Five Towns Jewish Home - 3-11-21

March 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

I n v e s t N ow W h i le P r ic e s A r e Low !

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The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Bring the Parashah to LIFE LIFE!!

New from

Prepare for P

while Uncle Moishy e NEW Storybook

r NEW efor Sef a!

Vayikr

The Jaffa Family Edition The Weekly Parashah features age-appropriate text and graphics, gorgeous illustrations, and fascinating sidebars on every page.

Their bless ing was:

‫ה יָ ֵדינּו ּכֹונְ נֵ הּו‬

‫ּומ ֲע ֵׂש‬ ַ

‫ינּו ּכֹונְ נָ ה ָע ֵלינּו‬ the pleasant ‫ּומ ֲע ֵׂשה יָ ֵד‬ ַ ‫ל ֵֹקינּו ָע ֵלינּו‬ ness of the ‫יהי נַֹעם ֲאדֹנָ י ֱא‬ Lord, our our handiwor G-d, be upon ִ ִ‫“— ו‬May k for us; our us, and may handiwork, Then it final He establish establish it” ly happened (Tehillim 90:1 !

7).

Shemini  ‫ְשׁ ִמינִ י‬

K

In which of our tefillos do we say the pasuk “Vi’h i Noam,” the berachah that Moshe and Aharon gave the Jews?

We say it every night, in Krias Shema al HaM itah, before we go to sleep ! We also say it every Shab bos Pesukei D’Zim morning, in rah. And we also say this pasuk right after Shemoneh Esrei of Maar iv on Motzaei Shabbos.

A

Kohanim Who Can’ t Fly

ohanim don’t walk through cemeteries.

If they have to go to cemetery, they stay in a the middle of the wide paved roads, so they are not near the graves.

Kohanim are usually buried at the edges of a cemetery or in next to a wide road, graves so relatives who are Kohanim who come will be able to see the to visit gravestone when they pray.

There was a time when Kohanim in Eretz Yisrael had a big problem flying out of the country.

What does being a Kohen have to do with flying in an airplane A lot! ?

In 2001, it was discover ed that many flights leaving Eretz Yisrael over a Jewish cemetery flew on their way out of the country! Most halachic authorities say that Kohanim are not allowed to fly over a Jewish cemetery. Because of that, Kohanim couldn’t leave Eretz Yisrael unless they

‫בס״ד‬

‫ מצוה‬Note

What a great mitzvah!

Fire!

ppearing in the sky abov e them, com — flaming, ing down dazzling fire! from the Heav The fire cam ens e down and korbanos rested on that were the Mizbei’ac there. h, burning The Jews saw the this miracle.

Mishkan serv It showed that Hashem ice. They broke out was accepting was with them into joyous their , and they song . Hashem’s could feel His love!

Presence

Kohen approaching 152 THE WEEKLY PARASHAH

Parashas Shem ini

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Also available: Bereishis, Shemos, and Bamidbar Coming Soon: Devarim

Y THE WEEKL

PARASHAH

GrTh eae t fo Unr cl An e yYo Ch u ilG

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Available at your local Hebrew bookseller or

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Dear Readers,

O

ur status quo has changed in so many ways over the past year.

Our homes became schools; our lawns became shuls; our dens became dating spots.

Certainly, the pandemic has taught us that we can’t take “normal” for granted anymore. But it has also taught us – shown us and proven to us – that we have a resiliency and an ability to roll with the punches that we may not have been aware of.

Last week, Bernie Sanders told the Senate that a COVID-19 relief bill needed to pass because “you’ve got young people who want to go to school, who want to socialize, want to date, want to do things that young people do. And they can’t do it and have been unable to do that for the last year…”

In our community, where we hold marriage to be sacred, our young couples need to date. They can’t be forced to stay at home and date over Zoom for a year.

And so, when it was clear that corona was more than just a passing, seasonal flu, community members with creativity and compassion jumped in to help young men and women meet each other in a sensitive, safe way.

I loved reading Malky Lowinger’s article this week because it highlighted how

our community does chessed. Upon seeing a need, people don’t just plunk down a wad of dollar bills for a cause; they give with heart. And they give with a full heart.

Their desire to help others is almost a mission – and it’s a mission that they take on with enthusiasm and with excitement.

Think about the many chessed organizations in our community. Each of them started with an individual or a group of individuals seeing a need. While their hearts hurt for the person or family in need, they brainstormed of ways to help. And when their idea started coming off the ground, they enlisted others, who embraced the opportunity as though they were helping their own brothers and sisters.

In the Five Towns, it’s apparent that we’re a community with a “heart.” We’re a community that feels the pain of others and reaches out to help. We’re a community that gives to one another and is there for one another. We’re a community of doers and of givers.

Certainly, the pandemic has highlighted our compassion, our creativity, and our very full hearts.

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.

The Jewish Home is not responsible for typographical errors, or for the kashrus of any product or business advertised within. The Jewish Home contains words of Torah. Please treat accordingly.

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Friday, March 12 Parshat Vayakhel-Pekudei Candle Lighting: 5:40 pm Shabbos Ends: 6:41 pm Rabbeinu Tam: 7:12 pm

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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COMMUNITY Readers’ Poll

8

Community Happenings

40

TJH Speaks with Village of Cedarhurst Justice Andrew Goldsmith

67

Porches, Pianos & Proposals by Malky Lowinger

90

NEWS Global

12

National

30

That’s Odd

38

ISRAEL

98

Israel News

24

Pre-Election Elections

by Rafi Sackville

88

JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Wein on the Parsha

78

Easy Does It by Rav Moshe Weinberger

80

Parsha Ponderings by Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky

82

Delving into the Daf by Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

84

Actualizing Your Potential by Shmuel Reichman

86

PEOPLE Cloaks & Daggers by Avi Heiligman

124

HEALTH & FITNESS How to Love Yourself by Dr. Deb Hirschhorn Swimming with the Benefits

by Aliza Beer, MS RD CDN

98 100

FOOD & LEISURE TJH Speaks with Faigy Murray, Author of My Pesach Kitchen

106

A Taste of My Pesach Kitchen

110

The Aussie Gourmet: Rocky Road Fudge

114

Dear Editor, In last week’s edition of The Jewish Home (March 4, 2021) a letter was published in diminishing the six terms of work and advocacy of Assembly Member David I. Weprin from the 24th District in Queens. As a Queens resident, I have been privileged to vote for Weprin on many occasions and hope to once again do so for Comptroller later this year.

David is an alum of the Yeshiva of Central Queens and, as a fellow Orthodox Jew, cares deeply for the yeshiva system. He has worked to advance the voucher and daycare programs. He has sent his five children to yeshiva and is active in Jewish nonprofits, including the Queens Jewish Community Council and MET Council. He has been a constant face at countless rallies that supported Jewish ideals and countered anti-Semitism, including being the only elected official to attend Dov Hikind’s rally against NBC’s SNL. David has represented a large and diverse swath of the Orthodox community and is a member at both the Young Israel of Holliswood and the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates.

Like many Jewish children, David follows his parents’ footsteps educating others and working in the political arena as a moderate conservative. As comptroller, Da-

vid will weather the tides of balancing the city budget and rebuild our small businesses in a post-pandemic world as we face the worst fiscal crisis ever. He addressed the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis, the recovery following 9/11, and helped institute the city’s $2.5 billion rainy-day fund. During the Bloomberg era, he worked to apportion over $1 billion for the middle class. Under Governor Mario Cuomo, he was the Deputy Superintendent of Banks and Secretary of the Banking Board of New York State, where he watched over $2 trillion and helped regulate more than 3,000 financial institutions and financial service firms in the state, including international banking institutions, mortgage brokers, and bankers. Then David went back into public finance in the private sector at Paine Weber and Kidder, Peabody & Co., where he helped local governments raise the capital necessary for critical projects such as infrastructure, healthcare, and education, and served as Chair of the Securities Industry Association of New York.

In the City Council, he served as the Chair of the Council’s Finance Committee for eight years and was responsible for balancing the city’s budget, allocating millions of dolContinued on page 10

LIFESTYLES Dating Dialogue, Moderated by 94 Jennifer Mann, LCSW Parenting Pearls

102

JWow! 104

82

Mind Your Business

122

Your Pesach Finances Your Money 126

Your Money

132

That Coffee Experience by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS

134

HUMOR Centerfold 76 POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Notable Quotes

116

A Quiet U.S. Mobilization Against China by David Ignatius

120

Manchin Promised to Back His “Republican Friends”

by Marc A. Thiessen

121

CLASSIFIEDS

128

Would you rather be able to speak with animals or know ten foreign languages?

93

%

Foreign languages

7

%

Talk to animals

NN

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Continued from page 8

lars for non-profit organizations, and ensuring that the City’s legislative priorities were fully funded.

I have proudly petitioned for Weprin to be on the ballot this coming June, as I have done for Avi Cyperstein, another frum candidate, Hatzolah of Queens paramedic and the cofounder of Chaverim of Queens, who is running for City Council.

Shabsie Saphirstein Dear Editor, Some of your readers wrote to you about the problem with alcohol

in our community. This is truly a big problem – and one that is not given the proper gravitas that it demands.

Minors – as young as 11 and 12 years old – are partaking in “l’chaims” weekly. They turn stonecold drunk on Purim and drink glasses of wine at their Shabbos tables. But the adults around them turn a blind eye, telling themselves that “it’s just on Shabbos,” “it’s only a little,” “I’m watching him/her.”

They are deceiving themselves and harming their children. Children that age should have a sip of kiddush wine – and that’s it! There’s no need to accustom your children

Make your voice heard!

Be part of TJH’s weekly poll.

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

to the taste of wine at such a young age. Would you give them a cigarette to “taste” and watch them impassively as they suck the burning stick down to the filter?

If you recoiled in horror and thought that I was being dramatic with this last sentence, you are fooling yourselves once more. A child who is drinking glasses of wine when they’re 12 will only drink more and more as they get older. They will need shots of whisky to take the “edge” off a long day at the office, and to celebrate a milestone at work, and to help the cholent go down easier, and to participate in office parties, shalom zachors, and gatherings.

Habits like these start at a young age.

We need to stop this terrible trend.

Sincerely, Chaim Teitelbaum Dear Editor, The Mishkan and chiddush are one in the same. That’s because wherever G-d resides, innovation is a constant. In last week’s parsha we are told that Betzalel was infused with chachmah, tevunah, daat and

“all” his melachah. Rashi clearly delineates that chachmah is what you learn from others, tevunah is what you can understand on your own based on the knowledge you have, and daat is ruach hakodesh. What is “all” melachah?

The fact that Shabbos is mentioned right after the Mishkan gives a clue. Shabbos reminds one of the creation of the world. When Creation took place, there were two types of chiddush: the first being that from days one to six new and original entities were formed in the world that didn’t exist before, and the second being that from day seven and on there would be a continuous renewal of the world on a moment by moment basis so that the world wouldn’t collapse.

What word does the Torah use for this type of chiddush? Melachah, as it’s delineated that G-d finished his melachah on the seventh day.

Therefore, Betzalel, who had in his hands the secrets of Creation, possessed “all” of the melachah; namely, the ability to be mechadesh, the quintessential skill needed to house the most creative entity.

Steven Genack

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

The Week In News

-Apresented by:

Swiss Burqa Ban thechesedfund.com/ahavasachim

12 Consecutive Hours of Torah Featuring: TIME

SPEAKER

TOPIC

9:00 AM

Rabbi Steven Miodownik

Rabbi of Congregation Ahavas Achim

Fruity Lessons for Rosh Chodesh Nissan

9:30 AM

Rabbi Dr. J.J Schacter

Senior Scholar at YU Center for Jewish Future

Seeking Redemption in an Unredeemed World: Yosef at the Seder

10:00 AM

Rabbi Dr. Aaron E. Glatt

Chair of Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai South Nassau

“Ve’nishmartem Me’od Le’nafshoseichem”: Practical Medical and Halachic Advice

11:00 AM

Rabbi Yaakov Glasser

David Mitzner Dean of YU Center for Jewish Future & University Life

Matzah Matters: Living Lives of Redemption Beyond Seder Night

11:30 AM

Rabbi David Becker

US Army Chaplain

Live from Kuwait: Jewish Life on Deployment

12:00 PM

Rabbi Gedaliah Jaffe

Rabbi of Congregation Ahavas Yisrael

A Piece of G-d

12:30 PM

Mr. Michael Dickson

CEO of StandWithUs

ISResilience: What Israelis can Teach the World

1:00 PM

Mrs. Nechama Price

Director of YU Graduate Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies for Women

Worse Than Pharaoh: Understanding Lavan

2:00 PM

Mr. Saul Berenthal

Jewish-Cuban Historian

Jewish Cuba: Past, Present, and Future

2:30 PM

Prof. AJ Berkovitz

AA Member, Professor of Liturgy at HUC

Sending Mixed Messages: Love and Textual Ambiguity in Shir HaShirim

3:00 PM

Rabbi Jed Zaslow

AA Rabbinic Intern

When Life Gives You Chometz, Make…

Matzah: Exploring the Power of a Moment

3:30 PM

Mr. Elan Kornblum

Publisher of Great Kosher Restaurants International

Kosher Foodie World of Today

4:00 PM

Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz

Rabbi of Congregation Beis Haknesses North Woodmere

Rosh Chodesh Nissan

4:30 PM

Rabbi Avi Levinson

YU Night Seder Shoel U’maishiv

Foxtail Grains & Oat Matzos: An Analysis of a Gluten-Free Mitzvah

Inter-Shul Adult Torah Bowl SEMI-FINALS

5:00 PM

6:00 PM

Mrs. CB Neugroschl

Head of School: Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls

‫וְ ָעשׂוּ לִ י ִמ ְקדָ שׁ וְ ָשׁכַ נְ ִּתי ְבּתוֹכָ ם‬

The Architechture of Holiness & Designing a Personal Mishkan

Inter-Shul Adult Torah Bowl CHAMPIONSHIP

6:30 PM

7:00 PM

Dr. Erica Brown

Director of Mayberg Center for Jewish Education & Leadership

Love in the Time of Corona: Reading Shir Ha-Shirim

7:30 PM

Rabbi Menachem Penner

Dean of RIETS, YU Undergraduate Torah Studies

Happy 600! The Longest-Living Survivor of Yetziat Mitzrayim

8:00 PM

Mr. Daniel Mariaschin

CEO of B’nai Brith International

Q&A with CEO of B’nai Brith International

Rosh Chodesh Nissan 5781 March 14th 9:00am-9:00pm

Learn-a-Thon-2021-Full-Schedule-Ad-PRINT-size-4.5x11.25.indd 1

3/8/2021 11:53:37 PM

Women are now banned from wearing the niqab and burqa in public places across Switzerland after a ban on Islamic headdresses passed a referendum.

The proposed ban passed with 51% of the vote and prohibits people from covering their faces in the streets, in private businesses, and eateries. It exempts face masks worn to guard against the COVID-19 pandemic and allows face coverings in private residences.

While not explicitly targeting Islamic religious dress and applying equally to all, the measure has been dubbed the “Burqa Ban” by the Swiss media. The push for the ban had begun in 2016 by the same group that successfully led the effort to ban the construction of minarets that passed in 2009.

In the weeks preceding last week’s referendum, right-wing politicians argued that the ban was necessary in order to fight against Islamic extremism. On a website explaining the need for the measure, a video said that “religious veils like the burqa or the niqab are a symbol of the oppression of women and aren’t suitable” in Switzerland.

“In Switzerland, our tradition is that you show your face. That is a sign of our basic freedoms,” said nationalist MP Walter Wobmann.

He alleged that burqas had become “a symbol for this extreme, political Islam which has become increasingly prominent in Europe and which has no place in Switzerland.”

Switzerland now joins France, Austria, Denmark, Holland, and Bulgaria in targeting the wearing of the full-face veil in public.

France had become the first European country to outlaw the burqa when the Senate forbade all face coverings

in the public square save for rare exceptions and was subsequently duplicated by right-wing politicians all across the continent.

Switzerland’s new burqa ban was criticized by Islamic groups and human rights organizations from around the world.

“This is clearly an attack against the Muslim community in Switzerland. What is aimed here is to stigmatize and marginalize Muslims even more,” Swiss Muslim activist Ines Al Shikh told the Guardian.

Amnesty International condemned Swiss voters for backing “an initiative that discriminates against a single religious community and needlessly stirs up fears and division.”

Explosions Rock Equatorial Guinea

Nearly 100 people have been confirmed dead after explosive blasts at a military base in Equatorial Guinea over the weekend.

The blasts in the port city of Bata on Sunday killed 98 people and injured another 615, according to the government’s latest count.

More than 60 people had been pulled out from rubble at the site of the explosion by the fire service and other agencies.

All the buildings in the area were completely destroyed, and bodies were still being pulled out of rubble in the area on Monday. Three main hospitals collapsed as well, adding to the chaos in the city.

President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo faulted the military for mishandling dynamite and other explosive devices kept in its care, which he said had led to the blasts after individuals suspected to be farmers set up a fire in a field bordering the military base.

“Bata was the location of an accident caused by the negligence and carelessness of a unit charged with the care and protection of the stores

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

GIVING NEW YORKERS A BOOST Since day one of the pandemic, UJA has been on the ground, delivering vital relief to New Yorkers.

And as the pandemic stretches into its second year, we’re not stopping now.

Thanks to you, we’ve already provided nearly $67 million in emergency funds to support all who are counting on us.

Nutritious kosher meals. Employment programs. Mental health services. Sustenance for Holocaust survivors. And critical funding for JCCs, summer camps, and day schools — the places essential for Jewish life. And that work continues.

Right now, we’re also on the front lines, bringing the vaccine to New York’s most vulnerable communities, and supporting vaccine education and access — to help keep all New Yorkers safe.

Learn more. Visit:

ujafedny.org/vaccine Donate: ujafedny.org

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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of dynamite and explosives next to the ammunition at the Nkoantoma Military Base, which caught fire from the burning of nearby land by neighbors, causing an explosion in the dynamite and explosives store and subsequently the ammunition,” the president said in a statement on Sunday.

President Mbasogo, 78, appealed for calm and said he was calling for an emergency meeting to assess the situation and get help to those who need it.

Equatorial Guinea is one of Africa’s smallest countries, with just over 850,000 residents. Bata is one of the country’s two cities with populations of more than 30,000, the other being the island-based capital Malabo.

Mbasogo, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, has ruled the tiny central African nation for 42 years. His son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, is the vice president and is known for his extravagance. A collection of ultra-expensive supercars worth $13 million were seized from him in 2019 and auctioned in Switzerland after an investigation into money laundering.

Before that, Obiang agreed to a $30 million settlement to resolve the U.S. government’s allegations that he used money plundered from his country to amass assets such as a California mansion, a jet and a sizable collection of Michael Jackson memorabilia – including a crystal-encrusted white glove from the late singer.

Pope Visits Iraq

Pope Francis concluded his highly irregular visit to Iraq by paying a visit to Mosul, a once-thriving city devastated by ISIS. The pontiff arrived at Mosul on Sunday under enormous security, escorted by hundreds of heavily armed troops and five helicopters.

Upon arriving, Francis prayed at a church destroyed by ISIS during its occupation of the city.

Surrounded by ruins of the

now-destroyed Christian prayer sites, the Pope said that the expulsion of the Middle East’s Christians caused “incalculable harm not just to the individuals and communities concerned but also to the society they leave behind.”

ISIS had overrun the Iraqi military in 2014 to capture Mosul, which had been home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East. The Salafist terror group subsequently killed or drove out the majority of the city’s Christians by the time Mosul was retaken in 2017.

Francis then traveled to Qaraqosh, an ancient Christian city near Nineveh that was flattened under ISIS occupation in 2014. First leading a public prayer, he then met with survivors and heard testimonies on what life was like under the brutal ISIS regime.

“How cruel it is that this country, the cradle of civilization, should have been afflicted by so barbarous a blow,” Francis said, “with ancient places of worship destroyed and many thousands of people, Muslims, Christians, Yazidis, who were cruelly annihilated by terrorism, and others forcibly displaced or killed.”

First beginning last Friday, the four-day visit was the Pope’s first overseas trip since last January and was the first time that a pontiff ever visited Iraq. He used the visit to support Iraq’s persecuted Christian community and highlight the carnage suffered by the local Christian, Kurdish, and Shi’ite Muslim population from the multi-year ISIS occupation.

On Saturday, Francis held a highly public meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, viewed by many as the leader of Shi’ite Islam worldwide. During the summit in the holy Muslim city of Najaf, he implored the cleric to use his considerable influence to protect local Christians from persecution.

Following the meeting, Sistani “affirmed his concern that Christian citizens should live like all Iraqis in peace and security, and with their full constitutional rights.” Francis, meanwhile, thanked the Muslim leader for having “raised his voice in defense of the weakest and most persecuted.”

Once home to an estimated 1.5 million Christians, decades of war and Islamic extremism has led the Iraqi Christian community to number 250,000 today, less than 1% of the country’s population.

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Houthis Target Saudi Oil

The Iran-allied Houthi terror group in Yemen attacked a series of strategic Saudi Arabian oil facilities, the latest in a wave of drone attacks that has left the Kingdom helpless.

The assault occurred on Sunday evening and saw the Houthis fire a barrage of missiles and suicide drones at an oil facility in Ras Tanura, the center of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry. Additional targets were hit in the cities of Dammam, Asir, and Jazan on the Kingdom’s eastern coast.

None of the attacks resulted in any damage to life or property.

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry confirmed the attack, saying in a statement that the Houthi militants had used advanced drones to target a petroleum tank farm in one of the world’s largest energy transit hubs.

Another ballistic missile was fired at an oil refinery but was shot down.

Warning that the world’s energy supplies were at risk from the continuous aerial attacks, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry called on the international community to work to stop the nightly Houthi missile barrages.

“Such acts of sabotage do not only target the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but also the security and stability of energy supplies to the world, and therefore, the global economy,” the ministry said.

“They affect the security of petroleum exports, freedom of world trade, and maritime traffic.”

Yahya Sare’e, a spokesman for Yemen’s Houthis, confirmed the attack, tweeting that the group shot 14 drones and eight missiles during the “broad joint offensive operation.”

“We promise the #Saudi regime painful operations as long as it continues its aggression and blockade on our country,” he wrote.

Global oil prices rose following the attack, with international benchmark Brent Crude hitting $70 a barrel for the first time since early 2020.

Houthi rebels have stepped up

their attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, launching missiles and drones at strategic Saudi sites on a nightly basis. An ally of Iran, the Houthis have been engaged in a bloody conflict with Saudi Arabia since 2014 in what many view as a proxy battle between Tehran and Riyadh.

Since Saudi Arabia first intervened militarily in the Yemeni civil war, the Houthis have bombarded cities throughout the Kingdom with a steady barrage of ballistic missiles and drones. In one particularly damaging attack in September 2019, a fusillade of Houthi rockets resulted in tens of billions in damages after flattening oil processing facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais.

China’s Genocide

According to a report released on Tuesday, the Chinese government’s alleged actions in Xinjiang have violated every single provision in the United Nations’ Genocide Convention.

The report, released Tuesday by the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy think tank in Washington, D.C., claimed that the Chinese government “bears state responsibility for an ongoing genocide against the Uyghur in breach of the (UN) Genocide Convention.”

It is the first time a non-governmental organization has undertaken an independent legal analysis of the accusations of genocide in Xinjiang, including what responsibility Beijing may bear for the alleged crimes.

Up to 2 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities are believed to have been placed in a sprawling network of detention centers across the region, according to the U.S. State Department, where former detainees allege they were subjected to indoctrination, abused, and even forcibly sterilized. China denies allegations of human rights abuses, saying the centers are necessary to prevent religious extremism and terrorism.

Speaking at a press conference on March 7, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said allegations of a genocide in

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Xinjiang “couldn’t be more preposterous.”

On January 19, the outgoing Trump administration declared that the Chinese government was committing genocide in Xinjiang. A month later, the Dutch and Canadian parliaments passed similar motions despite opposition from their leaders.

Azeem Ibrahim, director of special initiatives at Newlines and co-author of the new report, said there was “overwhelming” evidence to support its allegation of genocide.

“This is a major global power, the leadership of which are the architects of a genocide,” he said.

The four-page UN Genocide Convention was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1948 and has a clear definition of what constitutes “genocide.” China is a signatory to the convention, along with 151 other countries.

Article II of the convention states genocide is an attempt to commit acts “with an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

There are five ways in which genocide can take place, according to the convention: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the

group; deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Since the convention was introduced in 1948, most convictions for genocide have occurred in the International Criminal Tribunals held by the UN, such as those for Rwanda and Yugoslavia, or in national courts. In 2006, former dictator Saddam Hussein was found guilty of genocide in a court in Iraq.

However, any establishment of an International Criminal Tribunal would require the approval of the UN Security Council, of which China is a permanent member with veto power, making any hearing on the allegations of genocide in Xinjiang unlikely.

While violating just one act in the Genocide Convention would constitute a finding of genocide, the Newlines report claims the Chinese government has fulfilled all criteria with its actions in Xinjiang.

“China’s policies and practices targeting Uyghurs in the region must be viewed in their totality, which amounts to an intent to destroy the

Uyghurs as a group, in whole or in part,” the report claimed.

A separate report published on February 8 by Essex Court Chambers in London, which was commissioned by the World Uyghur Congress and the Uyghur Human Rights Project, reached a similar conclusion that there is a “credible case” against the Chinese government for genocide.

Queen Above it All

Buckingham Palace is maintaining silence after a bombshell tell-all interview given by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan this week.

In the interview with Oprah, which aired on Sunday night, Meghan made assertions that a member of

the royal family had raised concerns about the color of the skin of Harry and Meghan’s baby, Archie.

The interview drew a whopping 17.1 million viewers for the twohour broadcast in the United States.

It aired in the United Kingdom on Monday night.

During the interview, the couple shared that they had an intimate marriage ceremony three days before their huge, fairytale wedding in May 2018. That small ceremony was presided by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and was “just the two of us in our backyard with the archbishop,” according to Meghan.

The former actress said that she was pressured by the stories about her in the media and said that at times she entertained suicidal thoughts.

Harry, in turn, said he felt concerned that history would be repeating itself, as his mother had a stressful relationship with the media.

In terms of his father, Harry said he had felt “really let down” by Prince Charles, as the couple dialed back their royal duties last year. He said Charles had stopped taking his calls at one point during extended talks about their exit.

Harry added that their decision to step back as senior royals did

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The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

Tehran to Free British-Iranian National?

A senior UK foreign policy official revealed that the long-running effort to free a British-Iranian citizen from Iran may soon bear fruit.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held in Iran since her arrest on espionage charges in Tehran back in 2016. She now awaits sentencing on a new slate of charges after already serving out a five-year prison sentence in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison while her family wages a publicity campaign to bring her home. Her ankle monitor bracelet was removed recently but there is no word on what will occur if a new trial starts.

But according to Simon Gerard McDonald, a former British diplomat who was until recently the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, covert efforts to win her freedom may soon succeed. In an interview with the BBC on Sunday, McDonald revealed that the UK is prepared to pay a $650 million debt to Iran via humanitari-

an relief to set Zaghari-Radcliffe free.

The outstanding debt stems from Tehran’s payment for 1,750 tanks when the Shah still ruled Iran. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, London froze the funds and has refused to transfer it ever since despite a decades-long legal battle.

“We acknowledge it is Iranian money, and it does have to go back to Iran,” said McDonald. “A key complication is that Iran is subject to very comprehensive sanctions, so how this money is repaid is part of the story.

“Huge imagination and effort have gone into this,” he added, pointing out that the UK would need to convince the U.S. to relax its sanctions on Iran before it could release the aforementioned funds.

Iran’s decision to arrest and imprison Zaghari-Radcliff is seen by many as an attempt to force the UK to repay the aforementioned debt, which has remained a source of contention between the two countries for decades.

Zaghari-Radcliffe had been teaching a journalism course in Tehran in 2016 when she was apprehended by Iranian agents. She was subsequently sentenced to a five-year prison sentence, which she completed last week.

However, Zaghari-Radcliffe will go on trial on March 14 for a second set of charges, including involvement in propaganda relating to an anti-Iran demonstration she attended in London.

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not blindside the queen, his grandmother. Both spoke warmly about the queen throughout the interview, with Meghan saying she has “always been wonderful to me.”

Harry said his relationship with his brother, William, is about giving “space” at the moment amid speculation about a growing rift between the two.

The couple is set to have a daughter over the next few months.

Since the interview aired, the Palace has yet to comment on the revelations. Harry’s grandfather, Prince Philip, 99, is hospitalized for an infection.

Meghan is not on speaking terms with her father. Thomas Markle said that the interview with Oprah was the first time he heard his daughter’s voice in four years; he never met Harry or Archie.

“I’ve never stopped loving my daughter,” he said, adding, “She has pretty much ghosted all of her family.”

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

AISH KODESH PRESENTS

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tionalistic policies, and social unrest.”

The report also cited former President Donald Trump’s tough immigration policies, which made it significantly more difficult for foreign citizens to obtain work visas.

The desire to work in major U.S. cities also declined, with only two U.S. cities now ranking in the top 30 cities globally: New York City, falling from number two in 2018 to number eight in 2020, and Los Angeles, falling from number seven to number 12 during the same period. Seattle was the only city to rise in the ranking, moving up from number 50 in 2018 to 49 in 2020.

The U.S. wasn’t the only country which saw its overall ranking drop due to a rise in anti-immigration sentiment. Germany, a country with a rising nationalist right, dropped from second place to fourth, while the Brexit and skyrocketing COVID-19 deaths caused the UK to drop to fifth.

Meanwhile, countries which saw their attractiveness increase include Australia, which rose to take the No. 3 spot, Japan, and New Zealand, which made the Top 10 for the first time.

According to the report, workers living in Ireland are most likely to want to work remotely for an American company, followed by UK, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, South Africa, Uzbekistan, Philippines, Chile and Serbia. When it comes to physical relocation, workers in Nepal, Mexico, Uzbekistan, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Chile, Nigeria, Albania, Ireland and Turkey are most willing to move to the U.S. for work.

Conversely, the report also examined the willingness of U.S. workers to relocate abroad, revealing that 64% of U.S. respondents with digital & analytics job titles are most willing to work outside of the U.S., followed by science & research (58%), arts & creative (57%), and consulting (55%).

When asked, “Which countries would you consider working in abroad?” the top destinations among Americans were Canada, Australia and UK, revealing a desire to work in English-speaking countries.

“U.S. employers looking to gain an advantage in recruiting qualified talent outside of the U.S. must be increasingly open to global talent working remotely rather than physically relocating to the U.S.,” said Appcast CEO Chris Forman.

“Not surprisingly, given the pandemic, many corporations have managed a more remote workforce. There is now an opportunity to use that experience to eliminate geographic

barriers to talent acquisition particularly in jobs that can be done in a fully remote manner,” added Boston Consulting Group partner Allison Bailey.

Plague in DR Congo

While the rest of the world is battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the Plague is making a comeback in DR Congo.

First discovered in 1926 in Uganda, the Plague has long been a challenge to the Congo and is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths over the past half century. Primarily found in Africa and South America, the disease comes in bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic form and attacks the body’s respiratory system.

Recently, the region has been battling an upsurge in Plague cases that has already resulted in 41 deaths.

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an alert for the Plague outbreak in July, DR Congo has recorded more than 500 cases, with the majority occurring in the northeastern Ituri province.

“The Plague has never stopped circulating since its discovery. It comes and it goes,” noted Anne Laudisoit, an epidemiologist sent by the United Nations to track the outbreak.

“It seems that it is coming back after 40 years,” she added. “People are not prepared.”

The disease is commonly transferred to humans by fleas which feast on rodents such as rats and squirrels.

With rats entering private homes in search of food, the fleas commonly transmit the Plague by biting unsuspecting residents.

Led by the United Nations and the WHO, authorities are attempting to curb the spread of the Plague by running public awareness campaigns. Flea traps have been distributed to locals, and deltamethrin is sprayed in homes located in particularly hard-hard villages.

“People don’t know about the danger that fleas and rats pose in the transmission and continuation of the plague,” said Michel Mandro, a local doctor.

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The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Fishermen Killed in Explosion

ment, referring to Palestinian militant groups.

Israel’s Navy commonly keeps a close watch on Gaza fishermen in order to foil frequent Hamas smuggling attempts at sea. In late February, an IDF patrol boat fired and destroyed a fishing boat after it sped towards the ship and refused orders to halt.

Ben Gurion Airport Reopens

Three Palestinians were killed on Sunday after a fishing boat mysteriously exploded off the coast of Gaza.

The Sunday morning explosion happened at sea a few kilometers out from the southern city of Khan Younis. Gaza’s fishermen’s union named those killed as Yahya Mustafa al-Laham, Hamdi al-Laham, and Zakaria al-Laham, two brothers and a cousin.

“They were the martyrs of their daily bread,” the al-Laham family on Facebook, accusing Israel of killing them by firing a mortar at their boat.

The IDF denied any involvement, pointing out that the blast was likely the result of a botched rocket launch attempt by Hamas naval commandos at sea. Earlier in the day, Hamas had conducted a slew of missile tests, firing at least nine rockets into the Mediterranean Sea. According to Israeli defense correspondents, the fishermen had likely been hit during one of Hamas early-morning missile launches. Alternative reports said that the Laham brothers had allowed the terror group to use their boat and were subsequently killed when the rocket suddenly detonated.

Hamas denied that it was responsible, saying only that it was investigating the incident.

“The resistance leadership and the security forces will form a specialized team to discover the circumstances of this painful incident, and the whole truth will be announced as soon as possible, G-d willing,” said the Izz-A-Din Qassem Brigades.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said the boat was two miles offshore when the shell hit and “completely destroyed it.”

“The center condemns the incident, which indications suggest mostly likely occurred as a result of resistance training,” said the state-

Ben Gurion Airport reopened on Sunday for the first time in over a month as part of a broader relaxation of the COVID-19 regulations.

Israel’s main international airport had been largely closed since January 25 as part of an attempt by the Israeli government to keep vaccine-resistant COVID-19 mutations from entering the country. Those seeking to enter the country, including Israeli citizens, were required to receive approval from an “Exceptions Committee” that were granted on an individual basis.

But on Sunday, hundreds of Israelis began streaming into the previously-deserted airport after the cabinet removed many of the restrictions on air travel. Now, passengers will be allowed free entry from six locations, including New York, Frankfurt, London, and Paris.

Incoming travelers will not be forced to quarantine in a government-run facility but will need to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet instead. In addition, Israelis who already received both doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine and those who recovered from the virus are exempt from quarantining.

Entering Israel is conditioned on presenting a negative COVID-19 test from the previous 72 hours.

Apart from the airport, Israel also reopened its land border crossings with Jordan for two days a week.

Incoming arrivals for the first three days were capped at 1,000, which increased to 3,000 on Wednesday.

Israel’s government had voted to

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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open the skies in order to allow Israelis stranded abroad to return so that they can participate in the upcoming Knesset elections on March 23. In a legal opinion released last week, the Justice Ministry ruled that it was “undemocratic” to deny citizens the right to vote.

A recent expose on the Exceptions Committee also caused a firestorm and increased public pressure to allow Israelis stranded overseas to return home. In last week’s Channel 12 report, senior Transportation Ministry officials alleged that the approvals were being handed out on an arbitrary basis and were favoring confidantes of top politicians.

In an interview on Sunday morning, national coronavirus czar Nachman Ash warned that opening the airport was likely to force the country into a fourth lockdown. While acknowledging the legal ramifications of preventing citizens from voting, Ash said that the policy would enable lethal COVID-19 mutations to flourish.

“There is a need for self-control,” he asserted. “We don’t have enough enforcement and there is more than a little danger that mutations will enter the country.”

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Hamas has elected a new leader in the Gaza Strip who will replace Yahya Sinwar, according to sources in the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.

Nizar Awadallah will now be leading the terror group.

According to some reports, though, the result of the vote is not final. Those reports say that a second round will take place between Awadallah and Sinwar.

Awadallah, 63, was one of four candidates who challenged Sinwar, the Palestinian daily Al-Quds reported. The other three Hamas candidates were identified as Mahmoud Zahar, Fathi Hammad, and Ziyad al-Thatha.

Awadallah, who previously served as head of Hamas’s Shura Council, a

decision-making consultative body that elects the group’s politburo, was elected in secret elections in the past few weeks for the group’s leaders in the Gaza Strip and abroad.

During the First Intifada, he headed a secret Hamas armed wing named the Palestinian Mujahideen.

Awadallah will serve as head of the Hamas political bureau in the Gaza Strip. The terror group is also expected to elect a new overall leader for its political bureau, currently headed by Ismail Haniyeh.

Awadallah, who studied civil engineering in Egypt, was closely associated with Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

He previously spent 10 years in an Israeli prison for his involvement in terrorism.

