Five Towns Jewish Home - 5-5-22

May 5, 2022

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Dear Readers,

S

open window, and I loudly asked Rav Nota for a bracha for my son. Rav Nota responded, “You should have hatzlacha in your learning.”

As we began to step away from the car, Rav Nota’s son approached us. Familiar with these situations, he quipped, “Oh, you will never be able to convince him to give you a bracha.” After all, it is not the Litvishe way to distribute brachos.

We responded by telling him what Rav Nota said. Shaking his head in admiration, Rav Nota’s son said, “Wow, that’s a big bracha coming from him!”

My son is now old enough to understand the enormity of what he received. And he is old enough to grasp the greatness of who gave him this gift.

His memories of Rav Nota – both admonishment and a blessing – conjure feelings of warmth and caring. They highlight the import of halacha and Torah and respect and love for Jews of all ages.

With Rav Nota’s passing this week, we lost a leader from a previous generation whose reach extended well into this generation. We, in the Five Towns, had the great zchus of catching a glimpse of this giant when he would visit his children here. It is a memory that many will cherish for a long time to come.

May Rav Nota be a meilitz yosher for his family, this community, and all of Klal Yisroel.

everal years ago, my husband and theneight-year-old son came back from shul on the second night of Shavuos particularly excited. When asked what happened, with my husband’s prodding, my son shared that Rav Nota Greenblatt came over and spoke to him.

My son further explained that, during the break in shul, he took a cup of soda and was in the middle of drinking it when Rav Nota noticed him. Rav Nota walked over to my son and said, “Young man, it’s after shkiyah. You can’t drink that now. If you are really thirsty, you can take a little water.”

That was the end of the conversation.

To me, something was missing. After all, at the time, there were few things that my son loved more than an overflowing cup of soda. Why was he excited about being told that he couldn’t drink his favorite beverage – and by a gadol, no less?

My husband, who witnessed the incident, explained to me that while admonishing our son, Rav Nota was giving him a much more important message, which even at a young age moved my son deeply. That message was: you are a ben Torah, you follow halacha; you are not just a little kid.

He was moved that a gadol b’Yisroel saw him as an important member of our nation, despite his young age.

For the next several years, whenever Rav Nota was in town, my son would try to get a bracha from him, not an easy task.

In fact, recently, we spotted Rav Nota in the passenger seat of a parked car, and we decided to approach him for a bracha. We stood near the

Wishing you a wonderful week, Shoshana

Yitzy Halpern, PUBLISHER

publisher@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Yosef Feinerman, MANAGING EDITOR ads@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Shoshana Soroka, EDITOR

editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Nate Davis Editorial Assistant Nechama Wein Copy Editor Rachel Bergida Berish Edelman Mati Jacobovits Design & Production Gabe Solomon Distribution & Logistics P.O. BOX 266 Lawrence, NY 11559 Phone | 516-734-0858 Fax | 516-734-0857 Classified Deadline: Monday 5:00PM classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com text 443-929-4003 PAYMENT VIA CREDIT CARD MUST BE SUBMITTED ALONG WITH CLASSIFIED ADS The Jewish Home is an independent weekly magazine.

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

Shabbos Zemanim

Weekly Weather | May 6– May 12

Friday, May 6 Parshas Kedoshim

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PM Rain

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54° 45°

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Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Readers’ Poll Community Happenings

8 40

NEWS

132

Global

12

National

26

That’s Odd

36

ISRAEL Israel News

18

World Builders

84

JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Wein on the Parsha

74

Where We Belong by Rav Moshe Weinberger

76

Delving into the Daf by Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

78

PEOPLE The Wandering Jew

80

Rav Nota Greenblatt, zt”l The Passing of a Giant

86

Of Inspiration and Connection: Remembering Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein, z”l

90

Remembering the Pure Neshama of Anna Pinto, a”h

92

Heroes of the Battle of Midway by Avi Heiligman

124

HEALTH & FITNESS My Discovery by Dr. Deb Hirschhorn

106

Are You Raising an Emotional Eater? by Cindy Weinberger, MS RD CDN

108

FOOD & LEISURE The Aussie Gourmet: Italian Grilled Pargiyot

112

LIFESTYLES Can This Be Happening?

An Interview with Jewish Author Gordon Korman 96 Teen Talk

134

Dear Editor, I was quite surprised by how the panelists in the dating column responded to the young woman who didn’t feel welcomed by her in-laws. Majority of the panelists responded that the wom-

an comes off as immature and entitled and she should put a smile on her face, help out, and make the best of the situation.

I don’t believe the panelists were really validating this woman’s feelings.

I sympathize with this newly married woman and imagine how hard it must be to spend yom tov at her in-laws where she feels like an “outlaw.”

I understand getting married and spending the yom tov with your in-laws is something that comes with being married; however; it doesn’t mean someone should not feel welcomed and have their new family act cold towards them.

I believe that the panelists could have suggested that she be honest with her husband and communicate to him that his family is not treating her nicely.

Maybe he can speak to his mother and siblings about making her feel like she is part of the family. Of course, it’s a twoway street and this woman should make an effort to create a connection with her husband’s family, too.

I wish this young woman all the best and hope her situation improves.

A Reader Dear Editor, I was reading a parsha sheet that discussed the Gemara in Rosh Hashana (18a) regarding the fact that on Rosh Hashana we pass before G-d like bnei maron (sheep). Rashi explains that it’s as Continued on page 10

100

Dating Dialogue, Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW 102 Parenting Pearls

110

Your Money

132

Count Me In by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS

134

HUMOR Centerfold

72

POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Notable Quotes

114

The Pentagon Plans Anew to Head Off an Old Worry

by David Ignatius

118

DeSantis Shows the Way Forward by Marc A. Thiessen

120

Pelosi’s Partisan Politics on Ukraine by Marc A. Thiessen

122

CLASSIFIEDS

Dear Editor, April 28th was Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is disappointing that the New York State Legislature failed to pass legislation which would have looked into how the New York public schools are teaching students about this past history. Many students belonging to today’s generation in high school and college have little or no understanding of how Nazi Germany during World War II murdered over 6 million Jews. Shame on State Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Brooklyn Assembly member Ms. Helene Weinstein for refusing to allow this bill out of her committee so it could move on to the full 150-member State Assembly for a vote. The silence of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins, Governor Kathy Hochul, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Senators Charles Schumer, and Kirsten Gillibrand in not endorsing this critical piece of legislation was an abdication of their respective leadership on this critical issue.

Sincerely, Larry Penner Great Neck, NY

126

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The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

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Continued from page 8

A Night of iNspirAtioN

if we each go through a small door to be counted. What an extraordinary scene: an intimate judgement with G-d.

Then I thought of Sefirat Haomer.

The gematria of middah is 49 because on the 49 days of the Omer we must perfect our middot. Imagine if for the Rosh Hashana rendezvous, we broke our middot.

What a glorious rendezvous that will be.

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Dear Editor, I loved reading Rabbi Shais’ article in this week’s TJH. There were so many points in the article that I would like to incorporate and think about.

I found one point, though, to be almost depressing.

Rabbi Shais points out that when we parent, we are giving our children an “education” on how they will be parents when they grow up.

On the flip side, our “education” as parents starts when we are kids. Essentially, the upbringing that we have influences how we are as parents.

How true that is, but how depressing that can be – to think that we are already influenced to be parenting a certain way because of our past. True, we can move past our past experiences, but those experiences help to mold us into the parents we are today.

Instead of seeing this as depressing, I am choosing to view it as eye-opening.

It is eye-opening because if we know that our childhood influenced how we parent, then we need to be parenting in a deliberate way. We cannot parent “on-the-fly” or by rote. We need to think about our actions and words. Are we doing the right thing, or are we doing what we were “taught” when we were kids?

Are we do what’s right for our kids, or are we doing what we saw when we were growing up?

Being parents who are deliberate in their actions will make us better parents.

Sincerely, Chavi Newman

Views expressed on the Letters to the Editor page do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jewish Home.

Make your voice heard!

Please send all correspondence to: editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com.

Email the editor to be included in the weekly poll at Editor@FiveTownsJewishHome.com

Be part of TJH’s weekly poll.

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MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

12

The Week In News

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To Medicate or Not?

Guinea to Return to Civilian Rule

Upsides, Downsides, and Insights of Psychotropic Meds

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producers: the country ranks seventh for overall production, and first for burley.

According to government statistics, over 70% of the country’s export income is from tobacco.

Guinea will move to civilian rule after a 39-month transition period.

Col. Mamady Doumbouya, the head of Guinea’s military government, said this week that the proposal will be put to the country’s parliament.

Meanwhile, Doumbouya has promised that no one who is part of the interim government, including himself, will be allowed to run in the next elections.

In September last year, Guinea’s army ousted the country’s elected president in a coup and detained him, accusing him of corruption and human rights abuses.

Initially, the move was welcomed by the public, but the military’s failure to return control to civilian hands has led to growing discontent.

Guinea’s National Transition Council (CNT), set up after the coup to act as parliament, has been tasked with arranging a date for the country’s next elections – but has thus far failed to do so.

Last Monday was the deadline set by the regional bloc of West African nations as the deadline for the army to name a timeline for the return to civilian rule.

The Republic of Guinea is a country located on the west coast of Africa. Guinea achieved independence from France in 1958, but its recent history has been studded with coups d’etat. It is a predominately Muslim country; approximately 85 percent of its population of 12.4 million practices Islam.

Malawi: Cannabis May Be Main Cash Crop Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries, is also one of its major tobacco

Over the years, however, demand for tobacco has decreased, partly because of anti-smoking campaigns. This year, the Tobacco Commission cut the tobacco trade to just three days a week, due to low volumes and low prices at the auction floors in Lilongwe; on those three days, sales last just an hour.

According to the Tobacco Commission, last year, the crop earned Malawi $173.5 million, representing a 27% drop from the previous year. And according to local media, the first week of sales saw prices drop over 20% from last year.

Meanwhile, Malawi’s government still calls tobacco a “strategic crop.”

Some farmers, however, are trying their hand at new crops, including cannabis farming, which was legalized for medicinal and industrial use in February 2020.

Cultivation licenses, however, cost about $10,000 per collective.

Betchani Tchereni, economics professor at the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, told AFP: “We just have to restart the economy. If it’s soya, then let’s do soya. If it’s cannabis, then let’s concentrate on cannabis.”

Tchereni added, “It takes just about three months to mature, and then boom, we have the forex [foreign exchange]. Licenses can’t be this expensive.”

Germany Sues Italy

Germany has filed a case against Italy with the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The case focuses on attempts within

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Italy to claim compensation for Nazi-era war crimes, which Germany says have continued despite a 2012 ruling that such claims are inadmissible.

Since the 2012 ruling, over 25 new cases have been filed in Italy, the lawsuit claims. In some of those cases, the courts have ruled that Germany must pay compensation.

Germany has said it is complaining to the ICJ now because two ongoing cases could see German-owned properties in Rome seized to finance compensation payments. An Italian court will decide

by May 25 whether to force the sale of certain buildings.

Germany, for its part, insists that it has paid billions of euros to countries impacted by World War II in the years which have passed since 1945.

Though ICJ rulings often take years, Germany has asked that the court take immediate measures to prevent Italy from auctioning off property while the case is being considered.

Ecuador: State of Emergency Over Gangs

Russia to Leave ISS

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tions, which is notable given the past relationship that the countries had in the Cold War-era “space race,” where they both aggressively sought to achieve dominance in the exploration of outer space.

Three Americans and an Italian astronaut arrived at the space station earlier this week, alongside three Americans, three Russians, and a German crewmate who were already onboard.

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On Saturday, it was announced that Russia will be leaving the International Space Station as the result of sanctions imposed on the country due to its invasion of Ukraine.

Two Russian state news agencies — Tass and RIA Novosti — on Saturday reported that Roscosmos General Director Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview that the decision had already been affirmed.

“The decision has been taken already, we’re not obliged to talk about it publicly,” he reportedly said on state television.

“I can say this only — in accordance with our obligations, we’ll inform our partners about the end of our work on the ISS with a year’s notice.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, the United States — along with the European Union and the United Kingdom — have imposed an array of economic sanctions against Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and many individuals in the leader’s inner circle.

For years, the space station had been a bright spot in U.S.-Russia rela-

Ecuador’s president has declared a state of emergency in three western provinces because of rising crime.

President Guillermo Lasso tweeted that a curfew will be imposed and thousands of soldiers and police officers will be sent to Guayas, Manabí and Esmeraldas to “enforce peace and order.”

Ecuador has seen a sharp increase in murders and gang-related crime, and Lasso has used emergency powers at least one other time to curb violence since he came to office last year.

“The streets will feel the weight” of the security forces, Lasso tweeted.

“Society will not be subdued,” he wrote. “Our peace will never be sacrificed to criminal gangs.”

Lasso has blamed drug trafficking for Ecuador’s crime problems. The Andean country is used as a transit route for cocaine smuggled from neighboring Peru and Colombia, and the powerful Mexican drug cartels are said to operate through local gangs.

The port city of Guayaquil, in the Guayas province, has been ranked the 50th most violent city in the world by Insight Crime. The investigative journalism website reports that Ecuador’s homicide rate increased faster than any other country in Latin America or the Caribbean in 2021.

Ecuador has also seen the deadliest prison riots in its history, which shocked the country and exposed the power of

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The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

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gangs operating in its jails. In September, at least 119 inmates were killed at a prison in Guayaquil. Less than two months later, more than 68 prisoners died in fighting at the same prison.

Hostages Used as Human Shields

Dozens of passengers kidnapped during a train attack in northern Nigeria in late March are being used as human shields by their captors, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.

“They are using civilians as human shields, thereby making it difficult to confront them directly,” Buhari said.

“Bandits and terrorists, unlike professional soldiers, don’t respect the rules of engagement; they don’t care about killing their hostages if they come under attack,” the Nigerian leader said in a statement.

At least eight people were killed and more than two dozen were injured when gunmen opened fire on a packed commuter train traveling from the capital Abuja to the northern city of Kaduna on March 28.

A survivor of the attack said that the train was hit by two explosions before the gunmen opened fire on trapped passengers. After bombing the tracks, the gunmen surrounded the carriages and opened fire.

Around 168 passengers from the ambushed train could not be accounted for last month by the Nigerian Railway Corporation.

Local media reported last week that a pregnant woman said to be among those kidnapped had given birth while in captivity.

Deadly invasions and kidnapping for ransom by gunmen known locally as “bandits” have become a persistent problem across Nigeria in recent years, even as the country scrambles to contain the notorious Boko Haram terrorist group.

“There are fears that bandits will grow to yet another big challenge as we face down the Boko Haram threat,” Buhari noted. “Let me assure Nigerians that this administration will not allow such to happen.”

Buhari’s statement came as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres embarked on a Ramadan solidarity visit to the country to show support for victims of terrorism.

parliament on Tuesday, told lawmakers in Ukraine that their military has “accomplished the greatest feat of arms of the 21st century” by keeping Russian forces outside of Kyiv.

Germany and India Sign Green Development Agreement

Germany and India have signed a series of bilateral agreements focused on sustainable development.

The agreements will provide India with $10.5 billion in aid by 2030, with the aim of boosting the use of clean energy.

The pacts, signed during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Berlin, include issues such as technical assistance to increase the use of renewable energy and hydrogen, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, protecting biodiversity, and improving agricultural land use, nuclear research, the establishment of secure communications channels between the two governments, and migration.

At the same time of the signing, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz invited India, Indonesia, Senegal, and South Africa to attend the June meeting of the Group of Seven major industrialized economies in Germany.

Scholz is seeking to elicit India’s support for the tough stance taken by Europe and the United States toward Russia over the war in Ukraine.

In this vein, Modi reiterated his call to both Russia and Ukraine to end the fighting, saying: “We believe that no party can emerge victorious in this war.”

Still, Modi has refrained from openly criticizing Moscow. Russia is a major supplier of arms to India. It has praised Modi’s government for its “neutral” stance on the conflict.

UK’s Johnson Addresses Ukraine British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in an address by video to Ukraine’s

Johnson made the remark as the United Kingdom government announced a new $375 million military assistance package for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Johnson’s speech is the first from a world leader to Ukraine’s parliament since the war began.

“As you turned the Russian army back from the gates of Kyiv, you not only accomplished the greatest feat of arms of the 21st century, you achieved something deeper and perhaps equally significant: You exposed Putin’s historic folly, the gigantic error that only an autocrat can make,” Johnson said.

“Because when a leader rules by fear, rigs elections, jails critics, gags the media, and listens just to sycophants, when there is no limit on his power – that is when he makes catastrophic mistakes,” he continued.

Johnson underscored, “Putin’s mistake was to invade Ukraine, and the carcasses of Russian armor littering your fields and streets are monuments not only to his folly, but to the dangers of autocracy itself.”

The war, which is now in its 69th day, “is Ukraine’s finest hour that will be remembered and recounted for generations to come.”

“Your children and grandchildren will say that Ukrainians taught the world that the brute force of an aggressor counts for nothing against the moral force of a people determined to be free,” Johnson said.

“They will say that Ukrainians proved by their tenacity and sacrifice that tanks and guns cannot suppress a nation fighting for its independence and that is why I believe that Ukraine will win,” he added.

Following his speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the U.K. and Ukraine are now “brothers and sisters.”

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“Community leaders need to pay much more attention to these demographic dynamics and start preparing for what is likely to be a very different future,” he added.

1 in 7 Jews Charedi Israeli Security Guard Dies in Terror Attack

According to a study published this week by the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research, one out of every seven Jews in the world is charedi. According to the report, if trends continue, one out of every four Jews around the world in 2040 would be charedi.

For now, the study said that there are approximately 2.1 million charedi Jews worldwide – around 14 percent of the total world Jewish population.

More than 90 percent of those charedi Jews live in Israel or in the United States. 1.2 million live in Israel; 700,000 live in the U.S.; 109,300 live in Europe.

Outside of Israel and the United States, the two largest charedi communities are located in the United Kingdom and Canada. A total of 75,500 charedim live in the United Kingdom, where they account for 25 percent of the Jewish population. Some 30,000 live in Canada, where they account for 8 percent of the Jewish population.

Interestingly, Belgium has the most charedim – percentage-wise (35%) – with respect to their general Jewish population.

The predicted growth in the charedi population is due to a number of factors.

Firstly, charedim tend to have larger families. They also enjoy higher-than-average life expectancy. Additionally, those who are born into the charedi world tend to remain charedi throughout their lives.

Commenting on the findings, Jewish Policy Research Executive Director Jonathan Boyd said: “The rapid growth of the Haredi population is changing the nature of the Jewish world. It has significant implications for how Jewishness is understood and seen going forward by both Jews and others, and it has to be understood fully to ensure that the needs of the growing Haredi community are met in terms of housing, education and other community services.

Vyacheslav (Vladi) Golev, a 23-yearold resident of Beit Shemesh, was murdered on Friday night in a terror attack at the entrance to the city of Ariel.

Vyacheslav, a security guard who was on duty together with his fiancée, was murdered by two terrorists who opened fire at his post.

Acting quickly at the start of the attack, Vyacheslav used his body to shield his fiancée from the bullets, absorbing them instead of her.

He is survived by his parents and seven siblings.

The terrorists, who were arrested on Saturday, have been named as Yahya Mar’ee, 19, and Yousseff A’asi, 20. They arrived at the entrance to Ariel armed with Carl Gustav submachine guns in a Suzuki with yellow (Israeli) license plates. Upon their arrival at the security post, the terrorists began firing at Vyacheslav and his girlfriend before exiting the vehicle and shooting Vyacheslav point-blank.

Several hours after the terror attack, the terrorists’ vehicle was found, burned and abandoned in an open field between the Arab towns of Kafr Thulth and Saniriya.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, “I would like to send my condolences to the family of the security guard who was murdered as he protected his colleague from the terrorists with his body, last night in Ariel. Security forces laid their hands on the terrorists this evening.”

The prime minister asserted, “There is no terrorist who we will not reach and bring to justice. Our war against terror is long. Together, we will win.”

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Hamas later took responsibility for the terror attack, laying the blame for its occurrence on the Israeli government and promising that the attack will not be the last.

The terror group also praised the shooting as a “heroic operation” and a “natural response to the crimes of the occupation and its settlers.”

Mossad Foiled Assassination of Israeli Diplomat in Turkey

Earlier reports claimed the Iranian was detained in a European country for a planned attack against the diplomat, the Times of Israel added.

Mansour Rasouli, 52, told Mossad agents that he was sent to target the Israeli diplomat, a journalist in France, and an American general stationed in Germany, the newer reports said.

According to Channel 12 News, Shabak (Israel Security Agency) also participated in the detention.

Following the interrogation, Rasouli was released, the reports added. He was quoted as saying, “I made a mistake.

From here on out, I won’t take any move regarding this – I swear.”

According to Walla!, the incident in question happened approximately one year ago.

Neither Turkey nor Israel has issued an official comment.

38K Olim in 1 Year Israel’s Mossad detained and questioned a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard for his alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate an Israeli diplomat in Turkey, Hebrew media reported on Saturday.

At least 38,000 people have made aliyah in the last year, according to figures released by The Jewish Agency for Israel this week.

The numbers mark a two-decade re-

cord in new immigrants making aliyah.

A majority of them came as they fled the war in Ukraine. Upon arrival in Israel, the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration housed the olim in hotels throughout the country.

Other olim came to the Holy Land in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Since last year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut, about half of the immigrants arrived from Ukraine and Russia, 4,000 came from the United States, 3,700 from France, 1,000 from Belarus, 1,000 from Argentina, 700 from Great Britain, 600 from South Africa, 500 from Brazil, and 400 from Canada. Other olim made aliyah from Australia, Germany, Belgium, Chile, and Italy, among other countries.

In addition, more olim from Ethiopia arrived on Operation Tzur Israel, which is due to resume soon as per an agree-

ment between The Jewish Agency and the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration.

Acting Chairman of the Executive of The Jewish Agency for Israel and World Zionist Organization Chairman, Yaakov Hagoel, visited dozens of new immigrants in The Jewish Agency’s Ulpan Etzion in Jerusalem.

“Every oleh that comes to Israel contributes to the country and strengthens its character,” Hagoel said. “The Jewish Agency is currently working tirelessly to rescue Ukrainian Jews and bring them to Israel and will continue its rescue operations from anywhere in the world as part of its mission to help thousands of Jews outside of Israel realize their Zionist dream.”

Public Security Minister Leaks Info Israel’s Public Security Minister Omer Barlev (Labor) on Tuesday morning revealed on Kan Bet the name of the enemy country in which Staff Sergeant Barak Sharabi fell in 1984: Syria.

According to Arutz Sheva, military censors did not permit the name of the country to be revealed, and Barlev, who

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among other things, that “during the past month, no one was murdered” – despite the fact that on Friday, a security guard was murdered in a terror attack.

“We had 15 people murdered during the month of Ramadan, and we had hundreds of thousands murdered over the years, from the founding of the State until today,” Barlev said. “In the past month, no one was killed, and during the previous month there were serious terror attacks. The police have found themselves blocking [attacks] with their bodies.”

Hamas Leader Threatens War

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was Sharabi’s commander in Sayeret Matkal, did not receive permission to reveal it prior to his slip of the tongue.

Arutz Sheva, quoting Channel 12 News, said that the preparation for the strategic mission involved the participation of then-Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Major-General Ehud Barak, Commander Barlev, and field commander Avi Dichter. For years, none of the details of the operation were allowed to be

published, and even now, any interview involving the family includes the attendance of representatives from Sayeret Matkal, in order to prevent information from being leaked.

Barlev made another slip of the tongue when he was asked about statements by Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai (Labor), who claimed that “we got through the month of Ramadan relatively peacefully,” despite the fact that 15 Is-

raelis were killed in terror attacks in one month.

In his response, the Minister said,

Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader in Gaza, swore over the weekend that the “sword of al-Quds” may return until all of “Palestine” is freed and the “refugees” return to their homeland.

In a speech on Saturday in Gaza, Sinwar issued a strong threat to Israel, warning that it should not allow a repeat of the scenario in which Israeli security forces enter Al Aqsa mosque or the Dome of the Rock and attack practicing Muslims. In this context, Arutz Sheva noted, Sinwar warned that if the Israeli leadership and the extremists wish for a religious war, then the “Palestinians” will answer the challenge and they are preparing for a general war.

Sinwar also claimed that Al Aqsa Mosque is in real danger because of Israel’s alleged plans to allow Jews to visit the site.

No such plans have been discussed.

But Sinwar emphasized that the “Palestinians” will not allow this and that the significance is a regional religious war which will burn everything. According to him, the battle did not end with the closure of the Temple Mount to Jewish visitors at the end of Ramadan.

Therefore, “Palestinians” should prepare for the battle to renew, should Jews be allowed to visit Al Aqsa Mosque again, including on Independence Day and Jerusalem Day. To prepare for this, Sinwar urged Israeli Arabs to arm themselves with guns and knives ahead of great battle against Israel.

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Later, MEMRI quoted Sinwar as saying that all settlements in Judea and Samaria can be decimated within a year if the Palestinians choose to “exert” themselves.

Herzog’s “Immense Soft Power”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said he is using his position to encourage dialogue between Israel’s and the Jewish people’s various sectors, the Times of Israel reported.

Noting his “immense soft power,” Herzog told TOI that encouraging dialogues is “the main thrust of my agenda.”

He also slammed the “fake news” spread about Israel’s policies and actions on the

Temple Mount.

“The recent tension on the Mount is an outright result of preplanned efforts to light up and flare up this situation in order to impact the enormous progress that is enjoyed by Arab countries and Israel together in their relations in the region, and in order to put Israel as the one who’s under blame. And I’m sure that it won’t work,” Herzog said.

He added, “There is a big desire for dialogue — including in the so-called mixed cities [of Jews and Arabs]. I’m dealing with this quietly, usually in close quarters — an open, frank dialogue with all conflicting parties.”

In those dialogues, he added, “I find a huge desire to live together in peace and harmony. I believe our nation is much more unified [than people think]. It’s not that there’s no divisiveness, but there’s a major sense of [shared] purpose.”

On the international arena, Herzog said, “The historic movement is for much more dialogue than in the past between Islamic nations and Israel, especially Sunni nations, of course. This is the symbolism of this era, and we should seize the moment, use this era, on the platform of the Abraham Accords, which made history.”

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nuclear weapons, the need to develop a joint defense strategy in the region, and of course, the future,” Herzog said, “I foresee a great future for this region as a supplier of energy to Europe, Asia and Africa; especially when we’re dealing with climate, the whole notion of solar energy. There are many ideas. If we only believe, we can reach those moments.”

Bringing Palestinian Authority Arabs to dialogue, he said, “requires originality and new thought. It requires a lucid view of the facts on the ground and of course, on the psychological side of things between the nations. How do we get the young generation to have a dialogue? After all, you see some very bright people and originality in the young generation, and perhaps some of the hope will come from there.”

Herzog continued, “I’m trying to explain to people who are repeating the old paradigms that they need to review them and see where things went wrong and why. At the end of it, I utterly believe that Israel’s cause is just and unequivocally correct. And [progress will be possible] when people will understand that and accept us in the region.”

On the Temple Mount issue, Herzog told TOI, “Unfortunately we are bombarded by fake news, diatribes and lies about Israel’s actions on the Mount.

Take, for example, the issue of sacrificing a young goat. They claimed that we were going to sacrifice a young goat. In fact, a bunch of extremists wanted to go on the Mount, and the Israeli police arrested them and stopped them, way before they entered the site.

“But there were waves and waves of lies — fake news published all around the Muslim world in order to instigate hate and to draw the parties into another conflict.”

Herzog concluded, “Before the complaints and the blame game, one needs to know the facts. I hope that things will calm down because we are doing our best to calm things down.”

200K Muslims Attended Eid Prayers on Temple Mount Around 200,000 Muslims attended Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque on Monday afternoon, the Islamic Waqf reported.

Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani, the site’s chief imam, said, “There were more wor-

shipers than we’ve seen for Eid al-Fitr prayers in many years.”

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the month-long Ramadan holiday, typically a period of Arab violence in Israel.

According to Al-Kiswani, most of those who arrived to pray were likely Jerusalemites. In his opinion, “People wanted to send a message that Al-Aqsa is the inviolate right of Muslims.”

Meanwhile, on Monday, a massive Hamas poster was placed over the archways leading into the Al Aqsa Mosque, wishing the arrivals a happy holiday. Police later arrested a Jerusalem Arab on suspicion that he hung the banner.

In a statement, Israel Police said, “We take every act of incitement, threats, support for or identification with terrorist organizations seriously.”

Most Protected Blood Bank

The world’s most secure national blood bank is located in Israel. The facility opened on Monday.

The key to the structure is found in the fact that is underground – which keeps it safe from terrorism, chemical and biological attacks, and earthquakes.

Magen David Adom’s $135 million Marcus National Blood Services Center took four years and some 11,000 tons of steel to complete. The guiding principle is that the country’s blood supply is a “strategic asset” that may save many lives in emergency scenarios, and as such should be protected.

“We visited many blood banks around the world when planning and found that there is simply no other country with a facility like this, with such a high level of protection for the national blood supply,” Moshe Noyovich, the engineer who oversaw the project and a senior official at American Friends of Magen David

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Adom, which funded it, said.

President Isaac Herzog, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, and other dignitaries attended the inauguration ceremony at the facility in Ramla, central Israel, on Monday. It will process and store almost all of Israel’s blood donations, for both civilians and the military, when it becomes fully functional in the summer.

The complex will replace the cur-

rent beleaguered facility in Ramat Gan, which was built in the 1980s and no longer has space for the quantity of donations needed for Israel’s growing population. Additionally, the former facility was not secure during rocket attacks, leading personnel to move blood reserves into a bomb shelter during attacks instead of working on processing donations.

The center is named in honor of Ber-

nie Marcus, the founder of the American home improvement chain Home Depot, and his wife, Billi, who donated $35 million to the project. Other contributors include Miriam and the late Sheldon Adelson, The Leona M. & Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, and Bloomberg Philanthropies, Michael R. Bloomberg’s charitable organization.

The State of Israel provided the land, via a 2016 government decree.

Approximately 100 civil rights activists in Georgia marched and chanted on Saturday at the Stone Mountain, in protest of the return of an annual celebration of the Confederacy.

The protest took place as 200 supporters of Georgia’s chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) gathered for its celebration, which it says honors the sacrifices of their forebears. The event did not take place during 2020 and 2021, due to the pandemic and the potential for violence at the event.

Both the celebration and the protest passed peacefully; both the sides were separated by fences and interacted primarily by shouting.

Ahead of the march, Gerald Griggs, state president of the NAACP, said, “We stand against the celebration of chattel slavery. We cannot celebrate the world’s largest monument to white supremacy.”

Timothy Pilgrim, the Georgia Division Director of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, noted, “We are here about heritage and history. This has nothing to do about race. We welcome all to our programs.”

Martin O’Toole, a SCV spokesman and keynote speaker at the event, said, “The South remembers its dead. They were the patriots of their day.”

Richard Rose, the NAACP’s Atlanta chapter president, said, “We have to be there and stand against this. Silence gives consent and they glorify a past of chattel slavery and its horrendous violence against humanity.”

Life Sentence for ISIS Member A U.S. judge has sentenced a British-born former ISIS member to life in prison.

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Alexanda Kotey, a member of the ISIS cell known as “the Beatles,” pleaded guilty to several counts of lethal hostage-taking and other charges. The “Beatles” have since been stripped of their British citizenship.

The defense, meanwhile, requested that the court recommend Kotey not serve in a maximum-security prison where he would be in almost total isolation.

In the ruling, Judge TS Ellis granted the defense’s request, citing Kotey’s conduct since being taken into custody in 2019 and “strongly” recommending that he not be confined in Colorado’s maximum-security prison.

In a memo, Judge Ellis wrote, “Solitary confinement under conditions such as those at Florence ADX is deleterious to a person’s mental and physical health, and its use should be limited to the most serious cases where no other conditions

of confinement will be sufficient.”

Kotey initially pleaded guilty to charges of terrorism and hostage-taking resulting in the deaths of U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig in September 2021.

In a court filing last week, the defense admitted, “It will not be enough to amend the damage done, but through his efforts and his acceptance of his own responsibility, Mr. Kotey has tried to bring some small amount of good from this gut-wrenching case.”

According to Kotey’s lawyers, he has not only pleaded guilty but has also “accepted responsibility for his role in the Islamic State’s hostage-taking scheme that resulted in the grisly deaths of four Americans.”

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U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The complaint was released last Thursday by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee.

Abbott in February recalled three brands of infant formula following reports that four infants who had ingested the formula had fallen ill with infections caused by the Cronobacter sakazakii bacteria. Two of those babies died.

Production at the Abbott Laboratories’ Sturgis site was halted in February and has not resumed since.

According to the complaint, the former employee claimed he saw records falsified “on multiple occasions” and had observed events which were inaccurately described or understated in order to “limit or avoid oversight.”

Managers may also have engaged in “sanitizing” files before they reached FDA inspectors, the complaint added.

The complaint also claims the employee was fired for raising safety concerns: “Ultimately despite an admirable employment record at Abbott and elsewhere, Complainant was terminated based upon his repeated elevation of compliance concerns.”

The termination is being investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the document says.

In a March statement, Abbott said, “We’re taking this seriously and are working closely with the FDA to implement corrective actions.”

“It is important to note that no Cronobacter sakazakii or Salmonella was found in any of our testing of products distributed to consumers. Additionally, the unique genetic makeup of the Cronobacter sakazakii microbes found in non-product contact areas at the Sturgis facility did not match the Cronobacter sakazakii microbes from the reported cases.”

The FDA said, “We know there have been questions about the timeline related to the Abbott Nutrition infant formula recall. However, this remains an open investigation with many moving parts. Our top priority is ensuring that any recalled product produced at the Sturgis, Mich. facility has been removed from the market. We are continuing to investigate and

will continue to update our consumer alert should additional consumer safety information become available.”

FDA testing revealed Cronobacter sakazakii bacteria on equipment in the plant. In a preliminary assessment, the FDA determined that the company did not take steps to prevent products from becoming contaminated during the manufacturing process.

NY’s New Lt. Governor

U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado will serve as New York’s next lieutenant governor, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced this week.

Delgado, a Democrat, will take on the largely ceremonial role previously formerly held by Brian Benjamin, who recently resigned following his arrest for federal corruption charges he denies.

Hochul touted Delgado’s work in Congress on bills to help veterans, small business, and those with student loan debt. Delgado, a Rhodes Scholar who briefly pursued a rap career after earning a Harvard law degree, had campaigned on universal access to Medicare, creating good jobs, and eliminating tax loopholes for the rich.

“Having won competitive primary and general elections for Congress, Rep. Antonio Delgado is a battle-tested campaigner who has the experience to serve New Yorkers and the work ethic to get our party’s message out to voters, unite communities, and lift up Democratic candidates statewide,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

Delgado was first elected in 2018 to represent the Hudson Valley and the Catskills. He was the first person of color elected to represent upstate New York in Congress and is a member of the Black and Hispanic Congressional Caucuses.

