Five Towns Jewish Home 5-21-20

May 21, 2020

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Dear Readers,

S

ometimes, as I walk through my home throughout the day, I want to go back to school.

Believe me – I have no interest in completing homework or writing assignments or taking tests. But when I hear my children’s teachers and rebbeim teaching them in their Zoom classrooms, I sometimes wish I can go back to school for a day.

In the morning, I get to hear the melodic sounds of davening as teachers and rebbeim daven with their classes. I am amazed by their energy, their sincerity, their enthusiasm. Some of them start their days with a story, an inspiring piece about Yiddishkeit or about davening.

They greet each child as they start their classes, welcoming them and sporadically pointing out something special about that child. One of my children has been dancing as he davens, so enthused is he by the “geshmake” davening that his class has.

After davening, the day continues. And even though I’m home, I’m working and so I only get to catch glimpses into what goes on during the day. And still, from whatever I overhear, I can see how each teacher is so remarkable in how they give over their classes. There are contests and prizes and stories. There are songs and questions

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and pictures on the board. Each lesson is given over with excitement, sprinkled with jokes or riddles or interesting tidbits to keep students entertained.

It’s apparent how dedicated the teachers and rebbeim are to their students. It comes across in the lessons that they give and in the phone calls that they make. It’s clear in the way they give out assignments and dole out advice and share ideas. They want their students to more than just succeed – they want their students to thrive and flourish.

And the children in their classes know.

They know that their teachers and rebbeim are there for them and care for them.

They know that their teachers understand them and are cognizant of how they are learning in an unusual environment.

There are a few more weeks left to the school year. And yes, although these have been interesting times, I am grateful that I have been given a glimpse into my children’s classes over the past few weeks. It has given me an appreciation for the selflessness and devotion of those teaching my children.

And I am eternally grateful.

Wishing you a wonderful week, Shoshana

Yitzy Halpern PUBLISHER

publisher@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Yosef Feinerman MANAGING EDITOR

ads@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Shoshana Soroka EDITOR

editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Nate Davis Editorial Assistant Nechama Wein Copy Editor Berish Edelman Adina Goodman Mati Jacobovits Design & Production Gabe Solomon Distribution & Logistics P.O. BOX 266 Lawrence, NY 11559 Phone | 516-734-0858 Fax | 516-734-0857 Classified Deadline: Monday 5:00PM classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com text 443-929-4003 PAYMENT VIA CREDIT CARD MUST BE SUBMITTED ALONG WITH CLASSIFIED ADS

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Shabbos Zemanim

May 22 – May 28

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The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

8

COMMUNITY 8

Readers’ Poll Community Happenings

34

Just Two Guys Trying to Make a Difference

68

The Fight to Get Back Our Constitutional Freedoms by Mayor Ben Weinstock 56 NEWS Global

12

National

28

Odd-but-True Stories

32

ISRAEL

78

Israel News

22

My Israel Home

66

JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Wein on the Parsha

61

Each According to His Own Camp by Rav Moshe Weinberger

62

Achieving the Impossible by Shmuel Reichman

64

PEOPLE The Life and Times of Mrs. Suri Klein, a”h by Yoni Gottlieb

60

Yoni Netanyahu by Avi Heiligman

88

HEALTH & FITNESS The Importance of Pleasure by Dr. Deb Hirschhorn

76

The Benefits of Cheesecake by Cindy Weinberger, MS RD

78

FOOD & LEISURE The Aussie Gourmet: Salmon Chowder

79

LIFESTYLES

Dear Editor, The times we are in are literally Days of Judgement. Anything that we can do to fix ourselves or our communities should be done.

I would like to address one particular issue. I have seen, as I am sure that everyone reading this has experienced as well, phone usage while driving. This is absolutely endangering lives. There was an accident on Chanukah in which a teacher in a yeshiva struck a man while on the phone. The man died. How can we sit by and watch near-accident after near-accident and not take a stand?! This is shfichat damim!

Let us come together now during this difficult time and put an end to phone usage while driving. This is not a simple matter, it is pikuach nefesh mamesh! If we are careful about the current virus, then we should be careful about this as well.

Rabbi Menachem Maor Dear Editor, I appreciated your article this week about teaching kids hobbies.

I, for one, have been trying to help my children develop their varied interests over the past few weeks, as we’ve been spending a lot more time together. I was surprised, though, that you didn’t mention any physical sports as one of the hobbies. For instance, my daughter is very flexible.

We have been working on developing certain gymnastic moves. Some

children may be very graceful and would excel at ballet or yoga. Some boys may do well at baseball or basketball. All these skills and talents are ripe for perfection during these times.

Because children are spending so much time in front of screens these days, it’s important for them to exercise and move their bodies. So, after they finish their “zoom” school, parents should encourage and help their children work on their talents – especially those that involve exercise!

Shana Lachman Dear Editor, In “Kickstarting Your Kid’s Hobby,” you mentioned that, in order to perfect one’s talent, one needs to “practice, practice, practice.” That’s certainly true. But it’s not just practice. To truly become an “expert” in a certain area, one needs to practice deliberately. They need to be goal-oriented and work beyond one’s comfort zone.

Nowadays, people are sometimes hesitant to push their children into practicing or working on something.

But people shouldn’t be. They should encourage their children to practice and work on their talents – even if it’s hard. Explain to them that with lots of effort and with working hard, they will succeed.

The taste of success is so much sweeter than they can ever imagine.

Yehudit Reichman

Dating Dialogue, Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW 72 3 Projects to Get You Started on Woodworking 80

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Your Money

92

Find Your Crunch by Rivki D. Rosenwald 94 Esq., CLC, SDS HUMOR

Centerfold 58 Notable Quotes

84

POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Experts Have Jobs by Fareed Zakaria

86

Someone Committed a Crime by Marc A. Thiessen

87

CLASSIFIEDS

9

Do you know the words to our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”?

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YES

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NO

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

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the WTO’s appellate court in a show of displeasure and has pushed it to make widespread reforms. The U.S., along with Japan and the European Union, wants the organization to work to counter China’s growing economic clout and alleged bullying behavior.

When queried about his response to Azevedo’s departure, Trump said that he “was okay with it” and added, “We’ve been treated very badly...

They treat China as a developing nation; therefore, China gets a lot of the benefits that the U.S. doesn’t get.’

Iran’s Policy Led to Doctors’ Deaths The head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) abruptly resigned last Thursday, hampering the group’s ability to foster international cooperation during a worldwide recession.

In a surprise announcement, Roberto Azevedo said that he would step down on August 31, a full year before his term was supposed to end. A lifelong Brazilian diplomat, the 62-year-old has headed the WTO since 2013 and was slated to be replaced in August 2021.

Azevedo said in a statement that the move was “a personal decision” and highlighted the organization’s role in forging a more effective global economy. “The WTO may not be perfect, but it is indispensable all the same,” he said. “It is what keeps us from a world where the law of the jungle prevails, at least as far as trade is concerned.”

The surprise announcement will further hurt the WTO’s effort to promote global trade during the worldwide economic downturn caused by the coronavirus. Located in Geneva, the WTO works to remove global trade barriers and promote business opportunities on an international level.

In recent years, the WTO has come under severe criticism from populist politicians around the world, including U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump has alleged that the organization serves to promote Chinese interests and is responsible for millions of U.S. jobs disappearing.

Since 2019, the U.S. has blocked the appointment of new judges to

A new report sheds light on how Iran’s public denial of the coronavirus outbreak within its borders resulted in the deaths of hundreds of doctors and other medical personnel.

With 118,392 current cases and 6,937 deaths, Iran has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus.

The Islamic Republic has become one of the world’s epicenters of the virus, with some estimates putting the actual number of deaths as ten times higher than the official figures.

According to the Associated Press investigation, Iran’s coverup of the true scale of the disaster, combined with a lack of sufficient equipment such as masks and gloves, resulted in doctors being devastated by the virus. The report, which was based on interviews with 30 doctors employed in Iran, presented a damning picture of a country whose desire to prevent the public from knowing the truth resulted in disaster.

After the increasing number of verified coronavirus cases erupted in early February, Iranian authorities refused to admit that something was wrong. Preventing the media

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

In addition, an average of one doctor died and another three were infected over a 90-day period as the lack of proper medical gear left them unable to protect themselves.

“In the beginning, medical staffers faced the outbreak with very limited equipment,” recounted the AP report.

“Some washed their own gowns and masks or sterilized them in regular ovens. Others wrapped their bodies in plastic bags they bought at the supermarket. The result: Dozens of medical professionals without adequate protection died along with their patients.”

Jackfruit Goes Global

from reporting that true state of affairs, special hospitals built to house coronavirus patients were kept secret and were manned by the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Meanwhile, fictitious death certificates were printed for those who succumbed from the pandemic, and those suffering from advanced stages of the virus were forbidden from going to the hospital in a bid to keep numbers down.

“Iran’s leaders, several medical

professionals said, delayed telling the public about the virus for weeks, even as hospitals were filling up with people suffering from symptoms linked to the virus,” the report said. “And even as doctors and other experts were warning the Iranian president to take radical action, the government resisted, fearing the impact on elections, national anniversaries, and the economy.”

As a result of the secrecy, hospitals were unaware that they needed

to stock up on protective gear and ventilators to avoid being overwhelmed by the number of cases.

This policy would have deadly repercussions for doctors.

Forced to treat hundreds of patients daily without sufficient protective equipment, medical personnel suffered an abnormally high rate of infection and death. According to data collected by the AP, 2,070 doctors have been infected since the virus began, with at least 126 deaths.

Part of a South Asian diet for centuries, the waxy yellow jackfruit is gaining popularity around the world among vegans and meat-eaters alike.

The fruit weighs around 11 pounds, and can be eaten fresh or used in cooking and baking. It has become a popular meat alternative, now utilized by chefs globally for its meat-like texture when unripe. Consumers are already turning to brands such as Beyond Meat and Impossible for alternatives to chicken and beef.

In India, the “superfood” is so abundant that, in the past, large quantities went to waste each year.

Each tree can produce as many as 150-250 fruits a season, and in parts of the country it was not unusual for private gardens to post notices asking people to take away the fruit for free – the harvest was so plentiful that many fruits would simply rot and attract flies.

In the Tamil Nadu and Kerala regions, demand for jackfruit is around 100 tons every day during the peak season to the tune of $19.8 million a year, said economics professor S. Rajendran of the Gandhigram Rural Institute.

Sujan Sarkar, the Palo Alto-based executive chef of Bhambri’s restaurants, stated that it’s not only vege-

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The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

Nachas Those who do nate to the Sh avuos campaign of K upat Ha'ir will ‫בעז"ה‬ merit the fulfil lment of the Te fillas HaShlah and w ill enjoy great success in the chinuch of the ir children.

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

tarian or vegans who are consuming jackfruit. “Even the meat-eaters, they just love it,” he said.

New Zealand Quashes Coronavirus

Following seven weeks of almost complete lockdown, New Zealand has begun the process of rolling back coronavirus restrictions.

Back when the country only had 100 confirmed cases, estimates predicted a trajectory similar to that of Italy. But the country acted swiftly: New Zealand entered a level 3 lockdown on March 23, meaning non-essential businesses were closed, discretionary domestic air travel was banned, and all events and gatherings had to be cancelled.

It then progressed into a level 4 lockdown – a stricter approach dubbed the “eliminate” policy – 48 hours later. Under this policy, people were urged to only maintain contact with those they lived with.

Even earlier, on March 19, New Zealand closed its borders, banning all inbound travel to the country with the exception of returning New Zealanders and some essential health workers.

New Zealand lifted some of its lockdown measures on April 27, moving back into the level 3 stage and allowing people to expand their social “bubbles” to reconnect with close family outside of their households. Residents are now allowed to travel around the country if necessary, but can “only move once, and in one direction.”

On Monday, there were no new cases of confirmed coronavirus in the country. So far, 21 people have lost their lives in New Zealand from the disease, all of whom were over the age of 60.

While schools, restaurants, movie theaters, gyms, and malls are reopening across the country, there remain two primary concerns: clubs and funerals. Clubs and pubs,

among other locations where people stand and mingle, make it more difficult to carry out contact tracing.

Funerals, on the other hand, raise questions about limiting the number of mourners in attendance, particularly when it comes to the threeday-long Maori services known as tangihanga.

“There was a lot of conversation around the number of people who could attend,” noted Tracey Martin, the minister of internal affairs. “You can choose not to have a wedding or to delay it, but you can’t choose not to die.”

Weird Clothing Rules in S. Africa

South Africans are growing increasingly confused by seemingly bizarre sets of government restrictions regarding what types of clothing can be sold.

Last week, the South African government released a new group of guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The plan included unusual restrictions, such as limiting stores to selling only “closed-toe” shoes and long sleeve shirts, leaving citizens bewildered. Additionally, t-shirts could be sold but only as “undergarments for warmth,” as well as “crop bottoms worn with boots or leggings.”

In the country’s parliament and on social media, many questioned what the directives had to do with combating the worldwide pandemic.

“The restrictions are beyond belief,” fumed Adrian Saville, who serves as the CEO of Cannon Asset Managers in Johannesburg, on Twitter. “We are in the place of folly that becomes tragedy.”

“These new clothing regulations are frankly mad and seem more at place during the 1980s under the Soviet Union than they do in a democracy like South Africa,” added opposition MP Dean Macpherson.

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

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After more than 20 years on the run, one of the last key suspects in the Rwandan genocide was arrested last Saturday in a Paris suburb.

Félicien Kabuga, 84, is alleged to have been a leading figure in the 1994 genocide and was considered “one of the world’s most wanted fugitives.” The arrest took place in a joint operation with French authorities, said the United Nations in a statement. According to a press release from the public prosecutor and regional police, Kabuga had been

T

Rwandan Genocide Suspect Captured

living in the Asnières-Sur-Seine suburb under a false identity.

Kabuga is expected to be transferred to The Hague in the Netherlands, under custody of the UN criminal tribunal dedicated to the Rwandan genocide. In 1997, he had been indicted on seven counts of genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide, and conspiracy to commit genocide, as well as persecution and extermination. U.S. security agents failed to capture Kabuga during an attempt in 2003 to lure him to the home of a Kenyan businessman who had offered to help investigators.

During the three months of the 1994 genocide, 800,000 people were slaughtered, of which an estimated 300,000 were children. The violence began after a plane carrying then-President Juvenal Habyarimana, an ethnic Hutu, was shot down on April 6, 1994. Hutu extremists across Rwanda retaliated by targeting minority ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

“The arrest of Félicien Kabuga today is a reminder that those responsible for genocide can be brought to account, even 26 years after their

BES

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crimes,” said Serge Brammertz, prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, a UN agency. “Our first thoughts must be with the victims and survivors of the Rwandan genocide…. Advocating on their behalf is an immense professional honor for my entire office.”

French-Iranian Sentenced in Iran

ion regarding the Islamic dress code enforced in Iran does not amount to “propaganda against a political system.”

Iran has made dozens of arrests in recent years of foreign and dual nationals on national security charges. Some, such as British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, are on temporary release due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Iranian authorities do not recognize dual nationality for their own citizens.

Snowbirds Fatality

French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, 61, was sentenced to six years in prison in Iran last Saturday for alleged national security and propaganda charges against the Islamic republic, according to her lawyer Saeid Dehghan.

Dehghan said that his client, a specialist in Shiite Islam and research director at Paris’ Sciences Po university, intended to appeal.

Adelkhah was arrested in June last year; her trial began on March 3 and the most recent hearing took place on April 19 at branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. At the time of her arrest, she had been studying the movement of Shia clerics between Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq, and had spent time in the city of Qom, the seventh-largest city in Iran.

Adelkhah’s French colleague and partner Roland Marchal, who had been detained along with her, was freed in an apparent prisoner swap in March. Marchal was released after France returned Iranian engineer Jallal Rohollahnejad, who faced extradition to the United States over accusations that he had violated U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Washington has stated that it “deeply regrets” that decision.

Dehghan said Marchal’s release gives grounds for appeal against the charge of “gathering and conspiring against national security” since “at least two people must be involved for this charge to stand.” The defense team also plans to argue that Adelkhah’s personal academic opin-

A Canadian air force pilot died on Sunday when a Snowbirds jet crashed into a home during a tribute for front-line workers in the coronavirus pandemic. Another pilot was seriously injured in the incident, which occurred in Kamloops, northeast of Vancouver.

The flight was part of Operation Inspiration, a nationwide mission announced on April 29 to celebrate first responders and other essential workers. The Snowbirds are a military acrobatics squadron based in Saskatchewan, similar to the U.S.’s Blue Angels.

A viral video showed two jets taking off and flying side by side for a few seconds, at which point one veers towards the sky and seconds later is seen spiraling toward the ground. The city of Kamloops later confirmed that the jet had, in fact, struck a house.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that he would be in touch with the country’s defense minister, Harjit Sajjan, about the crash. “My thoughts are with the brave members” of the Royal Canadian Air Force,” he said.

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

IDF Thwarts Terror Attack

Three Palestinian terrorists were shot after attempting to ignite an IDF base on fire on Friday evening.

The terror cell had approached the outpost located inside the village of Abu Dis near Jerusalem when they were spotted by soldiers, who opened fire.

“An attack was thwarted moments ago when IDF troops spotted three Palestinians hurling explosives and

lighting Molotov cocktails, preparing to attack an IDF post. Our troops responded with fire and thwarted the attack,” said the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

The attack was the latest in a recent spate of violence. On Thursday, an IDF soldier was seriously injured during a ramming attack near Hebron and had to have his leg amputated. An initial investigation of the incident found that the terrorist had left his house determined to kill an Israeli soldier and drove for hours until he spotted his victims standing on the side of the road.

On Wednesday, IDF special forces shot and killed a Palestinian rioter at the Al-Fawwar refugee camp south of Jerusalem. Disguised as Arabs, the troops had infiltrated the camp in order to make an arrest but had their cover blown during the operation, sparking massive protests.

Earlier in the week, 21-year-old Amit Ben-Yigal from the Golani Reconnaissance Battalion was murdered after being hit with a stone during an arrest in the city of Yabed, near Jenin. Ben-Yigal was an only child and had only one month remaining in his mandatory military service at the time of his death.

“My whole life revolved around this boy. In my darkest dream I never believed I’d have the title ‘bereaved father.’ My most precious thing was taken from me,” his father grieved.

Annexation to Be Part of Peace Deal?

The State Department maintained that a possible Israeli annexation of parts of Judea and Samaria “needed to be part” of President Trump’s peace plan.

In a conference call with Israeli media outlets on Friday, U.S. State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus refrained from opposing annexation, saying instead that the Jewish State possessed “the right and the obligation” to make the final decision. Ortagus’ briefing came after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a highly irregular visit to Jerusalem a day earlier.

“He [Pompeo] said that annexation is up to Israel,” Ortagus said, adding that talk of annexation was “certainly, by no means, the reason” for the visit. “We think these discussions should be a part of the peace process, part of President Trump’s Vision for Peace. So it should be part of discussions between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” she said.

“I don’t really have much more to say on it than that,” added Orgagus.

With the U.S. locked in a battle with the coronavirus as well as an economic crisis, Pompeo’s short visit to Israel on Thursday aroused speculation as to what his true purpose was. While initial reports said that Pompeo arrived in order to pressure Israel not to annex parts of Judea and Samaria, State Department officials hinted that the visit was for different reasons entirely.

“We should dispel the notion that we flew halfway around the world to talk about annexation,” said one senior official, while another added the subject “was not the top line in Pompeo’s talks.”

During his 12-hour visit, Pompeo

huddled with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Kahol Lavan head Benny Gantz, and incoming Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. The trip was the first time Pompeo left the United States since the coronavirus outbreak began in February as well as his first official visit to Israel.

Israel’s 35th Gov’t

Included in Israel’s new government is the first-ever female haredi minister, a Harvard graduate, and a hi-tech billionaire.

Welcome to Israel’s 35th government that was sworn in on Sunday.

With it are an unprecedented 36 ministers and 16 deputy ministers, the largest in the country’s 72-year history.

Comprising Kahol Lavan, Likud, Labor, and the haredi Shas and UTJ parties, the large national unity government necessitated inventing five previously non-existent ministries to keep senior power brokers happy.

The new portfolios include the Water Resources and Higher Education Ministries, which will both be headed by Ze’ev Elkin, Orli Levi-Abeksis’ Community Promotion Ministry, and the Settlements Ministry dealing with communities over the Green Line.

Within the Likud, former Justice Minister and Netanyahu loyalist Amir Ohana will oversee the Israel Police at the Internal Security Ministry. He replaces Gilad Erdan, who will be the first person to serve as both Israel’s envoy to Washington and the United Nations at the same time since the 1950s.

Meanwhile, Miri Regev moved from the Culture to the Transportation Ministry and is slated to replace Kahol Lavan’s Gabi Ashkenazi as Foreign Minister in 18 months. Dudi Amsallem, the outgoing Communications Minister, is tapped to be the newly-created Ministerial Liaison to the Knesset.

