. The Masoretic note (written at the end of the parshah) is ןמיס ט " לפ
The word טלפ has the gematria of 119. טלפ means "remove, rescue."
See Quick Vort for a nice connection!
Rabbi Ori Strum is the author of Ready. Set. Grow. (Mosaica Press).
His shiurim and other Jewish content can be found on Torah Anytime and Meaningful Minute. He also likes your feedback: rabbistrumo@gmail.com
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Inspiration Everywhere
QUICK VORT
The Rabbeinu Bachaya (15:38) gives an amazing imagery of what Tzitzis symbolizes:
Imagine a person is thrust out into the sea and is drowning. What happens next? The captain of the ship throws a life rope and yells, "Hold on tight! Don't let go of the rope!"
Similarly, we are thrust into a world of physicality, a world of irresistible pleasures and lures, and a world of exile. There are so many factors that can easily lead us away from serving Hashem properly.
How are we meant to survive, let alone thrive? What are we meant to do?
The answer is: Tzitzis! The imagery and visual of the Tzitzis strings are one of a life rope that Hashem tells us to hold on to.
The Tzitzis represents Torah and Mitzvos, and it is upon us to realize its spiritually life-saving properties. Hold on tight and don't let go!
Words - 1,540 PARSHA STATS
Pesukim - 119
Letters - 5,820
Mitzvos - 3
Thoughts in
On the topic of Tzitzis, the heilige Rebbe Shlomo of Radamask - the Tiferes Shlomo - discusses the הלעמ of having close friends.
A Rebbi might not always be available, but a good freind can be!
We learn this lesson from Tzitzis. Tzitzis has a connotation of seeing, which teaches us the importance of accepting (and seeing) others properly!
Points to
The beginning of the Parshah discusses the 10 spies, and it uses the word רותל - to seek out (spy) the land.
At the end of the Parshah, the Torah discusses Tzitzis, and uses the very same word: ירחא ורותת אלו םכבבל - don’t stray after your heart and eyes.
What is the connection?
Parshas Shelach on
Common Cents Think Like A Bank To Earn More Money!
We all feel the pain of the post-pandemic “inflation hangover,” and lingering high prices continue to impact personal budgets. The US Federal Reserve has aggressively raised interest rates and kept them there for some time now. The goal of this policy should have positive long-term benefits of lowering inflation and avoiding currency devaluation, but that is little solace for people struggling today with higher interest rates on all forms of debt including mortgages, car loans, student loans, and credit cards. Ensuring your hard-earned money is safe and working for you is more crucial than ever. While it might be tempting to stash your cash in a regular savings account for its accessibility and perceived safety, this choice often means missing out on significant interest earnings. Instead, opting for an FDIC-insured account that offers a higher yield can substantially affect your financial health over time.
Think like the bank!
Consider how a traditional bank makes money. Contrary to how Gringots, the mysterious financial institution from the Harry Potter series, operated, customers’ deposits do not just sit in a vault guarded by dragons. The bank will take your money and lend it to someone else and charge them interest. A bank’s primary profit is the difference between what it must pay to borrow money (from depositors like you and me) and what it can earn in interest on loans made to people who need to buy homes, cars, or start businesses. Since most people keep their money in zero or near zero-yielding bank accounts, banks can “borrow” cheaply and lend out at a much higher interest rate. For example, if I have $25,000 in a basic checking account earning no interest, the bank can lend it to my neighbor to buy a new car at a 7% annual interest rate. The result? The bank makes a profit of $1,750 after 12 months ($25K x 7%), my neighbor has a $25,000 debt and a depreciating asset, and I get nothing. But wait, it’s our money that the bank is using to generate all this interest income! Why aren’t we getting a piece of that income?
When you deposit money into any bank, you are essentially making a loan to the bank because you can demand that the bank pay you back for whatever balance is in your account. The ability to quickly, safely, and securely withdraw money is a valuable service that banks offer to customers. I recommend that everyone utilize a free checking account to facilitate cash inflows and outflows, even if it does not earn interest. The important concept here is about what to do with excess savings you want to keep safe and secure but do not need to pay this month’s bills.
Understanding the Basics
Ensuring your hard-earned money is safe and working for you is crucial. Opting for an FDIC-insured account that offers a higher yield can substantially affect your financial health over time.
FDIC Insurance: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures bank deposits up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category. This means that even if the bank fails, your money is protected.
Interest Rates: The interest rate is the percentage of your deposited amount that the bank pays you for keeping your money with them. Higher interest rates mean more money for you without any additional effort.
Regular Savings Account vs. High-Yield Savings Account
A regular savings account typically offers minimal interest, often around 0.05% APY (Annual Percentage Yield). In contrast, a high-yield savings account can offer rates around 4.00% APY or higher, significantly boosting your earnings.
5-Year Comparison: Regular Savings vs. High Yield Savings Account
● Initial Investment: $25,000
● Interest Rate: 0.05% APY
● Total Interest Earned in 5 Years: $62.50
By Elliot Pepper, CPA, CFP®, MST
Conclusion
● Initial Investment: $25,000
● Interest Rate: 4.00% APY
● Total Interest Earned in 5 Years: $5,416.32
● Total Value After 5 Years: $30,416.32
As illustrated, a high-yield savings account significantly outperforms a regular savings account over five years. By choosing an account with a higher interest rate, you can earn over $5,000 more, ensuring your money grows steadily while remaining accessible.
Why It Matters: Keeping your money in an account that earns meaningful interest helps combat inflation and increases financial security. Highyield savings accounts offer a risk-free way to make your savings work harder, providing both safety and growth.
Choosing where to keep your savings is a critical decision impacting your financial future. While regular savings accounts offer convenience, high-yield savings accounts provide a much-needed boost in earnings without sacrificing security. By prioritizing accounts with higher interest rates, you ensure your money is not just sitting idle but actively contributing to your financial well-being.
Common Cents is now digital on YouTube @CommonCents613
The decision to start saving and investing is yours, but the “how” can be hard. Email commoncents@northbrookfinancial.com to schedule a free financial planning consultation with our team.
Elliot Pepper, CPA, CFP®, MST is Co-Founder of Northbrook Financial, a Financial Planning, Tax, and Investment Management Firm. He has developed and continues to teach a popular Financial Literacy course for high school students.
The Wandering Jew West Virginia
By Hershel Lieber
If the Western portion of Virginia would not have seceded from the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, the United States of America would presently have only for ty-nine states. I am glad it did vote to become a separate entity, so that we could add another destination to the long
list of states that we visited. In 1998, we only drove through a small section of West Virginia on the way to Cincinnati, but in 2012, we designated this part of the Appalachian Mountains for a memorable five-day journey.
wetlands and scenic beauty. We stayed at what was called the Canaan Valley Resort, but it was a far cry from what one imagines a resort to look like. We were okay with the small and dimly lit room because what we really came for was the
We were okay with the small and dimly lit room because what we really came for was the outdoors, its attractions and adventures.
sphere that was so relaxing. We passed dried riverbeds, piles of cut trees, weather-beaten shacks and barns, bales of hay, and grazing animals. We were surrounded by lush greenery of every sort everywhere we went. We then scaled the massive rocks and were rewarded with the gushing falls. We didn’t rush anywhere; we just took our time driving and stopping wherever we found an attractive landscape to observe and to photograph.
It was Sunday, September 2, the day before Labor Day, when we arrived in Charleston, the State’s capital. We only stayed overnight and did not go touring the next morning. Instead, we drove directly to the Canaan Valley in the Allegheny Mountains, an area known for its
outdoors, its attractions and adventures.
On Monday, we woke up to the sight of young fawns foraging near our cabin. We planned a lighter day with the main feature a visit to the Blackwater Falls. While driving, we were surrounded with scenery that was so rural and an atmo -
Tuesday, we went exploring the wilderness of the Monongahela National Forest. We were told that up until this morning there were constant thunderstorms and heavy rain in the entire area. Baruch Hashem, we were treated to lots of sunshine and pleasant weather. We drove up to a mountain rim and we took a one-hour hike through uninhabited and possibly untrampled sections of this naturally preserved woodland. Most roads were unpaved, and the place was deserted. We drove up to Seneca Rocks, which is one of the state’s best landmarks for
Canaan Valley landscape
Horse farm along Route 119
mountaineering. No, we did not do any rock climbing, rather we had a peaceful picnic at the base of this nine-hundredfoot formation.
Our next stop was the Smokey Hole Caverns, where we took an hour-long expedition. The caves have many exceptional features, such as the world’s largest ribbon stalactite, a sparkling room of a Million Stalactites with the world’s
second highest cave ceiling, and a crystal coral pool. We were awed by witnessing Hashem’s fingerprints in every twist and turn we made.
On the way back to our lodge, we stopped at Harper’s Old Country Store for some drinks. The makeup of the store was straight out of a 19th century general store, which carried everything needed in sparsely populated areas. Besides food and utensils, the store carried farming materials, hardware, and rifles. We chatted with the two owners who were dressed in checkered shirts and baseball caps and spoke with the distinct Appalachian English dialect.
The next morning, we went bird watching with a guide, except we didn’t see any birds! The stroll turned into a nature walk about the surrounding flora and the occasional fauna – a bit on the dull side. After the walk, we checked out of our lodge and drove to Elkins. When we arrived at the motel that we booked, we nearly fainted. The appearance of the building was straight out a horror movie. We quickly turned around and found a nearby Best Western and checked in. We did not do much that afternoon except check out the town’s main street which had buildings dating back to the late 19th century and an antique railroad station.
Our last day was Thursday. We filled the day with many activities. We drove along Route 119 which was lined with pastoral scenery of farmlands and pastures. Cows and horses dominated the landscape with intermittent red roofed barns and field with bales of hay. We stopped at the Eastern Hardwood Sawmill to watch the shaping of trees into lumber. We walked along a boardwalk in the middle of a cranberry bog surrounded by trees and flowers. We stopped in Lewisburg and walked around the gentrified Main Street.
Our next expedition was to the Beckley Coal Mines. The mine operated from 1889 through 1953. The restored passageways and vintage tracks gave us a picture of the importance of this industry to the state’s economy, as well as the hardships and dangers involved in mining this rock.
Our final stop was in Charleston, where we spent the night. We visited the State Capitol Building and took a river walk along the banks of the Kanawha River. We topped off the evening at the Charleston Labor Day Fair. The loud music, fast food, and spinning rides were really not entertaining for us, but we enjoyed watching other people and their children savoring the exciting at-
mosphere.
We hardly slept that night as we had to be at the airport before 5 a.m. We were safe and sound in our house by 9 a.m. and started to prepare for Shabbos. All in all, it was a very relaxing trip which left us with memorable moments etched in our minds.
Hershel Lieber has been involved in kiruv activities for over 30 years. As a founding member of the Vaad L’Hatzolas Nidchei Yisroel he has traveled with his wife, Pesi, to the Soviet Union during the harsh years of the Communist regimes to advance Yiddishkeit. He has spearheaded a yeshiva in the city of Kishinev that had 12 successful years with many students making Torah their way of life. In Poland, he lectured in the summers at the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation camp for nearly 30 years. He still travels to Warsaw every year – since 1979 – to be the chazzan for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur for the Jews there. Together with Pesi, he organized and led trips to Europe on behalf of Gateways and Aish Hatorah for college students finding their paths to Jewish identity. His passion for travel has taken them to many interesting places and afforded them unique experiences. Their open home gave them opportunities to meet and develop relationships with a variety of people. Hershel’s column will appear in The Jewish Home on a bi-weekly basis.
