Five Towns Jewish Home - 1-6-22

January 6, 2022

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48 Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is Sworn In

52 Rabbi Gedaliah Oppen and Others Embark on Mission to Turkey

65 Record Crowd at YKLI Dinner

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home

Dear Readers,

I

know that the news out of Israel last week shook many of us and tilted our worlds. When someone stalks and torments our children, the most precious and vulnerable members of our community, we are outraged. But even more than that, when that person was a trusted and “upstanding” member of our community, we become demoralized about the systems that we have put into place.

But for now, I don’t want to talk about the perpetrators of abuse. I don’t want to address those sick individuals who use their touch to hurt and maim – both physically and emotionally – others. As a person who is a believer in a din and a Dayan, I know that there is true Justice in this world.

I want to speak about the brave individuals who spoke up and put a stop to the terrible cycle of abuse that was occurring.

A survivor of abuse is sometimes just barely surviving. They are sometimes just barely making it through their day, going through the motions of what a regular day should entail. Many times, they are reliving the abuse, reliving the horror that torments them each day, reliving feelings of shame and embarrassment.

Hopefully, through support and help and therapy, they deal with the hurt and the trauma that they endured, and they are able piece their lives back together.

So can you imagine how brave these individuals are to be able to bring that darkness that they faced to the fore and to publicly point their fingers at their abusers and tell the world what they endured? And can you imagine the fortitude they must have, the courage, the emotional resolve they surely possess to share their story?

They are going back into that darkness, they are picking at scabs that are trying to heal, and yet, they are willing to do so they can move forward and so that others won’t suffer the same nightmare that they went through.

These people aren’t victims. They are heroes for having the courage to speak up.

May Hashem bring these survivors of abuse much-needed healing from their traumas, and may we, as a community, work together to put a stop to the predators who target our most vulnerable and precious people.

Wishing you a wonderful week, Shoshana

Yitzy Halpern PUBLISHER

publisher@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Yosef Feinerman MANAGING EDITOR

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Shoshana Soroka EDITOR

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The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home

Contents Letters to the Editor

8

COMMUNITY 8

Readers’ Poll Community Happenings NEWS

78

Global

12

National

26

That’s Odd

36

ISRAEL Israel News Middle East Musings

22 108

JEWISH THOUGHT Rabbi Wein on the Parsha

70

Hashem’s Bekeshe by Rav Moshe Weinberger

72

You Become What You Believe by Rabbi Shmuel Reichman

74

Delving into the Daf by Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

78

PEOPLE TJH Speaks with Leg. Mazi Melesa Pilip Behind the Headlines at the Battle of the Bulge by Avi Heiligman

80 110

HEALTH & FITNESS Oils to Help Treat Inflammation by Cindy Weinberger, MS RD CDN

90

My 40-Year Journey Away from Binge Eating by Naomi Joseph, MS 92 FOOD & LEISURE The Aussie Gourmet: Gnocchi with White Sauce

99

LIFESTYLES New Column! Teen Talk

84

Dating Dialogue, Moderated by 86 Jennifer Mann, LCSW

74

Parenting Pearls

94

Dear Editor, Congratulations to my fellow 2021 Letter to the Editor writers. Surveys reveal that “Letters To The Editor” is one of the most widely read and popular sections of any newspaper.

Most newspapers will print letters submitted by any writer regardless of where they live so long as the topic is relevant to readers.

It helps to have a snappy introduction, good hook, be timely, precise, and have an interesting or different viewpoint to increase your odds of being published. Many papers welcome letters commenting on their own editorials, articles, or previously published letters to the editor.

I continue to be grateful that you afford both me and my fellow letter writers the opportunity to express our views, as well as differing opinions, on issues of the day.

Please join me along with your neighbors in continue reading The Jewish Home. Patronize their advertisers; they provide the revenues necessary to keep them in business. This helps pay to provide space for your favorite or not so favorite letter writers.

Sincerely, Larry Penner Longtime Reader and Frequent Letter Writer

shivah and then said “l’’havdil” before listing a similar quote by Einstein.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe says that one does not make a l’havdil between Jews.

Ariel Weisz Brooklyn, NY Dear Editor, I love to quote my late relative, Rav Avrohom Genechovsky, zt”l, regarding a drash he had that happens to have a connection to the word “Bo.” On Pesach, we say in the Haggadah that Rav Yehuda gave the makkot simanim as detzach, adash, be’achav. Rav Avrohom said on this that detzach stands for ditzah, rinah and chedva, in other words happiness; adash stands for the bean soup that Eisav traded his bechora for; and be’achav can be broken into two words, ba, chov, it will have to be repaid. To recap, the type of happiness manifested by the lentil soup, symbolic of temporal happiness, will eventually be paid back in the next world.

Perhaps the same idea of be’achav can’t be expressed by the eternity of mitzvos that also get paid back, because Torah and mitzvot also give more than temporal happiness in this world for those who engage in such endeavors so it falls within a separate category.

Steven Genack

Dear Editor, In last week’s paper, letter writer Steven Genack quoted his rosh ye-

Continued on page 10

JWOW! 98 Your Money

What’s the Plane Truth? by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS

117 118

HUMOR Centerfold 68 POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Notable Quotes

100

The 10 Best Things Biden Did in 2021 by Marc A. Thiessen

104

The 10 Worst Things Biden Did in 2021 by Marc A. Thiessen

105

What Strange Things Does 2022 Have in Store for Us?

by David Ignatius

106

CLASSIFIEDS

112

Do you wear a watch?

59

%

Yes

41

%

No

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The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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Continued from page 8

Dear Editor, I noticed that you placed an article about the “Safety Kid” programs in schools in the community recently. With all that is going on, it is really important for our children to be taught about personal safety. But it’s not just in school that children should be learning these life-saving lessons. It is incumbent upon each parent to have these discussions with their children. Talking about what is private and personal and appropriate is important. Telling children to “trust their gut” if something doesn’t feel good is empowering. It teaches them that their perception about something “wrong” is valid. And reminding them to speak

up and telling them that you’re here for them – no matter what, and regardless of how long ago an incident may have occurred – is a gift that you can give them.

Each parent wants the best for their children. And each parent has a mission to protect their children.

This is one very important way we need to protect our children.

Sincerely, R.G. Dear Editor, I loved reading Aliza Beer’s article on foods to help you “beat the winter blues.”

I’d also like to share that I feel that it’s important to both exercise and spend time outdoors during the winter months. Although we all feel

Make your voice heard!

Be part of TJH’s weekly poll.

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

sluggish and cold, fifteen minutes spent outdoors – bundled up but moving at a quick pace – can make a huge difference in your day and can truly lift your mood. The exercise keeps your blood moving, the fresh air keeps you exhilarated, and the sunshine gives you much-needed Vitamin D. So, make sure to spend some time outdoors this winter in addition to eating “mood-boosting” foods!

Sincerely, Chaviva Yurman Flushing, NY

Dear Editor, I love the addition of the “Teen Talk” column in TJH! This certainly is a big draw for my teens, but as a parent of teens, I am enjoying reading the questions and answers. I also feel that these are great questions for me and my husband to chat with my teens about and to exchange ideas about their thoughts on how to handle these questions. Great Shabbos table or Thursday night dinner conversation!

A Reader

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

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

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The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home

The Week In News

7.8 Billion on This Earth

P

The U.S. Census Bureau has reported an increase of 74 million in the world’s population this past year.

The Bureau also predicted that by January 1, 2022, the world’s population would be 7.8 billion, representing a 0.9% growth rate, or an increase of 74 million people, from the same day last year. During 2022, 4.3 births and two deaths are predicted to occur every second.

At the same time, the U.S. itself grew by nearly 707,000 people during 2021, and its estimated population on January 1, 2022 was 332.4 million residents, the Bureau said.

That represents a growth rate of 0.2% since January 1, 2021.

During 2022, one death is expected in the U.S. every 11 seconds, and one birth is expected to occur every nine seconds.

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Beekeepers in Chile want government reform to improve honey prices or provide subsidies to honey producers. Honey production in the country has been hurt by a long-term drought that has withered flowers and crops that are bees’ food sources.

This week, beekeepers set around 60 beehives – with around 10,000 bees

– in front of the presidential palace in Santiago. They had wanted to meet with President Sebastian Pinera.

Four beekeepers were detained during the protests. Seven police officers were stung.

One of the beekeepers, Jose Iturra, said that the drought in the Colina commune north of Santiago was killing the local bee population.

“Bees are dying,” Iturra said.

“There would be no life if the bees die. That’s what we wanted to highlight with this demonstration.”

A representative for the Ministry of Agriculture in the Santiago region said the agency was also concerned about the effect the drought was having on the bees. The government has been providing aid for months to 20 communities experiencing severe water shortages.

Droughts and rising temperatures have affected bee populations worldwide. A 2020 study published in the journal Science found that bee populations fell by around 50% in North America and 17% in Europe in one generation.

China Shames Rule Breakers

Videos of COVID-19 rule-breakers being paraded in the streets in China have gone viral and have attracted criticism worldwide.

Viewed over seven million times, the footage on Weibo showed heavily armed police and other officers, dressed in Hazmat suits, escorting four men through the southern Chinese city of Jingxi, as the four carry large printouts of their own mug shots. Another video shows the four standing on a public square in front of a large crowd.

According to Zhengguan News, the public shaming event took place on Tuesday and involved four people who were caught smuggling foreigners into China, in violation of the country’s COVID-19 rules.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Jingxi’s Public Security Bureau said that the event was organized by

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home

officials in the township of Anning.

Another spokesperson said that there was “nothing inappropriate” about the suspects, who had violated the law and were therefore “punished accordingly.”

Separately, Jingxi’s People’s Procuratorate on Tuesday announced the arrest of two local residents accused of smuggling two Vietnamese into China on October 19. One of the Vietnamese later tested positive for COVID-19, sending nearly 50,000 people into quarantine, the public prosecutor said.

It is not clear if those two were among the four paraded through Anning.

Mannequin Beheadings by the Taliban According to the Taliban in Afghanistan, mannequins in stores (and in other places) need to have their heads chopped off; a mannequin with a head on is considered a “idol,” which is forbidden by Islam.

As such, shopkeepers in the western Afghan province of Herat were told to

remove the heads of female mannequins by The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice this week.

the former Ministry of Women Affairs, stoking fears that the Taliban’s moral police would decimate women’s rights in the country. This week, Sky News reported that the ministry told taxi drivers they should not take women on long journeys if they do not have a male chaperone.

Iran’s Failure to Launch Those who ignore the order face severe punishments, warned the local department of the ministry.

Ministers say that people are worshipping the mannequins as idols, an unforgiveable sin.

Additionally, the director of the local ministry said that even looking at the face of a female mannequin is against Sharia law.

Initially, the order was given for the removal of all mannequins. A compromise allowed for the beheaded mannequins in shops to be allowed to stay.

The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Afghanistan was reinstated in September after the Taliban took over. The all-male ministry replaced

Iranian media on Thursday reported that the country had successfully launched three satellites into space but did not detail when the launch occurred. The launches did not enter orbit.

Ahmad Hosseini, a spokesman for Iran’s Defense Ministry, said the rocket used was a Simorgh and the “performance of the space center and the performance of the satellite carri-

er was done properly.”

An unnamed Defense Ministry spokesperson confirmed to Iran’s Tasnim, “The satellite-carrying Simorgh rocket successfully launched three devices into space.

“For the first time, three devices were launched simultaneously to a distance of 470 kilometers (292 miles) at a speed of 7,350 meters per second.”

On Friday, Tehran acknowledged that the launch had failed, with a Defense Ministry spokesperson explaining, “For a payload to enter orbit, it needs to reach speeds above 7,600 (meters per second). We reached 7,350.”

Attempted “Coup” in France?

According to France’s intelligence agency, DGSI, The Overthrow is a far-right network seeking to topple the French government. Its mastermind is Rémy Daillet-Weidemann, a former regional councilor in France, who was “setting up a hierarchical structure whose objective was to overthrow the government”

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home

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and attack the head of state.

The alleged coup d’etat plot – nicknamed “Operation Azur” by its members, according to French news magazine Le Parisien – was first reported by the magazine’s Jérémie Pham-Lê on October 27. It never came to fruition. French security services ​said they shut it down before the plotters could act. ​

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In October, Daillet-Weidemann was placed under formal investigation by French authorities – alongside 13 others – for ​a llegedly planning violent actions, “association with terrorist wrongdoers” and “provoking a terrorist act by a third party through public telecommunications.”

Daillet-Weidemann’s attorney, Jean-Christope Basson-Larbi, asserts he had “never proposed anything other than a peaceful overthrow – that is to say without violence and popularly supported, that’s to say with the support of the majority of the French population – of the current political regime.”

Basson-Larbi said that “Operation Azur” was the product of “fantasies” that were not those of his client, and of which Daillet-Weidemann had no knowledge. Daillet-Weidemann is still in custody.

The DGSI report stated that Daillet-Weidemann, who ​ a llegedly “envisages the use of violent action” to enact the coup d’etat, recruited members and exercised command

over the cells in his network, including at least two men who planned to manufacture explosives.

“The discovery of arms, munitions, hit lists [and] explosive recipes had nothing to do with Mr. Daillet,” who was living in Malaysia at the time, Basson-Larbi added. He said his client was not responsible for the “potentially criminal or violent” projects of individuals who “invoke certain of [Daillet-Weidemann’s] ideas or pretend to have been part of his movement or claim to adhere to his political ideas.”

In June, Daillet-Weidemann was placed under formal investigation – along with 10 others – over the kidnapping of an eight-year-old girl, Mia, who went missing from her grandmother’s house in mid-April 2021, according to documents from the Nancy prosecutor.

Prosecutors allege that members of Daillet’s network, The Overthrow, abducted the child before fleeing to Switzerland in a “military-type operation” on behalf of her mother, Lola Montemaggi.

At the time she was kidnapped, Mia was being cared for by her grandmother, after her mother lost custody. Mia was found safe in Switzerland, with her mother, five days after she was taken.

Daillet-Weidemann has become a lightning rod for conspiracy theories in France, “an emblematic figure of conspiracy,” the DGSI analysis said.

While he espoused no concrete ideology of his own, bar​r ing ​a llegedly calling for the overthrow of the French state, he “wanted to present himself as the leader of an insurrectionary movement surfing on these various theories in order to reach a large audience,” according to the DGSI’s analysis.

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home

The report said Daillet-Weidemann was a “charismatic, intelligent and manipulative leader,” in “the very opaque world” of conspiracy, who “quickly became an exception by showing himself openly and under his true identity,” which only increased his ability to gather support, the DGSI report said.

“The Daillet-Weidemann movement is a ‘catch-all’ movement, emerging from the extreme rightwing movement, allowing everyone to recognize themselves in what he proposes,” the DGSI documents noted.

$8.7 Million of Drugs Found in Mayor’s Truck Police in northern Niger have seized more than 200 kilograms of cocaine worth around $8.7 million that was being transported in the local mayor’s official truck.

The mayor and his driver, who were in the vehicle at the time, were arrested with 199 bricks of cocaine at a checkpoint on the road heading north out of the desert trading hub of Agadez on Sunday.

West Africa – most often a transit route for illegal drugs on the way from South America to Europe – has registered a series of record busts in recent years.

Senegal seized more than two tons of pure cocaine from a ship off its Atlantic coast in October, and Gambian authorities seized nearly three tons last January from a shipment originating in Ecuador.

After 16.7 tons of cannabis resin worth around $37 million were seized in Niger last May, Interpol’s drug unit coordinator, Jan Drapal, noted that drug kingpins were sending larger shipments in response to increasing European demand.

$402 Billion More in 2021

The world’s 10 richest people are now each worth over $100 billion, Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index reported. Together, the quorum gained $402.17 billion in net worth over the course of the past year.

Leading the list is Elon Musk, worth $277 billion. Musk, co-founder of Tesla, gained $121 billion in 2021. Tesla shares rose around 60% last year, with the company reaching a $1 trillion market cap in October.

In second place on the list with the world’s fattest wallets is Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, with $195 billion. Bezos, who stepped down as CEO of Amazon in July, gained $5 billion in 2021.

With $176 billion, Bernard Arnault takes third place, having added $61 billion in 2021. Arnault is

CEO of LVMH, which owns luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, and Givenchy. He is Europe’s richest man.

In places four through ten onthe list are Bill Gates with $139 billion, who gained $7 billion in 2021; Larry Page with $130 billion, who earned $47 billion in 2021; Mark Zuckerberg with $128 billion, who garnered $24 billion in 2021; Sergey Brin, worth $125 billion, whose net worth grew $45 billion in 2021; and Steve Ballmer, worth $122 billion and who added $41 billion to his fortune last year. Bringing up the tail end of the list are Larry Ellison, whose $29 billion gain brought him to $109 billion, and Warren Buffett, whose $21 billion gain netted him to $109 billion in 2021.

Afghan Pres. Had “Minutes” to Flee Afghanistan’s ex-president Ashraf Ghani on Thursday spoke about his decision to flee the country following the Taliban takeover in late 2021. In an interview with BBC’s Radio 4 “Today” program, Ghani recounted that on the morning of August 15, he had

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“no inkling” that it would be his last day in the country. By that afternoon, however, security at his palace had “collapsed.”

In the interview, conducted by the UK’s former Chief of Defense Staff General Nick Carter, Ghani said, “If I take a stand, they will all be killed, and they were not capable of defending me.”

He added that Hamdullah Mohib, his national security adviser, was “literally terrified.”

“He did not give me more than two minutes,” Ghani said, noting that the instructions had originally been to fly by helicopter to Khost. But Khost, as well as Jalalabad, had both fallen to the Taliban.

“I did not know where we will go,” he told Radio 4. “Only when we took off did it become clear that we were leaving.”

Ghani, who has been in the United Arab Emirates since he fled Afghanistan, also denied the allegations that he took millions of dollars with him when he left.

Leaving, he emphasized, was “the hardest thing.”

“I had to sacrifice myself in order to save Kabul and to expose the situation for what it is: a violent coup, not a political agreement,” Ghani explained. “Unfortunately, I was painted in total black. It became an American issue. Not an Afghan issue.”

He added, “My life work has been destroyed, my values have been trampled on, and I’ve been made a scapegoat.”

Ghani also said that his countrymen “rightly” blamed him, emphasizing in his conclusion, “I completely understand that anger, because I share that anger.”

North Korea’s “Food Problem” North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un spoke in an end-of-theyear speech about the country’s “food problem.” The speech marked the end of a five-day meeting with his party,

the Korean Worker’s Party.

On Saturday, KCNA summarized the speech, which focused on the need to boost agricultural productivity, and praised recent military advances, as well as briefly referencing “emergency epidemic prevention work.”

Kim also acknowledged the “unfavorable conditions this year,” stressing his desire to “increase the agricultural production and completely solve the food problem of the country.”

Last year, the World Food Organization warned that North Korea was likely to experience a severe food shortage during 2021.

A “Tobacco-Free Generation” in New Zealand?

A new plan to ban young people from ever purchasing smoking products may soon go into effect in New Zealand. A similar program has been implemented across the globe in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Last month, New Zealand unveiled a new plan intended to prevent people born after 2008 from ever being able to purchase or receive tobacco. The proposal would also raise the legal smoking age by one year, starting in 2027.

Meanwhile, in Brookline, Massachusetts, a bylaw went into effect in September 2021 banning anyone born after January 1, 2000 from ever purchasing vape or tobacco products.

Katharine Silbaugh, a co-sponsor of Brookline’s ban, who also serves as a professor of law at Boston University and an elected official in Brookline’s town government, explained, “There are definite benefits to doing what they’re doing because a person who’s

really determined to buy tobacco can go across town lines here. But there is terrific evidence that accessibility to substances increases use, so it’s not the case that what Brookline did will have no effect. It will have an effect.”