A day before the appointment, Hochul signed a law removing Benjamin’s name from the ballot in the upcoming Democratic primary, paving the road for Delgado to potentially run for the lieutenant governor’s job if he wants it permanently.

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get your family

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Every parent wants to get their children involved in healthy outdoor activities. That’s what summer camp is for. But for many families, the cost is prohibitive. Get your own kids off the couch—and yourself, too!—while raising money to send our neighborhood’s kids to summer camp.

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Get your family off the couch to send our community’s kids to camp!

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cimby jr. boys run 2K race for boys grades 4-7

family scavenger hunt Cross-town challenge for the whole family

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community-wide camp fundraiser

Raising $360k for our Camp Fund

S TAY T U N E D F O R M O R E D E TA I L S !

All proceeds from the Get Your Family Off the Couch Campaign will go directly to Achiezer’s Camp Fund, a program that provides need-based assistance to local families sending kids to camp.

Because every child should experience the magic of camp.

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Griner “Wrongfully Detained” by Russia

WNBA star Brittney Griner was arrested in February in Russia on drug charges after officials said they found vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis in her luggage. Now, the U.S. Department of State is saying Griner is “wrongfully detained by the Russian government.”

The change in official classification means Griner’s case will be handled by Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, in coordination with the State Department’s Office of Consular Affairs. With the new classification, the U.S. will be more aggressive

in its efforts to secure her release.

“The welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad is among the highest priorities of the U.S. Government,” a department spokesperson said in a statement..

Griner, 31, is a center for Phoenix Mercury and has won a WNBA championship with the team as well as two Olympic gold medals. She is a seven-time All Star. During the winter, Griner has played in Russia for the last seven years.

She last played for her Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg on January 29 before the league took a two-week break in early February for the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournaments.

Investigating SCOTUS Leak Chief Justice John Roberts said this week that an investigation will be made into the leak of a draft opinion that seemingly signals the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

In a statement, the court confirmed the draft that was leaked is “authentic” but stressed it does “not represent a decision by the Court.”

“Yesterday, a news organization published a copy of a draft opinion in a pending case. Justices circulate draft opinions internally as a routine and essential part of the Court’s confidential deliberative work,” the court wrote in a statement published by the Supreme Court’s press office.

“Although the document described in yesterday’s reports is authentic, it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”

Roberts, in a separate statement, hit out at the “betrayal” of the leak designed to “undermine the integrity” of the Court, and added he had instructed the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the leak.

FBI Conducted Millions of Warrantless Searches

The FBI conducted as many as 3.4 million searches of data on U.S. citizens without a warrant in 2021, a new government report said, according to National Review.

The Annual Statistical Transparency Report, published last Thursday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, focuses on the intelligence community’s use of national security authorities for surveillance under U.S. law.

The information had previously been gathered by the National Security Agen-

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cy but was transferred to the FBI under the USA Freedom Act of 2015.

The new figures represent an increase of 260% from 2020, when the FBI conducted just 1.3 million searches, the National Review noted.

According to a Wall Street Journal analysis, over half the data searches (1.9 million) were connected to the FBI’s investigations on Russian hackers’ purported attempts to infiltrate U.S. infrastructure.

At a Friday press briefing, an FBI official admitted, “3.4 million is certainly a large number. I’m not going to pretend that it isn’t.”

Other officials have noted that the data pertaining to U.S. citizens is likely lower than that, since the searches cover all data originating in the U.S.

NYC Open Streets

New York City is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, but the virus may leave its mark on how the city uses its roads.

The city now has more outdoor dining decks than ever before – some of them set up in former parking lanes, the Associated Press noted.

At the same time, NYC’s Open Streets program, which closes streets to vehicles and opens them to pedestrians, is expanding. The program was originally designed to give residents more space to exercise and also hopes to increase foot traffic along business corridors.

“The message to all New Yorkers is that our space is their space — that our streets don’t belong to car owners only,” the commissioner who oversees the Open Restaurants and Open Streets programs stated.

Though the changes began pre-pandemic under former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, they continued under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, and the current mayor, Eric Adams, had promised to further “recapture space for pedestrians.”

Prior to the start of the pandemic, just 1,200 food and beverage establishments had permits to set up outdoor dining areas. Now, however, following

the Open Restaurants program during the pandemic, over 12,000 eateries and bars hold such permits.

But the future remains in question: Activists and residents alike are not thrilled to lose at least 8,500 parking spaces in a city where parking is a chronic challenge. NYC officials, however, say the outdoor dining helps preserve jobs for over 100,000 workers.

Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, the trade group for pubs and eateries, shared, “Out of all the doom and gloom from the pandemic, one of the bright spots is that it allowed us to reimagine our relationship with the public space — and that’s everything from open restaurants to open streets.”

America’s SecondLargest Reservoir Drying Up

Lake Powell, the USA’s second-largest reservoir, is going dry. If water levels drop another 32 feet, all hydroelectricity production at Glen Canyon Dam will be forced to come to a halt.

Millions of people in the Southwest United States rely on the dam as a source of electricity, but over the past several years, Glen Canyon has lost 16% of its capacity to generate power: Over the past three years, Lake Powell’s water level has dropped approximately 100 feet, and with it, hydropower production has also dropped.

Bob Martin, deputy power manager for the Glen Canyon Dam, pointing toward what’s called the “bathtub ring” on the canyon walls, said, “That’s where the water has bleached out the rock – and that’s how high the water was at one point.”

Bryan Hill, who runs the public power utility in Page, Arizona, where the federal dam is located, noted, “We’re knocking on the door of judgment day – judgment day being when we don’t have any water to give anybody.”

Forty percent of Page’s power comes from Glen Canyon Dam. Hill added, “If nothing changes, in

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other words, if we don’t start getting some moisture for Page, in particular, we are looking at an additional 25 to 30% in power costs.”

In a worst-case scenario, the dam could stop producing power by January.

Meanwhile, emergency actions are being considered, in an effort to buy more time.

Earlier this month, the Interior Department sent a letter to seven Western states, recommending releasing less water from Lake Powell to downstream states. This would mean holding back the equivalent of 42.6 billion gallons of water, slashing the amount of water available to those in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

Over 110 billion gallons of water have been held back so far this year.

The Interior Department is expected to make its final decision about the dam in May.

It’s a Long Way Home

Approximately 45% of full-time workers in the U.S., along with twothirds of white-collar workers, work remotely at least some of the time, a recent Gallup study found, according to 24/7 Wall St. Gallup added that over 90% of remote workers hope the trend continues even after the pandemic ends and see the lack of commute time as one of the biggest benefits.

The U.S. Census Bureau claims the average commute time in the United States to be 26.9 minutes, or 4.5 hours per week, for a total of nearly ten days per year.

In a new report, 24/7 Wall St. used census data to identify the 50 U.S. cities with the longest commutes nationwide.

Average commute times for the 50 cities on the list ranged from 38-48 minutes, or between 6-8 hours per week.

Nearly half of those top 50 cities are in California, many of them in relatively close proximity to Los Angeles or San Francisco. Also on the list are New York

and Hoboken, New Jersey, along with several others which have reliable public transportation systems and a higher-than-average number of commuters who use public transit.

New York, NY, topped the list of time lost to traffic per hour. The average New Yorker loses 80 hours each year stuck in traffic. The average commute time for a New Yorker? A lousy 41.5 minutes.

Get Your Beauty Sleep

Seven hours of sleep is the ideal amount for those in middle or old age, CNN reported, citing new research.

The research found that seven hours of sleep was linked to better mental health, with those sleeping both longer and shorter amounts of time experiencing more symptoms of anxiety and depression and worse overall well-being.

Cognitive function was also improved for those who slept seven hours.

According to Jianfeng Feng, a professor at China’s Fudan University and a study author, “While we can’t say conclusively that too little or too much sleep causes cognitive problems, our analysis looking at individuals over a longer period of time appears to support this idea.

“But the reasons why older people have poorer sleep appear to be complex, influenced by a combination of our genetic makeup and the structure of our brains.”

The study was published in the scientific journal Nature Aging. Conducted by researchers from China and the United Kingdom, the study analyzed data from nearly 500,000 adults ages 38 to 73 who were part of the UK Biobank.

During the study, participants were questioned about their sleep patterns, mental health and well-being, and took part in a series of cognitive tests. Both brain imaging and genetic data were available for almost 40,000 of the study participants.

Looking for some good shuteye? The Mayo Clinic suggests sticking to a consistent sleep schedule, not eating heavy meals right before bed, avoiding caffeine

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and alcohol, limiting daytime naps, creating a restful environment in your bedroom, and shutting down your worries before bed.

If only it was that easy.

FDA Proposes Ban On Flavored Cigars

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday proposed a ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

Speaking to a Senate subcommittee, FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said, “Through careful consideration of the scientific evidence and our authorities under the Tobacco Control Act, we’ve determined that these actions are appropriate for protection of the public health.”

He added, “The proposed product standards would, among other things, improve the health and reduce the mortality risk of current smokers of menthol cigarettes or flavored cigars by substantially decreasing their consumption and increasing the likelihood of cessation.

This is another important move forward in the agency’s efforts to combat youth tobacco use and promote health equity.”

Erika Sward, assistant vice president of national advocacy for the American Lung Association, responded, “I want to underscore the momentous aspect of this. It will be it will be a game-changer.

The rules will have a tremendous impact on stopping kids from starting to use tobacco and critically save lives of people, particularly from diverse backgrounds.”

Menthol is the last special flavor allowed in cigarettes in the U.S. According to the FDA, approximately 18.6 million people smoke menthols in the U.S., representing 36% of all smokers.

A disproportionate number of these smokers are people of color: While 30% of White smokers choose menthols, nearly 85% of Black smokers do the same. For women, the percentage of menthol users is 40%, compared to 31% for men, the FDA added.

According to the CDC, over half of children who smoke use menthols.

A survey showed that the majority of adults who smoke started with menthols as well. Other studies have shown that children who smoke menthols are more likely to become regular rather than occasional smokers.

Meanwhile, according to the FDA, over half a million youth in the U.S. smoke flavored cigars, and Black and Hispanic children are over twice as likely to smoke them as their White counterparts. The FDA added that one survey found that nearly 74% of teens ages 12-17 said that they smoke cigars because they come in the flavors they enjoy.

In a statement, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said, “The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit. Additionally, the proposed rules represent an important step to advance health equity by significantly reducing tobacco-related health disparities.”

The new rules will only affect tobacco companies and the industry, the FDA added. It will not prosecute individuals who possess the products in question.

U.S. Economy Shrank in 2022

The U.S. economy shrank during the first quarter of 2022, data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed last Thursday.

The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) declined at an annualized rate of 1.4% between January and March 2021, marking a reversal of the previous year’s growth and a significant drop from the 6.9% growth during the last quarter of 2021.

Two consecutive quarters of declining growth are often considered a recession. A second estimate for first-quarter GDP growth is expected to be published at the end of May. According to Refinitiv, economists had predicted an annualized growth rate of 1.1%.

In a statement, U.S. President Joe Biden said, “While last quarter’s growth estimate was affected by technical fac-

tors, the United States confronts the challenges of Covid-19 around the world, Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and global inflation from a position of strength.”

Much of the drop was due to a decrease in inventory investment. At the same time, exports and government funding dropped, while imports increased, along with consumer spending and gas prices.

Steve Rick, chief economist at CUNA Mutual Group, noted, “It is unfortunate that this GDP rate did not meet expectations, but unsurprising as the U.S. economy remains very volatile with geopolitical turbulence from the war in Ukraine, a global supply chain crisis, increasing inflation and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. All of these factors have shrunk GDP growth rates around the globe.”

100 Years Old; 100 Meters

Lester Wright is now 100 years old, but he is not slowing down.

The centenarian celebrated his 100th birthday on Friday. A day later, he ran the 100-Meter Dash at the Penn Relays.

When asked by FOX 29’s Marcus Espinoza if he was tired, the 100-year-old said no.

Would he do it again?

“Yes!” Wright had been ill over the past three years and missed racing because of that. Now, he is happy to be back.

“I think it’s in the head, more than it is physical,” Wright explains.

Above all, he credits his wife, who he’s been married to for 80 years, as the reason why he’s lived such a great life.

“We did everything together. We worked together, we had a business together, we traveled together, we shopped together. That’s it!” Wright said.

Off the Wall What do you think you would find behind your bathroom wall? We hope just a few dust mites – or maybe a sock or two.

But Rob and Gracie Jones were in for a surprise when they did some home renovations a few weeks ago.

“Rob was in the bathroom replacing the old toilet paper fixture,” Gracie shared. “As he pulled the fixture out, he noticed a rolled-up piece of cloth bunched up inside the wall.”

What could be inside? Well, they decided to explore further.

“At this point we’re both looking at each other wondering if we’d be calling the police because we just uncovered evidence from a crime scene!” Gracie said.

Opening up the cloth, they found an old McDonald’s bag. But the bag wasn’t empty. Heading to the kitchen, they found two hamburger wrappers and some half-eaten, decades-old French fries – that were crispy and brown.

“We saw the fries and were like, ‘This is unreal.’ How on Earth are these fries still in this bag and how are they preserved so well?! It was wild,” Gracie added.

The logo found on the fast food wrapper meant that the food was bought between 1955 to 1961. More investigating revealed that one of the area’s original McDonald’s was built down the street from their home in 1959 – the same year their house was built.

For now, the couple has the ancient meal in storage and aren’t sure what to do with it.

“We’d be happy to sell it, or if not, we’d probably keep it as a cool piece of history,” Gracie said.

And now we know where that smell was coming from…

In for the Long Haul A Brazilian man who turned 100 years old earlier this month holds

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the world record for the longest career at a single company.

Walter Orthmann’s world record of 84 years and nine days with a textile company called ReneauxView was confirmed and certified earlier this year, Guinness World Records said last week. He was hired at the age of 15 and has worked for the company ever since.

“I don’t do much planning, nor care much about tomorrow,” Orthmann said in a news release. “All I care about is that tomorrow will be another day in which I will wake up, get up, exercise, and go to work. You need to get busy with the present, not the past or the future. Here and now is what counts. So, let’s go to work!”

Orthmann started working at the company, a weaving mill, when his fam-

ily fell on hard times. He got the job due to his proficiency in German, a language in which he was fluent because he was born in the heavily German town of Brusque in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil.

The record-breaking career began when Orthmann was hired as a shipping assistant in 1938. He has since moved up the ranks, becoming an administrative assistant, then landing a job in sales before becoming a sales manager, which is the position he continues to hold. Although he no longer travels for his work, he is in charge of coordinating a team of representatives.

Orthmann, who remains in good health, said the best advice he can give people is to work for a good company in a field where they feel motivated to succeed. His success came from his outstanding skills, openness, and eagerness to do more than expected, according to the news release.

The centenarian broke his own world record of 81 years and 85 days, which he set in 2019. While Orthmann said his job as a sales manager gives him a sense of purpose and commitment, the world record is his proudest achievement.

“With my Guinness World Records title, I feel proud, honored, and happy to

have achieved something that on the one hand is rather rare, but on the other is simply the result of my passion to work as something that makes me wholesome,” Orthmann said at the time.

This guy is a piece of work.

Match Made in Heaven

If you were on a Southwest flight from Dallas to Las Vegas on Sunday, you should have been wearing your wedding clothes.

Pam and Jeremy Salda’s story begins in August 2020, when they began dating.

Fast forward a few years, and the couple became elated when they heard of the mask mandates being lifted on some airlines. Together, they joked about getting married in Las Vegas.

But a joke turned into something real when they booked flights, and Pam bought a wedding dress and had it overnighted. They set their wedding chapel appointment for 9 p.m. on Sunday night in Las Vegas.

Pam, wearing her new wedding gown, and Jeremy, in his suit, boarded their flight to their wedding.

But it was not meant to be. Delays led to their final flight to Vegas being cancelled.

At the airport, the couple met Chris Kilgora, another passenger on the same flight to Vegas, who happened to be an ordained minister. When he heard their story, he offered to marry the couple in Vegas himself. From there, the three of them found a Southwest flight headed to Las Vegas with only four seats left This flight, however, was scheduled out of Dallas Love Field (DAL) airport, which was about 25 minutes away. “We had 50 minutes before the plane took off,” Pam recalled. “We told the Uber to floor it, and he did.”

As they were running through the Dallas airport in their wedding attire, people were shouting their congratulations to them.

Pam and Jeremy eventually made it to the gate. As they boarded, the captain was curious about Pam’s wedding dress.

She explained the story and joked about getting married on the flight.

To her surprise, the pilot responded, “Let’s do it!”

Together, the crew made sure to give Pam the wedding of her dreams. Members of the crew hung up streamers out of toilet paper. They made Kilgora a sash out of snack bags.

Pam, the beaming bride, walked down the aisle. One of the flight attendants stood in as maid of honor.

“Southwest has been the love airline for nearly 51 years,” Southwest said in a written statement. “We always enjoy an opportunity to celebrate our customers in special ways.”

Of course, no wedding is complete without a cake. One passenger offered up their leftover powdered doughnut to serve as the wedding cake.

“It’s so strange how everything fell into place,” Pam said.

A notebook was even passed around as a makeshift guest book. Pam says the other passengers left messages inside about how the unexpected wedding brightened their day.

Sounds like it was love at first flight.

Did you know?

The average mom will have changed approximately 7,300 diapers by the time her baby reaches age two

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Around the

Community Yom HaShoah at HANC

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s the voices of Holocaust survivors are silenced by time and loss, it behooves us now more than ever before to keep their stories alive. In HANC’s Samuel and Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School in West Hempstead, the responsibility of keeping the students informed and knowledgeable about the Holocaust is taken very seriously.

“We try to educate the children with what they need to know with an age appropriate approach,” explained Barbara Deutsch, Associate Principal. “We do our best to ensure that these precious lives that were lost will never be forgotten.”

On Yom HaShoah, the fourth through sixth grade students and their teachers were invited into the auditorium for a special program to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day. As they entered the darkened room on Yom HaShoah, it was clear that this would not be a typical assembly. After sitting quietly, waiting for the program to begin, Rabbi Ouriel Hazan, Head of HANC’s West

Hempstead campuses, explained that on this day each year, we remember the horrific tragedy that befell the Jewish communities during World War II. “Every person is compared to a tree.

Each child that they produce is like a fruit. Those who perished in the Holocaust were the deep roots of those trees, and the reason we are able to grow as tall and as beautiful as we are is because of how deep and meaningful the roots, our ancestors, were who came before us.”

As is the custom at HANC each year, the story of one survivor was shared with the students. This year, the story of a group of brave brothers who saved many lives was illuminated. Rabbi Michael Merrill, HANC’s former Assistant Principal who made Aliyah last summer, Zoomed into the auditorium and shared the story of the Bielski brothers.

In addition, Mrs. Deutsch shared the story of her mother-in-law, Mrs. Edith Deutsch, who was a Holocaust survivor who lived to the age of 93 and just passed away last summer. When she

was taken to Auschwitz as a child, she was separated from her mother and never saw her again. She later survived, moved to the United States, married, and raised children, grandchildren and just a few months before she died, experienced the joy of a great-granddaughter.

Seventy-five years after the liberation of Auschwitz, she returned to the concentration camp, accompanied by her granddaughter, to participate in a commemoration ceremony with others who had survived. When she arrived at the mass graves, she said a Tefillah, turned to her granddaughter and announced that she was ready to go home. When asked why, she said, “I lived a long and full life, filled with children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. When I came on the train with my mother, we were separated immediately. I have carried guilt with me my whole life, because I survived and my mother did not, and I never had the chance to say goodbye to her. Now I have said my goodbye, and I am ready to go home.”

In order to illustrate the connection

between the events of the Holocaust and our lives today, the children watched a video presentation listing the 60 names of Holocaust survivors who are members of the families of HANC students and staff members. Each student with a Holocaust survivor in their family was given an electric tea light to help extend the light of their family members through the darkened room. After the presentation, six yahrzeit candles were lit, honoring the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The program concluded with a stirring rendition of Kel Malei Rachamim, which was sung by Rabbi Hazan.

Before leaving the auditorium, the children were encouraged to listen to the stories of the Holocaust from survivors in their families and communities and to share them with their children in the future.

“With time, there indeed will be no more survivors to bear witness,” explained Mrs. Deutsch. “By sharing their heroism and artifacts, we are ensuring that they will not be forgotten.”

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Around the Community

Five Towns Premier Yom HaShoah Commemoration

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espite over two years of pandemic restrictions, the Five Towns Premier found a way to come together for Yom HaShoah, the annual commemoration to honor the 11 million victims of Nazi genocide, including six million Jews.

Residents, family, and staff gathered for an inspiring afternoon of remembrance, reflection, songs, and prayer.

Highlights included first-hand testimonies from four Holocaust survivors, a second-generation survivor, and a 98-year-old veteran from World War ll. A special candle-lighting ceremony spotlighted our brave Holocaust survivors, who lit a candle in remembrance of their family members that perished during the holocaust.

“This event was to remember the

lives lost, honor the survivors, and educate a new generation,” shared Joseph Benden, administrator.

Mr. Ben Landa, a second-generation survivor, was a keynote speaker. Mr. Landa’s moving message to the audience, including 25 young students from HALB, was to never forget the lessons of the Holocaust. Today’s youth will be the last to hear survivors speak in per-

son, and there is a renewed importance to bearing witness and an obligation to keep these stories alive. We need to stand up to hatred and bigotry and reflect upon the lessons of the Holocaust.

For further information on the Five towns Premier, Rehab, and Nursing Center, please call (516) 588-3200.

MTA Commemorates Yom HaShoah

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TA hosted programming to commemorate Yom HaShoah, enabling talmidim to engage in meaningful learning about the Holocaust and light six candles to honor the lives of the six million Jews who perished, HY”D, whose memories will never be forgotten. Talmidim also created a slideshow depicting powerful Holocaust imagery as well as photos of family members who experienced the Holocaust.

Earlier in the week, seniors prepared for Yom HaShoah with a visit to the Museum of Jewish Heritage, where they learned about the vibrant Jewish communities that thrived in pre-World War II Europe. This experiential learning opportunity highlighted the strength, vitality, and dedication to Torah and mitzvos that were prevalent in many cities throughout Europe and simultaneously demonstrated the vulnerability of the Jewish community. They also explored a new exhibit displaying art created by Holocaust survivor Boris Lurie and participated in an interactive dis-

cussion with the museum’s Senior Director of Education, Dr. Paul Radensky.

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AMUD AISH HOLOCAUST

MEMORIAL MUSEUM

RECEPTION T

he Young Israel of Jamaica Estates had an inspiring Shabbat Scholar in Residence program featuring women from Yeshiva Univeristy’s Graduate Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies. Ariella Etshalom gave a shiur entitled “Holier than Thou: Emulating the High Priest,” a lesson on how to view the avodah of Yom Kippur and how we can use that to frame our world views. Leora Moskowitz’s shiur, “Questions that Count: Interesting Shaylas about Sefirat Haomer,” made us look at common issues that arise during Sefira with new perspectives. The Shabbat program concluded with Atara Kelman’s thorough rabbinic review of the “Establishment of Yom Hashoah: Halakhic Disputesbon the Role of History.” These bright women shone light on modern rabbinic and Talmudic sources and giving hope to the next generation of Limud

kodesh education.

On Sunday, via Zoom, the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates and Holliswood community presented a meaningful commemoration of Yom Hashoah with survivor firsthand accounts from Ida Schmidt-Chait. Mrs Schmidt -Chait shared her story of how her seeming idealistic childhood in Poland turned to one of destruction and despair. She spoke of the creativity her family used to stay one foot ahead of the Nazi while maintaining their humanity. She spoke of her rescue after the war and how she rebuilt her family.

The program was started off with lighting yahrtzeit candles to memorialize the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The program concluded with the singing of “Kel Malei” by Asher Abramovitz and “Hatikvah” by Abe Rosenberg.

Yom HaShoah at HANC Plainview

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n April 27, Yom HaShoah, the six graders at HANC-Plainview (soon to be Mercaz Academy) led a beautiful program for the fourth and fifth graders. Under the direction of Mrs. Francie Goldberg, each student wrote a poem about a Jewish object that is personally meaningful to them. After an introduction, bridging the connection between the Holocaust and personal Jewish objects, the audience was able to

understand that during the time of the Holocaust, people had to hide their faith, and today, we can practice proudly and boldly. Each poem was unique and powerful and set the tone for this day for the school. In between the poems, 6 candles were lit to commemorate the 6 million lives that were lost. These students set such a wonderful example of what Jewish pride can look like for a young person today.

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A Weekend of Inspiration and Memory at the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates

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Around the Community

Touro Commemorates Yom HaShoah with Survivor Stories and Medical Ethics Lessons

T

ouro University, a leader in Holocaust studies, hosted two programs to mark Yom HaShoah and spread understanding of the world’s largest genocide. One event presented the firsthand testimony of a survivor who was enslaved in a work camp and forced on a death march, but who ultimately escaped with the help of righteous gentiles. The other program featured experts on the Nuremberg Doctors’ Trial, an event which continues to influence medical ethics today.

Professor Anne Bayefsky, Director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, invited Maritza Shelley, a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor from Hungary, to share her story. Maritza was a teenager in Budapest when the Nazis invaded Hungary. Along with her mother and older sister, she was sent to a work camp in an old brick factory. Every day, she built ditches to protect Nazi aligned troops from Russian tanks. The

work was arduous; food consisted of watery soup, a piece of bread and maybe a potato; water was severely restricted. As the Allied forces began to push back the Germans, the camp was emptied, and the Shelley family, along with other inhabitants, were sent on a death march to Germany. Maritza’s mother recognized that, even if they survived the march, they would likely be killed in Germany.

Her mother’s quick thinking enabled them to survive. They escaped from the march and made their way to a non-Jewish friend’s home in Budapest.

The friend helped them find a safe hiding place where they stayed for the rest of the war.

These days, Maritza is on a mission to share her story as widely as possible, so that others can survive.

“I was constantly afraid throughout my ordeal except when I started my escape. At that point, I was doing what I wanted to do for myself, and I had

Left to right: Boaz Nagar, son of Adolf Eichmann’s prison guard, with Dr. Edward Halperin, chancellor of Touro’s New York Medical College; Holocaust Survivor Maritza Shelley

found my own inner strength. So, my fear was gone. We all can and must find our strength when we need it most,” she said.

“Maritza’s story of endurance along with members of the family is a testament to the human spirit,” said Professor Bayefsky.

“Intolerance and bigotry can never be the answer when encountering groups of people, or an entire race, that look different, practice different religions, or have different world views,” said Ambassador Asaf Zamir, Consul General of Israel in the United States, who also spoke at the program.

The Enduring Impact of the Nuremberg Doctors’ Trial The Bioethics and the Holocaust program at New York Medical College called attention to lessons of the Holocaust with a symposium on lessons of the Nuremberg Doctor’s Trial.

“In 1946-1947, the Allied Powers placed over twenty German physicians and hospital administrators on trial for crimes against humanity,” observed Dr. Edward C. Halperin, Chancellor/CEO of New York Medical College and holder of the Miriam Popack Chair in Bioethics and the Holocaust. “This trial established the Nuremberg Code of medical ethics which include the standards of informed consent for human medical

experimentation which we continue to use today. It is an event worth commemorating.”

The Yom HaShoah commemoration included a discussion of the derivation of modern concepts of informed consent; the role of Nuremberg Prosecutor and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson in the trials; the development of the Nuremberg Code; Nazi doctors and their relevance today; and a conversation about the experiences of Adolf Eichmann’s prison guards, one of the primary orchestrators of the Holocaust.

The Nuremberg Doctors’ Trial led to the development of the Nuremberg Code, a set of ethical research principles for human experimentation. Touro’s program for medical and health professionals explored how lessons from the Holocaust continue to impact ethical conduct of research, health care policy and practice, and professional identity formation.

“New York Medical College and Touro University will continue to train professionals to not only understand the science of medicine, but also to infuse their education with a reverence for life, to infuse clinical education with morality, a devotion to ethics and a sincere caring for others,” said Rabbi Moshe Krupka, Executive Vice President of Touro University.

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Around the Community

HANC HS Commemorates Yom Hashoah

O

n Thursday, April 28, HANC High School students and faculty gathered in the auditorium to commemorate Yom Hashoah. The program was introduced with the lighting of six candles by students and a faculty member whose relatives perished in the Holocaust and Rabbi Judah Hulkower reciting the

“Kel Maleh.” This created a serious tone, which was sensed by everyone present.

Following the candle lighting, three faculty members, HANC High School Principal Rabbi Eli Slomnicki, Morah Batsheva Fink, and Rabbi Judah Hulkower, shared incredibly powerful family stories from survivors, including stories of

how their relatives escaped all the while keeping their faith in Hashem.

After each story, the entire school sang songs in unison that represented the story being told. These songs included “Ani Maamin” and “Acheinu.” A poignant video clip depicting the strength of people and the continuous legacy of Am Yisrael

captivated the audience. The program concluded solemnly with the rendition of “Ani Maamin” sung in unison by all those present.

Even though more time passes every year since the Holocaust, inspiring programs like this one help to keep its memory alive.

SKA Commemorates Yom Hashoah

W

hen the siren went off in the hallways and classrooms of the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls on Thursday, April 28, students and teachers stood in silence reflecting on those who had lost their lives in the Holocaust. Adding to the solemnity of the day, posters and original student art depicting the World War II war years were on display throughout the school.

The Yom HaShoah program commenced in the SKA auditorium with heartfelt words from SKA Principal, General Studies, Mrs. Bluma Drebin, whose father was on the Kindertransport. A documentary describing Jewish life before, during and after the war left the students with an acute sense of our incredible loss and an inspiring message of the strength of the human spirit as the survivors rebuilt their lives.

In a poignant segment of the program, SKA faculty

members Mrs. Beaty Menchel, Mrs. Joan Sherman, Mrs. Barbara Martin, Mrs. Suzy Libin, Mrs. Sheila Leibtag, and Mrs. Idella Goldenberg, whose family members went through the war, lit yahrzeit candles in memory of their loved ones who were killed and in honor of those who lived and survived.

This year, the SKA Yom HaShoah program was beautifully organized by the ninth graders with the assistance of Mrs. Kayla Bach, Mrs. Tzippy Calm, Mrs. Sheila Leibtag and Mrs. Arielle Parkoff. Survivor testimony and original student artwork, drama and poetry were presented by the Freshmen to each of the other grades.

The SKA program was dedicated to the victims of the Shoah, whose legacy lives on for many of their granddaughters and great-granddaughters enrolled in the school. For the students of SKA, Yom HaShoah was not an abstract history lesson.

SKA ninth graders presenting on Yom HaShoah

Placing impressions on original SKA ninth grade artwork

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Around the Community

The Impact of the Shoah Generations Later

Yom HaShoah at HALB

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S

tudents in grades 3-8 participated in a program about the Holocaust, honoring the lives we lost. Morah Tzila, long-time HALB music teacher who made aliyah last year, joined in a video to tell her famous cookie story to the students. Meanwhile, at Lev Chana, Morah Sheila facetimed with her father, a Holocaust survivor, so that he could speak to her class.

Yom HaShoah at Shulamith

L

ast week, Shulamith School for Girls held a very meaningful Yom HaShoah program that left a lasting impression. Students in grades 5-8 started the day listening to the amazing and courageous life of Mrs. Sally Mushel. Mrs. Mushel shared the story of her extraordinary life with the hardship that started when her parents had to give her up to ensure her survival. Mrs. Mushel reiterated to the girls numerous times in her speech the last words her father said to her: “Continue to be a daughter of Israel.” The students sat in silence as Mrs. Mushel shared her journey of survival throughout the war. There was not a dry eye in the school auditorium as this heroine read a poem that she wrote years ago about all the suffering that she remembered and today she can smile at the family she created.

Throughout the rest of the day, the school had programs running simultaneously from the Tolerance Museum of Rockland County. Ms. Dina Daniels went into the classrooms of grades 3-5 leading a workshop for students on the impor-

tance of kindness to combat the hatred we suffered so many years ago. Ms. Daniels had the girls work together as a class and taught them the importance of respecting each other and supporting one another.

Grades 6-8 attended a workshop by Mrs. Julie Golding in groups. Mrs. Golding taught the students about the Kindertransport and the importance of the stories stemming from the Kindertransport.

The students learned from Mrs. Golding about what she teaches in the museum and examined artifacts from the exhibit.

The students then broke into small groups to look at various artifacts in order to make discoveries about the experiences of those on the transports from what they saw. Mrs. Golding explained to the girls that as a museum curator it is her job to teach others about the Holocaust and as direct descendants of survivors, it is our job to teach the history to others.

Shulamith students were very fortunate to experience these meaningful programs to increase their understanding and appreciation of Yom HaShoah.

ambam held an impactful assembly to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day. It began with a viewing of the infamous Auschwitz Album along with commentary from Rambam’s principal, Rabbi Yotav Eliach. The Auschwitz Album depicts the process of camp arrivals and the separation of Jews to the left and to the right by Nazi soldiers and “doctors.” Any images of gruesome or barbaric scenes were omitted to avoid traumatizing the young audience.

Rabbi Friedman quoted Rav Soloveichik as saying, “Holocaust Remembrance Day is really an extension of Tisha b’Av.” However, Rabbi Friedman explained that since Tisha b’Av falls out in the summer, “there are certain educational themes consistent with the idea of the mitzvah of Zachor that can be gleaned earlier, as long as we recognize that the Holocaust and all Jewish tragedies are an outgrowth of Tisha b’Av and of our being in Galus.”

Being a child of Holocaust survivors, he mentioned that he relates many daily mundane things to the Holocaust. “When I walk to shul on Shabbos and I pass a sewer, I often times peer down into it and think of the fact that so many Jews tried to escape the Nazis by hiding in sewers filled with refuse, filth, and rats.

When I once took a walk near my house and was chased by an aggressive barking dog, I thought of those on the death march forced to walk in freezing cold weather and if they collapsed would be mauled by a vicious dog.”

We have to remember the suffering of the previous generation but most importantly remember the commitment that so many had to Torah and mitzvos. Referring to his father-in-law, Mr. Arthur Heiman, z”l, who was courageous to blow the shofar on Rosh Hashana in Westerbork concentration camp whose sound attracted the Nazi commandant to come

Rabbi Friedman holds the Shofar his father-in-law Arthur Heiman z”l blew in Camp Westerbork Rosh Hashanah 1944

into the barrack, Rabbi Friedman said, “So many Jews sacrificed and were committed to Torah. We can all be inspired by this and be even more meticulous about halacha, taking everything we do to the next level.”

