Five Towns Jewish Home - 2-25-21

February 25, 2021

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62 Purim Spirit Abounds Around Town

42 i-Shine Brings Smiles to Many

46 Local Schools Celebrate Purple Day

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Widows, orphans, and poor families have serious hang-ups about Purim. Everyone around them is first Purim alone, hashing and rehashing memories of last Purim, when COVID lurked beneath the joy.

Now they’re left with huge, aching gaps – in their fridges, around their tables, and in their broken hearts.

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getting ready to celebrate, but they’re afraid they won’t be part of the fun. Many will celebrate their

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Dear Readers,

W

hen we read the Purim story, it seems almost like a children’s book storyline, with twists and turns and a neat ending, all tied up in a bow. But the Jews living through the miracle of Purim didn’t see it that way.

From start to finish, the Megillah takes place over nine years. That means that the Jews who saw Haman hanging from the gallows barely remembered the delicacies they gorged themselves on at Achashveirosh’s feast.

But if Purim teaches us anything, it’s that Hashem has a plan.

There’s a saying in Yiddish: Mann tracht, un Gott lacht; man plans, and G-d laughs.

But truly that’s not the case. Hashem is not laughing at us.

In life, we plan and we think that we know and can predict what life will bring.

But in reality, there’s Someone Who is pulling the strings and orchestrating a beautiful grand finale to the events that swirl around us. Man plans, but Hashem has a Plan.

We’re living in uncertain times. Many of us look back at where we were a year ago and marvel incredulously at how the world turned upside down so quickly. But just as quickly as the world was overturned is the speediness with which Hashem can – and will – bring our geulah.

The Jews in Mordechai and Esther’s time were also facing uncertainty and were

surrounded by peculiar events. Amalek represents uncertainty and doubt, and so it was fitting that the Jews faced those events when Haman rose to power. But then, Hashem showed them how all the twists and the turns wove together to form a beautiful tapestry of redemption. It was all part of His plan.

Taanis Esther and Purim are days that are mesugal for tefillah. Just as the Jews fasted and prayed for their redemption thousands of years ago, we can harness that power to pray for anything that we desire.

First and foremost, though, we need to keep in mind and firmly believe that Hashem is the One in charge. We need to firmly believe that He has a Plan. And we need to firmly believe that He desires our prayers and listens when we beseech Him. Every year, on Purim, I find it very hard to find time to daven. Between racing to hear megillah and helping the kids into their costumes and wading through mounds of mishloach manos, the day seems to slip by.

This year, with Purim coming on erev Shabbos, the day seems so much shorter.

But despite the busyness of the day, taking a few minutes to connect and pray for ourselves and for Klal Yisroel will help us harness the power of the day.

Wishing you a freilechen Purim, 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.

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Shabbos Zemanim

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The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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COMMUNITY 8

Readers’ Poll Community Happenings

42

NEWS

114

Global

12

National

28

That’s Odd

38

Purim Certified News

84

ISRAEL Israel News

24

JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Wein on the Parsha

70

Parshas Tetzaveh by Rav Moshe Weinberger

72

Parsha Ponderings by Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky

74

Delving into the Daf by Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

75

PURIM THOUGHTS From the Purim of Covid to the Purim of Redemption by Rav Yaakov Feitman 76 Our Existential Battle Against Amalek by Shmuel Reichman

78

Giving Voice to the Hidden Miracles by Rabbi Benny Berlin

80

A Brief Guide to a Fulfilling Purim by R’ Yaakov Klein

82

PEOPLE A Megillah for Esther

98

Forgotten Zeroes: The Incidents by Avi Heiligman

128

HEALTH & FITNESS Purim Food by Dr. Deb Hirschhorn

106

A Purim Shpiel by Aliza Beer, MS RD CDN

108

FOOD & LEISURE A Spin on Gin by Susan Schwamm

114

The Aussie Gourmet: Rose Sangria

116

Dear Editor, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi having Congress establish an official commission to investigate the January 6th Capitol Hill is understandable. So is the establishment of a similar commission to investigate other attacks on public buildings, police stations, private businesses, arson, physical assault on law enforcement officials and billions of dollars in destruction around the nation lead by Antifa and other extremist groups on the left which went on around the nation last year as well.

Political extremists on both the right and left who violate basic civil liberties that most Americans cherish need to be held accountable for their actions.

Sincerely, Larry Penner Great Neck, NY

Dear Editor, I wholeheartedly agree with the letter writer who wrote about teenage drinking in the community and the need for community members to Continued on page 10

Be included in the TJH Purim Photo Album We love how you look in that banana costume! And your brother looks even better in his Waldo-at-the-Siyum-Hashas outfit.

Send in your Purim photos to editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com Deadline: Monday, March 1, at 5pm

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

102 110

JWow! 112 Mind Your Business

126

Your Money

134

For Sure by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., 135 CLC, SDS

What’s your favorite hamantashen flavor?

HUMOR

108

Centerfold 66 POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Notable Quotes

118

There are Only Bad Options in Afghanistan by David Ignatius

122

Cuomo Hid Covid-19 Data y Marc A. Thiessen

123

Biden’s Move on Iran by David Ignatius

124

CLASSIFIEDS

130

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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Dear Editor, Parsha Tetzaveh and Purim appear to represent contradictory ideas at first glance. Tetzaveh represents commandments, while Purim is all about voluntary acceptance of the oral law and rabbinic traditions. How can this be reconciled? If, in fact, it can be reconciled, then what are the other connections between Tetzaveh and Purim?

It’s true that the Megillah accentuates the fact that the Jews reaccepted the Torah voluntarily, however, the act of acceptance retroactively took place at Har Sinai with the mountain being held over the Jews’ heads. On Purim, the original act became one that can be considered done out of free-will in retrospect. This being the case, the Jews reacceptance was based on a tzivui, a forced command, thus reconciling Purim with the verbiage of Tetzaveh.

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Continued from page 8

stop teenagers from imbibing.

Perhaps, though, we, as a society, need to look at where the problem of teenage drinking stems from.

Our society has become a society obsessed with alcohol. Rare is the simcha that doesn’t have less than ten bottles of alcohol – and these are bottles that cost more than $100

each! Is this what we value? Do our kids need to hear about the expensive bottles of whiskey or bourbon or wines that are being served at our kiddushim and at our Shabbos tables? Are these priorities that we need to pass along to our impressionable teenagers and children?

This, of course, is a separate but related issue that connects to drinking to excess in shul. A little l’chaim

after davening is understandable but for husbands to come home drunk from shul (OK, not falling-downin-a-stupor drunk, only sleeping-atthe-Shabbos-table drunk) is embarrassing and a terrible example for our children. It, of course, is also a shame for a wife and family to have to see her husband and their father like that at the end of a long week.

There is a lot we can learn from

Dear Editor, I found your article on Biden and his stance towards Middle East policy to be slanted. We all know that Biden is not in the same league as Trump when it comes to protecting Israel’s interests. In fact, it can be said that Biden is not in the same league when it comes to his predecessor in protecting the U.S.’s interests. Just by virtue of the fact that he wants to drag the U.S. back into the 2015 nuclear pact with Iran – there is no compromising and making deals with the devil. Iran is working – not even covertly! – on pursuing nuclear weapons. No doubt about it – those nuclear weapons are going to used to threaten the West, including the U.S. and Israel. Why, oh why, would someone want to deal with these people, whose only interests in our destruction?

Biden should take a step back when it comes to Middle East policy. Trump’s concept of aligning the Sunni powers with Israel was a very smart move. He would be smart to capitalize on that momentum.

Sincerely, Avi Hirsch Woodmere, NY

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

The Week In News

Iran Transferred Underground Missile Launchers

A new report reveals that Iran successfully transferred underground launchers for ballistic missiles to Syria in a top-secret operation.

Quoting a senior Syrian security official, the Arabic-language Al Hura television station reported that Shi’ite militias supported by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) brought missile launchers from Iraqi territories and deployed them at Syria’s Imam Ali base and another warehouse near the Ayyash area in the western countryside.

The missile launchers arrived via a border crossing near the Imam Ali base that is controlled by the Afghani militia Fatemiyoun Division and Hezbollah. The report added that IRGC labored to shroud the arms shipment in secrecy to avoid Israeli airstrikes and informed only a handful of senior Syrian generals.

The launchers enable Damascus to fire missiles at the Jewish State without being spotted first by Israeli satellites. The covert transfers were spurred by years of successful Israeli air raids that foiled repeated Iranian attempts to send advanced weaponry to Syria and Hezbollah.

According to the source, the platforms that arrived at the Imam Ali base are not yet outfitted with missiles, which will come in a later shipment.

“The platforms have been placed in underground stores for fear of being targeted,” the Syrian security official said. “Special silos will be built for them so that the launch will be from above the ground, and then

the platform will return to its underground location.”

Currently the largest base in Syria, Imam Ali serves as a hub of Iranian activity. It includes large warehouses and secret tunnels and has been subjected to dozens of Israeli airstrikes since 2013.

Previous media reports have said that the base houses thousands of Iranian soldiers and has over 50 missile silos with internal tunnels dug under large warehouses to enable it to move weapons and personnel hidden from Israel’s prying eyes.

The base extends over an area of​​ tens of kilometers, includes 30 km of internal roads, and is linked to the “T4” base, which is 300 km away, through desert roads.

Firing rockets from underground is a strategy that the Revolutionary Guard has previously talked about on several occasions, as its militia in Iraq applied it by targeting military sites of the international coalition.

The deployment of the missile platforms comes at a time when Tehran continues to strengthen its influence in the regions of northeastern Syria, especially in the city of Albu Kamal and up to the city of Al-Mayadeen.

Prince Philip Hospitalized

Prince Philip, 99, is responding to treatment for an infection but will remain hospitalized for the next few days. The 99-year-old husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth was admitted to the hospital on February 16 “after feeling unwell” with an ailment not related to COVID-19.

“He is comfortable and responding to treatment but is not expected to leave hospital for several days,” the palace said without naming the type or severity of the infection.

The Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen received their coronavirus vaccinations in January. They had been staying in Windsor Castle during the pandemic.

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth married on November 20, 1947.

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Prince Philip retired from public duties in 2017 and is the longest-serving royal consort in British history.

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As reports come out about line-cutting for officials and key political allies for the coronavirus vaccine, Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez is coming out defensively, asserting that rumors of the sort stem from an overblown media campaign.

Fernandez said that while he rejected the “irregular” vaccinations, it had already cost the resignation of

his health minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia and did not amount to a crime.

The statements follow local reports that a federal judge ordered a search warrant on the Health Ministry and a probe on Gonzalez Garcia following the publication of a list of about 70 people vaccinated out of turn.

“Without a doubt, it’s a reprehensible act because in the circumstances in which we live in, nobody can support that someone has the possibility to get vaccinated ahead of time,” Fernandez said during a press conference in Mexico City. “There’s no crime in Argentina that says one will be punished for skipping the line – that crime doesn’t exist.”

Newly appointed Health Minister Carla Vizzotti announced on Tuesday that her team will create a commission to monitor how vaccines are administered to “strategic” people.

The ministry plans to publish a list of the individuals who qualify under the new protocols.

Fernandez noted that a list of vaccine recipients published early this week needs to be examined more closely as some of the people in it include strategic personnel. He urged media to instead investigate corruption under the previous administration.

The scandal, dubbed “VIP vaccinations” locally, has diverted attention away from Fernandez’s most important foreign policy trip, where government strategists sought to brandish his image as a leader of vaccines in Latin America. Mexico and Argentina are co-producing the AstraZeneca Plc. vaccine for use in the region.

The list’s disclosure furthered public outcry as it showed mid-level government officials – including

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

young aides – and family members among the recipients, breaking with protocols that essential workers at hospitals and senior citizens be first in line for the vaccine.

Is Dubai Princess Safe?

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freedom.

“I’m a hostage. And this villa has been converted into a jail. All the windows are barred shut,” Latifa said in one clip.

“There’s five policemen outside, and two policewomen inside. I can’t even go out to get fresh air. So basically, I’m a hostage,” she added.

FB Fight in Australia

The Dubai royal family is denying charges that it is keeping Princess Latifa against her will after a secretly-recorded video spurred calls for a UN probe.

Dubai said in a statement that Princess Latifa is “being cared for at home” and denied that she was imprisoned in any way.

“She continues to improve, and we are hopeful she will return to public life at the appropriate time,” contended the ruling Al-Maktoum family.

“In response to media reports regarding Sheikha Latifa, we want to thank those who have expressed concern for her wellbeing, despite the coverage which certainly is not reflective of the actual position,” the statement continued.

The denial came after Princess Latifa alleged being the victim of heinous mistreatment by the royal family. In a secretly-recorded video, the princess described how she was imprisoned against her will in a villa next to the Burj al-Arab hotel in Dubai after trying to escape her life.

According to Latifa, who is one of Rashid bin Mohammed Al Maktoum’s 30 children he had with his five wives, she was locked up for three years after an escape attempt in 2002 and again in 2018. Captured by ex-special operatives, she was drugged and locked inside a cell in downtown Dubai.

For the next few years, she underwent severe torture, according to the princess. Forbidden from leaving and even getting any fresh air, Latifa said guards gave her a stopwatch and razor blades and pressured her to kill herself.

The video was recorded via a cellphone she secretly smuggled into prison and shed light on the Emirati princess’s long-running battle for her

Australia attempted to take on Facebook, but now it seems like it may be backing down.

This week, Facebook said it will restore news pages in Australia after the government agreed to changes to a planned media code that the company said would allow it to retain greater control over what appears on its platform.

The announcement caps months of bitter dispute between the American tech firm and Canberra, which had been working on legislation that would force tech platforms to pay publishers for news content.

The initial version of the legislation would have allowed media outlets to bargain either individually or collectively with Facebook and Google — and to enter binding arbitration if the parties couldn’t reach an agreement.

On Tuesday, the Australian government said it would amend the code to include a provision that “must take into account whether a digital platform has made a significant contribution to the sustainability of the Australian news industry through reaching commercial agreements with news media businesses.”

Arbitration, meanwhile, will now only be used as a “last resort” following a period of “good faith” mediation.

“The government has clarified we will retain the ability to decide if news appears on Facebook so that we won’t automatically be subject to a forced negotiation,” Campbell Brown, Facebook’s vice president for global news partnerships, said in a statement.

She added that the agreement

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

“will allow us to support the publishers we choose to, including small and local publishers.”

Last week, Facebook (FB) barred Australians from finding or sharing news on its service. The decision – which appeared to be the most restrictive move the company has ever taken against content publishers – forced the pages of media organizations and even some unrelated essential services to go dark.

Google, meanwhile, had already been trying to get ahead of the new legislation by announcing partnerships with some of the country’s largest media organizations, including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Seven West Media. Facebook revealed its own deal with Seven on Tuesday.

Israel Buying Vaccines for Syria Israel reportedly promised to purchase Russian COVID-19 vaccines for the Syrian regime in exchange for releasing a former charedi woman who crossed into Syria.

Mediated by Russia, the prisoner swap last week saw Israel free two shepherds who were arrested for spying on Israel on behalf of Iran. The woman had been returned to Israel last Thursday on a private jet that brought her back from Moscow and is currently being interrogated by the Shin Bet.

But according to reports, it wasn’t just humans that were exchanged between the countries. Israel also agreed to purchase millions of doses of Russia’s Sputnik IV COVID-19 vaccine for Syria. The unprecedented clause was requested both by Moscow, which seeks to distribute its vaccine worldwide, and the cashstrapped Assad government, which is unable to afford an inoculation campaign.

While refusing to confirm or deny the reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised on Saturday evening that Israel wouldn’t give Syria any of its own COVID-19 vac-

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“I can say that not even one Israeli vaccine dose went to this thing,” Bibi asserted.

“We brought the woman home – I’m happy we did it – but beyond that I’m not adding anything because that was what Russia requested.”

Damascus, via the official news agency (SANA), also denied the existence of a secret clause in the exchange deal.

A gag order has been placed over the prisoner swap that prevents the media from reporting any additional details.

The girl in question grew up in a charedi household in Kiryat Sefer and crossed the border on her own volition earlier this month. The 25-year-old had previously attempted to enter Gaza twice but had been turned back by IDF soldiers. She had expressed her desire to enter enemy territory on her personal Facebook page, writing that “no fence will stop me.” According to the IDF, the woman entered Syria via a hilly area adjoining Mount Hermon that does not have a border fence.

Torah Returned to Holland

After 80 years, a Torah scroll confiscated by the Nazis has been returned to its synagogue in Holland.

The scroll is said to be fully intact despite being stored in less-than-optimal conditions over the past eight decades. Jewish scribes are currently examining it to determine whether it is fit for use.

The scroll had disappeared from the synagogue after the Nazis invaded Dordrecht, a city in Western Netherlands, and had not been seen since. Originally, it was kept by Meijer Michiel Cohen, a Dutch Jew who ended the war with severe trauma from the horrors he witnessed.

After Aart Bezemer bought Cohen’s metal factory from him, he gave the scroll to Kees Pennings as a gift.

The elderly teacher kept the Torah scroll in his home until he passed away in 2001.

Following Pennings’ death, his widow notified local historian Kees

Weltevrede of the scroll’s existence, and he approached Jewish community leaders about the find. According to Weltevrede, the local Jewish community was shocked to hear that the scroll was still intact.

“For decades, no one knew what happened to the scroll in Dordrecht.

It was simply presumed lost, like so many other religious artifacts lost in the Holocaust,” he said.

Only 60 Jews from the hundreds who lived in Dordrecht survived the Holocaust. The community in the city ceased to exist in the 1980s.

UN Finds Uranium Particles in Iran

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported finding remains of uranium particles at two Iranian nuclear plants.

The inspections had occurred in August and September of 2020 and had been kept under wraps until the Reuters report on Saturday. While the two sites were not identified, the Reuters report said that Iran had attempted to block inspectors’ access to both plants.

Iran had refused repeated requests to inspect the sites for seven months leading up to the visit, likely fearing that the IAEA would uncover evidence of illicit uranium enrichment. Iran had declared the nuclear plants inactive, meaning that the evidence of enrichment is proof that it had not been acting in good faith.

When pressed for answers, Iranian diplomats and nuclear personnel refused to explain how a nuclear fission could turn up at two ostensibly-inactive nuclear plants.

Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Kazem Gharibabadi, chose not to comment when pressed for a statement.

Meanwhile, an anonymous Iranian official told Reuters that the fact that the Islamic Republic allowed the IAEA to inspect the site demonstrated its good intentions.

“We have nothing to hide. That is why we allowed the inspectors to visit those sites,” he said.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Under the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Tehran is forbidden from enriching uranium and must provide the IAEA with unfettered access to any and all suspected sites.

Barcelona Rocked by Riots

Violent riots rocked Barcelona for the sixth straight night on Sunday as anger over the arrest of a popular rapper refused to abide.

Throngs of protesters hurled rocks and firebombs at police, who responded with tear gas and other riot control means. Footage of the demonstrations showed police fighting a pitched battle with rioters to stop them from shattering windows and looting.

On Sunday evening, rioters harassed passersby and attacked police on Passeig de Gracia, Barcelona’s most popular thoroughfare, while

others sprayed graffiti and smashed windows on the Palau de la Musica concert hall.

Catalan police estimated the crowd size at 6,000 people and said that it had arrested 34 people, bringing the total to 100 people. Total damages are estimated to be 128,000 euros ($156,000).

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchrz condemned the violence and called on protesters to stand down.

“In a full democracy – and Spain’s democracy is a full democracy – the use of violence is unacceptable. There is no exception to this rule,” he said.

“There is no reason, place, or situation that can justify the use of force.”

The violence began after rapper Pablo Hasel was arrested and given nine months in prison for tweets praising convicted terrorists and criticizing the Spanish monarchy. Hasel’s arrest and imprisonment has become a rallying cry for young protesters who say that his detention infringes on freedom of speech.

The fiery rapper’s case surrounds more than 60 tweets he posted between from 2014 and 2016 that led to charges of “glorification of terrorism.” He also compared Spain’s former king Juan Carlos to a mafia don and alleged that police routinely

murdered migrants and demonstrators.

While Hasel was convicted in 2018 for his inflammatory tweets, he had until February 12, 2021 to turn himself into authorities. After the deadline passed, police arrested Hasel after a 24-hour standoff at a local university, launching days of violence.

Footage from the arrest shows Hasel yelling at police, “You will never defeat us! You will never overcome us. We will resist until we are victorious.”

Humans Get Bird Flu in Russia

Russia has confirmed that it has uncovered the first known instance of transmission of the H5N8 strain of avian flu from animals to humans.

Anna Popova, the director of

Russia’s Rospotrebnadzor disease control agency, announced that researchers at the Vektor laboratory had found strains of the virus amongst seven employees at a poultry farm near Sochi.

Popova added that Russia had notified the World Health Organization (WHO) and stressed that there are no signs of human-to-human transmission.

“All seven people...are now feeling well,” Popova said.

Russia rushed to notify the WHO “several days ago, just as we became absolutely certain of our results,” said Popova. The factory had been the scene of an outbreak of avian influenza H5N8 in December.

Popova hailed “the important scientific discovery,” saying that “time will tell” if the virus can be successfully contained. While avian flu is highly lethal, there are no known cases of human-to-human transmission.

Siberia’s Vector Institute has already begun human tests for a vaccine against H5N8. Located in desolate Siberia, the biological research center is known as one of the world’s most advanced and developed Russia’s Sputnik coronavirus vaccine.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Compensation for Yemenite Saga

Israel’s cabinet has approved a plan to pay millions in compensation to the families of Yemenite and Northern African children allegedly kidnapped during the country’s founding years.

As part of the settlement, Israel expressed “regret” for the disappearance of the scores of children and acknowledged the pain and suffering experienced by the families who lost their offspring. However, Israel did

not officially apologize for the saga nor did it admit that it ever occurred.

In an official statement, the government said that the compensation was meant to go to families who suffered from what “transpired during the early years of the state” and “whose children were part of this painful saga.”

Each family that had a child ostensibly die during the state’s fledgling years will receive between NIS 150,000 and NIS 200,000 ($46,000 to $62,000). The compensation is reserved for those whose cases were looked at by one of the three state committees that probed the situations throughout the years.

In addition, Israel will introduce the story of the abducted children in the official Education Ministry-sponsored curriculum.

The settlement is the latest twist in a decades-long affair relating to the unexplained disappearances of hundreds, if not thousands, of children from Yemenite and North African families. Upon arriving in Israel, millions of Sephardic Jews were herded into tent camps known as “Ma’abarot” and made to live in difficult conditions while the country struggled to absorb them.

Reportedly, hundreds of mothers had their children taken from them after giving birth, ostensibly for “medical checkups.” After a few days, the women were informed that their offspring had died and were buried in an unmarked grave.

The fate of the aforementioned children has since developed into a major social fault line in Israeli society that pits Israel’s founding elite against hundreds of thousands of Sephardic immigrants. While the government first chalked up the unexplained disappearances to bureaucratic misunderstanding in a newly-created country, many have accused the country of kidnapping the Yemenite babies and selling them to childless couples.

The rumors have persisted despite four official commissions of inquiry finding that a maximum of 69 children disappeared. Israel has never officially taken responsibility for the affair, and all relevant records remain under wraps.

“This is one of the most painful chapters in the history of the country,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Financial compensation cannot ease the unbearable pain these families have been suffering but we must help them find some solace.”

Lapid Threatens Chabad

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid threatened to “persecute” the Chabad movement if it continued supporting far-right candidate Itamar Ben-Gvir.

According to Yediot Aharonot columnist Nachum Barnea, Lapid took issue with Chabad’s strong support of Ben-Gvir and anti-Arab brand of politics. In a phone call with a senior Chabad luminary on Friday, the avowed secularist politician warned that he would personally work to destroy the global Jewish movement if its affiliation with BenGvir continued.

“If you support Smotrich and Ben-Gvir’s party, I will persecute you,” Lapid reportedly said. “The story of menorahs in every intersection on Chanukah and Chabad houses

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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“I want to make clear: I do not nor will I persecute anyone, certainly not my good friends from the Chabad movement, a movement with many merits with only the love of Israel and the love of the land before their eyes,” tweeted Lapid.

“I will continue to fight in every way that no one should give a helping hand to racism, incitement, and further division among the people, nor will anyone support the Kahanists who threaten the integrity of the people of Israel.”

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around the world is over. Your story about your love of Israel is finished.”

The phone call was said to be tense, with Lapid raising his voice several times while the Chabad rabbi attempted to calm him down. Barnea’s report caused consternation, with politicians from both sides condemning Lapid’s “mafia-like” threats on the chassidic Jewish dynasty.

“The entire difference between Chabad and Lapid [can be delineated from] one threat,” tweeted Religious

Zionist party leader MK Betzalel Smotrich. “The Chabad movement is careful not to identify politically, loves and assists any Jew wherever he is without any conditions or political affiliation. This is the exact opposite of Lapid.

“I’m sure Chabad will continue to love Lapid, bring him close and host him happily even after this threat,” Smotrich added. “Because that’s what the Chabadniks have been doing for more than 200 years.”

In a long Facebook post, Yamina leader Naftali Bennett recounted how Chabad brought his parents, and him by extension, to Jewish observance while they were living in the United States. “Without Chabad, I would never be where I am today,” wrote Bennett. “Shame on you, Lapid!”

While not denying the report, Lapid said that he had been motivated solely by concerns that the farright Ben-Gvir would make it into the Knesset.

Thousands of IDF soldiers, politicians, and youth groups labored on Sunday to clean Israel’s beaches following a “catastrophic” tar spill.

IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi ordered 2,000 soldiers to assist the Nature and Parks Authority in its effort to help the coastline recover from the tar that washed up on the shore.

In a statement, the military said that “starting this week, thousands of IDF soldiers will assist workers and volunteers for the Nature and Parks Authority in mapping areas damaged by the tar pollution, cleaning beaches, and in the removal” of pollutants.

On Sunday, hundreds of troops from the Golani and Givati Brigades could be seen fanning out across the shores near Hadera and Ashkelon. In Ashdod, a southern port town, soldiers from the elite Duvdevan counterterror unit hosed down dozens of tar-covered fish that had washed up on the beach.

Also joining the cleanup effort were a slew of senior politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel. Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party sent a delegation of volunteers headed by former MK Ze’ev Elkin, while Yesh Atid suspended its campaign for a day and called all party members to assist the cleanup effort.

After being briefed on the scope of the damage, Netanyahu promised that the government would approve a plan to mitigate the fallout. “[Environmental Protection] Minister Gamilel will bring forward a plan

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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Inspectors carried out biannual safety inspections and maintenance of the Kotel this week

tomorrow, with a budget, to clean up the beaches,” Netanyahu vowed.

The tar spill is already being described as one of Israel’s worst environmental disasters. It started on Wednesday when a Greek ship released hundreds of liters of tar off of the country’s coast. The spill contaminated 170 kilometers of beaches, 40 percent of Israel’s coastline, making this one of the country’s biggest ecological disasters.

Sooty black strips could be seen covering the beach for hundreds of miles of coastline, from as far north as Haifa and all the way to Ashkelon in the south. Thousands of tar-covered animals also washed up on the shore, including fish, turtles, and other wildlife.

In a press conference, the Nature and Parks Authority called the spill “catastrophic” and predicted that it would take the shore years to recover.

“This is a hazard of a magnitude we have not seen in years. We are doing everything in order to find those responsible for the destruction and are preparing for the difficult and long task of rehabilitating the beaches and preventing further injury to animals,” said Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel.

Guinea to Move Embassy to Jerusalem Equatorial Guinea announced that it would relocate its embassy to Jerusalem and recognize the ancient city as Israel’s capital.

President Teodoro Mbasogo informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the news during a phone call last Friday. Netanyahu hailed the

move, pointing to it as proof of Israel’s deepening relations with Africa.

“Israel is returning to Africa, and Africa is returning to Israel in a big way,” said Netanyahu, according to a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office.

Last Friday’s announcement marks the first time any country has said they would move its diplomatic offices to Jerusalem since President Trump left office in January.

Only the United States and Guatemala have moved their embassies to Jerusalem after then-President Donald Trump recognized it as Israel’s capital in 2018. A slew of other nations has promised to follow suit, including Honduras, Brazil, the Czech Republic, and Serbia but have not yet done so.

Brazil and Honduras have both inaugurated a trade office in Jerusalem and vow to move the embassy in the future.

While opposing the relocation in 2018, President Joe Biden has indicated that he will not return the U.S. embassy to its former location in Tel Aviv.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate voted 97-3 to keep the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, making it almost impossible for a future U.S. president to reverse. However, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price stressed on Friday that “the ultimate status of Jerusalem is, in fact, a final status issue which will need to be resolved by the parties in the context of direct negotiations.”

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Hamas Won’t Challenge Abbas

The Hamas terror group announced that it will not field a candidate to challenge PA President Mahmoud Abbas in the upcoming PA elections.

The news was first reported by Al Jazeera, who cited senior Hamas figures Mousa Abu Marzouq. He did not give a reason to the surprising decision.

The news is a boon to Abbas, who is widely unpopular and was expected to lose had Hamas decided to run against him. The aging PA leader, who is currently in the sixteenth year of a four-year term, is trailing a theoretical Hamas challenger virtually in all of the opinion polls.

However, Abbas may still need to beat Marwan Barghouti, a convicted terrorist currently serving a life

sentence for murdering more than 50 Israelis. Widely popular amongst the Palestinian rank and file, Barghouti announced via his subordinates that he was debating whether to throw his hat into the ring.

“Our comrade Marwan is considering the possibility, but he has not yet made a decision either way,” said Qaddura Fares, a former PA legislator and key Barghouti ally.

Abbas announced in January that the PA will hold its first legislative and presidential elections in over a decade. The vote is slated to occur in three stages, with elections for Parliament taking place on May 22 followed by presidential elections on July 31. Despite the announcement, many are skeptical that the elections will really take place.

Calls for Gantz to Step Down After three election cycles last year in which he enjoyed wall-towall support from Israel’s security apparatus, Benny Gantz now finds his popularity waning.

In a petition released on Monday, 130 former generals, police com-

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could he end Netanyahu’s “de facto dictatorship.”

With Israelis heading to the polls in less than 30 days, Gantz’s Kahol Lavan is barely scraping the electoral threshold. Should he fail to make it into the Knesset, it would represent an unprecedented drop from the 36 seats he earned in 2019 running together with Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid.

“The time has come to make a final leader-like decision and retire from this dangerous campaign, which will end below the threshold and leave another party outside [the Knesset],” said the letter, which appeared in all of Israel’s daily newspaper and top-rated news sites.

The missive appealed to Gantz’s patriotism, alleging that the most important challenge facing Israel was the continued reign of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Alluding to his lengthy military career, the signatories urged Gantz to commit “one final Zionist act and protect” the State of Israel by leaving the race.

“At the moment, it is clear as daylight that it is not the virus but rather the one who is criminally indicted who is endangering the life of his people to save his own life and his own rule,” read the letter in reference to Netanyahu’s criminal trial.

“At the moment, the order of the day requires another brave decision,” the letter said. “Don’t lend a hand to wasting the votes of the camp for change…. Israel will salute you.

“Truly put country before everything,” it continued, referencing Kahol Lavan’s longtime party slogan.

Gantz brushed away the missive, likening the signatories to soldiers who turned on their commander during wartime. At a speech he delivered at a conference on Monday, Gantz criticized the security bigwigs who he said “instead of helping or providing cover fire at the objective, they are shooting me in the back.

“I am keeping to the objective and continue to charge forward,” Gantz said, invoking an army term used to describe the command given to conquer an enemy position. Only by entering the Knesset, said Gantz,

A Terrible Toll

This week, the United States reached a grim and horrific milestone with the death of 500,000 people from coronavirus.

On Monday evening, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris joined with their spouses for a moment of silence to honor those who lost their lives in the pandemic.

They stood near five hundred candles that had been lit outside of the White House.

“Today we mark a truly heartbreaking milestone: 500,071 dead,” Biden said during remarks in the Cross Hall of the White House before the moment of silence. “That’s more Americans who have died in one year in this pandemic than in World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War combined. That’s more lives lost to this virus than any other nation on Earth.”

The flag at the White House was lowered and will remain at half-staff until sunset on Friday.

During his remarks on Monday, Biden said he knows what it’s like to not be there when a loved one passes away and to be there “holding their hands, as they look in your eye and they slip away.”

“So many of the rituals that help us cope and help us honor those we loved haven’t been available to us,” Biden said. “As a nation, we cannot, and we must not, let this go on.”

He reminded Americans to “stay

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

clear. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that an investigation is ongoing.

Video taken by passengers showed the left engine completely engulfed in flames while raining debris.

“Everything started shaking, like the worst turbulence you can imagine,” recalled David Delucia, a passenger on the flight, in an interview with reporters.

“When we started to descend, we started going down through the clouds. People were saying that they were dumping fuel while it was going on.… We were getting information [from other passengers] on the right side that it was on fire all the way ‘til we landed.”

Bloomfield Police reported receiving dozens of calls from residents reporting falling debris on the suburban Denver neighborhood. One Colorado family narrowly averted disaster after a heavy Boeing 777 engine nacelle missed hitting their home by less than five feet.

“I’m shocked looking at this debris field.… The fact that we are getting no reports of any injuries is shocking.

It’s amazing,” said a Bloomfield Police spokesperson.

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vigilant,” and continue to wear masks, socially distance and get a vaccine as soon as they can.

“This nation will smile again. This nation will know sunny days again.

This nation will know joy again,” Biden said. “And as we do, we’ll remember each person we’ve lost, the lives they lived, the loved ones they left behind. We will get through this, I promise you.”

Jet Engine Explodes

A passenger jet was forced to make an emergency landing over the

weekend after a starboard engine exploded minutes after takeoff.

United Airlines flight 328 had lifted off from Denver International Airport at 12:15 PM on Saturday en route to Honolulu when the engine burst into flames. The plane was called back to the airport for an emergency landing, touching down at 1:30.

There were no injuries to the 230 passengers and cabin crew, and the cause of the incident remains un-

The United States has deported a 95-year-old Tennessee man after his past as a murderous Nazi officer came to light.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said that Karl Berger, a German citizen, had overseen “Nazi-sponsored persecution” while deployed as a guard in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp. During the two years he was posted at the camp, Berger worked to prevent inmates from escaping the inhumane conditions.

When questioned by authorities, Berger admitted that he “never requested a transfer from concentration camp guard service and that he continues to receive a pension from Germany based on his employment in Germany, including his wartime service.”

