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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Dear Readers,
I
view Yom Kippur as a gift. Although I see it as a privilege bestowed upon me, it’s a day that I approach with awe and with trepidation. I know that there is no denying the mistakes and the iniquities that I committed during the year. Perhaps I see myself as someone who hasn’t made any substantial changes this year. Has it been 12 months since I last looked deep inside and came to a reckoning? To be viewed under a glaring spotlight is more than just uncomfortable; it’s a shame that can crush one’s spirit. But then, after 25 hours of fasting and confessing and introspection, we come to the pinnacle of Yom Kippur, when the gates of Shomayim are slowly swinging shut. There is nothing more powerful than the crescendo of those final three words: “Hashem Hu Ha’Elokim.” Over and over, louder and louder, with intensity and with
passion, we declare our allegiance to the One Above, to the King of Kings. And we know, clearly, without doubt, that our sins have been forgiven and that we have been given a clean slate to start the year anew. Walking out of shul after Yom Kippur, it’s as if we’re walking on air. We think before we commit any act. Those first brachos, that first Maariv…we don’t want to sully the purity that we were just gifted. We reached a level that we could barely fathom that we could attain, and we don’t want come down from those lofty heights. May this year be filled with the gratification of being able to conquer any goals that you set for yourself.
Yitzy Halpern
Wishing you and your family a gmar chasima tova, Shoshana
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
8
COMMUNITY Readers’ Poll Community Happenings
8 36
NEWS
72
Global
12
National
22
That’s Odd
32
ISRAEL Israel News
16
Getting Used to Not Knowing by Rafi Sackville
74
JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Wein on the Parsha
60
Abandoning Self-Deception by Rav Moshe Weinberger
62
Self-Mastery Academy by Rabbi Shmuel Reichman
66
Avinu Malkeinu: Our Father, Our King by Rebbetzin Dr. Adina Shmidman
68
Enveloped in the Thirteen Attributes of Divine Mercy by Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi
70
Delving into the Daf by Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow
72
PEOPLE How Undercover Agents are Protecting the Skies by Tzvi Leff Yom Kippur War Raids by Avi Heiligman
76 102
HEALTH & FITNESS Yom Kippur is about Letting Go by Dr. Deb Hirschhorn
84
Navigating the Holidays by Aliza Beer, MS RD
86
FOOD & LEISURE Ossobuco Lamb Shanks
92
The Aussie Gourmet: Chicken Soup with Knedlach
93
LIFESTYLES Dating Dialogue, Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW
80
Parenting Pearls
88
Dear Editor, I am always inspired when I read Hershel Lieber’s article but the article this week on the Yomim Noraim in Poland were especially inspiring. What a zechus to be able to add such a spirit to davening in a world that may not have that! And to all those Jews who go to shul and daven – they are an inspiration as well! Sincerely, Chana Guttman Dear Editor, What a pleasure to read Rebbetzin Wolowik’s article, “The Jewish Paradox,” in TJH this week. Indeed, this is the beauty of Yiddishkeit; that we don’t separate from the material in this world; that we use the gashmius given to us and elevate it to another level. As a mother, I truly find that this mindset is important to incorporate in my life on a daily basis. Yes, I’m washing dishes, but I’m working on keeping a clean home for my family so they will come home to a house filled with Menucha. Yes, I’m folding laundry, but I know that clean clothes will help my children learn better in school. Yes, I’m giving my children baths, but I want them to be healthy and refreshed for a new day tomorrow. With this mindset, I don’t resent my household “chores.” I am elevating them. I am using them to further my connection to my Creator. I am
showing Him that I am taking care of His children and helping them to become better Jews. May this year be filled with much goodness and gezunt, and may we always see the good that Hashem constantly bestows upon us. Sharon B. Dear Editor, I read the letters from fellow Jewish Home readers Donny Simcha Guttman and H. Mayer in utter amazement at the delusional alternative reality the MAGA crowd lives in. First, I must agree with Donny when he stated that supporters of President Biden “have a responsibility for what is going on in the world right now as much as Joe Biden.” I will gladly accept that all of my phone calls across this country, as well as my vote as both a convention delegate and as a citizen resulted in the following: *The end of a 20 year war that perplexed three prior administrations, while evacuating an unprecedented 120,000 people, in spite of the unconditional surrender (without any evacuation plan) to the Taliban negotiated by Trump & Pompeo WITHOUT the participation of the previous Afghan government. *Addressing the victims of Hurricane Ida WITHOUT tossing packages of toweling at the victims, unlike Trump. Continued on page 10
JWOW! 90 Your Money
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Yom It’s a Keeper by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS
110
HUMOR Centerfold 58 POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Notable Quotes
86 Afghanistan Mistake by David Ignatius CLASSIFIEDS
94
Biden’s Afghan Retreat Has Done Irreparable Damage by 98 Marc A. Thiessen Don’t Compound the 100 104
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Continued from page 8
*Actually accomplishing the approval of bipartisan infrastructure legislation, unlike the pointless and empty “infrastructure weeks” of the prior administration. *Orchestrating the Biden/Harris economic recovery from the Trump recession. President Biden has created more jobs in the seven plus months since he took office than any prior administration ever. Our recovery has been more dramatic than any other industrial economy on this planet. *Developing from scratch a COVID vaccine distribution plan that has been so successful that more than 70% of adults have been vaccinated. The only thing holding back an even bigger victory over COVID (and the Trump recession) are recalcitrant GQP governors trying to curry favor with the twice-impeached leader of the failed January 6 Insurrection/terrorist attack on our Capitol – governors who effectively state sheep dip is a better treatment than getting their constituents vaccinated & masked. *Cutting child poverty in half with the child tax credit in the monumental American Rescue Plan, which put money in our pockets and shots in people’s arms. President Biden & Vice President Harris have done so much in such a short time to undo the damage of the
last four years that this letter could have been a book. Helping people and saving lives isn’t childish, it’s a mitzvah! Reader Mayer states that “President Biden will have blood on his hands forever.” But does Mayer hold Trump responsible for the half million COVID deaths that occurred on his watch? Deaths that could have been minimized by mask mandates rather than politicizing wearing a mask or suggesting the ingestion of bleach and placing light in various orifices? And that doesn’t include the deaths in Afghanistan on his watch that he refused to honor at Dover? As to the questioning of mental or physical capabilities, perhaps they forgot Trump’s covfefe, hamberders, early morning twitter rants, his inability to hold a glass of water with one hand, and his need to be helped down a ramp. But I have not. No, I thank them both for the credit. But the real credit goes to President Biden, Vice President Harris, and the incredibly intelligent and diverse team they have put together to help America build back better every single day, with love and respect rather than the hate and racism of the last four years. David S. Pecoraro 2020 Delegate Pledged to Joseph R. Biden, Jr. 5th Congressional District of NY
Make your voice heard! Be part of TJH’s weekly poll. Email the editor to be included in the weekly poll at Editor@FiveTownsJewishHome.com
Look out for our next issue, in stores, on Friday, September 17. To be included in that issue of TJH, please be mindful of our deadlines. Deadline for ads: Monday, September 13 at 1:30pm Deadline for community articles: Monday, September 13 at 10:00am Wishing all our readers and advertisers a gmar chasima tova!
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
The Week In News
Taliban’s Military Parade
During a Kandahar victory parade last Wednesday afternoon, the Taliban showed off weapons and armored tanks left behind by Afghan and U.S. forces. The weapons included dozens of American-made armored vehicles, including Humvees and armored SUVs, many of them in near-perfect condition. The Taliban also organized an air display with a recently-seized Black Hawk helicopter. The weapons had been left behind
by the Afghan and U.S. armies after their hurried retreat from Afghanistan. One day before the parade was held, video footage showed Taliban militants working their way through an abandoned Kabul hangar strewn with U.S. equipment. Some of the militants had dressed themselves in U.S. uniforms. Last Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby had said that he is not “overly concerned about these images,” since “they can inspect all they want. They can look at them, they can walk around – but they can’t fly them. They can’t operate them.” According to him, the U.S. rendered “unusable all the gear that is at the airport – all the aircraft, all the ground vehicles,” other than a few fire trucks and forklifts. Meanwhile, efforts are underway to reopen Kabul’s airport. A Qatari team of technical experts arrived in Kabul by jet last week, at the Taliban’s request. While no final agreement has been reached, “talks are still ongoing at the level of security and operation,” and “the objective is to resume flights in and out of Kabul for humanitarian assistance and freedom of movement in a safe and secure manner.”
China: No “Sissy Men” on TV
The Chinese government has ordered its TV broadcasters to “put an end to sissy men and other abnormal esthetics,” its TV regulator said. The country’s TV regulator addressed effeminate men using the slang “niang pao,” or “girlie guns,” the report said. Meanwhile, the broadcasters were also ordered not to promote “vulgar internet celebrities” or celebrity culture, and instead to “vigorously promote excellent Chinese traditional culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture.” The regulator added that broadcasters should avoid promoting admiration of celebrity and wealth, and should avoid performers who “violate public order” or who have “lost morality,” as well as programs about the children
of celebrities. At the same time, those under age 18 are now banned from playing online games during school days in China. As of Wednesday, the games are permitted for a total of three hours weekly.
Colombian Rebels Control Venezuelan Town
Rebels from Colombia arriving in Caracas, Venezuela, a few years ago chose local high school students to harvest coca, the plant used to make cocaine, a school’s principal said. Four years later, the rebels from Colombia’s National Liberation Army, or ELN, function both as a local government and as a major employer, the principal and 14 other
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
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residents told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fears of retaliation. They also asked that their community not be named. The Colombians pay villagers, including children, to staff narcotics operations, extortion rackets, and wildcat gold mines in both Colombia and Venezuela. According to Colombian security officials, the proceeds from these operations finance the rebels’ long-running insurrection against the Colombian government. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the group’s recruiting has intensified. Initially, the Colombians promised to bring security to the village and said that they bore the blessing of President Nicolas Maduro. However, the new law and order quickly turned into tyranny, and among other measures such as a curfew and control over who entered the town, residents were banned from sharing information about the group’s activities. Pablo Beltran, the ELN’s second-in-command, denied the group is involved in drug trafficking, cocaine production, or other illicit activities. He also denied that ELN recruits Venezuelans to work in such operations. However, Beltran said that ELN does charge fees to criminal drug groups entering territory it controls in Colombia where coca is cultivated and that poor Venezuelans do work in those areas. He claimed, however, that they are not paid by the ELN. Beltran also said that ELN’s policy is not to have a permanent presence in Venezuela and that their presence there is with Maduro’s blessing. Most of the Colombian rebels in Venezuela are from ELN and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
Iran’s Ex-Army Head Dies
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Former Iranian armed forces chief Hassan Firouzabadi, who once accused Western nations of spying on the country using lizards, died
last week at the age of 70 due coronavirus. Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami praised Firouzabadi’s “continuous efforts” to defend “the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” in a statement published on the Guards’ Sepahnews website. A trained doctor, Firouzabadi joined the Basij Islamic volunteer militia during the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. Serving in administrative roles, he swiftly rose up its ranks before being named head of the armed forces in September 1989 by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, remaining in the post until 2016. Iran’s armed forces chief has authority over both the regular army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Firouzabadi was essentially one of the main architects of Iranian military support for Baghdad and Damascus in their battles against the Islamic State group and other Sunni jihadist movements. After that post, Firouzabadi then served as Khamenei’s military adviser until his death. In 2018, during an international face-off over the death in jail of Iranian-Canadian environmentalist Kavous Seyed Emami, Firouzabadi accused Western countries of using lizards and chameleons as “nuclear spies” to “find uranium mines and atomic activity” in Iran.
7 Stabbed in NZ Supermarket
Ahamed Aathill Mohamed Samsudeen nabbed a knife in a store in New Lynn, New Zealand, and used it to stab seven shoppers before he was killed by police on Friday. Authorities are calling it a terrorist attack. Five of those stabbed remain in the hospital including three in critical condition. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that Samsudeen, described as a “supporter of ISIS ideology,” spent three years in prison after being charged multiple times for possess-
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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
ing hunting knives and objectionable publications and had been released from prison two months ago. The Sri Lankan national, 32, had arrived in the country in 2011 on a student visa. He first came to the attention of police in 2016, after posting comments advocating violent extremism on social media. He was initially arrested at Auckland airport in 2017, believed to be on his way to Syria. Police also found “restricted publications” and a hunting knife in his apartment. He was charged with possessing the items, pleaded guilty and released on bail. But he was arrested again in 2018 for buying a knife while on bail. A subsequent police search found more “objectionable or extremist materials” at his home. He faced additional charges and was kept in custody until July this year, when he was sentenced to 12 months of “supervision with special conditions” for possessing objectionable materials and failing to assist the police in exercising search powers. Ardern said prosecutors had run out of legal avenues to keep him detained. During his time in custody, he
had assaulted corrections officers. Police had kept the terrorist under constant surveillance since his release, requiring up to 30 police officers at any one time. In August, Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi pursued a change in the country’s terror law to make it illegal to plan a terror attack, even if the attack is not carried out. “As soon as Parliament resumes, we will complete that work. That means working to pass the law as soon as possible and no later than the end of this month,” Ardern said.
Blinken: U.S. May Give Up on Iran Deal
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday told reporters that the U.S. is nearing a point
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at which the Iran deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), will not produce benefits. “I’m not going to put a date on it but we are getting closer to the point at which a strict return to compliance with the JCPOA does not reproduce the benefits that that agreement achieved,” he said. At the same time, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas rejected Iran’s September 1st assertion that negotiations on the nuclear deal could resume 2-3 months from now. According to Maas, that time frame is “far too long.” Maas also said the he had pressured Tehran to return to negotiations. On Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had been “seriously undermined” after a number of inspections were banned by Iranian authorities.
A Combined Flu and Covid Vaccine?
Novovax has initiated an early-stage study testing its combined COVID-19 and influenza vaccine. The trial will be conducted in Australia and will include 640 healthy adults ages 50-70. All of the trial participants will have either recovered from COVID-19 or have received an authorized vaccine at least eight weeks prior to the start of the study. Participants will receive a combination of Novovax’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate and its influenza vaccine, NanoFlu, together with an adjuvant or vaccine booster. In a statement, Novavax President of Research and Development Gregory Glenn said, “Combination of these two vaccines ... may lead to greater efficiencies for the healthcare system and achieve high levels of protection against COVID-19 and influenza with a single regimen.” Results of the study are expected in the first half of 2022.
German Guilty for Participating in Anti-Semitic Attack
A German man was found guilty on Wednesday of participating in an anti-Semitic attack three years ago. In the August 2018 attack in Chemnitz, Germany, a group of alleged neo-Nazis threw bottles and large cobblestones at the Schalom restaurant and its owner, while yelling anti-Semitic slurs. The 30-year-old suspect was convicted after his DNA was found on one of the rocks hurled at the restaurant and which injured the restaurant’s owner, Uwe Dziuballa. The suspect, who has not been named due to German privacy laws, is from Lower Saxony. He was convicted of severe aggravated assault and breach of the peace, and was handed a one-year suspended prison sentence. The Chemnitz court’s Judge Dominik Boerner also included a charge of drug dealing in the suspect’s sentence.
New Haifa Port Terminal Run by Chinese Firm
Last Wednesday, Israel officially inaugurated a new terminal at the Haifa Bay port. Most of Israel’s international trade is handled via maritime routes, and Haifa’s port is
17
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
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You Are Not Good Enough for Me: The Torah’s Perspective on Rejection
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Sefer Yona: Running and Returning
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The Best Gift You Can Give
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the busiest in the country, managing approximately half of all freight. The new terminal was built by two Israeli companies and will be operated by China’s state-owned Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), which won the tender to operate it for 25 years in 2015. It is the first of two private port terminals expected to fuel competition and reduce import costs. The terminal will allow shipping
vessels of approximately 400 meters in length to dock; each of these vessels can carry approximately 18,000 containers, Israel’s Transportation Ministry said last Wednesday. The terminal cost $1.7 billion (5.5 billion shekel) and took six years to construct, said Yitzhak Blumenthal, CEO of the government-owned Israel Ports Company. Blumenthal emphasized that the new terminal is “one of the most im-
portant infrastructure projects for Israel’s future.” “It is a modern technological port, the opening of which will revolutionize the economy, and impact us all, from industrialists to consumers, as it will lower the cost of living,” he said, adding that the private terminal will “improve and streamline the level of port service in Israel, help to meet the economy’s needs, ensure Israel’s readiness to
cater to large ships, and allow Israel to prepare for the shifts that are taking place in the maritime trade industry.” Israeli Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli (Labor) said the terminal is an opportunity to “strengthen our regional capabilities in maritime trade.” This, she said, is important, “not only for local prosperity, but for the realization of opportunities and a genuine contribution to our neighbors in the Middle East.” SIPG Israel CEO Miao Qiang praised the opening, saying it “will bring great promise to the Israeli economy,” while at the same time positioning Israel “as a leading port state for the entire region.”
Budget Passes First Knesset Reading
Israel’s Knesset last Thursday night voted in its first reading to pass the government’s budget plan, after having voted to approve the framework earlier that day. The budget passed 59 to 54, closely mirroring the preliminary vote held earlier that day. Its approval followed a last-minute agreement between the Finance Ministry and Health Ministry, adding an additional one billion shekel ($311,696,500) to the healthcare budget. If the budget passes another two Knesset plenum votes, it will be the first budget approved since March 2018. In a Thursday night statement, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, “After three years without a budget, tonight we approved a wonderful budget in the first reading.” “It is a budget which will strengthen the defense establishment and the health system, and which will care for the incomes of Israeli citizens. It is a budget that will care for citizens, not political interests. This is another step towards a better country – more united and more stable.” Finance Minister Avigdor Liber-
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
man (Yisrael Beytenu) added, “This is a joyous day. After three and a half years, this the first time that this chamber has held a deliberation on the budget. For three and a half years, the Knesset plenum held no serious deliberation on the state budget – that is something unprecedented.” He continued, “I’ve been in this chamber for many years, and I can’t remember a period like this. The budget is a priorities list of the government, and this deliberation symbolizes more than anything the end of this crazy period and the return to normality. This is proof that this government functions and the coalition works.” The budget spans 2021 and 2022, and must pass its final two votes by November 4, 2021, or the Knesset will automatically dissolve and new elections will be called.
More Immunity from Virus than Vaccine
STELLA K. ABRAHAM HS FOR GIRLS
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BROOKLYN Immunity derived from COVID-19 infections provided Israelis with longer-lasting protection against the Delta variant than two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine did, new research suggests. The data, collected by the Maccabi Healthcare Service HMO, examined those who received either two doses of the vaccine by the end of February, or tested positive for COVID-19 by that time. Each group numbered 46,035 individuals. The results showed that those who had received the vaccine had a six-fold higher chance of infection with Delta than those who had previously contracted coronavirus but were unvaccinated. It has not yet been peer-reviewed, but it is the largest study of its kind. Despite the findings, immunologist Professor Cyrille Cohen of Bar Ilan University, who was not directly involved in the study, said, “Certain people who are not inclined to get vaccinated might be mistaken and think that this means you’d better get sick a priori and not get a vaccine.
19
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Such thinking is medically wrong, and the results of the study do not mean that people should expose themselves on purpose and get sick.” He urged, “As with other disease, it is much safer to get the vaccine and prevent COVID-19, a disease that puts one at risk of hospitalization, death and long-running after-effects.” Cohen added, “The data presented is important and can draw a kind of immune hierarchy. From the most
protected to the less, there are vaccinated convalescent, convalescent, then vaccinated, and then people who choose not to vaccinate, who are the most vulnerable.” The study also found that recovered patients who received a single dose of the vaccine “gained additional protection against the Delta variant” and had approximately half the infection risk of other recovered patients.
“Our large cohort, enabled by Israel’s rapid rollout of the mass-vaccination campaign, allowed us to investigate the risk for additional infection — either a breakthrough infection in vaccinated individuals or reinfection in previously infected ones — over a longer period than thus far described,” wrote the authors, who were led by Dr. Sivan Gazit, deputy head of Maccabi’s research arm.
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Amb. Erdan: Visa Waiver in the Works
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Gilad Erdan has served less than a year in his position but according to the Times of Israel, he is optimistic that he has made a change Israelis will welcome: The waiver of the visa requirement for the thousands of Israelis traveling to the USA. Erdan is expected to be replaced in his position as U.S. ambassador by former IDF brigadier general Mike Herzog. Herzog still requires approval by the Cabinet before he can take the position. At the same time, Erdan will remain in his position as Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations. According to the Times of Israel,
Erdan made a personal plea to U.S. President Joe Biden last Friday in the Oval Office and is now optimistic that a change is on its way. In a Monday interview at his New York office, Erdan said that he stayed behind after the rest of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s delegation left the Oval Office. “It was important for me to speak to President Biden directly about this issue,” he said in the interview, referring to the inclusion of Israel in the U.S.’s Visa Waiver Program (VWP). “I told him that if he’s looking for moves that will receive bipartisan support, this is definitely one of them. It’s a manifestation of our alliance.” Biden “appeared receptive” to his request. “I’m optimistic because I know what’s missing,” he added, noting that final approval is expected to take at least another 4-5 months. Hours later, a White House statement said that the Biden administration is interested in strengthening bilateral cooperation with Israel, “including by working together towards Israel’s inclusion in the VWP. The leaders directed their teams to enhance consultations as Israel works on addressing the program’s requirements.”
Among the issues which need to be resolved before Israel is approved for the visa waiver are the high rejection rate for Israelis requesting a visa and how Israel treats “Palestinian” Americans at Ben Gurion International Airport. U.S.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, in a statement last week, urged Biden not to grant Israel a waiver from visas “without a firm guarantee of reciprocal travel privileges for all Americans – including Muslim, Palestinian and Arab-American travelers who often face severe entry restrictions or outright travel bans when entering Israel.” This demand is not hard to meet, Erdan said, noting that all Americans should be allowed to enter Israel “unless there is specific negative intelligence about a particular individual.” Once the rejection rate drops, Erdan said, “other obstacles will be solvable.” A U.S. source familiar with the issue noted, “Even if the rejection rate falls below three percent, authorities may want to take time to ensure that the rate is maintained. It’s not like the minute it falls below three percent the waiver will be granted.”
9.3M Strong
On the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported on Sunday that Israel’s population topped 9.3 million this year, growing by 146,000 people from the year before in a rise of 1.6 percent. There are now 9,391,000 people living in the Jewish state. The number is expected to pass 10 million by the end of 2024. The population comprises more than 6.94 million Jews, or 74% of the population; over 1.98 million Arabs, who account for 21%; and another 466,000 people of other ethnic groups, 5% of the population. Over the year,172,000 babies were born and there were 48,000 deaths — including around 5,800 from the coronavirus — in the 11.5 months
21
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
It’s a fight for my life !and yours !Your best defense for Yom HaDin. Now it’s your turn to join the battle “It’s a great, important mitzvah to assist the Efrat organization ”!in any way possible
בס"ד
ז' אלול ה'תשפ"א
מכתב המלצה בימים אלו שנשמעות קריאות מחודשות לצמצם את הילודה בעם ישראל מאנשים שונים ,יש חובה מיוחדת להמשיך ולעודד את אגודת "אפרת" שפועלת להציל נפשות של עוברי ישראל באמצעות הסברה ובאמצעות תמיכה ,סיוע וליווי לנשים ומשפחות במצוקה כלכלית ונפשית. מגלגלים זכות לידי זכאי ,ומצווה גוררת מצוה .זכתה אגודת אפרת והביאה לעולם אלפים של ילדים בפעולתיה הברוכות .ולכן צריך לפעול שהיא תגדיל את פעולותיה ותכפיל אותם .במיוחד אחרי פטירתו של ד"ר שוסהיים זצוק"ל כי גדולים צדיקים במיתתם יותר מבחייהם. חשוב לי מאוד לכתוב למען האגודה הזו כי כך למדתי בבית אבא זצוק"ל שעודד ותמך וייעץ ופעל בכל יכולתו לסייע לד"ר אליהו שוסהיים זצ"ל שהיה מבאי ביתו של מרן הרב זצוק"ל .גם אימי שתחיה הייתה שותפה שנים רבות בהנהלת "אפרת" מחמת החשיבות הרבה של פעולותיה. על כן אני כותב בשמחה כי מצוה גדולה וחשובה לעזור לאגודת "אפרת" בכל דרך ולעומד בראשה כיום ,חגי גולדשמידט שיחי' ,ולהיות שותפים עם אגודת "אפרת" על מנת שיגדלו ויצילו עוד ועוד ילדים בעם ישראל .ובוודאי שאפשר לתרום להם גם מכספי מעשר כספים ,וזו צדקה מועדפת כי "כל המציל נפש אחת מישראל כאילו הציל עולם מלא". ויהי רצון שיזכו כל התורמים להכתב ולהחתם לחיים טובים ולשלום .לבריאות הגוף ושפע ברכה והצלחה בכל .בניי ,חיי ומזוני. אמן ואמן.