With UTJ’s Yaakov Litzman asking to be appointed Housing and Construction Minister, former Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstien takes con-

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

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trol of the Health Ministry. Eli Cohen, the former Economy Minister, was appointed Intelligence Minister after being forced to vacate his old job for Labor leader Amir Peretz.

Within Kahol Lavan, Omer Yankelevitch was appointed Diaspora Minister, making her the first-ever haredi woman to be a minister in the Israeli government, while Pnina Tamano-Shata became the first Ethiopian-born minister and received the Immigrant Absorption portfolio.

Avi Nissenkorn, a former Histadrut labor union boss, replaces Amir Ohana as Justice Minister, and the Religious-Zionist Chili Tropper is Israel’s newest Culture Minister.

Yoaz Hendel, a former commando-turned-military historian, is now Communications Minister.

Chinese Ambassador Dies

by Deputy Ambassador Dai Yuming.

“We are deeply saddened by the death of Ambassador Du and would like to extend our deepest condolences to his family. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently conducting the follow-up work,” said Zhao.

Du Wei had taken up his post in Israel only two months ago and had spent the majority of his term under quarantine due to fears of the coronavirus. Coming at a time where Israel is under pressure by the U.S. to scrap its ties with Beijing, his sudden passing sparked rumors in China that he was the victim of foul play.

During his snap visit to Israel last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the growing displeasure by the U.S. with Israel’s booming business ties with China. His repeated demands that Jerusalem regulate Beijing’s activity in the Jewish State led to the National Security Council reportedly preparing a new system to curb Chinese activity more effectively.

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FM Ashkenazi: We’ll Adopt Peace Plan China has backtracked on its decision to send a team of investigators to probe the sudden death of its ambassador to Israel on Sunday.

Du Wei was found dead at his Herzliya residence on Sunday morning in what seemed to be a heart attack at the age of 57. Following the news, China informed Israel that it would dispatch its own team of pathologists to determine the cause of death and inspect the ambassador’s home for signs of foul play.

Yet, according to Haaretz, the Chinese Foreign Ministry backtracked after being informed by their Israeli counterparts that an independent probe of their envoy’s untimely death would send an awkward message. Instead, the body will be sent back to China in an official ceremony attended by representatives from the Israeli government.

Du Wei was found dead by his associates who came to check on him after he failed to answer their repeated phone calls. In a statement to the press on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that Wei died from a heart attack, adding that he will be replaced

New Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi promised to adopt President Trump’s “Deal of the Century” and revamp his ministry’s standing during his upcoming term.

Speaking at a changing of the guard ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, Ashkenazi said that the Trump peace initiative is a “historic opportunity” that needed to be exploited.

“We’re facing significant regional opportunities, primarily President [Donald] Trump’s peace initiative.

I consider this plan a significant milestone,” said the grizzled ex-general. “President Trump presented us with a historic opportunity to shape the future of the State of Israel and its boundaries for decades to come.”

Ashkenazi also spoke of Egypt’s and Jordan’s role in the peace process, declaring that “they are very important allies in addressing the

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

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challenges in the region.” Ashkenazi added that he would work to “promote contacts and collaborations with other countries in the space in order to strengthen the strategic position of the State of Israel.”

Ashkenazi’s remarks came only a few days after Jordan’s King Abdullah threatened to end his country’s peace treaty with Israel should Israel annex parts of Judea and Samaria. Amman has viewed Israel’s recent annexation rhetoric with alarm, warning that any solution that does not involve Israel shrinking to pre-1967 lines would cause a deep freeze in relations between the two countries.

Ashkenazi will serve as Israel’s top diplomat for the next 18 months after the national unity government was sworn in on Sunday. He replaces Yisrael Katz, who held the position for the past year but was widely viewed as an ineffective foreign minister who cared little for the job.

Noting the Foreign Ministry’s degraded status and a budget crisis in recent years, Ashkenazi finished his address by promising “a complete turnaround” in its day-to-day operations.

“I see the Foreign Ministry as an integral part of the national security system of the State of Israel and its people as ‘warriors without uniforms,’” Ashkenazi said.

Abdullah: Peace Plan Could End Treaty

lah. “What if the Palestinian Authority collapses? There will be even more chaos and extremism in the area.”

The Jordanian monarch reiterated his country’s opposition to any plan that does not include a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 lines, saying that it would never be accepted by the Arab world. Rather than earn the support of Middle Eastern nations fed up with Palestinian intransigence, Abdullah contended that the peace initiative would unite the Arab world against the United States.

“In the Arab League, the onestate solution is still completely rejected,” said Abdullah. “When the one-state plan was published six or seven months ago, his highness, the King of Saudi Arabia, said, ‘No, we are with the Palestinians.’”

Abdullah also refused to rule out ending his country’s peace treaty with Israel in the event of an eventual annexation of territory in Judea and Samaria, saying merely that he didn’t “want to make threats and create an atmosphere of controversy, but we’re considering every option.”

Relations between Israel and Jordan have deteriorated in recent years, with Abdullah saying in November that they had reached “its worst ever.” This past year, Jordan refused to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the signing of the peace treaty between the two countries and recalled its envoy earlier in the year.

However, Abdullah’s remarks are seen as an escalation, as he has never before spoken about possibly ending the peace treaty Jordan signed with Israel in 1995.

Gantz Vows to Help MIAs

Jordan’s King Abdullah warned that his kingdom’s peace treaty with Israel could fall apart should Israel proceed with its plans to annex the Jordan valley.

Speaking with the German daily Der Spiegel, Abdullah blasted President Trump’s peace plan and predicted that it would increase the region’s instability.

“Leaders who believe in a single-state solution don’t understand what that means,” said Abdul-

Newly-minted Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s first call after his changing of the guard ceremony on Monday was to the families of soldiers missing in action.

Gantz spoke with relatives of Hadar Goldin and Oron Saul, two IDF

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

soldiers killed in 2014’s Operation Protective Edge whose bodies are being held by Hamas in Gaza as bargaining chips.

Apart from the MIA soldiers, Gantz promised the families of Avera Mengistu and Hisham Sayyid that he would do everything possible to return them to Israel alive. Mengistu, a mentally disturbed Ethiopian Israeli, has been in Gaza since climbing the border fence in 2015. Sayyid is a Bedouin captured while on a smuggling mission.

Leah and Simcha Goldin, Hadar’s parents, released a statement praising Gantz for putting a high priority on getting their son’s body back.

Gantz had been the IDF chief of staff when Hadar and Shaul were taken and is said to have a positive relationship with both families.

“We were excited when the replacement prime minister and incoming Defense Minister Major General Benny Gantz called to tell us that he was fully committed to bringing home our son Hadar and Sgt. Oron Saul held by Hamas,” said the Goldins. “We told Gantz that the opportunity to return soldiers and civilians should not be missed, and the new government must act here and now and fulfill its duty to the families.”

Gantz’s phone call comes as reports speak of intensive negotiations between Israel and Hamas that would lead to the release of Saul’s and Goldin’s bodies as well as the two aforementioned civilians. While the parameters of the deal remain classified, it would likely feature the release of thousands of terrorists, similar to the agreement that led to the release of Gilad Shalit in 2015.

The flight comes as the United Arab Emirates, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai on the Arabian Peninsula, has no formal diplomatic ties to Israel due to tensions over control of land wanted by the Palestinians for a future state. However, it marks an open moment of cooperation between the countries after years of rumored back-channel discussions between them over the mutual enmity of Iran.

Etihad, a state-owned, long-haul carrier, confirmed it had a flight on Tuesday to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

“Etihad Airways operated a dedicated humanitarian cargo flight from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv on 19 May to provide medical supplies to the Palestinians,” the airline said. “The flight had no passengers on board.”

The flight delivered humanitarian aid provided by the UAE to the Palestinians through the World Food Program.

The extent of Gulf Arab ties with Israel is still mostly kept private.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have allegedly used Israeli spyware to go after government critics.

Etihad Flies to Israel

Israel is likely behind a cyberattack which halted traffic and caused “total disarray” at Iran’s Shahid Rajaei Port, located near the Strait of Hormuz, last week, according to a report by The Washington Post.

On May 11, Mohammad Rastad, Managing Director of the Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO), announced that a cyberattack managed to damage a number of private systems at the Shahid Rajaei port.

Rastad also confirmed that the attack was carried out by a foreign entity, according to Fars.

Intelligence and cybersecurity officials familiar with the incident told The Post that the attack was carried out by “Israeli operatives,” possibly in retaliation for an earlier cy-

In a first of its kind, Etihad Airways, the flag-carrier airline of the United Arab Emirates, announced it would fly to Israel with aid for the Palestinians, marking the first known direct commercial flight between the nations.

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

berattack on Israel’s civilian water system.

Satellite photographs showed miles-long traffic jams on highways leading to the Shahid Rajaee port and dozens of loaded container ships waiting just off the coast.

The cyberattack was “highly accurate,” according to a security official with a foreign government that monitored the incident, which reportedly took place on May 9, two days before Iranian officials acknowledged it had occurred.

Earlier this month, Israel’s security cabinet met to discuss an alleged Iranian cyberattack on Israeli water and sewage facilities that took place in April. The attack did not cause substantial damage except for a few issues in local water systems, according to Israeli officials, but is still seen as a substantial escalation by the Iranians, especially since the attack targeted civilian infrastructure.

“This was a very unordinary cyberattack against civilian water facilities which is against every ethic and every code even in times of war,” a senior Israeli official told Channel 13.

“We didn’t expect this even from the Iranians. It is just not done.”

Firefighters Injured in LA Blaze

Twelve firefighters were hurt while battling an out-of-control blaze in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday.

The fire broke out on Saturday afternoon in a cluster of apartment buildings near Little Tokyo and Skid Row. It quickly mushroomed into a massive blaze, leading the department to issue an official “Mayday” call at about 6 p.m.

More than 230 firefighters answered the call, rushing to the area from all over the city. But while they were inside the building, there was “a significant explosion, very high, very wide, rumbling the entire area,” said LAFD Capt. Erik Scott.

The powerful explosion sent a towering pillar of black smoke billowing into the air that could be seen from miles away and torched a fire engine parked nearby. As the building was enveloped in a ball of flames, firefighters came running out, some racing down a burning set of ladders, many of them on fire.

Those injured were evacuated to County USC Medical Center, where they received treatment for burn injuries and smoke inhalation.

On Monday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said that it was sending in special agents from around the country to help with the criminal investigation.

They are expected to help reconstruct the scene, identify where the fire started, and determine what caused it.

following day, the U.S. approved a home-based kit for coronavirus testing.

Over in Europe, Germany’s Bundesliga became the first major soccer league on the continent to resume playing, despite last week’s opening games being played with a noticeable lack of spectators. Israel’s soccer league is also set to resume playing at the end of May, also without fans in attendance, following only 19 new cases in the country last Saturday.

Meanwhile, Italy announced that it would be open to European Union tourists as of June 3 and that the mandatory 14-day quarantine would be scrapped.

“We’re facing a calculated risk in the knowledge that the contagion curve may rise again,” acknowledged Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte during a televised address, announcing the imminent reopening of cinemas and gyms. “We have to accept it, otherwise we will never be able to start up again.”

Reopening the Economy

How Will Baseball Restart?

Last Saturday, U.S. officials announced a further easing of restrictions regarding shops, restaurants, and outdoor venues such as beaches and parks that had been closed due to the pandemic. Horse and auto racing were given the go-ahead to resume as well. Despite the openings, officials warned of new restrictions in the event of a surge in new coronavirus infections, which have at present killed over 88,000 people in the U.S. and 310,000 worldwide.

Forty-eight U.S. states have begun the process of rolling back regulations to varying degrees. New York State continues to ban all nonessential gatherings, and within NYC, lockdown measures have been extended through May 28. Last Friday, President Donald Trump expressed his hope that a vaccine might be available by late 2020, or “maybe before.” The

A new proposal to reopen the Major League Baseball (MLB) would ban in-game contact and taking Ubers to the game and would mandate 10,000 weekly tests.

After more than a month of planning, MLB executives released a plan last Friday detailing how baseball would reopen for a shortened season.

Reportedly 67 pages long, the returnto-play program includes a bevy of new rules designed to allow games to resume while keeping players safe from the deadly disease.

According to the new guidelines, players will be forbidden from touching each other, including high fives, fist bumps, and the traditional postgame handshake. Spitting, chewing tobacco, and eating sunflower seeds are also off limits due to fears of disease transmission.

The rules would also limit how players interact before and after the game, with MLB executives outlaw-

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

ing using ride-sharing apps such as Uber and Lyft for fears of contagion, as well as prohibiting taking postgame showers at the stadiums.

All players and their families will be tested multiple times each week, with the MLB calling the move “a critical component” in its eventual return. The League promised that it “will offer free diagnostic and antibody/serology testing…for healthcare workers or other first responders in the Clubs’ home cities as a public service.”

If implemented, the guidelines would significantly change how the game itself is played. For the first time in baseball history, National League teams would be required to use a Designated Hitter (DH). Teams could have 50 players on their roster, double the amount currently allowed. However, the number of athletes allowed to be active for each game is still under negotiations.

During the game, players would need to remain six feet apart from each other at all times while non-athletes would be banned from the dugout. This includes coaches, a team’s manager, and reporters, and the bat boy would be moved to the stands behind home plate.

In addition, players will be discouraged from tossing the ball around between innings, and any ball touched by more than two players will be thrown away.

“It’s going to require a lot of patience. It’s going to require a lot of understanding,” said John Mozeliak, who works as the St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations.

“What we remember as sort of normal – those days are gone.”

Saudi Gunman Linked to AlQaeda

Pensacola, killing four. Alshamrani was a lieutenant in the Saudi Air Force and had been posted to Pensacola for a three-year training program.

After going through his iPhone, FBI agents found a slew of jihadist propaganda along with additional evidence showing that Alshamrani likely carried out the attack for ideological reasons. FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the material gleaned from the hacked phone allowed the U.S. to foil another attack originating in Yemen but declined to go into details.

“The evidence we’ve been able to develop from the killer’s devices shows that the Pensacola attack was actually the brutal culmination of years of planning and preparation by a longtime AQAP associate,” Wray said “The phones contained information previously unknown to us that definitively establishes Alshamrani’s significant ties to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, not only before the attack, but before he even arrived in the United States.”

The murderer killed 23-yearold Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, 19-year-old Florida native Airman Mohamed Sameh Haitham, and 21-year-old Airman Cameron Scott Walters.

Prior to the course, Alshamrani had been vetted and was not on any law enforcement database of known terrorists. Even so, according to reports, Alshamrani had spoken admiringly about fellow Saudi Osama bin Laden and invited friends to watch videos of mass shootings at a dinner party he held the night before embarking on the massacre.

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The FBI announced that the Saudi airman who killed four U.S. sailors at a Florida airbase last year has been linked to the al-Qaeda terror group.

In December, 21-year-old Mohammed Alshamrani opened fire with a handgun at Naval Air Station

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plans a nationwide study of up to 325,000 people to track how the new coronavirus is spreading across the country into next year and beyond, a CDC spokeswoman and researchers conducting the effort said.

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

The CDC study, expected to launch in June or July, will test samples from blood donors in 25 metropolitan areas for antibodies created when the immune system fights the coronavirus, said Dr. Michael Busch, director of the nonprofit Vitalant Research Institute.

Busch is leading a preliminary version of the study – funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases – that is testing the first 36,000 samples.

The CDC-funded portion, to be formally announced this week, will expand the scope and time frame, taking samples over 18 months to see how antibodies evolve over time.

The CDC study will test blood from 1,000 donors in each of the 25 metro areas monthly, for 12 months.

Researchers will then test blood from another 25,000 donors at the 18-month mark. Samples will come from “regular, altruistic people” who come in to donate blood, Busch said.

Antibody studies, also known as seroprevalence research, are considered critical to understanding where an outbreak is spreading and can help guide decisions on restrictions needed to contain it. The CDC study should also help scientists better understand

whether the immune response to COVID wanes over time.

The six metropolitan areas being surveyed in the precursor study are New York, Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Boston and Minneapolis. “In all likelihood” the next phase will add Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago, Denver and others.

Some local governments have done their own seroprevalence research.

New York in April found antibodies in more than 20% of some 3,000 test subjects, suggesting the number of residents exposed to the virus in the hardest-hit state is much higher than the 355,000 who have tested positive.

A Piece of the Titanic For the first time in the 108 years since the Titanic sank to the bottom of the ocean, causing the deaths of more than 1,500 people, explorers are set to cut into the ship and remove a piece.

Researchers are attempting to retrieve the wireless Marconi telegraph, one of the first of its kind, which the

doomed ocean liner used to contact a nearby ship for aid.

Because of a backlog of personal messages for passengers on the massive ship, the wireless operators had ignored ice warnings from other ships.

A federal judge in Virginia approved the expedition this week, calling it “a unique opportunity to recover an artifact that will contribute to the legacy left by the indelible loss of the Titanic.”

The company R.M.S. Titanic (RMST) still must get a funding plan approved by the court. It plans to launch the expedition this summer, using underwater robots to carefully detach the Marconi and its components from the ship.

“If recovered, it is conceivable that it could be restored to operable condition,” they said in one filing. “Titanic’s radio – Titanic’s voice – could once

again be heard, now and forever.”

The recovery project has been vociferously opposed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose representatives argued in court that the Titanic, sunk off the coast of Newfoundland, should be respected as a grave rather than mined as a museum supply.

Trump Takes Virus Drug

On Monday, President Trump surprised the media by announcing that he had been taking hydroxychloroquine, which is generally used to treat malaria, after one of his personal valets tested positive for the coronavirus. The president had been touting the drug regimen as a preventative

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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cure against the coronavirus.

Later in the day, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it’s “not a good idea” for Trump to be taking it.

“I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and in his, shall we say, weight group, what is morbidly obese, they say,” Pelosi said during an appearance on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”

“So, I think that it’s not a good idea.”

Trump has repeatedly touted the drug as a potential coronavirus cure or preventative measure over the last two months, despite the lack of evidence that it’s effective against the disease.

“Here’s my evidence: I get a lot of positive calls about it,” Trump said on Monday. “So far, I seem to be OK.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Trump’s decision to take hydroxychloroquine “reckless.”

“I know him saying he is taking it, whether he is or not, is reckless, reckless, reckless. It gives people false hope, has people avoid real medical attention, and can actually cause them trouble. It is just dangerous what he did,” Schumer said on MSNBC. The White House later released a memo from the president’s physician saying the two discussed the use of hydroxychloroquine and determined “the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks.”

“In consultation with our inter-agency partners and subject matter experts around the country, I continue to monitor the myriad studies investigating potential COVID-19 therapies, and I anticipate employing the same shared medical decision making based on the evidence at hand in the future,” presidential physician Sean Conley wrote.

convenience store in a small town in Virginia.

The burglars drove up in a stolen pickup truck with empty watermelons on their heads. They had cut out holes for the eyes so they could see what they were stealing.

“This is definitely not something you see very often in Louisa,” Police Chief Tom Leary said. “We’re a really nice, quiet town, with a lot of hardworking people and something like this is pretty unusual.”

After releasing photos of the fruity felons and asking for people to call in with tips on the case, authorities arrested the duo.

Use Your Noodle

Want to eat out? You may have to use your noodle – your pool noodle, that is.

A café in Germany has been asking patrons to wear hats with foam swimming noodles attached to encourage social distancing while dining outside.

Café & Konditorei Rothe, in Schwerin, Germany, posted a picture of the scene to its Facebook page.

Diners can be seen sitting at separate tables wearing the octopus-like hats and enjoying the spring day.

No word on how to have a serious conversation with your spouse if you’re both wearing pool toys on your heads.

Melon Heads

Social Distancing – to the Max

Looking to conceal their identity, a pair of thieves used watermelons as face masks when they went to rob a

Think you’ve become somewhat of a social distancing expert? This job may be for you.

NASA has announced that it is seeking a team of social isolation experts to spend eight months locked in a Russian lab to help collect data for future missions to the moon and Mars.

Selected candidates will spend the

time in a closed facility with “environmental aspects similar to those astronauts are expected to experience on future missions to Mars.”

The team will also conduct scientific experiments similar to those NASA expects future astronauts to attempt on missions to the moon and Mars.

NASA is hoping to study the psychological and physiological effects astronauts are likely to face as a result of isolation on long missions.

“As many around the world are staying at home in response to the global coronavirus pandemic, NASA is preparing for its next spaceflight simulation study and is seeking healthy participants to live together with a small crew in isolation for eight months,” the agency said in a statement.

NASA’s Artemis program is working on a plan to send humans to the moon for the first time since the agency’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

Hope they pack enough hand sanitizer for the journey.

one final tug, they realize the object they had been trying to free was a prosthetic leg.

“My first reaction was ‘Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious!’ So many thoughts were going through my head, like how did he lose it?... What happened and why did he have a lost leg?” Morris said.

When they were heading back to the shore, Morris realized that the leg probably belonged to someone. He decided to try and find the owner.

With the help of his dad, they started a Facebook page to spread the word. After few days, they found out that the leg belonged to surfer Carter Hess.

Hess had been surfing at the beginning of April and got hit by a large wave and lost his fake leg. Although his friends endeavored to find it, they weren’t able to locate the appendage.