Rabbi Friedman’s remarks were echoed by special guest speaker, Mr. Ben Landa, himself a son of Holocaust survivors. Mr. Landa mentioned that he still finds it very difficult to walk down the steps of his house to his basement because it reminds him of the steps that led to the gas chambers. He too spoke passionately about the importance of Zachor and being proud Jews. Rabbi Eliach closed the assembly with a very moving clip of a Kel Maleh Rachamim recited in memory of the kedoshei HaShoah. Talmidim returned to shiur in a pensive and serious mood appreciating how fortunate they were to live and practice Torah without being persecuted.

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Around the Community

The Lives We Will Never Forget

By Bailey Levine

Y

om Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, is dedicated to honoring and remembering the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust.

On Thursday, April 28, the entire HAFTR High School student body and faculty gathered together for the first time since before the pandemic in commemoration of this solemn day.

Programming included a candle lighting ceremony, video, and powerful speeches. The programming was especially impactful because many students recently participated in a schoolwide project called Lasting Legacies. This initiative encouraged

students to submit essays about the “Lasting Legacies” of their family members who survived the Holocaust.

After opening remarks from our Principal, Ms. Naomi Lippman, juniors Eva Czegledi, Rachel Czeisler, and Eliana Perl shared their essays, personal stories of their relatives who survived the Holocaust, which they had submitted to the Lasting Legacies publication. Following their presentations, students and faculty watched video interviews of Holocaust survivors, who shared their traumatic stories with the hope that their words will be remembered forever. Inherent in their stories is the message of how important life is and how it is imperative to remain

grateful for our freedoms, religion, families, and even the little things we think little about.

After the video presentation, Rabbi Blinder, our mashgiach ruchani, introduced Rav Moshe Weinberger, the esteemed rabbi of Congregation Aish Kodesh. Rabbi Weinberger told a powerful and impactful story of the strength and determination that his father exhibited throughout the war where he risked his life to put on his tefillin every day. Rabbi Weinberger emphasized the importance of having faith and never giving up hope. He reminded everyone that this message is applicable to life today just as much as it was during the time of the Holocaust.

Though the school-wide program concluded in the morning, our teachers, rabbeim and morot continued to emphasize the importance of showing gratitude to all those in our lives throughout the day. Yom HaShoah is a day we will never

forget. We will always remember the stories of the six million, the survivors, and their families. We will always hold on to their legacies. We will always make sure our lives are filled with purpose and meaning and keep their memories alive.

Survivors Commemorate Yom Hashoah at the Gural JCC

E

very Thursday, when our cherished group of Holocuast survivors meets at the Marion and Aaron Gural JCC, it is a cause for celebration.

Collectively, this assemblage of beautiful and remarkably brave men and women have survived humankind’s most horrific

perous families. Their stories are tragic but when they arrive at our JCC each week they are spirited, upbeat, and self-determined.

The survivors – ranging in age from late 80s to over 100 – gather each week, greeting each other and the JCC devoted staff and volunteers, with smiles on

atrocities, including extermination camps, work camps, death marches and Siberia. They survived hiding in forests, orphanages, attics, and cellars. Many are tragically the sole survivors of large, loving and often pros-

their aging faces. They come to be cared for, to be heard, to be among people who love them.

They are in a safe and welcoming space. For most, the JCC is their second home where they are treated with dignity, kind-

ness and respect. Each week, for over two decades, Lisa Barnett, head social worker at the Gural JCC and Director of the Holocaust survivor program, and her dedicated staff, creates a warm and welcoming community for our survivors. While they spend a few hours at our Cedarhurst location, they socialize, relax, enjoy a lunch, stretch, and exercise and are entertained with a variety of enriching and educational programs.

One week a year, however, the atmosphere is different. We commemorate Yom Hashoah with our survivors. It is a somber, solemn day at our JCC. It is a day when we must recognize the abominations and indignities that befell the Jewish people during the Holocaust and honor the memory of the six million victims who perished at the hands of the Nazis. We pay tribute to those who survived and who have made the world a better place for us all. It is a painful but cathartic process and while the room is filled with sobs, tears and emotion, love, support and compassion abound.

This year, over twenty Holo-

caust survivors joined us for our annual Yom Hashoah program.

JCC members lit seven yartzheit candles recognizing those forever lost but whose memories we keep alive in our hearts and minds.

Rabbi Herbert Horowitz recited the Kail Maleh Rachamim followed by a beautiful Ani Maamin. Ms. Barnett addressed the group with words of comfort and hope. She also read an incredibly descriptive and articulate poem penned by one of our beloved survivors Sara Lew, a”h, who passed away nearly a decade ago, entitled, “The Road to Auschwitz.” Each survivor then had the opportunity to light a candle for those he or she had lost. While some were so overcome with emotion and could not speak, others told the story of their experiences, often in barely audible whispers. Others clearly recited the list of family members they had tragically lost and recounted the terrible journeys of their survival. One member of the group stood up and spoke about the last time he saw his mother. Nearly eight decades later the loss and pain

were still unbearable. With tears in her eyes one first time volunteer claimed, “This was the most meaningful Yom Hashoah I have ever experienced.”

Due to Covid, the terrible isolation of the pandemic and their advanced age, we have sadly lost more than a dozen of our beloved survivors over the past two years.

As we looked around the room, their absence was palpable. Although it was a difficult day for our survivors, it was carried out with grace and sensitivity and always with the knowledge that they were safe, among friends and loved.

If you know of a Holocaust survivor who would benefit from our multi-faceted program or would like to find out about our SHEMA, Second Generation project or any other community services and programs at the JCC, please call (516) 569-6733.

This program was made possible by a grant from Conference on Jewish Materials Claims Against Germany.

The Marion and Aaron Gural JCC is a proud non-profit partner of UJA-Federation New York.

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Around the Community

Commemorating the Shoah

O

n Thursday, April 28, the students at HAFTR Lower School commemorated Yom HaShoah. Fifth graders performed an adaptation of Karen Hesse’s book, The Cats in Krasinski Square. The story illustrates the bravery of a young girl and her sister who escape the Warsaw Ghetto. Despite the danger, they smuggle food inside the ghetto using the

cats as a decoy. Students then sang “Ekra,” by Shalsheles and “From A Distance,” by Julie Gold with a Hebrew version by Hadar Orshalimy.

A special dedication was made to the Holocaust survivors living in the Ukraine, once again in great danger.

Holocaust survivor and great-grandparent Mrs. Judy Drummer spoke to the students

about her experience. Despite the constant danger, her family continued to live as Jews, observing mitzvot. She offered words of inspiration and gratitude to Hashem for giving her this opportunity. Mrs. Drummer and her great-granddaughter, 5th grader Sophia Katz, lit six Yahrzeit candles in memory of the six million Jews killed in the Shoah. The program concluded with the entire audience singing “Acheinu” and “Ani

Maamin.”

Fifth graders also participated in the world-wide phenomenon The Butterfly Project. Ms. Hammer introduced the project and read the poem, “The Butterfly,” written by Pavel Friedman, a child prisoner at Terezin who was later killed at Auschwitz at the age of 21. Each student learned about the life of a Jewish child killed during the Holocaust. They then painted a ceramic butterfly to add to our

installation in memory of the 1.5 million Jewish children killed during the Shoah.

Margaret Tietz Marks Yom HaShaoah

By Shabsie Saphirstein

M

argaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center hosted an annual memorial service for Yom HaShoah this past Thursday, April 28. The Remembrance Day for Jewish martyrdom and heroism included the participation of residents, rabbis, elected officials, and survivors of Nazi brutality.

I met resident Elizabeth (Klein) Linzer, 95, originally from Budapest. She was lucky to be one of those freed by Swedish architect Raoul Wallenberg. Once in America, she built a remarkable life in Forest Hills and was privileged to have her son join for the remembrance event.

The program began with a convening

by Rabbi Dr. Richard Weiss, mara d’asra of the Young Israel of Hillcrest, and continued with a “Kel Maleh Rachamim,” prayer for the souls of the departed, led by Rabbi Mayer Waxman, Executive Director of the Queens Jewish Community Council. Rabbi Weiss led the service commencement, delivered inspirational words, and orated the kaddish memorial prayer.

Quoting from Witness: Voices From The Holocaust, Rabbi Weiss described Christa M.’s account of a rabbi being tortured, “She saw Nazis humiliating a rabbi on the streets of the city, forcing him to beat a drum and chant, ‘I am a filthy Jew!’ In school she was taught to see Jews as left unhuman, dangerous to children and the cause of all woes.”

She testified, “The town was bedlam, filled with SS, loudspeakers all over the place. Hitler screaming, I mean like he screamed. I couldn’t stand his voice. He always screamed and screamed, ‘We’re winning the war!’ You don’t have to be very bright. You look around and then you hear this, ‘We’re winning the war,’ and then you’re in shambles.” She once gave out

pieces of cheese to the Jews and felt the wrath of the SS, “‘If you give those *** one more piece of whatever you got there, I’m going to make you join them.’”

Concluding the Christian German student’s story, Rabbi Weiss sadly reported, “After the war, she felt she could no longer remain in Germany and immigrated to Paris, then to the United States. In 1985, she returned. ‘It was all the same stuff.

Nothing had changed.’”

Guest speaker Benjamin Pinczewski, esq. of Pinczewski & Shpelfogel and PC of Counsel to Elefterakis, Elefterakis, & Panek, passionately shared the story of his parents who lived under heavy antisemitism in Poland. The couple was the first of many weddings to be held post-liberation.

Pinczewski’s mother came from Sosnowiec, Poland, and was fourteen at the onset of the war. Her father, a kosher butcher, was an easy target for the Germans and was immediately eliminated. His father experienced terrible antisemitism in the Polish army and was taken prisoner by the Russians and exiled to Siberia. After escaping to Poland, he winded up in the Blechhammer camp, the second-largest Auschwitz subcamp, where he met Pinczewski’s mother, twelve years his junior. She stuck out as catch when he refused food that she had given him, “Be here a bit and you will be begging for this.” She had been transferred and he eventually got a note to her via the underground. She replied that they needed shoes, and he arranged for this delivery. A note replying that the shoes arrived was intercepted by the Nazis. Under questioning, she told the guards that the man had a crush on her and wanted to look good in her eyes. They both survived the ordeal.

Later, his mother ended up in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, while his dad landed at the Buchenwald concen-

Elizabeth Linzer with her son

Rabbi Daniel Pollack kindles a light

tration camp, ending all contact. Once freed, his father encountered someone from his mother’s hometown who knew that she had been under surgical care at Bergen-Belsen. The two soon reconnected and married and had a son in 1949 who became and dentist and Benjamin in 1960.

“My parents were determined to my life be the opposite of theirs with freedom.

It is their perseverance and determination that built me. I saw this same spirit in most of their survivor friends,” explained Benjamin. “The biggest problem is silence.

Not a day goes by that I do not think about what occurred and do what I can to make sure it never happens again.”

The program continued with a touching lighting of memorial candles mourning the six million Jews who expired at the hands of the Nazis. Pinczewski lit the first candle in memory of helpless infants, children, and teenagers who were cut down like young trees before their time…before they had a chance to experience life.

Mrs. Chana Pfeifen, a survivor of the atrocities, lit the second candle in memory

of all mothers who died with their children in their arms. Rabbi Waxman kindled the third candle in memory of all mothers and fathers who were cruelly separated from their families. Rabbi Weiss lit the fourth candle in the memory of all scholars, teachers, and rabbis who were the first to be seized. Mrs. Linda Spiegel, Director of Public Affairs at Margaret Tietz, was honored with the fifth candle in memory of the “Heroes of the Resistance” who fought the Nazis, so few against so many. Rabbi Daniel Pollack, Jewish liaison to Congress Member Grace Meng, placed a fire on the sixth and final candle in memory of the martyrs and righteous gentiles who gave their lives to help their brothers/neighbors under the Nazis.

Rabbi Waxman concluded the service with a rendition of “Ani Maamin” and “Hatikvah.”

While the event decried the tortured flesh of our Jewish brothers and sisters, the attendees noted how our spirit and faith are resolute.

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MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

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Around the Community

Shulamith Prepares for Yom Haatzmaut

The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

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Students at Lev Chana are very busy getting ready for Yom Haatzmaut

Dead Sea Secrets

By Morah Davida Steiglitz

I

n preparation of Yom Ha’Atzmaut, we have been exploring our beautiful land of Israel in different modalities and using all of our senses. The Yam Hamelech, the Dead Sea, has been an interesting hot spot and concept to explain.

We did our very own experiment and created a replica of the Dead Sea to teach the class what it would look like to have such salty water that you would literally float on it.

We filled two glass bowls with clean water. We threw a coin into each bowl and saw that each coin sunk. Then into one bowl we added a good few tablespoons of salt and stirred it in. We observed how the clear water turned into a cloudy color

that looked more like the pictures we had been looking at of the Dead Sea. Then we added a whole, raw egg into each bowl. The class noticed in amazement how the bowl with the clear bowl had the egg sink straight to the bottom of the bowl right away. The other bowl, with the salty water, had the egg floating along the top of its cloudy water! We then filled the saltwater bowl with more water to dilute the consistency and were further amazed to watch the egg sink to the bottom of the bowl. The water was no longer salty enough to have it float. It was close to regular beach water that we are all used to swimming in.

The children discovered the Dead Sea secret today!

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osh Chodesh Iyar is a very exciting time at Shulamith ECC since it marks the beginning of our focus on our very special country of Eretz Yisrael. As the children explore and discover they are not only learning so much about Israel in every curriculum area, but they are also developing a deep and everlasting love for their homeland.

The children already learned that Hashem promised Avraham Avinu this special land way back in Parashat Lech Lecha. They were amazed to learn that the modern-day State of Israel is the exact same place and that is what makes it so special. Some of them have been fortunate to actually travel to Israel and enjoyed sharing photos and souvenirs with their friends.

They learned that the Hebrew words that they already know are used by children every single day in Israel. The Pre1A classes even connected with a real Gan in Israel and enjoyed meeting children just their age (via video) who enjoy the same

things as they enjoy, just in Hebrew.

Our young explorers were very interested to learn about different places in Israel and eagerly watched videos to see what each one looks like. From davening at the Kotel to swimming in Yam Hamelach, from eating falafel in the shuk to making havdalah candles in Tzfat, the children love to imagine that they are actually in Israel.

On Yom Haatzmaut, their dream practically came true. The children took a pretend trip to Israel. Bags in hand, they had to listen carefully to the Hebrew instructions from the flight crew and passport control. Munching on Bisli, they viewed an in-flight movie and enjoyed a falafel lunch when they landed. The day was capped off with dancing and waving the very creative and original Israeli flags that each child produced.

Shulamith ECC wishes everyone a wonderful Yom Haatzmaut and join in the tefillot of Klal Yisrael that we should all be reunited soon in Yerushalayim Habenuya.

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Around the Community

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

Central’s 11th Grade Health Class

Harav Dovid Sitnick, shlit”a, Menahel of Siach Yitzchok, reciting Birchos Ha’Ilanos at Bnos Bais Yaakov last week

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n important part of the curriculum at Central is the 11th grade Health class. Taught by Mrs. April McNally, who also teaches physical education, students spend the year learning in depth about their physical and mental health. A highlight of the course is the spring community service projects. These projects challenged Central students to take their new sense for holistic wellness out into the world by raising money for a charity or cause of choice. These community service projects were significant for a number of reasons — they encouraged Central students to think about the kinds of roles they can serve in the greater world, and they required these same students to take concrete steps to assume those roles.

“It’s about giving back,” said Mrs. McNally. “These students learn so much from doing this work out in their community. It shifts their thinking in a big way.”

Juniors Emily Froehlich and Gitty Sharf, both from the Five Towns, sold baked goods to raise funds for organizations that support animal welfare.

Shira Wasserman, from Far Rockaway, presented a project that explored the adverse effects of fast fashion on the en-

vironment. Hannah Tepper, from Brooklyn, and Chavi Conway, from Queens, explored art therapy with their project, going so far as to work with an actual art therapist to build and teach a model art therapy lesson in order to demonstrate the import of this work.

“I see life differently through my artwork,” Chavi said. “And people can tell their stories through art therapy.” Hannah and Chavi stressed the importance of advocacy for art therapy in convincing insurance companies to offer coverage for this service.

“I feel that this kind of therapy is a great option,” Hannah said. “It makes people feel safe. You can say more, through drawing.”

Students were also required to present their projects to the class, incorporating a public speaking component into the assignment, presenting their work with video, Google Slides, or an essay read aloud. Mrs. McNally continued, “Part of the project is being able to get up in front of a group and share what they’ve learned about the charity or organization they’ve worked with, as well as what they’ve learned about themselves and their place in the larger world.”

Bemused, Amused or Confused?

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here are many people who have many opinions about the state of the world. Some feel we are too far to the left in our policies, some want to veer to the right, and some would love to find the middle ground. But one thing we can all agree upon is that we are indeed living in a confused state of mind. As parents, it is vital that we find the path to sanity by unraveling the confusion and learning how to raise our children in this tumultuous world.

Luckily for the women and ladies of our community, the Women’s League of TAG has the answer to this perplexing dilemma and invites you to a Night of Inspi-

ration featuring renowned speaker, Rabbi YY Jacobson, which will take place iy”H on Tuesday, May 17 at 8:00 p.m. in the TAG Social Hall at 444 Beach 6th Street.

Rabbi Jacobson will provide us with the tools we need, with his talk on “How to Raise a Mensch in a Confused Society.”

To reserve your seat, please go to www.tagwomensleague.com.

Thanks to our amazing committee: Racheli Blumenkrantz, Sylvia Fuksbrunner, Soshie Hirth, Rivkah Katznelson, Nataly Magendzo, Naomi Newman, Allyson Perkal, and Amanda Waltuch. Special Hakaras Hatov to Nataly Magendzo for undertaking this major project.

YOSS Science Class Goes Green

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ur boys absolutely excel when it comes to STEM activities! Together, they brainstorm, troubleshoot, and solve problems, build structures, and cultivate teamwork and collaboration among classes.

Last week, our boys participated in an activity called “compostable STEM.” Typically, the “consumable” STEM materials (such as aluminum foil, plastic, straws, etc.) of an activity get thrown away. However, with our “Green STEM,” there was absolutely no waste! Our science scholars learned all about the negative impact of Styrofoam on the Earth, the benefits of recycling, reducing, and re-using materials to help reduce our carbon footprint.

The boys were introduced to a new STEM building material: a type of

eco-friendly packing peanut, which is completely biodegradable, and breaks down when stirred in water after ten seconds (as opposed to Styrofoam, with a projected breakdown time of 4 centuries!). However, when just a little water is applied to this plant-starch pellet, it provides the perfect material to build.

The boys were instructed to dab a bit of water on the ends and use their engineering imaginations to construct whatever they wanted. Other concepts that were discussed were measurements of objects, constructing representational models of actual sized objects, and three-dimensional examples of shapes that have the most strength. Although our environment is over-raided, Mrs. Fitzpatrick’s students know STEM is not overrated!

The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

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Around the Community

YOSS Hosts Bar Mitzvah Symposium

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s the sixth grade talmidim begin planning for their becoming bnei mitzvah (yes, that time is fast approaching!), the Yeshiva of South Shore hanhala held its annual Bar Mitzvah Symposium for the Parents.

Rabbi Zev Davidowitz, Menahel HaMechina, began by painting a picture of how much a boy can grow as he becomes a bar mitzvah and described the unique opportunity parents have throughout the process. The anticipation of the upcoming bar mitzvah can be both exciting and overwhelming for children. The guidelines and practical advice that was shared gave parents a balanced and thoughtful approach, with a focus on what is best for

each bar mitzvah boy.

Rabbi Robinson, Menahel, addressed the parents regarding the trend of boy’s getting phones and more access to technology during this stage of their lives.

He vividly described the slippery slope that talmidim face when given access to technology without clear and safe limits and showed used the opportunity to promote the success of our “Tech in Check” program which has helped hundreds of YOSS talmidim and families) navigate technology use.

Becoming bar mitzvah is the opportunity of a lifetime and a chance to chart a course of real growth and development for our children in Torah and mitzvos!

V’haarev Na Simchas HaTorah

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TA talmidim in Rabbi Danto’s Freshman Shiur joined hundreds of talmidim at the V’haarev Na Simchas HaTorah on Thursday, April 7, which began with a 3-hour retzifus chazara. The event also included dancing, a seudah, divrei Torah, and a kumzits with Baruch Levine and Eitan Katz.

Talmidim are participating in the V’haarev Na program, which has revolutionized the way yeshiva high school talmidim are learning by encouraging talmidim to experience the sweetness of Torah through constant chazara, and were excited to join in this incredible event.

Talmidim had recently met with Rabbi Dovid Newman, founder of the V’Haarev Na learning program, who has inspired thousands of teenagers and adults to grow in their love and appreciation of Torah. After watching the talmidim during a 2-hour retzifus chazara and hearing about the incredible learning they have achieved, Rabbi Newman was so impressed that he invited them to join the Simchas HaTorah even though it was really only open to older talmidim. The event inspired talmidim to continue their advanced learning and they spent the Pesach bein hazmanim immersed in Torah!

Rabbi Moshe Brandsdorfer to Take Helm of Orthodox Union’s Torah Initiatives Department

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abbi Moshe Brandsdorfer, a graduate of Yeshiva Shor Yoshuv in Lawrence, N.Y., has taken the helm of the Orthodox Union’s Torah Initiatives Department, which oversees a broad array of innovative Torah programming and offers diverse approaches to make Torah study a central part of life for Jewish adults.

Rabbi Brandsdorfer, who previously served as executive director at the Jewish Community Council of the Rockaway Peninsula, brings more than 15 years of experience in nonprofit management to his new role. As executive director of Torah Initiatives, he will focus on maximizing and expanding existing department programs while seeking to develop new and creative Torah projects.

He will also work to broaden the OU’s Torah websites and mobile apps; form new partnerships; and grow the department’s acclaimed Semichas Chaver Program, an interactive halacha learning program.

“We are very pleased to welcome Rabbi Brandsdorfer to the Orthodox Union as executive director of Torah Initiatives,” Orthodox Union President Moishe Bane said. “Rabbi Brandsdorfer brings with him an array of important assets to further strengthen and grow the department, including a tremendous passion for Jewish learning, creativity and many years of management experience.”

Said Orthodox Union Executive Vice President Rabbi Moshe Hauer, “We are

thrilled to have someone of the caliber and experience of Rabbi Brandsdorfer leading our Torah Initiatives Department. We have been especially impressed by his passion to creatively increase access to quality Torah resources for the entirety of the Jewish community.”

Rabbi Brandsdorfer joins the Orthodox Union with longtime experience in organizational leadership, communal affairs, social services, program management and development.

“I’ve always had a passion for elevating people’s lives through deeper and more passionate Jewish engagement,” Rabbi Brandsdorfer said. “Today, more than ever before, we have the ability to reach and meaningfully engage Jews around the world in Torah learning. The

OU Torah team has done an incredible job of this with its many Torah projects, innovative apps, websites and events. I look forward to leading this department to even greater heights.” Rabbi Brandsdorfer resides in Woodmere with his wife and children.

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Around the Community

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetsky, Rosh Hayeshiva of Toras Chaim Yeshiva of South Shore, addresses the talmidim upon his father Rabbi Binyomin Kamenetsky zt”l’s 5th yahrtzeit

The talmidos of the Ganger Early Childhood at TAG enjoyed a special cookie decorating activity in honor of Rosh Chodesh Iyar

Rosh Chodesh at IVDU

A few shtark bochurim during davening this week

Ezra Academy Places 1st at Princeton Moot Court Simulation

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Rabbi Wahrman’s science class at Yeshiva Darchei Torah recently conducted an experiment utilizing a chemical reaction that produced carbon dioxide bubbles

VDU 5 Towns was excited to have a special Rosh Chodesh smoothie breakfast, highlighting the “blending” of all students together. Chodesh Iyar and the days of Sefiras Haomer leading to Lag Ba’Omer focus on the ideals of middos bein adam l’chavero and interpersonal skills. Learning at IVDU 5 Towns has been focused on the importance of positive relationships amongst peers, including how we speak to friends and working cooperatively together.

The special Rosh Chodesh breakfast reinforced the concept of blending together, as the students picked out their preferred fruits and watched them blend into a cohesive delicious drink. Mrs. Leah Rivka Karr’s students put on a well-rehearsed skit for the other classes, showcasing the good middos and character traits that students can practice utilizing with their peers.

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ight students from Ezra Academy attended an in-person moot court simulation at Princeton University on April 28. The students prepared an appellate argument regarding a case created by the talented students of the Princeton University mock trial team.

The students focused on the 2nd, 5th and 14th amendments. They were judged on criteria including analysis of the law, teamwork, responses to opponents, delivery and ability to correctly answer hypothetical questions by the judges.

The highest ranking team of the day was a team of seniors from Ezra Academy,Yochanan Sholomov and Eden Gadayev. They have been active members of

the Ezra Academy Legal Eagles Society for many years, participating in activities including mock trial, moot court, national moot court, debate, model congress, etc. Yochanan, in his capacity as president of the society, has been a tremendous asset to the organization and growth of the association.

Congratulations to the 1st place team and a sincere expression of gratitude to the Princeton Mock Trial team for running this national competition and in-person simulation. We also would like to thank Rabbi Kahn of the JLIC at Princeton for learning with our team and providing kosher lunch.

The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

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Around the Community

Flatbush is Thriving. The Proof is Torah Vodaath.

The honorees of the 25th year Graduating Class

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o thrive is to grow vigorously and flourish dynamically. To thrive is to live by the ethos of maalin b’kodesh, to add in kedusha every single day of our lives. To thrive is to build upon the roots of yesterday, perpetuating Torah today and producing the fruits of tomorrow. To thrive is to reveal the hischadshus of the moment, then, now, forever.

Everyone knows that Torah Vodaath, 103 years young, is America’s Yeshiva.

It’s no chiddush.

What is the real hischadshus happening at Torah Vodaath? What does it mean that our community is thriving in wondrous ways? How do we know that Flatbush is not just alive, but is also thriving?

This is what thriving looks like: • For this coming school year 5783, the Torah Vodaath preschool is already beyond capacity, at 68 and 67 students enrolled in nursery and kindergarten respectively!

• Yeshiva Ketana and Mechina boast the

The honorees of the 50th year Graduating Class

largest enrollment ever, with over 650 talmidim, kein yirbu!

• Mesivta has seen a 25% enrollment leap!

• 125 bochurim and 50 avreichim saturating the walls of our Bais Chaim Yisroel Division with the resounding words of Torah!

• A Bais Medrash resounding with the Kol Torah of 8 chaburos and 225 bochurim and avreichim!

• This level of thriving has ignited the expansion of the Yeshiva and the purchase of 5 adjacent properties!

The proof that the greater Flatbush community is thriving is found in the unprecedented thriving of Torah Vodaath!

A regal legacy is made more regal by its thriving future.

To celebrate our expansive growth and vibrant life, our Annual Torah Vodaath Dinner on May 22nd is entitled “Thrive.” The Dinner will serve as the formal inauguration of the Bais Chaim

Yisroel Division in memory of the Rosh Hayeshiva Moreinu Horav Chaim Yisroel Belsky, zt”l. The Dinner will also pay tribute to the graduating classes of 50and 25-years-ago recognizing their many years of service to Klal Yisroel. Accepting Tributes on behalf of their chaverim, Rabbi & Mrs. Simcha Goldstein, Rabbi & Mrs. Berel Leiner, and Dr. & Mrs. Shimshon Fireworker will represent the class of 1972. Representing the Class of 1997 is Mr. & Mrs. Gadi Fuchs and Rabbi & Mrs. Yitzchok Tanennbaum. Mr. & Mrs. Avrumi Lieberman from the class will be dedicating the Camp Torah Vodaas Mikvah in memory of his beloved mother, Mrs. Lillian Lieberman, a”h, who served on the Yeshiva’s Ladies Auxiliary from many years. The Dinner will be chaired

by Tzali Stern, a devoted alumnus of the Yeshiva.

The Dinner will offer many dedication opportunities to partner in the new Camp Torah Vodaas. The acquisition of a

Bais Chaim Yisroel New Bais Medrash

brand new, magnificent state-of-the-art summer campus in Upstate New York to accommodate our rapidly-expanding Mesivta and Bais Medrash.

Thrive cannot thrive without you.

Together with all of our past, present, and future talmidim, this year’s celebration will serve as a living testament to the ever-increasing, ever-elevating kedusha of our great Yeshiva as a shining example of what’s possible in our greater community.

To thrive in our world is truly a chiddush, one that you are a crucial part of.

We look forward to thriving together with you at this year’s Dinner, and for many more happy, healthy years to come.

Please go to www.torahvodaath.org/ dinner to place your journal ad, dedication opportunities, and/or RSVP to join us in person on May 22nd at The Palace.

With tremendous appreciation and hakoras hatov, we look forward to thriving together for many years to come!

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ANNUAL DINNER

A Thriving Torah Vodaath

THE FORMAL DEDICATION OF

Bais Chaim Yisroel

is a Thriving Flatbush!

S P E C I A L I N S P I R I N G F E AT U R E

INAUGURATION OF

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

The New Camp Torah Vodaas

A MOVING PRESENTATION RECOGNIZING THE KIDDUSH HASHEM OF OUR EIGHTH GRADE TALMIDIM

ubhrun vchahv atr b”zk k”mz hexkgc ktrah ohhj crv

FIFTY YEAR SALUTE

C L A S S

Rabbi & Mrs. Simcha Goldstein MECHANECH L’DOROS AWARD

O F

1 9 7 2

Rabbi & Mrs. Berel Leiner

Dr. & Mrs. Shimshy Fireworker

MOREINU HORAV AVROHOM PAM HARBOTZAS TORAH AWARD

MASORES AVOS AWARD

v”g lurc ’r ,c vrupmu k”z hcm ’r ic kahp ohrpt ’r b”gk v”g hcm ktrah ’r ,c ksbhhreu k”z sus ’r ic ‘hrt iugna ’r b”gku

TWENTY-FIVE YEAR SALUTE

C L A S S

Mr. & Mrs. Gadi Fuchs MOREINU HORAV AVROHOM PAM KESSER SHEM TOV AWARD

O F

1 9 9 7

Mr. & Mrs. Avrumi Lieberman MOREINU HORAV REUVEN SCHEINER AHAVAS TORAH V’CHESED AWARD

Rabbi & Mrs. Yitzchok Dov Tannenbaum MOREINU HORAV CHAIM YISROEL BELSKY TALMID NETZACH AWARD

Tzali Stern

5.22.22 • THE PALACE

DINNER CHAIRMAN

FOR RESERVATIONS OR JOURNAL ADS PLEASE CALL 718-941-8000 • DINNER@TORAHVODAATH.ORG • WWW.TORAHVODAATH.ORG

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

‫ישיבת ומתיבתא תורה ודעת‬

YESHIVA TORAH VODAATH

Around the Community

The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

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Yeshiva Darchei Torah seventh grader Ahron Weiss receiving a gift from Rav Yaakov Bender, Rosh HaYeshiva, upon his completion of Maseches Tamid for the 101st time!

Ahron is a son of Rav Nechemia Weiss, a rebbi in the Yeshiva, and a grandson of Rav Moshe Meir Weiss

YOSS’s social worker, Mrs. Eherenfeld, taught the third grade how to utilize their expressive language skills through an interactive game

Technology at HANC ECC

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HALB’s eighth grade girls and boys each went to Ellis Island last week. They saw the path taken by their ancestors and learned about the struggles of new immigrants that arrived in the United States. It was a fun and informative trip for all the students

reparing children for the technological world in which they are growing up has begun early in HANC’s Early Childhood Center in West Hempstead. Under the leadership of Naomi Fredman, HANC’s Director of Educational Technology, a pilot program has been introduced to help the students use critical thinking skills to understand the coding process. After launching the program with the Nursery Bet classes earlier in the school year, the Nursery Aleph classes have begun their formal introduction into the world of coding. Utilizing the Botley robot, winner of many awards including the 2019 Innovative Toy of the Year, the children are learning to code in an easy, friendly, screen-free way. The Botley robot comes complete with an interactive coding playset, object detection, and even a programmable 45 degree turn.

The children test their coding skills with the help of screen-free coding challenges like coding Botley to solve a maze or navigate an obstacle course.

Utilizing a hand-held device with operational buttons that can move Botley in six different directions, the children can code the robot to move 150 steps and turn at multiple angles, to create more advanced sequences. Using their imagination, the robot can even transform itself into a train, a police car, a dinosaur – the possibilities are endless.

“This is an entirely new means for children to use their creativity and minds while engaging in state-of-the-art technology,” states Trudy Rubinstein, ECC Director. “As we observed all of the gains

that our Pre-K children made, we knew that the time was right to share this with our youngest learners.”

The children have been fascinated by this little robot and approach each session with curiosity and excitement. While it seems like a fun activity to them, they are actually building critical skills that will prepare them for future success in the realm of technology. They can’t wait for Botley to return to their classroom to see what it can do next. HANC wishes to thank Ms. Fredman for introducing this fabulous program, which has enlightened a whole new world for a new generation of children.

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MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

Available at your local Hebrew bookseller or at www.artscroll.com • 1-800-MESORAH (637-6724)

The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

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Around the Community

RNSP Lauded by NYPD

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he Rockaway Nassau Safety Patrol received a certificate of appreciation at the NYPD’s 101st Precinct’s 2022 Medal Day ceremony.

Deputy Inspector Kevin Robinson, the commanding officer of the 101st Precinct, presented the certificate to Sholem Klein, one of the RNSP’s coordinators, who accepted the honor on behalf of the RNSP for all the work that they do in collaboration with law enforcement. This is not a recognition that is regularly given to neighborhood patrols.

Deputy Inspector Robinson acknowledged that the work of the RNSP has

JSL Winter Champion is Crowned

had many tangible benefits to the community. Sholem Klein pointed out that all of the accomplishments of the RNSP are due to the many hours of community service that each RNSP member puts in and to their respective family members who selflessly allow and encourage them to put in that time.

Chief of Department Kenneth Corey, Chief of Patrol Kathleen O’Reilly, and Assistant Chief Ruben Beltran, the commanding officer of Patrol Borough Queens South, were also present to honor the RNSP and the other medal recipients.

T

he JSL Men’s Basketball Winter Championship Game was on Motzei Shabbos in Brandeis.

It pitted the undefeated Team Island Roofing against Team Executive Dry Cleaners, the 2-seed. The game was tied 27-27 at the half. Behind a strong effort and 25 points from league MVP Yitzi Wieder, Island Roofing prevailed 61-51.

As a result of their win, Island Roofing and team captain Effie Hoffman completed their second undefeated season.

However, the other teams have recruit-

ed some great ballers to gear up for the spring season so there are some real challengers for their throne!

On Sunday, the first 3 games of the Spring Men’s Season kicked off. The league is sponsored by FM Home Loans.

Team Mekor Chaim beat Skill Tree 61-60 in the game of the week. Sbalding defeated Purple Pear 69-61. Island Roofing beat Believe and Achieve 52-37. The other 6 men’s teams will begin their seasons this week.

