Baltimore Jewish Home - 12-31-15 by The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Top Hogan Aide Visits Baltimore Orthodox Community and Organizations Seeking Ways to Collaborate

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The Koidenover Rebbe Inspires the Baltimore Community

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CONTENTS

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

DECEMBER 31, 2015

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

JEWISH THOUGHT The Infamous Case of the “Get of Cleves”. . . . . . . . 52

HUMOR & ENTERTAINMENT Notable Quotes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

COVER STORY Year in Review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Live Your Life: How the World Runs on Israeli Products and The Antidote to the BDS Movement. . . . . . . . . . 34 2015 Year in Review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

LIFESTYLES 613 Seconds with Rabbi Yisrael Motzen. . . . . . . . . 11 Exclusive interview with Julian Horowitz. . . . . . . . 33 What Type of Results Can I Expect? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Presidential Pandemonium. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 In The Kitchen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 A Peek Inside Kosher Restaurants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Kickstart Your Metabolism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

NEWS Israel News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

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That’s Odd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Dear Readers, Bullying starts when we’re young. It’s in the playground and then advances to the classrooms and ultimately to the workplace. Sometimes it’s obvious and other times it’s subtle. It can happen on a small scale, between individuals, and it can take place on a grander scale, between nations. The BDS movement makes a lot of noise. They charge that Israel is the bully of the world, committing terrorism on a daily basis. “Let’s boycott Israel,” they thunder. Fine, you want to boycott one of the smallest nations in the world? It’s not going to be easy. Israel is more than just oranges and hummus. Only 8 million people live in the Holy Land, but they have all been busy. Have a smartphone? There’s Israeli technology making it work. Use a computer? Chances are you’re using a program helped developed by Israel. Going for a certain procedure? Perhaps Israeli technology will be behind the doctor’s technique. A person who truly wants to boycott Israel will have to tread very carefully not just when visiting the local grocery store, but even when just living their life.

Why does the BDS movement make so much noise if it’s so hard to put into practice? So many people who are thundering from the rooftops, college campuses, and in the media know that the only thing they’ll personally be forgoing in their righteous boycott is Ahava products and Sodastream. But if you listen close enough you’ll hear the subtle message in their thunder. It’s not about the boycott. It’s about knocking down the world’s perception of Israel. It’s their way of perpetrating a character assassination without looking like bullies. They’re the ones standing up in the face of injustice. They’re righting a wrong. They’re the ones exposing a cruel entity. And although it’s subtle, the world hears their message loud and clear. It seeps into their collective consciousness and clouds their views. I don’t know how to combat the BDS movement, especially when they are given the loudest megaphones. But I do know that if we understand what the movement is essentially about, we can attempt to fight it. Because, as they say, if you know your enemy – and his strategy – you can win the war. Yaakov

The Baltimore Jewish Home is an independent bi-weekly newspaper. Opinions expressed by writers are not necessarily the opinions of the publisher or editor. The Baltimore Jewish Home is not responsible for typographical errors, or for the kashrus of any product or business advertised within. The BJH contains words of Torah. Please treat accordingly.

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Cheder Chabad of Baltimore Promoting Jewish Values through Modern Grassroots Fundraising Moms-Led Charidy.com Campaign To Relieve Financial Burden For Cheder Chabad’s Families BaltimoreJewishLife.com/Jeff Cohn

On December 23rd, Cheder Chabad of Baltimore had their 72k1 Day Cyberthon – attempting to raise $72,000 in just one day by quadrupling each dollar -- and within two hours, the growing Jewish school had already reached 35% of their goal! But that’s not surprising. And

that’s not the news. Less than two years ago, it was Cheder Chabad that introduced Charidy.com – the platform that allows non-profits to quadruple their fundraising efforts by having three matchers – to Baltimore with their 40k1Day Campaign that ultimately raised more

than $62,000 for the school. What’s more amazing – though not at all surprising for Cheder Chabad – is how much this campaign has brought together the parents and students to work together to spread Torah values. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory introduced 10 campaigns,

wonderful to see Jewish children being so caught up in funding their education.” Four local businesses – Tov Pizza, Dougie’s, Eden Café, and DJ’s NE Diamonds (Noam Efron) -- signed up as corporate sponsors because they recognize the value of a Jewish education at Cheder Chabad.

known as mivzoim, two of which were Tzedaka, the giving of charity, and Chinuch, Jewish education. Families have been sharing videos of themselves and their children promoting the school and cyberthon onto the 72k1Day group page on facebook and have spent countless hours making phone calls to friends and family. As one of the grandmothers commented upon seeing a video of her grandchildren emptying charity cans and counting the money that they are donating to their own school, “How

Cheder Chabad, which boasts a hands-on and multi-sensory instruction to meet the needs of each individual student – has a total student body of 188 children, 75% of whom are granted scholarships designed so that no Jewish child should be denied a Jewish education for lack of funds. The money raised today will go directly into the scholarship fund to ensure that the school can continue to provide quality Torah and general studies education regardless of a family’s income bracket.

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THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Around the

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Top Hogan Aide Visits Baltimore Orthodox Community and Organizations Seeking Ways to Collaborate Rabbi Ariel Sadwin, Mid-Atlantic Region Director, Agudath Israel of America Upon embarking on his quest to become Maryland’s 62nd governor back in January 2014, Larry Hogan set out to bring his unique business-minded skillset – one not burdened by politics – to the State House, in order to make a difference that would positively impact all Marylanders. His campaign placed heavy focus on listening to what the people of Maryland had to say, trying to best understand the needs of the communities across the state. Mere days before the election the Hogan campaign requested the opportunity to meet with the rabbinic and lay leadership of the Baltimore Orthodox Jewish community. He engaged the group in a spirited dialogue, listened to all of their issues of interest and concern to better understand this unique community, and only then did he lay out his plans as governor. In the days following the election, the governor-elect appointed his close business associate, Steve McAdams to his transition team. Several weeks later, he appointed Mr. McAdams – known for his exceptional people and management skills – to a top level position in the administration, as the executive director the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives. His job: connecting the communities of Maryland with state agencies, departments, and private partners to create the partnerships to better serve the needs of the community. I was first introduced to Mr. McAdams back in late July at a meeting in the Governor’s office, and after speaking briefly we decided that the best way for him to understand and appreciate our community would be to spend a day together and to provide him with a “community tour”. In preparing for the tour, I assembled a fact sheet containing general community information (number of households, shuls, schools, their enrollments), as well as a list and brief descriptions of many of the primary organizations and

Photo Credit: BaltimoreJewishLife.com/Jeff Cohn

institutions which service our community. Also included on the fact sheet was a list of top priorities that state partnership could benefit: education funding, security provisions, healthcare related services, and business initiatives. On Tuesday morning, December 15th, Steve McAdams and I began our morning together at Goldberg’s Bagels. After enjoying a fresh warm bagel, we chatted briefly about the structure of the Orthodox Jewish community and its noted influence on the Baltimore metropolitan area. The first visits with representatives of three organizations took place at Goldberg’s.

are beneficiaries of the services they provide. Of note, these organizations have helped Jewish communities in other cities and states launch similar programs. Throughout the conversation Mr. McAdams asked poignant and thoughtful questions, and we collectively discussed ideas for potential interaction with state entities that would help the organizations provide their services to the community. With each entity the themes of communal responsibility, volunteerism, and internal benefaction were prominently highlighted. Continuing on the theme of food and the role of kosher in our commu-

Comprising the roundtable conversation was Mr. Eli Schlossberg of Ahavas Yisrael Charity Fund, Dr. Elimelech Goldstein of Hatzalah, and Mr. Nachy Schachter of the Northwest Citizens Patrol. Each representative provided information and materials about their organization, and described the vital benefits they provide to, not only our community, but many others who

nity, the next stop was at Seven Mile Market. While still in the parking lot, we were met by the Chaverim service vehicle and the organization’s secretary/dispatcher, Mrs. Sarah Don. Mr. McAdams was very intrigued by the concept of a roadside service entity that also provides a wide array of other volunteer services unrelated to automobiles. Upon entering Sev-

en Mile Market we were welcomed in by Mr. Simcha Retter, the store’s vice president, and strolled around the store while interacting with personnel in various departments. I pointed out the small kosher symbols found on all of the food products, something Mr. McAdams had not previously noticed despite having purchased many of the items dozens of times. En route to our next stop, Bais Yaakov’s Smith Ave. campus, we took a scenic route around the neighborhoods, giving me the opportunity to point out different shuls, schools, and other landmarks along the way. Arriving at Bais Yaakov, we proceeded to the high school building where were welcomed by Rabbi Naftoli Hexter, principal of the middle school, and Rabbi Yechezkel Zweig, principal of the high school. Bais Yaakov vice president, Mr. Moshe Dov Shurin joined in the conversation which then shifted its focus to education funding matters and the needs of the Jewish day schools. Familiar items like scholarship tax credits, state funds for the purchase of textbooks, school construction grants, and security considerations were discussed and ideas were shared. Joining us at Bais Yaakov were representatives of the community’s medical support service organizations, Mrs. Bonnie Pollack of Bikur Cholim of Baltimore, and Mrs. Stacey Goldenberg of the Jewish Caring Network. Each one described their operations and areas of service, and how the two work collaboratively on various issues. In addition to what the two organizations do for the members of the Baltimore community, Mr. McAdams was duly impressed when hearing about the numerous beneficiaries from abroad who come to Baltimore for the renowned medical care at the area hospitals and universities. The last stop of the day was at the Ner Israel Rabbinical College for a brief tour of their 100 acre multi-struc-

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DECEMBER 31, 2015

Around the Community

tured campus led by its vice president, Rabbi Boruch Neuberger. Upon entering the large study hall in the beis medrash building, Mr. McAdams was overwhelmed by the gush of hundreds of loud voices diligently engrossed in their Talmudic studies. Joining us at the campus was Mr. Nathan Willner, representing Shomrim, who shared information about the safety and security services they provide to the community. After spending close to four hours together, meeting with the representatives, and covering such a wide array of issues (although time didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allow for sufficient focus on the small business initiatives), Mr. McAdams was left with some truly special feelings about our community. He was amazed

at how forward thinking and proactive our community is; how the community goes to such great lengths to take care of its own and provide their support; and how there are so many people who just want to help the next person. As for me, it was indeed an honor to help facilitate such a Kiddush Hashem and showcase our wonderful community and its many volunteers. I now look forward to the next round of this process, to work with Steve McAdams and his staff to help forge the partnerships with the state agencies to provide greater benefits to the organizations and institutions who are dedicated to serving the needs of our community.

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planted a little seed and cumulatively made me realize how much of an impact a single person can have on another person’s life. I don’t think that influence is limited to the Rabbinate, but it was that thinking that brought me to where I am today.

Where did you grow up? In Canada, in both Montreal and Toronto.

When you were younger, what profession did you aspire to be? I was the fairly typical youngster in that I had no idea what I wanted to do professionally. Ironically, the one thing my father, who has many years of experience in a shul, cautioned us against, was to be a Rabbi. When and what led you to decide to be a Rabbi? From a young age, I was fortunate to have numerous role models from whom I had the opportunity to learn and grow. Many, but not all, were Rabbis of different sorts. Each of them

What are your favorite aspects of Ner Tamid? Everything. I know that may sound cliché, but it really is a gem of a Shul. Among other things, I am pretty confident that Ner Tamid has the most diverse group of Jews davening under one roof every Shabbos. It brings together the young, old and people all along the spectrum. If I’d have to pick the two most outstanding aspects of the Shul, it has to be the warmth and the interest in growth that is shared by everyone there. Where do you see the Shul in 5-10 years? Baruch Hashem, Baltimore is blessed with a plethora of Shuls and wonderful Rabbanim. It gives people endless options of amazing places to call their own Shul. We have been fortunate that over 85 new families have made Ner Tamid their Shul over the past few years and I hope that contin-

ues to be the case. We have added numerous classes, made Shabbos day a meaningful Shul experience for people of all ages and backgrounds. We have found a niche as a Shul with unique and engaging programming. I would like to build on all of those features. More importantly, as I mentioned above, we are a growth-oriented Shul and that will always remain the focus. Internal growth is highly subjective so it’s hard to say what it would look like. What I do envision is continued physical growth as well as a continued deepening of our connection to G-d in whichever way that’s manifest. What do you attribute your success to? Hashem. Being involved in a Shul gives you extra confidence knowing that what you’re doing is in G-d’s best interest. In addition, none of the growth would have happened without an incredibly receptive and energetic congregation. Also, without a doubt, I would still be selling those Laffy Taffies without my wife, Hindy. What are you truly passionate about? If that didn’t come across already, Ner Tamid. One other setting where you can find me passionate is my weekly roller hockey game.

Can you give us a short synopsis of what an average day looks like for Rabbi Motzen? That is a tough question. Every day is dramatically different from the next and that is the joy and challenge of the position. There are scheduled classes to be prepared and delivered, blog posts to be written, counseling, and shailos, along with all the other typical shul duties. In addition to the “soul” of the Shul there is also the “body” of the shul that needs constant upkeep, i.e. fundraising, structural upkeep and development, events, marketing, etc. Ner Tamid is a growing Shul and everyone involved has to roll up their sleeves and pitch in, myself included. There are also numerous things that come up that are not planned, but have to be addressed. In short, there is no average day or schedule, but I am fortunate to be able to arrange my schedule, so that on most days, I can be home for dinner with my family !

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What brought you to Baltimore? Ner Yisroel.- There are no comparable Yeshivos in Canada and arguably, no comparable Yeshivos here in the USA. The opportunity to learn at such a yeshiva and pursue a degree at the same time was also a draw.