Sinwar, 58, was elected Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip in 2017 – a job held until then by Haniyeh.

Back to Normal?

Israelis flocked to restaurants and cafes after the government lifted the year-long restrictions designed to stop the spread of COVID-19.

With 55% of the total population having received the first dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 and 40% fully vaccinated, Israel’s cabinet reopened the economy to levels not seen since the initial outbreak last year.

For the first time in almost a year, indoor dining is permitted at restaurants and cafes. As per the new regulations, indoor seating is capped at a 75% capacity, with a limit of 100 people total. Tables must be at least 5 feet apart and mask-wearing is enforced for wait staff.

On Sunday morning, Jerusalem’s Jaffa Street saw bustling crowds at dozens of cafes dotting the city’s main thoroughfare to take advantage of the newly-relaxed regulations.

“We are coming back to life,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters while eating a pastry at a tony Jerusalem cafe.

According to data provided by the app Ontopo, 28,000 reservations were booked within the first 24 hours after restaurants were allowed to re-

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

open, with the number growing by 1,000 each hour. 60% requested outdoor dining as opposed to 40% who preferred to sit indoors.

Israel’s restaurant industry has been devastated by the repeated waves of lockdowns and frequently-changing regulations. According to Channel 12, financial difficulties has forced 4,000 out of the country’s total 14,000 eateries to declare bankruptcy since July.

For teens grades 7-10, it was back to school after the Health Ministry permitted in-person learning for the first time since March 2020. Universities, trade schools, and other institutions of higher education can reopen as well provided they are not located in “red” areas.

Also allowed to operate are cultural events, conferences, wedding halls, and gyms. However, attendance is limited to those fully vaccinated and is capped at 300 people.

In addition, motorists may now transport more than two non-family passengers in their vehicle, and limits on public transport were scrapped.

Store owners will not be required to check customers’ temperature before entry, a measure that had been widely flouted ever since it was first introduced in April.

ICC Targets Israel

The International Court of Justice in The Hague (ICC) announced that it will probe Israel for suspected war crimes perpetrated in Judea and Samaria, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.

“Today, I confirm the initiation by the office of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of an investigation respecting the situation in Palestine,” ICC Prosecutor Bensouda announced last Wednesday.

She said that the inquiry would be done “independently, impartially and objectively, without fear or favor.”

The investigation will deal with alleged crimes committed by Israel in Judea and Samaria dating back decades, with a focus on its settlement project. The probe of war crimes in Gaza, however, will be restricted to incidents that occurred during Oper‫שובי ונחזה‬

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ation Protective Edge in 2014.

Also set to be investigated are the March of Return protests, a series of violent demonstrations on the Israel-Gaza border in 2018 that saw IDF snipers injure hundreds of Palestinians.

Notably, the probe will focus on alleged crimes starting from the day after three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and killed in 2014, an event that triggered Operation Protective Edge. The decision means that the Hamas terror group will not be investigated for causing the war in the first place, while Israel bears the responsibility for subsequent events.

The Palestinian Authority hailed the announcement, calling the investigation “necessary to uncovering crimes” it said Israel perpetuated.

“It is a long-awaited step that serves Palestine’s tireless pursuit of justice and accountability, which are indispensable pillars of the peace the Palestinian people seek and deserve,” said the PA foreign ministry.

Israeli leaders reacted with outrage to the ICC announcement, calling the probe “pure anti-Semitism” and dismissing it as “political” and vowing not to cooperate with it. Decrying the probe as an “act of moral and legal bankruptcy,” Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi stressed that no nation had done more to protect the lives of innocent civilians during wartime than Israel.

“Israel will take every step necessary to protect its civilians and soldiers from legal persecution,” said Ashkenazi in a statement.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit opined that the ICC had no jurisdiction to investigate Israel, pointing out that Palestine is not an independent state under international law. As per the ICC charter, only sovereign nations can petition prosecutors to open probes.

“This position won widespread support from leading nations and prominent legal experts, however, the judges, in their decision and in the statement from the prosecutor today, decided to ignore the serious legal justifications put before it,” Mandelblit said.

Later reports said that Bensouda refused to update Israeli leaders about the bombshell move, leaving them to learn of the probe via media reports.

“We did not receive any warning about this. This is completely unprecedented behavior,” a senior minister told the Walla news site.

Far-Left Supports ICC Probe

The leader of Israel’s far-left Meretz party sparked widespread outrage after suggesting that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is justified in probing Israel for war crimes.

The ICC had announced last week that it would investigate Israel for war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 along with its settlement policy in Judea and Samaria. The probe has resulted in widespread consternation among Israeli leaders, who fear that this may lead to the arrest of IDF troops while traveling overseas.

In an interview on Saturday evening, Meretz chairman Nitzan Horowitz said that the ICC’s decision was “legitimate,” blaming it on what he alleged was Israel’s longtime disregard of international law. While acknowledging that he did “not want Israel to be brought before the Hague,” Horowitz said that “Israel also has responsibility” for winding up in the court.

“Israel needs to ask itself what it did to prevent it,” Horowitz told Channel 13, going on to blame Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Israel’s current predicament for refusing to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

“The red line is that there are no negotiations with the Palestinians and we’re continuing to build settlements like there’s no tomorrow, and then we wonder why there are steps taken against that,” Horowitz responded when asked if his remarks crossed a “red line.”

“I don’t want Israel to be in these situations and to have them file proceedings against us in all kinds of courts, but on the other hand, I am in favor of cooperating with the court and not trying to censure it,” he added.

Later on, Horowitz took aim at the IDF’s rules of engagement during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

Pointing out that Israel had killed 2,500 Gazans while losing “only 70

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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IDF soldiers,” the leftist lawmaker questioned the “proportionality” of the body count.

“Even in Operation Protective Edge (the 2014 war), there were things that should not have been done. There was massive damage done to the civilian population that the court wants to check,” Horowitz said. “The solution for us is not to say that The Hague is anti-Semitic, but rather to advance negotiations with the Palestinians that bring about a solution. Then there will be no reason for the Hague.”

The first public support of the ICC probe by any Israeli lawmaker, Horowitz’s remarks caused a firestorm across the political spectrum. Calling the investigation “anti-Semitic,” the Likud blasted the Meretz leader for “abandoning IDF soldiers who guard him and all of us.”

Far-right candidate Itamar Ben Gvir called on Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to probe Horowitz for “treason” while Yamina MK Ayelet Shaked vowed that her party would refuse to join any coalition that included Meretz.

Gidon Sa’ar’s New Hope party slammed the Meretz leader’s “miserable remark at the expense of IDF soldiers. No campaign justifies support for the anti-Semitic ruling and he would be wise to apologize for it.”

Special Forces’ Stolen Gun

The commander of the IDF’s Egoz Special Forces unit publicly lambasted one of his soldiers after his rifle was stolen by Israeli Arabs.

During the incident earlier this month, the soldier had been on a solitary nighttime navigation exercise near the Arab city of Shfaram when two Israeli Arabs pulled up near him.

First offering him a lift, they grew hostile when he refused and then beat him savagely before making off with his M-4 rifle.

Despite feeling like his life was in danger, the soldier refused to shoot

his attackers, hurling his bullets into a nearby sewer to prevent the Arabs from making off with them. The IDF and police are currently probing the incident.

In a public letter to his troops, Lieutenant Colonel A. sharply criticized the operative, calling his behavior “embarrassing” and saying that the soldier should not remain in Egoz. The Special Forces commander added that it was a “bare minimum”

for any soldier in the elite unit to be able to defeat two assailants in handto-hand combat.

“A soldier in the unit that doesn’t know how to take on two men in Krav Maga cannot be in Egoz,” he wrote, saying that he had ordered Egoz staff officers to investigate the incident.

“There will no kidnappings in Egoz; none of our soldiers will be killed,” asserted Lieutenant Colonel A. “That is the bare minimum for

someone in our unit.”

The incident had morphed into a national controversy in Israel, with right-wing politicians and pundits blaming the IDF’s strict rules of engagement for the stolen weapon. In a now-viral Facebook post, Yamina party head Naftali Bennett alleged that the soldier had refused to shoot his attackers due to his fear of being imprisoned for using unnecessary force.

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

“This is what you get when you scandalously prosecute troops who kill terrorists,” wrote Bennett. “Only by changing the stranglehold IDF lawyers have on the military will things change.”

PLO Paying $15M to Terrorists

A senior Palestinian official admitted that the Palestinian Authority earmarks as much as $15 million every month to pay terrorists imprisoned in Israeli jails.

“We pay around NIS 50 million ($15 million) per month in salaries,” PLO Commissioner for Prisoners’ Affairs Qadri Abu Bakr told the Times of Israel. He said that the money goes to an estimated 7,500 Palestinian

prisoners, the majority behind bars for terror-related offenses.

Abu Bakr added that the PA was also paying another 4,500 Palestinians currently in temporary detention. During the interview, Abu Bakr also denied that the PA had decided to phase out the controversial policy of monthly stipends to terrorists.

“We’re still studying the matter, but we have not yet come to any conclusions about it,” he said.

Known widely in Israel as “Pay to Slay,” the longtime Palestinian Authority policy lavishes monthly stipends on convicted terrorists, with the amounts rising according to the number of Israelis killed. According to Palestinian Media Watch, the Palestinian Authority had dished out upwards of 512 million shekel ($159 million) alone in 2020 despite suffering from a severe financial crisis caused by COVID-19.

Not only did the cash crunch not lead the PA to reduce the monthly stipends, the sums rose by NIS 161 million ($50 million) from 2019. The aforementioned payments have long bothered both Israel and the U.S., causing Congress to condition annual aid on the PA scrapping the program.

In November, the PA said that it would begin phasing out the policy in

what observers said was an attempt to win over the incoming Biden administration. Instead of granting the monthly payments based on the number of dead Israelis, the PA would instead calculate it based on each prisoner’s socio-economic status.

Masks Off?

Amid rising vaccination rates and falling infections, a slew of states has begun to roll back their COVID-19 restrictions.

Leading the trend is Texas, with Governor Greg Abbott announcing last week that the Lone Star State will allow businesses to reopen at full capacity. Abbott’s Executive Order, which took effect on March 10, removes all curbs on commerce along with the state’s mask mandate in public places.

Upon announcing the rollback, Abbott touted Texas’s low positivity rate, which he said was “under 9%,” and spoke of the harsh economic fallout the lockdowns caused. Highlighting the fact that Texas is second nationwide in COVID-19 vaccine doses administered, the governor said that the time had come to put Texans back to work.

“It is now time to open Texas 100 percent,” Abbott said, stressing that “too many Texans were sidelined from employment opportunities” due to the restrictions on businesses.

“The vaccine supply is increasing so rapidly, Texas will soon expand the categories of people who are able to get them, and some medical professionals say within a few months every Texan who wants a vaccine shot will be able to get a vaccine shot,” Abbott said.

“Hospitalizations are the lowest they’ve been in four months. The number of active COVID cases is the lowest since November, and is less than half of what it was just a month ago,” the governor said.

Following Texas is Connecti-

cut, which dramatically loosened COVID-19 restrictions and will allow the resumption of sports games, cultural events, and outdoor dining.

The state’s travel ban will also be lifted for the first time since early 2020, and incoming travelers will not need to quarantine.

However, social distancing rules will still apply in all of the aforementioned venues, along with rules mandating masks and a curfew on all restaurants and bars. Outdoor seating at restaurants will be capped at 50% capacity and indoor venues permitted up to 10%.

“We wanted to emphasize that which works and that which is enforceable,” said Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont last Thursday. “And we know what works is the mask, and we know what works is social distancing, and we know the curfew is something we can enforce.”

In West Virginia, Governor Jim Justice rolled out a new policy allowing restaurants and bars to operate at “100% of their seating capacity,” along with gyms, cultural centers, and movie theaters. Large gatherings will now be limited to 100 people, up from the previous 75, and the state’s fairs and festivals will resume.

The decision came as the number of daily COVID-19 infections continues to decline across West Virginia, with only 326 new cases this past Friday.

“We have no red counties in West Virginia – I just want you to look at this map. It just jumps out at you every way. Green, green, more green.

The whole Northern Panhandle is green… Absolutely it is amazing,” Justice said.

$1.9T Stimulus Bill

The Senate passed a mammoth $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill in a narrow vote that illustrated the Democratic Party’s fragile legislative majority.

Following tense last-minute negotiations, the stimulus package was approved by the razor-thin margin of 50-49, with every Republican Senator opposing. The Senate vote was

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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a key hurdle for the bill, which was summarily approved by the House on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden hailed the bill’s passage, saying in a Saturday afternoon press conference that senators had chosen to better the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans.

“By passing this plan, we’ll have proved that this government, this democracy, can still work. It has to be done. It will improve people’s lives,” Biden said.

Democrats had been under pressure to pass the bill before the weekly $300 unemployment benefits lapsed on March 14. On Friday, Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he would oppose the bill over his objection to a benefit proposal for the jobless.

With the Senate evenly split 5050 between the two parties, Manchin’s last-minute refusal led to frantic negotiations until the Democratic senator finally agreed to accept a GOP proposal to lower unemployment benefits. Democrats forced the Senate roll call vote to remain open for 11 hours and 50 minutes, the longest in over a century, as negotiations between party leaders and Manchin dragged on.

“We have reached a compromise

that enables the economy to rebound quickly while also protecting those receiving unemployment benefits from being hit with [an] unexpected tax bill next year,” Manchin said.

The stimulus package aims at providing relief to an economy devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic and will give Americans another round of $1,400 checks, the third since the pandemic began. It also earmarks $350 billion to state governments along with a separate $130 billion to reopen schools.

Another $49 billion will go to expanding research and testing for COVID-19, while $14 billion is budgeted for the vaccine effort. The COVID-19 stimulus bill also extended $300-per-week unemployment benefits until the summer and expanded food stamps by 15%.

The stimulus package passed without any GOP support despite Biden’s vow that the legislation would earn bipartisan approval. Decrying the high price tag, Senate Republicans warned that the $1.9 trillion package would lead to skyrocketing inflation and proposed a scaleddown $600 billion bill instead.

“The Senate has never spent $2 trillion in a more haphazard or less rigorous way,” said Senate Minority

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Leader Mitch McConnell. “Democrats inherited a tide that is already turning.”

Bomber Flyover

For the second time since taking office, President Joe Biden ordered a pair of B-52 bombers to fly over the Middle East in a warning to Iran.

The two B-52H “Stratofortress” bombers took off from Minot Air Base in North Dakota on Saturday, crossing the Atlantic Ocean and circling Iran before beginning the long journey home. The long-range strategic bombers were escorted during various parts of the journey by Israeli, Qatari, and Saudi fighter jets.

“Today, Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jets escorted two American B-52 bombers through Israeli airspace,” confirmed the IDF in a statement on Sunday. “This flight is part of the joint strategic cooperation with U.S. forces, which is pivotal in main-

taining the security of Israeli and Middle Eastern skies.”

Sunday’s sortie was the seventh of its kind since November, which are said to be a warning to Iran ahead of the expected negotiations over its nuclear program. First ordered by former President Donald Trump during a bout of saber-rattling between the two countries, the mock bombing mission has now occurred twice since Biden’s inauguration.

The Pentagon refrained from mentioning Iran upon announcing the sortie, saying simply that the B-52s had flown to the Middle East to “deter aggression and reassure partners and allies of the U.S. military’s commitment to security in the region.”

Biden has repeatedly expressed his willingness to return to the Iran nuclear deal should the Islamic Republic commit to fulfilling its obligations. Signed in 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) capped Tehran’s uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief but has been on shaky ground since Trump backed out of the agreement in 2018.

Israel has vociferously opposed returning to the Iran deal, highlighting its insufficient safeguards and

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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landing perfectly on the launch pad before exploding in a fiery conflagration. It remains unclear what led to the crash and why the rocket suddenly malfunctioned.

The launch was the third such attempt after two previous efforts were aborted. The initial liftoff on Wednesday was called off less than a second before the rocket would have left the launchpad due to problems with the rocket’s thrust.

Overseen by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, the Starship aims to revolutionize space travel by being the first to carry a manned flight to Mars. According to SpaceX’s website, the craft will change spaceflight by “shuttling paying customers between cities at breakneck speeds, potentially aiding NASA’s Moon landing efforts, and, eventually, launching cargo and human missions to Mars.”

Two previous prototypes both went up in flames during a series of tests in December.

Accidental Explosion

warning that it would pave the way for Tehran obtaining nuclear capability. In an interview last week with Fox News, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz revealed that Israel had updated its operational plans to attack Iranian nuclear facilities should the need arise.

“We are on very high alert all the time,” Gantz said. “The issue with Iran must be solved.”

SpaceX Rocket Crash A SpaceX rocket crashed during a test flight, exploding on the ground in South Texas only minutes after its successful takeoff.

Known as the SN10, the futuristic spacecraft climbed six miles into the South Texas air after liftoff last

Wednesday. The “perfect” takeoff led engineers to declare the test a success, embracing and sharing congratulatory messages on social media.

“We’ve had a successful soft touchdown on the landing pad,” announced SpaceX engineer John Insprucker. “That’s capping a beautiful test flight of Starship 10.”

But three minutes later, the rocket suddenly swooped downwards, hurtling over the Gulf of Mexico and

Five students and a teacher were injured at a Michigan high school on Monday after a 16-year-old student accidentally detonated a homemade explosive device in class.

Officers with the Newaygo Police Department were dispatched to Newaygo High School just before 9 a.m. for a report of an “explosion.”

“A 16-year-old student brought a homemade explosive device into the classroom,” a press release from Newaygo Public Schools said. “The device detonated in the classroom, injuring the 16-year-old and four additional classmates.”

It was deemed to be accidental.

The 16-year-old was hospitalized with moderate to severe injuries, while the others were transported to the hospital by their parents with minor injuries. The teacher present in the classroom at the time of the explosion also sought treatment at the hospital, the release said.

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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‫שומר שבת‬

Scientists are hoping that a new fungus may be the long-awaited solution to an invasive tree that has the ability to destroy entire forests.

Commonly known as the “Tree of Heaven” for his red leaves, Ailanthus altissima is a tree from the deciduous family and is native to China and Taiwan. Since being introduced to the U.S., Ailanthus has become a major threat to local ecosystems and is considered by many to be the worst invasive species in North American forests.

With the ability to grow by eight feet within a year of taking root, Ailanthus often soars 70 feet in the air and is almost impossible to uproot.

The tree gobbles nutrition from local greenery, pushing out native plants such as the red oak, and shredding infrastructure including sidewalks, highways, and office buildings.

The tree also has the ability to clone itself indefinitely, thwarting pesticides, and can live up to a century. Its lack of natural predators and long lifespan leaves farmers with little recourse other than chopping the tree down entirely.

Yet scientists now say that a new fungus may provide a solution to the invasive Ailanthus. Recent studies have shown that a fungus known as Verticillium nonalfalfae is lethal to the problematic tree, infecting it with vascular wilt disease and drying out its water sources.

Upon being infected with V. nonalfalfae, Ailanthus trees rapidly begin to wilt, turning brown and dying within months.

“It doesn’t just kill the single tree, it kills the root system, and it kills the neighboring [Ailanthus] trees, and you could really see these disease pockets spread out,” said Rachel Brooks, a doctoral candidate at Virginia Tech’s School of Plant and Environmental Science.

In a study led by Brooks, trees in 12

forests in the northeastern U.S. were inoculated with the fungus. The results were encouraging; while Ailanthus was decimated by the spores, local plants remained unaffected.

Now, horticulturists hope to control Ailanthus by injecting fungal spores into its trunk, causing it to decay while leaving surrounding greenery untouched. Should the effort succeed, forests across North America could finally be saved from the plague that has wreaked havoc for over a century.

“Up until we discovered this fungus, it really didn’t have an Achilles heel,” said former USDA Forest Service official Joanne Rebbeck.

Cross Carefully

There has been a marked increase in pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. over the past ten years, according to a report by Smart Growth America.

In the report release this week, it was noted that 53,435 people were killed in the United States while walking between 2010 and 2019. Divided per day, that amounts to around 14 people killed while walking each day.

More alarming, 2018 and 2019 saw the highest number of pedestrian deaths since 1990.

Every state except for one has grown more dangerous for pedestrians. Still, some states are more dangerous than others.

Florida nabbed the dubious distinction of the most dangerous state for walkers. The Sunshine State saw 5,893 fatalities from 2019 to 2019.

Alabama came in second, with 936 deaths, followed by New Mexico, Mississippi, and Delaware. Louisiana, Arizona, South Carolina, Georgia, and Texas rounded out the ten most dangerous states for pedestrians over the past ten years.

Interestingly, a decrease in traffic may not mean that there is a decrease in pedestrian deaths.

Beth Osborne, director of Transportation for America at Smart Growth America, notes, “When they

SPRING

Fre s h c o l o rs . L aye r i n g . B a s i c s & b eyo n d .

/2021

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

Ribbed shell COLOR: Cloud

Cotton Halo Skirt COLOR: Black

H O U R S S U N 1 0 : 3 0 - 6 M O N -T H U R S 1 0 - 6 & F R I 1 0 - 2 4 8 9 C E N T R A L AV E CEDARHUR ST NY

5 1 6 . 5 5 8 . 74 3 5 T H E S H E L L S TAT I O N .C O M

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

became emptier, they became more deadly because the design of our roads encourage people to drive quickly.

And without congestion, there’s nothing to stop it.”

Bronze Beauty

show off the company’s craftsmanship, but has been hand-polished and features two racing stripes brushed into the surface.

The bronze copy weighs about 200 to 250 pounds more than one of the aluminum models and uses twice as many body parts due to the small size that bronze sheets come in.

The car is up for sale – not auction – at RM Sotheby’s for the whopping price of $475,000.

Put the pedal to the metal on this one.

Summer Shanty A bronze replica of a sports car is worth its weight in gold.

The shiny copy is of a 1965 Shelby 427 S/C Cobra and was produced

by Utah’s Kirkham Motorsports. The company usually makes replicas out of aluminum, but has made a few other bronze ones. This particular model is unique because it is a CSX 4600 continuation car with an authentic Shelby serial number.

The bare metal is unpainted to

Looking to relax with a cold one on a hot summer day?

Leinenkugel’s, a Wisconsin-based beer company, is giving away a $50,000 tiny home inspired by a classic ice fishing hut but with a summery twist based on its popular Summer Shandy beer.

The “Summer Shandy Ice Shanty”

will come with light therapy lamps, a grill, “classic lake house décor,” and a year of free Summer Shandy – or at least $500 to buy a year of Summer Shandy, according to a Facebook post from the brewery.

The house will also have a furnace, holes for fishing, an audio system, and Leinenkugel’s swag.

In case you were wondering, the beer company is clear about how their beer is pronounced.

“It’s pronounced Summer Shandy, with a ‘d;’ not shanty with a ‘t,’” the company said.

One winner will get the ice shanty so he or she can enjoy a bit of summer in the still-cold months.

Or they can just wait a few weeks and sit on their porch with a glass of lemonade.

Cow Cuddling If things are hard for you, perhaps you’d like a cow to cuddle with.

People are signing up to hug cows at animal sanctuaries across America.

According to The New York Times, many people who have been adversely affected by the isolation stemming

from the pandemic have found solace at these cow farms.

Renee Behinfar, a psychologist, lives alone in Scottsdale, Arizona. She spent time hugging cows, who gave her love in return.

“It was really my first real hug of the year,” Behinfar, 43, said.

She began to cry when Sammy the cow laid his head in her lap.

“In the end, I really didn’t want to let her go,” Behinfar said.

She also brought her friend to the animal sanctuary for her friend’s birthday.

The farm has about 100 rescued farm animals, many with disabilities.

Cow-cuddling sessions, which cost $75 an hour, are booked until July.

Owner Aimee Takaha says she gets around 20 calls a day about the

‫בּס"ד‬

On behalf of the hanahala and board of Mesivta Netzach HaTorah we wish a heartfelt mazel tov to

YAAKOV & SORI GADE on the recent engagement of their daughter Odelia to Dovi Tessler.

We thank the Gades and the entire team for their continued partnership and support. ‫וכל מי שעוסקים בצרכי ציבור באמונה הקדוש ברוך הוא ישלם שכרם‬ R' YITZCHOK YURMAN, MENAHEL

Mesivta Netzach HaTorah

4.5” x 11.25” 39

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

‫בס״ד‬

MARCH 2021

THE BLIND INSPECTORS This python with what looks like three smiling emojis recently sold for $6,000

service she has offered for five years.

Business has picked up dramatically in the past year.

“They’re just like happy pills, just to be around,” she said of the cows.

Cow cuddling is also popular in the Netherlands, where it is called “koe knuffelen.”

Suzanne Vullers, who is originally from the Netherlands, offers cow-cuddling sessions at her 33-acre Mountain Horse Farm in Naples, N.Y. The hour-long sessions start at $75.

Holy cow!

because they wanted us to pull a city car, half the size,” Phillpotts said.

He wanted to pull a truck because he was inspired by Ross Edgley, the British man who set the original World’s Strongest Marathon title while pulling a truck in 2016. He finished with a time of 19 hours and 36 minutes.

Phillpott, car or not, we’ll give you the gold.

Space Out

Marathon Trucker

The site buzzed with large cranes carting steel rods and building materials. Trucks came and went and workers climbed diligently, toiling to complete the inner structure. It was a regular day at a large construction site in Brooklyn.

Suddenly, the commotion came to an abrupt halt.

Inspectors arrived! Someone had snitched on them, claiming they were building illegally. The inspectors had come unannounced, prepared for a full checkup.

Suddenly, the frum contractor – who happens to be a longtime Tehillim Kollel member – realized that there were problems with his permits. He had taken out a permit when construction began, but it only covered the foundation. He had neglected to refresh it to include building the higher floors.

This spelled trouble! They were deep in the middle of construction, without proper building rights!

The contractor felt lost and afraid. Then, he remembered his precious membership. He let the calm feeling of being taken care of, the calm feeling that accompanies the powerful zechus of the sefer Tehillim, wash over him. He knew the minyan of chashuve talmidei chachamim davened for him daily – and he knew a miracle was not short on coming.

And the miracle did happen!

An Australian athlete broke a world record when he ran a marathon in 16 hours and 12 minutes – while pulling a 1.6-ton truck.

Corey Phillpott, 23, pulled the 3,300-pound Ford Ranger truck for a distance of 26.2 miles through Jamison Park in Penrith, New South Wales, to nab the new world record title for the World’s Strongest Marathon.

Phillpott’s time of 16 hours and 12 minutes was enough to beat the previous record of 17 hours, which was held

by U.S. athlete Justin True.

“I’ve got no injuries. I feel great – I’ll go for a run tomorrow,” Phillpott told the Blue Mountains Gazette after the attempt.

Unfortunately, the feat won’t be memorialized in the record books.

“It won’t get ratified by Guinness

Need to get away from it all? We understand. Orbital Assembly Corporation (AOC) can help you with that.

The company says that it is in the process of opening a space hotel – the first of its kind.

The grand opening is schedule for 2027, so you may need to wait a while before packing your bags. It can accommodate 400 guests.

Heading to space won’t mean that you need to give up your Earthly amenities. The hotel will have restaurants, a movie theater and a spa, with added extras not usually needed, such as Earth-viewing lounges.

It will be built in the shape of a large ring with small pods attached to its exterior and will rotate to generate artificial gravity.

“People need gravity so their bodies won’t fall apart,” John Blincow of the Gateway Foundation which is behind OAC, explained.

We’re not holding our breaths about vacationing at this hotel. So far, JetBlue has yet to fly us there.

The inspectors combed the site, turning right and left, unable to find any offense that would incriminate the construction team… Finally, they noticed that the fence around the area was a bit too tall. If the fence would be fixed, work on the site could continue.

It was an exact fulfillment of David Hamelech’s words – “Einayim lahem velo yiru…” Indeed they had eyes, but they didn’t see.

WEEKLY COLUMN OF RECENT EPISODES

BY TEHILLIM KOLLEL Sign up for our annual mermbership:

718.705.7174 Info@TehillimKollel.org www.TehillimKollel.org

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the

Community BBY Dinner: Ascend!

Guests of Honor Mr. and Mrs. Ari and Rochel Sima Munk

Parents of the Year Mr. and Mrs. Yossi and Leora Hammer

O

n Motzei Shabbos, Parshas Ki Sisa, Bnos Bais Yaakov of Far Rockaway held its annual dinner as a virtual event. The evening drew over one thousand attendees. The theme of the dinner was “Ascend!” and indeed, the term encapsulates BBY, as Bnos Bais Yaakov continues to ascend in accomplishments every year.

The dinner campaign launched with a unique momentum and en-

thusiasm. Our façade overhaul is in its final stages, and our students are thriving despite the pandemic. Close to nine hundred parents, friends and supporters stepped forward in support of this singular institution.

This energy made the 2021 dinner campaign our most successful to date.

Honorees this year included Guests of Honor Mr. and Mrs. Ari and Rochel Sima Munk, Parents

A tribute to Mrs. Rimma Olshansky, a’h

Kesser Shem Tov awardees Mr. and Mrs. Chaim Sholom and Rivky Leibowitz

of the Year Mr. and Mrs. Yossi and Leora Hammer, and Kesser Shem Tov awardees Mr. and Mrs. Chaim Sholom and Rivky Leibowitz. A tribute to the memory of Mrs. Rimma Olshansky, a”h, our beloved school secretary, was also featured.

The dinner involved every department of Bnos Bais Yaakov, comprising 1,337 students, and the virtual dinner program captured what BBY is all about. It included a cap-

tivating poem presented by our students, a video depiction of the BBY ascension, and a stirring music video of a father’s tefillah for his daughters, composed and produced specially for the dinner and performed by six Bnos Bais Yaakov fathers.

We thank our parent body and all friends of Bnos Bais Yaakov for making the dinner the success that it was. We look forward to ascending further together!

41

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

ONE CANNOT LIVE

BY MATZO ALONE From Seder to Snacking and Everything in Between

U

P

MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Haggadahs

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200 QUESTIONS ? ?o n lb t o ,tz vn ofhk h hf ,t oRESPOND l pa vs nt hkt ,t fhs kta an v rn kt ,t fh ah u oh f,t c lk hyp v v rntk t u ?,t fhs kta nvu ucg k r urn z vn kt h hf vu o sucg tk urn z vn skt hf ?of ejv ofh tah anvusucgv rjnrnth z vn kt 's h hf ohe v vn jn l th hf rnt 's vu vhv hej v vnrjn th hf rnt 's rj k , u ,s skt hf ohe vn lbc hf v rnt vu vhv jvu ofh bc l vh k rj m ra u ? vu , of lbc l vhv k vn n lbc tzv gv v 's v vhvu jvu of lkt hvu k r m ra u ?o ,sg bc o kta vu ? n l t ofk sgv hbc kta u ?o ,s hbc ah ?o jn t fk v v fhk h hf of bc l ohy ,t vn ofh h ,s of lk vs n um ,t gv hbc tah ucg rntk rat fk , gv v ofhk hf f,t lbc l ohyp ,tzv n rn t urn ? ,t o kta pan zv v rn kt lb zv vn ofhk hf v v rj ohy tzv n r t ur ?,t of kta an vs tk th ,tz fhs h hf vu o sucg tk of c lk vsuc rnt t ur ?,t n of n lb pan vs ntk nth z vn hskt h hf vu o ucg rjn hf v vn kt ' vhv hej v vn hbc otah gv vk rjn nth z vn hbc c lkt vu o ucgv rjn hf v rnt 's vhv hejvv vn lbc lhvu ? rnt s vum u ?of vu k r Mesorah hf rn of a hej vn lbc hv k vum u ? u , of kt of ArtScroll k n hf rn fhk hf r Series lb ELIAS v t hkt hSeries rj o l u ra ofk sgvWEHLhbc ah h ,Published h v t o jbyn at hf vhv tk r t ur ?,tz ofhb c lk hvu k rArtScroll Published by l o j u f u , fh kt ?o n 's vhv u ?o jn l nth vn c of tah ?of n lb rnth ?ofk sgv bc o ah h f,t lbc lt ohy,tzv vn fhktf ?, fhsk bc of kt p bc hf rnt hkt hf ,t c l hf , vn fhk f u f,EDITION v rn rn vum EXPANDED u tz t A NEW AND GREATLY lk v t k t o k r t ur ?,tz hskt ah h anv sucg tk r rnth vn ? r ?,t t OF THE o ACKNOWLEDGED z v ofhs tah hvu rjn urnt ,tz fhsktah vhvu zv v ntk RABBI u hej k rj at oCLASSIC v n f j suc rj tYAAKOV n ELIAS vhRABBIv JOSEPH h vnWEHL's v vh ohe vn n l hf by h n kt hf ?o lb h h vn t hf rn vu ? u ,s lbc l ypa rnt 's vhv f,t c lk f v rn 's v vhv ?of, gv n l hf v rntk um r vu jvu ofh bc vs tk r ofk gv kta nvu k r vum u ?, ofh tah hvu tk r um u ?, t o vn bc lk hvu rj at ?ofk ,sg bc hf ucg jn ,tz vn h hf ohe jn l rat tz skt hf v ?of jn rat tz v fhs ofhb ta ?of n lbc ohy ,t v urn ?,tv vn lbc l v vs rntk vhv jvu , bc l ohyvn r 's v hvu ,t o lbc l ohy n rnkt 'sc of h hf ,t lkt panvzv lb th z v of kta ucg rj u ? sg kta pa ntk um r ?,t fhs kta pan tk v hkt ?,t ofh ah u of c lk hf v n r hbc o h hf v v n l ofk v v h hf nvu rjn at z vn kt h hf vu o rjn um r urn z vn skt hf ?, hsk tah hvu ntk fhk ?, n of bc l ,tz n rn vh ohe lbc ohy rn 's v vh hej lbc at th h rn 's ? , tz v t 's hf v ?of rjn t urn tz v hbc oktah v vs tk r vu ? jvu , lkt pan tk rjum ravu ? vu , lktaohypf vhvtk t z n r vum hvu ,t lbc th n r fh hf ucg jn of sg ah vu n l t ofk sgv h h an u o k k n nt v h l v h k r rat ?,t ofhs lktaf vh tk r t urn ?,t vn bc lk ,tz vn f vh hejv bc lk ohyp ,tz vn f vhvvu v v v n jn l ohy z vn kt 's h hf vu ?ojn lb th h z vn ofhbc tah v vs rntk u ?o u ,s tah anv vs rntk u f u u bc pa rn g h lkt nv tk vum vhv f,t c lkt vhv rnt ofhkhf ? ucgv rjn fk , v v f vh ohe cgv k v j o u a u t , l t n r u r n ah hf ohe rjn at ?,t fhsk h hf ?of rjn urn tz vnvn o bc l zv v rnt u ?of vu t k vh jvu lbc ohy z v t ' vh ,t lbc th rn fhbc ktah sucg k rj k v h s n vu l o ‫פסח‬ ‫של‬ ‫הגדה‬ f p t , n ?of sgv kta anv rnt vum u ?, fhsk lkta vhv k rj ofh hf v vn k t r j k ,t vn h hf vu ohek rj rat z vn t 's h hf u ?o n lb t ur ?,tz forr a journey… f, c nt n Prepare o z of servitude… v j n h Outv Spend h Seder Night with vs ntk vu ?o vu , lbc hyparntk um r vhvu t o lktRAV Into emunah… ucg rj fk sg lkt nv rj at ?, fhs ahSHIMON SCHWAB zt”l This is the night. nl , v T n v l a u o t Invite Reb Moshe Feinstein zt”l to your Seder table. b c vn bc tz vn h h oh lbc hy z v kt P T of lkt v v rn f v ejv lkt pan n hbc ah suc tk hvu u , a vu h s g l k of hf v rj ?o gv hf t a hkt ? vn n l fk v h urn ,tz of bc l ,tz n th vn hbc kt v h o a h f f vh rntk fhkt h vu ?of rjn v h ,t vu

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Stories and insights on the Haggadah

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‫הגדה של פסח‬ ‫משעבוד לגאולה‬

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RAV CHAIM KANIEVSKY HAGGADAH

THE REB MOSHE HAGGADAH

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SEPHARDIC HERITAGE HAGGADAH

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MESORAH

here are so many facets to Passover, the beloved holiday of liberation, and to the Seder which is central to it. It is a festival that engages our imagination and our yearning, both national and personal. Passover touches our hearts and our minds.

Rav Asher Weiss’s commentary on the Haggadah is a brilliant tour de force by a phenomenal Torah scholar, a rosh yeshiva and world-renowned rav and orator. Rabbi Weiss is the author of Minchas Asher and is consulted by leading Torah authorities around the world. In this work he captures many of the qualities that make Passover unique.

In a remarkable series of profound yet readable essays, Rabbi Weiss examines the ethical and philosophical underpinnings of liberation and miracles. We learn how to engrave the lessons of the exodus deep into our hearts.

