Five Towns Jewish Home 12-17-20

December 17, 2020

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98 Chanukah Sights, Lights, and Delights

34 Getting Ready for Moshiach

52 Remembering Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, zt�l

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Dear Readers, Dear Readers, This morning, I received a message on one of my WhatsApp chats: “Just got vaccinated… I’m 56% protected. Yay!” The person who sent the message works in a hospital. She was one of the first people to get vaccinated in her facility.

When speaking with people about the coronavirus vaccines, the topic generally shifts to people’s concerns. Understandably, when something of this nature comes out so quickly, people can be skeptical. But when talking about vaccines, I choose to look at them from a different angle.

You see, back in March, when we were huddled in our homes and wore gloves and masks as we stood in lines to go into supermarkets to purchase the basics, there was no thought that a vaccine could be invented and produced in such a short time. There was not a consideration that a vaccine could be on the market in less than a few years.

And yet, here we are. It’s nine months later, and people are already receiving the vaccine. In the scientific community, this is a true breakthrough. The vaccines that are being produced are using new technology and methods, ones that could hopefully help in case of other outbreaks in the fu-

ture.

In our home, my kids roll their eyes when we use the expression “run for the bus.”

It’s a term that we sometimes used when I was growing up. Think that you missed the school bus in the morning or that the train is about to leave the station? Put aside those bleak thoughts and run for the bus. If you put your energies into something that seems impossible or into an opportunity that you might have missed, you may still be able to achieve and succeed.

That’s the lesson that I’m taking out of the roll-out of the vaccines this week.

When President Trump announced Operation Warp Speed mere months ago, the pundits went crazy. It was a classic Trump move, they said. The president is known for his bombastic rhetoric. Promising a vaccine by the end of the year is indicative of his hot-air persona, they chortled.

And yet, we’re here, and so is the vaccine – and the year is not yet over.

Sometimes, you need to ignore the critics and push ahead. Because then, you may be able to achieve the impossible.

Wishing you a wonderful week, Shoshana

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

8

COMMUNITY Readers’ Poll

8

Community Happenings

34 NEWS Global

12

National

26

Odd-but-True Stories

30

ISRAEL

31

Israel News

17

World Builders

68

JEWISH THOUGHT

Rabbi Wein on the Parsha

58

Chanukah Dreams by Rav Moshe Weinberger

60

Parsha Ponderings by Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky

62

Yosef’s Beautiful Victory by Shmuel Reichman

64

Hashem’s Embrace in the Darkness by Rabbi Benny Berlin

66

PEOPLE TJH Speaks with Dr. Naor Bar-Zeev Heroes on PT Boats by Avi Heiligman

92 104

HEALTH & FITNESS Parts by Dr. Deb Hirschhorn

78 Building a Healthy Salad by Aliza Beer, MS RD CDN 80 FOOD & LEISURE The Aussie Gourmet: Crockpot Meat and Cabbage Soup 86 Latke Meat Pie with Pulled Beef

110

87

LIFESTYLES Dating Dialogue, Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW 69

Parenting Pearls

Dear Editor, Rashi indicates that whenever it says “miketz” it means the end (sof ).

In this case, it doesn’t just mean the end of two years after which Pharaoh has a dream. It means the end of days.

The three elements of redemption are seen in the first few pesukim.

One, the place of Mitzrayim, where we are told the final redemption will pattern itself after geulat Mitzrayim.

Second, Yosef who is “sof,” the sixth vessel of the sefira, yesod, in the universe who will lead the initial phase of the “final” redemption, as Moshiach ben Yosef. And third, seven cows and seven stalks symbolizing the seven days the world was created, a world that can end in “good” years or “famished” ones, depending on if we follow the message of Yosef: to conquer the yetzer hara. If we do so, we can enjoy a beautiful sunset going into the seventh day.

Steven Genack Dear Editor, This is in response to the cartoons directed at donkeys (a.k.a.

Democrats) in your issues. Especially to the one where Joe Biden is portrayed as the Commander-in-Thief.

The U.S. Supreme Court to Donald J. Trump: Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Water.

Water who?

Water you hakin mir ah chainik

for, you sore loser!

Yours, Charles Tal Fresh Meadows, N.Y. Dear Editor, Wonderful interview with Yosai Krohn about his delicious cronuts.

It definitely made them appreciate them even more as I enjoyed my Chanukah treat this week.

That doesn’t mean that I ate them slower – the sweetness was gone way too quickly. But it does mean that I’m happy that I have a store nearby where I can purchase these delicious delicacies – I certainly can’t make these at home!

Sincerely, Chana Weiser Dear Editor, This letter is for “Rina,” the woman posing the question to the Dating Dialogue this week.

In general, friends should stay far away from their friends’ shidduchim.

Unless you’re trying to set people up, don’t get involved in whom your friends are dating. Let them make their own decisions and do their own research.

I find that when friends are too involved, things get sticky. If you need advice, ask a mentor or a dating coach – someone with experience with relationships.

Sara Y. Continued on page 10

82

JWow! 90 Mind Your Business Your Money

92 110

So, What Do We Know Now? by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS 111 HUMOR Centerfold 54 POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Notable Quotes

94

The Best Way for Biden to Unite the Country by Marc A. Thiessen

97

The Poetic Justice in Eric Swalwell by Marc A. Thiessen CLASSIFIEDS

102 106

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Continued from page 8

Dear Editor, In these difficult economic times as a result of COVID-19, it is especially important to patronize your neighborhood businesses.   Do it not only on annual Small Business Saturday, but every day of the year.   My wife and I don’t mind occasionally paying a little more to help our local businesses survive. Don’t forget your cook and server at your favorite neighborhood restaurant. We try to tip 20 percent against the total bill, including taxes, year around. During the month of December, as a thank you for being there for us all year long in good times and bad, we tip 25% against the total bill. Whenever it is an odd amount, we round up to the next dollar. If we can afford to eat out, we can afford adding extra dollar or two to the tip. When ordering takeout, we always leave a dollar

or two for the cook. It is appreciated.

Remember, these people are our neighbors. Our local entrepreneurs have continued the good fight to keep their existing staff and suppliers employed without layoffs and canceling product or supply orders. They continue to work long hours, pay taxes, and keep as many local neighbors employed as possible. Many maintained the tradition of offering job opportunities to students during the summer. If we don’t patronize our local community stores and restaurants to shop and eat, they don’t eat, either.

Stop by your favorite restaurant or store and also drop off a box of candy or cookies as a show of appreciation. Something sweet for the holidays helps take the edge off the stress we all face.

Larry Penner Great Neck

‍בץיעת×? ד׊מי×?‏

‍ז×?ת‏ â€Ť×—× ×”×•×›â€Ź

Views expressed on the Letters to the Editor page do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jewish Home.

Please send all correspondence to: editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com.

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

The Week In News F

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Hong Kong District of Chaos

A new CNN report reveals how loose regulation in Hong Kong has turned its metropolitan neighborhood of Wan Chai into a global hub of terrorists, drug dealers, and spies.

Located on Hong Kong’s northern shore, Wan Chai appears during the day as a tony and upscale area.

Professional-looking men in suits hold business meetings in the numerous cafes that dot the picturesque streets while expensive vehicles cruise by.

However, looks can be deceiving.

The small neighborhood is home to some of the world’s most unsavory characters, including dozens who are sanctioned by the U.S. for running afoul of anti-terrorism and money laundering policies.

“In less space than a square mile, you’ve got offices tied to: an alleged financier for Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group; an individual accused of helping Iran acquire millions of dollars of military equipment in violation of U.S. sanctions; a man accused of helping Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro plunder his country’s resources; and a company that allegedly opened a bank in North Korea in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions,” wrote CNN. “As if that wasn’t enough, there’s also an office tied to a powerful Southeast Asian militia and a casino mogul accused of trafficking drugs, wildlife and even humans.”

Allowing such underworld figures to flourish are Hong Kong’s loose laws regarding front compa-

nies. While most countries worldwide have strict laws regarding transparency, Hong Kong does not mandate a company disclose its real owners.

As a result, organizations such as Hezbollah and international drug lords thrive, establishing a slew of shell companies that enable them to conduct business unhindered. The rare mix of an advanced Western financial system and no regulation renders Hong Kong particularly attractive to those seeking to evade the U.S. Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.

“People or companies put on the list are generally barred from doing business with Americans, conducting transactions in U.S. dollars and using the U.S. financial system,” noted CNN. “Corporate service providers are prevalent throughout Hong Kong and most offshore financial centers because they make it easy to set up and maintain a company from abroad.”

Journalist Executed in Iran

A diplomatic crisis erupted between Iran and a slew of European countries after Tehran executed a prominent dissident journalist.

Ruhollah Zam, a journalist convicted of sparking anti-government demonstrations in 2017, was put to death on Sunday. The killing sparked global outrage, with both the EU and a dozen European nations condemning the act in the strongest possible terms.

A few hours later, France announced that its envoy would not attend a business forum this week in Tehran aimed at encouraging investment in the Islamic Republic.

Joining Paris was Germany, Austria, and Italy, countries which released

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

a joint statement “deploring this unspeakable act.”

In a tweet announcing the cancellation, the aforementioned countries used the hashtag #nobusinessasusual.

Jake Sullivan, President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming national security adviser, also blasted Tehran, calling the killing a “horrifying human rights violation.”

“Iran’s execution of Ruhollah Zam, a journalist who was denied due process and sentenced for exercising his universal rights, is another horrifying human rights violation by the Iranian regime. We will join our partners in calling out and standing up to Iran’s abuses,” Sullivan tweeted.

Earlier, Tehran summoned the ambassadors of Germany and France for a dressing-down of their harsh reaction to Zam’s killing. In a statement, Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s Europe director said that the two countries’ reaction constituted “an unacceptable interference in Iran’s domestic affairs.”

Zam’s execution came after he was sentenced to death in June for “anti-regime activity.” He had fled Tehran and was residing in France after a court found him guilty three years ago but was lured to Iraq by Iranian agents, who arrested him and extradited to the Islamic Republic.

Prior to his hanging, Zam released a video in which he confessed to spying for Israel, the United States, and France and “expressed sorrow” for his actions.

Billionaire Joseph Safra Dies Jewish billionaire Joseph Safra, Brazil’s wealthiest individual and a

banking titan, passed away at the age of 82 in Sao Paulo.

Safra’s family said that he died of natural causes. Safra “leaves a legacy that will be followed by many generations,” said a statement.

Born in Lebanon, Safra grew up in a family known for their banking

prowess. The Safra family began banking when they offered loans to Syrian camel traders hundreds of years ago and quickly grew to become one of the richest bankers in the Ottoman Empire.

One brother, Edmond Safra, founded and managed a slew of banks until his 1999 death, while another, Moise, also saw considerable financial success.

At the age of 14, Joseph moved with his family to Brazil and helped his father Jacob build Banco Safra into one of Brazil’s largest banks. For the next half decade, Joseph chaired the board of directors of the Safra Group, catapulting him into Brazil’s wealthiest person with a net worth of $23 billion.

With his brother Moise (who died in 2014), Joseph built one of Brazil’s largest banks, Banco Safra, and owned Safra National Bank of New York and the J. Safra Sarasin bank in Switzerland.

Safra was also known for his philanthropy, donating billions throughout his lifetime to Jewish and Israeli causes. Through his personal foundation, Joseph funded hospitals,

yeshivas, synagogues, and museums. After Edmond’s early death in 1999 due to a fire in Monaco, Joseph paid billions to refurbish the Western Wall’s main plaza in memory of his brother.

Safra was notoriously media shy and almost never offered interviews.

In a rare sit-down he granted a Brazilian daily in 2006, Safra expounded on his conservative investment strategy that put a premium on caution.

“If you choose to sail upon the seas of banking, build your bank as you would your boat, with the strength to sail safely through any storm,” Joseph advised at the time.

Putin’s “Doomsday Plane” Vandalized

Russia has launched an investigation after thieves broke into a top-secret plane designed to protect senior Kremlin leaders during a nuclear attack.

The Ilyushin-80 had been parked at Taganrog, a remote airfield in southwest Russia, when the thieves hit. Snapping the protective fence with bolt cutters, they made off with $13,600 worth of highly advanced communications gear.

Dmitry Peksov, President Vladimir Putin’s personal spokesperson, admitted that the heist was an “emergency situation” and promised that “measures will be taken to prevent this from happening in the future,” adding that a special investigative team had been dispatched to Taganrog.

According to reports, the thieves had been attracted to the rare gold and silver metals embedded in the communications gear. The plane had been undergoing repairs at the time and had all of its gear onboard.

The break-in left Russian officials red-faced, as the Airborne Command Post is one of Moscow’s most classified and presumably highly secured

pieces of military hardware. Intended to safely whisk senior Kremlin leaders out of a disaster zone in the event of nuclear war, the aircraft is commonly guarded by a platoon of military police when not airborne.

Writer John Le Carre Dies

John le Carre, one of the most celebrated espionage writers in history, passed away at the age of 89 over the weekend.

Le Carre’s death was announced by his family, who said that the author succumbed to pneumonia on Saturday.

Throughout a literary career spanning more than half a century, Le Carre authored dozens of spy thrillers, many of which went on to become bestsellers. In books such as The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Le Carre chronicled the cat-andmouse world of espionage that characterized the Cold War. Unlike other authors such as Robert Ludlum who filled their books with firefights and car chases, Le Carre preferred to view spying as a psychological game. Smiley, his main character in over 20 books, was often forced to use his wits to uncover Soviet and East German plots and deception within England’s intelligence.

The tales often reflected reality, with the KGB, the CIA, and the UK’s MI6 battling each other all across the world until the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991.

Prior to his career as a writer, Le Carre was known as David Cornwall and served as a real-life spy, working for the British Foreign Service as an intelligence agent at the end of World War II. Eventually moving to the MI5, he later revealed that he partook in operations so sensitive that they remain classified 70 years later.

After a decade of chasing Soviet

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only during sensitive times and has normally allowed activists to exercise their freedom of speech despite repeated protests from North Korea.

Under the legislation, anyone flying leaflets, auxiliary storage devices or money toward North Korea without government permission can be punished by up to three years in prison or a fine of 30 million won ($27,730).

The bill’s passage came six months after Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, responded furiously over what she called South Korea’s inability to halt civilian leafleting and demanded it ban the activity.

She called North Korean defectors involved in the leafleting campaign “human scum” and “mongrel dogs.”

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A senior al-Qaeda terrorist who once served as Osama bin Laden’s spokesperson is now a free man.

Adel Abdel Bary, 60, returned to Britain last Saturday after a New York judge ruled that his obesity and asthma made him particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

“Defendant’s obesity and somewhat advanced age make COVID-19 significantly more risky to him than to the average person,” wrote U.S.

of contention in U.S.-UK relations.

After then-Prime Minister Tony Blair made the decision to send the bin Laden associate to the U.S. in 2008, Bary’s team of lawyers successfully dragged out the case through repeated court battles.

In 2015, Bary was finally sent to serve out the rest of his 25-year sentence in the United States. His time in a British prison counted toward his total time behind bars, giving him only five years in New Jersey’s maximum security prison.

“His return remains a huge headache for the [U.K.] home secretary,” a British government official noted.

“She is intent on ridding the country of threats, but here’s a notorious terrorist dumped right on her doorstep.”

RIE

Bin Laden Spokesperson Free

District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.

Bary was slated to finish his sentence on October 28, a few weeks after his eventual release date of October 9. Bary’s lawyer argued, however, that the terrorist’s poor health necessitated granting him an early release.

“Mr. Bary’s continued incarceration now significantly increases his risk of infection, which could wreak disastrous health outcomes,” wrote his attorney.

According to British sources, the veteran al-Qaeda member will not be added to the UK’s anti-terror watchlist as he has already served out most of his prison sentence. A senior official from the United Kingdom’s MI5 domestic counterintelligence and security agency told the Telegraph that Bary is not viewed as a threat.

Born in Egypt, Bary had been languishing in a New Jersey prison for his role in al-Qaeda’s twin embassy bombings in Africa in 1998 that left 225 people dead. He was arrested by British security forces a short while after the attack, sparking a long-running extradition battle with the U.S. Bary’s protracted legal battle against British authorities to prevent his extradition became a major point

TE

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It is now illegal to fly propaganda leaflets via balloons from South Korea to its northern neighbor.

On Monday, South Korea’s parliament approved legislation criminalizing the act, despite fierce criticism that the country is sacrificing freedom of expression to improve ties with rival North Korea.

The legislation passed with the support of 187 lawmakers, mostly governing party members who support President Moon Jae-in’s policy of engagement with North Korea.

Outnumbered opposition lawmakers didn’t attend the vote after their attempt at delaying the balloting with nonstop speeches was foiled by governing party lawmakers and their allies who used their three-fifths supermajority to halt the speeches in a separate vote.

This is the first time that South Korea’s parliament has passed a bill formally banning civilians from floating anti-North Korea leaflets across the tense border. South Korea has previously banned such activities

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has appeared on television for the first time since testing positive for COVID-19 two months ago.

In the video address he posted on his personal Twitter account, Tebboune said that he was doing well and that the danger to his health had passed.

“Thanks to G-d... I have started on the road to recovery,” said the 75-year-old. “It may take two or three weeks but, G-d willing, I will recover all my bodily strength,” he added. “I hope to see you soon.

This video recording is the Algerian president’s first appearance since he was rushed to a hospital in Germany after a bout with COVID-19 left him on his deathbed in October.

In late November, Tebboune announced that he would return to his country “in the coming days” but had failed to do so, sparking a constitutional crisis.

During Tebboune’s extended absence, voters approved an amend-

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

ment to Algeria’s constitution banning the country’s Hirak protest movement. Tebboune has until January to sign the amendment into law, something his long sojourn in Germany threw into doubt.

To ensure that the amendment became law, Tebboune’s allies attempted to declare him incapacitated, which would enable parliament to select a replacement.

Algeria is the tenth-largest country in the world. With an estimated population of over 44 million, it is the eighth-most populous country in Africa.

girls for ransom. In a particularly high-profile case in 2014, the ISIS-affiliated Boko Haram insurgency captured 276 mostly Christian female students from their Nigerian school, leading to a worldwide campaign for their freedom.

Over 100 of the girls remain missing despite extensive efforts by intelligence agencies and the UN to shed light on their whereabouts.

No-Deal Brexit?

400 Kidnapped in Nigeria Authorities have launched an allout search effort after AK-47-wielding gunmen kidnapped 400 schoolchildren in Nigeria.

In the incident, dozens of gunmen on motorcycles took over the Government Science Secondary School in northwestern Katsina on Friday before forcing them into the nearby forest. Police quickly rushed to the scene, leading to a violent gunfight between the two sides.

“The bandits came on motorcycles firing sporadically and tried to enter the school. Our men, with the assistance of the army, engaged them in a shoot-out,” said Katsina State police spokesman Gambo Isah. He praised security forces for engaging the attackers “in a gunfight that gave (some of) the students the opportunity to scale the fence of the school and run for safety.”

Around 200 students were accounted for, while the military has launched a massive operation to locate the remaining 400. Troops have fanned out and set up roadblocks in an effort to cut off escape routes before the bandits could disappear into Africa’s thick forest.

“The police, Nigerian Army, and Nigerian Air Force are working closely with the school authorities to ascertain the actual number of the missing and/or kidnapped students,” said Isah. “Search parties are working with a view to find or rescue the missing students.”

While no group has taken responsibility for the incident, the attack is thought to be the work of Islamic militants who frequently kidnap young

It’s possible, maybe even likely, that a no-deal Brexit will take place after the United Kingdom and the European Union have agreed to extend trade talks beyond a self-imposed Sunday deadline.

The talks were initially extended until Sunday after Wednesday’s meeting between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, billed as a “last-ditch effort,” ended without an agreement.

Von der Leyen said it was “responsible” to go “the extra-mile,” adding that she had a “constructive and useful” phone call with Johnson.

Johnson said the two sides remain “far apart on key issues” and warned that “the most likely thing now is we have to get ready for WTO terms, Australia terms.”

Australia doesn’t have a free trade agreement with the European Union, even though talks to secure one are in progress. The expression “Australia terms” has been widely used by Johnson and his government as a euphemism for a no-deal Brexit.

If no deal is agreed to with the UK, it would be forced to trade with the bloc according to rules set out by the World Trade Organization. That would mean new tariffs and other barriers, such as regulatory checks and paperwork. In contrast, Australia and the EU have a Mutual Recognition Agreement in place, which makes it easier for manufacturers

to secure the regulatory approvals needed to sell their goods.

The British prime minister said his government will continue to try to reach a trade deal, but warned there may not be a resolution by the January 1 deadline. “I do think there is a deal to be done but we remain far apart on key issues.

“And we have to take back control of our fisheries,” Johnson said.

The European Union and the UK have been trying for months to agree on a trade deal before the Brexit “transition period” ends at midnight on December 31. Earlier in the week, a joint statement by Johnson and von der Leyen cited three “critical” sticking points: fishing rights, the UK’s ability to diverge on EU standards, and legal oversight of any deal.

Failing to reach a trade deal would be economically painful for both the EU and the UK, although the impact on the UK would be disproportionately larger because the EU is by far its biggest trading partner. Losing access to its single market would cut UK’s businesses off from Europe’s 450 million consumers and burden them with extra tariffs and red tape.

Morocco and Israel Establish Relations

The Kingdom Morocco will normalize its ties with Israel, the fourth Muslim country to recognize the Jewish State in the last four months.

The breakthrough was announced by President Donald Trump on Thursday. Calling the move “historic,” Trump tweeted that the deal constituted “a massive breakthrough for peace in the Middle East.”

The White House confirmed in a

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statement released later in the day that Morocco’s King Mohammed VI agreed to establish diplomatic relations with Israel “and expand economic and cultural cooperation to advance regional stability.” In return, Washington will recognize Morocco’s sovereignty in the Western Sahara, a disputed region controlled by Rabat for over 40 years.

The Trump administration is also rewarding Morocco with a $1 billion weapons sale that includes four MQ9B SeaGuardian drones and precision-guided munitions.

Israel and Morocco have already begun hammering out official ties, with a special flight of Israel’s Foreign Ministry officials scheduled to land in Rabat late next week. Both countries will construct embassies, exchange ambassadors, and begin direct flights.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the news, saying at an official Chanukah lighting ceremony that he expected “a very warm peace” between Israel and Morocco.

“On this Chanukah, the light of peace has never shone brighter than today in the Middle East,” Netanyahu said. “I’ve always believed that this historic day would come; I’ve always worked for it.”

The deal was, unsurprisingly, condemned by the Palestinian Authority, which called it “unacceptable and increases Israel’s belligerence and its denial of the Palestinian people’s rights.” The Hamas terror group called the normalization deal “a sin and it doesn’t serve the Palestinian people,” saying in a statement that “the Israeli occupation uses every new normalization to increase its aggression against the Palestinian people and increase its settlement expansion.”

The normalization agreement with Morocco is part of the Abraham Accords, an effort by the Trump administration to convince Arab and Muslim countries to establish full diplomatic relations with the Jewish State. Since August, Israel has inked peace agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan.

Morocco had previously inaugurated an interest office in Israel in 1994 following the Oslo Accords but closed it during the onset of the Second Intifada in 2000. However, both countries have maintained diplomatic relations ever since, with scores of Israelis vacationing in the sunny Mediterranean country in 2019.

“Morocco and Israel have been on the same side geopolitically for decades,” noted Tel Aviv University Prof. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman. “The Israel-Moroccan relationship has existed on the security, economic, and diplomatic level, even on the cultural and personal level, for many years.”

Bhutan Establishes Ties

Israel has established full diplomatic relations with the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

The agreement was announced on Saturday night and is the latest of a series of normalization deals between Israel and Muslim and Arab countries.

“The circle of recognition of Israel is widening,” exulted Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. “The establishment of relations with the Kingdom of Bhutan will constitute a new stage in the deepening of Israel’s relations in Asia.”

A few hours later, Israel’s Ambassador to India Ron Malka tweeted a picture together with his Bhutanese counterpart Vetsop Namgyel. The two signed the final agreement at Israel’s embassy in India.

The announcement came a day after Israel and Morocco said that they would normalize their relations, following the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan. The deal with Bhutan is unrelated to the Abraham Accords.

Nevertheless, Ashkenazi hailed the deal with Bhutan as evidence that Israel’s presence has become an accepted fact of life.

Located in the heart of the Himalayas, the Kingdom of Bhutan is one of the smallest countries of the world.

Bhutan is run according to Tibetan Buddhist dictates, with its citizens obligated to wear traditional clothes outdoors. Smoking is banned in the country.

Speaking with the Jerusalem Post, Ambassador Malka said that the decision to establish diplomatic relations came after years of secret talks. Pointing out that Bhutan has official ties with only 53 countries, Malka opined that the development showed that the Kingdom viewed diplomatic ties with the Jewish State as a valuable asset.

“They have been impressed by Israel’s abilities for many years, and their prime minister wanted relations,” Malka said. “We advise them on topics that are important to them like water management, agriculture and technology...education and professional training, as well. They’re very interested in the topic of medicine.”

Bhutan’s government “thinks of Israel as a leading country in technology and innovation that can help them progress and use more advanced technology and train their youth.”

Sa’ar Splits

In his first interview since his dramatic split from the Likud, the now-former lawmaker and minister Gideon Sa’ar pledged to never sit in a government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Speaking with Channel 13’s “Meet the Press,” Sa’ar harshly criticized Netanyahu and accused him of leading Israel to economic and social ruin. Alleging that Netanyahu had turned the Likud into a cult of personality, Sa’ar maintained that he preferred to sit in the opposition than remain part of his government.

“I say this clearly: whoever wants Netanyahu to continue to be prime minister should not vote for me.

Whoever wants to replace the leadership in Israel, I ask for their vote.

I am running for prime minister,” Sa’ar said.

“If Netanyahu will be the next prime minister, I will sit in the op-

position,” he added. The veteran lawmaker said that he aimed to “win the election to bring about change [in leadership] and form the next coalition,” adding that he had no intention of helping Netanyahu “extend his tenure.”

While maintaining that he would not disqualify the Likud as a potential coalition party, Sa’ar conditioned any future support on Netanyahu being acquitted.

“There is a legal problem for a minister who is having a criminal proceeding against him to serve in the government, and the Likud will have to consider this matter,” he said.

The interview was the first since Sa’ar dramatically quit the Likud party last week to start his own faction aimed at toppling Israel’s long-serving premier. A veteran Likud lawmaker and former Education and Interior Minister, Sa’ar had become Netanyahu’s chief rival within the party for years.

Sa’ar had already contended for the Likud chairmanship last year in a failed primary run that saw him blown out by Netanyahu by more than 70 points. He had since been forced to languish in the Knesset without a ministerial portfolio despite his senior standing within the Likud.

Sa’ar’s new party, titled the “New Hope,” is expected to attract a slew of Likud legislators, including MKs Sharren Haskel, Michal Shir, and Yoav Kish. Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel and MK Zvi Hauser from the breakaway Derech Eretz faction have already pledged their support to Sa’ar, giving Netanyahu his biggest challenge from the Right in over a decade.

Air Defense Exercise

The Defense Ministry completed a major, unprecedented air de-

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

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fense exercise this month. The drill tested the abilities of the country’s three tiers of missile defense systems against a variety of aerial threats.

In the drill, which the ministry deemed a success, the various air defense detection systems and batteries were required to communicate with one another and intercept several types of targets, including rockets, unmanned aerial vehicles and – critically – cruise missiles simultaneously.

The exercise, made up of a series of trials, was focused primarily on testing the capabilities of a new version of the medium-range David’s Sling air defense system, which is currently under development, as well as new capabilities of the Iron Dome.

“The success of this series of tests represents an important milestone in the operational capability of the State of Israel in its self-defense against existing and future threats in the region,” the Defense Ministry said.

David’s Sling, which represents the middle tier of Israel’s air defense array, was pitted against ballistic missiles, which follow a fixed and predetermined trajectory, as well as the more difficult-to-hit cruise mis-

siles, which effectively function as small, fast, unmanned airplanes, capable of changing direction and thus better able to avoid air defenses.

Iron Dome was also tasked with shooting down cruise missiles, as well as UAVs and “a variety of threats,” the ministry said.

This represents a significant development in the capabilities of the Iron Dome, which was initially developed to intercept simple rockets.

Over the years, it has been improved to also shoot down mortar shells as well as drones and, now, cruise missiles.

