February 11, 2021
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
c lo s e r t h a n e v e r י ר ו ש ל י ם s d e r ot h ayov e l
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The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
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The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Dear Readers,
M
y grandmother was my best friend. This Sunday, she passed away at the age of 93. Although we had so many wonderful years together, I feel her loss so keenly. Bubby was more than five decades older than me, but I felt so connected with her. As one of the older grandchildren, I shared a special bond with my grandmother. For many years, I was privileged to spend Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur with Bubby. After my grandfather passed away, my grandmother would go to Boro Park for the Yomim Noraim to daven at the Mirrer Minyan, the minyan that my grandfather and his friends started. Not wanting my grandmother to be alone, my sister initially joined her for yom tov. When my sister went to Israel for seminary, the privilege to spend Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur with my grandmother was passed along to me. That time was special. Bubby would make kiddush on Rosh Hashana, and she would bench me erev Yom Kippur with the special bracha given to children before Yom Kippur. I knew that I was experiencing something that few are zocheh to enjoy. We would walk down 16th Avenue arm-in-arm early in the morning. I would show her the place in the machzor when it became confusing during Selichos. I knew that she was davening for me as I sat next to her, as she davened for all her grandchildren. “I love you, but I don’t want you here next year,” she would tell me each year, reminding me that she wanted me to find a shidduch. My time with Bubby wasn’t relegated to the Yomim Noraim. After my grandfather’s petirah, Bubby would spend Shabbosim with her children, and each family was privileged to host her once a month. There wasn’t a set schedule, but we knew to expect Bubby every few weeks. We took our time with her for granted. She was always up for holding a baby or listening to our stories. She was so easy to have
around that we never fully grasped the enormity of the honor it was to have a grandparent so intertwined in our lives. I learned so many things from Bubby, but much of what I learned wasn’t from what she said. Bubby carried herself with a regal bearing. She had her principles and never wavered from doing what she felt was right. Despite being in her children’s homes every week, she never spoke of what went on in the other households. She preserved her children’s privacy. Even more than that, Bubby showed me that it’s beneath one’s dignity to talk about others. She never looked at people with a jaundiced eye. When she spoke of others, it was only with praise and admiration. Bubby had 32 grandchilren, ka”h – although she really had so many more. As each grandchild married, she took to her “new” grandchild with a love and devotion that she had for all her family. Although she was zocheh to have so many descendants, Bubby was intimately familiar with everyone and took great pride in their accomplishments. “Shoshaneh,” she would call me, with a special emphasis on the last part of my name. When I told her of an accomplishment or something my children did, she would cheer them on. “That’s beautiful,” she would say with a lilt of a giggle of pride. She would greet us all with a kiss, calling my kids “tattaleh” or “mammaleh” with affection. This week, I lost my best friend. Bubby was my sounding board and my support. We spoke weekly, and I knew I could tell her anything without judgement. I only hope that I can impart the lessons I’ve learned from Bubby to my children, so they can pass along her legacy of a principled life of Torah and yiras Shamayim to their children. Wishing you a wonderful week, Shoshana
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The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
8
COMMUNITY Readers’ Poll
8
Community Happenings
38
TJH Speaks with Pesach Osina, Candidate for City Council, District 31
86
NEWS
98
Global
12
National
27
That’s Odd
30
ISRAEL Israel News
24
World Builders
84
JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Wein on the Parsha
72
G-d is in the Details by Rav Moshe Weinberger
74
Parsha Ponderings by Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky
76
Delving into the Daf by Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow
78
The Turbulent Journey to Matan Torah by Shmuel Reichman
80
PEOPLE Lessons Learned from My Bubby by Shoshana Soroka Israel’s 117th Fighter Squadron by Avi Heiligman
68 118
HEALTH & FITNESS Three Categories of Triggers by Dr. Deb Hirschhorn
94
A Healthier Slice of Life by Aliza Beer, MS RD CDN
96
FOOD & LEISURE The Aussie Gourmet: Naomi’s Challah
102
LIFESTYLES Dating Dialogue, Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW Parenting Pearls
90
Dear Editor, Thank you for the article profiling Chava Willig Levy. It simply was to the tune of what we are so excited to see happening in the community! She is an emblem of tremendous positivity that we can learn so much from, by conquering the lockdown with a broadcast of joy. Michelle Zimmerman delved into the beginning of the Breathtaking podcast, born in a bracha of a family simcha when Mrs. Levy dedicated herself totally to sharing her love of music to the world. Reaching into her trove of musical wisdom, the podcast was a seemingly natural outgrowth of Mrs. Levy›s passion for entertaining people with a melody, along with a short biography behind the song. If you are not yet a listener, Ms. Zimmerman’s captivating article is a must-read! Thank you, Mrs. Chava Levy for teaching the world how to be musical enthusiasts, for spreading joy through songs, and for the quality of life when you always have a tune to hum! Signing off, with a song in my heart Dear Editor, The Lawrence Civic Association would like to express its sincerest thank you to the Village of Lawrence Administration and DPW/ Highway staff who worked long hours to ensure our streets were
plowed and clear. And thank you to all the first responders who continued to serve our community during the snowstorm and beyond. We appreciate all you do! Stay safe, Jacqueline B. Handel Lawrence Civic Association President Dear Editor, Michelle Zimmerman wrote a meaningful, fascinating article about Chava Willig Levy’s “Breathtaking” podcast. Please tell Ms. Zimmerman that a friend of Chava, who thought she knew her well, learned new facets of Chava’s story from this well-written account. Rivkah Blau New York, NY Dear Editor, Thank you for the gorgeously written piece by Ms. Zimmerman. Ms. Levy’s exceptional podcast sends the desperately needed healing power of music and poetry to us during this difficult pandemic. I applaud Ms. Levy, Ms. Zimmerman, and your fine publication. Sincerely, G. Garfinkel Dear Editor, I enjoy your paper tremendously and am an avid reader. That is, until this past week. Continued on page 10
98
JWow! 100
80
Mind Your Business
114
Your Money
124
I Think We’re Good Here by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS 126
HUMOR Centerfold 70 POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Notable Quotes
104
Biden’s First Foreign Policy Headache by David Ignatius
108
Democrats Have a Plan…Here’s How to Stop Them by Marc A. Thiessen
110
Will Biden Follow the Science or the Teachers Unions? by Marc A. Thiessen
112
Andrew Yang Got it Right on BDS
116
CLASSIFIEDS
120
February 9 is National Pizza Day. Do you prefer thin crust pizza or thick crust pizza?
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%
Thin
27
%
Thick
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
GIVE
Continued from page 8
2
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Our nation was struck with the deaths of three Gedolim last week, and I expected a proper tribute, as befits these spiritual giants and leaders of our generation. What we received instead was extremely disappointing. While you delivered a beautiful tribute to Rabbi Dr. Twerski, zt”l, it should have been replicated towards the other two as well, and its glaring omission represents a lack of kavod haTorah. Gedolim are our guides and shining lights. When they pass away is when we come to appreciate just what we lost, through stories and personal recollections. The small blurb relegated to the news section, and which showed no indication of what we lost, was a travesty. This is a stain on your usually sterling reputation, and I humbly believe an apology is due. We eagerly await your response. Sincerely, A Fan Dear Editor, I am a simple Jew from Long Island who, five years ago, started volunteering one evening a week, visiting over 23 Holocaust survivors in Brooklyn, on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings. Sadly, 18 of those I met have passed away. What I am asking is for some assistance from any of your readers to help a chessed organization, www. themitzvahman.org. Specifically, we need people to volunteer, whenever they have 15 or more minutes, to call Holocaust survivors and say hello, to connect, to be a friend during a very tough time due to the Covid-19 crisis. Most of these survivors are in their 80s and 90s, and many are lonely, without family.
This can be a great opportunity for children, teenagers, and parents to connect with a local Holocaust survivor, instead of just reading about the Holocaust or watching movies. I would greatly appreciate if you would share this information and have readers call Linda, assistant to Michael Cohen, founder of MitzvahMan, at (toll free) 866-355-1825 You can also send an email to Linda@themitzvahman.com. Please, there are not many Holocaust survivors left in New York, and for some of these people, a caring phone call, or a future visit, with a mask, of course, would be so meaningful and appreciated. You may mention my name when emailing or calling. I thank you with all my heart. May Hashem bless you and your family with good health and joy. Mike Weinstein Dear Editor, Aish, symbolic of Torah, is a predominant theme throughout these parshios. It presents itself in this week’s parsha when the laws of Nizikin are discussed. One of these Nizikin, aish, is enumerated when it says (Exodus 22:5), “When fire goes out…” The Gemara in Bava Kamma notes an exception by the nezek of fire that only exposed items that a fire burns imputes liability, but if the items burned are hidden (tamun) there is no culpability. Metaphorically, this is saying that what is hidden (tamun) in fire (Torah) one is exempt from. Therefore, in the heavens, one won’t be accountable for not knowing kabbalah. Steven Genack
Views expressed on the Letters to the Editor page do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jewish Home.
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The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
The Week In News
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cell in the service of Iran. A note found at the scene of the blast invoked a series of Shi’ite terror leaders who were assassinated by Israel and the UAE, including Sulemeini and slain Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Calling themselves “India’s Hezbollah,” the terrorists threatened to target Israelis worldwide for being “participants and partners” of Israel’s “terrorist ideology.”
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Ethiopia recently foiled an Iranian plot to attack the United Arab Emirates’ embassy in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia’s National Intelligence Security Service (NISS) said that it had arrested 16 Iranians who were observed acting suspiciously near the Emirati embassy in its capital. The leader of the group was identified as 35-year-old Ali Ahmed Adaito, who is said to have been in the final stages of planning an attack when arrested. Agents found bombs, an assortment of weaponry, and documents in Farsi in Adaito’s residence. Ethiopian authorities say that Adaito was working with another Iranian terror cell that was planning on attacking the United Arab Emirates’ embassy in neighboring Sudan. The NISS said in a statement that Sudan was able to foil the attack in their country after being alerted by Ethiopia. According to a separate report by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, the Iranian terror cell had been targeting the UAE embassy in retaliation for the killing of Quds Force General Qassem Sulemeini in 2020 by the United States. Quoting Israeli security officials, the report said that Iran had dispatched four terror cells to scout out the Israeli, United States, and Emirati embassies across Africa before deciding to target the Emirati mission in Ethiopia. The report comes a little more than a week after a crude explosive device exploded near Israel’s embassy in India. No one was hurt in the attack, which Israeli officials say was likely perpetrated by a local terror
German prosecutors have charged a 95-year-old woman suspected of working as a concentration camp guard with 10,000 counts of murder. The woman’s identity remains under wraps, and she is known only as Imgrard F. Prosecutors allege that she worked as a secretary to the SS commander who oversaw Stuffhof, a World War II labor camp near Gdansk. Authorities say that the woman “assisted those responsible at the camp in the systematic killing of Jewish prisoners, Polish partisans, and Soviet Russian prisoners of war in her function as a stenographer and secretary to the camp commander.” Despite being only a minor at the time, prosecutors hold that she can be charged for “aiding and abetting murder in more than 10,000 cases” between 1941 and 1944. “Given that some inmates survived their stay in the camp despite the hostile conditions, some of the acts has to be assessed judicially as attempted murder,” they added. German courts will now be tasked with deciding whether or not she may be brought to justice. The charges follow a secret probe over the past two years that saw investigators interview Holocaust survivors in the United States and Israel. Germany has ramped up its probes over the past few years in a race to bring the few surviving Nazi war criminals to justice. Since 2015,
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
Vote #1 District 31: Laurelton • Rosedale • Springfield Gardens • The Rockaways Including the Far Rockaway and Bayswater area.
Pesach Osina has spent the past decade demonstrating for the citizens of our district his ability to get things done. He leads with civility and dignity, working closely alongside people of all backgrounds, in order to get the job done.
Any registered voter can vote in this Special Election:
A Record of Fighting for You Pesachosina.com Paid for by Osina 2020
If you n eed babysi tting o ra ride to the po lls please call / te , xt 347-972 -9555
EARLY VOTING FEBRUARY 13TH – 21ST
Middle School 53: 10-45 Nameoke St. Sun. 10am-3pm · Mon. & Wed. 12pm-8pm Tues. & Thurs. 10am-6pm · Fri. 7am-3pm
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
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a slew of former Nazis who committed atrocities have been convicted, including Auschwitz accountant Oskar Groening and senior SS guard Reinhold Hanning from the same camp. Stutthof was a notorious death camp which housed 100,000 Jewish and non-Jewish prisoners until it was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945. An estimated 65,000 victims perished by lethal injection and by the camp’s gas chambers.
India Restoring Internet in Kashmir
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After more than a year, India announced on Friday that it was restoring high-speed mobile internet in the federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the first time since August 2019. Back then, the government withdrew the special rights of the Muslim-dominated region. The Jammu and Kashmir region was India’s only Muslim-majority state before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government split it into two, including an enclave with many Buddhists, and took direct control of both. Much of the Himalayan mountain territory is also claimed by Pakistan, India’s arch-rival in South Asia. “4G mobile internet services being restored in entire J&K,” local administration spokesman Rohit Kansal tweeted last week. India broke up Kashmir in mid2019 by sending additional troops mainly to the Kashmir Valley and detaining political leaders to crack down on dissent in the region where India has been fighting an insurgency for decades.
gence Service (SRI), is the first person to have been convicted under a law that passed in 2002.
He was convicted for writing several online articles in which he described the Holocaust as a “fraud” and has been sentenced to a year and one month in jail. In 2016, Zarnescu published a book entitled: “The Holocaust, A Diabolical Hoax.” “It’s the first conviction for denying the Holocaust and it’s a strong message from the justice system, one that shows important progress,” Alexandru Muraru, the government’s special representative for fighting anti-Semitism and xenophobia said. “The case is interesting because we’re not talking about just anybody, but a former member of SRI,” Muraru added. The law from 2002 criminalizes Holocaust denial “by any means,” with those found guilty risking between six months and three years in prison. Between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews died in the Holocaust in Romania and the territories under its control, according to an international commission of historians headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, a Romanian-born Jew. The institute named after him in Bucharest issued a report last year raising the alarm over “extremist reflexes that betray a latent anti-Semitism” in Romanian society, partially encouraged by prominent politicians. The report also spoke of “a worrying rise in hate speech against Jews spread online.” Zarnescu said he will be appealing the sentence.
N. Korea’s Jail for Holocaust Hackers Stole Denier Millions Vasile Zarnescu will be sitting in jail after he was convicted of Holocaust denial in Bucharest, Romania. The 74-year-old, who worked for eleven years for Romania’s Intelli-
According to a confidential United Nations report, North Korea’s army of hackers stole hundreds of millions of dollars throughout much
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
PESACH OSINA WILL FIGHT FOR YOUR: Education Pesach has school age children, so he understands the importance of educating the next generation. Pesach will ensure that our schools have the infrastructure they need, including access to PPE and masks so they can remain safely open. Public Safety Remember when kids could play in the yard without supervision? Pesach Osina does, and he wants to bring that back. Public safety is a top priority in Pesach’s agenda. Unity Pesach is bringing civility back to politics – at a time when civil discourse is so necessary for America. Pesach Osina is a uniter. If you n He connects with people from eed babysi t t ing or a all backgrounds. ride t o th please e polls, call 347-972 / text -9555
EARLY VOTING FEBRUARY 13TH – 21ST Middle School 53: 10-45 Nameoke St.
Sun. 10am-3pm · Mon. & Wed. 12pm-8pm · Tues. & Thurs. 10am-6pm · Fri. 7am-3pm Pesach Osina
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
UN Panel of Experts on North Korea, the body charged with monitoring the enforcement and efficacy of sanctions levied against the Kim regime as punishment for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development. It’s unclear when this report will be released. Previous leaks have infuriated China and Russia, both members of the UN Security Council, leading to diplomatic standoffs and delays. At an important political meeting last month, Kim said that North Korea would work to develop new, advanced weapons for its nuclear and missile programs, like tactical nuclear weapons and advanced warheads designed to penetrate missile defense systems, to deter the United States, despite the rapport he developed with former U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to meet a North Korean leader in 2018 and then met him two more times, but failed to convince the young North Korean dictator to stop pursuing nuclear weapons. It is unclear how exactly U.S. President Joe Biden will move forward in dealing with North Korea, though his aides have made it clear that allies South Korea and Japan will be heavily involved. Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said last week that the administration is conducting a policy review and that he would not “get ahead of that review” in public.
Fatal Flood from Dam Burst
of 2020 to fund the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs in violation of international law. The document accused Kim Jong Un of conducting “operations against financial institutions and virtual currency exchange houses” to pay for weapons and keep North Korea’s struggling economy afloat. One unnamed country that is a member of the UN claimed the hackers stole virtual assets worth $316.4 million dollars between 2019 and November
2020, according to the document. The report also alleged that North Korea “produced fissile material, maintained nuclear facilities and upgraded its ballistic missile infrastructure” while continuing “to seek material and technology for these programs from overseas.” North Korea has for years sought to develop powerful nuclear weapons and advanced missiles to pair them with, despite their immense cost and the fact that such a pursuit has
turned the country into an international pariah barred by the UN from conducting almost any economic activity with other countries. The UN investigators said one unnamed country assessed that it is “highly likely” North Korea could mount a nuclear device to a ballistic missile of any range, but it was still unclear if those missiles could successfully reenter the Earth’s atmosphere. The report was authored by the
At least 18 people are dead and more than 200 missing after a glacier burst in India’s northern Uttarakhand state on Sunday and crashed through two hydroelectric projects, triggering deadly flash floods along the river. A fast-moving avalanche of dust, rock, and water barreled through the narrow gorge in Chamoli district, in the Himalayan state, and swept away parts of a dam as well as buildings, trees, and people in its path.
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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Rescue teams worked throughout the night to find survivors and recover bodies. At least 600 military personnel and Indo-Tibetan Border police were helping rescue operations. Fifteen people trapped in a tunnel were rescued on Monday, according to Chamoli District Police, though rescuers are now focusing on a second tunnel which is blocked with debris. “Uttarakhand has witnessed a terrible disaster,” Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said, adding that the state is expecting “significant loss to human lives and infrastructure.” The avalanche completely inundated the Rishiganga Power project – a smaller hydroelectric dam on the river in Chamoli. Of the total 35 people working at the plant, “roughly 29 to 30 people are missing.” Flash floods then surged 5 kilometers downstream on the Dhauli Ganga river and impacted a much larger hydro-project owned by the NTPC. Some 176 laborers were working on that project, which has two tunnels, the minister said. Around 15 people managed to get out of one tunnel after getting word of the avalanche on their mobile devices.
Uttarakhand state is home to the source of the Ganges River, the site of Hinduism’s famous Char Dham pilgrimage and Rishikesh, the meditation retreat popularized by The Beatles. The area is also prone to flash floods and landslides. In 2013, the state was hit by what was dubbed by the area’s chief minister as a “Himalayan tsunami.” Nearly 6,000 people lost their lives in those floods.
SCOTUS Sides with Germany in Art Dispute
A collection of medieval Christian artwork, known as the Guelph Treasure, has been at the heart of a dispute that had been taken up to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Welfenschatz collection is said to have been
worth at least $250 million. A group of heirs of Jewish art dealers maintained that the collection was sold to Prussia, which was run by Gestapo founder Hermann Goering, in 1935 at a steep discount under duress. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Germany had sovereign immunity in U.S. courts from claims over the Guelph collection of gold crosses, jewels and other religious works from the 11th to the 14th centuries. The heirs originally pressed their claims in Germany, but a German commission found the artworks’ sale was made voluntarily and for fair market value. A suit was then filed in the United States. Germany and the state-run foundation that owns the collection, which is on display in Berlin’s Museum of Decorative Arts, argued the case did not belong in American courts – a position the U.S. justices upheld. “It was simply not possible in 1935 for any Jewish business, least of all dealers who are in possession of the German national treasure, to get a fair deal with perhaps the greatest, most notorious art thief of all time,” Jed Leiber, whose grandfather Saemy Rosenberg, was one of the dealers, said in December. The Supreme Court justices noted that U.S. law governs the United States “but does not rule the world.” The Guelph case essentially involved a transaction by Germans in Germany. They also noted that Germany has a functioning system for redress of Nazi-era claims that already provided around $100 billion in compensation to Holocaust survivors. Justice Roberts wrote that Americans would be “surprised…if a court in Germany adjudicated claims by Americans that they were entitled to hundreds of millions of dollars because of human rights violations committed by the United States Government years ago.” He said Germans’ reaction to this case might be expected to be the same.
River Runs Red In a surreal, real-life “plague” reenactment, a river in Indonesia turned blood-red on Saturday. The river in Pekalongan turned crimson after floods hit a nearby batik factory. Pekalongan is a city known for manufacturing batik, a tradition-
al Indonesian method of using wax to resist water-based dyes to depict patterns and drawings, usually on fabric.
It is not uncommon for rivers in Pekalongan to turn different colors. Bright green water covered another village north of the city during a flood last month. The head of Pekalongan disaster relief, Dimas Arga Yudha, noted, “The red flood is due to the batik dye, which has been hit by the flood. It will disappear when it mixes with rain after a while,” he assured.
Biden: Houthis Not Terrorists
A short while ago, President Donald Trump designated the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen a foreign terrorist organization in an effort to quell the bloody war that has killed thousands in the war-torn country. Last week, President Joe Biden reversed Trump’s designation, revoking the terrorist label from the Houthis group, citing the need to mitigate one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters. “Our action is due entirely to the humanitarian consequences of this last-minute designation from the prior administration, which the United Nations and humanitarian organizations have since made clear would accelerate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” a senior State Department official said on Friday. The move came a day after Biden announced a termination of U.S. support to Saudi Arabia’s campaign against the Shia Houthis group. The Obama administration in 2015 gave its approval to Saudi Arabia which was leading a cross-border air campaign targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who were seizing ever more territory, including Sanaa, the
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capital of Yemen. The Houthis have launched multiple drone and missile strikes deep into Saudi Arabia. Iran is firmly on the side of the Houthis, supplying them with funds and military backing. U.S. targeting assistance to Saudi Arabia’s command and control was supposed to minimize civilian casualties in the Saudi-led airstrikes. But bombings since then have killed numerous Yemeni civilians, including schoolboys on a bus and fishermen in their boats. Survivors have displayed fragments showing the bombs to be American-made.
Senior Al-Qaeda Terrorist Arrested
A new United Nations report says that the commander of al-Qaeda’s Yemenite affiliate has been in custody for several months. As per the report, Khaled Batarfi was arrested last October in Yemen
in an operation targeting al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Saad Atef al-Awlaqi, his second in command, was killed during the raid in “Ghayda City, Al-Mahrah Governorate.” The report, which looked at various extremist groups on behalf of the Security Council, did not provide any details regarding Batarfi’s whereabouts or the identity of those who arrested him. It marks the first time that Bartafi was confirmed to be in custody following months of rumors. But according to SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based private intelligence firm that monitors jihadi networks, Batarfi was extradited to Saudi Arabia after being arrested by Yemeni special forces. A veteran jihadist, Batarfi previously fought with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and had commanded AQAP since his predecessor was killed last February in a U.S. drone strike. His activities led the State Department to dub him a Global Terrorist in 2018 and offer a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. Known officially as “Ansar al-Sharia,” AQAP is an al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadist group that operates
mainly in Yemen. The organization is responsible for a slew of attacks against U.S. and Western targets, including the failed “underwear bomb” in 2009 and the 2015 assault on the satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo that killed 11 people. While noting that AQAP remains a significant threat in Yemen, the UN report found that the terror group has been reeling from relentless U.S. airstrikes and internal strife. “In addition to leadership losses, AQAP is suffering an erosion of its ranks caused by dissentions and desertions, led primarily by one of Batarfi’s ex-lieutenants, Abu Omar al-Nahdi,” stated the report.
Libya Elects Interim Government Libya’s warring factions agreed this week to establish an interim government that will lead the wartorn country until December’s presidential elections. Delegates to the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum chose Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah as
president-designate in elections held in Geneva under the auspices of the United Nations. In doing so, Dbeibah edged out a competing slate of candidates headed by Fathi Bashagha, who currently serves as Libya’s Minister of Interior.
UN Envoy Stephanie Williams said that Dbeibah’s slate earned 39 of 73 valid votes to Bashagha’s 34. Dbeibah now has 21 days to nominate a cabinet to gain the approval of Libya’s House of Representatives. Williams hailed the vote, noting that the development was a significant step to ending the civil war that has devastated Libya. “Our bet was that you would be able to build a truly Libyan-owned solution,” said Williams, who has been intermediating on behalf of the international community. The European Union, Libya’s biggest economic partner, said that
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tary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday. “The elections, of course, being a key element of that way to peace.”
Killer Hippo
it would offer the interim government its full support. “This is already an impressive exercise in transparency, compromise, and commitment to national unity and reconciliation,” tweeted EU envoy Jose Antonio Sabadel. “Historic day for Libya!” Should Dbeibah receive the endorsement of Libya’s parliament, he will be tasked with guiding the country towards its national election on December 24, 2021. Key challenges
include stabilizing the oil industry and maintaining Libya’s fragile peace. The northern African nation has been plagued by civil war ever since NATO forces toppled former leader Muammar al-Qaddafi in 2011. The dictator’s ouster created a power vacuum that resulted in violent strife between feuding warlords that has killed an estimated 50,000 civilians. Since 2014, the majority of the fighting has been between forces al-
lied with General Khalifa Haftar and the Fayyez Sarraj’s Government of National Accord. Years of intermediating by the UN finally paid off in October when the two sides agreed to a ceasefire. Should the agreement hold, Libyans will head to the polls at the end of 2021 to elect what may be their first consensus government since 2014. “It is absolutely essential to unify Libya and to move onwards on the way to peace,” said U.N. Secre-
An elderly man was bitten and trampled to death by a wild hippopotamus while herding his flock of cattle in Africa last week. The victim was identified as 81-year-old Langson Svondero, a native of Mupuwa Village in Zimbabwe’s Nhema communal lands. According to Masvingo Police, Svondero was in the midst of herding cattle with his grandson last Monday when he was set upon by a raging hippo. First biting him on his left leg, the hippo then trampled Svondero several times before sprinting off. “A hippopotamus appeared from a nearby thicket charging towards Svondero. His grandson yelled to alert him but the hippo bit his left leg and he fell to the ground,” Inspector Dhewa told local media outlets. “The hippo then began trampling him. The deceased’s grandson ran and cried for help from other villagers but when they finally arrived, Svondero had already died. He had also sustained a deep cut on the chest,” added Dhewa. Zimbabwe’s Parks and Wildlife Management said that the hippo likely lived in the nearby Chiredzi River. In a statement, Parks and Wildlife Management spokesperson Tinashe Farawo said that such incidents have become increasingly common in recent years, noting that a 71-year-old man was killed in November by a buffalo while showering. “We are on the ground investigating the matter. We are having human-wildlife conflicts across the province especially in Bikita, Zaka and Chiredzi,” said Farawo.
Death Sentence Commuted Ali al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 in Saudi Arabia for taking part in
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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protests calling for social and political reforms. He was 17 years old at the time and was sentenced to death for his actions. This week, it was revealed that his sentence was commuted to 10 years in jail. His father, Mohammed al-Nimr, who attended the hearing in Riyadh, said his son, now 26, should be released in eight or nine months after having already spent more than nine years “of his youth and part of his childhood” in prison.
Al-Nimr was convicted of charges including belonging to a terror cell, attacking police with Molotov cocktails, incitement and stoking sectarianism. In 2015, his final appeal had been rejected, and he faced beheading, along with the additional, rarer punishment of “crucifixion,” which would see his body placed on public
display as a warning to others. His sentence was commuted after Saudi Arabia announced last April that, as part of a royal decree, it would abolish the death penalty for people who committed crimes as minors. Anyone who received a death sentence after being convicted of crimes they committed as a minor would receive a prison sentence of no longer than 10 years in a juvenile detention facility, according to a statement from the state-backed Human Rights Commission (HRC) at the time. “My family and I are happy. I hope all those arrested in my country and elsewhere (will) be released,” his father told CNN after Sunday’s ruling. He added that he wished his son had been acquitted by the judges “because he is actually innocent.” “His health is good, but he has been in prison for more than nine years. He spent more than seven years with the threat of execution hanging over his head every day, every hour and every minute. After the verdict, he was able to breathe. Starting today, he is looking forward to freedom,” his father added.
A Cure for COVID?
A new Israeli “miracle drug” has the potential to be the first that can completely cure the coronavirus. The drug is being developed by Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. According to the medical center, the initial trials show that it is effective for 90% of those suffering from COVD-19. During phase 1 testing, the drug was given to 30 patients infected with COVID-19, 29 of which were in serious condition. Within five days, all had recovered completely, the majority within 72 hours. Researchers say that the drug has the potential to completely change the current fight against COVID-19. While numerous vaccines have come to the market to prevent infection from the deadly disease, there is not yet anything that enables patients to make a full recovery. Ichilov’s treatment is based on exosomes, which enable cell-to-cell communication. The drug delivers CD24 protein to the lungs, which helps calm down the immune system. “The preparation is inhaled once a day for a few minutes, for five days,” said Ichilov’s Arber Labs. “This protein is located on the surface of cells and has a well-known and important role in regulating the immune system. “The preparation is directed straight to the heart of the storm – the lungs – so unlike other formulas… which selectively restrain a certain cytokine, or operate widely but cause many serious side effects, EXO-CD24 is administered locally, works broadly, and without side effects.”
Fatal Infiltration A Palestinian man was shot and killed after breaking into a Jewish settlement near Ramallah on Friday morning.
The Palestinian was identified as Khaled Nofal, a 34-year-old from the nearby village of Ras Karkar. According to reports, Nofal infiltrated Sde Ephraim, an outpost in the Binyamin Region, and began banging on the doors of residents.
After a patrol pulled up, Nofal charged the guards while screaming, “Allahu akhbar.” Two residents then emerged from a local home and opened fire, killing him. IDF forces summoned to the scene found that the man was unarmed. “The body of the terrorist and his car were searched by sappers, and no weapon was found in the terrorist’s possession,” the military said. Later in the day, IDF troops raided Ras Karkar, arresting his brother and father. The IDF said that Nofal had an extensive “personal history” but refused to elaborate.