Rabbi Weiss possesses a vast encyclopedic knowledge of Jewish law and an unusual talent for clear explanation. A fascinating section on halachah outlines the holiday’s laws and customs, including their background, sources and definitive rulings.

Finally, his commentary on the Haggadah text itself weaves together the wisdom of Torah scholars throughout the ages, melding their timeless understanding with a contemporary perspective on our lives.

Rav Asher Weiss is a towering Torah giant with a worldwide reputation. Now we can avail ourselves of his encyclopedic knowledge, his eloquence and his insight, to enrich our own Seder table, our holiday, and our faith.

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THE REB AHARON LEIB HAGGADAH

THE PESACH HAGGADAH:

by Rabbi Berel Wein

Compiled by Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Shteinman

RAV ASHER WEISS ON THE HAGGADAH

by Rav Asher Weiss

‫הגדה של פסח‬

T

he Haggadah tells us: “In every generation, it is one’s duty to regard himself as though he personally had gone out of Egypt.”

As we sit around our sparkling Seder tables, thousands of miles and thousands of years separate us from our brethren suffering beneath the burning Egyptian sun; from our ancestors marching triumphantly out of slavery.

How, then, can we fulfill the Haggadah’s words? How can we, like our ancestors, go out of Egypt?

PASSOVER The Yetzias MitzrayimTHE Haggadah brings theHAGGADAH Exodus to life by WITH COMMENTARIES VILNA GAON drawing upon the wisdom andTHE words of the Sages.

We AND see theHIS SON R’ AVRAHAM slavery, the ten plagues, and the final Exodus through the eyes and ears of Chazal and later commentators. The Yetzias Mitzrayim Haggadah is based on more than 150 sources, from Midrash to Malbim, from the Zohar to Rambam to Rav Moshe Feinstein, and every entry adds to our understanding of the actual Pesach story.

Designed for maximum impact at the Seder, the entries are short, graphic, and unusually detailed. As we move through our Seder we can envision the rigors of slavery, Pharaoh’s diabolical schemes, the miraculous plagues, the glorious redemption, and the unforgettable moment as the Jewish People cross the Sea. Based on the highly-successful Haggadah V’Aggadata, The Yetzias Mitzrayim Haggadah is a unique, innovative Haggadah that will enable us to experience the Exodus at our own Seder, just as we are meant to do.

HAGGADAH

BY

The Exodus from Egypt.

Feel the captivity. Experience the triumph.

The Yetzias Mitzrayim Haggadah ISBN-10 1-4226-0970-7 ISBN-13 978-1-4226-0970-5 10000

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THE YETZIAS MITZRAYIM HAGGADAH Compiled by Rabbi Dovid Grunbaum

FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM HAGGADAH

THE GENERATION TO GENERATION HAGGADAH

by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski M.D.

by Rabbi Nosson Muller ArtScroll Series®

ABARBANEL ‫הגדה זבח פסח‬ HAGGADAH

‫הגדה של פסח‬

VILNA GAON HAGGADAH

T

he Gra. The very name elicits feelings of awe as it conjures an image of towering Torah stature. From a small room in Vilna he shed illumination on every area of Torah. From halachah to kabbalah, Shulchan Aruch to Tanach, the Jewish people have been enriched by the Gaon of Vilna.

Rabbeinu Avraham, his son and a major conduit for his teachings, amplifies his father’s ideas and brings them within the realm of our understanding. Schooled in his father’s method, Rabbeinu Avraham brings together all the streams of Torah knowledge to brighten the “night of redemption” with his Haggadah commentary the “Geulas Avraham.”

These adaptations clarify and crystallize the major and minor themes of the Haggadah all the while exposing the reader to the very special derech of the Vilna Gaon.

Eternal ideas with timeless applications will open your eyes and heart as you learn and relearn The Vilna Gaon Haggadah.

THE PASSOVER HAGGADAH WITH THE COMMENTARY OF DON ISAAC ABARBANEL

ISBN-10 0-89906-448-5 ISBN-13 978-0-89906-448-2 10000

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VILNA GAON HAGGADAH

by Rabbi Yisrael Herczeg

‫הגדה זבח פסח‬

ABARBANEL HAGGADAH

D

on Yitzchak Abarbanel was a man who made his mark on Jewish scholarship and history. As finance minister to Ferdinand and Isabella in the Spain of Columbus and the Inquisition, he worked mightily to protect Jewish lives and interests in that historically hostile country. When the Jewish community was expelled, he led them out of the county in 1492, despite pleas from the king and queen that he accept a privileged status and remain at his post without compromising his Jewishness.

But his enduring role in Jewish history lay in his writings. One of the earliest acharonim, he was a prolific scholar and interpreter. Abarbanel wrote one of the greatest and most extensive of all commentaries on the entire Scriptures, as well as on such other works as Pirkei Avos. One of his famous, treasured commentaries was on the Haggadah.

In this adaptation, the reader studies the Haggadah as Abarbanel understood it. Utilizing his unique method of asking stimulating questions on which he focuses his commentary, Abarbanel combines the classic teachings of the Sages with his own insights, and presents them in such a way that they provide a clearer understanding of the turbulent times in which he lived.

And on our times, as well. For just as the Torah is timeless, so it sheds light on every era and all conditions.

This is one of the essential commentaries that clarifies every passage of the Haggadah and lets its illumination filter out to other areas of Torah and to the lives of its readers, in every country and age.

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VILNA GAON

‫הגדה של פסח מנחת אשר‬

T

Cover design by Eli Kroen at ArtScroll Studios, Ltd. , Brooklyn, NY © 2010 Mesorah Publications, Ltd.

Cover design: by Eli Kroen at ArtScroll Studios, Ltd. , Brooklyn, NY © 2008 Mesorah Publications, Ltd.

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e were in awe of Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman ‫זצ״ל‬: his utter devotion to Torah, the unbelievable and beautiful simplicity of his life. Yes, we were awed by him — and we also loved him, for his humility and his devotion and caring for every single Jew. Now, with the Reb Aharon Leib Haggadah, we can spend an unforgettable Pesach with him!

The author, Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Shteinman, is the grandson of both Rav Aharon Leib and ‫יבל״ח‬, Rav Chaim Kanievsky ‫שליט״א‬. In the Reb Aharon Leib Haggadah, he takes us into his grandfather’s small, simple Bnei Brak apartment. We are there as the family cleans and prepares for Pesach, as Rav Shteinman performs bedikas chametz, and as he prepares his Seder table. We will learn about some of his minhagim for the simanim of the Seder, and enjoy story after story — many of them never before publicized — about Rav Aharon Leib.

And we are with him at the Seder itself, enjoying his insights into the Haggadah. As we invite guests to join us in “Ha Lachma Anya,” we will marvel at tales of Rav Aharon Leib’s hachnasas orchim. We will learn what Rav Aharon Leib considered to be the greatest of all of the miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim. We will hear from him how to keep the inspiration of Pesach all year round.

As we read through this Haggadah, we will see the Yom Tov of Pesach, Yetzias Mitzrayim, and, yes, the world around us, through the eyes of Rav Aharon Leib. We will hear his voice, saying his chiddushim, sharing his memories and insights. And we will experience the inspiration of a Seder spent with a truly phenomenal gadol b’Torah.

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The Aryeh Family Edition

From the shiurim and writings of Rabbi Shimon Schwab

The Passover Haggadah with a commentary illuminating the liberation of the spirit

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RAV SCHWAB ON HAGGADAH

he Pesach Seder. The one night a year that Jews throughout the world relive and experience the Exodus from Egypt. It is the time when we infuse in ourselves and our children lessons of emunah, faith, and an immense appreciation for the kindness and love bestowed upon us by Hashem.

The link to our future generations has always been our children. They are the center of attention throughout the Seder.

From the asking of the mah nishtanah to the “hidden” afikoman, we strive to keep the children engaged and excited throughout the evening, as we transmit our story from one generation to the next.

In this unique Haggadah commentary, Rabbi Nosson Muller, Menahel of Yeshiva Toras Emes in Brooklyn, and renowned and experienced educator, offers us the tools to make the Seder an unforgettable event and an exciting learning experience. With insightful explanations coupled with dozens of inspiring and meaningful stories and parables, Rabbi Muller gives us timely and practical chinuch messages and lessons — for ourselves, and to convey to our children. This Haggadah is bound to keep the children — and their parents — engaged and interested throughout the long night.

On Seder night every parent becomes a teacher. Here is a master educator to show us how to do it right. The Seder lasts for a few hours — The Generation to Generation Haggadah will help us and our children hear its vital message resound throughout the year.

ARTSCROLL

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he Reb Moshe Haggadah beautifully captures the many facets of the gaon and posek hador: his brilliance in piskei halachah and Gemara; his insights and deep understanding of Torah hashkafah; his incredible diligence and his extraordinary compassion.

Much of the commentary is taken from Reb Moshe’s prolific writings on halachah, Chumash, and Talmud. Stories about Reb Moshe from dozens of other sources paint an inspiring and breathtaking portrait of a caring and empathetic leader who had a profound understanding and endless love for the Jews he led for so many decades.

When we read about the “Four Sons,” we will hear Reb Moshe share his teachings on chinuch, child-rearing, and Torah education. From a Shabbos HaGadol lecture given by Reb Moshe in 1922, we listen to him compare the merciless Communist regime where he lived, to Pharaoh’s Egypt. From the Ten Plagues, Reb Moshe offers us a new understanding of the power of free choice; from the Splitting of the Sea, he points out a vital lesson in strengthening our faith.

We are taught that the voices of the great Torah scholars are not stilled even after their passing, and in these pages we can clearly hear the voice of the beloved Torah leader, HaGaon Reb Moshe Feinstein zt”l.

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RAV NEBENZAHL HAGGADAH

by Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl

ABARBANEL HAGGADAH

by Rabbi Yisrael Herczeg

THE ILLUMINATED HAGGADAH

by Rabbi Yonah Weinrib

PESACH TITLES

ECONOMICALLY PRICED HAGGADAHS FOR EVERYONE AT YOUR SEDER

PESACH HOLIDAY SERIES

by Rabbi Nosson Scherman and Rabbi Shimon Finkelman Also available in Spanish!

Seif Edition

Schottenstein Edition

by Rabbi Nosson Scherman / Rabbi Avie Gold

by Rabbi Menachem Davis

TRANSLITERATED HAGGADAH

INTERLINEAR HAGGADAH

THE ARTSCROLL CHILDREN'S HAGGADAH

by Shmuel Blitz

THE ILLUSTRATED HAGGADAH

by Rabbis Nosson and Yitzchok Zev Scherman

YOUTH HAGGADAH

by Rabbi Nosson Scherman / Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Scherman

INCLUDES THE LAWS OF EREV PESACH THAT FALLS ON SHABBOS

illustrated by Hannah Stern

Great Gift Idea!

THE FAMILY HAGGADAH

by Rabbi Nosson Scherman / Rabbi Avie Gold

The Family Haggadah Enlarged Edition

The Family The Family The Family Haggadah Haggadah Haggadah Slipcased Set Regular Edition Spanish Edition

LAWS OF THE SEDER

by Rabbi David Feinstein

PESACH WITH BINA, BENNY AND CHAGGAI HAYONAH

By Yaffa Ganz

THE SEARCH IS ON!

By Helene Ribowsky and Rachel Zlotowitz

ADDITIONAL HAGGADAHS TO ENHANCE YOUR SEDER RAMBAN HAGGADAH

by Rabbi Yosef Israel

CHAZON ISH HAGGADAH

by Rabbi Asher Bergman

SFAS EMES HAGGADAH

HAGGADAH ANTHOLOGY

by Rabbi Yosef Stern

by Rabbi Moshe Lieber / Rabbi Nosson Scherman

LIGHTING UP THE NIGHT

THE RAV SHACH HAGGADAH

by Rabbi Moshe Eisemann

by Rabbi Shalom Meir Wallach

RAV SHLOMO ZALMAN HAGGADAH GEDOLEI YISRAEL HAGGADAH

by Rabbi Yisroel Stein

IN EVERY GENERATION

by Rabbi Moshe Grylack

MUSSAR MASTERS

by Rabbi Shalom Meir Wallach

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by Rabbi Yechiel Spero

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TOUCHED

BY THE SEDER

‫הגדה זבח פסח‬

NIGHT OF EMUNAH

9

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by Rabbi Yechiel Spero

by Rabbi Dov Weller

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TOUCHED BY OUR STORY

THE EISHES CHAYIL HAGGADAH

by Rabbi Chagai Vilosky

he Rav Schwab Haggadah provides us with an in-depth view of the Haggadah Shel Pesach through the lens of one of the Gedolei HaRabbanim of our time. Rav Shimon Schwab was renowned for imparting generations of Jews with the foundational principles of emunah, bitachon, yiras Shamayim, emes, and ehrlichkeit, as well as for his brilliant and novel Torah thoughts. His teachings reflect a sincerity and love of Hashem and His Torah that is infectious.

The Rav Schwab Haggadah offers a wealth of insights into the basics of emunah, conveyed with great passion and emotion. Rav Schwab’s style is clear, fresh, thought-provoking, and always inspiring.

This volume is a compendium of commentaries and insights gleaned from the Rav’s teachings in Maayan Beis HaSho’eivah, Rav Schwab on Prayer, and from shiurim, writings, and speeches, as well as from many never-before published kesavim (notes).

Rav Schwab was a Rav for over 65 years in Germany, Baltimore, and New York, as well as a Rosh Beis Din, posek, and mechanech par excellence. A product of Yeshiva Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch in Frankfurt, Germany, he also gained exposure to the great yeshivos of Eastern Europe and their style of limud haTorah and mussar. He was a talmid of such pre-war legendary greats as Rav Leizer Yudel Finkel, Rav Yeruchem Levovitz, Rav Chaim Telzer, and Rav Yosef Leib Bloch. The result was a magnificent synthesis of both glorious traditions.

The Rav Schwab Haggadah will enrich our Seder, our Pesach, and our lives.

MESORAH

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ABARBANEL HAGGADAH

MESORAH

Cover: Silver Kiddush cup given to Rav Schwab as a child, depicting Seder scene, and etched with his name “Simon”; photography by Adina Markowitz.

Design by Eli Kroen at ArtScroll Studios, Ltd., Brooklyn, NY © 2019 Mesorah Publications, Ltd.

ISBN-10 1-4226-1872-2 ISBN-13 978-1-4226-1872-1 90000

ArtScroll® Series

ARTSCROLL

THE ANSWER IS...

by Rabbi Yaakov Wehl

esach is called the holiday of emunah, of faith. As we sit at our Seder table speaking of the wonders and miracles of the Exodus, we ignite a flame of emunah that will burn brightly throughout the year.

Rabbi Binyomin Pruzansky is a brilliant storyteller, and in this unusual Haggadah he uses that talent to bring the story of Yetziyas Mitzrayim into our stories — our lives, challenges, hopes, and accomplishments. And, especially, into our emunah.

In addition to fascinating Torah insights, Rabbi Pruzansky offers story after story that highlights the emunah of the Jews, both famous personalities and simple people with rock-solid faith. He shares “kriyas Yam Suf” stories — when a person feels there is no way to go forward and Hashem miraculously brings him to where he wants to be. We will find emunah in a dangerous Arab village and on Brooklyn’s Ocean Parkway. In the Soviet army and in a luxury Pesach hotel. In traffic jams and basketball courts. We will explore the faith of our ancestors in Egypt, and the faith of people just like us. We will hear great stories — and we will find ourselves strengthened.

Haggadah shel Pesach: Night of Emunah pulsates with the energy of faith and hope; perfect for the holiday of emunah — and just what we need to make our Seder table vibrant and meaningful on this night of renewed faith and trust.

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SPERO

ISBN-10 1-4226-1563-4 ISBN-13 978-1-4226-1563-8 90000

ArtScroll® Series

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O

ne of ArtScroll/Mesorah’s favorite authors invites us to his Seder — and it’s sure to be an enjoyable, enlightening, and uplifting experience.

Rabbi Yechiel Spero is the author of the very popular Touched by a Story series. He is a charismatic teacher and speaker — and this carries over to his writing. In addition, he has an extraordinary knack for choosing stories and ideas and presenting them with clarity and excitement.

In this volume, Rabbi Spero teaches the Haggadah in his own inimitable manner. He presents classic ideas in addition to his own, and relates them to our own lives and era. And he flavors his commentary with beautiful stories, as only he can. The combination is a Seder plate piled high with Yom Tov treats for the mind and heart.

The author comes to his task with outstanding qualifications.

He is a conscientious classroom rebbi who actually teaches the Haggadah year after year, so he knows what works, motivates, and inspires.

As an added plus, Touched by the Seder includes the classic ArtScroll translation and instructions, so that every participant understands what he or she is saying, what to do, and when to do it.

Many very fine Haggadahs are available, but this one is unique. It will “touch” your Seder and every guest at your table.

And you’ll want to read and enjoy it all through Pesach and even throughout the year.

‫הגדה של פסח‬

THE HAGGADAH WITH ANSWERS

by Rabbi Joseph Elias

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‫הגדה של פסח‬

CLASSIC ARTSCROLL HAGGADAH

MESORAH

9

eder night commemorates the greatest true story of all time — the night when Hashem, in His splendor, came down Himself, personally, to liberate His People, the Jews. It is the night of our miracles and our liberation.

It’s the night of our stories.

Rabbi Yechiel Spero — acclaimed educator, erudite Torah scholar, and, of course, gifted storyteller — tells some of those stories in this engaging new Haggadah that is certain to enhance our Sedarim.

In his many bestselling books, Rabbi Spero does a masterful job of bringing Torah insights to life through unusual stories. Touched

by Our Story includes his wide-ranging, stimulating commentary on the Haggadah and, of course, Rabbi Spero’s trademark true stories. The Four Sons come to life, in tales like that of the Rosh Yeshivah who played “jacks” with a youngster or the gadol ha’dor who insisted a yeshivah change its language to accommodate two students who genuinely wanted to learn. We hear what the Klausenberger Rebbe had to say at a Seder not long after his liberation, and are amazed at the connection between the plague of Frogs and the remarkable survival of two victims of a ghastly terror attack.

Enlightening, engaging, and eye-opening, this is a Haggadah that will ensure a lively, meaningful, and enjoyable Seder for us, our guests, and — most important of all — our children, the next generation to tell the stories.

HAGGADAH SHIRAS YEHUDAH

by Rabbi Eliezer Ginsburg

THE HAGGADAH TREASURY

by Rabbi Nosson Scherman

THE HAGGADAH OF THE ROSHEI YESHIVAH Volumes 1, 2 & 3

by Rabbi Asher Bergman

SIMCHAS YAABETZ HAGGADAH

by Rabbi David Cohen

T Cover design by Shlomo Benzaquen at ArtScroll Studios, Ltd., Brooklyn, NY © Mesorah Publications, Ltd.

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Cover: Silver cups courtesy Grand Sterling Silver, Brooklyn, NY; Zadok Silversmiths, Jerusalem; design: by Eli Kroen at ArtScroll Studios, Ltd. , Brooklyn, NY © 2015 Mesorah Publications, Ltd.

ARTSCROLL

®

The Haggadah. It’s our story.

Let’s make sure we tell it well.

TWERSKI

®

ARTSCROLL

®

SPERO

ISBN-10 1-4226-1483-2 ISBN-13 978-1-4226-1483-9 90000

780899 063843

®

MESORAH

e’ve got the wine, the matzah, the stunning table settings.

Now, all that’s missing to make the perfect Seder is… questions! Lots of questions!

Chazal, the Jewish Sages, instructed that the story of the Exodus be told in question-and-answer style, reflecting the wording of the Torah’s commandment to relate the story, And it shall be when your son will ask you (Shemos 13:14). When a person asks a question, it shows that he is interested in hearing an answer, and he becomes an engaged participant in the discussion.

The Pesach Haggadah: The Answer Is… generously fulfills this dictate, with over 1,000 answers to more than 300 questions! The Pesach Haggadah: The Answer Is… takes us through every facet of the Seder and the Passover story — the 4 sons, the 10 plagues, the unbelievable miracles of liberation, even the fascinating poem Chad Gadya that ends the Seder — by asking questions and offering answers. We see the Exodus through the eyes of luminaries such as Rambam and the Vilna Gaon, Rav Moshe Feinstein and the Belzer Rebbe, and literally hundreds more.

Take a thoughtful question, give an intelligent and articulate answer, and you’ve got an interactive, dynamic and spirited experience. Multiply that by hundreds of questions and answers — and you have a Seder you will never forget.

ISBN-10 0-89906-384-5 ISBN-13 978-0-89906-384-3 90000

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by Our

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Cover design: by Eli Kroen at ArtScroll Studios, Ltd. , Brooklyn, NY © 2006 Mesorah Publications, Ltd.

ISBN-10 1-57819-465-2 ISBN-13 978-1-57819-465-0 90000

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‫הגדה‬ ‫של פסח‬

Touched Story

Here’s a Haggadah that makes a Seder interactive… and unforgettable

VILNA GAON HAGGADAH

WITH TRANSLATION AND A NEW COMMENTARY BASED ON TALMUDIC, MIDRASHIC, AND RABBINIC SOURCES

ArtScroll® Mesorah Series

ArtScroll® Series

n the familiar world of Haggadah literature, can there be something new under the sun? With every family’s Pesach shelf groaning under the weight of so many Haggadahs, can there be a new Haggadah that is materially different from the others? Or — in the parlance of Pesach — how is this Haggadah commentary different from every other Haggadah commentary?

It is very different, very useful, and sure to be very popular and very widely consulted.

Compiled by the noted Torah scholar, Rabbi Yaakov Wehl, this commentary is in question-and-answer form. It contains over two hundred questions on the Haggadah — the sort of questions that anyone might have asked, or wished he had asked. There is hardly a query on the Haggadah that is not included somewhere in this collection.

The answers? They are drawn from the broad gamut of classic commentators, from their writings on the Torah, the Talmud, or the Haggadah. Virtually everything one could wish for is between the covers of this Haggadah.

In its Hebrew version, Ki Yishal’cha Vin’cha, this commentary has had many printings and become a popular, standard text in America, Israel, and elsewhere. The English version is more than a mere translation. It takes the anthology of classic texts and explains them clearly and articulately. It sheds new light on many obscure parts of the Haggadah.

This Haggadah will be a revelation even to accomplished scholars and veteran teachers. In it, Rabbi Wehl’s immense erudition and pedagogical skills are placed at the service of the broad Jewish public. It is a welcome service of great proportions.

Cover design: by Eli Kroen at ArtScroll Studios, Ltd., Brooklyn, NY © 2015 Mesorah Publications, Ltd.

THE HAGGADAH WITH ANSWERS jxp ka vsdv

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ince it first appeared nearly 25 years ago, the ArtScroll Haggadah by Rabbi Joseph Elias has been the most popular Haggadah of its kind, anywhere! With its broad variety of sources and excellent combination of thoroughness, reliability, accuracy, and good taste, it remains a staple of tens of thousands of Seder tables — and deservedly so!

Now Rabbi Elias has produced the long-awaited new and expanded edition — with much new commentary on the second half of the Haggadah.

Rabbi Elias has been known and revered for half a century as one of the Jewish community’s outstanding thinkers and educators. Among his students he was especially revered for the way he taught the Haggadah, presenting it with all its beauty and meaning. In his hands, the Haggadah became a sefer that speaks to all Jews, wherever they are. Indeed, This Haggadah fulfills the injunction that in every generation all Jews must view themselves as if they had emerged from Egypt.

In his ArtScroll Haggadah, Rabbi Elias opens the doors of his classroom to tens of thousands of new and appreciative students.

For all these years, the original Elias Haggadah was THE Haggadah for the Jewish home, and especially for everyone who wanted to set aside time to study and know the Haggadah. There are many other excellent Haggadahs, of course, but none better blends a clear elucidation of the text with the comments of the classic commentators across the centuries.

Now, the magnificent Elias touch is expanded and refined even further. as a great Haggadah becomes bigger and better. Don’t miss it!

Cover design by Eli Kroen at ArtScroll Studios, Ltd., Brooklyn, NY © 2017 Mesorah Publications, Ltd.

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he story of the Passover Haggadah is everyone who takes part in the Seder hitch. But, like all the Torah, the nuance different people in different ways.

Passover is the story of freedom fro and the exalted rise of a nation to th achievement: the knowledge that the nature and the experience of Revelation all pain is inflicted by the lash of a taskm are clamped on by jailers.

The Haggadah also addresses those slavery of an oppressive environment or, sort of obsessive behavior that plagues m The ultimate freedom is the ability to happily; that is why the Sages of the Talm free person is one who immerses himsel In this volume, one of our gener interpreters of the Torah’s teachings reg self-improvement uncovers the path to pe timeless story of the Exodus. Rabbi Abr has an uncanny ability to know what trou provide the balm for their hurt by combin of the Torah with the science of the mind In this Haggadah, he takes each of us fr personal “Egypts” to the promised land o in achieving our personal best.

ISBN-10 0-89906-396-9 ISBN-13 978-0-89906-396-6 90000

9 780899 063966

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The Judaica Imprint for Thou

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

TWO NEW HAGGADAHS Experience Yetziyas Mitzrayim Through the Eyes of a Revered Torah Leader

Capture his feelings of emunah and anticipation.

Feel his spirit at your Seder.

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om the lash and chain he pinnacle of human Divine Hand controls n at Sinai. However, not master and not all chains

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e y 07065 www.artscroll.com

BY RABBI

BY RABBI

YECHESKEL OSTREICHER

YISROEL BESSER

ughtful People

LAST YEAR’S BEST-SELLING PESACH TITLES NEW Czuker Family Edition Mikraos Gedolos Midsize Shir Hashirim Slipcased Set of Five Megillos NOW COMPLETE! NEW all-Hebrew Pesach Machzor Nusach Sefard Also available: Nusach Ashkenaz

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

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Lawrence Hardware 589 Burnside Ave. Inwood, NY 11096 (516) 371-2900 In the Burnside Plaza (Stop and Shop Center) Sunday 9:30-3:30 Mon-Thurs 7:30-5:30 Friday 7:30-4:30 Watch for our extended hours the week before Pesach!!!

Your One Stop Shopping for All Your Pesach And Yom Tov Needs Custom Plexiglas Countertop Covers Call for appointment!!!

Counter Fit Covers, Corrugated Counter Covers Cleaning Supplies, Shelving Paper, Sink Inserts, Blech, Replacement Filters Plastic Heavy Duty Table Cloth, Disposable Tablecloth, Faucet Handle Covers, Fridge Liners, Bedikas Chometz Set, Rabbi Blumenkrantz Laws of Pesach Digest, Urns with Yom Tov Mode Switch, Hot Plates and more……

The children at HANC ECC West Hempstead are busy preparing for Pesach

YCQ Debates

life is not perfect, but it is beautiful. alphaonestudio@gmail.com

By Sarah Leah Sullivan

D

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info@yaelivogel.com

yaelivogel

o you like to argue? If you said yes, then the YCQ debate team would be a perfect fit for you. If you said no, I still think you should try it out, and if you disagree then you are already arguing with me, so I know you will be a great fit.

The YCQ debate team, run by Mrs. Ayelet Katz, is a group of junior high school students who compete in debate competitions against schools across the tri-state area now via Zoom. The debate team meets every Monday after school to practice and prepare for their upcoming debates.

Before each competition, all the teams receive a topic on which the debaters will argue either for or against. They spend a few weeks

practicing their debate speeches and thinking of good cross questions.

In the first debate, the topic argued was whether voting should be mandatory. YCQ’s four debaters who competed were Rebecca Sisser, Abigail Badalov, Ruby Samson, and Sarah Leah Sullivan. YCQ was awarded third place school. Sarah Leah Sullivan and Rebecca Sisser took home awards for first place team and 1st and 2nd place speaker.

Debate is especially exciting this year because many extracurricular activities were cancelled last year and this year due to COVID. We are so appreciative for the opportunity to debate kids from other schools on Zoom. We are hopeful that, perhaps later this year, debates will take place in person again.

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

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M

rs. Karr’s class at IVDU LI was privileged to host Dr. Jennifer Sipkin of Sipkin Orthodontics in Valley Stream and aunt of an IVDU student. Dr. Sipkin gave so generously of her time, explaining the role of an orthodontist and the importance of oral hygiene especially with braces. With pictures, a storybook, and 3D mod-

els, her presentation was met with rapt attention and engagement on the part of the students. This presentation helped close the school-wide life skills unit on oral hygiene.

Thank you Dr. Sipkin for generously sponsoring lunch for the boys and for the water bottle full of toothbrushing goodies that each student received!

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Purim at YKLI

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

Purim at YKLI

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Pesach Sheini

This second grade class at HALB missed out on the exciting Purim activities at HALB last week, as they were in quarantine.

When the class returned to school on Monday, HALB staff created a “Purim Sheini” celebration for them.

Yeshiva Nishmas Hatorah’s New Home

E

xciting news for the Five Towns!

Yeshiva Nishmas Hatorah has entered into contract for the purchase of a property between the young burgeoning communities of North Lawrence and Inwood.

The new building will boast over 20,000 square feet of educational space including a 130-seat bais medrash, ample classrooms, science and computer labs, a football field and basketball courts. Most importantly, the new building will provide space for the rapidly growing mesivta, bais medrash, and kollel to be united under one roof and allow for more valuable interaction between the bochurim and kollel yungerleit.

With the building in closer proximity to the community, the yeshiva looks forward to hosting more extra-curricular activities, night programs, and Shabbosim together. This four million-dollar project will enable the yeshiva to close on the property within a few months and be move-in ready for Elul z’man of the 2021-22 school year.

In just three years since the mesivta was established, the yeshiva has seen tremendous success and has outgrown its current accommodations.

“Nishmas Hatorah is filling an essential need for the community, and the new building will enable more bochurim a chance to flourish under Rabbi Weinberger’s warmth and caring,” says Rabbi Yaakov Bender of Yeshiva Darchei Torah.

Rabbi Pinchus Weinberger, the Rosh Yeshiva, is well-known for his role in developing the young kehillah of Inwood while fostering inspiration and nurturing relationships that cultivate an environment of true growth. Talmidim of the yeshiva will benefit from the positive energy in their new location and the yeshiva’s presence will generate a powerful ruach hatorah for the neighborhood.

Yeshiva Nishmas Hatorah began

ten years ago as a bais medrash program where older bochurim could gain personal hadracha as they entered a critical period in their lives.

The mesivta developed later with the goal of reaching bochurim at a younger stage in life. Rabbi Weinberger’s vision is a bochur who is connected – connected to his yeshiva, to his rebbi, to his learning, to himself, and ultimately to Hakodosh Baruch Hu. The yeshiva seeks to develop a shleimus that’s about living Torah or, as Rabbi Weinberger says, learning to live. As one alumnus related, “The things I use daily in my job, and as a husband and father, are the derech eretz and hashkafas hachaim that Rabbi Weinberger emphasizes and instills. This

is what the yeshiva stands for.”

Rabbi Weinberger takes inspiration and guidance from his Rebbi, Rav Elya Brudny, who urged him to establish the mesivta and give younger bochurim the opportunity to benefit from his one-of-a-kind chinuch approach. The mesivta has welcomed boys from Yeshiva Darchei Torah, Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island, Yeshiva Ketana of Queens, Yeshiva of South Shore, and Yeshiva Tiferes Moshe, as well as other schools in the surrounding areas.

For more information about Nishmas HaTorah and to participate in the upcoming building project, please contact the yeshiva office at 516-939-1526.

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

51

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52

MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Rep. Meng Meets with Amb. Gilad Erdan

R

ep. Grace Meng (D-NY), Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations – which has oversight of State Department programs and funds – recently held a virtual meeting with newly appointed Israeli Ambassador to the United States and United Nations Gilad Erdan.

Meng – who leads the annual initiative to secure funding for U.S.-Israel missile defense programs – spoke with Ambassador Erdan about the importance of maintaining bipartisan support for U.S.-Israel relations, combatting anti-Semitism both in the U.S. and around the world, the threat posed by Iran, and the Abraham Accords.

“The strength and vitality of the U.S.-Israel relationship is grounded in strong bipartisan support that transcends both political parties. I

was happy to speak with Ambassador Erdan about the importance of this bilateral relationship and to ensure him that Congress will always support Israel’s right to exist peacefully,” said Meng.

“In Queens, New York, I am proud to represent many Jewish constituents, many of whom have family members in Israel, and to carry their voices and concerns to Washington, D.C. As Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, I look forward to building on my work to strengthen our bilateral relationship. I thank Ambassador Erdan for sharing his views and look forward to hosting him in my district in Queens.”

Meng announced this past week that she was selected as Co-Chair the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism.

Names Not Numbers at HALB

N

ames Not Numbers is a program where eighth grade students interview Holocaust survivors and then create a documentary of their story. Mrs. Rachel Lefkovits, a Holocaust survivor, was interviewed by HALB students. In the attached picture she is surrounded by her great-grandchildren, all of whom attend HALB! Additionally, Yitzy Yudin have the privilege of interviewing his great-grandmother, Mrs. Judith Wohlberg. We can’t wait to see the documentary and hear their stories!

Shevach Students “Live, Learn, and Grow”

A

lthough Covid-19 interrupted many aspects of our daily lives, learning and growing never ceased in Shevach High School.

Despite the restrictions of remote learning and quarantining at times, Shevach’s “Live, Learn and Grow” program, which started prior to the onset of Corona, was not interrupted.

This special voluntary program, initiated by program director Mrs. Debbie Meltzer and assisted by Miss Sara Nasirov, helps students maintain a desire to become closer to Hashem and His mitzvos. For the past five years, a different sefer was chosen each year, and after being introduced to a short version of the concepts in class, the students learn the sefer on their own time.

This past year’s program was

based on the sefer “The 6 Constant Mitzvos” by Rav Yitzchok Berkowitz. As per program guidelines, the girls were required to read a lesson a day and write 1 or 2 journal entries a week based on that week’s lessons.

The purpose of the journals was to help the students organize and reflect on the lessons they had learned.

Any student who completed all the required reading and entries would earn the opportunity to go on a trip at the end pf the year, as a reward for her efforts.

Despite the onset of Covid-19, which cut in-person classes short, this voluntary learning program did not stop. Instead, the journals were collected and submitted virtually.

Despite the premise of no trips on the horizon, many students were thank-

ful and happy that they had completed the book.

In the words of sophomore Gitty Howitts: “I really enjoyed the opportunity the book provided for me to grow internally. The daily lessons and powerful ideas will stay with me forever.”

Yet, this past February 22, Shevach High School was able to reward the girls who had completed all the necessary provisions with a fun, spirited, and Covid-19 friendly trip.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Mrs. Meltzer, the girls were all treated to IT! America’s Largest Indoor Ropes Course, located in Connecticut. Shevach Students were seen climbing obstacles, ziplining across the room, and balancing between platforms.

As senior Rina Steinberg said; “Nobody was expecting to go on this trip, yet we all continued to follow the program for ourselves, which made it all the better!”

In senior Sarah Press’ words, “I had such a great time knowing that, despite the fun time I had, my ultimate reward is in the World to Come.”

When asked if they would like to participate in another Live, Learn, and Grow program, everyone responded with a resounding yes!

Shevach High School students feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to be inspired in such a wonderful and growth-oriented way and look forward to many more opportunities of growth in their avodas Hashem.

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The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Aish Celebrates Its 28th Annual Dinner

O

n Sunday, March 7, Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere celebrated its 28th anniversary, paying tribute to three couples who embody the very mission and vision of Aish Kodesh.

This year the theme of the dinner was “Ahava,” which expressed the love that the kehillah has for its shul and Rav and Rebbetzin Weinberger and Rabbi and Rebbetzin Levin. In the past year, the shul has grown exponentially with many new members joining, as

well as an expansion of daily shiurim, beis medrash program, daily minyanim and programming. Under the leadership of Rav Moshe Weinberger, shilt”a, Aish Kodesh continues to have a global impact with thousands across the world participating virtually in the weekly shiurim and major events like Selichos, Chanukah, Tu b’Shvat and Purim.

At this year’s virtual dinner, the kehillah recognized the dedication of three unique couples whose selfless-

ness and ahava to the shul make it the special place that it is to the community and beyond. On this evening, it was the shul’s opportunity to express their ahava and appreciation to these devoted couples.

The guests of honor were Dovi and Yonina Wisnicki, the Young Leadership Award was presented to Benjy and Ariella Davidman, and the annual Nahum Gordon, z”l, Community Service Award was presented to Menachem and Susie Lewin.

Aish Kodesh thanks the honorees and dinner committee who put together a beautiful virtual event and to the many volunteers who delivered dinner packages around the community.

To participate in any of the shul’s many weekly shiurim, including the new and groundbreaking shiur on the 39 Melachos in Nigleh v’Nister and the Hisbodedus Shiur, both given by Rav Moshe Weinberger, as well the Thursday night Smichas Chaver with Rabbi Yoni Levin, visit Aishkodesh.org.

