Five Towns Jewish Home - 4-15-21

April 15, 2021

Distributed weekly in the Five Towns, Long Island, Queens & Brooklyn

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40 An Inspiring Hachnosas Sefer Torah

44 Remembering the Six Million Kedoshim

54 An Attitude of Gratitude

PAGE 9

Your Favorite Five Towns Family Newspaper

APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Dear Readers,

A

few months ago, someone approached me to ask about helping a friend of Israel and the Jewish nation. When he spoke with me about the plight of Colonel Larry Franklin, I was moved and I knew that we had to get the word out to our readers so that they, too, could hear Larry’s story and be inspired to help him.

It wasn’t just Larry’s story that moved me. It was the passion with which the people helping Larry were exuding. Larry never helped them personally – he didn’t give them their first job or lend them money to pay for groceries or water their lawn when they were on vacation.

But when it came to Israel’s security, Larry, with his intelligence and connections, helped to save the lives of Jews and Israelis. And he paid dearly for his friendship with the Jewish State.

Larry’s situation and the onus upon us to help him touches on two aspects of the Jewish soul. One, of course, is compassion. When one sees pictures of the squalor that Larry’s family was living in and hears stories of them being forced to search for food in dumpsters because of

their poverty, one feel compelled to reach out and help.

But it’s more than that. Our Jewish nation is built on gratitude. We are taught the importance of hakaras hatov in nursery, when we learn why Aharon hit the waters of the Nile for Makkas Dam and Tzefardeh and the sand for Makkas Kinim instead of Moshe Rabbeinu. The stories sound simplistic but their lessons are deep and integral to our nation’s survival: it is incumbent upon us to show appreciation for even the littlest acts. Even more so, if it is an individual who showed himself to be a true friend of our People.

Nowadays, there are few people who have proven themselves to be true friends of our nation. Sadly, sometimes it seems like the loudest people in the room are decidedly against us. But when a few courageous souls are brave enough to speak out in support, we need to show them our appreciation for being on our side.

Yitzy Halpern

Wishing you a wonderful week, Shoshana

The Jewish Home is an independent weekly magazine. Opinions expressed by writers are not neces­sarily the opinions of the publisher or editor.

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The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

8

COMMUNITY Readers’ Poll

8

Community Happenings

40

NEWS Global

12

National

28

That’s Odd

37

ISRAEL

105

Israel News

24

My Israel Home

74

Is Bibi’s Reign Over?

76

JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Wein on the Parsha

64

Setting Speech Free by Rav Moshe Weinberger

66

Lashon Hara by Shmuel Reichman

68

Delving into the Daf by Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

70

Mesiras Moda’ah, Part II by R’ Yaakov Klein

72

PEOPLE Honoring Colonel Larry Franklin by Michelle Zimmerman Frogmen Throughout the Years by Avi Heiligman

80 110

HEALTH & FITNESS Compassionate Honesty by Dr. Deb Hirschhorn

92

The Anti-Inflammatory Diet by Aliza Beer, MS RD CDN

94

FOOD & LEISURE The Aussie Gourmet: Tomato Basil Bruschetta

99

LIFESTYLES Dating Dialogue, Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW 88 Parenting Pearls

Dear Editor, I would like to thank Mrs. R. Molinsky for her kind words regarding Frankel’s Kosher and myself in particular. A manager is only as good as the staff behind him. Five years ago, Mr. Frankel had a vision of a kosher supermarket that would provide for the needs of the community with a dedicated staff and competitive prices. With new innovations by our store manager Nochum Kaplan, we at Frankels strive to make shopping here a pleasant experience.

Looking forward to meeting and greeting each valued customer, Jeff Green Dear Editor, I was in awe reading Cheri’s Tannenbaums’ article in your paper this week. The woman exudes such positivity and strength in the face of adversity. Just when I thought that she had suffered enough, I read on and saw more hardship. But Cheri never posed her challenges as hardships – which is more admirable! She is the epitome of sameach b’chelko and moving forward despite all the setbacks that she encountered.

Furthermore, although he wasn’t mentioned in the article too much, I am sure that her husband is someone who we can really learn from.

He stuck by Cheri and cared for her all these years and kept her dreams alive, moving forward and building a family and future with her.

Please keep these wonderful, inspiring articles about amazing women coming!

Sincerely, Rivka Worman Dear Editor, This Thursday is the yahtzeit of the heiliger Reb Shayaleh of Keresteir. Over the past few years, many have been drawn to this tzaddik. His tzidkus was his care and love for every Yid. What is so inspiring about Reb Shayaleh, I think, is that we can actually emulate him. It seems like everything he did was about ahavas Yisroel and making another person feel good. Each of us can do that on our own level – whether it is giving tzedakah, joining a meal train, reaching out to a lonely friend. We could all be “little” Reb Shayaleh men and women.

While the rest of the world kills each other, in our community we can love each other and give to each other. This is the beauty of being part of our world.

May Reb Shayaleh continue to be a meilitz yosher for all of Klal Yisroel.

Yitzchok H. Dear Editor, I’m surprised that you did not have an article on the legalization of marijuana in New York. Yes, it has been made legal by Albany. It seems like King Cuomo and his goons are pulling out all of the stops so that he Continued on page 10

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JWow! 98

92

Mind Your Business

108

Your Money

116

Maybe They Have a History, Too

by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS 118

HUMOR Centerfold 62 POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Notable Quotes

100

Biden is Making the Trump Presidency Seem Like a Golden Age of Unity

by Marc A. Thiessen 105 The History of Wokeism by Steve Hilton CLASSIFIEDS

106 112

Would you rather be the funniest person in a room or the smartest person in a room?

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Continued from page 8

can stay in power. I guess marijuana smokers are a big voting bloc if they can stop hitting the bong and get their lazy bodies to the voting booth.

I’d say New York has gone to pot but all of the potheads would be like, “Wow, cool, dude, ahh, I see what he did there, get it – gone to pot, funky pun.”

I still remember when every time you opened a candy box it said, “Say no to drugs.” Now the government is pushing drugs. But since they show up at the annual concert in the park, let’s keep on voting for them.

The truth is, they are really doing a killer job for New York. Destroyed the economy – check; raised taxes – check; opened the jails – check; shut down summer camps – check.

No wonder they want everyone smoking pot. if we had any common sense left, we would fire the bums, from the Democrat governor to the local dogcatcher.

Larry Braunstein Dear Editor, Many times, specific policies and issues get highlighted more than others. When this happens, a more generalized conversation takes place. The game of politics takes form via distortions, lies, and narratives. This constant cycle might be a way to hype up the politics of the time, but ultimately it genuinely doesn’t fix the actual flaws in the policy.

One such known policy which constantly has such a pattern is the debate around guns. A school shooting is constantly how it begins.

Many times, especially when it is a school shooting, the news covers it immediately and brings in the most divisive figures to react. Conservative politicians release statements of thoughts and prayers without politicization, and liberal politicians constantly in their reactions bring up the trigger words: gun control.

People like Biden, Pelosi, and others immediately call for background checks as if the policy would have prevented such a tragedy. Implications that the U.S. doesn’t require background checks in the first place, however, are false. In reality, when one attempts to buy any firearm in the U.S., they must sign a form called a 4473. The 4473 asks questions about a person’s information, residence, and criminal histo-

ry. Furthermore, one must produce a valid government-issued ID. After, the National Instant Criminal Background Check agency that receives the 4473 form will either approve, delay, or deny the form.

The misconception of the effectiveness of restrictions on legal gunowners is apparent from the empirical evidence. According to the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice, under 11% of guns used in crimes are bought legally, while the other 90% of guns were either stolen or received from the black market. Consequently, in the political cycle involved in the public discussion of such issues, the facts are never revealed.

Many believe that if the U.S. had fewer guns via restrictive gun laws, gun crimes would decrease. The RAND corporation concluded after reviewing dozens of studies, however, that such proposed policies do not have much evidence of effectiveness. RAND also found that Europe, which overall has tougher gun laws, has the largest black market for guns in the world. Even with 60% of guns in the world originating from the U.S. on a legal level, RAND concluded that Europe’s gun black market still makes five times the revenue than the U.S.’s gun market!

Also, the gun sold to criminals on the black market are more efficient and are either the same price or even less than buying guns legally.

The United States has a problem with crime. Many diagnoses and solutions are wrongfully applied consequently. Instead, there has to be a moment of introspection if these previously proposed solutions are actually tackling the issue on hand. From the empirical evidence currently available, the current narratives and proposals do not slightly solve the dilemma.

For real solutions, studies producing data must be produced. The issue of guns, mental illness and how single-parent households increase the likelihood of a life of crime by at least 10% should all factor into coming up with a solution. We also need to advocate to increase law enforcement in our communities, like Singapore. Singapore, which has one of the lowest crime rates in the world because of strong law enforcement, reinforces this truth. Real truths will fix our problems, not desired political narratives.

Sincerely, Donny Simcha Guttman

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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The Week In News

Farewell Prince Philip

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Prince Philip, husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, passed away on Friday at the age of 99.

Buckingham Palace announced his death last Friday afternoon, saying in a statement that the Duke of Edinburgh had died in the castle a few hours earlier.

“It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” tweeted the royal family.

“His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.”

In keeping with tradition, an official death notice was hung on the Buckingham Palace gates. By midday, the entrance to the royal residence was covered by a mound of flowers and tributes dropped off by well-wishers.

The royal family’s official website also replaced its regular content with a black image paying homage to Philip. “The official website of the Royal Family is temporarily unavailable while appropriate changes are made,” read the caption.

Philip had recently returned to the palace on March 16 after spending a month at King Edward VII’s hospital due to illness.

Born in Greece to Prince Andrew, the youngest son of King George I of the Hellenes, Philip was educated in France after his family was exiled when he was only 18 months old. In 1939, Philip enlisted in the Royal Navy and fought the Nazis in several key maritime battles as part of the Pacific and Mediterranean fleets.

In 1947, Philip married then-Princess Elizabeth, beginning

a 73-year marriage that would make him the longest-serving consort in UK history. Philip and Elizabeth had four children: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.

In 2017, Philip announced that he was relinquishing his royal duties due to his failing health. Since then, the Duke of Edinburgh mostly retired from public life as he battled heart disease and multiple joint replacements.

Consolations poured in from world leaders after the news of his death was announced, with the deceased royal remembered for his sense of humor and commitment to charitable work. In a press conference held at 10 Downing Street, Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Philip a “much-loved and highly respected public figure.”

Keir Starmer, Labour leader and opposition head, said that Britain “lost an extraordinary public servant.”

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wrote that the prince was “tied to many important events in the recent history of your country. He was rightly respected among the British public and bore international authority.”

Russia Intercepts U.S. Plane

Russian fighter jets intercepted a U.S. spy plane on Saturday as tensions between the two superpowers mount over Moscow’s military buildup near Ukraine.

Russia’s military said in a statement that it had dispatched a MiG31 fighter to confront a U.S. air force RC-134 strategic reconnaissance aircraft over the Pacific Ocean. Video footage taken from the cockpit of the MiG-31 shows the pilot with a radar lock on the spy plane off the coast of the Kamchatka peninsula.

“To identify the air target and prevent violation of the Russian state border, a MiG-31 fighter from the air defense forces of the Eastern Mil-

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

itary District was scrambled,” said the Russian National Defense Control Centre.

“The crew of the Russian fighter identified the air target as a strategic reconnaissance aircraft RC-135 of the US Air Force and escorted it over the Pacific Ocean.”

The incident comes amid rising tensions between Moscow and Washington over Russia’s military buildup on its border. Since early April, Russian troops have been massing on its eastern border with Ukraine, with some estimates putting the number of troops at 85,000.

The satellite photos showing thousands of Russian tanks, artillery pieces and armored personnel carriers in attack formations have led Washington to fear that President Vladimir Putin will soon order an invasion of its eastern neighbor.

The Ukrainian military has been battling ethnic Russian separatists since 2014, who have been assisted

by Spetsnaz special forces and arms sent from Moscow.

On Saturday, the Kremlin said for the first time that it may soon take military action to assist the aforementioned separatists should violence erupt on the flashpoint border.

The statement marked the first time

that Russia threatened to invade Ukraine and is viewed as a major escalation vis-a-vis the United States, which is bound by a treaty to protect Kiev.

“The Kremlin has fears that a civil war could resume in Ukraine.

And if a civil war, a full-scale military action, resumes near our borders that would threaten the Russian Federation’s security,” said Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson. “The ongoing escalation of tensions is quite unprecedented.”

Egypt’s 3000Year-Old City

Archaeologists have uncovered a 3,000-year-old city lost in Egypt so vast that many are already dubbing it one of the most important finds in history.

The discovery of the “Lost City

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of Gold” was announced last week by renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass. According to Hawass, the city was discovered near Luxor, an ancient city known as Valley of the Kings for the hundreds of deceased royals that were entombed there.

“The Egyptian mission under Dr. Zahi Hawass found the city that was lost under the sands,” said the team in a statement. “The city is 3,000 years old, dates to the reign of Amenhotep III, and continued to be used by Tutankhamun and Ay.” Discovered weeks after the excavation first began in September 2020, the city is the largest ever uncovered from ancient Egypt. It is located halfway between the towering palaces of Ramses III and Amenhotep III, 300 miles south of Cairo.

Upon beginning the excavations in September, the archaeologists never expected to hit pay dirt so quickly. “Within weeks, to the team’s great surprise, formations of mud bricks began to appear in all directions,” said the statement.

“What they unearthed was the site of a large city in a good condition of preservation, with almost complete walls, and with rooms filled with tools of daily life.”

Soon, excavators began turning

up brightly colored pottery vessels, amulets, bricks, swords, and jewelry. Archaeologists say that the find is unprecedented and will shed new light on the reign of Amenhotep III. “The archaeological layers have laid untouched for thousands of years, left by the ancient residents as if it were yesterday,” said the team.

AstraZeneca Concerns

The European Union’s (EU) medicines regulator confirmed that the COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca had been linked to blood clotting.

In a statement, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said that its studies found that AstraZeneca’s vaccine could cause blood clots within two weeks of vaccination when taken by patients with low blood

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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platelet levels. The overwhelming majority of the cases reported have occurred in women under 60 years of age, some with no medical history.

However, it called such incidents “very rare” and ruled that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed any possible harm.

“COVID-19 is associated with a risk of hospitalization and death,” the EMA noted.

“The reported combination of blood clots and low blood platelets is very rare, and the overall benefits of the vaccine in preventing COVID-19 outweigh the risks of side effects.”

The EMA also advised people to seek medical attention immediately if noticing “shortness of breath, chest pain, leg swelling, and persistent abdominal (belly) pain” within two weeks of inoculation.

During the study, EMA experts examined dozens of cases of clotting in the 26 EU member states. Out of 25 million Europeans who received the vaccine, 86 reported clotting, 19 of them with fatal results.

A slew of European countries has already stopped recommending the AstraZeneca vaccine for younger people due to possible blood clotting, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands.

The UK has registered 79 total cases of clotting and 19 deaths from the 20 million people who received the jabs, leading it to offer an alternative for all citizens under the age of 30.

The controversy is just the latest blow for AstraZeneca, which is already facing accusations that it knowingly used fraudulent data that overstates the vaccine’s efficacy rate.

AstraZeneca is also currently at loggerheads with the EU over its failure to supply the requisite number of shots by the deadline specified in the contract.

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to resist pressure

from lawmakers to convene a summit on the rising violence in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland had been witnessing its worst violence in decades, with rioting breaking out between pro-UK unionists and Irish separatists.

Despite pleas from the Irish government and fellow Conservative MPs, Johnson refused to establish an intergovernmental commission to examine the reasons for the rioting. The summit would have included a meeting between Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney and British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis.

Yet Johnson scuttled the idea, believing that accepting a proposal from the Irish government would enrage Conservatives and unionists.

“There is a fear of upsetting unionists, a worry that this would be seen as Dublin interfering too much in the affairs of Northern Ireland,” a source told the Guardian daily.

Over the past week, Northern Ireland has seen continuous rioting and clashes between separatists and police officers. Hundreds of Irish teens have pelted police cars with rocks and fire bombs, while defacing banks and looting local shops.

First starting in the capital city of Belfast, the rioting soon spread to Derry/Londonderry and Newtownabbey, Ballymena, and Carrickfergus. At the root of the riots are tensions over trade and borders, which have been exacerbated by Brexit.

Northern Ireland and Ireland had been plagued by decades of violence between pro-UK unionists and Irish nationalists who sought for the territory to be incorporated into Ireland.

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Northern Ireland and Ireland dismantled the border separating the two countries.

The deal brought an end to nearly 100 years of fighting known as “The Troubles.”

Unlike the UK, Ireland remains in the European Union, forcing London to impose a de-facto “hard border” between England and Northern Ireland. As part of the new arrangement, goods entering Northern Ireland via the Irish Sea are subject to EU border checks, despite the territory being officially part of the United Kingdom.

The new border has enraged unionists, who called it an infringement on the Good Friday Agreement and accuse Ireland of violating Brit-

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

ish sovereignty. Last Friday, Northern Ireland Justice minister Naomi Long accused the Johnson government of inflaming tensions, contending that its “dishonesty and the lack of clarity around these issues has contributed to a sense of anger in parts of our community.”

Long added that government officials had admitted that they had expected that tensions over Brexit would be “felt most acutely” in Northern Ireland, where identity issues are tied up with border issues.

Iran to Enrich Uranium to 60%

Iran will begin enriching uranium to 60 percent purity – higher

than ever before – after an attack on its Natanz nuclear facility, an Iranian nuclear negotiator said on Tuesday.

Abbas Araghchi was quoted by the state-run IRNA news agency as saying that Iran would increase its enrichment from its current rate of 20% in response to the weekend attack on its Natanz nuclear facility, which has been blamed on Israel.

That would put Iran a short technical step away from weapons-grade levels.

Araghchi added that Iran would install another 1,000 centrifuges at Natanz.

The announcement comes after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned on Tuesday morning that the attack on its main nuclear enrichment site at Natanz could hurt ongoing negotiations over the nuclear deal with world powers.

Those talks are aimed at finding a way for the United States to re-enter the agreement, the goal of which is to limit Iran’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for relief on sanctions.

The U.S. has insisted it had nothing to do with Sunday’s sabotage at the Natanz nuclear facility. Israel is

widely believed to have carried out the assault that damaged centrifuges, though Israel has not openly confirmed that it is behind the attack.

But Zarif still issued a warning to Washington.

“Americans should know that neither sanctions nor sabotage actions would provide them with an instrument for talks,” Zarif said in Tehran alongside visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“They should know that these actions would only make the situation difficult for them.”

Zarif separately renewed his earlier warning to Israel over the sabotage, saying that if Iran determines the Jewish state was behind it, “then Israel will get its response and will see what a stupid thing it has done.”

Kayhan, a hardline Tehran newspaper, urged Iran to “walk out of the Vienna talks, suspend all nuclear commitments, retaliate against Israel, and identify and dismantle the domestic infiltration network behind the sabotage.”

“Despite evidence that shows the role of the U.S. as main instigator of nuclear sabotage against Iran, unfortunately some statesmen, by purging the U.S. of responsibility,

[aid] Washington’s crimes against the people of Iran,” the paper said in Tuesday’s editions.

While Kayhan is a small-circulation newspaper, its editor-in-chief, Hossein Shariatmadari, was appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has been described as an adviser to him in the past.

Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, though the West and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Tehran had an organized military nuclear program up until the end of 2003. However, the deal prevents it from having enough of a uranium stockpile to be able to pursue a nuclear weapon.

The events at Natanz were initially described only as a blackout in the electrical grid feeding aboveground workshops and underground enrichment halls but later Iranian officials began referring to it as an attack.

The extent of the damage at Natanz also remains unclear, though Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it damaged some of Iran’s first-generation IR-1 centrifuges, the workhorse of its nuclear program. A former Iranian Revolutionary Guard chief said

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

that the assault set off a fire, while a civilian nuclear program spokesman mentioned a “possible minor explosion.”

A similar attack targeted Iran’s underground Fordo facility in 2012 with two explosions: one 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) away at a power station and the other at Fordo’s emergency battery system.

Japan to Release Fukushima Water

Japan plans to release more than 1 million tons of contaminated water from the ruined Fukushima nuclear power station back into the sea, the government said on Tuesday,

in a decision that is likely to anger environmentalists and neighboring countries such as South Korea.

The announcement, 10 years after the nuclear power station was devastated in a tsunami triggered by one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded, is also another blow to the fishing industry in Fukushima, which has opposed such a step for years.

The work to release the water will begin in about two years. The whole process is expected to take decades.

The water, equivalent to about 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools, needs to be filtered again to remove harmful isotopes and will be diluted to meet international standards before any release into the ocean.

The decision comes about three months ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, which were delayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some events are planned to take place as close as 35 miles from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Japan is in the midst of a decades-long project to decommission the power station, run by Tokyo Electric Power, and has struggled with what to do with the contaminated water.

U.S. Intel Warns of Rising China

A new U.S. intelligence assessment predicts that China will soon overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest economy.

Written by the National Intelligence Council, Global Trends 2040 is a quadrennial estimate that examines long-term trends. The most recent report was released on April 8 and looked at the global competition between the United States and China.

According to the findings, China will soon become United States’ main geopolitical rival and adopt a more aggressive posture vis-a-

vis Washington. Beijing’s quest for global hegemony “will affect most domains, straining and in some cases reshaping existing alliances and international organizations that have underpinned the international order for decades.”

A key driver of China’s increasingly assertive stance is its explosive economic growth. The report found that Beijing’s economy will soon surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest, forecasting its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to jump from 17.9% in 2020 to 22.8% by 2040.

This, wrote the analysis, would likely result in a significant share of the world’s economy shifting from west to east, with Asian nations becoming centers of business and finance. With China dominating in sectors such as Artificial Intelligence and 5G, the change is expected to touch off a race between the two superpowers for global leadership.

“The United States, along with its longstanding allies, and China will have the greatest influence on global dynamics,” the report wrote, “supporting competing visions of the international system and governance that reflect their core interests and ideologies.

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

benefits of engagement while warning of severe consequences of defiance.”

“China is likely to use its technological advancements to field a formidable military in East Asia and other regions but prefers tailored deployments – mostly in the form of naval bases – rather than large troop deployments,” the report said.

Charges in Denmark Treasury Fraud

“In the next two decades, China almost certainly will look to assert dominance in Asia and greater influence globally,” it continued, “while trying to avoid what it views as excessive liabilities in strategically marginal regions.”

The U.S. intelligence community warns that the United States may find it harder to deploy troops overseas. As part of its effort to counter Washington in eastern Asia, China

will likely work to prevent the U.S. military from establishing bases in countries surrounding the mainland.

China “is likely to field military capabilities that put U.S. and allied forces in the region at heightened risk and to press U.S. allies and partners to restrict U.S. basing access,” the report wrote.

Beijing will also focus on developing new technologies aimed at

thwarting America’s military dominance, including new anti-ship missiles, drones, and cyber weapons.

Enhancing the People’s Liberation Army’s capabilities will restrict Washington’s ability to project power, limiting its options in connection to China over the disputed territory of Taiwan.

As the U.S. struggles to use its military assets in the South China Sea, “Beijing probably will tout the

Prosecutors in Denmark have charged three Britons and three Americans with defrauding the Danish treasury of more than 1.1 billion kroner ($175 million) through a German bank.

Two British citizens have already been charged as part of a “cum-ex” trading fraud that swindled the treasury of a total of 12.7 billion Danish kroner.

Prosecutors believe the six charged are “the central principals” in the fraud. If found guilty, they could face 12 years in jail.

Denmark’s Serious Economic and International Crime (SEIC) fraud squad said that for more than a year, between 2014 and 2015, hundreds of fake share trades were carried out via the Mainz-based North Channel Bank in Germany.

The aim was to defraud the Danish treasury of 1.1 billion kroner through refunds for tax dividends.

The bank made a substantial sum in fees and was eventually fined in 2019.

Denmark’s was just one of a number of European treasuries caught up in the so-called “cum-ex” scandal, in which tax refunds on share sales were claimed by both parties on tax that had only been paid once.

In total, 12.7 billion kroner was paid out to foreign-based people or companies, exploiting a loophole that allows foreigners to avoid the tax on dividends that Danes have to pay.

Denmark has worked with UK, German and Belgian authorities on the scandal for the past five years.

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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Shin Bet Chief Stays On

Nadav Argaman, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency, recently had his term extended by four months due the inability of Prime Minister Netanyahu and Kahol Lavan leader Benny Gantz to agree on a replacement for him.

Netanyahu’s decision to extend Argaman’s tenure past the customary six years is highly irregular and comes amid a clash with Gantz. The Shin Bet head since 2015, Argaman was slated to retire in May after 35 years with the organization.

However, Gantz had hotly op-

posed Netanyahu’s intent to appoint National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat as Argaman’s replacement and vowed to veto it. As per the coalition agreement Netanyahu and Gantz inked last May, candidates for senior appointments must receive the approval of both aforementioned politicos.

Netanyahu’s office denied that Gantz had vetoed Ben-Shabbat as Shin Bet head, contending that Argaman’s tenure was extended due to the interim government’s inability to appoint a new intel chief.

“Gantz is well aware that it is not possible to appoint a new Shin Bet head in a transitional government and this can only be done by the new government that will be formed,” the statement said.

“We firmly reject the allegations against [Netanyahu] that come from self-centered considerations.”

While Ben-Shabbat had been a senior Shin Bet official prior to heading the National Security staff, his closeness to Netanyahu led to fears of the intelligence job being politicized.

Over the past five years, Ben-Shabbat has become one of the premier’s closest associates and often intervened in issues concerning Netanyahu’s political future.

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In January, a slew of top Shin Bet officials both current and retired sent Netanyahu and Gantz a petition urging them to “avoid using this sensitive position as political capital.”

Coming from an organization that prides itself on secrecy, the letter was unprecedented and shone light on the turmoil surrounding the nomination of Ben-Shabbat.

“If Netanyahu appoints Meir Ben-Shabbat as the agency head, it would be for personal, not professional, reasons,” one Shin Bet official told Israeli TV in late 2020.

“Ben-Shabbat is not suited to head the agency on professional grounds.

If Ben-Shabbat is appointed to the head of the agency, we will quit.”

A Full Reopening?

With G-d’s help, Israel will be fully reopened in a month if there is no new sudden rise in contagion, according to coronavirus czar Nachman Ash. “We want to see that the return to studies does not cause a rise in contagion,” Ash told Channel 13 news last week after government ministers voted to further ease coronavirus restrictions at schools.

“We are talking about a few weeks only if the current rates are maintained,” he reiterated. “We want to get past the [recently completed] Passover holidays and see that there are no infections in the schools.

“If there is no rise in contagion, everything will be open in a month,” he clarified.

It was not clear if Ash’s comments also referred to completely reopening Ben Gurion airport to international travel. Israel currently limits the number of people who can enter and exit each day, fearing the spread of variants that could undermine the effective vaccination program.

Ministers relaxed several requirements for schools last Thursday, including scrapping the requirement that fourth graders learn in smaller class sizes. They also ended the requirement for students to present a

health declaration signed by their parents to enter the classroom, while allowing universities and colleges to hold all tests in-person.

Other changes included lowering the percentage of 11th and 12th graders who must be vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 to hold full classes from 90% to 65%; allowing for the mixing of “capsules” during physical education courses and extracurricular activities outdoors; and permitting more students at vocational schools to attend in-person classes.

Before ministers approved the changes, Health Ministry data cited by the Ynet news site showed 99% of children who have so far received a COVID-19 vaccine have only experienced mild side effects.

“There is reason for optimism, to smile, there is a reason for hope.

Even when there is criticism, we are opening activities in the education system,” Chezy Levy, director-general of the Health Ministry, said earlier Thursday during a briefing.

He also cheered the continued decline in morbidity, while noting there were still some 2.5 million kids and around 900,000 Israelis older than 50 who are still unvaccinated.

In a further sign of the declining virus numbers, the IDF on Thursday ended its mission in the worst-hit city of Bnei Brak. While at one point there were some 26,000 active cases in Bnei Brak, the number now stands at just 28.

The positive test rate last Wednesday in the country was 0.5%. An identical rate was recorded on Tuesday, the lowest since last May, when Israel was emerging from the initial wave of the pandemic, though significantly more tests are now performed each day.

The ministry said more than 5.3 million Israelis have gotten at least one vaccine shot and over 4.9 million have received both doses.

U.S. Defense Sec. Visits Israel

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin touched down in Israel on Sunday in

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

Iran: Israel Behind Natanz Attack Upstate day camp for children with special needs

Iran has accused Israel of being behind Sunday’s mysterious power outage at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant and vowed to retaliate for the “terrorist act.”

The cyber-attack cut off power to Natanz for over a day, crippling the facility and reportedly causing significant damage. Speaking to The New York Times on Monday, Israeli and U.S. intelligence officials attributed the sabotage to the Mossad and said that it set Tehran’s drive for nuclear weapons back by nine months.

A senior defense official told Israel’s public broadcaster that Natanz suffered “extensive” damage, adding that the attack destroyed several “different types of centrifuges.”

During a meeting at Iran’s parliament on Monday, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif declared that Tehran held Jerusalem responsible for the malfunction. Calling the attack an attempt to scuttle negotiations between Iran and the West over its nuclear program, the diplomat warned of imminent retaliation.

“The Zionists want to take revenge on the Iranian people for their success in lifting the oppressive sanctions,” Zarif told the National Security Committee, “but we will not allow it and take revenge on the Zionists themselves.”

Zarif continued to say that Israel’s effort to stop the U.S. from removing sanctions on Iran would fail, vowing that “the Zionists will get their answer in further nuclear progress.”

“If they think our hand in the negotiations has weakened, this will happen to strengthen our position,” warned Zarif. “The negotiating parties should know if they faced an enrichment facility with 1st generation centrifuges, now Natanz can be full of advanced centrifuges.”

Zarif’s remarks were echoed by the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, who said that “of course” Israel was behind the Natanz power outrage.

“Of course, the Zionist regime,

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what was the first visit of a high-level Biden administration official to the Holy Land.

During his two-day sojourn in Israel, Austin met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi. On Monday, Austin toured the Nevatim airbase, where he was treated to a demonstration of Israel’s F-35 fleet and Iron Dome air defense system.

Upon meeting Gantz, Austin stressed his commitment to Israel’s security and promised to take its concerns into account when negotiating with Iran. Saying that the Biden administration views Israel as a “full partner,” Austin told Gantz that “our bilateral relationship with Israel is central to regional stability.”

Gantz, meanwhile, highlighted the nefarious nature of Iran, saying in a press conference that Israel will do whatever it takes to ensure its security.

“During our conversations I emphasized to Secretary Austin that Israel views the United States as a full partner across all operational theaters, not least, Iran,” said Gantz after meeting Austin.

“We will work closely with our American allies to ensure that any new agreement with Iran will secure the vital interests of the world and the United States, prevent a dangerous arms race in our region, and protect the State of Israel.”

The talks with Israel’s high brass revolved around Iran and the Biden administration’s efforts to reenter the 2015 nuclear deal. While the U.S. is intent on hammering out a new agreement with Iran, Israel views such a deal as an existential threat to its security.

Since Biden took office in January, Israel has pressured Washington not to agree to a new deal with Tehran that does not include draconian enforcement mechanisms.

Austin’s visit was the first by a U.S. secretary of defense since 2017 and also marked the first time that the Kirya defense ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv hosted a foreign dignitary since the COVID-19 pandemic began last year.

A former four-star general, Austin is viewed as strongly pro-Israel and told the House Armed Services Committee in 2015 that he had a “great relationship” with Gantz.

“My hope, and I know this will be the case, is that we will continue to have a very, very strong relationship going forward,” he said at the time.

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Reform MK Causes Riot at Western Wall

with this action, tried to take revenge on the people of Iran for their patience and wise attitude regarding the lifting of sanctions,” said Saeed Khatibzadeh.

The malfunction occurred a day after Tehran began operating advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges at Natanz, contravening the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and reported progress in talks between Western powers and Iran in Vienna.

The negotiations in Vienna aim

to pave the way for the eventual return of the U.S. to the nuclear deal, which former President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018. In order to prove its good faith, the Biden administration has offered to scrap all sanctions and offer Iran billions in return for rejoining the JCPOA. Israel strongly opposes Washington’s attempt to rejoin the agreement, warning that Iran has no intention of keeping to the terms. On

Sunday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin landed in Tel Aviv in order to conduct high-level discussions with Israel’s defense establishment over the future of the nuclear deal.

The cyber-attack came after a mysterious explosion rocked Natanz in July that is also thought to be the work of the Mossad. The blast devastated the facility, reportedly destroying thousands of centrifuges and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

Newly sworn-in MK Gilad Kariv engineered a riot on Tuesday by smuggling a Torah scroll into the Kotel Plaza on behalf of Women of the Wall.