UAE Cuts Aid to Palestinians
New figures show that the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have significantly cut the annual aid they once lavished on the Palestinians. The cuts began immediately after both countries signed normalization agreements with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords. Within weeks of the signing ceremony, both the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain drastically began cutting back the tens of millions of dollars they traditionally donated to the Palestinian Authority. While the UAE contributed $53 million to the PA in 2018 and $51 million a year later, the 2020 budget stood at a measly $1 million. The figures were confirmed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was the main recipient of their largesse after the Palestinian Authority. According to Israel’s Channel 12,
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Bahrain also implemented wide-ranging funding cuts but did not provide exact figures. Bahrain refused to comment on the report, releasing a statement that “the Kingdom of Bahrain is committed to supporting UNRWA in support of the Palestinian brothers.” The reduction in funding marks the first time the two Gulf States have ever slashed the annual sums of money earmarked for the Palestinian cause and appears to be a reaction to the vitriol they faced after normalizing relations with Israel. The Palestinian Authority had sharply criticized the UAE and Bahrain after the historic agreement with Israel, accusing them of “treason” and recalling their ambassadors from Abu Dhabi and Manama. After the UAE said that it would establish diplomatic relations with Israel in August, hundreds of angry Palestinians then torched the Emirati flag on Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In October, a diplomatic crisis erupted between the PA and the two Gulf states after the Palestinian ambassador to Paris ripped the UAE and Bahrain for “becoming more Israeli than Israel.” The envoy’s harsh statements led to heavy pushback from the United Arab Emirates, with Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash lambasting the PA in an official statement. “I was not surprised by the statements made by the Palestinian Ambassador to Paris and his ungrateful discussion of the Emirates,” tweeted Gargash at the time. “We have grown accustomed to the lack of loyalty and the ingratitude. We proceed toward the future confident in all our actions and beliefs,” he added.
U.S. Embassy to Stay in Jerusalem
nowned for their opposition to the embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem a few years ago. The measure was sponsored by Republican Senators Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and was attached to the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 budget reconciliation resolution. Prior to the vote, Inhofe tweeted that the amendment would render the embassy transfer permanent and make it impossible for a future president to reverse. “It’s an important message that we acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Inhofe said. In a speech on the Senate floor, Inhofe said that the “amendment should not be controversial to anyone. It has been our position in the U.S. for 25 years. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and we should have our embassy in Jerusalem.” Former President Donald Trump relocated the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018, ending a long-running saga over the site’s location. While the Congressional 1995 U.S. Embassy Act mandated that the embassy be moved to Israel’s capital, Presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama had all invoked a national security waiver to avoid doing so. Currently, the embassy is housed in a temporary building located in Jerusalem’s Arnona neighborhood. Construction is slated to begin imminently on a permanent campus a few miles away in the Allenby compound off of the central Hebron Road. Although he had called the embassy move “short-sighted and frivolous,” President Biden has said that he has no intention of returning the embassy to its previous location in Tel Aviv. His position was seconded by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during his Senate confirmation hearing last month, reiterating his belief that “Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.”
Ruth Dayan Dead at 103 The United States Senate voted overwhelmingly to keep the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, cementing a key Trump administration policy. Only three Senators voted against the bill, which passed by the near-unanimous margin of 97-3. Those opposing the legislation were Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Tom Carper, all Democrats re-
Ruth Dayan, a prominent socialite and the first wife of deceased General Moshe Dayan, passed away at the age of 103 this week.
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
Dayan left behind her daughter, former Knesset member and Tel Aviv City Council member, Yael Dayan. Udi Dayan, her oldest son, passed away in 2017. Her third child succumbed to cancer in 2014. Born in Haifa in 1917, Dayan grew up in the agricultural community of Nahalal in the Jordan Valley. At only 18 she married Moshe Dayan, a former IDF Chief of Staff widely viewed as a national legend, but they divorced in 1972. Mrs. Dayan went on to found the Maskit, Israel’s first fashion house. Under Dayan, the company showcased styles popular amongst Sephardic Jewry, who were at the time completely marginalized under the country’s Ashkenazi elite. Her experience working with Sephardic designers turned Dayan into a social activist. First fighting for the rights of Sephardic Israelis, Dayan championed Jewish-Arab coexistence in the later years of her life. Over the last two decades, Dayan joined a slew of far-left groups advocating for a Palestinian State, including the human rights NGO B’Tselem and the Jewish Arab Center for Economic Development. She was awarded the President’s Medal by Shimon Peres in 2014 for her advocacy. President Reuven Rivlin called Dayan “a woman who became an Israeli legend in her own lifetime” after her death was announced. “Her life story is the essence of the realization of the Israeli and Zionist dream. A woman of excellence and a role model for generations of entrepreneurs,” tweeted Rivlin. “A woman who knew good taste and exquisitely expressed it in pattern and cloth, whose craftwork was connected to this special time and place that we all love dearly.”
Are Surveillance Cameras a Danger? Is it possible that home security devices led to the deaths of two FBI agents in South Florida last week? An FBI team was attempting to arrest David Huber, 55, in Sunrise, Florida, when two agents were gunned down by the suspect using a high-powered rifle as they were ap-
proaching the door. The team had been sent to search the man’s home and computer.
Now, officials are wondering if Huber was able to track the team with his doorbell monitor and tracked their agents as they were approaching the home. This concern is not solely for FBI agents. It’s a danger police face nationally. As outdoor surveillance cameras now protect about half of U.S. homes from criminals, criminals are using them to get a jump on officers about to raid their homes. Some doorbell cameras even have motion sensors that alert owners when anyone comes within 100 feet (30 meters). The cameras, combined with the military-style weaponry many criminals possess, leave law enforcement officers particularly vulnerable. In such situations, the house’s doors and walls offer no protection, noted Ed Davis, Boston’s police commissioner from 2006 to 2013. “You take a military assault rifle and you add to that a surveillance system that allows (the suspect) to identify where officers are as they approach the house – you are a sitting duck,” Davis said. Last week, Huber, a computer technician with no criminal record, gunned down agents Laura Schwartzenberger and Daniel Alfin and wounded three others. He then killed himself. The agency hasn’t confirmed whether or not Huber’s camera had a motion detector, but that could explain why he was awaiting the agents Tuesday before dawn – an hour officers often pick for raids because the suspect is likely asleep. Interestingly, in the 1980s and ‘90s, a home with outdoor surveillance cameras was often a sign the resident was a drug dealer or otherwise a criminal. Those were the ones who generally could afford the devices. As such, some judges actually considered their presence when approving officers’ warrant requests. Today, a technically savvy person can install security cameras for a few hundred dollars, and a good doorbell camera can be purchased for less than $200. Many cameras are small and easy to hide.
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Former Trump administration official Fred Fleitz, a regular on Dobbs’ show, tweeted that “I hope he finds a home on another network ASAP. Good luck Lou!” Dobbs is still under contract with Fox. For now, the network is opting to pay him rather than letting him leave right away.
Lou Dobbs Done?
Former Sec of State Shultz Dies
Although it seemed that it was business as usual at the Lou Dobbs’ show last Thursday evening, it was the end of business for the Fox Business host. Ending his show with the words, “join us here tomorrow. See you then,” Dobbs bid farewell to viewers unwittingly for the last time. On Friday, Fox cancelled the show. Officially, Fox said that Dobbs’ cancellation was part of a broader programming revamp. Dobbs has yet to comment, although he spent Friday night and Saturday retweeting messages from dozens of his fans, including some who criticized Fox for the change. President Trump, along with Dobbs’ biggest fans on social media, bemoaned the decision and said they hoped Dobbs would resurface soon.
Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz died last week at the age of 100. A lifelong Republican, Shultz held three major Cabinet positions in GOP administrations during a lengthy career of public service. He was labor secretary, treasury secretary and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Richard M. Nixon before spending more than six years as
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President Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state. Shultz was the second-longest serving secretary of state since World War II and had been the oldest surviving former Cabinet member of any administration. “Trust is the coin of the realm,” Shultz wrote in a piece in the Washington Post in December. “When trust was in the room, whatever room that was – the family room, the schoolroom, the locker room, the office room, the government room or the military room – good things happened. When trust was not in the room, good things did not happen. Everything else is details.” Over his lifetime, Shultz succeeded in the worlds of academia, public service and corporate America and was widely respected by his peers from both political parties. After the October 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 soldiers, Shultz worked tirelessly to end Lebanon’s brutal civil war in the 1980s. He also tried to insert himself into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but fell short of his intended goal. Shultz negotiated the first-ever treaty to reduce the size of the Soviet Union’s ground-based nuclear arsenals despite fierce objections from Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to Reagan’s “Strategic Defense Initiative” or Star Wars. The 1987 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was a historic attempt to begin to reverse the nuclear arms race, a goal he never abandoned in private life. “Now that we know so much about these weapons and their power,” Shultz said in an interview in 2008, “they’re almost weapons that we wouldn’t use, so I think we would be better off without them.” George Pratt Shultz was born December 13, 1920, in New York City and raised in Englewood, New Jersey. He studied economics and public and international affairs at Princeton University, graduating in 1942. After Princeton, Shultz joined the Marine Corps and rose to the rank of captain as an artillery officer during World War II. He earned a Ph.D. in economics at MIT in 1949 and taught at MIT and at the University of Chicago, where he was dean of the business school. Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, reflecting in his memoirs on the “highly analytic, calm and unselfish Shultz,” paid Shultz an exceptional compliment in his dia-
ry: “If I could choose one American to whom I would entrust the nation’s fate in a crisis, it would be George Shultz.” Shultz was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1989.
Ice Rescue
The U.S. Coast Guard and several other agencies rescued 66 people stranded on ice floes in a bay in northeastern Wisconsin last Thursday. Ice boats and helicopters were used to bring the people who were ice fishing to safety. Three separate ice floes broke away after cracks developed between the shore and groups of people, the Coast Guard said. High winds associated with an approaching winter storm pushed the floes further from shore. “Today’s success is a direct result of effective training and the long standing and close relationships with our agency partners in the greater Sturgeon Bay Area,” said Cmdr. Bryan Swintek, search and rescue coordinator for Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan. The rescue took four hours to complete.
Avalanche Tragedy
Fun in the snow turned to sorrow when four skiers were killed and four others were injured on Saturday after an avalanche hit a popular recreation area in Utah. The skier-triggered avalanche swept up eight people in their early twenties to late thirties who were in two groups touring the backcountry. It took place at an elevation of 9,800 feet (2,987 meters). It had a depth of 2.5 feet (0.7 meters) and a width of 250 feet (76 meters).
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All eight skiers had avalanche beacons. The survivors had been able to dig themselves out of the snow and ice. The Utah Avalanche Center had deemed the avalanche risk in the area “high.” Hours before the avalanche, it tweeted out a warning that there was “high danger. Large natural avalanches overnight. Dangerous avalanche conditions. Keep it low angle.” Twenty people nationwide have died in avalanches during the 20202021 season, 16 of which were skiers or snowboarders. On Thursday, the bodies of three men were located in the debris of an avalanche slide near Anchorage, Alaska. The last time four people were killed in an avalanche in Utah was on February 13, 1992, at Gold Basin outside Moab, according to the Utah Avalanche Center. They were part of a volunteer avalanche observation team with the U.S. Forest Service. In 2003, three died in an avalanche that swept up 15 people in Provo Canyon near Sundance Resort in Utah. “We are heartbroken over the tragic news of four fatalities as the result of an avalanche in the Millcreek Canyon area this afternoon,” Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wil-
son said in a statement. “We deeply mourn the loss of life due to this devastating incident.”
Make-A-Wish Founder Dies
Frank Shankwitz, one of the co-founders of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, died on January 24 at the age of 77 at his home in Prescott, Arizona. “Make-A-Wish is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Frank Shankwitz. Frank was one of six individuals who helped grant Chris Greicius’ wish and thereafter became one of the co-founders of Make-A-Wish,” the foundation wrote in a statement
“Thanks to all of our generous founders, more than 500,000 children with critical illnesses worldwide have had the chance to experience the long-lasting, life-changing benefits of a wish,” the statement read. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Shankwitz family.” The idea to start the Make-aWish foundation originated in 1980, when the Arizona Highway Patrol learned about a local 7-year-old boy named Chris Greicius, who had leukemia and dreamed of joining the force when he grew up. The department arranged for the boy to become an honorary officer, and Shankwitz went the extra mile, making a special badge for Chris and contacted the actors of CHiPs, the boy’s favorite stars, to autograph a picture for him. Shortly after taking the gifts to Chris, and making his wish come true, the boy died. The experience had a lasting impact on Shankwitz, who went on to help create the impactful foundation. Shankwitz became the Make-aWish’s first president. He stepped down in 1984. “I wake up every day with a passion to make a difference in their lives,” he wrote in Wise Man, his 2018 memoir. “It was once enough for me to be a dad, a cowboy and a highway patrol officer. But my destination changed.”
Attempted Water Poisoning
A hacker broke into a Florida water treatment plant last week and ordered it to increase the amount of lye in the water to extremely dangerous levels. Thankfully, plant operators noticed the breach and remedied their systems before anyone was put in danger. In a news conference Monday, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said that on Friday morning an unknown hacker broke into a program designed to help water treatment operators in Oldsmar troubleshoot problems with the computerized
parts of their treatment systems. The program is intended to give full, remote access to a plant computer but only by authorized users. Later that afternoon, the system was breached again. A hacker, who authorities believe to be the same one from the initial breach, took control of the computer and changed the acceptable level of sodium hydroxide – better known as lye, the main ingredient in many household drain cleaners – from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million. A water plant operator noticed the abnormality immediately and corrected the change. “Because the operator noticed the increase and lowered it right away, at no time was there a significant adverse effect on the water being treated,” Gualtieri said.
It Pays to Move
If you need to get out of New York, we understand. We also have an idea of where you may like to go: Mississippi. Before you turn the page, consider that the city of Natchez in the Magnolia State is offering people $6,000 to move there for a year. It’s calling on remote workers across the country to relocate to their “charming and historic community” for one year through a program called Shift South. In return, they will provide $2,500 in moving expenses plus a $300 monthly stipend for one year. “We are excited to be the first and only city in the Deep South to offer an incentive like this to remote workers,” city Mayor Dan Gibson said. “Our warm and friendly people, the [Mississippi R]iver at our feet, our history, and our beautiful sunsets make Natchez a great city to call home.” You better move quickly, as there are only 30 slots available. To qualify, applicants must be employed in the U.S. as remote
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workers, establish primary residency in Natchez, and purchase a home valued at $150,000 or higher – which they must own and live in for one year. Natchez, which has a population of nearly 15,000 people and is located along the Mississippi River, has a significantly lower cost of living than the national average. According to Gibson, the pandemic has given people the itch to want to move. “The pandemic has really been a wake-up call to what people have been feeling for a long time,” Gibson said. “They’re tired of the big cities, the high cost of living, and the long commutes. With this offer, you can live in a beautiful, historic small town where everything is convenient and affordable.” Sounds like a dream.
Gorilla Glue Hair When Tessica Brown ran out of hairspray, she decided to use the next best thing: Gorilla Glue. “I figured if I used the Gorilla Glue – you know, by the time I got home, I could have just washed it out,” she told a Toronto radio show. “But when I tried to wash it out, it didn’t move.”
But using Gorilla Glue to keep her hair in place may not have been the wisest decision. “My hair, it don’t move. You hear what I’m telling you? It don’t move,” she said in a video she posted in early February. “I’ve washed my hair 15 times.” Gorilla Glue is 100% waterproof and is generally used to fix bathroom tiles, wood flooring and decking. It can be removed with acetone or isopropyl alcohol. Since attempting to wash her hair numerous times did not help the situation, Brown headed to the hospital. “This is really about to be a long process,” Brown said. Brown’s trip to the ER did not yield any results, as healthcare workers used acetone to wash away
the adhesive, only for it to burn Brown’s scalp. The glue merely softened and then hardened again. Gorilla Glue heard of Brown’s “unique situation” and cautioned that its spray adhesive is considered permanent and designed for use on craft, home, auto or office projects to mount things such as paper, cardboard, wood, laminate and fabric. The warning label also says, “Do not swallow. Do not get in eyes, on skin, or on clothing.” Now, Brown is considering suing Gorilla Glue. After all, Brown says, the product’s warning label does not mention hair. She thought the superglue was safe because it said “multi-purpose.” Tessica, there are many uses for Gorilla Glue. One of them is not hairspray.
Sweet Gems If you’re looking to add some sweetness to your jewelry, consider the new rings designed by London-based jeweler Taylor & Hart. The company has created an engagement ring inspired by Haribo candy.
Dubbed “the world’s most expensive sweet ring,” it has a 2.70-carat cabochon yellow sapphire as the main stone, surrounded by 40 yellow diamonds. The ring’s rose gold band is also set with 224 rubies The colors were chosen to replicate Haribo’s jelly rings from the 1990s. The cost, though, is not so sweet. The diamond-encrusted Taylor & Hart ring is priced at $34,300. “Combining custom cut rubies and a syrupy cabochon yellow sapphire, this ring is one of the most ambitious we’ve ever created and definitely one of the most original,” Kate Earlam-Charnley, Taylor & Hart’s design director, said. “With this design, we’re capturing the pure magic of falling head over heels for the first time,” the jeweler says on its website. “Because no matter how old you are, your special day should be filled with the same
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
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Lost & Found We’ve heard about items that were lost and then were subsequently found in interesting ways, but this one may have made the longest voy-
age for its return to its owner. Fifty-three years ago, Paul Grisham put on his heavy snow gear and said goodbye to Antarctica after spending 13 months there as a meteorologist with the Navy at one of the most remote stations on Earth. But Grisham had packed everything except for one particular important item: his wallet. Back then, he didn’t remember losing it, but a call from a stranger
from Indiana on January 27, 2021, jogged his memory. Living in San Diego at the age of 91, Grisham picked up the phone to hear from Bruce McKee. “Paul? I think I’ve found your wallet,” McKee told him. It took Grisham a minute to piece things together. “What are the odds?” he said. “It was so out of the blue. I was blown away.”
He hadn’t seen his wallet since 1968. Grisham’s wallet was found behind a locker at McMurdo Station on Ross Island by a crew doing demolition work in 2014. The crew gave the wallet to a manager at the station. It sat around for a while and changed hands, until it landed with a former researcher who reached out to McKee.
McKee, 58, is the founder and director of Indiana Spirit of ’45, an organization dedicated to veterans from World War II and other wars. McKee agreed to help. He found Grisham’s name listed on a Naval Weather Service blog and made a few calls and was delighted, he said, to learn that Grisham was still alive and living in San Diego. “It’s not often that you get to reunite somebody with their wallet after 53 years,” he said. The wallet arrived at Grisham’s home on January 30. Grisham and his wife, Carole Salazar, 82, unwrapped it. “Looking at everything in that wallet brought back a lot of memories,” he said. In the faded wallet were symbols of Grisham’s past: his driver’s license and Navy ID card; a beer ration punch card with four holes punched (“I was pretty much a martini guy,” said Grisham); a tax statement; an instruction card with steps to take in case of an atomic attack; a recipe for homemade Kahlua; and two money order receipts for the poker winnings Grisham had mailed to his wife after cleaning up in card games at the base. “My wallet was in really good shape considering how many years have passed,” said Grisham. “And my ID card was in beautiful condition. You can see that at one time I had dark hair.” That, and a good sense of humor.
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Around the
Community Sophmores in the Snow
S
econd semester is off to a super start at Shulamith High School! The semester began with a snowstorm, perfect for what SHS had in mind. Sophomores enjoyed an exciting field trip to Camp Gaw for snow tubing! Competitive races took place as students enjoyed an afternoon of unadulterated fun. The trip served more than just a short break from reality. Class trips encourage friendships and help students step out of their comfort zones.
Snow Tubing Fun
M
TA seniors kicked off their first week back in yeshiva after winter break with an amazing morning of learning, followed by an incredible snow tubing trip! Grade-wide trips are the perfect way for talmidim to spend time with friends and rebbeim and continue to build lifelong friendships that will last far beyond graduation.
They provide an environment of inclusiveness and a time where everyone can feel successful. By starting the month with snowtubing, it helps set the stage for a more positive semester. Students remarked that the trip was a highlight of the year so far and were grateful for the opportunity to safely get away for a little while. Student Atara Cywiak said “This was a great bonding experience for my grade. It was so great to get out.�
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Around the Community
HALB LEAPs into Tefillah
H
ALB Middle School girls have been introduced to a brand new Tefillah Program, LEAP (Learn Every Aspect of Prayer).
Students will learn about the meaning of tefillot, hear inspirational stories, and learn the halachot of tefillah. Morah Michelle Farbman introduced the program, and each girl
received their very own notebook. Three mornings a week, the girls will write down something new they learned about tefillah from the different Middle School morot. The goal is
to have a notebook filled with tefillah connections that the girls can look back at and feel inspired to connect with Hashem.
This Motzei Shabbos: The Power of Positivity An Interactive Event to be Held in 18 Shuls Across the Community
“T
he Power of Positivity: Finding peace through our hidden strengths” is a unique, interactive program in
which 18 shuls from our community will be hosting simultaneous workshops on the power of finding positivity within an era of challenges.
This program will be facilitated by the shul’s rebbetzin or a volunteer facilitator in the congregation on the Zoom platform. It will be taking place this Motzei Shabbos, February 13, 2021 at 8:30p.m. The workshop will feature psychological insights and tools that can generate discussion among members, along with interactive activities and exercises for each participant’s personal growth. They’ll laugh and enjoy while fostering bonds within the group. Guaranteed fun with practical insights! Early registrants from each shul received a complimentary gift bag from the Jewish Women’s Leadership Council of the Five Towns (JWLC). This exclusive event is presented by the JWLC, which is comprised of local Orthodox rebbetzins and community leaders. The UJA Federation of New York and the Marion and Aaron Gural JCC are coordinating and sponsoring this event. There is no charge for the event but registration is required at www.guraljcc.org/jwlc. Sign up today! The JWLC was created to help
strengthen the Jewish community in the Five Towns by uniting the women leaders to collaborate and address issues, trends and concerns impacting our community. So far, they have sponsored two highly successful events. The first was an evening of “Love and Laughter” with comedian Ashley Blaker, Dr. David Pelcovitz and Rachel Pill, LCSW. The second was a special Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul program with renowned speaker Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi. Both programs were extremely well attended. This program, on February 13, continues JWLC’s goal of strengthening our connections, bonds, and the power of positivity amongst the women of the Five Towns. Register for the “Power of Positivity” event at www.guraljcc.org/jwlc. A Zoom link, unique for each shul, will be sent to registrants prior to the event. If you have any questions about the upcoming event on February 13, 2021, please contact Rebbetzin Sori Teitelbaum at soriteitelbaum@yahoo.com.
Did you know? Each person in the U.S. eats about 46 slices of pizza a year
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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Around the Community
The Art of Achievement
E
ach year of elementary school raises and sets the bar a bit higher for TAG talmidos, both academically and developmentally (as well as in ruchniyus). In the fifth grade, in particular, the girls are challenged to meet higher expectations, while at the same time creating an environment for them to taste success and feel pride in their accomplishments. The Chidon tests on all of Sefer Bereishis were a huge milestone. The talmidos had their first taste of a “final exam” and were given a framework to pace themselves and choose a level of challenge. We are so proud of their efforts, both in studying and trying their best on the test day. With deep pride for their accom-
plishments, Morah Menucha Levin and Mrs. Sima Greer, curriculum coordinator, arranged a special celebratory event. Morah Greer gave
an inspiring d’var Torah about Yom Hashishi. Then the girls enjoyed an amazing paint event with Mrs. D’vora Weinberg, of Paint Night fame,
Health Month at HAFTR
MTA Has a Blast
I O
n Thursday, February 4, MTA juniors had the best time on their grade-wide trip to Anchor Paintball & Golf Center! Talmidim enjoyed a variety of fun activities, including mini golf, foot golf, a driving range, batting cages, and paintball. The day ended with
where they created a Parshas Bereishis image depicting hadlakas neiros Shabbos.
churros and hot chocolate, followed by a special Mishmar with chulent and kugel. It was great to spend time with rebbeim and friends outside the classroom. This was the perfect way to end their first week back in yeshiva after winter break!
n a typical year, HAFTR Middle School’s Health Week is characterized by a series of workshops and classes during a single week in February. This year, they have reimagined Health Week in a way that allows them to continue to adhere to COVID-related protocols, while also focusing on engaging, meaningful, and educational activities for students. Ms. Ariana Wolfson, Dr. Yali Werzberger, Mrs. Nechama Landau, and Rabbi YM Siff spearheaded the coordination and re-imagining of this important program. Students in sixth through eighth grades will be introduced to a series of activities spread out throughout the month of February that focus on
the physical, mental, and spiritual health and development of the students. In the area of physical health, students will be engaging in workshops and activities related to physical fitness and nutrition. In the area of mental health, staff will facilitate a series of mindfulness and wellness activities. In the area of spirituality, there will be a comprehensive curriculum on the significance, philosophical underpinnings, and technical applications of brachot. We very much look forward to partnering with parents in service of empowering our students to lead healthy lifestyles and make healthy choices.
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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Around the Community
Rambam Extracurriculars Going Strong
Twenty members of the HALB staff participated in the first HALB Staff Book Club. They started off with Educated by Tara Westover
SKA Students Win Awards
C
ongratulations to Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls eleventh grader Yael Shtern who has been named runner-up in the Music category of the Project Witness 2021 National School Competition and tenth grader Yael Szlafrok who received Honorable Mention in the Literature category. Project Witness, an organization dedicated to ensuring that the Shoah will not be forgotten, chose Propaganda as its theme this year. “How could a nation commit the atrocities that were perpetrated in Nazi Germany?” SKA Junior Yael Shtern used her love of music to compose “It Only Takes One,” a song based on Rabbi Jonathan’s Sacks’ book, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times. When public discourse grows toxic and family life breaks down, the future becomes uncertain and it is easy for the “Big Lie” to spread, SKA sophomore Yael Szlafrok explains that her essay, “We Can All be Firefighters,” is about the spread of propaganda. She notes that the reason propaganda still exists today is because of the political partisanship in this country that “intentionally fans the flames of propaganda” in order to further the popularity and status of a particular political party. I was inspired to write this essay due to the growing feud between both political parties that is wreaking havoc in our country and democracy. If people were
T
SKA 10th grader Yael Szlafrok
to listen to both sides of the conversation, rather than only their own “facts,” we can stop the spread of the “fire” of propaganda once and for all. The two SKA students competed as part of their RISE independent learning requirement. RISE (Reach with Independent Learning, Scholars and Enriching Experiences) is an exciting SKA program for students who are interested in exploring academic opportunities beyond the classroom. Under the guidance of Dr. Chana Glatt, the students spend time on their special interests, hear from visiting scholars and go on inspiring trips. The program has been very successful in adding a unique dimension to the students’ school experience.
he first half of the school year at Rambam came to a dramatic close with sophomore Chai Redner emerging as the “Question of the Week” champion. Ilan Kinsberg, a junior, took home the “Torah Question of the Week” award, while seniors Dovi Deutsch and Binyamin Werner were named “Photo of the Week” champions. In a rare double-win, Chai Redner once again rose to grasp the victor’s cup taking home “Caption of the Week” honors. A new season of “Of the Week” contests has begun! Senior Reuban Azose was crowned the “Eitan Markowitz Kahoot Challenge King.” Eli Orenbuch was a close second, with Yoni Bench and Shai Fish tied for third. These top finishers have earned the highly coveted Rambam plaques as well as Amazon prizes. The records have been wiped clean, however, and a new semester of Kahoot Challenges is already underway! The first half of the year also saw the end of the Rambam eRavens eSports Fall Season as Shlomo Braverman finished in the Top 10 in the country in Smash Bros. and Nissim
Pinto was a Minecraft finalist. Are there All-Star plaques for them in the future? The schoolwide “Connect-4 Tournament” as well as the “Punt, Kick, and Pass Football Tournament” will hopefully conclude over the next few weeks. The new “Contest of the Month,” a Rambam inspired crossword puzzle, has already seen a record number of participants! This week also saw a return of Early Morning Learning and Masmidim. The Book Chat is scheduled to discuss Walter Dean Myer’s Monster on March 4, and the Israel Awareness Committee and the Meet The Author Book Club are presenting Professor Joshua Muravchik, author of Making David Into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel on March 8. Torah Bowl, College Bowl, and the Classic Film Club also recently met and the Writers’ Guild meets next week. Purim fun is beginning soon, and the seniors are hard at work making the Purim Shpiel. The Purim “Best Costume Contest” and “Talent Show” will also be returning. The second half of the year is already epic!
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Around the Community
Nearly 100 Jewish Day School Educators from 9 States Join Hidden Sparks Program
T
he COVID-19 pandemic has taken a negative toll on so many aspects of everyday life, including the ongoing anxiety of students and teachers in the classrooms. Hidden Sparks, a nonprofit focusing on training teachers and providing them with the tools to support struggling students in mainstream Jewish day schools,
recently convened a virtual conference to address this challenge. Nearly 100 Jewish educators from nine states came together to collaborate on developing their skills and toolboxes for creating positive and stable experiences for their students. Participating educators were able to choose from 11 lecture options that gave them tools in a variety of
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areas like topics like art therapy exercises in the classroom to teacher’s self-care and personal growth. Topics included Recognizing Anxiety in Myself and Others, Guided Relaxation Exercises, Building a The participating educators hailed from 45 Jewish day schools in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, and Rhode Island. Teachers from Long Island included educators from HALB, Shulamith School of Girls, TAG, HANC Plainview, HANC West Hempstead, and Northshore Hebrew Academy Middle School (Great Neck). Queens educators included those from Bnos Malka Academy, SSSQ, and Yeshiva of Central Queens. They heard from leading education experts including Rona Novick, Ph.D., dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration at Yeshiva University and co-educational director for Hidden Sparks; Lily Howard Scott, MS, Hidden Sparks’ Social Emotional Learning Coach; Hidden Sparks coaches from across the country, school and clinical psychologists, and an art therapist. Throughout the past year, Hidden Sparks has remained in constant communication with Jewish day school educators, monitoring the impact that the pandemic has had on both the teacher’s personal psyche as well as those of their students and the effects on their overall classroom experiences. The seminar’s focus on mental health was specifically chosen in response to those findings, in order to provide
educators with the tools they need now to help both themselves and their students. “Fortunately, many of yeshivas and day schools have managed, through careful planning, to stay open for most of the year but this whole period has been especially challenging for our teachers,” said Hidden Sparks Executive Director Debbie Niderberg. “It was very clear to us that the focus for our retreat this year had to begin with strategies for teachers’ self-care, and then expand to how do I bring these strategies into my classroom. There has been such a focus on academic learning loss this year, but in reality, there have been so many other kinds of loss that we have experienced through this time, and we recognize how important self-care strategies and mental health sensitivity are for teachers and students.” Founded in 2006, Hidden Sparks is a one of the leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping teachers and schools educate struggling learners. Through professional development programs and on-site coaching for teachers, it helps educators deepen their understanding of learning and approaches for teaching all kinds of learners, particularly those who struggle. With 110 participating day schools in the US as well as schools in Israel and 3,875 educators trained by the Hidden Sparks curriculum, the organization impacts 8,800 students on average annually. For more information please visit: www.hiddensparks.org.