What was your first job? In the third grade, I sold Laffy Taffies to classmates. The lack of a profit margin made me realize business was not for me.

Rabbi of Ner Tamid

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Rabbi Yisrael Motzen

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DECEMBER 31, 2015

Around the The Koidenover Rebbe Inspires the Baltimore Community BaltimoreJewishLife.com/Jeff Cohn The Koidenover Rebbe, shlita, visited Baltimore last week spending an uplifting Shabbos, meeting with those seeking his wise counsel, giving brachos, as well as seeking support for his holy work in Eretz Yisrael. Those who had the opportunity to hear the Rebbe speak in a variety of shuls in town were inspired by the uplifting and rele-

vant message he conveyed. One of the highlights of the visit was the post-Chanukah Melava Malka at Machzikei Torah. Rabbonim in town graced the dais in a beautiful display of achdus. The evening concluded with the burning off the Chanukah wicks as well as distribution of Chanukah gelt by the Rebbe.

Community CSA Belt Advancements Congratulations to Comprehensive Survival Arts (CSA) Martial Arts & Wellness School Karate Students at the Weinberg Park Heights JCC on their belt advancements this fall session! Three karate classes celebrated their achievements with a demonstration for family and friends last Tuesday evening. Students were eager to perform their individual and group drills with dynamic stances, kicks and punches. Special congratulations to Mordechai Gross, Yisrael Kaplowitz, Chaim Fogel and Nava Levine for making the jump to Yellow Belt, 1st stripe and to all our newest White Belts, and all levels in between. Karate at the Owings Mills and Park Heights JCC is led by the talented instructors of CSA which has been with the JCC since 1990. Jennifer Lake, director and vice president of CSA, is committed to helping students gain Martial Arts skills, improved fitness, confidence, discipline, and a sense of

community. In November 2015 Jennifer was awarded an Honorary Membership to the NWCP and numerous proclamations for her work in the community. Currently CSA is proud to offer coed and single gender karate to children ages 3-10 and is excited to have recently expanded by offering single gender kickboxing for tweens, teens, and self defense for women. CSA also offers Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and Self Defense for boys and will continue to expand the program in the future. “We started our program at the Park Heights JCC 25 years ago and are so excited to bring it back,” explains Jennifer. “I love the energy and enthusiasm in the classes. Students come in uniform and ready to learn and have fun.” The new session of classes will begin the week of January 10. If you are interested in joining or learning more please contact Merav Levine at 410.500.5917 or email mlevine@jcc. org.

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Chai Lifeline Announces Establishment Of Mid-Atlantic Region Region Will Spearhead Expansion Of Services In Maryland, DC, And Virginia: Rabbi Shmuel Miller To Direct Chai Lifeline, the international children’s health support organization, will formally inaugurate the Mid-Atlantic Region when it opens a new office in Baltimore, MD, on January 4, 2016. The organization, which offers emotional, social, and financial support to families of children with life-threatening illnesses and serious chronic conditions, already cares for more than 110 families in the region. The new office will centralize and expand options for care and support. Rabbi Simcha Scholar, Chai Lifeline’s executive vice president, explained, “Chai Lifeline has always had an active presence along the Baltimore/Washington DC axis. As more children and families reached out to us, it became obvious that a physical presence would enable us to offer additional programs and services in a wider geographic area, expand our already significant volunteer base, and develop stronger relationships with the hospitals, medical centers,

and professionals who provide such expert care to sick children.” The region will be headed by Rabbi Shmuel Miller. Rabbi Miller brings

Rabbi Shmuel Miller joins Chai Lifeline as director of the Mid Atlantic Region beginning January 2, 2016

three decades of experience in organizational development and leadership. He previously founded and ran an outreach organization in England, oversaw operations of the New En-

gland region of NCSY, and most recently served as Rabbi of Ohr Somayach Synagogue in South Africa. “Rabbi Miller brings that critical blend of compassion, engagement, and management skills to this position,” said Rabbi Scholar. “I am honored by the appointment,” stated Rabbi Miller. “Chai Lifeline deserves its well-earned reputation as an organization that functions with integrity and passion to ease the burden of illness on children and their families and help communities cope with crises and trauma.” Also headquartered in the new regional office is Tzvi Haber, Chai Lifeline’s program consultant, who continues to volunteer as the region’s volunteer coordinator. Mr. Haber has worked with Chai Lifeline for six years, building the volunteer base throughout the Maryland/Washington DC area and serving as the Assistant Head Counselor at Camp Simcha/ Camp Simcha Special, Chai Lifeline’s pioneering overnight summer

camps for seriously ill children and teens. Haber is delighted by Rabbi Miller’s appointment. “The passion and energy of our volunteers, who number more than 120 young men and women, coupled with Rabbi Miller’s professionalism and experience, will give families a highly specialized support system that will help them cope with the crises and challenges of their daily lives.” Avigail Rosemore, a Chai Lifeline parent and active supporter, is also excited by the new developments. “The opening of a regional office will help families access Chai Lifeline services and programs. I know it will make a big difference in the lives of so many children.” For additional information on the new Mid Atlantic Region or to request services, email midatlantic@ chailifeline.org.

Avreichim in Pinsk, Belarus Spend Vacation Taking Dirshu Tests B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

By Chaim Gold One of the greatest manifestations of the ideal of ‘netzach Yisrael lo yishaker – the eternal nature of Yisrael will never cease’, are the seeds and blossoms of Torah growth in the former Soviet Union. After more than 70 years of communist, dictatorial rule, Torah is once again being learned

there. Even more impressive is that in Belarus, just miles away from Radin, the sefarim of the Chofetz Chaim - both his Mishnah Berurah and Shmiras Halashon - are being learned daily in the Dirshu Daf HaYomi B’ Halacha Program. Moreover an entire group of yungeleit is also taking

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the Dirshu tests monthly! Who would have believed that Communist atheist Russian born and educated Jews would be devoting a significant part of their day to learning Mishnah Berurah and reviewing it numerous times so that they - like their counterparts in Eretz Yisrael and all over the world can take the monthly tests? Today, in the city of Pinsk there are about 300 Jewish families. Most are not shomrei mitzvos. In the yeshiva in Pinsk there are twelve avreichim and four bochurim, nearly all of whom learn and take the Dirshu Daf HaYomi B’Halacha tests. This month, Dirshu’s hanhala received an unusual request from the

Dirshu Chabura of Pinsk, “Being that at the end of the secular year in Russia,” began the query, “the whole country goes on vacation we have extra time to learn. Would it be possible for us to learn ahead [during that time] and next month take the test on the material for both Chodesh Teves and Chodesh Shevat?” Yes! The Dirshu learners of Pinsk want to use their free time on vacation to go further and dedicate themselves to better learning and reviewing the Mishnah Berurah. This is the degree of dedication of the lomdei Dirshu who live in Pinsk, Belarus, all of them baalei teshuvah! What a profound Kiddush Hashem!

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BaltimoreJewishLife.com/Jeff Cohn ni who were Talmidim in the Yeshiva when the Mashgiach was alive attended as well. Harav Sheftel Neuberger gave the Shiur from Harav Dovid’s Torah and shared some Zichronos so the current Bochurim could get a taste of what it was like to be influenced by such a special Rebbe.

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Immediately following the fast of Asarah B’teves, Yeshivas Ner Yisrael commemorated the 43rd Yahrtzeit of the Mashgiach, Harav Dovid Kronglas zt”l. After breaking their fast, many Bochurim came back to the Bais Medrash for a special seder and Shiur L’illuy Nishmaso. A number of alum-

Photo Credit: Reb Eli Greengart

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Commemoration of 43rd Yahrzeit of Ner Yisrael’s Mashgiach, HaRav Dovid Kronglass, ZT’L

Agencies Collaborate to Deliver an Ounce of Prevention BaltimoreJewishLife.com/Jeff Cohn

together to conduct - free of charge - home security assessments for any home owner

that requested one. Close to 50 home owners registered to have their homes evalu-

ated. The one thing that stood out among the registrants was that the majority of the homes assed had already been victims of a crime in the past. Some of the suggestions made by the law enforcement and volunteer evaluators concerned placing dead-bolt locks on doors that have window panels, proper lighting with motion detector features, and making sure not to leave items near your home that can actually assist the criminals gain access. At some homes, loose tools were left outside or bricks that may have had a purpose to hold up an air-conditioner, but were now just sitting on the porch and could be used to break a window to gain access. Laura Greer, one of the home owner participants commented after the inspections, “Thank you for the home security inspection today, what a great service that was to our community! (I am) so grateful to live in Baltimore.” The program was a clear success and Mr. Schleifer reflected that, “there is no reason to make it easy for the criminals to target our neighborhoods.” In this instance the words of Benjamin Franklin could not ring truer, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

Unfortunately it is no secret that Baltimore City has had a devastating year of crime and murders. Thankfully our neighborhoods have been spared the brunt of the violence that other City neighborhoods have experienced, however burglaries in our neighborhood have become more prevalent. Law enforcement is heavily taxed by the steady increase of gun violence making it even more difficult for the Police to have the resources available to patrol and respond to lower priority property crimes. Seeing this trend, Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer, community liaison to the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office decided to take a proactive approach. For the first time, three Baltimore City agencies and two community safety patrols joined together to make a difference. Mr. Schleifer commented, “Realizing the need and the problem, I couldn’t stand idly by and let things in our community just get worse; we needed to demonstrate that we are part of the solution.” To that end Yitzy brought the State’s Attorney’s Office, Baltimore City Police Department, Baltimore City Sherriff’s Department, Baltimore Shomrim Safety Patrol and the Northwest Citizens Patrol

Nathan D. Willner, President Cheswolde Neighborhood Association

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DECEMBER 31, 2015

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YACHAD Volunteers Bring Joyful Smiles to Baltimore’s Tudor Heights Residents By Isaac Draiman Preparation for Shabbos began early last week for the leaders and members of Yachad and the residents at Peregrine’s Landing at Tudor Heights.Yachad, The National Jewish Council for Disabilities is a thriving global organization dedicated to addressing the needs of all Jewish individuals with disabilities and ensuring their inclusion in every aspect of Jewish life. Under the leadership of Mrs. Rebecca Schrag Mayer, Yachad participants, from Texas to New York, who had been in Maryland for the weekend participating in their first winter leadership shabbaton and volunteer mission, closed out the weekend in style by serving lunch and then braiding and baking challah with the Tudor Height’s residents. “We wanted to

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Tudor Heights and began braiding 25 lbs. of challah dough that was generously donated by Sion’s bakery. Accompanying all this was great energy & singing. A family member of a resident at Tudor Heights was amazed at the turn out. “There are always outstanding events and activities here, for both the residents and the outside community. It is just wonderful seeing young people volunteering and you can see the joy on the resident’s faces.” Tudor Heights is coming off of a full week of events during the week of Chanukah beginning with an annual Chanukah party opened to community with over 200 participants. Other events included the Bais Yaakov Band, Caleb’s Chanukah Show and Torah Institute’s choir.

“Our residents love having schools and groups come to perform and visit,” said Executive Director Sherri Zaslow. “When such amazing organization’s such as Yachad and Tudor Heights come together, you know it’s going to be something really special.”

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THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME DECEMBER 31, 2015

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The Week

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DECEMBER 31, 2015

Weapons Found in Falafel Stand

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

Weapons sweeps in East Jerusa-

lem have uncovered two pipe bombs, bullet magazines and ammunition in a falafel stand. Police removed the weapons from the stand located on Sultan Suleiman Street. The owner of the fast food stand, a resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz, was taken away for questioning. Police said that as part of the ongoing operations against crime and terror, weapons searches were carried out at two places in East Jerusalem. In the courtyard of a house in Ras alAmoud, also in East Jerusalem, police found arms wrapped in plastic bags and buried in the ground. The cache included six pipe bombs, two stun grenades, a Carl Gustav submachine gun, magazines and ammunition. The owner of the home was arrested as a suspect in the case. Jerusalem District Commander Moshe Edri said the police operation to uncover the weapons, which were “likely to be used for terror or crim-

In News inal activities,” prevented a “serious attack on innocent people and the security forces.” Officers continued to sweep the area for more weapons with a focus on Ras al-Amoud, police said.

ported suffering from health problems – compared to double or more that rate among other populations.

Longest Life Expectancy for Charedim Good news for charedim in Israel. According to the Taub Institute’s annual reports, residents of cities that have a high concentration of “ultra-Orthodox” Jews have a much higher life expectancy than expected based on their socioeconomic status. The report showed that the vast majority – 73.6 percent – of charedim defined their health as “very good,” compared to 50 percent among other population segments. 18.7 percent re-

Further research showed a relationship between reporting good health and high social capital. This supports a belief that the charedi communities in Israel have high social capital and a sense of better health. The relatively high social capital man-

The Week

be unfortunate.” The trustees, however, said it was necessary to sell the books in order to make the full collection more affordable. The 12 items in Sotheby’s auction were sold for a total of $14.9 million, which included $3.6 million for a 12th-century Chumash.