Kariv had become the first Reform rabbi in history to become a Member of the Knesset when he was elected to the Knesset in March. The firebrand progressive activist vowed throughout the campaign to use the Knesset as a platform to fight for causes championed by the Reform movement.

On Tuesday, Kariv did just that, facing off with worshippers, police and Kotel security together with the controversial Women of the Wall.

Arriving at the site for Rosh Chodesh prayers, Kariv smuggled in a Torah scroll by placing it in his personal backpack and then protecting it from confiscation by invoking parliamentary immunity.

By law, Knesset members enjoy immunity from legal prosecution.

This extends to their personal belongings, including their vehicles, homes, and offices.

Kariv’s new status as a member of parliament meant that police were helpless to stop him from bringing in the Torah scroll despite it being a clear violation of the law. The parliamentarian’s open flouting of the Western Wall’s customs triggered a riot, with hundreds of ultra-Orthodox worshippers shouting catcalls and hurling bottles while police tried to keep the two sides apart.

After the service, Kariv vowed to continue appearing together with Women of the Wall and fight for egalitarian prayer to be respected at Judaism’s holiest site.

“We will continue to fight for the right of all denominations and communities of the Jewish people to pray as is the custom at the Western Wall,” he said.

“I am proud to use my immunity to carry the Torah scroll for Women of the Wall, and I am ashamed that

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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the governing authorities in Israel are busy trying to confiscate Torah scrolls and prevent women from praying and reading the Torah as is their custom.”

With Kotel management refusing to allow the Women of the Wall to use Torah scrolls for their gatherings, the controversial group has frequently attempted to smuggle them in instead for their monthly Rosh Chodesh services. Previous efforts included cutting the scroll into many pieces, storing it in the Kotel bathroom a day prior, and hiding it in women’s undergarments.

Kariv was lambasted for his actions on Tuesday, with lawmakers from parties including UTJ, Shas, the Likud, and Religious Zionism promising to promote legislation targeting non-Orthodox denominations.

“Gilad Kariv has been a wellknown troublemaker since time immemorial and is now lowering the Knesset to the lowest depths,” fumed UTJ’s Moshe Gafni. The Shas faction issued a statement decrying Kariv’s “provocation at the Kotel, a despicable act worthy of every condemnation.”

“Kariv and his group have noth-

ing to do with the Kotel,” continued Shas. “They do not believe in the Beis HaMikdash but only want to incite provocation and separation among the people.”

Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Maklev said that “the Reform movement under Kariv and others like them are doing everything to take the place that unites the Jewish people and turn it into an arena of contention.”

Has Israel Reached Herd Immunity?

Israel set a new record on Saturday when it registered less than 100 new COVID-19 infections.

The figure marked the lowest amount of daily infections since the pandemic began last March and con-

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tinued a trend that has seen new cases plummet over the last six weeks.

Confounding experts, mass gatherings on Purim and then on Passover did not cause an explosion of new infections, and numbers continue to drop even as wide swaths of the economy reopen.

On March 30, the Health Ministry announced that Israel had no “red” COVID-19-ridden cities for the first time since the preceding May. Indoor dining has already resumed, and the mask mandate is expected to be done away with entirely in early May. With the positivity rate reaching an absurdly low 0.3% on Sunday, some experts say that Israel may have passed the point of no return to achieve the coveted “herd immunity.” Defined as the stage in which a country is immune to a certain virus, herd immunity is generally achieved when at least two-thirds of the population has been vaccinated or recovered.

Current Health Ministry data shows that 63% of Israelis have received the first jab of the COVID-19, putting Israel extremely close to putting the deadly pandemic behind it.

If so, it would make Israel the world’s first country to achieve herd immunity.

“It is possible that Israel has reached a sort of herd immunity and regardless, we have a wide safety net,” said Dr. Eran Segal, a biologist working at the Weizmann Institute of Science. “I think that makes it possible to remove some of the restrictions immediately.”

Yet other experts challenge that assumption, contending that Israel is far from the stage in which it can scrap the remaining restrictions.

According to Professor Nadav Davidovich, who chairs the Association of Public Health Physicians, there is data that conclusively points to herd immunity.

“Currently, Israel has not reached ‘herd immunity’ due to the fact that hundreds of cases are still being discovered every day,” Davidovich told Channel 13. “If the measles disease had revealed hundreds of new cases, we certainly would not have thought we had overcome the plague because it meant that there was still community transmission.

“As long as children and residents of the Palestinian Authority are not vaccinated, we will not really be able to reach herd immunity, which I define as no new cases,” he added.

Amazon Union Attempt Fails

Amazon recently won a major victory after the majority of the employees at its Alabama warehouse voted against unionizing.

The final count on Friday showed that 1,798 employees from its Bessemer, Alabama, plant opposed joining the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU); 738 voted in favor. Another 505 ballots were challenged by either the tech giant or the union but are not expected to affect the outcome of the vote.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union rejected the results, accusing Amazon of illegally intimidating employees in order to vote against the union drive. In a statement, the Union announced that it would file an official complaint over the alleged violations with the National Labor Relations Board.

“Our system is broken. Amazon took full advantage of that, and we will be calling on the labor board to hold Amazon accountable for its illegal and egregious behavior during the campaign,” asserted RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum.

The results constitute a boon for the tech giant, who had feared that a successful union drive at its mammoth Alabama warehouse complex would spur a similar wave across other Amazon workplaces. With Amazon employing over 500,000 people in the U.S., the company stands to suffer significant financial losses should its employees choose to unionize.

Amazon had embarked on a considerable effort to quash the union vote, dispatching high level officials in the weeks leading up to the elections to warn of mass layoffs should the drive succeed. In a special web-

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The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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site set up to convince workers to vote against unionization, Amazon pointed out what it argued was the drawbacks of joining a union, highlighting the mandatory $500 annual dues.

“The union said that we would never have a seat at the table on our own, but we actually have a seat at the table,” said Amazon employee William Stokes at a press conference on Friday. “Now we’re talking with senior management.… Over the next 100 days, we are going to talk about things that we want to change. So, change will come out of this.”

NFL Star’s Murder Spree

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Police say that former NFL star Philip Adams had his pain medication confiscated by his doctor shortly before he embarked on a murderous spree.

During last Thursday’s shooting rampage in North Carolina, Adams killed Dr. Robert Lesslie, 70, his wife, Barbara, 69, and their grandchildren, Adah Lesslie, 9, and Noah Lesslie, 5. Adams also killed James Lewis, a maintenance worker mowing the lawn, before killing himself.

Now, authorities suspect that Adams may have snapped after Lesslie confiscated his prescription for powerful anti-pain medication. The football veteran had been prescribed medicine for the beating his body sustained over his 5 year-career in the NFL but had his pills taken away after Lesslie grew concerned over Adams’ growing dependence.

“My understanding [is] he was treating him, and had, from my understanding, stopped giving him medicine, and that’s what triggered the killings,” opined South Carolina Rep Ralph Norman, who had been close with the slain doctor.

Speaking with USA Today, Adams’ sister revealed that the defensive end had been suffering from mental illness in the weeks preceding the murderous spree. She added that his mental problems began after he retired from the NFL and suggested that his “growing aggressiveness and vio-

lence” was caused by his football days.

“There was unusual behavior....

We definitely did notice signs of mental illness that was extremely concerning, that was not like we had ever seen… He wasn’t a monster,” Lauren Adams said. “He was struggling with his mental health.

“In conversations, it would escalate to arguments,” continued Adams.

“Normally it would just be a normal conversation. His temperament had changed where he was super laid back forever, and all of the sudden, he had that temper. You could just tell that something was off.”

On Saturday, Adams’ family approved a request to test the former NFL star’s brain for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease common in former athletes.

The result of blunt force trauma, CTE often leads to violence and deteriorating cognitive ability.

During a brief career lasting from 2010 and 2015, Adams played cornerback for the San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots. In 2012, Adams was sidelined after suffering two concussions over three games.

Pentagon Officer Faces Charges

A Pentagon police officer has been hit with charges of second-degree murder after gunning down two men last Wednesday in Takoma Park.

Officer David Hall Dixon was arrested on Friday and charged with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of use of a handgun in commission of a felony, and reckless endangerment. The charges are in connection to the shooting deaths of Dominique Williams, 32, and James Lionel Johnson, 38.

Dixon is currently being held without bond and first appeared before a judge for a preliminary hearing on Monday.

Dixon claims self-defense, telling investigators that he shot and killed Williams and Johnson last Wednesday after they tried to break into a car. However, police say that the two men did not constitute an active

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threat to Nixon that would have justified the use of deadly force.

Police base their claims on CCTV footage of the incident, which they say shows Williams and Johnson speeding off in their getaway car by the time Dixon opened fire. Preliminary evidence showed Dixon “fired his weapon multiple times after the vehicle passed him and no longer presented an immediate threat that would have justified the use of deadly force,” read the indictment.

Pictures of the car showed numerous bullet holes in the rear, buttressing police contention that Dixon’s actions did not constitute self-defense. The Pentagon Force Protection Agency officer had been off duty at the time of the shooting.

“Our investigation revealed that Mr. Dixon’s overview [of] events was inconsistent with the facts in the case. And that Mr. Dixon had no lawful or justifiable reason to shoot and kill Mr. Williams and Mr. Johnson,” said Takoma Park Police Chief Antonio DeVaul.

Devaul added that Dixon “was a civilian who acted as a civilian who happened to be a law enforcement officer in another jurisdiction” and did not have authority to use his weapon at the time of the shooting.

NYC: Highest Income Taxes in U.S.

A new tax hike recently approved by the New York State Senate would force New York City’s highest earners to fork over half of their income in combined taxes.

The new slate of regulations passed last Tuesday and raised the income tax rate on New York City residents earning more than $1 million annually. It also made NYC the city with the highest marginal tax rate in the United States, edging past California at 50%.

The increase would affect the 30,000 Gothamites who make that sum and only 1,000 who make above $25 million. But with marginal tax rates hitting 52%, the city’s highest earners will soon be paying the majority of their income to the federal,

state, and local governments.

While proponents contend that taxing the ultra-rich would bring the state new sources of income, detractors warn that it would lead to a mass exodus of New York City’s most affluent residents.

Critics include Andrew Yang and Ray McGuire, two leading mayoral candidates, who fear that the inflated tax rate would soon make the Big Apple unlivable and hurt the local economy.

“What the state is considering will push companies and higher-income families out of the city, which will cost us tax revenue and jobs,” said McGuire.

In a public letter sent to Governor Andrew Cuomo and senior Democratic power brokers last week, over 250 executives from major Wall Street firms said that the new measures would effectively gut Manhattan’s financial companies and “jeopardize New York’s recovery from the economic crisis inflicted by COVID-19.”

New York City has already seen dozens of high-profile companies move out of the Big Apple over the past year, including Elliott Management, Icahn Enterprises, Silver Lake, Blackstone, and Moelis. With crime skyrocketing and the COVID-19 pandemic making telecommuting widespread, a spate of corporations has made the move to cheaper locales such as Florida, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

In addition, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and JetBlue are both planning to move their headquarters out of New York City within the next year.

The tax hike, warn detractors, would cause New York City to lose its status as the nation’s financial capital.

“I suspect Florida will soon rival New York as a finance hub, due in part to the ‘Tax and Spend’ policies of New York,” predicted hedge fund manager and Goldman Sachs CEO Leon Cooperman.

BLM Founder’s Buying Spree Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors is under fire after an expose revealed that she recently spent millions of dollars purchasing pricey real estate.

A series of blockbuster reports show that Khan-Cullors paid $3.2 for four homes in the United States,

including a sprawling homestead in the exclusive Los Angeles community of Topanga Canyon. Located a short drive from the Malibu Beach, the $1.4 property includes a detached guesthouse, custom bamboo flooring, and a swimming pool.

The 2,370-square-foot property isn’t the only mansion that KhanCullors recently purchased. Publicly available records first published by the New York Post show that the radical left-wing activist also owns a 3.2 acre “custom ranch” in Georgia with its own airplane hangar and private runway.

Like her LA estate, the posh three-bedroom, two-bath residence half-an-hour out of Atlanta has a private pool and a garage for repairing RVs and small aircraft. Khan-Cullors owns an additional home in southern Los Angeles which is currently appraised at $720,000.

In addition, the self-described Marxist was until recently in advanced stages to purchase property at a wealthy Bahamas beach resort home to celebrities such as Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake. According to the New York Post, apartments at the Nassau complex begin at $5 million, while the more exclusive offerings can go for as much as $20 million.

The blockbuster report caused a storm, with both allies and detractors calling it improper that the BLM co-founder is living a secret life as a real estate mogul. Much of the criticism centered around revelations that Khan-Cullors bought two of the homes last May at a time when the George Floyd protests were raging across the United States.

Others decried the firebrand African American as a “fraud” for purchasing property in Topanga Country, which is less than 1% black.

Vallejo for Racial Justice, a popular progressive Twitter account, wrote that “we’re talking generational wealth off of the deaths & struggle of Black folks here.”

“Justice Teams Network & BLM founder paid $1.4 million for a home,” it added. “This past week we bought

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a cot for our unhoused Black elder friend to keep him off the ground.”

Hawk Newsome, who heads Black Lives Matter Greater New York City, demanded “an independent investigation” into the group’s finances following the New York Post report.

“If you go around calling yourself a socialist, you have to ask how much of her own personal money is going to charitable causes,” he said.

“It’s really sad because it makes people doubt the validity of the movement and overlook the fact that it’s the people that carry this movement.”

Rioting Rocks Minnesota

Rioting continued for a second straight day on Monday after a black man was killed by police during a traffic stop in Minnesota.

Protesters were angry over the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-yearold Brooklyn Center native who was killed after being pulled over by police on Sunday. Body camera footage suggested that the officer, identified as Kim Potter, mistook her gun for a taser and had not intended to shoot Wright.

At least 40 people were arrested on Monday after rioters clashed with law enforcement at Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Police said in a statement that they were detained for “launching bottles, fireworks, bricks and other projectiles at public safety officials.”

During the violence, windows of local stores were smashed, and banks and public buildings were defaced with anti-police graffiti. Burning tires caused a thick black haze that drifted through the streets as rioters shouted obscenities at officers.

The crowd had begun to gather on Thursday evening opposite the Brooklyn Center police station, defying a curfew order issued by Governor Tim Walz. By nightfall, the largely peaceful protests deteriorated into open violence as demonstrators began hurling projectiles at law enforcement.

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miles away from where Derek Chauvin fights murder charges in court for killing George Floyd last year.

Floyd, a black man, was pinned to the ground for more than eight minutes by Chauvin until succumbing to breathing problems.

Additional smaller protests were held throughout Minnesota but did not turn violent. The Minnesota Twins, Wild, and Timberwolves all canceled their scheduled home games on Monday, expecting that they would become scenes of mayhem and looting.

“We came to the conclusion that the right thing to do was for us to not play today, rooted in respect for the Wright family but also rooted in our mind in the safety of all of those involved in today’s game,” Twins President Dave St. Peter said.

How Does Biden Define Infrastructure?

President Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure plan has sparked a nationwide debate as to what the word “infrastructure” actually means.

Traditionally, infrastructure conjures images of bridges, highways, power lines and other economy-boosting physical projects.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “infrastructure” is defined as “the basic systems and services that are necessary for a country or an organization to run smoothly, for example, buildings, transport and water and power supplies.”

These tangible items were expected to highlight Biden’s push to revamp America’s creaking infrastructure, which has topped the president’s non-COVID-19-related agenda. Known as the American Jobs Plan (AJP), the $2.3 trillion package promises to create 19 million jobs in what Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg calls “the best chance in our lifetimes to make a generational investment in infrastructure.”

Yet the Biden administration has come under fire amid revelations that only 6 percent of the AJP will go to traditional infrastructure.

Instead of being dedicated to constructing tangible physical projects, the majority of the mammoth spending bill looks like a Democratic Party wish list.

As per White House Fact Sheet, $621 billion is going to bridges, power plants, and highways. The majority of the $2.3 trillion, however, will be spent on social initiatives that have never been viewed as infrastructure-related.

This includes $174 billion to boost electric vehicles, $100 billion for solving “racial equity” issues in the workforce, $213 billion for making homes environmentally-friendly, and $44 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.”

The relatively low amount being steered towards actual physical infrastructure projects has led Republicans to cry foul, accusing Biden and the Democratic Party of attempting to fund unpopular and expensive progressive programs by passing them off as infrastructure.

“This plan is not about rebuilding America’s backbone,” declared Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Senator Marsha Blackburn was even more blunt, tweeting on Sunday that the “$400 billion towards elder care” in the AJP proved that “President Biden’s proposal is about anything but infrastructure.”

In return, Democrats say that the American Jobs Plan has expanded the meaning of infrastructure by including sectors key to jump-starting the economy, such as child care, climate change, and racial disparities in education. Over the past week, senior Biden administration officials and cabinet secretaries have hammered home that defining social problems as infrastructure constituted an investment by enabling women to work, preventing natural disasters, and caring for the elderly.

“I very much believe that all of these things are infrastructure, because infrastructure is the foundation that allows us to go about our lives,” said Buttigieg, who is taking a leading role in developing the American Jobs Plan. “To me, it makes no sense to say, ‘I would have been for broadband, but I’m against it because it’s not a bridge.’ ‘I would have been for eldercare, but I’m against it

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

because it’s not a highway.’”

“You might say to yourself, ‘Why is the commerce secretary talking about investments in the care economy?’” asked Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo at last week’s White House press conference. “Because it matters. It is core to our competitiveness. In order for you to go to work, you need to know that your loved one is being taken care of.”

be criticizing Trump, who tweeted frequently during his four years in office.

Biden’s reticence has become glaring since the 78-year-old took office, especially after waiting 64 days before holding a press conference. In contrast, Trump waited only 27 days to grant his first presser and Obama just 20.

Texas Teams to Senator Suggests Play National Biden Not in Anthem Charge

Republican Senator John Cornyn drew heat for suggesting that President Joe Biden is only a figurehead president that is manipulated by others behind the scenes.

In a series of tweets, the Texas Republican alleged that Biden’s cognitive decline and carefully scripted media appearances suggested that he “isn’t really in charge.”

Quoting a recent Politico article, Cornyn tweeted: “The president is not doing cable news interviews. Tweets from his account are limited and, when they come, unimaginably conventional. The public comments are largely scripted. Biden has opted for fewer sit-down interviews with mainstream outlets and reporters.

“Invites the question: is he really in charge?” asked Cornyn.

The Politico piece Cornyn quoted highlighted that Biden “is not doing cable news interviews” and pointed out that the president’s “limited” tweets on Twitter are “unimaginably conventional.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki hit back at Cornyn, telling reporters at a Monday briefing that Biden was too busy running the country to grant a slew of interviews.

“I can confirm that the president of the United States does not spend his time tweeting conspiracy theories. He spends his time working on behalf of the American people,” said Psaki.

The press secretary appeared to

Texas lawmakers approved a bill making it mandatory for professional sports teams to play the U.S. national anthems before home games.

Senate Bill 4 (SB4), or the “Star-Spangled Banner Protection Act,” was passed in the Texas Senate on Thursday by a bipartisan margin of 28-2. The bill now goes to the Texas House of Representatives and is expected to be approved by a large margin.

The measure mandates all professional sports teams that receive taxpayer money in the form of financial assistance from the State of Texas air the “Star Spangled Banner” prior to home games. The legislation would apply in the preseason, regular season, and postseason and would levy financial penalties on those who fail to comply.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick touted the bill last Thursday after its passage, calling it a way to reinforce American values and patriotism.

“The passage of SB 4 will ensure Texans can count on hearing the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ at major sports events throughout the state that are played in venues that taxpayers support,” Patrick said. “We must always remember that America is the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

The bill comes after the Dallas Mavericks basketball team stopped playing the national anthem this season. At first chalked up to an oversight, the issue became a national conversation after owner Mark Cuban acknowledged in February that he had ordered the change to protest

racial inequality.

The NBA soon tweaked its regulations and made playing the national anthem mandatory. But while promising to adhere to the new policy, Cuban vowed to “also hear loudly hear the voices of those who feel that the anthem does not represent them.”

U.S. Pauses J&J Vaccine

On Tuesday, federal health agencies called for an immediate pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose coronavirus vaccine after six recipients in the United States developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within about two weeks of vaccination.

The six people who developed the disorder were women between the ages of 18 and 48. One woman died; another is in the hospital.

Nearly seven million people in the United States have received Johnson & Johnson shots so far, and roughly nine million more doses have been shipped out to the states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the C.D.C., said in a joint statement. “Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare.”

Scientists with the F.D.A. and C.D.C. will jointly examine possible links between the vaccine and the disorder and determine whether the F.D.A. should continue to authorize use of the vaccine for all adults or limit the authorization.

Regulators in Europe and elsewhere are concerned about a similar issue with another coronavirus vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University researchers. The AstraZeneca version has not been authorized for emergency use in the United States.

The vast majority of the nation’s

vaccine supply comes from two other manufacturers, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which together deliver more than 23 million doses a week of their two-shot vaccines.

There have been no significant safety concerns about either of those vaccines.

Madoff Dies at 82

On Tuesday, Bernie Madoff, mastermind of the largest financial fraud in U.S. history, passed away at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina. He was 82.

Madoff shocked the world in 2008 when he admitted to his multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

He ultimately pleaded guilty in March 2009 and was given a 150year prison sentence.

Last year, his attorney asked a federal court for Madoff’s release as he was fighting a terminal illness.

Madoff suffered from chronic kidney failure.

According to a court-appointed trustee, Madoff took $17 billion of customer money through his scheme, which included shuffling billions of dollars through his company’s bank account and fabricating statements showing profits year after year.

Perhaps clients were lured to Madoff due to his exclusivity. He was known not to work with anyone who couldn’t invest enough money.

He was famous about his secrecy – allowing him to escape detection earlier but also adding to his allure.

Some of those who were duped in Madoff’s scheme include members of the Wilpon family, owners of the New York Mets; the late Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate; banks, hedge funds and charities, and thousands of elderly retirees.

Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee assigned to recover funds for victims, had collected $14.3 billion as of November 2019, largely through lawsuits and settlements against investors who withdrew more from Madoff’s firm than they invested and institutions he accused of ignoring red flags because

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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of Madoff’s healthy profits. The Justice Department had recovered another $4.05 billion, as of July 2019.

As a result, many victims recouped what they had initially invested with Madoff. But they didn’t recover the wealth they once thought they’d had because of his lies.

Many were outraged by Madoff’s seeming indifference to the pain he caused.

“Everyone was greedy,” he told New York magazine in a jailhouse interview published in 2011. “I just went along. It’s not an excuse.”

Bernard Lawrence Madoff was born on April 29, 1938. He was raised in a middle-class family in Laurelton, NY. While at Hofstra University, he married childhood sweetheart Ruth Alpern and applied for a broker-dealer license.

It is not known when Madoff turned to a life of crime. He had initially found his place as a market maker for people who wanted to trade in small quantities, mostly of bonds, also known as odd lots, he told New York magazine. These were “the crumbs” big banks had passed over, but it was a high-margin business, he said.

In the early 1970s, Madoff joined a consortium of dealers that developed the screen-based trading system that became the Nasdaq Stock Market. He was Nasdaq chairman in 1990, 1991 and 1993.

Madoff’s scheme came tumbling down in 2008 when investor requests for redemption poured in after investors lost money elsewhere.

Oh, Dear!

Messiah El loves his pet dearly.

A few months ago, the man from Newark, Delaware, intentionally left a trail of crumbs leading into his home. A young doe – which El

named Bambi – followed the bread into El’s home and made herself at home.

“Now, when she comes in the house, she likes to get fed,” El said.

“Her favorite spot is the couch. She’ll go over (and) sleep on the couch, wake up and tap on the door when she’s ready to leave. Then she goes back to the woods.”

And yes, Bambi taps on the door when she has to go out to use the

bathroom too.

She likes car rides and gets along with kids and the dog but not with the cat.

The dear pet answers to the name Bambi, and they now consider her one of the family members.

“She kind of acts like another dog in the way that she likes to get attention,” El says. “If a dog or any other animal gets too much attention, she will butt in for her turn.”

El doesn’t own the deer. She just comes and goes every few days but always comes back. They just have a unique bond.

He has been contacted by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources, which let him know that allowing deer into the house is illegal possession of wildlife. El is now looking into obtaining a deer license.

Sounds like she’s near and dear to their hearts.

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

cha Grilled Chicken with Spicy Fried Rice, and Whitefish and Asparagus with Beurre Blanc.

Sounds like the cat’s meow.

Cat Food

Disney Dreams Well, if you wanted your cat to dine alongside with you at mealtime, here’s your chance.

Fancy Feast, a cat food brand owned by Purina, is releasing a cookbook for humans so owners can enjoy dinner along with their furry pets. The recipes are inspired by the company’s new line of single-serve entrees, Petites.

“Mealtime is a bonding experience,” the introduction to the cookbook says. “We sit at a dining table with our family, we gather with friends. Now Fancy Feast is asking you to extend the invitation to your cat to join you for mealtime as you cook meals inspired by their favorite dishes but made just for you.”

The lip-smacking dishes include Chicken and Ramen with Tomato Honey Butter Sauce, Honey Srira-

It’s a small world, after all. Or maybe it’s not, but Don Muchow has seemed to conquer it, running from Disneyland in Anaheim, California, to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

The Texan clocked almost 2,845 miles in his running shoes to raise awareness for diabetes.

In February 2020, Muchow set out for what he called the first-ever “Mouse2Mouse” challenge, planning to run from Disneyland to Walt Disney World to raise awareness of type 1 diabetes. But the pandemic got in the way of his goal, and he stopped

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on March 22 in Tarzan, Texas, after 1,260 miles.

A few months later, on September 24, 2020, he began his run again, only to stop a month later in Texarkana.

Finally, on March 2, 2021, Muchow set again once again and raced from Texarkana to Disney World, reaching his goal on April 5.

“It felt surreal,” Muchow said after he toured the park that day. “I’ve spent so long trying to get there, and suddenly, it was done.

“It’s only starting to sink in.”

Muchow’s dedicated wife, Leslie Nolen, followed the runner in a van full of supplies. He would take a rest day about every 10 days during his sprints.

On the run, Muchow averaged a whopping 32 miles a day (which is longer than a marathon) for a grand total of 88 running days.

Muchow and his wife are big fans of Disney.

“We’re huge Disney fans,” he related. “The Disney motto, ‘If you can dream it, you can do it,’ really hits home for me. Dreams are great, but memories are even better.”

Their favorite attraction is It’s a Small World.

Muchow has advice for others who want to achieve their dreams.

“Start small, give yourself credit for every bit of progress, and most important, keep going. Epic happens one step at a time,” he advised.

“I started with a 5K. Fourteen years later, I was an Ironman. And now I’m the first person ever to run from Disneyland to Disney World.

“You just have to keep going.”

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Ayanna Williams can finally type on a computer. And cut vegetables.

And easily turn pages in a magazine.

You see, for the past 30 years, the woman from Texas didn’t cut her nails. Certainly, those tasks were much harder for the woman with the longest fingernails. Williams had earned that title in 2017, when her nails measured 18 feet, 10.9 inches

(576.4 cm).

Over the weekend, after three decades of going nail clipper-free, she finally got her fingernails cut.

But, before Williams got them cut, she broke her previous record, with her nails measuring a total of 24 feet, 0.7 inches (733.55 cm), according to Guinness World Records.

The fingernails on Williams’ right hand measured 338.5 cm long, while the fingernails on her left hand measured 395.05 cm long.

Williams’ long talons will be put on display at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum in Orlando, Florida.

“It’s gonna be awesome,” Williams gushed. “It’s going to be like a wax of myself even though it’s just my nails. I can’t wait to see that, for real. I’m going to be grinning from ear to ear. Just really think about it, it’s amazing.”

In a statement in the press release, Williams added: “It’s history for my kids and my grandkids. It’s very exciting.”

According to Guinness World Records, Williams hadn’t cut her nails for 28 years, since the early 1990s.

Before she got them cut, she had to be very careful with certain tasks and was unable to do others, like washing dishes or putting sheets on the bed.

“With my movements I have to be very, very careful,” Williams admitted. “So usually in my mind I’m already preparing for the next step that I have to do to make sure that I don’t hurt myself with my nails – or break them. I’m excited about cutting my nails because I’m looking forward to new beginnings.”

It took several days and three to four bottles of nail polish to polish her nails. In 2017, when she was first named the woman with the longest fingernails, it took two bottles of nail polish and 20 hours to lacquer her talons.

Dr. Allison Readinger cut Williams’ nails with an electric rotary tool.

“With or without my nails, I will still be the queen,” Williams said.

“My nails don’t make me; I make my nails.”

Although Williams already held the current women’s record for the world’s longest fingernails, the record-holder for the woman with the world’s longest fingernails ever is still Lee Redmond, whose fingernails reached 28 feet, 4.5 inches long in February 2008.

Sounds like she fought for that title tooth and nail.

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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Community Hachnosas Sefer Torah at Khal Yismach Moshe, Rabbi Heshy Blumstein’s shul, dedicated by Aryeh and Shifra Blumstein

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The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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IN THE CANVAS Rabbi Shimon Finkelman Living the Parashah by Parashah A RIP

5781

2020 2021 13,12, DECEMBER MARCH

ISSUE #33

DESIGN & LAYOUT: AVIVA KOHN

ַ‫וַ יּ‬ ָ ‫ְרא מ ֶֹשׁה ֶאת ָכּל ַה ְמּ ָל‬ ‫אכה וְ ִהנֵּ ה ָע‬ ‫שׂוּ א ָֹתהּ ַכּ ֲא ֶשׁר ִצוָּ ה ה' ֵכּ‬ .‫ן ָעשׂוּ וַ ָיְב ֶרְך א ָֹתם מ ֶֹשׁה‬ had done it as Hashem work and behold! They Moshe saw the entire they done (39:43). had commanded so had already!” ‫ וְ ִהנֵּ ה ָע‬edge! It enough ֵ ‫כּן‬...‫שׂוּ‬ back. His friend now Robert takes another step Why the double expression, had they done? artdoes not hear him. The had done... so realizes that he simply ‫ ָעשׂוּ‬- and behold! they as things HaMikdash, Hashem world, figuratively, and In destroying the Beis and ist is in another of entering another the wood and stones, look, he is on the verge “cast His wrath upon wrath upon Yisworld in a very real sense.

He did not cast His there is only one ch. 4). It sounds, His friend decides that rael” (Eichah Rabbah, another moPincus, thing to do. Without waiting commented Rav Shimshon takes hold of the with rage ment, he lunges forward, like a father who is burning Rathbeautiful painting. the rips behavior. and canvas ... over his son’s terrible What the father vents “My picture... My masterpiece... er than beat his son, cries. a glass bowl. have you done?” the artist his anger by smashing replies. friend that this “What have I done?” his Heaven forfend to think Rav Pincus exRav Shimshon Pincus “I’ve saved your life.” is what Chazal meant.

Prior to the churban, a mashal: Explained Rav Pincus: plained their intent with have climbed a steep of Klal Yisrael was mired An artist and his friend a significant portion other nevi’im cried out the view is breathtaking. in sin. Yirmiyahu and mountain, from where their and attempts to capture imploring them to mend The artist sets up his easel ear me- to the people, people turned a deaf canvas. After working ways, to no avail. The the scene before him on because they mistakenly puts down the paintbrush to the nevi’im’s words ticulously for hours, he how low they sank, the It is truly magnificent. thought that no matter and admires his work. save them. The Then he takes three HaMikdash would always He views it from up close.

Beis he thought,” I Gadol and his representaagain. “Just as korbanos, the Kohen steps back and views it from a distance.” other facets of the Temtive role, and the many muses. “It looks even better prevent their exile, or three steps back. surely another yet would takes he And ple service they impressed with the the artist on the cliff, While his friend is equally so they thought. Like the increasingly uneasy as on the Beis HaMikdash; were totally focused finished product, he grows not did bringsteps, them three towards another words of rebuke directed the artist proceeds to take feet of the cliff’s edge. even register. ing himself within a few left with no choice but “Don’t move back anyAnd so Hashem was “Robert!” he calls out. close to the edge. The paint- to “rip the canvas” and destroy the Beis HaMikmore! You’re getting too people from their thus jolting His beloved ing is great, a masterpiece.” and he is totally ab- dash, His wrath upon wood But the artist hears nothing; an- reverie. He “cast very wood and stones he produced. He takes stones” because those sorbed in the work that lethcause of His People’s the back... sense, steps a in three were, other no continued on page 3 listen to me? Don’t move “Robert! Why don’t you argy. With the destruction, getting too close to the to: yhisiger@artscroll.com. back another step; you’re and address info your shul name free, please send every week for this newsletter receive copies of To have your shul

Hashkafah

NEW!

QUESTIONS QUESTIONS,Chasam Sofer Haggadah

RABBI YITZCHOK HISIGER, EDITOR

The

ren Parashah for Child

Perspective S IT IS HIS KINDNES Rabbi on Tehillim compiled by

Rav Chaim Kanievsky

by Rabbi Avrohom Wagner Shai Graucher, translated

‫פרשיות ויקהל–פקודי‬

NEW!