Berger was investigated and prosecuted by the Department of Justice’s

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section. During the two-day trial in February, a court found that Berger served at a Neuengamme sub-camp near Meppen, Germany, and that the prisoners there included “Jews, Poles, Russians, Danes, Dutch, Latvians, French, Italians, and political opponents” of the Nazis.

The largest groups of prisoners were Russian, Dutch, and Polish civilians. In the final verdict, the presiding judge ruled that Berger was guilty of all the charges and ordered him removed from the U.S. Berger is the seventieth Nazi to be deported in U.S. history.

“Berger’s removal demonstrates the Department of Justice’s and its law enforcement partners’ commitment to ensuring that the United States is not a safe haven for those who have participated in Nazi crimes against humanity and other human rights abuses,” said Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson.

“The Department marshaled evidence that our Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section found in archives here and in Europe, including records of the historic trial at Nuremberg of the most notorious former leaders of the defeated Nazi regime.

“In this year in which we mark the 75th anniversary of the Nuremberg convictions, this case shows that the passage even of many decades will not deter the Department from pursuing justice on behalf of the victims of Nazi crimes.”

Perseverance Reaches Mars

NASA’s new Perseverance rover has been beaming back “incredible” new images ever since landing successfully on Planet Mars last week.

Touching down on Mars last Thursday, Perseverance began sending back photos and audio on Friday morning. Starting with images showing the descent onto Mars’ surface and continuing with audio, the rover is giving scientists an unprecedented look into the happenings on the red planet.

While previous rovers have transmitted images before, they have nev-

er come close to the high quality and detail to what Perseverance provides.

NASA’s landing team describes the pictures as ‘“exhilarating,” capturing footage from the descent to the Martian surface and subsequent landing.

“The team is overwhelmed with excitement and joy to have successfully landed another rover on the surface of Mars,” said Adam Steltzner, Perseverance’s chief engineer. “When we do such investments, we do them for humanity, and we do them as a gesture of our humanity.”

One particular breathtaking photograph shows Perseverance hovering 6.5 feet above Mars’ red dirt seconds before touching down inside Jezero Crater.

“This shot from a camera on my ‘jetpack’ captures me in midair, just before my wheels touched down,” tweeted Perseverance’s Twitter account. “The moment that my team dreamed of for years, now a reality.

Dare mighty things.”

Now, engineers are hoping that the photos will enable scientists to make groundbreaking discoveries about the distant planet that will enable them to someday launch a manned flight. Particularly important is information about the atmosphere and temperature on Mars, which is crucial to understanding if humans can survive the conditions so far away from Earth.

“It is absolutely exhilarating, and it is evocative of those other images from our experience as human beings, moving out into our solar system — those images that bring us into the process of our exploration,” Steltzner said. “And I’m so happy that we can contribute another to that collection.”

U.S. Life Expectancy Drops

The average U.S. life expectancy plunged in the first half of 2020 to its biggest drop since World War II amid a surge in deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, a unit within the Centers for Dis-

ease Control and Prevention, overall American life expectancy is 77.8 years, a drop of a full year from the 78.8 years recorded in 2019.

For men, life expectancy dropped 1.4 years from 2019 to hit 75.1, almost double the 0.9 year decrease from 2019 for women, whose total life expectancy is now 80.5.

“This is a huge decline,” noted Robert Anderson from the CDC. “You have to go back to World War II, the 1940s, to find a decline like this.”

The National Center for Health Statistics highlighted the inordinate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic amongst the black and Hispanic communities. Total expectancy fell 2.7 years for black people to 72 years, and dropped 1.9 years for Hispanics, to 79.9 years.

The largest decline was recorded amongst non-Hispanic black males, who saw their life expectancy drop by a full three years. Non-Hispanic black females were not far behind, losing 2.3 years on their life expectancy. Hispanic females faced a decline of 1.1 years.

“What is really quite striking in these numbers is that they only reflect the first half of the year.…

I would expect that these numbers would only get worse,” said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo from the University of California. “Black and Hispanic communities throughout the United States have borne the brunt of this pandemic.

“They’re more likely to be in frontline, low-wage jobs and living in crowded environments where it’s easier for the virus to spread, and there are stark, pre-existing health disparities in other conditions that raise their risk of dying of COVID-19.”

While attributing the majority of the deaths to COVID-19, researchers stressed the importance of taking into account the opioid epidemic that had killed tens of thousands of Americans prior to last year’s coronavirus outbreak. While the U.S. is hovering around 500,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, by far the world’s highest, 70,000 Americans succumbed to opioids in 2019 alone.

“If you’ll recall, in recent pre-pandemic years, there were slight drops in life expectancy due in part to the rise in overdose deaths,” said NCHC spokesperson Jeff Lancashire. “So they are likely contributing here as well but we don’t know to what degree.

“COVID-19 is responsible for an estimated 2/3 of all excess deaths in 2020, and excess deaths are driving the decline.”

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The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

A CLEAR DIRECTIVE "That is where one should give matanos le'evyonim"

Maran Sar HaTorah HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, shlit”a, contributing to Kupat Ha’ir on Purim day immediately after Krias Hamegillah

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

would overwhelm hospitals, Cuomo ordered nursing homes last March to take in residents who had already tested positive for coronavirus. The Executive Order even banned nursing homes from testing those deemed “medically stable” before admitting them, essentially ensuring that the most vulnerable would be exposed to the coronavirus.

Dr. Adam Zeitlin, Medical Director Matthew Ostreicher, Director of Operations For further information please contact Chess Rosenberg, Administrator 78-10 164TH STREET FRESH MEADOWS, NEW YORK

Cuomo’s Star Begins to Fade Andrew Cuomo was riding high by the end of 2020. Nicknamed “America’s Governor” for his handling of New York’s COVID-19 pandemic, Cuomo had just written a book and had received an Emmy Award for his “masterful” daily briefings.

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mo delivered the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention where he was feted as an example of an elected official who successfully steered his state during the COVID-19 pandemic. Slamming then-President Donald Trump as “a failure,” Cuomo said that Trump should face criminal charges for egregious handling of the coronavirus.

“We saw the negative, but we also saw the positive,” Cuomo said in his speech describing his response to the deadly virus. “As they proved their

way failed, we proved that our way succeeded; that America can still rise to the occasion. We can put our differences aside and find commonality.”

Now it’s Cuomo who faces legal jeopardy. The Department of Justice is now probing him and his administration regarding their alleged attempt to cover up the thousands of New Yorkers who died after Cuomo forced nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients amid the dark days of the pandemic.

Concerned that elderly patients

The results were catastrophic. By September, COVID-19-related deaths in New York topped 32,000, the highest in the U.S. and double any other state. Had New York been a sovereign country, it would have been among the world’s top 10 in COVID-19 deaths, while its death toll was 300% higher than the U.S. average.

In January, New York Attorney General Leticia James blew the whistle, finding in a report that Cuomo deliberately undercounted nursing home deaths in order to cover up the repercussions of his now-infamous Executive Order.

According to James, Cuomo underreported nursing home fatalities by as much as 50% by purposely failing to account for the deaths of residents who died after being evacuated to the hospital.

“A larger number of nursing home residents died from COVID-19 than the New York State Department of Health’s (DOH) published nursing home data reflected and may have been undercounted by as much as 50 percent,” wrote James.

“The investigations also revealed that nursing homes’ lack of compliance with infection control protocols put residents at increased risk of harm, and facilities that had lower pre-pandemic staffing ratings had higher COVID-19 fatality rates,” continued the report.

The aftermath has thrust Cuomo’s actions into the national spotlight, transforming the governor from a symbol of effective leadership to one of failure. New York’s State Legislature has since censured him and the once-popular leader now finds himself at the wrong end of a criminal investigation.

Despite the scandal, observers say that Cuomo’s career is far from finished. A recent Siena College poll found that 56% of New Yorkers think

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

that Cuomo is doing a good job, putting him on track to win a fourth term in 2022.

“The storm’s not over,” predicted Lawrence Levy from Hofstra University. “But as long as there are no further damaging revelations, he has the ability to weather it.”

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The wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was arrested this week in the United States and is being charged with helping her husband continue to run his drug empire even while he is incarcerated.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, was arrested at an airport in the Washington area. She had been at her husband’s New York trial two years ago when he was convicted of trafficking tons of drugs into the U.S. She was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with conspiracy to import drugs including heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States.

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday that Coronel Aispuro’s arrest is a U.S. matter, though he urged U.S. authorities to provide more information on the case.

“It’s a matter that the United States will decide,” the Mexican leader said, speculating that her arrest may be linked to the case of former Mexican Security Minister Genaro Garcia Luna, who was also criminally charged last year in a U.S. court.

NYC to Shutter Trump’s Rinks

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Central Park to punish former President Donald Trump for his role in last month’s Capitol riot.

The rink, long viewed as a city icon, had been managed by the Trump Organization until City Hall abruptly ended the business relationship. But while Trump management had until April to vacate the premises, Mayor Bill de Blasio gave the company until February 26 to shutter the rink.

Since the announcement, though, the city backtracked and conceded that the rinks will remain open for the

remainder of the season.

“New York City kids deserve all the time on the ice they can get this year,” Bill Neidhardt, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s press secretary, said.

“The Wollman and Lasker rinks will stay open under current management for the few weeks left in this season.

But make no mistake, we will not be doing business with the Trump Organization going forward. Inciting an insurrection will never be forgotten or forgiven.”

“New York City doesn’t do busi-

ness with insurrectionists. We’re taking steps to TERMINATE agreements with the Trump Organization,” tweeted de Blasio after the former president was impeached by the House.

Donald Trump had famously rebuilt the Wollman Rink in 1986 after the renovation project had been mired in budget overruns and bureaucracy for years. With his offices overlooking Central Park, Trump offered to refurbish the rink in half the time allotted to him by Mayor Ed Koch.

Fed up with the delays and bleed-

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

To understand the Gemara, you need Rashi’s commentary. But to fully appreciate the Gemara’s depth, you need the commentary of the Baalei Tosafos.

You can learn Gemara with Tosafos.

New from Rav Chaim Will Enhance Your Understanding of Tehillim Jaffa Family Edition

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The ArtScroll Series Tosafos features: · An introduction to each Tosafos that gives vital background information and defines important terms · A flowing translation in the format of the Schottenstein Talmud · Tosafos’ questions and answers clearly explained · A summary after each Tosafos that shows the flow of the entire Tosafos, a unique and important feature even for those who already study Tosafos

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The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Lava flowed during an eruption at Mount Etna in Italy on February 16

ing money, Koch agreed, leading Trump to complete the project well below the $3 million price tag. His company had run the two rinks ever since until de Blasio ended the concession deal in January.

Movin’ On Up

ect of its type in San Francisco in 45 years.

Thinking of relocating? Don’t take your home with you. The owner of the home, San Francisco broker Tim Brown, is believed to have spent around $400,000 in fees and moving costs to have the house relocated. Phil Joy, who headed up the house moving project, said he had to secure permits from more than 15 city agencies for the undertaking.

Remember that home is where the heart is. No need to spend tons of money and effort to move the four walls around you.

Row Hero

If you saw a house rolling down the street last week, don’t be nervous.

A seven bedroom Victorian home, known as the Englander house, was moved last Sunday six blocks from its original location in San Francisco on a hydraulic dolly.

The 141-year-old, two-story home was towed in an operation that took about six hours to complete.

Lana Costantini with the San Francisco Historical Society said moving the gigantic home on a hydraulic dolly was not without unforeseen difficulties.

“There’s been a few glitches on the way. Trees that were in the way, stops signs, lights, and signs and what not,” Costantini explained.

To make way for the moving home, tree trimmers were used to cut away leaves and branches on trees. Street signs and parking meters were temporarily relocated to make way for the oversized load.

The relocation was the first proj-

Jasmine Harrison is a superstar.

She recently became the youngest woman to row solo across an ocean.

The 21-year-old from England traveled 3,000 miles in 70 days, 3 hours and 48 minutes.

Harrison set sail from the Canary Islands on December 12 and docked in Antigua on Saturday for the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

According to Harrison, the herculean task of crossing the Atlantic was “everything I wanted it to be.”

“There’s nothing like it, actually getting away from everything – social media, bad news, from literally everything,” she added.

Harrison decided to try for the challenge back in 2018. In 2020, she qualified as one of only 21 boats (including solo rowers and crews of up to

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

four) to enter “The World’s Toughest Row.” Harrison rowed and slept in twohour shifts on her 21-foot rowboat that she named Argo.

As for food, well, Harrison opted for chocolate to keep her going.

“I think I ate 40 kilograms [88 pounds] of chocolate,” she quipped.

About 100 miles from the finish line, Harrison experienced a setback when her boat capsized while she was sleeping. She injured her left elbow in the incident.

“I was basically thrown at a wall at 20-odd miles an hour. That’s going to hurt, especially in the middle of your sleep,” she recalled. Determined to continue, Harrison told the race doctor she was OK a few hours later and could safely go on.

Entering harbor at last over the weekend, Harrison held up smoke signals and brandished the British flag once she stepped on shore.

The accomplishment made history, as Harrison is now officially “the youngest female to row solo across any of the world’s oceans,” according Sky News. Her epic adventure also ended up raising $14,000 for ShelterBox. Stepping ashore, Harrison told reporters the first thing that she wanted was something to eat.

“Food,” she said. “Definitely food.”

Eat your heart out, Harrison.

Book Nook

Once they find one that tickles their fancy, they can dial “0” from their hotel room phone and be connected with the Book Butler, who will then hand-deliver a fresh, complimentary copy of that book along with a tasseled bookmark.

If you like to grab a snack while you’re reading, Ben West Palm has your munchies covered. The Book Butler program has a food component called Book Bites, in which guests can order specially paired small plates to go along with their chosen book.

Bernardo Neto, the Ben West Palm’s general manager, said that the novel (yes! pun intended!) program has been well-received by guests.

“Guests are excitedly stopping the Book Butler in his tracks to ask him questions about the program,” Neto said. “It’s not every day you see a hotel staff member walking around with a stack of books on a silver tray and in formal uniform. Guests love the creativity behind the program and have been ordering a copy to their rooms throughout the day.”

The hotel is actually named for an author, so reading is in its roots.

“Byrd Spilman Dewey, a bestselling author and celebrated columnist, moved to South Florida in 1892 and lived in an estate originally named Ben Trovato, The Ben’s namesake and a term loosely derived from an Italian phrase meaning, ‘even if it isn’t true, it’s still a good story,’” an announcement by the hotel explains.

No worries. We can read in between the lines.

Cruising Solo If your idea of relaxation is a warm drink and a good book, we have the perfect place to go on your next vacation.

The Ben West Palm, an Autograph Collection Hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida, started offering a complimentary “Book Butler” for all its guests earlier this month.

In partnership with local retailer The Palm Beach Book Store, the hotel and store will curate a “rotating series of topical and timely books that you may enjoy during your stay,” according to the hotel’s announcement on social media.

Guests can peruse a list of books.

Miss your annual cruise? We understand. Now, you can go on your favorite cruise – on your own – without any social distancing worries.

Uniworld Boutique River Cruises says that it is offering guests to book an entire ship for private voyages that can range from 8 to 25 days.

Guests will enjoy all-inclusive river cruises that explore Europe, Russia,

India, Asia, Egypt and Peru.

“In the current travel landscape, privacy is the greatest luxury,” Uniworld’s President and CEO Ellen Bettridge said.

“By reserving a private sailing with Uniworld, guests will have an entire floating boutique hotel to themselves and their inner circle.

It’s a wonderful option for a family reunion or intimate celebration such as a wedding, with all elements fully customizable for a river cruise experience like none other.”

Considering hosting your son’s bar mitzvah on the water? It’ll cost you. The S.S. Bon Voyage is the cheapest option, but you’ll end up emptying your wallet if you host your family and friends for the week.

This ship’s starting rate is $2,600 per person; if a person books at 100% occupancy for 124 guests, the price tag for this private cruise is $322,400. Sounds like a lot of money, but you’ll enjoy French food and décor as you sail down the rivers of Bordeaux.

Other cruises on the offering tour Northern Italy’s coastline or the Danube River. Those will cost you more than the Bon Voyage. And remember, your son is only thirteen years old!

In any case, we wish you smooth sailing up ahead.

Mega Bucks for Mega Mansion We don’t really know how much this Beverly Hills mansion sold for, but we know that it was for a lot of dough.

Bidding for the ultra-exclusive Villa Firenze opened in December.

The mega mansion hit the auction block at $160 million but sold for an undisclosed sum.

After the deal goes through, it will mark “the highest price ever

achieved at auction for a single-family home,” according to the world’s largest luxury real estate auction firm.

In the 53 days before the sale, the compound’s auction listing drew 33,000 views from interested parties in 170 countries, mainly from the U.S., Canada, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland Spain, Belgium, Austria and Germany. From there, over 1,800 “prospects” expressed interest, and a total of 31 showings were held. Bidders from the U.S. and China ultimately made offers.

Want to know what makes this home – if you can call it that – so pricey?

Villa Firenze is a 20-bed, 23bath mega-mansion on nine acres in North Beverly Park, which the auction house touts as “the most exclusive guard-gated community in Los Angeles.” Designed to evoke the feeling of an Italian village, the 20,000-square-foot home took seven years to build and was completed in 1998, according to its listing page.

With manicured grounds, a private street for entry and plenty of 40-foot palm trees, the home was designed as a secluded, elegant escape for its homeowners. Amenities include a gym, home theater, wine cellar, pool house, tennis court and adjacent trail. For buyers interested in throwing legendary parties, Villa Firenze also boasts three guest homes and a 30-car courtyard, too.

And when you own a home like this, you end up having to make lots of parties.

Did you know?

Regoisha was the name of the maid that came to Queen Esther on Shabbos.

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the

Community i-Shine Purim Carnival

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During these difficult times, simchas Purim is so important for our families, and we were thrilled to create a safe environment for each and every family to enjoy. Each family had a specific time slot and was provided their own private carnival complete with cryo bar, interactive games, wax hands, mishloach manos, DJ by DJ DAVID, dinner from Carlos & Gabby’s, and plenty of Thank You Hashem swag.

Thank you to our generous donors and their families for making this experience possible.

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

MTA Represents France at Model UN By: Binyamin Fox

O

n Sunday, February 14, the MTA Model UN team participated in the annual Yeshiva University National Model United Nations Conference (YUNMUN). Held virtually on Zoom due to the pandemic, this dynamic conference brings together delegates from yeshiva high schools across the country and beyond to represent the views of actual countries and debate, and hopefully resolve, pressing issues facing the international community.

Under the leadership of Faculty Advisor Mr. Murray Sragow and Team Captain Binyamin Fox, MTA’s Model UN team diligently prepared

for the conference over the course of the past few months. Proudly representing the country of France, the team enjoyed the opportunity to culminate these months of hard work

and preparation at the conference.

Congratulations to Dovi Goldberg (‘23) for winning an Honorable Mention award on the World Health Organization committee and to Raf-

fi Weil (‘22) for winning Best Delegate of UNESCO! The team eagerly awaits participating in next year’s conference, which will hopefully take place in-person.

Girls are also inspired to participate in a unique Tehillim initiative.

Every girl in grades 5-8 has received a “Karov Hashem l’chol kor’av calling card.” The card has a box for every perek in Tehillim. Every time a girl finishes a kapitel Tehillim, she initials the corresponding box. Girls who complete the entire sefer receive a certificate from Morah Kuessous and a special lunch.

Tefillah was also the personal forte of our dear Mrs. Rimma Ol-

shansky, our executive secretary who was nifteres last year. Although she was born in Russia and never had the benefit of a formal Jewish education, Mrs. Olshansky, a”h, was intricately bound up in tefillah. She woke up at 4:30 every morning so that she would have time to say each word of davening – laboriously, but so very purely.

Ruchniyus aspirations. Academic success. Personal growth.

This is how we ASCEND.

Capturing the Essence

W

hy are we zocheh to see success from our BBY talmidos? Yes, credit must go to the curriculum, educational innovation, and staff dedication. But most of the credit must go to tefillah. The tefillos of our principals, moros and parents on behalf of each talmidah are what effect change. Tefillah is at the core of the BBY experience. It is the underpinning of every effort, the murmured words on every morah’s lips, the

force that explains BBY’s hatzlacha. Every child has endless potential. We put an emphasis on sincere tefillah because it helps each student reach within herself to find unique strengths and abilities. It enables her to connect to herself and Hashem, providing her with wings to ascend to ever greater heights.

Toward this end, our theme for the year is “Lehagid baboker chasdecha,” focusing on Birchos Hashachar. Each week, the entire school learns both the simple and the deeper meanings behind one of the Birchos Hashachar. Girls are encouraged to focus on the meaning of these brachos when they recite them each day and to work on a middah or mitzvah relating to that week’s bracha. Students submit notes about their successes, some of which are published in the school newsletter.

In addition, our students are encouraged to say Birchos Hashachar before eating breakfast each morning.

Every girl has received a punch card on which she receives one punch every time she says brachos before eating and coming to school. When the card is full, girls earn a delicious breakfast from Morah Feldberger.

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Acting out the Megillah story in Gesher’s nursery

Central Simchaton

Rabbi Dov Langer’s 4-5 Grade CAHAL class at Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island reading the Megillah

SKA Purple Day

O

ne of the staples of the Central experience is our Schoolwide Shabbaton.

While we are still hopeful for the world to take a turn, and to gather again in a hotel one day soon, we did not let COVID-19 stop our fun and happiness with Adar rolling in – Mi shenichnas Adar, marbim b’simcha.

Central had a blast spending Erev Shabbat together at the Rosh Chodesh Adar “Simchaton” last Friday.

Everyone came to school dressed in their Simchaton Sweatshirt, enjoyed a Shabbat Drasha by Rabbi Josh Goller, tried to crack the Parsha Emoji codes with Rabbi Elie Weissman, and enjoyed yummy rugelach with their Grade Deans and friends. Each grade rotated through the “Simcha Shuffle,” experiencing each aspect of the Simchaton together as a grade. The first stop on the shuffle was a multimedia learning session about happiness, created and led by Mrs. Hadas-

sah Frankel, and teacher schmoozes given by Mrs. Chani Cooper, Rabbi Josh Goller, Mrs. Audi Hecht, Rabbi Zvi Lew, and Rabbi Joshua Strulowitz. Students then moved into the cafe for a meaningful chessed project with Yachad Ivdu, packing Mishloach Manot for Chai Lifeline, led by Mrs. Rebecca Teper, and a fun and interactive Minute-To-Win-It game, run by the G.O. members! The activities continued into smaller groups for a challenging and team-building “Escape the Hotel Room,” where students gathered clues from Ms. Leah Moskovich and spent one hour trying to escape their locked hotel room in time for Shabbat.

The festivities ended with a Shabbaton favorite – a DJ “Melava Malka” Chagigah with Azamra DJ! Students and faculty left with potato kugel in hand and with big smiles on their faces – the perfect way to enter the month of Adar.

T

his time it was purple that dominated the school!

On Wednesday, February 16, the students of the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls dressed in shades of purple to show support for the Shalom Task Force’s Domestic Abuse and Healthy Relationship Awareness Day. Purple decorations and purple candies drew attention to the theme as did the colorful acai bowls sold by the Student Council.

SKA’s Advisory sessions, weekly student teacher groups that meet to discuss issues outside of the classroom, focused on relationship sce-

narios that the students could really relate to. What are positive markers in a friendship and which are red flags? Identifying what makes a safe and respectful friendship enables girls to note what creates a successful marriage.

The Purple Fellowship, Shalom Task Force’s High School Leadership Program, which encompassed 12 schools in six states, was significantly successful in raising awareness among SKA students about healthy boundaries and domestic abuse in the Jewish community.

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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Around the Community

On Monday, HALB students and staff showed their school spirit as they celebrated Yom HALB to kick off the week of Purim! #wearehalb

Chai Lifeline Delivers Simcha to Thousands This Purim

W

hile every family looks forward to celebrating Purim, the work involved in preparing for the joyous holiday can oftentimes be stressful. For families living with pediatric illness, particularly during the current COVID-19 pandemic, this time of year can be especially challenging. Chai Lifeline, the international children’s health network, offers a variety of programs and services to help its nearly 6,000 children and families with their everyday needs and truly enjoy their Purim.

“Families caring for a child with a serious medical condition already have a lot on their plate,” said Rabbi Simcha Scholar, Chai Lifeline’s Chief Executive

Officer. “Our staff and volunteers across the country and across the globe are there to help families in any way they can.”

In Chai Lifeline’s New York region, families received their own Purim Carnival in a Box. Kids created their own at-home carnival booths, which included 15 games, prizes, snacks, a photo booth, and other activities. To save parents numerous shopping trips and extra work, hundreds of readymade mishloach manos were delivered to families to distribute on Purim.

Chai Lifeline families also received gift cards to purchase costumes at the Purim Mega Store in Brooklyn, while others and enjoyed an interactive pre-Purim

A carnival in a box

virtual magic show with Eric Wilzig. The Chai Lifeline Freezer Program was busy delivering delicious Purim seuda meals to families in crisis. i-Shine, Chai Lifeline’s afterschool program for children living with illness or loss in their homes, hosted an exciting, socially distanced Purim party in the Five Towns, featuring entertainment, dinner-to-go, a wax hand station, and more.

“Today I was in tears when I felt the love and caring toward me and the kids,” wrote one i-Shine parent.

“I want to thank you and the generous sponsors for a beautiful Purim party! I haven’t seen my kids that happy for such a long time. The kids didn’t stop talking about the party all day!”

In the New Jersey/Pennsylvania region, volunteers gave parents a much-needed break, taking children out to dinner, shopping for Purim supplies, and packing mishloach manos. In the Midwest region, families received mishloach manos, enjoyed a hamantaschen-making session over Zoom, and took part in a Purim scavenger hunt. Chai Lifeline also offered megillah readings for homebound families who could not make it to shul.

Out on the West Coast, families enjoyed creating their own masterpieces at home during a Royal Purim Virtual Event, featuring a unique crafts session led by

A scene from the i-Shine Five Towns Purim party

accomplished artist Sharon Saks. The event was emceed

by Camp Simcha alumnus JJ Duchman and included surprise entertainment, games, trivia, and prize giveaways.

“Our kids had so much fun,” said one West Coast mom. “The art projects were amazing. We really appreciate participating in such a fun event.”

The Mid-Atlantic Region deployed multiple custom-designed parade floats throughout the Jewish communities in Maryland, visiting more than 100 families.

In the Southeast, Chai

Lifeline hosted a thrilling drive-through Purim carnival. Families were also sent face-painting kits and took part in a face painting tutorial session over Zoom.

“During this month of Adar, we have an obligation to be marbim b’simcha, increase our joy,” said Rabbi Scholar. “At Chai Lifeline, we are committed to providing joy, hope, and support to our families 365 days a year.”

To learn more about Chai Lifeline, visit www.chailifeline.org or call 877-CHAILIFE.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

YCQ Honors Adar with Spirit and Chesed

HAFTR Spreads Kindness

T

his week, at Yeshiva of Central Queens, to help celebrate the month of Adar and to bring some spirit to a challenging school year, the elementary school students had superhero and sports hero day.

Students and staff dressed as their favorite superhero or wore a sports jersey from their favorite team.3 While the younger grades were showing their spirit, Rabbi Howitt’s junior high school Gemara shiur went to the Chazaq food pantry to help put together packages for families in the community.

The eighth grade students selected to participate in this year’s Names, Not Numbers© program began to celebrate another kind of superhero. This program teaches students about the Holocaust through the accounts of eyewitnesses, while providing students with interviewing, video and editing skills, enabling them to build meaningful relationships with survivors, the true heroes.

This week, the students began the program by learning some important tips on interviewing techniques to help them prepare for the actual interviews they will be doing for

O this oral history film project. They met with the videographer to begin giving their testimonials. This is the first step in the curriculum created

by Tova Fish-Rosenberg, to connect Holocaust survivors with students to help tell the stories that need to be remembered.

n Tuesday, the ruach and spirit of chessed at HAFTR High School was in full swing! The Chessed committee, led

by Rabbi Gary Slochowsky with committee heads Zachary Gellman and Sofia Goldschlag, organized a chessed project to give back to the community on Purim. Students packed mishloach manot for children in hospitals and residents in nursing homes. Gabe Boxer of Kosher Response visited and shared the story of how Kosher Response was created with the volunteers as they packed.

Kosher Response donated food and

bags for the packages. Other donations were graciously made by Gourmet Glatt and Reismans.

The mishloach manot will be distributed at Cohen’s Children Hospital, NYU Winthrop Hospital, The Five Towns Premier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Grandell Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway, The Bristal Assisted Living at North Woodmere, The Bristal Assisted Living at Lynbrook, Bezalel Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Long Beach, and Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital.

The course culminates with the printing of the completed stories in a journal, which is housed in the Publication Room at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. Each year, there is a journal presentation to course participants from the previous year. This year’s presentation took place on Wednesday, February 17. Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Michael

Taubes, Head of School Rabbi Joshua Kahn, and General Studies Principal Dr. Seth Taylor joined Morah Haibi and Mrs. Rosenberg in presenting talmidim with their journals and commending them on this tremendous accomplishment.

This course is generously sponsored by Arielle and Donny (‘02) Rosenberg.

Meet the Israeli Author

M

TA’s Meet the Israeli Author elective course for juniors provides talmidim with the opportunity to work directly with an award-winning Israeli author via video-conference workshops conducted entirely in Hebrew. The course, created by Director of Hebrew Language Mrs. Tova Fish-Rosenberg, is in its eleventh year and is unique to MTA. This one-of-a-kind experience enables talmidim to not only develop their creative writing skills but also to cultivate their Hebrew language skills at a higher level.

Under the mentorship of award-winning Hebrew Language Instructor Ms. Liora Haibi, talmidim work on crafting short stories written exclusively in Hebrew and participate in monthly video-conference workshops with award-winning Israeli author Chana Bat Shahar. Each workshop focuses on a

different element of story writing development. Talmidim come prepared to the workshops with segments of the stories they are writing that correspond with the monthly topic. Ms. Bat Shahar provides constructive critiques on each talmid’s work, allowing them to reshape their stories based on her expert feedback.

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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Ohel to Honor Toby and Yoeli Steinberg of Gourmet Glatt at Annual Gala

O

hel Children’s Home and Family Services is proud to announce Toby and Yoeli Steinberg and the Gourmet Glatt Family as Guests of Honor at our upcoming 51st annual gala on Sunday, March 7, 2021. The theme of this year’s gala, which will be broadcast virtually beginning at 5:45 pm, is Celebrate Strength.

It was one year ago that our world changed as we knew it. In the face of deep uncertainty and events unprecedented in modern history, all of us had to tap into reserves of courage and resilience to ambitiously confront these challenges head on. Celebrate Strength serves as a meaningful culmination of Ohel’s consistent fortitude during the past year, in which the pandemic challenged our staff to maintain our expansive breadth of vital services and programming for the 20,000 children, adults, and families that

we serve.

Celebrate Strength also marks over half a century of Ohel’s support of and services to our community’s most vulnerable. Finally, it’s emblematic of the strength of our honorees and our staff of direct support professionals, whose dedication to Ohel would be worthy of recognition any year but is especially remarkable now during this defining moment in time.

When a crisis hits, many people are focused on their survival and keeping their own heads above water. Leaders look outwards to help others survive and thrive, and it’s in this category that Yoeli Steinberg, the general manager of Gourmet Glatt, shines.

With the support and partnership of his wife, Toby, and his entire Gourmet Glatt family and staff, Yoeli went beyond the call of duty when the pandemic caused instan-

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taneous demand and a scarcity of supplies. Yoeli not only ensured that there was no pause in the regular food deliveries to the hundreds of individual with disabilities living in Ohel homes and apartments, he sourced the food items our residents were accustomed to so they felt the security of routine. Delicious and wholesome ready-made meals were delivered for Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah so that Ohel’s individuals were confident in the knowledge that they were being cared for in a moment of crisis.

“Yoeli Steinberg is known for being a ba’al chessed whose every interaction with customers and members of the greater community is marked with respect and kindness,” said Jeff Landy, Gala Co-Chair and proud supporter of Ohel. “I’m thrilled that he and Toby, who much prefer to do their good works behind the scenes, have agreed to be publicly recognized for their role in meeting the needs of Ohel’s individuals.”

Gourmet Glatt’s profound capacity for chessed runs deep throughout our communal network of nonprofits and countless charities.

Gourmet Glatt frequently sponsors philanthropic events in the greater Jewish community. Yoeli Steinberg and Gourmet Glatt have been longtime supporters of Ohel’s OXC and golf events as well as dedicating the Kitchens in the Day Programs at the Ohel Jaffa Family Campus. It is in these kitchens that individuals with disabilities learn to order food, source recipes, cook and bake – all important independent living skills.

Ohel is also proud to announce our other honorees: Adina Lewis, Esq. and Lawrence Garbuz, Esq. of New Rochelle; Shani and Dov Weinstock, Esq., Libby and Shloime Dachs, and Ohel’s Direct Support Professionals.

Adina Lewis and Lawrence Garbuz will receive the Harvey, A”H, and Gloria Kaylie Community Impact Award. As partners in their boutique law firm, they offer estate planning and administration services. For many years, Adina and Lawrence have donated their time and considerable expertise to assist Ohel’s neediest families with

drafting special needs trusts to plan for their children’s long-term care.

Their selfless generosity provides a priceless gift to parents anxious about the future: peace of mind.

Lawrence also serves on the Ohel Lifetime Care Foundation Board of Directors.

The Nediv Lev (Heart of Gold) Award will be bestowed upon Shani and Dov Weinstock of Lawrence, New York. The Weinstocks live a few doors down from an Ohel Bais Ezra residence for individuals with developmental disabilities. They are active volunteers with these individuals, hosting them for Shabbat meals and providing an example of friendship and welcoming to our entire community.

As cherished friends of Ohel, Libby and Shloime Dachs will receive the Shem Tov Award. As a Board member of both Ohel and Camp Kaylie, Shloime has dedicated himself to Ohel’s mission. His musical talents are renowned in the Jewish world, and he often lends his beautiful and stirring voice to enhance Ohel events. His and Libby’s home in Flatbush is filled with warmth always open to Ohel’s residents and families. The friendship of the Dachs family to Ohel is legendary and an enduring example to others.

Please join us for a virtual program on Sunday, March 7, to pay tribute to these incredible honorees and our unparalleled team of direct support professionals. With their partnership, we know that Ohel can withstand not just this crisis but unforeseen waves of unpredictability in the future.