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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10AM-3PM
Shul C aptain
s: Elkana h Richar Adelman d Binyo Altabe m Yossi B in Aronow Nafta icz Dovi L li Landau Yaako auman v Berg Ora D anger er Ephra im Shmu ina Lazar Avrum Bernstein e i Rivka/C l Lesser Mena Biegacz ha chem R iv ka Loc rlotte Levy Borns Chaim t e D Y in aakov k Yoni D ahan Lo embit Y o eli Me piansky Ari Dic zer n ker R a fi Met delowitz Ruchie z D S himsh Rache unn l Chana on Molinsk Nachu English y n m Chaim iah Pelman Meilec Feintuch Rapfo h Feld S g haina el Temim berge r Baruc Rivka Rose Adina a Feldman nberg h R o thm F Moshe Shaim ischlewitz Rutne an a Gold B r arry S Chanie berg Avi Sa alamon Avrum Goldberge tt r i Mach Rober Gutf reund li Scha t Hagle ttner C h aim Meir H r e Elie Sc Boruch Sch Yossi It ineman neide h z r Sori S wab Tama kowitz chwar r Jaco t E z li Shapir bowit Aharo z n Chaya o Yoni K Kaplan Sh arp N aftali S apiro Ellie K olomo atz S h n muel Chaim U K D eena W ngar Avki K auf man e in lein stein Micha e Tzippo l Wittow rah W Dovi Z it auder tow er
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
my favorite weekly specials
Store Hours:
Order Online: www.FrankelsKosher.com or by Email: orders@Frankelskosher.com
Feb 19, - Feb 25,
1913 Cornaga Avenue • Far Rockaway • T. 718-327-4700 F. 718-327-4701 E. orders@Frankelskosher.com
Sun: 7-8 Mon: 7-8 Tue: 7-8 Wed: 7-9 Thur: 7-11 Fri: 7-3:00
major deals Gefen
Grape Juice
Kedem
Elite
All Flavors 25.40 Oz
6.70 Oz
Sparkling Grape Juice
8 Oz
Mix Chocolate
$0.79
$2.99
$2.99
Paskesz
Paskesz
Paskesz
All Flavors 1.25 Oz
Choc Mousse & French Truffles Dairy
Mini Wafer Roll
Milk Crispy Crepes
Ball Pops 12 Oz
5.6 Oz
$0.59
2/$5
$1.10
shalach manos Paskesz
Parasol Milk Chocolate .30 Oz
$0.39 Paskesz
Popples Bags 1.60 Oz
Liebers
Granola Bars
Oats & Honey & Dark Chocolate 1.41 Oz
$0.59 Paskesz
Bonus Bar/Milk Munch/ Encore/ Smirk
Paskesz
Sour Sticks All 8 Flavors 1.75 Oz
Liebers
Chocolate Wafer Rolls 50 Grm
Elite
Snap Chocolate Bars
Elite
Taami Bars 1.40 Oz
White & Milk Chocolate 1.59 Oz
$0.69
$0.69
Klik
Gefen
Klik Balls / Kariot Pillows & Corn Flakes 1.06 Oz
Wafer Rolls Choc & Hazelnut 2.65 Oz
$0.69 Manamit
Wafer
Chocolate & Vanilla 7.05 Oz
$0.69 Klik
Mochaccino/ Truf - Fill/In Cream/ChokoKid Bars 1.34 Oz
1.65 Oz
$0.69
$0.75
$0.79
$0.79
$0.79
$0.89
Liebers
Liebers
Paskesz
Shneiders
Man
Liebers
Strawberry/ Hazenut/Coffee/ French Vanilla 2.60 Oz
Milk & Dark Chocolate 30 Grm
1.76 Oz
1.90 Oz
Vanilla/Coffee/ Lemon 7 Oz
Wafer Rolls
Rice Cake
Nutty Chew
Delinut Dip
Wafer
Danish Butter Cookies 4 Oz
Carmit
Elite
Milk & White Chocolate 1.40 Oz
Hazelnut Cream & Caffe Latte Cream 1.20 Oz
Chocolate Corn Flakes
Milk Chocolate Covered Wafer
$0.69
$0.89
Elite
Klik
Pesekzman Wafer Roll & Classic Milk Chocolate Bar 1.40 Oz
La Hit 1.23 Oz
$0.89
$0.89
Elite
Man
Chocolate Covered Biscuit Crunch
Mini Delicious Wafers 7 Oz
3.50 Oz
$0.89
$0.89
$0.99
$0.99
$1.09
$1.19
$1.29
$1.29
Man
Manamit
Silhouette
Paskesz
Elite
Elite
Gefen
All Flavors 3.50 Oz
Milk/Bittersweet/Popping Candies 3 Oz
Tirosh Sandwich Cookies
All Flavors 3.39 Oz
Chocolate & Lemon 14.10 Oz
Chocolate Wafer 7 Pk
Wafer Cubes
Chocolate & Hazelnut 7.05 Oz
Wafer Roll
All Flavors 3.50 Oz
Sour Sticks
Chocolate Bars
7 Oz
Shtix
Wafer
$1.29
$1.29
$1.29
$1.29
$1.39
$1.49
$1.69
$1.69
Elite
Caramelized White Chocolate Bar
Klik Mini Bags
Elite
Liebers
Paskesz
Klik
Paskesz
Man
$1.89
2/$3
Paskesz
Paskesz
All Flavors 2.64 Oz
3.50 Oz
Chews
Fruit/Mix Berry & Sour 12 Oz
2/$4 Paskesz
Candy Necklaces 10.54 Oz
Milk Munch/ Smirk/ Encore/ Bonus Bites/Solos 5 Oz
Extra Creamy Chocolate Bar
Vanilla & Cookies Only 3.50 Oz
3.15 Oz
Heart & Rainbow Lollipops 12 Oz
Chocolate Crisp Bar & Cornflakes
Dunkees Singles 1.80 Oz
3 Oz
Coated Finger Wafers 8.80 Oz
2/$3
2/$3
2/$3
2/$3
3/$3
2/$4
Shneiders
Paskesz
Paskesz
Paskesz
Paskesz
Paskesz
Milk & Parve 5.29 Oz
Berry & Strawberry
4.50 Oz
7.79 Oz
9.87 Oz
9.30 Oz
T-Chocolate
Fruit Reels
Fizzy Fruits
Candy Rings
Candy Watches
Candy Bracelets
2/$5
2/$5
2/$5
$2.99
$2.99
$2.99
$2.99
Paskesz
Paskesz
Paskesz
Manamit
Imperial
Paskesz
Paskesz
Strawberry/Tutti Frutti/Cherry 50 Ct
All Flavors 50 Ct
Strawberry & Raspberry 30 Pc
Fizzy Bottles 8.82 Oz
Mini Encore, Milk Munch, Smirk & Bonus 9.10 Oz
$2.99
Mini Gift Box Jam
$2.99
$3.99
Candy Spinner & Windmill Candy Pop
Chocolate Wafer
4.20 Oz
Chocolate Wafer & Chocolate Cover 40 Pk
$3.99
$3.99
Skate
$3.99
Taffy Pops
$3.99
WITH MINIMUM PURCHASE OF $15 NON SALES ITEM - Specials Are Running From Tuesday Feb/9/21 Thru Friday Feb/26/21. We Reserve The Right Tp Limit Quantities, While Supplies Last. Not Respo/nsible For Typographical Or Photographic Errors. No Rain Checks.
Sour Belts
$4.49
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
my favorite weekly specials Feb 19, - Feb 25,
1913 Cornaga Avenue • Far Rockaway • T. 718-327-4700 F. 718-327-4701 E. orders@Frankelskosher.com
Store Hours:
Order Online: www.FrankelsKosher.com or by Email: orders@Frankelskosher.com Sun: 7-8 Mon: 7-8 Tue: 7-8 Wed: 7-9 Thur: 7-11 Fri: 7-3:00
shalach manos Elite
Mini Choc Log/ Pesek Zman/KifKef/Pesek Zman Wafer
Achva
Vanilla & Chocolate Cupcake 45 G
Paskesz
Mini Milk Munch & Smirk
Kedem
Paskesz
Liebers
All Flavors 4.50 Oz
1.41 Oz
White/Twisted 1.75 Oz
Tea Biscuits
Ooh Chew
Carmit
Marshmallow
Chocolate Bars
Rice Crisp/Hazelnut & Bittersweet 1.23 Oz
14.10 Oz
Paskesz
Mini Encore & Bonus Bars
$5.99
2/$1
2/$1
2/$1
2/$1
2/$1
2/$1
3/$1
Paskesz
Elite
Liebers
Liebers
Liebers
Paskesz
Paskesz
Happiness
.70 Oz
14 G
Candy Spinner & Windmill Candy Pop
Mini Biscuit Crunch
Double Dip
Lolly Fizz
Bally Bally Candy
.70 Oz
Candy Necklaces
Reg & Sour 15 Gr
Fizz Bottle
Spiral & Swirlo Lollipop
1.69 Oz
3/$1
3/$1
3/$1
4/$1
4/$1
4/$1
4/$1
4/$1
Laffy Taffy Rope
Man
Paskesz
Paskesz
Paskesz
Paskesz
Paskesz
Imperial
All Flavors .80 Oz
Chocolate Wafer
Candy Watch
Popples Tube Milk Chocolate
Big Dippers .42 Oz
.70 Oz
Single Sour Belts
Candy Bracelets
All Flavors .35 Oz
Skate
Strawberry/Tutti Frutti/Cheery .42 Oz
4/$1
5/$1
6/$1
5/$2
6/$1
7/$1
8/$1
10/$1
Liebers
Gefen
Liebers
Liebers
Liebers
Paskesz
Liebers
Shwartz
Fruit Punch & Strawberry 4 Pack
4 Pack
.80 Oz
Bbq & Regular 1 Oz
Candy Lipsticks
Box Drink
Apple Juice
Cotton Candy
Corn Chips
Alpha Bites Cookies
Onion Rings .50 Oz
Chocolate & Vanilla 1.40 Oz
Kettle Popcorn Reg & Sweet 1 Oz
10/$2
$1.29
$1.69
2/$1
3/$1
3/$1
4/$1
4/$1
Liebers
Sunrise
Liebers
Pop A Nosh
Wise
Kitov
Liebers
Liebers
All Flavors .75 Oz
.50 Oz
Potato Chips
Popcorn
All Flavors .75 Oz
Pretzels
Mixed Munch & Honey Bbq Munch
Potato Chips
Corn Pops
Chocolate Chiplets Cookies
Lite & Reg .50 Oz
All Flavors 1.25 Oz
Crispy Goodies 1 Oz
1 Oz
1.50 Oz
4/$1
4/$1
7/$1
3/$2
4/$2
5/$2
6/$2
7/$2
Liebers
Mighty
Paskesz
Drizzilicious
Camille Bloch
Camille Bloch
Carmit
Camille Bloch
All Flavors 3 Oz
5 Pk
Mini Wow 1 Oz
Peanut Puffs 1 Oz
8/$2
10/$2
Family Pack Noshkes All Flavors 10 Pk
2/$5
Cinnamon & Smores 4 Oz
Torino Chocolate Bars
Swiss Chocolate Bars
All Flavors 3.50 Oz
2/$5
Milk/Dark/White 3.50 Oz
2/$5
choco gifts
Chocolate Bars
2/$5
3/$3
Gold Confection
Gold Confection
Chocolate Pops
Purim Cards
Torino Milk Chocolate Bars
$3.49
Gold Confection
Purim Bottles
$1.29
$1.99
$2.99
Gold Confection
Gold Confection
Gold Confection
Gold Confection
2 Pc
4 Pc
Pretzel Box
Pretzel Box
Pretzel Box 8 Pc
Gift Boxes Assorted Truffles 1.50 Oz
$1.99
$2.99
$3.99
$3.49
Gold Confection
Le Chocolate
Le Chocolate
12 Oz
14 Oz
28 Oz
Strawberry/Pina Colada/Cherry 5 Oz
Simcha Chocolate Platter
Le Chocolate
$4.99
$15.99
$15.99
Gift Boxes
WITH MINIMUM PURCHASE OF $15 NON SALES ITEM
Small Sectional Gift Box
Specials Are Running From Tuesday Feb/9/21 Thru Friday Feb/26/21. We Reserve The Right Tp Limit Quantities, While Supplies Last. Not Respo/nsible For Typographical Or Photographic Errors. No Rain Checks.
Large Sectional Gift Box
$20.99
49
50
FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Order Online: www.FrankelsKosher.com or by Email: orders@Frankelskosher.com
my favorite
weekly
Store Hours:
specials Jan 10, - Feb 16,
1913 Cornaga Avenue • Far Rockaway • T. 718-327-4700 F. 718-327-4701 E. orders@Frankelskosher.com
dairy - frozen
major deals Epic
Fresh Salmon Family Pack
$7.99
Vialdi
Osem
Elbow Pasta
Liebers
Mini Croutons
16 Oz
Glatt Kosher
Boneless Chuck Fillet Steak
$7.99
Margarine
Breat Of Veal (For Stuffing)
$6.99 Lb Shoulder Cut Lamb Chops
$1.19
$2.69
$2.99
Givat
Hoffmans
Dyna-Sea
Yogolite Yogurt
Pizza Snaps
Imitation Crab Stick
20 Oz
5 Oz
$10.99
$0.79
$6.99
$5.49
Kosherific
Dorot
Dr Praegers
Kineret
Garlic Cubes
California Veggie Burgers
2.80 Oz
Chocolate Chip Cookies Dough
10 Oz
$12.99 Lb
24 Oz
Minute Roast
$5.99
$2.19
$3.99
$4.49
takeout
$9.99 Lb
$9.99 Lb
$7.49 Lb
$6.49 Lb
Flanken Ends
Chicken Legs Combo
Dark Chicken Cutlets
Lean Chicken Tenders
Mr Dipz
Salads
$7.99 Lb
$2.49 Lb
$5.99 Lb
$5.99 Lb
Stuffed W/ Pastrami Dark Chicken Capon
Meal Mart
Aarons
Tirat Zvi
40 Oz
12 Oz
$6.99 Lb
$16.99 Ea
Beef Franks
Golden Taste
Assorted Flavors 14.10 Oz
7 Oz
Royal
Mild Jalapeno
$2.99
Tuna Deluxe 7 Oz
$2.99
$2.99
produce
Turkey Breast
3 DAYS ONLY
PRODUCE SPECIALS WEDNESDAY THRU FRIDAY
All Varieties 12 Oz
$5.99 Ea
Achla
Hummus Dip
Assorted Flavors 7 Oz
$3.99 Beef Franks
16 Oz
Cottage Cheese
Natural & Kosher
Fish Sticks
Lamb Neck For Stew
Reg & Calcium 52 Oz
32 Oz
Fillet Migon Roast
$6.99 Lb
Fresh & Healthy
2/$1
25 Oz
$6.99 Lb
Tree Ripe
Orange Juice
16 Oz
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Top Quality Meat & Poultry
Shoulder Steak
Farms Creamery
6 Oz
18.50 Oz
2/$5.50
meat dep Corned Beef Deckle
String Cheese
13.70 Oz
$2.99
La Yogurt
Fresh & Healthy
Snackers Cracker
14.1 Oz
$0.79
Sun: 7-8 Mon: 7-8 Tue: 7-8 Wed: 7-9 Thur: 7-11 Fri: 7-2
$6.99 Ea
Cello Mushrooms
Andy Boy Romaine Hearts
English Cucumbers
$1.19 Lb
$1.99 Ea
$2.99 Ea
2/$3
$1.79 Ea
2/$5
$1.19 Lb
$.99 Ea
3 Lb Yellow Onions
Whats App or Text
718-327-4700
We’ll prepare it and bring it to your car
Wednesday, Feb/10/21 thru Friday Feb/12/21
5x6 Tomatoes
5 Lb Idaho Potatoes
Macintosh Apple
Large Oranges
fresh cut fruits
SUN thru WED 9am to 4pm
Fresh Sliced Mango
Fresh Cut Cantaloupe/ Honeydew/ Pineapple
Fresh Salad Bowl
Butternut Squash Cubed
$6.99
$4.99
$4.99
$5.99
There is a $3 Fee Send your name to 718-327-4700 for WhatsApp status updates.
take a peek at our everyday special prices Norman’s
Gevina
Taste Yogurts
Greek Yogurts
$.69
$1.39
5 0z
Norman’s
Cream Cheese
$2.99
Fresh & Tasty
Milk Cholov
Yisroel
2/$5
Mehadrin
Chocolate Leben 12 Pk
$11.99
American Cheese
Yogolite
$15.99
$0.79
108 Slices
Givat
Specials Are Running From Wednesday Feb/10/21 Thru Tuesday Feb/16/21. Produce Sale Effective Feb/10/21 Thru Feb/12/21 We Reserve The Right To Limit Quantities, While Supplies Last. Not Responsible For Typographical Or Photographic Errors. No Rain Checks.
Postiv
Romaine Lettuce 24 Oz
Greenhouse Grown
$10.99
TURN PAGE
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
Order Online: www.FrankelsKosher.com or by Email: orders@Frankelskosher.com
my favorite
weekly
Store Hours:
specials Jan 10, - Feb 16,
1913 Cornaga Avenue • Far Rockaway • T. 718-327-4700 F. 718-327-4701 E. orders@Frankelskosher.com
sushi
See Seperate
all day every day
Flyer
candy/nosh
buy 2 get 1 free
Purim Specials
grocery Gefen
Pearl Barley 16 Oz
Gefen
Solid White Albacore In Water
Krasdale
Wacky Mac
Sugar
Mac & Cheese
4 Lbs
5.5 Oz
household Silktouch
Dining Collection
130 Ct
Soup Spoon,Tea Spoon,Forks, Knives 50 Ct
Tissues
Clear Cutlery
6 Oz
$0.99
2/$5
$2.79
4/$5
Nesquik
Pri Avot
Gefen
Gefen
Chocolate Syrup 22 Oz
Cucumber In Brine 20% More 23 Oz
Egg Noodles All Varieties 12 Oz
Whole Hearts Of Palm 14.10 Oz
$2.19
$1.39
2/$3
2/$4
B&G
Iberia
Galil
Apple & Eve
15.50 Oz
Pieces & Stems 8 Oz
64 Oz
Kosher Dill Gherkins
Chickpeas
24 Oz
Mushrooms
Apple Juice
$0.69
Proplast
32 Oz & 16 Oz Container
$2.29
$0.89
$0.99
2/$5.50
Kelloggs
Kelloggs
Gefen
Pandora
12 Oz
10.10 Oz
16 Oz
$2.99
Fruit Loops
$3.29
Yellow Mustard
$1.29
Royal Crown
Clear Plates 9 Inch
$0.99
$1.39
$3.99
Pas Yisroel
Ackermans
Ackermans
24 Ct
13 Oz
bakery Frankels
Loose Hamantashen
Black’n White Cookies
Assorted
Mini Cupcakes
Assorted Hamantashen
13.50 Oz
$5.99 Lb
$5.49
$8.99
$4.99
We Carry A Full Line OF
Satmar Fleish Crispix Cereal
Sun: 7-8 Mon: 7-8 Tue: 7-8 Wed: 7-9 Thur: 7-11 Fri: 7-2
Cookies Sheet
2/$1
Dips & Kugels
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM
This Week New Item
$14.99 Rose bouquet $19.99 Long lasting orchid arngmnt $19.99 Shabbos bouquet $24.99 Arrangement in a vase $34.99 Hydrangea bunch
flower arangments WE HAVE THE
Fresh
Fruit Platters
CIRCLE CARDS
We now offer deliveries to the following areas
• Atlantic Beach • Long Beach • The Rockaways • Belle harbor
Weekly Yiddish Newspapers & Magazines Der Blatt, Der Yid, News Report,Der Blick, Dee Voch, Etc.
Specials Are Running From Wednesday Feb/10/21 Thru Tuesday Feb/16/21. Produce Sale Effective Feb/10/21 Thru Feb/12/21 We Reserve The Right To Limit Quantities, While Supplies Last. Not Responsible For Typographical Or Photographic Errors. No Rain Checks.
TURN PAGE
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Around the Community Chesed
Center
CLOTHING
DRIVE
Passover, Delivered to your Door Launch of Passover.com is Reinventing the Passover Shopping Experience By Leah Gottheim
The Chesed Donation Center picks up all your unwanted clothing & housewares items and distributes them to local Gemachs within the community.
WE ACCEPT: CLOTHING | SHOES | TOYS | HOUSEWARES | ELECTRONICS | ODDS & ENDS
THE CHESED CENTER PROVIDES TOYS AND CLOTHING TO
OVER 6,000 FAMILIES.
THAT EXTRA CLUTTER SITTING AROUND YOUR HOUSE CAN MAKE
A REAL DIFFERENCE.
PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN OUR DONATION DRIVE!
SCHEDULE A PICKUP TODAY!
Call (347) 837-8256
or go to www.TheChesedCenter.com
L
ast year, shopping for Passover was transformed as people faced the challenges of COVID-19. Many retailers pivoted to ecommerce, and the percentage of people comfortable shopping for food online skyrocketed. This year, Passover.com is launching for a reimagined Passover shopping experience – an online store that is geared specifically for 100% kosher for Passover shopping. Normally, getting your Passover food involves schlepping from store to store, looking for all the products on your list. For those who live outside major Jewish population centers, it can be even harder to find everything you need. Passover 2021 is going to be different. For the first time, there is going to be an online store exclusively dedicated to the Passover shopping experience. You can order with confidence and ease, without having to check labels or worry that you’ll accidentally get a non-Passover product. This year, in particular, the online store will provide a great service for people who are trying to avoid extra trips to the grocery store for the sake of COVID-safety. “I’m excited about the transformational potential of Passover.com,” says Daniel Lysak, Passover.com’s Ecommerce Director. “It will make
people’s lives so much easier and streamline their preparation process for this important Jewish holiday, especially in areas where access to a diverse assortment of kosher food is limited.” From cooking and baking supplies to matzah and grape juice, from matzah ball mix to macaroons, you can check off your shopping list well in advance, in one shopping session. We’ve gathered a collection of high-quality items from a wide assortment of brands. Another great feature on the site: we’ve included a recipe collection so you can plan your menu along with your shopping list. Best of all, for any order over $100, you get a FREE 5-lb box of matzah! Passover.com also offers a Seder Essentials Kit, where you can order your Seder supplies in ONE click. And don’t miss the “Sweets and Treats” ultimate gift box, sure to delight anyone you want to gift this Passover. No matter where you live in the U.S., don’t worry. Passover.com ships nationally. The site launches on February 10, 2021. Visit the “store” today and start shopping! Make Passover.com your Passover shopping destination this year, and we’ll deliver your Passover groceries right to your door.
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home
Around the Community
Learning to Play
I
VDU Long Island provides ongoing professional development opportunities to staff to enhance their work with students. This month’s workshop focused on the importance of play and how to increase the quality of play in children of all ages. Play is an integral part of child development and a precursor for many learning opportunities, thereby necessitating students to engage in developmentally appropriate play.
In connection to the parsha, Gesher’s nursery class used toy animals to make footprints of kosher and non-kosher animals
Many children need assistance with their play, especially imaginary and symbolic play, requiring adult facilitation. During the workshop, staff learned how to assess every child’s present level of play in order to inform proper intervention and facilitating. Throughout the next few months, staff will continue to learn about different play modalities and how to embed them into daily activities. Snow art fun at Shulamith Early Childhood Center
Israeli International Educators Honor Rabbi Yotav Eliach
A
pproximately two weeks ago, a YouTube video began to circulate among Rambam students and the world at large. It featured Charlie Harary, one of the most renowned inspirational speakers on the topics of positive thinking and motivation in the Jewish community. In the video, he credits Rambam Mesivta Principal Rabbi Yotav Eliach as being the source for his life’s turnaround and ability to accomplish what he was able to accomplish. Many educators who know of Rabbi Eliach’s work called to congratulate him when the video circulated. Anyone who knows of Rabbi Eliach’s dedication and inspiration was not surprised. Rabbi Eliach is clearly recognized in America as an educator’s educator. According to Rosh Mesivta of Rambam, Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, “I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside Rabbi Eliach for 20 years. He truly is amazing,
insightful, sensitive, and inspiring!” Recently, Rabbi Eliach’s service was recognized internationally with one of the most prestigious awards in education: “Outstanding Educator in the Diaspora for 5781.” The award, which dates back to 1999, is issued by the World Organization of Orthodox Communities and Synagogues and is part of the World Zionist Organization. It is given to someone who demonstrates exceptional dedication, inspiration, and leadership to Jewish youth outside of Israel. The award is rarely given to an educator outside of Israel, however, because of Rabbi Eliach’s unique and amazing accomplishments, he was chosen as this year’s honoree. Just last year, he authored what was to become a best-selling book, Judaism, Zionism, and the Land of Israel. The book was an encapsulated version of the college level course he teaches to high school
students every year on inspirational, religious Zionism. The course arms students with the factual, historical background in what is perceived to be the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rambam alumni who have gone into various professions have testified that the course has been an invaluable resource enabling them to become diplomats for Israel, being able to disabuse many popular falsehoods, and defend our people and the Jewish State. Perhaps this accomplishment should come as no surprise being that Rabbi Eliach comes from a long line of international educators. His father, Rabbi David Eliach, at the age of 98 is the well-known Principal Emeritus of the Yeshiva of Flatbush and currently is a sought-out consultant. His mother, Dr. Yaffa Eliach, a”h, passed away four years ago and was a preeminent Holocaust scholar and lecturer. Rabbi Yotav Eliach,
with his supportive wife, Hildy, at his side, carries on this tradition of service to Am Yisroel. Mr. Hillel Goldman, Rambam’s Associate Principal, said, “I have had the honor of being mentored by Rabbi Eliach the last eleven years. His tireless commitment to the local community, the school, and the Jewish people everywhere sets the standard for leadership, professionalism, and dedication.”
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
55
Around the Community
Family-Friendly at Young Israel of Jamaica Estates
N
othing will slow us down at the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates. Despite fewer COVID-19 safe options of activities, the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates has successfully adapted creative solutions to our new reality. We have been able to blend distant/Zoom activities with socially distant in-person activities following the strict COVID-19 guidelines of our medical committee. As schools and shuls reopened, we welcomed the children back into the building for Shabbat groups. Davening and Shabbat games with hand washing and mask wearing are mandatory for our youngest members. Zach Herskowitz, our enthusiastic Youth Director, vigilantly reminds our kids, “Masks up” in a friendly, non-threatening manner. As weather permits, groups have been held
outdoors. Now that winter has come and Shabbat ends early, we have resumed Parent Child Learning (PCL) every Saturday night to an enthusiastic response. Even though, the pizza is “to go,” the children come for the fun learning and a chance to see their
friends. Or maybe it’s for a chance to win one of the fabulous prizes which can only be earned by amassing those “Cool Cards.” Families of all sizes came and joined the fun in a special Motzei Shabbat Chanukah edition of PCL culminating in a Family Feud style
Chanukah-themed game show. Bob Barker may not have been there to warmly greet you, but your YIJE masked neighbors were happily cheering each other on. Every child, of course, went home with a wrapped Chanukah gift graciously donated by our sponsors.
Our drive-in movie of Zootopia in the spring was such a success that the YIJE Drive In movie theater tried an encore presentation of School of Rock. Nothing beats sitting outdoors watching a movie on the big screen. For the budding young artists, you can join one of our Crazy Crafts events on Sunday mornings. Every family is seated at their own table with the necessary supplies for an art project. The talent and creativity are delightful. The morning of fun concludes with a socially distant group game. The fun and Torah learning never end at YIJE, as there are more Parent Child Learning, Crazy Crafts, and movie nights to come, all with safety and health in mind. Learn more at yije.org for a list of upcoming events and our COVID-19 guidelines.
life is not perfect, but it is beautiful. alphaonestudio@gmail.com
yaelivogel.com
info@yaelivogel.com
yaelivogel
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Around the Community
Shas for Shidduchim: A Powerful Demonstration on Behalf of Klal Yisroel’s Singles
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he struggle of finding shidduchim is not at all unique to the Chicago community, but their approach towards it is. On January 28, 2021, hundreds of people from across the country worked together in a remarkable display of achdus with one cause: to help singles find their basherts. For the fourth year, Shas for Shidduchim, a Chicago Chesed Fund fundraiser, arranged for the entire shas to be learned in just 24 hours on Tu B’Shvat, a day mesugal for shidduchim. Donors sponsored dafim as a z’chus for singles to find their zivugim, and lomdim learned on the behalf of those people. The national campaign was endorsed by many rabbanim, including Maran Rav Chaim Kanievsky, shlita. In a written message to Shas for Shidduchim, HaRav Kanievsky stated that there is no segulah like limud Torah, and in the z’chus of the limud Torah and tefillos, Hashem should send everyone their zivugim. Rav Kanievsky concluded with a bracha that the lomdim who participate in this great venture should see bracha and hatzlacha in all areas of their lives. Shas for Shidduchim benefits
singles in three incredible ways, corresponding to the three pillars that Pirkei Avos tells us the world stands on: Torah, avodah, and gemilus chassadim. Torah: Hundreds of lomdim fervently work together to complete Shas in one day. Avodah: The lomdim storm the heavens on behalf of the singles whose names were submitted by donors. Gemilus chassadim: The proceeds of the campaign help Chicago Chesed Fund assist singles facing the many challenges that the shidduch world presents. The money raised from Shas for Shidduchim benefits Chicago Chesed Fund’s matchmaking initiatives which are provided at zero cost for its beneficiaries. The hard work of the people at Chicago Chesed Fund and the mesiras nefesh of the Shas lomdim pays off and many people have seen incredible yeshuos. In fact, the community organization celebrated its 244th shidduch the night before the Shas for Shidduchim siyum! The long-anticipated siyum was viewed by hundreds nationally. Dedicated l’ilui nishmas Nachum Langs-
ner, z”l, the event began with opening remarks from Rabbi Zvi Zimmerman, mashgiach ruchani of Skokie Yeshiva (Hebrew Theological College). R’ Aharon Langsner was then mesayem on behalf of the excited lomdim. The hadran was met with resounding shouts of “mazal tov!” from hundreds of homes across America, as mesaymim and their families celebrated this great achievement. After the siyum was made, HaRav Shmuel Fuerst addressed the viewers with divrei bracha, which was followed by a riveting speech delivered by guest speaker, HaRav Yitzchok Margareten, shlita, Manhig Ruchni of Shomer Shabbos Cleveland and menahel of Yeshiva Derech HaTorah in Cleveland. The program concluded with a siyum on Mishnayos made by Dr. Yigal Yahav, in memory of his brother, Mr. Shalom Yahav, z”l. On Tu B’Shvat, the excitement was palpable in Jewish communities across the country as hundreds celebrated the completion of the entire shas in one day. Shas for Shidduchim united Jews of all backgrounds for the solitary goal of supporting the singles who are in need of a yeshua.