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since Rosh Hashana last year. Life expectancy is 80.7 years for Israeli men and 84.8 years for women. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the vast curbs on international travel have had a significant impact on immigration. There were 19,676 immigrants who arrived in Israel during 2020, a dramatic 40.8% drop from 2019 when there were more than 33,000 new arrivals. Of those who had arrived, 56%, were from the former Soviet Union, mostly Ukraine and Russia. Immigration from France accounted for 12.2% and from the U.S. 11.7%. According to the Jewish Agency, there are now 15.2 million Jews worldwide, an increase of 100,000 from the year before. 8.2 million Jews live outside Israel, most of whom live in the United States, which has around 6 million Jews. In Israel, there are 6.93 million Jews, accounting for 45.3% of world Jewry, according to the research, which was compiled by Prof. Sergio Della Pergola of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. Following Israel and the U.S., the countries with the largest number of Jews are France (446,000), Canada (393,500), Britain (292,000), Argentina (175,000), Russia (150,000), Germany (118,000), and Australia
(118,000). The Jewish Agency said there were 27,000 Jews living in Arab and Muslim states, with 14,500 in Turkey, 9,500 in Iran, 2,000 in Morocco, and 1,000 in Tunisia.
Six Terrorists Escape Gilboa Prison
Six terrorists were found to have escaped the Gilboa Prison through a tunnel early Monday morning. Five of the terrorists belonged to the Islamic Jihad terror group, while the sixth, Zakaria Zubeidi, belongs to Fatah. Zubeidi is also the former Jenin chief of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades terrorist organization. According to reports, Zubeidi requested to be transferred to the cell
with five Islamic Jihad terrorists, and his request was fulfilled just one day prior to the prisoners’ escape. Retired prison warden Maqbel Tapash, a former commander of the Gilboa Prison who until recently headed the Israel Prisons Service northern district, told Ynet that the request, which ran counter to Israel Prisons Service policy separating members of the various terror groups into different cells, “should have lit a huge searchlight – not just a flashlight. “It’s not logical and it’s not reasonable. We needed to have checked what was hiding behind his request, and not transferred him until we had looked into it,” he explained. Meanwhile, the tunnel used by the terrorists does not seem to have been one which the terrorists themselves dug. Rather, they accessed it by lifting a metal cover in their bathroom. The tunnel’s outer exit seems to have been dug purposely, to allow the terrorists to escape. Israel’s Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev (Labor) said on Monday, “The planning was very exact, very detailed, and therefore it is reasonable to assume that there was aid from the outside. We are investigating at this moment. We will catch the escapees.” Security forces are currently searching for the escaped terrorists and have arrested the family members of three of them. The Gilboa Prison is being evacuated, and it will be examined to determine how the escape was perpetrated.
Lapid Heads to Russia
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) on Wednesday night left for Moscow to hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The two are expected to hold a meeting on Thursday, which will be followed by a joint press conference. Lapid will also meet with the members of the Israeli Embassy.
On Monday, it was reported that the purpose of Lapid’s visit to Moscow is to discuss “strategic, security, and political issues at stake.” Also on Monday, Lapid said that he plans to visit Washington in October, to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “I spoke today with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken about a range of political-security issues,” Lapid tweeted. “I emphasized to the Secretary the central place that Gaza occupies in Israel’s system of considerations, and the Israeli policy that the way to the security of Israel’s residents and economic well-being in Gaza is through the prevention of rocket fire and the prevention of the strengthening of Hamas and economic measures in the Gaza Strip. The Secretary praised the recent steps taken by Israel.” He added, “On the issue of Iran, I expressed our concern about the progress of the Iranian nuclear project, especially the continuing damage to the oversight of Iranian nuclear activities and our expectation that the international community will address this with all the tools at its disposal. “At the end of the conversation, we agreed to meet in October in the United States,” Lapid concluded.
More Spotted Skunks Spotted
New research is showing that there are seven species of spotted skunks. The new study was published last Wednesday in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Previously, it was believed that there were only four
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spotted skunk species. The spotted skunk, also known as “the acrobats of the skunk world,” are smaller than the common striped skunk. At approximately the size of a squirrel, the spotted skunk lives across North America. To scare predators, it performs a handstand and kicks out its back legs. Study author Adam Ferguson, Negaunee collections manager of mammals at the Field Museum in Chicago, said, “North America is one of the most-studied continents in terms of mammals, and carnivores are one of the most-studied groups. Everyone thinks we know everything about mammalian carnivore systematics, so being able to redraw the skunk family tree is very exciting.” He added, “When they’re stressed, they bounce up onto their forelimbs and then kick out their hind limbs, puff their tail up, and they actually can walk towards the predator, like basically making them look bigger and scarier.” The spotted skunks – which typically weigh less than two pounds – then drop back down to all fours to take aim. They are typically more carnivorous than their common striped cousins; great horned owls are their main predator.
Study author Molly McDonough, a biology professor at Chicago State University and research associate at the Field Museum, shared, “I was able to extract DNA from century-old museum samples, and it was really exciting to see who those individuals were related to. It turns out that one of those was a currently unrecognized, endemic species in the Yucatan.” Ferguson added, “The study wouldn’t have been possible without the museum specimens we had. The only reason we were able to get sequences from the Yucatan [species] were museum specimens that were collected 60 or 70 years ago.” Knowing more about spotted skunks can help us protect the animals, as well as understand their unique role in the ecosystem, Ferguson said.
In-Flight Fights Flight attendants seem to be bearing the brunt of passengers’ anger. Recently, an assault against a flight attendant left her with facial injuries and two missing teeth. Since then, the union representing Southwest Airlines’ flight atten-
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dants is urging the company to take stronger steps to protect its members from an “epidemic of aggression and assault.” “We are asking our carrier, the government and the flying public’s help in ending this epidemic of aggression and assault. Flight attendants are first responders in the sky who are focused on safety. As people return to the skies, we are asking for everyone’s help in complying with flight attendant requests to help ensure a safe and fun atmosphere for all,” TWU Local 556 President Lyn Montgomery said. According to Montgomery, there were 477 passenger misconduct incidents on Southwest Airlines aircraft between April 8 and May 15. “This unprecedented number of incidents has reached an intolerable level, with passenger non-compliance events also becoming more aggressive in nature,” Montgomery wrote in an open letter to CEO and Chairman Gary Kelly. She also called on Southwest Airlines to make sure the flying public is aware that disruptive or violent behavior is punishable through local and federal laws and could result in a ban on flying with the airline. “Passengers who do not comply with regulations and federal mask mandates cause disruptions to our operations and to our customers’ travel plans, resulting in gate returns, flight diversions and delays,” Montgomery said. “Consistency is key to this, as well: No passenger should be removed from one flight only to be permitted to board the very next Southwest Airlines flight after a non-compliance incident.”
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The letter also calls on Southwest Airlines leadership to call on the U.S. government to increase the number of federal air marshals aboard aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration says it has a zero-tolerance policy for unruly passenger behavior and has proposed civil fines ranging from $9,000 to $52,500 against at least 15 passengers in May. The FAA said recently that it had received approximately 2,500 reports of unruly behavior by passen-
gers since the beginning of the year, including about 1,900 reports of passengers refusing to comply with the federal face mask mandate.
Fatal Navy Helicopter Crash
Five U.S. Navy sailors have been declared dead after they disappeared following a helicopter crash off the California coast, the U.S. 3rd fleet said over the weekend. The MH-60S helicopter the sailors were in crashed about 60 miles off the coast of San Diego, California, while conducting routine flight operations last Tuesday. One crew member was rescued. On Saturday, the Navy shifted operations from search and rescue to recovery, following more than 72 hours of coordinated rescue efforts. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of five Sailors and those injured following the MH-60S helicopter tragedy off the coast of Southern California,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said. “We stand alongside their families, loved ones, and shipmates who grieve.” The five Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 8 crew members who are still missing have been identified as Lt. Bradley A. Foster, 29; Lt. Paul R. Fridley, 28; Naval Air Crewman 2nd Class James P. Buriak, 31; Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Sarah F. Burns, 31; and Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Bailey J. Tucker, 21. A sailor aboard the helicopter was rescued shortly after the crash, and five others who had been on the carrier’s deck were found injured. The helicopter was based on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier.
RH Machzor for Sale It’s hard to put a price on your favorite siddur; davening is a priceless privilege that we have. That being said, a Rosh Hashana machzor is being auctioned off by Sotheby’s New
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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York for a jaw-dropping $4million. The auction will start on October 19 for the 700-year-old illustrated Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur machzor. The Luzzatto High Holiday Machzor is the oldest Hebrew prayerbook ever to be sold at auction, according to Sotheby’s.
The seller is the Alliance Israélite Universelle, a Jewish organization based in Paris, which will use the proceeds for education and scholarships. It is expected to fetch $4 million to $6 million. Named for one of its owners, the Luzzatto machzor was written and illuminated in southern Germany around the late 13th or early 14th century by a Jewish scribe and artist named Abraham. It was then passed through Jewish communities in France and Italy. As it traveled, different owners wrote notes in the margins and amended the text based on their local customs.
Step It Up
It’s time to put down your book and start walking. According to a new study, taking 7,000 steps a day during middle age can keep a person’s arteries healthy and reduce their risk of death by up to 70 percent. The findings by researchers from across the United States suggest that this lower number is still enough to protect against serious heart complications – rather than the common recommendation of 10,000 steps per day. The study examined a group of adults between 38 and 50 who took at least 7,000 steps daily – about three miles – and discovered that these individuals were much less likely to die over the next decade. Mortality rates among both White and Black participants fell by 63 and 70 percent, re-
spectively, compared to their sedentary peers. Walking also made a difference between the genders. Deaths among men fell by 58 percent; that rate jumped to 72 percent among women who kept on their toes. “This cohort study found that higher daily step volume was associated with a lower risk of premature all-cause mortality among Black and White middle-aged women and men,” lead author Dr. Amanda Paluch of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and her team wrote in the journal JAMA Network Open. At a brisk pace, it takes the average person about 70 minutes to complete this much exercise, compared to around two hours when taking 10,000 steps. However, the study adds to recent evidence suggesting this higher number is not necessary for a healthier lifestyle. “Taking more than 10,000 steps a day was not associated with further reduction in mortality risk,” the team reports. The World Health Organization advises adults to get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity on a weekly basis. “Regular physical activity is one of the most important behaviors people can do to improve or maintain good health,” the researchers add. “Being physically active provides substantial health benefits for many conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and several cancers, as well as improving quality of life.”
Fatal Ida Floods Northeast
Forty-six people died in the northeastern USA after the remnants of Hurricane Ida caused flooding in the region. At least 23 of the victims died in New Jersey. Governor Phil Murphy said most of them were trapped in their vehicles by flooding and were “overtaken by the water.” He added that the flooding was “historic by any measure” and that
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state officials will open an investigation into the storm and their response to it. Five other eastern states have also seen loss of life from Ida: Connecticut, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In Connecticut, a state trooper was swept away as he responded to a missing person’s call. According to New York Police Department (NYPD) Chief of Department Rodney Harrison, 835 people were rescued from the subway system. He added that there were 18 water rescues at the U.S. Open tennis site. Sixteen of Ida’s victims are from New York State – 13 of them in New York City and three in Westchester County. Pennsylvania marked three Ida-related deaths in Montgomery County, Dr. Val Arkoosh, chair of the county board of commissioners, said. Maryland saw the death of a 19-year-old. In Virginia, searchers found one body in the Guesses Fork area of Hurley, the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office. State of emergencies were declared in NYS, NYC, and New Jersey during the storm. U.S. President Joe Biden responded to the carnage, “There’s a lot of damage, and I made clear to the governors that my team at ... FEMA (the
Federal Emergency Management Agency) is on the ground and ready to provide all the assistance that is needed.”
Virginia Topples Statue of Robert E. Lee
what to do with it next. Northam, who was on hand to witness the event, said, “This was a long time coming, part of the healing process so Virginia can move forward and be a welcoming state with inclusiveness and diversity.” He added that the statue represents “more than 400 years of history that we should not be proud of.” Northam had ordered the statue removed last summer, but litigation ensued. Virginia’s Supreme Court only approved the move last week.
Arrests in ID Theft in Surfside Work crews in Richmond, Virginia, brought down a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee on Wednesday morning. The statue had been erected in Virginia’s capital over a century prior. After the work crews removed the statue, they began to cut it into at least two pieces to be hauled to a facility until its fate can be decided. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has promised to seek public input on
Three people have been arrested in South Florida and accused of identity theft of victims of the Surfside condo collapse. There were seven victims in this
case, five of whom are deceased. All had their identities stolen; purchases were made after the collapse of Champlain Towers South on June 24. “Cyber grave robbers did move very quickly after the collapse to grab what they could from deceased victims while families and friends were in absolute emotional turmoil,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said. Search and rescue teams scoured the site for weeks after 55 of the 13-story residential building’s 136 units fell at around 1:30 a.m. that day. A total of 98 people, ranging in age from 1 to 92, died. According to their arrest warrant affidavits, the three people arrested were Betsy Alejandra Cacho Medina, 30, of North Miami; Rodney Choute, 38, of North Miami; and Kimberly Michelle Johnson, 34, of Miami. The first identity theft report came July 9 from a sister of one of the victims who died, Fernandez Rundle said. The sister had noticed that her sister’s mailing address was changed. Detectives were able to obtain a recording of a woman identifying herself as one of the victims and asking for her mailing address to be changed. Between July 7 and 9 there
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Judge to Florida: End Ban on Mask Mandates
A judge on Wednesday ordered the state of Florida to immediately end its ban on mask mandates in schools. In his ruling, Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper said that Florida had failed to prove that an appeal would be successful. “We are not in normal times. We are in a pandemic. We have children that can’t be protected by vaccination. Children are at risk and they provide at least some protection by masking,” Cooper said. The state is challenging the ruling with the state’s 1st District Court of Appeals. Last month, Cooper ruled that school districts have the right to set policies such as mask mandates, so long as they have a “compelling state interest” and a “narrowly tailored” plan of action. Earlier this year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis banned mask mandates in schools, threatening consequences for districts which did not obey the ban.
Washington Examiner reported. As a result, several school districts have been forced to tier bus schedules, with buses making multiple rounds in an effort to avoid overcrowding. Peoria Superintendent of Schools Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat told the Examiner, “Due to the driver shortage, we had to change from two-tier schedule to three-tier schedule to use drivers on multiple routes.” She added that in addition to active advertising, “What we’ve done is offer a new driver sign-on bonus, which is a $500 sign-on bonus. We already attracted seven new drivers, and they are in training.” In the Granite City area, parents have been asked to find other means of transportation for their children; according to the district’s site, they are currently providing bussing only for children from kindergarten through fourth grade. Those students in grades 5-12 who have no way to get to school will be granted an excused absence and allowed to make up any work they miss. In Madison County, the public transportation system will offer free bus rides to students through the end of September. Meanwhile, the three Granite City schools affected by the bus driver shortage are on the Madison County Transit’s current bus routes. Some bus company officials blame the shortage on mass retirements during the coronavirus pandemic, while others blame vaccine mandates. East Aurora Superintendent of Schools Jennifer Norrell told the Chicago Tribune that some students are sitting on buses for hours while others miss classes. “It was a catastrophe,” she said.
Vaccinations Rise
Lack of School Bus Drivers
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Some of the U.S. states hit with the highest COVID-19 rates in the past week are reporting the highest rates of new vaccinations per capita, according to data published Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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In Tennessee, approximately 42.1% of residents are fully vaccinated. The state had the sixth-best rate of new vaccinations per capita this past week. At the same time, according to Tennessee’s health department, the state’s hospitals are “under increasing strain from the highly contagious Delta variant.” “Many hospitals are experiencing capacity constraints unlike we have seen during the pandemic,” the department said. Alabama had the highest number of new COVID-19 vaccinations per capita this past week; it also has the second-worst case rate – a 22% positivity rate. About 38.6% of Alabama residents are fully vaccinated. In a Thursday statement, Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said, “With the highly contagious Delta COVID-19 variant circulating, and cases, hospitalizations and deaths increasing, we continue urging all eligible people to be vaccinated as quickly as possible.” Other states with some of the worst case rates nationwide but which are reporting high numbers of new vaccinations are Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina.
Florida and Texas account for nearly 30% of current hospitalizations nationwide. According to CDC data, approximately 62% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while 52.7% are fully vaccinated. Vaccinations do not provide immediate immunity to the virus. For the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, full immunity is acquired only one week after the second dose, while the Moderna vaccine provides full protection only two weeks after receiving its second dose.
Hawaii Targets Fake Vaccination Cards
The State of Hawaii has arrested seven tourists since the start of Au-
gust for attempting to use fake vaccination cards to bypass the state’s rules. The arrestees could face up to a year in prison and up to $5,000 in fines. One of the most recent attempts, by Chloe Mrozak, 24, of Illinois, included a misspelling of Moderna as “Maderna” on the fake vaccination card. She entered fake hotel reservation details, which allowed her to freely vacation in Hawaii, but was caught at the airport while attempting to return to the mainland. Hawaii Attorney General Clare Connors said, “We are concerned and that’s why we’re using our resources...to address every single case that comes to our attention. Fraud is easy with this type of document so we then have put into place measures to ensure we can verify it and prosecute them when they are fraudulently altered.” Last week, over 1.3 million Americans tested positive for COVID-19.
The Memorial at Ground Zero Brings 9/11 Home
In 2003, 34-year-old Michael Arad was working as an architect for New York City’s housing department when the call went out for designs for a memorial at Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers stood prior to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Architect Daniel Libeskind, the designer of the Freedom Tower, was in charge of the master plan for the site and had set the design guidelines for the memorial and wanted the entire eight-acre site to be 60 feet below street level. But to Arad that seemed wrong. Arad, an Israeli citizen born in London, was attending high school in Mexico City when his father Moshe Arad was posted there. They had also briefly lived in New York. Michael Arad took a break from school to serve in the IDF before returning to finish school at Georgia Tech and getting married. The couple then moved to Manhattan.
According to Arad, “If the terrorists thought they’d sow fear and division, they did not succeed.” Arad, now a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, submitted his own idea for a 9/11 memorial, “suggesting a street-level plaza, a public space for the collective and the individual to consider what was lost.” On January 6, 2004, Arad’s design was named the winner. The design includes two pools, the North Pool, and the South Pool, memorializing each of the two towers and their occupants, where the towers once stood. In the bronze panels around each pool, the 2,983 names of those lost in the four plane crashes on September 11, 2001, and a 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, are etched. “You have to make that absence tangible, physical, something that, when you walk up to the edge of that void, you feel it,” Arad explained. “It’s not just in your head, it’s in your heart.” The memorial is open from 10:00a.m. to 5:00p.m. daily, but on the 20th anniversary of the attacks, both the memorial and the museum, which opened on May 21, 2014, will remain open until midnight. The names of the victims are arranged in nine distinct lists around the pools. Near the North Pool are those who were in or near that tower, those on American Airlines Flight 11, and those who were killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Around the South Pool are the names of those who were in or near that tower, first responders who received 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor, those on United Airlines Flight 175, those at the Pentagon, and those on American Airlines Flight 77 and United Airlines Flight 93. Arad’s team also attempted to place friends’ names together, honoring over 1,200 requests. “It was very important for families to know that that marker was for the person that they lost,” he said.
Cash for Keeping Clean In an effort to prevent criminals from perpetrating crimes, a program in San Francisco is paying perps to stay clean. The Dream Keeper Fellowship will pay 10 individuals who are at high risk of being on either end of a shooting $300 each month to not be
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involved in such crimes. The fellowship is being rolled out by the Human Rights Commission and Office of Economic and Workforce Development and is funded through the Dream Keeper Initiative, which is San Francisco’s program that works to redirect funding into the Black community. It will launch in October.
“It’s not necessarily as cut and dry as folks may think. It’s not as transactional as, ‘Here’s a few dollars so that you don’t do something bad,’ but it really is about how you help us improve public safety in the neighborhood,” Sheryl Davis, executive director of the Human Rights Commission, said. Participants of the program will be paired with life coaches from the city’s Street Violence Intervention Program and will serve as “community ambassadors.” Participants are
also eligible to receive an additional $200 per month through working, going to school or being a mediator in potentially violent situations. Payments are made in the form of gift cards and will be monitored. Shootings have spiked in the city this year, with 119 recorded gun crime victims in the first half of the year, which is double the number during the same timeframe in 2020. The program follows a similar one in Richmond, California, which was dubbed “cash for criminals” by the media after gun crimes increased. A 2019 study credited the program with helping reduce gun homicides in the city by 55%. Critics of the program have pointed out that similar initiatives haven’t been very successful. The move comes as California also works to become the first state to pay drug addicts a few hundred dollars to stay sober. Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the federal government last week for permission to use tax dollars to pay for the program through Medicaid. Meanwhile, a similar proposal is also working through California’s Legislature, with the state Senate already passing the bill.
Flying High
pendence, was declared a record by Ukraine’s national record book. The last time the achievement was attempted, in 2013, there were ten men pulling the plane. Sounds pretty impressive to me.
66 Countries at Age 70
A 13-year-old in Japan is climbing the ceilings. Fuyuki Kono recently broke two Guinness World Records for spinning in an indoor skydiving tunnel. Kono, whose passion for indoor skydiving was kindled while she was studying abroad in Australia in 2018, broke the records for the most front split spins in one minute and the most 360 horizontal spins in one minute at the indoor skydiving center in Saitama, Japan. She managed to do 78 front split spins in one minute and 60 horizontal spins in the allotted time. According to Kono, practice makes perfect. She trained for nearly three months to achieve the feat. “I repeated the movement over and over to go beyond my limit,” Kono told Guinness World Records. “Because the wind blows from the bottom up, a slight glitch in position could easily put me off balance. You can easily go off center, and you could even hit the wall if you’re not careful.” Sounds like she’s living the high life.
Cargo Crew
It took a team of eight Ukrainian strongmen 1 minute and 14 seconds to pull the world’s largest and heaviest cargo plane 14 feet. The team of bodybuilders hauled the Antonov An-225 Mriya, a 628,300-pound cargo plane built in 1988 in the Soviet Union, on the tarmac at Hostomel Airport, northwest of Kiev. The feat, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s inde-
Dr. Sudha Mahalingam has been around the block. The 70-year-old woman from India has visited 66 countries, spanning six continents, over the past two decades. Two decades ago, Mahalingam quit her job in mainstream print journalism and switched careers to take up energy research. Soon after, she started receiving invitations to speak at international conferences in oil-producing countries and the world of travel opened up to her. Mahalingam keeps track on her travels on her blog, Footloose Indian, as well as in her book “The Travel G-ds Must be Crazy.” Owing to a hectic schedule of managing work and family, Mahalingam often had no time to organize her travel, so most of her early trips were sudden and unplanned. She landed in the Czech Republic without a valid visa, faced the challenge of finding vegetarian food in China, got accidentally locked in a monument in Iran, and was caught without proof of a yellow fever vaccination at the airport in Nairobi, Kenya. Her most recent international trip, to see lemurs in Madagascar in 2019, was one of her favorite adventurous moments. “It was absolutely uncharted territory, un-touristy and had very few facilities. It was hardship travel and the way that I like. I was on a boat for three days and the boat didn’t have a toilet,” says Mahalingam of the ride up the Tsiribihina River to Tsingy on the western coast of Madagascar. “Tsingy is full of jagged bladelike rock formations jutting straight into the sky. It’s quite steep and very difficult to climb these rocks and it lacerates the hand and foot. But after climbing to the other side, you see creatures you don’t see elsewhere in
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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
will not be completing my checklist. There’s quite a lot!” she admits. Bon voyage!
Monkey Business
Madagascar.” Another adventure that stands out for Mahalingam was her trip to Borneo in Southeast Asia. “There were creepy crawlies everywhere and mounds of leaves one meter high. You put your foot and won’t know if a serpent would twist itself around your leg or whether a scorpion would sting you. It was pouring all the time. I have been to the Amazon jungle as well but it was a cakewalk compared to Borneo,” she says.
Mahalingam doesn’t just let her feet do the walking when she visits a new country. She has scuba-dived and went hang-gliding. She’s also trekked to Everest base camp and, at the age of 66, went skydiving in Uluru, Australia. Staying in a Zen Buddhist monastery in Kyoto, visiting the Galapagos Islands, trekking for 24 days to reach Mustang in Nepal, and meeting people like the Drukpa, who live in harsh climatic conditions and are welcom-
ing and happy, have been experiences that humbled her. Although the pandemic put the brakes on some of her travel, Mahalingam has used the time to travel within her own country. When the world fully reopens, she wants to train to sail aboard one of the famed Clipper yachts, an expensive but once in a lifetime experience. And she wants to keep on going. “Even if I travel to three places every year over the next 10 years, I
Adie Timmermans has been friends with Chita for a while. She has been visiting Chita weekly for years. That is, until recently, when she was told she can no longer visit her special friend. Chita, though, is no ordinary friend. Chita is a 38-year-old chimpanzee. Adie is a woman. They have been meeting at the Antwerp Zoo, where Adie greets Chita at the glass and waves and blows kisses at him. But zookeepers are worried that Chita is being shunned by his primate peers because of his friendship with Adie. They are asking Adie to sever her friendship with the animal and have banned her from the zoo. Adie is distraught. “I love that animal and he loves me,” she said. “I haven’t got anything else. Why do they want to take that away?” She added, “Other dozens of visitors are allowed to make contact. Then why not me?” The zoo responded, “An animal that is too focused on people is less respected by its peers. We want Chita to be a chimpanzee as much as possible. Outside of visiting hours at the zoo, he has to manage 15 hours [a day] in his group. We want to give him the chance to be as happy as possible.” According to the zoo spokesperson, the other chimpanzees exclude him when he has contact with humans. “When Chita is constantly busy with visitors, the other monkeys ignore him and don’t consider him part of the group, even though that is important. He then sits on his own outside of visiting hours,” said the spokesperson. It’s possible that Chita will never be able to fully integrate with his peers. And there’s no monkeying around about that.