Week 4 at 5TLL

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e finally enjoyed sunny, nice weather for Week 4 at Five Towns Little League, and we had another great day of little league baseball! There were some very close games and a lot of fun at the 5TLL. Around half of the League also made it to Monday’s Mets game where 5TLL families got to stand on the Warning Track for the National Anthem!

Soccer and K/P Baseball Highlights In K/P Soccer, the boys were taught valuable soccer fundamentals and then played an exhibition game. Chaim Mandelbaum scored a hat trick for team Hewlett Auto Body!

In 1st/2nd Soccer, Maidenbaum held off KolSave 2-1 in an exciting game.

Minors (1st-3rd) Baseball Highlights In 1st grade, Aaron Ziedel of Team Maidenbaum had a monster game with a grand slam and a triple.

The game was tied 11-11 in the bottom of the last inning when Aaron Gordon of Team Maidenbaum hit a walkoff 2 run home-run to win it! Stone Group and Gourmet Glatt tied 13-13 in a great back and forth game.

In 2nd Grade, Zachariah Kahana of Royal Adjusters hit a walk-off HR to win the game! Final Score 13-12.

In 3rd grade, Executive Dry Cleaners beat Built by Nate behind the bat of GAME MVP Avrami Kapnick,

who hit a 2-run Homerun! AutoClick defeated Stone Group in a tight game 12-10. Rubinstein Law Firm edged out a 7-6 victory over 5 Towns Central.

Majors (4th & up) Baseball Highlights In 4th grade, Rebbe’s Choice defeated Island Roofing 11-6, and Alpert Financial beat Built by Nate 9-2 in a well-umped game by Dovi Mandlebaum.

In 5th grade, Island Roofing defeated CNSLT 3-2 behind Tzvi Rosenfeld’s brilliant defensive play!

Up 3-2 in the bottom of the last inning with one out and a runner on 3rd base, Tzvi Rosenfeld made the catch and dove to tag the runner tagging from 3rd to win the game for Island Roofing.

In Grade 6th-8th, Game MVP Yehuda Zuckerman got things going early for the Royal Adjusters with a leadoff homerun and the Royal adjusters never looked back!

– winning 9-1 over Built By Nate. Alpert Financial escaped with a victory in a close game over Sperling Productions 9-8.

5TLL Play of the Day – Sponsored by Dave’s Pizza Shua Greenberg of Island Roofing made an amazing catch in the outfield and Yossi Gutman of 5 Towns Batting Cages displayed quick reflexes, catching a hot

liner back to the pitcher!

All of the amazing 5TLL volunteer coaches were given special baseball bat mugs and tee-shirts/polos sponsored by FM Home Loans. Thank you to all the volunteer coaches for the amazing work and dedication they put in to make sure the boys have a great time!

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Around the Community

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he Jewish Community Council of the Rockaway Peninsula (JCCRP) has announced the appointment of Allison Deal as its Executive Director.

“After conducting a thorough search, Allison was the clear choice to lead the JCCRP,” said Board President Mr. Richard Altabe.

“She is a leader who possesses keen insight into the challenges our community faces and has the capabilities necessary to address them. The Board and I have no doubt that the organization will be in exceptionally skilled hands with Allison serving as Executive Director.”

Prior to joining the JCCRP, Allison has experience working both at the Orthodox Union and Met Council and brings a passion supporting those in need. At the OU, Allison worked with kosher food pantries across the country, helping communities start food pantries and assisting them with valuable resources to support their work. At Met Council, Allison was the director of the food program and was responsible for the procurement and distribution of 2.2 million pounds of food and a $7 million budget. She transitioned the network food pantries to a client choice model, which JCCRP adopted under her tenure.

Allison has also worked with Agudath Israel of America as well as foundations, federations, and government sources to secure critical funding and to streamline critical processes. Working closely with communities on a national basis, Allison strategized and came up with solutions to complex problems.

“I am excited to work with the highly skilled staff at JCCRP to ensure the community continues to provide top quality services to those who need it most,” said

Mrs. Deal. “It is important to me that we continue the JCCRP mission to assist those in need and advocate for our community with tact and dignity.”

Mrs. Deal is a graduate of Yeshiva University and earned an M.B.A. from Touro University. She is also a graduate of the Chesed Leadership Program, a fellowship for Orthodox women who run nonprofit organizations. The CLP is a joint program of Touro’s Lander College for Women and the Touro Graduate School of Social Work. The Fellowship Director, Cynthia R. Darrison, said, “Allison is one of those people who sees problems in the community and finds solutions. She is a natural at networking to benefit her work and is able to unite people and organizations to work on common goals.”

Allison Deal follows Moshe Brandsdorfer, who led the organization over the last five years. Deal, a mother of four, is a resident of the Far Rockaway-Lawrence community.

“There were many strong candidates, and the Board of Directors did a great job in making this selection. I am confident about passing the baton to Allison and I thank the staff, board, rabbanim, schools and elected officials for five amazing years,” commented Mr. Brandsdorfer.

“We are very grateful for everything Moshe has done for the JCCRP over the past five years, and we will miss his dedication, leadership and guidance,” said Mr. Altabe. “We are excited to have Allison lead the team now. Her background will allow her to seamlessly continue the existing assistance programs, and her broad community-minded vision will benefit JCCRP and the entire community.”

Did you know?

A mother orangutan never puts her babies down and typically nurses them for 6 or 7 years

A Tehillim-Based Mortgage Finding a home is one story. Getting a mortgage is another. With our growing family, it was clear that we needed to jump into the grueling process. After an intensive search in the saturated real estate market in our community, we were lucky to find a home that seemed perfectly suited to our needs.

Then we began to work on the mortgage. We gave in our application and waited to hear back from the bank.

The response we got was not the one we had hoped for.

“Declined!”

Without the necessary funds, the entire deal would fall through! I was despondent and desperate. Our lawyer encouraged me to hand in an appeal and begin the request again, even though “the chances of it going through are very, very weak,” he explained. This was the most we could do.

I decided to get some advocates on my behalf. I would join the thousands of Tehillim Kollel members and have the special minyanim daven for me every single day.

That was on Monday morning. Just two days passed.

On Wednesday, I received a notice from the bank: my request was accepted! The mortgage went through!

I was so excited. After moving into our new home, I called the Tehillim Kollel office to share my excitement. “Everything went so smoothly. All the typical complications and legal issues totally jumped over us. Yes, I myself witnessed how great daily Tehillim b’tzibbur is.”

WEEKLY COLUMN OF RECENT EPISODES

BY TEHILLIM KOLLEL Sign up for our annual mermbership:

718.705.7174 Info@TehillimKollel.org www.TehillimKollel.org

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

JCCRP Welcomes New Executive Director Allison Deal

‫בס״ד‬

MAY 2022

The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

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Around the Community

Discover DCity – Israel’s Design Mall That Has it All

F

urnishing or renovating? Save time, money, and energy with a visit to DCity!

DCity, Israel’s newest and biggest design mall in the Jerusalem area, has 200 stores and showrooms with everything you need to renovate and furnish every room of your home – living room and bedroom sets, kitchens, closets, appliances, fixtures, doors, sanitary items, floor and bath tiles, textiles, and much more. And it’s all in a gorgeous 150,000 sq. meter compound that turns your shopping experience into an enjoyable day away from it all!

You’ve never seen anything like it – a mall that has all your furniture and design needs in one great place. Park your car (it’s free) and enjoy strolling through the Italy-inspired, indoor-outdoor mall with its 200 quality stores until you reach the “Piazza,” a replica of the famous Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, where you can choose from an assortment of mehadrin gourmet restaurants.

Throughout, there are street musicians, water fountains, and performances at various times of day.

Penina Revach, DCity’s enthusiastic CEO, was formerly the head sales representative of a large construction and development firm in central Israel.

“From my experience, the stage of

choosing all the elements of the home, from the floor tiles to the furniture, is an exhausting and extremely time-consuming process,” she said. “And it’s all the more so for foreign residents who try to get everything done in a few days.

That’s why we opened DCity – to provide a one-stop solution for all home design needs!”

This week, marks the grand opening of DCity’s boutique DHotel, featuring 50 luxurious rooms, making it even

more convenient for people arriving from abroad and who want to complete all their purchases in the shortest time possible.

Something for Everyone The mall’s 200 stores contain every possible home-decorating and furnishing need, from the big-ticket items, such as furnishings, kitchens and appliances, to textiles and hard-to-access hardware.

“Instead of schlepping from city to

city and from store to store, running through old dusty warehouses, and searching frantically for a parking spot, we’ve concentrated everything in one stunning venue,” says Revach.

Although, originally, the concept had been provide for the residents of Greater Jerusalem, DCity has been attracting the attention of residents from trendy Tel Aviv. Top interior designers and decorators from across the country are flocking here with their clients, who want to benefit from the huge selection, high quality and special prices.

Visitors to DCity will find plenty of familiar designer names as well as branches of their favorite stores that offer premium merchandise at reduced prices.

“Don’t be fooled by the luxurious ambience,” Revach says. “Israelis are finally starting to realize that a great shopping experience doesn’t necessarily mean high prices. As Israel’s City of Design, DCity has styles for every taste and prices for every budget. What’s more, the fact that all the stores are concentrated in one place enables big brand names to give great sale prices and discounts.”

DCity is located in the Israel Park, adjacent to Maale Adumim – just a 15-minute drive from Jerusalem.

Cross River and Bridgeton Capital Partner for Tech-Driven Commercial Real Estate Lending Platform

C

ross River Bank (Cross River), a technology infrastructure provider that offers embedded financial solutions, announced this week that its Commercial Real Estate (CRE) team has partnered with Erithmitic d/b/a Bridgeton Capital, a tech-enabled and data driven commercial real estate lending platform, for an end-to-end CRE marketplace for the sourcing, originating and risk allocating of CRE loans nationwide.

The partnership will provide borrowers and sellers with affordable credit opportunities on a wider geographical footprint and enables Cross River to expand into new markets. Cross River’s technology infrastructure, regulatory expertise and strong focus on consumer

protection, combined with Bridgeton’s AI and machine learning capabilities, is the first step toward alleviating longstanding inefficiencies in the CRE value chain. Bridgeton Capital, which has been rapidly expanding since its launch in September 2021, is a tech-enabled lender and has modernized CRE lending, ensuring more accuracy and speed with data algorithms, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Both Companies will invest capital, with a focus on offering 12–24-month interest-only bridge financing on multifamily and commercial properties nationwide of between $5$50 million.

“Cross River and Bridgeton’s combined, closed-loop CRE marketplace is unprecedented. Leveraging Bridgeton’s

expertise and origination network will empower us to reach borrowers on a national scale, not only in primary lending markets, but also secondary and tertiary markets, and is opening the door to help provide more affordable housing and finance options nationwide in addition to the local businesses serving those markets,” said Shimon Eisikowicz, EVP, Chief Lending Officer at Cross River. “This is an opportunity to combine Cross River’s fintech DNA with our robust portfolio of CRE offerings and will ultimately pave the way for both Cross River and the real estate industry with an end-to-end CRE marketplace.”

“We look forward to growing the platform and our offerings with Bridgeton as we provide borrowers with a full suite of

CRE services on a national scale,” said Josh Gurman, Director of CRE Underwriting and Processing at Cross River.

“Cross River and Bridgeton Capital are two best in class tech-enabled lending platforms,” said Solomon Garber, Chief Revenue Officer and Co-Founder, Bridgeton Capital. “We look to solve how loans are processed and underwritten, providing the commercial real estate market a more efficient solution to accessing capital.”

Atit Jariwala, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, continued: “This is only the first phase of our work together.

Bridgeton Capital is excited to partner with Cross River on this initiative, the first of what we believe will be a large and growing partnership.”

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Around the Community

PHOTOS BY YOEL HECHT

Raffle winner Nochum Herzog with his rebbi, Raffle winner Benjamin Asher Mor with his rebbi, Rav Rosen; Rav Dovid Morgenstern, menahel; Rav Reich; his grandfather; Rav Dovid Morgensterm, and Rav Moshe Bender, associate dean menahel; and Rav Moshe Bender, associate dean

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

Yeshiva Darchei Torah Event Unites Three Generations in Limud Torah

The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

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Around the Community

YSZ Kindergarten Learns about the Omer

A

t Yeshiva Sha’arei Zion, the kindergarten 1 students were super excited to be back at school after their Pesach vacation! The week was packed with excitement as the children baked challah with a key inside, prayed for klal Yisrael, and davened for Moshiach. The children heard special stories about Rabbi Akiva and about the concepts of v’ahavta l’reecha kamocha and sefirat haomer. The children learned that we count every day until Shavuot because the Torah is so sweet and precious! The class counted by placing one lollipop on the class chart each day and also counted on their own abacuses (bead charts) that the children cannot wait to take them home to show their parents.

YCQ Class of 1972’s 50th Anniversary Reunion

W

ith close to 100 people participating, the YCQ Class of 1972 50th Anniversary Reunion, held on Sunday, May 1 at YCQ, was a huge success. Enjoying a sunny sky and a light breeze, members of the YCQ graduating class reconnected, reminisced, and reveled in the company of their former classmates. In addition to the former students and their spouses who attended the event at YCQ, many members of the class of 1972 attended via Zoom, from as far away as Europe and Israel.

Following a buffet lunch and meet and greet, the attendees viewed three videos. The first included original class photos and reminiscence of classmates’

fond memories of teachers, friends, and funny anecdotes. The second video honored the memory of six classmates: Mark Davidman, Jeffrey Faktor, Bonnye Kaufman, Ellen Miller, Rena Spigelman, and Brent Treiger, z”l. The third video featured an address given by English Class Valedictorian, Mrs. Tamar (Feder) Kramer, who spoke at the 1972 Class Graduation.

Mrs. Kramer made Aliyah, raised her family, and now enjoys time with her grandchildren living in Eretz Yisrael.

She spoke of the education and values she took on at YCQ and how the small details that influenced her childhood inform the life she lives today. She report-

ed that fifteen percent of the YCQ Class of 1972 has made Aliyah, and she looks forward to more classmates joining her there in their retirement.

Rabbi Mark Landsman, principal, remarked, “It was gratifying to see so many YCQ alumni joining together after so many years, with unlimited gratitude to our yeshiva for instilling within them the necessary skills to succeed in life, as well as the spiritual inspiration to be Torah observant religious Zionist Jews.”

Said Laura (Krim) Turk, “This day is very exciting. When we heard about the reunion, we were thrilled, and as it got closer, we got more excited. It’s special to see everyone that I haven’t seen in a

very long time, and it’s really a trip down memory lane.”

Michael Schussheim, Reunion Committee Member, stated, “I’m always very proud to say that I’m a graduate of Yeshiva of Central Queens. This reunion is so special. I’m grateful that I played a role in making it happen.”

“One memory that really stands out to me was the dancing that we did on Fifth Avenue in the Israeli Day Parade,” Cheryl (Greenberg) Miodownik recalled.

“Our costumes were amazing, and I remember dancing with my classmates.

This is a perfect occasion – thank you to the reunion committee and YCQ.”

67

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

Lawrence High School | 7:00pm Reilly Rd. & Peninsula Blvd, Cedarhurst, NY

Sponsorship Opportunities Available

PRE-CONCERT DINNER WITH THE STARS FOR VIP SPONSORS

Mr. & Mrs. Paul Reinstein | Larry & Lisa Siegel Mr. & Mrs. Moishe Mishkowitz

Get your tickets today!

$36 • $54 • $72 • VIP CAHAL: 540-A Willow Ave., Cedarhurst Judaica Plus: 445 Central Ave., Cedarhurst Mr. & Mrs. Hillel Moerman PLLC

WWW.CAHAL.ORG

The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

68

BUILDING BLOCKS OF ETERNITY Yeshiva Darchei Torah’s new capital project will encompass a Mesivta Beis Medrash and its first-ever Residence Hall.

BEIS MEDRASH + CLASSROOM BUILDING Will serve 500 talmidim in grades 8-11 34,200 Total square feet 4 Stories 5200 sq. feet Beis Hamedrash for Mesivta 15 Classrooms

RESIDENCE HALL Will serve 271 talmidim in Mesivta & Yeshiva Gedolah 43,000 Total square feet 4 Stories 68 Dormitory Rooms 271 Beds 4 Student Lounges

69

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

T H E S E V I S I O N A R I E S H AV E A L R E A DY S T E P P E D F O R WA R D . W I L L YO U J O I N T H E M ?

MR. & MRS. BERISH & HANNAH FUCHS

THE BIVETSKY FAMILY SHAAR HATORAH

MR. & MRS. YUSSIE & SUSAN OSTREICHER

RESIDENCE HALL AND TORAH CENTER

‫ה ליב ע”ה‬-‫לע”נ שלום ראובן בן ארי‬

MESIVTA BEIS MEDRASH BUILDING

MESIVTA BEIS MEDRASH

ANONYMOUS

ANONYMOUS Residence Hall Cornerstone

ANONYMOUS

‫לע”נ נחמן יהודה בן יעקב דוד ע”ה‬ ‫ואשתו לאה בת יהודה אשר ע”ה‬ ‫ולע”נ יעקב ליב בן שלמה ע”ה‬

Promenade Vestibule

Beis Medrash Vestibule Entrance

MR. & MRS. URI & ESTHER KAUFMAN

‫לע”נ הרה”ג ר‘ דוד בן הרב אברהם בנדר זצ”ל‬ ‫והרבנית בתיה חיה בת הרב יעקב הלוי ז”ל‬ ‫לע”נ זעליג בן מרדכי ע”ה‬ ‫לע”נ משה אלעזר בן נטע שלום ע”ה‬ ‫לע”נ דוד בן משה ע”ה‬ ‫הר‘ משה נתן בן יחזקאל ע”ה‬ ‫וישראל בן אברהם ע”ה‬ ‫ לע”נ‬The children, bochurim, and all 45 neshamos of the Miron tragedy, Lag Baomer 5781

Dedicated by Mr. & Mrs. Yaakov & Rivky Jacobovitch

MR. & MRS. CHAIM & BRACHA SCHULHOF MR. & MRS. NISSAN & SARAH GITTY PROFESORSKE

‫לע”נ ישראל הלוי לעווין ע”ה‬ ‫ואלישבע בתיה קפלן ע”ה‬

Dedication of Rosh Kollel’s Office

MR. & MRS. MOTTY & HADASSA JACOBOWITZ

‫לע”נ חוה בת דב ע”ה‬

Entranceway to Mesivta Beis Medrash Building

Camp Oraysa Sports Complex

THE BLOOM FAMILY

‫לע”נ ר‘ ישראל‬ ‫בן ר‘ בנימין הכהן ע”ה‬

MR. & MRS. CHAIM SHOLOM & RIVKY LEIBOWITZ Associate Dean’s Office

Sha’ar of New Beis Medrash

In Memory of Mrs. Marta Schron ‫ע” ה‬

MR. & MRS. NACHUM & HENNY FUTERSAK

MR. & MRS. MENASH & MIMI ORATZ Basketball Court in Elementary School Gym

MESIVTA OTZAR HASEFORIM

DEDICATED ANONYMOUSLY

NAYMAN FAMILY

Lobby, Mesivta Beis Medrash Building

Cornerstone, Mesivta Beis Medrash Building

Ner Tamid

DEDICATION OF CAMP ORAYSA CAMPUS

MR. & MRS. MOTTY & HADASA MENDELSOHN

DR. & MRS. YOSSI & ZIVIA SCHWARTZ

MR. & MRS. URI & DEVORAH DREIFUS

MR. & MRS. SHMULI & MIRIAM MENDEL

THE SCHRON FAMILY

MEMORIAL EXHIBIT TO THE YESHIVOS OF PREWAR EUROPE

GYMNASIUM WING

MR. & MRS. BENZION & MIRIAM HEITNER

MR. & MRS. DOVID & LEAH BRECHER

MR. & MRS. BENJAMIN & JUDY LANDA

MR. & MRS. YITZCHOK & SHOSHANA GANGER

Dedication Wall Mesivta Beis Medrash Building

MR. & MRS. CHAIM & ROCHELLA TREITEL

MR. & MRS. NASSAN & DEVORAH TREITEL

Gymnasium Wing

Preschool Cornerstone

MR. & MRS. ALON & CHANIE GOLDBERGER

MR. & MRS. NACHMAN & ESTHER GOODMAN Entrance of Beis Medrash Building

Sha’ar of New Beis Medrash

MR. & MRS. SHIA & ELANA OSTREICHER Beis Medrash Building Vestibule

Mr. & Mrs. Tzali & Chana Shira Gutman Mr. & Mrs. Simcha & Shani Applegrad Mr. & Mrs. Ari & Aliza Haas Mr. & Mrs. Barry & Paula Bokow Mr. & Mrs. Moshie & Naomi Horn Mr. & Mrs. Berel & Sherry Daskal Mr. & Mrs. Binyomin & Leah Einhorn Mr. & Mrs. Shlomo & Kayla Horowitz Mr. & Mrs. Naftoli & Chani Einhorn Mr. & Mrs. Menachem & Elisheva Jacobowitz Mr. & Mrs. Michael & Mimi Fragin Mr. & Mrs. Mordechai & Shana Jacobs Mr. & Mrs. Evan & Chaya Sara Genack Mr. & Mrs. Jeff & Tamar Landy Rabbi & Rebbetzen Chaim Aryeh Zev & Avigail Ginzberg Mr. & Mrs. Yosef & Vivi Moskowitz Mr. & Mrs. Samuel & Beverly Goldberger Mr. & Mrs. Yitzy & Rivky Orbach

THE K TEAM

Plumbing Training Center Dedicated

‫לע”נ אברהם שלמה בן יחיאל מיכל הכהן ז”ל‬ ‫לע”נ הר‘ אברהם בן הר‘ חיים מנחם בן ציון זצ”ל‬ ALL BORO CONSTRUCTION

Mr. & Mrs. Ephram & Ilana Ostreicher Mr. & Mrs. Mutty & Bracha Ribowsky Mr. & Mrs. David & Sima Rosenfeld Mr. & Mrs. Dovid & Chani Roll Dr. & Mrs. Zvi & Dina Schreiber Mr. & Mrs. Andrew & Stephani Serotta Mr. & Mrs. Marvin & Judy Sigler Mr. & Mrs. Morris & Devora Smith Mr. & Mrs. Yehuda & Mindy Zachter

Get in on the ground floor of this monumental project.

To choose from a wide selection of sponsorships at all levels, please contact: Rabbi Zev Bald 718.868.2300 ext. 232 zbald@darchei.org Rabbi Baruch Rothman 718.868.2300 ext. 406 brothman@darchei.org

darchei.org/building

‫לע”נ מוהר”ר יחיאל מיכל‬ ‫בן ישראל יהודה ע”ה‬

The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

70

Around the Community

NYPD Commissioner Visits 770

N

ew York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell visited Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway and the Jewish Children’s Museum on Thursday, April 28. The Police Commissioner was accompanied by Mayoral Chief Advisor Dr. Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Mayoral Senior Advisor Joel Eisdorfer, NYPD Inspector Richie Taylor, and CAU Commissioner Fred Kreizman.

Prominent community leaders in attendance included the founder of the Jewish Children’s Museum Devorah Halberstam, Crown Heights Jewish Community Council Executive Vice President Rabbi Chanina Sperlin, NYPD Clergy Liaison David Heskiel, Crown

Heights JCC Executive Director Rabbi Eli Cohen, Chabad Lubavitch Public Relations Specialist Yaacov Behrman, Eli Slavin representing Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, and Crown Heights Hatzalah Coordinator Yingy Bistrisky.

Police Commissioner Sewell’s visit, which occurred on the same day as Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), gave the Police Commissioner the opportunity to hear directly from community leaders and show solidarity with the Jewish community. Police Commissioner Sewell spoke about how close partnerships with the community will enhance public safety and strengthen efficiency in the police department.

Mayoral Chief Advisor Dr. Ingrid

Lewis-Martin explained that the Adams’ Administration appreciates and respects the Jewish community and will always be there to stand up to anti-Semitic hate crimes. In addition, Dr. Lewis-Martin stated that public safety is the Administration’s top priority.

Police Commissioner Sewell and all the participants viewed a video of Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, zt”l, meeting with then-Police Commissioner Lee Brown at Lubavitch World Headquarters in 1990.

In the video, the Rebbe gives the Police Commissioner two dollar bills as a double portion and speaks about the importance of proactive policing.

Police Commissioner Sewell was

given a detailed tour of “770,” including the Rebbe’s private study, very old manuscripts, and the antiquated phone system which connected Lubavitch World HQ with dozens of Lubavitch rabbis across the globe.

Across the street from 770, at the Jewish Children’s Museum, Commissioner Sewell acknowledged that the museum was built in memory of Devorah Halberstam’s son Ari, who was shot and killed in a terrorist attack on the Brooklyn Bridge on March 1, 1994.

Commissioner Sewell pledged to come back to Crown Heights to continue the conversation and to ensure safety and security in all communities across New York City.

the Patriots defeated the Vikings with awesome catches and amazing flag pulls

by Aron Cukeir. The Eagles defeated the Broncos. The Jets defeated the Giants with the help of Sammy Adler who had consistent touchdowns, flag pulls, and

even a pick 6!

As the season winds down and we look towards the playoffs, registration is now open for the next season on 5 Towns Flag Football: www.5townsflagfootball.com

5 Towns Football League

T

his past Friday was week 5 of FM Home Loans - 5 Towns Flag Football! The countdown to the playoffs has begun, and yet again, it was another week that was played all around really well and all the boys displayed great sportsmanship.

In the Pre-1A division, under the direction of Rabbi Jeremy Fine, the boys practiced their running and communication skills and they have been practicing really well!

In the first grade division, the Giants defeated the Patriots with two amazing touchdowns that led to a win by Natan Seltzer. The Broncos defeated the Jets with amazing pulls and short catches by Michael Goodrich.

In the 2nd grade division, the Broncos defeated the Eagles with the help of offense champion Aj Gallagher. The Vikings defeated the Patriots with a touchdown

and crazy fast running by Simon Gang.

And the Jets defeated the Giants.

In the 3rd and 4th grade division, the Steelers defeated the Seahawks. The Patriots defeated the Panthers. The Dolphins defeated the Jets with the help of Ari Hiltzik’s two touchdowns, defensive pulls, and fast short catches. The Falcons and Broncos tied. The Vikings defeated the Eagles with a few amazing defensive plays by Shlomo Lowy. The Packers tied with the Raiders. And the Saints defeated the Giants.

In the 5th and 6th grade division, the Broncos defeated the Seahawks with the amazing defensive plays by Ikey Burger.

The Patriots defeated the Giants. The Panthers defeated the Packers. The Raiders defeated the Dolphins. The Jets defeated the Steelers with the amazing offensive runs by Akiva Shemesh.

In the 7th and 8th grade division,

71

Around the Community

O

n April 28, Sarit Katz (Central), Raffi Weil (MTA), and Noyah Shebshaievitz (Yeshiva of Flatbush), the co-chairs of Shalom Task Force’s Young Leadership Outreach Committee, were awarded the prestigious 2022 Youth Impact Award by the NYC Mayoral Service Recognition Program. This annual citywide celebration of volunteers and service members recognizes efforts to build solutions in response to community challenges and residents’ most urgent needs. NYC Service received more than 200 nominations for the four awards categories. The awardees completed service projects in 2021 that directly impacted communities hit hardest by the pandemic and were selected for excellence in building community through service.

Noyah, Sarit, and Raffi first started volunteering for Shalom Task Force (STF) as part of the Purple Fellowship, the first leadership development program of its kind to empower Jewish high school students in ending domestic violence. The fellowship culminates in students planning a “Go Purple Day” at each school to promote domestic violence awareness.

In January 2021, STF founded the inaugural Youth Board, an opportunity for fellowship graduates to serve as continuing ambassadors at their schools and named Sarit, Raffi, and Noyah outreach chairs for the Board. The unique

and raise awareness about domestic abuse in the Jewish Community.

Additionally, in February, Shalom Task Force launched Future Community Leaders: A Shalom Task Force Chessed Initiative, a new, all-girls high school leadership program to foster leadership skills while gaining a deeper understanding of what defines and healthy and unhealthy relationships. The first cohort consisted of 18 Students from 5 schools across 4 states. Our students are currently planning awareness programs for their schools and will be hosting them throughout May. Youth Board model also emphasizes peer mentorship, as teens from across the country support one another in their leadership efforts.

As a part of their work with the board, Sarit, Raffi, and Noyah developed Purple Clubs in their respective high schools. Throughout 2021, over 150 NYC high school students signed up for Purple Clubs at their schools to combat domestic violence and to help eradicate the stigma around these topics within the Jewish Community. Nationally, 10 schools launched a Purple Club this past school year. “Throughout the past year myself and the other members of the outreach board have dedicated an immense amount of time and effort towards educating other teens on the topic of domestic abuse and violence. Education is the first step to prevention,”

said Sarit Katz during her acceptance speech.

Dr. Shana Frydman, Executive Director of STF, shared that “it is so inspiring that our youth are taking leadership in combatting domestic violence- it instills hope for a safer future.” Added Jeffrey Younger, Director of Communications for STF, “The work that Raffi, Noyah, and Sarit- along with all of our student leaders, have accomplished has been amazing to see and has helped us to continue to create a supportive community.”

This has been a record-breaking year for Shalom Task Force youth initiatives. In February, 64 Purple Fellows from 25 Schools planned Go Purple Day at schools across 10 states and Canada.

Close to 9,000 students participated in the day to promote healthy relationships

Fish Tank at Shulamith School for Girls

S

eventh grade Shulamith girls wowed their audience of sixth through eighth grade students and judges in a culminating presentation of a Fish Tank project produced in their science class. This creative program was designed, developed, and led by Mrs. Rina Korman, Shulamith seventh grade science teacher.

Each group of girls showed off their inventions, slides, and website, pitching their products and discussing their business plans. The judges were amazed as they watched the girls bring the engineering design process to life and seamlessly create their working prototypes. The final round showcased eight groups, all with exciting business plans and products.

Congratulations to our winning teams: 1st Place: The Headband Holder.

Created by: Arielle Lancry and Lilah Luchins.

2nd Place: The Squeaky Clean.

Created by: Abby Eisenberg, Estee Fischman, Shira Levine, Chana Maltz and Lily Zelefsky.

3rd Place: Smile Fresh.

Created by: Gila Feigenbaum, Eliana Filler, Daphna Pilevsky and Malka Schlossberg.

The products were inspected by the judges and the deserving winners received great accolades for their progressive inventions. All of the students learned a great deal about developing an idea for a product, producing, testing, and marketing it. We look forward to seeing their great inventions on the market in the future!

Shalom Task Force has been offering support and education to the Jewish community since 1993. Shalom Task Force’s Education Department has seen a record number workshop attendance during the 2020-21 academic year. In 2021, the STF Education department has reached over 14,000 community members through our education awareness workshop. To book a workshop, please email education@shalomtaskforce.org If you or your loved one has questions or concerns about relationships or are currently in an unhealthy or abusive relationship – we are here for you. Please call, text, or WhatsApp the confidential Shalom Task Force Hotline at 888-883-2323 or chat with a live advocate at shalomtaskforce.org.

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

Shalom Task Force Young Leadership Awarded NYC Mayors Youth Impact Award

The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

72 1. *

TJH Things My Mother Taught Me B B

OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

I’m hot…

I’m cold…

eNVY… “There are millions of children who wish they had that toy.”

Can you help me with…?

B

IrONY… “Keep crying, and I’ll give you something to cry about!” cHALLeNGeS...

“What were you thinking?

Answer me when I talk to you! Don’t talk back to me!”

B

LOGIc… “Because I said so, that’s why.”

B

MeDIcAL ScIeNce...

“If you don’t eat those vegetables you will never grow.”

B

What’s for supper?

Can I have…?

B

B

To Mom:

ANtIcIPAtION...

“Just wait until your father gets home.”

receIVING...

“You are going to get it when we get home!”

B

40

Centerfold

HUMOr...

“When you fall down and break your foot, don’t come running to me.”

HYPerbOLe...

“If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times!”

Can you take me to…?

Can you call…?

B B

GeNetIcS...

“You’re just like your father.”

B

reLIGION… “You better pray that will come out of the carpet.”

B

StAMINA...

“You’ll sit there until all that spinach is gone.”

B

WISDOM …

“When you get to be my age, you will understand.”

B B B

rOOtS...

“Do you think you were born in a barn?”

WeAtHer… “This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.” cLeANLINeSS… “If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning the floor.”

JUStIce...

“One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you...then you’ll see what it’s like!”

Where is my…?

Where are you going?

When are you coming home?

When are we going to?

Can you pick me up from…?

Can you drop me off at…?

Can we go shopping?

Can I stay home from school?

Can you tell him to stop bothering me?

Can you help me with my homework?

Can you buy me a new Fidget Spinner?

He took my Fidget Spinner!

Where’s my Fidget Spinner?

Can you fix my Fidget Spinner?

If I behave can I get another Fidget Spinner?

To Dad: Where’s Mom?

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Down 1. What Mom reminds you to say when going to your friend’s house 2. Mom knows the lyrics to all his songs 3. After-school snack 4. Favorite morning pick-me-up 5. What you should buy Mom as often as possible 6. What Mom drives 7. Confirmed by hand to forehead 12. What Mom would love to do on a Shabbos afternoon, once in a blue moon, at least 13. Meatball’s natural partner 15. What all children should give their parents on silver platters 19. When parents get to hear what really goes on in school Across 8. Song that puts you to sleep 9. Every night – Chumash, spelling, math and science 10. Moms need an endless stream 11. Don’t forget to add the fabric softener 14. Letters to nursery teachers 16. First attempt to heal a booboo 17. Nobody braids them better than Mom 18. Unconditional ___________ 20. What you wear when mom is cold 21. Tomato pincushion

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We Love You Mom

We Love You Mom

2 3

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17 18 19 20

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Answers: Down: 1. Thank You; 2. Uncle Moishy; 3. Milk and Cookies; 4. Coffee; 5. Flowers; 6. Carpool; 7. Fever; 12. Nap; 13. Spaghetti; 15. Nachas; 19. PTA Across: 8. Lullaby; 9. Homework; 10. Patience; 11. Laundry; 14. Mitzva notes; 16. Kiss; 17. Challah; 18. Love; 20. Sweater; 21. Sewing kit

A mother is trying to get her son to eat his carrots. She says, “You know they’re good for your eyes.”

The son says, “How do you know that?”

The mom replies, “Have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses?”

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You Gotta Be Kidding Me!

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torah thought

Parshas Kedoshim by rabbi berel Wein

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ne of the very well-known commandments that appears in this week’s reading of the Torah is the injunction not to place a stumbling block in front of someone who cannot see. Interestingly enough, Rashi, in commenting upon and in explaining this commandment, does not treat it literally.