Rav Chaim

by Rabbi Yisroel Besser Someone came to that he had beKanievksy and said able to ask questhe person being mekarev Children have to be down. come observant, and that which weighs them he tions, to feel free to share are, it is imhim had promised that valuable as questions But as important and One of the to do with a question.

“WE MUST portant to know what him a approached and asked REMEMBER THAT Chasam Sofer’s children Sofer conquestion. The Chasam HASHEM DOES complex philosophical and then told templated the question NOT NEED OUR have an answer.

CE. his son that he didn’t OBSERVAN disheartened.

The young man was would find his shidduch father — pillar of Rav Chaim Kanievsky How could it that his within the year. flourishing a of rav alhave p’sak to a generation, “Eight months yet of talmidim — said, “and I have not city, and rebbi to hundreds ready passed,” the fellow disan answer to the engaged. I am sorely could not come up with succeeded in becoming the The Chasam Sofer find my shidduch within question? appointed. If I don’t IT’S ALL Sofer I regret my entire teshuvah The next week, the Chasam remaining four months, RIGHT FOR offered an non-observance!” and will return to my called his son aside and to the man that one A JEW TO that was so Ray Chaim gently explained answer to the question LIVE WITH to Hashem. the original may not issue ultimatums giving Him a deadline clear that the son forgot . are Sofer told his QUESTIONS “The very fact that you question. The Chasam your finding a shidduch,” that when in that manner can delay son, “You should know remember that Hashem the answer as well, but had must I “We question, said. your Rav Chaim you asked me Sometimes, It is His kindness to something important. does not need our observance. near I wanted you to learn know the opportunity to draw - and I wanted you to us that He allows us my son, a Jew has questions with questions. You don’t Jew to live to Him!” that it’s all right for a NEW! away…” always need answers right

The Mystery of the

MESORAH

THIS IS FOR YOU.

ARTSCROLL I O N S P U B L I C A T

You’re a Jewish woman. You live your life by halachah.

Parashah

M

tell the Moshe made sure to had Jews that Hashem Himself be in appointed Betzalel to Why? charge of the Mishkan. people Moshe didn’t want the Betzalel to think that he chose because they were related.

(Betzalel was the great-grandson of Moshe’s sister Miriam.) because Hashem chose Betzalel for the job. he was the best person

AH SK HAGGAD

by Rabbi Yecheskel Ostreicher THE NOVOMIN Rebbe, Rav Yaakov Perlow from the Novominsker

TION THE WEEKLY QUES

mekalkeles es hashuof the tells us. “Ahavah for discuss the completion to My immense love This week’s parshiyos from the rah — due what is usually the following selection you, I accepted even Mishkan. We thus present Nadav and Avihu also were forbidden.” new Novominsk Haggadah: but HaMishkan, the nesi’im ketores during that time, During the Chanukas voluntary ne- brought thought that Hashem otherwise done as a not accepted. They maktir ketores, never Chatas, theirs was He had accepted each brought a Korban their donation just as an would accept davah (donation), and and Avihu were only after committing of the nesi’im, but Nadav brought is donation din pi the al which accepted considered a cheit on nedavah. Still, Hashem Their donation was aveirah and not as a would be that while as if achalti punished. love and joy. It was part. A possible explanation these korbanos out of generally would not with the hon- their that together korbanos honeycomb the nesi’im brought yaari im divshi, I ate the circumstances, they accepted under these ey (Rashi).

Mishkan, have been nesi’im asked and received to My garden, the accepted because the were 3 “The day you came outpourin the Name continued on page simchah, such a great permission from Moshe there was such a great My usual rules,” Hashem info to: yhisiger@artscroll.com. ing of1love, that I overlooked shul name and address

2

your free, please send every week for this newsletter receive copies of To have your shul

Missing Silver

shekels of silver. people gave 301,775 to oshe reported, “The of silver were used thousand shekels Three hundred of the Mishkan walls. the silver bases, stopped. make the Adanim, for…” Then Moshe shekels, were used was The rest, 1,775 silver been used for! Moshe what that silver had He couldn’t remember think he stole it! afraid the Jews would for Moshe to announce Everyone was waiting Moshe was There was silence. shekels of silver. by done with the 1,775 what had been the silence was broken he didn’t know. Suddenly silent. It seemed said: It voice. pillars.” a loud Heavenly silver hooks on the were used for the “1,775 silver shekels was saved.

— and Moshe’s honor Now everyone knew

WIN A $36L dei: ARTSCROL !

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GIFT CARD order of putting the Mishkan The Torah describes the the eleventh - and final - step?

What was March 17, to be entered tscroll.com by this Wednesday, info. Names of winto email the answer to shabbosquestion@ar your full name and contact Kids, please ask your parents CARD! Be sure to include Parashah. a $36 ARTSCROLL GIFT Family Edition Weekly can be found in The Jaffa into a weekly raffle to win edition. HINT: The answer ners will appear in a future AGE 8

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Terumah question is: – tovah, goodness; for: ‫ – ש‬shalom, peace; ‫ט‬ The winner of the Parashas answer is: The letters stand of the word shittim? The things that we would like Hashem to give to us. s special about the letters These are The question was: What’ – mechilah, forgiveness.

LL.COM ‫ – י‬yeshuah, help; and ‫ם‬ • WWW.ARTSCRO

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• 1-800-MESORAH m/newsletter MESORAH PUBLICATIONS visit www.artscroll.co © ARTSCROLL Shabbos Table, At the ArtScroll To receive the weekly

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42

APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

SOME SEE BUILDINGS. O T H E R S S E E E T E R N I T Y.

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

Yeshiva Darchei Torah’s new capital project will encompass a Mesivta Beis Medrash and its first-ever Residence Hall. This project will empower generations of talmidim to learn, thrive and grow in an environment conducive to their lofty calling. Long after the final brick is laid, your gift will continue to accrue dividends.

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43

44

APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

HALB students had informative and moving programming to commemorate Yom HaShoah last week

Yom HaShoah at Central

S

tudents and teachers commemorated Yom HaShoah last Thursday morning with a meaningful and interactive program.

The morning began with our participating Names, Not Numbers senior, lining the school halls with burning candles. The program opened with Tehillim, led by Ms. Leah Moskovich, followed by the lighting of six yahrzeit candles, symbolizing the six million lives lost in the Shoah.

Each candle was introduced and lit by someone in the Central community who has a personal connection to someone who perished in the Holocaust.

The program continued with words of reflection from seniors Leah Frankel and Sophia Koffsky on their experience participating in the Names, Not Numbers program, run

by Mrs. Tova Rosenberg. They reflected on what it was like interviewing and meeting a Holocaust survivor.

With this introduction, we watched the interview of Rebbetzin Chaya Wilkin Small, a graduate from the first graduating class of Central, who escaped Poland to Shanghai, China, and was liberated in 1945.

Rebbetzin Small’s story is one of courage, emunah, commitment to Judaism, and kindness of others.

Our program concluded with words of Torah given by Rabbi Joshua Strulowitz.

Following this powerful program, our senior class had a special session on emunah, led by Ms. Bracha Rutner and Rabbi Joshua Strulowitz.

Students had the opportunity during the remainder of the day to view the “Sparks of Light: To Be a Woman in the Holocaust,” set up in the lobby by Mrs. Hadassah Frankel. This traveling exhibition from Yad Vashem enabled our students to reflect on different elements of the female experience throughout the Holocaust.

SKA Observes Yom HaShoah

SKA students watch a Yad Hashem video of Mrs. Hannah Pick who was a teenager in occupied Holland during the Shoah

W

hile SKA classes were held on Zoom the week after Pesach and faculty and students were all in different places, Yom Hashoah at the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls was commemorated on Thursday, April 8, in a particularly reverent way.

After an impactful introduction

by Mrs. Bluma Drebin, SKA’s Principal, General Studies, six faculty members whose relatives had gone through the war lit yahrzeit candles and spoke about their loved ones, making the Yom Hashoah commemoration more meaningful and personal.

Classroom workshops on Zoom, coordinated by faculty members Mrs. Sheila Leibtag and Mrs. Avital Braun, highlighted the Holocaust as seen

through the eyes of Jewish wartime teenagers. Through the journals and writings that they left behind, the events of the past became even more tangible to the SKA students.

Yad Vashem’s powerful video of the story of survivor Hannah Pick who was a teenager in occupied Holland was shown to the student body followed by the introduction of the Freshmen SKA Holocaust journal website – The Strength of Our Story – presented by three ninth graders who read their works. Under the direction of Mrs. Leibtag, the SKA Holocaust journal is filled with original stories, poems, and artwork and is dedicated to the survivors of the Shoah, whose legacy lives on for many of their granddaughters enrolled in the school.

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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Preparing for Yom Ha’Atzmaut at Shulamith ECC

Shulamith Middle Division Commemorates Yom HaShoah The children in HANC ECC West Hempstead are busily preparing for Yom Ha’Atzmaut

Yom HaShoah at SHS

By Keli Faivish and Gabi Moskowitz

S

hulamith High School students and faculty gathered in the auditorium last week to commemorate Yom HaShoah. A special focus was put on the individual – that each of the six million victims had their own story with their own families, talents, and challenges.

Director of Student Activities Ms. Esty Munk opened the ceremony and introduced Rabbi Trump.

Rabbi Trump spoke beautifully and led everyone in Tehillim. Arthur Spielman, a Holocaust survivor, then shared his incredible story about his family’s eventual immigration to America. He noted that the boat arrived on a Shabbos, and his father did not want to violate Shabbos by leaving the boat – he had to be forced out. Though he had witnessed the death of family members and barely escaped, he did not hold his an-

ger against Hashem or rebel against Judaism. Mr. Spielman eventually married and had children, two sons served in the IDF and one is currently serving in Israel’s army. Students listened intently to Mr. Spielman’s inspiring story and childhood. Afterward, students lit candles in memory of Holocaust survivors.

After closing remarks from Mrs. Sara Munk, students had an opportunity to visit the “Stories Museum.”

Seniors each created a project focusing on one survivor – many were family members of SHS students.

This allowed students to see individual stories of the Holocaust and give a more personal view of the six million statistic.

A moving day and experience, students left feeling the weight of the day along with the importance of remembering.

O

n Yom HaShoah, the seventh and eighth graders at Shulamith School for Girls got to meet Rabbi Cohn of Isra-ed via Zoom to learn about righteous gentiles during the Holocaust. Rabbi Cohn showed the girls videos and pictures of these heroes who saved Jews. The girls asked questions to better understand how selfless these people were.

Sixth grader Tehila Wachsler, from class 6B, shared, “I found it very inspiring to learn from Rabbi Cohn that there were many non-Jews who risked their lives to help save Jewish people during the Holocaust, and, as a result, so many of us are here today because of them. I didn’t realize how many heroes there were, and I’m so grateful.”

Students internalized Rabbi Cohn’s message: Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

A bit later that morning, Mrs. Carola Schiff of Cedarhurst addressed grades 5-8 on Zoom. Mrs. Schiff spoke to the girls about her experience in the Holocaust as a child on the run and in hiding in France. At 10 months old, Mrs. Schiff saved her parents’ lives because, at that time, those with children under 15 months old were not taken to concentration camps. Mrs. Schiff was 3 years old when they were liberated. Even after the war was over, she still suffered anti-Semitism, even from her teachers who were collaborators during the war.

Sixth grader Eliana Hercman commented, “It was special to hear from a Holocaust survivor. Her story was very inspiring, and it was interesting to hear how she survived. I’m sure it was so scary and a really hard experience for her.”

After her visit, students expressed their gratitude to Mrs. Schiff by writing letters and sending emails thanking her for telling them her story.

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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The Truth About the Truth Part II

By Rabbi Ephraim Eliyahu Shapiro on behalf of the Sefas Tamim Foundation

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am grateful to the Sefas Tamim Foundation for giving me the opportunity, through a series of articles, to address the topic of emes and yashrus. We have tremendous gratitude to this organization for bringing a heightened awareness about these incredibly important middos to Klal Yisrael. B’ezras Hashem, through the work of the Sefas Tamim Foundation, we should indeed become far more meticulous in these middos.

In our last article, we discussed the importance of living a life of emes, and the pitfalls of mixing even small parts of sheker with emes. In

this week’s presentation, we discuss how to become an ish emes – a person of truth.

Becoming an ish emes is a very achievable, practical and pragmatic goal. The pasuk at the end of Parshas Yisro says: “V’lo tsaleh b’maalos al mizbachi” – do not ascend the Mizbeach with stairs. Instead, the Torah instructs us to reach the Mizbeach via a ramp. My father, HaRav Mordechai Shapiro, zt”l, relates a beautiful explanation of this command.

How is a step constructed? There is a part of the step that can be used to ascend or descend. There is also the middle, level part of the step – the platform part of the step. That platform part represents a person stagnating, remaining the same –

without spiritual growth. My father explained the pasuk so beautifully.

When each of us aspires to ascend our personal Mizbeach and to become a ben or bas ailyah, we should not ascend in the fashion of a step. A step represents up, down, and level stagnation in the middle – the platform part of the step.

Build your personal Mizbeach with a ramp. A ramp represents incremental and consistent growth.

With a ramp, there is no area to plateau, to stagnate, to remain the same. A ramp is the ultimate way we reach the top of our Mizbeach – improving gradually and continuously.

That is ultimately, how we become an ish emes!

The letters in the word “Yisrael” – Yud, Shin, Resh, Aleph, Lamed –

represent yesh shishim ribui asiyos l’Torah. There are 600,000 letters in the Torah, corresponding to the 600,000 Jewish neshamos that were present at Har Sinai.

However, if you count the letters in the Torah, this is simply not accurate. There are approximately half that number – approximately 300,000 letters in the Torah. The Shefa Chaim, the Klausenberger Rebbe, relates an inspiring explanation. We know that if two letters in the Sefer Torah touch each other, the Torah is not kosher. You must have a space between every letter. If you have 300,000 letters and they cannot touch each other, then you have 300,000 spaces. When you add up

and Sima Ross • First Place Group Exhibit: The Skokie Affair: Challenging the First Amendment Talia Beck, Rebecca Berg, Nina

Plaut, Avtalya Teitelbaum, and Rachel Yadgarov Congratulations to all the HALB groups that participated and good luck to those moving on.

Continued on page 49

HALB Knows History

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hroughout the month of March, the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach participated virtually in Long Island History Day as part of the larger National History Day Competition. The students created projects that examined events in history and how they relates to this year’s theme, Communication: The Key to Understanding.

For the past five months, under the guidance of their social studies teacher Ms. Kristen Waterman, the eighth grade students researched various events and people from time periods as far back as the American Industrial Revolution and as recent as 1980s. Seven of the nine groups from HALB placed within the top six on Long Island, with three projects placing first in their category. All projects that placed will be advancing to New York State History Day, which will take place virtually in April.

The First Place Winners were: • First Place Group Documentary: Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Communicating for All Womankind By: Ruth Ginsburg, Shira Friedman, Gabrielle Heller, Ayala Hoschander, and Shani Waxman • First Place Group Website: It’s a

Sunny Day to Learn: Sesame Street Communicates ABCs and Life Lessons Through Television By: Mikhaela Abayev, Abby Karkowsky, Olivia Papilsky, Kayla Paul,

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The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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the letters and spaces you have a total of 600,000, which corresponds to the number of neshamos in Klal Yisrael present at Har Sinai. Days in which we conduct ourselves with emes and integrity, we are represented by a beautiful, shining Torah letter. On days in which we make mistakes, we may only be represented by a space in the Torah. The reality is that this is the make-up of Klal Yisroel – each Yid has letters and spaces.

Although today we are represented by a space in the Torah, it does not mean that tomorrow we cannot change and become a shining Torah letter. Sometimes we go through periods when we feel that we have failed. Perhaps we are not behaving properly – not being exactly truthful to others or to ourselves. Today we are represented only by a space.

B’ezras Hashem, today’s space can be tomorrow’s letter. We can improve.

The way to improve – to be more

honest, as we ascend our personal Mizbeach – is to take gradual, consistent steps. Let us be more careful each day in choosing our words to ensure that they are truthful. We must keep every commitment we make.

side – as “k’baro” as on the outside.

We act consistently, with emes and yashrus, on the inside – internally in our homes and with our families – as we act on the outside – with our friends, community and in business.

The “inside” letters of the word

The way to improve – to be more honest, as we ascend our personal Mizbeach – is to take gradual, consistent steps.

When we reach the top of our respective ramps and attain our goals, acting with consistency and honesty, we can earn one of the highest accolades. We can achieve – “Tocho k’baro” a sincere honest person who is the same “tocho” – on the in-

“tocho” are Vav and Chof, with a gematria of 26. The “outside” letters of the word “k’baro” are Chof and Vav, with a gematria of 26. The gematria of Hashem’s name (Yud Kei Vav Kei) is 26. To reach the lofty levels of honesty and sincerity in-

herent in “tocho k’baro” we must always be cognizant of Hashem’s presence when we are “inside” and when we are “outside!”

When we internalize the concept that Hashem is always watching us, it compels us to act with honesty and integrity in every internal, private matter and every external, public situation.

In our next article, we will discuss how being honest and truthful can enhance Kovod Shamayim – the glory of Hashem and discuss our related obligations.

The Sefas Tamim Foundation’s mission is to underscore the importance of living a life of 100% emes through the learning of halacha, mussar, and chizuk.

For further information regarding the Sefas Tamim Foundation or to subscribe to its weekly newsletter, please contact Boruch Delman at 718-200-5462 or info@everydayemes.org.

SEFAS TAMIM

FOUNDATION mely

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Emphasizing Everyday Emes

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The Sefas Tamim Foundation emphasizes the importance of honesty (Emes) in everyday matters: • In Thought: being honest with ourselves.

• In Speech: keeping the commitments we make to each other.

• In Business: being honest in business and with our personal finances.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER: Call (718) 200-5462 or email Info@EverydayEmes.org

“...The Sefas Tamim Foundation is a new organization designed to strengthen our commitment to zn`… through the learning of dkld and xqen. We would like to extend dkxa and dglvd to all those who support this organization and offer assistance in fulfilling its most holy mission.”

“...I wish brocha and hatzlocha to Klal Yisroel’s yorai shamayim and baalei hashpoah who publish and speak words of chizuk, mussar and halacha to assist this new foundation’s mission to help Klal Yisroel remain honest in speech and ehrlich in action.”

“...The Sefas Tamim Foundation is an organization in formation to foster truth and honesty in all areas of life but especially in business where one can make excuses to speak and act dishonestly. All those that help this organization… will be rewarded richly for their believing in Klal Yisrael and in truth.”

Rabbi Dovid Harris

Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky

Rabbi Reuven Feinstein

Rosh HaYeshiva, Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen Baal HaChafetz Chaim

Rabbi Akiva Grunblatt

Rosh HaYeshiva, Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen Baal HaChafetz Chaim

Rosh HaYeshiva, Yeshiva of Philadelphia

‫אמת‬

Rosh HaYeshiva,

Yeshiva of Staten Island

E M P H A S I Z I N G E V E R Y D AY E M E S

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A new playground was installed last week by Aish Kodesh on the property adjacent to the current shul on Woodmere Blvd

Landmark State Aid for Holocaust Survivors

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fter making the Holocaust Survivors Initiative a priority in this year’s state budget, Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows), Speaker Carl E. Heastie, and 10 state legislators announced $1.5 million in funding to assist survivors. This record allocation marks an almost 400% increase in funding from previous year’s budgets.

“New York’s budget commits to caring for those who need it most

kosher laughs and lessons for life III

– Holocaust survivors. It is our responsibility to ensure that they have access to all the necessary services to live with the comfort and dignity they deserve, especially with the added health risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Assemblywoman Nily Rozic. “I am grateful to Speaker Carl E. Heastie and all of my colleagues for their partnership in securing this essential funding.”

Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie

Kosher Laughs and Lessons for Life

KURLAND

121 Amusing Stories and Thought-Provoking lessons for life VOLUME III

YEHOSHUA KURLAND

said: “This year’s budget backs up the state’s support of Holocaust survivors with landmark funding to ensure our most vulnerable receive the services and support they need. Yom HaShoah is an annual reminder of what can happen when hate is unchecked and I am proud to reiterate that New York rejects hate and stands with survivors.”

Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz, the son of Holocaust survivors himself, said: “After enduring the horrors of the Holocaust, survivors today face poverty, food insecurity, medical crises, and trauma. This $1.5 million in funding will bring care and support to this already vulnerable group that has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. I join with my colleagues on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, to honor those that are not with us by taking care of those that still remain.”

Assemblyman David I. Weprin said: “After living through unimaginable horrors, Holocaust survivors need our support. That’s why I joined my colleague, Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, in advocating for an increase of funding to the Holocaust Survivors Initiative. The $1 million in additional funding will help cover critical services, like trauma informed care, mental health counseling and housing assistance. In a time where we must all be socially distant due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these services are needed now more than ever to help ensure Holocaust survivors live and age in dignity and respect.”

Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal said: “When the last of a generation that survived unspeakable atrocities needs help we have a duty to be there for them. We must provide the resources that survivors require in

order for them to live with grace and dignity, they have earned that right. I proudly stand with my colleagues in this worthwhile effort.”

Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein said: “Making sure that every single one of our precious Holocaust survivors are provided for is one of our key responsibilities as legislators. Today, as we commemorate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, we are collectively glad to announce this new allocation in this year’s budget.”

Eric S. Goldstein, CEO, UJA-Federation of New York, said: “UJA-Federation of New York is grateful for the unwavering efforts of Assemblymember Rozic and her colleagues in the Assembly and Senate for their work in securing $1.5 million to support services for Holocaust survivors in New York. Their commitment to helping survivors age with dignity has resulted in this significant investment. Because of their past trauma, survivors often require a special set of social, health, and mental health services, and this funding will make a huge difference helping these individuals.”

The funding approved in this year’s state budget for Holocaust survivors residing in New York will provide financial assistance, mental health care, legal services, transportation, and sensitive end-of-life care.

As survivors age and navigate expected challenges, they need additional support for issues that stem directly from experiences in the Holocaust. Studies have found that survivors face a higher incidence of cancer, heart disease, PTSD, and depression.

More than 50% of survivors living in New York City can be classified as “very poor” or “near poor” under federal guidelines.

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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JEP/Nageela Hosts Challah Bake and Shabbos Kiddush

By Jen Reiz

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he first Shabbos after Pesach called for a little extra motivation and excitement in the Five Towns. So JEP/Nageela stepped in to give dozens of mothers and daughters an inspirational boost to get their challah-making “skillz” cranking.

The event took place in Ohr Torah of North Woodmere on Thursday night. How was this challah bake different from all other challah bakes?

For some of the girls, this was a whole new experience, they had never made a challah before.

One mother shyly asked why women are given a mitzvah to make challah, which led to a beautiful explanation about hafrashat challah

and women’s roles in Judaism. The evening also coincided with Yom Hashoah so women and children were encouraged to light candles in dedication to those who perished in the Holocaust. An Israeli grandmother who accompanied her daughter and granddaughter said that she appreciated the event because “this generation needs to learn all these important things about our religion.”

It was a time to bond with family and to share in a key tradition. Attendees found all the ingredients for challah baking, including inspiration to create their challah works of art.

Whether in the shape of a key to mark the parnassah symbol of the “shlissel” challah or just braided, many pounds of dough were lovingly handled to

Achiezer at 13: A Talk with Dr. Brucha Lowinger

By Avi Shiff

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n honor of Achiezer’s 13th year, we are conducting a multipart series celebrating the various facets of this remarkable organization. For Week #4, we spoke to Dr. Brucha Lowinger.

Thank you, Dr. Lowinger, for your time amidst your hectic schedule. For how many years have you worked for Achiezer?

Ten years.

What is your role at Achiezer?

I am the Mental Health Department Coordinator, responsible for anything mental health related. I deal with crisis intervention, referrals, consultations, and so on. Any issue that comes Achiezer’s way that has a psychological component is sent to us. Achiezer has other departments and staff who deal with all types of family crises, and they refer to our department those matters which pertain to us.

What are some real-life examples of where Achiezer’s involvement has made a difference?

Honestly, we’re very careful not to recount specific scenarios, because people will often be able to identify

their situation, and we’re so very careful and sensitive about confidentiality, so I don’t want to get very specific. However, I will tell you that we’ve made an unbelievably positive impact on families dealing with challenges.

We ensure that they are put in touch with the proper professionals and we address the related issues, such as financial and familial wellbeing, while at the same time ensuring that the mental health matters are dealt with completely and professionally. The various departments here at Achiezer meet as a group, so that we can brainstorm. Then, each of us, with our respective expertise, comes up with a plan for each family in crisis.

What is it like working with the rest of the outstanding staff and departments at Achiezer?

It’s absolutely incredible. I will tell you that we all complement each other very well. No one stands on ceremony.

Everyone is here to contribute what they can. We are each able to look at an issue and make our contribution from our point of view. And that’s a wonderful part of Achiezer and what makes it so unique. We work harmoniously to tackle so many different needs in the community.

Can you comment on Achiezer’s

welcome Shabbat with joy this past week.

The inspiration continued on Shabbos day as JEP/Nageela hosted a generous kiddush for Ohr Torah attendees after davening concluded.

Dozens of families enjoyed the lavish spread and heard from Rabbi Yitzchok Wurem, COO of JEP/Nageela, on how to raise children with positivity. That is a value Camp Nageela gives its campers.

Thanks to Chaya Fiedler and Rochel Halpert for organizing and leading a successful evening and kiddush on Shabbos that will hopefully spur on more interest in Jewish-focused events by JEP/Nageela and its funfilled Camp Nageela. For more information on how to be our KEYS for

success and support these efforts, please contact jenr@jepli.org or visit jepli.org/donate. Tizku l’mitzvot!

Jen Reiz is JEP/Nageela’s Director of PR & Development.

Part 4 of a Series growth over the last decade?

It’s grown by leaps and bounds.

There’s no question about that. This organization has expanded along with the community’s needs, based on what those particular needs are.

It’s been wonderful to watch this growth from up close over the last decade. People call us from all over, not just from the Far Rockaway and Five Towns area, even though that’s where we are physically located.

Achiezer’s reputation has grown and spread over time.

How has Covid-19 impacted what you do?

The calls definitely increased during the height of the coronavirus and since then. Mental health became a front-and-center issue in light of the anxiety people were dealing with. People were worried. They were dealing with isolation for weeks or months at a time. People were anxious about their children and themselves. Those who were already dealing with mental health issues found them exacerbated by Covid; being alone, dealing with health concerns and being faced with parnassah issues, insurance worries and the like compounded what was already a very stressful time. Achiezer was up the task, and we did all that we could

to be there for every member of the community who needed us.

Any final comment?

From my perspective, Achiezer provides a trusted resource for people to consult with in a very confidential and non-threatening manner, having somewhere to bring their concerns and issues to. I feel very gratified and honored to be able to provide that to people.

Achiezer has made a major impact on the community and on families, and it keeps growing as necessary to respond to the needs of the community.

Thank you, Dr. Lowinger, for all you do on behalf of Achiezer to help our community!

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Around the Community

MTA Faculty Member Wins Wilbur Award

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TA is proud to announce that Mrs. Tova Fish-Rosenberg, MTA Director of Hebrew Language and Special Programs and Founder of Names, Not Numbers, has been named a winner of the prestigious Wilbur Award by the Religion Communicators Council for the Names, Not Numbers project and her role as its Producer/Creator.

Since 1949, the Wilbur Awards have been presented annually to recognize excellence in the communication of religious issues, values, and themes in public secular media.

Through the awards, the Religion Communicators Council (RCC) recognizes the work of individuals, production companies, and agencies as they communicate about religious issues, values, and themes with professionalism, fairness, respect, and honesty. Past winners include Morgan Freeman, Oprah Winfrey, Jane Pauley, Mister Rogers, CBS Sunday Morning, ABC’s 20/20, Meet the

Press, Vanity Fair, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and The New York Times.

Mrs. Rosenberg’s submission of Names, Not Numbers, with additional credits to Dov Rosenberg and Michael Puro, was enthusiastically

An Inspiring Rosh Chodesh

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n honor of Rosh Chodesh Iyar, Mesivta Netzach HaTorah invited Rabbi Pinchas Weinberger, rav of Beis Tefilah of Inwood and Rosh Yeshiva of Nishmas HaTorah, to join their Rosh Chodesh seudah and share divrei Torah and inspiration to the talmidim.

The seudah was a beautiful event with heartfelt singing and inspiring divrei Torah welcoming in the month of Iyar.

Did you know?

Approximately 2/3 of all the bird species are found in tropical rainforests

endorsed by the judging panel for its excellence in communicating religious and inspiring themes.

“What an honor it is to have Names, Not Numbers be named among this list of world famous people and institutions that have won

this award recognizing their work that communicates values and respect,” said Mrs. Rosenberg. “Over the past 15 years, hundreds of MTA students have interviewed close to 200 Holocaust survivors and memorialized their stories through the creation of their Names, Not Numbers documentary films. This project is even more important now than ever before, as we continue to witness the dangers of prejudice, discrimination, anti-Semitism, racism, and intolerance. Through Names, Not Numbers, we can continue to combat antisemitism by raising awareness of the atrocities of the Holocaust and ensuring that the Jewish people never have to relive this tragic experience.”

MTA congratulates Mrs. Rosenberg on this tremendous accomplishment and looks forward to screening this year’s Names, Not Numbers documentary in the coming months.

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JCCRP delivered goodies in appreciation to local sanitation workers for their extra pre-Pesach service

The girls in Yeshiva Sha’arei Zion in Forest Hills went on a trip last week to say birchat ha’ilanot

Record Stem Aid for Yeshivas

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enator Todd Kaminsky helped secure $40 million in state funding for STEM (science, technology, education and math) education in yeshivas and Jewish day schools in this year’s budget. This $10 million increase from last year’s allocation represents a record investment in students at local nonpublic schools.

“Every child deserves a first-rate education — and our local yeshivas provide that and more,” said Senator Todd Kaminsky. “I was proud to help secure a record investment in STEM for our local Jewish day schools this year, helping propel our children to the careers of tomorrow. Importantly, the more aid we secure for our yeshivas from Albany, the less parents are called upon to shoulder the tuition burden.”

“HALB applauds Senator Kaminsky for securing $40 million in STEM aid for our yeshivas and Jewish day schools. This funding will go a long way in preparing our students

for the jobs of tomorrow and spurring a lifelong love for sciences, math and technology. We are grateful to Senator Kaminsky for his unwavering support for and commitment to education and our yeshiva,” said Hebrew Academy of Long Beach Executive Director Richard Hagler.

“This unprecedented funding in a difficult budget year is a testament to the champion that the Jewish community has in Senator Kaminsky.

This program is historic and groundbreaking in America, and what it does and continues to do for Long Island yeshivas and day schools is monumental,” said Maury Litwack, Executive Director of the Orthodox Union’s Teach Advocacy Network.

Senator Kaminsky has been a champion for yeshiva students and has led the fight to bolster funding for non-public schools in Albany.

Since Kaminsky has been in the Senate Majority, STEM aid for private schools has increased by 800 percent.

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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Gesher’s Yellow Room learned so much this week

Children at the Lynbrook JCC celebrated Yom Ha’Atzmaut

“Tzadi” is for Tzaddik YOSS Preschool Remembers Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky, zt”l

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n connection to the letter “Tzadi,” the kindergarten class of Yeshiva of South Shore welcomed the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky, to the preschool.

Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky told the boys that a long time ago, his father, Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky, zt”l, whose yahrzeit is this week, opened our Yeshiva of South Shore to teach Torah to boys like them! He was a great man who greeted us all with a smile and wanted us to grow up to be big tzaddikim. He made all of our rabbeim

and moros understand that they have a big part in making all of the boys tzaddikim as well.

Rebbe Eli Herzberg taught the boys that Rabbi Binyamin Kamentzky taught us that anyone could become a tzaddik. A tzaddik can be a big talmid chochom, one who learns and knows a lot of Torah, and a tzaddik can be someone who does a lot of chessed. A woman can also be a tzadekes.

The children all brainstormed with their moros how they can be tzaddikim, too.

MAY Senior Volunteers and Vaccinates

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igh school students have a myriad of outlets and hobbies to fill their downtime.

It is quite common to find adolescent males playing sports, music and even doing chessed. Over the past few weeks, Dovid Samson, a 12th grader at Mesivta Ateres Yaakov, has used his spare time registering members of the Five Towns and Far Rockaway community to receive the COVID-19 vaccinations.

When Dovid saw how difficult it can be for community members, particularly the elderly, to register for the vaccination, he proactively reached

out to the JCCRP and offered his assistance. Since then, he has been a driving force for the JCCRP, working to get shots in people’s arms.