MTA Creates Compelling Holocaust Documentary

S

eniors in MTA’s Names, Not Numbers elective course recently began filming their Holocaust documentary. They had the privilege of interviewing Holocaust survivors Ruth Gruener, Claire Grunwald, and Susan Charney in a safe and socially distant manner.

Each woman shared her story in an effort to help MTA talmidim educate the world about the Holocaust and ensure that their stories of survival

are never forgotten.

Ruth Gruener described what it was like to be hidden by Righteous Gentiles in Poland during the war.

Senior Nussy Samuel had the special opportunity to interview his great-grandmother, Claire Grunwald, who shared her story of growing up in Debercen, Hungary, with her parents and five sisters. Her life was turned upside down in sixth grade when the Nazis came into pow-

er and transformed her town into a ghetto, where Jews no longer had rights or privileges. Claire, her mother, and four of her sisters were eventually transported from the ghetto to the Strasshoff Concentration Camp, narrowly escaping death in the gas chambers. They were fortunate to survive the Holocaust, despite the terrible loss of their father and sixth sister.

Susan Charney discussed her ex-

perience of being born into a large and thriving Hungarian Jewish population just one year before the outbreak of World War II. By the end of the war, she was one of the few Jewish children to survive with family intact and went on to become a founding member of the National Association of Child Holocaust Survivors.

Seniors look forward to sharing more survivor stories as they continue to develop their documentary film.

to help our shuls and schools apply for these grants, and will continue to advocate and ensure that we receive the wherewithal to keep ourselves and our families safe.”

Shuls, yeshivas and other community institutions interested in applying for NGSP grant funding can call Senator Kaminsky’s district office at (516) 766-8383 for more information and

assistance with the grant application.

In last year’s state budget, Senator Kaminsky successfully advocated for $25 million in security funding for day schools, shuls and camps. Sen. Kaminsky has secured millions of dollars in security grants from the state and federal governments for local community institutions in the past few years.

Crucial Security Grant Funding

S

enator Todd Kaminsky urges local shuls and yeshivas to apply for security aid funding through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program (“NGSP”). Administered through New York State’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (“DHSES”), the program provides funding to bolster the security of

nonprofit institutions at risk of attack.

“Protecting our shuls and yeshivas and equipping them with the necessary resources to ensure the safety of our communities are top priorities of mine,” said Senator Todd Kaminsky. “I strongly encourage our local institutions to take advantage of this opportunity and apply for these vital funds for security needs. I stand ready

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

Around the Community

T H O U S A N D S O F S AT I S F I E D C U S TO M E R S

Taking Control of Technology at YOSS

ment, Dr. Akiva Bergman, founder of Smart Connections (and proud YOSS alumna), came to yeshiva and spoke to the shiur about this great undertaking. Specifically, he focused on the need to always be in control and never allow that control to slip away. The talmidim shared their kabbalos and experiences, as well as the lessons learned along the way. Dr. Bergman was very inspired and said, “This initiative is literally moving me to tears.”

In life, it is so easy to give up and give in, but the boys in Rabbi Neuman’s shiur are learning that they have the power to always maintain control!

HAFTR Students’ Art Selected for Exhibit

H

AFTR congratulates Ellinore Hazan and Raquel Gottlieb, two outstanding members of HAFTR High School’s prestigious Art Institute, whose paintings were selected for presentation in the New York State Art Teachers Association/Legislative Student Art exhibit. This exhibit is shown in the Legislative Office Building in March, which is Youth Art Month.

Ellinore’s tempera painting is a photo-realistic image of a watercolor painting set titled “Colors.” Raquel’s work is a hard-edge painting of a self-portrait.

We are very proud of our art stu-

SALE

SU PER !

T

he past five weeks in Rabbi Neuman’s eighth grade shiur were weeks of tremendous growth and accomplishment as talmidim joined together to control their technology use. Together as a class they experienced how powerful a personal kabbala can be and how it enables us to stick to our goals. Additionally, they discovered how rewarding it is to be in control of their technology and the dangers of becoming enslaved to technology use. Most importantly, they learned, that they can be in control in a world where so many people relinquish personal control.

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Vaccination at Five Towns Premier

H

AFTR High School students visited The Five Towns Premier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center last Thursday to cheer on individuals after receiving their COVID vaccines at a joint project with The Marion and Aaron Gural JCC and UJA Federation of NY. The patients were so excited to be greeted by the enthusiastic students!

Mazal tov to HAFTR grandparents Herb and Charlotte Rosenberg on receiving their doses!

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

1650 Eastern Parkway, Suite 207 Brooklyn, NY, 11233 400 Rella Blvd., Suite 165 Montebello, NY, 10901 84 West Park Place, Second ßoor, Stamford, CT, 06901

Question and answers with SBA Loan Group founder Yankie Markowitz What is an SBA loan?

SBA – the U.S. Small Business Administration – is an independent federal government agency created in 1953 to aid, assist the interests of small business and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy. The SBA offers a variety of loan programs to small businesses. The SBA does not lend directly to businesses but rather sets the guidelines for loans and guarantees for these loans. The loans are then made by its partners – banks, community development organizations and others. When you apply for an SBA loan, you are actually applying for a commercial loan through a bank and the bank must adhere to the SBA requirements.

Why go for an SBA loan and not a regular commercial loan?

Usually SBA loans are made to businesses where a longer term is needed or there is higher leverage. In addition, SBA loans do not carry the same covenant and collateral requirements as a standard commercial loan.

Can I go to my own bank to acquire a loan?

Yes, you can but that process usually will take much longer and has a much higher chance of running into unforeseen issues. This costs both time and money for you.

Why work with SBA Loan Group?

Working with SBA Loan Group will save you time and frustration because we focus exclusively on SBA loans, making it much easier for our team to be on top of every new rule that comes out from the SBA and delivering a better service to you. The SBA SOP contains the procedures and rules governing the program and is more than 400 pages of requirements which is updated regularly through Technical Issues memos distributed by the SBA. In addition, we have built long-term relationships with SBA lenders in order to understand their credit box and what they will approve, which saves valuable time upfront.

Could you give me a little more on what sets you apart in the Frum community doing SBA loans?

Firstly we have been exclusively focused on SBA loans since 2012, not a lot of companies could say that.

Since we have done a large amount of SBA lending in the community we know many of the accountants.

This saves a signiÞcant amount of time because loan use of proceeds and eligibility are important to efÞciently moving a loan from start to Þnish. Additionally, we know many of the attorneys used and this assists during the closing process. We have in-depth knowledge of many industries and the SBA issues related to these including online businesses, food businesses and health care businesses. Our years of experience in SBA lending along with our focus on avoiding pitfalls in eligibility, relationships with banks, accountants, and attorneys put us in the best position to advise clients upfront on the best loan options. Finally, we have a team from different Frum backgrounds such as Monsey/ Monroe/ Lakewood/ Brooklyn, making it easier to communicate than working with a smaller group.

If you still have questions, please call one of us and we will gladly elaborate on the subject!

Call us for more information!

(484) SBA-LOAN Mendy (347) 409-0101 mendy@sbaloangroup.com

Yankie (718) 744-7459 yankie@sbaloangroup.com

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Purim Simcha at HAFTR

I

t was another amazing week at HAFTR. The week before Purim, HAFTR Early Childhood prepared to celebrate Purim by baking hamantashen, hosting costume contests, enjoying chagigot, and making projects galore, adding to the simcha exploding from the buildings!

The Lower School celebrated the 100th day of in-person learning while getting ready for Purim. The fitth graders planned, built and executed an incredible carnival for the rest of the Lower School.

HAFTR Middle School ended their Health Month with its first-ever HAFTR Ninja Warrior competition sponsored by the HAFTR PTA and New York Fun Factory events. The competition was strong as students participated by cohort to compete for the best time on the course. At the end of the day, all classes logged on to watch the final competition as one finalist from each cohort tried to bring home the grand prize. The competition was tight as the 15 finalists made their way through the course.

In third place, representing cohort 8C was Sophia F. In second place, was our youngest competitor, representing cohort 6C, Jacob S. In first place, by only 1/100th of a second, representing cohort 8E, was Aaron L. All three winners went home with Nintendo Switch Mario games, and our first place winner also went home with @mojo_socks calf sleeves and one of the new HAFTR Middle School apparel sweaters.

Congratulations to all of the students and all of our winners!

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

T

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Around the Community

Yeshiva Sha’arei Zion’s (Forest Hills) Talmid Metzuyan program, led

by Rabbi Hershel Praeger, made a tremendous kiddush Hashem when they learned in Yeshivas Ohr Hachaim on their day off! The Rosh Hayeshiva saw and came over to speak to the boys

Parachute STEM Challenge

Hilchos Tzitzis Initiative

T

T

he seventh graders at the Abraham and Sara Silber Middle School of Yeshiva of South Shore had a fantastic time engineering their parachutes for their parachute STEM challenge!

The students first learned about the two scientific components needed for the challenge: air resistance

and surface area. The students were then presented with a multitude of items in order to construct parachutes that would effectively apply these scientific concepts. The blueprints, the re-designs with different materials, and the testing all proved to be very successful!

he sixth grade talmidim of the YOSS Mechina celebrated the completion of Parshas Shlach by making their own tzitzis. The parsha culminates with the mitzvah of tzitzis, and the boys spent a lot of time and effort learning about this special mitzvah. Now that

they finished learning the halachos, they were ready to put into practice what they learned. With the help of Rabbi Judowitz and his talmidim who completed the project last year, the student felt great about getting to make their very own tzitzis!

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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Around the Community

Netzach HaTorah joined Chasdei Lev this past Sunday, as they distributed Pesach orders to the Far Rockaway and Five Towns community. The boys came straight from the Mesivta and spent time together with their rebbeim, joining others from the community as well, putting chessed into action for a very special cause.

Dr. Seuss on the Loose The Model Matzah Bakery visited the YOSS Hollander Early Childhood Center this week

S H a lO m Ta S k FO r C e

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Our referrals help our callers gain access to helpful resources, including legal assistance, counseling, and safe shelters. For more information and to speak with a trained advocate, please visit www.shalomtaskforce.org.

No oNe Deserves To Be ABuseD

T

he Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, and Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! are just some of the read alouds HAFTR faculty shared with students in celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday last week. Kindergarten students celebrated by creating edi-

ble hats which resembled the famous white and red hat which the Cat in the Hat is known for. Throughout the day, they engaged in activities practicing rhyming words in the style of Theo Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss.

Spring forward!

Remember to change the clocks this weekend

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Thank You from YCQ

O

n March 1, YCQ’s security guard, Gregorio Cruz, known to the students as Mr. Cruz, and our junior high school maintenance staff, Kevin Jimenez and Mariano, received a welcome surprise. Each was invited to the lunchroom, where a socially distanced grade awaited them.

These three assemblies were arranged in order to honor and thank these hard-working individuals and express our appreciation for what they do. This year, their jobs are especially challenging because, in addition to the regular cleaning and maintenance of the junior high school building, there are many additional requirements needed to keep the building sanitized and staff and students safe. Though Mr. Cruz knows most of the students by face, this year he had to recognize them behind a mask as well, and this is no simple feat.

Under guidance from the ELA department, each grade spent time writing letters of gratitude and appreciation that were printed, bound, and

presented in a book for them to keep. One student from each class was chosen to read his/her letter in appreciation of these three men and all they do for the JHS. Mr. Cruz said, “I was very surprised it was very heartfelt. I appreciate what all the students had done.”

Kevin said, “Thank you is necessary sometimes

to show that people notice. It made me feel really happy.”

This experience was a tremendous lesson in gratitude. The students recognized the essential work that is done on a daily basis for them. The assemblies pulsated with strong positive energy and served as a true kiddush Hashem.

Living with Soul

H

ow do you live your life with soul?

The students of the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls had several opportunities to ponder the purpose and meaning of life as the school presented the Disney-Pixar movie Soul to each grade over the weeks of February 15 and 22. The animated feature portrays a middle school band leader whose life hasn’t turned out the way he expected. When he accidentally gets stuck in the afterlife, he comes to regret the existence he mostly took for granted.

Using the film as a starting point, students and teachers explored the themes of the movie during SKA’s

Advisory periods, delving into individual goals and dreams. Advisory, started last year by the school’s Guidance Department, gives students the chance to speak about issues with their teachers outside a regular class-

room setting and was an exceptional venue for these topics.

To further the discussion, social worker Moshe Cohen spoke to each grade about how to connect positively and meaningfully with others, focusing on the hazards of social media. Constantly using our phones distance us from each other, he noted, while social media creates a distorted picture of other people’s lives, leading to jealously and negativity. Doing selfless acts of kindness can lead to a spiritual life and give one a purpose and connection, he stressed. Mr. Cohen’s sessions made such an impact on the SKA students that more than one grade took it upon themselves to declare their lunch period a “cellphone-free zone” and were astounded at the difference this made to their socializing.

SKA parents were invited to a

Zoom discussion on Tuesday evening, March 2, to hear from Mr. Cohen about “Helping our Children Develop a Healthy Relationship with Social Media.” Including our parents in the process is important to helping our students overcome the challenges of social media overuse and look for closer connections with their peers and families.

An SKA ninth grader observed that “we didn’t realize how many hours we spend on our phones and how we could be using that time for so many other things.”

In the coming weeks, SKA’s Student Council will be spearheading initiatives to motivate students to limit cellphone use during the day to foster more meaningful connections.

The conversation continues.

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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Around the Community

HALB Fish Tank

First place winners

M

rs. Korman’s seventh grade science students successfully completed HALB’s 4th Annual Fish Tank Competition.

The students were asked to create a unique product and prototype. Last week, they presented their proto-

Second place winners

types to a mesmerized audience who were socially distant and partially on Zoom. Students implemented the engineering design process to build their prototype and pitch it to the Fish Tank judges.

We are proud of the entire seventh

grade for participating in Fish Tank.

Congratulations to our winners: First Place: Yakira Botnick; Anya Fischman; Hannah Pfeifer

Third place winners

Second Place: Yehoshua Wiesel; Dovid Feldhamer; Zevi Fuchs; Caleb Klein Third Place: Michal Feder; Rachel Stern

Achiezer at 13: A Talk with Shalom Jaroslawicz Part 2 of a Series

By Avi Shiff

I

n honor of Achiezer’s 13th year, we are conducting a multi-part series celebrating the various facets of this remarkable organization. For Week #2, we spoke to Shalom Jaroslawicz, Chief of Operations at Achiezer, who manages Achiezer’s 24-Hour Hotline.

Thank you, Shalom, for your time amidst your very hectic schedule. What is your role at Achiezer?

My official position is Chief of Operations at Achiezer. On a practical level, I serve as the right hand to our president, Boruch Ber Bender. I take care of any task that comes up, especially when his hands are full.

I’ll handle issues at our headquarters, I’ll address crisis intervention, I’ll deal with chevra kadisha matters – whatever it is, I’ll step in to do it.

For how many years have you worked for Achiezer?

Ten years..

What can you say about Achiezer’s growth over the last decade?

Achiezer has grown tremendously over the last ten years in many ways, including our access to resources and our ability to help people. We are now called by every type

Achiezer’s Mobile Crisis Command Center providing light and power to a home

of person for every type of need.

We’ve become the place, the organization, that everyone falls back on.

And indeed, that’s what we’re here for – we’re here for the entire Jewish community, locally and globally.

How has Covid-19 affected Achiezer’s day-to-day operation?

Covid shifted our focus in a big way to information-gathering. We gathered – and still gather – info that people seemed to have trouble obtaining. We weed through the confusion and get the details that are needed.

Last year, when Covid first began, people – even doctors – were obviously unfamiliar with it. We

put together a task force of medical experts to answer these questions.

At the time, we were fielding some hundred questions a day. We were answering queries about treatment, testing, quarantining and so on. We had never done such a thing before on that level, but because of the infrastructure that we had in place, we were able to step in and do it.

Tell us about Achiezer’s incredible 24-Hour Hotline.

Other than Hatzalah, I believe that we are the only 24/7 hotline in the Jewish world – and beyond. Our hotline receives calls on a daily – and nightly – basis from people experiencing medical and mental-health related emergencies; death-related

emergencies (often involving kavod hameis); and others, including community-wide crises, missing persons and more.

Callers are often seeking immediate access to medical or mental health specialists, crisis intervention, chevra kadisha/bereavement arrangements, and so on.

Through our hotline, we’ve also collaborated with other community resources and organizations during community emergencies or natural disasters.

We’ve spoken to the poskei hador regarding how to deal with running the hotline on Shabbos and yom tov, and we follow a strict protocol, employing non-Jews as well when necessary. I oversee the hotline, which is staffed by a remarkable roster of people who man the hotline all day and night. It’s absolutely extraordinary. There’s no time when you can’t reach Achiezer.

Any final comment?

From my vantage point, I must tell you that I don’t know where our community would be without Achiezer. Over the past 10 years, Achiezer has become an indispensable resource. People don’t know who they would call if not for Achiezer. We are grateful to be serving such an important role in the community.

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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Around the Community

TJH Speaks with Village of Cedarhurst Justice Andrew Goldsmith

A

ndrew Goldsmith is running uncontested in Tuesday’s Village of Cedarhurst elections for Village Justice. TJH spoke with Andrew about his position at the Village.

Justice Goldsmith, you’ve been Village Justice for a while.

I been with the Village for 18 years. For nine years, I was the acting Village Justice and then nine years ago, I was elected Village Justice.

The difference, by way of background, is that every village needs to have a village justice who’s elected, along with a backup, like a substitute, which is appointed from year to year. In our village, it really one and the same.

What does the Village Justice do?

In the Village court system, which is known as the court closest to the people, it it includes all of our traffic violations and all of the Village violations. So, if you’re pulled over by a Nassau County police officer for violations, and for some misdemeanors, in the Village of Cedarhurst, you’re going to end up coming to Village Court.

We deal with all the parking tickets, moving violations, village offenses…. If someone has an issue with their house or a zoning violation, that comes to the Court as well.

Has your Court seen any changes when it comes to the new meters?

I’ve been in the Village for 18 years, so I’ve seen it go from the mechanical meters to digital meters to the video meters, which do everything except make coffee. They each have their advantages and disadvantages. It’s important to keep in mind that the Village Court does not make the decision on what meters to install; that’s the board of trustees of Cedarhurst.

There are certain advantages to the new meters – people love paying by app. When technology works, it’s absolutely wonderful. But when it doesn’t work, well, that’s not so wonderful.

People don’t like that there’s no extra “time” that you can give from person to person – remember how you used to be able to pull into a spot and had extra time in the meter? That was like winning a lottery. But these new meters are able to take pictures as well, and they can keep the area safer.

The Mayor told me that the meters once captured a late-night mugging on Avenue.

Yes. And, the good news is that if you’re walking on Central Avenue on yom tov, you can find out what the weather will be over the next few days because it’s on the meters. That’s an advantage, too.

You’ve been Justice for almost two decades. Has anything changed in the position over the years?

The neighborhood has changed a lot. This was a

neighborhood that always had a Jewish presence. I grew up in Cedarhurst, and there was a time when if you were walking on Central Avenue and you saw someone with a yarmulke you either knew them or knew them-once-removed. That was what the neighborhood was like. And now, we’re at a time on Central Avenue where you barely see anyone without a yarmulke. So, the neighborhood has changed a lot and I think that it requires people who understand the neighborhood to be in positions to help that process.

We have a wonderful quality of life in Cedarhurst. We really do. It’s something that we cherish and the Village Court does everything we can to keep that quality of life for everybody.

Are there any violations that come across your desk that you wish people knew about so they could avoid violating them?

Most of driving is about treating others as you would like to be treated. Certainly, safety violations like going past a school bus is something that falls under that category. It happens with more and more frequency, and one day, G-d forbid, it will end in tragedy.

We have to respectful of that but even things like double parking. Any time someone double parks, they force the car behind them to stop and go around them into oncoming traffic. That’s how people get killed. Most of driving is about common courtesy and common sense. If we do that, we’ll have a wonderful quality of life.

Why should people go out on Tuesday to vote?

Voting is a privilege and any time we get the opportunity to exercise it is important.

I’m speaking for all Village officials when I say this, but we all do the Village work because we love it and we love our community.

I’ve been doing this for 18 years, and I don’t do it for the money. I do it out of love of the Village.

And it’s a wonderful shot in the arm when people come out and say, by voting, “Hey, we think you’re doing a great job.”

We try, in my court, to treat everyone respectfully. No one likes to pay a ticket. No one likes to get a ticket. But when you come in, you’ll be treated respectfully, and we’ll hear all sides of the story.

Eighteen years, ago, when I started, police would pull over Hatzalah members and give them tickets when they were on the way to a call. We changed that. Now the police recognize them, like we recognize volunteer firefighters. Having someone who is sensitive to the needs of the Orthodox community matters a whole lot. And while I don’t wear a yarmulke on the bench – the courtroom can become a heated place – having someone who understands the sensitivities of the Orthodox community is important.

We see an awful lot of drama in our little courthouse. There are widows who never registered a car or got a car inspected and they come in crying because their husbands passed away and they never dealt with these types of things before.

You’ll see divorce cases where one spouse racks up thousands and thousands of dollars in tickets on the other spouse’s vehicle and leave them holding the bag.

We even get cases – very sad – fathers coming in where their children have become addicted to some drug and they run up thousands of dollars in violations.

In our Village, we get that, and we try to work with people. You don’t get that in the city, in other places. It’s a warm village; it’s a caring village. We look out for our people.

How has the pandemic changed things?

We were ordered by the State of New York to shut down soon after the pandemic started. But anyone who had an emergency or a pressing need, we made sure to help them. For example, people had outstanding parking tickets and their licenses were suspended from the DMV. We were there for them.

We will be open again on March 24. But if anyone has any fear whatsoever, we will put off their hearing until they’re ready to be seen. I will not force anyone to come to court if they don’t feel comfortable coming to court.

You mentioned that you grew up in Cedarhurst.

I’m a third generation Cedarhurst resident and went to HAFTR. I saw – and see – the evolution of our community. It comes with a lot of good things.

We just need to mindful to be sensitive to our neighbors – both our new neighbors and our longtime neighbors.

That’s what makes Cedarhurst a wonderful place to live.

The election for Village of Cedarhurst Justice will be held on Tuesday, March 16 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Cedarhurst Village Hall.

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The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Pesach prep at Shulamith

La’Yehudim for JEP

Moshe Weiss and Yehuda Schlissel learning b’chavrusah on Purim night

T

his Purim, JEP/Nageela’s Rabbi Yizchok Wurem and Yeshiva Tiferes Yisroel sponsored “La’Yehudim,” a learning seder that made a tremendous kiddush Hashem.

Instead of going door-to-door on Purim night, talmidim participated in a learning seder, taking responsibility for the physical and spiritual well-being of all Jews. The event was enjoyed by over 35 students. Thank you to Dr. and Mrs. Yechiel Zagelbaum for sponsoring the event.

Parents and talmidim were thrilled about the event and shared the following feedback: “This was such a beautiful Kiddush Hashem!”

“I never thought we could have such a geshmack time learning and helping others.”

“What a meaningful and fun pro-

gram! It feels good when you know you are doing the right thing for yourself and others.”

“Thank you Rebbe for putting this together!”

“We wish we could have collected more money but we certainly collected lots of zechusim la’Yehudim.”

Camp Nageela is the summer outreach program of JEP-LI where children of all Jewish backgrounds are able to reconnect with their heritage in a fun, inspirational, and nurturing environment. Participants are encouraged to build new skills and cultivate relationships for paths of success and meaning.

For more information on how to support JEP/Nageela’s efforts, contact jenz@jepli.org, jepli.org/donate, or call 917-715-2415.

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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Around the Community

Hadran Alach Meseches Kesubos

T

his Motzei Shabbos we will hear those words resounding from the Bais Medrash of Yeshiva Gedolah of the Five Towns as the yeshiva celebrates its eighteenth anniversary in a most meaningful and fitting way.

The idea was born several months ago as they were planning for the event. It was clear that the momentous occasion deserved a major celebration, but it was equally clear that the current climate would affect those plans. That is when the idea was suggested to mark the anniversary of this cherished makom Torah with a great ma’amad of kavod haTorah.

What better way to celebrate than to utilize the occasion to join together to learn a Masechta and make a joint siyum that very evening upon its completion?

What better way to unite the many friends, supporters, alumni and admirers of the yeshiva than to jointly learn the very Masechta that is being learned in the yeshiva this year, Maseches Kesubos?

And so, the idea was born, and planning went into high gear for the myriad technical aspects. The excitement caught on quickly and the yeshiva’s friends and supporters began to reserve dafim to learn and participate in the siyum. The limud haTorah would be dedicated in honor of those who give their hearts and souls to harbotzas haTorah, the dear rebbeim of Yeshiva Gedolah of the Five Towns.

Now, with just days remaining, the entire Masechta has been reserved and is ready to be learned and completed this Motzei Shabbos.

Did you know?

Hawaii and Arizona are the only two states in the U.S. that do not observe daylight savings time.

It promises to be a most unique occasion and an opportunity to truly learn for kavod haTorah and pay tribute to the dedicated rebbeim of the yeshiva.

To enhance the occasion, the Ye-

shiva will be celebrating this Shabbos as well with a special Shabbos of chizuk which will feature shiurim and programs by the rebbeim on a variety of topics.

All are invited to take part and

mark the eighteenth anniversary of Yeshiva Gedolah of the Five Towns.

For more information, please visit www.ygft.org or email info@ygft. org.

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Literacy Week at Shulamith Middle School

hulamith School for Girls was jampacked with activities for Literacy Week. The fun began with a “Minute to Win It” tribute to Harry Potter and The Wizard of Oz, run by Mrs. Danyel Goldberg. Literacy week heads Eliana Honikman and Gabi Moskowitz, along with members of the G.O. and eighth graders, helped with the game.

Seventh grader Ahuva Krengel enthused, “I liked the Minute to Win It because it was funny and fun and interactive. I liked when the teachers got involved in it, and we got to cheer on our friends.”

was a super-fun activity, and everyone had a great time, producing some unique stories!

On the third day of Literacy Week, the annual poetry slam was hosted by Director of Student Activities, Rachel Steiner, along with Gabi and Eliana. Poets performed via Zoom, and content, creativity, and delivery of each poem was amazing. Eighth grader Emma Rosenberg, who placed second with her sixth grade sister Rina, said, “I really appreciate the efforts that the school put in to give us a fun, Corona-free poetry slam! Me and my sister had a blast performing our poem in front of the entire middle school, even though it was on Zoom!”

The team of Noa Hecht and Ayelet Pollak from 5B and Yael Schick from 7A tied for first place.

On Tuesday, in honor of Dr. Suess’s birthday, pairs of eighth graders were chosen to read “Green Eggs and Ham” to each middle division class. After the girls read, the class was split into groups to write a story using only 50 words. When Dr. Suess wrote “Green Eggs and Ham,” his publisher challenged him to write a book using only 50 words. It

The third place winner was Yardena Lifshitz, from 6B. The week wouldn’t have been complete without the annual spelling bee, featuring 12 outstanding spellers in each division. In the upper division, grades 7 and 8, there was an unprecedented fourway tie between seventh grader Meira Ginsberg

By Keli Faivish and Gabi Moskowitz

S

and eighth graders Chaya Gluck, Mia Kaplowitz, Hadassa Klahr. Ayelet Pollak of 5B placed first in the lower division of grades 5 and 6, while Ayelet Belsky of 6B gave her a run for her money, coming in second.

“It was a super exciting experience. I didn’t know I was going to be put in. I was nervous when I found out I would be put in because I was an alternate,” said spelling bee contestant Daniella Turner. “Being on stage was so thrilling. It felt so good when my classmates were cheering for me and gave me support. The literacy week was such a fun experience.”

Throughout the week, the middle school had the pleasure of virtually meeting guest speakers including Shoshana Soroka, editor of The Jewish Home; Michele Justic, managing content editor of The Five Towns Jewish Times; Chaim Schneider, for Judaica Press; Danielle Renov, blogger and author of Peas, Love, and Carrots; comic book illustrator Jeremy Klein; and Chani Judowitz, illustrator of The Kichels and many other Jewish publications.

Literacy week head Eliana Honikman expressed, “I thought literacy week was very fun and creative, and I enjoyed being a head very much. I loved seeing everyone doing the activities that I created and I loved announcing the poems and being a head with my best friend.”

All in all, it was a great week to celebrate The Magic of Reading!

YOSS Motzei Shabbos Learning Program

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he wildly successful Yeshiva of South Shore Motzei Shabbos Learning Program of 5781 has concluded. The past 20 weeks, minutes after Havdalah, in almost 200 households, computers were turned on, sefarim were opened, and children and adults would log onto the exiting YOSS Motzei Shabbos Learning Program.

Each week, Rabbi Drebin, the Program Director, would begin the session with a few riddles on the parsha

followed by Torah learning.

“What nachas and joy it was to see hundreds of children and parents learning together whether in their kitchen, dining room or den.

The concern was that attendance would be down this year because we were on Zoom,” said Rabbi Drebin, “but the participation and the enthusiasm for the Motzei Shabbos Learning Program exceeded our expectations,” he said.

Each program would conclude

with the answering of the parsha riddles and hearing a vort, a story or divrei chizuk from a special guest speaker. Then there are prizes, of course! Each program ended with the awarding of prizes to 25 lucky winners.

Since the program was open to all, along with the fact that it was on Zoom, the program drew talmidim from many yeshivas throughout many locations. Boys from every local yeshiva attended as well as a

handful of boys from Brooklyn and Queens and even a few from Miami, Florida and Montreal, Canada!

250 boys, 180 parents, thousands of hours of learning! Truly amazing and inspiring! While it is true that learning in person in a Beis Medrash creates a wonderful kol Torah, this year’s Zoom program, under the circumstances, was an extraordinary success. Mark your calendars – we begin again on Parshas Noach 5782!

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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Around the Community

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he talmidos of kitah alef of Torah Academy for Girls celebrated their 100th day of

school with their teacher Mrs. Judy Greenfield. These girls truly made every day count.

Playing Ball the Kosher Way

T

he students and staff in HANC’s Samuel and Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School were privileged to meet via Zoom Major League Baseball hopeful Elie Kligman. Elie is a high school senior from Las Vegas who plays as both an infielder and pitcher.

Students in grades 4-6 had the opportunity to hear about Elie’s exciting baseball career. He talked about his love for baseball and all the hard work that has led him to be successful so far. After competing on many levels, Elie is ranked as one of Nevada’s top student baseball players. He was also one of only 175 high schoolers from across the country, and the first Orthodox Jew, to take part in the Major League Baseball-scouted “Area Code Baseball Games.”

While many baseball fans recall when Sandy Koufax refused to pitch in game one of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, Elie hopes to be the first Shabbat-observant, shomer mitzvot professional baseball player. Elie said that his teammates have been very understanding of his choice to not play on Shabbat.

“When you are a proud Jew, people respect when I tell them I’m not going to play on Friday night and Saturday,” he explained.

Elie has a supportive family by his side, and he even had his father join in on the Zoom meeting to talk about the parent perspective. His father, Marc Kligman, is an attorney and professional sports agent who coached Elie and helped him to achieve his goals. He is so proud of Elie and said that he is an example

of someone who is able to follow his dreams while still staying true to his Jewish identity and beliefs.

In addition to the support of his family, his school coach has been supportive as well. When scheduling games, the head coach is mindful of the fact that Elie won’t play on Shabbat and does not schedule games for the team on Saturdays. When he needs to play in a game on Saturday night, he would make arrangements to spend Shabbat near the ballfield, so that he could arrive as quickly as possible after Havdalah to play in the Motzei Shabbat game.

Staying true to his Torah way of life is non-negotiable, and even at the young age of 18, Elie is serving as a tremendous role model for baseball fans. He is living proof that you can be Orthodox and participate in activities and careers of your choosing without compromising on your religious practices. HANC is so proud of this fine young man and wishes him great success in reaching his goal.

We can’t wait to continue following Elie’s journey in baseball.

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Around the Community

Shulamith Students on Ice

quirements, each grade went skating on a different day, and classes had separate shifts. Unfortunately, it was hulamith Middle Division stu- raining for the seventh graders, but dents were thrilled to recently they got to enjoy bowling instead. go ice skating in Grant Park! Everyone had so much fun skating.

In keeping with social distancing re- Some girls were a little scared and

By Keli Faivish and Gabi Moskowitz

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held onto the walls, but they still had fun because their friends encouraged them to move away from the wall and go around the rink.

Even the brief bus rides were fun.

The girls were singing and playing games and loved hanging out with

their classmates on the long-awaited first trip of the year.

Eighth grader Tamar Jansenson stated, “Ice skating was so much fun.

I enjoyed going outside. It was amazing learning something new, and I had a great time with my friends.”

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1. *

TJH

Centerfold

Why Meghan Markle Turned on the Royal Family 1. Because her sister-in-law Kate received a nicer leichter for her wedding present than she got.

2. She was tired of living in a palace and just wanted to live like a regular person…in a $40 million mansion in Malibu.

8. It’s not worth waiting around for the inheritance; Grandma just doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

9. She missed being a B-list actress.

3. Royalty was just not her cup of tea.

4. The crumpets were stale.

10. She had too much anxiety about the London Bridge falling down.

5. She is married to a Harry.

11. Because the royal family doesn’t eat gebrochts.

6. She didn’t like the dental plan.

12. When was the last time you were interviewed by Oprah and had the whole world talking about it for two weeks?

7. Grandma hogs all of the good jewelry.

You Gotta be Kidding Me! Why don’t the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Big Ben ever visit each other?

The designer of the Big Ben clock finally released a book on his accomplishments.

One lacks the time and the other lacks the inclination.

It’s about time.

Why is a good cook like Big Ben? Because they both never forget the thyme.

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 2015 The Jewish Home | MARCH 29, 11, 2021

British Speak Trivia 1. If someone from England asks you to put something in the “boot,” you should put it in which of the following? a. Trunk b. Shoe c. House d. Garage 2. If a British person says, “I am in the mood of crisps, mate,” which of the following should you offer in response? a. Peppers b. Potato chips c. French fries d. Ice 3. If someone from Whales, or

anywhere in England, tells you to do something and then says, “And Bob’s your uncle,” what does that slang term mean? a. If you don’t do it, you will regret it. b. The matter will be easily fixed. c. There is no cost involved. d. If you don’t do it, it’s no big deal.

4. If a British guy tells you, “I was really chuffed,” what is he saying? a. He was tired b. He lost his money c. He was proud d. He was upset

Riddle me This?

I met a man on the London Bridge.

He tipped his hat and drew his name.

In this riddle, I told you his name.

What is his name?

5. If your room is a mess, your British mum might tell you which of the following? a. “Your room is a dog’s dinner.” b. “Your room is a wilted lizard.” c. “Your room is a Meghan Markle.” d. “Your room is a soda pop.”

6. How would a British person say, “My goodness!” a. Plonker! b. Queen Elizabeth! c. Blimey! d. Lost the pilot!

Answers: 1. A 2. B 3. B (Just reading about the differences between American English and British English will teach you how to speak like a Brit, and Bob’s your uncle.)

4. C 5. A 6. C Key to Wisdom: 5-6 correct: You must be really chuffed, mate!

2-4 correct: Mind the gap between your English languages.

0-1 correct: Dare I say, you are quite the plonker!

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Answer to riddle: Andrew.

(Look in the words “and drew his name.”)

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Torah Thought

Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei

By Rabbi Berel Wein

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he book of Shemot concludes with the detailed accounting of the materials collected and used in the building of the Tabernacle. Even though this accounting may appear to us to be superfluous and even overly detailed, the words and letters that appear in this week’s Torah reading are as holy and important as any others that appear in our holy Scriptures.

There is an important overriding lesson – a moral imperative – that is being imparted to us in the words of the reading of this week. That lesson can be summed up in that we are responsible for each of our actions and behaviors during the year, and during our lifetime. It is as if each of us signs our name at the bottom of the pages that record each of our activities in life with one word: accountability.

Judaism holds its adherents to strict standards of accountability – accountability in speech, in deeds and action, regarding financial income and expenses, and in all other matters of human interaction and relationships. We are informed

by the prayer services of the High Holy days that each of us has pages in G-d’s ledger book, so to speak, and that each of us signs with our own signature at the bottom of those pages to attest to the accuracy of that accounting.

The basis of all responsible human behavior is accountability.

Without that, having good inten-

feeling of spiritual advancement and accomplishment within us. Educational institutions that never administer exams or do not make demands upon its students are really cheating them out of the benefits that an education can bring to a person.

