Baltimore Jewish Home - 8-4-22 by Moshe Rubin

VISIT US ON THE WEB! WWW.THEBJH.COM Vol. 8 Issue #16 | August 4 - August 25, 2022 |

Benyamin Balakhani’s Tzitzis Campaign Pulls No Strings

The Miracle of Jewish Survival

Points to Ponder - How to Master the Credit Card Points Game

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Contents COMMUNITY

Around the Community Community Calendar

6 36

JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Zvi Teichman

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Dear Readers,

PEOPLE 613 Seconds

FEATURE The Miracle of Jewish Survival

Points to Ponder How to Master

One Summer Later How the Riots in Lod Shattered an Israeli Mindset

the Credit Card Points Game

HUMOR & ENTERTAINMENT Centerfold

Notable Quotes

Kids Coloring Contest

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LIFESTYLES My Israel Home

Tech Triumphs

Parenting Pearls

Mental Health

Forgotten Heroes

Dating Dialogue

Your Money

I overheard an amazing story that was shared by Naftali Horowitz, Managing Director at JP Morgan, at the recent Business Halacha Conference that was held in Baltimore. Many years ago within the Horowitz family, there was a grandparent who passed away, leaving two separate wills that were contested by both sides of the family. One will was written years before, and the second within weeks of the grandparents passing. Each side was convinced that their will was correct. Despite attempts to reconcile, it became apparent that this situation was beyond hope, and unfortunately the family was thrown into a decades-long estrangement. They didn’t attend each other's simchas, didn’t talk on the phone, and didn’t want anything to do with each other. Years went by and tragedy began to strike the family. Family members from both sides were dying young and it was evident that something abnormal was taking place. A short while later, another aunt, who was a mother of nine children, suddenly suffered an aneurysm and was in a coma with minimal brain activity. The doctors said there was no hope. Naftali was so torn apart. This was a wonderful family, and this fight had decimated them, and now another family member was about to pass. He wasn’t going to take it anymore, so he called a Rav he had never spoken with before and said, “The only way my family will ever reconcile, is if you, who is well-respected by both sides, gives

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Naftali approached both sides of the family who both finally agreed to restore harmony, had a shtar mechila written-up, they all signed it, and then read the document in an emotional setting within the hospital room of the dying women. Later that day, the doctors took a brain scan and sure enough there was suddenly a significant amount of brain activity. The aunt miraculously awoke with a full recovery, and was able to walk all of her children to the Chuppah alongside the reunited family! Naftali Horowitz, after completing this moving story proclaimed to the attendees, “Although this story has been printed anonymously in the book “Lifelines”, and written about in “Mishpacha,” no one had ever known it was actually about my family. However, the moment I had heard that I would be the keynote speaker at this conference alongside the Rabbi who gave me the haskamah that ultimately propelled the shalom within my family, I decided to share it publicly for the first time. The Rabbi I called was none other than Rabbi Yissocher Frand.”

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me the go-ahead to approach them to try and broker peace amongst the family.” The Rav said, “Of course, please use my name!”

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Baltimore’s Benyamin Balakhani’s Tzitzis Campaign Pulls No Strings By: Isaac Draiman BaltimoreJewishLife.com/Jeff Cohn

he Protective Strings Initiative is a campaign to inspire and facilitate the performance of the Mitzvah of Tzitzit. It was founded in 2021 by Benyamin Balakhani, a young father and member of Kehillas Ohr Yisrael Baltimore. He was inspired about the Mitzvah of Tzitzis after hearing a story from a Rav who distributed FREE PAIRS OF TZITZIS to campers because of the protection they offer during the 3 Weeks. With the help of his brothers, they put together a box of FREE PAIRS OF TZITZIS for summer campers. After posting a picture of the box on social media, others sought to participate in this mitzvah. By the end of the summer, he had raised $8,000 and gave out over 600 FREE PAIRS OF TZITZIS. This year, with many more community members eager to participate

in this 9 Days Shmira Campaign, & with requests flowing in from many other camps, he has launched the Protective Strings Initiative to give FREE PAIRS OF TZITZIS to every young man at a Torah-Observant Camp who requests a pair. Rabbinic Advisorz; Rabbi Duvi Rubin, Mara D’Asra, Kehillas Ohr Yisrael Baltimore. Participating Camps: Camp Sports,

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Around the Community

Mental Health at Maccabiah

ell over a year ago an online popup ad caught my eye: Join Maccabi USA in Israel next summer. Curious, I followed the link. Touted as the 3rd largest sports competition in the world, the Maccabiah Games is held every 4 years in Israel. 10,000 Jews from all corners of the globe compete throughout the country in 40 different sports. In that moment I was thinking the same thing you are now. “There are that many athletic Jews?!” Apparently, there are that many who fancy themselves as athletic. While flattering for you to think I became involved as an athlete, that was not the case. Reading further, I learned the US delegation brings a robust volunteer medical team to support their athletes. The current delegation, however, would look different. For this 21st Maccabiah Games, the US delegation (over 1300 strong) was expanding by adding a selection of mental health experts to join their medical team. ‘Super cool!’ I thought. ‘Sports- check, mental health- check, and being in Eretz Yisrael?! Jackpot!’ An application was immediately submitted. Fast forward, the following 6 months entailed being selected (thankfully) and working out details of this new initiative. As a mental health professional, I was naturally encouraged Maccabi USA took this step promoting mental health. With no prior familiarity I still had no idea what to expect. Hoping for a meaningful Chavaya but settling for at least a reason to visit. Having returned just last week, the experience is still fresh and settling in. In short,

it was a one-of-a-kind experience with many layers to it. I strive to observe and take lessons from all my experiences and this one did not disappoint. In the coming weeks I hope to share meaningful takeaways through our blog and YouTube video series ‘Game On’ focusing on sports intersecting with mental health. With many requests to share details of this experience, I will start here with some takeaways I hope are meaningful to you. Sports = Life Sports and competition have always been a microcosm of real life to me. The environment under which competition is held and the details within the game reflect everyday interactions far beyond the spotlight of sports. Pressure, communication, strong emotions, loss, teamwork, negative beliefs, uncertainty, the list goes on. Regardless of our individual athletic prowess (or lack thereof) and regardless of our beliefs about sports within the Jewish world, there is much to learned from it if one maintains an open mind. Different but the same One powerful aspect of the 2 weeks I spent with athletes, coaches, and managers was witnessing international connection. Competing athletes at the games represented 70 different countries. You heard me. 7-0. Imagine being in a dining room with people from France, Mexico, Hungary, Australia, Columbia, Ukraine, Uruguay, and many more. Try following all those conversations! All of them identified as Jews. Sure. Most were

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unaffiliated or disconnected from observance (another conversation). I found everyone respectful, curious, and genuinely interested in learning more about Jews from across the globe. Whether an athlete had a yarmulka and tzitzis out (I’m looking at you Yahoshafat Stoudamire) or had tattoos and bleached hair, there was a commonality in the air. That doesn’t mean they agreed on everything. They didn’t have to. Most athletes didn’t even meet their teammates in person prior to landing in Israel! Building team chemistry on such short notice was impressive to see. Of course, everyone wanted to win. That did not stop them from bonding with competitors from other countries. Heading towards Tisha B’av it was encouraging to see so many Jews, different in so many aspects, able to get along so well. Don’t underestimate mental health This was one of the coolest experiences I ever had. For sure. Super fun. But real life was there too. The amount of people there was staggering. Opening ceremonies had 30,000 people in attendance. Excuse me, 30,001 (President Biden joined as well). In the elevators, hotel lobbies, and dining halls, everyone asks where you’re from and what your role is. Each time I explained being the mental health specialist was followed by an effusive response. ‘Really? Wow! That’s fantastic! So glad to hear that.’ Mental health is everywhere. We all have it. How much we struggle on that continuum is individualized. But to pretend that it’s not there is futile. This demonstrated how people value mental health while they may not be afforded the opportunity to express it. Exposed Statistically, out of 1,300 people, some would have prior mental health struggles. Not every mental health issue dealt with was competition related. Unable to share all the specifics, it only reinforced the value of us being there. The stressors of being in a different country, away from family, lack of routine and sleep, and pressures of competition took a toll and compounded underlying struggles. I

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Around the Community continued from page 8 sat with teams at mealtime discussing intrasquad dynamics. I was there when inevitable logistical nightmares reared their head for hotel and team managers. I observed modeling and leadership of coaches for better or worse. Witnessed athletes handling the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. When spending this much time in this environment true colors start to shine through. It’s less about behavior being positive or negative and more about embracing opportunity to learn from them.

Just ask There were many ‘logical’ reasons for me to stay in the proverbial box, not pursuing this potential opportunity. I was previously unfamiliar with Maccabiah or anybody affiliated with them. My role was unclear requiring significant time commitment and family support. I would be among the Orthodox minority of people there. How would a therapist be received in that environment? Would it be worth it? All fair. However… Without asking

I would never know. Without experiencing I would never learn. Without putting myself out there, to try, be willing to fail, I would never grow. One of my favorite words in the English language is curious. Approaching life, people, and even challenges with authentic curiosity allows us to view them as opportunities from which we can learn. Shmuel Fischler is a licensed Clinical Social worker, clinical supervisor, and certified Cognitive Therapist.

He owns and directs CBT Baltimore, a thriving practice providing specialized treatment for OCD, anxiety spectrum disorders, and depressive disorders. Shmuel lectures, trains, and consults nationally for organizations, schools, and universities such as Johns Hopkins and UMD. Shmuel hosts a well-received podcast, Mental Filter, streaming on their website (cbtbaltimore.com) and all podcast platforms.

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Around the Community

Mercaz Daf Yomi Holds Siyum on Yevamos

ercaz Torah U’Tefillah celebrated a grand siyum on Maseches Yevamos. A delicious steak seudah was catered by Le’ Mo, a special edition cookbook was presented to the ladies who attended, and everyone was treated to a Chalitzah shoe cookie! The Rav,

HaRav Yissochor Dov Eichenstein, Shlita, offered Divrei Hisorerus, R’ Mordechai Weimer shared inspiration of his journey through Shas and the impact Mercaz Daf Yomi and its Maggedei Shiur have had on him, and Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lebovits said the Hadran.

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Yitzchok’s Toy Box toward their goals.

For those who may not know, what is Yitzchok’s Toy Box? Yitzchok’s Toy Box assists therapists and parents of children receiving physical, occupational or speech therapy in identifying which therapy items are most suitable for their child at no cost. This project aims to get the right therapy equipment and toys, at the right time, into the hands of every child.

What if I find something that works for my child but I can’t afford to buy it? We encourage families to reach out to us, as we have information on grants and other funding opportunities, as well as relationships with manufacturers and vendors, that may make it possible for you to obtain what your child needs at low or no cost. What types of therapy equipment and toys do you carry? Our equipment categories include Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AACs), calming, feeding and oral motor, fidgets and visual timers, fine motor and writing, gross motor and walking, infant and toddler toys, seating, sensory tools, switches and switch-activated toys,

How do you obtain the items in your inventory? Generous community support enables us to expand our inventory in response to the requests we receive. In addition, nearly half of our current items were donated by manufacturers, vendors, or individuals who are no longer using the items. Many of the remaining items were provided to us at substantial discount. What type of children do you serve? Yitzchok’s Toy Box lends items to any child in the Orthodox community who is receiving PT, OT, or speech therapy, without regard to age, diagnosis, or level of need. If a request is better served by an existing community resource, we direct the family to that resource. How do parents access items from Yitzchok’s Toy Box? After receiving a recommendation from their child’s physical, occupational, or speech therapist, the parent reaches out to us by phone, text, or email. Therapists can also contact us on behalf of their clients. Sarah then notifies the parent or therapist once the item is available for pick up. What if I borrow something and my child breaks it? While we ask that parents take reasonable precautions to protect the gemach’s

equipment and toys, we understand that sometimes mishaps are inevitable. How can members of the community help? Every introduction to a vendor who can provide therapy equipment and toys at no charge makes it possible to stretch our dollars further. In addition, one of the remarkable parts of Yitzchok’s Toy Box is our incredible volunteer base. We are seeking volunteers who can share their talents in web design and maintenance, graphic design, database management, copywriting, marketing, secretarial work, bookkeeping, organizing, equipment sanitizing, and electrical work. We can also use help with deliveries. Of course, we welcome your tax-deductible financial contributions as well. I heard that Yitzchok’s Toy Box has branches in other cities. Is that true? Yes, in Lakewood, Chicago, and more on the way, though funds raised for each city are earmarked for that city. This sounds like a great resource for families! How can parents and therapists contact you? We can be reached via call or text at 443-879-3169, at YitzchoksToyBox@ gmail.com, or via our website www.YitzchoksToyBox.com Please contact us prior to dropping off any donations.

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Why was this organization started? After the sudden passing of Yitzchok Sheffield A”H last Chol Hamoed Sukkos, Sarah Don, OTR/L, offered to spearhead a therapy equipment/toy gemach as a way to perpetuate Yitzchok’s memory. Sarah identified this need after noticing that therapists sometimes hesitate to suggest items that might help a child because of the time and expense that parents may face trying out multiple items that may or may not work. For the same reasons, parents also hesitate to purchase items that a therapist suggests. This results in many lost opportunities for children receiving physical, occupational, or speech therapy to obtain tools that could assist them in progressing

How does Yitzchok’s Toy Box meet this need? Yitzchok’s Toy Box has a growing inventory of over 200 items available for loan. Therapists can recommend items without concern about the time and expense parents will face in identifying what works well for their child. Parents and therapists can borrow items at no charge; we can even arrange for delivery if it’s too difficult for the parents to get out! If the child needs the item for a short time, the family can keep it until the child is no longer using it. In other cases, a family borrows an item until insurance approval is obtained.

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The Week In News

Licenses of Six Arab Schools Revoked Israeli Education minister Yifat Shasha-Buton on Thursday revoked the operating licenses of six schools in Arab areas of Jerusalem. The decision follows the discovery of serious incitement in the schools’ textbooks. The incitement included glorification of terrorists, various plots against Israel, and claims that Israel is massacring Palestinians Arabs. The Ministry said that among the inciting quotes found in the textbooks was the following misrepresentation: “The greatest racist disaster that struck the Palestinian people oc-

curred in 1948, when armed Zionist gangs occupied 77% of Palestine and carried out a massacre against the Palestinians, destroying 531 Palestinian villages, and causing the emigration of a million Palestinians to places of refugees in what is left of Palestine.” In a statement, Shasha-Biton said, “Incitement against the State of Israel and IDF soldiers in children’s school textbooks is an intolerable phenomenon that will be dealt with severely. Every educational institution which is found to be inciting and using hate speech against the State of Israel and its symbols – its license will be revoked. Incitement and hatred – not in our schools.” According to Arutz Sheva, the inciting content was discovered during an enforcement operation conducted by the Education Ministry. Following the discovery, the directors of the educational institutions in question were summoned to a hearing, after which the decision was made to revoke the permanent operating licenses they held. The Times of Israel added that the

schools will be granted a conditional license for a year, during which time they will be required to make changes to their curriculum or lose their operating license entirely.