A few weeks later, his friends showed him the Morrises’ Facebook page, and Hess realized that his lost leg had been found.

The two newfound friends met up, and now Hess is reunited with his leg.

They all plan to go diving together in the near future.

Purr-fect Match?

A Leg Up

While scuba diving, 13-year-old Sebastian Morris expected to find some unusual things on the ocean floor. What he found, though, really floored him.

Morris was just three miles off the coast of Panama City, Florida, with his dad when something caught his eye.

“It kind of shined...so my natural reaction is, OK, it might be treasure, so I’ll go take a look,” Morris told CNN. He dove down and tried to free it from the sand. After several attempts, it was still stuck. His dad saw the struggle and came over to help. After

A California man is seeking to raise money for an animal shelter by holding a wedding ceremony to marry his cat.

Scott Perry said he adopted his cat, Olivia, from Los Angeles Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in 2015 and that she has since become his constant companion.

After being quarantined with the feline for the past two months, Perry has decided to marry his furry companion. He will even have a “registry” for the new couple – a fundraiser for the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.

According to Perry, the event will be livestreamed over his Instagram page.

I wonder what they’ll be serving at the wedding feast.

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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Community

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his week, the Lawrence Public Schools organized a kosher non-needs-based food program for all children in the area under the age of 18. The program is open to children of any school district – and more than 7,000 children were signed up for the first day of distribution.

There were many people involved who worked tirelessly to get the program off the ground.

The Lawrence Board of Education was intimately involved in getting this done for the community.

Murray Forman, Asher Mansdorf, David Sussman, Tova Plaut, Heshy Blachorsky, Abel Feldhammer and Michael Hatten of the school board worked alongside Superintendent Dr.

Ann Pedersen and Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations Jeremy Feder to petition the state for funding. Additionally, the school board is fronting a million dollars in capital to ensure funding is secured.

Elite Caterers of Inwood is the caterer behind the distribution of the food. Mr. Shlomo Katz and his staff enthusiastically ramped up production so they could accommodate the overwhelming need in such a short period of time.

The distribution on Wednesday morning was organized and efficient. While hundreds of cars lined up, workers loaded their trunks with bags of food and drinks for the children sufficient for two days of breakfast and lunch. No patron had to

leave their cars, and the lines moved quickly and without delay. Packed inside the bags were small cartons of milk, fruits and vegetables, pizza bagels, cereal, danishes, challah rolls, and tuna.

On Wednesday, the first day of the program, local officials visited the site to oversee the distribution. Aside from the board members and school officials who were on-hand, State Senator Todd Kaminsky, who helped with implementing the program, also helped to load boxes into cars.

Daniel Plaut and Israel Wasser of the Cedarhurst Town Board and Michael Fragin of the Lawrence Town Board were there as well. Maury Litwack of Teach-NYS, at the distribution, said that he believes that programs like

this one can be implemented in other communities as well.

The next distribution, which will take place on Friday, May 22, will cover several days of food because of the Memorial Day holiday.

Meal distribution takes place at the Lawrence Public Schools campus at 195 Broadway off Lawrence Avenue three days a week from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. Those picking up food for three or more families are able to come starting at 8:30 a.m.

Registration is suggested to guarantee a meal. Those who are not registered can come after 11 a.m. for meals that have not yet been taken.

For more information, email KosherMeals@lawrence.org.

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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Around the Community

The Village of Cedarhurst salutes our heroes!

Lag B’Omer at Gesher

Sarah’s Voice is Here to Help

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ag B’Omer is always a special day in our local yeshivas and communities. With the challenges of the lockdown in place, many virtual and drive-through events were scheduled throughout our neighborhoods.

While the morahs planned and delivered their Lag B’Omer lessons, the Gesher administration planned several follow-up events to bring joy and excitement to the Gesher students and their families.

The first special event was about fire safety and a virtual tour of the firehouse, led by Mr. Simon, father of a recent Gesher student. The children were enamored with the special equipment that firefighters use. They learned a lot about fire safety and about how the firehouse is prepared to answer fire calls in the quickest way possible.

Later in the day, the children were privileged to participate in a live Zoom talent show. The approximately fifty acts were a mix of prerecorded and live demonstrations. Ev-

eryone took great pleasure in seeing the varied interests and special talents of their friends: singing, dancing, roller skating, and much more.

Thank you to Morah Shari Katlowitz for being such an entertaining MC. Social distancing protocols did not allow for the usual carnival type of events of typical years. Gesher took the initiative to bring the carnival home and personally delivered an ice cream cone and other threats to every student, with some receiving theirs the next day, spreading the simcha even more.

With many former students in the neighborhood living near current students, Gesher was able to share the excitement by delivering ice cream to many of its recent graduates as well. As the day went on, so came the emails, WhatsApps and texts expressing tremendous gratitude to the staff for making every child feel so special...all the time.

Special thank you to Morah Shira Fagan for delivering in Queens!

ven though the courts have been operating on a more limited basis, Sarah’s Voice, Shalom Task Force’s legal department, has been busy ensuring their clients and all victims of domestic violence within our community are safe during the current pandemic.

During the 2-part webinar series Shelter in Place (recordings available at shalomtaskforce.org/ covid-19-resources), Erin Bistricer, ESQ, senior staff attorney for Sarah’s Voice, and Rachel Marks, ESQ, attorney for Schonfeld & Goldring, LLP and Vice President, Shalom Task Force, educated the community on how COVID-19 has affected the courts, order of protection, custody and visitation arrangements, and support.

As questions came flooding in, the legal team realized they need to find a safe way for victims to contact them while they are quarantined with their abusers.

Sarah’s Voice is now offering email and text options for victims to safely reach out. They can be emailed at legalintake@shalomtaskforce. org or call/text (347) 592-2124. One will be individually connected to a trained victim-advocate. The advocate cannot provide legal advice but can answer basic questions, complete safety planning and schedule a safe time for you to speak with an attorney from the project. A victim-advocate is available to respond within 24 hours during business hours 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Sarah’s Voice services are based on New York State law and resources and are free of charge. Sarah’s Voice provides legal representation and advice on issues of Orders of Protection, divorce, custody, visitation, and support, immigration, and in some cases provide brief services (such as help preparing court documents).

Sarah’s Voice’s email and phone/ text line are confidential and protected by attorney-client privilege.

Please indicate a safe way for us to respond to you, either through text, voicemail, or email, otherwise they will not know how to respond to your inquiry.

Safety Alert: If the person causing harm becomes aware that you are seeking legal support, they may escalate their abusive behavior. Be aware that computers and phones can be monitored, often in undetectable ways. If the party causing harm knows your passwords, consider another way of reaching out.

If your phone is hot to the touch or it dies quickly when you are not using it that might mean someone else is running applications that access it.

If there any applications on your device that you did not install yourself that is another indication that someone else is accessing your device. If you are afraid that your technology might be monitored, consider accessing https://techsafetyapp.org/ from a secure device to review tech safety steps. Note that the tech safety app does not replace individualized safety planning.

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Gourmet Glatt Brings in a New Baker

A new bakery has opened in Gourmet Glatt by Mr. Klein, who bakes all the delicious baked goods on premises. With rugalech, sweet rolls, sticky buns, challahs, and more, Mr. Klein offers a variety of delectable delights made using his signature recipes

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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BBY Preschool Moros Go Above and Beyond!

Shulamith Escapes the Room

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ast week, the girls of Shulamith Middle Division enjoyed a special Lag B’Omerthemed virtual Escape Room. They needed to use their knowledge of halacha and problem-solving skills in order to “escape” from the cave where Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai

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nos Bais Yaakov Preschool moros have gone above and beyond the call of duty over the course of the last several weeks, spending countless hours preparing packages for their students and inventing creative ways to teach over video and phone conferencing.

Every two or three weeks, teachers have been hand-delivering specially created packets to their students. Each packet includes all materials needed for the weeks’ lessons – including glue sticks, crayons, and even paints – in individual Ziploc bags, as well as several treats for the girls. Enclosures have even included such things as soil and seeds for a Shavuos project, as well as pasta to be used to depict the butterfly life cycle and to create a “Mezonos Maidel.” Parents receive a text or email daily with instructions detailing what materials will be needed for the next day’s lessons.

Before Pesach, we created a series of videos in which each classroom and specialty teacher took a part, recreating the pre-Pesach experience as well as the Seder. We also recently held our 100 day celebration, with every girl receiving celebratory nosh! The girls continue to receive Rosh Chodesh treats as well.

When learning the bracha of mezonos, the girls received cookies and decorations to create their own edible works of art. Moros have been visiting any girl who has a birthday during these weeks to give her a birthday crown and say happy birthday. They

then have a virtual birthday party with the class.

Teachers have been putting their all into making distance learning engaging by generating PowerPoints for their lessons, dressing up, fabricating fabulous puppets, using virtual backgrounds, and in general constantly going the extra mile to make learning come alive each and every day.

At the same time, we are keeping abreast of the kriyah and literacy curricula, spending private time on the phone with girls who need extra practice or who have missed the class conference.

As a special treat every Friday, Morah Yehudis acts out a special Shabbos story. She has based them so far on such classics as Way Too Much Challah Dough, Peanut Butter And Jelly For Shabbos, and Shabbos Is Coming; We’re Lost In The Zoo! much to our students’ delight!

It is no surprise that parents say that, due to their moros’ efforts, their daughters are not only surviving but thriving during this challenging time.

Says Preschool Director Morah Yehudis Oppen, “It is a zechus to work with such talented and dedicated teachers.

They are truly unbelievable!”

Floor Covering International

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rothers Ben and Sam Myers are proud to introduce Floor Covering International.

They have both lived in Woodmere their entire lives. Ben and Sam have had an opportunistic and entrepreneurial spirit from a young age. From lowering neighbors’ and friends’ cable bills, running children’s sports classes at the Marion Gural JCC, and most recently managing Myers Healthy Vending, Ben and Sam have a long history of working together but have always had an appetite for something bigger that comes with more potential.

Ben, analytical and a CPA by

trade, has been on the hunt for the right business that fits both of their strengths. Through college, Sam managed Central Perk Cafe then went into real estate management. Managing apartment buildings in the East Village, while supervising different types of floor installations, gave Sam the tools to succeed as the lead salesman for Floor Coverings International.

Ben and Sam look forward to serving the entire Five Towns in their mobile showrooms with quality flooring products and the best possible service in the industry.

had hidden. The students of Class 5A, who had done the Escape Room earlier in the week, served as Escape Room masters to help those who got “stuck.” The students enjoyed being challenged and loved the feeling of cracking the codes.

Emma R. said, “It was cool how interactive it was,” and Gila Y. said, “The Escape Room was so fun! I had a great time!” Rina R. summed it up by calling the Escape Room, “Cool and fun.”

The Escape Room, created by Morah Adina Broder, is available for anyone to try using this link: https:// mora hbroderspitga mi m.weebly. com/lag-bomer-escape-room.html.

Did you know?

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

a v i h s Our Ye s l l a W t u o h t i w

Building Worlds.

Beis h g u o y thr lmid of r e s r ta Nu s From sh, every orah stay iT ra Med a Darche s rabbeim i i iv Yesh cted to h th limude e o s, conn day. In b ral studie o e every and gen e rising t t r sh kode lmidim a king grea a a g our t casion, m hallengin c c the o ss under re prog stances. m circu

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

More photos can be viewed at darchei.org/photos

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

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Siach Yitzchok Brought the Simcha of Lag B’Omer to Far Rockaway and the Entire Five Towns – Twice!

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n Tuesday of Lag B’Omer, Siach Yitzchok, not wanting to disappoint their talmidim and parent body who for the past 38 years have been attending a truly meaningful hadlaka with the cheder, arranged an amazing “Lag B’Omer Procession!” The procession was led by a pickup truck with a loudspeaker system that played all of the trademark music of Lag B’Omer in Meiron!

Following the pickup truck and the dedicated RNSP/Shomrim patrol car driven by our illustrious alumnus Elkanah Adelman were 25 assorted vans and cars driven by the beloved melamdim of the cheder. Colorful Meiron signs printed with each

rebbi’s name were clearly visible on three sides of the vehicle. Smiles and dancing along the streets filled the entire neighborhood as bystanders poured out from their homes to see what was happening outside.

The route was designed to pass the home of each and every Siach Yitzchok talmid in the area. Notified when we were approaching, the procession was greeted at each home by the entire family of the talmid, many in Shabbos clothing, holding signs expressing their appreciation to the cheder, such as “Thank you Siach Yitzchok,” “Rebbe, I miss you,” “Thank you, thank you, and (in Yiddish) “Siach Yitzchok di beste cheder

in di velt.” A rebbe positioned in the back of a pickup truck in front of the procession carefully tossed prepared “pekelach” of goodies to each child, while another at the rear of the line, also in the back of a pickup truck, threw candy. The social-distanced interaction between the talmidim and their rebbes was amazing, as they have been so very much longing to see each other in person. It was an unbelievably heartwarming sight.

As one child expressed it perfectly, “I missed my rebbe before, but now I really miss him!”

One glitch – due to last-minute circumstances beyond our control, we were unable to visit the homes of

about 25 families of the more than 200. Knowing with what anticipation they had waited for us, and with what disappointment they remained with, we did it again! On Thursday afternoon, a pickup truck with loudspeakers, Lag B’Omer music, procession of rebbes, a pickup truck loaded with “pekelach,” and all the pomp and simcha of Tuesday once again flowed through the streets of Far Rockaway and the Five Towns. The same reactions were seen on the street, at our talmidim’s homes, between the rebbes and talmidim – but this time, we reached everyone! What a feeling of shlaimus.

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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A Virtual Color War

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TA talmidim, rebbeim, and faculty had a blast during virtual Color War on Thursday, May 14. Seniors dominated as the Blue Team with a theme of Kibbud Av V’Eim, juniors crushed it as the Red Team with a theme of Zachor V’Shamor, sophomores fought hard as the Green Team with a theme of Torah, and freshmen experienced their first-ever MTA Color War as the Yellow Team with a theme of Achdus. The entire day was jam-packed with exciting activities, games, and competitions. From Shiur vs. Shiur Jeopardy to Sports Trivia, Minute To Win It, Toilet Paper Bowling, Free-Throw Contest, Biathlon, Torah Bowl, Chopped, and a Yeshiva-Wide Kahoot, every talmid had an opportunity to participate and contribute their unique skills to their team. Teams also worked together on creative challenges throughout the day, which included creating a Rube-Goldberg machine, an MTA/Color War-themed cross-

word puzzle, a cross-screen video consisting of nine different screens, and a comical play-by-play video voiceover. The day ended with final presentations from each team, which consisted of a musical presentation, poetry slam, art, and a d’var Torah.

“The tremendous sense of achdus among our entire yeshiva was incredible,” said Head of School Rabbi Joshua Kahn. “It was inspiring to watch our talmidim work together and create such innovative presentations even though they weren’t in the same physical space. Our Student

Activities Department, our faculty, and our talmidim not only adapted to the ‘new normal’ of a virtual Color War, but they really thrived and made this a truly memorable experience.”

Congratulations to the sophomores, who brought home the win!

partnering with local businesses to deliver the best programming and services for our campers as we all work to regain stability during this crisis. We will partner with a local caterer to deliver home lunch each day that camp is in session.

Less than one week since we began to advertise and promote Camp Zoomer through our camp website, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp groups, the response has been extremely positive. Registration is open and parents are already committing to Camp Zoomer’s wonderful summer experience. Below are some questions we’ve been asked:

safe, healthy, and happy this summer more than ever before and I believe that giving parents a viable alternative is key.

How much does Camp Zoomer cost?

Our full summer package including lunch is $1075.00 and not including lunch is $875.00. Please check out our website for additional information on pricing.

Camp Zoomer

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s there an alternative option this summer for camp?

As a professional school leader/educator and current camp administrator, I started thinking a lot about what my own four children will do this summer. As a result, I have decided to open a virtual Orthodox Jewish Day camp called “Camp Zoomer,” where campers will have a safe, fun, and social summer camp experience from home while also providing their parent’s peace of mind. Camp Zoomer will re-create the “normal” camp life experience through the Zoom platform this summer.

These activities will include, but are not limited to, chinuch, music, baking, dance, gymnastics, “Warren Levi” karate, robotics, virtual concerts, virtual escape the rooms, game shows, virtual guest speakers and appearances, gym classes, and virtual field trips. Campers will also receive camp t-shirts, trophies, and other amazing prizes. Campers will have scheduled breaks throughout the day to lessen the amount of screen time.

Additionally, I am committed to

Will “Camp Zoomer” still be operating this summer if camps end up being allowed to open?

I honestly daven that camps do open this summer. I do not want anyone to lose parnassah this summer, and I understand that children need to have a camp experience as well.

However, Camp Zoomer will operate regardless of what other camps decide, as we all just want our kids to be

Which gender and age campers will be offered the opportunity to attend Camp Zoomer?

Camp Zoomer will be catered to both boys and girls but in completely separate programs throughout the summer. Camp Zoomer caters to children ages 4 through 12 (or entering 8th grade).

What will the camp schedule look like?

Session one will be held from June 25- July 21 and session two will be held from July 22- August 19. Our daily schedule will take place from 9:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Do I have to pick up supplies every week?

The answer is no! We will deliver everything your child needs to your home!

Is the camp fee refundable?

Yes, if regular non-virtual camps are able to open prior to June 25 you will receive a full refund. After June 25, your refund will be prorated for each day your child attended Camp Zoomer.

Do you have a website and social media?

Our website is CampZoomer.com, and we are also on Facebook and Instagram.

We are davening that everyone is safe and healthy during this unprecedented time. If you have further questions or inquiries regarding Camp Zoomer, please email our director Moshe Spern at moshe@campzoomer.com. We look forward to a new and exciting virtual camp experience.

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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Music for Lag B’Omer

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his year, the usual Lag B’Omer festivities at YOSS continued as in the past!

Three rabbiem, Rabbi Shonek, Rabbi Drebin, and Rabbi Singer, joined together and produced a professional music video, featuring them playing hartzige music around a bonfire in honor of the Tanna, Rav Shimon Bar Yochai.

The event was emailed out to the entire student body and is still available to view free of charge at www. yossathome.org.

YCQ Dresses Up and Debates

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n Lag B’Omer, at Yeshiva of Central Queens, the elementary school and the JHS split into Red Aish and Blue Maayim teams and competed in the first-ever virtual color war. Grades 1-5 competed in scavenger hunts, Torah trivia jeopardy, a general studies quiz game, and a d’var Torah competition. In grades four and five, they also played name that tune and participated in a freethrow competition. Students dressed in their team colors and made banners and posters showing team spirit. The Lag B’Omer celebration continued with first grade students participating in a challenge to create their own version of bonfires for Lag B’Omer using items they could find around their homes.

During the remainder of the week, learning continued with the third graders presenting their biography reports. Students dressed in costumes and shared their research reports. The other students got to learn about people like Neil Armstrong, Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Michael Jordon, Julia Child, Amelia Earhart, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jane Goodall, to name a few. And the fourth grade boys, in 4-306, have been learning for their unit on immigrants each interviewed someone who immigrated to the US and wrote stories that were published into a book.

On Motza’ei Shabbat, the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) sponsored a magical event for the staff in

appreciation for all they do and have done to keep our students engaged in learning in their new, temporary, virtual learning environment, with an extreme magic event with Eric Wilzig, illusionist and magician, who has appeared on “America’s Got Talent” and has performed for audiences both nationally and internationally.

The YCQ Debate team completed

their season virtually in its’ first-ever zoom debate against HANC, HALB, HAFTR, Yeshiva of Flatbush, SAR, and Yavneh. The students debated the topic: Should the U.S. should ban vaping and smoking. The students had to face the challenge of arguing their viewpoint but also had to deal with restrictions of a zoom meeting without changing the rules of the debate.

YCQ rose to the challenge and won Third Place School. Debaters Benjamin Kochman, Eva Koffsky, Eitan Canter, Tani Lichtman, Joshua Aminov, Ilanit Kandhorov, Heidi Birnbaum and Esther Nazarov did an excellent job competing in this forum and after a year of hard work, the entire debate team finished with a successful year.

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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Around the Community

HALB Lev Chana Lag B’Omer Celebration

H

ALB Lev Chana celebrated Lag B’Omer with special drive-by visits by morot to their children’s homes and fun activities emphasizing outdoor play. Morot joined their children in Zoom pajama parties and read about Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai as everyone chomped on scrumptious melted smores that just hours before had been a bag of ingredients delivered by their morot. Our children created medurot (campfires) and ate barbeque chips as they learned and spoke about the special city of Meron. Some flew kites. Other children laughed and shouted as they, their parents, and morot ran outside looking for items on their scavenger hunts, while simultaneously watching their friends and morot on Zoom doing the same outside their homes. Children, blowing bubbles, watched their friends blowing

to see who could blow the biggest, the most, the smallest, all while connecting with friends and teachers outside on a beautiful sunny Lag B’Omer day.

What a wonderful way to celebrate Lag B’Omer!