Need one more reason to join this year’s celebration? Tune in and you’ll be automatically entered to win an all-expense paid vacation to Dubai with an itinerary curated by Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, Chief Rabbi of the United Arab Emirates, or free tuition for one child at Camp Kaylie this summer.

To make reservations or place journal ads, please visit www.ohelgala. org or contact 718-972-9338.

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Purim in the Air

T

he excitement has been building in Gan Chamesh as children explore Purim in a multi-sensory way. They have in-

ternalized the Purim story through dramatic play, music, art, literacy, and many hands-on activities.

Purim fun at HANC ECC in West Hempstead

A Surprise Act

E

nvision Theater, run by Rebecca Lopkin, which produces the DRS Theater Program’s productions since 2018, has moved most of its theater work to a virtual platform due to the Coronavirus and closure of all theaters in the United States. While there is truly nothing like live theater, moving to a virtual platform has allowed Envision’s programs to have a much wider reach.

Not only can Ms. Lopkin direct the DRS production from the comfort of her Teaneck, NJ, office, but she can now connect students from all around the United States in one production.

DRS High School is currently in rehearsal for a double bill featuring two virtual shows, set to premier on March 17. The first is All Sports Network- Quarantine Crisis Edition, where sports news anchors Drew and Mel, played by freshmen Shaya Rosenfeld and Isaac Haskel, have to reimagine their sports news program once the world goes into quarantine.

The second is, Do You Read Me?, a show about the second Mars colony, featuring seniors Moshe Galler as Commander Fillion and Yehuda Rothschild, as Doc Weaver, who run the Mars mission.

While rehearsing a scene with Galler and Rothschild last week, Ms. Lopkin was struck with an idea, which she proposed to the actors: “Would you be interested in joining my middle school boys’ rehearsal this week as surprise guests?” She explained that the middle school students, all boys, who hail from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and are students representing HANC MS, Yavneh Academy, Yeshiva HeAtid, Yeshivat Noam, Cas-

key Torah Academy and others would be excited at the idea of meeting “their high school counterparts.”

“They are also working on a production of Do You Read Me?, and I am sure they would love to meet you and maybe play some improv games together as well,” explained Lopkin.

Galler and Rosthchild were enthusiastic about the idea and surprised the MS actors with a guest appearance.

After an introduction, Moshe and Yehuda played an improvised scene together, where the MS students had to guess which characters Moshe and Yehuda portray in the DRS show. The game was then flipped, and each MS actor was invited to join Yehuda and Moshe in an improv game where the high school students had to guess which character the middle school actor is portraying in the show. The high school students then stuck around and watched the middle school students rehearse their show.

“What an incredible opportunity for DRS student actors to mentor their younger counterparts,” remarked Lopkin. “This would never have been possible if we were working in a ‘live’ rehearsal environment,” she continued. “We have chosen to focus on the positives of virtual theater and have seen some unique and serendipitous moments arise as a result.”

DRS’s Theater Department will present Do You Read Me? and All Sports Network- Quarantine Crisis Edition via Zoom for the community on March 17 at 8 p.m. For more information, please contact Rebecca Lopkin of Envision Theater at envisiontheater4kids@gmail.com.

Did you know?

The beam used to form the gallows by Haman was initially from Noach’s teivah and was used to build Haman’s home.

Haman dismantled his home to build the gallows he wanted to use for Mordechai

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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HALB second graders received their Chumashim on Sunday

Achiezer at 13: A Talk with Boruch Ber Bender Part 1 of a Series

By Avi Shiff

A

chiezer was established in 2008 at the behest of local rabbinic and community leaders who saw a need for change.

These visionaries dreamed of creating one master organization, which would completely remove the burden of crisis management from the shoulders of shocked and distressed victims. They dreamed of an organization that would be there for the entire community – at any time, for any difficulty, large or small.

They dreamed of Achiezer.

Achiezer is a unique organization that combines the strengths of all existing communal resources along with its own formidable capabilities. Achiezer spearheads and coordinates the many different aspects involved in assisting individuals and families confronted by challenges, from start to finish.

In honor of Achiezer’s 13th year, we are conducting a multi-part series celebrating the various facets of this remarkable organization.

For Week #1, we spoke to Achiezer’s founder and leader, Boruch Ber Bender, for an overview.

Boruch Ber, congratulations on your 13th year, a major achievement. Tell us, if you

can, where Achiezer stands today and what people should know about Achiezer’s current ambitious goals.

Boruch Ber Bender: The answer is one and the same. When we started in late 2008, Achiezer was a small fledgling idea. It has since become a mammoth organization operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with more than 12 departments, 18 staff members, and hundreds of volunteers. Achiezer has become a chessed empire the likes of which even the most optimistic people could have never imagined when we first started.

How has Covid-19 impacted your operation?

Covid has impacted us in a way that has been different than any other crisis, including Hurricane Sandy, which, as everyone knows, severely impacted residents in this part of New York. Covid has had a much greater impact. Covid has affected everybody, no matter where they live, no matter their age, with obviously varying severities. The sheer volume of need, though, has taken a tremendous toll on Achiezer. Covid put us, as an organization, through the ringer. At the same time, we continue to see greatness. Doctors and mental health professionals have

given of themselves in ways we’ve never seen before. It’s been incredible to watch the level of chessed in our community.

In particular, when it comes to hospital support services, we’ve never been tested this way. Being hospitalized is always difficult, but imagine being in critical condition in the hospital on Shabbos with no visitation, no communication, and the responsibility to make medical and other decisions falling squarely on your shoulders.

How has Covid impacted the Achiezer budget?

During the spring, it affected us in a huge way, because Covid hit just a few months after our dinner and we depleted our funds because of the

unexpected costs of pandemic-related care, including ventilators, concentrators, and so on. We held a special online campaign to help keep us afloat, and once we knew that our dinner in January wouldn’t take place, we’ve had to brainstorm and strategize to keep us going. We hope to be able to hold some sort of fundraising event in the near future.

In the meantime, Achiezer’s Executive Board members in particular have rolled up their sleeves and gotten to work to make sure that we continue to flourish and not be hindered by these unexpected expenditures. We must always continue to provide for the community no matter what.

Thank you, Boruch Ber. Continued hatzlacha!

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

YOSS Students Talk Stocks

T

he Economics Club at the Abraham & Sara Silber Middle School at the Yeshiva of South Shore is in full swing. The program gives students the opportunity to learn how an economy works, specifically the stock market.

The program teaches and reinforce essential skills and concepts like critical thinking and decision-making.

Students use current research and news updates to simulate a real marketplace experience. Starting with a virtual cash account of $100,000, students strive to create the best-performing portfolio using a live trading simulation. They work together in teams, practicing leadership, organization, negotiation, and cooperation as they compete for the top spot. The setup is engaging, and the learning is

a natural part of the experience.

In building a portfolio, students research and evaluate stocks, and make decisions based on what they’ve learned. To determine why certain stocks perform the way they do or why the broader market has moved up or down, they need to understand how the economy works and to calculate their returns they need to do the math.

The class was fortunate to have an expert guest speaker, Mr. Chaim Langer of Goldman Sachs, who gave an informative and enlightening lecture on how the general markets work. The students had the opportunity to ask questions, and Mr. Langer was impressed with their astute knowledge of the current financial market.

Go Purple Day for 3,600 Students Across the Country

B

eginning on February 11, 3,600 students from six states around the country came together to celebrate Go Purple Day, a day that Shalom Task Force established to promote awareness around healthy relationships and domestic abuse within the Jewish community.

What makes this year special as well is that it is our first Go Purple Day planned by our first cohort of 26 Purple Fellows from 12 schools.

Purple Fellowship, a fellowship for high school juniors and seniors, empowers students with the skills to take on leadership roles in Jewish communal life through the lens of domestic abuse prevention. From designing the flyers and giveaways, to creating an educational awareness workshop for their classmates to hear from a survivor of domestic abuse, Go Purple Day was designed for students, by students.

“This year’s Go Purple Day far exceeded any expectations we had. The impact felt by students has been observed as ‘profound’ by staff and parents,” said Jeffrey Younger, co-founder of the Purple Fellowship. Added Rocky Salomon, co-founder of the Purple Fellowship, “When we launched this fellowship, we hoped to find a few students who would be interested in the work of Shalom Task Force. Completing the fellowship with 26 students from different schools and backgrounds coming together made us all at STF hopeful that we have established the next generation of leaders in the fight against domestic abuse.”

This year’s Go Purple Day was dedicated in the memory of Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, zt”l. Rabbi Dr. Twerski, zt”l, was an inspiration to thousands of struggling individuals around the world. He was a critical voice for victims of

domestic abuse, and Shalom Task Force is committed to ensuring his legacy lives on.

In his zechus, may we continue to work together to build safe relationships, healthy families, and a supportive community.

Thank you to all of our participating schools: Atlanta Jewish Academy, Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy, The Frisch School, Hebrew Academy of Nassau County (HANC), Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School, Maimonides School (Boston, MA), North Shore Hebrew Academy, Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls (SKA), Yeshiva University High School for Boys (MTA), Yeshiva University High School for Girls (Central), YULA Boys, and YULA Girls. Thank you to Project S.A.R.A.H. for partnering with us to bring this program to New Jersey schools.

Shalom Task Force is also excited to announce that due to the overwhelming success

of The Purple Fellowship, 27 students from 11 new schools have recently begun the second cohort. Thank you to our newest partners schools: Abraham Joshua Heschel School, CHAT Tannenbaum, Denver Academy of Torah, Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys (DRS), Fuchs Mizrachi, Ida Crown,

Katz Yeshiva High School of South Florida, Salanter Akiba Riverdale High School (SAR), Shalhevet High School, Ulpanat (Bnai Akiva School), and Yeshiva of Flatbush. We are looking forward to having our second cohort plan their own Go Purple Days in their schools on April 22.

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

59

Around the Community

Chazaq Halftime for Torah Attracts Over 3,650 Devices

By Susie Garber

T

he ratings for the midway Super Bowl stream on Sunday evening, February 7 of Halftime for Torah are in, and they are a mind-blowing kiddush Hashem!

Well over 3,650 devices tuned into TorahAnytime, and many more hundreds called in to access the Chazaq Organization-sponsored program featuring the oration talents of Rav Gav Friedman, Rabbi Yoel Gold, Charlie Harary, and Rabbi YY Jacobson. The four inspiring speakers used football analogies to share beautiful Torah principles and ideas.

Images came in from around the U.S. showing the far reach of the program. The Boca Raton Synagogue went as far as broadcasting Halftime for Torah on the side of their building, truly defining the power of the four speakers. There was a poignant photo where an Instagram mom tagged @Chazaq_Org showing her youngster watching Charlie Harary’s segment of Halftime for Torah, captioning, “The only halftime show we care about around here!” Then, football fans from Cincinnati, Ohio, shared pictures during the Rav Gav and Rabbi Jacobson, portions bringing home the purpose of creating this program.

There is no way to discern how

many individuals were glued to each electronic contraption, but suffice it to sa,y families watched from one central location and the 3,650 devices drew many more live viewers.

Charlie Harary, well-known speaker, began with stating: “Football is an incredible sport. Sports can be a mashal for life.” He explained that it’s not about the ball. It’s about the strategies and ideas. The men playing in the Super Bowl are professionals.

To get where they are, they do things conceptually right. “Watching people of excellence gives us lessons for life.”

The reason the Super Bowl is im-

portant is because of its challenge.

It took an enormous amount to get there. It’s the culmination of the season. Every catch and every miss are important. “The greater the challenge, the greater the reward.”

Next, Rabbi Gavriel Friedman, a well-known speaker, shared, “Look how much work the players put into it. They put in so much time and effort. Are we being ameil baTorah?

Do we put in the amount of work in our avodas Hashem that they put into football?” They use every moment to work on their game and nothing can stop them. “Are we living

life in a way that nothing can stop us?

If we really want it, then nothing can stop us.”

Following this, Rabbi YY Jacobson, a well-known speaker, stated, “Notice every single move, every breath of every player is thought about, observed, examined, scrutinized, and analyzed. Some moves are analyzed decades later.”

He added, “Every act, word, and thought of ours is noted and celebrated by the Author of reality.”

Rabbi Jacobson emphasized, “Everything we do has impact on the past, present, and future. We will understand potency and passion. We should invest our actions and words with the idea that we can change the world.

Next, Rabbi Yoel Gold, a wellknown speaker, shared a story that happened to the singer, Shloime Dachs, and how his actions inspired someone to take on the mitzvah of tz’dakah. “How we treat others inspires everyone.” He shared that the line in T’hilim, “I will sing to Hashem,” means the way I live my life and the choices I make and the way I treat others is the harmony of song.

“We have an audience that includes our family, our neighbors, our community. We want to inspire them to want to emulate us.”

This Purim, Be Smart, Be Safe, Be Vigilant

C

haverim of Queens, founded in memory of world-renowned philanthropist, Mr. Jack Friedman, a”h, started with just ten volunteers. That was a dozen years ago, when calls were dispatched to volunteers via beepers. Today, Chaverim of Queens has over 100 volunteers who respond to calls rapidly via an app. The acts of chessed that the volunteers of Chaverim do daily does not go unnoticed by those who have benefited from the assistance provided. The devastating effects of the events of this past year will be studied long into the future, but if there is just one lesson, it may be that every life has extreme value and time may be cut short most unexpectedly.

Times may have certainly changed, and yes, milestones have

been achieved. However, some things have not changed that much and for that reason Chaverim of Queens is now in its twelfth consecutive year operating an anti-drinking and driving campaign, spreading awareness and asking the community to please be safe over the Jewish holiday of Purim.

We are unfortunately aware of the excessive drinking that takes place within our communities during the joyous holiday of Purim. This year’s celebrations will look quite different, with congregations and institutions practicing COVID-safe festivities.

Chaverim stands ready to assist, offering its transport services as necessary. While it is almost impossible to prevent people from partaking in such behavior, there are other solu-

tions to keep friends and family safe.

The Chaverim of Queens Purim “Don’t Drink and Drive campaign,” which pioneered Purim of 2009, was founded to prevent the likelihood that someone will be tempted to drive while under the influence on this festive day. To prevent those who may be unfit to drive on Purim, Chaverim has “Volunteer Designated Drivers” available in Queens throughout Purim. This service can be requested by calling the Chaverim 24-hour hotline number: 718-441-0505.

“The hot line number should be publicized and shared,” said Chaverim co-founder Avi Cyperstein. “The community can enjoy Purim knowing that we are just a phone call away.”

The reality is that even one drink

may impair your driving capabilities, even if you believe you are able to drive. Do not suffer the consequences of cloudy judgement. If you are an adult in the company of minors, act responsibly when handling alcohol. Children are not accustomed to drinking, and the smallest amount consumed may result in unforeseen illness.

The Chaverim of Queens Purim “Don’t Drink & Drive” program is generously sponsored by Dr. Mark Ehrenpreis, Outsource USA, and Avi Cyperstein for City Council.

While we hope that no one needs the service, please save the hotline number as a phone contact as the life you save may very well be your own!

May we all be blessed with a happy, healthy, and, most of all, safe Purim!

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

A New Shul for Soldiers PHOTOS: HAREDI MILITARY ADMINISTRATION

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wo organizations who work on behalf of supporting Israeli soldiers, Netzach Yehuda Association and Yahad: United for Israel’s Soldiers, recently renovated a synagogue and donated deluxe furnishings for soldiers in the charedi Tomer unit and Givati Brigade soldiers.

A moving opening ceremony was held last week in the new synagogue, which is located on Givati’s army base in Har Keren in the Negev. Among those participating in the ceremony were IDF Chief Rabbi, Brigadier General Eyal Karim; Commander of the Givati Brigade, Lt. Col. Ivri Elbaz; Rabbi of the Southern Command Lt. Col. Rabbi David Haimov; Netzach Yehuda Association (Nahal Haredi) CEO Yossi Levy; Javier Rosenfeld, Field Director, Yahad: United for Israel’s Soldiers; and Rabbi Tzvi Klebanow, President of Netzach Yehuda Association. They were joined by representatives of the charedi military administration, officers and soldiers.

Two new Torah scrolls written espe-

cially for Givati’s hachshara soldiers were installed into the synagogue during the ceremony. Chief Rabbi Krim congratulated participants, donors, and Netzach Yehuda rabbis and delivered a touching address in honor of the synagogue and new Torah scroll dedications.

“Tomer unit soldiers are an example of a quality, professional company, one that preserves the values they bring from home,” Netzach Yehuda

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President Rabbi Rabbi Tzvi Klebanow said. “You are an example of how an ultra-Orthodox lifestyle can be combined with the mission to protect our people. “ The charedi Tomer unit of Givati was established in 2014 and operates as part of the Rotem Battalion. The soldiers receive all the necessary provisions that allow them to serve in the IDF while maintaining a charedi lifestyle. The Givati Brigade operates

in sectors of Judea and Samaria, Lebanon and Gaza and is at the forefront of the IDF, with a battle legacy dating back to the War of Independence.

The Netzach Yehuda Association attends to the needs of Tomer soldiers throughout the year, providing them with “spiritual armor” and personal guidance, and acts as a bridge for families and communities to harness the soldiers for success.

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

61

Around the Community

Shulamith Prepares for Purim

Gesher’s Yellow Room created their own megillos

SHS Gives Back

S

I

n Shulamith High School, chessed is not just a mitzvah, it is an intrinsic part of the culture.

Most students volunteer for various chessed organizations and meet or exceed the mandatory hours.

“She Turns Twelve” is an organization that helps make bat mitzvahs for girls who would otherwise not be able to have one. On Sunday, a young girl was bat mitzvahed in a “She Turns Twelve” sponsored event.

Shulamith High School students flocked to the location and spent five hours setting up – putting up decorations, setting up tables, and making sure everything was in order. When the party began, Shulamith students danced for hours and added so much

to the simcha by helping family and friends onto the dance floor.

“We wanted to make sure everyone was having a good time,” one student said, “it is important to add as much simcha as possible.”

Afterward, the Shulamith students stayed on to help clean up.

Bailey Weinberger, a junior who played a major role in helping make the Bat Mitzvah happen, said, “It was awesome – it was just so nice to be able to be a part of this.”

The goal was to make it special for the bat mitzvah girl and add a feeling of joy and spirit, something Shulamith High School students are quite good at.

“I can’t wait to do it again!”

hhhh! Can you hear it? Purim is coming! The children at Shulamith ECC are looking forward to every moment of this fun chag.

Sound plays an important role in the Purim holiday. We drown out the name of Haman Harashah with our loud raashanim, and we are careful not to make a sound while the Megillah is being read.

The sounds of joyous singing and dancing ring throughout the neighborhood the whole day as costumed children and adults deliver mishloach manot.

The children explored sound using the hands-on methodology that makes Shulamith ECC famous.

They learned so much in every curriculum area. First, the children went on sound walks to think about the sounds in their environment.

They used their hands and feet and mouths to create different sounds and then tried making sounds with various items around the classroom. They charted sounds they like and sounds they don’t like and compared the results. The children experimented with different loud and soft materials and graphed their findings. They even conducted

trials to determine the number of objects needed to make the loudest sound. Our young scientists used their findings to determine the best way to fill their one-of-a-kind raashanim.

So if you see a Shulamith ECC child shaking her raashan with a big smile on her face, think about all of the learning that went into her creation.

Chag Purim sameach to one and all!

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Yeshiva Sha’arei Zion’s UPK class dressed up and acted out the Purim story

Spiritual Health at HAFTR

H

AFTR Middle School has been busy during our Health Month. We began by focusing on our physical health the first week and then learned about our mental health the next week.

This past week, we focused on our spiritual health. We had brachot parties in each individual class. The students learned the sources for making 100 brachot a day, as well as the meaning and importance of answering a bracha with the word “amen”! They learned the order of which brachot go first and so on.

Finally, the students have brought the importance and “habit” of making brachot to the forefront of their minds.

In addition, the students have been saying individual chapters of

The Friedberg JCC celebrated 100 days of school, with children forming the number 100

IVDU Welcomes Dr. Preminger

Tehillim, hoping to complete all 150 perakim by the end of our Health Month.

A fun and delicious time was had by all!

Sophomore Sparks at Central

T

o help acclimate our sophomores to high school, to inspire them, and to help them find out about ways to get more involved, we introduced a new program this past Wednesday: Sophomore Sparks.

Sophomore year is a unique experience. While our sophomore students are more comfortable in school and no longer freshmen, it is still a year of new beginnings, new teachers, new friends, and a year to continue finding a personal and unique “spark.” What are they interested in learning more about? Where do they fit in the Central community? How

do they want to get more involved?

Each week of this program will delve into different “sparks” of interest and growth and explore ways for our sophomores to get involved in many different areas at Central.

Students learned from Ms. Orly Wahba, from the Social Impact Initiative, about the importance of social good, social entrepreneurship, and giving back to the world. Her words were extremely empowering and inspirational. We are excited to partner with this origination to provide content and mentorship for our students in the program.

I

VDU Long Island was afforded the privilege of hosting Dr. Preminger, renowned pediatric dentist, for an incredibly visual and hands-on demonstration that reinforced this month’s hygiene unit on tooth brushing. At IVDU LI, many different modalities are used to teach skills, high up on the list for life skills development is experiential learn-

ing such as this one. Dr. Preminger taught students about the importance of daily tooth brushing and showed everyone the proper way to brush. Students had the opportunity to practice their skills on his puppet model. Thank you Dr. Preminger for taking time out of his busy day to help teach good hygiene practices and key skills for life!

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

63

Around the Community

At Last! Israeli Luxury Hotels Reopening

By Hadassah Bay

A

fter an entire year under the shadow of the pandemic, Israelis are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, as the hospitality industry slowly emerges from hibernation.

The great news is that on Tuesday, March 9, the Waldorf Astoria

in Jerusalem and the Ritz Carlton in Herzliya – probably the two most luxurious hotels in Israel — will be reopening to the public. The Waldorf Astoria, adjacent to the Old City walls, needs no introduction; however, guests will be delighted to hear about its new addition: the Guerlain Spa, one of the only international spas in the country. With nine spa-

cious, well-appointed treatment rooms, three of which are designed for couples, the spa is well-equipped to provide guests with the ultimate in pampering. Additionally, the spa boasts a stunning indoor swimming pool with an adjacent vitality pool, a state-of-the-art gym, as well as a relaxation area.

For a perfect beachfront spot with

breathtaking views of the sea, there can be no better venue than the Ritz Carlton in Herzliya. Acclaimed for its over-the-top gourmet cuisine, sumptuous suites, pampering spa, and overall excellent service, the Ritz Carlton is just as eager to serve its clientele as the guests are to come.

Wishing all a safe and healthy re-entry to “normal”!

National Council of Young Israel Elects New Board

T

he National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) announced this week that a new Board of Directors has been elected to lead the organization. The 17 new board members, who represent 17 different Young Israel branches throughout the United States, have pledged to make synagogue services NCYI’s top priority and enhance the sense of collaboration between its over 100 branch synagogues.

The new board, which campaigned as the “NCYI Future” slate, was elected on February 17, 2021 with support from an array of Young Israel synagogues from across the country.

The new board is focused on strong organizational leadership, which will entail managing operations effectively, being transparent in its efforts, and soliciting and responding to feedback of the branches. The board will emphasize service to its branch synagogues by significantly augmenting the services the organization provides and fostering active cooperation and sharing of knowledge among branches. Furthermore, the board intends to amend the NCYI constitution in an effort to protect the synagogues and establish best practices in organizational governance.

While the board will de-emphasize politics, it will responsibly address matters of concern for the

Jewish community when there is a consensus view among its branches, including advocacy on behalf of Israel and issues and causes that affect the Jewish community.

“This election result enables a new chapter for our organization that will be marked by service to our branches, the heart of the Young Israel movement and the reason the National Council of Young Israel exists,” said new NCYI President Rabbi David Warshaw. “We will work diligently to make certain that the National Council of Young Israel is a strong, productive and relevant organization that supports the interests of our branches and is dedicated to enhancing the vibrancy of Modern Orthodoxy, Religious Zionism, and the State of Israel.

“Our primary focus is to work closely with our branches to foster cooperation, camaraderie and communication between the synagogues and the national organization, and to build teamwork throughout the Young Israel movement,” continued Rabbi Warshaw. “We will work tirelessly, as a team, to shape the National Council of Young Israel in a way that represents the consensus of all branches by better servicing the overall needs of the synagogues through expanded programing for youth, teens, seniors, and singles, and enriched adult education oppor-

tunities for our members.

“We thank former president Farley Weiss and the outgoing board members for their commitment to the National Council of Young Israel and hope that they will continue serving the Jewish community in positive ways in the future,” Rabbi Warshaw added.

Rabbi Warshaw, a third generation Young Israelite, has been an active member of the Young Israel of Oceanside for 20 years, having served as President, First Vice President and Second Vice President, in addition to several committee chairmanships. Professionally, he has served as Executive Director of Young Israel of Flatbush and Young Israel of West Hempstead, and has held executive positions with Jewish National Fund, American Friends of Yeshivot Bnei Akiva and Yeshivat Shaalvim.

The new NCYI Board of Directors includes: President: Rabbi David Warshaw, YI of Oceanside Chairman of the Board: David Schultz, YI of Century City, Los Angeles 1st Vice President: Harold Aspis, YI of Scarsdale

2nd Vice President: Charles Miller, YI of Woodmere Treasurer: Robert Levi, YI Shomrai Emunah-Greater Washington Financial Secretary: Ari Pearl, YI of Hollywood-Ft. Lauderdale Recording Secretary: David Gross, YI of Plainview

Outside of NY Board Members: Jonathan Abbett, YI of Brookline Steve Cohen, YI of Oak Park Elimelech Tenenbaum, YI Aish Los Vegas Mark Trencher, YI of West Hartford Jonathan Wogan, YI of Memphis

New York Board Members: Adam Cohen, YI of Great Neck Aryeh Davis, YI of Lawrence Cedarhurst Andy Gross, YI of East Brunswick, NJ Owen Rumelt, YI of West Hempstead Mark Semer, YI of New Rochelle

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

The Colossal Loss of Two Giants, So Seemingly Different, Yet So Similar!

Reflections on the passing of HaGaon HaRav Dovid Soloveichik, zt”l and HaGaon HaRav Yitzchok Scheiner, zt”l

Harav Dovid Soloveichik meeting with hanhalas Dirshu in his home

By Chaim Gold

K

lal Yisrael was smitten doubly. Recently, we lost nearly 200 years of constant immer-

sion in Torah. We lost integral links in our mesorah and we lost the protection that 200 years of pure yegias haTorah, afforded us.

With the passing of HaGaon HaR-

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Rav Yitzchok Scheiner speaking at a Dirshu siyum on seder Moed in Yerushalayim

av Meshulem Dovid Soloveichik, zt”l, and the passing of HaGaon HaRav Yitzchok Scheiner, zt”l, Klal Yisrael has been impoverished in a way that is impossible to properly encapsulate.

When you look at these Gedolei Olam who lived just a few blocks from each other, for the last 75 years, they are people who could not possibly have been more different. Everything about them was different – history, background, personality.

In truth, however, there is an inner essence, a p’nimius, that they had in common that was not as apparent on the surface.

In a number of hespedim on these two great gedolim, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, the Nasi of Dirshu who enjoyed a close personal relationship with both of these towering Gedolei Yisrael and spent much time in personal conversation with them, pointed this out.

Superficial Differences, Inner Similarities “On the superficial side, they couldn’t have been more different.

Rav Dovid embodied the malchus of Brisk. He was a worthy link in that chain stretching back to his father, the Brisker Rav, his grandfather, Rav Chaim, and his great-grandfather, the Beis Halevi and l’maalah bakodesh. On the surface, he was direct and uncompromising. He had his mesorah and his shitos that he had received from bais avosav, and he was not afraid to say them.

“And then, there was Rav Yitzcohk Scheiner. Born and raised in Pittsburgh to erhliche parents, but simultaneously Yidden who didn’t even know that there was a such a thing as a yeshiva in America in the 1930’s….

“He attended public school for elementary and high school. Rav Yitzchok told me that his mother observed all of his friends, even those who came from frum homes, and realized that they were all on the way to a life devoid of shemiras haTorah and mitzvos. She cried bitter tears to Hashem, begging Him to save her son Yitzchok from that fate. He attributed his hatzlacha in learning to his mother’s tears.

“Eventually, by hashgacha pratis, he ended up in Camp Mesivta and then in Mesivta Torah Vodaas, where he became a talmid muvhak of Rav Shlomo Heiman, Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz and later Rav Reuven Grozovsky.

“Rav Yitzchok’s demeanor did not show the sometimes strong tones of Rav Dovid. He was kulo ne’imus, sweetness and pleasantness. When you walked into his daled amos, you felt embraced by his gutskeit, his innate love for you and the temimusdige ahavas haTorah that he exuded.

“Yes, there were external factors that made them appear very different, both in their upbringing and in their public persona, but were they really that different?”

4.5” x 11.25” The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Around the Community

‫בס״ד‬

FEBRUARY 2021

A True Manhig Yisrael “There is a vort that Rav Dovid Soloveichik would relate that offers insight. Moshe Rabbeinu came to the Bnei Yisrael telling them the good news that Hashem said that he would take them out of Mitzrayim and bring them to Eretz Yisrael. The pasuk tells us, however, ‘V’lo shamu el Moshe m’kotzer ruach um’avodah kasha – they didn’t listen to Moshe as a result of the difficulty, stress and the hard work.’ Later, Hashem tells Moshe to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let the Yidden out of Mitzrayim.

Moshe responds to Hashem with a kal v’chomer. ‘The Bnei Yisrael didn’t listen to me so how will Pharaoh listen to me? And I stutter….’

“Rav Dovid Soloveichik, zt”l, asked a fundamental question.

There is a simple refutation to the ‘kal v’chomer.’ The pasuk itself tells us that the reason the Yidden didn’t listen to Moshe was the fact that they had kotzer ruach and avodah kasha. What does that have to do with Pharaoh who was sitting in the lap of luxury? How could Moshe try to extricate himself from the task that Hashem had given him by making a kal v’chomer that is clearly not logical under the circumstances?! Furthermore, why did he say the reason was that he stutters, when the pssuk says it was because of kotzer ruach and avodah kasha?

“Rav Dovid gave a profound answer. He said, ‘A true manhig Yisrael does not see the deficiencies in Klal Yisrael. He doesn’t attribute shortcomings to Klal Yisrael but rather to himself. Moshe said, “You know why Pharaoh won’t listen? Because I am an aral sefasyaim, I stutter, and therefore I am not a worthy emissary to convince Pharaoh.” What was Moshe doing? He was taking the focus off the kotzer ruach and the avodah kasha that was the real reason why the Bnei Yisrael did not listen, and instead placed the entire burden upon himself. In fact, he shouldered the responsibility to such a great extent that to him, the real reason was his stuttering. That is a true manhig Yisrael.’

“We were zocheh to meet and interact with both of these Gedolim who superficially were perhaps so different, but who in essence shared much in common. They were both true manhigei Yisrael, who were mafkir themselves for Klal Yisrael.

They always saw the good and posi-

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tive in Klal Yisrael and were willing to go above and beyond their limited strength even in very advanced old age, to be mechazeik Klal Yisrael, to benefit Klal Yisrael, to encourage and give chizuk to Klal Yisrael and limud haTorah among Klal Yisrael.

“With regard to Rav Yitzchok Scheiner, he was kulo bittul. He always attributed his gadlus to Klal Yisroel, to others, never to himself.

I can never forget an Acheinu kiruv conference that he addressed. He gave no credit to himself for becoming a great Rosh Yeshiva, for becoming a talmid muvhak of Rav Shlomo Heiman and Rav Reuven Grozovsky.

He didn’t attribute any value to himself. He didn’t even acknowledge that it was because of his greatness in Torah, his hasmada and middos tovos that his illustrious Rebbe, Rav Reuven recommended his niece, a granddaughter of Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz, the Rosh Yeshiva of Kamenitz for a shidduch. He always expressed this childlike wonder on how he, a public school boy from Pittsburgh, was zochhe to marry Rav Boruch Ber’s granddaughter.

“That is a true manhig Yisrael. He focuses on others, on the greatness of Klal Yisrael, of all Yidden and always pushes the spotlight off himself.”

More in Common Than Not! “Indeed, that is why even though they seemed so different in background and personality, Rav Dovid Soloveichik and Rav Yitzchok Scheiner had far more in common than not.

“That is why it is not such a chiddush that Rav Yitzchok ended up marrying Rav Boruch Ber’s granddaughter and becoming Rosh Yeshiva of Kaminetz. Who was Rav Baruch Ber’s primary Rebbi? Rav Chaim Brisker. Who did Rav Dovid Soloveichik learn by for a short period when he was a bachur? By Rav Boruch Ber in Kaminetz.

“For Dirshu, especially, the loss is colossal! Both these towering figures constantly gave chizuk to lomdei Dirshu. They encouraged participation in the various programs and the words that were constantly on their lips were that they are mekaneh the zechusim of the lomdei Dirshu and those who facilitate their learning.

“Again, it was nothing about them, and everything about Klal Yisroel. The foundational essence of true Gedolei Yisrael!”

A SHIDDUCH WITHOUT DOUBTS “Baruch Hashem, it isn’t a matter of life and death; it isn’t a tragedy, chas v’shalom; and it isn’t a typical request for a yeshuah. Just the opposite!” the caller told us. “It’s about a simchah – one that I wish upon every single Yid.” This man was at the threshold of finalizing a shidduch for the first time. He was lucky to have a couple of suitable names redt to his oldest child, but he didn’t know how to go about it. The doubt, the confusion, the challenge of making the right decision didn’t let him relax.

“It’s no simple decision!” the father exclaimed.

“It is pivotal to my dear child’s future! I know I need loads of siyatta d’Shmaya. I want the talmidei chachamim in Tehillim Kollel to have me in mind, to appeal to Hakadosh Baruch Hu to give me the clarity to take the right step.”

There, on the special mountain of Meron, another name was added to the list of Yidden from around the world. Another person would be davened for by the minyan of talmidei chachamim reciting Tehillim b’tzibbur – right inside the hallowed ma’areh of Reb Shimon Bar Yochai.

Two days later, on the daily simchah pages in shul, we noticed our fresh Tehillim Kollel member listed as a new, fortunate mechutan!

In his words, “We went toward this shidduch calm and collected. We merited harchavas hada’as, knowing that Hashem was helping us make the right decision, that we were not alone.

The power of Tehillim in Meron accompanied us with true siyatta d’Shmaya!”