In addition to the Iron Dome and David’s Sling, the exercise also tested the long-range radar arrays of the Arrow air defense system. The tests were held with launchers both on land and at sea.

Moshe Patel, the head of the ministry’s Israeli Missile Defense Organization (IMDO), noted that an air defense exercise of this scope had never before been performed.

Though other air defense tests have simulated the ability of various systems to communicate with one another and others have tested the ability of systems to shoot down in-

coming targets, simulating missiles and aircraft, it was the first exercise on this scale to test both at the same time, he said.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz hailed the test, saying that Israel’s air defense systems provided protection from a variety of threats.

“I praise the successful test, which for the first time tested integrated, multi-tiered interceptions of the State of Israel’s defense systems.

This is one of the most advanced networks in the world, which gives the State of Israel defense against threats from near and far,” he said.

Green Passports

Israelis who receive a coronavirus vaccination will be free to travel the country.

The Health Ministry is planning to issue those who are vaccinated against the coronavirus a “green passport” that will grant a waiver of coronavirus restrictions.

Holders of the passport will be able to access cultural events and eat at restaurants and will be given the right to not quarantine after exposure to a diagnosed virus-carrier.

Green passports will be issued two weeks after a person gets the second of the two shots required for the coronavirus.

Israel is readying to begin a mass inoculation program next week, with the first vaccinations reportedly to be administered this coming Sunday, December 20.

The green passport would also enable travelers to fly abroad without having to first get a virus test, as is the current requirement, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said.

Officials are hoping that the perks of a green passport will encourage Israelis to get the coronavirus vaccine.

“The end of the pandemic is in sight. Until then I ask [everyone] to observe the rules,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said during a visit to a

mass-immunization station in Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu said that he will be the first Israeli to get the coronavirus vaccine.

Speaking to Channel 20 on Sunday evening, he said: “The risks in not taking the vaccine are far greater than the risks in taking it, and that’s why I’ll get vaccinated first and I expect everyone to get vaccinated.”

President Reuven Rivlin, hospital directors, and the heads of the country’s health maintenance organizations will also be among the first to get the shots. They will be followed by medical workers, with the general public able to get the vaccine the week after, reports said.

In addition, the health minister’s bureau is preparing a list of media personalities and celebrities to receive the vaccine on camera to set an example for the public.

Israel has purchased millions of doses of Pfizer’s vaccine. The first batch landed at Ben Gurion Airport last Wednesday.

Palestinians’ Shifting Strategy

The Palestinian Authority’s notable silence after Israel’s new ties with Morocco reflects a change in how the former is approaching its relationship with other Arab countries.

The various Palestinian factions had fumed after the Kingdom of Morocco became the fourth Arab country to normalize relations with Israel in the past five months. In a statement released shortly after the bombshell announcement last Thursday, the Hamas terror group blasted the “unacceptable development” that “allows Israel to violate Palestinian rights.”

“Hamas condemns the Moroccan-Zionist declaration of normalization of relations between them, in an odious move that is not befitting of Morocco, and does not express the

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brotherly Moroccan people who have stood and are still with Palestine, Jerusalem, and Al-Aqsa in all circumstances and stations,” Hamas said.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem singled out Morocco’s royal family for committing “a political sin” against the Arab world.

“This sin does not serve the Palestinian cause, and the occupation exploits every act of normalization to increase its aggressive policies against our people,” Qassem said.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad added in a separate statement that it “regretted the decision” that “trampled on the legitimate rights of Muslims” around the world.

“Normalization by Morocco with the ‘Israeli’ occupation is a betrayal of Jerusalem and of Palestine,” Islamic Jihad said. “We trust that the Moroccan people will utterly refuse this normalization.”

The Palestinian Authority remained noticeably silent amid a chorus of condemnation from the assortment of terror groups, a shift from the rage that characterized the PA reaction after the UAE, Sudan, and Bahrain unveiled their normalization agreement with Israel. Ac-

cording to experts, the muted reaction results from recognition among the Palestinians that their strategy of public anger vis-a-vis Israel’s new friends had failed miserably.

Rather than arouse pressure from the Arab street on the aforementioned rulers to scuttle the normalization deal, the public displays of rage led to widespread disgust throughout the Middle East. Pictures of an angry mob torching Emirati and Bahraini flags on the Temple Mount led Gulf states to publicly lambaste the PA, while Palestinian exiles were attacked in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. “We don’t want to damage our relations with our Arab brothers,” one PA official told the Jerusalem Post.

“Public statements of condemnation could cause additional damage to our relations with the Arab countries.

“The deal contradicts the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which states that the Arab countries would normalize their relations with Israel only after the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with east Jerusalem as its capital,” the official added. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea to start condemning Morocco.”

Fatal Traffic Accident

Two brothers from Beit El were killed in a grisly pileup near Jerusalem on Friday.

Yedidya and Elyashiv Jungreis, aged five and seven, were killed instantly when a truck plowed into the sedan they were riding in at Sha’ar Hagay, a small hamlet north of the capital. Their 25-year-old uncle, who was driving the vehicle, was airlifted to Hadassah Ein Karem hospital and remains in serious condition. Their ten-year-old brother was also injured in the wreck.

“When we arrived at the scene,

we saw a vehicle that collided with a truck. Outside the vehicle lay four casualties, including: a 5-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy who were unconscious with no pulse and no breathing, with severe multi-systemic injury,” recounted MDA paramedic Ilan Gur Ari. One of the parademics that responded to the scene was an uncle of the boys.

The grisly accident caused shockwaves throughout Israel due to the victims’ young age and the circumstances that led to the pileup. The two brothers had been driven by the uncle after their mother gave birth earlier in the week and had been coming home for Shabbat when their car collided with the 18-wheeler.

MK Boaz Toporovsky, who chairs the Knesset Subcommittee on Promoting Road Safety, called on the government to implement new regulations following the accident.

“Just last month, there were two emergency discussions in the Knesset about child injuries and the involvement of heavy vehicles in road accidents,” he said. “The chilling accident in recent hours begs us to act.”

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Hamenuchos.

At the levaya, their father mourned, “We know that everything is from Hakadosh Baruch Hu and that He runs the world… He should only give us the koach to withstand this formidable challenge.

“Ribbono shel Olam, it’s known to You that we did our hishtadulus to be mechaneich these neshamos. Your light will continue to shine by us.

“Go before the Kisei HaKavod and tell the Ribbono shel Olam that He should give us koach to continue with the same simcha we’ve always had.”

AG Barr Resigns

ter a “pleasant meeting” at the White House.

In his resignation letter, Barr thanked the president and had praise for the commander-in-chief’s mettle.

Barr lauded what he described as Trump’s accomplishments “in the face of relentless, implacable resistance” and singled out the Russia investigation as a partisan attack on Trump’s presidency.

“The nadir of this campaign was the effort to cripple, if not oust, your administration with frenzied and baseless accusations of collusions with Russia,” Barr wrote. “Few could have weathered these attacks, much less forge ahead with a positive program for the country. You built the strongest and most resilient economy in American history – one that has brought unprecedented progress to those previously left out.”

Barr is set to leave on December 23. Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will become acting attorney general.

U.S. Sanctions Turkey

Attorney General William Barr will resign next week as the Trump administration draws to a close.

Trump announced the news of Barr’s departure on Monday evening on Twitter.

Trump lauded his attorney general as “a man of unbelievable credibility and courage” just months ago, but seemed to be upset with Barr after he declared there was no widespread evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election and resisted Trump’s public pressure to prosecute President-elect Joe Biden and other former Obama administration officials on claims of corruption and the surveillance of the 2016 race.

Over the weekend, Trump rebuked Barr for not revealing a recently disclosed inquiry into Hunter Biden’s taxes during the elections in which the president sought to tie President-elect Joe Biden to his son’s nefarious financial dealings.

On Monday, Trump said the decision for Barr to step down came af-

On Monday, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Turkey’s main military weapons procurement agency as penalty for its purchase of a Russian-made missile defense system.

The sanctions were mandated under a 2017 law requiring them against any entity that engages in “significant transactions” with Russian defense or intelligence sectors.

The announcement came after Congress last week overwhelmingly passed the annual defense funding bill, which includes a provision ordering that the sanctions be imposed within 30 days. President Trump has threatened to veto the bill.

Lawmakers of both parties had criticized the administration for delaying the sanctions following Turkey’s $2.5 billion purchase of the

S-400 system in 2019.

In a harshly worded statement, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry condemned the measures, which it called “completely senseless” and “unfair.”

Turkey “will take the necessary steps against this decision, which will negatively affect our relationship” and pledged to “retaliate in a manner and timing it deems appropriate.”

It called on the United States to reconsider and to “address this issue through dialogue and diplomacy.”

The sanctions, although lighter than what the law allows, include a ban on U.S. export licenses and authorizations to Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries and asset freezes and visa restrictions against the organization’s president and three other senior officials.

Similar sanctions were slapped on China when it purchased the same Russian system along with fighter aircraft in 2017 and 2018. A number of other countries, including India and Saudi Arabia, have also progressed toward purchases.

The long saga of Turkey and the Russian S-400s began with the civil war in neighboring Syria, as Russia and Iran became the leading backers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his struggle to remain in power. With war on its lengthy southern border, Turkey argued that it needed a surface-to-air system that would allow it to shoot down approaching offensive aircraft and missiles.

Although NATO temporarily repositioned Patriot missile batteries along the Turkish border with Syria, they were eventually withdrawn, and Turkish negotiations with the United States to purchase its own Patriot systems stalled over disagreements on timing of delivery, cost, and Turkish demands for technology transfer and co-production agreements.

Ironically, as Russian aircraft in Syria appeared to pose the main immediate threat to Turkey, Ankara decided to purchase the Russian defense system. The decision brought immediate protests from the United States and NATO, which charged that its deployment would compromise the security of the F-35, the newest U.S. joint strike fighter aircraft being deployed by the allies. Turkey was suspended from co-production agreements for the aircraft, and its own purchase of 100 planes was canceled.

Relations between NATO member Turkey and the U.S. are strained.

It would be hard for the relationship between the NATO allies to get any worse. A long list of U.S. grievances includes Turkey’s military invasion of northern Syria, its resort to “hostage diplomacy” with U.S. citizens and employees of U.S. missions in Turkey, and its aggressive naval maneuvers over competing natural gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey has suffered in the past from the “perception that U.S.-Turkey ties are not in good shape,” noted Soner Cagaptay, author of “Erdogan’s Empire: Turkey and the Politics of the Middle East.” For that reason, he said, “I think [Erdogan] wants a narrative that he is getting along with the U.S.” Pompeo visited Istanbul in November but failed to meet with any Turkish officials in what Ankara viewed as a public snub.

“Electoral College Has Spoken”

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulated President-elect Joe Biden for winning the 2020 general election.

“The Electoral College has spoken… so today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.

On Monday, Biden officially clinched 306 Electoral College votes to secure the presidency. In the hours since, a string of Republican lawmakers have acknowledged his victory, including Sens. Roy Blunt and Mike Braun. Others, like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, stopped just short of congratulating Biden while conceding that President Donald Trump has a “very, very narrow path” to overturning the election results.

“I don’t see how it gets there from here, given what the Supreme Court did,” Graham said, referring to the high court’s rejection of an effort

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

by Texas to throw out the election results in four battleground states.

“But having said that, I think we’ll let those legal challenges play out.”

McConnell is the highest profile Republican so far to congratulate Biden.

The Trump campaign and key Republican officials have filed 40 legal challenges since Election Day seeking to nullify the results of the race.

So far, they haven’t won a single case.

Larry Ellison Leaves CA

OFFICE@DCDESIGNNJ.COM

The co-founder of Oracle is leaving The Golden State.

Larry Ellison reported in a company-wide email that he will be leaving California’s Silicon Valley for Lanai, a Hawaiian island of which he owns most of the land.

Oracle’s headquarters is leaving Redwood City, California, to Austin, Texas. Ellison will not be following the company.

The 76-year-old said that he’ll “be using the power of Zoom“ to communicate with employees, signing off “Mahalo, Larry.”

Ellison, the world’s 11th-richest person with a net worth of about $75 billion, owns about 98% of Lanai.

The chairman paid hundreds of millions of dollars for Hawaii’s sixthlargest island in 2012, just two years before he stepped down as the company’s CEO. Ellison is the main employer of Lanai’s 3,000 residents, owning resorts, hotels, the main grocery store, the housing stock, and the newspaper.

Ellison and Oracle aren’t the only Silicon Valley power players to leave California this year.

Prolific startup investor Keith Rabois announced his

move to Miami in September. PayPal’s Peter Thiel and Palantir’s Alex Karp and Joe Lonsdale have also set off for other pastures.

Last week, Tesla and Space -X founder Elon Musk announced that he had left The Golden State for Austin. High taxes and coronavirus restrictions were the impetuses behind his need to leave California.

Snow Leopards Have Corona

Three snow leopards in a Kentucky zoo are the first of their species in the U.S. to test positive for the

coronavirus.

Neecee, Kimti and Meru, three leopards residing at Kentucky’s Louisville Zoo, all tested positive after showing symptoms of COVID-19, including watering eyes and a dry cough. The three animals are being closely watched and are expected to make a full recovery.

According to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the leopards likely caught the virus from an infected employee “despite precautions taken by the zoo.” The staff at the wildlife center had been undergoing frequent testing to protect the animals, leading vets to conclude that the cats probably caught the virus from an asymptomatic worker.

While the zoo remained open to the public, the leopard exhibit was shuttered until the animals recovered. However, officials stressed that there is no danger of the cats transmitting the coronavirus to humans.

“Fortunately, based on clinical cases in large cats at other zoos in the country to this point, SARSCoV-2 infection does not appear to be life-threatening,” shared Chief Veter-

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inarian Dr. Zoli Gyimesi. “We will be closely monitoring the snow leopards for ongoing symptoms and resampling them to identify when they have cleared the infection.”

While the aforementioned animals are the first leopards to contract the disease, they are not the first big cats to have become infected. The dubious honor belongs to four lions at the zoo in Barcelona who tested positive earlier this week. A slew of stray dogs and cats have also been found to have gotten the virus since the initial outbreak last January.

activity such as stair climbing and clinical results obtained via medical exams. One-hundred-sixty-five people with suspected heart disease were monitored while performing arduous exercises, such as sprinting on a treadmill. After resting for 15-20 minutes, the patients were then made to climb 60 stairs without pause.

Sudan Removed from Terror List

Stairclimbing Health No EKG? No problem.

A new study contends that climbing stairs is just as indicative of heart health as traditional tests performed in a hospital. According to researchers with the European Society of Cardiology, running up four flights of stairs can reveal if someone is at risk for coronary artery disease.

In the study, researchers examined the link between routine daily

“The idea was to find a simple and inexpensive method of assessing heart health,” said Dr. Jesús Peteiro, a University Hospital A Coruña cardiologist who headed the study. “This can help physicians triage patients for more extensive examinations.

“The stairs test is an easy way to check your heart health,” continued Peteiro. “If it takes you more than one-and-a-half minutes to ascend four flights of stairs, your health is suboptimal, and it would be a good idea to consult a doctor.”

Researchers then examined the relationship between vital signs recorded during exercise testing and the time it took to climb four flights of stairs. Patients who climbed the stairs in less than 40-45 seconds showed signs of heart strain equal to people with a healthy heart, while those who took 1.5 minutes or longer to climb the stairs demonstrated a mortality rate of 20-30 percent.

a separate agreement to pass a bill shielding Sudan from future lawsuits from terror victims and to cap future damages arising from such legal action.

The bill has been held up by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Bob Menendez (DNJ), who want 9/11 victims to be able to sue Khartoum for the assistance provided to Osama bin Laden.

With Sudan threatening to reverse its normalization with Israel should the Senate fail to approve the legislation, the Trump administration has offered 9/11 victims $700 million to drop their outstanding legal claims.

Senate Passes Stopgap Funding

The U.S. Embassy in Khartoum announced that Sudan is no longer classified as a terror-supporting state, 27 years after being added to its blacklist of terror supporters.

“The Secretary of State has signed a statement revoking the ruling that Sudan is giving in to terrorism. The decision will take effect from today (December 14) and will be published in the Federal Registry,” said the Embassy.

The U.S. Embassy in Khartoum also reported that the first shipments of $20 million in wheat promised to Sudan by the United States to address the wheat shortage had arrived. The two aforementioned developments are part of an overall rewards package the African nation received from the United States for establishing diplomatic ties with Israel.

President Donald Trump had announced in October that he would remove Sudan from the list of terror supporters list in exchange for normalizing ties with Israel. Sudan’s military transitional government had made the step non-negotiable, as the classification blocked the country from accessing foreign investment that would improve its economy.

As part of the deal between Israel, the United States and Sudan, Khartoum agreed to pay $335 million to compensate survivors and families of victims of the 1998 terrorist attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The U.S. also promised in

The Senate passed an 11th hour funding bill on Friday to narrowly avoid a looming government shutdown.

President Donald Trump signed the bill into law hours after it was approved. It passed a House vote by a final vote tally of 343-67.

The down-to-the-wire vote came after a handful of senators dropped their bid to scuttle the bill or tack on other provisions. Senators Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley, despite being on opposite sides of the aisle, joined together to block the bill until the Senate approved a stimulus package that would send Americans another round of $1,200 checks.

“If the Senate of the United States can find hundreds of billions of dollars to give to big government and big business, surely it can find some relief for working families and working individuals,” Hawley said.

“And I would just submit to you that it is working families and working people who should be first in line for COVID relief, not last, and that is why the amendment that Senator Sanders and I have proposed is so

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

common sense.”

“If I have anything to say about it – and I guess I do – we’re not going to go home for the [X-mas] holidays unless we make sure that we provide for the millions of families in this country who are suffering,” Sanders added on the Senate floor.

Senator Rand Paul also attempted to hold up the bill’s passage due to his objection to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Paul had objected to an amendment in the bill stopping Trump’s withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan without Congressional approval.

The Senate was slated to vote on the NDAA before the vote on the stopgap funding bill, meaning that Paul’s bid to delay a vote on the Defense bill prevented the spending bill from coming to a floor vote.

“I think it’s a pretty important principle to discuss,” Paul noted.

“So we did hold things up for a day on that but we’re not going to on the [stopgap spending bill].”

The short-term funding legislation was needed because the 12 annual appropriations bills for 2020-21 have not been passed. Had the legislation not been approved by December 18, the U.S. government would have been forced into another shutdown.

FDA Clears Pfizer Vaccine

Pfizer is embarking on the most complicated logistics operations in its history after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its coronavirus vaccine for emergency use last week.

The FDA’s committee voted 17-4 to approve Pfizer’s vaccine during a tense Friday night meeting. During the debate, committee members heard from dozens of doctors and were presented with a detailed record of the clinical trials.

On Saturday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) accepted the FDA’s decision, classifying the vaccine as safe for those 16 and older. The approval is only for emergency use and falls short of a full approval. The medical conglomerate would need to file a separate application for the vaccine to be FDA-licensed.

“The FDA’s authorization for emergency use of the first COVID-19 vaccine is a significant milestone in battling this devastating pandemic that has affected so many families in the United States and around the world,” announced FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn.

“Today’s action follows an open and transparent review process that included input from independent scientific and public health experts and a thorough evaluation by the agency’s career scientists to ensure this vaccine met FDA’s rigorous, scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency use authorization.”

Hours later, the first trucks rolled out from Pfizer’s main warehouse in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the beginning of a mammoth operation to ship the long-awaited virus to all 50 states. By Sunday, 184,275 vials of the vaccine had already been sent out with 189 boxes arriving at state capitals a day later.

Overall, the U.S. aims to send out 14 million doses of the vaccine before 2021, with another 80 million in January and February.

“It’s a very good day for America, and for the world,” U.S. Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui said.

Pfizer had reported a 95% efficacy rate in the Phase 3 trial of its vaccine.

Out of the nearly 44,000 volunteers vaccinated in the trial, only 170 people tested positive for COVID-19. Out of those infected with the coronavirus, 162 were in the control group; only eight were in the experimental group.

Will Trump Pardon Assange?

Reports say that President Donald Trump will pardon Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in his final act before leaving office.

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Assange, the founder of the transparency site Wikileaks, is currently being held in a London prison. He faces charges of releasing classified information that could give him 175

years behind bars if convicted.

A judge is set to rule on January 4 whether Assange can be extradited to the United States. Prior to his arrest last year, Assange was holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for eight years to avoid arrest.

According to numerous media reports, Trump intends to grant Assange a pardon that would make the whistleblower a free man. The latest indication that Assange may be let off the hook came from Pastor Mark Burns, an American evangelical minister known to be close with both As-

sange and Trump.

In a Monday evening tweet, Burns wrote that “President Trump will pardon Julian Assange,” setting off speculation that a pardon was on its way. While Burns admitted a few hours later that the tweet was based on “faulty sources,” he did not deny that the president is indeed weighing such a move.

Burns’ remarks come after Sky News host Brent O’Halloran reported on Sunday of a new “high-level push to bring him [Assange] home – with the help of U.S. President Donald Trump.” The U.S. president is said to be sympathetic to Assange’s plight and believes that he was railroaded for publishing information on wrongdoings by American soldiers in Iraq.

Earlier this month, an independent UN expert decried Assange’s imprisonment as “torture,” finding that his prolonged solitary confinement was harmful to his mental and physical health.

“Mr. Assange is not a criminal convict and poses no threat to anyone, so his prolonged solitary confinement in a high security prison is neither necessary nor proportionate and clearly lacks any legal basis,” said

Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on torture.

Beware Cannibal Sandwiches

Here’s one dish not to serve at your Chanukah party.

Officials in Wisconsin are warning residents about the dangers of consuming raw meat – especially in the form of cannibal sandwiches.

The sandwiches of raw meat and raw

onions are a favorite amongst Wisconsinites.

“Tiger Meat,” as it’s called, is a holiday staple for many in the state, but the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) is urging people to fully cook their meat.

More than a dozen people were sickened in 2013 from the raw meat in the sandwiches. The sandwiches were also reportedly tied to outbreaks in the state in the late ‘70s and early ‘90s.

Still, not everyone was taking the raw meat-risk seriously.

“So should we stop eating romaine lettuce? Every year that stuff gets recalled for killing people, but I don’t see y’all warning people not to eat it,” one commenter challenged in a Facebook post.

We hear ya. But “let us” not hold that against those leafy greens.

America’s Best Restroom Looking for a nice bathroom on your next vacation? Head to Colorado on your next trip.

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

The public restroom located in Bancroft Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has received the nation’s top honor for America’s best bathroom in the 19th annual contest run

by Cintas Corporation.

The high-tech restroom selfcleans after every 30 uses and features a touchless automatic toilet paper, soap and water dispensers, and hand dryers. If toilet paper or paper towels are running low, an app alerts the park maintenance supervisor for refills.

“We’re very proud to win this award since opening these new restrooms just a few short months ago,” Karen Palus, director of Colorado Springs parks, recreation and cultural services, said. “The amount of

recognition we’ve received is a testament to the value people place in hygienic and memorable public restrooms.”

The bathroom went viral this summer after a TikToker featured it in a video that drew millions of views.

He showed how the door opens with the push of a button and “slides like something out of ‘Star Wars.’” At the time, a memo displayed showed that 7,800 people had used the facilities in just two weeks.

Lest you think that it’s easy winning the nation’s best restroom accolade, Bancroft Park’s new bathrooms beat out nine other finalists during an online vote that ran from September 24 through October 19. Among those were the lavatories in AirTrain JFK’S Jamaica Station, Greeley Square Park and Kimpton Muse Hotel in New York, N.Y. A royal flush.

160 Wins What’s better than winning the lottery?

Winning it 160 times.

Kwame Cross of Drumfries, Virginia, had a “feeling” about some numbers he copied down from a TV show. Using those digits, he bought 160 tickets for a single lottery drawing – and won a whopping $800,000 from the numbers.

The magic number? 7314.

“I saw an address in a TV show, in the background, and for some reason it stayed with me,” he told Lottery officials. “I just had a feeling.”

Each of Cross’s 160 tickets won a $5,000 top prize in the drawing, for a grand total of $800,000.

“I thought, ‘This can’t be real!’” he said. “I had to pull over and check like 82 times.

“It feels surreal!”

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Cross hasn’t yet decided what to do with his winnings but it’s bound to be something good.

Record Card

A rookie card by hockey great Wayne Gretzky set a record last week when it sold for $1.29 million.

The Great One’s 1979 O-Pee-Chee rookie card set a record for the most expensive hockey card ever. It was the sixth card to sell for $1 million or more.

The card is graded a Gem Mint 10 by PSA and there’s only two of its kind in the world.

“Having recently passed its fortieth birthday, the Wayne Gretzky

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

rookie finds itself balanced between the venerable old and spanking new, though we’re still inclined to carve its likeness into the Mount Rushmore of the modern era,” the description on the auction website reads.

“Its status as the most recognizable hockey card in the hobby is uncontested, though it could hardly be characterized as ubiquitous, particularly in the listed format produced in Gretzky’s native Canada,” it adds.

Heritage auction site says there’s only two highly graded Gretzky cards in the world and the production of the card is mainly to blame. Cards originally distributed by O-Pee-Chee were cut using wire instead of blades, creating rough edges Gretzky is the NHL’s career leader in goals scored with 894 and assists with 1,963. He amassed 2,857 points, which is also an all-time record.

Coffee Kindness Dozens of Dunkin’ customers received free coffee and doughnuts last week in memory of a woman who loved coffee.

Barry Peters and his son, Davis, delivered the surprise to coffee

drinkers one day in memory of Laura, who died six months ago. Together, father and son have been finding “remembering Mom” moments to perpetuate her legacy.

“People blowing their horns, yelling, ‘Thank you.’

“Honestly, $208 in the scheme of things, it’s not a huge amount of money, but a $2 cup of coffee can really make somebody’s day,” Barry said.

Treasure Finder

An avid coffee drinker, Laura Peters visited the Dunkin’ drive-thru at least four times a week, and so, Barry and Davis Peters calculated how much she would have spent in the past six months. It came to $208.

“What if we go on Saturday on mommy’s anniversary and we buy everybody in Dunkin up to $208 worth of coffee?” Barry recalled asking his son.

After purchasing the gift card, father and son pulled into a separate section of the parking lot, so they could see guests enjoying their free coffee.

“It was just awesome,” he said.

Jonathan “Jack” Stuef is the lucky person who found a hidden treasure a few months ago.

The 32-year-old was able to locate the $1 million treasure chest that Forrest Fenn, a retired art and antiquities dealer, stashed in the wilds of Wyoming over a decade ago.

Stuef is a medical school student from Michigan. Although he found the treasure in June, his identity was only revealed by Fenn’s grandson last week.

“We wish Jack the best of luck, and we hope that the searching com-

munity will treat him with the respect that he deserves,” Shiloh Forrest Old wrote.

Fenn, who was also a decorated U.S. Air Force fighter pilot during the Vietnam War, left clues to finding the treasure in a poem in a memoir entitled “The Thrill of the Chase.”

At the time, Fenn said he hid the chest filled with coins, gold nuggets and other valuables estimated in value at $1 million to $3 million in the Rocky Mountains north of Santa Fe in either Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, or Wyoming. His poem inspired many to go treasure hunting – sometimes getting into precarious situations in the unforgiving Rocky Mountain backcountry. At least four people died in search of the treasure; many others needed rescuing.

Stuef became obsessed with the treasure after learning about its existence in 2018.

“I think I got a little embarrassed by how obsessed I was with it,” Daniel Barbarisi quoted Stuef as saying.

Barbarisi had been in touch with Stuef for a book he was writing.

“If I didn’t find it, I would look kind of like an idiot,” Stuef said. “And maybe I didn’t want to admit to myself what a hold it had on me.”

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The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

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t the culmination of their study of the thirteen Ani Maamins, the seventh graders in Morah Weinstein’s class made tambourines to use when Moshiach comes. Morah Weinstein introduced the Ani Maamin curriculum as a zechus refuah shelaima for Leah Raizel bas Baila and Moshe ben Meira.

Hands-On Chanukah Learning

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community Chanukah fun at the Friedberg JCC in Lynbrook

The children at HANC ECC in West Hempstead were thrilled to share with parents, grandparents and all family members from near and far via Zoom beautiful Chanukah performances. Chanukah songs, spinning like dreidels, melting like candles, and sizzling latkes were some of the fun parts of the show. After the show, the festivities continued for the children feasting on Chanukah treats.

Artists at Work at IVDU LI

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his past week during social skills groups, the students at IVDU created a collaborative Chanukah bulletin board.

