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THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
AUGUST 13, 2020
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This initiative is sponsored by Mr. & Mrs. Bruce and Lois Kauffman in loving memory of Mr. Philip Kauffman, ע׳׳ה, and Mrs. Rosalie Zwagil, ע׳׳ה.
This Rosh Hashana start the new year with a Mitzvah.
Train to Blow Shofar!
Learn how to perform this special mitzvah and help hundreds by blowing shofar in our community.* We are excited to offer Shofar Blowing Training with Rabbi Juravel and Rabbi Weiskopf who will provide step-by-step instructions.
If interested, please email your contact information to info@chesedfund.com asap.
This year, there will be various outdoor locations throughout our neighborhoods to hear shofar blowing. Limited number of trainees accepted. Must be over the age of 18. New shofars to be provided to trainees for them to keep after Rosh Hashanah. *More details on shofar blowing locations to follow.
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Weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, Sheva Brachot, Shabbat, etc. in our newly renovated and expanded Ballroom & Event Center!
AUGUST 13, 2020
LIMITED TIME OFFER
$
3500 The package includes: Two separate rooms for the Bride & Groom (small meeting rooms or guestrooms)
One private Yichud room for the Bride & Groom to break the fast after the ceremony One overnight guestroom for the Bride & Groom Banquet Tables, Banquet Chairs, Buffet Tables, Dance Floor, Stage Risers
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
Host your Simcha
KOSHER AMENITIES Kosher Caterer of Your Choice! | Sabbath Locks Hand Washing Stations | Retractable Skylight Davening Room with Sefer Torah, Siddurim, & Chumashim And Much More...
Machitza & Chupah and runner for ceremony
50% CAPACITY = 330
Bridal Throne Wine for Ceremony Use of the Ballroom & event spaces for up to twelve hours Two Hotel attendants during your event
Our regular capacity of 660 has been reduced to be safely-spaced in accordance with CDC Guidelines. Includes space for the Dance Floor, Stage, & Chuppah!
(to coordinate with your Caterer throughout the day)
Special rates for your overnight hotel guests! And More!
1726 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville, MD | 410.415.6268 | Events@KosherDoubleTreeBaltimore.com | KosherDoubleTreeBaltimore.com
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Display Tables for place cards, gifts, cake
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CONTENTS COMMUNITY Around the Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
AUGUST 13, 2020
Community Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Zvi Teichman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
PEOPLE 613 Seconds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
HUMOR & ENTERTAINMENT Centerfold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Notable Quotes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
FEATURE The People of Israel Before the Land of Israel. . . . 44
LIFESTYLES My Israel Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 World Builders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Health and Fitness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Dating Dialogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Mental Health Corner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Political Crossfire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Gluten Free Recipe Column. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Your Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Dear readers, It’s counterintuitive: We are not permitted by the Torah to allow our animals to do work for us on Shabbos, yet if our one-year-old turns the light on, we don’t have to stop them. The same thing regarding damages to another person’s property: There are many cases for which we are responsible if our property, including pets, destroys someone else’s property, but we are not obligated to pay if our children did the damage. The reasoning is simple. We don’t own our children. True, our animal didn’t ask before it caused financial loss to someone, but it’s our property, so we are responsible. Children, on the other hand, are independent of us. If they hurt someone, it’s between them and the person whom they’ve harmed. Indeed, while they are exempt of paying damages as a child, those who are stringent should pay for losses they caused others when young. This attitude is very helpful in educating our children: They are independent of us, and we were entrusted by Hashem to nurture and raise them in a safe, positive Yiddishe environment. Trusting too much in the strong bond we feel with our children can lead us in the opposite direction, making us feel that our children are our extension. This misunderstanding can make it a challenge to correctly use our bond to raise them in a healthy environment. Back in the ’60s, someone asked the Lubavitcher Rebbe for practical advice in not hitting his son when the child disobeyed (this wasn’t as socially unacceptable as it is today). The Rebbe suggested he view the child as if he were someone else’s but given to him and his wife to raise in the way of Torah and Mitzvos. Realizing all this makes it easier to give proper attention to each child’s specific physical and emotional needs. It also helps prevent us from viewing them as an extension of ourselves, which can lead to unwarranted disappointment. When they grow up—just like we did—and have opinions of their own, it won’t take us by surprise. Indeed, the opposite will be the true; we can experience true nachas of watching the sapling grow into a tree. May it be a successful school year for all our children, for truly it is they who will ultimately bring the redemption to pass, ushering in a time of light and joy. Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos, Shalom
Life Coach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
NEWS B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 National. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 That’s Odd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
The Baltimore Jewish Home is an independent bi-weekly newspaper. All opinions expressed by the journalists, contributors and/or advertisers printed and/or quoted herein are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME, their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, Internet or another medium. The Baltimore Jewish Home is not responsible for typographical errors, or for the kashrus of any product or business advertised within. The BJH contains words of Torah. Please treat accordingly.
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B L I T Z C R E AT I O N S . C O M
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Around the Community
Arugas Habosem Commemorates 13th Yahrtzeit and Legacy of HaRav Amrom Taub, zt”l
B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
AUGUST 13, 2020
By: Margie Pensak
T
o this day, the Brider Rebbe, Rav Shaye Taub, shlit”a, has the crate marked ‘Rabbiner Taub—Chicago’ that belonged to his Czechoslovakianborn father, Rav Amrom Taub, z”l. After the war, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) had planned for Rav Amrom, who earned semicha at 18 and became a dayan in the shtetl of Slatfina, to be a Rav in St. Louis when he came to America. He was supposed to travel on to St. Louis from Chicago, however, his loyalty and dedication to the Satmar Rebbe, Reb Yoel Teitelbaum, zt”l, who insisted that he settle in Baltimore, brought him to our community instead; it meant losing the HIAS stipend. In 1951, Rav Amrom settled in Baltimore and became the founding Rav of Khal Arugas Habosem. On Monday, July 20, the kehilla commemorated Rav Amrom’s 13th yahrzeit – 28th of Tamuz – and the opening of its newly remodeled shul with a Kevias Mezuzos celebration. It was attended by Rabbonim and dignitaries -- Rabbi Heinemann, Rabbi Berger, Rabbi Eichenstein, Rabbi Weiss, Baltimore City Councilman Yitzy Schleifer (whose family donated a mezuzah), and builder Mr. Howard Brown, among others. The “crown jewel” of Arugas Habosum is its new mikveh, the fruition of the dream of Rav Amrom who made mikveh his mission even before moving to Baltimore. It replaces the 40-year-old one that deteriorated from heavy use. After Rav Amrom’s death, the Taubs found the plans for the new shul that he built
which included a new mikvah -- for reasons unknown, that part of the plan never materialized. Rav Shaye notes how fitting a tribute the Kevias Mezuzos was for his father’s memory: “In Kriah Shema, the first parsha begins with the pasuk, ‘V’ahavta’, which is Kabalas Ol Malchus Shamayim and the second parsha which begins with ‘V’haya, im shamoa’im shamoa’ is kabalas ol mitzvos. There are three things that are mentioned in both parshas, but the order changes. The first parsha says teach your children, and then mentions the mitzvos of tefillin and mezuzah – in that order. The second parsha first mentions tefillin and then teach your children and lastly mezuzah. It is brought down that the reason for that is because we wouldn’t know how to be m’kayim the mitzvos of tefillin and mezuzah properly without Torah shel baal peh, which is the mesorah that we received. Similarly, we wouldn’t know how to teach our children without Torah shel baal peh. People remember my father for the Torah shel baal peh – the mesorah that he brought over from Europe that he steadfastly held onto here in Baltimore, as well. The way he brought up his family was the mesorah that he was mekabel from his parents. To be m’kayim Kevias Hamezuzos, which also can only be properly affixed with Torah shel baal peh, it is a very appropriate way of memorializing my father, z”l -- all the mitzvos that he was mikayim had to be consistent with the mesorah that he was mekabel from his parents. To make sure that the mitzvah is fulfilled properly, it has to be done with the mesorah. It is, therefore, very
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appropriate that the Kevias Hamezuzos took place on the day of my father’s yahrtzeit for the beis medresh and the mikveh, which to him was very, very chashuv.” Rav Amram’s love and dedication
for mikveh is illustrated in this story that Rav Shaye heard from his father: ‘One frosty winter day we were forced to build airplane hangars near a river, when one of the beams fell into the river. A Nazi guard announced that he is looking for a volunteer to bring the beam back or he would force somebody to do it. The water was freezing and going into the water was a survival risk, as was not following the guard’s orders. I wasn’t sure if I would survive, but I decided to jump in the river. I reasoned that even if I did not survive, at least I would have toiveled myself and return my neshama with tehara. Before I jumped into the river, I was mispallel to Hashem that if I survived, wherever I lived I would establish a mikveh for everyone to use.’ Rav Amrom is, perhaps, best remembered for his inimitable talent of connecting to each and every Jew regardless of how different they were from him. Before kiruv was in style, he reached out to people. He wasn’t out to change them; he accepted them as they were, embracing them with his warmth. When he came to Baltimore, he was one of just a couple shtreimel wearers in town, but he got along well with the Litvishe crowd and did not push his philosophy on them. In return, the city gave him respect and honor. It was the Satmar Rebbe who also encouraged Rav Amrom to establish and head a Yiddish-speaking cheder, Shearis Hapleita—now known as Torah Institute. The small group of chassidim who settled in Baltimore introduced a European chasidishe flavor to the Baltimore Jewish community and enhanced Baltimore’s Yiddishkeit. The Rav instituted the baking of matzah on erev Pesach, with water drawn from a well. Seventy years after Rav Amrom instituted this practice, it still lives on as being the only erev Pesach matza baking in town. As Rebbetzin Malka Fayga Taub concludes, “My father-in-law‘s mesiras nefesh during the war was a promise to the Ribono shel Olam that, if he survives, this is going to be his goal. In each location he was in, he built a shul and a mikveh. That was his goal—tahara, kedusha and avodas hakodesh.” May Rav Amrom Taub’s neshama have an aliya and may his memory be an inspiration to all.
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Around the Community
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AUGUST 13, 2020
Gas Explosion Destroys Three Local Homes By: Staff Reporter BaltimoreJewishLife.com/Jeff Cohn
R
escuers early Tuesday morning pulled a second victim, an adult male, from the rubble after Monday’s deadly gas explosion in northwest Baltimore. Seven people remain hospitalized, five of them in critical condition, fire department spokeswoman Blair Adams said. Adams said nearly 30 residents made use of a temporary shelter. Nearly 200 were affected by the blast. “Right now we are working on a recovery effort,” Adams said. “This was a really tough time for the community, for the residents of this neighborhood and the fire department.” Emergency management officials are working to remove debris and ensure homes are structurally sound. Residents may be able to go into their homes to retrieve belongings later Tuesday. Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young hailed the outpouring of support from businesses and neighbors for those affected.
“I don’t know how to describe it because its something I’ve never ever witnessed in my lifetime,” Young said. City Council President Brandon M. Scott also wanted to draw attention to the heroic efforts seen Monday. “We hear a lot about Baltimore and about the negatives of Baltimore, but in this tragedy like we had yesterday you saw the true spirit of Baltimore. You saw people rushing to save their neighbors,” Scott said. “And you saw an entire city, really an entire region come around those people yesterday.” Adams said there are no reports of anyone still missing. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation. Baltimore Gas and Electric crews inspected the Labyrinth Road gas main and canvassed surrounding buildings but found no leaks. The neighborhood’s gas infrastructure dates to the early 1960s and no gas odors were reported in the area prior to the blast. The most recent inspection of gas services there took place in June and July of last year and did not detect any leaks.
Maryland State Fair Is Canceled For 2020 By: Staff Reporter BaltimoreJewishLife.com/Jeff Cohn
O
ne component of the fair will still be happening but not open to the public. Youth and open class exhibitors from Maryland will be allowed to show their animals in livestock shows following all proper protocols, enabling the Maryland State Fair to fulfill its mission to showcase Maryland Agriculture and provide education about the state’s agriculture industry. (Maryland GovPics) While the state fair is canceled, Maryland officials said an exception is being made for one part of the event. TIMONIUM, MD — The Maryland State Fair will not go on this year. Organizers announced the decision Wednesday afternoon, around three weeks before the annual event was set to go on. More than 500,000 people annually attend the fair, which this year was supposed to run from Aug. 27 to Sept. 7. “Today, it is with heavy hearts that the Board of Directors, management and staff of the Maryland State Fair & Agricultural Society Inc. announce the decision to cancel the 139th Maryland State Fair,” Maryland State Fair Board Chairman Gerry L. Brewster said in a statement. The only other time the fair has been canceled was during World War II when the U.S. Army was using the property, according to organizers.
News of the cancellation comes five months after the state’s first coronavirus cases were reported and a week after Gov. Larry Hogan said 21 percent of people who contracted the virus reported participating in outdoor events. As of Wednesday, state health data showed more than 92,000 Marylanders have contracted the infection since March. “We have diligently tracked information, trends and options for dealing with these unprecedented public health issues,” Maryland State Fair General Manager Andy Cashman said in a statement. “This decision was not made lightly.” One component of the fair will still be happening but not open to the public. Youth and open class exhibitors from Maryland will be allowed to show their animals in livestock shows following all proper protocols, enabling the Maryland State Fair to fulfill its mission to showcase Maryland Agriculture and provide education about the state’s agriculture industry. “We understand that our faithful annual attendees will be disappointed,” Maryland State Fair President Donna Myers said in a statement. “We are disappointed too, but know that this decision is in the best interest and health of our vendors, exhibitors, staff and our over half a million visitors.” Already the Maryland State Fair Board organizers say they are planning the “Best 12 Days of Summer” for next year, which is slated for Aug. 26 to Sept. 6, 2021.