Moshe Brandsdorfer, Executive Director of the JCCRP, commented, “Dovid has been an invaluable asset to the JCCRP and the entire community. He has booked over 100 appointments to date. His volunteer work has been truly incredible and inspiring.”

For more information about volunteering, please contact Moshe Brandsdorfer at executivedirector@ jccrp.org.

Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky, zt”l, with his son, ybl”ch, Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky

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Lunch in the Park

As we count the days of sefirah and keep climbing higher and higher to get ready for Matan Torah, TAG’s Early Childhood Division celebrated Rosh Chodesh Iyar by hopping, climbing and just having fun!

Magenu Comes to IVDU

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fter a much-needed and relaxing Pesach break, each grade at Central enjoyed the glorious spring weather at a “Lunch in the Park” outing last week.

Freshmen and juniors had lunch in the park on Tuesday, and sophomores and seniors had lunch in the park on Wednesday. Each grade enjoyed the walk to Cunningham Park, ate lunch outdoors with their friends, played frisbee and catch (brought by the students themselves!), and heard the exciting an-

nouncements about all of the upcoming gradewide trips, events, and outings in the coming weeks.

As we come to the conclusion of such a topsy-turvy year, we cannot wait to have a blast at all these upcoming in-school and out-of-school activities and adventures! With so much in-store, we are eagerly anticipating our end-of-year trips: freshman and sophomore trip to Six Flags, junior overnight trip to upstate NY, and senior trip to Disney World.

MTA Launches Intergenerational Learning Program

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VDU LI just launched a new personal safety initiative created by Magenu and especially developed with a special education population in mind. The program aims to cover important personal safety rules and teach students important skills about how to keep themselves safe. The goal is to educate students about themselves and to teach more danger and safety awareness when out in the community. Led by the counseling team, the weekly lessons are taught during the social skills

groups, and weekly skills are shared with parents to help review with their children at home.

Topics that we are covering are private versus public behaviors, stranger danger, and safe versus unsafe touch. Having undergone a specialized training by Dr. Shani Verschleiser MSW, creator of the Magenu Curiculum, IVDU teachers will support the program as well. Taking this team approach is especially pivotal in preparing students for the summer months ahead.

TA recently launched the Shalsheles Hamesorah Mishna Project, a program that provides grandparents and their grandchildren, parents or other relatives and children, with the meaningful opportunity to take advantage of the shalsheles hamesorah (the chain of tradition), and increase Torah learning in the MTA community. The program began on Pesach and will extend through Shavuos, enabling talmidim to learn a masechta or part of a masechta of Mishnayos with a grandparent, parent, or other relative over this time period. The program is accessible to grandparents, parents, and relatives, regardless of their background in learning.

“It has been a long year, and many

of our talmidim have missed the opportunity to spend quality time with their grandparents and relatives,” shared MTA Associate Principal Rabbi Shimon Schenker. “We recognize the impact this has had on our families and have created the Shalsheles Hamesorah Mishna Project as an exciting way to bring everyone together.”

Each week, program participants receive divrei Torah videos from MTA rebbeim and talmidim, introducing each of the Sedarim of Mishnayos.

In addition to the joy of learning together, participants will join together on Thursday, June 3 at MTA’s annual Yeshiva-Wide Seudas Preidah and Siyum to celebrate their learning and make a siyum on all of Shisha Sidrei Mishna.

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The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

Around the Community

‫בס“ד‬

Pre-Pesach Pop-Up

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ith a little bit of advertising, pop-up sales are generally quite successful. The Chazaq Organization always seeks new ways to help the community, and partnered with Little Steps, a Monsey-based shoe retailer, to offer the Queens community an exclusive collection of European children’s footwear at bottom-dollar pricing.

“The two-day event was meant to give families some relief after a year fraught with financial uncertainty.

We chose to host the flash sale from our recently dedicated Lev Aharon Community Food Pantry, which just concluded an impressive communal distribution,” said Rabbi Yaniv Meirov, CEO of Chazaq. “It is Chazaq’s hope that we were able to make a difference for families ahead of Pesach and allow them to feel the difference both with their children getting new shoes and having some extra money in their wallets.”

Chazaq reached out to its network of volunteers to man the event.

“From organization, to distribution, our volunteers stepped up to help us lead a successful event where hundreds of shoes were sold,” said Robbie “Mr. Chazaq” Aboff, the event’s lead coordinator.

“Over 20 styles of shoes sold were

from a new collection for the current season,” said Rachman Soleymani, a dedicated Chazaq volunteer who truly went above and beyond. “I am thrilled to have been able to help the community and give our neighbors the chance to have an easier Pesach holiday.

Shoe options were both for weekday and Shabbos wear. “ Once the emails and WhatsApps went out, we began to share the flyer amongst other mothers in the community. I sent it to my shul group and a group from my son’s class in yeshivah. We are blessed to have an organization like Chazaq in our community, which looks for new ways to ease the Yom Tov burden,” said Gila C., a Kew Gardens Hills mother of three youngsters.

Natan Aboff, Robbie’s brother, has been a consistent face volunteering at Chazaq programming. The Aboffs live in West Hempstead and are delighted to help Torah projects around the City.

“It is an honor to be here with my brother, helping out,” said Natan. “Hearing that the customers are able to have a more relaxed Pesach is enough of a reason to spend my Sunday with Chazaq.”

Did you know?

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Natan Aboff (L) volunteering alongside Rachman Soleymani at the Chazaq flash shoe sale in Queens

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TJH

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Centerfold

Royal Flush Some of the late Prince Philip’s most notable quips and gaffes

 “Everybody was saying we must have more leisure.

Now they are complaining they are unemployed.” – said during the 1981 recession

 “Holidays are curious things, aren’t they? You send children to school to get them out of your hair. Then they come back and make life difficult for parents. That is why holidays are set so they are just about the limit of your endurance.”

 “How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?” – asked to a Scottish driving instructor

 “Dontopedalogy is the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in it, a science which I have practiced for a good many years.”

 “Deaf? If you are near there, no wonder you are deaf.”

- speaking to a group of young deaf people at a school located near a loud steel mill

 “What do you gargle with – pebbles?” To singer Tom Jones, after the Royal Variety Performance, that the prince didn’t enjoy

 “British women can’t cook.”  “I am nothing but a bloody amoeba. I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children.”

 “When a man opens a car door for his wife, it’s either a new car or a new wife.”  “You look like a suicide bomber.” - to a young policewoman wearing a bulletproof vest  “Oh no, I might catch some ghastly disease.” - when asked to stroke a koala  “Aren’t most of you descended from pirates?” – asked to a wealthy resident of the Cayman Islands 

“Well, you didn’t design your beard too well, did you?”- to a designer who has a small goatee

 “Get me a beer. I don’t care what kind it is, just get me a beer!” – on a visit to Rome, when offered wine by the Italian prime minister  “The problem with London is the tourists. They cause the congestion. If we could just stop the tourism, we could stop the congestion.”  “Young people are the same as they always were.

They are just as ignorant.”  “You bloody silly fool!” - to a parking lot attendant who failed to recognize him  “The man who invented the red carpet needed his head examined.”

You Gotta be Kidding Me! One time, Prince Philip was at a royal event and went to get a drink.

He approached the bar and said, “One fruit punch, please!”

The bartender replied, “Sir, this is the line for lemonade.”

So, Prince Philip hurried over to the next line.

He eventually reached the front and said, “One fruit punch for the Prince!”

The bartender said, “Your Royalness, I am sorry but this is the wine line.”

Frustrated, Prince Philips asked, “Where do I go for fruit punch?!”

The bartender replied, “Sorry. There is no punch line!”

Jewish Home | APRIL 29, 15, 2021 The The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 2015

Prince Philip Trivia 1. Where was Prince Philip born? a. Scotland b. London c. Ireland d. Greece 2. How was Prince Philip related to Queen Elizabeth, aside from being her husband? a. He was her uncle b. They were third cousins c. They were first cousins d. He was her godfather 3. At what age did Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth begin their courtship? a. 13 b. 18 c. 24 d. 32 4. For how many years were Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip married? a. 47 b. 53 c. 64 d. 73 5. When walking together, protocol required Prince Philip to do which one of the following?

Answers: 1. D 2. B 3. A 4. D 5. B

6. C 7. C 8. D 9. D 10. B

a. Hold Queens Elizabeth’s hand and guide her b. Walk two feet behind Queen Elizabeth c. Not talk to her d. Hold an umbrella for her, just in case it would start raining; after all, it is England 6. Why weren’t Prince Philip’s sisters and their husbands invited to his royal wedding? a. Because they weren’t royals b. Because they refused to wear the colors mandated by the royal family c. Because his brothers-in-laws fought for the German army in World War II d. Because only Queen Elizabeth had the honors of inviting people, and they didn’t make her list 7. How many children did Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth – pardon me, did Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip have? a. 2 b. 3 c. 4 d. 5

8. In 1947, Prince Philip began using the surname Mountbatten, his mother’s surname, rather than his father’s surname. What was his father’s surname? a. Smith b. Battenavrage c. Popolopoulos d. Schleswig-HolsteinSonderburg-Glücksburg 9. Which of the following titles was bestowed upon Prince Philip’s mother, Alice, in 1993? a. Mother-in-law with the Least Power Award b. Mother of the First Husband Wife Award c. Least Likely to Have her Kids over For Thanksgiving Award d. Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Award (for hiding several Jews in Greece from the Nazis) 10. Which of the following was not one of Prince Philip’s titles? a. Duke of Edinburgh b. Sir Strange Surname c. Earl of Merioneth d. Baron Greenwich e. Knight of the Garter

Wisdom Key: 8-10 correct: Holy Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg! You are good!

4-7 correct: You are the Duke of Mediocrity.

0-3 correct: You are hereby bestowed with the royal title of Knight of Knownothing!

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Torah Thought

Parshas TazriaMetzorah

By Rabbi Berel Wein

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he Torah indirectly, but softly and clearly, speaks to the continuity of the Jewish people and the human race generally through the idea of having children.

It has been statistically shown that as prosperity rises in certain sections of society, the birthrate in that section of society declines. For me, this was always counterintuitive, because if one is prosperous, then one can certainly support more children.

If one is almost impoverished, the difficulty of raising and supporting

children is much greater.

The statistics regarding this matter are borne out by much empirical evidence that we also see in our own personal experience. For some reason, the affluent amongst us wish to retain their affluence by not having to spend money on raising and educating children. Children, to a great extent, impose themselves on the lifestyle, comfort, and wealth of their parents.

Having and raising children is a positive act of faith in the future and

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the unlimited generosity towards others. The amount of selfishness and narcissism that unfortunately characterize many in our society today accounts, in a great measure, for the large decrease in the birth rate in many Western cultures and countries. Europe is shrinking population-wise, and it is only the migration of millions from Africa and other parts of the world that keep its labor supply constant and allow it to function. Eventually, this phenome-

one’s child. Yet what is hidden from us by Heaven, the Talmud says, need not concern us as far as our duties to obey and perform G-d’s commandments. The future is always inscrutable, and try as we may, and we certainly do, we are unable to guarantee lives and fortunes of the next generation.

The variables in life are so enormous that there is no certainty possible. Having and raising children is a matter of faith and belief that

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Having and raising children is a matter of faith and belief that somehow there is a future.

non causes many other societal problems. Many of those problems are already apparent in France, Germany, Italy, and other parts of Europe where there had been an absorption of many immigrants who have not been able to integrate themselves successfully into European society.

The United States is not far behind in this critical problem, regarding the numbers and dimension of immigration and its integration and the shrinking birthright amongst the well-educated and the well-heeled.

Judaism has always been pro-family…and pro-large family.

King Solomon pointed out to us that the future is unknown, and no parent can predict the success and life of

somehow there is a future and that the children that we bring into this world will be able to manage and benefit from that future.

The Torah emphasizes that women have a strong maternal instinct that drives them to wish to have children, despite the immediate discomfort and long-range problems that all children bring to their parents. It is this life force within the woman that guarantees the survival of the Jewish people, and, in effect, the entire human race. In this week’s reading the Torah concentrates on the purity of the woman and her relationship to the Creator through childbirth, for she is “the mother of all life.”

Shabbat shalom.

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From the Fire Parshas Tazria-Metzorah

Setting Speech Free

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

W

e must understand why the metzorah, one afflicted with the skin condition called tzara’as, is treated so much more harshly than any other impure person. The Torah says, “He shall dwell alone, he shall reside outside the camp” (Vayikra 13:46). He must not only stay away from the Mishkan and the camp of the Levi’im but must also stay away from any Jewish settlement. He must even stay away from other impure individuals! Why is the metzorah treated even more severely than one who has come into contact with a dead body, whose impurity is even stronger? Why does the metzorah have no place in any Jewish community?

We can begin to understand this by studying a teaching of the Sfas Emes based on the Zohar in Parshas Tazria (46b): Just like a person is punished for evil speech, so, too, he is punished for failing to use positive speech in which he could have engaged but did not do so. [This is] because he has damaged his spirit of speech which was given to him in order for him to speak elevated [words of prayer] and lower [words of kindness to other people], all with holiness. How much the more so if the nation is going in a crooked path and he has the ability to speak with them and rebuke them, but he is silent and does not speak. The following verse applies to him (Tehillim 39:3): “I was mute with silence. I held my peace.

I had no comfort and my pain was stirred up.”

The Sfas Emes explains, based on this quote from the Zohar, that Hashem sends a person tzara’as not only for misusing his power of speech but also for his failure to use his power

of speech for the good, by speaking words of guidance and encouragement to other people. Such a person makes himself mute and cuts himself off from others.

The Sfas Emes also explains that in order to rectify the words the metzorah should not have said, as well as the good words he left unsaid, he must bring two live, pure birds to the Mishkan (Vayikra 14:4). The kohein slaughters one bird and sets the other one free (ibid. 5, 7). Rashi explains that the metzorah offers birds because it is the nature of birds to chirp and chatter, and the metzorah must atone for his inappropriate chatter.

But the Sfas Emes takes this idea a step further and teaches that the slaughtered bird corresponds to the inappropriate chatter which we must eliminate from our lives. We must slaughter words of gossip and idle criticism. We must slaughter the habit of speaking in shul. We must slaughter hurtful words toward those in our family, subordinates at work, and friends.

And the live bird, which is set free,

corresponds to the words of kindness, prayer, Torah, and encouragement that the metzorah had bottled up inside but which he should have set free, lest he find himself at the end of his days looking back on a life of “I was mute with silence…” Rather, if one sees another person who could use some encouragement, who would feel more connected to Yiddishkeit if he heard a Torah idea, or if one is tired but his or her spouse could use a kind word, one should let those positive words fly. He must give them free expression and not hold them back.

It is very easy to make a mistake and think that slaughtering negative speech means that one should be silent. Many people believe that the Chofetz Chaim, zt”l, who wrote the classic sefer on the laws of lashon hara, must have been a very quiet person. After all, when one has learned all of the halachos, it is hard to imagine what he is permitted to speak about!

But the Sfas Emes teaches us that the opposite is the case. We must empty our mouths of negative, hurtful speech in order to make room for the

mouth’s true purpose, as a vessel for words of prayer, Torah, and encouragement. I have met people who have seen the Chofetz Chaim, zt”l and they have testified, as is often quoted in seforim, that the Chofetz Chaim was a very gregarious person. He was very friendly and enjoyed talking with people. Slaughtering bad speech does not mean being silent. To the contrary, by emptying our mouths from the bad, we make room for the good.

The word for the skin affliction of tzara’as in Aramaic according to Targum Unkolus and the Zohar is sagiru, which literally means “closed off.”

The seforim hakedoshim explain that the essence of a person is expressed through his power of speech. That is why when G-d breathed into Adam’s nostrils “the breath of life,” Onkolus translates that phrase as “a speaking spirit” (Bereishis 2:7). The pasuk also says, “My soul went out with his speech” (Shir Hashirim 5:6). The soul is expressed through speech. As long as a person’s soul is closed off behind the iron curtain of the body’s and the evil inclination’s rule, it is extremely difficult to speak words of Torah, prayer, generosity, and kindness. Such words are like maror in the person’s mouth. The good inside the person’s soul is “closed off” and finds no expression. His words of kindness and encouragement are not set free. All such a person can say are forbidden words of smallness, nonsense, negativity and cynicism.

The seforim hakedoshim teach that the essence of the Egyptian experience was that speech was in exile.

That is why it was only after the king of Egypt died did the pasuk say, “The Jewish people groaned from the labor and cried out, and their cry ascended

to G-d from the labor” (Shmos 2:23).

The word for Pharaoh has the same letters as peh rah, evil mouth. That is because the essential point of Egypt was to use speech, which is meant to express the pinnacle of what makes us human, for evil. When Pharaoh died, our mouths began to open up in prayer. That was when our “cry ascending to G-d.”

That is also why, when we celebrate our redemption from Egypt, we call the holiday Pesach, which is a contraction of the words peh sach, a mouth that talks. And the matzah we eat is called lechem oni, the bread of affliction. But the word for affliction also means “answer.” Accordingly, Chazal derive from the phrase lechem oni that matzah is a “bread over which we answer many things” (Pesachim 115b).

On Pesach, when we leave the place of the exile of speech, our mouths open up and we spend the whole night speaking words of holiness and faith.

When we refuse to allow our bodily desires and the evil inclination to

limit our soul’s expression through positive speech, we feel the truth of Dovid Hamelech’s words: “Take my soul out of confinement in order that it give thanks to Your Name” (Tehillim 142:8). Freeing up the soul to speak

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Jewish community? It is made up of shuls, houses of Torah study, and marketplaces. All of these are venues for the proper use of speech. We use shuls for prayer, houses of study to expound on the meaning of the Torah, and mar-

Freeing up the soul to speak words of holiness, kindness, and encouragement allows it express its true essence.

words of holiness, kindness, and encouragement allows it express its true essence.

We can now understand why the Torah is so strict with a metzorah, decreeing that he must completely seclude himself outside of any Jewish community. What is the nature of a

ketplaces for productive and mutually beneficial transactions between Jews.

In the marketplace, one person takes note of another and offers words of encouragement and constructive advice.

But by closing himself off with selfishness, negativity and jealousy, the metzorah has separated himself from the essence of what a Jewish community

is. That is why the only type of ritually impure person who must completely separate from the community is the metzorah. His way of life is diametrically opposed to the Jewish camp.

We see from the foregoing that it is not enough to slaughter negative speech. We must set the live, pure bird free by expressing words of prayer, Torah, love, encouragement, and support for those around us. That way, we allow our soul to truly express itself and we redeem the power of speech from exile.

May we merit to see the fulfillment of Dovid Hamelech’s prayer, “Take my soul out of confinement in order that it give thanks to Your Name” so that we can see be part of the Jewish people in the fullest sense.

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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Think, Feel, Grow

Lashon Hara The Ultimate Corruption of Speech

By Shmuel Reichman

O

ne day, a young boy came home from school with a note for his mother. He gave it to her with a smile and said, “My teacher gave me this paper and told me to give it only to you.”

His mother read the letter quickly, and her eyes filled with tears as she then read the letter out loud to her son.

“Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him, and the teachers are not qualified to teach him. Please educate him yourself.”

His parents embraced this mission, teaching him and raising him to become one of the greatest thinkers of his time. He became a leading innovator, a Torah sage, and inspired an entire generation.

Years later, after his mother passed away, he was going through some old family documents. He noticed a folded paper in the corner of a drawer and curiously opened it.

On the paper was written: “Your son is mentally incapable. The teachers do not want to teach him anymore.

Please educate him yourself.”

He cried as he remembered his mother reading the letter to him, realizing the positive impact it had on his life. That night, he wrote in his diary: “I was a mentally incapable child, but because of my hero mother, I became the person I am today.”

This is the power of words. The words of his teachers could have destroyed him, the words of his mother supported, empowered, and enabled him.

Lashon Hara Do you ever wonder what people really think about you? Whether they think you’re brilliant, caring, and fun or lazy, self-centered, and boring? The truth is, you’ll never know; people only talk about you openly when you’re not in the room. In these situations, don’t you think it’s possible that people might put you down, say negative things about you, or even make fun of you behind your back? After all, we have all been in the room when someone else was the subject of gossip.

Gossiping is such a common oc-

currence it seems to be an almost built-in practice of human nature. We all know people who can find something bad to say about anyone; they criticize anything and everything, anybody and everybody, words of negativity flow easily from their mouths.

But even if we are not negative people, we still experience the desire to occasionally put other people down, to share negative stories about them behind their backs. Why do we feel this compulsion to speak negatively about others, to criticize and gossip about them?

In Parshas Tazria, we are introduced to tzara’as (affliction), which Chazal tell us is a punishment for speaking lashon hara. What exactly is the nature of lashon hara?

There is a common misconception that lashon hara refers only to sharing false information about another person. People claim that if something is true, however, there is nothing wrong with sharing it. You’ll therefore often hear people say, “but it’s true,” as if this is a good defense, exoner-

ating themselves from any possible wrongdoing. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. There is a separate prohibition of lying (midvar sheker tirchak, Shemos 23:7). The Torah prohibition of lashon hara refers specifically to sharing true, negative information about someone (in order to harm them).

In order to understand the prohibition against lashon hara, we must clarify why we may not say something hurtful about another person, even if it is true.

In addition to the prohibition itself, the punishment for speaking lashon hara is puzzling as well. The Torah describes a strange punishment for one who speaks lashon hara: he must leave the camp of the Jewish People and remain outside, isolated and alone.

What is the meaning of this punishment, and why is it fitting for one who spoke negatively about another?

The Power of Speech As human beings, we are naturally isolated and separate from one anoth-

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er. We are individual beings, all living in our own subjective world, our own inner universe. We will never be able to experience life through anyone else’s perspective, only through our own inner consciousness. We have our own thoughts and feelings, things no one else can see. We face our own hardships and tribulations, ones that no one else truly understands.

This results in several difficulties. If I am trapped in my own inner world, how can I connect with other people? How can I know what’s going on inside their heads? How can I share my inner life with them? How can I overcome the infinite barrier between myself and everyone else?

This is the gift of speech. Speech is the mechanism that enables us to connect with other people, to overcome the barrier between us. You begin with your inner thoughts and experience. You then form the specific words which will encase your thoughts as you give them concrete form and throw these words out into the world around you in the form of vibrations. If another person is nearby, their ears can pick up these vibrations and translate them into sound. These sounds form words; the words, sentences. They must then keep track of all the different words and sentences, hold onto them, and bring them back from memory, as they work to recreate a complete picture of everything you said. Amazingly, this person can now experience your inner world inside their own mind. They now contain a piece of you within themselves. The barrier between your worlds has been diminished.

The mouth is therefore the organ of connection, holding the potential to create deep, existential connection. All the functions of the mouth serve to connect two disparate pieces together: eating connects the physical body to the angelic soul; if you don’t eat, your soul leaves your body. And speaking connects people’s inner worlds together; when you speak with someone, you share your inner world with them.

Once we understand the purpose of speech, we can begin to comprehend just how abhorrent lashon hara truly is.

Lashon hara takes the very tool of connection – speech – and uses it to disconnect people from each other. When you speak negatively about someone, you create a wall between the subject of your negativity and the person you are speaking with.

The very tool of connection has been corrupted to achieve its opposite goal.

What Compels Us to Speak Lashon Hara?

Now that we understand the severity of lashon hara and its devastating effects on those around us, we must ask the obvious question: Why do we feel so compelled to speak negatively about others? If we are

leave the room. Therefore, in your attempt to create connection with this person through disconnecting someone else, you have now disconnected yourself from everyone!

Another equally problematic motivation for speaking lashon hara is the desire to feel good about oneself.

We all desire to feel important, significant, and worthy of respect. We not only desire the love and admiration of others but our own as well.

Often, when we see the success of people around us, it challenges our self-worth, our ego, and forces us to question our own accomplishments in life. The quick and easy fix to this problem is to speak lashon hara about anyone who challenges

This time in isolation gives him the opportunity to contemplate his past failures, helping him truly understand the pain of isolation and disconnect.

clearly disconnecting people from each other, misusing the holy organ of connection in the process, why is it such a struggle to avoid negative speech?

There are a few reasons for the strong sense of satisfaction we feel when we gossip about others.

As we mentioned above, people are naturally lonely and isolated, and therefore yearn for connection, yearn to be liked and accepted by others. Many people try to connect with the person they are talking to by putting someone else down. After all, stories about other people’s pitfalls are often amusing. Thus, we attempt to connect to those around us by disconnecting both ourselves and the listeners from the person we are talking about. The irony, though, is that this actually achieves the exact opposite effect. The person you are speaking with now knows that you talk about people behind their backs, and they have no reason to believe that you won’t do the exact same thing to them the moment they

us. If we tear them down and reduce the significance of their accomplishments, our own worth is protected.

Of course, this is not an appropriate way to generate self-worth.

Instead of raising yourself up and investing in your own spiritual and existential growth, you instead drag someone else down. In both scenarios, you appear to have achieved success, but only one is real, only one is genuine, only one is lasting. When you put someone down, you may appear to have achieved success, but you have gained nothing. You are left only with a fleeting, false sense of ego, pervasive disconnect, and the resulting lack of personal growth.

We can now understand why the punishment for speaking lashon hara is temporary isolation. The person who spoke lashon hara disconnected people from each other.

As a result, he now becomes disconnected from everyone. He misused the organ which helps free one from the isolated prison of one’s inner

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world; as a result, he now becomes isolated in his own inner world, separated from everyone in his life, incapable of any communication and connection with the rest of Klal Yisrael.

This punishment is not only punitive in nature, it is reformative as well. This time in isolation gives him the opportunity to contemplate his past failures, helping him truly understand the pain of isolation and disconnect, and hopefully motivating him to create connection and harmony going forward.

The Power of Speech Speech is powerful. It’s a tool of connection, communication, and expression. You can tell a lot about someone by listening to what they talk about. As the saying goes, small minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, and great minds discuss ideas.

Speech can be used to tear people apart, destroy relationships, and pass the time, but that is not the path to greatness. We can use speech to bridge the walls between us, to discuss the loftiest ideas and ideals of life, and to gain a higher sense of clarity and connection with both the people around us and our inner selves. When we speak, we share our souls with the universe, we express what we value, and, in doing so, we also tell the world “this is how I use my gift of speech.”

May we be inspired to harness the full potential of our ability to speak and use speech in order to build genuine connection, understanding, and oneness.

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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Delving into the Daf

Six Collection Boxes and Sunny Days

By Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

D

af Yomi learners finished their brief foray into Talmud Yerushalmi. Mesechta Shekalim of the Jerusalem Talmud was completed this week, and the cycle continued with Mesechta Yoma of Talmud Bavli. Some may surmise that the insertion of a tractate from Yerushalmi into a syllabus that otherwise includes only Bavli is a rather recent innovation. In fact, a manuscript of Talmud Bavli found in Munich had Tractate Shekalim from the Yerushalmi appended to it. Said manuscript was completed in 1342CE. Many of the sugyos in Yerushalmi have parallels in the Bavli. They are often used to shed light on one another. One such discussion revolves around the purpose of a set of six collection boxes that were installed in the Beis Hamikdash. The Gemara refers to these boxes as shofros because they resembled a shofar in that they were narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. This made it easy to donate, but difficult for someone to surreptitiously steal some of the money.

There are four variant opinions

of what these boxes were for. Chizkiya suggests that all six collection boxes served the exact same purpose (Shekalim 6, Halacha 4). They were used to purchase voluntary communal korbanos when the Mizbeach was not in use.

The service every day in the Beis Hamikdash began and ended with the Korban Tamid. Anyone who wanted to bring a personal korban such as a Shelamim, Chatas, or Olah, would offer his own personal korban sandwiched in between the morning and afternoon Tamid. However, if a particular day was on the slow side, there would be times when the Mizbeach would not be utilized. This would constitute a lack of respect for Hashem’s Mizbeach. Therefore, in the event that there was downtime for the Mizbeach, communal korban olos were brought.

The Korban Olah, literally translated as the sacrifice that goes up, is given its name because all the meat is burnt on the Mizbeach. However, the kohanim that were working that day in the Beis Hamikdash benefited from these extra korbanos because

they were allowed to keep the hides.

Where did the funds come to purchase these extra korbanos? The money was taken from the six designated collection boxes. Some money put in those boxes was freely donated. Other funds might have been leftover money from another holy venture and were therefore put in those boxes.

Still, that fails to explain why the Beis Hamikdash needed six collection boxes that serve the exact same purpose. One box would have sufficed.

Chizkiyah explained that the six collection boxes correspond to each weekday. The kohanim were divided into twenty-four groups. There was a 24-week rotation, and each week a different group of kohanim had the privilege of performing the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash that week. Each group was further divided into six families. Every day, a different family had the privilege of performing the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash.

On Shabbos, all the families jointly performed the avodah.

Naturally, some days in the Beis Hamikdash were busier than others.

For example, if one day the weather was rainy, an individual might decide to delay bringing his private korban until the rains passed. Similarly, if a day was particularly hot or cold, an individual might delay his korban for the next day. On the days that were less busy, there was more downtime for the Mizbeach. Consequently, more communal olos would be brought with the funds coming from the communal collection boxes. Left as is, the families that served on a busier day would cry foul. A kohen who served on a sunny Tuesday would say to a kohen who served on a rainy Wednesday, “On my day we were very busy.

There was no downtime. We didn’t get a chance to bring any communal olos.

It’s not fair that your family gets all those extra hides from the communal olos.”

The Korban Eidah says that the kohen who served on a rainy Wednesday would retort, “Yes, we brought a lot of communal olos, but that is precisely because we weren’t busy with all the private korbanos. In the end, it’s all fair. You profited from the por-

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tions you were allowed to keep from the private korbanos. We profited from the hides from the communal olos. It’s all good!”

Chizkiya says that the kohen who served on a sunny Tuesday might not be satisfied. “Yes, we were busy with many private korbanos. But that is due to our good fortune. You had the bad fortune of serving on a rainy day.

However, we should all share equally in sacrifices from the communal funds. You have no more right to those hides than we do. Of course, the proceeds from the private korbanos offered by us on Tuesday belong exclusively to us. You, Mr. Wednesday Cohen, certainly have no right to them. But we should share the hides of the communal olos equally.”

It’s incredible that some kohanim may actually feel this way. An objective observer would feel it’s perfectly justified to help the kohanim, who had very few private korbanos to bring, with some communal korbanos. Furthermore, Chizkiya opined that hav-

ing six collection boxes solved the problem. How did it solve anything?

The sunny day kohen will still have a complaint that the rainy day kohen benefited more than he did from the communal funds?!

feeling often isn’t based on logic. It’s often based on a fantasy. The sunny day kohen feels that he is losing out when he sees the rainy day kohen getting a larger share of the communal funds. But it isn’t logical. He profit-

The root cause of jealousy is the feeling that someone took something that belonged to us.

HaRav Henoch Leibowitz, zt”l, would frequently say that the root cause of jealousy is the feeling that someone took something that belonged to us (See Chiddushei HaLev Breishis 48,15). It isn’t simply that a person is jealous that another person has more. People ascribe their lacking to the prosperity of others. This

ed more from private korbanos, and whether or not the rainy day kohen brings more communal korbanos will not affect his share one iota. Chizkiya says that the solution to illustrate this point is to have a different collection box for each day. On Tuesday, funds will only be drawn from the Tuesday box. On Wednesday, funds will only

be drawn from the Wednesday box.

When the Tuesday Kohen sees the Wednesday Kohen bringing more communal korbanos, he will not be jealous. No one touched his Tuesday box. He sees a vivid illustration that the Wednesday Kohen took nothing from him. Although, for those on the highest level, this trick would not be necessary, Chizkiya says it was necessary for some kohanim.

The lesson for us in our daily lives is that we should try and learn the lesson of the six collection boxes. Whatever good fortune someone else has does not take away from us even one iota of goodness. Hashem has a box for everyone. When one prospers, he does so from his own box.

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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Mesiras Moda’ah Understanding the Purpose of Aggadah Part II

TRANSLATION BY R’ YAAKOV KLEIN The translation that follows is part two (of three) of a remarkable essay entitled, “Mesiras Moda’ah.” This work, which is printed in the back of sefer Derech HaMelech, was penned by Rav Kaloynimus Kalmish Shapira zy”a, the Piacezner Rebbe, as an introduction to his commentary on the Zohar HaKadosh, “Reshimos HaZohar”. Aside from this essay and a single discourse, this work was tragically lost during the Holocaust. As we approach the exalted day of Lag Ba’Omer, may this work enable us to better understand the function of Rashbi’s work and its relevance to our times.

THE PROPER WAY TO STUDY MIDRASH Now, if one stubbornly demands to study Midrash in the way of intellectual analysis alone, he will find difficulties wherever he looks. Only one who knows that this is an occupation of the heart, that the heart must draw the words of the Midrash into its depth, only he – in accordance with his circumstance – will understand and walk in its light.