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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Around the
Community MAY’s Hascholas Ha’zman
W
ith only two short weeks under its belt, Mesivta Ateres Yaakov was still able to pack in a tremendous amount of learning, preparation and excitement leading up to the Yomim Tovim: Each grade had a private audience with the Rosh HaYeshiva, Rabbi Mordechai Yaffe, who delivered a pesichas ha’zman drasha to each class; the new freshmen talmidim enjoyed a team-building bowl-
ing trip and pizza lunch together with their rabbeim; Rabbi Yehuda Orlansky’s 12th grade shiur visited Rabbi Dovid Neuman, founder of the famed V’ha’arev Nah Program, to kick off this year’s bekiyus shiur; and the entire yeshiva enjoyed an Erev Shabbos Tisch co-sponsored by the new student government replete with poppers, kugel, music, dancing and divrei chizuk from the S’gan Menahel, Rabbi Yossi Bennett.
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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Around the Community
Israeli Consulate Supports Tomchei Shabbos
I
srael Nitzan, acting consul general of Israel in New York, and several local leaders showed their support for Tomchei Shabbos of Queens last Wednesday by putting together food packages ahead of the Jewish new year. Consulate General of Israel in New York headed over to the Queens distribution center to help put together packages for those who are food insecure for Rosh Hashanah. The all-volunteer food distribution center delivers packages of food each week for Shabbat to approximately 400 to 450 families, and additional food is provided by the nonprofit organization for the Jewish High Holy Days. Nitzan was joined by several local leaders, who each volunteered at Tomchei Shabbos of Queens’ headquarters on Wednesday afternoon. Among them were Congress-
man Gregory Meeks (D-Queens), Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, New York City Councilmember Barry Grodenchik, New York City Council Democratic nominee Sandra Ung (District 20), New York City City Council Democratic nominee Linda Lee (District 23), and New York City Councilman Jim Gennaro (District 24). “It is our duty as Israel’s diplomatic mission in New York, we understand our moral responsibility to assist the community,” Israel Nitzan, acting consul general of Israel in New York, said. “This mitzvah isn’t just about packing food, it is also about the connection between volunteers and those receiving these packages and strengthen the community.” Tomchei Shabbos has been delivering packages to those who
PHOTO CREDIT: CONSULATE GENERAL OF ISRAEL IN NEW YORK
Sandra Ung, Acting Consul General of Israel Israel Nitzan, Shimi Pelman, Rep. Tom Suozzi, and Rep. Gregory Meeks
are food insecure since 1979. Every Wednesday night, a group of volunteers arranges dozens of packages to make sure no one is left hungry on Shabbat. Food packages are distrib-
uted throughout the five boroughs and parts of Long Island, serving the needs of several different Jewish communities.
well and commented on the incredibly rapid growth of the FCF and that they provide crucial assistance for hundreds of families in Flatbush in a dignified manner. Chief Jeffrey Maddrey’s office of community affairs was represented as well by Deputy Inspector Richie Taylor and his outreach team, working together with the other volunteers to get the boxes packed and ready for distribution. Yitzy Weinberg, executive director of the fund, was inspired by the community joining together to help
all types of Jews, throughout the community. “It’s incredibly inspiring to see how the entire Flatbush comes together to help their neighbors in need. This past year, the Flatbush Community Fund distributed millions of dollars to local families. We can only continue to grow with your help.” In fact, the FCF has adopted a new slogan which is being used for their current campaign. DoMore encapsulates the message and drive of the Fund and entire community.
Feeding the Flatbush Community
A
beautiful sight was seen in Flatbush last week as dozens of volunteers and families joined with community leaders to help pack boxes filled with special yom tov food for the Flatbush Community Fund to distribute to 400 families throughout Flatbush. Additionally, the Flatbush Community Fund is opening hundreds of supplementary grocery accounts for families throughout the neighborhood. Throughout the time spent packing and distributing the boxes, the Flatbush Community Fund was
proud to have the support of elected officials and community leaders who came to help. These dignitaries included Eric Adams, the Democratic nominee for NYC Mayor, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, Board Member and NYPD Clergy Liaison David Heskiel, Deputy Inspector Richie Taylor, Leon Goldenberg, Josh Mehlman, President of the FJCC and representatives from Helene Weinstein and Kings County District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. David Greenfield, the CEO of Met Council, an integral partner in the food distribution, was there as
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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Around the Community
MTA’s Thriving Dorm Community
T
he MTA Dorm officially opened on Sunday, August 29, and talmidim couldn’t wait to move into their new home away from home! MTA’s dorm program includes weekly dorm dinners, dorm Night Seder, exclusive programming, Friday morning breakfast and chaburos, regular Shabbatonim, trips, and more. The yeshiva also offers the opportunity for seniors to spend 2-3 nights per week in the dorm, where they participate in additional limud Torah programming and learn b’chavrusah with freshmen who dorm. “We have worked hard to enhance the dorm experience to ensure the
happiness, growth, and success of our talmidim while living on campus,” shared Dean of Student Life Rabbi Danny Konigsberg. “Our dorm isn’t just a place to sleep; it’s a true community with plenty of opportunities to learn, bond, and grow. We have more than 40 talmidim in the dorm this year. Some are here from out of state and even out of the country, and others live in the tri-state area but choose to dorm so they can maximize their MTA experience. It’s incredible to watch how these talmidim, who are all in different grades and come from different cities, bond together as a group and truly become a family.”
More Than 3,000 Expected at OU’s Virtual Torah Yerushalayim
L
eading rabbinic scholars, educators, and Jewish communal leaders will be featured at the Orthodox Union’s (OU) third annual Torah Yerushalayim, dedicated in loving memory of David & Norma Fund z”l, on Sunday, September 12, 2021. More than 3,000 men and women are expected join the virtual event, which is being hosted by OU Israel, the Israeli arm of the Orthodox Union (OU). The program will consist of five keynote addresses, 16 captivating classes and two panels covering topics ranging from the Shemita year, Yom Kippur liturgy, teshuva, and Sukkot. A particularly timely topic the program will address is parenting during these trying pandemic times.
There will be sessions appropriate for individuals of all backgrounds, from beginner to scholar and every level in between. Torah Yerushalayim will open with a morning keynote address by OU Executive Vice President Emeritus Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb and will conclude with a keynote address from current OU Executive Vice President Rabbi Moshe Hauer and a musical performance and kumsitz with Rabbi Shlomo Katz. The blue-ribbon list of scholars teaching sessions throughout the day, includes: Israel’s Chief Rabbi David Lau, Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon, Rabbi Herschel Schachter, Sivan Rahav Meir, Dina Schoonmaker, Shani Taragin and many others.
“The days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur provide a unique opportunity for introspection and connecting to Hashem. The goal of Torah Yerushalayim is to uplift your Aseret Yemei Teshuva and Yom Kippur, and we have assembled leading scholars and educators to create a dynamic virtual worldwide event that offers something for everyone,” said OU Israel Executive Director Rabbi Avi Berman. “As we enter the Shemita year, this year’s program will feature a learning track focusing on the unique halachot that will guide us through this year and even impact next year as well. We are excited to offer so many remarkable and incredibly inspiring Shiurim to Jews around the world who have
been unable to come to Israel and learn with these Rabbis and educators in person due to the pandemic.” “We’re excited to share such an important Yom Iyun with our brethren across the globe,” said Orthodox Union President Moishe Bane. “The Days of Awe present a unique time for personal and communal religious growth and the program’s relevancy to Shemita only further highlights its importance as we look towards an incredible year ahead.” The event is free to the public. For more information about Torah Yerushalayim and to register, please visit, https://tickchak.co.il/TY2021.
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Around the Community
The new school year began at Siach Yitzchok with all the classes preparing for the Yomim Noraim
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Around the Community
Selichot, First Days, and New Friendships at YCQ
Y
eshiva of Central Queens prepared for the new year with the first Parent-Child learning program. On Motza’ei Shabbat, August 28, Rabbi Shmuel Marcus, Senior Maggid Shiur at Beis Medrash L’Talmud at Touro’s Lander College for Men and Rav of Young Israel of Queens Valley of Kew Gardens Hills, joined YCQ staff, students, and their parents for an evening of inspiration
followed by a beautiful Selichot led by Rabbi Moshe Hamel, JHS assistant principal of Judaic Studies. Rabbi Marcus spoke about what we can learn coming from this global pandemic, and that is that Hakodosh Baruch hu is saying to us, “Hear Me, see Me, relate to Me, pray to Me.” We need to acknowledge that Hashem is part of our lives. Rabbi Marcus explained that teshuvah is
based on an attitude of simplicity. Forget what you have done; focus on the here and now. Realize you have one task ahead. He offered the message that each of us has the potential and it starts with this connection to Hashem. For two days prior to the return of our students, staff participated in orientation and workshops. They had the opportunity to hear words of chinuch from Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, renowned lecturer, and an educational consultant who as keynote speakers welcomed everyone back and offered words of encouragement and support. Following the staff orientation, nursery and kindergarten students and their parents were invited to the Parent Teacher Organization’s annual Pre-school Bash. Students sat at tables with other students in their class and had the chance to meet their teachers and classmates and enjoy a project for Rosh Hashana. The PTO started this program a few years ago to help the youngest YCQ students adjust to full-day school. Then the day we have been waiting for arrived. On Wednesday, September 1, over a thousand students and staff members entered through the doors of YCQ to start a
new school year. The desk barriers had been removed, affording classes to get back to some sort of normalcy. Though we are still struggling during the uncertainty of this pandemic, teachers have gone over and above to create exciting academic environments in their classrooms and to welcome students to a new year of learning. Laughter could again be heard throughout the halls as students reunited with old friends, met their new teachers, and began to create new relationships. We are looking forward to an engaging and exciting school year.
Did you know? Thomas Jefferson planted pomegranates at Monticello in 1771
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
WWW.EITANKATZ.COM | 718.770.7973 | INFO@EITANKATZ.COM
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Around the Community
Sixth grade students of Mrs. Nussbaum at Yeshiva Darchei Torah are pictured here with the miniature catapults they created as part of their science class
MTA Welcomes Class Of 2025 The talmidim of Yeshiva Darchei Torah’s Harriet Keilson Early Childhood Center were visited by a beekeeper and his collection of honey bees – just in time for Rosh Hashana and a sweet new year
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M
TA welcomed the Class of 2025 with an exciting grade-wide orientation on Tuesday, August 31. Talmidim met their rebbeim and teachers and learned more about the incredible MTA community they are now a valued part of. They spent time with their Cub2Lion Senior mentors, who will help guide them through their first year of high school and beyond, met with the yeshiva’s warm and welcoming Freshman team and enjoyed treats from the ice cream truck. “We are so excited to welcome the Class of 2025 to the MTA family,” said
Freshman Grade Dean and Mashgiach Rabbi Eli Cohn. “Freshman orientation is a great way for us to get the talmidim acclimated to their new schedule and environment before yeshiva starts and to help them bond as a grade and start building what will become lifelong relationships with friends and rebbeim. It’s also a nice opportunity to get to know them better both as individuals and as a grade so we can tailor our freshman experience to the needs of the grade as a whole, and also to the needs of each talmid.”
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by Rabbi Paysach Krohn
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Around the Community
All Hands on Deck at the JCCRP Rosh Hashana Food Drive
Congressman Gregory Meeks lends a helping hand
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his past week, the JCCRP ran its annual Rosh Hashana food distribution. The JCCRP arranged for extra items to be included in addition to the regular food pantry items for the Jewish community’s needs for yom tov. The week began with volunteers of all ages and walks of life coming together eager to do chessed for their neighbors in need. They bagged produce, unpacked shipments and organized the many packages for pick up. Among the volunteers was a local plumber, Steve Fanwick. Steve and his crew proved incredible devotion, taking off from their business for the whole day to volunteer packing boxes. Steve commented, “I’m happy to help those in need. Community work is incredibly important to me.” Hundreds of clients came to the pantry on Wednesday and chose from a selection of food, many crucial to their Rosh Hashana menus. Many prominent volunteers joined in the distribution efforts. Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY 5th District), the local Congress Representative and Chair of the House Foreign Affairs committee, took time out of his extremely busy schedule to help out. Others who rolled up their sleeves to help out include; Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers (D-31st District), and
YOSS students with Rabbi Samet
Aaron Cyperstein, Managing Director of Legal & External Affairs at Met Council. Students from the Yeshiva of South Shore also took time out of their busy learning schedules to help pack hundreds of boxes. The JCCRP and the Kosher Food Pantry are able to do this kind of distribution because of their ongoing support. Moshe Brandsdorfer, executive director of the JCCRP, expressed his praise of this amazing collective effort. “This week, we witnessed the beauty of our community. A local plumber, kids in-between camp, retirees and local elected officials all came together to volunteer and help those in need. Additionally, none of this would’ve been possible without the generosity of partners Met Council, UJA Federation of NY, City Harvest and Food Bank of NY.” Miriam, a resident of Far Rockaway, expressed her gratitude during the drive-by pickup. “We are so appreciative to you for this. These items are really helpful and make our yom tov brighter. Thank you!” The JCCRP is a proud affiliate of Met Council and a beneficiary agency of UJA Federation of NY. The JCCRP provides a range of services for any community members who need assistance. For more information on JCCRP services or to sign up as a volunteer, please email info@jccrp.org.
Did you know? India is the world’s largest producer of pomegranates
JCCRP Executive Director Moshe Brandsdorfer with Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers
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Around the Community
First Hachnasas Sefer Tehillim in the U.S.
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he first live-streamed, open participation Tehillim recital combined with the first Tehillim, that unites Klal Yisroel with Tefilah daily out of a hand – written Klaf brings Yeshuas and Bracha to the Tzibor. On Monday, Rosh Chodesh Elul, a lively Hachnosas Sefer Tehillim celebration took place on 51th Street in the heart of Boro Park. The event started
with Kesivas Ha’osyiyos in which the final letters at the end of the Tehillim scroll were inked by leading rabbanim followed by live music and dancing by young and old. The next day, on Tuesday afternoon, the daily Tehillim Tefilah livestream program started. The Steipler Gaon, zt”l, writes in Karyana Digarta that Tehillim handwritten on a Klaf has a special kedusha and a unique
power in its prayers; the tefillah is “retzuyah u’mekubeles b’yoser,” on a higher level and meriting greater acceptance Above. Tehillim on Klaf Tefillah is committed to create an awareness for more powerful Tehillim Tefillah from a klaf. Klal Yisroel needs so many yeshuas and refuahs now more than ever before. What could be more beneficial in these times than uniting to
join a Tehillim Tefilah that is being read from a hand-written Sefer Tehillim on klaf written by a sofer mumcha daily and possesses the authentic powers as Dovid Hamelech wrote it? The Tehillim on Klaf is stationed at 1254 51st Street and the reading of this Tehillim is streamed live daily on www.tehillimonklaftefilah.org Sunday- Thursday at 1:00PM (EST), 8:00 PM (Israel).
PLANNING IS YOUR STABILITY IN TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY
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You can do Halachic planning when doing secular Estate Planning You can protect your children’s inheritance You can appoint someone to make financial and medical decisions, if you are unable You can help your parents prepare for the expense of long-term care Estate Planning, Probate, and Elder Law Planning (Medicaid Planning), require counsel who is experienced, professional, and above all, caring. Monet Binder Law, P.C. has earned a reputation, through over 21 years in practice, for working with clients with patience, understanding and compassion, assisting them in realizing their goals to protect themselves and their loved ones, in the best way possible. “Monet possesses the rare combination of being very knowledgeable, very thorough and very caring. She made what seemed like an overwhelming process, much simpler and less fearful. I highly recommend her.” – Alan Proctor
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All halachic documents are under the supervision of the Bais HaVaad in Lakewood.
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Around the Community
Remembering Our Heroes
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o commemorate 9/11, the children at Gan Amy in West Hempstead learned all about the heroes who keep us safe. We crafted thank you cards to distribute to first responders. In addition,
we gave baskets filled with treats to the local fire department, police department and volunteer ambulance Hatzalah. In addition, each department was given a large color photograph of the 9/11 memorial in
Jerusalem. It is the only memorial outside of the United States that lists the name of every single victim. The Jewish National Fund built the memorial to show solidarity between Israel and the United States.
They have both been the victims of terror attacks on their home soil. Thank you to all the brave men and women who keep us safe.
IVDU LI Gets Ready for Rosh Hashana
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he staff and students of IVDU LI were excited to begin the year this week, greeting old and new friends and reacquainting with all of the staff. The year began with our students immersed in hands-on learning of Rosh Hashana halachos and minhagim, led by our rebbi, Rabbi Peretz Lipka. The students tasted different
apples and voted on their favorite ones, heard the shofar blows from different sized Shofaros, and learned of the various simanim that relate to the yom tov. The staff and administration of IVDU LI wish everyone a ksiva vchasima Tova and a healthy and productive year for all.
Members of our community celebrating the 30 year anniversary of learning on the LIRR with a siyum
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Around the Community
Wine in the Sukkah? We Got You Covered! By Gabriel Geller Royal Wine/Kedem
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ukkos and Simchas Torah are defined as Zman Simchaseinu, the times for rejoicing par excellence. As was probably repeated countless times in this column, the Gemara in Tractate Pesachim 109a says, “There is no joy without wine.” All in moderation, of course. The upcoming chagim include many celebratory meals, inside and outside the sukkah. These are meals that we will, iy”H, share with our loved ones. For all of these, we should have fine wine to enhance yom tov further and contribute to our hiddur mitzvah, the embellishment of the mitzvah. Whenever logistically and financially possible, we are encouraged to go one step further and treat ourselves to make the mitzvah even more special. We aim to celebrate with a flawless lulav and esrog, a beautifully decorated sukkah, a tastefully set up table, and, of course, better wine. So long as one appreciates wine, having a
special bottle of wine on the table will elevate the moment both gastronomically and spiritually. A celebratory, refreshing way to start the meal is to pop a bottle of sparkling wine and perhaps even enjoy it for Kiddush. For those who prefer a moderately priced bottle, the Elvi Cava Brut NV is an excellent Spanish wine made with the same winemaking method as Champagne, with the secondary fermentation taking place in the bottle. While arguably not as aristocratic as the Champagne Drappier Carte d’Or NV, the Herzog Méthode Champenoise NV made with 100% Chardonnay from California’s Russian River is just as luxurious and delightful, as well. Rosé wines were considered summer exclusives not that long ago. Those dark times are thankfully over, as rosé wines can and should be enjoyed year-round. Sukkos is early this year, but whether it will be warm or chilly over yom tov
should by no means deter us from enjoying a cold bottle of the delicious and fruity Ramon Cardova Rioja Rosado 2020 from Spain with salads or sushi. When it comes to wine, hot weather may be a serious concern. The taste and thus enjoyment of red wine will significantly be impacted if it is served warm, which can happen if the bottle is left on the table in the sukkah for a while before or during the meal. It is recommended to refrigerate red wine shortly, for 30-60 minutes before serving, to preserve its quality and integrity and ensure proper enjoyment. That goes without saying for rosé, white and sparkling wines, which should always be served and drunk cold. If the wine is too cold, letting it sit for a few minutes in the glass after serving will solve the issue as it will quickly warm up to the drinker’s preference. A pleasant and affordable white wine to enjoy this Sukkos is the Psâgot Sinai White 2020, a lovely, fruit-forward blend made from grapes grown in the Jerusalem Mountains. This is a highly aromatic wine, combining delicate lemon, apricot, and peach flavors with a refreshing finish. Enjoy it with a veal neck roast or herb-crusted salmon. Bordeaux is well-known for its classy, elegant wines. Many famously consider the wines from Sauternes as the best dessert wines in the world. What Sauternes is less known for, however, is its dry whites. By law, wineries can only
print the Sauternes appellation on the labels of their sweet wines; so dry Sauternes wines, such as G de Château Guiraud 2019, are called Bordeaux Blanc (White Bordeaux). This wine is medium- to full-bodied, with bright acidity and notes of grapefruit and honeysuckle – perfect for enjoying with veal, chicken, turkey, or a red tuna steak. The wines of Bordeaux’s right bank, where sit the regions of Saint-Emilion, Fronsac, and Pomerol, are primarily made from Merlot grapes. This is arguably where Merlot shines the most, and the Château Royaumont Lalande-de-Pomerol 2018 is no exception to this rule. This wine is full-flavored, layered, velvety, with black and red berry aromas, and earthy undertones. This wine is quite enjoyable now in its youth. Still, it will gain even more depth and complexity over the coming 5 to 10 years if stored adequately. Celler de Capçanes, in Spain’s Montsant DO region, has been producing its legendary Peraj Ha’abib since 1995. The 2019 Peraj Ha’aabib is a special, fruit-forward, albeit elegant and silky wine with smoky, earthy, and spicy notes, characteristics that are respectively contributed by the Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Carignan, and Syrah included in the blend. Whether you choose to pair it with smoked ribs or a roasted leg of lamb, it is well worth discovering or rediscovering! Chag sameach! L’chaim!
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SOME SEE BUILDINGS. O T H E R S S E E E T E R N I T Y.
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
Yeshiva Darchei Torah’s new capital project will encompass a Mesivta Beis Medrash and its first-ever Residence Hall. This project will empower generations of talmidim to learn, thrive and grow in an environment conducive to their lofty calling. Long after the final brick is laid, your gift will continue to accrue dividends. Some look at these plans and see bricks and mortar. Our visionary builders see eternity.
MR. & MRS. BERISH & HANNAH FUCHS
THE BIVETSKY FAMILY SHAAR HATORAH
MR. & MRS. YUSSIE & SUSAN OSTREICHER
RESIDENCE HALL AND TORAH CENTER
ה ליב ע”ה-לע”נ שלום ראובן בן ארי
MESIVTA BEIS MEDRASH BUILDING
MESIVTA BEIS MEDRASH
ANONYMOUS
MR. & MRS. BENZION & MIRIAM HEITNER
ANONYMOUS Residence Hall Cornerstone
לע”נ ישראל הלוי לעווין ע”ה ואלישבע בתיה קפלן ע”ה
THE BLOOM FAMILY
Beis Medrash Vestibule Entrance
לע”נ ר‘ ישראל בן ר‘ בנימין הכהן ע”ה
לע”נ דוד בן משה ע”ה הר‘ משה נתן בן יחזקאל ע”ה וישראל בן אברהם ע”ה
Mr. & Mrs. Simcha & Shani Applegrad
Entranceway to Mesivta Beis Medrash Building
MR. & MRS. URI & DEVORAH DREIFUS Ner Tamid
Mr. & Mrs. Berel & Sherry Daskal
MR. & MRS. ALON & CHANIE GOLDBERGER Sha’ar of New Beis Medrash
Mr. & Mrs. Naftoli & Chani Einhorn
MR. & MRS. NACHMAN & ESTHER GOODMAN Entrance of Beis Medrash Building
Mr. & Mrs. Samuel & Beverly Goldberger
MESIVTA OTZAR HASEFORIM
THE SCHRON FAMILY
MR. & MRS. YITZCHOK & SHOSHANA GANGER
DEDICATION OF CAMP ORAYSA CAMPUS In Memory of Mrs. Marta Schron ע”ה
DEDICATED ANONYMOUSLY
GYMNASIUM WING
DR. & MRS. YOSSI & ZIVIA SCHWARTZ
MR. & MRS. NASSAN & DEVORAH TREITEL
Dedicated by Mr. & Mrs. Yaakov & Rivky Jacobovitch
Mesivta Beis Medrash Building Cornerstone
Preschool Cornerstone
לע”נ חוה בת דב ע”ה
MR. & MRS. MOTTY & HADASSA JACOBOWITZ Promenade Vestibule
Mr. & Mrs. Chaim Sholom & Rivky Leibowitz
MR. & MRS. URI & ESTHER KAUFMAN
Mr. & Mrs. David & Sima Rosenfeld
MR. & MRS. SHMULI & MIRIAM MENDEL
Sha’ar of New Beis Medrash
Mr. & Mrs. Andrew & Stephani Serotta
MR. & MRS. MOTTY & HADASA MENDELSOHN
Mr. & Mrs. Morris & Devora Smith
MR. & MRS. MENASH & MIMI ORATZ Basketball Court in Elementary School Gym
Mr. & Mrs. Yehuda & Mindy Zachter
MR. & MRS. SHIA & ELANA OSTREICHER
Beis Medrash Building Vestibule
לע”נThe children,
bochurim and all 45 neshamos of the Miron tragedy, Lag Baomer 5781
לע”נ זעליג בן מרדכי ע”ה
Get in on the ground floor of this monumental project. To choose from a wide selection of sponsorships at all levels, please contact: Rabbi Zev Bald 718.868.2300 ext. 232 zbald@darchei.org Rabbi Baruch Rothman 718.868.2300 ext. 706 brothman@darchei.org
darchei.org
לע”נ מוהר”ר יחיאל מיכל בן ישראל יהודה ע”ה
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TJH
Centerfold
Wacky Real-World Headlines Expert Says” “Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Jay walkers” “Police Begin Campaign to Run Down e” “Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Cas “Iraqi Head Seeks Arms” Cookies” “Include Your Children when Baking be Told” “Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Pro ant” “Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defend “Stolen Painting Found by Tree” at Checkout Counter” “Two Sisters Reunited After 18 Years Last a While” “If Strike Isn’t Settled Quickly, It May “Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures” “Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges” “Kids Make Nutritious Snacks” y Charge” “Man Struck By Lightning Faces Batter Alive” “Breathing Oxygen Linked to Staying Submarines” “China May be Using Sea to Hide Its Weapons” “Federal Agents Raid Gun Shop, Find She Died” “Diana Was Still Alive, Hours Before aster” “A Nuclear Explosion Would Be a Dis n” “Northfield Plans to Plan Strategic Pla nts” “Students Cook and Ser ve Grandpare “Miracle Cure Kills Fifth Patient” “Man Found Dead in Graveyard”
Riddle Me This A man is trapped in a room. The room has only two possible exits: two doors. Through the first door, there is a room constructed from a magnifying glass. The blazing hot sun instantly fries anything or anyone that enters. Through the second door there is a fire-breathing dragon. How does the man escape? Answerr below
Answer to Riddle: He waits until nighttime and then goes through the first door.