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

A record was set for Jewish antiques on auction this week when a 16th-century set of Shas was sold for $9.3 million. The set was bought at Sotheby’s in New York by businessman Leon Black. The rare edition of the Shas Bavli was printed by Daniel Bomberg in the 16th century and was estimated to fetch about $5-7 million. Bomberg was the first person to print the full edition of the Babylonian Talmud, making the manuscripts extremely valuable. Only 14 complete copies of the Talmud printed by Bomberg are known to exist in the world. The $9.3 million Talmud was the crown jewel of the auction by the Valmadonna Trust Library, a major private collection of Hebrew manuscripts whose custodian is Jack V. Lunzer. Twelve books were on offer at the auction, out of a collection containing some 13,000 rare Hebrew books. Lunzer considered selling in

plete collection. Researchers who banked on Lunzer’s demand to keep the collection complete and accessible are outraged. “It would be a terrible loss to the Hebrew book lore to have the rest of the printed book collection dispersed,” said Brad Sabin Hill, the curator at the I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection at George Washington University. “I would consider that to

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Record-Setting Shas

the past, but always on the condition that the collection be purchased in its entirety, that it remain accessible to researchers, and that the purchaser agree never to break it up. Now 92, Lunzer suffers from dementia, and the trustees decided to sell some of the rarer and more precious books after failing for years to find buyers willing to pay for the com-

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The relatively high social capital manifests in a proliferation of friendships, high satisfaction from family relationships, a supportive social system, and community volunteer work. The report found that the average life expectancy among charedi men was about three years higher than would be expected based on their socioeconomic status. For women, life expectancy was two-and-a-half years higher than expected. The Taub researchers did speculate that the findings may be related to charedi social norms, which do not encourage complaining.

In News

The Week

One hundred dollars is one hundred dollars, right? Well, no, not really. Your $100 bill is actually worth less if you live in certain zip codes. According to cost of living across all 50 states and hundreds of metropolitan areas, the Tax Foundation shows exactly how much or rather how little your 100 bucks is actually worth. Validation for Califor-

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nians and New Yorkers coming up as usual… California and New York are two of the worst states in terms of getting a bang for your buck. $100 in each state is worth just $89.05 and $86.73, respectively. Washington, D.C., is even worse, where a Benjamin is worth only $84.96. Southerners and Midwesterners got a lot more coming to them. In those regions the cost of living tends to be much lower, according to the report, which is based on Bureau of Economic Analysis data from 2013. Looking to cash in? In Mississippi, your $100 will buy you more than in any other state – $115.21 worth of stuff. In South Dakota, $100 is worth $114.16. Ohio is another low-price state, where $100 can buy $111.61-worth of bananas. “You could think of this as meaning that Ohioans are, for the purposes of day-to-day living, 11% richer than their incomes suggest,” says the report, co-authored by economists Scott

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Judge Walter Rooth dismissed the drunk driving charges. Better stay off the carbs!

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This woman has the best excuse ever for drunk driving. In fighting a drunk driving charge, she worked with a specialist to prove that her body sometimes seems as if it’s drunk without imbibing any alcohol. “I would say it is not safe to drive

a car if you are in an auto brewery syndrome flare,” Dr. Anup Kanodia, an Auto-Brewery Syndrome expert who monitored and tested the woman, said. “But it’s a brand new disease and we’re still trying to understand it.” Unbelievably, he believes that between 50 and 100 people have been diagnosed with the disorder, and that it’s likely upward of 95 percent of sufferers don’t know they have the condition. Essentially, the bodies of those suffering with the syndrome use excess intestinal yeast to turn ordinary food into alcohol, resulting in breathalyzer readouts that generally would indicate life-threatening intoxication. A flare-up can result from a high-carb diet. Though not widely known, the syndrome is beginning to attract media attention, with sufferers reporting bouts of goofiness after eating French fries and false accusations of alcoholism.

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The Week Drenkard and Alan Cole. There is also variation within states. For example, within New York there is a range. As you’d expect, outside of the New York City metropolitan area, purchasing power greatly improves. In Albany, $100 is worth about $101 and jumps to $106 in Buffalo. New York was one of the states with the greatest price variation, along with California, Illinois, Virginia, and Florida. The starkest difference: in Chicago, $100 is worth $93.81, and in Danville, Ill., it comes to $126.26. According to the analysis, the trend seems to be that within highly populated cities your dollar is worth less but increases as you travel away from the metropolis area. But not all big cities have a low rate. Houston, Texas, for example, has a high rate for their dollar – $100 is close to its value at $99.40.

“If you look at some smaller cities, you can do even better,” Cole points out. “For example, Cincinnati ($110.50) manages to find plenty of room to expand both up and out, and maintains substantially cheaper-than-average prices.” What’s in your wallet?

In News ry you will find the fish,’” recalled his wife Meagan. “He texted me back, ‘It’s not the fishing, I lost my ring in the water.’ I nearly threw up.” So Jay came home without the fish and without his ring. But he still had his determination.

Lost and Found – in the Ocean Earlier this month, Jay Bradford was having a bad day while fishing. He was searching for blackfish and wasn’t successful – and then the day got even worse. “He texted me and said his day was going wrong. I said, ‘Don’t wor-

A few days later, he and his boat captain, Nick Barsa, returned to the exact spot to search for the lost ring. They brought along salvage diver

Mark Thompson. Using GPS coordinates to the exact location where the ring was lost, they dealt with 35-mileper-hour winds and a big southeast swell. “People thought I was crazy to try and go back for it,” Barsa admitted. “The odds are against finding it. It’s a big ocean out there.” Thompson, who said he has found people’s lost cellphones and watches in the ocean, dove in and searched rock ledges and sifted through thousands of mussels. After ten minutes, he found the treasure, resting on a rock. “When they found it I was ecstatic, I was amazed,” Meagan said. Jay, though, has learned his lesson. He says he will likely wear a cheap metal or rubber ring when he goes back out fishing.

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The Week In News

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Let CHAI help you love your home again!

Chief for the Day

Oh! To be boss for the day. One boy, Carter Widmer, visited

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Is it a dime? Or is it a nail? Maybe it’s both. Whatever it is, it sure is worth a lot. In probably one of the oddest items to come to the world of coin collecting, Dallas-based Heritage Auctions has announced the sale of a Roosevelt dime that was accidentally (or some say deliberately) struck onto a zinc nail. The dime/nail is estimated to be worth roughly $10,000. In the billions of coins it has made over its history, the U.S. Mint has made more than a few errors. There were Lincoln pennies that were struck onto the material for a dime, Washington quarters struck more than once, wrong dates on coins, etc. Most errors are caught by the Mint, but occasionally a few make it out into circulation. Those error coins have been highly sought by collectors. This error coin coming to auction in January in Tampa, Florida, is one of the more bizarre errors to come to public attention. In a weird linguistic twist, another name for the 2-inch nail is a sixpenny nail. “It is certainly the most unusual item I have had to catalog in my career,” said Mark Borckardt, the senior numismatist at Heritage New Yorkbased Auctions. A numismatist is person who studies or collects coins or bank notes. It is not the first coin printed onto a nail, however, said Fred Weinberg, a coin dealer considered one of the top experts in error coins. A few pennies in the late 1970s were struck onto

nails. This dime/nail is undated, so there is no way to tell when the item was created. Weinberg said it is possible the dime/nail was made on purpose by a rogue Mint employee. Despite it not being one of a kind, Weinberg says, there are probably only about a half dozen coin/nail examples known and only two dimes. He expects the dime/nail to sell for roughly $10,000, but public interest could raise that amount. The Heritage auction that includes the nail/dime also includes several other notable error coins. There will be a 1943 Lincoln penny struck in bronze, which would seem not out of the ordinary except for the fact that the U.S. Mint changed the composition of the penny in 1943 to steel to save copper for the war effort. 1943 bronze pennies typically sell for $200,000 to $300,000. On the flip side, Heritage will also be auctioning a 1944 penny that was struck in steel, not bronze. The auction for the dime/nail will be Jan. 6 as part of a larger Heritage auction. Electronic bidding for the coin has already started, however. The current price for the item is $3,200. Seems like it costs a pretty penny.

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LOAN PROGRAMS

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

DECEMBER 31, 2015

The Week his father at work last week – and got to boss him around. The seven-yearold is the son of a Detroit Police Department lieutenant and was sworn in as “Chief for the Day” last Wednesday by the department’s official chief, James Craig. He flew into headquar-

In News

ters via helicopter, slapped some handcuffs on his father, Lt. John Widmer, and spent time with a police dog. Widmer has a special place in his heart for the police dog unit. He donated $250 of his money to the Detroit Police K-9 Unit.

and just-the-facts when asked what he thought about being chief: “Really cool.”

Welcome to Doga

Agudath Israel of Baltimore

s"xc

rtnhyktcs ktrah ,sudt

Annual Dinner Honor Of In

rcjv R’ Dovid Hess k"z Avodas HaKodesh Award

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

The proud police chief says he wants to follow in his dad’s footsteps into law enforcement. His father admitted that his son’s temporary promotion was a surprise, but exciting for the family. Big Boss Carter was by-the-book

R’ Yaakov Yitzchok Nelkin, the third generation of Nelkins providing volunteer services to the Agudah

Conferring the Honorary Title of rcjv on

R’ Yitzchok Steinharter

Sunday, January 31, 2016 at six in the evening

Congregation Shomrei Emunah Couvert: Seventy Five Dollars per Individual One Hundred Twenty Five Dollars per Couple To place an ad in our journal to recognize the contributions of our honorees to the Baltimore community, contact Aryeh Katz at 410.358.1187 or agudahdinner@gmail.com

If you live in Baltimore, you’ve benefitted from The Agudah! Annual Siyum HaTorah Arba Minim Avos U’Bonim Bais Medrash around the clock Bnos groups Charity Scrip Chevra Kadisha/Cemetery Daf Yomi Shiur Gemach - Free Loan Hagolas Keilim Hosting Shiurim: Rabbi Frand, Rabbi Reisman Job Link Keilim Mikvah Kolel For Mechanchim Kol Halashon Kiosk (free download of thousands of shiurim) Lending Library – Audio and Book Meshulachim Authentication Mitzvah Cards NWCP Headquarters Online Seforim - Bar Ilan Software Otzer Hasforim Pirchei Baseball Pirchei Groups Rebbetzin Hirmes Tape Library Rebbetzein Ruderman Book Library Shailos Hotline - evening hours Shaimos Burial Simcha Hall Torah Conferencing Network Twenty daily Minyanim Yeshivas Bein Hazmanim

Love doing yoga? Enjoy spending time with your four-legged friend? Well, now you can do both activities at the same time with doga, the latest form of exercise that lets you practice your downward-facing dog with an actual dog. Dogs in doga can help participants and are sometimes used as weights in some poses. Dog owner Jocelyn James thinks it’s great. “It’s been very powerful for me and Peanut Butter ... she has allergies and a little anxiety. Everything that breathes needs a little healing.” “Doga is a partner yoga class that people do with their dogs,” says Kari Harendorf, owner of East Yoga in New York City and star of Animal Planet’s “K9 Karma.” The long-time doga enthusiast, who has partnered with her 10-year-old Husky, Charlie, for many years, began teaching doga classes in 2004. “It’s very much like a dance, using the dogs as we would use a traditional dance partner … just as a teacher might assist you to push deeper into the pose.” Humans who practice yoga are either a yogi (male) or yogini (female). The canine equivalent is a dogi (male) or dogini (female). “Like yoga, doga balances, harmonizes, purifies and transcends the body and mind of the practitioner,” says doga teacher Madhavi Bhatia. “What makes doga unique is the practice and benefits that create a harmony and synchronization of energy flow between the owner and dog.” Seems like you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Interview

video’s you have produced- Do you ever get recognized in public?

When we walk around a city as a group, all the time! 5-Are you excited to be coming back to Baltimore on March 27 to perform for the Ohr Chadash concert? Our concert at Ohr Chadash is dif-

ferent that all of our other shows. This will be our fifth time performing for this event, so it feels more like going to meet a friend than the non-intimate in-and-out concerts we do everywhere else in the world. It’s one of the highlights of our years. 6-You have done a concert at Ohr Chadash for the last 4 years - what is going to be different about this one? We’re always working on a new music, and we’re fresh off the release of our latest EP, “A Maccabeats Hanukkah.” 7-Over 900 people attended the last concert - how does that affect your performance? There’s a certain power that large

crowds bring with them. There’s a concept in Jewish law of “b’rov am hadrat melech” - that there is a certain preference for large groups in prayer or other mitzvot. Our concerts, which are at their core a religious experience, certainly carry that idea. 9-What does the future have in store for the Maccabeats? We’re about to release a project unlike anything we (or anyone) has ever done before. That’s all I can say, but this is really important to us and we’re very excited to share it with everyone.

DECEMBER 31, 2015

1-How was the group formed? We formed as the undergraduate singing group at Yeshiva University. 2-Did you ever expect “Candlelight” to become as big as it did with over 11 million views to date? We had no idea - what was supposed to be a fun and cute project for friends and family turned into something bigger than we could have ever imagined. 3-What was your favorite performance? Why? Each performance is special in a different way, but each time we’ve performed in Israel has been a real highlight for us. 4-Because of the many Youtube

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Exclusive interview with Julian Horowitz, singer and group director of Maccabeats

Digital World What Type of Results Can I Expect?

Cost per acquisition - CPA - The amount of money needed to spend on advertising in order to make a sale In order to determine that you can use the following formula: Average cost per click / Conversion rate = Cost per acquisition Cost per click - CPC - The amount of money you pay on average in online advertising to receive a click Conversion Rate - The percent-

age at which your website converts traffic into sales Here is a practical example: Some-

one selling clothing on their e-commerce store pays on average 1 dollar for a click from an ad. If there conversion rate is 1% then it will cost them $100 in order to make a sale. How to Be Profitable So what happens if a 100 dollar cost per acquisition is too high and you will end up losing money? In order to lower your cost per acquisition you have two choices: Decrease the cost per click Increase conversion rates By doing any one of the above ac-

tions you will automatically decrease your cost per acquisition. What happens if you cannot lower your cost per click? Many times lowering your bid on keywords and ads is just not feasible. Usually this is the case if you are in an expensive or competitive niche. Lowering your bid will mean your ad will never show and you won’t get any traffic. In this scenario you will need to work on increasing your conversion rates as a means to lower your cost per acquisition. Referring back to the previous scenario where the average cost per click is $1, if you increase your conversion rate to 5% from 1% then the cost per acquisition decreases to $20 which may then be profitable. Another option is to seek out free sources of traffic. Some examples of free sources of traffic are: Organic traffic

Email driven traffic Social media traffic While traffic from these sources may not be as high quality, they are free. This means that the cost per acquisition is always ZERO. How do I increase my conversion rates? Great question! As a matter of fact, it is such a good question that it deserves its’ own article. Stay tuned for next edition of Baltimore Jewish Home! Summary The days of marketing campaigns without knowing your ROI are over. With online marketing every click, action and conversion is measured. Knowing your website’s conversion rates are the key to scaling your online marketing with confidence. Maker sure you have the right tracking in place to measure the metrics that matter most to your business.