The Torah does not deal with peo-

ple who are so evil as to purposely and knowingly place a stumbling block before someone who is unable to see. Rather, the rabbis interpreted the words to apply to situations where one’s own bias, prejudice, financial interest or social status misleads someone who has approached him or her for advice on an issue.

If I am interested in buying a piece

of real estate and I am in the real estate business, and someone approaches me for advice as to whether to purchase that exact piece of real estate, I am forbidden to advise him incorrectly to gain the financial advantage for myself. This is a rather blatant example of how the self-interest of one person can cause an unsuspecting other person who is unaware of the self-interests of the person from whom he is seeking advice. One seeking the advice is blind to the prejudice and self-interest of the person granting the advice and invokes the proverbial stumbling block placed before the person seeking direc-

from another human being, and many times the advice or planning that is suggested and adopted may turn out to be destructive. While the Torah does not expect perfection from those from whom we seek advice, it does expect honesty and transparency. There always is a tinge of self-interest on the part of the counselor or therapist involved. After all, this is the manner in which that person makes a living. Yet, as far as humanly possible, the Torah does demand objectivity, fairness, and intelligence when giving such advice, whether it be from a professional in the field or even from a friend or neighbor.

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While the Torah does not expect perfection from those from whom we seek advice, it does expect honesty and transparency.

tion. In the canons of ethics that exist in legal and related professions, such behavior is grounds for the accusation of malfeasance and intentional malpractice.

In our complicated and stressful society, there have arisen numerous professions devoted to giving advice to others and receiving a fee for so doing – such professions as financial planners, estate managers and programmers, therapists for both mental and physical wounds, marriage and divorce counselors and other areas in which current society is populated, if not even dominated by these advice givers. No one can expect perfection

We are repeatedly warned not to volunteer advice to others in areas where we are not requested to or if we are not expert in those fields. People tend to invest spiritual leaders with knowledge that they may not really possess. It is dangerous and an enormous responsibility to give advice to others. In biblical times, prophecy was available, but in our world it no longer exists. Both the person seeking advice and the one granting such advice should be very careful not to create the stumbling block that will cause the “blind man” to fall.

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From the Fire Parshas Kedoshim

Where We Belong by rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

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he greatest ideal in our lives is captured in one word found throughout our parsha: holiness. The Ramban (on Vayikrah 19:2) explains that the exhortation to be holy – “because I am holy” –“means that we merit to attach ourselves to Him when we are holy.” But what does it mean to be holy? As Rashi explains on the pasuk, it means to be separate from immorality and sin. At the beginning of the chapter called Shaar HaKedushah, Reishis Chochmah writes that holiness means “making a fence within a fence in order not to go outside.” What does this mean? Can it mean that it is G-d’s will that we always remain indoors?

Rav Yerucham Levovitz, zt”l, gives us a further insight into holiness by explaining, “‘You shall be holy’ means that we are commanded to be inner-focused people. Externality is the nature and essence of impurity.” We see that not going outside has nothing to do with staying indoors. For the majority of our history, most Jews have worked and done many of their activities outside. Holiness, not going outside, means something completely different: we must be deep people with rich inner lives.

The essence of exile and diaspora is not being in our place, in our true home. Why has it been Hashem’s will that we have not merited to live where we belong, in our national home where Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov dwelled 4,000 years ago? Moshe Rebbeinu asked himself this question when he saw his brothers enslaved in a foreign country (Rashi on Shemos 2:14).

According to the Midrash (Shemos Rabah 1:29), after Moshe killed the Egyptian, he looked around and saw that some Jewish people saw what happened. He said to them, “You are com-

pared to sand. Just as [with regard to] sand, a person takes it from one place and places it somewhere where else and it makes no sound [during the transfer], so too this matter will remain hidden among you and it will not be heard.”

Moshe assumed and expected that the Jewish people would be true to their nature and not reveal what he had done to the Egyptian.

But when he learned that certain Jews had circulated – “posted” – the secret, he said (Shemos 2:14), “The matter has become known.” The Midrash (Shemos Rabah 1:30) explains that Moshe understood why the Jewish people were in exile, outside their place, being persecuted by a strange nation: “There is lashon hara among them. How can they be worthy of redemption? ... Now I know why they are oppressed.”

What is the essence of lashon hara?

And why is exile and oppression its natural result?

A few pasukim after the commandment to be holy, Hashem tells us, “Do not go tale-bearing among your nation” (Vayikra 19:16). The Rambam (Hilchos

Deios 7:2) explains the nature and full impact of the prohibitions against lashon hara and tale-bearing – rechilus: “What is a tale-bearer? This is one who carries ‘merchandise,’ going from one person to another and saying, ‘Poloni said such-and-such.’ ‘I heard such-andsuch about Ploni.’ Even though it is true, this destroys the world.”

Lashon hara and rechilus mean habitually revealing others’ secrets, speaking about things and people which are not their concern. Such a quality goes against the true nature of the Jewish people. We are deep people with powerful inner lives. That is why Moshe thought the Jewish people who witnessed his killing of the Egyptian thought they would keep it a secret.

People who have no inner life of their own have “no choice” but go outside of themselves and speak constantly about others. Redemption is when we have our own place. And exile is when we are outside of our true place. When the Jewish people go outside of their true place, their inner spiritual world, this manifests itself in exile – our removal

from our physical place.

This focus on talking about externality, other people’s business, or other superficial matters, is the ultimate betrayal of the essence of the Jewish people.

Moshe realized that this was why they were in exile. In fact, the Hebrew word for exile, galus, comes from the word “l’galos,” meaning “to expose.” When we jabber about others’ lives, exposing their private business, the natural result is exile. But after a couple of people revealed the fact that Moshe killed the Egyptian, the Jewish people learned their lesson and returned to their true nature. And this was the key to their redemption. How do we see this?

Most people are familiar with three things the Jewish people did that caused them to merit redemption (not changing their names, clothing, or language), but fewer know about the fourth one (Bamidbar Rabbah 25:22): “They did not reveal their secrets.” They returned to their true inner-focused natures. Once again, they began to live lives of “a fence within a fence,” not going outside of themselves to prattle endlessly about others’ lives.

There are two Jewish ideas that most young women returning from seminary would be content never hearing again: “the whole honor of the daughter of the King is inside” (Tehillim 45:14) and tzinius – modesty. And while these ideas are often applied to sleeve lengths and hemlines, appropriate clothing is only the edge of the tip of the meaning of these concepts – which are applicable to both men and women.

Rav Yerucham explains tzinius this way: “The secret of the idea of tzinius is to be hidden, internal.” As we have already seen, this has nothing to do with remaining indoors and not going

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Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.

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We live in a world where parents learn that their children are engaged only after the whole world has seen the 40 pictures they posted of themselves sitting inappropriately close to one another on a simcha website or Facebook.

And who says it is a mitzvah to post every picture from their private simcha for the whole world to gaze at?

Why are our inner lives so empty that everyone must post every little thing that happens on their favorite WhatsApp group? “My baby had solid food for the first time today!” Following the big news, everyone feels like they would be callous and uncaring if they ignored this important announcement.

“Wow!” “What a big baby!” “Congratulations!” “What did she eat?” The endless, pointless chatter goes on and on.

How much value do we really add to the world by talking with our friends or commenting somewhere online about the latest banality uttered by Hillary or Donald? Do we actually believe our political analysis on Twitter or Facebook will turn the tide of an election?

The reason we become so obsessed with what is going on outside in the world is because our own inner life is completely barren.

But our nature as Jews is to bring out the depth and inner-focus with which we merited the redemption from Egypt. We can become holy and cling to G-d by turning away from focusing on what other people are saying or doing and turning our attention inward.

We can set aside time to improve the quality of our davening or our motivations for doing the things we do. We can dedicate our attention to rectifying our own personal characteristics. In doing so, we begin to turn inward, working to become the people we want to during our one hundred and twenty years on this earth.

Let us consider how we can build fences within fences to separate ourselves from superficiality. Let us turn inward because Hashem is telling us that this is the way to access holiness.

In the merit of our efforts to turn our focus and attention where they belong, may Hashem return His entire nation to where they belong, Eretz Yisroel, with the coming of Moshiach and the complete redemption, may it arrive very soon in our days!

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out into the street, though unfortunately many have misinterpreted the concept this way. The deeper meaning of “the whole honor of the daughter of the King is inside” is that we access holiness when we direct our attention to our inner life and away from things and people outside ourselves that do not truly concern us.

But what are these inner ideas with which we should occupy ourselves? How does one distinguish between superficial and essential concerns?

One deeper focus is the study of Torah. The Gemara (Sotah 49b) says, “What does the pasuk (Shir HaShirim 7:2) mean, ‘the curves of your thighs?’

Why are the words of Torah compared to the thigh? To teach you that just as the thigh is hidden, so too the words of Torah are hidden.” What does it mean that the words of Torah are hidden? Isn’t sharing the Torah far and wide a great ideal?

The Gemara means that the words of Torah are called “hidden” because they are not superficial or external. They go to the heart of life. The more one is focused on superficial things, the less he can focus on putting his full energy into understanding Hashem’s will as expressed through the Torah.

But maintaining a rich inner life has become a rarity. Today, in frum communities, everyone must discuss and have an opinion on whatever everyone else is doing. I heard recently that at one Shabbos table, one person brought up the tragic decision by a newly married couple to get divorced. No one knew what truly happened, so everyone felt the need to express an opinion about why they were getting divorced. The women assumed that the young groom must have been a monstrous secret abuser.

The men assumed that the wife must have been a wicked woman suffering from terrible and insufferable psychological problems.

But why must we discuss other people’s tragedies at all? What does it have to do with us? Do people even begin to think about the pain of the parents of this bride and groom, knowing that the whole world is talking about them?

Do people consider how this talk and speculation destroys the lives of the young man and woman involved? Or how it affects the other relatives who are broken-hearted over this tragedy?

Do we realize that we are destroying the world? Why must we prattle on, behind the guise of a concern for other Jews’ welfare, about other people’s business?

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Delving into the Daf

Abba, My Dear by rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

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here are many endearing names one can call his father: Dad, Daddy, Tatty, Ta, Pappa, Pop, Poppy,

Abba.

The question that many have pondered is: can someone call his father by the endearing name Abba, if his actual name is Abba?

Perhaps some direction in answering this question can be gleaned from a machlokes between Rashi and Tosefos in Yevamos.

In Yevamos (57b), Shmuel referred to the well-known Amora commonly called Rav as “Abba.” Rashi says that Shmuel intended to use Abba as an endearing term for a contemporary scholar who was older and greater than him.

Tosefos, on the other hand, proves that Rav’s real name was Abba. Tosefos cites examples where Rav was called “Abba,” and the context of the statement was not meant to provide honor. Tosefos, therefore opines that Shmuel used Rav’s given name because he was his contemporary and permitted to do so. Tosefos in Chullin notes that even Rebbe Yochanan referred to Rav as Abba.

It is somewhat surprising that Rav Kahana, Rav’s student, called Rav by his given name. Perhaps he became great enough to be considered a chaver of Rav. However, Tosefos couldn’t explain why we find that even Rav Hamnuna referred to his rebbi as Abba. After all, the Gemara in Sanhedrin says that Geichazi was punished because he referred to his rebbi by his given name. Tosefos concludes that according to Rashi’s explanation, we can understand Rav Hamnuna’s behavior.

It is interesting to note that Shmuel’s father’s name was, in fact, “Abba.” The Shulchan Aruch discusses (YD 240:2) the halacha regarding someone whose father has a rather rare name. The Shulchan Aruch rules that if someone has a friend with the same rare name as his

father, he should not call his friend by the same rare name. The Vilna Gaon explains that the source for this halacha is the Aruch, who explains Abaye’s name.

The Aruch explained that Rabbah Bar Nachmeini intentionally called his star pupil by the nickname Abaye, instead of his real name, Nachmeini.

Indeed, the name Abaye means “my

Shmuel out of respect for his father simply call Rav by the accepted name “Rav” instead of using “Abba”?

The Aruch L’ner uses this fact to explain why Rashi disagreed with Tosefos.

He says that a great Amora like Shmuel would have refrained from using his colleague’s given name, since it was the same as his father’s – especially since

Even though Shmuel was not able to use “Abba” as an actual name, he was able to use “Abba” as an honorific title.

father,” implying that he was unable to call Abaye by his given name because it was the same as his father’s. The Aruch L’ner comments that it seems that the name “Abba” is somewhat rare. Shmuel would not have called Rav by his given name “Abba” since he shares that with Shumel’s father. Moreover, even if the name “Abba” is not rare, why wouldn’t

there was an alternative, to just call him “Rav” like everyone else. Rashi explained therefore that when Shmuel called Rav “Abba,” he was not using a proper name. Rather, the intent was an endearing term for “father,” since he was one of the greatest sages of the generation. Even though Shmuel was not able to use “Abba” as an actual name,

he was able to use “Abba” as an honorific title. Still, this assumes that “Abba” was not actually Rav’s name according to Rashi.

The Chida proposes that even Rashi could agree that Rav’s given name was Abba. Rashi still feels that the intent of “Abba” was an endearing term. The Chida suggests that perhaps we may conclude that a child may call his father “Abba” even if that is his given name, just as others called Rav by the name “Abba” as an endearing term even though that was his given name. However, the Chida states that one shouldn’t run to follow this leniency. After all, perhaps we can differentiate between the two scenarios. Rav was one of the greatest sages of the generation; hardly anyone referred to him by his real name (at least according to Rashi). With that background, the term Abba can be an honorary title.

However, where a person is known as Abba and that is his commonly used name, it would be a breach of kavod for a son to use Abba to refer to his father, even if his intent was for an endearing name. The Shem HaGedolim concurs with this latter approach and says that Rav’s true name was in total disuse and therefore it was permitted for his students to call him Abba. If, however, a scholar’s given name of Abba was still in use, then his student should not refer to him as Abba.

For practical guidance on what to call a father named “Abba,” ask your Abba.

Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow is a rebbe at Yeshiva Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway. In addition, Rabbi Sebrow leads a daf yomi chaburah at Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park in West Hempstead, NY. He can be contacted at ASebrow@gmail.com.

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The Wandering

Jew

Bulgaria

By Hershel Lieber

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ednesday, the twelfth of November 2003, was a sunny but rather cold day. We arrived well ahead of our seven o’clock flight, but it was delayed by an hour. For some inexplicable reason, we were upgraded to business class; we did not protest. We made a stopover in London to change planes, but the gate for our connecting flight was not yet posted. I found an empty gate, put on my tallis and tefillin and started davening. All of a sudden, an announcement was made informing us that our flight was leaving in fifteen minutes – and the gate was at the other end of the terminal. We grabbed our hand luggage and ran like crazy to make our plane while I was still wearing my tallis and tefillin. We boarded the plane, and with a

The beautiful Sofia Synagogue

sigh of relief, I finished davening Shacharis. After a pleasant three-hour flight, we landed in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

Why were we in Bulgaria? At this point, a little background information is in order.

For the past eight years, I had been involved with the Yeshiva of Kishinev in Moldova. A major part of my involvement was raising funds for our school, a difficult and overwhelming task. One of the connections that I was able to secure was tied into my outreach activities in Poland.

Rabbi Chaskel Besser, z”l, recruited me to become involved in the Summer and Winter Retreats that were sponsored by the Ronald Lauder Foundation. I started going to these retreats in 1988 – most of the time together with Pesi. There, I taught

classes as well as gave lectures over a period of two to three weeks. Pesi and I were also involved in all the retreat’s activities that were geared to introduce Yiddishkeit to Polish Jews.

I met with Ronald Lauder a number of times and had a good rapport with him. Lauder’s goal was to establish Jewish schools in Eastern Europe to educate the youth who were removed from their heritage. The schools were not necessarily religious institutions, but they made basic Jewish education attainable. The Lauder Foundation eventually established schools in many of the former Soviet satellite countries. In the late ’90s, I approached Rabbi Besser and asked him to request from Mr. Lauder and the Foundation to support our school with

an annual grant. After a follow-up meeting with the Board’s leadership, we were given an annual grant of $20,000 – not a very big amount, but over the years, the Foundation gave us nearly a quarter of a million dollars. We were required to give them progress reports, and on one occasion, I was summoned to a personal meeting with the Board. The Foundation also organized annual conferences where the leadership of these schools would meet to share information and ideas. I went to the first meeting in Warsaw and in 2003 was invited to the conference held in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Bulgaria had already thrown off the yoke of its forty-odd year Communist past since 1990 and was in the process of Westernizing. The capital city of Sofia

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Inside the Sofia Synagogue

still had traces of the country’s multi-faceted history. There were the remains of structures from the time of the Byzantium Empire and active mosques highlighting the almost five-hundred-year rule of the Ottoman Empire that ended in 1888. The Slavic language, the Cyrillic alphabet, and the Eastern Orthodox religion signified the long relationship between Bulgaria and Russia. In contrast, the capitalist economy, free expression of ideas, and the open society reflected the path of the future.

We did not get to our hotel until late Thursday afternoon where we were greeted by Becca Lazarova, the director of the Ronald Lauder Foundation of Bulgaria.

We ate the food we brought with us and retired for the night. Since the Conference would begin on Sunday, we had Friday as an open day to explore the city.

We took a guide that combined a walking and van tour of the city, which took over three hours. We visited the ruins of a Byzantium church and a nearby historic mosque which was filled to capacity for Friday services. Then we were taken to famous streets and boulevards, important buildings, monuments, parks, and marketplaces. Our guide dropped us off in front of the magnificent Sofia Synagogue which was dedicated in 1909.

A colorful Sofia street scene

We entered and were overwhelmed by its beauty and majesty.

On our way back to the hotel, we picked up some fruits and drinks for our room and returned in time to meet other delegates that came before Shabbos for the conference. Helise Lieberman, the Director of Lauder’s Morasha School in Warsaw, came with her husband Yale and

Rabbi Salomon and his students. We were heartily greeted by his wife Tami and their children who had prepared an unbelievable banquet in honor of Shabbos and her guests. The zemiros were lively, the divrei Torah were inspiring, the table was elegant, and the food was delicious! I, too, was honored to speak at the seudah.

The discussions we had among ourselves

Within a short time, the catering hall began to fill with guests, and we realized that we were sitting amidst a Greek wedding reception with its bouzouki music and sirtaki dances.

their daughter Nitzan. There were also some representatives from Russia and one from Cologne, Germany.

We all got ready for Shabbos and met in the lobby to walk to the shul which was close by. We davened in a smaller vestibule and met Rabbi Yossi Salomon, the Chabad shliach who would host our group for the Shabbos meals. After kabbalas Shabbos, we walked to the ultramodern Rohr Chabad building in the company of

A classroom at the Lauder School in Sofia

were stimulating and a feeling of camaraderie developed between the large group at the Salomon tisch.

The next morning, we returned to the Sofia Synagogue. Yale was the baal koreh and I was asked to daven Mussaf. I used my own nusach but uttered the words with a Sephardic accent. After Chazaras Hashatz, I was handed a paper with the words of “Ein K’Elokeinu” in Ladino and was told to lead the tzibbur in singing. I

Pesi with the Bulgarian flag

improvised a tune and was told afterwards that my pronunciation was actually pretty good.

We enjoyed our beautiful and plentiful seudah by the Salomons again. I spoke again at the meal, and between our zemiros and conversations two enjoyable hours passed by. Since we had a minyan, we davened Mincha, and Pesi and I took a two-hour leisurely stroll of Sofia. We then took a short nap, ate Shalosh Seudos alone, davened Maariv, and then Yale made Havdalah for our group.

Motzei Shabbos was dedicated to a project that I brought with me from home.

My brother-in-law, Pesach Langsam, asked me to be the badchan for his son Yossy’s chasunah. I am not a professional badchan, and though I had done this a few times before, each preparation is lengthy and arduous. Pesi writes and spells in Yiddish and has a beautiful handwriting. I would dictate the stanzas while she would write them down. This had to be done multiple times since there would invariably be numerous changes and corrections. We could not do it in our room as there was nowhere to sit but our beds, which would be uncomfortable for writing. The lobby, which had a small sofa, was very small and was dominated by a registration desk and constantly occupied with people. We

Some delegates at the Lauder Conference. To my left is Rabbi Jacob Bidderman and on the far right Rabbi Shmuel Koren

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eventually went to the basement which had a wine cellar within a catering hall and found a table and chairs and began our task. Within a short time, the catering hall began to fill with guests, and we realized that we were sitting amidst a Greek wedding reception with its bouzouki music and sirtaki dances. Needless to say, we could not concentrate and had to leave, although the music was truly addictive and beautiful! It took us four hours, but I managed to finish the grammen for the chosson’s side of the family.

Sunday and Monday were Conference days. There were representatives from Berlin, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Cologne, Kiev, Prague, Sofia, Warsaw and Zagreb at the sessions. I brought in our rosh yeshiva from Kishinev, Rabbi Shmuel Koren, and although he did not speak English well, he knew Russian and Hebrew.

Also joining us was Rabbi Jacob Bidderman from Lauder’s Business School and head Chabad shliach of Vienna.

Our Sunday session was held at the Bet Am JCC, and after brief introductions, there were serious subject matters to tackle. Some of the issues were common to all the schools, while others were particular to individual schools or to the countries that they were located in. That afternoon session was very long and continued nonstop for almost four hours. In

Dinner at the Sofia Chabad; Rabbi Yossi Salomon is on the left

the evening, we had dinner at the Chabad House.

On Monday morning, we visited the local Lauder School to observe classes in session. We were greeted by the student body with the traditional baskets of bread and singing. The rest of the day was occupied with workshops and sessions with only a small break for lunch. There were many themes that were being addressed at these meetings. I spoke about developing relationships between the schools and their communities through joint projects.

Then we all visited the Sofia Synagogue where we were addressed by the Rosh Hakahal. In the evening, the students performed traditional Bulgarian dances

A warm welcome with traditional bread

to the accompaniment of Ladino songs and music – a program which Pesi attended. Our closing gathering was a Gala Dinner at the Beth Am JCC where we were able to express our parting thoughts about the Conference and the Lauder Foundation’s extraordinary undertaking on behalf of the small communities in Eastern Europe.

While flying back to New York the next morning, we reflected on the past six days. We agreed that we learned a lot from all the delegates and their experiences and struggles. We also heard new ideas and different approaches to similar problems that we could incorporate in our specific schools. And we also got to see Bulgaria.

Hershel Lieber has been involved in kiruv activities for over 30 years. As a founding member of the Vaad L’Hatzolas Nidchei Yisroel he has traveled with his wife, Pesi, to the Soviet Union during the harsh years of the Communist regimes to advance Yiddishkeit. He has spearheaded a yeshiva in the city of Kishinev that had 12 successful years with many students making Torah their way of life. In Poland, he lectured in the summers at the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation camp for nearly 30 years. He still travels to Warsaw every year – since 1979 – to be the chazzan for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur for the Jews there. Together with Pesi, he organized and led trips to Europe on behalf of Gateways and Aish Hatorah for college students finding their paths to Jewish identity. His passion for travel has taken them to many interesting places and afforded them unique experiences. Their open home gave them opportunities to meet and develop relationships with a variety of people. Hershel’s column will appear in The Jewish Home on a bi-weekly basis.

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The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

World

builders

Going Full Circle by raphael Poch

Leah Einhorn holding a baby she just helped deliver

L

her cry which touched my heart. It wasn’t my first delivery but something about it had an impact on me.

“After everything was over and the ambulance arrived, the mother and daughter were transported to the hospital. It was then that a neighbor came up to me and pointed out that I had been here before. In truth, I didn’t recognize

“During the CPR, I remember assisting during the initial stages,” Leah recounted. “Then, once the ambulance teams arrived and there were enough people to perform CPR on the husband, I went to comfort the young wife. The couple was alone, with no family in the area.

The woman told me that they had been trying to have children. She was crying in

“It was then that a neighbor came up to me and pointed out that I had been here before.”

my arms, worried about what was going to happen to her husband. I provided her with what comfort I could.

“The teams worked tirelessly to try and save the man’s life. Finally, after 40 minutes of CPR and a number of shocks from a defibrillator, the man’s pulse came back at a stable rate. The feeling of elation we all felt was tangible. We knew it would be a long process for him to make a full

33

the address, but the neighbor pointed out to me that I had helped this family once before.”

Three years ago, Leah had been dispatched to a medical emergency at the same address. The incident involved the father of this new baby after he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. Leah was one of the first responders to arrive and initiate CPR on him.

recovery, but there was now hope. Hope for a new beginning for the man and for this young family.”

Leah reflected on the two incidents together.

“I thought to myself after the baby girl was born how one action can have so many different interpretations. I helped this young new mother through two sets of tears: tears of sadness when her husband was undergoing CPR, and tears of joy at the fulfillment of so many prayers now that their first child was finally born.

It gave me a sense of coming full circle and really brought home for me just how important the work is that we do as first responders.

“We recite so many prayers, and we shed so many tears for the people we help. It is always our dream that our patients recover and continue to live their lives and bring more light into the world.

I count myself lucky that I have merited to see these miracles, first of the husband’s survival and second of this new baby girl, who carries with her the hopes and dreams of her parents who went through so much to finally bring her into the world and finally meet her.”

emoH hsiweJ eht | 5102 ,92 rebOtcO

ast Monday night, a woman went into labor at her home in one of Jerusalem’s northern neighborhoods.

Her husband quickly called emergency services for help. The family, who was familiar with some of the first responders in their neighborhood, waited excitedly for them to arrive.

United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Leah Einhorn, who is part of the organization’s specialized women’s unit, had just returned from her nightly run when she received the alert to the medical emergency. She quickly put her shoes back on, grabbed her vest and medical kit, and rushed over to the given address. Upon arriving in the apartment, Leah found the soon-to-be mother in advanced labor. Leah notified dispatch that she was preparing to assist in the delivery of the baby and to alert the ambulance that it would be a home birth.

“The woman was well into the labor, and the delivery came quickly,” Leah explained. “I assisted in delivering a healthy baby girl. After finishing off the delivery process and checking that both the mother and daughter were healthy, I took the baby girl in my arms and heard

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OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

Rav Nota Greenblatt, zt”l

The Passing of a Giant

By Naftali HalperN

It

is often said about the Rav Chaim Brisker that his incredible depth and breadth of Torah knowledge was used to mask his incredible chassadim and kindness. (He had so many homeless people living in his house that his children didn’t even have

their own beds.)

Conversely, it is said about his contemporaneous pre-war luminary, the Chofetz Chaim, that his incredible chassadim and kindness masked his incredible breadth of Torah knowledge.

(Condensing Shulchan Aruch into the Mishna Berura required an encyclope-

dic knowledge all of Torah.)

About Rav Nota Greenblatt, zt”l, it can be said that his incredible kindness masked his immense Torah knowledge.

At the same time, his immense Torah knowledge covered his incredible kindness.

Perhaps, in order to be able to be

able to better operate under the radar, Rav Nota dressed in colored shirts, a brown suit, and donned a straw hat when the season allowed for it. With his short white beard, he bore an uncanny resemblance to a dapper Southern gentleman.

Maybe that was by design – humility

87

R

eb Dovid Greenblatt recalled at the levaya that when his father would visit Reb Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, upon opening the door, Rav Moshe’s rebbetzin would exclaim, “Reb Nota iz doo! Reb Nota iz doo! [Reb Nota is here!]”

Reb Moshe would then quickly come to the door and echo, “Reb Nota iz doo!”

A similar refrain was proverbially heard when Rav Nota would appear to administer a chalitzah in Birmingham, a bris in Jackson City, or a shechitah in Gatlinburg: “Rav Nota is here! Rav Nota is here!” – but those would be cries of relief by Jews who until that moment were spiritually stranded in the heartland of America.

R

ten Rav Notas, I could change America.”

At first glance, that statement may seem peculiar. After all, Reb Moshe is known most for his endless study of Torah, not for leading a revolution. However, in truth, Reb Moshe, along with other post-War gedolim, led perhaps the greatest revolution our nation has ever seen: the proliferation of Torah in America and, even more importantly,

Reb Moshe famously said, “If I had ten Rav Notas, I could change America.” the implementation of Torah in America.

That couldn’t only take place within the walls of the beis medrash; rather it necessitated applying the Torah learned inside the beis medrash to situations well outside the bounds of the Torah study halls.

Rav Nota led that charge and facilitated the implementation of Torah and halacha from sea to shining sea.

A

lthough his formative years were spent mostly in the great Torah centers of the time, Rav Nota chose to carry out his mission in places where he at

35

months, he started a Jewish day school in the community. The first class had 19 students, including 13-year-old Rav Nachum Lansky, who came from a non-religious home; today he is a rosh yeshiva at Ner Yisroel.

Although Rav Nota continued to tend to every spiritual need of the Jewish community in Memphis, as a premier expert in myriad aspects of halacha, including milah, shechitah, kashrus, gittin, mikvaos, and eiruven, he spent the next more-than-seventy years traveling across America and the world helping and guiding Jewish people and communities of all sizes.

Reb Moshe famously said, “If I had

emoH hsiweJ eht | 5102 ,92 rebOtcO

av Nota’s journey from his birthplace in Washington, D.C., to Memphis, Tennessee, was circuitous.

He was born in 1925, six months after his parents moved to the U.S. from the famed Lithuanian town of Brisk.

Rav Nota’s father, Rav Yitzchok, held various positions as a rav and also traveled around the United States inspiring Yidden and starting Jewish schools.

Rav Yitzchok moved the family to Israel when Rav Nota was eight years old. Even at that young age, Rav Nota would leave home early in the morning for the bais medrash and would not return home until late at night.

It was at some point during that period when he received a bracha from Rav Avraham Isaac Kook, zt”l, that he should have arichas yomim.

At the tender age of 12, a young Rav Nota returned to America – alone – and went to learn in Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim under Rav Dovid Leibowitz, zt”l. He quickly became a prized talmid of Rav Dovid and remained in his yeshiva for several years.

In 1942, shortly after Rav Dovid Leibowitz died, Rav Nota went to learn at the feet of Reb Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, in Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalayim. In 1946, Rav Nota returned to Israel and learned in Yeshivas Chevron for two years. He came back America two years later, and,

in 1949, responding to a newspaper ad seeking an assistant rabbi and schoolteacher, Rav Nota moved to Memphis, Tennessee.

Rav Nota arrived in Memphis on Monday, and by Wednesday, he already had commitments from two families to send their kids to a Talmud Torah day school that he would open at the start of the new school year. Within six

most would be able to plant a small seed of Yiddishkeit.

Indeed, to Rav Nota, no seed was too small.

He once was being mekarev an unaffiliated man in Memphis and saw that he had potential to become a practicing Jew. Rav Nota made a deal with the man that for two hours every Shabbos he would be shomer Shabbos. He admonished the man, “But for those two hours, you need to keep Shabbos at the same level as I keep Shabbos.”

A bystander was incredulous and asked Rav Nota about the bargain he struck with the unaffiliated Jew. Rav Nota replied, “What do you mean? If I see someone eating breakfast on Yom Kippur, I shouldn’t tell him to fast for lunch?!”

A talmid once asked Rav Nota to define mesiras nefesh. Rav Nota responded by telling him a story about a non-religious Jew that he once met.

Rav Nota recalled that he was once at a food plant for a kashrus visit when a worker informed him that he had a Jewish friend who lived around 90 miles away who had been mentioning for a while that he would like to speak to a rabbi. Rav Nota agreed to meet the Jewish man and traveled to an isolated rural area to the Jew’s home.

When he arrived, the man told Rav Nota that he is responsible for the upkeep of a Reform temple and wants to know if the Torah there is kosher. The synagogue was 50 miles from the man’s home. Rav Nota and this man traveled together to the temple to inspect the Torah.

On the long trip, Rav Nota got to know the man, and he confided to Rav Nota that he was having a disagreement with his wife because he insists that their children go to Sunday school at the Reform temple. His wife, on the other hand, wants him to spend the day playing sports with the kids rather than traveling to Sunday school.

Rav Nota told the unaffiliated Jew, “The truth is, your children are probably not learning much in the Reform Sunday school. But let me tell you something: the sacrifice that you make every week to travel with them all this distance so that they can know about Judaism will teach them what it means to sacrifice for Judaism. That is a lesson that they will never forget.”

After sharing this anecdote with his talmid, Rav Nota looked up and stared ahead for a moment, as if in deep thought, and added, “Yes, yes…that’s

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

was an important trait to him. Or maybe it was because to him, what mattered was not the outward appearance or how he would be perceived, but figuring out how to resolve a conflict between a “shverer Rambam and Tosfos,” all while waiting in Detroit Metro Airport for a flight to Kalamazoo to help a fledgling community build a kosher mikvah.

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what mesiras nefesh is.”

In reflecting on this lesson, the talmid noted that almost all of Rav Nota’s stories went with him to the grave.

He never told stories about what he did.

“To Rav Nota, this was a story about the mesiras nefesh of the simplest Jew. To me, this was a rare glimpse into the day-to-day mesiras nefesh of my Rebbe,” the talmid reflected. “Think about the amount of miles that Rav Nota spent traveling to and from this Jew’s home, and how many miles he traveled with him to inspect the Torah, and the energy he expended getting to know this man and talking with him… It’s tiring just to think about it.”

Rav Nota’s great-nephew Rabbi Shlomo Soroka, who oftentimes hosted Rav Nota when he came to the Jewish community in St. Louis, recalls how Rav Nota would come into the house close to midnight after a full day of administering gittin and dealing with other pressing matters. Knowing that Rav Nota did not eat all day, the Sorokas would beg him to sit down and eat. But Rav Nota would just take a cup of water so that he could drink his tea.

“Most people would be like, ‘I had my tea, now let me go to sleep,’ but he would schmooze with us for as long as we wanted,” recalls Rabbi Soroka. Rav Nota would ask each child what they were learning and listened attentively as they told him over something they recently learned.

“By 3:30 or 4AM, he would already

be up,” Rabbi Soroka adds. “He’d daven and then hit the road and be gone without leaving a trace.”

A

lthough Rav Nota treated everyone with dignity and respect, he also knew when he had to be tough.

There was a man in Memphis who refused to give his wife a get for many years. At some point, he left town, and nobody was able to track him down.

After a while, this man’s mother died.

The funeral was set to be on erev Yom Kippur. Rav Nota realized that the man may try to slip into the funeral, so he went to the levaya for the opportunity to find the man. Indeed, the man was standing in the back of the room with a hat pulled low over his head so that nobody would notice him.

In middle of the funeral, Rav Nota stood up, stopped the proceedings, pointed at the man, and declared, “This burial will not take place until you give a get to your wife.”

Having no choice, the man agreed.

At that moment, Rav Nota proceeded to write and administer the get.

The process was over moments before Yom Kippur; the woman was buried; and Rav Nota went straight to shul after slipping off his shoes, not having eaten a seudah before fasting for 25 hours.

Similarly, one time Rav Nota was trying to procure a get from a doctor in Texas. Rav Nota went to his office and

waited for eight hours for the doctor to come out and talk to him, but the doctor refused. A secretary called the police to have Rav Nota removed from the office. Two Texas Rangers showed up.