1.
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
Word Whirlwind 1. Which inner circle is bigger?
Take the given words and, by moving a single letter from one word to the other, make a pair of synonyms, or similar words. For example, given: Boast - Hip, move the “s” from “Boast” to “Hip” creating two synonyms: Boat - Ship. 1. Pain - Nil 2. War - Zoned 3. Routing - Tip 4. Shot - Teaming 5. Right – Blight 6. Clause – Idea 7. Cash – Broom 8. Plight – Lam
2. Which horizontal line is longer?
9. Strip – Tumble 10. Our - Start
10. Sour - Tart 9. Trip – Stumble 8. Light – Lamp 7. Crash – Boom 6. Cause – Ideal 5. Bright – Light 4. Hot - Steaming 3. Outing - Trip 2. Ward - Zone 1. Pin - Nail
3. Are the horizontal lines straight or crooked?
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Answers: Answers: 1.. They are the same size; 2. They are the same size; 3. Straight
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Torah Thought
Parshas Vayelech By Rabbi Berel Wein
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ur teacher Moshe is described in the parsha as being near the end of his life in this world. Yet, the Torah also describes his last days on earth as being vigorous, healthy, while continuing to teach and guide the people of Israel, as he had done for the
past 40 years. The Torah itself testifies that even on the last days of life in this world, he was able to climb mountains and gather the Jewish people at his feet to continue the process of accepting the covenant which guarantees the eternity and future of Israel.
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He is not to be judged as an ordinary human being. That is certainly true spiritually, where he ranks as the greatest of prophets and the supreme lawgiver in all human experience. But it is also true that physically he did not suffer the usual fate of human beings who age and lose much of their original vitality and influence. The ravages of time are pretty much inescapable for all of us ordinary human beings. The Torah
Yet, Moshe is but a mortal human being. He does not escape from the eventual fate of all creatures who come into this world. There is long series of comments that appear in Midrash where even Moshe’s soul that resides within his body pleads with heaven that the removal of the body and soul relationship does not occur. It apparently suffices that Moshe is active and vital in his final moment on earth. This fact is highlight-
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In spirit and knowledge, Moshe remains with us even today.
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never records for us that Moshe “missed a day” at work because of fatigue or illness. Rather, he ranks above ordinary mortals in his physical prowess that did not diminish even in the days before he died. At the end of his life, the Torah itself says that his vision never faltered, nor did his physical condition wither or deteriorate. In all respects. we must view him as the miracle man of all ages. The Torah indeed records the physical ailments and deteriorating eyesight of our patriarchs Isaac and Jacob. But when it comes to Moshe, none of these physical problems appear to affect him.
ed by the word that depicts him as going and walking even in his final days and testifies to this unnatural natural wonder associated with him in his life. In spirit and knowledge, Moshe remains with us even today, even after the events described in this week’s reading of the Torah. Perhaps that is also included in the idea that no one knows the actual place where Moshe is buried. It is part of his eternal legacy of life and perpetual accomplishment, that there are no markers or monuments to depict where his remains lie. We can, therefore, truly say that Moshe still walks amongst the Jewish people. Shabbat shalom.
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From the Fire
Yom Kippur Neila Abandoning Self-Deception By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
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abbeinu Bachaya says that the purpose of everything one does during the day is the Torah we learn at night and that the ultimate purpose of the Torah we learn at night is to prepare ourselves for Shabbos. He continues that the purpose of all of the Shabbosim of the year is to prepare one to reach the Yomim Tovim. And the purpose of all of the Yomim Tovim is to enable one to prepare for Rosh Hashana and the ten days of teshuva. But the purpose of Rosh Hashana and the ten days of teshuva is to prepare for Yom Kippur, and the purpose of all of Yom Kippur is to reach that one last hour of Yom Kippur: Neila. And the pinnacle of Neila is when we call out, with a whole heart and with simplicity, “Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad!” and “Hashem Hu HaElokim! Hashem is G-d!” The pasuk we quote (Melachim 1:18:39), “Hashem is G-d!” is from the Jewish people’s reaction to Eliyahu Hanavi’s showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mr. Carmel. As we discussed in the parshios of Bamidbar and Naso, Eliyahu Hanavi used that opportunity to rebuke the Jewish people for lacking any sense of embarrassment at the double life they were leading. He told them (Melachim 1:18:21), “How long will you dance on two sides of the fence?! If Hashem is G-d, go after Him! And if Baal is, go after him!” On one hand, they were Jewish and kept mitzvos, but on the other hand, they were immersed in one of the basest forms of idol worship. He wanted to imbue them with a sensitivity to such contradictions. Even if they were not perfect, they should
at least feel embarrassed when they serve the Baal and see it as a contradiction to the holiness they longed for as Jews. Because this recognition that Hashem is G-d is the culmination of Neila, it means that if we focus on nothing else at Neila, it must be this recognition of the truth. While cultivating a feeling of embarrassment and shame is not in vogue these days, it is critical to living a meaningful life. As the Gemara (Nedarim 20a) says, quoting the pasuk in Shmos (20:16), “‘In order that fear of Him should be upon your faces’ refers to embarrassment; ‘in order that you not sin,’ teaches that embarrassment brings to fear of sin.” We cannot continue pretending that the aveiros we do are nothing and do not pose a contradiction to righteousness and attachment to G-d. Several times throughout Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we say the piyut, “Supernal King,” in which we contrast the true King’s splendor with the “impoverished king,” man. The paytan tells each of us with our
little fiefdoms “You dwell amidst deception.” We indulge in whatever our weaknesses are but deceive ourselves into not realizing that our indiscretions are incompatible with our true aspirations. A person must be sensitive to the contradiction of davening Mincha from the same electronic device on which he looks at things at which a Jew is forbidden to gaze or on which he has wasted so much time with idle entertainment. If it were permitted, many people would download the machzor and daven from them on Yom Kippur as well! We so often fail to recognize the contradictions we live with. We must live with the simple recognition that Hashem is G-d and He sees everything. In our lives of deception, we may delete our browsing history and think that we have fooled our wives, won’t get caught, and have erased what we have looked at. But we cannot deceive G-d. He sees everything. Recognition of this fact is the simplest element of faith. Our tefillos at Neila have such
potential. We do not have to promise Hashem that we will not sin at all in the coming year; that we will be like the Chofetz Chaim, the Chazon Ish, or the Baal Shem Tov. But it would bring such blessings down into the world and into our lives if we simply said to Hashem, “I’m not going to live a lie anymore. I can’t promise that I won’t slip up again this year, but I’m not going to live in my little kingdom of deception anymore. I won’t live a lie. If I fail, I will at least feel a little embarrassed about it.” There is a whole crop of deeply spiritual musicians in Eretz Yisroel, many of whom are baalei teshuva through Breslov. One of them, Amichai Chasone, expresses this feeling so beautifully in his song “Aba Yakar,” “Precious Father” in an album called “Alma, World.” In this song, he sings, “For me to cross the imaginary boundary I have created for myself, I must, I must be true. And if I do not have truth, there is no faith. And this hurts me. It hurts me, precious Father!” This is exactly the feeling we must have. We must recognize the truth. One of the great tzaddikim of our generation was the Bobover Rebbe, Reb Shlomo’le, zt”l. Anyone who has met Reb Shlomo’le is fortunate and one can even inspire himself to do teshuva just by looking at a picture of him. The Rebbe survived the war with his son Naftul’che, and the two of them originally settled in the Upper West Side. The Rebbe was so broken he felt he had no strength to attempt to build up Bobov chassidus again and wanted to live the rest of his life learning in the back of a beis
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Yom Kippur and Succos Titles from All ArtScroll English Machzorim Feature: Clear, concise instructions and laws
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SUCCOS MACHZOR FOLLOWING THE CUSTOMS OF ERETZ YISRAEL
Nusach Ashkenaz
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PATHWAY TO PRAYER
THE
by Rabbi Mayer Birnbaum
MYSTERY
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medrash somewhere, were it not for the Satmar Rov’s encouragement and chizuk. At the beginning, he and his son started a little shtiebel in the Upper West Side. It was so small, they sometimes did not even have a minyan. One Friday night, the Bobover Rebbe was in the street looking for a tenth man for Kabbalas Shabbos and Maariv, and he spotted someone he thought was Jewish, so he said to him in Yiddish, “Come, we need a tenth man for the minyan.” Initially, the man refused, but the Rebbe insisted, so the man, Yankel, told him, “You know, back home, I was the baal tefila, I led davening. So I will join you if I can lead the davening.” The Rebbe complimented him, telling him that they were fortunate to have found someone to lead the davening. The few chassidim in the shtiebel were a bit put off since it appeared this man, a fellow survi-
vor, was not at all observant. But the Rebbe invited him to lead, so he led the davening. The following Friday night, Yankel did not wait to be invited to shul or to lead the davening. He walked right into shul and straight up to his place and began leading Kabbalas
not show up. The Rebbe waited a little bit for him but they eventually started without him. And he did not show up Shabbos morning either. Worried, the Rebbe asked his son Naftul’che and his friend to go find Yankel. They initially protested, pointing out to the Rebbe that this was Manhattan and
Our mistakes are not who we are.
Shabbos. The next morning it was the same thing as he led Shabbos morning davening as well. This went on for several weeks, and the regular attendees in shul began to get more and more annoyed. It was clear that this man was not even observant, yet he walked straight into shul to lead the davening every week. Then, one Friday night, Yankel did
not Bobov. They had no idea where to look. But the Rebbe insisted, so they went out. Naftul’che and his friend went to a nearby park, and lo and behold, they found Yankel right away, sitting, reading a newspaper, and smoking. This confirmed what they already knew; that Yankel was not at all observant. Not wanting to embarrass him by approaching him and “catching” him in the act of smoking on Shabbos, they returned and told the Rebbe that they had found Yankel. “Well, where is he?” They answered that they had found him smoking. But the Rebbe argued, “No, he was not smoking.” But the Rebbe’s son, Naftul’che told his father that indeed, they were fairly close to him and got a good look. It really was Yankel. “No, that wasn’t Yankel smoking. You made a mistake.” Naftul’che’s friend spoke up, confirming that indeed, it was Yankel, and that he recognized him and saw him smoking on Shabbos. The Rebbe told them, “No, Yankel was not smoking. The ‘Daitsche,’ the German, the Nazi, was smoking. It wasn’t Yankel. Now, go get Yankel.” They were bewildered and did not fully comprehend what Reb Shlomo’le was saying. But they went back to the park only to find that Yankel had already left. They returned to the shtiebel and told their father, who was very upset and disappointed. Yankel never did return to the shtiebel. The Rebbe went on to move to Crown Heights, and then Boro Park, where he began slowly rebuilding the Bobov dynasty. About thirty years after Reb Shlomo’le’s time in the Upper
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West Side, he was making a weekday tisch with hundreds of chassidim, and a new face walked into the room crowned with a beautiful beard and peyos. The man approached the Rebbe and asked, “Do you remember me?” The Rebbe looked at him and thought but could not place the face. So he explained, “I’m Yankel, the one who led the davening in the Upper West Side.” The Rebbe was overjoyed! He hugged and kissed the man and asked him what brought him to Boro Park. He placed an envelope in front of the Rebbe and told him that he was making a chasuna and wanted to invite the Rebbe. The Rebbe told him on the spot that he would be there and then turned to his son Naftul’che and told him, “See, I told you it was the German smoking. Not Yankel.” We are also damaged by the coarseness of this world. While none of us can compare what we have been through to what Yankel and the Bobover Rebbe went through in the war, what we have been through has put us in a position where we find ourselves doing things that do not reflect who we really are. We must hear the voice of Reb Shlomo’le of Bobov saying to us, “It’s not really you. It’s the German. The evil inclination. The other side.” Let’s be honest about what we’re doing wrong but recognize who we really are. Our mistakes are not who we are. They are a departure from our essence, our true goals. May we merit to daven with truth and keep in mind that while we cannot promise G-d that we will be perfect, we can resolve to end the lies and abandon our little kingdoms of deception. May we merit to see the return of the Navi who taught us sensitivity to the truth and an intolerance for living a life of contradictions, Eliyahu Hanavi with the coming of Moshiach, may it be soon in our days.
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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Self-Mastery Academy
The Simple Formula for Greatness 5 Short Steps By Rabbi Shmuel Reichman
I
’d like to start off our new column with a simple question: Why is the world obsessed with greatness? Why do we idolize superheroes? The reason is actually quite simple. We’re drawn towards greatness because we know that we’re destined for greatness. We identify with the hero of the story because we know that we are capable, and destined, to become the hero of our own story. And yet, how many people do you know who are truly great? Most of us are convinced that we’re simply “OK.” We may have role models we look up to, whom we consider to be truly great. But when we look in the mirror, do we see greatness? Do we expect greatness from ourselves? If we are all truly capable of achieving greatness, why do so few strive for it, and even fewer achieve it? When I was younger, I became obsessed with this question. I was fascinated by what drives and motivates people to do what they do. In addition to formally studying the subject, I began asking every successful person I met to explain how they became who they became. Is there is a secret? What do great people do that is so different from everyone else? In addition to research and experience, I spent my life interviewing the greatest minds of our generation. At Shaalvim and Yeshiva University, I sat down with the rebbeim and tried to understand their journey towards becoming a true talmid chacham. While studying at Harvard and UChicago, I would interview my professors and colleagues to find out what drove them and what helped them succeed. More recently, when I was preparing to launch my first company and
write my first book, I sat down with the very best in the industry to find out what worked and what didn’t. Surprisingly enough, the formula for greatness is actually quite simple.
The 5-Step Formula for Greatness 1. The Initial Idea Every great journey begins with a great idea. This idea begins as a spark, a flash of inspiration. At this point, the idea remains ethereal, undefined, and still somewhat elusive. While you may know that you have accessed a life-changing idea, you still can’t fully grasp what it is; it’s there, but you can’t put your finger on it. Only after this initial stage of inspiration does the idea begin to develop into a more concrete and expressed construct within your mind: the flash turns into a vision, a dream. At this stage, while the idea is tangible, it is still general and not fully defined. Next, you need to take the general idea, this amazing dream, and create a practical, detailed, and realistic plan to bring it to fruition; you need to turn the
dream into a reality. The general idea is therefore broken down, analyzed, and processed. Now, you can actually picture the idea in your head, as the abstract dream becomes expressed in detail. The simple idea increases in sophistication and complexity, a general thought begins weaving and intertwining in unique and creative detailed pathways. You begin to realize that it’s going to take a lot more work than you thought; you’re going to need a lot more resources than you could have ever imagined. But still, it’s worth it. 2. Taking Action: Concretizing the Plan into Something Real The vision and plan are the easy part. Now, you need to actually do it. This is where we get to begin living our dream, where the concrete plan within our mind become expressed outwards into the world. But to do this, we need to find the energy and willpower to take the dream that resides within us and make it a reality. Sometimes, the hardest part is simply getting started (kol hatchalos kashos). We want to wait until that “perfect time” when everything will be just right. But we also know that
it will never be the “perfect time” to do a great thing. We need to decide to make it the perfect time, harness our willpower, and get started. 3. Inspiration: Working Through the Initial Stages of Growth The initial stages of growth are tremendously exciting and easy, and for good reason. Going from nothing to something is inspiring. Imagine you start learning an instrument: after a few sessions, you can go from “not being able to play at all” to “I can actually play something.” It might not sound great, or even good, but these initial stages of growth propel us forward and inspire us to commit to our initial dream, to keep hold of our vision. The same is true when we take on a new learning goal, begin a new relationship, create a company, or start any new stage of life. It may be difficult, but the joy of progress usually overcomes the pain of the struggle. We embrace the sacrifice that our dream will cost. 4. Hitting a Wall: Losing Our Inspiration But just as we were beginning to enjoy the growth process, we find ourselves hitting a brick wall and losing that initial inspiration. This is partially because the initial stage of growth was filled with exponential progress; you went from zero to sixty in no time at all! But once you start to steady out and begin a slower and more gradual ascent, it’s significantly harder to see the growth. You continue putting in the same amount of effort, but you’re not seeing the same results. At this point, you want nothing more than to give up and call it quits.
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5. Pushing Through: Earning Your Greatness Once the inspiration fades, we need to find the internal strength and willpower to continue pushing forward. The inspiration might not be there, but we need to remember our original dream, we need to remember why we started this in the first place. As the saying goes, “He who has a ‘why’ can overcome any ‘how.’” The deeper meaning behind this process is elucidated by the Arizal, Ramchal, Vilna Gaon, and many other Jewish thinkers. The first stage of inspiration is a gift, a spiritual high. It’s there to help you experience the goal, the destination. It’s a taste of what you can and hopefully will ultimately accomplish, but it’s not real – it’s given as a gift, and is therefore an illusion. It serves only as a guiding force; it cannot compare to the genuine accomplishment of building something yourself. It is therefore taken away to allow for the second and more important stage: building it yourself, undergoing the work required to attain this growth in actuality, to work for the perfection that you were shown. A gift isn’t real, something chosen and earned is. We’re in this world to choose, to assert our free will, and to create ourselves. Now that we have tasted the first stage, we know what we’re meant to choose, what we’re meant to build. The third stage is the recreation of the first stage. While it appears to be the same, it’s fundamentally different. It’s real, it’s earned, it’s yours. The first stage was a gift, an illusion; the third is the product born of the effort and time you invested.
Revise Your Goals and Begin Again At this point, we begin a life of cycling through these five stages again and again. As we continue striving for our greatness, we reassess our original goals, and we question our original definition of greatness. We then adjust, develop, or upgrade our vision, goals, destination, plan, tools, etc. We then go through another stage of inspiration, albeit usually quicker, because we aren’t starting from scratch this time. We’ll then hit that same wall and lose our inspiration and have to search deep within ourselves for the willpower to keep pushing forward. You might ask: if the original goal
will ultimately be revised or replaced, what then is the point of it? In essence, while the initial goal is necessary, its importance lies only in how it allows you to journey towards your greatness. Every goal is only temporary, for whenever we accomplish it, we will almost immediately create a new one. There are even times when we realize that our goal was not even possible or appropriate to begin with, but it still helped us progress in the right direction. The greatest joy does not come from arriving at our goals, but from the journey itself, the striving itself, the process of
stacles along the way (and grow from them). And the best part? Anyone can do it. Not everyone can become the greatest spiritual giant or world-class athlete, but we can maximize our unique potential and become the greatest version of ourselves, becoming all that we were created to be.
Become the Hero of Your Story So think about it: what if you lived your life as if you were the main character – the hero – of an epic story? In
Starting from this moment, live your life as if you’re always being filmed and you’re creating a documentary called “My Journey to Greatness.” progress and the continued elevation of our existential self. The Ramban quotes the claims of the fools who challenge the worth of pursuing truth. After all, if we will never reach absolute truth, as it transcends our limited minds, what then is the point in pursuing wisdom? Perhaps it’s better not to journey at all. The Ramban responds with a profound insight. The goal is not to reach absolute truth, as this is impossible. The goal is to endlessly strive along the winding path towards truth, getting ever closer, even if the ultimate endpoint remains elusive. Every single step we take is progress, and this is the goal of life. An endless journey, but one in which we enjoy every single stage of growth and evolution. The journey itself is infinitely important.
It’s Not Magic This is the process of growth, the process of achieving greatness. It’s really as simple as this. The principles are clear and will always stay the same. When you see people are great, this is the path they have taken and the path they are currently on. It’s not magic. It’s simply the process of listening to the dreams that Hashem gives us, acting on the inspiration, willpower, desire, and inner drive to push past all the ob-
many stories, there is usually a simple person who appears to be no one special. Then, their life falls apart; they experience tragedy, challenge, hardship. And most of us are living our lives at this stage of the story. Our life is hard; we’re all going through some challenge. And if you’re not going through one, then you probably just came from one and are heading right towards another one. Life is tough. But what if this is the part of the story where you realized that you’re destined for greatness, where you realized that you’re chosen, you’re capable of the extraordinary, just like the hero of every great epic story? What if you realized that every single challenge you were given was given to you by Hashem so that you could achieve your ultimate purpose in life? Instead of being broken by your pain, think about how you can use your pain and your challenges to fuel your journey. Starting from this moment, live your life as if you’re always being filmed and you’re creating a documentary called “My Journey to Greatness.” What would the hero of your story do right now? What would your daily schedule look like? Start analyzing yourself, your behavior, your friends, and all the areas of your life. Start living your life as if everything that you
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do matters. Every word you say, every conversation you have, every action you do, every book you read; everything matters. If you’re going to succeed and achieve your greatness, you’re going to have to seek out the right tools, the right teachers, and the right training. It will require unflinching commitment, and unquestionable resolve. You’ll need to overcome struggle after struggle. It’s not going to be easy. But you already know that. If it were easy, everyone would do it. But you can do it, and you will do, because you must do it. Not only is it possible, it’s necessary. And who’s your main antagonist? Who’s the person who’s holding you back, the person who’s trying to destroy your journey to greatness? You know who it is. All you need to do is look in the mirror. It’s you. It’s the story you’re telling yourself. It’s your limited beliefs. It’s your fears, your insecurities. Your journey to greatness is the journey of overcoming your own limitations and becoming limitless, infinite, your ultimate self. There is nothing you can’t do. Just remember: it’s possible. It’s possible to live your dreams, to achieve the extraordinary, to become the ultimate version of yourself. So never give up. Just think about what your life would be like if you started viewing yourself as the main character of your story. And while you’re thinking about it, go find a pen; it’s time to write the next chapter.