Medical Residents Threaten Strikes Hospital residents on Monday renewed their battle against 26-hour shifts following a government announcement that said that the plan to cut shifts from 26 hours to 18 hours would not go into effect until September 2023. At a press conference, Dr. Rey Biton, head of the Mirsham organization of medical residents, warned that if the decision has not changed by August 25, there will be a mass resignation of hospital staff. He added, “At the same time, in the coming days, we will take extensive protest action inside and outside hospitals.” The plan to shorten shifts gradual-

ly was slated to have taken effect earlier this year, with a pilot program in Israel’s periphery.

According to Maariv, Sunday’s announcement was a response to a Labor Court petition filed in April by Clalit Health Services against the Economy and Health ministries claiming that there is not enough manpower to absorb a cut in residents’ work hours and that the cut would negatively affect the public’s health. Economy Minister Orna Barbivay (Yesh Atid) said on behalf of the government that the issue can only be resolved after the elections, when there is a new government, Hebrew media reported. Biton, for his part, said that new elections are “a poor excuse for lack of governance.” “This government failed both professionally and morally, both because

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Chaya Udel Kushinsky (Baltimore) & Yitzchok Yaakov Nylander (Bnei Brak) Binyamin Frisch (Philadelphia) & Emunah Seinfeld (Baltimore) Chaim Neumann (Lakewood) & Bracha Bamberger (Baltimore) Chaim Sittner (Lakewood) & Shani Shear (Baltimore) Sruli Hefter (Baltimore) & Aliza Sash (Flatbush) Shua Klein (Baltimore) & Chaya Sora Goldstein (Staten Island) Nuta Shlomo Rottenberg (Baltimore) & Rivky Gutfreund (Lakewood) Shua Schoeman (Baltimore) & Elisheva Steinbrecher (Baltimore) Want to see your simcha here? Email mazeltov@baltimorejewishhome.com or text 443-675-6507 to submit your simcha!

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The Week In News it didn’t stand by any commitment and by any agreement with us, and also because it continues the abusive and dangerous employment under conditions of slavery,” Biton added.

Six-Year-Old Killed in Crash

Matan Zinman, a six-year-old Jewish boy from the town of Shvut Rachel, was killed last week when an Arab driver crashed into his family’s vehicle. Matan’s mother and three of his siblings suffered injuries in the crash; his 12-year-old sister was seriously injured, while his 10-year-old brother

suffered moderate injuries. The family’s six-month-old baby was lightly injured. Matan was initially reported to be in critical condition, and it was in that condition that he was brought to the hospital. But after hours during which medical staff fought to save his life, Matan passed away. The two Palestinian Authority Arabs – the driver and her sister – who were in the other vehicle suffered moderate injuries only and were brought to a Palestinian Authority hospital for treatment. Initial reports say that the 27-year-old Arab was driving in the vehicle together with her sister and at some point decided to pass another vehicle in a dangerous fashion, crossing a white dividing line and slamming with enormous force into the vehicle in which Rivka Zinman and four of her children were traveling. Arutz Sheva quoted Zinman’s mother, Rivka Atara, as saying from the hospital, “We were driving on Highway 60 to a family gathering in

Ariel. Suddenly, a white Palestinian car emerged from the opposite lane and sped in front of me. I slowed down, but the Palestinian car sped up. I realized it was going to hit me head-on, and I was unable to stop. The collision was at an enormous speed. “I lost my Matan to Arab terrorism on the road.” In an interview the next day, she maintained, “There was no traffic accident. It was not a traffic accident. “I was traveling, the road was empty, including in the other lane. And the vehicle just saw me, and made a sharp turn towards me and accelerated. I tried to move, I tried to avoid it, and nothing. It rammed into us. My son, who was next to me, received a serious hit to his stomach; he underwent surgery. And my younger son – he was murdered.” She emphasized, “This was not a traffic accident. It was a terror attack. They wanted to hit me. They did hit me. I am asking that they open an investigation into this matter, because this was essentially a terror attack,

and not a random traffic accident. I am telling you with certainty, it was not. I was fully conscious the entire time; I saw exactly what happened. It was intentional.” Rivka’s husband, Haim Zinman, told reporters, “We are hurting and sad. Every day we drive on these roads there is fear of stones and accidents. There is carnage and killing and loss. Rivka and the children also saw the vehicle, a large white one, speeding up and driving in their direction. Rivka tried to brake and the children were wearing seat belts and there was no one else on the road.” “Since then, the whole family has been scattered in different hospitals. I have no words. “Just two weeks ago, we put in shielding against stones. Yesterday, my father bought Matan a bag for school and they danced all day. He was a smiling and happy child, and today he is not with us. “When looking at all the facts, this was no car accident. If it happened in the center of the country, it would not be on the agenda. We want the case to

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I was in touch with every shadchan I came across and after so much fruitless back and forth, I decided I must turn to the real Shadchan: Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself. I signed up for a membership with the Tehillim Kollel minyan that davens regularly at the Amukah location. There, at the kever of the Tanna Reb Yonason ben Uziel, a place known to be especially mesugal for shidduchim, Tehillim would be recited for me.

With the participation of Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Yair Lapid, as well as Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital last week inaugurated the new Sylvan Adams Emergency Hospital, which at 8,000-square-meters stands as the largest ER in the world. It carries the name of philanthropist Sylvan Adams, who donated around $28 million for its establishment. Opening the event, President Herzog spoke of his appreciation for the dedication of the medical staff and at

At the same time, I continued with my technical hishtadlus, reaching out to new shadchanim who came up with fresh offers. Baruch Hashem, today I can report that my personal shidduch roller coaster ride has come to a halt. I became a kallah! The greatest Shadchan in the world fulfilled my deepest desire and brought me the right one, at the right time.

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his pride on the opening of the new emergency hospital. He thanked Sylvan Adams for his generous support of the Israeli people and said, “You are a true ambassador of the Israeli society.” Prime Minister Lapid added his thanks and said to Sylvan Adams, “Both of us are children of Holocaust survivors. You were brought up with a strong sense of responsibility for the State of Israel, for the next generation, for its welfare and for its values. Your father, Marcel, of blessed memory, would certainly have been proud of you today. On behalf of the State of Israel, thank you.” The facility is equipped with the latest technology in patient assessment, enabling patients to self-triage, scanning in their identity documents or medical referral, and checking temperature and blood pressure levels before being assigned a medical professional for treatment. At each stage, the recording of any abnormal or critical results will immediately alert the medical staff. In addition, the hospital has dedicated sections for care to be provided determined by the patient’s condition and psychiatric classification, a shortterm hospitalization department, and includes the “Maor” Center – a room for the acute care of victims of sexual assault. The technologies will enable greater streamlining of triage patient assessment, lower waiting times, and more efficient and effective medical care provision. The building has three floors: On the ground floor of the new building, there is an inpatient department that includes spacious halls that are being

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be investigated. There are no policemen or soldiers on the roads today. Every day there are stones thrown. Think of our child. Our child is gone. Our children have fractures and injuries all over their bodies, and it hurts.” Meanwhile, the Arab driver who hit the Zinman family vehicle has not yet been interrogated by police. According to the police, the reason for the delay is that she is still hospitalized in Shechem (Nablus) and that her condition is not yet stable.

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I was already twenty-seven years of age and still, I was on the elusive search for my partner in life. So many times I thought, “Oh! This is the one!” but then, once again, everything would crumble in front of my eyes. I fretted. Why can’t I find my bashert?

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upgraded to the highest standards. The inpatient hall includes around 100 monitored beds – the largest number of beds in emergency care departments in Israel. If needed, during an emergency event, this number can be doubled. Also on the ground floor is a shock and trauma room with advanced equipment and an imaging area that includes two CT machines – the largest number in emergency care departments in Israel. This includes use of groundbreaking artificial intelligence for viewing clinical findings in real time. The first floor includes an ambulatory wing with 30 medical testing rooms and a large treatment hall. This wing also provides professional treatment from the emergency care team, and now, for the first time in Israel, is reinforced by professional advisors in the fields of cardiology, neurology, dermatology, and personal health. To provide fast and effective treatment, upon reception, patients can also be referred to dedicated emergency rooms in the following areas: orthopedics, eyes, and head and neck surgery. In addition, for the first time in Ichilov and Tel Aviv, there is also a psychiatric emergency room. On the rooftop floor there will be a short-term hospitalization and inpatient department with 32 monitored beds designed for hospitalization for patients who need further tests or continued treatment. The opening of this department in particular is expected to reduce demand in the other hospitalization departments and in particular the internal medicine departments.

Sylvan Adams, businessman and philanthropist, said, “At Ichilov, I am happy to provide the residents of the State of Israel with the largest and most advanced emergency room of its kind. The innovative technology, the worldview that places the patient at the center, and the high level of infrastructure creates an advanced level of service and treatment for the benefit of the State of Israel.”

PIJ Leader Arrested On Monday night, IDF forces arrested Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) commander Bassam al-Saadi, 62, and his son-in-law Ashraf Zidan Molmad Aljada in a raid that resulted in clashes with local Palestinians in Jenin. Since the raid, the IDF is in high alert and has closed off roads next to the Gaza Strip in concern that the group may retaliate with anti-tank and sniper fire.

Zikim beach, which lies just north of the Strip has also been closed to visitors and train service between Askelon and Sderot has been canceled. The Erez Crossing, the main crossing between Israel and Gaza,

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The Week In News has also been closed. In addition, the Black Arrow monument, Givat Kobi lookout in Sderot, the Hill of the Bells (Givat Ha’Pamonim) in Nir Am, Givat Nazmit in Mefallesim have also been closed. Classes at Sapir College in Sderot will take place online. PIJ is known to have anti-tank guided missiles and has targeted both civilian and military vehicles, killing Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. During the arrest, clashes broke out with local Palestinians, and three were injured. The Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry said that 17-year-old Dirar al-Kafrayni was killed in the clashes after he threw an explosive device toward troops. Defense Minister Benny Gantz stressed on Tuesday that Israel’s policy is “clear,” adding that “those who want to work and live in a good neighborliness will receive an outstretched hand. With the other hand, we will hit anyone who wants to harm the citizens of Israel and carry out terrorism.” He added, “The IDF, the Shin Bet, and Border Police will continue their

operational activities, with all tools and in all arenas. Any threat to the citizens of Israel will be met with a powerful response, and we will of course be prepared for any scenario.” This is not the first Saadi has been detained by Israel. He was previously detained seven times by Israel for his role as PIJ’s top leader in the West Bank and his role in terror. He’s served a total of 15 years in Israeli prisons. Two of his sons, also part of the terror group, were killed by the Israeli military during the Second Intifada. According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, the cousin of Raad Abu Hazzam, who killed three Israelis in Tel Aviv in April, is married to Saadi. The Shin Bet security service said that Saadi was recently working hard “to restore the Islamic Jihad’s operations, in which he was instrumental in establishing a strong military force in Samaria in general and in Jenin in particular. His presence was a significant factor in radicalizing the organization›s operatives.”

Jenin and its refugee camp are one of the more violent cities in the West Bank with heavily armed militants from PIJ and other terror groups. Dozens of Palestinians have been arrested in Jenin by the IDF as part of its Operation Break the Wave, and during every arrest raid, heavily armed militants opened fire on Israeli forces leading to Palestinian casualties. Over the last few days, a total of 50 Palestinians have been arrested and interrogated by the Shin Bet.

Fatal Crash in Sinai Two Israelis in their 20s were killed and five others were injured in a car crash last week in Sinai, Egypt. According to Hebrew media, the seven young Israelis were traveling near the Israeli border on their way back from a vacation when their taxi crashed into another vehicle. All seven were counselors at the Boyer boarding school in Jerusalem.

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The two dead victims were identified as Yuval Keshet, 24, of Haifa and Moshe Matan Luzon, 25, of Petah Tikva. Initially, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said two of the victims were critically wounded, but it soon became clear that they had died in Egypt. The other five were taken to a local medical facility before being brought across the border to Eilat’s Yoseftal Medical Center. Although IDF helicopters had been sent to bring the injured victims over the border, Hebrew media reported that Cairo would not allow the helicopters to land in Egyptian territory. Instead, the victims were brought to a border crossing and handed over.

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Pay for Slay Increased

others were injured in the attack. Since the bombing, the terrorists have been earning salaries from the Palestinian Authority. Over the past 20 years, the PA paid Wael Qassem, Wassim Abbasi, Alla Aldin Abbasi and Muhammed Odeh more than NIS 8 million (over $2.5 million). But now, their salaries are set to increase by more than 14%. Their monthly payments will be increased from NIS 7,000 ($2,251) per month to NIS 8,000 ($2,572). They also receive a supplement of NIS 300 shekels ($96) each month because they were residents of Jerusalem. Four other terrorists convicted for taking part in the attack receive a salary from the PA, as well. On Sunday, the Security Cabinet voted to deduct NIS 600 million from the taxes and tariffs Israel collects for the PA, as it is legally required to do as long as the PA pays terrorists who attacked Israelis. The practice is called “pay for slay,” although the PA calls it the “martyrs’ fund.” The Knesset passed a law in 2018 requiring the government to withhold funds equal to the amount

the PA pays terrorists each year. Janis Routh Coulter, 36; Dina Carter, 38; David Gritz, 24; Daphna Spruch, 61; Levina Shapira, 53; Benjamin Blustein, 25; David Ladowski, 29; Revital Barashi, 30; and Marla Bennet, 24; lost their lives in the bombing 20 years ago.

Can’t Believe It You know all those canned cocktails lining the shelves? It seems like every alcohol brand is jumping on the can-bandwagon. Tit’s Handmade Vodka is now entering the fray – but with a twist. The vodka brand is now selling a $20 can – that is completely empty. The “Tito’s in a Can” is 16 ounces and is meant for you, the customer, the fill with their vodka.

“Despite the flood of different flavors and variations, we’ve always believed the idea of customizations is always the way to go,” Taylor Berry, vice president of brand marketing for Tito’s, told CNN Business. “You can make a cocktail the way you want it and if you want the portability of a can, here’s a can we made for you — it just happens to be empty.” The can is now on sale for a limited time at Tito’s online store with net proceeds benefiting charity. Tito’s has been around for a while and is not keen on jumping on every trend that hits the market. That’s why they’ve shying away from the can craze, Berry says. “We’ve been around for a quarter-century at this point, and there’s been a lot of trends that have happened throughout the alcohol industry,” he said. “We’ve stayed true to our roots — which is doing one thing and doing one thing right.” Tito’s is one of the country’s top-selling vodka brands. Sales of premixed cocktails grew more than 40% last year, soaring past $1.6 billion in sales and becoming sec-

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Staff at Boyer told parents and students that “a terrible tragedy has come upon us. We’ve lost our loved ones.” The father of one of the injured told Kan News what his daughter had recounted to him: “The driver was traveling at a crazy speed, overtook [another vehicle], and crashed into an oncoming car.” “I was given my daughter as a gift,” he added.

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The Week In News ond only to vodka in terms of volume consumption. But Tito’s has no fear of missing out on canned cocktails, Berry said. “Ultimately, from a brand standpoint, [we’re] holding true to what we know and the strategy we’ve had from the beginning — making vodka,” he said. “There’s an element of this brand not being sellouts.” And you can say that again.

Beach Job Love the sand but need to earn some pocket money? Consider this offering. Hotels.com is looking to hire a Retro Beach Motelier, who will visit several retro beach motels across the United States and enjoy oceanside views in 1950’s style. The itinerary is comprised of Hotels.com’s 10 best “retro beach motels” across America, including The Pearl Hotel in San Diego, California, and Vagabond Hotel in Miami, Florida. Going to these hotels will en-

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courage you to dig into the past. The motelier will be equipped with old school accessories, including SPF zinc, striped umbrellas, vintage sunnies, a cooler, and even a solar-powered AM/ FM radio to enjoy some tunes. The job will comprise of offline activities, such as documenting the trip “for future generations” using a classic polaroid camera. The professional vacationer will be given a $10,000 stipend to cover travel expenses, and a $5,000 salary to spend on classic beachside snacks, like saltwater taffy, frozen custard, and snow cones. “Travelers these days tend to search for all-inclusive hotels and resorts when planning their summer getaways, but our Retro Beach Motelier is out to prove that beach motels can be just as luxurious,” said Melissa Dohmen of Hotels.com. “These timeless motels are not only budget-friendly but will transport beachgoers – literally and figuratively – back in time to truly disconnect and relax.” Sounds like a beach blast from the past.

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A passenger flying from Indonesia to Australia is now regretting not eating the food he brought along on the plane. Detector dogs sniffed two egg and beef sausage McMuffins and a ham croissant that the passenger had in his backpack. Those sandwiches proved to be expensive. The passenger was then slapped with a 12-unit infringement, amounting to $2,664, or $1,874 in American dollars, for failure to declare potential high biosecurity risk items and issuing a false and misleading travel declaration form. “This will be the most expensive Maccas meal this passenger ever has – this fine is twice the cost of an airfare to Bali – but I have no sympathy for people who choose to disobey Australia’s strict biosecurity measures, and recent detections show you will be caught,” Murray Watt, Australia’s minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, said. Australia has been sniffing out foods like the sausage sandwich at its airport to help combat foot and mouth disease. This is not the first time a sandwich landed someone in hot water in Australia. In July, a woman traveling from Singapore was fined $2,664 Australian dollars for forgetting to declare half of a Subway Footlong once she landed in Australia. The 19-yearold Australian, Jessica Lee, went viral on TikTok after revealing in a story how jet lag caused her to forget she’d brought a Chicken Footlong topped with lettuce on board and then failed to declare it. “I just paid $2,600 for my subway just from Singapore,” she explained in her video post at the time. “I bought a footlong Subway at Singapore Airport because I was a hungry girl after my 11-hour flight. I ate six inches before my second flight and then saved the other six inches for the flight…” We’re not lovin’ it.

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Love candy, want to work from home, and are looking for a job? Consider this sweet gig. Candy Funhouse, an online retailer of con-

fectionery treats from chocolate bars to gummies and licorice, is hiring for a $78,000 a year ($100,000 Canadian), work-from-home job as its Chief Candy Officer. Duties include: “leading candy board meetings, being the head taste tester … and all things fun.” Lest you think you’re a shoo-in for the position, several thousand candidates have already applied for the position, which was posted on LInkedIn in July, said Chief Executive Officer Jamal Hejazi. He noted that he’s been surprised by the number of “golden ticket” themed applications and the elaborate videos of entire families offering to share the tasting duties and salary. Hejazi admits that the job sounds pretty alluring. “Imagine your best memories around candy and having that every day at work,” he said. Candy Funhouse, based outside of Toronto, Canada, is headed by four siblings who grew up in the area and whose parents owned doughnut shops and a local restaurant.

“My brother Mo, a candyhead, founded it in 2018, and my mother was employee no. 2,” said Hejazi, adding that he and a younger sister and brother later joined the firm. The family hoped to differentiate their company from other highly successful online and brick-and-mortar competitors such as Mars, Hershey and Amazon with a “weird” mix of products, no minimum orders — “we’ll sell one lollipop” — and a strong push on social media. Sales in 2021, boosted substantially by the pandemic, were “just under $15 million. I’m not kidding,” Hejazi said. The company said the Chief Candy Officer position is open to applicants as young as five years old — although parental permission would likely be required. Many parents have filmed their child filling out the application and posted it online. Hejazi also noted that reports on social media claiming that the Chief Candy Officer will be required to eat 3,500 pieces of candy per month are incorrect. (That number represents the different varieties the company stocks.) “That would be 117 a day,” Hejazi said. “That’s too many.” Sounds like a piece of cake.

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Torah Thought

Og Slept Here! By Rabbi Zvi Teichman

oshe recalls the remarkable victories we experienced over the mighty warrior, Sichon, the king of Cheshbon, and his giant brother, Og, the king of Bashan. The Torah goes on to record how in an earlier episode the nation of Ammon defeated the race of giants known as Refaim, with Og the only giant to escape. They took as a trophy of this great triumph the cradle that Og used as a child which was made of iron and measured nine cubits in length by four cubits in length, by the cubit of Og. The Torah’s detailed description of the precise size of his cradle as a child was to give us an idea of his enormous size and strength that these Ammonites were nevertheless able to overcome in his adulthood. ( ‫)עפ”י רשב”ם ורש”י‬ The Targum Yehonoson says the Ammonites displayed this cradle in a museum as a testament to their own might. Why does the Torah go to such great length in discussing the ‘cradle’ of Og and its significance to these warring nations? If it were simply to amplify the greatness of the miracle in defeating this powerful goliath, it could have described his size as an adult as it appears in the Talmud where it depicts his ankle alone as being thirty cubits off the ground. The Midrash reports how when Yitzchok was weaned from his mother, Avraham celebrated the event with a banquet, inviting many dignitaries, among them Og. These kings who attended we are told were all decimated by Yehoshua when he conquered the land many generations later. The kings there taunted Og who was wont of calling Avraham ‘a barren mule who would never beget children’. Og quickly retorted by cynically portraying Yitzchok as a mere excuse of a child who was so puny that he could

be crushed with his one finger. G-d hearing this disparagement declares to Og that he will yet see countless thousands and myriads of Yitzchok’s descendants into whose very hands he will fall. (‫)ב”ר נג ז‬ The Midrash concludes with the words of Rebbi Levi who said, the cradle was rocked for the first time in the house of our father Abraham. Some commentaries suggest that Avraham was the inventor of the cradle, constructing it in a way that allowed for the child to be rocked and soothed. Others add that Yitzchok was actually the first child born undeveloped who would require constant nurturing as he would grow, whereas until that time children were born more fully developed and able to fend for themselves without significant outside intervention. And there are those who suggest that the ‘rocking of the cradle’ refers figuratively to G-d having ‘rocked’ Og from his smug attitude towards Yitzchok, using the reference of his sturdy and large iron cradle as a metaphor for his misplaced overconfidence. (,‫רש”י‬ ‫ עץ יוסף‬,‫)מתנות כהונה‬ Clearly though, this depiction of the stature and character of Og in contrast to the worthy descendants of Avraham, represents a struggle between these forces that is somehow embodied in the imagery of the cradle. Og exemplifies invincibility. Yet from the earliest days of his youth, he is ensconced in a mighty bed that emphasizes his enormous size and strength. ‘Puny’ little Yitzchok on the other hand is born into this world extremely vulnerable. Accenting this weakness is his need for a cradle that would allow his caretaker to reassuringly rock him, subconsciously instilling within him the sense that although he is so vulnerable someone is looking after

him. In the culture of Og a child from its infancy would develop an attitude of self-preservation and independence. A child incubating in this environment, especially one possessed with the hardiness of Og, was likely to come to think of himself as invulnerable. Sichon went out toward us — he and his entire people - for battle... Og king of Bashan went out toward us — he and his entire people — for war... (‫ ג א‬- ‫)במדבר ב לב‬ The identical wording in these verses which describe these two ‘courageous’ brothers engaging in battle are instructive. Each of them arrogantly goes it alone, with their ‘people’ joining them, being described as merely a tangent, since it would have been more appropriate to write: ‘Sichon/Og and his entire people went out....’ They certainly counted on their prowess and might that have deemed them invincible. Wouldn’t it have been much easier for them to have enlisted the aid of their brother? But no, these ‘supermen’ thought they were unbeatable and needed only themselves. (‫ שפתי כהן‬,‫)רש”י‬ As it turned out, Sichon and Og were handily defeated and fell on their faces and their delusional invulnerability. The Torah emphasizes in several places that defeating these two nations were the ‘entrance fee’ before entering the Holy Land. Avraham, our beloved Patriarch, in appealing to G-d for children to develop slowly — allowing for our instilling within them in their years of extreme vulnerability a sense of security and trust in a ‘hand’ that ‘rocks them from afar’— was teaching us one of the most vital messages for life. We are all too often victims of our fear of vulnerability. We are afraid to admit ignorance, lest we be perceived as unintelligent. We fear asking for help, lest we appear weak and incapable. We dread sharing our deepest feel-

ings openly and honestly, lest we be viewed as emotionally infirm. We recede from challenge lest we embarrassingly fail. One who senses G-d’s constant love, concern and validation will never be ashamed nor defeated and will give themselves permission to expose their vulnerability. On Tisha B’Av we face our vulnerability in the most profound way. We have sinned, failed, suffered, shamed, and abused, yet we reassert that despite this failure and pain, He is still rocking our cradle, assuring us that He is there waiting with hope and encouragement until we finally ‘grow’ up. Those who wear the armor of invincibility will inevitably fall on their faces. Those who are ready to shed the shackles of false pride, delusional power and foolish self-determination, permitting themselves to be honest in exposing their weaknesses, fearlessly reaching out towards their fellow man and G-d, will reap the rewards that await those who realize the steady hand that guides us amidst the most difficult of times and ‘rocks’ us so warmly. We must each cast off the ‘Og’ within us, facing candidly our limitations but rising unabashedly to the challenges that face each one of us, restoring healthy relationships among ourselves and clinging to the hand that soothes us so reassuringly that we will indeed grow up. What may seem like weakness now will blossom into newfound strength. For G-d comforts Tziyon, He comforts her ruins, and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her wastes like a garden of G-d, gladness and joy shall be found there, thanksgiving and the sound of music. (‫)ישעיה נא ג‬ ‫!בירושלים תנחמו‬ You may reach the author at: Ravzt@ohelmoshebaltimore.com

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11 Rabbanim and 14 Singers to Appear Live at Tu B’Av Together, Yad L’Achim’s Global Events of Music and Tefillah for Shidduchim

Night and Morning Online Events Scheduled for Tu B’Av, Thursday 8/11 and Friday 8/12 By Nosson Gold

One day. Two live online events. Half a million Jews united in tefillah for all of klal Yisrael’s singles. It’s called Tu B’Av Together, and it is an opportunity not to be missed. The 15th day of Av, Tu B’Av, has been synonymous with shidduchim since the times of chazal. The Jewish people have always connected through tefillah in times of happiness and sorrow, and Tu B’Av Together taps into our powerful desire to help each other. For the past five years, Tu B’Av Together has steadily grown in scope and momentum. Now it’s bigger than ever. This year, Yad L’Achim is once again spearheading Tu B’Av Together as over 500,000 Jews across the world unite in davening for shidduchim. At the same time, a minyan of talmidei chachamim will spend the day in Amuka davening for each name submitted through Yad L’Achim. As the resting place of the tanna Yonasan Ben Uziel, Amuka is an auspicious place to daven for a shidduch. In previous years, members of klal Yisrael submitted thousands of names for tefillah for shidduchim on Tu B’Av. Thanks to the policy instituted by Director R’ Nesanel Gantz, names can be submitted for tefillah even without a donation. Until now, Tu B’Av Together was one event of music and tefillah, but because Tu B’Av is on a Friday this year, Yad L’Achim will host two live

events. Both are free to the public. Join on Thursday, August 11 at 7:30 p.m. EST for an evening of musical inspiration with many of today’s leading superstars. The program will include words of inspiration by Rabbi YY Jacobson and a lineup of top performers: ● Uri Davidi ● Levy Falkowitz ● Eitan Katz ● Eli Marcus ● Joey Newcomb ● Lipa Schmeltzer ● Moshe Tischler ● Akiva (Turgeman) ● Yitzy Waldner ● Beri Weber ● Surprise guests Tune in again on Friday, August 12 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST for the much-anticipated live tefillah event broadcasted online to hundreds of thousands. Opening remarks will be delivered by Rav Yisroel Reisman, shlita. Afterward, eight chapters of Tehillim will be led by the following rabbanim shlita: ● Rav Eytan Feiner ● Rav Eliezer Ginsberg ● Rav Dovid Goldwasser

● Rav Paysach Krohn ● Rav Berel Lazar ● Rav David Ozeri ● Rav Yisroel Reisman ● Rav Meyer Yedid The following eight kapitlach will be recited: ,‫ פ”ב‬,’‫ ע‬,‫ ל”ח‬,‫ל”ב‬ ‫ קכ”ח‬,‫ קכ”ז‬,‫ קכ”ד‬,‫( קכ”א‬Psalms 32, 38, 70, 82, 121, 124, 127, 128). The rabbanim will also inspire us with chizzuk and powerful stories about shidduchim. Rav Ari Bensoussan and Rav Eli Stefansky will deliver additional words of inspiration. Both events will be hosted by Nesanel Gantz. How Tu B’Av Together Came to Be Yad L’Achim was founded over 60 years ago by Rav Sholom Dov Lifshitz, zt”l, to aid new immigrants in Eretz Yisrael. It has been a major source of support for Russian and French immigrants, placing thousands of boys and girls in yeshivahs and schools throughout Eretz Yisrael. When the organization began receiving calls about Jewish women trapped in Arab Villages, it established a division dedicated to prevention as well as the rescue

of trapped women and children. These women are often rescued with nothing more than the clothes they are wearing at the time, and Yad L’Achim helps them secure basic necessities as they begin rebuilding their lives. With Hashem’s help, many of these rescued women have gone on to marry bnei Torah and establish Jewish homes. For many years, Yad L’Achim arranged for talmidei chachamim to daven that these women would merit finding their basherts. As time went on, Yad L’Achim began accepting tefillah requests from Jews throughout the world. These tefillah requests grew into the Tu B’Av Together programs. Tu B’Av Together unites Yidden from across the world. Last year, Yad L’Achim received messages from participants in places as far-flung as Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Alaska, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Greece, Argentina, and even Iran. To register for the free events, submit names for tefillah for free, or download the chapters of Tehillim in advance, visit www.TuBavTogether. com or call Yad L’Achim at 1-866923-5224.

My Israel Home

By Gedaliah Borvick

all parties’ interests. When someone purchases an apartment in a project under construction, the unpaid por-

For the greater part of the last decade, inflation in Israel has been low, and the BCI had averaged below 2%

tion of the price becomes linked to the BCI. Parenthetically, buyers who are risk averse can often accelerate their payment schedule and prepay the lion’s share of the purchase price, thus limiting their inflation risk.

per annum. However, ever since the beginning of 2021, global inflation has skyrocketed. Unfortunately, the BCI has risen approximately 6% over the past year, due to the shortage of various raw materials.

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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To complete the building projects was a money-losing proposition, and therefore many builders declared bankruptcy and walked away from the construction projects.