This can be likened to one who sees his friend crying and screaming during his prayer. He is able to sense that this is not a cry of pain or a scream of anguish. He wonders, “What is the nature of this cry, this scream?” and begins to use his intellect to understand his friend’s actions. But only one with a Jewish heart, a heart impacted by another’s inspiration and set aflame with yearning from another’s expression of longing, only this person’s heart

will understand – the intellect will grasp nothing at all.

AN EXPRESSION OF REBBE TANCHUM’S SOUL Take, for example, the following Aggadah which appears in Shabbos 30b: “This question was asked before Rebbe Tanchum from the village of Nevi: What is the ruling with regard to extinguishing a burning lamp before a sick person on Shabbos? … (He answered) “A lamp is called ner and a person’s soul is also called ner, as it is written: ‘The spirit of man is the lamp [ner] of the L-rd.’

It is preferable that the lamp of a being of flesh and blood will be extinguished in favor of the lamp of the Holy One, Blessed be He.” Rashi comments: “Even though we learn that the risk of loss of life overrides Shabbos from the verse ‘V’chai bahem,’ since women and unlearned people had come to

listen to the lecture, Rebbe Tanchum had fed them Aggadah which draws the heart.”

However, in truth, were these words only intended for women and unlearned people, so that a Torah scholar who studies Gemara should skip this teaching? “If even all of us were wise men and understanding people… all who knew the Torah,” we would all be obligated to study these words! Rashi only intends to deal with the question of why Rebbe Tanchum answered with this Aggadah instead of the halachic source from “V’chai bahem.” But this, too, is Torah. It is “Aggadah which draws the heart” because it emerged from the heart of Rebbe Tanchum and contained the emotions he felt upon hearing this question.

When asked whether to extinguish a lamp on Shabbos for the sake of Jewish patient in danger, Rebbe Tanchum rushed to save the life of a

Jew, and his heart was enflamed with the goodness of this commandment learned from “v’chai bahem” – to desecrate Shabbos in order to save the life of a Jew. Immediately, the spirit of Hashem came upon him, and he saw the light of the world, the collective soul of the Jewish nation with which Hashem illuminates the darkest places, and he answered, “Do whatever is necessary for the sake of this light, for the entire world is worthwhile for this illumination alone. It is preferable that the lamp of a being of flesh and blood will be extinguished in favor of the lamp of the Holy One, Blessed be He.” We do not see, in these words, an Aggadah taught merely for the sake of the women and unlearned people.

We see the very soul of Rebbe Tanchum here, shuddering and shaking in a bid to rescue the candle of Hashem – the light of the world – from destruction.

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YAAKOV AVINU DID NOT DIE Another example: (Taanis 5a) Rebbe Yochanan said as follows: “Yaakov Avinu did not die.”

“And was it for naught that the eulogizers eulogized him, and the embalmers embalmed him, and the buriers buried him?”

“I am interpreting a verse, as it is stated: ‘Therefore do not fear, Yaakov My servant, says Hashem, neither be dismayed, Yisrael, for I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity.’ This verse juxtaposes Yaakov to his offspring: Just as his seed is alive, so too, Yaakov himself is alive.”

However, many explanations one offers in the way of intellectual analysis of this Gemara, the wonder will yet remain – because he is interpreting a pasuk, this resolves the question of, “And was it for naught that eulogizers eulogized him…”?

Rashi comments, “It seemed to the embalmers as if he has died.” This would suffice for the eulogizers, but the embalmers – why, they had carried out their craft! If they, too, were mistaken, why was the response to the challenge, “I am interpreting a verse,” which leaves out the primary element of the resolution? He should have simply answered, “It appeared to them as if he died, but in truth he did not die.”

I have heard those who answer that since his offspring remained alive, the aspect of “Yaakov” yet remains, for am Yisrael are referred to as “Yaakov.” However, if this is so, the simple understanding of the declaration “Yaakov did not die” is undone, for it emerges that he was referring not to Yaakov himself but rather to the Jewish nation who are called “Yaakov.” Why then did he not simply answer, “I am referring to the nation, ‘Yaakov’”?

When we are speaking about “Yaakov,” we aren’t speaking about him as a person, but as one of the Avos, the choicest of the Avos. The Avos established the Jewish nation – this group of men stands apart from all other people. They implanted their holiness, the form of their avodah – each in accordance with his nature and essence – within the Jewish nation.

Avraham gifted us with chessed and love for Hashem and the nation.

Yitzchak – gevurah and awe. Yaakov – rachamim, an avodah that includes within it both ahavah and yirah.

Meaning to say, it is these spiritual

energies – the content and energies of holiness originally revealed in the form of these holy men and now within am Yisrael – that we are speaking about here.

The prophet upon whom rests the spirit of Hashem and is lifted to the world of the souls sees not physicality but only the spiritual, even the soul of physicality; how the spiritual develops into the form of this world. In one prophecy he sees “a branch of an almond tree,” (Yermiyahu 1:11) and in another he sees “a golden menorah” (Zecharia 4:2). It isn’t simply that the prophet is communicating a sign using the metaphor of an almond tree branch or a golden menorah – this is truly what he saw. Because with eyes that are open, the G-dly eyes within him, he saw the unadulterated essence – the essence of the almond branch and of the punishment Hashem would mete out using this branch in His manifestation within it.

In the same way, when the Tanna or Amorah would teach Torah, the spirit of Hashem would pulse within

rash explains every pasuk and every mitzvah until every limb and bodily capacity is excited to carry out the mitzvah to which it corresponds. This also explains the parables presented in the Midrash, where many parables are offered by different Tannaim to illustrate a single concept. Intellectually speaking, it is difficult to identify the distinction between them – such as the parables brought in Midrash Shir HaShirim 1:8 and others like it.

However, in light of what we have said above, when the Tannaim became inspired with the spirit of prophecy that coursed within them, each saw a different vision.

Rabbah and Rav Tanchum, the compilers of the Midrashim, recorded all of the visions of the various Taanaim.

DEVELOPING SPIRITUAL EYESIGHT However, even if, in our physicality, we have not reached the spirit of prophecy and find it difficult to access the path of the Tannaim and their in-

He became inspired and filled with passion to the point that he saw the descendants of Yaakov not as people, but as the holiness of their service that is imbedded within their blood and their souls.

him. He became inspired and filled with passion to the point that he saw the descendants of Yaakov not as people, but as the holiness of their service that is imbedded within their blood and their souls. He didn’t simply contemplate using his intellect like every common person. He saw, with a prophetic vision, Yisrael Sabba, his soul and countenance spread out over the Jewish nation and permeating their hearts and all of their limbs to the point that every Jew is another cell of the “Yaakov” that appeared to him, in the same way the prophet saw the “golden menorah.” This was the intention of his response, “I am interpreting a verse; because I am in a state of ‘interpreting,’ I see his descendants as “the living Yaakov.”

It is in this manner that the Mid-

terpretations, we mustn’t despair of at least meriting the dregs of the dregs, the dust of the dust, a mere spark of the inspiration and vision of their teaching.

Even on a simple level, one is able to understand a little. For “the wisdom of man illuminates his face”; every person is able to recognize, to some degree, whether his fellow is wise or foolish, physically oriented or spiritually inclined. That is, even when looking at a face of flesh and bone, we are able to perceive something of the spirit. It is only that, because our vision is accustomed to processing physical matters alone, we see the spirit of man in a secondary manner, not as it exists divested of his body. We primarily see his flesh and bones.

However, how is it possible for one

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to isolate the quality from within one’s entire capacity for vision so that one sees only the primary, spiritual content of what is being seen? As mentioned, the spiritual quality is also something that can be seen – albeit indirectly. Additionally, why is it that one’s eyesight is somewhat weakened when one closes his eyes for a long period of time?

This world, that is, the realm of things that may be seen, activates the capacity of sight and gets it accustomed to recognizing only things of its kind, the likeness of the world, limiting it to a very specific kind of vision. When one closes his eyes and does not allow for the things of this world to active his eyesight, his capacity for sight becomes concealed once more within the oneness of his soul.

We have already spoken about this at length with regard to eyesight as well as the other senses, see there.

Therefore, a person who works on inspiring himself and enabling the soul to emerge from her captivity, constantly engaging in soulful passion to the point that it overflows the banks of his body; a person who works on seeing the spiritual essence of everything and penetrates within each thing to encounter the spiritual form of everything he sees – why should he lack the expression of a spark of elevated vision, the ability to see the soul of everything? This is not to say that he should delude himself with regard to what he is seeing – a structure floating in the sky or other such delusions. Rather, when he looks at a person, he will truly and primarily see the spiritual form and the divine wisdom within what he is seeing, the physicality of that person registering as decidedly secondary – until he merits to look upon the soul as it stands alone, in the form through which it has evolved and entered his body.

R’ Yaakov Klein is an author, musician, and lecturer devoted to sharing the inner light of Torah through his books, music, and lectures. He directs the Lost Princess Initiative, an educational platform based on the primary messages of his newly-released book, The Story of Our Lives: An Epic Quest for the Soul of Our Tradition.

He also leads the Lost Princess Principles Course, a seven-week program based on The Story of Our Lives. For more information on the course and access to many other resources, please visit LPITorah.org.

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My Israel Home

Dreamer and Pragmatist

By Gedaliah Borvick

O

n a tour of the Southern Wall of the Second Temple, I walked along Ma’alot Harav Shlomo Goren. It makes good sense that Rabbi Goren was memorialized with a street named after him in Jerusalem’s Old City. As the chief rabbi of the IDF, Rabbi Goren was a passionate supporter of the liberation of the Old City. Indeed, one of the most iconic photos of the 1967 Six Day War was of Rabbi Goren holding a Torah scroll and blowing the shofar at the Western Wall.

Born in Poland in 1917 and emigrating to Palestine at the age of eight, Rabbi Goren was a brilliant, colorful, and sometimes controversial, Talmudist and halachist. Young Shlomo Goren was a prodigy: at the tender age of twelve, he began his formal Talmud studies as the youngest student ever at Jerusalem’s Hebron Yeshiva, and he published the first of many books when he was just seventeen years old.

During the War of Independence, Rabbi Goren was a sniper on the front lines in Jerusalem and also was often called upon to resolve questions concerning religious observance under wartime conditions.

Word spread about his halachic expertise, and, in 1948, Rabbi Goren was appointed the first chief rabbi of the army, a role that he served with distinction for over two decades. In 1973, he was elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, serving until 1983.

As the IDF’s first chief rabbi, Rabbi Goren established religious observance guidelines for the armed forces, such as arranging for the provision of kosher food and for training exercises to be minimized on the Sabbath and festivals. In addition, he wrote many responsa concerning observance of Jewish law

Rabbi Goren blowing the shofar at the Kotel upon the liberation of the Old City (David Rubinger GPO)

in the military. Interestingly, David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister and defense minister, though anti-religious, was one of Rabbi Goren’s staunchest supporters, as

Rabbi Goren is often noted for his bravery in accompanying troops to the front lines during wars and in risking his life to retrieve the bodies of fallen soldiers from behind enemy

Rabbi Goren is often noted for his bravery in accompanying troops to the front lines during wars and in risking his life to retrieve the bodies of fallen soldiers from behind enemy lines.

his state-centered outlook dictated that the military be a melting pot that eliminated communal, religious, and ethnic allegiances. For Rabbi Goren, a completely kosher army was a goal in itself; for Ben-Gurion, it was the price to pay for a unified Jewish army.

lines. Beyond respect for the dead, these activities were given top priority by Rabbi Goren to ease the plight of agunot, women whose missing husbands’ deaths could not be confirmed, who were only permitted to remarry once proof of death was established.

One vignette from Rabbi Goren’s autobiography, “With Might and Strength,” underscores his courage and the sacred value that he placed on these operations.

After the War of Independence, in order to collect approximately fifty bodies from Gush Etzion, Rabbi Goren crossed the ceasefire lines into Jordanian territory. Rabbi Goren was required to walk through 100 yards of no-man’s-land, which each army had mined in order to prevent the other side from crossing. He chronicled this perilous 45-minute hike, in which he hopped from rock to rock, reckoning that the mines would probably be placed under the dirt between the rocks.

“After three quarters of an hour, I reached the other side. The Arabs stood with their eyes wide in astonishment and could not believe I had made it… By the time I had finished crossing the no-man’s-land, a few dozen Arabs had gathered to watch me, and they started applauding.”

Rabbi Goren was a strong-willed man who wouldn’t let anything prevent him from completing his holy mission.

To paraphrase the editor’s preface in “With Might and Strength,” the combination of Rabbi Goren’s personality and erudition, the time period in which he lived, and the posts that he held positioned him as one of the most influential figures of the Jewish people in the twentieth century.

Gedaliah Borvick is the founder of My Israel Home (www.myisraelhome.com), a real estate agency focused on helping people from abroad buy and sell homes in Israel. To sign up for his monthly market updates, contact him at gborvick@ gmail.com.

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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IS BIBI’S REIGN OVER?

BY D. HART

“I

n those days, Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” While this famous passage from Sefer Shoftim described the anarchy and chaos that prevailed three millennia ago in Judea, it could easily have been talking about the modern State of Israel.

It’s been less than a year since Israel got its first government in two years. In May, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz agreed to form a national unity coalition with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Coming after the country went to the polls an unprecedented three times, the two rivals decided to end the endless rounds of electioneering and work together to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of the agreement, Netanyahu was to have stayed on as prime minister for 18 months, followed by Gantz taking the helm. The government was split evenly between the right-wing bloc led by Likud and Blue and White, with the latter getting control of key portfolios such as Justice,

Defense, and Foreign Ministries.

Since then, it’s become abundantly clear that Israel may have gotten a government but the actual governing is nowhere to be found. The coalition was marred by infighting from the very first day, with Likud and Blue and White bickering over issues big and small. One senior minister compared it to a “wagon being pulled by obstinate mules running in opposite directions”; while the right-wing sought to reform the judicial system, Justice Minister Avi Nissenkoren labored to give Israel’s legal oligarchy as much power as he possibly could.

With COVID-19 raging, the government couldn’t even agree on the most basic of issues. Rather than work together to stop the pandemic from spreading, the two sides actively undermined each other at every opportunity.

When Health Minister Yuli Edelstein proposed capping demonstrations, Blue and White resisted as to not disturb the tens of thousands of people who

protested every Saturday evening against Prime Minister Netanyahu. Upon attempting to raise the fines for schools that flouted the lockdown, Gantz found himself stymied by the charedi parties who feared for their Talmud Torahs and yeshivas.

Matters came to a head during a contentious cabinet meeting in November in which ministers were tasked with deciding whether to reopen schools at the end of the third lockdown. But little more than halfway into the marathon eight-hour debate, tensions exploded. Both Gantz and Netanyahu lost their cool, each accusing the other of willfully subordinating the country’s needs to his own political future.

“Why did we hold a meeting if there are no decisions? We sat for three hours and heard briefings, and now it’s being taken off [the agenda],” thundered Gantz. “This is going nowhere. It’s a shame we didn’t make preparations ahead of time. These discussions can’t go on like this.

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Rivlin reluctantly gave Netanyahu the mandate to attempt to form a government last week

Smotrich says his party will never join a coalition with the Arabs

Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas is an unlikely partner for Bibi

While Gantz was referring to the dysfunctional meeting, his sentiments could have easily been describing the government as a whole. Nothing was getting done; each side worked against the other and trumpeted their success in thwarting the initiatives of what was supposed to be a coalition partner.

“Blue and White have formed a government within a government, an opposition within a coalition,” accused Netanyahu in December. No one was surprised when the coalition automatically dissolved after failing to pass an annual budget. The government meant to save Israel from the ravages of COVID-19 didn’t even last 10 months.

amiable Betzalel Smotrich to split off and form his own independent slate known as Religious Zionism.

To ensure that it would earn the necessary amount of votes needed to pass the 3.35% electoral threshold, Netanyahu successfully urged neo-Kahanist Itamar Ben Gvir to unite with the party he created with his own two hands.

Another goal was to suppress the Israeli Arab vote. Israel uses a proportional system to distribute 120 Knesset seats, in which a poor showing for one party causes all the others to gain. With the two political blocs neck and neck, even one Knesset

TO BIBI OR NOT TO BIBI

TODAY, THE WEDGE

CONTINUED RULE

ing the public to vote for “Abu Yair,” in line with the Arab custom of referring to someone by the name of his oldest son. Hammering home his message that the Joint List cared more about promoting Palestinian nationalism than caring for its own constituents, Netanyahu promised to launch an initiative eradicating crime in the Arab sector and expand economic opportunities.

“Just as I broke the Palestinian veto on relations with the Arab states, so I am breaking the Arab parties’ veto with the Arab citizens of Israel,” said Netanyahu. “I believe in [Zionist leader Ze’ev] Jabotinsky’s doctrine that all rights need to be given to every citizen in the State of Israel. We’re reaching out to Arab voters – vote for us.”

Replicating his accomplishment in engineering in a split between Bennett and Smotrich, Netanyahu successfully convinced Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas to break away from the Joint List and run independently, tapping into deep divisions between the secular Arab communists and hard-line Islamic extremists. Unlike the solidly anti-Netanyahu Joint List, Abbas had no problem cooperating with the Likud and publicly declared that he would work “with whoever solves our community’s problems.”

ON THE THRONE.

COUNTING THE VOTES

Like the previous three trips to the polls, the elections revolved around one issue, and one issue only: Bibi Netanyahu. Once, the dividing line between the right and left wing camps in Israel was support for a Palestinian State. Those days are gone; today, the wedge issue is supporting or opposing Netanyahu’s continued rule on the throne.

Under the new system, the radically left-wing Meretz and the nationalist New Hope led by Likud renegade Gideon Sa’ar could be considered political allies. The two parties make strange bedfellows; while Meretz has long ceased self-identifying as Zionist, New Hope vows to annex Judea and Samaria and reign in the High Court of Justice.

But uniting both factions is the strong opposition to Netanyahu. A veteran Likudnik, Sa’ar broke off from the Likud after falling out with the premier and took a slew of party veterans with him.

He explicitly ruled out ever joining a Netanyahu-led government, reiterating time after time again that his party’s entire raison d’être was to end his rival’s reign at the top.

The elections were less about offering differing visions to the public and more a referendum on Netanyahu. As such, the prime minister’s main challenge was not convincing voters of the validity of his arguments but channeling as many right-wing votes as possible to parties that would join his future coalition.

This entailed actively manipulating the makeup of other parties. When Yamina leader Naftali Bennett refused to commit to supporting Netanyahu after the elections, the latter convinced the more

ISSUE IS SUPPORTING OR OPPOSING NETANYAHU’S

seat could mean the difference between forming a stable government and the end of Netanyahu’s political career.

In previous elections, Netanyahu’s anti-Arab rhetoric boomerang, driving angry voters to the polls and giving the Palestinian-nationalist Joint List an unprecedented 15 seats. This time around, the Likud took an opposite tack, running an unprecedented friendly campaign explicitly targeting Israeli Arabs.

The Likud’s rivals rubbed their eyes in astonishment. In the month leading up to the election, Netanyahu made a point of appearing in as many Arab cities as possible. One day, he was snapping photos in Umm Al Fahm with the two-millionth vaccinated Israeli; a week later, he was squatting in Bedouin tent in the dusty Negev alongside a dozen keffiyeh-wearing village elders.

Arabic-language billboards soon appeared urg-

On election eve, it appeared that Netanyahu had all his ducks in a row. Initial results showed the Likud, Religious Zionism, the charedi parties, and Naftali Bennett’s Yamina earning between 61 and 63 seats, more than the 61 needed to form a coalition. It seemed that Netanyahu was well on his way to establishing a hard-right government that would grant Israel its longed-for political stability.

But like during elections 3.0 last March, Israelis went to bed with one result and awoke to another.

By midday the next day, Ra’am pulled down an astonishing 5 seats, setting the pro-Netanyahu bloc back to 59 and giving the “Anyone But Bibi” alliance the necessary 61 needed to send Israel’s longest-serving premier packing.

Like in March 2020, what seemed like a clear Netanyahu victory quickly evaporated. And like in March 2020, there seemed no clear path for any political camp to form a government. If Netanyahu was short two seats, the opposing camp was comprised of a collection of factions who would find it

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extremely difficult, if not impossible, to cooperate.

New Hope and Yisrael Beitenu, two right-wing parties who refused to join a Netanyahu-led coalition, would never work together with the radical leftist Meretz and Labor, to say nothing of the Arab Joint List and Ra’am. Both the charedi parties and the virulently anti-religious Yisrael Beitenu and Yesh Atid each vowed to boycott the others. Neither does it seem likely that Benny Gantz, who got an unexpected 7 seats, would have another go at sharing power with Netanyahu after the trauma the prime minister put him through.

Just as Israel finished the fourth elections in under two years, it seemed like it is on its way to its fifth. President Reuven Rivlin pleaded with party leaders to “listen to the Israeli people” and follow “the people’s demand for unconventional connections and cooperation across different sectors of society for the sake of the citizens of Israel”.

The aforementioned factions had surreptitiously cooperated for years on issues such as child allowances and battling police violence and are said to have a thriving relationship.

Making such a move easier is Abbas’ clear respect for traditional values. Unlike the Joint List, which includes the anti-religious Communist Hadash faction, Ra’am ran on a clear religious platform and originally split off due to the latter’s enthusiastic embrace of certain people’s rights.

And indeed, HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, shlita, gave such a move his explicit blessing, telling UTJ lawmakers that it was better to partner with a deeply religious Muslim such as Abbas “than the godless left who fight our holy tradition.”

ALIGNING WITH THE ARABS?

ELECTIONS 3.0 LAST

Nothing would be more “unconventional” than the right-wing uniting with fervently religious Muslims. Yet that’s exactly what Prime Minister Netanyahu is attempting to do, hoping that Ra’am will pull him over the finish line by either joining his coalition outright or refraining from voting against the government when submitted to the Knesset.

The prime minister, whose campaign against “a coalition dependent on terror supporters” successfully prevented Gantz from establishing such a government just last year, now wants to do exactly that. Assisting him is Mansour Abbas’ unprecedented readiness to cooperate with the right, declaring that he is focused solely on improving the lives of everyday Arabs rather than fighting for Palestine.

In a dramatic prime-time speech Abbas delivered, the radical Islamist called for a new relationship with the State of Israel that would be characterized by full integration of the Arab community.

The conciliatory nature of his address was dramatic; never mentioning Palestine even once, Abbas invoked the Koran to highlight the religious ties connecting both faiths.

“I, Mansour Abbas, a man of the Islamic Movement, am a proud Arab and Muslim, a citizen of the state of Israel, who heads the leading, biggest political movement in Arab society, courageously champion a vision of peace, mutual security, partnership and tolerance between the peoples,” he said. “I reach out a hand in my name and that of my colleagues and on behalf of the public that voted for me – to create an opportunity for coexistence in this holy land, blessed by three religions and of two peoples.”

Israel had never seen anything like Abbas’ speech before. Here was an Arab legislator, who, instead of hurling insults and accusing Israel of “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing”, spoke of integration and partnership. And indeed, the unprecedented nature of his speech caused a deep debate to break out within the right-wing camp.

The parties most strongly in favor of partnering with Ra’am are the charedi Shas and UTJ parties.

LIKE DURING MARCH, ISRAELIS WENT TO BED WITH ONE RESULT AND AWOKE TO ANOTHER. But while many suddenly supported Netanyahu recruiting Abbas in order to supply the missing votes, others opined that the Islamist was simply telling Israelis what they wanted to hear. Unfortunately for Netanyahu, the latter camp included the Religious Zionist party, who reiterated time after time that it has no intention of joining any coalition nor participating in any arrangement that would include Ra’am. Despite escalating pressure from Netanyahu and his allies, which included recruiting Religious Zionist rabbis in an attempt to sway Smotrich, the firebrand lawmaker refused to budge.

“We will not be a partner in any government that leans actively or by the abstention of Ra’am or other terror supporters,” tweeted Religous Zionist leader Betzalel Smotrich moments after Abbas concluded his address.

“Abbas was and remains a supporter of terrorism who makes pilgrimages to embrace those who murdered Jews, does not accept the Jews’ right to exist as a people in their country in the Jewish state, and continues to adhere to the Palestinian narrative that simply contradicts the Jewish one,” Smotrich wrote a day later.

This presents a problem. On one hand, Netanyahu has only 59 seats with Religious Zionist and Naftali Bennett’s Yamina. Including Ra’am, though, would mean saying goodbye to the two aforementioned parties. Netanyahu is currently stuck; without Ra’am, his only hope for a government is coaxing defectors from left-wing parties

or the rightist “Anybody But Bibi” New Hope and Yisrael Beitenu. Such a scenario, however, is highly unlikely after Netanyahu willfully flouted almost every coalition agreement he inked with Gantz only 11 months ago.

Things aren’t much easier for the left-wing bloc.

While they number 61 seats, the right-wing New Hope and Yisrael Beitenu would never join with the progressive Meretz and anti-Zionist Joint List. An initial attempt by Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett to form such a government with the latter as prime minister crashed and burned. The proposed coalition would have included Yamina, Yesh Atid, Yisrael Beitenu, New Hope, Labor, and Meretz.

The ideological differences, however, appeared to be irreconcilable. The Yesh Atid leader demanded that such a coalition include at least one of the two Arab parties, a condition which Bennett ruled out as a nonstarter. Meanwhile, Bennett wanted a deciding extra vote in the governing cabinet as to not to be overruled by left-wing parties. This was considered unacceptable by Blue and White, Meretz, and Labor.

RUNNING OUT OF TIME Last Wednesday, President Reuven Rivlin reluctantly gave Netanyahu the mandate to form a government. The premier, who is running from the Knesset directly to his trial on corruption allegations, now has 28 days to establish a coalition, after which Rivlin will task someone from the left-wing bloc.

With two weeks gone by since the results came in, Israel seems headed directly to a fifth election.

No one has any clear path to forming a government.

The country has gone to the polls four times over the past two years yet seems no closer to ending the chaos, and the country is suffering as a result.

Israel hasn’t passed a budget since 2017, three years before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the results are catastrophic. The IDF is unable to purchase new weapons; the Foreign Ministry is unable to appoint new ambassadors; and embassies worldwide remain empty.

In addition, squabbling between Netanyahu and Gantz over nominees needing government approval has led a de facto freeze of new appointments.

Currently, Israel does not have a full-time justice minister, police commissioner and firefighting chief. Senior officers in all of the aforementioned agencies are stuck in limbo, their promotions frozen and careers stalled.

As all parties attempt to make the proverbial lemonade out of lemons and avoid fifth elections, all eyes are fixed on November 2, 2021. That’s the date in which Benny Gantz will become prime minister if Israel still does not have a new government. The result of the original power-sharing deal with the Likud last April, the political gridlock may propel Gantz into becoming the most unlikely leader that Israel has ever had.

Should Israel go to another round of elections, Gantz may get his fondest wish, the one that first pushed him into politics in the first place: ending Netanyahu’s 13 straight years at the helm.

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HONORING

Colonel Larry Franklin An Unsung American Patriot & Friend to the Jewish People

BY MICHELLE ZIMMERMAN

I

n 1950s New York, a young boy is encouraged by his mother to memorize the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling.

The opening stanza would ultimately symbolize his life and provide strength in times of despair:

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating…

That boy is Colonel Lawrence Franklin, a “Righteous Gentile” of this generation. This is his story.

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On

January 19, 2021, President Donald Trump issued 73 pardons amid the final fanfare of his term in office. Among those hoping for clemency, was Col. Lawrence Franklin of West Virginia. The petition for a pardon was the latest attempt to secure justice for a man whose 35-year career of service to our country disintegrated in the wake of false accusations of passing classified information and spying for Israel. After dedicating his life to preserving national security and protecting the lives of U.S. servicemen, Col. Franklin suffered the loss of his military and civilian pensions. He was relegated to menial labor and endured daily hardship to survive and provide for his family.

Franklin was backed by a formidable group of supporters from all echelons of government, the military, and advocacy organizations as well as journalists, attorneys and rabbis. The pardon process was led by Larry’s friend and international lawyer Allen Lowy and his wife Kika. Noted legal experts Alan Dershowitz and Gary Apfel submitted a letter of endorsement to President Trump. There were months of correspondence, countless networking meetings, and the involvement of many dedicated individuals.

All indications from the President’s inner circle pointed to clemency, but in a shocking, last-minute twist, the pardon was not granted. Rather than reel from the blow, Col. Franklin’s team of tireless supporters continue to herald his heroism and advocate to restore his quality of life.

Now is a new beginning.

The time has come to shift the narrative away from a sensationalized case that has been consigned to an occasional

headline or Wikipedia entry.

For the average person, Larry Franklin’s career as an intelligence analyst mystifies imagination. The shattering fallout of his case defies reason. In reality, his is an inherently relatable story of honesty, loyalty, and hard work.

Larry is a devoted family man of strong moral and religious values. He is a highly educated, cultured and accomplished intelligence expert who is a true American patriot. Most importantly, he is a courageous friend to the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

Childhood Lessons of Respect & Tolerance Born in New York City in 1946 to Josephine and Dominic Franklin, Larry remembers a happy childhood. As a World War II veteran, his father was entitled to housing in an apartment project on Amsterdam Avenue and 62nd Street. The Franklins were one of only six white families out of 92 in the building, and this shaped Larry’s perspective on race.

“My parents were simple, and they were intrinsically good without hate in their hearts,” Larry recalls. “They taught us to respect and look at others equally. My upbringing wasn’t about black vs. white – it was about good vs. evil.”

Religion played an integral role in Larry’s upcoming; the family was devout Irish Catholic. For Larry, his brother, and two sisters, life revolved around attending their neighborhood church and parochial school. Larry saw the example of hard work from his father, who drove a truck. His mother was a calming presence who called him “energetic” and made sure to keep him busy as a choir boy, altar boy, and

cub scout. She nurtured his appreciation for reading and insisted he memorize poetry.

Larry gained an early perspective on the Jewish people from his “favorite” Uncle Albert Whalen and his Aunt Heni. Albert helped to liberate Mauthausen concentration camp.

“His stories of the atrocities he saw at the camp really made an impression on me. I learned about genocide and the dangers of religious intolerance,” Larry says.

Heni, who had a Jewish background, fostered Larry’s love of music by gifting him his first classical records.

An Education in Resilience By the time Larry finished high school, the family moved to the Bronx as construction of Lincoln Center changed the dynamic of the neighborhood.

Larry won a scholarship to the honors program at Iona College in New Rochelle, where he regularly hitchhiked the 23 miles with two friends.

“I graduated as the only remaining member of the honors program,” he recalls. “It was extremely hard, and a lot of students quit. But I learned early to never quit something that was worth it. That type of ‘stick-to-itiveness’ served me well. It built an iron rod up my spine and made me determined.”

Larry was eager for education. He took extra credits studying the Russian language and German history at the nearby women’s College of New Rochelle. He won a New York State Regents Scholarship to NYU, where he received his Master’s in History with a concentration in Russian history and Southeast Asian history.

While tackling the books, Larry strengthened his skills in martial arts – which honed

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Larry, back row, with his parents and siblings

his physical strength and enabled him to “take a kick later in life.”

In 1969, Larry was studying at Yale when he got word that two of his fellow “hitchhikers” were killed the same weekend in Vietnam.

“I knew it was time to put down the books, and I immediately enlisted,” he says.

A Mother’s Prayer With the lure of combat, Larry had dreams of joining the U.S. Army Special forces or “Green Berets.” His mother wanted him to pursue something tamer in intelligence.

Larry compromised and was assigned to the intelligence unit of Green Beret headquarters in Vietnam. Fate intervened.

“I didn’t know it, but as soon as I got my orders to ship out, my mother went to Mass every day to pray that I wouldn’t go,” he shares. “Her prayers were answered, but probably not the way she intended.”

While training rigorously, Larry collapsed in his barracks. Instead of Vietnam, he was shipped to Walter Reed Medical Center where a previously undetected cardiovascular problem necessitated multiple life-saving surgeries. A silver lining of the experience

was that he met his future wife Patricia (née Taggart), who was a hospital volunteer.

This is one of many times that Larry has felt that G-d shifted the course of his life.

He quotes a Portuguese proverb when he recalls the incident: “G-d writes straight with crooked lines.”

Intelligence Training on NYC Streets When describing the appeal of the intelligence arena, Larry says that, for him, it was a “Walter Mitty moment,” referencing the James Thurber short story about a man with heroic daydreams.

These dreams began in earnest in Larry’s old New York City stomping grounds.

After serving in the army infantry was ruled out, he joined a strategic intelligence unit that supported the Army War College. This, in turn, led to a critical stint with the Drug Enforcement Administration in Chinatown from 1973-1977.

“My time with the DEA, was my useful training,” he remembers. “I was part of a unit that went after Asian drug trafficking organizations. I worked with state and local police as well as federal drug agents. I was conversant in Mandarin and was able to interact with people on the

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Larry with Ezer Weizman

streets at all levels.”

At the same time as he was honing his street skills, Larry was sharpening his research skills by authoring pamphlets on how China and Russia were attempting to exploit mineral resources from several African countries. He also went on to receive his PhD in Asian studies from St. John’s University in 1978.