With Pesi at Smokey Hole Cavarns
Pesi at Blackwater Falls
Goats were only some of the domesticated animals we encountered
Seneca Rocks in the background
Harper’s Old Country Store
On track in Elkins
Monongahela National Forest
Shacharis
Neitz Beit Yaakov [Sefaradi] M-F
Ohel Yakov S-F
6:00 AM Shomrei Emunah Congregation M-F
6:10 AM Agudath Israel of Baltimore M, Th
6:15 AM Kol Torah M, TH
Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah M-F
Shearith Israel Congregation M, TH
The Adas: Chofetz Chaim Adas Bnei IsraelM, TH
6:20 AM Agudah of Greenspring M, TH
Agudath Israel of Baltimore S, T, W, F
Arugas HaBosem (Rabbi Taub's) S-F
Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion Congregation M-F
Kehilath B'nai Torah M, TH
Pikesville Jewish CongregationM, TH
Shomrei Emunah CongregationS, M, TH
6:25 AM The Adas: Chofetz Chaim Adas Bnei IsraelT, W, F
6:30 AM Agudah of Greenspring T, W, F
Chabad of Park Heights M-F
Darchei Tzedek M-F
Kehilath B'nai Torah T, W, F
Khal Bais Nosson M-F
Khal Ahavas Yisroel/ Tzemach Tzedek M-F
Kol Torah T, W, F
Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah M-F
Ohr Yisroel M-F
Pikesville Jewish CongregationT, W, F
Shearith Israel Congregation T, W, F
Shomrei Emunah CongregationT, W, F
6:35 AM Aish Kodesh (downstairs Minyan)M, TH
Ohel Moshe M, TH
6:40 AM Aish Kodesh (downstairs Minyan)T, W, F
Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion CongregationM, TH
6:45 AM B”H and Mesivta of Baltimore (Dirshu Minyan) S-F
Beth Abraham M, TH
Greenspring Sephardic Synagogue M-F
Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F
Ner Tamid M-F
Ohel Moshe T, W, F
Suburban Orthodox Congregation Toras Chaim M-F
6:50 AM Agudath Israel of Baltimore M, TH
Ahavat Shalom [Sefaradi] M, TH
Bais Medrash of Ranchleigh M, TH
Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion CongregationT, W, F
Community Kollel Tiferes Moshe Aryeh M, TH
Derech Chaim M-F
Kol Torah M-F
Ohel Moshe S
Ohr Hamizrach [Sefaradi] M, TH
Shomrei Emunah CongregationM, TH
The Shul at the Lubavitch CenterM, TH
6:55 AM Beth Abraham T, W, F
Kol Torah M, TH
7:00 AM Aish Kodesh (upstairs Minyan) M-F
Agudath Israel of Baltimore S, T, W, F
Ahavat Shalom [Sefaradi] T, W, F
Arugas HaBosem (Rabbi Taub's)S
Bais Medrash of Ranchleigh T, W, F
Community Kollel Tiferes Moshe Aryeh T, W, F Greenspring Sephardic Synagogue S
Khal Ahavas Yisroel/ Tzemach TzedekS
Kol Torah T, W, F
Mercaz Torah U’Tefillah S-F
Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah M-F
Ohr Hamizrach [Sefaradi] S, T, W, F
Shearith Israel Congregation S, M, TH
Shomrei Emunah CongregationT, W, F
Shomrei Mishmeres Hakodesh M-F
The Shul at the Lubavitch CenterT, W, F
Tiferes Yisroel M-F
7:05 AM Machzikei Torah (Sternhill's) M, TH
7:15 AM Kedushas Yisrael S Kol Torah S
Machzikei Torah (Sternhill's) S, T, W, F
or
email ads@baltimorejewishhome.com
Baltimore Weekday Minyanim Guide
Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F
Ner Israel Rabbinical College S-F
7:15 AM Shearith Israel Congregation T, W, F
Shomrei Emunah CongregationS
Suburban Orthodox Congregation Toras Chaim S
The Adas: Chofetz Chaim Adas Bnei IsraelS
Tzeirei Anash M-F
7:20 AM Agudath Israel of Baltimore M, TH
Beth Tfiloh Congregation M-F
Kol Torah M-F
Ohr Hamizrach [Sefaradi] M, TH
Shomrei Emunah CongregationM, TH
7:30 AM Agudah of Greenspring S
Agudath Israel of Baltimore S, T, W, F
Ahavat Shalom [Sefaradi] S
Bais Haknesses Ohr HaChaim S-F
Bais Hamedrash and Mesivta of Baltimore S-F
Bais Medrash of Ranchleigh S
Beit Yaakov [Sefaradi] S
Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion CongregationS
Chabad of Park Heights S
Community Kollel Tiferes Moshe AryehS-F
Darchei Tzedek S
Kedushas Yisrael S-F
Khal Bais Nosson S
Ner Israel Rabbinical College (Mechina) S-F
Mercaz Torah U’Tefillah S-F
Ohr Hamizrach [Sefaradi] S, T, W, F
Shomrei Emunah CongregationT, W, F
7:45 AM Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion Congregation M-F
Talmudical Academy S-F
Darchei Tzedek M-F
Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F
Mesivta Kesser Torah S-F
Mesivta Shaarei Chaim S-F
7:50 AM Derech Chaim S
Ner Tamid S
Ohel Moshe M-F
8:00 AM Agudath Israel of Baltimore S-F
Beth Abraham S
Darchei Tzedek S
Khal Ahavas Yisroel/ Tzemach TzedekS
Kehillas Meor HaTorah S
Mercaz Torah U’Tefillah S-F
Ohr Yisroel S
Pikesville Jewish CongregationS
Shearith Israel Congregation S
Shomrei Emunah Congregation S-F
The Shul at the Lubavitch CenterS
Tiferes Yisroel S
Tzeirei Anash S
Yeshiva Tiferes Hatorah S-F
8:15 AM Kehilath B'nai Torah S
Kol Torah S
Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F
8:20 AM Bais Haknesses Ohr HaChaim S-F
8:30 AM Agudath Israel of Baltimore S-F
Machzikei Torah (Sternhill's) S-F
Mercaz Torah U’Tefillah S-F
Ohel Moshe S
Ohr Hamizrach [Sefaradi] S
Shomrei Emunah Congregation S-F
Shomrei Mishmeres HakodeshS
8:45 AM Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F
9:00 AM Aish Kodesh S
Agudath Israel of Baltimore S-F
Bais Haknesses Ohr HaChaim S
Beth Tfiloh Congregation S
Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion CongregationS
Mercaz Torah U’Tefillah S-F
Moses Montefiore Anshe EmunahS
Shomrei Emunah Congregation S-F
Suburban Orthodox Congregation Toras Chaim S-F
9:15 AM Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F
9:30 AM Mercaz Torah U’Tefillah S-F
9:45 AM Mercaz Torah U'Tefillah S-F
10:00AM Mercaz Torah U’Tefillah S-F
Mincha
Mincha Gedolah Mercaz Torah U’Tefillah
Khal Ahavas Yisroel/Tzemach Tzedek
12:30 PM Kol Torah
12:50 PM One South Street, 27th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202
Agudah of Greenspring - 6107 Greenspring Ave Agudath Israel of Baltimore - 6200 Park Heights Ave Ahavat Shalom - 3009 Northbrook Rd Aish Kodesh - 6207 Ivymount Rd
Arugas HaBosem - 3509 Clarks Ln Bais Haknesses Ohr HaChaim - 3120 Clarks Ln Bais Hamedrash and Mesivta of Baltimore - 6823 Old Pimlico Rd Bais Medrash of Ranchleigh - 6618 Deancroft Rd Beit
Jo i n A m u d HaYo m i a n d
D a f HaYo m i B’ Ha l a c h a
AMUD HAYOMI IS NOW BEGINNING
DAF HAYOMI B’HALACHA IS LEARNING
Tech Triumphs
Tech Triumph
Carpool Chat Chums
As told to Rebbetzin Sara Gross
Carpool rules our lives in Baltimore. It affects our work hours and supper schedules, baby naps, and car purchase choices. A very important part of carpool is communication. Whether it’s to tell your fellow drivers that your child is not coming that morning, to beg the driver to give your child another minute to come out, or to apologize profusely for forgetting it was your turn that Sunday afternoon, communication is key. I personally find WhatsApp the easiest forum to use to connect to my group of carpool families.
The trouble started when one of our group announced that she chose to delete WhatsApp because it was too addictive for her and kept distracting her from her life. I’m not going to lie, I was worried about how it would affect our frantic carpool messaging. Then I took a breath and realized that deep down, I valued her decision, and I was going to help her. I called her up and told her that I would take it upon myself to keep her informed of any changes or lastminute information that was posted. She was so grateful, and I felt that I triumphed by helping someone else make the changes she needed to be in control.
I wanted to share how much I appreciate all the stories our Baltimore families share with me for this column. It is a true chizuk to me how much effort our Baltimore Kehilla puts into fighting to control the technology in their lives. The uphill battle against being slaves to technology takes boundless energy and effort and I am constantly inspired
by all the positive feedback I receive from so many men and women across our town. It is especially heartwarming to hear that reading this column has made people stop to think and make changes in their own control over technology. It is such a personal battle, with every person needing their own methods and route to triumph over their technology conflicts. May all the effort be a zechus for our community. Please keep the stories coming!
This is a service of TAG Baltimore. TAG Baltimore is an organization that provides technology awareness, education, and support. They can be reached at 410-449-1824 or help@ tagbaltimore.org.
Letter from Rebbetzin Sara Gross
THE COLUMBIA GROUP PRESENTS:
Airmen with at least five aerial victories are given the coveted title of ace. The first air aces emerged in 1915 during World War I when pilots began to try and knock enemy planes out of the sky. Since then, planes, training and tactics have changed considerably, but the goal for air superiority remains the same. Tales of aerial battles have been told of brave pilots that have shown great skill while becoming a flying ace.
Modern fighter jets flying at supersonic speeds have changed the way aerial dogfights are conducted. Rarely do we see two planes flying at each other with guns blazing. Usually, it is one pilot getting a signal that an enemy plane is in the vicinity who will launch an airto-air missile in an attempt to bring it down. Some modern planes have had exceptional kill ratios, especially McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The 4 th generation fighter has racked up an aerial kill record of over 100 planes shot down with not a single F-15 being lost in aerial combat. Many of the victories
Forgotten Her es Israeli Ace Pilots
By Avi Heiligman
were won by the Israeli Air Force. The first F-15 ace was Avner Naveh.