Rabbi Zvi Zimmerman Fuerst addressing the Shas for Shidduchim Siyum Hashas Event
In the z’chus of Shas for Shidduchim, a catalyst for immeasurable hours of learning and tefillos, we will bez”H be zocheh to see yeshuos and celebrate the shidduchim of all of klal Yisroel’s singles very soon. For more information about Chicago Chesed Fund and/or their various shidduchim initiatives, visit www. chicagochesedfund.org or contact the main office at 847-679-7799.
Ohel Announces Adam Lancer as New COO
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hel Children’s Home and Family Services is pleased to announce the appointment of Adam Lancer to the position of Chief Operating Officer. Adam assumed his new role beginning on January 15, 2021. Ohel was established in 1969 to place children from abusive homes in foster care. Today, it is a $68 million social service agency that employs over 1,200 professionals and meets the needs of 20,000 individuals. Ohel’s programs and services encompass residential and non-residential care to children and adults with psychiatric and developmental disabilities, domestic violence services, geriatric care, school-based services,
outpatient mental health treatment, and foster care. Since the COVID pandemic, Ohel’s work in Trauma and Anxiety has increased dramatically nationally and internationally. “Adam is the right leader to build on Ohel’s record of success in pinpointing communal needs and then advocating and caring for vulnerable people,” said David Mandel, Ohel’s Chief Executive Officer. “Adam has worked at Ohel 20 years. We have witnessed his passion for our mission, his professionalism, and his collaborative spirit. That he’s taking the reins as COO during one of the most difficult moments our society has ever faced is indicative of his dedication to
meeting the needs of our clients, no matter the scope or complexity of the challenge.” Adam first joined Ohel in 2000 as General Counsel and Compliance Officer. For the past two decades, he has skillfully led Ohel’s work as it relates to corporate governance, ensuring Ohel’s alignment with the service agreements and grants it holds with federal, state, and local agencies. He has expertly developed agency protocols on a myriad of issues and conducted extensive staff training in compliance and operational procedures and practices issues. Prior to joining Ohel, Adam worked as trial attorney in the New York Family Court, where he prosecut-
ed cases of child abuse and neglect. His demonstrated commitment to the welfare of vulnerable children and families make him an invaluable asset to Ohel’s team. “In my time at Ohel, I’ve come to deeply appreciate the expansive services we provide for countless children and families who have been strengthened and supported by our staff’s tireless work,” declared Adam. “In my new role as COO, I look forward to continuing to work with colleagues to further augment Ohel’s breadth of services and meet the ever-emerging community needs while focusing on the needs of each individual client.” Adam graduated magna cum laude from New York
Law School and holds a BS from SUNY Albany. He is a board member of Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies and a member of the Statewide Mortality Review Committee at the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. He is the proud father of seven children.
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
1650 Eastern Parkway, Suite 207 Brooklyn, NY, 11233 400 Rella Blvd., Suite 165 Montebello, NY, 10901 84 West Park Place, Second ßoor, Stamford, CT, 06901
A message from SBA Loan Group founder Yankie Markowitz
Have the federal government pay your company’s debt service! Regardless of whether you’ve been affected by the pandemic or not, there is STILL A GREAT OPPORTUNITY and HELP that was provided in the last stimulus relief bill signed into law Dec 27 2020. The SBA is making the Þrst 6 months payments of principal and interest on all new 7a and 504 loans approved through September 30, 2021, capped at $9,000 per month (subject to funds available). Also the SBA has ELIMINATED the main fee on SBA loans called the ‘’SBA GUARANTEE FEE’’, which was roughly 2.5% of the loan amount. This might be the time to buy that building that you always wanted for your business, or other business ideas you had in the past but conditions were not right! This will only be available for businesses NOT impacted by Covid-19 or business that are back to being fully operational in line with pre-pandemic levels. • To purchase owner-occupied commercial real estate where your business occupies at least 51%, with as little as 10% down and there are also options with NO MONEY DOWN • SBA loan funds could also be used for inventory and working capital • You need good credit • Based on the cashßow of your last tax return We are NOT doing PPP or EIDL loans at this time Mendy (347) 409-0101
mendy@sbaloangroup.com
Yankie (718) 744-7459
yankie@sbaloangroup.com
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Around the Community
New Community Food Pantry in Queens
T
he indelible melody of “Thank You, Hashem,” rang through the air as the sun shined brightly on Thursday morning, January 28 just off the corner of 72nd Avenue and Main Street in Kew Gardens Hills for the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the Lev Aharon Community Food Pantry, the brainchild of Rabbi Yaniv Meirov, CEO of the Chazaq Organization. As part of both organizations’ continued efforts to help feed New Yorkers during this COVID-19 pandemic, Chazaq and Met Council have partnered to open a new food pantry in Kew Gardens Hills. The Lev Aharon Community Food Pantry will be supplied by Met Council’s citywide food distribution network and run by Chazaq staff and volunteers who are best equipped to serve families in Queens. The food pantry, located at 141-47 72nd Avenue in Kew Gardens Hills, provides kosher food tailored to the Jewish community in nearby neighborhoods, but the food pantry is available to all families in need and is completely confidential. “The crisis of hunger and poverty exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic continues, and Met Council is proud to partner with Chazaq to open this new food pantry,” said David G. Greenfield, CEO, Met Council. “Rabbi Yaniv Meirov is a visionary who understands that the community that he advocates and fights for need to have a voice – not just a spiritual voice – but a gashmiyus, physical, voice for their needs. Food pantries are vital to supporting the struggling families, seniors, and working men and women of this city who have fewer and fewer places to turn to.” “Building a stronger future for our children is only possible if we also provide for them in the present,” said Rabbi Yaniv Meirov, the CEO of Chazaq. “Through our partnership with Met Council, Chazaq will be able to provide reliable access to healthy, kosher food to thousands more in our community. Our seniors, our children, and anyone who is vulnerable to this pandemic should
not and will not go without, this winter.” The pantry has been named in memory of Rav Ahron Walkin, zt”l, and Mr. Aharon Meirov, z”l. The Chazaq Rosh HaYeshivah, Rav Ahron Walkin’s all-too-brief life was cut short this past April. His essence was cradled in the lap of Torah and consistently empowered others to bask in its light. His every concern was for others, and a food pantry in his honor is but one befitting tribute to honor the revered rav’s legacy. In one of the Rosh HaYeshivah’s final positions as head of Chazaq’s beis midrash, Bais Nosson Meir, and Kollel Zichron Moshe V’Leah, Rav Walkin merited to meet some of the impoverished families benefiting from the Chazaq Food Pantry when it was housed at Congregation Od Yosef Hai. The discernible pain in the rav’s eyes and heart, as family after family gathered their lifeline of food, is remembered as an everlasting mark in the Queens community he loved so dearly. Rabbi Avraham Walkin, the rav’s beloved
brother and a current Chazaq educator, was on hand for the ribbon-cutting alongside one of the rav’s children, Baruch Ber Walkin, who was a bachur in the Chazaq beis midrash during the final years of the Rosh HaYeshivah’s tenure. The pantry was also dedicated in memory of Mr. Aharon Meirov, z”l, of Queens, whose passion for community and family was always paramount. On hand at the ceremony was his wife and son, David Shalom, who both remain active in the Chazaq Organization’s vast array of programming and service. The pantry bearing his name will be an everlasting tribute to a man who taught others to always give back to the Jewish world. All food distributed in the food pantry is strictly kosher, free of charge, and open to all. The Lev Aharon Community Food Pantry will be open on Tuesdays, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., at 141-47 72nd Avenue in Kew Gardens Hills. For more information, call Chazaq at 718-285-9132 or email events@ chazaq.org.
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Teens and Technology By Rabbi Dr. Dovid Felt
T
he subject of teens and technology has been a topic for discussion for some time now. However, with the current Covid-19 pandemic, it has become much more acute. Madraigos, an organization that supports individuals and families with mental health and other everyday challenges, runs Parenting Matters lectures that educate the community about timely issues. Most recently, on January 5, Madraigos hosted “Teens and Screens,” a virtual roundtable discussion featuring discussants Dr. Eli Shapiro, founder and director of The Digital Citizenship Project; Rabbi Moshe Taub, Mara D’Asra Young Israel of Holliswood; myself, Director of School-Based Services, Madraigos; and moderator Honorary Phil Goldfeder, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at Cross River Bank. Due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback received from the pro-
gram, we offer this article as a worthwhile recap and review. In her welcoming remarks, Mindi Werblowsky, LCSW, Clinical Director, Madraigos, shared how Covid-19 has underscored the role technology plays in our lives and especially in the lives of our children. She affirmed that to fail to fully understand devices and new technology is to essentially fail to fully understand our children. In her view, for many children and teens, cellphones no longer merely “supplement an existing social life. Cellphones are their entire social life.” The discussion opened with the question: What is the correct age for parents to get their child a device? Although no specific age was given, the discussants, each in their own way, emphasized the need for creating a loving and warm environment in the home, the clear communication of appropriate guidelines and expectations, and the indoctrination process. A child should feel comfortable to share, debate, and ask questions.
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Creating a safe space for dialogue and the healthy exchange of ideas is vital. Before giving a child access to technology, rules and expectations should be clearly established with an emphasis on the need to be technologically responsible. The point was made that technology has many advantages and can be extremely helpful, even life-saving, However, it can also be destructive. Besides, the obvious dangers and serious risks, one of the discussants related how Harvard University rescinded a group of applicants after checking their digital footprint and finding inappropriate content they had posted in the past. Similarly, it has now become common practice for businesses as well as persons involved in shidduchim to check applicants’ or prospective partners’ digital history before hiring or suggesting a shidduch. Although our children may not internalize this message, we still have a responsibility to make them aware of what happens when they post online. The discussion then focused on the expectations that parents have of their children. The question posed to the panel was: How much time should children be allowed to use their devices on a daily basis? Firstly, parents should clearly understand the various uses of technology as it pertains to their children. For example, technology is used for communication, collaboration, creativity, and consumption in games and entertainment. Recognizing the distinction allows parents to make non-technology comparisons and determine the usage time to allow for the different categories. Secondly, most children look up to their parents as mentors and the people they wish to emulate. Therefore, parents need to be open and honest to assess their own behavior and recognize the need to model any expectations of their children. The discussants spoke about the perception of the length of time spent on the devices. Like one’s children, this is invariably less than reality. This question was followed by: How can parents know when their child is using technology more than they should? and What are some of the signs and symptoms? When answering this question, the discussants began by sharing that any noticeable negative change is one for concern. Signs and symptoms
related explicitly to device usage include going to sleep with their device nearby or reacting uncharacteristically when the device is taken from them. Other signs and symptoms include changes in sleeping and eating habits, not joining family activities, a decrease in socializing, and doing poorly at school. Although it may be difficult for parents or other family members to notice subtle differences when changes are duly noticed, it is important not to dismiss them without addressing them with intent. Additional questions were submitted by parents via the online chat during the program including, What do I do if my child’s friends are using their devices more permissively? What do I do if my child refuses to stop using her phone? What do I do if my child gets around all the filters I put in place? and What do I do if I find out my child has a social media account on a friend’s device? The Roundtable participants responded to these questions with practical solutions. Overall, although the questions submitted and answers provided may seem unrelated, they share a common theme: parenting. A foundation of the parenting process is communication and love. Parents are encouraged to share their concerns with their children and be open to working collaboratively with their children to form a clear understanding with one another and develop a plan of implementation. Parenting also requires time. It was stressed that there is a need for parents to spend tech-free time with their children. By spending uninterrupted time, concentrating on the child – their needs, interests, and challenges – a more robust and healthier relationship can be developed. These issues are some of the topics discussed in our Parenting Matters support groups. To learn more about when the next Parenting Support Group will be in formation and details about upcoming Parenting Matters educational programs, please contact Mindi Werblowsky at 516-371-3250 x 112 or email mwerblowsky@madraigos.org. For information about all of Madraigos’ intervention services and prevention programming, please visit www.madraigos.org. Rabbi Dr. Dovid Felt is the Director of School-Based Services at Madraigos.
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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Historic Release of Dirshu “Sefer Hamafteiach,” a Groundbreaking Index on the Entire Mishnah Berurah 700-page sefer contains more than 6,000 categories 30,000 subcategories and an English Index By Chaim Gold
“W
e have to make the bracha of Shehechiyanu on such a sefer!” exclaimed HaGaon HaRav Yitzchok Sorotzkin, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Telshe and the Lakewood Mesivta, when he saw the new Sefer Hamafteiach on the Mishnah Berurah that Dirshu has just released. “Hafla va’feleh!” was the enthusiastic response of HaGaon HaRav Aryeh Malkiel Kotler, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Beis Medrash
Rav Dovid Hofstedter presenting the Mafteiach to HaRav Malkiel Kotler
Govoha of Lakewood. “The velt,” continued Rav Kotler, “owes Dirshu a huge yasher koach for the sefer.” Numer-
ous other Gedolei Yisrael echoed these sentiments when they saw the sefer. The word “historic” is
perhaps a word that is overused in our times, but in this case, the word historic is truly applicable and pos-
sibly even an understatement. Dirshu’s new Sefer Hamafteiach is a historic breakthrough in the world of halacha and will open the Mishnah Berurah to Klal Yisrael in an unprecedented way. As its name implies, the Sefer Hamfteiach on the Mishnah Berurah is a comprehensive index on the entire six volumes of the Mishnah Berurah, Mahaduras Dirshu. The 700-page sefer contains more than 6,000 categories and exceeds 30,000 subcategories! When a person needs to
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Around the Community
find where a certain topic is discussed by the Mishnah Berurah or subsequent poskim brought in the Biurim u’Musafim portion of the Mahaduras Dirshu Mishnah Berurah, all one has to do is open the Mafteiach and look for the topic. Topics are listed in alphabetical order and every topic delineates each time the Mishnah Berurah talks about it or cross-references it in all six volumes of Mishnah Berurah. “Ashreichem! This is a Peleh” It happens all the time. You are at home when a shailah comes up, you know that the Mishnah Berurah addresses the topic – somewhere, but where? How can you find it? The new Dirshu Mafteiach is the answer. It has opened the Mishnah Berurah and piskei halacha of the major poskim of our time in a way that has never been done before. It is for that reason that the Gedolei Yisrael who recently saw the sefer expressed such tremendous joy and amazement at the accomplishment of such a feat! The venerated Rachmastrivka Rebbe, shlita, of Boro Park, repeated over and over, “What a zechus haTorah!” HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Feivel Schustal, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Toras Yerachmiel, joyously said, “Ashreichem, fortunate are you! This is a peleh, a wonder! It will be a tremendous to’eles.” In order to properly encapsulate the groundbreaking nature of what the Sefer Hamafteiach is and the tremendous value that it has for the world of Torah and halacha, we must go back in history about a decade. A decade ago, Dirshu began to release what was then, a totally new project that would have a transforma-
HaRav Shlomo Feivel Schustal reviewing the new Mafteiach on the Dirshu Mishnah Berurah
tive impact on the world of halacha. Dirshu began to publish the Dirshu edition of the Mishnah Berurah. The unique facet of the new edition of the Mishnah Berurah was the Biurim U’Musafim, the commentary alongside each page of Mishnah Berurah containing questions and answers brought by more recent poskim related to the words of the Mishnah Berurah. For example, if the Mishnah Berurah spoke about the halachos of cooking food on Shabbos, every modern-day scenario in the kitchen that is addressed by the poskim is included. Understandably, however, the Mishnah Berurah and even more so Dirshu Mishnah Berurah, with the addition of the Biurim U’Musafim, contains many tens of thousands of halachic rulings. Given the complexities of life today, how is it possible to observe halacha, refrain from issurim, prohibitions and fulfill mitzvos in the best possible way?! Every G-d-fearing Yid encounters shailos in daily life, but it is often challenging to find the exact psak halacha among the tens of thousands of halachos contained within the Mishnah Berurah. In addition, a person might conceivably be seeking a halacha relevant to the laws of Purim…but the answer to that shailah can be found in the laws of Rosh Hashanah! Or even if
it is contained in the laws of Purim, the source is in the Shaar Hatziun or the Biur Halacha in a location where the many learners would not think of looking. What happens when you are looking for a halacha in hilchos tefillah but the psak is found in hilchos Rosh Chodesh? Until now, unless a person was a tremendous expert in all six chalakim of Mishnah Berurah and was blessed with a terrific memory, he simply would not have found the halacha. The Sefer Hamafteiach has changed that! Is it any wonder that the Skulener Rebbe, shlita, said, that this goes into the category of a fulfillment of the pasuk that says, “Ki lo sishachach m’pi zaro – Torah will not be forgotten from Klal Yisroel.” The Seminal English Index Another trailblazing innovation from Dirshu is include at the back of the sefer nearly 100 pages of English
primary references guiding the reader to thousands of other references in the Hebrew part of the sefer. Let’s say, for example, that a person wants to know the halachic status of paying for items with a “check.” Many don’t know how to say check in Hebrew. He goes to the letter C in the English index and finds the word check. The English sends the reader to page 459 in the Hebrew section of the Mafteiach and there, one can find five different halachic scenarios about paying with a check: 1. Being that when it comes to the four species on Sukkos, one must “own” them to be yotzeh, is buying with a check considered ownership? 2. What about writing a check on Chol Hamoed? Permitted or not? 3. Can one sell one’s chametz with a check? Let’s say the check is not cashed before Pesach starts. Is the chametz considered sold? 4. What about giving matanos l’evyonim with a check? The mafteiach promis-
es to be a vital tool in both enabling Klal Yisrael to find the optimum path to observe halacha and to ensure that Yidden do not challilah unknowingly transgress issurei d’oraisah and issurei d’rabannan, Torah mandated prohibitions and rabbinic prohibitions. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that this mafteiach is being published at a time when many Yidden are living somewhat in isolation and cannot access the dibbuk chaveirim, the interaction with others that is such a fundamental component of the halachic process. Indeed, now that the Sefer Hamafteiach is available in seforim stores everywhere, anyone who will pick up the remarkable mafteiach and begins to enjoy the tremendous benefit that it provides will echo the pivotal words of HaGaon HaRav Avrohom Ausband, shlita, who couldn’t contain his amazement upon seeing the sefer, “What a to’eles! What a zikui harabbim!” Perhaps the prominent Sephardic posek from Eretz Yisrael, HaGaon Harav Messoud Ben Shimon shlita, put it most succinctly when he remarked, “As new mutations and plagues are spreading, you’re a spreading the Mishnah Berurah! You have no idea, how much joy this sefer Hamafteiach brings me, because it opens up the Mishnah Berurah, a sefer that is the aleph bais for each Jew!”
Did you know? The longest pizza delivery was from Cape Town, South Africa, to Sydney, Australia
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ו’ ספ ר חלקי המ פ משנ תח ע הב ל רו רה
Groundbreaking
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NEW!
Following the success of the Dirshu Mishnah Berurah over the past decade, Dirshu is proud to announce the release of the Mafteiach, a breakthrough in the world of Limud Halacha. Welcomed with enthusiasm by Gedolei HaPoskim and Dayanim, the Mafteiach features a comprehensive index, enabling one to find any halacha on any topic along with sources, Teshuvos, explanations, commentary and modern Psakim, in the Dirshu Mishnah Berurah and its Biurim and Musafim.
Available at your local Seforim store or direct from the distributor, Israel Bookshop at 888-536-7427 / IsraelBookshopPublications.com
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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Where do I look up the halachos of ?יעלה ויבוא Today’s the first day of Chol Hamoed, and I forgot to say it in bentching.
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Tura Wines Available Worldwide – Now Also in Dubai
B
y Hadassah Bay Having recently returned from a highly successful business trip to the United Arab Emirates, Vered Ben Saadon, owner of Tura Wineries, is excited and optimistic. “After almost a year of not traveling due to COVID-19, the visit to Dubai was like a breath of fresh air,” she says. Signing a lucrative contract for her boutique wines with one of the largest companies in the UAE is certainly reason for good cheer, but for Vered Ben Saadon, it was about more than just economics. “We met wonderful people; they made us feel like family. The welcome was warm and sincere.” Vered Ben Saadon brought an assortment of her award-winning Tura wines as well as Tura olive oil to gift her hosts. In the UAE, despite the Muslim ban on alcohol, there is no prohibition against selling alcohol in public places. What’s more, 90% of the UAE population are non-Mus-
lims who are fond of fine dining, and they are eager to sample Israeli wines. Vered Ben Saadon and her husband Erez founded Tura Wineries in 2003, producing 1,200 bottles of wine. Since then, they’ve grown in
quantity and quality, and today they produce 100,000 bottles a year of exquisite reds, whites and rosés that are enjoyed across the U.S. and Canada and Europe – even South Korea. “We’re located on Har Gerizim, in the heart of the Shomron. Due
to the height, the cool climate and the soil, historically, this has always been premium grape-growing land,” she explains. “And, it was on this mountain that the Jewish People received many blessings after entering the Land of Israel. Erez and I, too, feel incredibly blessed to be living here and working this land.” The people of Dubai expressed a friendly curiosity about everything connected to Israel. “Our meeting was about finding common denominators, and there are many. It was an amazing experience for me, sitting with sheikhs and eating pita with humus, in a country that had no relations with Israel. They said that it was up to us, the business community, to break the ice between the two nations. “I truly believe that bilateral ties with the UAE should give hope to people everywhere who are embroiled in any kind of conflict, regardless of the reason. In Dubai, I learned that with a little bit of goodwill, anything is possible!”
Importance of Medical Directives Now More Than Ever By Monet Binder, Esq.
W
ith some hospitals around the country reporting surges in COVID-19 cases, many hospital staff members, once again, are becoming overwhelmed and trying to keep up the pace to manage the influx of incoming patients. Many hospitals have not been allowing family members in to see their loved ones. This can be a dangerous situation because if you, the patient, haven’t prepared proper medical directives and appointed someone to act on your behalf, not only do you lose control, but the hospital’s staff members become the ones making the decisions for your health care, knowing nothing about you or your wishes. When considering COVID-19 patients who have been hospitalized with serious symptoms, ventilators and intubation are procedures commonly used for life support treatment. Unfortunately, sometimes, this leads to situations where the patient needs to be connected to machines to
be kept alive. There is some good news. There are people who have been hospitalized and who have survived treatments, more so than in the earlier days of the pandemic. Also, unlike before, there seems to be a better understanding of the disease and how to treat it. In light of this evidence, since not all medical directives are the same and treated equally, you may not want a blanket medical directive for specific treatments, because in the wrong hands, it could be risky. Although the number of hospitalizations has been waxing and waning, the FAIR Health, an independent non-profit organization, surveyed certain hospitals and found mortality rates dropped from 11.4% in March 2020 to below 5% in June, and the threshold has remained low for some time. The length of hospital stays has also been on the decline. Best Practices Whether you have specific instructions regarding your wishes,
had meaningful conversations with family regarding your medical care, or have appointed and directed your agents to consult with authorities you trust to make decisions in the event you are faced with specific medical questions, it is crucial that you appoint the right people who will step in and promote your best interests in the event you are in a situation where you cannot speak for yourself. Making sure your family members have a copy, or at least know where your medical directives are located, will go a long way to ensure your wishes are known and honored and someone will have the legal authority to advocate on your behalf. Best practices include giving your primary agents and successor alternate agents a copy of your directives, along with any treating physicians you may have. Although treatments are becoming more readily available, many people are still at risk, may become quite ill, and may even pass away from this terrible virus. This is why
it is so important for you to take necessary precautions to ensure your wishes are known and you are protected with the right legal documentation that hospitals and medical facilities will recognize and accept. Here at Monet Binder Law, PC, we don’t just draft one-size-fits-all documents. We focus on educating you and empowering you, so you can make informed decisions for yourself and the people in your life that matter most. Schedule your Family Estate Planning Session so you can get more financially organized and make the best choices for yourself and the people you love. If you have not prepared your advance medical directives, or if you need to update your documents to ensure they reflect your current wishes, call today 718-514-7575 to get this taken care of and gain peace of mind knowing you have done what you can. Call our office today and mention this article to get this session FREE of charge. This is a $500 value, but worth so much more.
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Bubby Soroka’s Life and Legacy BY BRENDY J. SIEV
On
Sunday, February 7, my grandmother, Hedy Soroka, a”h, passed away at the age of 93. Bubby was the matriarch of our family, the one who nurtured us and supported us. She was our role model and our best friend. As the oldest grandchild, I was privileged to share a unique bond with my grandmother. She took care of me and babysat me when I was younger. I would take walks with Bubby and my grandfather, holding on tightly to their hands. Bubby would delight in my accomplishments and my successes. Perhaps we, in a way, took Bubby for granted, having had her in our lives for so many years. Sadly, with her petirah this week, we will never again be able to speak with her and have her share in our simchos. But Bubby left us with a legacy and many lessons – values and ideals that we strive to fulfill as we struggle to understand our loss.
Eighty-
three years ago, ten-yearold Hedy Barasch took a train from Vienna to France. There, she boarded a boat, a luxury liner, from France to the United States. She was a small girl with a single suitcase and a very big burden. She came from a very close-knit, loving family with a home that doubled as a bikur cholim apartment. She excelled in school and was headed for gymnasium. She adored her aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmother, and her formidable grandfather – and he adored her in turn. And yet she had just witnessed Kristallnacht from her apartment in Vienna, the closing of her school, the beating of her father, the burning of the shuls. Her father was in hiding. His clients brought her small parting gifts the night before she left, but when she kissed her mother goodbye, she did not know if she would ever see her again. Bubby refused to eat on the boat to America. She was alone and didn’t speak English and didn’t know what food was kosher. A caring family saw that she wouldn’t eat and helped to show her the kosher food during the voyage.
Young Hedy was met at the docks by her sister, Suzy, a”h, and they moved in briefly with her aunt to a crowded Upper East Side apartment. The apartment was so crowded that some people would work at night so they would be able to sleep during the day; there were not enough beds for all of them. From there, she was off to Pittsburgh, to her other aunt’s house where her uncle, Rabbi Wolf Leiter, zt”l, one of the gedolim and poskim of his generation, spent hours on long distance phone calls answering shaylos that were unanswerable, helping people make choiceless choices. Eventually, young Hedy’s parents joined her in the United States, and they moved to Boro Park. She came to school here, without an ESL class in sight, and took Latin to help her learn English. She was far advanced in math and science, and again excelled in her studies. My grandmother married Rabbi Shmuel Chaim Soroka, z”l, an Alter Mirrer, a talmid chacham, and her father was proud of that. In fact, her mother and sister liked him immediately for his incredible middos and refinement. Her parents took R’ Shmuel Chaim in as their son, as his lost his family in the burning embers of Europe. Together, R’ Shmuel Chaim and Hedy raised a true Torah family of three sons, R’ Yossi, my father; R’ Buchie; R’ Shimshy; and their daughter, Mindy.
Who
and what was my grandmother? She had chachmas nashim. With that, she was bansah beisah. She was smart – very smart – and extraordinarily wise. She knew what to say, how to assess a situation, and was ever tactful. She knew how to be dignified and never to hide, to hold your head up high and carry yourself with dignity. She was an inherently sensible and sensitive person. She never overshared, yet was confident in her knowledge. We turned to her for advice very often, and we often find ourselves quoting her and her beliefs, values, and sensibilities.
With this, she nurtured our family. We saw her incredible relationship with her family – her fierce love and devotion to her relatives. We saw how she took care of her parents with utmost kibbud av v’eim. When my great-grandfather was in rehab for a while, my grandmother made sure to visit him with her children every day. The other residents barely ever saw their families; my grandmother made sure to see her father every day. My grandmother spent years caring for her husband. My grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at a relatively young age. Years ago, treatments and therapies for those suffering from Parkinson’s were inadequate and far from advanced. I remember my grandfather shuffling to the Mirrer Minyan ten blocks from their house for minyanim on Shabbos, back and forth, and my grandmother steadfastly helping him towards his destination. Family to my grandmother was paramount. She would admonish us – and remind us, “Remember, family will always be there for you.” She showed her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren the importance of retaining a bond of love and support for relatives.
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My grandmother was part of a large, closeknit network of first, second, and third cousins – and, yes, a lot of fourth and fifth cousins as well. But cousins, regardless of how far related, were family – and each one meant the world to my grandmother. She would delight in hearing that we met our third or fourth cousins in camp or at a simcha. Family was family – and each member was someone to be cherished. My grandmother had one sibling, Aunt Suzy, a”h. They were the best of friends and were inseparable. Aunt Suzy was older than my grandmother and watched over Bubby despite both their advanced ages. Aunt Suzy would tell us, “I take care of your Bubby because I told my mother that I would take care of my younger sister.” It didn’t matter that they were both in their nineties. It was understood that the caring could never stop. In fact, up until corona closed their beloved senior citizens’ center in Brooklyn, both Bubby and Aunt Suzy would be there each day, serving coffee to the other program-goers. Sadly, a few months ago, Aunt Suzy passed away. A part of Bubby withered away with her sister’s petirah. As her grandchildren, Bubby nurtured us and bolstered us. She pushed us to be the best that we could be. She was an inherent part of each of our families. Every one of her descendants can sing her sweet lullaby, “Tell me a story,” as we all grew up with Bubby rocking us to sleep as she cradled us in her arms when we were babies.
Bubby had 32 grandchildren and many more great-grandchildren, and she knew every one of their names. She had a list near her phone of everyone’s birthdays and would mail out birthday cards with her best wishes of “many happy returns of the day.”
