April 17, 2019
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Around the
Community Bringing the Korban Pesach to Life
77
Playing with Hebrew at HALB
53
52 MAY Triumphs in Torah Bowl
O I L C H A N G E
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8 8 8 -ZO O M - O I L • W W W. ZO O M O I LC H A N G E .CO M
SEE OUR 40 PAGE PESACH PULLOUT SUPPLEMENT Thoughts on Yom Tov............................................................................................................... S4 Story: A Miracle in Baghdad..................................................................................................S20 TJH Chol Hamoed Guide....................................................................................................... S22 Can’t-Believe-It’s-Pesach Recipes....................................................................................... S32 Afikomen Antics....................................................................................................................... S38 Kibbutz Hanita: A Story of a Pioneering Nation.............................................................. 94 A Journey to Freedom Through the Pacific................................................................... 100 Arrested by the KGB: My Personal Yetzias Mitzrayim................................................. 106
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
Dear Readers,
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are spent doing mindless, unfulfilling work. He has no room in his mind for the simple pleasures of life; he has no time to appreciate certain minutiae in his day. Perhaps that’s why Hashem took Bnei Yisroel out of Mitzrayim during the spring. This season is when the world is dotted with color; it’s abloom in green – fresh and vibrant. Do slaves get to notice these spots of brightness? Not when their lives revolve around satisfying their master and avoiding his whip. And so perhaps Hashem wanted the Jews to immediately be able to appreciate their brand-new freedom in a most vibrant way. He wanted them to see the contrast to their old lives and bask in the beauty of their new one. Now, they had time to appreciate the blessings that came their way. Now, they had time to stop and smell the roses. Now, they had time to notice the beauty around them. As Pesach is here, let us take a few moments to look around and appreciate the good that consistently comes our way. Over yom tov, as we spend time together, we should focus on the bracha that Hashem so generously bestows upon us.
his week, while driving down the 878, I was struck by the beautiful, yellow flowers that had emerged at the side of the road. They seemed to have come out of nowhere, but then I began to notice them everywhere around town: the bright flowers on the bushes, the pink buds blooming on the trees, the colorful tulips dotting people’s lawns. Spring, it seems, has sprung. Pesach is always celebrated in the spring. Yetzias Mitzrayim took place in the spring, and so Chag Ha’Aviv comes out when birds are chirping in the trees and flowers bloom from the branches. Celebrating Pesach at this time is very important. I often wondered why. In fact, we rearrange and base our whole calendar around Pesach; what’s the significance? When Moshe came to Bnei Yisroel and told them that Hashem would be taking them out of Mitzrayim and redeeming them from the depths, they couldn’t listen to him because of kotzer ruach and avoda kasha – they had shortness of breath and were collapsing from their workload. And yet, you would think that Moshe’s words would have uplifted them. He was talking about geulah! He was telling them that the end was near. But they couldn’t listen. So entrenched were they in their servitude – physically and emotionally – that they couldn’t grasp onto any glimmer of hope. There’s no end in sight for a slave. He toils and works and then does the same thing over and over again the next day. His hours
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
8
COMMUNITY Readers’ Poll
8
Community Happenings
48 NEWS Global
12
National
28
Odd-but-True Stories
38
ISRAEL
S18
Israel News
21
Kibbutz Hanita by Rafi Sackville
94
THOUGHTS ON PESACH Rabbi Wein
92
Echoes of the Ultimate Geulah at the Seder by Rav Yaakov Feitman S4 Nothing Left Behind by Rabbi Yoni Levin
S6
Giving Thanks for Every Detail by Rav Moshe Weinberger
S12
Short and Deep Insights for Seder Night by Shmuel Reichman
S14
SIMCHAS YOM TOV Turning Points by Michelle Mond
S18
A Miracle in Baghdad by Nuta Yisrael Shurack
S20
TJH Chol Hamoed Guide
S22
PEOPLE A Journey to Freedom Through the Pacific by Brendy J. Siev
100
The Wandering Jew
106
The Red Sea during World War II by Avi Heiligman
134
HEALTH & FITNESS Make it Happy by Dr. Deb Hirschhorn 118 A Healthy and Happy Pesach by Cindy 120 Weinberger, MS, RD, CDN FOOD & LEISURE
124
The Aussie Gourmet: Can’t-Believe-It’s124 Pesach Recipes Pesach with Chef Paula
Dear Editor, The gematria of Pesach (148) is the same as kemach (148), flour. My late relative, Rav Avrohom Genechevovsky zt”l, conveyed to me that chometz and matzah have the same letters, except that the hey, unlike the ches, has a minuscule opening. He said that for one to transform from a life of chametz to one of matzah, only a mere protrusion must be overcome. My cousin, Rabbi Yakov Nagen, points out that chametz is symbolic of hesitation, namely a failure to seize the opportunity, which was the unfortunate choice of many Jews who never left Egypt. Flour can create two realities, one steeped in purity and seizing the moment, the other in impurity and the failure to act in time. Pesach affords one the opportunity to change from a life of chametz to one of matzah and achieve true redemption. Steven Genack Dear Editor, I’m wondering why everyone seems to feel that they have to run away for Pesach. This week, you highlighted two places – Orlando and Virginia Beach – where people pack up their homes and head down for Pesach with food that they bring, cook, or buy for yom tov. Since when do we have to have yetzias Mitzrayim and carry our food on our backs to enjoy yom tov? There’s nothing like sitting around your beautiful, clean home, knowing that your children have come home to spend time with their
S32
parents. Yes, it may not be luxurious or as spacious as rental places, but it’s home – not just a house – and it’s where the heart is. Atara L. Dear Editor, In your recent interview of Councilman Bruce Blakeman he shocked many of us by insinuating that there is only a traffic problem in the Five Towns on Friday afternoons. I don’t believe you will find anyone who agrees with that statement except for the out-of-state developers who are attempting to destroy our community with their overreaching development. Mr. Blakeman, those plans to develop the Woodmere Golf Course would be disastrous for our community! Disastrous for the environment (it is a watershed) and for our way of life – 1,000 cars, no open space, no plan for police and ambulance services. No plan for flooding, no water table for sewer lines, the list goes on. The only winner is the New Jersey developer. Please represent your community and help us stop this! Sincerely, One of many concerned residents of the 5T Dear Editor, I am surprised you’d print a letter that continues supporting conspiracy theories of Trump involved with Russia. Nobody in Trump’s team was indicted with anything related to Russia. By now, everyone understands this was witch hunt and hopefully we Continued on page 10
LIFESTYLES Mind Your Business by Yitzchok Saftlas
112
Dating Dialogue, Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW
114
Your Money
140
There’s More than Meets the I by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS 142 HUMOR Centerfold 90 Afikomen Antics by Jon Kranz
S38
POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Notable Quotes
126
Trump Administration’s Iran Sanctions Could Backfire by David Ignatius
131
Does Assange Merit First Amendment Protection? by David Ignatius
132
CLASSIFIEDS
136
Does your family eat gebrochts over Pesach?
69
%
YES
31
%
NO
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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S p o n s o r e d by t h e M a j e s k i Fa m i ly
OF Participating Shuls- at the time of printing
PLEASE CALL US TO JOIN
Kehilas Yaakov Sulitz RABBI YAAKOV RUBIN
Agudath Israel of Bayswater RABBI MENACHEM FEIFER
Kehillas Ahavas Yisroel RABBI DANIEL GLATSTEIN
Agudath Israel of Long Island RABBI MEIR BRAUNSTEIN
Kehillas Bais Yehuda Tzvi RABBI YAAKOV FEITMAN
Agudath Israel of the Five Towns RABBI YITZCHOK FRANKEL
Kehillas Lev Avos RABBI SHMUEL WEINBERG
Agudath Israel of of West Lawrence RABBI MOSHE BROWN
Kehilas Yagdil Torah RABBI ARIEL EDELSTEIN
Aish Kodesh RABBI MOSHE WEINBERGER
Khal Bais Shmuel Abba RABBI CHAIM MORDECHAI KATZ
Bais Medrash Ateres Yisroel RABBI YISROEL M. BLUMENKRANTZ
Khal Chesed V’emes RABBI SHMARYAHU WEINBERG
Bais Medrash of Cedarhurst RABBI DOVID SPIEGEL
Khal Machzikei Torah RABBI NOSSON GREENBERG
Bais Medrash Heichal Dovid RABBI MORDECHAI STERN
Khal Zichron Moshe Dov RABBI AARON STEIN
Bais Medrash of Harborview RABBI YEHOSHUA KALISH
Knesseth Israel (White Shul) RABBI EYTAN FEINER
Bais Medrash of Lawrence RABBI DOVID FORDSHAM Bais Medrash of North Lawrence Bais Medrash of Woodmere RABBI AKIVA WILLIG Bais Tefilah of Inwood RABBI PINCHAS WEINBERGER Beth Shalom RABBI KENNETH HAIN Cong. Bais Avrohom Zev RABBI ASHER STERN Cong. Bais Ephraim Yitzchok RABBI ZVI RALBAG Cong. Anshei Chessed RABBI SIMCHA LEFKOWITZ Cong. Shaaray Tefila RABBI URI ORLIAN Cong. Agudas Achim RABBI ELISHA HOROWITZ Cong. Torah Utefilah Frysztak RABBI MEYER BODNER Hachaim Vehashalom RABBI DANIEL OVADYA HILI Bais Medrash RABBI DOV BRESSLER Inwood Kollel Bais Medrash V’Hagisa RABBI SHLOMO COHEN Irving Place Minyan RABBI AARON FEIGENBAUM Kehilas Bais Yisroel RABBI BERISH FRIEDMAN
Knesseth Meir RABBI BETZALEL KORN Lido Beach Shul RABBI ELI BIEGELEISEN Mateh Zevulun RABBI MOSHE FARKAS Mesivta Ateres Yaakov RABBI MORDECHAI YAFFE White Shul Teen Minyan RABBI YISROEL MUNK Yeshiva Ateres Shimon RABBI MORDECHAI GRONER Yeshiva Bnei Torah RABBI YISROEL CHAIT Yeshiva Darchei Torah RABBI YAAKOV BENDER Yeshiva Gedolah 5 Towns RABBI YITZCHOK KNOBEL/ RABBI MOSHE ZEV KATZENSTEIN Yeshiva of Far Rockaway RABBI YECHIEL PERR Yeshiva Nishmas HaTorah RABBI YISSACHAR BLINDER Yeshiva Shor Yoshuv RABBI NAFTALI JAEGER Young Israel of Far Rockaway RABBI SHAUL CHILL YI of Lawrence-Cedarhurst RABBI MOSHE TEITELBAUM RABBI YAAKOV TRUMP Young Israel of Long Beach RABBI CHAIM WAKSLAK
Kehilas Bais Yisroel RABBI ELISHA SANDLER
Young Israel Bayswater Shaar Hashomayim RABBI ELIEZER FEUER
Kehilas Bnei HaYeshivos RABBI SHMUEL WITKIN
Young Israel of Woodmere RABBI HERSHEL BILLET
COMMITTEE n Hillel Adelman Hillel Axelrod n Moishe Bane R’ Boruch Ber Bender n R’ Moshe Benoliel Shmuli Baskt n Yossi Beirach n Ari Bergman n Heshy Berkowitz n Ben Brafman n Yisroel Chaifetz n Shragy Chaifetz n Ari Donowitz n Shlomo Einhorn n Tuli Einhorn n Moshe Eisen n Jeff Eisenberg n Seth Farbman n Adam Feit n Meilach Feldberger n Shmuel Fishman Hal Frechter n Eliav Frei n Yitzi Fried n Pinky Friedman n Heshy Friedman n Gershon Fruchter n Gadi Fuchs n Shimmy Fuerst n Eli Galler n Akiva Garbacz n Evan Genack n Andy Gladstone n Jonathan Glaubach n Dovi Gold n Alon Goldberger Menachem Gross n Yosef Grunfeld n Yehuda Hammer n R’ Moshe Chaim Horowitz n Yoni Kahana n Mosey Kaplan n Joel Kaplan n Ari Kleinberg n Avi Langer n Dr. Moshe Lazar n Adeil Leibowitz n Shmuel Lesser n Josh Leyton n Menachem Lieber Abi Liff n Moshe Majeski n Yoni Mendlowitz n Moshe Mermelstein n Yosef Moskowitz n Shmueli Muller n R Yisroel Munk n Nissan Nefes n Yanky Neuhoff n Yosef Nussbaum n Sholom Parnes n Eli Pasternak n Michoel Posy n Moshe Ratner Moishe Reisman n Aron Zelig Rosenberg n Dr. Tzvi Rubin n Yehuda Ruzorsky n Nechemya Salzman n Avi Satt n David Scharf n Elie Schwab n Avi Singer n Moshe Smith n Aaron Solomon n Steven Stein n Ari Treuhaft n Izzy Wasser Benny Weilgus n Gedalya Weilgus n Jeff Weinberg n Avi Weinstock n Eli Weiss n Yehuda Zachter n Sholom Ziedel n Chaim Zlotowitz n Michael Zuckerman
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will know soon why it was started and who is responsible. But Putin did, in fact, spend a little of Russian budget to bring havoc in this country and he accomplished it precisely because of the leftists. He did not invest a lot and got much more on his minimal investment. He did not seriously help Trump win but he did bring total chaos to U.S. and we still cannot recover from this. Moshe B Dear Editor, Recently it was reported that New York State is instituting a plastic bag tax which will go into effect next year. In fact, our senator was involved in pushing through the legislation, which is one of the first in the nation. The politicians behind this have been touting the environment as the reason for the tax the plastic bags. They say that the bags end up in our waterways and are swallowed by animals and fish. But a clause in the legislation has given me pause. Those who use WIC or food stamps will be exempt from this tax. Why? Is it possible that their bags are more special than mine? That whales won’t
swallow their bags because their bags will tagged as “WIC bags” when they reach the ocean? Or maybe the plastic bag tax is just another tax on the rich in New York State by Democrats who now run both Houses. Can’t wait to see what else they have up their sleeves. Sincerely, Sharona Hart Dear Editor, I believe the pro-vaccine community is at fault for the latest measles outbreak and the growth of the anti-vax community. Let me explain. A few months ago, I started to do a deep dive into the topic. I work in an area where many people choose not a vaccinate, and many of them, on the surface, seem like reasonable people. I engaged with them in an effort to understand their concerns. The information they gave me, along with some follow up research, has definitely left me with some troubling questions. I work under the assumption that there are legitimate answers to these seemingly valid questions. I asked the anti-vaxxers why they never brought up these questions to their doctors or vaccine proponents. The answer from
them was always the same: whenever we bring it up, either we are yelled, mocked or shamed, and when we are able to set up a meeting, the meetings always get canceled at the last second. In fact, I was told that there were some people trying to set up a meeting here in the Five Towns, and all the doctors, including some prominent pediatricians in the area, put up a “blue wall of silence” so as not to legitimize the other side. Most people I know that do not vaccinate are concerned parents with unanswered questions, not crazy conspiracy theorists (although there seem to be plenty of those too). Simply put: light is the best disinfectant. If the graphs they have are based on false data, let them get debunked! If the statistics they have only tell half the story, tell the whole story! The current strategy we have right now ostracizing and shaming concerned parents has backfired and it’s time to take deal with this directly and head-on. There is no reason why we can’t get both parties in a room with an agreed-upon third, neutral party to moderate the conversation. At a minimum, it might create some understanding on both sides and possibly stop the in-fighting within our own community. Signed, An Inquisitive and Open Mind Dear Editor, I am writing to you today to express my views on recent comments by 2020 presidential candidate, Beto O’Rourke. Beto, as they call him, last week said that President Trump’s rhetoric is like rhetoric from Nazi Germany. I found this comment to not only be offensive but appalling. First of all, when you compare an administration that exterminated Jews for no reason to an administration that on a daily basis supports Israel like no previous American administration is just ludicrous. It is literally comparing apples to oranges. It’s also offensive because comparing concentration camps where Jews and other races were beaten and murdered to our current immigration crisis is highly disgusting. Beto thinks that he is a superior, moral human being because he totally accepts illegal immigration. When Beto compares President Trump to Hitler, ym”sh, that’s when you know that the Democrats have gone crazy. Beto’s comparison is just not true because Hitler was a ruthless mur-
derer who hated Jews while Trump is the biggest fan of Jews. While Beto is preaching about morals, President Trump is saving our country. The migrant and border crisis is only enlarging, and we need to find the solution immediately. That is exactly what President Trump is doing and will keep on doing. Beto is all talk and failure while President Trump is all action and success. Beto’s comments are not a new fantasy in the Democrat Party; it’s a fantasy that has been going on since President Trump announced he was running for president. Let us all remember that President Trump has recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and, because of his courageous move, many more countries are following suit. President Trump has recognized Israel sovereignty over the Golan Heights to protect Israel’s security. Liberals seem to forget that President Trump was the one who deported the last living Nazi in America after the past two administrations refused to do so. This is definitely not our modern Hitler, this is the best Jewish-supporting American president in history. So before Democrats begin to compare President Trump to Hitler, let’s remember all the things that President Trump has done that has elevated Jews around the world. There are also Jewish Trump-haters that think Trump is an anti-Semite, but remind them that he was the one that freed Rubashkin, a Jew. I don’t think Hitler would be proud of Trump’s actions. Sometimes when Democrats say these comments, people think they’re joking, but then you remember that they have been diagnosed with Trump Derangement Syndrome. Oh, and if Beto is such an Israel- and Jewish-loving person, then why was he one of 48 congressman and women (out of 435) that didn’t attend PM Netanyahu’s speech a few years ago!? Aren’t liberals supposed to be openminded and work with people that they disagree with!? After seeing this hypocrisy, you realize that this is not the same Democrat Party of your parents. Beto, my final message to you is, who do you think you are to preach your morals when you can’t even be openminded, and do I also have to mention the drinking-while-driving incident when you were a teenager? Stop your hypocrisy and get your comparisons straight! Chag same’ach, Donny Simcha Guttman
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
The Week In News
Sudan Overthrows its Ruler
Last week, Sudan’s leader, Omar al-Bashir, was toppled by the army after 30 years in power. A military council has promised elections to the people in two years’ time. Over the weekend, protesters took to the streets to demand a full dismantling of the “deep state” culture
We Didn’t
E
left behind by Bashir. They want a civilian administration to take over the country, and they chanted “Freedom” and “Revolution” during the sit-in. Bashir has been indicted on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur by the International Criminal Court. He denies any wrongdoing. The military council, attempting to assuage protesters, has announced a raft of decisions, including new heads of the army and the police; a new head of the powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS); committees to fight corruption and to investigate the former ruling party; the lifting of all media restrictions and censorship; and the release of police and security officers detained for supporting protesters. Coup leader Defense Minister Awad Ibn Auf had announced that the military would oversee a two-year transitional period followed by elections. When demonstrators – who had been protesting since December over the high cost of living – weren’t appeased, Ibn Auf resigned the next day, just a day after taking the position, and went into retirement. Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan was then named as head
Germany Shutters Hamas Charities
Over 90 charities were raided this past week by German law enforcement as part of a massive operation to shutter non-for-profits it said were funneling money to the Hamas terror group. Armed SWAT teams descended on the properties in over ten different states, with the majority of police activities targeting the charities WWR Help and Ansaar International in the North Rhine-Westphalia region. Interior Minister Hort Seehofer said that the raids were meant to show that Germany would not let Hamas,
an EU-designated terror group, raise funds on German soil. “Whoever supports Hamas under the mantle of providing humanitarian aid disregards the fundamental values of our constitution,” Seehofer said. “This also discredits the commitment of the many aid organizations that have committed themselves to neutrality under difficult circumstances.” Founded in 1986, the Islamist Hamas terror group has killed hundreds of Israeli citizens and currently controls the Gaza Strip. In addition to its armed wing, the group also runs a large social welfare network with schools, soup kitchens, day-care activities, and orphanages being run under its auspices. To fund its vast social wing, Hamas runs a network of Muslim charities all over the world, enabling it to easily raise money without police interference. Israel notes that money used for charitable purposes also funds Hamas terror activity and has pressured countries all over the world to crack down on the organization’s activities. Hamas’ use of ostensible charitable organizations to raise money can be seen in the Dusseldorf-based
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Ansaar International that was raided this past week. Founded in 2012, it calls itself an aid organization carrying out projects “for the good of Allah.” According the organization, it provides vital health services in Gaza, including clean water and sanitation, orphanages and education to the needy. Yet German police say that the funds raised by the group were instead going to train armed fighters to attack Israel. Observers said that Germany has let such groups flourish in recent years and has refused to crack down on them despite frequent Israeli pleas to intervene. Benjamin Weinthal, a research fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Jerusalem Post that the raids were “long overdue.” “Germany has a very lax policy toward Islamic jihadi organizations in the country,” said Weinthal. “The next step in my view should be to outlaw the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).”
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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was arrested outside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London on Thursday and will likely be extradited to the United States to face federal conspiracy charges for leaking sensitive government documents. Assange was found guilty for failing to surrender to the court back in 2012. District Judge Michael Snow called Assange’s behavior “the behavior of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest.” Assange faces 12 months in prison and will be sentenced shortly. The UK is currently weighing a request by the U.S. to extradite Assange. The United States alleges that Assange conspired with former U.S. intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010 to download and release classified databases. Assange, 47, was arrested last week after spending the last seven
years in the Ecuadorian Embassy. The Ecuadorian government had granted him asylum after a Swedish court found him guilty in 2012 but suddenly rescinded it for what it called his “discourteous and aggressive behavior.” Under Assange’s leadership, Wikileaks has disseminated vast amounts of highly sensitive material over the years, including a mass leak of U.S. State Department’s diplomatic cables, the U.S. Army’s entire order of battle for the invasion of Iraq, and Hillary Clinton’s emails during the 2016 election. Assange’s arrest caused protests by left-wing Britons, who called him a hero for blowing the whistle on what they said were illegal actions by the U.S. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called on the British government to block his extradition to the U.S., a call echoed by Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbot. “The extradition of Julian Assange to the U.S. for exposing evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan should be opposed by the British government,” said Corbyn. The calls for Assange’s release were rebuffed by British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, though, who tweeted that the Wikileaks head is “no hero.” “Julian Assange is no hero and no one is above the law,” wrote Hunt. “He has hidden from the truth for years.” This week, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno told the Guardian that Assange overstayed his welcome at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London when he used it as a “center for spying.” “Any attempt to destabilize is a reprehensible act for Ecuador because we are a sovereign nation and respectful of the politics of each country,” he said in his first English-language interview since Assange’s arrest last week. “We cannot allow our house, the house that opened its doors, to become a center for spying.” He added: “This activity violates asylum conditions. Our decision is not arbitrary but is based on international law.” Moreno added, “He was a guest who was offered a dignified treatment, but he did not have the basic principle of reciprocity for the country that knew how to welcome him or the willingness to accept protocols [from] the country that welcomed
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
him,” he added. “The withdrawal of his asylum occurred in strict adherence to international law. It is a sovereign decision. We do not make decisions based on external pressures from any country.” Ecuador has claimed that Assange mistreated embassy staff, put excrement on walls, left soiled laundry in the bathroom, and improperly looked after his cat, among other things. Jennifer Robinson, who is representing Assange, says that Ecuador has been spreading falsehoods about her client.
Fungus Superbug
chief scientific officer of New Jersey’s Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation, Perlin has published several studies on fungal infections in recent years, including on C. auris. “We don’t really know why globally this bug has burst on the scene all over the world,” Perlin said. “We’re seeing it in hospitals – we have a problem obviously in New York and New Jersey, but we see it in Spain, the United Kingdom, South Africa, other places.” Candida auris can cause different types of infections, including bloodstream infection, wound infection, and ear infection. The fungus has also been detected in respiratory and urine samples, but the CDC says it’s unclear if it causes lung or bladder infections.
EU Gives Britain One Last Brexit Delay Scientists are sounding the alarm about a new deadly fungal infection that is resistant to major antimicrobial medications. Experts say that it is spreading globally and have no idea where it comes from. Known as Candida auris, the fungus originates in a yeast that normally lives harmlessly on the skin and mucous membranes. A drug-resistant form of the disease has spread around the world in recent weeks, popping up in places such as England, Spain, India, Venezuela and the United States. Commonly found in healthcare facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes, the fungus can rapidly lead to death in patients with weak immune systems or serious medical issues. The yeast was first discovered in 2009 from the ear discharge of a patient in Japan, although other medical professionals say that it was spotted in South Korea back in 1996. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) warned last week that it has identified 587 cases in the United States recently, with the disease centered in New York City, New Jersey, and Chicago. The CDC says that a third of all patients who have contracted the fungus have since died. “It’s taken us all by surprise,” David S. Perlin told USA Today. The
If you’re thinking that you don’t want to hear about Brexit one more time, think about Theresa May and those living in the UK. Last week, the European Union (EU) agreed to extend its deadline for the United Kingdom to leave the EU to October 31 as England seems no closer to carrying through with the long-awaited Brexit. The agreement lets England leave the Union earlier if Prime Minister May can convince the divided UK parliament to agree to a deal. The extension comes after a tense meeting of EU leaders in Brussels which saw May promise that the UK would finally agree on a deal to leave the EU after three previous versions were shot down by the House of Commons. “This extension is as flexible as I expected and a little bit shorter than I expected, but it is still enough to find the best possible solution,” said President of the European Council Donald Tusk. “Please do not waste this time.” The EU’s decision to approve a long delay shows that it doubts that May will succeed in gathering cross-party support for her withdrawal agreement, which lawmakers have already rejected three times. The UK had been scheduled to crash out of the EU without a deal on March 26, which was later extended to April 12. The deadline extension means that England will vote in the EU elections on May 23, despite
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The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
voting to leave the body nearly three years ago. England had never planned to vote in the aforementioned elections. But May’s failure to get any deal approved by Parliament has the UK no closer to a deal that would enable it to leave the EU without suffering from dire economic consequences. Speaking to the House of Commons on Thursday, May said she “profoundly� regretted that she was unable to get any deal approved. “The whole country is intensely frustrated that this process of leaving the European Union has not been completed,� she said. Aye, aye.
Kim Jong-Un’s Ultimatum North Korean dictator Kim Jongun said last week that he would give the U.S. a year to change its attitude if the U.S. wanted a third meeting between Kim and President Donald Trump. Trump and Kim have already held two joint summits, with the most recent one taking place this past Feb-
ruary in Hanoi. The talks have not achieved anything meaningful, and the two leaders have been unable to hammer out a deal that would scrap sanctions on North Korea in exchange for the abandonment of its nuclear program.
“If the United States approaches us with the right manner and offers to hold a third North Korea-U.S. leaders’ summit on the condition of finding solutions we could mutually accept, then we do have a willingness to give it one more try,� Kim told North Korea’s parliament on Friday. “We will wait with patience until the end of the year for the United States to come up with a courageous decision. But it will clearly be difficult for a good opportunity like last time to come up.� Kim went on to blame the U.S. for toughening its demands vis-a-vis North Korea, which he said was the
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main cause of the current deadlock between the two sides. However, the strongman clarified that he valued his relationship with Trump and added that they can communicate “at any time.� “We, of course, place importance on resolving problems through dialogue and negotiations. But U.S.-style dialogue of unilaterally pushing its demands doesn’t fit us, and we have no interest in it,� Kim said, and blasted South Korea for resuming joint military drills with the U.S. Although Trump suspended the annual military exercises with Seoul in order to enable negotiations with North Korea to move forward, the U.S. military still conducts smaller maneuvers with their South Korean counterparts.
Fighting in Libya: Over 120 Dead The U.N. health agency reported on Sunday that more than 120 people have been killed since a Libyan military commander launched an assault on the capital city earlier this month. On April 5, Field Marshal Khalifa
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Furthermore, over 13,500 people have been displaced, and according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “significant numbers of civilians� are stuck in areas where fighting has escalated. U.N. envoy Ghassan Salame reported that a school was bombed in the town of Ain Zara, around nine miles southeast of Tripoli, without saying who was responsible. Both sides have carried out airstrikes in the town. After years of chaos following the
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March following clashes in the town of Tuburan, near Marawi. However, doubts concerning his identity led to the use of DNA testing. The results have shown that Abu Dar was the person who was killed in the battle.
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The ISIS leader had been involved in planning the 2017 siege of Marawi, a five-month battle which effectively flattened the city. He fled to the mountains following the siege but continued recruiting and training fighters from afar. “[This is a] significant accomplishment of the government and the people of Lanao del Sur who worked together to rid their beloved province of terrorists,” said Major-General Roberto Ancan, commander of the army’s 1st Infantry Division.
Journalist Fights for Free Speech
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2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Hifter had vowed to unify the country. He has led previous campaigns against Islamic militants and other rivals in eastern Libya and has received support from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Russia and France. Hifter met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo on Sunday, though the president would not provide further details.
ISIS Leader Confirmed Dead Philippine officials confirmed on Sunday that “Abu Dar,” the last surviving leader of the ISIS-affiliated Maute Group, had been killed along with three other insurgents in a military clash last month. His death follows a
month’s long military operation in the region. Security forces believe Abu Dar had led Dawla Islamiya, an alliance of pro-ISIS fighters in southern Philippines that includes foreigners. “For now his group is leaderless,” said Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. “We are monitoring who will replace Dar.” Abu Dar, whose real name was Benito Marohombsar, was killed in
Maria Ressa, CEO and editor of a popular news site in the Philippines, finds herself at the center of a fight for free speech after being hit with libel charges. A frequent critic of the country’s autocratic President Rodrigo Duterte, Ressa says that the slew of legal charges are designed to muzzle her from speaking freely. Ressa was first hit with a cyber libel charge in February, a charge critics dismiss as politically motivated as the crime was not even illegal in 2012, the time that she published the story in question. Ressa was then arrested again a month later on charges that her Rappler website was the beneficiary of money from the U.S.-based Omidyar Network. The Philippines bans local media platforms from being bought out by foreign companies in order to protect against foreign influence. Ressa’s case suffered another blow
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
this past week after a Manila court rejected her appeal to throw out her cyber libel case. Ressa’s attorneys had argued that no crime was applicable when her article was first published. The court’s decision was praised by government officials despite numerous claims that the court ruling was politically motivated. “The right of a free press does not extend to the making and/or publication of defamatory remarks. That is why in our statement we made it clear that a prosecution for libel does not result to denial of press freedom,” said Department of Justice Undersecretary Mark Perete. The journalist’s legal troubles extend well beyond the aforementioned court cases. Ressa is also fighting a wide range of other criminal charges, including tax evasion. Despite the crackdown, Ressa told CBS that she would not stop publishing pieces criticizing the country’s brutal war on drug dealers that have killed thousands of innocents. “We have increased security both for my reporters, our journalists in the office, and I am aware of the risks there,” said Ressa. “But you know, frankly, this is the time to demand an end to impunity.”
Notre Dame Burns
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron told his nation, “We will rebuild this cathedral together.” He added, “This is probably part of the French destiny.” The City of Lights was aflame on Monday when the 850-year-old Gothic cathedral, Notre Dame, burst into flames. The fire raged for several hours before hundreds of firefighters were able to bring it under control. Still, its famous spire toppled as thousands of Parisians watched in horror. The wooden roof was also destroyed. “Notre Dame is our history, it’s our literature, it’s our imagery. It’s the place where we live our greatest moments, from wars to pandemics to liberations,” Macron said. “This history is ours. And it burns. It burns and I בס”ד
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know the sadness so many of our fellow French feel,” he added. Images of flames engulfing the historic cathedral – a UNESCO world heritage site since 1991 and one of Paris’s most popular tourist sites – were splashed around the globe. But as shocking as the scene appeared, it could have been so much worse. Its iconic facade and towers were salvaged, as were a host of invaluable artifacts and works of art stored inside. The roof, known as the “forest” because of the 13th century wood used to construct it, was completely burnt. It is not yet known what caused the fire.
Israel Will Try Again! Morris Kahn, the billionaire president of SpaceIL, vowed during an interview on Saturday that another
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attempt would be made to land an Israeli spacecraft on the moon just days after the Beresheet spacecraft crashed.
Kahn, who donated $40 million of his own money to the project, had worked with Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) to make Israel the 7 th country in the world to put a spacecraft on the moon only to watch it end up in a pile of rubble following a communication failure. During an interview with Channel 12’s “Meet the Press” program, Kahn announced, “I’ve come to announce a new project: Beresheet 2. “We started something and we need to finish it,” added Kahn. “We’ll put our flag on the moon. Beresheet 2 begins tomorrow…. A mission team will be meeting tomorrow to start work.” During the interview, Kahn described the outpouring of support he has received from Israelis ever since
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
BORO PARK CENTER IS GOING BEYOND HEALTHCARE With a focus on emotional and spiritual wellbeing, Boro Park Center’s novel approach is changing the world of rehab and nursing care. Boro Park Center has long made its name as a premier healthcare provider for residents in need of rehab. Today, the center is leading a revolutionary approach to therapy by placing an increased emphasis on the emotional, recreational and spiritual needs of residents. We sat down for a brief conversation with the two people at the forefront of these efforts, Rabbi Aron Wajsfeld, Boro Park Center’s esteemed Morah D’asrah, and Mrs. Rachel Klein, Director of Recreation at the center, to hear more about their efforts which are earning rave reviews for their unrivaled success. (The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.)
Q
Can you explain your approach and how it differs from standard care?
Mrs. Rachel Klein: On top of our worldclass therapy and nursing care, we cater to the spiritual, social and emotional needs of residents so that they are not only surviving but truly thriving as individuals who feel relevant, productive, and a part of society. This has a direct effect on their physical and cognitive health and the results speak for themselves. Residents are making incredible progress in all areas.
Q
Can you explain a bit about how you go about catering to residents’ non-physical needs? Mrs. Klein: We have a facility that is full of life because we know how important this is in conjunction with physical rehab. For example, we hold large events like our concerts with the likes of Simcha Leiner and Shulem Lemmer, we host a popular Avos U’bonim every winter Motzei Shabbos and bring musicians down every week. Additionally, we create opportunities for residents to be part of seasonal and Yom Tov festivities. We also distribute our very own weekly newsletter to residents, their families, and the community, that is chock full of relevant content and exciting information, all published in an engaging
manner, geared for all ages. Rabbi Wajsfeld: Our shul isn’t just a place where residents come to daven. It has become known as a place of chizzuk, inspiration, and strength. Many community members come daven with us because of the positive vibes that permeate the shul. We dance, sing and share words of inspiration which gives the residents a tremendous emotional boost. Our Kabbalas Shabbos shares the energy of a Simchas Torah and has become an attraction for former residents and neighbors of the facility.
Q
As a medical center focusing on physical ailments, why do you feel the need to offer these services? Mrs. Klein: Our main goal as a center is to provide patients with the physical rehab they need to get back to life. Our medical care is known for being truly top notch and we see these recreational programs as a great asset to our talented therapists and nurses. The spiritual and emotional support is critical in making sure that they stay rejuvenated, engaged and inspired, which then gives them the energy to take on their taxing therapy regimen. Rabbi Wajsfeld: This is something I’ve witnessed countless times and research has also shown this to be the case: patients who participate in these activities and constantly have something to look forward to, will do better in their rehab and have a much more favorable prognosis.
Q
What are your efforts like during Yom Tov season?
Mrs. Klein: This is something that we take great pride in. Whether it’s a trip to Tashlich, a mega Chanukah party or a badchan to entertain on Rosh Chodesh Adar, we want residents to feel like they are an integral part of any seasonal festivities and not just observers. Weeks before each holiday, we begin preparing together with residents, and these efforts lead us all the way through Yom Tov. Recently, we brought down a full-fledged matzah bakery and had all residents participate in the baking process.
The race against the 18-minute timer brought out their inner child and the energy was palpable throughout the room. In preparation for this past Purim, our residents packaged hundreds of Mishloach Manos for Tomchei Shabbos and when the day of Purim arrived, a kids choir accompanied by live music and dancers, and colorful costumes filled the hallways as residents participated in the true Purim spirit. Observers who weren’t used to this were in awe as to how a supposedly dull place like a rehab center can have this kind of energy. Rabbi Wajsfeld: We arrange for top Baal Tefillos, lead beautiful meals, sing songs together, and whenever possible, we even dance together to the lively songs of each Yom Tov. After a recent Simchas Torah, a woman whose husband was staying at the facility commented that she feels that the whole ordeal was bashert for them just so they can have this elevated Yom Tov experience with us. I’ve also heard numerous times from participants who said that their Yom Tov was better than anything they have ever had at home.
Q
Do you see tangible results or is the success something that’s hard to measure? Rabbi Wajsfeld: (Smiles) Of Course! Many residents literally come to life emotionally and cognitively. Our therapists have figured out that the time to take them to therapy is right after they are finished with our inspirational programming in shul. They are wheeled out with a renewed vigor and youthful energy. Mrs. Klein: The success we are having is evident watching former residents return to the Center not as residents, but as community members. This, more than anything shows we are succeeding in creating a warm friendly atmosphere. Our goal is to provide all residents with all their needs, and by “all” we mean ALL. Studies have shown that removing an individual from their routine and environment has an adverse effect on their total well-being. That leaves us no choice, but to bring them their routine and environment, right here. We are proud to say residents can continue to enjoy a beautiful Shabbos like they are accustomed to. Succos in a nursing facility can still be Zman Simchaseinu. Pesach once again can be a true Zman Cheiruseinu, with no compromises. We have heard countless times from residents who didn’t want to go home, because of how much they enjoyed their stay.
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
EXCEPTIONAL CARE IS ONLY HALF THE STORY.
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N e w Yo r k Ya c h a d G a l a Celebr at i ng 35 Ye a r s
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Beresheet crashed during its final descent to the moon on the last day of its 45-day journey. “The response we’ve gotten has been amazing. The amount of thank yous and letters is amazing,” he said. “Over the weekend I’ve had time to think about what happened, and the truth is seeing all the encouragement and support from people all over the world is amazing.” Despite its failure, the Beresheet is considered a significant engineering achievement. At its launch, it weighed only 600 kg, with around 75% of the weight being comprised of fuel. Upon reaching its final maneuver before landing, it weighed only 180 kg, making it the smallest spacecraft in history. Beresheet’s flight plan was pre-loaded so that it could carry out the long route without the involvement of ground control teams. However, its communications interface allowed engineers to change the flight plan and for the input of additional information and instructions.
ones. The cells are currently able to contract, but do not yet have the ability to pump. They will transplant them into model animals in about a year from now. “Maybe, in 10 years, there will be organ printers in the finest hospitals around the world, and these procedures will be conducted routinely,” Dvir said wistfully. Hospitals, though, will most likely start with simpler organs than hearts when dealing with 3D printed organs. Cardiovascular disease is the world’s leading cause of death, according to the World Health Organization, and transplants are currently the only option available for patients in the worst cases. The number of donors is limited, and many die while waiting. The chances of rejecting the transplant is also concerning.
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This week, scientists in Israel unveiled a 3D print of a heart with human tissue and vessels, calling it a first and a “major medical breakthrough” that advances possibilities for transplants. Although they acknowledged that developing a heart suitable for humans as well as patches to regenerate defective hearts is still a while off, the news was heartening. The heart produced by researchers at Tel Aviv University is about the size of a rabbit’s. It marked “the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers,” noted Tal Dvir, who led the project. “People have managed to 3D-print the structure of a heart in the past, but not with cells or with blood vessels,” he said. Researchers must now teach the printed hearts “to behave” like real
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his brother, Dr. Ido Netanyahu, were given personal effects that belonged to their late brother Yoni on Monday. Yoni Netanyahu was killed in 1976 while commanding the famous hostage rescue in Entebbe, Uganda. His personal effects had been saved by Yosef Shemesh, his former commander in the IDF, who had held onto them for more than 35 years before deciding to gift them to his family. Among the items were Yoni’s personal commando knife, a Pesach Haggadah, his combat overalls, a sleeping bag, and compass. “Yosef was a soldier in the Armored Corps, Battalion 71, on the Golan Heights after the Yom Kippur War, and he has kept personal belongings from Yoni since and brought them to us now,” said an emotional Prime Minister Netanyahu at the handover ceremony. “My brother Ido and I are very impressed,” added the premier. “We have heard about some of the
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
Are You Concerned About the High Costs of Healthcare? l ta o T g in r e g g ta S a d e w 1 in 8 Americans Borro Pay for Healthcare to of $88 Billion Last Year es w York Tim e N e th in d te r o — As rep il 2, 2019 r p A , y a sd e u T n Fear and o
Health 1 in 4 America care: Gallup Survey Finds n Last Year Due s Skipped Treatment to High Costs
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areas such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia. “We understand the complexity of the issue that was addressed in our previous policy announcement, and we will continue to allow listings throughout all of the West Bank but Airbnb will take no profits from this activity in the region,” said the company in a statement. “Any profits generated for Airbnb by any Airbnb host activity in the entire West Bank will be donated to non-profit organizations dedicated to humanitarian aid that serve people in different parts of the world.”
Airbnb had announced in November 19 that it delisted Jewish-owned properties in Judea and Samaria, in what was seen as a major victory for the BDS movement. Deeming the region “disputed,” Airbnb added that it would examine its listings in other conflict-ridden areas such as the Western Sahara. The announcement set off outrage in both Israel and around the world. A slew of politicians and municipalities condemned the decision. Shurat Hadin represented 17 Jewish families from Judea and Samaria with American citizenship who argued that the new policy violated the Fair Trade Act. As an American company, Airbnb must adhere to the Act, which bans discrimination on the basis of religion. “The policy Airbnb announced last November was abject discrimination against Jewish users of the website,” said Shurat Hadin head Nitsana Darshan-Leitner. “Whatever one’s political view, discrimination based on religious affiliation should never be the solution.”
items, some of these things… We knew Yoni’s books, and there is now a Haggadah for Pesach. Thank you.” Ido commented, “It’s exciting after so many years to see these things, especially to see the Haggada Yoni wrote about in his letters. He wrote about the special seder he made in the battalion in a very special and very moving letter.”
Airbnb Reverses Settlement Ban Vacation home rental giant Airbnb announced last week that it would reverse its ban of Jewish homes located in Judea and Samaria. The company announced the change as part of a settlement with
Israel-based law firm Shurat Hadin, which had sued Airbnb under the grounds that banning Jewish-owned homes while allowing Palestinian homes in those areas to remain on the site discriminated against Jews. However, Airbnb says that it will donate all profits that come from vacation rentals in Judea and Samaria to charity, a policy it practices in other “disputed”
Abbas’ New Govt Led by the Palestinian Authority’s new Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, the PA swore in a new government on Saturday at their headquarters in Ramallah. The 22-member government includes 16 new ministers, five of which hail from Gaza. The new government also includes three women
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
Just a few apartments left for sale in Azorim’s Haneviim Boutique Luxury Project The year 2019 ushered in a gust of fresh air for buyers in the Haneviim Boutique luxury real estate project. Five apartments have already been sold since the beginning of the year (January – February 2019), while over the past year (from January – December 2018), a total of thirteen apartments were purchased in Azorim’s elegant project in the heart of Jerusalem. The apartments sold include two- and three-room apartments, as well as the model apartment, which is a four-room apartment. The latter was purchased by Mr. B. of New York, who heard about the project, fell in love with the apartment and bought it for 4.6 million NIS. It is a 118 sq.m. apartment with a 20 sq.m. porch, fully equipped and designed by Dudy Samra, Azorim’s marketing architect.
relatively high stature, which provides breathtaking panoramic views of Jerusalem in all its glory – with ancient and modern Jerusalem spread before the inhabitants’ eyes. The Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives are in full view, creating a gorgeous landscape that is second to none. This in addition to the unique location, which is central but not right in the middle of the masses and the noise. The project is located in a corner abundant with greenery that is still close enough to all of the great things that the center of town has to offer, such as the light rail train and the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, and the magical feel of Jerusalem of the past.
An additional four-room apartment spanning 128.5 sq.m. with a porch of 26.5 sq.m., and a gorgeous five-room apartment spanning 147.5 sq.m. with a porch of 11 sq.m. were sold for 5.5 million NIS. At the moment, there are only four- and five-room apartments left for sale in this stunning project. All of the buyers will also receive a storage room and private parking space in the underground parking lot, which is under security camera surveillance 24/7. Most of the buyers are Israeli couples from central Israel who, as they put it, are coming “to fulfill a lifetime dream – to live in the heart of our captivating capital city, Jerusalem,” but there are also many buyers from France, England, Switzerland and the United States who are in the process of immigrating to Israel. They searched for the right place to start their new lives and found it in the heart of Jerusalem. One of the advantages of Haneviim Boutique is its excellent location and
A small, classy boutique hotel is slated to open in the complex soon with 49 spacious suites. The hotel provides the residents of Haneviim Boutique with a unique option of comfortable accommodations for their children and grandchildren to stay when they come to visit. The hotel will also feature a kosher restaurant and all of the other amenities of a hotel. The building, which is an architectural gem in itself, is surrounded by a private Jerusalem garden that spans five dunams, encircled by a stone wall and filled with shady trees, a fountain and comfortable benches – an authentic Jerusalem courtyard that blends perfectly with the city’s unique atmosphere. The property is registered in the Land Registry (Tabu) under the buyer’s name, because the land upon which Haneviim
Boutique was built – in contrast with most of the land in this area, which belongs to various churches – is private land that was redeemed by Jews many years ago. This provides increased security to buyers looking to purchase a quality home without being surprised later on by additional monetary liabilities. “It touches the heart to see Jews from all over the world coming to this wonderful project and being moved by its location, its proximity to the center of town, Machane Yehuda market, shopping and entertainment centers, synagogues and most of all – by the breathtaking views visible in all directions,” says Yechiel Greenberg, Sales Manager at Haneviim Boutique. “A significant portion of the apartments were purchased buy Americans, British and French Jews who understood the quality of the real estate and couldn’t let this diamond slip through their fingers.” Yechiel Greenberg points out that there are still a few apartments of varying sizes left for sale in the Haneviim Boutique project, with prices ranging between 3,950,000 NIS to 6,070,000 NIS. For additional information for journalists only – Marom Communications: Tal Marom Melovitz 053-7769609
Images are for illustrative purposes only.