The Torah is exacting and meticulous in recording for us all the activities, donations, and actual re-

No excuse, no matter how good and valid it may be, ever equals accomplishing the task that was set out before the person to realize and fulfill.

tions and high hopes by human beings to accomplish good things are mostly doomed to failure and disappointment. It is only the concept of accountability that is the driving force that creates efficiency and the

sults regarding the enormous task of constructing the Tabernacle in the middle of a wasteland, by a people just recently freed from physical and mental bondage. One could be fooled to say that in such circum-

stances any demand for accountability should be lenient, if not even muted. However, we see that the Torah makes no allowance for the inherent difficulties and stress that must have been involved in building the Tabernacle in the desert. In general, we can say that Judaism rarely, if ever, accepts excuses for poor performance or lack of effort, no matter how seemingly valid they might be. No excuse, no matter how good and valid it may be, ever equals accomplishing the task that was set out before the person to realize and fulfill.

The Torah wishes to impress upon us that accountability requires exactitude, paying of attention to what otherwise may seem to be small and unimportant, and an understanding that in the great picture of life there really are no small events or minor incidents that can be glossed over as though they never occurred. That is not our method of accountability. The Torah is never sloppy in dealing with human events.

Shabbat shalom.

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From the Fire Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei

Easy Does It

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

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emarkably, between the parshios of Terumah-Titzaveh and Vayakhel-Pikudei, the Torah spends over 400 pesukim describing the details of how the Mishkan should be – and actually was – built. There is no other mitzvah regarding which any comparable amount of time is spent. Neither tefillin, Shabbos, yom tov, or anything else has so many pesukim devoted to it. Why is that? Why must the Torah repeat all of the details of the Mishkan and vessels in Vayakhel-Pikudei when all of these specifications were already laid out in Terumah-Titzaveh? The Torah could simply state that the Jewish people built everything just as they were commanded.

Why spend another 200 pesukim repeating everything?

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, zy”a, based on a Yerushalmi, says that the specifications regarding how the Mishkan and its vessels should be built in Terumah-Titzveh describe the Mishkan in the world above – in Heaven. And Vayakhel-Pikudei describes the details of how the Mishkan below was actually built – here in this world. There are two separate sets of specifications for each because one cannot simply assume that the physical reality here in this world corresponds exactly with what it is supposed to be.

The architectural plan for the Mishkan is found in Terumah-Titzaveh. This is the artist’s rendering. Yet the Torah separately describes the actual construction in Vayakhel-Pikudei to teach us that the two are not necessarily the same. Why is this so?

What happened in between which can explain the potential discrepancy? Perhaps it is because Parshas

Ki Sisa, which describes the sin of the Golden Calf, is interposed between the two. Our own failures and shortcomings create the difference between what we could do and what we actually accomplish.

It is like this with respect to all areas of life. The ideal one plans for does not always pan out. When a couple marries, each of them, and the bride in particular, has a specific image of what married life will look like. It sometimes involves beautiful, white Shabbos tablecloths, elegant silver candlesticks, well-behaved children listening attentively to Abba’s dvar Torah, and singing zemiros beautifully together. The groom, as well, may have images of a beautiful, spotless home in his mind. He may picture a life in which his beautiful wife and children wait adoringly for him as he comes home, thanking him for providing such a beautiful life for them. He may imagine that he davens in a shul where three months never go by without the gabbai giving him an aliyah Shabbos morning.

But real life seldom looks exactly the way the bride and groom imagine.

It is the same in one’s spiritual life. At Neialah, one may imagine that this tyear, he will be holy and pure, free from all of the filth with which he contaminated himself the previous year. And sometimes the realities of life bear a passing resemblance to one’s plans. But very often it is completely unrecognizable.

We find another anomaly in the Parshas Pekudei. No less than nineteen times, the Torah repeats that the Jewish people built one or another part of the Mishkan and vessels “just as Hashem commanded Moshe.” Why is this done in this context, whereas it is not done anywhere else?

Rav Yitzchak Zev HaLevi Soloveichik, zt”l, of Brisk explains that there is a dispute in the Gemara whether it is possible for people to make anything the Torah commands with exact precision or not. In other words, can we make the Ark the required 2.5 amos long without making it 2.50000001 amos long? Can we say that two events, in halacha, occur at exactly the same moment,

and not 0.0001 seconds apart?

The Brisker Rav explains that we follow the opinion of the chachamim that it is not possible to achieve exact precision. Accordingly, even though the way we built the Mishkan may not have been exactly as the Torah commanded to the thousandth of an inch, to make sure that we do not worry that we have not fulfilled Hashem’s will with respect to the building of the Mishkan and its vessels, the Torah repeatedly reassures us that we did the job “just as Hashem commanded Moshe.”

In fact, the Minchas Chinuch (109) says regarding all of the requirements of the Torah involving specific measurements that Hashem only wants us to do our best to act according to those measurements, and that by doing so, we are doing the job exactly as He commanded.

He knows our capabilities and chose to give the Torah to us and not the angels above.

Hashem commanded us to build the Mishkan but concomitantly reassured us that our best efforts to meeting the specifications were all He wants from us. He wants us to know that “there is no righteous man in the earth who does [only] good and does not sin” (Koheles 7:20). Hashem wants us to know that He does not expect absolute perfection from us so that we will be able to move forward in our service of Him and not beat ourselves up or become discouraged because of our lack of perfection.

The entire reason our souls descended from the upper world into the Mishkan below of our bodies is to give us opportunities to do our best to reveal Hashem’s Presence

we can, without driving ourselves crazy, to bring light into the darkness of this world. Even if we are not able to accomplish everything to the thousandth of an inch. Not only is Hashem not upset with us when we

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known as being a fiery zealot for truth with absolutely no tolerance for even the slightest trace of dishonesty or self-deception. Rav Yitzchak, however, was known as the gentlest, kindest Rebbe in the world.

Our own failures and shortcomings create the difference between what we could do and what we actually accomplish.

do our best but fall short, this is exactly what He wants – exactly what He had in mind when setting up the world the way it is.

The Kotzker Rav, zy”a, and Rav Yitzchak Vorker, zy”a, are two tzaddikim from the world of Peshischa and were the closest of friends, though they could not have been more different. The Kotzker was

Because both were students of Rav Simcha Bunim of Peshischa, zy”a, the underlying foundation of the service of G-d for both of them was truth. Because of the Kotzker’s love for truth, he was completely intolerant of even the slightest admixture of falsehood. And because of Rav Yitzchak Vorker’s love for truth, if he encountered even the slightest

point of truth within a person, he was overcome with joy at encountering that truth.

The way of the Kotzker is too difficult for most of us. We must follow the opinion of the Chachaimim in our service of Hashem, recognizing that absolute precision is not asked of us. Rather, Hashem only asks that we do our very best even though we often fall short.

We must continue trying and bringing more light into the darkness of this world. May Hashem help us continue growing and trying to bring His light into our lives more and more and not listen to the inner voice which tries to discourage us by telling us that whatever we do is not good enough.

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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and holiness in the messy scrum of this world.

While the actual city of Chelm was filled with great Torah scholars, a number of apocryphal stories are told which portray the city is if it were filled with fools. In one of those stories, there was a debate in the town beis medrash regarding whether the sun or the moon were more powerful. After a full day of arguments, the Rav finally stood up, banged on the shtender, and announced that he was settling the issue. The moon was stronger than the sun. When asked the reason for his decision, he explained, “The moon is powerful because it has the strength to light up the night. The sun, however, must not be very powerful because it only attempts to light up the daytime when it is already light outside anyway. It must therefore be weaker.”

Our job, like the recounting of the building of the Mishkan in Vayakhel-Pekudei, is to do the best

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Parsha Ponderings Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei

The Inyan of No Minyan

By Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky

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arshas Vayakhel begins by mentioning the materials which the Jews donated to the Mishkan, before describing the actual construction. The pesukim (35:5-9) list all of the materials which the Jews donated, starting from gold and silver, and ending with the “avnei shoham and avnei milu’im, the shoham stones and the stones for setting.” These precious stones were swept by the wind into the camp of the Jews in the desert and were donated by the Nesi’im, the leaders of the tribes.

Seemingly, these precious stones were more valuable than many other items donated, such as wool, animal hides, and oil. Why then are they listed last?   

I heard a fascinating story from my rav, Rabbi Hershel Hisiger, a grandson of Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky, zt”l.

A group of boys were driving from New York to Boston to attend the wedding of their friend. As their trip was delayed a bit, they realized that if they drove non-stop, they would arrive just in time for the chuppah (the actual wedding ceremony) but would miss the local minyan for Mincha in Boston. They would then have to daven without a minyan afterwards. But if they made a stop on the way, they could catch a minyan in a small town off the highway, but would miss the chuppah of their good friend.

Not sure what to do, one of the

boys called his Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Chaim Leib Epstein, zt”l, of Yeshiva Zichron Melech in Brooklyn, to ask his opinion. Rav Epstein instructed the group to travel straight to wedding and daven without a minyan.

“But Rebbe,” the student argued, “I have never missed a minyan in my life! How can I miss one today – just to be at a chuppah!?”

what Hashem wants you to do that day. But today, Hashem wants you to travel to Boston to rejoice with your friend at his wedding! And that is what you should do!”    My grandfather, Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky, zt”l, would often

One should jump at the opportunity to contribute to a communal cause.

Rav Epstein was not impressed.

“You don’t daven with a minyan every day to make it to the Guinness Book of World Records,” he responded. “You do so because that is

answer this question based on the Ohr Hachaim. The attitude of the Nesi’im is well known. Our Sages teach us that they did not respond correctly when the call came out for

everyone to donate to the Mishkan.

“Let everyone give, and we will fill in what is left,” they said. That was wrong. One should jump at the opportunity to contribute to a communal cause.

When the Torah lists the gifts brought, the Torah has a different standard of judging value. Yes, precious stones sparkle and shine. Yes, they are costly and “showy.” But if they are given the wrong way, they lose their value.

The simpleton who gave oil or some wool – he followed the commandment of Hashem to the fullest. He stood up to task and came through. Therefore, his gift has priority.

Yes, these days are tough. But we will get through them. Let us each do what we have to, with the proper intent. Even if our actions are not outwardly sparkling, but they are the will of Hashem, they are the most precious deeds we can do. And when time comes for recognition, they will have priority.

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

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Delving into the Daf

On the Way

By Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

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once had the “opportunity” to ride on a bus together with a large group of seventh-graders. There was an announcement that the recital of Tefillas HaDerech was imminent.

One boy then quickly went around the bus asking everyone if they had any “extra” food they could give him. He explained that he had a minhag to eat before saying Tefillas HaDerech. Now, there are people who call Judaism a gastro-centric religion. This, though, is a little too much. Is there a mitzvah to experience motion sickness? Or was his request just a clever ploy to schnorr food?

Actually, there is a halachic basis for his request, sort of. Most long brachos begin with and end with the formula “Baruch atah Hashem…” The bracha of Asher Yatzar, for example, has the phrase “Baruch atah” at the beginning and at the end. Some long brachos, though, have the phrase “Baruch atah” only at the end. The second bracha of bentching, for example, ends with “Baruch atah Hashem al ha’aretz v’al ha’mazon.” However, it starts directly with “Nodeh lecha,” without any preamble. Since the first bracha of bentching ends with “Baruch atah Hashem ha’zan es ha’kol,” the proximity of that phrase to “Nodeh lechah,” the next bracha, obviates the need for another “Baruch atah” preamble to start the second bracha. The term for this is bracha hasemuchah l’chaveirta. When one long bracha is recited directly after another long bracha, it may not need to start with “Baruch atah.”

Tefillas HaDerech is a long bracha that culminates with “Baruch atah Hashem shomeia tefillah.” Why doesn’t it start with “Baruch atah”? It is seemingly an independent bracha.

All independent blessings that are not part of a series should start with “Baruch atah.”

The Maharam MiRotenburg explains that the bracha was intended

to be recited after the long bracha of “Ma’avir sheinah.” The proximity of the end of that bracha, “Baruch atah…gomeil lachasadim,” precludes the need for Tefillas HaDerech to start with “Baruch atah.”

When one already said the bracha of “Ma’avir sheinah,” the Mishnah Berurah (O.C. 110) advises one to orchestrate the need to say any long bracha such as “Asher Yatzar,” “Al HaMichyah,” and “Borei Nefashos.” This necessary blessing should then be followed by Tefillas HaDerech.

What the boy perceived as his family’s custom of eating before Tefillas HaDerech was actually just the preparation necessary to say the bracha achronah of Al HaMichyah or Borei Nefashos. This boy only knew he had a mitzvah to eat!

The Chasam Sofer writes in his glosses to Shulchan Aruch that his rebbi used to smell spices before Tefillas HaDerech. Rabbi Nosson Adler, the Chasam Sofer’s rebbi, apparently held that even a short bracha, such as the one recited on spices, recited before Tefillas HaDerech would also obviate the need to start Tefillas HaDerech with “Baruch atah.” Why didn’t he use a bracha on food instead? Why didn’t he recite “Borei pri ha’eitz,” take a bite of an apple, and recite Tefillas HaDerech?

He felt that eating would be an interruption between the bracha and Tefillas HaDerech. Consequently, Tefillas HaDerech would still need a “Baruch atah” opening. Rabbi Nosson Adler felt that smelling spices, however, would not be an interruption. The Chasam Sofer himself disagreed and felt that even smelling spices would qualify as an interruption. The Mishnah Berurah perhaps concurred, and therefore only listed Asher Yatzar and brachos acharonos as possible brachos to use.

However, if this technique is not possible, one should certainly not start Tefillas HaDerech with “Baruch atah.”

Rather, he should use the text found in the siddur.

There is a limud zechus why people are not careful about this halacha to even attempt to recite a required bracha before Tefillas HaDerech.

The Rashba opines that once Chazal instituted a blessing, they did not change the text even if it is recited under other circumstances. Shomeia Tefillah is a bracha we recite every weekday in Shemoneh Esrei. Tefillas HaDerech ends with Shomeia Tefillah. Although the contents of these brachos are markedly different, they still conclude exactly the same way.

Shomeia Tefillah in Shemoneh Esrei does not start with “Baruch atah” since it is adjacent to “Baruch atah Hashem matzmiach keren yeshua.”

Once our sages instituted that Shomeia Tefillah should not start with “Baruch atah,” all Shomeia Tefillos blessings do not start with “Baruch atah.” (The Tzitz Eliezer takes pains to explain that the logic is not simply that since most times it is recited samuch lachaveirta; it is always viewed that way. Rather, our sages chose to formulate certain brachos as shortened brachos because it is usually samuch lachaveirta.) Therefore, according to the Rashba, there is no need to even attempt to recite another bracha before Tefillas HaDerech. Unlike the Maharam MiRottenburg, the Rashba holds that Tefillas HaDerech was originally formulated to be an independent bracha.

Tosfos in Pesachim (104b) offers a markedly different reason as to why Tefillas HaDerech does not start with Baruch Atah. He opines that the laws of bracha hasemuchah l’chaveirta are

not applicable to prayers that are disguised as blessings. Tefillas HaDerech is, in essence, a prayer that is formulated as a blessing. When we recite Tefillas HaDerech, we are praying to Hashem that we should have a safe journey. The fact that Tefillas HaDerech is a prayer has important halachic consequences.

Generally, we frown upon changing the standard formulations of blessings. Yet HaRav Shlomo Zalman, zt”l, said that one may add specific requests to the standard text of Tefillas HaDerech.

One may insert a specific request to be saved from traffic accidents (Teunas Derachim), from terrorists, or any other peril.

Further, generally one may recite a bracha on behalf of himself and his friend. However, when it comes to Tefillas HaDerech, HaRav Chaim Kanievsky said that it is preferable that one recites it himself. This is in line with the Mishna Berura’s comment (59:16) that when it comes to requests for mercy from Hashem, one should utter them himself and not hear them being recited by someone else.

Despite the fact that Tefillas HaDerech is a tefillah, the Shulchan Aruch and the Mishnah Berurah still rule that one should attempt to recite another required bracha before Tefillas HaDerech. As such, the appropriate response to “Let’s recite Tefillas HaDerech” should be “I’ll bentch to that!”

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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Think, Feel, Grow

Actualizing Your Potential

By Shmuel Reichman

T

here was a peasant farmer in old Russia standing at the side of the road, weeping profusely.

As he stood there, the Czar happened to pass by in his royal coach. The Czar saw the peasant, and when he noticed him weeping, he stopped his chariot to inquire what was wrong. The man tearfully explained that he had no land to farm and that he and his family were starving. The Czar, touched by this man’s misfortune, pulled out a stake from his chariot and drove it into the ground. He then gave the peasant three more stakes and instructed him: “Walk as far as you wish and then drive this stake into the ground. Turn, walk again as far as you wish, and then place the next stake in the ground. Finally, turn again and walk as far as you’d like before placing the last stake in the ground. The land between the four stakes will be yours as a gift from me, the Czar.”

The man was overcome with joy and eagerly began to walk. After some time, he stopped and prepared to plant the stake in the ground. He was about to drive it in when he paused and thought, “Why should I stop here? I can have so much more land!” So he continued to walk. After some time, he stopped and once again prepared to plant the stake in the ground. He was about to drive it in when he once again paused and thought, “Why should I stop here? I can have so much more!” So he continued to walk.

And as the story goes, he never stopped walking…

The message of this story is clear: we have so much potential in our lives, but only by transforming the limitless possibilities into something real can we ever accomplish anything. Only by giving up the limitless can we attain something meaningful.

Moshe and Betzalel Parshas Pekudei opens by stating

that Betzalel built the Mishkan according to the exact instructions that Hashem gave Moshe (Shemos 38:22). Rashi, quoting the Gemara (Brachos 55a), describes the debate that took place between Moshe and Betzalel regarding the proper way to construct the Mishkan.

Moshe believed it best to first create the keilim, the utensils which would be used to serve Hashem, before creating the Mishkan, the place which would hold them. Betzalel, however, thought it best to first create the actual structure of the Mishkan and only then construct the inner content, the keilim.

What is the meaning behind this debate? At first glance, it would seem that Betzalel’s position is more intuitive. It is natural to first create the container before filling it up with substance. The Gemara indeed tells us that after hearing Betzalel’s argument, Moshe agreed that this was, in fact, the correct method. Therefore, when Betzalel built the Mishkan, he first constructed the outer structure and only afterwards built the inner content, the keilim. If, however, this is the obvious approach, why did Moshe initially reason that they should do

the opposite?

Even more striking is the fact that the pasuk states that Betzalel built the Mishkan according to the exact instructions that Hashem gave Moshe. If these were, in fact, Moshe’s initial instructions, why did he initially disagree with Betzalel?

In order to understand this conundrum, we must analyze the fundamental topics of potential and actualizing potential.

Potential vs. Actual As the Maharal and others explain, there is an important relationship between the spiritual concepts of potential and actual.

Potential is endless, multipotent, everything and anything. It has no boundaries, no borders, and no limitations.

Something real and actual, on the other hand, is restricted, has borders, and is limited only to what it is.

Potential might be endless, but it’s not real. What is real might be limited, but it has taken on true existence.

Our lives are filled with experiences of both potential and actualized potential.

Let us explore a few manifestations of these ideas in order to better under-

stand this root concept.

The prime illustration of the concept of potential and reality lies in our relationship with time. When you wake up each morning, the day holds infinite potential. You have the time to do anything, go anywhere, meet anyone. But that’s only potential, for, in reality, you haven’t done anything yet. And in reality, you can’t do everything, only something.

On the other hand, every night when you go to sleep, the potential of that day is completely gone. There is no time left. The only thing that remains is that which you made real from the time you were given, what you accomplished, who you became from that day.

The sadness of this moment is that the potential is gone – your day is over.

The joy is everything that you have accomplished, everything you have made real.

This same paradigm applies to life itself. At the beginning of life, you have infinite potential; you can become anything, learn anything, meet anyone.

Your whole life is ahead of you, but it is fully potential. This is not yet real; all that exists are the possibilities for what you can choose to become. It therefore does not yet have any lasting meaning.

Only the potential that we actualize becomes eternal.

At the end of our lives, we are out of time, out of potential. However, we have all the accomplishments that we spent a lifetime building. Consequently, there is a mixture of feelings at this point in time. On the one hand, we feel sadness when we think about how our potential is gone, our time is up. On the other hand, we feel tremendous joy when we think about all that we have accomplished, proud that we have taken the time we were given to build ourselves, to make our potential real.

Moshe vs. Betzalel This principle of potential and ac-

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

tual is the key to understanding the debate between Moshe and Betzalel.

In fact, the deeper truth is that there wasn’t really a fundamental debate to begin with, merely a difference in focus.

Moshe was focused on the potential destination and outcome. The goal of creating the Mishkan was to house the keilim so that we could serve Hashem. However, this was merely potential, a vision, a destination.

Betzalel was focused on the practical, on how to actualize this potential.

In order to have the keilim, we must first create the Mishkan to house them.

There is an additional distinction as well. Moshe was focused on the spiritual root, while Betzalel was focused the physical – the tafel (secondary) – which would enable the spiritual.

The spiritual always represents potential; the spiritual is boundless, infinite, and multi-potent. The physical always represents the actual; the physical is bounded, finite, and limited. The keilim represent the spiritual essence, the ikar, that which carries infinite potential; the Mishkan represents the physical, the tafel, the makom which enables the keilim to fulfil their purpose.

Essentially, Moshe and Betzalel were debating the best way to build a link between the physical and spiritual, the physical world and the spiritual world, the Mishkan and the keilim.

Moshe argued that they should begin with the spiritual and potential (the keilim) and then work their way down to the physical (the Mishkan). After all, in every creative process the spiritual and potential comes first, and the physical product comes after.

This, however, was no ordinary creative process. When Hashem created the world, the spiritual came first and the physical emanated from that infinite, spiritual root. But when building the Mishkan, we weren’t expressing the infinite, spiritual root into the physical; on the contrary, we were connecting the expressed physical world back to its infinite root. Therefore, since we were building from the physical to the spiritual, the physical makom (the Mishkan) had to come first, and only afterwards could the spiritual and potential (the keilim) become expressed. Moshe acknowledged that Betzalel was correct, and that his

original perspective came only from the normal creative process, but that Betzalel’s view was the actual ratzon Hashem in this unique circumstance.

This is why the pasuk says that Betza-

you can’t sacrifice potential for actual, you’ll end up with nothing.

This struggle is a difficult one, and it pervades all areas of life. You’ll often hear people say, “Why marry this per-

The ultimate challenge is limiting infinite potential for the ability to create something real.

lel acted exactly according to the instructions that Hashem gave Moshe, for in truth, this was the intended plan.

The Strength and Weaknesses of Both Potential is beautiful, majestic, and infinitely precious. We all understand the value of potential. However, the weakness of potential is that it’s just that – potential. It’s not real; it’s merely theoretical.

The greatness of something that has been actualized is that it’s tangible and real. The weakness, though, is that it’s only that, nothing more. A finished project is a form of actualized potential. It’s beautiful in that it’s real, but it’s still important to realize that it’s limited to what it is. It could have been anything else – there were endless possibilities. However, it’s now the specific and unique form that the artist chose to create.

The ultimate challenge is limiting infinite potential for the ability to create something real.

Imagine if a wealthy and generous person offered you any amount of money in the world.

“Just quote me a number and I’ll give it to you,” he says.

Your mind races as you think about the amount of money you can request.

Ten thousand dollars? A million? Let’s say you finally decide to say five million dollars, and he hands over the money; the pleasure of that decision is that you are now five million dollars richer. The pain is that you don’t get a single dollar more. You could have said six million, or five hundred million, or seven trillion. The list of potential numbers is never-ending. However, much like the farmer in our introductory story, if

son, perhaps the next one who comes along will be better?” “Why take this business offer, maybe the next one will be better?” When we fall prey to this line of thinking, we end up with nothing.

We like to fantasize about perfect futures, ideal living conditions, and ultimate relationships. However, sometimes we get so caught up in dreaming about a better life, that we don’t end

up living it. This is a life trapped in potential, without ever making that potential a reality.

Potential is beautiful, but only inasmuch as we utilize it, only in how we bring it to fruition. We must be willing to start with what we have, where we are, and work our way from there.

May we be inspired to actualize our potential to the fullest extent, trying our best to choose the real over the fantasy.

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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Israel Today

Pre-Election Election

By Rafi Sackville

I

n May 1996, Israel televised its first-ever debate between the two candidates running for prime minister. The late Shimon Peres squared off against a young Binyamin Netanyahu. The debate concept was so new it caught the older Peres off-guard. Whereas the concept was as old as democracy itself, in Israel it was quite the novelty. Despite a solid performance, Peres was outshone by the younger, media-savvy candidate. As the debate was winding down, Peres was asked if he had anything to ask his opponent. Missing a valuable opportunity to reply he famously replied, “I have nothing to ask him.”

His solid 5% lead in the polls quickly evaporated, and he ultimately lost the election.

Ten years later, in 2006, the idea was conceived whereby high schools across the country hosted debates on what would be known as Democracy Day. The concept was simple: send political candidates or sitting Knesset member out across the country to schools where they would hold a debate in front of students.

They would deliver three-minute

stump speeches, after which students would be invited to ask them questions. The candidates would debate the questions. Once the debate was over, students would be allowed to participate in a state-wide “election.” The results would be covered in the major media outlets.

The concept has become popular enough to be incorporated in nearly all pre-elections since then.

It is both educational and revealing, for it exposes students to a process most of them are excluded from, even if their participation isn’t an accurate reflection of how the Israeli electorate eventually votes.

The Ministry of Education’s website clarifies what it sees as the major goal of the project: that by involving 15-18 years old in the lead up to the election, students will hopefully encourage their parents to vote.

In effect, the debate pits the hope and enthusiasm of youth against a growing indifference amongst voters. This being the fourth election in two years, it is understandable why people are experiencing ennui.

Yes, Democracy Day has become a trifle tedious. But for the upcom-

ing March 2021 elections, all was in place to make it as meaningful an experience as possible. The only hiccup, the only elephant in the room, was Covid-19.

The pandemic threw a spanner in the works because most of learning since last September has been via Zoom. Seniors in my school were all invited back for the day, but only if they were taught in their assigned capsules. Unfortunately, many of the sophomores were in quarantine since one of them came down with Covid only days before the event.

We naively believed that, given any opportunity to get out of their homes, the students would have flocked to school. How wrong we were. Attendance was poor. I was assigned to a class of 19, and only three were present. This didn’t mean students couldn’t participate in the event. Many connected by computer and voted.

The day began with homeroom teachers teaching a basic civics class, refreshing students’ knowledge of Israel’s democracy and how it functions. For example, they explained how parties formulate their

platforms, how the counting process works, and what percentage of the overall vote a party must have in order to gain entrance to the Knesset.

It used to be that the major political parties would send their members around the country to debate in front of students. The periphery was never an attraction for politicians. Two election cycles ago, our students hadn’t heard of the lower-ranking party apparatchiks who debated in Ma’alot.

Covid-19 at least leveled the playing field when it was clear that no party representatives would be appearing.

Instead, there was a live broadcast which began with slick party ads; some addressed what they’d promise the electorate, while others presented a platform of what (whom) they were running against.

The Knesset members and hopefuls gave their three-minute stump speeches from the confines of a studio. Regardless of the country, these speeches are difficult to listen to.

After the Peres-Netanyahu debate in 1996, respected journalist Nahum Barnea wrote that the debate

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

is nothing more than a TV game, that “allows spoiled, lazy and indecisive voters to see their politicians recite bar mitzvah speeches against the clock.” Not much has changed in the years since then. The ten politicians sped through their speeches.

Some were stopped mid-sentence by the buzzer; others were praised for ending before it rang. It was as if the only interest in their performance was whether they could beat the clock.

Once they finished, students were called upon via Zoom to ask their questions. And that’s when the fun began. The questions did not lead to polite discussion. There was no listening to one’s political rival with the respect and dignity we teach our students. Instead, there was a free-for-all yelling match in which it was impossible to understand what anyone was saying. At one point, the screaming was so loud that it was impossible to understand anything being said.

I later asked many of my students what they thought of the yelling.

Alexey, a senior, put it succinctly when he said, “Children could have handled the debate better, and certainly more politely.”

We agreed, however, that there was nothing unusual about their behavior, only disappointment.

All the questions were well-constructed and covered an array of topics: how the elections were driving the government’s pandemic re-

At one point, the screaming was so loud that it was impossible to understand anything being said.

Yonatan shook his head in disgust. “It was appalling watching grownups yelling at each other in front of children.”

My colleagues discussed the appalling behavior. Our main takeaway was this: weren’t the politicians aware who their audience was?

sponse; equality in Israeli society; the ongoing trial of the prime minister; the role of chareidim in government. Each questioner addressed the panel with the respect one expects of high schoolers.

After the televised transmission, students were invited to vote.

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The outcome in Ma’alot was not a surprise. Most towns in the periphery tend to lean to the right, which is why Likud received 47% of the vote.

The country-wide results were far more balanced and represented the same type of numbers we have witnessed in the previous three elections; an even 26% split between the main left and right wing parties, and the remaining votes spread across the minority parties.

If these results are anything to go by, it might not come as a surprise that we might find ourselves in a fifth political campaign before too long.

Twenty-five years after the first debate, Shimon Peres has left us, Bibi is still media-savvy, and Israeli politics has become one long, noisy election cycle.

Rafi Sackville, formerly of Cedarhurst, teaches in Ort Maalot in Western Galil.

va c a t I o n

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D AT I N G B E C O M E S C R E AT I V E

By Malky Lowinger

It’s

almost a year since a devastating pandemic has rocked the world and virtually every aspect of our lives has been affected. But somehow, we’ve learned to adapt to the new normal, and we persevere. We’ve also discovered that when there seems to be no solution to a problem, caring members of Klal Yisroel somehow find a way to figure things out.

From the very beginning of the pandemic, it was clear that traditional dating was not an option.

Back in the spring, during the early days of the lockdown, most people opted to stay home.

Local shadchan Chani Lehmann remembers it well.

“All of a sudden last March,” she says, “the question came up. Should we even continue redting shidduchim? Should singles meet under these

circumstances? I spoke to my rav, and his answer was crystal clear. ‘Never stop redting shidduchim!’

That’s when I knew we had to figure out a way to make it work.”

Thus, a whole new chapter of dating began.

At first, singles were meeting each other via Zoom. That worked for a while but clearly wasn’t a long-term solution. When the weather turned warm, daters met each other in outdoor public areas, usually coming in separate cars. It helped somewhat but with no restrooms or food options available, dates were deliberately kept short.

“People did anything,” Chani remembers, “just to have some sort of date.”

And so the world of shidduchim continued to function, although at a slower, more deliberate pace.

Eventually, several people offered their backyards and basements and pool houses to daters, an option that allowed for more privacy and comfort.

In turn, Chani created a spreadsheet that listed all available dating venues. After she posted it on a shidduch chat, she started getting calls from eager hosts.

“At first,” she says, “we listed maybe ten backyards. But then it kind of exploded. It went viral way beyond our imagination. People were texting us from everywhere with ideas for dating places.

We listed furniture stores, office lounges, rooftops, game rooms, and more. The outpouring of caring was incredible.”

As the offers kept pouring in at a steady pace, Chani realized that there was tremendous potential to turn this into something big. She also recognized

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that this system would work best only if it was efficiently organized.

“I’m an organized person,” she explains. “And I knew that the best way to reach the maximum amount of daters with the most options would be to formulate a central list.”

Chani’s list of out-of-the-box shidduch venues is now three pages long and has been updated twenty-six times. It is still growing and evolving.

It’s filled with a huge variety of suggested dating places including descriptions, available amenities, and contact information. The list is color coded to indicate indoor or outdoor venues. Aside from local venues, the list also includes out-of-town communities and locations in Eretz Yisroel.

While most of the venues featured are backyards, basements, patios, and sunrooms, there is plenty of variety. Daters can choose out-of-the-box options such as a dentist’s office in Queens, a therapy office in Lakewood, a warehouse conference room in Eatontown, NJ, a synagogue in Baltimore, and – surely everyone’s favorite – a rooftop in Rechavia.

Hosts are invariably gracious and generous, and, most of all, discreet. They offer their premises free of charge and usually will include snacks, drinks, and a selection of activities.

To be posted on Chani’s list, hosts must ensure that they have properly dealt with any potential yichud issues and that they are sanitizing the premises between dates.

“I can’t take personal responsibility for this,” Chani notes, “when I’m not there.”

Most hosts consult with a rav or posek on how to handle the yichud issue. Some have been advised that surveillance cameras overseeing the premises sufficiently solves the problem while others opt for shidduch hosts or volunteers as “yotzeh v’nichnas” in a discreet and unobtrusive manner.

What began as a modest venture evolved into a massive movement, with members of the community stepping up to the plate and offering beautifully appointed settings with every conceivable amenity and activity to make the dating experience more pleasant and more enjoyable. Chani estimates that thousands of daters are using these venues and countless proposals have resulted.

“It’s amazing,” says Chani. “Aside from the private homes, there are five large dating centers located in Passaic, Manhattan, the Five Towns, Edison, and Bellworks in New Jersey. They’re all beautiful.”

By and large, the daters are thrilled. Boys who were never quite comfortable with the scene at a Manhattan hotel lounge now have the option of dating at a quiet and private location. Parking is easy and everything is free.

“We find that the couples are more relaxed,” Chani observes. “Everything is kosher and proper.

There’s no need to worry about a possible inappropriate atmosphere.”

Miriam,

who lives in Staten Island, offers the den in her basement to daters

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The Date Room in New Jersey

and says she averages about four or five couples a week. The area is set up with drinks, snacks, board games, and a piano which, she says, the daters will occasionally play. Most dates, she said, last about an hour or two, but sometimes they will stay longer, especially when the couple has already dated several times.

Two couples who dated in Miriam’s basement have gotten engaged, and they made sure to call her to share their good news.

The Dating Lounge has hosted over two hundred and fifty dates as well as several proposals.

“It was so exciting,” says Miriam. “I felt like I was part of the simcha!”

In Edison, NJ, Leah and her husband decided to transform a large unused room in his office into a dating area l’iluy nishmas his father, R’ Eliyahu Shraga ben R’ Avrohom. “We started this in November,” says Leah, “when we realized that outdoor places for dating weren’t an option anymore.”

At first, Leah wondered whether couples would even venture out to Edison, but the numbers speak for themselves. Since mid-November, the Date Room has hosted hundreds of dates, and many en-

gagements have ensued.

“We’re about 45 minutes from both Lakewood and Brooklyn, so it is centrally located. The drive is often beneficial because it helps to break the ice,” she notes.

The Date Room has a private entrance and plenty of parking. The venue is clean, comfortable, attractive, modern, and filled with activities. Upon entering, there is soft music playing. There are new couches, furniture, and carpeting. “There’s also a piano, an electric guitar, and an acoustic guitar, and, yes, the daters have used them quite often,” Leah adds.

But even if they’re not musically inclined, there’s plenty of other options. “People have stayed for four or five hours because there’s so much to do,” she says.

The Date Room includes a large selection of games, kinetic sand, coloring activities, a pool table, a ping pong table, and an air hockey table. The room is well stocked with a wide variety of snacks and beverages and coffee machines. Portraits of famous people hang on the walls, and daters can enjoy challenging themselves by guessing who’s who.

(There’s an answer key for when they are stumped.)

A steady stream of calls and text messages from a broad range of daters often means that the room is booked well in advance. Boys (or their mothers and sometimes shadchanim) will check for availability even before they set up their dates. The Date Room is by reservation only, and hosts one date at a time.

It’s a private room and is appropriate and equipped for any stage of dating. Halachic guidelines are followed to ensure there are no yichud issues.

“During this very challenging time,” says Leah, “we feel so fortunate to be able to help.”

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“It’s a tremendous chessed,” says Avigayil.

“There are certainly expenses. The heat is running all winter and the air conditioning was on all summer.” But, of course, the zechus is immeasurable.

According to Avigayil, the store has helped facilitate “at least forty engagements” and counting.

Abode is large enough to accommodate four or even five dating couples at a time. The boys book their time slots with Avigayil, who gives them the key and a list of instructions. She spaces the dates twenty minutes apart so they don’t all arrive at the same time, but they do inevitably open the door for each other.

Each dating couple sits in a private area, but there is also a common area. “There’s a chill factor that you need to have if you’re going to be dating here,” says Avigayil. “You can’t be uptight about meeting other people. It’s not the end of the world if you bump into a friend.”

By In Passaic, NJ, the Dating Lounge is run by Mrs. B and Mrs. W, who are both involved in shidduchim.

“The room is aesthetically pretty, clean, and modern, and decorated in soft grays and blues,” says Mrs. B. “We thought a lot about what dating couples would want. Our lounge is both comfortable and elegant at the same time. The ambience is both sophisticated and relaxing.”

Mrs. B says that their experience as shadchanim was crucial in designing the Dating Lounge. “It’s important that someone who knows the ins and outs of shidduchim be involved in something like this,” she explains. “We used our experience as matchmakers and mentors to design a space which addresses the daters’ needs and will make the process more enjoyable. We tried to think of everything, and we even asked singles what we can do to improve it.”