We turned to her for advice very often, and we often find ourselves quoting her and her beliefs, values, and sensibilities. Spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren was a delight for Bubby. She never turned us down for a lunch date or a graduation or a game of Rummikub. Chanukah parties were held at Bubby and Zeidy’s house when we were younger, and each grandchild would come wearing their special sweaters that Bubby knitted just for them.
She was our matriarch, our eim, who pulled her family close to her and held the whole, larger family together.
One
of Bubby’s biggest lessons was “how to behave and how to act.” She constantly told us: your grandfather did not leave you with money. But he left you with a shem tov, a good name, and that is more valuable than anything. With that, she constantly imparted to us how to conduct ourselves with dignity, with principles, and with grace and emphasized that middos and character are paramount. We imbibed her lessons of honesty and integrity. She modeled the importance of hard work and doing what was right. For her, you did what had to be done because it was the right thing to do – not because of what others were or were not doing. Eight-three years ago, that little girl did not know that she would meet her parents and her cousins again, that she would raise a beautiful family, and that she would see an abundance of nachas in her grandchildren and their spouses and her great-grandchildren. Her descendants are frum, Torah learning and loving people. They are upstanding members of their communities. And they are people of character and middos, as she wanted them to be. May we continue to bring nachas to Bubby as she goes to the Olam Ha’emes. Yehi zichra baruch.
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All halachic documents are under the supervision of the Bais HaVaad in Lakewood.
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
1. *
TJH
Centerfold
What’s New? D A scientific
D To invent, you need a good
invention consists of six (or some number) ideas, five of which are absurd but which, with the addition of the sixth and enough rearrangement of the combinations, results in something no one has thought of before. - Edward Teller
imagination and a pile of junk. - Thomas A. Edison
D Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things. - Robert A. Heinlein
D I’ve got a new invention. It’s a revolving bowl for tired goldfish. - Lefty Gomez
D The best inventions are usually
D Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn’t have in your home. - David Frost
made by outsiders unaware of what “can’t be done”. - Martin Mann
D To me, the smell of fresh-made coffee is one of the greatest inventions. - Hugh Jackman
D Many people die at 25 and aren’t buried until they are 75. - Benjamin Franklin
You Gotta be Kidding Me! I think I would like a job cleaning mirrors. It’s just something I could really see myself doing. * * * Somebody stole my Microsoft Office and they’re going to pay – you have my Word.
D Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza. - Dave Barry
D The best way to predict the future is to invent it. - Alan Kay
D An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn’t take his education too seriously. - Charles F. Kettering
D The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. - Eden Phillpotts
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
Inventors’ Trivia 1. Why did President Reagan, in 1983, establish February 11 as National Inventors’ Day? a. Because it was the 100th anniversary of creation of Oreo cookies b. It is Thomas Edison’s birthday c. It was the day that the first cellphone was actually used d. It was the 50th anniversary of the invention of the TV
5. In order to benefit mankind, Jonas Salk, who created the polio vaccine, did not patent his creation. According to estimates, had he patented the vaccine, how much money would Salk have made? a. $300 million b. $2 billion c. $7 billion d. $300 billion
2. When was the printing press invented? a. 1454 b. 1636 c. 1796 d. 1863
6. Who invented the internet? a. Al Gore b. The U.S. Department of Defense c. Bill Gates d. The same Israeli company that eventually created SodaStream
4. How many new patents was IBM granted in 2020? a. 39 b. 103 c. 764 d. 9,130
Answers: 1. B 2. A 3. B 4. D 5. C 6. B 7. C
Wisdom key: 6-7 correct: Is your name Al Gore? 4-5 correct: You know a bit about inventions. I bet you were waiting for the question about how sticky notes were invented. 0-3 correct: No need to feel bad – the people who invent things will be working for you someday!
7. On May 24, 1844, Samuel F. B. Morse dispatched the first telegraphic message ever. What did the message say? a. “If you received this, please promptly mail letter” b. “Pretty cool, huh?” c. “What hath G-d wrought?” d. “Copy?”
Riddle Me This? What invention lets you look right through a wall? Answer below
Answer to Riddle: A window
3. Who invented the swivel chair? a. John Swivel b. Thomas Jefferson c. Tolayze Tomove d. Thomas Edison
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3
Torah Thought
Parshas Mishpatim By Rabbi Berel Wein
A
fter the granting of the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, this is followed with a long and detailed list of instructions, commandments, and laws. The mere existence of such a list presupposes the willingness of the population to follow these laws and instructions. As we are all aware, because of the ongoing incidents that mark our attempt to deal with the current coronavirus crisis, there has to be an internal discipline amongst the people
to have them obey any set of laws, no matter how wise and beneficial they may be, in order for the rule of law to be effective. It has been estimated that over two-thirds of the laws passed by the Israeli Knesset over the past 72 years have never been enforced and are known, if at all, to exist only in the breach. There are not enough police in the world to enforce all the laws that every society has promulgated and advanced. Even in the most rig-
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orous of dictatorships and the most controlled of societies, black markets flourish, crime is rampant, and, in fact, the tighter the controls, the more ingenious people become in their methodology of defying and circumventing those laws they feel unfair or unnecessary. The most disciplined of societies such as Japan, Switzerland, or perhaps even Germany are of that nature simply because of their social compact one with another. The brute force of police may achieve the appearance
to make the system of laws that we read about in this week’s portion of the Torah workable, acceptable and, in fact, eternal. If the people are unwilling to follow the rules, there are not enough policemen in the world that will make them, no matter how severe the penalty may be for disobedience and violations of the law. The Torah records for us once again the response of the Jewish people when offered the Torah: “We will do and obey, and then we will listen
If the people are unwilling to follow the rules, there are not enough policemen in the world that will make them.
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of obedience to the law and the government but eventually all of history teaches us that subsystems collapse simply because of the weight of the necessary enforcement involved. The Torah also presupposes that there be a legal system and that judges and police are necessary adjuncts to any civilized society. However, the Torah also realizes that it is only by voluntary acceptance of discipline and obedience to laws, the concern for the public and its welfare, the understanding that one is responsible for the Jewish people as a whole and to the G-d of Israel for one’s actions
and understand.” Without that stated pledge to voluntarily observe the laws and precepts given them at Mount Sinai, there is no method available to human societies to enforce such a rigorous social and spiritual discipline to such a large population of individuals. It is hoped that through study and education this voluntary acceptance of the laws of the Torah that has been hallowed by millennia of tradition and observance will continue to govern Jewish society and its value system and behavior. Shabbat shalom.
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
From the Fire Parshas Mishpatim
G-d is in the Details By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
I
t is striking how much halacha is derived from Parshas Mishpatim, The three Bavas, Bava Kama, Bava Metzia, and Bava Basra, as well as much of Sanhedrin and other masechtos, parts of the Talmud, are primarily based on the pesukim in Parshas Mishpatim. This is very surprising. Immediately after we stood at Har Sinai and received the Torah, we expect that the next parsha would contain lofty, exalted concepts. Instead, the first things we encounter after receiving the Torah are the nitty gritty details of slavery and theft and damages. It is only at the end of the parsha that we begin to read pesukim like (Shemos 24:10), “And they perceived the G-d of Israel, and beneath His feet was like the forming of a sapphire brick and like the appearance of the heavens for clarity.” As we progress into Parshas Teruma also, we have the pasuk of (Shemos 25:8) “And make a sanctuary and I will dwell among them.” These pesukim are more like what we expect to find af-
ter standing at Har Sinai. The civil laws of Parshas Mishpatim seem out of place immediately following the Sinai experience. The simple answer is that after receiving the Torah, we had many questions about how to keep the laws of daily life. At Sinai, we became ob-
know in the desert were, by and large, not the laws that arise from Parshas Mishpatim. In the desert, there was no economy to speak of, and our people mainly enjoyed the protection of Hashem’s miraculous care during those forty years in the desert. There were no fields, vine-
The rest of the world only seeks spirituality in the heavens, but we see it in the fields and marketplaces of this world.
ligated to observe the entire Torah and we were required to study a lot of halacha, so the parsha following Kabbalas HaTorah, the giving of the Torah, involves the laws we would have to know to live as Jews. The truth is, however, the laws that the Jewish people needed to
yards, poverty, or personal property which would have given rise to numerous questions in civil law, slavery, or damages. Those things would only become relevant when the Jewish people entered Eretz Yisroel. As long as they were in the desert, however, the laws of Parshas Mishpatim
were not the most pressing. In our lives today, we do not have a Beis Hamikdash, the Ananei HaKavod, Clouds of Glory, or the Ketores, the incense. We live our lives in our houses, offices, and marketplaces with all of their details, problems, and conflicts. Parshas Mishpatim teaches us how to function in the world of man’s failings, damages, and injuries. By teaching us how to keep Hashem’s will in the midst of the nitty gritty of daily life, the Torah is telling us, “There is a time for delving into the exalted, deeper meaning of mitzvos. There will be time for analyzing the Chassidus, Kabbalah, deeper significance, meaning, and symbolism of the mitzvos. But that time is not now.” The Torah the Jewish people needed to learn immediately after Sinai is not the Torah of “why”; it is the Torah of “how.” The whys and wherefores of the mitzvos are not our first concern. None of this diminishes the importance of delving into the deeper
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
aspects of the Torah. The Torah follows up on the giving of the Torah, with the details of life because the chiddush haTorah, the main purpose of the Torah, is to reveal exaltedness and G-dliness precisely in the little details of life which are the most earthly and physical. Hashem brought us from Har Sinai, the most exalted, awesome, and wondrous revelation of G-dliness, directly into the nitty gritty details of the problems of daily life in order to demonstrate to us that we should see the profound holiness of Hashem’s existence in earthly life just as we do in our spiritual pursuits. The rest of the world only seeks spirituality in the heavens, but we see it in the fields and marketplaces of this world. The pasuk says in Yeshayahu 57:15, “For so said the High and Exalted One, Who dwells eternally, and His name is Holy, with the lofty and the holy ones I dwell, and with the crushed and humble in spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the crushed.” Although Hashem is greater than anything we can imagine, He doesn’t remain high and distant from us. Instead, He sits together with those who are crushed by the details of this world. When the world asks where Hashem is, they look to the sky for the answers. They believe He is “out there” somewhere. But the Torah’s answer to that question is (Brachos 8a): “All Hashem has in the world is the four amos of halacha.” Hashem is found in the little, seemingly unimportant, details of halacha in daily life. Similarly, the Gemara says (Megillah 31a), “Wherever one finds Hashem’s greatness, one also finds His humility.” That is what the pasuk in Yeshayahu means. Precisely because Hashem is “High and Exalted,” He is also “with the crushed and the low of spirit.” The Gemara in Sota 5a explains that pasuk to mean: “I am with those who are crushed.” In other words, rather than lifting up the broken person, Hashem descends down to the person, cries with him, and sits with him in the midst of his worries and pain and works together with him to build him up. Shlomo Hamelech asked about the Beis Hamikdash that he had just
built (Melachim 1:8:27), “Could it be that Hashem will dwell on the earth? The heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain Him, but the house which I have built could contain him!?” Hashem chooses not to dwell in the highest heavens, but rather in the little house that we built for him here on earth in our four amos of halacha. By observing the tiny details of halacha, we create a life in which Hashem dwells. In Hallel, we say (Tehilim 113:4), “Hashem is above the nations.” The nations think that Hashem is above everything, up in the heavens. Therefore, that pasuk concludes for them, “His glory is above the heavens.” In contrast, we say, “Who is like Hashem our G-d who dwells on high?” Unlike the nations of the world, however, we say that became of Hashem’s greatness, “He lowers Himself to look at the heavens and the earth, he lifts up the destitute from the dust and raises the poor from the trash heaps.” Hashem is even greater than the nations think He is. They believe He is only in the highest heavens. But we know that He is so great that He also sits in the trash heaps of the confusion of our lives to raise us up. That is why Parshas Mishpatim follows the lighting, thunder, and awe of the giving of the Torah. There was once a misnaged, someone who was not a friend of the chassidim, who lived in the town of Sasov. He wanted to find fault with Rav Moshe Leib Sasover so he started davening in Rav Moshe Leib’s beis medrash. It was difficult to find fault in him because he was a gaon, a genius in learning, but this individual did not give up. He used to give the chassidim trouble after davening and make fun of the Rebbe. It was Selichos time, and the Jews in Sasov davened Sleichos very early in the morning. A few days into Selichos that year, after Rav Moshe Leib did not show up for Selichos, the misnaged, the troublemaker, started taunting the Chassidim that their Rebbe was so holy, but he couldn’t even wake up on time for Selichos. The chassidim did not accept this and told him that it must be that their Rebbe was ascending to Shamayim, heaven, and that was why he wasn’t
at Selichos. The man laughed at this and told the chassidim that he would follow Rav Moshe Leib and find out if he was really in “heaven,” or if, as he suspected, he was just sleeping late. He came very early in the morning to Rav Moshe Leib Sasover’s house to see what he would find. But instead of finding the Rebbe sleeping, he saw through the window that he put on a peasant’s coat, hat, and boots and left the house. Assuming that his discovery was even juicer than he had originally expected, he followed him to see where he would go. The Rebbe went out to the edge of the forest and began chopping wood and packing it up. He carried it back into the poor part of town and went to a widow’s house. When she answered, he introduced himself as “Moshe” and asked her if she needed any wood for the fire. She answered that she did, so he went in and arranged the wood and made the fire for the widow. When she asked about payment, he said that he was in a big rush and that she could
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take care of it later. He went on to do this in several houses. In each of the houses, as he was building the fires, he began crying out, saying the words of Selichos, “To You, Hashem is the righteousness, and ours is the shame-facedness.” The next time the misnaged, this “opponent” of the chassidim, met Rav Moshe Leib’s chassidim in shul, they asked him eagerly, “So, what happened? Did you see our Rebbe ascend to heaven?” The man shook his head and answered, “No, I saw your Rebbe go somewhere much higher than heaven...” The true mark of greatness is being so great that even the smallest thing and the most insignificant details are important and worthy of attention. Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.
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Parsha Ponderings Parshas Mishpatim
Crash but Don’t Burn By Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky
P
arshas Mishpatim discusses many monetary laws which Moshe taught the Jews after the Torah was given. Interestingly, these laws are juxtaposed immediately following select laws of the Mizbeach, the Altar, which are at the conclusion of the previous pasha, Parshas Yisro. Rashi, noting this, offers a reason. “Why are the monetary laws placed after the laws of the Mizbeach? To teach us that you shall place the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Rabbinical Court, next to the Mizbeach.” But what exactly is the significance of the Sanhedrin being placed next to the Mizbeach? Last year, the 62nd Daytona 500 Race not only started with a bang, as President Trump honored the race with his presence in the air and on the ground, but it ended with a bang as well. During the final lap, just seconds before the finish line, the crowd watched in horror as a terrifying crash happened right before their eyes. As the pack of cars were fighting for first place, Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Ford hit Ryan Newman’s No. 6 Ford, causing it to lose control and slam head-on into the outer retaining wall at a speed of approximately 200 MPH. Newman’s car continued sliding along the track, where it was hit again and sent airborne, landing on its roof and bursting into flames. Onlookers watched in horror as Ryan Newman, trapped in a burning hunk of mangled metal barely resembling an upside-down racecar, slid down the track at extreme speeds, finally coming to a halt on the side of the track. As the emergency crews worked hastily to extinguish the flames and
extricate Newman from his pulverized racecar, many were already envisioning the aftermath of this horrific tragedy with a memorial service and ceremony. M i r ac u lou sly, Ry a n s u r vived the crash with serious, but
daughter’s hands. Experts have explained that the only reason for Newman’s miraculous survival was the improved safety features that NASCAR has implemented. The retaining wall of the track, the new HANS restraints on the hel-
Onlookers watched in horror as Ryan Newman, trapped in a burning hunk of mangled metal barely resembling an upside-down racecar, slid down the track at extreme speeds, finally coming to a halt on the side of the track.
non-life-threatening injuries and was rushed to Halifax Medical Center. Only two days later, to the delight of millions, he walked out of the hospital on his own two feet, holding onto his
mets, and improved protection in the cars,were all factors to enable Newman to survive the extreme impact, defying all odds.
My grandfather, Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky, zt”l, explained, that the Mizbeach was meant to bring Jews closer to Hashem through korbanos. A Jew who sinned would repent and bring a korban, renewing his pledge to become close again to Hashem. The Sanhedrin, as leaders of the Jews, had the same responsibility. There will be times when Jews will sin, either as individuals or as a group. They will be battered and bruised, bent out of shape, and yes, sometimes even pulverized and flipped upside down in a spiritual fireball of sin, engulfing their bodies and souls. But our leaders are there to offer protection and guidance. They are the ones who place precautionary boundaries. They are the ones to come to the aid of the failing Jew, offering him assistance through proper teshuvah, and they are the ones who will guide every Jew back to the true path. Just as the Mizbeach guaranteed that Jews can renew their closeness to Hashem, the Sanhedrin, who sit adjacent to the Mizbeach, do the same. They ensure that every Jew who is shaken to the core with severe spiritual wounds, can still walk away tall and proud – on his own two feet.
Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky is the Director of Advancement at Yeshiva of South Shore – Yeshiva Toras Chaim Beis Binyamin. He is currently compiling the Torah thoughts from his grandfather, Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky, zt”l, into print, in Hebrew and English. If you have any stories or divrei Torah to share from his grandfather, or to subscribe to receive a weekly dvar Torah from Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky’s teachings, you can email him at skamenetzky@yoss.org.
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Delving into the Daf
Eggs and Shank Bones By Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow
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his story may have taken place in 2008, the last time erev Pesach fell out on Shabbos. It takes place between a wise son and his father on the Seder night. Chochom: Tatty, some of the items on the seder plate are incongruous. Tatty: This is the same setup of the seder plate I use every year. Chochom: I know, but this year it
doesn’t seem right. Tatty: Why is this year different from any other year? Chochom: This year erev Pesach fell out on Shabbos. Tatty: I know, I read a pre-publication edition of The Jewish Home that will, be”H, be published in 13 years. We are supposed to reverse two words in the Hagaddah at the end of Maggid; zevachim and pesachim. But what does that have to do
with the Seder plate? Chochom: The reason many reverse the words is because there is no Chagigah brought on erev Pesach when it falls on Shabbos like this year. Tatty: Ah, now I know why that is related to the Seder plate. Chochom: The custom is that we place two cooked foods on the Seder plate. One cooked food symbolizes the Korban Pesach and one cooked food symbolizes the Korban Chagigah. It has become a widespread custom to use an egg to symbolize the Korban Chagigah. Since there is no Chagigah this year, why is there an egg on the Seder plate? Tatty: Eggs-celent question! Indeed, the Tur (483) cites an opinion not to use an egg this year for eggs-actly the reason you said. Still, the Tur cites the opinion of Rabbeinu Peretz who says to keep the Seder plate the same this year as every other year. Indeed, I believe that is the widely-held custom. Why does that make my Seder plate cracked up? Chochom: It doesn’t fit with the zeroa-shank bone-tibia. Tatty: One can use any piece of meat for the zeroa. However, there is an old custom to use a shank bone or the tibia on the Seder plate to represent the Korban Pesach. This is because Hashem took us out of Egypt with a zeroa netuya, an outstretched arm. Therefore, there is a custom to specifically use a zeroa, a bone from the animal’s arm to represent the Pesach. It actually looks very nice next to the egg. In fact, I use it every year. They sell it in the supermarket next
to the saltwater. What is the problem this year? Chochom: How did you prepare the shank bone? Tatty: Good question. There actually is some history there. When we had the Beis HaMikdosh, we used to roast the Korban Pesach over a fire using a spit from a pomegranate plant. Chochom: Are you allowed to cut down branches from a fruit tree if it’s not for the benefit of the plant? Tatty: Well, some say there is never a problem with pruning a fruit tree even if it’s not beneficial for the fruit tree. Others say that for the performance of a great mitzvah such as roasting the Korban Pesach, one may cut branches off a fruit tree. Chochom: Is that how you roasted the shank bone? Tatty: No, it was too hard for me to get my hands on a piece of pomegranate wood. Instead, I reenacted the roasting of the Korban Pesach using a shank bone and wood. I roasted it directly over a wood fire. Chochom: Why didn’t you use a grill? Tatty: Many, if not most, Rishonim are of the opinion that a Korban Pesach that was roasted on a grill may not be eaten. The Korban Pesach had to be roasted directly over a fire. So I followed the Shulchan Aruch and did what I could to symbolize the Korban Pesach by roasting the shank bone directly on a fire. Chochom: But what should the average homeowner who wants to fulfill this custom do?
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and not a real korban. Tatty: Sounds nice, but what does that have to do with the shank bone? Chochom: You followed the opinion of the Shulchan Aruch. You were so careful to roast the shank bone in
over fire. One should cook it in water instead for the very reason you mentioned; people may misunderstand. Moreover, if it is cooked, then a small piece of the meat can be eaten by everyone at the festive
When we had the Beis HaMikdosh, we used to roast the Korban Pesach over a fire using a spit from a pomegranate plant.
a manner that is valid for the Korban Pesach. People might get the wrong idea, that somehow the shank bone is not just a symbol but an actual Passover sacrifice. Tatty: Wow, I am shepping such nachas. This is exactly the point that Shelah Hakodesh makes. He says it’s better not to roast the shank bone
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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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Seder meal. Now, that it is roasted, it may not be eaten on the Seder night because of the custom on not eating roasted meat on the night of the seder. He even cites support for his view from the opinion that says we do use an egg this year. The similarities shouldn’t be mirrored too closely. Chochom: But Tatty, so why do
you roast the shank bone and still use an egg this year? Tatty: I follow the custom that my parents have always followed. Perhaps the very fact that we use an egg this year, and moreover specifically use an egg as opposed to meat which is clearly not a korban, demonstrates that we are not actually sanctifying food items as a Pesach or Chagigah. Nevertheless, I will be careful when I discuss the Korban Pesach at the Seder. I will not actually pick up the shank bone so that people will not get the wrong idea. We should be zocheh that we will be able to offer real sacrifices soon.
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Tatty: The VaYaged Moshe says one could hold a fork with the piece of meat on it and roast it over the fire on the stovetop and not let it touch the grates. But ultimately, if that is not possible or there is no time, one may cook the food in any way. Still, we seem to have gone far afield. What does this have to do with the egg? Chochom: We seem to follow Rabbeinu Peretz’s opinion quoted in the Tur. He said to use an egg on the Seder plate this year as we do every year. The egg is just a remembrance for the Korban Chagigah. It’s not the actual Korban Chagigah. In fact, he reasons that if you don’t use an egg this year, you are intimating that the egg is somehow a real Chagigah. People are going to get the wrong idea. They will think that we are allowed to eat actual sacrifices outside the Beis Hamikdash and Yerushalayim. You should especially put an egg on the seder plate this year to show that the egg is just a symbol
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Think, Feel, Grow
The Turbulent Journey to Matan Torah By Shmuel Reichman
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ave you ever felt like everything worthwhile in life eventually fades? The energy of youth fades into old age; the excitement of beginnings fades into routine; the inspiration of a new goal fades into habit. This pattern extends to almost all spheres of the human experience. When you begin a meal, the taste is fresh and delicious, but after only a few bites, the taste begins to wear off and the food loses its mouthwatering appeal. Did you ever hear a great song, immediately fall in love with it, and play it endlessly on repeat? After a few days, you probably couldn’t listen to it anymore. This once-captivating song somehow lost its beauty and appeal, and you were forced to move onto the next tune. This numbing experience is not always negative. Whenever you hear a loud or disturbing sound, you may initially be annoyed or irritated. However, after a few moments, your senses become dulled and your mind
muffles out the sound. The stimulus is still there, but the sensation has faded. This phenomenon permeates all of human experience, leading us to question why Hashem created the world this way. Why did Hashem create a world in which inspiration, physical sensation, and emotional delight always fade? What is the deep spiritual idea behind this pattern?
Yetzias Mitzrayim and Matan Torah Before answering our question, let us take a further look at this phenomenon and how it plays out through the events in the Torah. In Parshas Mishpatim, Klal Yisrael experiences the after-effects of Yetzias Mitzrayim and Matan Torah. Let us take a closer look at the events that led up to these moments. The first day of Pesach was the pinnacle of the Yetzias Mitzrayim experience. After revealing Himself
to the world through the ten Makkos, Hashem Himself performed Makkas Bechoros (the Plague of the Firstborn), striking down the firstborns of Mitzrayim. At this time, the Jews underwent the process of their formation as Hashem’s chosen nation, performing the mitzvos of Korban Pesach and bris milah. The Ba’alei Machshava describe this night as the absolute peak of holiness and spirituality for the Jewish People. It is therefore astonishing that immediately following this elevated experience, the Jews descend into the midbar (desert) and fall into total disarray. The midbar is a place of spiritual emptiness, and the next forty-nine days are defined by hardship, complaints, and spiritual challenge. Then, upon completing these forty-nine days, the Jews once again experience spiritual transcendence. The Jews are given the Torah at Har Sinai, cementing their marriage relationship with Hashem and
committing themselves to a destiny of greatness. There is an obvious question on this sequence of events: why didn’t the Jews go straight from Mitzrayim to Matan Torah, from one high to the next? Why did they first have to go through such a bitter low, losing everything they had gained on the first night of Pesach?
Why Inspiration Fades The deep meaning behind this process is elucidated by the Arizal, Ramchal, Vilna Gaon, and many other Jewish thinkers. They explain that every process contains three stages: The first stage is the high, the inspiration, an experience of perfection and clarity. Next comes the second stage: a complete fall, a loss of everything that was experienced during the first stage. Then there is the third stage, a return to the perfection of the first
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stage. However, this third stage is fundamentally different from the first. It is the same perfection, the same clarity, but this time it’s a perfection and clarity that you have earned. The first time it was given to you; now you have worked to build it for yourself. Imagine you are a young child, still unable to walk. One day, your father holds your hands and begins to walk with you. Suddenly seeing the world from a higher vantage point, you immediately fall in love with your new ability to walk. Your father takes you around the kitchen, around the house, and you start to feel more and more comfortable in the walking position. You feel so close and grateful to your father for walking with you. Suddenly, just when you felt so safe and loved, your father does the inexplicable: he lets go! You immediately fall to ground, shocked. You feel hurt and abandoned. All you can think is: “Why would my father do this to me? I thought he loved me?!” The next day, the same exact thing happens. Once again, just as you feel safest, your father lets go, and you fall straight to the ground. You can’t understand why your father is putting you through this suffering! However, a few weeks later, something magical happens. Your father lets go, but this time, you don’t fall to the ground. This time, you remain on your feet. You begin to walk around – by yourself! You have officially learned to walk. Only now do you realize the truth. Your father wasn’t trying to hurt you. On the contrary, he was teaching you how to walk. First, he needed to walk with you, showing you how to do it, but only by letting go, and forcing you to stand on your own, did you eventually learn how to walk. While he was holding your hand, it may have felt like you were walking, but you now realize that it was only an illusion. It was a gift; it wasn’t real. Only once you were forced to build it on your own do you really have the ability to walk. The first stage was the gift. The second stage was the fall. The third stage was the recreation of the first stage, except this time, it’s real.
The Three Stages The first stage 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
The Vilna Gaon answers these questions with the three-stage model we just developed. When the Gemara describes the fetus learning kol ha’Torah kulah, it refers to the deepest realms of Torah, a transcendent Torah that lies far beyond this world. This Torah is the very root of reality, and you were granted complete understanding of its every detail. Not only were you shown this level of Torah, but you also learned your specific share of Torah – you were shown your unique purpose in the world and how your unique role fits into the larger scheme of the human story as a whole.
Only then was Klal Yisrael truly able to experience the depth and beauty of their connection and marriage with Hashem.
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.
Recreating Your Torah This three-stage pattern gives us a deeper insight into a Gemara that we have already discussed several times before. The Gemara explains that when you were just a fetus, you were in a perfect and transcendent state of being; a malach taught you kol ha’Torah kulah (all of Torah), and you experienced the entirety of reality through a crystal-clear lens. However, the Gemara continues with an anticlimactic punch (literally): just before you were born, this malach struck you on the mouth, causing you to forget everything you learned. Two obvious questions arise: Why does the malach cause you to forget everything that you’ve just learned? And more importantly, if he will eventually make you forget it, why teach it to you in the first place?
You were given a taste of your own perfection, of what you could, should, and hopefully will become. Most importantly, when the malach struck you, you didn’t lose this Torah; rather, you lost access to it. Instead of it disappearing, this knowledge and clarity became buried deep within your subconscious. This is because what you received in the womb wasn’t real; it was a gift – unearned and undeserved. The purpose of life is to come into this world and rebuild all that you once experienced and understood while in the womb. However, this time it will be real, because you have built it yourself. In essence, your job in this world is not to create yourself, but rather to recreate yourself; to re-attain your original state of perfection, as you were shown by the malach. This time, however, it must be accomplished through free will, by choosing to become great. Only by overcoming challenge and difficulty, only by asserting your willpower, can you fulfill your true potential. In essence, our entire life is a story of teshuva – returning to our original, higher, and true self.
Yetzias Mitzrayim vs. Matan Torah Returning to our original
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discussion, we can now understand why the Jewish People couldn’t go straight from Yetzias Mitzrayim to Matan Torah. The first night of Pesach was a spiritual high, a revelation of their ultimate destination, but it was a gift, unearned. They therefore had to go through the challenges of the midbar in order to rebuild and earn that initial stage. Matan Torah was the third stage, the recreation of the first stage, but earned, real. Only then was Klal Yisrael truly able to experience the depth and beauty of their connection and marriage with Hashem. This is the process of life. Inspiration, followed by hardship and difficulty, often to the point that you can hardly remember that initial stage of excitement. The Rambam compares this experience to a man lost in the darkness night, in the midst of a thunderstorm. Unable to see his hand in front of his face, he has no idea where to go. Suddenly, there’s a flash of lightning, and he sees the path home, clear as day. A second later, the lightning fades, and he’s left with only the memory of clarity to guide him back home. The lightning represents flashes of inspiration in a challenging and confusing world. The darkened path represents the difficult journey we must take to recreate that initial stage of inspiration. We must hold onto those flashes of lightning, understand our goal and destination, and then recreate that light within the darkness. For, one day, you will once again experience the clarity of that light. Except this time, it will be real, earned, never again fading away.