“I didn’t want to be one-dimensional, just sitting at a desk,” he explains, adding, “My early experience made me appealing to the intelligence agencies.”

Welcome to The Pentagon In 1979, Larry began his career in the Pentagon at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He was initially tapped to work on the East Africa desk but was then traded to the Soviet/Warsaw Pact in 1982. The Cold War had been a fascination of Larry’s since he was a child, and he was soon in the thick of it. As the military political analyst for Soviet affairs under President Reagan, his job was to support the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense.

This meant briefing Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and General Colin Powell.

“My time in this position was most gratifying, and it accelerated my career,” he says.

“Reagan really challenged the Soviets, which meant that we dealt with a lot of crisis situations. I learned to be in control of my emotions when briefing and presenting my arguments.”

During this time, Larry gained tremendous respect for Natan Sharansky, for his heroic activism in the refusenik plight and his fight against the totalitarian Soviet regime.

He kept Sharansky’s picture on his desk throughout his career.

Rising Through the Ranks After the fall of the Soviet Union, Larry felt his services would be best suited in combating the growing threat of Iran. In 1992, he became a Central Asia specialist and then a key Iran analyst for the DIA. He learned Farsi and cultivated a network of Iranian contacts and sources. Since Larry’s PhD was in Asian studies, it aided his understanding of the Iranian culture.

“I constantly studied maps of each neighborhood in Iran.

It was about more than recognizing the streets or alleyways. You had to know about the people in each area and the local politics,” he relates.

A 2013 letter on Larry’s behalf to President Obama from former CIA director R.

James Woolsey attests that “in no time, he became one of the intelligence community’s premier analysts on Iran, Islam and terrorism.”

Larry recalls that his initial years in this position were “intense and invigorating, which readied me to become the Secretary of Defense’s Iran Desk officer. There were times I was so busy at the Pentagon that I would literally be on the phone 5-6 hours a day.”

The more his analysis was proving to be correct, the more he was sought out by other friendly intelligence agencies like Israel. Larry became so respected in Israeli intelligence circles that he was asked to brief Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran in 1999 as well as the Mossad and the chiefs of Israel’s Directorate of Military Intelligence.

Balancing Work & Family While Larry was sowing the seeds of his career, he was also building a family with Patricia, whom he married in 1974. The couple went on to have five children – Christa, Raymond, Anna, Pierce and Fionan. They settled in West Virginia and put down roots in a house on a hill – where they still live today. When each child was born, Larry was inspired to write them a song, which would be sung at bedtime while they said their prayers.

“My family was my greatest treasure,” he says. “It set me apart from my colleagues, several of whom were single or divorced and chained to their desks.”

Larry’s devotion to his family would later become his greatest vulnerability.

In order to be there for his family and on top of his game at work, Larry kept an unrelenting schedule.

“I made it a point to be the

first in the office in the morning. That meant waking up by 3 a.m. and driving 26 miles to catch a series of trains for a two-hour commute,” he said.

“I was extremely focused on the job and didn’t waste any time so I could get home to my family almost every night.”

After a long week, Friday nights were reserved for family-time where he would enjoy a steak with Patricia and catch up with the children.

“Those were happy days. I couldn’t have been more satisfied. I knew that I was beginning to make a difference with how Iran was perceived by our allies and by analysts in other agencies. I had a job that allowed me to live a dream of helping the United States against an evil, totalitarian regime,” he says. “I had a family I adored. I felt like I had it all and that G-d answered my prayers.”

Building Intelligence Relationships Larry explains that the hallmark of a successful, operations-oriented intelligence analyst is building relationships and cultivating contacts.

“You are in the business of sharing sensitive information with allies about common enemies. The key is communication and trust,” he shares.

“You have to tell the truth to an ally. If you omit information, and lives are lost, the relationship is irrevocably damaged.”

To be clear, the exchange of information is not “spying” or “playing I got a secret.” It is an integral aspect of international relations. Larry points out that the U.S. and Israel had a military intelligence agreement with the code name “Monarch Gate” that specified that they would share all information on Iran, Iraq and Libya.

Hearing Larry describe these intelligence meetings is even a bit reminiscent of the dramatic portrayals in movies or bestselling novels.

“With the Israelis, we could meet in a restaurant or a military base. Iranian sources could be outside a church at midnight in Rome. Arabs could be in a luxurious tent on the banks of the Persian Gulf,” he reveals.

These meetings would be followed up with reports and briefings to his superiors.

The way Larry cultivated relationships was definitely a testament to how he was raised to see people as people.

“I naturally became close with my contacts and could understand what people’s ultimate concerns were,” he says. “When I was under investigation, the FBI couldn’t understand why I had so many close Jewish contacts.

They assumed something wasn’t right, and this aroused suspicion. They didn’t give me credit for just doing my job.”

Larry offers an example of the strength of his contacts in a critical moment.

“When the Palestinians invaded the Church of the Nativity in 2002, I was able to get on the phone through my Israeli contacts to the commander of the Israeli unit who had orders to strike, at his discretion. I convinced him and his superiors not to clean the Palestinians out because it would have swayed many of the world’s Christians against Israel, which the Palestinians wanted.

“That is the type of personal trust that I had.”

An Out-of-the-Box Thinker Dr. Harold Rhode, an acclaimed Middle East specialist and a former colleague of Larry’s in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD),

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sheds light on Larry’s work style and the environment at the Pentagon.

“I worked as a cultural specialist on the Islamic world in the office of the Secretary of Defense. When I got to know Larry, I was deeply impressed by his analytical abilities,” Harold says. “Larry recognized the importance of Iran and wanted to study Persian.

I recommended that his superiors give him the opportunity to learn the language, which they did.”

Harold discloses a key aspect of how Larry assessed information.

“Like me, Larry would think out-of-the box. This is essential, because it meant that he was willing to entertain ideas that most people who work for bureaucracies don’t want to consider. During my 28 years at the Pentagon, I saw that the most fascinating people in government – those who do things for the good of America and mankind – are a little different from the norm. Larry was like that.”

Since they had a shared

and argue to get to the essence of the matter.”

Larry says simply of Harold, “I was, and still remain, his student.”

Harold also points out that besides for his love for America, Larry had a natural affinity for Jews.

“He intuitively understood how we think about the world, and he respected it deeply. Most bureaucrats don’t understand this, and Larry’s Jewish friendships baffled – and at times, even concerned – them.”

He adds, “Larry and I agreed that there could be no negotiating with Iran, because the Iranian bizarre mentality could run circles around us. A lot of senior officials didn’t, and still don’t, want to hear such things. “ We a l so realized that much of the classified information we acquired did not help us understand the Iranian mentality, and how to use that mentality to support the policies advocated by our superiors. So, over the years, Larry and I developed our own sources who were

many of the bureaucrats at the Pentagon.

“The bureaucracy thought about Larry the same way they thought about me – as a threat. But, senior officials in both Republican and Democratic administrations did appreciate our approach.

They often asked us questions directly, outside of the accepted chain of command, which displeased the mid-level bureaucrats. By having direct access to the top decision-makers, we were eliminating the mid-level bureaucrats’ control over the flow of information up the chain and jeopardizing their agenda.

In reality, many of these mid-level bureaucrats had tenure and couldn’t be fired.

Senior officials often went around them, going straight to those ‘out-of-the-box thinkers’ who very often possessed the more interesting and critical information which these senior officials wanted.”

Meeting a “Soul Brother” In Israel In addition to serving on the Iran desk, in the ‘90s Lar-

Larry became so respected in Israeli intelligence circles that he was asked to brief Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran in 1999 as well as the Mossad and the chiefs of Israel’s Directorate of Military Intelligence. approach, Larry and Harold often served as each other’s sounding boards.

“Larry was like a brother to me,” Harold says. “I would regularly drive him to the train and we had extremely lively conversations. It was like a chavruta studying Talmud. You go back and forth

very experienced in Iran or Iranians themselves. Larry and I knew that the only way to understand a culture is to spend time living with and talking to average people in their own language – which is exactly what we did.»

This “out-of-the-box” approach did not sit well with

ry became the U.S. Air Force Reserve attaché to the Amercican embassy in Israel, which meant frequent trips.

“I was emotionally in sync not only with the Israeli position but also with Jewish history,” he explains.

As part of understanding Israeli national mindsets,

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Allen Lowy, Larry Franklin, and Alan Dershowitz

Larry wanted to get to know the Jewish spiritual side. Harold Rhode introduced him to Rabbi Moshe Weiss, who frequently hosted people serving in Israel for Shabbos dinner.

That first dinner was literally a meeting of the minds, and an enduring 30-year friendship was born.

Rabbi Weiss reflects on what it was like to have Larry as a Shabbos guest.

“Imagine our table brimming with people. In the place of honor was my mother Rivka, a 90-year-old Auschwitz survivor. She took pride in preparing her chicken soup, kugel and gefilte fish and watched over our guests to make sure each person had enough to eat. There was my wife Sarah and our 10 young children. We always were fortunate to have many special guests, and Larry fit right in.”

The Weiss home was a place to put politics and work aside and to experience the simple beauty of Shabbos.

Larry remembers, “When I would sit around Moshe’s table, I felt pure joy. I got to know the whole family and really connected with Moshe’s mother. It was an honor for me to be in the presence of a woman who overcame the horrors of the Holocaust and created a wonderful family

with such faith in G-d. It made me more committed to fight against evil.”

“It was a real experience for my Chassidic children to meet someone who was not Jewish but who shared so much in common with them,” Rabbi Weiss said. “I could see that Larry was in awe when the children recited the parsha since he has a vast Biblical knowledge, and he was moved when we sang zemirot. My family home became a place for him to come when he was missing his family.”

The relationship even extended to their children – two of Larry’s kids visited the Weiss’s as well.

Listening to Rabbi Weiss and Larry separately recount the same stories, it’s obvious why they refer to each other as “soul brothers.”

“I’ve had so many profound discussions with Larry about overcoming challenges.

We share a similar outlook on mutual respect and tolerance,” Rabbi Weiss says. “We have a real friendship. It shows that when people of different religions come together and find common ground there is something powerful and validating. Larry is a righteous and decent man, and my family has gained so much from the relationship.”

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On a reconnaissance mission flying over Afghanistan

The friendship also allowed Larry to fulfill a longheld dream of meeting Natan Sharansky. Rabbi Weiss was a senior advisor to Yuli Edelstein and Sharansky in the Ministry of Absorption.

“When I met Sharansky we were able to communicate very quickly,” Larry says. “As a Soviet analyst, I understood what he went through. To me, Sharansky represented the epitome of moral courage.”

Through Larry’s travails, their friendship has remained strong. “During the toughest times, I made sure we still stayed in touch via email. I wanted Larry to know that I would always be there for him,” Rabbi Weiss says.

One of the treasured gifts that Rabbi and Mrs. Weiss gave the Franklins when they visited West Virginia is a Hebrew/English book of Tehillim.

“Patricia and I say the Psalms every evening, and it gives us strength,” Larry shares.

9/11 and Its Aftermath Larry was at work in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

“As soon as the first plane hit the World Trade Center, I knew it was Osama bin Laden,” he says.

It was a day that Larry considers “our Pearl Harbor.”

The events enabled him to

trust his instincts at work and make sure the information he gathered was not ignored.

“I was already questioning the effectiveness of how the government was allowing me to do my job. This was the turning point when I decided that I was not going to follow the ‘norm’ or go along with any ridiculous bureaucratic regulations. I was going to act on any intelligence that could save American lives or the lives of our allies.”

This decision for Larry proved to be problematic when it came to the government’s plan to invade Iraq. He couldn’t afford to lose his job by angering his bosses.

“I had to balance my courage to tell Douglas Feith, Under-Secretary of Defense, and Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, who hired me and had confidence in me, that their plan to invade Iraq would lead to Americans coming home in body bags. I knew Iran was the real threat. I had to figure out the best way to sound the alarm about Iran without losing my job. I’d seen it happen to other analysts earlier in my career who did not toe the line.”

This mindset would influence the choices Larry made later on when a seemingly viable opportunity presented itself.

In the interim, Larry volunteered for the mission to go to Afghanistan that November. “Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld was getting pressure from the White House to get things going and remove the Taliban from power,” he explains. “I was sent to tell Colonel John Mulholland, the head of the Green Berets, that Rumsfeld wanted him to hurry.”

While in Afghanistan, Larry experienced what he calls “the pinnacle of my career.” He was given the chance to express the gratitude of the American people to a few hundred members of the CIA and Green Beret troops.

“It was the biggest honor for me, a kid from the NYC projects, to address these warriors whose lives were at risk to protect our nation.”

Larry’s relationship with Mulholland would take on greater importance two years later when he became aware from an Iranian source in Rome of a threat to Green Berets in Afghanistan.

“I called Mulholland myself, and they were able to stop

“I would update his top aide daily, but President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Paul Wolfowitz had made their decision.”

Then, in February 2003, Larry saw a chance to act.

He was asked by a colleague to call Steve Rosen, a lobbyist from AIPAC. Rosen had been looking to connect with an expert on Iran. As part of his vast network of contacts, it was not unusual for Larry to speak with civilian lobbyists.

“Rosen would drop a lot of names and claimed he had connections with members of the National Security Council,” Larry recalls. “I thought I could use his channels to get my message on Iran across and hopefully change U.S. policy before we invaded Iraq.”

Unbeknownst to Larry, Rosen was already under surveillance by the FBI, and by speaking with him, Larry came under suspicion, too.

Larry explains that he discussed two items with Rosen and his colleague Keith Weissman – that were not secrets or classified.

“I shared the conflict in

was classified, but I shared facts I received from an open source of mine.”

Larry’s attempt to save lives by sounding the alarm on Iran, albeit using alternative channels, would mark the beginning of the end of his career.

The Investigation: A Hunt for Jewish Spies Viewed from the lens of 2021, when government schemes are more apparent, it should not be shocking that Larry soon found himself in the middle of a punitive, anti-Semitic agenda. His meetings with AIPAC made him a person of interest in an FBI investigation. Led by David Szady, assistant director of counterintelligence and an alleged anti-Semite, the aim was to uncover Jewish spies in the Pentagon. Prior to this case, Szady had another botched espionage investigation under his belt. In the search for Soviet spy Robert Hanssen, his team had mistakenly targeted the wrong man and almost ruined his career. Larry was not so lucky.

“The government spent a lot of money on me to create someone who was a human weapon against terrorists, against the Republic of Iran. I could have saved more lives.” an attack,” Larry recalls.

Lives were saved, but Larry got a message from his boss at the Pentagon that the CIA wanted him to “knock it off” since he didn’t abide by their communication channels.

Under Surveillance As the United States was moving closer to invading Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld became more interested in Iran.

ideology between various factions of the Bush administration on how to deal with Iran.

This had already been written about by journalists, but my saying it gave it credibility. I also specified a list of three Americans who were murdered in Karachi in 1988 by a pro-Iranian hit squad. When I was on trial, the CIA claimed that the Karachi information

In the aftermath of the Jonathan Pollard case, there was an unfounded belief that Pollard had an accomplice who was still at large.

“There was definitely suspicion around all Jewish employees and people who were deemed ‘too friendly’ with Jews that we could be spying for Israel,” Larry shares.

“Over the years, colleagues

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

would even call the validity of my analysis into question.

They were bewildered that as an Irish Catholic I had such strong Jewish relationships.

Connecting with people made me better at my job, but they felt that I couldn’t possibly be objective on Israel.”

In the spring of 2003, Larry initially participated with FBI agents in what seemed like friendly, periodic conversations about Hezbollah and Iranian activities in the U.S. However, in a late June meeting, the FBI agents confronted Larry with a CIA report which alleged that an Iranian terrorist team was assigned the mission to assassinate Israeli agents in northern Iraq along with Kurdish collaborators.

Larry admitted that he had warned his Israeli contacts about this Iranian plot without going through channel, because he believed the report was accurate and “you do not wait on time-consuming procedures when lives are at stake.”

He cooperated fully and didn’t seek legal counsel while speaking with the FBI because he didn’t feel he had anything to hide. Larry soon realized, though, that the investigators did not have pure intentions when most of their questions were about Jews in the Pentagon – including his bosses Feith and Wolfowitz. After Larry called them out on their anti-Semitism and stopped cooperating, they raised the stakes and opened an espionage case against him.

When as many as 20 FBI agents searched the Franklin home and interrogated his family, “they knew that threatening my family was my weakness,” Larry recalls.

It was open knowledge that Larry brought copies of documents home to review at night, so he could prepare

for work and still be there for his family. He’d known others who did it as well, with maybe a slight reprimand. By this time, Patricia was suffering from a debilitating chronic condition that was requiring more of his attention. Larry handed over these borrowedfrom-work documents, and then the FBI used them to force Larry to cooperate in the AIPAC investigation.

Eventually, Larry was charged with “spying for Israel,” along with the two AIPAC officials.

Love Burdened Even though Larry wanted to fight back against the trumped-up charges, he felt that he should take the path of least resistance because his family needed him.

“I was love burdened,” he discloses. “My family was my life, and they came before everything else. In addition to my wife and kids, I was supporting my elderly father and mother-in-law. I weighed the years of hard work and sacrifice to build my career and good name, versus protecting my family. There was no choice.”

Larry was provided with a government attorney and was set to sign a plea agreement that would have sent him to jail for years. Then he saw “G-d’s hand” again.

“I went to church at 2 a.m. and prayed to G-d to give me a sign that He had not abandoned me. I felt hopeless.

The next morning, I received phone calls that restored my faith.”

Rabbi Weiss and Michael Ledeen, a trusted colleague and former key anti-Soviet policymaker for President Reagan, called to urge him not to accept the plea. Plato Cacheris, a premier Washington defense lawyer, took the case

pro-bono.

The prosecutors charged Larry with the felony of mishandling classified documents. This is staggering in light of the consequence-free Hillary Clinton email scandal (among others) and the fact that government employees do the same all the time.

In 2006, Larry pled guilty to taking classified documents home and sharing information with the AIPAC officials on a “classified subject,” even though nothing was classified. Sadly, when Larry subsequently told Cacheris about the “Monarch Gate” intelligence agreement with Israel, he said he could have gotten him off on all the charges.

The charges against the AIPAC officials were dismissed in 2009, but Larry’s punishment would continue.

Prosecutors were gunning for a 12-year prison sentence, but the judge sentenced him to 10 months in a halfway house so he could work and take care of his wife. The judge was impressed with Larry’s intrepid, unarmed investigation of a major drug ring in West Virginia and his gathering of information on an automatic weapons distribution net in Washington, D.C., which had Islamic terrorist connectivity. Nevertheless, with a felony conviction, Larry was stripped of his military benefits and pensions. He was left bankrupt after years of legal limbo and medical expenses.

“I was made an example of to send a larger message and deter government officials from supporting Israel,” he says.

A Son’s Regrets One of Larry’s strongest regrets is the loss of his potential to help in the war on terrorism.

“What a waste. They took

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Larry and Rabbi Moshe Weiss

me out when I could have helped,” he laments. “I was trained linguistically, culturally, militarily, and in intelligence. The government spent a lot of money on me to create someone who was a human weapon against terrorists, against the Republic of Iran.

I could have saved more lives.

But that opportunity was lost, just because a few guys were driven by hate or crazy conspiratorial ideas.”

Larry is also haunted by the fact that his father, Dominic, died in 2005 at the height of the scandal.

“My father died confused.

One minute I’m a hero to him, and the next minute I’m being called an American traitor on the news.”

Enduring Faith & Gratitude After all his years of service, Larry should be enjoying a comfortable retirement with Patricia. At 74, he is dignified, sharp and charming. He’s the type of person who could talk to anyone about anything. A man with his education and experience could be a consultant on a variety of topics. He could be teaching history at a university. He could easily captivate a crowd on a speaker’s circuit. Instead, he is left struggling to keep his family afloat on a daily basis.

Larry doesn’t complain; he accepts his responsibility to take care of his loved ones.

As a “felon” and the primary caretaker of Patricia, his employment options are limited.

He sees no job as beneath him and has done everything from washing dishes, to parking cars, and even cleaning manure from septic tanks.

The Franklins experienced such unfathomable poverty that their house fell into disrepair, and they lived without running water. They have been unable to take care of their basic needs and stay on top of certain medical and dental care. But, there is so much more to Larry than his current circumstances.

Despite not getting the pardon, Larry feels gratitude.

“Like I’ve done so many times in my life, I went to church and prayed for guidance as I waited for the news,” he recalls. “When I didn’t get the pardon, I understood that this was G-d’s answer. I feel so grateful for all the people who have gone out of their way to fight for me and help our family. They are old friends, new friends, and people who have never met me. They keep my faith strong.”

Larry recognizes that, in recent years, it has been mostly Jews who have committed

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Larry with his son Pierce and his grandson Dominic

to improve his life. This includes an Orthodox donor who gave over $100,000, along with other donors, to make his home habitable. In the past few weeks, money was raised to gift him with a wheelchair accessible van to transport Patricia. More is possible, and a fundraising campaign is now underway to create an annuity to replace Larry’s lost pensions.

Honoring a Man & Preserving a Legacy There is a core group of individuals who have been rallying to help Larry. Including Rabbi Weiss and Harold Rhode, it’s a highly accomplished and fascinating group in their own right. They are individuals who are not looking for attention or praise but who are eager and insistent on discussing Larry.

At the forefront are Kika and Allen Lowy, a Manhattan couple who have picked up the mantle and become close friends.

Allen spearheaded all legal efforts for Larry in the past eight years. His relationship with Larry is an example of life coming full circle. As fate would have it, Allen’s mother was a child survivor of Mauthausen – the camp Larry’s Uncle Albert liberated. When

Allen calls Larry a “Righteous Gentile,” the term coined to honor non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust, he means it.

Kika, who is Israeli, has taken care of the family’s personal and household needs to bring comfort back into their daily lives.

Larry calls the Lowys “my guardian angels.”

“They have raised my spirits at a particularly low point in my internal exile. Nothing would have happened to me for the better without Kika and Allen, who opened their home and hearts to my entire family.”

Allen shares his perspective on the pardon not being granted.

“After being upset, something hit me. This was from G-d. If Larry had gotten the pardon, the legal battle to restore his benefits and pensions would have first begun and could take years. Everyone would wrongly assume that justice was served and that Larry’s financial struggles were over.

“Also, a pardon is a piece of paper,” Allen says. “But the movement we started has raised awareness and support for Larry from around the world. Larry’s self-esteem is restored almost daily by re-

ceiving an outpouring of affection and admiration from thousands of people who had never heard of him before and are in awe of what he has done for the world and the Jewish people.

“One hundred pardons could never achieve that.”

Kika makes a resounding statement, “As Jewish people, it is in our DNA to help. It is not an option to look away and do nothing. We are not the bystanders; we are the doers.

We are the kind that will learn about a hero like Larry Franklin. We are the kind that will make dozens of phone calls to recruit others. We are the kind that will reach into our pockets, our closets, our food pantries to help. We are the kind that wants an American hero and righteous person like Larry to go to sleep with a hot meal in a warm bed. It is our zechus to make him whole and demonstrate what we stand for as Jews.”

Joining the Lowys in supporting Larry is Gary Apfel, who is no stranger to fighting legal injustice. As Sholom

would not be granted. Larry wrote: “No pardon, but no sweat. I am vindicated by the character of the people on my side, like you Gary.”

Gary underscores a critical point about Larry’s character.

“Something that I admire about Larry is his dignity and determination to work any job to provide for his family. He is a highly intelligent person who held sophisticated government positions, yet I’ve never once heard Larry complain about his circumstances.”

As to why people should help, Gary quotes Hillel, “’Im ein ani li, mi li’ – If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

Larry is one of us.”

Then there is Rabbi Chesky Rothman, the spiritual leader and executive director of the Chabad Community Center in Rockford, Illinois. Rabbi Rothman came to know Larry through L’taken Olam, a nonprofit organization he founded to save the lives of Jews trapped in precarious situations around the world.

L’taken also assists those who suffer because of their sup-

life back.”

In addition to helping people like Larry, and preventing this kind of situation from happening again, L’taken Olam is looking to the future.

“Our mission at L’taken is to tell future heroes: do what is right, just and legal! Have the courage to help the Jewish people, and you will not be left behind,” Rabbi Rothman expounds.

Finally, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Chairman of the Coalition for Jewish Values and Jonathan Pollard’s longtime rabbi and advocate, has a message for anyone, like himself, who is just learning about Larry Franklin’s plight.

“We have a moral responsibility to say thank you and show Larry that the Jewish people never forget,” Rabbi Lerner says. “He is in this situation because he cared about the Jewish people and the Jewish State. It’s our turn to take care of him.”

L’Taken is coordinating the fundraising campaign to ensure that Larry and his family have the financial se-

“We are the kind that wants an American hero and righteous person like Larry to go to sleep with a hot meal in a warm bed.

It is our zechus to make him whole and demonstrate what we stand for as Jews.”

Mordechai Rubashkin’s lead pro-bono attorney, he was successful in getting the 27-year prison sentence commuted by President Trump, after eight years served .

“Larry is a genuinely fine, decent and humble human being. He’s a real hero,” Gary says. He shares an email he received from Larry the night they heard that the pardon

port of the Jewish people and Israel.

“I met Larry when I was involved in the first phase of helping him, which was remodeling his home. He is a very special person, a ‘real tzaddik,’” Rabbi Rothman explains. “Now we need to help him move forward, not just financially, but by restoring his spirit and giving him his

curity to live with dignity. In addition to providing for the family’s immediate needs, an annuity will be created to fund a monthly distribution for ongoing expenses. For further information and to contribute to the campaign, visit Ltaken.org/Larry.

All donations will be matched and doubled by generous supporters.

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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Dating Dialogue

What Would You Do If… Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters

Dear Navidaters,

I would like to discuss a topic that might be difficult for people to read, but nonetheless is an important one for both singles and married people alike.

Recently, there has been a lot of buzz about smoking weed (marijuana) in the frum community. Many rabbonim are trying to stop it from happening at shuls and kiddushim. In some communities, there are even massive ads and lots of money being poured into prevention. I, for one, have been at many a L’chaim where men are doing weed, both singles and married men, fathers.

This concerns me in a deep way as I have a close relative who died at a very young age due to overdose but it all started with drinking.

Many advise singles to ask the question, “Does he smoke” to references, but nobody addresses drinking, which is usually the way guys get into these things to begin with. Wine and hard liquor are given out by ba’alei simcha like a candyman gives out candy. Why are people addressing the weed problem but not addressing the drinking problem? And how is a guy who drinks on Shabbos any better than someone who does weed?

Alex

Disclaimer: This column is not intended to diagnose or otherwise conclude resolutions to any questions. Our intention is not to offer any definitive conclusions to any particular question, rather offer areas of exploration for the author and reader. Due to the nature of the column receiving only a short snapshot of an issue, without the benefit of an actual discussion, the panel’s role is to offer a range of possibilities. We hope to open up meaningful dialogue and individual exploration.

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The Panel The Rebbetzin Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz, M.S.

T

hank you, Alex, for bringing up these two communal issues in the Dating Dialogue. Drinking and use of marijuana do impact dating but they are much broader and deeper problems in the Orthodox Jewish world. I will, therefore, limit myself to a few remarks.

Both drinking and the use of weed are being addressed in the community and in schools for quite some time.

It may not be visible to all, however.

High school and post-high school institutions of learning for young men across the religious spectrum are talking about it, bringing in trained professionals, and holding formal and informal sessions to address the issue of substance abuse and addictive behaviors. Family members and addicted people of all ages and stages access 12-step programs and individual therapy privately. Frum people disappear for a while and go into in-patient rehab centers. Some come back and talk about it in special environments.

Sometimes, young people are given “shock treatment,” so to speak, after someone in their circle has died from an overdose. This can take the form of actually viewing the person who passed away, learning the facts about alcohol poisoning, and watching someone suffer in the throes of the withdrawal stage. All forms of popular Jewish media feature real life stories of addiction and its familial and health destruction.

Addressing the source of the pain of the individual is seeking to alleviate with addictive substances for short term pleasure is a big challenge, however. S/he needs to confront himself or herself and seek help.

That is not easy to do. It’s easy to fall into the trap of self-medication, especially when there is socializa-

tion and availability. Just saying no won’t do it. There is a lot of work to do; therapy and spirituality are the recommended antidotes to personal pain. They take a lot of work, not to mention time. It’s hard for everyone, especially young people. Committing is not as easy as self-medicating with available substances.

Availability is not a challenge.

Recreational use of cannabis is now legal in at least 15 states, including New York State which legalized the substance at the end of March. High end liquor is also a status symbol in frum communities. You are right. We are going to have to rise to personal and community challenges of substance abuse in a more systemic and public fashion.

The Shadchan Michelle Mond

Y

ou are asking a fantastic question and, unfortunately, a very relevant one. I believe unequivocally that any guy or girl who smokes weed is not a mature candidate for marriage. Nor do I believe that any guy or girl who habitually gets drunk is a candidate for marriage. Note that I used the term, “gets drunk,” because the mere act of drinking wine is not inherently an escape behavior.

Drinking wine with caution is part of our tradition as frum Yidden. Obviously, this is only if one does not have a disposition to addictions in general. In those cases, one would be advised to drink grape juice and not touch alcohol at all. This is especially true regarding someone who has a genetic predisposition to addictions.

One cannot compare a typical person who has a l’chaim once a week and kiddush wine on Shabbos to smoking weed once or twice a week, and here is why. Doing drugs is escape behavior and so is getting drunk (unlike having one l’chaim on

Shabbos and kiddush wine). This is why people do not ask on shidduch calls, “Does he drink a l’chaim on Shabbos?” A more appropriate question to ask is, “Does he get drunk?”

Both drugs and getting drunk are done to numb the pain of living a reality that is too painful for a person to live with. One might start socially or because of peer pressure, but over time, it becomes a way to escape reality. It becomes a way to avoid working on oneself, talking to a doctor about mental health issues, or dealing with life head-on.

Marijuana has recently become legal in many states and is being used by young men and women as habitual social behavior to escape reality and numb the pain of living real life.

Alcoholism is a disease.

When I was a kid, there was a commercial that illustrated a man cracking an egg into a frying pan. He held up the egg and compared it to a person’s brain. He then cracked the egg and fried it and exclaimed that this is what happens to your brain when you do drugs. On the bottom of the screen it said, “Think twice before you do marijuana or heroin.” I tried googling this commercial 1,000 different ways, and it seems to be the only thing ever in the media that is not on YouTube (I wonder why?). But

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I promise, this was a regular commercial on TV when I was growing up in the ‘90s.

I recall as a child being confused. Drugs? Like Tylenol or Advil?

Quickly writing down that strange word “marijuana,” which I had pronounced as it was spelled, I went to my parents asking what it meant, and they told me. It was described as a dangerous substance that people use to escape reality which kills the brain cells, distorts the brains of youth who try it, and stunts brain growth especially in adolescents and youth in a very substantial way.

Unfortunately, these drugs are becoming more and more common, albeit not as common (yet) as drinking. Which brings me to your last question: why are people making more of a big deal about weed than drinking? The answer, in my opinion, is the following. Unfortunately, as you have illustrated, excessive drinking is commonplace in the frum world. Weed has not gotten to that extreme yet; which is why people in the frum world are moving mountains to try and prevent it from becoming another “frum pandemic.”

Thanks for asking a great question. Never stop asking!

The Single Rivka Weinberg

I

’m sorry to hear that a close relative of yours passed away due to overdose. I agree with you that, unfortunately, alcohol and drugs are severe issues in our community that must be taken seriously. I’m not belittling your concern; however, I disagree with you that “nobody addresses drinking.” Baruch Hashem, there are various wonderful organizations in the community that work tirelessly to tackle this issue, including Amudim and JACS. It’s important that we show our hakaras hatov to these programs that create events and fundraisers to raise awareness and help those who are struggling in our community. I would also like to point out that a guy who drinks on

Shabbos is not any better than someone who does weed, so I’m not entirely sure who determined that and what leads you to believe it.

I grew up in a home where alcohol was just seen on Pesach, so my only other exposure was in shul.

Now, this leads me to kiddush clubs: the great Jewish phenomenon. Who decided that on Shabbos after shul, or even sometimes during laining, men must consume alcohol weekly in front of their wives and children? We wonder why we have these problems in our community, but we frequently forget that from a young age many kids are introduced to these substances in the very same place we tell them to go to speak to Hashem. We are setting our children up for failure by turning a makom kadosh into a drinking fest. I’ve always wondered why people display their alcohol proudly in their dining rooms, while their sefarim and gedolim pictures are hidden away in the study. What kind of message is that sending to our impressionable young ones?

Now, I know, some people will argue and say, “But there’s so much kedusha that can come from alcohol, don’t you know how leibidig a person can become?” To that, I respond, yes, there is a time and place for everything, and as my father always says, everything in moderation. As Jews, we believe in elevating the mundane, and if used appropriately, that can be done with alcohol as well. However, it’s too late for that. As a community, we have already set the wrong tone around alcohol which has unfortunately trickled into drugs, too.