Israel received her first three F-15 Eagles in December 1976 and first saw action in 1978. A year later, F-15 Eagles shot down four MiG-21 belonging to Syr-
It isn’t common for non-pilots to be awarded the title of an ace with most being achieved as gunners during World War II. Some fighter jets are configured to have another officer in the backseat working the many systems of the plane
Then, after a pass, they used full afterburner to destroy more helicopters on the ground with the blast from the jet exhaust.
ia. Later in 1979, Nevah brought down two more MiG-21 fighters. In June 1982, Nevah shot down three more planes – a MiG-21 and two MiG-23 fighters over Bekaa Valley in Lebanon using Sparrow missiles. In 1985, he was given credit for 1.5 planes as he shared credit for one of the planes with another pilot.
while the pilot does the actual flying. Two Israeli airmen accomplished the feat of becoming an ace while flying as backseaters. Roy Manoff was the navigator for F-4 Phantom pilot Shlomo Egozy. They were flying with Squadron 107 on October 6, 1973 – the day the Yom Kippur War broke out. They
were on a mission in the Sinai looking for Egyptian Mi-8 helicopters dropping off commandos. They destroyed four of these helicopters by shooting at the rotary wings and despite being low on ammunition prevented others from taking off. Then, after a pass, they used full afterburner to destroy more helicopters on the ground with the blast from the jet exhaust.
Manoff ended the war with seven confirmed kills, and Egozy also became an ace with eight enemy kills. A few days into the war, Manoff was credited for two more victories when he was flying with pilot Yiftach Spector. They destroyed two MiG-21s – one with cannon fire and the other with an AIM-9D missile. Many IAF pilots like Egozy preferred using cannons when in sight of an enemy target, and he destroyed three more enemy planes using cannons.
Itzchak Amitay was another F-4 Phantom navigator that earned ace status while sitting in the backseat of a fighter jet. His first victory was on February 12, 1973, together with pilot
Amnon Gurion while on patrol over Egyptian airspace. They saw a MiG21 flying at low altitude and fired two AIM-9 missiles at the enemy plane. The Egyptian pilot aggressively avoided the missiles and destabilized his own plane, causing it to crash.
Amitay earned three more kills on October 6 with pilot Ben-Ami Peri, and they scored three hits on Mi-8 helicopters. On these missions, the pilot flies the planes and shoots the missiles while the navigator has a visual on the targets
takes perfect coordination between the pilot and navigator of an F-4 to successfully eliminate targets.
On the seventh day of the Yom Kippur War, Amitay had to eject from his plane due to a technical failure. He had to wait until October 19 to get another opportunity to become an ace. That day, he was flying with pilot Roni Holdai, call sign Tiger 1, when they tracked two Egyptian Sukhoi Su-7 fighter jets. Tiger 2 claimed one of the planes. As for Holdai and Amitay, they saw the
tracking the other Su-7 and shot at it with an AIM-9 missile. However, they couldn’t verify that the plane was hit, and it wasn’t until they reached base that intelligence confirmed their kill –the fifth for Amitay.
While this action of Tiger 1 and Tiger 2 was happening, Israeli ace of aces, Giora Epstein, shot down another Su-7 from his Nesher. This was one of Epstein’s incredible 17 kills – the most for a jet pilot in history and the leading pilot ace since World War II.
Most air battles are not drawn out, and it takes incredible skill and deter -
mination to shoot down even one plane. There have been close to fifty Israeli airmen that have a total of five or more aerial victories. These airmen’s heroics are often relegated to the back pages of history books, if they are mentioned at all, making them Forgotten Heroes.
Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.
Yiftach Spector
Giora Epstein
Mind Hack
Homesickness
By Nate Davis
is Just a Little Headache
he bags are packed. Your kid has a new hockey stick, minifridge, air conditioner, ATV, and whatever else kids bring to camp these days. And he’s ready to go. There’s only one problem: “stuff” doesn’t heal homesickness.
If your kid is going to camp for the first time, especially if he is young, he is very likely going to experience some level of homesickness; some kids more, some kids less, but they all get it, unless you are doing a bang-up job as a parent and they are thrilled to be away from you.
So, for the kid who is going to be a little sad for a day or two, not to worry. It’ll pass. But what do you do if you know that your son/daughter is the type to have a prolonged bout of homesickness?
Here’s a helpful message to give them: Homesickness is just like any other sickness that you get from time to time. Imagine you have a headache when you go on a chol hamoed trip with the family. The headache bothers you, but you still enjoy the pizza or the park or the go-carts. It’s just that you are a little uncomfortable. Eventually, the headache goes away, and you end up having a great time on the trip. When you look back at the chol hamoed trip, you don’t even remember that you had a headache.
It’s the same thing with camp—in-
stead of HEADACHE sick, you may be HOME sick.
You will still enjoy the canteen, the night activities, the fireworks, and being away from your annoying brother/sister.
Just like when you have a headache it eventually goes away, even though you can’t pinpoint the moment that it happens, homesickness works the same way.
es himself to that all-consuming thought of homesickness. If you can create space between your child and his/her homesickness, they will start allowing other experiences in. Once they do that, those other experiences will eventually drown out the thoughts of homesickness.
The reason the other experiences will drown out the homesickness is because
Homesickness is just like any other sickness that you get from time to time.
It will eventually go away, even though you won’t be able to pinpoint when it dissipated.
So, when you are feeling homesick, say to yourself, “I am feeling sick right now. And that is not a good feeling. But even though I am ‘sick,’ I’m going to try to enjoy myself the best that I can.”
The reason that this message is helpful is because homesickness can become all-consuming and create a fatalistic and helpless mindset. That’s why it lingers. Fatalism and hopelessness tend to stay past the invite. In a sense, the kid attach-
those experiences are moments of presence and consciousness. It’s no secret that presence and consciousness beat anxiety and fear every time. This is why there is such a push towards mindfulness today. With all of the anxiety and fears that people have, it’s a whack-a-mole to try to silence each one; the only option is to shift the mind into a state of pure presence. Negative emotions thrive off the past and future and die in the present.
Mark Zuckerberg once explained that the reason he has hobbies like judo and extreme water sports is because it forces him to be totally focused on the present
moment, thus forgetting about all of the things that can weigh him down mentally. He acknowledged that although many people get that through meditation and breath work, he has a hard time doing that, so he does these other activities which force him to be present.
Our kids may not necessarily have the tools to practice mindfulness (neither do I or many other adults). But this method is a bit of a mindfulness-hack, because if the child digests the message, they will challenge themselves to “live in the now” despite their homesickness.
You can even make a game out of it. Tell your son, “On the first opportunity that you have to go to the canteen, I want you to go get a big ice cream and I want you to sit down and eat it, and while you are eating it, I want you to think about how delicious it is. Think about the crunch of the sprinkles, the sweetness of the hot fudge, the sugar cone…everything.” Wait, but what about my homesickness? It’s OK…you can still enjoy an ice cream with a headache; you can still enjoy an ice cream with your homesickness!
Hopefully this message will work, and your child will have a great summer filled with amazing experiences and growth. And, yes, you worked really hard getting your kid off to camp – go enjoy an ice cream cone with sprinkles and hot fudge; savor the sweetness and the crunch.
A Safe Summer Outfitting Your Camper For a Wholesome Experience
BY RaBB i DR. DOvi D FOx anD DEBB iE FOx, LCSW
Summer camps offer children a refreshing alternative to year-round pressures and also offer parents a welcome respite from some of the challenges of family life. Parents entrust the camp staff with the social, emotional, and religious upkeep of their children through providing fun activities, camaraderie, constructive growth, and education within a Torah atmosphere. Most campers head off to camp exuberantly and return exhilarated and exhausted. A great Jewish camp experience leaves lifelong memories.
In addition to equipping your child with the supplies, clothing and treats which are needed to adapt to the camp schedule, you will want to outfit your camper with some psychological supplies as well. Be sure to speak with your child, determining that they wish to attend camp, that they will be with some familiar friends, and that they know that they are expected to maintain the same level of respectfulness to adults and authority as you expect of them at home. Assure that they will adhere to camp rules, will attend activities, will take part in prayer and learning schedules, and will abide by the directives of their division heads and counselors.
Some children need no reminder to maintain their middos tovos while away from home. Others need sobering pre-briefing that the relative independence of being away from home does not mean that “anything goes” or that their conduct can be less obedient or less compliant when rules are set. A wholesome camp is well run and structured and is not tolerant of children who are wild, destructive, bullying, or who refuse to participate in the program. Educate your camper, possibly reviewing with
him or her in advance the camp program and schedule, the rules and expectations, the dress code, and other standards which the camp will make available to you.
Some children are anxious about going away. This can take the form of apprehension that something will go wrong, or someone will get hurt, or it can take the form of worry about being lonely or homesick, or it can emerge as specific fears of another child with whom they do not get along or a counselor who they don’t want to interact with. At times, your child may have had an unpleasant experience, and this generates their uneasiness about being at camp. Listen to your child. Talk with him or her. Validate their feelings but also explore the basis for and origin of those feelings. When you can reassure them, clearly do so. When you need to inquire about something they are uneasy about, do so. If a child gives a strong and objective
are educated about appropriate speech and vocabulary when talking to children and about appropriate interactions with children. It is also important that you have these discussions with your camper. Make it clear to them that if they are ever uncomfortable with what someone says or does, they will have a point-person in the camp whom you might help select with whom they can discuss an unwanted or uneasy encounter. The use of off-color humor or
Pre-camp and post-camp, stay close with your child and let them know that they can trust you, be open with you, and can turn to you always.
explanation about why they are nervous, seek consultation either from a key figure in the camp administration or discuss your concern with a trusted expert.
Most of our Jewish camps participate in a structured training of all counselors and staff to safeguard the welfare of each camper. They are instructed to be vigilant for any signs of bullying or of signs that other children are not including a child in bunk activities or discussions. Camp staff
conversations does not belong in camp. Sarcastic remarks about a camper’s looks, clothing, intelligence, or other personal features or qualities do not belong in camp. Kidding happens. Teasing sometimes happens. Name calling, insults, taunts, threats or obscene words or gestures should not be happening. If your child is at times prone to being the aggressor, you must have a talk with him about this, saying that it is not tolerated in camp. If your child is
sometimes the victim of ridicule, give them the reassurance that they can be in touch with you, and identify a responsible person, even an older camper who is familiar to your child, with whom they can check in. Speak with your child about body hygiene and about body privacy. Body areas which are meant to be clothed are not meant to be touched by others. Showering is private, modesty in dressing and undressing is always maintained, and no games whether among groups or with just one other person should ever involve conversation about or activities involving anyone’s physical features. Summer is a time for relaxation but is not for relaxing our laws of tznius, morality or halacha. If your child is relatively mature, have a mature discussion with him or her. If your child is still impressionable and vulnerable, have an age-appropriate discussion with him or her that will not confuse or alarm them. But have a discussion. Pre-camp and post-camp, stay close with your child and let them know that they can trust you, be open with you, and can turn to you always.
S’meichim b’tzaesam v’sassim b’voam – let them go and return with joy and happy memories!
Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox is the Director of Chai Lifeline Crisis and Trauma Services. Debbie Fox, LCSW, is the founder and director of Magen Yeladmim International and Project Safe Camp.
Mental Health Corner Is Marijuana Worse Than Cocaine?