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

The one question every business owner wants to know about any marketing campaign is what type of results can I expect? While there is no guarantee when it comes to marketing results, there are ways to to make an educated forecast about a marketing campaign’s return on investment. In order to evaluate the ROI you need to estimate what the cost per acquisition (CPA) will be.

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Live Your Life

How the World Runs on Israeli Products and The Antidote to the BDS Movement By Brendy J. Siev

The BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) movement, a thinlyveiled anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic crusade, gained a victory a month ago: the EU declared that all agricultural and cosmetic products made in the “settlements” must be labeled as such when sold in Europe. (Those from the West Bank, but not from “settlements,” are to be labeled “product from Palestine” or “Palestinian product”). The idea is to keep the consumer, as the BBC puts it, “fully informed.”

hese sanctions on agriculture and cosmetics could cost the Israeli economy $50 million. Total exports to Europe from Israel, though, were worth $14 billion in 2014 alone. Therefore, these new “labeling sanctions” will hurt less than a percent (.3%, if our calculations are correct) of Israel’s total export revenue from Europe. Why, BDS? Why limit sanctions

to agriculture and cosmetics? The impact seems paltry and rather useless; this does not count as true “economic pressure” that will ultimately “end colonization of Palestinian land.” The truth is that excluding all Israeli products and exports from daily life would mean much more than avoiding SodaStream and paying for pre-made seltzer. What it would mean is: You’d need to find a payphone, because you couldn’t use a cellphone, especially not a 4G phone or one that sends (we shudder to think) texts. And try finding a payphone: even Superman’s at a loss on that one. You’d have to toss your computer. Intel’s processors were developed in Israel. You’d need to pick up a map at your local rest stop. Waze is an Israeli export. You’d need to wait in the rain for a cab. Forget about Uber; the app was developed in Israel. You’d have to drop your

What’sApp group. And you know how crazy that is. When What’sApp wouldn’t share users’ private info with the Brazilian government, a Waspish judge ordered the app blocked. Just how crazy did 100 million Brazilians go? In a country where people ask for “your What’sApp” instead of “your phone number,” it took a mere 48 hours for another judge to reverse the ruling. (...And don’t think you’d be able to use Facebook. Too many addons and apps are from Israel.) You’d have to go back to using Linux and Unix (you can look those up). No Windows XT for you. And, don’t invest too much in your new computer, because you’re pretty much guaranteed to get a computer virus fairly quickly. Firewalls and anti-virus technology originated in Israel. You’d have to buy a used answering machine at a flea market. Voicemail was developed in Israel. Since you wouldn’t have a cellphone, this shouldn’t be so hard.

You’d have to become better friends with your mailman, because you’d have to stop emailing. The algorithm for sending emails was developed in Israel too. (Yes, you forgot to get him a gift, and he remembers.) You’d have to go beyond avoiding Israeli oranges. You’d have to make sure not to eat cherry tomatoes. Ever. Again. They were developed in Israel. You’d have to go natural. No more Pampers. The dry-weave that keeps your baby’s bottom dry is made in Israel. You couldn’t drink the water in parts of California. The water has been desalinated with Israeli methods and technology. You couldn’t eat fruits and vegetables from most of Africa, China, India, Indonesia (a Muslim country), and Nepal. They’re using Israeli agricultural products and irrigation methods. You’d have to find a really old toilet, because Israel gives water-saving technology to more than half the planet. You’d have to cut up your credit cards. Chances are your credit card company uses Israeli security monitoring. You couldn’t use your favorite gaming consoles, because most have Israeli technology embedded in them. You’d have to refuse that USB drive with those family photos/ your mother’s will/your favorite

Invite you to brunch with

Candidate for Baltimore City Council when

Sunday, January 10th 2016 10:00am - 11:30am

at the home of

Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Azman

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

Host Commitee Members

3315 Labyrinth Road | Baltimore MD 21215

Come hear from

New York Assemblyman Phillip Goldfeder on how this position impacts your life on a day to day basis

Thank you to our previous events hosts:

Jules & Nechama Friedman Robyn & Ed Hoffman Avraham & Shaindy Kelman Shira & Shmuel Perlman

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

RSVP online at www.IsaacSchleifer.com

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

DECEMBER 31, 2015

36 cat video. USB drives were developed in Israel. And don’t even ask us to list the medical and pharmaceutical advances and medications that you’d have to give up. Try telling someone with HIV or diabetes or cancer or Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis or epilepsy to walk away from a treatment, because it was “made in Israel.” Try telling a person on the kidney transplant list that she would have to wait for a perfect match, because only through Israeli technology could a person receive a kidney from an imperfectly-matched donor. Try telling a mother to expose her child to radiation when radiation-free x-rays have been developed in Israel. Try telling a man with a head wound to bleed out when the innovative Israeli bandage can save his life (ask Arizona Senator Gabriella Giffords about her amazing recovery). Not even the terrorists are doing that (see: December 17 Israeli Medical Association ruling that

terror in the Middle East. Because that is what it does. As the Israeli foreign ministry said regarding product labeling: labeling would not advance the peace process, but “strengthen the radical elements advocating a boycott against Israel and denying Israel’s right to exist.” Perhaps the real issue is jealousy. What makes Israel so remarkably successful and so worthy of the world’s envy? Dan Senor and Saul Singer examined this in their 2009 book, Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle. Israel, with its population of less than ten million, had, in 2009, 63 Israeli companies listed on NASDAQ, more than any other foreign country. Israel has more high-tech start-ups and a larger venture capital industry per capita than any other country. The authors claim that mandatory military service and immigration are the source of this

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

“While Israel has much to learn from the world, the world has much to learn from Israel.”

stipulates that Israeli medics must treat wounded based on injuries. That possibly means treating attackers before victims. We haven’t heard the terrorists BDS-ing that.) Should someone actually choose to divest, he need only read two paragraphs up to see what he would be sacrificing for his cause, a cause that condones supporting

Israeli rescue teams in the Philippines after a super-typhoon hit

extraordinary innovation. Army service gives people more skills and contacts and the Israeli army’s structure empowers people with responsibility under minimal guidance. Not only that, but nine out of ten Israelis are immigrants or children of immigrants. Immigrants are hungry to succeed and try hard to realize their dreams. And the proximity of a small country helps as well. Perhaps certain Israeli-Jewish traits also contribute to these successes. To an extent, we value chutzpah, especially when combined with bitzua, a word that means “getting things done” and rosh gadol, a contemporary Israeli idiom for someone with a “can-do and responsible attitude...without the limits of formal authority.” Senor and Singer’s findings

PillCam, the alternative to colonoscopies

aside, basic Jewish culture celebrates creativity and success borne of education and brains. Consider even the most recent iteration of Adam Sandler’s popular Chanukah song: we don’t have a cartoon about reindeer, but we conquered polio. While Sandler’s lyrics are meant tongue-in-cheek, they reveal a basic Jewish pride-ism: we are the people who count Dr. Salk, Albert Einstein, and the founders of Google (rhymes, according to Sandler, with kugel) in our ranks. That kind of thinking, whether hummed in a supermarket or imparted to children by their parents, motivates us: we are innovators, and we are thinkers. Some prime examples:

WHATSAPP In 2007, Jan Koum and Brian Acton left Yahoo, disillusioned that Internet companies were more about advertising sales than communication. Their idea: an easy-touse messaging product that would completely shun advertising. By 2014, they had 450 million monthly users (double that of Twitter), and Mark Zuckerberg had bought their company in the largest Internet deal since Time Warner merged with AOL in 2001. Why was Koum so passionate about privacy? Koum was born in the Ukraine where phone lines were often tapped, and so he wanted an app that wouldn’t collect your personal information: your name, your gender, your address, or your age. He and Acton also wanted smartphone users to be able to message each other outside of their phone carriers’ messaging limits. In fact, they initially relied on word-of-mouth recommendations and did not even hang a sign outside their offices. The only venture capital firm they invited to join

them was Sequoia Ventures, led by Yoav Andrew Leitersdorf (now of YL Ventures), an Israeli venture capital firm.

GOOGLE SUGGEST You can’t imagine doing a Google search without the handy auto complete feature, once called “Google Suggest.” This feature was developed in Google Israel, a Google outpost located on the outskirts of Haifa with another office in Tel Aviv. The size and fervor of the office make it feel like a startup that draws on the talent of the Technion, but with Google values. Google Israel focuses on “search and knowledge.” Google Suggest makes your searches quicker and “smarter,” by auto-filling as you type, based on popular searches. After you hit “enter” on your search, you’ll see “Live Results” pop up – the most up-to-the-minute information about your search (rather than the most popular), another Israeli feature. Ever sent a group email through your Gmail account? Google will ask you if you’d like to add other people you usually include in these group emails. This also originated in Israel. They call it the “Don’t forget Bob” feature. During natural disasters – think Hurricane Irene – Google will immediately offer shelter maps and emergency information when a specific search is entered. Another Israeli feature. Google offers employees “20 percent projects,” where they get to spend 20 percent of their time working on a creative passion or project of their own. In Israel, this led to a project of love: one that has brought Yad Vashem’s massive holdings online so people can search specific names and families

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

37 cleanup (China, the United States, South Africa), We would oppose the anti-BDS movement, but the truth is that most people are already, unknowingly, part of it. That’s because Israeli products and technology are ubiquitous; you can’t help but support Israel in your daily life. The antidote to the BDS movement and EU labeling is to continue living your life. Because BDS cannot and will not work. It merely works as a public smearing campaign about Israel without acknowledging all the good that Israel has done for the world. There’s something sinister about BDS and its EU supporters as well, something that makes BDS less about human rights and terror and more about anti-Semitism and green-eyed envy. While BDSers claim they want to raise awareness about the injustice ongoing in the Middle East, they ignore wholesale the goings-on in Syria, in Lebanon, in Iran, and

DECEMBER 31, 2015

He thought he wouldn’t hear from Shaked for months. But by Sunday, Fraud Sciences emailed Thompson to say, “We’re done.” The PayPal engineers spent a week matching their results, and found that Fraud Sciences had better results over shorter period of time with less data than PayPal’s entire team. They were five years ahead of PayPal. And so, Fraud Sciences was hired and acquired by PayPal for $169 million. Thompson was moved by the pride and enthusiasm his new employees had for their new company, and the intense focus each employee had on him during their first big meeting. But along with that laser focus came questions during the Q&A that were “penetrating” and “unconventional.” These employees were ready to challenge PayPal’s practices in ways that most American employees would not and in ways that would ultimately benefit the company. And we haven’t even gotten

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

Try telling someone with HIV or diabetes or cancer or Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis or epilepsy to walk away from a treatment, because it was “made in Israel.” started on Waze and Viber, both of whom have changed the ways we navigate our streets and call home. Nor have we listed the countries that benefited from Israeli rescue teams (the Congo, New Zealand, Japan, Haiti, India, El Salvador, Turkey, Mozambique, Colombia, Venezuela, Pakistan, Peru), from technological aid and neonatal units to save their babies (Ghana and Romania), from the milk of special high-yield Israeli cows (Vietnam), from solar-powered refrigerators to hold their vaccines (Uganda), from emergency rooms (Kenya), from free eye operations (the Maldives), and from medical training and oil spill

in Saudi Arabia. The European Union does not raise awareness against pumping gas of Middle Eastern origin into cars, despite the appalling human rights violations embedded into Middle Eastern daily government and cultural activities. In fact, should we choose to divest from the Middle East, we would lose and boycott a few products and would simply limit ourselves to South American and American oil. But it would be terribly hard to truly BDS Israel. Because, as Senor and Singer say, “while Israel has much to learn from the world, the world has much to learn from Israel.”