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anytime on youtube. There is also an 8 minute Daf review. Join your fellow Baltimoreans and Jews worldwide each day, all learning Torah together. There will also be a siyum for Mesechtas Shabbos, on zoom, Sunday August 16th, 8:00 p.m. Israel time (1:00 p.m. Baltimore time). There is no time like the present. Start today. You’ll be happy you did. www.mercazdafyomi.com
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Around the Community
Biker Cholim 7th Annual Men’s Bike-a-thon
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THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
AUGUST 13, 2020
By Rochelle Goldberg
A
ll teams arrived promptly to the PeoplesBank fields at Reisterstown Regional Park, ready to partake in the slow pitch league. In a year of uncertainty-we knew we could count on you! And you didn’t disappoint! Over 150,000 dollars raised by 140 cyclists, 50 junior fund-raisers-in-training, who raised over 10,000, and generous sponsors for Baltimore Bikur Cholim. When we planned our event, it was BC, before corona, and when corona hit, we scrambled to give you, our dedicated cyclists a plan and a challenge. And thus, the WEEKS CHALLENGE was created. We challenged you to ride 50 miles each week, or 25 miles each week, or 10 miles each week, or take a personal option. You surpassed our wildest expectations with James Vernov cycling close to 5,000 miles in the ten-week period, followed by Moshe Smith at 1,000, and Yitzchak Kimelfeld at 900 miles. Then we challenged our junior kid riders to have relatives sponsor them for any exercise that they maintained for at least three times a week. Again, the kids took off in amazing fashion with Rosie Cohen collecting over 2,000 dollars, followed by Shoshana Ifrah at 1,029, and her sister Devorah Ifrah at 950 dollars. The kids earned prizes for their efforts: 7 Mile Slushies, Sprinkles Ice Cream, Tov Pizza, Dougies Dinner Specials, and Akiva Milrod won 50 dollars to the Seforim Nook, and Michalie Sinaie winning a Hoverboard! We are grateful that we were able to have our beautiful ride on the day of our event, this past Sunday, August 9. At our new venue, Ateres Elka, our 50 milers started the day at 8 am and enjoyed the magnificent new scenic routes devised by our own Coach Noam Shiman. The 25 milers left at 8:45, and finally the 10 milers were off at 10 am. Each group was led by experienced ride marshals: Dovid Cynamon, Shlomo Caplan, AJ Gordon, Gary Bauman, Shaya Lerner and Shmuly Abramson. The cyclist met and overlapped on these wonderful scenic new routes
side with friends in the fresh air and do something wonderful for the k’lal.
and enjoyed respite at the rest stops manned by: Yaakov Cohen and sons, Akiva Goldberg, Yosef Feigenbaum and Shua Portnoy. Sag wagons were directed by Nos Bitman, Yechiel Levin, Noam Shiman, and Asher Wildman. All the cyclists met back at Ateres Elka where they crossed the finish line and enjoyed refreshing ices and cold drinks. Each rider was given a delicious catered meal by the one and only Yaffa and wife, Shula, who always live up to their impeccable reputation. We all missed the family fun event, but were grateful that in these challenging times we were able to get out-
The Men’s Biker Cholim could not have happened without the efforts of this dedicated and talented committee: Yaakov Berkowitz, Tzvi Feigenbaum, Akiva Goldberg, Rochelle Goldberg, Yitzy Goldberg, Mordechai Gottlieb, Shloime Grunhut, Bonnie Pollak, Eliezer Portnoy, Pinchos Rabinowitz, Liz Rothstein, and Noam Shiman. The Junior Biker Cholim event is chaired by Mindy Benyowitz, Pearl Rosensaft, and Aliza Tender. We pray that you and your family remain healthy during these challenging times. Remember that you are not alone. Bikur Cholim is here for whatever you may need. Bikur Cholim of Baltimore has over 450 volunteers. Bikur Cholim distributes over 8,000 meals to 8 dif-
ferent hospitals, delivers more than 3,000 meals to people’s homes, services patients and families from more than 40 different cities and countries, provides over 3,000 rides to medical appointments and Shabbos and Yom Tov situations, visits over 6,000 patients in hospitals, homes and facilities and provides patient advocacy services over 15 times a week. Come ride with us and be part of the team that helps so many. The money you raise supports these vital community services: • Patient Advocacy • Kosher meals to patients/ families in the hospital and home • Transportation to medical appointments and hospitals • Transportation on Shabbos and Yom Tov • Visitation in area hospitals • Housing in the community • Free-loan medical equipment • Medical referrals • Kosher Hospitality Rooms in four local hospitals • Accommodations near area hospitals for Shabbos/Yom Tov • Community and volunteer education Bikur Cholim thanks all of you for making this another successful year, and we look forward to seeing you all next year in a more stable climate. Wishing you all a Kisiva Vichasima Tova.
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Around the Community
The JCSL by “Shimz Cars” season nears the “Premier Financial” Post-Season AUGUST 13, 2020
ly trying his darndest to subdue an LBSI lineup that motored 12 runs home before the 7th inning stretch. LBSI went toe to toe however, and when the dust settled, the teams found themselves tied heading into the final frame on a sweltering morning.
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
W
ith only one game remaining in the regular season, the post-season picture is beginning to come into focus. But a number of teams can still bring home the coveted, “Premier Financial” Trophy. As of this article, the league standings are as follows:
With strong contact by wily veteran Bernie Kozlovsky sparking a late rally, LBSI willed one more man across the plate, and displayed shutdown defense in the bottom of the ninth to take home the W.
Team
Won
Lost
Tied
GB
LBSI
5
1
0
--
Levin & Gann
4
2
0
1.0
The Kitchen Spot
4
2
0
1.0
Donny Ankri Architects
2
2
2
2.0
Seven Seas took on Donny Ankri Architecture in the 3rd game of the season.
Fired Up Promotions
2
3
1
2.5
Even without their star SS Aryeh Walter, Seven Seas got up early with a 4-0 lead. Unfortunately for them, the lead didn’t last long with the consistent base hitting by the Ankri Architecture team.
Kaylah Diamonds Stutman Chiropractic Seven Seas Sushi
2
3
1
2.5
2
4
0
3.0
0
4
2
4.0
B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
Read the remainder of this article from some of the highlights from the past few weeks. (Thank you to Yosef Chaim Weil for the photography that accompanies this article.) Week 3
LBSI Levin and Gan
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LBSI took on Levin & Gann in a Week 3 matchup between two teams fighting for a spot atop the standings. True to form, both lineups impressed with double digit totals as they battled into the late innings. L&G ace Yaakov Rappaport was all over the diamond, pitching, managing, pinch running, and general-
Donny Ankri Architects Seven Seas Sushi
Week 5
Donny Ankri Architects Stutman Chiropractic
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The Architects took a big lead after 6, ultimately going up by 5. Meanwhile, Seven Seas couldn’t get it together offensively, going 3 up 3 down in both the 7th and 8th innings. However, they managed to get their field in order shutting down the Architects’ bats. It came down to the 9th inning for the winless Seven Seas team. The first 2 batters led off with outs. Miraculously, a rally started when 5 for 5 hitter Eliezer Portnoy got his 6th consecutive base hit, (leading 7 seas in batting average for the day). That allowed Seven Seas to pull off a 5-run rally and tie up the game. The Architects were unable to score in the last half and the game ended in a tie.
Fired Up Promotions Kalyah Diamonds
The second inning was the same for The Kitchen Spot, scoring 3 runs and taking a 6-2 lead going into the third. Hochman led off the third with a line drive to the gap for a home run. After some back and forth scoring and good defense from both sides, The Kitchen Spot would take this game 14-6.
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Looking for their first win of the season, Fired Up Promotions came out swinging against Kaylah Diamonds. Scoring 5 in the first and 1 in the second, Fired Up took an early 6-0 lead. But the “Diamond Dealers” would not back down and with the heat bearing down on both teams,
it became a grind out type of affair. Fired Up added an insurance run to make it 9-7 in the top of the 9th. Kaylah came to bat in the bottom of the 9th and loaded the bases with nobody out. Adam Ben-Zev’s ground out made it 9-8 and down only a run, things did not look good for Fired Up. Kaylah Diamonds once again loaded the bases and with 2 outs, All Star Ari Ohsie came to the plate looking to walk it off. Fired Up’s defensive captain, David Flamm, moved a couple outfielders around and in what would be a prophetic move, Ohsie absolutely smoked the ball to right field. It looked like all might be lost for Fired Up until OF Aitan Lewis channeled his inner Aaron Hicks and made a game (and possibly season saving catch) to end the game. Week 4
The Kitchen Spot Fired Up Promotions
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Coming off scoring 25 runs the previous week, The Kitchen Spot wasted no time getting on the board, scoring 3 in the first with RBIs from Moshe Goldberger, Shulie Hochman and Dan Gutman. Fired Up came back with 2 of their own while stranding a man on second and third to end the inning.
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The Architects got off to another hot start with 9 runs in the first 2 innings. Architect’s Howie Friedman continued to pitch great giving up 1 walk in the game. He also contributed with 4 RBIs. Offering a web-gem of his own, captain Donny Ankri jumped high for a leaping catch at shortstop that resulted in a double-play. The Architect’s got an insurance run late when Eli Newman hit a monster double to center. The Chiropractors played well, led by the Stutman father-son duo, but fell short in a fun competitive game. Week 6
Levin and Gann Donny Ankri Architects
5 4
L&G started the scoring with a run in the top of the 2nd. Ankri came back with 2 runs, but it was L&G from there, scoring 4 more over the next 3 innings. Ankri chipped away with 1 more, making the score 5-3 heading into the bottom of the 9th. After L&G failed to score insurance runs in the top of the 9th, despite getting their first 2 runners on, it was Ankri who started the bottom of the 9th with their first 2 runners reaching base. Ankri’s cleanup hitter then popped out for the 1st out. A ground ball to short resulted in out number 2. Their next batter got a single scoring one. It was 1st and 3rd with 2 outs, the score at 5-4. But the next better popped out to RF ending Ankri’s chance at a comeback.
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Yocheved Lieder, LCSW-C What services do you offer? I offer assessments, consultations, and ongoing navigation. My work is driven by what seniors and their families want and need. Depending on the situation, sometimes I meet with families once or twice, at which point they are able to move forward on their own. Other times the situation may require that I work with them long term. Seniors without local family feel secure knowing they have a local advocate and guide. I help by providing clarity and resources to both seniors and their families. What do you mean by navigation? Ongoing navigation means that I coordinate and supervise all the logistics of the care plan, such as caregiver schedules and doctors’ appointments. This enables families to enjoy a relationship without the stress of coordinating services for their loved one. I am also available to monitor seniors and act as a liaison between in-town and out-of-town family members. Who should contact you? Usually I am called by adult children who are feeling stressed by caring for their elderly parents. They may be concerned about their parents’ dementia, falls, frequent hospitalizations, or changes in behavior. Sometimes seniors themselves contact me to help them plan ahead for safe and comfortable aging. What are the most common is-
sues you deal with professionally? The most common question I get is “Is it safe for my parent(s) to live independently?” I assess the situation, determine what can be done to help them safely remain in their home for as long as possible, and help with short-term and long-term planning. What advice do you have for the sandwich generation dealing with the needs of their children and aging parents? We’re so focused on getting through the day, but sometimes it’s important to take a step back, evaluate the situation and see how it can be improved and what can be done to prepare for the future. You don’t have to do this alone, and you don’t have to wait for a crisis to get help! It’s good to plan in advance so you can have peace of mind. How do you give back to the community? Outside of home and work, I am an active volunteer for Bais Yaakov. Bais Yaakov is close to my heart as I am both an alumna and current parent of four Bais Yaakov students. What is the best way to contact ElderCare Leaders? Call 410-340-0594, e-mail eldercareleaders@gmail.com, or check out our website, www.eldercareleaders. biz. It’s been a pleasure talking with you and learning about how you help seniors and their families.
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Tell us a little about yourself. I grew up in Baltimore and was happy to stay here once I got married, since my husband Yaakov was learning in Ner Yisroel. I learned a lot about community service from my parents, Yosey and Sima Goldstein. I earned my bachelor’s in Social Work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2002 and my Master of Social Work with a specialization in Aging from the University of Maryland, Baltimore in 2003. Ever since then, I have worked with seniors and their families, first at Jewish Community Services and then at Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) of Maryland. I am a member of the Aging Life Care Association and the Maryland Senior Resource Network. What made you decide to become a social worker and specifically focus on working with seniors? My inspiration for social work came from Miriam Turk, the social
worker in Camp Sternberg, where my family went each summer. She explained to me how social workers help people problem solve at all stages of life, which appealed to me because I like working with people. Choosing to work with seniors was the natural next step because I had enjoyed interacting with seniors since I was a teenager. When I was in middle school I organized a group of girls to visit the Jewish Convalescent Nursing Home on Sundays. My friends and I would also take Shabbos afternoon walks to Milford Manor to visit the residents there. What is ElderCare Leaders and why did you decide to start it? ElderCare Leaders is a geriatric care management practice whose goal is to help seniors and their families navigate the challenges of aging. Aging is a normal part of life, but many seniors and their families feel overwhelmed by the decisions they need to make. Just as parents can take parenting classes or consult with mentors for advice on raising their children, people need guidance when taking care of aging loved ones. As a licensed clinical social worker, I have the unique skill set and understanding of the aging process to help seniors and their families plan for their care in a safe and dignified manner. I am also knowledgeable about local resources and support services for seniors and their families.
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The Week In News
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, z”l
Rabbi Adin Even Yisrael Steinsaltz, world-famous Talmudist, religious leader, and writer, passed away on Friday at the age of 83. Steinsaltz had been battling a slew of different ailments ever since suffering a stroke in 2016. He was buried shortly before Shabbat on Har Hazeisim in Jerusalem. Born in 1937 to a secular communist family in Jerusalem, Rabbi Steinsaltz became frum while in high
school and became Chabad. Later, he went on to become a noted educator and social critic, authoring more than 60 books on an assortment of different topics. Rabbi Steinsaltz is famous for becoming Israel’s youngest-ever principal at the age of 24 and later founded the Religious Zionist Makor Hayim high school along with the first yeshiva in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. However, his lifetime work was indisputably the 41-volume translation of the Talmud into modern Hebrew, a project that he dedicated four decades to before completing it in 2010. The feat made him a household name in yeshivot across the world and led Time magazine to crown him “a once in a lifetime scholar.” Rabbi Steinsaltz later said that he began the effort to translate the Jewish text from its original Aramaic into easy-to-read Hebrew in order to make it more accessible to the Jewish people. He had received immense opposition from the charedi world for bucking tradition, with the late Rabbi Elazar Shach, zt”l, banning his work
completely. However, his translation was endorsed by other leading scholars of the day, including Reb Moshe Feinstein, Hacham Ovadiah Yosef, and the Grand Rebbe of Gur. Despite the pushback, Rabbi Steinsaltz maintained that budding Torah scholars wasted years attempting to simply read the Talmud instead of understanding what it said. “My translation not only doesn’t reduce the Gemara, but rather in a certain sense it allows for greater in-depth [study] and advancement,” Rabbi Steinsaltz told the Israeli Yediot Aharonot daily in 2010. “In the end, my explanations primarily try to resolve the technical problems: the language difficulties, the associative problems, the problems that stem from the fact that the Talmud is not an organized text with a gradual build-up… Unfortunately, many times the traditional [method of] study dedicates so much time to overcoming the technical problems that, in practice, there is not much time left for in-depth and innovative [study].” Rabbi Steinsaltz was awarded the Israel Prize, Israel’s highest civilian
honor, in 2012 for his efforts, along with the President’s Medal the same year and was designated a “Yakir Yerushalayim” in 2017.
Infamous Terrorist Nabbed
The Shin Bet internal security agency announced that it had arrested the terrorist responsible for killing Major Eliraz Peretz a decade ago on the Gaza border. The Shin Bet had arrested Abdullah Daghmah, 38, in July after he tried to enter Israel at the Erez Crossing in order to donate bone marrow to his brother. During the interrogation, he
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revealed that he was the ringleader of the attack that killed Peretz and his radioman, St.-Sgt. Ilan Sviatkovsky, in 2010. Besides taking part in the shooting itself, Daghmah recruited the other two members of the cell on behalf of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. “In addition to his involvement in this attack, the investigation found that Abdallah [Daghmah] also served in a command position in the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades organization, was involved in terrorist activities against IDF soldiers, and served as an operative of the organization until his arrest,” the Shin Bet said. Daghmah was indicted on Sunday on two counts of first degree murder along with charges of operating a terror group and being a member of an illegal organization. During his interrogation, he was kept under house arrest and was allowed to donate marrow to his brother who was hospitalized in Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commended the agency for tracking down the person responsible for the infamous attack. “All those who seek to harm us should know that even as the years pass, the State of Israel will not let up until we settle the score with terrorists,” he said. Peretz and Sviatkovsky served in the Golani Brigade and were dispatched to the Gaza Border fence on March 26, 2010 after spotters witnessed a terror cell planting explosives on a road used by IDF vehicles. Upon their arrival, the two were hit by a fusillade of enemy fire and were killed instantly after a bullet hit a grenade in Peretz’s vest. Peretz was the second member of his family to be killed in combat; his brother, Uriel, fell during a firefight in Lebanon in 1998. Eliraz had begged his mother to sign a waiver permitting him to serve in combat after the IDF barred him from serving in a frontline unit due to Uriel’s death. Peretz’s mother, Miriam, later wrote a bestselling book in which she described how she coped with losing her two oldest sons in battle. She won the Israel Prize, the country’s highest honor, in 2018 and is a popular public speaker. “The Shin Bet will continue to work tirelessly to maintain the security of Israeli citizens against terror and to bring to justice those involved
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in terrorist activities, even many years after the attack,” the Shin Bet announced.