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and two Christians. The majority of cabinet ministers will stay on, including Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki and Finance Minister Shukri Bishara. Included in the few incoming members is Palestinian writer Atef Abu Seif, whose beating at the hands of rival Hamas gunmen earlier this year in Gaza went viral.
The cabinet comes after the dissolution of a technocratic government helmed by Rami Hamdallah since 2014 following an agreement with Hamas. Mohammed Shtayyeh was also sworn at the ceremony and replaces Hamdallah, who abruptly resigned last month. Shtayyeh is a member of Fatah’s powerful Central Committee and had served as a political advisor to Abbas in the past. With a doctorate in economics from the UK’s University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, Shtayyeh was pitched by Abbas as a talented clerk who could find a way to fill the PA’s dwindling coffers. Shtayyeh’s economic expertise was widely lauded during the period he headed the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR). Shtayyah’s appointment was hailed by the UN’s Middle East Envoy Nickolay Mladenov, who said in a statement that “all must support the government’s efforts and work to overcome internal divisions.”
Best Places to Live Looking for the perfect place to live? You may have to go south. According to the U.S. News & World Report, Austin, Texas, is the best place to live in the United States. The magazine just released its
list of best places to live in America. It evaluated the country’s 125 most populous metropolitan areas around the nation. Included in the decision-making were factors like affordability, job prospects, and quality of life. Data such as crime rates, availability of health care, and median household income were used in conjunction with results from polls. For the third year in a row, Austin, Texas, was crowned the best place to live in the U.S. Although the number of people moving to Austin has decreased, it scored high in desirability, and its net migration score was still higher than that of most cities.
Colorado cities took the next two spots with Denver and Colorado Springs ranking second and third, respectively. Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Des Moines, Iowa, rounded out the top five, proving that coastal cities are no longer dominating. “Our Northeastern cities, which are epicenters of higher education and economic development, are not growing nearly as much as places in Florida, California, and Texas,” noted Devon Thorsby, real estate editor for U.S. News & World Report. “Plus, they are expensive to live in. Topranked places have the characteristics people are looking for, including steady job growth, affordability and a high quality of life.” While the majority of the top 25 best places to live are located in the middle of the country, the Pacific Northwest is still popular thanks to its tech boom. San Francisco — which moved up from No. 20 to No. 7 — Portland, Oregon, and Seattle are all in the top 10. Incredibly, only one Northeast city cracked the top 20. Washington, D.C., dropped to No. 19 after ranking No. 8 last year due to a decrease in housing affordability and net migration. It still made it to the top 20, though, so it should be relieved. Portland, Maine, was the next closest city in the Northeast, coming in at the 23rd spot, while the Big Apple found itself way down the list, at a dismal spot number 90.
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California: Tax Central?
As the tax deadline passes, California prepares to ramp up its taxes on everything from soda to gas in the liberal state’s latest campaign to pilfer more money from the pockets of its residents. California has always loved taxes. At 13.3 percent, California already has the highest income tax in the United States, as well as the ninth-highest
combined state and local sales taxes in the country. Its state sales tax of 7.3 percent is America’s highest, and it has recently started applying the sky-high sales tax to purchases made from out-of-state sellers. The Golden State also recently hiked gas taxes by 40 percent, giving it the second-highest gasoline prices in the United States. With the state legislature completely dominated by the Democratic Party following November’s midterm elections, Californians fear that this could only be the beginning. Currently, the state legislature is considering $6.2 billion worth of tax increase proposals, with the state’s Republican Party warning that the number is expected to rise even more. The taxes cover everything from soft drinks to water to tires and car batteries. “We have the highest gas tax in the nation and the majority party has gone as far as taxing our air,” California State Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove said. “Now, they are proposing to tax our water, soda, tires, and more. Higher taxes won’t solve California’s affordability and housing problems, and they will only make things worse.” Among the more eyebrow-raising measures is a proposal to tax drinking water in order to fight water pollution in low-income communities and the state’s rural areas. If passed, the act would force Californians to pay between 95 cents and $10 a month depending on their water meter. Democrats are also weighing taxing sugary drinks in what they say is an effort to combat obesity. The tax would include soda, iced teas, coffees, and sports beverages and could go as high as 20 percent.
Georgetown Students Vote for Slavery Reparations
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Florida is also a state of note this year as Sarasota debuted at No. 18, with the highest net migration score and increases in desirability, affordability, quality of life, and job growth. Tampa also boasted housing affordability, net migration, quality of life, and job market scores that helped it climb to No. 56 from No. 75. In terms of the worst places to live, San Juan, Puerto Rico – which is still recovering from 2017’s devastating Hurricane Maria – ranked last again while several California cities, including Bakersfield, Stockton and Modesto, also filled out the bottom of the list. Not surprisingly, New York had the worst commute with Washington, D.C., a close second. Nothing to write home about. Here are the top 20 cities in the U.S.: 1. Austin, Texas 2. Denver, Colorado 3. Colorado Springs, Colorado 4. Fayetteville, Arkansas 5. Des Moines, Iowa 6. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota 7. San Francisco, California 8. Portland, Oregon 9. Seattle, Washington 10. Raleigh & Durham, North Carolina 11. Huntsville, Alabama 12. Madison, Wisconsin 13. Grand Rapids, Michigan 14. San Jose, California 15. Nashville, Tennessee 16. Asheville, North Carolina 17. Boise, Idaho 18. Sarasota, Florida 19. Washington, D.C. 20. Charlotte, North Carolina
Shalom aleichem
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Students at Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown University have voted to set up a reparations fund to com-
ב״סד
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titution funded toward conscious, descendant advocacy-based policy is the best way that we as an institution can support these individuals,” said Nile Blass, a senior member of the aforementioned student group. “The vestiges of slavery are still so evident, and so many of the African-Americans whose ancestors were enslaved are still so disenfranchised,” added Eliza Dunni Phillips, a sophomore who has tracked down the descendants of the original slaves sold by Georgetown. “It’s not enough to say sorry. Georgetown has to put their money where their mouth is and invest into the descendant community.” The reparations bill comes as the once-fringe idea has made inroads among the political left. First proposed in 1991 by John Conyers, the bill has never made it out of the House Judiciary Committee due to its controversial nature. It now appears that it will serve as a kind of litmus test for Democratic presidential candidates as they discuss America’s race relations and has been endorsed by Democratic Party presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris.
Tiger’s Back
pensate the descendants auctioned off by the school as slaves almost two centuries ago. The referendum was overwhelmingly supported by students, who gave the “Reconciliation Contribution” fund a clear majority of 66%. Students will now be charged an extra $27.20 each semester in order to pay the descendants of the 272
slaves Georgetown sold in 1838. “Our students are contributing to an important national conversation and we share their commitment to addressing Georgetown’s history with slavery,” said Georgetown Vice President Todd Olson in a statement. The successful motion is the result of a group called GU272 Advocacy Team that argued that the
reparations fund would “heal” what they said was the university’s racial tension. The Team says that the fund will generate more than $400,000 a year and would “be allocated for charitable purposes directly benefiting the descendants of the GU272 and other persons once enslaved by the Maryland Jesuits.” “We believe that financial res-
It’s been eleven years and he finally tasted success once again this week. On Sunday, Tiger Woods threw his arms in the air in celebration when he won the Masters tournament at Augusta National. Woods’ putt at No. 18 finished off a 2-under final round (and a 13-under tournament) in a legendary performance capped with a vintage fist pump. Francesco Molinari, who had been a par-making machine throughout the tournament, felt the pressure of facing the red-clad Woods on Sunday. Woods was tied
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for the lead with five holes to go... four holes to go... Then, on the par-5 No. 15, Woods laid his second shot on the green and put the pressure on Molinari, who hit his third shot in the water and finished with a double-bogey. Woods drained a birdie, taking the lead with three holes to go. 2008 was the last time that Woods won a major – at the U.S. Open. After that, Woods experienced personal drama and battled injuries. He had considered retiring but played on. He finished in the top five at Augusta three times this decade, but never fully reached the top. The last time Woods won the Masters was in 2005. He took down Chris DiMarco in the playoff that day for his fourth Masters victory. Woods, 43, now has 15 majors and five Masters championships.
Pelosi Talks Socialism
As the most powerful person in the Democratic Party, Nancy Pelosi has a lot to say. This week, in an interview aired on Sunday, the House Speaker pushed back against Republicans’ assertions that her party is embracing socialism. “I do reject socialism as an economic system,” Pelosi said in the “60 Minutes” piece. “If people have that view, that’s their view. That is not the view of the Democratic Party.” Pelosi charged that Republicans have employed an “ongoing theme” of trying to incorrectly paint Democrats as fringe socialists for decades. “When Medicare was done by the Congress at the time, under Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan said, ‘Medicare will lead us to a socialist dictatorship,’” she said, referring to comments made by the Republican president in 1961, when he warned about the perils of “socialized medicine” before running for elected office. But there are many in the Dem-
ocratic Party who have taken to the socialism beat. Along with Pelosi retaking the speaker’s gavel in the November midterm elections came “progressive” lawmakers including outspoken newbies Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib. The “Green New Deal” and “Medicare for All” are both programs that Democrats have been touting with socialism at their core. Asked if there are major rifts between the moderate and more progressive factions of her party, Pelosi minimized the ideological disagreement among House Democrats. She said all members of her caucus, regardless of their position on the political spectrum, understand the importance of holding “the center” of American politics. “By and large, whatever orientation they came to Congress with, they know that we have to hold the center. That we have to go down the mainstream,” she asserted. After the interview aired, President Trump took to Twitter to comment on the piece. “Such a ‘puff piece’ on Nancy Pelosi by @60Minutes, yet her leadership has passed no meaningful Legislation. All they do is Investigate, as it turns out, crimes that they instigated & committed. The Mueller No Collusion decision wasn’t even discussed – and she was a disaster at W.H.,” Trump tweeted. Trump rarely uses Twitter to denigrate Pelosi, although he is vocal about her partner, Senator Chuck Schumer, on the forum.
Deadly Tornados Rock the U.S.
At least eight people are dead after 18 devastating tornados barreled through the southern United States over the weekend. The fatalities included two children who were killed after a tree smashed into their car in Texas. The Angelina County Sheriff’s Depart-
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ment said in a statement that officers had received a call on Saturday “about a tree that had fallen on a car.” Another 13-year-old boy in Louisiana died after he fell into a irrigation ditch that was overflowing with flood waters. A number of other deaths and injuries were reported over the weekend in places such as Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. The storms also delayed over 6,000 flights as it moved along the East Coast. The National Weather Service (NWS) reported that the tornados were unsually strong, with average winds of 140mph.
Where Have All the Farmers Gone?
farmers is also steadily rising. The figure marks a rise from 56.3 years of age in 2012 in the latest sign that the industry is aging. “As farmers age out and retire, we’re not adding enough new farmers to make up for it,” Sophie Ackoff told the Washington Post. A member of the National Young Farmers Coalition, Ackoff contends that the agriculture department needs to “focus on technical service and loans and grant programs” in order to stay relevant. “We need younger farmers to succeed because there aren’t enough of them,” Ackoff said. “We’re not going to suddenly attract 40-year-olds,” added Jeff Tripician, who serves as the president of the Perdue Premium Meat food giant. “We have seen a 30-year decline in almost every single metric. They’re all bad. The number of jobs lost, the average net income down 45 percent since 2013. There’s no news here. It’s an acceleration of bad. What have we done to fix this?”
New Jersey’s Assisted Suicide Bill
A new census commissioned by the Department of Agriculture sheds light on the depleted state of American farming. The census, which comes out every five years, shows alarming numbers in almost every field, no pun intended. Overall, the number of farms in the country slid 3.2 percent to only 2.04 million, while the total acres farmed across the U.S. dropped 1.6% to 900.2 million acres in 2017. The industry also appears increasingly centralized as major players continue gobbling up their smaller counterparts. The phenomenon is most pronounced in the dairy sector; since 2012, dairy farms have dropped 15%, with 75% of total sales being produced by only 105,453 farms. Another worrying statistic for farmers is the lack of people willing to enter the industry. The census found that farmers with under 10 years of experience made up only 27% of the industry’s total producers, a relatively low figure compared to past years. At 57.5 years, the average age for
The Garden State is now helping people end their lives. On Friday, New Jersey has become the eighth jurisdiction to allow for terminally ill patients to end their own lives. Gov. Phil Murphy signed the Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act last week, which will allow “New Jersey adults to end their lives peacefully, with dignity, and at their own discretion,” according to a press release from the governor’s office. The law will go into effect on August 1. The law will permit terminally ill adult patients living in New Jersey the right to obtain and self-administer the substance to end their lives, according to the release. In order for the patient to get the drug, doctors must determine that he or she has a life expectancy of six months or less, has the capacity to make health care decisions, and is acting voluntarily. Other measures would require patients to make two requests and also give them the chance to rescind their request. California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia also allow for terminally ill patients to legally kill themselves.
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Louisiana is Stressed Out Armchair Art
Louisiana is the most stressful state in the U.S. to live in, a new study found, noting its residents’ poor overall health, low average credit score, and inadequate access to mental health services. “The Pelican State has risen from its 2018 position as second most stressed state,” wrote the Wallethub. com website, which carried out the survey. “Louisiana ranks 5th in both average hours worked per week and percent of unhealthy employees, not to mention low credit scores and some of the highest crime rates per capita.” The study ranked all 50 states according to their stress level. The site checked 40 factors to determine stress level, including the average weekly hours worked each week, the amount of bankruptcies, and the number of adults getting an adequate amount of sleep each night. Coming in at second place was Mississippi, followed by Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, New Mexico, and Alabama. Nevada, Alaska, and Oklahoma rounded out the top 10. According to the survey, the least stressful state to live in is Minnesota, followed by Utah, Massachusetts, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The study also found that Nevada has the highest divorce rate, with Louisiana and Florida taking second and third place. At only 15.88%, Utah has the lowest separation and divorce rate, 1.6 times lower than Nevada’s 26.19%. Meanwhile, Vermont has the highest concentration of mental health professionals in the United States, with 73.64 psychologists per 100,000 residents. That figure is 4.9 times higher than Mississippi, which came it last with only 15.07. At 2.4%, Hawaii enjoys the lowest unemployment rate in the United States, with Alaska coming in last at 6.6%. Wondering where New York came in? Well, we landed in the 21st spot, with a total score of 44.24. No saying if that stress thermometer gets a bit hotter as Pesach cleaning hits into gear.
A curvy chair now sits in Milan’s famous main square, Piazza del Duomo. The piece is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Up 5&6, a chair designed by Gaetano Pesce, which has earned a place in the history of Italian design. The seat comes with a ball and chain as a footrest and was intended to produce talk about the idea that women are “prisoners.” Now, fifty years since it went on the market, the 26-foot-tall chair has been installed as part of an international interior design event. Along with the oversized silhouette, the chair has 400 arrows piercing its surface. The work is titled, “Suffering Majesty.” Other interesting design pieces are popping up around the city as well. In the Tortona design district, British sculptor and urban artist Alex Chinneck has left an entire building “unzipped,” with its 55-foot facade peeled back. Inside, more zips open up to reveal what’s behind walls and floors. Another interesting piece is found in Palazzo Isimbardi, a 16-century building that hosts the mayor’s office. There, London-based French architect Arthur Mamou-Mani has created a piece called Confiera, a 3D-printed installation made from renewable materials comprised of 700 modular bio-bricks. Art, it seems, is in the details.
Brit-”Ish” Michelle Myers is trying to keep calm and carry on. The woman from Arizona experienced an unbelievable change when she went to bed one night with an extreme headache. When Myers woke up, she inexplicably started speaking with a British accent. For
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the record, the 45-year-old has never left the United States. Unfortunately, although rare, Myers is suffering from a medical condition called Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS). The condition usually occurs due to stroke or head trauma. People who generally suffer from it present with changes in timing of their language or in the intonation of speech, giving them a foreign-sounding accent.
There have been cases where the person who has FAS starts speaking a completely different language. In 2016, a 16-year-old woke up from a coma speaking fluent Spanish after a soccer injury. The boy spoke mostly English before, although he knew some Spanish. Other FAS cases have occurred all over the world, including those who have switched from British English to French or from Spanish to Hungarian, says the University of Texas. There are at least 100 documented cases of this condition. In Myers’s case, she started speaking with a British accent periodically since 2011 after experiencing intense headaches. For the past two years, though, she has been speaking exclusively with a British accent. Doctor say that the accent may go away at some point, although they are not able to predict when. We do not know if Myers has been asking for tea and crumpets over the past two years as well. In any case, long live the Queen.
Bees in Her Eye
Last week, a woman with the last name of He visited the eye doctor in
Taiwan. She had been experiencing pain in her eye and went to the doctor when her eye began to swell. When Dr. Hong Chi Ting at Fooyin University Hospital examined the 28-year-old’s eye he noticed something that shouldn’t have been there. Slowly, the doctor pulled out four small bees that had taken up residence in He’s eye. They had gone into her eye when she had been pulling weeds during an annual
tomb-sweeping festival. The four bees were sweat bees that are attracted to a person’s sweat and can drink tears, which are rich in protein. Thankfully, all the bees were alive and intact when Dr. Hong pulled them out. Even more fortunate, He was wearing contact lenses and wasn’t rubbing her eyes while she was wearing the lenses. If she would have rubbed her eyes, the bees would have been agitated and
would have produced venom, leading to blindness. Dr. Hong noted that it is extremely rare – almost impossible – for bees to enter into someone’s eye. “This is the first time in Taiwan we’ve seen something like this,” he said. We’re happy they told these bees to buzz off.
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Lisel Heise may be 100 but she’s still running. In fact, the German centenarian has decided to run for election for council next month in her hometown of Kirchheimbolanden. Foremost on Heise’s mind is reopening the town’s outdoor pool, which was closed in 2011. She’s not happy with the replacement outside of town and says that people have been ignoring her suggestions because of her age. “The microphone was often turned off when I started to speak about the swimming pool, and then of course you stop, there’s no point,” she told Reuters. “But now that I’m 100, I’m in a different position. Now I have the chance to open my mouth and say something.” The former sports teacher is hoping to win in the May 26 election. She says that people in the town of 8,000 are starting to listen to the feisty, white-haired newbie politician. A grandmother and great-grandmother many times over, Heise’s main hope in running for office is so that she can “finally do something for young people.” She has advice for those looking to live a long life. “To reach the age of 100, I tell everybody: live healthily when you’re young, do lots of sports, eat well, and train your mind,” she said. Sounds simple enough.
Beards vs. Dogs Roomba Robber
Recently, a terrified housewife called the police on her vacuum
cleaner. No, it wasn’t cleaning her out or clearing her out. Instead, it was making noise. The fearful female heard mysterious sounds coming from her restroom. Too scared to investigate on her own, she dialed 911 and told dispatchers she could see shadows coming from under the door. Just minutes later, deputies and their K9 stormed her home and heard rustling coming from the
room. They ordered the burglar to surrender but the rustlings became more frequent. Finally, after not hearing from the thief, police broke down the bathroom door with their weapons drawn. They were greeted by a Roomba Robotic Vacuum Cleaner busily doing its job. Nothing was taken from the woman’s home except for lots of dust. And there’s no crime in that.
In the battle of the beards versus the dogs, the beards win – or maybe
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
Making Pesach Just a Little
Brighter For those spending yom tov in the hospital.
Achiezer Hospital Respite Rooms Stocked for Pesach South Nassau Communities Hospital G-Wing (next to the volunteer office)
Mercy Medical Center 2nd floor – Room 2152
St. Johns Episcopal Hospital
First floor – Room CP142 (across from patient relations office)
LIJ Hospital
Zuckerberg/Katz Pavilion Ambulette Hallway – Room T194
NEW
NYU Winthrop Hospital Bikur Cholim House 293 1st Street (adjacent to the hospital)
St. Francis Hospital
Pastoral Care Office (past the information desk)
ACHIEZER’S URGENT HOTLINE Is Available 24 Hours a Day Throughout Pesach
516-791-4444
North Shore University Hospital (Manhasset) *Stocked by Ohr Yehuda Memorial Tower Building – 4th Floor
Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center *Stocked by Satmar Bikur Cholim In the Basement (opposite the cafeteria)
A very special Thank You to our devoted sponsors
and Mark & Barbara Silber and Family
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
they lose. A new study has concluded that men’s beards contain more harmful bacteria than dog fur. The study was intended to determine whether humans could contract dog-borne diseases from an MRI scanner shared by veterinaians. The researchers compared swabs from the beards of 18 men and swabs from the necks of 30 different dogs. The results? Turns out that all the men – aged 18 to 76 – had microbial counts in their beards. Only 23 out of the 30 dogs showed the same high microbial counts. Additionally, some of the men’s beards – seven of them – tested positive for bacteria that could be harmful to humans.
“On the basis of these findings, dogs can be considered as clean compared with bearded men,” Professor Andreas Gutzeit of Switzerland’s Hirslanden Clinic said. News of the germy beards have offended many people – many of them with beards. “I think it’s possible to find all sorts of unpleasant things if you took swabs from people’s hair and hands and then tested them,” says Keith Flett, founder of the Beard Liberation Front. “I don’t believe that beards in themselves are unhygienic.” He added, “There seems to be a constant stream of negative stories about beards that suggest it’s more about pogonophobia [an extreme dislike of beards] than anything else.”
Looking for something to do over chol hamoed? Check out TJH’s chol hamoed guide in our Pesach supplement
In other words, put your beard on your cleaning-for-Pesach to-do list, and we’ll all be happy.
Teaching Yoga at 100
Tao Porchon -Lynch can be found most morning wearing leggings and teaching yoga to tens of participants. Porchon-Lynch is quite different from other yoga instructors. For one, she also does ballroom dancing. Additionally, she is 100 years old. Porchon-Lynch grew up in a French colony in India and now lives near New York City. She saw boys in India practicing yoga on the beach when she was 7. Her aunt, though, admonished her and told her that yoga poses were not “ladylike.” That
did not deter Porchon-Lynch, who said, “If boys can do it, I can do it.” By the time she was a teen, she was teaching yoga and she hasn’t stopped. She teaches her participants how to breathe. Sitting up, she says, is important in life. “Your lungs are not down in the navel, they are above,” she says. Let them breathe, she urges. Porchon-Lynch has a sunny demeanor regardless of the weather outside each day. “When I wake up in the morning,” she says, “I look at the sun and I say, ‘This is going to be the best day of my life’ and it will be. It always is.” Porchon-Lynch has had four hip replacements. That has not stopped her from her daily yoga and the ballroom dancing she does with much younger partners at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio. She’s even been featured on the TV show, “America’s Got Talent.” Earlier this year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi awarded her the prestigious Padma Shri Award for exceptional achievement. Porchon-Lynch’s advice to others? Focus on your breathing. “It’s teaching us,” she says.
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
COMMUNITY ADVISORY:
MEASLES
Measles is a highly contagious, serious and in some
to receive all recommended vaccinations, especially the
cases, potentially life-threatening disease. There is
MMR vaccine.
currently no treatment for measles infection.
While there is thankfully no cause for immedi-
However, measles can be prevented with MMR
ate concern in our community, it is our collective
Vaccination. Immunizations are safe and critical in
responsibility to ensure that our families, friends and
order to maintain a healthy community especially
neighbors are all immunized according to the appro-
in a community as close-knit as ours.
priate protocols set forth by the CDC. This includes the
We are well aware of the misinformation being
immunization of all children and adults.
spread regarding vaccinations and reject any
Any community member that is unsure of the
unproven unscientific statements that contradict
status of their immunizations or unsure of their
all available scientific-based data on vaccinations.
immunity is advised to consult with their primary
As such, we strongly urge all members of the Far
care physician as the appropriate tests can easily be
Rockaway, Five Towns and surrounding communities
administered.
May our collective efforts be a Kiddush Hashem and in the merit of this communal unity may we be fortunate enough to prevent measles or any other diseases from spreading within our community.
Wishing everyone a joyous Yom Tov and a Chag Kasher V’Sameach, Dr. Dr.Zev ZevAsh Ash Dr. Dr.Zev ZevCarrey Carrey Dr. Deborah Dienstag Dr. Deborah Dienstag Dr. Aaron Glatt Dr. Aaron Glatt Dr. Abraham Green Dr. Abraham Green Dr. Judith Green Dr.Steven JudithGreenstein Green Dr. Dr. Max Halpern Dr. Max Halpern Dr.Zahava Marilyn Kattuputhusseril Dr. Hersh Dr. Marilyn Kattuputhusseril Dr. Steven Kellner
Dr. Kellner Dr.Steven Jonathan Klahr Dr. Jonathan Klahr Dr. Hylton Lightman Dr. Michael Levine Dr.Hylton JasonLightman Ostreicher Dr. Dr.Jason Evan Ostreicher Pockriss Dr. Dr. Pockriss Dr.Evan David Rhein Dr. David Rhein Dr. David Rosenberg Dr. David Rosenberg Dr.Howard HowardRosenfeld Rosenfeld Dr. Dr. Joseph Rozenbaum Dr. Joseph Rozenbaum
Dr. Dr.Daniel DanielSacolick Sacolick Dr. Israel Samson Dr. Israel Samson Dr. Max Scheer Dr.Moshe MosheSchlusselberg Schlusselberg Dr. Dr.David DavidSimai Simai Dr. Dr. Dr.Neil NeilSmith Smith Dr. Ingrid Soltys Dr. Ingrid Soltys Dr. Mark Sperber Dr.Phillip Mark Sperber Dr. Steinfeld Dr. Brian Wetchler Dr. Phillip Steinfeld
For any questions or for more information, please email info@achiezer.org
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HaGaonim HaRav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi and Rav Shimon Baadani Bring Spirit of Tahara to Teveriah
HaRav Shimon Baadani addressing the Dirshu Teveriah siyum
Rav Dovid Hofstedter greeting HaRav Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi at the siyum
By Chaim Gold
“T
he city of Teveriah has never seen such a powerful, overt demonstration of the importance of Torah. The crowd was massive, and it was clear that residents of Teveriah who care about Yiddishkeit were deeply moved. To see two octogenarian, leading gedolim, the Ashkenazi gaon, HaRav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi, shlita,
Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Ateres Yisrael, and the Sefardi gaon, HaRav Shimon Baadani, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah V’Chaim, coupled with the Chassidishe gedolim, the sons of the Sanz-Klausenberger Rebbe and the Stolin-Karliner Rebbe who all troubled themselves to travel to Teveriah and give messages of chizuk to the city’s inhabitants, was the greatest demonstration of achdus and kevod
haTorah that the city has seen in a long time!” Those were the words of Reb David Ohana, a member of the City Council of Teveria for Degel HaTorah. What happened in Teveriah during the week of Rosh Chodesh Nissan and why was it so historic and significant? The event was a siyum on Masechta Chulin that the Daf HaYomi had recently completed, which is a great
simcha in and of itself, but truth be told, it was far more significant than that. A Spiritual Response It is no secret to everyone living in Eretz Yisrael and many in the diaspora that the Torah observant population of Teveriah is under siege. The recently elected mayor of Teveriah, Ron Kubi, is a rabidly anti-religious
Andrew M. Cuomo New York State Governor “Wishing you and your family a Happy Passover”
Andrew M. Cuomo Paid for by Andrew Cuomo 2018 P.O. Box 4105, New York, NY 10163
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
Mesiras Nefesh for Torah and Mitzvos Will Bring Geulah The final address of the evening was given by Rav Dovid Hofstedter, Nasi of Dirshu. Rav Hofstedter began his address on a personal note. “When I first came to Teveriah many years ago, I was met with a spiritual midbar, a spiritual desert. Today, however, we see the Torah community
known Medrash that says, ‘When the time came to redeem Bnei Yisrael from Mitzrayim they did not have mitzvos. Hashem therefore gave them the mitzvah of korban Pesach and bris milah. “The Jewish people became influenced by the culture of Mitzrayim. They enjoyed the Egyptian holidays, danced with them and mixed with the goyim – that is how they sank to the 49th level of tumah… “The only way to extricate themselves from the culture of Mitzrayim was with mesiras nefesh, with blood – blood of milah and blood of Pesach – real mesiras nefesh. “Yes, we have zechusim, but to be an oveid Hashem requires sacrifice. To think that with a 30 or 40-minute superficial seder we are yotzeh and then we are done?! “If we show that we love our mesorah, we learn with every fiber of our hearts and our souls, and cut ourselves off from the culture of the goyim, then certainly Hashem will help us and, just as we were redeemed in the month of Nissan from Mitzrayim, so too will He redeem us once again in Nissan with the geulah shelaima.”
“When the Torah promises something, we know it will be fulfilled and we have now seen with our own eyes how it is being fulfilled!”
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Chizuk in Limud HaTorah, a Harbinger for the Geulah One of the gedolim who has expressed great worry over the fate of Teveriah’s Jews is Rav Shimon Baadani. Rav Baadani addressed the assemblage like a father speaks to his sons. He said, “I have occasion to travel all over the world and wherever I go, I see this wonderous development, a Torah revolution that is transpiring. So many people who never learned Torah are starting to learn with such dedication. “They are not just learning Chumash, but Gemara too! It is not just bnei yeshiva, but businessmen too! When the Torah promises something, we know it will be fulfilled and we have now seen with our own eyes how it is being fulfilled! “I am sure that in the merit of the additional Torah being learned here, he who battles Yiddishkeit, he who declares war on Shabbos ,will not succeed. I truly feel that Hashem sent the difficulties to this city in order to encourage us to strengthen ourselves.” Rav Baadani and Rav Ezrachi were preceded by a fiery drasha given by the son of the Sanz-Klausenberger Rebbe, HaGaon HaRav Yosef Moshe Dov Halberstam, shlita, who serves as Rosh Yeshiva of the entire network of Sanzer Yeshivos and came as his father’s personal emissary.
growing, blooming and blossoming, baruch Hashem! “Still,” Rav Hofstedter remarked, “we the geulah in Teveriah and in the entire world has not yet come. There is increased anti-Semitism, around the globe. Even in Eretz Yisrael, with all of the increase in Torah, there is so much hatred for the Torah, r”l. How do we explain this? “Perhaps we can turn to the well-
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In addition, they will accept any new learners who want to join their programs and take the test without the usual prerequisites that are in place in other locales in Eretz Yisroel. They will also be giving shiurim for aspiring maggidei shiur to improve their delivery skills.
30 Over
HaRav Ezrachi: Thanking… The Anti-Torah Agitators? After thanking Dirshu for promoting Torah in the city in an unprecedented way, Rav Ezrachi went on to thank an unlikely protagonist in the drama occurring in Teveriah during recent months. The Rosh Yeshiva said, “When the Bnei Yisrael left Mitzrayim, we find that Pharaoh regretted sending them away and ran after them in an attempt to force them to return. The pasuk tells us, ‘Pharaoh hikriv; Pharaoh came close.’ Close has a positive connotation, coming close to someone is a term generally used in the positive sense, but Pharaoh had no positive intentions. He wanted to destroy the Bnei Yisrael! Chazal, however, tell us that something positive did come out of his efforts. As a result of their fear, Pharaoh succeeded in ‘drawing close’ the hearts of the Bnei Yisrael to their Father in heaven. When the Bnei Yisrael saw Pharaoh drawing close, when they understood his diabolical designs against them, they davened to Hashem! They increased their yiras Shamayim.” Rav Ezrachi continued, “I therefore want to give thanks to those here in Teveriah who, through their diabolical actions, have succeeded in bringing so many Teveriah residents closer to Hashem as can be evidenced by this massive, beautiful event. After all, as a result of this event, tens of new shiurim will be established by Dirshu in this city, tens upon tens of new chavrusa partnerships will be start-
ed, so much Torah and so much yiras shomayim will be added in this city!” Nevertheless, Rav Ezrachi concluded by addressing the anti-religious mayor and urging him to desist his anti-religious designs, “Enough already!” At the siyum, Dirshu announced that they will open more than ten new Daf Yomi shiurim in Teveriah as well as Daf HaYomi B’Halacha shiurim.
F
demagogue who has very effectively used social media in his frenzied battle against religion in Teveriah and against charedim in particular. He has made a conscious effort to trample on the kedushah of Shabbos in the city and has done everything in his power to thwart the growth of the city’s religious community. Recently, a number of Teveriah’s prominent rabbonim and askanim went to HaGaon HaRav Gershon Edelstein, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Ponovezh, to consult him on what they can do. The Rosh Yeshiva’s unequivocal reply was that if he is trying to retard the growth of Torah and denigrate its honor, then the response must be to increase Torah learning and k’vod haTorah in the city. It was in light of this advice from the senior gadol hador that the hanhalah of Dirshu decided to invest a tremendous amount of resources in Teveriah, promoting limud haTorah and accountability in learning.
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Dr. Gedaliah Mordechai
Stern
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
•
1943 The future of our nation seemed bleak. The great centers of Torah learning were all but destroyed, consumed by the flames of the Holocaust. Torah life in America was weak, with little Shabbos observance and almost no established Torah learning.
BottomLineMG.com
AND THEN IT ALL CHANGED. With the transplantation of the great Yeshivos from Eastern Europe to America after the war, a new Torah landscape emerged, changing the face of Torah infrastructure forever. Under the leadership of various great Rebbeim, Gedolim and Roshei Yeshivos, Torah in America began to flourish and prosper, becoming the thriving center of Torah we are zoche to be a part of today.
•
1997 In 1997, Dirshu was founded as another step in the journey to rebuild and restore the world of Torah Jewry to the glory of previous generations. Dirshu’s mission is to increase Yedias HaTorah, Limud Mussar and Limud Halachah, and reignite the spark of Limud HaTorah by instituting worldwide programs that encourage true acquisition of Torah and Halachah.
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
2020
In 2020, at the Dirshu World Siyum, we will celebrate together the culmination of Klal Yisroel’s efforts to reignite worldwide passion and love for Limud HaTorah.
ELEVATING THE TORAH LANDSCAPE FOREVER.
NORTH AMERICA
Prudential Center February 9, 2020 תש”פ,י”ד שבט
Join Dirshu in this monumental journey and change the way you learn – forever.
OTHER SIYUM LOCATIONS: England France South Africa South America
ERETZ YISRAEL
Yad Eliyahu Late Dec. 2019 תש”פ,כסלו
8885-Dirshu DirshuWorldSiyum.org
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Around the
Community
Talmidim of Yeshiva Darchei Torah’s Harriet Keilson Early Childhood Center learned how to bake matzos on campus last week with the visiting Model Matzah Bakery
CAHAL Bakes Matzos
R
abbi Dov Langer’s CAHAL 7 th-8th grade class at Yeshiva Darchei Torah went to visit the Pupa Tzeilim Matzah Bakery in Williamsburg, NY, last week. They learned firsthand all the steps it takes to bake matzah for Pesach. Measuring and pouring water into flour, mixing and kneading the dough, dividing and rolling the dough, the dough going through the hole rollers, and, of course, baking matzah. That was the most exciting part of the process as the boys were able to go right up to the ovens and watch how quickly the matzos baked. Once they were done, the boys watched the weighing and packaging of each box. They also watched how the mashgichim do their work so vigilantly. The students were amazed at the promptness of everyone who works in a Matzah Bakery. They were then treated to a delicious chometz lunch at the Mozzarella pizza store in Williamsburg.
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
בס”ד
Rabbi Yehoshua Kalish שלטא Board of Trustees
Mr. Shmuel Roth
Mr. Yaakov Klein
For more information and for references from our parent body, please call 516-321-0964 or email mesivtainfo@gmail.com MSPLB
120 Long Beach Blvd, Long Beach NY
שערי פרוזדור
M E S I V TA S H A’ A R E I PRUZDOR
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Around the Community
The Yetzias Mitzrayim Experience at Gan Chamesh
“B
’chol dor vador chayav adam lirot et atzmo keilu hu yatzah m’Mitzrayim.” The story of Yetzias Mitzrayim came to life at Gan Chamesh, Chabad’s Early Childhood Center. In an elaborate, realistic dramatization, children experienced the process of going from slavery to geulah
in a hands-on and age-appropriate way. Using costumes, scenery, and props, the children were transported to Mitzrayim to “experience” the hard labor of the Jews under Paroah’s reign. They honed their engineering skills as they built all kinds of pyramids and buildings using a variety of materials. The teachers took on
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the roles of Moshe and Paroah and helped the story unfold. It was truly a sight to behold as the children finally left Mitzrayim and reached the “Yam Suf.” The young students were able to visualize the waters splitting in half and feel the euphoria of crossing on the dry land. Young children learn best
through role playing and dramatization enables them to gain a deeper understanding of the world around them. The Yetzias Mitzrayim experience helped the children internalize the meaningful messages of Pesach so they will come to the seder with a strong sense of gratitude, excitement and pride.
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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Around the Community
MAY Torah Bowl Division Champs Again
M
esivta Ateres Yaakov’s B&R Zahler Torah Bowl Team was once again victorious in the tristate inter-school Torah Bowl Competition this year, taking top seed in the Eastern Division. This marks the fifth straight
year the Eagles have been victorious in their division. Under the leadership of their coach, Rabbi Tsvi Greenfield, and senior co-captains, Dovi Maltz and Yosef Silver, the team went 7-1 this season.
Kashering the mehadrin kitchen at Maimonides Medical Center with its rav ha’machsher Harav Avrohom Friedlander and Harav Yitzchok Stein, Gavad, Bais Din Zedek Faltichan
Rav Dovid Morgenstern and Rav Avrohom Bender with winners of Yeshiva Darchei Torah’s Grand Bechina raffle. All of the third, fourth, and fifth grade talmidim took a 100-question test on the entire Sefer Shemos.
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
Around the Community
Playing with Hebrew
T
wo weeks before Pesach, the HALB 5th grade girls approached Mr. Altabe, Lower School Principal, with a proposal he could not refuse. The girls wanted to write a play which included dramatic scenes, costumes and original songs all in Ivrit. The (15 page!) play was written, which was followed by another incredible request. The girls asked Mr. Altabe to delegate the
parts of the play as they did not want anyone’s feelings to be hurt. The students were able to focus on the importance of bein adam l’chavero while under the pressure of practicing and designing a production on a short time table. We were so proud. The play was fantastic! It was an original, all-Ivrit production that was infused with creativity, love and confidence. Yasher koach banot!
Central Students Working with DNA
S
tudents in Mrs. Shulamith Biderman and Mrs. RuthFried’s Forensics and AP Biology classes at Central attended DNALC West, where they used chip analysis and bacterial transformation to conduct experiments in human DNA fingerprinting. The forensic DNA profiling lab examined a highly variable tandem repeat polymorphism, like the ones used by the FBI for DNA
fingerprinting. Coupling chip analysis with a new, fast amplification protocol allowed students to isolate, amplify, and analyze their own DNA. The bacterial transformation experiment illustrated the direct link between an organism’s genotype and phenotype. Students were excited by the opportunity to apply the lab techniques they learned in their science classes in a real-world context.
An American arrested and interrogated by the KGB Hershel Lieber recounts his ordeal Page 106
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Around the Community
Second graders in Shulamith made their own charoses last week. They peeled and grated the apples and mixed them with cinnamon and grape juice. They think Pesach is just “grate”!
Code Rush 2019 Competition
Receive a COMPLIMENTARY hearing evaluation with your visit.
CALL TODAY! 516-204-7272
Dr. Shalom Motechin 513 Chestnut St. · Cedarhurst, NY 11516 | 516-295-1300 921 49th St. · Brooklyn, NY 11219 | 718-283-8456 hearingsolutionsli.com The following insurances are accepted as full or partial payment, depending on the plan: Oxford, United Health Care, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, Healthfirst, Empire Plan, United Federation of Teachers.
T
he sixth grade students at HANC’s Samuel and Elizabeth Bass Golding’s Elementary School in West Hempstead entered an annual coding competition from CodeMonkey called Code Rush for third through eighth graders. During the competition, students worked together in teams to solve as many CodeMonkey challenges as possible, all while learning real textbased code. The teams sharpened their coding skills by completing 145 levels in this coding adventure. They tackled some tough concepts like objects, functions, simple loops, variables, arrays and for-loops, to name a few. They showed great teamwork and competent debugging skills. Students used the programming language CoffeeScript, a multi-purpose language that is similar to English in its syntax. Coding is said to improve students’ computational thinking skills, problem-solving skills, analytical thinking, teamwork skills, generalization and abstraction of
problems, ability to find similarities and differences between problems, pattern recognition, object-oriented thinking, and independent working skills. The HANC teams were comprised of Eden Rosenstock, Hannah Azose, Keren Kazakov, Leora Peyser, Rami Kessock, Rachel Wieder, Zachary Haironson, Ben Klinger, Dov Stulberger, Elnatan Chasser, Emily Mark, Mordechai Engelsohn, Mark Rosenstock, Noa Goldschmidt, Rebecca Ehernhaus, and Yoni Klein. The children were guided by HANC’s computer teacher, Mrs. Aimee Goldenberg, but the children completed the coding challenges during recess in school and on their own time at home. HANC is very proud of the hardworking teams of coders and is very impressed with their perseverance in completing these difficult levels. A special award was presented to Leora Peyser for completing all 145 levels.
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future – RIETS and The Abraham Arbesfeld Kollel Yom Rishon / Millie Arbesfelt Midreshet Yom Rishon Welcomes the 2019 Chidon Ha’Tanach
Tanach Yom Iyun Sunday, May 5, 2019 YESHIVA UNIVERSITY, WILF CAMPUS, NEW YORK CITY
Rabbi Jeremy Wieder
Rabbi David Forhman
9:45 A.M. KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
Mrs. Yael Leibowitz
Professor Smadar Rosensweig
11 A.M. BREAKOUT SESSION #1
Rabbi Shalom Carmy
Rabbanit Shani Taragin
11:50 A.M. BREAKOUT SESSION #2
Rabbi Jeremy Wieder
Rabbi David Forhman
Rabbi Shalom Carmy
Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
Founder and CEO, Aleph Beta
Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Bible Yeshiva College
Mrs. Yael Leibowitz RZA-Mizrachi ISRAEL360
Rabbanit Shani Taragin RZA-Mizrachi ISRAEL360
Professor Smadar Rosensweig Professor of Bible, Stern College for Women
Register at www.yu.edu/TanachYomIyun Complimentary refreshments and parking
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
Around the Community בס”ד שערי פרוזדור
M E S I V TA S H A’ A R E I PRUZDOR
עץ חיים היא למחזיקים בה ותומכיה מאושר משלי ג פסוק י"ח
Shulamith’s kindergarten prepared for Pesach for a very interactive Ten Makkos show and tell
We would like to express our Hakaras Hatov to the YOUNG ISRAEL OF LONG BEACH
for gererously hosting our Yeshiva.
We are very grateful to: RAV & REBBITZEN CHAIM WAKSLAK YILB BOARD OF DIRECTORS SHUL ADMINISTRATION & ITS MEMBERS
for your warm welcome and all you have done for our Talmdim. A playful matzah factory at the TAG Ganger Early Childhood program
MESIVTA SHA’AREI PRUZDOR OF LONG BEACH
516-321-0964 mesivtainfo@gmail.com
HANC Plainview held their annual model seder on Monday, April 15 to get the students in kindergarten, first and second grade ready for their sedarim at home. Led by second grade limudei kodesh teacher Morah Chaya, the children sang all the songs, dipped and ate all the symbolic foods, and had a great time hiding and finding the afikomen. The PTA bought and prepared everything for the event, and the students, teachers and parents who participated all had a great time and put everyone in the Pesach spirit. It was the perfect way to wish everyone a chag kasher v’sameach!
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
SAVE THE DATE R
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
Around the Community
Children at TAG Ganger Early Childhood joyfully prepared to leave Mitzrayim
YCQ Students Learn an Empowering Lesson Through Names, Not Numbers Program
T
he Yeshiva of Central Queens gratefully acknowledges the Names, Not Numbers Program that has taught our students about the Holocaust through the accounts of eyewitnesses, provided them with interviewing, filming and editing skills and, most importantly, enabled meaningful relationships to be forged between the survivors and our students. YCQ has benefitted tremendously from its participation in this Legacy Heritage project. YCQ student Sarit Katz mentioned during the Names, Not Numbers filming, “We are the last generation to have the opportunity to talk to survivors firsthand.” As we get further away from the Holocaust in years, it becomes more and more imperative to document the stories of survivors. As the Jewish Nation, it is our job to always remember the Shoah and pass the remembrance of the tragedy and the hope on to future generations. Every year at YCQ, grade eight students participate in the Names, Not Numbers program, an intergenerational oral history film project created by Mrs. Tova Fish-Rosenberg. This project teaches students interviewing skills and filming techniques as they work with a Holocaust educator, social studies teacher, newspaper journalist, and filmmaker. The students
PHOTO CREDIT: MAXINE LIPSHITZ
learned the history prior to the War, during the Shoah, and at liberation through web-based research and interviewing skills. Each student made this commitment to take an active role inspiring survivors to tell their stories to create a documentary film. For those who survived, the horror haunted them for a lifetime, yet they were able to move forward, rebuild new lives. Their healing began with the retelling of their tragedies and losses, first to their families and today with the new age of technology, through filmed documented histories. This year six survivors, six miracles, participated with the students
in the program. The YCQ students interviewed Leon Sherman, born in Cmielow, Poland; Bella Korn, born in Komorów, Poland; Louis Katz, born in Uzhorod, Poland; Jehuda Lindenblatt, born in Budapest, Hungry; Yolana Dienstag, born in Kornlosh, Poland; and Halina Milich, born in Lodz, Poland. The final documentary was premiered to the YCQ students, their families, faculty, and survivors alongside their families. The film will be archived for future generations in the National Library of Jerusalem in Israel and in the Mendel Gottesman Library of Yeshiva University.
Mrs. Rosenberg has made it her passion to document these stories so that “no one could say, it didn’t happen.” The message that she wants to get across is how important it is that “we do not forget to tell the children that in the end, we won and they lost.” Through her work with this project, she is creating personal connections between students and survivors, while keeping “the heart and spirit of individual eyewitnesses” alive. She is taking a front line role in teaching future generations to combat anti-Semitism. Through her program, Names, Not Numbers, a lesson is being taught and will continue to be taught to the world that it is our turn now “to live, to remember and to tell the world.” When asked about the name of the program, Dvora Finkel, student, said, “The number tattooed on their bodies took away their name that belongs to them. It is what identified who they are.” Survivor Leon Sherman remembered being told on arrival at the camps, “Here you have a number, no name. There is no way out.” For over 6 million Jews, that was the horrifying truth; for others, they survived and rebuilt and, through Names, Not Numbers program, none will be forgotten.
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In Recognition of Dirshu’s Lomdim Across North America As Klal Yisroel heads towards the Dirshu World Siyum, the culmination of years of effort and hasmada, Dirshu wishes to congratulate the efforts of those in the Dirshu ranks who are learning with true accountability and diligence. These participants of the many Dirshu programs, such as Kinyan Torah, Kinyan Halacha, Daf Hayomi B’Halacha, and Kinyan Chochma, have retained countless blatt gemara, inyanei halacha and mussar, focusing on acquiring the knowledge and making it their own. Below is a partial listing of the lomdim in North America who have invested precious time and effort as members of the various Dirshu programs: Yaakov Aaron Dan Abittan Aaron Abittan Rachamim Aboud Yaakov D. Abramovitz Kevin Abramowitz Meir Yaakov Ackerman Boruch M. Ackerman Gedalya Ackerman Avrohom Tzvi Adler Raphael Adler Yoseph Adler Menachem N. Adler Mordechai Adler Menachem Adler Yitzchok S. Adler Moshe Adler Binayahu Allswang Sachee Allswang Nachman Alpert Pinchas Aminifard Moshe Amsel Benzion Amsel Binyomin Zev Apel Naftoli Apter Yakov Chaim Apter Chaim Aron Eliyahu Ashear Mendy Auerbach Avrum Augenstein Yanky Augenstein Elya Ausch Aharon Azatchi Chaim Yitzchok Babad Yaakov Y. Baddiel Chaim D. Bakon Shlomo Bamberger Avrohom C. Banda Henoch Bandman Yisroel Barber Yehoshua Barnetsky Benzion Baron Moshe Basch Moshe Bassoul Mordechai Bauer Isaac Baum Daniel D. Baumann Shloime Baumgarten Shmuel Bayer Aaron Bayer Yaakov Bayer Yoel Bayer Yaacov Yosef Bayer Yidel Beck Shmuel Becker Nosson N. Beer Yerachmiel Beer Shalom Beit Yakov David Beityakov Aryeh Belzberg Yosef Benedikt Netanel Ben-Habib Yirmiyahu Benyowitz Avraham Berg Azriel Berger Heshy Berger Yanky Berger Zalmen L. Berger Yisroel Berger Yakov Yosef Berger Shloima Berger Eliezer Berger Yossi Bergman Chaim Meir Berkovits Shaya Berkovits Lazer Berkovitz Berish Berkowitz Binyumin D. Berkowitz Yuda Berkowitz Menachem Berkowitz Yoel Berkowitz Shraga Berlin Chaim Bernstein Aron Bernstein Shmuel Zev Bick Dovid Bick Mordechai Bielory Dovid Bielory Leivy Bineth Avrohom Birnbaum Yoel Chaim Birnbaum Chaim Y. Biston Yaakov Bitton Sholom Blau Alexander Blau Yosef Dovid Blau Moshe Blau Hershel Blau Yechezkel Blitz Fishel Blumenfrucht Yaakov Yosef Bluming Avi Bobker Yaakov Bock Eliezer Sholem Bodansky
Chaim Bodner Shmuel Chaim Bohensky Dovid Borenstein Y. Leib Borenstein Mayer Bornstein Nosson M. Bornstein Asher Braceiner Mordchi Brach Shmuel D. Brailofsky Aron Braun Yakov Braun Chanina P. Braun Boruch Braun Pinchas Braun Yisroel Moshe Braun Avrum M. Braun Yisroel Brauner Benzion Braunfeld Eliezer Braunstein David Braunstein Boruch Breuer Yitzchok Breuer Ari Breuer Moshe Tuvia Breuer Hershel Breuer Binyomin Breuer Yitzchok Brickman Shloime Brieger Ahron Brodie Chananya Brodie Pinchas Brodt Yoel Brody Israel Brotsztein BenZion Bruck Mendel Brunstine Zalman Buchinger Yitzchok Buchinger Michael Buckstein Yisroel Burstein Yisroel Meir Byer Yitzchok Caplan Samuel Carr Volvi Censor Nisan Charish Tzvi Charish Menashe Choai Zev Chopp Yaakov Choueka Chaim Choueka Shmuel Choueka Shaul Choueka Nachman Ciment Shlomo Citron Yosef Cohen Michael Cohen Moshe Cohen Moshe Cohen Ariel Cohen Menachem Cohen Shmuel Cullish Yehoshua Cziment Aron Dancziger Mordechai P. Dancziger Shlomo Z. Davidson Sruli Davis Shaul Davis Yitzchok Y. Davis David Dayan Ezra Dayan Mendy Delman Isaac Deutsch Chaim Leib Deutsch Joseph Shmiel Deutsch Dov Ber Deutsch Chaim U. Deutsch Yaakov Deutsch Moshe Deutsch Aaron Deutscher Yakov Diamant Mechel Diamant Shia Diamont Yosef Dombroff Dovid Donner Eliyahu Nota Dowek Dov Drew Gershon Dubin Eliezer Dovid Dubin Moshe Dwek Elisha Dworkin Shmuel Edel Dov Edelstein Yisroel Chaim Ehrentreu Moshe Y. Ehrentreu Yehuda Zev Ehrentreu Tzvi Ehrlich Shraga Ehrman Lazar Eichenstein Menachem M. Eichenstein Shragi Eichorn Menachem Einhorn Aaron Einhorn Jacob Einhorn Mordechai Einhorn Shmuel Einhorn
Tzvi Einstadter Yosef Eisen Yisroel Yitzchok Eisenbach Michel Eisenbach Moshe Eisenbach Yisroel Eisenbach Chaim Eisenberg Pinchas Y. Eisenberger Shmiel Nuta Eisenberger Boruch Eisenberger Yosef Eisenberger Avraham Y. Eisenberger Naftuli Eizikovits Aron Elbaum Dovid Elbaz Binyomin Elewitz Moshe Elewitz Shlomo G. Elias Michael Eliau Shimon Elimelech Yitzchok Ernster Ephraim F. Ernster Yaakov Dovid Ernster David Esses Yitzchak Esses Jacob Esses Levi Falikovici Teddy Fariwa Joshua Farkas Yaakov Feder Menachem Yida Feder Aron Feferkorn Yisroel Y. Feifer Eliyahu Feifer Yechiel Feig Chaim Feig Daniel Feig Elliot Feiler Yaakov Fekete Tzvi Avigdor Fekete Avrohom M Felberbaum Yeshaya Feldbrand Eluzer Feldbrand Yechezkel Felder Moshe Feldhamer Yosef Feldman Yakov Yosef Feldman Aron E. Feldman Boruch Feldman Efraim Feldman Shmuel Feldmann Eliezer Felsen Ahron Fensterheim Moshe Ferber Mordechai Fine Moshe A. Fink Yaakov A. Fink Heshy Fink Yehuda Finkelman Jason Finkelstein Avrohom C. Fisch Zev Fisch Chaim Meir Fisch Pinchas Aaron Fisch Yitzchok Y. Fischer Avraham Fischer Reuven Fisher Shulem E. Fisher Pinchas D. Fixler Tzvi Eliezer Flagler Hershel Fleishman Baruch A. Fogel Avraham Fogel Dov Fogel Rephoel Forchheimer Mal Franco Jacob Frand Shlomo Frand Yehuda Frank Yosef Frank Yitzchok M. Frank Dovid Frankel Yitzchok M. Frankel Shlomo Dovid Freedman Shmiel Freier Nechemia Freier Yisroel C Freilich Chanan Freilich Sholom M. Freisel Zalman Leib Freund Hershi Freund Yosef Leib Fried Yoel Fried Shmiel Fried Yechezkel Y. Friedlander Baruch Friedlander Tzvi Aryeh Friedman Shloimy Friedman Shlomo Z. Friedman Chesky Friedman Avraham Yitzchok Friedman Yosef Friedman Nissin Friedman Shimon Friedman
Meir Chaim Friedman Zev Friedman Shmuel Yehoshua Friedman Osher Friedman Oizer Friedman Eliezer S. Friedman Shloimy Friedman Ephraim Dovid Friedman Yoel Friedman Naftuli Friedman Mordechai M Friedman Yitzchok Y. Friedman Tzvi Y. Frieman Elozer Friesel Moshe Friesel Mordechai N. Friesel Shraga Fromowitz Yehuda Leib Fuchs Hirsch Fuhrer Avrohom S. Fuhrer Naftali Tzvi Fuhrer Yitzchok I. Galandauer Avromi Garfunkel Yoel Gelb Yakov Gelbman Yisroel Genut Chaim Geretz Dovid Nosson Gerstein Aryeh Gibber Shmuel Yaakov Gibber Shlomo Gigi Chaim Ginsberg Yitzchak Ginsberg Nosson Ginsberg Shlomo Ginsberg Ruby Ginsberg Shlomo Z. Gips Moshe D. Gips Shalom Glas Eliezer Zusya Glatzer Yisroel Menachem Glazer Shmiel Dovid Glick Shia Hersh Glick Chaim Nossin N. Gluck Avraham Gluck Isaac Gluck Yaakov Godfrey Shimon D Godick Avraham Goldberg Naftali Tzvi Goldberg Benzion Goldberger Simcha Z. Goldberger Yakov Goldberger Akiva Goldberger Shmuel Goldbrener Arye L. Goldbrener Naftali Goldbrener Yehuda Goldbrenner David Goldenberg Shraga Goldenberg Shraga Goldhirsch Simon O. Goldman Chananya Goldman Aron Goldmunzer Netanel Goldstein Chaim Y Goldstein Yonatan Goldstein Shloima Goldstein Dovid Goldstein Shmuel Goldstein Yehuda Golovenshitz Shimi Goodman Ephraim Z Gordon Mordechai Z. Gordon Aba Gordon Dovid Gottlieb Tzvi Gottlieb Hillel Gradman Leishay Grant Meir Gras Dovid Graus Yehonason Green Yekusiel Yehudah Green Shimie Green Dov Greenbaum Nechemya Greenberg Avrohom Greenberg Dovid Greenberg Ezra Greenberger Mordechai Greenberger Yisroel Greenfeld Shmuel Greenfeld Issac Greenfeld Mordechai Greenwald Shaya Greenwald Ezriel Greenzweig Chaim Greenzweig Shlomo Grinfeld Meir Yaakov Grohman Moshe T. Grosinger Yitzchok S Grosman Avigdor Gross Moshe Gross Motty Gross
Dovid Gross Yossi Grossman Chaim E. Grossman Yitzchok I. Grosz Chaim N. Grosz Yaakov Gruen Yehuda Gruen Meyer Avrohom Gruenebaum Mordechai Grunsweig Josua Grunwald Joseph Grunwald Yaakov Grunwald Sholem Elya Grunwald Yehoshua Chaim Gubitz Noson Gugenheim Naftoli Gurwitz Simcha Gutman Baruch Gutow Meir Boruch Gutterman Hershel Guttman Yosef Guttman Yaakov Guttman Yosef Haber Shaya Haboba Yosef Yisroel Hager Eluzer Hager Chaim Meir Hager Naftali Chaim Halberstadt Yoel Halberstam Asher Halberstam Ezra Halle Daniel Halperin Yisroel M. Halpern Chaim Halpern Eliezer Halpert Joel Handler Shmuel Harari- Raful Moshe Harari-Raful Yechezkel Hartman Hershel Hass Nisim Hasson Lazer Haut Abraham Hedata Yosef Heimfeld Moshe Heimfeld Betzalel Heimfeld Yitzchok Heimfeld Shimon Heimfeld Yosef Zalman Heimon Yehuda Heller Binyomin Hellman Yaakov Herbst Aron Herman Naftuli Herschlag Avrohom Abish Herschlag Elkana Hershberg Joseph Hershkowitz Meilich Herz Shia Herz Fishel Herzog Avraham Y. Herzog Menachem M. Hess Moshe D. Y. Hirschfeld Tuvye Hirschfeld Edon Hirt Avrohom Hirtz Yochanon Hochhauser Meilech Hochhauser Aharon Hochhauser Eliyahu Hoffman Yehuda Honig Shmuel Honigwachs Yisroel Horovitz Yosef Horowitz Menashe Horowitz Gil Horwitz Ariel Asher Indig Yossef Iny Heshy Itzkowitz Aharon Jachimowitz Yossi Jacobovitch Yisroel Jundef Yosef Kabani Yona Kahan Zvi Kahana Bentzion Kaminetzky Shmuel Kanarek Shmuel Kanner Rephael Kantor Yaakov M Kaplan Zev Karasick Boruch Karfiol Meir Kasnett Chaim Kass Eliezer Kaszowitz Benzion Katz Moshe Mordechai Katz Avraham Hacohen Katz Mayer S. Katz Nosson Katz Lazer Katz Shlomy Katz Levi Yitzchok Katz Yehoshua Katz
Yankov Katz Avraham Tzvi Katz Yitzchok Katz Yosef Yehudah Katzburg Dovid Kaufman Shulem Kaufman Mordechai Kaufman Yakov Kaufman Hershel Kaufman Yosef Pinchos Kenigsberg Shimon Kenigsberg Alexander Kernkraut Mordechai Kestenbaum Boruch M. Kestenbaum Yechezkel Khayyat Yitzchok Kimmel Aron Kirschenbaum Yaakov Kirshenbaum Naftali Klahr Moshe Klaristenfeld Benzion Klaristenfeld Mordechai Elozor Klein Yakov Klein Bezalel Klein Hershy Klein Yaakov Klein Yecheski M.M. Klein Yeshayahu Klein Shmuel Klein Menachem Klein Shlomo Aharon Klein Shloimy Klein Shimshon Klein Levi Yitzchok Klughaupt Mendel Knobloch Asher Knoll Yosef Knopfler Yisroel M. Koenigsberg Motty Kohn Boruch Daniel Kohn Cheskel Kohn Meir Kohn Ahron Kohn Naftali Kolman Dovid Komet Amram Y. Konig Mordechai Konigsberg Yaakov Konovitch Moshe Koppel Tzvi Kornfeld Joseph Kornitzer Shmuel Kornitzer Yankel Kramarsky Michael Kramer Yaakov Yosef Kramer Berel Kraus Eli Kraus Yehuda Krausz Moshe Zev Krausz David Krausz Hershel Krausz Usher Krausz Shlome Krausz Zev Krausz Menachem M. Kravetz Yehoshua Kronglas Jeff Kronisch Avrohom Krull Avi Krupnik Avrohom Chaim Kryman Avi Kupfer Noam Kutoff Yitzchok I. Labin Yoel Labin Yaakov Landau Meir Landau Meilech Landau Yoel Landau Eliezer Landau Gidon Leib Lane Yehoshua Langsam Dan Lapan Yaakov Laskin Yisroel M. Laufer Bentzion Laufer Shaul Yehuda Lawfman Dov Lebovic Shloimy Lebovics Eliezer Z Lebovits Mordechai Lebovits Meir Lee Abba Lefkowitz Yona Lefkowitz Moshe Lefkowitz Yonah Lefkowitz Chaim M. Lefkowitz Yonah Lefkowitz Yecheskel E. B. Lefkowitz Chaim M Lefkowitz Moshe Leib Lefkowitz Shlomo Lefkowitz Moshe Lefkowitz Nachman Y. Lefkowitz Eliezer Z. Lefkowitz
Nisson Leiberman Moshe Leichter Shaul Shneur Lenchitz Arye L. Lerman Benzion Shulem Lerner Chesky Lesin Shimon Levin Yaakov Y. Levine Aharon Levine Naftoli Levovitz Nissim Levy Gershon Yosef Lezer Aaron Lezer Menachem Lichtenstadter Shulem Lazer Lichtenstein Meir Lichtenstein Leon Lichter Moshe Lichter Yehuda Lichter Berel Lichter Yitzchok M. Lichter Ari Lichtman Hillel Lieberman Yechiel Lieberman Gershon Lieberman Joshua Lintz Yaakov Lipschutz Avrohom Shimon Lissauer Mordechai Littman Dovid Loberbaum Zev Loeffler Mendy Loevy Abba C. Loevy Simcha Loevy Yosef Dovid Loevy Avrum Lorincz Yossi Lowenstein Avi Lowenthal Azriel Lowenthal Binyomin Lowenthal Avrohom Lowy Zev Volvi Lowy Shlomo R. Lowy Shloima Lunger Yair Lunger Yanky Luria Menachem M. Luria Shloime Luria Yisroel Machlis Moshe A. Leib Makevetzky Shmiel Zev Mandel Pinchas Mandel Yitzchak Mandel Yechiel Mandel Asher Mandel Shmuel Yitzchok Manheim Dovid Mansour Raphael Mansour Yehuda Marcus Yosef Y. Marcus Yakov Margareten Yitzchok Margareten Yitzchok Margulies Chaim M. Margulies Joel Markovitz Simcha Markowitz Mordechai Masleton Yosef Mayer Elimelech Mayer Yaakov Mayer Moshe Meisels Yoel Meisels Aaron Yidel Meisels Levi Yitzchok Meisels Hillel Meisels Shimon Meisels Moshe A. Meisels Chuna Meisels Yida Meisels Zalmen Meisels Reuvain Mendlowitz Yonatan Mendlowitz Moshe Mering Chaim Mering Pinchus Mermelstein Dovi Mermelstein Moshe Metzger Duvid Metzger Chaim Metzger Yakov Metzger Binyamin Mezei Eilish Miller Moshe Mordchi Miller Shmuel Milstein Shlomo Mincer Yitzchok Mincer Yitzchok Mishan Eliezer Mittel Chaim Mordechai Mittel Shmuel Mitzner Yosef Mizrahi Moshe Mizrahi Efrayim Moldofsky Rephael Moller Ari Morgenstern Duvid Morgenstern Shimon Morgenstern Fishel Morgenstern Yisroel Yaakov Morgenstern Shmuel Yakov Morris Yoel Moscowicz Aron Shulem Moshel Abraham Moskovits Aron Moskovits Hershel Moskowitz Eliezer Moskowitz Yecheskal S. Moskowitz Mendel Moskowitz Israel Moskowitz Mechel Moskowitz Aharon Muehlgay Hershel Muller Shmuel Muschel Binem Naiman Meir Simcha Nakdimen Uriel Nashofer Moshe Nashofer Yosef Neiman Pinchas Shlomo Neiman Akiva Neuhaus Naftuli Neuman Nosson Neustadt Aaron Neuwirth Yoel Newman Boruch Ney Ephraim Niehaus Alan Nochenson Mordechai Noe Solomon Nojovits Chaim Y. Nulman Yosef Nusenzweig Eliezer Nussenzweig Elimelech Oberlander Avraham Oestreicher Meir Olshin Avraham Orbach Moshe M. Ornstein David Oscherowitz Luzer Ostreicher Shlomo Ovits Sholom Padawer Abraham S. Padwa
Dovid Shmuel Tzvi Pal Yaakov Pal Chaim Pal Bernardo Pasternak Dovid Perl Chaim L. Perl Kalman Perl Nuchem Tzvi Perl Shrage Perlberger Motel Perlman Yakov Perlman Simcha Perlowitz Mendy Perlstein Raphael Perlstein Yehuda Perlstein Burech Perlstein Abraham Perman Yossef Pfeifer Avrumi Pfeifer Eliezer Pick Pinchas Piller Yechezkel L. Piller Aaron Pinter Yehoshua Plotnick Yosef Halevi Pollack Shalom Pollack Yeshaya Pollak Leiby Pollak Yaakov Pollak Mordechai Porges Aron M. Porgesz Menachem Zev Portugal Chaim Mordechai Posen Aaron Possick Avrohom Preisler Gavriel Price Aron Puretz Shlomo Zalmen Raab Dovid Rabinowitz Chaim Rabinowitz Yosef Radzyminski Benzion Rand Yechezkel Rapaport Yosef Rappaport Baruch D. Rauch Avrumi Rawicki Yosef Rawicki Yosef Rawicki Yitzchok Rawicki Yisroel M. Rayman Alexander Rechnizer Chaim Reich Shaya Reich Jacob Reichman Pesach Reichman Chaim I. Reinman Menachem Reis Boruch Yehoshua Reiss Berish Reitzer David Retter Yehuda Ribiat Yosef Dovid Rieger Shmuel T. Rosen Gedalyahu Z. Rosen Yoel Rosenbaum Mendel Rosenbaum Yosef Rosenberg Pesach Rosenberg Yaakov Rosenberg Dovid L. Rosenberg Chaim S. Rosenberg Yecheskel S. Rosenberg Shlomo Rosenberg Ephraim Zvi Rosenberg Shimon Rosenberg Tzvi Hirsh Rosenberg Yossi Rosenberg Yosef Dov Rosenberg Yakov Rosenberg Aviv Rosenblatt Shea Rosenblatt Tovia M. Rosenblum Shaul Rosenblum Shulem Rosenfeld Shia Mendel Rosenfeld Shloime Rosenfeld Chaim S. Rosenfeld Usher Rosenfeld Nochum Rosengarten Dovid Rosengarten Mordechai Rosenshein Eliyahu Rosenthal Benzion Rosenzweig Amram Y Halevi Rosner Avrohom Roth Eser Roth Yitzchok Meir Rothstein Moshe Rothstein Yakov Rub Moshe Rubelow Shmuel Leib Rubin Elimelech Rubin Shia Dovid Rubin Chaim Rubin Asher Rubin Moshe Rubin Eli Rubinfeld Pinchas Rubinstein Ari Ruttner Netanel Saadon Yehoshua Sabel Yosef Safdeye Ellis Safdeye Shmuel P. Safern Ahron Moshe Salamon Shea Salamon Yisroel S. Salamon Yanky Salczer Avraham Salem Eliyahu Sandell Burach Y. Sander Yaacov Sanders Yoel Sasportas Yitzchok Sayagh Duvid Schachter Mordechai Schapiro Ovadia Schaya Eliezer Schechter Dov Scheier Yoel Scheiner Benzion Schenbach Shlomo Schenkolewski Yochanan Scherman Tzvi A. Schick David Schlager Dovid Schlesinger Yitzchak Schlissel Yehoshua Schlusselberg Dov Ber Schmidt Chaim M. Schneebalg Elkuna Schneebalg Yisroel Schneider Chaim Schneider Aharon L. Schneider Eliyahu Schneider Moshe Schoenblum Yehuda Yoel Schoenblum Yechiel Schon Mechel Schon Yanky Schonberger Berel Schonfeld Nathan Schorr
Chaim Schulgasser Moshe Schwamenfeld Yecheskel Schwartz Simcha Schwartz Avrahom Schwartz Lipa Schwartz Chaim Tzvi Schwartz Eliezer M. Schwartz Chanina Schwartz Mordechi Tzvi Schwartz Dov Ber Schwartz Yanky Schwartz Tzvi Schwartz Aaron Schwartz Moishe Schwartz Avraham Y Schwartz Boruch Schwartz Shmuel Shmelkeh Schwartz Volve Schwartz Yitzchak Yehudah Schwartz Shloime Schwartzberg Yehuda A. Segal Yitzchok Moshe M. Sekula Zishe Sekula Aharon Seleh Dovid Selengut Nochum Selengut Yosef Semah Binyamin Seruya Tuvia Shakow Yitzchak Shalom Avi Shane Shmuel Shanske Reuven Shapiro Shimshon Baruch Sheinfil Yuriy Shekhtman Baruch Y. Sherer Yekusiel Shlisel Eliezer Tzvi Shlisel Yehoshua Shlomowitz Mordechai Shore Elazar Shoykhet Ahron Elimelech Shuvaks Aaron Sikowitz Shimon Silber Abraham Silber Sucher M. Silberman Yakov Silberman Fishel Silberman Hershel Silberstein Yoel Silberstein Yehoshua H. Silbiger Elimelech Silbiger Mordechai Silverberg Stuart Silverman Yoel Simon Yosef Singer Pesach Skulnick Yosef Smith Aron Soifer Aaron Soloff Moshe C. Solomon Chesky Solomon Chaim Sommers Moshe Sosovsky Eliezer Tzvi Spera Naftali Spiegel Moshe Spiegel Yosef Chaim Spielman Shulem Spierer Yakov Y. Spira Chaim Y Spira Boruch Spira Elyukim Spira Nuta Spira Nachum Spira Yitzchok Spira Naftoli Spira Moshe Spiro Nechemia Spitz Yehuda Spitzer Yakov Spitzer Yosef Spitzer Yakov Yosef Spitzer Chaim Eluzer Akiva Spitzer Yehuda Spitzer Zalman L. Spitzer Abraham Spitzer Yossie Spitzer Menachem T. Sprei Eliezer Sprei Hershel Srulowitz Avrum Alter Stahl Tzvi Stark Meshilem Stark Rafael Stefansky Eliyahu Stein Yechiel Stein Hersh L. Stein Yakov Steinberg Shmuel Yakov Steinberg Yehuda Shaya Steinberg Yakov Steinberg Moshe Steiner Yehuda Steinhardt Shimon Steinmetz Chaim Steinmetz Yehuda Yaakov Steinmetz Moshe D. Steinwurzel Zalmen L. Stern Naftoli Tzvi Stern Mordechai Stern Mendy Stern Chaim D. Stern Chananya D. Stern Binyomin Stern Avrohom B. Stern Yehoshua Stern Shulem Stern Chaim Stern Yoseph Stern Alexander Sternberg Yosef Sternhill Moshe Stone Sam Strasser Shaul B. Streicher Boruch Strohli Moshe Strulovitch Dovid Sukenik Joseph Sultan Chaim Surkis Avraham Sutton Yitzchok Gershon Tager Shmuel Tanenbaum Avrohom Tannenbaum Shmuel Tannenbaum Chaim Yaakov Tannenbaum Aryeh Tarkieltaub Dovid Tashker Binyomin Zev Taub Avrohom Taub Bezalel Taub Yoel Taub Yidel Taub Yosef Aaron Taub Shmuel Taubenfeld Alter Tauber Yechiel Tauber Yochonan Halevi Tauber Yehoshua Leib Tauber Yisroel Tauber Moshe Tauber
Moshe Halevi Tauber Moshe Tauber Yechiel Shlomo Tauber Avraham Tawil Meir Tawil Dovid Teitelbaum Moshe Teitelbaum Abraham Teitz Yochanan Tennenhaus Ari Tessler Tzvi Thaler Yossi Toder Boaz Tomsky Shlomo M. Tondowski Yisroel Traube Sholom Zev Tuchinsky Aron Twersky Yaakov Yosef Twersky Yochonon Twersky Shimon Twersky Yosef Y. Twersky Yidel Twersky Mordechai Twersky Aharon Twersky Yochanon Twersky Mordechai Twersky Yochanan Twersky Shlome Twersky Efraim Unger Binyomin Y. Unger Moshe S. Unger Moshe Yehuda Unger Tzvi Kopel Unger Shulem Y. Unsdorfer Yoseph Unsdorfer Binyomin Van Praagh Ezra Victor Mordche Wachsman Elimelech Wagschal David Wagschal Feivel Wahl Yosef Wahrman Pinchas E. Wakshotck Raphael Waldman Chaim Y. Waldman Shimon Waldman Yehoshua Walkenfeld Yaoshua Manacham Walkin Elimelech Walkinfeld Moshe Wallin Shlomo M. Walter Wolf Walter Shmuel Dovid Warshavchik Anshel Warshavchik Issac Wasserman Yitzchok Weber Shulem Weber Shaya Weber Shlomie Weber Meir Nosson Weichbrod Yitzchok Y. Weichbrod Alter C. Weichbrod Moshe Weil Ely Weinbaum Chaim Meir Weinbaum Avrohom Yitzchok Weinbaum Chanina Weinberg Nachman Weinberg Chaim Weinberger Yonasan Weiner Yehuda Weiner Avram Weinfeld Chaim M. Weingarten Berel Weingarten Chaim M. Weinstock Moishe Weisel Yosef Weiss Tzvi Menachem Weiss Yosef Weiss Avrum Chaim Weiss Zurach Weiss Naftali Weiss Yitzchok M. Weiss Levi Weiss Jacob Weiss Ezra Tzvi Weiss Yonatan Weiss Raphael Weiss Yaakov Yehuda Weiss David Weiss Moshe Weiss Dovid Weiss Isaac Weiss Tzvi Avigdor Weiss Levi Yitzchok Weisselbuch Yitzchok Weisz Avrohom Y. Weisz Ozer Arye Weisz Aron Mordechai Weisz Hershel Weizberg Pinchas Weller Dov Weller Moshe Werner Shlomo Werner Binyomin Werther Avrum Wertzberger Issac Wertzberger Moshe Werzberger Moshe White Yosef Wieder Beryl Wieder Dovid Wiederman Bezalel Wiederman Shemuel Wiesel Moshe Wiesel Shmiel Wiesner Yaakov Wigder Fishel Wilhelm Yisroel Willner Chaim Eli Wischnitzer Yehuda Wischnitzer Meir Yechiel Wislicki Levi Y. Wiznitzer Shlomo Wolfson Moshe Wolman Simcha Zissel Wulliger Yisroel Meir Yankelewitz Rachamim Yeganeh Shmuel Y. Yoffe Yehoshua Leib Yoffe Tzvi Young Avram S Zablotzky Avraham Zabner Avroham B. Zabner Yechskel Zabner Yakov Zabner Benzion Zachai Naftali Zafir Edmond Zafrani Farjad Zaghi Shmuel L. Zaidman Shimon Leib Zarecki Yoel Zelcer Eliezer Zelinger Yechiel M. Zenwirth Elimelech Zieg Mendel Zieg Aryeh Ziemba Mordechai Zimberg Tzvi Ziskind Meshulam Zoberman Zalmen Leib Zoberman Avrohom Zoberman Dovi Zucker Avraham Y. Zuckerman
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YCQ Annual Rebbe-Talmid Basket Ball Game By Ben Kochman
O Assemblywoman Nily Rozic visited the Met Council’s Passover food distribution site run by Tomchei Shabbos of Queens last week and spoke with Met Council CEO David Greenfield about providing food for Pesach for needy families
n Friday, April 5, the Yeshiva of Central Queens students in grades five through eight and faculty headed to the gym to watch the rebbeim play the student team members of the YCQ Varsity Basketball Team in the annual Rebbe-Talmid Game. The rabbis and the students played in a four-quarter basketball game. The players were excited to play, and the students were so ex-
cited to watch the long-awaited game. Grade 6 student Eitan Bitton said, “I thought the rabbis were going to win because they were very competitive.” Daniel Yushuvayev scored the most points for the talmidim, and Rabbi Rohr, grade five rebbe, had the most points for the Rebbeim. Though both teams played hard and at moments it was close, in the end the rebbeim won over their students to keep their title remaining the reigning champs.
Fidelity BizTank Goes Live
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he Joel Klein investor panel hosted a live Fidelity BizTank show in honor of Fidelity’s grand opening of its 20K-squarefoot state-of-the-art headquarters. The mission of the show is to connect entrepreneurs with investors who believe in empowering the entrepreneurial community. A live audience watches excitement build in the pitches, negotiations, and offers. Twenty-three years ago, Fidelity Payment Services was a fledgling start-up launched by an aspiring entrepreneur who had noticed a vacancy in the community’s marketplace. Fueled by a drive to innovate and abetted by the support of the community, Fidelity is now one of the leading merchant services providers in the frum world, and it consistently serves as an empowering force for hundreds of enterprises and startups. With the company’s recent relocation to the bustling Brooklyn
Navy Yard, Fidelity was eager to use its expanded headquarters to further empower innovation: the company joined forces with BizTank this past February to host the 13th BizTank Show. The business-minded event featured several entrepreneurs who pitched their ideas in front of a panel of investors, and it was attended by Fidelity’s many employees and sales agents – all of whom embody the company’s self-starter attitude. It was truly a privilege for Fidelity to be able to promote its unwavering support for entrepreneurs and to invest in the community in such a manner. Joel Klein is an acclaimed business coach and consultant and launched the Joel Klein investors panel where presenters come together on a monthly basis. For the 13th event, Joel’s panel was hosted by Fidelity as the Fidelity BizTank Show.
Joel Klein, BizTank founder, center, with Mark Paley, Fidelity Director of Partner Sales, with a few moguls
Fidelity executives enjoying the BizTank live show
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Around the Community
MAY Alumni Yarchei Kallah 2019
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his past week, Mesivta Ateres Yaakov held their Annual Bein Haz’manim Yarchei Kallah on inyanei Pesach, sponsored by Oppen Scrolls. Although primarily geared for alumni returning from Eretz Yisrael for bein haz’manim, the Yarchei Kallah also attracted alumni from the greater community. This year’s program drew close to 100 graduated talmidim for shiurim, learning, schmoozing and “catching up.” Each morning following Shacharis, alumni were treated to a lavish breakfast during which they caught up with friends, current talmidim and rabbeim. Seder began with shiurim on the Haggadah delivered by Mesivta
Rabbeim, providing insightful divrei Torah for talmidim to share at their own sedarim. Following the Haggadah shiurim, talmidim, together with the 12th grade, were provided ma’arei mekomos with which to prepare for the day’s iyun shiur on different Pesach-related topics. Rabbi Yossi Bennett, S’gan Menahel, who organized the event, commented, “This event is one of our most highly anticipated events and a highlight of our year. It’s so gratifying to see our talmidim return from Eretz Yisroel or yeshivos or colleges in America. The enormous response from our talmidim returning to learn with their MAY Rabbeim is a huge
chizuk, both for rabbeim and current talmidim. It bears testimony to the strong connections and relationships that were forged while they were here at the Mesivta and shows that those
relationships remain intact.” Recordings and source material for the various shiurim are available on the Yeshiva’s website at www.ateresyaakov.com.
Five Towns Eruv Announcement
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he Five Towns Eruv is pleased to announce that work was completed this past winter to connect the eruv from “back” Lawrence to the Village of Woodsburgh. This extension, along Railroad Avenue that runs through the Woodmere Country Club, will allow residents of both areas to carry necessary items on Shabbos and will fill a gap in the coverage of the Five Towns Eruv. This is a milestone for the Five Towns Eruv and the entire Orthodox Community of the Five Towns. The committee has sought to create this extension of the eruv for many years but for multiple reasons was unable to obtain the necessary permissions to run along the narrow street that runs thought the golf course of the Woodmere Country Club. Over the past year, the circumstances changed and the eruv moved forward to do the work necessary to complete the project.
The Five Towns Eruv would like to thank Rabbi Kenneth Hain of Congregation Beth Sholom of Lawrence, who, together with Lawrence Deputy Mayor Michael Fragin, facilitated the meetings with the ownership of the Woodmere Country Club to spearhead the project. Mayor Lee Israel of Woodsburgh and the Woodsburgh Board of Trustees assisted the Five Towns Eruv with permits and inspections. Robert Weiss and Ephraim Gerszberg of the Woodmere Country Club graciously gave the Five Towns Eruv use of the club’s land to construct the extension. One important reminder to the community: this Eruv extension is a corridor that covers the street of Railroad Avenue and Rutherford Lane only. Neither side of the street is within the Eruv. Always remember to consult the website fivetownseruv. org for more details.
Rav Moshe Mandel, veteran first grade rebbi in Yeshiva Darchei Torah, delivering a mussar vaad to the avreichim of Darchei’s Kollel Tirtza Devorah last week
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Preschoolers at the Sherry Garber Preschool in BBY celebrated the 100th day of school by playing outside and forming the number 100 with their bodies
HANC High School Celebrates Excellence 17 Students Inducted into National Honor Society
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n Wednesday evening, April 3, HANC High School held its 43rd National Honor Society Induction Ceremony, honoring the 21 members of this prestigious organization and welcoming seventeen new inductees into the Maalot Chapter. Members of the Honor Society must maintain a 92 average and represent excellence in Torah, scholarship, service, character, and leadership. Rabbi Shlomo Adelman, principal/ menahel, opened the ceremony in the HANC auditorium with a brief dvar Torah emphasizing the importance of
living a life as a true ben or bat Torah. This was followed by the Star Spangled Banner and the Hatikvah song by senior Bernie Maslin accompanied by Simcha Quere on keyboard and music teacher Mr. Jacob Spadaro. Mrs. Marie Palaia, associate principal and faculty advisor of the Honor Society, greeted the audience and introduced the officers of the Honor Society and welcomed them to the stage to light candles and speak about the main tenets that represent the pillars on which the Honor Society stands. Co-presidents Adena Cohen and Aeton Rabanipour, co-vice presi-
dents Ali Lenefsky and Jonah Seiden, and historian Joshua Vilkas each delivered a dvar Torah and an explanation before lighting their candle. Rabbi Shlomo Adelman, Principal, Mrs. Marie Palaia, associate principal, and Ms. Tziporah Zucker, assistant principal, presented the new inductees with their official certificates and membership cards. Rabbi Tsvi Selengut, rebbe, was chosen by the members of the Honor Society to deliver the keynote address. The audience was riveted by Rabbi Selengut’s delivery and poignant message to always keep Torah
as a focalpoint and as a guiding light in academic pursuit and service to the community. Rabbi Daniel Mezei, Director of Student life and Rabbi Etan Ehrenfeld, Dean of Students took the stage to read the accomplishments of our senior members and thanked each student for their service to HANC. After the presentation, all members presented a yellow rose to their parents and grandparents to show their hakarat hatov for guiding them to where they are today. The induction ceremony concluded with an elaborate collation.
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MTA Lobbies for Israel on Capitol Hill
Morah Liba’s first grade at CCGLI has been busy learning about seasons and weather. In honor of the upcoming summer season, the girls made delicious ices
Candy for a Cause
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rom morning until night, JEP/ Nageela volunteers have been hard at work collecting and sorting through thousands of donated candies to organize them for children to enjoy at upcoming programs and sleepaway Camp Nageela. Orchestrated by Ohavia Feldman, JEP/ Nageela’s Executive Director, the candy collection has been an annual project for over a dozen years started by Mrs. Basi Shenker. “It was so special that so many people came to help,” said volunteer and TAG student Tamar Lazar. “The candy was piled so high – up to the ceiling in one of the rooms!” Ariel Kamel, from Yeshiva Gedolah of the Five Towns, super-
vised the project and was involved in collecting the candy from the schools and shuls around the Five Towns area. “It was a very rewarding experience knowing that the candies will be used for this great purpose.” We thank all our volunteers and those who donated Purim candy. Also thanks to TAG for providing the space for this huge mitzvah. It was very sweet of you! For more information on how you can help JEP/ Nageela bring Torah sweetness and joy to thousands of Jewish children from all types of backgrounds, contact Jen Zwiebel, Director of PR & Development at 516-374-1528, ext. 140 or visit jepli.org/donate.
n Thursday, April 11, a group of 54 MTA talmidim and faculty headed to Washington, DC, for MTA Israel advocacy club, Hatzioni’s, annual lobbying mission, known as MTAPAC. The group was also joined by alumni, including Josh Appel (‘17), who is currently in Shana Bet at Yeshivat Hakotel and felt it was important to spend part of his Pesach break accompanying his MTA family on the trip, and Seth Jacobs (‘17), who completed Shana Bet at Hakotel in January and is currently attending Yeshiva University. After weeks of preparation, including a training session led by Israel advocacy group StandWithUs, the “Lobbying Lions” were ready to take on Capitol Hill. On the Hill, they divided into 6 groups and vis-
ited the offices of different members of the Senate. The boys articulated their arguments about the value of the American-Israeli relationship and enjoyed lively discussions with Senate staffers. The day culminated with a visit to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, considered part of the White House Complex. Talmidim were privileged to hear presentations from President Trump’s Special Representative for International Negotiations and MTA alum Jason Dov Greenblatt (‘85) and others, which was the perfect way to end the successful trip. On the bus ride home, the boys reflected on a productive day and how privileged they are to be active participants in our democracy and to lobby for Israel.
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Answering to a Higher Authority Forget every business manual out there, Eliezer Gross looks to Hashem for every business decision he needs to make – no matter how big or small By Sara Levy
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ome businessmen swear by an inspirational course they took in school. Some remember the hard-life lessons they learned in the early days of starting their enterprise. Some commiserate with a mentor and get their input before making a fateful decision. But Eliezer Gross turns to the most trustworthy authority of all – G-d. That adherence to halacha governs every aspect of his business practices from who he chooses to work with to how he works with regulation and transparency authorities. For example, Gross has even turned down money when he thought, halachically speaking, it was the right thing to do. He recalls a woman turning to him in order to make a $30,000 investment. Gross asked if her husband is on board with her decision and when she said no, Gross refused to take her money, saying, “You will certainly lose by investing with me. If your investment is profitable, you will quibble with your husband why he didn’t agree to invest your joint savings. And if you lose, he will quibble with you why you didn’t listen to his advice. So whatever happens you will upset your shalom bayis, and I therefore refuse to accept your money.” For Gross, the founder and managing partner of Besadno, adherence to halacha is behind his many successful start-up ventures in the U.S. and Europe. Gross is an example of
not only a businessman with morals, but someone whose finger is firmly on the pulse of the latest trends in fintech. “Everything is done according to halacha. We bring all halachic sh’eilos to Hagaon Harav Yisrael Marmorush. We have the hechsher of the Badatz Eidah Hachareidis, under the authority of Hagaon Harav Shlomo Ze’ev Carlebach, head of the Badatz’s financial section. In addition to the checks we make into companies wanting to invest with us, we also check that the innovators themselves are trustworthy and intelligent,” he explained. As such, the name of his Besadno Group, founded in 2011, exemplifies just that. Besadno, which stands for Besiyata Dishmaya Na’aseh Venatzliach, or “With G-d’s help we will do and succeed.” “Without siyata diShmaya, we have nothing,” he said, repeating
that all important refrain behind his philosophy. Gross’s goal at Besadno is to create a global network of investors and considering its rapid success – it now has offices in New York, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem – spawned off a U.S.based company, BSeed Investment Group. Like the parent company, to understand BSeed’s purpose, one need to look at the name. The name quite literally alludes to allowing start-ups to flourish with seed investment. Now, of course, every company warns its investors of potential dangers, but the question is how they do this: most give a broad notification stating that there are dangers involved without specifying, while at the transparent BSeed the investor is told of every theoretic hazard in the specific commodity. “BSeed is not run on both moral and halachic standards,” Gross
stresses. It is under the supervision of the Eidah Hachareidis, accompanied by the Eidah Hachareidis’ financial expert Harav Shlomo Zev Karlibach and Harav Yisroel Marmorosh of Harav Nissim Karelitz’s beis din. So even in the early stages of creating BSeed, ethics were at the forefront of his mind. When developing the company, he requested it undergo review to meet American financial standards, even though this is not required by law. He explained to the regulator, “Eighty percent of faults in the company’s dealings come from greed, the other 20 percent from not knowing the law. You can forget about finding anything in the first group, and the only faults you find will be due to a lack of legal knowledge.” Unsurprisingly, Gross’ instincts proved correct. Gross has over 30 years of experience under his belt. His affinity for turning a profit started young. He remembers one of his first experiences seeing the tenets of supply and demand take effect. After hearing that the arba minim for Succot are extremely expensive in London, Gross decided to import them from Israel. Gross went from shul to shul and realized how such a simple idea can prove quite lucrative. Gross describes Besadno’s purpose as serving as the agent between Israeli and American investors and between Israeli start-ups and American real estate ventures, for business that is mutually profitable. Besadno’s very first investment was in a product called SkySaver, a patented rescue harness for escaping tall buildings in the event of fire or other disaster. That led to a partnership, to this day, with the Reinhold Cohn Group, an intellectual property firm with expertise in patents, copyrights, and all areas of IP management. Dr. Ilan Cohn, a senior partner in Reinhold Cohn who is personally invested in many of the company’s ventures including in the Besadno firm, is today also a member of Besadno’s investment committee.
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Around the Community Eli Gross entered the patent market about nine years ago. After he’d acquired considerable skill in investments, others started asking him to invest their money for them, and two years later, he founded the Besadno Group. After Besadno decides to invest in Israeli start-ups, it brings them into the American market to boost business connections and make them available in the American market. This gives Eli Gross, who is in close contact with key American tycoons, a huge business advantage since he’s already accumulated rich experience and connections in various fields over the years. Those connections are, practically speaking, the entryway for Besadno’s investors into the American market. To understand more about his business, Gross together with Dr. Ilan Cohn, senior partner in Reinhold Cohn, Israel’s largest patent office, spoke about the investment firm that aims to teach you how to earn in a legal, kosher way. Besadno and Reinhold Cohn work together on parallel tracks. Reinhold Cohn locates Israeli high-tech start-ups in the areas of medicine, agriculture, and real estate that need his protective services. After charting the requests and identifying companies with maximum investment potential, the companies are then introduced to Besadno as potential sources of capital. At the same time, when Besadno invests in a company that holds a few patents, it seeks the IP management services of Reinhold Cohn. Here’s what the two had to say: Eliezer, can you explain what Besadno means? Besadno is an acronym for Besiyata d’Shmaya naaseh v’natzliach. I’ve used those words, or variations of them, in my 35 years of business dealings around the world, in England, France, Belgium, Holland, Romania, Russia, China, and, of course, America and Israel. I’ve also written three books that illustrate this idea. The first, a bestseller in the U.S. and Israel, is called Nes-siyata d’Shmaya, stories of hashgachah pratis in business. There are stories of failures, not just successes because in the final analysis, everything that happens is through Divine hashgacha. The second book, on a similar theme, is called My Silent Partner, and the third is, Gam Lecha Yesh
Eli-ezer, (You Also Have Eli-ezer). Each book was printed in thousands of copies. What are the stories about? I wrote about my amazing experiences in the business world, like the time I accidently bought a jet (and immediately resold it), how I became the owner of the longest car in the world, how I bought “for free” the entire set from the “Star Trek” (over 80 marine containers), the value of two bags of rags ($75,000), how I became a Mossad agent for a day, how I was able to organize a minyan in unbelievable situations, and other fascinating accounts from the business and Torah worlds. What all the stories have in common is that in every situation, you can always find the guiding Hand. I’ve accumulated a tremendous amount of business experience in a variety of fields and connections all over the world. I endeavor to bring all that, with siyata d’Shmaya, of course, into my business dealings to this day. What is special about your business model? An Israeli start-up will always sell for half the price, or less, of its American counterpart, due to the lower cost of overhead, manpower, and other expenses. That’s why, typically, an investor needs to invest much less in an Israeli company as opposed to an American one. Since it’s customary to pay just 20 percent to 25 percent of the company’s value in the initial stage, the immediate value of an Israeli company at the outset will always be around half that of the American one. This creates an ostensibly absurd situation, whereby I, as an Israeli investor, can purchase a percentage in an Israeli
start-up for, say, $1 million, and then sell it in the short-term in the U.S. for a significant profit, since it’s worth more in America. However, if I buy an Israeli company and over time I advance it, selling it only after a year or two, then I can ask more, perhaps even more than double. And because in any event, the value of the company will be, let’s say double, in America, my asking price will sound fair to an American buyer. I strongly believe that such scenarios happen mainly with us, since Besadno is the only company that harnesses the power and the connections of the American Orthodox sector to advance innovations. In addition, we’re among the very few whose business model is not to enter at the beginning stage and then wait ten years, but to exit after only two or three years. The reason for this is that on average, a start-up has three cycles of investment. The first is the conceptual stage, which I compare to an infant learning to crawl, sit up, stand and walk, until he starts to talk and then run. At that stage, it’s too early to do business with the company, although it is possible to discern its potential. The second stage is comparable to the school years: when the child goes from first grade to second grade, and so on. In this stage, you examine the company’s product or service, improve on it, network with companies, and maybe even start to sell a little. The third stage is like the bar mitzvah – the company starts to sell on a small scale, in the amount of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands a year. The fourth and final stage is young adulthood, followed by marriage, children, and work when the
company is standing on its feet. We at Besadno deal with the start-up in its first stage, and at the most, the second stage, when the failures are not as dramatic, and which, as far as we’re concerned, gives the most satisfaction. Only after we see the company growing and thriving, do we make an exit. Can you give us some examples? That’s a problem. There are certain securities regulations that prohibit us from “talking numbers” since we’re a private firm. What I can tell you is that we’ve had exits, where we sold a company for several times its purchase price. There have also been rare instances where we lost part of or all our investment. But because we work in stages and don’t invest all the money in one blow, we cut our losses at the beginning by halting the investment, and that means that we’ve lost just a fraction of what we’d planned on investing. Consequently, our risk-to-return ratio is much better than many other investment can yield. Just to give you a better understanding, many investment companies, even the most conservative, like pension funds, invest at least part of their capital in start-ups, since they’re the most profitable.” Do you have other investment opportunities aside from startups? Certainly. We invest in commercial companies and real estate in Israel and the U.S., although on a much smaller scale, just a few million dollars a year, since those aren’t our area of specialty. However, we are in the process of developing in that direction as well.
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
Around the Community
Uplifting Limud and Chazara
M
TA talmidim in Rabbi Danto’s freshman shiur have voluntarily taken it upon themselves to not only be mesayem the entire Maseches Megilla but to also do chazara on each daf at least four times. As part of this unique initiative, the entire shiur was invited to participate in a very special event, held on Thursday, April 11 and sponsored by V’haarev Na, an organization that encourages experiencing the sweetness of Torah through constant chazara. Seven current sophomore talmidim, who were in Rabbi Danto’s shiur and participated in the event last year, joined in this year’s celebration as well, where they made a siyum
on the completion of another round of intense chazara on Maseches Taanis. The program included a learning seder with more than 800 talmidim and divrei Torah from Rabbi Yissoch-
The Beauty of Our Halachos
T
he senior year at MSH is filled with a rich array of special classes and programs to prepare the students for life after high school. MSH students graduate with a strong foundation to keep their passion for Torah and learning alive. A highlight of the senior courses, Nashim B’halacha, is taught by Mrs. Hindy Feder, currently a fellow in Nishmat’s Miriam Glaubach Center’s U.S. Yoatzot Halacha Program. The course provides the students the opportunity to study a variety of topics that all women should be familiar with. Through text-based analysis of
primary and secondary sources, both the practical and conceptual aspects of the topics are considered. Topics include mitzvat asei shehazman gramma, agunot, ketuba, limud Torah, tzniut, and niddah. As the course winds down, the MSH seniors took a trip to the Grove Street Mikvah in Cedarhurst to experience firsthand the beauty of the mitzvah. Following their visit with the women at the mikvah, the students had brunch at Menahelet Mrs. Eisenman’s house and were excited to reflect on their years at MSH and all they have learned and gained.
er Frand, followed by dancing and singing in celebration of their great accomplishments in Torah learning so far this year. The evening concluded with a festive seudah and lively
kumzitz. Rabbi Danto’s talmidim were uplifted and inspired by this incredible event, which renewed their excitement for limud Torah and intense chazara.
Bais Yaakov Student’s Family Story Selected for Publication
Yaelle Merrill, a fourth grader at Bais Yaakov Academy of Queens, has had her historical family story selected for publication in Grannie Annie, Vol. 14, to be released in May by The Grannie Annie Family Story Celebration. The Grannie Annie invites students in grades 4 through 8 to write about something interesting they discover from their family’s history based on their interviews with older relatives. Yaelle’s story, titled “The Great Escape,” tells about her great-grandmother’s struggles to survive during the Holocaust in Europe during
World War II. She wrote about great-grandmother’s experiences and how she attributed her longevity to the kindness and comfort she provided to a stranger during the Holocaust. Despite the difficult topic, Yaelle appreciated the opportunity to learn and write about family stories that were passed from her great -grandmother to her father. All students who submitted stories or illustrations for Grannie Annie, Vol. 14 will be honored at The Grannie Annie’s Family Stories Festival at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis.
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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Around the Community
A peek at the mock seder at the pre-1A in Bais Yaakov Ateres Miriam
Pre-Pesach Prep at SKA
T
he month of Nissan was warmly welcomed on Friday, April 5, by the students of the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls with first-rate music by Aryeh Kunstler, vibrant ruach, and hot potato kugel! With words of chizzuk, Mrs. Elisheva Kaminetsky, SKA principal, Judaic Studies, introduced the special erev Rosh Chodesh kumzitz. The girls sang, watched a video about Pesach, and heard an inspiring d’var Torah from Senior Devorah Schreier. It was a great way to get in the spirit of Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh and Pesach. Pesach inspiration featured greatly throughout the days leading up to the chag. SKA’s Parent Education Series presented Morah Rivka Fishbein of the Ivrit Department who spoke about yetziat Mitzrayim and examining who we are and our personal exodus. In an inspirational night of learning open to women of the community, Mrs. Kaminetsky and Rabbi Isaac Rice, Head of the Torah She’bal Peh Department, delivered a leil ha’seder shiur on highlights from the Haggadah to present to family at the seder. Haggadah highlights were shared with students of each grade in a special program designed by Rabbi Rice. Every girl was also able to understand the yom tov in depth in individu-
al grade “Ask the Rabbi” sessions, thanks to Rabbi Aaron Feigenbaum of the Irving Place Minyan, Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz of Bais Haknesses of North Woodmere, Rabbi Tzvi Ralbag of Congregation Bais Ephraim Yitzchok, and Rabbi Yaakov Trump of the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst. Opportunities for learning abounded! The 12th graders enjoyed a comprehensive Yom Iyun on Pesach with speakers from NCSY. Several well-attended SKA alumnae shiurim on divrei chag were given by faculty members Rabbi Rice, Mrs. Rochel Chafetz, Rabbi Daniel Eisenbach, and Mrs. Avigail Shmulewitz. Acts of chessed before Pesach were, of course, a prominent part of the SKA calendar. While the high school seniors took senior citizens from the Bronx food shopping at Kol Save Supermarket before the yom tov, the juniors prepared food packages for Tomchei Shabbos. The sophomores engaged in pre-Pesach activity with members of Otzar and the freshmen delighted the Lev Chana pre-schoolers with an entertaining makkot project. SKA students really fulfilled the directive of “Shoalim v’dorshim b’halachot haPesach sheloshim yom,” learning the laws of Pesach thirty days before the chag.
Last Thursday, five eighth graders from Shulamith LI went to the JCC and had the privilege of meeting and talking with Holocaust survivors. During the Pesach-themed gathering, the group played games and sang songs. Both the students and the survivors had a great time.
Central Takes Double Bronze in Science
L
ast Sunday’s inter-school Science Olympiad competition, hosted at Lander College and sponsored by the BJE, was a great day of collaboration, camaraderie, exploration, innovation, and competitions in a wide range of activities, with participants from thirteen schools from the NY and NJ areas. Our students built mousetrap vehicles, boomilevers, and circuits, demonstrating their knowledge in sub-fields as diverse as genetics,
herpetology, anatomy, and physiology. Congratulations to seniors Miri Biderman and Eliana Ellerton on their Double Bronze Medals for Anatomy and Physiology and Road Scholar events. Faculty mentor Miriam Chopp was especially proud of our A.P. Chemistry and A.P. Biology students’ kindness, cooperation, and camaraderie. As team advisor and coach, engineering teacher Mr. David Horstman did a great job preparing the team.
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
Around the Community
Noted Attorney and Constitutional Expert Lectures at Yeshiva of South Shore
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t the Abraham and Sarah Silber Mechina division of Yeshiva of South Shore, constitutional history transcends textbooks and classrooms. After finishing the history unit, the students were treated to an animated lecture by well-known constitutional attorney Mr. Ivan Fisher. A noted defense attorney, Mr. Fisher discussed real-life law and the concepts of constitutional rights and implementation of the Bill of Rights in the courtroom. Mr. Fisher dramatically described how U.S. agents mistreated his client, Francisco Toscanino, in Uruguay. He explained his audacious challenge to the standing Supreme Court decisions on grounds of the “due process” clause of the Fifth Amendment and shared an unexpected twist in his defense of an altruistic adoption lawyer. There, the benefit of the Sixth Amendment was the key – “…the right…to be confronted with the witness against him.” The words from the students’ textbook came to life as
we saw their vitality in Mr. Fisher’s experiences. The enthusiasm of the boys was most palpable when Mr. Fisher opened the floor to their questions. Their young minds jumped from specifics of the trials he discussed to general questions about the practice of law. Mr. Fisher was thrilled
to answer their questions. He later commented that the boys asked “very intelligent questions.” He provided an enriching and enjoyable experience and the students were grateful to Mr. Ivan Fisher for taking the time to come and teach them. Above all, the YOSS Mechina
students learned to appreciate the Constitution of the United States of America and the Amendments which ensure our rights – particularly our First Amendment right: to serve Hashem freely.
use of the various landmarks and monuments in the park; they used the Unisphere to answer geography questions and researched the history of the park to understand its place in New York City history. “I really like this kind of learning,” said Rebecca Friedman. “It
allows you to get more involved and experience the subjects.” Jessica Friedman added, “It was so great to be outside and active, and it was a great opportunity to bond with my grade.”
Central’s Amazing Race
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he juniors at Central headed to Flushing Meadows Park on a recent Wednesday morning for some out-of-the-classroom learning. Faculty members Mr. Yitzchok Borenstein, Mrs. Marci Karoll, Mr. Yadin Klein, and Dr. Gili Nagar organized an “Amazing Race,” in
which students had to complete various academic tasks, including determining the velocity of a rocket launch, writing with nature-related vocabulary, and figuring out how to use a 40-foot string and a log to create a shape of the largest possible area. Students also had to make
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The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Spec ia Suppl PESACH leme nt
THOUGHTS ON YOM TOV
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Echoes of the Ultimate Geulah at the Seder by Rav Yaakov Feitman
Nothing Left Behind by Rabbi Yoni Levin
Giving Thanks for Every Detail by Rav Moshe Weinberger
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Short and Deep Insights for Seder Night by Shmuel Reichman
FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT
S18 S20
Turning Points by Michelle Mond
A Miracle in Baghdad by Nuta Yisrael Shurack
S22 S38
TJH Chol Hamoed Guide
Afikomen Antics by Jon Kranz
BON APPÉTIT
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Pesach with Chef Paula Shoyer
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Echoes of the
Ultimate Geulah
at the Seder
By Rav Yaakov Feitman
O
ne of the mysteries of the Haggadah is the location of one of its major stories. The
great Tannaim, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon, were
conducting the seder in Bnei Brak. Many meforshim raise the issue of why all these sages were together in one city. Why weren’t they home with their families? Furthermore, even if one were to contend that, like many chassidim today, they went to their rebbe for the seder, Bnei Brak was the home of Rabbi Akiva and he was, in fact, the student of several of these Tannaim. It is well known that he did not begin learning Torah until he was 40 years old and it would seem proper that, if anything, he would go to them and not vice versa. Rav Reuvein Margoliyos, in his commentary to the Hagadah (Be’er Miryam) cites various proofs that all of these Tannaim were returning home from a mission to Rome where they were successful in averting a decree against Klal Yisrael. The ship carrying them arrived in the port of Yaffo (Jaffa) just before Pesach and the closest city where they could spend yom tov was Bnei Brak. The Aruch Hashulchan, in his own commentary, offers a more conceptual hashkafic answer. He suggests that these giants of Torah lived at the time of the Roman occupation of Eretz Yisrael when it was forbidden to learn, let alone teach Torah. This follows the opinion of many meforshim that the talmidim had to notify them that it was time for Shacharis, since they were actually conducting the seder in
the dark of a clandestine cave, where they could literally not see the light of day. Under these conditions, it did not matter where the seder would be held. It would be dangerous everywhere and had to be conducted with great mesiras nefesh. However, they were seeking a seder leader who would provide them with hope and optimism and who would enable them to soar to heights of simcha and bitachon despite their dire conditions. Their unanimous decision was that it had to be Rabbi Akiva. He was the one (see end of Maseches Makkos) who was able to see light in the darkness even at the sight of the Bais Hamikdash in ruins. When his revered colleagues – and even rebbes – cried, he was able to laugh, for he was able to triumph over the despair and gloom. It was Rabbi Akiva who drew such solace from the water penetrating the rock that he concluded he could overcome the darkness of his ignorance and attain Torah greatness. This was what the Tannaim needed at that difficult time, so they went to Bnei Brak, just as the inmates of Auschwitz and other death camps clung to the Klauzenberger and Bluzhever Rebbes, zt”l, to help them declare l’shanah haba’ah b’Yerushalayim. With this approach we can also appreciate an answer given by Rav Aharon Rokeach, zt”l, the Belzer Rebbe, to an ancient question. When we
arrive at Korech and follow Hillel in making the famous matzah and maror “sandwich,” we recite the pasuk “al matzos umerorim yochluhu.” This seems to make sense until we notice that this pasuk is actually from Parshas Be’haaloscha referring to Pesach Sheini, rather than the phrase umatzos al merorim yochluhu from Parshas Bo. The rebbe answers profoundly but simply that since the Korban Pesach had to be offered on the 14th of Nisan and our Seder is being held on the 15th, it is too late to hope for bringing the regular Korban Pesach this year. We therefore invoke the pasuk from Be’haaloscha in the hope that at least we should be able to bring the Korban Pesach Sheini on the 14th of Iyar in a month with the arrival of Moshiach. With this, the Belzer Rebbe reveals to us a significant secret about the Haggadah and Seder night. Everything we do on this sacred evening constitutes a hope and a prayer that we will soon be able to do everything which we can now only symbolize and yearn for
in our current condition. Although we are baruch Hashem not under Roman occupation, in Siberia or under Nazi rule, we cannot do everything the Torah commands us in order to complete
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tion. This view of Pesach and the Haggadah explains many aspects of the upcoming yom tov. The Navi Michah (7:15) declares, “As in the days when
They were seeking a seder leader who would provide them with hope and optimism and who would enable them to soar to heights of simcha and bitachon despite their dire conditions.
the mitzvos properly. What we can do, however, is to yearn and express our longing for the coming of Moshiach, which will allow us to perform all of Hashem’s commandments in perfec-
you left Mitzrayim I will show it wonders” which gedolim (see Pachad Yitzchok Pesach 71:6) understand as teaching that the future geulah (redemption) will resemble that of the
exodus from Egypt. Furthermore, our leaving Mitzrayim in the spring (Chodesh Ha’aviv Shemos 13:4) represents not only the awakening of the natural world but also the techiyas hameisim – resurrection of the dead – which will occur in the messianic era (See Hagadas Simchas Yaavetz 5751 ed., page 200). Rav Dovid Cohen, shlita, also concludes that the night of the seder is called leil shemurim – a guarded night – because this is the night Klal Yisrael was created (Vayehi sham l’goy). Just as Adam Harishon was fashioned in total perfection, not even subject to death, so too Klal Yisrael at the moment of Yetzias Mitzrayim was impervious to any jeopardy and had nothing to fear. This was the state of mankind at the very beginning and will be our condition once again at the time of our true geulah bimeheirah b’yameinu. A chag kasher v’sameach to all.
Rav Yaakov Feitman is the rav of Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi in Cedarhurst.
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NOTHING LEFT BEHIND By Rabbi Yoni Levin
T
he final three makkos are isolated in their own separate parsha. There is a message
here that the Torah is trying to convey. Parshas Bo – as we know, the word has the gematria of three – con-
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tains an everlasting message for us. This is the parsha where we become a nation. This is the parsha where we receive our first mitzvah. This is the parsha where we become Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s children. There is a lesson that Hashem wants us to learn from the last three makkos and to pass it on from generation to generation as the parsha begins: “U’lema’an t’sapair b’aznei b’ncha u’ven bncha.” What is that lesson? And how does that lesson relate to the final three makkos?
Unfinished Business The Torah describes how the Arbeh ate “es yeser ha’plaitah ha’nisheres lachem min ha’Barad.” The locusts devoured the produce that escaped destruction from the Barad. The Barad had unfinished business; the Arbeh picked up the missing pieces. The pasuk reiterates the point, “v’lo noser kol yerek ba’eitz,” that nothing remained of the fruits and vegetables after the locusts were done. The locusts came in and cleaned up shop. The first seven makkos consisted of jobs half-done. By Makkas Dam, for example, the Torah says that the chartumim, the magicians, were also able turn water into blood. Evidently, not all of the water in Mitzrayim turned to blood. Each makkah, in its
own way, had left behind some loose ends, some unfinished business. But then came along the final three, spearheaded by Makkas Arbeh. Klal Yisroel witnessed an unrelenting wrath filled with diligence, determination, and purpose. No stone was unturned. Nothing was left behind. The first seven makkos didn’t carry the tenacity, resolve, and drive to redeem Am Yisroel. But the 1-2-3 punch in Parshas Bo made an incredible display of how to get things done, how to be successful, and how to serve the Al-mighty. Don’t just start the job, but carry it through until the end. The Arbeh represents the ability to get a job done with efficiency and focus. This theme continues with Makkas Choshech. Choshech allowed Klal Yisroel the opportunity to rummage through the Egyptian possessions to ensure nothing of theirs was left behind. When negotiating with Paroah, Moshe demands that the Mitzrim provide them with so many cattle that “lo nishar” – no cattle will be left behind. Moshe asserted that nothing will remain behind. saw leorsiY lalK turning over a new leaf in learning a lesson in success, in life, in dedication, and in loyalty. Don’t start what you can’t finish. Instead, finish what you started. As Klal Yisroel prepares for the
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
THIS YEAR,
we are grateful to have TAKEN YOU OUT from the difficulty of navigating the various rewards programs; we have SAVED YOU from misusing your rewards; we have REDEEMED YOUR miles and points for top dollar; and we have BROUGHT YOU to the land of milk and honey (and many other lands as well) without having to break the bank... So this Pesach, the entire PEYD Team says thank you, for another milestone year.
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8 8 8 . 4 0 4 . P E Y D ( 7 3 9 3 ) | W W W. P E Y D.C O M | I N F O @ G E T P E Y D.C O M
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
very next step, the redemption, and its accompanying korban Pesach, the Torah lays out the details. One such detail is to not leave any part of the korban Pesach overnight, “v’lo sosiru mimenu ad boker.” When you get a mitzvah, make sure to finish the job, from beginning to end. You should eat every last crumb, every last piece of meat. And this paved the way for the tenth and final makkah, about which the Torah describes, “ki ein bayis asher ein sham meis,” – no Egyptian home escaped death. This is yet another expression of getting a job done from A to Z. These final three makkos devastated Mitzrayim from top to bottom. Every ounce of produce was devoured, every cow was confiscated, and every family lost a life. Hashem was teaching am Yisrael an eternal lesson. When you start something, finish it – from the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh until “lo sosiru mimenu ad boker.”
Rosh Chodesh is the start of the new month. But often, the initial excitement and inertia dwindle as time goes on. Shalosh seudos and melava malka are the hardest meals to eat for obvious reasons. The afikomen is just as hard. But when a person has passion, dedication and devotion then he eats shalosh seudos, he eats melava malka, he eats the afikomen, and he leaves no part of the korban Pesach uneaten.
Doing More This is precisely the understanding of what the Gemara in Sotah means when it says that leftover mitzvos protect from calamity. The Gemara is talking about shaking the lulav. In other words, even though one has fulfilled his obligation of netilas lulav by simply lifting up, if one were to shake the four minim in every direction as we do, then the sechar is even greater. Chazal guarantee us that such an individual will be protected from paraniyos.
Why is the sechar greater for something that you don’t actually have to do? If you pick up the lulav then you check the box for fulfilling the mitzvah; but if you voluntarily shake the lulav you receive an insurance policy? The Torah promises you added protection for doing something that you don’t have to actually do? And the answer, of course, is yes. It is one thing to perform a mitzvah at its bare minimum, but to show passion, thirst, and will to do more than the basics demonstrate that you are a loyal soldier of Hashem. Pushing yourself to do more, even just slightly more, shows dedication and mesiras nefesh. In order to stay on course and focused, one needs to conjure up his inner strength and self-control. One needs to avoid all distractions and disturbances to take a project from start to finish. And this is the middah of gevurah, strength and steadfast. This, of course, is the middah of Yitzchok and the name of Hashem,
Elokim. When Yitzchok gave the brachos to Yaakov, Eisav complained, “Are you a man of just one bracha?!” We see that Yitzchok gave all his koach into the bracha to Yaakov. He didn’t leave anything behind. When Yitzchok did something, he did it in its entirety. It should be of no surprise then that the gematria of Arbeh (802) equals Yitzchok (208). And the roshei teivos of the pasuk, “Hineni maivi machar Arbeh” is the gematria of Elokim (68) and the sofei teivos are the gematria of gevurah (216). We should all be zocheh to find that inner strength and willpower to stay focused and on course to fulfilling the will of Hashem and bring the greatest nachas ruach to the Borei Olam. Rabbi Levin is the assistant rabbi at Congregation Aish Kodesh as well as the Rosh Kollel of Emek Hamelech, both of which are under the leadership of Rav Moshe Weinberger.
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
חג כשר ושמח During Pesach, UJA proudly renews our sacred commitment to make life better for millions of Jews in New York, in Israel, and around the world. These are just a few of the ways we’re investing in our community:
• Delivering 7.4 million kosher meals to people in need • Helping underwrite medical, pension, and life insurance benefits for 6,700 yeshiva teachers and faculty
• Providing vocational training and career services for thousands of adults in Orthodox communities
• Helping nearly 16,000 impoverished Holocaust survivors with counseling, food, and companionship
With your help, we look forward to further strengthening our community. Wishing you and your family a חג כשר ושמח.
UJAFedNY.org ujafedny.org
@ujafedny
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by Rabbi Shraga Freedman
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Stories and ideas for constant Kiddush Hashem
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From the Fire
Pesach Giving Thanks for Every Detail By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
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he piyut of Dayenu has an unusual placement in the Haggadah. In the tenth perek of Pesachim, which discusses the structure of the Haggadah, there is no mention of Dayenu, which was added to the text of the Haggadah later in history. We would have expected that we would go straight from the initial paragraphs of the Haggadah to “Rabban Gamliel would say, ‘Anyone who has not said these three things on Pesach has not fulfilled his obligation: Pesach, matzah and maror.’” Why did the Baal Haggadah, the author of the Haggadah, insert Dayenu in between the bulk of Maggid and “Rabban Gamliel”? It seems clear that while internalizing emunah in Hashem’s existence and hashgachas pratis, Divine Providence, is a major part of the seder, there is another major theme as well, which is hakaras hatov, gratitude to Hashem for all of His kindness to us. There is another well-known question on the Haggadah. Why does the Baal Haggadah explicate the story of yetziyas Mitzrayim, the exodus from Egypt, using the pesukim of the recitation of one who brings the first fruits to Yerushalayim (Devarim 26:5-9)? The story of our departure from Egypt is found in much more detail in parshas Va’eira and Bo. Why do we use the short version of the story from sefer Devarim, which discusses the
mitzvos that will apply once we have already entered Eretz Yisroel rather than the “original” version of the story? The recollection of the Exodus stated by those who bring their first fruits to Yerushalayim appears designed to emphasize the importance of hakaras hatov, being grateful to Hashem, when things are good by remembering how it was not always that way. A person living in Eretz Yisroel on his little moshav could forget the suffering and pain of his parents and grandparents in Egypt. So the Torah tells him to remember how hard it was for the earlier generations so he will feel more gratitude for his blessings. The author of the Haggadah chose to use the version of the Exodus from that parsha in order to emphasize the lesson of gratitude for the Jews of all generations at their sedarim. Even though we may have many blessings in our lives, we should remember how we were not always as fortunate as we are now. That is why the Mishna in Pesachim (116a) says, “Matchil b’gnus u’mesayem b’shvach,” we start off with discussing the less appealing aspects of our background and conclude with praise. Once things are good, it is easy to take our blessings for granted and think that it is simply supposed to be that way unless we remember that it wasn’t always so good. We then remember that it doesn’t have to be so good
because it wasn’t always that way. But Dayenu is also a source of pain because it means enough, as the Gemara (Chagiga 12a) says that Hashem is called Kel Shakkai because “she’amar dai l’olamo, He said to the world ‘enough.’” Enough is the source of all of the boundaries in the world, which hold back the influx of blessing. When I was young, in the sixties, my parents took us to watch a movie as a family. This was in the days when Vietnam was a major issue, and at a certain point in the film, it became clear that the message of the film was that America is terrible. My father then told us, “Everyone get up, we’re leaving.” My father, who survived the camps in Europe, often said that the only reason the young people thought that America was a bad place was because they had never lived in a truly bad place. When a person has lived through what the Nazis did, he appreciates every single blessing that we have in America. That is why we remember how Avraham’s father was an idol worshipper and how our forefathers were slaves. When we remember how things were not always as good as they are now, we have gratitude for each of the blessings Hashem bestows upon us.
Counting Each Blessing It is not enough, however, to feel gratitude for our blessings as one big “lump.” We must count each
and every blessing. That is why in Dayenu, we say that, for instance, “if He had given us Shabbos but not brought us to Har Sinai, it would have been enough for us.” Instead of thanking Hashem generally “that everything is so good,” we go one-by-one through each aspect of Hashem’s kindnesses in order to recognize that Hashem does not owe us anything so we must feel grateful for each and every blessing He has bestowed upon us. In our times, we are so overloaded with blessing. We have simply forgotten how to pause and take note of each and every one. There are fifteen stanzas in Dayenu, which is the gematria, the numerical value of “hod,” which means splendor, but is also related to the word “hodaya,” gratitude or thankfulness. The connection between the number fifteen and the idea of gratitude appears in a number of places. Dovid Hamelech has fifteen Tehillim (120-134) each beginning with the words Shir Hamaalos to give thanks for all of the blessings he was grateful for, which correspond to the fifteen stairs leading from the women’s section to the men’s section of the Bais Hamikdash. The Bais Hamikdash is often referred to as the “Bais Habechira,” the place of true free choice. Only a person who is free, who has left the prison, the Egypt of selfishness and smallness, can feel an overflowing sense of gratitude for all the blessings in his life. The Haggadah itself also has
Jewish Home | APRIL 29, 17, 2015 2019 The The Jewish Home | OCTOBER
fifteen parts, Kadesh, Urchatz, etc., because a major theme of the Haggadah is “hodaya,” learning to be grateful for each blessing Hashem has given us. I know of a young couple who moved to Eretz Yisroel a number of years ago from America. The transition was initially very difficult for the wife, especially when it came time to do the laundry. Every day as she went out to her mirpeset, her balcony, to hang her laundry on the clothesline, she remembered how she never had to do this in America, where clothes dryers abound. She felt the bitterness of the difficulty of her life in Eretz Yisroel every day as she hung up the laundry, grumbling as she did so. She began to notice that an elderly woman across the street hung up her laundry to dry at about the same time of day, but she sang one happy tune or other as she did so. Baffled at how anyone could remain so cheerful as she hung laundry to
dry, she went across the street to the woman’s building one day to inquire about the reason for her pleasant laundry mood. When she asked how the woman could be so cheerful as she hung her laundry out to dry, the
concentration camps. In her camp, the outer perimeter was only 40 or 50 feet away from a residential neighborhood. From time to time, she was able to walk over to the barbed wire fence and watch the
Only a person who is free, who has left the prison, the Egypt of selfishness and smallness, can feel an overflowing sense of gratitude for all the blessings in his life.
elderly woman explained why she was so happy. As a young girl in Poland, she had been taken away to the Nazi
housewives going about their business in the houses next to the camp (and they claim they did not know what was happening…). She used to
stand there in front of her barbed wire line and watch the housewives hanging up their laundry on their clotheslines. As she did so, she longed to go back to a normal life of hanging laundry. She often prayed that if Hashem ever released her from that gehenom, and she could go back to doing daily chores like hanging up the laundry, that she would always do so with joy. That is why she always hung up the laundry with a feeling of joy and gratitude. With Hashem’s help, may we remember that things were not always as good as they are now and that it does not have to be this way. May we merit to internalize the message of the Haggadah by giving thanks to Hashem for each and every blessing in our lives. 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.
Sending blessings for a happy and healthy Passover
Councilman
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Think, Feel, Grow
Short and Deep Insights for Seder Night By Shmuel Reichman
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his collection of short and deep insights for the seder is organized so that each one is independent but they also develop into a deeper theme when you read them all together. I hope they will aid you on your journey towards a meaningful and transformative seder night.
Why Do We Announce All the Steps of the Seder? On no other chag do we announce all the steps of the holiday’s rituals aloud before proceeding to perform them. On Sukkos, we don’t say: “Lulav, esrog, sukkah…” On Purim, we don’t intone, “Megillah, mishloach manos, matanos l’evyonim, hamantaschen…” So why on the seder night do we begin by announcing all the different steps of the seder? Any great journey begins with a clear goal and destination. As we say every Friday evening in Lecha Dodi, “Sof ma’aseh bi’machshava techilah,” the physical result originates first within the mind. In order to accomplish anything great, you must first create a clear target and determine what direction you must take to get there. The seder is made up of 15 steps. This is the same number of steps up to the Beis Ha’Mikdash and the same number of the Shir Hamaalos, Songs of Ascension. The seder is likewise a 15 step process of ascension, a 15 step journey towards spiritual greatness. However, you do not accidentally achieve spiritual greatness – it requires extreme dedication. The
seder night is a genuine journey, an opportunity to tap into something special. On the seder night, we are trying to experience true freedom, a deeper connection with Hashem, gratitude, and an understanding of our mission here in this world. Only when we lay out the steps and create a clear destination for our Pesach seder can we achieve the extraordinary.
What’s With All the Questions? One of the notably prevalent themes of the seder is that of asking questions. While Mah Nishtanah is the most obvious example, the commentators explain many other parts of the Seder as purely serving as an impetus for children to ask questions. It’s not only children, though, who are enjoined to question. The Gemara in Pesachim (116a) says that if a man’s child cannot ask the questions, then his wife should, and if he has no wife, he must ask himself questions. Even if two Torah scholars are sharing their seder together, they should ask each other. Why is questioning such an integral part of the Pesach seder? The only way to learn is to question. A question creates a gap – it allows you to recognize your current limitations, to step outside the illusion that you already know everything. You can only learn something once you realize that you don’t already understand it. The Gemara in Gittin 43a says that you can only understand something if you were
originally mistaken. Only by recognizing that you don’t already know something, can you then break it down, analyze it, and see it in a new way, thereby building a newer and deeper understanding. If you think you already fully understand something, you’ll never allow for your mind to develop a new way of seeing it. The seder night is the time of passing over our mesorah, our tradition and legacy. It’s a night when we speak about emunah, faith, the meaning of being a Jew, and our purpose in this world. In order to teach these lessons to our children and ourselves in a deep and lasting way, we must encourage the seder participants to ask questions, no matter the age or knowledge level. Our yetzer hara convinces us that we are perfect, that we already know everything. As such, there’s no need to question. This pitfall is personified by Eisav, who was born fully hairy. Hair is the outermost expression of a grown human being. Eisav projected the belief that he was completely developed and therefore required no additional development. The name “Eisav” itself is the word “asui,” meaning made or completed. Eisav represents the illusion of being complete, perfect, not requiring any further work or growth. Our goal and mission as the Jewish People is to grow, develop ourselves, and fulfill our potential. On the seder night, as we focus on whom each of us can become, we ask questions, creating holes that
we then yearn to fill with additional knowledge, insight, and growth.
The Ka’ara: A Pathway Into the Spiritual The ka’ara – the seder plate – contains many symbolic foods that we use throughout the seder. Some of these are eaten during the course of the seder, while others we simply look at or point at. What are the meaning to these simanim? Is there a deeper meaning behind displaying them on our seder tables? The simple answer is that we display these foods in order to engage the children, to encourage their curiosity and questions. We use simanim to accomplish this because children are not capable of grasping conceptual or intellectual ideas. They live within the world of the finite, and they require something concrete and tangible – something they can see and touch – in order to relate to a concept. Therefore, in order to include our children in the concepts and ideas that are taught and developed at the seder, we use physical simanim to actively engage them. There is a deeper idea which can be learned here as well, one that is applicable not only to children but to those of all ages. The most fundamental understanding that one can develop in this world is that there is always something deeper than that which appears on the surface. Living in a physical world can compel one to forget to seek out the spirituality inherent within every object, event,
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and person in this world. Seder night is when we instill within ourselves the pillars of emunah and our mission as the Jewish People. On this night, we must all learn this powerful principle. Each physical object on the ka’arah represents a world of profundity, but this is not limited to the seder plate alone. There is spiritual depth within everything; we need only look for it.
What’s Our Goal in Telling Over Yetzias Mitzrayim We conclude the paragraph of “Avadim Hayinu” by proclaiming, “V’chol hamarbeh l’saper b’yitzias Mitzrayim, harei zeh mishubach,” whoever elaborates on the Exodus from Egypt, behold, this is praiseworthy. The Rambam codifies this as a legitimate halacha of seder night. There are two ways to understand the statement of “v’chol hamarbeh.” The first is on a quantitative level, that one should tell over as much as possible of the exodus story. The second is a qualitative approach, that one should delve into the miracles and wonders that Hashem performed when taking us out. There is, however, a third way to understand this statement, one that gives us a new perspective on Yetzias Mitrayim and the goal of our seder night. Yetzias Mitzrayim was not merely a historical event, rather it was the birth of the Jewish People – our people, you and me. The story did not end with the birth of the Jewish People, it continues with them growing into the nation they are meant to become. When the Jewish People left Mitzrayim, they journeyed to Har Sinai and Matan Torah, where we were all given the Torah and our mission in this world as Hashem’s chosen nation. This is the story that we have continued throughout history, that you and I are commissioned to continue to this very day. Sipur means to tell over a story, and the hagaddah says that whoever does this increasingly is praiseworthy. Jewish history is not only “his” story, it’s our story. It is our mission and destiny, and we must continue to grow and thrive in this mission. The goal is to make yourself a part of the Jewish story, to continue what
began with Yetzias Mitzrayim, to become the person you were meant to be. V’chol hamarbeh...harei zeh meshubach.
Wine on the Seder Night… Really? Pesach is a spiritual time, where we connect to some of the deepest themes of Judaism. Why then do we spend the night drinking wine? We see repeatedly that wine is a very dangerous and damaging entity, connected to many infamous sins. According to one opinion, the eitz ha’da’as was a grape vine. Immediately after the mabul, Noach became intoxicated, repeating Adam’s original sin. Lot and his daughters erred with wine. According to one opinion, Nadav and Avihu’s sin was perform-
The reason why Hashem created the world in such a way is so that we can have free will. We get to choose whether to use things for their true purpose, actualizing their potential, or to misuse them, getting pulled into the clutches of evil. Having established that everything has the potential to be used for good or evil, it’s also important to realize that the more power there is, the more potential there is. For example, a 220-watt outlet can either charge your phone or give you a small electric shock. But 20,000 watts can either light up your neighborhood or electrocute you. The more power, the more potential. Of course, this results in an important principle: the value in any power is only in as much as it can be con-
Seder night is when we instill within ourselves the pillars of emunah and our mission as the Jewish People.
ing the avodah while intoxicated. If so, why do we spend our seder night drinking wine? Nothing in the physical world is objectively good or evil, rather everything has the potential to be used for either good or evil. The choice is solely up to you! Electricity is neither good nor bad. An outlet can be used to charge your appliances, but it can also give you an electric shock. The same applies to money: it can be used to enable Torah learning, but it can also be used to fund destruction and chaos. A charismatic personality can be used to inspire others to grow or to seduce them down a twisted path. Everything in this world is merely potential, waiting to be used. Evil, therefore, is really the misuse of potential, when we choose to use an object for something other than its true purpose. Evil is the breakdown and corruption of good. This is why the Hebrew word for evil is rah, which means brokenness or fragmentation.
trolled. Otherwise, the more power you have, the more destruction you will have, as we often see with nuclear energy and money. Just think about giving a child the power to cross the street by himself. When do you give him such a power? Only when he has the ability to control it, to know when not to cross the street. The Vilna Gaon explains that wine is the greatest paradigm of physical potential. On the one hand, it is clearly dangerous, and its misuse leads to complete and utter disaster. But when used properly, it lifts you up. The spiritual nature of wine is evident in its nature. Physical things rot, wither, and decay with time, such as the human body and food. Wine, however, only improves with time. Furthermore, as R’ Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, explains, when it comes to most foods and drinks, the more you have, the less you want. You become full and lose your appetite. With wine, however, the opposite is true. The more you
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have, the more you desire. Wine is also able to open up the mind and allow it to transcend its normal limitations. As Chazal explain, “Nichnas yayin yatzeh sod,” when wine enters, secrets are revealed (both yayin and sod have the gematria of 70).The meaning is that wine opens up your consciousness to a level of experience that transcends the revealed level of reality. This is why we have wine at every point of kedushah, at every point where we want to uplift the physical. It’s our way of showing that we’re taking the physical, something that has the potential for both spirituality and spiritual emptiness, and using it for the good. We therefore make kiddush on wine on Shabbos, on yom tov, at a wedding, by a bris milah, and for other such holy celebrations. We drink wine at the seder in order to uplift the night of Pesach. We are uplifting our seder experience, but we are tapping into a larger experience as well. The Ramban explains that the grand miracles of Pesach are meant to instill within us the understanding that not only are the open reversals of nature miraculous, but the day-to-day workings of nature are miraculous as well. Hashem performed outstanding miracles when taking us out of Mitzrayim, but the entire world of nature is a constant miracle of Hashem as well. This means that every aspect of this physical world is vested with G-dliness, with the potential for spirituality, and we can therefore uplift every single thing we encounter to a state of holiness. As we retell over the Pesach story at the seder, we learn about the inherent spirituality present within every facet of the physical world. What better way to do this than with wine?
Shmuel Reichman is an inspirational speaker who has spoken internationally at shuls, conferences, and in Jewish communities. You can find more inspirational shiurim, videos, and articles from Shmuel on Facebook and Yutorah. org. For all questions, thoughts, or bookings, please email shmuelreichman678@ gmail.com.
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t’s ironic how things change from year to year. There is always that paradigm shift when your outlook on something so routine turns over on its head. It is the moment you realize that little shiny button in your junk drawer is not actually a button but part of a pure gold pendant you never knew existed until now. I remember the first Tisha B’Av I actually felt Tisha B’Av. It was the year of September 11th, and I was at teen groups upstairs at my shul. We were a bunch of girls in a cramped room that smelled of stale crackers left over from the younger kids’ Shabbos groups. The floor was still sticky from the spilled fruit punch. I have no idea what prompted me to go, but I did. The woman running the program had us sitting on the sticky floor and read real-life stories of people who lost their lives in the buildings. Never did I yearn for the geulah so strongly, never did I cry so hard, and never did I have a Tisha B’Av after that one that I did not close my eyes and think of that room. That smell. That stick. That group of girls – the crying together. This Pesach I think I had my turning point. Unlike all my married friends, I have been making my
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own P e sach since getting married eleven years ago. Yes, we go out to family and friends for meals here and there. But I *gasp* actually never moved into my parents’ house for chagim. Imagine that. The first year we were married, I bought Pesach pots, pans, dishes, and a million random kitchen gadgets I didn’t really need but thought I needed (did I really think I’d use those 20 fancy ramekins?). The good stuff has gotten lots of wear and tear by now. The thing with Pesach, though, is that it’s always a dread. I can’t even enjoy Purim because all I can think of is, well, the day after Purim. Because we all know the day after Purim begins the countdown until Pesach. What happens the day after Purim is extraordinary, and I can almost predict what will happen in my mind ahead of time. There is the grocery shop the week after Purim – you see Busy Bragging Breindy in Aisle 9 browsing the array of Pesach baked and dry goods. (Try saying
that five times fast.) After some brief chitchat, she starts talking to you about potatoes. Ah, the dreaded yet infamous potatoes. “How are you making your potatoes, this year, Michelle? I already have my menu all planned out,” BBB says. “Today I am buying all my dry goods. Next week I start cooking.” She keeps talking. Something about her recipes and how to make the most delicious Pesachdik deli-roll out of potatoes but I can’t remember what she actually said because, well, I now have a fullblown inferiority complex. I make a casual excuse and make a beeline for the cereal aisle because I assume I will be safe there. Chometz before Pesach? Nah. Who was I kidding? I turn the corner into Aisle 2 and I see Chalishing Chaviva The Great. If we had not locked eyes at that moment, I would have lowered my head, backed up slowly and gone to Aisle 3 instead. She always has her house clean for Pesach the week after Purim, and she just loves asking
what I’m up to. There it goes again, inferiority complex. What is it about Pesach and inferiority complexes? We all know, at the end of the day, it all gets done. Why must it turn into such a competition so early on?
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ut this year, things were different. I did my post-Purim grocery shop without any sight of Bragging Breindy or Chalishing Chaviva – names, of course, have been changed – and had the most pleasant surprise at the checkout counter. A local rebbetzin was in front of me as I loaded my kids’ snacks onto the belt and she was smiling from ear to ear. She looked at me, her eyes crinkled into perfect almond wedges as she said the next few words: “I just love this time of year, don’t you? It’s such a hustle and bustle until the finish line, but the process is just so beautiful if you let yourself enjoy it.” I wouldn’t have taken her seriously if not for the sheer radiance coming from her eyes as she said it. Enjoy it? Hmm... I never thought of it that way. The arduous preparations which we undertake to get ready for Pesach. The panic, dread, and anxiety that women (and don’t forget the
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
helpful men) everywhere go through to keep up w ith perfectly planned Pesach prep expectations. However, in the mess of the hustle and bustle have we possibly missed the point? Geulah, freedom, and redemption are the themes of the holiday of Pesach that has the ironic association with being chained to our hands and knees scrubbing. I reali ze now t h a t
we have had it all wrong. The following Sunday I had a post-Purim Sunday like never before, with those beaming almond eyes of the Rebbetzin still fresh in my mind with those lingering words, “If you just let yourself enjoy it.” I
room together. We did not spring clean because that would stress us out. We cleaned for Pesach and actually enjoyed it. This was my turning point year. I have a few things done, the kitchen is getting there, but I will tackle it at my own pace and in a way my family and I can enjoy it – together. I will
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the process is much healthier for me and my kids.
N
ext time you see your own Bragging Breindy or Chalishing Chaviva – because we all know one or two – it could be time for you to turn into the Rebbetzin. Tell them how beautiful the
“IT’S SUCH A HUSTLE AND BUSTLE UNTIL THE FINISH LINE, BUT THE PROCESS IS JUST SO BEAUTIFUL IF YOU LET YOURSELF ENJOY IT.” pumped up the music, danced with the kids, gave everybody jobs as we tackled the kids’ rooms and play-
not fall into the anxiety-provoking “must get it all done so early” trap again because letting myself enjoy
process is if you slow down, chill out, and actually let yourself enjoy it.
IMPORTANT REMINDER! Don’t forget to cancel your gardener/ landscaper for the week of Pesach With the hustle and bustle of Yom Tov preparations, we often forget that one’s gardener should not be doing work on his property on Chol Hamoed. So take a moment to contact your gardener to cancel service for the week of Pesach.
Wishing you a Chag Sameach!
Plan ahead … email shmirashamoed@gmail.com for a handy list of upcoming Yomim Tovim to give your gardener so he can schedule appropriately.
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The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
77
A Miracle in
Baghdad
By Nuta Yisrael Shurack
I
t was midday when an elderly traveler entered the Jewish quarter of Baghdad. The marketplace, where merchants from many lands sold their fabrics, spices and other wares, seemed strangely empty for such a day. He sighted the grandest building in the section and determined that must be the great synagogue. He continued his trek towards it until he entered its courtyard and sat down to rest, opening his small sack to take out a few dried figs to refresh his strength. Yet no sooner had he started his lunch than he became aware of a commotion from within the sanctuary. He peeked inside, and beheld a moving spectacle – hundreds of Jews fervently chanting Psalms amidst tears and sobs. “What has happened?” he asked of the first Jew whose attention he could catch. Hurriedly, and in a voice of desperation, the man told him the story as best he could. The Sultan had decreed that the Jewish people of Baghdad must produce a leader who could perform miracles as Moses had done. Since Moses was the leader of the Jewish people in Egypt, and he was able to do miracles, the Sultan expected the same from the leader of the Jews of Baghdad. If they would not produce such a miracle-maker, the Jews would be expelled from Baghdad. Therefore, all of the Jews were fasting and praying to Gd for salvation. In his calm and patient disposition, the wise traveler approached yet more Jews, until he had finally pieced togeth-
er the entire story: The Sultan’s chief advisor, Mustafa, was a vicious Jew-hater whose mission it was to destroy the Jews, or at least to have them banished from Baghdad. He had convinced the Sultan that the Jews were not only infidels for denying the prophet Mohammed, but that they were thieves and liars as well, deserving immediate expulsion. At first the Sultan was hesitant to believe Mustafa; however, the Sultan was told about what had happened when the Jews left Egypt and what Moses did to Pharaoh. He began to worry that perhaps one of the Jewish leaders of Baghdad would attack him with plagues and decided he did not want to take any chances. Therefore, he issued a decree that the Jews had to produce a leader like Moses or leave Baghdad immediately. The wise, elderly traveler sat in contemplation for several moments, and then approached one of the rabbis at the front of the synagogue and whispered in his ear. Soon all the leaders of the community were talking quietly, and then suddenly there was a loud clap on the lectern, and one of them spoke. “This man who is visiting our town says that he has a plan. He will travel to the Sultan immediately to try and save us. If he is successful, we will rejoice. However, if he fails, he will tell the Sultan that he acted alone. Meanwhile, we will continue to pray for his success!” The man headed for the palace, pounded on the entrance gate, and said, “I am a Jew who can do miracles, and I demand to see the Sultan imme-
diately.” Before long, he found himself face to face with the ruler of Baghdad. “So,” said the Sultan, “you claim you can do miracles like Moses. What can you do?” Dozens of people, from the baker and the court jester to the royal guards and advisors, stared at the old man with the white beard and piercing eyes. “If you would be so kind,” said he, “I will perform a miracle akin to those which Moses himself did. Before your very eyes, I will cut off a man’s head with a sword, and then put him back together and make him live!” The Sultan smiled nervously and glanced around, not knowing what to think or make of the situation. Perhaps the fellow was completely crazy. Or perhaps he was telling the truth. After all, he seemed extremely confident and spoke with such conviction. What if he was telling the truth? If he doubted him, then who knows what kind of wrath would be unleashed on the Sultan and his kingdom. The man continued, “There is but one condition. The man whose head I cut off must be truly wise. In fact, he must be the wisest man in the realm. If not, his head will not properly reattach.” Intrigued, the Sultan decided he must see for himself if the Jew was telling the truth. He looked around the room until his eyes fell on Mustafa, his chief advisor and the wisest man in the kingdom. Before the Sultan said a word, Mustafa cried out, “No, he is lying! The Jew is an impostor! He can’t
really cut someone’s head off and reattach it.” “That might be true,” said the Sultan, “but what if he is telling the truth and we don’t accommodate him? Surely you don’t want to put the whole kingdom at risk! After all, were you not the one who had advised me to expel the Jews, lest we be put in danger?” “Bring the sword immediately,” cried the Sultan. “Mustafa has volunteered!” With that, Mustafa began to tremble and yelled out, “No, I admit it. I was both wrong and very foolish. The Jewish people do not have extraordinary powers!” Mustafa ran out of the palace, never to be seen again. The Sultan annulled the decree, thanked the Jew for coming, and said that the Jews were welcome to live in Baghdad as long as they desired. The man returned to the synagogue to share the good news. Immediately, there was unbelievable rejoicing, and a banquet was held in honor of the miracle that Gd had done for His people. Then quietly and quickly, the old man slipped out and left the town before anyone could even get his name. Some people say that he was Elijah the Prophet. Some say he was a great mystic. Yet others believe that he was just a Jew who simply cared about his fellow Jews as much as he did about himself. Nuta Yisrael is the editor-in-chief and senior writer of the e-newsletter and website, A Shtikel Vort.
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
Thank You To our generous & dedicated partners in the Pesach Food Distribution & Maos Chittim Project;
UJA FEDERATION OF NEW YORK & MET COUNCIL Our Ongoing Committed Partners & Funders;
Councilman Donovan Richards, Councilman Eric Ulrich, Councilman Chaim Deutsch, NYC Council, NYC Council Jewish Caucus, NYC Council Queens Delegation, Claims Conference on Jewish Materials Claims Against Germany, Fleicshman Family, Jewish Federation of North America, Met Council, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, Senator Joe Addabbo, Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato, Silvian Foundation, UJA Federation
Our Hard Working Volunteers From;
HAFTR, Mesivta Netzach HaTorah, OU/NCSY, Met Council & UJA Federation
Our Devoted Partner Shuls;
Bais Medrash of Woodmere, Bayswater Jewish Center, Congregation Bais Tefilah (Edward Ave), Congregation Beth Shalom, Congregation Kneseth Israel (The White Shul), Irving Place Minyan, Kahal Zichron Moshe Dov, Kehilas Yagdil Torah, Young Israel of Bayswater, Young Israel of Far Rockaway, Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst, Young Israel of Woodmere
& All Of The Generous And Caring Community Members Of The Five Towns / Far Rockaway Who Contributed.
; u o y f o ecause
B
ssisted
ilies a 560 Fam
ch food
of Pesa 35 Tons ed distribut
e assistanced in 0 0 ,0 ut $62 & distrib d e t c e ll o c ors aided iv v r u s t caus 275 Holo members y it n u m 1000+ comave a more will now h om tov
enjoyable
y
Best wishes for a Chag Kasher V’Sameach, most enjoyable Yom Tov,
The
Family
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Chol Hamoed
Places to Go, Things to Do This year, Pesach comes out as trees are blossoming and the sun shines in its glory. We hope to have balmy temperatures as we celebrate Chag HaAviv, but remember that nothing warms you up more than enjoying quality time together. Take advantage and spend time with the family during chol hamoed – indoors or outdoors. TJH has compiled a list of ideas, activities, and places to go for you to enjoy. Make sure to pack enough food (macaroons, matzah and marshmallows!) and music for the road and have fun!
Zoos and Farms Queens County Farm Museum 73-50 Little Neck Parkway Floral Park, NY 11004 718-347-3276 White Post Farms 250 Old County Rd. Melville, NY 11747 631-351-9373 New York Aquarium Surf Avenue & West 8th St. Brooklyn, NY 11224 718-265-FISH Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center 431 East Main St. Riverhead, NY 11901 631-208-9200
Prospect Park Zoo 450 Flatbush Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11225 718-399-7339
Long Island Game Farm 489 Chapman Blvd. Manorville, NY 11949 631-878-6644
Queens Zoo 53-51 111th St. Flushing, NY 11368 718-271-1500
Scenic At tractions
Central Park Zoo 64th Street & 5th Ave. New York, NY 10065 212-861-6030 Green Meadows Farm Floral Park, NY 11002 718-470-0224 Bronx Zoo 2300 Southern Blvd. Bronx, NY 10460 718-220-5103
Central Park Boating, biking, the Great Lawn, model-boat sailing, carriage rides, carousel Between 5th & 8th Avenues and 59th & 106th Streets New York, NY 212-360-3444 Bryant Park 6th Ave., between W 40-42 St. New York, NY 10018 212-768-4242
New York Highline Gansevoort St. to West 30 St. between Washington St. and 11 Ave. New York, NY 212-500-6035 Brooklyn Bridge Park 1 Main St. Brooklyn, NY 718-222-9939 Fort Tyron Park Riverside Drive to Broadway, W 192 St. to Dyckman St. New York, NY New York Circle Line Pier 83 West 42nd St. New York, NY 10036 212-563-3200
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Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Ferries from Battery Park, NY 1 Battery Place New York, NY 10004 212-363-3200 Jamaica Bay Riding Academy 7000 Shore Parkway Brooklyn, NY 11234 718-531-8949 Old Westbury Gardens 71 Old Westbury Rd. Old Westbury, NY 11568 516-333-0048 South Street Seaport 89 South St. New York, NY 10038 212-732-7678
The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
Brooklyn Botanic Gardens 900 Washington Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11225 718-623-7200
Historic Richmond Town 441 Clarke Ave. Staten Island, NY 10306 718-351-1611
Brooklyn Heights Promenade Downtown Brooklyn—Remsen St. to Orange St. along the East River
The Amish Village 199 Hartman Bridge Rd. Ronks, PA 17572 717-687-8511
The New York Botanical Garden 2900 Southern Blvd. Bronx, NY 10458 718-817-8700 Wave Hill Public Gardens 675 W 252 St. Bronx, NY 10471 718-549-3200
Mystic Seaport 75 Greenmanville Ave. Mystic, CT 06355 888-973-2767
Amusement Parks Six Flags Great Adventure 1 Six Flags Blvd. Jackson, NJ 08527 201-862-0250 Adventureland 2245 Broad Hollow Rd. (RT 110) Farmingdale, NY 11735 631-694-6868 Luna Park Coney Island 1000 Surf Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11224 718-372-0275 Adventurers (formerly Nellie Bly Park) 1824 Shore Parkway Brooklyn, NY 11214 718-975-2748 Sahara Sam’s Oasis and Water Park & Diggerland 535 N Route 73 West Berlin, NJ 08091 856-767-7580 Bronx Zoo Treetop Adventure Climb and Zipline Bronx River Parkway at Boston Rd. Bronx, NY 10460 347-308-9028
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Indoor Fun Parks Legoland Discovery Center Westchester 39 Fitzgerald St. Yonkers, NY 10701 866-243-0779 Fun Fuzion at New Roc City 19 Le County Place New Rochelle, NY 10801 914-637-7575 Fun Station USA 3555 Victory Blvd. Staten Island, NY 10314 718-370-0077 @ Play Amusement 229 Route 110 Farmingdale, NY 11735 631-815-5355 Laser Bounce 2710 Hempstead Turnpike Levittown, NY 11756 516-342-1330 RPM Raceway Go-Karting 40 Daniel St. Farmingdale, NY 11735 631-752-7223 One World Observatory One World Trade Center, 285 Fulton St. New York, NY 10007 844-OWO-1776 Chelsea Piers Hudson River—Piers 59-62 New York, NY 212-336-6800 Woodmere Lanes 948 Broadway Woodmere, NY 11598 516-374-9870 Funfest Bowling 6161 Strickland Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11234 718-763-6800
T
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ONSOR R SP : OU
FIVE TOWNS/ FAR ROCKAWAY
CHOL HAMOED CONCERT
PESACH SPECIAL GET YOUR UNCLE MOISHY ACTIVITY BOOK
Monday April 22, 2019 1:45 PM Doors open 1:00 PM TAG GIRLS SCHOOL 444 BEACH 6TH STREET FAR ROCKAWAY
Tickets:
24 VIP tickets online
$
Limited VIP seats available
14 tickets online $ 18 at the door
$
WWW.UNCLEMOISHYWORLD.COM For more info or for group discounts or to book a show in your area call:
844.4.UNCLEMOISHY (844.486.2536)
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BounceU 3495B Lawson Blvd. Oceanside, NY 11572 516-593-5867 Chuck E. Cheese 162 Fulton Ave. Hempstead, NY 11550 516-483-3166 Kids N Shape 162-26 Cross Bay Blvd. Howard Beach, NY 11414 718-848-2052 Brooklyn Boulders 575 Degraw St. Brooklyn, NY 11217 347-834-9066 MetroRock Brooklyn 321 Starr St. Brooklyn, NY 11237 929-500-7625
$32.00 $1.50
Individual Tickets
CholHamoedPesach PARK HOURS ONLY ON April 22, 23 & 24 from 11AM to 6PM
Trapeze School NY 2 locations in NYC: Pier 40 in Hudson River Park, NYC; South Williamsburg, Brooklyn 212-242-8769 Air Trampoline Sports 1850 Lakeland Ave. Ronkonkoma, NY 11779 631-619-6000 Skyzone Trampoline Park 33 Lecount Place New Rochelle, NY 10801 914-740-8272 Skyzone Trampoline Park 111 Rodeo Drive Deer Park, NY 11717 631-392-2600 Rockin’ Jump Trampoline Park 241 Market St. Yonkers, NY 10710 914-510-9119
Launch Trampoline Park 163-50 Cross Bay Blvd. Howard Beach, NY 11414 718-593-4204 Glow Golf Roosevelt Field Mall Garden City, NY 11530 516-747-3682 Smith Point Archery 215 E Main St. Patchogue, NY 11772 631-289-3399 VR World NYC 4 East 34 St. New York, NY 10016 646-578-9630 Dave & Busters 1 Sunrise Mall Massapequa, NY 11758 516-809-8514
The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015 The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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CHOL HAMOED SPECIALS Chag Kosher VeSameach
Chag Kosher VeSameach
LASERBOUNCE.NET
GREAT FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY LASERTAG
ARCADE GAMES
BALLOCITY
BOUNCE HOUSES
BOWLING
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
*Queens location only
VIRTUAL REALITY
$5 OFF
Buy One Get One Virtual Rabbids: The Ride 2 Rides of Virtual Rabbids ANY PACKAGE or OPEN PLAY Normally $5 Per Ride Per Person
Per participant. Valid until April 30, 2019. No reservations required. Cannot be combined with any other discounts or coupons.
80-28 Cooper Ave
QUEENS
Includes Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Open Play and Laser Tag Session. Per participant. Valid until April 30, 2019. No reservations required. Cannot be combined with any other discounts or coupons.
TWO CONVENIENT LOCATIONS
(Atlas Park Mall - Under Regal Cinemas) Glendale, Queens, NY 11385 718-810-0226 / 347-599-1919
LONG ISLAND
2710 Hempstead Turnpike Levittown, NY 11756 516-342-1330
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The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
Something Different
Dave & Busters 1504 Old Country Rd. Westbury, NY 11590 516-542-85011504 Hot Skates Roller Skating Rink 14 Merrick Rd. Lynbrook, NY 11563 516-593-1300 Iceland Long Island 3345 Hillside Ave. New Hyde Park, NY 11040 516-746-1100 City Ice Pavilion 47-32 32 Place Long Island City, NY 11101 718-706-6667 Long Beach Ice Arena 150 W Bay Drive Long Beach, NY 11561 516-705-7385
Puppetworks 338 Sixth Ave. at 4th St. Park Slope, NY 11215 718-965-3391 Make It Too 86 Cedarhurst Ave. Cedarhurst, NY 11516 516-341-7660 Build a Bear Roosevelt Field Mall 630 Old Country Rd. Garden City, NY 11530 516-248-0027 Artrageous Studio 5 N Village Ave. Rockville Centre, NY 11570 516-255-5255 Once Upon a Dish 659 Franklin Ave. Garden City, NY 11530 516-742-6030
Baked in Brooklyn 242 Wythe Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11249 718-384-2300
Museum of Jewish Heritage 36 Battery Place New York, NY 10280 646-437-4202
Brooklyn Clay Industries 63 Flushing Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11205 301-395-0143
Living Torah Museum 1601 41 St. Brooklyn, NY 11218 718-851-3215
Color Me Mine 123 Baxter St. New York, NY 10013 212-374-1710
Long Island Children’s Museum 11 Davis Ave. Garden City, NY 11530 516-224-5800
La Mano Pottery 110 West 26 St. New York, NY 10001 212-627-9450 Taro’s Origami Studio 95 7th Ave., 2nd Floor Brooklyn, NY 11215 718-360-5435
Museums Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum Pier 86, 12th Ave. and 46th St. 212-245-0072 9/11 Memorial and Museum 200 Liberty Street New York, NY 10006 212-266-5211
TWINS FROM
FRANCE
COUSIN
NOCHUM
THE MAGIC
4TH DAY OF CHOL HAMOED
OF RJ
THURSDAY APRIL 25, 2019 SHOWTIME: 12:00 PM TICKET PRICES: $20 AND $30 & VIP TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT JEWISHTICKETS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION: 718-854-6902 - WWW.UNCLEMOISHY.COM
FIVE TOWNS:
NEW SHULAMITH AUDITORIUM 305 CEDARHURST AVENUE
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Skyscape 928 8th Ave. New York, NY 10019 212-549-1941 Museum of Illusions 77 Eighth Ave. New York, NY 10014 212-645-3230 Gulliver’s Gate 216 W 44 St. New York, NY 10036 212-235-2016 National Geographic Encounter Experience 226 W 44 St. New York, NY 10036 646-308-1337
New York Hall of Science 47-01 111th St. Queens, NY 11368 718-699-0005
National Museum of Mathematics 11 East 26 St. New York, NY 10010 212-542-0566
Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10128 212-423-3200
Brooklyn Children’s Museum 145 Brooklyn Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11213 718-735-4400
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THIS PESACH ENJOY A PIZZA AND DESSERT AT BERRYLICIOUS! NON-GEBROKTS Pesach 2019 Hours: Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
April 19th April 20th April 21st April 22nd April 23rd April 24th April 25th April 26th April 27th
10:00am-5:00pm CLOSED 9:30PM-1:00AM 10:00AM-12:00AM 10:00AM-12:00AM 10:00AM-12:00AM 10:00AM-5:00PM CLOSED 9:30PM-1:00AM
PIZZA IS CHOLOV YISROEL & GLUTEN FREE COFFEE all flavors are
SMOOTHIES MUFFINS
CHOLOV YISROEL or PAREVE
CHAG SAMEACH 590 Central Avenue Cedarhurst, NY 11516 516.792.3848
439 Cedar Ln Teaneck, NJ 07666 201.836.1700
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Jewish Children’s Museum 792 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, NY 11213 718-467-0600
Frick Collection 1 E 70 St. New York, NY 10021 212-288-0700
Children’s Museum of Manhattan 212 W 83rd St. New York, NY 10024 212-721-1234
Lower East Side Tenement Museum 103 Orchard St. New York, NY 10002 212-982-8420
NYC Fire Museum 278 Spring St. New York, NY 10013 212-691-1303
Vanderbilt Museum & Planetarium 180 Little Neck Rd. Centerport, NY 11721 631-854-5579
American Museum of Natural History Central Park West at 79th St. New York, NY 10024 212-769-5100 Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 5th Ave. New York, NY 10028 800-662-3397
Liberty Science Center Liberty State Park, 222 Jersey City Blvd. Jersey City, NJ 07305 201-200-1000 Crayola Factory 30 Centre Square Easton, PA 18042 1-866-875-5263
The Franklin Institute 222 North 20th St. Philadelphia, PA 19103 215-448-1200 Please Touch Museum 4231 Ave. of the Republic (formerly North Concourse Drive) Philadelphia, PA 19131 215-581-3181
Imagine That! Children’s Museum 4 Vreeland Rd. Florham Park, N.J. 07932 973-966-8000 TJH assumes no responsibility for the kashrus, atmosphere, safety, or accuracy of any event or attraction listed here. Please call before you go. Have fun!
Where Are You Going for Pesach? Everywhere!
Visit 40 Countries in a Day. See world famous landmarks in a stunningly detailed miniature world located in the heart of Times Square. It’s the perfect gift for kids ages 2 to 120.
In Times Square 216 W. 44th Street
GulliversGate.com
See It Today!
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Florentine Bars 20 square bars or 32 triangles
Pesach with Paula Chef Paula Shoyer Shares 5 of Her Favorite Pesach Desserts
Ingredients 1 cup confectioners’ sugar 3 large egg whites Zest of one large orange (or 2 teaspoons juice) ¼ cup dried cranberries, chopped into ¼ inch pieces 1 1/3 cups sliced almonds (blanched or with skin) 1 cup dark or white chocolate chips Vegetable oil for greasing pan
Preparation
Lemon Quinoa Cake Serves 12
Ingredients Cake: ¾ cup quinoa 1½ cups water Cooking spray or 2 tablespoons oil 2 tablespoons lemon zest, from 2-3 large lemons ½ cup fresh lemon juice, from 2-3 large lemons 4 large eggs 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract ¾ cup coconut oil 1 ¼ cups sugar 1 cup almond flour ¼ cup coconut flour, plus 2-3 tablespoon to dust Bundt pan 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt Glaze (optional): 1 cup confectioners’ sugar 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1-2 lemons)
Preparation
Place the quinoa and water into a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover the saucepan, and cook the quinoa for 15 to 18 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Let sit for 5 minutes off the stovetop. The quinoa may be made 2 days in advance and stored in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Use cooking spray or oil to grease a 12-cup Bundt pan. Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons coconut flour, or more if needed, over the entire greased pan and then shake the pan all around to cover
and then tap out the excess. Place the quinoa in the bowl of a food processor. Add the lemon zest and juice, eggs, vanilla, oil, sugar, almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and process until the mixture is very smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake it for 1 hour, or longer, until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 30 minutes and then remove it gently from the pan onto a wire cooling rack. To make the glaze, place the confectioners’ sugar into a bowl and add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and whisk well. Add more juice, a teaspoon at a time, until you have a thick glaze. Drizzle or pour over the cake. Recipe from www.kosherbaker.com.
Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a 9 X 13-inch pan with vegetable oil. Press in a piece of parchment paper large enough to cover the bottom and go an inch up the sides of the pan, making sure you press it into the corners. Grease the top of the parchment. In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, egg whites, and orange zest. Use a silicone spatula to gently mix in nuts and chopped cranberries, being careful not to crush the nuts. Scoop into the pan and use the spatula or your hands to spread evenly in the bottom of the pan. The easiest way to do this is to push the batter into the edges and corners first and then fill in the middle. You will have a thin nut layer. Bake 25 minutes, or until nuts are golden. Let cool one hour. Pull up the parchment to lift the bar out of the pan. Place another piece of parchment on top and then turn the bar over onto the new parchment. Peel off the bottom parchment. Melt the chocolate chips either over a double boiler or in the microwave oven in for 45 seconds, stir, melt another 30 seconds, stir and then for 15 seconds more, if needed, until melted. Use a spatula to spread the chocolate on the bottom of the bar. If desired, you can use a serrated knife to make lines in the chocolate to decorate it. Slide the parchment and bars onto a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up. Cut into squares, triangles or rectangular bars. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days or freeze for up to three months. Recipe excerpted from The New Passover Menu.
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Chocolate Quinoa Cake Serves 12
Ingredients Cake: ¾ cup quinoa 1½ cups water Cooking spray 2 tablespoons potato starch 1/3 cup orange juice (from 1 orange) 4 large eggs 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract ¾ cup coconut oil 1½ cups sugar 1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa 2 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate Fresh fruit, for garnish (optional) Glaze (optional): 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate 1 tablespoon oil 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preparation
Place the quinoa and water into a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover the saucepan, and cook the quinoa for 15 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Set the pan aside. The quinoa may be made 1 day in advance. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Use cooking spray to grease a 12-cup (2.8L) Bundt pan. Sprinkle the potato starch over the greased pan and then shake the pan to remove any excess starch. Place the quinoa in the bowl of a food processor. Add the orange juice, eggs, vanilla, oil, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt and process until the mixture is very smooth. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler, or place in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and put in a microwave for 45 seconds, stirring and then heating the chocolate for another 30 seconds, until it is melted. Add the chocolate to the quinoa batter and process until
well mixed. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake it for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes and then remove it gently from the pan. Let it cool on a wire cooling rack. To make the glaze, melt the chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl in the microwave or over a double boiler. Add the oil and vanilla and whisk well. Let the glaze sit for 5 minutes and then whisk it again. Use a silicone spatula to spread the glaze all over the cake. Recipe excerpted from The Healthy Jewish Kitchen.
Keto Chocolate Avocado Cake Makes one 8-inch round cake
Ingredients Cake: 1½ cups almond flour ¾ cup dark cocoa, plus 1 tablespoon for greasing pan ¼ cup coconut flour (or almond flour) ½ cup xylitol 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon salt ½ cup coconut cream, from canned coconut milk ½ cup almond milk 3 large eggs 1 tablespoon coconut oil, plus 1 teaspoon for greasing pan 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 large ripe avocado Ganache: 5 tablespoons boiling water ½ cup dark cocoa ¼ cup xylitol ½ cup coconut cream 1 teaspoon vanilla
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch round pan with 1 teaspoon coconut oil. Add 2 to 3 teaspoons cocoa and shake all around to dust the bottom and sides. Tap out excess. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the almond flour, cocoa, coconut flour, xylitol, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Place the coconut cream, almond milk, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla and avocado into a food processor or blender and blend for two full minutes, scraping down the sides a few times, so that the mixture is completely smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together. Use a silicone spatula to scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes and the remove to a wire rack. To prepare the ganache topping, place the cocoa and xylitol into a small bowl. Add the boiling water and whisk well. Add the coconut cream and vanilla and mix well. Spread all over the top of the cake. Recipe from www.thekosherbaker.com.
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Triple Chocolate Biscotti 24-36 cookies
Ingredients 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces 1 cup sugar ½ cup vegetable oil 2 large eggs 3 tablespoons vanilla sugar ½ cup unsweetened cocoa 1 tablespoon potato starch 1 ½ cups ground almonds ¼ teaspoon salt 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper. Melt the chocolate in a microwave or a
double broiler. Remove the chocolate from the heat source, add the sugar and oil, and whisk well. Add the eggs and mix. Add the vanilla sugar, cocoa, potato starch, ground almonds, and salt and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and mix to distribute them. Divide the dough in half and shape into two loaves, each about 9 x 3 inches. Place both loaves on the lined jelly roll pan and bake for 30 minutes. Let the loaves cool for 10 minutes (do not turn off the oven). Cut each loaf crosswise into 3/4- to 1-inch-thick slices. Place the cookies, cut side up, on a parchment-covered cookie sheet (or the jelly roll pan again). Bake for another 14 minutes, or until the cookies are firm to the touch on the outside but still feel soft on the inside. Check them after 10 to 12 minutes so that you don’t
over-bake the cookies. Let cool for 5 minutes on the pan and then slide the parchment and cookies onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Recipe from www.thekosherbaker.com.
Paula Shoyer is the author of Healthy Jewish Kitchen (Sterling Epicure 2017), The New Passover Menu (Sterling 2015), The Holiday Kosher Baker (Sterling Press 2013), and The Kosher Baker: 160 dairy-free desserts from traditional to trendy (Brandeis 2010). Paula’s recipes have been featured in newspapers, magazines, websites, blogs and on radio and TV shows all over the United States, Canada, Israel and even Asia. Paula is a French-trained pastry chef who teaches cooking and baking classes all around the world. She can be reached on her website, www.thekosherbaker.com.
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!SÈ©ALWAYS È©ALLÈ©THEÈ©COSTSÈ©OFÈ©THEÈ©UNDERTAKINGÈ©AREÈ©COVEREDÈ©BYÈ©-R È© (ILSENRADgSÈ©FAMILY È©SOÈ©THATÈ©EVERYÈ©CENTÈ©DONATEDÈ©GOESÈ©TOÈ©THEÈ©POORÈ© RECIPIENTÈ©FAMILIES È©)TÈ©ISÈ©PUREÈ©TZEDAKAH 7EÈ©INVITEÈ©YOUÈ©TOÈ©PARTICIPATE È©%SPECIALLYÈ©NOW È©BEFOREÈ©0ESACH È© YOUÈ©WILLÈ©ACCOMPLISHÈ©SOÈ©MUCH !SÈ©AÈ©SMALLÈ©TOKEN È©WEÈ©WILLÈ©SEND È©FORÈ©EACHÈ©NEWÈ©COMMITMENTÈ©OFÈ© È©PERÈ©MONTHÈ©FORÈ©THEÈ©NEEDIESTÈ©OFÈ©THEÈ©POORÈ©OFÈ©%RETZÈ©9ISRAEL È© THEÈ©WONDERFULÈ©NEWÈ©SEFER È©INÈ©TWOÈ©VOLUMES È©INÈ©%NGLISH È©BYÈ©$R È© 9ERUCHAMÈ©2EICH È©(EAVENÈ©ANDÈ©%ARTH È©9OUÈ©WILLÈ©ENJOYÈ©IT È© 0LEASEÈ©CONSIDERÈ©THISÈ©REQUESTÈ©ANDÈ©HELPÈ©MAKEÈ©THISÈ©HAPPEN È©)TÈ©ISÈ© TRULYÈ©!VODASÈ©(AKODESH È©!NDÈ©MAYÈ©YOUÈ©BEÈ©BLESSEDÈ©INÈ©EVERYÈ©WAY È©È©
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The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
TEN WAYS TO HELP YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN HAVE A MORE MEANINGFUL PESACH SEDER
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Use these suggestions to infuse new meaning and excitement into your Seder and create a lasting experience for you and your family. Make the most of your Seder and best fulfill the mitzvah of V’higadita L’vincha by staying focused on telling the actual story of Yetzias Mitzrayim; concentrate on the events and their lessons. Transform Yetzias Mitzrayim from a story into a reality by celebrating the Seder just as you would celebrate a Simcha in your own family. Speak about it vividly, personally and enthusiastically… you’ll inspire yourself and your children. Prepare for the Seder! Spend time studying books and Midrashim that elaborate specifically on the details of each miracle to help your children appreciate the extent of Hashem’s kindness. Make Pesach personal and relevant to your children. Use your discussion about the amazing miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim as a means of opening their eyes to the miracles Hashem performs for us every day. Show your children how so much of the Pesach Seder revolves around them, demonstrating how much Hashem cares about every child and values each one as an essential member of Klal Yisroel. Involve your children in the Pesach Seder. Prepare stimulating and challenging questions that will guide them to understand the lessons of the Haggadah and be an active participant in the Seder. Practice the lesson of the Four Sons during your Seder by making a particular effort to involve each child (and adult!) in a way that best suits his or her unique personality, style and level. Take the time to patiently answer your children’s questions. If you don’t know the answer, create a powerful Chinuch experience by asking a rabbi and exploring the issue… together with your child. Reinforce their Emunah through the Pesach Seder by explaining that the miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim irrefutably demonstrated Hashem’s complete control over the world to millions of eyewitnesses. We attest to this truth every year on the Seder night. Inspire yourself by remembering that tonight Jewish parents around the world are passing on a glorious 3,330 year old legacy to their children as their parents and ancestors have done before them. Realize that the Seder that you create for your children will inspire them for the rest of their lives and shape the future Seder that they will make for their children.
Courtesy of
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Good Hum r
Afikomen Antics By Jon Kranz
W
ith the Passover seder comes a wonderful tradition involving the hiding and finding of the afikomen. It is the Jewish version of hide-and-goseek, a fun game designed to keep the youngsters engaged in the seder evening’s activities. Finding the afikomen does not mean you will automatically have a life full of joy and happiness but watching someone else find the afikomen does mean that your night is (temporarily) ruined. It also means that you might go to bed that night with questions running through your troubled mind like: Why on earth did they tell me that I was “cold” when I was looking right next to the couch cushion under which the afikomen was hidden? That was so misleading. At one point, I actually was sitting on that couch cushion so I couldn’t have been any hotter! I feel so manipulated and used. Why did I even get up to look for the afikomen? I guess that’s what happens when a 35-year-old competes with kids. The term “afikomen” is a Hebrew word that means “that which comes after dessert.” If you are dining out, then there is one thing that certainly comes after dessert: the check. If you are dining at home, then the things that usually come after dessert include dishwashing, naps and, of course, birkat hamazon. The afikomen actually is nothing more than a small piece of matzah that is broken away from a larger piece of matzah. The breaking of the matzah is supposed to take place during the early phases of the sed-
er and then the breakaway bandit, i.e., the afikomen, is set aside and hidden. For the record, during the seder it is better to break a piece of matzah than to break a promise, break a heart, or break with tradition. Some scholars contend that according to Jew ish law, the afikomen must be the very last thing eaten at the seder, with no other consumption to follow until the morning’s breakfast. That means that after the afikomen, you probably should not even chew gum. Then again, does chewing gum really qualify as eating? It’s unclear.
komen, most Jews have very little left in the tank after a long seder. The last thing most Jews want to do after a seder is to party. They would much rather collapse on the couch while others try in vain to clean up all of the inevitable and ubiquitous matzah crumbs. Other scholars note that the afikomen is a substitute for the Passover sacrifice, the last thing consumed at the Passover seder during the time of the Bais Hamikdash. The Gemara actually states that the taste of the afikomen should remain in a person’s mouth. That said, there are other things in life that should not
The truth is, afikomen or no afikomen, most Jews have very little left in the tank after a long seder.
By analogy, does humming qualify as singing? Does floating qualify as swimming? Does squatting qualify as sitting? Discuss. Many scholars contend that the afikomen officially ends the meal and seder festivities because we are supposed to refrain from the sort of after-dinner revelry that certain groups of non-Jews used to enjoy. The truth is, afikomen or no afi-
remain in a person’s mouth including a pacifier, a pipe, or a hot potato. Most scholars agree that the afikomen should be eaten before midnight because the during Temple times the Passover sacrifice also took place before midnight. Of course, other things at a seder also should take place before midnight including, most importantly, the meal. If midnight comes and you are
still singing “Dayenu,” then perhaps your family members are nocturnal aye-ayes. There are no official laws or rules regarding the hiding of the afikomen. In theory, no place is off-limits but that does not mean that common sense should be abandoned. Do not hide the afikomen recklessly without regard to safety. Do not hide the afikomen spitefully or to satisfy a grudge. Do not hide the afikomen to prove a point or teach a lesson. Instead, hide the afikomen in a spot that will make the hunt fun and safe for everyone. To be clear, you absolutely should not hide the afikomen in any of the following locations: 1. In traffic 2. In a quarantined area 3. In Utah’s labyrinthine Antelope Canyon 4. In a militarized zone 5. In Turkmenistan’s flaming Darvaza Crater 6. In the line of fire 7. Under a landmine 8. In a beehive or hornets’ nest 9. In the Quantum Realm (even if the seekers have an Antman suit) 10. In Madagascar’s dangerous Forest of Knives 11. In a corn maze 12. In perpetuity Final thought: It is better to hide the afikomen than to hide the truth, hide your feelings, or hide your true colors. Jon Kranz is an attorney living in Englewood, New Jersey. Send any comments, questions or insults to jkranz285@gmail.com.
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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Around the Community
Chizuk for Mesivta Shaarei Pruzdor LB Talmidim from Local Roshei Yeshiva and Rabbanim
N
inth graders at MSP-LB received divrei bracha and chizuk from local roshei yeshiva and rabbanim on the last day of the zman. They visited HaRav Yechiel Perr, shlita, at Yeshiva Far Rockaway; Rabbi Mordechai Groner, shlita, at Yeshiva Ateres Shimon; Rabbi Yehoshua Kalish, shlita, Morah D’Asra of Harborview Bais
Medrash of Lawrence; and Rabbi Yaakov Bender, shlita, at Yeshiva Darchei Torah. The boys were fahered, spent precious personal one-on one-time with the roshei yeshiva, and received uplifting and firedika chizuk. Rabbi Merenstein is an alumnus of Yeshiva of Far Rockaway and it was especially meaningful to bring
his talmidim to his beloved rosh yeshiva and his former mesivta rebbeim. The Mesivta and families of the talmidim are grateful to the Rav and the board of Young Israel of Long Beach for the generous housing of MSP in their beautiful and comfortable facilities. Mesivta Shaarei Pruzdor is ded-
The New York State allocation for nonpublic schools in FY 2019-20 is 17% more than included in the 2018-19 Budget. This includes:
icated to actualizing and maximizing the potential of each student’s path towards his avodas Hashem and life preparedness. By crafting tangible goals which the students will consistently and enthusiastically achieve, we will instill a foundation that will produce true Torah-strong Jews capable of excelling in all walks of life.
WE DID IT
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The Mission to Albany | Action Alerts | School Visits Local Lobby Days | Relationships with Elected Officials
YOU MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE.
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Around the Community
Rav Elyah Brudny, Rosh Yeshivas Mir in Brooklyn, visited Yeshiva of South Shore last week. The entire fifth grade came out to greet him. He spoke to the seventh and eighth grade and explained how learning Gemara trains a person’s mind to think with “da’as Torah,” and he guided them with real-life examples. He then spent time with the eighth grade and gave them a farher on the Gemara and meforshim they have learned this year. He was amazed at the talmidim’s knowledge and grasp of the sugyos they have learned this year.
A Unique Hilchos Shabbos Experience at Yeshiva of South Shore
E
ach year, Yeshiva of South Shore focuses on a critical area of halacha. Last year the yeshiva focused on the practical applications of hilchos brachos. The talmidim mastered the brachos on hundreds of food items. This year, however, the yeshiva raised the bar on the talmidim. Beginning after Sukkos, each rebbe from grades 4-8 learned the thirty-nine melachos with his class, discussing one melacha a day with his talmidim. The students were able to become familiar with each melacha, one by one. Over the midwinter break, the talmidim reviewed what they have learned through the “chevra shoneh halachos” program, and many volunteered to take a test upon their return to yeshiva after the break. At that point, all talmidim of grades 4-8 delved into the intense learning of the
Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky, Rosh Yeshiva, and Rabbi Sharchon, 5th grade rebbe, testing talmidim on the 39 melachos
practical applications of hilchos Shabbos. Grade-appropriate alphabetized sheets were distributed every week with practical applications that come up almost every Shabbos. The boys gained the crucial knowledge of what is muttar and what is assur to touch
on Shabbos. If it is assur, they learned to identify which melacha makes it assur. Finally, there was a major review and final exam. All of this is culminated with a school-wide 39 Melachos Bee. This cycle of halacha starts with hilchos Shabbos one year, and hilchos brachos the next year. When a talmid graduates our eighth grade, he has gone through these two major areas of halacha, twice – once on a basic level and the second time on a more advanced level. When this idea was introduced, and these sheets were checked over, one of the rabbeim presented the curriculum to Rav Shmuel Felder, a renowned posek in Lakewood, NJ. After reading the detailed booklet, he was extremely impressed with it, and he remarked, “This should be learned in every yeshiva in the country!” In fact,
Yeshiva of South Shore has shared this curriculum with other yeshivos who are now benefiting from this program as well. The program gives the boys a firm understanding of the complicated halachos of Shabbos. Indeed, when this idea was introduced years ago to our rebbeim, one rebbe commented, “I didn’t learn this until I was older – it is so important for our talmidim to understand this.” A Yeshiva of South Shore talmid was in his high school shiur and his rebbe was teaching hilchos Shabbos from the sefer Mishna Brurah. His rebbe was so impressed with this talmid’s commanding understanding of hilchos Shabbos that he asked him, “Where do you know this from?” To which the talmid proudly responded, “From Yeshiva of South Shore – where else?”
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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Around the Community
Hagaon HaRav Kanievsky, shlita, recently made an historic visit to the Shuvu Herzka school in Be’er Sheva
Lessons of the Korban Pesach Come Alive at YOSS
T
T
his week, the Yeshiva of South Shore held a pre-Pesach assembly for its talmidim. The gathering was held outdoors to accommodate a live sheep that came to visit. The boys heard some fascinating facts about the korban Pesach from our Program Coordinator Rabbi Shlomo Drebin. Rabbi Drebin explained many of the halachos regarding the korban and some details involving the preparation and eating of the korban at the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim and how we will iy”H fulfill the mitzvah in the Bais Hamikdash in the near future. With live music, the boys sang many of the songs from the Haggadah. They were then offered divrei bracha by the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky, and the
“The Street” on William Street in Hewlett at Yeshiva of South Shore
Menahel, Rabbi Avraham Robinson. L’shana ha’baah b’Yerushalayim!
he Abraham and Sarah Silber Mechina of Yeshiva of South Shore has budding Wall Street tycoons and stockbrokers playing the nationally known investment simulation, The Stock Market Game, on Wednesday evenings. The 7 th grade math honor students are receiving an economics education in a three month program by managing an online portfolio. The Stock Market Game teaches the students important life skills such as budgeting and personal finance through the understanding of the costs and benefits involved in investing, decision making, and other related economic concepts. The boys work cooperatively and learn how to read stock data, gain a working Wall Street vocabulary, research companies and their stocks, and plan a diversified portfolio with each group’s $100,000
of investment money. The program encompasses lessons on industry job descriptions, the three U.S. stock exchanges, bonds, mutual funds, and investment research. South Shore’s stock analysts were fortunate enough to have a seasoned stockbroker visit this past Wednesday. Mr. Roman Yakubov, a Morgan Stanley broker and Cedarhurst resident, gave a general market overview, suggested stocks to research, and answered a bevy of interesting questions. The boys will be able to continue trading through the end of April and are anxious to see their group’s final regional and state rankings at the conclusion of the program. Perhaps one day you will be taking business advice from or placing your “buy and sell orders” with a South Shore graduate who honed his economics acumen on the Stock Market Game.
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COMMUNICATED
Record Pesach Season for Tov V’Chesed as the Relief Organization Holds Largest Food Distribution To-Date
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erusalem, Israel – In what has become the country’s premier Pesach food drive, this year’s distribution by Tov V’Chesed saw its greatest effort to-date as staff and volunteers wrapped up the season by delivering food packages to over 40,000 children of poor and impoverished families. Tov V’Chesed is a well-renowned organization with wide-ranging efforts on behalf of struggling families and orphaned children. Founded and directed by R Yaakov Eliezer Shisha, the chesed organization has earned a reputation for providing food and vital assistance to the forgotten members of society and those who face a constant threat of hunger and destitution. While the organization is active year-round on multiple fronts, the crown jewel of all Tov V’Chesed projects is undoubtedly the annual pre-Pesach drive which distributes enormous amounts of food and basic Yom Tov necessities. The tens of thousands of recipients receive a Pesach package stocked with chicken, matzah, wine, fruits, vegetables and much more. For many of these families, hunger is a year-round challenge, but their problems are exacerbated as they struggle with the high costs of making yom tov. One aspect of the Tov V’Chesed distribution that has earned praise from families is the dignity with which the assistance is provided. Instead of adding shame to their struggles by making them drag their food bundles through the streets, Tov V’Chesed enlists an army of volunteers who drop off the aid packages at the doorstep of each recipient. This approach is a unique one and is just one of the reasons while this distribution is considered the gold standard in the Jewish World. This year, the organization set out on a mission to assist every family that reaches out for support. For years, the list of requesting families grew longer and longer and the organization’s leadership was unable to meet the demand. Rabbi Shisha shared that this feeling would gnaw at him throughout the seder night and all of Pesach. This year, he was determined to see to it that no hungry child is left behind. To that end, Tov V’Chesed significantly expanded its fundraising and logistics operations. A larger warehouse space was rented, more volunteers were enlisted to assist with packaging and delivering, and more mailings were sent out to the international Jewish community. These efforts bore tremendous results as the organization was able to lead its most successful food distribution to date with much-needed Pesach support delivered to recipients in over 35 Jerusalem neighborhoods, as well as families in Beit Shemesh, Tzfas, Beitar, Kiryat Sefer, Bnei Brak and more. For many weeks before Pesach, the new warehouse was teeming with activity as avreichem and bochurim worked around the clock on the logis-
tics of the operation. While filling boxes with basic necessities, one volunteer commented poignantly that “we like to joke about eating too many eggs and potatoes over the eight days of Pesach while these families would wish to even get the joke.” The atmosphere in the building was spirited yet serious as the volunteers all understood the magnitude and importance of this task. The funds for this enormous operation were raised through the generosity of Jews around the world. Tov V’Chesed fundraisers reached tens of thousands of families by emotionally describing the plight of hungry children whose families can’t provide the most basic of Pesachs. Playing on the “Mah Nishtana” questions, the mailing depicted the children asking their parents, “Why is our Seder night different than the other seder nights in the homes of our friends?” The families who received support ranged from households who just need help with Pesach expenses to those families who have lost a parent and suffer tremendously all year. Tov V’Chesed spends all year supporting the needs of these orphans and on Pesach night, when their void is felt even more strongly, the organization wanted to make certain that they are at least afforded the ability to lead a normal yom tov. In these days before Pesach, volunteers are completing the last leg of this vast operation by dropping off the deliveries, with each family receiving around 8-10 large boxes containing over 40 different food items, and even some cleaning materials. Leadership at Tov V’Chesed expressed gratitude to the Jewish community for coming to the assistance of those in need. With Hashem’s help, the distribution was crowned with great success and has brought Simchas Yom Tov to tens of thousands of our brethren in the holy land. Donations can be made online at www.tovvchesed. com, over the phone at 845-517-0656, or mailed to POB 855, Monsey, NY 10952. Tizku l’mitzvos!
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
Around the Community
Silvian Foundation Grants New Play Space to Gesher
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he Five Towns and Far Rockaway communities are very familiar with the generosity of the Slomo and Cindy Silvian Foundation, Inc. Many yeshivas and other institutions have made improvements and upgrades to their programs and facilities funded by Silvian Foundation grants. The Gesher Early Childhood Center is proud to announce that, once again, Gesher has been chosen by the Silvian to help better serve the neighborhood. Gesher’s successful educational model and its appeal to a broad cross section of the community factored into the Grant Board’s decision. Its record of fiscal responsibility, especially in regards to communal funds, contribute to Gesher’s appeal as a grant awardee. In November 2017, the Slomo and Cindy Silvian Foundation awarded Gesher a grant to upgrade its sensory gym and related amenities. That project improved Gesher’s ability to reach each child in an individualized manner. In November 2018, the Slomo and Cindy Silvian Foundation awarded Gesher a grant for the purpose of creating an alternative play space with multi-sensory activities and a multi-media center. The installation of its new alternative play space gives Gesher the ability to provide significantly greater support to its students. By offering alternative play options, the Gesher team is able to encourage more independence, more creative play, and more development in the arena of social and emotional growth,
The occupational and physical therapists who work with Gesher’s educational staff are constantly looking for ways to improve the Gesher programming. Dr. Garyn Handler, PT, led the planning and design of the alternative play space. Her many years of experience with myriad equipment and facilities enabled her to prioritize and envision the most appropriate materials and placement to meet Gesher’s needs. Dr. Handler consulted with Mrs. Sarah Leah Jaffe, Assistant Director, to create a vision of a center that would best satisfy the goals of the project by combining educational and clinical input. The new play space has become a favorite part of the children’s day. One area of the room is set aside for climbing. A professionally installed rock-climbing wall is accompanied by a set of unevenly spaced high bars, giving every child multiple play options. The most exciting are is the crash pit, similar to a ball pit, but filled instead with a very large sack of foam blocks. The area around the crash pit is lined with gym mats, making for a safe and invigorating experience. Another area is dedicated to multi-media equipment, where the children can play various educational games for an allotted amount of time. The last area is the sensory wall, with many attachments and games to engage the children. Gesher is very grateful to the Slomo and Cindy Silvian Foundation, Inc., for providing the necessary funds for this project, and to the team who turned it into a reality.
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Around the Community
At a Siyum/Melave Malka for the Binyomin Klein, a”h, Morning Kollel at Yeshiva Darchei Torah, which meets early each morning before Shacharis, comprised of talmidim of Mesivta Chaim Shlomo and Beis Medrash Heichal Dovid and led by Rav Shimon Dov Notis
Yachad & Central Join Forces to Volunteer, Learn and Make Friends by Akiva Frishman
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t a Jewish-owned farm and retreat center in Connecticut, 27 young women participated in Yachad and Yeshiva University’s High School for Girls’ Annual Leadership Service Mission, a two-day day trip that focused on chessed, the environment and tikkun olam. From April 7-8, participants with and without disabilities came together, demonstrating the unique opportunities afforded by inclusive community service experiences. To kick-off the mission, participants met at the Queens JCC to help arrange Pesach food packages for families in need. The group learned about their neighbors and fellow Jews who were in financial hardship and were inspired to play a role in uplifting their Pesach.
Shoshana Levine, a YUHSG student, remarked, “There are so many ways to be involved and do chessed inclusively. I really learned that through this project.” In total, the group arranged over 1,000 packages. The importance of nature played a major role throughout the mission. At the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, the group not only learned about ecologically-friendly agriculture but were directly involved in the process as well, farming organic vegetables, composting and helping to protect vulnerable plants and trees. Chana Brukman, a member of Yachad, was particularly fascinated by these activities, saying, “It’s great to be out in nature and get to work with the earth.” Avigayil Gordon, a YUHSG student, agreed with her new friend, Chana, remarking that “composting was definitely one of my highlights.”
Yachad’s group leader and Director of Informal Education Rebecca Schrag Mayer wanted participants to walk away with a stronger understanding of how respect for the environment can be seen from a Torah and Jewish lens. Participants prayed overlooking serene landscapes and the group discussed Torah ideas that
touch on one’s responsibility towards G-d’s creations. The service mission included many students who have demonstrated exemplary community activism and the program’s curriculum stressed leadership development to further hone their skills. On the first night of the trip, the group was joined by Black Box Studio, a theater workshop company, who held a session entitled, “Leadership Through Laughter,” discussing the role of improv comedy in creating confident and flexible leaders. Above all, the experience proved, once again, that inclusive chessed projects that maximize each person’s abilities produce meaningful results. Etty Weschler, a student at YUHSG, was moved by how quickly the group came together to make a difference, explaining, “My classmates and I instantaneously bonded with all of the Yachad participants, forming deep friendships.”
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
INJECTING HOPE. Every child is a miracle. But for some, the dream of a healthy baby can seem impossible. Men and women who are struggling with infertility or are carriers for genetic diseases can suffer repeated miscarriages, fetal illnesses or even infant death. Thankfully, at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, medical miracles are our specialty. On the cutting edge of assisted reproductive technologies, Shaare Zedek is helping couples achieve their dreams of parenthood. It’s one more way the “Hospital with a Heart” is saving lives and, sometimes, helping to start them. To learn more, visit www.acsz.org.
www.acsz.org | dgold@acsz.org | 305.799.5619 | 954.571.2446
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Around the Community
Author Meish Goldish Visits BBY
R’ Mordechai Heinemann saying chaburah for Yeshiva Darchei Torah alumni night seder kollel. The Rosh Yeshiva, Harav Altusky, is sitting to his left
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n Wednesday, BBY first graders had a special visit from children’s author Meish Goldish in honor of their 100th day of school. Mr. Goldish read some of his hundreds of books to the girls
and described the process of writing and publishing books. Then the girls surprised him with a recitation of his poem, Today Is the 100th Day of School!
Gurwin Healthcare System Sells Chametz in Preparation for Passover
Many Shulamith families joined Tomchei Shabbos packing Pesach food for needy families in our neighborhood
HAFTR’s Helping Hands
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abbi Yoel Adelman of Young Israel of Huntington visited the Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Commack recently in order to make arrangements for Gurwin’s chometz (food made from grain that is not consumed during Passover) during the upcoming Passover holiday. Taking part in an age-old tradition, Gurwin Healthcare System President and Chief Executive Officer Stuart B. Almer signed over the rights of all Gurwin Healthcare System’s non-kosher for Passover food, which will be sold to someone who is not of the Jewish faith on the eve of Passover. According to Rabbi Adelman, “It is Jewish
tradition that foods that are not kosher for Passover should not be found in the home during the holiday, and, in fact, we are not to own these foods during this time.” In order to follow Jewish law, many companies like Gurwin work with an intermediary in order to change ownership of the foods during the holiday, but then purchase them back when the holiday ends. Pictured, the rights to sell Gurwin’s chometz are symbolically passed from CEO Stuart B. Almer to Rabbi Adelman after the legal document was signed. Looking on is Shua Sauer, Gurwin’s Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
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hat does it take to unload five tons of canned goods, matzah, grape juice, chicken, eggs, and gefilte fish from the back of a U-Haul truck in half an hour? What does it take to pack this food into close to 100 boxes to be delivered to those in need of Passover assistance for the yom tov in two hours? Organization, enthusiasm,
love for your fellow Jew and five Yeshiva boys from HAFTR High School – Sal & Ethan Moriber, Shalom Ben-Ezry, Joseph Michael, and Rafi Czegledi (‘18). In record time, the Benai Asher Sephardic Congregation of Long Beach was able to successfully complete all their deliveries thanks to the unbelievable efforts of these men and many local volunteers.
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Around the Community
Skating in Achdus
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ast week, the Shulamith School for Girls Middle Division enjoyed their second achdut trip of the year, this one to the United Skates of America roller skating rink. Upon arrival, the girls benefitted from a STEM lesson. The 5th and 6th graders learned about Newton’s Laws, while the 7 th and 8th graders explored mathematical principles of skating. After the lesson, most girls headed for the rink where a number of girls enjoyed roller skating for the very first time and discovered how much fun it could be. Some faculty members daringly joined their students in the rink! Although there were some falls, all the girls had a wonderful time. Our thanks to Morah Chana, Mrs. Steiner, and the G.O for planning this enjoyable outing, and to Mrs. Billet and Dr. Gross for the value they place on events like this one!
HAFTR’s STEM Summit
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n the evening of April 9, HAFTR Middle School held its second annual STEM Summit. Led by Science Chair Mrs. Gittel Grant, and 6th grade science teacher Mrs. Ashley Alibayof, students showcased working prototypes of their projects that were designed as new or improved products that could be marketed in the form of a start-up company. The over-500 parents and grandpar-
ents in attendance received tickets they could use to invest in student companies, with the winning team receiving $500 from Real World Scholars to help produce their product. The evening culminated in an authentic “Shark Tank” competition, in which students pitched real investors (and HAFTR parents) Mr. Baruch Glaubach, Mrs. Sharona Hoffman, and Mr. Eli Finkelman
who invested real money in student companies. Students gained practical entrepreneurial skills, real-world problem-solving techniques, and honed their ability to communicate and collaborate. Mr. Joshua Gold, HAFTR’s Middle School principal, said, “The STEM Summit represents everything HAFTR Middle School is about. Our school’s educational vision is driven by our goals of po-
sitioning students to engage in authentic learning opportunities that are inquiry-driven, and intentionally developing their ability to think critically, innovate, and be creative.” A special thanks also goes out to HAFTR’s incredible educational technology team of Rabbi David Lamm and Rabbi Baruch Noy who helped oversee and steward the process.
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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Around the Community
HAFTR’s Early Childhood enjoyed preparing for Pesach
Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt spoke at a wellattended pre-Pesach shiur in memory of his father’s 12th yahrtzeit at the Young Israel of Woodmere. Rabbi Dr. Glatt is the assistant rabbi at Young Israel of Woodmere and chairman of Medicine and Epidemiology at South Nassau Community Hospital in Oceanside, NY
PHOTO CREDIT: IVAN H NORMAN
Rabbi Akiva Willig, rav of Beis Medrash of Woodmere, came to Yeshiva of South Shore to farher Rabbi Greenberg’s 6th grade class. The boys have mastered seven blatt of the first perek in Masechta Sukkah, and they impressed Rabbi Willig with their solid understanding of all of the Gemara they have learned this year Preparing for Pesach at Siach Yitzchok
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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Be A Queen
PUT A CROWN ON IT Camp
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The| The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 Jewish Home
TJH
Centerfold
Riddle me this? Two people wish to cross a river. The only way to get to the other side is by boat, but that boat can only take one person at a time. The boat cannot return on its own, there are no ropes or similar tricks, yet both people manage to cross using the boat. How? See answer on the other page
That’s Wright The best of comedian Steven Wright Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot. I was walking down the street wearing glasses when the prescription ran out.
Cross-country skiing is great if you live in a small country. Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines. Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don’t have film. Half the people you know are below average. How do you tell when you’re out of invisible ink? I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met. I hate it when my foot falls asleep during the day because that means it’s going to be up all night. I took a course in speed waiting. Now I can wait an hour in only ten minutes. I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn’t park anywhere near the place. I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, “Hey, the sign says you’re open 24 hours.” He said, “Yes, but not in a row.” I went to a general store. They wouldn’t let me buy anything specific. If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving definitely isn’t for you.
I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect.
Why is it a penny for your thoughts but you have to put your two cents in? Somebody’s making a penny.
I went to a restaurant that serves “breakfast at any time”. So I ordered French toast during the Renaissance. Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy. Borrow money from pessimists – they don’t expect it back.
If you think nobody cares about you, try missing a couple of payments. If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer? I remember when I was a fetus I used to sneak out at night while my mother was sleeping. Boycott shampoo! Demand the REAL poo!
Jewish Home | APRIL 29, 17, 2015 2019 The The Jewish Home | OCTOBER
Numbers Trivia 1. How many colors are there in a rainbow? a. 4 b. 5 c. 7 d. 8 2. How many squares are there on a chess board? a. 42 b. 64 c. 76 d. 90 3. How many points does a compass have? a. 32 b. 49 c. 56
d. 81
b. 140
4. How many feet are there in a mile?
7. What percentage of people in the world are left-handed?
b. 3,465 c. 4,760
a. 11%
d. 5,280
b. 22% 5. What comes after a trillion? a. Quintillion b. Quadrillion c. Sextillion d. Septillion 6. The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest building in the world. How many stories does it have?
Answers 8) C 7) A 6) C 5) B 4) D 3) A
0-3 correct: Hmm...let’s try this: how many days are there in a week? (Baby steps...)
c. 330,330 times d. 2 million times 10. For how long can a snail sleep without getting up?
c. 35%
a. 7 days
d. 48%
b. 2 months
8. How many dimples does the average golf ball have?
c. 13 months d. 3 years
a. 42
c. 336 d. 1,075 9. The sun is how many
9) C
4-7 correct: Not bad, but you have to wake up! Your 3 years of sleeping are up.
a. 4 times
b. 164
10) D
8-10 correct: You are great at numbers! But if you’re counting the dimples on a golf ball, you certainly have other problems.
d. 210
b. 1,750 time
a. 2,370
a. 120
Wisdom Key
c. 160
times larger than the Earth?
You gotta be kidding Yankel walks into his boss’s office. “Sir, I’ll be straight with you, I know the economy isn’t great, but I have over three companies after me, and I would like to respectfully ask for a raise.” After a few minutes of haggling the boss finally agrees to a 5% raise, and Yankel happily gets up to leave. “By the way,” asks the boss as Yankel is getting up, “which three companies are after you?” Yankel replies, “The electric company, water company, and phone company!”
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2) B 1) C
Answer to Riddle Me This: Who said they were on the same side? They both started off on opposite sides of the river.
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Torah Thought
Pesach By Rabbi Berel Wein
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ne of the more amazing things about the holiday of Pesach is that even though it is over 3,300 years old it is relevant and current to our world today just as it was when it was originally celebrated by the Jewish people in Egypt long ago. It naturally speaks to every generation in a different tone and nuance, but its basic message of human freedom and G-dly service has never changed. Its rituals and commandments are the key to its longevity and survival over all the centuries and in spite of all of the challenges and difficulties that are so replete in Jewish history. In fact, were it not for these rituals and commandments the holiday itself, it’s possible that not even the Jewish people would have long ago disappeared into the ash heap of history. The G-dly instinct that has made ritual a daily part of the life of every Jew has been the surest method of Jewish survival and continuity. It is what binds the generations one to another in families and nationally. Without it, the disconnect between generations and the circumstances of society would be so great that it would be impossible to overcome. The night of the Pesach seder is the greatest example of the power of ritual and tradition to preserve human relationships and to bind disparate generations together. It is no exaggeration
to say that the Jewish world is founded on the night of the Pesach seder. Without it, we are doomed to extinction. With it, we become immortal and eternal. I myself have always been privileged to celebrate Pesach and the
table experience of a Pesach at home is slowly disappearing from the Jewish scene in many parts of the world. Let me hasten to say again that I do not criticize anyone for any reason who celebrates Pesach at a hotel or with any sort of organized program.
It is no exaggeration to say that the Jewish world is founded on the night of the Pesach seder.
seder at home. I only went to a hotel for Pesach once in my lifetime when my wife was ill, and we had no other choice. I am not here to decry all of the Pesach programs that exist and prosper worldwide. I understand and appreciate why they are so popular and in our generation of relative affluence in the Jewish world, it is completely rational to use these services. But it is completely ironic that in our time, because of technological advances, all sorts of automatic appliances, Pesach kitchens and an unbelievable plethora of prepared Pesach foods and products that giving one’s family the unforget-
There are many circumstances in life that justify these choices. However, for the purposes of Jewish continuity and survival, I feel that it is important for children to remember a family Pesach at home, to recall how their parents and grandparents conducted a seder, and to be able to give personal expression to the glory of the holiday and to the memory of our history. At the Pesach seder there is a potential for uniting hundreds of years of family memories. Grandparents remember their grandparents, and the little great-grandchildren – whose sole interest is to extort their elders for the
return of the afikomen – are united in binding together hundreds of years of family life and Judaism. A seder at home with the family provides the optimum setting for such an emotional and spiritual experience. Eighty years ago, I attended the first seder that I can recall. It was in the house of my grandfather who was educated in the great yeshiva of Volozhin and who was a rabbi of a congregation in Chicago as well as being one of the heads of the yeshiva that then existed in Chicago. That seder is one of my earliest memories in life. I remember the deference that my father and uncles paid my grandfather, and I recall how my cousin and I hesitatingly recited the four questions to him and the delight that shown on his face when we did so. There were about 30 people at my grandfather’s seder that year. Only my cousin and I still survive but I have tried to pass on the memory of that seder to my own grandchildren and now great-grandchildren. By so doing, a whiff of Volozhin, and even of Egypt and Sinai, may be transmitted to them and from them to their generations as well. Like all else in Judaism, Pesach is memory. And memory is the most powerful tool for the preservation of a Jewish way of life. I wish you and your families a happy and kosher Pesach.
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Israel Today
KIBBUTZ HANITA A Story of a Pioneering Nation and a Young Life Cut Short By Rafi Sackville
Yosef Rotblat. Photo from the Yizkor.org website
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he photograph of Yosef Rotblat on the Yizkor. org.il website for fallen Israeli soldiers was taken close to the year of his death in 1938. His is the face of a young man who has left his teenage years behind and is firmly on the track to a manhood he will never realize. His pursed lips sit above a square, determined jaw. The mouth is enigmatic and difficult to interpret; is it a serious look he is conveying or is that the thinnest of what will become a smile? Maybe the photographer caught him on the cusp of a joke for which he’s awaiting the punchline? The light shines from his left, shadowing the right side of his face. One is drawn upwards from his chin to his prominent forehead but instinctively returns to focus on his eyes. They are piercing, but kind, controlled but compassionate. You can see why the Hagana chose him for a prominent position. He has the look of a leader.
That leadership quality can be traced to his father, Aharon Rotblat, who traveled throughout the Ukraine giving speeches in synagogues and towns encouraging his listeners to make aliyah. Along with a few family members, he made the arduous trip himself in 1891. The burden of responsibility for their care fell on his shoulders. Behind them they had left their family and the everyday joys of the ritual of life. They also left behind the constant persecution by Ukrainian police in search of Zionist propaganda, whose anti-Semitic goading and false rumors precipitated angst and fear amongst the Jews. Aharon Rotblat landed in Haifa. It was there the bitterness of the olives first passed his lips and where he tasted the sweetness of vegetables like eggplant, fondly known as meat without bones. It was also the first time in his life that he had seen electricity. At first, he wondered how the stars could descend to the ground. He and his brother,
Boaz, eventually moved to Kfar Tabor in the Jezreel Valley in 1901. They married, and each of them had one son, both named Yosef after their grandfather. Yosef was a bright student, who might have continued his schooling were it not for his great sense of family obligation. He was willing to forgo his studies to support them. He dropped out of school to work in the construction industry. An ambitious young man, Yosef Rotblat was known for his integrity, modesty, his love of others, and his love for painting and swimming. The Hagana appointed him commander in charge of signals. He was sent to the new settlement of Hanita (today a short drive East of Rosh Hanikra) in March 1938. He arrived there before Pesach that year. His stay was tragically short.
Rolling Hills The Western Galil’s history is intrinsically tied to Yosef Rotblat and
what motivated the Jewish leadership at the time to send so many brave young people to its northernmost borders. This is especially true of Kibbutz Hanita, the place Rotblat had come to establish and defend. The Galil is one verdant valley after another vying for attention. There Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai found his eternal rest on the side of that hill, there a battle was fought during the War of Independence, and it was there that Kibbutz Hanita was raised in two days in 1938. The drive to Hanita is a half an hour from our home. We found Gilad Argaman at the picnic grounds halfway up the hill. He was walking around, filling a large bag with discarded trash. It’s not his job; he’s a full-time teacher. He was collecting garbage because he is proud of his place of birth. He likes it looking pristine. The centerpiece of the grounds is a recreated tower and stockade that came to define the settlements that arose around Israel before the Second World War. Across from the tower is a rect-
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Ezer and Gilad Argaman
A memorial to those who gave their lives for their country
Purchasing the land for Kibbutz Hanita
angular plaque commemorating the ten soldiers who lost their lives there in 1938. Gilad is a distant relative of Yosef Rotblat, who was one of the fallen. When Gilad’s father, Ezer, was at school in the early 1950s, one of his teachers began calling him argaman, or scarlet, in Hebrew. Rotblat in Russian means red leaves. The name stuck. Before taking us to meet his father, Gilad showed us the border fence. The rolling hills of Lebanon lay before us like a gentle wave held in suspension. The incongruity between the tranquility on the one hand and the Iranian-backed menace that threatens us further north on the other struck a nerve. This incongruity is amplified by the cows that populate the no man’s land between the fences; they graze serenely and worry-free. When asked if the army has discovered any Hezbollah tunnels in the area, Gilad vaguely mentioned some activity a kilometer away, but said little more. Walking back to his car, he picked and ate some edible flowers indicating we should follow suit. One yellow flower carried a faint, garlic taste. It was a comfort to know that in times of crisis the supermarket is not the only avenue to staving off hunger. I chewed a few petals while gazing towards the west at the Mediterranean Sea that glistened in the afternoon sun. The building which now houses the museum existed when the first settlers arrived on March 21,1938. It was built in the middle of the 19th century by the Ottomans. Gilad’s father was waiting for us
inside the museum, towing his small granddaughter, Maya behind him. Into his 70s, Ezer Argaman retains the vigor of youthful enthusiasm. He’s a quiet man with a sense of humor. He has lived a full life. Conscripted in 1965 into the Navy Seals, he then joined the Golani Brigade, where he was among the soldiers who freed the Golan and Shechem in 1967. As we shake hands, I notice a glint in his eye. By way of introduction we are led to a display case where he points to a three-legged Primus stove and asks what we think the third leg stands for. Without waiting for an answer, he tells the story of his parents, Yoska (Yosef) and Bat Sheva Rotblat, who were living on Kibbutz Sdot Yam, near Caesaria, in the early 1950s. A young Hannah Senesh had recently made aliyah alone from Hungary. Adopted by the Rotblats, she shared sleeping quarters with them...in their tent! “Sometimes they would ask Hannah to step outside while they spent some ‘quality’ time together,” he chuckles. “Hannah was the third leg of the Primus stove.” Ezer moved away from the display case and sat on a bench while Maya took out her coloring pencils and began to draw. He explained his parents’ move north from Sdot Yam, near Caesarea, in 1951. “There was turmoil in the kibbutz movement at the time,” he said. “Mapam and Labour, the two parties representing the kibbutzim, became
ideologically opposed. “My mother wanted to move to a nearby kibbutz, but my father was adamant they head to the very place his cousin, also named Yosef Rotblat, had been killed in 1938. That was 13 years after Hanita was founded. I was 5 years old at the time.”
Responding to the Peel Report During the early 1930s there was a constant flow of Jewish immigrants pouring into the country. The Arabs protested. Matters rose to a head in 1936, with what came to be known as the Arab Revolt. At the beginning of the First Aliyah in 1882 there were at most 25,000 Jews living in Israel, most of them in Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias and Safed. By the time of the Arab Revolt some 375,000 Jews had made Israel their home. This represented a growth rate of more than 400%. In comparison, the Arab growth rate was less than 100%. In the eyes of the Arabs this was something to fear. They felt we were stealing their land. What had begun with a general strike against the British morphed into violent protests and attacks. The British had trouble quelling the unrest. In search of a solution to the growing problem, they formed a commission led by the politician Lord William Robert Peel. His findings in 1937, known as the Peel Commission Report, called for a partition between the Jewish population and the Arabs. The Arabs imme-
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diately opposed any notion of a Jewish State. While not completely dismissing Peel’s recommendation for a need for distinctive frontiers, the Zionist Congress expressed a desire to further study the proposal. They foreshadowed that, if implemented, the partition would lead to a Palestine that would be overwhelmingly Arab by the late 1940s. Written 83 years ago, some of the wording of Peel’s report wouldn’t be out of place in today’s political climate. Calling the conflict between the two sides “irresponsible,” it also noted “there is no common ground between them.” Peel’s plan would have placed the current border further south. It would have meant ceding the high ground to the enemy. At the time, the Western Galil was completely Arab. The Jewish leadership, led by Moshe Sharet, Ben Gurion and Yosef Weitz, the head of the Jewish National Fund, concluded that the area needed to be occupied as there was no Jewish presence north of Nahariya (founded in 1934). They acted with lightning speed. Fifty-two settlements, which came to be known as “Tower and Stockade,” were established between 1936 and 1939. Not before or since has there been a such growth in Jewish settlements. This was a program of national importance. The leadership imagined a scenario where, were the country to be blanketed in darkness and only the lights above the towers of each settlement lit, the outline of the borders
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Chaim Weizmann and his wife Vera arriving for the official opening of Hanita
throughout the country could hypothetically be seen north of Be’er Sheva. Tower and stockade settlements used easily transportable and prefabricated structures. Once an area for settlement was chosen a tower would be erected with a spotlight on top, which gave an uninterrupted view of the surrounding area. Around it a stockade would be constructed; in essence, a structure built of two walls filled with gravel for protection against gunfire. Being swift and efficient, they were erected in hours. Peel’s recommendations were published in the summer of 1937. The leadership had to act quickly if they were to incorporate the Galil into the area partitioned for the Jewish State. Deals to buy Arab land began. As a result, several thousand acres were purchased in the Western Galil. A fascinating letter, written by Moshe Sharett to the prime minister of Lebanon, survives in which he advised that a small group of Jews were moving to Hanita to establish an agricultural settlement. He pointed out the intentions of the group to turn the area into an agricultural paradise and that the British would take care of defending the settlement. Relations with neighboring Lebanon were good. Within two days the prime minister replied to Sharett granting his government’s permission to the deal.
Settling a Settlement Hanita was the Yishuv’s northern most settlement. Its creation was considered the epitome of the tower and stockade settlements. Cut off from
roads leading to it, the closest town was Nahariya, but it was only accessible via Arab villages. Today the entire mountainside is covered in trees planted over the last 80 years. With so many hills in the region lying exposed, it is not hard to imagine the tasks that lay ahead for the founders of Hanita. As if marauding Arabs weren’t enough of a worry, territorial panthers roamed the hills posing a threat to farmers. Hanging on the wall of the muse-
The settlement of Hanita. Note the tower in the background
populate it. The plan was that people like Yosef Rotblat would sit there for a few months, and only then would the “first” settlers arrive. Trucks and mules carried the provisions, tents, building materials, water, and, most importantly, the prefabricated sections of the tower and stockade. When the road came to an end, the volunteers portered the materials up by hand in an operation run by both men and women. The area is abundant with streams, and they were able to tap into one of the
Despite the proximity to the border and the Iranian saber rattling, it is a place of intense beauty and quietude.
um is a large panther skin surrounded by newspaper accounts of the last known attack. A shepherd had been attacked and only saved his life by thrusting his right fist down the panther’s throat and drawing a pistol with his left hand. The victim was photographed in Nahariya Hospital smiling, but less two digits. The difficulty of the terrain led to the establishment of Hanita in two stages. The first was halfway up the hill, where we had met Gilad; the second where it stands today. The actual founders of Hanita were not among those who came to
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local springs for refreshing water. The public was kept informed. The official opening was an exciting event with reporters and photographers flocking north. A new Torah was brought up to celebrate the occasion. Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Sadeh and Yigal Alon were photographed together. Ben Gurion visited, as did Chaim Weizmann and his wife, Vera. Hanita was on its way. Its growth and development have continued for over 80 years. Despite the proximity to the border and the Iranian saber rattling, it is a place of intense beauty
and quietude, which makes it hard to comprehend the terrible loss of life in the year it was established.
A Short but Impactful Life Over 80 years have passed since the death of Yosef Rotblat. He arrived in Hanita in March 1938. A little less than a month later, Pesach was celebrated. The Arabs had a misconception about the Jewish seder. They believed that four cups of wine was enough to give anyone a hangover. They figured the soldiers on guard duty the following morning would be suffering the aftereffects of drunkenness. That morning, Rotblat was given the command to report to another location. The guard at the stockade told him that information had been received that it was too dangerous to travel. He drove away from his post and was ambushed. The attack on his vehicle killed him and two of his companions. He was brought to rest in the old cemetery in Haifa. Rotblat’s fragment of life, a tree cut off in its prime, was lived with vigor and bravery. The only physical evidence of that battle is a plaque we had seen when we met Gilad. Were it not for his death, Erez Argaman and his son, Gilad, would not have spent their lives in Hanita. The pain of his loss still lingers today. Yosef’s sister, Dahlia, is well into her 80s. She recalls her brother’s warmth and the incredible respect he had for his parents. She is keen to mention how, despite the 14
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A view of Hanita in 1938
years difference between them, he would care for her. She says her father took his son’s loss very hard. After all, it was he who had instilled a sense of Zionist pride and obligation that had spurred Yosef to contribute to the new Yishuv. It was he who encour-
aged him to go into the Hagana’s signal corps. Aharon Rotblat spent the remainder of his life blaming himself for his son’s death. The fact that he had opposed Yosef’s traveling to Hanita for Pesach did little to mitigate the blame he bore. Talking to Dahlia’s daughter,
Yosef with his father, Aharon
Yosef with his sister, Dahlia
Yael, about her uncle’s death is like recounting a recent terrorist attack. Over 80 years have passed, but the turmoil her family lived through left a stain that has yet to be erased. Jewish history’s relevance and immediacy transcends generations. Yosef Rotblat’s life and death, which
occurred a year before the start of World War II, is symbolic of the pioneering spirit and courage that has come to define our small, wonderful country.
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Journey Pacific
A
to Freedom through the
Reb Shmuel Chaim Soroka’s Journey from the Mir to Shanghai to the Philippines
By Brendy J. Siev
olocaust stories, survivors’ journeys, and concentration camp recountings are all different and are all miraculous. In some ways, though, they are familiar. We visualize the tracks as trains take victims into the heart of darkness and as families trudge under the mocking Arbeit Macht Frei placard. We tote up the losses, the stories, the faith, and the despair. R e b Sh mue l Chaim Soroka’s journey begins w it h a wel lknown story. An A lter Mirrer, his journey begins in Kamenetz, Poland, and continues across Siberia with the Mir Yeshiva to Kobe, Japan, and Shanghai, China – but then it continues. Unlike others trapped in Shanghai for the duration of the war, Reb Shmuel Chaim and two friends received visas to America in November 1941, boarded a boat, and left. Their boat arrived in Manila in the Philippines –the very day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. With the arrival of the Japanese, Manila was no longer under American control, and Reb Shmuel Chaim and his friends were taken by the Japanese as prisoners of war. For the next four years, he was in concentration camp, but not a Nazi one: Japanese concentration camps located in and outside Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. His story, as described in Dr. Mordachai Buchie Soroka’s book, A Mirrer in Manila, is thus wholly different. Dr. Soroka spent years researching and examining his father’s odyssey and documenting it, weaving the story of a young man fleeing for survival against the backdrop of war. The saga took place on the other side of the world – far from Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen – the
other theater of World War II: the Pacific theater.
An Emotional Parting Reb Shmuel Chaim, an only son with three sisters, grew up in a small settlement outside of Kamenetz (or Kamenetz-Litovsk), Poland. The small town was located at a crossroads on a highway between Lvov and Vilna; during the Renaissance it was a place of meeting for Polish and Lithuanian princes. Nestled at the edge of the famous Black Forest, the hunting reserve created by princes for their folly and sport, Kamenetz was, for years, a protected small town with properties owned by nobles and royalty. But by the 1700s, most princes sold off their estates, and the area became a more typical shtetl. By the late 1800s, 6,885 people lived in Kamenetz and the surrounding villages; 5,900 – 90 percent – of them were Jews. Reb Shmuel Chaim lived in one of the small agricultural colonies outside of town. These “colonies” were established in the late 1700s as a way for Jews to protect their children from being conscripted into the army (“tillers of the land” were exempt) and were named Abramovo, Sarovo, and Lotova, after Avraham, Sara, and Lot. Cheder started at seven in the morning and ended at eight at night. The Jews who started these farms were not originally farmers. They hired local peasants to help with the work. By the time Reb Shmuel Chaim was born, only 14 of the original families remained. They received modern farming instruction from the Jewish Colonization Association. One, R’ Shimshon Zimel Simchovich, acquired more land and became rich. He planted an orchard, sold surplus in winter, and built a windmill. R’ Shimshon Zimel’s son-in-law, R’ Yosef Soroka, was one of the best talmidim of the Mishmar Yeshiva in Brisk. R’ Shimshon Zimel supported him in learning with the understanding that he would marry R’ Shimshon Zimel’s daughter, Minka. After they married, he continued to support his son-in-law in learning. Eventually, R’ Yosef became a melamed in Kamenetz who would walk to the
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
Reb Shmuel Chaim in Yeshiva Baronovich, left, April 1937
yeshiva daily, accompanied by his talmidim. He also served R’ Boruch Ber Lebowitz in Kamenetz, reviewing the gadol’s shiurim with the bochurim in the yeshiva. R’ Yosef and Minka (Simchovich) Soroka were Reb Shmuel Chaim’s parents. Well before his bar mitzvah, Reb Shmuel Chaim left home to study in Baranovich (under Rav Elchonon Wasserman), the Kamenetz yeshiva (under R’ Boruch Ber Leibowitz), and eventually, when he was 16, the Mirrer Yeshiva. With the Russian takeover of Mir in 1939, Mir became inhospitable to Torah study, and the yeshiva moved to Vilna, a city now part of Lithuania. Reb Shmuel Chaim cabled his only uncle in the United States, Uncle Max Simchowitz, to send him funds and affidavits toward a visa to America. By 1940, the Lithuanians wanted the refugees out of Vilna, and the Mir Yeshiva moved to Keidan. But within seven months, Lithuania became a republic of the Soviet Union, and the yeshiva students were forced to disperse, in four disparate groups, to small villages in what was once northern Lithuania. The Nazis were advancing on one side, the Communists – who hated religious Jews – were on the other side, and Reb Shmuel Chaim and his fellow yeshiva students were trapped.
What were the bochurim’s families to do? They were caught; they had lived through pogroms before, but even if they could leave, what about the elderly? Reb Shmuel Chaim’s family was stuck in Kamenetz, and he worried constantly about them. His mother sent him loving letters, “We were emotional and cried when we received your letter. Don’t worry,” she consoled him, “we have what to eat.” But then it was the final goodbye. The yeshiva was traveling across Poland and into the Soviet Union. Reb Shmuel Chaim met his father at the border. R’ Yosef brought him a coat and food from his mother. His father removed his boots and gave them to his son. Reb Shmuel Chaim gave his wristwatch to his father and begged his father to allow him to take his eight-year-old little sister with him. R’ Yosef refused, wanting to keep his family together. But he gave his son a firm and emotional directive: We don’t know who will live and who will die. Stay with the yeshiva. That was the last they spoke. Recently, a letter written by R’ Yosef to his only son was found. It is perhaps the last extended communication that Reb Shmuel Chaim had with his family. In the letter, R’ Yosef writes: “My dear son. You should know, my beloved son, there is a Divine
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A certificate from Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz to Reb Shmuel Chaim to present to the American consulate
plan and a reason that the Creator of the World placed you in an environment that will forever bind you with the Holy Torah. Truthfully, it is my only consolation that you follow Hashem’s dictates and He will be pleased with you. This is the main reason why the world was created, to be committed to the Torah forever…. “Do not stray from your Yiddishkeit, not even in the minutest matters. If you have doubts or questions ask your rebbeim and don’t make your own decisions. I’ve given you basic knowledge; build on it. Even though I’ve written this letter quickly, and at night, it contains many thoughts. Keep it with you in yeshiva, read it constantly, and be committed to its content. In this merit Hashem should enable that you merit witnessing the consolation and rebuilding of Yerushalayim.” Reb Shmuel Chaim received two more postcards from his family before all communication ceased. The Nazis had arrived. The Jews were gathered into a ghetto in Kamenetz, and, in 1942, Reb Shmuel Chaim’s parents, R’ Yosef and Minka; his three sisters, Sarah, Esther, and Rivka; their children; R’ Shimshon Zimel; and Reb Shmuel Chaim’s brother-in-law, Rav Velvel Kustin; were shot. According to the Kamenetz Yizkor Book, fewer than ten Kamenetz Jews survived the Holocaust.
Reb Shmuel Chaim’s papers from the Mir, 1939
Journey through Japan Reb Shmuel Chaim, along with the yeshiva, eventually received a visa to Curaçao in the Caribbean. The issue was getting there. Travelers needed a transit visa to enter and exit various countries on the way to their destination. With this, a famous miracle occurred. Japan decided to open a consulate in Lithuania. This was, of course, pointless. There were no Japanese people in Lithuania. Japan had never had an embassy or consulate there before. This was wartime, a time to close foreign offices, not to open them.
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The Mir Yeshiva in Shangai. Reb Shmuel Chaim is in the front row, third from right
But Japan, in a begrudging show of diplomacy following the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact, was now a marginal ally of the Soviet Union and so the country exchanged embassies and consulates with its newfound friend. Japan sent Chiune Sempo Sugihara, a diplomat whose base had been in Helsinki, to Kovno. His job was diplomatic. His work was spying, specifically on German and Russian troop maneuvers and to see whether the Germans were readying an attack on the Soviets. A fellow Mirrer Yeshiva student, Moshe Zupnick, traveled to meet Sugihara. He assisted Sugihara and obtained 300 visas for all the Mirrer Yeshiva students. When word spread, Jews – even those without destination visas – thronged the embassy begging for transit visas to Japan. Sugihara complied. Even when the Japanese Foreign Service ordered him to stop, Sugihara continued. He knew his office would be closed within weeks, and yet he kept signing papers through night and day. Being led out of his office by authorities, he threw official papers with his signature scrawled on them to the crowd of desperate people. He saved 3,500 Jewish refugees with his visas, including Reb Shmuel Chaim Soroka.
Reb Shmuel Chaim, together with thousands of others, boarded the Trans-Siberian Railway, not to Siberia, but to Vladivostok, to freedom. From Vladivostok, Reb Shmuel Chaim and his fellow yeshivaleit boarded a boat for Kobe, Japan. There, Reb Shmuel Chaim wrote to his uncle in America, and his uncle
Shanties in the Santo Thomas internment camps
Japan said they had not received any paperwork but agreed that it was probably on its way. Two of Reb Shmuel Chaim’s close friends, Iko and Mottel (Mordechai) Rabinowitz, got word as well. Then, on July 1, the Americans blocked all immigration, even for those approved and with visas; the Japanese extended his visa through
Reb Shmuel Chaim gave his wristwatch to his father and begged his father to allow him to take his eight-year-old little sister with him. resumed his tireless efforts to procure an American visa for his nephew. This process had started in 1938, and at each stage of the journey Uncle Simchowitz continued wiring money, affidavits, and documents to his nephew, Reb Shmuel Chaim, but to no avail. While in Kobe, on June 5, 1941, Uncle Simchowitz got word that Reb Shmuel Chaim’s visa request had been granted; the consulate in
August, assuming by then he would be able to leave. Reb Shmuel Chaim went to a clinic for vaccinations against cholera, smallpox, typhoid, and dysentery, inoculations that served him well in the coming year…. By late August, though, the Japanese had had enough. Reb Shmuel Chaim left with the rest of the Mirrer Yeshiva to Shanghai. There, the yeshiva found, miraculously, a beau-
tiful little-used shul that became their bais medrash for the years to come. The shul had been built by a Sephardic Jew in 1927 and had the exact number of seats to accommodate the yeshiva. The famous photo of the yeshiva in Shanghai features Reb Shmuel Chaim in the front row near the mashgiach Rav Chaskel Levenstein, zt”l, and the rosh yeshiva, Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, zt”l. Reb Shmuel Chaim’s stay in Shanghai was short-lived, and by late November 1941, he had procured both a visa and passage to the United States with his uncle’s hishtadlus, via Manila in the Philippines. His friends were happy and amazed; he was looking forward, but knew he would miss his yeshiva terribly. Before leaving, his yeshiva friends signed a postcard of a Shanghai street scene for him.
A Mirrer in Manila The first boat out would depart on an erev Shabbos, November 28, 1941. Reb Shmuel Chaim and Mottel and Iko Rabinowitz did not feel comfortable traveling then, despite being told that they halachically could. (Mottel and Iko had learned in Baranovich and the Mir with Reb Shmuel Chaim, and their father had already immigrated to America.)
The The Jewish Home | OCTOBER Jewish Home | APRIL 29, 17, 2015 2019
At Reb Shmuel Chaim and Hedy’s wedding, January 1948, with Rabbi Avraham Kalmanovitz and Max Simchowitz
The three men left a week later, on December 4, 1941, with a scheduled stop in Manila on December 8, 1941. They landed a day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor; the United States and Japan were at war. The city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines, was founded by the Spanish in the 1570. It is ancient and new, a city of firsts for the country – first university, first water system – and a city of olds – trade with Chinese dynasties, invasions from the Sultan. The indigenous population eventually gave way to Spanish rule and finally to American governance in 1898 after the Spanish-American War. It was technically still an American colony when Reb Shmuel Chaim landed there, at the port, ready to continue on to America. But they were two days late. The day after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese also bombed and attacked the American military base in Manila and invaded the Philippines. The Americans withdrew, leaving the Philippines to the Japanese. Now Reb Shmuel Chaim, with his Polish passport and American visa, was officially a foreign alien, and
the Japanese rounded him up as a Polish citizen and almost-American. He, and all those on their way to the United States, were prisoners of war in Japanese concentration camps for the next 39 months.
At Reb Shmuel Chaim’s wedding. Rabbi Feitel Rabinowitz, father of Mottel and Iko Rabinowitz; Chaim Barash (standing), father of the kallah; Reb Shmuel Chaim Soroka; and Rav Avraham Kalmanowitz
details, food distribution, hygiene, and even English classes. Despite that, people starved and conditions were bleak. Reb Shmuel Chaim and the Rabinowitz brothers planted small vegetable gardens and would
“You should know, my beloved son, there is a Divine plan and a reason that the Creator of the World placed you in an environment that will forever bind you with the Holy Torah.” Initially, Reb Shmuel Chaim was imprisoned in the Santo Thomas Internment Camp on the grounds of the Santo Thomas University in Manila. There, more than 3,300 people lived in quarters with few bathrooms. At first, the Japanese allowed the prisoners to set up their own systems within the camps: work
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not eat non-kosher food; they lived on their greens and rice they cooked themselves. They davened daily, arranged minyanim including other Jews in the camp, and studied from the few seforim they had. And while they kept to themselves, they participated in the work programs and studied English.
In May 1943, the Japanese asked for volunteers to be transferred to a new concentration camp, the Los Banos Internment Camp, also located on a former college campus but more than 40 miles from the tiny Manila Jewish community. Los Banos, however, was worse than Santo Thomas: there was less food, no sleeping quarters, four toilets for 800 prisoners, and malaria-infected mosquitoes. Reb Shmuel Chaim was conscripted to build barracks on the side of a muddy hill; he had to push wheelbarrows up the hills through oozing tropical mud. And when construction was completed, a historically horrific typhoon hit, destroying the barracks, ruining the food supply, and spreading sewage throughout the camp. Reb Shmuel Chaim, though, said only, “Now I know how the enslaved Jews in Mitzrayim felt when they built Pisom and Ramses.” And he helped rebuild the camp. While at first the Japanese allowed the prisoners to plant vegetables and barter for food with the natives, a new military and particularly cruel commandant put a stop to all of that. The commandant con-
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fiscated food the prisoners grew, cut the food supply to 700 calories per day per prisoner, and gave rations deliberately contaminated with pebbles and rat droppings. In September 1944, American forces under General Douglas MacArthur (who had famously declared, “I shall return” when the Americans were ousted from the country) began the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese. As the American army grew closer to Manila, in early 1945, the Japanese commandant grew crueler and more unreasonable. He appropriated food from the Red Cross, letting the prisoners starve, which led to night blindness, disease, and death. Reb Shmuel Chaim contracted malaria and developed jaundice, dysentery, and beriberi.
Freedom but Far from Home The American rescue of the prisoner of war and internment camps was heroic and is well-documented. The U.S. 11th Airborne Division liberated the camp on February 23, 1945. In the most successful rescue operation in the history of the American Armed Forces, more than 2,000 internees were rescued despite Japanese orders to wipe out the camp. Reb Shmuel Chaim was among those who cheered the arrival of the American troops. During his internment, Reb Shmuel Chaim had learned basic carpentry and spoke fluent, accented English. After the war, Reb Shmuel Chaim testified before the War Crimes Committee. But he spoke little of his experience, grateful for his life after learning of the suffering and horrors experienced by those who were slaughtered and tortured by Nazi hands. Now free, Reb Shmuel Chaim was able to recover from illness and regain strength, procure a position as a clerk with the American army in the Philippines, and try, once again, to come to the United States. His efforts were again frustrating. At one point, he boarded a boat to the United States with hundreds of other rescued prisoners and was removed from the ship because his visa had “expired.” Never mind that it had
Reb Shmuel Chaim and Hedy Soroka at their son’s wedding
Reb Shmuel Chaim’s kever
expired because he had been taken as a prisoner of war. No amount of logic or discussion could convince the officials otherwise. Reb Shmuel Chaim and his uncle eventually persevered, and, in February 1946, long after his yeshiva friends in Shanghai had arrived in the United States, Reb Shmuel Chaim touched ground in America.
in each other’s sorrows. They davened together, played together, kibitzed with one another. The loud but respectful arguments over a Rashi or a Ritva would shake the walls of their shul but their jokes during kiddush on Shabbos morning were just as loud. Reb Shmuel Chaim married Hedy Barash, whose father delighted in a talmid chacham for a sonin-law. And Reb Shmuel Chaim and Hedy rebuilt together. Four children – Yosef Moshe (Yossi) married to Suri (Schwartz); Mordachai Boruch (Buchie) married to Surie (Schachter); Shimshon Zimel (Shimshy) married to Raizy (Hans); and Mindy married to Daniel Greenberg. Reb Shmuel Chaim passed away February 2, 1988, yud-daled Shevat. Sadly, he was not zocheh to see all of his 32 grandchildren or any of his great-grandchildren born. Even so, his descendants carry on his love of Torah, his deep emunah, and his unwavering belief in a world that could be rebuilt. Reb Shmuel Chaim Soroka’s journey begins with a familiar story, takes a different path, and ends with a timeless and familiar message: of hope, of mishpacha, and of emunah.
Rebuilding It was bittersweet relief. Reb Shmuel Chaim was the last of his family, and he had to build a new life for himself and rebuild what had been lost. Of the large extended Soroka family in Europe three had survived: Reb Shmuel Chaim, R’ Shimon Soroka (later the mayor of Bnei Brak and head of the Agudah – they first met in Shanghai), and Moshe Soroka (founder of Soroka Hospital in Israel). But Reb Shmuel Chaim kept his father’s words foremost in his mind: “Do not stray from your Yiddishkeit, not even the small point of the letter yud. If you have doubts or questions, ask your rebbeim. I’ve given you basic knowledge, build on it…. In this merit, Hashem should enable that you merit witnessing the consolation and rebuilding….” Reb Shmuel Chaim’s family was now not only his American uncle but his Mirrer yeshiva friends as well. Together, they raised families, started a shul and yeshivos, and learned together. As a family, they rejoiced in each other’s simchos. They shared
His Legacy, His Essence Reb Shmuel Chaim Soroka was my zaidy. He did not speak often, if at all, about his ordeals, and my uncle, Mordachai Baruch (Buchie) Soroka, spent years carefully and
painstakingly piecing this story together from artifacts, museum records, and Zaidy’s letters. When I was little, here is what I knew: that Zaidy had gotten the last train out of Kamenetz and that his family had been shot in a forest. That Zaidy’s response to Japanese concentration camp was “they had it much worse in Europe.” That what pained him most about the Japanese was that they took his photos of his family. That he missed his friends in Shanghai deeply during that time. Here is what I knew, though it was unspoken: Zaidy’s family was his tight-knit circle of alter Mirrer friends. From the time I was tiny, I would enter shul, his beloved Mirrer Minyan, a shul he helped found for the alter Mirrers, and everyone knew my name. They greeted me warmly and enthusiastically. My grandparents delighted in their friends’ new grandchildren and children’s successes. They spoke of small details in their friends’ lives easily and sympathetically. I davened yomim noraim at the Mirrer Minyan next to my Bubby from the time I was seven until I got married. That davening is the most familiar to me, and when the Litvaks sang (and they sang, even a little bit), the women hit the high notes together. During hafsaka on Rosh Hashana, I served coffee to R’ Avrohom Shkop, zt”l (Rav Shimon Shkop’s grandson), carried out trays of cake arranged by Mrs. Feigelstein, received countless gletten on the cheek (and pinches too, I’m afraid) from my grandparents’ friends, and visited Rabbi Zaichek and Rabbi Pitterman after lunch. During hafsaka on Yom Kippur, we slept at the Karmels. The Nadbornys, the Edeltuchs, the Sasoons, the Brudnys, the Shmuelevitzes, the Levovitzes, the Chechiks, and the Chisover Rav, Rav Pinchas Levinson, davened alongside us. I was introduced to my husband through his mother’s cousin, Rabbi Noam Gordon, whose father and uncle (Yudel and Moish) were Americans who learned in Mir prior to the war and who helped found the shul. When I first met Rebbetzin Devorah (Kalmanovitz) Svei, z”l, in Philadelphia, she said joyfully, “You’re one of ours!”
The The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 Jewish Home | APRIL 29, 17, 2015 2019 The Jewish Home || OCTOBER
R’ Zelik Epstein, zt”l, once described my grandfather as the nicest person, and that, I know, is true. Zaidy was aidel, kind, and loving. He was soft-spoken and only saw the good in others. He sent money to his Mirrer chaverim living in Bnei Brak each month despite having little himself. He was refined in speech and manner, learned and learning always, and I knew the names of roshei yeshiva without title when they were mentioned familiarly – Rav Shmuel Birnbaum, Rav Nachum Partzovitz, Rav Shimon Visoker, Rav Walkin. My grandmother once remarked on the family seforim: theirs had worn and faded binding while other people’s shranks were filled with beautiful leather-bound gilded seforim. Zaidy responded: that is because ours are used. He was proud of that. The end of his life was marked by Parkinson’s disease, and yet he walked back and forth to shul three
times a day and shuffled half-a-mile slowly to the Mirrer Minyan on Friday night and Shabbos. I, his first grandchild, was born after his diagnosis. I was often in my grandpar-
Reb Shmuel Chaim, though, said only, “Now I know how the enslaved Jews in Mitzrayim felt when they built Pisom and Ramses.” And he helped rebuild the camp. ents’ home – Zaidy babysat for me when my mother returned to work – and that time is marked for me by a sense of love and tranquility. There he was a Zaidy: my mother did not allow sugar cereal (I was her first, after all) – she rarely allowed even Cheerios into my very healthy
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diet. Zaidy, on Shabbos mornings at my grandparents’, would quietly check the cereal stash. If only plain cereal was available, he would sprinkle a teaspoon or two of sugar from
h p h o t o g r a p
the sugar bowl onto the cereal. Neither of us ever told my mother…. Before I fell asleep at my grandparents’ home, he stood, silhouetted in the dark doorway by the light of the bathroom, and asked me, gently, “Do you have what you need? Are you comfortable?”
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Looking back, reading my uncle’s book, I finally put it all together: Zaidy didn’t talk about his time in Manila because it did not define him; it refined him. It was a time, a painful time, an ordeal in his twenties marked by loss and tribulation. But he did not let it embitter him or fill his thoughts. He chose to define himself by his yeshiva, his generosity, his feinkeit, his Torah, his friends, and his family. As my grandmother often reminds us, Zaidy did not leave us with great wealth or great titles. But he left us with a shem tov. That is our legacy, and that is his story. Tehi zichro baruch. Reb Shmuel Chaim Soroka’s full story is recounted in A Mirrer in Manila by Mordachai Buchie Soroka, published by Feldheim in 2018.
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The Wandering
Jew
My Personal Yetzias Mitzrayim By Hershel Lieber
O
ur May 1979 trip to the Soviet Union began with purely touristic intentions but culminated as a mission on behalf of our struggling brethren behind the Iron Curtain. We were truly inspired by the community of refuseniks and dissidents who were in various stages of reclaiming their Jewish identities. We were privileged to connect with them and to offer them our empathy and much needed encouragement. What we did not expect, though, was that this trip would be the beginning of a change of direction in our own lives. Nor did we foresee the subsequent trips that we would make to that part of the world time and time again. In September 1979, I was asked by Rabbis Hershel Bronstein and Yakov Pollak of the organization Al Tidom to go to Warsaw, Poland, to be the chazzan for the yomim noraim there. I have previously written about my experiences during the Warsaw phase of this journey. In addition, they asked me to travel to the U.S.S.R., namely Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev, to undertake several missions in each city. The sensation of intrigue and the excitement of an adventure overrode any thoughts of
The Choral Synagogue in Moscow
danger and fear, so I readily accepted. I traveled alone and was away from home for over two weeks. I spent Rosh Hashana in Warsaw which was on Shabbos and Sunday that year. I scheduled myself to leave for Moscow on Monday, Tzom Gedalya, so I could be in Kiev for Shabbos Shuva. I planned to return to Warsaw on Sunday, erev Yom Kippur. Mensch tracht ober Gott lacht, Man makes plans, but Hashem laughs.
Meeting with Refuseniks My arrival at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow presented my first challenge. I had taken along my tallis and tefillin, a siddur, a selichos, and a Gemara for my personal use. I also brought along a gift for R’ Eliyahu Essas, the leader and teacher of the fledgling baal teshuva movement in the Soviet Union: the new Hebrew sefer “HaChassidut” by Yitzchok Alfasi, written about the history of chassidus with short biographies of the Rebbes. I also took along dozens of Jewish calendars, which we received in the mail
from many organizations, to distribute to Yidden on my trip. When my suitcase was opened up for inspection, all these objects, written in a foreign language, were the subject of intense scrutiny. The clerk called his supervisor who sternly forbade me from taking in any written matter. My tallis and tefillin were all he would allow me to bring in. I spoke to them forcefully, but politely, that as a religious person I needed these books for prayer and study and that they should be more accommodating to my requirements. It took quite awhile until they agreed to let me enter with these items. The exception was the dozens of calendars which they rightfully questioned why I would need more than one. The most surprising items that they missed finding were the three Ezras Torah shul calendars which had a treasure trove of information and halachos about cyclical events throughout the Jewish year. These large calendars came in cardboard tubes which I put into the sleeves of the raincoat that I
From the window of my room at the National Hotel looking out to a foggy Red Square in Moscow
Breaking the Tzom Gedalya fast with Rabbi Sholem BerKowalski in Moscow
was wearing. I could not bend my arms while they were talking to me and worried that they would slip out. Baruch Hashem, they were not detected. That experience was somewhat unnerving, but I survived. By the time I arrived at the National Hotel across Red Square half a day was gone. My passport had to be left by the hotel desk to be registered with the police, which usually took about 12 hours. I needed it immediately so I could to go to the Polish Embassy and get a new visa to re-enter Poland for Yom Kippur. The clerk, a reserved, polite woman, obliged my request and
At the Museum of Religion & Atheism in Leningrad
The The Jewish Jewish Home Home || APRIL APRIL 17, 17, 2019 2019
Left photo: R' Eliyahu Essas holding my gifts. a sefer on chassidut and the Yiddish Algemeiner Journal (note the headline about the petira of the Satmar Rebbe)
with a whisper informed me that she was Jewish. She told me that her mother’s yahrtzeit was that day and asked me what she could do about it. I told her to light a candle at home and that I would say kaddish in shul that afternoon. She handed me a note with her mother’s name on it and thanked me profusely. I immediately went to the Polish Embassy and to my delight had a visa stamped into my passport within fifteen minutes. Before I left New York, I had made plans to meet Rabbi Sholem Ber Kowalsky of the Young Israel of Hillcrest in Queens, who, too, was on a mission in Moscow during that week. He did not show up at our meeting place at Lenin’s Tomb, near the Kremlin, so I headed to the Choral Synagogue on Arkhipova Street. There I met many of the people I got to know from my first trip to Moscow as well as Rabbi Kowalsky, who said he was too weak from fasting to go out to meet me. I joined a shiur given by Rabbi Avrohom Miller, who remained in Russia under the harsh communist regime true to the mesora of his great mentor the Chofetz Chaim. After davening Mincha and Maariv, I joined Rabbi Kowalsky in his room at the massive Rossiya Hotel where his wife prepared a delicious supper to break
our fast. The next day was jampacked with activity. I got up at 6am and was running around until 4:30pm when I had to return to the hotel and rush to the airport for my flight to Leningrad. Arriving at the shul for Shacharis, I
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The Rachlenko family with Boris Zitlonok (right) who just returned after five years in a gulag in Siberia
movement was growing, in spite of constantly being harassed and threatened by the police. When we parted, we both felt simultaneous pangs of joy and sadness. Next, I visited with the Rachlenko family and renowned dissident Bo-
He turned around and said, facing me, “Do you think your G-d will help you now?”
My trip to Leningrad was from Tuesday evening until Wednesday evening, a mere 24 hours. There, between meeting people in shul and taking a long informative walk with R’ Tzodik Rifkin, I was apprised of the current situation of the Jews. I was given a directive to report back in America of the difficulties that they are subjected to. I still had a sliver of time to visit the Museum of Religion and Atheism on Nevsky Prospekt, which equally maligned all religions including Judaism. Then I had to rush back to the Hotel Astoria for my baggage and depart for the last leg of this trip, Kiev.
Arrested by the KGB compiled a list of items that the community desperately needed, including gidden and retzuos for tefillin. I also met some young people including one who was learning hilchos shechita. From shul I took a taxi and went to the apartment of R’ Eliyahu Essas who greeted me warmly and was touched by my gift of the sefer on chassidus. We spent hours talking, and he asked me for help him by sending tashmishei kedusha and kosher food to his talmidim, who numbered over 100 people. In fact, some of his students were now teaching the next group of beginners. This baal teshuva
ris Zitlonok, who just returned from five years in Siberia. He spoke about the plight of the famed refuseniks Ida Nudel, Vladimir Kislik and Vladimir Slepak. He asked that they not be forgotten and that their cause be promoted. When I returned to the hotel, I looked for the young woman receptionist to inform her that I said kaddish for her mother. I was shocked when I was told that she did not work there anymore. She was evidently noticed when she gave me a note and was immediately dismissed from her job. The KGB at its ruthless best!
Dissidents and refusniks in a show of Jewish pride and nationality on Simchas Torah at the Choral Synagogue in Moscow in the early 1970s
My mission to the Kiev Jewish community was very different than my visits in Moscow and Leningrad. In order to understand what I was trying to accomplish, a little bit of history is in order. From the late 1960s and onward, many Jews developed a pride in their nationality, and some began connecting to their religion. This started after the Six Day War with its miraculous Israeli victory. Concurrently, many Jews started applying for exit visas to leave the Soviet Union. The Russian government allowed some to leave while many others were denied permission. These refuseniks were persecuted, and some were even sent to Siberian labor camps as a punishment for propositioning to leave. Protesting was not a possibility and contact with foreigners was suppressed. The refuseniks were constantly under the watchful eyes of the KGB. Yet, once a year, thousands of Jews gathered to express their solidarity with Jews worldwide by dancing and singing Hebrew songs and thereby encouraging each other in their struggle. This was done on Simchas Torah in front of Choral Synagogues in Moscow and Leningrad. The police force,
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home APRIL 17, 2019 | The Jewish Home
The Choral Synagogue in Kiev
as well as the KGB, was also there but they did not interfere with the revelry, as these events were covered by Western TV and media. They stationed themselves in the background, photographing and taking notes of the attendees for future reference. Nevertheless, this annual event may have influenced the Soviet government to allow for more emigration. As noted, this event took place only in Moscow and Leningrad. Kiev, which was home to the third largest Jewish population at the time, was very quiet on Simchas Torah. No gatherings, no
singing, no dancing, and, in a sense, complacency with the status quo. My mission was to meet with one of the leaders of the refusenik community, Rotshteyn, and encourage him to organize a Simchas Torah gathering at the synagogue. This message was given over to me by Rabbi Pollak to relay to Rotshteyn. At the time I was not aware, and I was rightfully not told, from whom this message originated. Later on, when I returned home, Rabbi Pollak told me that it came from none other than Menachem Begin. My arrival in Kiev was uneventful.
After a good night’s sleep in the Hotel Dnieper I went to the synagogue in the Podol area and presented them with my last Ezras Torah calendar. There were about forty people there for Shacharis and I was given a tour of the dilapidated matzah bakery. When I returned to my room, I called Rotshteyn and made up to come to his apartment at 11am. I went out on the street and hailed a taxi and gave him the exact address. The drive took about twenty minutes, and as I exited the taxi, I looked around to find where the building’s entrance was. Before I had a chance to think, two men – slim but very mean-looking – grabbed me by my arms and dragged me a half a block to a waiting car. They pushed me into the backseat, all the while barking orders in Russian, which I did not understand. Then they drove off, stopping at a building that had a sign with the word melitz, which means police. There they picked up an English-speaking interpreter who told me that I would have to answer all the questions they will ask. They started driving and, from what I could make out, we were leaving the city of Kiev. There was complete silence in the car with the exception of one remark made to me by the interpreter. He was sitting next to driver and he turned around and said, facing me, “Do you think your G-d will help you now?” I answered him confidently, with a deep conviction, “I am sure He will.” Many things were going through my mind then. I realized that I was in the hands of the KGB which would try to frame me for a crime. I knew I had to get rid of any evidence of criminal activity. The first was the many pamphlets published by Al Tidom that I had in my raincoat pocket. These were on Jewish subjects such as holidays and mitzvos and were written in Russian. Somehow, they escaped being discovered when my suitcase was inspected upon arrival. I was bringing them to Rotshteyn to distribute to his refusenik group. I was sure that the KGB would make me empty my pockets, and I could not claim they were for personal use. There were too many of them on the same subject and they were written in Russian. I had to think fast. The pamphlets were in my left pocket and one of the KGB officers
was sitting to my right. Slowly and stealthily I removed the pamphlets and stuffed them between the car seat and the backrest. Baruch Hashem, I managed to get rid of thirty or more pamphlets. I was thinking, jokingly, that they will only discover them when they do bedikas chometz. The next problem was my master list of names and phone numbers of the people I had contacted. This list I hid in my sock but I was afraid they may ask me to remove my shoes and socks. As I was trying to think of a solution, I realized that we were driving through a wooded area well outside of Kiev. The car stopped abruptly, and I was ordered out. The driver put on a leather jacket and, somehow, I imagined that he will start to hit me, which did not happen. I was ordered to go to a nearby clearing where there was a large tree stump. As expected, I was first told to empty my pockets, which I did. I only had some coins and my wallet, which they inspected. They asked for my passport, but I told them that the receptionist at the hotel had it. They told me to remove my shoes, which they looked into, but thank G-d they did not ask me to take off my socks. They then sat me on the tree stump and began questioning me as to why I came the Soviet Union and who sent me. I contended that I came as a tourist to see their beautiful country. They questioned my intended visit with Rotshteyn, which they claimed was against the law. I explained that a friend of mine who was his relative asked me to go and give him regards. When they asked what his name was, I blurted out a friend’s name from my Brooklyn shul, Lipa Wakszall, the first name that came to my mind. They told me that I was intending to go to an area where a crime was committed and was about to meet with a criminal. I told them I had no relation with Rotshteyn at all and had no idea the person was a criminal or that the area was a crime scene. This conversation was repeated a number of times and was getting nowhere. They even wanted me to sign a paper, which I refused. I still don’t know from where I took the courage to turn the table around and go on the offensive. I started screaming that they have no right to take an innocent tourist and
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make these accusations. If Rotshteyn was a criminal, why is he at home? I asked them. I told them that in America criminals are usually put in jail. I admonished them for spoiling my trip. I added that I had booked a city tour of Kiev and that they were holding me up. At one point, they finally told me to get back into the car and they drove me back to the hotel. All the while, they warned me that I would never be allowed to return to the U.S.S.R. I still insisted that they were punishing me for nothing and that I loved their country and wished to see their country’s great sights in the future. When I finally walked into my room, I saw that my suitcase was in complete disarray. Evidently, they had sent someone in to find contraband in my room. Baruch Hashem the pamphlets were buried in the car seat, the Ezras Torah calendars were all distributed, and my master list was safe in my sock. The only thing that was still in that suitcase were photos from a Pesach seder in Moscow which I was asked to bring to Rabbi Bronstein. Again, with mazal they were not discovered.
My Yetzias Mitzrayim At this point I realized that I had to leave Kiev immediately. I was afraid that the KGB may want to corroborate my story with Rotshteyn. He would deny knowing Lipa Wakszall and that could have serious consequences for me. I went down to the lobby and tried to buy a ticket on any plane that was leaving Kiev to Western Europe on
My handwritten diary of my journey
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
that day. Tomorrow was Friday and I needed to be somewhere before Shabbos – anywhere but there! The only flight leaving that day was a Swissair flight to Zurich. I immediately booked the flight. I still had a few hours before I had to leave to the airport. I booked a tour of Kiev in keeping with what I told the KGB agent – that I had a city tour scheduled. A woman guide gave me a private tour showing me the highlights of this city. I still remember the chestnut trees that shaded the main thoroughfare with hundreds of chestnuts on the walkways. At one point she took me to see the statue of their hero, Bogdan Chmelnitsky. I told her that although he was a Ukrainian hero, he was responsible for the death and destruction of dozens of Jewish communities and tens of thousands of my people. She quickly ushered me back to
The shaded streets of Kiev, laden with falling leaves and chestnuts
changed my rubles for dollars since the law did not allow taking rubles out of the country. I asked the currency exchange if I could keep the small change to buy some soda in the gate
I had to completely undress as he scrutinized me to see if I was smuggling any contraband.
her car and took me to a World War II cemetery and memorial, pointing out the monuments of Jewish generals and personalities. The tour ended on a good note, and I returned to the hotel. Arriving at the airport, I ex-
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area. Although they told me it was fine, the subsequent customs officer told me I was in violation of the customs law. He then directed me to have my suitcase inspected. This time I was not so lucky, and they discovered the Pesach seder photos. They questioned me as to who the people at the “party” were. I told them that I did not know them and that I just was taking those photos to a family member who lived in the States. They confiscated the photos, took my address, and said they would send them to me once they finished their investigation, which they never did. Afterwards, they ordered me into a private cubicle with an officer. I had to completely undress as he scrutinized me to see if I was smuggling any contraband. He ordered me to take off my shoes but again refrained from making me pull off my socks. My master list was still safe! I then grasped how much time was spent and that I seemingly would miss my plane. Suddenly, the agent started to rush me to get dressed and they took me by car to the plane which was waiting on the tarmac for takeoff. Sitting on the plane, I took a
deep breath but still did not feel safe. I realized that they could make the plane return if they felt something was amiss. I arrived in Zurich in the evening. I had no idea where to go or whom to call. I just knew that I should be kissing the ground when I disembarked. I had just experienced my own yetzias Mitzrayim. Footnote: I had written a diary of my journey on sheets of loose-leaf paper throughout my journey. This diary was baruch Hashem not discovered when I left Kiev. I mailed it to Pesi from Zurich hoping I would not lose it or have it confiscated when I returned to Warsaw. Pesi received it before I came home and was shocked and terrified by my harrowing episode with the KGB. I must say that I received a hero’s welcome when I finally arrived home. Hershel Lieber has been involved in kiruv activities for over 30 years. As a founding member of the Vaad L’Hatzolas Nidchei Yisroel he has traveled with his wife, Pesi, to the Soviet Union during the harsh years of the Communist regimes to advance Yiddishkeit. He has spearheaded a yeshiva in the city of Kishinev that had 12 successful years with many students making Torah their way of life. In Poland, he lectured in the summers at the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation camp for nearly 30 years. He still travels to Warsaw every year – since 1979 – to be the chazzan for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur for the Jews there. Together with Pesi, he organized and led trips to Europe on behalf of Gateways and Aish Hatorah for college students finding their paths to Jewish identity. His passion for travel has taken them to many interesting places and afforded them unique experiences. Their open home gave them opportunities to meet and develop relationships with a variety of people. Hershel’s column will appear in The Jewish Home on a bi-weekly basis.
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Mind Y
ur Business
Beth Comstock: “Tell Your Story” By Yitzchok Saftlas
New n m Colu
This week: Yitzchok speaks with guest Beth Comstock, former CMO and Vice Chair at GE. Comstock has been named to the Fortune and Forbes lists of the World’s Most Powerful women. Her bestselling book, Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity and the Power of Change, was published in September of 2018. Yitzchok: Beth, let’s talk about your storied career. How did it all start? Was a career as an executive always your dream? Beth: No, not at all. I grew up in a small town in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and I really liked my small-town environment. The world I knew was the world I liked, and so the idea of having the career I’ve had, being able to see the world in the way I have, was beyond what I thought possible. I studied biology and anthropology in college, and that’s where seeds of what became my career were planted. I developed a real curiosity about human behavior and original thought. Initially, I
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very Sunday evening since July 2015, Yitzchok Saftlas, CEO of Bottom Line Marketing Group, hosts 77WABC’s “Mind Your Business” show on America’s leading talk radio station. The show features Fortune 500 CEOs, CMOs, and top business leaders, where they share their business knowledge and strategic insights on how to get ahead in today’s corporate world. Since Q2 2017, the 77WABC “Mind Your Business” show has remained in the coveted Nielsen “Top 10” in New York’s highly competitive AM Talk Radio market. Guests have included John Sculley, former CEO of Apple and Pepsi; Dick Schulze, founder and Chairman Emeritus of Best Buy; Beth Comstock, former Vice Chair of GE; and Captain Sully Sullenberger, among nearly 200 senior-level executives and business celebrities. Every other week, TJH will feature leading questions and takeaways from Yitzchok’s popular radio show.
wanted to go to medical school, but I ended up getting into marketing and working for one of the biggest companies on Earth. I definitely couldn’t have planned that. YS: Let’s pivot to your fantastic book. The title is Imagine it Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change. I’m sure you had many titles
a theme as I put the book together, a thread that I carried through, so I knew I wanted the title to center around imagination. Frankly, the dearth of imagination in our organizations today is something I really worry about. That is one of the problems I was trying to address with my book, which is why I ultimately decided on “Imagine it Forward.” Another key theme I tried to give
“We rarely put forth the effort to disrupt ourselves. It’s just too hard.”
in mind as you were developing it. Why did you ultimately settle on Imagine it Forward? What kind of audience were you hoping to target? BC: Imagination has always been
over was the concept of allowing yourself to make changes, to take risks, to try new things. I wrote the book primarily for people who are early on in their careers, people who are struggling to make change hap-
pen. I tried to take myself back to that time and remember how I navigated those situations. My secondary target audience is the bosses, the executives. I tried to remind them that there are models that are changing and that they need to grant permission for changes to be made within their companies and methods. YS: Just like you wrote in the book – you said you wish it was available when you began your career. BC: Yes, exactly! When I was at GE and I was named CMO, I was on a mission to show that marketing is more than just advertising, that we had to get the brand to sell itself. We tried to introduce the tagline, “Imagination at Work,” but it was replacing an extremely iconic tagline – “Bringing Good Things to Life.” The way the other executives resisted the change made it seem like Thomas Edison had etched “We Bring Good Things to Life” in stone and left it somewhere in his tomb. No
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019 The Jewish Jewish Home Home || OCTOBER OCTOBER 29, 29, 2015 2015 The
one wanted to change it. But I realized it held us back, it boxed us in. It prevented us from moving forward. YS: Speaking of taglines, what role do taglines play in today’s world? BC: I think taglines are good for connecting your employees to the company mission. If your tagline doesn’t ring true with your employees, then it’s probably not going to ring true for your customers. It needs to work internally. It’s a rallying cry. It’s saying: here’s what we do, here’s our mission. Here’s what we’re trying to do and there’s a story behind it. A tagline helps communicate all that in a simple, concise way. I think it’s hard to break through the clutter that is modern media without a tagline. That’s how I’d look at taglines in today’s world. YS: How do you recommend people keeping their bearings in such a fast-paced world? How should one go about discovering what’s next and staying relevant? BC: One of the things I wrote in the book is that the world will never be slower than it is right now. Because of the pace of technological change, the world will not slow down. I’m a big believer in trying to keep pace with the rate of change by trying to understand things that are different and not necessarily on your radar screen. To try to keep up, we need to make room for discovery. I think it’s incumbent on everyone to get out and see what’s happening in the world. Start reading new things. Go talk to customers and find out what’s keeping them up at night. If you’re in the marketing department, go talk to the people in the engineering department to find out what they’re doing, what problems they’re thinking about. You must challenge yourself to find a different perspective. I actually keep a notebook full of interesting things I notice going on around me. It helps me understand patterns and see trends building. If companies would keep track of trends and study the signs, they wouldn’t be caught off guard by the inevitable changes that occur over time.
YS: There’s an amazing quote I noticed in your book: “Strategy is a story well-told.” Can you explain that for us? BC: I’m a firm believer in the power of story. I think I’ve always been a storyteller. I think many of us are storytellers, we just may not know that we are. I often find that people who are launching a product need a story. When you are trying to sell your product, you need to realize that you’re trying to make a connection. Your story is your aspiration in the world, what you’re trying to achieve. It’s where you came from and where you’re going. You’re opening yourself up. People have to be able to understand where you’re going. They have to see themselves in it. I often challenge people to give over their business proposition in story form, to convey where they come from, what gets them excited. These are the kinds of things that we think are not relevant in busi-
building up a resilience, and you’re testing yourself to see if you have the passion to go back and try again. I find that we tend to surround ourselves with people who think like we do and reinforce our biases. It takes a lot to work to change your mindset and try to keep learning. We rarely put forth the effort to disrupt ourselves. It’s just too hard. YS: You also talk about the importance of communicating with yourself, about putting yourself in certain mindsets in order to achieve certain goals. Do you have any tips on how to empower yourself that way? BC: That’s such a good question. I think we often lose our confidence because no one else likes our ideas. You can’t let that discourage you. You just have to try to find other people! That’s the art of communication – you have to sell your idea.
“Sharing your vision and letting others join you is not giving up your vision.”
ness, that it’s just about pure logic and financial terms. It’s not – it’s about connecting. YS: The word communication comes up many times throughout your book. Is there a reason for that? BC: I feel the importance of good communication cannot be overstated. I think a really good lesson I learned is that just when you’re getting sick of saying something is when people are just starting to appreciate it. I think just even in trying to sell an idea – especially if you’re the person that’s trying to bring in new, crazy ideas – the first time you talk about something, people don’t know what you’re talking about. I think the first time you pitch something, it’s a test of your passion. If you really like the idea, and believe in it, you say, I’ve got to find a way to make it work. You’re
Can you help others share your vision? Does it become their vision? I learned it was important to ask for help and to realize that the idea was only as good as I was, and I needed other people to make it better. I had to force myself to open up and ask for other people’s input. At one point, GE did a big review, and I got some feedback from my colleagues. They said, You never ask us for help! You just come to us when everything is all taken care of. Why are we here? I realized this was really holding me back. I realized that although I am the decisionmaker here, people want to be heard. They want to join the journey. They are excited by your vision, but they don’t feel included. That’s the kind of communication you must have with yourself. You have to tell yourself that sharing your vision and letting others join you is not giving up your vision. It’s
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actually helping you achieve your goals much, much faster than if you did everything yourself. YS: Every company experiences times when they’ve embarked on a new ambitious initiative, they’ve made a headlong dive, and it has not seen success after months or even years into the venture. As someone who has been in the trenches many times over, is there a formula you would suggest for businesses to know when they should stick it out? BC: Wow – that is such a deep question. There were times I persevered in certain ventures when I should have asked myself that very question. It’s vital to keep in mind that there are times when things that are not going to work, even though you tried your hardest. I think you have to just stop and ask a lot of questions to gauge where you’re holding. Another way to get a clear view of a situation is to find a new perspective. You can’t see things clearly because you’re too close to it. So you need to make sure to get yourself feedback loops. And if you’re not getting the feedback that confirms that you’re on the right path, you probably need to put an end to that particular project, or at least take a break from it for now. YS: This is an unfair question because you probably have hundreds of answers to give, but are there any specific takeaways you want to share with us? Anything you want to connect with our audience of entrepreneurs and small business owners? BC: The most important takeaway I have is to think about what your story is, how you want to be understood in the world. You MUST make room for discovery. Change is happening. I don’t care how great your business is. There’s somebody out there who’s going to try to do it better. So, make sure you are getting out and exploring where and when change is happening. It doesn’t take a lot! It just takes curiosity and an open mind.
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Dating Dialogue
What Would You Do If… Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters
Dear Navidaters, My brother is dating someone who I went to high school with not too long ago. Even back then I knew she always liked my brother. Though we weren’t friendly, she sometimes used me and came over, basically to see and be seen by him. I never liked her! I always thought she was a user and not sincere. After high school, she actually asked me to set her up with my brother. I always came up with an excuse to say no. However, recently she managed to find someone else to do the deed and she was set up with him. They’ve gone out a few times and my brother seems to be smitten by her beauty and bubbly personality. I’m worried! I think she is very good at charming people, and in my heart I believe this would be a very big mistake. My brother thinks I just don’t like her based on differences we had back in high school. But it goes deeper than that. I don’t think she’s a good person. How do I protect my brother?
Disclaimer: This column is not intended to diagnose or otherwise conclude resolutions to any questions.
Our intention is not to offer any definitive
conclusions to any particular question, rather offer areas of exploration for the author and reader. Due to the nature of the column receiving only a short snapshot of an issue, without the benefit of an actual discussion, the panel’s role is to offer a range of possibilities. We hope to open up meaningful dialogue and individual exploration.
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The Panel The Rebbetzin Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz, M.S. rotecting your brother is your motivation. But I think you can’t succeed at this goal anymore. You seem to have tried to communicate with him. He feels you are being juvenile and responding like the teenager you were not so long ago. He seems to feel you are bringing up old stories and are stuck in an outdated view of your former classmate. He, however, sees her and interacts with her as an adult, he thinks. In short: you tried. You were not successful. He is an adult. So are you. Give it up and let their relationship develop. Stop trying to protect him and start working on yourself to adopt an open mind and a generous spirit. You
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cannot change anyone but yourself. Stop trying to change his mind. He is an adult and will decide for himself. You can be an adult too and decide for yourself what your role should be. Hint: it’s not protecting him from her.
The Mother Sarah Schwartz Schreiber, P.A. remember the scene clearly. Mrs. P., my daughter’s venerable high school principal, exhorting an assembly of fresh-faced, optimistic graduating students: “Young ladies, as you confront the challenges of adulthood, bear in mind: life is not high school.” Real life is where the senior rebel
I
becomes a kollel wife; your class valedictorian ends up working for the highly successful “C” student; the meanest of the “mean girls” morphs into a paragon of chessed. No surprise. High school coincides with adolescence – a period rife with insecurities, self-centeredness and, possibly, the most awkward, embarrassing behaviors a person will ever demonstrate in his/her lifetime. Most people are as nostalgic about the halcyon days of high school as they are about acne and orthodontia. O.K., I get it. You are convinced your brother’s girlfriend is fundamentally evil and you’re trying to protect him from making a “very big mistake.” You’ve said your piece, now hold your peace. Whether your assessment is spot-on or tainted by the sting of high school politics, allow your brother to take his time and figure things out for
You cannot change anyone but yourself. himself. (While we’re on the subject, would you want to be judged as you were at seventeen or in your current, more enlightened and mature state?) In the meantime, put your energy into getting to know and appreciate the grownup, hopefully reformed, version of this young woman. Even if you don’t turn out to be besties – for your brother’s sake, for your parents’ sake, for the sake of the gantze mishpacha – be positive, open and accepting of your future SIL. High school is over in four, fleeting years; your relationship with your brother (and his wife)
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must endure and grow stronger over the course of a lifetime.
The Shadchan Michelle Mond ou are worried about your brother who is dating a girl you went to high school with. You are not alone in this conundrum. As I am sure you have seen in this column, this question arises in many different forms. The best thing you can do for your brother is be there for him like only a caring and loving sister could. You have spoken to him about it, but he does not seem to be listening. Talk to him in other, more endearing ways. Rather than badmouthing this wom-
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an, which does not seem to be working, point out his many unique and positive attributes. For instance: “Yehuda, you are such a kindhearted, smart, hardworking guy. Any woman would be lucky to have you. You truly deserve the best. I am just looking out for my big brother whom I care deeply about. It would be easy for a woman to fall for you. I just want to make sure she deserves you.” Make it more about you caring for him than disliking your ex-classmate. This will make him less defensive and more open to hearing your plight. Hopefully this will allow him to look deeper within his relationship with this woman and see if she is truly good for him. Hatzlacha!
Pulling It All Together
The Single Tova Wein elationships between teenage girls in high school are often very complicated. They are sometimes subject to cliques, jealousies, insecurities, etc., that make for complicated feelings and alliances (or lack thereof.) Sounds like you and this past classmate did not click in a very big way. Whether it was entirely because she was a bad person, or because the two of you brought out the worst in one another, it’s hard to know. Surely, however, you have both matured since high school and come into your own. I’m wondering why you have so little faith in your brother that you feel he can be so easily manipulated by a pretty face and a bubbly personality. Surely, he has enough depth to look a bit deeper into a potential
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Most people are as nostalgic about the halcyon days of high school as they are about acne and orthodontia.
wife. And if he doesn’t have that sensitivity and awareness of what really matters in a future wife, then you have a lot more to be concerned about! He will have to figure things out for better or for worse, and hopefully, your concerns are based on old news that isn’t particularly relevant today. Keep your mind open to the possibilities of actually liking this woman, who may end up being your SIL someday.
The Navidaters Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists
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t doesn’t feel good to watch your brother develop a relationship with a woman whom you believe is not yashar. You view her as a charmer and have experienced her manipulation firsthand. You’ve tried to warn him and he is not heeding your advice, so in these situations people in your shoes often feel a combination of helplessness, frustration and fear – understandably so. If you push the issue further, you risk losing your relationship with your brother. You asked a good question: how do I protect my brother? Aside from tying him down or having her shipped off to a remote country where she will have no access to her cellphone, you can’t protect your brother from his choice. Your brother is a grownup who is going to make his own decisions. Let’s explore, for a moment, the possibility that this young woman has grown up since high school. While some personalities truly are fully
cooked in high school, others take more time to mature. Perhaps she was boy crazy, or just gaga over your brother in particular, and lacked the wherewithal and poise to treat you respectfully. During adolescence, we have raging hormones, do things that are out of character, and often don’t take long term consequences into account. Would you be willing to get to know her as the young adult she is in 2019? It boils down to two possibilities. The first is that she is presently bad news and that your brother is blinded by her beauty and vivacious nature and that this will end badly. The second is that she has changed since high school and your brother likes her for the person she is now. All you can do at this point is get on board, support your brother, and try to spend time with the couple. If your brother knows
that you are supportive, he is more likely to speak with you about any future concerns, should they arise. You can sleep soundly knowing that you did your due diligence in your attempt to protect your brother. The rest is for him to figure out. All the best, Jennifer Esther Mann, LCSW and Jennifer Mann,
LCSW are licensed psychotherapists and dating and relationship coaches working with individuals, couples and families in private practice in Hewlett, NY. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 516.224.7779. Press 1 for Esther, 2 for Jennifer. 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.
Hi Readers! Receiving your enthusiastic emails wanting to participate in the Reader’s Respond section has been wonderful! Just a reminder about how Reader Response works. Email thenavidaters@gmail. com with the subject line “Reader Response.” We will then ask you, in the order we receive your email, if you would like to respond to the coming week’s email. If you would like to respond to an already printed Navidaters Panel, please submit your answer to the editor at editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com. You can also join us on our FB page @thenavidaters on Sunday evenings to post your response to the week’s column. Interacting with you has been a pleasure! Thank you for all of your feedback. Esther and Jennifer
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Dr. Deb
Make It Happy By Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.
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don’t know why I was grumpy yesterday. Well, technology has something to do with it. I cannot figure out what the creators of Windows (or a bunch of other apps and programs for that matter) had in mind when I’m
trying to do a particular thing and sit in front of my computer clueless as to how to proceed. That could have been it. Or maybe because I’ve been so chilly since my broken foot and torn rotator cuff (on
the other side) have limited my walking ability so I’m not getting that inner burning that I need. Or maybe I just needed to get o-u-t. So, having just been given permission to walk, I went to GG; I needed a few things anyway. And my eye caught the 10 makkos finger puppets and it brought a smile to my face. I thought of the cutie pies who would enjoy them so I immediately snatched them up and put them in my cart, still smiling. Pesach has been good to me. Last year, it brought a new baby into my family; the year before that, I helped one set of children move. The prior year, my husband was liberated from his infirmities and suffering. We married just before Pesach, and a dozen years later, it brought my last child as an anniversary gift. (That year we lived in the then-wilds of unsettled South Florida where there was no – believe it or not – kosher catering for Pesach and I had to cater my son’s bris in my house after having a C-section.) But that memory, too, brings a smile to my face. It was all good. The year my preemie second son was born, he was sick just before Pesach arrived, and I was so tired, I sat at the seder in my robe and nightgown holding the infant and patting his back to keep him from crying. I must have tranced out, listening to the reading, rhythmically stroking my baby, and letting time pass. I came out of my reverie a bit worried and I turned to my husband and interrupted his
reading to ask, “Go check the baby; I haven’t heard him cry!” He looked at me with a baffled expression until I remembered the baby was still in my arms, being soothed by my stokes to his back. I took a deep breath, gently walked him to his crib, and laid him down. I walked a few paces back toward the dining room and then I laughed out loud. So I wandered the grocery aisles with a goofy smile on my face brought on by the aura of Pesach. No one seemed to notice or care. Maybe they were also secretly happy underneath the pressure of getting everything they needed. I certainly hope so. I mean, what would be the point of working so very hard with cleaning, shopping, cooking, organizing, and planning if you weren’t going to enjoy any part of it, not the least of which would be the outcome? My phone gave its usual notification ping, and I looked to see who it was. Ah, my children. I had to read the conversation, of course. Sure enough, one had to crack a joke and the laugh emojis ensued from all of us. The goofy smile stayed on my face. And then it hit me. That is the main problem in our world. Really. We cannot find the funny. We don’t see the Good. I remember once paying a shiva call to my rabbi back in Florida. Everyone in the room was laughing as he told warm, funny stories of his father. And I thought, “Isn’t that the way we
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should be remembered?” Imagine what the world would be like if, instead of people competing for dominance, we competed for hilarity. I am not suggesting that we make light of everything. But in actuality, the “everything” that hurts people so much could be avoided if we took things differently. Think of politics and the news. It would actually be about strangers reaching out with random acts of kindness if only people would give up on the seriousness of greed, hate, dominance, and aggression. The only reason for all the heaviness in the world is because of the people who refuse to focus on their positives. There isn’t a negative thing that doesn’t have a gift secretly embedded in it. But we do have to look for it. To prove this point, let’s make a random list of gifts hidden in troubles: • Not enough money – Perhaps this will lead us to creative ways to make it that are socially beneficial, as was the case of Guy Laliberté who was a fire-eater before founding Cirque du
Soleil. In 1956, Alan Gerry made the decision to take the $1,500 he earned from his TV repair shop and founded a cable company. The company went on to become known as Cablevision,
for the poor. • Didn’t get into the college of my dreams – Perhaps this will lead us to consider what parts of our record ought to be shored up; or maybe the
– Perhaps that will spur that child on to becoming a world-class personality as was the case with Oprah Winfrey, Tony Robbins, Eminem, Maya Angelou, Angelina Jolie and Jim Carrey among, unfortunately, many others. • Someone told me not long ago that she was grateful for her cancer because it brought her closer to G-d. So, when you’re feeling grumpy, what do you do to get to funny/happy? Mary Poppins suggested we think happy thoughts, but that needs to go a step deeper. We need to take a few minutes to clear our minds of any thoughts at all and just focus on the goodness and beauty in our lives. That “focusing” is the trick: we won’t take the 60 seconds to do it. But it is well worth the investment. Chag kosher v’sameach.