Historically, the entire purchase price of a new apartment has been linked to the index. However, the recent BCI spike led to the advancement of a bill that was passed into law on June 30, 2022, which limits the inflation index to only construction-related costs. These costs represent approximately 40% of the purchase price, and the other 60% of the price – covering the cost of land, taxes, and profits – is not subject to the BCI. According to the new law, the buyer will be permitted to pay at least 20% of the purchase price on contract signing without any linkage. All future payments will be treated as follows: 50% will be linked to the BCI and 50% will not be linked. Thus, a maximum of 40% of the purchase price will be linked to the index. Please note that this new law is not retroactive; it will only apply to new contracts of sale. This is an even-handed law that protects buyers by excluding the cost of the land from the BCI, as it was already purchased by the developer and is therefore not subject to inflation. It also protects developers, as buyers will cover the cost of inflation for all construction-related materials. Furthermore, we feel that it will help stabilize the industry during inflationary times, as buyers will be less apprehensive to purchase on paper, knowing that their risk is limited.

AUGUST 4, 2022

hen buying a property in Israel and determining your budget, there will be additional costs above the purchase price, such as the acquisition tax, legal and brokerage fees, and other sundry items. When buying an apartment in a project under construction, also known as buying “on paper,” an important additional cost to consider is the Building Construction Index. The Bank of Israel has a consumer price index, or CPI, to track inflation. In addition, it has many sub-indices that reflect the inflation rate within various industries. One of them is the Building Construction Index (BCI), which covers all costs associated with the construction industry, including construction materials, such as steel and concrete, as well as the cost of labor. Back in the early 1980s, when the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof was being built, there was so much construction taking place – coupled with ridiculously high inflation that crippled Israel’s economy – that the price of labor, steel and other materials literally tripled. Consequently, many developers who sold apartments in projects under construction ran into financial trouble because they sold for prices based on construction costs calculated at the time of contract signing, prior to the costs spiraling out of control. To complete the building projects was a money-losing proposition, and therefore many builders declared bankruptcy and walked away from the construction projects. These bankruptcies caused long delays, which hurt the apartment buyers and the entire industry. In response to this challenging experience, the government created the Building Construction Index to protect

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Limiting the Building Construction Index

Sunday Av 3

Av/Elul

Av 11

Av 4

Monday

Av 18

Av 25

Elul 2

Hilchos Shabbos Shiur R’ Heinemann @9

Elul 3

Av 26

Av 19

Av 12

Av 5

Tuesday Tuesday

Elul 4

Av 27

Av 20

Av 13

Av 6

Wednesday Wednesday

2022 August/September

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7 ‫ תענית ט‘ באב‬Av 10

Av 17

WIT Shiur: Rabbi Silber @3 see page 9 OU Live Webcast @8:30 see page 28 CC Heritage Foundation @2 see back page Tisha B’Av Event at MMAE

14 Biker Cholim see page 13

Elul 1

‫ראש חודש‬

Av 24

BJH Kids Coloring Corner Submission Due

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Friday Friday Av 8

Av 16

8:58 PM

Av 9

Saturday Saturday

‫פרשת דברים‬

Community Calendar Thursday Thursday Av 7

7:56 PM

Av 15

12 Av 14

Av 23

8:48 PM

‫פרשת ואתחנן‬

Av 22

8:16 PM

Elul 7

8:27 PM

‫ראש חודש‬

Av 30

8:38 PM

‫פרשת שופטים‬

‫פרשת ראה‬

‫פרשת עקב‬

7:17 PM

Elul 6

7:28 PM

Av 29

7:38 PM

7:48 PM

Tu B’Av Together @10:00am see page 34

Elul 5

Av 28

Next BJH Issue

Av 21

Tu B’Av Together @7:30pm see page 34

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Tech

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Baltimore Technology Triumphs

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Real Estate Clients from the One Above

reaking into the real estate agent market in Baltimore was tricky. I worked hard to make the necessary marketing choices to promote my business. Slowly, but surely, I began to get clients. Several months ago, I started to feel uncomfortable with using Instagram as an advertising strategy. I found myself checking it more often than necessary, and I didn’t like where it was taking me. With a surge of inspiration, I deleted my Instagram account and with one click lost that free advertising opportunity. Suddenly, and I am not exagger-

ating, my business exploded. New clients were calling and my business soared, Baruch Hashem. The message could not have been clearer- business comes from the One Above and not from any advertising venues. Did You Know? Although iPhones and iPads have a reputation of being foolproof, this is somewhat of a myth, as there are quite a few loopholes and workarounds. Using the Apple restrictions to filter the browser (‘limit adult content’) is not ideal, as you are relying on Apple to decide what it considers ‘adult

content’. You can, however, set up a whitelist, a listing of the select sites that you can access from this device. Also, when there are system updates, previous settings can become dated and result in gaps in your protection. GenTech offers a free profile that closes many of the potential issues resulting from upgrades. It can be installed by TAG to run in addition to the Apple restrictions. To share a tech triumph or story of chizuk, please email Techtriumphs@tagbaltimore. org or call 410-449-1824 and

choose option 5. This is a service of TAG Baltimore. TAG Baltimore is an organization that provides technology awareness, education, and support. They can be reached at 410-449-1824 or help@ tagbaltimore.org.

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Parenting Pearls

Appreciating Hashem’s Gifts By Sara Rayvych, MSEd

y daughters have been doing incredible activities at Camp Revach, and I’m continuously amazed at the creativity involved each day. This past week, my daughter tossed a posterboard on the table, and the bright colors caught my eye. Taking a closer look, I saw a thin sheet of reflective material surrounded by post-it notes, each with my daughter’s gentle handwriting on it. The title proudly declared, “Hashem gave me the talent of,” with each little paper naming a different gift that she thought of to appreciate. I will admit I was very impressed. The girls had spent the past few weeks focusing on the gifts that Hashem gave them, appreciating who they are as they looked into their reflection on the posterboard. Too often we don’t take the time to acknowledge our talents. When we do, we may fail to recognize their divine source. Each of our children have unique abilities, strengths, and gifts. As their parents, we want to do our utmost to help them recognize, appreciate, and improve upon what Hashem has already given them.

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Appreciating Gifts Hashem gave each of us – young and old – gifts in the form of our talents and capabilities. It only seems appropriate that we make the effort to recognize, and thereby appreciate, those very gifts. Rather than deny or ignore our unique strengths, we need to encourage and promote our talents. These talents may seem big or they may seem small, but they’re all gifts. I was happy to see my daughter’s post-it notes contained a variety of strengths, particularly those that are easy to ignore. Being able to soothe the boo-boos of a younger sibling is certainly a talent, as are making others laugh and being handy around the house. We may not see these as anything special but not everyone can connect to others easily or fix anything that breaks at home. We know our children best, and we can help them appreciate all the different parts that make them special. Even seemingly ordinary activities should be appreciated. Not every kid has the patience with a child at the park, the skills to bake a cake,

the many gifts Hashem gives could lead to greater humility and gratitude towards the True Source. When reflecting on the gifts Hashem has given us, how can we be anything but appreciative and humbled? The Creator of the World has given us something unique! What a shame it would be if we didn’t gift our children the ability to see their talents and accomplishments from their appropriate Source.

Encourage Further Growth

or the writing ability to create funny stories. When we see our children doing these activities, they should learn to appreciate what they can do rather than take it for granted. Our children may take what they do for granted but that doesn’t mean we should. We can express pride in their accomplishments and encourage them further. Children are very impressionable and sensitive to their parent’s opinions. When they see how we value all the different facets of their talents, they will too. The goal is for them to appreciate who they are and further use those gifts.

A Different Criteria The outside world may have a more limited view of what is considered special and unique. While the world may only appreciate the opera-level singer, we can value someone with a pleasant voice during leining or leading davening. Even without a professional music career, being able to inspire others during davening is a true gift. Some consider a professional artist to be one whose portraits hang in celebrated art galleries. The simple yet engaging drawings that bring the parsha to life for a youngster are no less important. One of my sons only started to love parsha once we found the correct illustrations that appealed to him. Those drawings may not win

an artistic award, but their creator has certainly earned a higher trophy. A well written d’var Torah may never win a literary award, but it can truly inspire others and make them think. We have a different set of criteria for how we judge accomplishment and that should be reflected in our goals for our children and our appreciation for what they achieve.

Appreciate The Source There is one Source for everything, and talent is no exception. Everything we have comes from Hashem and it’s our obligation to use them in His service. There is no place for conceited feelings because we owe Hashem for all we have, not our own privileges. We understand the importance of humility and acting with anivus is a treasured middah. It only makes sense that we’d avoid anything that could breed the opposite feelings in our children. Moshe was called “anav mikol adam”; it’s often noted that Moshe clearly realized who he was yet was still an anav. Not only was Moshe called an “anav” in the Torah, but the Torah says “mikol adam.” Being an anav doesn’t necessitate denying who we are. Therefore, acknowledging our gifts from Hashem doesn’t need to lead to conceit. One could even argue that recognizing

Talents should be enjoyed and developed. When we recognize a gift our child has, we should try to encourage our child to improve that area. There are many ways to encourage our children to enhance their natural talent. Our son showed a strong interest in leining after his bar mitzvah. Baruch Hashem, we were given the name of someone who could help him finetune his skill, and he’s been successfully leining for years. What could have remained dormant without extra training became a source of nachas and further personal growth. Professional lessons can be helpful but are not always affordable or available. Depending on the talent, there may be many options other than expensive classes. It may involve research and networking to discover those resources, but there are usually many options. Most importantly, we tend to underappreciate the impression parental encouragement can make on a child. Just by showing we value their skills and want them to pursue them further can be enough of a strong push in the right direction. Each of our children are in this world to fulfill their specific divine mission. Hashem gave them those special capabilities that we can help nurture, bringing them one step closer to creating the eternal impact that only they can. Sara Rayvych, MSEd, has her master’s in general and special education. She has been homeschooling for over 10 years in Far Rockaway. She can be contacted at RayvychHomeschool@ gmail.com.

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The Miracle of Jewish Survival

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he Navi Yeshayah calls out, “Your heart will muse in dread, ‘Where is the one who counts? Where is the one who weighs? Where is one who counts [all these] towers?’” (Yeshayah 33:18). Where can one locate the scribe, where can one locate the analyst? Who can possibly describe the full extent of the pain, the overwhelming burdens of suffering, the bottomless grief, that has been brought upon our people? Are there words? Are there expressions that can capture the tragic saga of our history? The answer is no. There are no words. To borrow the phrase from the Vidui on Yom Kippur, “What can we say … what can we tell?”

Burned at the Stake

June 30, 1680, marked the celebration of the marriage of King Charles II of Spain and his French bride, Marie Louise d’Orléans. This most historic marriage merited fabulous festivities. A magnificent auto-da-fé was held in Madrid, with victims gathered from Inquisition tribunals all across Spain. A seventeen-year-old girl, Francisca Negueyra, was one of the eighteen Marranos

condemned to die at this event. As was the custom, the mournful procession of terrified victims and “holy” clergymen snaked its way through the city streets past great multitudes of joyous onlookers. The procession entered the main city square, where pyres had been prepared for the executions. The king and queen were joined by hundreds of dignitaries, who were seated all around the public square. Suddenly, the voice of the young girl rang out, loud and clear, breaking the eerie silence. “Have mercy, Madame Queen! How can I renounce the faith that I drank in with my mother’s milk?” The young girl’s cries could have pierced a heart of stone. But there was no response at all from the Catholic majesties. They sat on their thrones impassively. The ceremony proceeded. King Charles II took the oath to annihilate the enemies of the church and to always provide any needed aid to the Inquisition. A lit torch was then placed in his hand, and he ignited the pyre with his own hand. The king and queen remained seated as the flames rose up, engulfing the entire wood structure, their hearts

The Warsaw Ghetto in the Words of My Grandfather

We Know Not Why

Can we dare ask why? Why did this happen? Why was one-third of European Jewry murdered by the German people, while the entire civilized world stood by mutely? I am not prepared to give reasons, to offer explanations as to why this happened. But if you are searching for meaning, looking for something that we can take out of the Holocaust, then I have something important to tell you.

Searching for Meaning

Hashem Saved Each One of Us!

Where was the Ribbono Shel Olam during the Holocaust? Where was G-d? I will tell you where: He was at the threshold, at the doorway of the gas chamber, and He miraculously pulled my grandfather out. But then a very simple thought occurred to me. It wasn’t only my grandfather whom Hashem pulled out of that gas chamber. Had the Ribbono Shel Olam not saved him, I would not be here today. I would simply not exist. Hashem rescued my grandfather from the gas chamber, and in doing so He also rescued my father, myself, and my children. Hashem saved us all. The Ribbono Shel Olam wanted us. He must have wanted us. And, if you are reading this, then Hashem rescued you, too! Hashem has been looking out for you for a very long time. People say that if they would only witness a miracle, then that would really boost their belief, that would really fortify their emunah. “If I could only have seen the splitting of the Red Sea!” You want to see a miracle? Look a rou nd you r shul, around your community — look at the faces of the Jews around you. A living Jew in 2021 is the greatest miracle you’ll ever see.

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I would share a very personal thought that I have been feeling since I read this article, a feeling that intensified in the weeks leading up to Tishah B’Av. But first I would like to share one more story — a chilling incident that my grandfather recorded. My grandfather writes: From Radom we were transported to Dachau, the emek habachah, the valley of weeping, of the German malach hamaves. Killings every day, total humiliation in the eyes of the Germans, who derived the greatest pleasure and joy from the spectacle. My dear brother Henoch and I were kicked and chased to the entrance to the gas chambers. At the doorstep of the beis hasereifah, the house of burning, where tens of thousands were choking and feeIing the most shocking convulsions, my brother told me that he wanted to ask for some water. I responded that it is better without water, so that death will relieve us of our pains sooner. We were mere inches and moments away from the next world. But then a Heavenly miracle occurred. Standing there, as we were, at the threshold of death, an SS officer appeared. He grabbed us and remarked in a commanding voice, “You are capable of work!” He

dragged us away. This Godly wonder will remain seared in our memories forever.