Charedim to Leave if New Elections
Senior officials in the charedi Shas and UTJ parties informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week that they would end their longstanding alliance with him should he decide on new elections. Shas and UTJ have been part of virtually every Netanyahu government since he was first elected in 1996 to Israel’s top job. Other than 18 months lasting from 2013 to 2014, the two parties have been Netanyahu’s strongest allies and are a bedrock of the governing coalition that has made him Israel’s longest serving premier. All this may be a thing of the past, though, should Netanyahu continue his quest to dissolve the national unity government in favor of new elections. In a series of briefings to a number of media outlets, the parties said that they were not prepared to drag the country into another divisive round of elections amid the coronavirus outbreak and a devastating economic crisis. “The option of finally breaking apart the right-wing bloc is closer than ever,” a senior UTJ official told the Walla news site. “It will leave Likud and Netanyahu alone on the path to elections. “Netanyahu will understand that he’s going for such a move without our support,” he continued “We won’t back up this step, taken without justification.” Later on Sunday, another charedi lawmaker made similar remarks to Arutz Sheva. “We went to the mat for him again and again and again, over three election campaigns. Whenever he needed us, we were there. More signatures, more bloc discussions, more point-
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less meetings – everything to ensure he won,â€? he said. “Now he’s repaying us poorly for our favors by seeking to break everything up due to political considerations.â€? Only two months since Israel’s first government in a year and a half was sworn in, Netanyahu is publicly toying with the idea of sending the country to its fourth election since 2018. According to Israeli law, the Knesset would automatically dissolve itself if the coalition doesn’t pass a budget by August 25, only two weeks away. When hammering out the coalition agreement in April, Netanyahu and Kahol Lavan head Benny Gantz agreed to pass a two-year budget. Netanyahu has since gone back on the promise, contending that it would be irresponsible to pass such a funding bill for such an extensive period of time during a time of economic uncertainty. However, Netanyahu’s claims are widely viewed as nothing more than a ploy to send the country to elections and prevent him from having to vacate his position to Gantz next year. According to an agreement signed by Netanyahu and Gantz, the latter would automatically become prime minister until election day in the event that the government collapses save for an instance where the Knesset fails to pass a budget. New elections would also be particularly damaging to the charedi community, whose yeshivot and other institutions are going through an unprecedented fiscal crisis. With no budget since 2018, dozens of educational institutions are nearing collapse. The charedi parties have put passing a new budget as their highest priority.Â
Demolition of Terrorist’s Home Halted Weekly column of recent episodes by Tehillim Kollel
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Israel’s High Court of Justice banned the IDF from demolishing the home of the terrorist responsible for killing IDF soldier Amit Ben Yigal in May. In the ruling on Monday, the High Court of Justice overturned the demolition order for the home belonging to terrorist Nazmi Abu Bakr. The 46-year-old Jenin native had been arrested in June for murdering Golani commando Amit Ben Yigal by dropping a cinderblock on his head during an arrest a month earlier. In a 2-1 decision, Justices Meni Mazuz and George Kara ruled that destroying Abu Bakr’s home “entails a serious violation of a number of basic rights, including a violation of property and a violation of human dignity and a number of rights derived from human dignity.� Israel frequently destroys the homes belonging to terrorists as a deterrent measure and had issued a demolition order last month to Abu Bakr’s family. However, a slew of radical left-wing organizations petitioned the High Court claiming that the policy of home demolitions infringed on the human rights of the terrorist’s family members. The High Court ruling was greeted with anger and incredulity, with a number of prominent politicians accusing the justices of interfering with Israel’s security. Likud lawmaker Avi Dichter, a former head of the Shin Bet security service, said that the court had “dropped a boulder from above on the forces working to fight terrorism.� Yemina MK Matan Kahane added, “It seems that the High Court has decided to systematically dismantle Israeli deterrence and award a prize to terrorism.� Kahane, a former fighter pilot, added that “the High Court’s decision to protect the home of a terrorist, the killer of an IDF soldier, is an inconceivable scandal.� Ben Yigal, an only child who served in the Golani Brigade’s elite commando battalion, was killed on May 12 after being hit by a heavy cinderblock during an arrest in Yabed. He was evacuated to the hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival. The Shin Bet launched a massive manhunt for the perpetrator of the attack following his death, cordoning off Yabed and detaining hundreds of Palestinians for questioning. Ben Yigal’s death comes after Duvdevan
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commando Ronen Lubarski was killed after being hit by a slab of marble dropped on his head during an operation in Ramallah in 2018.
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The thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate that led to last week’s devastating explosion in Beirut was being stockpiled by Hezbollah to be used against Israel. According to Israel’s Channel 13, Hezbollah had been stockpiling ammonium nitrate to manufacture rockets meant to be used in the next round of hostiles with Israel. The highly explosive substance had been stored in such a sensitive location in the hope that Israel would be deterred from bombing important civilian infrastructure such as the Beirut port. “The material that exploded in the port is not new to Nasrallah and Hezbollah,” said the report, which went on to list the numerous times Hezbollah operatives have been caught using the ammonium nitrate against Israeli targets. In one instance, a Mossad tipoff led to UK police arresting a Hezbollah cell in London with three tons of ammonium nitrate. In another case, German federal agents rounded up a group of Hezbollah commandos who had enough of the substance “to blow up a city.” Ammonium nitrate was also found in a Hezbollah weapons lab uncovered in Cyprus in 2015 following another Mossad tip. “That’s what Nasrallah intended to do in Europe,” noted the report. “Regarding what was stored in Beirut port, the assessment is Nasrallah intended to use it in the Third Lebanon War.” Hezbollah has come under heavy criticism since the blast, with hundreds of thousands of Lebanese taking
to the streets to blame it for the country’s worst civilian disaster. Numerous reports attributed the blast to a Hezbollah weapons warehouse; the terror militia is said to control the area of the port that detonated. In his first public appearance since the blast, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah denied that his organization had anything to do with the disaster. In his address on Friday, Nasrallah contended that “we have never had any ammonium nitrate, not in the past and not in the present,” adding that “we know more about the Haifa port than the Beirut port.” “We talk about resistance, we are thinking of a strategy of defending Lebanon, we did not intervene in Lebanese affairs,” said Nasrallah.
UAE Reunites Jewish Family
The United Arab Emirates, a country which does not officially recognize Israel’s right to exist, arranged for a charedi family to be reunited after 15 years apart. The Yemenite Jewish family had not seen each other for 15 years until the UAE arranged for the family members in Yemen and London to be flown to the Gulf State. Pictures of the event show a large charedi family surrounded by a collection of children and an elderly woman in a wheelchair. “My soul felt reborn the moment we were reunited,” said one family member. “We never imagined we would reunite again after all these long, grim years,” added another. “We lived alone in exile in London without family and siblings. I was lost.” The report did not mention why the family was separated and what role, exactly, the UAE played in reuniting them. The gesture was seen as part of Abu Dhabi’s efforts to establish ties with Israel by reaching out to world Jewry. “It was nothing short of a miracle
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The Week In News and the realization of an impossible dream,” said the family. “We thank the UAE for their great support in arranging the reunion. This is an example of the UAE’s humanitarian approach, as well as of its noble values of tolerance and coexistence.”
Ears Will be OK
If you were concerned that your ears would become a bit too protruded after wearing a face mask for so long, have no fear. A group of Israeli plastic surgeons have come out to assure the public that wearing masks will not cause any permanent change to a person’s ear, even though there may be some physical, short-term discomfort.
According to the doctors, the ear canal stops developing at age six and therefore there is no reason for “its structure to change following the pressure of a rubber band or lanyard.” In Israel, residents are required to wear masks in public areas. Those flouting the law can face a fine of up to NIS 500. There is no requirement to wear a mask with ear straps; a bandana or scarf is still considered OK. Even so, wearing a mask for long periods may not be healthy. In an article published by Technocracy News, Dr. Russell Blaylock wrote that the side effects from prolonged wearing of a face mask “can vary from headaches to increased airway resistance, carbon dioxide accumulation and hypoxia, all the way to serious life-threatening complications.” The side effects vary depending on whether they are cloth or paper surgical masks or N95 respirator masks, because the N95, being a more effective filter, also limits breathing to a greater degree, and is therefore more commonly associated with headaches, he reported.
Trump Bans TikTok
President Donald Trump issued two executive orders over the weekend effectively banning the use of the popular social media apps TikTok and WeChat throughout the United States. The order came a week after Trump announced that he would outlaw TikTok due to concerns that the Chinese-owned video app was a conduit for a Beijing spying operation.
Owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok currently has an estimated 80 million users in the U.S. and is the fastest growing app in the world. The pair of executive orders Trump signed on Friday outlaws any transaction with TikTok, WeChat, and any other app developed by ByteDance for 45 days. The order means that Apple and Google would be prohibited from listing TikTok on their mobile apps store without running afoul of the ban. The ban would likely not apply should TikTok be bought by a non-Chinese firm. ByeDance is said to be in talks to sell parts or all of TikTok to Microsoft. Upon announcing the ban, Trump said that apps such as TikTok that are owned by Chinese firms “threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” He pledged to further crackdown on Chinese spying. The order maintains that the Chinese firms are exploiting the app’s popularity to illegally collect user data and transfer it to Beijing’s ruling Communist Party. “The spread in the United States
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The Week In News
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BE CO FIDENT N YOUR FU URE.
of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” read the executive order. “At this time, action must be taken to address the threat posed by one mobile application in particular, TikTok.” The order added that the two apps “capture vast swaths of information from its users,” noting that “this data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.” Trump also alleged that the data collected by TikTok was being used to blackmail U.S. government employees and carry out corporate espionage. TikTok denied the allegations and threatened to pursue legal action against the U.S. following the twin executive orders. In a statement, TikTok vowed to “pursue all remedies available” to “ensure the rule of law is not discarded.”
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On Monday, just hours after Chicago was shattered by riots, members of the Black Lives Matter movement in the city held a rally in front of the police station is support of the morethan-100 people who had been arrested during the looting and rioting the night before. At least 13 police officers had been injured in the melee, and there was at least $60 million in property damage. “I don’t care if someone decides to loot a Gucci or a Macy’s or a Nike store, because that makes sure that person eats,” said Ariel Atkins, a BLM organizer, according to NBC Chicago. “That makes sure that person has clothes. “That is reparations,” Atkins added. “Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance.” Police had been pursuing a man, Latrell Allen, with a gun in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago on Sunday afternoon. The 20-year-old then “turned and fired shots” at officers. He was then shot and was taken
to a local hospital. A video posted on Facebook falsely claimed that police shot and killed a 15-year-old boy. Riots then ensued. Hundreds of people descended on downtown Chicago with vandals smashing the windows of dozens of businesses and making off with merchandise, cash machines and anything else they could carry. “This was not an organized protest. Rather, this was an incident of pure criminality,” Police Superintendent David Brown said. “This was an act of violence against our police officers and against our city.” Black Lives Matter Chicago issued a statement, saying, “The mayor clearly has not learned anything since May, and she would be wise to understand that the people will keep rising up until the [Chicago Police Department] is abolished and our Black communities are fully invested in.”
A Tiff between Trump and Adelson? President Donald Trump may be on the outs with mega donor Sheldon Adelson. According to reports, a recent phone call between America’s top elected official and the casino mogul dissolved into shouts over Adelson’s declining financial support for Trump. Adelson has given Trump tens of millions of dollars in donations in recent years and is one of the biggest donors to the Republican Party. Yet, in a recent phone call between the two, Trump pressed him why he had stopped giving to his reelection effort, leading to raised voices between both men. Adelson had wanted to speak about the coronavirus bill that would help his casino business, which has been devastated by the pandemic. But Trump repeatedly asked why Adelson wasn’t doing more to keep him in power, apparently unaware how much the billionaire had helped him in the past. After the phone call ended, Trump’s aides rushed to smooth things over between Adelson and Trump. Adelson has given the Trump cam-
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The Week In News paign at least $10 million in the past but is now suffering from significant financial problems due to losses from the coronavirus. Last week, Adelson’s Las Vegas USA disclosed that it had lost over $1 billion since January as the coronavirus shuttered casinos all around the world.
China Sanctions U.S. Lawmakers China slapped sanctions on 11 U.S. lawmakers, the latest twist in an escalating tit-for-tat fight between the two countries. Those sanctioned included U.S. Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley and Pat Toomey along with Representative Chris Smith and four individuals working for anti-China NGO’s. The move comes after the US blacklisted 11 officials in Hong Kong for their role in enabling China to effectively take over the territory. “In response to that wrong U.S. behavior, China has decided to impose sanctions on individuals who have behaved egregiously on Hong Kong-related issues,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. Beijing’s sanctions expropriate any assets owned by the aforementioned lawmakers and ban them from doing business and from conducting business in China. Since none of the U.S. officials own any property in China and Hong Kong, the sanctions are largely seen as symbolic. Cruz, Rubio, and Smith were al-
ready been sanctioned by Beijing in July for their role in highlighting China’s campaign against the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. Last Friday, the U.S. Treasury unveiled new sanctions against Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and the territory’s current and former police commissioners. The move came in response to the arrest of a senior Hong Kong media figure who opposed China’s tightening control over the city.
Touring Antarctica
Cat-tirement It was the purr-fect job for him. This week, though, it was announced that Palmerston will be retiring from his post as “Chief Mouser” at the UK’s Foreign Officer’s headquarters in London. The famous feline is going to “spend more time relaxing away from the limelight.”
Want to visit an exotic locale on your next trip? Luckily for you, Qantas is about to restart one of its most interesting flights: a 12-hour journey where passengers are whisked from Australia and then back again, spending about four hours flying over Antarctica. During the trip, voyagers will be able to view the least-visited continent during the south pole’s summer
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daylight months – between November and February. Penguins, seals, and whales are bound to be on display. Interestingly, because the pandemic has grounded international flights in Australia, the Qantas flights are considered domestic flights since they start and end in the same place. The Boeing 787 is the plane that will be making the journey and it’s known for its large windows, enabling passengers to catch rare views. Looking to book your next midwinter adventure? Tickets start at $1,199 AUD (about $860 USD) for economy seats and $6,499 AUD ($4,650 USD) for business class. But you can’t put a price on the experience.
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Palmerston definitely deserves time off. He arrived at the office as a rescue in 2016 and quickly became famous for catching mice and appearing in photos with visiting diplomats. He also made headlines for clashes with Larry, the cat charged with catching mice for the prime minister at 10 Downing Street. “Although I am ending my formal role here,” the letter announcing Palmerston’s retirement said. “I will always be an ambassador for the U.K. and the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.” “We’ll all miss him paw-fully, but wish him a purr-fect retirement,” the Foreign Office tweeted in response. And they’re not kidd-en.