Rabbi Shmuel Reichman is an author, educator, speaker, and coach who has lectured internationally on topics of Torah, psychology, and leadership. He is the founder and CEO of Self-Mastery Academy, the transformative online self-development course that is based on the principles of high-performance psychology and Torah. After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree from Yeshiva University, he received semicha from RIETS, a Master’s degree in Jewish Education from Azrieli, and a Master’s degree in Jewish Thought from Revel. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago and has also spent a year studying at Harvard as an Ivy Plus Exchange Scholar. To find more inspirational content from Rabbi Reichman, to contact him, or to learn more about Self-Mastery Academy, visit his website: ShmuelReichman.com
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Avinu Malkeinu Our Father, Our King BY REBBETZIN DR. ADINA SHMIDMAN
T
he prayer of Avinu Malkeinu plays a central role in our tefillot over the ten day period of repentance. The words drum on our lips and in our minds as we repeat line after line of this powerful prayer. What is it about the significance of the expression of Our Father, Our King that we repeat these words again and again? Studying the history and authorship of this prayer will perhaps answer this question. The Gemara (Taanit 25b) describes times of terrible drought, when the Jewish people gathered in fasting and prayer beseeching Hashem for rain. On one occasion Rabbi Eliezer, one of the leaders of his generation, led the community in davening for rain. He recited the Shemoneh Esrei, adding six brachot reserved for times of great need. Still, there was no sign of rain. Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Eliezer’s stu-
dent, tried. He recited fiver brief sentences beginning each one with the words, Avinu Malkeinu, Our Father, our King. As soon as Rabbi Akiva finished his simple prayer, clouds formed and it began to rain. A miracle! The people began to murmur how Rabbi Akiva, the student, must be greater than Rabbi Eliezer, his teacher. To stop such talk, a voice came from heaven saying that Rabbi Akiva forgives those who do not honor him, while Rabbi Eliezer must be strict to protect the honor of the Torah and the Jewish people. What was it about Rabbi Akiva’s simple prayer that caused the rain to fall? As human beings, we have limited ability to perceive others in multiple ways simultaneously. We look at people through the lens of our primary relationship with them. Our behaviors
and interactions are filtered through this lens. For example, a mother may be a professor who has spent many years training and practicing her craft and yet her child relates to her as a daughter rather than as a student. Just as in our human interactions we see only one “side” or aspect of a person at one given moment, so, too, we perceive Hashem in our limited human capacity in the mode in which He interacts with us. Working with this reality of the human condition, Rabbi Eliezer formulated a text based on the words of the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, the Men of the Great Assembly, who threaded the Shemoneh Esrei prayer with the many unique aspects of Hashem. Hashem’s manifested greatness is captured in descriptions that include King, G-d, Father, Savior, Almighty, Exalted, Supreme Being, Omnipotent,
Omnipresent – to name but a few. If Rabbi Eliezer, in fact, captured all these aspects of Hashem’s Dominion through the recitation of Shemoneh Esrei, what then was the uniqueness of Rabbi Akiva’s formulation? The greatness of Rabbi Akiva is not that he introduced us to the notion that G-d is our Father and our King. In fact, Rabbi Eliezer himself referred to Hashem as both Avinu and Malkeinu as he recited the bracha of Slach Lanu as it appears in the Shemoneh Esrei, invoking both the titles of Our Father and Our King. The blessing reads, “Forgive us our Father because we have sinned, have compassion upon us our King because we have transgressed.” The novelty of Rabbi Akiva’s approach is that he fused the Father and King roles together. In doing so, he demonstrated to us that we are able
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to simultaneously relate to Hashem as both a parent and ruler. He taught us that we can, and we must, at once perceive Hashem as paternal and regal, our G-d that looks at us as His children and His subjects. It is not contradictory for us to experience love, kindness, and compassion from our Heavenly Father and at that very same moment to be awed by His reverential and regal bearing. Knowing that we have the capacity to not only understand and appreciate that G-d occupies these roles, but we experience Father-King as an indivisible entity is what enables us to recite Avinu Malkeinu. We turn to Him for compassion and forgiveness in the way a Father can provide it, but we also turn to our transcendental King who has infinite power to provide us and our universe with life and success. We may then ask where did Rabbi Akiva find the capacity to experience the dual roles of Hashem’s kingship and fatherhood as one? Perhaps the Talmud’s description of the conclu-
sion of the story is the source for the answer to this question. The Gemara’s postscript informs us that Rabbi Akiva was able to forgive those who didn’t honor him. This detail reveals how Rabbi Akiva as a person was able
Rabbi Akiva forgave those who didn’t honor him was precisely what entitled him to refer to Hashem as both Avinu and Malkeinu at once. Rabbi Akiva gave us the gift of an expanded view of both humanity and
We can, and we must, at once perceive Hashem as paternal and regal, our G-d that looks at us as His children and His subjects. to experience other people as multifaceted. The same person who slighted him remained worthy of forgiveness. Rabbi Akiva translated his human interactions into his relationship with G-d. The Talmud’s assessment that
G-d. When relating to others, knowing that people are multidimensional should motivate us to assure that we do not use a singular lens in perceiving their actions. By allowing for alternative narratives or explanations,
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our capacity to forgive each other is increased. This concept is certainly true in our relationship with the Divine. We are blessed to recognize and interact with Hashem as Avinu Malkeinu. This knowledge should strengthen and inspire us to realize that even if perhaps we have fallen short of His expectations this year, we remain not only His subjects but His children who will be forgiven.
Rebbetzin Dr. Adina Shmidman is the founding director of the Orthodox Union Women’s Initiative. The OU Women’s Initiative has launched its virtual Yemei Ratzon program offering ideas and inspiration in preparation for the upcoming High Holidays. The program offers shiurim by world renowned Torah scholars and a month-long learning series on teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah. To register for the program, please visit: https:// www.ou.org/women/yr2021/
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Enveloped in the Thirteen Attributes of Divine Mercy BY RABBANIT YEMIMA MIZRACHI
P
rayer is a long channel which connects us to the Master of the Universe. But if so, why do so many of our prayers remain unanswered? Generation after generation of rabbis have offered various answers to this question, some of which have become well-worn clichés: It’s not that G-d doesn’t answer, but rather that sometimes G-d’s answer is no. G-d doesn’t answer to us. G-d has heard our prayer, and G-d will answer it at the right time. G-d knows that answering our prayer now will ultimately not be for our own benefit. Our prayer has been answered, but we just don’t know it yet. Our prayer has been answered, but for someone else’s sake. There are countless disappointing responses. At the end of the day, it is hard to find comfort when our prayers seem to fall upon deaf ears. And then, suddenly, on Yom Kippur, G-d reveals that there is one prayer that will not go unanswered: the Thirteen Attributes of Divine Mercy. The Talmud teaches that “a covenant has been made regarding the Thirteen Attributes that they will not return empty” (Rosh HaShana 17a). This prayer will not be returned empty to the sender; it will be filled and fulfilled. To understand how this prayer works, we must recall that the first Yom Kippur in history fell forty days after the seventeenth of Tammuz and the sin of the Golden Calf. No sooner than the Torah was given to Israel at Sinai, the people began dancing around the Golden Calf in a terrible act of betrayal. Forgiving them would require so much atonement, so much absolution. Moses once again ascended Mount Sinai, where he pleaded on behalf of his people for forty days. On the fortieth day, which was the tenth day of Tishrei, G-d bestowed upon Moses a tremendous gift: “G-d passed before him and proclaimed: A G-d
compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and truth, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, bearing iniquity, transgression, and sin; cleansing” (Ex. 34:6–7). These words have become pillars of the Yom Kippur liturgy. We recite them twenty-six times over the course of Yom Kippur – a number corresponding to the numerical equivalent of G-d’s four-letter name. We say these words aloud, reminding G-d that He passed before Moses and allowed compassion to bypass justice. In so doing, we remind ourselves that it is possible to start over again even after a terrible rupture. These words have tremendous power. Rabbeinu Bachya (1255–1340) writes: And you need to know that all who understand the Thirteen Attributes and know their meaning and their essence and pray them with intention – their prayers will not return empty. And behold, in our day, when we are in a state of exile and we have no high priest to atone for our sins and no altar to offer sacrifices upon , and no Temple, we will not be left standing before G-d devoid of our prayers and of the Thirteen Attributes. (Rabbeinu Bachya on Ex. 34:6) We return to that wondrous moment in which G-d gave Moses the Thirteen Attributes of Divine Mercy. R’ Yochanan says, “Were it not explicitly written, it would be impossible to say it.” The Talmud goes on to describe an image quite difficult for the human intellect to comprehend: The Holy One, blessed be He, wrapped Himself in a prayer shawl like a prayer leader and showed Moses the order of the prayer. He said to him: Whenever the Jewish people sin, let them act before Me in accordance with this order and I will forgive them. (Rosh HaShana 17a) After we sinned and transgressed with the Golden Calf, G-d wrapped Himself up like a prayer leader, as it were, and prayed on behalf of all of us.
This is the secret of the Thirteen Attributes, which will not return empty. And this is the secret of how to ensure that our prayers are accepted. If we want G-d to accept our prayers, we have to pray on behalf of others. As we recite in the Selichot service, “G-d, You taught us to speak Thirteen Attributes.” G-d instructs us: “Let them act before Me in accordance with this order.” The Hebrew word for prayer book, siddur, comes from the same word as “order.” When we come before G-d with our ordered prayer book, G-d will forgive us.
The Thirteen Attributes as an Alternative Confession Rabbi Ben-Tzion Mutzafi writes that the Thirteen Attri butes of Mercy are also a confession of sorts. When we recite them, we lament the fact that we are not guided by these attributes in our relationships with the other people in our lives. After all, we are commanded to walk in G-d’s ways, and the Thirteen Attributes of Divine Mercy are some of these ways. As the midrash teaches, “Just as G-d is merciful – so too should you be merciful. Just as G-d is gracious – so too must you be gracious” (Yalkut Shimoni, Eikev 473). As we recite this part of the liturgy, we must think: If only I were compassionate. If only I were gracious. “L-rd, L-rd, compassionate G-d” – If we were more compassionate, we would be better at reconciling with others. The Hebrew word for compassion, rachamim, comes from the word for womb, rechem. Compassion is the ability to grow and nurture and make space for others. If we were able to connect to those around us more expansively, everything would look different. “And gracious” – Graciousness is the ability to stop expect ing a reward for each instance of good behavior. We need to learn to give freely and to stop craving recognition. “Slow to anger” – We mourn our anger, which destroys all the goodness inside us. Anger burns away
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at our relationships with others, especially with our spouse and children. “Abounding in kindness” – This is one of the most difficult challenges in our interpersonal relationships. We cannot help but lament our own inadequacy. Yes, everyone can rally for the occasional major social justice project, especially when there is a lot of pomp and circumstance involved. But to be abounding in kindness is not about running in a marathon once a year to raise money for those with disabilities. It’s about acting kindly on a regular basis – being patient with the elderly neighbor who always needs our help, smiling at the student who still doesn’t understand. It’s not easy. I wish that I were abounding in kindness. “And truth” – There are so many times when we fail to act truthfully. If only I had kept my promises…. “Extending kindness to the thousandth generation” – We have a tendency to remember grievances and to bear grudges for years on end, while readily forgetting acts of kindness. By contrast, G-d remembers our good deeds for thousands of years. “Bearing iniquity, transgression, and sin; cleansing” – We are not expected to say that just as G-d is able to overlook our wrongs and move on, so, too, should we overlook our grievances and move on. Rather, we are supposed to bear one another’s offenses and bear with one another. We must remember that both the new Tablets and the shattered Tablets were placed in the Ark (Brachot 8b). There is no forgetting, but there is forgiveness. We bear our grievances and carry them with us to a place of reconciliation.1 And so the Thirteen Attributes, in which we remind G-d how connected we are to Him, also contain a plea for a deeper connection with our fellow human beings. They reflect the notion that we can achieve connection with G-d only by means of our connections with other people. We must wrap ourselves up like prayer leaders and ask that we, too, be guided by the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. The covenant made with the Thirteen Attributes is that they will not return empty. When we come before G-d to ask to be judged mercifully, G-d challenges us to judge each other mercifully. G-d wants to see if we are able to ensure that the people around us are not left to return empty-handed. Yom Kippur is essentially about love – the love for other people and the love for G-d. Each is bound up in the other. Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (1843– 1926), known as the Meshech Chochma, offers a beautiful explanation of this notion: The Sages taught that when one’s love returns to oneself, it emerges out of opposition. For instance, the poor person loves the wealthy person because he benefits from him. And the land loves the sky because it is a source of rain. All of this love returns to oneself. But the love that returns to the
beloved emerges out of a sense of equality, resemblance, and parity, like a wise person who loves another wise person. The Meshech Chochma distinguishes between two types of love. There is the love that is about benefiting from others, and then there is genuine love. He asks whether our love for G-d must necessarily be the first kind of love, since there cannot possibly be any equality with G-d. How can we know that our love for G-d is genuine and that it is not merely an infantile dependence? How can we know that we don’t merely love ourselves and therefore love anyone who responds to our needs? And so [this higher form of love can exist vis-àvis G-d] only when an individual cleaves to G-d’s ways and genuinely loves G-d. When does this happen? When he recites the Thirteen Attributes of Divine Mercy. When he says, “compassionate and gracious,” he must think to himself, “Just as G-d is gracious, so too must you be gracious.” If so, then he begins to develop a sense of identification with G-d, and he will cleave to G-d’s attributes and long for the divine. And this is genuine love (Meshech Chochma 18–19). The only way to cleave to G-d is by cleaving to the messengers whom G-d dispersed throughout His world, namely, the other people in our lives. G-d sends us these other people – especially those
They reflect the notion that we can achieve connection with G-d only by means of our connections with other people. who are closest to us – so that we will practice the Thirteen Attributes on them. When we express love for other people, we are cleaving to the Divine Attributes because G-d loves humanity. We are making ourselves like G-d, who loves human beings. Just as G-d is compassionate, so, too, will we act with compassion. Just as G-d is abounding in kindness, so, too, will we perform acts of kindness. Just as G-d is slow to anger, so, too, will we try to restrain our tempers. Only when we become similar to the object of our love can we love selflessly. Only then can we love our neighbor as ourselves (Deut. 6:5). During the Yom Kippur prayers, we recite the Thirteen Attributes twenty-six times. The numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word for love is thirteen. Our love for G-d amounts to thirteen, and G-d’s love for us amounts to another thirteen. Together they make twenty-six, which is the perfection of the Thirteen Attributes. Twenty-six symbolizes this doubled, reciprocated kind of love. It is not that we love
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out of need. Rather, we love in much the same way as we are loved. A misanthrope cannot love G-d. If we do not love other people, then our relationship with G-d is necessarily needy and selfish. Only when we love others can we genuinely love G-d, because in our love for others we become like G-d.
How Much Do You Weigh? One of the Thirteen Attributes is “abounding in kindness.” For the most part we are average human beings; very few among us are truly righteous. So, as the Talmud explains, G-d comes and tilts the scales in favor of kindness.2 But how can it be? Doesn’t the Torah teach, “You shall not tilt the scales of justice” (Deut. 16:19)? How can G-d be abounding in kindness? That is, how can G-d make more of our kindness? Is this not a perversion of justice? The Talmud asks how exactly G-d tilts the scales in favor of kindness: How does He do this? R’ Eliezer says: He pushes down on the side of the merits, as it is stated, “He will again have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities” (Micah 7:19). R’ Yossi bar Chanina says: He bears [i.e., raises] the side of sin, as it is stated, “He bears sin and forgives transgression” (Micah 7:18) (Rosh HaShana 17a). Rashi explains that G-d pushes down the side of our merits and outweighs our transgressions. Tosafot add that G-d “bears” iniquity, meaning that G-d raises the side of the scale containing our sins. Rabbi Ezra Bick, a contemporary rabbi living in Israel, explains that every time we commit an act of kindness, G-d weights it more heavily than a corresponding sin because that act of kindness has repercussions. Someone else invariably observed our behavior and was inspired to emulate it. In the Thirteen Attributes, this is referred to as “extending kindness.” The kindness we perform extends to others, thereby making the world a better place. By acting kindly, we have sown a seed of kindness in the world, and it will multiply. And so G-d weights our single act of kindness more heavily.3 At the same time, we are told that G-d bears iniquity. That is, G-d bears the weight of our sins along with us. G-d is aware that we are all confronted with challenging situations beyond our control: For instance, a man may speak ill of his mother because he is living in close quarters with her, since he cannot afford to provide her with a place to live on her own. These circumstances are not entirely his fault, and so G-d assumes some of the responsibility for his sin. G-d is abounding in kindness, and G-d bears iniquity. In other words, G-d weights our acts of kindness more heavily while also bearing the burden of our iniquity along with us. 1
Rabbi Ben-Tzion Mutzafi, Kadosh BeTzion, Yom HaKippurim.
2
Rosh HaShana 17a.
3
Rabbi Ezra Bick, In His Mercy (Maggid Books, 2011), 50.
This article was excerpted from Yemima Mizrachi’s book, Yearning to Return, Reflections on Yom Kippur, 2019. Edited by Yikrat Friedman, translated from the Hebrew by Ilana Kurshan. Printed with permission from Koren Publishers Jerusalem.
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Delving into the Daf
Why Your Pet Rock is Not Muktzeh By Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow
I
n the 1970s, one inexpensive gift to give a loved one was a Pet Rock. For those who are unfamiliar with it, a Pet Rock is like you probably imagined it – just a rock. It made its inventor, Gary Dahl, an overnight millionaire, as Pet Rock fever swept the country. A “Pet Rock Training Manual,” with instructions on how to properly raise and care for one’s newfound pet, was included. The instruction manual contained several commands that could be taught to the new pet. While “sit” and “stay” were fairly easy to accomplish, “roll over” usually required extra effort on the part of the trainer. Rocks are generally muktzeh, since at the onset of Shabbos and yom tov they are functionless objects. Before Shabbos, though, one may designate a rock as a doorstop, thereby making it a useful object and changing its muktzeh status. A Pet Rock was generally used as a toy; consequently, it was considered a usable object and not muktzeh. Sand and dirt are also considered unusable at the onset of Shabbos or yom tov. The Gemara (Beitzah 8b) states that Rava held that one may designate a pile of dirt before Shabbos for use in covering a child’s “accident.” In previous generations, when people had dirt floors, an efficient way of cleaning up a child’s accident was just to cover it up with some fresh dirt. Apparently, things were much simpler back then. Nowadays, if you want to refinish your wood floor, it is a whole affair: The furniture must
be covered up. You leave your house for a day. The floor has to be sanded down and refinished. Back then, you just put down a fresh layer of new dirt and – presto! – you had a refinished floor. So back then, if a child had an accident on the floor, you refinished that part of the floor by covering it with dirt. Of course, most modern manufacturers do not recommend this practice for use on carpets. However, if you do decide to try this, you must remember that sand and dirt are muktzeh; therefore, the sand and
access the fruit. On Shabbos, this is forbidden. Tosfos’s chiddush is codified as practical halacha by the Rema (509:7). Rabbi Simcha Bunim Cohen says that, likewise, if a person needs a key in a purse to access a food item, money may be moved to allow access to the key. Rav Shlomo Zalman, zt”l, ruled that muktzeh may even be moved for a minor food purpose. As an example, one may remove a small amount of ash from an oven on yom tov simply so that challos that are baking will look nicer.
A “Pet Rock Training Manual,” with instructions on how to properly raise and care for one’s newfound pet, was included.
dirt must be designated for use before the onset of Shabbos or yom tov. Tosfos writes that the custom was in his times to clear the oven of ashes on yom tov to make room to bake pashtida, some type of meat pastry. Tosfos wonders why this should be permitted because ashes formed from wood burnt on yom tov are muktzeh. Tosfos suggests a novel halacha: One may move muktzeh on yom tov for the sake of food preparation and yom tov enjoyment. For example, if one is unable to reach fruits because rocks are in the way, on yom tov he may move the rocks with his hands in order to
In general, sukkah decorations are muktzeh on yom tov. However, if they fell on a table and that space is needed for the meal, the decorations may be moved (although the Pri Megadim suggests that they be moved indirectly if possible). Rav Shlomo Zalman said that this leniency of moving muktzeh for food purposes extends to other bodily needs as well. He writes that muktzeh may be moved in order to facilitate access to clothing, light, or warmth. The problem with the chiddush of Tosfos is that an entire page of Gemara discussed the permissibility of moving
dirt to facilitate shechitah on yom tov. There is a mitzvah to cover the blood from shechitah with dirt. The Gemara suggested that the dirt must be designated before yom tov to enable one to fulfill this mitzvah on yom tov. According to Tosfos, the whole issue is moot since one may move muktzeh for a food purpose, such as shechitah of an animal! The Magen Avraham therefore concludes that while Tosfos permitted one to move muktzeh on yom tov for a food purpose, one may not actually use the item. One would not be allowed to use the muktzeh dirt to cover blood. Likewise, a fruit that fell off a tree on yom tov is muktzeh. While one can move the fruit to access other food items, one would not be allowed to actually eat that fruit. The leniency for muktzeh on yom tov pertains only to moving the item, not using it. This major caveat is codified as practical halacha by the Mishnah Berurah (509:31). He therefore writes that wood that fell from a tree on yom tov may not be used as firewood, even to cook food. Certainly, the wood may not be used as a toy. Good thing you have your pet rock.
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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Israel Today
Getting Used to Not Knowing By Rafi Sackville
I
consider myself a law-abiding citizen. I follow the rules; I never look to break them. I was brought up in Melbourne, Australia, a law-abiding society where today its citizens have submitted, albeit begrudgingly, to the longest government Covid lockdown
in the world, stringencies the likes unseen in the U.S. or Israel. That said, the era of Covid has blurred the lines between what is and is not legal and has left most of us in a state of constant bewilderment. Covid has turned the passage of many
countries’ legislative processes into a comedy of never-ending errors: democracies that once took generations to develop their legislative powers now roll out new laws ad-hoc, many of which are driven by politics and misinformation. We had spent the summer in Far Rockaway, New York, with our children returning eight days before the start of the school year. Informed during our vacation that we’d need to go into isolation, we mentally prepared ourselves for a week of solitude, otherwise known as “climbing the walls.” Coming back into the country gave us a taste of things to come. The arrival hall at Ben Gurion Airport was dark and unwelcoming. Today, this usually vibrant space serves as a portal to the left, where, through the doors at the hallway’s end, a hangar-like area has been tented and primed for Covid testing. Once tested I turned to an official-looking chap standing at the taxi stand. “What now?” I asked him. “I’m in security,” he replied sternly in the apparent belief that he was absolved of further engagement with me. I leaned in towards him and quipped, “Even if you don’t want to answer, it doesn’t hurt to smile.” He tried hard but couldn’t resist a smile. A citizen behind him said, “It’s like the game of Monopoly; by arriving from overseas you just picked up
a “Go to Jail” card which sends you home for a week, or something like that.” I asked him what he meant by “something like that.” “Just wait. You’ll see.” His use of metaphor was rather quirky, for he then asked me if I’d ever had an eye test which makes the world look blurry. I told him I had. “Well, it’s something like that.” Being an abiding citizen…yada, yada, we went home. While in New York, I called the rav of our shul in Ma’alot to ask him whether I should risk turning up for minyanim during the seven days of isolation. I’d turn off my phone so I couldn’t be tracked. His answer was exquisite; he told me he didn’t recommend the encouragement of moral delinquency. So I found someone to say Kaddish for me and together with my wife entered the small confines of our apartment, where we were to wait seven days before our next Covid test. My friend Noam organized a couple of evening street minyanim for me so I could say Kaddish. The gathered men below my balcony replied amen to my Kaddish. I now know how Juliet felt while Romeo was swooned below her window. Two days later, we got the first of two texts and emails from the Covid testing service and the Ministry of Health. The former informed us we had tested negative at the airport. The latter related that we were mandated to remain at home for fourteen days, not seven. Whaaat?! I’d been told seven days. What on earth did
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Did I forget to tell you that Covid inspectors are all over the place? Another friend’s son came back from overseas and was sleeping soundly the following morning. He was awoken by an inspector wielding a photo of him for identification and a warning that
I asked him. “Not at all,” he said. I listened his slightly confusing explanation and then thought to myself, “Well…now…I dunno!” On the seventh day of our isolation, we went to be tested again. While
What that means is one has to rely either on being brazenly Israeli or on one’s own circle of acquaintances.
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Rafi Sackville, formerly of Cedarhurst, teaches in Ort Maalot in Western Galil.
A
driving home, I told my wife that I was taking a detour to our health clinic for a booster shot. No, we were not supposed to be getting it until we’d tested negative, but I really didn’t care. Eli, the nurse at our health clinic, gave us our booster shot without any questions. He then printed out a page of
O
he shouldn’t wander away from his home. We waited for a knock on the door that never came. But that isn’t surprising because our family doctor informed us that they don’t do inspections on the isolated anymore. “So I could’ve gone to shul, then?”
answers to questions he never asked us. One question asked if I worked in education. Eli wrote, “No.” So much for 37 years a teacher. The following morning at 10:00 I got two more text messages. The first informed me that my Covid test after isolation was negative. Anyone will tell you that means I’m allowed back out into the community. Yay for that. The second message read, “Despite testing negative, you must self-isolate for another seven days.” I was sick and tired of asking friends or perusing websites on the matter. I left the house and went straight back to school. I wonder where Eli thinks I’m employed. Now that I’m back to normal, you may want to ask me if in hindsight the measures I took after testing negative were correct. All I can say is…I dunno!
!
this mean? I contacted a friend who returned home a day before us. Before repeating the phrase “I don’t know,” he rattled off a list of tests one could do: “There’s an AID genomics where you get results in one day, a three-hour test, a rapid antigen test, but it isn’t recognized for the purpose of letting you out of isolation.” Then he said, “But…I dunno!” I told him that was a lot of information for “I dunno,” to which he replied that it has gotten to a point where having more information is not in and of itself meaningful because no one knows the rules anymore. “But for sure you’re allowed out after seven days,” he assured me. He’s right. The government has two separate websites for Covid that are regularly inconsistent with each other. Oftentimes, they’re lagging behind with updates. What that means is one has to rely either on being brazenly Israeli or on one’s own circle of acquaintances.