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are invasive procedures involving anesthesia and radiation. But PillCam is a tiny pill containing a camera and light, weighing no more than four The Theo and Ora Coster family receiving the paper clips. Once 2012 Lifetime achievement TAGIE Award swallowed, the PillCam takes hundreds of thousands of pictures of to learn about their plight during the esophagus and colon, providthe Holocaust. This same digitization technology has been applied to ing necessary diagnostic information to the patient’s doctor. The putting the Dead Sea Scrolls online. PillCam has become a given in the industry. GUESS WHO? Does your person have a beard? Red hair? Facial hair? Is it a girl? SHVAT SHAKED Holocaust survivor Theo Coster AND FRAUD SCIENCES and his wife Ora of Tel Aviv have Shvat Shaked had a startbeen major game players and game up called Fraud Sciences. Scott changers since 1965. Their story Thompson was president of PayPal, the largest Internet payment started when Ora was home on bedrest, pregnant with their sec- system in the world. They met, because Shaked “claimed to have ond child, and trying to keep their older son occupied. To do so, Ora, a solution to the problem of online an artist, created a little map of Is- payment scams, credit card fraud, and electronic identity theft.” rael game for him, with tokens and Thompson was bored and busy. pieces for playing. The Coster’s friend, a gas sta- He heard Shaked out – “We believe that the world is divided between tion owner, liked the game so much good people and bad people, and he asked the Osters to manufacture it for him as a giveaway for his cus- the trick to beating fraud is to distinguish between them on the tomers. This became the beginning Web” – with little patience. After of a booming business, initially all, PayPal had 2,000 staffers, incalled “Matat” (as in “gift”) but eventually renamed “Theora,” after cluding 50 PhD engineers, working on the same problem. Theo and Ora. The difference was in the One of their early inventions how: how Shaked would separate was Icetix, a Popsicle stick that, the good guy from the bad guys. once you finished the ice cream, turned into a building toy. These Shaked and his co-founder Saar were so popular that Borden Dairy Wilf used the same approach he had used in the IDF when hunting in the United States distributed them; 12 billion sticks were pro- terrorists online. Terrorists moved money online using fake identiduced over 11 years. ties. Shaked had to find them – Over the years, Theora – still using their core team of Theo, Ora, and had, for 40,000 transactions. Good people, he explained, leave and their two sons – has made digital footprints all over the place, more than 155 different toy conbecause they have nothing to hide. cepts. The one you probably have It’s the people who don’t that you in your toy closet in Guess Who?, should worry about. marketed in the United States by So Thompson gave Fraud Hasbro. In fact, in November 2012, Sciences a shot. He gave them Hasbro awarded the Costers with the lifetime achievement award in 100,000 transactions to analyze, transactions PayPal had toy-making. processed. PayPal removed the personal data from it for privacy PILLCAM, reasons, making the task much BY GIVEN IMAGING Not everyone can sustain a harder. “See what you can do,” he told Shaked on a Thursday. colonoscopy or endoscopy. Both

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

DECEMBER 31, 2015

2015 YEAR

IN REVIEW People and Things of 2015 >>>>>>>>>>>>> RICHARD MATT AND DAVID SWEAT

C B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

onvicted murderers Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 35, escape from the maximum-security portion of Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. January - May 2015: After cutting a hole in the back of his cell and then another one in the back of Matt’s cell, Sweat would wait until after the 11:30pm head count, before he would crawl through the hole, shimmy down a series of pipes going down several stories and begin roaming the tunnels. He would return to his cell each morning before the 5:30am count, camouflage his portal to the maze below, and start his daily routine. Around May 4- Prison’s heating system is shut for the season, allowing Sweat to cut through a 24-inch steam main. Over 4 weeks he methodically works to cut holes into and out of the pipe that were large enough for the men to crawl through and emerge out of a manhole cover outside of prison. June 5- Sweat and Matt escape from prison after the 11:30pm headcount. June 6- Joyce Mitchell, 51, of Dickinson Center, Franklin County, a civilian who worked in the prison tailor shop and supervised Matt and

Sweat, goes to the hospital with a panic attack. She was supposed to meet the duo and help them escape after first killing her husband. June 26- After Matt fires a gun at a camper trailer in the area of Franklin County in which the search had focused, police find Matt and kill him after he refuses to drop his weapon. June 28 -Sweat is captured in the afternoon after being shot and wounded by State Police Sgt. Jay Cook as Sweat walked along an isolated road in the small town of Constable, Franklin County, a few miles from the Canadian border.

0 – Amount of fans in the stands at Camden Yards when the Orioles played the White Sox on April 28, in a game which was closed to the public as a safety precaution due to the ongoing riots.

“

It’s a very delicate balancing act because while we tried to make sure that they were protected from the cars and other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.” - Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, at a press conference talking about policing the protestors.

FREDDIE GRAY

CONFEDERATE FLAG

reddie Gray is arrested on April 12 and denied request for medical attention while being transported in a police van, resulting in his death from spinal injury on April 19. After days of peaceful protests, on April 27, after Gray’s funeral is held, Baltimore explodes with protests. 200 plus – Businesses destroyed during the riots. 144 – Vehicles set on fire $16 million – Cost of a new senior housing/ community center which was 40% complete when it was set ablaze and destroyed by rioters.

fter Dylan Roof massacred nine innocent black churchgoers in South Carolina, on July 10, the state removed the Confederate flag, which many consider a banner of hate, from their statehouse grounds. Other states, such as Texas, Maryland and Virginia, stopped issuing vanity license plates containing the Confederate flag.

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

39 gaining agreement and tossed the suspension.

GYROCOPTER Tell Tom Brady, I’m sorry.”

REUSABLE ROCKETS

EMAIL SERVER

n March 2015 it is disclosed that Hillary Clinton used a private email sever rather than the official state department server while Secretary of State. She graciously turned over the server to investigators...after first deleting 30,000 emails. As to whether she wiped the server before handing it over, her response to that question when posed to her at a press conference was, “What, like with a cloth or something?” The FBI investigation into whether she unlawfully emailed classified information through her non-secure server continues.

n December 21, Elon Musk’s company Space X completes a vertical landing of a rocket which had flown into space and back. Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin accomplished a similar feat on November 23, but Musk points out that his rocket went much deeper into space than Bezos’. Creating reusable rockets is one of the keys to lowering the cost of space travel, which could make space tourism more feasible.

fter Tom Brady and the Patriots eviscerate the Indianapolis Colts, 45-7, to advance to the Super Bowl it is disclosed that the Patriots had been using under-inflated footballs, a violation of League rules. A halftime inspection found 11 of the 12 footballs maintained by the Patriots for the game to be under the required inflation level. After attorney Ted Wells issued his 243 page report and noted that “it is more probable than not that Tom Brady [the quarterback for the Patriots] was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities…” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspends Tom Brady for 4 games. Just a week before the NFL season begins, a federal judge rules that the suspension violated the NFL’s collective-bar-

CECIL THE LION

he head of the Sinaloa Cartel, which generates more than $3 billion in annual revenue from drug trafficking, escapes from a maximum security Mexican prison on June 11 through a 1 mile long tunnel, 62 feet under the maximum-security prison. $5 million- U.S. award for information that will lead to Guzman’s arrest

Wits are better than strength and that has worked for me.”

Life takes many turns, one day you’re in the hole and the next day you’re on top.”

well-known male lion who had been living for 13 years in the Hwange Game Reserve in Zimbabwe was lured away from the sanctuary of the park and hunted on July 1 by Minnesota dentist Dr. Walter Palmer, who paid $50,000 for professional hunters to help him hunt and kill Cecil the Lion. 1,358,140 - Amount of people who signed a petition calling for Justice for Cecil 213,203- Amount of people who signed the petition to stop ISIS’s genocide of Christians

- Tweets sent from Guzman’s Twitter handle several weeks after his escape

AMERICAN PHAROAH

BOMB CLOCKS

5 14

-year-old Ahmed Mohamed is suspended from school in Irving, Texas, after bringing a homemade clock in a suitcase which was ticking and looked like a bomb to school. When asked what his contraption was, according to James

1/2 lengths – Distance American Pharoah won the Belmont Stakes by, becoming the first horse in 37 years to win the Triple Crown “After I looked into our records I saw how it was submitted.”- American Pharoah’s manager admitting that when he submitted the horse’s names to the horsing commission, he misspelled the name. $250,000- Amount Ahmed Zayat purchased American Pharoah for in 2007.

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DEFLATED FOOTBALLS

JOAQUIN “EL CHAPO” GUZMAN

DECEMBER 31, 2015

pril 15 – Florida postman Doug Hughes flies 70 miles from Gettysburg, PA, and lands his gyrocopter packed with 535 letters—one for each member of Congress—on the lawn in front of the Capitol building, requesting campaign finance reform. On Nov. 20 Hughes pled guilty to flying the gyrocopter without an airman’s license, in return prosecutors dropped the other five charges against him. He awaits sentencing, but asked the judge for that to be delayed so he can participate in an upcoming civil disobedience protest called Democracy Spring.

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– Courtroom sketch artist Jane Rosenberg, after her unflattering courtroom sketch of Brady went viral.

McLellan of the Irving police department, Ahmed became “passive aggressive” and “didn’t offer any explanation as to what it was for, why he created the device, why he brought it to school.” When story gains national attention, Pres. Obama tweets, “Cool clock Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House?” When it is uncovered that Ahmed’s father is a 9/11 truther who for years has been trying to be a spokesman against “Islamophobia” and likely set this whole thing up purposely, all those who were circling Ahmed’s wagon quietly scuttle off to their next cause celeb. Clock Boy did get to meet the president at the White House, but he didn’t get to bring his brilliant bomb look-a-like invention.

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

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DECEMBER 31, 2015

40 $100 million- The amount American Pharoah is expected to net for his owners over the next ten years.

and he was named most powerful person in the world by Forbes. On the international stage he is a force to be reckoned with after displaying his willingness to go it alone and take on ISIS.

THE DRESS JONATHAN POLLARD

mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago,” after it is uncovered that he has been lying for years about being in a helicopter that was shot down in Iraq, while he was covering that war. Several days later, when other lies he said comes to light, he is suspended from NBC News for six months and is replaced by Lestor Holt. When his suspension is up he does not return to his chair at the nightly new desk but is banished to CNBC.

DONALD TRUMP

s it white and gold or blue and black?

VLADIMIR PUTIN

n November 20, the only American ever sentenced to life in prison for spying for an ally, Jonathan Pollard, 61, is freed by the Obama administration after serving 30 years in prison.

BRIAN WILLIAMS

fter Putin was universally condemned for annexing Crimea in 2014 and sanctions were put into effect against Russia, he emerged in 2015 as an unwounded and dominant leader. At home his approval ratings are in the high 80% range

n Feb 5, the then-top rated anchor admits on his nightly NBC news broadcast, “l made a

n June 16, “The Donald” enters the Republican race for president and promises to “make America great again.” Many assumed that this was a publicity stunt which quickly went bad when his comments about Mexicans and subsequently many others drew the rage of the media, but with less than two weeks before the first primary votes are cast, according to most polls he maintains a comfortable 20 point lead over his nearest rival, Ted Cruz. Whether it is in fact a publicity stunt remains to be seen.

LET’S GET TOGETHER

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

Some of the biggest mergers that took place in 2015 (pending regulators’ approval)

DOW CHEMICALS &

WALGREENS purchases

Health insurance giant

DUPONT merge to become

RITE AID for $17.2 billion,

ANTHEM agrees to purchase

DowDuPont, the world’s largest

resulting in a combined 13,000

CIGNA in a $54 billion deal.

chemical company worth $130

U.S stores, surpassing CVS

If approved by regulators, the

billion.

which has 7,800 stores in the

new company would have $115

U.S.

billion in annual revenue.

MARRIOTT agrees to

ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV

purchase STARWOOD for

agrees to buy rival MILLER

STAPLES buys OFFICE

$12.2 billion, to make it the

for $104 billion. If approved by

DEPOT for $6.3 billion.

largest hotel company in

regulators, the company would

universe, with 5,500 hotels in

be the largest beer maker in the

100 countries.

world with annual sales of $64 billion.

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B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

World Map 2015 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> EUROPE & ASIA

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

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DECEMBER 31, 2015

EUROPE MIGRANT CRISIS

More than a million migrants and refugees, mostly from Syria, crossed into Europe in 2015, sparking a crisis as countries struggled to cope with the influx and creating division in the EU over how best to deal with resettling these people. 972,551-The number of those that arrived by sea. 1,000- Amount of Syrian refugees that are being housed in the German village of Sumte, which previously had a population of 100. 100,000- The amount of Syrian refugees that U.S. Secretary of State Kerry announced the U.S. will take in over the next 2 years. 31- Number of U.S. states whose governors expressed opposition to taking Syrian refugees due to security concerns. “Un-American” – President Obama’s description for those who oppose taking Syrian refugees into the U.S. due to concerns that ISIS may have infiltrated and may attempt to enter the U.S. through the refugee program.

people while screaming, “We have avenged Muhammad.” The terrorists escape and kill one police officer. A massive manhunt ensues. January 8– Suspects kill female police officer in a Paris suburb. January 9 -- 9:00 AM: After two suspects rob a gas station, police chase ensues. Suspects drive to an empty printing company and barricade themselves in. After an 8 hour standoff, they emerge while shooting at the police and are killed. 12PM: Terrorist walks into Hyper Cacher market, in eastern Paris’s Porte de Vincennes neighborhood, while patrons are shopping for Shabbos. Terrorist kills 4 Jews. After a 5 hour standoff, police move in and kill terrorist and release 16 surviving hostages. August 21 Radical Muslim terrorist armed with assault weapons begins shooting at passengers on a high speed train between Amsterdam and Paris. Luckily, before any passengers are hit, three American childhood friends who are on the train charge and tackle the terrorist, preventing a massacre. November 13 - ISIS terrorists attack 6 sites, including a soccer stadium where French President Hollande was watching a soccer match, killing 130 people and injuring hundreds more. 3.7 million – Amount

anti-terror rally in Paris on January 11th. 0- Number of senior U.S. officials who attended the

GREEK DEBT CRISIS

peace rally. Text exchange between Yoav Hattab, 21, and his friend, shortly before Yoav was taken hostage and killed in the Hyper Cacher supermarket: Yoav: Try to make the Shabbat as soon as you arrive. Friend: This Shabbat is very stressful. I have exams tomorrow morning and I’m taking a flight, but the next Shabbat for sure. Yoav: This is a difficult time in France for Jews. At least try…Do not do everything, but at least try to do something. Friend: Okay, don’t worry; of course I’ll do it. Yoav: You’re the bomb. Friend: LOL, thank you.

who had a history of severe depression, deliberately downed the plane.

RUSSIAN PLANE SHOT DOWN Russia’s Metrojet Flight 9268 crashes on October 31 after departing from the

Egyptian resort of Sharm elSheikh for the Russian city of St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board. ISIS claims responsibility.