Swimming with the Fishes James Savage almost puts Michael Phelps to shame. The 13-year-old swimmer is the youngest person to swim across California’s Lake Tahoe. He completed the 12-mile swim to the Godfather mansion in six hours and 59 minutes. Savage, who started swimming competitively at the age of 5, said the “Godfather” swim was the second part of his plan to complete what’s known as the “Tahoe Triple Crown.” He made the first swim in the series, the 10.5-mile Vikingsholm Swim from Cave Rock to Emerald Bay, in 2019. His sights are now set on the 21.3mile length swim. Savage would be the youngest person to complete the Tahoe Triple Crown, a title currently held by a 15-year-old swimmer. Savage’s Facebook page aptly notes that he “dehydrates if left out of water too long.” He has been swimming since he was five-years-old. Back then, his older brother was on the recreation club swim team in Los Banos, California. Savage’s mom asked the five-year-old if he’d like to join too. His answer was no. But his mother persisted, and Savage agreed – only saying that he wouldn’t swim the backstroke or butterfly. Famous last words: Savage ended up trying both those strokes and eventually broke the country record for both of them. Four months later, he joined the Junior Olympics. When he was eight, Savage decided to head for choppier waters. He set his mind on swimming from Alcatraz to San Francisco. “When he said he wanted to do open-water, I freaked out, I’ll be honest,” Jillian Savage, his mom, said. “When your 8-year-old says, ‘I want to swim from Alcatraz,’ how many people say, ‘Yes’?” “I like open water more because you get to explore more places,” James Savage said. “You can explore other pools but all pools are pretty much the same – it’s a blue line you’re looking at at the bottom – but open water you get to explore places like Tahoe and other different kinds of clear waters and oceans.”
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Sunday Av 19
Av 26
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Elul 10
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N’SHEI Agudath Israel Summer Lecture Series Rabbi Tzvi Mordechai Feldheim
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Tuesday Av 21
Av 28
Elul 5
Yesh Tikvah InfertiliTEA 8:15pm - 9:15pm @ ZOOM
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8
Elul 19
Elul 6
Av 29
Av 22
Wednesday
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19
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Elul 20 WIT Elul Shiur via Zoom 10am - 11:15am
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Elul 1
7:44 PM
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Elul 23
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8:34 PM
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Av/Elul 5780
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Elul 7
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13
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N’SHEI Agudath Israel D-1 9 WITS / MAALOT Alumnae COVID Plasma Drive @ Shomrei Emunah Summer Lecture Series Shiur 8:30pm - 9:30pm C OV I Reservation Required Mrs. Naomi Frankel 11am - 5pm E TO D DU Next DULE BJH SCHE Issue EN RE Elul 13 Elul 11 V E Elul 14 Elul 15 1 B E Elul 12 2 3 4 5 TS HA
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N’SHEI Agudath Israel Summer Lecture Series Rabbi Simcha Cook
EVEN
Elul 17
WIT Elul Shiur via Zoom 10am - 11:15am
7:02 PM
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Torah Thought
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A Fire In Your Belly By Rabbi Zvi Teichman
שמור- Safeguard ושמעת- and listen..., Moshe exhorts the people.
warrant our children being blessed with goodness?
The order seems incorrect. Shouldn’t one first hear specifically what it is that they must preserve and then afterward protect it?
Rashi teaches that ‘safeguarding’ here refers to absorbing the laws — לשמרה בבטנך, to guard it in your ‘belly’.
... — למען ייטבin order that it be well with you and your children after you forever...
Wouldn’t the mind be a better repository for the preservation of knowledge, rather than one’s innards?
Clearly the verse is revealing that in the merit of carefully preserving and adhering to the words of G-d, one will be assured children worthy of G-d’s benevolence.
The beloved grandson of the saintly Baal Shem Tov, Reb Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudlikov, in his seminal work, Degel Machaneh Ephraim, suggests that the word used for preserving, שמור, has an alternative meaning that is being implied here.
Yet the very next words in the verse seem to offer an alternate reason.
Doing what is good and right, we are being instructed, is the guarantee for our children being well. But didn’t it previously just state that it was the safeguarding of Hashem’s words that
Often this word intimates waiting with enthused anticipation. When Yaakov heard about the dreams of Yosef and how it stirred resentment within his brothers, the Torah reports that Yaakov - שמר- was waiting and looking forward in expectation to the day when the dreams would be fulfilled. )(רש"י בראשית לז יא The Maggid of Sudlikov teaches
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that when the word of G-d is so treasured that one waits with bated breath to grab at every morsel of inspiration, it is assured that it will be heeded and preserved. Perhaps the idea of the Torah being ‘guarded in one’s belly’ refers to an eagerness to absorb the will of G-d, that is as intense as the hunger one experiences when craving for food. Es geit em in boich arein! One’s ‘innards’ figuratively turn over with anticipated excitement. There is a fire in the belly! The Torah is not simply promising the reward of one’s children’s welfare in merit of this allegiance. It is the natural consequence. If one lives one’s life visibly eager and physically moved when imbibing the enthused message of Torah, the Torah then becomes naturally fused within him and thus finds expression in the progeny that are a projection of one’s spiritual DNA. The last verse that refers to the doing of that which is ‘good and right’, the Ramban explains, alludes to going — — לפנים משורת הדיןbeyond the call of duty in one’s observance, expanding one’s performance of mitzvos that are not governed by black and white halacha, yet is clearly a fulfillment of the broader ‘will’ of Hashem. The Torah here is not offering a new reason for one’s children’s success, but rather displaying evidence to the fact that this individual is clearly one who pines and yearns to hear the ‘voice of G-d’, as is apparent in one’s eagerness to implement His will in matters that go beyond the exact detail of the laws. (Based on an essay in the sefer, די באר, authored by Rav Dovid Yitzchok Mann) The Maggid quotes from his holy grandfather, the famous teaching regarding the statement in Avos that reveals there is a Bas Kol, a heavenly voice, that emanates every day from Mount Sinai, proclaiming: “Woe to them, to the people, because of the insult to the Torah!” (6 2)
What purpose, the great Baal Shem Tov queries, is there to a voice going out that no one can hear? In truth, he says, these soundwaves are sensed by our souls, it is often these forces that arouse a sudden urge to repent within our hearts, that often propels people towards genuine Teshuva, repentance. But, too often it wanes as quickly as it arrives. Those, however, who live with a sense of ''שמור, eager anticipation, are assured ושמעת, to hear loud and clear the heavenly voice that warmly invites us back into His embrace. Talented writer of HaModia fame, and old family friend, Reb Mordechai Schiller, retells a touching story he heard from his son. My son Meir told me something he witnessed one Rosh Hashanah in the Mirrer Yeshiva in Yerushalayim. After the davening, a bachur who was deaf walked over to the baal toke’a. Meir said, “He walked with shtoltz” — a sense of confidence and determination. Then he asked to please blow the shofar again. And, as the baal toke’a got the shofar in place, the deaf bachur leaned over and put his ear right into the opening of the shofar — to catch the sounds. We blow the Shofar from the onset of Elul. The Tur says this corresponds to Moshe’s ascent on the first of Elul, upon Mount Sinai to receive the Second Luchos, accompanied by the sound of the Shofar. It is the heavenly voice from Mount Sinai that never ceased that we seek to hear once again. It is there waiting for us to earnestly yearn to hear it. What area of our observance stirs up our passion with a ‘fire burning in our belly’? If we hunger for His closeness, then even our erstwhile ‘deaf’ ears will joyously hear the resounding call of our loving Father in Heaven beckoning us to return home.
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PHOTO BY GEDALIAH BORVICK
Great News for Overseas Buyers
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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
By Gedaliah Borvick Project near Jerusalem’s Haas Promenade
L
ast week, the Knesset approved a number of bills to counter the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. One of these bills was a reduction in the purchase tax for investors to help stimulate the construction industry. The term “investors” includes Israelis buying a second – or non-primary – home as well as overseas purchasers. The previous purchase tax rate for investors and overseas buyers was 8% for the first 5,300,000 NIS
and then 10% for the balance. The new, lower rate starts at 5% for the first 1,292,280 NIS, and then rises to 6% for the portion of the purchase price up to 3,876,835 NIS, 7% up to 5,338,290 NIS, 8% up to 17,794,305 NIS, and 10% above that. Let’s say an overseas buyer purchases an apartment for $500,000. Using a dollar/shekel exchange rate of 3.40, the tax would be approximately $26,200, a savings of $13,800 compared to the previous 8% tax rate. If
the purchase price is $1,000,000, the purchase tax would be approximately $56,200, a savings of $23,800. The new tax cut reverses recent trends. Back in 2013, then-finance minister Yair Lapid raised the purchase tax rate for investors from 3.5% to 5%, and the upward movement continued in 2015 when his successor, Moshe Kahlon, raised the rate to 8%. Kahlon’s stated goal for raising taxes on investment properties was to make them a less attractive investment option. Such actions are called “demand-side” reform because they address the issue of demand: by reducing investor demand, the government hoped to limit price increases, thereby helping young
a loss of 10,000 home sales annually, of which 4,000 would have been purchases of new apartments, reflecting a hefty 10% of the construction industry’s annual sales. This sales decline made it challenging for the developers to advance their new projects, as banks only provide construction financing after 15% of the project has been sold. Another effect was indirect but significant: investors often buy existing homes, and their absence from the second-hand market due to the increased tax forced many apartment owners to retain their homes and not upgrade to larger homes, putting a damper on the construction industry. Now that the purchase tax is lower, the expected sales increase
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The new tax cut reverses recent trends
families to have affordable housing opportunities. On the “supply-side” of the equation, Kahlon instituted a number of programs to increase the number of new housing units entering the market, including making more government land available for development by aggressively rezoning land to residential usage, and streamlining the planning and approval process to expedite development. Kahlon’s “supply-side” goal was achieved, as more land has become available for development, but the “demand-side” tax increase was not a success. The goal of lowering the percentage of investment homes was achieved, as the investors’ share of the residential real estate market fell from 25% to 13%. This translated into
should reinvigorate the industry. Another positive effect of the new tax break is the benefit to the rental market, in which demand greatly outstrips supply. By increasing real estate investments, the supply of rental units will increase, causing rents to decrease. Bottom line: we are jumping for joy that our clients have finally caught a tax break.
Gedaliah Borvick is the founder of My Israel Home (www.myisraelhome.com), a real estate agency focused on helping people from abroad buy and sell homes in Israel. To sign up for his monthly market updates, contact him at gborvick@ gmail.com.
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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
World
Builders
Rescue in a Yarkon Hotel By Raphael Poch
A
few weeks ago, on Tuesday, at 12:30 p.m., United Hatzalah’s Dispatch and Command Center received a phone call regarding a serious injury that had just taken place in a Tel Aviv hotel on HaYarkon Street. The dispatching system automatically alerted the five closest volunteers to the emergency. United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Lior Ashkenazi was one of those volunteers. Upon receiving the alert, Lior ran to his ambucycle, turned the switch, and rushed off to the hotel,
cutting through the busy afternoon traffic and arriving in less than three minutes. He dismounted from his ambucycle, grabbed his medical kit, and rushed inside to the lobby where he was met by the hotel manager. The manager ushered Lior upstairs to the hotel room where the incident had occurred. Lior tried opening the hotel room door but it was locked from the inside. The manager directed Lior to an alternative door from an adjacent room. That door wouldn’t budge ei-
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ther. The determined EMT knew that it was imperative to get inside the room as a life may be dependent on it. He put his shoulder to the door and pushed as hard as he could until he finally managed to move the closet that had been blocking the door, gaining entry to the room. “When I got inside, at first glance, I thought that it was all over. It had looked like a murder scene straight from the TV,” said Lior. “The entire floor was covered with blood. I found
volunteers with United Hatzalah and often does ambulance shifts, arrived and assisted together with a third volunteer, also an ambucycle driver. Together, the three first responders took the sheets and covered the neck wound to stem the hemorrhaging while Lior set up an IV line and began to administer fluids to help raise the man’s blood pressure. They then bandaged the wrist wounds, and Dr. Sagiv administered oxygen. The three volunteers fought to stabilize
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“It seemed impossible to me that he could still be alive.”
a man lying motionless on the hotel bed, and it seemed impossible to me that he could still be alive.” Lior ran over to the patient, moved the blood-soaked quilt, and checked the man’s pulse. He looked at the man’s chest to assess his breathing and surprisingly saw that it was rising and falling. Despite losing a lot of blood, the man still had a heartbeat and was still breathing. Lior saw deep lacerations on the man’s wrists and neck. As there was no one else in the room and the doors had been blocked from the inside, it appeared that the man had attempted to take his own life. Another United Hatzalah volunteer, Dr. Oren Sagiv, a physician who
the man and then transferred him onto a backboard and rushed him out to the ambulance that had just arrived and was waiting to transport the man to the nearest trauma center. “I’m glad that I arrived soon enough to help save the man,” Lior said. “Had I been even a few moments later or had I waited to open the room, the outcome may have been very different. Thankfully, the man is now receiving the physical and psychological care he needs and is on his way to recovery.”
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Health & F tness
AUGUST 13, 2020
Corona Positive Until Proven Otherwise
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By Hylton I. Lightman, MD, DCH (SA), FAAP
B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
M
y lifelong drive to do for people and for my community is one of the reasons I became a physician. But my drive is not just about doing. It’s about doing the right thing and doing it properly. Hence, what I’m about to say may not be popular. Yet winning a popularity contest has never been a goal for me. By saying what I am about to, I am confident that I am doing things correctly which, with G-d’s help, will help and benefit us all. All children returning home from overnight camp should be deemed Corona/Covid-19 positive until proven otherwise. This is strong. This is blunt. It certainly is not sugarcoated. Allow me to explain why and the thinking behind this statement, as well as a “game plan” for moving forward. Too many of our children are returning home from overnight camp Covid-19 positive: even one child returning home Covid-positive is one too many. When returning home, they’ve been meeting their parents at the buses with symptoms of sore throats, fevers, loss of taste, loss of smell, etc. These symptoms do not ring bells but sound alarms. These
myriad of symptoms may have been present before boarding the bus to home sweet home. Parents whisked kids off to pediatricians who tested and confirmed the alarms – Covid-19. There was Covid-19 in camps. But how? Kids were to have been tested to make sure they were Covid-negative prior to boarding the buses to camp. Camps were to have been hermetically sealed, with staff and campers not leaving grounds for any reason whatsoever. I wrote about this not even eight weeks ago. But speculating how the Covid outbreak in camps has happened is not for now. Several parents of Covid-positive kids then notified camps administrators, urging camps to inform all parents pronto (thank G-d for email) that kids had tested positive for Covid-19. As an aside, a colleague told me about a Covid-positive patient who said that after she and her friends did not find the camp nurse particularly helpful when informed of their symptoms, the girls decided to see what it really meant to have no taste sensation. They planned and executed an onion-and-garlic-mustard-sandwich party, laughing while ingesting since
they could not taste a blessed morsel nor smell a thing. Ugh. I’ve wondered how they got the goodies for this party. Remember: camps were to have been hermetically sealed. In the meantime, what about the other kids coming home from camp? As soon as they bounced off the buses, they do what any other kids do when returning from camp. They visit Bubbe and Grandpa. They shop in stores and accompany Mommy on errands. They spend time/hang out with friends. They also attend or work in local day camps. In other words, these kids who unknowingly might have Covid or may be “shedders” are unwittingly and unknowingly spreading Covid within our communities. It is no wonder then that there has been an uptick in the number of corona cases in our neighborhood and extended community. It is an uncomfortable feeling that departments of health are reaching out to our askanim and professionals to discuss this phenomenon. The next waves of kids returning home from camps are about to occur. I believe that camps heretofore mishandled things because of ignorance.