The Passaic Dating Lounge includes a variety of amenities including a sound system, a kitchen stocked with snacks, hot and cold drinks, cholov yisroel ice cream, and a variety of boardgames.

Barstools and tables are available for use, and some daters choose to bring along their own food. “We provide a washing station as well,” Mrs. B points out.

The location is divided into three main zones designed for multiple daters. Each couple has their own private seating area, but there is also a common area which is divided into zones for privacy.

This area offers activities such as boardgames, arts and crafts, or sports games.

“We advise the couples before the date about how best to utilize the venue which really depends on how often they’ve already met. There’s so much

to do here that several couples have returned two or three times because they’re never bored. Every time they come back, they try something new.”

The venue can accommodate six dates at a time.

The Dating Lounge is located in a commercial office building. “The owner of the property saw an opportunity to do a mitzvah,” Mrs. W says, “and we are so grateful.” The venue is in officially in Bloomfield, NJ, which is located near Passaic.

A staff member is on premises during the dates.

This helps to avoid yichud issues, but it also serves another purpose.

“We find that the singles actually like having our volunteers there,” says Mrs. W. “If they need anything, they have someone to ask. It also adds a reassuring human touch to the dating experience.

I think it really enhances the experience.”

Since they opened, say the women, the Dating Lounge has hosted over two hundred and fifty dates as well as several proposals.

Those

who prefer to date locally in the Five Towns can meet at the Abode furniture store located on Central Avenue, a well-known elegant furniture emporium. Avigayil, who manages the dating schedule at Abode, explains how the concept evolved.

“Back in April,” she says, “we were all scrambling for a solution to the dating problem. There was no place to go, not even a hotel. At one point, my own daughter needed a place to date, and that’s when a friend suggested that I call Yoeli Brach from Abode.”

Brach graciously agreed to offer the store, and it’s become a popular dating venue ever since.

all accounts, the hundreds of daters who are utilizing these venues are invariably gracious, mature, and grateful. In fact, the hosts can barely remember any awkward moments since they opened their premises to dates. The worst that’s happened is that someone went home with the bathroom key by mistake (it was brought back from Lakewood the very next day), a couple showed up to the wrong address (they were promptly redirected after a quick phone call to their host), and a key jammed in the door while several daters were waiting to enter (“we all started giggling and it eased the tension”).

As warmer weather approaches, and with it a glimmer of hope that the pandemic will finally end, shadchanim are hoping that normal dating will soon resume. But the question remains. Will these dating venues, which seem to be working quite well, continue to function even as standard venues reopen? Can this be a long-term solution?

Some hosts are eager to see their chessed continue, though long-term financing arrangements would have to be considered.

Leah, for one, is clearly enthusiastic.

“This place should definitely continue to be used even when things get back to normal,” she says.

“It’s a kosher alternative for those who don’t want to be in a possibly inappropriate environment.”

“People love it,” concurs Chani. “They enjoy it so much more than a hotel lounge. I happen to think it will not fade away that quickly.”

And if the following message from a bochur-turned-chosson to Chani Lehmann is any indication, the daters themselves would be thrilled if these venues were here to stay: “I am engaged tonight because of your backyard list,” he wrote. “I would never have gone out if I didn’t have a variety of legit options. I proposed tonight in a backyard because for us it was symbolic of the entire dating tekufah during Covid.

“Thank you for all the work you do. I have no words to express our appreciation and how much we gained from it.”

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

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Dating Dialogue

What Would You Do If… Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters

Dear Navidaters,

I’m writing in because I know my family reads this column every week.

This is something I’m super-stressed about with Pesach coming up and hopefully you could help me.

I got back from seminary two years ago, and I am the youngest

in my family. Every Pesach, my married sister and brother move in with us, and it stresses me out. Their kids are all over the place, and when I have dates, I have no privacy to get ready. The kids peek out of the windows. Last year, my oldest nephew flew a drone over the car as I left on a date on chol hamoed and played the video over to us later that night as entertainment. The season starts the week before Pesach even starts – so starting about now I am having anxiety saying yes to any dating ideas. My siblings love being in the know, and if I go on a date, it is all they talk about.

Should I take a break and put off dating until everybody leaves?

My second issue is frustration at my parents: This whole situation is so not fair to me! Why do they have to have my siblings over year after year when they see what happens every time?

Thanks for listening.

Sarala*

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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An evening of tribute

You!

Our sincerest thanks to the Honorees Ari and Rochel Sima Munk Yossi and Leora Hammer Chaim Sholom and Rivky Leibowitz The Olshansky Family

BBY Hanhala and Staff BBY Parents, Friends, and Supporters Our talented and smiling BBY Students

B B Y D I N N ER .O R G

mazdesign 718.471.6470

Our BBY Father Soloists Baruch Aryeh, Yaakov Kashi, Moshe Mendlowitz, Joey Newcomb, Shlomo Reich, Tzvi Sussman Hosted by: Yoily and Shaindy Edelstein & Family

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The Panel The Rebbetzin Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz, M.S. arala, your frustration is legitimate.

You are entitled to your privacy.

Your dates are just that –your dates.

They should not be the subject of family discussion and knowledge. You feel disrespected.

It’s time for you to sit down and talk to your parents about the privacy and respect you and your dating life deserves. This should not just be about this Pesach and the young family’s presence. There are some more general issues here that have to be dealt with.

I sense mounting anger, not just frustration. A conversation that comes out of bottled-up anger that finally expresses itself does not go well, even if you are justified. You want to be heard and respected, not just right.

I would suggest a careful conversation with your parents. Prepare for it.

Prepare your script. Practice it in front of a mirror if you have to. Express your need for privacy that must be respected. Tell them that you will not be dating so long as your sister’s family is in the house. Pesach is a time when families do get together. You should acknowledge that and respect it, too. At the same time, ask your parents to refrain from discussing your dating life with other family members. This way, you are acknowledging their needs and are giving them a window into your needs which extend way beyond this Pesach.

They probably know that there hasn’t been enough accommodation for your needs in the past and will cooperate.

Demonstrate maturity and grace while you are firm. You make the decision not to date while they are there and tell them so and why. Show that you respect the family gathering Pesach time but do tell them that you need your privacy going forward.

At an opportune moment, you may choose to tell your sister that you will not be dating while her family is in residence. The reason to do so is to use the opportunity to tell her that you generally need more privacy in your dating life. She should not expect to be kept in

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the loop going forward until things get very serious.

Express your needs. Be proactive and clear the air with dignity. The situation has gotten totally out of hand but you be the mature one.

The Shadchan Michelle Mond arala, thank you for your poignant question, which will undoubtedly be the topic of many this Pesach in particular. With most people your parents’ age having gotten both vaccines, hosting Pesach might be the first opportunity for family to get together in a long time.

We know Hashem does not give us tests that we cannot handle. Even more so, we know that Hashem sometimes tests us in ways which force us to improve. In this case, I believe the message might be for you to lighten up, roll with the punches, and learn to walk in others’ shoes.

You coincidentally “lucked out” to be born as the baby in your family. Had you been born the oldest you would be on the exact other end of this story.

Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, a”h, noted often that there is no word for “fair” in the Torah. This is because human beings can’t possibly fathom or start to cheshbon out what is truly fair.

You grew up in a different world than your older sister did. She grew up sharing a bedroom with other rowdy siblings, fighting for the bathroom in the morning, subconsciously preparing for the ultimate commotion being a mom of young ones entails. You, on the other hand, are the baby of the family.

You seem to have grown up in peace and quiet without the need to share your space, or your room, with anyone.

To this, I ask you: Is it fair that your sister had years of commotion and unrest, in comparison with your years of quiet and individualized attention?

Once we start to cheshbon out what is fair, the sky’s the limit. Do you see where I’m going with this?

To illustrate the point further, I

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would like you to imagine the scene.

You are the oldest in your family, and you, your husband, and four kids work hard all year and are tired out. You are all very excited to have a two-week respite at Bubby and Zaidy’s house for Pesach. Your loving and doting parents want to shower your kids with love, treats, and a more lenient schedule than everyone is used to. The kids are excited to be with their cousins, aunts, uncles, and siblings – especially the youngest aunt who is the single, cool one.

You and your husband have a well-deserved break after a year of running on empty, and take your parents up on many opportunities for peace and quiet for the two of you while they hold the fort. Little do you know, this peace and quiet time for you and your husband is coming at the cost of a bit more rowdiness around your younger single sister (and sometimes, while she is leaving on a date). You probably don’t even realize this commotion is going on while you are out for alone time with your hubby. You love your sister very much and are excited to hear of a shidduch prospect in the works, so you ask about it over yom tov.

Can you see how this scenario could have been completely turned around had you been born first?

I hope I have provided you with a shift in perspective which you can use to understand your sister and her family better. Learn to be flexible, count your blessings, and be happy for others.

Enjoy the once-a-year hubbub of cute kids and action around. If the guy you date is bothered by it, what does that say about his potential to be a fun and interactive dad?

Side note: The drone story is a bit much, but certainly is a hilarious story to tell on a date (it’s always good to have funny content!).

One piece of practical advice to end off with: Do not make a big deal about this. Keep dating, but go out from a quiet mentor’s or married friend’s house if the commotion bothers you so much. No need to be the Debbie Downer during a wonderful Pesach spent with family.

Lighten up, roll with the punches, and learn to walk in others’ shoes.

The Single Rivka Weinberg

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arala, I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to go from having a quiet and calm house to feeling like everything is turned upside down in the blink of an eye.

Privacy in shidduchim is important and helps the already challenging process become a little more comfortable. Going on a date is nerve-racking, and taking the time prior to the date to follow your routine and be in the right frame of mind is key to putting your best foot forward. With your nieces and nephews everywhere and drones flying from above, it probably takes a toll on your mood, ultimately impacting the way you show up on the date. That’s a problem.

Before I continue further, I would like to take a minute to point out how much of a bracha it is that your siblings are married and have children.

Wow, what a zechus! Do you realize how many people daven and cry to Hakadosh Baruch Hu to be in the place you’re in right now? Yom tov is approaching, and your married siblings are coming with their families – such nachas for you and your parents. It’s important to take advantage of the time you have with your family and have hakaras hatov for all that you have in your life. Just to clarify, I’m not belittling your struggle, in fact, to a certain extent I can relate to it with my own family. I’m simply pointing out the beauty in the problem, which I believe to be often overlooked.

Back to the focus of your question, only you can decide for yourself if tak-

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out of the windows.” OK, I understand that dating is anxiety-provoking and that you’re very sensitive. But your nieces and nephews sound kind of cute. Instead of being annoyed, why don’t you smile and wave to them?

What a wonderful way to gauge your date’s temperament. If he laughs good-naturedly, he’s a keeper. If he’s super-irritated, dump him.

Strike two You complain about your nephew with the drone video. OK, I agree, that’s an over-the-top invasion of privacy. But, the very simple solution is to have a pre-Peach talk with your sibDr. Jeffrey Galler lings, where you politely explain that you are anxious and sensitive and that arala, you’re not going to like my they and their children should please opinion. respect your need for some space.

With the baseball season upon us, Or, you can simply refrain from your letter had me thinking, “Three dating until after Pesach. strikes and you’re out!”

Strike three Strike one You complain that “it’s not fair” You complain that “The kids peek and that your parents should not invite your siblings and their families for Pesach.

I assume that you’re writing this out of The Navidaters frustration and with what you Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

believe is justifiable outrage. Don’t be insulted, but that demand makes you sound like an over-indulged princess.

Please take a good look in the mirror. With your older siblings married, you have been an “only child” for a while, and the household has revolved around you and your needs. Please accept some constructive criticism: In the real world, you are not the center of the universe.

The real world is filled with rambunctious “kids all over the place” and loving family members who will tease you, pry into your affairs, invade your territory, and ignore your sensitivity.

My advice is to politely assert yourself and ask your family to please respect your privacy and give you some needed space. But, at the same time, accept the inevitable intrusions, teasing, and prying.

Smile, lighten up, and embrace your loving family.

to suggest that you speak to your married sibling and not your parents.

Ask your sibling to keep an eye on the kids while you’re leaving for your date. Certainly, everyone sitting around and watching you and your date in the car is not the right thing to do. As a matter of fact, it is insensitive and sending the wrong message to your nieces and nephews. Your married sibling is the parent, and it is the parent’s place to discipline the child. If this conversation is not well received, there is really not much you can do other than try to control the way you see things and perhaps where you are picked up.

Ultimately, I think you will feel better about this entire situation if you can conceptualize it as a blip on the radar of your life. When we live with our parents, we really don’t have much control over what our parents choose and whom they invite to their home for the holidays. I’m not suggesting that any of this is OK, but what I am suggesting is that you will be happier if you can somehow accept the situation, breathe through it, and maybe even have a little chuckle.

If dating under these conditions is going to ruin your Pesach, then you may want to consider holding off on dating for the few days of the yom tov.

Sincerely, Jennifer

ing a break from dating is the right choice for you right now, and no one should persuade you one way or the other. You know yourself best and know whether or not you can handle the added stress brought by external forces. Keep in mind that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has a plan, so if you decide to take a break, don’t fear that you’re missing out on the chance to meet your zivug because this was already calculated in the process.

With that said, it’s crucial that you express this to your parents and siblings. Explain to them that you don’t appreciate your shidduchim being the topic of conversation at the yom tov table and most definitely are not interested in the family-viewing playback from the drone. Although I believe your siblings and their children are excited for you and have your best interests in mind, you can thank them for that and kindly ask them to take a backseat in the process.

I imagine if you were to explain how you feel in a calm and respectful manner, your parents, who want you to get married so, Im Yirtzeh Hashem, you and your family can go to them for yom tov too, will see the effect it has on you and your shidduchim and not allow history to repeat itself.

I wish you much hatzlacha and hope you and your family have a beautiful and peaceful yom tov.

The Zaidy

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Pulling It All Together

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ear Sarala, Thank you for writing into our column! Having the status quo interrupted and your privacy invaded by flying drones is definitely frustrating and upsetting. Many young people who are dating have siblings who are the ages of your nieces and nephews and deal with these shenanigans more regularly. Perhaps, when this is the case, parents can discipline these young children more...but being that these are your parents’ precious grandchildren, it is may be that they feel it is not their place. Family dynamics are complicated and layered.

Most wise grandparents who want to have a close relationship with their married children walk a fine line and very often choose to keep quiet about the behaviors of their grandchildren. And Bubby and Zeidy put in their years of discipline, tears, and heartache and now get to solely enjoy their grandchildren and let their parents deal with it. Grandchildren are the cherry on the delectable sundae.

I understand that this is your home and your life, and this is super irritating. My instinct is telling me

In the real world, you are not the center of the universe.

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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Dr. Deb

How to Love Yourself

By Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.

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he catchword these days is “you have to love yourself to love others.”

Great. But how?

The root of depression, for example, is self-hate. Since the only way to get out of it is to stop beating yourself up and start accepting who you are, it does seem important to get there, right?

(This is a great example of why I don’t like diagnostic labels. Here’s a case where the label – depression – is the last step in a process that needs to be fixed at a deeper, more personal level.)

So let’s talk about how to get there the right way. Let’s look at two solutions and why they haven’t worked.

Then we’ll take a look at two that do work.

1. Why Affirmations Haven’t Worked – And How to Make Them Work You’re going to hate this – because it requires some work on your part that may be tedious. But if it works, why not?

The reason affirmations haven’t worked for those of you who tried doing them is that the process feels too canned. It doesn’t feel real, and they don’t hit home.

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, affirmations are statements you make to convince yourself of a trait that you wish you had but clearly don’t have.

Or at least that’s the way they’ve been presented to the public.

Well, of course that doesn’t work.

It’s a silly idea, actually. How can you expect to have a miraculous change in your attitude toward yourself that way? You’re suddenly believing something about yourself that you never believed before just because you say it over and over again?

I don’t think so.

But here is what I ask my private clients to do: Create an “evidence journal.” This is a notebook that you enter events into which “prove” the affirmation to be true.

Let’s take an example.

Suppose Chaya wants to lose weight, and she has been unsuccessful in the past. She creates an affirmation that says, “I enjoy stopping my meal when I notice how satisfied and comfortable I feel in my stomach.” Now, she has two tasks. One is to notice how she feels – the enjoyment of eating when she’s hungry but also the satisfaction and pleasure she gets when she’s comfortable after the meal.

The second is to write that down.

(This is not a food diary. I’m definitely not a nutritionist.) This is her “evidence journal.” So, if, on March 13, she notices that she was starved and wanted to enjoy every bit of her Shabbos meal, she has a delicious piece of challah, and makes room for the main course and dessert, too. But she only eats some of everything so there’s be room to enjoy it all. After Shabbos, she makes an entry in her journal with the date and the details that she did indeed notice how her

stomach felt both before and after the meal and how comfortable it was not stuffed.

The same method could be used for anything at all you want to cultivate.

Robert has always been scared of public speaking, but his new job requires it. He has no choice. So he prepares hard and practices like crazy. He’s sweating bullets but manages to give his presentation. Afterwards, three people tell him that they found it highly informative. So, he writes that down in his journal under the affirmation, “I am learning to become a good speaker.”

See how it goes? When you feel down on yourself for the particular thing that you’ve been working on, you look in the journal and there’s the proof that you’re changing.

I actually have a total of twelve methods of making affirmations work for you.

2. Why Therapy Hasn’t Worked – And How It Can When therapists ask you good questions that make you think, it clears space in your head for new ideas. When therapists reflect back (mirror) what you say, you feel heard

and that is wonderful, especially if no one else has heard you so far.

When the therapist challenges your thoughts and conclusions and points out that your thinking is negative or that it makes entirely too many assumptions, that is good, too.

These are three excellent approaches to therapy, but they are not necessarily enough. The reason is that all three of these appeal to the part of your brain that thinks, your cerebral cortex. It may be necessary to appeal to other parts of your brain.

We’ll come back to this in a moment.

When a therapist asks you how you feel, that can be the beginning of trouble. Feelings are vital, but since a person came into therapy because something wasn’t right, it may be more problematic to dwell on what isn’t feeling good.

On the one hand, all emotions are important and we don’t want to invalidate any of them. On the other hand, the wrong line of questioning can leave a person stuck in depression, anxiety, anger, or whatever is bothering them.

Certainly, for marriage and family work, a couple or family could end up arguing and miserable with no progress made if the focus is on negative feelings. And I can assure you that once the “feelings” lid is off, there won’t be space to talk about positive feelings.

And in this way, a couple makes no progress.

What is needed in therapy is a better awareness of the role that our bodies play in creating moods and actions.

To understand this, let’s just notice that most of the brain’s activity is out of awareness. This is based on the principle of economy. It is quicker and easier for the brain to produce automatic reactions than for us to

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think about everything.

A rule under this was developed

by Donald Hebb in 1949 who noticed that when some various neurons are activated together once, they will be more likely to work together in the future. The axiom for this is: Neurons that wire together, fire together.

So, let’s say, for example, that Jeff is scared when he hears a loud noise in his house, and sure enough, a piece of pipe falls down from the ceiling.

The neurons that fired then might be activated more readily in the future as he hears loud noises. Depending on the degree of fright he has or the level of pain anyone suffered, this may become a problem later on because the fear response will be activated too quickly for random, loud noises.

It is interesting that a fear or stress response do not even start in the brain. They start atop the kidneys in the adrenal glands. Messages are then sent to the brain, and different parts become activated. This loop of activation can become so entrenched that all the greatest cognitive therapists and others that rely on thoughts, opinions, and feelings as filtered through your words can’t stop it.

The next step most therapists will resort to for a problem such as the one Jeff has is medication.

Medication is a stopgap, a BandAid. It is fine to get some control of these physiological events if another approach can’t. But, to quote a colleague of mine, Dr. Ronald Cohen, a psychiatrist in Great Neck, NY, “People have a fantasy that meds will be a cure-all. Developmental issues and trauma issues aren’t affected by medication.”

Why would that be?

Ah. Now we get to the issue, the ikker.

The psychiatrist I’m quoting also said something else that is noteworthy. He pointed out that you don’t have to have been in a plane crash to suffer trauma. He calls the daily insults to our self-worth “trauma with a little t,” and that is the kind of trauma he is referring to in the above quote.

He didn’t invent this point. Bessel van der Kolk, whom I’ve quoted a number of times, said this in his book, “The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Heal-

ing of Trauma.”

So if you put together general, ordinary family life with the “little t” trauma, you get a picture of someone whose brain will just fire and whose body will just react to triggers that

“But you said at the time that it was heaven.”

“I couldn’t have.”

Well, she did. But present circumstance reconstituted that memory.

It’s not the same, now, and you can’t

You don’t have to have been in a plane crash to suffer trauma.

you and I would not understand as triggers.

But it is precisely that lack of understanding of it as a trigger that causes a waste of valuable energy in the therapy room.

So the alternative to talking about “issues” in the marriage or simply spouting all your emotions there is to discover and catalogue your own triggers, trace them back to their childhood origins, and then use alternative methods to change the wiring and firing of neurons in your brain.

Evidence-Based Alternative Methods One alternative method started in the last century with Milton Erickson, the medical doctor who introduced hypnosis to this country.

Hypnosis and visualization are based on using our imaginations.

Current research has found that when you recall a memory such that you just about feel the experience in the present moment, the protein molecules in that memory soften and are capable of rearranging.

Isn’t this amazing? (Hashem, You created such truly awesome things!)

So, if during that process of re-experiencing a memory, you change it around a bit, when it reconstitutes, it will be a different memory.

That is why hypnosis works, and Milton Erickson is the grandfather of hypnosis in this country. This is why guided imagery works, and this is why when two people have been hostile to each other, their previously positive memories are no longer positive.

“Oh, that trip? It wasn’t such a big deal.”

go back, either.

We use various forms of this today and there are literally thousands of research studies on the use, for example, of mindfulness meditation in correcting painful memories, helping with creativity, and stopping physical pain. So mindfulness is one alternative (along with hypnosis).

I’ve been writing about the second alternative method, also lean-

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ing heavily on our imaginations, the Internal Family Systems work of the brilliant Richard C. Schwartz.

Please refer to the last couple months of articles for more on IFS. The use of the imagination literally changes protein molecules in the brain. This means that memories no longer feel painful or anxious, or triggering, when you use a method to understand their source and relate to it differently.

This is true, deep healing at its best. When each person in a couple heals in this way, their self-love easily blossoms. And then they have enough in their hearts both to give love to each other and value the love they are given.

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

Swimming with the Benefits

By Aliza Beer MS, RD, CDN

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ish is a healthy, high protein food, especially since it is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids.

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats that our bodies can’t produce on their own. They play a critical role in brain and heart health. Omega-3s have been shown to decrease inflammation and reduce the risk of heart disease. They are also important for prenatal development in babies.

Both the American Heart Association and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend eating fish at least twice a week, especially fatty fish. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in every kind of fish but are significantly high in fatty, oily fish. Because many of these fish live in cold waters, their meat has a high fat content and is rich in fatty acids – healthy polyunsaturated fats. They are also low in saturated fat, and high in protein. These fish are also good sources of vitamin D, selenium, phosphorus, iron, and iodine.

Let’s review some of the best fish you should be eating now.

• Salmon: This fish is called king of the sea for good reason! Salmon is one of the most nutritious foods on Earth, and one of my primary sources of protein. It is one of the best sources of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. These fatty acids have been credited with several benefits, including decreasing inflammation, lowering blood pressure, reducing the risk of cancer, and improving the function of cells that line your arteries.

Salmon is rich in high-quality protein. Recent research has found that for optimal health, each meal should provide at least 20-30 grams of high-quality protein. A 3.5 ounce serving of salmon contains 22-25 grams

of protein. Salmon is also an excellent source of B vitamins. These vitamins are involved in several important processes in the body, including turning the food we eat into energy, creating and repairing DNA, and reducing the inflammation that can lead to heart disease. Studies have shown that all of the B vitamins work together to maintain optimal functioning of your brain and nervous system.

Salmon is surprisingly a good source of potassium, with wild salmon containing much more potassium than farmed. In fact, salmon contains more potassium than an equivalent portion of banana. Potassium helps control blood pressure and prevent excess fluid retention.

The antioxidant astaxanthin is a member of the carotenoid family and gives salmon its red pigment. Astaxanthin appears to lower the risk of heart disease by reducing oxidation of LDL (bad cholesterol) and increasing HDL (good cholesterol). One study even indicated that astaxanthin may help prevent skin damage and help you look younger. (Now you know the real reason I eat so much of this fish!)

Last, but certainly not least, salmon may help you lose weight and keep it off. Research suggests that omega-3s may promote weight loss and decrease belly fat in overweight individuals.

• Tuna: I grew up eating tuna fish six days a week. (Mercury wasn’t a concern in the good old days.) The FDA currently suggests that no more than 12 ounces of tuna should be consumed in a week by non-pregnant healthy adults. Eating tuna every day could pose a risk of mercury poisoning. Canned light tuna is the better, lower-mercury choice, when com-

pared to canned white (albacore) and yellow-fin tuna which are higher in mercury.

Tuna provides all of the hearthealthy benefits that salmon does, including lowering blood pressure and risk of stroke because it is also a good source of potassium. Tuna is rich in manganese, zinc, vitamin C, and selenium, which help in strengthening the immune system. There is also very little fat in tuna, making it a great option if the goal is to achieve weight loss.

Make your canned tuna with a little low-fat mayo, tahini, and/or lemon juice. Mix in some chopped pickles, dill, leek, or celery for extra flavor.

• Sardines: Also an oily fish, sardines are rich in omega-3s and many vitamins. The canned version is very nutritious because you are consuming the entire fish, including skin and bones. Hence, sardines are a great source of calcium.

One 100 gram serving of sardines contain 96% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for selenium, an important antioxidant that affects reproduction, thyroid function, and DNA production. The Food and Drug Administration considers sardines to be one of the best choices of fish due to their lower mercury levels.

Sardines are canned in water or oil. If you prefer the oil version, drain it well and use a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.

Sardines are a great protein to either add to a salad or serve on toast.

• Cod : Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is named after this flaky white fish.

Early settlers on the North American East Coast used cod as an important protein source. One 3-ounce portion of cooked cod has 15-20 grams of protein for less than 90 calories. In addition to omega-3s, cod is rich in vitamin B12, which is an important part of the body’s nerve and blood cells. Vitamin B12 helps prevent anemia by keeping your red blood cells in good condition. It is another low-fat fish that can be incorporated into a healthy weight loss nutrition plan.

Cod contains a significant amount of iodine, which is an important mineral for thyroid function. Iodine helps your thyroid regulate hormones that control the body’s metabolism and cognitive function. Consuming enough iodine can help prevent problems like goiters, birth defects, and symptoms of hypothyroidism. Since cod has so little fat – only 1 gram in a 4 oz serving – it is best to cook it with other liquids or healthy fats to prevent it from drying out.

You can bake cod with olive oil and spices, or broil with some honey, soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar, or panfry it with olive oil and garlic.

• Rainbow Trout: Tired of your tuna and salmon? This is another low mercury fish labeled as “best choice” by the FDA. It has one of the richest omega-3s content of all fish. Trout is also packed with vitamins B6 and B12, vitamin D, iron, niacin, potassium, selenium, and thiamin. It has a milder, less “fishy” taste, and can be served hot or cold.

Try baking the trout on a parch-

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ment-lined baking sheet with broccoli florets and grape tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, lemon juice, and olive oil. Roast about 20 minutes at 400°F. What is the difference between wild-caught versus farm-raised fish?

Wild-caught live in their natural waters, while farm-raised exist in prepared tanks. It is unclear which one is better for you. Both types of fish can contain mercury. Wild-caught fish tend to be lower in saturated fat, while farm-raised tend to have more omega-3s.

Eating raw fish is associated with a higher risk of parasitic infections and food poisoning. However, you can minimize the risk by following a few simple guidelines. Always buy your fish from reputable suppliers. Only buy fish that is refrigerated or displayed under a cover on a thick bed of ice. Make sure it smells fresh! Don’t eat fish that smells sour or overly fishy.

If you don’t freeze your fish, keep it on ice in your fridge and eat it with-

in a couple of days of buying it. Never leave fish out of the refrigerator for more than one or two hours. Bacteria multiply quickly at room temperature.

I eat some kind of fish almost every day. It helps me maintain my weight, and it also keeps me feeling energetic.

I find that fish is a key component to weight loss success, and I encourage my clients to incorporate it into their diets at least twice a week. Consuming a variety of fish a few times a week will provide many nutrients needed for a well-balanced diet.

If you are pregnant, nursing, or have a health condition, check with your doctor before incorporating into your diet any fish that contains mercury.

Aliza Beer is a registered dietitian with a master’s degree in nutrition. She has a private practice in Cedarhurst, NY. Patients’ success has been featured on the Dr. Oz show. Aliza can be reached at alizabeer@gmail.com, and you can follow her on Instagram at @alizabeer.

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Aliza’s Poached Salmon Ingredients ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Baby salmon fillets, no tails 1 cup sugar (I use 1 cup monk fruit) 1 cup lemon juice 1 large onion, cut into rings Salt and pepper 30 whole peppercorns 20 bay leaves

Preparation Brown the onion in the monk fruit on a low flame about 25-30 minutes. Add one cup lemon juice. Place the salmon in the pot and cover with just enough water to cover the salmon. Add some salt, garlic powder, about 30 whole peppercorns and about 20 bay leaves.

Cover and cook for 45 minutes- hour on a low flame.

Let it marinate in this liquid for at least 24 hours before serving. It will stay in your fridge for up to one week.

Enjoy!

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Parenting Pearls

Loving All Our Children

By Sara Rayvych, MSEd

I

remember when I was working on my master’s degree and the teacher described how special education used to look: children were either “teachable” or “not teachable.” Baruch Hashem, we have come very far from those days when parents were told to not bother educating their child. Our yeshivos and bais yaakovs now boast of programs that include children of all abilities. There are so many options that most families are able to keep their child in a Jewish environment without compromising on their medical or educational needs.

It makes sense that our community would make the extra effort to reach out to all students, since we know that each child has a special neshama that is a gift from Hashem.

I was impressed to see how even colleges have come to respect and assist those with special needs. The attitude isn’t “if you can’t keep up, then you don’t belong here.” There is now a greater recognition that many students can accomplish great educational goals with a little assistance.

Initially, I was hoping for this article to coincide with Rare Disease Day on February 28, an internationally recognized day that is dedicated to raising awareness among the general population of the many rare diseases, but then I checked the calendar and realized that it fell out on the week of Purim. I had never heard of Rare Disease Day until my amazing and incredibly adorable niece was diagnosed with a rare (non-hereditary) disease, KAT6A. While I rarely get to spend time with this Israeli niece, we’ve all gained so much from having her in our family. I’ve seen how hard one person can work to accomplish what is easy for others, all while smiling through it. This seemed like a good opportunity to bring up respecting others, even those who may

function differently than us.

While there are immense differences between a child with speech difficulty and a child with a rare disease, learning to not only tolerate but respect both of them is important and will be the topic of this article.

Evening Out the Playing Field I think there are many who have the misconception that giving some students special accommodations creates an unfair playing field and is unfair to those who aren’t getting what they deem special treatment.

This couldn’t be further from the truth and creates feelings of animosity towards those needing assistance.

There is a rigorous process before students receive any accommodations. Everything needs to be proven necessary before allowing for the accommodations. Students can’t claim something they don’t need; everything requires documentation.

Special accommodations or providing special assistance to a student helps that student show what they can really accomplish if they’re not hindered by their disability or extra limitations. As an example, one of my children qualified to have non-reading-based questions read out loud to him during testing. This means that if the test is on the subject of reading, then they can’t be given assistance, but if the question is not reading-based, such as math, then they can have it read to them. I truly appreciated the difference this made when my reading-challenged child received a near perfect score on his math test. Without the accommodation, he would not have been able to answer any of the questions but with minimal assistance we were able to see how much he knew. A child with regular reading ability would not have

My beautiful niece, Shifra bas Chana Dina

been helped by this accommodation but a reading-challenged child was given a chance to show what he knew.

He shined because he was given that opportunity.

Every individual comes with their own challenges, and with a little assistance we can allow each child to show us their best and excel at their level.

Whether that means laptop access for a child with writing difficulties or an extra quiet work environment during testing, each individual should be given the chance to succeed.

Begin the Discussion Open the discussion with your children and take advantage of teachable moments. Explain to them that other children may be different or have challenges but they are still worthwhile individuals.

After my niece, just a baby at the time, was diagnosed, we all sat down with our children to discuss with them how their cousin would be different and have unique needs. We answered their questions then and continuously as they came up later.

When my young child saw a person in a video using a wheelchair, I explained to him what it was and why she used it. Children don’t inherently realize that someone else may not be able to do something they can.

This applies in all areas of life. If a child can do something, anything, they assume others can, as well. It certainly doesn’t occur to them that another person can’t do something they do naturally, such as walk, hear,

see, or breathe unassisted.

You don’t need to sit your child down and tell them about every disability that exists, as this will overwhelm and scare them. You certainly don’t want to frighten them as children, can easily assume the same will happen to them. What you can do is answer their questions, spoken and unspoken, in a simple and clear way.

Don’t assume they understand what a person can’t do and why. Start with the basics and answer in a matter-offact manner. Allow them to ask questions and answer calmly.

Watch Your Language Around Your Children Our kids see our actions and hear our words – make sure that both reflect respect for others. Too often, our behavior makes fun of others in a subtle way. Whether it’s imitating someone’s accent, stutter, or way of walking, our children will pick up on it. The truth is we should always watch our language and actions because our behavior makes us who we are, even when our children are not present. The beautiful Shabbos table should never become a source of speaking negatively about others or making fun of people. Sadly, the conversation can too easily slip into the wrong places.

Be patient when speaking to others who have challenges communicating. Too often, we are impatient and this comes through. Not only is it disrespectful to the person you are speaking with but it gives the wrong

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

message to your children. Also, avoid staring or pointing at people. While it’s natural to be curious, staring and pointing can be hurtful.

Don’t allow your children to make fun of others, and don’t laugh at jokes that deride people. How often do we hear fat jokes or hear kids use the term “four eyes”? The comments are hurtful and give our children the impression that such things are acceptable. Jokes that make fun of others can’t truly be called “jokes,” and they’re never funny.

Use Your Language With Others Don’t forget that people with challenges are still people. We often forget and will speak about them instead of directly to them. If you want to know if they’d like something, ask them. You usually don’t need to ask someone else. By speaking over them, it shows a lack of respect for them as individuals. In addition, we all too often forget this with children. Children

very early on understand what you’re saying about them. Don’t hesitate to address them directly and avoid saying anything in front of them that you wouldn’t say to them.

Don’t be afraid to communicate with people. You’d be surprised how

relatives rather effectively. As deaf individuals, they are used to communicating with the hearing world and know when you respectfully try your best. You don’t need to know ASL (American Sign Language) to address someone who is hard of hearing. Sim-

Kids can learn to communicate with those who seem different from them.

much body language can show. I’ve learned to speak with my non-English speaking father-in-law using a combination of body language and tone of voice. The few Russian words I know often make him laugh rather than communicate effectively, but I can usually get my point across and I know he appreciates my efforts.

I know a little sign language but I’ve learned to “speak” with my deaf

ple adjustments such as speaking clearly, enunciating your words, and maintaining eye contact are far more helpful than yelling.

Kids can learn to communicate with those who seem different from them. You may be surprised to realize that your child doesn’t even notice the differences you do. By treating others with respect, you are demonstrating with your actions how they should be-

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have around others.

Children don’t, on their own, recognize other people’s challenges and why they have certain needs. You have the chance to bring it up in a way that answers their question while teaching them to respect others. You will give so much over in both your attitude and words. You have the opportunity to teach your child about the beauty within each person, a gift directly from Hashem.

Please keep my niece, Shifra bas Chana Dina, and all those with medical needs in mind. Daven to Hashem to help all of our children reach their full potential. We all have more capabilities than we realize at first glance.

May we all reach for our own amazing heights.

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

Pesach Prep

By Miriam Liebermann, MSW

L

ife is all about transitions.

Life is not static. It keeps changing. Year to year. Day to day. We see this played out as we carve out our Pesach plans.

The following scenarios may sound familiar: 1. Mother has been hosting the family for Pesach for many years.

Each year it gets tougher. Her sciatica is giving her a hard time. Her nerves are frazzled. Hosting young families has become challenging, emotionally and physically. But Father still loves sitting at the head of the table, orchestrating the Pesach seder with his entire family sitting together. And the couples are eager to be together with one another. They keep raving about how they belong to “one big happy family”!

Perhaps subconsciously the adult children crave this return to their childhood home, where all their needs are tended to once again by their devoted parents, especially the hardworking mother!