By Rabbi Azriel Hauptman
We are living in the age of marijuana legalization, as many states are passing laws to allow marijuana use for medicinal purposes, or even for recreational purposes. This creates grave concerns for parents who are concerned about their children’s access to a strong narcotic. For decades, legalization was unthinkable, as marijuana was considered a Schedule I drug. In this article, we will explain what a Schedule I drug is, why marijuana was put into that category, and how this relates to us today.
Before we begin, a disclaimer. The purpose of this article is merely to provide some historical context to the current debate around marijuana legalization. As a community, legalization creates grave concerns about unprecedented access to this powerful narcotic. However, some background knowledge may help the reader
understand the political landscape of this thorny issue.
In 1970, the federal government passed the Controlled Substances Act which established the government’s policy regarding certain substances. The legislation also established five categories, called “schedules”, that determine the policy for each individual substance.
Here is a basic breakdown of the five schedules with examples of some of the substances that they contain:
Schedule I: Substances that have no medical use and have a high potential for abuse and severe addiction. This is the only category that cannot be prescribed under any circumstances. This includes marijuana, MDMA (ecstasy), heroin, and LSD (acid).
Schedule II: Substances that have a medical use, but have a high potential for abuse and severe addiction. This includes hydrocodone (Vicodin), cocaine, methamphetamine (meth), oxycodone, and methylphenidate (Ritalin).
Schedule III: Substances that have a medical use, a medium level of potential for abuse, potentially leading to severe addictions. This includes codeine, ketamine, anabolic steroids, and testosterone.
Schedule IV: Substances that have an accepted medical use, and a moderate potential for abuse and addiction. This includes Xanax, Valium, Ativan, and Ambien.
Schedule V: Substances that have an accepted medical use, and a low potential for abuse and addiction. This includes some cough medications.
time, there was a very strong racist and anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, and if the public were to view the drug as part of immigrant culture, it would be easier for the anti-cannabis faction to promote their agenda. Additionally, hysteria around marijuana use led to many laws criminalizing their use and distribution on both the state and federal level.
As you can see, marijuana is in a category that makes it worse than cocaine and meth. This means that under federal law, drug violations involving marijuana incur the harshest penalties. Additionally, scientific research is greatly hindered since it is considered as having no medical value. Is this really true and is it based on science? This is where the story of marijuana
Historically, marijuana was called “cannabis”. This is an ancient word that is mentioned numerous times in Chazal (e.g. Kilayim 2:5), as the cannabis plant was the source of hemp, which is a fabric that is derived from fibers in the cannabis plant. Indeed, the word “canvas” is derived from the word cannabis. There is a specific strain of the cannabis plant that has a very high concentration of THC, which is the psychoactive component of marijuana, and this is the strain that
The word marijuana is actually Mexican Spanish, and started being
beginning of the twentieth century by anti-cannabis factions who wanted to portray the drug as “Mexican”. At the
When the Controlled Substance Act was passed in 1970, marijuana was placed by default in Schedule I, pending further research. At the time, cocaine and meth use were not as much of a problem, so they were placed in Schedule II. The politicians quickly realized that demoting marijuana to a Schedule II substance would lead to a major outcry from the public. This was at the same time as the ill-fated “War on Drugs” was just getting off the ground. Also, at the time, the majority of marijuana users were Latinos and blacks, and therefore strict marijuana laws gave the government a way to maintain strong oversight on minority communities. Hence, marijuana became stuck in Schedule I, where it remains today in 2020. This created a bizarre situation, where marijuana is federally illegal, but is legal on the state level in many states, which leads to many legal complications.
The debate around cannabis legalization has a rich history, encapsulating elements of a racist past and the age-old federal vs. states rights controversy. History is still being written, so stay tuned!
This is a service of Relief Resources. Relief is an organization that provides mental health referrals, education, and support to the frum community. Rabbi Yisrael Slansky is director of the Baltimore branch of Relief. He can be contacted at 410-4488356 or at yslansky@reliefhelp.org
To Raise a Laugh
Losing Ticket
It happened: I finally got a traffic ticket, after 20 years of driving, on and off. I would not recommend it. For one thing, it takes forever. How long does it take to write a ticket? I ask this as a professional writer.
I don’t even think that what I did was so bad. I just made – sorry, allegedly made – an illegal left turn. Out of a block in my neighborhood that everyone allegedly makes left turns from all the time. I have a student who lives on that block, and he told me that even the cops do it.
But I’ve never done it before. (Allegedly?) And no, this isn’t one of those situations where I tell you that I never make this left and you can’t prove that I do because I only got caught once. I never even go down that block. It’s a narrow little block that does the same thing as another, more convenient block, but not as well. I only went down the block that day because the street that I normally go down was closed.
The city I live in is doing a thing where they’re updating everyone’s gas line, one house at a time, by digging through the street in front of each house individually. There are only like 3 digging teams, and it takes them a full day to do each house, and they’re not going in order.
So every morning, when I try to bring my son to yeshiva, I need to take a different route. And then every day, I ran into all 3 crews.
So this one morning, the street onto which I needed to make a right turn was closed, and I didn’t see the road blocks until I was about to make that right, so I followed the cars in front of me and I made a right on the next block, which was the last possible block to make a right on. And everyone else was allegedly making this left, so I allegedly made it. And, as generally happens when you do something illegal that you don’t normally do, a cop saw me doing it.
So he turned on his loudspeaker and told me to make a right into a side street and pull over, right in front of my son’s school.
The cop was of course anti-Semitic. All traffic cops are anti-Semitic.
He asked, “Do you know why I pulled you over?” And I said, “No,” because I’m not going to fall for that trap where I tell him something I did wrong and it turns out it wasn’t the thing he was thinking, and I get two tickets. But I did shoot a glance at my inspection sticker, just in case.
And then so did he.
So he said, “You made an illegal left turn back there.”
“Allegedly.”
“Allegedly. No, wait. You made a left turn.” And before I could protest, he said that making a left turn there was unsafe.
Okay. Arguably, any left turn is unsafe. Yes, supposedly the rule is there for safety, because the intersection is right near a train bridge, and the visibility is blocked for the people coming from the left. Except that if I’m making a left turn, I’m merging with the people coming from the right. And sure, I have to cross over the lane of people coming from the left, but I’m allowed to make a right at that intersection and merge with them anyway.
I thought about all this afterward. I didn’t have a cogent argument on the spot, because I hadn’t had my coffee yet, and also I know that cops have this thing where once they pull you over, they have to write you a ticket.
“Sorry, I already started writing it.”
And I get it, because the tickets are numbered, and his bosses are going to ask, “Where did 1507 go? I see you gave out 1506 and 1508.” And then he has to remember what you said to convince him, word for word, so he can use that to convince his bosses as well. He’s not going up to bat for you. I feel the same way when I write a check. The person is like, “You know what? You can have it for free.” And I say, “Sorry, I already started writing it!”
Anyway, there wasn’t much I could say, because the cop saw me do it. He didn’t see the car right in front of me do it, even though
By Mordechai Schmutter
he was sitting in unmoving traffic on the block we were turning onto. He only saw me. Which means that most probably, he was texting.
Sure, some people would say, to the cop’s face, “I can’t believe you pulled me over. There are so many criminals on the streets, and you’re busting me for making a left turn?”
What do you want? He’s a traffic cop! Also, the real criminals hide it better.
So my big argument was that everybody else was doing it. Though even I don’t accept that excuse, as a teacher. So I don’t really expect them to accept it. What’s he going to do? Arrest the whole town? I’m not going to help you fill your ticket quota.
My biggest hope was that he’d finish up with my ticket, go back and watch the intersection, see that I was right, and then quietly feel stupid. I didn’t think that if he saw I was right, he would come back to me and say, “Sorry, you were right. Everyone does make a left there! Let me rip up your ticket. Or give you a negative ticket to balance it out.” He does have my address.
Why aren’t there negative tickets for good driving?
So he was writing the ticket, and after what felt like 20 minutes of writing, another cop car came by and stopped alongside him, and I said to myself, “Great. Now there are going to be two cop cars, and everyone’s going to wonder what I did to merit all that police attention. Right outside my kids’ school.”
Anyway, my window was open, so I heard the conversation. The second cop said, “What did he do?” And the first cop said, “He made a left on that street over there.” And the second cop said, “But everyone does it!”
I should have gotten that guy’s badge number so I could bring him into court and try to get him to say exactly that.
Mordechai Schmutter is a freelance writer and a humor columnist for Hamodia and other magazines. He has also published eight books and does stand-up comedy. You can contact him at MSchmutter@gmail.com.
Political Crossfire
Should American Jews Abandon Elite Universities?
By Bret Stephens
The notable fact about the anti-Israel campus demonstrations is that they are predominantly an elite phenomenon. Yes, there have been protests at big state schools like the University of Nebraska, but they have generally been small, tame and — thanks to administrators prepared to enforce the rules — short-lived. It’s Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Penn, Harvard, Columbia and many of their peers that have descended to open bigotry, institutional paralysis and mayhem.
Two questions: Why the top universities? And what should those on the other side of the demonstrations — Jewish students and alumni most of all — do about it?
Regarding the first question, some argue that the furor over the campus protests is much ado about not much. The demonstrators, they say, represent only a small fraction of students. The ugliest antisemitic expressions occasionally seen at these events are mainly the work of outside provocateurs. And the student protesters (some of whom are Jewish) are acting out of youthful idealism, not age-old antisemitism. As they see it, they aim only to save Palestinian lives and oppose the involvement of their universities in the abuses of a racist Israeli state.
There’s something to these points. With notable exceptions, campus life at these schools is somewhat less roiled by protest than the media makes it seem. Outside groups, as more than one university president has told me, have played an outsize role in setting up encampments and radicalizing students. And few student demonstrators, I’d wager, consciously think they harbor an anti-Jewish prejudice.
But this lets the kids off the hook too easily.
Students who police words like “blacklist” or “whitewash” and see “microaggres-
sions” in everyday life ignore the entreaties of their Jewish peers to avoid chants like “globalize the intifada” or “from the river to the sea.” Students who claim they’re horribly pained by scenes of Palestinian suffering were largely silent on Oct. 7 — when they weren’t openly cheering the attacks. And students who team up with outside groups that are in overt sympathy with Islamic terrorists aren’t innocents. They’re collaborators.
How did the protesters at elite universities get their ideas of what to think and how to behave?
They got them, I suspect, from the incessant valorization of victimhood that has been a theme of their upbringing and which many of the most privileged kids feel they lack — hence the zeal to prove themselves as allies of the perceived oppressed. They got them from the crude schematics of diversity, equity and inclusion training seminars, which divide the world into “white” and “of color,” powerful and “marginalized,” with no regard for real-world complexities — including the complexity of Jewish identity. They got them from professors who think academic freedom amounts to a license for political posturing, sometimes of a nakedly antisemitic sort. They got them from a cheap and easy revision of history that imagines Zionism is a form of colonialism (it’s decidedly the opposite), that colonialism is something only white people do, and that as students at American universities, they can cheaply atone for their sins as guilty beneficiaries of the settler-colonialism they claim to despise.
They also got them from university administrators whose private sympathies often lie with the demonstrators, who imagine the anti-Israel protests as the moral heirs to the anti-apartheid protests and who struggle to grasp (if they even care)
why so many Jewish students feel betrayed and besieged by the campus culture.