WEEKLY COLUMN OF RECENT EPISODES

BY TEHILLIM KOLLEL Sign up for our annual mermbership:

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TJH

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Centerfold

Top Reasons I Love Purim

Purim Scramble Unscramble—you guessed it!—Haman’s sons’ names:

ndalof

©

When I wear my watch on left hand, people don’t think I’m a lefty; they just think I am dressed up like one.

©

I finally come to the philosophical understanding of why Hashem created Presidors.

©

If I have a bad hair day (of which there is a 100% likelihood), people just think it’s part of my costume.

©

I get to stuff my face with hamantashen, not matzah.

© ©

It’s easier to spell than Chanuka…Chanukah… Hanuka…Hanukah…Hanooka…Hookah…whatever.

I play air saxophone, and nobody thinks I am weird.

©

I get to drink water out of an Absolut Vodka bottle…which leads my mother to shriek almost as loud as when I spray her fur coat with invisible ink (which is not really invisible and actually leaves a stain, but don’t tell anyone).

©

I get to drink as much grape juice as I want without feeling guilty (“Son, you have no idea how expensive grape juice is!”)

©

diryaa zvsyaaa asadnahsrap Sapaas roasap yadala tsharmapa asadari sayari

When I don’t want to talk to someone, I just make believe I am drunk as a skunk.

©

I get to do challenging exercises such as: V’esParshandasahV’esDolphone (or is it Dolphin) V’esAspasaV’esPorassaV’esAdaliaV’esAridasaV’esParmshtaV’esArisaiV’esAridaiV’esVaysasa!!!!!

(Wooooooow…expanding those lungs!)

©

Answer to Scramble Answers (in one breath, please) Dalfon ; Ariday; Vayzasa; Parshandasa; Aspasa; Porasa; Adalya; Parmashta; Aridasa; Arisay

I get to show off my table-drumming skills…in shul of all places!

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

Dear Underlings, GA Purim-bash I’m writing to invite you to a MA at Mar-a-Lago. t.

Yes, it’s me, your favorite presiden e you know aus bec – Now that I am not in office rd we were up n whe 3 what happened on November sudden in the of all , bigly and then all of the sudden truth: the lose disc the middle of the night – I can have and er sion mis I am the Centerfold Com been all along. not kidding.

This is actually not a joke; I’m raised in Queens.

As you know, I was born and in Kew Gardens was Before becoming president, I ish Home (my Jew one time and picked up The lot of Jew ish a e hav grandkids are Jew ish and I style, and I my was friends). Any ways, I liked it. It years ago. ten nd became a reader. This was arou jokes just of list ny Anyhow, one time I wrote a fun ewhere. som ered uff randomly while I was being cha it to the t sen I w, kno ’t For some reason that I still don editor of TJH. iant. It was like She loved it; thought it was brill r read. eve she just the freshest, greatest stuff I said that and , TJH in She asked if she can put it e benam my ude she can but she should not incl ubea tall, very on s cause the Trump name only goe ry. iona stat se tiful skyscrapers…and White Hou ul thing. I star ted It turned out to be a beautif k, and the editor wee writing these little jokes every

different OK. It’s a beautif ul thing…many names. d But, really, I had some goo times writing Centerfolds from l. the Resolute Desk in the Ova ller, It gave me a break from Mue ple. Ver y Schiff, Pelosi. Ver y bad peo bad. kly, I’d rather be Now that I am back here – fran ther, away from wea m here…I have golf courses, war I would like to if me d the swamp – your editor aske .” not why , continue and I said, “Sure, yeh Why not? I le. whi a for So, we will continue this tter – the Twi with ed mean, you know what happen this for a do let’s So, radical left tried silencing me. while and see where it goes. you this, I am acWell, any ways, now that I told -a-Lago for the Mar in tually hav ing a Purim par ty y, you guys Sorr . fun kids and stuff. Will be lots of be in 2024, may ws, can’t come. One day, who kno maybe we and se Hou we will be back in the White see, not will We OK? e. will make a Purim par ty ther

would put it in TJH. iled me and said, Well, one time, the editor ema a page dedicated e hav “You know, Donald, that we to the stuff you send me.” w that. I mean, I said, “Wow. Really? I did not kno , but I didn’t stuff and I knew that I am very talented to my writed icat ded know that you have a page

ings. I really didn’t.” that I am, what But, really, that ’s how I found out er.” sion mis they call, “The Centerfold Com s like callguy you t; I like being called Presiden fine. It’s ’s that er; sion ing me Centerfold Commis

a bad idea, maybe. to remind you Any ways, the editor wanted me They tell me tos. pho guys to send in your Purim following the in ures that they will post the pict spirit goim Pur the ps week’s issue. This way it kee idea. nice a t’s Tha . ing. Ver y nice. Really, very nice rim “Pu line ject sub Send the photo with the or , .com ome ishh jew photos” to editor@fivetowns something like that.

Happy Purim! ld Commissioner, Your friend, President, & Centerfo

Donald

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Torah Thought

Parshas Tetzaveh

By Rabbi Berel Wein

I

n this year of 5781 here in Jerusalem, the Torah reading of Tetzaveh coincides with the day of Purim itself. There seems to be great similarities between this Torah reading and the reading of the book of Esther on Purim.

Throughout the entire Torah, we find that the name of our great teacher Moshe (after his birth) is found in each weekly portion, with one lone exception. In Parshas Tetzaveh, Moshe’s name never appears, even though we are aware that Moshe is the one who wrote this portion of the Torah and taught it to the Jewish people for all eternity. We are aware that Moshe is the hidden author, the director of events behind the scenes.

There are many comments by the scholars of Israel over the ages who try to explain why this is so. But for the purposes of this short essay, it is sufficient simply to realize that Moshe is the teacher of the Torah par excellence, who is hidden from us. As we will soon see, we are made aware of the value of people and ideas remaining hidden, and not always exposed to the light of human inspection and society. The ability of Moshe to remain hidden and the benefit of his anonymity is one of the blessings of his noble character

and humble greatness.

In the same vein, we also find that in the Book of Esther the holy name of G-d is not there. There is no reference whatsoever made of the intercession and interference of Heaven in the events described in the written record of the story and miracle of Purim. The Book of Esther reads as an exciting, completely rational and understandable story

plagues of locusts that mark this miracle. Yet, it is obvious that, when we piece the whole story together, the miracle of the event becomes obvious and revealed, no matter how hidden it was while it was being enacted (read the words of the rabbis in the Al Hanisim prayer recited on Purim).

Perhaps this is the reason why Purim is such a day of unmitigated

It is the delight of the discovery of the hidden Director that fills us with both merriment and joy.

of political intrigue, of psychologically damaged individuals, unforeseen salvation, and as an example of the twists and turns that make a mockery of human certainties and predictions.

Once again, there is an unseen and unmentioned Director of events that is controlling the narrative of this story. Purim is the holiday that commemorates this concept. There is no flash of lightning nor roar of thunder, no volcanic eruptions or

joy because it represents the joy of thousands who have discovered and unraveled a mystery, the solution of which was not originally understood by many. It is the delight of the discovery of the hidden Director that fills us with both merriment and joy.

When a hidden treasure is revealed, humans are usually overcome with a feeling of happiness and achievement.

The great chassidic master of Kotzk continually maintained

that truth is always hidden from public view. He said that if it were revealed, it would be criticized, reviled, and discounted, for we live in a false world, to use the phrase that the Talmud chose to describe human existence. Ultimate truth can only be found within one’s own self, and it takes an enormous amount of effort and searching to find it. Only the hidden eventually proves to be true, accurate, and eternal.

Falsehoods are wherever we turn. It is not only “fake news” that confounds us, but it is also that we live in an era where society is shaped by the opinions of others, with their human weaknesses. The Torah wishes to give us a direction as to where truth can be found. It hid the name of Moshe in this week’s Torah reading, and hid the name of G-d, again, in the Book of Esther.

If one wishes to find G-d, he or she needs to search within one’s own self. The same is true of understanding and appreciating the Torah that Moshe wrote, gave, and taught us. The Torah shows us that we are not that distant from truth.

But it cannot be found on the surface but only within our own souls.

So be it.

Shabbat shalom and Purim sameach.

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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From the Fire

Parshas Tetzaveh

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

T

he inyan of Parshas Zachor is to remember, and we also find the inyan of remembering in this week’s parsha, Parshas Tetzaveh, which falls out around Purim time.

“You shall place both stones on the shoulder straps of the ephod, stones of memory, zikaron, for Bnei Yisroel.

And Aharon shall carry their names before Hashem on both his shoulders as a remembrance, l’zikaron” (Shemos 28:12). “Aharon shall carry the names of Bnei Yisroel on the Choshen Mishpat on his heart when he approaches the kodesh as a constant remembrance, l’zikaron, before Hashem” (Shemos 28:29).

The Ramban explains that the letters of the Urim V’umim would light up. They were called Urim because they would light up before the eyes of the Kohen Gadol and Tumim because, with his ruach hakodesh and temimas halev, pureness of heart, the Kohen Gadol knew how to combine the letters in the proper way.

Mordechai ben Yair ben Shimi: Regarding Mordechai’s full name, the Gemara in Megilla (12b) explains that the Megilla calls Mordechai “Ben Yair” because he illuminated the eyes of Yisroel with his tefilla. Similarly, it calls him “Ben Shimi” because he was a son whose tefillos Hashem heard, shema. Through Purim we see a wondrous idea in the koach of tefilla. We see that “kimu v’kiblu” did not just apply to Torah but to tefilla as well. Up until the time of the Anshei K’nesses HaGedolah, everyone davened according to their heart’s desire. The Anshei K’nesses HaGedolah, which existed around the time of Purim, established the letters, words, and form of davening that we are familiar with today, in order to allow us to properly fulfill the mitzvah of tefilla. The sugya regarding the establishment of tefilla is found davka in masechtas Megilla.

This is explained by R’ Yonasan David, the Rosh Yeshiva of Pachad Yitzchak and son-in-law of R’ Hutner, zt”l, who says that with the yom tov of Purim, Hashem revealed to us the kedushas haguf, the holiness of the bodies, of Klal Yisroel and of every single Jew. The pasuk in Yeshaya (51:21) says, “Therefore, hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine.”

The Gemara in Eruvin (68a) uses this pasuk to state that since the Bais Hamikdash was destroyed, Klal Yisroel should be patur, exempt, from tefilla/ davening because we are drunk from the trial and tribulations of galus, exile, and we don’t have the settled mind required to daven properly.

Haman’s decree was “to destroy, to slay, and eradicate” (Esther 7:4), to simply destroy every Jewish body and eradicate them from this world.

To Amalek, Haman, Hitler, and even the current rasha in Iran, the thoughts of a Jew do not make any difference – they do not care what the Jew is thinking. These reshaim want to simply remove the physical presence of the Jewish people from this world.

The Gemara (also in Megilla 9a)

refers to the letters of Aleph-Bais as gufin, bodies. The Anshei Knesses HaGedolah, by arranging the letters/bodies into tefillos in the format that we now know, infused the tefillos with all of the kavanos and sodos which enable a Jew to daven without even understanding the meaning of the words he is saying. When a Jew simply focuses on the form of the letters, he accomplishes wonders with the letters themselves.

Purim revealed the kedusha of the body of a Jew. After we read the Megilla, we sing Shoshanas Yaakov in which we say, “Teshua’sam hayisa la’netzach, You have been their eternal salvation.” On Purim, it was revealed that even when the body of a Jew is in a state of non-wine-induced drunkenness due to galus, the body, not just the neshama, is eternal.

On Purim, we learned that Jewish eternity is not exclusively for the soul, but for the body as well. The salvation of Purim extends to our holy bodies, which are themselves letters of the Torah. Chazal say, “Yesh shishim ribo osios laTorah, there are 600,000 letters in the Torah,” corresponding to the 600,000 Jewish people who left Mitzrayim.

Even though a Jew might not know what he’s saying when he davens, by saying the letters and words of the tefillos in the seder established by the Anshei Knesses HaGedola, his tefillos light up and wonderous combinations are made. This is connected to the inyan of drinking (a little bit) on Purim. Even though we might be slightly drunk and might not be fully aware, the letters themselves are automatically combined in a wondrous way. This is the secret of the Urim V’umim, which were simply letters that were illuminated. It was only through the Ruach HaKodesh of the Kohen Gadol that he was able to see the proper combinations and understand the meaning behind the message. However, the koach of Amalek confuses us and causes us to misread the letters and prevents us from believing in the eternal remembrance of kedushas Yisroel.

Even though a Jew does not understand the tefilla he is saying, the tefilla is still filled with an unbelievable kedusha and ohr. This is what was shown to us on Purim by Mordechai, who was a member of the Anshei Knesos HaGadola who illuminated our eyes with tefilla.

In the paragraph “Asher haneah,” which is recited after leining the Megilla, it says that Hashem saw the tefilla. Usually, tefilla is heard.

But here, following the miraculous events of Purim, Hashem saw the osios, the letters, of the tefillos, which Mordechai had illuminated in the eyes of Klal Yisrael.

There was a time when the Baal Shem Tov, zy”a, was traveling with his shamash and suddenly lost all his madraigos of learning and ruach hakodesh. He turned to his shamash and said, “Repeat after me.” The Baal Shem Tov started reciting the letters of the Aleph-Bais one by one, with

TheJewish JewishHome Home| |FEBRUARY OCTOBER 29, 2015 The 25, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

the shamash repeating the letters after him. When they completed the entire Aleph-Bais, the Baal Shem Tov’s ruach hakodesh returned. The Baal Shem Tov’s simple recitation of the letters of the Aleph-Bais had a wonderous result because the letters themselves are holy and powerful.

I remember, while on a trip to a Holocaust museum, hearing someone read just the names of those lost in the milchama. Just hearing the names being read aloud had a profound effect on me.

Now we can understand how the names of the Shvatim that were written on the Choshen served as a constant remembrance before Hashem.

The letters are the gufim of every single Jew that the Kohen Gadol wears on his shoulders and on his heart, as a constant reminder of each and every Jewish guf no matter what state of awareness he is in. Hashem, the “Kohen Gadol,” takes every letter

and every guf and constantly weaves wonderous combinations with them.

The result is a magnificent garment of kiddush Hashem that Hashem proudly wears Everyone remembers that in

the letters and read shekora, drunk, instead of kesheira, kosher. He said to her, “You’re a drunk. Leave the house of Hashem!”

Chana responded, “No, my master, you are misreading the letters

When a Jew simply focuses on the form of the letters, he accomplishes wonders with the letters themselves.

Mishakan Shilo there was the Kohen Gadol named Eli who misread the holy Jewish letter/guf of Chana.

When Eli saw Chana in the Mishkan, her lips were moving but no sound was coming out.

According to the Gra, Eli inquired of the Urim V’tumim, but he misread

(the ruach hakodesh is not resting upon you).”

Chana ultimately went on to give birth to Shmuel Hanavi, who cut off the head of Agag, King of Amalek.

Shmuel, whose mother was misinterpreted as an unimportant guf, was the one who destroyed the King

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of Amalek, whose very koach is misreading and destroying Jewish gufim, bodies.

We are certain and trust that Hashem is mitzaref our osios for us even though we are in a state of drunkenness by lacking full awareness of the reality of life due to our galus. We are confident and trust in the eternity of Yisroel and are not afraid of the current voice of the rasheim coming from Paras and Shushan HaBirah seeking to destroy all of Klal Yisroel.

We should be zocheh to see the final downfall of the reshaim and the lifting up Klal Yisroel, b’mheira b’yameinu. Amen.

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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Parsha Ponderings Parshas Tetzaveh

Set Your Goals

By Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky

P

arshas Tetzaveh, the second parsha containing the instructions for Moshe to build the Mishkan, deals mostly with the bigdei kehunah, the priestly garments. However, before the Torah describes the sartorial laws, the Torah explicates the laws of lighting the menorah.

Why is lighting the Menorah a preface to the commandments regarding the making of the priestly clothing?    A few years ago, I was fortunate to spend a few hours with HaRav Reuvein Feinstein, shlit”a, and his wife, Rebbetzin Sheila, a”h. They shared many memories of their saintly parents, HaRav Moshe and Rebbetzin Feinstein, zt”l. Sadly, only a few months after I met them, Rebbetzin Sheila Feinstein tragically passed away after a terrible accident. Here is a story she shared with me.

“I remember an orphaned girl on the East Side who was in need of a shidduch,” Rebbetzin Feinstein related. “She wasn’t a happy girl, having gone through a hard childhood. We would pass her on the street, and she would hardly smile at us. I was sitting in my in-laws’ house together with my sister-inlaw Rebbetzin Shisgal, a”h, and my mother-in-law, the wife of Rav

Moshe Feinstein, said, ‘I know of a shidduch for this girl.’

“She mentioned the name of a sweet boy who was known not to dress so neatly. She picked up the phone and called the girl. “‘A boy will call you,’ she began.

Then she started heaping praises on the boy, describing him as sharp and classy, promising the girl that

“Needless to say, they got married, and live a very happy life.

The husband learned how to dress sharp and present himself well, and his wife always shares a smile and a good word with whoever she meets. Today, they are already great-grandparents!

“I later asked my mother-in-law how she had the confidence to say

One should always look ahead at what he can be.

this boy was the perfect match for her.

“My sister-in-law and I were gasping. How could my motherin-law say that? It was clearly not true!

“Then, she called the boy. ‘I want you to call this girl,’ she began. Then she started describing a bubbly, smiley happy girl, promising him that he will have such a wonderful kallah.

“My sister-in-law and I were staring at each other, not knowing what to think. How can our mother-in law put this couple together, knowing that she was giving misleading information?

what she did. She responded, “Ich hub nit gekuked af vus iz. Ich hub gekukt af vus ken zein – I did not look at what is. I looked at what could be!”    My grandfather Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky, zt”l, addresses the question of the placement of the laws of kindling the Menorah before the wearing of the garments.

Our sages tell us that the Menorah is more than just lights. On the first day of Creation, along with the sun which provides physical light, Hashem created a pure spiritual

light, the Ohr HaGanuz. However, He later hid that light, saving it for the righteous for the ultimate redemption. However, He did endow this special light within the lights of the Menorah, for the pleasure of kohanim who serve Hashem with fear and awe.

Thus, explains my zaide, before the Torah introduces the instructions about the priestly garments, the Torah explicates the ultimate goal for the kohanim to strive to reach. If one performs the service of Hashem with complete devotion, he will merit to bask in the holy lights of the Menorah. One should not look only at the level he is on now, but one should always look ahead at what he can be.

Set goals from the start and plan how to get there, “Do not look at what is; look at what could be!”

Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky is the Director of Advancement at Yeshiva of South Shore – Yeshiva Toras Chaim Beis Binyamin. He is currently compiling the Torah thoughts from his grandfather, Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky, zt”l, into print, in Hebrew and English. If you have any stories or divrei Torah to share from his grandfather, or to subscribe to receive a weekly dvar Torah from Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky’s teachings, you can email him at skamenetzky@yoss.org.

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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Delving into the Daf

Rabbeinu Tam & the Lawsuit

By Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

Y

ears ago, a Litvishe individual was on his way to Camp Sternberg, a girls’ camp in Narrowsburg, New York. Although there were married men on campus, it was always difficult to find ten men for the minyanim. If they had a minyan for Minchah and Ma’ariv, it would only be close to shkiah time.

Since it was already dark, he knew that even if there was a Ma’ariv minyan, he had already missed it. So he pulled into a Satmar bungalow colony to catch a minyan for Ma’ariv. To his dismay, they were already up to Shemoneh Esreh. He began davening Shemoneh Esrei with them, intending to say Kriyas Shema and the brachos afterward. Lo and behold, in the middle of his silent recitation of Shemoneh Esrei, he hears the chazan begin chazaras ha’Shatz! Everyone knows there is no chazaras ha’Shatz at Ma’ariv! It suddenly dawned on him that he was davening Ma’ariv while everyone else was davening Minchah!

The debate regarding the proper time to daven Minchah and Ma’ariv is at least 1,000 years old; this unresolved debate still garners discussion.

On one extreme is the Chazon Ish. He rules that one should not even begin Minchah unless he can finish his Shemoneh Esrei by sunset. On the opposite extreme are the chassidishe poskim who say you can daven Minchah l’chatchilah even 50 minutes after sunset.

The general opinions are sometimes referred to as the Gra and Rabbeinu Tam. The Gra, or the Vilna Gaon, says that only until sunset can one say it is definitely daytime. Rabbeinu Tam in Tosfos (Pesachim 94a) says that definite daytime extends longer.

While there is some uncertainty in this regard also, it seems that, as originally promulgated, definite daytime according to Rabbeinu Tam extends up until 58 and a half minutes after sunset; 72 minutes after sunset it is definitely nighttime. (Although some

say 96 minutes.) Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, is of the opinion that if Rabbeinu Tam had lived in New York, he would have said that 50 minutes after sunset is definitely nighttime.

This debate exists regarding any issue that is dependent on when the halachic day ends and when the halachic night begins. The most common issue is regarding Shabbos.

According to the Vilna Gaon, after sunset on Friday it may already be Shabbos. According to Rabbeinu Tam, one may do melachah at least until 40 minutes after sunset. This created an untenable situation in the New York metro area, where many Litvishe Jews assumed it was already Shabbos after sunset on Friday, and they witnessed chassidim still performing melachah.

Rav Aharon Kotler, zt”l, forged an agreement with the chassidic community such that everyone would agree to refrain from melachah beginning at sunset on Friday.

In terms of ending Shabbos in New York, virtually no one ends Shabbos using the Vilna Gaon’s earlier time. A common custom in New York is to end Shabbos at 50 minutes past sunset.

Still, scrupulous individuals end Shabbos 72 minutes past sunset to comply with Rabbeinu Tam’s original opinion.

If you are wondering what the cor-

rect time is to end Shabbos, don’t feel bad if you cannot figure it out. Honorable Johnny Lee Baynes, a judge in the Kings County Supreme Court in the 2nd Judicial District of New York, couldn’t really figure it out either.

A lawsuit is generally initiated by serving the opposing party a copy of the court papers. New York’s General Business Law § 13 requires that defendants not be served during their Sabbath. If a Jewish person is served on Shabbos, that may be grounds for dismissal.

A frum Jewish couple was being sued by a corporation. The problem is that they didn’t answer the lawsuit in time. In legal terms, they defaulted and were therefore barred from telling their side of the story. The couple moved to dismiss the lawsuit by claiming that they were served the papers on Shabbos. The plaintiff disagreed. The affidavit of service stated that the summons and complaint were served at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 26, 2016. The plaintiff pointed out that Shabbos was already over at that time — 5:21 p.m. was 50 minutes past sunset. By 5:30 p.m., Shabbos was certainly over.

The defendants brilliantly retorted, “We keep Rabbeinu Tam!” (They might have had to explain that “Tam” here means complete and perfect, as Rabbeinu Tam was a perfect tzaddik,

as opposed to the Tom who manufactures organic toothpaste.)

Honorable Johnny Lee Baynes had to decide if the lawsuit should be dismissed because the papers were served when it was still Shabbos according to Rabbeinu Tam. What follows is an exact quote from his decision: “Defendants’ sworn statement is that Sabbath ended for them at 5:43 p.m. on November 26, 2016. In support of this position, defendants submit information to show that among Chassidic communities such as defendants’, it is actually common practice to wait for 72 minutes past sundown to resume post-Sabbath activities. (See Jewish Calendar Nov. 2016.)

“The court understands that there is disagreement as to the time at which Sabbath ends among different groups of observant Jews. This court does not believe it would be appropriate for it to determine the manner in which religious custom should be observed by any individual group or require that one particular group’s traditions be adhered to uniformly. The time asserted by defendants is not unreasonable given the conflicting opinions contained in different religious sources. Thus, the court finds that plaintiff was in violation of General Business Law § 13 when it served defendants during their Sabbath observance.

“Wherefore, it is hereby ordered and adjudged that defendants’ motion for an order pursuant to CPLR 5015 vacating the default judgment herein entered on the 8th day of February, 2017, and dismissing the summons and complaint herein is granted in all respects.”

This couple ended Shabbos according to Rabbeinu Tam’s later z’man, and they were blessed!

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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OCTOBER 29, FEBRUARY 25,2015 2021| |The TheJewish JewishHome Home

From the Purim of Covid to the Purim of Redemption

By Rav Yaakov Feitman

I

t was just about a year ago Purim that we all heard the ominous word Covid for the first time. It is a year later. There have been many losses and many nissim, many ups and downs, and the pandemic is still with us. Many have, baruch Hashem, been vaccinated, and we hope and pray that the end is near. But in the meantime, there is a mitzvah to be happy and celebrate. How do we integrate the Purim lessons into the difficult year we have all experienced?

There is an interesting question posed by the poskim, the early decisors of halacha, about whether or not we are allowed to get married on Purim. Some of them suggest that just as we do not “mix one simcha with another” on yom tov, so, too, we do not do so on Purim, either. But the Rama (Darchei Moshe to Tur end of 696) notes that he personally saw a number of great gedolim perform weddings on Purim. Their explanation was that the commandment to be happy is formulated in the Megillah as “days of feasting and joy.” Their contention is that this means we may do whatever brings joy.

Rav Yonasan David, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Pachad Yitzchok, Yerushalayim, after a lengthy discussion, explains this halachic opinion as follows. The Gemara (Moed Katan 8b) gives the source of the prohibition to get married on yom tov as “you shall be happy with your yom tov but not with your wife,” meaning that one can only celebrate one aspect of joy at a time. However, “Purim,” says the Rosh Yeshiva, “celebrates life itself…. We are not merely celebrating a holiday or event…we are in a state of joy because we are Jewish and we are alive.” That is not a contradiction to a chasunah (Mesibos Purim, page 53).

We may add to his eloquent and powerful words a bit of insight into the somewhat strange custom of ad d’lo yada – getting drunk to the point that we cannot recognize certain basic distinctions. What is the purpose of this unusual

“Purim,” says the Rosh Yeshiva, “celebrates life itself.” mitzvah, seemingly antithetical to all that Judaism stands for? One answer given over the centuries is that Purim is a time for recognizing that we understand nothing. Hashem runs the world, and all we need to do is to have emunah and bitachon – belief and faith. As Rav Dessler, zt”l, and others point out, the narrative of the Megillah spans nine years. Each event during that near-decade eventually fell into place, but at the time they were incomprehensible. Nothing made sense until finally it all did. The lesson is to let Hashem run His world. He knows what He is doing. Our daas is unnecessary.

Getting drunk is basically a metaphor for submitting our human limited wisdom to the Divine omniscient knowledge of everything in the universe. As many poskim point out, even just sleeping a bit fulfills the mandate because during sleep we have no illusions of understanding.

After a year of mankind attempting to control a pandemic, it is time to recognize that we are indeed ill-equipped to solve the problems of the world. It is only when we yield to a Higher power that we have a chance of not only surviving but of being happy and secure. Some people have used this year to find religion and bring Hashem into their lives. Others, unfortunately, are still stubbornly in denial, and one can only hope and pray that they will soon see the light without too much pain.

Purim is truly a time to be grateful for life itself and for the privilege of being a Jew. It was mass prayer and fasting which brought about the Purim redemption, and we need to return to our shuls and minyanim with humility and gratitude for being alive and for the opportunity to daven together.

The cryptic use of the Purim – the word for lottery – can now be understood more profoundly. This past year many events may have seemed random and inexplicable. But we are beginning to understand. While there are rarely open miracles, the Purim hidden miracle often replays itself in our lives. All we need to do is to open our eyes to see what we recite in Modim about the “daily miracles in our lives.”

Let us hope that the day will soon come when Covid-19 will enter into lives as one of the mysterious events which brought us one step closer to great geulah of Moshiach Tzidkeinu.

Rav Yaakov Feitman is the rav of Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi in Cedarhurst, NY.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Think, Feel, Grow

Our Existential Battle Against Amalek

By Shmuel Reichman

A

fter an overwhelming week at work, Daniel decides to go on a nature hike to recharge.

Without letting anyone know of his plans, he heads off into the mountains. As he is enjoying the view and the peaceful quiet around him, he suddenly slips and tumbles off the edge of a cliff. He plunges downwards but somehow manages to grasp onto a branch jutting out of the cliff face. He clings to the branch for dear life, trying not to look down at the ravine below.

As his life flashes before his eyes, he is struck by a disheartening thought: “I am alone. Nobody knows I am here, and I have no way of escaping. I am going to die.”

He begins to take stock of his life, thinking about the good times he’s had and what he has managed to accomplish in his short existence.

He thinks about his family and how much they are going to miss him.

Just then, a rope soars past his head, hanging directly in front of him. After a moment’s shock, he grabs the rope and holds on for dear life as someone on the other end begins to pull him up over the cliff edge.

As Daniel reaches the top, he is still gasping and amazed at the fact that he just survived. He immediately asks the man who saved him, “How did you know that I was hanging off the edge of the cliff and needed rescuing?” The man stares back at him blankly and says, “I didn’t.

This morning, I randomly decided to practice throwing ropes over cliffs.”

There are two reactions that Daniel can have to this series of events.

He can recognize the miracle that just occurred, thanking G-d for

Three Fundamental Principles

sending him salvation when all hope seemed lost. Or, he can laugh at the unlikely coincidence that this man decided to practice rope-throwing the same exact day that he fell over a cliff, thankful that he happened to get lucky this time.

This is the exact decision we face in every moment and aspect of life, and this theme runs through the entire Purim story.

The Battle Against Amalek As we experience Purim and our victory over Haman, let us delve deeper into the unique spiritual and existential battle that the Jewish People must continue to wage against the philosophy of Amalek.

Amalek first appeared on the scene when they attacked the Jewish People in the midbar (desert), on their journey to Har Sinai. The most striking aspect of this attack was its timing. Hashem had just performed the Makkos (Ten Plagues) and split the Yam Suf for the Jewish People,

acts that had worldwide reverberations. The Jewish People was viewed as invincible, untouchable. And exactly at this moment, Amalek chose to attack the Jewish People, undertaking a (practically) suicidal battle with zero provocation. What was their motivation in undertaking such a mission?

This question can be extended to the Purim story as well. Haman, suddenly promoted to second in command, makes it his mission to wipe out the entire Jewish People. As a descendant of Amalek, he is clearly continuing their legacy of Jewish obliteration.

Why is it that, throughout history, people have made it their singular focus to wipe out the Jewish People?

And why is this the spiritual legacy of Amalek?

In order to answer this question, we must examine the fundamental principles of Jewish belief (based on the Rambam’s thirteen principles of faith).

The first fundamental principle of Jewish belief is that Hashem is the Creator of the world. He is the Source of time, space, and all of existence.

The second principle is that Hashem has a direct relationship with this physical world. This is the concept of hashgacha (Divine providence), that Hashem oversees and controls the events of this world.

The third fundamental principle is that there is a purpose to this world and our lives within it. There is not a single aspect of life that is random; rather each and every occurrence and interaction is part of an infinitely beautiful grand plan, a cosmic symphony, a masterpiece designed by Hashem.

While Amalek does not tend to focus on the first of these principles, their entire existence is devoted towards destroying the second and third of these principles. Amalek claims that, although Hashem may exist, He has absolutely no connection to us or our world. Our lives are therefore meaningless, and this world is devoid of spirituality.

This destructive conviction is embodied in the pasuk describing Amalek’s attack on the Jewish People. As we read in Parshas Zachor, we must remember what Amalek did to us: “Ashar korcha baderech” – how they “happened” upon us while we were traveling (Devarim 25:18). The word korcha is peculiar, and Rashi therefore quotes three interpretations of this word, each fundamental and significant.

1. Randomness and Happenstance The first explanation of the word

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

korcha is based on its connection to the word karah, happenstance.

This interpretation reflects Amalek’s claim that everything in this world is random and meaningless.

There is no hashgacha, no Divine providence. Anything that happens to you, whether bad or good, has no deeper meaning or significance behind it. Amalek implied that they just “happened” to be here with swords in hand, ready for battle.

They simply “chanced” upon the Jewish People as they were on the way.

This is the exact approach that Haman took when plotting to kill the Jews. He did not rationally calculate a date on which to kill the Jews, rather he specifically chose one through a pur, a lottery. A lottery represents and embodies randomness and chance. Haman let the luck of the draw determine when he would kill the Jews, an act of devotion to karah, happenstance.

The gematria of Amalek is safek, doubt. Amalek represents doubt and uncertainty, randomness and chaos.

2. Keri: Spiritual Marriage The second interpretation offered by Rashi connects the word korcha to keri, a concept linked to marital impurity. Judaism views marriage as a lofty mitzvah; the relationship between husband and wife holds incredible spiritual potential. The Ramban explains that the relationship between man and wife ideally reflects the relationship between Hashem and the Jewish People. It is a relationship of spiritual and existential oneness, where potential is developed and actualized.

Amalek, however, claims that marriage is no more than animalistic mating, a relationship devoid of higher meaning and spirituality.

Perhaps the reason for this is rooted in Amalek’s very conception.

Amalek was the result of Eliphaz’s relationship with his concubine, Timnah (Bereishis 36:12). Unlike Jewish marriage, which is rooted in a devoted and loving commitment, a concubine reflects a purely physical relationship, lacking the spiritual components of true marriage. The very nature of Amalek’s creation became their national ethos. Ama-

lek has divorced the physical from the spiritual, viewing the physical as detached from any higher spiritual source. The physicality of Man are the ultimate motivation in this world, as there is nothing deeper to the world or human interaction than its physical facade.

The name Amalek shares its root with the word melikah, which is the process of removing the head from the body of a bird before it is offered as a sacrifice. The head is the

they began flocking towards Har Sinai to join the Jewish People in accepting the Torah. (The Ramchal explains at the end of Derech Hashem that until the Torah was given, any nation could have joined Klal Yisrael.) The Jewish People were at the height of their success, about to receive the Torah, and the other nations were ready to accept the Torah along with them.

At this point, Amalek attacked the Jewish People, undertaking a

Amalek fights for a God-less reality, devoid of spirituality and meaning.

highest part of the body, representing the mind and the spiritual; the body is the lower part, representing the physical. Ideally, the two are harmoniously connected, and the head (spiritual) influences the outer expression of the body (physical).

Amalek attempts to disconnect the head from the body, to disconnect the spiritual (head) from the physical (body), claiming that there is no spirituality within the physical world, no meaning, no connection to Hashem or anything higher.

3. Kor: Cooling the Flame Rashi’s third explanation of the word korcha is based on a midrash that relates the word to kor (cold).