She added, “As we’ve crafted it, no one who can currently buy tobacco will ever be prohibited from buying tobacco,” she said. “It really only affects the future.”

Meanwhile, New Zealand is facing challenges as politicians and advocacy groups consider the proposal’s effect on businesses.

Sunny Kaushal, who heads an organization representing small-business owners, predicted a “devastating impact” on convenience stores and brought figures from gas station retailer Z Energy claiming that tobacco made up nearly half of in-store sales.

In Kaushal’s opinion, businesses which are affected by the change should receive compensation.

Elias Aud, who with his son owns two Mobil gas stations in Brookline, said, “It’s not statewide. It’s not nationwide. It’s just Brookline. I think the town of Brookline is picking on the type of industry we’re in.”

His son Omar added, “Why can’t they buy a cigarette pack at 21 when they can go to a bar, they can go to nightclubs? It does not sound right at all. It sounds like the town has taken their civil rights away and put us on the front line of dealing with their frustration.”

In a statement, Philip Morris International said that it was reviewing New Zealand’s proposal.

Hundreds Trample U.S., Israeli Flags in Baghdad

Hundreds rallied in Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday, marking the first anniversary of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani’s death.

At the rally, participants chanted anti-American slogans and trampled on American and Israeli flags strewn on the ground. They also called for

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the removal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

“We will not let you stay after today on in the land of the martyrs,” some of the signs read.

Among the participants at the rally were supporters of Iranian-aligned Shiite factions, who were bused in to attend.

Iran claims that Israel is responsible for Soleimani’s death. On Friday, Iran also said that the current U.S. administration is also responsible for the killing.

Meanwhile, authorities said that a display of “Iran’s missile capabilities” will be held on January 7.

A Record Year for Diamonds 2021 was a good year for diamonds in the Holy Land. The diamond industry recorded a large increase in sales this past year over

the previous year, registering $2.94 billion in imports (a 91 percent increase) and $3.65 billion in exports (a 54 percent increase).

believed that the diamond market in Israel would recover so quickly.

“We can be optimistic for the next few months as well since there is an increase in jewelry sales around the holiday season in the United States, which is the target market for Israeli diamond traders,” Gur said.

Israel’s Population Nears 10M

2 Die in IAF Helicopter Crash The figures were released on Monday by the Economy Ministry.

The increase, the ministry said, came after a decade of declining sales caused by the transfer of aspects of the polished diamond trade to India, the difficulty for Israel to compete with cheap labor costs, and increased competition from the booming diamond market in Dubai.

In raw diamonds, imports saw an increase of 94% hitting $2.07 billion in sales and exports saw an increase of 109 percent recording $1.8 billion.

Ofir Gur, Director of the Diamond, Gems and Jewelry Administration and the Supervisor of Diamonds at the Economy Ministry, said that a year ago no one would have

Lt. Col. Erez Sachyani and Maj. Chen Fogel were killed on Monday night when their helicopter crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. Another person onboard was injured in the crash and was taken to the hospital.

Since then, the chief of the Israeli Air Force, Amikam Norkin, grounded its fleet of AS565 Panther helicopters. Norkin also halted all training flights and formed an investigative commission, led by a colonel, to look into the cause of the crash.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, “We had a difficult night, and this is a difficult day for Israel. We lost two sons, two pilots, some of our best, in an accident at sea. I share in the grief of the families for the loss of Lt. Col. Erez Sachyani and Maj. Chen Fogel, men who gave their lives for Israel’s security, day after day, night after night.”

The military was working to recover all fragments of the aircraft in order to “begin a thorough investigation,” IAF Brig. Gen. Amir Lazar said.

To assist in the effort to find all the pieces of the helicopter, the head of the IDF Home Front Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, issued a rare order declaring the section of the Haifa coast where the aircraft crashed to be a closed military zone, barring civilians from the area.

The AS565 Panther helicopter, known by the IAF as an “Atalef,” or bat, is a 25-year-old aircraft primarily used for missions at sea. They are set to be replaced with the Seahawk helicopter in two years’ time.

According to the military, the helicopter was taking part in a training exercise when it went down. It was in the air for roughly an hour before it crashed.

Israel’s population at the end of December 2021 stood at 9,449,000, the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said.

Jewish Israelis comprise 73.9% of the population, while Arab Israelis comprise 21.1%. The rest of the population are neither Jewish nor Arab.

Of the 184,000 babies born in Israel in 2021, 73.8% were born to Jewish mothers and 23.4% to Arab mothers. Arriving in Israel were approximately 25,000 new immigrants and 9,000 migrants, approximately.

Israel also saw around 51,000 deaths in 2021. In addition, around 7,500 Israelis remained abroad for over one year.

According to CBS, the number of deaths during 2021 was unusually high, standing at 5.4 per 1,000, in comparison to 5.1 per 1,000 in 20172019. Undoubtedly, the coronavirus pandemic played a big part in those numbers.

Sugary Drinks Taxed More

Israelis will now have to pay more for their favorite soft drinks after the Knesset gave final approval to a decree hiking taxes on sweetened beverages.

The decision, first approved by Finance Committee, was okayed by the Knesset on Monday night in a 57-56 decision. The move came into immediate effect.

Due to the decree, the price for

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approved the administration of a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine last week to those who are immunosuppressed or over 60 years of age.

“In light of the gaps in knowledge in the world in the present situation, we are acting cautiously and responsibly,” Prof. Ash said last Thursday.

Days later, on Tuesday, Prof. Ash received his own fourth dose.

“This is a very, very infectious strain, as we’re seeing,” he said after receiving his vaccine. “The infection rate is rising by leaps and bounds every day. The best answer is the vaccine. And so I also chose to come this morning to receive the fourth dose, and I call on everyone to go get vaccinated.”

He added, “We really debated the fourth dose, it took a few days until we approved it, but the moment we approved it, we are certain that it will help us – help each person manage the virus, as well as us all as a country manage this pandemic.

“I very much hope that in light of the complex period that awaits us, with many new cases, that thanks to the vaccines, we will be able to reduce severe illness and get through this period safely.”

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The Osem manufacturing giant announced last Tuesday that in February it will raise the prices of its products by 3-7%.

Osem explained, “The costs of the raw materials, packaging, and transportation have skyrocketed... in a way which we have not seen previously. Unfortunately, the trend is continuing, and its consequences mean costs of an unprecedented scope, even taking into account the influence of the exchange rates.

“After we took every step possible and absorbed the price increases for a lengthy period, we are forced to make updates which will only partially compensate for the increase.”

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pany, with activists placing stickers on the products calling on customers to avoid purchasing them.

Blue and White MK Michael Biton declared, “Israelis do not have to buy Osem products this month.”

Labor’s MK Ram Shefa called on the public to be “brave enough and strong enough to buy other products.”

Speaking to Channel 13, he added, “Then Osem will have a real problem.”

Belarus Frees Israeli Belarus freed an Israeli woman who had been arrested for cannabis possession, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) said in a joint statement last Thursday.

“Maya Reiten was released from prison in Belarus and is making her way to Israel with her brother. A special thanks to the President for his efforts and actions to return Maya to Israel,” Lapid said, adding that he spoke with both Reiten and her fam-

ily to celebrate her return to Israel.

Reiten, an attorney, was arrested in the Minsk airport in November after 2.5 grams of cannabis were found in her bag.

Additionally, protests against the New York City vaccine mandate on Monday resulted in five people being arrested by police during a protest in a Burger King.

Reverse Racism?

3 Countries Removed from Duty-Free Program Reiten is authorized to use medical cannabis in Israel, but relatives said the drug must have been in her bag by mistake when she traveled out of the country.

Upon Reiten’s arrest, she tried to tell Belarussian authorities that she had permission to possess marijuana and to show them documents proving her claim. However, Belarussian officials ignored her claims.

Under Belarussian law, Reiten would have faced between 3-5 years in prison for her crime.

According to a document released by New York’s Department of Health, it seems like treatments for Covid may be prioritized for those who are non-White.

New York’s Department of Health recently released a document detailing its plan to distribute the treatments, such as monoclonal antibody treatment and antiviral pills.

The plan includes a section on eligibility for the scarce antiviral pills that people must meet to receive the treatment, including a line stating a person needs to have “a medical condition or other factors that increase their risk for severe illness.”

One such “risk factor” is being a race or ethnicity that is not White due to “longstanding systemic health and social inequities” “Non-white race or Hispanic/ Latino ethnicity should be considered a risk factor, as longstanding systemic health and social inequities have contributed to an increased risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19,” the memo reads.

After the release of the memo, the Empire State’s plan received backlash online for discriminating based on ethnicity and skin color.

Erin Silk, a spokesperson for the New York Department of Health, noted that the state’s “prioritization guidance comes directly from the CDC” and that neither “race nor ethnicity would disqualify an individual from receiving treatment.”

“Systemic poverty, which has clearly proven to be a risk factor in populations in New York State and nationwide, is added to the algorithm of prioritization similar to all other risk factors. It is merely mentioned as a factor that increases risk,” she wrote.

New York’s plan to distribute medical treatment comes as the state sees a record number of COVID-19 cases.

The U.S. on Saturday removed Ethiopia, Guinea, and Mali from a duty-free trade program with African nations. The move was a follow-up to a threat made by U.S. President Joe Biden in November to remove them from the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

In a statement, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said, “The United States today terminated Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from the AGOA trade preference program due to actions taken by each of their governments in violation of the AGOA Statute.”

It continued, “The Biden-Harris Administration is deeply concerned by the unconstitutional change in governments in both Guinea and Mali, and by the gross violations of internationally recognized human rights being perpetrated by the Government of Ethiopia and other parties amid the widening conflict in northern Ethiopia.

“Each country has clear benchmarks for a pathway toward reinstatement and the Administration will work with their governments to achieve that objective.”

Mali and Guinea were removed due to recent coups, while Ethiopia was removed due to alleged human rights violations in the Tigray region.

AGOA offers duty-free access to the U.S. to sub-Saharan African countries which meet certain requirements.

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Theranos Founder Found Guilty

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was convicted on three counts of criminal wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud on Monday, with a jury unanimously finding her guilty of illegally fleecing investors out of millions of dollars through her startup blood diagnostics company.

The jury deadlocked on three counts of wire fraud. She was found not guilty on four counts of defrauding patients.

On 11 separate felony counts contained in the indictment – each carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years

in prison – the jury found Holmes guilty on three of nine counts of wire fraud and one of two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

“The guilty verdicts in this case reflect Ms. Holmes’ culpability in this large-scale investor fraud, and she must now face sentencing for her crimes,” a spokesman for U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California Stephanie Hinds said.

The conspiracy to commit wire fraud, prosecutors said, was formed by an agreement between Holmes and her co-defendant Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani to induce investors to back Theranos by making “numerous misrepresentations to potential investors about Theranos’ financial condition and its future prospects.”

Balwani served as Theranos’ COO. Judge Edward Davila will hand down a sentence at a later date. Under California law, felony convictions must be scheduled for sentencing within 20 days of a guilty verdict, though exceptions to that rule can apply. The government’s decision on whether to retry Holmes on the three hung charges could impact the sentencing date.

Among the jury’s four guilty verdicts were three based on specific in-

vestments made by wire transfers in 2014: a $38.3 million investment by experienced healthcare investor Brian Grossman; a roughly $100 million investment by former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos; and a $6 million investment by prominent estate lawyer Daniel Mosley, who was perhaps more influential than any other investor in steering wealthy clients to Theranos.

The landmark case, one of the most closely watched in Silicon Valley history, establishes a new bar for the extent to which startup ventures and their founders who overhype the capabilities of their products and services can steer clear of the U.S. Justice Department’s scrutiny.

Balwani is facing a separate trial, scheduled to begin next year The jury’s decision in Holmes’ trial was based on testimony from more than 30 witnesses – including Holmes herself, who took the stand in her own defense – as well as arguments from each party’s lawyers, and more than 900 exhibits introduced over the trial’s 15 weeks.

“Elizabeth Holmes was building a business and not a criminal enterprise,” Holmes’ attorney Kevin Downey told the jury in closing arguments.

In rebuttal, U.S. Assistant Attorney John Bostic told jurors, “The disease that plagued Theranos was not a lack of effort; it was a lack of honesty.”

Devastating Colorado Wildfire

Nearly 1,000 buildings were destroyed in the wildfire that blew through Colorado last week. Still, authorities are attempting to ascertain where the fire began. For now, the search is being focused on an area near Boulder, where someone noticed a burning shed the day before the fire began.

On Monday, crews were still searching for two people who were considered missing. Survivors were able to come back to their homes to search through the charred rubble of what remained of their houses.

The Boulder County area known

as Marshall Mesa is near the base of the Rocky Mountain foothills and overlooks the more heavily populated suburbs to the east that were devastated by the fast-moving fire, which was whipped up by furious winds blowing from the foothills. The area is surrounded by tinder-dry public open space and private grasslands.

Gov. Jared Polis noted that it was “remarkable that a fire of this speed and size” resulted in only two people missing. Tens of thousands of people evacuated on Thursday, and Polis emphasized the importance of heeding evacuation orders.

“When you get a pre-evac or evacuation notice, hop to it. The residents did, and most of them are with us today,” he said.

While homes that burned to the foundations were still smoldering in some places, the blaze was no longer considered an immediate threat – especially with frigid temperatures and a blanket of snow that fell on Saturday.

Most of the 991 buildings destroyed by the fire were homes. But the blaze also burned through eight businesses at a shopping center in Louisville, including a nail salon and a Subway restaurant. In neighboring Superior, 12 businesses were damaged, including a Target, a Chuck E. Cheese pizzeria, a Tesla car dealership, a hotel, and the town hall.

The “historic” 80-100 mph winds with gusts reaching 115 mph aided the wildfires’ spread. At least six people were injured in the blaze.

Betty White Dies at 99

Actress and TV personality Betty White died on Friday, December 31, just 17 days short of her 100th birthday.

White first appeared on TV in 1939 as a recent high school graduate on an experimental Los Angeles channel. In that appearance, she danced with a classmate to “The Merry Widow Waltz.” After dabbling in radio, she found her place co-host-

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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County Sheriff’s Office said, “Metro Air Support has picked up the final remaining passenger and our mission is complete! Rescue crews hiked off the mountain and they are almost back to base.

“What an incredible effort by all involved! Happy New Year, everyone is safe, and we are grateful for the positive outcome.”

Speaking to KRQE, Sandia Peak Tramway General Manager Michael Donovan explained that moisture and winds had caused ice to form on the tramline, which then caused two tram cars to become stuck, trapping passengers in midair.

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Officials successfully rescued 21 people who were trapped in a tramway in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for over 12 hours on Friday night. The Sandia Peak Tramway became stuck while traveling down the tramline.

According to Deputy Chief of Operations Brian Rose, at around 2:00a.m., the Bernalillo County Fire Department received a call to assist in search and rescue operations.

In a tweet, the Bernalillo County Fire Department wrote, “We are happy to report that at this time all people needing rescue from the Tram cars have been rescued and are safely at base. We still have rescue personnel on the mountain who are hiking out due to difficulty in making access with the helicopter. We will update when all clear.”

Bernalillo County Sheriff (BCSO) spokesperson Jayme Fuller noted, “I could assume that weather would be a factor in all that because it was cold, it was really windy, the elevation is really high up there, and the rain that was taking place last night.

It wouldn’t be a very fun ride.”

Fuller added that most of those trapped were employees attempting “to leave the restaurant at the top of the peak and go home for the evening.”

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A New York jury on Thursday found TEVA Pharmaceuticals to be responsible for its role in the state’s opioid crisis.

The landmark ruling, which marks a conclusion to New York Attorney General Letitia James’ suit against several players in the pharmaceutical supply chain, claimed that the Israeli company contributed to decades of addiction and death in New York State.

In a news release following the Thursday verdict, James said, “Teva Pharmaceuticals USA and others misled the American people about the true dangers of opioids, which is why, in 2019, I made a promise that our team would hold them and the other manufacturers and distributors responsible for the opioid epidemic accountable for the suffering that they have caused.”

She added, “Another trial will be held at a later date to determine how much Teva and other parties will be required to pay, which will be added to the up to $1.5 billion Attorney General James has already negotiated for the state of New York from different opioid manufacturers and distributors.”

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In a statement, TEVA Pharmaceuticals USA promised a “swift appeal,” saying, “In NY, the plaintiffs presented no evidence of medically unnecessary prescriptions, suspicious or diverted orders, no evidence of oversupply by the defendants – or any indication of what volumes were appropriate – and no causal relationship between Teva’s conduct including its marketing and any harm to the public in the state.”

The suit initially targeted members of the Sackler family, four opioid distributors, and six pharmaceutical manufacturers and their affiliates.

The other companies targeted in James’ lawsuit have either settled or declared bankruptcy.

Truck Driver’s Sentence Commuted by 100 Years

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Colorado Governor Jared Polis on Thursday announced the commutation of a truck driver’s sentence after public outcry.

Rogel Aguilera-Mederos was sentenced to 110 years in prison for a fatal accident in Colorado, but he was resentenced to 10 years after family and advocates protested on his behalf.

“I am writing to inform you that I am granting your application for a commutation,” Gov. Polis wrote last week. “After learning about the highly atypical and unjust sentence in your case, I am commuting your sentence to 10 years and granting you parole eligibility on December 30, 2026.”

Polis added, “The length of your 110-year sentence is simply not commensurate with your actions, nor with penalties handed down to others for similar crimes. There is an urgency to remedy this unjust sentence and restore confidence in the uniformity and fairness of our criminal justice system, and consequently I have chosen to commute your sentence now.”

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Mederos’ attorney, James Colgan, said, “Justice was served! This commutation is far more reflective of the crime than 110 years. This type of justice is exactly why I went to law school and why I continue to practice law. Mr. Mederos will be forever grateful for the millions of people that supported him.”

In a statement, Jefferson County District Attorney Alexis King shared, “I joined the surviving victims and families of those who lost their loved ones in their wish to have

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the trial judge determine an appropriate sentence in this case, as he heard the facts and evidence of the defendant’s destructive conduct that led to death, injury, and devastating destruction. We are meeting with the victims and their loved ones this evening to support them in navigating this unprecedented action and to ensure they are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect during this difficult time.”

On December 13, Mederos was sentenced to 110 years in prison for a

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In his testimony, Mederos said his brakes failed but admitted to driving 85 mph, well above the speed limit of 45 mph. A Jefferson County jury found him guilty of 27 counts, the most serious being first-degree assault.

The original lengthy sentence was due to the number of charges, mandatory minimum laws, and the requirement that some sentences be served consecutively.

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Hochul: Racism is a “Public Health Emergency”

New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation last week addressing discrimination and racial injustice, claiming that racism is a “public health crisis.”

Among other things, the new laws address the need for comprehensive data collection on victims of violence, as well as the implementation of language translation technology across all state agencies. It also covers inclusivity in healthcare, including the expansion of newborn screenings to include conditions more commonly found in newborns from Africa,

Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

In a statement last week, Hochul said, “For far too long, communities of color in New York have been held back by systemic racism and inequitable treatment. I am proud to sign legislation that addresses this crisis headon, addressing racism, expanding equity, and improving access for all.”

The legislation was put forward

by State Assemblymembers Karines Reyes and Yuh-Line Niou Senators Kevin S. Parker and Brad Hoylman.

In a press release, Reyes said, “Our state is meant to be a beacon of diversity, equity, and inclusion, but without the tools to protect our marginalized communities these words carry little truth behind them. The Hate Crimes Analysis and Review Act ensures that we collect accurate demographic data of perpetrators and victims to better protect the communities being targeted. Without data, the plight of many will remain invisible.”