Personally, I don’t know enough about the weed problem, but if I had to guess, the higher emphasis placed on it is due to the fact that it’s newer.

Regardless of what the reason is, it’s important to stress that a girl should not date a boy who is associated with these substances if she is uncomfortable with them. She should not assume that he will merely stop or change, because that’s not as simple as it sounds.

To clarify – I am not condoning such behavior, in fact, I think it’s disgusting and irresponsible. If this is an issue that girls face in shidduchim, it’s vital for them to be aware

of the potential impact it has on a family.

The Zaidy Dr. Jeffrey Galler

Y

our letter touches on several interesting topics.

What is legal?

Government has re-discovered the truth codified in the Talmud 2,000 years ago: “Do not make laws that the people will not obey.”

The United States recognized this truism in the 1930s when they repealed laws outlawing the sale of alcohol. More recently, many states are now legalizing marijuana, after realizing that it is fruitless to criminalize a product that is so widely available and used. And legislators now have dreams of collecting huge tax revenues from the legal sale of marijuana.

What is acceptable?

We must remember that in our religion, drinking wine (or alcohol) is not only allowed but is even required for making kiddush, or performing the Pesach seder, a bris, or the blessings under the chuppah.

Rashi was a wine merchant. The Talmudic Rav Pappa was a beer manufacturer. Libations of wine were essential to services in the Temple.

Of course, it is clear that individuals have different reactions to wine and alcohol. Accordingly, some folks prefer grape juice over wine on Friday night; and, while some rabbis in the Talmud prohibited drinking wine before rendering halachic decisions, others remarked that a little wine helped sharpen their minds before rendering halachic decisions.

Clearly, overindulging is reprehensible. Driving while impaired is illegal. Intoxication is not only morally repugnant but is also halachically unacceptable. For example, Temple Kohanim and Beis Din judges are prohibited from serving while intoxicated.

In light of all this, I am absolutely astonished when I hear some rabbis claim that it is a halachic require-

Who decided that on Shabbos after shul, or even sometimes during laining, men must consume alcohol weekly in front of their wives and children?

ment to get drunk on Purim!

Note that medical marijuana is a godsend and absolutely essential for the well-being of many ill individuals. It remains to be seen whether legal, recreational marijuana will now cause problems similar to alcohol intoxication.

Note that marijuana is usually taken via smoking, and, thankfully, smoking has already been properly stigmatized in our community. But, marijuana can also be ingested. I would hate to see marijuana-laced cookies served along with alcohol at a kiddush.

What should we do?

In our schools, media outlets, and pulpits, we must, of course, discourage and condemn substance abuse.

Singles should watch out for warning signs. Consider it a serious red flag if your date: *Suggests ordering alcoholic cocktails instead of coffee or Diet Coke in a hotel lobby. *Knows which martinis produce the “best buzz.” *Orders a few beers at a baseball game. *Discusses which brand of marijuana is the most potent. *Has a family history of alcohol abuse or drug addiction.

Thank you for writing to us with interesting questions. Notice that I do not offer to salute you with a highly inappropriate l’chaim.

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Pulling It All Together The Navidaters

dren sends the message that Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists it is OK for the children to do so.

It can be incredibly harmful and damaging for children to be exposed. ear Alex, Grownups often bemarijuana abuse. When Thank you for writing into come sloppy and messy, and this alcohol or marijuana are our column! You are raising a very can be scary for a child. Unless taken in larger amounts and important issue impacting so many there is an adults-only shul, I just for longer periods of time than people across all races and cultures, don’t think its OK to get sloppy or originally intended, a persistent and we are not the exception. Alcohigh in shul. Oftentimes, addicts stop desire but inability to cut down, conhol and drug abuse is rampant, and taking their children to shul, because siderable time spent try to obtain althe emotional impact of Covid-19 had they don’t want the responsibility of cohol or marijuana, cravings, failure even more people turning to the botthe children. Adults can do as they to function in daily life, and a develtle (both alcohol and pill) as well as please. My concern is the children. oping tolerance are some of the tellmarijuana. Though I do not have an Alcoholism is a disease. The peotale signs of an abuse disorder. Along expertise in addiction, I have seen the ple who have this disease are not bad with the use of alcohol and/or weed devastating impact of drug and alcopeople. They are not weak or lazy or come some very unsettling behaviors hol abuse on individuals and their any other negative label associated such as denial and rationalization. A families. I have seen it ravage marwith it. People who abuse alcohol or person will deny having a problem riages. And when men come stummarijuana for that matter are often until the cows come home and then bling home, drunk and/or high from some of the most beautiful, sensiturn the tables on loved ones and proshul or their house-to-house kiddush tive, and wonderful people who are vide rationalizations and excuses for hopping, they are often met by dishighly empathic and feel everything. their substance abuse. Being a family appointed, hurt and angry wives as Sometimes, we go through painmember of an addict is, oh, so very they try to keep the family happily ful life events or are living in active painful and lonely and devastating. waiting for Daddy. I know firsthand trauma or recovering from trauma, A vast majority of the men that how this affects couples in our Jewish and people turn to alcohol or drugs you refer to in your email most likely community. because they work. They provide an do not have a substance use disorder.

Firstly, I believe that the alcohol escape. Some of the most beautiful They are making a l’chaim and enjoyproblem is being addressed. Many people I have ever met are recovering ing hanging with the guys after a hard shuls have gone completely dry. addicts. Not only are they sensitive week. However, handfuls of these There might be “weed buzz” now besouls, they have taken ownership and men in every shul do. (P.S. This is not cause marijuana has been legalized responsibility for their lives and are just a problem for men. Women are in many states and will now be even typically committed to their personmore likely to drink and smoke marmore accessible and acceptable to al growth. No excuses. They are a ijuana in the privacy of their homes everyone. Perhaps the community breath of fresh air. and, due to the stigma and shame of is trying to get in front of it as preIt will be interesting to watch the a Jewish woman not engaging in such vention. The legalization of alcohol legalization of marijuana unfold. activities, are probably less likely to is very old news….

People who want to smoke have alget help.)

Everyone will have a different ways found a way to smoke. There I do have a strong opinion about opinion about what is “acceptable,” are people who are capable of enjoyadults losing control with substances and I certainly don’t want to start or ing alcohol or marijuana in moderin front of children, and I will speak engage in a debate by giving a peration, and there are people who are up about that. Smoking weed or sonal opinion. What I am certain not. If you, the reader, think you may drinking excessively in front of chilof is the definition of alcohol and

D

have a problem with alcohol or drugs, there are many wonderful resources for you. My second year internship at Adelphi School of Social Work was at Tempo Group, an outpatient rehab for addicted individuals and their families right here in Woodmere, NY. They provide a thorough assessment of the individual and his/her family members and then offer one on one and group therapy for the individual and the family. You are not alone!

And there is help! And you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed about!

When it comes to dating, I would say the following. If you abhor or detest alcohol or marijuana, do not marry someone who uses it. If it makes you uncomfortable, stay away.

This is because you can never change your partner. If a person is going to stop, it is going to be because he or she wants to. You can cry, beg, plead, spill the alcohol out of the bottles and offer them all the help in the world.

As with everything when it comes to dating, make sure you fully accept everything before you walk down the aisle. People make changes when they are ready, and when a loved one can’t stop, it doesn’t mean he/she doesn’t love you or is choosing the substance over you. It means he has an addiction.

This is a very touchy subject and a family paper, so I have chosen to leave out some information about legal usage of alcohol and marijuana in moderation on purpose. Please understand that I have done the best I could to answer this question, taking into account sensitivity to the readership and the paper. Again, thank you, Alex for this important question.

Sincerely, Jennifer

Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in private practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. She also teaches a psychology course at Touro College. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 718-908-0512. Visit www.thenavidaters.com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email JenniferMannLCSW@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Dr. Deb

Compassionate Honesty – Isn’t That an Oxymoron?

By Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.

“I

have a mind of my own now, Jason,” Miri said with her nose pointed slightly upward. “You think you’re so smart!

Well, you’re not. As a matter of fact –” Let’s just pause here in the middle of Miri’s attempt at being assertive.

Was this honest?

Well, I guess so.

Was this assertive?

Not necessarily.

Was it compassionate?

I’d have to say, “No.” Combining compassion and honesty is not easy.

I used to teach couples to speak with assertiveness, and they often thought that stating their position in no uncertain terms as Miri did above was a great example.

It wasn’t.

It wasn’t because the idea in being assertive is not to build your own case by putting down someone else. Rather, assertiveness requires humanity.

Compassion.

But I had a great deal of trouble helping couples be assertive in a kindly way that still made their case.

Somehow, they felt at a disadvantage if they could not chop their partner down to make up for all the past times when they got cut down themselves.

And if there is any element of selfdoubt or de-valuing parts of yourself lurking in the hidden recesses of your soul, then you will not have the strength and courage to be fully compassionate; you will be in too much of a protective mode.

This explains why I fell in love with Internal Family Systems. The first steps in it are meant to teach people to love and value themselves first – even the parts of them that they would rather forget they had.

Those are the parts that act defensive or aggressive or wimpy at moments when they wish they didn’t.

IFS makes the reasonable point that if this “part” of you came into being when you were just a child and therefore did the best you could creating a defense mechanism that would work for a child, then how can you blame yourself if it is a bit over the top or crude or illogical?

You have to come to appreciate the efforts made by that part of you to cope when it was awfully difficult and when you didn’t know better.

Look at it this way, Miri is trying to cope right now in a way that is not as, shall we say, polished as it could be. And she actually thinks that she’s come a long way.

Maybe Miri’s been in therapy working on her self-esteem, and it has, indeed, improved. But self-esteem can never be purchased at the price of putting others down. That is not a winning formula, although many therapists who work with an individual in a troubled marriage don’t

realize the repercussions.

It is necessary first, in order to be able to communicate from that assertive and honest place, to acquire compassion. And it must begin with yourself. Only when you have compassion for yourself can you accept the flaws in your partner.

How do you do that?

We go back to how we relate to those parts of us that we may even be ashamed of. The question is: Can we start to appreciate and value those elements within ourselves? Because if we can’t, then we’ve got two problems: Problem #1: When we are not fully accepting ourselves, we are not whole.

To be whole, you have to love all of who you are – dark parts included.

Problem #2: If you can’t love and embrace all of yourself, you will never, ever be able to have a truly assertive conversation with someone whose parts can get under your skin.

That’s because assertiveness not only includes the honesty and openness that you want but also the compassion and kindness necessary to be a

fully functioning human being.

That means you will never get close again, never repair the marriage.

What I teach is a fascinating journey into your Self. Whenever you act in a way you wish you hadn’t, we explore where that part came from in your life and what its job is right now.

The better you deeply understand the motives behind each part, the better you can accept it.

You can look at your parts as coping mechanisms. These, of course, are behaviors that simply react automatically to circumstances. Given a set of conditions, you might be triggered to react because those conditions once were toxic for you and you needed to protect yourself. The situation at the moment might not really be toxic at all, but your automatic brain doesn’t spend the time to evaluate, it just reacts.

For example, let’s return to Miri.

Suppose we asked her to ask her part that put her husband down while trying to assert herself why it needed to go that route. We could listen in on her internal dialogue: Miri [to part]: Can you tell me what your goal was when you kind of took over me and made me say, “You think you’re so smart! Well, you’re not, as a matter of fact.”

Part: I have to protect you! You know very well that Jason is opinionated and bossy. That has been the whole problem. Give him an inch and you lose your voice. You forget who you are.

Now, it becomes clear, doesn’t it?

It would be interesting to learn when in Miri’s life this part sprang into existence. As Miri falls silent thinking about her past, she suddenly sees her older brother running toward

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her. He is just about to jump on her.

The memory is frozen as he is in the air above her. She needs to act fast; she jumps quickly out of the way and he lands on the hard floor, crying.

“Good for him,” she thinks. “Serves him right.”

Since she and her brother were left alone by a single mom who was struggling to help the family survive financially, Miri had to rely on her own smarts to come out safe. That was what we might call her “attack part.” It protected the vulnerable little girl who was frightened to be alone and had to depend on this aggressive brother.

When Miri married Jason, what she loved best about him was that he seemed to her to be a knight in shining armor, there to protect her from the world. The problem was that, in short order, his protection became dominance and she was once again in the same position she’d been in growing up.

Jason’s behavior, unfortunately, is

what Richard Schwartz, the founder of IFS, calls an attachment re-injury.

That is why her attack part just suddenly appeared. And it was so subtle that she probably didn’t notice as the words spilled from her mouth. Sometimes we need a third part to help us

child, and she’d have to be ready to hear the child’s pain. We can’t be fully capable of compassion for others if we can’t listen to our vulnerable parts with compassion.

3. she’d have to learn how to be in Self so that she can help that young

When we are not fully accepting ourselves, we are not whole.

notice our parts – and heal them.

So what would healing look like for Miri? (And Jason, for that matter.)

She’d have to: 1. realize that her attack part was the little kid she was when she had no other resources and therefore appreciate and value that part of her.

2. understand that beneath that attacking protector was a vulnerable

va c a t I o n

attacking part to grow and ease up because it could rely on her adult ability to handle things.

So, Miri is only getting started with her journey toward wholeness.

She’s definitely on the road, though.

After all, she knows that she needs to have a voice in the relationship, so she’s got about one-fourth of the honesty part done. The other

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three-quarters are recognizing her attacking protector and recognizing the vulnerable little girl that still hurts sometimes, as well as the fact that her husband’s dominance has also injured and hurt her.

And then the compassion piece of being totally whole and healed needs to be in place. For that, she must first embrace her nasty protector who did the best job it could, and then, even more important, accept the vulnerability inside her. She needs to admit and not be ashamed of this “weaker” part of herself.

Then she will be ready to accept her husband’s flaws with love and curiosity and have compassionately honest conversations.

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

The Anti-Inflammatory Diet

By Aliza Beer MS, RD, CDN

I

nflammation is a natural process that helps your body heal and defend itself from harm.

Your immune system becomes activated when your body recognizes anything that is foreign, such as an invading microbe, plant pollen, or chemical. This often triggers inflammation.

Intermittent bouts of inflammation directed at threatening invaders protect your health. However, if inflammation becomes chronic, it will become harmful. Chronic inflammation may last for weeks, months, or even years, and may lead to a host of health problems, such as arthritis, IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease), Crohn’s disease, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

When you have chronic inflammation, your body’s inflammatory response can eventually start damaging healthy cells, tissues and organs. Over time, this can lead to DNA damage, tissue death, and internal scarring. Symptoms of chronic inflammation include body pain, chronic fatigue and insomnia, depression and anxiety, gastroin-

testinal complications like constipation, diarrhea, and reflux, weight gain/loss, and frequent infections.

Physicians and registered dietitians recommend patients suffering from any of these health issues try an anti-inflammatory diet. This diet will help keep you healthy and prevent the development of many diseases or disorders. Let’s explore what foods to avoid and which foods to incorporate.

Certain foods promote inflammation in the body, and sugar is the greatest offender. Consuming significant amounts of sugar and high fructose corn syrup can lead to insulin resistance, diabetes, and obesity.

Refined carbs, such as white bread, are easily converted into sugar in the body and will lead to inflammation and insulin resistance as well. Eating processed and packaged foods that contain sugar and trans fats has been shown to cause inflammation and damage to the endothelial cells that line the arteries. Excessive intake of alcohol and processed meat can also have inflammatory effects on the body. Dairy and gluten may

cause inflammation in certain individuals. Additionally, an inactive lifestyle that includes a lot of sitting is a major non-dietary factor that can promote inflammation.

If you seek to reduce inflammation, consume fewer inflammatory foods and more anti-inflammatory foods. Anti-inflammatory foods are foods that often contain antioxidants. Antioxidants work by reducing levels of free radicals. Free radicals are reactive molecules that are created naturally by the metabolism but can lead to inflammation when they are not held in check.

Here are some foods that should be included in the anti-inflammatory diet: • Vegetables: Choose broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts, cabbage, etc. Fill up half your dinner plate with veggies at every meal, or about 2 cups.

• Fruit: Most of your snacks should come from a tree, not a bag.

Berries are the best and contain significant amounts of antioxidants and fiber. About two fruits a day are recommended.

• Healthy Fats: Olive oil, avocadoes, and nuts are the healthiest fats. They are monounsaturated fats and help fight inflammation. Olive oil also contains oleocanthol, a compound that can reduce inflammation and joint pain. Be mindful of your portions, because fat, even a super-healthy, amazing fat, is still fattening. Put olive oil in an Evo spray bottle (you can buy it on Amazon) to spray your veggies before roasting or grilling them.

Don’t eat more than 1/3 of an avocado in one sitting, and always portion your nuts to about 12 nuts or a small handful for one serving.

• Fish: Certain types of fish are rich in inflammation-fighting omega-3 fatty acids, which reduce C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6, two inflammatory proteins in the body. Salmon, tuna, and sardines contain high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids.

Eat fish at least 2-3 times a week.

• Chocolate: My favor ite healthy food! Only dark chocolate and preferably at least 70 % cacao.

Dark chocolate contains antioxi-

dants, but indulge in no more than a few squares in one sitting.

• Spice for Life: Turmeric and cinnamon are popular spices used to fight inflammation. Turmeric contains curcumin, which is a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.

Unfortunately, curcumin is poorly absorbed into the bloodstream. It helps to consume black pepper with it, which contains piperine, a natural substance that enhances the absorption of curcumin by 2,000%.

Cinnamon contains antioxidants that have potent anti-inflammatory properties. In a study that ranked the antioxidant activity of 26 spices, cinnamon was the clear winner, even outranking the “superfoods” garlic and oregano.

• Green Tea: Tea has antioxidants called catechins that reduce inflammation. Green tea contains EGCG, the most powerful type of catechin. EGCG has anti-inflammatory properties that have been

shown to help relieve flare-ups associated with inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis.

In addition to diet, regular exercise can decrease inflammatory markers and reduce the risk of

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sleep increases inflammation. Most people find that the anti-inflammatory diet, along with exercise and good sleep, provides many benefits, including: improved symptoms of arthritis, IBS, Crohn’s disease, lupus, and other autoimmune disor-

Most of your snacks should come from a tree, not a bag.

chronic disease. The exercise does not need to be intense to be effective. Walking every day for 20-30 minutes is enough to shift your body (and mind) into a better place.

Getting enough sleep is extremely important as well. Researchers have found that not getting enough

ders; better blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels; and an improvement in energy and mood.

One of the most powerful tools to combat inflammation comes not from the pharmacy but from the grocery store. Choose the right anti-inflammatory foods, and you may

be able to reduce your risk of illness.

Consistently pick the wrong ones, and you may accelerate the inflammatory disease process. As much as possible, avoid or limit refined carbohydrates and sugar, fried foods, red meat and processed meat. In addition to lowering inflammation, a more natural, less processed diet can have noticeable effects on your physical and emotional health.

A healthy diet is beneficial not only for reducing the risk of chronic diseases, but also for improving mood and overall quality of life. Remember: you are what you eat!

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.

life is not perfect, but it is beautiful. alphaonestudio@gmail.com

yaelivogel.com

info@yaelivogel.com

yaelivogel

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Parenting Pearls

Keeping the Count Meaningful

By Sara Rayvych, MSEd

W

e’ve recently begun the unique time period of sefiras haomer. It’s quite a combination of events. We have the excitement of counting up to receiving the Torah while simultaneously mourning the loss of Rabbi Akiva’s students. To add to the intrigue, there are multiple customs for when we observe this mourning period. It’s actually rather confusing for kids to hear that we don’t have weddings during this period but that their parent is attending a wedding that evening.

dren a prize or special treat if they remind their adult to count each night.

This helps the adults to make sure they count each night. Upon completing the counting of sefira, just before Shavuos, the child receives their agreed-upon treat. I’ve successfully used this method, and it’s a great incentive to keep kids motivated and excited throughout those seven weeks. It also helps younger kids gain a greater, practical awareness of this once-a-year mitzvah.

The Count

During this time period, we have a greater focus on improving various parts of our behavior. Learning Pirkei Avos is one of the tools we traditionally use.

Pirkei Avos is very unique for many reasons, including that the focus is on practical middos improvement. It’s more universally taught.

Even women who shy away from other Talmudic learning will routinely study Pirkei Avos. Another unique characteristic to Pirkei Avos is that even young children can readily understand some of the lessons.

There are various child-friendly editions of Pirkei Avos that include easy-to-understand translations and wonderful pictures. Whether you

Children can often understand the idea of being excited for something and counting up to a big event. Take advantage of that natural tendency and use it to help them to understand that we are excited about receiving the Torah again.

While those who attend shul have automatic reminders after Maariv, those who don’t attend Maariv in shul can easily forget to count. Giving children the job of reminding or counting with a parent each evening is a great way to involve them in a meaningful way. Counting is normally done when kids aren’t in school anyway.

I don’t know where I originally heard about the idea of giving chil-

Pirkei Avos

read with a child from the beginning or pick out a Mishna of interest, Pirkei Avos is a wonderful way to introduce even the youngest of budding scholars to some of our Sages’ teachings. There are so many practical lessons that children can understand and learn straight from the text. The basic text can easily become a springboard for more in-depth lessons. Teens, as well, will enjoy the many discussions and lessons in human nature that come straight from our Sages.

For example, even young children can benefit from hearing that they should think positively of themselves and not judge themselves negatively (Avos 2:18), the importance of good friends (Avos 1:6), and of avoiding bad influences (Avos 1:7). Many parts of Avos are easily relevant to each of our lives.

Middos by Example During this time perio,d we often focus on improving our middos and interactions with others. This section is something we all know but can, at times, benefit from a reminder. Kids learn from what we do more than what we say. If we want our children to have good middos, then we need to display good middos. It’s rather frightening to sometimes see what

kids pick up from the adults around them.

It’s easy to lecture kids and tell them how to behave. It’s a lot harder, but far more effective, to demonstrate it ourselves. It’s easy for a parent to tell a child to not talk during davening but a lot harder to keep oneself quiet for the entire duration. It’s easy to say, “No speaking lashon hara, kids” but a lot harder to remember to watch our speech on the phone.

We can lecture day and night about honoring a parent but we will give the lesson over that much more profoundly by honoring our own parents, in-laws, or grandparents in our child’s presence. Getting a Shabbos afternoon drink for a parent while briefly saying that you’re fulfilling the mitzva of kibbud av v’eim is more to the point than a lecture your child is going to ignore anyway. When you say “thank you” to your child, spouse, or the cashier you are, through personal example, teaching your child gratitude. Your interactions with your children, relatives, and the other adults in your life are a natural lesson for your child in the behaviors you want them to learn.

Think of what you’d like your child to improve on and see how you can show them the lessons in real life. It’s

OK if you’re struggling; I personally see nothing wrong with kids learning that change is hard and that parents work on themselves, too. Often, just reading a book geared towards improving oneself in a certain area will yield benefit. It’s naturally harder to speak lashon hara if you’re reading a daily lesson on it. Let your child see that you care and are working on yourself – it’s an excellent lesson for them.

Middos by Connection This is my personal thoughts on children following in the ways of their parents, rebbeim, or mentors. Naturally, children are affected by those around them, hopefully for the good.

It is my personal and humble opinion that children will be more ready to learn from adults that they feel connected to. With this in mind, if you want a child to follow your example, then you have to be someone they want to follow. The more your child loves you and feels close to you, the

greater the impact your actions will have on them.

When a child sees their parents value davening and don’t speak in shul, it makes an impact on them, far more than yelling “shush” at them

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ent doesn’t curse will learn that such speech isn’t appropriate in their home.

A child who wants to be close to that parent will quickly recognize that such speech is hurtful and unacceptable and will hopefully not use it even

Your interactions with your children, relatives, and the other adults in your life are a natural lesson for your child in the behaviors you want them to learn.

during the tefillos. If they feel a strong level of respect for that parent and want to emulate them, then you have a child that will hopefully become motivated to daven seriously as they get older.

A child who sees that their par-

when their adult isn’t present. Sadly, a child who wants to spite their parent may use that same knowledge as a weapon and intentionally use inappropriate language to hurt them.

Our connection to our children and the bond we have with them is

far more important than we realize in our daily interactions. It may take time to see the effect of our positive example on our children, but mature behavior can only be expected from more mature children. Be patient with them. Recognize that we are far older than they are, and we are not perfect ourselves. It helps to remember that we’re not expected to complete the job, even for ourselves, but we can’t give up and must continue to try to make meaningful changes (Avos 3:21).

Enjoy this time period as we go from the lowest depths of slavery to the ultimate freedom of receiving the Torah. May we use this time appropriately and prepare ourselves, along with our children, for the ultimate gift of Matan Torah.

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

The Evolution of a Savta

By Miriam Liebermann, MSW

W

ith many thanks to our Ribbono Shel Olam, I miraculously became a grandmother almost 17 years ago. From the very start, I modeled myself on Savta Simcha, a most charming, captivating literary character created by Yaffa Ganz. Savta Simcha is consistently upbeat and positive, warm, energetic and innovative. She connects beautifully with all the young children. And so, my new persona began to develop.

As a side note, Savta Simcha is not married but lives with her brother Uncle Nechemia. Yaffa Ganz created this fabulous character who plays a major role in the lives of these children, although she is not their actual grandmother. Savta Simcha is a phenomenal role model, living a full, meaningful life, despite her unusual circumstances. Kudos to this talented author for creating such a lovable, quirky personality!

I so enjoy my role as the Savta. I have a large black satchel where I keep my pop-up books, paint books, and special games. I visit with art projects and puzzles…. The little ones and I thoroughly enjoy our quality time together.

Several years ago, erev Pesach, my son Yuda called and shared the fol-

lowing with me. He was learning the laws of the Pesach Seder with his oldest son, Yisrael. They were discussing how the men must lean at the Seder.

Eight-year-old Yisrael asked, “Do women have to lean?”

ly. I now make sure the children see me davening regularly. I try to say my brachos properly, aloud and distinctively. Keep my cool under all situations. Exhibit joy when doing mitzvos.

I’m very mindful of this role.

As of now I’m aspiring to be the Green, Choshuv Savta Simcha

Yuda responded, “The Kitzur teaches us that ‘choshuv’ women must lean.”

“Oh,” Yisrael answered. “So Savta has to lean.”

I was quite flabbergasted with this little interchange. I had never seen myself as “choshuv.” And what is “choshuv” in this context? Dignified, deserving of respect, noteworthy.

Yisrael’s response introduced me to a new aspect of my Savta role. I’m a link in the chain from Har Sinai. In order to pass on the mesorah to the next generation, I must be “choshuv.” I must conduct myself accordingly.

I take this new role very serious-

And now I’ve been introduced to yet another aspect of “bubbyhood.”

The Green Bubbie: Nurturing the Future by Ruth Pinkenson Feldman introduces yet another aspect to this role. Ruthy teaches us in her most eloquent, charming manner, that we should be nurturing those who are growing right in front of us. “A Green Bubbie grafts generations together.”

Ruthy encourages organic, intergenerational relationships.

“A Green Bubbie nurtures with kindness and patience, and like companion plantings, she and her sprouts both grow, in their own ways, in their own season…. A Green Bubbie has

absorbed the tradition she was born with…. She has infused it into her home. Others bask in the light, color and warmth when they visit….

“Like the moon’s light, we are continually in a process of renewal. Renewal is different than searching for the fountain of youth. A Green Bubbie doesn’t strive to be young or young again. She blossoms in that light of renewal, from the inside out.”

Ruthy Feldman has so beautifully expanded the universe of the bubby.

There are so many who would benefit from our specific type of love and caring, outside of our own immediate families. Everyone needs a bubby! Everyone needs a savta, too! And an omi!

Or oma! Or grandma! Let’s spread the love and caring.

In conclusion, no need to drop one persona in order to adopt a different one. Rather, we can incorporate all these three aspects and more! We keep expanding and growing and evolving into our role as we get better and better at it. As of now, I’m aspiring to be the Green, Choshuv Savta Simcha.

Wish me luck!

Join the conversation and email list of JWOW! by writing to hello @jewishwomenofwisdom.org.

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In The K

tchen

Tomato Basil Bruschetta Serves 6-8

By Naomi Nachman

This is one of my absolute

favorite dishes to eat. I love the

combo of tomatoes with fresh hot bread, drizzled with really good

quality olive oil. I often served this for lunch when everyone was home during the pandemic, and when I didn’t have fresh bread, I served it on Melba toasts.

Ingredients

b4 garlic cloves, peeled b12 slices good, thick-crusted bread, ½-inch thick b8 plum tomatoes, small dice b2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar b8-12 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced bExtra virgin olive oil, for drizzling bSalt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation 1.

Preheat the grill.

2. Place the bread on a hot grill and toast to a golden brown on both sides. While the bread is hot, rub each side with the garlic.

3. In a small bowl, toss the tomatoes with the balsamic vinegar, basil, salt and pepper.

4.

Put the bread on a platter, and top with diced tomato and basil. Sprinkle with salt and a few grindings of pepper.

5. Pour a thin stream of olive oil on each slice, soaking it lightly. Serve immediately.

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

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Notable Quotes

Whatever happened to your ideas, your houghts, your beliefs being yours and not wrong? That seems a distant past.

– Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre bemoaning the state of woke culture today

“Say What?!”

The Queen, as you would expect, is an ncredibly stoic person. And she described his passing as a miracle. And she’s contemplating ... She described it as having eft a huge void in her life.

I’ve had a lot of dealings with Rob Manfred back in my playing days, and I never liked the guy. I thought he was a bit odd. He never understood anything.

- Two-time World Series winning pitcher David Wells blasting MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s decision to move this summer’s All-Star Game to Denver from Atlanta

Britain’s Prince Andrew, describing how his mother, Queen lizabeth II, is faring following the death of her husband Prince Philip last week.

You can’t be anti-racist if you’re anti-student debt cancellation.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.)

I don’t watch baseball anymore, Brian. I refuse to watch it because of this. I don’t want no part of it, and this was my life.... For It wasn’t an accident. Policing inme ournot country is inherently & to want to go to a baseball game or intentionally racist. Daunte Wright was met with aggression & even watch, it kills me, because I don’t put violence. I am done with those who condone government funded up with that kind of [garbage], and I don’t murder. No more policing, incarceration, condone and it. militarization. It can’t be reformed.

– Ibid.

Where are Tucker and Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham? Where’s Ainsely Earhardt –Tweet by Rep Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade?

The decision by Mr. Rob Manfred, the Where are the biggest stars on Fox getting commissioner of Major League Baseball, to vaccinated?

If you hate cops just because they are cops, you don’t know a thing turn baseball into a blue sport, it just really CNN’s Brian criticizing Fox vaccinated News personalities for It’sStelter still not OK for Americans to eat and drink indoors. about them.

The next time you get in trouble, call a crackhead. not posting vaccine selfies makes me want to heave…. I think he needs - Dr. Fauci on MSNBC – Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) on Fox News to go to Amazon, buy a spine online and… explain why millions of Americans who Fauci continues to ignore 100 years of vaccine science. His only real With or without my nails, I will still be the support election integrity racist. theme is “do what I say” even when it makes sense. you’vehave enough Howno does MikeIfPence material to write two are books? queen. My nails don’t make me. I make my – Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) on Fox News recovered or been vaccinated – go aboutI feel yourlike life.I can Eat,summarize drink, work,his entire life in two sentences. One, he nails! open the schools. Enough with the pettywas tyrants! vice president. Two, a fly landed on his head.

Ayanna Williams, who has the Guinness World Record for

- Sen.nails, Randupon Paul (R-KY) is a medical doctor world’s longest cuttingwho her nails last week for he first time in 30 years

— James Corden

Paid leave is infrastructure. Child care is infrastructure. Caregiving is infrastructure.

- Tweet by Sen.Texas KirstenRangers Gillibrand shedding light on how The narratives being spread about Patrisse have been generated Despite warnings from health experts, the had a full Democrats see Pres. Biden’s $2.5 trillion “infrastructure bill” People are radicalizedforces into the QAnon by right-wing intent on reducing the support and than influence crowd of more 38,000 people for their home opener…. Many conspiracy in much samethan way any one of atheory movement that the is larger right- maskless. I like that adult men will go to oforganization. the fans wereThis defiantly as thosewing whooffensive joined upnot with theputs Islamic only Patrisse, herachild and stadium her lovedand wear a glove the whole game, for the one baseball State militant group (ISIS), according to an ones in harm’s way, it also continues a tradition of terror by they whitemight catch a foul ball. But a mask? No way, in 98,000 chance extremist expert. supremacists against Black activists. out of the question!

Newsweek, comparing internet conspiracy group in to response — - From a press an release

by Black Lives Matter toJimmy the news that the organization’s Kimmel radical Muslim terrorist organization chops people’s founder recently purchased that several homes at a cost of over $3.2 million, even though she heads off for notnot complying their edicts does have anywith other known business enterprises and claims to support socialism

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Whatever happened to your ideas, your thoughts, your beliefs being yours and not wrong? That seems a distant past.

– Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre bemoaning the state of woke culture today

The Queen, as you would expect, is an incredibly stoic person. And she described his passing as a miracle. And she’s contemplating ... She described it as having left a huge void in her life.

- Britain’s Prince Andrew, describing how his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, is faring following the death of her husband Prince Philip last week.

You can’t be anti-racist if you’re anti-student debt cancellation.

- Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.)

Where are Tucker and Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham? Where’s Ainsely Earhardt and Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade?

Where are the biggest stars on Fox getting vaccinated?

- CNN’s Brian Stelter criticizing Fox News personalities for not posting vaccine selfies

With or without my nails, I will still be the queen. My nails don’t make me. I make my nails!

- Ayanna Williams, who has the Guinness World Record for world’s longest nails, upon cutting her nails last week for the first time in 30 years

People are radicalized into the QAnon conspiracy theory in much the same way as those who joined up with the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), according to an extremist expert.

- Newsweek, comparing an internet conspiracy group to a radical Muslim terrorist organization that chops people’s heads off for not complying with their edicts

It wasn’t an accident. Policing in our country is inherently & intentionally racist. Daunte Wright was met with aggression & violence. I am done with those who condone government funded murder. No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can’t be reformed.

–Tweet by Rep Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)

If you hate cops just because they are cops, you don’t know a thing about them. The next time you get in trouble, call a crackhead.

– Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) on Fox News

How does Mike Pence have enough material to write two books?

I feel like I can summarize his entire life in two sentences. One, he was vice president. Two, a fly landed on his head.

— James Corden

Despite warnings from health experts, the Texas Rangers had a full crowd of more than 38,000 people for their home opener…. Many of the fans were defiantly maskless. I like that adult men will go to a baseball stadium and wear a glove the whole game, for the one in 98,000 chance they might catch a foul ball. But a mask? No way, out of the question!

— Jimmy Kimmel

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John Boehner and I got a lot done, but we didn’t mince words. He was right. I did everything I could to cause him trouble because I knew he was having a lot of trouble. The more trouble he was having in his caucus, the better it was for us, and he knew what I was doing.

- Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on CNN reacting to a new book written by former Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)

We had a deal. He would not come to my office. I would go to his office because I didn’t want smoking in my office. So we would meet in his office where he would smoke to his heart’s content.

-Ibid.

It felt surreal. I’ve spent so long trying to get there, and suddenly, it was done. It’s only starting to sink in.

- Don Muchow, 59, upon completing his 2,845-mile run from California’s Disneyland to Florida’s Disney World, which he started in February 2020 and dubbed “Mouse2Mouse” to raise awareness about Type 1 diabetes

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Political Crossfire

Biden is Making the Trump Presidency Seem Like a Golden Age of Unity

By Marc A. Thiessen

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resident Joe Biden promised to usher in a golden age of bipartisan cooperation, but instead he is showing a reverse Midas touch – taking issues that once united Republicans and Democrats and making them partisan and divisive.

Until Biden came along, every single Covid-19 relief bill was approved with overwhelming bipartisan support in both houses. Congress passed three Covid relief packages in March 2020 with margins of 96-1, 90-8, and 96-0 in the Senate, and with overwhelming bipartisan support in the House. This was followed in April by the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, which passed 388-5 in the House and by unanimous consent in the Senate. Indeed, the votes were so bipartisan that Democrats blocked another Covid relief package until after Election Day because they did not want to let President Donald Trump claim credit for another bipartisan victory before voters went to the polls. But after he lost, and they finally allowed another Covid bill to come up for a vote in December, it passed both houses of Congress with similar margins.

For Biden, who promised to put his “whole soul” into uniting Republicans and Democrats, passing a bipartisan Covid bill should have been a layup.

I mean, Trump did it five times. But instead, the president has turned unity into division by using Covid relief as a pretext to pass all sorts of liberal spending projects that have nothing to do with the pandemic. He did so even after 10 Republican senators, led by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, came to the White House and offered him

a path to a filibuster-proof bipartisan majority. Not only did the president reject their offer, last week he actually tried to blame the senators, saying that “they didn’t move an inch” from their initial proposal of $619 billion.

That’s a lie, the senators responded: Biden never gave negotiation a chance.

“Fewer than 24 hours after our meeting in the Oval Office, the Senate Democratic Leader began the process of triggering reconciliation which precluded Republican participation,” all 10 Republicans explained in a statement, adding that the White House “roundly dismissed our effort…in order to justify its go-it-alone strategy.”

Now, Biden is trying to do the same thing when it comes to infrastructure. There has long been strong support among Republican leaders for an infrastructure package of as much as $1 trillion. But instead of uniting Republicans and Democrats around a bipartisan deal, Biden is using infrastructure as a pretext to spend

more tax dollars on things that have nothing to do with infrastructure. A Politico analysis of his $2.25 trillion proposal found that only $821 billion, or 37 percent, is focused on traditional infrastructure items such as transportation, electricity and Internet. Add another $111 billion for clean drinking water, and that comes to $932 billion –almost precisely the amount Republican leaders are on record supporting. Biden could easily win enough GOP support for an infrastructure package of this magnitude and pass it by a bipartisan, filibuster-proof majority.

But instead, he has loaded up his bill with another $1.32 trillion in spending that has little or no relation to infrastructure. For example, his proposal includes $400 billion to support expanded home care for seniors. This might be a worthy social program, but what does it have to do with infrastructure? On Fox News Sunday, Biden’s National Economic

Council director, Brian Deese, justified it as “the infrastructure of care,” which is ridiculous. He’s not alone.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., recently tweeted, “Paid leave is infrastructure. Child care is infrastructure. Caregiving is infrastructure.”

This is Orwellian. If Republicans had tried to tack on a $400 billion boost in defense spending as part of an infrastructure package and claimed that “defense is infrastructure,” Democrats would have howled.

But Biden does not seem to care.

Just like his Covid package, he is trying to ram his infrastructure plan through Congress using the budget reconciliation process, which requires no Republican votes. The only obstacles he faces are within the Democratic caucus, from moderates who oppose the tax increases he has proposed and progressives who think he does not spend enough.

How does Biden justify the hyper-partisan start to his presidency?

Just as Democrats redefined “infrastructure,” the president is now trying to redefine “bipartisanship.” Biden recently declared, “I would like…elected Republican support, but what I know I have now is that I have electoral support from Republican voters.”

First, that is flat untrue – in a recent Gallup poll, just 8% of Republicans approved of Biden’s job performance. Second, that is not what Biden promised. He pledged to work “across the aisle to reach consensus.”

Instead, he’s making the Trump presidency seem like a golden age of unity by comparison. (c) 2021, Washington Post Writers Group

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Political Crossfire

The History of Wokeism An excerpt of Steve Hilton’s monologue on April 4, 2021

By Steve Hilton

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here is a new religion stalking our land that is becoming one of the most powerful ones. In the last year, it seems to have taken over nearly every part of our ruling class: corporate America, corporate media, Hollywood and Silicon Valley, and the Democratic Party, which now controls the federal government.

This new religion is Wokeism.

It has core beliefs like “the world is out to get you,” “victimhood is sainthood,” “if you are not a straight, white male you are oppressed.”

It has sacred texts like “White Fragility” by Robin DeAngelo and “How To Be An Anti-Racist” by Ibram Kendi.

Wokeism has its own version of 10 commandments: “Thou shalt not think for yourself,” “thou shalt not hold an opposing view,” “thou shall definitely hold false witness against a neighbor if thy neighbor is not woke.”

The punishment for nonbelievers: Canceled, cast out to the wilderness, financial and social ruin.

And, of course, it has its own vocabulary. Speaking your truth, lived

experience, microaggressions, being an ally.

We should think about it as a religion because that is how its adherents think about it. It is not really about a set of policy ideas; you can’t reason with them; it is not like conservatism and liberalism. It is deeper than that.

Wokeism is the biggest threat this country faces because, as we’re about to show you, it is the product of a hundred-year-long effort to tear down the values, ideals, and freedoms this country was built on. It is the real enemy within.

It has to be confronted and defeated. But to do that we must know our enemy, where did all this come from? Did it just spring fully formed from AOC’s Twitter account or the death of George Floyd? No. Really, no. What we’re seeing today is not a fleeting cultural moment; this is the realization of a planned and carefully executed campaign to destroy our society that began a century ago. It started here, in Germany, 1923 at the Institute for Social Research, part of Frankfurt University’s Goethe Institute. A group of Marxist philos-

ophers gathered to debate a central question.

Why did the working-class revolutions, predicted by Marx and Engels as the inevitable consequence of the capitalist system...not sweep the world? A Hungarian philosopher, Georg Lukacs, was one of the key figures trying to understand why it did not rise up everywhere.

Their main conclusion: it was not all about economists, as Marx had argued. In reality, the proletariat were held back by other forces that destroyed their class consciousness.

These other forces, not just capitalism, were standing in the way of the worldwide communist revolution.

And what were they? The philosophers of the Frankfurt School concluded that it came down to three, in particular: family, religion, and culture.

In their view, family, faith, and culture were their building blocks of bourgeois society used by the elite to keep the masses oppressed, so they invented a new theory that explained all this and how to dismantle it – critical theory.

For around a decade, the Frank-

furt School pursued these radical ideas in Germany, many eventually made their way across the Atlantic to New York, where they made residence at Columbia University’s sociology department. The leading figure, this man, Herbert Marcuse, whose work was massively influential in American academia from the 1960s onward, changing the whole approach of academia – instead of studying the world, they exist to change it.

The entire purpose of higher education must shift from education to activism. Also influential was Marcuse’s book, “The One-Dimensional Man,” laying out a blueprint for the social revolution, and for the first time, added a racial component. The idea was there an alignment of racial minorities, the liberal intelligentsia, and violent outside agitators would take power.

Marcuse also pushed something he called “Repressive Tolerance,” the idea that violence by the radical left must be tolerated, but such tolerance should never be extended to the right. You can see how that played out just in the last year.

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One of his students was Angela Davis, one of most radical activists of the 1960s and ‘70s involved with the Black Panther Party in California.

Critical theory became critical race theory and grew and spread throughout the 1970s-‘90s to become the dominant on-campus ideology we see today. One of its leading champions, Derrick Bell, at Harvard Law School, who was later involved in controversy over his influence in Barack Obama.

Then came a move to unite all various oppressed groups to one overarching theory of social justice – the person who did that was Kimberly Crenshaw, who invented the term “intersectionality,” how different parts of your identity, could compound your oppression.

What is this point of telling you all this? When we see Biden, on his first day, pushing for boys to compete in girls’ sports, restoring racist training for federal employees, and canceling education about American

history, and we see deranged call to defund and abolish the same law enforcement agencies that protect us every day, and our leaders, preoccupied with woke virtue signaling, while a humanitarian crisis spirals

ings, they are good things. Diversity is part of nature, and we should love it for that reason alone. It is important to make sure that everyone is included in the amazing American opportunities that America offers.

They hide their vicious, intolerant ideas behind words like diversity, equity and inclusion.

out of control…we need to know that these are the fruits trees planted hundreds of years ago.

One reason they have been successful is their mastery of language.

They hide their vicious, intolerant ideas behind words like diversity, equity and inclusion.

Of course, in their true mean-

It is obvious that hasn’t always been true in the past.

But these positive truths have been hijacked by hateful dogma in service of a radically destructive mission to replace family, faith, and culture with a new ideology.

So, when your local government, your health provider, you corporate

H.R. department starts mouthing the woke-cabulary, forcing workers to denounce themselves and each other. When your grandchildren return from university talking and behaving like red guards from Chairman Mao’s cultural revolution. When your children come home from school and tell you that they now know they’re actually racist. When you see this this evil fanatical religious terror creeping into every aspect of your life, destroying careers, friendships, and relationships, realize what it is.

It not going away like a fad.

Wokeism has been marching forward for a hundred years, marching through our institutions, through the power centers. Marching through our culture and society. It has all the hallmarks of the worst authoritarian regimes in history, but it is more insidious and dangerous – it is the enemy within. And right now, it is winning.

We need to wake up and overturn wokeism with our own revolution, fight it wherever you see it.

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Mind Y

ur Business

Debra Jasper: Doing Business in a Virtual World

By Yitzchok Saftlas

T

his column features business insights from a recent “Mind Your Business with Yitzchok Saftlas” radio show. The weekly “Mind Your Business” show – broadcasting since 2015 – features interviews with Fortune 500 executives, business leaders and marketing gurus. Prominent guests include: John Sculley, former CEO of Apple and Pepsi; Dick Schulze, founder and Chairman Emeritus of Best Buy; Beth Comstock, former Vice Chair of GE; among over 400+ senior-level executives and business celebrities.

Yitzchok Saftlas, President of Bottom Line Marketing Group, hosts the weekly “Mind Your Business” show, which airs at 10pm every Sunday night on 710 WOR and throughout America on the iHeartRadio Network.

O

n a recent 710 WOR “Mind Your Business” broadcast, Yitzchok Saftlas (YS) spoke with guest Debra Jasper (DJ), founder and CEO of Mindset Digital. Debra works with Fortune 100 leaders around the world to connect in a fast forward world while communicating with clarity and impact in today’s virtual age. Debra is one of the top “Winning Women” entrepreneurs in North America. *** Let’s start with communication in a virtual world. Is communicating virtually the next critical skill to have?

I do think we talk a lot about virtual as the new reality, and it’s dramatically changing how we do business. The world changed overnight. We’ve all changed with it. And we’re not going back to what we were doing. So, what are the skills for doing business and creating impact in a virtual world where so much of what we know and love has just gone away, at least for now? I’m not saying it’s not coming back, but even

when it does, we’ll be communicating on small screens and we’re going to have to learn how to make a big impact on a small screen.

What are the three or four key points, key tips, that people should keep in mind when they’re communicating virtually?

Well, let’s talk about these client relationships we all have and how we get and sustain them. The first thing is, of course, you’re trying to get a meeting or build a connection and you’re not playing golf anymore and not running into people the way that you used to. So, what do you do?

People are looking you up right now and making a quick decision about whether to take your phone call or meeting. And so, you have to have a fully optimized online presence.

That’s step one.

Step two is, let’s say they do take the meeting with you. You really have to know how to lead a great Zoom call. And if you’re doing a presentation, virtually, you have to know how to create a great presentation over a small screen. So, what’s

a powerful opening? What’s a powerful ending? How do you communicate effectively when the screens are much smaller and your audience is not just distant and distracted, they’re distressed?

And thirdly, you have to know how to follow up with people and reach out to them through email or other approaches in a way that’s short, organized, and skimmable, because people have very short attention spans – eight seconds on average.

Debra, beyond the online presence, what else do you need to be doing today to communicate in this new virtual world?

A lot of it is better understanding what it means to have a virtual audience. As I mentioned, they’re not just distant and distracted, they’re also distressed. Let’s talk about the brain science of distress for just a moment. We know how much is coming at us. There are days where we all just think we have to turn off the news. We cannot take it anymore. We’re overwhelmed and overwrought. When trying to communi-

cate with clients who are distressed and distant, the brain science shows that it’s harder for them to listen, learn, and remember what you told them. That’s why visual storytelling is going to be more powerful.

Most of the information we take in is through our eyes, and we’re seven times more likely to remember visual information. So, when you’re delivering those virtual presentations, they’re going to have to be highly visual if you have any hope that your client is going to remember what you told them.

Can you share some tips on small things people can do to improve their LinkedIn profile?

Here’s two quick tips for listeners. If your profile starts with, you know, Bob has been in business for twenty-five years…no one cares about the history. Do not start with the history. I always say I would never go up to you and say, “Hi, my name is Debra. Debra is a dynamic leader.” We don’t talk that way and can’t talk that way on LinkedIn. The other quick tip is, if nothing

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else, at least proofread. There are a lot of business banking officers out there. If you look careless, like you haven’t even bothered to proofread, then I think you may be careless if I do business with you. So, we say casual is great, but casual does not mean careless.

On the note of being careless, I have a theory I call the mortification factor. I like to work with people who, if they make mistakes, are mortified. What worries me is when you work with someone and they make a mistake and they’re like, no big deal. I feel better when the person says, “I made a mistake. I’m mortified.” I think the mortification factor tells a lot about how much one cares about their work.

Debra, I want to talk about writing for action. Can you explain about the SOS method?

As a former writer, I came to the business world with this old notion that you got to tell me what you’re going to tell me and then tell me what you told me. In a world with eight second attention spans, that doesn’t work. It’s very old school business advice and doesn’t work today. So what does work? Every piece of content that goes out the door – whether it’s your email marketing campaigns, evites or anything you do – has to be short, organized and skimmable. That’s why we call it the S.O.S habit. We have something we call the three “whats.” I would encourage everyone to use this. Any time you sit down to write an email or any kind of content for your website, it has to include the following “whats”: 1) What is this message about? 2) So what, why does my audience care? 3) And now what?

What am I asking you to do next?

If you can’t answer those three questions, you’re not ready to send the message.

When you apply S.O.S, you get faster responses because when you send shorter, cleaner, clearer emails, responses come in more quickly.

You can set up triple the number of meetings and get rid of the back and forth where people are wondering, what are you asking me?

Debra, how important is it to

communicate a specific tone when communicating virtually or even in person?

I love that question because sometimes people say, “Short, well, people will think I’m rude” and it’s like, no, short does not mean rude.

You can still take a moment to say “hello Debra” versus “Debra.” Don’t bark at me. You can still say, “It was terrific talking with you yesterday.”

It’s fine to have some personality.

Don’t meander and go on and on – just get to the point. But the tone is even harder these days in a virtual world. It’s harder to read body language when all you can see is a small part of me on a screen. Of course, there’s a lot of misunderstood emails out there. Emojis can help convey that you mean the email in a friendly way.

Let me share one of my favorite

dling Zoom conferences?

A good presentation on Zoom is difficult. If you’re leading webinars or a client presentation on Zoom, you have to think about narrative, a strong opening and powerful ending. We talk a lot about giving three key points because we have short attention spans. Audiences cannot stay with you if you have ten points.

One of my big tips for Zoom calls these days – whether you’re giving a presentation or you’re just on a client call – is never end with questions. You want to own the ending.

There’s nothing worse than saying, “And so, what questions do you have?” It just takes the energy out of the room. Somebody could have a really complex question you don’t know the answer to. You don’t want to end there. Instead, what you say is, “I’m going to wrap up but first,

“People have very short attention spans – eight seconds on average”

quick tips about tone. I have five fast fixes around tone, but one of them is around priming for the positive.

We have to think more about all the negative words we use. And here’s a quick example. Ban the word, “unfortunately” from every email.

If you email Stephanie on my team and say, “Stephanie is Debra available at 10am next week,” she should never answer, “Unfortunately, Debra is not available on Tuesday.” Rather, reply that Debra can make 9 a.m. on Wednesday work. It’s a very simple thing, but you’re starting with what you can do versus what you can’t.

Let’s go to perhaps one of the most important topics that we can get to in tonight’s show, and that is Zoom meetings.

It’s here to stay. Don’t just ignore it, saying I can’t and I’m not going on one more Zoom call because then you’ll be out of business. Debra, what are your tips to ace it when han-

what questions do you have?” You can say, “OK, those are great questions. Thanks so much. Now let me wrap up” and then you get to own the end of the webinar meeting. And ideally, you’re going to own it with a storyline, something memorable the client will take away that will remind them that they want to do business with you.

Visuals can double your memory recognition. Don’t just tell me a story, show me a story. If you are walking the client through financial data or numbers, you have to unpack that in a more visual way and design it for a small screen. There’s nothing worse than putting up a slide and saying, “I know you can’t see this, but…” We have something we call the three second rule. If I can’t make sense of your slide in three seconds, you have to rework the slide.

Now, Debra, you shared some tips, but perhaps you have some additional tips on how

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someone can strengthen their presentations virtually.

It’s very important that you do not start your webinar by reading to me. There is a reason that we read to kids and they go to sleep. Here’s what I heard someone say yesterday: if you start by reading to me, it’s not going to be a very effective meeting.

Then, of course, you have to think about your lighting, background and technical aspects. You really have to go on and watch some of those free YouTube videos to make sure you know where the mute button is. You will lower your credibility if you don’t spend enough time feeling comfortable with the platform that you’re using.

Debra, as we approach the close, any final thoughts?

You know, I so appreciate getting a chance to talk today about how we do business in a virtual world. We started out by saying virtual is the new reality. I do think that means all of us have to basically do business in a new way. We’re going to have to work hard and learn new skills if we want to make a big impact on a small screen. That means we have to think differently, write differently, and present differently.

And overall, just communicate with more power, clarity, and impact because our audiences are distant, distracted, and distressed.

It’s a fascinating and exciting time to be doing this work, but there’s a lot of work to do.

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Forgotten Her es

Frogmen Throughout the Years

By Avi Heiligman

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ilitaries for centuries have trained men as swimmers for a variety of operations including sabotage and reconnaissance. Ancient Greek divers were used to carry supplies to besieged sailors during the Peloponnesian War, while others were used to plant underwater obstacles to stop enemy warships.

Modern underwater swimmers include remarkable units such as U.S. Navy SEALs and Israeli Shayetet 13.

For over a century, frogmen have been essential parts of military powers.

SEALs use the unofficial nickname “frogmen.” Frogmen are people trained in underwater military or police operations and are utilized worldwide. Italian frogmen during World War I sunk an Austro-Hungarian ship in the war’s final days. During World War II, they had a fully functioning frogman unit that sank several Allied ships before their disbandment after Italy surrendered. Several frogmen then joined the Allied cause and went on operations targeting German assets.

The history of American frogmen begins with the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) and the Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDU) which came into existence during World War II. As the U.S. entered the war, an amphibious school was set up in Fort Pierce, Florida, but it took a disaster to get large units operational.

After the bloody invasion of Tarawa in

the Gilbert Islands in November 1943, American planners included frogmen in future amphibious operations. Planners thought the reefs at Tarawa were deep enough to allow landing craft and boats to float over them without getting stuck. This mistake proved to be deadly as the reefs were much shallower than the aerial photos showed, and the boats were caught on the reefs.

Intense Japanese gunfire caught the marines in a deadly firestorm. About 1,000 marines were killed in the threeday operation, with most of the casualties occurring on the beaches and reefs.

subsequent waves of soldiers. By the end of the day, their casualties were high, and only some of the approaches were clear.

NDCUs on Utah Beach fared a lot better and cleared most of their obstacles, making way for men and supplies to come ashore.

The Underwater Demolition Teams were personnel taken from NDCUs, Seabees (naval construction battalions), and scout teams. They were trained at Waimanalo, Hawaii, and went through a grueling week of training that became a tradition known as Hell Week. At first, they were trained

With the two explosive boats hitting the Emir Farouk, she sank within five minutes

American frogmen in the form of naval scouts and raiders were present, performing missions during the North African landings in late 1942. NCDUs were trained to clear beach obstacles and were involved in the Normandy and several Pacific amphibious assaults. Sixteen teams were sent into Omaha Beach on D-Day and had the mission to clear wide paths through obstacles on the approaches. Intense fire allowed them to only open five channels, but this was enough to land

only in shallow water demolitions and hydrography, the charting of the underwater coastline, and the deep-water demolitions were left to the army.

During the pre-landing reconnaissance before the landing on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, two frogmen, wearing only shorts, jumped into the water and swam towards the island.

After landing and scouting out the island, they came back with sketches that detailed the enemy defenses.

This changed the way the navy trained

frogmen, as now they would become combat swimmers due to the success of those two sailors.

The main difference between UDTs and NCDUs were the size of the units, as the UDTs operated in large groups of dozens of men while each NCDU had just six frogmen.

The end of the war signaled the end for most of the teams as they were not needed in huge numbers, and only UDTs remained operational. Still, they trained new members, and kept on adding new skills to their operational abilities. These included learning how to use SCUBA gear, enter and exit submarines, and use the Fulton Skyhook, a long rope attached to the end of a plane or helicopter that would be used in extracting the men from a combat zone.

During the Korean War, the UDTs kept a low profile but contributed greatly towards the war effort. They cleared the way for the amphibious landings and spent much of their time cutting Korean fishing nets. They also experimented and tried new tactics that broadened the scope of their capabilities.

At the beginning of the Vietnam War, some inside the UDTs saw the need for the frogmen to learn how to operate on land. The UDTs would still be around and continue to do their jobs, but some frogmen would join a new team. This was the beginning of the Navy SEALs. By 1983, all remain-

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

Navy SEALs in Vietnam

ing UDTs were absorbed by the SEALs. Israeli frogmen got their start in the naval branch of the pre-state military called the Palyam. In March 1948, many Palyam veterans joined the unit when they were transferred to the Israeli Naval Service.

Yochai Ben-Nun created Shayetet 13 (Flotilla 13) a year later from members who specialized in maritime sabotage. He led the team on an attack of the Egyptian flagship after acquiring small boats that could be outfitted with explosives. These one-man boats could

Members of Israel’s Shayetet 13

be aimed at a target while the operator leaped into the water to be picked up by a rescue craft. On October 22, the Egyptian flagship, Emir Farouk, and an escorting minesweeper were spotted off the coast of Gaza, and the go-ahead for the mission was given to hit the tanker. It was right before the ceasefire, and the Egyptian sailors aboard were relaxed.

The main Israeli ship was the Moaz and released the five small boats. Two of the boats were to head straight to the target, and Bin-Nun would stand

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Members of a Naval Combat Demolition Unit hit the beach during training

by if a reserve boat was needed. Yaakov Vardi was to attack the minesweeper but in the confusion attacked the Emir Farouk instead. With the two explosive boats hitting the Emir Farouk, she sank within five minutes. Bin-Nun saw the mistake that occurred, and he attacked the minesweeper, which sustained significant damage.

Today, frogmen play an integral role in naval operations. Their range of capabilities extends from surveying underwater coastlines to sabotage.

They also survey ships underwater for

damage as well as look for missing objects and recovery operations.

Frogmen’s work rarely gets publicized but their professionalism and dedication throughout the past century earned them high grades within the military community.

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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Classifieds classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com • text 443-929-4003

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The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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HELP WANTED

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The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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Your

15

Money

Something to Celebrate?

By Allan Rolnick, CPA

T

his time of year, millions of Americans celebrate Easter and Passover, the holiest days of their faith. But the calendar is loaded with plenty of “Hallmark holidays,” too, usually invented by companies looking to sell something. There’s Sweetest Day, invented by greeting card companies to sell more greeting cards. There’s Small Business Saturday, invented by American Express to get you to buy local. And who can forget the nerd’s favorite holiday, pi day (3.14)? You got it – invented by math companies to sell more math.

Most of those faux holidays don’t mean much for tax collectors, beyond an extra serving of sales tax for flowers or chocolate. But as more and more states legalize recreational marijuana, April 20 (4:20) assumes a bigger place on the calendar. The nonprofit Marijuana Policy Project, a DC-based advocacy group, reports that states have collected $7.1 billion in taxes from legal, adult-use recreational sales since 2012, when Washington and Colorado became the first.

Last week, New York legalized recreational use for adults age 21 and older. Of course, there aren’t

any local joints where you can legally buy it yet – that may take a year or more, depending on where you live. And you’ll pay some hefty taxes when you do, with a 9% sales tax going to the state, 4% going to the county, and a wholesale tax based on the level of THC. The final

and police departments over $100 million per year they’re currently wasting busting smokers, at an average cost of $4,390. Now they can spend it fighting real crime. And in an ironic twist, one Colorado study showed legal dispensaries actually raise nearby housing values –

Just say no! New York will be more than happy to tax you $6.44/gallon for your booze and $4.35 for a pack of smokes.

tax could reach as high as 20-21%, which is in line with other states ranging from 10% in Maine to 47% in Washington.

Officials estimate the new taxes will raise $350 million per year once the market matures, based on $3.5 billion in annual sales. That’s a tiny fraction of the state’s total $177 billion budget – but every bit helps in an economy still reeling from Covid.

The move will also save courts

which may lead to bonus revenue from property taxes.

New York’s new law allows cities, towns, and villages to blackball retail dispensaries in their jurisdictions. But that may be fiscally short-sighted. It means passing up sales tax revenue, along with income taxes on the jobs the new businesses create. And it’s not like there haven’t always been “unlicensed” dealers waiting to satisfy demand. Some

advocates even worry the proposed taxes will be too high to compete with illegal dealers.

Today’s move towards taxing recreational marijuana represents a profound cultural shift. Forty years ago, former First Lady Nancy Reagan told schoolchildren to “just say no” to drugs. But drugs refused to take “no” for an answer, so here we are. Thirty-six states have authorized medical marijuana, and one out of three Americans can legally indulge recreationally.

The good news, for overtaxed New Yorkers, is they can opt out of the new marijuana taxes entirely.

Just say no! New York will be more than happy to tax you $6.44/gallon for your booze and $4.35 for a pack of smokes. Or you could treat your body like a temple and start saving for that Peloton you’ve always wanted. We’ll even show you how to write off that Peloton!

Allan J Rolnick is a CPA who has been in practice for over 30 years in Queens, NY. He welcomes your comments and can be reached at 718-896-8715 or at allanjrcpa@aol.com.

The Jewish Home | APRIL 15, 2021

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Life C ach

Maybe They Have a History, Too

By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS

S

cenario 1: Wow, have I had a morning!

The alarm just didn’t go off.

Luckily, I woke up – but 15 minutes late. Then, my rotten luck, the car had a nail in the tire. Really?! So, I called an Uber. Fifteen minutes wait there. Of course! Inevitably, I arrived late for an appointment I waited no less than three months for. So, the

place wanted to reschedule me they were so upset with me. I had to beg for them to let me keep the appointment anyway. They were very short with me. But I held it together. It was all quite stressful!

I’m just having one of those days!

So, later, when I didn’t realize this lady was ahead of me online, did she have to jump down my throat? I had

Miriam Jacobovits Photography

a good excuse! I was having a miserable day. So what?! I was only spaced out because I was so drained and depleted at that point. Why did she have to get so upset with me?

Scenario 2: (Same person, different day) The nerve that person bumped the line and just went ahead of me. What kind of person does that? That was so nasty and thoughtless. Am I invisible?

Now, this kind of thinking would really be asking ourselves to function on a high level.

Because thought 1 can be really difficult at times to accomplish.

Since we are feeling so sympathetic to ourselves, “If they only knew what I’ve been through they wouldn’t be so hard on me”!

But, can we at least try to pause, before we get sooo insulted or upset

What a world this would be if we could turn this around.

CALL OR TEXT 347–572–8973 INSTAGRAM: MIRIAMJACOBOVITSPHOTOGRAPHY

News flash: We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior!

I’ve got an excuse! They are just plain inconsiderate!

What a world this would be if we could turn this around and keep these two thoughts in mind.

Thought 1: I have no right to take my stuff out on others. Period! I need to always control my behavior.

Thought 2: Maybe they’re having a rotten day? Maybe this is not a personal affront to me. Maybe they spaced out or lost it with me because they’ve got stuff going on in their lives that’s upsetting or distracting them.

by the other person’s behavior?

Can we try to give others that same benefit that we naturally extend to ourselves? And not just jump down their behavior? Maybe they’ve had a tough morning, a tough day, a tough life that we are unaware of!

Maybe they, unwittingly, feel justified coming from where they are at.

We’ve all got our stuff. Let’s try to keep in mind that other people have “stuff,” too.

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 | APRIL 15, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

If you do not have enough food to eat, SNAP can help.

SNAP is like Social Security and Medicare; if you are eligible, you will get your benefit.

The Nutrition Outreach and Education Program (NOEP) can tell you if you may be eligible for SNAP. We can also help you complete and submit your application.

Call today. It is free and confidential.

Jewish Community Council of the Rockaway Peninsula NOEP Phone 718-327-7755 ext:6127 Or email info@jccrp.org

Prepared by a project of Hunger Solutions New York; funded by NYSOTDA and USDA/FNS. This Institution is an equal opportunity provider.

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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Save the Date

An evening of

Inspiration THIS PRESENTATION IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF

RABBI FABIAN SCHONFELD, ZT”L

April 27, 2021 • 7 pm

RABBI NOACH ISAAC OELBAUM Renowned Posek and Rav, Khal Nachlas Yitzchok RECOGNIZING THE BLESSING OF LIFE

Remarks by:

RABBI YOEL SCHONFELD Rav, Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills RABBI CHAIM SCHWARTZ Executive Vice President, Vaad Harabonim of Queens

SPONSORED BY:

MARGARET TIETZ Nursing & Rehabilitation Center

Short-Term Care | Long-Term Care | Hospice Care

RABBI EYTAN FEINER Rav of Cong. Kneseth Israel, The White Shul SERVING HASHEM WITH TRUE SIMCHA

Moderated by:

RABBI ZAVEL PEARLMAN Coordinator of Jewish Affairs Margaret Tietz

STREAMED ON MARGARETTIETZ.ORG/EVENTS Also streamed on: