Dear Readers,

This Sunday is Visiting Day for many camps and that means that many of us will be loading up the car and making the trek upstate for the day. I, for one, like going up for Visiting Day. I enjoy seeing the “country” at least once a summer. It brings back fond memories of summers long ago. And truthfully, when you go upstate, you realize that although things have changed, so much has really stayed the same. You can point to the old farmer’s market or the pizza shop where you used to eat Thursday night dinners as a kid. Perhaps the grocery stores have become bigger and sleeker, but they’re still there, with freeze pops and sodas for purchase along with meat boards and sushi.

Seeing how some people go upstate and live in small, cramped, dilapidated structures for two months with their whole families – and love it! – is great for kids who can’t fathom the concept. As we drive by those bungalow colonies, I show them the women sitting around in a circle, the bikes thrown on the grass, the laundry hanging on the porches. It’s a lesson in the beauty of simplicity, of enjoying nature, of spending time together with only the basics. Although I can’t imagine myself doing that now, I can appreciate it and understand the pull that draws people back year after year.

Seeing the kids in their camps, well, that’s priceless. You’re able to see the fields where they spend their days, the lakes where they swim and row. Meeting their friends and their counselors is also a treat. By walking on the grounds and meeting the staff, you get a sense of the atmosphere that permeates the camp each day.

I know that, for some parents, Visiting Day is hard. It’s a long drive. It’s a long day. There’s traffic. There’s not much to do except go out to eat or go shopping – and then there are more lines and traffic to deal with. But I think that we need to focus on the smiles on our kids’ faces when they see us on that day. We need to focus on the excitement they have when they introduce us to their counselors and show us around their bunks. We need to pay attention to the joy they have when they walk us around campus.

For them, it’s their home away from home for quite a few weeks. They want to share that amazing experience with us.

Wishing you a wonderful week, Shoshana

Yitzy Halpern,

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Shabbos Zemanim

Friday, July 7 Parshas Pinchas

Candle Lighting: 8:10 pm

Shabbos Ends: 9:18 pm

Rabbeinu Tam: 9:41 pm

Dear Editor, I recently went to visit my mother and wondered why I was going. Was it the inherent gratitude I felt for her lifetime of support? Was it to cheer up her day? But then I focused on the recent parshiot and realized I’m going because G-d commanded it as part of respecting one’s parents. To highlight how logic is dangerous to our faith, the mekoshesh eitzim, the gatherer of wood, had the best of intentions to desecrate Shabbos to illustrate to klal Yisroel the severity of Shabbos observance. In doing so, he also destroyed the future of the Jewish people who had the potential to hold two consecutive Shabbosim in a row which would have welcomed Moshiach. It’s better to just follow the commandments.

Steven Genack

Dear Editor, Sometimes, life presents you an opportunity to try a challenge bigger than your imagination.

On a cloudy day in January, I found myself in one of the most beautiful forests in the USA, Yosemite National Park. At the end of the parking lot was the road to Mariposa Grove. It was about a two-mile uphill walk in a slushy mix of soft snow and ice patches.

My brother, sister-in-law, a friend, and I exited the car. My brother pointed to the road and said that we would walk uphill to see the giant sequoias. I was ready to abandon the idea. But, I was the youngest of four senior citizens in our group, and everyone was excited to do this arduous hike. My brother handed me my supplies – an apple, water bottle and a walking stick and said, “Try it out. You can always turn back in the middle.” Was he joking?

The temperature was in the mid-30s; comfortable enough for being outdoors with a parka and ski cap. The mainly forested road blocked most of the wind coming up the valley. Whenever there was a clearing, the wind would go down my parka and chill my bones for a few seconds. Even with the walking stick, I slipped often. The slope was a continuous unforgiving uphill almost the entire way, and I had to pause frequently to catch my breath.

After about an hour of hiking, I made it to the top of the mountain. Mariposa is home to some of California’s famous sequoias. When I arrived, I finally understood why I was able to overcome my own fears. The sequoia stands as the Earth’s tallest and oldest tree. It averages 350 ft. tall, 30 feet in diameter, and lives for close to 3,000 years. The sequoia was my encouragement to challenge myself to accomplish what the Navi Yeshaya hinted –“You shall thresh mountains to dust and make hills like chaff.” As a sequoia, every challenge begins with a seedling and an array of challenges and possible discouragements along the way. But, if you learn to stand tall as a sequoia, you can overcome your own fears and accomplish feats that even you don’t think you could accomplish.

I admire those climbers that come to Yosemite to climb its iconic cliff, El Capitan, using ropes and spikes. But, on a cold day in January, I became my own El Capitan with a walking stick, water and half an apple.

Daniel Feldman

Continued on page 10

Continued from page 8

Demand for fairness in any context raises awareness of an alleged unequal reality. Irrespective of the authenticity of the allegation, one party in the situation feels unjust treatment. In such a situation, it raises a question: should feeling define reality? The consequences of answering that question are quite significant. However, while one deals with that dilemma, one should consider another angle. Someone feeling unjust treatment feels defensive and most of the time, the immediate response will be foolish and wrong. Such a response to “unjust” situations comes from a place to “get back” at the other party. Of course, though, rational people agree that “getting back” in the heat of a moment is foolish. The “getting back” mindset in the heat of a moment is obviously wrong; it definitely is wrong and foolish when done after the heat of the moment.

The Supreme Court last week ruled that the decades-old practice of affirmative action is unconstitutional. Affirmative action was a practice, specifically in universities, where institutions would factor a person’s race into qualifications for acceptance into university. The rationale behind the policy was as a result of slavery, the educational level of blacks was inferior. Therefore, considering the unjust treatment that they were dealt with, their victimized race should receive equal results in return. Morally, from a standpoint of emotions, the policy was understandable. Practically, though, the practice did not make sense. Setting exterior racial quotas for any institution that requires actual qualifications defeats the purpose of the qualifications! A university that instills education, knowledge, and a way to process and apply logic requires students who not only desire education but also are qualified for the institution. If a person does not fit in a place because of his unnurtured and low-quality academic levels, irrespective of the reason, that person does not belong in that institution. Putting people in environments that go beyond the respectable desire of “challenging” is wrong and self-defeating. Would not putting low-tiered academic students in a college that is on their level, or is even somewhat “challenging,” produce better results? Instead, black Americans have been taught to feel entitled.

The once lofty goal of treating people equally has now turned into an expectation of receiving equal outcomes. Blacks receiving favored results in college, jobs, income, housing, etc., are all examples of racism. Racism against white Americans is as much racist as it is against blacks or any other race. Appointing people in positions of power because of race or any other external factor is simply going to the other extreme. The past of widespread racism against blacks should never lead to the current racist society against whites. Making the assumption that every person with lighter skin has something called “privilege” or labeling people white supremacists while supporting black supremacists is hateful and racist.

Racism is bad no matter to whom. The automatic assumption of unequal results in different areas as proof of “systematic racism” is false and hateful. Giving extra money to black farmers, as Joe Biden’s administration did, is systematic racism against whites. Though we aren’t living in the Jim Crow era, we are living in the George Floyd era of racism against whites. A color-blind society is the only way forward toward a more equal future because society’s existence depends on it.

Sincerely,

Donny Simcha Guttman

France Racked by Riots

ried from a mosque to the cemetery. His grandmother urged outraged protesters to be peaceful, and his mother said that she doesn’t blame the police as a whole, but rather just the one officer who, in her words, “saw an Arab face, a little kid, and wanted to take his life.”

“I have friends who are officers,” Mounia, the boy’s mother, said. “They’re with me wholeheartedly.”

ET Phones Home

Violent protests erupted in France after the death of Nahel Merzouk, a seventeen-year-old French Muslim boy, who was shot by a police officer for not stopping his car during a traffic safety check.

The incident happened on the morning of Tuesday, June 27, in Nanterre, a district in Paris. The victim was driving a yellow Mercedes with two passengers in the car. Merzouk was shot in the chest and died. The vehicle kept moving until it collided with a utility pole.

Traffic stops are conducted routinely by French police in order to keep the public safe from terrorism, crime, and other dangers. According to reports, Merzouk tried to avoid the police check because he did not yet have his license due to his young age. He did not have a criminal record, despite past run-ins with the authorities for driving with fake plates or no plates at all.

The policeman who shot the boy is in custody and has initially been charged with voluntary homicide.

Thirteen people last year and three people this year were killed by French police for not stopping for traffic checks.

In response to the incident and ensuing riots, French President Emmanuel Macron pushed off his planned visit to Germany, explaining to German President Frank-Walter that “given the internal security situation … he wishes to stay in France over the coming day,” according to Macron’s staff.

Since the boy’s death, approximately 2,800 protesters have been arrested. On the fifth night of riots, the Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that the night was more peaceful than the nights that came before it, as 45,000 police officials had been sent to handle the conflict.

On Saturday, Nahel Merzouk’s funeral took place; his white coffin was car-

For 63 days, the Mars Ingenuity helicopter was quiet. Last week, it phoned home.

The little chopper took to the skies on April 26 for its 52 nd flight but lost contact with mission controllers before landing — creating a months-long communications blackout.

But on June 28, the Ingenuity finally got in touch with those back on Earth, relieving any potential concerns about the safety and whereabouts of the first aircraft on another world.

The flight was intended to reposition the helicopter and capture images of the Martian surface.

The mission team anticipated that radio silence might occur. That’s because Ingenuity communicates with mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, by relaying all messages through the Perseverance rover. When Ingenuity took off for flight 52, a hill presented an obstacle blocking the helicopter and rover from communicating with each other.

“The portion of Jezero Crater the rover and helicopter are currently exploring has a lot of rugged terrain, which makes communications dropouts more likely,” said Josh Anderson, the Ingenuity team lead at JPL, in a statement.

While the two robots make for a dynamic duo that can investigate Mars from the surface and its atmosphere in search of signs of ancient life, it’s difficult for them to stick close together.

Ingenuity began as a technology demonstration to test if a small rotorcraft could fly on Mars. After surpassing all expectations across five successful flights in the spring of 2021, Ingenuity transitioned to become an aerial scout, flying ahead of the Perseverance rover and plotting out safe and scientifically interesting pathways for the rover’s exploration.

Sometimes, Ingenuity is off exploring and taking images of sites that the rover may not reach for weeks.

Finally, after many days, the Perseverance went over the hill that was obstructing communication, and communication was able to resume. Data captured during its 139-second-long flight spanning 1,191 feet (363 meters) on April 26 was able to be beamed towards Earth.

Brazil Bars Bolsonaro from Office

Brazilian election officials on Friday blocked former President Jair Bolsonaro from seeking public office until 2030, removing a top contender from the next presidential contest and dealing a significant blow to the country’s far-right movement.

Brazil’s electoral court ruled that Bolsonaro had violated Brazil’s election laws when, less than three months before last year’s vote, he called diplomats to the presidential palace and made baseless claims that the nation’s voting systems were likely to be rigged against him.

career as a politician is in jeopardy.

Under the ruling, Bolsonaro, 68, will next be able to run for president in 2030, when he is 75. The next presidential election is scheduled for 2026.

Bolsonaro said Friday that he was not surprised by the 5-2 decision because the court had always been against him. “Come on. We know that since I took office, they said I was going to carry out a coup,” he told reporters (although he, too, had hinted at that possibility). “This is not democracy.” withdrew.

Bolsonaro appeared to accept his fate, saying Friday that he would focus on campaigning for other right-wing candidates.

Last year, authorities closed most girls’ high schools, barred women from university, and stopped many female Afghan aid staff from working. Many public places including bathhouses, gyms, and parks have been closed to women.

Beauty salons sprung up in Kabul and other Afghan cities in the months after the Taliban were driven from power in late 2001, weeks after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Five of the court’s seven judges agreed that Bolsonaro had abused his power as president when he convened the meeting with diplomats and broadcast it on state television.

“This response will confirm our faith in the democracy,” Alexandre de Moraes, a Supreme Court justice who leads the electoral court, said as he cast his vote against Bolsonaro.

The decision is a sharp and swift rebuke of Bolsonaro and his effort to undermine Brazil’s elections. Just six months ago, Bolsonaro was president of one of the world’s largest democracies. Now his

Yet he is still expected to appeal the ruling to Brazil’s Supreme Court, although that body acted aggressively to rein in his power during his presidency. He has harshly attacked the high court for years, calling some justices “terrorists” and accusing them of trying to sway the vote against him.

Even if an appeal is successful, Bolsonaro would face an additional 15 cases in the electoral court, including accusations that he improperly used public funds to influence the vote and that his campaign ran a coordinated misinformation campaign. Any of those cases could also block him from seeking the presidency. (© The New York Times)

Beauty Salons Banned in Afghanistan

Many remained open after the Islamists returned to power two years ago but with their signs and windows covered, providing some women with jobs and their customers with their services.

In response to Western concerns about women’s rights in the country, the Taliban says it respects women’s rights in accordance with its interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan customs.

Apologizing for Slavery

The Taliban has ordered all beauty salons in Afghanistan to close within a month, the morality ministry said, in the latest shrinking of access to public places for Afghan women.

“The deadline for the closing of beauty parlors for women is one month,” Mohammad Sadiq Akif, a spokesperson for the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue, said on Tuesday.

Foreign governments and UN officials have condemned growing restrictions on women since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 after defeating a U.S.backed government as foreign forces

Over the weekend, Dutch King Willem-Alexander apologized for his country’s role in slavery and asked for forgiveness in a historic speech greeted by cheers at an event to commemorate the anniversary of the abolition of slavery.

Last year, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologized for his country’s role in the slave trade.

In an emotional speech, King Willem-Alexander referred back to that apology as he told a crowd of invited guests and onlookers: “Today, I stand before you. Today, as your King and as a member of the government, I make this apology myself. And I feel the weight of the words in my heart and my soul.”

The king said he has commissioned a study into the exact role of the royal House of Orange-Nassau in slavery in the Netherlands.

“But today, on this day of remembrance, I ask forgiveness for the clear failure to act in the face of this crime against humanity,” he added.

Slavery was abolished in Suriname and the Dutch colonies in the Caribbean on July 1, 1863, but most of the enslaved laborers were forced to continue working on plantations for another 10 years. Saturday’s commemoration and speech mark the start of a year of events to commemorate the 150th anniversary of July 1, 1873.

The Dutch government is establishing a 200 million-euro ($217 million) fund for initiatives that tackle the legacy of slavery in the Netherlands and its former colonies and to improve education about the issue.

That isn’t enough for some in the Netherlands. Two groups, Black Manifesto and The Black Archives, organized a protest march before the king’s speech under the banner “No healing without reparations.”

The Dutch first became involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the late 1500s and became a major trader in the mid-1600s. Eventually, the Dutch West India Company became the largest trans-Atlantic slave trader.

Deadly Myanmar Military Airstrike

Last week, Myanmar’s military dropped bombs on self-governed areas of the country, leading to the deaths of ten people, with many more injured.

Most of the southeast Asian country was forcefully taken over by a rebellion group in February of 2021; its government is currently controlled by the military, making the country junta-led.

In an effort to seize towns that the group is not yet in control of, the junta has repeatedly attacked the desired areas, forcing evacuation and leading to destruction and thousands of deaths since the new government’s inception.

The military, led by general Min Aung Hlaing, has said that it attacks villages that host terrorists. However, Zaw Htet, an administration official opposed to the government, disputes these claims, saying that there were no members of the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) – a resistance group against the government – in the area that was bombed last week.

“They just came and dropped the bombs,” Htet said. “What they did was very inhumane and cruel as if the village was the military target.”

“My house was burned to ashes … nothing left,” one of the survivors, whose five siblings died in the attack, said. “We were farmers … just ordinary people working in the farm,” she said, adding that when she and her brothers and sisters “first heard the noises from a jet fighter,” they “didn’t get to run, as it immediately dropped bombs.”

The attacked town is located in the Sagaing region of Myanmar. Pazigyi, another village in Sagaing, has also been attacked by the State Administration Council (the governing military group) in the past, leading to the death of 186 individuals.

“I condemn SAC on their target against the civilians,” Nay Phone Latt, who is a spokesperson for the exiled National Unity Government, said. “They are deliberately doing this in order to instill the fear in the people.”

A Diamond Deal

A Botswana government official and the CEO of De Beers, the international diamond conglomerate, signed interim agreements on Saturday to continue a lucrative, decades-long diamond mining partnership that had appeared to be breaking down in recent months.

Only minutes before a midnight deadline on Friday, the parties announced that after years of negotiations, they had agreed in principle on a deal to renew a partnership that supplies De Beers with most of its diamonds and Botswana’s government with the largest chunk of its revenue.

The details of the deal were still being worked out, officials with the government and De Beers said. But it addresses one of the most significant gripes of the Botswana government, regarding the share of diamonds it receives in its joint mining venture with De Beers. Under the old agreement, Botswana received 25% of the rough stones extracted, while De Beers took the rest. Now, Botswana will immediately get a 30% share, and that will rise to 50% within a decade, De Beers and government officials said.

De Beers said in a statement that it had agreed to invest as much as $825 million over the next 10 years to help develop the Botswana economy. The agreement also includes establishing an academy in Botswana that will train locals in skills in the diamond trade, government officials said.

The government of Botswana, the world’s second-largest diamond producer, hailed the agreements as a sweeping victory for the country of 2.4 million people, saying they would allow the southern African nation to achieve its long-term development goals.

“I must say with excitement that these are transformational agreements,” Lefoko Fox Moagi, minister of minerals and energy, said Saturday as he sat next to De Beers CEO Al Cook to sign the deals.

This year, Botswana’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, caused a stir when he made the unusual move of publicly criticizing the deal with De Beers, saying his country was essentially being cheated.

Masisi and other government officials demanded that Botswana receive more than 25% of the rough stones, and that De Beers make some investment in helping to expand other areas of the diamond industry in Botswana, including cutting and polishing, jewelry making and retail sales. (© The New York Times)