That’s the significance of the leaked images of four Columbia University deans exchanging dismissive and sophomoric text messages during a panel discussion in May on Jewish life on campus, including the suggestion that a panelist was “taking full advantage of this moment” for the sake of the “fundraising potential.”
Columbia placed three of the deans on leave. Other universities, like Penn, have belatedly moved to ban encampments. But those steps have a grudging and reactive feel — more a response to Title VI investigations of discrimination and congressional hearings than a genuine acknowledgment that something is deeply amiss with the values of a university.
At Harvard, two successive members of the task force on antisemitism resigned in frustration. “We are at a moment when the toxicity of intellectual slovenliness has been laid bare for all to see,” wrote Rabbi David Wolpe in his resignation announcement.
That’s the key point.
More dismaying than the fact that student protesters are fellow-traveling with Hamas is that with their rhyming chants and identical talking points, they sound more like Maoist cadres than critical thinkers. As sociologist Ilana Redstone, author of the smart and timely book “The Certainty Trap,” said Monday, “higher education traded humility and curiosity for conviction and advocacy — all in the name of being inclusive. Certainty yields students who are contemptuous of disagreement.”
And so the second question: What are Jewish students and alumni to do?
It’s telling that the Columbia deans were caught chortling during exactly the
kind of earnest panel discussion that the university convened presumably to show alumni they are tackling campus antisemitism. They were paying more lip service than attention. My guess is that they, along with many of their colleagues, struggle to see the problem because they think it lies with a handful of extremist professors and obnoxious students.
But the real problem lies with some of the main convictions and currents of today’s academia: intersectionality, critical theory, postcolonialism, ethnic studies and other concepts that may not seem antisemitic on their face but tend to politicize classrooms and cast Jews as privileged and oppressive. If, as critical theorists argue, the world’s injustices stem from the shadowy agendas of the powerful and manipulative few against the virtuous masses, just which group is most likely to find itself villainized?
Not even the most determined university president is going to clean out the rot — at least not without getting rid of the entrenched academic departments and tenured faculty members who support it. That could take decades. In the meantime, Jews have a history of parting company with institutions that mistreated them, like white-shoe law firms and commercial banks. In so many cases, they went on to create better institutions that operated on principles of intellectual merit and fair play — including many of the universities that have since stumbled.
In honor of National Postal Worker Day on July 1, let’s see what you know about the U.S. Postal Service
1. When was the United States Postal Service (USPS) founded?
a. 1775
b. 1792
c. 1823
d. 1901
2. Although the USPS has no official motto, what is its unofficial motto, which is engraved on the Farley Post Office in NY City?
a. “Delivering for America”
b. “Service with Integrity”
c. “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”
d. “Connecting People and Communities”
3. Approximately how many ZIP codes are there in the United States?
a. 1,000
b. 30,000
c. 80,000
d. 130,000
4. What does ZIP in ZIP Code stand for?
a. Zone Improvement Plan
b. Zone Information Plan
c. Zonal Infrastructure Program
d. Zonal Information Process
5. Who was the first Postmaster General of the United States?
a. Alexander Hamilton
b. Benjamin Franklin
c. Thomas Jefferson
d. John Adams
6. Approximately how many pieces of mail does the USPS deliver per day?
a. 2 million
b. 17 million
Riddle
Me This
What happens if you rearrange the letters in “THE POST OFFICE”?
c. 54 million
d. 152 million
Answers: 1-A
2-C 3-B 4-A 5-B 6-D
Wisdom Key:
5-6 Correct: Neuman?
2-4 correct: You are mediocre, like the post office!
0-1 correct: You are post-post office!
Answer: Nobody gets their mail.
Notable Quotes
“Say What?!”
You don’t bum rush a Jewish neighborhood and run up on a synagogue. That’s not protesting a policy; that’s protesting a people… I have no problem with people protesting policy. You cannot protest a people. That is not a protest. That’s a pogrom, and that has to stop.
- CNN’s Van Jones responding to the pro-Hamas protest in front of a shul in Los Angeles
Here’s a basic difference between the Trump and Biden Administrations regarding Israel, Hezbollah and Iran:
Trump: would message Hezbollah and Iran that if war breaks out with Israel, Iran will be bankrupted and Israel will be fully armed with no limits placed on its defense.
Biden: messages Israel that if war breaks out with Hezbollah and Iran, Israel should not expect the type of U.S. support it received when Iran launched missiles against Israel several months ago.
That pretty much sums it up.
- Former Ambassador David Friedman
Past social media posts from when I was younger do not reflect my current views. Period. I support this Administration’s agenda – and will continue my communications work focused on our climate and environmental policies.
- Biden administration official Tyler Cherry, who was recently promoted to an associate communication director at the White House, disavowing prior social media posts in which he called for the end of capitalism, the police and “the occupation of Palestine”
He spent his life looking over his shoulder, but he forgot to look both ways before crossing the street.
- A police officer, after a Genovese mobster known as Tony Cakes, 86, was struck and killed by accident in Brooklyn this week
Together, we stood up to the communists, Marxist, and fascists to defend religious liberty like no other president has ever done.
And I have the wounds all over my body. If I took this shirt off, you’d see a beautiful, beautiful person. But you’d see wounds all over, all over me. I have taken a lot of wounds, I can tell you. More than I suspect any president ever.
You know, in history – and I’ve read, I love the, I love this stuff – but, in history, they say Andrew Jackson was treated the worst. President Andrew, he was a great general and a very good president. And Abraham Lincoln was second worst. Now he had a civil war. So, you know, you sort of think that was understood. And now they’re rewriting the books. Trump was treated the worst, Andrew Jackson second, and Abraham Lincoln third. But I definitely took top spot.
- Donald Trump speaking at the Faith and Freedom Conference
A fact-checking website called Snopes, which usually leans further left than a one-legged roller blader, just branded as false the explosive idea that Trump once called neo-Nazis in Charlottesville “very fine people.” Wow. What’s next? A 2024 exposé about this young, up-andcoming singer called Elvis Presley? …. It’s only taken the left seven years to finally cop to the fact that the “very fine people” hoax was actually a hoax. Which, coincidentally, is the same amount of time it takes Joe Biden to find his way out of a walk-in closet. But for the corporate press, this might actually be fast-breaking news.
- Greg Gutfeld, Fox News
Expect Jake and Dana [in the presidential debate] to push January 6th like a hot dog cart up Sixth Avenue. Because of Joe’s disastrous policies, that’s all they got. So if you are voting against Trump due to this insurrection narrative, ask yourself this: Did I fall for the “very fine people” narrative, too, and all the other hoaxes we’ve detailed on this show? Like Crossfire Hurricane, the fake laptop, the…tape, on and on and on.
- Ibid.
It is getting a little crazy these days… The probability that a homicidal maniac will try to kill you is proportional to how many homicidal maniacs hear your name. They hear my name a lot, and I’m like, OK, I’m on the list.
- Elon Musk at a Tesla shareholder meeting this week
We [Tesla] actually did have two homicidal maniacs in the last roughly seven months, come to aspirationally try to kill me and a bunch of other people, so it’s not just me, and there wasn’t an actual issue that they articulated – they were just, you know, in the homicidal maniac career.
- Ibid.
I will endeavor to stay alive.
- Ibid.
The attorney general’s case in New York, frankly, should have never been brought. And if his name was not Donald Trump, and if he wasn’t running for president – I’m the former AG in New York – I’m telling you, that case would have never been brought. And that’s what is offensive to people.
- Former Democrat governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, in an interview with Bill Maher
I think you need to go back and tell whoever is running your organization, “We just gave more money to a Jew.” That cannot be a good plan for you. You gotta come up with a better plan.
- Jerry Seinfeld shutting down a pro-Hamas heckler at a show this week, a few days after a similar incident took place at another one of his shows
I just make sure I drank a gallon of water every day, but then after, getting close to the end of it, my body needed food and some kind of sustenance.
- Lukas McClish, 34, upon being rescued after being lost for 10 days in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains
We know there was once a president that wanted to make AIPAC register, and he ended up shot.
- Candace Owens, who was fired by the Daily Wire for her Jew hatred, suggesting that AIPAC was behind the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy Jr when discussing Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) efforts to have AIPAC registered as a foreign agent
goodness. I’ve waited a long time for this.
My
- Virginia “Ginger” Hislop, 105, upon obtaining her master’s degree from Stanford Graduate School of Education last week, upon completing her final thesis which got sidetracked by World War II
Parenting Pearls It’s the Little Things That Matter
By Sara Rayvych, MSEd
As I remarked to the pediatric nurse, “Those who like working with children, really enjoy working with children. Those who don’t want to work with children, really don’t want to work with children.” From her smile, I could tell she agreed with me. She explained that for her it was the innocence
of children that she appreciated.
She’s not the first pediatric provider that has agreed with this sentiment. Children have a certain something to them that is endearing and pure. They think and act differently than adults, and it’s these differences that give them such charm. For those who recognize
their special traits, children are a refreshing change.
I’ve often found it both fascinating and educational to see how different pediatric providers set up their space to match the needs of their younger clients. Doctors, therapists and others that provide services to children modify their offices, programs and methods to meet the unique needs of kids. When possible, I try to bring my children to see pediatric specialists, rather than general providers. It’s the small adjustments that make a meaningful difference in a child’s comfort and feelings of safety.
Unfortunately, we were reminded of this once again when our little one was sent to the hospital. What was initially thought to be simple suturing required more advanced care. The transfer from a regular emergency department to a pediatric emergency department showed me a vivid contrast between the two, and I could see the ways various providers interacted with my little one. It was clear what a major difference small changes made. For example, the children’s emergency department gave each young patient their own room; the regular hospital left my child’s stretcher in the hall where he heard patients screaming. Everything from the brighter room and uniform colors to the Pedialyte ice pops and smiling staff were child-friendly.
Children – once thought to be merely smaller adults – are a distinct group. Everything from their less developed brains to their smaller size gives them different needs from adults. As parents, keeping in mind our child’s unique needs, and making minor adjustments, can help tasks go
smoother and better ensure their emotional needs are met.
Say It With a Smile
While everyone is sensitive to body language, children can be very dependent on non-verbal cues. Babies lack language and rely completely on tone of voice and other cues. A doctor once looked at my daughter and in a mock stern voice said, “Don’t come back.” She looked petrified until I explained, “He’s saying you’re fine, and you don’t need to come back again.” Even children that are fluent speakers may not comprehend the more advanced language of adults. They, too, will rely heavily on non-verbal messages.
Keep language simple and on their level. After too many words, little ones are lost and older kids will simply tune out the speaker. While we want to expand their vocabulary, emotional or important discussions are not the time for language lessons. Using basic words that are easy for them to understand will help them assimilate the information. “Less is more” certainly applies when it comes to explaining complicated matters to children.
The unknown can be frightening, and children are less familiar with the world around them. It’s best to use speech that won’t scare or confuse a child. Obviously, we shouldn’t make running in the street sound cute and friendly, but doctor’s visits, trips to new places and most unfamiliar experiences can be described in a less intimidating manner. We can also tell them what to expect in advance, making them aware and less fearful.