Senator Julia Salazar said, “As New York continues to face the devastation caused by the COVID-19 public health crisis, it is essential that the needs of all of our communities be understood and met. For the diverse Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities in New York this can-

not be accomplished without detailed data that recognizes and respects the experiences of the numerous groups that make up the AAPI communities.”

Noiu noted, “Asian-American communities are among the most impoverished in New York. They also faced some of the toughest headwinds even before the pandemic began while also being unable to navigate critical government services due to a lack of language accessibility.”

nouncement said he was “presented with a new opportunity to fight for the most important issues I believe in.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced last week that Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) will replace Nunes as ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Nunes served in Congress for 10 terms before resigning.

Nunes Resigns

Storm Strands Drivers

On Monday, Rep. Devin Nunes formally resigned from Congress.

The California Republican departs to run former President Trump’s new media and technology company.

Nunes’s resignation letter was read aloud on the House floor during a pro forma session on Monday.

“The honorable, the speaker, House of Representatives, madam, I write to inform you that I have notified California Gov. Gavin Newsom of my resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives effective today at 11:59 p.m.” the letter reads.

“It has been the honor of my life to represent the people of California’s San Joaquin Valley for the last 19 years.”

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), who was presiding over the House at the time, then announced that with Nunes’s resignation “the whole number of the House is 433.”

In addition to Nunes’s seat, late Rep. Alcee Hastings’s (D-Fla.) remains vacant following his death in April.

Nunes announced last month that he was resigning from Congress to become the CEO of Trump’s new company, the Trump Media & Technology Group. The company is advertising itself as an alternative to Big Tech.

Nunes’s plan to depart the House was a shock to many in Washington, as the California Republican was poised to become the chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee if Republicans win control of the House in November’s midterm elections.

The congressman in his an-

Scores of vehicles were stuck on the Interstate 95 in eastern Virginia for hours on Monday evening because of a severe winter storm. Disabled trucks blocked the way in snowy and icy conditions, causing other cars to be stuck for hours.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia was among the stranded passengers. He had been on the road for 19 hours and was still stuck in traffic at 8:30a.m. on Tuesday morning.

“I started my normal 2 hour drive to DC at 1pm yesterday. 19 hours later, I’m still not near the Capitol,” Kaine tweeted, posting a picture from behind a windshield, showing three trucks ahead.

The storm had dropped more than a foot of snow in the Fredericksburg area and left more than 400,000 customers in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast without power.

While traffic was snarled on the interstate, drivers were also urged to stay off local roadways as dozens of traffic signals were out of service due to power outages, officials said.

More than 400,000 customers were in the dark Tuesday morning from Georgia to Maryland, with nearly 300,000 outages reported in Virginia alone.

Further north on I-95, federal government offices in Washington, DC, opened with a three-hour delay on Tuesday after being shuttered Monday due to the weather. The district recorded 8.5 inches of snow on Monday, the heaviest one-day snow total since January 2016. Capitol Heights, Maryland, recorded 11.5 inches of snow and Baltimore/Wash-

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ington International Airport reported 6.7 inches.

Three deaths were reported in Maryland after an SUV with four occupants collided with a snowplow. A few children were reported to have died by falling trees.

A Fake Flight Attendant

In a twist on the book Catch Me If You Can, a flight attendant who had been working at United Airlines for 23 years has been found to have been working under a stolen identity.

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston, investigators from the Diplomatic Security Service accused Brazilian national Ricardo Cesar Guedes of identity theft of deceased U.S.-born William Ericson Ladd. According to the complaint, Guedes went by the name Eric Ladd and used the stolen identity to illegally work for United Airlines.

Ladd was born in 1974 and died in a car crash in 1979 in Washington state, just a month before his fifth birthday.

Investigators say Guedes was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1972, but assumed Ladd’s identity in 1998 when he successfully applied for a U.S. passport using Ladd’s name. Since then, Guedes renewed his passport six times until December 2020 when the State Department flagged the application for “various fraud indicators.”

A criminal investigation was launched into Guedes, and agents were able to trace his identity back to Brazil with fingerprints he submitted for his Brazilian national identity document in the 1990s, according to the complaint. Court documents reveal the technical staff at Customs and Border Protection compared those fingerprints to the set Guedes submitted for his background check for employment with United and confirmed they were a match.

Guedes is no longer working for United.

Guedes has been charged with providing a false statement in a passport application, falsely impersonating a U.S. citizen, and entering an airport secure area under false pretenses, according to the complaint.

DSS agents arrested Guedes at the airport after watching him board a flight while holding a phone that read “Eric’s iPhone” on the screen.

Haiti Assassination Suspect in Miami

A key suspect in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse is in U.S. custody in Miami after being arrested Tuesday morning by Homeland Security agents upon arrival from Panama.

Mario Antonio Palacios, known as “Floro,” will be the first person allegedly involved in the assassination of the Haitian president to be formally charged with a crime. Palacious had been in custody in Jamaica, which moved to deport him to his homeland of Colombia on Monday. But he didn’t end up Colombia, instead being diverted to the United States during a stopover in Panama.

Sources familiar with the investigation said he faces charges of conspiracy to provide material support resulting in the death of a foreign leader and conspiracy to kidnap and kill a foreign leader.

Haiti initially arrested 44 suspects after the assassination last year.

One has since died of COVID-related illnesses, and four others were recently released by the investigative judge conducting the probe. None of those individuals have been charged.

Palacios had been held in Jamaica on an immigration violation. He is accused of being one of the main executors of the plan leading to Moïse’s July 7 assassination. He was believed to be among 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans who made up a hit squad that stormed the president’s private residence in the middle of the night, claiming to be part of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration operation.

A $175M Bonus

If you bank at Santander, you may have gotten a really nice present last week.

The British bank Santander UK accidentally sent out an extra $175 million to clients on December 25.

The 75,000 different transactions landed in 2,000 corporate and commercial accounts. Now, the company wants its money back.

The bank says that a technical glitch caused double payments to customers. Still, no clients were left “out of pocket,” since the extra money sent out was from its reserves.

“We will be working hard with many banks across the U.K. to recover the duplicated transactions over the coming days,” the bank said about trying to get the extra money back from clients.

Santander won’t try to reclaim money if it means overdrafting a person’s account.

Talk about being an Indian giver on a grand scale.

Raining Fish

In a story apropos for the parsha, the residents of Texarkana, Texas, were surprised to see it raining fish last week.

In a Facebook post, the town joked about the incident that occurred on December 29.

“2021 is pulling out all the tricks… including raining fish in Texarkana today. And no, this isn’t a joke,” the post said.

In reassuring residents, the town added that the fish falling from the sky were a result of something called “animal rain.”

“Animal rain is a phenomenon that occurs when small water ani-

mals like frogs, crabs, and small fish are swept up in waterspouts or drafts that occur on the surface of the earth.

They are then rained down at the same time as the rain,” it explained.

“While it’s uncommon, it happens, as evidenced in several places in Texarkana today. So, show us your fishy pics! And please, for the sake of everyone, let’s tiptoe into 2022 as quietly as possible,” the post concluded.

So there is some truth about it raining cats and dogs.

Bathroom Quarantine

It’s not easy quarantining after testing positive for Covid-19. But it’s really not easy quarantining in the bathroom – and especially in the bathroom of an airplane for five hours.

Two weeks ago, Maria Fotieo, a schoolteacher from Michigan, found out she tested positive for Covid-19 in middle of a flight from the U.S. to Iceland.

Fotieo said her throat began to hurt about halfway through her December 20 Icelandair flight out of Chicago. She had brought some rapid test kits with her in case she needed them while traveling.

“I just took my rapid test and I brought it into the bathroom, and within what felt like two seconds there were two lines (indicating a positive test),” Fotieo said.

Looking for a place to separate herself from the other 150 passengers, Fotieo ended up in the plane’s tiny bathroom for the last five hours of the flight to Reykjavik.

“Shout out to @Icelandair for my VIP quarantine quarters,” she wrote in a TikTok video she took of her experience.

Fotieo said she was able to make it through being cooped up in the bathroom thanks to the care of flight attendant Ragnhildur “Rocky” Eiríksdóttir.

“She made sure I had everything I needed for the next five hours from food to drinks and constantly checked on me assuring me I would be all right,” Fotieo said.

Upon arriving in Iceland, Fotieo

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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had to continue her quarantine in a Red Cross hotel. Even in the hotel, the flight attendant reached out to her and sent her flowers and holiday décor to make sure her experience was pleasant.

“It was so heartfelt,” Fotieo said.

“And she’s just an angel.”

to our continued reliance on virtual meetings and widely reported shortages of consumer products ranging from computer chips to furniture.

“Supply chain issues have become the scapegoat of everything that doesn’t happen or arrive on time and of every shortage,” one nominator said.

Totally.

Banished Words List Dynamic Duo

There are some words and phrases that have become so irksome that we’d love to ban them forever. The Lake Superior State University has set out to do something about them.

Each year, the college sets out its “Banished Words List.” The lighthearted list of 10 “winners” are chosen from among more than 1,250 submissions of overused, misused and generally groan-inducing words or phrases.

“Wait, what?” irritated nominators who felt the phrase intended to show astonishment or disbelief is overused.

“I hate it,” one wrote. Another added: “I don’t want to wait.”

The second slot went to another misused and overused phrase: “No worries.”

Nominators said it’s dismissive.

“If I’m not worried, I don’t want anyone telling me not to worry,” one contributor said. “If I am upset, I want to discuss being upset.”

The university began compiling an annual list in 1976. Past nods have gone to “détente,” “surely,” “classic,” “bromance,” and “COVID-19.”

There are only three entries associated with the pandemic this year after it dominated last year’s list.

“One possible takeaway from all this about the act and art and science of disclosing something is the more things change, the more things stay the same,” said Peter Szatmary, executive director of marketing and communications at the university. “At the very least, it’s complicated.”

“New normal” is ranked No. 8, and nominators criticized its overuse and questioned the logic behind the phrase.

“After a couple of years, is any of this really ‘new’?” one wrote.

“You’re on mute” and “supply chain” rounded out the list — a nod

Who better to have on your arm at graduation than your 88-year-old grandfather?

Melanie Salazar, 23, celebrated her commencement ceremony from University of Texas on December 11.

At the same time, Salazar’s grandfather, Rene Neira, received a degree of recognition in economics.

The degrees are the culmination of the duo attending college together. Salazar and Neira became viral sensations in 2016 when Salazar posted on social media that her grandfather was attending Palo Alto College in San Antonio.

The two were able to cross the graduation stage together.

“Since the 1950s, he has been working toward his bachelor’s degree, and it has been one of his life goals and dreams,” Salazar expressed. “But in the ‘50s, he … got married and started a family, so he wasn’t able to continue school right away.”

The past few years hasn’t been easy for Neira. He suffered a minor stroke and took a medical leave of absence from school. He is now terminally ill and under hospice care.

Still, even though he is a few credit short of getting a degree, the university gave him a degree in recognition for his stalwart efforts.

Salazar said when the two walked on the stage together, she was overcome with emotion as the crowd applauded them.

“I told him, ‘This is our moment.

I want to share it with you,’” she said.

“I’m so proud of my grandpa, and I’m so thankful I was able to have this moment, this memory, with him.”

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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Community A Special Mezuzah

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n Friday, December 31, rabbis from across Nassau County gathered to honor and bless County Executive-Elect Bruce Blakeman, as he prepared to step into office on January 1, 2022 as the first Jewish Nassau County Executive.

Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky of Yeshiva Toras Chaim of the South Shore performed two traditional blessings and affixed a mezuzah to sanctify the office of the County Executive for the first time in history. The mezuzah, which means “doorpost,” is traditionally hung on the entryway of Jewish homes as a reminder of the commandments, marking it as a sacred and holy

space and a reminder for those inside to “devote themselves to lives of meaning, value, kindness, and love for all beings.” The County Executive-Elect’s mezuzah was given to Blakeman as an inauguration gift and token of good luck from Rabbi Kamenetzky.

“As the first Jewish Nassau County Executive, coming together with leaders in the Jewish community to affix a mezuzah to my office door in the historic Theodore Roosevelt Legislative & Executive building is a moment I will never not forget,” County Executive-Elect Bruce Blakeman said. “I look forward to working with and representing all faiths and religions to move Nassau forward.”

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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Around the Community

Yeshiva Darchei Torah’s Virtual Evening of Celebration to Take Place This Motzaei Shabbos

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he Yeshiva Darchei Torah’s Evening of Celebration’s theme is “Partners,” as the Yeshiva will pay tribute to the special chinuch partnership that exists between the parents and the Yeshiva. The event will also feature the present awards to six individuals and families who have partnered with the Yeshiva.

This week we are pleased to feature two of them: Rabbi and Mrs. Shimon and Chanie Dachs Leadership in Chinuch Award

Beloved by talmidim and parents alike, Rabbi Shimon Dachs is passionate about his mission of ensuring the growth of every single student – academically, socially, and emotionally – as he sets them up for success on their personal paths in life.

Rabbi Dachs follows in the footsteps of his parents, Rabbi and Mrs. Zalman and Henya Dachs, longtime mechanchim at Ezra Academy of Queens and BYA in Brooklyn, respectively.

He continues to learn from their examples, and they in turn take great pride in his accomplishments.

Rabbi Dachs’s eishes chayil, Mrs. Chanie Dachs, is the daughter of Rabbi Refael, z”l and ybl”c, Mrs. Simi Pinto of Montreal. Rabbi Pinto was a close talmid of

Rav Shneur Kotler, zt”l, and known as an erudite talmid chacham, and he and his wife instilled in their family a strong chashivus for Torah learning. Mrs. Dachs is a popular sheitel macher in the Far Rockaway-Five Towns community, wellknown for her patience, sensitivity, and dedication to kallos, cancer patients and anyone in need of a listening ear and a kind word. The Dachses are the parents of six sons, five of whom have graduated from Yeshiva Darchei Torah. Their youngest son, Rafi, is currently an eighth grader in the Yeshiva.

Rabbi Dachs has been a staff member at the Yeshiva for close to 30 years, using his talents in various capacities and benefiting talmidim of all ages and abilities. Today he serves as the principal of Mesivta Chaim Shlomo’s general studies program and the Weiss Vocational Center. As a talented educator, he combines top-notch programming with an emphasis on meeting the specific needs of each and every student. Although many talmidim seem to have similar schedules and even capabilities, he views them as individuals and is laser-focused on giving each the tools to succeed.

Rabbi Dachs shares his personal perspective as an insider at the Yeshiva: “What is special about Darchei Torah is what is happening here every day. The boys feel there is always someone listening and someone who cares, no matter who you are. All this stems directly from Rabbi Bender’s example, and it trickles down to the entire staff, each of whom bring their special kochos to the table.”

The Dachses feel a deep sense of gratitude to Rav

Bender for the privilege of being a part of the Darchei family, for the growth and direction they have gained over the years, and for the exceptional chinuch each of their children experienced as talmidim of the Yeshiva.

Rabbi and Mrs. Dachs are treasured members of the Darchei family and most fitting recipients of the Leadership in Chinuch Award.

Special Presentation Recognizing Rabbi Joel Beritz

Over his long and impactful career as vice president of the Gruss Life Monument Funds and the Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education, Rabbi Joel Beritz has played an integral role in the continued development and growth of Torah institutions throughout this country, including Yeshiva Darchei Torah. He has proven himself to be a dear friend of and champion for thousands of Jewish children.

Rabbi Beritz is a native of Malden, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, where his parents, Jack (Yaakov Chaim) and Blanche (Baila) a”h were pillars of the community and of their shul, the Young Israel of Malden, under the leadership of Rabbi Hershel Brazil.

Even after relocating to other cities on the East Coast, Joel would return to the Young Israel for many years to serve

as the ba’al tokeah on Rosh Hashana.

Joel attended Boston University and received his graduate degree in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania, after which he became a professor of Slavic Languages and Judaic Studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Today, he resides in Brooklyn, where he is a longtime, valued member of Agudah of Avenue H, now led by Rav Dovid Gibber. Rabbi Beritz also maintains a close connection with the shul’s previous rav, Rav Aharon Zuckerman. He has a deep love for Eretz Yisrael, where he dedicated the Shuvu School in Rechovot in memory of his mother.

Rabbi Beritz began his career of dedicated service to the community in his role as director of education services for Russians at the Board of Jewish Education (BJE) in New York. He later became director of the Division of School Services at the BJE and administrator of the Fund for Jewish Education.

One of his most valuable and far-reaching endeavors in his post at the BJE has been the kashrus program for kosher commodities in the National School Lunch Program. In conjunction with the “613” vaad hakashrus, kosher commodities are produced and made available to Jewish schools nationwide.

For over a quarter-century, Rabbi Beritz impacted the education of Jewish children through his work at the Gruss Life Monument Funds. Yeshiva Darchei Torah in particular has been a grateful beneficiary of the Funds’ generosity many times over, and Rabbi Beritz has been one of the main catalysts behind our fruitful

relationship. He has always taken a special interest in the Yeshiva’s success and that of our talmidim. Some of the developments made possible by the Funds include new state-of-the-art playgrounds; enhanced science and technology labs; and science and engineering curricula in the eighth grade and high school. Yeshiva Darchei Torah is continuously reaping the benefits of Rabbi Beritz’s sage counsel and efforts on its behalf.

Well beyond Yeshiva Darchei Torah, it is impossible to quantify the vast number of mosdos – and individuals – in Klal Yisrael who have benefited from Rabbi Beritz’s caring heart and untiring efforts. Although recently retired, he continues to serve and take an active interest in his beloved world of chinuch and will continue to do so for many years to come.

It is an honor for the Yeshiva to recognize Rabbi Beritz’s dedication and impact on decades of growth in Jewish education with the inaugural Builder of Torah award. *** The Evening of Celebration will also honor Mr. and Mrs. Chaim and Bracha Schulhof, Guests of Honor; Mr. and Mrs. Jake and Rochel Walden, Parents of the Year; Mr. and Mrs. Motti and Yael Guttmann, Kesser Shem Tov Award; and Mr. and Mrs. Shumy and Rivkah Reichmann, Hakoras Hatov Award.

To place a journal ad or to make a gift, call 718.868.2300 ext. 310, email dinner@darchei. org, or visit Partners.

Darchei.org.

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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Around the Community

Yeshiva Ketana Bikur Cholim

Rosh Chodesh Shvat at MAY

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esivta Ateres Yaakov held their monthly Rosh Chodesh breakfast this past Monday ushering in the month of Shvat. The guest speaker was Rabbi Yoni Levin, Assistant Rabbi at Aish Kodesh and Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshiva of South Florida. Rabbi Levin focused on the middah of sensitivity, sharing anecdotes and stories of incredible madraigos of sensitivity while challenging the bochurim to step it up a level and treat their peers with an added level of the same sensitivity with which they would want to be treated.

In addition to the delicious bagels, eggs, orange juice and cookies that are customary at the MAY Rosh Chodesh breakfasts, the Student

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hessed abounds in Rabbi Yehoshua Ehrlich’s 5-6 grade Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island class. Students celebrated their first Gemara Siyum at Carlos& Gabby’s and didn’t want their classmate,

Government also sponsored Berrylicious for the entire student body. A Gutten Chodesh!

who’s been sick at home, to miss out on this important milestone. The students brought the siyum to their friend and performed the important mitzvah of bikur cholim at the same time.

Author Study at HANC

SKA’s Dor L’dor Breakfast

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ursery Aleph students at the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County Early Childhood Center in West Hempstead started an author study distinguishing the variety of styles depicted in children’s books. The morot introduced books by such popular authors as: Mo Williams, Laura Numeroff, Eric Carle, and Audrey Woods. After the

children enjoyed the stories and acquired new literary skills, they forged ahead and created exciting new hands-on activities and projects.