NEPAL EARTHQUAKE GERMANWINGS PLANE CRASH of people, including dozens of world leaders, that participated in an unprecedented

ing 7.8 on Richter scale, that kills over 9,000 people and injures more than 23,000. “Easier to address a far-away humanitarian disaster than the nearby one of Israel’s making in Gaza. End the blockade!”- Tweet by Human Rights Watch’s Ken Roth after Israel sent 260 doctors, nurses and personnel to aide in the search and rescue mission.

YEAR OF TERROR IN PARIS: January 7 - Gunmen storm a meeting of cartoonists at the office of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which in the past featured a cartoon depicting Muhammad, and murder 11

killing all of the 150 passengers and crew on board. Investigation quickly uncovers that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz,

While flying from Barcelona, Spain, to Düsseldorf, Germany, Germanwings flight 9525 crashes in the French Alps on March 24

Nepal struck by earthquake on April 25, register-

June 26 - As a debt payment becomes due, Greece and its creditors attempt to agree on bailout terms, requiring steep austerity measures. Greek government objects to harsh measures being placed on it. People rush to withdraw their money from Greek banks. Communist party supporters start to pour into Syntagma square in Athens to protest against the creditors’ demands for more austerity. June 28- Greek parliament votes to have a referendum in which Greek citizens will decide whether to accept the austerity measures in return for the bailout. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announces that banks will be closed for the next two weeks and withdrawals will be limited to 60 euros a day. July 5- 61.3% of Greek voters reject a referendum calling for austerity measures, which included raising taxes and slashing welfare spending, in return for a Eurozone bailout. July 9- After European leaders set a new deadline of July 12 by which Greece

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$100/m $150/g 10 week session 1/12 – 3/15

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DECEMBER 31, 2015

has to capitulate to their demands for financial reform or be cut off from the Eurozone, Greek government capitulates to demands of its creditors. July 20- Banks reopen. August 14- Greece government secures a three year bailout. $356 billion- Amount Greece owes to various countries and banks within Europe. 50%- Amount public sector wages grew by between 1999 and 2007, leading to the current crisis. 26% - Greek unemployment rate

kickbacks and bribes in exchange for selling broadcasting and marketing contracts for tournaments. 24 years- How long the FBI states the corruption scheme had been going on for. Raining moneyPrankster Simon Brodkin

shows up at FIFA’s President Sepp Blatter’s press conference on July 20 and showers Blatter with dollar bills

SOCCER SCANDAL On May 27, as FIFA officials gathered for world governing body of soccer’s annual meeting in Zurich, police descend on the Baur au Lac hotel and arrest 7 high level FIFA officials in

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

a bribery scheme uncovered by the FBI. $1.5 billion- Amount of money FIFA has in reserves. $151 millionThe amount of money investigators have identified as

NORTH AMERICA CUBA EMBRACED BY U.S.

On July 20, the United States and Cuba reopen embassies in each other’s capi-

tals. Both had been closed since 1961. Kerry attends U.S. flag raising at the embassy in Cuba on August 14. The U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, which cannot be lifted without congressional approval, remains in place. 1 million- Estimate of annual U.S. tourists to Cuba if Congress approves lifting travel restrictions. Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Hil-

ton Worldwide, Marriott International and the Carnival Corporation are all clamoring for that business.

TERROR ATTACKS IN THE U.S. May 3- Two gunmen with ties to ISIS open fire outside a complex in Garland, Texas, that was hosting a contest featuring cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Thankfully, both gunmen are instantly killed by security officers. One security officer is injured in the shootout. July 16- Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, who came to the U.S. from Kuwait, unleashes a barrage

of gunfire at two military recruitment centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing four Marines and wounding two other service members and a police officer. The Marines were defenseless due to a law which prohibits military members from possessing firearms at military recruitment centers. December 2- Radical Muslim terrorists Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who are married, leave their 6 month old baby with family members and attack a county employee holiday party in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 and wounding 22. Many of those killed and wounded participated in a baby shower for

the couple just a few months earlier. The terrorists are killed within hours of the attack, once police spot them driving and a shootout ensued. Tashfeen Malik, who came to the U.S. from Pakistan after marrying Farook, passed three background checks by American immigration officials, despite her many social media postings praising violent jihad and proclaiming that she wanted to be part of it. Due to the Obama administration policy, immigration officials are prohibited from reviewing social media postings when considering visa applications.

Middle East on next page

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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

MIDDLE EAST PALESTINIAN WAVE OF TERROR

Ezra Schwartz, 18, of Massachusetts killed in terror attack

Between September 13 and December 23, 2015, 24 Jews have been killed, Hy”d, and 259 wounded (24 of them seriously) in the latest round of Palestinian violence which began when Palestinian leaders used the usual “fuse” and warned that Israel planned on taking over the Temple Mount. According to the IDF, in that period there have been 120 stabbings, 45 shootings and 21 car rammings. Approximately 100 Palestinian perpetrators were killed by their intended victims or security forces.

JCPOA will depend not on whether it is legally binding or signed, but rather on the extensive verification measures we have put in place.” - State Department assistant secretary for legislative affairs Julia Frifield, in a November 19 letter to Representative Mike Pompeo (R - Kan.). Frifield wrote the letter in response to a letter Pompeo sent Secretary of State John Kerry, in which he observed that the deal the president had submitted to Congress was unsigned by the Iranians and wondering if the administration had given lawmakers the final agreement. 24 days- How much time the deal allows Iran to delay if inspectors ask to search certain nuclear sites. $150 Billion- Amount of frozen money being released to Iran as a result of their “agreeing” to the deal.

“This is a peaceful uprising.” – PA President Mahmud Abbas, 11/26/15

IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL July 14: After two years of negotiations, the U.S. along with five other nations and Iran agree to a nuclear deal, knows as a seven-nation deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is not a treaty or an executive agreement, and is not a signed document… The success of the

56% - Percent of Americans who thought that Congress should reject the deal with Iran. Crutches- Item necessary for Sec. of State Kerry during his negotiations with the Iranians, after he broke his leg during a bike ride, while taking a breather from the negotiations on May 31. “Of course, yes, death to America!”Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali

Khamenei, at a rally after the Iran deal was signed and on the same day that President Obama hailed the deal as an “historic opportunity.” 56- Number of Democrats (including Congressman Gregory Meeks) who heeded the White House’s implicit call to boycott Prime Minister Netanyahu’s March 3rd speech to Congress about the dangers of the then-pending nuclear agreement with Iran.

Even so, despite airstrikes by a U.S-led coalition and separate airstrikes by Russia, ISIS, which is estimated to have approximately 30,000 fighters, maintains control of major portions of key cities in Syria and Iraq. ISIS has also expanded into several other countries and has continued to inspire radical Muslims to carry out attacks wherever possible.

TURKEY DOWNS RUSSIAN JET ISIS CONTROL IN SYRIA AND IRAQ According to leading global security firm HIS Inc., since the beginning of 2015, ISIS has lost 14% of the territory it previously controlled in Syria and Iraq.

November 24- Turkey shoots down a Russian fighter jet that was carrying out bombing attacks on ISIS in Syria after it allegedly invades Turkish airspace for several seconds. One Russian pilot is killed.

One ejects safely. Putin calls Turkey “accomplices of terrorists” and warns of “serious consequences.” Turkey refuses to apologize and says that it has a duty to protect its airspace.

Notable Quotes

– 1996 GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole on MSNBC when asked whether he would vote for Ted Cruz if he gets the GOP nomination

You had Hillary Clinton the other night saying that we’re exactly where we want to be on ISIS. Here’s my suggestion to her: Suspend your campaign, get on a plane to Paris, and go and look in the eyes of the families of those dead victims and tell them we’re exactly where we want to be on ISIS.

A new report claims ISIS has been using American weapons in their fight against the United States. The weapons include tanks, rifles, and Donald Trump. – Conan O’Brien

According to a new poll, Newark Liberty is the country’s least favorite airport. But only because LaGuardia is technically classified as a prison. – Seth Myers

Jeb Bush has fallen to just 3 percent in a new poll, and his numbers continue to drop. Jeb says this isn’t the time to panic — because the time to panic was, like, five months ago. – Jimmy Fallon

Donald Trump said last night that despite calling Ted Cruz a “maniac,” he has since learned that Cruz has a “wonderful temperament.” And if Donald Trump thinks you have a “wonderful temperament,” you’re probably a maniac. – Seth Myers

I have no idea what Mr. Trump has in mind, and I don’t think Mr. Trump has any idea of what he has in mind. — Attorney Eugene Fidell, demanding that GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump stop calling his client, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, “a no-good traitor who should have been executed”

MORE QUOTES

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- Gov. Chris Christie

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Well, I would — I might oversleep that day… because he used to make these speeches: “Remember President Dole? Do you remember President McCain?” The inference was that we were all a bunch of liberals, and only he is a true conservative. And he uses the word “conservative” in — more than he ever uses the word “Republican,” the party. So, it would be difficult.

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“Say What?!”

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

8 billion

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DECEMBER 31, 2015

- The number of times Americans throughout the country look at their mobile devices on a daily basis, according to a recent survey by Deloitte

I saw that after his recent comments about Muslims, Donald Trump was fired as a global ambassador for Scotland. Which is ironic, because if there were ever a human version of bagpipes, it’s Donald Trump. – Jimmy Fallon

We err on the conservative side. They’re a little bit like a cautious student driver or a grandma. — Dmitri Dolgov, principal engineer of Google’s driverless car program, on whether strict adherence to traffic laws is leading to crash rates double those of human-driven vehicles

It’s come out that last year: a man was able to get past the Secret Service and speak with President Obama by pretending to be a congressman. The Secret Service realized he wasn’t a congressman because he was willing to be seen with President Obama. – Conan O’Brien

Just one other thing, I gotta get this off my chest – Donald Trump is a jerk. B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

- Jeb Bush at town hall meeting in New Hampshire

He’s an embarrassment to the Bush family and in fact, he doesn’t even want to use the Bush name, which is interesting. Jeb is an embarrassment to himself and to his family. - Trump responding to Jeb’s comments, on Meet the Press

Bernie Sanders just unveiled a new climate change plan, and he promised to cut back on fossil fuels. Bernie really wants to cut down on fossil fuels — especially because they’re made from his high school friends. – Jimmy Fallon

I’m very humble, man. It’s been an unbelievable time for myself and my family, and I’m just grateful that Nike and [Nike founder] Phil Knight and everyone over there just believed in a skinny-old, skinny 18-year-old kid from Akron, Ohio, and I’m happy to be a part of such a great company. – LeBron James talking to the press about his recent $500 million lifetime contract with Nike

Last night at a casino in Las Vegas, Donald Trump declared, “I expect to win Iowa.” Which is odd because usually when Trump is around a casino, the only thing he declares is bankruptcy. – Conan O’Brien

Bush has sent an email to his supporters promising that … if you give him $25, you won’t receive any more email requests for cash the rest of the year. It’s a political strategy borrowed from the mob. “Hey, this is a real nice inbox you got here. I would hate to see something happen to it, if you know what I’m saying. Gimme $25, and that problem goes away. I’m Jeby the Knuckles, and I approved this message.” – Stephen Colbert

A golf course owned by Donald Trump is no longer being considered to host a major golf tournament due to remarks that Trump has made about Mexicans and Muslims. You know there’s a problem when your views on race are too extreme for a private golf club. – Conan O’Brien

MORE QUOTES

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Hopefully it won’t take me another 90 years to get another one.

In Florida, a 98-year-old man shot a hole-in-one. The 98-year-old was shocked, mostly because he had no idea he was playing golf.

He is a bright and talented person without any doubt… He is an outstanding and talented personality without any doubts. - Vladimir Putin talking about Donald Trump at his annual news conference

It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond. – Part of a statement released by Trump’s campaign in response to Putin’s compliments

- Conan O’Brien

- Trump at a rally discussing being called out by the media for cozying up to Putin, who has supposedly had reporters killed

– Jimmy Fallon

Target has stopped selling hoverboards after reports that they catch fire. Meanwhile at Costco, they’re selling them as the “George Foreman Grill on Wheels.”

DECEMBER 31, 2015

The Department of Health announced it’s extending the enrollment period for Obamacare to January 1st. What better time to sign up for Obamacare than the day we all lie to ourselves about being healthier.

Then they said, “You know, he’s killed reporters,” and I don’t like that. I’m totally against that. But I do hate them. I hate some of these people, but I’ll be honest, I would never kill them.

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- 98-year-old Joe Sepic, who hit a hole-in-one on a Florida golf course last week

– Conan O’Brien

MORE QUOTES

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

They already had my resignation, so what was the point of just continuing to try to destroy me? I don’t know what the purpose was. To this day, I’m still mystified by that. But I move forward. I’m proud of my service.

If you are referring to specific strains in the Republican Party that suggest that somehow I’m different, I’m Muslim, I’m disloyal to the country, et cetera — which, unfortunately, is pretty far out there and gets some traction in certain pockets of the Republican Party and that have been articulated by some of their elected officials — what I’d say there is that that’s probably pretty specific to me, and who I am and my background. - President Obama when asked in an NPR interview if he figured out yet why some people don’t approve of him

A London architect has come up with a concept for a floating hotel that is selfsustaining and could potentially move around the world. Great job, architect. You just invented the cruise ship. – Seth Myers

If I believed that I could be influenced by a million dollars or a thousand dollars or fifty dollars, then I’m in the wrong place, and I should resign immediately. - Governor Andrew Cuomo explaining why he has no plans on returning $1.2 million in donations from Glenwood Management, the real estate firm implicated in the Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos trials (Silver and Skelos also both argued at their trials that they were not influenced by the donations)

A new study claims the stress of being president takes three years off your life. So suddenly everyone is thinking of voting for Trump. – Conan O’Brien

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

- Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in a recent interview with Foreign Policy magazine, discussing how he was mistreated by the Obama administration at the end of his tenure as Secretary of Defense

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Rant

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DECEMBER 31, 2015

Rocky’s

Presidential Pandemonium By Rocky Zweig

First press conference of the newly sworn in President of the United States of America, January, 2017

B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M

SCENARIO ONE:

Ladies and gentlemen… the President of the United States! Applause, cheering, etc., then… Mr. President! Mr. President! Mr. President! President: Awright, awright guys, settle down. Everyone will get a chance. Well, maybe not that shlubby guy in the back, but… Mr. President! Mr. President!