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Is the Person Sitting Next to You on Your Flight Really a Yeshiva Bochur? How Undercover Agents are Protecting the Skies BY TZVI LEFF
On
September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers boarded four domestic U.S. flights departing from three airports along the East Coast. Approximately a half-hour after lift-off, the al-Qaeda terrorists rushed the cockpits, easily overpowering the respective flight crews and taking control of the aircraft. The tragic results are well-known. The hijackers piloted two of the passenger jets into the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, causing a massive explosion that eventually toppled the gleaming skyscrapers and killed 2,605 Americans. A little over an hour later, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon’s outermost ring, incinerating all passengers aboard along with another 54 soldiers. Flight 93, the final plane still in the air, was famously brought down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers heroically decided to rush the cockpit. As the sun set on the infamous day, 2,996 Americans had perished. The world was forever changed. Authorities tasked with investigating the deadly attack were astonished at the relative ease with which the terrorists managed to gain control over the aircraft. As highlighted in the ensuing 9/11 Commission Report, the jihadis had been armed with only boxcutters and an assortment of crude knives. All 19 terrorists had faced little resistance commandeering the airplanes despite being relatively lightly armed. The cockpits were not hardened and the pilots were unarmed; with the exception of Flight 93, none of the hijackers had faced any resistance from either flight crew or passengers. “We do not know exactly how the hijackers gained access to the cockpit. FAA rules required that the doors remain closed and locked during flight. Some speculated that they had ‘jammed their way’ in,” stated the 9/11 Commission Report. “Perhaps the terrorists stabbed the flight attendants to get a cockpit key, to force one of them to open the cockpit door, or to lure the captain or first officer out of the cockpit.” Thirteen months later, an El Al flight was readying for its final descent to Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport when Tawfiq Fukra rushed the cockpit. Brandishing a knife he had smug-
gled aboard hidden in his belt, the 23-year-old Israeli Arab screamed about the downtrodden Palestinian nation as he ran down the aisle. But before he could make it to the first-class cabin, two undercover security guards sprang into action. Drawing the small pistols they had concealed throughout the flight, they wrestled Fukra to the ground and slapped handcuffs on him; the entire episode had taken less than 20 seconds. Fukra later told interrogators that he had hoped to hijack the airplane. Inspired by the events on 9/11, the Islamist had hoped to fly the jet into Tel Aviv’s Azrieli Towers to raise awareness for the Palestinian cause. But, unlike on 9/11, no one was hurt thanks to the quick-thinking actions of Israel’s elite undercover sky marshals. Commonly freshly-demobilized soldiers from IDF special forces units, these security guards train endlessly for this exact scenario: stopping an in-progress hijacking attempt and preventing terrorists from gaining control of the aircraft.
Israel’s
entire air marshal program is shrouded in secrecy. Virtually nothing is known about the undercover security guards, and active members are forbidden from being photographed, from having social media accounts, and from revealing the true nature of their job to friends and family. This unit of airborne commandos is overseen by the Shin Bet internal security agency and epitomizes the Shabak’s motto of being “The Unseen Shield.” Despite years of requests, no Israeli television program has ever been granted a behind-the-scenes look at the State Aviation Security Framework, and members both current and former are loath to interview. Israeli sky marshals are widely viewed as the world’s most elite cadre in aviation security and graduate from the most difficult and challenging training course Israel has to offer. Their intensive training, which gives them mastery in Krav Maga, firearms and undercover work, is a key reason why only one Israeli aircraft has ever been hijacked in the
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country’s 73-year-history. “We’re the top of the top when it comes to this. When I was there, our unit trained the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, we trained the French – we’re the best of the best when it comes to air marshals,” says Jake [name has been changed], a 29-year-old who served as an undercover sky marshal for three years. Immigrating to Israel at the age of 19, Jake joined the Shin Bet after completing his military service in the IDF’s elite Golani Brigade and today runs a martial arts school in Canada. The decision to place undercover security guards on every flight operated by Israeli airlines came in the late 1960s. At the time, Palestinian terror organizations had turned to international terrorism in their battle against Israel, hijacking a slew of flights in places such as Athens, Thailand, and London. While these flights were Israel-bound, they were not operated by Israeli carriers. Upon obtaining control of the planes, groups such as Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) demanded that Israel release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages. The hijackings would turn into a media circus, providing the Palestinians with worldwide press coverage and catapulting their cause to the world stage. Matters came to a head in 1968 when four PFLP members forcibly commandeered El Al flight 426, en route from Rome to Tel Aviv, and diverted it to Algeria. Israel was forced to free 24 terrorists in order to ensure the safety of the hostages. The episode left Israel’s defense leadership red-faced. Humiliated at being forced to release convicted murderers, Prime Minister Golda Meir ordered that the Shin Bet internal security service begin putting undercover agents on all Israeli aircraft. However, the new arrangement soon began causing problems. Back then, a small and covert agency, the Shin Bet did not have enough manpower to keep putting trained
intelligence officers on international flights. In order to effectively protect Israeli aircraft while ensuring that other day-to-day operations continued as planned, the Shin Bet created a special unit dedicated solely to securing jet planes. The State Aviation Security Framework was born.
The
Shin Bet has over 10 different units that deal with security, from protecting the prime minister and the head of the opposition to securing embassies and international delegations. Yet no one else is as well trained as Israel’s sky marshals. The course that the sky marshals must undergo is the longest and most demanding the Shin Bet has to offer; the grueling four-month regimen includes hand-to-hand combat, operating various types of firearms, and the art of going undercover. Israel’s sky-marshal training course takes place in a classified facility in the center of the country. There, aspiring marshals are taught the ins and outs of aviation security, practicing from morning until night, six days a week, on a full-size passenger aircraft designated for this purpose. Trainees are monitored closely by a team of instructors and psychologists, who put them through frequent tests. No one is placed on an aircraft before passing the final exam, which includes hand-to-hand combat, simulated hijackings and shooting so intense that trainee marshals find it difficult to sleep in the days leading up to it. Special focus is spent on mastering Krav Maga, Israel’s homegrown self-defense and fighting system that is renowned for its aggressiveness and brutality. Often, wouldbe operators are forced to drop out after suffering broken limbs during a punishing training session. The relentless training regimen is designed for one goal: teaching sky marshals to intervene and prevent a hijacking in progress. Every second is crucial; hesitation can make the difference between an international incident that would see thousands of terrorists freed and safely landing the airplane without anyone hurt.
No one is placed on an aircraft before passing the final exam, which includes hand-to-hand combat, simulated hijackings and shooting so intense that trainee marshals find it difficult to sleep in the days leading up to it.
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Not only will unarmed civilians stand between a marshal and a hijacker, one stray bullet could shatter the fuselage and cause the plane to crash.
Even beginning the course means passing an intensive recruitment process lasting the better part of a year, followed by successfully obtaining a high-level security clearance. Military service in a tier-1 commando unit does not guarantee graduation. “Whatever you learn in the military is kind of irrelevant. The skills you learn in the army won’t help you,” asserts Jake. “We had guys from the Shayetet 13 [naval commandos similar to NAVY Seals] who knew how to shoot underwater. But it isn’t relevant; in this course, everyone starts from zero. “We had four people who got cut,” he adds. “One was an officer in the Yahalom engineering special forces unit, another was in Duvdevan [a counterterror unit], and the third was in 669 [a special forces search and rescue unit].” A key reason for the intensive training is due to the fact that sky marshals must overcome unique challenges other security guards aren’t made to deal with. The cramped aircraft demands that operators master the art of accurate and effective close quarter shooting. Not only will unarmed civilians stand between a marshal and a hijacker, one stray bullet could shatter the fuselage and cause the plane to crash. Then there’s the question of manpower; where a prime minister is surrounded by dozens of security guards and police officers, an air marshal seeking to take down a terrorist may be the lone person responsible for the lives of all those aboard. “Anything happens anywhere else, 20 people have your back. That isn’t the case here,” says Jake. “Terrorists can also use anything as a weapon, such as the serving tray for the food, there’s the forks, there’s the knives. Fighting a guy in between two seats with 300 people on board is something that no other unit has to deal with. “Most of the time you’re overseas, so you need to learn how to deal with international politics and bureaucracy,” Jake notes. “Don’t forget – in the prime minister’s personal security detail, you’re with an entire staff, be it 12 people or 24 people. Yet when you’re on a flight, you’re only a few guys.”
While
many countries place undercover security guards on flights, Israel’s program is different. Unlike their overseas counterparts, Israeli sky marshals do not work for the airline but are employed directly by the Shin Bet. On consecutive days, operators can just as easily find themselves on an El Al or Israir flight, two major Israeli airlines that are direct competitors. Israel is also unique in that it mandates armed security on every single flight, whether it be filled with Israeli Arab passengers heading to Turkey or Breslov chassidim on their way to Uman. “The Americans and the Canadians do not put people on every single flight. Israel is the only one that does that. Incoming or outgoing, there are zero exceptions,” Jake shares. While in the U.S. “about 15 percent” of flights have air marshals onboard, “in Israel, it’s 100%,” he adds. “You will never be on a flight that does not have a marshal. “I personally worked a flight…in which literally everyone was yeshiva students and children. It doesn’t matter – someone always needs to be on the plane.”
Air
marshals are commonly freshly-demobilized soldiers, usually officers and those who served
in the IDF’s most elite special forces units. For them, working 4-5 flights a week is a chance to see the world while saving up money for college. “You fly almost every single day. During the three years I was there, I visited 24 countries and that isn’t counting the ‘turnarounds’ where you stay for a few hours and fly back,” relates Jake. Working as a sky marshal is not for everyone. Operators must have the ability to go undercover, effectively melting into the crowd in order to appear as an ordinary passenger. A major advantage air marshals have over a potential hijacker is their deep familiarity with the aircraft. Knowing the plane inside and out increases a security guard’s chances of taking down a terrorist during a confrontation. The average flight is filled with items that an adversary can exploit as a weapon, from the axes used to break windows in the event of a crash to pitchers filled with boiling water in the galley. As such, sky marshals need to be capable of spending an entire flight on high alert, ready to spring into action should at the first sign of anything suspicious. They are forbidden from watching movies, reading, listening to music, or anything else that would alleviate the boredom during the long hours in the air. Every marshal develops his own methods to pass the time while remaining watchful of everything that is going on. Jake says that he would begin conversations with as many travelers as possible throughout the flight as a means to remain vigilant. “I met so many interesting people there,” Jake recounts. “When you’re sitting on the plane and starting to fall asleep or get tired, you talk to the guy next to you. And then when he gets tired, you go talk to the other guy. You just talk to people and drink coffee. “The first flight is hard,” he admits. “But after three years, you get used to it.” This is not the kind of work for someone seeking an ordinary 9-5 job. There is no such thing as a manpower shortage; every airplane must take off on time, and every Israeli flight must have armed security on board. As a result, operators must always be ready to work at a moment’s notice, frequently being summoned from vacation and family events to the airport. “You’re a slave. You work non-stop,” says Jake. “I can be sitting at home at 2 AM with my wife, and they’ll call me saying, ‘Listen, we need you to show up.’” As difficult as the lifestyle may be, the perks of the job often outweigh the challenges. “It’s great because your wife flies for free, your kids fly for free,” Jake shares. “My wife and I went to Paris, we went to Ukraine, we went to India.... If you know the flight attendants, then you’ll be bumped up to business class.”
The
next time you’re on a flight to or from Israel, take a look around. The bored yeshiva student sitting next to you may be just that, someone visiting his family in the U.S. after a year studying abroad. But he may also be a highly trained undercover air marshal, armed and waiting to jump at the first hint of trouble. “I was never recognized even once,” says Jake when asked if his cover was ever blown mid-flight. “We’re very professional. It’s almost impossible to ever know who we are.”
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
WORK WILL NEVER BE THE SAME. DO YOU EVER ASK YOURSELF: I spend most of my time at the office; where do I find room for my Yiddishkeit? Why do I feel like I live in two worlds? How do I go back to my mundane job after an uplifting Shabbos or Yomtov? Why didn’t I get that promotion over that other candidate? I’m more qualified! DON’T WORRY, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
“
The Torah was not meant to be confined to the beis midrash. It is the key to an elevated existence in the home and in the office … I urge you to study and be inspired by this wonderful sefer. RABBI MOSHE WEINBERGER, RAV, CONGREGATION AISH KODESH OF WOODMERE
COMING SOON
With FAITH AT WORK, written by Jeff Weinberg, a co-founding partner of Meridian Capital Group, you will discover that you can turn your career, profession, or business into a spiritual endeavor — ensuring that you are living and making a living the way you should be! Spiced with beautiful stories from tzaddikim throughout history and anecdotes from Jeff’s vast personal experiences and those of his colleagues, FAITH AT WORK brings a refreshing, relatable approach that will appeal to anyone who has ever sat behind an office desk or worked in the field, trying to support their family.
VISIT US ONLINE AT MOSAICAPRESS.COM Mosaica Press books are available for purchase online or at your local Jewish bookshop.
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Dating Dialogue
What Would You Do If… Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters
Dear Navidaters,
I’m embarrassed to ask this question with my name, so I hope it’s OK if I use a pseudonym. I was never a book smart girl and did really poorly in the local Bais Yaakov school I attended. I’m surrounded by siblings who
are brilliant and always did well, which tainted my reputation even more in school when teachers expected more of me. To make things short: I got through school but with a very negative experience and with teachers who always compared me to my siblings. I went to an amazing seminary for two years and did very well there. I am creative and became a successful graphic designer and started shidduchim about three years ago. Every time I’m asked for my resume I get asked if I could also give a high school reference which I choose not to provide – I refuse. I think this is the reason I’ve been set up so few times. Boys don’t often say yes to me. Can I ever get past my past as a non-academic kid? Can I get away with never sending a high-school reference? Thanks, Elisheva*
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.
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lisheva, you seem to be very worried about your reputation and resume. I hear you; with a history of frequent comparisons to your sisters and having a weak academic high school record, that’s understandable. As you mentioned, that was history. You are successful in your profession for a few years and you probably have a lot to post on your resume besides your high school references. Make sure to put contacts in your resume who will vouch for your volunteering, your hobbies, and interests. Put down people who know you in a broader community/ neighborhood/camp/organizing settings, not just institutional or educational contexts, such as neighbors, youth group leaders, and community activists. Show that you are multidimensional and talented. Not everyone is looking for an academic person; people care about middos and menchlechkeit, not your SAT scores. Life skills including communication, maturity, and resilience are very important. Try to develop a broader network for shidduchim through your other activities and interests. Go to other communities (including out-of-town cities) to meet people and shadchanim. It will grow your confidence. Find ways to share your successes with others. That being said, I do think that mention on your resume of your high school is important. It will be noticeable if it is absent. But you don’t have to give references from that school. However, since people may go back and find high school references on their own, I would suggest that a friend’s parent, neighbor, or other adult community member whom you trust be asked to call
some members of the high school administration and give them an update on your current accomplishments and career success. Let them hear what you are doing and what a swan you have become. In other words, be proactive and have people who can testify to your character and accomplishments frame your current adult attributes.
provide. Think about all the married people you know from all different types of academic backgrounds. Your SAT scores don’t trump Hashem’s ability to find you your SAT (Shidduch At The Right Time). In the meantime, feel free to send me your resume through the editor; I’d be happy to look out for you. May we hear good news this year!
The Shadchan Michelle Mond
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ou sound like a smart, accomplished, fine young woman who will find her bashert when the right one comes along. I know the process, and it is so strenuous and humbling. You are not alone in that you did not have a positive high school experience. I know many young men and women who sit and meet with me who have the same sentiments regarding high school. If you are finding the high school reference to be a hindrance from getting dates, I can offer one piece of advice. Choose one person from high school, whether it be a teacher, secretary, tutor, or mechaneches and offer her a once-a-week chessed. Tell her you are back from seminary, have some time on your hands, and would love to help out. Build a relationship through chessed and ask if you could add her to your shidduch resume as a reference. Then, voila! You will have a high-school reference. However, the problem truly might not be high school, rather Hashem fielding the wrong ones from being suggested for you; which actually makes it a bracha. When the right one comes along, he won’t even think to ask about high school because he just won’t care! He will be happy with the references you do
The Single Rivka Weinberg
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lisheva, this question made me smile, and for me it simply reiterated the idea of “the grass is not always greener on the other side.” Personally, I am an academic individual, and I have always been nervous that because of it I would be set up with nerdy, socially-off, intellectual guys. From time to time, part of me wished that I was slightly less academic, with the hopes of getting the name of a guy who was with-it and quick. So reading that you hope to get past your non-academic times is a great reminder to me that Hashem has a plan for each and every one of us – thank you for that. Now onto your question, I am having a hard time understanding why you refuse to send a high school reference. Whether you did well in high school or not has nothing to do with your personality and middos, so although the teachers may not speak to your academic skills, they will have the opportunity to discuss you as an individual. And even if your middos were not where you wish they were at that time, it’s important to keep in mind that as individuals we are constantly growing and evolving. If someone looks into you and hears that you weren’t aca-
You need to accept and love yourself first.
demic in high school and didn’t have the best middos but have worked on yourself tremendously and are thriving now, and they continue to hesitate, that’s their problem, not yours. In Oros Hateshuvah we learn that “the primary focus of teshuvah should be to rectify the present and the future. When this is accomplished, Hashem will help one rectify the past as well.” You should continue to look ahead into the bright future that awaits you and not allow your actions of the past to take control of your mind. However, in order to do that, you need to accept and love yourself first. Without this first step of self-acceptance and self-love, you cannot appropriately participate in a relationship. So although it appears to you that the high school reference is interfering with your shidduchim, maybe Hashem is giving you the opportunity to work on yourself and your self-esteem before you try to dive into caring for someone else. One of the best pieces of advice I would give to a fellow single is to take advantage of your singlehood to better yourself and cultivate the tools necessary to build a healthy and enduring relationship.
The Zaidy Dr. Jeffrey Galler
I
have not yet heard of a shidduch rejection because someone got a
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“C” in high school chemistry. Before you blame the rejections on your high school background, please ask your trusted shadchan for the reason. It might be something else, entirely. However, let’s discuss what to do if your assumption is correct, and it is your high school history that is holding you back. It’s safe to assume that no one actually wants to see your old high school report cards; what dating prospects want to see are positive character assessments from your high school principals
and guidance counselors. So, if you fear that they will give you negative character references, there is a remedy for you. Make an appointment to meet with them. Explain that your high school experience was marred by your frustration at not being able to maintain the academic excellence of your siblings. And, that even though you might not have expressed it when you were a student, you appreciate the guidance and direction that the faculty provided. Proceed to
explain to them how their guidance stayed with you and helped you excel in seminary. Show them glowing letters from your seminary teachers. And proudly explain how today, older and wiser, you are a respected and successful graphic designer. Then, volunteer to speak with, and share your experiences with, the current senior class. You can offer the students insights into a career in graphic designing. They may or may not take you up on your offer to volunteer, but they will almost certainly re-think their previous negative perceptions of you. Ask them, po-
Your SAT scores don’t trump Hashem’s ability to find you your SAT (Shidduch At The right Time).
litely and respectfully, if you can list them as references in your shidduch resume.
Pulling It All Together The Navidaters Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists
D
ear Elisheva, Thank you for writing into our panel. Your question speaks to so many readers who had all sorts of difficulties in high school and are in shidduchim. Leaving out information on a resume will leave many people raising an eyebrow. What is he/she hiding? they may wonder. It is my personal opinion and belief that honesty is always the best policy. There is no foolproof answer here, and there is always the possibility that Mr. Right may not care what is excluded from your resume, so please keep that in mind as you continue reading my response. I think that not including something as important as where you went to
high school may not serve you well moving forward in the current shidduch world, set up as it is. My other personal opinion and belief is that no one should be judged or dismissed based on their high school experience. It is ludicrous, small-minded, unjust and exclusionary with shades of Darwinism. Some of the most well-adjusted, stable and successful people I know had miserable experiences in high school for a myriad of reasons. Perhaps high school didn’t complement someone’s natural abilities and talents. This is not because a
person isn’t a student. It is because not every learning environment is appropriate for every student. And for a bad high school experience to haunt a phenomenal young woman such as yourself into her successful career path and her dating life is incredibly unfair to you and every person to whom this happens. I will say this: the right person will not care about your report cards or what your teachers from many moons ago have to say about you. The right person will look at who you are now. He and his family will take into account all of your accomplishments! Not all of us have a “perfect” track record. Don’t let this system have you believing that you are less than or unworthy! People who will judge you based on your past aren’t worth your breath, Eli-
sheva. My personal advice (to be thought over and taken or discarded as ultimately you have to do what feels right for you!) is to be honest and include your high school on your resume. If you’d like, you can call one of the warmer, personable teachers you had, asking for a few moments of her time. Explain your situation. Ask if you can use her as a personal reference. Believe me when I tell you that you are not the first or the last former student to make a phone call like this. It is my hope that this hardship will open the door to a beautiful, growth-oriented, caring, empathic and special soul (your zivug) to enter your life. I do believe that honesty is the best policy. Best of luck with your decision! Sincerely, Jennifer
Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and certified trauma healing life coach, as well as a dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in private practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. She also teaches a psychology course at Touro College. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 718-908-0512. Visit www.thenavidaters.com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email JenniferMannLCSW@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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Dr. Deb
Yom Kippur is About Letting Go By Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.
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hen I was a kid, I did not like Yom Kippur. I already felt badly enough about myself and didn’t need a whole day to rub in how really awful I was. Somehow, over the years, I made peace with Yom Kippur. It was just something you had to do, so I did it. I liked some of the tunes, too, and it was always a pleasure to break the fast at the end. That became a big game of how well we endured our privations. But that’s not what Yom Kippur really is about after all. It suddenly hit me why it’s called “Shabbos Shabbosim.” It’s really about letting go. Shabbos is just that, too. You have one day when you can’t do any work so you’re reminded G-d runs the world. OK, what else is new? We knew that. But I was lying in bed still recuperating from my bout with Covid, marveling at how that disease had sapped out every ounce of my energy. I couldn’t even stand up without feeling lightheaded. Now that I was slowly regaining my strength back, it was so clear to me that the awful feeling that I had to go sit down when I’d just gotten up was just because of Covid. And now that I was beginning to feel like myself, I started to worry. Of course. I’m Jewish, right? I was worrying about the work I’d missed and the people I didn’t see. And what would be going forward? Had I fallen so far behind that I can’t help my children? Did my clients backslide while I’d dropped them? I reminded myself again that G-d runs the world. Then I remembered that the entire point of these Yomim Noraim – well, not the entire point but a big piece of the point – is that Hashem decides right then how much we will make, how many people we will help, how successful we will be in our goals. And I asked myself, I mean, it was
a legitimate question: Can I really let go? Can I really, like in the depth of my bones, believe this? Can I totally give up worrying after all? That was my question. I realized that it is absolutely not so easy to do. You’d think it would be, given that every week on Shabbos, we practice doing exactly that. We’re forced to forget our responsibilities, at least for a short while, 25 quick hours. But by Yom Kippur, not only do we have to stop worrying, but we literally accept that Hashem is totally deciding our future and we can’t do anything about it. Except, of course, daven and give tzedakah. Unlike Shabbos, on Yom Kippur our entire fate is figured out for us, and there we are – worrying about it. But that’s the thing, exactly. That’s exactly what we are not supposed to do. Yom Kippur is not about quaking in your boots because of what is being planned for us Above. The opposite. It is supposed to – I realized in my aha moment – bring an inner serenity. Precisely because we can’t do anything about it, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. It was never meant to torture us. It was meant to relax us from all our burdens. If G-d does run
the world after all, and we get that on a deep level, then there are no worries left to have. He’s taken care of it for us. Hold up. What about fasting all day? And standing on your feet a lot of the day, davening? How is that inherently relaxing? Well, let’s look at Shabbos. We’re supposed to give up our mundane worries then too, right? But let’s face it, I’m as guilty as the next person when it comes to niggling little thoughts in the back of my mind about what I need to do directly after Shabbos is over. Exactly how much break from the cares of the world do we really give ourselves? But Yom Kippur won’t let us off the hook. It insists we pay attention to the fact that we are most definitely not in charge here. We can orchestrate and plan to our hearts’ content, but that’s all just a joke on us. We realize the truth when we spend a day fasting – giving up – and on our feet addressing the Ribbono Shel Olam. It forces us to let go. It’s like this: We are always in G-d’s Hands. But do we see that? Do we realize it? Do we feel it? There’s a difference between knowing something intellectually and experiencing
it in your bones. So Hashem helps us out. He gives us a day to know it. You can’t stand up davening all day on an empty stomach and not know it. Unless you’re really not paying attention (and that would be a big waste, wouldn’t it?), So it turns out that Yom Kippur is a major gift, reminding us to let go of our worries because having them does us no good anyway. He really is in charge after all, and we can accept what comes with equanimity. Not so fast, Dr. Deb. That does not explain why we stand there all day beating our breasts. True. Here’s the scoop: If there’s no point to spend even 10 seconds worrying about parnassa, health, and how our life will go, what’s left? The answer is really simple: What’s left is how we choose to live it. And we do have lots of choices after all. We could continue to yell at our spouses, blame our kids, avoid our in-laws, and do all the things that our list of aveiros says not to do. Or we could decide once and for all that we do need help with our tempers, our bad mood, our depression, our tendency to make things someone else’s fault, our proclivity to misjudge people, and the weight we carry on our shoulders that everyone else sees us wearing. That’s what all that breast-beating is about. An opportunity to examine our child parts that sometimes hijack us and decide once and for all that we’d rather learn how to stay in Self more often and get back into it more quickly when we’ve been hijacked. All given to us on a silver platter called Yom Kippur. What a fine day it is.