Parents were then invited to participate and read either the parent’s or child’s favorite book on Zoom. This was surely a highlight for all of the students.

athers, grandfathers, uncles and other male relatives of SKA ninthgraders joined for a wonderful morning at the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls on Friday, December 24. During a delicious breakfast buffet, the pairs posed for portraits which will be framed with a printed tefillah and given out as a memento of this terrific event.

The students and their relatives were warmly welcomed by Mrs. Elisheva Kaminetsky, Principal, Judaic Studies, Mrs. Bluma Drebin, Principal, General Studies, and Rabbi Yosef Zakutinsky, Director of Student Programs and Admissions. An inspiring d’var Torah was presented

by SKA freshman Ruth Ginsburg.

The enthusiastic participants

then learned together b’chavruta from prepared handouts on Shabbat candles and heard a shiur from SKA Mashgiach Ruchani, Rabbi Daniel Eisenbach, about what they had just learned. The second half of the program divided everyone into groups to play Kahoot, ending the program on a lighthearted note.

SKA’s Dor L’Dor ninth grade Breakfast was generously sponsored by Dov and Ariella Ginsburg and family l’ilui nishmat ha’chaver Aryeh ben Yaakov; Yakov and Nechama Goodstein in memory of Leah Liba bat Shimon; Dov and Vickie Herman in honor of Rabbi Zak and everything he does; and Jason and Yaffa Kuflik in honor of the ninth grade girls.

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Around the Community

As part of the 4th Grade Sukkah Fair at Yeshiva Darchei Torah, students in Rabbi Dov Langer’s CAHAL class created and presented models of a sukkah based on their learning of Masechtes Sukkah.

MTA Shabbaton

HAFTR HS Holds Girls’ Mishmar By: Bailey Levine

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AFTR High School recently held a wonderful Mishmar for ninth and tenth grade girls.

On Thursday evening, December 23, the girls gathered together and were eager to see what the night would bring. The event included many special activities such as divrei Torah, an exciting scavenger hunt, and a delicious dinner. The program began as students enjoyed selecting from an array of beautifully prepared dishes. Following the dinner, Mrs. Vann presented an inspiring d’var Torah about the week’s parsha, Shemot.

Afterwards, students were divided into teams and participated in a lively scavenger hunt around the building. The scavenger hunt consisted of many different tasks that each team had to accomplish.

Some of these tasks included taking

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TA freshmen had an incredible time on their freshman Shabbaton at the Hudson Valley Resort. The exciting trip began with laser tag on Thursday night and continued on through Friday and Shabbos with lively davening, meaningful learning programs, beautiful seudos, fun games, team-building activities, sports,

swimming, and so much more. Motzei Shabbos featured an uplifting havdalah, followed by an amazing Melave Malka, including a live DJ, dancing, and inflatables.

Talmidim truly enjoyed the opportunity to make new friends, bond together as a grade, and spend time with their rebbeim outside the classroom.

pictures in front of different signs found all around the building, organizing each group member into height order, doing a good deed, finding a calendar and taking a picture of the month of June, and many other creative tasks. Each group was required to photograph each action being completed so that Mrs. Schechter could determine which group won. This activity encouraged us to work together but also allowed us to spend time with one another in a memorable way.

The hunt was even more exciting because each team was competing for a special mystery prize!

The event was educational, fun, and a great opportunity to bond with friends. A huge thank you to Mrs. Schechter and our Student Activities Department for organizing the event, as well as all the other teachers and students who participated.

Did you know?

Lighting bolts can travel at 130,000 miles per hour and reach nearly 54,000°F in temperature

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Hidden Sparks Celebrates 5-Year Collaboration with HALB

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he Hebrew Academy of Long Beach (HALB) and Hidden Sparks are celebrating the fifth year of a collaborative effort to help struggling learners in mainstream classes. As part of the partnership, HALB utilizes an embedded Hidden Sparks Coach, Tamar Bauman, PhD., who works with educators on-site each week while also mentoring the school’s other education coaches.

Hidden Sparks is the leading nonprofit focused on providing Jewish day school educators with the tools to support struggling students in mainstream classrooms.

Hidden Sparks began its work with HALB in its middle school in

2017, and then expanded its program the following year to serve educators and students in the institution’s elementary and early childhood divisions. Over the course of the half decade of the collaboration, Hidden Sparks has worked directly with more than 66 educators in HALB. “One of the most frustrating experiences for teachers is not being able to help the student who’s physically present but struggling to succeed in their classrooms,” said Hidden Sparks Executive Director Debbie Niderberg. “Tamar and the HALB teachers collaborate to identify who are the struggling students, where the learning breakdown is occurring,

and how to improve the situation for the student to help them succeed.

Their work together also involves how to talk to the student so that the student can gain the skills not just for one class or for this year, but for their whole school experience.”

“Hidden Sparks has trained our staff to look for the strengths of each child rather than only focusing upon the weaknesses,” said HALB Lower School Principal Richard Altabe.

“Over the course of our partnership with the organization, Hidden Sparks has completely transformed the nature of the conversation about children in need of intervention. When teachers share strategies that work for the differentiated needs of each

child and learn from them so they can help children with similar difficulties, we are giving these students the best preparation and chances to succeed throughout their academic careers.”

Outside of the Hidden Sparks program at school, its educators also partake in high-level professional development courses the group offers. These courses focus on a myriad of topics including social emotional learning techniques, helping students cope with pandemic-related anxieties and other techniques educators can deploy in the classroom.

Some also participate in teams and receive training to become “Hidden Sparks Peer Coaches.”

Give A Little Heart: A Spectacular Success

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rom Wednesday, December 22 through Thursday, December 23, One Israel Fund hosted a virtual event and donor campaign called Give a Little Heart, which culminated in an amazing online Evening of Entertainment on Thursday evening. The campaign was an incredible success!

The goal of Give a Little Heart was to give people a chance to reconnect to the Land of Israel from afar by contributing to the $360,000 goal to help support the communities of Judea and Samaria. This campaign gave everyone the chance to tap into the part of them that belongs to the Land of Israel and give to the people living in our Heartland.

The communities of Judea and Sa-

maria face many challenges in their day-to-day lives as they actively work to protect and defend what’s rightfully ours. Thanks to the support of our donors, Give a Little Heart raised over $500,000 in support of a wide range of ongoing projects that will improve all aspects of life for the nearly 500,000 residents of Judea and Samaria. As an organization, One Israel Fund is extremely grateful to all those who contributed toward making the campaign a success.

The Evening of Entertainment was absolutely incredible as well. Nachum Segal was the perfect host, taking the audience through each part of the program seamlessly. Both Scott M. Feltman, EVP, and Eve Harow, Director of Community Development

and Tourism, shared incredible and inspiring words about One Israel Fund’s widespread impact. Amongst all of the outstanding videos, the unbelievable stories about some of the lifesaving security work, under the leadership of the director of security projects, Marc Provisor, was incredible and inspiring to watch. The audience was also privileged to hear from Col. Golan Vach, commander of the IDF Search and Rescue Unit, who led the rescue effort in Surfside, Miami, earlier this year as well as many other similar disasters throughout the world.

The entertainment aspect of the program was provided by the fascinating vlogger Hillel Fuld and the comedy of Ashley Blaker. The audi-

ence was also treated to a breathtaking musical performance and trek through the Heartland by renowned violinist Ariella Zeitlin.

All in all, the campaign and the event were both unprecedented successes. Thank you to all those who participated. We couldn’t have done it without you.

As Jacqueline Herman, president of One Israel Fund said, “There is no other organization that has as big an impact on the lives of those living in Judea and Samaria as One Israel Fund. It saves lives, improves lives and brings hope to so many.”

To find out more about One Israel Fund and their mission, visit oneisraelfund.org.

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County Executive Bruce Blakeman Sworn In

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n Monday, January 3, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips, and Nassau County Clerk Maureen O’Connell were sworn into office in front of 400 guests at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, NY. Blakeman, surrounded by Democratic and Republican elected officials, emphasized his commitment to public safety.

“I will be happy to join with our new District Attorney, Annie Donnelly, and our law enforcement professionals to go up to Albany and demand the repeal of the Bail Reform Act,” Blakeman asserted. “Criminals have more rights than victims.

Enough is enough.”

He also reiterated his decision not to follow the Governor’s order to would fine small businesses and individuals thousands of dollars for failing to wear a mask.

“Government has an important role in giving people options to create a healthier environment.

But government should not act in a heavy-handed way by curtailing important constitutional rights, such as the right of patients and their physicians to make healthcare deci-

YSZ Visits Rav Akiva Grunblatt

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he seventh grade at Yeshiva Sha’arei Zion had a fantastic experience last Thursday when they went to Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Kew Gardens Hills. They visited the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Akiva Grunblatt, to be farhered (tested) on the two blatt Gemara that they learned. This was followed by beit medrash learning with older bochurim of the Yeshiva and a trip to Yeshiva’s gym to enjoy some basketball.

The boys had an amazing time and are already looking forward to completing the next chunk of Gemara to visit another prominent yeshiva!

sions,” County Executive Blakeman said.

Ending his speech after having his family join him on stage as his wife Segal administered his oath of

Office, Blakeman spoke about his vision for the next four years.

Blakeman concluded, “My vision for Nassau County is for us to become the most exciting and vibrant

place to live – not just in America, but in the world. We will dare to be bold. We will leave no community behind.”

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MAY Annual Blood Drive

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ast Tuesday, Mesivta Ateres Yaakov once again hosted an incredibly successful blood drive, raising almost 60 pints in just a few hours. The drive was spearheaded by 11th grade Rebbe, Rabbi Shmuel Oratz, and organized by seniors Moishy Zern and Zaki Kapetas in conjunction with the Bikur Cholim of Brooklyn.

“The annual blood drive is just another way in which our talmidim inculcate the Torah values they are taught at the Mesivta into real world situations,” commented S’gan Menahel, Rabbi Yossi Bennett. “We are extremely proud of Moishy, Zaki and all the of the talmidim who helped

with the organization of the drive and who participated.”

The faculty and talmidim of the Mesivta got the collection started,

after which many people from the community participated, excited to donate and assist in this worthy cause. The Mesivta thanks the Bikur

Cholim and Maimonides Hospital for helping organize this drive and all those who participated. Yasher ko’ach!

Shevach High School Connects with History

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uring the fall semester, Shevach students participated in a compelling literary contest and had the privilege of hearing unique and inspiring guest speakers.

These events exemplified the concept that learning and thinking about history teaches us what was, increases our understanding of what is, and helps us design our hopes for what will be.

Shevach’s first literary contest of the year was titled “From Destruction to Dedication.” The contest was launched on the anniversary of Kristallnacht in November. The contest theme centered on the significant connection between the beis haknesses and the Beis haMikdash. Students were challenged to create original literary works in the forms of poetry, essays, or short stories which explored the theme by comparing or connecting Kristallnacht to Chanukah and analyzing the concepts of churban and geula. The works submitted by the students were incredibly original and powerful. The submissions were judged anonymously by a team of faculty members in both the Limudei Kodesh and General Studies departments.

Asara b’Teves was the date chosen for a presentation of the winning pieces. Mrs. Shulamith Insel, Menaheles, opened the event by sharing the insight that just as Kristallnacht was a harbinger of the destruction of the Holocaust, so, too, Asara b’Teves

marked the beginning of the Churban Beis HaMikdash. Mrs. Nechama Mirsky, Associate Principal, General Studies, highlighted the depth of the ideas that were reflected in the students’ work and announced the winning entries. A number of the students were then called on to read excerpts of their submissions aloud to the school, and everyone was impacted by the insights, creativity, and talent which emerged. Mrs. Miriam Krohn, Associate Principal, Limudei Kodesh, concluded the event by describing how the survivors of the Holocaust were like the singular jar of pure olive oil found by the Chashmonaim, from which the reigniting of the light of Torah and kedusha was made possible in both eras.

The winning entries were submitted by Mindy Firfer (1st place), Penina Kurtz (2nd place), Aviva Keller and Sophia Ben-Baruch (3rd place). Honorable Mention awards were given to Tamar Elazar, Rikki Friedman, Sarah Gulamov, Chani Miller, and Shaindel Faiga Stahler. The awards include cash prizes and certificates, and all students who participated in the contest will be invited to submit their work to Shevach’s arts and literature journal, to be published later this year be”H. Learning about history is exceptionally powerful when we hear about it from those who were there. Shortly following Veterans’ Day, the ninth grade was privileged to hear from Mr.

Joseph (Gene) Richter, a veteran of the Korean War and the proud grandfather of Mrs. Leah Hoenig, Shevach’s new librarian and teacher of the ninth grade elective course. Mr. Richter was a young man when he joined the U.S. Navy and served on the 887-foot-long USS New Jersey (now a navy museum in Camden, New Jersey). While many aspects of Mr. Richter’s service were exceptionally challenging, he remained steadfast in his goal to proudly maintain his Jewish identity and commitment to Torah. Shevach is grateful to Mr. Richter for sharing his rich experiences and important life lessons.

While the children of survivors may not have directly experienced the catastrophic events of the Holocaust, they have been greatly impacted by their parents’ emotional and physical memories, pain, and dreams. On Friday, December 31, Mrs. Toby Weiss, in partnership with Project Lead and with the assistance of Mrs. Elia Cole, presented a gripping and unforgettable session to the Shevach seniors on the topic of the sensitivity required when engaging with survivors of the Holocaust as well as other life traumas. Mrs. Weiss has used her life experiences as well as her professional training to bring awareness and compassion to survivors in her work at MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care, and she will be receiving the 2022 Jewish Programming Award from the Association of Jewish Aging Services.

Mrs. Weiss shared her own personal experiences of growing up as a child of two Holocaust survivors. The students were very affected by Mrs. Weiss’s presentation and by the artifacts she brought with her, including photographs of her family as well as a breathtaking original album created by the survivors in Bergen-Belsen in 1946. The album uses striking photographs and text to detail not only the devastation of the Jewish communities and families, but also the survivors’ courageous attempts to rebuild their lives after the war. As part of the twelfth grade’s course in Holocaust Studies, this special event deepened the students’ understanding of the war and survivors’ experiences through the story of an individual family. Mrs. Weiss’s poignantly combined messages on the importance of emunah and v’ahavta l’reacha kamocha. The lessons Mrs. Weiss shared on the importance of withholding judgement, as well as interacting with sensitivity and patience while helping people who have experienced loss, will b’ezras Hashem invigorate and guide the students in their continued acts of chesed in the community and beyond.

Shevach High School looks forward to a spring semester, iy”H, filled with even more events that increase our knowledge of the past, help us understand our present, and encourage us to build the best future possible.

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Zichor Yimos Olam Binu Shenos Dor V’dor....

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rom and beyond the 4th century BCE, the Jewish people enjoyed a rich and prosperous life in Turkey.

In the year 1492, under the rule of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand of Spain, the Jews were forced to choose between Christianity or expulsion. Bayezid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, welcomed the Jewish refugees and accepted them into the land. Under Bayezid’s reign, the Jews enjoyed a period of cultural flourishing with the presence of great scholars and Talmudists.

Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Ateres Eitz Chaim, Rabbi Gedaliah Oppen, was asked to assist in leading a recent mission to Turkey together with Rabbi Daniel Glatstein and Rabbi Moshe Hubner. Joining this important mission was the principal of Yeshiva Ateres Eitz Chaim, Rabbi Boruch Oppen, together with some of the talmidim and many chushava participants. A huge yashar koach goes to world traveler and historian Reb Moshe Klein for arranging this mission to Turkey. Aside from the many shuls and historical sites in Izmir, Istanbul, Bersa and other cities that were visited, they also took a beautiful sunset cruise around the Golden Horn.

One of the highlights of this mission was meeting with multiple Turkish ministers to advocate, support, and enhance the Jewish life in Turkey.

Learning about the culture, Jewish heritage and walking the streets where many great tzaddikim stepped was quite the experience. It was uplifting and at times emotionally exhilarating visiting and davening in shuls where there was no minyan or even a tefillah said for many, many years.

Some of the kivrei tzaddikim that the group visited included Reb Yakob Culi who wrote the Mayam Loez, The Mishnah Melech on the Rambam, Reb Chaim Filagi and his sons Reb Avraham and Reb Yitzchak, The Mizrachi on Chumash, and R’ Naftali Katz, the Baal Semichas Chachamim, who they were zoche to visit on his yahrzeit, the 24th of Teves. Zechusam yakein aleinu.

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Around the Community

Shemittah at TAG

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f you entered the gym in TAG Elementary school on Thursday morning, December 30, you would have been very surprised to find yourself at a farm. Thanks to the ingenuity and artistic talents of Morah Tova Friedman, the ambiance was just perfect and the farm setting literally came alive.

The talmidos of our third and fourth grade came to learn about the importance of Shemittah in a most

effective and entertaining manner.

Morah Mimi Shuter set the tone by sharing a story of hashgachah during Shemittah and how the farmers are rewarded for their mesiras hanefesh.

This was followed by a dance number set to the special Shabbos Shemittah song, which was performed by some of our talented 7 th grade talmidos under the direction of our fourth grade morah, Morah Menucha Lehrfeld. A lively song and dance depicting two

set of farmers who were grappling with Shemittah observance was enthusiastically performed by our sixth graders. Thanks to TAG’s talented assistants Morah Shevy Hahn and Morah Adina Knobel who directed the girls.

Since it is well known that hearing about something from afar is not like living it on a daily basis, TAG arranged to have a rav from Eretz Yisroel talk to the girls, via video. He

was able to describe to them from firsthand knowledge what the amazing and brave farmers are doing now during their “Shabbos” year.

The Ganger Early Childhood division of TAG also visited the farm to learn about Shemittah, as did some of our fifth grade classes.

Much credit must go to our tireless Curriculum Coordinator, Mrs. Sima Greer, who undertook this important project.

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Yeshiva Darchei Torah seventh grader Yaakov Fisher speaking in learning with Rav Shimon Dov Notis, maggid shiur in Mesivta Chaim Shlomo

Yeshiva Shaarei Zion High School girls celebrated Rosh Chodesh Shvat with a tree painting workshop in a local studio

Touro College and University System to Build New Campus in Times Square

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ew York City’s economy, still recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, received a major boost this week as Touro College and University System announced plans to build a new 243,305 square-foot campus at 3 Times Square, an iconic Midtown skyscraper owned and operated by the Rudin Family.

In announcing the plan to build its main campus in the heart of Manhattan, Touro reaffirmed its commitment to New York City and the continued importance of in-person learning. Touro will transform eight floors of the building into classrooms, science and technology labs, offices and event space and will have a dedicated entrance and lobby on the southwest corner of 43rd Street and Seventh Avenue. The more than 2,000 staff and students who will work and attend class there daily will provide a major economic boost to local businesses, revitalizing an area traditionally frequented by tourists and office workers.

“Touro College and University System has arrived at its 50th anniversary with confidence and strength under the stellar leadership of Dr. Alan Kadish,” said Zvi Ryzman, Board Chairman of Touro College & University System. “The signing of the lease at 3 Times Square for a new state-of-the-art home for several of Touro’s world class schools and pro-

grams indicates a bright and successful future for the institution.”

Seven of Touro’s schools will be housed in the location, including the College of Pharmacy (TCOP), New York School of Career & Applied Studies (NYSCAS), Graduate School of Business (GSB), Graduate School of Education (GSE), Graduate School of Jewish Studies (GSJS), Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW) and Graduate School of Technology (GST). Touro plans to officially move into the new space in January 2023.

“Throughout the 2020 and 2021 academic years, our schools and programs adapted and thrived during the transition to online and hybrid education, and we will continue to incorporate what we’ve learned to help

our school and approach to education evolve,” said Dr. Alan Kadish, President of the Touro College & University System. “After conducting comprehensive surveys and thorough conversations with faculty, staff and students, we know our community places great value on in-person learning.

Touro is now celebrating its 50-year anniversary and by improving our campus experience and upgrading our facilities, Touro will be well-positioned for the next 50 years.”

3 Times Square – originally constructed as the North American headquarters for Reuters Group PLC in the early 2000s – is a class A office tower that spans 885,000 square feet across 30 stories. In 2020, Rudin engaged architectur-

al firm FXCollaborative to assist on a sweeping capital improvement program at the tower, including the creation of a new, glass-walled triple-height lobby and a sculptural façade screen designed to diffuse the light of Times Square. The building is easily accessible to Grand Central, Port Authority and Penn Station, providing an ideal campus for commuting faculty and students.

The school will build a library, academic facilities, laboratories, student lounges and cafes, according to Mr. Jeffrey Rosengarten, Senior Vice President of Operations for the Touro College and University System who led the Touro management team in this exciting new initiative.

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The second graders at HANC celebrated their chag ha’chumash this week

YCQ Peulat Tevet

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eshiva of Central Queens (YCQ) grades 1-5 enjoyed a special Peulat Tevet organized

by Morah Osnat Fried, Elementary School Judaic Studies teacher, and Rabbi Michael Ribalt, Elementary School assistant principal. The students learned about the miracle of the Hebrew language being spoken again, after 2,000 years of no spoken Hebrew. They watched a short video about the life and accomplishments of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the father of modern Hebrew, and ended the activity with a fun game of Bingo in the Hebrew language.

Rabbi Michael Ribalt, Elementary School Assistant Principal, taught

students, “While Tevet is a month famous for the end of Chanukah and Asara B’Tevet, for the state of Israel, Tevet is also famous for the month that the Hebrew Lexicographer Eliezer Ben Yehuda was born.”

Rabbi Ribalt remarked, “The students appreciate the rich history of Eretz Yisrael. One man was able to use his talents to revive a language that wasn’t used on a large scale for thousands of years. It was inspiring to learn what one person can do with effort and passion. We use these special monthly Peulot to inspire our talmidim and enrich their connection to our Eretz Hakedosha!”

Shnayim Mikrah at YOSS

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everal weeks ago, Yeshiva of South Shore completed Sefer Bereishis in Shnayim Mikrah.

Over seventy boys from second to fifth grade participated and completed at least seven out of eleven weeks.

The boys who took part in this program each received a cupcake and

chocolate milk and were entered into several raffles. Congratulations to the grand prize winner, Yaakov Lasry, who won a Hover Board! Many more boys are excited to get on the train for Sefer Shemos and receive weekly incentive prizes for being maaver sedrah.

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Mazal tov to Shulamith’s second graders on their Chagigat Chumash

BBY and TMM Host Exciting Programs

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ecently, TMM hosted not one, not two, but three special programs!

On Motzei Shabbos parshas Veyechi, TMM held their first ever Alumnae Melava Malka in the Ateres Nechama Liba Simcha Hall. Nearly 200 TMM alumnae attended the event to reconnect and reminisce, many traveling from out of state to do so. Attendees were treated to a sumptuous buffet, but even more of a treat was seeing old teachers, friends, and classmates! Mrs. Chaya Gornish, TMM Menaheles, addressed the crowd,

who then viewed a composite video of a poem recited by past and present TMM teachers. Then a video of fifteen years’ worth of G.O. memories was shown. As the evening wore down, the same statement was on everyone’s lips: “We must do this again!”

Thank you to Mrs. Risa Gross for spearheading the event, as well as committee members Deena Weinstein, Leah Rosenberg, Tziporah Rybak, Chayala Mendlowitz, Sora Rochel Fishof, Mindy Mark, Chani Perlow, and Baila Brecher for seeing to all the innumerable details.

Thank you to Bayli Sinensky for putting together the teachers’ video, and to Temi Leff for writing the touching poem. Many thanks, as well, to Rivka Storch for compiling the G.O. video and to Adina Plotkin for creating the display of class pictures.

The next day, TMM invited mothers of adolescents and teenagers to a discussion on the topic of positive body image with Dr. Rachel Lowinger, PhD. Dr. Lowinger offered insight into why teenaged girls have a preoccupation with their appearance and explained how to model and guide positive attitudes related to eating and body respect. All those in attendance left with tools to help them nurture confident, secure, and emotionally thriving daughters.

BBY and TMM mothers often wish they could sit in on their daughters’ classes to get a taste of the BBY magic. On Tuesday mornings, they are now getting that chance at a mini-series of shiurim on Tehillim. Mrs. Gornish spoke at the first segment, held in the home of Mrs. Rochel Sima

Munk. Focusing on kappitel kuf-mem-ches, Mrs. Gornish illustrated how the perek describes all levels of creation, from domeim to tzomeiach, chai, and medaber, ending of course with Klal Yisroel, and how all are meant to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The second class, hosted by Mrs. Chanie Goldberger, featured Mrs. Miriam Russy Perr. Mrs. Perr delved into the first perek of Tehillim, the basic premise of which is that our focus in life, our deepest desire should be Torah. Dovid Hamelech tells us that if that is where our cheshek is, we will see success, because happiness comes from a connection with Hashem. Based on Rav Shimshon Refael Hirsch’s commentary, Mrs. Perr went on to explain the difference between reshaim, chotim and leitzim and to emphasize that it is Torah and those who keep it that will prevail in the end whilst reshaim are cast away.

Stay tuned for the continuation of this series in the coming weeks!

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Around the Community

Google Engineer Michael Beer gave a Zoom talk to HALB’s eighth grade boys this week on “Being a Google Engineer: What is the Cloud, What Makes Working at Google Exciting, and What Projects Do I Work On” as part of their STEM program

Yeshiva Darchei Torah talmidim of grades four and five took a grand bechina on the entire Sefer Bereishis last week

Achdut at DRS

YOSS Goes Wild “Fur” Animals

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chdut, the DRS Chapter of the National Honor Society, is affiliated with the National Association of Secondary Schools.

Last week, DRS inducted 42 students into the Achdut chapter of the National Honor Society. These students were selected for admission based on academic achievement and stellar character befitting this honor.

The induction ceremony began with words of welcome from both Rabbi Yisroel Kaminetsky, Menahel of DRS, and Dr. Hillel Broder, Principal of General Studies.

Pairs of inductees then delivered short vignettes to the parent audience about personal Jewish heroes that embodied the four pillars of the National Honor Society: character, leadership, scholarship, and service.

An honorary award was presented to Mrs. Robin Schick, the school’s Director of Support Services, who was honored for her many years as an advocate, champion, and counselor to the students and families of DRS. Finally, DRS was honored to host Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt, Associate Rabbi of the Young Israel of Woodmere and Chief of Infectious Diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau, as the keynote speaker at the ceremony. Rabbi Glatt is no stranger to our school community, especially during the last two years, as he has guided both our school and the broader Jewish community through the Covid pandemic with his expert medical and halachic knowledge and expertise.

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he first graders at Yeshiva of South Shore just completed a literacy unit exploring different animals. The boys learned about the life cycles, food chains, and habitats of a few animals. The boys enjoyed the unit so much they wanted more!

With the help of Mrs. Burns, our school librarian, each boy began their very own animal research report. The boys are using the literacy skills they have worked on in class to pick out the important information

from their animal book and use it to answer research questions. Once they finish the research stage, each boy will be designing a book about the animal they learned about. The books will give important facts about the animal including what it likes to eat, where it lives, what the animal likes to do, and other fun facts. The students are looking forward to presenting their published pieces.

What a great way to begin their exciting journey into informational writing.

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Winter Math Games at Shulamith ECC

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t Shulamith ECC, everything we do is based on research about how young children learn. Children learn best when learning opportunities are hands-on and meaningful. Hashem created the human brain in such a way that young children learn so much more when they are enjoying themselves and having fun.

Carefully crafted games build foundational math skills. Snake path games build one-to-one correspondence, matching games help children learn the concept

of pairs, games with dice teach them how to subitize, and games with spinners

give them practice reading numerals. Games also give children important practice

in social skills, taking turns, and verbally explaining their reasoning. The best part of

playing games is that they are so much fun!

Yeshiva Ner Shlomo Celebrates Momentous Siyum

Harav Shalom Silberberg and Harav Avrohom Halpern

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ast week, Yeshiva Ner Shlomo celebrated the completion of Masechta Eiruvin, the sixth siyum of an entire masechta in the five years since the kollel’s inception.

The simcha of the kollel members and their wives could be felt in the Bais Medrash. As one of the kollel wives expressed, “I am so proud that

my husband has a deep understanding of the laws of Eiruvin. This is a monumental accomplishment.”

Many choshuve rabbanim attended the siyum and were impressed to see the enthusiasm of these special yungerleit.

Rabbi Oren Kagan, who was zocheh to have completed the six ma-

sechtas, was honored to lead the Siyum. He has now completed Masechtas Nedarim, Chullin, Avodah Zara, Beitza, Moed Katan, and Eiruvin. He thanked Rabbi Sholom Silberberg, the Rosh Kollel, Rabbi Avrohom Halpern, the Menahel, and Rabbi Daniel Obadia for establishing this crown jewel in the center of Cedarhurst.

Rabbi Halpern expressed his inner simcha in seeing how this beautiful makom Torah is making such a great impact on its talmidim.

The Kollel is just beginning to learn Masechta Sanhedrin and looks forward to once again to invite the community to join in its forthcoming Siyum.

4.5” x 11.25” 63

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

Around the Community ‫בס״ד‬

JANUARY 2022

The Sun Rises Congratulations to the HALB Middle School spelling bee winners: First place winner Ayala Glicksman, second place winner Benaya Aryeh, and third place winner Eitan Summers

The lights are already turned off in the dark dining room where Chaim sits, his face resting on his hands, lost in thought. This morning, when the sun rose, casting a bright glow on the entire world, it somehow skipped him, leaving his own inner world a gloomy hue of black.

His friends are fathers of growing families. To them, Chaim is the forgotten old bachur – the one who will likely come as a bachelor to dance at their grandchildren’s weddings.

But at home, he is a beloved child and sibling, one who wets his pillow every night, still waiting with so much pain and hope for the long-awaited moment to arrive.

Chaim is in an uneasy mood, his eyes damp. He will be celebrating another birthday soon, and ever since he passed the thirty mark, birthdays are far from exciting. His head is spinning, with sad thoughts twirling around faster than the snow can fall. Perhaps there is something else I can try, he thinks, something drastic, something that will split the heavens and open the gates to my yeshuah.

Then lightning strikes. Tehillim Kollel!

The talmidei chachamim of the kollel will daven for his painful plight every single day – and not just one minyan of Tehillim, but at each of the Tehillim Kollel locations at mekomos hakedoshim around the world, they will plead for the Tehillim to unlock the locked doors.

At HALB’s Lev Chana, students celebrated Rosh Chodesh Shvat with their very own almond tree snacks

Brachos Initiative at IVDU LI

T

he students at IVDU LI have begun an exciting unit on brachos, strengthening their preexisting knowledge and learning all the brachos together as a school.

To kick off the unit and in conjunction with Rosh Chodesh Shevat, the birth month of the trees, the students enjoyed a special “fruity” breakfast treat, representing our first bracha introduced. Throughout the week, each class is learning about the reasons they make a Borei

Pri Ha’eitz on the fruit that they are bringing in. Included in this exciting initiative are field trips to the grocery store to shop for their own fruits, as it is important to bring real life experiences into the classroom and to teach students how to bring these skills out into the community beyond the classroom.

This brachos initiative will continue throughout the next few months, with focus on both brachos rishonos and brachos acharonos.

*** Three months later, Chanukah 5782: It is night again. But this time, the lights shine bright in the dining room. Chaim is sitting at the head of the table with a blissful smile on his face.

Joyous brachos are coming his way and a beautiful chassan watch is proudly displayed on the table. Nes gadol hayah sham!

The sun is shining on Chaim, too, today – in the zechus of the tefillos of David ben Yishai.

WEEKLY COLUMN OF RECENT EPISODES

BY TEHILLIM KOLLEL

Did you know?

Electricity travels at the speed of light – more than 186,000 miles per second

Sign up for our annual mermbership:

718.705.7174 Info@TehillimKollel.org www.TehillimKollel.org

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Rav Leibish Langer, mashpia at Yeshiva Darchei Torah, addressing the middle school on this month’s middah of Ahavas Yisrael, loving every Jew

Rav Tani Goldbaum’s fifth graders at Yeshiva Darchei Torah with a threedimensional illustration of the Gemara’s case in Perek Eilu Metzios of Kikaros Shel Baal Habayis

Rabbi Feiner Speaks at Netzach HaTorah

O

n Monday, Rosh Chodesh Shevat, Mesivta Netzach HaTorah welcomed Rabbi Eytan Feiner, Rav of the White Shul, to join the rosh chodesh seudah and

address the rebbeim and talmidim of the Mesivta. The boys sat spellbound as Rabbi Feiner wove incredible divrei Torah and inspiring stories together. The Rav commented on how

Penguin Play at HAFTR

T

he HAFTR N4 students have been using words like waddling, diving, and tobogganing. Perhaps it has something to do with our unit about…PENGUINS! The winter animal they are learning about is everyone’s favorite little black and white bird, the penguin.

They learned many interesting things about penguins and then took all the knowledge learned about penguins and recorded the information into categories.

In addition to Where is Home, Little Pip? and One Cool Friend, the

children read How a Penguin Chick is Hatched, and then sequenced the book, doing their very best to write the number corresponding to each picture. The children each created a penguin; now the penguins all hang together in the classrooms since they know that penguins move in groups!

After we finished our unit on penguins, we practiced walking around the room like penguins and huddled together for warmth just like real penguins. We learned that the lucky penguin in the middle is the penguin that stays the warmest.

impressed he is to hear of the “ritzifus” learning program at the Mesivta, at which talmidim learn uninterrupted for hours at a time!

Following the words of chizuk,

Rabbi Feiner joined the Mesivta in dancing and answered questions from the many who followed him out of the Beis Medrash.

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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Around the Community

Record Crowd Shows up at YKLI Dinner at the Sands

Rabbi Krigsman, Menahel, congratulating Rabbi Bajnon, Rosh Yeshiva of YKLI

L-R: Rabbi Shlomo Dovid Pfeiffer, S’gan Menahel; Mr. Eddie Silver, Kesser Shem Tov Awardee; Dr. Benji Stern, Kesser Shem tov Awardee; Rabbi Yehoshua Robinson, Kesser Shem tov Awardee; Rabbi Zvi Bajnon, 51 years of Chinuch; Rabbi Tzvi Krigsman, Menahel; Rabbi Moshe Katz, Director of Development, and Rabbi Ari Ginian, Executive Director

L-R: Rabbi Yosef Kestenbaum, Mr. Jay Kestenbaum, Rabbi Zvi Bajnon, and Mr. Ethan Kestenbaum

What Parents and Teachers Have Been Waiting For

By Sandy Eller

W

ith adults and children alike reeling from the impact of recent happenings, the creators of the first ever social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum for the Orthodox Jewish community have released a resource booklet for educators and parents on addressing difficult current events with children.

Darcheinu, a division of Amudim, is making the booklet available to the public at no charge as a supplementary component to its comprehensive SEL curriculum for 5th through 12th graders which addresses emotions, communications, bullying, and friendships, among other topics. The booklet is part of Darcheinu’s continues mission of providing ongoing support to students by responding to events as they occur.

“We see ourselves as a resource for schools in the realm of children’s social and emotional health,” explained Darcheinu program director

Shira Berkowitz. “We know that children all over the world are talking and are struggling with this. With our children being faced with multiple incidents within a relatively short period of time, we felt that these general guidelines could be used in other circumstances as well, because we all need to know what to say to kids and what not to say.”

Darcheinu program consultant and curriculum editor Rabbi Yisroel Grossberg explained that many educators believed that their students were unaware of the difficult situation until they overheard them discussing it during recess. Finding themselves facing an uncomfortable issue that had to be addressed, some reached out to Darcheinu for guidance.

“Baruch Hashem, there was a time when students would be told that they were in trouble for talking about those things, but this situation affected young kids in particular and they heard their own parents dis-

cussing it behind closed doors,” said Rabbi Grossberg. “We don’t have the luxury of not addressing this, so we rushed to put together a resource that would take sensitivities into account so that we could deliver something that yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs would be comfortable with.”

The first segment of the booklet, titled “Discussing Delicate Current Events with our Children – Strategies and Hashkafa,” was sent last week to more than four dozen participating schools that utilize the Darcheinu curriculum. Multiple principals who appreciated its clear, concise guidance contacted Darcheinu with positive feedback, and the full booklet is now available for free download to all schools, as well as parents, at www.darcheinu.org.

Program coordinator and curriculum writer Rabbi Avi Landa noted that providing children with the tools to make sense of the world around them is a critical component of the Darcheinu curriculum,

which is endorsed by the Vaad Roshei HaYeshiva of Torah Umesorah and operates under the guidance of HaRav Hillel David, shlita, and HaRav Elya Brudny, shlita.

“It is vital that we give our rabbeim and our teachers the resources to properly answer these questions,” said Rabbi Landa. “The Darcheinu curriculum provides a platform for teachers to be able to build skills with our students from the ground up, allowing them to healthily cope with and grow in life. This booklet is just one example of a supplemental resource outside of the curriculum where Darcheinu is there to help educators and parents alike to properly teach, inspire and guide our children.”

For more information on Darcheinu and to download “Discussing Delicate Current Events with Our Children – Strategies and Hashkafa,” visit them online at www. darcheinu.org.

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

NEW: Living Emunah Volume 6 Achieving a Life of Serenity Through Faith

W

hy have literally hundreds of thousands of people made the Living Emunah series an important – and beloved – part of their lives? Is it the serenity that they feel when they read stories of Hashem’s infinite chessed to His People? Is it the hope that envelops them when they learn to truly feel that Hashem is watching over them? Is it the strength it gives them to face their challenges with patience and faith?

Yes, the extraordinary success of the Living Emunah series – with more than 300,000 copies in print – is due to all those reasons, and more. For its many readers have discovered that when they “live emunah,” their lives are enriched, their relationships are improved, and, most important, their connection to Hashem is incomparably strengthened.

And there are the stories. So many stories. The businessman who went from needing charity funds for his family’s food to giving out thousands of dollars to the poor – in less than a year. The rabbi who went to the “wrong” hospital – at exactly the “right time.” The family that chose the path of emunah and gratitude and saw what could have been a disastrous weekend turn into a wonderful and memorable vacation.

When we “live emunah,” problems turn into challenges, challenges morph into opportunities, and opportunities become the foundation for lives of joy and tranquility. *** We all experience times when we naturally feel sad and want to complain. We want Hashem to have mercy on us, so we cry and hope that He will see our pain and bring

us salvation. Rav Simchah Bunim of Peshischa taught that it would be more effective to overcome the inclination to be sad and, rather, pray to Hashem with happiness, thanking Him for the past and hoping for the future.

The Sfas Emes wrote in a letter of chizuk: “The more you can hold yourself back from crying and being in anguish, and instead, place your hope in Hashem, the faster your salvation will come.”

Hashem knows when someone is in pain. He knows when someone feels like crying. If, at that time, the individual can contemplate his blessings, recognize Hashem’s ability to help him in the future, and pray with a positive attitude, it would help him even more than tears. Of course, a person can cry to Hashem if the tears will help him connect better. But the crying should never be from complaining, just as an emotion that will help him connect.

Rabbi Yaakov Galinsky related that he was once incarcerated in a jail cell in Russia for seventy-two hours, among many other people who were all sentenced to death.

Everyone else was depressed and crying, but Rabbi Galinsky learned and prayed as usual. Nobody else had an appetite, but he ate as usual.

He explained later, “I knew that crying would not help the situation. I decided to live what might have been my final hours the way Hashem wants me to live them: To learn. To pray. To eat. To live like a Jew with emunah, who never gives up hope, even when there’s a sharp sword at his neck. And it was with that attitude that, baruch Hashem, Hashem helped me be saved.”

Hashem knows our feelings. He knows when it is difficult for us. If

Did you know?

A spark of static electricity can measure up to 3,000 volts

we could manage to continue living happily the way He wants us to live, and pray with the joyous knowledge that we have Him available to us and He can help us in an instant, that will give us great merits and, b’ezras Hashem, bring us yeshuos. *** People need yeshuos and are willing to travel long distances and spend huge sums to obtain them.

Being able to overlook what people do to us, recognizing that it is from Hashem and is meant for our best, and completely forgiving them is a great segulah to open the door for yeshuos.

Rabbi Elimelech Biderman told the story of a Jew from Bnei Brak named Rav Yaakov who traveled yearly to America for the Yamim Nora’im to be a chazzan in a shul. One of the congregants there – whom we’ll call Ephraim – had two older sons who were still unmarried.

Every year he would purchase the honor of opening the aron kodesh for Ne’ilah as a zechus for his sons to find their respective zivugim.

The three of them would stand by the aron throughout Ne’ilah and cry heartfelt tears to Hashem to send them a yeshuah. They needed extra Heavenly help, as these young men had their share of issues which were, b’derech hateva, preventing them from getting married.

One year, Ephraim got into a confrontation with the gabbai of the shul. The gabbai was extremely angry and wanted to get back at him.

On one of the days preceding Rosh Hashanah, when Ephraim was not in shul, the gabbai announced that he would be taking bids on the kibbudim for the Yamim Nora’im in advance. Someone bid on the honor of opening the aron kodesh for Ne’ilah, and the gabbai sold it to him. His sole purpose for initiating early bidding was to hurt Ephraim by selling pesichah for Ne’ilah to someone else, and he succeeded in doing so.

The time came to open the aron for Ne’ilah, and Rav Yaakov, the chazzan, watched to see Ephraim’s reaction when someone else opened

the aron. As he feared, Ephraim was burning with anger. When Yom Kippur was over and everyone had broken their fast, Rav Yaakov went over to Ephraim’s house and spoke to him for nearly two hours, trying to appease him and convince him to forgive the gabbai for his actions. Ephraim was so bitter that he could not hear anything Rav Yaakov was trying to tell him. At the end of the conversation, Rav Yaakov said, “Look, you have been buying pesichah for years and your sons are still not married. Maybe you should try a new segulah. Accepting that what happened was from Hashem and forgiving the gabbai completely for what he did would be a great segulah.”

Ephraim considered Rav Yaakov’s words carefully and finally agreed to forgive the gabbai. He released his built-up tension and hatred and worked on himself to truly forgive him.

The following year, in the summertime, a man from the American shul’s office called Rav Yaakov in Bnei Brak, as he always did, to confirm that he would be returning for the Yamim Nora’im. While he was on the phone, Rav Yaakov asked him about Ephraim.

“Oh, didn’t you hear?” the man replied. “This past winter, both of his sons were married.”

Accepting what people do to us as coming from Hashem, thanking Hashem for the kapparah that it brought, and forgiving the individual is such a powerful avodah. It will bring us glory in the future and it opens the doors for yeshuah now.

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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Around the Community

Now is the Time to Begin the Halachos of Purim with Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha

By Chaim Gold

“Y

ou don’t have to wait for the siyum to come aboard Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program. You can experience how learning daily halacha transforms your life by jumping into hilchos megillah and Purim and completing all the halachos of Purim before Purim this year. What a way to get started, by being engaged in a dovor b’ito, learning halachos in their right time!” These were the words of Rabbi Avigdor Bernstein, a senior member of Hanhalas Dirshu, advocating that new Daf HaYomi B’Halacha learners start right now.

Indeed, there is much buzz in the air about the historic milestone of completing the second machzor of Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha with massive world siyumim being held in Eretz Yisroel, the United States and Europe. The mammoth accomplishments of lomdei Daf HaYomi B’Halacha who have persevered, day in and day out, for seven years traversing all six chalakim of Mishnah Berurah, will be celebrated and acclaimed. The fact that a large portion of the learners also took monthly tests on the halachos and daily mussar learning is something that will be celebrated with great fanfare.

Certainly, there will be thousands of new participants who will start chelek aleph of Mishnah Berurah with the machzor shelishi which will commence on 19 Adar Aleph/February 20, but there is NO reason to wait! If you want this Purim to have more meaning, if you want to feel the true simchas Purim this year, one of the best ways to do this is by learning the halachos of Purim before Purim.

“It is a totally different experience when you learn the entire Mishnah Berurah on that Yom Tov in advance of that Yom Tov. You really LIVE the Yom Tov,” related Rabbi Bernstein.

Investing Before the IPO! We all know that in the stock market there is something called an IPO, an initial public offering, where investors can get in on a new stock

that will go public. Imagine if you could get in on that stock even before the IPO! That is what starting Daf HaYomi B’Halacha with hilchos megillah is.

On 9 Shevat/January 11, Daf HaYomi B’Halacha will begin the halachos of Purim, so now is the time to get in on the ground floor! This way, by the time the new machzor starts, you will be familiar with everything that has to do with Daf HaYomi B’Halacha, you learn to understand the nuances of the Mishnah Berurah, of the Biur Halacha. You learn how the biurim and musafim – Dirshu’s masterful compilation of the poskim with scenarios that came after the Mishnah Berurah was written, transform abstract concepts into modern-day scenarios that you must know in order to observe halacha properly.

All Three Components of a Rav Indeed, at a prior Dirshu Daf HaYomi B’Halacha event for rabbanim, the Rosh Yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, HaGaon HaRav Malkiel Kotler, shlita, said, “The Gemara tells us, ‘Everyone who learns daily halacha is assured a place in Olam Habaah, as the pasuk states, “Halichos olam...”’

When a person learns halacha each day his every halicha, his every step throughout the day is done in accordance with the Torah. This is what assures him Olam Habaah. Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program gives every Yid the opportunity to be a shoneh halachos b’chol yom and to become a ben Olam Habaah because when he learns halacha his every step will be taken in accordance with Hashem’s desire through the observance of halacha.”

The Rosh Yeshiva then quoted his father, HaGaon HaRav Shneur Kotler, zt”l, Rosh Yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha, who said that there was once a machlokes among great rabbanim of previous generations as to what constituted the primary duties of a rav. One posited that the main duty is to answer shailos. Another said that the main duty is to stand in the breach and ensure that

Daf HaYomi B’Halacha Boro Park testing location

the community maintains a certain standard. The Chofetz Chaim, however, explained that the main duty of a rav is to learn Torah with his congregants.

“Perhaps,” the Rosh Yeshiva exclaimed, “learning Mishnah Berurah daily in a program such as Daf HaYomi B’Halacha contains all three of these components. It teaches psak halacha, it empowers a person to keep a high standard of Yiddishkeit and it is limud haTorah! Now is the time to encourage all to join because you cannot compare someone who learns halacha to one who does not,” concluded the Rosh Yeshiva.

The Chinuch Value of a Test Reb Chaim Bauer has been learning the Dirshu Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program for twelve years straight. Month in and month out, Reb Chaim visits the Boro Park testing site where he takes the bechina.

He explains, “Learning the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha and having to take a test on it every month fills you with a sense of energy and urgency! It gives you such a push! Even if you did not do well on one test, the very fact that you took the test pushes you to persevere and make sure that the next month you will do better. You always know that the next test is less than a month away. It infuses you with cheshek, with the desire to learn and know.”

Reb Chaim also pointed out that when a father is part of Dirshu it has a transformative impact on the entire family, especially the children.

“When your children know that you are learning Dirshu, you are learning for the bechina, they have

such a sense of deep pride in the Torah accomplishments of their father that it really changes the chinuch of the entire family!”

So Much to Learn There is so much to learn and so much to know.

Is there an obligation to eat meat on Purim?

Only if you learn Dirshu’s Biurim and Musafim will you be able to know what Rav Shmuel Wosner says about this.

There is a mitzvah to give a machatzis hashekel on erev Purim. Can you give the machatzis hashekel from maaser money? What does Rav Nissim Karelitz say about this?

When you say the bracha of Shehecheyanu on the megillah on Purim morning, what other mitzvos are you supposed to have in mind?

All these and hundreds upon hundreds more halachos will come to life as you embark on hilchos megillah with Daf HaYomi B’Halacha this week, 10 Shevat/January 12. NOW is the time to get in on the ground floor of Daf HaYomi B’Halacha so that when the new machzor shelishi starts, your engines will be going full throttle. You will already have utmost familiarity with the program and what it takes to be a Yid who is shoneh halachos b’chol yom and can then become a ben Olam Habaah because when a person learns halacha, every step of his day is lived with Hashem!

Try it!

To join, please contact Dirshu at 1-888-5Dirshu or email info@kolleldirshu.org.

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

1.

TJH

*

Centerfold

Big Apple Facts  of 40 minutes to work each  population New Yorkers travel an average

day…and 40 minutes back from work. The average commute in the U.S. is 26.4 minutes. (Hey boss, now you understand why I want to work from home?)



More than 47 percent of New York City’s residents over the age of five speak a language other than English at home. (I kspeas gip natil.)

 of 4.9 million people ride the

In “normal” times, an average

New York City subway each weekday. (And half of them also call it home.)



200 ticker-tape parades have taken place in Lower-Broadway’s “Canyon of Heroes.” The first ticker-tape parade celebrated the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886. (In 2086, there may be a ticker tape parade for the Mets.)

36% of the current of New York City was born outside the United States. (Chai com from Moser Rassah.)



The Federal Reserve Bank on New York’s Wall Street contains vaults that are located 80 feet beneath the bank and hold about 25 percent of the world’s gold bullion. (On another note, I happen to be looking for a good locksmith, if anyone knows of one…)



New York City was founded as New Amsterdam in 1626 but didn’t consolidate the five boroughs which make up modern New York City – Manhattan, Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx – until 1898. (Whoever put this concoction together should probably stay out of the kitchen.)



New York City was the capital of the United States of America for five years, from 1785 to 1790,

before the capital was moved to Washington, D.C. (It’s enough that we have to put up with so much pollution and trash. Imagine if we had to put up with politicians, too?)

 vendors of street food. (And

New York City has over 40,000

they all get their glazed bowtie donuts from the same doughnut shop.)



The Metropolitan Museum of Art (“The Met”) contains over 2 million works, making it one of the largest art museums in the world.

(My paint-by-number Chanukah painting even made it in!)



The New York Post, founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1803, is the longest running newspaper in the United States. (Or, as the NY Post would say, “Old, Gray and Haggard Paper Keeps Chugging Along.”)

Riddle Me This?

A train goes between Chicago and New York. The brakeman, the fireman and the engineer are named Smith, Jones, and Brown. (The names are not necessarily in order.)

There are also three passengers named Mr. Smith, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Brown on the train.

Mr. Brown lives in New York. The brakeman lives halfway between New York and Chicago. Mr. Jones earns exactly $20,000 per year. Smith beat the fireman at their last game of golf. The passenger who lives in Chicago has the same name as the brakeman. The brakeman’s next door neighbor is a passenger on this train and earns exactly three times as much as the brakeman.

What is the name of the engineer?

Answer to riddle: Smith

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

5 Boroughs Trivia We have it on good information that Mayor Eric Adams is an avid Centerfold reader. We wish him luck running the Big Apple and offer him this trivia as a starting point as he gets to know our city.

1. The Kosciuszko Bridge connects Queens and Brooklyn. Now close your eyes and spell Kosciuszko.

2. Now spell Kosciuszko backwards. (Think you spelled it right? Check again.)

3. Which borough has the most people living in it? a. Queens b. Brooklyn c. Manhattan d. Nassau County (If you answered this, please cease and desist playing this game immediately).

4. What should Staten Island’s motto be? a. The New Jersey of the Five Boroughs b. Give us your trash, garbage, and disposables c. Taxation without subway station d. Our mafia could beat up your mafia 5. New York boasts many professional sports teams. How

many of them won championships in 2021? a. Why am I hearing crickets? b. Why am I hearing crickets? c. Why am I hearing crickets? d. Why am I hearing crickets?

6. What is the Battle of Brooklyn? a. It is what happens every time two people chance upon the same parking spot on 13th Avenue. b. It was the first major battle in the Revolutionary War after independence was declared, during which General George Washington sought to protect New York City. c. It was a political campaign during which Brooklyn wanted to separate from the other five boroughs and become its own city…and every other borough said, “Please do it!!” d. It is the July 4th hotdog eating contest at Coney Island 7. Which is the only borough that is

You Gotta Be Kidding Me! New York City tried to hold a nice New Year’s Eve party.

But they dropped the ball.

not an island? a. Manhattan b. Bronx c. Queens d. Brooklyn e. Staten Island (Don’t be fooled by its name…and the Verrazano Bridge)

Answer Key: 3) B 4) A, B, C, D 5) A, B, C, D 6) B- Georgy, thanks! But would not have been the worst thing in the world if Britain took Brooklyn…

7) B- Brooklyn and Queens are attached to Long Island. The Bronx is the only borough attached to the mainland.

Wisdom Key: 5-7 correct: Mayor Adams, you certainly know a lot more about New York than your predecessor, who thought that he was the mayor of Cuba.

3-4 Correct: All the honking messing with you head?

0-2 Correct: So, how is life in Idaho anyway?

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

3

Torah Thought

Parshas Bo

By Rabbi Berel Wein

T

his week’s Torah reading highlights the final contentious debate between Moshe and the pharaoh of Egypt. The opening sentence that introduces the drama describes that Moshe should somehow come to Pharaoh and warn him of the consequences that the continuing oppression of the Jewish people will

bring upon him and his nation.

The Hebrew text lends itself in the reading that Moshe should somehow come into Pharaoh, i.e., the name of the Parsha, “Bo.” Moshe is supposed to get to Pharaoh’s palace and gain some sort of understanding that will explain the stubbornness and masochism that dominates Pharaoh’s

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relationship with the Jewish people and his refusal to free them from subjugation and slavery.

What is undoubtedly perplexing is the adamant refusal by Pharoah to listen to the words of his own officers and advisors, who tell him that Egypt is lost. Yet despite everything – the plagues, the advice of his consultants and the imminent destruction of Egypt that Pharaoh is undoubtedly also aware of – he continues his suicidal course and finds it impossible to

Pharaoh, then how can he be held accountable for his actions, and why should the Egyptian people be punished if they really have no choice but to pursue the cause of enslaving the Jewish people?

There have been many ideas advanced over the ages that deal with this logical, philosophical, and moral issue. It is clear the Torah informs us that there is a point of no return regarding the behavior of nations and individuals. Once that line is crossed,

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save himself and his people from further tragedy. What drives Pharaoh to this extreme?

The Torah itself provides an answer, that the L-rd has hardened the heart of the Pharaoh to such an extent that, no matter what blows will be visited upon him, and what the cost to Egypt will be, he will attempt to persevere and enforce this policy of enslavement over the Jews. Pharaoh has lost control of the situation, for Heaven is intervening and Pharoah’s judgment is clouded.

Because of this circumstance, the hardening of the Pharaoh’s heart by Heaven, the moral question is raised by all the great commentators. If free will has been taken away from

even though initially it is a matter of free will, there is no longer any way to avoid the consequences of their choice.

It is analogous to missing the exit on a superhighway and finding that there is no other road that can lead them back to make the correct turn off the highway. The hardening of the heart of the Pharaoh recognizes the set of choices that he originally made in enslaving the Jewish people and refusing to listen to the words and warnings by others. Having made that choice in his own heart, he suffers the consequence of his behavior.

He simply has “missed the exit” and isn’t able to return to the correct path and direction.

Shabbat shalom.

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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From the Fire Parshas Bo

Hashem’s Bekeshe

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

T

his is the parsha of yetzias Mitzrayim, the exodus from Egypt, which is the foundation of our emunah, our faith in Hashem.

“I am Hashem your G-d who took you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.” Shemos 20:2.

Perhaps the most well-known Ramban in all of Chumash is on the last pasuk in this week’s parsha, commenting on the mitzvah of tefillin.

There (Shemos 13:16), the Ramban says that in the world Hashem created, people have free will because Hashem is hidden and people can deny all of the fundamentals of emunah. To counter this confusion, the miracles of yetzias Mitzrayim, the Exodus, demonstrate Hashem’s existence, His creation of the world, His knowledge of the events in the world, His providence, and His rulership over all Creation. The Ramban says that Hashem gave us the mitzvos of Shabbos, Pesach, tefillin, and many others so that we would constantly remember yetzias Mitzrayim, the Exodus, which will sustain and strengthen our emunah in Hashem.

Many tzaddikim, including Reb Tzadok Hakohen of Lublin, explain an even deeper reason why yetzias Mitzrayim is the foundation of our emunah, our faith. They explain that when a person wants to start being an eved Hashem, a servant of Hashem, whether it is a bar mitzvah boy or someone in his thirties, forties, or fifties, the yetzer hara, the evil inclination, makes certain claims to dissuade him. It claims, “How can a nobody like you think that you can possibly be a great servant of Hashem?” Or it says, “After what you have done, how can you think that you will be able to serve Hashem?!” The an-

swer to this is zecher l’yetzias Mitzrayim, remembering how Hashem took the Jewish people out of Egypt.

One should remember that if Hashem raised up the Jewish people in Egypt, who were slaves on the 49th level of impurity, to receive the Torah on Har Sinai over the course of just a few weeks, then surely any Jew can become a true servant of Hashem no matter who he is or what he has done.

Rav Naftali Ropschitzer offered an explanation of the words we say in Kiddush, “First of the holidays (lit. “the calls of holiness”) a remembrance of the exodus from Egypt.” The Ropschitzer said that when a Jew first hears the call to holiness, he should not give up on himself or lose hope that he has the ability to change. He should remember yetzias Mitzrayim, how Hashem lifted the Jewish people up from the lowest place to stand on Har Sinai to receive the Torah, and he will be strengthened to know that he, too, can change and become great.

The last pasuk in this week’s parsha is the mitzvah of tefillin. There is a story of Rav Yisroel Husiatiner, the

son of Rav Mordechai Shraga and descendant of the Maggid of Mezeritch.

Rav Yisroel said that when he first put on tefillin as a bar mitzvah bachur, his father, Rav Mordechai Shraga, told him the following story: At the beginning, the Maggid of Mezeritch, their ancestor, traveled from place to place teaching the path of chassidus. He came to one town and started speaking to a group of talmidei chachamim. Soon, other villagers came to listen as well, and soon the whole town was on fire with the light of chassidus. After a few months, the Maggid told them that it was revealed to him that he needed to move on to a different place. The people of the town told him that they would be lost and begged him not to leave them because they did not have anyone else to lead them in the service of Hashem.

The Maggid then gave one of them his bekeshe and gartel and told them to go to the nearby town of Vitebsk.

He told them that in this town, they would find a Jew named Mendel. They should put his (the Maggid’s) bekeshe and gartel on Mendel, and then he would be their leader.

The Jews of the town traveled to Vetebsk and asked about someone named Mendel. People pointed out a young talmid chacham named Mendel, so they went to him and told him to put on the bekeshe and gartel.

From the time that Mendel put on the Maggid’s bekeshe and gartel, he was filled with a new light and became the tzaddik we know today as Reb Mendele Vitebsker.

Rav Mordechai Shraga told his son, Rav Yisroel Husiatiner, that if the bekeshe and gartel of the Maggid of Mezeritch could turn a Mendel into Rav Mendeleh of Vitebsk, then surely tefillin, which are Hashem’s garments, can turn any Jew into a tzaddik.

The story is beautiful, but it is very difficult to understand. It seems that the only reason the gartel and bekeshe had the power to turn Mendel into Reb Mendeleh of Vitebsk was because he already had all of the qualities of a Mendeleh of Vitebsk hidden inside. If they had put the bekeshe and gartel on some other Mendel, nothing would have happened. Furthermore, we have all been wearing tefillin, Hashem’s garment, for years, and we are still not big tzaddikim.