Temima Polansky, a seventh grader at TAG, belongs to local Girl Scout troop 737 and recently donated cookies to doctors, nurses, medical personnel and first responders to thank them for all their help during the COVID crisis.

Celebrating Lag B’omer at TAG

Shaar Lev Continues

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he Hebrew Academy of Long Beach is continuing to run its Shaar Lev Program for local community children enrolled in local public schools because of their unique learning needs. Immediately after Pesach, the Shaar Lev team made the offer to parents to continue Shaar Lev on Zoom. Most of the parents were thrilled to continue their learning online, and the full complement of course offerings were arranged. Children are now enjoying parsha with Rabbi Eli Herzberg, dinim and halacha with Rabbi Dovid Libman, and 1:1 kriyah sessions with our kriyah team of Morah Batsheva Milworn, Morah Tamar Mosak, Morah Estee Halbertal, and Morah Michal Silverberg.

Shaar Lev parent Malka Akerman remarked recently, “We are

Did you know?

lucky to be a part of such a beautiful school community. The rebbeim and morot are organized, thoughtful and creative in their instruction and in meeting the needs of each child, even during distance learning. Thank you Shaar Lev!”

Presidents William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy are the only presidents buried at Arlington National Cemetery

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hat a Lag B’Omer we had in TAG! Hosted by our Rosh Chodesh and GO heads, Moros Rivlin, Schick, Slansky and Weissman, the ENTIRE school, preschool through eighth grade, was treated to a spectacular ZOOMbaly (Zoom assembly). Everyone raced to find the items from the scavenger hunt, from rainbows, to Band-Aids, calendars and more! The talmidos found items that were really creative and cute. They then posed in front of their TAG poster and TAG beach ball, decorated especially for the occasion.

There was such wonderful teamwork

within families as they helped each other collect items. Every entry will be awarded a special prize – a coupon for a slurpee! We will also be raffling off great prizes to the best entries, so listen out, it might be you!

We heard special messages from our principals and enjoyed the exciting intermissions. At the end, we debuted a beautiful song composed and recorded in honor of all our students learning in their virtual classrooms.

It was an amazing event, making us all wish for the day that we can come back to our real TAG – Iy”H may it be very soon!

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Zoom B’Omer at Shulamith

J

ust because we can’t physically be together, doesn’t mean we can’t still have lots of fun!

Lag B’Omer in Shulamith Middle Division was celebrated with flair.

We “assembled” on Zoom at 12:30, and the celebration began!

We were privileged to hear beautiful divrei Torah from Rebbetzin Yaffa Palti who is originally from Brooklyn and now lives in Miami.

A community activist, teacher, renowned lecturer, singer, and songwriter, Rebbetzin Palti’s warm words about ahava v’achva inspired each and every one of us.

Next on the agenda were two fabulous videos featuring superstars of Shulamith! In the days leading up to Lag B’Omer, students and faculty members filmed themselves engaged in a choice of athletic challenges.

Shooting hoops, “hula hooping,” doing planks, and jumping rope were

all featured in the first video we enjoyed during our Zoom B’Omer.

A second video allowed the school community to see the results of some creative challenges. We loved watching students and teachers at family bonfires, eating smores, and exhibiting bonfires they crafted from all sorts of materials found around their homes.

The celebration concluded with a Zumba session led by the inimitable Lauren Balsam.

In addition to the midday Lag B’Omer assembly, students enjoyed Lag B’Omer related activities all throughout the day, courtesy of their dedicated and inventive teachers.

From Lag B’Omer Bingo…to scavenger hunts…to activities based on the theme of friendship, students spent the day in joyous camaraderie and celebration!

Rabbi Moishe Fogel’s fourth grade of Yeshiva Ketana of Queens showcased their Mishkan projects on Zoom

HANC Graduation Drive-By

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s the end of the school year approaches, the administrators and teachers in HANC’s Samuel and Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School in West Hempstead wanted to find a special way to acknowledge the sixth grade students who will be graduating and moving on to Middle School next year. Since the end of the year trips and celebrations had to be cancelled, a new mode of celebration needed to be devised. Spearheaded by the HANC PTA, mazal tov signs were printed up to congratulate each sixth grade student. This past week, a group of sixth grade teachers, along with HANC’s Head of School-West

Hempstead Campuses, Rabbi Yaakov Sadigh, created a parade of cars and visited every graduating sixth grader’s home.

The parade began in West Hempstead and spread through Oceanside, Great Neck, Queens, Albertson and the Five Towns. Although the parents were notified beforehand, they did a great job of not revealing the surprise. When the parade arrived at each student’s door, the teachers got out of their cars, wearing masks and gloves, and one teacher approached the front door, placed the mazal tov sign on the front step, rang the doorbell and then went back to the sidewalk to wait for the graduate to open

the door.

“While the Zoom sessions and learning continues, we miss the face-to-face interaction with the children,” remarked Rabbi Sadigh. “We thought we would inspire them, but in fact, they inspired us.”

For the students, it was a complete surprise. As each one opened the door, they were completely shocked to see their teachers and principal standing on the sidewalk in front of their home, wishing them mazal tov in a personal way. Some were awestruck, some overcome with emotion, and they were so excited to see their teachers and principal that they didn’t want them to leave. It was

a very meaningful experience for the teachers as well.

In order for this parade to take place, HANC wishes to thank the PTA for printing the signs, as well as Rabbi Sadigh and the following teachers who drove for hours to deliver a moment of true joy and celebration to the graduates: Mr. Jonathan Eisenkraft, Mrs. Aimee Goldenberg, Mrs. MaryAnn Harold, Ms. Bracha Sarah Markowitz, Mrs. Wendy Pace, and Mrs. Chavy Stern. Special thanks to Mrs. Stern’s grandsons, Jeremy, Nate and Benji Weissman, who helped assemble the signs before they were delivered. HANC wishes a hearty mazal tov to all of the graduates.

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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Around the Community

Shavuos – The Source of Our True Joy

By Gabriel Geller Royal Wine/Kedem

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his article being about wines to drink in celebration of Shavuos, its title might sound a little confusing. The Shalosh Regalim, the three holidays of pilgrimage (Pesach, Shavuos, and Sukkos), are referred to as the Time of our Freedom for Pesach, the Time of our Gifting of the Torah for Shavuos, and the Time of our Joy for Sukkos. All three are certainly worthy of the utmost joy and celebration, but Shavuos should symbolize the source, the essence of the joy, we, the Jewish people, should feel and celebrate. Shavuos is the day on which we commemorate Matan Torah, the gift of Torah from Hashem with all that it entails, and therefore all the mitzvos and yamim tovim, including, of course, Pesach and Succos.

We use wine for almost every holiday in our calendar and religious ceremony, but every one of these holidays has its specificity. Shavuos is also the celebration of the bikkurim, the first fruits of the harvest. Typically, the first wines to be released to the market during springtime are rosé wines. Most of these wines are made to be refreshing, bursting with fruit, and meant to enjoy as close to release as possible, as they otherwise lose their initial freshness.

There are nowadays many kosher rosé wines available out there, baruch Hashem. I try every year to taste through most, if not all, of them. One that usually stands out, and this year even more so, is the Château Roubine. Château Roubine is not just a wine, it is one of only 18 wineries in the region of Côtes de Provence in the south of France to have the prestigious title of Cru Classé, Classed Growth in French.

This title was given to the wineries producing outstanding wines exclusively from their vineyards since the establishment of the classification in 1955. Château Roubine 2019 is a very classy looking bottle, the content of which being even classier – a very pale, delicate pink color that features aromas and flavors of citrus blossom, red berries, and stone

fruits with mouth-watering acidity.

It was quite warm this past Shabbos, and I immensely enjoyed drinking this wine well chilled while sitting on my lawn after kiddush.

I also very much recommend the other two wines produced by the owners of Château Roubine: Roubine La Vie en Rose, as well as Sainte-Béatrice Cuvée B, both also from the 2019 vintage, of course.

While not as complex as the Château Roubine, they deliver the same refreshing notes of summer fruits with balancing acidity.

The Rothschild family is possibly the most famous name in the Jewish community for the past twothree centuries, a lineage of successful business people who have been marking the world with their business acumen, their generosity, and their philanthropy, donating tremendous sums and resources to Jewish causes all over the world.

Baron Edmond de Rothschild was, in the 19th century, the owner of world-famous Château Lafite-Rothschild in Bordeaux, France. He decided to revive in Eretz Yisrael the wine culture and donated millions of francs as well as knowledge, equipment, rootstock, and technol-

ogy to build Carmel, which would eventually become one of Israel’s largest wineries.

More than 150 years later, Carmel is not only a tremendous commercial producer, it is also one of the country’s best wineries, producing quality wines from the entry-level Selected series through to its flagship wine, Carmel Limited Edition.

The Carmel Appellation Gewürztraminer 2018 is a delightful off-dry white wine to accompany a platter of fine cheeses on Shavuos. It is lively and delicious with notes of peach, apricot, and lychee, truly excellent value.

In 1986, more than 100 years after the establishment of Carmel, Baron de Rothschild’s grandson and great-grandson, Edmond and Benjamin took their ancestor’s legacy very seriously when they decided

to produce the first quality dry red kosher wine from Bordeaux at their famous Château Clarke. Barons Edmond-Benjamin de Rothschild Haut-Médoc 1986 set out new standards for kosher French wine, and we recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of this wine, with the recent release of the 2016 vintage, an exceptional year in Bordeaux. This is a wine that combines, depth, complexity, and power with panache and finesse;a wine that is certainly worthy of the yom tov table.

For many of us, Shavuos is not complete without some cheesecake.

The Herzog Late Harvest Chenin Blanc 2018 is one of the best wines to pair with that succulent dessert.

It is sweet but not cloyingly so, with a great balance of acidity to match its ripe and dried fruit flavors. Chag sameach, l’chaim!

Did you know?

Waterloo, New York, is the official “birthplace” of Memorial Day

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DRIVE-THRU LAG B’OMER

YESHIVA KETANA OF LONG ISLAND

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MAY 21, 2020 The Jewish HomeHome OCTOBER 29, |2015 | The Jewish

Op- d

The Fight to Get Back Our Constitutional Freedoms

By Mayor Ben Weinstock

M

ayor, how do we solve the Covid problem?

I can’t tell you how many times people have asked me this exact question or some variation of it. They are perplexed or amused when I don’t have an answer. People assume that I have “insider information.” I wish I did.

It’s true that as Mayor of Cedarhurst I have spoken with dozens of public officials, religious leaders, healthcare professionals, and the business community. I have asked all of them the same question. Their answers are as diverse as the world’s response to the crisis. There is no consensus of opinion. So, I started to search for the answer.

Asking me how to solve the problem is imprecise. Covid-19 is responsible for causing and exposing many problems. The pandemic is an unprecedented tragedy that has affected all of us emotionally, physically, and financially. Its problems are all-encompassing.

The health issue has appropriately taken center stage. Covid-19 is lethal. No age, ethnicity, race, or gender is exempt. It has killed more Americans than the Vietnam War in a much shorter time. Therefore, finding a cure and a vaccine are critical to restoring complete pre-Covid normalcy. You would think that this simple truth would be universally accepted. However, the battle lines

between the political right and left have found a way to mire even this scientific imperative in controversy and gamesmanship.

The shutdown in response to the pandemic is a watershed event in our history. Sheltering in place appears to have flattened the curve, but it came at a high price. We closed our businesses, disengaged from our social lives, and distanced from friends, family and community. We can’t attend family, social, business, or worship gatherings. Our immediate environment doesn’t change, and it is very discomforting to be confined. We cautiously leave our homes only when we have to. Parents working from home are desperately trying to homeschool their children on top of everything else.

Lifetimes of savings are depleting, and bankruptcies are increasing.

The anxiety over financial matters, one of the major causes of divorce, is on the rise. Too many people are dealing with depression and grief over illness and death. These challenges have dramatically increased the demand for financial assistance, mental health, and marriage counselling.

The economic shutdown, euphemistically called a “Pause,” is another example. At least for now, a super-majority of New Yorkers supported the Governor’s decree that resulted in this self-inflicted, and potentially life-threatening, wound

to the economy. The split of opinion over reopening the State is very different and intense. The opinions range from not opening until we are 100% sure that no one else will be infected, to the other extreme of opening immediately without worrying whether the disease will spread. I subscribe to a more moderate view – one that balances the risk of reinfection from opening, against our economic collapse if we don’t.

The difficulty lies is finding the tipping point. This uneasy balance is so conflicting that I find myself rethinking it often.

As Mayor of Cedarhurst, I have been urging our elected county and state leaders to allow our downtown shopkeepers to open their stores with reasonable guidelines to maximize public safety. Anyone who wants to follow a more sheltered protocol is free to do that. No one will be forced to open. On the other hand, I recognize that not everyone has the option to shelter at home. Inevitably some businessowners and employees will choose to endanger their lives (and selfishly, the lives of others) because they believe they have no viable alternative.

I cannot recall ever facing a similar life and death decision individually or as a nation. That is not hyperbole. It is a real dilemma challenging our elected leaders who will choose when and how they will reopen New York. Postponing this

decision is not acceptable. It is, in reality, choosing not to restart the economy while simultaneously hiding from the consequences of that choice. Under the circumstances, procrastination is a desertion of leadership and responsibility.

So I am back to the original question. Mayor, how do we solve the Covid problem? My answer is that we have a two-prong attack. We deal with the health crisis first and foremost. Our nation and our state have devoted enormous resources and attention to that end, and the spread of the infection is subsiding.

We have to thank our brave health care providers whose self-sacrifice has helped get us to this point. We owe them the duty to act responsibly in making any decisions and not squander their hard-fought gains.

To every observer, it appears that we have flattened the curve. That is good. The urgency that precipitated the shutdown is trending down, and we are at the crossroads. Ideally, we should wait for the discovery of a cure and vaccine before we reopen, but we can’t. The medical experts agree that a cure and vaccine are not imminent. Instead, the metrics prescribed by the medical community indicate that the time to carefully reopen has come. I acknowledge that reopening is fraught with uncertainty, but continuing the shutdown is guaranteed to bring economic ruin.

We must reopen and simultaneously

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

leave a cautious hand on the throttle to adjust the speed if the epidemiological data changes. We must proceed in collaboration with the medical professionals to minimize the risks involved.

The Governor’s current plan is to reopen Nassau and Suffolk, which are contiguous with Brooklyn and Queens, as a single region. Together, they house 7 million people who comprise one-third of the population of New York State. The threshold for that to happen without any health consequences is very high. Waiting for the perfect moment to reopen is a ticking financial timebomb. There is a better, smarter way to reopen Long Island.

Opening as safely as possible means that the small local businesses in our downtowns should lead.

Essential businesses such as Target and Costco never shut down. They stayed open because they sell food and pharmacy items, in addition to everything else in the store. There is no reason to believe that buying a shirt in Target or Costco in the presence of hundreds of other shoppers is any safer than buying a shirt on Central Avenue with only 1 or 2 customers in the store. The transaction in a small store is faster, and the exposure to other customers is shorter.

Furthermore, it is easier to enforce safety protocols by customers in a local store than with the throng of shoppers inside a big box store. Social distancing, gloves, masks, and sanitizer are just as effective in a local store as they are in Walmart or Home Depot. I believe that our business community is responsible and will obey the guidelines for reopening, especially if they know that violations will be costly and enforced.

To be very clear, I am not advocating that we lift all controls and charge ahead at full speed. That is obviously dangerous and irresponsible. Rather, I am asking for parity on behalf of our small businessowners. If the big boxes are open and selling more than essential food and pharmacy items, our small businesses should have the same opportunity.

That is why I recently offered Cedarhurst to be the first village “test bed” to evaluate the gradual opening process. This method of opening

would be easier to control and observe. Importantly, it could be shut down quickly if the numbers surge.

I have not heard whether the State will adopt this suggestion.

elected public officials must be reminded that they are not sovereigns and that they derive their just power from the governed. Please remind them that they work for us.

There is no reason to believe that buying a shirt in Target or Costco in the presence of hundreds of other shoppers is any safer than buying a shirt on Central Avenue with only 1 or 2 customers in the store

I believe that words have meaning beyond their simple definition.

They convey a persuasive subtlety and nuance. The word “Pause” suggests that the shutdown is short-lived and brief; that it will pass almost unnoticed. That word is not being used anymore. Today our government officials are talking about “reopening” the economy. That implies that we only need to unlock the door and everything will come rushing right back to where it was. No one seriously believes that. At best, our small businesses will need to work very hard to rebuild what they have lost, if they can survive at all. Many of the local stores are on life support, and the next step is death or reincarnation. The awful truth is that if our downtowns remains shuttered much longer, there may not be anything to reopen.

Memorial Day will be observed on Monday, May 25. In almost every speech at Memorial Day services, we hear how our heroic soldiers fought and died to preserve our unique freedoms as Americans.

The value of our Constitution and its guarantees of our freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to peaceful protest have never been more self-evident or appreciated. Living under autocratic executive orders, replete with their arbitrary declaration of what is “essential” and what must be shut, is a taste of socialism that I find very unappealing and un-American. Our

For the last 10 weeks, the Village trustees and I, together with the senior staff and department heads of the Village, have worked continuously to serve our community, maintain Village services, and strive for the protection and betterment of

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our residents and merchants. Every morning begins with a very long phone conference among all of us.

We discuss the day’s plans, check on progress of prior action items, and struggle to find the most cost-efficient and effective ways to deliver services and innovate for the benefit of Cedarhurst. Many more hours are devoted over the rest of the day implementing the plans we discussed.

For the last several weeks, at least, the overwhelming amount of our time together and apart has focused on restarting our downtown.

Your input and suggestions are always welcome because we work for you. Visit our website at www. cedarhurst.gov for updates, information and to submit ideas and comments. Also kindly join us for our Memorial Day program on Zoom.

The details are on our website.

Ben Weinstock is the Mayor of the Village of Cedarhurst.

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TJH

Centerfold

Think You Can Be a Navy SEAL? (This riddle is from a book written by retired Navy SEAL Clint Emerson, titled, “Deadly Skills Puzzle and Activity Book” to help people practice their observation and analytical skills) Complete the grid. Every tree has one tent either above, below, or beside it. No tent can be in a square touching another tent (even diagonally). The numbers beside each row and column tell you how many tents are in that row or column. Can you fill in all the tents?

Answer:

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You gotta be kidding Twins, Jimbo and Bob, come across a U.S. Air Force recruitment table at a local Memorial Day Parade. The recruiter looks at Jimbo and says, “What skills can you bring to the Air Force?”

Jimbo looks at him and says: “I’m a pilot!”

The recruiter gets all excited, turns to his aide and says: “Let’s get him the paperwork so he can start training ASAP.”

The recruiter then looks at Bob and asks: “What skills to you bring to the Air Force?”

Bob says: “I chop wood!”

“Son,” the recruiter replies, “we don’t need wood choppers in the Air Force. What do you know how to do?”

“I chop wood!”

“Young man,” huffs the recruiter, “you are not listening to me. We don’t need woodchoppers – this is the 21th century!”

“Well,” Bob says, “you hired my brother!”

“Of course, we did,” says the general. “He’s a pilot!”

Bob rolls his eyes. “So what?! I have to chop it before he can pile it!”

Vietnam War World War II Revolutionary War War in Afghanistan Dwight D. Eisenhower George S. Patton Matthew B. Ridgway Douglas Macarthur World War II Vietnam War Civil War World War I Major General William F. Dean Lt. General Levon D. Smeth Lt. General Jean McArthur Sergeant John McCain Peace, Progress, Prosperity Secure Our Homeland First Don’t Swap Horses Midstream He Kept Us Out of War France Japan Italy Poland Mexico Spain France Britain It was Thomas Jefferson’s farm It was an army base It was Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s plantation It was a hunting grounds

0-2 correct: You dodged the intelligence draft.

3-5 correct: You are wishy washy. You probably think the Cold War has something to do with a beer commercial.

6-8 correct: You are a war buff!

 Wisdom Key 1. C- In 1964, as the Civil War raged and thousands of soldiers were dying, the Union government needed a cemetery to bury its dead. The Union occupied Arlington and the Arlington Estate of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was the most suitable property in the area. The property was high and free from floods, it had a view of the District of Columbia, and it was aesthetically pleasing. Denying Robert E. Lee use of his home after the war was also a valuable political consideration.

2. D- The War of 1812 is often considered to be the “forgotten war.” Some facts that were not forgotten: The White House and Capitol were burned to the ground during the invasion of Washington, D.C.; First Lady Dolley Madison garnered fame for saving a portrait of George Washington before flames engulfed the president’s home; and in 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner” while watching the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor.

3. A 4. D 5. A- On July 20, 1950, Major General Dean became separated from his men during battle. He hid alone in the woods around the countryside during the day and traveled at night for over a month. On August 25, 1950, after a hand-to-hand struggle with fifteen North Koreans, he was captured. General Dean had no contact with the outside world until he was interviewed on December 18, 1951 by an Australian, Wilfred Burchett, who was a correspondent for Le Soir, a French left-wing newspaper. This was the first time that anyone had any idea General Dean was alive since being reported missing in action. He was released in 1953 and showered with military and civilian honors. General Dean, however, insisted he was no hero but “just a dogface soldier.”

6. C- 625,000 soldiers died in the Civil War, amounting to 1.988% of the total population of 32,000,000 American citizens. The second deadliest war was World War II, in which we lost 405,399 soldiers, amounting to .307% of the total population.

7. A- Plans were delayed for a couple days because of bad weather, until Gen. Eisenhower finally gave the order.

8. D

a. b. c. d.

8. Which of the following was the U.S.’s longest war? a. b. c. d.

7. In World War II, who was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces who directed the D-Day invasion and announced its start by saying, “OK, we’ll go”? a. b. c. d.

6. In which war did the U.S. suffer the most deaths? a. b. c. d.

5. Which U.S. soldier was the highest-ranking officer captured by North Korean troops? a. b. c. d.

4. What was Woodrow Wilson’s campaign slogan when he ran for re-election in 1916? a. b. c. d.

3. On June 6, 1944, American troops invaded the beaches of Normandy during World War II. What country is Normandy in? a. b. c. d.

2. Who did the U.S. fight in the War of 1812? a. b. c. d.

1. What was the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery before it became a cemetery?

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

The Life and Times of Mrs. Suri Klein, A”H

By Yoni Gottlieb

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n Tuesday, April 28, 2020/4 Iyar 5780 (Yom HaZikaron) the Jewish community lost another of the ever-dwindling number of remaining Holocaust survivors when Mrs. Suri Klein, a”h, of Far Rockaway was niftar in her ninety-third year. A private levaya was held in New York, and she was buried the next day, Wednesday, April 29, 2020 / 5 Iyar 5780 (Yom Ha’atzmaut) in Israel on Har HaZeisim, next to her husband of 57 years, Mr. Yidel Klein, a”h. Mrs. Klein was the last personal and direct link to one-thousand years of Jewish life in Europe for her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, as her husband and machatonim had all predeceased her.

Mrs. Klein was born in the village of Polgar, Hungary (which is about halfway between Miskolc and Nyíregyháza, in the country’s northeast), on August 16, 1927 to Mordechai HaLevi and Laya Klein, Hy”d, the third of the couple’s six children. On her father’s side, she was a member of the third generation to live in Polgar. Her father’s family had a dry goods store, and her father originally went into the family business, but due to his inherent trustworthiness of every person who asked him to purchase goods on credit, he did not find success in that endeavor. However, Mrs. Klein’s father had a beautiful voice and was also a shochet, and he subsequently gained employment as a chazzan and shochet in three different Hungarian Jewish communities between 1929 and 1944, those being Hajdúszoboszló (near Debrecen), Békéscsaba, and Mandok (near Kisvarda). Mrs. Klein’s mother was a homemaker and a loving and caring wife and parent. She also supervised the mikvah in Békéscsaba when the family lived there.

In mid-April 1944, Mrs. Klein and

her family were transported from Mandok to the Kisvarda ghetto, and at the end of May 1944 they were taken to Auschwitz, at which they arrived on June 3, 1944. Mrs. Klein was the only one of her immediate family to survive the War, as her parents and five siblings were all murdered by the Nazis. Mrs. Klein survived both the Auschwitz death camp, where she spent over three months, and the subsequent work camp to which she was taken, Ober-Hohenelbe (a subcamp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp), at which she spent an additional eight months. Upon liberation, Mrs. Klein eventually made her way to the regional city of Sátoraljaújhely, Hungary (which is located in the extreme north of the country; as a result of the Treaty of Trianon entered into after World War I, half of the town was located in Hungary and half became part of Czechoslovakia), which was the ancestral town of another branch of the Klein family and to where her surviving cousins from that branch of the family returned after the War. While living in Sátoraljaújhely, she was set up with and married her cousin Yidel, a”h, on April 7, 1946. The couple and the remnants of their family then moved to Paris, France, later that year.

Mr. and Mrs. Klein lived in Paris until early 1948 when they were able to obtain papers to immigrate to America. After an arduous two-week sea voyage, they arrived in New York on February 6, 1948 and settled in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where they would live for the next six years.

In the summer of 1954, Suri and Yidel moved to Far Rockaway following two other sets of cousins who had moved there previously, Louis and Rachel Newman, a”h, and Moshe and Esther Isaac, a”h, amongst others. Although they came to America penniless,

Mr. and Mrs. Klein became involved with community endeavors almost immediately upon moving to Far Rockaway, as they wanted to help establish an infrastructure of Torah values for their children and the community. They were one of the founders of the Yeshiva of South Shore and Torah Academy for Girls and were major benefactors of Yeshiva Darchei Torah and the Sulitzer Rebbe’s shul.

Mrs. Klein is survived yb”lch by two sons and daughters-in-law, Motty and Malka Klein of Lawrence and Duddy and Faigie Klein of Flatbush, and by two daughters and sons-in-law, Linda and Eli Gottlieb of Lawrence and Perri and Eli Cheshin of Far Rockaway, as well as by many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all of which continue to proudly carry on her legacy. (It should be noted that even before Mrs. Klein was buried, her family was able to perform additional mitzvos in her memory when the plane that they chartered to take her to Israel also carried two additional meisim and the return flight took an Israeli couple and their baby to Boston so that emergency surgery performed on the infant).

Upon her passing, Mrs. Klein’s daughter, Perri, whom together with her husband Eli were her primary caregivers for the past thirteen years, received the following note from Mrs. Klein’s cardiologist: “It is with sadness that we heard about the passing of your mother… Your Mom from a generation of giants… Especially difficult during times like this…It has been an extraordinary privilege and pleasure to care for her over the last decades… I will always remember her wonderful smile coming into the office. Even when she was not feeling well, she would ask, “How are you? Your family?”

Another note received by her son

Motty after her petirah from a longtime acquaintance at Yeshiva Darchei Torah stated the following: “So sad to hear about your mother. She was an aristocratic lady who had a smile for everyone. My best memory of her was when Reb Yidel and she were honored at a Darchei dinner and we asked for a photograph for advertisements. She was the first, years ago, who emphatically told me: I will give you a picture of my husband, but my picture will not appear anywhere. She was the ultimate ezer k’negdo who helped build this community to what it is today. She had a beautiful family; she was so proud.”

Suri Klein left the ashes of Europe after her entire immediate family was wiped out, having had to live for the better part of a year not knowing if she would live to see another day, suffering day-in and day-out under the rule of the barbaric Nazi beasts. Had she and her husband Yidel simply emerged from their wartime experiences by being able to move on from the past to live full and productive lives, that would have been something. Had she and Yidel also additionally been able to successfully raise a family and imbue them with Torah values, that would have been truly remarkable. However, the fact that they not only did all of those things but also had a hand in establishing and supporting many of the Torah institutions which have allowed the Far Rockaway-Five Towns Jewish community to flourish and become what it is today is simply amazing.

May her memory be a blessing.

For more about the Klein family, read The Scent of Snowflowers (1989) and Morning Has Come (2020), both by R.L. Klein and published by Feldheim Publishers.

The author is a grandson of Mrs. Klein, a”h.

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Torah Thought

Parshas Bamidbar

By Rabbi Berel Wein

T

his section of the Torah is entitled Bamidbar, in the desert.

It is hard for us to imagine – though it may be less hard in our current situation than it was before we were put into quarantine – how the Jewish people lived in the desert for four decades. Since they had no gainful occupations and they had no struggle to feed themselves for the miraculous bread from heaven fell and the well of Miriam and of Moshe provided them with water and sustenance, what did they do with their time?

The apparent answer is that they absorbed themselves in understanding, studying, and assessing the laws and values of the Torah. In any event, they had to raise a new generation of people, a generation that would pursue the goal of entering the land of Israel and settling it and creating a more normal, so to speak, Jewish society.

Our rabbis have characterized the generation of the desert as being one of great intelligence, knowledge, and understanding. Yet it was a generation of seemingly no purpose because it was doomed to die in the desert and not accomplish the goal that was entrusted to it when it left Egypt. It was told that it would accept the Torah and then march into the land of Israel. Moshe was successful in having them accept the Torah, but he was unsuccessful in attempting to have them move to the land of Israel. In fact, an element of the people would say that not only would they not go forward to the land of Israel, but they would be willing to retreat and go backwards into the land of Egypt, the land of affliction and of plagues.

It is hard for us to imagine such a generation, with its sole task only to

mark time until it passed away and made room for the next generation, which would perforce enter the land of Israel and build there a society.

The desert had, however, positive aspects to it as well. The Talmud

purpose in the life of that person.

The generation of the desert represents to us a two-faced and double-edged society. On the one hand negative because of its refusal to progress towards its ultimate goal,

If one can relieve oneself of desires and of outside pressures and live as though one is in a desert, then the Torah can find a real home and purpose in the life of that person.

teaches us that the Torah was given to a generation that could live in the desert. If one can relieve oneself of desires and of outside pressures and live as though one is in a desert, then the Torah can find a real home and

the land of Israel, and, on the other, a society of blessedness, free from daily wants and pressures with the ability to intellectualize Torah into its very being.

In Jew ish t rad it ion, t he

generation of the desert is always represented not so much as a transitional generation but as a wasted generation. One who has opportunity and ability and does not employ that ability to fulfill the opportunity presented, is seen, in the eyes of the Torah, as wasting one’s existence. And the Torah has a prohibition against wasting anything –certainly time and opportunities.

Because of this, we are always troubled when reading these portions of the Torah that will follow for the next few weeks and this section of the Torah which bears the name of the desert as its title. We are struck with a feeling of pity and sadness that the generation that had the possibility of being the greatest ended up being a wasted generation, dying in the desert, having no home, and little or no opportunity, after its great start when freed from Egypt.

Every generation must be on the watch – that it should not be a generation of the desert. We can learn to take advantage of situations which allow us to study and to employ intellectual realism, but we have to also beware that a generation of the desert that does not build for the future and does not take hold of its opportunities will not be remembered as a positive and great generation amongst the story of the people of Israel.

We are faced with great challenges, but with great opportunities. And our generation certainly will not be remembered as a generation of the desert, but rather as a generation of Jews who helped build the land of Israel and who have rebuilt the Jewish world, wherever Jews exist.

Shabbat shalom.

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From the Fire

Parshas Bamidbar Each According to His Camp and Banner

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

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e know from the seforim hakedoshim that the Shabbos before Shavuos is considered the aufruf before the wedding between Hashem and the Jewish people on Sinai.

The Torah says about the Jewish people’s encampment in the desert, (Bamidbar 1:52) “And the Jewish people camped each according to his camp and each according to his banner according to their legions.” The Medrash (Bamidbar Rabah 2:4) explains, “The Jewish people are holy and great in their camps and all the nations of the world would gaze at them in wonderment and say (Shir Hashirim 6:10,) ‘Who is this that is like the brightening dawn, beautiful as the moon, brilliant as the sun, awesome as the bannered hosts!’”

The Medrash is saying that the nations of the world were awed and inspired by our encampments. Continuing its explanation of the pasuk in Shir Hashirim, the Medrash continues that the nations said, “‘Return, return to rulership,’ cling to us, come to us and we will make you rulers... And the Jewish people answer, ‘What can we see in your rulership?’ What greatness can you possibly offer us that compares to the encampments [in the desert]?!”

According to the Medrash, we exult in the encampments around the sanctuary in the desert and the nations of the world are impressed, jealous, and amazed that we have such amazing bannered encampments.

What is so special about the way the Shevatim, the tribes, were encamped around the Mishkan?

According to the seforim hakedoshim, every person descends into

the world with a unique mission which he must fulfill. The Medrash (Bamidbar Rabah 16;1) says, “There is nothing as precious to Hashem as an agent who is sent to do a mitzvah and gives his soul in order to be successful in his mission.” According to the Darchei Noam of Slonim, “nosein nafsho, who gives his soul,” refers to an agent who invests all of his talents and energy into fulfilling his mission, giving no thought to himself. This should not be confused with mesiras nefesh, giving up one’s soul by dying to sanctify G-d name. Rather, nosein nafsho, who gives his soul, means that the person is one who invests and gives over all of the powers of his soul to the task at hand. According to the Darchai Noam, only one who totally gives himself over to his mission will be “successful in his mission.” This is because one who approaches his task singlemindedly will not be distracted by all of the world’s temptations. This is so because since his mind is totally focused on the principal, the one who sent him on his mission, so he is invested with all of that person’s powers (as the Gemara in, inter alia, Pesachim 41b says, “One’s agent is like he himself”).

Every community and congregation of Jews has its own unique purpose and way in serving Hashem.

Similarly, each individual Jew has a unique path that he must follow in order to achieve his purpose in life. The root of the souls of that community or individual determine that group’s or that individual’s shelichus, mission in life. As long as an individual or community has not found their calling, their unique mission in Hashem’s service, the pasuk in Tehillim 107:4 (which chassidim read every erev

Shabbos) describes them as “lost in a desert, in a desolate path, having found no city to call home.”

That is why each of the twelve Shevatim camped separately around Hashem’s dwelling place, the Mishkan. Each of the twelve tribes correspond to one of the twelve permutations of the four-letter name of G-d.

And the four groups of three tribes each on the four sides of the Mishkan each correspond to the four forms on the heavenly chariot and the four rows of three stones on the Choshen worn by the Kohein Gadol during his service in the Beis Hamikdash.

Each tribe’s unique path in their service Hashem is rooted in their souls’ origins in the higher worlds, and each separate tribe is a necessary part of the diverse array of missions Hashem requires accomplished in this physical world. Because each group gave itself over completely to its unique mission, each one was blessed with Divine power and success because they were “agents who are sent to do a mitzvah and gives their souls in order to be successful in their mission.”

When one person or group is working to fulfill its or his own unique role

in Hashem’s plan, he does not begrudge anyone else their own, possibly very different, path. As the pasuk in Yeshaya 11:13 says, “Efraim will not be jealous of Yehuda and Yehuda will not oppose Efraim.” When people are secure and working hard to fulfill their own special path in the service of Hashem they do not look down on or oppose others with a different path.

As the Medrash says, there is nothing more precious to Hashem than this.

Not ironically, it is only when all segments of the Jewish people are working to fulfill their own separate paths properly that they are described as (Devarim 33:5), “together, the tribes of Israel.” Then, they are shaleim, whole, which is related to the word “Shulamis,” as the Medrash praising the separate tribe-based encampments of the Jewish people said about them when it said, “Return, return oh Shulamis (whole one).”

This unity within, when each shevet followed its own unique path in the service of Hashem, is the beauty of “each according to his camp and each according to his banner...” This is also like the angels, about whom we say in the siddur, “they are all beloved.” Why? Because they are clear

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about their individual missions. Because they are secure and clear about their own purpose in life, they do not begrudge others having a different path. “With love, they give permission to one another to serve Hashem in their own way.” They are happy for each other because all of their individual missions in life are for the unified purpose “to sanctify their Creator.”

Today, while we no longer have flags and we do not divide ourselves by shevet, we still have our various camps within the Jewish community, whether it is all of the different types of Sefardim, the wide variety of Chassidim, all of the approaches to learning or mussar within the Lithuanian yeshiva communities, Modern Orthodox, and the different streams of Tziyonim. Each one has their own complaints against the other groups for not recognizing the truth of their mesorah, their tradition. Why do so many of us begrudge others a path in service of Hashem that is different from our own? Because we are “lost in a desert, in a desolate path, having found no city to call home.” Because we haven’t truly given ourselves over to our own path in service of Hashem;

because we haven’t truly made a home in our own path, we feel insecure about ourselves and have to put down others’ paths to drown out our feelings of guilt for not being truly committed to our own.

The seforim offer various ways to discern one’s proper path in the ser-

it has a very great reward according to his labor, each person according to his camp and each one according to his banner.” That is the one day that, by keeping it properly, we can connect to our proper banner and our proper camp.

We see another hint to this in the

They are happy for each other because all of their individual missions in life are for the unified purpose

vice of Hashem, but the first thing one must understand is that there is a day in the week where we no longer have to wander along desolate paths without a place to call home. That day is Shabbos. As we say in the zemer, “Kol mekadesh sheve’i, Anyone who Sanctifies the Seventh Day” and “Anyone who sanctifies the seventh day as is appropriate for it, anyone who observes Shabbos appropriately not to desecrate

first line of the zemer as well. If the first line “Kol mekadesh sheve’I ka’raoi lo” really meant “anyone who sanctifies Shabbos as is appropriate for it,” it should have said “ka’raoi lah,” using the feminine pronoun since the word “Shabbos” is feminine. Therefore, it could be the word, “lo,” modifies the person keeping Shabbos, and not Shabbos itself. The first line would then be translated “Anyone who sanc-

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tifies Shabbos in the way that is appropriate for him”!

Shabbos is our day to contemplate why we came down into this world, what we are doing wandering around on earth, and what we hope to take with us into the next world. According to the Zohar Hakadosh, a spirit of Divine inspiration descends into the world on Shabbos. With that extra measure of vision and understanding, with the additional soul on Shabbos, a person is better able to contemplate the nature of his unique path to which he can give over his soul single-mindedly.

And at this time on Shabbos, entering into the holiness of Shavuos, may we merit to receive the Torah on the level of “k’ish echad b’lev echad,” “like one man with one heart,” unified but simultaneously, “each person according to his camp and each one according to his banner,” true to his own unique mission in life.

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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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Think, Feel, Grow

Sefiras Ha’Omer Achieving the Impossible

By Shmuel Reichman

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hildren are dreamers; they live in a world of fantasy, where anything is possible. Just ask a group of children what they want to be when they grow up, and you’ll get some of the most fantastic, unrealistic responses imaginable. “I’m going to be an astronaut fireman, so that I can save people on the moon,” or “I’m going to become a great tzaddik and learn how to speak every language so that I can teach Torah to everyone.”

Children live within the infinite, the realm of endless possibility.

However, as they grow up, they begin to experience the struggle of reality, where their notions of the infinite start being challenged. Imagine a young adult lying on a grassy field, gazing into the nighttime sky. As he stares up into the stars, he thinks to himself, “Look at how enormous the universe is. The sky just expands endlessly...

It must go on forever.” After sitting with that thought for a few moments, he becomes uncomfortable. “How can anything go on forever? Everything must stop eventually.” But after a few moments of ease, his thoughts intrude again. “But how can the universe stop? What exists on the other side, when the universe ends? It has to go on forever...” And this inner conversation continues, as he struggles to contemplate the infinite within his finite mind.

This child’s struggle is not a childish one; it is a challenge that confronts any finite being who tries to connect to the infinite. We are all faced with the question: how do we, as physical beings, transcend our finite dimensions?

How do we relate to the abstract, to the infinite, to the spiritual? Let us approach this question through the lens of Sefiras Ha’Omer, the counting of the Omer.

Building; Not Counting We are commanded to count the days between Pesach and Shavuos, a period known as Sefiras Ha’Omer. At first glance, this can be understood on a very simple level: as we head towards Matan Torah, eagerly anticipating our acceptance of the Torah, we excitedly count down to our expected destination. This can be compared to a countdown towards one’s wedding, or a vacation, or some other exciting event.

However, there is a feature of the Sefiras Ha’Omer count that is markedly different – rather than counting down towards the destination, Shavuos, we count up from the starting point, Pe-

sach. We don’t mark how many days we have left until Shavuos; we count how many days have elapsed since Pesach.

What is the meaning behind this strange method of counting? And, more generally, what is the purpose of counting in the first place? By no other chagim (holidays) do we count from one to the next; we don’t count the days between Sukkos and Chanukah.

Why then do we specifically count the days between Pesach and Shavuos?

In truth, we are not counting down to Matan Torah, we are building towards it, ascending one day at a time. We do not wait for Shavuos to arrive; we actively bring it ourselves, through the time and effort we invest as we count the Omer. If Shavuos and Matan Torah is a skyscraper, each day of the Omer is a brick. Each day we place the next brick in our build-

ing; each day we build ourselves one step further. The extensive halachic emphasis on counting each and every day of the Omer highlights the fact that every single brick is essential, every single day is fundamental. If, when building a staircase, you miss one step, you can’t lay down the next step up.

Each step requires a foundation to rest on. The same is true of counting the Omer. Each day builds upon the previous ones, ascending towards our ultimate destination.

Matan Torah does not come after the passing of 49 days, it comes because of them, built by our effort and investment during Sefiras Ha’Omer.

This is why we count up. We are not counting down to Matan Torah, we are building up towards it, one day at a time.

This understanding of Sefiras Ha’Omer sheds light on the Ramban’s enigmatic approach to the counting of the Omer. He maintains that women are obligated to count the Omer because it is not a mitzvas aseh she’hazman gramah, a time-bound mitzvah. How are we to understand this? Sefiras Ha’Omer, the counting of each specific day between Pesach and Shavuos, seems like the epitome of a time-bound mitzvah!

However, a deeper understanding of Sefiras Ha’Omer clarifies the Ramban’s opinion. In general, a timebound mitzvah is an opportunity to tap into a certain power of time that exists at that moment. On Pesach, when we eat matzah, we tap into the power of freedom, a pre-existing reality. This same principle applies to

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all time-bound mitzvos. For Sefiras Ha’Omer, however, we are not tapping into a pre-existing time, we are creating time. When we count the Omer, we do not tap into the reality of the Omer, we create it. Time is not creating the Omer, we are. This is there is no specific date mentioned for Shavuos in the Torah. Shavuos, and Matan Torah, is not tied to a specific day (the sixth of Sivan), but is the result of the 49 days that we count. The fiftieth day, the day of Shavuos and Matan Torah, emerges from the 49 days of counting.

We bring it into existence. This is why the holiday of Shavuos literally means “weeks”1 – the seven weeks that we count creates this chag.

different from the first. It is the same perfection, the same clarity, but this time it’s a perfection and clarity that you have earned. The first time it was given to you; now you have worked to build it for yourself.

The first night of Pesach was a gift, an experience of infinite transcendence. This night was characterized by makkas bechoros, a plague which

this point that we must start the work of truly earning it.

Connecting to the Infinite Just like the little boy in the introduction, we all struggle to connect with the infinite, to see the spiritual within the physical, to find genuine meaning and purpose in an often turbulent and chaotic world. It can feel

Each day builds upon the previous ones, ascending towards our ultimate destination.

A Lesson Earned After developing a general understanding of Sefiras Ha’Omer, let us focus on a few specifics of the count itself. The 49 days of Sefiras Ha’Omer parallels the 49-day process that the Jewish People went through upon leaving Egypt, before receiving the Torah. What is the meaning behind this process, and why is it specifically 49 days long?

On this same topic of numbers, there are two additional questions: while we usually take for granted that there are 49 days in the Omer, the Torah explicitly commands us, “Tisperu chamishim yom”— you shall count fifty days (Vayikra 23:16). Why then do we only count 49 days, omitting the fiftieth day completely? This seems to be in direct contradiction to the Torah’s command. Additionally, we seem to skip the first day of the counting, only beginning the count on the second day of Pesach, when the Omer offering itself was brought on the first day of Pesach. What is the meaning behind this?

The Arizal, Ramchal, Vilna Gaon, and many other Jewish thinkers explain the deep meaning behind the 49-day process of sefirah as follows.

Every process contains three stages.

The first stage is the high, a spark of inspiration, an experience of perfection and clarity. However, this first stage is fleeting and is immediately followed by a dramatic fall – a complete loss of everything experienced in the first stage. The second stage is a process of rebuilding what was first experienced, working and building towards perfection. There is then a third stage – a return to the original perfection of the first stage. However, this third stage is fundamentally

Hashem Himself performed, Yetziyas Mitzrayim, and the mitzvos of korban Pesach and bris milah, mitzvos which connected the Jewish people to a higher dimension of existence. However, what followed was a complete fall from this exalted level of transcendence.

The Jewish People faced 49 days in the desert, a place of spiritual emptiness. It was during these 49 days of counting, of building, that the Jewish people were able to rebuild and earn that initial transcendent gift. What resulted from those 49 days of building was Shavuos, Matan Torah, an experience of transcendence, of infinity, of the World to Come.

This is why the Korban Omer is a sacrifice of barley, a food described by the Sages as animal fodder. The Shavuos sacrifice is shtei ha’lechem, a sacrifice of bread, a food characterized by the Sages as human food. Prior to the process of Sefiras Ha’Omer, we are on a low spiritual level, the level of animals. After spending the 49 days of the Omer counting and building ourselves, we rise to the transcendent spiritual level of tzelem Elokim, worthy of experiencing Matan Torah. Perhaps this is why there were two loaves of bread: one representing the original gift on the first night of Pesach, and the second representing that which we earned after 49 days of building.

We don’t count the first night of Pesach because this night is a gift of fleeting inspiration, something intangible and unearned2. The counting of Sefiras Ha’Omer is a process of building, and the building process only begins on the second day of Pesach, once the gift has been taken away; it is at

overbearing to build a skyscraper; the task is quite daunting. However, the key is to have the ultimate goal in the back of our minds while we focus on each individual day, trying our best to place each individual brick perfectly.

Each day of the Omer is a new brick – a new part of our journey towards Matan Torah, towards the infinite, to-

wards marrying Hashem. May we be inspired to create something magical as we build towards Matan Torah, one day at a time.

1. Shavuos also shares the same root as the word shevah, seven, reflecting the seven weeks that creates the chag of Shavuos.

2. One can only count that which is physical and tangible, that which has borders and boundaries, that which can be “pointed to.” The days which transcend the physical, such as the first day of Pesach (and fiftieth day of the Omer), cannot be counted, because they reside in the realm of the infinite, a place beyond number, beyond boundaries and limitation. These are days of oneness, days which are not themselves counted, the days which are counted from (and towards).

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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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

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My Israel Home

The Future of Israel Real Estate

By Gedaliah Borvick

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OVID-19 has afflicted the entire world, leaving death, pain, financial suffering, fear and dread in its wake. One silver lining is that the pandemic has provided us an opportunity for introspection, to re-examine our lives and re-evaluate our priorities. A number of friends have shared these sentiments with us and, contemplating change, asked how the coronavirus crisis will affect the Israel real estate market.

Any person claiming to know with certainty what will transpire in the future is foolish at best and irresponsible at worst. Rather, we will share our collective thoughts and “best guesses,” based on many recent conversations with buyers, sellers, colleagues and developers. There is a happy ending to this story, but you – as a member of a tribe that has survived millennia of exile, pogroms, epidemics, and worse – probably intuitively knew that.

Presently, the sales market for existing homes has been quiet; buyers and agents lack the mobility to view properties so there are few new deals closing. However, deals that have been in the works are getting signed.

What, though, will happen after the government loosens the social distancing restrictions? We anticipate an initial burst of activity as people who planned to buy this spring are anxiously waiting to purchase and move their families into new homes.

After the expected initial shortterm deal flow wanes, how will the long-term housing market fare? We can look to Israel’s past to guide us in predicting its future. Historically, Israel real estate has fared better than most countries during financial downturns. One important reason is that Israelis generally have a larger percentage of equity in their homes

than overseas owners. This is due, in part, to the Bank of Israel’s relatively large equity requirement – which explains why foreclosures in Israel are such a rarity.

years, we have seen on three occasions prices soften, but never plummet. Consequently, if prices do end up dropping in the near-term, we would envision a slowdown in the

We can look to Israel’s past to guide us in predicting its future.

Another reason is resilience. Ever since its establishment, Israel has endured wars, terror attacks, national and international financial crises, and more. Despite these challenges, the residential real estate market has proven to be extremely resilient.

Trusting real estate’s rock-solid track record, property owners have exhibited patience to weather the economic downturns, waiting to sell until the market strengthened. Accordingly, over the past thirty-five

second-hand sales market – but not drastic price reductions – until buyer confidence strengthens and prices rebound.

Interestingly, in contrast to the recent sluggish sales market for existing homes, properties under construction in new projects are continuing to sell. In fact, a developer in Bnei Brak confided that sales activity in some of his projects are brisker now than pre-coronavirus.

Buyers explained to him that, though

concerned about COVID-19’s shortterm ramifications, the market realities – strong housing demand and limited supply – give them confidence to purchase now, especially with murmurings that the expected impending economic challenges may reduce the number of new development projects entering the market over the next couple of years.

We are witnessing a somewhat similar trend in the beautiful new community of Eden Hills. Surrounded by nature preserves – one astute client called the location Israel’s Napa Valley – Eden Hills was extremely well-received when we did pre-sales in the United States before Purim. Due to the project’s unique mix of intimacy, beauty and excellent location – very close to Ramat Bet Shemesh, which addresses families’ medical, educational, shopping and transportation needs – almost all of the buyers who signed up are moving forward with their purchases. And the fact that purchase payments will be spread out over the next four years has given purchasers comfort that Wall Street will stabilize before most payments are due.

Ending where we started, there is no question that the effects of COVID-19 will reach the real estate industry, as it is a cornerstone of the country’s economy. Although we anticipate initial bumps on this journey, our expectation is that Israel’s housing market will stabilize relatively quickly.

Gedaliah Borvick is the founder of My Israel Home (www.myisraelhome.com), a real estate agency focused on helping people from abroad buy and sell homes in Israel.

To sign up for his monthly market updates, contact him at gborvick@gmail.com.

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

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t may seem like a distant memory now, but many in our community faced tremendous financial hardship in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. And yet, due to the resilience of our community – from the wonderful organizations to private individuals – we were able to bounce back.

Once again, we face such a moment, the breadth of which is not yet known. Even so, at this early stage, organizations and private individuals have already sprung into action to try in every way to help alleviate the burden that many are facing and to try to catharize the wound so that more don’t face similar financial hardships in the near future.

I have a general sense of the amazing work that the organizations in our community are doing. But I wanted to speak to a private citizen, to someone who is essentially engaging in economic triage in his or her

own way on a volunteer basis.

Through a series of phone calls, I was led to Chaim Bess and Nosson Ginzbury. I contacted them late one evening, and we chatted for an hour or so. During our phone conversation I was amazed at how much time and effort they have been volunteering to help their fellow Yidden in the current situation. It was clear to me that these are two very busy people who basically put aside everything else, to the extent possible, and are spending every waking hour working on helping people who, in a flash, have seen their parnassahs evaporate.

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haim and Nosson are working on two fronts. For one, they are focusing on helping to drive commerce to local businesses.

Secondly, they are trying to match

those who have lost their jobs during the current crisis with suitable employment.

At several points during our phone call, Chaim and Nosson seem to forget that they are talking to me and converse with each other directly about pressing matters – “Chaim, I just sent you So-and-So’s resume”…

“Got it, Nosson, I’m waiting for a call back from So-and-So who may have a position for him” – after all, communicating this way is more efficient than calling each other after our conference is done.

It also gives me an even greater insight into the urgency of the matter – normal rules are broken; it’s an emergency situation; time is of the essence.

Chaim and Nosson seem to com-

municate in shorthand with the ability to complete each other’s sentences, like any good fomented partnership or marriage, for that matter. What amazes me about them, though, is that despite their comradery and synergy, the two businessmen only linked up a few weeks ago when they were each individually trying to do what they could to help out in the crisis.

What is even more remarkable is that they never met each other in person.

“Wait a minute. Back it up,” I interrupt during our conversation.

“You guys both live in the Five Towns, you’re working together 24/7 to help people, and you still never met each other in person?”

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

“No,” replies Nosson. “When I decided to get involved and try to help, I asked around and somebody told me about Chaim. We connected, and we have been working together pretty much non-stop since then.”

Chaim, who originally hails from Los Angeles, quips, “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. This guy is a machine – he texts me at 3 a.m., and if I don’t respond instantly, he gets worried that something is wrong with me.”

With the urgency with which they operate, I now understand why they have not yet met – there is no time for casual meetings when there are things that need to be accomplished.

Approximately three weeks ago – which now seems like eons ago – Chaim and Nosson each had their own inspiration to get involved in trying to help the community.

“Obviously with the tremendous downturn in the market, many people got hit,” Chaim explains. “Baruch Hashem, I am still able to put food on my table. But I couldn’t stop thinking about people who may have lost their jobs, whose livelihoods tanked overnight and could no longer feed their families. I felt like I just had to do something. So I decided that I would do whatever I could to help these people get jobs and get back on their feet. I got a bunch of resumes of local people that lost their jobs and started going through my contacts to make job ‘shidduchim.’”

Nosson, who moved to the Five Towns from England eight years ago, saw what was going on and immediately realized that local businesses are suffering tremendously.

“Back in England we had ‘the magnet,’ basically a listing of all frumowned businesses on our fridge. This way we were able to support each other. So, I said to myself, we need that here right now because these businessowners are getting choked.”

In an effort to drive commerce to frum businesses in the community, Nosson launched frumbiz.org.

Frumbiz.org is a listing of local businesses which people are encouraged to turn to in order to find a local frum business to support, while at the same time having their own needs fulfilled. The listings are organized by business type, so consumers can

search more efficiently for businesses that they need.

Frumbiz also has a tab in which people looking for a job can insert their information confidentially, resulting in them being contacted by a volunteer who will help guide them in their search. In addition, there is an option where those who are looking to hire are encouraged to insert their

information, so that a match may be made.

“Every day we are getting more and more visitors to the website,” Nosson shares. “People simply want to support local businesses. Think about it: if you need a desk for your child, or a suit, or a pair of glasses, or a fridge, you can go online and support a big-named corporation, or you

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can call the local frum store and arrange to buy it from them. You’re not only helping them and getting a mitzvah, but you are also helping yourself in a sense because we all have an interest to keep the fundamentals of our local economy intact.”

As two businessmen who are just volunteering and trying to help out, they operate without an organiza-

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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

tional flow. Even so, Chaim and Nosson quickly developed a symbiosis.

“Chaim is dealing now more with the people who have lost their jobs, and I’m working more on the side of bringing in more businesses with job openings,” says Nosson.

Although this may sound like a classic chessed head-hunter operation, it is anything but that.

“I have no experience with this stuff,” Chaim admits. “I’m not a resume guy and I certainly am not the guy who you’d normally turn to in order to draft a resume, but I have no choice right now. These people who we are trying to help are not the underperformers of our neighborhood; quite the opposite. Many of them were top performers in their fields literally two months ago. They are shellshocked and need someone to help them in ways that they never imagined they would need help. We simply need to be there for them. We need to feel for them, guide them, listen to them, and really help them get right back on their feet with a respectable job.”

Aside for trying to directly make job connections, Chaim has compiled a list of helpful frum job sites along with other tools that these people can utilize in their job search. “But they really need someone to hold their hand in this because they were never in this situation before,” explains Chaim.

“That’s exactly right,” Nosson concurs. “Many of these people were in the financial sector making several hundred thousand dollars a year just two months ago, and they may have been with the same company for fifteen, twenty years. And now they have nothing. What is a laid off finance guy supposed to do now?

Drive a cab? We need to help them find comparable jobs.”

Despite the economic downturn, Chaim and Nosson, who both have many years’ experience in the business world, believe that the jobs are there and just need to be found.

“There are plenty of companies that are hiring for advanced positions,” Nosson asserts. “We just need to locate them and make the connections.”

Nosson Ginzbury

Chaim Bess

To make the connections, Nosson spends hours every day calling acquaintances, inquiring about any possible open position which may be a match for the individuals that they are trying to help.

“Look,” says Nosson, “through my own business, I have numerous contacts, but it’s really not about that. Anyone can do this. Anyone can call their relatives, their friends, old classmates or someone that they know who runs a business to try to see if they are looking to fill a need in their company.

“I am telling you; the jobs are out

to help people who are hurting. And I tell them that it’s easy to help: Pick up the phone. Call ten people you know and ask them if there are any positions they need to be filled in their company. You will for sure hear that a few of them are hiring. There are definitely positions out there waiting to be filled. And we can help connect these open positions with those looking for jobs. It’s the biggest chessed you can do.”

Nosson and Chaim are currently working with approximately forty local breadwinners who have lost their jobs.

“It’s easy to help: Pick up the phone.

Call ten people you know.”

there – we just need to bring awareness to the businesses that within our own community there are many qualified candidates and that they should look here first before turning to the larger workforce outside of the frum community.”

Nosson relates that one person who was inspired by their efforts undertook to call ten people in his phone contacts to see if they are hiring.

“Anyone can really do that. Everybody has contacts, and it’s not so hard to call people and ask if they are hiring because they will appreciate what you are trying to do. They know that you are not calling for yourself and that you are simply trying to do your part to help out,” says Chaim.

Nosson shares, “So many people ask me what they can do. They want

“It’s tragic for these people,” says Nosson, “and we have to be prepared for more job losses, which is why it’s so important for us to mobilize now to help each other and get a system in place to get people back to work.”

Even in the short while since they have started, there have already been encouraging successes, which further proves how necessary this work is.

“I think that the successes in the short time that we have been engaged in this effort shows how important it is for others to get involved as well,” says Chaim. “Remember: we all have different contacts and if you bring in even one business which can be a fit for someone in our town who lost a job, you can be responsible for helping someone in the greatest way – getting them a job so that they can

support their family.”

“This is a rare chessed that people can get involved in without being asked to contribute money to or go to an event for,” Chaim adds. “We simply want to connect people that need jobs with people that have job openings. If others get involved, we can turn the Five Towns into one big networking circle.”

“The importance of people getting proactively involved cannot be overstated,” Nosson asserts. “We are dealing here with people you daven next to in shul, people whose children are your own children’s classmates, people that you grew up with and live near. We need to help them in this crisis.” He adds, “Furthermore, think about the economic impact of high unemployment in our community – that trickles down to everyone and everything. It means less money in the tuition pool. It means less people shopping, causing loss to vendors.

It means shuls struggling because membership payments are down. It means less people leasing cars from the local car leasing company. It’s endless. It would undoubtably have a great impact on the whole Five Towns community.”

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espite the potential global economic carnage of this crisis, Chaim and Nosson are hopeful that in this community we will be able to face this challenge head-on. Someday soon, hopefully, we will all be able to look back at this crisis and be proud that we overcame it. With volunteers like Chaim and Nosson and everyone else who is stepping up to volunteer and do all that they can, there is reason to be optimistic. And, when the crisis is truly behind us, perhaps Chaim and Nosson will have the time to meet in person.

When they do, I’ll sponsor the coffee.

If you know of any open positions or recently lost your job due to the crisis, email info@frumbiz.org. For a list of frum businesses in our community that you can support, go to www.frumbiz.org.

The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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Dating Dialogue

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

Dear Navidaters,

Dear Navidaters,

I went out on a few Zoom dates with a great guy. He suggested we meet up in my backyard or at a local park where we would adhere to strict social distancing guidelines with gloves and masks.

The thought of meeting someone with gloves and a mask is giving me a lot of anxiety. The mask makes me feel like people are being trapped or can’t speak. I know that isn’t logical but that’s what my anxiety is telling me. I have been to the supermarket for my mother, and I actually had my first panicky episode. I had to get out. I have gone back because I refuse to be afraid but I don’t feel good about it. I’m afraid if I meet him and see the mask I will get panicky and have to leave.

I would like to stick to Zoom dating and not meet just yet but he really wants to meet from a social distance. I know we’ve never lived through anything like this before, but do you think it’s OK to strictly Zoom date and not meet? Do you think we can move forward exclusively virtually? And, by the way, I never had anxiety in my life. This fear and anxiety is brand new for me. I had no issues dating or meeting anyone for any reason before. What do you suggest I do? I don’t want to let him get away because of my issue with the masks.

Thank you, Sarah

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.

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020

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The Panel The Rebbetzin

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arah, I am going to turn the question back to you. You have a choice.

You can either deal with your new anxiety about being masked and its related issues, or not and stay home, not go out, and not meet the fellow at all in person. In other words, you can confront your fear or hide behind it.

Since this is not related to dating per se, I would think about the question in these terms.

This is not a dating question. This is a question about whether you are brave enough to face up to the fact that you have anxiety about Covid that is triggered by wearing a face mask. You can choose to seek professional help or you can stay indoors. The epidemic is not going away soon. There will be many more times in the near future when you will want to go out and observe social distancing norms. You can stay indoors for the next few months or not. These are unprecedented times and staying inside with your fears and away from the possibility of encountering the virus will feel safest.

Choosing to deal with your anxiety will give you two advantages besides mobility during the current pandemic. You will develop the confidence and maturity that results from honest introspection and personal work.

You will also develop skills for dealing with other life challenges that will inevitably come up in the future.

Choose a CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) specialist if you go the mental health professional route. CBT is an evidence-based modality of therapy that is used for anxiety and trauma. It is a short-term approach that works.

The Shadchan Michelle Mond hat you describe is a very personal decision. If you find that meeting a guy in a mask is uncomfortable for you, then dating in person is

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not the right thing for you to do right now. If you get haskama from your rav and doctor to date without masks that may be an option, too.

I will say, however, that the wording in your question alludes to a deeper issue. This is not just about dating. You describe your experience seeing people in masks as something far more traumatic than it should be.

To quote your words, “The thought of meeting someone with gloves and a mask is giving me a lot of anxiety.

The mask makes me feel like people are being trapped or can’t speak.” By now it has been weeks since the reality of mask-wearing has set in. Someone may feel confined by the use of a seatbelt in a car but since it is safe, it is what we do until eventually we rarely think about the reality of it. If one were to feel chained by the look or thought of it for a considerable amount of time, that person would have to work through that to ride in a car safely. You will need to work through these thoughts not just to date but to live life normally again when things will start to reopen (hopefully soon). Reopening does not mean the mask comes off, and we are all free to go about as before.

Even more so, when more people are out and about, it will be imperative for people to wear masks in public places.

Find a therapist to deal with your new reality. The therapist should get to the bottom of why a person in a mask makes you feel this way and what you can do about it. At that point you can think about dating in person again.

The Single Michelle Mond arah, what you are feeling and experiencing now is extremely justified. We are living in unprecedented times where the stressors surrounding corona combined with dating have led people to face new anxieties. You are far from alone.

Zoom dating is the smart and

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responsible approach to starting a relationship now while following social distancing guidelines. There is no reason for people to be constantly exposing themselves to each other, especially if the relationship will only be one or two dates long. However, there are some dangers. Through a screen you can only see one or two dimensions of a multi-dimensional person. The lack of certain perspectives forces us to fill in the gaps based on what we think we see or what we want to see. Any sense of real chemistry or bonding is far beyond the confines of cyberspace. In order to cultivate a real emotional relationship, you must meet in person.

As for the anxiety, our false sense of control and security were just stripped of us, leaving us stuck in between the unknown and uncertainty.

Seeing everyone walk around with masks and gloves is a scary sight, and I understand how it makes you feel panicky and trapped. Everything you are describing is justified and accurate. As a world at large, and especially on an individual level, we are going through a trauma that is going to take time to bounce back from.

Find ways to cope with your anxiety by speaking to a friend or mentor, learning meditation or yoga techniques, or consulting a professional.

Ask others who are experiencing the same feelings what they are doing to manage. The best thing you could do for yourself and your dating life is to be in the healthiest place you can be.

Explain to the guy how you feel and about the reservations you have about the circumstances surrounding meeting in person. Be vulnerable and see how he reacts. Find methods to help you feel comfortable with masks and gloves and try to meet in person in an open area and more than 6 feet apart. Agree to end the meeting as soon as someone feels uncomfortable, alleviating anxieties.

You need to take care of yourself.

If it is going to cause you to have a panic attack to meet in person then you don’t have to. You could stick to Zoom dating for now, but I would proceed with serious caution and eyes

Through a screen you can only see one or two dimensions of a multidimensional person.

wide open. Another option would be to part ways and agree that if you are both available in the future you will try again, as this is circumstantial and not about the relationship. Regardless of what you decide to do, I have a feeling gloves and masks will become part of our short- and longterm future.

This is a frustrating situation for everyone on various levels. Just remember that Hashem orchestrated all of this – from a global shutdown to your date. This is all part of Hashem’s plan even if it doesn’t seem conducive to yours. He knows what He’s doing and the reality is we can only go up from here.

The Zaidy Dr. Jeffrey Galler nitial impressions When I first read this letter, I wondered: 1.

On Purim, didn’t she and her friends dress up with costumes and masks?

2.

How does she tolerate dental appointments, when the dentist and hygienist wear protective masks?

3.

It’s a good thing she doesn’t live in a Muslim environment, where women are heavily veiled and wear burqas.

4.

I guess that a masquerade-themed engagement party is out

I

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of the question.

5.

Perhaps now, women everywhere can understand why a chassan, at a badeken, looks so nervous when he approaches his veiled kallah.

6.

How is this girl going to survive childbirth, surrounded by masked medical personnel?

Upon deeper analysis It’s clear that Sarah deserves a more serious response. This relationship, of course, must progress from Zoom dating to live dating. So, why are masks causing Sarah to experi-

ence such panic and anxiety?

1.

The problem can actually be physiological. If Sarah has a deviated septum, or some form of constricted airway, then wearing a mask can cause a breathing problem. Is she a mouth breather? Difficulty with breathing through a mask can certainly cause a panic reaction. If so, she should consult with a speech pathologist or ENT specialist.

2.

Or, the problem can be an overwhelming need to communicate clearly. When we communicate, we do

Pulling It All Together The Navidaters Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

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ear Sarah, I work intimately with a lot of people. This pandemic has affected everyone I know both personally and professionally in some way, shape, or form. The imprint this time will leave with all of us, while unknown, will certainly be significant.

You are not alone in your discomfort or anxiety that the mask induces within you. While it is something I am getting used to, I want to share with you and anyone else reading this who is impacted by the idea or sight of the mask that the first time I went to the supermarket Have a question for the panel? They’re here to help you with your dating conundrums.

Email your questions for the panelists to Jen at thenavidaters@gmail.com.

wear ing one I found myself short of breath. I moved the wagon to the side, and told the man at the front door that the mask was giving me anxiety and that I was feeling panicky. He gave me a huge smile and said, “You’re not the first one today.” That made me feel better.

While I didn’t like knowing that other people were so unsettled by the mask, it gave me comfort to know that I am not alone.

If I can offer you that comfort, I would like to. We are human beings living in a very unhuman, unnatural world. We are used to seeing faces and watching mouths move. We are used to feeling freedom. We are used to not worrying about contracting a deadly virus at the supermarket. None of this feels OK. We know this is not how we’re meant to live. And for many people, it can feel very scary.

I think you need to find a compe-

not merely process sounds; we subconsciously analyze body language and facial expressions. Without those clues, communication can be anxiety-provoking.

(Note that a North Carolina audiologist provides masks with a clear portion around the mouth. Her hearing-impaired patients were having difficulty understanding others because a face mask cuts down the volume level of speech by ten decibels.)

3.

Moreover, I learned something new. There is actually a psychological condition known as “Maskaphobia,” or fear of masks. If you google the term, you will find

that “masks distort the wearer’s appearance, causing him to look strange and unusual. Also, most masks do not feature moving mouths, so when the wearer speaks, the sound appears to come out of nowhere.”

If this is the problem, cognitive behavioral therapy with a competent psychologist is a relatively simple solution.

By the time this column appears in The Jewish Home, COVID-19 isolation might already be a thing of the past. Nevertheless, Sarah, please don’t neglect this issue and be sure to properly explore the causes of your anxiety.

tent therapist to help you work through your anxiety so that you can live life with the mask and be in the company of others with a mask. I think you need to identify and then address what it is exactly that you find so triggering about the mask.

And whatever that trigger(s) is needs to be examined and explored. You also need some tools to help you navigate and hopefully overcome your fear so that it doesn’t stop you from doing something you may want to do – whether it is dating, going to the supermarket with confidence, going to a store when things reopen, etc. To anyone who is afraid of the mask, I urge you to get help now.

As an aside, I try not to watch the news for more than ten minutes a day now. The barrage of scary and uncertain information is enough to make my head spin. I often finish watching the news feeling more confused than when I started. I imagine the thousands, if not millions, of people tuning it and the phobia that has settled in to our culture. And maybe we should be scared. I’m not here to comment on political agendas or the deadliness of the virus... only to comment on the fear we are living with on a daily basis. That fear is palpable, and it has seeped

into humanity’s psyche – from the youngest of children to the elderly.

Just a suggestion that you can do this Sunday, if so inspired. Drive to a parking lot. Do not get out of your car. If doctor approved, don’t wear a mask in your car. I’d like you to just look at the people passing by in their masks. You are safely tucked away in your car. I’d like you to simply notice what is coming up for you. Bring a notebook with you and write down whatever is coming up for you. Perhaps you already know.

Perhaps you will discover it. If this suggestion feels too daunting, that is OK. Sit in a quiet space and have a mask next to you in your view. Look at it. Touch it. Be still. Notice your thoughts and feelings as they arise.

Don’t fear your thoughts. Whatever comes up is fine. Write it down.

I want you to spend time with the mask every day. First in small, manageable bits. Two minutes with it in the morning. Thirty seconds in the afternoon. There are so many ways for you to get comfortable with the mask. There are wonderful guided meditations, visualizations, and mindfulness techniques online for managing anxiety.

Just a friendly reminder to anyone with a fear of the mask; the mask is here to protect us. We are all still right here. We’re all visible and present. We’re all still human.

The humans we always knew. And though I am nowhere on this lev-

The Jewish HomeHome | OCTOBER The Jewish | MAY 29, 21, 2015 2020

el of belief, I do think the world is exactly how it should be. We are going through tremendous pain as a world. It almost feels to me as though the world is in labor. This hurts so much, in so many painful ways. I am confident that there will be a new beginning. And that there will come a day when we are all together again. While we must be cautious, we can’t live life in fear.

Though it can sometimes feel like our humanity has been stripped from us, in a certain way I feel closer to humans than ever; feeling connected to people throughout history that have suffered through pandemics, wars, poverty, slavery, pogroms, etc. Maybe it would be easier for some of us if we were clearly told, “Stay inside and do not come out.”

The mask represents this grey area,

of confusion. It’s safe enough to come out, but don’t breathe the air.

I deeply understand why a mask provokes anxiety and that there are many different reasons it provokes it. You shared that you feel trapped or silenced in the mask. Think for a few moments of what might allow you to feel free and/or heard in the mask. Maybe buying a funky mask that expresses something about you would be helpful. I’ve seen some pretty cool masks out there. Maybe if you figured out a way to have fun with it or create some humor around it that would help you with your fears.

Back to your question... A lot of people are strictly Zoom dating, but I am seeing more and more people dating in real life (IRL). They are going for walks, to parks, sitting

in backyards and basements being offered by community members. If doctor approved, I don’t want you to miss out on life. In my opinion, I don’t think Zoom dating can be maintained indefinitely. At some point, you will need to transfer to a real live date. A few sessions with a qualified therapist may be all that is needed to work through this issue.

All the best!

Sincerely, Jennifer Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in private practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. She also teaches a psychology course at Touro College. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 516-224-7779,

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I guess that a masqueradethemed engagement party is out of the question.

ext. 2. Visit www.thenavidaters.com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email thenavidaters@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.

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Dr. Deb

The Importance of Pleasure

By Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.

M

y parents, a”h, were very serious people. To get a little laugh into the air, my aunt, whom I adored, had to come visit. And I thought, growing up like that, that life simply was very serious. After all, here we were, created by the Master of the Universe, for some Purpose, so we needed to take all that seriously.

It wasn’t until I met my late husband that I realized that such an approach was…downright silly. There, I said it. Being too serious about yourself and your life is downright silly.

“Now, wait a minute, Deb,” you’re inclined to say. “You’re contradicting yourself. If we are given a weighty mission, that is serious. How can it be silly to take it seriously?”

That’s the secret!

The best way to be who we are meant to be and to do that with greatest sincerity requires a dose of fun.

Humor. Laughter.

Why? Because without that side of ourselves, we are missing something.

What in the world would we be missing? Leitzanos?

No. See, not taking ourselves too seriously is not the same thing as not taking G-d too seriously. It’s quite the

opposite.

Not taking G-d seriously happens when you mock and scoff at life itself.

When you have an arrogant, superior, critical attitude toward the hand you were dealt, you might slip into leitzanos. But really, mockery is not fun. Making fun is not fun. Anyone who was ever on the receiving end of it can attest to that.

On the other hand, not taking oneself too seriously is in and of itself an acknowledgement that one is imperfect, one has room to grow, one is – in short – human. And that is good. That is a step in the direction of humility.

But if we are human, should we be laughing off our shortcomings? Well, no, we shouldn’t laugh off our shortcomings; we should always try to improve. But – and this is the big “but” – we can and should laugh at our shortcomings. At ourselves: good-naturedly, lovingly, and with kindness.

Because, ironically, the only way that we will improve is if we are nice to ourselves. Once we beat ourselves up, we end up feeling so badly we aren’t motivated to work on ourselves and deep down don’t believe we can improve even if we tried.

In fact, laughing at ourselves – just a tad, not enough to be hurtful – is only one small step on the road to lightening up.

Hashem gave us a magnificent world and an amazing life. Even now, as we are stuck in prison, the prison has all the comforts of home! And we get to eat the best prison food that ever existed in a prison! Our families can grow closer just from proximity and we can sleep a bit later than we would have had we needed to catch a train instead of being in prison. Not so bad, this prison. And we do get to go out and enjoy the magnificent days. I see so many families bonding on bikes around the neighborhood.

Like I said, Hashem has been kind, gracious, and bountiful with us. Shouldn’t that alone be cause for laughter? Joy? Is there a bad side? Yes, of course.

If you want to search for it, you will surely find it. And that is the question: Do you have to search for it? Is the bad side really important for you?

If you want to prove a point, no contest. There is a bad side. Case closed.

But you don’t have to.

So what happens if you choose the lighter side?

You don’t become a lightweight.

You become balanced.

Balanced between taking yourself too seriously – which ignores your humanity – and too lightly which also ignores your humanity.

The first way ignores the fact that we were built and preprogrammed to err and that is part of the learning process. The second way ignores the fact that we were built and preprogrammed to rise above our errors, which is what gives us the potential for greatness.

So what does all this have to do with marriage, family, mental health?

I think in this COVID tekufa, we need to intentionally inject lightness, joy, humor, pleasure, into our lives.

We need to figure out new ways to do so. We need to take any way that used to work and still can, and keep it. We need to consider the strange possibility that our happiness is not only important but what G-d wants.

I’ve given up figuring out why He did this. I really don’t want to waste my time with going down that path.

It’s not worth it. What is worth it is figuring out how to navigate it well, to come out on top, happy.

Take an inventory. How much

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | MAY 21, 2020 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

happiness do you purposely inject into your day? Do you miss family that doesn’t live in your house? Today I went to visit children and grands in Kew Gardens Hills. The grands didn’t want to come outside! But I was content to sit on the steps outside and just relax and breathe quietly. How often do we give ourselves the luxury of just sitting and literally doing nothing?

Eventually they did come out and we gave each other air hugs. So sweet! So what do you do for happy moments?

And I don’t mean watching YouTube videos. That is escaping from something. It’s a different category – and not the one I’m talking about.

(Back to that in a moment.) Here are some things that go in the category of true pleasure if you’re paying full – 100% full – attention to them with an attitude of delight: • Waking up rested and refreshed to kick start a new day • Eating delicious food when you’re actually hungry • Having a conversation that opens you up

• Having a conversation in which you get to share something important to you to someone who is actually listening • Taking a walk and enjoying the sights • Taking a jog and enjoying how your body can do it

long; this was just getting the ball rolling. What’s on your list?

And let me explain why idle escapism is not pleasure. When you’re escaping, your focus is on not focusing on the thing you’re trying to avoid.

Therefore, you’ve violated two of the conditions for pleasure: First, you

When you are happy, deep inside – with yourself, with life, with this moment – it rubs off on everyone around you.

• Making music • Hitting the ball exactly where you wanted it to go • Creating a piece of art that expresses what you wanted it to • Finally articulating an idea that you were struggling with The list, of course, could be very

need 100% focus on the good thing, not any percent on the bad thing. And it is there in your subconscious when you’re in escape mode so this is problematic even if you’re not aware of it.

And second, escape mode never has you focus/concentrate on anything.

Think about the aimless videos and

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games. Where is your brain? It is not focused.

Pleasure, on the other hand, though fleeting, is powerful. You can’t enjoy your lunch for more than a few minutes, for example. That is because, to enjoy it, you have to be hungry. And you will start to fill up quickly as you eat. But that doesn’t keep you from enjoying those few minutes – to the max.

When you are happy, deep inside – with yourself, with life, with this moment – it rubs off on everyone around you. Your children learn that same thing by osmosis. Your spouse will be grateful because your happiness is also a gift. And you can’t reach out in love and care for your partner if you aren’t happy anyway.

Aim for good and beautiful days.

I will help you get them if you’ll let me.

Dr. Deb Hirschhorn is a Marriage and Family Therapist. If you want help with your marriage, begin by signing up to watch her Masterclass at https://drdeb. com/myw-masterclass.

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Health & F tness

The Pros of Cheesecake

By Cindy Weinberger MS, RD, CDN

S

havuos is a yom tov we all look forward to with one delicious highlight: cheesecake! Everyone is ready to pack in the cheesecake along with other dairy delicacies. The downside of all the delicious dairy food is the unwanted calories that come along with it. In order to make your yom tov enjoyable, and not feel guilty about all the excess calories, let’s focus on some of the many benefits of dairy.

Dairy foods are rich in protein, calcium, magnesium, folate, vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, and vitamins A, D, and E. Milk, cheeses, and yogurts are a great source of protein which help many Americans meet their daily protein needs. One cup of milk contains approximately 8-10g of protein. A half of a cup cottage cheese has approximately 13g of protein. One-and-a-half ounces of cheese such as cheddar contains 9-11g of protein. The Institute of Medicine recommends that 10-35% of total daily calories should come from protein – about 50-175 grams per day if you normally eat about 2,000 calories each day.

Protein is needed for all of our muscles, hair, skin, and nails. Protein is also used to make enzymes, hormones, and other chemicals. Basically, protein is essential in every cell in our body! A great way to meet the daily recommendations for protein is from dairy products.

Another main nutrient found in dairy products is the mineral calcium.

Dairy products are the main source of calcium in American’s diets. Calcium is the most abundant mineral, and one of the most important ones in the human body. Calcium has many various functions that have vast benefits.

Calcium is well-known for its key role in building bones and teeth as well as maintaining bone mass. Adequate calcium intake is vital in adolescents to build strong bone mass and help prevent osteoporosis later in life. If there is not enough calcium intake to maintain sufficient amounts of calcium in

the blood, the parathyroid glands will be activated to secrete more parathyroid hormone (PTH). PTH will then pull calcium out of the bones to supply more calcium to the blood stream.

seins and whey – have similar effects to blood pressure-lowering medications. Additional benefits of calcium include reducing PMS symptoms and aiding in weight loss. Research has

This causes a loss of bone substance, which eventually can lead to osteoporosis. Calcium is also essential for cardiac function by regulating heart and muscle contraction and nerve conduction.

also shown that calcium plays a role in preventing certain cancers. For example, calcium with vitamin D may help protect against breast cancer in premenopausal women.

In order for calcium to be able to

Protein is essential in every cell in our body

Another benefit of calcium is its role in controlling high levels of magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium in the blood. Doctors use calcium supplementation to help control these levels. There’s also good evidence that calcium can help prevent or control high blood pressure. The proteins that are found in low-fat dairy – ca-

perform its many jobs, it requires the assistance of vitamin D. Vitamin D is needed for calcium to be absorbed from the digestive tract. Thus, Vitamin D helps maintain normal blood calcium levels. Dairy products are a great source of vitamin D. One cup of milk has 25% of the daily value of vitamin D. Many Americans are lacking

adequate amounts of vitamin D and therefore many brands of milk are fortified with vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential in promoting healthy bones by aiding in calcium absorption. Vitamin D is also involved in immune health and controlling blood pressure.

Dairy products are also a rich source of folate, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. Deficiency of vitamin B12 has been associated with negative neurologic outcomes, such as dementia and cognitive impairment. Folate, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 play important roles in the homocysteine cycle. Without adequate amounts of these nutrients, the homocysteine cycle is impaired, and homocysteine builds up in the bloodstream. High levels of homocysteine cause an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, which is also associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Dairy products are a rich source of many vital nutrients which have essential functions in our body. Due to the high nutrient concentration, high intake of low-fat dairy products is associated with strong bone health, a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, and with lower blood pressure in adults. So, when taking a bite of the rich cheesecake over Shavuos, be positive, and focus on the many benefits of the dairy products it contains instead of feeling guilty about those calories!

Cindy Weinberger MS, RD, CDN, is a Master’s level Registered Dietitian and Certified Dietitian-Nutritionist. She graduated CUNY Brooklyn College receiving a Bachelor’s in Science and Master’s degree in Nutrition and Food Sciences. She is currently a private nutrition consultant and conducts nutrition workshops in assisted livings, senior centers, and nursing homes. She can be reached at CindyWeinberger1@gmail.com or 917623-6237. Follow us on instagram @EatBetterandFeelBetter.

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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

In The K

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tchen

New England Fish Chowder

By Naomi Nachman

T

his was one of the first recipes I developed as a food writer nearly 15 years ago for Ossie’s Fish. Many people who passed by squirmed at the idea of a fish chowder, but after a little encouragement they tried it and loved it. It’s one of my favorite soups.

Dairy Yields 8 servings Ingredients 2 TBS canola oil 1 large onion, diced 2 cloves freshly crushed garlic ¼ cup finely grated carrots

1 tsp kosher salt ¼ cup flour 4 cups clear vegetable broth 1 cup dry white wine 1 TBS kosher salt 4 white potatoes, quartered, or 2 sweet potatoes, cut into large dice 1 pound salmon, cut into 1-inch chunks

1 cup light cream 2 ears corn, shucked and kernels stripped off ¼ cup grated Havarti cheese Kosher salt, to taste Freshly ground black pepper, to taste Chopped dill, for garnish

Preparation Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat; add onion, garlic, and carrots. Sauté for a few minutes till the vegetables begin to sweat. Add 1 teaspoon salt; sauté for additional 2 minutes.

Lower the heat; add flour. stirring occasionally, and cook for a few minutes.

Add vegetable broth and wine; bring to a boil.

Add potatoes and additional salt, to taste.

Bring soup to a boil, stirring constantly; reduce the heat to a simmer.

Add salmon; simmer for about 15 minutes.

Stir in cream, corn, and cheese; simmer until cheese has been incorporated into the chowder, about 5 minutes.

Season with black pepper to taste; garnish with dill.

Cook’s Tip: When reheating chowder, do not let the soup come to a boil, as the cream may curdle on high heat.

Recipe reprinted with permission from Perfect Flavors (Artscroll/Mesorah) by Naomi Nachman.

Photo by Miriam Pascal.