I wandered the grocery aisles with a goofy smile on my face brought on by the aura of Pesach.
which sold to Time Warner for an estimated $2.7 billion in 1996. Finally, as just one more small example in a sea of many, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz grew up in a housing complex
reverse. Maybe it will cause us to consider that our initial dream was not aligned with who we really are. Then we have to accept ourselves. • Being an ignored or abused kid
Dr. Deb Hirschhorn is a Marriage and Family Therapist. If you want help with your marriage, begin by signing up to watch her Masterclass at https://drdeb. com/myw-masterclass.
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Health & F tness
A Healthy and Happy Pesach By Cindy Weinberger MS, RD, CDN
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t’s finally here. The week we’ve all been preparing for. All the anticipation and planning over the past few weeks will soon be fulfilled. Hopefully all these weeks of preparation and worry will be worth it when the eight days of Pesach are behind us. After Pesach we’ll have other worries – perhaps most importantly, dieting. Instead of feeling bloated and overweight during and after Pesach, let’s approach Pesach with the right mindset and the proper tools at hand to avoid overeating and weight gain. I find those who have it the hardest (diet-wise) are those who are away on a Pesach program. The Peach programs are notorious for boasting their lavish meals, their ongoing barbeques, 24-hour tearooms, and all-you-can-eat buffets. While, yes, you might be getting your money’s worth and have something to brag about to your friends, this situation can only be catastrophic for your waistline and your health. Nobody should ever be eating the way the Pesach pro-
grams serve food. Unfortunately, it becomes second nature. Either people want to get their money’s worth, or want to taste every food, or are nervous that this might be their last meal. People storm the dining room and grab food as if they have not eaten in days. My advice for all of my readers attending Pesach programs is to listen to your hunger cues. This phenomenon is known as intuitive eating. Listen for the body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry. Eat only when you are actually hungry and stop when you are full. People often use food to find comfort, distract themselves, or to resolve other issues such as boredom, anxiety, loneliness, stress, and anger. Over Pesach, you most likely will find yourself eating out of boredom or social pressure. Find other fixes for these issues – not food. During chol hamoed, when you are bored, instead of eating, use that time to hit the gym, exercise outdoors, or even go for a swim. On the actual days of yom tov, take a walk
around the grounds and go exploring. Spend time with your family and friends actually socializing as opposed to social eating. If you can’t escape the social eating, take a portion-size of fruit and keep to that. Don’t go for seconds and don’t get tempted by anything else. During mealtime, fill your plate with vegetables. I can assure you that your program will have an abundance of salads. Don’t skip over that table. You should be filling up on salads, not on all the fatty delicacies. Choose one main for each meal and keep the portion in check. You don’t have to try six different meats and three different chicken dishes at each meal. You will have plenty of meals to experiment a new meat. One entrée will provide you with the protein requirements for that meal. Ideally, choose fish or chicken, which tend to be leaner in fat and higher in protein. Yes, I understand it is yom tov, so choose a meat if that’s your top choice. Try to skim off the fat if possible. Next, pay attention to your
starchy side dishes. Limit your starches to one per meal, leaving room to save a starch for a snack or two. No matter how delicious the desserts appear, they are still Pesachdik dessert and probably not worth the calories. Treat yourself to one dessert a day (on yom tov days only – you do not need dessert on chol hamoed). One dessert does not mean a whole plate full of desserts. I mean, one portion. Ideally eat fresh fruit for dessert. Avoid the tearoom as much as possible. If you are hungry in between meals, go for the fresh fruit too. Those at home for Pesach have the dieting advantage. You can prepare your own foods and keep things healthy and light. Try to limit your kugels. Kugels are an easy and popular side dish for any yom tov meal. Don’t be fooled by the type of kugel. Many people trick themselves into thinking that kugels are healthy since they are made of broccoli, spinach, carrots, zucchini, etc. But kugels contain a lot of oil and potato starch, and many
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include sugar and other products that should be limited. The best side dishes to prepare are any kind of vegetables. Vegetables are the body’s best friend. All vegetables contain vitamins and minerals that are essential and beneficial to our bodies in many ways. Most vegetables are not problematic over Pesach in terms of chometz and should be eaten generously. Vegetables can be eaten fresh on a platter, in a salad, roasted, steamed, and grilled. Eat as many as you’d like, wherever you’d like – as a snack, part of a meal, on the go, and at home. We previously talked about potatoes. To review, potatoes are okay to eat when prepared appropriately and in proper portion sizes. Sweet potatoes make a great side dish as well. Night meals do not need dessert. Nobody can afford those calories after shulchan aruch in middle of the night. And on chol hamoed, dessert can be skipped as well. I recommend only serving dessert for the lunch
meals on chol hamoed. A great idea is to serve dessert individualized such as in mason jars or individual ramekins. This way, each person gets one portion. Make only enough so that there are no doubles available. Nobody needs double desserts! Make sure to have a balanced breakfast every morning of Pesach, especially on yom tov to keep your blood glucose levels in check and to avoid coming to the meal starving and out of control. Have a yogurt, or low-fat cottage cheese, or fresh fruit to keep it healthy and light. If you need a snack in between meals, choose fruit or vegetables to snack on. Prepare fruit platters or vegetable platters and leave them on the table in the afternoon so you and your guests will likely snack on that and not raid the cabinets for chips and macaroons. During chol hamoed, eat like you would any regular day. Have a balanced breakfast. Whether it be eggs, yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese,
fruit, or a smoothie, keep it healthy. Don’t skip any meals. Prepare a salad with a protein for lunch. Choose tuna, eggs, chicken, cheese, eggs, or any fish as your protein with a salad. Dinner should be like a routine dinner too. Don’t have a 3-course meal like an actual yom tov meal. Have a protein (fish, chicken, lean meat) with vegetables and a starch. Whole grain starches are tricky on Pesach because rice is kitniyot, and pasta, of course, is out of the question. Quinoa makes a great choice of a side dish at any meal over Pesach and, as previously mentioned, sweet potatoes too. A baked sweet potato makes a filling side dish. Stuff it with cheese and/or vegetables, or eat some cottage cheese on the side, and you got yourself a great meal. Another suggestion is to slice up a sweet potato or cut it into cubes and roast it. You can season it sweet, salty, or even spicy for the Cajun effect. You can also cut up a sweet potato into thin strips for French fries
or mash cooked sweet potatoes for mashed potatoes. The options are endless and the benefits are great. Aside from the four cups of wine, try to make water your beverage of choice. Avoid extra calories from sugar-sweetened beverages. Diet sodas are not any better. Drink water or seltzer to hydrate your body and fill yourself up. Exercise and move your body whenever possible. Relax and enjoy spending yom tov with your families and loved ones. Wishing all of my readers a chag kasher v’samaech! 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 dietitian at Boro Park Center and a private nutrition consultant. She can be reached at CindyWeinberger1@gmail.com.
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In The K
tchen
By Naomi Nachman
Coffee-Infused Chili Meat • Yields 6 servings • Freezer friendly Being a Pesach caterer, I have spent really long days preparing the meals during this busy season. Every morning I look forward to my cup of coffee, so I was so happy when Maxwell House asked to sponsor a Pesach recipe with me.
Fudgy Orange Chocolate Brownies I just created the easiest, yummy, no-fail Pesach brownies. It all starts with good quality ingredients and a great burst of flavor with Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice. Did you know that Tropicana Pure Premium has been certified Kosher for Passover for the past 25 years? Using top quality orange juice is essential for creating this delectable dessert, as the orange juice’s delicious fresh taste will make this pop in your mouth. You’ll want to make it for Pesach and all year round! Ingredients Cake 5 eggs 2 ½ cups white sugar 1 ¼ cups vegetable oil 1 ¼ cups almond flour ¼ cup Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice 1 ½ cups unsweetened
I sip my coffee slowly each morning as I prepare my shopping lists and meal preps for the day ahead of me. My morning coffee is what inspired me to create a recipe using coffee. I came up with a coffee infused chili, and it has become an instant hit with all my family and my clients.
Orange Glaze 1 cup confectioner’s sugar 2 TBS Tropicana Pure Premium OJ
Preparation
Ingredients 2 TBS olive oil 1 large onion, peeled and diced 1 pound ground beef 1 pound boneless beef, cut into bite-size chunks 1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped 4 TBS cumin 3 TBS paprika 1 TBS chili powder
cocoa powder 1 tsp vanilla extract
1 TBS garlic powder Pinch cayenne pepper ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes 2 TBS tomato paste 2 tsp kosher salt 1 TBS brown sugar 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes 2 TBS Maxwell House Instant Coffee 2 cups water
Beat eggs and sugar. Add oil and orange juice. Mix in almond flour and cocoa. Bake in a greased 9 x 13-inch pan at 350˚F for 25 minutes. To make the glaze: combine the confectioner’s sugar and 2 tablespoons orange juice. Mix well until it’s thickened (you can add a few more drops of orange juice if it’s too thick) and drizzle over cooled brownies. Photo credit: Melinda Strauss.
Preparation Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook for about five minutes, until soft and translucent. Add meats and jalapeno; cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently to break up the ground beef. Add cumin, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, tomato paste, salt, and sugar. Stir to coat all the meat. Add canned tomatoes. Dissolve coffee granules in boiling water; add to the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 60-90 minutes, covered, until the meat is tender. Cook’s Tip: Serve chili with sliced or diced avocado and salsa. You can serve with chips for crunch, as well. Recipe from Naomi’s Perfect for Pesach cookbook.
Naomi Nachman, the owner of The Aussie Gourmet, caters weekly and Shabbat/ Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighboring communities, with a specialty in Pesach catering. Naomi is a contributing editor to this paper and also produces and hosts her own weekly radio show on the Nachum Segal Network stream called “A Table for Two with Naomi Nachman.” Naomi gives cooking presentations for organizations and private groups throughout the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area. In addition, Naomi has been a guest host on the QVC TV network and has been featured in cookbooks, magazines as well as other media covering topics related to cuisine preparation and personal chefs. To obtain additional recipes, join The Aussie Gourmet on Facebook or visit Naomi’s blog. Naomi can be reached through her website, www.theaussiegourmet.com or at (516) 295-9669.
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
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OCTOBER 29, 2015 Jewish Home APRIL 17, 2019 | The| The Jewish Home
Notable Quotes “Say What?!”
I don’t know if it’s actually still edible. But we’re gonna find out. - Chaim Bloom, the Orthodox senior vice president of baseball operations for the Tampa Bay Rays, in an interview with Tablet magazine, talking about a jar of kosher for Pesach gefilte fish which has been in his office since Pesach of 2006 and which he always says he will eat if the Rays win the World Series
Leaving town that morning to go to Boston to spend Rosh Hashana with my in-laws was one of the more difficult things we’d done in my career. Basically, I decided that my commitments to my family were more important than being around for a game whose outcome I was at that point not going to be able to influence. - Ibid., talking about balancing religion and his job
I’ve come to announce a new project: Beresheet 2. We started something and we need to finish it. We’ll put our flag on the moon. Beresheet 2 begins tomorrow…. A mission team will be meeting tomorrow to start work. - Morris Kahn, the president of SpaceIL, who donated $40 million of his own money to make Israel the 7th country in the world to put a spacecraft on the moon only to watch it fail last week
I didn’t know that it was a crime to write a good book, which turned out to be a best-seller. - Democrat presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who often rails against “million-aires,” after his tax returns show that he is a millionaire
A freedom dividend of $1,000 per month for every American adult starting at age 18. This would create two million new jobs in our economy. - 2020 Democrat presidential candidate Andrew Yang at a campaign rally promising free money to all Americans
As much as the right wants to distort & deflect, I am from the Bronx. I act & talk like it, *especially* when I’m fired up and especially when I’m home. It is so hurtful to see how every aspect of my life is weaponized against me, yet somehow asserted as false at the same time. – Rep Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (Dem/Socialist-NY) responding via tweet to criticism for putting on a thick and obviously fake African-American accent while speaking at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network convention last week
Today I challenge our top retail competitors (you know who you are!) to match our employee benefits and our $15 minimum wage. Do it! Better yet, go to $16 and throw the gauntlet back at us. It’s a kind of competition that will benefit everyone. - Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in a letter to shareholders, challenging other retailers to match Amazon’s pay and benefits
Hey, retail competitors out there (you know who you are) how about paying your taxes? - Walmart’s executive vice president of corporate affairs, Dan Bartlett, tweeting back at Amazon, along with an article stating that Amazon paid $0 in federal taxes on more than $11 billion in profits last year
Bill, this is boring! - A heckler yelling at the Clintons during their “An Evening With The Clintons” at the Beacon Theatre last week
MORE QUOTES
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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I don’t have no secret for that – just be nice to each other. - D.W. Williams, 103, at the 82nd anniversary celebration for him and his wife, Willie Williams, 100, when asked for the secret for their marital longevity
It’s communication and loving each other and working together. They are each other’s best friend. - The couple’s granddaughter opining on the secret to their longevity
I don’t know, sit around the house. - The couple’s response when asked what they would do if they were to stay married for another 100 years
BREAKING: We and partners have issued a travel advisory urging immigrants and people of color to use extreme caution when traveling in Florida. The state is on the verge of passing a draconian anti-immigrant bill which will endanger our communities. – Tweet by the American Civil Liberties Union in response to a Florida bill that would require state officials to cooperate with federal immigration officials
I think the real problem is over the long run, we’ve got this significant continued drain coming from entitlements, which are basically draining capital investment dollar for dollar. Without any major change in entitlements, entitlements are going to rise. Why? Because the population is aging. There’s no way to reverse that, and the politics of it are awful, as you well know. - Former longtime Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on CNBC
Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities only. The Radical Left always seems to have an Open Borders, Open Arms policy – so this should make them very happy!
To be able to work 996 is a huge bliss. If you want to join Alibaba, you need to be prepared to work 12 hours a day, otherwise why even bother joining. - Alibaba CEO Jack Ma at an internal Alibaba meeting espousing his “996 principle,” which requires employees to work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week
- Tweet by President Trump trolling Democrats about immigration
This week on a flight to Dallas the flight attendant accidentally spilled a drink on a passenger and then found out that he was the CEO of American Airlines. When the rest of the plane heard, they also dumped their drinks on him. – Jimmy Fallon
We have to change how we talk to each other. Maybe we should just start by reconnecting with those friends and family members that we haven’t spoken to since the 2016 election. - Disney chief Bob Iger in a fiery speech about the collapse of civility in America as he accepted the 2019 Humanitarian Award at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s annual National Tribute Dinner
MORE QUOTES
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
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As for the waiters out there, I’m not saying you should tamper with anyone’s food, as that could get you into trouble. You might lose your serving job. But you’d be serving America. And you won’t have any regrets years later. - From an op-ed in the Boston Globe urging waiters to spit in conservative’s food, among other things
[Fortnite] shouldn’t be allowed. Where is the benefit of having it in your household? It’s created to addict, an addiction to keep you in front of a computer for as long as possible. It’s so irresponsible. It’s like waiting for the damage to be done and kids turning up on your doorsteps and families being broken down…. What is wrong with parents? – England’s Prince Harry speaking at a YMCA event
I had to – there is a chance I might end up in San Francisco. - Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa explaining to ESPN why he deleted his pro-Trump tweets recently
Bernie Sanders is getting set to release his tax returns and it turns out that because of sales of his book he is a millionaire. It’s like findings out that Smokey Bear is a pyromaniac. – Jimmy Fallon
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Political Crossfire
Trump Administration’s Iran Sanctions Could Backfire By David Ignatius
T
he Trump administration’s “maximum pressure campaign” against Iran assumes that economic sanctions are weakening the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps – and that more sanctions will make the IRGC weaker still. The problem is that U.S. and European intelligence analysts don’t think this forecast is accurate. “Re-imposition of sanctions in 2018 has played into the hands of the IRGC,” warns one recent Western intelligence assessment. Rather than turning Iranians against the corrupt IRGC leadership, in other words, the U.S. economic squeeze is instead giving Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and his allies greater control over the Iranian economy. The Iran sanctions paradox deepened last week with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement that the U.S. will designate the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization. But as Pompeo warned last Monday, the IRGC’s leaders are masters of “nationwide con artistry and corruption…which they perpetrate against the regime’s own people.” History has shown that these operatives find illegal ways to escape pressure and that the economic vise instead tightens for the Iranian people. Like so many Trump administration foreign-policy gambits, the Iran
squeeze looks like a tactical campaign that’s in search of a strategy. Does the administration want negotiations? If so, why has it effectively banned the U.S. from contact with Tehran’s power brokers? “We’ll preclude ourselves from talking to the people who matter,” warns Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Does the administration instead seek a change of Iranian policy and less power for the hard-liners? If so, the U.S. should be working to deepen fissures within the Iranian elite, rather than pushing different factions toward the IRGC. “The goal should be to widen political divisions,” argues Sadjadpour. “When you’re trying to foment political change, you need pressure from below and divisions above.” Sanctions have their uses, to be sure. The ban on oil and financial transactions that President Trump re-imposed after withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal has hit Iran hard. Oil exports have been cut in half, from 2.5 million barrels a day in April 2018 to about 1.25 million barrels in February 2019, according to Reuters. The International Monetary Fund predicted last Tuesday that Iran’s economy will shrink 6% this year, after a 3.9% decline last year. Inflation is currently
running at 47.5%. The resulting cash squeeze means there’s less money for Iran to distribute to its proxies in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, said last month that the militia would need to do more internal fundraising. An Israeli official told me recently that as part of its belt-tightening, Hezbollah has cut some salaries by 40 percent. In Syria, too, the Iranians are reducing their support for Shiite militias, the Israeli official said. The pressure is mounting, but to what end? As with other Trump administration foreign policies, it’s hard to discern the strategic goal. Trump has privately told foreign leaders that he wants to pressure Tehran back to the bargaining table and win a better, broader nuclear deal than the one negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama. But John Bolton, Trump’s national security advisor, has signaled instead that he wants to create conditions for regime change, rather than just renewed negotiation. Imagine the White House confusion if Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent Trump a letter proposing a new round of nuclear and regional negotiations – with Soleimani, the leader of the IRGC’s Quds Force, as his chief negotiator. Trump could
claim a win, but such talks would violate the just-imposed terrorist designation. The biggest danger of the escalating Iran campaign is that it risks unraveling the hard-won U.S. success in Iraq over the past five years. About 5,000 U.S. soldiers are now in Iraq, training the Iraqi military and checking the power of Iranian-backed Shiite militias. They could become targets, if Iran follows through on its tit-for-tat designation this week of Centcom forces as “terrorists.” But even if Iran refrains from shooting at U.S. troops, Tehran-backed politicians may pass legislation in the Iraqi parliament that would forbid continued U.S. military training of Iraqi forces. That would be a real loss. Iran would pull Iraq deeper into its sphere of influence – offsetting any U.S. gains in Lebanon, Syria or Yemen. Sanctions are like catnip for U.S. policymakers. If you want to see how badly they can misfire, recall the U.S.-led campaign of sanctions against the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein in the 1990s. That squeeze had the perverse effect of empowering Saddam’s clique of smugglers and torturers. We’re in danger of repeating that sorry chapter with Iran. (c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group
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APRIL 17, 2019 | The| The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 Jewish Home
Political Crossfire
Does Assange Merit First Amendment Protection? By David Ignatius
I
s Julian Assange a journalist? The Justice Department sidestepped that question in its indictment of Assange. But his case is still certain to stir a debate about whether the WikiLeaks founder de-
serves protection under the First Amendment. Assange was arrested in London last Thursday, as U.S. prosecutors unsealed an indictment accusing him of conspiring with Chelsea Man-
ning to hack a Pentagon computer in 2010 to obtain secret documents that WikiLeaks hoped to publish. The indictment focuses on Assange’s alleged attempt to help Manning crack a password and gain special “administrative-level privileges,” an effort that proved unsuccessful. But the underlying “purpose and object of the conspiracy” was “so that WikiLeaks could publicly disseminate the information on its website,” prosecutors said. Assange’s supporters describe his arrest and proposed extradition to
in an interview last Thursday. “No newsroom lawyer would tell a reporter it’s OK to do what’s alleged in the complaint – to help a source break a password and hack a computer.” Assange’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, countered that his client deserves to be treated as a journalist. He said in a statement that while the indictment alleges a conspiracy to commit computer crimes, “the factual allegations…boil down to encouraging a source to provide him information and taking efforts to protect the identity of that source.”
The federal legal meaning of what constitutes journalism is all but nonexistent.
America as an attack on press freedom. But there’s some skepticism about that claim, even from several of the country’s most prominent defenders of the First Amendment. “When you read the indictment, it doesn’t look like anything that turns on whether Assange is or is not a journalist,” said Bruce Brown, the executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press,
Pollack amplified his comment in an email: “I do not find the question of whether he is a journalist a tricky one. Mr. Assange publishes truthful information that is of public interest. I think that is a pretty good definition of ‘journalist.’” Actually, the federal legal meaning of what constitutes journalism is all but nonexistent. Garrett Epps, a professor of constitutional law at the
Jewish Home | APRIL 29, 17, 2015 2019 The The Jewish Home | OCTOBER
University of Baltimore, describes it as “a strange twilight zone in terms of the Constitution” because the Supreme Court has never clearly explained who gets the Bill of Rights freedom afforded to “the press.” “The courts haven’t extended any protection to journalists that they haven’t extended to the public at large,” explained Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute. “This is in part because extending special protections to journalists would require the court to say who’s a journalist and who isn’t.” Assange’s information-dumping actions make some First Amendment lawyers queasy. “There is a fundamental difference between someone who shines a spotlight on classified information and someone who turns on all the lights,” said David Kendall, who represented President Clinton during his impeachment hearings and Hillary Clinton during the 2016 email investigation. Because Assange hasn’t shown “calibrated judgment” about what information to share with readers, he isn’t acting as a journalist, Kendall told me. As for the prosecutors’ allegation that Assange facilitated Manning’s hacking of classified information, Kendall added: “People in the press typically are not burglars.” Lincoln Caplan, a Yale Law scholar who has written widely about journalism, said in an interview that there’s an important distinction between “curating” information, as reporters do, and “dumping” it, as has often been WikiLeaks’ practice. An intriguing footnote to the Assange case is that as part of a failed plea-bargain negotiation with the Justice Department in 2017, he offered to help vet some highly classified CIA files that WikiLeaks was publishing in a document dump known as “Vault 7.” As I wrote last September, this “risk mitigation” discussion collapsed after WikiLeaks revealed some especially sensitive CIA hacking techniques. Assange could argue that the 2017 offer showed that he was sensitive to national-security concerns. Similarly, he could point to his cooperation with The New York Times and other news organizations that edited and
vetted WikiLeaks files before publication. Complicating this case is WikiLeaks’ role in disseminating documents hacked by Russian intelligence from Democrats during the 2016 presidential campaign, where
Assange appeared to be a tool of Russian meddling to support Donald Trump. Assange wants to fight his case under the banner of press freedom. His problem is that the Justice Department has drawn its indictment
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carefully enough that the issue is theft of secrets, rather than their publication. That’s why so many press advocates seemed to be distancing themselves from Assange after the news broke last Thursday. (c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group
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Forgotten Her es
The Red Sea During World War II By Avi Heiligman
T
he Red Sea on a map is a large seawater inlet that flows into the Indian Ocean from south of the Arabian Sea. The northern section of the Red Sea is the Gulf of Suez which borders the Sinai Peninsula. Rabbi Saadia Gaon (882 - 942) identifies the area of Kriyas Yam Suf in the Gulf of Suez. In modern times, there have been a few military excursions and missions in the Red Sea. It should be noted that the Suez Canal was completed in 1869 which connected the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean and beyond. In a recent article we discussed a Yom Kippur War naval battle in the Suez in which the Israeli Navy defeated Egyptian commandoes preparing to attack IDF bases. During World War II, the Italians stationed a fleet in the Red Sea as the body of water became a combat zone in which both sides vied for control of the region. Fighting in North Africa became famous because of the eventual defeat of Rommel’s Afrika Korps. This stopped the Germans from reaching Eretz Yisrael. There was other fighting in Africa early in the war that involved the Italians and British fighting in modern day Ethiopia. In the four years prior to World War II, the Fascist Italians brutally colonized the East African nation that had little in the way of modern weapons, tanks and aircraft. Hundreds of thousands had been killed from 1935 to 1940, and by June 1940 the Ethiopians finally found help in the British Empire and her allies. Known as the East Africa Campaign or the Abyssinian Campaign, it ended with an Allied
victory and kicked the Italians out of Central Africa. Italian forces began arriving in the region as early as 1936 in preparation for attacking British and French colonies in Africa. Prominent in the Italian defenses was their Red Sea Flotilla based at Massawa. In total, they had seven destroyers in two squadrons, five motor torpedo boats and eight submarines. Although the flotilla did not pose a significant threat to the larger and more equipped British fleet, it still threatened the important shipping route through the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. This was an important shipping lane because control of the Red Sea meant control of the shipping through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean. The route was used to transport goods and weapons to Britain colonies in the east, India, Africa, Britain itself and to the war zones in the Middle East and the Western Desert. Once the Red Sea became a conflict zone in 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt put a stop to American merchant vessels operating in the area even though the U.S. was neutral at the time. This lasted until April 1941, at which point the Red Sea Fleet was destroyed. Three of the eight Italian submarines were lost by June 1940. Four managed to sail to France after surviving the onslaught of British ships and planes. The Galileo Galilei was a formidable submarine with eight torpedo tubes and two 4-inch deck guns. Built in 1934, she had seen service during the Spanish Civil War and in
March 1940 was sent to the Red Sea. In June she had sunk a Norwegian tanker and a few days later spotted a Yugoslavian ship. She shot at the ship but then proceeded to let the steamer pass since it was from a neutral country. An anti-submarine British ship heard the shots and sounded a warning. An RAF then plane attacked and that night it then received a depth charge attack by the HMS Moonstone. The submarine surfaced, and the two ships prepared for battle. The Galileo was hit and suffered severe damage to her deck guns. Another British ship appeared on scene, and the Italian sub stopped shooting and surrendered. The submarine was then towed to a British port and was commissioned into the Royal Navy. One of the submarines that was sunk was the Torricelli. It was spotted near her base and was the subject of an intense search and destroy operation by the Royal Navy. The HMS Shoreham spotted her again on June 23, 1940, and the Italian submarine initiated action. Four other Allied ships including three destroyers entered the battle but the sub managed to hit the Shoreham. At first they tried to capture the submarine but it was too damaged to salvage and she was sunk. Italy tried six times in 1940 to stop British convoys from making the Red Sea journey but failed every time. These ships kept the British forces in Egypt and North Africa supplies as the Mediterranean was too dangerous. By late 1940, the Italian ships were in desperate need of repair and morale was low. Despite sinking
a few merchant ships in the winter, the Italians were pushed back. All five of the motor torpedo boats of the squadron were either sunk or scuttled. On April 6, 1941, the light cruiser HMS Capetown was torpedoed and crippled by a torpedo boat off Massawa but this was one of only a tiny few setbacks the British suffered in the Red Sea. Great Britain started convoying merchant ships through the Red Sea at the end of June as they only had a few Italian destroyers left to monitor the precious shipping lane. By April 1941 all of the Italian destroyers had been either scuttled or sunk by the British. The British had taken Massawa and one destroyer had been scuttled due to maintenance issues. Two others had been discovered by the RAF and were subsequently sunk by Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers. The remaining Italian troops in Ethiopia surrendered in May, and the British finally had their first land victory of the war. Throughout the next three years, the British, Americans and the rest of the Allies fought the Italians and the Germans in North Africa. The Allies were able to keep their troops supplied through Red Sea shipping lanes and eventually the Axis countries were driven out of Africa altogether.
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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Don’t Get Stuck With a Two Story House Ya Know, It’s One Story Before You Buy It But a Second Story After You Own It! Call Dov Herman For An Accurate Unbiased Home Inspection Infrared - Termite Inspection Full Report All Included NYC 718-INSPECT Long Island 516-INSPECT www.nyinspect.com
Alternative Solutions Geriatric Care Management staff will assist you with: * Obtaining Medicaid and Pooled Income Trust * In-home Assessments, Individual and Family Counseling * Securing reliable home care assistance * Case and Care Management services Dr. S. Sasson, DSW, LCSW (718) 544- 0870 or (646) 284-6242 MOONBOUNCE FOR RENT $100/day Holds up to 500lbs. Perfect fun for ages 3-8 Call or text 516-220-0616 to reserve your date
HAIR COURSE Learn how to wash & style hair & wigs Hair and wig cutting, wedding styling Private lessons or in a group Call Chaya 718-715-9009 SHALOM HANDYMAN Plumbing, heating, boiler, installation, sewer, locks, dryer vent cleaning and more… CALL 917-217-3676
HOUSES FOR SALE WOODMERE 3BR, 2Bth, Ranch, LV,DR, fire place, EIK, Florida room, bsmt w/ sauna , Garage, Prime Edward ave location, SD 15, low taxes ....715K Appointment by owner 516-319-7149
BAYSWATER 4 Bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, Kosher Kitchen, DR/LR, Closets, Porch Call 516-206-2005 for more info www.AllGoingRealty.com GoingRealty@gmail.com PRICE REDUCED: Sprawling 4BR, 4BA Exp-Ranch, Oversized Rooms, LR W/Fplc, Formal Dining Rm, Large Den, Master Suite, Full Finished Basement, Storage Room & Office, Deck, Fabulous Property…$1.078M Call Carol Braunstein (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com NORTH WOODMERE Beautiful spacious 4 bedroom colonial, finished basement, in ground pool, close to all. $879,000 Call 516-924-2971
COMMERCIAL RE EAST ROCKAWAY: Retail Stores on Busy Corner, 1000SF& Up Available, Great High Visibility Location, For Lease… Call for More Details Broker (516) 792-6698 INWOOD OFFICE SPACE LOWEST PRICES IN TOWN! 500-7000 Square feet gorgeous office space with WATERVIEW in Inwood! Lots of options. Tons of parking. Will divide and customize space for your needs! Call 516-567-0100
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Classifieds COMMERCIAL RE
COMMERCIAL RE
HELP WANTED
HELP WANTED
CEDARHURST 500-3,500 +/- SF Beautiful, newly renovated space for rent. Ideal for Retail or Executive offices. Prime location. Convenient Parking. Sam @516-612-2433 or 718-747-8080
INWOOD 10,000 sq ft brick building. Offices and warehouse. High ceilings. Asking $16/foot. Owner: 516-206-1100 mark@mbequitygroup.com
ROCKVILLE CENTRE Flex Office Space / Light Warehousing 3650 S/F - Ready for move in. Competitively priced Ideal Location / Walk To LIRR & bus Bank, Shopping, City Center. 917-822-0499
WOODMERE: BEST BUY Spacious 2BR Apartment, Washer/Dryer In Bldg, Elevator Bldg, Open Floor Plan, 1st Floor, Close To All...$199K Call Carol Braunstein (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com
DRIVER FOR QUEENS DRY CLEANER ROUTE. Options to drive Tuesday am/ Thursday pm. Also hours available Monday am , Tue am and pm, Wed am and pm and Friday pm. Must have own car. Use of company van part time. Competitive salary. Contact Marc for info 917-612-2300
FULL TIME HOUSE MANAGER needed in support staff supervision, upkeep of residence and purchasing duties in Long Island residences for men who have developmental disabilities. NY or NJ Driver’s License a must. 855-OHEL-JOB www.ohelfamily.org
SF MEDICAL OFFICE SPACE Available, Reception Area, Waiting Room, Kitchenette, 2 Consult, 4 Exam Rooms, 2 Bathrooms, 30 Car On-Site Parking, For Lease … Call Ian for More Details (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com 5 TOWNS: LOOKING FOR: Restaurateurs & Professionals!!! Orthoptists, Podiatrists, Chiropractors, Physical Therapists, Dentists, or Obstetrician/Gynecologists. Spaces Available in Cedarhurst, Hewlett, Lynbrook, Rockville Centre, Valley Stream area. For Lease... Call for More Details Broker (516) 792-6698
ROCKVILLE CENTRE Light Warehousing/Flex office space 8150 S/F - Built in Offices with Large Windows - 11' Ceiling clearance Indoor Loading Dock. Ideal Location / Walk To LIRR & Bus - Bank, Shopping, City Center. 917-822-0499
APT FOR RENT BAYSWATER FOR RENT 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, Kosher kitchen, DR/LR, Closets, driveway, Close to all www.AllGoingRealty.Com GoingRealty@gmail.com
How Many Times Have You Thought Or Heard? "My buyers aren't serious but they're all I've got" "I can't get my sellers to lower their price" "I spend time in the office but I really don't know what to do" "I'm close to getting a few listings but I really can't close them"
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AT OUR NEWEST LYNBROOK LOCATION We are currently looking to assemble a team of committed experienced agents who feel stuck in their business but are committed to doing whatever it takes. Sit down and talk to us. You have absolutely Nothing To Lose. All contacts will be completely confidential.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: CHRISTOPHER KAUFMAN 516.641.8628
Due to continued growth, the Yeshiva of South Shore is seeking Elementary School Teachers. Cert/Exp required. Please forward resume to monika@yoss.org Seeking full time PHYSICAL THERAPIST for Special Education school located in Brooklyn. Experienced preferred. Competitive salary. Room for growth. resumes@yadyisroelschool.org REGISTERED NURSE openings to work with adults who have developmental disabilities within residential settings in Brooklyn, Manhattan, or Long Island. Current NYS RN, min 2 years hospital experience. OHEL: 855-OHEL JOB www.ohelfamily.org/careers
POSITIONS AVAILABLE to work with men with developmental and/or psychiatric disabilities living in a group home in Cedarhurst, Lawrence or Far Rockaway. Shifts include 8:30-4:30, 3-11pm, Overnights. Driving a plus. Call 855-OHEL-JOB www.ohelfamily.org/careers SUBSTITUTE PARA NEEDED on a per-diem basis for local special needs program. Prior experience with special needs children preferred. Warm and professional environment. Please email seplowitzs@ou.org with a resume and letter of introduction
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VALLEY STREAM STREAMOODMERE
CEDARHURST
Classifieds HELP WANTED
Mint condition office spaces in of with parkisuit. included Alnew primespace. Cedarhurst office Cae bui business district: 120sf office asking $1,400/m 1,000sf office asking $3,700/m Call Raizie (917) 903-1778
New Exclusive! Free 3,000sf open multi-purpose e stan300ding building f space standing perfec f;fnfflknflfnfkgnfdlkgfdnklg
asking $7,800/m. school, therapist or 1,200sf6 dividable offices, doctor's office. ce. Great location! o$ all util incl. asking $8,400/m. Call Avigail (516)316-3452
Get a location that strengthens your business. Let Miller show you the ideal commercial property for your unique needs.
HIGH-TECH EXECUTIVE & MEDICAL SUITES PRIME LOCATION RETAIL SPACE
HELP WANTED OFFICE MANAGER
TORAH ACADEMY FOR GIRLS in Far Rockaway seeks qualified, experienced Moros, Elementary Division for Sept. 2019. Please email resumes to mlevin@tagschools.org
Do you have good organizational skills? Office Manager position available at local school. Responsibilities: work with vendors, coordinate staff schedules, manage
Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, Woodmere, NY is seeking experienced Middle School educators for 2019-2020: Science teacher for NGSS curriculum, and Math teacher for CCSS Math curriculum. Resumes to mwein@halb.org YESHIVA IN QUEENS SEEKS A DYNAMIC, ENERGETIC AND CARING REBBE FOR YOUNGER GRADES, 1-3. Experience preferred. Please email resume to rebbesearch5780@gmail.com
PARKING / TRANSIT / STOREFRONT
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Put the power of Miller to work for you today.
516.374.4100 www.ftmr.com
5 TOWNS BOYS YESHIVA SEEKING ELEM GEN ED TEACHERS Excellent working environment and pay. Only lic/exp need apply. Email resume to yeshivalooking@gmail.com
schedules, etc. Must have good computer and communication skills. Great pay and work environment. Email resume to manager5towns@gmail.com Due to expansion, IVDU School in 5Towns, seeking F/T, NYS certified, Special Ed Teachers for the 20192020 school year. Preschool or early elementary school experience preferred. Warm and supportive teaching environment, excellent salary and comprehensive benefits. Email resume and cover letter to seplowitzs@ou.org ASSISTANTS NEEDED FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, AFTERNOON SESSION. Email: fivetownseducators@gmail.com
COMMERCIAL • LEASING • SALES MILLER COMMERCIAL 680CENTRAL 5X3.qxp_2018 11/26/18 3:32 PM Page 1
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With warm appreciation for your friendship and goodwill e wish you a Zissen Pesach Proudly servicing the Fi e Towns and surounding areas for the past 20
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2018 MARKET SHARE REPORTS REVEAL VIPROPERTIES IS #1 IN: HEWLETT, HEWLETT BAY PARK, HEWLETT HARBOR, HEWLETT NECK, NORTH WOODMERE, WOODMERE, WOODSBURGH
The Jewish Home | APRIL 17, 2019
Classifieds HELP WANTED
HELP WANTED
CATAPULT LEARNING Teachers, Title I Boro Park, Williamsburg and Flatbush Schools *College/Yeshiva Degree *Teaching experience required *Strong desire to help children learn *Small group instruction *Excellent organization skills Competitive salary Send resume to: Fax: (212) 480-3691 ~ Email: nyteachers@catapultlearning.com
SHULAMITH EARLY CHILDHOOD is looking to hire a full time teacher assistant for the current school year. Please email resume to earlychildhood@shulamith.org Seeking full time OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST for Special Education school located in Brooklyn. Experienced preferred. Competitive salary. Room for growth. resumes@yadyisroelschool.org
Life CAPTURE
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Your
15
Money
Game of Taxes By Allan Rolnick, CPA
O
n April 14, millions of fans will gather around the biggest screen they can find for the start of one final season in Westeros, the setting of George R.R. Martin’s epic Game of Thrones. The show, which producers pitched as “The Sopranos in Middle Earth,” has leaped from television into the broader culture. In 2013, 241 babies were named “Khaleesi” after the title Daenerys Targaryen takes by marrying the Khal Drogo. UC Berkeley offers a class in “invented languages” featuring Dothraki, which sounds like what you’d get if you mixed Spanish and Arabic and ran it through a wood chipper. Martin doesn’t tell us much about how taxes work in Westeros. And HBO certainly isn’t interested in exploring those details – how would they find time between introducing 257 major characters in Season One and killing most of them off in increasingly cringeworthy fashion through the next six seasons? But fortunately for us, the series leaves occasional bread crumbs to help us understand whether the show’s tax collectors worship the lord of light or the lord of darkness. The Iron Throne’s principal tax man is Lord Petyr “Littlefinger” Bael-
ish, the king’s urbanely oily Master of Coin. (Picture Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, but with chainmail and some super-sketchy side gigs.) Apparently, collecting taxes is just another entrepreneurial opportunity for Littlefinger. In Clash of Kings, Martin writes, “Ten years ago, Jon Arryn had given him a minor sinecure in customs, where Lord Petyr had soon distinguished himself by bringing
vos, Westeros’s version of the International Monetary Fund. We don’t know how much interest Braavos charges but if you default, they don’t just send swordsell goons to break your legs. They finance a rival power, then collect when the rival overthrows you! As for those scheming Lannisters, we know “a Lannister always pays his debts.” But do Lannisters always pay their taxes? Or do they cleverly avoid
We don’t know how much interest Braavos charges but if you default, they don’t just send swordsell goons to break your legs.
in three times as much as any of the king’s other collectors.” Sadly, Littlefinger’s greediest efforts aren’t enough to satisfy King Robert Baratheon’s lust for wine and tournaments. Baratheon spends down the surplus left by the Targaryens, then borrows millions of golden dragons from the House of Lannister and the Iron Bank of Braa-
them? In Season Three, Lord Tywin Lannister imposes a penny tax on brothels, called “the dwarf’s penny,” to boost public morals and pay for Joffrey’s upcoming wedding. Now, come on…is there any idiot in any village in Westeros who doesn’t see through that blatant attempt to shift the burden from the 1% to the commoners? Discuss.
In the end, the show’s biggest winners may be the real tax collectors across the world. Series creator George R.R. Martin earns a reported $25 million per year from HBO and book royalties. Thrones tourists have pumped millions more into the show’s real-life filming locations, including Northern Ireland and Dubrovnik, a Croatian city most fans had never heard of before they saw it standing in for King’s Landing. We can assume that all of their governments are happy to collect their share of all those Thrones dollars raining down like flaming arrows. If you’re like most “Thronies,” you’d love a dragon of your own to ease your path to the top. (Or do you worry the king would find a way to tax them, too?) Fortunately, you don’t need a fire breathing reptile to keep more of your golden dragons. You just need a plan. So call us when you’re ready to escape the King’s yoke and see how glorious a castle you can build with the savings!
Allan J Rolnick is a CPA who has been in practice for over 30 years in Queens, NY. He welcomes your comments and can be reached at 718-896-8715 or at allanjrcpa@aol.com.
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Life C ach
There’s More Than Meets the I - Whoops! The E By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., MFT, CLC
E
-commerce. E-bay. E-trade. E-gypt. G-d came up with that last one. And it’s already in our past. G-d has always been way ahead of the curve. How so? In this very electronic age, so many of us worry that it’s not
healthy to be living passively. Too much happens via computer and cellphone. People are alone and cut off, instead of out in the world sharing their actual physical presence and real time input. In E-gypt, our lives were being lived too passively as well. And G-d, in His infinite wisdom, recognized that and set us free.
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Yes, free from all the E-vils that can come from this kind of life. Such as E-motional cut off and E-longated disconnection along with lack of E-mancipation to choose and grow. Where the present crazy age will take us, nobody really knows! However, where the age of E-gyptian slavery took us we do know. It took us to a day where G-d said E-nough. And set us free. This is what we are celebrating this week. We are taking the time to appreciate that our Creator sees what’s going on, knows how it affects us, and can change anything or everything in a moment. This is what the holiday of Passover reminds us. We are not E-ternally stuck in our situation or challenges. So much can be turned
of reality. It’s E-asy to get mixed up and to think what we see or understand is reality, and then to think how can it change? But we don’t see it all, do we?! Do we see cell technology? Do we see air? There’s lots we don’t see and still know is around and influencing us. This holiday reminds us that G-d can jump in at any moment and more clearly show His power to run things. He is always there, watching us, guiding us, taking care of us. It’s not every day, though, that we get to see His strength. But when we do, it reminds us of the times when He’s behind the scenes. So, try and be E-ven keeled, don’t get E-aten up when things get
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He is always there, watching us, guiding us, taking care of us.
Self Employed Health Insurance Long Term Care Insurance Rabbi S. M. Leiner, CLTC Licensed Independent Broker for all types of Insurance Call: 917-543-0497 - Leave a message Mail: Rabbi S. M. Leiner, CLTC P.O. Box # 7655 600 Franklin Ave. Ga Garden City, NY 11530
around when we least expect it. Pesach reminds us that G-d did not create the universe and then go to Miami for the winter. Rather, He plays an integral and ongoing part in the workings of the world. We note in the Haggadah that G-d Himself freed us, took us, removed us, and moved us to a different set
out-of-hand or are scary. Remember to live ready and E-ager to see G-d in His infinite power.
Rivki Rosenwald is a certified relationship counselor, and career and life coach. She can be contacted at 917-7052004 or rivki@rosenwalds.com.
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