Take an extra dose of patience before speaking to children and be prepared to
answer questions. Patience is challenging but crucial when interacting with children. They will fight taking medicine, scream that they don’t want to leave or ask “why” incessantly. Often, they intensely resist what they’re afraid of. Keeping this in mind can be helpful for adults; they’re not trying to be difficult, they are simply scared or confused.
We can make them more comfortable by answering their questions. Additionally, their questions help give us insight into what they’re thinking, better enabling us to understand them and meet their needs.
The Decor
Watching them transfer my little guy to his bed in the pediatric emergency department, I noticed they had given him a junior mattress. Rather than looking swallowed up by an adult-sized space, he was comfortable in an appropriately-sized bed.
Until their late teens, kids are physically smaller people. The world, by necessity, is designed for adults. We can try to make their living space easier for them to maneuver. For example, step stools can help them safely reach sinks and higher shelves. Booster seats give toddlers a comfortable seat at the table. Purchasing specialty sized items for everything can be a
fortune, but there are less expensive, small changes we can do to make the space more inviting.
On Shavuos, I noticed how many kids chose sprinkles and other colorful toppings for their ice cream, ignoring the duller ones such as chocolate chips. Kids like bright, colorful things. Pediatric staff often wear brightly colored clothing and
or item less frightening. Animal themed notebooks were the key to getting one of our children focused on schoolwork. Fun sheets on their bed, a colorful alarm clock, and other changes can make a space more child-friendly.
Kids like stickers and other prizes. I’m often surprised by how much a child will do to get a small trinket. Doctors and
It’s the small adjustments that make a meaningful difference in a child’s comfort and feelings of safety.
brighten up their tools to make them more appealing to their younger clients.
Children like what’s fun and familiar; this includes characters or other pictures. Pediatric spaces often have characters or animal prints on the walls. In the emergency department, I noticed we were in the “sea turtle” room. It’s easy to find –just go past the crab and then the octopus; it’s right there. Stickers and drawings can be used to liven up and make an area
therapists will often use these to reward a hesitant youngster. These small treats are helpful at providing an immediate reward. Young children can’t delay gratification, and this provides an instant compensation for their behavior. Additionally, it takes time to develop the concept of intrinsic rewards. A young child is unable to understand the need to do something for its own value, and they’ll refuse doing something they don’t want to do, despite
it being to their ultimate benefit. Stickers can also be used to make an item more exciting. Notebooks for challenging subjects and medical equipment (when it won’t damage the device) are among the useful places you can stick a sticker. Similarly, colorful Band-Aids are like stickers for boo-boos.
While this article mentioned only a few examples, there are far more. Beyond specific examples of how to make our young ones more comfortable, we need to be tuned into our child and appreciate their unique needs and way of thinking. It’s often the subtle adjustments we make that can create a more welcomed environment for our favorite young person.
I’d like to give a yasher koach to the emergency department at Cohen Children’s Medical Center, our schools’ teachers and to the numerous individuals in our community that work with children daily, improving their young lives and ensuring a better future.
Sara Rayvych, MSEd, has her master’s in general and special education. She has been homeschooling for over 10 years in Far Rockaway. She can be contacted at RayvychHomeschool@gmail.com.
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You are a caring, careful, and aware friend. I would not take on the role of advisor at your age and stage. If a friend confides in you, you may suggest a dating coach, mentor, or therapist. I don’t think you will be heard by young people in their twenties, even if they indicate they want your advice. If they do indicate that they want your input, gently float some ideas for them to consider and direct them to someone seasoned.
Your friends may have gotten the same direction you did (from seminary teachers, mentors, and others) but they didn’t absorb it the way you did. They may misconstrue what you mean by your list; hopefully it meant qualities, depth, middos, personality and values, not just pro -
fessional achievement and current settings. Sometimes list-making is confused with a menu of choices, and young women select the most attractive ones, unaware that people grow into them through a process. You are so right when you say that some daters have expectations and fears that they are not even aware of. Many need to look in the mirror and move maturely from there.
Stick to your role. Be a reference on a resume only and don’t give unsolicited input.
actly the same thing as you are, and I am sure they will appreciate reading about it.
There are two issues here, one is the issue of you being a reference for people you cannot vouch for. The other issue is feeling you must talk to your friends about their lackadaisical attitude towards their dating life.
I will address the former first. Please speak to these friends and tell them that you do not feel comfortable being a reference for anyone at this time. Place the blame on your busy schedule, or not being readily available for phone calls due to your work schedule, or any other excuse you can think of.
Folks need to learn their lessons on their own, through trial and error.
Michelle Mond
Hi Ariella, thank you for writing in with this common question. Lots of married friends of singles go through ex-
This brings us to the second issue: should you talk to them about the patterns you are seeing in their personal and dating life? I know the feeling of urgency to get involved and help these friends wake up to reality – the reality that time is passing by and these friends are simply self-sabotaging their opportunities
(the best and most opportunities they will get are when they’re young!). I understand from your perspective that getting involved feels like an itch you need to scratch; however, I recommend you simply stay quiet and allow them to work through this time in their lives by themselves. There is nothing you can say that will make them change; they will simply resent you for it. They will say (or think) you do not understand because you are already married and simply cannot un-
The Shadchan
derstand what it is like to be single. At this point, they will have to live life until they come to a fork in the road and are forced to face the reality of the mistakes they have made and learn how to progress in the future.
Move forward in your friendship with these friends as you always have. When they ask for advice, go all out and give over your thoughts in a loving and caring way.
The Single
Tzipora Grodko
Dear Ariella, I’m going to say something a bit blunt, and I hope it doesn’t come across as offensive. Just because you got married, doesn’t mean you’re now an expert and understand the nuances, difficulties, and complexities your friends are experiencing. Especially in such a sensitive field, I don’t think any feedback can be receptive if it’s not presented with tremendous compassion and humility. I would almost encourage you
to “plead the fifth” and encourage them to speak to a therapist or coach. If they really ARE making poor choices, it seems like they will need professional guidance. Personally, I think that would be the ideal route to take. If they refuse, I wouldn’t claim to “know” their issue but rather present it as a question. For example: Do you think maybe you’re terminating dates too soon? Are you concerned that you might not even know what you’re looking for?
Questions invite insight and, when presented with compassion and humility, can lead to healthy change and support.
The Zaidy
Dr. Jeffrey Galler
Let’s try to summarize the situation. You were very fortunate to have found your life partner fairly early in the dating process. Some of your friends have not been so fortunate. And, because they have not been blessed with early success like you
Pulling It All Together
The Navidaters
Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists
Dear Ariella,
Thank you for writing! It’s always awkward to be a reference for someone you wouldn’t recommend. You’re in an uncomfortable position, being that you don’t think your friends are serious about commitment. You have a few options.
1. Make a polite boundary without
much expla - nation. “I don’t have the time right now to devote to these calls. I can’t be a referral anymore. I’m so sorry about this.”
2. Tell each friend your predicament. While you want to remain a reference, you feel torn because it doesn’t seem like
have been, you have decided that there must be something wrong with them and with their approach to dating.
Unless your friends actually ask you for dating advice, it would be wise to keep your opinions to yourself. Sometimes, folks need to learn their lessons on their own, through trial and error.
You can certainly ask a friend who lists you as a reference, “What would you like me to say if anyone asks me what you are looking for?”
And then, your role as a good friend, is to sing your friends’ praises to anyone who calls about them but definitely NOT to insert to your opinion that they’re not ready to get married!
For example, you might choose praises appropriate for different friends, like: “My friend Rachel is gorgeous, inside and outside. She has an incredible sense of humor and always makes me laugh. She is the most enthusiastic person I have ever met. She is very charitable, personable, and volunteers for so many worthy causes. She has a very deep commitment to Torah and Israel. She makes the most incredible dishes. She is so economical.”
If these single girls are your friends, then, obviously, you, personally, have found that they have wonderful, ad -
Just because you got married, doesn’t mean you’re now an expert and understand the nuances, difficulties, and complexities your friends are experiencing.
mirable qualities. When asked for a reference, please extol those qualities! And, if someone asks you, “Why isn’t she married yet?” simply reply, “I don’t know. She’s really special. I guess she hasn’t met her bashert yet,” rather than inserting your opinion about why you think the friend isn’t yet married.
Prepare to celebrate, and make sure that you have a bridesmaid dress ready for her wedding!
they are commitment minded.
3. Ask what they are looking for in a partner. If they truly can’t come up with any qualities, you can tell them that you aren’t comfortable remaining a reference.
4. Do nothing and hope that the right guy will make all the seeming commitment issues go away.
This whole reference thing is a little hokey and nonsensical. No one would put anyone down as a reference who would have anything negative to say.
If you do choose to be honest, I advise staying away from direct advice,
like “don’t date until you’re more serious.” You may want to open up that conversation with open-ended questions. And remember, just because a friend confides in another about a commitment issue, or any issue really, doesn’t mean that when the right one comes along she would reject him. Girlfriends talk. Another truth is that if being a reference makes you feel compromised or uncomfortable, you can back out with kindness.
These situations are never easy.
Sincerely, Jennifer
Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and certified trauma healing life coach, as well as a dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in private practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 718-908-0512. Visit www.thenavidaters.com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email JenniferMannLCSW@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.
Helping People Heal Relief Resources Guides and Supports
Those on Their Mental Health Journey
By Pinchos Friedlander
Years ago, nobody talked about mental health. People dealt with their issues quietly, often with shame, and furtively searched for mental health professionals to assist them in their mental health journey. But twenty years ago, things changed. That’s when Rabbi Binyomin Babad founded Relief Resources, an organization geared solely toward helping people in the Jewish community find the most capable and appropriate mental and emotional health professionals for them. With an extensive database and utmost professionalism, people feel comfortable leaning on Relief’s referrals, knowledge, and advice when it comes to finding the proper professional to care for them and their family.
Dealing with emotional illness is brutal. Unfortunately, it’s also way more common than think. Relief fields calls from around 2,500-3,000 patients a month, seeking their advice. Baruch Hashem, today, there is a lot which can be done to cope with and even cure many disorders. However, finding the right professional to guide a person along the journey is vital. And so, getting a good referral is essential. Binyomin Babad shares a shocking statistic. From the over 8,000 practitioners in Relief’s database, only about 20 percent are really good at what they do. The other 80 percent range from mediocre to poor – and at the lowest extreme, dangerous. That’s why coming to Relief and obtaining their advice is so important – to help patients navigate the maze and find the right professional for them. While all medical practice requires acuity, mental health is an especially delicate art, because it is so abstract. There are generally no tests or scans you can give a patient which will clearly indicate what they are suffering from and what is the best course of treatment. Yes, there are known conditions and symptoms, but the devil is in the nuances and details, and that’s what separates the boys from the men. Top therapists shared with Babad that they acquired most of their knowledge from actual experience, as they began practicing, not from what they learned in school. Babad shares that the best practitioners are those who are al-
ways learning. A therapist who feels he or she “got it” is a therapist Relief will be wary of.