There is no blaming here. We cannot afford discordance or finger pointing. What we need is a plan, one that will identify who is Covid-positive and quarantine them. So this is my vision. Imma or Daddy should reach out to the pediatrician to find out what the pediatric office has planned for Covid testing. Book an appointment for each returning child. Before disembarking from the bus, each child should be handed a mask. Mommy or Abba, who should also be masked, should greet them warmly: a hug is fine as long as the two huggers are masked. Then it’s off to see the pediatrician for the Covid test and physical exam. If there is a time lag waiting for the results, quarantine the child at home. Spoil them. They like Carlos & Gabby’s? Then get it for them. They deserve it. At least for a moment or two. The test results will come back soon enough (albeit not soon enough for your preteens and teens). Why is this (feel free to use the adjective “draconian”) step important? The reality is Covid has never
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to Covid. Who really knows right at this moment in time about physical symptoms and what may develop? But let’s be vigilant: information is knowledge and knowledge is power. In addition to seeing the pediatrician, testing and quarantining until
maya.” Last Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, few of us truly appreciated what it meant to daven b’tzibbur and to be in shul. We need to be in shul this yom tov, to appeal to the Master of all to overturn the decree called Covid-19 that was sealed
The only thing we really know about Covid-19 is how little we really know.
on Yom Kippur last year. Davening the Unesaneh Tokef takes on a special poignancy this year, especially since most of know us know at least someone who experienced and succumbed to some of what Rabbi Amnon of Mainz describes. I, for one, have no desire to dav-
Dr. Hylton I. Lightman is a pediatrician and Medical Director of Total Family Care of the 5 Towns and Rockaway PC. He can be reached at drlightman@totalfamilycaremd.com, on Instagram at Dr.Lightman_ or visit him on Facebook.
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proven Covid-negative, we – meaning the “collective” we of all ages – should return to the standards we exercised in March, April and May of appropriate hand hygiene and washing hands (20 second of rubbing hands together under warm water with antiseptic soap) and sneezing into a sleeved arm (and not hands). Masks in stores and other group situations are a must. During the Spanish Flu of 1918, as people thought the pandemic was waning, the people of Los Angeles flooded the streets maskless, celebrating. Within a few short weeks, they were banished back to quarantining because of the spikes. Yet the people of San Francisco heeded its government’s warnings to continue wearing the masks. The city’s economy reopened as did of the cultural, social and educational institutions, assuming and sustaining a new normalcy far more quickly and with far less drama. My dear readers – Elul Zman is approaching. Many of our children, including my son, are leaving, with G-d’s help, imminently for yeshivas and seminaries in Israel where they will be quarantining and then slowly entering “normal” life there. Our schools need to reopen. Children need proper academics plus the skills of teamwork and socialization that come through our schools’ “hidden curriculum.” We parents need our children to be in school settings. And then there is shul. Most people when returning to davening in minyanim were moved to tears to be able to answer “Amen, yehei shmei raba mevorach l’olam u-l’olmei ol-
en outdoors indefinitely. I enjoy my shtender and makom kavua in shul and daven fervently that none of this is jeopardized for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. I have taken a firm stand and believe that we physicians and parents must be physicians and parents: children are deemed Covid-positive until proven negative. By slowing down and reintegrating the healthy hygiene habits from spring 2020 back into our lives, we have a fighting chance to resume life as we once knew it. A major “reset” button is what this doctor orders. As always, daven.
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gone away. That’s clear. Our efforts at socially distancing in the spring were extraordinary and gleaned good results. But going into Month #6 of the Corona Odyssey is a bummer. The thought of quarantining again is too much to bear, especially with the school year and Yamim Noraiim looming. Besides which, we are a social people and Covid seems to thrive among social beings. But we need to learn from the lessons of spring 2020 in order to squash these cases that arise before they mushroom and spread like wildfire. Many people are counting on the fact that they tested positive for Covid earlier this year and then tested positive for having antibodies. Yet no one really knows the long-term implications of having had Covid and antibodies and possibly suffering through it again. We don’t know the answer (yet) to a fundamental question: If I had Covid and also tested for antibodies, am I not “safe”? The only thing we really know about Covid-19 is how little we really know. This is humbling. So, at a very minimum, please try to exercise some preventative caution. Some quarantining now can thwart bigger problems down the line. There is an additional implication of how little we really know about Covid. Weeks ago, I wrote about PMIS – Pediatric Multi Inflammatory Syndrome. We in the world of pediatric medicine quaked at the thought of missing this syndrome that seemed to be associated with children and Covid. We took it seriously and documented patients who presented with what appeared to be relevant symptoms. We have the beginnings of a database that can be mined to learn more about the little-known Corona and the damages it causes. Hence, I underscore the importance of getting your child to the pediatrician as fast as possible if they return home with any Covidlike symptoms. Your pediatrician should obtain a detailed history and document accordingly, including the physical exam. Please G-d, it should be done ultimately for nothing. However, if your child presents with symptoms weeks or months down the road, they might be connected
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1.
OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
TJH
Centerfold
You gotta be
kidding
A vacationing family sitting around the campfire has the following conversation: Father: What day is it? I am sure it isn’t Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Mother: Well, that’s not very helpful. Besides yesterday was Friday.
Yankel and Mindel bought a fishing boat and started using it at their summer home. Yankel did most of the driving of the boat, but wanted Mindel to learn how to drive the boat. One day, while on the lake, Yankel turned to Mindel and said, “Take the wheel, dear. Pretend that I am sick and you have to get the boat safely to shore and dock it.” Mindel took the wheel and drove the boat to shore and safely docked it.
Father: No, now that I think about it, yesterday wasn’t Friday; tomorrow is Friday. Dave: The day after tomorrow is Thursday. Sarah: You are funny. Tomorrow is Thursday. Mother: Actually, it’s probably Thursday today. Danny: All we know for sure is that it wasn’t Sunday yesterday. If only one statement above is true, what day of the week is it?
Later that evening, Mindel walked into the living room where Yankel was watching television. She sat down next to him, switched the TV channel, and said to him, “Yankel, please go into the kitchen, dear. Pretend that I’m sick and clean the kitchen, cook dinner and wash the dishes.”
1. Monday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 2. Saturday 3. Thursday 4. Tuesday 5. Wednesday 6. Thursday
7. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday The only day mentioned one time is Monday. Therefore, it must be Monday; otherwise one of the other statements would be true.
B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
Riddle me this?
See answer below
Answer to Riddle: Monday. How to get to the answer: Number each statement and write down the list of days that it could be according to each statement.
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The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
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y. Here are some facts August 13 was Left-Hander’s Da u feel that they’re more about lefties that may make yo than just in their “right mind.”
th are “lefties.” Between 10-12% of people on ear
womb, 90% of baUltrasounds show that, in the mb, which corbies appear to favor the right thu owns of right-handers and responds to population breakd left-handers
12. 13.
ily chain of succession Those in the British royal fam th II, Prince Charles, are all lefties – Queen Elizabe rge are all lefties. Prince William and Prince Geo
3.
y left hand indicates According to tradition, an itch y right hand indicates you will lose money. An itch you will receive money.
4. 5.
time of a child’s birth Mothers who are over 40 at the left-handed baby than a are 128% more likely to have a woman in her 20s.
s, right-handed babies When placed on their stomach right. Left-handed babies tend to turn their heads to the left or don’t show any preferusually turn their heads to the ence.
6.
w handedness seem to be Cats, rats, and mice that sho left-pawedness. equally split between right- and
-handedness has been At various times in history, left a sign of neurosis, rebelseen as many things including lion, and criminality. es from the Anglo-Saxon The word left in English com or broken. word lyft, which means weak
9. 10.
mancino, which is deIn Italian, the word for lefty is d” (mancus) and is also rived from “crooked” or “maime est. In Russian, to be called a used to mean deceitful or dishon insult. left-hander (lev ja) is a term of gest a negative view of Cer tain phrases in English sug a “left-handed complileft-handedness. For example,
typed using only the The longest words that can be hand placement are left hand with conventional ades. sweaterdresses and tesseradec
15.
spiral notebooks, beLefties are more likely to loathe to smudge what you cause it’s nearly impossible not current hyper-tech era, notehave just written. (Before the tion which held numerous pabooks were a common contrap a device called a “pen,” which pers together. People would use ide, to write things down.) was a narrow tube with ink ins
16.
with creativity and Left-handedness is associated Rachmaninoff, Michelangelo, musical abilities. Beethoven are among exLeonardo da Vinci, Mozar t and traordinary talented lefties.
17.
-handers are more Studies have suggested that left math, and architectalented in spatial awareness, more talented verbally. ture. Right-handers tend to be
18.
ociated with being Left-handedness is also ass llectuals include smart. Famous left-handed inte , Charles Dar win, Benjamin Albert Einstein, Isaac New ton old Commissioner). Franklin (and the TJH Centerf
19.
you may be more Being left-handed also means ough only a small likely to become president. Alth lefty, five out of the last eight percentage of the population is nts Ford, Reagan, Bush #41, presidents were lefties: Preside Clinton and Obama.
20.
B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
7. 8.
ment” is actually an insult.
vous and Mental DisAccording to the Journal of Ner tible to negative emoease, lefties are more suscep the right side of their brains tions because they engage in c experiment, lefties who were more aggressively. In a scientifi showed more fear. shown a clip from a scary film
14.
por tion of left-handers Researchers believe that the pro out history. has remained constant through
11.
to eat
AUGUST 13, 2020
1. 2.
ple are forbidden In many Islamic countries, peo with their left hand.
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Being A Lefty Is Al-Right
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AUGUST 13, 2020
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The People of Israel Before the Land of Israel Remembering the Resolute Restraint Displayed During the 2005 Disengagement
B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
BY TZVI LEFF
I
t was a hot July day in the southern village of Kfar Maimon in 2005, and the modern State of Israel seemed closer to a civil war than in any other period during its short history. Over 50,000 Israelis – the majority affiliated with the Religious Zionist sector – had converged onto the small moshav in what was a last-ditch effort to scuttle the looming Gaza Disengagement. Led by rabbis and community leaders, they intended to march into the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza and remain in the villages slated for demolition, effectively rendering the imminent pullout impossible. According to the plan, tens of thousands of people would begin marching at dawn, overpowering any opposition and preventing the with-
drawal from happening. This, organizers hoped, would be the nail in the coffin for Sharon’s designs and would keep Gush Katif in Israeli hands forever. Yet Prime Minister Sharon had other plans. After being warned by security forces that it would not be able to pull off the Disengagement if even half of the masses succeeded in reaching the Gush Katif settlements, Sharon ordered the military to stop them by any means possible. On July 19, 2005, the demonstrators awoke to the surreal site. No less than 20,000 IDF soldiers and police officers stood between them and the Gaza border. Armed to the teeth, they were given orders to stop the marchers “by any means possible,” includ-
ing live fire. Tensions swirled; both the military and Religious Zionist leaders refused to back down. All of the drama of the past year seemed to come down to this. One wrong move and Israel would be plunged into civil war. Yet, by late morning, the announcement went out. “Stand down. We’re going home!” Judea and Samaria Council head Pinchas Wallerstein ordered the shocked protesters. While being fully aware that dispersing the rally meant giving up their last chance to prevent the Disengagement, Religious Zionist rabbis and other leaders were resolute. “It’s better to lose than win and have the country fall apart,” asserted
a senior rabbi. “We’re not prepared to win at any price.”
PEOPLE BEFORE LAND A year earlier, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had declared his intention to forcibly expel 9,000 Jews who were living in the 17 villages sprawled throughout Gush Katif in Gaza. At first, the settlers didn’t take his declaration seriously; Israel was at the height of a bloody intifada that killed over 1,500 of its citizens and Sharon had just been reelected on the explicit promise that “there is no difference between Gaza and Tel Aviv.” Throughout his four decades in politics, Sharon had made a name for himself as the strongest proponent for establishing Jewish communities
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in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip; no one could imagine that he would turn his back on them. And yet Sharon was serious; the Disengagement was soon approved by the Knesset and became binding law. Witnessing the heated events at Kfar Maimon was Anat Roth. An academic covering the happenings for the Israeli Democracy Institute, widely considered Israel’s top think tank, Roth held strong left-wing views and had previously worked for Ehud Barak and the anti-settlement movement Peace Now. Yet what she saw in the months leading up to the Disengagement changed her life. “The tension in the air at Kfar Maimon was enormous. You could cut it with a knife,” Roth later recalled to the Yisrael Hayom daily. “I had no doubt that it would erupt sometime, but before my shocked eyes I saw the bruised and humiliated crowd embracing the soldiers and maintaining near-superhuman human restraint.” Served a steady diet of media stories that warned of “fanatical settlers” seeking “a civil war,” Roth had expected to see violent clashes between the marchers and the soldiers. What she witnessed, though, was the complete opposite. Rather than behaving as the incited mob they were publicly portrayed as, Religious Zionist leaders demonstrated responsibility and did everything they could to avoid internecine strife. “This is the first time that I realized that I didn’t understand what was happening. I promised myself that I would crack the riddle,” said Roth. Over the next few months, Roth was granted unprecedented access to the settlers and their campaign to prevent the Disengagement from going forward. Allowed entry to virtually all of the planning sessions involving the Yesha Council and Yeshivat Merkaz Harav head Rabbi Avraham Shapira, she realized that the settlers’ image in the media was baseless. Roth’s experience would change her life. From a secular academic who worked for organizations such as Peace Now, Roth today is religiously observant and resides in the settlement of Efrat. In 2015, Roth ran for the Knesset as part of the Jewish Home, a Religious Zionist political
party headed by Naftali Bennett, and is a fervent supporter of the settlements today. Anyone attempting to understand Roth’s total ideological transformation would be advised to read her account of the Gaza Disengagement. Titled “Not At Any Price,” it came out in 2014 and is considered the most comprehensive record of the events leading up to the withdrawal in 2005. In the book, Roth details how the settlers’ restraint and sense of leadership avoided plunging the country into civil war.
pressure on the government but we won’t be able to break it,” said Ze’ev Haver. Known as “Zambish,” Haver runs the settler organization Amana and has dedicated almost his entire adult life to building up Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights, and the Gaza Strip. But during the run-up to the Disengagement, he emerged as one of the strongest voices urging restraint and reconciliation. “It’s impossible to save the State of Israel at a price that will defeat the people of Israel and shatter it into
“They decided that the people of Israel were more important than the Land of Israel.” The settler leadership, it turns out, knew that it could not defeat the State of Israel. Some even thought that they shouldn’t attempt to beat it. Despite their vehement opposition to the Gaza Disengagement, they put a premium on keeping tensions in check and avoiding a civil war. Influenced by the writings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook, seen as a founder of Religious Zionism, “they decided that the people of Israel were more important than the Land of Israel.” The time and effort they invested likely prevented bloodshed. Like the mother in the famous argument with King Solomon, they decided that it was better to lose their political battle than to have the State of Israel go up in flames. “We can put tremendous
pieces,” said Haver. “This isn’t victory, but something else...a split.”
CAUTIOUS RESTRAINT The focus on preventing civil war influenced virtually every move the settlers made. When planning a demonstration, hours were spent debating the “rules of engagement’ with Rabbi Avraham Shapira, the dean of the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva and the community’s unquestioned authority on religious law. Shapira’s rulings carried immense weight in the Religious Zionist community – not only was he a close student of the late Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, but hundreds of other rabbis also viewed him as a mentor. He had headed both the rabbinical court of Jerusalem and the Supreme Rabbinic Court and had pre-
viously served as Israel’s Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Time after time, Shapira reiterated his opposition to any violence towards policemen and IDF soldiers at rallies and during the Disengagement itself. His moderate approach often led to raised voices and heated arguments with the more activist members of the opposition, who contended that this refusal to “take off the gloves” ensured that the struggle to prevent the expulsion would fail. Yet the aged rabbi was resolute. While he viewed the withdrawal as a personal tragedy, Shapira forbade any and all kinds of physical insubordination vis-a-vis the forces tasked with dragging Gush Katif residents out of their homes. “There will be no pushing soldiers,” ordered Shapra. “This isn’t the Torah way.” On the day of the Disengagement itself, “forward operating commands” comprised of rabbis from all the different streams of Religious Zionism fanned out across the settlements slated for destruction. Their purpose? Noticing and preventing any signs of violent struggle against IDF soldiers. Over the next week, they would report protesters who demonstrated violent tendencies, assisting police and the military in preventing the traumatic events from spiraling out of control. Roth said that her main takeaway during the Disengagement was the gap between the settlers’ image and the reality: “When I started researching this, I held the common view rife in academia and among the public that the settlers are an extreme, dangerous and violent public, who would be ready to fight for the integrity of the land at all costs. “[But,] as demonstrated in Kfar Maimon – and later also during the days of the evacuation and in Amona – it is a responsible and responsible public.”