The midrash describes the mashal of a boiling hot bath of water that nobody dares jump into for fear of being scalded. Along comes a man and boldly jumps into the boiling water, severely burning himself in the process. Although he burned himself, he has now cooled the water enough to allow others to follow suit and jump in as well.

This is what Amalek did as the Jewish People traveled from Egypt to Har Sinai. After Hashem performed the ten Makkos and took the Jewish People out of Egypt, Hashem’s providence was staggeringly apparent clear in the world. The nations of the world were ready to accept Hashem and His Torah, and

nearly suicidal mission. Although the Jewish People won, Amalek showed the other nations that the Jews were not as invincible as they seemed. They “jumped into the scalding bath,” attacked the Jewish People, and “cooled the waters,” showing the other nations that the Jewish People were vulnerable to attack.

Why did Amalek do this? Why were they willing to burn themselves simply to weaken the Jewish People?

The Philosophy of Amalek Amalek rejects Hashem’s connection to this world, or any connection between the spiritual and the physical. Essentially, Amalek denies Hashem’s control of this world and the ability for man to uplift himself to the level of the spiritual. Torah is the epitome of both of these principles and provides the guidelines for how to achieve this spiritual elevation. It is based on the axiom of Hashem’s connection with this world, and it is the means for elevating ourselves and all of physicality to a higher purpose. Amalek stands in direct opposition to this, and when they saw that not only the Jewish People, but the entire world, was ready to adopt the Torah way of life, they had no choice but to attack.

Amalek’s entire existence is

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predicated on a lack of connection between Hashem and this world. A a complete acceptance of that principle by all the nations of the world would mean the cessation of Amalek’s existence.

Amalek attacked the Jewish People in order to prevent Matan Torah, to stop the world from accepting Hashem’s Torah and the truth that lies within it. And although Amalek was sorely beaten, with only a few survivors, they still managed to slay a few Jewish warriors. They showed that the Jews were not invincible, “cooling” down the excitement of all the nations of the world and paralyzing their readiness to accept the Torah.

In a way, Amalek won. Physically, they lost, but in a deeper way, they won. The nations of the world walked away, turning down the opportunity to accept Hashem and His Torah.

Amalek fights for a God-less reality, devoid of spirituality and meaning; a world of Haman, of doubt, where a gap exists between us and Hashem. Only when you look closer, deepening your gaze, do you see the deeper layer of reality, the transcendent root.

Hashem is Echad, One, and our goal is to see the spiritual oneness inherent within every event and object in this world. Amalek seeks to hide the truth, to disconnect us from our Source, and thus to strip all meaning from life. Only when we see past the surface, when we trace everything that happens in this world back to Hashem, our spiritual Source, will we ultimately defeat Amalek and all that they stand for.

Shmuel Reichman is an inspirational speaker, writer, and coach who has lectured internationally at shuls, conferences, and Jewish communities on topics of Jewish thought and Jewish medical ethics. He is the founder and CEO of Self-Mastery Academy (ShmuelReichman.com), the transformative online course that is revolutionizing how we engage in self-development.

You can find more inspirational lectures, videos, and articles from Shmuel on his website, ShmuelReichman.com.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Sparks of Light

Giving Voice to the Hidden Miracles

By Rabbi Benny Berlin

T

en-year-old Michael Levy was legally blind. At this point in his young life, Michael Levy needed help when he went places.

While his peers were riding their bikes and walking to school on their own, he walked with his mother. He was well aware of how this looked, even if he could not see.

Pushing against his limitations, Michael Levy devised a training program for walking to school on his own. He taught himself each individual step and how to cross the traffic lights. After a few months of training, the day came when Michael Levy walked to school on his own.

He said goodbye to his mother and set off. He counted his steps and felt the landscape with his cane. His heart pounded as the destination came closer. He reached the security guard who greeted him with the familiar “Hello Michael!” And then, as is tradition, he extended the same greeting to Michael Levy’s mother, “Hello Mrs. Levy!” At that, Michael Levy heard the sound of his mother’s bicycle tires as she sped away.

As the shock of his mother’s shadowing him sunk in, he heard the swishing sound of her bicycle as she tore off into the distance attempting to remain hidden.

Michael Levy told this story at his mother’s funeral decades later. What immediately struck me about this story is the analogy it presents for Hashem’s presence in our own lives.

We all want to feel like we “have it

together” with the power to be completely independent. But the truth is that Hashem is always behind us. Our inability to see Him does not mean that He is not there with us. Some moments, He is revealed to us more than others, and sometimes we feel like we are soaring through life without His presence being known.

This upcoming holiday season, we will encounter two very different holidays that represent this dichotomy: one where Hashem feels markedly absent and almost invisible (Purim) and one where he makes Himself known with grand miracles and sweeping Divine providence (Pesach).

To me, this evokes Michael Levy’s story perfectly. Purim is where we are groping in the dark, not feeling anyone behind us, and Pesach is where we proverbially hear the security guard saying, “Hello Mrs. Levy,” and we know without a doubt that Hashem is with us every step of the way.

But why then do we have them both in quick succession?

Our rabbis wanted the Megillah to be read close to Pesach. For this reason, even in a leap year, when we have two months of Adar on our calendar, we read the Megillah during the second Adar to ensure that it is as close to Pesach as possible.

The Gemara (Megillah 6b) discusses the question of a double Adar.

Should the Megillah be read in Adar 1 or Adar 2?

Rabbi Eliezer B’Rebbi Yosi says that we should read the Megillah in

Adar 1 because of “ain maavirim al hamitzvos, we don’t pass over mitzvos” (or in other words, we look to do them at the first opportunity).

However, we do not hold like Rabbi Eliezer B’Rebbi Yosi. Instead, we read the Megillah in Adar 2 in accordance with Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel. Purim and Pesach must be juxtaposed.

The Ramban says in Parshas Bo, 13:16, “Through recalling and acknowledging the great manifest miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim, the Exodus from Egypt, a person ultimately acknowledges the hidden miracles of everyday life.” As HaRav Yerucham Levovitz, zt”l, explains, a manifest miracle is a window into Hashem’s running the world, for when an individual experiences a miracle, they actually witness G-d’s alteration of the natural order. We reason: since G-d can affect the natural order, He must be the One who maintains it and, therefore, it is through hidden miracles that He does so. It turns out, then, that the open miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim lend import and meaning to the miracles of Purim.

The juxtaposition of Purim and Pesach serves to further sensitize the Jew to the miracles of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Through the revealed miracles of Pesach, we recognize the equally undeniable involvement of HaKadosh Baruch Hu in the story of Purim. G-d’s name may not be mentioned in Megillat Esther, but He is the clear Orchestrator of all the events that led to our salvation. Pe-

sach’s loud open miracles give voice to the hidden and silent Purim’s miracles.

Both concepts are essential to life in our world. We have to always know Hashem is with us, and yet, if we felt Him at every second walking a step behind us, we would never have any space to have free will. This is where the swishing sound of the proverbial bicycle retreat comes in. Hashem gives us space at times, not so that we forget Him, G-d forbid, but so that we can have a sense of independence to choose our own course of action, our own path towards the school door.

And that is Purim and Pesach handin-hand. Sometimes, we feel Hashem’s presence hidden, and sometimes it is right in front of us. Hashem is always there, watching over us every step along the way.

May we all experience the onetwo punch of Purim and Pesach in a way that we see Hashem in our lives at all times and value His presence.

Even though we are living through difficult times when many of us feel lost and unsure as world events transpire around us, we can take solace in the storyline of both the Megillah and Yetzias Mitzrayim, realizing that every story in human history has its place in the Divine Master plan.

May the return of Hashem’s Shechinah light up our paths as we work through the darkness of galus and speedily lead us on the path towards our true destination, Yerushalayim ha’benuyah!

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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

A Brief Guide to a Fulfilling Purim

By R’ Yaakov Klein

O

ver the years, many have reached out asking before Purim if I could share some ideas, kavanos, and avodas that can enable us to get the most out of the Purim experience. I thought I would sit for a while and compile a few of the thoughts and guidelines upon which my personal Purim experience is founded in a concise and encompassing manner. I am dividing these suggested directives among three categories: Machshavah (thought), Dibbur (speech), and Maaseh (action). I hope you find this useful, and may we merit to tap into all of the spiritual lights of this wondrous day!

Machshavah – Thought The deepest underlying spiritual energy revealed on Purim is essentiality, etzem, penimiyus; the most accurate definition of what things truly are, what their premise is, and their ultimate destination across the longest conceivable span of time.

A. Nature: Through the “natural” miracle of Purim, the essence of nature is revealed: Hashem’s presence. This does not simply mean in terms of “hashgacha,” governance, but in actuality – Hashem is literally present in every particle of physicality, constantly breathing the wonder of existence into being. On Purim, aided by the wine and celebratory togetherness, let’s try to enter into that mindset of “ein od milvado” – attempting to feel Hashem’s presence surrounding and filling our reality.

B. The Jewish Soul: Haman-Amalek, rooted in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and synonymous with philosophical and logical/causal thinking (“Reishis goyim Amalek” – Amalek is bound with the head, thought), attempts to sever the connection between the spiritual and physical realms by disqualifying the chosen-ness of our holy nation of people who forge that bond, claiming that we have sinned so badly that we no longer have any relationship to Hashem and that He no longer desires us.

The victory over Amalek embodied in the Purim story activates the essential holiness of the Jew, the abiding grace which our collective soul finds in the eyes of Hashem. This grace transcends understanding, reaching far beyond the Tree of Knowledge (“ad d’lo yada”) to touch the Tree of Life; the unfathomable and unconditional bond

each and every Jew constantly maintains with the Source of Life, Hashem Himself.

On Purim, let’s try to tap into this essential goodness, seeing ourselves for who we truly are – shining sparks of elevated holiness yearning for unification with our loving Source Who never, ever gives up on any Jew. C. Harshest Difficulties Put into the Greatest Perspective: Purim is the light of Netzach, eternity – the ultimate context. Against this awesome backdrop, we are able to put our largest, most painful issues into the most expansive possible perspective that ranges from the Primordial Desire for a world until the furthest end of history, what is described in the writings of the Arizal as Yom She’Kulo Purim. In this awesome light, even the most painful traumas, the most egregious errors, and the most devastating mistakes may be seen as ultimately insignificant.

Purim is beyond forgiveness, beyond the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, beyond error, even beyond rectification. On Purim, all complexity is reduced to nothingness in the awesome presence of the utmost simplicity – G-d’s unfathomable and unconditional love for each and every Jewish soul, “Yisrael alah b’machshava techilah.” On Purim, let’s try to adopt this incredibly broad perspective of Netzach so that, if only for a brief moment, we may see our troubles, failures, and mistakes for what they truly are – small, unessential, and ultimately insignificant in the greatest scheme of Hashem’s infinite love.

Dibbur – Speech A. Tefillah: Based on the halachic phrase, “Kol haposheit yad nosnin lo,” the tzaddikim teach that Purim is a phenomenal eis ratzon – whoever extends his hand to Hashem in prayer will have that prayer fulfilled. Let’s try to set some time aside on this busy day to pour out our hearts in prayer before Hashem with a spirit of humility, openness, sincerity, and urgency. Let’s express all of the yearning for holiness revealed by our Purim consciousness of essentiality, letting Hashem know just how powerfully we truly desire to live up to our spiritual ideals. I have found the 22nd chapter in Tehillim, Esther’s plea, to be particularly useful.

In addition, I try to make time to say the tenth prayer in sefer Likutei Tefillos from Reb Nosson of Breslov, an awe-inspiring tefillah that grants us words with which to express our deepest feelings to our Father in heaven.

B. Loving Words: Purim is the day to express feelings we might feel uncomfortable expressing any other day of the year. As the wine works to enable our essence to emerge, breaking down all inhibitions, let’s use these precious moments to express our deepest feelings toward the ones we love – our spouse, children, parents, family, teachers and friends.

On Purim, a day elevated far above the calendar and the normal constructs of daily living, we have the ability to say all those things we never seem to get a chance to say, to let the souls with whom we share our lives know just how much they mean to

us and just how much we love them.

C. Gratitude: Purim grants us the ability to stop and recognize the wonders constantly at work in our lives. Our Purim consciousness of essentiality enables us to realize that life itself is a wonder, a complete and utter miracle. This realization moves us to express our thanks and gratitude to Hashem for the unearned gifts with which He constantly showers us. In addition, we can use this opportunity to express our thanks and appreciation toward all of those who enhance our lives in any way – parents, family members, rabbanim, teachers, therapists, friends etc.

Maaseh – Action The four special mitzvos of Purim – hearing the megillah, giving mishloach manos, giving matanos l’evyonim, and drinking – should be performed with intense joy founded upon a deep consciousness of the meaning encapsulated in these mitzvos and what they are accomplishing in all the spiritual worlds. Very briefly, here are some ideas (based on the teachings of the tzaddikim) to keep in mind before and during the fulfillment of these mitzvos: A. Mikrah Megillah: One should have in mind that, at the time of the Megillah reading, the message being read about Hashem’s presence within nature becomes activated, purifying our perception of reality and revealing nature’s spiritual source. Hashem takes tremendous pride in our reading the Megillah and the spiritual worlds erupt in rejoicing. This knowledge should fill our hearts with great joy and openness, bringing us to a state of ahavas Hashem and the desire to re-accept the Torah willingly, out of the greatest love and devotion.

B. Mishloach Manos: Hashem is referred to as “Ish” and our holy nation is referred to as Hashem’s “friends” (“L’ma’an achai v’rei’ai”). When we give “mishloach manos ISH L’REI’EIHU,” we are causing tremendous portions (“manos”) of sustenance and blessing to flow down upon am Yisrael.

We send the portions indirectly instead of giving them face to face to demonstrate that our relationship with those we love reaches far beyond their physical presence, touching their very souls in an eternal bond.

C. Matanos L’evyonim: During the rest of the year, a pauper feels that the person who gives him money is doing so for the sake of the mitzvah of tzedakah, with little feeling or personal investment. But on Purim, when everyone is occupied with giving gifts to their friends, the pauper begins to think, “Maybe he is giving me money not because I am poor but because I am his friend as well!”

There are many Jews who feel as if, due to their actions and mode of living, Hashem sustains them in a way of charity – without any relationship or personal investment. On Purim, even such Jews begin to feel that maybe Hashem is giving them life, good health, parnassah, etc. not in a way of pity but because He is our Friend Who constantly seeks a personal relationship with every single Jew. D. Drinking: “Wine goes in, and the secrets

come out” – drinking on Purim in a proper way and setting of holiness enables one to perceive the “secret” of living, the essential goodness of his soul, his circumstances, and the world at large.

Drinking in proper measure tears down the external walls and allows one to enter into an elevated consciousness, enabling him to say “baruch Haman,” expressing his faith that all of the negative elements of his life are truly for the best – Hashem’s unfathomable kindness concealed in a mighty disguise. The alcohol enables us to rise above our standard daas, the capacity of the mind to compartmentalize and differentiate, so we may perceive the utter unity that abides within a creation illuminated by Hashem’s oneness.

E. Dressing Up: On Purim, an enormously lofty spiritual light is shining, a light which never descends throughout the rest of the year. In order for this light to come to expression, it needs to be clothed in a great many garments so as not to cause harm. The internal manifestation of this light’s emergence is manifest in our yearning for

Let’s try to set some time aside on this busy day to pour out our hearts in prayer before Hashem with a spirit of humility, openness, sincerity, and urgency. holiness pouring forth from the deepest depths of our souls, as mentioned above – when the wine goes in, the secrets come out.

Disguising ourselves with strange garments is another way of reminding ourselves and others of the awesome light that is shining forth from our essential identity – a light that must filter through screens and garments in order to come to expression. In addition, we manipulate the external level to remind ourselves that Purim is all about the inside, the penimiyus: just as we must struggle to recognize our friend beyond the disguise, so must we work – on Purim – to recognize the essential goodness of our souls beyond the disguise of our mistakes and actions taken under the extraneous influence of the yetzer hara.

F. Dancing and Clapping: In his glorious discourse on Purim, the tenth lesson in Likutei Moharan, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches: “Know, that when there are harsh judgments upon the Jewish nation, dancing and clapping can sweeten all of these judgments.” The lesson contin-

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ues to describe the kind of dancing and clapping to which Rebbe Nachman refers. This is a dance of humility, founded upon the Jew’s reliance on the Torah and the tzaddikim who draw the living spirit of the Torah into their students by way of their teachings. When we divest ourselves of all arrogance which stems from physicality and externality – identifying with the essential Jewishness deep within our soul, we are able to dance and clap in a way of bittul –nullification to the divine spirit that pulses within our hands and feet, moving gracefully in the presence of the Infinite One and His holy Torah. The Baal HaTanya teaches that this sense of bittul and the spirit of teshuvah me’ahava by which it is naturally accompanied is the secret weapon for destroying the Amalekian spirit of doubt, cynicism, physicality, externality, and arrogance.

In Sichos Haran 131, Reb Nosson records that upon hearing his student repeat this lesson before him, Rebbe Nachman exclaimed, “Yes! That is what I said! There are now terrible decrees upon the Jewish nation. But the days of Purim are coming, and their dancing and clapping on Purim will sweeten all of the judgements.”

With the Coronavirus pandemic still causing much death, pain, anxiety, financial loss, and untold inconvenience to people all over the world, the day of Purim grants our nation an incredible opportunity to nullify harsh decrees by dancing and clapping in way of humility and bittul before Hashem and the tzaddikim whose teachings enliven us daily. Dancing and clapping with great joy and holy intention is an extremely powerful strategy for combatting this harsh decree!

The depth and meaning of this exalted day of p’nimiyus and yichud is truly infinite, and this letter only begins to scratch the surface. But although there is so much more to say – which, b’ezras Hashem, we will have opportunity to explore in the years to come – I hope these brief thoughts and guidelines can allow us to tap into the Purim experience on a deeper level so we may gather the treasures of this awesome day.

Wishing all of my friends an elevated, exhilarating, inspiring, joyous, uplifting, spiritual, and emotional chag filled with love, prayer, mitzvos, holy desire, and the ultimate revelation of essentiality – the light of Olam Haba. May all of our tefillos for ourselves and others be niskabel b’rachamim uv’ratzon, and may we merit to dance and clap our way to the final redemption b’ruchniyus uv’gashmiyus.

R’ Yaakov Klein is an author, musician, and lecturer devoted to sharing the inner light of Torah through his books, music, and lectures. R’ Yaakov directs the Lost Princess Initiative, an educational platform based on the primary messages of his newly-released book, The Story of Our Lives: An Epic Quest for the Soul of Our Tradition. Check out LPI’s life-changing resources at LPITorah.org.

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Shvigger-Boards are the New Rage

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ardboard cutouts have been used at tennis matches, baseball games, and even the Super Bowl; now they are popping up in in-laws’ houses throughout the tristate area.

A new company called Shvigger Boards has produced a Pesach edition cutout which will feature men in their kittels – perfectly replicated down to the last grape juice stains on the bottom of the sleeves – to replace them at their in-laws over Pesach.

Many mothers-in-law are surprisingly okay with this arrangement.

“My son-in-law Yanky used to

come every year, and he always refused to be taller than he was, and he just never could sound like Shwekey when singing ‘Vehi She’amdah,’” said Mrs. Forbitzin. “Now, I don’t have to deal with him anymore; and the cutout definitely has more personality than him.”

Her son-in-law, Moe Releef, also likes the arrangement.

“I am a sharing guy, so now my cardboard cutout will get to taste the best meatballs in the world for eight straight days.”

He pointed out that his cardboard cutout will definitely get less bent out

of shape than he gets at his mother-inlaw’s house.

Some have used the cutouts for other events as well, such as going to their second grader’s Chumash play, which usually coincides with their busiest day of the year.

“I love watching my son sheepishly singing ‘Vizakeini’ while wearing a paper crown, but once in a while, I have some other pressing needs at 11:15 a.m. on a Monday morning,” said one customer. “Now I can send my cutout to make believe that my kid is a conquering hero for not falling off of the bench in middle of the amazing show.”

Some people have been using the cardboard cutouts for other events as well, such as virtual dinners, PTA meetings (because who has time for PTA? I have six Instagram posts that I didn’t respond to yet), and, of course, showing up at the nutritionist after a bad week on the diet.

Some are even using the cutouts to run 5K runs instead of them. They find that the cutout makes even better time than they do.

As to how the cutouts feel about their rise to stardom, one cutout told TJH, “Well, I just feel like, uh… bored.”

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Geico Starts Ensuring Peyos

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oticing a trend in the Five Towns of young men growing out their peyos, Geico has unrolled the nation’s very first peyos insurance program.

The program was started after a few mear payiyy-fatal (that’s plural for peyos, at least I think it is. I don’t know – discuss) incidents took place.

One young man told TJH about an incident when he was “playing guitar by ear because that’s how I play, and all of a sudden my peyos or payiyy got stuck in the guitar strings.

Strange, huh?”

Sounds like we have the next Shlomo Carlebach meets Albert Einstein on our hands.

Another incident took place when a budding yeshiva bachur Baruch Batampte tried pulling off trick 47 from The Secret Society of Long Peyos People’s Handbook (not available on Amazon, like everything else in your life), and things did not go as planned.

Baruch explained that many times he is in a rush while eating lunch, so he uses his peyos as pickle holders. This way, when he wants a bite of a pickle, he just has to swing his face, and the pickle lands in his mouth.

“It’s gevaldig,” says Baruch. “I have a dill pickle in my right peyos and a sour pickle in my left peyos.”

He went on to explain, “If I want a bite of the dill pickle, I swing my face to the right, and the dill pickle lands in my mouth, and if I want the sour pickle, I swing my face to the left.”

He did add, though, that sometimes he wants the peyos to swing all the way around his head before delivering the dill pickle into his mouth.

Now, to do that trick, you have to give a good, quick swing to the left. This will cause the right pickle to bounce once on your nose, then swing all the way around your head, landing in your mouth from the left. It is a great trick but not suggested for beginners.

Well, things went wrong when Baruch did not realize that he is not ready to advance to the next stage of long peyos tricks.

He was going in for his first pickle bite (always bite the sour pickle first... unless you are just using the pickle to scoop up some coleslaw, then you

want to go for the half-sour pickle because the full sour pickle juice distorts the taste of coleslaw. Don’t take my word for it – do a taste test yourself; this isn’t “Chopped!”), and things didn’t go as planned. Some of his peyos swung into his mouth with the pickle (they were having an off-day), and when he went in for the bite, he bit into his peyos, nearly severing a few strands of hair.

It’s not that Baruch didn’t realize that some of his peyos were in his mouth. He knew, all right. He realized that there was trouble before he came down for the bite. The problem is that, in anticipation of the first pickle bite, which he wanted to be geshmak (if you don’t know what that word means, you must be a newcomer to Swahili), Baruch opened his mouth really wide in order to get a guillotine-strength bite, and there was no way for him to stop the 9-G force bite (for you non-scientists, that’s like fighter jet levels) once he noticed that the peyos breached his mouth – it would have resulted in severe TMJ. So Baruch made the wise

decision not to balk his bite.

He ended up severing numerous strands of peyos, which caused him to question whether his great-greatgreat grandfather was really chassidish or was that just something that his twelfth grade rabbi told him to try to inspire him.

After regaining his composure, Baruch quickly purchased a Pro-peyous-ary insurance policy from Geico.

Another Five Townser, Zusha Zushaberg (his friends call him Zee), who refuses to disclose what inspired him to grow long peyos, had a very scary peyos incident when he was trying to get to a virtual concert on time.

He was in a rush (don’t start crying, you political junkies. I’m not talking about Rush Limbaugh) to get to the show on time because it was going to be the 100th virtual concert show that he was going to attend since last March. This show promised to be very exciting, with the most popular Jewish singers. It was promising to be full of surprises: which of the three most popular

Jewish songs would the three most popular Jewish singers sing?

In his haste not to be late to the show, Zee used Waze. Well, Waze told him that he would have to circle his block seven times to get from his kitchen to the final destination – on his couch.

It happens to be that Waze has lately been slow with its right and left arrows. You see, nobody stays entirely sure of themselves forever (paging Tony Robbins).

Waze burst onto the scene years ago and was always right, like my wife (did I just say that?). If Waze was telling you to take the Belt Parkway service road and you went on the actual highway, Waze would wig out.

Although you are a wonderful mathematician and quickly may have calculated that driving on the Belt at 20 miles per hour with no traffic lights will get you to that point around the bend quicker, Waze was right – I mean, correct – all the time.

On the topic of that westbound Belt Parkway bend that causes cars to slow down to 10 MPH, resulting in insane traffic, does anyone see something that I’m not seeing? Is there a reason that that slight curvature in the roadway causes traffic in the westbound side of the Belt to be backed up all the way to Ronkonkoma?

Is there a time-warp machine there that makes everyone turn into 90-year-old drivers for ten seconds?

Is there a truck-sized sinkhole that everyone sees except for me?

Are there bricks falling from the overpass?

It’s quite a peculiar few feet of roadway.

Right after that little, teeny-weeny bend, it’s off to the races up the Belt, directly to Landfill National Park.

Supposedly, the same geniuses who created that slight curvature just turned their dirty paws on Far Rockaway.

Word has it, that they took overhead footage of Far Rockaway (not so cool anymore, anyone can get a drone now) in order to figure out where the most annoying, ridiculous, nonsensical place to put a traffic light is.

After observing the beautiful stop

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These Mensa members said to themselves, “Well, we see a beautiful four-way stop sign at that intersection, and everyone gets a turn to go.

Let’s mess that up by putting a traffic light there instead. This way, traffic will back up to B9th Street and beyond, to the rest of North America.

And when the light is green for people on Empire, in their huffery after having been stopped at the red light for forever, they’ll be like: There is no way that guy is making a left turn in front of me. I don’t care that his wife is in labor. I have to buy some cholent!”

This is a sure way to mess up the entire traffic equilibrium of the entire Far Rockaway and Five Towns.

Yep, let’s do it boys!

Anyway, back to Zee and Waze (I wonder if Waze has wandered). Waze told Zee to make a left turn instead of a right turn, and Zee ended up circling around his block backwards.

“After circling my block in reverse for an hour, I got a cramp in my neck, and when I slammed my car door shut to get to the virtual couch concert on time, some of my peyos got stuck in the door,” Zee recalled.

Zee consulted with a psychopeyotologist and was told that his peyos were fine except for a few strands at the anterior superior lateral meniscal metatarsal bilateral collateral left side, which had some microscopic tearing.

The psychopeyotologist, whose name is Dr. N Na Nach Nachm Nachman Nachmanson, told Zee that these fifty or so strands are less than .00000001 percent of his left peyiyy, peyos, peyah so he should not have them surgically repaired.

However, Zee was not convinced.

“I can definitely feel my head tilting slightly to the left,” he complained.

A friend convinced Zee to read the Sarno book. (Don’t know what I’m talking about? Sorry, consider it an inside joke then.) But that was no help.

Acupuncture didn’t work either.

Zee felt like something should be done to repair the heiliger 50 strands of peyos. So, he figured out a simple solution – he would fix the peyos himself.

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“I went to the store and got the strongest, forever, never-coming-out, think-twice- before-you-getinvolved-with-this Gorilla Glue and put it in my peyos,” he told TJH. Things didn’t work out, though, as he hoped. The glue seeped onto the rest of his peyos, causing them to turn into a baton. That caused all sorts of problems for Zee. In fact, when he was going to Orlando with his family for winter vacation, the TSA agent at Kennedy Airport said, “No, you ain’t flying with that; it’s a weapon.”

Zee replied that it was not and explained to the agent that it was a religious item.

The TSA agent stopped him with the wave of a hand and said, “Wait up, sir. We are not talking about the seventeen Thank You Hashem stickers that you and every other Five Townser comes in here with. Hashem must have done something really nice for you guys.... I’m talking about the baton attached to your face.”

Eventually, the TSA agent let Zee catch the plane. He did that because a frum Jew a day earlier thanked him when going through the TSA line, so now he forever loves frum Jews, and they can even take pretzels and techina through the TSA line even though it’s technically more than 4 ounces of techina.

Zee did catch the plane, but that is an interesting story in its own right.

The plane was on the runway taking off when Zee caught it. He chased it down and flung one of his peyos at it (the flexible one), lassoing the rear tire of the plane as it was about to take off. He flew up with the plane, jumped on the wing, dusted off his puffy jacket, and entered the plane through the front door.

The passengers on the plane were shocked. They simply stared at him in disbelief as he walked up the aisle (his seat was all the way in the back… that seat which you are never sure if it reclines or not).

He opened up each overhead bin as he walked up the aisle – to see if he could find space for his Betty Crocker pizza maker.

The amazed passengers couldn’t avert their eyes from the peyos.

Some even put down their magazines – turning away from reading

PEYOS INSURANCE

about Martha Stewart’s 930th apple pie recipe.

He finally got to his seat in the back of the plane, called over the flight attendant, and inquired: “I am very tall, and I just did quite a bit of exercise. Are there any open seats in first class?”

Actually, that’s not how Zee caught the plane. That would be silly to believe. If you believe that, you must have eaten some Gorilla Glue (click your tongue if that’s you...oh, you can’t; so sorry).

The truth is, Zee caught the plane because they didn’t start boarding yet. The agents were still calling out random Slovakian names that they seem to call before every flight. (Do these people get medals or something? Is there some airport Olympics that they didn’t tell me about?

Are they not inviting me because I’m Jewish? Do we need to get the ADL involved here? Or maybe Slovakians randomly leave their carry-ons all over the airport, and the gate agents are the nicest people in the world, linking them back up with their bags?)

Zee arrived at the gate right before the last Slovakian name was called...yagdil Torah v’yadir. (That

is usually when I begin obsessing if I should run to the restroom in the airport or wait until we are at cruising altitude and a frustrated flight attendant is trying to maneuver a hot tea cart through the aisle.)

You see, you can arrive five minutes before a flight and still make it.

Turns out that living near Kennedy Airport for forty years doesn’t exactly make you an expert on airport gate logistics.

So, next time your childhood friend from Baltimore calls you and starts the conversation with, “I know you live near Kennedy Airport...,” get ready to say, “Freddy, just because I live near the airport doesn’t mean I work there. It’s not like I work for the Kennedy Airport visitor information center. Plus, Freddy, you know that I work at the Long Island Visitor Center. (Yes, my office is on the Southern State Parkway. When guests stop in, we help them decide which brochures to take. We also encourage them to vote in the 1956 elections.)”

Back to Zee and his baton.

He made the flight, and he eventually got his peyos fixed. He found a Jamaican doctor who has helped Rastafarians with similar issues.

But Zee had to pay good money to get the glue out of the peyos.

“You must pay I, mon, to fix your payiyy,” said Dr. B Bo Bob. “Don’t worry about a ting, mon, because everyting is gonna be alright. You will rise up tomorrow morning, smile with the risin’ sun, two big peyos will be flopping by your sides, allowing you to sing melodies pure and sweet,” the doctor added.

The very next morning, Zee, in fact, felt great. He felt like he had a new lease on his peyos.

“I was getting the perfect peyos swings going,” said Zee. It was a bit of a scare for Zee. “I thought that I was going to have to go become an accountant or something, but now I’m back in the groove,” he said.

And so, Zee went out and bought himself a Geico peyos insurance policy, after price-matching it with Progressive peyos policies. Geico, as you know, saves you 15% or more – even when it comes to protecting your peyos. And with that money, Zee can buy some really heiliger gartels….

I’m sure his parents out on the Island will really enjoy that.

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Biden Visits the Five Towns

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n one of his first trips as president, Joe Biden visited the Five Towns last week.

The unplanned trip took place when President Biden accidentally used the wrong door at the White House and ended up locked out of the fortress-like facility. Not knowing what to do, who to call, or what his name was, he began walking.

Well, somehow, he ended up on Central Avenue in front of Peninsula Library.

One Five Towns resident who went to pick up her fumigated, quarantined books between 2:31 and 3:37 p.m. on Monday, but only after the library was able to shutter all windows, spotted the Commander-in-Thief. (Just kidding! Settle down.)

When asked at her daily briefing about this trip, Press Secretary Jen Psaki was caught totally off-guard.

“I will circle back to you about that once my colleagues chime in about it,” she said.

Administration officials eventually realized that Biden was missing. Then they continued their day as usual. The White House chef did have to scramble, though, to put Biden’s applesauce away.

In the meantime, President Biden held an impromptu press conference on the railroad tracks. The train conductor was there, along with the ticket agent (you know, the guy who punches your ticket while ever-so-slightly flicking his hand so that the torpedoing chad ends up in the one crease of your coat that you can’t reach). Nobody else attended because the train was completely empty, except for the one guy who still didn’t realize that Manhattan is the new Chernobyl.

The massive showing of four people was Joe’s biggest rally to date.

“I’m Jill Biden, the Senator from Newdelaware,” he announced before taking a spontaneous nap.

When he awoke, he was asked why he didn’t call Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu yet. He responded, “Cmon’ man, you lying horse face pony soldier, you are full of malarkey. Wanna fight? I am so close to Netanyahu that I am even

going to allow Iran to get a nuclear bomb.”

Meanwhile, at the White House, Kamalafalot Harris quickly jumped on the podium and assumed the presidency. She was sworn in by

continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty.”

When asked why she was plagiarizing the Gettysburg Address, she responded, “Hah…hah…hah…hah… hah…hah.”

Nobody else attended because the train was completely empty, except for the one guy who still didn’t realize that Manhattan is the new Chernobyl.

Ruth Baida Ginsburg (no, she never died, she just wanted to retire but was scared of angering the purple-haired crowd).

President Harris, the first female president since Hillary Clinton, then gave a quick inaugural address, declaring, “Ask not what you can do for your country; ask what your country can do for you.” She then added, “Four square and seven circles ago our fathers brought forth, upon this

President Harris hit the ground running and held a press conference during which she answered every question with a similar response.

In the meantime, Stacey Abrams, the non-governor governor of Georgia, was sworn in as vice president.

Within minutes, Abrams collected enough votes to recall Harris and make her the president.

While all of this activity was taking place in Washington, there was a

swirl of activity around Biden in the Five Towns. Cuomo was in town to promote a new book that he wrote, titled, Sure You Don’t Want Me to Babysit Your Granny?

He joined the parade route.

When the parade proceeded past Berrylicious, the media spotted Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi buying some ice cream because she still doesn’t have enough in her fancy freezer in San Francisco.

The parade then made its way up Broadway in Hewlett. While passing the public school on Broadway, they stopped to count how many flags were actually on the front lawn of the public school.

Then they passed the library and wondered – does the first floor start fully underground, half underground, or somewhere else?