AUGUST 4, 2022

I read an article written by a Holocaust survivor in the book, Theological and Halakhic Reflections on the Holocaust.1 This article gives a vivid firsthand account of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. It was written by a great Rav and tzaddik, my grandfather, HaRav Mordechai Leib Glatstein. In this article, he writes: I am the man who has seen the afflictions of my people. I am a victim, and I am the witness. I saw the Warsaw Ghetto with thousands of skeletons extending their bony arms as if begging for mercy and life. I saw the Warsaw Ghetto, littered with corpses, their faces distorted and swollen, their eyes wide open, skulls crushed. There was blood everywhere, the blood of our children, of our brothers and sisters, of our fathers and mothers. No imagination, no matter how daring, could conceive of anything we have seen and lived through. No language has been created that can describe the enormity of the Holocaust and the slaughter of European Jewry. I subsequently discovered another article my grandfather had written, published in Dos Yiddishe Vort, Adar I, 5757. He writes about the indescribable spiritual heroism of these kedoshim. It is the deepest desire of the Jew — not only to live holy, but also to die holy. David HaMelech declares, “Al zos yispallel kol chassid eilecha l’eis mitzo.” For this very pious person prays in time of need to ultimately be zocheh to kevuras Yisrael, to be interred among fellow Jews. May the Ribbono Shel Olam never forget Rav Yitzchak Zev Kanal, Hy”d, the senior Rav of Warsaw and the vice-chairman of the Vaad HaRabbanim in Poland. While standing among others in the “gathering place,” he attempted to wrestle the weapon out of the hands of one of the guards, which was a clear act of suicide, in order to be shot on the spot and thus be zocheh to kever Yisrael. We were hauled to the forced-labor camp of Bedzin, where we labored under the most brutal conditions. During the bitter winter, in the darkness of the early mornings and despite the freezing temperatures, we had to perform backbreaking labor under the threat of constant whippings. What gave us the mysterious strength, the endurance to live, to breathe, to carry on? “Had Your Torah not been my preoccupation, then I would have perished in my affliction.” We would stand together with our dear, unforgettable friends,

the great brothers Itche Meir and Avrum’che Ziemba, together with the well-known Rabbanim of Warsaw, Rav Dovid Shapiro and Rav Shimshon Sztokhamer z”l, and with many other Torah scholars with whom we were able to have discourses in Torah during the dismal nights. During the galus nights, the Gemara, the Talmud Bavli, that these precious Jews remembered and were able to recite from memory served as a ner tamid, an eternal light that provided illumination to their gloomy and demoralized hearts, giving them hope for a future. My grandfather writes further: The aftermath of the uprising. The Gehenna of Gehennas. On that day when we first saw men, women, and children being led into the house of death, I shed bitter tears of despair. We suffered most when we looked at the children, accompanied by their mothers or walking alone. Within a few minutes, their lives were snuffed out. The shouts of the women, the weeping of the children, the cries of despair and misery begging for mercy, for God’s vengeance, still ring in my ears to this very day. “O God of vengeance, Hashem, O God of vengeance, appear! Arise, O Judge of the earth, render recompense to the haughty.”

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cold as stone. They sat, eager spectators, as Francisca and the other seventeen Marranos, including a sixtyyear-old widow, her two daughters, and her son-in-law, were entirely consumed by the flames and their bodies reduced to ash. This is our history. This is the story of our travails. We sit on the floor and mourn, but we are at a loss for words. We have trouble expressing ourselves. We feel like Yirmiyah HaNavi, who lamented, “If only my head would be water and my eyes a spring of tears so that I could cry all day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Yirmiyah 8:23).

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44 If you only knew how the Ribbono Shel Olam has been looking out for you! Over thirty-three hundred years ago, our grandparents were in Mitzrayim, where eighty percent of our nation perished. Yet, Hashem preserved our ancestors so that we could be here today. At the time of the destruction of the first Beis HaMikdash, the death toll was enormous. But the Ribbono Shel Olam wanted you, He wanted me, He wanted us to be here today. Hashem made sure that we made it through Churban Bayis Rishon. The number of people who died at Churban Bayis Sheini was similarly staggering. Josephus writes that the number of people who perished or who died by the sword was one million, one hundred thousand. Then, the Romans hunted down every single Jew they could find. But the Ribbono Shel Olam wanted you — so He saved you’re ancestors. Thousands of Jews were massacred during the Crusades, but Hashem wanted you. In 1391, two hundred thousand Jews were forcibly converted in Spain, but Hashem invested in you. Three hundred thousand Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, and tens of thousands were killed. Hashem saved you from the Chmielnicki pogroms so that you can be here today. He has been looking out for you for threethousand-three hundred years. Your immediate ancestor was rescued from the horrors of the Holocaust. For a Jew to be here today, it is not statistically unlikely.

It is not highly improbable. It is downright impossible. It is an open miracle of the highest proportion. In the introduction to his Siddur Bais Yaakov, Rav Yaakov Emden (who was referred to as a Navi by the Chasam Sofer) writes, “How can the heretic in G-d’s Providence not be ashamed? Simply analyze our situation in this world. We are the exiled people, the scattered sheep. Despite all that has happened to us over thousands of years, we are still here. I swear that when I marvel at this wonder, it is much greater to me than all the miracles that Hashem performed for our ancestors in Egypt, in the desert, and In Eretz Yisrael.”

Tishah B’Av commemorates the greatest miracle of all: the miracle of Jewish survival and eternity! If Rav Yaakov Emden was astonished by the wonder of a Jew in the eighteenth century, can we even begin to imagine what he would say about the miraculous nature of a Jew in 2021! He may say it is a neis she’ein kol malach u’berya yecholim l’sha’er — a miracle that no angel or being could comprehend.

The Greatest Miracle Ever

Think about it. The greatest miracle in the history of the world: Hashem performed it for you. Because the Ribbono Shel Olam wants you. He wants your tefillos. He wants your Torah. He wants your mitzvos. He has so much invested in you. Throughout the history of the universe, there is nothing that Hashem has invested Himself in more than in the existence of each and every Jew. The Ribbono Shel Olam saved you from Egypt, from the Churban Bayis Rishon, from the Churban Bayis Sheini, from the Crusades, from the Inquisition, from pogroms, from the gas chambers — performing miracle after miracle just so you can be here. Perhaps this can explain why Tishah B’Av is referred to as a Yom Tov. Yirmiyah HaNavi writes, “He [Hashem] proclaimed a moed against me” (Eichah 1:15); Tishah B’Av is a Moed. This actually has halachic ramifications as the Shulchan Aruch codifies that we do not recite Tachanun at Minchah on Erev Tishah B’Av as it is considered a Moed. How can Tishah B’Av be considered in any fashion a yom tov? According to the comments of R’ Yaakov Emden, we are privileged to understand a great treasure. Just as Pesach commemorates the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt and Sukkos commemorates the miracle of the Ananei HaKavod, Tishah B’Av commemorates the greatest miracle of all: the miracle of Jewish survival and eternity!

We Can Bring Mashiach

More so than any previous generation, we can honestly cry out to the Ribbono Shel Olam, “Ahavah rabbah ahavtanu, Hashem Elokeinu, With a great love You have loved us, Hashem, our G-d! Chemlah gedolah v’yeseirah chamalta aleinu, With exceedingly abundant compassion, You have had mercy on us.” And perhaps we can be so daring and bold to suggest the following idea. The Chofetz Chaim raises a question that we often ponder: How in the world can our generation hope to bring Mashiach if the prior generations, who were on such lofty spiritual levels, were unable to do so? The generation of Moshe Rabbeinu could not bring the Geulah. The generation of David HaMelech couldn’t do it. The Neviim, the Tannaim, the Amoraim, and the Geonim couldn’t. Neither could Rashi, the Rambam, or the Vilna Gaon. Yet somehow, we, who are paupers, spiritually impoverished — yasmei d’yasmei — orphaned from Torah knowledge, are expected to bring Mashiach!? If they couldn’t do it, can we be the ones to do it? Can we be so daring to say, Yes! We do have the koach, we do have the power! Because never has a Jew had more value in the eyes of the Ribbono Shel Olam than a Jew living today. Do you know how much Hashem has invested in us? Do you know how many miracles Hashem had to perform so that we can be here today? Why us? We don’t know why. But for the last three-thousand-three hundred years, the Ribbono Shel Olam has been looking out for us. He wants YOU! He wants YOUR Torah! He wants YOUR mitzvos! He wants YOUR tefillin! He wants YOU to cry out to Him to bring Mashiach! For the last 3,300 years, Hashem has been investing in YOU! While we sit on the floor and mourn, as we cry out as we recall the tragedies of our histories, our hearts are ennobled, our hearts are aflame, because our generation has been entrusted with the most important job in history: to bring the Geulah Sheleimah. May this Tishah B’Av bring the end to all Jewish suffering, b’vias goel tzedek, bimheirah veyameinu, with the coming of Mashiach, speedily in our days, Amen. 1 Edited by Bernhard H. Rosenberg, coedited by Fred Heuman; K’tav Publishing House, 1992.

This article has been excerpted from Rabbi Glatstein’s sefer, From Darkness to Dawn, published by ArtScroll/ Mesorah.

Rabbi Daniel Glatstein is the Mara D’asra of Kehilas Tiferes Mordechai in Cedarhurst, NY, and author of numerous seforim in Lashon Hakodesh and in English for ArtScroll. He is an international lecturer and maggid shiur. His thousands of recorded shiurim are available on Torahanytime.com, podcast, his website rabbidg.com, and other venues. Rabbi Glatstein is currently running a campaign to build a new international learning center in Cedarhurst called Machon Maggid Harakiah. Go to Charidy.com/mmh for more information.

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Points to Ponder How to Master the Credit Card Points Game By DeBra ehrenBerg

ou have definitely heard about them. It seems like everyone uses them. And you want to better understand what they are. Credit card points seem like the hot topic around town. Personally, they have afforded me and my family the opportunity to travel across the country, to Israel, and various places in between. They have also afforded me and my family the opportunity to stay in hotels that we would probably never have had the opportunity to stay at. This article will aim to give you an introduction as to what credit card points are, how to utilize them, and how to build up your credit card point portfolio to maximize your point benefits. Before we begin, I would like to make a disclaimer: I am not a registered financial advisor, nor do I play one on TV. This article is not intended to provide any sort of financial advice. Anything presented is from my own research and learning. On this note, I would like to thank Dan Eleff of “Dans Deals,” who runs a fabulous website and forum where he shares deals and delves into the ins and outs of credit card points. Much of my knowledge comes from reading through his posts and then playing the “points game.” I also would like to offer a word of caution. According to Dan Ellef, “The credit card points system is partially funded by the millions of users who do not pay their credit card in full when the bill is due. It is very enticing, and the credit card companies make it all too easy to fall into the trap of debt and then paying huge interest to the banks.” If you may fall prey to this, I recommend paying for things in cash. You can go to sleep at night knowing that you are not in credit card debt. Any gain in the “points

game” will be negated by the interest payments to the bank. However, if you stay on top of your game, aside from earning rewards, you can take advantage of many credit card benefits, such as return protection, extended warranty, car rental insurance, and much more. Assuming you can stay on top of your spending and pay your credit card bills in full and on time, then it’s time to take a dive into the benefits of credit card points. Credit card points are basically currency that banks issue to credit card holders based on spending. Different credit cards offer different “currency.” Firstly, there are cash back cards, which are a good way to get 2% back on all your purchases with no annual fee. This is a solid option, but often one can do better. The second type of card is an airline/hotel credit card that offers points in the form of the specific airline/hotel. The downside of these cards is that the points are locked to just one brand. However, many hotel cards offer a free night (within certain parameters) with the annual fee card. Additionally, almost all airlines offer one free piece of luggage for the cardholder and a certain number of companions with their annual fee card. This can be a wise option for someone who travels frequently on a specific airline. The third type of card is a transferable point-currency card. These are cards that allow you to earn points and use your points in a variety of ways, including using points towards bill payments, redeeming for travel, and even transferring points to other reward programs. Like many things in life, with a little patience and wisdom, one can build their credit card portfolio to include cards from each category to reap the most benefits. I suggest keeping a basic spreadsheet containing infor-

mation such as: credit card type, date opened, sign-on bonus, spending category bonuses, card benefits, and date closed in order to stay organized. There are a few ways to earn points from your credit card. The first is through a sign-on bonus. A sign-on bonus is basically a large chunk of points that will be issued to your account once you meet the terms of the credit card, typically in the form of spending a certain amount of money within a certain timeframe. Once you reach the spending threshold, then the bank will issue you the sign-on bonus and the points are added to your account. This is often the quickest and most “lucrative” way to earn points. The second way to earn points is by everyday spending. In order to reap the most benefits in this category, I suggest that you make a note of which credit card to use for what spending. Different credit cards earn different points at various venues. For example, certain cards earn 2X points at restaurants, others earn 3X points for travel, while another earns 5X points at office supply stores. One can really do well by using the “right” credit card for specific spending. A third way to earn points is by referring friends for specific cards. Some credit cards have a refer-a-friend offer, where you can earn a bonus if your friend applies for and is approved for that credit card using your referral link. I will now answer the question that many of you probably have had from the get-go. Doesn’t opening (and closing) multiple credit cards hurt one’s credit score? The answer is, not really. As delineated on Dansdeals.com, your credit score is broken down as follows: -Payment History: 35%. Pay your bills on time and this category should be easy. -Amount Owed: 30%. This measures your credit uti-

but rather, to give them a head start in building up their credit score. Assuming that you are approved for a credit card, it is important to keep in mind that Chase has a 5/24 rule. What this means is that they will typically only approve you for their cards if you have been approved for fewer than 5 consumer cards from any bank in the past 24 months. That means you’ll want to start getting Chase cards before moving onto other card opportunities. You can see how many cards you have been approved for within the past 24 months by checking your credit at annualcreditreport.com, the federally authorized site for annual free credit reports. If there are any mistakes on your credit report you should dispute them immediately by contacting the three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and Transunion.

You may want to close a card so that you can reapply for that card in order to earn the sign-on bonus.

Debra Ehrenberg is available for consult regarding specific card referrals, benefits, and utilization and can be reached via email at pointstoponder111@gmail.com.

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Another application rule to keep in mind is that AMEX will typically only award a sign-on bonus once per lifetime, though reports are that you can get another bonus after about 6-7 years. A popup will come up after you submit an application asking if you want to proceed without earning the welcome bonus, if you don’t qualify for the bonus. Another item to consider when applying for or closing a credit card is if there is an annual fee. Typically, cards with more benefits will carry an annual fee. The bottom line consideration is this: Is the annual fee worth the benefits that the card carries? There are cards with high annual fees that offer excellent benefits and therefore may be worth keeping open. There may be other cards with smaller annual fees, but the card’s benefits aren’t all that great. If you apply for a card and are approved, and after receiving the sign-on bonus decide that you do not want to keep the card open, you can contact the credit card company to close the account. Please always ensure that you will not lose the points that you have gained. It is almost always prudent to keep a no-fee card opened in each specific bank or branded card for a place to “dump” your points. Additionally, it never hurts to ask the representative if they are willing to waive the annual fee or if there is a promotion, as you are considering closing the account. Many

times, I have had this offer made and therefore have kept the card in question open for an additional year. An additional reason that you may want to close a card is so that you can reapply for that card in order to earn the sign-on bonus. As mentioned above, however, AMEX typically offers sign- on bonuses once-per-lifetime. However, Chase has different timeframes for different cards regarding the ability to earn sign-on bonuses. You can successfully close a card, then wait the required time, and reapply for the card. This is called “churning cards,” and it can prove point-lucrative. Most banks offer both consumer cards as well as business cards. Business cards do not count towards Chase’s 5/24 rule. However previous cards opened count when applying for a business card through Chase. Meaning, the 5/24 rule is considered when applying for a business card. If you have a business or side business and want to keep track of spending, you can apply to open a card using your name as the business. Just be sure to select “sole proprietorship” as the business type and use your social security numbers as the Tax ID. Regarding which cards may be right and provide you with the most benefit, I suggest looking through the various Chase and AMEX cards to get a feel for what is out there. The website creditcards.com allows you to sort through credit card offers based on various filters (travel, cash back, credit score, etc.). The options may seem overwhelming at first, but don’t let that deter you. Check out the card benefits, sign-on bonuses, and annual fees. Keep in mind the 5/24 rule when applying for cards and consider whether business cards may be right for you. Always stay on top of your cards, and you too can play the “points game.”