The siblings can actually host one another if they so desire to spend Pesach together!

As the family, ka”h, continues to grow, hosting the entire family may no longer be possible. Grandparents crave quality time with their children and grandchildren, which may be impossible when hosting a sizable crowd. Instead, consider having a

family outing on chol hamoed or having an all-inclusive family seudah on chol hamoed.

Mother claims that although she plans for plenty of kitchen help, inadvertently, at the last minute, the help always cancels. And although the adult children assure her that they will help, when the time comes, they are busy diapering the baby, putting children to sleep, making peace among the little ones, searching for lost shoes, running off to minyan, etc.

2. Father no longer has the emotional stamina and patience to deal with the commotion that is inevitable when hosting young families.

He would be happy hosting only the newlyweds. But Mother is not ready to relinquish her role. Mother prides herself on her magnificent seder table. Each year she prepares Pesach delicacies with such joy, the same delicacies her mother had prepared, and her beloved bubby! How can she give this up?

At times, the adult children realize it’s too much for their parents.

They are afraid of overburdening them; yet the parents are reluctant to accept the inevitability of change and transition.

3. Mother and Father, as much as they adore their family, can no longer deal with the hullabaloo. They pack up and head to a Pesach program without any of the children,

who are left behind in shock!

4. The adult children, home last year for Pesach on their own, due to corona, enjoyed their own seder. They relished the opportunity to listen to each child recite the Mah Nishtana, without having to compete with the young cousins all clamoring for attention. The sons and sons-inlaw were grateful to be able to conduct the seder, on their own, in the privacy of their homes. It was beautiful, quality family time. They are reluctant to give this up.

5. Daughters want to return home to their parents. Sons-in-law are eager to host sedarim in their own homes.

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? Or perhaps there are details of a particular scenario that you relate to. Now what?

Transitions are not easy. Transitions may be accompanied by growing pains, which is perfectly normal and typical.

Sara Brejt shares that transitions include balancing and re-balancing.

Some years, one couple may need extra TLC. Other years, the single children may warrant their parents’ attention. Parents aspire to keep things “fair” and give equal time to all. That’s not always realistic, though we do try!

The Covid-uncertainty of last year taught us a valuable lesson. We can

plan in advance – where, how, and with whom to spend yom tov. But it’s only a plan. We put in our best efforts and then we must leave the outcome to Hashem.

Faigie Horowitz offers a crucial perspective. Pesach plans must factor in another set of concerns: those of our mechutanim who also have needs and claims on our children’s participation in their yom tov. Their circumstances may differ from our own in terms of space, location, resources, and size of their own families. Our own children often cannot give us answers as to which part of yom tov, if any, they will spend with us because they are awaiting the plans of their siblings from the other side. If one plans ahead and has the food and home ready early, the stress of not knowing who will come, when and how many, is alleviated.

This discussion of sharing the couples with the mechutanim brings an image to mind: I see Shlomo Hamelech with the two women both claiming that the infant is theirs.

Shlomo Hamelech, with his superior wisdom, suggests splitting the baby in half. The real mother gasps in shock, and we all know how the story ends.

If the families live within close proximity, then it’s a simple matter for the young couple to relocate midyom tov. But if there is a great distance involved, perhaps a plane ride

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

is necessary, then it might make sense for the couple to alternate; one year with one set of parents, the following year, time to visit the other set.

Traveling with infants and young children is stressful. Getting little ones to sleep in a strange bed is not fun. Adjusting to time changes can be equally challenging.

Traditionally, the first year of the couple’s marriage is spent with the wife’s parents. This is not halacha. If circumstances are such that the first year the couple ends up with husband’s parents, that’s fine also! Be flexible!

My dear friend Michelle Mayers adds, regarding Pesach planning (and life in general): sometimes a perfect solution is impossible. It may take some self-talk to accept this reality and not to surrender to guilt or negativity. One needs to keep positive.

Hopefully the following year, the plans will be more “optimal” as situations and family dynamics change.

Michelle continues, “It’s import-

ant to see Pesach as part of a bigger picture and not judge a child’s loyalty or love based on Pesach plans.” Our children have competing loyalties, practical limitations, and pressures.

There are other opportunities to host.

our needs, as well as the needs of our adult children and their growing families. Call a family meeting. Talk it out! Lay it all out on the table.

Write notes before so you don’t get distracted and overly emotion-

“It’s important to see Pesach as part of a bigger picture and not judge a child’s loyalty or love based on Pesach plans.”

I know of one couple who cannot host Pesach but purposefully hosts the entire family the week before. They do a run-through of the divrei Torah and enjoy precious family time.

So what’s the takeaway from this discussion? Ideally, we should be open about our limitations, about

al. All of us, older and younger, must practice understanding, compassion, tolerance, flexibility and patience as we acknowledge that families experience transitions. With time and mindfulness, we learn to go with the flow. There is no perfect scenario.

What works this year may not work next year. Be flexible. Discuss the

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options, giving each suggestion the attention it deserves.

One last crucial detail from my dear neighbor, Nechama Katz. Remember, peace above all!

As we end off, I extend a plea to all.

We are not superwomen! Absolutely everyone, all able-bodied individuals, must pitch in. Seriously! Cleaning.

Kashering. Shopping. Cooking. Table setting. Serving. House maintenance.

Entertaining the children. There are many details to be tended to.

Where ever we do land up ultimately, however our plans evolve, it is certainly beneficial to keep in mind that everything always works out according to plan, Hashem’s plan!

Wishing all a chag kosher v’sameach! And iy”H may we all soon join together in Yerushalayim Habenuya, where we truly belong!

Join the conversation and email list of JWOW! by writing to hello @jewishwomenofwisdom.org.

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Eight Days of Yum TJH Speaks with Faigy Murray, Author of My Pesach Kitchen

Faigy, congratulations on your first cookbook. Can you give us a little background on yourself?

I grew up in Montreal, where my parents still live. I always had a tremendous passion for cooking. I love being in the kitchen. As a young girl, every time I went to my friends’ houses to study for tests in school, they’d be studying for a test and I would be in their mothers’ kitchens going through their mothers’ kitchen cabinets, looking at all the recipes that the mothers had.

A ny t i me a nyone served me anything, even as a young girl, I would go up to them and say, “I need the recipe.”

I collected so many unbelievable recipes over the years. Way, way before I got married, I had a complete recipe collection. Back then everything was handwritten, and I had those little recipe looseleaf folders.

The passion has never left me. My mother is an unbelievable cook. She’s Hungarian, so it’s more simple, traditional food. She doesn’t make a lot

of crazy stuff. For Shabbos and yom tov, we had the same food my entire life, but whatever she made, and still makes, is absolutely flawless. I honestly can say I don’t remember my mother ever messing up a recipe.

I had big shoes to fill, but at the same time, she’s somebody who is extremely comfortable in the kitchen.

She taught me to be comfortable in the kitchen and be confident. So, if I’m in middle of a recipe, and I realize that I ran out of something, I’m not going to say, “Forget it, I can’t make this recipe.” I don’t have

salt, well, what other spices can I use instead?

When I got married, I was so excited to have my own kitchen and have my own food to prepare. Probably within the first few weeks that I was married, I was already hosting guests and hosting meals, because it was just so natural and such a passion of mine.

I never dreamt that I would be here today, inspiring people. And here I am today speaking with you.

And I just wrote my first cookbook.

It’s unbelievable, so surreal and so amazing.

When I got married, my mother-inlaw cooked completely differently than my mother. She has a very eclectic style, very non-traditional.

She’s the person who’s scouring the Internet, finding the most unique, cool new recipes for yom tov. It took me a long time to get used to it. I used to go to my in-laws for yom tov, and I’d be like, “Where’s my potato kugel?” But I got used to it, and I learned to love it. I learned to appreciate my mother-in-law’s style of cooking. She’s a phenomenal, phenomenal

cook. I have fused both my mother’s and my mother-in-law’s styles of cooking.

It’s funny, my two boys – I have a 15-year-old and a 13-year-old – don’t like when I offer “funky” stuff on Shabbos. They’ll tell me, “Ma, if you want to make crazy things, save it for during the week or make it, but we still need our kugel and our chicken and our gefilte fish.”

Would they eat the Moroccan salmon during the week? Are they adventurous eaters at other times?

They are. All my kids are. I have two little girls as well. My girls are less adventurous eaters, but they’re younger.

You actually started “going public” with your passion of cooking a few years ago when you started your Instagram.

What was the impetus behind that?

After my youngest was born, fourand-a-half years ago, I was on maternity leave. My husband and I were discussing the next steps of life, so to speak. He said to me, “Faigy, don’t go back to work. Take six months off.”

I’m a family photographer. I was doing it as a hobby. He told me, “Take this month off, try to grow your business, and try to really push it. We’ll put a business plan together and see

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if we can turn it into more than just a hobby. If in six months we see that it’s not working out, you can go back to work, no big deal.”

In those six months, when I was really trying very hard to push my family photography, the idea came up that I should start a food blog.

I had these conflicting thoughts in my head because, on one hand, it was such a yearning and almost a physical passion of mine that I would have loved to start a blog. But then, on the other hand, I was like, “How am I starting? Where am I starting?

What am I starting?”

The other big food bloggers were pretty big already at the time.

I quickly did some research and I said to myself, “She has 4,000 followers. She has 7,000 followers. Forget it, I’m never going to get there.”

But my husband looked at me and said, “Faigy, all these people, at one point, started with 0 followers, so try it. You have nothing to lose because, worst case scenario, it doesn’t work.”

Ironically, this all took place right before Pesach four years ago – March 27 was my first post. I had prepared 10 posts, and I was shaking, literally shaking, as if I was going on my first date when I uploaded my first post.

I sent the link to my mother-in-law and to a couple of friends’ chats that I’m on, and asked if they could follow me. I got 10 followers, then 30….

When I got my first 100 followers, I was just elated. The rest, as they say, is history.

How many followers do you have now?

I ju st h it 19,000 this week.

F r o m 10 to 19,000.

It’s been such a wild, wild, unbelievable journey. I love it.

My family is so supportive. They love hopping on and saying hi to my followers.

I view my followers as my family, as well, because I bring them into my house – the kitchen is the happy place in the home – and I love interacting with them.

This is your first cookbook.

Why did you decide to write a Pesach cookbook?

Last year, many people were home for Pesach due to corona, and they weren’t planning on being home for Pesach. Many of those people – elderly couples staying home, young married couples, families – turned to me, as an influencer, for help. So I hopped on and did tons of [Instagram] stories. I told them, “OK, guys, we got this. We’re all home together, all in this together. This is what you do.”

bones basics products that you need for your kitchen, like utensils. I also wrote about how to go shopping and how to create a menu for Pesach.

It all went into my e-book. I have a spice line called Union Spice Blends which launched about a little bit more than a year and a half ago.

I used that website as a landing page for this PDF that I created so people could download it.

It was downloaded thousands of times, not including all the times it was forwarded around to people. So

“I was shaking, literally shaking, as if I was going on my first date when I uploaded my first post.”

On my stories, I kept breaking it down for people, but I realized that it wasn’t enough and I needed to do something else to help. One night – I literally pulled an all-nighter – I created an e-book. I dumped every recipe that was Pesach-friendly into this e-book. It wasn’t edited; it wasn’t professional. I quickly wrote up the whole thing at the beginning with the bare-

we’re talking about thousands and thousands of people who were able to get it and be helped from it.

That’s where my idea for a Pesach cookbook came from. When I was talking with ArtScroll, I said, “You know what? Let’s do Pesach.”

Pesach is a big season. It’s a very busy season. And many, many, many of my recipes are year-round friendly.

My recipes are not Pesach-y food; it’s just good, solid food. Of course, in my dessert section, I have potato starch and almond flour in my recipes, because it is a Pesach book. But in general, across the board, these are foods that I make year-round.

What specific recipes do you suggest people use from the book for year-round cooking?

All of them. All the recipes in the book are recipes that I use yearround, although the dessert section contains potato starch and almond flour…

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You have a section in your book entitled “Chol Hamoed.”

Yes. I’m always asked the question: what do we make for chol hamoed?

The “Chol Hamoed” section starts with breakfast and ends with dinner and has snacks in between. There’s matzah pizza and poutine, which is a Canadian dish like French fries with sauce and cheese. I have pancakes and shakshuka and fish bowls.

Everybody comes home exhausted from chol hamoed trips. With some recipes in this section, all you have to do is prepare it before you head out and then stick it in the oven.

It’s all there for you.

Everything is in the book. I’m a very visual person, and I create a ton of lists. That’s how I function. I put the lists in the book for you. They’re all there – your menus, what you want to cook, what to buy. You could photocopy them and use them every year.

Also, you’ll notice that many of my recipes are freezer-friendly. I make sure to note that at the beginning of the recipe. There are many, many things you can freeze. I know that some people don’t have a lot of fridge space. This way, they can cook and freeze a lot of dishes until they need to serve them.

I’m like that – I don’t have a lot of fridge space, and so I freeze a lot of what I make.

There was one recipe that I made – the honey garlic chicken on page 116 – I wasn’t sure it was freezer friendly or not, but when I was testing it, I had extras and I just dumped it into the freezer. Later, I defrosted it and tasted it and it was so good.

Maybe because it was able to sit in the juices for longer…I don’t know, but I do know that it’s definitely freezer-friendly.

What’s are the first things that you make after you turn over your kitchen for Pesach?

The first thing I do is desserts, because I feel like with desserts you have a thousand ingredients out and most desserts more or less have the same ingredients. I also make sure to make extra of my desserts because the guys will definitely be sneaking some – there’s nothing like fresh Pesach blondies.

Then I start with my soups and my dips. Dips are time-consuming

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because they tend to take a long time to make. You’re sautéing onions; the matbucha takes a long time because you have to roast the tomatoes, and so on and so forth.

In my book, I detail, day by day, exactly what I do. After I make my menu, I break it down even further and write what I need to make each day – Monday morning, Monday afternoon, Monday night… It makes it so much more manageable. I like writing things down and breaking it down because it’s so satisfying to cross things off. During the year, I do this too. Every week, before Shabbos, I put on my list of things to do “set the table” because it’s a good feeling to cross it off and know it’s done.

How long did it take to make the cookbook from start to finish?

I got the official green light from ArtScroll to write the book the day after Yom Kippur. My editor said, “Faigy, we’re going to go print end of January. Do you think you can pull this off?” And I said, “Of course, 100%, no worries.” But when I hung up the phone, I had a full-blown panic attack. It was such a short time!

But then I spoke with a mentor of mine and she told, “Faigy, you can do this. If anyone can do this, you can do this.”

Most cookbooks are done between nine and 15 months – nine being on the short side. I did this entire cookbook in three and a half months. And I did everything myself.

I did the food prep, the recipe testing, the photography, the food styling, the clean up.

Wow! That’s a huge job. How many recipes did you have to, quote-unquote, cross off your list every day in order to get this done?

My husband figured out. He did a whole math system for me. But I kind of ignored it and just plowed through.

I did five to eight recipes a day. I had this crazy, crazy schedule that I had made with myself where I didn’t stop for one second. I ate, breathed, slept, everything the book.

How did you do it? Did you do eight salads in one day or did you make a chicken and a side dish and a dessert all at once?

I was talking to somebody who

had previously written a cookbook, and she told me to do that – to do all the same type of dishes each day. She said, you can have a chicken day and a salad day. But I didn’t want to do that because I was nervous that it would feel monotonous, and then all my chicken dishes would start looking at the same.

It really was a matter of whatever I was in the mood of. Every Motzei Shabbos, I would make a list of about 20 recipes that I wanted to make that week. And then I would make a list of all the ingredients I needed for those recipes. On Sunday morning, I went grocery shopping. Everything was organized and listed, so I knew which ingredients went for each dish.

I go walking every morning. I wake up at 6:30, go walking, come home. After my walk, before the kids came downstairs, I would set up my boards for my background along with the props and utensils and towels I would need for the day. After my kids went to school, I’d take all the photos.

When the kids came home, I’d do all the prep for the next day’s photoshoot and then would continue after they went to sleep and would edit the photos, etc.

Definitely sounds like a nonstop endeavor. What dishes do your kids look forward to every Pesach?

They love my yapchik. It’s in the meat section in the book. They absolutely love that. They also want my matzah balls and poutine. They demand the poutine. My husband loves his mother’s nut torte. It’s actually on the back cover of the book. My mother-in-law is famous for it.

What do you serve at the Seder?

I find that, as late as it is and as stuffed as people are with matzah, the men are always hungry, and they’re ready to eat. But I keep it very simple, very traditional. The Seder is not the time for me to serve tons of meats and whatnot. I serve gefilte fish, a couple of dips, chicken soup, matzah balls, a chicken, or my potato kugel chicken. And if anybody

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wants, I always have either little apple muffins or a little apple crisps for somebody who wants that extra sweet thing.

What are five recipes from your book that you feel like everyone has to try?

In the dip section, Mommy’s roasted eggplant is such a fantastic winner. I like to serve it as a dip, although my friend serves it salad-style. The sweet potato soup with mini meatballs has so much flavor to it. You can even serve it as a meal on its own. The Moroccan tilapia is an excellent thing to make in advance. The potato chip schnitzel is great. I always try to make that in advance because I make a tremendous amount and the kids can eat it the whole day.

For dessert, you need to make a big batch of my crumbs because you can use it on anything and everything. I always make tons of cookies and blondies. My frozen mousse cake is my Pesach specialty. My friend’s mother gave me her recipe, and – funnily enough – she actually serves it year-round for dessert. I make it every single Pesach.

You did the food styling for your book. Can you give us food styling tips?

My food is very family-friendly.

When I serve my family, I don’t have to plate it fancy, and I don’t have little droplets and drips on the plate.

It’s really more about serving your

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family, bringing a big platter of chicken to the table. Recently I got very into using oven-to-table dishes because they look beautiful and you don’t need to transfer the food to a platter.

I love to serve family-style, letting people decide how much or how little they want to put on their plates versus me deciding for them. I’m very into big salads.

Sometimes I’ll do an appetizer, so I’ll plate that. But even then, I’m not, like I said, drizzling stuff.

As far as photography, it’s something that I’ve worked on and developed over the years. There’s a technical aspect of it, the lighting and the mathematics, that go behind what actually happens in the camera to capture the picture. But for the styling itself, I did a lot of Googling, a lot of research, a lot of YouTube videos: “How to style chicken? How to style potatoes?” There was a lot of trial and error, moving things around, playing around with little towels and different dishes until I really liked the look.

Faigy, you have 19,000 followers on Instagram. You’re the food editor for “Taste” for the Voice of Lakewood. You work on the recipes for Circle Magazine. You have your spice company. And now you have a cookbook. What’s next on the horizon, besides for a much-needed vacation?

I do have some ideas somewhere brewing. But right now, I want to really be able to focus on the cookbook and give the cookbook all its attention that it needs before jumping into the next thing.

Going back to the beginning of the conversation, it’s hard for me to sit down, but I may need to write down on my agenda, “10 minutes of nothing,” so I can sit back and enjoy – and then cross it off my list.

Pictures reprinted from kosher.com

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

please join us for a webinar

The Israeli Elections and Judea and Samaria

Marc Zell in conversation with

Eve Harow

Director of Community Development and Tourism

Thursday March 18th

1:30pm EST / 7:30pm Israel time

Registration Required Questions may be submitted in advance to eve@oneisraelfund.org

Marc Zell is a practicing international attorney with offices in Jerusalem, New York, Washington, D.C., Toronto, Tallinn and Moscow. He is a graduate of Princeton University (Germanic Languages and Literatures/ Linguistics 1974) and the University of Maryland School of Law (J.D. with honors, 1977; Order of the Coif).

Mr. Zell currently serves as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Ariel University with a student body exceeding 17,000 and a faculty of 500. It is Israel’s only university located in Judea and Samaria, the home of Israel’s newest medical school (the Miriam and Sheldon Adelson School of Medicine) and the largest single employer in Israel’s Biblical heartland.

In addition to serving as VP and General Counsel of Republicans Overseas (International) he is Chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel. which played an important role in the landmark decisions that lead to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem; the recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights; the recognition by the American government of the historic and legal rights of the Jewish People in Judea and Samaria and the repeal of the 40-year U.S. federal boycott of Jewish institutions located in Judea and Samaria.

Mr. Zell is counsel in several major international law case and serves as counsel to Holocaust survivors and their families on restitution cases involving Jewish property seized during World War II and afterwards. Mr. Zell is also active in the fight against the BDS movement.

Mr. Zell is a regular commentator on legal and political affairs in many media forums. His publications include numerous articles in various fields of international law including the cross-border practice of law, cross-border insolvency, the Palestinian right of return, trans-national litigation, international entertainment law, international public procurement law, intellectual property law, constitutional law, antitrust and energy law.

He was recently selected to appear in the 2020 edition of Who’s Who in the World. He is also an accomplished actor and singer, having recently appeared in the Israel production of the Broadway musical Soul Doctor in a major supporting role.

Mr. Zell resides in Tekoa in Gush Etzion with his wife Robin. They have 8 children and 17 grandchildren all of whom currently reside in Israel.

REGISTER AT ONEISRAELFUND.ORG

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A Taste of My Pesach Kitchen

RECIPES BY FAIGY MURRAY

Yields 6-8 servings / Meat / Freezer Friendly / Gebrokts option

I was introduced to Mushroom Kibbe by a Sephardi friend of mine. I made it week after week and on Pesach I did not want to miss out on the dish, so I created a Pesach version. I like to serve this as a meat main dish at the meal, but it’s also delicious served as an appetizer.

INGREDIENTS Meatballs » 2 lb. ground beef » ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped » 1 egg » 1 tsp kosher salt » ½ tsp black pepper » ¼ cup store-bought Pesach crumbs or matzo meal Mushroom Sauce » 1 medium onion, diced » 1 (10-oz) box mushrooms, sliced » 1 Tbsp potato starch » ¾ cup chicken stock » 1 tsp kosher salt » ½ tsp black pepper PREPARATION Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, combine all meatball ingredients; shape into small meatballs.

Place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes, then transfer to an oven-to-table baking dish or pan.

Roasted Meatballs in Mushroom Sauce

Prepare the mushroom sauce: Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat.

Add onion; sauté for 5-7 minutes or until it starts to brown. Add mushrooms; sauté for an additional 10 minutes.

Add potato starch, mixing well to combine. Add stock, salt, and pepper.

Bring to a simmer to thicken. Pour sauce over meatballs before serving.

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Yields 6 servings / Pareve

The concept of a meal in a bowl is quite the trend right now; however, this is something I have been doing for years. I love when flavors are mixed together and make a delicious concoction. The components for this dish can easily be served separately or together in a bowl, the way I eat it. The dressing on its own is so good, I like to make it even if I am not planning on making this dish.

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Blackened Fish Bowl

INGREDIENTS » 6 flounder fillets » 2 Tbsp oil » lettuce leaves or shredded lettuce » 2 avocados, diced » 1 bag shredded red cabbage » ½ pint grape tomatoes, halved, or 3 Roma tomatoes, diced » 3 cucumbers, sliced » 1 lime Blackening Seasoning » 2 Tbsp paprika » 1 tsp cayenne pepper (or less if you don’t like it spicy) » ½ tsp black pepper » 1 tsp dried thyme » 1 Tbsp garlic powder » 1 Tbsp onion powder » 1 tsp kosher salt Creamy Herb Dressing » ½ bunch cilantro » ½ bunch parsley » 1 cup mayonnaise » 2 scallions, sliced » 2 garlic cloves » juice of 1 lime (about 1½ Tbsp) » ¼ cup olive oil » 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar » ½ tsp kosher salt » ¼ tsp black pepper

PREPARATION For the blackening seasoning: Combine all the spices in a small bowl.

Pat fish dry. Rub blackening seasoning onto both sides of fish.

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Pan-fry fish, approximately 4 minutes per side, until

the flesh is white and opaque.

For the dressing: Place all dressing ingredients into a food processor fitted with the “S” blade. Process until smooth and creamy.

To assemble: Place lettuce into a

bowl; arrange avocado, cabbage, and tomatoes around the bowl. Top with fish. Alternatively, serve the components separately or bar style.

You can use this blackening seasoning on any fish of your choice. You can also use any vegetables or additions that you prefer.

I tried baking the fish; it comes out good, but you don’t get that delicious black sear. I certainly prefer stovetop but when I’m pressed for time or making a large batch, I will make it in the oven. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through.

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Yields 4-6 servings / Meat / Freezer Friendly

“Make schwarma,” my brother-in-law said when we were all sitting around one Motza’ei Yom Tov and debating our Chol HaMoed menu. “Uhm, it’s Pesach?

How am I supposed to make it without schwarma spice?!” He motioned with his hands and said, “Faigy, do your magic.

I’m sure it’ll be delicious!”

And so “Pesach schwarma” became a thing!

Schwarma

INGREDIENTS » 2 lb chicken cutlets, cut into tiny pieces » 2 medium yellow onions, cut into strips » 4 Tbsp oil » 5-6 garlic cloves » 2 Tbsp wine » 1 Tbsp smoked or regular paprika » 2 tsp kosher salt » 1 tsp black pepper PREPARATION Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat. Add onions; sauté for a very long time (about 30 minutes). You want the onions to slowly caramelize. Add garlic after 20 minutes.

Add chicken; do not stir for about 5 minutes to give the chicken a nice brown coating. (Constantly mixing it will just steam it.)

After 5 minutes, give the chicken a stir. Add wine, paprika, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

I like to serve the schwarma with my Homemade Fries (page 190) and cut up vegetables, as pictured.

I also sautéed diced eggplant in oil to create a fried eggplant dish.

You can easily make this in advance and freeze it.

Reprinted with permission from My Pesach Kitchen by Faigy Murray, ArtScroll/Mesorah.

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In The K

tchen

Rocky Road Fudge Pareve - Yields 18 pieces - Freezer friendly

By Naomi Nachman

Chana Hersh, from Sydney, Australia, another great friend of my mum, makes this Rocky Road Fudge, and I love it. I told her I wouldn’t leave Sydney without her recipe!

She was kind enough to share it with me, and I’ve added some American touches to

b1 (10-oz.) bag chocolate chips b1½ cups mini marshmallows b1 cup salted and shelled pistachio nuts

IR IA M PA SC

b½ cup nondairy whip topping, not whipped

PHOT O BY M

Ingredients

AL

her Australian recipe.

Preparation 1.

Line 1 (8-inch) square pan with parchment paper, cutting the paper large enough to overhangs the sides.

2. Combine whip and chocolate in a small pot. Cook, over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

3. Remove from heat; stir in marshmallows and nuts. Pour into prepared pan and refrigerate for a few hours, until firm.

4.

Remove from fridge and cut into small squares.

Cook’s Tip: 1. This is a very rich candy, so don’t cut the pieces too big! 2. Use any variety of fillings such as dried fruit, cereal, and coconut that you and your family enjoy.

Recipe from Perfect For Pesach by Naomi Nachman published by ArtScroll, Mesorah

Naomi Nachman, the owner of The Aussie Gourmet, caters weekly and Shabbat/ Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighboring communities, with a specialty in Pesach catering. Naomi is a contributing editor to this paper and also produces and hosts her own weekly radio show on the Nachum Segal Network stream called “A Table for Two with Naomi Nachman.” Naomi gives cooking presentations for organizations and private groups throughout the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area. In addition, Naomi has been a guest host on the QVC TV network and has been featured in cookbooks, magazines as well as other media covering topics related to cuisine preparation and personal chefs. To obtain additional recipes, join The Aussie Gourmet on Facebook or visit Naomi’s blog. Naomi can be reached through her website, www.theaussiegourmet.com or at (516) 295-9669.

the best summer! scientifically

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Notable Quotes “Say What?!”

This is how Trump gets reelected, by the way – cancel Dr. Seuss, cancel Abe Lincoln… That is his path to victory the next time around.

- Jimmy Kimmel

I’m embarrassed. I wear a pin that says pride, integrity, performance. That’s what it says on the pin.

- Gov. Andrew Cuomo, while issuing his non-apology apology for harassing women, stating that he is embarrassed that he didn’t live up to the ethical standards of his lapel pin, which is, seemingly, his ethical guide

I do not like your mental haze, I do not like your leftist ways. I do not like your son on blow. I do not like you Mr. Joe. “I couldn’t even meet my friends for lunch!” wailed the Duchess of Delusion, who flew to New York for a $500,000 baby shower with all her new-found celebrity pals, then flew back to London like any good eco-warrior on George Clooney’s carbon footprint guzzling private jet. …

But make no mistake, this interview will be a triumph for Meghan in America. Her narrative of a poor, vulnerable, unsuspecting bi-racial woman thrown to the wolves by a white, racist Royal Family and racist British press is already being heralded as “courageous” and “brave” and “iconic” across the United States.

She’s got exactly what she wants: her homeland feeling sorry for her.

- Piers Morgan, The Daily Mail

I want to thank the..the ah…former general… I keep calling him general…my my, the guy who runs that outfit over there.

- Pres. Biden at a White House presentation thanking Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who heads the Pentagon

- Tweet by Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) using a Dr. Seuss rhyme parody to attack President Biden

Yeah, I probably should go to yeshiva.

- Line from a new song by rapper Drake, who is Jewish

Finally I said, OK .- Joy Morrow-Nulton, of Hudson, NY, telling CBS News that after a year of dating John Shults, she finally agreed to marry him. Both are 94 years old.

GREATEST RADIO HOST OF ALL TIME - What is written in the occupation section of Rush Limbaugh’s death certificate

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I am the voice of Speedy Gonzales in the new Space Jam. Does this mean they are gonna try to cancel Fluffy, too? U can’t catch me cancel culture. I’m the fastest mouse in all of Mexico.

- Tweet by actor Gabriel Iglesias responding to an op-ed in The New York Times by Charles Blow calling for the cancellation of cartoon character Speedy Gonzales because it reinforces stereotypes about Mexicans

On the left, liberalism is under siege by a new, illiberal orthodoxy that has taken root all around, including in the very institutions meant to uphold the liberal order. And cancellation is this ideology’s most effective weapon. It uses cancellation the way ancient societies used witch burnings: to strike fear into the hearts of everyone watching. The point is the assertion of power. By showing the rest of us that we could be next, it compels us to conform and obey, either by remaining silent, or, perhaps, offering up our own kindling.

- Bari Weiss, who quit The New York Times because of its woke culture, in an article titled, “The self-silencing majority”

Like the Salem witch trials and the McCarthyite hysteria, when wokism fades, we are likely to see its real catalysts revealed. And they will not be found to be misplaced idealism, nor heartfelt desire for a more ecumenical society, but mostly the age-old, narcissistic destructive road to career enhancement, fueled by customary ancient fears, envies, and hatreds.

Mein Kampf - Book written by the world’s worst murderer in history Hitler, ym”sh, which is available on eBay

The Cat’s Quizzer And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street If I Ran the Zoo McElligot’s Pool Scrambled Eggs Super!

On Beyond Zebra!

– Books written by adored children’s author Dr. Seuss which are being removed from eBay because they have been deemed culturally insensitive

- Victor Davis Hanson, in an American Spectator article, “Hitting Woke Herd Immunity?”

I have great respect for the Royals, and I don’t think the British royal family are racist at all. I don’t think the British are racist. I think Los Angeles is racist, California is a racist, but I don’t think the Brits are.

-Thomas Markle, Meghan Markle’s father, who is estranged from his daughter, in a TV interview, responding to his daughter’s allegation of racism in the Royal family

MORE QUOTES

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Meghan said that at one point things got so bad, she went to H.R. at Buckingham Palace for help and they refused to help. It’s funny that the royal palace has H.R. and it’s just as unhelpful as H.R. everyplace else.

— Jimmy Kimmel

Hold up, you’re saying Buckingham Palace has H.R.? How long has that been around?

Because you would think someone in Human Resources might have stepped in to tell Henry VIII that chopping off your wife’s head could be interpreted as a hostile work environment.

— Stephen Colbert

Well, guys, I have some news to make people feel a little better, and that is the royal family is just as messed up as everyone else’s.

— Jimmy Fallon

Britain’s Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle sat down for an interview last night with Oprah Winfrey, or as British tabloids reported it, “Harry’s kidnapper speaks.”

— Seth Meyers

Yeah, it was a big event, mainly because they revealed the baby’s gender in California without burning down an entire forest.

— Jimmy Fallon

They also told Oprah they’ve been cut off financially. Oprah was like, “Sorry, I already gave out all my cars — I can’t help you.”

— Jimmy Kimmel

The ratings were so big, ABC just offered the couple their own weekly show called “Royal-ish.”

— Jimmy Fallon

I was trapped but I didn’t know I was trapped. Like the rest of my family are, my father and my brother, they are trapped. They don’t get to leave, and I have huge compassion for that. For the family, they very much have this mentality of: “This is just how it is. This is how it’s meant to be. You can’t change it. We’ve all been through it.” What was different for me was the race element, because now it wasn’t just about her. It was about what she represented.

– Prince Harry, in an interview with Oprah that aired in the U.S. on Sunday

So…any criticism of Meghan or – Oprah (G-d forbid!) – is not allowed bc…it’s racist? Well, too bad. Unlike the paternalistic wokesters trying to protect this famous millionaire/billionaire pair (who chose to go on TV), I see them as fully capable of taking a few barbs. Grow up.

– Megyn Kelly responding to those who took umbrage with her criticizing Meghan Markle and Oprah

Cry me a river...the plight of being a game show host, fairly unknown actress, to suffering in a palace, with tiaras and 7-figure weddings for TWO WHOLE YEARS to being a household name w @Oprah on speed dial, fetching 7m for interviews, hundreds of millions in media deals - Tweet by a Hollywood celebrity

I watched M & H sit down. Emotional distress & racism must feel suffocating & powerless. I’m a polarizing, unfiltered (often to a fault) flawed person w a voice. When I heard of the interview, during a pandemic, it felt like a surprising choice. I’m sorry if it hurt or offended you.

- Follow-up apology by the same Hollywood celebrity, whose spine must be made of dominoes, after she faced criticism for her honesty

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Political Crossfire

A Quiet U.S. Mobilization Against China

By David Ignatius

T

his week’s report by a bipartisan commission on artificial intelligence is an early sign of what could become a major shift in America’s economic strategy: Without much public debate, the United States is moving toward what amounts to a U.S. version of industrial policy to compete with China on technology.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., one of the commission’s chief sponsors, put the new vision succinctly in a December 2019 speech. He said it was time to recognize “the perils of free-market fundamentalism” in dealing with China and instead embrace “a 21st-century pro-American industrial policy.” That revisionist thinking now animates the Biden administration, senior members of Congress, and some leading technology executives.

Like some other big paradigm shifts, this one has become obvious only as it began to displace the old laissez-faire approach to China. Behind the scenes, there’s broad congressional support for the activist stance in both parties: Nineteen of the commission’s recommendations were quietly inserted in the defense authorization act passed in January, including what could be billions of dollars in spending for new semiconductor fabrication plants in the United States.

The changes that artificial intelligence will bring to everything that touches digital technology dazzle even the most buttoned-down ex-

perts in the field. That’s why members of the commission and others close to this issue are so agitated about the need for radically increased U.S. efforts: They literally think our future is at stake, militarily, economically and even politically.

What’s driving the move toward government-directed investment in technology is a fear that China’s socalled civil-military fusion will overwhelm American effort, unless it’s matched. Eric Schmidt, the former Google chief executive who chaired the commission, argued in congressional testimony last month that “the threat of Chinese leadership in key technology areas is a national crisis.” Instead of leaving solutions to private companies, he urged, “we will need a hybrid approach that more tightly aligns government and private-sector efforts to win.”

The commission’s recommendations are important because the panel included many tech luminaries, such as Safra Catz, chief executive of Oracle; Eric Horvitz, chief scientific officer of Microsoft; Andy Jassy, the founder of Amazon Web Services who will become Amazon’s chief executive this year; and Andrew Moore, head of Google’s Cloud Artificial Intelligence unit. The report recommended that, by 2026, nationally funded AI research and development spending should total $32 billion.

The government’s role in funding breakthrough technologies has been obvious in the past. The most obvi-

ous example is the Manhattan Project’s development of nuclear weapons. Government money also drove the space program, developed the internet, and built the infrastructure for national and global commerce.

Government intervention became anathema during the tech and financial booms of recent decades, but the pendulum seems to have swung.

The scale of the proposed mobilization isn’t another Manhattan Project, but it’s similar. The commission recommends a new technology competitiveness council chaired by the vice president; a steering committee on emerging technology to drive change at the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies; and major changes in immigration and education policies to address what the commission calls “an alarming talent deficit” with China.

The Biden administration embraces the thrust of the commission’s report but disagrees on some details. The White House would prefer to channel the new initiatives through the existing interagency structure of the National Security Council and the National Economic Council, rather than create an additional council. But the administration supports many specific policy recommendations in the commission’s 756-page report.