Naomi Nachman, the owner of The Aussie Gourmet, caters weekly and Shabbat/ Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighboring communities, with a specialty in Pesach catering. Naomi is a contributing editor to this paper and also produces and hosts her own weekly radio show on the Nachum Segal Network stream called “A Table for Two with Naomi Nachman.” Naomi gives cooking presentations for organizations and private groups throughout the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area. In addition, Naomi has been a guest host on the QVC TV network and has been featured in cookbooks, magazines as well as other media covering topics related to cuisine preparation and personal chefs. To obtain additional recipes, join The Aussie Gourmet on Facebook or visit Naomi’s blog. Naomi can be reached through her website, www.theaussiegourmet.com or at (516) 295-9669.

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Notable Quotes “Say What?!”

X Æ A-12 - The name given by tech billionaire Elon Musk to his new baby son

If Trump was on the other end of the spectrum, being like “Let’s keep the country locked down,” my guess is the other people who don’t like him would say, “No, we got to open up.” That just seems to be the nature of where we’re at in this country, unfortunately.

- Barstool Sports founder and pizza connoisseur David Portnoy on Fox News

He had the most amazing comedic stuff that he — we didn’t know if he was planning it or it just came out that way, or he couldn’t remember the line, or we didn’t know what it was, but we did not want to disturb it in any way. We never gave Jerry Stiller a note. I never adjusted his performance once. Whatever he did, that’s it.

We’re putting that out there.

The pandemic has unleashed familiar forces of hate, fear and xenophobia that he always flames … that have always existed in this society. But this president brought it with him, has brought with it a new rash of racial messages, verbal and physical attacks and other acts of hate, some subtle, some overt, against the Asian American and Pacific Islanders.

- 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden, speaking virtually to the Asian American and Pacific Islanders Victory Fund

- Jerry Seinfeld, recalling recently deceased Jerry Stiller’s role in “Seinfeld”

I’ve had races beat me up worse. The treadmill is definitely a psychological mental battle.

- Ultrarunner Zach Bitter after running 100 miles on his treadmill in over 12 hours last Saturday

In New York City, pothead Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that anyone who dares to swim will be yanked out of the water, of course, because the virus spreads so easily in the ocean.

– Tucker Carlson, Fox news

This is what happens when neurotic dumb people get power. They do neurotic dumb things and then throw you in jail if you complain about it.

– Ibid.

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In the real world, here are today’s big stories in order of importance: 1. Vaccine being developed 2. Stock market rockets 3. States beginning to reopen 4. More tests than people who want to be tested 5. Trump puts WHO on notice In Twitterland, here are today’s big stories in order of importance: 1. Trump is fat 2. Trump takes hydroxychloroquine and is fat 3. Nancy Pelosi is slaying, queen, because Trump is fat 4. Trump isn’t taking hydroxychloroquine because he’s a liar but is fat 5. Trump is plump - Tweet by Ben Shapiro on 5/19/20

I’d rather have him on the phone with some world leader than have him wash dishes because maybe his wife isn’t there or his kids aren’t there.

The next time NYC’s mayor sends out a gleeful tweet about sending cops after Jews, the DOJ should investigate to make sure he’s not violating constitutionally guaranteed religious liberties. Actually, they should have done it after the last one.

- President Trump, defending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was being investigated by Steve Linick, the State Department inspector general (who was abruptly fired last week), for asking a staffer to perform a variety of personal errands

– Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), after Mayor de Blasio tweeted that he shut down a yeshiva with 70 students

They found the experience at the museum very enriching.

– The Kansas City Zoo, on taking penguins to an art museum

He’s our president and I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and his, shall we say, weight group — morbidly obese.

- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi responding to Pres.

Trump’s revelation that he is taking preventative regimen hydroxychloroquine

Pelosi is a sick woman. She’s got a lot of problems. A lot of mental problems. We are dealing with people that have to get their act together for the good of the country.

- Trump, responding to Pelosi

You’re gonna say stuff at your high school reunion service ceremonies, “Remember that time that China started a big global pandemic that created the worst public health crisis in over a century and brought the economy to its knees and we had to stay at home and everybody was hoarding toilet paper and we all watched this documentary about some weirdo dude who raised tigers?”

- Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), speaking virtually at a high school graduation

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7

Political Crossfire

Experts Have Jobs.

They Need to Understand Those Who Don’t

By Fareed Zakaria

I

f anyone thought a global pandemic that has so far killed more than 80,000 Americans would override the country’s deep partisan divide, the data is in. It turns out that Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans to believe that the pandemic is serious and to follow CDC guidelines. Cell phone data shows that people in counties that voted for Donald Trump have been moving around more than those in counties that voted for Hillary Clinton.

This has led many to wonder why partisanship has become so strong in the United States that people will not listen to experts, even at the risk of their own health. But there is a broader distrust that we need to understand. I recognized it while reading a book that is not about COVID-19 at all but sheds strong light on the situation. Explaining why so many people across the West have rejected the government establishment, Michael Lind writes, “The issue is not the issue. The issue is power. Social power exists in three realms – government, the economy, and the culture. Each of these three realms of social power is the site of class conflict.”

Lind’s book, “The New Class War,” argues that the best way to understand America today is through the lens of class conflict, which has been sharpened by the rise of an “overclass” that dominates the three spheres he mentions. In all three, leaders tend to be urban, college-educated professionals, often with a post-graduate degree. That makes them quite distinct from much of the rest of the country. Only 36% of

Americans have a college degree and only 13% have a master’s or more.

And yet, the top echelons everywhere are filled with this “credentialed overclass.”

For many non-college educated people, especially those living in rural areas, there is a deep alienation from this new elite. They see the overclass as enacting policies that are presented as good for the whole country but really mostly benefit people from the ruling class, whose lives have gotten better over the past few decades while the rest are left behind.

In this view, trade and immigration help college-educated professionals who work for multinational companies but hurt blue-collar workers. So

explain that we must keep the economy closed – in other words, keep you unemployed – because public health is important. All these people making the case have jobs, have maintained their standards of living, and in fact are now in greater demand. They feel like they are doing important work.

You, on the other hand, have lost your job. You feel a sense of worthlessness,

Is it so hard to understand why people like this might be skeptical of the experts? when they hear from “experts” about the inevitability of globalization and technological change and the need to accept it, they resist. It does not resonate with their lived experience.

Let’s look at the COVID-19 crisis through this prism. Imagine you are an American who works with his hands – a truck driver, a construction worker, an oil rig mechanic – and you have just lost your job because of the lockdowns, as have more than 36 million people. You turn on the television and hear medical experts, academics, technocrats and journalists

and you’re terrified about your family’s day-to-day survival. Is it so hard to understand why people like this might be skeptical of the experts?

The COVID-19 divide is a class divide. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report last year on the “job flexibilities” of U.S. employees. Of the top 25% of income earners, more than 60% can stay home and still do their jobs. Of the bottom 25%, fewer than 10% can do the same. Dr. Fauci has said he understands that maintaining these guidelines is “inconvenient.”

For many people, they are not just

inconvenient, they are life-shattering. Not all of those who work with their hands are Trump voters – many health care and front-line workers probably are not – but all understand that it is a luxury to be able to work from home.

No one in America or elsewhere can claim to know the right way to move ahead. Even Dr. Fauci acknowledged that, when he was asked whether schools should open. “I don’t have an easy answer to that. I just don’t,” he said. “Situations regarding school will be very different in one region versus another.” Regarding the economy, he noted, “I don’t give advice about economic things. I don’t give advice about anything other than public health.” He’s right to acknowledge the limits of any one area of expertise.

So let’s all recognize that we need to hear many voices as we make these difficult decisions, and that those making the decisions need to have empathy for all Americans – those whose lives are at risk, but also those whose lives have been turned upside down in other ways by this horrible disease. (c) 2020, Washington Post Writers Group

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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

87

Political Crossfire

Someone Committed a Crime in the Michael Flynn Case

By Marc A. Thiessen

L

et’s be clear: a crime was committed in the Michael Flynn case. But that crime was committed not by the retired general, but by someone who leaked the classified details of his conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

The Justice Department was correct to drop charges against Flynn for lying to the FBI about his communications with Kislyak. The case was reviewed by Jeff Jensen, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri with two decades of experience as a prosecutor and FBI special agent, and the resulting 108-page motion to dismiss is a searing indictment of FBI misconduct.

The department found that there was no legal justification for the FBI to question Flynn in the first place because the interview was “untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation” of Flynn. The FBI had decided to close that inquiry because of an “absence of any derogatory information.” That meant Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements that were not “material” to any investigation. For Flynn to have committed a crime, his statement had to have been “not simply false, but ‘materially’ false with respect to a matter under investigation.” In his plea, Flynn “stipulated to the essential element of materiality” without being informed that the FBI had already cleared him in the underlying investigation.

That fact alone is disgraceful.

Even more outrageous is that the bureau interrogated Flynn about communications the Justice Department says were “entirely appropriate.” He was the incoming national security adviser, and his “request that Russia avoid ‘escalating’ tensions in response to U.S. sanctions…was consistent with him advocating for, not against, the interests of the United States.” There was nothing in the calls to suggest he was being “directed and controlled by…the Russian federation.” And the FBI did not need

that “Flynn was not lying or did not think he was lying.”

For these and other reasons, the Justice Department withdrew the charges against Flynn. The fact that the judge in the case is refusing to accept the department’s decision – and has appointed a former judge to contest it – only perpetuates the FBI’s miscarriage of justice.

Instead of pursuing Flynn for a crime he did not commit, we should be focused on finding the individual who did commit a serious felony by

It seems clear that the purpose of the interview was to set a perjury trap.

his recollections of the calls because it had word-for-word transcripts.

It seems clear that the purpose of the interview was to set a perjury trap. The agents did not inform the White House counsel before the interview so as to catch Flynn by surprise; they did not share the transcripts with Flynn during the interview (which would have allowed him to refresh his memory); they did not warn him that making false statements would be a crime – all of which are standard procedure. Even so, both of the agents who questioned him came away with the impression

leaking the classified details of Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak. And thanks to acting national intelligence director Richard Grenell, we finally have a list of suspects.

Most government officials with access to the transcripts would not have known Flynn was on the call, because when a U.S. citizen is the subject of “incidental collection” during surveillance of a foreign national, their name is “masked.” Only certain officials had the authority to request that a name be unmasked.

Until now, we did not know which officials had done so. But on Wednes-

day, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a list of more than three dozen former Obama administration officials who submitted unmasking requests that revealed Flynn’s identity.

Only eight of those received information after the intelligence community discovered his communications with Kislyak on January 4, 2017: former U.N. ambassador Samantha Power; former national intelligence director James R. Clapper Jr.; former treasury secretary Jack Lew; former White House chief of staff Denis McDonough; deputy national intelligence director Michael Dempsey; former deputy national intelligence director Stephanie L. O’Sullivan; a CIA official whose name is redacted; and former vice president Joe Biden.

The crime of leaking the details about Flynn and Kislyak’s call could only have been committed by a small universe of people who had access to the unmasked intelligence on Flynn. We don’t know whether it was someone on the list. That is for U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is investigating the origins of the Russia probe, to determine. But this much is certain: Obama administration officials leaked unmasked intelligence about Flynn to the press. The fact that those individuals have gone unpunished for three years, while Flynn has endured a legal hell, is appalling. (c) 2020, Washington Post Writers Group

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Forgotten Her es

An Intrepid Hero

By Avi Heiligman

M

any current Israeli politicians have a military background and served with distinction in Israel’s many conflicts in her 72-year history. Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is no exception and served with the Sayeret Matkal during the 1960s and ‘70s and was involved in daring operations during that period. His older brother, Yonaton, also served with the Special Forces and was the only IDF fatality on the daring rescue at Entebbe Airport in 1976. Yoni’s career before that moment is relatively unknown, but he was considered one of the best special forces soldier in IDF history.

Benzion Netanyahu was born in Warsaw, made aliyah in 1920, and married Tzilia who had been born in Petach Tikva. They were working for the New Zionist Organization in New York when Yoni was born in 1946.

Yoni was named for his grandfather, Rabbi Nathan Mileikowsky, and British Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson who commanded the Jewish Legion, was a staunch supporter of Zionism

Bibi, Iddo, and Yoni Netanyahu

and was a good friend of Yoni’s father. Bibi and the youngest child, Iddo, were born in Israel. All three sons served with the Sayeret Matkal, with Iddo becoming a prominent radiologist after serving in the IDF. The Netanyahu family moved to Israel in 1949 and then moved back to the U.S. for two years in the mid1950s. In 1963, they moved again to the U.S. where Yoni was a classmate of future MLB Hall of Famer Reg-

gie Jackson. After graduating high school, Yoni was drafted into the IDF and soon volunteered to join the paratroopers. As a natural athlete, he excelled during the tough training courses and then went on to pass the officers training program. As a platoon commander, he went on a raid that targeted a PLO stronghold into the West Bank, which at that time was under Jordanian control.

In early 1967, the mandatory time for his service in the IDF had elapsed. Seeing that the situation with Israel’s neighbors was deteriorating, Yoni decided to push off going to Harvard and stayed with the IDF. The Six Day War broke out on June 5, 1967, and Yoni took part in the Battle of Um Katef in the Sinai.

Paratroopers played a pivotal role in the battle as they were the spearhead of the attack. Following the suppression of the Egyptian forces in the South, the paratroopers moved to the Golan Heights. On the last day of the war, Yoni was trying to reach a wounded soldier when he was hit in the arm. Wounded, he crawled back to friendly lines and was evacuated to a hospital.

After the war, he attended Harvard for a year but returned to Israel to rejoin the IDF. In 1970, he became a member of the elite Sayeret Matkal special forces unit. Many of the unit’s missions are still classified but there are two that are known to the public.

In 1972, Yoni led a force of Sayeret Matkal soldiers on a raid in Lebanon to capture Syrian officers that were then used in a prisoner exchange for Israeli pilots. The second operation took place in April 1973. Yoni joined a squad of operatives to eliminate three terrorists from the Black September group that were hiding out in Beirut.

The mission was a success. The operation was a part of retaliation operation for the Munich Massacre as the hunt for the PLO terrorists continued for many years.

Yoni went back to Harvard during the summer of 1973 and was in Israel when the Yom Kippur War broke out on October 6, 1973. He immediately rejoined his old unit and was placed in command of elite soldiers that were stationed in the Golan Heights. The men were outnumbered but were able to rout a Syrian force that arrived by helicopter to capture the Israeli command post. Yoni received the Medal of Distinguished Service for his rescue of a badly wounded officer, Lt. Col. Yossi Ben Hanan, who commanded a brigade in the armored corps.

After the war, Yoni joined the armored corps and soon was given command of a brigade. In 1975, he left to rejoin the Sayeret Matkal as their commander. He went on many missions but it is the most famous one that took the life of talented soldier.

On June 27, 1976, an Air France airliner flying from Tel Aviv to Paris with 246 passengers and twelve crew

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish | MAY 21, The Jewish HomeHome | OCTOBER 29, 2020 2015

members was hijacked after picking up passengers in Athens. Two of those that boarded in Athens were members of the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine). Two German terrorists joined the Palestinians in the hijacking that landed at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. After tense discussions, only 106 hostages remained – 94 Israelis and the twelve crew members from France. The Israelis were bidding for time so they could send commandos for a daring rescue operation.

The commandos were the Sayeret Matkal and were led by Yoni. The three days before the operation was launched, preparations were made and training was conducted in Israel on a replica terminal. Yoni had meetings with several high-ranking government officials including Defense Minister Shimon Peres. The men under Netanyahu’s command were tasked with killing the terrorists, freeing the hostages, fighting any enemy soldiers in the area, and

Soldiers returning from the Entebbe Raid preventing any Ugandan forces from reaching the area.

At midnight on July 4, 1976, the lead Hercules C-130 transport plane landed at Entebbe Airport with 29 soldiers on board. A Mercedes made

to look like the Ugandan president’s vehicle and two Land Rovers exited the plane carrying the assault team.

As they approached a checkpoint, two enemy soldiers stopped them and were killed by the Israelis. Some ac-

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counts have Yoni being shot from the airport’s control tower, while others contend that he was shot by one of the terrorists outside the building where the hostages were being held.

The operation was a success despite the loss of the commander of the assault team. It was named Mivtsa (Operation) Yonatan in his honor.

One-hundred-two hostages were rescued. (Three were killed in the raid and one was murdered by the Ugandan government.)

Yoni was buried on Mount Herzl with thousands attending his funeral. Even though many recognize his name as being the only IDF casualty in the Entebbe Raid, most don’t know of the heroism that he displayed in the wars and operations prior to that last fateful mission.

Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Classifieds classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com • text 443-929-4003

SERVICES

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COMMERCIAL RE

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

Your

15

Money

Mom Totally Knows Best

By Allan Rolnick, CPA

I

n 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. Ever since then, Americans have spent that day destroying Mom’s kitchen in the name of breakfast in bed, tramping through her garden in the name of bringing her flowers, and making up for the phone calls and compliments they overlook the other 364 days. While coronavirus, quarantines, and social distancing made this year’s holiday a bit less festive, it was still a welcome break from 2020’s usual grimness for mothers, families, and even tax collectors.

The National Retail Federation estimates consumers spent over $26 billion on Mother’s Day this year, for an average of $205 per person celebrating. Greeting cards, flowers, gift cards, and brunch and dinner were the most popular gifts. (Coronavirus means less for brunch and dinner this year, although it won’t dry up entirely – Mom still loves carryout.)

But housewares, books, and electronics are gaining ground, too.

All that spending means a billion or two in sales taxes. Combined state and local rates average as low as 5.43% in Wyoming all the way up to 9.53% in Tennessee, and tend to be higher in states with no income tax.

Restaurants and retailers will also pay income tax on their holiday profits, and their employees will pay tax

on their wages. With stay-at-home orders driving the economy into a medically-induced coma, governments are starving for revenue, and they’ll be grateful to collect every penny they can get.

sal IRA contributions), and working moms (dependent care credits). Of course, that last one raises the question, what mom doesn’t work? (You can actually make her breakfast any Sunday of the year!)

She’ll cry if she finds out you’re wasting money on taxes you don’t have to pay.

As for our friends at the IRS, they’re in charge of administering an internal revenue code that’s full of tax breaks for moms (child tax credits), single moms (head of household status), stay-at-home moms (spou-

And here’s a specific taxplanning tip for moms who love chocolate. (And if she doesn’t, what’s wrong with her?) Twelve states, including California, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, exempt

chocolate from sales tax as a grocery item. Some states also exempt food-producing plants, which makes a tomato plant or an avocado tree a good choice for a mom with a green thumb.

Mother’s Day also gives you the chance to reflect on all that wisdom and common sense Mom gave you. If you’re like a lot of people, the older you get, the smarter she gets. This year, especially, you can appreciate some of that advice she’s been giving you since she let you ride Scooby Doo at the carnival all by yourself.

Wash your hands – check. Cover your mouth when you cough – double-check. Clean your room – now that you’re spending all day at home, it’s even more important than ever!

Mom also wants you to be careful with your money. That’s why she gave you a piggy bank when you were five years old. She’ll cry if she finds out you’re wasting money on taxes you don’t have to pay. Or maybe she’ll be mad. Either way, that’s where we come in. This year, honor Mom with a tax plan that lasts longer than flowers and shows her you really listened and learned.

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 | MAY 21, 2020

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MAY 21, 2020 | The Jewish Home

Life C ach

Find Your Crunch

By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., MFT, CLC

C

runch!

What do you think I just said?

No, not “crush” – crunch!

And what is it you think of when you hear that word?

An accountant crunching some numbers?

Perhaps, being at the gym doing crunches?

Maybe, a potato chip – the sound it emits when you step on one?

Or walking through the fallen leaves in the heart of the autumn?

Well, guess what? I’m not talking about any of that!

I’m talking about something that cannot survive without it.

I’m thinking of the ideal apple.

You know how an apple can come in any color that you desire – yellow,

green, red, even red with green?

It can also come in all sizes – small, medium, or large.

It definitely can be enjoyed with many different tastes – sweet, sour, or tangy, depending on your preference or mood.

But no one, absolutely no one,

that expectation, suddenly you wake up.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t even bother with another bite. Why would I? Because, as low in calorie as it can be, as healthy as it is, as much as I had been looking forward to it, even if I had spent money on it, if there’s no crunch, well, it’s not for me.

An apple without the crunch would be like a wedding without the bride; a classroom without the teacher; a pool without the water; a bedroom without the bed.

A thing without its essence is no longer that thing.

If you take away the crunch from the apple, it changes its whole essence. Without the crunch you’d be eating an oranpple or a peachpple but it won’t be an apple.

Life is surreal these days. Or is it just different than what we were expecting?

disagrees on this: it cannot be mealy!

When you look at that apple you are about to ingest, many thoughts may be running through your mind: I’m hungry; I need to eat something; I want something healthy, etc.

In fact, your mind can even be a thousand miles away, not even thinking about the apple that you are about to bite into. Yet, somewhere, maybe buried subliminally, there is that natural anticipation of what it will be like when your teeth sink into it. And if it doesn’t meet

In life, make sure you find your crunch – what everyone looks forward to and loves about you.

Figure out what your defining feature is and never lose it. Because that’s the essence of what makes you the delicious you and the apple of everyone’s eye.

Rivki Rosenwald is a certified relationship counselor, and career and life coach.

She can be contacted at 917-705-2004 or rivki@rosenwalds.com.

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