SETTING A PRECEDENT? Not everyone shared Roth’s positive sentiments. The media spent the year preceding the Disengagement demonizing the settlers along with the entire Religious Zionist movement as a collection of dangerous fanatics. IDF generals warned that the settlers were liable to open fire on soldiers coming to expel them from their
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cause if it happens a second time then it will happen a third time and then a fourth time until everything is destroyed,” wrote prominent activist Amichai Boaron.
SHATTERED DREAMS The backlash was particularly withering from the Gush Katif evacuees themselves, who were shocked to discover that the government had no plan for them after expelling them from their homes. In the months prior to the Disengagement, government
“People lost not only their homes, jobs and communities, but they also lost a part of their identity.” officials assured them that all their needs would be attended to; the state was said to be building alternative housing while Sharon promised of “a solution for every evacuee.” Yet all of those promises were soon proven false. There was no alternative housing for Gush Katif residents; the best they could hope for were flimsy and dank caravans which had a waiting period lasting years. Contrary to assurances, communities were not kept together; former farmers accustomed to living in large and spacious homes were scattered to dingy motels in remote parts of the country. With their agriculture-based businesses destroyed, many families
B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
weekly synagogue parsha sheets and sectoral newspapers, the rabbis and other leaders were lambasted as “collaborators” who merely paved the way for a similar move elsewhere. The criticism intensified after Prime Minister Sharon, and then Ehud Olmert, pointed to Gush Katif to highlight the ease to which it was possible to uproot Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria as well. Others alleged that ruling out more extreme yet effective tactics prior to the withdrawal was a result of the Yesha Council wanting to maintain a positive image in the eyes of the secular elite. “What happened in Gush Katif cannot happen a second time, be-
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ucation from an early age, and therefore, even in places where leadership was not present, the violence did not erupt.” The policy of restraint epitomized by the leadership’s refusal to resort to more extreme measures came under tremendous attack within the community following the Disengagement. Yesha’s approach was seen as defeatist and at fault for allowing 45 years of pioneering settlement to be easily destroyed within a week by a collection of IDF bulldozers. In
faced financial ruin. The government had provided shipping containers for them to transport their belongings but then promptly lost them. Thousands tracked down their possessions months later in a dilapidated warehouse only to find them ruined by the heat and mishandling. The families were stuck in the decrepit hotels for months, even years. Depression abounded; unemployed fathers could be seen wandering the lobbies at all hours of the day while divorces skyrocketed. Hundreds of children abandoned religion due to the trauma they experienced, while many residents, who were characterized by strong Zionist fervor, felt betrayed by the state and ceased celebrating Independence Day. By 2006, fully two years after the Disengagement, 75% of adults remained without a steady job. Another 65% still lived in temporary housing, and 87% still hadn’t been financially compensated by the government for the value of their now-bulldozed homes. During the same year, the State Comptroller issued a scathing report calling the state’s treatment of the evacuees as a “massive failure” marked by “indifference and criminality.” Their extended suffering and mistreatment led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to appoint an official government-sponsored commission of inquiry to investigate what was behind the string of failures. The findings were stark; the government “failed a failure that is hard to overstate in dealing with the refugees” and consistently refused to take responsibility for their plight. “The evacuees are the salt of the earth. With hard work, sacrifice, talent and blind faith they erected amazing communities in the areas that were evacuated. It is especially because the settlements were a way of life for them, the evacuation was especially traumatic,” summarized the panel. “People lost not only their homes, jobs and communities, but they also lost a part of their identity. “The state has a responsibility toward them in the basic contract that ensures the human rights of every citizen of the state, not to mention citizens who have been turned into refugees in their homeland by the state.”
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homes; the Shin Bet spoke of plans to blow up the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount and of plans to assassinate Sharon himself. As the clock ticked down to the scheduled date of the pullout, prominent settlers were arrested by the Shin Bet and put into administrative detention, a legal remnant of the British Mandate allowing citizens to be jailed without trial. Making the effort to limit the anti-Disengagement activity from spiraling out of control particularly challenging was the plan’s lack of legitimacy among the right-wing public. Sharon had been reelected in 2003 under the explicit promise not to evacuate the Gaza Strip, promising that “the status of (Gaza settlement) Netzarim is the same as the status of Tel Aviv.” After announcing his intention to carry out the withdrawal, Sharon promised to hold a referendum within the Likud party. But after the plan was defeated by a large margin, Sharon reneged on his promise and maintained that the pullout would go on as planned. Finally, Sharon fired government ministers whom he knew would vote against the plan when it came up for a vote, an unprecedented tactic never before used to ensure a majority in the cabinet. As a result of the aforementioned events, the Disengagement was widely viewed as undemocratic among the right-wing public. In addition, the police used extreme levels of violence to break up anti-Disengagement rallies, often arresting and then brutalizing innocent people who had not committed any crime. In the days prior to the rally in Kfar Maimon, police officers confiscated the vehicles of anyone looking religious who was heading in that direction; busses charted by event organizers were seized and prominent activists detained. It was the intensive efforts by the community’s rabbis and other leaders that prevented matters from deteriorating. “Contrary to the public image of the settlers,” said Roth, “the Land of Israel is not the only and supreme value in their worldview. The integrity of the land is indeed sacred value, but so is the integrity of the people and the state. Fixing the state’s failings from the inside is rooted in the Torah ed-
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Notable Quotes
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“Say What?!”
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I was upset that Director Comey didn’t coordinate that with us and acted unilaterally. - Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates telling the Senate Judiciary Committee that when the FBI interviewed then-incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn in January 2017, it was done without her authorization, and that she was upset when she found out about it
Jim Comey has become radioactive. People are running away from him like he’s got the plague. – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) talking about disgraced former FBI director Jim Comey
I literally talk to people all day long who are now in their Hamptons house who also lived here, or in their Hudson Valley house or in their Connecticut weekend house, and I say, “You gotta come back, when are you coming back? We’ll go to dinner, I’ll buy you a drink, come over I’ll cook.”
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– Gov. Cuomo at a press conference acknowledging that New York City is losing lots of tax revenue because wealthy people (who carry 50% of the tax burden) feel chased out
They’re not coming back right now. And you know what else they’re thinking? “If I stay there, I pay a lower income tax,” because they don’t pay the New York City surcharge. - Ibid.
To the point of the folks out in the Hamptons...we don’t make decisions based on a wealthy few. I was troubled to hear this concept.
Money maybe doesn’t buy everything, but if it can buy a very expensive Covid-19 mask, and the guy wants to wear it and walk around and get the attention, he should be happy with that. - Israeli designer Isaac Levy talking to the AP about the $1.5 million mask that he is making for a Chinese businessman, which will have a 18-karat white gold base covered with 3,600 white and black diamonds
No, I haven’t taken a test! Why … would I take a test? C’mon, man! That’s like saying you, before you got on this program, if you take a test where you’re taking cocaine or not, what do you think? Huh? Are you a junkie? - Joe Biden to an African-American interviewer who asked him if he has taken a cognitive test
– New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio responding to Cuomo’s comments
There’s a lot of New Yorkers who are wealthy who are true believers in New York City and will stand and fight with us, and some may be fair-weathered friends, but they will be replaced by others. – Ibid
Unlike the African-American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly diverse attitudes about different things. - Presidential hopeful Joe Biden, during an interview hosted by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists
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It’s hard to fathom, but it has been 36 years since a man and a woman ran together on a Democratic Party ticket. To use Geraldine Ferraro’s favorite expression, “Gimme a break!” – Maureen Dowd, writing in The New York Times last Sunday, evidently forgetting about Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine’s 2016 run
- President Trump tweeting about reports that he sought to have his face added to Mt. Rushmore
We haven’t changed. - Billy Jones, of Savannah, Georgia, who just celebrated his 80th wedding anniversary with his wife Nellie, as well as his 100th birthday, talking about his marriage
Try to do what [G-d] would like for you to do. – Nellie Jones, talking to local TV about how to have a long, prosperous life
- CNN’s Jeremy Diamond
That’s a fair point to make. - CNN anchor Pamela Brown in response
- Brooklyn College Professor of Math Education Laurie Rubel tweeting this week that math should be abolished because it’s racist
It’s certainly the case, and the Woke need to be held firmly to the point, that feats of engineering like space travel and rocketry utterly depend upon accepting stable meanings of mathematical statements like 2+2=4 as objectively true, not mere accidents of culture - Tweet by Math PhD and self-described “woke interpreter” James Lindsay, in response
Fox’s narrative and talk radio’s narrative for months has been that Joe Biden is falling apart. You just heard Ben Shapiro say it, falling apart. And there he is riding a bike, out for a bike ride. And Fox, of all networks, is the one that showed it happen. - Brian Stelter on CNN, after Joe Biden went for a bike ride
I’m sorry, but “Biden rode a bike!” is not a good comeback to “Biden is falling apart.” My son also rides a bike. He is four, and not qualified to be president. – Ben Shapiro tweeting in response
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Pres. Trump] is talking about [accepting his GOP nomination acceptance speech] at the hallowed Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, but that could be controversial too particularly because this is a president who has consistently positions himself as a defender of Confederate symbols and monuments to Confederate generals.
The idea that math (or data) is culturally neutral or in any way objective is a MYTH. I’m ready to move on with that understanding. Who’s coming with me? Along with the “of course math is neutral because 2+2=4” trope and the related (and creepy) “math is pure” and “protect math.” Reeks of white supremacist patriarchy. I’d rather think on nurturing people & protecting the planet (with math in service of them goals).
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Never suggested it although, based on all of the many things accomplished during the first 3 1/2 years, perhaps more than any other Presidency, sounds like a good idea to me!
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AUGUST 13, 2020
50 I don’t care if someone decides to loot a Gucci or a Macy’s or a Nike store, because that makes sure that person eats. That makes sure that person has clothes. - Ariel Atkins, a Chicago BLM organizer, talking to NBC Chicago about criminals looting stores in Chicago after an armed black man who pointed his firearm at police was shot and injured this week
That is reparations. Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance. - Ibid.
You keep living. Dancing makes you feel good. I want to keep my health. - Anna Del Priore, who is turning 108 next month and who survived a bout with Covid-19, talking to the Asbury Park Press about her habit of dancing
They’re not interested in compromise. They’re not interested in [a] dialectic exchange of views. They’re interested in total victory—it’s a substitute for religion.
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- Attorney General William Barr on Fox News, talking about the radical left
Before
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Dating Dialogue
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME AUGUST 13, 2020
What Would You Do If… Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters
Dear Navidaters,
I love reading your column, and I’d like to reach out to you with a thought. I am married, thank G-d, for three years and am very happy b”H. I got married when I was 27 years old so I wasn’t a spring chicken when I met my husband. What I’m noticing, though, is
that many of my friends who are single seem to be quite critical – unnecessarily – of their dates. For example, they’ll complain that he’s not considerate if he’s a few minutes late to pick them up or say that he’s not thoughtful if he doesn’t open the car door for them. As a married woman – and I know I’m no expert – I know that these things are not the imto your needs, understanding, helpful, responsible – I can go on and on. None of these traits, though, are determined by opening or closing car doors. I wish I can shake my single friends and tell them to look out for the important things in life but I feel like they’ll look at me and think that I just don’t “get it.” I do get it – I was in their place only a few years ago and am grateful that I didn’t get hung up on silly minutiae. I’d love to hear your thoughts, Charna Disclaimer: This column is not intended to diagnose or otherwise conclude resolutions to any questions.
Our intention is not to offer any definitive
conclusions to any particular question, rather offer areas of exploration for the author and reader. Due to the nature of the column receiving only a short snapshot of an issue, without the benefit of an actual discussion, the panel’s role is to offer a range of possibilities. We hope to open up meaningful dialogue and individual exploration.
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portant things in a spouse. A husband should be kind, caring, considerate, thoughtful, sensitive
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The Panel The Rebbetzin Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz, M.S. harna, I hear you. There are some aspects of chivalrous behavior that get guys unnecessary bad marks on dates. Some women may disqualify men on the basis of these. Keep in mind that these were marks of breeding, thoughtfulness, and decency that have persisted even though dating is much more casual these days. Many couples wear casual clothing and engage in sports and games during their early dates, and dating rituals are more relaxed than they used to be. Nonetheless, there is a sense that certain chivalrous behaviors such as opening the car door are a must. I agree with you. You are right that these are not necessarily indicators of true thoughtfulness, respect, and kindness, yet their absence can irritate a woman. True thoughtfulness, respect, and the other qualities you mention are easily demonstrable; it takes time and several different shared experiences to notice these qualities. Giving people the benefit of the doubt and taking the time to develop a connection is wise because a meeting of the minds, personalities, and values will open both people up to discern qualities below the surface. It’s hard to detect the strength of positive character traits if you date briefly and your interests, ideas, and aspirations are not explored fully. I join you in wishing that daters would understand this and focus on getting to know the other person over time. This is an investment in time and effort. Unfortunately, many people rate their dates on scorecards they have developed to see if the person meets “what they are looking for.” Compatibility, attraction, and connection take two partners. Rating someone else on your criteria is about one person judging the other – it’s not about creating something together, and that’s what a lifelong marriage is all about: a deep relationship based on respect, values, and caring that takes continued effort to sustain, no matter how compatible the two individuals are. By not taking the time
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and effort to explore the other person fully and being judgmental, men and women shortchange themselves. It takes a real paradigm shift to achieve a two-sided approach to compatibility and connection. Unfortunately, many people are not ready to let go of their own list of requirements which may be superficial and no longer as relevant in their own stage of growth and development.
The Shadchan Michelle Mond hank you, Charna, for bringing this up. In response, I have two stories to share with our readership.
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Story #1) Steven* was a 32-year-old out-oftown lawyer working in Manhattan, burnt out from the dating scene, but when he heard about Perri Goldberg*, he was instantly excited. She was from out of town but resided just a short train ride away from his apartment in the city. Her description sounded spot on. She sounded like the best match he had been suggested to in months. He instantly gave me a “yes” to relay to this woman, and they exchanged phone numbers and planned a date. As the date would be later in the evening, he decided to take her to a local coffee shop. With PTSD from his experience with the last girl he was excited about that went sour, he made conscious efforts to make this time better. On that prior date with a girl named Shira*, he had taken her out to eat on a first date. When Steven excitedly called the shadchan to give a “resounding yes” afterwards, he was met with the shock that the girl had given a “resounding no” to a second date. Why, you may ask? Shira was upset at his utter social incompetence that he took her out to eat on a first date. Shocked and horrified was she. “He’s 32!” she began. “Doesn’t he know by now that it is insensitive to take a girl out to eat on a first date?