AUGUST 4, 2022

lization ratio. The more money you spend, the higher your utilization ratio will be, which lowers your score. The more total credit you have available, the lower your utilization ratio will be, which raises your score. So the more accounts and credit that you have, the better your score will be here. -Length of credit history: 15%. This takes into account your oldest account. The older, the better. It’s important to note that even if you close an account, it stays on your record for about 10 years after you cancel the card. So even if you close an account, you won’t hurt yourself in this category until 10 years down the line when the account falls off of your credit report. By that time, you should have other older cards that will keep your average account age high enough not to adversely affect your score. -New Credit: 10%. This takes into account credit inquiries and new accounts, which can lower your score temporarily. These fall off your report after about two years and most banks only look at the number of inquiries you have within the past six months. In the shortterm, you may see your score drop when you apply for a card due to this category and the average age of your accounts, but in the long-run having more cards will raise your score, as they improve your payment history (35%) and credit utilization (30%) and eventually the age of your account, which continue to grow older even after you cancel the card. -Types of Credit Used: 10%. This has little to do with the opening and closing of accounts but factors whether you have other accounts like retail accounts, auto loans, a mortgage, etc. The more varied your portfolio, the higher your score. When you consider the above, opening new cards only will impact your credit score under the New Credit (10%) consideration. And even so, it is a temporary effect. However, keep in mind that closing a credit card will negatively impact your credit utilization ratio. I would also warn against closing a credit card within 12 months of opening, as it may trigger speculation by the bank. So why not open multiple credit cards and keep them open? Why are we even talking about potentially closing them? What benefit, if any, does closing cards have? First off, you must get approved for each card. Different credit cards require different credit scores. There are steps one can take to build up their credit score. You can start off by becoming an authorized user on a relative’s card. Ensure, though, that this card is being used responsibly and that the bill is paid in full. That should give you a credit boost. From there, you should be able to get approved for a store-branded card, which are easier to obtain. Once you have built up your credit, you can then begin to build up your Chase and American Express (AMEX) portfolios. While there are other bank-issued cards, I will focus on these two for this article. Just as an example, my 19-year-old son was approved for a Chase student card, which is a nice option for students, and a few months after that, he was approved for a Chase card that required excellent credit. I will mention that he was an authorized user of credit cards in both my and my husband’s name since he was 16 and therefore had a solid credit history. I would encourage parents of teens to consider adding their children as authorized users to one of their credit cards, not to promote frivolous spending,

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Mental Health Corner

AUGUST 4, 2022

A Brief Addiction Glossary

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By Rabbi Azriel Hauptman The disease of addiction is one of the greatest challenges of our generation. Addictions can cause untold harm to relationships, livelihoods, and health and is sometimes fatal. One of the ways that we can be proactive in the fight against addiction is to educate ourselves about the nature of this dreadful disease. One of the prerequisites of learning about addiction is to familiarize ourselves in the language that we use in describing many aspects of addiction. Therefore, in this article we are presenting a brief glossary in alphabetical order of some common addiction terminologies. Addiction: Addiction is a brain-related disease characterized by compulsive seeking of the addictive substance or behavior despite negative and destructive consequences. Addictions develop from substances or be-

haviors that were (and may continue to be) pleasurable. Comorbidity: Two disorders are considered comorbid when they are occurring in a person at the same time. Addiction is commonly comorbid with other disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Compulsivity: Compulsive behaviors are actions that one does to diminish negative feelings. In addictions, it is a result of cravings, as one feels compelled to do his addiction to quiet the persistent cravings. Compulsions have applications in other areas, such is in OCD where one engages in compulsive behaviors to diminish the obsessive and intrusive thoughts. Craving: Craving is the strong and often irresistible urge to consume a substance or engage in a behavior. Dependence: Dependence is a

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condition where a person will suffer withdrawal symptoms upon cessation of using a certain substance or engaging in a certain behavior. Dependence does not always involve an addiction. For example, certain medical conditions require taking steroid medication. The medication is not addictive, but a person can become dependent and suffer from acute symptoms unless the medication is slowly tapered off. With addictive substances or behaviors, dependence is often a precursor for an addiction. Sometimes, the physical dependence is so strong that stopping “cold-turkey” can be life threatening, such as with alcohol or opioid dependence. Medical Detoxification (“Detox”): As mentioned earlier, when one is dependent on a substance, stopping the use of the substance can be dangerous. Medical detoxification refers to the medical supervision that is vital in safely managing the symptoms of withdrawal. Detoxification is not a comprehensive treatment for the disease of addiction, but it is the first step. Impulsivity: When one acts quickly and does not think through the pros and cons of engaging in a specific behavior, he or she is acting impulsively. This is sometimes a factor in the early development of an addiction, as one does not foresee future consequences. Overdose: An overdose occurs when one ingests enough of a substance that it produces a life threatening response. Overdoses are usually accidental. Opioids, such as heroin, fentanyl, and prescription pain relievers, are the most common cause of death from overdose. In the United States, more than 130 people die every day from an opioid overdose. Recovery: Recovery is very different than a cure. It is commonly accepted that there is no cure for the disease of addiction. This means that one cannot forget about the addiction and make believe as if it never happened, as there is always a risk of relapse. Recovery describes a situation where one’s life has returned to a normal and healthy state. Addicts will describe

themselves as being “in recovery” even if they have not used in decades. This important terminology is a strong reminder that if one wants to avoid relapse, one must be proactive in maintaining emotional and mental wellbeing. Relapse: In addictions, relapse refers to a return to using after having stopped for some time. Relapse is common in addictions, and comprehensive addiction treatments contain components for dealing with relapses. Reward: Reward is the term we use in addictions to refer to the pleasurable feelings that one experienced from the substance or behavior that ultimately led to the development of an addiction. Self-Medicating: When one suffers from the effects of depression, anxiety, or trauma one might engage in addictive substances or behaviors in order to lessen the negative effects of these disorders. Self-medicating often leads to an addiction. When competent physicians prescribe medications, they are careful to avoid any type of medicinal use that would lead to an addiction. Tolerance: When someone has the disease of addiction, the cravings compel you to engage in the addictive behavior or substance. When you reach tolerance, then a higher amount of the substance or behavior is required in order to achieve the desired effect. Tolerance leads to the escalation of the addiction and can be a risk factor for overdosing. Withdrawal: Withdrawal refers to the symptoms one experiences when the addiction is stopped or reduced. Withdrawal symptoms can be emotional, such as stress, anxiety, and depression, or physical, such as nausea, vomiting, muscle aches, and cramping. 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

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One Summer Later How the Riots in Lod Shattered an Israeli Mindset by MiriaM Sara Leff

“T

hey were Jews in need of help. Of course, I went.” Akiva’s fierce answer was in response to my question of why he chose to go to Lod to protect the endangered Jews there one year ago. He told me, simply, that he had no choice. He could not sit back on his living room couch and watch what was happening on television. Not that he has television. Akiva Hacohen is religious, married, and a father of nine. He lives in the Shomron in the small agricultural town of Yitzhar. Last summer, he was one of hundreds who heard what was happening in Lod and dropped everything, choosing to wade through fire – literally – to save his brothers.

Now, it’s one year later. So much has changed on so many levels since the riots of last year. Lod feels like a different city now. Arab and Jewish relations all over Israel have been radically impacted. The Israeli psyche has subtly shifted.

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amat Eshkol was the center of the Lod riots in the summer of 2021. It was a warzone. But not a war with invading armies; this war was waged by homegrown terrorists. Israeli Arabs hurled huge blocks of stones from rooftops down on the Jews below. They shot fireworks and live ammunition. They tossed Molotov cocktails at Jews, cars, trash cans – anything that would catch a blaze. They destroyed equipment belonging to the law enforcement and to the

en days before the riots began, on April 30th of last year, Hamas leader Yechye Sinwar called upon his brethren in Lod, Ramla, and Jaffa to fight against Zionist occupation. Sinwar urged those who didn’t have guns to use axes, and those who didn’t have axes to use knives. Sinwar’s chilling speech was significant because, for the first time, big, established cities in the heartland of Israel were identified as “occupied” by Hamas, and thus, targets for liberation. Hamas’ declared goal was no longer Israel’s recession to the 1948 armistice lines or the destruction of outposts built on hilltops; the declared goal was the destruction of the entire State of Israel. The soldiers he called upon to fight were not the usual Palestinian Hamas terrorists: he called for Israeli Arabs, those Arabs who are Israeli citizens, who can vote, get free health care and schooling from the State of Israel, and share the other benefits of Israeli citizenships. And these Arab citizens of Israel responded to his call. The riots began on May 10, 2021, a Monday, Yom Yerushalayim: a national holiday celebrating the unification of Jerusalem and the liberation of the Temple Mount in 1967. Jews, young and old alike, march through the Old City, waving Israeli flags and singing.

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efore the riots, Arab-Jewish relations in Lod used to be good: Jews and Arabs lived in the same apartment buildings. They would borrow milk from each other for a morning cup of coffee. Arab and Jewish children played together in the city soccer league, and both Arab and Jewish husbands sat together on the pavement at sunset, exchanging stories and cracking seeds in true Israeli fashion (or smoking the hookah, Middle-Eastern style). Lod used to be the symbol of what the rest of Israel should aspire to become: a picture-perfect co-existence, sometimes distant but always amicable. Lod has always been a poor, immigrant city. The ratio of Jews to Arabs in Lod is roughly 70:30. The exception is one neighborhood, Ramat Eshkol, where the ratio is reversed (30:70 Jews to Arabs). Twenty-five years ago, a Garin Torani decided to move to Lod. Literally meaning “Seed of Torah,” a Garin Torani is a movement of Jewish religious families, typically centered around a yeshiva, that moves to cities or towns with a low socioeconomic demographic. Their aim is to strengthen Jews’ ties with Judaism, connect between religious and non-religious Jews, and promote socioeconomic growth. Thirteen years later, inspired by the first Garin’s success, another Garin Torani moved to Lod, this time specifically to the neighborhood of Ramat Eshkol. There, relations with the Arabs were much cooler than in other neighborhoods. In Ramat Eshkol, Jewish kids never played with Arab kids or went to the same after-school activities. Jews and Arabs did not borrow or lend to each other; they did not mingle or converse. Only the polite “good-morning/good-evening” nod. Still, it was peaceful.

municipality. They smashed windshields with rocks. They broke into private Jewish homes and ransacked them. They set fire to Jewish schools and a museum. They burned synagogues. Students in a pre-army yeshiva were caught in the flames and struggled to rescue books from the Beit Midrash. They managed to escape with the Torah scrolls. Many Gemaras and other holy books burned in that furnace. The Israeli Arabs ruled the streets with terror. Police and first responders were ordered not to enter the neighborhood. When frantic Jews called the police to beg for help, saying that a barrage of stone-throwers were outside their apartment building just waiting for a Jew to emerge so they could stone him to death, they were told that the area was considered too dangerous for the police to enter. When other Jews called the fire department, reporting that their friendly Arab neighbor had pointed out to the mob which cars were owned by Jews and that all the Jewish-owned cars were aflame, they were politely informed that Ramat Eshkol was currently too dangerous for the fire department to enter. Magen David Adom gave wounded callers the same response. Those who did come to the rescue of the Jews of Ramat Eshkol were hundreds of other Jews from all over Israel. Akiva was one of them.

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The sweet dream of coexistence which Lod embodied was smashed with the first rock thrown at a windshield.

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This march, known as the Dance of the Flags, has been a tradition for the past 54 years. Needless to say, Arabs view it as an act of Zionist aggression. Last year, on Yom Yerushalayim, Hamas issued an ultimatum: The Dance of the Flags must not enter, or even approach, the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, or else. As it turned out, the “or else” were three rockets fired in quick succession at Jerusalem. Arabs in Jerusalem began rioting. That afternoon, the Imam of Lod (an Arab religious leader, equivalent to a rabbi of a city) spoke at length in the Lod mosque. In his tirade, the Imam spoke about the Zionist occupation of Al-Aqsa, the mosque built on the Temple Mount. He urged the Arabs to fight for their honor. The Israeli Arabs in Lod heard his call and began attacking Jews and destroying Jewish property.

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kiva heard about the riots on the second day. He sent a shout-out to various WhatsApp groups, asking who was willing to go to Ramat Eshkol with him. Hundreds responded to his message. Akiva told them there was no need for such a massive force; it was the second day of the riots by now, police were probably reacting, there was nothing much to do. He wanted only twenty-five men. He realized just how very wrong he was when he and his men approached Ramat Eshkol. Even from afar, they could hear shouts of the Arab mob and smell smoke from the fires. They were stopped by a makeshift police barricade right at the neighborhood entrance. The chief of police was there, together with the then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The chief of police told Akiva and his friends to go home; everything was under control. It was useless to argue. Akiva and his friends moved

away, trying to come up with ideas how to bypass the barricade. A Jewish resident of Lod, Shlomo, found Akiva’s group. Shlomo lived in a quieter neighborhood at a distance from Ramat Eshkol, but when he heard what was happening, he and some of his Jewish friends gathered together to help. They had not yet formulated a cohesive plan of action, particularly since none of them possessed firearms, but they all knew they had to do something for the Jews of Ramat Eshkol. They were so relieved to meet Akiva’s group. The Lod group guided the Shomron group through alleyways to bypass the police barricade. Another policeman tried to stop them. They found a way around him. In Ramot Eshkol, they saw a group of twenty Arabs running towards a synagogue, trying to set it on fire. It was the only synagogue to which police assigned protection, but the four policemen on duty there were not allowed to step foot outside the building. They stood helplessly within the fence while they were pelted with rocks, dirt, sticks – anything the Arabs found to throw at them. Akiva and the men ran towards the Arabs, and the mob instantly dispersed. He and his men continued chasing them. Since none of the Jews of Ramat Eshkol had adequate security training, Akiva set up a makeshift command and control center in one of the abandoned Jewish homes. Of seventy families, only fifteen chose to remain in Ramat Eshkol during those six days. The rest were escorted out by groups of Jewish men. Sentries occupied their now-empty homes, both to protect them from looting and to report back to headquarters what was happening in the streets. Police were present only in three locations in Ramat Eshkol: that one synagogue, a school which had been burned down the night before, and a small police station. When the police patrol drove from the station to the synagogue to bring the four policemen there

food, they were so scared they requested that Akiva’s men escort them. On the third night of terror, a Jewish man was shot. The ambulance refused to enter Ramat Eshkol. Akiva ran through the spray of bullets to rescue him, and then Akiva and his men half-dragged, half-carried the wounded man all the way to the neighborhood’s entrance, all the while under a rain of fire. The violence continued all through Shabbat. Only this Shabbat, Akiva and others like him did not return home to a peaceful table but, instead, continued to save Jewish lives and property. In neighborhoods outside Ramat Eshkol, Jews were afraid to leave their homes. The riots had not yet touched them, but they knew that some of their neighbors, perhaps most of them, were part of the mob trying to murder the Jews of Ramat Eshkol. Night after night, as Hamas fired hundreds of missiles from Gaza, these Jews shared communal bomb shelters with their Arab neighbors. “It was surreal,” Eliana, an activist in the Garin of Lod (not Ramat Eshkol), said. She described to me how, on the first night the rockets were flying, she was running to the bomb shelter with her children while her Arab neighbor stood on her porch with her family, all clapping their hands and shouting gleefully, “Allah-u akbar” (G-d is great – the Muslim battle cry in Israel). Many of the Arabs of Lod seemed oblivious to the danger they themselves were facing from the rockets, delighting instead by the destruction and fear they were witnessing in their Jewish neighbors. In Ramat Eshkol, the Arabs were too busy wreaking havoc to seek shelter from the missiles. During those days of rocket attacks and riots, Jews like Akiva and Shlomo continued to help their fellow Jews. Jews in the Garin Torani like Eliana reached out to secular Jews who were not a part of the Garin, checking in with them to ensure that they were safe and had food. In event that they needed provisions or wanted to be evacuated, Jewish sentries would arrive to help. When, finally, after six intense days, the police entered Ramat Eshkol, and they worked together with Akiva’s and Shlomo’s groups to bring quiet to the neighborhood.