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
How to Navigate the High Holidays By Aliza Beer MS, RD, CDN
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t’s that time of year again! The holidays are here, and much preparation is needed. Yom tov can be difficult for people trying to lose or maintain their weight since it involves a lot of late-night eating and significant temptations. During a regular week, it is easier to keep indulgences to a minimum because we are busy with our daily lives and are focused on our goals. During the holiday season, food is on everybody’s minds. We typically have multiple courses each meal, as well as new and unusual foods that symbolize this special time. Over the holiday season, we will be washing for bread 23 times! This is not the norm for a regular week for anybody, regardless of their health goals. I assure you that with my tips, as well as some willpower, the holidays won’t ruin your healthy-eating progress. Enjoy this festive time surrounded by great food, family, and friends. 1. Have a proper breakfast. I cannot stress enough the importance of eating a proper breakfast on yom tov morning. Understandably, the morning is hectic as we are often rushing to get ready for shul or preparing the food for the lunch meal. However, if you don’t eat, you will show up to your meal famished. This can lead you to overeat and/or make the wrong choices. Instead, plan ahead and buy yogurt, cook some hardboiled eggs in advance, or make some egg muffins so that you have quick and easy breakfast options for those busy mornings. Treat yom tov day like a regular day: have breakfast, eat lunch, have an afternoon snack, and dinner. If you keep to your usu-
al routine, your body will work more efficiently. 2. Find an alternative to challah. We will need to wash 23 times throughout the holidays! Although challah is delicious, and there is certainly room for it in a healthy lifestyle, eating this much bread is not very good for you. The refined carbohydrates will make you feel sluggish and will overwhelm your digestive system. My recommendation is to choose one or two meals where you will have a slice of challah (ideally day meals) and choose to wash on spelt or whole wheat matzah for the others. If you can, maybe experiment with a wholewheat or spelt recipe for the times you choose to have a slice of challah. Stick to a slice and remember that challah isn’t going anywhere and that you can have it next week.
3. Start your meal with a soup or salad. Instead of preparing a heavy meat appetizer, make a soup or a salad. On yom tov we tend to serve multiple courses of food. However, you don’t normally eat a three-course meal on a typical Tuesday or Wednesday. This can be a shock to the digestive system and may leave you with some discomfort. To save room for your delicious main course, keep the appetizer small and light. 4. Designate dessert. The cake, cookies, and tarts can be very tempting. Instead of restricting yourself, choose a meal (ideally a day meal when your body can work to burn it off) to have a piece of dessert. This will ensure you don’t feel the need to overindulge in desserts and will make sure your progress isn’t affected. If you can, try to choose a healthier dessert made with unrefined flour
and a natural sweetener. For the other meals, stick to fresh fruits or compotes. You can even make baked apples by simply baking apples sprinkled with cinnamon covered in the oven with a little water at 350°F until soft. 5. Plates and portion sizes. It is important to be cognizant of your portion sizes. It can be tempting to pile up your plate with all the foods you are interested in trying. However, eating too much will cause your stomach to hurt and your digestive system to be overwhelmed. Instead, keep protein portions the size of a fist and choose to fill up your plate with salad or non-starchy vegetables. If you want to sample every dish, you can do that by taking small amounts of each food and making sure you stick to one plate. Regulating portions can have a very huge impact on your weight and progress throughout yom tov. A tip I recommend to my clients is to assemble a plate of the foods you desire and don’t go back for seconds. Oftentimes, when we keep adding and adding to our plates, it is hard to keep track of how much we’re eating. You should be able to fit all of your food on one plate. If you can’t fit all of your food onto one plate, then you are taking too much food. 6. Don’t pick at foods. Sometimes, we pick at different foods and we don’t realize how much we’re eating. Mindlessly eating is when you eat while your brain is distracted and not aware of what or how much food you are consuming. Your brain can think you barely ate anything, when in reality you consumed 1,000 calories! A big factor in fullness and satiety is sitting down and focusing on the food
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you are eating. It can be tempting, especially while cooking, to want to taste the food. Instead, when it is mealtime, make yourself a plate and sit and eat it. If you’re pressed for time and cannot sit down for a meal, make sure you have cut-up cucumbers, jicama, peppers, or sugar-free candies to snack on while you’re cooking. Utilizing these tips can save you hundreds of calories from mindlessly eating. 7. Keep active. Whether it be a pre-holiday run or a walk on yom tov, make sure to keep moving. There is often time between lunch and dinner when you can go out for a nice walk. Weather permitting, try your best to go walking every day of yom tov. If it is raining, try to walk up and down your steps a couple of times or hula hoop for 15 minutes. You can also do a couple of squats or planks – anything to keep you moving. Staying physically active will help with digestion and will keep your metabolism activated, both very important for weight management. 8. Planning is everything. Whether it is preparing breakfast in advance or choosing when you will have lean proteins and when you will have red meat, it is best to go into the holiday with a plan. If you know that you’re going to have a slice of challah at this meal and a piece of dessert at another meal, you’ll have what to look forward to and you won’t feel deprived. Having a plan will diminish any stress about food, and you can now relax and enjoy the holiday. 9. Focus on what you can have and not what you can’t. Oftentimes, it can be difficult for people trying to manage their weight to not feel deprived of their favorite foods. Instead of thinking to maintain your progress you cannot have this, think about what you can eat to help you feel your absolute best. Whether it be finding a healthier alternative to your favorite dessert or cutting out some sugar in your recipes, you can almost always find a better option. If you love fried chicken, think about how you can replicate it and make it healthier. Find a healthy popsicle to have for a dessert or bake your favorite fruits with some cinnamon and lemon zest. Let’s celebrate the never-ending list of foods you can enjoy instead of focusing on
the ones that may impede your goals for the time being. 10. Have a pre-yom tov meal. On yom tov night, we often find ourselves
liflower. Stick to salads, non-starchy vegetables, or vegetables soufflés as your side dish. There are so many different ways to prepare non-starchy
A big factor in fullness and satiety is sitting down and focusing on the food you are eating.
sitting down for dinner past 8pm or 9 pm. If your usual dinner time is at 6pm or 7pm, this can leave you ravenous. When we’re super hungry, often our judgment is impaired and we eat whatever we see without thinking. To avoid this, sit down before yom tov starts and have a bowl of soup and a piece of chicken. This will ensure that you come to the meal already satiated and will help you make better choices. 11. Stay well-hydrated. Not only is proper hydration a key component of every day health, it can be very helpful when it comes to weight management. Oftentimes, we can mistake dehydration with hunger, and this can lead to unnecessary eating. Try to drink a cup or two of water before your yom tov meal because it will help you go into the meal feeling less hungry. Also make sure to drink throughout the meal. 12. Eat slowly. Often, when we get to the meal, all we want to do is eat. But it takes the brain 20 minutes to receive the signal from the stomach that it’s being fed, so try to take it slow. Chew your food properly, take a drink of water, and put your fork down a couple of times. This will allow you to feel fuller faster and will prevent you from eating to the point of uncomfortable fullness. The slower you eat a meal, the less food you end up eating in that meal. 13. Watch your carb intake. If you are going to be eating a serving of challah or matzah, count that as your carb for the meal. If that’s the case, try to avoid starchy side dishes like potatoes, quinoa, or rice. Instead, substitute rice with cauliflower rice, pasta with zucchini noodles, and mashed potatoes with mashed cau-
vegetables that can be both filling and tasty! Yom tov is a special time when you are surrounded by family, friends, and fantastic food. If you commence yom tov feeling prepared and driven to reach your goals, it will not be difficult to make healthy choices. Eating a nutritious breakfast, seeking a challah alternative, being mindful of portion sizes, staying active, and
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being prepared with your food are just a few ways you can ensure you will maintain your progress over the holidays. Get your family involved and plan a walk each afternoon and encourage them to stay moving. If you make certain not to come to the meals famished and choose when to have a mindful indulgence, you are set up for a successful yom tov. Focus on being with your family and friends and remember that after the holidays are over, you will be back to your routine. Wishing all of my readers and clients a kesivah v’chasimah tova!
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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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Parenting Pearls
Making Yom Kippur Meaningful By Sara Rayvych, MSEd
M
y husband, dressed in his kittel, machzor in hand, walks off to shul. He will have the momentum of the kehilla and the traditional, soulful tunes to guide him through the full-day tefillos on Yom Kippur. All things going well, many of us will spend the day taking care of little ones at home or at the park while trying to get a tiny portion of the davening said in-between kids crying, needing our attention or otherwise keeping us busy. We should take a few moments to thank Hashem for the little ones taking our time away from davening, but we also may feel challenged trying to feel the seriousness of the day while balancing our children’s needs.
Beat the Yom Kippur Rush One of my favorite Elul ideas is “do teshuva now and beat the Yom Kippur rush.” It’s excellent advice. You are unlikely to get the opportunity to focus on teshuva the way you’d like to if you have kids running around your legs and jumping on your back. Try to take a few minutes for quiet introspection beforehand and don’t wait until Yom Kippur is here and you’re distracted. There is no down-
side to this method that I can think of. Worse case scenario, if you do find some quiet time on Yom Kippur, you can still do a little more teshuva or introspection; you’re unlikely to exceed a maximum quota. There are excellent pamphlets on Viduy that many will find helpful to review before Yom Kippur and help them get focused appropriately. They’re also wonderful to use on the day itself to make whatever time you get to daven that much more meaningful.
Fast First I’ve always been taught that fasting is more important than davening. Be honest with yourself about what you can do and what your limits are that won’t risk your fast. Conserve your energy throughout the day by making everything as easy as possible. Rest whenever you can even if it just means feet up on the couch while the kids play next to you. It goes without saying that pregnant and nursing mothers should speak to their doctor and rav well in advance of the fast if they have any questions about their ability to fast safely. This actually applies to anyone with any type of medical concerns.
You are not being smart if you risk your safety, and getting information early gives you the opportunity to make any necessary arrangements. Also, begin drinking extra water starting days before the fast. Many people wait until Erev Yom Kippur to begin upping their hydration and that’s often too late. Certain fruits and other foods are good for fasting. I’ve heard rumors about grapes and watermelon being good for before a fast but that’s hearsay; ask a professional what you can do to prepare your body prior to the big day. I personally feel that certain foods were better for me before a fast but I’m neither a doctor nor a nutritionist and this is beyond my official expertise.
Prepare Early You want to make things as easy as possible for yourself while you’re fasting. Try to plan what you can do before to make things easier on the day itself. Clothes can be set out ahead of the fast. Don’t forget underwear, tzitzis and yarmulkes (for boys), socks and shoes. For some reason, those items in particular are never around when you need them. Machzorim, adult and children’s books about Yom Kippur and any sim-
ilar items can be found and set aside in advance, as well. As a side point, I have often set out on the table, on the night before, books appropriate for the day. This allows the children to come down first thing in the morning, begin to read and get tuned into the holiness of the day. Many people, like myself, will find that there are relevant books on the meaning or themes of the day that help them get into “Yom Kippur mode.” Find them in your house, purchase or borrow from a friend whatever items you feel will give you a way to tune yourself into the holiness of the day despite whatever insanity surrounds you. Know where they are because you are unlikely to have the time and peace of mind to search for them while you’re fasting. Prepare what you can for the kids beforehand. Sandwiches can be premade, and snacks can often be prepacked. There’s no reason for you to exert yourself extra on Yom Kippur itself when you can have it done prior. You can even have everything labeled, which will allow kids to serve themselves so you can take a few extra minutes to rest or just conserve your energy. I’ve often found that having easy, self-service meals and
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
plenty of accessible snacks helps. You may want to avoid messy items like popcorn if you will feel compelled to clean up on Yom Kippur itself. Don’t clean anything major on Yom Kippur that can wait until afterwards. Find out which tefillos are most important to say and mark them in your machzor. As soon as you have a few moments (somewhat) to yourself, you’ll be able to get right to the page you’re looking for. This, too, will help you maximize whatever time you have.
Shul I’ve found it’s really a personal decision whether or not those with little ones attend shul. I’ve heard of various arrangements being made, and I will just mention a few of them here. I am merely giving over various ways parents have dealt with the issue of shul davening on Yom Kippur. I am not giving my personal haskama on any particular arrangement, simply acknowledging some of the options. Many, like myself, don’t attend shul and either stay home or visit a friend with similarly-aged children. Others will get a babysitter to watch their little ones while they attend shul. Many congregations have groups for young children that parents can avail themselves of. I’ve even heard of some creative women who will share the cost of a seat and take turns watching each other’s children while the other attends shul. This way, each mother has the opportunity to make an appearance during the portion of davening most meaningful to her. Now here is where I will give my personal thoughts on the issue of Yom Kippur shul davening. It is not my intention to ruffle any feathers, or kittels, before such a holy day (or ever) but I will share my humble thoughts on children attending shul. Having children in shul is a major source of pride. It almost feels like you are passing on the mesora when you have your children sitting next to you during tefillos, particularly the exceptionally holy ones of Yom Kippur. That being acknowledged, if your child isn’t capable of sitting in shul quietly, it can be disturbing to the other mispallelim. It’s unfair to others if your child is loud, walking
around, or in any other way distracting the congregation. Yom Kippur is a serious and emotional time for many, and it can be painful to be disturbed during the prayers. Imagine how it feels for someone to be davening for a much-awaited pregnancy
personality dependent, too. Pay attention to their cues and remove them when they’re no longer able to be there. It’s not only unfair to others but it’s unfair to your child, too. I prefer to think of it as a privilege for a child to be in shul and not some-
Decide in advance how much time you feel each child can sit in shul and still act appropriately.
or for healing for a sick child and to then be disrupted during their tefillos by a rambunctious little one. As cute as young children can be, they don’t always belong everywhere. The same goes for babies; they cry and are adorable but they can distract during davening. Conversely, it’s unfair and unreasonable to a child to expect them to sit still for an extended period of time if they’re not emotionally or developmentally ready for it. Children are meant to be active and moving around; it’s normal and healthy. Many teachers incorporate movement into their classroom time for this very reason. You don’t want to put your child in the position that you’re forcing them to do what’s impossible for them. Certainly, you don’t want to turn the davening into a negative experience. It can be beautiful to bring your children to shul, and it can be a powerful educational moment for them, as well. Seeing the tears and emotions of the heartfelt prayers can have a lifelong, lasting impact on their innocent, impressionable souls. With that in mind, decide in advance how much time you feel each child can sit in shul and still act appropriately. You may choose to only bring them in for a limited amount of time. It’s a long day of davening, and there is plenty of time to give them shorter “bursts” of time in shul rather than one long session, should that be what best suits their needs. While older children can often sit longer than younger children, a lot of it is
thing they need to be forced into at a young age. Gauge your child’s abilities and use that as your guide. As a related side point, we’ve gifted each child a set of machzorim with their name on them as a gift for their first yomim noraim after, or just before, their bar/ bas mitzvah. In this small way, we
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hoped to encourage them to have a feeling of respect for their tefillos. This is a special time, and every member of the family should have the opportunity to feel it, each in their own way. With a little foresight, Yom Kippur can be a day we gain meaning from every day of the year. May all of our tefillos be answered for the good, for all of us and all of klal Yisroel. On a personal note, if I have hurt anyone’s feelings with any of my articles then it was unintentional and I am truly sorry. Please feel free to email me if there is anything you want me to address. I try to be careful but anything written or said publicly to a wide audience comes with risks.
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
Hobbying Along By Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz
T
he dining room table was covered with punches, stamps, and embellishments when the young woman walked in for her appointment. Esther was a kallah who had come to discuss things with a rebbetzin in the community and was surprised to find an array of scrapbooking materials in use for a work in progress. Scrapbooking, she learned, was a relaxing enjoyable past time for this seminary teacher. Beyond a creative outlet, it yielded the additional bonus of creating memories of their lives for her adult children. They would often ask her what she was making for them and which event she was commemorating with decorative papers, stickers, and borders. Middle age seems to be a time for new hobbies. There is excitement in the experience of indulging in a first time hobby or hobbies that are new for us. Many of us had neither the time nor the resources to explore our interests, latent or obvious talents in a sustained manner. Yes, we were interested and spent a little effort but with kids, careers, and navigating family life, our own wants were always subsumed under everyone else’s needs. Now with some leisure and some choices about time management, many of us can finally follow our inclinations. We weren’t brought up on the mantra that we need time and space for ourselves. How many of us carved out desks and space for ourselves before we finally redid our kitchens and squeezed in a small dedicated area for correspondence and papers? How many of us gave ourselves private time? Did we know the term self-care? We mistook time for ourselves as an indulgence instead of a need. We didn’t know from girls’ night out or going for a manicure because it makes us feel pampered. We felt guilty about taking time and money
away from everyone else who was high up on the priority list – husband and kids. After all, that was our tafkid and no one said anything about nurturing ourselves during our seminary years. It was all about nurturing other people, future doros and being an eizer kenegdo. Now it’s years and another generation later. We’ve learned some psychology. We know that we have to care for the caregiver (that’s us, girls!), and we’re more mindful of ourselves and our needs. The mantra of our children and the literature seems to be: you’ll be a better mother if you take care of yourself. You’ll be a better spouse if you air out. You’ll be a more balanced person if you enjoy without guilt. Guilt has become the enemy of modern maturity. Got to do everything and not feel guilty. So it’s time to bring on hobbies and new interests. Jung, the psychoanalyst who was a student of Freud, makes the point that during the second half of life people tend to develop their latent skills. During the first half of life, the dominant skills, the obvious talents, are the ones we choose to develop. Espe-
cially in our careers and life choices, early on we go for what comes naturally and easily to us. However, with the confidence and past experience of developing our obvious gi�s, we are ready to venture into uncharted waters and try out those things that didn’t come so easily to us. The risk of not succeeding is less frightening at this point, and we’re eager to take on a challenge that we choose. So we may want to try something new, break out of our old job titles, styles, and way of spending our free time. There is nothing as empowering as working at something new and making it our own. By investing real effort into something novel, we exercise our brains and prove to ourselves that they still work. Mastery gives us ownership, and at this stage of our lives, owning ability, having an accomplishment, is better therapy for our emotional ills than shopping or chocolate. We want to move ahead, do something atypical, break out in new areas and find new aspects to ourselves and our personalities. Besides new technical skills and aptitudes, we find new personal skills, too. We may become more social, more open, and more collabo-
rative during the process of moving forward in a new stage of life. Sometimes, the hobby is clearly connected with obvious manifestations such as drawing, sports, decorating, gardening, and music. For others, it’s an interest in something less tangible and without a product to show our husbands, kids, and friends. It may be a spiritual need and wanting to develop a stronger relationship to Hashem. Some people want time to deepen their knowledge in Torah and not just go to shiurim and be passive but to develop textual skills that they may never have acquired earlier. Others may want to take an ulpan or express themselves through writing and creating a family history. Drying and arranging flowers was fun for me a few years ago. It gave untalented me the opportunity to create beauty without having artistic talent. I used silica to preserve flowers, with and without my microwave. Attractive vases and containers to hold the arrangements were fun to collect. This hobby ultimately proved very consuming of time and space and was mess-producing. My artistic assistant got married and moved out. Finally, it just didn’t do it for me anymore. I didn’t get enough pleasure or therapy out of it. A while later, I wanted to see if I could write creatively. Forming a writing group was a way to make sure I would actually write. I guessed that the constructive input of fellow writers and the momentum of a regular group would motivate me to keep at the effort. It worked. I worked hard, and I started getting published. This avocation is yielding several rewards including the joy of success, self-expression, and a greater range of style. However, it is no longer hard and it’s not novel. The challenge is there but it’s not very intense. Writing is now another thing I do.
The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
I made a decision during my time of clarity that in my second half of life I was going to allocate more time to relationships. Recognizing that this takes a greater commitment of time than I had had in the past, I made emailing and spending time with people a regular event in my schedule. These relationships were not based on carpooling, kids in the same class, or being in the same neighborhoods. They came together because of follow up on interesting conversations that entailed sharing and commonalities in outlook. Rapport grew with new and old associates because I invested in carving out the time for conversations, visits, and walks to a shiur. Cultivating new relationships is a fine hobby for midlife. It’s sustaining and creative to connect to new people in different ways. It is fun and always new even though it’s not a challenge I have to work at. My collection is not an assemblage of porcelain or fine minia-
tures or teaspoons. I collect friends for pleasure. I nourish myself with new ideas and viewpoints they share from their experiences and wisdom. To date, that’s my favorite hobby.
can accomplish something in a new area. I do know that part of the pleasure of a hobby is the enjoyment of the process, regardless of mastery.
With the confidence and past experience of developing our obvious gifts, we are ready to venture into uncharted waters.
Unlike other hobbies, it doesn’t lose novelty or challenge. It is constantly changing. Other hobbies have lost their appeal after they lost their novelty. Part of the appeal of a hobby for me is in the challenge of mastery. It is my need, perhaps, to pit myself against a question of whether I
The joy of collecting that other people have, the pleasure they take in tracking down items, and going to auctions, is not mine. But I do appreciate the process of planting, nurturing, and waiting for the outcome. Gardening for me is enjoyable even though my skills are not impressive. It’s the nurturing that
s t ay c a t I o n s
.
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appeals and so the process works well for me. I can enjoy the steps involved even if I am not mastering it, and I have regular failures and mishaps. Maybe I need a variety of interests that do different things for different parts of me. And perhaps that is the joy of hobbies in midlife. They serve a variety of functions for the self aware. They can soothe, empower, keep us sharp, and provide new challenges at a time when we have exhausted the old ones. They can help us acquire new skills, careers, and outlets for our mature competencies. They help us enjoy the process. As long as we are mindful of what hobbies do for us and use them accordingly, we are growing doers and not merely indulging in dalliances to use our time.
Join the conversation and email list of JWOW! by writing to hello @jewishwomenofwisdom.org.
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TURA WINERY PRESENTS
A Special Chef’s Recipe for a Sumptuous Sukkos Seudah In honor of Yom Tov, Erez and Vered Ben Saadon, owners of the boutique Tura Winery, have brought an exclusive recipe from gourmet chefs Gilbert Glantz and Motti David of the Adom restaurant in Jerusalem. “This amazing recipe, which infuses the meat with a mix of complementary flavors, pairs perfectly with the award-winning Mountain Peak, Tura’s flagship wine,” said Vered. A blend of four different grape varieties from the best barrels in the winery’s cellars, Mountain Peak is aged for 22 months in new French oak barrels for a fruity, balanced wine with full body and a long finish. “This is the perfect wine to delight your guests in the sukkah!” said Erez.
O ssobuc o Lamb Shanks
Ingredients • Oil for browning • 4 lamb shanks • 10 marrow bones • 10 shallots • 12 carrots • 6 tomatoes, diced • 2 onions, chopped • 10 garlic cloves, quartered • 1 bottle dry red wine (choose a wine you don’t feel bad using for cooking!) • Sea salt and coarsely ground pepper to taste • A handful each of fresh bay leaves, sage and rosemary Instructions 1. Heat oil in a shallow, heavy-bottomed pot. Brown the lamb and the marrow bones on each side. Remove the meat from the pot and set aside. 2. Add to the same pot the shallots, carrots, tomatoes and onions, and sauté for a few minutes until slightly browned. Add the garlic and continue to cook for another minute. 3. Add the bay leaves and sage and cook for a few more minutes so that the liquid is slightly reduced. 4. Add the lamb and the red wine and cook until the liquid is reduced. 5. Add the salt and pepper and enough hot water that will cover the meat. 6. Simmer on the stovetop for 3 hours. Alternately, roast in the oven at 350⁰F for 3 hours. 7. Serve each lamb shank with bone marrow, 3 carrots and 2 shallots. Sprinkle fresh rosemary on top.
Enjoy this and other festive dishes with high-quality, superb Tura wines. Order from Tura.israeliwinery.com, or for more information visit https://www.turawinery.com/en
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In The K
tchen
Pre-Fast Chicken Soup with Kreplach Yields 8 servings
By Naomi Nachman
I have really strong memories of my Mum and Bubbie (grandmother) sitting around the kitchen table making kreplach by hand. They made the dough from scratch, rolled it out, and filled each “pocket” with morsels of meat which they pre-cooked for hours. They would make hundreds of them and give them out to my cousins and neighbors. Times are a little different, and we have a few shortcuts that we can use nowadays, such wonton wrappers. And, we are a little more health-conscious, so I prefer to use delicious ground chicken or turkey.
Soup
Ingredients b 2 tablespoons canola oil b 2 large carrots, diced b 3 stalks celery, diced b 2 medium onions, diced b 2 zucchinis, diced
add chicken to pot. 4.
Once broth is boiling add, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Cover; simmer on low for 2 hours.
5. Remove chicken from soup and let cool. Pull chicken from its bones and return to soup.
b 4 cloves garlic, minced b 8 cups chicken broth or water b 4 chicken leg quarters b 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning b Kosher salt, to taste
Kreplach Yields approximately 40
Ingredients
b Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
b 2 tablespoons canola oil
Preparation
b 2 cloves garlic, minced
1.
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, onion and zucchini; sauté 3-4 minutes.
2. Add garlic; sauté 30 seconds longer. Add broth. 3. While broth is coming to a boil,
b 1 medium onion, diced b ½ teaspoon ginger, minced, or 1-2 frozen cubes b 1 teaspoon kosher salt b 1 pack ground chicken b 1 teaspoon soy sauce
parsley or mix of each
Preparation 1.
9.
Heat oil in a sauté pan on medium heat.
2. When oil is hot, add onions and cook until translucent. 3. Add garlic, ginger and salt; cook on low for 2 minutes. 4.
Remove from heat and place in a mixing bowl to cool.
5. Once cooled, add ground chicken, soy sauce, sesame oil, panko crumbs and herbs. Gently mix everything together and set aside. 6. Place wonton wrappers on a lightly floured counter or cutting board.
b 1 cup panko crumbs
7. Lightly brush each wonton wrapper with water.
b ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro or
8. Place one teaspoon of filling in
b ½ teaspoon sesame oil
center of wrapper. Seal edges by folding over and pressing to form a triangle out of the square.
b 1- 9 oz. package wonton wrappers
Place filled wontons on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. When tray gets full, add another layer of parchment paper on top of first layer and continue to use up mixture. After all wontons are added, place in freezer for 20 minutes to firm up.