President: Okay, let’s get this show on the road. Um… you, with the ugly tie. Ugly Tie: Thank you, Mr. President. How does it feel to finally be here after confounding all the naysayers who all kept predicting that you’d eventually put your foot in your mouth one time too many and flame out? President: I’m way too smart to listen to that garbage. I knew all along that

with my looks and my money, there was no way anyone was gonna beat me. Um, okay, you…with the $10.00 haircut. $10.00 Haircut: Mr. President, as you know there has been growing consternation over your choice for Vice President. What do you have to say to those who think your choice is nothing short of outrageous? President: Okay, first of all, what’s wrong with outrageous? Being outrageous got me here, didn’t it? And besides, I stand by my choice. Everybody tells me they want my administration to have diversity, right? And they also tell me I have a problem with women, right? Well, Ivanka is not only a woman, she’s also a Jew! So see what I did right there? I killed two diversifications with one stone. You wanna know what Ivanka calls that? Seichel! Okay you here, in the front. Front Guy: Mr. President… President: Whoa. Listen, fella: if you’re planning on sitting way up front like

that, you’re gonna have to do something about the ol’ halitosis. Front Guy: Um…okay, sure Mr. President. Anyway, when do you… President: Because right now I feel like I’m being smacked over the head with that provolone you had for dinner last night, know what I mean? Front Guy: Yes, yes, of course. Sorry, Mr. President. I’ll take care of it. [Aside, whispering: psst…Anyone have a Tic Tac?] Anyway, as I was saying, when do you anticipate starting the wall along the southern border? President: Starting? Haven’t you guys been paying attention? Started it as soon as the election results were official. Got some of my gardeners and a few of my maids, you know, for women’s rights and all, they got some of their cousins, you know they all share a home anyway, and sent ‘em all down there with some bricks and mortar. Gotta tell ya, I love the Mexican people. They’re amazingly hard workers. Except the ones

that rob and kill and steal. Um, lessee…you, over there: the young lady who shops at H&M. H&M Girl: Oh…is that me? Thank you Mr. President. Mr. President, I’m sure you’re aware that many people find… President: Tell me miss, what is that ghastly perfume you’re wearing? H&M Girl: Mr. President, I happen to be wearing Chanel. President: Chanel, huh? Cute. Listen, tell you what: the Vice President has a gorgeous new fragrance that’s all the rage. Best part is, it’s got my name on it. See me after the press conference and I’ll hook you up with Ivanka and make sure you get a nice gift package. How’s that? H&M Girl: Peachy. Anyway, as I was saying, I’m sure you’re aware that many people find your choice for Secretary of Defense rather puzzling. Would you care to comment on… President: Okay, first of all, I want to address the myth that the Secretary of

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

she said a few things, that’s how stuff gets started, you know? But most of it was just for show. H&M Girl: You called her fat, crude, obnoxious, and dumb. President: And your

First press conference of the newly sworn in President of the United States of America, January, 2017

Ed Henry, FOX: Chris, seriously? Does he actually want everyone to call him Uncle Bernie instead of Mr. President? CM: Absolutely. He feels too much emphasis is put on titles and people’s station in life and he wants people to think of him as accessible, like a sweet, old, doting uncle. Ed: Does he even wants other world leaders to call him Uncle Bernie? CM: Of course not, Ed, don’t be ridiculous. Ed: Well, that’s a relief. CM: No, they’re going to call him PUB. Ed: PUB? CM: President Uncle Bernie. And before I forget, the Vice President doesn’t like his title, either. He prefers Comrade DeBlasio. Okay, Jim? Jim Acosta, CNN: Chris

desktop like a video game. I sit down, grab my joystick, take ‘em out personally one at a time and just watch those babies burn. There’s a buffet in the next room, all catered. Help yourselves. See ya next time.

is it true that the president paid a visit to Mrs. Clinton recently? CM: Yes, he went to see Secretary Clinton up at Bedford Hills Correctional a few days ago. She wants everyone to know that she’s doing fine, having a bit of trouble adjusting but hey, that’s to be expected, right? She doesn’t like the way the orange pantsuits look on her. But she has a really friendly Black Lives Matter young lady as a cellmate, and I think after a while they’re going to get along famously. Between me and you, I have a feeling she may have gotten her advice about how to how to handle unfortunate internet correspondence from Huma Abedin. Yes… um…okay, Major? Major Garrett, CBS: Chris, of course you’ve heard the rumblings about using the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office, due to his inauguration speech. There are those, especially on the right, who are convinced that he is mentally incapacitated and unable to fulfill his duties. CM: Major, is this the Popeye thing again? Major: Yes, Chris. If a new president quotes Popeye the Sailor Man during his inauguration speech, there are those who believe that would be cause for concern. CM: All he said was, “I am what I am.” Major: Yes, but then he started waving around a can

of spinach. CM: The right is just mad that one of their wackos didn’t get in instead. Peter? Peter Alexander, NBC: How does the president make decisions? I mean, does he have a close group of advisors that he brainstorms with? CM: Oh, no, Uncle Bernie doesn’t think he needs any advice. He just goes into the Oval Office, shuts the door, and consults his Magic 8 Ball. Yes, Margaret? Margaret Talev, Bloomberg TV: Can you tell us if there’s anything new on the free tuition problem? CM: Well, Uncle Bernie called in every last left wing economist we could find and asked them for suggestions. Turns out, if we were to confiscate 100% of all assets of all millionaires and billionaires, it would be enough to fund our all colleges and universities for about eighteen months. And if we did that, of course, all those guys would high-tail it to the Cayman Islands. Margaret: So…where are we with this signature issue of the president? CM: He had the door to the Oval Office closed for a few hours today, so I assume he was working on it. Anyway guys, I have to go prepare Uncle Bernie’s chicken soup; he gets very cranky if I’m late. Good night. Drive safe.

was the Editor-in-Chief of the late and decidedly unlamented Modieinu, the mimeographed (remember mimeographs?) newspaper of the Tenth Avenue Pirchei of Boro Park, where he wrote everything from stories to news articles to hashkafa articles to...yes (now it can be told!)...letters to the editor. Rocky was sixteen a very long time ago. He is the proud father of three marginally neurotic children. He has been married three — count ‘em — three times and has finally determined that he’s probably not very good at matrimonial bliss. He lives in his Fortress of Solitude in Flatbush with a small menagerie: Clarice, a European Starling; Rabbi Horatio LeZard, a Bearded Dragon; an aquarium filled with Lake Malawi African Cichlids; and a ten gallon tank that functions as a Home for Unwanted Goldfish, or H.U.G., collected over the years by his grandkids and great nieces and nephews at myriad street fairs and carnivals (rather than face the unpleasant task of flushing these unfortunate piscine creatures when they are eventually, inevitably ignored by their own obnoxious progeny, the parents simply call Uncle Rocky who then feeds them and cares for them until their ultimate natural demise three or four or even ten years down the pike). So apparently Rocky seems to get along better with animals than with his fellow homo sapiens. Or sapienses. Or whatever. Rocky’s column will be appearing every other week in The Jewish Home. Rocky can be reached at anidaati@aol.com.

Rocky Zweig has been writing since he was sixteen and

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EMCEE RICHIE: Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, the president is feeling a little under the weather, so the press conference is going to be run by his press secretary, whom you all know of course, as a former colleague. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Chris Matthews! (Standing Ovation, Applause, Cheering, Whistling, Etc.) CM: Well, thank you all for coming. As Richie said, Uncle Bernie is a little tuckered out, what with all the dancing and drinking and partying over the last few nights, so he just decided to put his jammies on and call it a night. Jonathan Karl, ABC: Chris, it’s 8:00. CM: C’mon, Jonathan, haven’t you ever been to Century Village? Okay, Ed?

tiate with them and take out the leadership. Cut off the head of the snake, you know? Listen guys, that’s it for today. I gotta go back to the Oval Office and blow up some ISIS oil fields. I have the bombers set up on my

DECEMBER 31, 2015

SCENARIO TWO:

point is? Look, I figure if anyone will put the fear of G-d into all those maniacs over there cutting people’s heads off, it’ll be Rosie. I mean, have you seen that punim? I’m thinking maybe I could send her in to nego-

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Defense and I have ever been involved in some kind of feud. Rosie O’Donnell and I have been close friends for many, many years. Then she made the mistake of mocking my hair on TV and I got upset and said a few things,

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

Jewish History

The Infamous Case of the “Get of Cleves”

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Rabbi Yechezkel Landau of Prague initially tried to resolve the dispute through compromise, but later became the Frankfurt rabbinate’s most vocal opponent. As a result, he and his family, including his descendants, were banned from the Frankfurt Jewish community

By Rabbi Pini Dunner

In the first two parts of this series we saw how the “Get of Cleves” controversy embroiled the rabbinic world of the late eighteenth century as the fate of a recently married and divorced couple became the table talk in dozens of communities across Europe. With the Frankfurt beit din refusing to back down over their controversial ruling to invalidate the divorce, the stage was set for a difficult showdown. In March 1767, half a year after the events in question, the senior rabbi of the time, Rabbi Yaakov Emden, dismissed the Frankfurt beit din’s position as untenable and implored them to reverse their position so as not to make utter fools of themselves. They refused to do so and instead began to publicly denounce anyone who opposed them over their stance.

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Part III

t around this time, Rabbi Yechezkel Landau of Prague, author of the Noda Biyehuda, intervened in the controversy. Still quite young and not nearly as well-known as he would be ten or fifteen years later, Rabbi Landau was by nature a leader and a man of action. In his opinion, the Get of Cleves was without doubt a legally viable document, but nevertheless he felt that Rabbi Lipschuetz

of Cleves, who had presided over the divorce, should try and negotiate a face-saving compromise with the Frankfurt beit din so that everyone could walk away from the controversy with their heads held high. But after making a number of approaches to the rabbis of Frankfurt, he concluded with regret that they were in no mood for a compromise of any kind. Once this became evident to him, he immediately issued a public ruling validating the Get of Cleves. In his pronouncement he rebuked the Frankfurt dayanim for their

obstinacy and for claiming sole jurisdiction in the case, and suggested forcefully that they immediately reverse their decision in accordance with the majority view of all the other rabbis who had ruled on the case. In a last effort to be conciliatory, he wrote that as he was sure the Frankfurt beit din had initially acted in good faith and in accordance with their religious convictions, their refusal now to comply with the majority view was understandable. But, he said, it was a grave violation of Jewish law to

question the legitimacy of a valid get, and therefore, although he did not wish to offend the Frankfurt rabbinate, his duty to justice and Torah law compelled him to declare that Leah was free to remarry immediately. He nevertheless suggested that she should wait a full year from the date of the divorce to give the Frankfurt rabbis a chance to reconsider their position. Frustratingly for all concerned, Rabbi Abish of Frankfurt and his dayanim totally ignored Rabbi Landau’s suggestion. They were not looking for any exit strategy. In fact, it seemed that they were determined to force the entire rabbinic world to fall in line with their way of thinking. When this dawned on Rabbi Landau, he decided to act – and to act decisively. Exactly one year after the dispute had initially erupted he called together the entire Prague community into the city’s main synagogue and in a rousing public address announced that Leah was free to remarry and that he would perform the wedding if called upon to do

so. He also launched a powerful attack on the Frankfurt rabbinate, calling them to task for allowing pride and vanity to color their judgment. “Even the greatest Jewish legal minds can occasionally make mistakes,” he thundered, and with the packed synagogue listening in stunned silence, he closed his dramatic speech with these devastating words: “When there is a desecration of G-d’s name it is my duty to defend the honor of heaven, the honor of the Torah, and the honor of laws relating to the daughters of Israel. How sad that this story so perfectly demonstrates how careful one must be to ensure that the evil inclination does not gain control over us.” Rabbi Landau was far from done. He wrote to Rabbi Aron Shimon Copenhagen, who had attended the wedding of Isaac to Leah, and later the divorce, and asked him to publicize the Prague speech as widely as possible and also to send printed copies of the validation of the get to as many rabbis and communities as he could. Even at this juncture he made an

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

subsequent act – including his instruction to write a get – had to be treated as part of his mental breakdown, even if he appeared rational when giving the instruction. Rabbi Lipschuetz of Cleves – and every single other rabbi who weighed in on the matter – disagreed profoundly with this viewpoint. The Shabbat disappearance incident was totally irrelevant and what mattered was whether or not Isaac was lucid and coherent at the time the get was given, which Isaac had certainly been. It had also become a matter of great concern among the rabbinic community that the Frankfurt beit din had refused to publish their legal arguments or to publish refutations of the reasons published by those who opposed them. Especially because their stance was so contentious, it seemed odd – at best – that they refused to back up their views with solid evidence and source based material to support their views on the matter. Their complete refusal to concede to the majority view

was by far the most problematic aspect of all. Had they been involved with the actual divorce, their obstinacy might have been excusable. But as their involvement had only begun after the fact, and even then only as representatives of one side, they really did not have a leg to stand on. Even had they been completely right, Jewish law dictates that the majority has priority, which meant that the Get of Cleves had to be treated as a valid legal document. There was a view that the Frankfurt rabbis and community had closed ranks to defend their esteemed chief rabbi, Rabbi Abish. This view seemed to be borne out when the community leaders in Frankfurt entered the following decree into their official community rulebook a few months after Rabbi Landau’s speech to the community of Prague: “Since Rabbi Landau publicly insulted our chief rabbi we decree that the he, his children, grandchildren, sons-in-law, and grandsonsin-law, and any of his de-

scendants, shall never hold an official position in our community. If a member of his family ever visits Frankfurt, he will not be allowed to speak publicly, nor be given any communal honors. Any document signed by the Rabbi of Prague alone, without any additional rabbinical signatures, shall be completely disregarded by our community.” Interestingly, it was never Rabbi Abish who was the driving force in the fight back by the Frankfurt rabbinate. The leading protagonist in Frankfurt was Rabbi Nathan Maas, author of the scholarly work Binyan Shlomo. A charismatic and forceful personality, he was regarded as a very smart man and was undoubtedly the most influential dayan in Frankfurt. It was Rabbi Maas who composed all the letters and public pronouncements, and it was Rabbi Maas who rabbis outside of Frankfurt accused of misleading Rabbi Abish and forcing him to stick to his guns by convincing him that he was fighting a holy war.