omparisons to the horrific Hebron riots of 1929, Kristallnacht, and Kishinev, are, of course, inaccurate, but the fact that those were the images conjured by the Israeli public and media indicates the

that where the Jews have been hit hard – that’s where they will rebuild, and then from there build even more. Arabs and Jews hardly look at each other anymore. Eliana mentioned that she’s not exactly afraid, just wary. Shlomo, who is her husband, got a gun. For Akiva, the riots are not a story of the past but a warning for the future. He has founded an organization called “Arei Israel,” The Cities of Israel, a non-profit which trains city Jews to protect themselves. Just this week, a Jewish apartment complex in the Old City of Jerusalem was attacked three days running. The third day, one apartment caught fire. Akiva drove that evening all the way from Yitzhar to teach those Jews how to create their own command center and fight back. “Once Israeli-Arabs decided they are capable of being enemies of the Jews, no place in Israel is safe,” Akiva explained. “We work with the police, but Lod taught us that we need to know how to work without them, too. Arei Israel is where the real mission lies.” There is one other thing the riots have taught us: Jewish unity triumphs. It surpasses every government,

including our own. It cares nothing for political correctness, scandals, and public outrage – and believe me, as an Israeli, I saw plenty of all that coming both from within Israel and from without – as Jews who protected the Jewish residents of Lod were maligned and condemned for their independent actions. Bottom line: we’re here for each other: Akiva, Shlomo, Eliana, and those countless others who, even had I known their names I could not fit them all into this article; Jews who came for five minutes and Jews who stayed for the entire duration of the riots; those who rebuilt the Jewish homes of Ramat Eshkol stick by stick; all these brave people embody the true Jewish spirit. These are Jews who feel responsible for their brothers. Jews who protect each other.

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feelings of utter fear, shock, and betrayal. Worst yet, just like during those pogroms, the government did nothing to help the residents of Ramat Eshkol while the riots were ongoing. What happened in Lod last summer destroyed the feelings of security Israeli Jews felt. No longer were there “good Arabs” – those who are citizens – and “bad Arabs” – those who are affiliated with Hamas in Yehuda and Shomron. The former, most Israelis typically ignore until something horrible happens. But now, no longer was Israel’s number one enemy safely in Gaza trying to infiltrate. The enemy was, shockingly, within us. Though there were larger cities in which mobs of Arabs wreaked havoc, including Jaffa, Ramle, and Haifa, Lod has become the symbol of last summer’s riots. In Lod, the extent of the violence was colossal and in stark contrast to the serenity that used to be. The sweet dream of coexistence which Lod embodied was smashed with the first rock thrown at a windshield. Another, deeply painful realization for Israelis was that unlike Kishinev or Kristallnacht or Hebron, this government that did nothing was not Russian, German, or British; it was our government.

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Sinwar urged those who didn’t have guns to use axes and those who didn’t have axes to use knives.

Special thanks to Akiva Hacohen and Eliana Lachyani for sharing their experiences. To learn more about Arei Israel visit: www.ail.org.il. To contact Eliana directly for information on the Garin Torani’s projects in Lod, email: eliana@lodaim.co.il.

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nce upon a time, Lod symbolized Jewish learning and growth. The ancient city of Lod is where Rabbi Akiva watched the water drip-drip into the rock and made the astounding discovery that he, too, could learn the sacred truths of Torah. However, by the beginning of the 20th century, Lod (or Lud in Arabic) was mostly an Arab city. In 1947, the UN designated Lod to be a part of the Arab territories. When the fighting broke out shortly after, Haganah forces succeeded in conquering Lod and many of its Arab residents fled. Those Arabs who remained were resettled in the twin city of Ramle. Lod became home to Jewish refugees from African, Arab, and Eastern European countries. Over time, Israeli Arabs slowly moved back and, before last year’s riots, lived tranquilly with their neighbors. Today, Lod symbolizes to Jews a feeling of deep betrayal and the shtetl-old fear of pogroms. To Arabs, Lod symbolizes the goalpost for their next conquest. Living in Lod has become as Zionistic as living on a hilltop. Over the past year, 60 new Jewish families have moved in. New projects, schools, and synagogues are being constantly built. Eliana told me

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54 1. *

TJH Shark Trivia 1. The fastest shark is the Mako. How many miles per hour can it move? a. 14 b. 35 c. 50 d. 90 2. How many bones does a shark have? a. 0 b. 32 c. 70 d. 1,040 3. What is a group of sharks called? a. A flotilla b. A school c. A shoal d. A trove 4. Approximately how many species of sharks have been discovered to date?

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Centerfold a. b. c. d.

35 440 2,500 40,000

d. Stock brokers

5. What is the life expectancy of Greenland sharks? a. 40-50 years b. 70-100 years c. 100-150 years d. 250-500 years 6. Approximately how many teeth can a shark grow and lose during its lifetime? a. 24 b. 500 c. 10,000 d. 30,000 7. What is the largest shark species? a. Great White sharks b. Whale sharks c. Blue Fin sharks

8. Who produced the Baby Shark song which has over 11 billion views on YouTube? a. Disney b. Pinkfong! c. Fisher Price d. Shark Tank Answers: 1-C 2-A 3-C 4-B 5-D 6-D 7-B 8-B Wisdom key 7-8 correct: You are Fin-tastic! 4-6 correct: Not bad, but I’m looking for excellence, so I’m out! 0-3 correct: Pinkfong! You probably need to watch Baby Shark another 2.7 million times

Riddle Me This

Question: What do you call a fish with no legs?

Question: What do you call a fish with no eyes?

Answer: A fish.

Answer: Fsh.

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August Crossword Puzzle

August Crossword Puzzle Down 1

1. “I have a …” 2. A man of many tricks, including staying in a box underwater for an hour

2 3

4. FDR was stricken with this disease

7. Began in Massachusetts as an exRevolutionary led an armed mob 8. This machine was patented in 1859. It simply goes up and down.

9 10 11

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5. Sales that remind us how fast summer flies by

10. Something many of us do on Sundays in August 12. Nixon’s middle name 13. Proclamation announcing freedom of slaves

Across 3. President born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4 6. Francis Scott Key wrote this iconic song 9. The first atomic bomb was dropped over the center of this city

14. Ends in August, leaving many with nothing to do for weeks on end 15. Official flower of August 16. This pitcher was so good, an

award was even named after him 17. This president signed into law the first Federal income tax, a 3 percent tax on incomes over $800, as an emergency wartime measure

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11. Games played in August every several years

Answers DOWN: 1 Dream; 2 Houdini; 4 Polio; 5 Backtoschool; 7 Shaysrebellion; 8 Elevator; 10 Barbeques; 12 Milhouse; 13 Emancipation. ACROSS: 3 BarackObama; 6 StarSpangledBanner; 9 Hiroshima; 11 Olympics; 14 Camp; 15 Gladiolus; 16 CyYoung; 17 AbrahamLincoln

Notable Quotes “Say What?!”

What really wounded me — what really wounded me — was when the Duke of Sussex addressed the United Nations and seemed to compare the decision whose name may not be spoken with the Russian attack on Ukraine.

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– Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the decision reversing Roe v. Wade, at a conference in Italy mocking Prince Harry’s criticism of him at a recent U.N. speech

I had the honor this term of writing, I think, the only Supreme Court decision in the history of that institution that has been lambasted by a whole string of foreign leaders who felt perfectly fine commenting on American law. - Ibid

I won the second time. I did much better the second time. We may just have to do it again. - Former President Donald Trump at the Young America’s Foundation Conference in Washington, D.C.

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Think about Israel and the Gulf states and what is developing there. Think about the fact that you could actually be at a place where the Arabs end the state of war against Israel, really end it. And why? Not because they’ve learned to love the Jewish democratic State of Israel, but because the smarter of them have realized that in order to modernize their own economies and not be completely dependent on oil, that they’re going to have to deal with the 800-pound gorilla on technology in the region, and that’s Israel.

I don’t know that the president and I differ on issues, but we may differ on focus. I truly do believe that elections are about the future and that it’s absolutely essential, at a time when so many Americans are hurting, so many families are struggling, that we don’t give way to the temptation to look back.

- Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the Aspen Security Forum

- Former Vice President Mike Pence, while speaking at the same conference, several hours before Trump

When my predecessor got Covid, he had to get helicoptered to Walter Reed Medical Center. He was severely ill. Thankfully, he recovered. When I got Covid, I worked from upstairs.

Biden: Let’s continue to send billions of dollars in foreign aid to Ukraine, they need it!

- Pres. Joe Biden, after recovering from Covid, before he quickly contracted it again

Nobody’s gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately, and they should have, as to the maniacs that did that horrible thing. – Former President Donald Trump responding to criticism from 9/11 families for hosting the LIV gold tournament, which is backed by Saudi money even though 19 of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia

Reality: The Zelensky family graces us with a photo shoot to be on the cover of Vogue magazine Tweet by Rep. Mayra Flores (R-TX) after Ukrainian Pres. Zelensky and his wife sat for a Vogue photoshoot with Ann Leibowitz

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AUGUST 4, 2022

And we’ve been told it’s a pretty awesome one.

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We look at brandS from a different point of view.

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Are the hosts of “The View” really interested in hearing from Governor DeSantis about all of the important work he is doing on behalf of Floridians to protect their health and livelihoods, to stand up for parents and children, and to defend freedom? Which of the below statements from the hosts of “The View” do you recommend our team consider when deciding if the interview will be a genuine pursuit of the truth? Or worth the time? - Response by Florida Gov. DeSantis’s communications team, in response to an interview request from “The View,” containing a list of quotes from the hosts of the show calling DeSantis a fascist and a racist

JetBlue has officially announced that it will buy Spirit Airlines for $3.8 billion. Yeah, $3.8 billion. Yeah. What’s crazy is that Spirit still charged them $30 for a carry-on bag. — Trevor Noah

But, I mean, this is a smart move for JetBlue. You know, a lot of people are confused. They’re like, “Why?” But it makes sense. As a business, you want to diversify, you know? Think about it — why just be an airline when you can be both an airline and a flying Porta-Potty? — Ibid.

That’s right, over the weekend, President Biden returned to isolation after once again testing positive for Covid in what his doctor called a rebound case. Right now, Biden’s looking on the bright side. He’s like, “Well, at least my Covid got a second term.” — Jimmy Fallon

That’s right, the virus came back so fast, staffers didn’t even have time to take down the “Get well soon” balloons.” — Ibid

Yes. JetBlue and Spirit, it’s the perfect marriage between broken TVs and broken planes.

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— Jimmy Fallon

The United States, for its part, has been attempting to use Taiwan to contain China. It constantly distorts, obscures, and hollows out the “One China” principle, steps up its official exchanges with Taiwan, and emboldens “Taiwan independence” separatist activities. These moves, like playing with fire, are extremely dangerous. Those who play with fire will perish by it. - Statement by China’s foreign ministry after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan over China’s objection

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I have respect for Joe Biden. I think he has — despite some mistakes and missteps, despite his age — I think he’s a man of decency, of good principle, of compassion, of empathy, and of strength. But to answer your question directly, which I know is quite rare, no, I don’t. - Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) when asked in an interview if he would back a Biden 2024 run

That’s great...most people think I’m Jewish anyway. Most of my friends are Jewish. I have all these awards from the synagogues. They love me in Israel.

The problem may be that the Biden economy boomed *too much*, feeding inflation, and that it now needs to cool off, which may involve a recession (but hasn’t yet). - Tweet by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman

He shot my arm off! – An armed suspect heard screaming on a surveillance video after he tried holding up a California alcohol store with a machine gun and was shot by the 80-year-old owner

AUGUST 4, 2022

- Jared Kushner, writing in his pending memoir what Trump said to him when he informed him that Ivanka was planning on converting to Judaism in advance of their marriage

Renovations - Additions - New Construction - Outdoor Living

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Our team is proficient in all architectural styles, from french country to ultra-modern and everything in between.

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Forgotten Her es

Turning the Tide By Avi Heiligman

U.S. marines charging ashore

he first six months of the American involvement in World War II were mostly defeats. In the Pacific Theater, the Japanese were conquering territory and were bearing down on Australia. The sea power started to shift in June 1942 with the American naval victory at Midway that saw four powerful aircraft carriers sunk in a matter of hours. Back on American soil, many citizens signed up to fight, and the American production facilities started to churn out tanks, guns, ships, and other supplies in quantities that couldn’t be matched by any other superpower. Finally, in August 1942, the American high command was ready to launch a ground attack. The island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands was chosen, and it marked the transition from a defensive war to an offensive campaign that the Japanese could not stop. A month before the American invasion, the Japanese occupied the Solomon Islands. In addition to the ground troops, Japanese construction workers were sent to Guadalcanal to construct a new airfield from which airstrikes could be launched at American and other Allied bases in the South Pacific. American planners quickly came up with an invasion plan called Operation Watchtower. Although the Japanese had intelligence as to an upcoming landing, they guessed wrong as to the location.