Finding the Right Match
But that’s not all. There is more to mental and emotional health referral than just weeding out the subpar therapists and sending people to those who are most competent. A worthy referral service is more like a shadchan. Doctor and patient simply have to be a good fit for each other. Therapy, especially, is not like physical medicine, in which it doesn’t really matter much whether or not you can connect with your doctor. A lot depends on the relationship between the therapist and the patient. And then there is also the issue of religious outlook, which can be a problem when the two are not on the same page. Relief’s sensitivity to the needs of the frum community helps them guide people to the right place. Additionally, some therapists are great at helping patients deal with some issues but are not proficient at handling other issues.
And it can be case by case, too. Babad recalls a therapist who worked well with some of his clients but was terrible with others. After much detective work, analyzing the wealth of data available to them, Relief recognized a pattern. They realized that if the therapist was dealing with a self-motivated patient, he could direct them in the right path very skillfully. However, if the person was not motivated, he could not push them to move them along. That just wasn’t his thing.
In another situation, a therapist did well with teenagers, but the parents of the teens didn’t connect with him. Eventually, Relief realized that the therapist fit very well with someone who went along with his treatment with utmost trust, but he could not handle the “backseat driver” patients – or their parents – who would inundate him with their own theories and suggestions.
Often, the therapists themselves find it helpful to have Relief referring them the right patients whom they can best help.
Don’t Do This Yourself
There are times when Relief finds itself dealing with
complicated situations because people didn’t get proper referrals initially or extrapolated from one referral to another, on their own. Babad recalls with irony a psychiatrist, Dr. Cohen, who was literally the top in his field for postpartum depression. A man called Relief and mentioned that he wanted to go to Dr. Cohen. “Who told you to go to him?” they asked him. The man had heard that Relief had recommended Dr. Cohen for his sister-in-Law. Yes, they were recommending him – for postpartum depression, but not for men.
In another incident, an educator was referring people for therapy to a psychiatrist he heard Relief recommended. When Relief found out about it, they were horrified. The man was a complete non-believer and having young, vulnerable bochurim go to him for therapy could be very damaging. Relief was referring people to him for medication only.
Babad stresses that it’s important for each person to call Relief directly and receive their own referral. Don’t just take hearsay and use it for yourself.
Things Change
In order to make sure that the recommendations they are making are sound, Relief spends time learning about each therapist and doctor in their database. Babad points out that sometimes new therapists reach out to Relief for an interview, before they gain experience. He calls them “green bananas,” as they have not yet ripened to their full potential. In general, Relief recommends that new therapists not interview with Relief until they gained some experience. It often happens that, with time, the “banana” ripens, and these therapists begin to build up a good reputation. It’s at that time when they should connect with Relief and show them what they can offer. Conversely, sometimes, providers move down on Relief’s list. It could be that their deficiencies begin to show over time. Other times, a therapist may get burnt out and lose the energy and zest needed to stay on top of their game. Another issue that comes up is when the practitioner gets too flooded with patients and then neglects to give each one his proper attention.
These are all issues that Relief understands and works to ensure that their therapist database is fresh and accurate.
Relief’s philosophy is to base their recommendations on evidence, not on theories. They don’t believe in going with their gut. They get actual feedback from patients and use that to go forward. Babad shares that there are some modalities that he doesn’t quite understand, and yet he looks at the facts and knows whether or not they work, for whom they usually work, and how effective they are. For this reason, there are no clinicians on Relief’s staff. The inevitable slant their training will influence would compromise the objectivity Relief is looking for.
In addition, the nature of the field is that there are certain biases. Not all approaches in therapy are the same. There are different modalities (about 40) and different general approaches. The two overarching approaches in therapy are Freud’s psychoanalysis, which is about discussing the patient’s childhood, to unearth the underlying trauma and to heal it at its source. Then there’s the newer CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) approach, which is more practical and forward-thinking. Within these two
umbrellas, there are many sub-categories. Not everyone teaches and subscribes to the same approaches, though there are therapists who are trained in multiple modalities. Through experience, Relief has strong data which allows them to see what modalities tend to work best for which cases. A therapist is likely to see things through the prism of his or her training and may be blind to its limitations. Relief is there to help guide people towards the best practitioner with the best approach for their issue. Relief once interviewed a newly trained young therapist, and during the interview, she was asked what she would do if a patient came to see her whose condition wasn’t really a perfect match for her training. “If Hashem sent it to me, it’s a sign this case is meant for me” was her reply. Needless to say, Relief didn’t share her outlook on that.
An Array of Issues
Babad reveals that the mental and emotional illness rate in the frum community roughly parallels that of the broader public. He notes that anxiety tops the chart by far. Trauma is another significant struggle facing our community. In fact, most of the so-called “kids at risk” are victims of trauma. Sometimes, it’s because they grew up in a dysfunctional or abusive home. In other cases, they may have been the victims of molestation. With girls, that is the culprit in the majority of cases, Babad has found. With boys, their trauma can present in other ways, including difficulties in school.
But Relief has, sadly, seen it all. From bipolar disorder to depression, to schizophrenia, to addictions, to eating disorders, marital, behavioral issues, and more, people are suffering from so much – many quietly bearing the burden alone.
Some cases are more complicated than others and require higher levels of care. Often, seeing a therapist once a week is not enough. More drastic action is needed. Eating disorders, for example, require a whole team of therapists, nutritionists and doctors to handle all aspects of the situation. Although severe issues are thankfully more rare, each case of these takes up a lot more of Relief’s time, and so they end up dealing with these cases more frequently.
Babad notes that in recent years there has been a rise in addictions. He says that the addiction is usually only the outer layer of the problem. It typically comes from a deep pain the addict is trying to mask by self-medicating. Once they overcome the addiction itself, they need to deal with the underlying emotional issue which caused it in the first place.
In some extreme cases, there is no choice but to hospitalize a patient. This is mainly when the patient is in danger of harming themselves or others. Relief will do everything they can to prevent a patient from needing the psych ward, as that is really not a good place to be.
The best practitioners are those who are always learning.
But unfortunately, a patient needs to be hospitalized in order to get the proper treatment. At this point, Relief’s role will be to try and get them out of the psych ward as soon as safely possible, by setting them up with the proper care.
I once heard a cynical comment: the more therapists there are for any given field, somehow there are more diagnoses for that condition. Babad concedes that some diagnoses, like ADHD, are overly identified. He recalled an incident with a certain rosh yeshiva who made a large chanukas habayis event upon completing a new campus for his yeshiva. A prominent psychologist was at the event, and the rosh yeshiva went over to him. “Doctor,” he chided him good-naturedly, “if I had been a kid today, none of this could have happened. I would have been medicated, my energy would have been restrained, and I could never have gotten all this done.”
But Babad points out that it’s often the laymen who over-diagnose. People hear about a certain condition but don’t fully understand it and then take on that condition as their own. Take anxiety, for example. Everyone experiences some anxiety in life, and so if they see someone who’s a bit more anxious than usual, they think that is anxiety which requires a therapist.
There is Hope
Even with the darkest conditions, people have turned their lives around. Babad shares a story of a rebbe who was secretly suffering from severe depression. He had a family to support, a daughter coming back from seminary, and the entire family was in danger of collapsing. Relief was able to send him to the right people, and the man got his life back and a family was saved. Now, every time that family makes a chasuna, they send Relief an invitation. “It’s all because of you,” they say.
It’s moments like these that make it all worth it.
And this rebbe is far from the only one who Relief has helped in their mental health journey. Relief gets many, many thank you letter and emails, and some people come over to Babad in person, attesting to lives saved, families preserved, and dignity restored.
It’s hard to know for sure whether our zeides and bubbas in Europe had less emotional issues than we do today. Although they didn’t go to therapy, perhaps it just wasn’t available. And divorce was almost unheard of, but sometimes a spouse (or two) and their families suffered terribly.
Still, there seems to be a rise in the amount of people going for therapy in recent years. Along with population growth has come an awareness of the importance of going for help.
A Rav’s Support
Back in the day, going to a secular-trained therapist for help with emotional or psychological issues was looked at with much suspicion in the Torah community. This was because the psychological philosophy of the time attacked religion. But times have changed. The modalities and attitudes in the field have shifted. When people ask Babad which rabbanim support Relief’s work, his response is, “Whichever rabbanim you go to – from YU to the right of Satmar.” Not only do rabbanim approve of their work, but they often refer people to Relief or to specific therapists. In fact, many times, a person’s rav will be the one to push the patient to attend much-needed therapy when the patient is hesitant to go. Additionally, the rav may also become part of the healing process, such as when someone is suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The patient may first have to hear from a rav they trust about certain areas of halacha, that it’s OK to do as the therapist suggests.
Some rabbanim actually turn to Relief for guidance on the separation of their roles. They want to know when they can and should handle a situation on their own with their mispallelim and at what point they should refer them to a professional.
Babad says that one rosh yeshiva advised his student, “You need to see someone who the letters after his name doesn’t spell ‘shlita.’”
A Necessary Extpense
It’s no secret. Therapy is expensive. Especially once a therapist gets a name out, they can charge a pretty penny for each session. For someone who needs multiple sessions or more, the price tag adds up fast. What if they can’t afford that money? Are there chessed organizations that help with funding for therapy?
Babad reveals that there is no organization that covers the cost of therapy across the board. The reason for this is simply that it can become a bottomless pit. No organization can afford such an undertaking. He recalls a certain organization that once approached them and offered to cover the costs for anyone in their community who required the aid. Well, it didn’t take very long before they came back. “We had no idea you are getting this many calls from our community,” they said. The load was simply too much for them to handle.
That being said, there are organizations that help specific niches, for example, Keren Ezer Lanefesh, which helps bachurim and girls. If Relief is aware of an organization which will help the specific individual they are in touch with, they will refer them there, if they qualify.
A lot depends on the relationship between the therapist and the patient.
Perhaps in the “olden days” people were better at handling life. They sweated it out, with a stiff upper lip, and moved on. They stayed in marriages that seemed functional but were not perfect. Growing up in a more sheltered, insulated environment, our generation may have less stamina to deal with challenges that come our way. In this vein, Babad says that parents and educators need to teach children how to cope with life and not fall apart from every knock that comes their way. This is a crucial life skill.
As therapy is expensive, it’s good to know when a patient can move on from their therapist. Relief follows up with their patients to see whether or not they’re making enough progress and what should be the path forward. Additionally, Relief refers people to therapists who are in demand. These practitioners are happy to have their clients leave them once they are on the mend. They are grateful that their clients were able to heal from their challenges and are looking forward to helping others who may be suffering.
Health & F tness
Keeping Kids Healthy in Sleepaway Camps
By Aliza Beer MS, RD, CDN
Summer is here, and many kids are heading off to sleepaway camp. It’s an exciting time where they can develop independence, make new friends, and enjoy various activities. Camp will afford them more freedom with their food choices, so it’s important to help them maintain healthy eating habits and stay active. This article will cover ways to ensure your kids live a healthy lifestyle during their time at camp.