“This is the kind of bipartisan support we hope can drive new investment” in AI and other emerging technologies, said a senior administration official. One sign of White

House alignment is that Jason Matheny, a member of the 15-person panel, is expected to be appointed deputy director of Biden’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The Biden administration also shares the commission’s enthusiasm for what the report calls “a coalition of like-minded” nations to advance the development and use of AI and emerging technologies “that comports with democratic values.” But because some European and Asian allies have recently expressed anxiety about joining an explicit alliance of “techno-democracies” against China, this coalition is likely to operate through existing structures, such as the Group of Seven; the “Quad” security partnership of India, Japan, Australia and the United States; and bilateral relations with the European Union and its member countries.

The trick will be keeping the U.S. economy open enough that it continues to draw the world’s most talented people, even as officials move to protect America’s lead in key technologies.

The industrial policy the AI commission recommends could unlock talent and innovation. But if officials aren’t careful, government intervention could also afflict our best companies with the dead weight and dysfunction of our broken political system. We need government to spawn brainpower, not bureaucracy.

(c) 2021, Washington Post Writers Group

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Political Crossfire

Manchin Promised to Back His “Republican Friends”

By Marc A. Thiessen

O

n February 2, after 10 Senate Republicans went to the White House and offered President Joe Biden a path to a bipartisan filibuster-proof Covid relief bill, Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., publicly backed their effort. Speaking to Fox News’ Bret Baier, Manchin declared: “I have made it very clear…

We’re going to make this work in a bipartisan way. My friends on the other side are going to have input. And we’re going to do something that we agree on. I’m not just going to do it just down the lines of, just saying party-line vote.” He further told MSNBC, “If [Democrats] think that they’re going to…-just shove it down people’s throats, that’s not going to happen.”

Well, that is precisely what happened. Biden rebuffed an offer from Republicans to negotiate a compromise bill, and Senate Democrats jammed his $1.9 trillion spending plan down people’s throats on a party-line vote, using the budget reconciliation process that requires only a simple majority to pass. And Manchin provided the deciding vote that let them do it.

The lesson for conservatives is clear: Manchin is not going to save us. He’s from West Virginia, one of the reddest states in the country, so he needs to make a show of standing up to his party. But a show is all that it is. When Manchin announced he would oppose Biden’s nomination of Neera Tanden to run the Office of Management and Budget, some saw it as a sign of his willingness to buck his party. In fact, it was nothing more than political cover for his coming capitulation on his party’s $1.9 trillion miasma of special-interest spending.

To provide further cover, Manchin

voted (along with seven other Democrats) against an effort by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to eviscerate the Byrd rule and include a minimum-wage increase in the budget reconciliation bill. He voted for Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman’s amendment to

climate and infrastructure spending bill. Once again, he is talking tough for his constituents back home. “I’m not going to do it through reconciliation,” as with the Covid spending bill, Manchin told Axios’s Mike Allen.

“I am not going to get on a bill that

He voted with his party to run roughshod over the Republican minority. continue unemployment benefits at the current level (before flip-flopping and voting with the Democratic leadership to wipe out the very provision for which he had just voted). But in the end, he voted with his party to run roughshod over the Republican minority and pass one of the largest government spending bills in history on a partisan basis – exactly what he had promised not to do.

Already, Manchin is signaling that he will do the same on Biden’s next big priority – a $2 trillion to $4 trillion

cuts [Republicans] out completely before we start” (emphasis added). The message to the White House is clear: Make a pretense of actually negotiating this time, but in the end, I’ll be with you.

That’s not all. Manchin has said he will “never” provide Democrats with the deciding vote they need to eliminate the legislative filibuster. Just last week, when a reporter asked if setbacks to Biden’s agenda would cause him to reconsider, he replied: “What don’t you understand about

‘never’?” But now, all of a sudden, Manchin says he is open to reforming the filibuster. On “Meet the Press” on Sunday, he said, “Now if you want to make it a little bit more painful, make him stand there and talk, I’m willing to look at any way we can” do that.

This makes no sense. The Senate eliminated the “talking filibuster” to help the majority party, not the minority. Republicans would have no trouble sustaining a talking filibuster, and unlike with the current system, no other Senate business – confirmation votes, other legislation, etc. – could proceed. Returning to a talking filibuster would make filibusters more effective, not less. More likely, Democrats will try to “reform” the filibuster by exempting legislation Biden wants to pass and Republicans want to block (such as granting statehood to the District of Columbia), or creating a process to overturn Supreme Court decisions by simple majority, hollowing out the filibuster until it is all but meaningless. Based on his Covid relief capitulation, Republicans should not count on Manchin to stop them.

For a short time, it looked as though this was Manchin’s Senate.

It looked as though he was someone who would stand by his commitments to those he calls his “Republican friends” and that there was hope the bipartisan group that he started with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to pass bipartisan Covid relief during the Trump administration had a future under Biden. But it’s now clear: Manchin and the other so-called moderate Democrats are only interested in unity and compromise when Republicans are in power. When Democrats are in power, power rules. (c) 2021, Washington Post Writers Group

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Mind Y

ur Business

Rabbi Issamar Ginzberg: “Solve Pain Points in the Marketplace”

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 Rabbi Issamar Ginzberg (IG), a well-known business strategist.

*** YS: Let’s jump in with a particular challenge that has crossed your desk along with the solution that you brought to the table.

IG: The goal when you start a business is not to make money. I know that sounds shocking – even in this period where coronavirus is concerned. Maybe your goal is to keep your clients happy or to generate new business. And then once these things pass, and they will pass, hopefully sooner rather than later, then at that point, your goal is to take advantage of the work you’ve done until now and to try to make money.

For example, instead of ordering a container from China and waiting for three months for it to arrive, if you ordered a smaller amount of goods and have it shipped by air –

which will eat into your profit – ultimately, you’d be able to sell goods at cost or slightly more than cost, which would certainly be good. And instead of losing business – instead of risking a large amount of money for something that may end up not working out – what you end up doing first is that you have some amount of goods that you can sell further, develop a loyal client base, and then once you have the base, the next step is to figure out, OK, how do I make money off these clients? Do I now order a container from China? Do I source from someplace else?

But especially if you’re starting and trying to build a brand and so on and so forth, instead of trying to make money, try to find customers and eventually figure out how to make money as the next step as opposed to from the get-go.

There are many times when someone approaches us here at Bottom Line, and they have what we’ll call a seed that they could plant in the ground. It’s a great concept, but it’s a raw concept. It needs to be fleshed out. It needs to be thought through and it needs to be chal-

lenged as well. What happens when someone approaches you with an idea that they’ve thought of for perhaps months or years. What’s the approach that you take?

First of all, everyone thinks, as it should be, that their idea is the greatest thing since sliced bread, if not the wheel. You want to validate their idea that it’s a good one, assuming it actually isn’t the worst you’ve ever heard. But you want to gently guide them to a version of their idea that can actually work.

Sometimes the idea itself, as is, can work, as any famous entrepreneur can attest to from their initial idea to their initial startup to how they pivoted over the years, how they got to a level of success. But it took a lot of work. It wasn’t just the initial idea – boom and we’re done. It was actually massaging that idea, finessing that idea, and making that idea into something viable.

So, when someone comes to me with an idea, first thing I want to know after I hear the idea is why they want to do this idea. Do they want to because they think it’s a good, profitable idea or if they had tons of money would they do this

idea because they think it’s something that people will find value in and they want to do it? The point is, if you had tons of money and you thought this was a good idea, would you be developing this idea even if it wouldn’t make you a penny just to make society a better place?

When someone comes with an idea, what you’re really trying to first figure out is where’s this idea coming from. Do they think it’s a trillion-dollar idea or do they think it’s an idea that’s going to change the world and hopefully they are also going to make money doing it?

Of course, we’re going to say the obvious: that a company exists and has to generate revenue to be financially viable. True. But really, a company exists to solve a pain point in the marketplace. The company exists in order to provide some type of service or product that doesn’t exist.

Or maybe your product or service can be done in a way that provides a better level of service than the previous one. But if you just say, I’m launching this because it’s going to make a ton of money, and then you don’t follow all the mile markers properly and wind up putting out a second-rate product or cutting

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

corners simply because you want to make money, that’s definitely not a recipe for long term success.

Let’s say you’re going to be giving strategic direction to a company that wants to be out there and build this great organization. But they say to themselves: Listen, why do I need a consultant? At the end of the day, I have the idea. I have a vision for it. What do I gain? Why should I spend ultimately five, ten thousand dollars with a consultant when I have the idea already in my head?

First of all, there are many people who have opened businesses successfully, and they’ve done the grind and they’ve spent 20 years making a business go from zero to hero, really building a very successful business.

And for some unusual reason, when the next business opportunity comes along, when they’re doing something new, they come to me. One particular example I’m thinking of is with a very wealthy man who is putting his son into business. He doesn’t want to have his son come into his business; his son is starting his own business. The father is helping him out. The father says, “When I started, I didn’t have the money to hire a consultant, somebody to guide me, somebody to be my partner without having to split the money with them.

I need you to be in my ear and guide me properly. I don’t want you to have to sweat through what I sweated through.”

Perhaps now we can move to a very important topic, and that is managing expectations. At the end of the day, every company exists to solve a pain point in the marketplace. And, of course, you know, it has to turn a profit in order to be successful. Yet, at the same time, companies don’t become great success stories overnight.

What’s your advice to companies out there on how they have to be realistic on managing expectations?

When your client pays you, they have a specific vision in their head,

a specific picture or a specific video playing in their head. They say, “I’m paying this in exchange for this.” I’m going to be receiving something in exchange. The more you can paint that picture for your clients fairly and properly of what they’re going to receive, the happier they will be with what they purchased.

As an example, I fly a lot, or at least I did until recently. When you go on an airplane and you buy a ticket, you have an expectation of what you’re going to receive for this amount of money when you’re flying a short hop in Europe from one place to another, and you can’t take any luggage and you can’t even pick a seat without paying extra. But ultimately, you know that this airline for this amount of money is going to give me nothing except they’re going to help me get from point A to point B. I can usually know I’m on the local airlines, for example, when you get to the destination airport, you’re probably going to have to get off the plane on stairs and take a bus to the airport. So essentially, you know, you’re paying the low price. You’re getting a very basic service, and that’s fine.

But when I’m paying for a full-service flight, I expect them to have some kosher food served to me on the plane.

The managing expectations is something that I think is discussed in concept a whole lot. But essentially, if your customer is paying you a certain amount of money and then you over-deliver, what does over-delivery mean? If I’m flying on a local airline and they pull up till the airport and they have a sleeve connecting the plane to the airport, I’m so happy. I’m so excited in the sense that I feel I got even more value than I was expecting, which means they over-delivered.

Every business has to think about this. How much is my customer paying me? What do they think they’re getting for that money? Do they leave disappointed or do they leave basically happy or leave super-excited happy?

Rabbi, the time flies when we do a show, especially with a great guest like you. We have

only approximately two and a half minutes left. Whether it’s a business, whether it’s a non-profit, or someone out there who is ambitious and wants to be successful – what’s a final takeaway that you could share with them?

I know this may sound cliche, but people wait for the perfect idea or the perfect opportunity to launch.

For example, I had a lifelong dream of having my own synagogue, essentially my own community synagogue. And I opened my synagogue here in Jerusalem three weeks before the coronavirus essentially shut down the entire world and here in Israel, as well as many other places, synagogues as well.

There never will be the perfect time to do something because there’s always different things going on in the world or locally or with your potential clients or other people having all kinds of plans, which you know nothing about which may affect your

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potential idea or business. People know from their past experiences in business or lack of experience in the business that they sort of get frozen and unable to move. You just have to take what you got and take the best shot using the amount of information you were able to put together.

Do what you honestly feel is the right thing to do and just go for it.

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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Forgotten Her es

Cloaks & Daggers

By Avi Heiligman

S

pies have intrigued people for millennium. From the spies in the times of the Moshe Rabbeinu to modern day high-tech super spies, there have always been special tools employed by spies. These gadgets make their operations go smoother and include some really interesting items that are worthy of discussion. During World War II, both the United States and Great Britain had special intelligence sections work on outfitting spies with the latest contraptions and instruments to ensure success behind enemy lines.

One of the skills spies, aircrew members and many other military personnel are taught is escape and evasion. If caught and held in enemy prisons, packages could sometimes be brought to a spy or soldier. Other times, the soldier or spy would find themselves in a predicament from which they needed to evacuate immediately. Ingenious ways to hide essential items were used, and this is evident in the way escape maps were obtained. Maps of the area of operation were also hidden in the spy’s clothing in case he or she felt the need for escape and evasion. During World War II, the Allies produced millions of maps on cloths such as silk and thin paper. These could be hidden inside flat items like Monopoly boards that were then sent to prison camps undetected by the Nazis and Japanese.

Secret compartments in places like gameboards, matchboxes, coins and buttons were ideal for hiding things that would be useful behind enemy lines. Microfilm could be hidden in hollowed-out coat buttons.

This method was ingenious because if caught, Gestapo agents would turn the button looking for anything concealed. What they didn’t expect was that the OSS personnel would sew the button on using a left-hander.

This way, the Nazis would only tighten the button if it was twisted.

The British officer from the MI9 office that was responsible for a lot of the equipment that helped tens of thousands of Allied personnel evade the enemy was Christopher “Clutty” Hutton. Using spy books from previous wars, Hutton was the mastermind behind the use of silk maps.

Collaborating with a silk manufacturer who had written a book on prison escapes in World War I, Hutton got to work. He located a mapmaking company who waived their copyrights and let him produce their maps with cartographic data for the war effort. To prevent the ink from blurring, pectin was added, and to increase usefulness, both sides of the silk was used. The advantage of using silk was that the maps didn’t rustle or get torn when crammed inside small spaces like hollowed-out pencils. Maps were also produced on other fibers, tissue paper, handkerchiefs, and a card deck that had 52 pieces of the map hidden inside.

The deck was a 52-piece puzzle that, when put together, formed a map of Germany.

In addition to his maps, Hutton also put compasses into buttons and cufflinks, placed rations into cigar boxes, and created a cigarette holder that doubled as a mini telescope.

Paper clips were magnetized with a simple on-the-balance point that allowed it to be used as a compass.

His escape boxes were flown into occupied countries and were used on countless occasions.

The OSS, the precursor to the CIA, also was heavily involved in manufacturing escape tools. Their maps weren’t as famous as their British counterparts, but they were known for gadgets like pens that concealed knives, spy cameras, and explosive devices like limpet mines and flash bang grenades.

Explosives were often needed by spies for sabotage, and the OSS found ingenious hiding places. Water canteens with false bottoms were

produced to hold explosives as were hollowed out limps of coal.

Spies needed a cover story, and the OSS had a department to outfit them with a cover identity down to the minutest details. They went to great lengths to forge German papers that would allow their operatives to access different parts of occupied Europe.

The pen pistol was a onetime-use mechanism. Hiding a knife in a pen saved the life of at least one OSS agent. The story goes that the agent was captured and was sitting with his hands tied next to a Gestapo officer in the backseat of a vehicle. The driver stopped for minute at the side of a lonely road to go about his business while the Nazi in the back dozed off. The OSS agent had been searched earlier but the pen that had been in his pocket was not taken away as there was no reason to suspect that it contained a hidden knife. He carefully maneuvered his hands and removed the knife. Quickly, he cut the ropes binding his hands and slit the neck of the Gestapo officer. While he was running towards the nearby woods, he was shot at and hit in the leg. However, that did not stop him, and he made his way to freedom.

Inventors in the United States and Great Britain were given the green light to come up with as many useful tools and gadgets that would be helpful to those behind enemy lines. While some of the ideas like miniature blowpipe and darts were dropped, others like the biscuit tin radio were sent into occupied territories. These items increased the productivity and lifespan of a mission and saved the lives of countless operatives and soldiers.

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.

A map hidden inside a deck of cards

The OSS Stinger Pen Gun

A compass hidden inside a button

Christopher Clutty Hutton, the man behind the spyware

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

PLANNING IS YOUR STABILITY IN TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY

125 ‫בס״ד‬

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Your

Money

Your Pesach Finances Mesila Addresses a Common Question

Q:

Ordinarily, my income is sufficient to cover my family’s needs. But when Pesach approaches, we experience a severe financial crunch. The money just seems to fly out the window. There’s extra cleaning help, going out to eat, and babysitting or entertainment during all the days when the children are off from school. Then, there are the costs of matzah, wine, meat, and other Pesach products. And, of course, let’s not forget clothing and shoes for the whole family.

On top of all that, I lose a great deal of time from work during Nissan, so my income during that month is much lower. I cannot help but dread this time of year, since I know that I will end up with an empty or overdrawn bank account and a credit card bill that will take me months to repay.

There are numerous local organizations that distribute money, matzah, and even clothing and shoes before Pesach. Some offer their assistance to anyone, not only to “charity cases.” I am strongly considering approaching these organizations for assistance this year, but I wanted to hear Mesila’s view on the matter.

W

hen making Pesach, it is critically important to maintain a clear perspective of what this time of year is all about. Pesach is a time of the collective rebirth of the Jewish people. It is a time of spiritual rejuvenation and renewal for every individual as well.

If we view Pesach as a burden – financial or otherwise – then the season of freedom turns into the season of bondage. It’s true that Pesach involves a great deal of work and expense, but there are things we can do to prevent ourselves from becoming overwhelmed.

You say that you dread the Pesach season. Do you dread paying income tax? If you are an employee, your income tax is probably deducted off your monthly paycheck, without you ever having to take the money out of pocket. So when tax season rolls around, you should have nothing to fear.

If you approach Pesach expenses in the same way, you will not need to dread Pesach.

You know when Pesach is coming.

You know that your income is less during Nissan and that your expenses are high. Don’t just sit back passively and “dread” the terrible financial crunch. Be proactive!

Make a yearly budget that includes your Pesach expenses, the same way it includes your tuition and medical

When people are frazzled, they tend to make impulse purchases and spend much more money than they would have if they were not under stress.

insurance. Then put aside money every month for Nissan. This way, when Nissan rolls around, you will not have to panic. You will be able to make Pesach without going into debt.

Some pre-Pesach expenses are avoidable. By keeping a record from year to year of the actual quantities you use during Pesach, you can ensure that you do not buy too much

very expensive shemurah matzah or get stuck with boxes of macaroons that no one will touch after the chag.

By preparing a comprehensive shopping list, you can save yourself the time and expense of multiple trips to the corner grocery.

And by taking inventory of everything in your freezer and pantry several weeks before Pesach, you can

plan meals that will use up many items you might otherwise have to burn on erev Pesach. This also reduces the need for expensive meals out.

One of the keys to keeping yom tov costs to a minimum is ensuring that everyone in the family maintains their peace of mind. When people are frazzled, they tend to make impulse purchases and spend much more money than they would have if they were not under stress.

If, despite your best efforts, you still cannot cover your Pesach expenditures, then you have two options: The first, and much preferred option, is to simply scale back your yom tov. Making a more modest yom tov does not require you or your family to have a miserable yom tov. It does, however, require you to do without some of the things you would have liked to have for yom tov.

Last year, in the shadow of Corona, when many were unable to do their usual large-scale Pesach clothing – and even food – shopping, we all had a chance to see that it is possible to break out of old spending habits, tone down, and still enjoy a beautiful and perhaps even more meaningful yom tov. We should carry that insight with us even now, as life slowly returns to “normal.”

If you are working with limited means, you should discuss with your rav exactly how to fulfill the mitzvah

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

On Motzei Pesach, Plan Ahead!

How much did we really use? How much do we need to buy for next year?

Summary of Pesach (year) _______________ No. of people: Children __________

Babies ________________

No. of meals prepared for Shabbos and Yom Tov _____________ Light meals for Chol Hamoed ______________ Guests ______________

House was ready for Pesach on (date) __________

We were hosted for ________ meals

We traveled to: ____________________________

First day of Pesach was on (day of the week) ______________ Remember for next year: _____________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________

Products saved for next year Product remaining

Unused amounts left from Purchases Amount

Product remaining

Amount

Additional shopping to be done for next Pesach: ___________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________

127 25 25

of simchas yom tov. Then, together with your wife and perhaps your children, you should create a Pesach budget and establish a list of priorities. What is more important to your wife – extra cleaning help or a new dress? Would the children prefer to get afikoman presents or go on a family chol hamoed outing? And so on.

The second option is to accept the assistance of the tzedakah organizations you mentioned. Before you decide to do this, you have to ask yourself, and your rav, if you qualify to be on the receiving end of tzedakah. And make no mistake about it – any distribution of money, food or clothing is tzedakah. Even if the distributors claim that they are offering their assistance to anyone, they are saying this to protect the dignity of their recipients.

When deciding whether to approach organizations for assistance, take into account that there is a limited amount of assistance available, and if you accept such assistance, another needy person will possibly be denied it. That does not mean that you should not take the help, if you need it. All it means is that the decision to accept charity funds is not one that should be taken lightly. Note, however, that it is better to accept tzedakah than to borrow money that you have no way of repaying.

Encouraging people who could manage on their own, with some effort, to accept contributions and rely on others is not true chessed. Mesila’s goal is to give people the tools to support themselves without having to resort to charity or loans. This way, they can release themselves from the vicious cycle of poverty and debt and achieve financial freedom.

May we all be zocheh to enjoy Pesach in the true spirit of freedom.

Mesila is an international organization dedicated to empowering people to achieve and maintain long-term financial independence. Mesila accomplishes this goal both by coaching families and businesses to attain financial stability and by instilling healthy financial attitudes and practices in youths and adults through financial literacy education programs in schools and workshops/ seminars/webinars in the community. info@mesilausa. org 212-784-6790 www.Mesila.org

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Never used kosher kitchen , 2 bedrooms , LR/DR central air /heat ,full bathroom washer/dryer $2000 a month Call/text Yitzi (929) 225-3616

VACATION IN JERUSALEM: Beautiful 3 bedroom apartment with porch and view available for short term in the Kaduri – Jerusalem Heights project on the 8th floor.

Shisha Realty 718-408-8070 vacation@shisharealty.com

CAHAL is seeking Special Education Rebbeim, Teachers and Assistants for the 2021-22 school year. Send resume to shira@cahal. org or call 516-295-3666

WOODMERE: BEST BUY Spacious 2BR Apartment, Washer/Dryer In Bldg, Elevator Bldg, Open Floor Plan, 1st Floor, Close To All...$199K Call Carol Braunstein (516) 295-3000

YESHIVA KETANA OF QUEENS is looking for Junior High Teachers for English and Social Studies. Mon.-Thurs. 2:30-5:30.

Warm environment, good salary.

Please call 917-742-8909 or email resume to rlswia@aol.com

VACATION RENTALS

Downtown Manhattan CPA firm seeking office manager/ bookkeeper.

Must be proficient in excel, have strong typing skills and be able to multitask.

Accounting background preferred. Send resume to officemgr613@gmail.com

INWOOD OFFICE SPACE LOWEST PRICES IN TOWN! 500-7000 Square feet gorgeous office space with WATERVIEW in Inwood! Lots of options.

Tons of parking.

Will divide and customize space for your needs! Call 516-567-0100 EAST ROCKAWAY: Retail Stores on Busy Corner, 1000SF& Up Available, Great High Visibility Location, For Lease…

Call for More Details Broker (516) 792-6698

VACATION IN JERUSALEM: Beautiful Short-term rentals in Jerusalem (Sharei Chesed, Romema, Hanevi'im – City Center) Contact today for great service: Shisha Realty 718-408-8070 vacation@shisharealty.com

HELP WANTED

JOBOFF: Local school looking to hire a qualified administrative assistant. Job responsibilities include data entry, database management, assisting the administrator in his daily tasks, donor relations, campaign management and creativity.

Proficiency in Microsoft office required.

Enjoyable working environment, personal, sick, vacation days offered, Yom Tovim and certain legal holidays off. Salary commensurate with experience.

Please email resume to admin@shoryoshuv.org

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

 LICENSED NYS PYSCHOLOGISTS WANTED ä Competitive Fee-For-Service Salary ä Flexible Part-Time Hours at Multiple Locations ä Supplement Your Private Practice Income ä Early Career Psychologists Welcome Email CV to: Benzaquen Psychological Services, PLLC @ thepsychgroup@optonline.net

CAMP GROUNDS AVAILABLE • 1½ ACRES FULL SIZE GYM • CLASSROOMS • 80 CAR PARKING LOT

AT NEW ORTHODOX SHUL IN NASSAU COUNTY

NEXT DOOR TO BEAUTIFUL 97 ACRE PARK

CLOSE TO BROOKLYN, QUEENS, FAR ROCKAWAY & FIVE TOWNS

Call 646-973-1382 • PropertyNassau@gmail.com

Bnos Malka Academy is seeking the following positions for the upcoming 2021-22 school year.

• Kodesh teachers • Resource room teachers • General studies (lower grades) • Middle school science • Middle school math • Middle school ELA • Assistant teachers for the preschool and grades 1-4 Candidates should be warm, energetic, and firmly believe that every child can succeed.

General studies teachers must have teaching certification or a Masters in subject area.

Send resume to rungar@bnosmalka.org.

ASSISTANTS NEEDED FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, AFTERNOON SESSION. Email: fivetownseducators@gmail.com BAIS YAAKOV IN FAR ROCKAWAY seeking permanent substitute for Preschool and Elementary school.

Please call 718-868-3232 ext 211 CATAPULT LEARNING Teachers, Title I Boro Park, Williamsburg and Flatbush Schools

SHEVACH HIGH SCHOOL is seeking a Global Studies teacher, Algebra teacher.

Please email resume to Office@shevachhs.org SHULAMITH EARLY CHILDHOOD is looking to hire a full time teacher assistant for the current school year.

Please email resume to earlychildhood@shulamith.org

TJH Classifieds

*College/Yeshiva Degree *Teaching experience required *Strong desire to help children learn *Small group instruction *Excellent organization skills Competitive salary.

Send resume to: Fax: (212) 480-3691 ~ Email: nyteachers@catapultlearning.com

Cabinet Hinge Repair

Post your Real Estate, Help Wanted, Services, Miscellaneous Ads here.

Weekly Classifed Ads Up to 5 lines and/or 25 words 1 week....$20 • 2 weeks...$35 • 4 weeks...$60 Email ads to: classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com Include valid credit card info and zip code

Deadline Monday 5:00pm

646-661-1388 info@nadlercabinet.com

Hinges | Tracks | Drawers | Soft Close | Alignment

The Jewish Home | MARCH 11, 2021

HELP WANTED

SITUATED WANTED

Seeking full time OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST for Special Education school located in Brooklyn. Experienced preferred. Competitive salary.

Room for growth. resumes@yadyisroelschool.org

CERTIFIED MALE CAREGIVER FOR OVER 25 YEARS NY/FL Expert full time care.

Experience with many conditions.

Cleans, cooks and will travel. upscale references available Call Ralph 212.658-0542 (home) 561.351-7944 (Cell)

SPECIAL ED DIRECTOR Responsibility: Curriculum Designer Individual curriculum as needed Staff training Innovative, visionary Requirement: Masters Special Ed and Education Administration or SLP Backgroup Email Resume: specialedresume2018@gmail.com Looking to hire sales people to train as NY & NJ Public Adjusters.

No experience necessary, flexible hours.

Call 973-951-1534 SPECIAL ED DIRECTOR Responsibility: Curriculum Designer Individual curriculum as needed Staff training Innovative, visionary Requirement: Masters Special Ed and Education Administration or SLP Backgroup Email Resume: specialedresume2018@gmail.com 5 TOWNS BOYS YESHIVA SEEKING ELEM GEN ED TEACHERS Excellent working environment and pay. Only lic/exp need apply.

Email resume to yeshivalooking@gmail.com

MISC Gemach Zichron Yehuda In memory of R’ Yehuda Aryeh Leib ben R’ Yisroel Dov We have a library of books on the subjects of loss, aveilus, grief, & kaddish. We have sets of ArtScroll Mishnayos to assist with finishing Shisha Sidrei Mishna for Shloshim or yahrtzeit.

Locations in Brooklyn, Far Rockaway, & Lakewood.

Email: zichronyehuda@yahoo.com

Small Ads at Work

Classifieds

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Your

15

Money

Moonlighting

By Allan Rolnick, CPA

O

ver the years, we’ve written a fair number of stories about frustrated taxpayers choosing to cut their bill the old-fashioned way: by cheating. In today’s America, which seems more divided than at any time since the Civil War, tax cheats truly cut across all lines – political, racial, religious, and socioeconomic. (Last year, the Justice Department indicted two Forbes-certified billionaires for tax fraud). Some of their schemes are so clever you really wonder why they didn’t just go legit.

We’ve also written about tax professionals breaking the rules for clients. You probably don’t think of tax nerds as a bunch of bad hombres.

But accountants have stolen more money with their pens than bank robbers like Willie Sutton or Bonnie and Clyde ever “liberated” with a gun. Remember Enron? They never would have conned so many people for so long without the Arthur Andersen seal of approval. (Oh, and when we say “bad hombres,” we don’t mean to exclude women who cheat for their clients. None of them seem happy with stealing 79 cents for every dollar a man steals.)

So, taxpayers cheat. Tax pros cheat. I know, film at 11. But it’s rare that we get to take aim at tax collec-

tors doing it. Which brings us to this week’s story, featuring “Florida Man” Joel Greenberg.

In 2016, Greenberg won the race for tax collector in Seminole County, just outside of Orlando. The office came with a $70,000 salary and 100 employees spread over six offices. The

more than a million dollars on vendor contracts, hired unnecessary staff for around $1.65 million, and had questionable credit card charges of $384,000, including for weapons, ammo, body armor and a drone.” (A drone? Really?!?) And he saddled the county with $1.4 million in legal

Accountants have stolen more money with their pens than bank robbers like Willie Sutton or Bonnie and Clyde ever “liberated” with a gun.

job included a full boat of responsibility over property taxes, local business and tourist development taxes, hunting and fishing licenses, drivers licenses and license plates, and sales taxes on cars, boats, and mobile homes.

But somehow Greenberg found time to test new ways of collecting revenue, like encouraging employees to pack heat and buying equipment to take payment with Bitcoin. Auditors eventually found he “wasted

costs, including $215,000 to settle harassment charges from seven subordinates.

Then things got weird. And creepy. Last June, federal prosecutors indicted Greenberg on charges of stalking. Apparently, he set up fake social media accounts to accuse a political opponent, who works at a school, of misconduct with a student.

Two months later, another grand jury filed a superseding indictment (i.e., piled on even more charges) for

trafficking a child (projection much?) and illegally accessing Florida’s driver’s license database for information on women he was involved with.

Greenberg had been free on bail since his arrest, with the usual stipulations that he stay in the Middle District of Florida and not leave his house between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. But it seems his arrest was an invitation to humility that he declined. Last Sunday, he broke curfew to chase down his wife at her mother’s condominium in Jupiter, near Palm Beach.

She called police, and now Greenberg is cooling his heels in jail.

Greenberg probably didn’t set out to become the poster child for misusing his office, but here we are.

The good news is, Seminole County has a new tax collector dedicated to restoring the office’s integrity.

And you have a powerful resource in the form of us to help you pay less without risking an electronic ankle monitor!

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 | MARCH 11, 2021

Miriam Jacobovits Photography

CALL OR TEXT 347–572–8973 INSTAGRAM: MIRIAMJACOBOVITSPHOTOGRAPHY

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Life C ach

That Coffee Experience

By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS

M

ine is most enjoyed with Coffee Mate Vanilla in it. The bottle is marked as “zero sugar” – whatever that means, because it’s sweeter than honey, so I’m speculating that the zero means the person putting it in got a zero at controlling the sugar.

Oh, and I like lots of ice.

Also, preferably decaf. So, I’m not even sure that I can be called a trueblue iced coffee drinker.

In fact, I’m not even sure I can be called a true coffee drinker at all! Because – I have a confession to make – I still ask for small, medium, or large when I go to Starbucks. And I’d guess a real coffee drinker would at least get that down. I just have no idea what their fancy French sizes are called.

Nor do I care to know them! After all, this is America. If that gets them all bent out of shape, let them not serve me coffee. I don’t really love coffee that much to begin with. Honestly, I’m usually ordering an iced passion tea anyway! But I would be offended if they held back on that because I do like passion! And well, if you think about it, passion is a French concept. Therefore, I might entertain learning their sizes to guarantee me that drink.

So, what’s your iced coffee favorite?!

I know this is a very important concept for many. In fact, I’m probably the

least qualified person to write this article. Hot or iced, I know a minimum about coffee. But I do notice there is a hot coffee and cold coffee culture.

I may be getting this wrong, but it seems that hot coffee drinkers are the real serious ones. For them, it’s rarely about the influencing flavors. It’s usu-

uid; sweetener to container size; flavor to brew. None of this is arbitrary.

Furthermore, the size of the cup itself is absolutely an essential element to the drinker’s enjoyment. And whether the cup is clear or opaque makes a huge difference to how refreshing it ultimately feels.

It can accomplish a lot: refresh, accompany, invigorate, reinvigorate, quench, soothe, or just be that elixir that does the magic that so many are seeking to help them sail through their day.

ally about the brew itself. Oh, the flavor does matter but it’s an actual coffee flavor they are hunting for, not hazelnut, caramel, or chocolate cheesecake.

With iced coffee drinkers, there is a whole science at work. The prep is as detailed as a lab experiment. All the amounts put in are quite integral to the outcome. And all the accompanying features are of utmost important to the final product. The ratios play a major role: coffee to water; ice to liq-

Then again, I know there is some major agita in the air because of the plan to curb plastic straws. That is half the success of getting to that perfect sip.

I know people who have been hoarding plastic straws for quite some time. If you think bitcoins are popular, you are missing the drama around plastic straws. There is a major untapped market there!

My niece started parking her car

in the driveway in order to free up her garage as a plastic straw preserve. After all, her car is not in danger of being constructed completely out of paper any day now. Maybe it will drive away on its own soon, but at least it won’t disintegrate if exposed to water.

This iced coffee culture fills a lot of needs.

For some, it’s something to imbibe and have hit the spot right away. For others, it’s something to keep with them for hours, like a trusted friend – something to go through their daily grind with them.

That dependable companion that has no agenda of its own, just there for you whatever you need. It seems it can accomplish a lot: refresh, accompany, invigorate, reinvigorate, quench, soothe, or just be that elixir that does the magic that so many are seeking to help them sail through their day.

Whatever, it does do, it’s clear it’s not just about having the old “pick me up” cup of coffee or simply having a drink. It’s much more than that!

What it is, as the Israelis say, is a total chavaya! In other words, a total experience! .

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 | MARCH 11, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

Commercial and Residential Property Maintenance Specialists

Property Maintenance Included In Annual Contract Spring and Fall Cleanup Turf Mowing Flower Bed Maintenance Trimming Four (4) Rounds of Lawn Treatments Enhancements and Add On Services Available Spring Annuals Summer Annuals Fall Annuals Mulch Aerating and Over Seeding Deep Root Seeding Fungi and Grub Treatment Mosquito Spraying

2021 Property Maintenance Partner With Elegant Lawns Contact (516) 234-5296 or office@elegantlawns.com for your free estimate Thank you for telling your friends and business contacts about us Refer a friend or client for a Property Maintenance Contract and receive a $50 credit upon completion of the annual contract

Serving Residential and Commercial Accounts

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MARCH 11, 2021 | The Jewish Home

MARGARET TIETZ Nursing & Rehabilitation Center

Short-Term Care | Long-Term Care | Hospice Care

PROUD TO ANNOUNCE!

Back Feet on your

Quick recoveries - from a pandemic to your rehab - is where we excel.

Currently with 0% COVID-19 recurrence rate and open for scheduled visitation, our five-star rated, fully Kosher facility is one of the safest destinations for Subacute Rehabilitation and Long-Term Care. In our newly established Synagogue, renovated and expanded gym, recreation center and cafe, you’ll rehab in a beautifully modern, traditionally Kosher setting. And our bright rehabilitation gym, cutting-edge equipment, and focused one-onone staff will help you recover quickly with optimal results.

Currently, as we have maintai ned being COVID-free, w e have been able to implement visitation!

New modern look.

Same tradition of care.

Margaret Tietz

85% Private Rooms

Margaret Tietz

State of the art Meat and all

Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Cholov Yisroel Dairy Kitchens (VHQ) Margaret Tietz

Full time Rabbi On-Staff

Margaret Tietz

Special Shabbos & Holiday Meals

Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Beautiful Outdoor Gardens Shabbos Elevator Community Eruv To resume as guidelines are revised: Daily & Shabbos Minyanim

Margaret Tietz

Full High Holiday Schedule

Margaret Tietz

Shabbos Hospitality Apartment

Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Call our friendly admissions team to discover how we are well-prepared to get you back on your feet and back home quickly.

q718-298-7806

P 164-11 Chapin Parkway, Jamaica Hills, NY 11432

amargarettietz.org