The last thing I want is to chew openmouthed while trying to make small talk. It’s a no from me.” The shadchan described the correspondence to him. That is why Steven decided the date with this new woman would be safer at a nice Starbucks. After three hours of wonderful discussions and connection, he was very interested to continue. He called to give me lots of positive feedback. When I called the woman, she had another side to the story. “I’m sorry, but I’m just not interested,” Perri said. When I probed further, she hesitantly revealed more. “I had a long day at work, which he must have known from my resume. When he planned the date for 8 p.m., I assumed it would be a dinner date. Obviously. That’s what any mensch would do. But instead he took me out for coffee. The date was a downer as soon as I
You only get one chance to make a first impression.
realized he hadn’t had the foresight to know he should take me out to dinner. I mean, who doesn’t?” At this point, I did not yet know Steven’s experience with the previous girl, but even so, I tried explaining to her that everyone has different experiences which shape their decisions. Could she give it another shot? Are we really going to judge him on this one thing? Perri was adamant that it was over and added another comment about how he was wearing outdatedstyle shoes. It just was not going to work. It was only when I called him to break the news that he opened up and
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The Single Rena Friedman harna, it’s so hard to stand by and watch people you love do things that you believe are unproductive and self-sabotaging. You are amazing for caring about your friends and wanting to help them with dating. You say that a husband should be “kind, caring, considerate, thoughtful, sensitive to your needs, understanding, helpful, responsible….” Your friends would agree with you. Through dating, those traits are eval-
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the table. The key to a real, healthy relationship is acknowledging those imperfections, expressing what you need, and seeing that person try to improve. Picking on the little things, whatever those may be for you, will only keep this vicious cycle going. It’s scary, but you can do this! As always, all feedback, thoughts, and ideas are welcome: renafriedman2@gmail.com.
The Zaidy Dr. Jeffrey Galler hen I first read your letter, I thought, “This girl should be hired to address yeshiva high school girls about what traits are important in a spouse.” But then, I thought, “No! Wait a minute! A gentleman absolutely should open the car door for his date.” Think about it. Wouldn’t you open the car door, courteously, for someone you respected and was very important to you? For your parents? Or, for your rabbi, or elderly aunt and uncle? Moreover, wouldn’t you make every effort to be on time? If you were scheduled to meet an important person, and were unavoidably detained, wouldn’t you make sure to apologize so as not to seem inconsiderate? Now, this goes both ways: a young lady should not keep her date waiting, and, after being seated in the car, she should politely lean over and open the door latch for her date. There’s a very important adage that should be indelibly engraved in everyone’s mind: you only get one chance to make a first impression. This is especially true on a date, when you’d think that someone would be on their very best behavior. Gentlemen, always open the door for your date. However, be aware that there are some perfectly fine young ladies out there who might feel that when a man opens a door for them it is not an act of chivalry but is, instead, a manifestation of male chauvinism. If so, she will let you know not to do that in the future, and you should subsequently respect her wishes.
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Story #2) Leah’s* mother stopped me in aisle three of the grocery store one day with tears in her eyes. “Please, PLEASE,” she begged. “Think of someone for my Leah!” That night I wracked my brain for three hours straight going through all the ideas I could think of and finally got a yes from a guy named Dov*. The two agreed to go out with each other within a span of a week, and the date was set. Dov had grown up in New York while she was a real out-of-towner. Unbeknownst to Dov, he completely struck out when he did not open the door for her as she initially entered the car. Additionally, since they already were in touch by text, he texted her when he was outside. I got a call from Leah’s mother about ten minutes after the date was supposed to start. “I AM SEETHING!” she began. “What kind of boy texts when he is outside? I mean, my daughter texted him that he should come in, so he did. But to not automatically do that? Does he have no manners? Did he have no chinuch? And I watched them get into the car, and he did not even
uated based on a person’s actions. What those actions mean seems to be where your friends would disagree with you. It may not bother you if a guy shows up late, but perhaps to a friend it sends the message that the guy does not value or respect her time. That could be an important middah that your friend is looking for. Let’s call a spade a spade. The second that ring slid on your finger and that sheitel hit your head, your dating advice went from being helpful to annoying and your credibility exponentially diminished in the eyes of your single friends. Your intentions are positive and that is commendable; however, you no longer are single and you do not fully get it. So what can you actually do? Do not give them unsolicited advice. If a friend calls you for advice about a specific guy, listen attentively, offer your true thoughts, and be very crafty in how you relate any constructive criticism. Always approach the conversation from an open angle, validate what they say, and ask them questions to start a real conversation. For example, if a friend complains that a guy didn’t open the car door, you can ask them: What does it mean for you when a guy opens a door? What is the underlying middah being displayed? Were there other times throughout the date when he exhibited those middos? Express that you have their best interest at heart, and you want to fully understand what their needs are and the best way to look for that in a guy. To the single friends that Charna is talking about: have a rav or mentor who you discuss dating with. For a relationship to progress, it is vital to have someone who knows the entire journey and can hold you accountable along the way. Read Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough by Lori Gottleib and The Surrendered Single by Laura Doyle. Identify the 3 non-negotiables you need in a husband and only look for those. Write down the list of things your husband will have to accept about you. It is great to remind yourself how YOU are not perfect and that you, too, will bring baggage to
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told me his story about the previous girl – how he purposely took Perri to a coffee shop because of being negatively judged by another woman for his audacity for taking her out to dinner. I tried patching things up with her by explaining the situation but she was strong with her convictions not to give it a second date. This guy has since gotten married; Perri is still single.
open the car door for her. Seriously, who are you setting my daughter up with?!?” As I’m sure you can surmise, this date was a one and done, despite this guy driving four and a half hours in to meet her. Her mother could not get over his “audacity”, and I could not get over his mother’s audacity (but that’s another story). After speaking to the boy, he told me in very strong terms that in New York he is so accustomed to women wanting privacy and space, they almost always want him to text when outside. Additionally, they find it stilted and awkward when car doors are open by a guy they never met before. He did not want me to explain anything to this young woman’s mother because, in his words, “If she is so shortsighted and judgmental, I don’t want to have much to do with the family.” My point in relaying these stories is to drive home the following message. Most people in the dating world do what they do because of the experiences they go through which shape their decisions. Yes, there are reasons to nix a guy, however, just as you have illustrated, there are many who mistake certain conscious decisions and actions for insensitivity. Shira* in my first story was horrified that Steven* took her out for dinner on a first date, while Perri* was horrified that he didn’t. My advice to singles is to be flexible and openminded, but if you see a pattern of behaviors that you simply cannot live with, it is time to say goodbye.
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The second that ring slid on your finger and that sheitel hit your head, your dating advice went from being helpful to annoying
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Pulling It All Together The Navidaters Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists
D
ear Charna, A belated mazal tov on your marriage! I think you have a very
Have a question for the panel? They’re here to help you with your dating conundrums. Email your questions for the panelists to Jen at thenavidaters@gmail.com.
healthy at tit ude about dating a n d expectations. Sometimes men and women alike can get hung up on the little things that in the long run do not matter. I can’t make a blanket statement, though, about your friends or other women who would like to be with a more classically chivalrous gentleman. Sometimes, a pattern of not showing up on time or never holding
a door can be indicative of character traits that may make some women uncomfortable. And sometimes, it means absolutely nothing. If a woman is completely turned off by lateness, then this may be an issue longterm for that particular woman. If she truly can’t move past that, maybe she should be with a man who values time as she does. With regard to the general concept of “pickiness,” I couldn’t agree with you more. Some people are “picky.” And some simply haven’t met the right one yet. It turns out they weren’t picky after all. (P.S. I see the latter more often than the former.) I guess I don’t have anything very definitive to contribute to the panel this week other than the following: pickiness is bad. Additionally, what works for one person may not work for another. And we are all entitled
to have our priorities. Once again, mazal tov on your marriage and thank you for writing in! Sincerely, Jennifer
Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in private practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. She also teaches a psychology course at Touro College. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 516-224-7779, ext. 2. Visit www.thenavidaters.com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email thenavidaters@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.
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A long-ago lecture by Rabbi Steinsaltz inspired me to tap into 4,000 years of Jewish wisdom by Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
towering figures replies in the same way: “Hineni – I am here.” Rabbi Steinsaltz said, “The call goes out everywhere, in every time, and never stops. But most people don’t hear it. When you hear the call you say, ‘Hineni – I’m here.’” Rabbi Steinsaltz had a genius for making big ideas fun. That phone call he talked about – the pull of the Divine – is like someone in outer space looking for life in the universe. “Just imagine a person sitting on a star,” he said, “sending messages
to other planets: he’s sending messages over and over. Now what will be the breakthrough point? The breakthrough point is when there is any answer. When at the end of nowhere, somebody answers.” That somebody can be each of us, if only we pay attention to the call of the Divine in our lives. As I sat in that lecture hall, I realized I want-
This article originally appeared on aish.com.
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For Rabbi Steinsaltz, responding to the pull of the Divine in our lives was akin to answering a great cosmic telephone.
ed to start making some decisions about my own life. I wanted to answer the call Rabbi Steinsaltz had described. I too wanted to say “I’m here.” I too wanted to build a life dedicated to making the world a better, more holy place. Rabbi Steinsaltz seemed so wise and kind – so happy – and I wanted to be able to use Jewish teachings to feel as confident and optimistic as well. Rabbi Steinsaltz often reiterated that “Torah is the shared inheritance of all the Jewish people. We have a responsibility to share our common heritage with all Jews.” I bought his books and read his wisdom. The thousands of pages he wrote are bursting with his unique style of humor, wisdom, encouragement, and love. Rabbi Stensaltz’s book, The Essential Talmud, first introduced me to the Talmud, describing its history and purpose. The last lines have always stayed in my mind: in a chapter called “The Talmud Has Never Been Completed,” he made the case that it’s up to us to continue studying the Talmud. He explained that even the most learned sages study the Talmud over and over, finding new knowledge each time. It helped give me the courage to begin studying Jewish texts. His essays in Simple Words: Thinking About What Really Matters in Life (1999) has helped me cope with some of my most difficult decisions, applying Jewish wisdom to real world dilemmas. “(W)e may discover that G-d has always existed within us” by thinking deeply about the words we use in our lives and what their deeper meanings are, Rabbi Steinsaltz wrote. Each challenge we face in life, no matter how hard, can help us improve and refine ourselves, uncovering our God-given purpose. When I heard of Rabbi Steinsaltz’s death at the age of 83 this past Friday, August 7, 2020, I knew I would spend Shabbat rereading some of his books and honoring his life by studying Torah in his memg ory. Rereading his works felt like hearing from a wise old friend, reminding me that I can achieve great things, bringing untold measures of holiness into the world if I only try to listen to that insistent, constant call of the Divine in the world. That message is his powerful legacy to us, the Jewish people.
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was in college, exploring Jewish classes and activities at Hillel. Someone said an eminent rabbi named Adin Steinsaltz was visiting campus – he was embarking on an ambitious project translating the Talmud into Hebrew, English and French. His interpretations were penetrating and insightful, they said, and his translation was a major addition to Jewish knowledge. Did I want to come along and hear him? I wasn’t sure that any rabbi attempting to translate the Talmud would have much to say to me. I pictured him as dry and stern, concerned only with dusty old texts. What could he possibly have to say to me? As the auditorium filled up, I saw that Rabbi Steinsaltz wore a black coat and skullcap and sported a long beard that was turning white – exactly as I’d pictured him. Surely, he’d disapprove of me and the other non-religious students in the room. Suddenly, he turned to the blackboard behind him, picked up some chalk, and began sketching. Was he writing some obscure formula or Hebrew text, I wondered? He drew a smiling cartoon mouse, finishing the sketch with whiskers, and turned to face his audience with a huge grin on his face and launched into his talk. Turned out that Rabbi Steinsaltz understood our worldview very well. After all, he’d grown up in a non-religious family too, in Jerusalem, in the 1940s and 1950s. As a teenager, Rabbi Steinsaltz felt the tug of religion and asked his parents if he could study Jewish subjects with a local rabbi. They agreed and eventually Adin Steinsaltz was leading an Orthodox life. By the time he was 23 years old, he was a high school principal – the youngest in all of Israel. In 1965, when he was 38, he began his monumental translation of the Talmud. “What are we waiting for?” he asked the assembled students. It’s been many years since I listened to Rabbi Steinsaltz, but that central question remains burned in my memory. We each have so much potential inside of us – what’s holding us back? For Rabbi Steinsaltz, responding to the pull of the Divine in our lives was akin to answering a great cosmic telephone, he told his rapt student audience. In the Torah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses and Isaiah all hear G-d call out their names, and each of these
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Learning from Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
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AUGUST 13, 2020
Bringing Eruvin to Life: All Daf’s New Initiative for Lomdei Daf Yomi Chaim Saller It has been just eight months since All Daf was launched and the platform has already become the go-to destination for lomdei gemara and daf yomi regulars alike. With more than 35,000 app downloads and 10,000 daily visitors, the app and website have transformed the daf-learning experience for so many in a drastic way, and have added depth and clarity to the daf through its various shiurim, media clips, learning aids, and PDF library. Now, as the Daf Yomi cycle approaches Meseches Eruvin, a new set of challenges face lomdei hadaf. Complicated sugyos with hard-to-envision scenarios often come up during the daily learning, and the real-life pitfalls of Eruv construction – necessary to understand many sugyos – are generally unknown to those not in the “Eruv business.” The complexity of the topics can be a constant struggle
to those trying to comprehend the gemara with the quick-moving daf yomi pace, and the unfamiliarity can prove to be a hurdle to anyone seeking to gain clarity in the often hard-to-grasp sugyos. “People are often hesitant to wade in to the topics of Eruvin,” Rabbi Moshe Schwed, the director of the All Daf platform for the Orthodox Union, points out. “Others are tempted to ‘drop out’ of daf yomi during this mesechta. The new and sometimes foreign concepts that are introduced in Eruvin are challenging, and it can impact the continued commitment of some to their daily learning. There was a serious need for something that would revolutionize the way the mesechta could be learned.” All Daf stepped up, ready to help users as they embrace the challenges of their ongoing journey. The platform has launched a special Eruvin
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initiative, aptly called “Bringing Eruvin to Life,” which aims to help users overcome the unique set of challenges that may impede their learning as they attempt to grasp the intricate sugyos of Meseches Eruvin. “We are introducing three series of videos, each one addressing a different vital component of the mesechta,” Rabbi Moshe Hauer, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union,
shares. “These videos were carefully made to draw the viewer into the topics in an enjoyable and easy-to-understand manner. Even advanced talmidei chachomim will be able to gain a stronger grasp of the sugyos through these clips.” You can download the All Daf app, available for iPhone and Android devices, or visit AllDaf.org to experience the platform firsthand.
World Mizrachi Campaign Defies Covid-19 to Reach $4.8 Million The World Mizrachi 48-hour Emergency Campaign held July 2728, reached a staggering $4.8 million, more than four times it’s expected target. This Mizrachi umbrella campaign was initiated on behalf of 50 institutions in Israel, spanning the Torah spectrum. An incredible 24,700 donors worldwide contributed.The monies raised will support student scholarships and strengthen yeshivot and seminaries at a time when Covid-19 threatened their very existence. Part of the campaign’s success is that it releases 3:1 matching funds for hundreds of student scholarships from the MASA Israel Journey, a joint venture of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli government. “We are deeply humbled by this
global act of solidarity and unity on behalf of the amazing yeshivot and seminaries in Israel,” said Rabbi Doron Perez, World Mizrachi CEO. “Mizrachi’s emergency campaign has ensured that no gap year student who requires financial support is denied this transformative opportunity in Israel.” Mizrachi is launching a Gap Year Division to support and advocate for Torah institutions across Israel, as well as the students and the communities they come from. The 3,000-plus students enrolled in the coalition-affiliated institutions are scheduled to start arriving in early August. Donations can still be made on the remarkable CauseMatch platform via: https://www.causematch.com/en/ worldmizrachicampaign/
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Mental Health Corner
A Young Child’s Understanding of Ownership By Rabbi Azriel Hauptman
We tend to take for granted the concept of ownership. Few of us have any memory of the difficulties we had as very young children in grasping the abstract principles that are the basis for ownership. Let us explore some aspects of ownership and how very young children develop as their understanding deepens and matures.
• Ownership vs. Possession – There are numerous passages in Shas that discuss the difference between ownership and possession. Your object can be in my possession but you still maintain ownership. This distinction is crucial in sharing. Very young children are often very resistant to sharing. Sometimes this is because
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of the difficulty in realizing that the playmate’s temporary possession of his toy does not equal relinquishing of his ownership. By age four, most children have developed the understanding that their ownership remains unaffected by sharing with other children. • Permanent Transfer of Ownership – Even after a child develops an understanding of ownership, he will still take a long time to relate to the concept of permanent transfer of ownership. It is extremely common for a 3-year-old child to give away his toy as a gift or make a trade with a friend and then later demand it back. He knows that he is the owner and believes that he is still the owner even after he “gave” it away. The idea that ownership has transferred from himself to his playmate is simply beyond his comprehension. • Legitimate vs. Illegitimate Transfers of Ownership – After learning to appreciate the concept of transfer of ownership, it is still another leap until they recognize that transfer of ownership only works if it is legitimate. Even children who realize that stealing is wrong, might not acknowledge the need to return what was stolen. They might not understand that transfer of ownership requires the consent of the owner. Most five-year-olds can differentiate between legitimate and illegitimate transfers, but many four-year-olds do find this challenging. • Group Ownership – A child who attends a playgroup with other children is expected to understand that his toys at home are his but the toys in the playgroup is for all of them.
This can be initially challenging as the understanding of “mine” develops earlier that the understanding of “ours”. • Children are Egocentric – Another aspect that can be challenging for children is that the younger they are the more egocentric they are. Egocentricity has nothing to do with being selfish, rather it is the inability to realize that what others are thinking or feeling might not be the same as what he is thinking or feeling. For example, if a toddler covers his eyes, he now believes that the room is dark for everyone since right now he cannot see. Respecting the ownership of others requires an understanding of the other person’s desire to keep that object. Infants, toddlers, preschoolers, grade-schoolers, teenagers, and even young adults have their own unique challenges at each stage of their cognitive development. Respecting other people’s property requires a surprising amount of comprehension and understanding. The better we understand the amount they need to learn the more we can be amazed and awed by the incredible intellect that Hashem has granted to human beings. This is a service of Relief Resources. Relief is an organization that provides mental health referrals, education, and support to the frum community. Rabbi Yisrael Slansky is director of the Baltimore branch of Relief. He can be contacted at 410-448-8356 or at yslansky@reliefhelp.org
The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
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Political Crossfire
By Rafael Medoff
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question were, in fact, “the best-fighter-bombers in the world.” A few days later, Siegel submitted his letter of resignation and shared it with the press. In an interview with The Washington Post, Siegel said that resigning in protest was the obvious step. “Whenever you’re in any kind of position in life and there are things you cannot do, you don’t do them,” he said. Walter Reich, executive director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, felt the same way. The “thing” he could not do was escort Yasser Arafat on a tour of the museum. State Department official Aaron Miller came up with the Arafat tour idea in 1998, as a way of trying to improve the
and, more importantly, the memory of the Holocaust dead — was more important than holding onto my job.” Reich lost his job. Ironically, Arafat backed out of the tour at the last minute, when the eruption of the Monica Lewinsky scandal diverted the Washington press corps on the morning of his planned visit to the museum — thus confirming that he was interested only in the photo-op, not actually learning about the Holocaust, exactly as Reich had warned. In an op-ed 12 years too late to save Reich’s job, Aaron Miller admitted that his Arafat plan was “one of the dumbest ideas in the annals of U.S. foreign policy,” but only because
“Whenever you’re in any kind of position in life and there are things you cannot do, you don’t do them,” he said.
he failed to foresee that it would set off a storm of protest. Reich told me in an interview that Miller has never apologized to him. In his op-ed, Miller did not even acknowledge the price that Reich was forced to pay for Miller’s actions. Andrew Tarsy’s experience had a better ending. Tarsy, the New England regional director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), put his job on the line in 2007 by publicly dissenting from the national ADL’s position regarding Turkey’s mass murder of 1.5 million Armenians. The official ADL line was to refrain from calling it genocide for fear of offending the Turkish government. Despite the risk to his job and possibly career, Tarsy publicly acknowledged that the slaughter of the
Armenians was genocide. For the sin of telling the truth, Tarsy was fired the very next day. “I was not the least bit surprised,” Tarsy told me this week. “But I asked myself, how can we sustain a recognizable moral tradition and presume to lead on any subject of significance in Jewish life or American civic life while being complicit in the denial of a genocide? I knew I could not.” An outcry in the Jewish community resulted in Tarsy’s reinstatement, however, and the national ADL eventually changed its position and accepted the historical reality of the Armenian genocide. Bari Weiss’ high-profile clash with The New York Times will no doubt make her unwelcome in some segments of the media world, and complicate her professional prospects. But whatever Weiss’ future holds, one thing is certain. She has already ensured that she will have what Mark Siegel, Walter Reich, and Andrew Tarsy earned with their principled resignations: a clear conscience.
Dr. Medoff, the director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, is a historian and author of more than 20 books about Jewish history, Zionism, and the Holocaust. This essay originally appeared in The Algemeiner and is reprinted by permission of the author.
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terrorist leader’s image in the eyes of the Israeli public. “To many Israelis, among the worst of the Palestinian transgressions was Holocaust denial,” Miller later wrote. “What better way to counter Holocaust denial than by having the alleged denier in chief visit the museum?” The invitation was first cancelled after a backlash, but then extended again. Dr. Reich was ordered by the museum’s leadership to welcome Arafat and accompany him on the tour. “I refused,” Reich later recalled. “I told them the museum mustn’t be used as a political tool, and I wouldn’t be part of that. I said it was a matter of conscience in a museum of conscience. I knew that such a refusal constituted an act of resignation. But I felt that the principle of protecting the museum —
AUGUST 13, 2020
ith her recent resignation from The New York Times, Bari Weiss joined a small but distinguished group of American Jews who have resigned in protest from positions of stature, choosing to sacrifice their self-interest for the sake of principle. Weiss, a prominent commentator on Jewish affairs and antisemitism, was hired by the Times three years ago to provide a more centrist perspective within an editorial staff that mostly leans further to the left. In her letter of resignation, Weiss reported that she had been the target of “constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with [her] views.” Weiss’ harassers called her “a Nazi and a racist” and harangued her for “writing about the Jews again.” In the Times’ internal discussion forums, she was “openly demeaned” by co-workers who said she “needed to be rooted out.” Even staff members who were “perceived to be friendly” with Weiss found themselves “badgered” for associating with her. The Weiss resignation brings to mind a handful of others who have sacrificed their professional positions for matters of conscience. One was Mark Siegel, a former executive director of the Democratic National Committee, who served as President Jimmy Carter’s liaison to the American Jewish community. In 1978, Siegel was assigned the task of convincing Jews not to oppose Carter’s planned sale of sophisticated military aircraft to Egypt and Saudi Arabia. National Security Council briefers told Siegel that the aircraft were intended for civilian purposes, but when he shared that information with the audience at a United Jewish Appeal meeting, he was roundly booed. Surprised by that hostile reception, Siegel checked with the Defense Department and was informed that the aircraft in
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Is Resigning in Protest Becoming a Jewish Tradition?
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Gluten Free Recipe Column Everyone’s favorite dessert in our house!
Tiramisu
What You Will Need for the Cake: 6 eggs- separated 6 Tbl. sugar 6 Tbl. potato 1 Tbl. Vanilla starch sugar Preparation: 1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add sugar slowly until whites are stiff. Into same bowl, gently fold in egg yolks, potato starch ,and vanilla sugar. Spread batter onto parchment-lined large cookie sheet (17 “ x 13”) 2. Bake for 22 minutes or until sponge cake is light brown. Cool. Cut sponge cake into 2 equal rectangles- about 9x13 each. Remove from parchment.
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
AUGUST 13, 2020
by Mrs. Elaine Bodenheimer
GlutenFree@BaltimoreJewishHome.com
What You Will Need for the Filling:
B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
8 oz. pkg. Tofutti cream cheese ¼ cup sugar 1 tsp. vanilla 2 oz. pkg instant vanilla pudding 16 oz. pareve whipping creamdefrosted
½ cup seedless raspberry or blackberry preserves- plus 3 Tbl. 1 quart fresh strawberries, cleaned and sliced – or 1 lb frozen stra berries, defrosted and drained o water
Preparation: 1. Combine Tofutti, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl. Beat with electric mixture on high until smooth; set aside. 2. Combine water and pudding in small bowl until pudding is dissolved. Cool. 3. Add pudding mixture to Tofutti mixture. Add whipped topping; beat one or two minutes, scraping sides of bowl. Set aside. 4. Whisk preserves and spread evenly over bottom of 11 x 7 inch glass baking dish, which has been sprayed with cooking spray. 5. Place one piece of sponge cake in pan, cutting around edges to fit the pan. Spread ½ of Tofutti mixture evenly over spongecake. Spread strawberries in one layer over the cream. Top with second piece of spongecake. Spread remaining Tofutti mixture on top of spongecake. To Decorate the Top: 6. Place 3 Tbl. of seedless preserves into corner of a plastic sandwich bag. Cut small hole in bag where the preserves are . Squeeze preserves in stripe pattern over the cream. With a toothpick, pull toothpick through preserve stripes, alternating up and down with toothpick, to make a pretty design on top of cake. 7. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. 8. Enjoy!
The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
Your
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Money
By Allan Rolnick, CPA
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
Looking for a Lake House?
AUGUST 13, 2020
A
seller will keep millions more of those proceeds. William C. Whitney, who served as Grover Cleveland’s Secretary of the Navy, assembled 80,000 acres that included Whitney Park for $1.50/acre in 1897. 51,000 of those acres eventually passed to his grandson, Cornelius “Sonny” Vanderbilt Whitney.
or purchase price, and sale price. However, each time the owner died, the property’s basis “stepped up” to its fair market value as of the date of death. In short, dying rather than selling wiped out any taxes the heirs would have owed. Those haircuts today include a 20% capital gains tax, 3.8% net investment income tax, and
Calling them “cabins” is like calling Newport’s mansions mere “cottages.”
(Don’t let the Vanderbilt name fool you — the real money came from the Whitneys.) When Sonny died in 1992, he left it to his fourth wife Marylou. When she died last year at age 93, she left it to her third husband, John Hendrickson, now 55. Here’s where taxes come in. If any of Camp Whitney’s owners had ever sold it, they would have owed tax on the difference between the “basis,”
an 8.82% state tax. Stepped-up basis lets Hendrickson avoid tax on every dime of gain through Marylou’s death last July. In fact, if he shows the current economy has lowered its value since then, he can even claim a loss. (And we did the math: appreciating from 1.50$/ acre in 1897 to 5,000$/acre in 2020 works out to %6.82/year.) We couldn’t help but notice that
Marylou was already married to her second husband by the time her third was born. But Hendrickson is no gold-digging lightweight. In 1997, Marylou sold another 14,700 acres to the state of New York, which operates it as the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area. Governor Pataki had offered 7$ million. But Hendrickson’s hardball threat to develop 40 shoreline estates terrorized the local Sierra Club and pressured the state into raising the price to $17.1 million. Stepped up basis is the dirty little secret behind a lot of family fortunes. You’ll do well to consider that in your own planning. For example, none of your gains in a traditional IRA will ever qualify. But that’s where we come in. We aren’t not just interested in telling you how much you owe. We want to help you use smart strategies like stepped-up basis to pay less. And you don’t need to own 36,000 acres to benefit. So call us! Allan J Rolnick is a CPA who has been in practice for over 30 years in Queens, NY. He welcomes your comments and can be reached at 718-896-8715 or at allanjrcpa@aol.com.
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century ago, New York’s richest families didn’t summer in the Hamptons. (Yes, this is a story about people who use “summer” as a verb, with a straight face.) Back then, clans like the Rockefellers, Morgans, and Huntingtons headed upstate to the “Great Camps” of the Adirondacks, a constellation of compounds overlooking the area’s forested lakes. The camps generally revolved around a grand log mansion and collection of outbuildings — calling them “cabins” is like calling Newport’s mansions mere “cottages.” Many of them are National Historic Landmarks. Now, the greatest of those remaining camps has hit the market. “Whitney Park” sprawls over 36,000 acres with 22 lakes — the largest privately-held property in the state. The driveway from the gatehouse to the main house starts in one area code and finishes in another. (Bonkers, right?) When you finally get there, you’ll find 17 bedrooms and 11 baths spread over four buildings, plus a two-story boathouse for hosting dances. It can be yours for just $5,000/acre, or $180 million. And thanks to a quirk in the tax code, the
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THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
AUGUST 13, 2020
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Life C ach
Losers Weepers?! By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., MFT, CLC
B
ut I just had it a minute ago! Trust me. It doesn’t matter what age you are. Things are always disappearing. People like to tell you that you probably misplaced it or forgot where you put it. Don’t believe them! I know for a fact that a little Martian comes down from space and moves it. While you’re running all over the place looking for it, he’s standing invisibly in the corner chuckling away. The truth is, we are busy, overwhelmed, and multitasking and can wind up putting things down in funky
places. Alternatively, we can be one of those people who sometimes doesn’t see things even when they’re right in front of us. It sometimes can help to walk away from the task of finding it. Just temporarily. This allows you to return in a little bit and see things from a new perspective. In truth, I just think it gives the alien time to put it back where you left it! This often happens with thoughts as well. We are about to say something
important, and we lose our train of thought. Then when we sit quietly for a few minutes, it usually resurfaces. Who do you think hid it from you for that space of time? Exactly, the spaceman. I’m not really trying to convince you there are Martians. I’m just trying to tell you not to get so upset with yourself when you can’t find stuff. It happens to everyone. Everyone loses things – items and thoughts as well. Oh, except weight, of course.
more. We say navigation “messed up.” That makes us kind of happy. Because we’ve found something outside of us to blame. Which kind of supports my premise that if we could just find a creature responsible for our losing stuff, we wouldn’t be so upset with ourselves. So, guess what? I’ll take the blame. Next time you can’t find something that you’re looking for, just say, “I bet that that Rivki took it.” And then go get yourself a snack. (Unless that’s what you are missing!) And I assure you
I just think it gives the alien time to put it back where you left it!
Now, why is that? The one thing we would like to have suddenly disappear seems to linger. And that’s something we would love to be able to blame on someone else, human or otherwise! We used to lose our way. Now Navigation has taken care of that. I can’t say it always gets us exactly where we want. But we don’t feel lost anymore. It’s more likely that we think it found us random streets and highways for us to unearth, even ones we had no desire to explore. Yet, we never say, “I got lost” any-
that at least 75% of time, by the time you get back, I’ll have returned it to the exact spot you left it. As to the other 25% of the time, if you promise to give me 5% of the profit, I’ll return it by Monday! Here’s hoping you “find” joy in your week! Rivki Rosenwald is a certified relationship counselor, and career and life coach. She can be contacted at 917-705-2004 or rivki@rosenwalds.com.
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