The Rangers were taken aback by Rav Nota’s pleasant demeanor. They were expecting to encounter a belligerent individual.

Rav Nota calmly asked the Texas Rangers what they would do in their society if a husband kept his wife chained up.

“We’d shoot him,” replied one of the Rangers.

Rav Nota then pointed out that this doctor was doing exactly that and that he was simply there to help the woman become unchained.

As a previously written version of this story notes, “And that is how a Dallas doctor finally gave his wife a get – at gunpoint, with two Texas Ranger and Rabbi Nathan Greenblatt.”

Rav Moshe Heineman, shlita, said at the levaya that one time Rav Nota was trying to convince a husband to give a get to his wife. The man replied that he had no time for this stuff. Rav Nota then asked the man if he ever travels by plane. When the man confirmed that he does, Rav Nota pointed out that while on a flight, the man should certainly have time. The man disclosed that he would be traveling in the near future.

Not only did Rav Nota meet this man on the flight, but at his own expense, he brought along the requisite two witness-

es and agent. The man gave the get.

Although we can learn from the great mesiras nefesh that Rav Nota exhibited, Rav Heineman pointed out the depth of halachic knowledge that Rav Nota had to have in order to administer a get midflight.

According to halacha, a get has to say exactly where it is being given, which presents all sorts of problems when it is given on a plane. It was only Rav Nota’s absolute and unparalleled knowledge of halacha that enabled him to facilitate the get in midair.

Rabbi Soroka recalls that he once served as witness to a get that Rav Nota was administering. After going through the painstaking process of preparing the get document, the get ripped as it was being folded. All of those present were deeply dismayed that they would have to start the whole process over again.

Rav Nota analyzed the tear closely for a few minutes. “Then he declared, ‘The get is fine.’ Look in such- and-such sieif in Shulchan Aruch which deals with this exact scenario,” recalls Rabbi Soroka. “Of course, I opened up the Shulchan Aruch, and it was right there.

He had the halacha on his fingertips.”

A

t the levaya, Rav Moshe Heineman recalled how he once had a unique question for Rav Nota. He had to facilitate a chalitzah, and the man who was to perform the chalitzah was a convict serving in a maximum-security prison.

89 Rav Nota were from people informing him that his Rebbe had just passed.

Reb Moshe may have just moved on to the Next World, but the Torah that they were learning was still a Toras chaim.

E

ven as he aged, Rav Nota’s pursuit of Torah was unwavering.

Several years ago, when Rav Nota

know it’s for real. Children can know if it’s for real. They sense it. If they know that it’s for real, you have it made.”

Although most people can’t fathom Rav Nota’s unparalleled genius and breadth of Torah knowledge, his guiding principle was grounded in simple faith.

Reb Joel shared at the levaya that he recently asked Rav Nota if he had any regrets in life. After thinking about it

Rav Nota was quiet for a moment and then responded, “I see a Jew in pain… I see a Jew in pain.” for a few minutes, Rav Nota replied that he did not.

“Let me explain something to you,” he told his son. “Everything in my life, I thought about it and thought about it

emoH hsiweJ eht | 5102 ,92 rebOtcO

55

was already in his nineties, a man was learning an obscure sugya at a shul in Lawrence when Rav Nota walked in.

He ran over to Rav Nota to engage him in conversation about the topic. Immediately, Rav Nota told the man to look at a machlokes between two Rishonim.

For a brief moment, he wasn’t able to recall which Rishon held what. He then stopped and became teary-eyed. In a broken voice, he said aloud to himself, “Nota, this is what happens when you don’t learn… This is what happens when you don’t learn.”

Rav Leizer Kipper also recalls that he once told Rav Nota about a fellow who was having questions in emunah.

Rav Nota told him, “Bring this man to me, and I will learn Gemara with him; he will have no more doubts that there is a Ribbono Shel Olam.”

In a similar vein, Reb Joel Greenblatt, one of Rav Nota’s sons, recently asked his father how he had the courage at age 24 to start a Jewish day school in what was then the spiritual wasteland of Memphis. Rav Nota replied, “I’ll tell you the truth. It never entered my mind.”

He explained that the Torah is the word of Hashem.

“It sells itself. All I had to do was get 19 kids into the room and all I had to make sure was that I taught the Torah exactly the way it was. Bereishis, Noach, Lech Lecha.”

He added that when you mention the Avos and Imahos, “make sure that your heart skips a beat. You have to tremble a bit. Because you want the children to

some more and asked myself whether it was the right and appropriate thing to do. I then arrived at the decision…

“I can’t say that I made the right decision every time. But if I made a mistake, I did the best that I could with all of the information I had. I reviewed everything. It’s up to the Ribbono Shel Olam how it plays out. We only have to make sure that we are patient and are masun ba’din.”

Despite being a great lamdan, when it came to ahavas Yisroel, it was pure pashtus. Once, after helping facilitate a get from a man on death row, a talmid who went with Rav Nota told him what a horrible and disgusting person that man seemed to be.

Rav Nota was quiet for a moment and then responded, “I see a Jew in pain… I see a Jew in pain.”

Rav Nota may have been able to conceal his vast Torah knowledge from some people, and he may have been able to hide some of the chassadim that he did on a daily basis, but there was no way to conceal his pure and profound love for every Jew. May he be a meilitz yoshur for his family and for all of klal Yisroel.

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

The Department of Corrections agreed to allow the man out of prison for a day to do the chalitzah. However, they required the man to wear a tracker around his ankle.

The problem was that the tracker was going to possibly interfere with the removal of the man’s shoe, which was a necessary part of the chalitzah procedure.

Rav Heineman called Rav Nota to ask him what he should do. Rav Nota responded that he needed three hours to answer this question. Rav Heineman was incredulous. As he explained, “Rav Nota knew everything. He usually answered me instantly.”

When Rav Nota called back, though, Rav Heineman understood. As promised, Rav Nota explained to him exactly how the chalitzah should be performed.

And, no, Rav Nota did not need the three hours to consider the various halachic issues; rather, he needed the time for another reason. He explained to Rav Heineman that right when they got off the phone, he went to the local jail to try and analyze a similar ankle bracelet, but they didn’t let him in. So, he decided to go the police station to see if they could show him an ankle bracelet and provide him with useful information. They told him that they did not have any information and that he would have to contact the judicial department. Since it was a Sunday, he spent time trying to locate a judge who could help him. He wanted to make sure that he understood every aspect of the question and was willing to go anywhere and everywhere to get what was necessary.

To Rav Nota, the Torah was alive. It was a “Toras chaim,” a living Torah. It was not bound by the four walls of the beis medrash – sometimes even requiring a trip to jail or the courthouse.

Talmid Reb Leizer Kipper recalled at the levaya that one time he was sitting in a nightly shiur with Rav Nota when the phone rang. Rav Nota listened quietly, said, “OK,” hung up the phone, and continued saying the shiur. The same thing repeated itself numerous times throughout that shiur.

Reb Leizer and the others were curious. After all, they were accustomed to Rav Nota fielding phone calls with important shailos during their shiur. But usually, the calls took a bit longer, and Rav Nota would engage in conversation about the shailah during the phone call.

This night, it was different.

Only after the shiur did they learn what the phone calls were about. That night, Reb Moshe, Rav Nota’s Rebbe, passed away. The numerous calls to

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I n

M e M o r y

Of Inspiration and Connection

Remembering Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein, z”l

by Jenny Hershkowitz

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way his lessons enriched her life.

Sit down with the woman who is able to sing as she rocks her child to bed at night, no longer cowering from the demons that chased her through her youth.

Those people will tell you who Rabbi Wallerstein really was.

His heart was huge; his vision was deep; his love was all-encompassing; his passion was infectious.

the mother. And he knew that Jewish women were deserving – and needed – to be inspired and uplifted. Torah was not just given to the men on the other side of the mechitzah. It was given to a nation, a People of seekers, who desire a relationship with the Borei Olam.

What started small blossomed and bloomed into seminary, college, post-seminary, and even high school programs. “Avinu Malkeinu” became an annual event where thousands of women flocked to focus and center themselves during the Yomim Noraim. He – and his dedicated team – taught and showed women the beauty that is inherent in the Gift we received three-thousand years ago.

Rabbi Wallerstein remarkably impacted Klal Yisroel in the short time he had in this world. Never stopping, never resting, always wanting to do more to help his nation, Rabbi Wallerstein’s influence cannot be properly tallied.

But in addition to his brothers and sisters around the world that he uplifted, Rabbi Wallerstein was a loving son, husband, father, and grandfather. He delighted in his daughters, his sons-in-law and his grandchildren. Despite the myriad responsibilities and kochos expended on the Jewish nation, Rabbi Wallerstein showed us the importance of being focused on one’s family.

May Rabbi Wallerstein’s holy neshama rise up to the Kisei Ha’kavod and continue to beseech the Ribbono Shel Olam to end all suffering for Klal Yisroel.

Y’hei zichro baruch.

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Rabbi Wallerstein was known as a master mechanech. And he was always teaching – in his lessons, in the way he spent his days, in the classroom and beyond.

Years ago, he taught in a boys’ yeshiva. But he never took money for teaching for decades in the school. Instead, Rabbi Wallerstein used those funds to pay for tuition for boys who would otherwise be going to public school. His heart wouldn’t allow him to put that money in his bank account, so strong was his desire to save a Jewish neshama.

Years later, his accountant would tell his family that his business would start to suffer if he didn’t stop giving tzedakah.

“He gives too much tzedakah!” the accountant exclaimed. “The business can’t survive.”

But who could tell Rabbi Wallerstein to stop giving? Who could stop his soul from helping others?

It wasn’t just money that Rabbi Wallerstein expended to save Jewish neshamos. Scores of people knew that Rabbi Wallerstein’s heart would be open to hearing their tales of woe. They knew he

wouldn’t just hear them; they knew his heart would hurt for them, and he would feel compelled to help them.

Rabbi Wallerstein would come to his office, in the pretense of going to work.

But truthfully, the only work he was able to tackle was his avodas ha’kodesh. He would spend hours at his desk, listening to tear-filled messages, writing down notes in a black-and-white notebook, so he could call back the people back and help them.

Klal Yisroel was always on his mind.

Rabbi Wallerstein would travel around the country to speak to groups, to help them become better Jews. He wanted people to love Yiddishkeit, to be inspired Jews, to be committed, thinking Yidden.

He would spend his whole day on Tisha B’Av traveling, hoping to help Jews connect with the Churban and uplift themselves. Breaking his fast would have to wait until he met with everyone who needed him.

Focus on others, focus on your children and your spouse, he would tell them.

And focus on Hashem, Who loves you and cares for you.

After davening, after connecting to his Creator, he would go to the aron kodesh and beseech his Master once more on behalf of his fellow Jews. He knew that Hashem was listening, but he didn’t want to leave his Creator without begging Him again for his nation.

Over the past few decades, Rabbi Wallerstein revolutionized chinuch ha’banos. He knew that much of the backbone of a Jewish home stems from

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here are 790 videos of Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein, z”l, speaking on Torah Anytime. Many of them are over an hour long; some are just fifteen minutes. The videos start in 2007 and continue through this week. The last video, uploaded just yesterday, was of Rabbi Wallerstein’s levaya.

Watching those videos, you can get a small sense of who Rabbi Wallerstein was. You will be able to grasp his values and his ideas. You’ll hear what was important to him and learn about what he felt was essential to being a Jew. You’ll hear snippets of him exhorting his fellow Jews to rise above challenges, to become better people, to live energized, more complete lives.

But those videos don’t encapsulate wholly who Rabbi Wallerstein truly was. By listening to them, you will get to know his values and his ideals. But perhaps, if you want to truly know who Rabbi Wallerstein was, you’d have to sit down with the thousands of people – men and women – around the world who were deeply impacted by him.

Sit down with the man who admits that, if not for Rabbi Wallerstein, he would never have attended yeshiva high school.

Sit down with the mother who says that Rabbi Wallerstein is the reason she is alive today. Ribbons of scars running down her arms, now healed, are testament to the lifeforce that Rabbi Wallerstein means to her.

Sit down with the girl whose smile is whole and sincere, who remembers the

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More Precious than Gold and Silver Remembering the Pure Neshama of Anna Pinto, a”h

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By EdEn Mitrany, LMSW

Akin to a multi-faceted diamond, the soul of Anna Pinto, a”h, can be viewed in its beauty from many angles. I humbly and with great honor offer this short synopsis of an incredible soul that lived amongst us, as I knew her. Others will add their unique memories and perspectives in the coming months.

and then recuperate without guilt.

Anna worked diligently as an occupational therapist for New York City’s Department of Education. She developed many close relationships with her co-workers and invested every ounce of strength that she could in her students. Her income and the health insurance benefits that came along with it were essential for her family. She was aware of that situation and pushed herself to work, even in her often-weakened states. On a steady treatment of immuno-suppressants, Anna was always at risk of catching an infection from a student, yet she persevered and aided in the development of those in her care.

What Anna truly wanted in life was ruchniyut (spirituality). Anna lived a life of transcendence. Verse 9 in Chapter 6 of Pirkei Avot (Ethics of Our Fathers) describes how Anna saw this world: Said Rabbi Yossei the son of Kisma: Once, I was

You gained a level of clarity of Hashem’s perfection that true tzaddikim like you are privileged to know with utmost certainty in this world.

During the shiva, I searched Anna’s house for the Kabbalistic work titled the Zera Shimshon, wellknown to bring miraculous healing and salvation to those that study it. I had given it to Anna shortly before the holiday of Purim, as this volume, in particular, was a translated commentary on Megillat Esther (Book of Esther), which is traditionally read on Purim.

It bore Anna’s original Hebrew name, Esther.

I was thrilled to see Anna’s beautiful bookmark gifted to her by her sister Masha in the book; she had actually managed to study it despite her ailing health!

Here is where Anna, now Chaya Esther Chava, left off in the Zera Shimshon: Therefore, Esther pleaded before the Holy One, Blessed is He, as follows: Although I am drawing myself close to possible danger, by entering before the king in an unlawful manner, that is because there is no other means of help. That is, as the verse quotes Esther’s words, and if I perish, I perish. (ArtScroll) This amazing page mark sent a message of acceptance. Anna had no choice but to heroically enter the operating theater to receive a third liver transplant.

For if not, she would surely die. And yet, Anna knew that it might also bring her demise.

Anna lived her life with joy and extraordinary faith through many of the toughest of times. This time, Hashem took her back. I know with absolute certainty that she would not question His decision. Her emunah was so strong, so many levels above what most could ever achieve.

She lived her life so close to the angels, and now she is among them and above them. Anna is most certainly completely enveloped in the Shechina Hakedosha (Holy Divine Presence). It is impossible for her not to be. She suffered more in her 45 years than most of us could expect in many, many lifetimes combined. It was an honor to be among those who could call Anna their friend.

I penned the following goodbye letter to her while preparing to leave for her funeral.

• Dearest Anna/Annushka,

We were brought together with tears, and I am parting from you in tears.

The date was in September 1995. Our year in Israel had just begun. The seminary, Michlelet Esther, was in its very first year of existence. The converted

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traveling, and I encountered a man. He greeted me and I returned his greetings. Said he to me: “Rabbi, where are you from?” Said I to him: “From a great city of sages and scholars, am I.” Said he to me: “Rabbi, would you like to dwell with us in our place? I will give you a million dinars of gold, precious stones and pearls.” Said I to him: “If you were to give me all the silver, gold, precious stones and pearls in the world, I would not dwell anywhere but in a place of Torah.

Indeed, so is written in the Book of Psalms by David the king of Israel: ‘I prefer the Torah of Your mouth over thousands in gold and silver’ (Psalms 119:72).

Furthermore, when a person passes from this world neither silver, nor gold, nor precious stones, nor pearls accompany him, only Torah and good deeds, as is stated (Proverbs 6:22): ‘When you go it will direct you, when you lie down it will watch over you, and when you awaken it shall be your speech.’ ‘When you go it will direct you’ – in this world; ‘When you lie down

it will watch over you’ – in the grave; ‘and when you awaken it shall be our speech’ – in the World To Come.

Also it says, (Chaggai 2:8): ‘Mine is the silver and Mine is the gold, so says the L-rd of Hosts.” (Chabad.org) Before Passover of this year, Anna once again grew gravely ill. Now she needed both a liver and a kidney transplant. Miraculously, a match was found. On Isru Chag, in the midst of an intense transplant surgery, Anna’s neshama (soul) returned to Hashem.

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nna Pinto was born on December 10, 1976, in Uman, Ukraine. Anna’s early life was far from easy. Food was rationed, scarce, and often got stolen. Her parents had an underground cellar where they stored pickled fruits and vegetables to help them survive the winter. In school, Anna was teased and bullied by the Ukrainian kids for being Jewish, except for one kind girl with whom Anna maintained contact, including throughout the current war.

A singularly fateful moment in Anna’s life occurred when she was ten years old. She received a vaccination in school. The needle was tainted, and Anna contracted hepatitis. Anna recovered, but her liver damage would surface ten years later.

In December of 1991, after two years of government negotiations, Anna, at 15, her parents, and three-yearold sister Masha managed to move to Cincinnati, Ohio.

Anna might have then gone to a music conservatory where she could have polished her exceptional piano skills. She chose instead to attend an Orthodox Jewish high school, RITSS, where Rabbi Kibel, zt”l, crafted a program for Jewish girls from the Soviet Union.

While at RITSS, Anna chose to also have a Hebrew name, Esther Chava. She had to learn English through immersion. As she explained to me, “One day, it all just clicked.” In her life-long quest for spirituality, Anna ventured to Israel for a year of Torah study and growth at the Michelet Esther Seminary. Afterwards, she attended Touro College to complete her undergraduate degree as well as her masters in occupational therapy.

When Anna was 22 years old, shortly after moving in with a loving friend’s family in Woodmere, she grew gravely ill and desperately needed a liver transplant.

Her body rejected that liver, and Anna was very close to death. She was placed on an emergency recipient list. About a month later, Anna received her second liver transplant, as well as an additional Hebrew name, Chaya (derived from the Hebrew word for “life”). The gematria (mystical numerical value) of Chaya is 23. That second liver was the one that she lived with, through thick and thin, for the next 23 years until her recent death. That liver literally gifted her with chaya, 23 more years of life.

Anna lived much of her adult life with suffering.

Procedures and illnesses, too numerous to count, dotted the landscape of her years, yet she refused to complain or question her circumstances. Her emunah (faith) was unique. She did not believe in Hashem, Anna knew Hashem. They were so close. Every breath was emunah.

Anna joyfully married Avi Pinto in 2002 and made her life’s mission that of investing her two sons with righteous values and closeness to Hashem. Anna cherished, respected, and was grateful for her husband.

His capabilities and willingness to always do what was needed amazed her.

For Avi, the opportunity to be Anna’s husband was a complete labor of love. He adored her from the moment they met. His humility and his work ethic gave Anna the space she needed to do as much as she could

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94 apartment building was far from ready for us, but we arrived anyway. Dissatisfaction and angst were growing amongst the girls. The dorm phones were still not working, so we would meander down the block to the payphone hub to make calls with our phone cards. It was there that we first met.

I was sitting cross-legged on the concrete slab near the phones. With my head in my lap, I was crying, bemoaning this dream turned upside down and questioning my decision to defer Binghamton and take a gap year in Israel.

Anna, you were so empathetic and compassionate. I heard a sweet, new voice and looked up. I can still see your beautiful, huge green eyes brimming with concern. You gazed down at me and asked if I was alright. Truthfully, I was. It was only unmet childish expectations that would allow those immature tears.

Still, those tears streamed from Above, as they were what united us.

You were a “Russian girl,” I was part of the “cool girls,” having arrived in Israel to experience the maximum amount of fun that a year of newfound independence could offer. You came to study, grow, and deepen your connection to Hashem. Our paths would have minimally crossed. Yet you reached out in compassion and bewilderment as to my troubles, instead of just passing me by.

You brought me into your world…

We visited your Ukrainian relatives in Kiryat Yam. I watched in wonder as you delectably devoured sardines on the beach there. You were so unlike any spoiled American kid. You taught me Russian words and laughed as I would repeat them to you daily so that I would remember them – gube, zube, volosi. You shared what to an American-born girl were fairy tales of your early life in Uman. We went to a Breslov family that lived a stone’s throw from our seminary in Kiryat Moshe. You knew them from the father’s Rosh Hashana travels to Uman when your family, the Weinsteins, were one of the few Jewish families living in Uman. Your father would light the Ner Tamid at Rebbe Nachman’s kever every day. The Breslovers would leave their unopened cans of kosher tuna fish for you along with pamphlets in Russian about Yiddishkeit and Breslov teachings.

Those were the first to light the tremendous fire of your beautiful and holy neshama (soul).

And I brought you into my world…

I stayed another year in Israel, and you went to live with Michal Shreiber in Long Beach. You were going to Touro College, as was my sister Gabrielle.

I told her to look out for you, and you quickly became close friends. As soon as my father met you, he recognized your uniqueness and adored you; he felt that you were one of his own. I remember the Pesach when Avi was at my sister’s apartment in Long Beach, and I was visiting from Israel. Gabrielle suggested you as a shidduch Avi. But right away I said it was not a good idea! You appeared to be on different paths religiously, and I was concerned about your getting

Anna, a’h, with, l’blch, her husband Avi

turned down once again. You were smart, beautiful, and sweet – an easy sell until your health history unfolded, and then you would bear another rejection.

Yet Avi felt that everyone has his or her own unique challenges and was willing to give it a try.

She lived her life so close to the angels, and now she is among them and above them.

With his unwavering love that was reinforced throughout your precious years together, Avi took a chance on you. He knew bearing children carried special risks because of your health history. But the two of you combined self-sacrifice and emunah (faith), enabling you to bring two beautiful sons into this world. Nissim and Asher perpetuate your desire for authentic connection to Hashem.

And then you forever became a Pinto. They loved you, embraced you and your parents and your sister Masha. When Masha lived with you while she was in graduate school and worked with my daughter Chayala, our lives became even more intertwined. Could it be that we didn’t actually share any blood? Surely our souls were connected from the beginning of time.

When Shaya Abittan, z”l, passed away, his brother Rabbi Dr. Chaim Abittan told of Rabbi Asher Abittan’s zt”l (that you named your second son for) directive to call every sibling each week before Shabbat. I had checked off phone calls to my father, many moth-

ers, in-laws, and sister that I would spend Shabbat with each week. The only one missing was you, Anna.

You were as much of a sister and dear friend that anyone could wish for. I called you that Friday after the funeral and many more after. You said I caught you on a good day. Your health would determine your energy level and whether you could even answer the phone.

As always throughout the years, you spoke of Hashem and the closeness you felt to Him, earned through extreme suffering. You gained a level of clarity of Hashem’s perfection that true tzaddikim like you are privileged to know with utmost certainty in this world.

After one of your serious illnesses, the boys had participated in iShine, an after-school program for kids whose families faced chronic illness or death.

You pulled them out just as soon as you were well enough. I asked you why, as certainly it was helpful to have them driven home closer to bedtime, fed, and with their homework completed? No, you insisted that you had so much to teach them, so many life lessons and values. You lived not knowing how long you would have and wouldn’t give up any time you could spend with your children just because it could make things easier on your already exhausted self.

I was hopeful that the Sefer Zera Shimshon would bring you your much-needed yeshua (salvation). (I studied that book yesterday on behalf of your body accepting your new liver.) When I saw that an edition of Megillat Esther (Book of Esther), which bore one of your names (Chaya Esther Chava), was in print along with English translations, I was excited to bring it to you and witness a miracle. Although your refuah sheleima did not come to pass, it was what brought me and my son Yosef to visit you one last time before your passing. Getting to see your beautiful eyes again, hug you, share bouts of laughter and musing and memories. I hold on tightly to those moments.

I received your final text yesterday morning. You shared the hopeful news of your third liver transplant along with a prayer to Hashem. I had been praying for you through tears during the misheberach (prayer for the ill), with the understanding that you needed a yeshua. Many friends received a similar message.

We are deeply grateful for you intuitively reaching out to each one of us. We wish that it wasn’t what became your goodbye. But we know that you love us and wanted us to hear directly from you one last time.

And now, our final parting. As I prepare to leave for your funeral, I pray that these flowing tears are seeds whose fruits we will reap with joy. From on High, with your boundless merits, you are insisting that we all reunite soon with the coming of Mashiach Tsidkenu Bimheyra B’Yameinu.

I love you Anna forever and ever, Eden To reach the author, please email: edenmitrany@ gmail.com.

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Can This Be Happening?

An Interview with Jewish Author Gordon Korman

By Shmuel Botnick & Yosef Zoimen

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OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

It’s impossible to sit across from Gordon Korman without trying to psychoanalyze him.

It’s a psychoanalysis that comes, not as a result of years of studying psychology, but as a result of years of studying Macdonald Hall, Slapshot League, Bugs Potter, Ungifted, Supergifted, or any of the other 99 books written by the iconic author over the past four decades.

Every move is cause for speculation. Was that a Bruno-type thing to say? Did I just sense some Rudy Miller there? But, as our interview would progress, we would realize that these speculations were largely imagined.

“My books generally are not based upon personal experience,” Gordon reveals. The wildly colorful characters that grace the thousands of pages of Gordon Korman books are the product of an insanely creative mind and razor-sharp perception of today’s children and teenagers.

Wait, back up. Did you just say sit “across”? From Gordon Korman? Like, the Gordon Korman? Are you being serious? And he spoke to you?

We forgive your incredulity. We have a hard time believing it ourselves. But it happened. Trust us, it really happened.

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Gordon Korman was born in Montreal, Quebec, but grew up in Thornhill, Ontario, a suburban community just north of Toronto.

“There was lots of movement between Montreal and Toronto,” Gordon reflects, “especially amongst the Jewish community.”

Today, he lives in Great Neck, Long Island, and had

previously lived for a number of years in Manhattan: “I’ve always lived in predominantly Jewish communities.”

The Toronto-based upbringing explains the geographical base for many of the initial Gordon Korman books. The Macdonald Hall series took place “East of Toronto just off Highway 48,” Losing Joe’s Place was in downtown Toronto, as was Who is Bugs Putter? But Gordon left Canada to attend college in 1981 and hasn’t lived there ever since. Practically all of his books authored since then take place somewhere in the U.S. The story of Gordon’s foray into the world of writing is well-known. He was in the middle of seventh grade, and, somehow, the track and field coach wound up becoming his English teacher. Rather than teach English the conventional way, he gave the students the freedom to work on whatever they wanted for the rest of the school year. The result was This Can’t Be Happening At Macdonald Hall, the first of the legendary Macdonald Hall series. The book was submitted to Scholastic, and it had immediate success.

Scholastic demanded to meet Gordon to ensure it was this seventh grader who actually wrote the book and was not written by his father or someone else. And thus, the outrageous world of Bruno, Boots, Wilbur Hackenschleimer, and “The Fish” was born. And, along with them, a historic star of children’s literature was born as well.

“As I grew older,” Gordon admits, “there was an expectation that I would get more serious. But I didn’t.

I just got crazier.”

The books are crazy indeed, outlandish, completely out of whack, but somehow, so real and so relatable.

Rudy Miller feels like a best friend, and Raymond Jardine, fictitious as he is, is the kind of guy who just should have existed.

But, at a point, the books did take a turn for the serious. Series such as Dive, Island, and Everest brought out a talent in Gordon that was never before expressed: The ability to write high quality, intensely dramatic fictions that were heavy on emotions and light on humor.

Although Gordon is more than capable at writing serious literature, it doesn’t come as naturally as humor.

“While I’m not the hilarious guy in every setting,” he tells us, “I’ve always respected humor. Even as a kid, when I observed someone make a joke and ev-

eryone laughing in response, that was something that intrigued me.”

Over the years, Gordon has made many visits to cities all over the U.S. and Canada and has met with thousands of fans, young and old. Before the days of the internet and buying books with the click of a button, most books were purchased by students through the Scholastic book list sent out by schools to their parents. It was important to stay on that list to access readers in the cities that did not have a Barnes & Noble bookstore nearby. Gordon did his share of traveling for Scholastic and stopped in school after school throughout middle America, often without a traffic light in the entire town.

One very interesting thing that he noticed was how his books seemed to have a higher level of popularity within the Orthodox Jewish community – particularly in the Brooklyn, NY, neighborhood, as well as through the Mormon communities in Utah. Gordon sees a few possible explanations for this.

“Kids want to feel rebellious, and my books provide for that sense of rebellion. But it’s all done within the parameters of decency. There’s no violence or profanity. So it’s a form of rebellion that doesn’t negate basic values.”

Gordon also points to an interesting trend.

“A word I’ve heard a lot, especially from the Orthodox fans, is ‘family.’ My books have become something like family traditions. And, in communities that tend to have larger families, the books serve as a bridge, a way for the twenty-year-old to relate with the twelveyear-old.”

This is so true – at our Chanukah parties and yom tov tables, cousins would develop new wacky business venture ideas similar to the “attack jelly” sold in No Coins, Please. Treasured Apple Paperback first editions are handed from father to son as family heirlooms, to continue the tradition.

A common thread running throughout so many of Gordon’s books is a delicious form of chutzpah. Be it Artie Geller sending the FBI on a wild goose chase, Raymond Jardine pretending to be an old Canadian poet and submitting his work as part of an English project, and so many others.

“Were you that kind of kid?” we ask.

The answer is a little disappointing.

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“Kids want to feel rebellious, and my books provide for that sense of rebellion.”

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he internet has its advantages and disadvantages but, on the plus side, is the ability to track the travel itinerary of famous authors.

Gordon Korman, we saw, was scheduled to visit the Sycamore Community Schools on February 17. We had a few weeks to pull whatever strings we had to try to arrange an interview. The problem is, we had no strings. Just an email address. We had managed to finagle Gordon’s email address. Turns out, that’s all we needed.

In short order, the meeting was arranged, just twenty minutes away in the Embassy Suites in Blue Ash, Ohio. There, we arrived, attorney and columnist Shmulie Botnick, CJJ Publisher Yosef Zoimen, and Mesivta student Nosson Zvi Zoimen. We hung around the lobby for a few minutes until Gordon appeared, having just arrived from a full day of speeches and signing 500 books at nearby E. H. Greene Intermediate School. And that’s about the extent of the drama.

Sitting across from a childhood idol was intimidating but just for a moment. Gordon is exceptionally humble and easy to talk to. When I gargled out a “Gordon, I’ve been a huge fan of yours for, like, ever,” he seemed genuinely honored. And thus, the conversation began, an interview with a famous personality, which really felt more like four old friends, traveling together down memory lane, stopping to laugh, and to marvel, at their most favorite landmarks.

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98 “Nah, not really,” says Gordon. “I was more of a loudmouth than a man of action.”

In other words, “I’m more the Boots than the Bruno.”

When a Jewish author has questions, who does he turn to? His mom, of course.

“I always bounce ideas off my mom. When I first started writing, I was 12 years old, so that was the obvious address to turn to. But now, she’s 84, and I’m still doing it.”

Turns out that, when it comes to needing advice on children’s books, the senior Mrs. Korman is the premier source for guidance and wrote a column for her hometown Jewish newspaper.

“My mom is one of those people who never forgot what it’s like to be a kid,” says Gordon. “Some sixth graders forget what it’s like to be in fifth grade, but my mom never forgot. To this day, she dreads the ‘Back to School’ ads on TV. I always tell her, ‘Mom, no one is sending you back to school.’ But that’s how she is. She still remembers exactly what it’s like being a kid.”

As time evolved, rapid developments in society warranted certain shifts in style and expression. But the themes remain constant.

“Times change but kids don’t,” Gordon points out.

“There will always be cool kids and less cool kids. There will always be insiders and those standing on the outside.”

Acceptance is an overarching message in his books, typically in the context of school life. Whether it’s a hippie kid forced to join a typical public school (Schooled), an ungifted kid getting stuck in a school for the gifted children (Ungifted), or the super-gifted kid getting stuck in a regular school (Supergifted), Gordon tries bringing out the talents of the little guy – the one who was a little awkward, a little different. Playing on to the talents of each of these under-

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“Times change but kids don’t. There will always be cool kids and less cool kids. There will always be insiders and those standing on the outside.”

The authors of the article with Gordon Korman

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dog characters teaches his readers acceptance and diversity.

But one book that stands out from amongst all the others is Linked, a story based in Chokecherry, Colorado. The story involves a school whose student body includes only one Jew – Dana. Suddenly, swastikas begin to appear all over the school. As part of an effort to teach tolerance and acceptance, the school creates a program where they seek to collect six million links. It’s a story of self-discovery and powerful insight into human nature.

Speaking with Gordon Korman The inspiration for this book came from the famous “Paper Clips inates from a town called Horodyshche. The Jews of this Project,” a school-based initiative which took place in Ukrainian city suffered tremendous losses and pogroms 1998, in Whitwell, Tennessee. The school had begun a and “had my family not immigrated to Canada in the Holocaust education course and quickly realized that the 1920s,” he says, “they likely wouldn’t have survived.” student could not grasp the enormity of the Holocaust This book paid homage to Gordon’s own legacy and until they grasped the enormity of the number six miladded an extra dimension to his storytelling. lion. They set out on a mission to collect six million paper clips, drawing global attention to the project.

Inspired by the power of the “Paper Clips Project,” Although his writing career has now spanned forGordon set out to write his own story that would attempt ty-four years, Gordon shows no signs of slowing down. to bring out the horrors of the Holocaust and the timeHe is working simultaneously on his next two books, less importance of racial acceptance and understanding. unsure of how big of a deal to make about his upcoming In a classic example of Jewish geography, or Sukenko, one-hundredth. His long-term relationship with two difat his son’s soccer game, Gordon met fellow Great Neckferent publishers keeps his timeline on par to continue er Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation to write and publish at his rapid pace, alternating beLeague (ADL), at a soccer game. Their sons played on tween publishers, keeping curious children satiated and the same team. They struck up a friendship, and David always waiting for the next one. served as a guide to Gordon, helping to tell this story With all of his success, his approachability remains of the Holocaust with depth and sensitivity Gordon dethe same. He genuinely appreciates fan feedback and manded, with a realism on what the protocol would be delights in his older chevra of followers (like us) who should such an occurrence actually take place in a school continue to relish in his stories and the simpler times it today. brings us back to and who, once in a while, will still ask That Gordon should write a book focusing Holocaust ourselves: “What would Bruno do?” education shouldn’t come as a surprise. His family orig-

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MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

Sleep in Style

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teen talk

by Daniella Quinn

Dear Teen Talk, I really like your column.

One column recently talked about cliques and bullying.

Teen Talk ,

a new colum n in TJH, is ge ared towards th e teens in our com munity. A nswered b rotating ro ya ster of tea chers, reb clinicians beim, , and peers (!), teens w hearing a ill be nswers to many que stions they had percolatin g in their minds and wishe d they ha d the answ ers for.