Each class was given the opportunity to contribute to the bulletin board. The students shared materials and worked together to design the bulletin board. They shared

markers, crayons, stickers, glitter and other materials. Each student was able to design his or her own picture to hang up on the bulletin board. It was a great opportunity for the students to work together and express themselves in an artistic way.

Gesher’s nursery had a blast painting dreidels with dreidels, painting candle menorahs with candles, and painting pach shemen with shemen

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

Around the Community

YCQ Enjoys Annual Intergenerational Melave Malka

By Sarah Owadeyah

O

prizes were awarded to two students per class. Later, during the night, Shlomo Levinger, a magician, performed some amazing magic tricks for the third-grade students and their families.

Students and guests were all excited to still be able to enjoy such a special event, even if the venue was not the same as past years’. The teachers, along with their students, put a tremendous amount of work into making this a special and memorable event.

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

n Motza’ei Shabbat, December 5, Yeshiva of Central Queens had its third-grade virtual Intergenerational Melave Malka. During the past few weeks leading up to the Melave Malka, the third-grade students practiced and rehearsed their songs with their morot and music teacher, Morah Tali Spector, in order to prefect them for the presentation. Each of the four third-grade classes was pre-recorded singing one song, and all four songs were shown on at the Melave Malka on Zoom to YCQ administrators, faculty, and the families and friends of the third graders.

One student in each class presented a d’var Torah about the song their class sang.

On Friday, December 4, morot and teachers delivered packages to the third-grade students, which included ingredients that were provided by Bravo Pizza, to make their own personalized pizza pies. After the presentation, Rabbi Ribalt, elementary school Judaic studies assistant principal, dressed up as an Italian pizza maker and taught the students how to create their own personal pizzas. Each student designed their own pizza and was able to share their creations on Zoom.

Both Elisha Faigen and Joshua Borukhov said that “making and eating the pizza was their favorite part of the night.”

After they created their delicious pizza pies, a raffle was held, and

The Links of Our Mesorah

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any commentaries explain that the candles of Chanukah represent the flame of Torah SheB’al Peh and miracle of the eternity of Torah. The candles burn with the light of our great Torah tradition, perpetuating the fire that was lit at Har Sinai, handed down from generation to generation.

This year, DRS Yeshiva launched a unique program in which each of the rabbeim in the yeshiva invited their own personal rabbeim to speak to their talmidim, thereby linking the

“chains of the Mesorah.” Through the power of Zoom, the yeshiva was able to “bridge” the generations introducing talmidim to rabbeim.

The list of speakers included a who’s who of Jewish leaders, talmidei chachamim, and gedolei Torah, including the likes of Rav Hershel Schachter, Rav Mordechai Willig, Rav Chaim Ilson, Rabbi Benjamin Yudin, Rav Mendel Blachman, and Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz. The talmidim were inspired by these great Torah luminaries who shared messages

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Around the Community

How Two Weeks Can Impact a Lifetime

By Chana Kastlebaum

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hen Tzipporah* entered first grade, it became clear that she needed extra assistance to keep up with her studies.

Thanks to quick intervention by her caring moros and teachers, her learning differences were quickly identified and addressed.

Within 12 months, she was back on track and performing at grade level.

If it weren’t for the incredible professional staff at TAG’s Resource Center, Tzipporah may still be struggling today. Instead, she is a well-adjusted 11th grader who has made Honor Roll on several occasions.

Tzipporah is not one of the hundreds of students who have benefited from the TAG Resource Center, but if she were a real student, she certainly could have been. It is no exaggeration to say that the instruction and assistance that our students receive literally change their lives. So many young talmidos are excelling in every area of life due to the crucial work that goes on behind the scenes at TAG’s Resource Center.

It is no wonder that the Center is renowned throughout the area and that our Resource Center is one of the assets that draw many families

to TAG. Whether their children currently need the services that we have to offer or not, it is comforting for a parent to know that these services exist, should their child need it in the future. Our incredible educational team spares no effort in their mission to provide the very best, most cutting-edge education for their talmidos.

One of the most adverse effects of the pandemic has been the more urgent need for special education services. Many students were adversely affected by the various lockdowns. Teachers are working overtime, giving their heart and soul to ensure that every girl stays on pace and continues to progress despite the difficult circumstances.

The Annual Two Weeks for TAG Campaign was just launched with a goal of $360,000. It is a campaign that is devoted exclusively to our Resource Center – to help fund its $1,000,000 a year operating budget – and enable it to maintain its leadership role in Jewish special education.

Please donate generously to the campaign and impact the lifetime of a young talmidah.

You can donate instantly at TAGDonation.org or call Rabbi Baruch Lovett, Director of Development at 718-471-8444 ext. 212 or email blovett@tagschools.org for dedication opportunities.

Borough President and New York City Mayoral Candidate Eric Adams Lighting Menorah

E

ric Adams, together with prominent Jewish leaders and advocates, lit a menorah in celebration of Chanukah. The ceremony was held in memory of the victims tragically massacred in Jersey City exactly one year ago. Adams, who has always supported and

looked out for Jewish interests, reiterated his uncompromising stance against anti-Semitism and promised to continue working together with the Jewish community.

Seen with Borough President Adams are: Rabbi Moshe David Niederman, executive director of UJO; Rabbi Abe Friedman; Rabbi Avi Greenstein of the BPJCC; Rabbi Alvin Kass, NYPD chaplain; Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, FDNY chaplain; Rabbi Hirsch Berkowitz, MTA chaplain; Rabbi Shai Melman of the Flatbush JCC; Rabbi Mendel Nernack of the Staten Island JCC and Deputy Inspector Richard Taylor of the NYPD Community Affairs.

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

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42

DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Anything Else is Just Grilled Cheese A Colorful Chanukah

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Indeed, two new innovative products have just been unveiled that have consumers everywhere singing their praises. Yes, the B’Gan Cheese Paninis and B’gan Cheese Pretzels are not just something to eat; they are true culinary marvels that just happen to come in a convenient box.

These authentic, Italian café-style products are truly in a class of their own. Like all B’gan products, their quality and kashrus are uncompromised. They are produced with generous amounts of real Mozzarella cheese and taste as if they were prepared in an old-time Italian eatery.

They are perfectly crispy on the outside and totally cheesy on the inside.

A The paninis are even mixed with an exclusive blend of Italian pizza sauce for an extra dose of pizzazz.

Your family will think it took hours to prepare –- yet they are conveniently ready in just minutes –- truly a balabuste’s dream!

Head on over to the freezer section of your local kosher supermarket and pick up a few boxes of each of these new treats and solve the problem of what to make for lunch or dinner – or even for a quick snack— when you are pressed for time!

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t Cheder Chabad Girls of Long Island, learning and review takes place in many different ways. A fun way to review gematrias took place this week as Kitah Gimmel-Daled combined Chanukah and gematrias with a challenge.

The girls received a sheet with certain combinations of gematrias written in color blocks. They had to figure out the numerical value of

the Hebrew letters, find the number on the 1-100 number grid, and color in the corresponding color. As the girls worked their way through the gematrias, their pride as they figured it out was evident in their voices. The joy as they figured out the hidden picture was expressed with excitement as they worked through the grid, completing a rainbow dreidel once they were done!

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HALB’s PTA drove around town delivering these awesome gift bags to students who were in quarantine. It’s a tough time to be stuck at home, but these bags brought smiles to all their faces!

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

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Around the Community

Dirshu Daf HaYomi B’Halacha Corona-Compliant Siyumim

By Chaim Gold

W

hat does Dirshu do to celebrate the tremendous milestone of completing an entire chelek of Mishnah Berurah during an era of Corona restrictions?

They do things the way Dirshu always does things! They work with the circumstances in a way that is sensitive to public health and government regulations while simultaneously going out of their way to convey their admiration for lomdei Torah and give chizuk.

Recently, lomdei Dirshu marked the great milestone of completing Chelek Hei of Mishnah Berurah. Completing Chelek Hei of Mishnah Berurah, which covers the complex halachos of Pesach and the oft neglected halachos of yom tov, is a tremendous achievement. Dirshu felt compelled to celebrate the achievements of its myriad lomdei halacha, who invest so much time and effort each day to fulfill the dictum of Chazal of “Kol hashoneh halachos b’chol yom muvtach she’hu ben Olam Habaah.”

Throughout the ups and downs of the global, terrible pandemic, which brought the world to a standstill, Dirshu learners and test takers continued unabated. Often, learning was done by phone or Zoom, and in each locale, tests were taken in various innovative ways and venues.

“In fact,” said Dirshu hanhalah member Rabbi Shlomo Rozenstein, “During the pandemic we needed the zechusim of limud haTorah even more, and our lomdim didn’t disappoint!”

Rabbi Rozenstein continued, “Under normal circumstances, Dirshu would have made a large gathering where many thousands would have come together to celebrate this milestone. Instead, scores of siyumim were held in Eretz Yisrael in many different cities, most outdoors and all in a socially distanced, compliant way.”

Numerous Siyumim: One Achievement!

One of the moving siyumim was the one held in the Old City of Yerushalayim where HaGaon HaRav Yitzchok Ezrachi, shlita, venerated rosh yeshiva at the Mirrer Yeshiva, addressed a joint siyum for the four Daf HaYomi B’Halacha shiurim that are held daily in the Old City. The

HaRav Sariel Rosenberg addressing the Dirshu Siyum in Bnei Brak

achdus of Yidden of all types and stripes combined with the simcha of Torah and unity was palpable.

There were tens of other siyumim led by Gedolei Torah and hora’ah, many of them Daf haYomi B’Halacha maggidei shur.

Prominent among them was the siyum led by Rav Sariel Rosenberg, rav of the Ramat David neighborhood of Bnei Brak and Av Beis Din of the Beis Din founded by HaGaon HaRav Nissim Karelitz, zt”l. Rav Rosenberg has been delivering a very well-attended Daf HaYomi B’Halacha shiur virtually since the inception of the program. In his remarks, Rav Rosenberg focused on the idea of kevius, the fact that the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha never stops. He praised the shiur members for their mesiras nefesh to maintain that kevius, despite the very difficult period of the pandemic. The shiur continued in various venues and variations, whether by phone, outdoors, and in anyway possible to safely continue so that lomdei halacha would continue to learn halacha each and every day. Rav Rosenberg also focused his remarks on the tremendous importance of learning halacha with a plan. He said, “It is impossible to be an observant Jew without making the learning of halacha a regular part of life.”

Another moving siyum on Chelek Hei, led by Rav Yehuda Aryeh Dunner, rav of Central Bnei Brak, was also attended by Rav Meir Nankenski, Rav of the Beis Haknesses Hagadol of Bnei Brak where numerous Daf HaYomi B’Halacha shiurim are held.

Rav Dunner’s shiur was one that similarly managed to continue throughout the difficult days of the

Coronavirus. In the early days of the pandemic, Rav Dunner established an outdoor Corona minyan in the courtyard of his apartment building. That minyan continues until today and, being that it was an outdoor location, the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha shiur was able to continue throughout. There was only a short period of time when they were forced to have the shiur via telephone. The siyum was held in the courtyard of Rav Dunner’s home. The atmosphere was permeated by a tangible simcha at the accomplishment of completing Chelek Hei and over the zechus that even in these difficult days, it was possible to hold a siyum celebrating the accomplishments of the members of the shiur – many of whom persevered and never even missed a monthly test!

Among the various siyumim was the siyum for the French-speaking shiur in Bnei Brak by Rav Yehoshua Barchatz, rav of a kehillah of French expatriates and Rosh Kollel of Kollel Eitz Chaim. That siyum was graced

by Rav Shevach Rosenblatt, rav and Av Beis Din of Bnei Brak, who delivered enthusiastic words of chizuk.

In Lieu of a Siyum: L’Chaim!

Aside from the numerous siyumim across the length and breadth of Eretz Yisrael – from Tzefas in the North to Ofakim in the South of the country – Dirshu wanted to show every member of a Daf HaYomi B’Halacha shiur in Eretz Yisrael how much they value their efforts and perseverance. They therefore sent a bottle of wine with a beautiful letter of chizuk signed by leading Gedolei Hador to each shiur participant. In this way, even if they were unable to attend a

siyum due to Corona restrictions, they could at least hold a l’chaim and receive chizuk from the words of the Gedolim that was enclosed.

In Yerushalayim, additional siyumim were held in Nevei Yaakov, led by Rav Yisrael Yitzchok Silberman, rav of Nevei Yaakov, and in Bayit Vegan led by famed Daf HaYomi B’Halacha maggid shiur, Rav Avrohom Weg, rav of the Minyan Avreichim Shul.

In Modiin Illit, as well, a siyum was held by the shiur of Rav Yitzchok Luxenberg, rav of the Neot Simcha neighborhood. With the advent of learning Chelek Vav in the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha cycle, Rav Luxenberg is poised to complete his second machzor as a Daf HaYomi B’Halacha maggid shiur. Rav Sariel Rosenberg came from Bnei Brak to participate and address the siyum. A drasha was also given by Rav Moshe Yosef Rizel, rav of Kehillas Ketzos Hachoshen.

Phenomenal Achdus One of the most notable and beautiful aspects of all the siyumim was the phenomenal achdus that was present in every location. Dirshu and Daf HaYomi B’Halacha is a tremendous unifying force with Ashkenazim, Sefardim, chassidim and the yeshiva world all coming together under one banner, the banner of Torah and halacha. The siyum in Tzefas was a microcosm of this. The rav of the city, Rav Mordechai Dov Kaplan, who is also a Daf HaYomi B’Halacha maggid shiur, participated along with Rav Eliezer Ernster, the chassidic rav of Kehillas Me’or Chaim; Rav Aryeh Faivelson, one of the prominent Litvishe rabbanim; the Erlauer Rebbe of Tzefas; and rabbanim from Sefardic community.

Another wonderful development was the fact that in honor of the beginning of Chelek Vav, Dirshu distributed Chelek Vav, the final volume of the Mishnah Berurah to hundreds of shiurim across the country.

As Klal Yisrael begins the last chelek of Mishnah Berurah on its way to the completion of Machzor Sheini, Daf HaYomi B’Halacha learners in six continents are embarking on the last leg of a seven-year journey of daily halacha, a journey that is having a transformative impact on them and all of Klal Yisrael.

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Morad Winery A Fruitful Glass of Wine

By Sharon Spielman

S

ometimes, Steve (my hubby) and I get tired of wine. I know that sounds like such a cliché, but it happens. There are times where we indulge in cocktails, but lately, we have been trying out nongrape wines from the Morad winery in Israel.

Morad is unique since they take all sorts of fruits or sometimes other drinks like coffee and turn them into wines via fermentation. Their offerings started off slowly with the flagship pomegranate wine. Still, they rapidly expanded to include passion fruit, coffee, lychee, grapefruit, etrog, honey, chocolate, almond, orange, and apricot – to name a few.

The best thing about these wines is that they don’t spoil as quickly as regular wines, so you can sip and enjoy them over the course of a week or more.

We first tasted the lychee wine, which I think is my top choice besides the passion fruit wine. They

were delicious chilled with dessert, but also on dessert. We poured some over some gooey fudge brownies during Sukkot, and it really hit the spot. My daughter is quite the mixologist, and she was very excited to spice up these wines. She used the Wild Berry wines in a “hot toddy” with some whiskey, cinnamon sticks, freshly ground cardamom, and some warm water. Wow, did that hit the spot on the chilly evenings we have been getting accustomed to again.

I decided to learn more about these wines as we drank through the selection we picked up at our local shop. The owners are named Ellen and Gershon Bodner, whose family comes from Poland and were in the barrel-making business (Bodner means barrel maker in Polish). Gershon’s family made Aliya to Israel as pioneers, and, like many new Olim, got into the agricultural industry.

His wife, Ellen, takes all the credit for his interest in wine, and around 15 years ago, they visited Morad, a fruit winery. After tasting through Yaakov Morad’s (the winemaker) wines, Gershon was so intrigued, he decided to buy the winery and start exporting the products around the world. They currently split their time between America and Israel.

The process of making fruit wines takes about a year, from the beginning of fermentation to bottling. Each bottle should last around five years if stored properly out of heat and sunlight. While it is difficult to market regular wines, since it is a niche product and a very specific market, I would guess it is even harder to market fruit wines.

Morad exports a small portion of their production and hopes to expand to dryer versions of their sweet wines in the future. With new labels, new attitude and ideas, we look forward to try some new flavors and variations of these wines soon.

Check them out, too!

Cheers!

Sharon Spielman is a wine enthusiast who is passionate about Israeli wine. She can be contacted for feedback and advice at spielman. sharon@gmail.com.

Eighth Graders Experience MTA Energy

M

TA welcomed an amazing group of eighth graders to its Student Visit Day on Friday, December 4. The boys experienced the warmth, excitement, and energy of MTA and participated in interactive shiurim and classes with rebbeim and faculty. They also had a great time playing games in the new Lions’ Lounge and sports in the Den and had the op-

portunity to try out some of MTA’s extracurricular activities.

“We were thrilled to spend time with each student and really get to know them,” shared Director of Admissions Rabbi Yoni Stone. “It was great to show the eighth graders everything MTA has to offer and have fun in a safe and socially distant way.”

Learning at the Yeshiva Sha’arei Zion father-son Chanukah breakfast

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

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Shevach Students Enjoy a Chanukah Chagiga at “NesCafé”

O

n Thursday, December 10, Shevach High School enabled its student body to start off Chanukah with a bang, with the grand opening of “NesCafé”!

Four juniors headed this creative enterprise; Tehila Davidov, Shayna Friedman, Faiga Lind, and Chan Simes, under the guidance of Shevach Educational Administrator, Mrs. Devorah Kovitz. They explained why they chose the theme of NesCafé for this year’s Chanukah Chagiga: “NesCafé hints to ‘A Nes happened on Chaf Heh Kislev,’ and we want to exemplify the importance of recogniz-

ing the miracles Hashem performed for Klal Yisrael during these days.”

The four Chagiga heads transformed the multi-purpose room into the storefront of a café, (hinting to outdoor dining?) complete with an eye-catching awning. They outdid themselves with decorations lining all the pillars in the room. There were menus posted and product advertisements such as mini 3D lattés, donuts, ice coffees and much more, each replicated to perfection! The decorations certainly created an aura of excitement among the girls and had them feeling like they were truly visiting a

café!

The program began with Shevach principal Rebbetzin Rochelle Hirtz giving a dvar Torah on the parsha, leaving the girls with an inspiring Chanukah message of hope.

“Even when a situation looks dark and bleak, with bitachon in Hashem, anything is possible. And even when we are ‘rabim b’yad m’atim,’ we can prevail.”

Mrs. Kovitz then introduced the renowned mentalist and illusionist Mark Garfinkel for entertainment.

Mr. Garfinkel truly amazed the girls and the staff with an incredible

show. Everyone left wondering either: “How in the world did he read my mind?” or “How in the world did he get me to read his mind?”

At the end of the program, each student was given an individually packaged snack box which included a doughnut, a warm latka, Chanukah gelt, a bag of chips, and, to top it all off, a delicious iced coffee. The girls left the Chagiga strongly inspired with the message of hope and the memory of a fun-filled event to be carried throughout the eight days of Chanukah.

Reflecting the Lights: Chanukah at SKA

C

hanukah at the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls has always been both lively and inspirational, and the restrictions imposed by the pandemic this year didn’t hamper our school spirit!

The week of Chanukah was ushered in with an uplifting student-produced video welcoming SKA’s Reflect the Lights Chanukah program. Suggestions how to make the nights “light up” included playing a game with your family, expressing your thoughts in a journal, learning from the SKA Chanukah booklet, and many others posted in the Chanukah Idea Bank.

With the encouragement of the students to spend meaningful moments after candle lighting reflecting on what Chanukah commemorates and making connections, the yom tov began on a highly spiritual note.

School-wide activities kicked off with an entertaining game of Chanukah Bingo and a humorous Ugly Sweater Contest. They continued over the week with SKA Extreme Makeover/Chanukah Edition where the SKA students had a great time decorating their classrooms with holiday and grade themes. A Grade vs. Grade Dreidel Hunt sponsored by the SKA Student Council was followed over the next few days by entertaining games of Pay Day and Deal with No Deal.

Breakfast at SKA teachers’

homes has always been a very popular Chanukah event, but this year, our faculty presented breakfast in the classroom where the plastic dividers proved there was no barrier to having a wonderful time.

SKA faculty and staff also enjoyed a “Chanukah Celebration of Chinuch” luncheon honoring their commitment to education, sponsored by the SKA Parent Council.

Grade parties, holiday-themed

decorated hallways, and abundant donuts and latkes contributed to the very festive atmosphere in the building.

Celebration and inspiration defined the week of Chanukah at SKA!

Morah Sheree Samet and Morah Tirza Berger’s TAG CAHAL class celebrating Chanukah

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

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EmetTorah.com: A Virtual Library of Classes

E

met Outreach has launched EmetTorah.com, a new online resource to educate and inspire the community with rich Torah content. Designed as a virtual library, the site offers a comprehensive showcase of classes and drashos given by Emet’s dynamic roster of educators and notable guest speakers. Visitors can access motivational, relevant and informative classes in a user-friendly format. The site allows viewers to experience and share in the warmth, knowledge, and personal connection that are the hallmark of Emet’s Jewish outreach. Most importantly, this initiative makes Emet inspiration easily accessible 24/7 with maximum impact for the thousands of Emet students and alumni.

“The launch of EmetTorah.com marks the fulfillment of a dream for our team of educators,” said Rabbi Akiva Rutenberg, Emet co-founder and director. “At Emet, we are committed to building strong relationships with our students, and these connections are what help us make

an impact with our educational programs. In the past, only our students and alumni had access to our educators. Now, everyone can see what Emet’s about and learn along with us.”

Content on the site is robust and ranges from beginner to advanced Judaic subjects. Information is conveniently organized by topic and speaker. Topics include classic lessons on Chumash, Navi, Shabbat and Yom Tov. There are also explanatory halacha lectures (Jewish law and customs) and classes focused on tefilla and character development. There is a plethora of relationship-related material, such as dating, marriage, parenting and interpersonal relationship classes. Philosophical subjects round out the list with lessons on Jewish mysticism, Torah and science, and faith and trust.

“We designed the site to easily showcase the depth of Emet’s amazing programming in a way that’s simple to navigate,” said Rabbi Eliyau Maksumov, Emet rabbi and site

developer. “We made sure to include a vast array of classes. There is really something which will appeal to everyone!”

For the first time, the public can experience the scope and energy of Emet’s speakers in one place -- Rabbi Akiva Rutenberg, Rabbi Mordechai Kraft, Rabbi Reuven Kigel, Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan, Rabbi Nissim Musheyev, Rabbi Michael Fuzaylov and Rabbi Eliyahu Maksumov. Featured guest speakers include Rabbi YY Jacobson, Rabbi Eli Mansour, Rabbi Benzion Klatzko, Rabbi Akiva Tatz, Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier, Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff, Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, and Dr. Akiva Perlman.

“EmetTorah.com is such a critical and needed resource for Emet’s students and the greater community,” said Mr. Elisha Wellerstein, a member of Emet’s advisory committee. “Emet’s educators are delivering highly motivational classes and until now they could only be experienced in real-time. A virtual library like this has the potential to reach countless

people. It also takes into account the reality that students gather much of their information online, and it gives them the ease of Torah class accessibility. The online format also enables students to share Torah thoughts with their families and friends and broadens their Jewish connection.”

The site was made possible due to the generosity of Ms. Libby Schwartz, a”h, a woman who believed in the value of education and the importance of libraries. “We are incredibly grateful for the endowment of this site by Libby Schwartz,” said Rabbi Rutenberg. “Ms. Schwartz has enabled Emet to create a lasting library that will be continually updated. May the Torah learning that ensues and the thousands of people who are impacted, be a zechus to her memory. “ Visit EmetTorah.com to experience dynamic and impactful classes. For further information about Emet’s weekly programs and classes, visit EmetOutreach.org.

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community The feeling of Chanukah was in the air as the seventh graders at Yeshiva of South Shore built their own menorahs and designed Chanukah decorations

Children at the YOSS ECC built menorahs and dreidels out of blocks, toys, and an array of creative materials

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

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Around the Community

SHS’s Art Institute

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hen twelfth grade student Talia Ben-Simhon,first came to Shulamith High School, art was not yet her passion.

She explains that she liked to draw but was not very good at it. Last year, Talia, along with current sophomore Shira Deil and current senior Ellyana Pilevsky, was the recipient of the National Scholastic Art and Writing Award. She is not the only student who has come into SHS without any art training or, seemingly, without great talent. That does not stop the phenomenal Mrs. Morgan Cohn from accepting them into SHS’s Art Institute.

“I believe every student should be given a chance,” Mrs. Cohn has stat-

ed.

Mrs. Cohn, who heads the Art Institute, graduated top of her class from Cooper Union and has won countless awards for her excellence in creativity and art. She aims to teach her students through technicality and conceptualism to understand that art has no boundaries and affects every aspect in one’s life.

Students are given an array of assignments that force them to think outside the box – such as portraying “something that does not belong.”

Currently, each senior is working on a portfolio with a specific theme that resonates with them. You can find Art Institute students throughout the day in the art room, as most

Ellyana Pilevsky “Money talks louder than words”

will choose to spend their free time working on their pieces.

“Right now, each senior is diving into their theme and figuring out the psyche behind it and enveloping themselves in different representations of their theme through art,” Mrs. Cohn stated, “themes including the current pandemic, feminism, peer pressure, and violence. These are all being examined in the hopes to one day see a change in our society.

As our seniors are heading out of the SHS doors, it is amazing to see them really think about serious topics and represent them in thought provoking ways.

“I am so proud of their efforts thus far.”

Community Rallies for Club Central

“C

lub Central has been an important cornerstone of our community for many years.”

This is a direct quote from a Club Central member.

Club Central opened its doors to our community in 1996. Anyone who has ever stepped foot in Club Central can understand why its members feel this way. Club Central is more than just a gym; it is a family. It is a gym that listens to the requests of the members and serves the community and provides something for everyone. They created a separate women’s gym, women’s only classes, men’s only hours, early morning classes, late night classes, and weekend classes that shift based on when Shabbos ends. All of this is conveniently located in the heart of Cedarhurst.

In June 2018, Club Central came under new ownership. The new owners made major improvements. They replaced the floors in the main gym as well as in the aerobics room and upgraded to all new state-of-the-art equipment. They added to the variety and availability of classes with the addition of new instructors to their already stellar staff.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and everything shut down.

Even when the world was shut down, the dedicated owners were looking ahead, trying to figure out

a way to make it safe to return to our beloved Club Central. They invested tens of thousands of dollars into a state-of-the-art air filtration system to ensure that anyone coming to exercise in Club Central would have clean, virus-free air to breathe. But, unfortunately, COVID-19 took another victim.

This community staple closed its doors on December 11, 2020.

Wait! All is not lost. A group of dedicated instructors and members came together to try to save Club Central. Now it is time for the community to come together and

help save Club Central.

The Five Towns/ Far Rockaway community has tremendous strength and power when it comes together to accomplish a goal. If something is important, we come together to make it happen. We have all seen this many times. Club Central needs our unified community to help it survive.

Community members have created fliers to help promote the new gym. Instructors have donated their time and services to help keep the momentum going while people from around the communi-

ty have posted the flier to their social media accounts and helped to spread the word. People have even volunteered to sit behind the desk, taking shifts to allow the gym to remain available for workouts.

If we can get enough members to sign up before January 1, we can save this beloved community resource. If you would like to experience the warmth, the excitement, the motivation, and the empowering feeling that comes with a Club Central workout, you can come into Club Central over the next two weeks. For the rest of December, the instructors will be volunteering their time to give classes, and the machines will be available for workouts for anyone who commits to sign up for January membership.

Rates for January will be: men’s membership for $49.99 per month (full access to the expanded Men’s ONLY gym), women’s membership $89.99 per month (full access to the Women’s ONLY gym and all of the classes).

Join us at Club Central and see what it’s all about. Sign up today for your January membership (you won’t be charged until January 1) and get two weeks in December free.

Please don’t let the lights go out in Club Central. Come into the gym (126 Spruce Street in Cedarhurst, NY) to sign up, or email clubcentralgyms@gmail.com.