Balanced Meals
Camps typically offer structured meal plans designed to provide balanced nutrition for all campers. These meals give your child the energy they need, help maintain a healthy weight, and keep them feeling satisfied. However, with an abundance of not so healthy food options available, it’s important to guide kids in making nutritious choices during their meals. One effective way to do this is by creating a healthy plate
with your child, showcasing the nutritious foods they can enjoy at camp. Here are some tips to help your kids choose a variety of foods from all food groups:
1. Fruits and Vegetables: Fruits and vegetables are rich in essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which are important for their health. Encourage kids to fill half their plate with vegetables at every meal and select fruit for dessert or snacks. This can be done by challenging your child to create the most colorful plate and veggie art by designing faces on plates using fruits and vegetables.
2. Healthy Carbohydrates : Whenever possible, encourage your child to choose whole grain options over refined grains. These include whole wheat bread, brown rice, oatmeal, and whole grain pasta. For example, your child can use whole wheat bread for hamburger buns instead of regular buns.
3. Lean Proteins: Protein is essential for growth, muscle repair, and
overall health. Your child should include at least one protein at each meal. Examples of good sources of protein are chicken, turkey, beans, lentils, and fish.
4. Dairy : Dairy products provide calcium, vitamin D, and other essential nutrients that support bone health. Vitamin D and calcium can be found in Greek yogurt and low-fat milk which can be eaten at breakfast. For kids who are lactose intolerant or allergic to dairy, options like soy milk, almond milk, or lactose-free milk can provide similar nutritional benefits.
Here are a few examples of healthy meal ideas your child can follow in camp:
1. Breakfast
a) Many camps offer sugary cereals like Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Fruit Loops. Instead, pack your child whole grain, high-fiber cereal or oatmeal packets. If available, adding fruit to the cereal or oatmeal can make breakfast more filling.
b) If the camp offers low-fat yogurt or eggs, these are great options. Your child can mix fruit into the yogurt and enjoy the eggs with whole grain toast. c) If your child wants to indulge in less healthy options like waffles or pancakes, they should limit this to just a few times a week. If they do indulge, they should be mindful of their food choices for the rest of the day and aim to keep them balanced.
2. Lunch
a) Lunch can be the trickiest meal for eating healthy at camp, as typical offerings include pasta, pizza, grilled cheese, lasagna, and fried fish. However, there are strategies to make healthier choices.
i. Encourage your child to fill their plate with vegetables from the salad bar, if available. For protein, they can opt for tuna, hard-boiled eggs, or low-fat mozzarella cheese.
ii. If the options are primarily unhealthy, allow your child to have a small portion of one of the unhealthier items. If there is no salad bar or vegetables available, ask the kitchen staff for a plate of cut-up vegetables for the camper’s table.
iii. If the camp lacks these healthy options, your child can bring packets of tuna and canned vegetables like string beans, baby corn, and hearts of palm from home. Brown rice cakes can be a substitute for whole-grain bread.
3. Dinner
a) Dinner usually includes a protein option, and most times regular grilled or baked chicken is available for gluten-free campers. Your child should aim to fill their plate with protein, vegetables, and whole grains or healthy carbs like sweet potatoes.
b) Hot dogs are very unhealthy and should be limited to once a week. French fries should be limited to 1-2 times a week.
At the end of the day, tell your child not to stress about the food options at camp. They should make the best choice from the available options, and remember that their time in camp is temporary.
Some kids may be reluctant to try new healthy foods. If this happens, encourage your child to explore new foods offered at camp. Camps often introduce foods that kids may not typically eat at home, providing an opportunity for them to be adventurous with their choices. Here are some ways you can promote this:
1. Starting at Home: Try to bring in a new fruit, vegetable, protein, or other food option into your home every other week. This can help with exposing them to new foods, making it less daunting to try new foods at camp. Introduce new foods gradually and in small portions. Encourage your child to take just a bite or two to start with. This reduces pressure and allows them to become familiar with the taste and texture over time. When your child is at camp, they will be more comfortable trying new foods.
2. Lead by Example: Show excitement for trying new foods yourself. When children see adults enjoying and appreciating different foods, they are more likely to follow. They will remember the excitement of trying new foods, which can motivate them to do so at camp.
3. Be Patient: Understand that it
may take several exposures to a new food before a child develops a taste for it. Before camp, continue to offer opportunities to try different foods. This can help make them more comfortable to try new foods when they are at camp.
Healthy Snacks
Some camps allow children to bring snacks to keep in their bunk. If permitted, encourage healthier choices such as fresh or freeze-dried fruits, nuts (if
may not be interested in everything offered. Here are a few ways to promote participation:
1. Highlight the Benefits: Emphasize the importance of staying active for their physical health and overall well-being.
2. Set a Positive Example: Be excited about physical activity yourself. When children see adults enjoying sports and outdoor activities, they are more likely to follow suit.
Remind them that while occasional treats can be enjoyable, focusing on nutritious snacks will help maintain their energy levels and overall well-being during their time at camp.
allowed by the camp), popcorn, rice cakes, pretzels, granola bars, or whole grain snacks. Even though kids may still crave less healthy snacks like cookies and candy, it’s crucial to discuss moderation and balance. Remind them that while occasional treats can be enjoyable, focusing on nutritious snacks will help maintain their energy levels and overall well-being during their time at camp. You can allow one less healthy snack to be brought to camp to avoid making them feel restricted. Provide your kids with options within healthy parameters, such as choosing between different types of whole-grain snacks or dried fruit to include in their snack box. This way, they can feel they have more control over their snack choices.
Canteens pose a tremendous challenge for both children and adults alike. Most camps stock their canteens with the usual array of chips, candy, ice cream, and sometimes pizza and fries. Ices will be the best option or low-fat frozen yogurt, if available. Teach your campers that pizza, fries and ice cream should be once or twice weekly indulgences, not daily purchases.
Staying Active
Your child will have the opportunity to participate in various physical activities such as swimming, canoeing, archery, and other sports. While encouraging your child to engage in as many activities as possible is ideal, some kids
ceptable, lack of sleep can have various consequences including mood swings, irritability, reduced energy for activities, increased injury risk, and mental health concerns. Emphasize the importance of sleep and encourage your child to follow the camp’s schedule. To promote quality sleep:
1. Consistent Bedtime: Establish a consistent bedtime for your child to follow most nights. Your child can pick a time they can go to sleep that they can easily stick to.
2. Wind Down Time: Begin the routine 30-60 minutes before bedtime to allow your child to transition from active play to relaxation. This can include quieter activities such as reading, drawing, or listening to calming music.
3. Limit Screen Time: Minimize screen use at least 30-60 minutes before bedtime to avoid disrupting melatonin production
3. Explore Their Interests: Discuss with your child the different activities available at camp. Talk to them about which ones they find most exciting or interesting and encourage them to try new activities they may not have experienced before. Even if they participate for ten minutes in a sport, that is better than not participating at all!
4. Celebrate Achievements: Celebrate your child’s achievements, whether they participated in a new activity or learned a new skill. Positive reinforcement encourages them to keep exploring and growing.
Hydration
Given the increased heat and physical activity at camp, staying hydrated is crucial to prevent dehydration. Encourage your child to drink plenty of water throughout the day and with each meal. Consider packing cases of water, ordering them for the bunks, or providing fun refillable water bottles to promote hydration. Many camps have water stations, so remind your child to refill their water bottle frequently. Encourage water as the primary beverage and discourage sugary drinks.
Getting Enough Sleep
Adequate sleep is essential for your child’s energy and overall health. Camps typically have scheduled lights-out times to ensure kids get enough rest. While occasional late nights are ac -
4. Create Comfortable Environment: Since controlling the sleep environment at camp can be challenging, ensure your child is prepared for nighttime comfort. Pack ear plugs and eye masks to block out noise and light and consider a clip-on fan if air conditioning is unavailable. Provide comfortable bedding suitable for varying temperatures, such as a heavier blanket for cooler nights and a lighter one for warmer evenings.
Sending your child to sleepaway camp is an exciting milestone for independence and adventure. With the different food options available, it’s important to guide them towards making healthy choices. Camps provide balanced meals that support energy levels and overall satisfaction. Encouraging kids to eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and dairy helps ensure they get the nutrients they need. While camps may also offer less healthy snacks, teaching moderation is key. Alongside nutritious meals, encouraging participation in camp activities, staying hydrated, and establishing a relaxing bedtime routine are essential for their well-being at camp.
Aliza Beer is a registered dietitian with a master’s degree in nutrition. She has a private practice in Cedarhurst, NY. Patients’ success has been featured on the Dr. Oz show. Aliza can be reached at alizabeer@gmail. com, and you can follow her on Instagram at @alizabeer
Note:
Yael, 6
Lev Dalfin, 19mo
Lily K., 8
Leora Hochstadter
Moshe F., 9
Miri Gross, 10
S,C, 7
Dovi Richter, 5
Ovadia M., 7
Bracha, 6
Nechamy, 6
Tova, 3
Nati Coleman, 5
B.D. Salazar Ariella Marizan, 3
In The K tchen
Fried Rice Cakes
By Naomi Nachman
Enjoy a delicious yet unfussy supper of mouthwatering fried rice and perfectly cooked jammy eggs. Thank you to Chef Dini Klein who shared this recipe with me on Kosher.com. We had a blast making this together on the set of my show. It is a great way
Ingredients
◦ 2 cups prepared rice or any other leftover grain
◦ 3 eggs
◦ 2 tablespoons all-purpose, or whole wheat flour
◦ ½ teaspoon kosher salt
◦ ¼ teaspoon pepper
◦ ½ teaspoon garlic powder
◦ ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
◦ Canola oil for frying
◦ Optional add ins: ½ cup freshly chopped herbs or finely chopped roasted vegetables For Assembling
◦ Jammy eggs (recipe follows)
◦ Store-bought kimchi
◦ Chopped scallions
◦ Chili flakes
◦ Shredded nori (or furikake seasoning)
to use up leftover parve rice.
Preparation
Prepare the Jammy Eggs
1. Fill a medium pot halfway with water and add a big pinch of salt. Bring to a boil.
2. Carefully lower in the eggs and boil for exactly seven minutes, if you like your egg jammy yet slightly runny. (Go for nine minutes if you like it fully hard-boiled but still creamy.) Immediately remove from the water and plunge into the ice-water bath. Let cool for three to four minutes before peeling.
Prepare the Rice Cakes
1. Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl until combined.
2. Heat one to two tablespoons of oil in a large non-stick frying pan and scoop 1/4-cup-sized cakes.
3. Flatten with a spatula and fry until golden on both sides, three to four minutes per side. Remove to a plate and continue with remaining rice cakes.
To Serve
1. Top each rice cake with some store-bought kimchi and a jammy egg and finish with scallions, chili flakes, and finely cut nori flakes or furikake seasoning.
Naomi Nachman, the owner of The Aussie Gourmet, caters weekly and Shabbat/ Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighboring communities, with a specialty in Pesach catering. Naomi is a contributing editor to this paper and also produces and hosts her own weekly radio show on the Nachum Segal Network stream called “A Table for Two with Naomi Nachman.” Naomi gives cooking presentations for organizations and private groups throughout the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area. In addition, Naomi has been a guest host on the QVC TV network and has been featured in cookbooks, magazines as well as other media covering topics related to cuisine preparation and personal chefs. To obtain additional recipes, join The Aussie Gourmet on Facebook or visit Naomi’s blog. Naomi can be reached through her website, www.theaussiegourmet.com or at (516) 295-9669.