They walked a few more feet and then paused at the spot where Blockbuster used to be and held a moment of silence to a bygone era where the world was comparatively sane.

By the way, do you know that there is still a Blockbuster in Alaska?

Hello, Alaska, ever hear of an in-

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vention called 2021?

Soon enough, they passed the Old Tyme watch store. Joe Biden stopped and wondered, “Don’t we have to watch?”

But Cuomo kept pulling him along, saying, “Come on, we gotta get you to Sunrise Highway so I can lead you across the eight-lane roadway. Then I will write a book about it called, Crossing on Green. I’ll sell one copy of the book but will win an Emmy.”

In fact, as soon as Cuomo mentioned the name of his book, the Emmy voters proclaimed, “He mentioned green! He for sure is a champion of the environment; we must give him an Emmy!”

Others were smarter, though, and argued that he shouldn’t be given the Emmy just yet. They argued that, although he titled his book “Green,” he is not an authentic environmentalist because he only gets around with

eight gas-guzzling SUVs but doesn’t fly around the globe in a massive jet spewing toxins into the environment

what that must feel like.

The truth is that Governor Cuomo does deserve an Emmy – he’s the

The truth is that Governor Cuomo does deserve an Emmy – he’s the only person in the world who can actually make Bill de Blasio seem competent.

and doing the whole carbon dioxide shtick to talk about how if we don’t do something about climate change we are all going to be pillars of salt in eight years and four months. Climate Czar Kerry knows firsthand

only person in the world who can actually make Bill de Blasio seem competent. (That’s like making Forrest Gump look like Thomas Edison.)

It happened to be that at the time, during the Biden parade, Sen.

Ted Cruz was in the Five Towns as well. It was so cold in Texas that he escaped to the Five Towns to vacation. He was seen in Cedarhurst Park – I mean, Andrew J. Parise Park – drinking a coffee with a margarita umbrella in it.

When confronted by TJH, Sen. Cruz denied being here on vacation; he said that he was just escorting his daughters to a Harmony play in the Five Towns and was going to immediately return to Texas.

However, he stuck around and helped give out packages at the local food pickup. He asked to get the job writing in chalk on the windshields because that’s by far the most fun, coolest, authoritarian job, but he was told that he did not have the seniority for that. Instead, they made him hand out a bag containing one yogurt, two kiwis, a bag of baby-fish cookies, an omelet, and a slice of lox.

Oh, and ten milks.

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Putin Sees Future in Siberia West

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ussian President Vladimir Putin took some time off from poisoning his opponents to announce an ambitious project to open up Siberia West.

This full-on amazing freeze-todeath resort will be located in the Five Towns, which gets an average of 4 inches of snow every day and has average temperatures of negative 2 degrees.

“Dees good. Chai send Rassian men to Five Towns Siberia,” said Mr. Putin.

Putin was in town to “do some laundry” for New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin, a Russian-born hockey player who recently spoke out against Putin.

Although Siberia West will be a boon to the Five Towns economy (there are many here in the exotic poison industry…ever try shmaltz herring?), locals are not taking well to the idea because they don’t like the cooler temperatures. It has caused some Five Towners to do crazy things. Some people reacted by having a mid-WhatsApp crisis and started questioning whether they should leave the platform altogether and go over to Telegram. However, calmer minds convinced them not to commit WhatsAppaside and to just wait it out a little bit.

“When clients come to me with this issue,” said Dr. Yoshe Meshuga, “I calm them down and tell them not to do anything drastic. I urge them to go to Champions Gate in Orlando for a little rest and relaxation.”

According to Dr. Yoshe, when people return from vacation, they are usually ready to recommit to spending half of their lives on WhatsApp. As to why the Five Towns is experiencing such a harsh winter, some are speculating that it is due to the Atlantic Ocean. In previous years, whales would wash up on the shoreline, providing some additional heat and wind-blocking. However, this year, since there are no more plastic bags, the whales are not washing up ashore. It seems like the whales had a hard time figuring out that it’s probably more advisable to eat some freshwater tuna instead of a bright

yellow plastic Gourmet Glatt bag.

Wait, aren’t whales supposed to be the smartest mammals?

Well, actually, maybe we shouldn’t make fun of whales –

You can forget Africa because there is no internet access there. They probably didn’t watch it much in Europe either because they are way too cultured for that stuff.

It seems like the whales had a hard time figuring out that it’s probably more advisable to eat some freshwater tuna instead of a bright yellow plastic Gourmet Glatt bag.

wasn’t it we humans who collectively watched “Baby Shark, do do do do do do” seventy billion times? That’s even more votes than Trump got in the last election.

With seven billion people in the world, that means that each person watched it an average of ten times.

Now, there are many countries where they didn’t watch it at all.

You can cross off North Korea, China, and the rest of Asia, in fact.

So, basically, America is the only place where people really watched it.

Now, most of America is into TV, Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, etc.

It’s really only in the Five Towns that people pass around WhatsApp videos all day (frum Jews made WhatsApp what it is. Fact). That means that the baby shark video was seen by each TJH reader about 7 million times.

Ouch. Maybe we shouldn’t make

fun of the whales then.

Although we no longer have the sharks warming the shoreline, there are some advantages to no plastic bags.

Firstly, I’m not in love with the plastic-bags-on trees look that lines Seagirt Boulevard.

Also, now that there are no plastic bags, I can reach under my driver’s seat anytime and pull out a container of maple syrup or a first cut roast; no need to run out to the store.

The final advantage to no plastic bags is that now, when I go shopping, my brown paper bag rips open when I’m twelve feet from my car. Evidentially, the geniuses who decided that we should use brown paper bags didn’t realize that those bags are good for shaimos or for your kid to bring home a tissue box wrapped in tinfoil on Chanukah, but they are not really that great for leaking milk cartons and twelve-pound sacks of potatoes.

Don’t worry, soon enough, they will figure out a reason the paper bags are no good either. Then we will be left with just our two hands.

No cause for concern. They will find something wrong with hands as well.

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Philadelphia Minyan Counters

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ow that they are in their off-season for the next four years, the Philadelphia vote counters are available to take charge of counting your minyan.

If you purchase the basic package, when you have six men, they will count ten, enabling customers to have a minyan. They also have a more advanced presidential package which does not count ten when there’s only six but actually makes four more men appear out of thin air. However, the company only does this when all observers leave the room.

Philadelphia Minyan Counters provide other services as well.

If your minyan is too large and you want some people to disappear (because the “let’s make two

minyanim” guy is around, and you are not exactly in the mood of going into the boiler room to daven), they will easily make that happen. The company does not do this by killing anyone – that’s a whole different price structure – they just figure out a way to make them disappear, no questions asked.

Philadelphia Minyan Counters also has an Atlanta affiliate that has experience at creating water main breaks, just in case you need to divert some people for a minyan in the middle of the night.

The Detroit branch has a special ability to cause people to appear in middle of the night out of nowhere. Their motto is: “If we can get 147,000 votes for Biden at 3 a.m., we can get you ten men for a minyan. However, those men all have to be Biden

supporters, much like every single person who voted at 3 a.m. was a Biden supporter.”

Despite Philadelphia Minyan Counters’ popularity, some are filing suit based on a theory of religious interference.

Attorney Sidney Powell said that she is going to “get the crackin’ on this.”

“This is more than minyan manipulation,” she said. “This is generatin’ people out of thin air.”

Mayor Rudy Giuliani also appeared at the press conference, but his hair dye tried fleeing his head in the middle of the press conference. It seems like the dye was being held hostage and found the perfect moment to make a dash for the door. (How about this for an idea: let your hair be white. It won’t be the worst thing in the world. It’s better than blotches of black rolling down your face on national TV. It really is.)

This time, there was actually bipartisan anger towards PMC. Many liberals have called for a complete boycott and cancellation of Philadelphia Minyan Counters. No, it’s not because they object to their dear vote-stealing apparatus being used for religious purposes, although they don’t like that, either.

Rather, it’s because they say that the word “minyan” sounds way too much like “manyan” or “menyan.”

“Who came up with that bigoted term?” fumed Mrs. NotsoGlorius Notalright. “Women deserve their place in this quorum.”

She went on to propose that the word be changed to womenyan.

“It is only fair that after so many years of being called menyan, we now call it womenyan,” she asserted.

Although Philadelphia Minyan Counters agreed to change their name to Philadelphia Women Counters, that didn’t work either because that offended some who said that the term “counting” is degrading.

They, therefore, suggested that the name should just be Philadelphia. But that didn’t work either because it was discovered that the person that Philadelphia is named after, Phil P. Philadelphia, had a step-uncle whose half-sister’s second husband’s adopted son’s natural brother once ate a hamburger, violating cows’ human rights. So, Philadelphia is out, too.

This has led some to argue that this is taking cancel culture a little too far. However, when asked for comment, the cancel culture spokething said that they will not stop until everyone is canceled.

“Once everyone is canceled, the world will be a great place because all people will be gone and the world will be free from oppression, and I will get money from the non-existent government who will collect taxes from non-existent people that work at their non-existent jobs so that I can sit in a non-existent Starbucks all day watching a non-existent show on my non- existent computer.”

Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody out there?

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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Five Towns Men Losing Weight at Rapid Pace

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any middle-aged men in the Five Towns are finding their belts expanding on them. One Five Townser told TJH that for years he has been on the second loophole of his belt, but now he is coming close to reaching the fourth loophole. Before you get excited, he is still a size 62½ but you have to start somewhere.

The phenomenon has Five Towns nutritionists perplexed. Ms. Karat Sticks said that although her weight loss plan is the best there is, she doesn’t know what accounts for the rapid weight loss, especially since the average weight gain in the overall population since last March has been 38.4 pounds. (Yes, that’s what happens when 10 minutes after breakfast you start pre-gaming for dinner; corona, sharona – you were just waiting for an excuse.)

The weight loss among Five Towns men, though, is widespread.

Some men in the Five Towns are even fitting into their wedding suits, provided that they use a special crowbar.

“For years, I kept my wedding suit in the closet, collecting dust on the shoulder area,” said Fulafel Cohen (no, that’s not his real name, but his friends call him that because he is geshmak). “I always believed that one day it would fit me again; now I can at least see that day with a tele-

Some men already signed up for Bike-4-Chai, thinking that by their rate of weight loss, when the summer rolls along, they won’t look like SpongeBob when wearing the whole biking getup. scope.”

When asked whether he has changed his eating habits, Fulafel

(yes, he does have Fulafel vanity plates) said that he only made one small change but doesn’t believe that the change is responsible for his weight loss.

He explained that over the past 10 months, his shul did not have a kiddush and that decreased his weekly caloric intake by approximately 32,000 calories.

“I never really used to eat too much by the shul kiddush anyway – just a few pieces of gribbines (that is deep-fried chicken skin...I can see the zit that just popped onto your chin just from hearing that), four pieces of potato kugel, a half-pound of dry meats (because our shul gets its dried meats from the best place), two containers of herring and four bowls of cholent.”

Some men already signed up for Bike-4-Chai, thinking that with their rate of weight loss, when the summer rolls along, they won’t look

like SpongeBob when wearing the whole biking getup. They will be able to join the rest of the bikers who always manage to parade down Central Avenue, making me feel even worse as I bite into my second chocolate chip muffin of the morning.

Despite the no-kiddush-induced weight loss, many are upset about the canceled weekly glutton-fest.

They believe that the no kiddush policy is all directly from Bill Gates, who is trying to stop kiddushes because cholent contributes to climate change.

In Boro Park, residents took the kiddush cancellations less lightly.

They held a massive protest. Heshy Tishler even showed up with buckets of cream sauce.

Mayor de Blasio raged against the protestors. “Those Jews! Those Jews!”

When asked if his comments were anti-Semitic, he replied, “Not

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CERTIFIED in the least bit. How dare you even ask me that question? Don’t I get a full pass for anything I say because I hate Trump?”

The protestors made their way to City Hall to protest peacefully – let me repeat, to protest peacefully.

Yes, they were wearing beaver hats, but they weren’t dressed up like beavers.

When they arrived, a security guard sitting behind cobwebs informed them that de Blasio hasn’t been to City Hall in six years. The last time he was seen doing anything constructive was when he painted Black Lives Matter in front of Trump Tower. Now, give him credit, though – he spelled it correctly. Imagine if Dan Quayle was trying that? The whole Fifth Avenue would have a red squiggly line under it.

Since de Blasio wasn’t around, the protestors went to Chuck Schumer’s office, located in the back of a seltzer factory. However, Schumer wasn’t there because he was in Washington in the middle of a very intense match of who is more unlikable: Chuck Schumer or Mitch McConnell.

That game ended in a statistical tie, with each of them scoring a perfect 100% unlikability score. McConnell rose and, with one hand in his pocket, congratulated his worthy adversary in a speech so inspiring that even his fellow turtles were bored. Not to be outperformed, Schumer rose to speak and was so uninspiring that miraculously all seltzer in D.C. instantly de-fizzed.

The matter was finally resolved when community leaders held a telephone conference with the governor, who has gone into hiding now that he has been exposed as an authoritarian with no regard for human life.

King Cuomo decided that he would allow cholent to be eaten, but there has to be 25% fewer beans.

Cuomo then promptly asked those on the call for an award.

Now that cholent is back in Brooklyn, it’s just a matter of time before it returns to the Five Towns.

Because, eventually, everything and everyone from Brooklyn ends up coming to the Five Towns.

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A Megillah for Esther

BY RIVKAH LAMBERT ADLER

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ess than two weeks before Purim, a very special Megillat Esther was published in Israel in memory of a recent victim of terror.

Esther Horgen, a 52-year-old resident of Tal Menashe, was brutally murdered while out running in the forest near her home on December 20, 2020. The terrorist who killed her told officials that he was seeking revenge for the death of a Palestinian security prisoner who died from cancer.

Esther’s tragic end deeply touched the heart of Rabbi Tuly Weisz, founder of Israel365 and coordinator of the organization’s Israel Charity Fund. His organization immediately launched a crowdsourcing campaign in Esther’s memory to which over 1,000 people contributed.

At the shiva house, while learning more about Esther and being introduced to her skillful artwork by her husband Benjamin, Rabbi

The last photo taken of Esther walking in the forest

Weisz was hit with an inspiration. Perhaps inspired by her first name, and with Purim just weeks away, the rabbi resolved to create a Megillah in Esther’s memory, decorated with her artwork.

Pulling his inspiration off would take a lot of siyata d’shmaya. Just as the story the Megillah itself tells is full of miraculous events, Rabbi Weisz and his team miraculously produced this megillah in just three weeks.

He commissioned a completely new translation from Rabbi Mordechai Gershon who he called, “a tremendous, young talmid chacham and a wonderful guy.” Meanwhile, he shared Esther’s artwork with his organization’s book designer and graphic artist.

“They all thought it was a beautiful idea,” Rabbi Weisz commented. “And they said, ‘This will be great for next Purim.’ And I responded, ‘Next? We can’t do this for next Purim!’

“You know, nobody ever does a book in three weeks. It’s impossible. But everybody who participated in producing this was so moved by Esther Horgen’s story, her life and her death, and the sheer beauty of her exquisite artwork. And they really, really worked so diligently, so selflessly.

“It was a true labor of love.”

Each chapter of The Israel Bible Scroll of Esther is illustrated with a different one of Horgen’s designs. In addition to the Hebrew and English text and Horgen’s illustrations, the Megillah contains warm letters from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, an introduction by Esther’s husband Benjamin, a foreword by Rabbi Weisz, and a series of essays and supplemental materials including maps, essays and tefillot.

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enjamin and Esther Horgen met in Israel when they were both 21.

“I was an active duty artillery officer in the IDF, serving mostly in Lebanon, and Esther was an arts student at the Emunah College in Jerusalem,” Benjamin recalled.

The couple met through the networking efforts of his mother who worried that “I had no opportunities to meet nice girls” while serving in the IDF. Benjamin was stationed close to Tel Aviv, and Esther was living in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

“I made the trip to Jerusalem quite often to court her,” he said. Since he was busy during the week, most of their courtship occurred while spending Shabbatot with friends in Jerusalem.

After dating for two months, they married in July 1990 at the Hurva synagogue in the Old City. “[T]he Hurva synagogue wasn’t built as it is today, but was an open air ruin with just an arch. As it was midday and mid-summer, there were many more tourists at our wedding than guests!” he recollected.

After Esther’s murder, Esther’s daughter, Avigail, collected family stories about her mother. Avigail shared this one about her mother’s many emotional gifts.

Esther and Avigail were vacationing on Airlie Beach in Queensland, Australia. While enjoying nature and the inconceivable beauty surrounding them, they decided to take a cruise on a yacht to witness for themselves a place of exceptional beauty that people advised them was not to be missed.

Full of the energy that characterized Esther, the pair booked tickets for the cruise scheduled to sail the very next day. They were disappoint-

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“‘No matter, it will be fine,’ was always her attitude! Whatever happened, happened. We will learn for the future, and in the meantime, we will continue to laugh and enjoy the experience,” Avigayil said about her mother.

Esther loved nature and the desire to be surrounded by it never left her. If she happened upon a waterfall from above, she insisted on hiking to the bottom of it. According to Avigail, Esther taught her that “every point of view is worth the effort. Do not be lazy. Always be full of energy and do everything happily, with positivity and love.”

Esther, hiking with her husband, Benjamin

ed to learn that the cruise had to be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. Rather than succumbing to discouragement, the mother-daughter team enjoyed a day trip to a local waterfall and booked the cruise a second time for the following day.

Avigail shared, “With tickets in hand and excitement in our hearts, we set out on a voyage into the unknown. The voyage itself was beautiful, in deep blue water, between huge islands filled with wildlife, untouched by human hands. After an amazing sail, we reached the edge of an island which was a high mountain, full of green and wild nature.”

Not at all daunted by the challenge, the two began climbing the mountain, anxious to witness the beauty their guide assured them was to be found on the other side.

“We climbed and climbed, chatted and laughed. Walking in nature always expands the heart and mind,” Avigail said. The distinct privilege of being in a secluded place, where so few have the opportunity to visit, escaped neither mother nor daughter.

Avigail described the scene that unfolded for them as they cast their eyes on a “beautiful beach with snow-white sand and clear blue water. The sea passes between two huge island ridges.” The changing tides alternately revealed and concealed a winding path.

“I remember Mom being so excited by the sight that she just burst into a run from her whole soul, straight into the water! She wanted to be a part of that beauty, to be a part of nature, to feel it, to touch it and to smell it,” Avigail recounted.

In her enthusiasm to connect with the water, Esther had forgotten that her phone was in her pocket. Though the phone was ultimately ruined, Esther’s enthusiasm was not dimmed.

“She took it lightly and with love,” her daughter recalled.

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s he learned more about her, Rabbi Weisz saw several parallels, beyond their first names, between Horgen and Queen Esther. “Queen Esther stood up for her people. She was called to the palace to stand up for her people ‘for such a time as this.’ And, interestingly enough, it says in the beginning of the Megillah that she was called to the palace to the king in the 10th month.

“Esther Horgen was killed in the 10th

“I remember Mom being so excited by the sight that she just burst into a run from her whole soul, straight into the water!” month. In the month of Tevet, [her soul] returned to the King of Kings. That’s on her matzeivah. Her name was Esther, and she was this beautiful woman who found favor in the eyes of everybody who saw her.”

Benjamin shared a story that echoes Rabbi Weisz’s point.

“I travel to India often for work. One time, my wife Esther joined me. While I was working, she went to see the sites and observe the culture.

“She was walking to a special temple she had heard about and noticed that all the people around were men. They were staring at her in astonishment. ‘Who is this white lady and how did she come to be here in this highly un-touristy spot?!’ [The attention] didn’t bother Esther too much, and she proceeded to the site, took pictures, and marveled at the place.

“Suddenly, she saw an Indian woman, and the two soon began talking and connecting with a language that is less about broken words

and more about love, friendship and humanity.

The woman actually invited Esther back to her house.

“This astonishes me. I’ve been to India many times, and yet no one has ever extended such courtesy to me. There was something special about Esther that made everyone connect with her on a deeper level, even after just one meeting.”

Ironically, in 2015, Esther, who made aliyah from France when she was a young girl, wrote a poem expressing her emotional response to a series of terror attacks that culminated in a young boy being stabbed just weeks before his bar mitzvah. The poem, titled “Fear,” was translated from the French by Benjamin Horgen and Lauren Gordon.

In the last few lines of the lengthy poem, Esther wrote about her own emunah: And whenever a situation reminds me of my helplessness, Like seeing a child stabbed a month before his bar Mitzvah, Our prayers join with his mother’s prayers, Crossing hearts beyond the oceans, Imploring the Divine Mercy that lies dormant within us.

It is from the depths of our helplessness that we encounter Omnipotence.

You have to live it to understand it.

A

ll proceeds from The Israel Bible Scroll of Esther, which was completed less than two weeks before Purim, are going to support the Horgen family’s memorial project.

Benjamin explained, “Esther was murdered in the forest near our house. This is a beautiful place that the terrorist did not succeed to defile.

We want to turn the forest into a point of attraction for all, to make it accessible and attractive, so that as many as possible will want to come and enjoy the place, connect with nature, with themselves, with G-d [and even] exercise in this beautiful and peaceful environment – exactly as Esther did so often.

“We plan to add to the forest – while conserving its wild and untouched nature – sport installations in the spirit of Vita Parcours, as can be found in various parts of northern Europe.

“If the budget allows it, we want to create a path with maximum accessibility for disabled persons and families with small kids so that everyone can come and enjoy the area. It is important for us to make it available to all – without any distinctions.”

In that vein, the signs in the area will be in many languages, including Hebrew, English, French, Arabic, and Braille. “We plan to install

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Some of the stunning artwork by Esther Horgen, z"l, featured in the The Israel Bible Scroll of Esther.

Reprinted with permission from the publisher.

signs in the park with explanations about the place and the sport challenges, but also about Esther’s legacy – with QR codes linked to her artwork, her writing, songs and poems written in her memory (there are so many!) and much more.”

Esther’s murder has also galvanized Benjamin to work on a political front “to make it widely known, especially in France and Europe, that this attack is the direct result of the hateful incitement to murder and the baseless libel of the Palestinian Authority against Israel.”

He is understandably enraged that money the European Union donates to the Palestinian Authority is used to pay “fat salaries to terrorists jailed in Israel. I intend to make this known as widely as possible and to contact as many political and public figures as I can and try to put an end to it.”

“Her name was Esther, and she was this beautiful woman who found favor in the eyes of everybody who saw her.”

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enjamin shared, “Megillat Esther took an entirely new meaning for us after the attack. First, Queen Esther sacrificed herself for the greater good of the People of Israel. We felt that Esther, too, both in her activities in life as a counselor rebuilding broken relationships, as an artist, adding beauty to the world, and in her fierce fight against the evil terrorist made the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good.

“Furthermore, the central motive of the Megillah is that G-d manifests His guidance in hidden ways (hester panim) and that even terrible events have a good ultimate motive if we are wise enough to make the good come out of the bad. We are actively working to turn the terrible event of her death into adding more good and beauty to the entire Creation.”

“Everybody who has heard about or seen this project so far has been very, very moved by her story and the exquisite beauty of her artwork,” Rabbi Weisz added.

The Israel Bible Scroll of Esther is being sold for $25 online and is available for 50 NIS to those in Israel. To learn more, go to: purchase. theisraelbible.com/esthers-megilla/

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Dating Dialogue

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

Dear Navidaters,

I have been married, baruch Hashem, for five years, and often try to set my friends up with my husband’s friends.

Being married, I realize how unimportant the questions the boys and their mothers ask.

The questions I am asked are ridiculous. “How baalebatish is her family?” (a.k.a. are they rich?) “Do her grandparents align them-

selves with the Yeshivish world?” “Did she wear heels in seminary, or was she more of a flats kind of girl?” (this one is from a mother).

Every time I get off the phone with these mothers, I want to vomit. When I married my husband, my father was doing incredibly well in business and was supposed to support us for three years in Eretz Yisroel. Long story short, a year after my marriage, his business was crushed by a competitor and all our “plans” were upended.

We came back to America and both started working. We, baruch Hashem, are building a nice life together, although it is nothing like the one we dreamed of. I also used to dress up supe- nice, almost fancy, every day. Now, with two kids and 25 pounds later, I am lucky if I get to wear something other than what I wore the day before.

Life is so busy and baruch Hashem for that! But dealing in shidduchim is so depressing. Seeing how people’s lives are so planned out before they even agree to meet each other is so sad and naive. Priorities have gone out the window.

How can we change this system?

Chaya*

Disclaimer: This column is not intended to diagnose or otherwise conclude resolutions to any questions. Our intention is not to offer any definitive conclusions to any particular question, rather offer areas of exploration for the author and reader. Due to the nature of the column receiving only a short snapshot of an issue, without the benefit of an actual discussion, the panel’s role is to offer a range of possibilities. We hope to open up meaningful dialogue and individual exploration.

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The Panel The Rebbetzin Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz, M.S. ou are asking a good question.

How do we change the system?

I think the answer is a two-fold one.

We change the system as individuals. We can provide a principled answer to the question about photographs. “I don’t share photos of boys or girls” is a stand you can take. This can be adapted to those who do send you their photos. In other words, you can say that you don’t ask for pictures. However, if a family sent you a picture along with the shidduch resume, they are giving permission for you to share it.

“I don’t compare young people” is a good answer for people who are educators and youth leaders, especially.

Very often, people who have already looked into someone or who know members of the community well will ask you to compare singles with one another. Taking a stand on that is another way to change the system.

To respond to questions that are judgmental or imply an interest in knowing exactly what is going on the home and its values and practices takes more skill. It is helpful to craft some scripts and responses for yourself in advance so that you can actually respond in a respectful manner that causes a person to rethink the question. Are you actually asking me? ... I think I am hearing a question about … You don’t really think that XXX matters, do you?

You can also repeat the question with disbelief in your voice. You can laugh at the question good-naturedly without sneering.

Keep in mind that lecturing people doesn’t change them. Carefully prompting them to rethink their questions is a good goal for someone who is suggesting matches. But do keep your experience out of the conversation. Why? Because people will think you are bitter and discount your strategic efforts to get them to

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reconsider. They will react to your story, not to your point.

Changing the system, so to speak, demands action on the part of shadchanim as a group, too. About two years ago, I believe, a group of shadchanim took a stand on something. I don’t remember what it was, maybe it was about photos or something else. Keep in mind that parents are the ones who pay the shadchanim, so the latter can argue that they are trying to help the parents find what they are seeking.

Public discourse is really the only way to change the system. The proliferation of shidduch columns in national and community papers is one sign of the healthiness of our community about some unhealthy shidduchim practices. Publishing discussion and various opinions bring greater openness to the community, and young people and their parents do pay attention. Many of these columns are discussed within families and include younger siblings as well as those in the parsha. There is healthy discussion between the generations about matters large and small.

Another recent positive development has been the rising popularity of shidduch and dating coaches. A skilled third party who helps a young person clarify his thoughts, feelings, and behavior helps more than that young person sort things out. The young person has greater clarity and with that clarity can often manage parents, future dating prospects, and approaches to shidduchim in a healthier way.

The parsha of shidduchim is more complicated than ever, perhaps. I think that young people with lists are a big problem, not just the judgmentalism of parents. Seminary and yeshiva administrations take their jobs seriously in this regard. I believe they stress growth and openness.

But more needs to happen in terms of expectations of young people of future spouses in terms of levels of earning, learning, and more. Build-

Questions are thrown around as if life is a Hallmark film with the predictable storyline.

ing a life together by working hard, as you and your spouse are doing, is healthiest rather than bringing the other person vacations, values, and SUVs.

The Shadchan Michelle Mond

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heoretical questions are sadly typical in the shidduch world.

Questions are thrown around as if life is a Hallmark film with the predictable storyline.

The beginning: Man meets woman at a post office and instantly knows they will live happily ever after.

Middle: He tries tracking her down because he took one of her packages by mistake, calling it destiny.

End: His dog runs away and while trying to find him, finds the woman from the post office at the dog park, with his dog. They all live happily ever after.

I often think about this when I hear the questions similar to the ones you describe as off-putting in your letter – as if life usually goes as planned and as if we remain the same people we were while dating. If she wears heels to class in seminary, does it really indicate she will wear heels after having her first child?

If her father can support for seven years of kollel, is there a kollel insurance policy if said father’s finances change? I’ve even gone as far as hearing from a boy I set up that he would like to continue dating the woman but must see her without a stitch of makeup because he must know exactly what she looks like. I mean, come on, really? If all the answers to these external questions can change in a moment, what is the purpose of asking them?

I hear you, Chaya. I really do. It bothers me as a shadchan as much as it bothers you.

I also know that experience is usually the most effective teacher.

While other people’s experiences would be the most convenient teacher, more often than not, people tend to learn from their own. Take you, for example. If you were told while dating that you should marry someone self-sufficient financially just in case your father can no longer support, would you have heeded that advice? Your friends are looking for something just like you were when you were dating.

Now to your next question: how do we provide a wake-up call to people everywhere not to harp on silly unimportant details? This is something that can only be changed if society changes. If it becomes socially unacceptable to ask these questions, they will no longer be asked.

Who determines what is or is not socially acceptable? I would venture to say that it must come from the rabbeim and roshei yeshivos, but who am I to say? I will leave that answer to the other panelists.

Hatzlacha, and thank you for your holy work in shidduchim!

The Single Rivka Weinberg

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commend you and your husband for trying to set up your friends.

We all have the opportunity to be a shaliach of Hashem, so each of us

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has an achrayus to think of ideas for those around us.

You ask how we can change the system, however, the system isn’t what needs fixing. The same process of shidduchim has been around for decades and, baruch Hashem, our community has seen, and continues to see, much success from it. Before we jump to the “shidduch crisis” conclusion and begin to bash the system, let’s take a broader look at society today. In the system, the pieces that have evolved over time are the people involved in it and their mindsets towards it. We live in a generation that is focused on instant gratification, where almost anything and everything can be customized, so is it really the system to blame?

Given the reality we live in, are the questions you’re being asked by mothers and their sons really that far off? Keep in mind, these are individuals who are products of the always-wanting-the-best-and-more generation. People bolt to the latest designer coats and will stand outside in cold temperatures for all hours of the night to purchase the newest piece of technology. It would be naïve to say that these ideologies have not impacted our communities as well.

If people are running for what they believe to be the best and supreme items in the world of gashmiyus, what makes you think there’s a magic switch that doesn’t

allow the thought process to seep into ruchniyus as well? Of course, any mother is going to find who she believes to be the “top” and “finest” girl for her son because she’s a creature of habit.

To be clear, I agree with you that the priorities of many have gone out the window and the laundry lists of questions regarding topics no longer relevant to the girl are ridiculous. A girl should be looked at for where she is holding today and not judged for her choice to wear heels or not three years ago.

Instead of trying to change a system that isn’t broken, we should fix the one that is. Although this issue must be reckoned with on a community level, it needs to start in every home with each parent teaching their child the difference between need and want. The entitled approach will only cause harm to future generations. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, and because children are raised with instant gratification, they will never learn the patience to take the time to work through problems. If not stopped, this issue will continue to trickle into all areas, including shidduchim and relationships. So, to change the system, you can begin by discussing your values and priorities with your children to ensure they have a clear picture of what is truly important

and how those beliefs will help them navigate throughout their lives.

Food for thought: isn’t it interesting that your father was doing incredibly well in business and had a plan to support you for three years in Eretz Yisrael when you first got married, and only now, after you’ve been married for five years, do you realize how unimportant the plans and questions are?

The Zaidy our letter raised three interesting issues. You discuss, first, how shidduch questions are often foolish and inappropriate; second, how your own married life turned out much differently than planned; and, third, how our contemporary shidduch process is in need of drastic overhaul.

I have heard some outlandish questions folks ask shadchanim.

I’ve been writing this column for one year now, and I still have no idea what the “right” answers are to these questions: -What kind of hat does the fatherin-law wear?

-Do they cover their fancy Shabbos tablecloth with plastic?

-Do they put the ketchup bottle on the table or put it into a serving dish?

- W h a t dress does the mother wear when tak ing out the garbage? (That one

is a trick question. The correct answer is that the father is the one who takes out the garbage.)

Isn’t it more appropriate to find out about character, moral fiber, and shared goals and aspirations?

You are a very impressive young lady. You got married with certain expectations and found yourself in very different circumstances. It sounds like you were able to overcome adversity and, nevertheless, thrive.

Good for you!

I share your discomfort with our current system of matchmaking.

Even though the system seems to work for many, for countless others it is painful, artificial, and anxiety-provoking. Dating should be a happy, enjoyable, and exciting time of life.

Young men and women should consider alternatives to this archaic system. Organizations like YUConnects (YUConnects.com) do wonderful work. They run events and programs, under proper rabbinical supervision, and recently announced their 450th successful shidduch.

Very best wishes, and thank you for writing to us.

mal” than yours AND we only use the finest linens on Shabbos attitude and mindset. And in order to keep our perfect lineage and heritage, we are going to exclude anyone and any family who doesn’t fit the bill. And…no one will stop us!

Sometimes some of the questions and criteria I hear about are borderline neurotic. And, who is really suffering at the end of the day? Everyone! The singles and their parents and families. This system does work for a lot of people. But for too many, it doesn’t. It is exhausting and feels undoable.

The problem runs so deep and is

Dr. Jeffrey Galler

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Pulling It All Together The Navidaters

These are individuals who are products of the alwayswanting-thebest-and-more generation.

Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

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hank you for writing into the panel about a very important matter that is at the helm of the shidduch crisis. I am going to do my best to deliver my honest, forthcoming, authentic opinion as to what needs to be done, at least in part, to help

resolve this leg of the shidduch crisis. But first, we must define what it is that you wrote in about: the holier than thou, my family is better/frummer/more important/wealthier/“more nor-

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so embedded into the fabric of society that I truly believe correcting it starts in the schools and shuls.

There must be a healthier message sent out to families by rebbeim and religious authority figures whom the families will respect if change is to be made on a grand scale. And the message must be something along the lines of giving up this hypercritical, FBI, humanity denying approach. Wouldn’t it be so beautiful to go out with someone based on chemistry, middos, and who the person is today?

There needs to be education around relationships, a deep understanding into the psyche of men and women, and, dare I say it, kosher

ways for frum singles to naturally meet on their own. Whether that is a singles’ weekend (please G-d, the world should open soon!) or a fun event or party. Hashem gave men and women the instinct and the know-how. We need only to turn to key figures whom we emulate in the Torah and Nach to understand that man is…human. And certainly, many people met naturally, with Hashem’s help.