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Chanukah at Ezra Academy

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hanukah is always filled with excitement and fun at Ezra Academy, and this year was going to be no different. The students hit the ground running as the grades were separated into different large rooms for their traditional “class combat,” a grade-vs.-grade competition. To get everyone in the right mindset, the school surprised all the students with t-shirts. Each grade wore a different color to help get their team spirit going. Following this, the games got underway. Each grade was given Chanukah-related activities,

each of which needed to be submitted with video proof of their completed challenges. In addition, each team needed to create a Chanukah banner using specific and random items accompanied by a dvar Torah. The ninth grade came in second place for their amazing achdut; the winning team was the tenth grade. Both grades will be awarded their prizes following Chanukah.

On Monday, the fun continued with a school-wide seudah. A close friend of Ezra Academy, Danny Gazal, sponsored this seudah as an

annual tradition. It is done as a seudat hoda for a personal miracle his family experienced many years ago.

He shared the story of this miracle and spoke about how Hashem is in our lives even in the most difficult of times. This was followed by a special musical performance by Rabbi Diamond, a highlight which the students look forward to as he shares the meaning of Chanukah in an original rap. The days’ festivities were concluded with a raffle with prizes sponsored by Ezra alumni.

Tuesday morning was host to

the annual Chanukah game show with an array of question relating to school history, this year’s theme and activities, and, obviously, Chanukah. Using Quizizz.com, the students remained in their seats as the game show was broadcasted over the school loudspeaker. Fixed intermissions with Chanukah songs and donut deliveries broke up the fierce competition. Congratulations to Liam Benlul, Oriah Azulay and Lorena Khaimov on finishing as the top three students.

Remembering My Grandfather, Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, zt”l

By Shabi Spero

R

abbi Fabian Schonfeld, zt”l, was a pioneer in the Queens community. He was the founding rav of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills and led his community for over five decades.

Below is an excerpt from the hesped said at his levaya this week by his grandson, Shabi Spero.

For as long as I can remember (which, admittedly, isn’t a large portion of Grandpa’s life – but it is what I have), Grandpa would ask for the kavod of gelila and not Levi. I will soon share the reasoning for this, which I’ve heard Grandpa explain many times, as I’m sure others have as well.

But it wasn’t about anava, at least not in the superficial sense. It was about who Grandpa was.

Grandpa would often explain, based on the Gemara in Megila that the kavod and s’char of gelila is equal to that of all the aliyahs that came before. This is because we are to treat a Sefer Torah, as we would a talmid chochom, as the Gemara in Brachos states: Gadol shimusha yoser m’limuda. Therefore, the caring for the sefer Torah itself, the gentle wrapping of the scrolls, carefully hugging and closing it up, dressing it with the me’eal – all that was as just as important as all the Torah that was learned from it. Like Yehoshua bin Nun and Elisha Ha’Navi, what drove Grandpa was shimush ha’Torah and talmidei chochomim.

Grandpa wasn’t a young yeshiva bocher running errands all day. To Grandpa, shimush talmidei chochomim was much more than that.

I remember interviewing Grandpa on the topic of Rav Soloveitchick

about a decade ago. Grandpa quoted the Mishna in Pirkei Avos: Chamisha talmidim ha’yu l’Rabban Yochanon ben Zakai. And he asked: how can the Mishna say that Reb Yochanan Ben Zakai only had five talmidim? Surely the founder of Yavneh v’chachameha had thousands of talmidim! The answer, said Grandpa, is in the words: “ha’yu lo.” They were his. These were the talmidim who belonged to him.

Grandpa said that there are many talmidim who are far better experts on the Rav than he was. Experts on the Rav’s chiddushei Torah and minhagim, or his philosophy or even family history.

“I am not an expert on the Rav. But I was his.”

No matter what it was, Grandpa was there for the Rav, always on his side. The Rav knew he can trust him.

The Rav, like Rabbi Yochanon ben Zakai, had many talmidim. Thousands. But from all those thousands, only five were hayu lo, in such a way.

And that is what Grandpa meant to the Rav, and perhaps more importantly, that is what the Rav meant to Grandpa. This is what shimush talmidei chochomim meant to Grandpa. It is more the running errands. This is the kind of hayu lo like Hashem promised us, “V’hayisi la’chem l’Elokim v’atem tihiyu li l’am.” It is a consciousness of complete devotion and commitment, a pledge of fealty and allegiance. Unwitherable and unshakeable.

This form of commitment of Grandpa wasn’t a singularity. He had pledged such allegiances before and after. There are many ideas, beliefs, and, most importantly, people, to whom Grandpa signed off these promises of hayu lo.

Grandpa, Daddy, Fabi, Ha’Rav Schonfeld, Rabbi Schonfeld, Rav Mordechai Shraga Schonfeld…. The name signing off might change, the ways in which they manifest might vary but the promise is the same. I am yours. I belong to you.

Grandpa belonged to Grandma, with the deepest love and admiration – he was hers. Noda b’shaarim ba’aleh b’shivto im ziknei aretz.

Grandpa might have sat at the gates and walked the corridors with the elders but he was always the husband, spouse and love of Grandma.

Grandpa also belonged to his first wife Fradel Charna, Lotti. No matter the years that passed, his commitment to her and her memory remained as strong as the day they married.

And to his father, Shmuel Shabsi, who I am named after. Grandpa belonged to each and every one of his sons and daughters. He belonged to his family of five generations. Grandpa belonged to Uncle Bibi, asher nafsho keshura b’nafsho. Grandpa belonged to the wonderful community of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills. And he belonged to Am Yisrael – to all of us, religious or not. To his ancestry and

to Mesorah, to Torah, to tefillin, to Yiddishekeit, to Gerer, to the Rasher Hirsch, to his friends, to Eretz Yisrael and Medinat Yisrael.

Grandpa was the sum of his belongings. The ideas, emunos, and people to whom he belonged. Grandpa asked for the kavod of gelila because of how he treated the sifrei Torah, with reverence and love, was what Torah meant to Grandpa. And it was how he treated life, Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s world, and the people in it.

Ninety percent of Grandpa’s drashas and shiurim consist of stories.

Stories of his father and family, members of the community, encounters with diplomats and statesmen, rabbanim and roshei yeshivas, from his life in Europe or America or experiences in Israel. This is simply because, to Grandpa, Torah was not only about kisvei ha’kodesh and the teachings of our great mesorah. To Grandpa, Torah came to life in the human interaction. Grandpa saw and learned Torah not only from the millions of seforim spread throughout his house but from the very lives in which the Torah dwelt. And Grandpa saw this Torah in each of us.

Grandpa had an incredible zechus in his late years. The very elements to which Grandpa devoted his life gave him life. These pledges of fealty were mutual. They were covenants. This was the source of Grandpa’s arichus yamim, receiving this devotion back.

To all which Grandpa belonged, belonged to him just the same. More than it gave his life purpose, it was the purpose of his life.

Tehi nishmaso tzerura b’tzror ha’chaim.

THAT SIGNING ME U W E N K LY P FOR N O S T ORA N E THE R A H P Y

OH! IF

BE UlD WO

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The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

Of ALL TIME REGISTRATION OPENS

JANUARY 4

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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

1.

TJH

*

Centerfold

It Sounds Better in Yiddish Now that there was a Yiddish category on Jeopardy (and everyone is all excited about that), here are some witty Yiddish truisms that are, well, so true

c Words should be weighed, not counted

c Empty barrels make the most noise

c No one sees the hump on his own back

c Time is the best doctor

c Better a slap from a sage than a kiss from a fool

c If you’re rich, you’re handsome and smart and

c He looks with his eyes, listens with his ears, and

you can sing, too.

c Money buys everything

understands like a wall

c Two smart people can’t agree c You study until you’re seventy and you die a fool

except common sense.

c Little children don’t let you sleep; big children don’t let you live

c When G-d wants to punish a sinner, He gives him a pious wife

c No one knows whose shoe pinches except the person who walks in it

Farshtey Yiddish?

Match the Yiddish word with its English translation A. Snow

2. Er is gefalin

B. He fell

3. Shney

C. Tired

4. Sheyn

D. Smart

5. Tsufridn

E. Spoon

6. Zorg

F. Worry

7. Lefl

G. Happy

8. Meed

H. Joke

9. Klug

I. Little

10. Vitz

J. Handsome

Answers 1-I 2-B 3-A 4-J 5-G 6-F 7-E 8-C 9-D 10 - H

1. Bissel

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

You Gotta Be Kidding!

Many Jewish comedians got started telling jokes in the “Borscht Belt,” which was the term used for the Catskill Mountain resorts that were popular from the 1920s through the 1960s. Here are some of the classic jokes told in those famous hotels.

!

Someone stole all my credit cards but I won’t be reporting it. The thief spends less than my wife did.

!

The doctor called Mrs. Cohen, “Mrs. Cohen, your check came back.”

Mrs. Cohen answered, “So did my arthritis!”

!

Doctor: “You’ll live to be 60!”

Patient: “I am 60!”

Doctor: “See! What did I tell you?”

!

Patient: “I have a ringing in my ears.”

Doctor: “Don’t answer!”

!

The Harvard School of Medicine did a study of why Jewish women like Chinese food so much. The study revealed that this is due to the fact that Won Ton spelled backward is Not Now.

!

Q: How many Jewish mothers does it take to change a light bulb?

A: (Sigh) “Don’t bother. I’ll sit in the dark. I don’t want to be a nuisance to anybody.”

!

Did you hear about the bum who walked up to a Jewish mother on the street and said, “Lady, I haven’t eaten in three days”?

“Force yourself,” she replied.

!

The doctor gave a man six months to live. When man couldn’t pay his bill, the doctor gave him another six months.

!

Why do Jewish mothers make great parole officers?

They never let anyone finish a sentence!

Don’t Try This at Home According to Anand Manikutty, of Stanford University, Yiddish has the longest words of any language for the following reason: In Yiddish, in order to reduplicate a word, you can replace the first syllable of the word with “shm” and then repeat the entire word. Since this is an accepted rule of Yiddish, any word can be turned into Yiddish. For example, “fancy-shmancy,” or “saleshmale” or “tired-shmired.”

Well, then, now let’s take the longest world in the world (it’s an official German word that refers to a law regarding beef labeling) and try it: r indf lei s chet iket t ier ung s üb er wachungsaufgabenübertra gungsgesetzshmindf leische t i ke t t i e r un g s ü b e r w a c h un g s a uf gabenübertragungsgesetz Well, if this exercise taught you anything, perhaps now you know why universitys like Stanford are so important!

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

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3

Torah Thought

Parshas Mikeitz

By Rabbi Berel Wein

T

he dreams of Joseph are actualized in this week’s Torah reading. Miracles, though hidden, are somewhat natural events, and in this instance occur to facilitate this realization of the dreams of Joseph.

We all dream, but not all dreams are miraculous per se. The great Pharaoh of Egypt also had dreams. The fact that he dreamt of fat cows and lean cows is also understandable, for that was the nature of the society that

he governed at that time. It was, in the main, a purely agricultural society, dependent upon animal power to produce food and sustenance. It is also not surprising that he dreamt of sheaves of grain, both full and empty.

But Pharaoh is disturbed by the fact that these dreams repeat themselves, and as Midrash teaches us, these dreams have an unusual and perplexing conclusion to them. In effect, the little destroyed the big, the weak destroy the mighty, and the few

triumph over the many. These conclusions were in direct opposition to the beliefs and experiences of Pharaoh. When he awoke in the morning and remembered his dreams, he was sorely troubled that they did not conform to any of his previous experiences.

It is this part of the story – the fact that the dreams were the opposite of what they had experienced previously – that sets the stage for the miraculous deliverance of Joseph and his unbelievable rise to power and

acle for this lonely, defenseless Jew accused of a serious crime. Yet, from the way that Joseph immediately gets to work to store food before the famine, it seems that he knew that he was destined to be part of history. It was as if he almost expected to be appointed as the ruler of Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh.

In the house of Jacob, as in the houses of Isaac and Abraham, miracles were part of everyday life. They were expected to happen because our ancestors lived in a world of the spirit,

Joseph had no doubt that he would be saved and that his dreams of greatness and accomplishment were not made of imaginary straw.

fame. Thus, we see how miracles are formed by seemingly natural events, with just a little twist to those events that facilitate and hasten the arrival of the miracle.

One of the more amazing insights into this dramatic turn of events is that it seems that Joseph is not at all surprised by his being taken out of the dungeon and placed upon one of the thrones of the ancient Egyptian Empire. Simply being released from prison after having the aristocracy of Egypt against him, one would think this would have been a sufficient mir-

where the presence of Heaven always felt real. Joseph had no doubt that he would be saved and that his dreams of greatness and accomplishment were not made of imaginary straw.

He only did not know how this would come about and how the dreams would be actualized. He had intended to be helped by the butler of Pharaoh but that was not the track that the L-rd had ordained for Joseph. In this week’s Torah reading, the real story unfolds with all the necessary twists and turns that make up human life.

Shabbat shalom.

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

From the Fire Parshas Mikeitz

Chanukah Dreams

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

T

he story of Yosef and his brothers stretches over four parshios, and the central theme of these parshios relates to the interpretation and unfolding of dreams. In the words of the Abarbanel, “The primary aspect of this story is dreams and their interpretation.” The dreams in the story act as catalysts, setting each step of the story into motion. The four dreams, or sets of dreams, are, as explained by the Abarbanel: (i) Yosef’s dreams, which aroused his brothers’ hatred and jealousy, as they said (Bereishis 37:19), “Behold, here comes the master of dreams”; (ii) the dreams of the butler and the baker, which ultimately led to Yosef’s release from prison; (iii) Phaorah’s dreams and Yosef’s interpretation, which led to Yosef’s appointment as viceroy over Egypt and enabled him to eventually bring his whole family down to Egypt and support them; and (iv) Yaakov’s prophetic dream (Bereishis 46:2-4) “in a night vision,” which led him to descend down into Egypt.

While dreams have no significance in halacha (Sanhedrin 30a), “Matters in dreams cannot elevate or cause descent,” the dreams in these parshios cause the elevation of Yosef and his and his family’s descent into Egypt.

In order to understand the role of dreams, we must first understand a little bit more about the nature of day and night. There are places in the world where it is day for the entire summer and night for the entire winter. In the Jewish calendar, we have a similar phenomenon. From the month of Nissan until the month

of Tishrei, throughout the spring and summer months, we have all of the chagim d’Oraisah, the Torah-based holidays: Pesach, Shavuos, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkos. The summer months are filled with light. In contrast, from Mar-Cheshvan till Adar, during the fall and winter months, we have no Torah-based holidays. The wintertime is like one long night. It is a cold, hard, difficult and confusing time, a time of darkness, with short days and long nights. The holidays of Chanukah and Purim are like the dreams of the Jewish people in the long night of the winter.

There are, however, two aspects to dreams. On one hand, they are filled with nonsense (Zacharia 10:2, Brachos 55b) “dreams speak emptiness.” On the other hand, some dreams have the power to reveal

the truth of one’s life, as the Gemara (Brachos 57b) says, “A dream is one sixtieth of prophecy.” And as the pasuk (Bamidbar 12:6) says, “If there shall be prophets among you, I, Hashem, make myself known to him. I will speak to him in a dream.”

Sometimes we cannot attain higher levels when we are active, when life is filled with light. It is like when a rebbe begins speaking and the student’s hand shoots in the air, thinking he knows the answer, so he does not hear anything else the rebbe says. While it is good that his mind is active, he is so filled with his own thoughts that he cannot listen to his rebbe. Similarly, sometimes one has a conversation, and at the beginning of the conversation, he has already thought of his response.

He therefore fails to listen to anything else the other person is saying

because all he can hear is the product of his own active mind.

Therefore, sometimes we can only attain a new level of understanding when we slow down, when the night, a time of inactivity, comes. When the race of life quiets down, during the “night” of the year, we can begin reflecting on the truth of life and dream of how things should be and where we are headed.

The name of our parsha is Mikeitz, which means “at the end of,” but it can also mean to “wake up.” When we have a dream about how life can or should be, and then we wake up, such a dream can act as the catalyst for a person to fulfill his dreams during his waking hours.

Sometimes, if a person is wrestling with a particularly difficult problem, and he cannot come to a solution, he eventually goes to sleep without an interpretation, without a resolution. But after sleeping and dreaming, suddenly everything becomes clear. The same thing happens to the Jewish people. We sometimes experience a time of great confusion and descent. But then we begin to dream of how it could be, how it should be. Such a dream is not nonsense or idle imagination. Such a dream can lift a Jew or the entire nation to new heights, and from these heights, everything becomes clear.

Rav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook, in Oros Hakodesh (53), in a selection called “Great Dreams,” writes: Great dreams are the foundation of the world. There are many different levels. The prophets were

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 17, 29, 2020 2015

dreamers, “I will speak to him in a dream.” Poets are dreamers who dream while awake. Those who think great thoughts about how to improve the world are dreamers.

We all dream about Hashem causing His children to return to Zion.

The coarseness of life in society, where one is immersed only in physicality, takes away the light of our dreams from the world. It negates a person’s expansive radiance, his supernal ascen,t and prevents his dream from penetrating into reality.

This causes the world to flounder in pain from the stinging poison of a reality without the radiance of these dreams.

But this pain is the suffering of love, which cleanses the world, clarifying it. How mistaken are those who exult in this course, defective reality. But when one sets his dream free, then, unbound by reality and its limitations, it rebels against reality and becomes more real than the current state of physical reality.

The dream then becomes a clear vision. Then we speak directly with Hashem, in a clear vision and not indirectly.

We must lift up our nation’s lofty dreams, to clarify our purpose and direction. Chanukah is our great

son of Yishai, Your anointed.”

Rav Tzvi Hirsch Koidinover, the Rav of Frankfurt, wrote in the Kav Hayashar (section 96): In each and every thing that we do during the eight days of Chanukah relating to the lighting of the

When the race of life quiets down, we can begin reflecting on the truth of life and dream of how things should be and where we are headed.

dream during the long winter night, which illuminates the darkness of Greek secularism, who attempted “to darken the eyes of the Jewish people.” Chanukah awakens the great light and paves the way for “the establishment the candle of the

candles...in many places, we find that the Chanukah candles are precious before Hashem…. It has a great and wondrous holiness without measure. If we had Divine inspiration, we would make the blessing over the candles and then under-

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stand and comprehend, through the mitzvah, the kindling of the future candles [of Moshiach] because the Chanukah candles prophesy like a human prophet.

We see from this that by spending a few quiet moments with the candles, we can see the future and access the dreams of what we could be. Dovid Hamelech tells us that when we reach the times of Moshiach (Tehilim 126:1), “we will be like dreamers.”

May Hashem open our eyes to stop and contemplate during this quieter time of the year in order to dream of what our lives can be like so that we may begin to work to actualize that dream.

Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.

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Parsha Ponderings

Parsha Mikeitz

By Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky

T

his week, after arriving in Egypt, the brothers of Yosef are put through an ordeal.

They are accused of spying and locked up by their brother Yosef, the viceroy of Egypt, who asks for to see Binyamin.

After the brothers languished in prison for three days, they commiserated, saying, “This is happening to us because we heard our brother crying to us, begging for mercy, and we ignored him.”

“I told you not to harm the child!”

Reuven added. “You did not listen to me, and now, his blood is being avenged!” Chilling words.

The selling of Yosef happened twenty-one years prior! So much happened since then. The brothers were raising their families, preparing their children to be the next generation of the Chosen Nation. Much soul searching and introspection surely was done by the 10 holy Shevatim! Why now did they think back to an event that happened so long ago?    A friend of mine recently told me a story illustrating this point.

Shlomo, a real estate investor, purchased a property as an investment, but after a few months, he realized that there were many problems with the property. He did not see how he would turn a profit after all the additional expenses. He decided to sell the building, even if he would take a small loss. After a short while, he went to contract with an Italian businessman for a higher price than he himself paid for it! He was overjoyed. Not only did he not lose on the deal, but he would walk away with a few dollars.

A few weeks later, before the deal closed, guilt started settling in.

He doubted his decision to sell the property, as the buyer, too, would inevitably suffer a loss. He was selling damaged goods and misguiding the buyer. He thought about the fact that Hashem gives him parnassa and will surely take care of his needs, without him bending the rules. He approached a rav to present his dilemma.

The rav advised him to be honest and open, for, after all, it is Hashem who closes the deal. If he has the proper trust, he will be safe in the hands of Hashem.

When he met his buyer next, Shlomo took a deep breath and informed him of the problems with the property, giving him the opportunity to back out of the contract. They agreed to touch base again in a week as the

me a price which is too low! After I assessed the building, I saw a lot of potential, so I wanted to make sure that I closed on it as soon as I can.

I’m glad that I was able to close at the original asking price!”    My grandfather, Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky, zt”l, explained that people of faith live constantly with Hashem on their mind. Through ev-

They, too, saw the hand of Hashem leading them through their every move.

buyer reviewed this new information.

The next day, Shlomo received a phone call from the gentile buyer.

“We must close on the deal now! I have cash for the deal. When can we close?”

Shlomo was stunned but did not ask questions. They set a date for later that week, and, in turn, closed the deal.

After the closing, the Italian businessman turns to him and said, “I know why you told me how many problems this building has. You wanted me to back out of the deal, so you can sell it for more! You gave

ery occurrence in their lives, they see messages from Hashem and opportunities to exercise faith. The Shevatim, sons of Yaakov, were content with their lives, knowing that they were to be the ancestors of the great Nation of Israel. But as soon as they were faced with a challenging situation, they lift their eyes heavenward, and proclaim, “We have sinned! It is our fault! This is a message from Hashem!”

Only a true believer in hashgacha pratis, Divine providence, can utter such words and truly believe them.

We are in the last days of Chanukah. The Chashmonaim were in a

situation where victory was virtually impossible. They were just a few weak and untrained tzaddikim, fighting against the most powerful army in the world. Yet, they fought.

What gave them the strength?

Rav Binyamin explained that they, too, were powered by their unwavering belief in Hashem. They felt Hashem’s presence every waking moment.

They, too, realized that there is a Divine providence guiding their lives, and they, too, saw the hand of Hashem leading them through their every move. They had nothing to fear, as they knew that Hashem was guiding their every move.

Indeed, the lessons of Parshas Mikeitz dance in sync with those of Chanukah. Keep Hashem’s providence in mind, and you will prevail.

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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Think, Feel, Grow

Yosef’s Beautiful Victory Over the Greeks

By Shmuel Reichman

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arshas Mikeitz and the story of Yosef always fall out around Chanukah. This is not coincidental; the commentators discuss Yosef’s connection to Chanukah at great length. An obvious connection between Yosef and the Greeks is their association with beauty. Yosef is the only male in the Torah who is referred to as “beautiful” (Bereishis 39:6), and the Greeks originate from Yefes, whose name literally means “beauty.”

In a similar vein, the Gemara (Megillah 9b) states that, despite the general prohibition of translating the Torah into other languages, it is permissible to translate the Torah into Greek due to the beauty of the language. What is the meaning behind this connection Yosef and the Greeks?

Additionally, in Parshas Noach, Noach blesses his two sons as follows: “Yaft Elokim l’Yefes, v’yishkon b’ohalei Shem,” Hashem will grant beauty to Yefes, and he will dwell within the tents of Shem (Bereishis 9:27).

Yefes is the ancestor of the Greeks, and Shem is the ancestor of the Jews.

This seemingly paints the Greeks as

a positive force, as a beautiful nation, fitting to dwell within the framework and boundaries of Judaism. However, the Chanukah story, and other incidents throughout Jewish history, reveal a very negative and harmful relationship between the Jews and the Greeks. What then is the meaning behind the Torah’s positive portrayal of the Greeks and what is the meaning behind their beauty?

In order to understand why both Yosef and the Greeks are referred to as beautiful and the powerful connection between them, we must understand the spiritual concept of beauty in all of its depth. To do so, let us trace the spiritual concept of beauty back to the creation of Man, before Adam Ha’Rishon’s sin.

Adam Ha’Rishon Before Adam sinned, he looked nothing like you or I do today. When we look at one another, all we see is flesh and bone, but if you looked at Adam before he sinned, his appearance was angelic, transcendent, luminescent. The midrash says that he

wore kosnos ohr, skin of light. When you looked at Adam, you didn’t see his body, you saw Adam himself; his neshama, his soul. When you look at a lightbulb, all you see is radiant luminescence; only if you look very closely can you just make out the surface of the bulb. The same was true regarding Adam; only if you looked very closely could you just make out his physical body. His body was transparent, with the outside loyally and fully reflecting his inner self. This is true beauty, where the inner and outer melt into a oneness, where the physical perfectly reflects the inner spirituality, where the physical projects something much deeper than itself.

Beauty is the harmony and synthesis of different components, resulting in something infinitely greater than the sum of its parts.

When Adam sinned, however, the world fell, and Adam’s body fell as well. The physical no longer revealed the spiritual but hid it. Now, when we look at each other, we don’t see our true selves; all we see is a physical body. What was once light is now

darkness. People can’t see your inner world, your thoughts, your consciousness, your emotions, your soul – all they see is your external body. Now, in order to reveal yourself to other people, you must actively use the physical to reveal the spiritual. Only through your words, actions, facial expressions, and body language can people gain a glimpse into who you truly are.

The body used to be incandescent and revealing, now it only hides. It is up to us to reveal our souls.

Sarah Imeinu After the sin of Adam Ha’Rishon, genuine beauty became elusive. Sarah Imeinu, however, was one of the few who still achieved this lofty feat.

We know Sarah was physically beautiful, that her beauty was not just of an ethereal, spiritual nature. When Sarah and Avraham descended to Mitzrayim, the Egyptians, and even Pharaoh himself, desired her (Bereishis 12:14-15.). The Egyptians were steeped in immorality, interested only in beauty that ran skin deep. However, we know that Sarah Imeinu was

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immensely spiritual as well, that she reached the loftiest of spiritual levels (Rashi, Bereishis 23:1).

At the end of Parshas Noach, Rashi (Bereishis 11:29) explains that one of Sarah’s other names was Yiscah.

A name always reflects essence, so we must ponder the meaning of this name and what it reveals about Sarah Imeinu.

“Yiscah” means transparent, and Sarah’s true beauty lay in her transparency. Her inner beauty completely permeated and was loyally reflected through her physical body. Genuine beauty requires the middah of transparency, where the physical body reflects the inner and spiritual beauty, something infinitely greater than any external beauty. True beauty is oneness, where the physical and spiritual melt into a oneness, where the physical doesn’t hide the inner self but reveals it!

It is therefore fitting that the shoresh of the word “Yiscah” is also the shoresh of the word schach, the roof of the sukkah. According to halacha, the schach is the most important part of the sukkah, which is why schach is the shoresh of “sukkah” as well. What, then, is the connection between transparency and schach?

The answer lies in one of the deepest themes of Sukkos. Sukkos is about seeing past the illusion of independent self-security, recognizing that Hashem is our true source of protection. This is why we leave our sturdy homes and enter a diras arai, a temporary dwelling place. We show that our faith and trust lay in Hashem, not our “safe” homes. While on the surface, our security and safety seem to come only from our own efforts and hishtadlus, when we look past the surface, we recognize that everything comes from Hashem. This is why the schach is the main part of the sukkah – it trains us to see past the surface.

The schach must be transparent, allowing you to see the stars at night.

It must also be loose enough to allow some sunlight and rain to enter the sukkah. Only when we have a transparent surface can we truly see what lies behind it.

Tzniyus One of the most misunderstood ideas in Judaism is the concept of

tzniyus,, especially in regards to women. Many think that tzniyus means to hide, that the ideal is not to be seen.

However, there is an infinitely deeper approach to tzniyus. In this age, beauty has been corrupted. The term “beauty” generally refers to outer beauty, a surface beauty that distracts from and hides the inner self. Physical beauty is neither good nor bad, it is merely a vessel that has the potential to be used for good or bad. While the physical exterior is important, our true self is our neshama, our mind and consciousness. Our inner world, thoughts, ideas, choices, beliefs, middos, and emotions are the deepest and most genuine parts of our “self.” True beauty is when the physical serves as

detached from each other. The physical and intellectual were completely independent; mind and soul did not permeate the physical, but remained distinct and separate. This is why the Greeks come from Yefes, which means “beauty,” and why their language is referred to as beautiful.

Ideally, the Greeks could have reflected true beauty, a perfect harmony and oneness between physical and spiritual beauty. This is the ideal that Noach hoped for when he said, “Yaft Elokim l’Yefes, v’yishkon b’ohalei Shem,” Hashem will grant beauty to Yefes, and he will dwell within the tents of Shem (Bereishis 9:27). Ideally, the Greeks would have harmonized with the Jews, joining the physical

True beauty is when the physical serves as a vessel that expresses one’s true self, their inner essence, into the world.

a vessel that expresses one’s true self, their inner essence, into the world.