Shmuel Reichman is an inspirational speaker, writer, and coach who has lectured internationally at shuls, conferences, and Jewish communities on topics of Jewish thought and Jewish medical ethics. He is the founder and CEO of Self-Mastery Academy (ShmuelReichman.com), the transformative online course that is revolutionizing how we engage in self-development. You can find more inspirational lectures, videos, and articles from Shmuel on his website, ShmuelReichman.com.
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World
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Providing Psychological First Aid
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n a Monday evening in January, a young woman who had recently given birth to the family’s first child collapsed at home in one of the northern neighborhoods of Jerusalem. First responders who arrived at the scene began CPR efforts in order to save her life. Due to the complex situation and trauma of the rest of the family who witnessed the event, United Hatzalah’s Psychpotrauma and Crisis Response Unit (PCRU) was dispatched to provide emotional and psychological support and stabilization for the family and bystanders. Daniel Katzenstein arrived as the first member of the PCRU at the scene and found a number of people who required assistance. He called for additional responders to be sent, and Batya Jaffe arrived with her therapy dog Lucy and sometime later John Atlas arrived too. Batya spoke about how the team was instrumental in assisting those at the scene. “I arrived at the scene after Daniel was already there and assisting people,” Batya said. “According to the protocol, the second and third responders at the scene check in with the first one there in order to get an update and see what needs to be done. However, before I could reach Daniel, I heard someone call out, ‘We need the PCRU here.’ “I walked over and a man told me that this is the brother of the woman who collapsed and that he performed CPR on her. “I didn’t even get over to him, and a police officer came up to me and said, ‘I need you over there with the woman’s husband. Please try to get him to be able to speak to us so that we ask him about what happened.’ “Once again, I didn’t get the chance to get to him because someone else asked for my help with a different
Batya Jaffe with Lucy
person. It felt like this was a mass casualty incident from a psychological first aid perspective. “I got to work on the brother who had started CPR. He was young, still just a teenager. He looked too calm, closed off within himself. He had just performed CPR on his sister in an attempt to save her life. “I was just about to bring my dog, Lucy, over to the boy, but Lucy refused to go. Instead, she walked in between the legs of the police officer. The officer bent down to pet her and then with tears in her eyes told me, ‘I need Lucy here with me.’ “I then went to the husband. From the onset, he had support from other family members, mainly his parents, who had arrived to assist. The brother broke out into tears and was crying hysterically. This became contagious, and others began to cry as well. Together with Lucy, I went over to him, and we managed to get through to him and let him know that we were there and he was not alone. “The woman’s mother told me that she can not process what happened or even begin to think about
this. The husband asked what he was supposed to do now with a baby that is just a few months old by himself. This baby was the couple’s only child. He very quickly descended from being very emotional to feeling a sense of helplessness, to feeling guilty that he wasn’t by his wife’s side in the last few moments of her life. It was clear to me that a world had collapsed here. “Upon seeing the husband’s despair, there was not a dry eye in the home. I cried right along with him. The police officers also cried. This was the first time that I was thankful that we were all behind masks. The police officers showed an incredible amount of compassion and used our help wherever they could. We worked in tandem to get the scene under control and be there for those who had just experienced an unimaginable loss. “One of the most useful and meaningful things to have occurred was that as soon as the situation began developing, the neighbors took the new baby into their home so that it wouldn’t have to witness the CPR efforts and the emotional fallout that
followed. “The woman’s mother was feeling awful that she would not be able to find the energy to now look after her granddaughter. I asked the father if he wanted to check on the new baby, and, at first, he couldn’t bring himself to be with her. I went to check in with the neighbor and see the baby in an effort to encourage the father to do so as well. I saw a sweet and calm baby, who was happy and surrounded with love. The neighbor told me that she had fed and changed the baby. I thought to myself: what kind of a crazy world this is. Here the entire world of this father and daughter just went haywire and yet, there are still sparks of hope and joy. “Friends and neighbors began to appear and offer help with all sorts of things for them. They showed their support and promised to be there for the new widower for the long haul and assist with the baby and anything that the two would now need. “Working together with Daniel and John was a terrific experience. They are both professional and excellent caregivers. Additionally, we all worked in tandem, and Daniel was able to manage the scene and assign tasks and responsibilities to us all and to the others present in order to provide the family with all of the support they needed at the moment when their world exploded. “Throughout the process, I couldn’t help but think that, while this baby girl will now have to go through life without ever really knowing her mother, she will know a community instead. A community of people who will step in to care for her and love her. While it can never replace what was lost, it will help provide the baby girl with the sense of being loved and not being alone in the world. “And that is something that we all need.”
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Unifying the Community TJH Speaks with Pesach Osina, Candidate for City Councilman BY SUSAN SCHWAMM
Pesach, you’re running in a special election for City Councilman, District 31. Polls will be open in a few days. Yes. There’s a special election called for February 23 with early voting starting on Shabbos, February 13. We’re fortunate to have a whole week of early voting. We need to be thankful to Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer-Amato for working hard to create an early voting location in our neighborhood on Nameoke Street in IS 53. In the previous elections, everyone had to travel twenty minutes away to the Rockaway YMCA for early voting. Now, it’s right here in the community. This is for the NYC Council District 31 seat. Why are we having this special election? That’s a good question, and I’m going to walk you through what happened.
The borough president, Melinda Katz, ran for Queens district attorney. Melinda Katz won the district attorney seat in November 2019 by a mere 55 votes. That, in turn, opened up the seat for Queens borough president. The election for Queens borough president was supposed to be last year in April but, due to Covid, they postponed that election up until the primaries in June. In that election, Donovan Richards – who was the councilman for District 31 – ran to be Queens borough president, and he won. He took up the term right after the November election. As soon as his seat became vacant, according to City charters, within 80+ days, the NYC mayor needed to call for an election to fill his seat. That vacant seat is what this special election is about. An important thing to note in this election is that it’s not a primary election.
It’s not subject to one political party. Anyone who is a registered voter in District 31 can go out – and should go out – and vote in this election as long as they live within the councilmanic district. It doesn’t make a difference if they’re registered to the Democrat or Republican or Green Party – as long as they’re a registered voter in the district, they should go out and vote. There are a few people contending for the position of City Councilman. There are nine other people on the ballot from a wide range of politics. There’s a great rapport between the candidates, and we’re constantly speaking to each other. The whole point of my campaign is to build unity, build coalitions. I know that, based on my experience and what I’m offering voters in terms of my experience, I can be victorious.
What does a NYC councilman do? The role of a city councilman is that they have oversight over all city agencies that are in their district. For example, they have oversight if you need more garbage pickup or snow removal or with help with other city agencies. Additionally, NYC councilmen are one of the only elected officials that still have a large amount of discretionary funding, which means they have funding that they can give out to community organizations in their district, which plays a key role in our mosdos and in the organizations in our community. What areas does District 31 encompass? District 31 goes from the Nassau County border in Far Rockaway down to Beach 80 Street. It encompasses Rosedale, Laurelton, and Springfield Gardens, too.
Around how many voters are in the district? About 57,000 voters. How many are expected to vote? That’s a great question. Let’s look at the recent election in District 24 in Kew Gardens Hills. There are 59,000 voters in that district. In that election, less than 6,000 voters came out to vote. That’s unbelievable. What do you tell the frum community to galvanize them to get out and vote? We need to create an impact. We have an opportunity here to get our voices heard. We’re working with all the other communities, but we need the voice of our community to be strong. How do we create a strong voice? By taking our voice over to the polling place.
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Working with local officials this summer
In every election, every single elected official looks at how many votes came out of the community. And that’s where they adjust the resources to. It’s not just about this election. If we vote, then our elected officials see us as a force that they have to answer to. We need to stand up and stay unified and stand together and come out and vote. How many frum voters, approximately, live in Far Rockaway? It’s a rough number. Some say 5,500; some say 7,500. It’s a range. If you look at the last presidential election, the Far Rockaway community came out strong, giving a little over 4,000 votes for President Trump. There are some great initiatives out there that are galvanizing the community. Klal Vote has made a tremendous impact in galvanizing the community, working with the shuls and rabbanim. We’re hoping that these initiatives, like Klal Vote, will push the
community to come out and vote. It’s not just this election. The turnout numbers are going to resonate with every elected official from now and moving forward. Let’s talk numbers. You mentioned that Melinda Katz won the seat for district attorney by a mere 55 votes. Eight years ago, in February 2013, you ran for this same seat against Donovan Richards and lost by how many votes? 79 votes. 79 votes?! So if 80 more people would have made it a priority to vote in that election, you would have won the election?! Yes. Each person’s vote is so important. That’s why we need every person to come out and vote. Don’t rely on your neighbor to vote. We need you – each person – to vote in this election. Why are you the best person for this position?
With NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer
I’m running on a Unity ticket. I live here, my family lives here; I want the best for everyone in the district. And we all know: where there’s unity, there’s strength. That’s the core of my campaign: to build a stronger community with the inclusion of everyone’s voices. There should not be any more choices without our voices. When you get the position, what are one or two issues you want to tackle when you take the seat? One thing we have to bring out is that we need to make our neighborhoods more resilient. We have to make sure that in the case of a disaster, or even with the pandemic, we need to make sure we can move on. The only way we can do that is if we work on that in every community in the Rockaways and in South Queens. In the last few years, I’ve been working with all the communities in Queens and specifically in the Rocka-
ways. We all know that, when you look at the Rockaways, every four blocks in another community – Far Rockaway, Bayswater, Edgemere, the Sandcastle, Bayside.… We need to build up voices in every community and bring them together to solve issues and create resiliency. People have only been focusing on developments and stakeholders within and around their community. But we need to open that up because what happens in some communities affects other communities in other parts of the district. My first step in office would be to build this coalition. To make sure that we all know the best practices that are going on in every community and to build and make all of our communities stronger. What are on constituents’ minds when you speak with them as you campaign around the district? Right now, it’s about how COVID is affecting their com-
munities. For example, there are many issues revolving around vaccinations. How do I them? How can I sign up? How can I schedule an appointment? Why do I have to travel to get it? It’s all very frustrating. Another big issue is food insecurity. Because of COVID, regardless of your income before the pandemic, there is some type of income loss. We all keep hearing that we need ways to counter that loss of income. We’re also hearing that our property taxes and our water bills are high. We’re paying so much in property taxes – as high as our neighbors in Nassau County – and how come we’re not getting those same services as those across the border? What about the homeless shelters that are going up in Far Rockaway? What can you do to help? The Rockaways have always been a dumping grounds for the City. You know, everyone should have a house or a place to live.
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With Mayor Michael Bloomberg
We need to build a coalition working with all communities to make sure everyone has a place to live. I want to emphasize that there needs to be a lot more communit y involvement in what’s happening in our community. Our community’s voices need to be heard before anything comes to our community. I know you’ve been involved in helping the community over the past few years. I was the community liaison for Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder and Councilman Donovan Richards. Four years ago, I moved on to the role of the comptroller’s office, where I had the role of Queens Borough Director for Comptroller Scott Stringer. That role, as Queens Borough Director, gave me a team of four, where we focused on all the needs of every community, every ethnicity, all the diversity that goes on in Queens. We all know that Queens in the most diverse borough in the
Pesach with his wife and Queens County Clerk Audrey Pheffer and Glenn Riddell
world. This role in the comptroller’s office allowed me to be an advocate and an educator and really focus on the needs of every community. At the same time, while I was focusing on the whole borough, I was still focusing on the needs of the Rockaways, Peninsula, and Southeast Queens. This role is really what put me into place for this position that I’m running
learned is that our unified voices make us stronger. We all have to realize that the same issues that happen in one community really happen in all communities. There are some communities that deal with certain issues better than others. We need to work together to get better, more effective results. Remember the illegal fireworks over the summer?
With District Attorney Melinda Katz
You’ve been around a lot of politicians. Are there any lessons you’ve learned from the politicians you’ve been around? Absolutely. I’ve seen the drive of a number of elected officials, and I’ve taken that to heart. These politicians are constantly focusing on issues that are on hand. They keep their eyes on the ball and stay
“Don’t rely on your neighbor to vote. We need you – each person – to vote in this election.” for. It allowed me to work with all the different communities and ethnicities with all their diversities. And I’ve been working hand-in-hand with all the community leaders from all around the borough, which makes me the perfect person to fill this seat. What lessons have you learned in the past ten years in politics? The one thing I have
Well, the only way we were able to get things done then was by reaching out to the mayor’s office,with a unified voice with other civic leaders. With a unified voice and unified message, we were able to get things done. That’s what resonates with elected officials and government. We need to strengthen our voices. We need to work together. And we need to go out and vote.
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on top of issues of quality of life that affect their constituents. They work and persevere. They focus on what’s important. And I see myself as someone who stays on top of the issues and works hard, with focus, for my community members. What do you do to relax? Everyone needs to release energy at the end of a long day. I love taking my family
to sports games and sports arenas. Two sports that we really enjoy are baseball and hockey. There are so many wonderful amenities in the community that we should all utilize. Our beautiful boardwalk is a great place to take our families, and our parks are wonderful for the children of the community. We live in a beautiful community, and I’m here to help continue to make our community an even better place to live. I want to urge everyone to vote this upcoming week. The early voting location on Nameoke is so convenient, and we really need everyone’s vote to get things done. Each person’s vote is so valuable in this election. Pesach, we wish you much hatzlacha in this special election. We know that you are constantly working for the community and that you have the drive and the focus to help the community as a City Councilman.
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Dating Dialogue
What Would You Do If… Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters
Dear Navidaters,
I’m writing in as a last resort as I feel absolutely hopeless at this point. I think I am a pretty realistic girl and really not so picky. Baruch Hashem, I succeed in my job as a nurse and feel very fulfilled after a long day, but I really, really want to get married. I take pride in my appearance, dress nicely, and stay active to make sure I feel good and take care of myself. I’m ashamed to say it, because I might come across as surface level when I’m really anything but, BUT, I just am not attracted to most guys I am set up with. Most of the time when I get a picture, I can already tell he’s not for me. The shadchanim all say, “You’re 29. Are you seriously saying no because of a picture?” But they just don’t understand. I can’t marry someone I am not attracted to, and I won’t. I have tried going out of my comfort zone dating guys I didn’t think were the look I’d go for, and every time, it’s just a waste of time. I have had a few guys who I have been attracted to but those did not work out for one reason or another. My question is two-tiered: 1) I feel like the shadchanim are all getting fed up with me. I feel bad saying no, so I’ve started avoiding reaching out to them altogether. Obviously, this does not help get me more dates. How can I politely decline an idea due to looks without getting on a shadchan’s “bad side”? 2) Is this normal? I can’t understand why I was created with such a specific “look” I go for, but can I confidently say that Hashem will send me someone I am attracted to? Best, Tehilla*
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 Shadchan Michelle Mond
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es, Tehilla, you must be attracted to your soon-to-be husband. But what are you willing to do to find him? In the tefillah to find lost object, we ask Hashem to open our eyes to the object we have lost. We do not merely ask to find it but that Hashem opens our eyes to see it. This is because sometimes what we are looking for is in front of us. The definition of attraction in the dictionary is the following: “A force acting mutually, tending to draw people together.” You will not be doing the proper hishtadlus to find your bashert by constantly saying no based on a picture. Why? Because attraction is something that develops in person; it is a give and take. You could theoretically see a picture of a guy who’s completely “not your look” but had you met him at a Shabbos meal you would have had a completely different reaction. A force of attraction cannot be measured via picture. It is because of this that I believe the shadchanim you speak of are getting frustrated dealing with you. Another piece is asking yourself if you are open to seeing the beauty in someone who may not be your exact picture perfect look but handsome nonetheless. Do you exhibit any flexibility? What are you generally attracted to and why have those not worked out in the past? Have those relationships been healthy or do you think you might have a tendency towards anxious attachment? These are all questions and concepts to ponder. I hope that Hashem opens your eyes to your bashert very soon and that you recognize him easily – and he, you.
The Kallah Teacher Rebbetzin Lisa Babich s someone who dated for a while and did not “like’’ every person I
A
dated, I feel I have perspective on your question. Because I think honesty and truth will serve you better than sugar coating things, I will be honest. I found your difficulty with shidduchim to be apparent within the question itself. I did not hear an ounce of flexibility within your question. I quote: “I can’t understand why I was created with such a specific ‘look’ I go for, but can I confidently say that Hashem will send me someone I am attracted to?” You can and should 1,000% be attracted to your husband, however, what “attraction” means to each person is something very vague. Are you willing to marry someone whom you find handsome but who may not have the exact physique? Are you okay marrying someone who is attractive in your eyes but who may not be the coloring or “look” you originally expected? From your question, it sounded as if you have one picture of a look and if it does not meet that picture, then you are not interested. If more than one shadchan is getting upset with you, maybe the better question to ask is not, “How can I politely decline an idea due to looks without getting on a shadchan’s bad side” but rather “What is it that numerous shadchanim are seeing that I can confront within myself in an honest way?” If your look is reasonable, then I can comfortably say that maybe you have just not found him yet. If you are saying that you are only attracted to 6”2 models, then you may have a hard time finding someone. Especially someone who is the look, and your hashkafa, and the right middos, and the right job, and, and, and…it becomes a tall order. If you are willing to expand your idea of attractive, you may have more success. By this, I don’t mean agreeing to a date after you saw a picture you are not thrilled about but to really expand what attractive can mean for you. This may mean allowing yourself to like someone who is a cutie, a sweet looking man, a handsome frum looking guy, etc. Attraction is super important; so is middos, hashkafa, and stability.
You will, G-d willing, be married to your husband for many, many years, and while it may be nice to have the perfect look next to you, that won’t ultimately determine the success of your marriage. Marrying someone who you can build a happy and stable home with while feeling attracted to is the goal. As you build a home and family with someone, they will be special to you because this is your life’s partner whom you are building a bayis neeman b’Yisroel with.
The Zaidy Dr. Jeffrey Galler
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am sure that you have been badgered with helpful folks who scold, “Why are looks so important to you? Is it because you lack self-esteem? Is it because you’ve already waited so long that you don’t wish to settle for anyone less than Prince Charming?” However, I’m on your side and applaud your honesty. Don’t let anyone force you or embarrass you into dating men that you do not find attractive. Here are some thoughts for you to consider: 1. You are right to be concerned that shadchanim might get fed up with you. They work hard to get a “yes” from a young man, and if you consistently decline, they may stop trying. A shadchan prefers to help those who are easiest to help. 2. If the young man’s looks are of paramount importance to you, that’s perfectly OK but be realistic and understand that you may have to compromise on other issues (level of religiosity, education, career). 3. Be proactive. Why do you feel you need to depend upon a shadchan? *Utilize online websites. *Note that even the shadchan-driven websites allow you to set “preferences” so that you can see a photo of the young man before he sees yours. This way, you can pre-screen for looks that you find attractive before any shadchan gets involved.
A force of attraction cannot be measured via picture. *Attend singles’ virtual events. On those, you can begin conversing with anyone that you find attractive. As a nurse, you have helped so many other people. Now, it’s time for you to help yourself. Be proactive. Use the same drive, determination, and diligence that made you a successful professional in order to find your life partner. Good luck!
The Single Rivka Weinberg
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ehilla, I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to feel like you’re putting your best foot forward and have yet to see the outcome you desire. I agree with you that you should not marry someone you are not attracted to, and no one should force you or encourage you to do so. However, it seems to me that you are putting a large emphasis on the picture, over the guy himself and the qualities he has. Pictures in shidduchim are an entirely different and larger conversation, but it’s important to point out that your decision to go out with a boy or not should not be solely based on his photo. I appreciate being able to associate a resume with a face, which is why, after a decision has been made from the information in front of you, can you look at a picture to get an idea of who will be showing up at your door. Let’s be honest. If you don’t send a picture, there’s a high chance that your name will be googled and the sweaty picture of you from Camp
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Sternberg in 2007 will appear on the screen. However, that doesn’t mean decisions depend upon this. Attraction grows from meeting someone, experiencing their personality, and learning about who they are. If there’s a boy in front of you who aligns with what you’re looking for, it would be a shame to say no because he isn’t your “look.” It’s incredible that you went out of your comfort zone to date those other guys. If you were being truly honest with yourself, I wonder if you went into those dates with the right mindset or convinced yourself it was a
chessed date to make the shadchan happy. I’ll be honest: if I was a shadchan who was putting in time and energy to find your zivug and you continuously shot ideas down based on the picture, I would be annoyed, too. However, keep in mind that ultimately Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mizaveg zivugim, and the shadchan is the shaliach. The reason we put in hishtadlus is because Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn’t want to do open nissim in the world. If you truly believe you’re putting in your hishtadlus and trust that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is going to send your zivug, then you
shouldn’t be concerned about being on a shadchan’s “bad side.” Now, to clarify, I’m not suggesting you continue to date the way you are. However, if you’re going to do so, and believe this is the right way, then do it with integrity and don’t be afraid of shadchanim. To answer your second question, no, I don’t think this is “normal” because I don’t believe the word “normal” exists in shidduchim. I can confidently say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu will send you someone you are attracted to, although, I cannot guarantee that he will be in the exact “package” you’re looking for. You may need to step out of your comfort zone aga in, t his time with in-
Pulling It All Together The Navidaters
somehow. If, however, you are Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists looking for a certain something that just piques your interest, and you can’t even put your finger on it, ear Tehilla, then, by all means, I into attraction – body Thank you for writing to our personally find that very reasonlanguage, the way somecolumn! able. I tend to agree with our Zeidy one smells, the way you feel I have so much to say about the on this one. when they are looking into your dilemma you find yourself in. What Many women feel badly speakeyes…. Screens and resumes ruin comes up for me first and foremost ing openly to their shadchanim, and I the organic process of connection in and what I would like to convey to you have to say that they seem to have valcertain ways. They just do. above all else is how important chemid reason for feeling the way they do. I truly hear your conundrum. You istry is to a romantic relationship. AtOftentimes, they report shadchanim have probably been out with counttraction is paramount. When men and insisting they go out, nudging, telling less guys, and your intuition was corwomen meet through a shadchan, or them attraction will grow or making rect. You weren’t attracted initially, even on Facebook or dating apps, there them feel badly as if their not being and the attraction didn’t grow. You is no ability for the personality to light attracted is some kind of excuse. I’ve sit on the date kicking yourself for up and sometimes actually change the worked with women (and men) who not trusting your gut. Unfortunately, way someone looks. I have met beauhave been told they are “too picky.” there is no crystal ball and you have tiful men and women whose insides The tricky thing is that, every now and no way of knowing if you will be passdo not match their outsides and they again, I do meet a somewhat “picky” ing someone up with whom you may suddenly don’t look so beautiful. And person who does actually need a good have shared a special chemistry. It’s a the opposite is true as well. Somewakeup call. But they are few and far personal choice you will have to make. times, a picture is not worth a thoubetween. I am slightly curious about what sand words. Do I think people may I wouldn’t be able to encourage your type is. As one of the panelists pass up someone they may have had someone to date a person he/she is mentioned, if you are only attracted chemistry with because they made not physically attracted to. I simply to the Adonis type, then that is sometheir decision based on a picture? couldn’t take on that kind of burden; thing you really should reconsider Yes, I do. There is so much that goes
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The shadchanim all say, “You’re 29. Are you seriously saying no because of a picture?” tegrity, to keep your options open and allow yourself to experience another person for who he is and not only what looks like. Until your zivug arrives in front of you, continue to daven and work on yourself to become the best version of you possible.
worrying the attraction would never grow and how that might play out years down the road. I’m more of a “go with your gut” kind of gal. (By the way, one of the best feelings in the world is learning to trust your own intuition.) If you think there is even the slightest chance that you are being “picky,” you may want to speak with someone about that. I really can’t answer question 2 in any kind of ethical way because I don’t what Hashem has planned for any of us, myself included. In terms of whether or not this is “normal,” I tend to shy away from the word “normal.” I tend to believe you are normal, and I would put my money on the likelihood of you not having met Mr. Right just yet. Most of the time, in my experience, that is what this is chalked up to. I wish I could have been more helpful. I humbly suggest speaking this out with a professional, just so you feel more confident in your dating ventures. May you find your bashert very soon! All the best, Jennifer
Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in private practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. She also teaches a psychology course at Touro College. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 516-224-7779, ext. 2. Visit www.thenavidaters.com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email thenavidaters@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.
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Dr. Deb
Three Categories of Triggers By Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.
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e can’t communicate” is the usual reason couples put down for why they want therapy. The reality is that they will never communicate effectively unless some other things get fixed. Without fixing them, the communication will break down into fights, stonewalling, running, or worse. The two non-negotiable layers of change necessary before couples can “communicate” better are: • Taming your triggers • Self-validation Let’s look at the first one. Triggers can be divided into three categories. Category #1: Abuse You can – and should – react badly to being abused. If you don’t react badly, then I would worry for your mental health. No one, ever, should “take” abuse. Now, the reality is that parents who are at their wits’ end with a child or teen may say horrible things to them, things that they can’t seem to take back later. This is abuse, no doubt about it, especially if it occurs at some level of frequency. Parents don’t understand that a child is unable to “take” language and gestures like this without feeling rejected, minimized, and unloved. I once had a teen client who sat in my office telling me among sniffles that her mother did not love her. This was many years ago but it stands out in my mind because that very process got repeated a good many times with other kids. I asked her permission to share this with the mom, and she was glad I would. But the mom was shocked. “Of course, I love my daughter!” she said, “Doesn’t she know that?” Apparently not. Sometimes, the frequency of the negative language and implications
overweighs all the gifts, fancy toys, and other material things. I was just interviewing a psychiatrist as someone I would potentially send clients to if needed. He said something powerful: “Sometimes little ‘t’ trauma is worse for a child than the big ‘T’ trauma.” He was talking about the daily assaults on character, intentions, and essence of children by their parents (however unintentionally). Van der Kolk referred to these experiences as
being abused emotionally, verbally, or otherwise, the reaction was not an “over-reaction” but a normal reaction to abuse. Just so you understand why reacting badly to abuse is healthy, imagine the opposite response: hating yourself. Well, that happens often enough to be considered “normal” in the statistical sense, but it certainly isn’t a helpful or healthy response. Being angry at injustice, on the other hand, is good.
“Sometimes little ‘t’ trauma is worse for a child than the big ‘T’ trauma.”
“adverse developmental experiences.” That’s what my psychiatrist colleague meant by the “little ‘t’” kind of trauma. When any remark or attitude that resembles these offenses by parents occurs to an adult, that adult may react very strongly. That reaction means that what was said was a “trigger.” If the trigger brought up memories, or even forgotten feelings, of
It is not generally successful in eliminating the problem or getting heard or respected, but it is a better reaction than to turn the anger inward towards oneself. All that’s needed here is to help a person “do” the anger in a way that gets heard, gets respect, and gets acted upon correctly. But at least the angry person knows that they were wronged. Category #2: Smelling the Smoke
Sometimes we are triggered and we haven’t been abused, but something is not quite right. This is what I mean by “smelling the smoke.” We can’t quite put our finger on what was wrong but things just don’t add up. This is often extremely helpful to tell us to check further into things. You notice that your child walks in the door down when they’re usually upbeat. Your mother fails to phone on a set day. Your boss has a certain look on her face. Things like that. It means you’re picking up very subtle cues that others are giving off. If you use them to keep your eyes and ears open to more information of that sort, you may keep ahead of the curve that way. People who are attuned to their environment and the other folks in their lives do this well. It’s useful as long as it doesn’t turn into paranoia. We still must be dan l’chaf zechus, and we still must not make mountains out of molehills. Knowing where to draw that line is an art. Category #3: When Self-Hate Gets in the Way This is the tricky category. It’s the one that requires the triggered person to do some serious self-examination. It happens when the words of another person get turned into darts and arrows – in the mind of the listener. So, for example, “How was work today, dear?” gets responded to with anger because something bad did happen at work and the triggered person “believes” that their spouse somehow, miraculously, “knew” it and is rubbing it in. Or “Did you remember to pick up the dry cleaning” gets responded to with depression because the listener feels put down by the question, as if he or she is being told that they’re irresponsible and might forget. Or “I cleaned up my crumbs from
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the table” gets responded to with suspiciousness because the listener wonders what their partner wants from them in return by saying this. All of these are real situations, and I’ve heard them or something like them many times. In cases like that, the innocent spouse is now annoyed that their words have been “twisted.” Well, they have, but the process of being triggered is automatic. Which means that the listener who got triggered didn’t intend for this to happen. It just happened. It’s a reaction. Does that mean we just let it go? Of course not. In fact, letting it go is the worst thing couples caught in this mess can do. It serves no one and injures everyone: the triggered spouse is left believing that they are being mistreated and the speaker is left confused and misunderstood. It breaks down communication, which is why people think their problem is “we can’t communicate!” But
you can see here that the lack of communication is really a symptom of a bigger problem going on in the mind of the listener. When experiences happen in Category #3, I immediately wonder about child abuse. See, abuse is overt and clear. But the end result of abuse is a person who believes he will be abused. Does this make sense to you? You got so much pain, you just figure everyone is going to hurt you. After all, if your parents said painful things to hear, why wouldn’t your partner in life? And – as I said before – the process is automatic. You’re not thinking about the fact that So-and-So said such and such. You just react. The same way you’d start running if you heard footsteps getting too close to you on a lonely street. On that subject, the psychologist from whom I trained in EMDR a couple years ago said something worth noting: If your brain has to choose
between mental health and survival, it chooses survival every time. Of course, the ironic part of that is that very often, by choosing survival, we react in a way that is not only unhelpful/unhealthy mentally but decreases our chances of surviving in the long-term. (Such as the terrible toll that stress takes on our bodies in the form of heart conditions, diabetes, and obesity, not to mention higher mortality after all.) So maybe her well-taken point should be tweaked to say the mind chooses short-term survival every time. Long-term is another story. If you find yourself in Category #1, there are several ways of getting out of it. One is mentioned in Pirkei Avos: Get away from an evil neighbor. But a better option – if at all possible – is to follow the advice in the Yom Kippur davening and influence that evil person to change. I’ve had lots of luck with that! That’s because I don’t see people as evil – just kind of helpless
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to act in their own best interests. If you find yourself in Category #2, good for you! It means you can relate to people on a deep level. You can “smell” problems and sort them out. If you find yourself in Category #3, or someone you love is there, it is urgent to help them sort out the past from the present so they won’t be triggered any more. That is not something you can do. But what you can do is lovingly encourage them to get in touch with me. Start by looking at the Masterclass whose link is on a nearby page in this paper. Then we can talk and map out a plan for no longer going into automatic over triggers.