It struck home because I know that sometimes my group makes fun of other people, and it makes me uncomfortable. Maybe we’ll see a girl walk into class and one girl in my group will make a snide comment about her clothes or her knapsack and then we’ll all laugh or make more not-nice comments or quips.

I know that what we’re doing is not nice, and even though I’m laughing on the outside, on the inside, I feel very uncomfortable and gross when I think about what we’re doing.

I’m not strong enough to tell the others to stop making their comments. And I still want to hang out with my group of friends.

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OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

What should I do?

I

want to start off by telling you that you are not the first to have found yourself in such a situation and definitely will not be the last. It’s very easy for us to find ourselves in relationships that are comfortable but not necessarily healthy to be in. This is not to say that these girls are bad people, but they may not be the best people for you to surround yourself with. However, with what you have shared, it sounds like you know all of this and are up to the point of deciding “what am I supposed to

do?” which may just be where the hard part comes in.

When I received this letter, the first thought that came to mind was a lesson I was given on the purpose of friendships.

A friend is someone who is meant to be supportive, someone who helps in your personal growth, and someone who you are there for as well. This does not mean that your friends are only there to have DMCs

with or to run to for support whenever there is a problem. A friend is someone who brings positivity into your life and that positivity can come from having fun with them as well; it’s not just about the serious stuff. I understand why you would still want them in your life, not only because dropping them would hurt, but because it feels like there is good to hold onto in the relationship.

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You will have a lot of relationships throughout your life, and many people that will come and go, each one different from the next. It’s your job to make sure that each person that enters your life lifts you up as a person – or at the very least won’t drag you down. This requires being honest with yourself and thinking about whether their actions are affecting you and your values. Are you becoming desensitized to something that was once very important to you? Are you justifying actions that you don’t agree with?

The hard part to all of this is when you have the answers but don’t want to or don’t know what to do with them. On the one hand, these people mean something to you and you enjoy being around them; on the other hand, they don’t seem to be the best people to have in your life right

me that it would be best not to ignore the situation and see if there is something you can do. I’m not suggesting you ditch your friends, because having friends, especially in high school, is such an important thing.

However, for yourself, I think it’s very important to create boundaries within these friendships.

I know boundaries don’t sound like the most fun thing in the world, and I agree that they could be really uncomfortable at first, but they make the relationship ten times healthier.

Boundaries are not meant to be a scary thing, but they are there to create the line which says this is where you end and I begin.

For you, the way you treat others is a very important thing, to the point where

When you are willing to stand up for what’s important to you, you reinforce within yourself that this is an essential value within you. you are conscious of how your actions and the actions of others affect people. It’s so valuable that you are able to recognize that poking fun at someone is not an ideal form of entertainment and that’s not something you should allow yourself to lose. If this means you must have a conversation with your friends where you let them know that it makes you feel uncomfortable when

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now. As you mentioned, it doesn’t feel good when they make hurtful comments towards someone else, especially when you try to laugh along with them. The uncomfortable feeling is telling you that this goes against your values and your beliefs, and those are things you should not be willing to sacrifice so easily.

Now, with all that being said, it seems to

they make such comments around you, do it! A conversation that’s open and honest has the potential to strengthen a real relationship and end a toxic one.

I understand why it could be terrifying and feel extremely vulnerable, but there is so much good that can come from it. I know that the idea that you could harm the relationship doesn’t feel so great, but a relationship with someone who can’t respect your sensitivities is not one you want to have. If you can start having these real conversations with others and be able to speak out about what’s important to you, it will make a huge impact in the long run.

I wish that I would have spoken to my friends in high school about what I needed to change in our friendships. I think that there are friends that I have lost because I never did. Ultimately, this goes deeper than your relationships with others. When you are willing to stand up for what’s important to you, you reinforce within yourself that this is an essential value within you, something you will not forgo when it feels too difficult to stick with.

Yes, it’s going to be a difficult conversation to have. I know you think you are not strong enough to do it, but it doesn’t take strength to take the first step – it takes a bit of faith in yourself and a willingness to feel uncomfortable. Keep in mind that you are investing in something of real value, investing in the person you want to be.

In conclusion, I know you could do it, and honestly, I’m sure you know you can do it, too. Go and take the first step with the awareness that you are doing the right thing.

Hatzlacha raba!

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

Are you a teen with a question?

If you have a question or problem you’d like our columnists to address, email your question or insight to editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com, subject line: Teen Talk.

Daniella is originally from Houston, Texas, and recently moved to Baltimore, Maryland, after a year of seminary in Israel. She currently works in a school while studying for a degree in psychology.

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Dating Dialogue

What Would You Do If… Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LcSW of the Navidaters

Dear Navidaters,

Thank you for taking the time to read my question. I’m a pretty honest person, both honest with others as well as myself.

I know I’m not what people call “a catch” and I’ve been told by everyone how I can’t be picky.

I’m dating a girl who I’m attracted to, and we have a lot in common. But it seems that she has major family drama, doesn’t talk to her father, and there’s a lot of unresolved feelings.

OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

My question to the panelists is, should I end things here and now based on the unhealthy family background? Or is that just part of her “pekel” in life, and I should get over it, since nobody will be perfect?

Thanks in advance, *Dani

Disclaimer: This column is not intended to diagnose or otherwise conclude resolutions to any questions. Our intention is not to offer any definitive conclusions to any

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particular question, rather offer areas of exploration for the author and reader. Due to the nature of the column receiving only a short snapshot of an issue, without the benefit of an actual discussion, the panel’s role is to offer a range of possibilities. We hope to open up meaningful dialogue and individual exploration.

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The Panel the rebbetzin Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz, M.S.

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amily drama and imperfect resumes pale in the face of unresolved relationships and feelings. If the young lady is not in therapy and working toward her issues, she will continue to have problems in relationships, including the marriage relationship.

Stay away.

You are sensitive and smart. You will find an emotionally mature person with whom to build a life. Stay away from someone with problems on the inside who is not dealing with them and working on them.

the Shadchan Michelle Mond hank you for writing in, Dani. Your question leaves me with a lot of questions.

You say that you are not a catch, therefore you cannot be picky. Your letter alludes to feelings of self-degradation. There are a few things that come to mind; both depend on your definition of “not a catch.”

If you have many unresolved issues yourself, which qualifies you as “unable to be picky,” I suggest the following. Before seeking out a marriage partner, seek out ways to improve your life. Whether it be working on your mental and physical health, working on your per-

T

sonal relationships, or working on your professional goals, seek out the help you need to become more desirable. Do this for you, not for shidduchim, and not for approval of others. If you lack self-worth, or are a shlemazel with a bad reputation, you must work hard to rebrand yourself .

Nothing is more unattractive than a low self-esteem. I predict if you work on that, you will see your current relationship with new eyes.

Allow me to explain.

Right now, you feel lucky; lucky to be dating someone all together. You feel lucky to have a woman in your life who has not abandoned you. Therefore, how could you possibly nitpick on her severely unhealthy upbringing and unresolved childhood trauma? How could you abandon/judge her? It seems as if that would not be right.

However, if you pull yourself together and work on yourself despite the things you have been through, if you build yourself up to become a man who deserves someone great, you will be able to build a great marriage with someone. In math, two halves make a whole. In marriage, two halves make a disaster. You must both be whole and worked through to build a healthy marriage.

I will end with a beautiful quote by Rav Menachem Mendel of Kotzk: “If I am I, because you are you, and you are you, because I am I, then I am not I, and you are not you.

But if I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you.”

The Navidaters Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

D

or have to live w i t h the consequences of this decision is you. The g o o d news that you are the perfectly qualified candidate to make this de-

M

any individuals struggle with “unresolved feelings or familial conflict” whether they would like to admit it or not.

The main concern is: does her background have a direct negative impact on your relationship as indicated by her behavior and activities? Do you have healthy communication? Have you noticed any unhealthy tendencies that limit your ability to connect? If so, have you discussed them together?

I believe your concern is much larger than the scope of the panel and would strongly recommend connecting with a dating coach, therapist, or mentor.

Dr. Jeffrey Galler ur world can be very cold, dark, and lonely. It sounds like you are one of the fortunate ones who may have succeeded in finding a true soulmate; together, your world can be warm, bright, and friendly.

I found this poem, online, by Genie Graveline: Once in a lifetime, if you are truly lucky, you meet some whose presence ignites a burning fire within you.

Someone whose warm smile and sensitive nature captures your heart.

And you know… that the two of you were meant to be together.

I don’t know if your relationship with your girlfriend will blossom, and I don’t know if this poem will become your reality, but it sure sounds like it’s worth trying to make it so.

Generally, I am not a big fan of pushing therapy, but the two of you have issues that need to be resolved.

Perhaps the two of you can do so on your own; perhaps you need professional help.

But, here’s what I think: Issue #1 is your own self-confidence.

When I first read your letter, I wasn’t sure how to react. Should my reaction be, “A wise man knows his limitations,” or should my reaction be, “Someone treated this guy badly, and he now lacks self-confidence.”

Judging from how you articulated your dilemma, and how sensitively you worded your letter to us, I would say that you are an exceptional individual, who, for some unfathomable reason, is lacking in self-esteem.

Work on it. But remember that some women do not necessarily like men who exhibit low self-esteem, so show good judgment when sharing this with your girlfriend.

Issue #2 is your friend’s family challenges. Perhaps you could be the agent who helps reconcile unresolved problems, but tread lightly. There may be very valid reasons for her to distance herself from some family members. Some discordant family issues are never fully resolved, but the key here is that she must be capable of having healthy, loving relationships with her husband and children.

Here’s a final thought. Folks who have been to their 25th and 50th high school reunions report that some “golden” classmates whose potential for success had seemed limitless actually have had very sad lives; at the same time, some unimpressive classmates have experienced wonderful, happy, successful lives.

The point here is that despite whatever unhappy backgrounds you and your girlfriend might be bringing to marriage, you will be the sole authors of your future biography together. Succeed in creating a wonderful life for yourselves.

cision. It’s going to take some soul searching and some time and requires you to be brutally honest with yourself.

Before we touch upon your relationship question and questions about your

girlfriend’s feelings toward her family, let’s focus in on you…because I believe everything (well, most things) starts from within.

A lot can get lost in text or easily

the Zaidy

O

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ear Dani, Thank you for writing into the panel! I don’t have an answer to offer you in the way of what to do. The only person who will appreciate, understand,

Tzipora Grodko

In marriage, two halves make a disaster.

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Pulling It All Together

the Single

OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

misconstrued, but upon reading your email, I felt an immediate sadness or melancholy. I’m wondering what makes you feel as though you are not a catch.

I want to acknowledge that the world of shidduchim, with its rigidity and harsh rules, could make anyone potentially feel down about himself. It, unfortunately, is par for the course for so many people. If, however, this general feeling of not being a catch or worthy predates dating, I’m wondering if you’ve given any thought to seeing a therapist. If you are seeing someone and currently working through this, great! When we don’t feel worthy of love or think someone would be blessed to have us as a life partner, it can make it hard to trust our

own feelings about the other person.

With regard to your girlfriend, sometimes the healthiest decision a grown child can make is to have limited contact or no contact with a parent. It’s tragic and always a last resort and hopefully a mightily weighed decision after exhausting all healthy options. And sometimes the decision is a reflection of immaturity and impulsivity. It will be important for you to have lots of discussions with your girlfriend about her reasons for her position. And it will be important for you to ascertain whether or not she has worked through it, and/or is working through it now, and whether or not she has emerged a healthier, more thoughtful, more empathic human, or

as a disgruntled/miserable person who will take out her unresolved feelings on a future partner.

If she is a misery, there is nothing to talk about. If she is healthy and growth-oriented, then you need to decide if you are comfortable or not. If you’re not, we need to take her feelings into consideration.

Not only do you deserve to be with someone who thinks the world of you, but she deserves to be with someone who thinks the world of her…who wants to celebrate her emotional triumphs and resilience and fulfill her emotional needs because it is a privilege. If, after some time discussing and exploring in therapy, in the relationship and on

I believe everything (well, most things) starts from within.

your own, you come to the realization that you aren’t OK with her family situation, you are absolutely entitled. And, you just need to be honest with yourself and her.

All the best, Jennifer

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

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Dr. Deb

My Discovery

by Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.

I

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think I discovered a Law of the Universe.

Really.

See, unlike a regular therapist who doesn’t know why a couple would stop coming to see them, I know exactly why my clients can get frustrated with the process.

That’s because once they’re in the

program, they know they’re going to stay with it, riding the waves, getting splashed in the face sometimes, and feeling amazing at other times.

And I know, just because I have a ringside seat, what causes the downs and what causes the ups.

Let me back up a bit.

To understand what I’m going to

say, you need to know who my clients are. They are highly distressed couples.

Some are at the brink of divorce, unfortunately. Many, perhaps most, believe that they’ve “tried everything,” and nothing can be done to fix their situation.

They’ve often come to believe this because they went to couples counseling prior to seeing me and the counselor told them exactly that.

Other times, they drew that conclusion simply because of the seeming intractability of their patterns.

For example, Jerry, as a kid, was ignored because he was the “good child.”

His siblings got into enough trouble to keep mom and dad very busy, so they had no time for Jerry. It makes sense that all he wanted, all he yearned for, in his marriage to Marianne, was attention. “Just include me” could be his motto.

Marianne, meanwhile, learned to be invisible. She wanted that. She needed that so that when her mother was in a bad mood, she wouldn’t come after her only child with harsh words and perhaps, too, a harsh hand. “Leave me alone” could be her motto.

Well, this didn’t make for a successful communication pattern.

They went to a Gottman weekend, but since the problem originated in childhood trauma for both of them, learning the right behaviors was not helpful. As Jerry said, “I try to give her space, but then that look on her face just triggers me, and before I know it, I’m really bothering her and she is really rejecting me even more.”

Fast forward a couple months. Jerry and Marianne are enrolled in my pro-

gram. Privately, Jerry says to me, “Why does Marianne have that unfriendly look on her face when I say ‘Hi’ in the morning? You know, that sets my triggers off.”

And Marianne will say something like, “It would be so much easier to deal with what I have on my plate if Jerry weren’t so needy.”

You should know, I made up this story, but this couple could fit hundreds of others, not specifically because of their interpersonal pattern, but just because the pattern always has two people wanting exactly what their partner can’t give.

Another example: Suzie is spontaneous, does things at the last minute, isn’t planful, and Dan is precise and orderly.

Or Ariella is warm and loving, and George is distant, even cold.

Sometimes they both have similar values and preferences, but one is an optimist and the other, a pessimist.

Each person believes that their approach to life is good, healthy, “right.”

Or if they don’t believe that, at least they think that there’s nothing they can do about it, “so don’t expect me to change.”

This is pretty fair. Why should one set of values be better than another, anyway? Even morally wrong values came from somewhere: That person was the unfortunate recipient of a bad upbringing or tragedies or one sort or another. He or she has no idea how to change, and if they did change, would it feel like them? Would they lose their identity?

So what do couples do? What is the most natural thing in the world – and boomerangs the most?

107 righteous in pointing out how wrong, abusive, and hurtful their spouse was.

The abusive spouse feels like a worm and probably won’t return.

So imagine Marianne and Jerry for a minute. Not only does Jerry want the very thing Marianne feels unable to give him – attention – but, very frankly, Marianne feels perfectly justified in

“light” abuse is still abuse.

So, there they are, Jerry and Marianne, trying to work out everything through a program that is non-blaming and non-pathologizing because blaming and pathologizing simply do not work.

Nevertheless, Marianne occupies valuable therapy time and time in her own head thinking about how mistreat-

So what do couples do?

What is the most natural thing in the world – and boomerangs the most?

–shall we say it? – being mean to Jerry.

After all, the other half of the story is that back in the day, when Jerry didn’t get the attention he wanted, he would mutter something at her to the effect that he wished her luck with the next husband. They did not divorce, but Marianne considered his behavior abusive, and I would agree with her. As I said,

ed she has been, how enraged she is over that, and how hateful she feels towards Jerry. I’m very sympathetic to her after all.

But then, I’m wondering if we aren’t expending unnecessary energy in the wrong places…

Oddly enough, Jerry does the same thing.

“She knows my awful childhood,” he points out. “Why can’t she just be kind to me?” I’m sympathetic to him, too. His childhood was no fault of his. But, still…

And that is when it suddenly hit me, like the apple that fell on Newton’s head before he realized there’s a Law of Gravity.

I realized a Universal law, too. Here it is, but if you repeat it to anyone, you do have to give me credit because I spotted it first: When in couples therapy, the length of time the therapy process takes is directly proportional to the amount of focus you have on your partner.

It is inversely proportional to the amount of focus you have on yourself.

To put it in simple terms: The more you focus on your partner (and what they need to fix), the longer the therapy; the more you focus on yourself, the shorter the therapy.

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

They point a finger at how their partner isn’t getting it.

Both of them do that.

So what’s the outcome?

As you can expect, things stall for as long as each one “waits” for the other to change. This is especially true where one person was abusive and the other felt victimized. Abuse can take lots of “light” forms that you wouldn’t think fall into the “abuse” category but do.

For example, consistently not hearing a partner’s pain might be worse than screaming epithets at them. It leaves the partner feeling both lonely and worthless.

Another example is endless complaints until there is not a sliver of sunshine to be seen. Dreary marriages like this leave one feeling utterly spent and depressed.

Then there are the numerous “light” addictions, like over-doing it at the kiddush and coming home too happy, out of proportion to whatever is going on in the house. The spouse then is falsely accused of being a sourpuss – which devalues the “sourpuss” spouse’s feelings.

When they finally find themselves in the counseling office, the victim feels

Dr. Deb Hirschhorn is a Marriage and Family Therapist. If you want help with your marriage, begin by signing up to watch her Masterclass at https://drdeb.com/ myw-masterclass.

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Health & F tness

Are You Raising an Emotional Eater? by cindy Weinberger MS, rD, cDN

t

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OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

his Sunday, families across the nation celebrate Mother’s Day. The typical response when many are wished a “Happy Mother’s Day” is “Mother’s Day is every day.” Although this

line may be cheesy, it is indeed very true.

A mother has daily duties that if she even stops being a mom for one moment, the household will crumble!

As mothers, it is our responsibility to

not only take care of household chores like dishes and laundry, and believe it or not, we do more than find your shoes, too.

A mother’s job does not end at bedtime. A mother is constantly thinking and worrying about her children. Like the popular saying goes, “Mothers don’t sleep. They worry with their eyes closed.”

What more can a mother worry about than her child’s health? A child’s diet plays a key role in his or her health. Not only does which food a child eats affect his or her health, the setting and atmosphere affects him or her as well.

Eating for emotional reasons, other than being physically hungry, can be characterized as emotional eating. Emotional eating is when people use food as a way to deal with feelings instead of to satisfy hunger. We’ve all been there; we’re all guilty of emotional eating – finishing a whole bag of chips out of boredom or downing cookie after cookie while reading a book. But when done a lot – especially without realizing it – emotional eating can affect weight, health, and overall well-being.

Children (as well as adults) use food for reasons other than to satisfy their hunger and nutritional needs. In fact, obese children often eat in response to their emotions and feelings.

How can we prevent our children from becoming emotional eaters? Emotional eating is a phenomenon that starts at birth. A baby’s crying is pacified by being fed. As the child grows, we give them snacks in public places to keep them busy and quiet. Or we may stuff our children

with candy when they’re in shul to keep their mouths otherwise occupied.

Some common emotions associated with emotional eating are the following: • Anger • Boredom • Change • Confusion • Depression • Frustration • Loneliness • Loss • Resentment • Stress A big parenting challenge is to determine whether your child is eating for the right reasons. To help you be aware of whether or not you are raising an emotional eater, take this quiz found in Parents Magazine: 1.

When your child asks for snack, what’s your typical first response? a) Do you feel hungry? b) How could you be hungry already?

We just ate. c) Sure. I can give you…

2.

The last time your child got antsy or bored in public and you couldn’t take him somewhere to let off steam, how did you react? a) I let him use my phone to play a game or watch a video. b) I got a snack and/or drink out of my bag and gave it to him. c) I read to him or played with him.

3.

How many times in the last week has your child seen you eat snacks or dessert directly from the package? a) None

109 of his meal, what do you say first? a) Are you sure you’re done? I don’t want you asking for a snack before bed. b) Are you full? c) Okay! You know what to do with your plate.

8.

How often do you let your child eat any meal or snack in front of the TV? a) Every day or almost every day b) A couple of times a week c) Once a week or less 9.

How often do you find yourself saying something like, “Behave and you can have dessert!” or “You didn’t listen, so there won’t be dessert.” a) Frequently b) Once in a while c) Never 10.

Has your child ever related an emotion to a request for food, such as “I’m so sad Mommy. Can I have a cookie?” a) Yes, once in a while b) Yes, it happens pretty often c) Not yet anyway

Scoreboard Add up the points for each of your answers.

1. a) 4, b) 1, c) 1

2. a) 1, b) 0, c) 4 3. a) 4, b) 2, c) 1 4. a) 2, b) 1, c) 4 5. a) 2, b) 4, c) 0 6. a) 3, b) 3, c) 0 7. a) 1, b) 4, c) 2 8. a) 0, b) 1, c) 3 9. a) 0, b) 1, c) 3 10. a) 1, b) 0, c) 6

What your score means 30-40 points- You’re teaching you child to eat only when she’s hungry.

20-29 points- You’re trying hard to discourage your child from eating for emotional reasons, but sometimes you fall short.

Fewer than 20 points- You’re on the path to raising an emotional eater.

In order to prevent raising an emotional eater, ask yourself questions like: does he eat at times other than regular mealtimes and snacks? Is he munching at every opportunity? What factors might be contributing to his overeating that call for you to intervene? Additionally, avoid rewarding children with food and punishing them with missing out on food.

If your child is already on the emo-

tional eating path, don’t worry. Just as emotional eating is a learned behavior, it can be unlearned, too. Encourage him/ her to eat healthy snacks and don’t bring junk into your house. The next time you see your child reaching for comfort food, try to figure out what emotions they are feeling and create a coping mechanism that does not involve food. As a parent, be sure to model good eating habits for your child. When your child does make changes under these circumstances, parental praise and positive reinforcement goes a long way. However, make sure the reward is not food! Use verbal praise and give other types of rewards.

As hard as it may be, keep in mind that a healthy child makes a happy mother.

Happy Mother’s Day! Every day!

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

b) Once or twice c) Three or more times 4.

Suppose your child’s sports team went out for a sugary treat after every victory or defeat. Would you allow your child to go? a) Yes, but I’d make sure the portion was small. b) Yes, and I wouldn’t worry about the portion. c) No, I’d suggest an alternative or decline most of the time.

5.

Consider how you help your child handle her emotions. When she brings up something that went wrong with a friendship at school, which of the following are you most inclined to do? a) Empathize b) Empathize and offer a coping strategy/solution c) Suggest she’s overreacting 6.

Your general approach to soothe a crying child who hurt himself playing consists of: a) Hugs and kisses b) Hugs, kisses, and a toy or game c) Hugs, kisses, and a sugary drink or treat 7.

When your child asks to get up from the dinner table after eating most

Cindy Weinberger MS, RD, CDN, is a Master’s level Registered Dietitian and Certified Dietitian-Nutritionist. She graduated CUNY Brooklyn College receiving a Bachelor’s in Science and Master’s degree in Nutrition and Food Sciences. She is currently a private nutritionist. She can be reached at CindyWeinberger1@gmail.com or at 917-623-6237.

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Parenting Pearls

Cooperative Play

by Sara rayvych, MSed

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OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

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ears ago, I was looking into some new board games for the kids, and I saw there was a category called “cooperative games.” Honestly, I thought it was a bit sad. Did adults think children were so fragile they couldn’t handle losing a simple game? I went to a different category, trying to find something that would interest my crew.

I don’t remember how much later it was that I once again stumbled across cooperative games. I inquired about them from the customer service representative and realized my initial perception of these games was inaccurate.

Rather than playing something the child couldn’t lose, it was a game the children played together to accomplish a united goal. Rather than trying to beat each other, they were trying to beat the game.

I was only mildly interested but decided to purchase a highly recommended one, The Secret Door, to try it out. The goal of the game was to save the treasures before the thief ran away with them. There were three treasures, and the adventurous players could find some, all or none of them. I gave it to the kids before yom tov and showed them how to play. It was a very beautiful morning that first day of yom tov as they happi-

ly played while I got to sleep a bit late.

They would periodically run up to tell me their progress, how many treasures they found, and how many they missed, always ending with “we’re playing again.”

As my younger set are now the right age for enjoying board games, I recently purchased a few more games before Pesach. I did buy some regular, competitive games, but I mostly bought cooperative ones.

I noticed something interesting. Besides the fun and entertainment value they provided, there was something very different when the game was cooperative.

The kids were much happier playing cooperatively than competitively (as most games are designed). I also had almost no games ending with “he/she cheated,” someone tantruming/acting out, or any of the many negative behaviors little children somehow think is appropriate.

It seems like each family has a child who “cheats” or can’t follow the rules.

There’s also the child who accuses everyone else of cheating. Sometimes the “cheater” and “accuser” are one and the same. Either way, what should be a fun, family-focused activity can become stressful and a continuously brewing fight.

I was very curious about this fact.

Why was the same child happy losing against the game but throwing up the board screaming once they realized their sibling had a chance to beat them?

In both cases, they were losing.

Learning to cooperate and work together goes beyond board games. It’s a skill that we build over the course of a lifetime. For a preschooler, it means not stealing their friends’ cookie, but for an adult, it means accepting their spouse’s differences and working together, not against each other.

As parents, we can foster the building blocks of cooperation and bonding. Not only are we setting our children onto a path of kindness and consideration for others, we’re also creating a more peaceful home.

Cheerful Playmates Homes run smoother when children are playing happily. Cooperation makes things happen, and fights make us want to scream. It’s not only hard on the parents but also on the child to live in a home where the kids are constantly bickering. Ultimately, siblings should be friends with each other, even if they still have the occasional squabbles, and this

should be our goal.

When we pit child against child, we create a relationship of adversity and strife. It might feel like you’re motivating them by saying, “If he can do it, why can’t you,” but comparing children tends to backfire. We can inadvertently create friction between family members and foment conflict.

Alternatively, when we encourage friendship and positive feelings between our precious children, we can build relationships that are peaceful now and loving in the future. Baruch Hashem, I’m close with my siblings now and we know that we can count on each other.

Friends and neighbors can come and go, but your siblings are yours forever – our kids might as well like each other.

There are many small things we can do that encourage friendship and discourage fighting between children. I will mention some examples in this article, but these ideas are certainly not your only options. More than a do-and-don’t list, it’s really a frame of mind and being aware of the issue.

Competition Occurs Naturally Kids are naturally competitive.

Children – teens, in particular – judge

111 feelings that may come along with that blessing.

As an example, when we bring home one nice, new scooter, we risk fights between multiple children scrambling to be the first and dominant rider. If we don’t take the proactive steps to prevent this, then a special present can become a source of pain.

dren can do together can create feelings of camaraderie. Doing activities together creates the feeling of being a team and of needing each other.

It can help when you ensure you have enough supplies for all children that will be playing. It’ll be very hard for two toddlers to push the same toy car or for six children sharing the same eight pack

Learning to cooperate and work together goes beyond board games.

Not all competition is necessarily bad, but children get enough in their daily lives that we don’t need to intentionally create more at home.

Encourage Sharing Cooperative games are only one of many ways to encourage feelings of cohesiveness between children. Large puzzles, coloring, or any activity that chil-

of markers. When you have enough for everyone, you still may have some arguments but it’s easier to resolve them.

If you know children are having a tough time together or sharing a particularly treasured item, it can help for a parent to be closer to the action. This way an adult is there as soon as a difficult situation develops and before the first fist flies.

Sometimes, children need help understanding what we mean when we suggest they take turns. Demonstrate what you intend for them to do, including giving an order for who goes next. Using a timer to time each turn can help give children a concept of time and reassure them that their opportunity will come eventually. It also prevents one child from dominating the beloved prize.

We all want shalom bayis and teaching our children to play together is one of the steps towards reaching that beautiful goal. In the present, we will have more smiles and less fighting; in the future, we will have adult children who know their sibling is always there for them. As always, daven for Hashem’s assistance in bringing that bracha of peace into our homes.

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

themselves by looking at others. A child might be very bright but feel less so in a particularly brilliant class. Telling the child how talented he/she is can be rather futile if each day that child walks into a class surrounded by higher achieving peers. It’s a lot of pressure. There will always be someone who is smarter, taller, funnier, or more popular than them.

Creating a healthy understanding of self is an important topic all its own.

Comparisons are almost inevitable.

Your children share the same family and neighbors. Often, teachers have all the children in a family. How many of us were compared to siblings during parent-teacher conferences? By making a point of taking note of when comparisons occur and then working to eliminate them, we can discourage animosity.

A small step we can take is to decrease the natural animosity that exists between siblings. Being siblings can be thought of as a naturally competitive relationship as they share limited resources. They share parents and parental attention, relatives, households, toys – just about everything. I want to make clear that I do consider a sibling to be a bracha for a child, but we can’t ignore the other

Please daven for a refuah sheleima for Yechiel Meir ben Sarah.

Sara Rayvych, MSEd, has her master’s in general and special education. She has been homeschooling for over 10 years in Far Rockaway. She can be contacted at RayvychHomeschool@gmail.com.

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The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

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In The K

tchen

Italian Grilled Pargiyot

by Naomi Nachman

This past week, I had the incredible opportunity to work with the NCSY-Relief Mission team in New Orleans. A group of teens from Seattle’s North West Yeshiva High School joined as well.

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OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

Parts of New Orleans hit by Hurricane Katrina 17 years ago are still not back and running, and the NCSY-Relief Mission team helped feed the 9th Ward District community, rebuild houses and open the dialogue to help community relations and to see how we can otherwise help them.

One of the programs we did was make a free popup restaurant in the 9th

Ingredients

◦ 12 pieces pargyiot (approx. 1 large family package) ◦ 8 cloves garlic, crushed ◦ 1 tablespoon dried oregano ◦ 1 teaspoon kosher salt ◦ ½ cup olive oil ◦ ¼ cup red wine vinegar

Ward on an open field right outside the neighborhood’s one and only grocery store, Burnells. My job was to facilitate and oversee cooking the food we made for the locals. The teens and I, along with local Chef Courtney, made these fresh, delicious grilled chicken cutlets using my recipe below. We had brought down the cutlets from Gourmet Glatt to ensure kosher food and ingredients would be available. This way, our team was able to eat side by side with the locals for a feeling of achdut.

To hear more about NCSY-Relief and see all their missions, go to www.reliefmissions.ncsy.org.

Preparation 1.

Mix marinade ingredients in a bowl. Toss in the chicken and let it marinate for one hour.

2. Heat a grill pan or BBQ till very hot. Grill the chicken for a few minutes on each side till cooked through.

Cook’s note: You can also throw in some sliced zucchini, peppers or mushrooms into the marinade and grill them as well.

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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The Jewish Home | MAY 5, 2022

Notable Quotes “Say What?!”

The Republicans won’t stop with banning abortion. They want to ban interracial marriage.

Do you want to save that? Well, then you should probably vote.

- Fearmongering tweet by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who probably does not know that conservative black Justice Clarence Thomas is married to a white woman

Yep, Musk says he’s going to bring back free speech to Twitter. It’s a big deal, because if it’s true, it means we’ll finally be able to talk about Bruno.

— Jimmy Fallon

The life I had before the war no longer exists, and it doesn’t really bother me.

- Former Russian oligarch Igor Volobuyev who defected from Russia because of the war, in an interview with The Telegraph

Today, it was announced that Vice President Kamala Harris has tested positive for Covid-19… Thankfully, Harris is feeling good and will remain isolated just like she has since taking office.

OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

-Ibid.

— Jimmy Fallon

The far left hates everyone, themselves included!

Yeah, the White House said that Harris has been nowhere near Biden for over a week, which pretty much tells you all you need to know about that relationship.

- Tweet by Elon Musk

— Jimmy Fallon

I don’t know, did they have a fight over a jellybean? Why haven’t they seen each other in eight days?

— Jimmy Kimmel

I don’t do much planning, nor care much about tomorrow. All I care about is that tomorrow will be another day in which I will wake up, get up, exercise, and go to work. You need to get busy with the present, not the past or the future. Here and now is what counts.

- Brazilian 100-year-old Walter Orthmann, who worked for the same company for 84 years and 9 days so far, upon getting a Guinness World Record for longest time working for one company

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Putin has to be put on trial and hanged.

The idea that we’re gonna make a judgment that is going to say that no one can make the judgment to choose to abort a child based on a decision by the Supreme Court I think goes way overboard.

– Pres. Biden in response to the news that the Supreme Court is overturning Roe v. Wade, inadvertently confirming the fact that abortion is child murder

I don’t think it’s my job to mentor him.

- Tennessee Titans Ryan Tannehill when asked if he will mentor the backup quarterback that was picked in the 2022 NFL draft

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MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

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116 If you told me you owned all of the bitcoin in the world, and you offered it to me for $25, I wouldn’t take it because what would I do with it? I would have to sell it back to you one way or another. It isn’t going to do anything.

- CEO Warren Buffett during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting last week

In my life, I try and avoid things that are stupid, evil, and make me look bad in comparison to someone else. Bitcoin does all three.

- Vice Chairman Charlie Munger during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting last week

I think ever since [President Biden] come into office, things are really looking up. You know, gas is up, rent is up, food is up, everything.

- Trevor Noah at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

President Biden’s lack of a filter does get him into hot water sometimes. Last month, he caused a huge international incident saying that Vladimir Putin should be removed from power. It was very, very upsetting to Russia until someone explained to them that none of the stuff Biden wants actually gets done.

- Ibid.

Please be careful leaving tonight, we all know this administration doesn’t handle evacuations well.

According to a new poll, President Biden’s approval rating has increased slightly over the last two months…Biden was like, “Thank G-d, inflation finally got to me.”

— Jimmy Fallon

Biden gets no respect even though he has a record of success.

- Juan Williams, The Hill

- Ibid.

Ketanji Brown Jackson Up All Night Reading Biology Textbooks Trying To Figure Out What Everybody Means By “Women’s” Right To Abortion

How interesting that two weeks ago they refused to define a “woman” and now today the only thing they want to talk about is protecting a “woman’s” right to choose.

- Tweet by reporter Philip Melanchthon Wegmann

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- Babylon Bee headline

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OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

So what if Zelensky is Jewish? The fact does not negate the Nazi elements in Ukraine. I believe that Hitler also had Jewish blood.

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

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- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov standing by Russia’s claim that it invaded Ukraine in part to root out Nazism

It showed again that Russia poses an existential threat not only to Ukraine, with at least 100,000 Jews, but to all Jewish people around the world.

- Pres. Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak, in an interview with Times of Israel, discussing Lavrov’s comments ***

Desperate polls call for desperate measures: Dems consider forgiving trillions in student loans.

Other bribe suggestions: Forgive auto loans?