The focus must always be on the inner beauty as the ikar, as the essence. The purpose of tzniyus is not to hide you, but to reveal you! The true you. Tzniyus shifts the focus from the external trappings to the actual self, the neshama, which lies beneath the surface and illuminates the physical vessel. True beauty requires a beautiful root and core, and the physical must be used to project that inner beauty outwards.

The Chanukah Battle The conception of beauty was a fundamental point of contention in the battle between the Jewish People and the Greeks. The Greeks did not believe in using the physical to reflect anything higher; they viewed physical beauty as an end unto itself.

Their focus was solely on the external; to them, beauty was physical perfection, detached from anything deeper.

The Greeks introduced the Olympic games, a competition that idolizes the physical body. For the Greeks, true godliness was physical and intellectual perfection, albeit completely

with the spiritual. Instead, they chose to corrupt true beauty, disconnecting the spiritual from the physical and projecting the physical as an independent end in itself.

Yosef is connected to Chanukah because he represents the harmony between the physical and the spiritual; he successfully utilized the physical to reflect something higher. The Torah calls him “beautiful” because his physical body projected something infinitely deeper than itself.

This is the profound meaning behind the name that Pharaoh gives Yosef, Tzafnas Paneach, which means to “reveal the hidden” (Bereishis 41:43).

A name reflects inner essence, and Yosef’s middah was true beauty, the ability to harmonize the physical with the spiritual, the hidden with the revealed.

Yosef represents our victory over Greek ideology, the ability to hold on and stay true to a life of Torah, to see the physical as a reflection of something infinitely deeper than itself.

The Greeks attacked Yerushalayim, trying to disconnect us from the Beis Ha’Mikdash, the place where Hashem connects most intimately

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and deeply with our physical world.

The place of the Beis Ha’Mikdash is referred to as Tzion, a unique, beautiful and distinguished place. The pasuk in Tehillim (Tehillim, 50:2) refers to Tzion as the place of ultimate beauty: “Mi’Tzion michlal yofi,” from Tzion comes the embodiment of beauty. The Gemara explains that all of the world’s beauty was given to Tzion, and it gave a tenth of its portion (ma’aser) to the rest of the world (Kiddushin 49b).

Yavan represents external, surface beauty, while Tzion represents true beauty. Yavan is comprised of the letters yud, vav, nun, while Tzion is comprised of those same three letters, along with a tzadi in front, the same root and shoresh of the word tzaddik. Yosef is referred to as “Yosef Ha’Tzaddik” because he places the tzadi in front of Yavan – turning surface beauty into Tzion, true beauty. (While the common spelling of the letter is tzadi, there is a very old tradition of referring to the letter as “tzaddik” as well. See Shabbos 104a.

See also Magen Dovid, letter tzaddik.)

Yosef represents the ability to shine inner, higher beauty through a physical medium. It is no coincidence that the gematria (numerical value) of Tzion is 156, the same gematria as Yosef.

This is the hidden light of Chanukah, the light that illuminates the truth, helping us see that which lies beneath the surface. Beauty is much deeper than a description of how a person looks. It’s a way of life. A beautiful life is a life of oneness, where we synthesize all the aspects of who we are; where our thoughts, words, and actions all reflect a higher purpose, a higher source, a higher reality.

This is the beauty of Yosef.

This is the light of Chanukah.

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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Sparks of Light

Hashem’s Embrace in the Darkness

By Rabbi Benny Berlin

Y

affa Eliach, in her moving book “Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust,” describes the scene of the first night of Chanukah in Bergen-Belsen. A menorah was produced from an inmate’s shoe, with strings pulled from a concen-

tration camp uniform serving as the wicks, and the black camp shoe polish as the oil.

In the freezing darkness of the night, surrounded by heaps of dead bodies, Jews huddled together to perform the mitzvah of Chanukah.

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This story was told to Eliach at the house of the Rabbi of Bluzhov, and the witnesses described that the light of those Chanukah candles against the backdrop of the Jewish inmates’ faces radiating with faith and devotion was a constant source of inspiration during the unimaginable times in Bergen-Belsen.

This image encapsulates the miracle of lights.

The Gemara in Shabbos 21b asks: What is the reason for the rabbinic yom tov of Chanukah? The Gemara answers that it was a celebration of the neis that the Kohanim found one flask of pure oil lying out of sight with the Kohen Gadol’s seal still intact. The oil was enough to burn for one day, and miraculously, the oil burned for eight days. Recognizing that the miracle had eternal implications, the next year they established Chanukah in commemoration of that neis.

But this seems strange. The Gemara in Pesachim 77a explains that, in certain circumstances, impure oil is acceptable to light the menorah, and this event fell within those parameters. The pure oil, while ideal, was not necessary. To compound the question, the challenges that the Jews were enduring during those times did not stop after the miracles of Chanukah. Wars continued, and there were many painful days ahead.

R’ Chaim Shmuelevitz, zt”l, explains that the miracle of oil was not entirely necessary; it was an extra act of love. This flask of oil was a ne-

shikah, a kiss from G-d. It showed them that even in the darkness, Imo Anochi b’tzaarah, G-d says He is with them in their time of trouble.

This same concept plays out in other seminal turning points in Jewish history, such as in the story of mechiras Yosef; when Yosef was sold as a slave to Mitzrayim, a place of depravity and licentiousness. And at this climactic moment, the Torah tells us that the brothers saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, “their camels carrying spices, balm, and lotus, going to take it down to Egypt” (Genesis 37:25).

Rashi explains that the detail of the caravan’s merchandise is essential because it shows the extent of Hashem’s love. It is usually customary for the merchants to carry the foul-smelling spice naphta and tar, but for Yosef, G-d arranged that he would not be afflicted by a foul odor and instead placed him specifically in a caravan of pleasant smelling besamim (spices).

And yet, we have to ask ourselves, “Do you think Yosef cared?!”

He was stripped of his clothing, thrown into a pit, betrayed by his brothers, and sold into slavery. Why would he care about spices?

R’ Chaim Shmuelevitz, zt”l, explains that Yosef was being brought down to Mitzrayim, thinking all was hopeless. All of a sudden, he smelled these spices and realized that all was not lost. That was a neshikah, a kiss from G-d. The spices were communicating with Yosef that G-d was with him in that dark moment.

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With whatever difficulties we go through, we have to identify the hints of that incense, to find some silver lining, to discern G-d’s loving Hand in the difficulties. This point of light in the darkness can take on many forms. For some people, that silver lining could be a person. In a very moving article, “The Pain of Parting” from Mishpacha Magazine’s Family First issue this past January, writer Beth Perkel describes that when she was going through a second-trimester loss of twins, her “besamim” was a person – her husband. Amidst all the medical, emotional, and logistical difficulties, she was able to hone in on him as her point of light in the darkness.

For some people, it could be one small moment. I experienced one of these moments myself this past year. Because of my busy schedule, I am not often home during the day, but because of the COVID-19 lockdown this past spring, I happened

to be home to see the first moments of my baby bechor’s crawling. This would have never happened during the regular hecticness of everyday life. The lockdown was a period of much difficulty, but when I look

ness if we are willing to open our eyes to Hashem’s glow. Of course, this concept is not meant to belittle the pain we inevitably experience over the course of a lifetime, but it brings into focus a little light during

There are so many forms and flashes of light that can illuminate darkness if we are willing to open our eyes to Hashem’s glow.

back, I try to focus on that moment as the “besamim,” my light in the darkness.

Still more, for some people, the “besamim” could be a conversation, and for some, it could be an event.

There are so many forms and flashes of light that can illuminate dark-

those dark times when we need it the most.

There were still wars after the miracle of oil at the time of Chanukah, Jews in Bergen-Belsen still were tortured after seeing the lights from their makeshift menorah, and Yosef still underwent tremendous

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pain after he smelled the spices in the caravan taking him to slavery.

However, when we experience the hand of G-d, to feel the Divine presence, it is reproducing the miracle of Chanukah in our lives. It reminds us we are not alone in the struggle and that can make all the difference in the world.

COVID-19 still rages on and has upturned our lives. It is unclear when that will end and when the suffering will come to a close. And yet, if we use this concept to find the points of light along our way towards that exit, perhaps it will make our winter all that more tolerable and our lives all that more focused on looking for the myriad of ways that Hashem is embracing us during these challenging times.

Rabbi Benny Berlin is the rabbi of the BACH Jewish Center in Long Beach, New York.

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World

Builders

Living With This

By Raphael Poch

Vicki with her family

V

icki Tiferet is a secular Jewish woman who lives in the town of Moshav Yuval with her husband and four children. Yuval sits directly on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, making Vicki one of the country’s northernmost responders outside of the Golan Heights. She became a volunteer EMT with United Hatzalah three years ago after being diagnosed with a medical condition called Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), a chronic disease that causes inflammation of the joints and spine that results in severe pain. “Helping others does me good,” Vicki explained.

Vicki immigrated from Russia with the large wave of immigrants from the former Soviet Union in 1991 when she was just nine years old. Seven years ago, Vicki began suffering pain in her spine which baffled doctors for more than three years until she was finally diagnosed with (AS). In an effort to help others where she could not help herself, Vicki became a massage therapist and now spends her days alleviating the back pain and spinal issues of others.

But that wasn’t quite enough for her.

Three years ago, Vicki saw an advertisement for an EMT training course and jumped at the possibility of becoming a volunteer first responder with United Hatzalah. She since has become one of the most active volun-

teers in the Hulla Valley region.

In addition to her EMS work, Vicki joined the organization’s Ten Kavod (Giving Honor) project which sees United Hatzalah volunteers visit an elderly patient once a week in order to assess and maintain their health as well as spend some time with them

Every day that passes is another day closer to the time that I will have to use a wheelchair to get around,” Vicki explained. “Whenever I wake up, I need to perform a series of exercises before I can move my limbs without serious pain. It makes getting up in the middle of the night to rush out

“Every day that passes is another day closer to the time that I will have to use a wheelchair to get around.”

to alleviate the sense of loneliness that many elderly people feel. She also became the regional coordinator of the Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit (PCRU) for the Hulla Valley and Golan Heights, and she is enrolled in an upcoming ambulance driver’s training course. Due to her ceaseless desire to help others and her constant activity in the region, she was quickly appointed to become the Deputy Chapter Head of the Hulla Valley chapter and is one of only three women in the entire country to hold such a position.

“Due to AS, I live with pain 24/7.

to medical emergencies extremely difficult. But I do it, and I do it with love, because the thing that keeps me healthy is the adrenaline rush that I get every time that I respond to an emergency.” (Ironically, just as Vicki said that during the phone call interview, she received an emergency alert on a nearby street and had to hang up in order to respond to the emergency.)

Vicki continued to explain why she is so tenacious when it comes to responding to medical emergencies.

“It does me good to help others,” she said. “I do what I can with the time

that I can still do it. I am considered by the state to be disabled, but helping others does good for my body and soul, so this is what I do. I believe that what happens with most of our illnesses is that they are somewhat diminished if we are happy and spiritually healthy.

“This is my life,” she added. “This is what I live with, and this is what I choose to do with what I have been given. I choose to help others. I encourage my fellow volunteers to go out to any and every emergency that they can because you never know who you can help. I live and breathe this mission of helping others with United Hatzalah. Whenever other people or volunteers see me rushing out to an emergency or hear me on the radio report that I am en route, then they get the drive to respond as well. They think to themselves: if Vicki can do this then so can I.” Vicki added that due to the topographical challenges of her region, it is important that everyone who can respond to a medical emergency does so.

“There are large distances between towns and villages here, and to get to a hospital takes a long time. So I never say to myself, someone else will go and help. I am that ‘someone’ who needs to go and help. If I don’t show up, I don’t how long it will be before the next person can arrive.”

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Dating Dialogue

What Would You Do If… Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters

Dear Navidaters,

My wife and I met at a weekend. She is several years older than me. We got engaged two weeks after we met and married about two months later. Several of my friends told me that I was crazy and some went through some outrageous means to try to interfere in our engagement. They are no longer my friends.

My wife and I have been happily married for almost 30 years, so far. We have occasionally advised friends and our friends’ kids on dating and marriage ideas, and we have told them our story.

Almost everyone we speak to, including our own children, think that we were crazy to get engaged after two weeks of meeting. It seems like a unanimous opinion that it takes at least a year to know someone before one can even consider engagement.

Were we really crazy? My wife and I made it work. Despite discouragement from many friends, it didn’t bother me at all that my wife was several years older. Does this really need to be a factor? And, do people these days really need at least a year to know each other? Has the protocol, thinking, or strategy really changed that much in 30 years?

I’d like to hear your thoughts as well as how we can advise people. I don’t think we were crazy at all.

Herschel*

Disclaimer: This column is not intended to diagnose or otherwise conclude resolutions to any questions. Our intention is not to offer any definitive conclusions to any particular question, rather offer areas of exploration for the author and reader. Due to the nature of the column receiving only a short snapshot of an issue, without the benefit of an actual discussion, the panel’s role is to offer a range of possibilities. We hope to open up meaningful dialogue and individual exploration.

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The Panel The Rebbetzin Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz, M.S. erschel, you and your wife did something unusual thirty years ago in getting engaged after a very brief time. Even if both of you had really worked out previously what you needed to complete each of you and connected quickly, it’s still a very brief time. Most people don’t trust themselves to that degree. And it stands to reason.

The fact that she was older than you adds to the disbelief that you are finding when you talk to young people.

I think it’s hard for young people to hear what you are saying to them. You are right in making the point to young folks that working on a marriage is so important but they are not able to hear you because of these two atypical facts in your own story. I wouldn’t try to give advice and talk to young people about marriage as a general rule. If you are asked, it’s a different story but do be wise, as well as listen.

No, I don’t think a year is a common time for a relationship to develop before a commitment in most frum circles. Of course, there are exceptions.

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The Shadchan Michelle Mond

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will never forget my favorite English teacher’s story of how she met her husband on an impromptu trip to Italy. He was an Italian artist, she was a traveling American, they went on a date and they just “clicked.” He proposed the night they met. They’ve, baruch Hashem, been happily married for many, many years.

These stories happen almost constantly in the chassidish world and people are stunned; however, when we hear them about our parents and grandparents we react by saying , “Aww that was so cute! They were so

naive!” And yet these bubbies’ and zaidies’ pictures enhance our mantles highlighting their place as the roots of our large family trees. Why then, do people shudder at the thought of dating for a short period of time in this day and age?

You know those old photographs where the women have shoulder-pads in their blouses, poofy hairdos, and large thick glasses, and the men are wearing argyle vests? This is symbolic to the innocence of days gone by.

We are living in an age where there is much more to “check into” in regards to shidduchim than there used to be.

People’s lives are more complex. It is easier for people to hide very dark sides to their personalities and interests as well. If I would ask my grandparents, may they live and be well ad meah v’esrim, what social media is, they would shake their heads. To them, understandably, an Apple is still just a fruit, Zoom is to speed fast, Facebook is most probably a yearbook, and a Snowflake is a form of precipitation.

So much has changed and affected the children of our society.

This is why I truly believe it is different nowadays when singles date.

The couple must spend time getting to know the nuances of each other’s personalities, hobbies, and interests. Horror stories haunt singles about their divorced friends who got engaged too soon and did not date long enough to learn about serious flaws in the other person’s persona.

So, my answer to you is simple: No, Herschel, you were not crazy – but our society today is.

The Single Rena Friedman

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ershel, wow! You and your wife are awesome! A dating coach told me that many times she has seen individuals date multiple people for 2, 3, or 4 months and then when they find that right person it’s a matter of 2 or 3

weeks. How? When someone dates for 2, 3, 4 months, there is some good there and the couples push and stretch to try and make it work. When it’s the right person and you feel it in your gut, soul, and heart, it is just crystal clear after 2 or 3 weeks.

There is no such thing as a timeline. There are people who live together for seven years, get married and then get divorced, and there are people who know each other for three months from first date to chuppah and are extremely happy together. All putting specified timelines on things does is give people a false sense of security; it’s essentially a security blanket. Every relationship should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis that requires viewer’s discretion and being intellectually honest with

In love and marriage, there is no “one size fits all.” oneself.

In terms of age, it is only but a number. I can rattle off three couples who I know well where the girl is three years older than the guy and another couple where the guy is 10 years older than the girl. So what? If the couple’s values and goals align and they are healthy people who are good for each other, who cares if one was born in 1988 and the other 1996? If it doesn’t bother the couple, then why does it bother other people?

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When things happen quickly, people naturally are concerned. Most of the time it is coming from a real and genuine place because they aren’t feeling what you are feeling or know that person on a deeper level. You mention that some friends tried to interfere with your engagement. I would hope that anyone who has serious concerns about someone else’s relationship would handle it with utmost respect and before anything else consult a rav or mentor.

While your story is a showstopper, it is not how everyone will experience dating. Unless someone has experienced this themselves, they will think you’re nuts. Encourage those seeking your guidance to be in sync and in tune with their gut. Tell them to reflect and look internally and to feel and think through everything. Make sure that they have no hesitations and that the person sitting across from them fulfills their needs. Give advice that is tailored to the person in front of you, not tailored to the person giving the advice.

To answer your question, were you really crazy? Nope. I don’t think so. Ap-

proximately a month ago, I wrote in this very column that they – whoever “they” are – claim that when you know, you know. I have been pondering this very idea for the last four weeks, and I have come to the conclusion that it’s true. When you know, you just know.

It’s that simple, yet, at the same time, that complex.

A s a lways, a ll feedback, thoughts, and ideas are welcome: renafriedman2@gmail.com.

The Zaidy Dr. Jeffrey Galler

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f you ever walk into a shoe store that advertises, “One size fits all,” it’s a good idea to walk right out.

I see couples who have been happily married for decades: Before marriage, some had only dated for a few weeks, while others had dated for a few years.

Conversely, I know couples whose marriages have ended in

The Navidaters Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

erschel, Thank you for writing in!

Couples are like snowflakes...no two are alike. And no two couples take the same path toward the aisle. And no two experience the same relationship.

Genes, temperament, willingness, goodness of fit, motivation, life circumstances and societal norms all play a role in how long a couple will date.

Thank G-d, you and your wife have enjoyed a beautiful marriage. You took the plunge much sooner than most, and

it was for the best!

I agree that today more couples date longer than the couples of yesteryear. Things perhaps were indeed different then or felt different then; easier...simpler.

Maybe it was for the best.

To play devil’s advocate for a moment, there were also many couples for whom these faster marriages did not bode well, and because expectations perhaps were different then of

Couples are like snowflakes...no two are alike.

misery and divorce: Before marriage, some had only dated for a few weeks, while others had dated for a few years.

In love and marriage, there is no “one size fits all.” If you could program the largest, most advanced, hi-tech, mainframe computer and input all the cultural, economic, social, religious, educational, and familial marriage variables, you would produce a definitive non-conclusion.

Nevertheless, here are some random thoughts on the subject: First, every couple should date for as long as they feel comfortable and should not be bound by societal expectations. And, it’s very important to spend plenty of time with each other’s families, too.

Second, today, in the Modern Orthodox world, dating for 3-9 months before engagement seems to be the norm. The more liberal Modern Orthodox seem to date for a slightly longer period, while the more right-wing Modern Orthodox seem to date for a slightly shorter period.

But, I don’t know of any data that shows that liberal Modern Orthodox marriages are more successf ul than more right-wing Modern Orthodox marriages.

Third, in cer-

tain religious sects, dating for two weeks works perfectly well and seems to produce happy, fulfilling marriages. Note, however, that in those circles, there is an extraordinary amount of parental involvement and FBI-like background checks before the initial meeting. And there’s also an expectation that, “You will get to know and love your spouse, after marriage.”

Incidentally, in those circles, men often date women who are older. It makes perfect sense to date a woman who is older and already working, if the man plans to learn for many years and needs someone to support the family.

Fourth, sociologists report that men who refuse to date older women are often insecure individuals. So, that says a lot about you, Herschel!

Finally, remember the 19th century fairy tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The protagonist tried the first bed, but it was too hard. She tried the second bed, but it was too soft. Finally, she climbed into the third bed and it felt cozy, warm, and just right.

Let’s hope and pray that all of our readers find spouses that are “just right” for them.

what a marriage can emotionally offer to each partner, people were more likely to stay married for the family and community. I am not commenting on whether this was good or bad practice. With more information about psychology and relationships at our disposal, daters are becoming more aware of potential pitfalls. It would be interesting to see whether or not there is any correlation to women working full-time out of the home and changing their expectations of marriage.

I absolutely would encourage more

men to date women who are older. I think you made a very wise move! I encourage open-mindedness. There are also those who have become “picky,” thinking the next one will be better. The shidduch system has also changed. There is so much at play here that all I can do is ask Hashem to see that people find each other and in doing so learn to wholeheartedly trust their guts! That feeling in your stomach (butterflies for excitement and the twisting for bad news) is our gift from Hashem! It’s your Chanukah gift every day. Believe it.

Sincerely, Jennifer

Pulling It All Together

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Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in private practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. She also teaches a psychology course at Touro College. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 516-224-7779, ext. 2. Visit www.thenavidaters.com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email thenavidaters@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.

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Did You Get Your Vaccine?

TJH Speaks with Dr. Naor Bar-Zeev about the novel coronavirus, vaccinations, and strides in the scientific community

BY SUSAN SCHWAMM

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s the world embarks on vaccinations against COVID-19, TJH reached out to Dr. Naor Bar-Zeev of John Hopkins University to learn more about the novel corona-

virus pandemic and the vaccinations available to fight against the virus.

Dr. Bar-Zeev is a pediatric infectious diseases physician and a statistical epidemiologist who is an expert in vaccine evaluation. He trained in general medicine and then pediatrics, further specializing in infectious diseases. He is an accredited statistician and an infectious disease epidemiologist. Dr. Bar-Zeev has worked in South East Asia, the Pacific, in Africa and in the UK and now the United States. He is Deputy Director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University where he is Associate Professor of International Health and Vaccine Sciences.

Dr. Bar-Zeev, let’s talk about what’s been going on over the past nine months.

There’s a lot to cover. It feels like nine years, not nine months.

Dr. Bar Zeev

Coronaviruses have been in human populations for a long time. There are “endemic” coronaviruses that are around every year and cause seasonal colds in children.

But since 2003, we have seen three major outbreaks of novel coronaviruses that have spread rapidly in major epidemics.

One was the SARS coronavirus in 2003. The second was the MERS coronavirus, the Middle East Respiratory Virus, which spread in 2012.

Both of those were able to be contained through public health measures, and they were not quite as infectious as the current one. This was really important because the

Lenox Hill Hospital Chair of Emergency Medicine Yves Duroseau receivi

MERS coronavirus had a high fatality. Further spread would have been really awful.

Then, In late 2019, a highly infectious coronavirus emerged and very rapidly spread globally. In our modern world, large urbanized populations and rapid air travel help respiratory viruses to spread.

If you think that this was a bat virus initially, and bats live in large dense communities, and individuals fly from one community together, you can see why, when humans start to behave like bats, then the virus sees, “Oh, there’s a niche for me to spread.”

Like all things in nature, the biology evolved. It was

probably a number of things that led to the virus emerging with a sudden, very rapid capacity to spread. Our human population was entirely susceptible to it. There was no prior immunity to it so, it spread rapidly, to all countries.

As we all know by now, the virus causes more severe disease predominantly among older age groups or persons with other existing conditions. Although we hear in the media about frightening effects in children, this in actual fact is very rare indeed.

The virus is essentially a multisystem disease, but predominantly it’s a respiratory

illness, and it can present with severe respiratory disease for the elderly.

We also know how challenging it has been to contain this coronavirus. With influenza, let’s say, which is a totally unrelated virus, people are generally already feeling pretty unwell when the virus peaks in the body, particularly for the first time, and they’re out of commission for a bit. So they’re not walking around, doing everything, and spreading it to others. But with coronavirus, the virus is spread from persons who have minimal or no symptoms, and peak viral shedding occurs before symptoms develop and soon

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

ing the COVID-19 vaccine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center this week

after the onset of symptoms, which means that people are spreading it unbeknownst to them. This means that it’s very hard to contain the virus just on the basis of staying home if you’re feeling sick.

That’s why it was so hard to contain it, and that’s where the whole question of limiting human association and distancing and masking and lockdowns came into play.

Of course, largescale social and economic lockdowns come with major social and economic cost to many people with huge implications for health, well-being, mental health, physical health, nutrition, dental health – in every regard of human

thriving. It’s been a difficult balance and a debatable balance. In the U.S., this debate has often been quite partisan but should be based on good science and robust and open ethical debate.

Now that we have achieved safe and efficacious vaccines, there’s some light at the end of the tunnel. At this stage, vaccines won’t replace the need for mask and social distancing, but we hope they will help the world turn a corner for the better.

Let’s talk about masks for a minute. Some people say that they don’t see a need for masks if they had the virus and

have antibodies.

When I say there’s a reasonable debate around lockdowns, that’s really about the degree of impact that social distancing and lockdowns and the closure of economic function has. The question around masks is not quite as debatable as that. I think it’s clear that masks are important. There was some confusion in the way the information about masks was communicated early on in the pandemic. The CDC initially came out that there’s not much value in cloth masks, and only proper masks, the so-called N95, were needed, and there was a fear of overuse of those masks, and

then there was the fear that there wouldn’t be enough for healthcare workers.

Some of that messaging, in retrospect, could have been handled more wisely. As a result, it triggered a whole wave of backlash really in terms of, “Well, masks aren’t even effective,” and then subsequently even other things, saying masks are harmful and so on. There’s no truth to the idea that masks are harmful.

In general, when masks are used properly, they not only reduce onward transmission from somebody who happens to be shedding the virus, but they also, admittedly to an incomplete degree, protect the individual wearing them.

That effect is important, because it’s multiplicative.

So, in other words, let’s just for the sake of argument say that a mask halves the rate of onward transmission – it reduces the onward transmission by 50% from somebody who has the virus. And let’s just for the sake of making the numbers easy say that it also reduces the rate of infection in somebody susceptible by 50%. Then the combined effect of everybody wearing masks, both the people who are shedding and the people susceptible, is 50% plus 50% of a 50%, so masks become very effective when everybody uses them.

Even if imperfect on an individual level, the combined benefit to the population is greater than the benefit of any individual interaction. And so, you end up with a so-called efficacy that is good, that’s solid and strong and substantial in reducing public transmission of the pandemic. Put that together with the distancing and so on, then you can really manage to contain the virus, although, admittedly, it’s come at a big cost.

Some places have managed to contain the virus.

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Israel, for a while, managed.

Australia managed. New Zealand managed. South Korea managed. Taiwan managed.

In the United States, it’s been very difficult, although, some places got on top of it, like New York got on top of it after the first wave and had maintained, for a while, reasonably low transmission.

But fundamentally, the majority of the world hasn’t yet been infected. There is still a huge susceptible pool of people who remain vulnerable. Our ongoing adherence as much as we can to wearing masks and social distancing will protect the vulnerable people in our community.

We’re still seeing deaths in the Jewish community. Not like we saw in the first wave, but we’re still seeing unnecessary deaths of people in the community in the second wave also in New Jersey and New York. It’s a waste of life, and it’s preventable by our actions.

What about those who have antibodies?

We’ve learned a lot about this virus, but there is still a lot to learn. Humility is important in science as well.

At the moment, we don’t yet have a so-called “correlate of protection,” which means that we don’t know what level of antibodies are protective.

We don’t yet even know fully under what circumstances people do or don’t develop antibodies. And we also don’t know how long the antibodies last in a protective manner.

We also don’t know whether antibodies are the full story.

It’s likely that there are other aspects of the immune system that also provide some protection.

Another thing we don’t yet fully know is what antibodies protect you from.

Let’s say antibodies protect you pretty effectively from getting sick. They might protect you somewhat less from getting infected

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and shedding the virus for a few days. Infection and disease are not the same thing. People who have had COVID-19 may well be protected themselves from disease for some months, yet we don’t yet fully know how well protected they are from infection or transmission.

As time passes, that level of protection might decline. Say some, or even many, people in the community who had it had it in the first wave in March or April or whenever it was – now we’re a fair distance from then. People who had antibodies previously are now finding that their antibody levels are lower or non-detectable. Again, we don’t know what that means for them. Perhaps they’re still protected through other mechanisms in the immune system, T cells and so on.