Now, man has slowly taken this away by forbidding meeting naturally, making it taboo. We met on our own; how will we tell our parents we want to get married? I always tell people that I can’t cure normal! I just can’t. There’s someone

I want to go out with but my mother forbade it because the girl has a reputation from high school. The sad thing is that the ostracization for being one pinky toe out-of-thebox is all too real. Something must change on the macro level. If this little micro level column can nudge the macrosystem, then it will be a column well worth having written.

I do believe change can be made, but it must come from the inside of the hub. From the people who make the rules and call the shots. I simply support those impacted by the system and the rules.

I think you are absolutely incredible for rolling up your sleeves and continuing to help your friends.

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Sometimes, it feels like the forces of the shidduch system are working against us. There is nothing that gives me greater joy than seeing my clients get engaged and married.

The level of rejection I watch them experience, due to no fault of their own, makes me sad…every single time.

We have to remember the individual.

Keep on doing the amazing, holy work you do! I think anyone involved in shidduchim is very special! It is hard labor, but the payoff is out of this world!

Sincerely, Jennifer

Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in private practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. She also teaches a psychology course at Touro College. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 516-224-7779, ext. 2. Visit www.thenavidaters.com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email thenavidaters@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.

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Dr. Deb

Purim Food

By Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.

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his year for Purim, I did not want to write about “masks” and how we hide from others (and ourselves). I kind of thought I would share with you another side of me. Kind of a Purim shtick but not really. The side of me that has to eat to live!

After I got hit with an auto-immune disease last April, I went on Dr. Steven Gundry’s lectin-free diet. Apparently, gluten is one kind of lectin and if you eliminate all lectins, you can correct auto-immune disease. Well, no one in the medical world that I’ve talked to knows what all that’s about, but that’s okay by me. I decided to experiment and so I switched up my culinary interests from traditional food to extremely UN-traditional – but amazing and delicious! – food. So for my “shtick,” I’m going to pretend to write a column about Gundry-approved recipes. But they’re real recipes. And so good.

So, for example, if you can put lox on a shmear of cream cheese on a bagel, why not put underdone salmon on a shmear of goat cheese on a lectin-free cracker?

I assure you it is yummy!

See:

Now why would anyone want to eat that? Well, salmon is a very healthy fish, and when it’s not overcooked, you get to consume all that wonderful fish oil. Of course, to avoid pesticides and antibiotics that farm fish live in and eat, the best thing is to buy organic. The organic fish in Gourmet Glatt is Wester Ross brand which proudly informs the reader on their webpage that they do not use antibiotics. Rather, the fish are kept healthy by ecological means. I have to go along with this, as I’m not there to check on them.

As for the goat cheese, it tastes just like regular cream cheese and you’re not getting all that unhealthy A1 milk protein which your body might not like.

Gourmet Glatt carries it in two sizes, and I buy the large one, cut it into eight portions, wrap each one in plastic and throw them in the freezer.

So here is the cracker recipe (which, by the way, I got from my upstairs neighbor, who got it from someone else). I tweaked it a little bit to emphasize the ingredients I like best.

Mix: • 1 ¼ c cassava flour • ½ tablespoon salt

• • • • • • • •

½ tablespoon garlic powder ½ tablespoon oregano 1 tablespoon poppy seeds 1/8 c (2 tablespoons) sesame seeds ¼ c hemp seeds ¼ c flaxmeal 1/8 tsp baking soda ¼ tsp cream of tartar Then mix in 6 tablespoons olive oil.

And then mix in ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons water. But do not say, “Oh, I’ll just use a full cup.” When you’re working with really odd types of ingredients, that just won’t work.

Divide the mixed dough into 4 portions. And the good news is that you can wrap each portion in plastic and keep it in the fridge for a while. I never found out how long “a while” is. See, because I am addicted to these crackers, they go quickly. (Which is understandable once you realize that a lectin-free diet doesn’t allow potato chips.)

Roll each portion very thin between two sheets of parchment paper.

Take off the top layer of paper and slide the rest onto a cookie sheet. Cut squares or oblongs and bake for only 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

You can get the cassava flour, the flax meal, and hemp seeds in Manna on Central Avenue.

Now, of course, this may not be your version of Purim food. After all, you may be thinking, “Where’s the meat?”

Well, I don’t have any odd or untraditional recipes for that. Before last April, I wasn’t the biggest meat eater anyway. I do like it; don’t get me wrong. But no new recipes for you.

But I can share with you a chocolate pudding recipe that is amazing. On fake graham crackers that taste like the real thing. I am addicted to these, too. Dr. Gundry created the original version of this recipe, and, of course, I tweaked it a little because, although I’m not big on sugar, I needed a wee bit more. And more “milk.” It’s so creamy my way! Yes, that’s real whip cream on top. Apparently, heavy cream has so much fat, there isn’t much room left for the harmful protein. Makes me happy.

Sooooo delicious! And I’m telling you it’s healthy. With a capital “H.” You will see why when you read the recipe.

Here’s the chocolate pudding recipe: 2 ounces of chocolate (1/3 cup).

I use Schmerling’s 72% because Dr. Gundry wants you to eat a whole lot less sugar than we eat. And the 72% has more of the good stuff you’re eating the chocolate for than standard cooking bars. (I even break these up and further chop them for “chips” in my breakfast muffins. But don’t get me started.)

2 tablespoons of sugar. I use Swerve, which is an alcohol sugar derived from plant roots and is considered not to be an “artificial sweetener” but also does not have calories. I don’t know how they figure this, but I’m not arguing.

1 avocado

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1/3 cup cocoa, but do NOT use “Dutch processed” cocoa because that process takes away the polyphenols in the chocolate which is supposed to be good for you. (Apparently, the Dutch wanted to remove the bitterness, but that bitterness is from those darn polyphenols. I have to say, you can train your taste buds to enjoy less sugar. I promise!) ½ cup + 2 tablespoons almond milk. You can certainly substitute real milk.

By the way, soy is a lectin, so soy milk’s a no-no for me.

1. Melt the chocolate squares on a very low heat and include the sugar in order to avoid the finished product from being crunchy. Mix a bit.

2. Process the avocado very well in the food processor or blender.

3. Put everything together and at least transfer to a plate before devouring it.

You are so right if you want to point out that I didn’t mention Purim food.

Well, you can substitute Rorie’s flour (available at Gourmet Glatt and Manna) for regular flour to make your hamantashen.

But I’m going to experiment with my own Rosemarie version of a filling (hazelnut butter and chocolate). Did you get the idea that I really like chocolate? You are right.

Freilichen Purim, my friends! May you discover wonderful things behind your masks.

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

A Purim Shpiel

By Aliza Beer MS, RD, CDN

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urim 2021 is a bit different from Purims of the past Masks have been de rigueur; we hope this won’t last Let’s be positive, covering our faces does have one silver lining It inhibits us from snacking, nibbling, or too much dining!

The chag of Purim first begins with the Fast of Esther Prepare yourself by hydrating with an abundance of water.

A fast is not a marathon, no need to carb-load Just drink water with electrolytes to get in the mode.

Eating a good dinner before the fast is the way to go Consisting of a protein, a veggie, and a sweet potato.

Don’t break the fast on pizza, lasagna, or mac ‘n cheese.

Your body is in starvation mode, feed it healthy food please.

Fish or eggs, with whole grain toast and soup Will leave you feeling satisfied, and not out of the loop.

The break-fast should consist of one well-rounded meal Not a day’s worth of food, your body will hoard it, that’s the deal.

I love the story of Purim, and how Hashem saved the Jews But this business of shaloch manos has me singing the blues.

For many people, the “Covid-19” is no mythical weight gain I see in my practice the numbers have yet to wane.

After months of quarantine baking sourdough and banana bread No one needs a binge-day of sugar – I am shaking with dread.

Let us be kind to one another and practice what we preach Give friends and neighbors healthy foods like dark chocolate and a peach Flavored water/seltzer, iced coffee, tea, or wine These are the best beverages, and are simply divine.

Nuts, dried fruit, hummus, guacamole, whole grain pretzels, popcorn, and more Just some healthy ideas that most people will actually eat and adore.

Have your children pick their favorite treats, Get rid of the rest without missing a beat.

Donate it to the poor, it’s a big mitzvah or good deed Set a good example for your family, you were born to lead.

Purim is on a Friday, a day typically short on time Don’t skip your breakfast (or you will ruin my rhyme).

Skipping will lead to snacking, and wrong choices will be made Eating sweets instead of a meal is never a good trade.

Purim leads into Shabbos, in a most unusual way Plan what you will eat at every meal that day.

Eat the heavier meal during the day is my professional advice Eat lighter at the Shabbos seudah, more veggies less rice.

If red meat is on the menu, eat it at the Purim meal Friday night dinner should be fish/chicken, that’s how I feel.

It is a mitzvah to drink alcohol on this glorious day.

Alcohol is a potential hazard, here is what I have to say: Speak to your physician about what amount is safe and appropriate for you Alcohol is a toxin and cannot be stored in the body, this is true.

Moderation with everything leads to good health and happiness Overindulgence in anything will certainly result in one big mess.

If perhaps you deviated from the plan and went a sunder Don’t destroy Shabbos and continue to blunder.

Get back on track, block out the noise and distractions, Take charge of your life, seize control of your actions.

Hashem generously gave us wisdom and free will, Not for us to become gluttonous, deliriously drunk, and quite ill.

Enjoy this special day of wonderful family and delicious food Mindfully indulge in a few treats, and you will feel so good.

Depriving yourself completely is not sustainable or sound This needs to be a way of life, and food is always around.

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy Purim And remember, Pesach is next on the horizon!

Wishing all of my clients and readers a freilechen Purim!

Aliza Beer is a registered dietitian with a master’s degree in nutrition. She has a private practice in Cedarhurst, NY. Patients’ success has been featured on the Dr. Oz show.

Aliza can be reached at alizabeer@gmail.com, and you can follow her on Instagram at @alizabeer.

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Parenting Pearls

Simchas Purim

By Sara Rayvych, MSEd

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urim is perhaps the busiest day on the Jewish calendar. It’s more fun than you can imagine in a 24+ hour period. I think it says a lot about the Jewish outlook on life that when we have a leap year we repeat the happiest, most joyous month.

Ironically, even when we have an extra month to prepare, we still say Purim and Pesach came too quickly.

Purim Erev Shabbos This year is unique because Purim is erev Shabbos. This reminds me of one of the previous times Purim came out on a Friday. It seems the memo about Purim didn’t get out, and there was construction on Reads Lane in Far Rockaway that year. Reads Lane is a major, local road and was full of families in cars trying to deliver their many mishloach manos in the even shorter time than usual. The poor construction workers had no idea why the street was suddenly flooded with packed vehicles as they tried in vain and confusion to direct the cars around the mostly closed street.

There are slight differences in how we manage the various mitzvos of the days to accommodate both the special halachos of Purim and preparing for Shabbos. I’m sure each shul and rav will inform their kehilla in advance of the appropriate adjustments to be made. It’s worthwhile to give them

a look over in advance. There are many organizing and cooking tricks families will use to make everything happen, but I will leave those to the relevant experts and stick to parenting and education.

Plan in advance what adjustments you will be doing to the schedule and discuss them with your children before the holiday. Kids rarely appreciate changes and limitations, certainly not on their beloved Purim. For example, children take delivering their mishloach manos very seriously, as they should. Parents may find it helpful to limit the number of deliveries being made and/or the distance they’re willing to travel on Purim. If your child only finds out these restrictions on Purim day, they will be very upset and potentially tantrum excessively. But, if they know the restrictions prior to Purim, then they can prioritize whom they will give to (and get their frustrations out before the big day).

Let them know a bit about megillah, mishloach manos, and the seudah will be so they’ll be better prepared mentally.

Staying Safe Many organizations will come out with warnings and important pointers before Purim. It’s worthwhile to look them over and discuss with

your family the relevant ones, preferably before the holiday begins. It’s sad to say, but the most joyous day of the year can sometimes become the most devastating, chas v’shalom, if we’re not on top of it. The relevant organizations such as Hatzalah and Amudim have more expertise than me on this topic, so I will simply remind you to watch out for their emails and postings while I mention only a few points here.

Talk to your children in advance about safety issues and keep your eyes on them on the actual day. Know where they are and make sure they know they can, and should, call you if they need help – this applies always.

Children and teens can be afraid to call their adult when they need help out of fear of being punished or disappointing you. Let them know you will be there for them when they need you –always. Issues to discuss include drinking (particularly with teens), not accepting rides or going into other homes without permission, and road safety when others may not be driving safely.

I want to bring up an important discussion that others may not bring up, which is the continuous need to be a kiddush Hashem. We live among many different groups of people, and I fear they don’t often see our best on Purim. I’ve seen boys wobbling in the

middle of the street drunk, unaware of cars trying to drive on the road.

I’ve heard children yelling outside late after megillah reading with gentile neighbors trying to sleep. Food and other wrappers with heimish hashgachas all over the ground. People vomiting on the street and sidewalk. Many of those drunk are clearly unde age. We can avoid many of these problems by sensitizing our children to these issues and how others may perceive their behavior. For example, it’s not too much for youngsters to be reminded to keep their voices down at night and throw away their trash.

Being a Kid and Enjoying the Day Purim is really so much fun, and adults shouldn’t forget to have some fun, too. Your kids will enjoy your extra cheerfulness, and you’ll savor the extra joy. Take some time to do what you’ll remember fondly. Get a little silly. Be a kid again in some way.

Whether you wear a costume, sing out loud or speak in rhyme, don’t forget it’s Purim for you, as well.

Share the burden: there is no halacha to feel like a slave. Even Pesach doesn’t have a slavery requirement; we finished that part a few thousand years ago. Allow your children to help in some way and feel a part of the festivities. They may be more open

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to helping if they’re assigned jobs in advance. Kids don’t like having their party interrupted, but there’s no reason they can’t appreciate contributing to the family. Also, if they know beforehand, they can do their jobs when there is less excitement and they won’t be missing out on as much fun.

Set limitations as needed. For example, a few years ago, I felt like I worked hours to prepare a meal I didn’t get to enjoy. As soon as I sat down to taste my soup, someone else came in and was ready for their bowl.

I made a rule the following year that I served each course when it was being served, and if you missed it, then you served yourself. This particular rule made even more of a difference when we had a large amount of company. It was very liberating. I had a chance to enjoy the meal, and our guests didn’t mind one bit. See what will best suit your needs and plan accordingly.

Purim Resources Yes, the kids will learn about Pu-

rim in school but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a few things prepared for them at home. Don’t underestimate how much your children will enjoy talking to you about what they learned and the Purim topics that interested them most. Often, they have questions they may have been

Coloring sheets from aish.com, chabad.org, or any other site are easily available and keep little ones entertained while you prepare. There are inexpensive art kits you can buy, or just give them colored paper, scissors and a glue stick to see what they come up with.

Be a kid again in some way. embarrassed to ask in class but may feel comfortable asking you.

Read the megillah with them.

ArtScroll has a child-friendly translation. It’s nice to invest in an illustrated megillah for your child. You can “read” to your child by showing them the pictures, and it makes megillah reading so much more enjoyable for them. ArtScroll and Malchut are among the publishers that make beautiful, illustrated megillos.

In the past, I’ve enjoyed setting out Purim books for the kids to enjoy throughout the day. They especially love to come down first thing in the morning and read while it’s quiet and the festivities are yet to begin.

There are so many excellent books for youngsters but here are a few for various ages: What do you see on Purim? by Bracha Goetz, Just Imagine!

The Purim Story Today, Tell Me The Story of the Megilla, Children of

Shushan Fight Haman, Purim with Bina, Benny and Chagai Hayonah by Yaffa Ganz or check out the holiday display in your favorite, local Jewish bookstore.

Older kids can enjoy the many megillos with commentaries. The Book of our Heritage by Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov is great for parents to read. The Guided Tour Series from The Living Torah Museum is an incredible resource for so many topics, and their Purim DVDs are wonderful as well.

Purim is such an incredible yom tov, packed with fun and meaning.

Make the time to enjoy the day with your family, take some adorable photographs, and create lasting memories for everyone.

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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jewish women of wisdom

Crossing the General Divide or Not Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz

I

belong to a writing group. Recently, we shared loglines for our current works in progress. A logline is a brief one or two sentence summary of the plot of a novel or script in which one lays out who the protagonist is, his goal, and the protagonist or protagonist forces that keeps him from achieving his goal.

One of the other Jewish women in the group shared her basic plot. An immigrant Jewish boy from Rumania in the ‘20s finds anti-Semitism in the U.S. He fights back physically and learns to box, even though he is called a vilde chayeh by family, the rabbi, and school officials. Thus, he finds a place for himself as a proud Jewish American.

I took note of the expressed theme of fairly quick empowerment and finding self-respect. I think it’s realistic in terms of time and place but only to a certain extent. I am not sure that people who have themselves experienced persecution and anti-Semitism and come from a culture of hundreds of years persecution become transformed so easily.

There is a galus mindset and response, the result of Jewish migrations, expulsions, and experience of

violence. Sometimes, it causes people to run for their lives. My father used to tell us that his Polish-born father who did not experience the Nazi persecution would nonetheless shake when he would see a uniformed officer on the streets of Brooklyn in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Several of my father’s cousins were raised by grandparents in the U.S. because their parents were killed during the pogroms of the early twenties. The grandparents then took the surviving children from the Ukraine and Poland and fled to the States.

We have been conditioned to say never again. There is a misplaced perception of Holocaust victims going to the slaughter like sheep. The realities of calculated, organized extermination and mob violence don’t usually allow for choices to fight back. Only some Jews were able to fight back using stealth, going into the forest as partisans, and going underground.

The Warsaw Ghetto uprising was one of several notable exceptions.

My logline for my work in progress also outlined the story of an immigrant Jewish child from Central Europe. The great hope of her Holocaust survivor parents, she finds her own

Jewish identity and agency through their refugee travels.

The reaction to my words about overprotection and making her own choices was immediate from another member of the group. Who sets the rules? Who decided? Why? I explained to another Jewish person in the group who reacted with these questions that overprotecting a child after the Holocaust and political upheaval because he is your Jewish future is normative to people who have experienced persecution in their own lives and the history of their people. It’s not that a parent wants to take away a child’s freedom and agency. It’s a matter of survival.

Today, we often impose our own contemporary values of empowerment on historical experiences. I don’t think that was present in earlier years, no matter the ethnic or cultural background of the oppressed/persecuted. We are so used to freedom in the American culture and the current environment of speak up and speak out that we assume that transformation from victim to empowered can happen in one lifetime. Look how long it has taken people of color. Look how long it has taken Jews. Both groups

suffered for generations over hundreds of years and only now have a sense of agency on some level.

I think that only since the late twentieth century can an individual go from being a victim of harassment, sexual violence, or a particular form of discrimination to an empowered person who campaigns for the very issue that s/he suffered under.

Historical context is always important, whether one is writing, advocating, or making decisions for a group. It’s even more vital for us Jews who have a long complex history in many milieus and cultures.

We try. Most Orthodox kids today learn about the Holocaust and other recent Jewish migrations from family members, their curriculum, and literature. However, a sense of the transformation of a postwar Torah civilization in the U.S. is sometimes lacking. Our children and their children have similar childhoods to ours, and two or even three generations may attend the same schools, camps, yeshivas, and seminaries. However, I frequently see a lack of context in the reaction of some young people to problems in our communities in the name of righting wrongs, empower-

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

ment, and opening up the silence.

The shrillness and even anger that the “frum system that must change” lacks understanding. Our postwar Jewish leaders, activists, and individuals worked hard to develop institutions, systems, and organizations to rebuild a lost Torah world on these shores. Beside the European-born roshei yeshiva, chassidic leaders, and lay leaders, there were many younger American-born Jewish soldiers such as Rabbi Joshua Silbermintz, Rabbi Aron Brafman, and Rabbi Dr. Chaim Feuerman, z”l – to name just a few – who felt a strong mission to build and to educate in youth groups, day schools, and yeshivas. If they wouldn’t do it, generations would be lost. It was up to them, they were told by their mentors, and they acted. Many values were also articulated in a strong way during the post-Holocaust period. They needed to be said then. Traditional Torah Judaism was at risk.

It is true that, since then, we have

recognized that some of the institutions, systems, and articulated values were rather uniform and rigid in articulation. We have learned to pay attention to the voiceless, the ones with difficulties, mental health issues, and learning issues. One size does not fit all. We have learned to be more inclusive and attentive to diverse abilities,

Yes, there is plenty of room for improvement in our current Torah civilization. We should seek solutions and experiment with action and creative solutions. The anger and resentment about the defects in our community, however, that I hear in some planning panels and elite programs gives me grief.

Know on whose shoulders you stand.

interests, nuances and questions.

We continue to deal with stigma.

Broad social issues such as shidduchim, the cost of Jewish life, and divisiveness within our community, for example, are frequent topics for discussion and action. Programs continue to be developed, and initiatives are regularly brought to the Jewish public in the press or through organizations.

Why do I hear strong words?

Why the sense of betrayal? Why the rallying cry of the need to empower the victims? No one was out to disenfranchise. No one was discriminating. Awareness was lacking and understandable given the historical and cultural context in the greater Jewish and Western worlds.

The confusion between need for

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improvement in our Torah community and the militant, strident tone coming from the under-forties is unsettling.

There is talk of revealing the coverup, disenfranchisement, and power.

The rhetoric is often misplaced, lacks context, and displays a fundamental lack of understanding of the complexity of community issues. Apparently, some of these young people within our community take their cues from the cultural climate in which we live today. The mission may be to redress and/or develop alternatives, but the sound is that of fighting battles.

It’s up to our generation to tell the young activists. Know on whose shoulders you stand. Your generation was lucky to grow up in a secure, highly developed Jewish culture. Go and improve it with grace, respect, and creativity. We value your energy and commitment.

Join the conversation and email list of JWOW! by writing to hello @jewishwomenofwisdom.org.

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A Spin on Gin

BY SUSAN SCHWANN

TJH Speaks with Mixologist Rabbi Leibel Khazanovich Rabbi Leibel, how did a frum man like yourself become a mixologist?

It mostly just from tinkering in my kitchen. I always liked experimenting with food, but I never had a kosher kitchen of my own until I got married. I was always living in yeshiva dorms. Once I did get married, it really took off once I started doing these “lives” with Busy in Brooklyn.

How did you get connected with Chanie Apfelbaum of Busy in Brooklyn?

I used to eat at their house for Shabbosim, and I went over one time, made some cocktails, and she was like, “Hey, I don’t really do cocktails. You should come on and we’ll do a live together.”

So we did a few of those. That was around a year ago. Since then, I’ve been doing presentations for Chabad houses, for birthdays, etc. Now, I’ve been doing them on Zoom.

For Purim, in Miami, where I live, I am selling premade cocktails for those in the community to serve to their guests.

That sounds interesting.

I got the idea from someone in New Jersey, who was doing it in his community.

For Purim, I offer six cocktails. I tweaked – some classic, some more exotic – cocktails and renamed them with more Purim-sounding names. For example, the cosmopolitan I tweaked and renamed the Cosmo-tash.

And the margarita is the Gragger-ita. Bramble, which is a blueberry cocktail, is the Pur-amble. Mai tai is like a more exotic tiki cocktail; we’re calling it a Morde-tai for Purim.

Love those names! Can you tell us the difference between a mixologist and a bartender?

That’s a very good question. I don’t know the extent of it because a lot of bartenders also are mixologists. In general, with bartenders, they go in, they know the recipes they’re making, and they make the cocktail or whatnot. With mixologists, there’s more science behind it. It’s interesting, though, that a lot of legendary cock-

tails come from legendary bartenders, not legendary mixologists.

Have you mixed up certain cocktails that you could call your own?

Yes. I’ve invented, so far, two cocktails.

I used a liqueur from a company called Righteous Seven, which has the shivas ha’minim. I made a Negroni version of it instead of using a Campari.

And then I partnered up with a company called Legato, which is a sister brand of Cordials, the vodka company.

Legato is a liqueur company that makes milchig, cholov Yisroel liqueurs. They have one, a cinnamon liqueur, which I used to make a variation on a white Russian. I used their cinnamon liqueur and chocolate liqueur instead of coffee liqueur, and I used tequila instead of vodka. I called it the Oaxacan chocolate milk. Mexico is known for its tequila and cinnamon.

That definitely sounds like a rocking chocolate milk, I’ll tell you that

much. There are probably some ingredients that you come across that are not kosher.

What do you use to substitute for these items?

It depends. Some things I make my own.

For example?

I’ll give you an idea. I needed an allspice dram – a rum-based liqueur – for a pina colada variation that I was trying out, and I couldn’t find any, at least in the local stores that were kosher, so I had to find a quick concoction online. But a lot of the non-kosher liqueurs, like Campari, Aperol – a lot of them – there are kosher companies that make variations of it.

What’s the difference between whiskey and bourbon?

All bourbon is whiskey.

Not all whiskey is bourbon.

Scotch whiskey, for example, is made out of barley.

Bourbon has to be at least 51% corn, and it has to be aged in new oak barrels, and it has to be aged in the United States. There are lots of other

rules too, but I’m not going to bore you with the details.

What are the drinks that you like best to serve?

It really depends on if I’m serving a crowd or if I’m serving an individual guest.

If I’m serving a crowd, it’s always going to be something easy. My go-tos are usually mule variations or palomas; palomas with fresh grapefruit, not just Fresca. Those are my go-tos because they go very well in a pitcher, they’re crushable, and you can play

R' Leibel hosting a shul event

TheJewish JewishHome Home| |FEBRUARY OCTOBER 29, 2015 The 25, 2021

around with them. A Moscow mule is usually with vodka, but I’ll make it with gin just to throw people off.

If I’m making individual cocktails, I’ll always start with sours. Sours are slightly polarizing; most people think they’ve had a good whiskey sour, but they haven’t until they’ve tried a proper one.

So maybe I’ll go with a whiskey sour. One of my favorites sours to go to recently is called a Clover Club, which is a gin sour with raspberry in it.

Most people don’t think of putting an egg white into a cocktail until they try it. So, I like to introduce them to something new.

An egg white is definitely an interesting twist.

Maybe you shouldn’t tell them that you put that in until after they start drinking it, no?

Well, it depends on the guest. Sometimes, if I see that they might get a wee bit squeamish, I’ll tell them after they taste it.

That’s me – tell me after I take a sip. What about someone who is making a Purim seudah and wants to make a big pitcher of cocktails for their guests?

Palomas and mules are

very simple and easy, and everyone loves them. You can’t really go wrong.

What do you drink at the end of a long day?

Lately, I’ve been going with variations on the old fashioned. The old fashioned is usually made with whiskey, but I like to do it with a good aged rum or a good aged tequila.

Should we match our foods to our drinks?

Yes. I’m not really versed in that as much. I usually

Amazingly, in the kosher world, because of the different hashgachos, there are so many things becoming kosher. Every time I go to the liquor store, I’ll find another item with a hechsher on it.

It’s not just the alcohol; it’s all types of mixers. Definitely keep your eyes open when you go to the liquor store for more kosher items.

Are people drinking more tequilas now?

There are two tequilas that are “big” now, but besides for those, not really.

just how long it’s been aged more or less. Some are made more of corn and some are made more of rye or barley, but whiskey, in general, is just pure alcohol in a barrel.

If one is willing to spend money on something, what type of alcohol do you suggest that a person splurge on?

I would say just pick the one that you like. If you’re more of a whiskey guy, then spend your money on whiskey. If you’re more of a bourbon guy, then spend your

“Most people don’t think of putting an egg white into a cocktail until they try it.” drink my cocktails as a dessert on their own, maybe with a snack.

I think the most underrated alcohol in terms of people knowing about it is gin.

Is there anything on the horizon in terms of liqueurs or whiskeys or drinks that you’re excited about or you’re looking forward to?

This Legato brand is a really nice brand. They’re starting to get out there. For now, I think they’re only found in New York, but they’re going all over the country now.

Why do you call it underrated?

Because people generally tend to think of gin as hard to drink and not tasting good, but the variations between different companies of gin is much more pronounced than variations between, say, different types of whiskey.

Gin has actual the botanicals in it. With whiskeys, it’s

money on a nicer bourbon.

It’s really to taste.

A lot of people ask me what they need if they’re starting their own home bar.

That’s just like if you ask a chef, “I finally have a kitchen. What should I buy for my kitchen?” The chef will tell you, “Well, what do you plan on eating?”

Purchase a bottle that you know you will definitely enjoy, even if it’s not necessarily that good. Start with that and then build around

Oaxacan Chocolate Milk

Sevenoir

What a delicious and creamy drink, it almost feels like drinking chocolate ice cream!

An original Negroni variation.

Symphony of fruits and botanicals.

Complex, delicious, and perfectly sippable.

Ingredients • 1 oz. Blanco tequila • .75 oz. Legato cinnamon liqueur • 1 oz. Bicerin Distillerie chocolate liqueur • 1 oz. half and half Preparation Combine all ingredients and top with whipped cream and freshly grated cinnamon.

L’chaim!

it. If you like whiskey, buy a whiskey to start and then get ingredients for cocktails that are going to go with the whiskey. Find a whiskey cocktail that you want to make and then buy around that.

How many bottles of booze do you have in your house?

It’s funny you ask. I literally counted it last week. I have over 70.

Wow. How do you keep track?

It’s all organized. I have my whiskeys in one place, my gins in another, my rums in another place.

Anything else people should know coming into Purim?

First of all, be responsible.

But I’ll leave you with this.

Our connection to Hashem is existential. It’s beyond logic; it’s beyond even feeling. On Purim, we drink until we’re not logical anymore – we can’t tell the difference between good and bad – because we’re tapping into that level of ourselves where we’re connected to Hashem that’s beyond logic.

T h at ’s a b e aut if ul thought to head into Purim.

Ingredients • 1 oz. Righteous Seven Liqueur • 1 oz. dry gin • 1 oz. dry vermouth Preparation Stir with ice and strain onto a large ice cube.

Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

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In The K

tchen

Rose Sangria Pareve / Yields 4 servings

By Naomi Nachman

This is such a fun drink to serve at your Purim seuda. I often serve this for Shabbat lunch in the summer, as it is so refreshing.

You can mix and match your fruits and wines, too. I always say that yesterday’s fruit platter is today’s sangria.

Ingredients

life is not perfect, but it is beautiful.

b1 (750 ml) bottle rose wine

alphaonestudio@gmail.com

b1 green apple, diced b6 sliced strawberries b½ orange, cut into wedges b1 cup diced pineapple b¼ cup triple sec

Preparation 1.

Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher.

2. Refrigerate overnight, allowing flavors to combine and develop.

3. Serve chilled.

yaelivogel.com

info@yaelivogel.com

yaelivogel

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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Notable Quotes “Say What?!”

Did you ever, five years ago, think every second or third ad out of five or six should turn out to be biracial couples? No, no I’m not, I’m not be facetious.

- President Biden at a CNN townhall, talking about the state of race relations in America

I had been in the Oval Office a hundred times as vice president – more than that – every morning for the initial meetings but I had never been up in the residence… I wake up every morning, look at Jill, and say, “Where [in the world] are we?”

- Ibid

We’re leading the world on vaccines. We’ll be the first to emerge from the coronavirus.

Gov. Cuomo called me the next day at 8 p.m., while I was about to bathe my kids — I was with my wife – and for 10 minutes he berated me, he yelled at me, he told me that my career would be over. He’s been biting his tongue for months against me, and I had tonight — not tomorrow — tonight to issue a new statement, essentially asking me to lie.

- Ron Kim, a New York State Democrat assemblymember, in an interview with MSNBC, relating how Gov. Cuomo threatened him last week that he better cover up for Cuomo’s mistake of sending corona-positive patients to nursing homes, causing thousands of deaths

The bullying is nothing new. I believe Ron Kim, and it’s very, very sad. No public servant, no person who is telling the truth, should be treated that way. But yeah. The threats, the belittling, the demand that someone change their statement right at that moment…. Many, many times I’ve heard that and I know a lot of other people in the state have heard that. I give Kim credit for not being intimidated.

– New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on MSNBC

- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

They have been very good to me since I arrived. Today, I have trained with the Israeli team, and they have been very kind. That is something I will never forget.

– Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei, who refused to return home after being ordered to withdraw from the 2019 World Judo Championships to avoid facing an Israeli opponent, talking about a tournament that he is participating in in Tel Aviv, on behalf of his new home-country, Mongolia

Things are so bad for Cruz, he spent today thinking about the good old days, when people just thought he was the Zodiac Killer.

- Jimmy Fallon

There are things, even if you’re vaccinated, that you’re not going to be able to do in society. For example, indoor dining, theaters, places where people congregate.

Shaking hands, handing out water, serving food? Right now a Carnival Cruise is safer than a Ted Cruz.

- Dr. Fauci speaking at the National Institute of Health on Monday

- Ibid

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I think he really weaponized white male grievance, and he hardened these rural white listeners, people sitting in their trucks in the middle of America, and in the South, listening to Rush Limbaugh.

– “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin, not even trying to hide what she thinks of regular Americans, while bashing Rush Limbaugh upon his passing

I can relate to the shooters. Guess what they want? They want money.

- Tyree Moorehead, a convicted murderer-turnedcommunity activist in Baltimore, proposing that the government should pay people a monthly salary not to kill

Where do I sign up? I’m very good at not killing people. I’ve been not killing people my whole life. In my senior year of high school, I was voted Most Likely to Not Kill Anybody. On my arm is a tattoo: “Born to Not Kill.” My favorite movie is Natural Born Not-Killers. Not killing people is what I’m all about.

I acknowledge that we are on the ancestral homelands of the Nacotchtank, Anacostan, and Piscataway people.

- Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) at her confirmation hearing to be Secretary of the Department of the Interior, pointing out that the U.S. Capitol is on Native American land

– Jim Treacher, PJ Media

Give my regards to your puppet master.

- Elon Musk’s email response to the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post’s inquiry on if he is stretched too thin

If you support Smotrich and Ben-Gvir’s party, I will persecute you.

The story of menorahs in every intersection on Chanukah and Chabad houses around the world is over. Your story about your love of Israel is finished.

- Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid in a phone call with Chabad rabbis threatening them not to support right wing candidates in next month’s election, according to Yediot Achronot

Everyone is different. I have my own demons that I have to fight with.

- Tennis star Novak Djokovic after losing his cool at the Australian Open

I’m sure Chabad will continue to love Lapid, bring him close, and host him happily even after this threat because that’s what the Chabadniks have been doing for more than 200 years.