Forgive credit card debt? Forgive mortgages?

And put a wealth tax on the superrich to pay for it all. What could possibly go wrong?

- Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, criticizing Democratic proposals to cancel student loan debt

Liberals, until five minutes ago: Elon Musk is a climate hero! Electric cars!

Solar power! He loves Obama! Liberals, five minutes ago: He believes in free speech? Fascist!

– Ann Coulter

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Political crossfire

The Pentagon Plans Anew to Head Off an Old Worry

by David Ignatius

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OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

b

eyond the carnage the Ukraine war has produced on the ground, it has forced military planners to think anew about the risks of nuclear war. For the Pentagon, that means extra urgency in developing a new generation of doomsday weapons that could maintain deterrence.

The Pentagon budget request for fiscal 2023, framed in the shadow of the Ukraine confrontation, has a stronger strategic-weapons emphasis, including a new generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) known as the “Sentinel,” a new B-21 manned bomber, and an exotic mix of drones and manned fighters known as “Next Generation Air Dominance,” or NGAD. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall discussed the deterrence problem in an interview with me in late March. The Russian invasion of Ukraine was just a month old, but Kendall noted the danger of escalation. “We’re dealing with a nuclear armed state; you cannot ignore that as you make decisions about how to respond.”

Russian scaremongering about nuclear weapons has continued through the Ukraine crisis.

“The risk is serious, real. It should not be underestimated,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week of the danger of nuclear conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday of a “lightning fast” retaliation against any strategic threats to Russia.

“World War II-style conflict that could involve nuclear weapons is not in anybody’s interest,” Kendall stressed in our interview last month. “That’s pretty obvious. But that doesn’t mean that somebody is not going to make a mistake in taking an aggressive action, thinking that the other side is not going to fight and then finds out that they do.” That, he said, “ends in a very difficult situation.”

Kendall said that his thinking about deterrence has been focused for more than a decade on China, rather than Russia.

“The scenario that I was really worried about was one in which China would commit an act of either coercion or aggression, and the U.S. would have two options: Back down or lose. And neither one of those was very attractive.”

The new weapons on the Pentagon’s budget roster aren’t as flashy as Russia’s much-touted hypersonic missiles, but they will modernize the United States’ strategic arsenal after what some claim has been years of neglect.

“We’re going to invest in the planned recapitalization of the nuclear triad,” Kendall told me, referring to the combination of land-based ICBMs, bombers

“There is no question in my mind that machines are going to be better at this than people.”

Rather than back down or lose in Ukraine, the Biden administration has adopted a third approach: working with NATO allies to pump weapons to a Ukrainian military that has proven surprisingly adept in matching Russia in conventional warfare. U.S. officials have seemed confident that Russia won’t take the risk of challenging NATO by using tactical nuclear weapons, but recent Russian statements have underlined the importance of firm deterrence.

and missile-carrying submarines that are designed to provide a deterrent capable of surviving a first strike.

The Air Force says it plans to increase spending for the new Sentinel ICBM by $1.1 billion in fiscal 2023 to $3.6 billion, with a goal of installing operational missiles by 2029. The Air Force describes the Sentinel as a “next generation” missile that will have more advanced launch and command-and-control features than the aging Minuteman III system, built in

the 1970s.

The Air Force wants to spend about $5 billion in the next fiscal year on the B-21 bomber, known as the “Raider,” according to a recent article in Breaking Defense. Through fiscal 2027, spending will total nearly $20 billion on the advanced bomber, according to Air Force Magazine. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the Air Force chief of staff, describes the stealthy B-21 as a penetrating bomber that can “strike any target, anytime, anywhere, even in the most contested environment.” Many of its capabilities and its delivery date are classified.

Kendall is also pushing the initiative to mix human and machine pilots in the Next Generation Air Dominance program. A plane flown by a human – a “play caller,” says Kendall – would be accompanied by up to five unmanned combat aircraft. The Air Force will spend nearly $1.7 billion for this innovative program in fiscal 2023, a $133 million increase. When I asked about dogfight simulations that measure human pilots against robots, Kendall remarked that autonomous systems will one day surpass human capabilities. “There is no question in my mind that machines are going to be better at this than people,” Kendall told me. “They’re going to be faster. They’re not going to get tired, and they’ll push the envelope further to the limits of the aircraft.”

Kendall, like all senior Pentagon officials, insists that the United States won’t get involved in a direct military confrontation with Russia unless NATO is attacked. But the Ukraine war has intensified the strategic modernization effort already underway at the Pentagon – and has pushed military planners, as in the depths of the Cold War, to think more about the unthinkable. (c) 2022, Washington Post Writers Group

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MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

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Political crossfire

DeSantis Shows the Way Forward for Trumpism Without Trump

by Marc A. thiessen

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OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

P

erhaps the only person who triggers progressives as much as Elon Musk these days is Ron DeSantis.

Every week, it seems, Florida’s Republican governor takes some new action that enrages the left and delights the right.

His poll numbers are rising, which is bad news for Democrats – because DeSantis is showing the way forward for Trumpism without Donald Trump.

Like Trump, DeSantis is a counterpuncher – minus the political baggage and personal vendettas. He punched back against the left-wing education establishment, signing a law banning critical race theory in schools. He punched back against Disney, moving to take away its special tax status after the Burbank, Calif.-based company demagogued his bill to protect the parental rights of Floridians. He punched back against Big Tech, signing a law that prohibits social media companies from censoring or de-platforming political candidates. (Enforcement of the law is on hold because of litigation.) He punched back against race-baiting Democrats who slandered GOP election integrity laws as “Jim Crow 2.0,” signing a sweeping voting overhaul bill that strengthens voter identification requirements, prohibits the mass mailing of ballots, and bans ballot harvesting.

Most important, DeSantis punched back against the perpetual lockdown establishment and turned Florida into a bastion of freedom during the pandemic. He put seniors at the front of the line for vaccines, banned vaccine passports, restricted vaccine and mask mandates, suspended local emergency orders, and granted full pardons for all nonviolent offenses and remitted all fines related to covid restrictions by local governments.

And in July 2020, his state education department ordered Florida schools to

reopen in the fall for full-time in-person learning – limiting the catastrophic learning losses that have plagued children in other parts of the country.

His strategy is working. Americans

approval rating turned upside down.

DeSantis is on track to win reelection this fall by a wider margin than the 3.4 points Trump won two years ago. DeSantis leads his most likely opponent,

Americans have been voting for DeSantis with their feet, fleeing high-tax, covid-restrictive blue states and flocking to freedom in Florida.

have been voting for DeSantis with their feet, fleeing high-tax, covid-restrictive blue states and flocking to freedom in Florida. After languishing in the mid-40s last year, DeSantis’s approval rating in the state has risen to 59% in a new Saint Leo University poll, with just 37% disapproving – almost President Joe Biden’s

congressman and former governor Charlie Crist, by almost nine points in the RealClearPolitics polling average. He’s ahead of his next-most-likely opponent, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, by 13 points.

If DeSantis secures a decisive victory in November, he could prove a formidable

challenger to Biden – and an attractive alternative to Trump. While Biden continues to reach new lows in approval, polls also show most Americans still don’t wish Trump were back in the Oval Office. A Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey finds that majorities do not want either Trump (55%) or Biden (63%) to run in 2024, with almost 6 in 10 saying they would be open to supporting a third-party candidate if faced with a rematch between the two. If they do both run again, Trump holds a mere two-point edge over Biden – a statistical tie.

The fact that Trump is deadlocked with Biden – whose approval has plummeted further and faster than any modern president – should be a red flag for Republicans. Right now, 69 percent of Republicans say they want Trump to run again, according to a CBS News-YouGov poll. But after seeing the disastrous policies Biden has implemented – the worst inflation in 40 years, the worst crime wave since the 1990s, the worst border crisis in American history – they also know that the 2024 election is one Republicans absolutely have to win. If Republican primary voters are convinced that Trump cannot prevail, they might back someone else.

DeSantis is putting himself in a strong position to be that someone else. He understands that Republicans don’t want a nominee like Mitt Romney, who let Democrats walk all over him without fighting back. They want a counterpuncher. DeSantis is building a record in office that will send a powerful message to Republican primary voters: I’ll give you everything you liked about Trump – except I will win.

(c) 2022, Washington Post Writers Group

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Political crossfire

Pelosi’s Partisan Politics on Ukraine Could Have Deadly Consequences

by Marc A. thiessen

H

because he is on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s target list of 22 Republican or open seats it hopes to win in November. McCaul also recommended that Pelosi invite Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., another member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He also did not receive an invitation.

tell the destination to senior members of Congress’s national security committees – who have access to our nation’s most highly classified intelligence – is absurd.

If she had wanted to bring senior Republicans with her to meet with Zelensky, she could have. Including Republicans who have been critical of her would have sent

Including Republicans who have been critical of her would have sent a powerful message: Whatever our differences at home, we are united in support of Ukraine.

a powerful message: Whatever our differences at home, we are united in support of Ukraine. But she chose not to do so.

Ultimately, what matters more than the photo op is the military aid package that Congress approves. But instead of calling the House back into session upon her return to pass the $33 billion in military and humanitarian support immediately, Pelosi is linking the Ukraine aid to a controversial package of billions in additional Covid

(c) 2022, Washington Post Writers Group

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The Pelosi spokesman told me that “numerous” GOP House members were invited, though he declined to offer names, and that “none of the Republicans accepted the invitation.” He said that “given the security precautions for this trip,” members could not be told the destination was Kyiv and were instead “told this was a codel to Poland.” But McCaul was told that the congressional delegation planned to go to Ukraine. And the idea that Pelosi could not

relief. Asked about tying the two priorities together, Pelosi told reporters on Friday: “I’m all for that,” adding that “we need to have the Covid money.”

Pelosi knows full well that many Republicans have legitimate concerns about additional pandemic spending after Democrats wasted on non-Covid projects much of the $1.9 trillion they approved on a party-line vote last year. She also knows that Senate Republicans are rightly linking a vote on Covid relief to a vote on bipartisan legislation to keep Title 42 – the public health order that allows border officials to turn away migrants in an effort to minimize virus spread – in place until 60 days after the surgeon general announces the end of the pandemic public health emergency. So, linking Ukraine aid to covid relief necessarily entangles it in the divisive politics of the southern border.

Pelosi might think she can get Republicans to back down on Title 42 by blaming any delays in Ukraine aid on them. “This is called legislating,” Pelosi said. Ukrainians are fighting for their lives – they don’t have time to wait for Congress to “legislate” on extraneous issues.

Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla. – who also was not invited to Kyiv by Pelosi but tells me he gladly would have gone to meet Zelensky – tweeted: “If Speaker Pelosi’s tough talk in Ukraine is serious, she should immediately call the House back into session to vote on additional weapons for Ukraine that is NOT paired with COVID spending.

We are in a race against time with the Russians.”

He’s right. Not bringing any Republicans to Kyiv was a lost opportunity. But playing political brinkmanship with aid to Ukraine that enjoys broad bipartisan support would be a scandal with deadly consequences.

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ouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., deserves credit for leading a congressional delegation to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – a trip, she tweeted, that sent “an unmistakable and resounding message to the entire world: America stands firmly with Ukraine.”

It would have been a much more resounding message had it been bipartisan.

The Speaker’s all-Democrat delegation included House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., but the committee’s ranking Republican, Rep. Michael R. Turner (Ohio), was not invited, according to congressional sources. Neither was Rep. Mike D. Rogers (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, which is responsible for the $33 billion military aid package President Biden has requested for Ukraine. Yet a Democratic member of the committee, Rep. Jason Crow (Colo.), was included. Pelosi’s counterpart, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., also was not invited – because of bad blood between them, a Pelosi spokesman told me. The only ranking Republican on a committee with jurisdiction over Ukraine policy to be invited was Rep. Michael McCaul (Tex.), the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who had just returned from his third trip to the region and could not go.

After McCaul told Pelosi he could not go, he recommended she ask Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Europe. Fitzpatrick is also co-chairman of the bipartisan Congressional Ukraine Caucus and a former FBI agent whose last assignment before entering Congress was in Kyiv. He had a prior commitment, Fitzpatrick told me, but “I would have canceled in a second if I had been invited.” But he wasn’t. Why didn’t Pelosi include him? Perhaps, he says, it’s

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MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

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Forgotten Her es

Heroes of the Battle of Midway

by Avi Heiligman

A destroyer picking up the crew from the USS Yorktown

10

OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

b

attles during World War II were fought far differently than any war in the past. Advances in technology led to better weapons and machinery, and this was very clear in how naval warfare was conducted. Surface ships no longer went unimpeded as they now how to contend with better performing submarines and airpower. Until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, many American commanders weren’t too keen on the reliance of aircraft carriers, but with most of their battleships out of action, carriers took center stage.

The Battle of Midway was unique in that it was the first naval engagement in history in which surface vessels did not actually engage in combat. Instead, it was aircraft launched from carriers that did most of the fighting, and the overwhelming victory had much more to do with skill and bravery than good fortune. The battle that turned the tide in the Pacific Theater involved many heroes in an effort that began way before the battle was actually fought.

The Japanese plan to attack Midway was complex, but the U.S. had a secret team of cryptographers able to map out the Japanese moves in advance. Captain Joseph Rochefort had a team of cryptanalysts in Pearl Harbor who had broken the Japanese naval code. The team knew that a Japanese attack was coming but they

The Japanese Mikuma smolders after being hit

didn’t know for sure what the letters “AF” referred to, as they were used in the Japanese codes as the target for the attack.

Rochefort believed it meant Midway, but others thought it was elsewhere. Another naval intelligence officer, Jasper Holmes, suggested that the American station at Midway should send out an unencrypted message saying that Midway was almost out of fresh water. The plan worked out, and the Americans soon deciphered a Japanese message that AF was almost out of fresh water. Admiral Chester Nimitz now knew where and approximately when the Japanese would strike as well as the composition of their forces.

Nimitz had the recently repaired carrier USS Yorktown join the carriers USS Hornet and the USS Enterprise in making a beeline for Midway. Midway was a remote island that served as a seaplane base as well as a refueling station for airliners and ships. Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s plan was extremely complex, and it included several naval forces coming from a multitude of directions. One force consisted of his carriers, another with the actual landing forces, a third with the submarines, and then a main battle force with the largest battleship afloat, the Yamato. A diversionary task force also sent troops to three of the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska.

The Aleutian part of the plan was to draw

The USS Yorktown shortly after she was hit by three Japanese bombs on the first day of the Battle of Midway

the American ships to that area, while Midway, the Japanese main target, was invaded. Yamamoto was expecting the Americans to fall into this trap.

In total, the Japanese had four carriers, two battleships, two heavy, one light cruiser, and 248 aircraft. The Americans had 233 planes on their carriers and another 127 aircraft based on Midway. However, many of the American planes were outdated and were outclassed by the Japanese fighter planes. What the Americans did have, though, was the element of surprise as the Japanese weren’t expecting much resistance. At 12:30 PM on June 3, 1942, the battle began with nine American B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers attacking the transport and landing group, but they didn’t score any hits. The next morning, an American Catalina flying boat scored a torpedo hit on a Japanese tanker.

Early on June 4, Japanese bombers, torpedo planes, and fighters took off to bomb Midway Island installations. They started their attack at about 6:20 AM. Defending the U.S., Marine Corps Brewster Buffalo and Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters suffered disastrous losses in the first minutes of the battle, and the Japanese inflicted major damage to the facilities on Midway. While that attack was taking place, all available planes on Midway had taken off and were headed toward the

Japanese carriers. They found them but suffered several losses while causing no damage on the ships.

After this attack, the Japanese began to recover their planes and started rearming them on the carriers when word came in from a cruiser’s floatplane that he had seen the American fleet. This changed Admiral Nagumo’s plan, and he was in a quandary as whether to attack Midway or the carriers. It proved a costly error as he decided to rearm the planes with anti-ship ordinance, like torpedoes, instead of heavy bombs to attack the island.

At 9:20 AM, American Devastator torpedo bombers from the Hornet led

by Lieutenant Commander John C. Waldron commenced the attack on the Japanese carriers. With no fighter cover, it was slaughter for the Americans, as all of their planes were shot down. It was the same situation for the torpedo bombers coming from the Enterprise. No hits were scored, as there were problems with the torpedoes not exploding.

After the torpedo bombers were wiped out, the dive bombers came in for the attack on the Japanese carriers that changed the course of history. Enterprise’s air groups split up and attacked two targets. Beginning at 10:22, Wade McClusky and his wingmen scored hits on Kaga, while to the north Akagi was

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MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

attacked four minutes later by three bombers, led by Lieutenant Commander Richard Halsey Best. Yorktown’s dive bombers, commanded by Max Leslie, went for Soryu, scoring hits. The dive-bombers left Soryu and Kaga ablaze within six minutes. The Kaga was hit by “Dusty” Kleiss, who put three bombs in the forward section of the flight deck.

Akagi was hit by just one bomb (dropped

by Lieutenant Commander Best), which penetrated to the upper hangar deck and exploded among the armed and fueled aircraft there. Soryu took three bombs

Torpedo Squadron aircraft preparing to be launched off the USS Enterprise

in her hangar deck; Kaga was hit at least four, possibly five times. All three carriers were out of action and were eventually abandoned and scuttled.

The one Japanese carrier that was not attacked (as of yet) was the Hiryu, and she sent 24 planes to hit the Americans. Several planes were shot down, but eight made it through and three dropped bombs on the Yorktown. The Japanese thought they had sunk her, but in an hour, damage control parties had controlled the fires and got the engines running again.

However, two torpedo planes attacked the

Yorktown and scored hits. The ship was sinking, and the captain ordered “abandon ship.” The Hiryu was then attacked and sunk by dive bombers later in the afternoon. One of the pilots who scored a hit was “Dusty” Kleiss who had earlier successfully hit another carrier.

All four Japanese carriers that participated in the battle were sunk. The Americans had successfully turned away for the second time a superior enemy that was trying land on strategic Pacific bases.

The sinking of the carriers turned the tables of the balance of power in the Pacific,

and the Americans were then able to go on the offensive in August.

The 80th anniversary of the Battle of Midway is next month, and it is fitting to remember the sacrifices that the airmen, sailors, and marines made to turn the tide of the war.

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

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WOODMERE Great Home on a Cul-De-Sac, SD #15, Features 4 Bedrooms, 3 New Full Bathrooms, Gas Heat, Central Air Conditioning, Renovated Gourmet EIK w/2 Sinks, Granite Countertops, New Stainless Steel Appliances Leading out to a New Deck, Elegant Formal Dining Room, New Flooring, Moldings, and New Wood Bannister Leading to the Bedrooms, Spacious Master Bedroom Suite w/Jacuzzi Tub, Sep Stall Shower, and a Large Walk-In Closet. Generously Sized Den Leading Out to a Magnificent Backyard With a New Pergola, Great Home for Entertaining, High Hats Throughout, New Front Walkway Leading to a Nice Front Porch, New Front Windows Close to RR, Shopping, Houses of Worship. P.O.R. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@ bhhslaffey.com

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Co-Ops:

WOODMERE

5BR, 5BA with IGP on a lot size of 111x107, F L/R & D/R, Tremendous Den w/ Fplc, EIK w/SS Appliances, New outside with Stone and Stucco, New pavers, Roof & CAC, 10 Zone Heat. $P.O.R.

WOODMERE

WOODMERE

Great home on a cul-de-sac, SD #15, 4BR, 3 Moce Right In, Breathatking Woodmere Full Bathrooms, Gas Heat, CAC, EIK, Granite home with over 7,100 SF of Living Space, Countertops, SS Appliances, F D/R, MBR Suite Chef’s Kitchen w/Island, 2 Sinks, 2 Dishwashers, 2 Ovens & Radiant Heat, F D/R, w/Jacuzzi Tub, LG Den to a park like backyard with a new Pergola. Close to all. $P.O.R. F L/R w/ Fplc, Den, Library, IGP, $P.O.R.

Cedarhurst Hewlett Hewlett Hewlett Hewlett Lawrence Lawrence Lawrence Lawrence Woodmere Woodmere Woodmere

5BR, 3Bath Colonial, Open Floor Plan, Large EIK, F L/R & D/R, Den, MBR Suite w/Full Bath & Siting Room/Nursery, Close to all. $899,000

Homes:

1BR 2BR 2BR 2BR 3BR 2BR 2BR 1BR 3BR 2BR 2BR 3BR

• • • • • • • • • • • •

1BA 2BA 2BA 2BA 2BA 2BA 1BA 1BA 3BA 1BA 1BA 3BA

$219k $189k $299k $479k $309k $449K $299K $325K $P.O.R. $199k $349k $697k

And many more...Call for details!

Far Rockaway Far Rockaway Hewlett Bay Park Woodmere Woodmere Hewlett Hewlett Inwood Woodsburgh Woodmere Woodmere

Rentals:

5BR • 2BA 6BR • 2BA 6BR • 7BA 3BR • 2BA 4BR • 3BA 3BR • 1BA 5BR • 4BA 4BR • 3BA 4BR • 4BA 6BR • 4BA 8BR • 5BA

$999k $1,099,000 $P.O.R. $899k $950k $799k $870k $599k $P.O.R. $P.O.R. $P.O.R.

Hewlett

1BR • 1BA

$2,100/monthly

Woodmere

8BR • 5BA

$P.O.R.

Cedarhurst Cedarhurst Cedarhurst

1BR • 1BA 2BR • 2BA 3BR • 2BA

$2,025/monthly $2,995/monthly $3,695/monthly

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

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Classifieds classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com • text 443-929-4003

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

5 TOWNS BOYS YESHIVA SEEKING ELEM GEN ED TEACHERS Excellent working environment and pay. Only lic/exp need apply.

Email resume to yeshivalooking@gmail.com

Experience in not-for-profit Jewish organizations is a plus.

Excellent part-time opportunity with competitive hourly compensation.

Candidate will work with the director in developing budget and fundraising initiatives and generating reports to present to our Board of Directors.

Resumes to info@legacy613.org

EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER STAFF NEEDED IN LAWRENCE In the anticipation of the opening of 2 additional classrooms (1 infant, 1 toddler), the Gural JCC’s Early Childhood Center is actively looking for full-time and part-time staff to fill these positions.

Interested and qualified applicants should e-mail resumes and references directly to JCC. Nursery@guraljcc.org or call (516) 239-1354.

TEACHERS AND ASSISTANTS

Special Care seeks patient Male or female com/hab worker 5:30-7:30 P.M. for 7-year-old boy with autism in Bayswater, full or partial coverage.

718-252-3365 ext: 102 or renay@specialcarefor.com NEW YESHIVA IN QUEENS SEEKING SECRETARY Must be detail-oriented, have great organizational skills, able to multitask. Experience in school programs a plus. Send resume to: office@yeshivatbneitorah.org or call/text: 347-351-4573

DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT A multi-tasker needed for general office work. The ideal candidate is someone who is detail-oriented, responsible, and can take ownership.

Looking for someone who is eager to learn, and expand his/her skill set while possessing the ability to work independently and as part of a team.

Experience with Excel required. Five Towns location. In-office position only, not remote.

Please send resume to 5tpart.timecareer@gmail.com

TJH Classifieds Post your Real Estate, Help Wanted, Services, Miscellaneous Ads here.

Weekly Classifed Ads Up to 5 lines and/or 25 words 1 week ................$20 2 weeks .............. $35 4 weeks .............. $60 Email ads to: classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com Include valid credit card info and zip code

Deadline Monday 5:00pm

General Studies teaching positions for elementary grades available for ‘22-’23 school year, due to simchas/scheduling.

Mon.-Thurs., afternoon hours.

Far Rockaway/5T area. Competitive salary, warm supportive environment.

Teachersearch11@gmail.com.

FOR SEPT. 2022 CAHAL is seeking Full Time and Part Time SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS and TEACHER ASSISTANTS for the 2022-2023 School Year. CAHAL classes are located in Yeshivas and Bais Yaakov’s in the Five Towns, Far Rockaway, and West Hempstead. Please send your resume to shira@cahal.org.

For more information, call Shira Cohen or Naomi Nadata at 516-295-3666.

LAWYER/ADVOCATE Needed for Special Ed office in BP. Top pay.

Please email resume to jobofferinboropark@gmail.com

classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com • text 443-929-4003

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

MDS REGIONAL NURSE: 5 Towns area Nursing Home management office seeking a Regional/Corporate level MDS Nurse to work in our office.

Must be an RN. Regional experience preferred. 2-3 years MDS experience with good computer skills required.

Position is Full Time but Part Time can be considered.

Great Shomer Shabbos environment with some remote options as well.

Email: officejob2019@gmail.com

SHULAMITH EARLY CHILDHOOD is looking to hire a full time teacher assistant for the current school year.

Please email resume to earlychildhood@shulamith.org

Girls elementary school in the five towns is seeking warm, dynamic, experienced preschool teachers for the school year beginning September 2022. Competitive salaries and benefits.

Please email resume to job.preschool. director@gmail.com OU Torah Initiatives is seeking a content manager for its All-Torah apps division. Primary responsibilities include managing content on the platforms which includes uploading, responding to inquiries, develop and manage unique presentations.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Computer literacy required. Strong Torah knowledge required.3+ years related experience required.

Please email resume to Mosheb@ou.org Yeshiva Kol Torah is growing and seeking phenomenal teachers in all subject areas to join our amazing faculty. Warm, professional, supportive and growth-oriented environment. Excellent pay. Interested candidates should submit resumes to srada@yeshivakoltorah.org PART TIME ADMIN ASSISTANT A capable multi-tasker needed to provide general office administrative support. Part-time-flexible hours.

Woodmere location.

Experience with Excel required.

Please send resume to jobfulfillment20@gmail.com

General administrative support needed for busy Five Towns office.

Part Time, in-office position.

Flexible hours. Looking for someone who is detail-oriented and dedicated.

Proficiency in Excel/Word a must.

Please send inquiry/resume to flexiblestaffpositions21@gmail.com JOIN OUR TEAM! NurNursing Home Management Company in Brooklyn Looking to fill the following positions: Administrative Assistant MS office suite proficiency required AdminAssistant experience required WE ARE LOOKING FOR AN EXPERIENCED FULL TIME BOOKKEEPER Excellent growth potential Frum environment Excellent salary & benefits Email resume to: resumetfs1@gmail.com Please put position title and FTJH in subject line YESHIVA KETANA OF LONG ISLAND, in the 5-Towns, seeks a licensed, experienced 7th grade Math teacher, for 2 periods, M-Th. Join our dynamic educational team!

Send resume to pschultz@ykl.org.

MISC Gemach Zichron Yehuda In memory of R’ Yehuda Aryeh Leib ben R’ Yisroel Dov We have a library of books on the subjects of loss, aveilus, grief, & kaddish. We have sets of ArtScroll Mishnayos to assist with finishing Shisha Sidrei Mishna for Shloshim or yahrtzeit.

Locations in Brooklyn, Far Rockaway, & Lakewood.

Email: zichronyehuda@yahoo.com GEMACH ZICHRON TOVAH LOANS UP TO $5000 HEAD-CHECKS AND 2 COSIGNERS REQUIRED CALL 718-614-3271

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

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Your

Nice Work If You Can Get It

by Allan rolnick, cPA

OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home

A

6

Money

few weeks ago was spring break, and millions of Americans did their best bird imitations and flew south. College kids found their way to budget motels in places like Myrtle Beach, Daytona, and South Padre Island, where beer is cheap, bar bouncers understand an ID doesn’t have to be perfect to get the job done, and police turn a blind eye to minor misdemeanors in exchange for sweet tourist cash. Grown-ups headed to classier resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean. Some adventurous spring breakers ventured even farther to South American destinations like Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, where, centuries ago, the Incas built their empire.

The Incas ruled from roughly 1400 to 1532 – barely a blink of an eye as civilizations go. In that short time, they expanded their reach to over 800,000 square miles and perhaps 12 million people. They built rope suspension bridges, roads, canals, and terraces for growing maize, cocoa, beans, and potatoes. The stone structures they erected at Machu Pichu still stand today. Incan food scientists even invented beef jerky (although they made it out of llama). But – and this was fun to learn – they never got around to figuring out money. This curious omission had all sorts of consequences, espe-

cially at tax time.

With nothing tangible to exchange for goods or services, the Incan economy centered on barter and human labor. Because there was no cash to collect for taxes, the Incans turned to a concept called corvée, or forced labor in lieu of taxes. They called it mit’a and put male citizens aged 50-15 to work for a set number of days – usually two to three months per year. Rulers imposed different sorts of mit’as to harness their

Francisco Pizarro landed in Peru at the end of a bloody civil war for control of the Incan throne. Pizarro’s group included just 167 men. But that tiny force was armed with guns, swords, and a primitive bioweapon called “smallpox” (/smôl päks/), which helped them sub′ due the Inca almost overnight. And the Spanish found the mit’a worked so well they used it as the foundation for their own encomienda system, also based on forced labor.

But that tiny force was armed with guns, swords, and a primitive bioweapon called “smallpox.”

citizens’ various talents. These included local mit’as to maintain infrastructure, a war mit’a to man the army, an agricultural mit’a to harvest the crops, and a fishing mit’a to catch fish. (Have you tried Peruvian ceviche? It’s even better than llama jerky!)

In 1532, the Spanish conquistador

Today, Washington struggles to find new ways to pay for our own empire.

Lawmakers have looked at taxing carbon outputs, taxing wealth, and even taxing increases in wealth without success. But why jump through all those hoops when you can just put people to work? Granted, it might be tough to find

appropriate jobs for, say, an ambulancechasing attorney or timeshare salesman.

And some people have no useful skills whatsoever. (It’s hard to imagine what any of those “real housewives” could possibly do.) Yet the Inca concept of public service still holds potential. Many politicians have proposed a year or two of mandatory national service for young people before beginning college or a career. We wouldn’t be the first people on the modern planet to do it!

Is there any chance a 21st century mit’a could work here? Probably not.

Our founding fathers revolted against the British to escape taxes, and a later generation fought a civil war over involuntary servitude. Sadly, that leaves us with good old Form 1040 to pay the bills. The good news is that you may be able to use smart tax planning to reduce your cash bill more effectively than cutting your service days. Be glad we’re here to help and enjoy your spring break

Allan J Rolnick is a CPA who has been in practice for over 30 years in Queens, NY. He welcomes your comments and can be reached at 718-896-8715 or at allanjrcpa@aol.com.

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"Our son entered CAHAL in second grade struggling academically, socially and emotionally. As his skills grew, his confidence grew. After a few years, he was mainstreamed for Judaic Studies classes and made the Honor Roll. Thanks to his wonderful Rebbeim and teachers, he no longer defined himself by his learning difficulties. Thank you CAHAL for offering the safe and warm environment that our son needed in order to succeed. We will forever be grateful."

We are now accepting students for Fall 2022.

Kindergarten-8th grade Separate Boys & Girls classes

"CAHAL has taken my daughter and helped her blossom and excel academically, socially, and emotionally into a beautiful girl. I am extremely grateful for everything CAHAL has done for her, and I’m proud to be a part of this community organization."

For more Information about how CAHAL can help your child succeed, please contact us: 516-295-3666 shira@cahal.org www.cahal.org Follow us @cahalcommunity

MAY 5, 2022 | The Jewish Home

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Life c ach

Count Me In by rivki D. rosenwald esq., LMFt, cLc, SDS

O

turns, everyone play nicely together, let him have his turn to speak, and so on.

They messed up on those.

So, we are mourning the mistake that the students of Rabbi Akiva made. And the sad price these role models paid. It’s not enough to be knowledgeable; we need to be respectful.

We are making each day count! We are accumulating and refining better qualities.

We are counting up our improvements, our daily character refinements, in order to be worthy of this auspicious gift. We are doing the work and feeling the glory.

Our count counts. But their loss counts, too.

And separately and simultaneously, we are mourning the mistakes of Rabbi Akiva’s students.

Our count counts. But their loss counts, too. So, we refrain a bit. I guess we can use the free time to do that much more.

In Judaism, there are always pragmatic approaches and special cases. If your livelihood will be hurt, you can trim your hair a bit. If the music has no instruments, you can listen. And though

Rivki Rosenwald is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist working with both couples and individuals and is a certified relationship counselor. Rivki is a co-founder and creator of an effective Parent Management of Adolescent Years Program. She can be contacted at 917705-2004 or at rivkirosenwald@gmail.com.

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Our nation suffered a loss at this time, and we want to be aware of it. So, while we personally are excited and growing, we are not insensitive.

But usually, when we are anticipating an event that is coming soon, we count down to it: 49 days left, 48 days, 47… Yet we aren’t ticking off the days to receiving the Torah. We are counting up. Why? The activity of this time isn’t anticipating it’s arrival. It is counting our steps up to it.

marriages aren’t taking place, dating certainly isn’t curtailed, so you can still find that great guy or gal.

But is counting worth saying a blessing on?

When we say, “You count,” it means you are important. When we think of “a count, we think of someone who is important. After all, we live in a “count-y,” a place where everyone should be important.

The important point being that counting is a good thing. And if we’ve got a few restrictions because some people forgot how much others counted, let’s embrace those limitations as a wakeup call.

And let’s keep counting all of our blessings!

emoH hsiweJ eht | 5102 ,92 rebOtcO

y, those counting days. Those days between Pesach and Shavuos. We count each and every day.

We even make a bracha over the counting as if it’s a big, wonderful blessing. Honestly, I can see some 6-year-old being excited about ticking off each day; ‘cause they love it. They are always counting to their next birthday. But we are being restricted each day. So why are we so happy?

If we want to: Make a wedding, we can’t.

Listen to music, we can’t.

Just cut away a few hairs that are overgrown, we can’t.

So why would we be excited?

The days are double infused. We are soon going to celebrate receiving the Torah. That’s big! These should be days of excitement. So, what is the downer?

During these wonderful days, at another time in history, brilliant men, learned men, couldn’t treat each other with the respect that we each should treat our fellow man. And 24,000 of them died.

You recall those lessons that they tried to instill in us in kindergarten: take

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ACHIEVED MY GOAL!

Short-Term Care | Long-Term Care | Hospice Care

“

I want to personally thank my primary therapists, Ronnie Sta.Teresa and Darren Gonzales, for the great job getting me to where I am today. When I started therapy in December, I had doubts that I would walk again. With their patience and effort, I achieved that goal. My gratitude to Ronnie and Darren and to the entire therapy staff. - ER, Queens

New modern look.

Same tradition of care.

• 85% Private Rooms • Separate Kitchens for Meat & Dairy (Cholov Yisroel | VHQ) • Full time Rabbi On-Staff • Special Shabbos & Holiday Meals • Beautiful Outdoor Gardens • Shabbos Elevator • Community Eruv

Unique to Margaret Tietz • Virtual Reality REAL Therapy System • Daily & Shabbos Minyanim • Full Holiday Schedule • Shabbos Hospitality Apartment

718-298-7806 • 164-11 Chapin Parkway, Jamaica Hills, NY 11432 • margarettietz.org/jewish