Dr. Deb Hirschhorn is a Marriage and Family Therapist. If you want help with your marriage, begin by signing up to watch her Masterclass at https://drdeb. com/myw-masterclass.
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Health & F tness
A Healthier Slice of Life By Aliza Beer MS, RD, CDN
U
p until the pandemic (and the recent sourdough revolution), bread has had a bad reputation. Often, new clients tell me that they try to eat healthy and avoid all bread. Bread is frequently associated with being harmful to one’s health, spiking blood sugar, inhibiting weight loss, or even promoting weight gain. While there are certainly many breads that are made from refined grains and offer little in terms of nutrition, there are indeed better breads out there that are high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. These breads will not derail your weight loss journey and can, in fact, help you achieve your goals with greater satisfaction resulting in long term success. The right bread can be incorporated into a healthy diet and lifestyle, which would be more realistic and sustainable than eliminating bread from your life. Let’s explore the healthiest types of bread options available. Sprouted Whole Grain: Sprouted bread is made from whole grains that have started to sprout from exposure to heat and moisture. This process breaks down some of
the starch in grains and decreases carb content. Therefore, sprouted grains do not increase blood sugar as much as other grains, making them a good choice for people with diabetes or insulin resistance. Most sprouted breads are high in fiber and protein and are therefore more filling than refined, non-sprouted breads. The sprouting process also increases the grains’ antioxidants, while decreasing antinutrients which are compounds that bind to minerals like iron and block their absorption. A good example of a sprouted whole grain bread is Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain Bread. Sourdough: Sourdough is made through a fermentation process that relies on naturally occurring yeast and bacteria to make the bread rise. Fermentation helps reduce the number of phytates, compounds that can impair mineral absorption. Sourdough is easier to digest and improves gut health due to the presence of prebiotics and probiotics that are created during the fermentation process. It is believed that sourdough bread has a low glycemic index, which is a measure of how a
food affects blood sugar. The bacteria in sourdough may help decrease the rate at which the starch is digested, making this bread less likely to cause a big spike in blood sugar. One particular bacteria, lactobacillus reuteri, can stimulate and boost the immune system, reduce the development of breast and colon tumors, speed up healing of skin wounds, and even stimulate the brain to release the social hormone oxytocin. It is basically a super bread that tastes great, too! Sourdough can be made with both whole wheat and white flours. Whole wheat will have much more fiber, iron, and other nutrients when compared to white, so if you decide to bake this bread, please use whole wheat flour. Many bakeries carry sourdough as well, but be sure to request the whole wheat version. Whole Wheat/Whole Grain: Whole grains, including whole wheat, keep the entire grain intact, including the germ, endosperm, and bran. The bran is the hard, outer layer of the grain and is high in fiber. The bran and germ also contain protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and beneficial plant
compounds, while the endosperm is mostly starch. This is why whole grains are higher in fiber and considered more nutritious than refined grains, which have been processed to remove the bran and germ. Many manufacturers will label their bread as “whole wheat” so that they appear healthier, when, in fact, they contain mostly refined flour. Read the label! The first ingredient listed should be 100% whole wheat or whole grain flour. Beware of any added sugars and vegetables oils, so read the ingredient list carefully. Oat Bread: Oat is a whole grain, and oat bread is typically made from oats, whole-wheat flour, yeast, water, and salt. Oats are highly nutritious and linked to a number of hearthealthy benefits. Oats are high in fiber and beneficial nutrients, including magnesium, vitamin B1(thiamine), iron, and zinc. The fiber in oats is called beta-glucan, and it may help lower cholesterol levels, regulate blood sugar, and decrease blood pressure. A review of 28 studies found that eating 3 grams or more of beta-glucan a day significantly decreased LDL (bad)
The 11, 2021 The Jewish Jewish Home Home || FEBRUARY OCTOBER 29, 2015
and total cholesterol levels compared to not eating oats, hence the reason cardiologists advise their patients to eat oats. Again, be sure to study the label and read the list of ingredients because a bread containing oats or oatmeal doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a healthy bread. Some breads labeled as “oat bread” contain only a small amount of oats and are mostly made of refined flours, added sugars, and oils. Flax Bread: This bread is usually made from whole grain flours and flax seeds. Flax seeds are highly nutritious and offer many health benefits. Flax seeds are an excellent source of an omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linoleic acid (ALA). A high intake of dietary ALA has been associated with a lower risk of heart disease. Flax seeds also contain compounds called lignans that behave as antioxidants in the body and may help protect against certain cancers. One study of postmenopausal women suggested that
those who regularly ate flax seeds had an 18% lower chance of developing breast cancer compared to those who did not eat them. In fact, those participants who ate flax bread specifically were 23% less likely to get breast cancer than those who didn’t eat it.
This is mainly due to the fact that sprouted rye bread is high in soluble fiber which slows digestion of carbs and decreases insulin response. As such, sprouted rye bread is a great option for a diabetic. Just make sure it’s 100% sprouted rye that you are
A successful diet can and should include some healthy bread.
Flax seeds are also high in fiber and improve digestive health. Look for flax breads that contain as few ingredients as possible, such as whole wheat or sprouted whole grain, yeast, water, salt, and flax seeds. 100% Sprouted Rye Bread: Rye bread is also good for gut health and has a slow digestion transit time, which means you will feel full longer.
buying, and not a refined rye bread, which will only be a bit better than other refined breads. Now you know that not all breads in the bread aisle are created equal. Do your research, and look for 100% whole grain or sprouted flours as the first ingredient, with limited other ingredients. Each slice of bread should contain a minimum of 3 grams of fiber
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and at least 3 grams of protein, and no added sugar or sweeteners. Healthy bread can indeed be enjoyed in moderation as part of a well-balanced diet that includes a variety of nutritious foods such as fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins. Old school white bread, which contains pure carbohydrates with no fiber and minimal nutrients, should be banished from our pantries. Bread is a staple in the vast majority of our eating lifestyles and can be incorporated into our diets in a healthy, nutritious way. The key is selecting the proper type that provides fiber, vitamins, and minerals. A successful diet can and should include some healthy bread. Aliza Beer is a registered dietitian with a master’s degree in nutrition. She has a private practice in Cedarhurst, NY. Patients’ success has been featured on the Dr. Oz show. Aliza can be reached at alizabeer@gmail.com, and you can follow her on Instagram at @alizabeer.
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Parenting Pearls
Easing Transitions By Sara Rayvych, MSEd
T
ransition – the dreaded “T” word. Transition is a painful word. It’s a time of confusion for children and adults alike. Special needs children, in particular, find this to be a major challenge. It’s such a feared word that perhaps I shouldn’t bring it into your relaxing Shabbos reading – but I am. I’m bringing it up because it’s important and particularly relevant now. Transitions come up every day and throughout the year. They’re sometimes natural, sometimes seamless but oftentimes difficult. Our kids are experiencing many transitions now, and this seemed like the perfect time to have this discussion. Natural transitions happen throughout our lifetime. Our lives are filled with transitions. Kids transition from being home in the morning to being in school during the day. They transition between sleep and wakefulness. We transition from winter and snow to summer and swimming. Life comes with transitions. While many are happy, such as marriage or the birth of a child, many are painful, such as the loss of a
loved one, chas v’shalom. We know from experience that even happy and beautiful transitions can be challenging. Anyone who has welcomed a new baby knows that there are adjustments and growing pains along with the joy. Our kids are continuously transitioning. They are switching between school and home, between remote and in-person learning. Even the joy of returning to school is still a transition and something parents need to prepare for and respect. We’re all individuals, and some people handle transitions better than others. For many kids, transitions are very hard. For other kids, transitions are even harder and nearly impossible. It’s important to acknowledge that transitions can be painful and recognize when your child is about to experience one. I am not specifically addressing special needs children in this article since they have unique needs that are beyond the scope of this discussion. Additionally, parents of special needs children usually have therapists or special educators who know their child well and can assist parents as issues come up, far better
than I can in any article.
What are Transitions? Transitions are when changes occur in life or any given situation. It can be as simple as switching rooms/ locations, times or activity. If you leave your house to bring your child to a friend, then you are transitioning them from their location. If your child is doing a puzzle and you ask them to take their pre-Shabbos bath, then you are asking them to transition between their activities. Some changes are more minor, such as asking your child to stop playing to eat lunch. Others are more pronounced. It feels like whenever I speak to friends, I’m hearing which of their kids are now in class-based quarantine and which are now back on Zoom temporarily. It’s a major change, even if temporary, and should be respected. Some changes are naturally bigger than others, while some children are inherently more sensitive than others. Additionally, other stresses in their lives can make them more prone to difficulty in what would normally be a smaller, mostly painless transition. These are among the var-
ious factors that will determine how complex any particular transition will be for your child.
Trickle-Down Effect Kids who are experiencing change in one area of their life may be more resistant to change in another. Don’t be surprised if your usually relaxed child suddenly tantrums over something small if there are other changes in their life. Sometimes, something small is the “straw” we often speak of that breaks that poor, overburdened camel. If you see unusual behavior in your child and there’s a major change in their life, you know to interpret their behavior differently. Personally, I interpret chutzpah or negative behavior in children differently if I know there are other life changes going on. This is my experience both at home and in the classroom. I’ve found that it is very helpful for a teacher to know if something else is going on in your child’s life so they can best be there for your child. Whatever chinuch method you usually use, as perfect as it may be in a normal situation, may be ill-fitting to this one. There are times when a child acting out is a call for help and
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
should be dealt with extra sensitively and compassionately, not with harsh discipline. I’m not advising to ignore bad behavior but to understand it in the appropriate context and get to the root of the problem.
Prepare, Prepare, and Prepare Respect the difficulties children have with transitions, and don’t throw unnecessary transitions at them. If it’s not needed, then don’t do it. This applies particularly to sensitive children or to those who don’t transition easily. There are kids who are unfazed by many things, including transitions, but many children suffer enough that it’s not something to take lightly. As an example, some children are very attached to their Shabbos seat. We’ve used clever seating arrangements to accommodate a child we knew emotionally needed their seat that Shabbos. If you know they’re experiencing other stresses, then perhaps it’s best to not switch their seat. You can’t, nor should you, completely eliminate all transitions. While it’s a good idea to avoid unnecessary transitions, particularly for very sensitive kids, they’re a part of life and children will experience them. Don’t underestimate how much you can ease some of the stress by properly preparing them for what to expect. Before a minor change, such as switching activities, you want to give them a heads-up in advance what to expect. It’s also helpful to give them time warnings letting them know the change is about to occur. Even though I use the word “warning,” I mean a friendly type of reminder, not a threat. For example, before asking your child to clean up their activity and come for lunch, you’ll want to tell them beforehand. “Yingele, in 20 minutes we’re eating lunch. I’ll let you know when it’s time to clean up.” Ten and five minutes prior to clean-up time you can come in and say, “Sweetie, clean up time is in ten (or five) minutes.” It’s good to make eye contact and ensure you’ve been heard. With this advance notice, your child will be better prepared when you come in and announce their game needs to be put away.
The time that warnings are given would change based on the child’s age. For example, younger kids often prefer one-, two- or five-minute warnings. This will not be a guarantee that they’ll want to clean up but at least you’ve removed some of the surprise and resistance. I know you wish I had
and/or symptoms that your child isn’t coping. Don’t hesitate to ask for an expert opinion to guide you to best be there for your child. There are so many painful transitions a child can undergo; many, they are too young to understand. You want all the help you can to ease their journey.
Inform them in advance in a calm manner what the change will be and what they should expect.
a secret that could guarantee kids would clean up whenever asked. Give more advanced warning before a moderate change. Inform them in advance in a calm manner what the change will be and what they should expect. Being brief, clear, and confident will probably work in many cases. You want them to feel informed but not overwhelmed by details. Be prepared to patiently answer their questions. Their questions will help fill in the gap with whatever information you may have missed. You know your child and that can help guide you in which information they’ll find most helpful. Even if their question seems silly or unconnected, answer patiently. Oftentimes, what seems like a minor concern to us is actually a big issue for them. As an example, before a road trip you’ll want to have prepared for the discussion your destination, the purpose of your destination, expected length for the trip, any pit-stops and what entertainment/food you’ll have for them, or whatever is relevant. You may have to get back to them with the exact time you’re leaving but you should have an estimated date and time (for example, morning or afternoon). Truthfully, transitions that accompany major changes are beyond the scope of this article but there are some basic criteria to give you a start. Before a major change, you want to do all the preparations for a moderate change but be extra careful to keep open communication with your child. You want to watch for signs of stress
Children tend to feel better when they have a confident adult. They want to know that their adult knows what is going on even if the child himself doesn’t fully understand. Be prepared in advance with whatever information you need. You shouldn’t hesitate to seek more information if
they require it, but it’s good to come already knowing what you want to discuss and have any relevant information ready. Your child should be able to feel they can trust you and rely on you as changes occur. This article is not the final say on transitions. Like most of my articles, it’s simply a way to open the conversation. All adjustments, changes, and transitions can be difficult. By recognizing in-advance difficulties and expecting potential challenges, you’ll be better prepared to assist your child through this confusing portion of life. With some prior thought and professional guidance, if necessary, you can ease some of the bumps and make life just a bit smoother for both of you.
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
Grandma Grammatician Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz
“B
obby, you’re such a grammatician!” she exclaimed once again, fully aware that there is no such word. That’s her playful reaction when her grammar and syntax are corrected. This time, she suggested this title and article saying, “You are going to write an article about how we were sitting at the Shabbos table Friday night and you corrected me.” Apparently, the subject is still amusing, and so I can still do it, think I, as we two laugh and discuss the use of me or I at the end of a sentence with another granddaughter. Both preteens are OK with grammatical guidance and relish the predictability. I have no qualms about it. There is nothing wrong with correcting your children’s and grandchildren’s grammar and pronunciation. Don’t feel apologetic about it and don’t let reactions faze you. So long as there is plenty of obvious love, quality time, and derech eretz in your relationships. If ever things change, and hopefully they won’t, I can always claim mesorah as an excuse. My Hungarian-born grandmother whose American education did not go past
twelfth grade at Eastern District High School of New York, Rebbetzin Bobche Rottenberg Eichenstein-Pinter, regularly did so. She could mark up The New York Times with a red pen and was a favorite reviewer of term papers for family members of all ages. When you
damage self-esteem and more, I feel it’s important to remind ourselves of our abilities to guide and direct with love and sense. Let’s not abdicate responsibility that goes beyond unconditional love and modeling. I was thinking about this in a different way, as well. Hakodosh
When you know the other person cares about you and wants you to grow in learning and expertise, you have no problem with gentle corrections.
know the other person cares about you and wants you to grow in learning and expertise, you have no problem with gentle corrections. You accept them in the context in which they are offered. When we are told that our involvement with our grandchildren and doros have boundaries and we are not supposed to criticize and
Baruch Hu corrects us gently, with love and a broad perspective on the future. Do we take notice and absorb the lesson for next time? It’s easy to pay attention to the big hard lessons and to try to formulate a response to difficulty, challenge, tragedy, and pain. Sometimes we try to hide from confronting these and the obligation to soldier
on and accept when it is so hard. But what about the gentle reminders and corrections that can guide us without pain and major effort? Isn’t it nice to accept that which is lovingly tendered for our benefit and growth? Sometimes Hashem winks at us to encourage us. And sometimes, He softly directs our way. Are we paying attention? We should. Let’s remember that He also enjoys when we pay attention to His gentle direction. Every night after we ask that His pleasantness be upon us in vihi noam Hashem Elokenu aleinu, and we hope for maaseh yadeinu konina alenu (our handiwork, may He establish for us), we also say u’maaseh yadeinu konninahu. Hashem, too, derives benefit from establishing the work of our hands. Let’s make things pleasant for us all, children, granddaughters, and the Grandest of All.
Join the conversation and email list of JWOW! by writing to hello @jewishwomenofwisdom.org.
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In The K
tchen
Naomi’s Challah Recipe Yields 6 medium challahs
AL COHEN
Pareve /
IR IA M PA SC
By Naomi Nachman
PHOT O BY M
With Purim falling out on a Friday this year, many
people are thinking of a Shabbat-themed mishloach manot. I am sharing my challah recipe from my
cookbook, Perfect Flavors. It is easy to make the dough in a
Magic Mill or Bosch mixer, but you can skip that and mix it by hand in a big bowl.
You’ll never buy challah again after seeing how easy it is to make your own challah.
Ingredients b4 cups warm water b2 cups sugar b2 tablespoons dry yeast b6 eggs b¾ cup canola oil b5 pound bag high gluten flour b1 tablespoon salt
Topping: b1 egg, lightly beaten bToppings, such as sesame or poppy seeds
Preparation 1.
Proof the yeast: Into a large bowl, pour 4 cups very warm water (not hotter than 115°F); add sugar and yeast. Let it proof till it bubbles about 5 minutes and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, mix eggs and oil together in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. After the yeast has proofed, add oil/egg mixture to the bowl; stir to combine. 4.
Stir half the flour into the mixture; mix well. Once it has started to combine, add salt and remaining flour. Knead until a dough ball forms. It shouldn’t be too sticky or crumbly.
5. Place dough ball into a greased bowl. Cover; let rise for 1½ - 2 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. 7. Divide dough into 6 portions. Then divide each portion into 3 parts. Roll each part into a 12-inch rope; use 3 ropes to braid each challah. 8. Place challahs on prepared baking sheets. Brush the tops with beaten egg and choice of toppings, if using. Bake for about 40 minutes, until golden brown. Cook’s note: You can use different braiding techniques. After egg wash, you can add various toppings, including: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, minced onion, zaatar, pumpkin seeds, and streusel crumbs.
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.
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
I S H O N O R E D TO H O S T
Gil Hoffman
JOURNALIST, THE JERUSALEM POST
IN CONVERSATION ABOUT THE ISRAELI ELECTIONS
with Eve Harow
Director of Community Development and Tourism
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22
11:45 AM EST / 6:45 PM ISRAEL Registration Required
QUESTIONS MAY BE SUBMITTED IN ADVANCE TO EVE@ONEISRAELFUND.ORG
Gil Hoffman is the chief political correspondent and analyst for The Jerusalem Post. Well-connected to Israeli and Palestinian leaders, he has interviewed every major gure across the Israeli political spectrum, has been interviewed by top media on six continents and is a regular analyst on CNN, Al-Jazeera and other news outlets. Called “The most optimistic man in Israel” by Israel Television, Hoffman provides a behind the scenes look at the intrigue and humor in the Israeli political arena. He was raised in Chicago, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Northwestern University’s School of Journalism, and wrote for the Miami Herald and Arizona Republic before moving to Israel. A reserve soldier in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, he has lectured in every major English-speaking country in the world, more than half the Canadian provinces, and recently made history in Hawaii by becoming the rst speaker to have lectured about Israel in all 50 US states. He lives with his family in Jerusalem.
REGISTER AT ONEISRAELFUND.ORG
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Notable Quotes “Say What?!”
As a conservative Republican, it is a rite of passage and a badge of honor to join the long line of leaders who have been boycotted, protested, and canceled by colleges and universities across America. The decision by Harvard’s administration to cower and cave to the woke Left will continue to erode diversity of thought, public discourse, and ultimately the student experience. The Ivory Tower’s march toward a monoculture of like-minded, intolerant liberal views illustrates the sneering disdain for everyday Americans and will instill a culture of fear for students who will understand that a conservative viewpoint will not be tolerated and will be silenced. Cleaning up the air can actually warm the planet because that (soot and sulfate) pollution results in cooling. – From a study by scientist Andrew Gettelman, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, noting that due to the pandemic there has been less pollution, which has resulted in…global warming
I apologize for the inconvenience my request that impeachment proceedings not be conducted during the Jewish Sabbath undoubtedly will cause other people involved in the proceedings. The practices and prohibitions are mandatory for me, however, so, respectfully, I have no choice but to make this request. - David Schoen, the shomer Shabbat attorney representing Trump in his impeachment trial, in a letter to Senator Schumer asking that the trial adjourn at sundown on Friday night
Does the water fall out of his head, or...?? - CNN analyst S.E. Cupp, commenting on shomer Shabbat attorney David Schoen putting his hand on his head whenever he sipped water during his remarks at the impeachment trial
- Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a 2006 Harvard graduate, responding to her ouster from Harvard’s Board of Institute of Politics
When is it that the Biden administration is going to let the thousands of fossil fuel industry workers, whether it’s pipeline workers or construction workers, who are either out of work or soon to be out of work because of a Biden EO [executive order], when it is and where it is that they can go for their green jobs? That is something the administration has promised. I’m just curious when those people can count on that? - Fox’s Peter Ducey to the White House press secretary, after thousands of workers were laid off due to President Biden’s executive orders
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Being at home without any instruction... for a lot of kids is a disaster…. Most parents just aren’t capable of teaching. Some are extraordinary teachers, but a lot of parents aren’t. - Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Fox News
When is the union going to actually care about teaching our kids? They have all these unreasonable demands even though…the CDC, which is overly cautious, is saying that schools can open. - Ibid.
I also want to be clear that there is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely. - Dr. Fauci on NBC’s “Meet the Press”
Hi there, we are sorry to learn about your experience! We do not recommend using our products in hair as they are considered permanent. – Tweet by Gorilla Glue responding to a viral video by Tessica Brown who put Gorilla Glue in her hair and then posted a video talking about how her hair has not moved in a month
One of the things that [VR] will unlock is the ability to live anywhere you want and be present in another place and really feel like you are there. - Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg during a recent appearance on “The Good Time Show”
We are really here because the majority in the House of Representatives does not want to face Donald Trump as a political rival in the future. - Trump attorney Bruce Castor at the opening of the Senate impeachment hearings
How mighty white of him. Brady’s ability to enter and exit the debate at his choosing, to shield himself from accountability, is the height of white privilege. As this country grapples with the far reaches of systemic racism, look no further than Brady, for whom the expectations, and allowances granted, will always be different. - From an op-ed in USA Today by Nancy Armour, titled “Tom Brady has gotten an undeserved pass for his past support of Donald Trump”
You provided aid and comfort to enemies of the American people that rioted violently in your state by sharing MFF bail bond links. And by the way, marrying your brother is ILLEGAL in Minnesota. - Rep. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R- GA), responding to criticism from Rep. Ilhan Omar (DMI), who married her brother in order to get him refugee status in the U.S.
Doge – The one-word tweet Elon Musk sent that had cryptocurrency dogecoin soaring
Biden’s been in office for two weeks now. He has yet to call the Israeli prime minister, one of our closest allies. I don’t understand the logic. - Nikki Haley, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., on Fox News
The Biden administration is snubbing our friends like Israel, but they’re cozying up to enemies like Iran. - Ibid.
MORE QUOTES
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Glasgow will be extremely important. In fact, I would say that, in my judgment, it is the last best chance the world has to come together in order to do the things we need to do to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis. Three years ago, we were told we have 12 years to avoid those consequences. Three of those years were lost because we had Donald Trump, who didn’t believe in any of it. And now we have nine years left to try to do what science is telling us we need to do. –U.S. climate envoy John Kerry talking to the BBC about an upcoming global warming conference
The use of so many acronyms within the educational field often tends to alienate those who may not speak English to understand the acronym. – From a letter by the head of San Francisco’s school system’s arts department explaining that acronyms are a form of white supremacy because some don’t know what the acronyms stand for
An interview with Biden will air between the Bucs and the Chiefs, and incidentally “buc” and “chief” is what Biden calls his friends when he forgets their names. - Colin Jost, on “Saturday Night Live”
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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Political Crossfire
Biden’s First Foreign Policy Headache By David Ignatius
P
resident Joe Biden proclaimed Thursday, in his first visit to the State Department as president, that “America is back, diplomacy is back.” But something else is back, too: the haunting question of whether the United States can bring the war in Afghanistan, which has vexed the past three administrations, to an acceptable end. Biden’s speech was his first foreign policy address as president, and he used the opportunity, not surprisingly, to distance himself from his predecessor, Donald Trump. He embraced allies, warned Russia that the days of the United States “rolling over” were finished, and offered to work with China even as the two countries compete. He also lauded his audience of diplomats, who had sometimes felt they were on Trump’s enemies list. Biden seemed to be seeking the same balance on foreign issues he has pursued on domestic policies. He announced a halt to U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, for example, but also said his administration would continue to provide support for the kingdom’s defense. He announced that Tim Lenderking, a respected career diplomat, would be his special envoy for seeking a resolution of the gruesome Yemen war. Biden didn’t mention what may be the most agonizing foreign policy decision he faces: what to do about Afghanistan, the United States’ longest-running conflict. The intractable, enervating war there is now part of Biden’s portfolio of misery. And over the next few months, he will have to face the hard choice whether to stay or go, this time not as a vice president of-
fering skeptical advice about remaining in Afghanistan but as the ultimate decision-maker. The Afghanistan dilemma was posed starkly this week in a report issued by a blue-ribbon study group that had been asked to examine strategy for the war by Congress. The panel, co-chaired by retired Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, urged Biden to abandon Trump’s pledge to withdraw the remaining 2,500 U.S. troops on May 1, as called for in the peace agreement Trump’s envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, reached with the Taliban in February 2020.
time,” argued Carter Malkasian, a former State Department official who is one of the country’s most knowledgeable experts on Afghanistan and was a senior advisor to the study group. He noted that Taliban forces made big gains last year, after the peace agreement, and warned they would take more ground from government forces when the fighting season resumes this spring. “As they make gains, they’re unlikely to compromise,” he said. “When I look at the costs, leaving now is more compelling than ever before,” argued Malkasian, whose landmark history of the conflict, “The
But pulling the plug in Afghanistan and admitting defeat after nearly 20 years of fighting would be a bitter pill even for Biden.
The study group urged Biden instead to hunker down for what could be a protracted effort to negotiate conditions for “an independent, democratic and sovereign Afghan state” – a goal that has eluded the United States and its allies for two decades. Dunford said at a briefing Wednesday that the probability of a civil war in Afghanistan is high if the United States brings home its remaining troops under current conditions. The real choice facing Biden is “whether to leave or stay for a long
American War in Afghanistan,” will be published in July. He said that to reverse Taliban momentum and restore the stalemate that prevailed when the United States negotiated the peace deal would require substantially more than the 2,500 troops there now or the 4,500 that were on the ground in December. A similar wary view came from Barnett Rubin, another top expert on Afghanistan who was also a senior advisor to the group. He argued in an interview that it would be a mistake
for the United States to unilaterally violate the May 1 departure agreement. Instead, he urged that Biden negotiate a six-month extension, with backing from other countries in the region. The fact that these two senior advisers expressed concerns about the report’s bottom line illustrates just how delicate the Afghanistan decision will be. Biden himself has long been a skeptic about Afghanistan. When the military urged a surge in 2009 to combat Taliban gains, Biden was “the only senior official who consistently opposed sending more troops,” wrote Ben Rhodes in his book, “The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House.” He favored a small counterterrorism force and disdained a nation-building role. But pulling the plug in Afghanistan and admitting defeat after nearly 20 years of fighting would be a bitter pill even for Biden. It would mean a likely civil war, Taliban dominance, and probably an eventual reestablishment of al-Qaeda havens as the United States approaches the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Trump left Biden a peace agreement for Afghanistan, and a State Department official said Tuesday that the new administration supports “the ongoing peace process to end the war through a just and durable political settlement.” That’s what the Afghanistan Study Group urged, too. The problem is that the peace process isn’t working. And Afghanistan is an enduring lesson that in resolving these bitter conflicts, hope is not a strategy. (c) 2020, Washington Post Writers Group
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Political Crossfire
Democrats Have a Plan… Here’s How to Stop Them By Marc A. Thiessen
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ne of the greatest privileges I experienced during my years working on Capitol Hill was the chance to enter the Senate chamber – the sanctum sanctorum of our democracy – while the Senate was in session. So, to watch a mob desecrate that sacred space on Jan. 6 -- hanging from walls, rifling through desks and taking selfies in the presiding officer’s chair – was deeply disturbing. The rioters did violence to a hallowed institution. But today it is Democrats who are proposing to do violence to the institution by eliminating one of its most fundamental tenets: the right of the minority to delay, amend or block legislation. And unlike the damage done by the mob, the damage Democrats propose would be irreparable. The “abolish the filibuster” movement among Democrats has been set back only thanks to the opposition from two senators, Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. But those who want to bypass the minority have found a workaround. They’re considering eliminating the “Byrd rule” – an arcane but vitally important pillar of Senate procedure that prevents extraneous provisions from being tacked onto must-pass budget reconciliation legislation that requires only a simple majority vote to pass. On Tuesday, the Senate’s Democratic majority voted to move forward on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan using the reconciliation process, which would allow them to pass it without any GOP votes. Their COVID plan includes provisions, such as a $15 minimum wage, that violate the Byrd rule. As Martin B. Gold, former counsel to two Senate majority leaders, explained to me, a provision is extraneous under the Byrd rule if it doesn’t affect the federal budget, or if
the fiscal impact is merely incidental to the broad policy effects of the provision. A minimum-wage increase does not meet that test because its primary impact is on the private market. “You cannot have a fiscal tail wag a nonfiscal dog,” he says. This means that if Democrats tried to pass the minimum wage as part of the budget reconciliation process, the
and Sinema may balk. This is especially true since the Byrd rule is named for Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, whom Manchin counts as mentor. In an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier, Manchin said he would vote to protect the Byrd rule and “defend the legacy of Robert C. Byrd.” But there is another way around the Byrd rule that Manchin cannot so easi-
They are willing to destroy an institutional guardrail that has kept our country centrist and stable.