Tragically, Rabbi Abish died the day after Yom Kippur in 1768. His death shocked the Frankfurt Jewish community to its core. The belief was that his death had been caused only by the anguish he had suffered from the controversy. At his funeral it was announced that no rabbi who had opposed him in this case could ever be elected to replace him. It took four years to find a replacement due to the huge numbers of rabbis who had publicly defended the Get of Cleves against Rabbi Abish’s opinion. Eventually, Rabbi Pinchas ha-Levi Horowitz was hired to take up the position as Chief Rabbi of Frankfurt. It emerged much later that he had in fact written a letter to Rabbi Lipschuetz to support the notorious get. But as he finished writing the letter, he reached for the container of sand to scatter some of it on the letter to blot the still damp ink. Instead of picking up the sand container he mistakenly picked up the ink container and spilled it over the paper, ruining the entire letter. He began writing the letter for a second time, but someone who was with him told him not to bother. Rabbi Lipschuetz already had the support of so many other rabbis, the man said, and Rabbi Horowitz’s letter would not add anything extra and it was not worth wasting time to write the letter for a second time. Inadvertently it was that advice that got him the position in Frankfurt a few years later. In the course of this incredible tale we have been so caught up with the epic battle between the rabbinic luminaries of Europe that we have lost touch with the original characters – Isaac and Leah. Whatever happened to them? As it turns out, the

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Rabbi Yisrael Lipschuetz’s publication, Ohr Yisrael (Cleves, 1770), included a vicious attack on the Frankfurt rabbinate on pages 31 and 32. The attack was later removed and the text reworked so that in most copies of Ohr Yisrael page 31 is followed by page 33. Copies that include the original pages 31 and 32 are extremely rare. This illustration shows the offensive pages from the copy of Ohr Yisrael in Rabbi Dunner’s book collection

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Sefer Ohr Hayashar (Amsterdam, 1769) by Rabbi Aron Shimon Copenhagen contains a contemporary account of the ‘Get of Cleves’ saga by one of its main protagonists

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attempt to get the Frankfurt rabbis to back down. But it was no use – not only were they in no mood to listen, in March 1768 they took his published letter and publicly burned it in front of the whole Frankfurt community. Rabbi Landau was not alone defending the Get of Cleves. In the early fall of 1767, Rabbi Yosef Steinhardt went public with his ruling in favor of the get. The following month Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel of Ausbach did the same. Towards the end of the year ten rabbis from Brody in Poland validated the get. Rabbi Shlomo of Chelm, a renowned and respected halachic expert, was next to come out in support of the get, and he was followed by Rabbi Arye Leib of Hanover, son of the former Chief Rabbi of Frankfurt, Rabbi Yaakov Yehoshua Falk, author of Pnei Yehoshua, and whose students included the dayanim of Frankfurt. In Frankfurt the mood remained belligerent and unrepentant. Copies of the avalanche of rulings by the various rabbis were publicly burned, and a stream of pronouncements were published, all of them restating that the Get of Cleves was not worth the paper it had been written on, and Leah was forbidden to remarry without a new get. Although they never explained their inflexibility, it seems that the Frankfurt beit din were of the view that sanity and insanity had to be judged contextually and holistically. If the behavior leading up to the get process indicated that the husband was insane in some way, then his instruction to give the get could also be considered part of that same trend. Isaac’s disappearance with the money on the Shabbat after his wedding was a clear indication that he was mentally ill, and therefore any

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

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DECEMBER 31, 2015

story’s conclusion is almost too fantastic to be true, and considering the source of the story, it could well not be true. In the late nineteenth century a book was published that described the history of the Frankfurt rabbinate over the previous centuries. The story of the Get of Cleves saga was included in the book, for the first time from the perspective of the Frankfurt rabbinate. The book claimed that in early 1768 Leah and her family decided that they would accept the decision of the Frankfurt beit din and she would not remarry, despite the numerous rabbis who had validated her divorce. Then, without warning, Isaac suddenly returned to Germany from London and came to visit Leah and her family in Bonn. After a long heart-toheart talk, the couple announced that they had decided to “remarry.” As far as the Frankfurt rabbinate was concerned they did not need a wedding, seeing as the divorce had never been valid to start with. But just to be sure, the couple took part in a strange pseudo-wedding ceremony in Frankfurt, presided over by the Frankfurt rabbinate, during which Isaac put a ring on Leah’s finger and said: “At od mekudeshet li betaba’at zo kedat Moshe ve-Yisrael” – “You remain betrothed to me with this ring in accordance with the laws of Moses and Israel” The author of this incredible version of events was a man called Rabbi Markus Horowitz, who was himself Orthodox Chief Rabbi of Frankfurt during the latter half of the nineteenth century (although by now the community had split into two, with the strictly Orthodox community led as a separate group by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch). Rabbi Horow-

itz claimed that his account of events was based on previously unseen source material taken from the archived files of the Frankfurt kehilla. The rabbinic world once more erupted in uproar over the Get of Cleves, especially as Rabbi Horowitz had declared in a published work that the Get of Cleves had been invalid, as had been stated by the rabbis of Frankfurt a century earlier. This opinion had been dismissed for a century or more and that it had now resurfaced caused no end of consternation. Rabbi Horowitz also claimed to have found a manuscript authored by Rabbi Maas in which he had explained why he and his colleagues had remained silent in the face of mounting rabbinic opposition. Rabbi Maas wrote, said Rabbi Horowitz, that the Frankfurt rabbinate had simply been asked to endorse the view of Rabbi Tevele Hess of Mannheim, who had himself witnessed Isaac’s curious behavior during the wedding week culminating in his Shabbat disappearance and who believed therefore that the Get of Cleves was worthless. With no reason to doubt the veracity of Rabbi Hess’s opinion, as it was based on firsthand knowledge of Isaac and his state of mind, the Frankfurt rabbinate was under no obligation to change their minds once they had ruled on the matter, nor to relinquish the jurisdiction of the case, which had been granted to them by Rabbi Hess. But this statement of Rabbi Maas, as reproduced by Rabbi Horowitz, raised more questions than it answered for those who knew the ins-and-outs of the story. Concerned that the confusion caused by Rabbi Horowitz’s account would have real repercussions for

halacha, many rabbis publicly condemned the Horowitz book and dismissed it as fiction. Their views were later summarized and published by a man called Rabbi Yehuda Lubetzky, the Lithuanian-born Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Paris, in a pamphlet called “Kevodan shel Rishonim.” In a long introduction he repeated the view of his predecessors in the late eighteenth century, namely that a halachic decision such as the one reached by the rabbis of Frankfurt about the Get of Cleves did not occur in

the indefensible. There was no doubt at all, said Rabbi Lubetzky, that halacha in such cases had been firmly established in favor of those who had supported Rabbi Lipschuetz. Just before we close the door on this incredible tale, it is worth noting that both Rabbi Lipschuetz and Rabbi Copenhagen published books recording their personal experiences of the controversy in which they demonstrated the halachic basis for their views and reproduced the prolific corre-

The invective against the Frankfurt rabbinate was clearly a step too far. And so, a new version was published in which page 31 was rewritten, page 32 was removed, and the text reworked so that it flowed seamlessly from page 31 to page 33. The first version of Ohr Yisrael is exceedingly rare and perhaps there are a couple of dozen copies in the world, most of them in private hands. The second version is less rare, although it is also a prized collectors’ piece. I am lucky enough to

“Since Rabbi Landau publicly insulted our chief rabbi we decree that the he, his children, grandchildren, sons-in-law, and grandsons-in-law, and any of his descendants, shall never hold an official position in our community.”

a vacuum, and if a majority of senior rabbis decide that you are in the wrong, it is simply untenable to persist in defending your opinion. Rabbi Lubetzky’s main criticism was directed at Rabbi Horowitz for concluding that the Frankfurt rabbinate had got it right. He accused Rabbi Horowitz of being disingenuous and sloppy in his presentation of the facts of the case and even of being deliberately misleading in his eagerness to exonerate the Frankfurt rabbis. If the Rabbi Maas manuscript even existed – and he questioned whether even if there was a manuscript, if it was genuine, or if it was a later forgery – the most likely reason why it had never been published or seen was because Rabbi Maas himself had probably realized how foolish he would appear if he attempted to defend

spondence generated by the whole saga. There is quite a curious side story with regards to Rabbi Lipschuetz’s publication. In 1770 he published his work, which he called “Ohr Yisrael.” On pages 31 and 32, after he had accused the Frankfurt rabbis of spreading lies about him and of being utterly dishonest, he included the text of a public declaration he had made in Cleves that described the “wickedness of these men” in explicit detail, even referring to Rabbi Maas as “the evil and corrupt dayan of Frankfurt.” But this incendiary version of Ohr Yisrael was quickly withdrawn from circulation, possibly following negative feedback by the rabbis who were behind the campaign to validate the Get of Cleves and whose support Rabbi Lipschuetz needed.

have both versions in my personal collection and have included an illustration of the elusive page 32 for the readers of this article. The “Get of Cleves” controversy set the precedent for defining incompetence and insanity in divorce cases according to Jewish law. The obstinacy of the Frankfurt rabbinate forced the rabbinic community of the eighteenth century to crystallize around a more lenient understanding of the relevant definitions and to enshrine them in halacha, making it easier to ensure that women in failed marriages could not be held ransom by husbands who feign “madness” and then claim they are not competent to issue a get. Rabbi Pini Dunner is the Rav of Young Israel North Beverly Hills in California.

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

In The K

tchen

THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME

Kosher on the Go By Naomi Nachman

Ingredients 2 pounds of ground turkey ½ cup Panko crumbs (makes the balls light and fluffy) Two large eggs ¼ cup ketchup 1 tsp of garlic powder 1 tsp onion powder Salt to taste Sauce 32 oz. can of tomato sauce 2 cups of water ½ cup of sugar ½ cup ketchup ¼ cup brown sugar Two fresh lemons, juiced Preparation Mix the ground turkey, panko crumbs, eggs, ketchup, and spices in a large bowl and set aside. To prepare the sauce: In a large pot add tomato sauce, water, sugars, ketchup and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Roll the turkey mixture into balls and drop them into the sauce. Simmer on low for 2 hours.

Naomi Nachman, the owner of The Aussie Gourmet, caters weekly and Shabbat/ Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighboring communities, with a specialty in Pesach catering. Naomi is a contributing editor to this paper and also produces and hosts her own weekly radio show on the Nachum Segal Network stream called “A Table for Two with Naomi Nachman.” Naomi gives cooking presentations for organizations and private groups throughout the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area. In addition, Naomi has been a guest host on the QVC TV network and has been featured in cookbooks, magazines as well as other media covering topics related to cuisine preparation and personal chefs. To obtain additional recipes, join The Aussie Gourmet on Facebook or visit Naomi’s blog. Naomi can be reached through her website,www.theaussiegourmet.com or at (516) 295-9669.

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If you are staying in a villa, apartment or renting a house, you can always place the food in the oven once you have kashered it. I have taken schnitzel, eggplant parmesan, cranberry chicken, and roast beef along with us on trips. The key is to deep-freeze it well after you have made it. Wrap it well in silver foil, place it in a Ziploc bag, then in a freezer bag right before you pack it in your suitcase. If you are dedicating one bag for the frozen meals, then it’s a good idea to line the suitcase with towels. I have taken my homemade frozen meals to Hawaii and to Israel without any problems; when the food is under the plane in your suitcase, it is at sub-zero temperatures, so it is still frozen when you arrive.

Traveling Turkey Meatballs

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Many of my readers know that I am a travel junkie. I love to travel to places across the globe, find the local kosher restaurants and then dine there. However, there are times when there are no local kosher restaurants or (gasp!) even kosher sections at the local supermarkets, so then we have to bring our own food. It also helps to bring our costs down when travelling with the family to have one or two home-cooked meals prepared in advance. In those cases, I will make some comfort food that the whole family likes that freeze well and which are easy to reheat. Of course, this also depends on what your accommodations are like. I usually pack a plug-in electric coil burner, a small parve pot to boil noodles or eggs, a small meat pot to reheat meatballs, and a small dairy frying pan. I also bring a flexible parve cutting board and a sharp knife to cut up vegetables. Even if there are no local kosher restaurants, I usually visit the local supermarkets to buy dry goods, fresh produce and drinks.