Eleven-thousand marines from the 1st Marine Division under Major General Alexander Vandergrift landed on Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942 and soon captured the airfield. Named Henderson Field in memory of marine pilot Lofton Henderson who was killed during the Battle of Midway, the airfield was ready for action on August 18. On August 9, the Battle of Savo Is-

U.S. marines walking back to other Solomon Island bases

tack the Allied landing and cargo ships filled with troops and supplies bound for Guadalcanal. However, the marines on shore were left without being resupplied and reinforced. The Battle of the Tenaru, one of the fiercest engagements on Guadalcanal, took place on August 21, 1942. The fight, sometimes called the Battle of the Ilu River or the Battle of Alligator Creek,

Even though he couldn’t see, Schmid picked up the gun and Diamond directed the fire upon the sniper’s position, silencing the enemy.

land took place, resulting in one of the worst losses for the U.S. Navy during the war. Three American cruisers and one Australian cruiser were sunk and three other ships were damaged when the Allied force was caught off guard. After sinking the cruisers, the Japanese commander decided to withdraw his ships without realizing the Americans had withdrawn their carrier fleet. The Japanese missed the opportunity to at-

was the first major land offensive by the Japanese on Guadalcanal. Three-thousand marines of the 1st Marine Regiment under the command of Colonel Clifton B. Cates dug in and were facing 900 elite Japanese soldiers under Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki. Cates sent the 1st and 2nd Battalions along Alligator Creek and waited for Ichiki’s Regiment. Ichiki himself was not expecting the marines to be that far from Henderson Field and sent 100 men

across a sandbar which was promptly cut down by machine gun and cannon fire. Soon the fighting became so close that hand-to-hand combat ensued in some of the defense emplacements. Another wave of Japanese solders failed to penetrate the American lines, but Ichiki refused to retreat. Across the Ilu River, Jewish Corporal LeRoy Diamond and his crew from Company H manned a .30 caliber water-cooled hand-fed machine gun and heard the Japanese yell “Banzai” as they made the suicidal charge. One of Diamond’s men was killed, and a marine machine gun nest was put out of action. Soon it was just Diamond and Private Schmid left to defend their positions. Schmid took over the firing position while Diamond fed the bullets into the gun. Diamond was forced to stop loading the machine gun when he was hit by a bullet in the arm. Only Schmid was left to load the gun, and Diamond pointed out targets. The battle had been raging for four hours when a Japanese soldier tossed a grenade into the machine gun nest blinding Schmid and wounding Diamond’s arm and hands again. They were almost helpless when a sniper started shooting at them in the predawn light. Even though he couldn’t see, Schmid picked up the gun and Diamond directed the fire upon the sniper’s position,

U.S. Marine Al Schmid receiving the Navy Cross

ment, the marines under his command successfully defended Henderson Field from a regiment-sized Japanese attack. The Japanese-coordinated attack came in waves throughout the night but was met with stiff American resistance led by Puller. By February 9, 1943, all of Japanese remaining forces had been evacuated, and the island was securely in American hands. In all, 60,000 American marines and soldiers defeated a Japanese force of 36,000 men.

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

AUGUST 4, 2022

positions defending the around Henderson Field. Edson was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that resulted in the attack being repulsed. Marine legend Lieutenant Colonel Chesty Puller was on the front lines with his battalion along the Matanikau River when they were cut off by a larger Japanese force. He called in naval fire support while a group of landing craft rescued the trapped marines. Puller received the Bronze Star for his actions during the battle. In another engage-

Chesty Puller's battalion managed to repel Japanese forces throughout the night

Victory came at a heavy cost. Close to 15,000 Americans were killed or wounded, and 29 ships were lost, including two aircraft carriers. Only 10,000 Japanese soldiers were evacuated, and they lost close to 700 aircraft and 38 ships, including an aircraft carrier during the naval campaign of Guadalcanal. American Marines have taken part in some of America’s toughest battles, and the fighting at Guadalcanal was another in their storied history. It was the Americans’ first major land victory of the war with the stage being set for further advances in the south and central Pacific. The victory at Guadalcanal ensured that the Japanese were no longer making unchecked and lopsided invasions. This month marks 80 years since the invasion, and the men who fought for the island are heroes to be remembered.

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silencing the enemy. Private Whitey Jacobs ran through a hail of Japanese bullets to attend to Schmid’s and Diamond’s wounds before evacuating them to the rear. The Marines held the line through the night. Another marine battalion crossed Alligator Creek and counterattacked and cut off the path of retreat for the remaining Japanese. Over 800 enemy soldiers were killed and only fifteen were captured – most of them badly wounded. Marine units inspected Diamond’s machine gun nest and discovered over 200 dead enemy soldiers. Forty-one Americans were killed in the battle. For his actions, Diamond was awarded the Navy Cross. Between August and November, the Japanese made several futile attempts to take Henderson Field. The second Japanese offensive was the Battle of Edson’s Ridge in September 1942. Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi led 6,000 men of the Japanese 35th Infantry Brigade against an American force twice its size under Vandergrift with elite elements fighting under Lieutenant Colonel Merritt Edson. The Raider and parachute battalions had 800 men and withstood a Japanese charge on their

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Dating Dialogue

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

Dear Navidaters,

Hi! Our son is dating a lovely young woman from an out-of-town community, despite us trying to stick to his prospects being in the New York area. Things are going well between them, and they are talking

about engagement soon. We want to meet the girl’s family to first see if we are compatible as a family. We hate to sound shallow, but we’ve heard things that make us think our families would just be too different to even make a wedding together... aside from the fact that the girl usually wants to live where her family is and we want our son to be able to live near us if he wants to. The long-distance aspect of the relationship is throwing us off. What is the panel’s thoughts on

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this? G. & C. Fried

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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The Panel

The Rebbetzin Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz, M.S.

eep your focus on the essentials, Mr. and Mrs. Fried. You say the girl is lovely, and your son and she seem compatible. If her parents are decent, good people, that is what is most important. Arrange to meet them as soon as possible so you can see for yourself and allay your fears. Mechutanim don’t have to become your best friends nor be like you. Your expectations and preferences are just those – expectations and preferences. From your words, it seems that there are cultural and perhaps financial differences between the two families. That’s OK, so long as there are good values and examples in their home and family. Many parents prefer that their children marry kids from their community and they don’t have to “share” the kids with people from beyond their neighborhoods and locations. This is rather short-sighted, in general. While it is easier to find out the good and the bad and be prepared for both in a coming together of families, it doesn’t always work out. What is the best fit for your child, may be a girl from LA, Chicago, Las Vegas, or Detroit. That is what is most important – a good fit and maturity to work out differences in a healthy way. With today’s technology, you can be in touch and close with the kids, even if you don’t visit as often as you may like. While it is understandable that you want to have the couple near you longterm, have some trust in the One Above. And in the future couple. The couple may flourish in another environment. They may ultimately choose to settle out of town where they may make a difference in the Jewish community through their presence and involvement. Lately, many young people are migrating to affordable smaller communities where neither have family, and they develop a strong network there. They find the freedom to make their own choices and develop their own identity as a family,

too. It’s a healthy thing. For the record, I have noticed that many couples who have one member who grew up in the Five Towns end up in the Five Towns when they settle down. It’s a choice they make. They prefer it. With that being said, keep an open mind and don’t put your own preferences first. Get to know the parents of the girl. Become comfortable with the reality and importance of putting your son’s preference first. Let your child choose his partner and trust in their judgment to choose where they will ultimately land up. You want your couples, not just this one, to become a healthy team with independence.

The Shadchan Michelle Mond

You can want to live near your son but that is not always what will happen in the end. On the flip side, Nosson found his bashert Avigayil because his parents sifted through resumes, avoiding all “out of Brooklynites” which eventually led Nosson to his bashert. Either way, Hashem has your back as long as you’re doing enough hishtadlus. Now, to your personal predicament. You don’t think you will connect with the in-laws who are too out-of-town, plus, you want to live near your son. But how do you like this girl? You do not even mention her, aside the fact that she is lovely. This is where you get to exercise your ayin tovah – create opportunities to get to know and love her. Find out what her love language is and give to her in a way she appreciates being given to. Treat her kindly, and she will want to be around you often, perhaps even live near you! After all, what is the alterna-

Children are not here in this world to fulfill our needs or make their major life decisions to please their parents.

tive? Convince your son to break up with the girl he wants to marry because she is not from your daled amos? Your son met this girl in the way he did, for a reason. If they are bashert, you not only want this to work out, but to thrive, without making you a bad guy in their story.

would like to tell you a story. (All names have been changed for privacy.) Mr. and Mrs. Fishstein lived on Avenue Q in Brooklyn. When their only son Nosson started dating, the only prospects they would consider were Brooklyn -ased women. Resumes came swarming in, as they do, from shadchanim all over the U.S. One particular young woman from Monsey sounded lovely, but alas, she lived too far. Eventually, Nosson settled down with Avigail from Brooklyn. Mr. and Mrs. Fishshein excitedly helped the young couple out, even went as far as giving them a down payment for their first house, right down the block! What a perfect arrangement, being right next door to their only son. A few years passed, and Mr. Fishstein, lo alenu, got a diagnosis and the couple quickly learned they would have to relocate to be near a certain hospital that takes care of this particular illness. The couple got up and moved away from their only son and his family. The moral of the story is twofold. Man can plan all he wants, but what is deemed to happen will happen anyways. Sometimes we are thrown surprises that we could never have expected (of course, obviously, good ones are best).

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our letter raises two important issues. First, yes, it is very important for both sets of parents to meet at least once, before the engagement. Perhaps you can invite her parents to a BBQ at

Pulling It All Together The Navidaters

your home or to a dinner in the city. Or, if they can’t make the trip, find an excuse to travel to their city, and while there, invite the girl’s family out to dinner. However, it’s really not important to be “compatible as a family.” You do want to check for really bad red flags or issues, but it’s perfectly OK for the families to be different. It’s perfectly OK for Ashkenazim to marry Sephardim, for chassidim to marry Litvaks, for descendants of Holocaust survivors to marry fourth-generation Americans, and for Democrats to marry Republicans. Different? Not important. What is important is for the mechutanim to work together and plan the wedding, and then, afterwards, to enjoy each other’s company at future simchas. That’s all. Second, of course you’d be very happy for your children and grandchildren to live close to you. But, they should choose to live where they think it will be best for their happiness, not yours. Perhaps it will depend on where they get accepted to graduate school. Perhaps it will depend on where they get great job offers. Perhaps they will want to go on aliyah. I’d like to share a poem written by Erma Bombeck:

You’ll miss having front row seats if you’re too busy looking everywhere else but the stage.

“Ch i ld r en A r e L i ke K ite s” You s p e n d ye ar s t r y in g to get them o ff the ground. You run with them until you are both breathless. They crash ... they hit the roof ... you patch, comfort, and assure them that someday they will fly. F i n a l l y, they are a i rb o r n e . They need more st r ing, and you keep let t ing it out. They tug, and with each twist of the twine, there is sadness that goes with joy. The kite becomes more distant, and you know it won’t be long before that beautiful creature will snap the lifeline that binds you together and will soar as meant to soar ... free and alone. Only then do you know that you have done your job.

AUGUST 4, 2022

ear Mr. and Mrs. Fried, Meeting a family before an engagement is always crucial to ensure there are no red flags and concerns. Additionally, it’s important to develop a relationship with your potential in-laws as your family expands. However, it sounds like your son’s blessing (in meeting his soul mate) has appeared to you as an inconvenience, due to the long-distance aspect. Regardless of what you prefer, you cannot guarantee the details of your preferences since Hashem is in charge of your plan. Rather, in a world overflowing with older singles, divorce, unhappy marriages, widows, etc. learn to appreciate what you have. Get drunk off the excitement that your son may have found his soul mate, while many are still searching. Sometimes comfort

can cause a lack of clarity since there is little contrast between what you want and don’t have. If G-d decided your son’s bashert lives out-of-town, there’s really nothing you can do about it. Take a step back and focus on the magnitude of what’s taking place. It’s one of the most beautiful miracles in this world, and you’ll miss having front row seats if you’re too busy looking everywhere else but the stage.

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The Single

Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

stand up woman who will treat your son well for the rest of his life, I think you may want to be fully supportive of his decision. How might you feel taking away the woman he wants to marry because of the inconveniences and hardship it may pose to you? How would he feel

about you? While you have many reasonable concerns, and most definitely it is imperative to meet the family for reasons the panelists presented, it is unreasonable, in my opinion, to stop an adult child from marrying a good person who loves him. As painful as it is, children are not here in this world to fulfill our needs or make their major life decisions

to please their parents. They are here to find their own paths, hopefully one with values instilled from home…. But truly as parents, the hardest part is letting go and allowing them to fly. We have to do our own work at times (on ourselves) to allow this to happen. Wishing you all the best! Jennifer

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

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hank you for writing into the panel! Your concerns are valid. You wonder where your son will live as well as if his family will be a good fit with yours. You didn’t have an out-of-town girl in mind for your family because of the real challenges it may present. As difficult as your son marrying an out-of-town girl may prove to be, if your son has found his bashert, a lovely

AUGUST 4, 2022

Your

Money

Careful What You Wish For

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By Allan Rolnick, CPA

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n July 4, 1776, a determined group of colonists clinging to the shore of a harsh new world declared independence from the political bonds connecting them to the British Crown. The colonists cited all sorts of injuries and usurpations to justify their revolutionary decision: the King had plundered their seas, ravaged their coasts, burned their towns, and destroyed their lives, blah, blah, blah. But the real non-negotiable that we remember today is that the King had imposed taxes on the colonies without their consent. Every schoolkid can tell you what happened at the Boston Tea Party. History nerds can go on to tell you about the Stamp Act. (Those are the kids who go on to write the future laws in Washington.) But just how bad were those British taxes that pushed us out of Britain’s arms? It turns out that if the Founding Fathers could see what the government they launched 246 years ago is charging for citizenship today, they would revolt all over again. Colonial levies included property taxes, poll taxes on men over 18, excise taxes, and occasional forced labor for projects like roadbuilding. (You thought “Infrastructure Week” was something new?) As

war drew near in 1775, those taxes were skimming off just 1-2% of the colonies’ economy. But taxes were devouring 20% of the economy back home, and the Kingdom was steadily ramping up pressure on us to cover what they couldn’t afford themselves. The Sugar Act of 1764 was designed specifically to extract revenue, not just encourage trade. And the Stamp

to make the point that they were still in charge. Unfortunately, by that point, the colonies had had their fill of second-class citizenship and were ready for a taste of independence. Today our federal, state, and local governments have imposed a jury-rigged superstructure of taxes on income, sales, payrolls, and inheritances that gobbles

Just imagine how Benjamin Franklin – in many ways, the Elon Musk of his day – would react to today’s taxes on his electricity, his newspapers, and his real estate fortune.

Act of 1765 was the first direct tax on the colonies, as opposed to the usual tax on imports or exports. Colonial leaders were fine with paying tariffs but drew the line at direct taxation without representation. Parliament got the hint – they repealed the Stamp Act in 1767 and nixed a slew of import duties in 1770. But they kept the tax on tea

roughly 25.5% of our economy. Just imagine how Benjamin Franklin – in many ways, the Elon Musk of his day – would react to today’s taxes on his electricity, his newspapers, and his real estate fortune. How much happier do you think he would be with the knowledge that at least we voted ourselves into this mess? One thing still hasn’t changed since

the shot heard ‘round the world that launched the battles of Lexington and Concord. We still chafe at that whole “without representation” thing. In 2009, Congressional Democrats, acting without a single Republican vote, passed the Affordable Care Act and hacked off half the country who thought they should have a say in remaking 17% of our GNP. Eight years later, it was the Republicans’ turn, acting without a single Democratic vote to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and hacking off the other half who thought they should have a say in how we pay our bills. July 4th is traditionally our day for celebrating our evolving, imperfect American democracy. April 15th is the day we pay for it. But both of those are stand-ins for year-round responsibilities. This summer, keep in mind that the real lesson of independence was demanding a say in how much we pay. And, as always, you don’t have to start a revolution to pay less. Just 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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Articles inside

Forgotten Heroes

Your Money

Notable Quotes

in Lod Shattered an Israeli Mindset

the Credit Card Points Game

Tech Triumphs

613 Seconds

Rabbi Zvi Teichman

Parenting Pearls

My Israel Home

The Miracle of Jewish Survival

Mental Health