10. When ready to cook: Take some broth from the chicken soup and bring to boil. (You can also bring tap water to boil.) Add desired number of wontons directly from freezer to boiling broth and simmer for 15 minutes. 11.
To serve, ladle kreplach in each bowl with heated soup.
Cook’s note: These can also be pan-fried with oil in a sauté pan.
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?!”
While the situation facing Lt. Byrd was chaotic and frightening, video of the incident shows that Babbitt was merely breaking and entering. She was not presenting an imminent threat to anyone at the moment she was shot. Moreover, in his interview, Byrd admitted that, “I could not fully see her hands or what was in the backpack or what the intentions are.”
At the beginning of this, we all had to make the decision about how to handle nursing homes. Florida, we prevented, prohibited hospitals from discharging a sick nursing home patient back into nursing homes because we understood the hazard that that would have. Obviously, New York and other states made different decisions. The corporate media never talked about that or cared about that, even though that’s a decision that had a direct impact on the lives of a lot of very elderly people. And so, I think the media looked at somebody like Cuomo and thought it was an antiTrump, and I think that they were very much interested in weaponizing COVID against Trump. Trump was their villain, and Cuomo was kind of their hero. Obviously, it doesn’t necessarily work out for them in that regard. But at the end of the day, had they been doing their jobs back in March of 2020, some of these nursing home policies may have never been able to be sustained. - Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Fox News
- Jonathan Tobin, Newsweek, responding to Lt. Byrd’s interview in which Byrd explained why he killed Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt on January 6
We may understand Byrd’s fears and not know exactly what was in his mind at the moment he fired. But if police had applied to the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots the same standard that was applied to Byrd’s shooting of Babbitt, then hundreds – if not thousands – of rioters around the country, including those who broke into government buildings, could have been legally gunned down, even if they were unarmed. Does anyone think that such shootings would have been justified by those who now laud Byrd, or that the cops involved would not have been dismissed and put on trial? - Ibid.
Thank you to the baseball writers, all but one of you, who voted for me. - Derek Jeter during his Hall of Fame Induction speech, noting how one writer’s no vote prevented him from being a unanimous Hall of Famer
White people should commit suicide as an ethical act. - Quote in a slide for a presentation on racism hosted by Duquesne University psychology professor Derek Hook
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
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Over on Fox, human manure spreader Tucker Carlson has floated yet another race-baiting conspiracy theory that tens of thousands of Afghan refugees are being sent over to this country in order to change the outcome of elections. - Jim Acosta, CNN
Some members of the far-right in this country have apparently decided they will resort to intimidation, and in some cases, even violence to get what they want. They could sweep into power faster than the experts thought possible. Sound familiar? Sort of like an American Taliban. It is starting to look like a combination of theocracy and thugocracy. The leaders of this MAGAban movement, people Marjorie, Madison, and Tucker, they’re not counting on an intelligence failure or a lack of planning on your part. They’re counting on a lack of courage to stand up for your rights in this country. Does that ring a bell? The antiimmigration, anti-democratic, anti-women’s rights forces have all sought these kinds of changes for years, even decades, in this country. Their operation to change America forever is well underway.
I remember spending time at the, you know, going to the, you know, the Tree of Life synagogue, speaking with them. - Pres. Joe Biden in a pre-Rosh Hashana call with rabbis recalling visiting the Pittsburgh synagogue after the 2018 anti-Semitic massacre there; the Tree of Life Synagogue executive director, though, confirmed that Mr. Biden did NOT visit the synagogue at any time after the massacre
- Ibid.
We believe the world has a unique opportunity of rapprochement and coming together to tackle the challenges not only facing us but the entire humanity. And these challenges ranging from world security and climate change need the collective efforts of all, and cannot be achieved if we exclude or ignore an entire people who have been devastated by imposed wars for the past four decades. - Senior Taliban official Abdul Qahar Balkh, at a recent press conference, either trying to manipulate the left or trolling them
MORE QUOTES
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A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Indian cuisine is based on one spice, curry, and that Indian food is made up only of curries, types of stew. In fact, India’s vastly diverse cuisines use many spice blends and include many other types of dishes. The article has been corrected. – Correction in the Washington Post to an article by food humorist Gene Weingarten in which he joked that the only spice used in Indian food is curry
I need not tell you the perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan, I believe, is that things are not going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban. And there is a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture. - From a July phone call between President Biden and thenAfghan President Ashraf Ghani
Based on our research, we rate PARTLY FALSE the claim that Trump saluted the caskets of fallen U.S. service members, while Biden checked his watch. The pictures are real, but they don’t accurately summarize the two events. The way Biden honored the 11 caskets presented at Dover Air Force Base, with a hand over his heart, was similar to how Trump paid respects to fallen service members during his presidency. Biden checked his watch, but he did so after the ceremony had ended. – A USA Today fact-check on September 2, 2021
Corrections & Clarifications: This story was updated Sept. 2 to note that Biden checked his watch multiple times at the dignified transfer event, including during the ceremony itself. The rating on this claim has been changed from partly false to missing context. - USA Today tying itself in knots with its fact checking
Today one can see how the Cordoba House could have helped to heal our country as we nursed the wounds from the horror of 9/11. - Jonathan A. Greenblatt, a former Obama advisor, who now heads the ADL, an organization that claims to talk for American Jews, apologizing for the ADL objecting 11 years ago to the building of a massive Mosque near Ground Zero
We’re assessing the announcement but despite professing that a new government would be inclusive, the announced list of names consist exclusively of individuals or members of the Taliban or their close associates and no women. - Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing his “real concern” about the Taliban
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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Political Crossfire
Biden’s Afghan Retreat Has Done Irreparable Damage to Our Alliances By Marc A. Thiessen
J
ust days after taking office, President Joe Biden made a solemn declaration: “America is back. Diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy,” and “we will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again.” More than seven months into his administration, the results are in: No U.S. president has done more damage to our alliances, or America’s standing in the world, in so short a time, as Biden has with his Afghanistan debacle. At a virtual meeting of Group of Seven leaders last week, the Associated Press reports, Biden “clashed” with America’s closest allies, who pleaded with him to extend the artificial deadline he set for the U.S. withdrawal, noting that, according
to the AP, “no country would be able to evacuate all their citizens and at-risk Afghan allies by the Aug. 31 deadline.” But Biden refused to budge. German Chancellor A ngela Merkel told reporters that “without the United States of America … we – the others – cannot continue the evacuation mission.” Canada says it was forced to leave about 1,250 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their family members in Afghanistan. Britain left behind up to 1,100 Afghans who worked for its military and embassy, while Germany left behind at least 6,000 of its Afghan partners and France left behind at least 1,000. Biden not only betrayed our citizens and Afghan allies but also forced NATO allies to
betray theirs as well. When European leaders are desperately trying to stiffen the U.S. president’s spine, America is in trouble. That was when they could get Biden’s attention. During a crisis, many Americans imagine their commander-in-chief sitting at the Resolute Desk, working the phones, coordinating with world leaders. So it came as a shock when national security adviser Jake Sullivan admitted on August 17 that the president had not spoken with a single world leader since the fall of Kabul. Asked why, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden was too busy focusing on “operational efforts,” but “if there is a benefit in the president picking up the phone and call-
ing a world leader, he will certainly do that.” If there is a benefit? Joe Biden – the great champion of multilateralism and critic of Republican unilateralism – wasn’t sure if there was a benefit to picking up the phone and calling a world leader? How about calling one back? British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tried for 36 hours to reach Biden, according to news reports. It was only after the media reported that the president had spoken to no foreign leaders that Biden finally returned Johnson’s calls. The New York Times reported that Britain was given little say in the withdrawal, “even though it suffered the second-most casualties among Western nations in the Afghanistan war,”
The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
leaving “British officials embarrassed and embittered at President Biden.” London’s Sunday Times reported that Johnson was privately referring to Biden as “Sleepy Joe” and remarked that “we would be better off with Trump,” while British government ministers now view Biden as “gaga” and “doolally.” What current British officials would say only in private, former prime minister Tony Blair said in public – declaring Biden’s withdrawal “imbecilic” and his abandonment of the Afghan people “tragic, dangerous” and “unnecessary.” But the damage Biden has done extends far beyond the “special relationship” with Britain. Our NATO allies were in Afghanistan only because America was attacked on 9/11, and there were more NATO than U.S. forces in Afghanistan when Biden made the decision to withdraw – so his surrender undermines the credibility of the entire alliance. Merkel’s designated successor,
Armin Laschet, declared Biden’s handling of Afghanistan the “biggest debacle NATO has seen since its foundation.” And our European allies are the ones most likely to pay the price for that debacle.
ghan withdrawal reaches Europe’s shores, our allies will rightly blame Biden for the carnage. The impact of Biden’s Afghan retreat is also being felt in Asia. China used Biden’s abandonment
Biden not only betrayed our citizens and Afghan allies but also forced NATO allies to betray theirs as well.
The last time Biden helped preside over a disastrous withdrawal of U.S. forces – from Iraq in 2011 – Europe suffered the brunt of the blowback, as the Islamic State carried out attacks in Germany, France, Belgium, Denmark and Britain. If and when the blowback from Biden’s Af-
of Afghanistan to taunt Taiwan, publishing an editorial in the Communist Party mouthpiece Global Times asking: “Is this some kind of omen of Taiwan’s future fate? Once a cross-Straits war breaks out while the mainland seizes the island with forces, the U.S. would have to have
a much greater determination than it had for Afghanistan.” Not only is China emboldened by Biden’s display of weakness, but Russia, North Korea and Iran are watching as well – and are more likely to test our resolve as a result. Yet Biden seems oblivious to the damage he is doing. In a news briefing before the evacuation was ended, Biden declared, “I have seen no question of our credibility from our allies around the world” and insisted that in fact the opposite was true – that our allies believe “we’re acting with dispatch.” This is delusional. Our allies are aghast at Biden’s display of weakness and his indifference to their interests. The damage he is doing to our alliances and our credibility in the world is irreparable.
(c) 2021, Washington Post Writers Group
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Political Crossfire
Don’t Compound the Afghanistan Mistake by Fighting the Last War By David Ignatius
W
ith the last C-17 flight out of Kabul last Monday night, the unvarnished truth is that America’s war in Afghanistan is over. We must keep faith with Americans and Afghans left behind. And we’ll have a season of assessing blame for what happened. But we’ll compound the Afghanistan mistake if we keep fighting this last war. The eerie final image, captured in the yellow-green light of night vision, shows Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, the last U.S. military commander, walking as if into a different galaxy. That’s as it should be. We need, as the literary critic Frank Kermode titled one of his books, “the sense of an ending.” The curtain has come down, and we can start something new. Afghanistan will present serious counterterrorism challenges for the United States, but they will be different from the ones that took us to war in 2001, in the shadow of 9/11. The United States is far better protected now; intelligence and law enforcement here and around the world are much better integrated. The Islamic State is a threat in Afghanistan, but it suffered pulverizing defeats in Syria and Iraq. Al-Qaida lives, but feebly. It didn’t win this war. And the Taliban? We honestly don’t know whether this insurgent group is prepared to be more inclusive and avert a renewed civil war. For now, we just need to watch and assess – protecting our people and interests and reacting to the Taliban’s decisions. For a change, it has the urgently ticking watches, and we have the time. “How do we all make a paradigm shift?” asks one senior intelligence official. Afghanistan is now just one
of a dozen potential sources of global terrorism, rather than ground zero. Assessing the different players in Afghanistan and their intentions, capabilities and motivations will be a hard intelligence problem, but not an impossible one compared with other terror threats. Close-in neighbors, such as Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran, may have a greater interest in checking threats from postwar Afghanistan than we do. What went wrong in Afghanistan? We’ll be haunted by that question for years, just as we were after the humiliating retreat from Vietnam in 1975. Over the 20-year arc of the war, it has been a story of U.S. overreach and, at times, a self-deluding refusal to face facts. But the United States has been gradually ending its combat mission since 2014, and by this year it had reduced its military presence to a small, sustainable force – a “term insurance policy,” as Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, liked to describe it.
President Joe Biden decided in April to withdraw that small force, wrongly in my view, but there’s no question he was doing what the American people seemed to want. Whatever you think of his decision, the subsequent process of withdrawal was mishandled. The problem, in part, was that military and civilian efforts were operating on different clocks. The military raced out by July 1, embracing the generals’ credo, “speed is safety,” and leaving behind only a token force of 650. The civilian withdrawal proceeded at a slower pace, moving more like “pond water” than a rushing torrent, in the words of one four-star general. That was partly because Biden had promised President Ashraf Ghani to avoid a rush for the exits that might trigger a panic. It turned out that it was Ghani himself who panicked and fled for his life, handing Kabul to the Taliban. Critics argue that the generals rushed too fast from Bagram air base, the center of U.S. power in Afghani-
stan. That criticism is both right and wrong. Bagram is 45 miles from Kabul, with a huge perimeter, and protecting it would have required 4,000 U.S. troops, estimates one senior military official. The generals decided instead to protect the embassy and Kabul airport with their limited force of 650; that was a reasonable choice under the constrained circumstances. The real issue is whether the military should have demanded more troops and a better-organized final exit strategy. The answer there is, yes. The United States will want accountability for mistakes. But the nation needs to regain its self-confidence, too. Whatever errors Biden, the military and the State Department may have made, they were partly redeemed by the brave effort to evacuate 120,000 Americans, Afghans and others in the face of imminent terrorist attack. That’s not Saigon 1975. This withdrawal may have begun with the mad desperation of people clinging to planes, but despite the terrible loss of life, it ended with control, courage and a measure of dignity. Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs, offered the right benediction in an Aug, 26 statement of condolence for the 13 Americans who had been killed at Kabul airport. “They gave their lives to save others; there is no higher noble calling.” For them, and for all of us, this war is done. What we learned after Vietnam is that defeated nations become strong again only when they regain their balance and see the world through new eyes. (c) 2021, Washington Post Writers Group
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Forgotten Her es
Yom Kippur War Raids By Avi Heiligman
Firing at targets on the northern front
T
he basic details of the Yom Kippur War are well known. A surprise attack on Yom Kippur, October 6, 1973, by an Arab coalition took the Israelis by surprise. Many soldiers were in shul – the Israeli intelligence had failed to pick up the impending attack. As reserves were called up and rushed to the frontlines and supplies were flown in from the U.S., the Arabs were making considerable gains on both the Suez front led by the Egyptian Army and the Golan Front led by the Syrians. It took Israel three days to fully mobilize its defense forces, and heavy fighting ensued on both fronts. After a few days, the IDF managed to push back the Syrians and were shelling the outskirts of Damascus. The IDF also counter-attacked on the southern front and was making headway into Egypt before a ceasefire was imposed on October 25. The Israeli victory was bloody as over 2,500 Israelis were killed and over a thousand tanks and 100 aircraft were lost. In the middle of the conflict, raids were conducted by both the air force and Special Forces units that were designed to take off some of the pressure from the Israelis fighting on the front lines.
On October 9, the fourth day of the war, the IAF decided to carry out an aerial strike on Syrian headquarters in response to a surface-to-surface missile strike at the Ramat David Air Base the day before. The Israeli Air Force had suffered heavy losses in the first three days of the war, and this raid was designed to show the
Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat peering through a telescope in the Sinai Peninsula on June 4, 1973
target, which was the Syrian General Staff Headquarters. Syrian air defenses failed to pick up the Israeli aircraft, and sirens only started wailing after the first bombs hit their targets. The headquarters was hit and forced the Syrians to move their operations much farther away from Israel. Two IAF Phantoms were hit during the
After safely landing in Israel, the crew counted fifty enemy shells that had hit the chopper.
Syrians and the Jordanians that the IAF was still a very powerful force. Major Arnon Lapidot led a formation of 8 F-4 Phantom fighter jets at low altitude over the Mediterranean to avoid radar detection. One jet had to turn back due to mechanical difficulties; the other seven planes reached Damascus over heavy cloud cover. A break in the clouds allowed the Phantoms to reorient themselves, and they headed for their primary
raid and one pilot was killed. Although the raid received sharp international criticism, it had the desired effect of convincing the Jordanian king to not open a third front against Israel. Another raid of eight Phantoms was diverted to a Syrian tank column in the Golan Heights. They destroyed the enemy tanks, and Israeli forces were then able to push back the Syrian forces beyond the pre-war ceasefire line.
Operation Ketonet took place on October 12 north of Damascus. Soldiers from the 35th Paratroopers Brigade under the command of Major Shaul Mofaz were flown into deep Syrian territory by a CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter. Their objective was to ambush enemy columns from the Iraqi Expeditionary Force headed to the Golan Heights. After letting some vehicles pass, they attacked a pair of trucks and followed up with attacking more vehicles including a tank. Then they blew up an important bridge and moved to the extraction point. No Israelis were wounded or killed in the raid. The destruction of the bridge severely delayed the Iraqi forces from reaching the front lines. Following the successful execution of Operation Ketonet, another force under Major Mofaz set out on another nighttime raid deep into Syria. Called Operation Davidka, the force of forty paratroopers was discovered by a Syrian patrol. They were able to avoid giving away their exact position due to not returning fire from the increasing number of Syrian troops. Mofaz split the group in two as they waited for helicopter extraction. As they regrouped on a hill, the Syrians pressed in from three
The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
sides. The helicopter pilot Lieutenant Colonel Yuval Efrat landed despite taking heavy ground fire. All forty IDF soldiers scrambled aboard the chopper, and only one was slightly injured. After a head count, the CH-53 Super Stallion took off. After safely landing in Israel, the crew counted fifty enemy shells that had hit the chopper. An Israeli tank crossing the Suez Canal In the south, the fight against the Egyptians was intense as well and was also subject to raids by the IDF deep bases. The fast-moving Israelis only behind enemy lines. On October 15, fought the enemy that got in their way the IDF launched an attack on the while heading to the first missile base. west side of the Suez and started to Using cannon and machine gun fire, gain ground. The next morning, two they destroyed the missile battery as companies of the 264th Battalion, well the radar facilities at the base. The column then moved on to 421st Armored Brigade were ordered another missile base that was abanto leave the main column and go on doned. They then encountered an a raid deep into Egyptian territory. Egyptian force, and the Israelis deTheir objective was enemy missile
of enemy vehicles and incurred no injuries or fatalities in the very successful raid. Raids deep into enemy territory are not always successful, but the IDF carried out several of them during the war. The objectives achieved helped the troops fighting on the front lines. By October 25 the war ended in victory for the Israelis. The troops A huge Israeli flag symbolizing Israel’s victory and airmen who conducton October 30, 1973 ed these raids may not be household names but their heroism on the battlefield is to be restroyed some of the enemy vehicles. Two more missile bases were de- membered. stroyed by the column. The fact that an Israeli force was operating deep behind the Egyptian lines rattled many Egyptian units. For a while, Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributhough, the Egyptian high command tor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes did not know an IDF unit was rapid- your comments and suggestions for ly destroying three missile bases. In future columns and can be reached at addition, the Israeli took out dozens aviheiligman@gmail.com.
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Your
15
Money
Big Yellow Taxi By Allan Rolnick, CPA
A
century ago, America was “a nation of shopkeepers.” Beginning in the 1950s, we became a nation of malls. Today, we’re a nation of big-box stores. Walmart, Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Home Depot have stomped their way across our landscapes like so many commercial Godzillas. In the words of the counterculture philosopher Joni Mitchell, “They paved paradise to put up a parking lot.” You would think that big-box stores would be happy enough ruining small-town main streets and former farmlands, as long as crimes against architecture translate into fat profits. But no. Thanks to clever tax planning, they’ve started raiding local budgets, too. It’s called the “dark store” method. So come with us now to Marquette, Michigan, and see why property-tax planning can save just as much as income-tax planning. Marquette is the biggest city in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula: home to about 20,000 “Yoopers,” site of Northern Michigan University, and one of CBS MarketWatch’s “10 Best Places to Retire in North America.” The town has spent millions on infrastructure to support big-box re-
tailers along Route 41 that runs from Lake Superior west along the Iron Ore Heritage Trail. In 2008, home improvement giant Lowe’s spent $10 million to build a store just west of downtown. Marquette’s mayor even showed up to help open the place. Two years later, Lowe’s went to court to cut their assessed value
Marquette should compare the store’s value against empty, “dark” stores. Adding insult to injury, Lowe’s slapped deed restrictions on the store to ensure future buyers don’t become competitors. Those restrictions drive values down even further. We’ll forgive you for thinking it’s the property tax equivalent of someone killing
Who needs the mayor showing up at the ribbon-cutting when you can add $756,000 to the bottom line?
to $5.2 million. Why so much less than what they just spent to build it? Michigan counties typically assess a property’s value on its purchase price minus depreciation, then tax owners on half that amount. But unlike conventional commercial properties, Lowe’s argued, “free standing ‘bigbox’ stores like the subject [property] are not constructed for the purpose of thereafter selling or leasing the property in the marketplace.” This meant
their parents, then begging for mercy because they’re an orphan. Michigan’s Tax Tribunal bought Lowe’s argument, slashing the store’s assessment. Lowe’s sued to recover the $756,000 they had paid on the higher amount. And Marquette’s libraries started closing on Sundays. Lowe’s big-box peers have embraced the hustle, trying it out in 20 more states. Who needs the mayor showing up at the ribbon-cutting when you
can add $756,000 to the bottom line? Big-box developers argue that they spark economic development, bringing jobs and sales to shower money onto their local governments. But recent studies suggest that’s a myth. A group of eight communities in central Ohio found the cost of infrastructure and public services actually exceeded tax revenues to the tune of 44 cents/ square foot, or about $80,000/year for a typical Walmart Supercenter. And when retailers move on to greener pastures, the empty stores they leave behind become crime magnets. State and local governments are naturally fighting back. At stake: billions of dollars of revenue to support essential local services like police and fire protection. COVID-19’s effect on local economies is only making the challenge even more urgent. Watch out! You’ll know your town lost the battle when you see your property taxes go up!
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.
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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Life C ach
Yom It’s a Keeper By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS
W
hat an awesome day! How often do we actually get the resolve to avoid the kitchen?! It’s almost like that room has a magnetic pull. We keep renovat-
ing and making kitchens bigger and bigger. And living rooms are getting smaller and smaller. Because, of course, real family living seems to take place in the kitchen.
Children are nurtured there. Homework is done there. Even shidduchim are made there. And so are soups, salads, sides, and too much sugary stuff! So, a day out of there becomes a gift. Although most family bonding and growth occurs there, somehow so does too much other growth – the fridge finds you, the cereal cabinet calls to you, and the pantry pulls you in. There is no caloric escape. It seems that when you are hanging out
fulfillment through our mouths “liturgically.” It’s the day we connect to G-d, not just through a prayer before and after eating as usual but rather through a continuous prayer that replaces the eating. And amazingly, connecting to our Creator fills us even more on that day. Yes, this day is a keeper. Our “Yom Keeper.” It’s such a grand opportunity to unload rather than to load up. To lighten the feeling of being weighed
It’s the day to dabble in food for thought and not food for our bellies.
with family, you are hanging out with food. Except, on Yom Kippur. That’s the one day you can actually walk into the kitchen and feel a different gravitational pull. The weight of the day refutes the weight that usually confronts you there. Yom Kippur is that day where we leave the heat of the kitchen to feel a much more pressing “heat” upon us. Yom Kippur may be expressed as that day where our passions for gaining fulfillment through our mouths “literally” is replaced with gaining
down, rather than to add it up. It’s the day to dabble in food for thought and not food for our bellies. May we all fill up on this form of satiation! And may we all get out of the frying pan and into the fire of rejuvenation, forgiveness, and passion for living.
Rivki Rosenwald is a certified relationship counselor, and career and life coach. She can be contacted at 917-705-2004 or rivki@rosenwalds.com.
The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home
MAY YOU BE INSCRIBED IN THE BOOKS OF HEALTH & LIFE!
!גמר חתימה טובה
it’s a new
YOM TOV! full of
Visitation throughout the day has resumed! New modern look. Same tradition of care. • 85% Private Rooms • State of the art Kitchens for Meat & Cholov Yisroel Dairy (VHQ)
New year, new you. That’s what our patients can look forward to.
• Full time Rabbi On-Staff
Currently with 0% COVID-19 recurrence rate, our five-star rated,
• Special Shabbos & Holiday Meals
fully Kosher facility is one of the safest destinations for Subacute Rehabilitation and Long-Term Care. In our proper and new Synagogue, renovated and expanded gym, recreation center and cafe, you’ll rehab in a comfortably modern, traditionally Kosher setting. And our bright rehabilitation gym, cutting-edge equipment, and focused one-on-one staff will help you recover quickly with optimal results. Quick recoveries - from a pandemic to your rehab - is where we excel.
• Beautiful Outdoor Gardens • Shabbos Elevator • Community Eruv
Unique to Margaret Tietz • Daily & Shabbos Minyanim • Full High Holiday Schedule • Shabbos Hospitality Apartment
Short-Term Care | Long-Term Care | Hospice Care
718-298-7806 • 164-11 Chapin Parkway, Jamaica Hills, NY 11432 • margarettietz.org