But perhaps they’re not, and perhaps the same question applies to them. Are they susceptible to repeat infection or not? So until we know that information, we should be thoughtful about relying on past infection as a sign of protection because we don’t really know what it means.

A lot of these questions are being answered. There’s more information every day, literally hundreds of papers of week being published.

We’ve learnt so much in the last months. But still, despite how much we learn, there’s always infinitely more that we don’t yet know. It’s important to remain humble about that and important for the scientific community to remain humble and not to think that it’s the holder of all knowledge.

I want to say one other thing about criticism of science in general in the Jewish world. Beyond 2,540 years ago or so, the world used to be “frum.” I don’t mean just Jews. As secularism and with it scientific development spread through the world, science took over as societal

holder of knowledge in some respects. I think that there’s room, rightfully so, to criticize that. Science isn’t about what is known with certainty.

Science is about what we can tell tentatively. It’s not about knowing the truth. It’s about testing what we think, what we assume. Its about knowing how uncertain to be. I’m not talking about issues of emunah. I’m talking about our simple understanding of the world and how it works.

Science is just methodological humility about what we know or even can know.

With science, particularly new science on coronavirus, we’re learning as we go. And we make mistakes. That’s what scientific progress is about. With this pandemic, we are seeing the development of science, warts and all, in real time. It’s good for society to see that science

sively funded research into this virus in a way that really has led to where we are now, --which is that in less than a year we have a plethora of vaccines with huge global health implications and new technologies in vaccines. And that’s all happened just now, rapidly but rigorously, fast but carefully, methodically.

The vaccine candidates were ready within weeks of discovery of this pathogen, and that says a lot for science as a successful public health tool, and for the previous work in the field that was done in the last couple of decades. It took these months to evaluate them, and that’s good. It’ll be important that that work continues, particularly around vaccine safety, which is obviously everybody’s major worry at the moment. But the fact that we are where we are is a big

A nurse holds up her vaccination record card after receiving the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine this week

was not widely licensed and used: the mRNA vaccines.

Some examples of those vaccines are the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The vaccines use a chemical process to produce a molecule called mRNA. mRNA is a messen-

“But still, despite how much we learn, there’s always infinitely more that we don’t yet know.” doesn’t know everything.

And it’s especially good for the frum community to see that science doesn’t claim to know everything, that science is humble in that regard.

We only think, for now, that we know what we claim, but we could be wrong, inherently so. There’s a lot that we don’t know. And that’s good.

How do you think Dr. Fauci handled the outbreak so far?

I don’t want to make comments personally about anybody in this whole thing.

This is about public health and society, not this person or that. However, I do think the overall handling from the scientific community point of view has been very good.

I think they’ve made decisions, and they’ve explored avenues. And they’ve mas-

testament to the scientific community, and particularly to the American scientific community, given the massive developments that have happened here.

Let’s talk about what’s on everybody’s mind right now: the vaccines.

First of all, there are a lot of vaccines out there right now. There are ones that the United States has invested in and developed, and then there are others around the world that are also excellent, some of which the United States have also supported.

The basic classes of the vaccines, the two so-called frontrunners at the moment, are the novel platforms, the ones with technology which have not been widely used before. It’s been in development for a long time, but it

ger molecule that all living cells use to convert genetic code into proteins, which are the functional elements of cells.

The vaccine delivers a code to the human cell. The human cell then reads off that code and produces a molecule. That molecule looks exactly the same – because it’s coded exactly the same – as a spike protein on the coronavirus, which is the bit that attaches to the human cell when it infects a human cell. RNA degrades very quickly, so the RNA from the vaccine is gone pretty much straight away. It also never enters the nucleus of the cell, so any ideas that it messes with the genetic code of humans is nonsense. The process is chemical rather than biological. No virus is given to the recipient, and

the body’s own natural processes produce the protein.

This process normally happens trillions of times a day in animals. The body’s own constructed mimic of the spike protein is presented to the immune system which learns to recognize it, and is thus prepared to fight the virus. This way, when the cell sees the real deal, the real protein, it already knows how to fight it. That’s a very clever mechanism. Because no infectious particle is used, the vaccine is also inherently safe for persons with weakened immunity.

The fact that RNA is an inherently unstable molecule and degrades very quickly is good, but it also is a major challenge in terms of delivery and efficacy. That’s why it needs that ultra-cold, sub-freezing transport to make sure it doesn’t degrade.

It’s difficult because not every facility has options for ultra-refrigeration.

But the advantage of the platform is that potentially you could make it against anything. Say, lo aleinu, a future pandemic with higher fatality. A vaccine could be tailor-made and scaled up quickly. There is also ongoing research examining these vaccines against cancer cells.

The other big class of vaccines are the adenovirus-vec-

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at the other side. AstraZeneca is the only company that declared they will sell at cost, that is they will not make a profit from this vaccine.

There is much to say about vaccine financing, economics and politics, but that is for another discussion.

A truck being loaded up with the vaccine at the Pfizer Global Supply facility in Portage, Michigan, last Sunday

tored vaccines. In brief, a common-cold virus is modified so it cannot replicate or produce onward infection.

But it also carries the genetic code for the spike protein.

It delivers the genetic code to the body, and then, much like the mRNA vaccines, the body produces the spike protein and presents it to the immune system.

Because both these classes of vaccines use the body’s natural mechanisms to present the novel protein to the immune system, the immune response is broad-based, invoking different arms of the immune system.

Examples of the adenovirus vaccines are the one produced by Oxford AstraZeneca and the Russian Gamaleya Institute and Johnson & Johnson. They don’t require the same degree of ultra-freezing. Additionally, these vaccines are very scalable and can produce billions of doses.

There are other classes of vaccines also, like protein subunit vaccines. These are still undergoing human trials.

We also have older-style killed vaccines, which are very similar to, say, a flu vaccine, where they take the coronavirus and they kill it so it can’t cause an infection. Together with an immune stim-

ulant, this results in immune response also. The advantage of these vaccines is that we have used these technologies on a widespread basis before. Those are being produced in China and in India, and they also require normal

Will there be a mix of vaccines available in the U.S.?

Yes. There will be a mix.

But I don’t think that people will get much of an individual choice, in most part, of which vaccine to get because it’ll depend on what’s available locally.

Initially, only limited numbers of people will be able to get the vaccine in the first instance. In a few years, perhaps, people will be able to choose which vaccine they’ll be able to get but we’re not there yet, and we’re not

limited number of people I can recruit because I’ve got a limited budget and limited staff. But if I had staff of 100, I could do 10 times as many people simultaneously. And then I can have a much bigger study, and it would finish quicker because I’d be following up with 100 people, not following up 10 people at a time. By making the studies very large, we can make them shorter. That’s the first reason.

The second reason is that, in so-called Phase 3 trials, we examine protection against disease. When a disease is relatively rare, it takes a long time until you find cases.

And so it’s much harder to do a vaccine trial in a short time. But in the middle of a pandemic when everybody’s getting disease, it’s all over the place and you’re seeing high infection rates, then the

“The vaccine candidates were ready within weeks of discovery of this pathogen.” cold chain. They’re probably not in the first instance going to be widely available in the U.S., but they’ll be a very important slice of the global vaccine landscape.

Normally, we produce maybe 300 million doses a year of a vaccine. Now, we need billions and billions of doses. We’ve never seen anything of this scale. Companies have had to invest in advance, before they knew their products even work, in producing massive amounts of these vaccines.

That takes a lot of risk and a lot of cost because you could end up with a wasted investment. And that’s why this required such massive advance investment in the process, in building the physical factories and so on. You had to have commitment that there will be purchase power

going to be there for a while.

We’re lucky that we have access to any vaccine.

How long generally does it take to develop a vaccine?

Usually, it takes 10 to 15 years or more, depending on the vaccine. And here, we’ve done it in less than that – in months. That raises eyebrows, obviously, but it’s also a phenomenal achievement.

The reason that it’s been possible to do that isn’t because they’ve been cutting corners. One reason that it’s possible to do that is because there’s been very, very heavy investment in these vaccines.

Let’s say I’m running a vaccine trial with my staff of 10. I have 10 people to recruit people, to vaccinate them, to follow them up, to make sure things are safe, and to do all that stuff. There’s a

disease events accumulate rapidly in the trial population. It doesn’t take years and years until you get a case of meningococcal disease, let’s say. With COVID-19, within a few months, you see a big difference between vaccines and placebo in rates of disease.

Truthfully, the fact that the infection is prevalent is actually in our favor. It means that we can determine vaccine efficacy quicker. In places like New Zealand, where there are now no cases, or in China, where they stopped seeing cases, they couldn’t do vaccine trials. They had to do trials in Brazil or in other places where there was still a lot of transmission.

The third reason why it took such a short time to produce a vaccine is that normally a company will run

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its own trial and then amass all the data and then come to the regulator for approval. The regulator can then say, “No, we don’t like what you did there. Go back to the drawing board. Start again.”

That doesn’t happen now, because now, everybody’s in it together.

The regulators were part of the planning for the design of the trial and defining the outcomes. The trial methodology is already known. You save time with the red tape.

We also have the same safety monitoring board across all the trials in the United States, except for Pfizer’s.

And so, as soon as there are results, they’re already reviewed, and safety signals across trials are viewed in combination, which is important. Now, a biological license from the FDA – which can take months or a year – can happen in weeks because the regulators have been part of the process all along. The FDA has very high standards of review.

Are there any risks associated with the vaccines?

They had a lot of people in these trials, so they were able to amass quite a lot of safety information quickly. But there are some things that we still don’t know.

We don’t know long-term outcomes, because we haven’t followed them for the longterm yet. So yes, people are right to say we don’t yet know the long-term impact, or how long the effect of the vaccine will last. There is reason to think it will be sufficient, but it’s important to follow up trial participants over time.

Additionally, we don’t know about very rare adverse events. Let’s say that every trial covered 30,000 to 40,000 people. And let’s say there were six trials, which means that was 240,000 people in the trials. If half of them got the placebo, only 120,000 of them were vac-

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cinated in the trials. So if there’s a rare event that happens 1 in 100,000, we might have seen it, but we might not have seen it because we only had 120,000 people in the trial. And so, safety surveillance of the vaccine will still continue and will need to continue until we get to the point where millions of doses have been given. In that regard, those results won’t come from the Phase 3 trials. They’ll come from Phase 4 studies. This is the case for all vaccines and drugs, not just in the context of pandemics.

Like with many things, especially when it comes to vaccines, it’s a question of the balance of risks. Vaccines have inherent but very rare risk of serious adverse events.

There are common mild side effects – and I’m not minimizing them – but these side effects are transient.

The risk of the vaccine is only half the calculation.

There is real risk from not vaccinating also: the risk of COVID-19 disease. In the case of older adults or those with other medical conditions, that risk can be very serious indeed.

Should governments mandate the vaccine in order to open up their cities, countries, or villages? Should schools mandate it for their student body?

That’s not a scientific question. That’s an ethical and a political, sociological question. I’m no more qualified to answer that than anybody else, but I would say that these types of questions are very important to debate and that there will be a range of reasonable opinions on such questions. The fact that they are all reasonable and that they vary is an important thing. There isn’t a black and white or right and wrong to this.

There are a lot of things to consider. One of the things,

for example, when you’re talking about mandating it for school entry, is that COVID-19 differs from the measles.

Measles is generally a childhood disease. It can affect older people, too, of course, and it’s very, very infectious – much more than COVID. COVID-19, in general, is not dangerous for children.

So the question of mandating schools here would not be really for the benefit of the children directly. It would be in order to reduce community transmission. Children are not necessarily known to be the key drivers of COVID-19 transmission in the community. Maybe in the school setting, they might be. But most schools that have complied with pods and bubbles have managed to contain any outbreaks.

But should nursing home staff be required to receive vaccine? That’s a much more reasonable suggestion.

In general, when you force people to do things, you get a backlash. Even if it’s right to do it, it’s not necessarily wise to do force people to do things. We need to be inclusive and engage with communities and encourage good behavior and encourage vaccine uptake much more than we’re doing now, much more collaboratively than we’re doing now. Mandating by law won’t necessarily achieve the outcomes we want.

Are there any people who should not be getting these vaccines?

Well, at the moment, we’ve not had any sort of specific contraindications other than the generic, usual ones.

There are some population that have not yet been studied in trials, like women who are pregnant, or children younger than 16. Given that there are hundreds of thousands of people in vaccine trials, there will have been among them women who were pregnant at the time or who fell pregnant

soon after, and there will certainly be data that’s emerging about them as a subgroup. But they weren’t actively engaged in recruitment. So it will be important to see that and follow up on that to see if there is anything emerging from that subgroup. Trials in these groups will occur, now that we have safety data from the first Phase 3 trials.

The vast majority of people who we are targeting initially with this vaccine are older adults. Older people in general don’t have as good health. They end up in hospitals with problems. All it takes is for somebody to put up a Facebook post, “My grandfather got the vaccine yesterday, and today he’s been admitted to the hospital with a stroke,” and somebody from the Philippines who says, “Oh, me too,” and somebody from Italy who says, “Oh, me too.”

And then that creates a panic.

This will happen even though those people might have ended up in the hospital with a stroke anyway because that’s what happens to those in that age group. But suddenly, it looks like the stroke was associated with the vaccine..

Those things can be very damaging to vaccine uptake, and it’s very important that the scientific community has the mechanisms to explore those things. They shouldn’t dismiss them and say, “Oh, that’s nonsense. Be quiet,” but they should actually say, “Okay. Well, here’s our data on event rates in the elderly,” whether it’s with heart attacks or strokes or developing diabetes or falls and fractures or whatever it is. We need to know that those things are being monitored and tracked and that we’re monitoring them among people who receive the vaccine as well so that we can reassure the public about those things. Or indeed that we discover real harms too, even ones that are rare or that were not anticipated.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine

Vaccines aren’t safe just because we say they are. It’s not a hashtag. It’s not propaganda. It’s a big effort to demonstrate vaccine safety.

It’s our obligation as a scientific community to demonstrate that to the public. And it’s right that the public demand that.

The past few months have been very hard for all of us. In the scientific community, they have seen huge strides in combating the disease.

What are your thoughts on that?

This is a challenge which has been very sudden, very dramatic. It’s been unsettling in many ways to suddenly be faced with this, but in a way, I’m very thankful that it’s a condition that, as infective as it is, I’m thankful that we don’t have a disease that’s causing children to die very often. I’m thankful that we’re not seeing the mortality in Africa and in other settings that I was really fearful of seeing. There are blessings among all of this also. It has also reminded all of us how vulnerable we are and how vulnerable our social structures are.

This has given us an opportunity to build the infrastructure for defense against pandemics that will occur in the future. This is not the final pandemic that we will see. The last major pandemic was 100 years ago. That’s

true. But we’ve seen very major outbreaks that almost became pandemics in the last 20 years several times, coronavirus, ebolavirus, Zikavirus, West Nile virus, novel influenza. It’s inevitable that there will be more, and some will be truly pandemic. The fact that we’ve got this trial run, if you like, for the future when we will have a really bad one is really important.

It will advance the science and will advance community engagement and community awareness.

One of the important things that this has highlighted for me is that science is a tool and how we use it depends on how we are as a society.

If we distribute vaccines equitably and fairly, then we will achieve better, equitable outcomes. It’s important that science sees itself in a humble way, that it does its job well, and also that it realizes the importance of community engagement and really thinks about how to function ethically and justly within a society. Only then can the benefits of science really be distributed to everybody that needs it.

Science by itself isn’t going to save us. Science gives us a tool, and then we, as human beings, have to work out how to do what’s right. With the help of the Al-mighty, our values as human beings, as always, will be what gets us through.

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Dr. Deb

Parts

By Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.

L

ast week I gave myself as an example of switching mood from nearly euphoric when I was on the way to the dentist to quite down afterwards. Today I’d like to explain “parts” to you with a bit more depth than before.

Richard Schwartz theorizes that we develop parts to handle various roles in our childhoods. Each part is young and immature, obviously. But they’re all well-meaning. Even when we think we hear a critical “voice” in our mind and it reminds us of our critical mother, for example, the part of us that has taken the role of our own worst critic is really trying to be helpful.

This is a huge switch in approach from before for me and for many therapists. We used to try to destroy our inner critic – drown it in the ocean! But the reality is that every part was trying to be helpful to us.

The only reason it didn’t actually help is because the part came about when we were kids. Our brains don’t come into their full development until age 25. Before that, don’t count on us for complete logic or maturity.

Now, it is true that we grew up since then. But for most of us, we have always been ruled by our parts.

They are so fast to pop up and interfere, that the newer aspect of us, our Selves, which only came on board in full after age 25, may not have had a chance to express itself fully while the parts automatically jump in to rescue us.

So, for most of us, we are on automatic, and these parts pop into action without our thinking. Just to make this whole thing easier to understand, before Richard Schwartz developed the concepts of parts and Self, we used to call these parts “moods.” So if you suddenly got angry, you’d be in a “bad mood.”

But the concept of parts is richer than moods. Given that parts developed out of necessity, each one has its own full personality, tastes, and objectives. So, for example, the critical part kind of looks angry if you are able to visualize what it might look like. It also can never be expected to pay compliments or struggle to find solutions. Those things are left to other parts. That’s how each part ends up with a full personality of its own.

A lthough parts always are well-intentioned, the fact that they are one-track minded means they won’t be terribly helpful to an adult who possess them. As I said, they don’t come up with solutions, find the good, give the benefit of the doubt, or see shades of gray. They can’t. Yet they are persistent in staying with us.

I am assuming that neurologically they are a cluster of neurons that have fired together for so long that they will fire together whenever a situation seems similar to previous ones in which it fired. That is why they’re rigid; without special

attention to the process of firing, they’re on automatic. We could call them habits, too. Schwartz’s conceptualization has so much more power than that, as you’ll see. It beats “moods,” “defense mechanisms,” “coping mechanisms,” and “habits,” because, although all these are true, they leave out five qualities that parts also have.

1. Parts have an intention; they want to help. That is a positive valence that the other terminology lacks.

2. Parts are the child parts of us so they are to be viewed with love just as we view our children whom we love no matter how upsetting they can be (especially when they’re sleeping!)

3. Parts came into being to protect us so they’re not willing to let go of their jobs.

4. When parts believe that your Self can, indeed, take over running your life and how you act and feel in it, they can relax and not bother you. For this reason, your Self must reassure them that you can handle things.

5. But to do that, you must be aware when you are in a part or not.

Our job then, at any moment in the day, is to notice if we are in Self or part. If it’s a part governing us, the next step is to ask ourselves if that’s what we want, or whether we want to take leadership, as Schwartz would say, our-Selves.

To do that, we need to calm and reassure our parts that we can handle the present moment.

So let’s return to my episode at the dentist and use that as a demo of how to handle parts. I had put off going to the dentist because I unexpectedly developed a crazy and very painful auto-immune disease just before Pesach this year. Everything in my mouth swelled up and hurt. I also had approached brushing my teeth very gingerly. But I finally went, knowing that I needed to get a cleaning. Instead, the dentist looked at my mouth, told me that my gums were “too swollen” and that I had not brushed them right – which was true.

And then he proceeded to tell me the story of another patient who had some pain from implants that he and the implant professional could not figure out the cause of. “But,” he concluded, “you won.”

“I won?” I asked, confused. “What did I win?”

“Your case is worse than hers,” he concluded.

I believe he only meant to be compassionate, but his remarks backfired. Instead, I was so down I could almost cry. But why? Why would some idle remarks like that throw my entire mood off?

That is the power of our parts.

They can do that to me, you, and everyone else. And we don’t even realize what’s happening. We don’t know what triggered that part to

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come to our “rescue,” and we certainly don’t know why it was a trigger in the first place – whatever it was.

This is where we need to learn who we really are. We need to know what triggers us and why. Because, let’s face it, if some childish thing that happened 40 years ago caused the part to take on the roles that “protect” us, we ought to know if we really want to keep relying on them or not.

When a person is down because some news “made” them down, then the part that carries the role of being a downer had a purpose just like every other part. What was it? How could feeling blue be helpful anyway?

Each person has to think back to their own family context to figure that out. For me, it was realizing that I could never be justified in whatever it was that I did that my parents objected to. Basically, I not only wasn’t heard and had no voice, but I was afraid to even try to speak up for fear of being told something neg-

ative about myself and my intentions.

I remember writing down long explanations that I wanted to give my parents. But I was afraid to give even those to them and I ended up tearing them up.

So who was my witness? Who else knew that I was not really bad

She did an excellent job, my victim part. She would pop up to feel sad quite frequently without any invitation. Any time I could perceive that the people in my life were “against” me, there she was! She was so much a joined-at-the-hip part of me that when my book, The Heal-

The concept of parts is richer than moods.

or wrong? Who else felt I was misunderstood? Only this part that demonstrated how empathetic she was by being down with me and for me. She did very well being a victim. And when there is no one else who hears you, then if you are down or feel like a victim, you’ve got an audience to lick your wounds.

ing Is Mutual, became an Amazon bestseller eight years ago, it didn’t even occur to me that its theme of victimhood was all about me – until the other day, riding home in the car from the dentist’s office.

That’s how much our parts take over, make us feel like they’re us, and never lead us to question whether

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“we” could do better than they could.

And no one, absolutely no one, is free from stumbling into allowing parts to control their feelings and behavior. In order to live a healthy life, without victimhood, depression, anxiety, and all the other dark personalities that can overtake us, we have to be vigilant. And then we have to ask ourselves if we want to run the show or allow our parts to do it.

Chanukah is all about a small light that is desperately needed in the darkness. I’m hoping that this excursion into our parts will shed some light, too, and create the hope needed to ask our Selves to take over for the parts. Next week, I want to apply this framework to explain how two people get attracted to one another.

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

Build a Healthier Salad

By Aliza Beer MS, RD, CDN

I

love eating salads at my meals!

It fills me up; it’s a great activity involving different flavors and textures; and it is super-healthy, offering an array of nutrients and vitamins. Unfortunately, some people find them boring, while others deem all salads to be healthy. Both couldn’t be further from the truth. Using a variety of vegetables will turn a plain

old lettuce salad into an exciting dish. The different colors (think of the rainbow) and textures will enhance the experience, both orally and visually. On the flip side, a healthy salad can easily turn into a high calorie, high fat, and high sugar affair.

Adding Chinese noodles, candied nuts, craisins (with added sugar), and a mayonnaise-based dressing with

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sugar will turn our sweet and innocent salad into a monster of a meal, without us even realizing it.

Let’s explore the best salad strategies to guarantee a nutritionally safe meal.

• Greens: Any favorite salad greens will do, like kale, romaine, baby spinach, or arugula. If you have some cabbage (any color is fine, but purple is my fave), brussels sprouts, or radicchio hanging out in your fridge, then thinly slice them into your salad as well. They will add color and crunch. Greens should be the base of every salad because they are filling and highly nutritious. They are packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber, but are low in calories.

• Veggies: Raw vegetables, like cucumbers, carrots, mushrooms, jicama, snow peas, onions, and radishes, will add great color and crunch, which will only enhance the salad and make it more pleasing to the eye and transform the meal into an event. Like the leafy greens, veggies are high in vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber. The fiber will expand in your stomach and make you feel fuller for longer.

Vegetables offer numerous health benefits including reduced risk of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer.

• Proteins: A meal consisting of a salad sans a protein will not hold you for long, and you will start

feeling those hunger pains shortly thereafter. Combining a protein together with the fiber from the vegetables will add significant satisfaction to this salad and prevent needless snacking later. Look for lean proteins like grilled chicken (not breaded or fried), turkey, tuna, or salmon. Tuna and salmon will provide a hefty dose of omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for the body’s functioning.

Omega-3s helps fight depression, reduces the risk of heart disease, improves eye health, protects the body from inflammation, helps lower the risk of autoimmune diseases, and slows down mental decline and Alzheimer’s.

Another great protein option is eggs. Eggs are a good source of iron, vitamin D, and choline. Choline is a vital nutrient for healthy neurological function. Research shows that eggs keep people feeling fuller for longer. However, each egg contains only about 80-90 calories, so eating eggs may be a helpful tool for people trying to lose weight. If you want to use cheese as your protein, then choose a low-fat cheese, like partskim shredded mozzarella.

• Grains: Warm or cold cooked whole grains will add bulk and satisfaction to the salad, not to mention texture. Try whole wheat couscous, quinoa, barley, bulgur, faro, or brown rice. Be mindful of the portion – usually ½ cup for grains – for carbs are caloric.

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

Sweet potatoes or butternut squash are other amazing carb options to incorporate into the salad, and they add beautiful color and sweetness, along with a spectacular amount of antioxidants.

• Fruits: I happen to love some fruit in my salad! Roasted pear, sliced apples, pomegranate seeds, and strawberries are great additions to a salad. They will bring complexity, color, and flavor to any salad. They increase the antioxidant factor of the salad as well. Avoid dried fruits, especially those with added sugar, because they are a concentrated form of sugar.

• Dressings: This is where many fall victim, for the dressing can kill the salad. Most store bought, restaurant, or even homemade dressings are loaded with sugar and fat.

They are made with full-fat mayonnaise, sugar, honey, and maple syrup.

The dressing can literally double or triple the caloric value of the salad.

This is called the diet trap: taking a

very healthy meal and destroying it without even realizing it.

If you are home or bringing a dressing from home, then use a little olive oil, any kind of vinegar or lemon juice, and any herbs/spices you desire such as: salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, basil, etc. Your salad dressing does not have to be bland to be healthy, and you may make it as flavorful as you desire.

Techina is another super healthy and delicious dressing idea, just be mindful of the portion (about one tablespoon if you are trying to lose weight).

If you are craving a sweeter dressing, then use stevia or monk fruit, not sugar. Want to make a healthy Caesar dressing? Use low-fat mayo as the base and water it down or dilute that with vinegar and water.

Restaurant tip: when eating out or taking out, always order the dressing on the side, so you have control over how much dressing will actually be used in your salad. If possible, order

a vinaigrette-based dressing.

Another diet tip: instead of pouring the dressing over your salad, try dipping forkfuls of salad into the dressing; you will ultimately consume less dressing this way.

• Healthy Fats: Avocado and nuts are super-healthy, amazing fats.

Adding them to a salad is a wonderful way to incorporate healthy fats and will increase your satiety from the meal. Moderation is crucial here; eating too much of these fats will definitely show up on the scale, so portion control is key. Stick to no more than 1/3 of an avocado, or 2 tablespoons of nuts (not candy coated, please!).

Salads are an easy, healthy, delicious way of getting your veggie servings and make for a filling meal when combined with protein. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different vegetables, proteins, and spices, for there is no right or wrong way. Be mindful of the portion sizes for the grains, dressings, and fats.

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Cut up veggies and store individually in airtight containers in the fridge, so you can assemble the salad more quickly and efficiently.

A homemade dressing can stay fresh for two weeks in the fridge, thereby cutting out yet another step when time is of the essence.

When serving salad to the family, don’t dress the salad but leave it in a container on the side. This will help lengthen the life of salad leftovers.

What to do with extra chicken or fish from dinner? Repurpose them and throw them into a salad for lunch the next day.

Enjoy and let’s get chopping!

Aliza Beer is a registered dietitian with a master’s degree in nutrition. She has a private practice in Cedarhurst, NY. Patients’ success has been featured on the Dr. Oz show. Aliza can be reached at alizabeer@gmail.com, and you can follow her on Instagram at @alizabeer.

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Parenting Pearls

Moments to Clarify and Inspire

By Sara Rayvych, MSEd

R

ecently, one of my sons mentioned a friend of mine, and he said she had two kids. I corrected him and said she had four children; three girls and one boy. My son surprised me when he said, “I feel bad for him,” referring to her son. He felt bad that her son had three sisters but no brothers. I know he’s not the first to make such a comment, and I don’t think he will be the last. This surprising comment began an interesting conversation.

While it could’ve gone many ways, I focused on learning to see the same situation from many angles and viewpoints. Among other things, I pointed out that while he may not appreciate the games girls play, my friend’s son is just a toddler and probably does enjoy those games. I gave as an example of how our youngest boys enjoy playing with their sisters. I also mentioned that he could have the same sympathy for his sister who was the only girl following three boys but I think that was pushing things.

This conversation stuck in my mind for many reasons, one being that sometimes teaching moments come in the most unexpected places. Ironically, the best teaching moments probably come from our kids saying or doing the wrong things rather than the correct one but both can bring out something to learn.