- Tweet in response by Religious Zionist party leader MK Betzalel Smotrich

To be less white is to Be less oppressive Be less arrogant Be less certain Be less defensive Be less ignorant Be more humble Listen Believe Break with apathy Break with white solidarity From an online training video that Coca Cola is making employees take, encouraging them to be “less white”

Israel is reporting that they’ve vaccinated half of their population, and I’m going to guess it’s the Jewish half.

- Joke made on the “Weekend Update” on SNL, a show that was funny many years ago

I knew I wouldn’t be happy until I had rowed across the Atlantic.

- Jasmine Harrison, 21, who set a new world record by being the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, upon completing the trip which took her 70 days, three hours, and 48 minutes

MORE QUOTES

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The Operation Warp Speed…was an effort that many of us were not initially convinced was going to be necessary. And it was thought about as a Manhattan Project.

Those words were used sometimes to describe what needed to happen in order to get all parts of the government together in an unprecedented way to test up to six vaccines in rigorous trials ... so that if any of those trials happen to work, you would already have doses ready to go into arms.

- National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins, who is actually Dr. Fauci’s boss, telling Axios that the Trump administration deserves credit for the “breathtaking” speed with which they facilitated the creation of a Covid vaccine

The bottom line is, Texas thought it could go it alone and built a system that ignored climate change. It was not what’s called resilient, and now Texas is paying the price.

I hope they learned a lesson.

- Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) talking about the devastating storm in Texas which caused nearly 100 deaths to-date

I think we’re in a day and age in this country where it’s time for both corporations and team sports to retire the use of Native American names, images, and mascots from their products, team jerseys, and sports in general.

- Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, telling Car and Driver magazine that the Jeep automobile company should no longer call its most popular SUV the Grand Cherokee

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Political Crossfire

There are Only Bad Options in Afghanistan

By David Ignatius

A

s President Joe Biden nears a decision about withdrawing the 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, he doesn’t have a “best” option – only the one that’s least bad for the United States and its allies.

That’s probably keeping the troops in place a while longer to avoid a chaotic departure.

The burden of Biden’s choice of whether to honor a May 1 withdrawal deadline negotiated by the previous administration with the Taliban was obvious while I was traveling here with Gen. Frank McKenzie, the U.S. Central Command leader who’s responsible for this region. McKenzie met on Friday with Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, who’s concerned about whether the new administration has a clear plan for what’s ahead in Afghanistan, where war has destabilized neighboring Pakistan for three decades.

Pakistan’s military leaders “would not be unhappy” if the United States extended its departure date, one Pakistani military official said in an interview after the Bajwa meeting. He urged that “there has to be a responsible withdrawal,” rather than a chaotic pullout that could affect Pakistan and other countries in the region.

McKenzie said while traveling here that the United States was at a “fragile point” now, as the May 1 deadline looms. He wouldn’t specify which option he favors. But other senior officials in Washington have told me that military leaders agree with a recommendation this month from retired Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., former chairman of the Joint Chiefs

of Staff. He said the United States should maintain its 2,500 troops, alongside about 5,000 NATO allies, and hunker down for a long support mission.

Biden’s military and intelligence advisers have presented him with three unpleasant alternatives: leave May 1 as previously agreed, even though this would probably mean the fall of the Kabul government and a return to civil war; stay for a limited period, perhaps negotiated with the Taliban, which would delay its eventual takeover; or stay for an undefined

steep price, perhaps in release of prisoners or other concessions. If Biden instead unilaterally decides to remain, the Taliban is likely to resume attacks on U.S. forces, which it has halted for the past year. The United States would retaliate, and the cycle of violence would again resume.

Maintaining a counterterrorism presence outside Afghanistan may sound like an attractive option. But experts caution that it may not be feasible militarily. A robust counterterrorism force would require drones over Afghanistan, but neighboring

The Kabul government, headed by President Ashraf Ghani, may be too corrupt and fragile to survive, no matter what the United States does.

period, which could mean a long continuation of what’s already the United States’ longest war.

Every pathway has risks. The Kabul government, headed by President Ashraf Ghani, may be too corrupt and fragile to survive, no matter what the United States does. Pakistan and other neighbors will protect their interests, regardless of U.S. policy. And the Taliban may be so convinced that victory is near that it will escalate attacks, regardless of whether its leaders agree to extend the deadline.

If Biden tries to negotiate a limited stay, the Taliban may demand a

countries probably wouldn’t provide bases, meaning the drones might have to fly from the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia, hours away.

Leaving now would carry a reputational risk for the United States.

The Taliban’s success would embolden jihadists and perhaps rejuvenate their movement, which has been in retreat. Allies in the Middle East, Europe and Asia would be shaken. And there would be an unmeasurable cost to American credibility. This last argument was a rationale for the United States’ prolonged but ultimately unsuccessful war in Vietnam, so it’s

disheartening to see it invoked again.

Another intangible: if American troops leave and the Taliban regains power, there would be a severe cost in human rights – especially for the women of Afghanistan who have had far greater freedom since the Taliban was toppled in 2001.

Biden is obviously torn over this agonizing choice. A decade ago, as Barack Obama’s vice president, Biden presciently warned that the United States should limit its commitment.

But he now hears advisors’ warnings that an abrupt withdrawal could destabilize the region, embolden jihadist enemies and allow al-Qaeda to reestablish havens from which, in 18 to 36 months, they could again plot attacks on the U.S. homeland.

Biden’s heart must tell him to end this long and fruitless war, just as Donald Trump pledged to do. But his head (along with his advisers) cautions that quitting now could come at a severe cost to his country’s reputation and national interest.

Analysts often weigh costs and benefits when making hard decisions.

The cost of keeping a small but sustainable force in Afghanistan appears relatively low, measured against the benefit of checking terrorists, supporting NATO allies and giving the Kabul government a fighting chance.

But it’s Biden who will have to write a letter of condolence to the family of the first American who dies on his watch in this terrible war. He needs to have a compelling explanation of why such a sacrifice makes sense. (c) 2021, Washington Post Writers Group

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Political Crossfire

Cuomo Hid Covid-19 Data

By Marc A. Thiessen

Y

ou’ve heard the expression that the coverup is worse than the crime? Well, in the case of Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the opposite might be true.

Cuomo is under bipartisan fire after an aide admitted that his administration deliberately delayed releasing information showing the true extent of Covid-19 deaths in New York nursing homes, out of fears, according to the aide, that the information “was going to be used against us.”

Stonewalling the Justice Department is bad enough, but Cuomo did something even worse: His administration provided inaccurate data to public health officials in real time, at the beginning of the crisis, when government scientists were desperately trying to figure out how the virus was spreading, who was most vulnerable, and how to stop it.

Instead of meeting its obligation to provide accurate information, the Cuomo administration provided incomplete data about nursing home deaths apparently because he feared real data would hurt him politically.

That is like providing false intelligence to battlefield commanders about the location of the enemy in a time of war.

On March 25, 2020, Cuomo’s health department ordered nursing homes to accept known or suspected Covid-19 hospital patients, prohibiting facilities from requiring tests to see whether they were infectious. After a firestorm erupted, on May 3, his administration suddenly changed the way it reported nursing home Covid deaths – releasing only the number of deaths that took place inside nursing homes and not counting those who died after being taken to hospitals. According to a

senior Justice Department official, the administration withheld data on private nursing home deaths in New York until the final days of the Trump administration. As a result, the federal government was given bad data about the spread of the pandemic in New York. An Associated Press investigation found

up. It impeded our public health response. We now know that New York was the primary source of new infections across the United States.

Genetic testing shows that the outbreak in New York was seeded by travelers from Europe, and that it was the New York variant – not the West Coast variant that arrived di-

That is like providing false intelligence to battlefield commanders about the location of the enemy in a time of war.

that New York under-reported the number of hospital patients recovering from Covid-19 who were sent to nursing homes by 40%. The real number was more than 9,000 – my mother among them. And the Cuomo administration reported only 8,500 nursing home deaths, when the real number was about 15,000 – an undercount of at least 43%.

This was more than just a cover-

rectly from China – that seeded the rest of the country. The New York Times reported last year that the New York variant was responsible for 70% of Covid-19 cases in Texas, 78% of cases in Wisconsin, 80% in Alaska, 84% in Arizona, and 100% in Louisiana. As Nathan Grubaugh, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health, told the Times, “New York was the primary gateway

for the rest of the country.”

So, understanding how the virus was spreading in New York was critical to stopping it nationwide.

But Cuomo’s administration shared inaccurate data with health officials.

And then, when Justice Department investigators and state lawmakers began asking questions, New York delayed its answers. His administration “froze” (in the words of Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa) and withheld the real data. It was only a court order and the release of a report by the New York state attorney general that forced the governor to admit the true extent of the damage his policy did.

Meanwhile, he presented himself to the world as the hero of the Covid story – even publishing a book sharing “Leadership Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The media played along, holding him up in contrast to President Donald Trump as an example of effective executive leadership in the face of a public health crisis. In November, he received an Emmy award in recognition of “his leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic and his masterful use of TV to inform and calm people around the world.” No, he used TV to lie to New Yorkers and the world – and his lies cost lives.

New York lawmakers are talking about revoking Cuomo’s pandemic emergency powers. That’s a start.

But imagine if Trump had done what Cuomo did? We’d have a third impeachment on our hands.

Cuomo’s actions certainly merit his removal from office – not just for the coverup, but for the actions he took that impeded our national response to the worst pandemic in American history. (c) 2021, Washington Post Writers Group

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Political Crossfire

Biden’s Move on Iran

By David Ignatius

H

ere at the far northern tip of Oman, Gen. Frank McKenzie gazed across the Strait of Hormuz toward Iranian territory, where McKenzie, who oversees all U.S. forces in the region, has been preparing for a potential all-out war.

The landscape here is stunning, mountains plunging to the sea in a Persian Gulf version of the Norwegian fjords, and islands, as the head of U.S. Central Command described it after a tour Sunday, “spread like a necklace” across the approaches to the strait. McKenzie looks every day at imagery of the area as a possible battlefield, but, he said, “it’s always good for a commander to be able to associate actual terrain with what you look at on a map.”

McKenzie spoke with me two days after President Joe Biden proclaimed his willingness to resume negotiations with Iran to revive the 2015 nuclear accord abandoned by former President Donald Trump. McKenzie said that, from a military standpoint, “any agreement that we can get that would limit nuclear proliferation is a good thing.”

The military’s paradoxical role, as McKenzie described it, is to prepare aggressively for war “so that diplomats can do their work.” Now, he believes that may be possible. “We’re at a point now where there may be some diplomatic opportunities,” he told me.

“The Centcom slice of that is to deter Iran from feeling there’s a military action they could take that would upset that possibility.”

Biden’s declaration Friday that he’s ready to “reengage” Iran is less of a diplomatic breakthrough than it may appear. European countries have declared they wanted the United States to lift some sanctions to

avert a threatened Iranian halt in international inspection of its nuclear program. The Biden administration refused, but it embraced European requests to resume negotiations, in principle. The hard bargaining still lies ahead.

“I don’t think [President Biden] is locked into or out of anything by agreement to talk,” McKenzie said. “I think they’re still taking a very deliberate look at the way we’re going to move on this.”

The hardest challenge for the United States may be limiting Iran’s ballistic and cruise missile capabilities, which pose a more immediate threat to the region than its nuclear program. McKenzie said that Iran had “remarkably improved” its missiles

lective action,” McKenzie observed.

“We’re always stronger and better with partners and allies.” This common approach marks a sharp break with the go-it-alone style the Trump administration adopted in its “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions against Iran.

The Iranian regime has proved remarkably resistant, both to Trump’s economic warfare and President Barack Obama’s peace efforts. A generation past its 1979 revolution, economically weak and isolated internationally, Iran might seem ripe

The hardest challenge for the United States may be limiting Iran’s ballistic and cruise missile capabilities, which pose a more immediate threat to the region than its nuclear program.

in the past half-dozen years and that these weapons are “very concerning, because there is significant growth.”

Biden, like his predecessor, would like to include missiles in a new, broader nuclear agreement. But that may be a bridge too far.

The Centcom commander endorsed the military benefits of coordinating diplomatic strategy on Iran with U.S. allies in Europe and the Arab world. “There’s wisdom in col-

for change. But the next Iranian president, who will be elected in June, is likely to be even more hard-line than President Hassan Rouhani. The Trump administration’s fuzzy strategy for encouraging popular unrest and regime change produced nothing.

Where Trump’s military and economic threats failed, the Biden administration is trying to check Iran diplomatically. The clearest early sign is a push to end the devastating war

in Yemen. Biden special envoy Tim Lenderking will be traveling to the region this week to encourage the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen to agree to a cease-fire, in exchange for significant concessions from Saudi Arabia. Oman, which has close ties with both the United States and the Houthis, might act as an intermediary.

“I believe Saudi Arabia seeks a political solution to end the conflict in Yemen, and I believe they’re willing to negotiate in good faith to come to that end,” McKenzie told me. But he cautioned that Iran “has no interest in the war being over” and that the Houthis will have to move on their own and “recognize the long-term advantages of coming to an accommodation.”

Military combat with Iran’s proxies may continue even as the United States moves toward negotiations with Tehran. The United States has achieved “contested deterrence,” McKenzie explained. “There are areas where we’re going to see actions against us,” such as Iraq, where U.S. operations have been targeted in the past week.

The wonder is that Iran and the United States were able to contain their conflict these past few years, even as they fired rockets at each other’s military forces and waged covert assaults – with little effect other than to reinforce the impasse. Diplomacy may not work any better, but it’s worth another try. (c) 2021, Washington Post Writers Group

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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Mind Y

ur Business

Michael MacIntyre and Jack and Adam Hubbard: Be Motivated & Always Hustle

By Yitzchok Saftlas

Michael MacIntyre, Director of Business & Government Banking at Investors Bank

Jack Hubbard, CEO of St. Meyer & Hubbard

Adam Hubbard, Director of Marketing at St. Meyer & Hubbard

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his column features business insights from a recent “Mind Your Business with Yitzchok Saftlas” radio show. The weekly “Mind Your Business” show – broadcasting since 2015 – features interviews with Fortune 500 executives, business leaders and marketing gurus. Prominent guests include: John Sculley, former CEO of Apple and Pepsi; Dick Schulze, founder and Chairman Emeritus of Best Buy; Beth Comstock, former Vice Chair of GE; among over 400+ senior-level executives and business celebrities.

Yitzchok Saftlas, President of Bottom Line Marketing Group, hosts the weekly “Mind Your Business” show, which airs at 10pm every Sunday night on 710 WOR and throughout America on the iHeartRadio Network.

O

n a recent 710 WOR “Mind Your Business” broadcast, Yitzchok Saftlas (YS) spoke with guests Michael MacIntyre (MM) of Investors Bank and Jack (JH) and Adam Hubbard (AH) of St. Meyer & Hubbard. * * * YS: Michael, you’ve been essentially selling virtually since March of 2020, when the pandemic hit. How has your team at Investors adapted to stay connected with its clients and its prospects?

MM: The first thing that we did was we made sure that all of our people were safe. There had been several months with Covid spreading throughout the Northeast. We were really concerned about the wellbeing of our own people. And we took remediation ways to make sure that our folks were safe and could do their job effectively. We also did constant check-ins with our customers and with our employees.

At the end of the day, making sure that our customers knew that we were there for them was really important.

The way we reached out to them was really different. We did a tremendous amount of Zoom meetings, telepresence meetings, phone calls, and chat groups just to make sure that our folks were good. We made sure that our people in the bank had the proper technological tools to stay relevant and in the minds of their customers, whether it be to help them with their PPP loan, to make sure that they were getting what they needed to help them accept payments digitally, to help them open up accounts digitally, or to obtain credit in digital ways.

YS: I now turn to Jack. We’re talking about virtual selling.

Can you tell us the five C’s of relationship development?

JH: Bankers have what’s called the five C’s of credit. When someone applies for a loan, there are five C’s that

bankers look at. So, I thought, well, why not turn it into the five C’s of trustbased selling?

And here they are: Conversations, the most important thing we all have as salespeople. Curiosity, we always want to leave the buyer wanting more. The third one is a Collaboration, working together works, and that means working inside the bank and working with your partners. The fourth one is Customization, your ability to target and focus your energies on that particular buyer. And the last one is Connectivity.

I think we’ve done a better job as bankers, but not a great job of trying to use LinkedIn as a powerful tool.

YS: Jack, what are some of the general philosophies at St. Meyer and Hubbard that revolve around selling and training bankers specifically as it relates to having better conversations?

JH: I get an interesting question at the beginning of every year. I get a

lot of calls from our clients and they’ll say, Should we go for loans this year or should we focus on deposits? And I always say focus on the problem. If you can help people solve their problems, they’ll bring you money in bushel baskets. So, from a philosophy’s perspective, we believe it’s really important to understand that buyers have answers and bankers have questions. And when bankers ask really good questions, they’re going to uncover all kinds of opportunities.

I guess the second thing is – and it was said by Dwight Eisenhower, Benjamin Franklin, and others – failing to plan means planning to fail.

The third thing is what you know about your client makes what you know about your product valuable. We need to use better tools like LinkedIn. If bankers use those tools, they’ll learn much more about their client.

And a couple more things. I don’t believe in relationship managers; I believe that’s a passive approach. Re-

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

source managers, being a resource, being a go-to salesperson person, a go-to banker is really important.

And the last thing is really critical.

It’s not about the training, it’s about after the training that makes a difference.

YS: Adam, last year over at the company, you spent seven months developing an approach to remote selling. Can you give us some special considerations about working from home from a technical perspective?

AH: What I would like to focus on is some of the higher end technical items that you need: Most laptops come with webcams built in and they’re fine, but they don’t offer you a ton of flexibility. One of the things we look at is purchasing a USB or external webcam. You want to get yourself a better angle. You don’t want your client looking up your nose while you’re trying to have a call.

Lighting is really, really important. We’ve been on calls with people, and unfortunately, they don’t realize the light behind them. Light from the windows turns them into a shadowy figure and you can’t see their face. So, you want to try to turn yourself away, use that diffused light, move yourself away from windows.

And the last thing I’ll talk about – it’s the hidden gem of virtual meetings – and that’s the record feature. When we were doing face-to-face calls, managers couldn’t be on every single call with their bankers. With virtual meetings now and the record feature, they can be on every call with every banker.

The other advantage as a banker it that it really allows for you to actively listen to your client or prospect, because I might miss one or two small details on the call when I’m talking to you directly. But if I can go back and listen to that recording after we’re done, I can really pick up on some of those really fine details that I may have missed during the conversation.

YS: Adam, can you tell us about the human side? What resources are still needed to work from home and to connect with the other person as an individual?

What are your tips on that?

AH: Yeah, it’s very true, from a client and a prospect side, especially now that everything has moved away from

the security of a branch or an office.

Privacy is really important. It’s likely that you’ve got documents spread across tables or desks. You want to make sure that your client or prospect understands that their privacy is key to you as well. That’s especially important when you’re on a virtual call. If you’re like me, you’ve got a file folder with all of your documents kind of stacked up behind you. It would be really embarrassing if you’re on the call with a client or prospect and a competitor’s term sheet is sitting right behind you.

You want to make sure that you remove some of those things from view of your camera.

Another thing and we’ve had this

Humility: I think Adam did a really good job in talking about the need to demonstrate credibility in this new medium that we’re using for communicating with our customers. And so, it’s much more of a challenge to create empathy and a connection with somebody I feel virtually. But it can be done, and it can be done very, very effectively.

Embracing change: If we haven’t done that by now, then just leave it behind. We move on from that candidate.

And I got to tell you that the more you introduce technology into the equation, the higher the demand for being human. These technologies are great, and they allow us to do our job. But at the end of the day, it’s still being de-

“I wake up every day motivated to do something better.” happen is about pop-ups. Pop-ups are great. It’s really important to know when your next meeting is. You don’t want to miss it. But it would be really bad to have a competitor’s name pop up on your screen during a meeting.

So, you want to make sure that you’re closing things like that.

YS: Mike, you’re charged with driving new business at Investors. How have you managed your people differently? How have the skills that you look at in hiring a new banker changed?

And finally, let’s talk about the so-important topic: training.

How has training changed in light of virtual reality?

MM: In terms of hiring, especially since, let’s say, the middle of March through now, there are a few skills that we continue to emphasize and spend much more time teasing out from our candidates when we’re talking to them.

Adaptability: if there’s anything that we’ve learned in the last year it’s the need to be adaptable to the environment that we’re dealing with. And so, in talking to candidates, talking to folks that are contemplating joining us, we’ve asked them how they’ve adapted in their own performance over the last year.

livered by another fellow human being and a professional.

YS: As we approach the close, we introduce a new format where we get to hear the brilliance of our guests. They get to pick a word based off their initials.

Mike McIntyre, I’m we’re going to turn to you first to pick from.

Using your initials, MM, please share in one minute or less a tip or a takeaway that the listeners of “Mind Your Business” can take with them and be successful.

MM: For me, it’s motivation. I wake up every day motivated to do something better. And as our CEO says, my goal is not to be better than you, but to be better for myself today than I was yesterday. I am motivated, and I encourage my teams to be motivated in reaching out to our customers, to our prospects, to our members, our community, and share the war stories that we’ve been through. Build that credibility, continue to further your branding and your presence, but be motivated.

I come in every day with the motivation of how can I do better for myself? How can I do better for our customers? How can I do better for our partners? And how can I do better

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for the bank? And for me, it’s all about motivation and just being consistent in that regard.

JH: Well, I’m going to use both my initials, if you don’t mind. JH is: “just hurry.”

You know, I met a banker a long time ago who taught me a great phrase.

“In the absence of value, price is always the issue.” So today, this year, just hurry, hurry to provide value. What we’re experiencing right now is not going to go away. Even when we go back to the office, the virtual skills you’re hurrying to learn are going to benefit you in the long run as well as your customer. The first thought you have when you get to your desk in the morning has got to be who can I have a value-based, trustbased conversation with today? If you do that, you won’t ever have to worry about the competition. You’ll be the competition.

AH: My takeaway, based on my initials is always hustle.

I teach my son’s baseball team, and when you’re teaching 10-, 11-, 12-yearold kids, they make mistakes. What I always tell them is don’t compound that mistake by putting your head down and not hustling. If you hustle after the ball, you can still make that play.

The same is true in business. We’ve all had to adjust to a new virtual environment, and the ones who are successful in adjusting are hustling. They’re the ones who are taking the effort to go out and learn the new software. They’re learning from YouTube. They’re hustling. They’re trying to do their best for themselves, their clients, and their prospects. So that’s my advice: Always hustle.

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Forgotten Her es

Forgotten Zeroes Purim Edition The Incidents

By Avi Heiligman

The first intact Akutan Zero to be captured by American forces

T

hroughout the long history of warfare, there have been many commendable acts of bravery that are still recognized today. However, there are some incidents of incredible malfeasance, negligence, or just plain bad timing that have been forgotten for good reason. World War II was fought on a global scale with more participants than any other war. That being the case, there were some blunders for the ages with that new fangled thing called technology often being the culprit. Here some of those stories in this Purim article entitled “Forgotten Zeroes.”

If the incident with the USS William D Porter (DD-579) were to have happened today, social media would be blowing up with hilarious memes.

The destroyer was involved in a series of misfortunes including torpedoing the ship on which President Franklin Roosevelt was traveling to the Middle East, the battleship USS Iowa. When the Porter was leaving port, her anchor got caught in another ship and

Rep. Andrew May's loose lips sunk ships

caused damage. The next day, a depth charge meant to attack enemy submarines got loose and exploded. The Iowa and the other ships in the convoy avoided thinking they were under attack by the Germans. The Porter also had engine trouble but was able to regain position within the convoy.

On November 14, the President wanted to see an anti-aircraft drill, and the Porter, not wanting to feel left out, decided to demonstrate a torpedo drill. Unfortunately, a live torpedo was launched and headed directly towards the FDR’s ship. They tried to communicate by signal lamp about the situation, but the message was botched. Code words were used over the radio, and the Iowa eventually maneuvered away from the torpedo. As the torpedo passed just 3,000 yards from the Iowa, Roosevelt had a front row seat on the battleship.

After the incident, the Porter was ordered out of the convoy, and the entire crew was officially placed under arrest. Roosevelt intervened, and the

The USS William D Porter, which almost killed President Franklin D. Roosevelt

crew did not face punishment.

At another time, they shot down many aircraft, including three American planes. These incidents led to the crew being greeted by cries of: “Don’t shoot, we’re Republicans!”

In June 1945, the ship shot down a Japanese kamikaze bomber, and it splashed down. Somehow, the plane ended up underneath the Porter and exploded. After three hours of fruitless efforts to save the ship, her crew abandoned ship without the loss of any sailor.

It wouldn’t surprise anyone that a congressman somehow negatively affected operations in the military.

Andrew May was a Democrat representative from Kentucky and was the chairman of the Committee of Military Affairs. He was privy to classified information and toured the war zone in the Pacific. In a press conference, he foolishly revealed that the American submarines were evading Japanese depth charges because they were set too shallow. Ten newspapers

picked up on this highly guarded secret and published it for the world to see. Japanese intelligence soon caught wind of this and started readjusting their depth charges. Vice Admiral Charles Lockwood, the commander of the Pacific submarine fleet, estimated that ten American subs were lost due to this breach in security.

After the war, it was discovered that Japan never really discovered the maximum depth of an American sub and that the losses could have been blamed on a new type of depth charge. Whatever the case, the congressman faced bribery charges stemming from payback from awarding war contracts and was sentenced to nine months in prison. The submarine incident proves that “loose lips could sink ships.”

World War II submarines were complicated machines that could be very dangerous to their users. Some boats were lost due to malfunctioning torpedoes that circled around

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

and sank the ship from where it was launched. Others were lost by using outdated maps and getting stuck on rocks near the shore. Then there was the German submarine U-1206, which sank due to the misuse of the toilet. Due to underwater pressure, some submarines had “high-tech” toilets, and a special operator to make sure they were used properly. On April, 14, 1945, Captain Karl Schlitt decided not consult the operator right away, and when he did come, the wrong valve was opened. Seawater entered the boat and reached the batteries. Soon chlorine gas filled the submarine, which was then forced to surface. British aircraft noticed the sub and began to attack. The attack caused the captain to call for the crew to abandon ship, and thus was end for the sub that was sunk by its own toilet.

Finally, we get to the story of an actual forgotten Zero. As a part of the Midway operation on June 4, 1942

the Japanese made an attack on the Aleutian Islands off of Alaska. They divided their forces. Some Mitsubishi A6M Zeros fighter planes were tasked with bombing the American base at Dutch Harbor. Nineteen-yearold Tadayoshi Koga took off from the carrier Ryujo and proceeded to strafe

fore his plane would quit.

The Zero landed on the sparsely populated island of Akutan. Boggy soil snared the landing gear, and the plane flipped over end to end.

Japanese pilots were under strict orders to destroy any plane that might make their way into enemy hands,

Thus was end for the sub that was sunk by its own toilet.

the American base. After losing two Zeros, most of the Japanese went back to their carrier but Koga stayed to attack a flying boat. Either a bullet from the stricken flying boat or anti-aircraft fire caused his Zero to start leaking fuel. His main oil line had been severed, and he realized that he would only have minutes be-

but Koga’s wingmen thought he had survived and didn’t shoot up their friend’s plane. In fact, Koga had broken his neck and was killed when the Zero flipped over. Now all that needed to happen was the Americans to discover the plane. This didn’t occur for five weeks, until an American flying boat pilot, Bill Thies, noticed the

33 129

wreckage. Two rescue attempts failed but finally the salvage team managed to release the Zero from the mud and load it onto a barge. Soon, it was on its way to San Diego for testing, where it was discovered that, despite a few broken panels, the plane was intact and in flyable condition. American engineers took a lot of the Zero’s characteristics and employed them in the new Navy Hellcat fighter. It was the Hellcat that eventually drove the Zero from the skies completely.

These stories are just some of the interesting incidents that have been forgotten over the years. Unlike the heroes of our regular columns, the main subjects of these stories are “forgotten zeroes.”

Happy Purim!

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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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

CAHAL is seeking an Afternoon Substitute Assistant Teacher for classes for children with learning challenges in the Five Town and Far Rockaway yeshivas. Send your resume to shira@cahal.org and call 516-295-3666.

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Special Care is seeking caring male to accompany 15-year-old high functioning boy with down syndrome to Shul Friday nights, Shabbos mornings and Yom Tovim in Central Far Rockaway.

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SHEVACH HIGH SCHOOL is seeking a Global Studies teacher, Algebra teacher.

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Deadline Monday 5:00pm

The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

Local children's clothing store seeking temporary help for Purim to Pesach Flexible, afternoon and weekend hours available.

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CATAPULT LEARNING Teachers, Title I Boro Park, Williamsburg and Flatbush Schools *College/Yeshiva Degree

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Room for growth. resumes@yadyisroelschool.org SPECIAL ED DIRECTOR Responsibility: Curriculum Designer Individual curriculum as needed Staff training Innovative, visionary Requirement: Masters Special Ed and Education Administration or SLP Backgroup Email Resume: specialedresume2018@gmail.com SPECIAL ED DIRECTOR Responsibility: Curriculum Designer Individual curriculum as needed Staff training Innovative, visionary Requirement: Masters Special Ed and Education Administration or SLP Backgroup Email Resume: specialedresume2018@gmail.com 5 TOWNS BOYS YESHIVA SEEKING ELEM GEN ED TEACHERS Excellent working environment and pay. Only lic/exp need apply.

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learn *Small group instruction *Excellent organization skills Competitive salary.

Send resume to: Fax: (212) 480-3691 ~ Email: nyteachers@catapultlearning.com CAHAL is seeking an experienced Special Education secular studies teacher, P/T afternoons, for a lower elementary school boys class.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

Your

15

Money

Famous or Infamous?

By Allan Rolnick, CPA

B

ack in 1788, George Washington turned down his chance to become king of the new United States of America. Maybe that’s why the closest thing we have to a royal family right now — at least, as far as supermarket tabloids are concerned — is a certain family in Hollywood whose last name starts with a K. While the family redefines the concept of “famous for being famous,” they’ve managed to parlay that fame into more than $2 billion of wealth.

(If you’re like many people, hearing that fact may make you want to punch a wall so hard that whoever pulls out your arm will be crowned the next King of England.)

The daughters of the K family grew up as affluent children of attorney Robert Kardashian, best known for helping walk O.J. Simpson free from murder charges. (In fact, O.J. is one of the daughter’s godfather.) She first tasted notoriety as a friend and stylist to a famous blonde airhead.

But soon after, she made headlines, and it was off to the races. Since then, this K daughter has launched beauty and fragrance lines and parlayed her social media following into an estimated $780 million fortune.

This daughter’s marriage saga story starts with a brief starter marriage

at age 19. Then there were 72 days of wedded bliss with NBA player Kris Humphries, which some skeptics dismissed as a publicity stunt. It looked like she found the real deal when she married rapper Kanye West in a “blizzard of celebrity.” The pair have four children, with the obligatory celebrity offspring names (North, Saint,

But there’s one place it won’t cause a frenzy, and that’s at the IRS. Up until 2017, the IRS was actually in the business of helping couples untie the knot. How? Divorcing spouses could swap property between themselves with no tax consequences. This means, in the traditional example, that one spouse can keep the house

The gossips at the IRS will have to look somewhere else for celebrity stories that keep them busy.

Chicago, and Psalm). Architectural Digest recently invited readers into their home, which Kanye described as a “futuristic Belgian monastery.”

But Kanye has struggled with mental health issues, and the marriage has been shaky for some time.

And so it was no surprise when Ms. K. announced last week that she was filing for divorce. Like everything else in her life, it’s sure to cause a frenzy on TMZ and Entertainment Tonight.

for the kids to grow up in without paying any tax on the appreciation to date. And alimony rules let the spouse with the higher income paying it shift the tax on that income to the spouse with the lower income receiving it.

Today, property transfers “incident to divorce” are still tax-free. But the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated the alimony deduction for separation agreements effective after December 31 of that year. And child

support has always been nontaxable and nondeductible.

Those rules were always most valuable in cases where one spouse brought more money into the marriage than the other. (Of course, sometimes that’s exactly why people got hitched in the first place — see, for example, a young Hollywood celebrity marrying an 89-year-old billionaire. But that’s a story for another day.) The two K people in our above story are both rich enough in their own right that there shouldn’t be much financial connection after the split. The gossips at the IRS will have to look somewhere else for celebrity stories that keep them busy.

We usually take this column as an opportunity to remind you that every financial decision you make has at least some tax consequence. This one has less than you might think.

But it’s still important to call us to make sure you’re taking advantage of every break you’re entitled to!

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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The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

135

Life C ach

For Sure

By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS

W

e know one thing for sure: we don’t seem to absolutely know one thing for sure. As certain as we ever are of anything, it seems anything can change in a moment.

Purim is the one holiday that kind of highlights that.

All the people who thought they were in the vulnerable space saw that things weren’t as they thought at all.

It seems the best message there is that you shouldn’t get down and discouraged. Have hope and faith.

In our life, we are in the driver’s seat, but we are like the drivers of

greatest power.

Yup – things can seem to go wrong or we can seem to mess up.

Believe, don’t lose hope. Stay positive. Because, it’s part of a bigger picture.

Purim tells us there can be a whole different plan going on than we thought.

It does teach us to be proactive, though. Mordechai told Esther to take action. Even though we do not direct the outcome, we can influence it by caring.

Whether we work hard toward amazing things but then see them seem to go south or somehow feel we

There can be a whole different plan going on than we thought.

tomorrow’s car, where some bigger system will navigate the interaction of all traffic.

That’s been going on in the human system forever.

We are actors and reactors.

Our actions don’t necessarily produce the outcomes we want.

However, our reactions are our

did the wrong thing right from the start believing this is part of some bigger plan will help us not lose our equilibrium.

Don’t get so sad or scared or mad.

Soothe yourself with the Purim mantra: G-d can turn anything around!

Purim is not the story of big mir-

Rivki Rosenwald is a certified relationship counselor, and career and life coach.

She can be contacted at 917-705-2004 or rivki@rosenwalds.com.

acles. On Purim, G-d didn’t split a sea or call out from a mountain. G-d just demonstrated that things can change when we least expect it.

When you’re feeling discouraged, try and embrace that message.

Because as certain as you can be that things are going wrong for sure, you can understand that they surely can be part of a bigger picture.

And can surely change – for sure!

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Happy Purim from Margaret Tietz An integral part of the Jewish community for more than four decades!

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