Senate parliamentarian would advise the presiding officer that a minimum-wage increase is out of order. There are two ways Democrats could overcome that obstacle. First, they could use a blunt instrument and invoke the “nuclear option” to eliminate the Byrd rule altogether. But they’d need 50 votes to do that, and Manchin
ly block. Vice President Harris, serving as presiding officer of the Senate, could simply ignore the Senate parliamentarian and rule that a minimum-wage increase does not violate the Byrd rule. Republicans would then have to muster 60 votes to overrule her. That means even if both Manchin and Sinema voted with Republicans, they could not stop
Harris. Their only option would be to vote against the entire reconciliation bill, killing their party’s entire COVID relief package. Since the Senate works on precedent, once the presiding officer ignores the parliamentarian’s ruling, the Byrd rule will have been gutted. From that point forward, the majority party can insert anything it wants into a reconciliation bill using the same precedent, effectively eliminating the filibuster. Why would any Senate majority leader break his neck to get 60 votes for a bill if he could just use budget reconciliation to pass it with 51 votes? Democrats will be able to pass anything – an increased minimum wage, D.C. statehood, court-packing, the Green New Deal, single-payer health care – by simple majority. There have been five COVID relief bills passed in the past year, all using regular order. So, why would Democrats use reconciliation now – especially when 10 Republicans have offered them a path to a filibuster-proof bipartisan majority? Because they don’t want to make any significant policy concessions to the minority to get those 10 Republican votes. And in service of that, they are willing to destroy an institutional guardrail that has kept our country centrist and stable. Manchin can save the guardrail his mentor created by warning Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., that he will kill the whole relief package if Democrats ditch the Byrd rule – and then doing so if they don’t listen. Manchin has said he will vote only “in a bipartisan way.” Now he has to follow through. It’s not just the legacy of Robert C. Byrd but the fate of the U.S. Senate as the world’s greatest deliberative body that rests in Manchin’s hands. (c) 2020, Washington Post Writers Group
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Political Crossfire
Will Biden Follow the Science or the Teachers Unions? By Marc A. Thiessen
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e’re just a few weeks into Joe Biden’s presidency, and already the broken promises are piling up. Biden made two big pledges in his campaign. The first was that he would unite the country and bring Republicans and Democrats together on Capitol Hill. Already he has broken that promise – rejecting an offer from 10 Republican senators to work with him on a filibuster-proof bipartisan covid-19 relief package. Biden’s second big promise was that he would “listen to scientists and heed their advice – not silence them.” But when his handpicked director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, said last week that “schools can safely reopen” and “vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for the safe reopening of schools,” the Biden White House slapped her down, with press secretary Jen Psaki insisting that Walensky was speaking in her “personal capacity.” No, she wasn’t. Walensky was speaking in her capacity as a government scientist during an official briefing of the White House COVID response team. And her comments came just days after a team of CDC scientists published a review in the Journal of the American Medical Association of numerous studies which show “there has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission.” Indeed, the CDC researchers pointed out one study of 17 Wisconsin schools found that after taking basic mitigation measures, “COVID-19 incidence was lower in schools than in the community.” According to data compiled by Brown University Economics professor Emily Oster, in the last two weeks of January, the COVID-19 case rate
among students attending in-person school was just 0.45 percent and 0.88 percent among staff, compared with a community case rate of 10.57 percent during the same period. The fact is, there is no scientific evidence to support continued school clo-
ings solely due to learning losses. But despite the evidence, teachers’ unions across the country are refusing to resume in-person learning. This weekend, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers instructed its members to defy the city and not return to school.
The No. 1 recipient of teachers’ union cash? Joe Biden.
sures. Quite the opposite, evidence is piling up that such closures are doing irreparable harm to children. A new study by professors from Yale, Northwestern, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Amsterdam finds that “one year of school closures will cost ninth graders in the poorest communities a 25% decrease in their post-educational earning potential.” As my American Enterprise Institute colleague John P. Bailey points out, McKinsey & Company estimates that the average student could lose between $61,000 and $82,000 in lifetime earn-
In Chicago, the teachers’ union has been fighting the city over reopening for months. In Fairfax County, Va., the teachers’ union said its members would not return until they were vaccinated, so they were bumped up in the vaccination priority line. But then the union said it would not allow vaccinated teachers to return to class until students were vaccinated, too – even though children under 14 are not approved for vaccination. During the recent budget debate, Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., introduced an amend-
ment to withhold aid for schools that don’t reopen after teachers have been vaccinated. Every single Democrat voted against it. Why? Because in 2020, teachers’ unions gave $43.7 million in political contributions, 98 percent of which went to Democrats. The No. 1 recipient of teachers’ union cash? Joe Biden. Biden says he wants kids to return to school. But instead of calling out his teachers’ union allies, he is giving them a pretext for holding out by insisting that Congress must pass his $1.9 trillion COVID relief package first in order for schools to reopen safely. This is a canard. Congress just approved $54 billion in December for K-12 schools, on top of the $13.5 billion set aside for schools in the Cares Act last spring. Moreover, most of the nation’s Catholic schools (including Biden’s alma mater, Archmere Academy in Claymont, Del.) have safely opened for in-person learning; many other private schools have opened as well. But thanks to the unions, millions of children who arguably need it most – those with the least advantages – aren’t in school. The refusal of unions to teach is appalling. Imagine if the millions of grocery clerks who showed up for work over the past year had said they would not conduct in-person sales until they had been vaccinated? America would have starved. They came to work because their jobs were essential. But apparently teachers’ unions don’t believe teachers are essential. Millions of American parents say otherwise. Now Biden has to choose. The science says it is safe to reopen schools, but his union allies say no. Will he follow the science or follow the unions? (c) 2020, Washington Post Writers Group
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Mind Y
ur Business
Steven Gaffney: 9 Strategies on Becoming Powerful By Yitzchok Saftlas
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his column features business insights from a recent “Mind Your Business with Yitzchok Saftlas” radio show. The weekly “Mind Your Business” show – broadcasting since 2015 – features interviews with Fortune 500 executives, business leaders and marketing gurus. Prominent guests include: John Sculley, former CEO of Apple and Pepsi; Dick Schulze, founder and Chairman Emeritus of Best Buy; and Beth Comstock, former Vice Chair of GE; among over 300+ senior-level executives and business celebrities. Yitzchok Saftlas, president of Bottom Line Marketing Group, hosts the weekly “Mind Your Business” show, which airs at 10 p.m. every Sunday night on 710WOR and throughout America on the iHeartRadio Network.
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n a recent 77WABC “Mind Your Business” broadcast, Yitzchok Saftlas (YS) spoke with guest Steven Gaffney (SG), Communications Consultant for Fortune 500 Companies. * * * YS: What are the keys to success in challenging times? SG: The most important key is our mindset, our perspective, our attitude, the way we’re reacting to change in challenging times. And when Covid hit, I realized, that’s what people were suffering from. I mean, we can talk about a lot of things out there, but it’s really our attitude and perspective. Why are some people thriving during this time, and some people are going downhill in businesses? Some of it has to do with whatever business they’re in, like the restaurant business is very, very tough. Excluding businesses like those that almost don’t even have a chance, why have
some average businesses been able to thrive and others are really, really struggling? What I realized is that the most important thing is about our attitude and perspective. There are three types of human beings. On the left side, there are powerless people and then in the middle there are conditional people. And then on the far right are the powerful people. Let’s start on the left side with the powerless human beings. Powerless human beings are the kind of people who think they don’t have much power. They typically say, “I’m only one person here. How am I supposed to make a difference?” In companies, they slow a lot of people down because they’re always talking about how they just don’t have much power. Conditional human beings recognize that they do have power, but that’s the kind of person who says to you, “I can get this done as long
this is done”; they’re always creating a condition. They can never just say, “I’m going to get this done.” Powerful human beings recognize their obstacles. They recognize their challenges, and they say in the face of opposition, “I’m going to find a way. I’ll get this done. And if I have any problems, I will let you know as soon as I realize that it’s going to be tough.” So, they approach it with two things to consider. One is, anything is possible. And two, I’m one hundred percent responsible for my experience in my life. We can’t always choose the stimulus, but we can always choose the response. In times of great challenges, people shift to the left. But leadership is about shifting to the right. It’s about keeping ourselves powerful and motivating others to be powerful. You have nine strategies to become a powerful person. Can you go through each strategy? The first strategy is awareness.
I found that people often don’t even think of this, and they slip themselves into conditional and powerless instead of saying, “Wait, what am I going to do about this situation?” Let me give you a specific example. In 2009, the Great Recession hit. And the first thing to go for most businesses was consulting, training, which is the business that I am in. Faced with a tremendous amount of headwind, I thought to myself, Well, I can’t control the economy, but I can control how I respond. I focused 100 percent of my energies on what I could control, and my business has been doing better ever since. Are you focused on all the things you can’t control or are you sitting there saying, What can I control? Number two: intentional disruption. Intentional disruption is when we intentionally disrupt a pattern. Human beings are creatures of patterns. We tend to do the same, old thing, which is great if you’re getting the result you want. But if it isn’t, then you’ve got to break that pattern.
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
You’ve got to shake things up. If you don’t know what to do, then do something different. So intentional disruption is you disrupt the patterns. There are two types of intentional disruption: physical and mental. Physical disruption is when you’re sitting there and you’re in a bad mood. You should get up, take a walk, or go talk to somebody. Mental intentional disruption is asking different questions. Whoever asks the questions controls the conversation. If you ever had somebody in your life who continues to complain, you can actually fix that or change it by just saying, “Well, what would you suggest?” It becomes a solution-oriented conversation rather than being stuck in the past. The third technique is to visualize success, visualize being powerful now. What I have found, is people who survive and thrive during very challenging times have this powerful mindset that basically views that anything is possible and I’m one hundred percent responsible for my life. In other words, I’m not always the cause of what’s happening, but I’m one hundred percent responsible for how I’m going to respond to the situation and how I’m going to focus on this challenge. So, visualize yourself being successful. Now, that sounds so simple, right? But I think people don’t do that. We tend to forget. I often will say to somebody, “What do you want to achieve?” And they’re like, well, and they start rambling. You can’t achieve what you cannot see. Technique number four is a favorite of mine called “reframe to refocus.” Many people are actually looking at this Covid situation, the pandemic, and saying, “How do we get back to normal?” or “What’s the new normal?” which I think is so ridiculous because if I say what the new normal is going to be, then we’re turning these months into a stationary period. How will we decide when the new normal starts? Are we going to say, “And now we’ve reached the new normal. We’ve reached, we’ve arrived.” No, it’s going to be another change, another problem, another issue, another thing to overcome. Nothing bad, but it’s just natural of what’s going to happen.
So, what do you do? A reframe on the whole situation is that “we are always evolving” So, this crisis is actually causing us to evolve. One of the ways to reframe that I use a lot with organizations is I caution them against using the word “change” and replace it with “evolve.” People are often resistant to change and they usually say, “What’s wrong with the way we had it before?” But what if we just said, “Look, there’s nothing wrong with what we had before. We are now evolving to the next step.” If we are not progressing in life, we are regressing. So, what if we change the word from change to evolve? What’s
gauge how much time you’re spending with people. Who you invest time with is who you will become. If you don’t like your output, then change your input. The sixth strategy is to believe that you and others are powerful. You know, the power of belief is really, really important. I think it’s just easy to forget about this. Everybody kind of intuitively or have actually heard of the placebo effect and the difference it makes if you believe something. And what did Henry Ford say? “If you believe you can or you believe you can’t, you’ll be right.” So much is about the power of belief.
“We can’t always choose the stimulus, but we can always choose the response.”
going to happen out of this Covid pandemic period, is we will, as a society, evolve to be even better. This is what I say to people: We owe it to the people who have passed away during this pandemic to take the gold from this horrible situation to improve society and improve our lives. We owe it to them. We need to do something, move forward. Number five is to manage your input. Nido Qubein is a mentor of mine. He said, “We are the product of the five people we spend the most time with.” So, when you think about it, if we want to be powerful, we have to think: Are we surrounded by powerful people or are we surrounded by doom and gloom naysayers? One of the ways to maintain a good mindset is to look at who we’re surrounded by. I’m aware of the challenges, but I want to hang around with and talk to people who believe that there’s got to be a way, because if you’ve ever been around toxic, negative people, they are a cancer. They will infect your mind. If you manage your input, you’ll actually have a better output. Here’s what we need to do. You can’t always pick and choose who you’re around, but you can definitely
The point is that if we believe it, then we’re more likely to achieve it. So, we really need to believe it. And some of the reasons why we don’t get the most out of people or even out of ourselves is we’re skeptical. We really need to look at our powering beliefs and our disempowering beliefs. Number seven is act and you will become. The way I like to explain this to people is if you start acting powerful, you’ll just be powerful. Imagine you’re going to be cast in a movie, and you’re going to play a powerful you. That’s it. You’re playing a powerful you. How would you walk, what would your stance be, how would you approach life? Just start doing this. There’s an incredible mind-body connection that people forget about all the time. But here’s the thing. If you keep smiling, it’s hard to stay depressed. If you start moving, if you start acting in a certain way, you will become that way. The eighth technique is to increase the pain-gain gap. People are two to three times more likely to avoid pain than to seek gain. You have to enjoy your life within the parameters of what’s healthy and do all the things you want, given the
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situation. So, what’s important about this is to realize the consequences. If we don’t do that, that’s the pain. And because I’m a big, positive person, I realize the benefits if we do do that. So, I like to look at the pain and to look at the gain together. And that’s very powerful. Number nine is appreciate, appreciate. The biggest problem isn’t what we say to people and isn’t what they say to us. It’s what we don’t say to each other. It’s what we don’t share, the issues. We are also so stingy with our appreciations. When was the last time you said to somebody, “Listen, I really appreciate you in my life because of X, Y and Z.” Some people might say, “But I want to make sure it comes across sincere.” So, I’m going to give you my number one tip on appreciation. Just make sure it’s specific. See, when people talk in generalities, that’s where people are suspicious, but if you say, “Hey, I really appreciate how you handled that report last week. It’s clear that you spent many hours, and as a result we got that issue resolved,” then people will know you’re being sincere. I’ve been giving sessions for many, many years and what I have found is people are incredibly stingy or they just don’t even think about the value of appreciation. There’s something about when people appreciate us that gives us a jolt of energy and a boost in our mood. Did you ever notice you’re smarter when you’re in a good mood? One of the ways you can get people in a good mood is by doing and saying nice things.
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Jewish History
Andrew Yang Got it Right on BDS by Stephen H. Norwood and Rafael Medoff
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e’re used to politicians mangling history, whether out of carelessness or partisanship. So it was a breath of fresh air when New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang recently shared a powerful historical truth about people who boycott Jews. Yang has been pilloried by supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. But he got it right. “A Yang administration will push back against the BDS movement, which singles out Israel for unfair economic punishment,” he wrote in The Forward. And then came his most controversial – but most important – sentence: “BDS [is] rooted in antisemitic thought and history, hearkening back to fascist boycotts of Jewish businesses…” The best known “fascist boycott” against Jews was waged by the government of Nazi Germany, beginning with a one-day nationwide action, on April 1, 1933, shortly after Hitler’s rise to power. Throughout the Reich on that day, stormtroopers were stationed at entrances to Jewish stores and offices, and above the doors they posted a yellow circle – the medieval symbol associating Jews with gold and prostitution. The boycott was intended to demonstrate that the Nazis could readily threaten Jews’ economic survival. In subsequent years, the Nazis avidly enforced local boycotts of Jewish-owned businesses across Germany. Elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe during the same period, anti-Semitic political parties and grassroots movements promoted anti-Jewish boycotts, although generally they were local initiatives, lacking the imprimatur of government approval. A notable exception was Poland, where, beginning in 1936, Prime Minister Felicjan Skladkowski openly endorsed “economic struggle”
against Polish Jews. Here in the United States, the pro-Nazi German American Bund and the neofascist Christian Front organized and aggressively promoted boycotts of Jewish stores. The Friends of the New Germany, from which the Bund evolved, originated the boycott in 1934, establishing a German-American Business League to promote and police it. In the heavily German-American neighborhood of Yorkville, in upper Manhattan, Jewish business “are boycotted quite as thoroughly as in Germany,” the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that spring. A Jewish bookseller told the JTA his sales “have fallen off almost one hundred percent.” Previously, his business was so successful that there were “frequent robberies.” But now, “not even the burglars come any more.” To intimidate non-Jewish shopkeepers, those who failed to pledge loyalty to the boycott had their front window “marked with large swastikas”; in many cases, “the Hitlerite insignia has been cut into the bay windows of the stores, apparently
with a diamond.” Over the next several years, in New York and Boston, the Christian Front, organized by followers of the anti-Semitic Catholic priest Charles Coughlin, distributed guides for shoppers identifying stores not owned by Jews. These guides carried the statement that “[Yashka] Himself” sponsored the anti-Jewish boycott. The Christian Front posted fliers featuring Nazi-style anti-Semitic imagery in subway stations and on shop windows and buildings, urging passersby to boycott Jewish stores and to “Buy Christian.” These fliers included genocidal threats, such as “Destroy the Jews!” and “Kill the kike vermin! Wake up Christians!” As in Germany, the boycott and the circulation of anti-Semitic propaganda precipitated frequent violent attacks on Jews in the streets and parks of Boston and New York, on Jews’ homes and stores, and the desecration of Jewish cemeteries. Commentators referred to these attacks as “mini-pogroms.” They reached a peak during World War II but continued for several years after the end of the war.
Obviously, there are many differences between the anti-Jewish boycotts of the 1930s and the BDS campaigns of our own time. Yet we dare not ignore the parallels. Today’s BDS advocates heatedly deny that they are fascists or anti-Semites. They claim they are “only” boycotting Israelis, not Jews. Likewise, advocates of “partial” BDS say they are boycotting “only” Israeli settlers, not residents of Israeli towns within the pre-1967 areas. If that were true, the BDS movement would boycott Israeli Arabs as well as Israeli Jews. And the “partial boycotters” would target Israeli Arab residents of communities beyond the pre-1967 lines. They would also refrain from boycotting foreign-born Jewish “settlers” who are not Israeli citizens. Have you ever heard of BDS activists boycotting Israeli Arabs in general, or Israeli Arab residents of settlements or exempting non-Israeli settlers? We haven’t. The reason is simple: they are targeting Jews. And that makes their actions uncomfortably similar to the behavior of the fascists to whom Andrew Yang referred. This article was originally printed in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.
Dr. Norwood is Professor of History and Judaic Studies at the University of Oklahoma; his latest book, which is in press, is “Prologue to Annihilation: Ordinary American and British Jews Challenge the Third Reich.” Dr. Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies; his most recent book is “The Jews Should Keep Quiet: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and the Holocaust.”
The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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Forgotten Her es
Israel’s 117th Fighter Squadron By Avi Heiligman
I
n the years following the 1948 War of Independence, Israeli Air Force (IAF) pilots have been given top-notch training. Their planes went from World War II leftovers to the best planes that money could buy. The results speak for themselves. The IAF is one of the most highly regarded air forces in the world, and close to 50 pilots have achieved the coveted status of ace by shooting down five enemy planes. One of most famous Israeli squadrons just closed after 67 years of operations. The 117 th Fighter Squadron was Israel’s first unit to receive jet aircraft and participated in some of the IAF’s most famous missions. During Israel’s first five years of existence, the IAF only flew World War II-era fighters and bombers that they managed to purchase on the secondary market. After defeating the Arabs in 1949, world powers began to take notice of the tiny country fighting with outdated weaponry and planes. After several rejections to purchase jet aircraft from the U.S. and European countries, Great Britain finally agreed to sell Israel over a dozen Gloster Me-
teor jet fighters. The first two jets arrived in Israel in June 1953. Prime Minister David Ben Gurion attended the ceremony to greet the aircraft, and the two planes were assigned to the recently formed 117 th Fighter Squadron. The 117 th had been formed for this purpose under the command of Palmach veteran Menachem Bar. He joined the Palmach in 1943, became a pilot, and became a flight instructor for their air unit. He became one IAF’s firs pilots in 1948 and took part in dozens of missions during the Israeli War of Independence. Bar’s first command was the 105 th Squadron, and he went to England to train on Meteor jets. Together with Benny Peled, he formed the 117 th Squadron in 1953 and established essential protocol to make it an elite unit. The 117 th’s first action against enemy planes was in September 1955. Two Meteors shot down two Egyptian fighters over the Negev Desert. A year later, Israel was involved in the Sinai Campaign, also called Operation Kadesh, and the Suez Crisis. The 117 th, now under
Ahron Yoeli, flew several missions during the operation. Yoeli, a direct descendent of the first Lubavitcher Rebbe, had been with the IAF since its inception. On October 31, 1956, he was flying a Meteor over Egyptian territory when a machine gun bullet penetrated his cockpit. Despite wounds in his hands, failure in one of the engines, and his landing gear not working properly, Yoeli managed an emergency landing at Tel Nof Air Base. In 1962, the 117 th was disbanded for two months. In April, they reformed, and the squadron switched over to French-built Mirage III fighter. They were now under the command of Shmuel Sheffer at the Ramat David Air Base. During the Six Day War, they were very active and shot down a total of twelve enemy planes. On the first day of the war, deputy squadron commander Major Uri Nir shot down a Lebanese Hawker Hunter fighter. This kill was the only plane Lebanon lost during the war and effectively took them out of the war. The squadron fought through the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur
War flying the Mirage III. During the 1970s, the IAF began replacing the French-built jets with the Israeli-built Nesher. This soon gave way to the Kfir and the American-built F-15 Eagle. In 1980, the F-16 Falcon made its debut in Israel, and the first four of the world’s newest fighter jet landed at Ramat David. In April 1981, Lieutenant Rafi from the 117 th shot down a Syrian helicopter that penetrated Israeli airspace. The youngest pilot in the IAF shot at the Mil-8 with a missile but it missed. He then used cannon fire to down the helicopter. It was the first kill ever for an F-16. In June 1981, four members of the 117 th flew their most famous mission. Eight planes were to be used to attack the Iraqi nuclear reactor. The mission commander, Ze’ev Raz, had to select seven other men who were the cream of the crop. Raz, Dobbi Yoffe, Amos Yadlin, and Relik Shafir were from the 117 th. The other four – Hagai Katz, Amir Nachumi, Iftach Spector and 26-year-old Ilan Ramon – were from the 110th Squadron. The F-16s only carried the bombs to strike the reactor as
The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
they were stripped of most of their defenses to conserve fuel. On Sunday, June 7, 1981, the pilots of the F-16s were personally briefed by the IDF Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan who said that they needed to succeed or “the alternative is our destruction.” The planes took off from Etzion Airbase in the Negev at 3:55PM local time. To carry as much fuel as possible for the 1,200mile roundtrip, the planes carried external fuel tanks and performed the dangerous task of topping off the tanks while the engines were running. In order to avoid radar detection, the planes flew at only 50 feet above ground. Even for the most skilled pilots, this was an enormous challenge while trying to navigate the mountainous terrain of Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Mossad agents had penetrated the Iraqi defenses and knew the timetable for the defense and radar systems. The Israelis timed it so that they would come over the
anti-aircraft guns at the time of the changing of the guard. The Iraqis, for some inexplicable reason, had also turned off the radar, and the raiders came in undetected. The IDF wanted to inflict damage only on the complex and avoid human
Each plane carried bombs, and at 6:55 PM, the F-16s bombed the reactor. Fourteen of the bombs hit squarely on the dome of the facility, and two failed to detonate. Ten Iraqi soldiers and one French civilian worker were killed. None of the
Despite wounds in his hands, failure in one of the engines, and his landing gear not working properly, Yoeli managed an emergency landing at Tel Nof Air Base.
casualties as much as possible and that’s why they attacked on a Sunday evening, when the fewest people would be at the reactor. As the planes got within 30 miles of the reactor, they gained altitude and prepared for a bombing run.
surrounding building suffered any damage. The entire attacked lasted about 80 seconds. Towards the end of the attack, Iraqi batteries started to fire at the tail of the F-16 formation but inflicted no damage. The
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planes flew back to Israel but were fuel conscious. As the planes landed back at Etzion Airbase, some of the planes were down to only a few gallons of gas left in the tank (they had dropped the external fuel tanks somewhere in the Saudi desert). The 117 th was active during the 1982 Lebanese War, when they were the first in the world to shoot down a MiG-23. Their planes were upgraded to the F-16C in the 1980s. After fighting in every Israeli war from 1953 and onwards, the 117 th Squadron was disbanded in 2020. The hard work and dedication of the pilots in the squadron make the unit one of the most important in the IAF’s storied history.
Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.
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HELP WANTED
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
Your
15
Money
Monkey Business By Allan Rolnick, CPA
W
alk into any suburban supermarket, and you’ll find entire aisles of food you wouldn’t have seen when you were a kid. What is quinoa, anyway? Who invented kombucha? And if mom had served kale, you might have appreciated broccoli more. But there’s one whole category that delights millions, and that’s the case full of milks made from soybeans, almonds, cashews, or anything else but classic “moo juice.” They’re popular enough that dairy interests have sued producers for using the word “milk.” (The case prompted former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to declare, “an almond doesn’t lactate, I will confess.”) This week’s story takes us to the shelf at your neighborhood Target, where you won’t find Chaokoh Coconut Milk anymore. Why not? According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the company forces monkeys to pick the coconuts that go into the milk. The group found “cruelty to monkeys on every farm, at every monkey-training facility, and in every coconut-picking contest that used monkey labor.” The monkeys are “tethered, chained to old tires, or confined to cages barely larger than their bodies.”
Target joins Costco, Wegman’s, Food Lion, and Stop & Shop in discontinuing the product from Thailand’s Theppadungporn Coconut Company. But PETA reports that Kroger, Albertson, and Publix all still carry it. Naturally, that got me wondering, how would we tax the poor monkeys? (No, I don’t get out very much, thank
income is taxed. If a robot comes in to do the same thing, you’d think we’d tax the robot at the same level,” he said in 2017. Of course, it won’t be the robots paying, it will be the factory. We can’t imagine robots being any happier about it than we are. (Can you picture HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey reacting when he
And just imagine Willie Wonka sweating bullets when he sees the IRS coming after his beloved Oompa Loompas!
you for asking.) Collecting half a banana at the end of a long work day seems impractical, as well as a tad cruel. (Fact check: monkeys don’t actually eat bananas in the wild, and some zoos have stopped serving them because they’re too sugary.) Microsoft founder Bill Gates suggested one answer when he proposed taxing robots that take away human jobs. “If a human worker does $50,000 of work in a factory, that
learns he has to fill out a W4-? “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”) The same approach could work for all sorts of non-human labor. Budweiser can pay on behalf of their Clydesdales hauling wagons of beer. Circuses can pay for the elephants they train to do tricks. (There won’t be much to collect; everyone knows elephants work for peanuts.) And just imagine Willie Wonka sweating
bullets when he sees the IRS coming after his beloved Oompa Loompas! I’m having fun here, of course. But the story raises legitimate questions about how taxes should respond to changes in our economy. For example: we tax gasoline sales to pay for roads because cars and trucks use gas-powered engines. The more you use those roads, the more you pay. But the cost of batteries has dropped far enough to make electric engines competitive with their gas-powered peers. That gives Teslas an unfair advantage. Perhaps a special tax on electric car chargers could even the scales? Next time you find yourself at the grocery store, look around and notice how silly some of the choices have become. (Do we really need 25 flavors of Cap’n Crunch? Don’t they all tear up the roof of your mouth?) When it comes to taxes, though, we’re here to help you make the smartest choices, with no high-fructose corn syrup or annoying trans fats!
Allan J Rolnick is a CPA who has been in practice for over 30 years in Queens, NY. He welcomes your comments and can be reached at 718-896-8715 or at allanjrcpa@aol.com.
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DISCOVER THE DIFFERENCE YOUR CHILD, YOUR CHOICE, THE CHANCE TO ACHIEVE
Registration opening for Pre-1A classes September 2021
CAHAL state certified teachers
THE COMMUNITY EDUCATION PROGRAM
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language based instruction individualized core curriculum 4:1 student to teacher ratio integrated in local schools academic growth and success
FOR APPLICATIONS: (516) 295-3666 ~ SHIRA@CAHAL.ORG
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Life C ach
I Think We’re Good For Now Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS
S
o, you’re finally done. You feel worn out, exhilarated, exhausted, proud, or lucky that you found someone else to do it. The one thing you don’t feel is like doing it all over again! But, that’s not what the weatherman is telling you. He’s saying get your shovels ready, your snowblowers going, or your phones out to call any helper, because snow is on the way again. You may even have to boot up and
desperately scour the neighborhood for some unfamiliar face lurking in your neighbor’s driveway, which usually concerns you. But today you’re begging that face to come to your house next! Here, you had finally unearthed your pavement and stopped slip-sliding your way to your front door. And now, suddenly, you hear that round 2 is on its way. You’re like, can anyone help me hold it up in the sky?
Sure, kids think it’s awesome! What do they care?! They’re thinking: more sledding, more igloos, more snowmen, and no school! You’re actually thinking the exact same thing: more sledding, more igloos, more snowmen, no school – but, with a whole different attitude about it! Help! You’ve got to admit it’s deceptive. It seems angelically white in hue. Flowing like fluffy, soft cotton candy from the sky. Spreading like a soft layer of pure cream. Who wants to accuse it of being cold, wet, slippery and unwelcome?! But these things do throw us. Also, what happens is that suddenly, everything in the fridge takes on greater value. Do we have enough of the staples? What if we run out? What if the supermarket runs out? What if I have to run out?! It’s not looking so angelic anymore with that thought! And what did I do with that scrape-y thing that cleans the snow off my car?! It’s interesting. Snow is one of those things that make you feel quite torn. You watch it fall, and you feel it’s so beautiful and calming. At the same time, you watch it fall and feel so anxious and unsettled. You feel that kid-like allure to go out and jump in it. And at the same time, you want to curl up and stay warm inside by a fireplace. And you feel, oh well, it’s a fact of life, snow happens! And simultaneously, you
feel, who needs it?! Don’t you love those people who come from some perpetually warm climate who have never witnessed snow? They are ohhhh soooo excited for it! They just can’t wait to experience it! But honestly, do they really want the full experience? Are they really up for the hard work that comes along with it? The plowing, digging, salting, scraping, 5 mile an hour traveling, or are they just in it for the fun?! Oh, sure, looks great if you’re just passing through! And honestly who wouldn’t enjoy snow if it would merely pass through?! The problem is that it lingers. It takes over important spaces, such as where you want to drive or park or just plain walk! Now seriously, the top of a ski mountain – that might be a nice place for it. Or the Caribbean perhaps, they supposedly think they want to “experience” it. Or maybe some little kid’s playgroup would enjoy it in their yard! But for us? Honestly, I’d say: -enjoyed the view, -took the pics, -built with the kids, -salted and scraped - so, consensus here, I think we’re good for now!
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 | FEBRUARY 11, 2021
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An evening of tribute H O N O R I N G : guests of honor
ARI AND ROCHEL SIMA MUNK parents of the year
YOSSI AND LEORA HAMMER keser shem tov
CHAIM SHOLOM AND RIVKY LEIBOWITZ in memoriam
MRS. REMA OLSHANSKY A”H ALON GOLDBERGER dinner chairman
YERUCHUM BRAZIL journal chairman
DOV ZAUDERER
campaign chairman
03 . 0 6 . 21 B BY DINNER .OR G
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