This conversation easily could’ve ended with me saying, “That’s not nice to say,” and he wouldn’t have learned that much. I also could have focused on valuing the female members of society but I also think that would’ve been too much at that time.

I’d like to mention that I never claim to be a perfect parent. We’re all human and we all make mistakes but it’s also important to recognize when we’ve said or done something positive so we can use that tool for the future.

The good, the bad, and the ugly It’s rather easy to take advantage

to share your rav’s answer with your child on their level so they, too, can learn. You don’t want your children to think you’re badmouthing people, and they may appreciate hearing the answer. Seeing your respect for others, even those you disagree with, is another lesson for your child to learn.

Don’t attack

of the good experiences to show our children positive behavior. If someone goes out of their way to help, we can readily show our children this person as a shining example of proper behavior. We’re happy when our children see others act in an appropriate manner, and we may or may not point it out.

Alternatively, as parents, we often get upset when our children are exposed to something we don’t approve of or want them to see. I also get upset or frustrated by some of the negative behaviors my kids are exposed to. As much as we try, we can’t shield them from everything. Whether it’s a picture in a shop window, a catalogue you didn’t sign up for, or someone cursing on the street, children are exposed to many things we didn’t choose. Often, we can still use these as teaching moments. In fact, some of the best lessons can come from unpleasant sources.

You can spend hours explaining how abrasive foul language is but pointing out how terrible the person on the street sounds when they curse can often be far more effective.

Once, my children and I were walking in the parking lot to our car when a woman accused me of damaging her car with our stroller. She yelled and acted rude and sarcastic, all while trying to ascertain if we had created any microscopic scars to her vehicle. Her behavior was upsetting to me and the children and so over the top that even the other people watching thought she was a little crazy. What could’ve been a minor trauma for my children turned

into a very involved discussion about how to speak appropriately to others.

We discussed which concerns of hers were valid, which were unfair expectations, and how she could have more appropriately expressed those concerns.

I never would have asked someone to scream at me and my little ones but at least they could see how terrible it is to speak to others like that.

I’m not saying to expose your children to the negative sides of life. I am saying that you can turn those negative moments into a powerful lesson.

Despite our best efforts, our children will see or hear things that are not inline with our chinuch. At least we can turn that into another lesson in our children’s chinuch.

Be careful how you speak about the subject of your discussion. It would be counterproductive to speak obnoxiously about someone else to point out how they don’t speak appropriately.

You may want to take some time to think through what you want to say before you begin the discussion. You want it to be targeted and respectful while being clear. Know how you want the conversation to go before you begin while understanding your child may need you to take a detour from your original plans.

It’s important to mention that there are clear halachos to differentiate between discussing others that becomes lashon hara and how to discuss something l’toeles (for a constructive purpose). This is a question that is best to ask your local rav. You also may want

I mentioned turning both inappropriate things your child says or does and inappropriate things that others may say or do into a teachable moment. Whether the misbehavior is your child’s, a friend’s or a stranger’s, it’s important to not attack the subject of the discussion. If you’re correcting your child’s behavior, then making them feel attacked will only shut them down. You want them to learn, not be rebuked, and certainly not be embarrassed. If they feel misunderstood, they may simply shut down and you’ve lost your opportunity.

Similarly, they may feel defensive if you’re speaking about their friend or someone they like. Your child may get turned off from the discussion if they feel you’re attacking the relevant party, even if it’s a stranger. You want your behavior and words throughout this discussion to be a model for your child of how to speak. It’s a lot to ask of a parent but our kids will pick up on our hypocrisy if we don’t act any better than the one we’re criticizing.

I hate to bring it up but there are very rare exceptions of behavior so atrocious (and I don’t mean they used potty words) that it may be appropriate to speak harsher of that person, even to the point of sounding like an attack.

There are some disturbing behaviors that are beyond human decency, and need not be discussed in a family magazine, that it may be appropriate to go that extra level in the discussion. This is exceptionally rare, and before assuming the guilty party fits into this area, you may want to think it through carefully and perhaps discuss it with a mentor or rav.

The 17, 2020 TheJewish JewishHome Home| DECEMBER | OCTOBER 29, 2015

Discuss, don’t lecture The title kind of says it all. While the difference is sometimes subtle, children (and adults) will often tune out a lecture but will become involved in a discussion. You may want to periodically check yourself while talking to see if you’ve crossed the thin line between discussion and lecture.

We have a tendency to ignore when someone is lecturing to us but we, kids included, can become very involved in a discussion. You can ask them questions or ask them how they feel the situation could have been handled differently – whatever is appropriate based on the topic. You may be pleasantly surprised to hear what your children come up with. Also, by asking them for ideas, you have a chance to check in to see what they’re thinking and if they understand what you’ve already discussed.

Keep it relevant Target the discussion to your child’s age and maturity. Some discus-

sion topics may be above your child’s current level of understanding, and the conversation may not be relevant or appropriate for him/her. In the opening story, I chose to focus more on speaking to my son about seeing things from the toddler’s perspective and less about the importance of sis-

children don’t always notice the same things we do. For example, you may be horrified your child saw something that wasn’t tzinius but it may have gone completely over your child’s head. I’ve seen my children walk by things and not even turn their heads, completely oblivious to something that

In fact, some of the best lessons can come from unpleasant sources.

ters because that’s what I felt he would be able to appreciate. Sometimes it’s worth bringing up a discussion that’s just above your child’s level to give them something to think about but it may not be appropriate for a full discussion. As the parent, you know your child and where they are in their understanding and maturity.

It’s important to note that young

is so obvious to me. There wouldn’t be much of a purpose in pointing out to your child something inappropriate that they never noticed originally.

Even worse, you may now have to try to explain why it’s inappropriate in the first place.

As an example, you might see a teen drinking an alcoholic beverage in the park. An older child will proba-

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bly pick up on it, and with them, you’d want to have the relevant discussion, targeted to their age and level of understanding. Your younger child may just think they’re drinking soda, and it’s not worth bringing up anything.

It’s incredible to think that even the moments we’d rather our kids not experience can become some of their most powerful lessons. Keep open communication with your child so they will feel comfortable discussing with you what they see and experience. This becomes even more important as they become older.

Remember, more than your words, it’s your actions and way of speaking that models for your children who they should become.

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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In The K

tchen

Crockpot Meat and Cabbage Soup Meat / Yields 10 servings / Freezer friendly

By Naomi Nachman

This is one of my favorite recipes that I developed. I am obsessed with stuffed cabbage and when Fleishigs magazine asked me to write

a series of Pesach recipes last year, this idea came to mind. It’s a perfect as an alternative to cholent it can be served hot for Shabbat lunch as it slow-cooks overnight.

Ingredients

b2-3 pounds flanken b2 (28-oz) cans whole tomatoes with their liquid b1 large onion sliced b2 (14-oz) bag shredded cabbage, or 1 head cabbage, shredded b1 cup brown sugar b1 cup fresh lemon juice b4 cups water b1 teaspoon kosher salt b¼ teaspoon black pepper

Preparation 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, heat some oil and sear flanken on each side for 2-3 minutes, until meat releases from the pot.

Set a large crockpot to high setting and add meat with all the pan juices to the bowl of the crockpot.

Crush tomatoes lightly in your hand; then add the tomatoes and their liquid to bowl.

Add onion, cabbage, sugar, lemon juice, water, salt, and pepper.

Leave soup on high for 8 hours or overnight.

Remove meat from soup. Discard bones; shred meat into bite-size pieces. Return to soup.

Add salt and pepper to taste, as needed.

Photo by Schneur Menaker

Naomi Nachman, the owner of The Aussie Gourmet, caters weekly and Shabbat/ Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighboring communities, with a specialty in Pesach catering. Naomi is a contributing editor to this paper and also produces and hosts her own weekly radio show on the Nachum Segal Network stream called “A Table for Two with Naomi Nachman.” Naomi gives cooking presentations for organizations and private groups throughout the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area. In addition, Naomi has been a guest host on the QVC TV network and has been featured in cookbooks, magazines as well as other media covering topics related to cuisine preparation and personal chefs. To obtain additional recipes, join The Aussie Gourmet on Facebook or visit Naomi’s blog. Naomi can be reached through her website, www.theaussiegourmet.com or at (516) 295-9669.

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In The K

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tchen

Latke Meat Pie with Pulled Beef Serves 8

By Shifra Klein

Ingredients b6 Idaho potatoes b1 small onion b1 egg, beaten b¼ cup flour b2 teaspoons kosher salt b½ teaspoon black pepper b1 ⁄3 cup vegetable oil (or duck or chicken fat), bdivided b2 cups pulled beef (recipe follows) b1 cup watercress greens, for garnish

Directions 1.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. 2. Grate onions and potatoes and mix with egg, �lour, salt, and pepper.

3. Heat an oven-proof 9- to 10-inch pan over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add ¼ cup of oil, followed by potato batter. Cook over medium heat for ten minutes.

4. Drizzle the top of potato “pizza” with remaining oil and place in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool for �ifteen minutes.

5. Place a large round plate (larger than your pan) on top of the pan and invert the pan so pizza �lips onto the plate.

6. Top with pulled beef, watercress greens, and additional barbecue sauce. Serve warm.

Pulled Beef

Ingredients b3-4 pound chuck roast b1 Spanish onion, sliced b1 cup beer b1 (18-ounce) bottle barbecue sauce

Directions 1.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 2. Place chuck roast in 9x13 pan and top with onion and beer. Cook covered for three hours.

3. Remove from the oven and shred meat. Mix in barbecue sauce and cook in a pan over medium heat for ten minutes.

4. Serve in tacos and sandwiches or over latkes and nachos.

Shifra Klein is the editor-in-chief of Fleishigs Magazine. Subscribe or give the gift that keeps on coming and use code WEAREFLEISHIGS (all caps) to get 25% off newsstand rates (only $49.50 for the year). www.fleishigs.com.

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jewish women of wisdom

The Tell-Tale Book

By Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz, MS

T

he store’s security gates were coming down. It was after closing time. Yet the polite young man persisted in trying to make the transfer happen. He was the third customer relationship representative to tend to my phones and me. As he unsuccessfully tried to transfer 3,300 missing contacts to my new Verizon phone, he said with a smile, “Makes you want to go back to your old phonebook.”

I did go back to my handwritten tan leatherette phonebook during my Covid nesting phase. It had been sitting on a shelf alongside old textbooks and tomes for a few years.

Loath to trash it when I edited my bookshelves, I decided it was an artifact and relegated it to the nearby cabinet where I keep mementos from my grandchildren, old cards and memorabilia from my present life.

It was the loose-leaf kind and just the right size to be easy to locate. It came with alphabetical tabbed plastic covers to preserve the writing on the lined sheets. And you could order extra sheets if needed, said the packaging text as I recalled.

This was a good selling point back then. Now the two pockets, similar to the inside flaps of book jackets, held paper flotsam and jetsam.

My late mother, Rebbetzin Yehudis Perlow, a”h, was not particular about details of material things.

She never said, I want this, even if it was a household necessity. She didn’t need things, period. People are more important than things, she would say. But she did want this kind of phonebook, and I remember her talking about her efforts to find one. One of her summer projects was copying over her phonebook once she got the particular kind she wanted.

I “got it” only later, years after she was gone. And then I went out and purchased the phonebook. It

must have been about 13 years ago.

I was careful to write neatly (for me) and in small letters because there was only one sheet or half a sheet per letter of the alphabet.

relationships and people who are no longer in my life as well as fully present folks. I found numbers of older singles (some of whom got married!), a Partner in Torah,

It’s a register of relationships and people who are no longer in my life as well as fully present folks.

The phone book traveled with us when we traveled and moved with us when we moved from Brooklyn to the Five Towns, from the Five Towns to Brooklyn, and then back to the Five Towns. My need for it waned as my phone contacts grew and trusty search engines yielded phone numbers, addresses, and more with just a few clicks. My bulky phonebook outgrew its use and took its place on the attic bookshelf.

It’s a record now, a historical artifact, but not because of its outdated usefulness. It’s a register of

a work supervisor, neighbors who have passed away, a couple who have divorced, professional associates, my daughters’ single friends who stayed in touch, and people who have since lost spouses, their faith, and their fortunes.

It’s an archive of life’s ups and downs, theirs and mine. In the pockets, I found a staff list from a job I held, a list of congregants from a previous congregation, annotated paper towels with notes from longtime friend’s eulogy, notes on a meeting with a periodical’s se-

nior management, part of a punch list, jottings for future articles, and points on exercising faith during adversity.

The ink is blue, black, and marker. The penciled marginalia is still legible. The handwriting is blurry in some places from water stains, despite the plastic sheet covers. Doctors’ names, and numbers of longlost relatives, plumbers and children of friends crowd the dark cardboard pieces that belong inside the plastic covers. Almost all the available empty space in this phonebook has been used, even the YZ page.

My mother’s time was up in her sixty-third year. I am soon approaching that age. I’ve got the tan phonebook, the proof positive that relationships counted in my life, and I got her message.

I participated in the JWOW! Zoom class on crafting heirlooms for midlifers. It doesn’t work for me. I’m not investing time in artistic creations for my grandchildren.

I’ve got heirlooms. I’ve got hundredyear-old candlesticks from two great-grandmothers who died in Treblinka to pass on. I’ve got traditions, recipes, letters, and afghans.

What will document my own accomplishments that I can claim?

What will document the values that I tried to live by and teach my progeny? Must I get that years-old manuscript published to have a permanent record? Is it time to write an ethical will?

I think I’ll go buy a Moleskine and create my own narrative. I fill it in my own order, with nary an alphabetical tab nor a stain from past history. My Book of Life will not be an artifact. It will tell the tale I wish to tell.

For conversation, connection, and community with JWOW!, email us at hello@jewishwomenofwisdom. org.

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Mind Y

ur Business

Norm Trainor: Players, Producers, and Pretenders

By Yitzchok Saftlas

E

very Sunday evening since July 2015, Yitzchok Saftlas, CEO of Bottom Line Marketing Group, hosts 77WABC’s “Mind Your Business” show on America’s leading talk radio station. The show features Fortune 500 CEOs, CMOs, and top business leaders where they share their business knowledge and strategic insights on how to get ahead in today’s corporate world. Since Q2 2017, the 77WABC “Mind Your Business” show has remained in the coveted Nielsen “Top 10” in New York’s highly competitive AM Talk Radio market. Guests have included John Sculley, former CEO of Apple and Pepsi; Dick Schulze, founder and Chairman Emeritus of Best Buy; Beth Comstock, former vice chair of GE; and Captain Sully Sullenberger, among nearly 200 senior-level executives and business celebrities.

TJH will be featuring leading questions and takeaways from Yitzchok’s popular radio show on a bi-monthly basis.

O

n a recent 77WABC “Mind Your Business” broadcast, Yitzchok Saftlas (YS) spoke with guest Norm Trainor (NT), CEO of The Covenant Group. * * *

YS: How would you describe players, producers, and pretenders in the workplace?

NT: What differentiates players, producers, and pretenders is that players have a vision of what they’re looking to create, and they shape the environment to realize that vision. When you ask a player what it is they’re looking to achieve, they would typically describe what they want to accomplish over the next three, five, 10, 20 years or more.

They’re not looking at what they are going to achieve transactionally in the next day or week or month. They also differentiate themselves by the thought and effort they put into what they do daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually – they are opportunity providers.

Producers are opportunistically

driven – they chase new products, new markets, new services, new ideas. The challenge for producers is they can be effective, however, what they’re looking to achieve can be easily disrupted by changes in the environment or by a loss of focus on their own part.

Pretenders have not yet recognized that maturing is learning to live without illusions. They live in a web of self-deceit, and the cost to them and the people around them is enormous.

I want to draw on two examples of players that I think everyone can relate to. The first is Warren Buffett who is arguably probably the greatest investor in our lifetimes. Recently, Warren Buffett was asked to what did he attribute his success. And he said, first and foremost, choose work that you love, that you’re passionate about, because it gives you a reason to be fully engaged each and every day. The second is surround yourself with people you care about and who are better than you. The third is laugh a lot. And the fourth is that he said wake up every morning, grateful for the day ahead and finding ways to en-

joy it. Those are great pieces of advice for every aspect of our lives.

The other person I’d like to quote is Jeff Bezos. When Jeff Bezos’ personal wealth reached $163 billion, he was interviewed in the Wall Street Journal and he was asked to what did he attribute his success? He cited a couple of things that I felt really stood out, the first of which was everything starts small. When Amazon started in 1994, they were just a small number of people, and look what they created. And the second thing he said is, “I have three priorities that inform what I do each and every day. And they are the guides to how I invest my time and my energy.”

I think what that highlights is is that players not only have a future vision and shape the environment to realize it but also bring a very clear and intense focus to what they’re going to do in their work and in their life every day to thrive.

When a company is looking to hire a C-level executive, is there any way that the company can ascertain if they’re looking at

a player versus a producer or even a pretender?

When I engage in dialogue or conversations with people, what I attempt to do is to listen at two levels. I try to listen to what people are saying. And then the second level is to listen for the logic that underlies what they’re saying, and that’s called listening at right angles.

Often, when we engage in a dialogue with people and they say something that we don’t agree with or that is counter to our beliefs, we react emotionally, and that’s quite a natural human response. The challenge is, it gets in the way of understanding because what often intervenes is our own biases, our own emotions, our own judgments, and that can lead to a not very positive outcome. So, when you’re listening at right angles; you’re not listening for whether you agree or disagree with their point of view. You’re really attempting to understand the rationale and the logic – does the logic makes sense.

Typically, in terms of listening at right angles, players will talk in terms of models, producers will talk

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in terms of methods, and pretenders will talk in terms of rationales. Players focus often on the goals they’re looking to achieve over time. Producers focus on how they’re going to go about getting what they want, and pretenders often give you the rationale for why they haven’t achieved the success they wanted in life or in business.

When I’m interviewing someone, one of the red flags is if they start telling me that all the things that have gone wrong in their life were someone else’s fault or a function of circumstance. Whether that’s true or not, players take responsibility for what they achieve, their successes and their failures, producers do as well, and pretenders tend to default to it. It’s a function of circumstance or someone else’s fault.

There are five steps in which players achieve and sustain peak performance: Mindset, target, engage, commit, and expand. Can you explain each of these five categories and why it’s so important to be mindful of them in a business setting.

It all starts with our mindset. The way we act is typically shaped by the way we think.

Target: the narrower your focus, the bigger your opportunity. High performers have a clear sense of what they’re looking to achieve.

Engage: the way in which they enter into a relationship, sets the stage for everything that follows.

Commit: how you take people through the process of buying, whether it’s the sale of a product or service or gaining commitment to an organizational goal or a personal commitment in a relationship.

And finally, expand: the natural result of relationships is toward erosion of sensitivity and inattentiveness. In other words, if you want to grow relationships, you have to work at them. A lot of what I describe is just common sense. The key is not what you know, it’s what you do with what you know.

There are three mindset characteristics that players exhibit in their work and in their life. The first is recognition. They are self-aware, they have self-insight, and, as a result,

they are very effective at self-management. They bring focus and discipline to what they do. The second is resilience. They’ve learned that they can overcome adversity, that, in fact, adversity often leads to greater strengths, that in business it’s natural to fail. It’s how you deal with the failure that differentiates you. And finally, routines, they bring discipline to what they do, in their work and in their life.

Perhaps now you can move on and discuss “target” and “engage.”

One of the characteristics of high performers is that they bring focus and discipline to what they do, and one of the ways in which you can

It’s about having a conversation, engaging in a dialogue. So, the structure we use for the client attraction conversation is you, me, we, us.

You – Focus on the other person, ask questions and listen Me – Your transition statement (e.g., thank you for asking…)

We – You share a story of someone in a situation similar to theirs Us – Your statement of intent (e.g., if we could do that for you, would that be a basis for us to work together?)

Buying is a series of micro-decisions, whether you’re trying to get someone to buy into an idea, a product, or a service. And the way in which we manage each of those decision points is critical to achieving success and getting to where we want

“If we want a relationship to grow, we have to work at it.”

achieve that is that the narrower your focus, the bigger your opportunity. In other words, you have a clear target that you set out for yourself.

Now we move to engage. One of the things that we teach salespeople is that if you know how to open, you don’t have to close. In other words, the way you handle that initial interaction with a prospective client is critical. People are judgmental by nature. We tend to form an impression of someone within the first one to three minutes of meeting them, and the way you manage that interaction is critical. So, what differentiates high performers is the way they manage the before, the during, and the after.

There are two principles when you engage with someone for the first time. You want to earn permission to move forward, and the way you earn permission is by focusing on what’s important to them, what are their goals, what are their aspirations.

So, what we once taught was an elevator pitch. First and foremost, nobody wants to be pitched. People love to buy and hate to be sold. And secondly, it’s not about having a pitch.

to be and, more importantly, where that other person wants to be.

So once we engage in a client attraction conversation, the next phase is the discovery. There are two principles of selling or influence. Focus on the other person and earn the right to proceed. Then the discovery: what we’re really looking to identify is what’s important to them. What are they looking to achieve? One of the ways in which players differentiate themselves is that they focus on the other person’s goals. And they focus on commonality of interest.

When players present their proposal or their solution, they first focus on what’s the loss to which people are currently exposed in their present situation. People are first motivated to avoid loss. So, you have to describe for people the consequences.

If they keep doing what they’re doing versus what you’re proposing, then you present your solution, what it is, and how it works. And then you illustrate through stories, analogies, and metaphors how you’ve helped people like them achieve what’s important in their lives. You have to get

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that emotional buy-in and then you obtain commitment. And like anything, if you know how to open, then you don’t have to close. If you’ve built agreement throughout, the decision to buy or to move forward is a natural and logical consequence. And then we are moving into follow-up and implementation.

That’s where we move into the “expand” part of this cycle. The natural result of relationships is toward erosion of sensitivity and inattention.

In other words, if we want a relationship to grow, we have to work at it.

So once someone becomes a client or once someone buys into what you’re proposing, as the leader, executive, or manager, what’s critical is what you do after the sale or after the buy in. And in this case, one of the ways in which players differentiate themselves is by doing common things uncommonly well.

What final takeaways can you share with us?

Well, I want to go back to what Jeff Bezos said. Everything starts small.

Become clear about what you’re looking to achieve in your work and in your life, and then think about what you can do today and tomorrow to bring that about. In order to bring focus and discipline, identify three results you want to achieve in the next three months to a year and three activities that will contribute the most to achieving those results.

Write them down and use those as your guidelines each day in leading a fuller and more productive life.

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Notable Quotes “Say What?!”

If you don’t have a Palestinian state, you cannot have a Jewish democracy. That state will either be Jewish, or it will be a democracy. It cannot be both.

– Past comments by Georgia’s Democratic Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock

I always knew that I was going to graduate from college. I just never knew that my nana was also going to be there.

- Melody Ormond, 22, who graduated from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) last month on the same day that her 74-year-old grandmother graduated from the same school with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology 42 years after taking her first college class in 1978

Madame First Lady – Mrs. Biden – Jill – kiddo: a bit of advice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unimportant matter.

Any chance you might drop the “Dr.” before your name? “Dr. Jill Biden” sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic. Your degree is, I believe, an Ed.D., a doctor of education, earned at the University of Delaware through a dissertation with the unpromising title “Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students’ Needs.” A wise man once said that no one should call himself “Dr.” unless he has delivered a child. Think about it, Dr. Jill, and forthwith drop the doc.

- From a Wall Street Journal op-ed by Joseph Epstein, titled, “Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D.”

One of her classes would end at the same time mine would. I would see her and just scream and yell, “Nana!” until I got her attention.

- Ibid., talking about what it was like attending college with her grandmother

Oh no! What is going on? This is not good news, even for “Indians.” Cancel culture at work!

- President Trump responding to news that the Cleveland Indians will be changing their name because their current name is not politically correct

Success has nothing to do with luck. It is a matter of consistency.

I have been down on my luck like people are today, where I had trouble paying bills and raising three daughters. The gas company shut the gas off, and we didn’t have any heat. I can relate to people suffering and not being able to pay bills. That’s probably one of the biggest motivators for me, because I’ve been there.

- The phrase spelled out by 7,236 balloons, earning a Florida balloon company the Guinness World Record for most words written with balloons

- Florida businessman Michael Esmond explaining to local TV why he donated $7,615.40 to pay past-due utility bills of 114 local residents in his neighborhood

- The company’s owner talking about the achievement

This world record is the living example of this phrase.

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Time for our annual reminder that there’s one #holiday tradition you need to pass on: raw meat sandwiches, sometimes called Tiger Meat or Cannibal Sandwiches. Many Wisconsin families consider them to be a holiday tradition, but eating them poses a threat for Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7, Campylobacter and Listeria banter that can make you sick. Remember, ground beef should ALWAYS be cooked.

- From a warning issued by the Wisconsin Department of Health

I have moved to Texas.

– Elon Musk, disclosing to the Wall Street Journal that he has left California

Silicon Valley, or the Bay Area, has too much influence on the world, in my opinion. The Bay Area has outsized influence on the world.

- Ibid.

I believe in this vaccine. I expect it to get the requisite approvals in the coming days. I want the citizens of Israel to be vaccinated, and in order to do that, I want to serve as an example to them, and I plan to be the first inoculated with the vaccine in Israel - Prime Minister Netanyahu, upon Israel receiving a shipment of COVID vaccines this week

It’s two years until a vaccine – two years everybody.

- Bill Nye “the Science Guy” on CNN in May, stating how long it would be before there would be a COVID vaccine

Parents are tyrants. “Parent” is an oppressive class, like rich people or white people.

- Noted liberal writer and “thinker” Noah Berlatsky, positing on social media that the family structure is as “awful” as “capitalism”

When did you find out your son was being investigated?

-Fox News reporter Peter Doocy screaming out a question to Joe Biden

Thanks for the congratulations. I appreciate it.

- Biden’s response

Donald Trump is the first president – and this is not political – he is the first president from either party not to have bent the knee to the Chinese Communist Party. And now we’ve begun to turn that corner...to push back against this threat.

- Sec. of State Mike Pompeo

As homicides, shooting victims, and shots fired into occupied homes soar in Los Angeles, it’s disturbing that Gascón’s first act in office is to explore every avenue possible to release from jail those responsible for this bloodshed. Victims and law-abiding residents lost a voice today while criminals and gang members gained an ally in the prosecutor’s office.

- The Los Angeles Police Protective League issuing a statement after Los Angeles’ newly elected District Attorney, George Gascón, said that he will no longer prosecute trespassing, drug possession, drinking in public, resisting arrest, and many other crimes

The Electoral College has spoken. So today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden.

- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday congratulating President-elect Joe Biden on his victory following the Electoral College’s vote on Monday

MORE QUOTES

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I’m honored to partner with Ben & Jerry’s on Change the Whirled. Their commitment to challenging the anti-Black roots of policing in the United States demonstrates a material concern for the wellbeing of Black and Brown communities. My hope is that this partnership will amplify calls to defund and abolish the police and to invest in futures that can make us safer, healthier, and truly free.

- Race-baiter Colin Kaepernick, at a press conference unveiling a new Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor dedicated to him

If we see another confirmed situation in which an inappropriate event is happening in that same building, then we’re going to have to move to shut down the building once and for all.

- Mayor de Blasio threatening to shut down Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar for good, at a press conference last week

He was a real drama queen about getting it: “Is this a dagger, which I see before me? The handle toward my hand?”

- Seth Meyers, about an 81-year-old man named William Shakespeare getting the COVID vaccine in the UK last week

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Political Crossfire

The Best Way for Biden to Unite the Country

By Marc A. Thiessen

J

oe Biden promised in his victory speech to “unite us here at home” and told Trump supporters that he wanted to “put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, [and] see each other again.”

There’s one simple way he could show he is serious: give President Donald Trump credit for the stunning success of Operation Warp Speed.

On Monday, the first Americans were vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2.

This is the greatest public health achievement in history. Until now, the record for the fastest vaccine development was four years. Operation Warp Speed did it in nine months.

Critics mocked Trump when he pledged a vaccine by the end of the year. After the president announced in May a Manhattan Project-style effort to develop, manufacture and distribute “a proven coronavirus vaccine…hopefully by the end of the year,” MSNBC’s Brian Williams interviewed one expert who assured him that timeline was “preposterous” and that Trump was a “POTUS in Wonderland.” Another expert told Bloomberg News that it would be “virtually impossible,” while an NBC News “fact check” declared that “experts say that the development, testing and production of a vaccine for the public is still at least 12 to 18 months off, and that anything less would be a medical miracle.”

Well, we got our miracle. How? The genius of Operation Warp Speed was the decision to run the vaccine development process in parallel rather than sequentially. The Trump administration invested about $10 billion in eight vaccine candidates – purchasing hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines before they were proved, clearing away regulatory hurdles, and putting a four-star general, Gus-

tave Perna, in charge of logistics and distribution.

The administration pledged $1.95 billion for the purchase and nationwide distribution of 100 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, which began this week. It also provided $955 million to support the development of Moderna’s vaccine – which will likely receive FDA emergency approval this

backs. But because the administration spent billions to buy vaccines before the clinical trials were over, it is now able to distribute upward of half a billion doses of vaccine over the coming months – first to the most vulnerable Americans, and eventually to all. As Moncef Slaoui, chief science adviser to Operation Warp Speed, explained to me in an interview, “Between the

It was like ignoring the moon landing.

week – and another to $1.5 billion to support large-scale manufacturing and distribution of the vaccine. It also pledged to purchase 100 million vaccine doses each from AstraZeneca ($1.2 billion), Johnson & Johnson ($1.46 billion), and Novavax ($1.6 billion) – all of which are in final, Phase 3 clinical trials.

This strategy was not without risks – the government provided about $2 billion to Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline for 100 million doses of their vaccine, which recently suffered set-

first quarter and the second quarter of 2021, the most at-risk populations will have been, I hope, immunized.” This, he said, “should decrease dramatically the burden of this disease on society in general, because…most of the burden of the disease is on a high-risk population.” By next summer, the worst of the pandemic should be over.

In addition to vaccines, Operation Warp Speed simultaneously invested in revolutionary COVID-19 treatments – including Regeneron’s and Eli Lilly’s monoclonal antibody therapeutics –

that have been shown to help reduce the severity of disease. While the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have proved about 95% effective, these antibody treatments can provide a backup for Americans who still fall ill with COVID-19.

Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of modern medicine. As my American Enterprise Institute colleague, former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb, told me, “We’ve never really had this level of development work undertaken over such a short period of time with so many successes.

This is a singular achievement. I can’t think of any historic proxy.”

So why has Biden refused to acknowledge it? On Monday night, in a speech hailing his electoral college victory, he ended by noting that we had just passed a “grim milestone” of 300,000 COVID deaths. But he said nothing about the historic vaccinations that were administered that same day. It was like ignoring the moon landing.

Biden has criticized Trump’s pandemic response failures, so why not give the president credit for this unadulterated success? Because that would mean acknowledging that, for all Trump’s flaws in managing the pandemic, he is also responsible for ending it. And Biden is saving that credit for himself.

Perhaps, given Trump’s terrible behavior, Biden is in no mood to praise the president. But it’s not about Trump; it’s about Biden delivering on his promise to reach out to his opponent’s supporters and bring Americans together. If he truly wants to unite the country, he should give credit where credit is due – and pledge to continue Operation Warp Speed. (c) 2020, Washington Post Writers Group

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Chanukah Lights, Sights & Delights Here are some photos that TJH readers sent in for our Chanukah contest: What Chanukah Means to You. Judging from the entries, family, doughnuts, menorahs and lots of joy saturate our homes on Chanukah!

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Political Crossfire

The Poetic Justice in Eric Swalwell’s Relationship with a Chinese Spy

By Marc A. Thiessen

T

here is a certain poetic justice in the news that Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., had a close relationship with an alleged Chinese spy, Christine Fang. Swalwell was one of the most prominent purveyors of the now-disproven conspiracy theory that Donald Trump had colluded with Russian intelligence to steal the 2016 election. Yet it turns out that all the while Swalwell was spreading those lies, he knew that he had been cultivated and funded by a suspected Chinese intelligence operative.

During the Mueller probe, Swalwell repeatedly claimed without a shred of evidence that Trump not only colluded with Russia but also that he was an “agent” of Russian intelligence. In an interview on MSNBC, Chris Matthews asked him whether Trump was a Russian agent “like in the 1940s where you had people who were ‘reds’?” Swalwell answered, “He’s working on behalf of the Russians, yes.” It turned out that was a lie. Swalwell used his position as a member of the House Intelligence Committee to suggest that he had seen evidence the rest of us could not that Trump was a Russian operative – when we now know no such evidence existed.

So, it is a bit ironic to learn that the congressman who claimed Trump was an agent of a hostile foreign power himself had a relationship with an alleged agent of a hostile foreign power. Fang began cultivating Swalwell when he was a member of the Dublin, Calif., city council, as part of a Chinese intelligence operation to get close to rising political stars. After he was elected to Congress in 2012, she became a bundler raising money for his reelection campaign. She chose her target well. Swalwell became a

member of the House Intelligence Committee and lead Democrat on the subcommittee with oversight of the CIA. According to Axios, “Fang facilitated the potential assignment of interns into Swalwell’s offices” and “in at least one case, an intern rec-

as soon as the FBI warned him about her. But we can be sure that if he had the same kind of photos of Trump palling around with a beautiful Russian spy that we now have of Swalwell palling around with an alleged Chinese spy, he would have held that up

Then, there is the hypocrisy of the FBI

ommended by Fang was placed into Swalwell’s D.C. office.” Swalwell has thus far refused to discuss his relationship with Fang, and his office did not return a request for comment.

Let’s give Swalwell the benefit of the doubt that he denied Trump: There is no evidence he knew that Fang was an alleged Chinese operative, or that Swalwell was an “agent” working on behalf of Communist China. He cut off contact with Fang

as proof that Trump was in the pocket of Russian intelligence, or worse.

Swalwell has not been accused of any wrongdoing. The issue is his hypocrisy in attacking Trump for alleged collusion with a foreign intelligence agency when he himself had been used by an alleged operative of a foreign intelligence agency. Indeed, Swalwell had the nerve to complain that the story was leaked to Axios by Trump supporters to try to “discred-

it” him – a charge Axios’s Jonathan Swan, whose colleagues broke the story, called “completely absurd.”

Then, there is the hypocrisy of the FBI. The bureau gave Swalwell a “defensive briefing” in 2015, informing him that Fang was a suspected Chinese agent and allowing him to cut ties with her. They gave a similar briefing to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in 2013, when the FBI learned that the then-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee had a Chinese spy on her staff who worked for her for about 20 years – after which she fired the individual. That’s because it’s standard practice to inform the target of foreign espionage that they are being targeted. But while the bureau did give Trump what former FBI director James Comey called “a general counterintelligence briefing about the threat coming from different nations,” it never told him that they had opened counterintelligence investigations against four Trump campaign associates whom they suspected of inappropriate contact with Russian intelligence. Instead, the FBI kept him in the dark and wasted two years and tens of millions of dollars chasing a conspiracy theory.

Those resources might have been better spent focusing on the threat from China. In July, FBI Director Christopher Wray explained, “We’ve now reached the point where the FBI is opening a new China-related counterintelligence case about every 10 hours.” As we can see from China’s suspected compromising of Swalwell, the Chinese espionage threat is real.

Swalwell hid his relationship with a Chinese spy from public scrutiny for five years. He owes the American people an explanation. (c) 2020, Washington Post Writers Group

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Forgotten Her es

Heroes on the PT Boats

By Avi Heiligman

Future President John F. Kennedy in PT-109

T

he Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941 marked the entry of the U.S. into World War II. During the attack, the U.S. Navy suffered a major blow as many ships were sunk or damaged. It would take many months to repair the damage and to replace the losses. In the meantime, the Navy relied on aircraft carriers which, for a variety of reasons, were not present at Pearl Harbor during the attack.

Ships that were at other ports and smaller boats that were not the focus of the attack were pressed into action.

One of these boats that attained a great reputation despite its shortcomings was the small but fast patrol torpedo boat otherwise known as the PT boat.

Nineteenth century ship-building saw the transformation from wooden hulls to metal and, in particular, steel hulls. During World War II, many materials, including steel, were in short supply. Several companies were contracted to build a fast boat out of wood.

Two companies emerged with winning designs: the 78-foot Higgins boat and the 80-foot Elco boat. Constructed out of plywood and mahogany and held together by glue and bronze screws, the PT boat had a top speed of 47 mph.

Capable of outrunning bigger ships, the boat was manned by just a crew of twelve to seventeen sailors and could carry up to eight torpedoes.

The Japanese attacked many Allied-held bases in the days and weeks following Pearl Harbor. Allied assets were few, and reinforcements were

not forthcoming, so the troops had to fight with whatever equipment was on hand. In the Philippines, there a squadron of PT boats stationed at Cavite. One early action that received media attention was the rescue of General Douglas MacArthur. Lieutenant John Bulkeley, commander of PT-41, was awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing General MacArthur from the doomed island of Corregidor. In a nighttime escape, they delivered him and his entourage to Mindanao, where a submarine subsequently brought him to Australia.

On the night of December 11, 1942, PT-37 and PT-40 were patrolling the waters off of Guadalcanal to catch any Japanese ships that might have been using a shipping lane known as the “Tokyo Express.” They caught sight of the Japanese destroyer Teruzuki coming in at a slow speed. The PT boats fired a spread of torpedoes that caused an explosion. The destroyer went down when fires spread to her depth charges, causing another explosion. Sinking large warships was unusual for PT boats. During the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944, PT boats damaged a Japanese cruiser that was later sunk by heavy bombers.

While they were prone to break down at any given time, PT boats were easy to fix and could be used as a floatation device. PT-109 was an Elco boat skippered by future president John F. Kennedy. On the night of August 2, 1943, PT-109 was patrolling in the Solomon Islands with JFK at the

controls when the Japanese destroyer Amagiri approached the boat. The destroyer did not see PT-109 (although after-action reports indicate that the Japanese captain knew the small boat was there) and was going at a high speed to reach her port before dawn.

PT-109’s crew tried to shoot a newly installed anti-tank gun at the large ship but did not have time. The destroyer rammed her head-on and cut her in half, which caused an explosion. Two of his men were killed but JFK rallied the men to hang on to the remaining pieces of the boat. Instructing them to paddle towards an island, Kennedy swam three miles to shore with the straps of the life jacket from one of his badly burned sailors in his mouth.

There, they made contact with native coast-watchers and several days later were rescued by PT-157.

A month after losing PT-109, JFK was given command of PT-59 with several sailors from the stricken PT109 joining the future president as crewmembers. Almost a year earlier, on December 9, 1942, PT-59 was under the command of Lt. John M. Searles and operating off the coast of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands when they spotted a Japanese barge.

As they opened fire, Searles noticed a surfaced submarine and fired two torpedoes. One scored a direct hit on the Japanese submarine I-3, which soon sank. Searles was awarded the Navy Cross for this action. With Kennedy at the helm, the boat was refitted as a heavily armed gunboat without

torpedo tubes. They were part of a PT flotilla that rescued dozens of stranded marines on Choiseul Island in the Solomon Islands. PT-59 rescued ten marines and acted as a screen while others were being transferred.

PT boats made night attacks that would confuse large Japanese warships into thinking that they were dealing with something much larger than an 80-foot plywood boat. Since they were cheap to make and easy to replace, some American commanders would send out a PT boat on a reconnaissance mission, and if they failed to return, they would know where the enemy was located. Other missions the PT boats were sent on included laying and destroying mines, providing fire support for landing troops, and rescue missions.

Later in the war, they were used in the D-Day landings and during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. A few surviving PT boats still exist and are in various stages of repair, disintegration, or perform other uses. Only PT-658, based out of Portland, Oregon, is seaworthy.

The legacy of the sailors who served on the PT boats despite their disadvantages remains. The courage and daring of those who served in the “mosquito fleet” is history that should not be forgotten.

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.

The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

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The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Five Towns 516-374-0242

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4 br, 4 fbth brick colonial 4 level split in cedar bay park. 5br, 2.5bth 82 x 120 prop. in woodmere’s sought - updated eik with rad. heat, fm rm, mstr ste after “tree streets” - xl eik, mstr w/ new w/ wic and 4 additional brs up, large gunite fbth, xl fdr, full, fin. base with ose. heated ig-pool w/ slide. $899,000 low taxes and flood ins. $929,000

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The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 17, 2020

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3 fullw/ baths. attic, finished All&brs on the 2nd colonial, Classic huge side hall eat-in col.side kitchen, w/ 4BR finished & col.

3 fullw/ baths. attic, finished All&brs the 2ndClassic side hall col.side w/ 4BR 3 fullw/ baths.

All&brs the 2nd Classic hall 4BR 3Spacious full Classic hall 4BR 3Spacious full Classic hall 4BR 3 on full Classic hall& col.

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4BRs$799K & Brick SH on great block 516)967-1967 in heart Cedarhurst.

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4BRs$799K & basement, on a deep property. Malka( 516)967-1967 $679Kbasement, Brick on floor, a deep fin.col. basement. property.

Malka( Beautiful yard.of Miri (646)515-8813 $679Kbasement, on floor, a deep fin.col. basement. property.

Malka( Beautiful yard.of Miri (646)515-8813 $679Kbasement, on floor, a deep fin.col. basement. property.

Malka( Beautiful yard.of Miri (646)515-8813 $679K 4BRs$799K floor,SH fin.col. basement. yard.of Miri (646)515-8813 baths. brs on the 2ndfloor, fin. 3.5bath baths. brs on the 2ndfloor, fin. 3.5bath baths. brs on the 2ndfloor, fin. Tamar baths. on the 2ndfloor, fin. Tamar 2bths on hall 2nd floor, walk up attic, extremely low taxes.

Tamar 2bths on hall 2nd floor, walk up attic, extremely low taxes.

Tamar 2bths on hall 2nd floor, walk up attic, extremely low taxes.

2bths on 2nd floor, All walkbrs up attic, extremely low taxes.

5BR, 3.5bath center hall col. on oversized prop. on very desirable 5BR, 3.5bath center col. onAll oversized prop. on very desirable 5BR, center col. onAll oversized prop. on very desirable 5BR, center col. onAll oversized prop. on very desirable (917)902-0613 $899K (917)902-0613 $899K (917)902-0613 $899K (917)902-0613 basement. $899K block near Cedarhurst Park. Moshe(516)455-5364 $1.19M block near Cedarhurst Park.basement.

Moshe(516)455-5364 $1.19M block near Cedarhurst Park.basement.

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Moshe(516)455-5364 $1.19M Spacious split with 4BRs upstairs, Charming 3 br, 2 bath cape in the Beautiful yard.

Beautiful yard. block near Cedarhurst Beautiful yard.

Beautiful yard.

3 full baths, new appliances, heart of SD 15.

Main br and bth Miri (646) 515-8813 Miri (646) 515-8813 Miri (646) 515-8813 Miri (646) 515-8813 sunk-in den, hardwood floors, on the 1st floor with 2 br and $799K $799K $799K $799K

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Beautiful exp 5br 4bth high ranch w/ 3 lvls of living space, many updates throughout. Sarah (347)524-9147 $999K

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WOODMERE LAWRENCE low taxes. a bathroom upstairs.

Avigail (516)316-3452 Rear den.

Beautiful exp SH Tudor 5br 4bth colonial high ranch with 4w/ brs 3 lvls & 2 baths of living on space, the 2ndBeautiful floor, finished exp SH Tudor 5br 4bth colonial high ranch with 4w/ brs 3 lvls & 2 baths of living on space, the 2ndBeautiful floor, finished exp SH Tudor 5br 4bth colonial high ranch with 4w/ brs 3 lvls & 2 baths of living on space, the 2nd floor, finished SH Tudor colonial with 4 brs & 2 baths on the 2nd floor, finished $949K $599K many updates throughout.

Sarah (347)524-9147 $999K SD many updates throughout.

Sarah (347)524-9147 $999K SD many updates throughout.

Sarah (347)524-9147 $999K SD 14. $849K basement, CAC, beautiful yard, award winning 14. $849K basement, CAC, beautiful yard, award winning 14. $849K basement, CAC, beautiful yard, award winning basement, CAC, beautiful yard, award winning SD 14. $849K

Adorable 3br colonial in mint condition. Great yard, low taxes, Adorable 3br Airy colonial & spacious in mint exp.condition. split level home Greatw/ yard, mother-daughter low taxes, Adorable unit3br Airy colonial & spacious in mint exp.condition. split level home Greatw/ yard, mother-daughter low taxes, Adorable unit3br Airy colonial & spacious in mint exp.condition. split level home Greatw/ yard, mother-daughter low taxes, unit Airy & spacious exp. split level home w/ mother-daughter unit perfect starter home. Call malka (516) 967-1967 $649k perfect starter (legal home. w/ proper Call malka permits), (516) SD967-1967 #14 Chana$649k (516)449-9692 perfect $649K starter (legal home. w/ proper Call malka permits), (516) SD967-1967 #14 Chana$649k (516)449-9692 perfect $649K starter (legal home. w/ proper Call malka permits), (516) SD967-1967 #14 Chana$649k (516)449-9692 $649K (legal w/ proper permits), SD #14 Chana (516)449-9692 $649K

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Spacious colonial, huge eat-in kitchen, finished attic, finished Spacious colonial, Classic huge side hall eat-in col.side kitchen, w/ 4BR finished & col.

3 fullw/ baths. attic, finished All&brs on the 2nd colonial, Classic huge side hall eat-in col.side kitchen, w/ 4BR finished & col.

3 fullw/ baths. attic, finished All on the 2nd colonial, Classic huge side hall eat-in col.side kitchen, w/ 4BR finished & col.

3 fullw/ baths. attic, finished All&brs the Wide-line 2ndClassic side hallcol. col.side w/ 4BR 3 full baths.

All&brs the 2nd Classic hall 4BR 3Spacious full Classic hall 4BR &brs 3Spacious full Classic hall 4BR 3 on full Classic hall& col. w/ 4BR 3 on full ch quiet cul-de-sac in Exceptionally hi-end gut ren.

S/H SH on great block 516)967-1967 in heart Cedarhurst.

4BRs$799K & Brick SH on great block 516)967-1967 in heart Cedarhurst.

4BRscol. & Brick SH on great block 516)967-1967 in heart Cedarhurst. & Brick on greaton block in heart Cedarhurst.

4BRs$799K & basement, on a deep property. Malka( 516)967-1967 $679Kbasement, Brick on floor, a deep fin.col. basement. property.

Malka( Beautiful yard.of Miri (646)515-8813 $679Kbasement, on floor, a deep fin.col. basement. property.

Malka( Beautiful yard.of Miri (646)515-8813 $679Kbasement, $799K on floor, a deep fin.col. basement. property.

Malka( Beautiful yard.of Miri (646)515-8813 $679K 4BRs$799K floor,SH fin.col. basement.

Beautiful yard.of Miri (646)515-8813 baths. brs on the 2ndfloor, fin. 3.5bath baths.

All brs on the 2ndfloor, fin. 3.5bath baths. brs on the 2ndfloor, fin. Tamar baths. brs on the 2ndfloor, fin. Tamar “front” Lawrence with 4BRs on the 2nd loc. on desirable block in taxes.

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2bths on hall 2nd floor, walk up attic, extremely low taxes.

Tamar 2bths on hall 2nd floor, walk up attic, extremely low Tamar 2bths on hall 2nd floor, walk up attic, extremely low taxes.

2bths on 2nd floor, All walk up attic, extremely low taxes.

5BR, 3.5bath center hall col. on oversized prop. on very desirable 5BR, 3.5bath center col. onAll oversized prop. on very desirable 5BR, center col. on oversized prop. on very desirable 5BR, center col. onAll oversized prop. on very desirable (917)902-0613 $899K (917)902-0613 $899K (917)902-0613 $899K (917)902-0613 $899K block near Cedarhurst Park. Moshe(516)455-5364 $1.19M block near Cedarhurst Park.basement.

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Moshe(516)455-5364 $1.19M floor & 1BR on 1st floor,Beautiful partiallyyard. fin 5 large brs &Beautiful 3 bathsyard. upstairs, Beautiful yard. basement. basement. Beautiful yard. basement. bsmnt, low taxes, much more. beautiful bsmnt w/ playroom, Miri (646) 515-8813 Miri (646) 515-8813 Miri (646) 515-8813 Miri (646) 515-8813 Avigail (516)316-3452 A Must See! Bruria $799K $799K $799K $799K

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$1.65M (718)490-7791 Donny Miller TamarTamar MillerMiller Beautiful exp 5br 4bth high ranch w/ 3 lvls of living space, Beautiful exp 5br 4bth high ranch 3 lvls of living exp 5br 4bth high ranch 3 lvls of living exp 5br 4bth high ranch 3 lvls of living SH Tudor colonial with 4w/ brs & 2 baths on space, the 2ndBeautiful floor, finished SH Tudor colonial with 4w/ brs &$1.85M 2 baths on space, the 2ndBeautiful floor, finished SH Tudor colonial with 4w/ brs & 2 baths on space, the 2nd floor, finished SH Tudor colonial with 4 brs & 2 baths on the 2nd floor, finished many updates throughout. Sarah (347)524-9147 $999K many updates basement, throughout.

CAC, beautiful Sarah (347)524-9147 yard, award winning $999K SD many 14. $849K updates basement, throughout.

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Adorable 3br colonial in mint condition. Great yard, low taxes, Adorable 3br Airy colonial & spacious in mint exp.condition. split level home Greatw/ yard, mother-daughter low taxes, Adorable unit3br Airy colonial & spacious in mint exp.condition. split level home Greatw/ yard, mother-daughter low taxes, Adorable unit3br Airy colonial & spacious in mint exp.condition. split level home Greatw/ yard, mother-daughter low taxes, unit Airy & spacious exp. split level home w/ mother-daughter unit perfect starter home. Call malka (516) 967-1967 $649k perfect starter (legal home. w/ proper Call malka permits), (516) SD967-1967 #14 Chana$649k (516)449-9692 perfect $649K starter (legal home. w/ proper Call malka permits), (516) SD967-1967 #14 Chana$649k (516)449-9692 perfect $649K starter (legal home. w/ proper Call malka permits), (516) SD967-1967 #14 Chana$649k (516)449-9692 $649K (legal w/ proper permits), SD #14 Chana (516)449-9692 $649K

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

Your

15

Money

Positively Wall Street

By Allan Rolnick, CPA

T

he time: July 25, 1965. The place: The Newport Folk Festival. Master of Ceremonies Peter Yarrow steps out to introduce the singer-songwriter sensation Bob Dylan. Festival organizers are perplexed as they watch his crew setting up heavy equipment. Then Dylan takes the stage to launch into “Maggie’s Farm” – with (gasp!) a Fender Stratocaster. Dylan had “gone electric,” and music would never be the same. As one wag put it, “he electrified one half of his audience and electrocuted the other.”

Fifty-five years later, Dylan has sold over 100 million records, despite a singing voice that sounds like the child of a sinus infection and an electric shaver. He’s Number Two on Rolling Stone’s list of rock’s 100 greatest artists, trailing only the Beatles.

The list of wannabes who have been dubbed “the new Dylan” – a club that includes Bruce Springsteen, John Prine, and Gordon Lightfoot – could fill every coffeehouse in Greenwich Village.

Last week, Universal Music Publishing announced they had bought the rights to the 79-year-old Dylan’s entire songwriting catalog for a price estimated as high as $400 million.

That’s an awfully nice payday for the voice of a baby boomer generation that used to disdain $400 million paydays (at least, before they got older and discovered 401(k)s and Fox News). But it’s also a shrewd tax move – one that could save Dylan and his family millions over time.

ture royalties and replace them with a lump-sum capital gain. Ordinarily, that’s a bad thing – paying tax now when you could wait until later. But that gain is taxed at a maximum of just 20%. So do the math: while paying 37% on $400 million of royalties would cost Dylan $148 million, pay-

That’s an awfully nice payday for the voice of a baby boomer generation that used to disdain $400 million paydays.

Dylan still makes millions in royalties from his music. They’re taxed as ordinary income at 37%, plus whatever state tax he might pay. Dylan currently spends much of his time in a 6,000-square-foot oceanview compound in Malibu, although it’s not certain he pays taxes as a California resident. Those rates may go up as soon as next year if Senate wins in Georgia give incoming President Joe Biden the votes to raise rates.

The sale will eliminate those fu-

ing 20% on the same amount of capital gain costs him “just” $80 million.

Just like that, $68 million in tax is blowin’ in the wind.

The sale will also make it easier for Dylan’s heirs to settle his future estate. If the plan includes passing the catalog to his six children, he’s taxed at 40% on anything above a “unified credit exemption equivalent,” currently $11,580,000. A hard-to-value asset of that size almost guarantees getting tangled up in an audit to es-

tablish the proper value. (Michael Jackson’s executors pegged his image and likeness at just $2,105 – 0203255 3. after ten years of fighting, the IRS sent them a bill for an extra $702 million.)

Dylan isn’t the only artist taking this step. Last month, Stevie Nicks announced she had sold 80% of her catalog, worth an estimated $100 million, to publisher Music Wave. She and Dylan join Blondie, Rick James, Barry Manilow, and Chrissie Hynde in selling rights, which generally trade for 10-18 times annual revenue.

Of course, there are plenty of strategies Dylan may have used to defer or eliminate tax on the sale. That’s where we come in. If you’re looking to sell a business, real estate, or even your own song catalog, you don’t have to feel like you’re stuck inside of Mobile with those Taxville blues again.

We’ve got the strategies to give you shelter from that storm!

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 | DECEMBER 17, 2020

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111

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Life C ach

So, What Exactly Do We Know?

Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS

T

hese days, we are either masked and manic or cavalier and cavorting.

Science, schmi-ence?!

No one seems to know anything.

If you didn’t have it, you don’t want it. Unless, you want to get it over with. But that’s only if you’re not going to visit anyone whom you’re nervous you might give it to.

They used to say: caring is sharing.

Now, caring is disappearing!

We are no smarter than we were in March, when we were celebrating Purim and wearing masks for a very different reason.

Or… Were we wearing masks for the same reason? A recognition that things aren’t as they seem?! We still don’t know if we are wearing the masks to protect us from the other guy or the other guy from us. Mostly, I can guarantee, we are wearing them to protect ourselves and anyone else from recognizing each other. No one looks familiar. Basically, a pair of eyeballs says hello to you!

Clearly, the old saying, “Clothing makes the man (or woman)” doesn’t hold true because no matter what anyone is wearing, everyone seems to be having difficulty knowing who they are saying hello to – or not say-

ing hello to.

Apparently, a nose and mouth make the man or woman – way more than the outfit!

And is it worth smiling?

A complete waste of effort?! Who sees it? Who knows it? Who can even detect it? Why bother?!

Unless, you embrace the “sci-

anyway, this could be an ideal time to covertly express all those angry feelings. The ones you’ve been repressing for years. Maybe you can gnash your teeth or stick your tongue out behind your mask when someone who always upsets you goes by. But good luck recognizing them anyway.

Can you remember when we were

Basically, a pair of eyeballs says hello to you!

ence” that says that smiling reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, and reduces pain. All good things! And here are two more worthwhile outcomes that could really help these days. Smiling increases endurance and strengthens the immune system!

With those two needed resources, smiling actually begins to seem well worth the effort.

Anyway, why not? There aren’t that many other options to keep you busy behind that mask. After all, you can’t resort to the old favorite eating or drinking!

Though, since you’re hidden away

disinfecting every delivery box, and mail, and groceries? Those were the good old days in March and April and May. After all, if we were going to be to locked up, with so little to do, that was a great way to keep us busy.

But now they’ve given us bigger things to be busy with. More intellectual than physical, though. Figuring out for ourselves what in the world is going on. Because no one seems to have a clue!

You avoid the doctor’s office because you don’t want to get sick. So, to find out if you have a temperature, you need to go to the hairdresser. Be-

cause they won’t allow you in without taking a quick reading.

If you’re choking on a crumb of bread, you better teach yourself the Heimlich maneuver because no one will get near a coughing person.

If you lose taste and smell, you may not enjoy one morsel of food, but you’re considered lucky, because you’ve found the most rapid COVID test available.

If you experience stomach issues, you may be just having stomach issues. But you may be navigating the “corona extreme diet plan,” which makes any diet alternative feel like a picnic after that.

And, if you have a blasting headache, it could be a symptom. But I’d venture to say that it’s more likely a headache from just trying to figure all this out!

Yes, we are months into our new normal.

For some, perhaps, more normal than others. And for others, less so. But one thing is quite clear to everyone: nothing, at all, is quite clear!

Rivki Rosenwald is a certified relationship counselor, and career and life coach. She can be contacted at 917-7052004 or rivki@rosenwalds.com.

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DECEMBER 17, 2020 | The Jewish Home