The answer lies in the pasuk of the mitzva of tefillin, which says (Shemos 13:16), “And it shall be a sign upon your hand and as Totafos between your eyes that it was with a strong hand that Hashem took us out of Egypt.”

We must remember that Hashem took the lowest people in the world out of Egypt and made them great.

But just like Reb Mendeleh Vitebsker putting on the bekeshe and gartel of the Maggid of Mezeritch, they must have already had the latent potential

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to stand on Har Sinai and receive the Torah even before they were taken out. When we put on the tefillin of the Master of the World, it must be that we already have a heart and a neshama capable of ahavas Hashem, love of Hashem, and yiras Hashem, fear of Hashem.

We have learned that the pasuk says that we put the tefillin “al yadecha, on your hand,” which the Gemara derives to mean that the tefillin should be placed on the “yad ka’hah, the weak hand.” We wear the tefillin on the weak hand to remind us that even when we feel incapable of growing and weak, we must remember that we have a Mendeleh of Vitebsk inside waiting to come out and that Hashem can take us out of our own personal limitations, our own personal Mitzrayim and that we can become great.

Similarly, the head tefillin are called “totafos,” which Rashi explains is not even a Hebrew word. It comes from foreign languages. Hashem is telling us that even if real service of

Hashem feels foreign to us, even if we want to say, “that is not me,” the tefillin remind us that real service of Hashem is not foreign to us at all. It is already within us, deep inside. We just have to remember and believe

does not have a “a weak hand.” He has a strong hand which can bring us out of our personal external limitations to long for and achieve greatness.

When we put on Hashem’s bekeshe and gartel, it reminds us that He has

When we put on Hashem’s bekeshe and gartel, it reminds us that He has the power to bring out the Mendleleh Vitebsker within each of us.

that it is there and that Hashem can bring it out of us.

“Hashem took us out of Egypt with a strong hand.” We may find it difficult to believe that people like us can go from where we are to receive the Torah on Har Sinai. But Hashem

the power to bring out the Mendleleh Vitebsker within each of us.

I heard an interesting observation from a certain chochom. In the old Gemaras, the title page had a statement to the effect that all references to goyim or nachrim, non-Jews, do

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not refer to the non-Jews of today who believe in G-d, but rather to the non-Jews who lived at the time of the Gemara, who served idols and were heathens. This chochom observed that, unfortunately, many Jewish people today make the mistake to think that the references to Jews in the Gemara also only refer to the Jews of that time but that they do not speak to us today.

Tefillin, and all of the mitzvos which are a zecher l’ yetzias Mitzrayim, remind us of how Hashem took us out of Egypt and remind us that we can strive for holiness and service of Hashem no matter who or what we are right now. Just like Hashem redeemed the Jewish people from Mitzrayim, may He remember us again b’geulah sheleima b’karov.

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

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Self-Mastery Academy

You Become What You Believe

By Rabbi Shmuel Reichman

H

ave you ever been scared of something simply because you’ve never done it before?

I most definitely relate. Just a few weeks ago, my life changed forever.

My wife and I received a tremendous blessing from Hashem: we welcomed our firstborn son into the world. About a week later, he received his name (Yosef Baruch) and his bris milah as we welcomed him into Klal Yisrael. As excited as we are to see what this beautiful neshama will become, it is a daunting new stage of life.

For many of us, the fact that we’ve never done something before holds us back from even trying. But have you ever committed yourself to tackling a problem, spent the time and effort to figure it out, and then, through trial and error, eventually solved the issue? Such accomplishments create the most incredible feeling.

In our previous article, we began developing strategies for overcoming our inner fears so that we

can fully unlock our potential and achieve the extraordinary. In this article, we will delve deeper into this topic and continue exploring the strategies we can use to overcome fear.

1. Believe That You Can Find the Solution There is a key decision that each of us must make at some point in our lives: we have to decide whether we are capable of figuring things out, of learning and growing, or whether we are static and incapable of improvement. Having a growth mindset – the belief that we are capable of growing, adapting, and learning – is one of the most important human beliefs. The moment we decide to have a growth mindset, an adaptability mentality, we can embrace any new challenge Hashem sends our way.

Instead of seeing every challenge as another obstacle that can crush us, we realize that we can meet any obstacle and solve any problem. Will

there be uncertainty, struggle, and failure along the way? Certainly! (As a matter of fact, the one thing you can be certain of is that nothing in life is certain.) But with a growth and adaptability mindset, we can embrace the challenges and uncertainty of life and ride the difficult waves that Hashem sends our way.

That’s not to say this is easy. It’s not.

Figuring it out can be grueling and tiresome. But that’s the greatness of being human: we have the ability to embrace struggle and push through it, growing each step of the way.

Whether it’s fixing a broken sink, learning a new skill or language, or developing a new passion, there are different avenues we can take to navigate the uncharted waters of life. The simplest option is trial and error; we can try one way, and if it doesn’t work, we can use different methods until one finally works.

We can use other models of success as our inspiration and keep on practicing until we find our own version of success. The easiest way

to model success is to find a teacher or expert and have them guide you through the process. Once they teach you their path, you can practice until you are able to replicate it yourself. Nowadays, there are also videos, online courses, and books that can guide you every step of the way. Beyond this, we must also learn how to utilize our resources and resourcefulness to find other forms of help. Think about your network: who do you know who is extraordinary at what you would like to accomplish? If no one comes to mind, who do you know that might know someone who fits this description?

We’re all part of an incredible web, a network of relationships. Learning how to navigate that web can provide you with the exact resources you need.

While reaching out to others for help and guidance may seem like a way of relying on others to solve your problems for you, this is not necessarily the case. Unquestionably, the ideal is to develop the skills

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

ourselves and not rely on others to solve our them for us. However, we cannot always do everything ourselves, and getting help and guidance from the people around us can be exactly what we need to help us reach our goals. The key is finding the proper balance between investing in ourselves and taking ownership of our growth while still recognizing where other people can help and guide us along that journey.

2. Developing Mastery One of the greatest contributing factors to fear is doubt. We doubt ourselves and fear the possibility of failing, so we often don’t even try.

While we already discussed the importance of believing in our ability to figure things out and the value of trial and error, learning from our mistakes, there is an additional tool that helps silence our inner doubts: mastery. When we can get to the point where we are so confident in ourselves and our skills that we no longer have any doubts, we can say goodbye to our fears. Of course, one needs to balance the idea of mastery with two factors: 1- Nobody is perfect 2- Everything comes from Hashem. So nothing is ever guaranteed.

But that being said, think about the times when fear has had the greatest impact in your life. In most cases, our fears are based on uncertainty and the unknown. We wonder, “What if this happens?

What if I mess up?” But what if we could get to the point where we are so confident in ourselves, because we’ve practiced so many times – to the point where we’ve mastered it – and have such complete trust in Hashem that we enter into a state of certainty. Not absolute certainty, as there’s no such thing, but certainty to the point that fear no longer holds us back.

I remember when I first started speaking in public, far before I was traveling to conferences and major events. I started out by taking any and every opportunity I could get, speaking in local shuls and lots of smaller venues. In the beginning, I was extremely nervous before every single speech I gave. But why? Why are so many people scared of speak-

ing in public? The truth is, there are several factors. On a simple level, we fear messing up or forgetting what we were supposed to say and looking like a fool in front of everybody.

In a deeper sense, we know that the moment we open up our mouth, the whole room will see what goes on in of our heads, what we truly believe, and who we really are; thus, the moment we open our mouth, the audience won’t only judge our speaking abilities, but they’ll judge “us.”

For most, this second factor, while the more significant of the two, is overshadowed by the simple fear of messing up and looking like a fool.

sharing our “name” with the audience. This level of connection with the content requires a level of mastery and certainty that only comes with a lifetime of immersion, commitment, and trust in Hashem. And just as this works for public speaking, it also works for just about every other area of life as well.

3. Flooding: The Power of Immersion Flooding can be an immensely effective tool for your arsenal. If you’re like me, you probably have certain fears that are irrational, that other people don’t understand.

When we can get to the point where we are so confident in ourselves and our skills that we no longer have any doubts, we can say goodbye to our fears.

At first, I thought the best way to overcome my fear of messing up was to review every single word of my presentations over and over again, so that when it came time to speak, I would have no trouble recalling what I had prepared. And this worked: I was able to give my lecture exactly as I had practiced it. But after a few years of experience, I came to realize that the single best way to prepare for a lecture or presentation was not to spend countless hours “memorizing” the material – it was to “become” the material, to become the ideas. When you talk “about” ideas, the distance between you and the content comes through in the presentation. But when we can become the ideas, embody them, live and breathe them, then there is no chance of messing up or forgetting them. Just like you wouldn’t have trouble sharing your name, when the ideas we talk about become so intimately one with our inner selves, when we open our mouths and present, we are simply

While some fear heights, others are scared of spiders, or water, or public. As we discussed, we often build our fear into something infinitely expansive and insurmountable. It becomes an untouchable and immovable obstacle within our minds, to the point where we can’t even conceive of the possibility of overcoming it.

One way to approach this type of overwhelming fear is to engage in what is known as “flooding,” where you immerse yourself within the very thing that you are afraid of.

The idea is as follows: if you expose yourself to the fear in a controlled and measured way, you can slowly show yourself that your fear is not as bad as you thought, and you will therefore be able to overcome it. It’s usually best to start out small, and then, step by step, expose yourself to greater and greater amounts or levels of your fear, until eventually, you no longer feel any of the fear.

I used this very strategy to overcome my fear of blood. When I was

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in high school, I wanted to become a physician. There was only one problem: I couldn’t handle blood. Whenever the doctor drew blood from my arm, I passed out. Still determined to become a successful doctor, I decided to watch a recording of an open-heart surgery. A few minutes later, I woke up on the floor, still in a daze. Knowing that a doctor who can’t deal with blood was not a great match, I made it my mission to find a way to overcome my fear of blood. I immersed myself in this project, viewing different photos and videos of blood every day.

I started small, with photos of people receiving shots. Then I moved on to simple cuts and bruises. After a few weeks, I progressed to videos of simple hand surgeries. After several months of flooding, I came to the final test: open-heart surgery.

And for the grand finale, I watched the original video that had caused me to pass out a year earlier. This time, the results were much better (the patient survived both times by the way).

In our next column, we will delve deeper into this topic and finish exploring the strategies we can use to overcome fear.

Rabbi Shmuel Reichman is an author, educator, speaker, and coach who has lectured internationally on topics of Torah, psychology, and leadership. He is the founder and CEO of Self-Mastery Academy, the transformative online self-development course that is based on the principles of high-performance psychology and Torah.

After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree from Yeshiva University, he received semicha from RIETS, a Master’s degree in Jewish Education from Azrieli, and a Master’s degree in Jewish Thought from Revel. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago and has also spent a year studying at Harvard as an Ivy Plus Exchange Scholar.

To find more inspirational content from Rabbi Reichman, to contact him, or to learn more about Self-Mastery Academy, visit his website: ShmuelReichman. com.

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BUILDING BLOCKS OF ETERNITY Yeshiva Darchei Torah’s new capital project will encompass a Mesivta Beis Medrash and its first-ever Residence Hall.

BEIS MEDRASH + CLASSROOM BUILDING Will serve 500 talmidim in grades 8-11 34,200 Total square feet 4 Stories 5200 sq. feet Beis Hamedrash for Mesivta 12 Classrooms

RESIDENCE HALL Will serve 271 talmidim in Mesivta & Yeshiva Gedolah 43,000 Total square feet 4 Stories 68 Dormitory Rooms 271 Beds 4 Student Lounges

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The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

T H E S E V I S I O N A R I E S H AV E A L R E A DY S T E P P E D F O R WA R D. W I L L YO U J O I N T H E M ?

MR. & MRS. BERISH & HANNAH FUCHS

THE BIVETSKY FAMILY SHAAR HATORAH

MR. & MRS. YUSSIE & SUSAN OSTREICHER

RESIDENCE HALL AND TORAH CENTER

‫ה ליב ע”ה‬-‫לע”נ שלום ראובן בן ארי‬

MESIVTA BEIS MEDRASH BUILDING

MESIVTA BEIS MEDRASH

ANONYMOUS

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Entranceway to Mesivta Beis Medrash Building

Camp Oraysa Sports Complex

Lobby, Mesivta Beis Medrash Building

Dedication of Rosh Kollel’s Office

MR. & MRS. MOTTY & HADASSA JACOBOWITZ Promenade Vestibule

‫לע”נ זעליג בן מרדכי ע”ה‬ ‫לע”נ דוד בן משה ע”ה‬ ‫הר‘ משה נתן בן יחזקאל ע”ה‬ ‫וישראל בן אברהם ע”ה‬ ‫לע”נ‬

The children, bochurim, and all 45 neshamos of the Miron tragedy, Lag Baomer 5781

Residence Hall Cornerstone

Beis Medrash Vestibule Entrance

THE BLOOM FAMILY

‫לע”נ ר‘ ישראל‬ ‫בן ר‘ בנימין הכהן ע”ה‬

MR. & MRS. CHAIM SHOLOM & RIVKY LEIBOWITZ Associate Dean’s Office

Ner Tamid

DEDICATED ANONYMOUSLY

In Memory of Mrs. Marta Schron ‫ע” ה‬

‫לע”נ חוה בת דב ע”ה‬

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Dedicated by Mr. & Mrs. Yaakov & Rivky Jacobovitch

MR. & MRS. NASSAN & DEVORAH TREITEL

Cornerstone, Mesivta Beis Medrash Building

MR. & MRS. SHMULI & MIRIAM MENDEL Sha’ar of New Beis Medrash

DEDICATION OF CAMP ORAYSA CAMPUS

DR. & MRS. YOSSI & ZIVIA SCHWARTZ

MR. & MRS. URI & DEVORAH DREIFUS

MESIVTA OTZAR HASEFORIM

THE SCHRON FAMILY

GYMNASIUM WING

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Dedication Wall Mesivta Beis Medrash Building

‫לע”נ ישראל הלוי לעווין ע”ה‬ ‫ואלישבע בתיה קפלן ע”ה‬

MR. & MRS. URI & ESTHER KAUFMAN

‫לע”נ משה אלעזר בן נטע שלום ע”ה‬

MEMORIAL EXHIBIT TO THE YESHIVOS OF PREWAR EUROPE

MR. & MRS. MATIS & YAEL NAYMAN

MR. & MRS. MOTTY & HADASA MENDELSOHN

‫לע”נ נחמן יהודה בן יעקב דוד ע”ה‬ ‫ואשתו לאה בת יהודה אשר ע”ה‬ ‫ולע”נ יעקב ליב בן שלמה ע”ה‬

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Preschool Cornerstone

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MR. & MRS. NACHMAN & ESTHER GOODMAN

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MR. & MRS. SHIA & ELANA OSTREICHER Beis Medrash Building Vestibule

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Entrance of Beis Medrash Building

Plumbing Training Center Dedicated

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Delving into the Daf

A Rosh Chodesh Holiday

By Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

S

ome people always looking for creative excuses for failing to show up for work or completing their projects. The wicked Haman told Achashveirosh that the Jews are always saying that they are too busy for work. The Jews say that they need to prepare for Shabbos or the holidays.

Can a person justifiably excuse him/herself from an assignment by saying, “It was Rosh Chodesh! I couldn’t work!”? The answer may depend on when this statement was uttered and the gender of the person using this excuse.

The Gemara in Megilla (21b) states that four people are called to the Torah on Rosh Chodesh and Chol Hamoed mornings because there is no concern about causing people to be late to work. On a regular Monday or Thursday, we limit the number of aliyos to three, because it is a workday.

However, the Gemara indicates that Chol Hamoed and Rosh Chodesh are not workdays. Hence, an extra aliyah is added on those days.

Chol HaMoed is most certainly not a workday. Many activities are forbidden on Chol Hamoed. Permitted labor on Chol HaMoed must fall into one of the established exceptions such as yom tov need or to prevent a loss. Rosh Chodesh, though, is harder to understand why it is not considered a workday. Rashi states that it is a holiday for women. He quotes his rebbi who says that at the time of the Golden Calf, the women refused to give up their jewelry to make the forbidden creation. Therefore, Hashem rewarded them with a holiday celebration that is just for them. (In addition to the reward waiting for them in the World To Come.) While men celebrate Rosh Chodesh, they may engage in any form of labor. The cessation of some mundane activities on Rosh Chodesh is unique to women.

Still, it seems difficult to under-

stand the Gemara in this way. Even if women do not engage in labor on Rosh Chodesh, men still do. The extra aliyah will still cause them to come later to work. Some suggest that women used to regularly attend shul to hear the laining on Mondays, Thursdays, and Rosh Chodesh. Since the extra aliyah only affected the men on Rosh Chodesh and not the women, Chazal chose to add it. (The Birchei Yosef suggests that Rashi was of the opinion that women are actually obligated to hear laining on Mondays and Thursdays. This is not the accepted custom.)

The Turei Even suggests an alternate and fascinating explanation. The Gemara states that when one brings a korban to the Beis Hamikdash that day is a personal holiday. The Korban Mussaf on Rosh Chodesh is brought on behalf of all of Klal Yisrael. Therefore, Rosh Chodesh is a holiday for everyone, since it is tantamount to everyone offering a sacrifice on that day.

Perhaps one could use this logic to suggest that one should never do any work. After all, isn’t the Korban Tamid brought every day? That korban is also brought on behalf of all Klal Yisrael. Can we suggest that ev-

ery day is a holiday? That we know is impossible. The Torah discusses engaging in labor. Therefore, we can conclude that offering the Korban Tamid is not a reason for a cessation of labor. No such argument though can be made against the establishment of a holiday on Rosh Chodesh due to the Korban Mussaf. Therefore, the Turei Even suggests that at the time of the Beis hamikdash, Rosh Chodesh was a national holiday for everyone, both men and women.

Therefore, Chazal added a fourth aliyah on Rosh Chodesh because it would generally not cause people to come late to work.

Nowadays, we sadly do not have a Beis Hamikdash and the Korban Mussaf is not offered, and so people may go to work on Rosh Chodesh as they usually do. However, the fourth aliyah on Rosh Chodesh remains as a vestige from happier times, when both men and women didn’t work on Rosh Chodesh.

The Mordechai mentions that even nowadays men have a custom of refraining from labor-intensive work on Rosh Chodesh. The Ben Ish Chai suggests that at the very least it is meritorious for men to refrain from

labor on Rosh Chodesh.

However, the Shulchan Aruch does not seem to follow their opinions. He states (OC 417): “It is permissible to engage in labor on Rosh Chodesh. Some women have a custom not to engage in labor, and it is a good custom.” The Mishna Berura is even more explicit. He writes (ibid. 2), “A custom that men have not to engage in labor on Rosh Chodesh is not considered a custom at all.” A custom for a man not to engage in labor on Rosh Chodesh should not be followed.

Nowadays, according to the Mishna Berura, only women have a legitimate custom to refrain from work on Rosh Chodesh.

The issue is that “work” is undefined. Rabbeinu Yerucham seems to indicate that women should treat Rosh Chodesh as a bona fide yom tov like Shavuos. However, his opinion is not accepted. The Rema writes that on Rosh Chodesh, women only have to refrain from the specific labors that they have a tradition to refrain from.

The Dirshu cites examples of activities some women have a custom to refrain from on Rosh Chodesh: sewing, tailoring, weaving, washing clothes, and hanging up laundry. The list is by no means exhaustive, and everyone should follow their one custom as the Rema indicates. If a woman has a custom not to write on Rosh Chodesh, that custom may be followed.

In that situation, Rosh Chodesh may be used as a legitimate excuse for failing to complete an assignment.

Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow is a rebbe at Yeshiva Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway. In addition, Rabbi Sebrow leads a daf yomi chaburah at Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park in West Hempstead, NY. He can be contacted at ASebrow@gmail.com.

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER OCTOBER 29, 29, 2015 2015 || The The Jewish Jewish Home Home

From Ethiopia to the IDF to the Nassau County Legislature TJH speaks with Leg. Mazi Melesa Pilip

BY SUSAN SCHWAMM

Mazi, first of all, congratulations on your election to the Nassau County Legislature.

Is this your first foray into politics?

Yes. It is. But I have been active and involved in many different things from a young age. In Israel, when I was in college, I was a chairwoman for the National Ethiopian Students Organization for almost two years before I moved here. I was also active politically within the community in Israel.

When I moved here, I was very active also within different non-profit organizations. I would give speeches around U.S. about Israel and Ethiopian Jews, speaking with people who never heard about Israel to show them the other side of Israel, the positive side of Israel, how Israel treats minorities. I have been doing that for the past six years.

I also was active with a non-profit organization that’s called Israel At Heart. The main mission of the organization is really to bring non-Jewish, African American groups to Israel and to bring Ethiopian Jews from Israel here to different conferences. This way, we can bridge the gap between the African American and Jewish communities.

I’m also very active within my community. Any time there’s an issue, I like to make sure our voice is heard. A few years ago, we didn’t like the way things were going in our community. So I organized a group of people together, and we elected a very good mayor, Dr. Pedram Bral. He’s really wonderful.

After that election, Pedram Bral asked me to be on the board, and I did that for two years.

He knows that when I want to move things, I get things done. So when he was looking for somebody to run for the Nassau County Legislature, he thought about me.

There are two types of people in life. You have people who will complain from the outside and people who will take action. I like to take action.

I realized it was a great opportunity. There were a lot of things going on – Covid was shaking the country, there were issues between black and white, and there was more hate and anti-Semitism. We even started to see it in town. I thought to myself when they approached me, “I can be a good voice for the community, and I can be a bridge.

I can bring all the communities together – Jewish, non-Jewish – we should all join together and make our voices heard.” And so I decided to run.

People really were very supportive. A lot of people who never voted in the past wanted to stand up for change and to vote. They heard about me. They love who I am and what I’m bringing to the table. And I really am bringing unity to the people. That’s the bottom line: to improve the gap and know that we are one nation under one G-d.

And we have to be very respectful to each other and fight any type of hate.

You represent Great Neck. What communities does that encompass?

The district is a very diverse community. We have a big community of Indians, Asians, Jews – there’s a big mix.

What do you think was people’s passion that made them head to the polls this year and vote for you?

I really was working very hard the few months before the elections to get out the vote. I actually was pregnant with twins during the campaign. No one knew I was expecting twins, but I didn’t let my pregnancy slow me down. I had my twin girls just a few days before Election Day. I was campaigning a lot those last few months.

I was going from synagogue to synagogue, bringing out the vote. Sometimes I would leave Friday night to go to a shul and I would sleep at some-

one’s house on Friday night because I’m shomer Shabbat and I couldn’t walk back home. And then I would go to another synagogue the next day, on Shabbat, to spend time there and talk to people.

Only when Shabbat was over would I go home. I did this for two months. It was intense but it was worth it. I met a lot of people. I would go to train stations and park events – any party, small or big – I was always there.

I also had great people around me who helped me with my campaign. I cannot express what it meant to have such support. These people saw that I wanted to be a bridge between communities.

When I spoke with people on the campaign trail, they liked that I grew up in Israel and joined the Israeli army. When I met with a lot of Persian Jews and Indian people and Chinese people, they liked that I was really living the American dream: One day you’re born in a third world country, and the next day you are in America and you achieve your dreams. I was able to share that with them.

You came to Israel when you were 12 years old, correct?

Yes. I came to Israel in Operation Solomon in 1991. While we were waiting aliyah, there was a civil war in Ethiopia, and Israel together with the United States made a special deal with the Ethio-

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

81 45

pian government to have a ceasefire for 36 hours so they could airlift around 15,500 people during those hours. I was one of those people.

What was your first feeling when you reached the Holy Land?

We were happy that we were finally in our homeland. It was a dream come true. But we came from a third world country; we didn’t come with education. We were farmers without any technology, no nothing. We came to Israel, which was a modern society with high technology, so it was hard to adjust. For the first time in your life, you see cars, elevators, modern kitchens – things that for you and for me right me now are so natural.

Also, we were now a minority. All of a sudden, your skin color is different. You went to school, maybe you’re the only Ethiopian person, or even Jew maybe, in the whole class. You don’t speak the language. You don’t have friends. It was hard, but you know what? Sometimes when you go through hard times that makes you even stronger. So it was a good journey for me personally. I was very stubborn to be successful. And even though I had my difficulties, I never gave up.

How many children were in your family?

I have three sisters. They all live in Israel.

You joined the IDF’s elite unit called the Tzanchanim.

Serving in the army was something that was very important to me because one of the things I remember about the day I arrived in Israel was that I saw female soldiers. They were giving us blankets, trying to accommodate us in a nice way.

They were so young, and I admired them so much.

So when the time came to serve the country, I said, “There’s no way I’m not going to serve. I want to be just like those soldiers who were helping us.”

When I came to my dad and told him that I wanted to serve in the army, he told me, “No, you’re too skinny. You’re too young. No way you’re going to go and join the army.” But I had a very strong will and I told him, “No, I’m going to go.” And even though they were unhappy initially, when I came back from the training with the uniform and the weapon, he was very proud. He was so happy that his little girl was serving in the Israeli army.

So getting back to moving to Israel, I was full of happiness when I moved to Israel. I felt that I was just like everybody else. Giving back to the country that gave so much to me and to my community takes so much meaning and going to the army was an amazing experience. I learned a lot. I got more mature. In the army, you grow so much. At the end of the army, you’re a totally different person. You know what you want to do in the future.

When did you move to the United States?

I went to Haifa University after the army. I met my husband there. My husband, Adalbert, was born in Ukraine, grew up in the U.S., and came

Being sworn in on January 3, 2022

to study medicine in Israel, and we met there in school. We wanted to get married and start a family. But moving to the U.S. was a hard decision because I was very active in Israel. I knew who I was. And then I had to move to a new country, with a new culture, with no family. It was a hard decision. But then Hashem has His own way sometimes to lead us to different places.

So we moved here after we got married in Israel. Initially, we weren’t settled because we were traveling for my husband’s residency and fellowship – he’s a cardiologist. But now, we found Great Neck. We needed a community with kosher food and close access to our synagogue, and we found Great Neck ten years ago. It has become our home.

Your husband is a Ukrainian Jew, and you are an Ethiopian Jew. What are different traditions that you pass down to your children from each of your families’ traditions?

Truthfully, our kids are very American, but for us, it’s about reminding them that they’re Jewish and that they should be proud Jews.

I’m trying to teach them Hebrew. But it’s hard because we don’t speak Hebrew in the house, although my older son can speak and understand Hebrew a little better. Every summer, we go to Israel. For me, I want them to connect to the country and to see my own community there. It’s important that they are exposed to more people like me.

In terms of food, well, some of my children will eat Ethiopian food if I make it and some won’t. It’s the same with Russian and Ukrainian food.

What are some Ethiopian dishes?

Really, most of the time it’s the same chicken as other cuisines but it’s about different spices. It’s more of an Indian-type flavor.

You are being sworn into office on January 3. What are your goals when you reach the Nassau County Legislature?

You know, a big part of the downtown area of Great Neck is dying. There are a lot of businesses there, but they were really hit by Covid and that truly impacted them. We used to have a movie theater there; it’s no longer there. We really need to revitalize our downtown area. That’s really an important goal of mine, and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman knows this. I’d like to see how we can work to help the small businesses. We can help them with branding and social media, among other things. It’s heartbreaking to see different businesses closing down. I’m here to help them.

As you know, I have seven kids now, but five of them are in public school. During the campaign, my second son came to me and said, “Mom, my friends told me, ‘We will support your mother, but can you make sure she can bring the movie theater and the ice cream back to us?’” That was on kids’ minds – and also on their parents’ minds – our businesses.

It’s nice that your children and their friends are involved and active participants in the election process.

Yes. I was very proud of them. One of things we love to do is to involve the younger generation.

“I really am bringing unity to the people.”

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OCTOBER 29,29, 2015 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 2015 | The Jewish Home

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JANUARY OCTOBER 6, 29,2022 2015| The | TheJewish JewishHome Home

Remember, Remember,they’re they’rethe thefuture. future.We Wehave havetotopass pass the leadership to them one day.

They are the ones the leadership to them one day. They are the ones who totolead this town, country, atat Remember, they’re the future.

We have to pass whoare aregoing going lead this town,this this country, one point.

So that is something we were trying to the leadership to them one day.

They are the ones one point. So that is something we were trying to encourage, toto find about how toto make them who are going toplans lead this town, this country, at encourage, find plans about how make them involved. one point.

So that is something we were trying to involved. encourage, to find plans about how to make them Speaking about the young people, there’s involved.

Speaking about the young people, there’s a alot of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic lot of anti-Israel and anti-Semiticsensentiment on college campuses.

Some people Speaking about the young people, there’s timent on college campuses.

Some people generate aa rhetoric that Israel isis an aparta lot of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sengenerate rhetoric that Israel an apartheid state.

What would you say to these timent on college campuses.

Some people heid state. What would you say to these people are generate a rhetoric that these Israel iscomments an apartpeoplewho who aremaking making thesecomments and how can other young people respond heid state.

What would you say to these and how can other young people respond topeople them? who are making these comments to them?

This is isvery they don’t and how can other young people respond This verysad sadbecause because they don’tknow knowthe the truth about Israel.

And it’s sad that the media to them? truth about Israel. And it’s sad that the mediais is showing one side –– the Palestinian side.

Even Thisjust isjust very sad because they don’t know the showing one side the Palestinian side.

Even during the last war with Gaza with Hamas, they truth about Israel.

And it’s sad that the media is during the last war with Gaza with Hamas, they showed how the Hamas and Palestinians are sufshowing just one side – the Palestinian side.

Even showed how the Hamas and Palestinians are suffering.

But shows side, how the Israeli during thenobody last war withour Gaza with Hamas, they fering.

But nobody shows our side, how the Israeli kids are growing up hearing these rockets and not showed how the Hamas and Palestinians are kids are growing up hearing these rockets andsufnot having life.

SoSothe is isnot fering. nobody shows our side, how the Israeli havingaBut anormal normal life. themedia media notgiving giving you a fair view onon what is is happening. kids growing upwhat hearing these rockets and not you aare fair view happening.

These people don’t know that having a normal life.

So the media istruth notabout giving These people don’t know thattruth about Israel.

Israel is not just a White people country. you a fair view on what is happening.

Israel. Israel is not just a White people country.

InInIsrael, – –Blacks, These people don’t know that truthJews, about Israel,you youcan cansee seediversity diversity Blacks, Jews, non-Jews, Arabs….

I went to Haifa University.

Israel.

Israel is not just a White people country. non-Jews, Arabs…. I went to Haifa University.

AtIn oror five ofofmy Israel, you can see diversity – were Blacks, Jews, Atleast leastfour four five myfriends friends wereArabs.

Arabs.

Some of them were even Muslim Arabs, sitting non-Jews, Arabs….

I went to Haifa University.

Some of them were even Muslim Arabs, sitting with me. ofofthem Arabs.

InIn At least four or five ofwere my Christian friends were Arabs. with me.Some Some them were Christian Arabs.

Haifa University – I’m not kidding – it’s like half Some of them were even Muslim Arabs, sitting Haifa University – I’m not kidding – it’s like half ofwith students Arab.

They get Someare ofare them were Christian Arabs. In ofthe theme. students Arab.

They getscholarships scholarships from the government, like I got scholarships from Haifa University – I’m not – it’s like half from the government, like Ikidding got scholarships from the government. provides education forfor of the studentsIsrael are Arab.

Theyfor get scholarships the government.

Israel provides for education minorities.

I got degree there, II from the government, like I got scholarships from minorities.

I gotmy mymaster’s master’s degree there,and and didn’t have toto pay anything.

The government paid the government.

Israel provides for education for didn’t have pay anything.

The government paid because understands orminorities.

I government got my master’s degree that there, and I becausethe thegovernment understands thatinin order and ininorder totocreate didn’t have togaps pay anything.

The government paid dertotoclose closegaps and order createa ahealthy healthy environment and society through because the government understands that in orenvironment anda ahealthy healthy societyit’s it’s through education.

If Ifgaps I wasn’t ininIsrael, I wouldn’t der to close andliving inliving order toIsrael, create healthy education.

I wasn’t Iawouldn’t beenvironment have and a healthy it’s degree. through beeducated. educated.I wouldn’t I wouldn’t haveasociety amaster’s master’s degree.

And I wouldn’t a sister who’s a judge Israel education.

If have I wasn’t living in Israel, Iin wouldn’t And I wouldn’t have a sister who’s a judge in Israel and another sister who’s a have police inin adegree. high be educated.

I wouldn’t a officer master’s and another sister who’s a police officer a high position inin Israel.

And I wouldn’t have a sister who’s a judge in Israel position Israel.

We need people who and another who’sthese athese police officer in don’t a don’t high We needtosister toeducate educate people who know truth position inreal Israel. knowthe thereal truthabout aboutIsrael.

Israel.They Theythink thinkIs-Israel cares about But We need to that educate these people who don’t raelis isa acountry country thatjust just cares aboutitself. itself.

But they’re sosowrong.

It’s a acomplete people know the real truth Israel.lie.

They think Isthey’re wrong.

It’sabout complete lie.For For people like me, our job to talk about Israel.

No country rael is it’s a it’s country that just cares about itself.

But like me, our job to talk about Israel.

No country isthey’re there are areas soIt’s wrong.

It’s a complete lie.

For Israel people isperfect. perfect.

It’strue, true, there aresome some areas Israel needs toto improve inin the future. atat least Israel like me, it’s our job to talk aboutBut Israel.

No country needs improve the future.

But least Israel isis a country really giving people opportuniIt’s true, there are equal some areas Israel is aperfect. country really giving people equal opportunityneeds forfor allall citizens. a But fact, people toIsraeli improve in theThat’s future. atand least Israel ty Israeli citizens.

That’s a fact, and people have totorealize that.

Our educate people is a country really giving people equal opportunihave realize that.

Ourjob jobis istoto educate people about truth.

Our students need organizations ty forthe all Israeli citizens.

That’s a fact, and people about the truth.

Our students need organizations that them soso they bebeeducated have to realize that.

Our job is will towill educate people thatgive give themthe thetools tools they educated and they can know the truths soneed they can become about the truth.

Our students organizations and they can know the truths so they can become ambassadors forfor the Jewish and that give them the tools so people they will beIsrael. educated ambassadors the Jewish people and Israel. and they can know the truths so they can become Mazi, stereotype ofofa a ambassadors for the every Jewish and Israel.

Mazi,you yousmash smash everypeople stereotype Republican Republicanpolitician. politician.You Youcame camefrom from another country.

You’re female.

Mazi, you smash everya a stereotype of a another country.

You’re female.You’re You’re Ethiopian.

You’re Jewish.

That must have Republican politician.

You came from Ethiopian.

You’re Jewish.

That must have another country. You’re a female. You’re Ethiopian. You’re Jewish. That must have

With County Executive With County Executive Bruce Blakeman Bruce Blakeman

Supporting our law enforcement Supporting our law enforcement

With Police Commissioner With Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder Patrick Ryder

With County Executive Bruce Blakeman

Supporting our law enforcement

With Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder

been pretty empowering when you won. been pretty empowering when you won.

Absolutely.

I really owe a lot to Chairman JoAbsolutely. I really owe a lot to Chairman Joseph Cairo, the leader of the Republican Party inin been pretty empowering when you won. seph Cairo, the leader of the Republican Party Nassau County. sure totochoose Absolutely.

IHe really owemade amade lot to Chairman JoNassau County.

Hereally really sure choose people – smart people, first of all, hardworking seph Cairo, the leader of the Republican Party in people – smart people, first of all, hardworking people – who really want to work hard.

Many of us Nassau County.

He really made sure to choose people – who really want to work hard. Many of us who ran were female.

AtAt least four ofof us were Afripeople –were smart people, first of all, hardworking who ran female. least four us were African American.

The Republican Party is welcoming people – who really want to work hard.

Many of us can American. The Republican Party is welcoming ofwho everyone.

We allall work a team. know when ran were female.

Atasleast fourWe of us were Afriof everyone.

We work as a team.

We know when we work together, we will do better as a society. can American.

The Republican Party is welcoming we work together, we will do better as a society. of everyone. We all work as a team. We know when Absolutely.

You are the seven we work together, will domother better asof aof society.

Absolutely.

Youwe are the mother seven children, two of them newborn twins.

How children, two of them newborn twins.

How do you do itit all?

Absolutely.

You do you do all? are the mother of seven The you are the productive children, two of them newborn twins.

How Themore more you arebusy, busy, themore more productive you are.

If I’m not busy, I’m lazy.

When I have do you do it all? you are. If I’m not busy, I’m lazy. When I havea a lotlot ofThe things toto do, then I’m running like a soldier. more you are busy, the more productive of things do, then I’m running like a soldier.

I had four boys and a girl before and wewe you are.

If I’m not busy, I’m lazy.

When Ithen have a I had four boys and a girl before andthen just had two girls. lot of things to do, then I’m running like a soldier. just had two girls.

First, a mother.

And I’m always going toto be IFirst, hadI’m four and a girl before and then we I’m aboys mother.

And I’m always going be a just mother, and I’m always going to be involved with had two girls. a mother, and I’m always going to be involved with my for Education isissomeFirst, I’m acare mother.

And I’m always going to be mykids kidsand andcare forthem. them.

Education something sosoimportant to me and my husband, athing mother, and I’m always going to be involved with important to me and my husband,my my Ukrainian husband.

You know how Ukrainians, my kids and care for them.

Education is someUkrainian husband. You know how Ukrainians, Russians, when it it comes education.

My kids, thing soare important tocomes metoand my husband, my Russians, are when to education.

My kids, they know not to mess up with that.

They have to Ukrainian husband.

You know how Ukrainians, they know not to mess up with that. They have to doRussians, their No here. are when it comes tocompromising education. My kids, dowell wellwith with theirwork. work.

Nocompromising here.

It’s all hard work. they know not to mess up with that.

They have to It’s all hard work. love playing soccer, so we make sure each doThey well with their work.

No compromising here.

They love playing soccer, so we make sure each one It’s all hard work. oneof ofthem themhas hasatatleast leastone onesport. sport.And Andweweare are there to support them, and I have family help.

They love playing soccer, so we make sure each there to support them, and I have family help.

And all, asas I was saying, soso much ofof what II one of after them has at one sport.

And we are And after all, Ileast was saying, much what there to support them, and I have family help.

And after all, as I was saying, so much of what I

did over the past few months during the campaign did over the past few months during the campaign was really for the future of our kids.

We want them was really for the future of our kids. We want them todid the next generation who going totocampaign lead over past few months during the tobebe thethe next generation who going leadthe the country.

We want them feel proud. was really for the future ofto our kids.

WeItwant them country.

We want themto feel proud.

Itdoesn’t doesn’t matter who they are.

I’m now, to be the next generation who going to lead the matter who they are.Everything Everything I’mdoing doing now, I’m really doing forfor them and their generation. country.

We want them to feel proud.

It doesn’t I’m really doing them and their generation. matter who they are. Everything I’m doing now, What’s your message district I’m really doing for themfor and their generation.

What’s your message foryour your districtasas you start your term? you start your term?

Firstly, I want toto thank the people ofof the 10th What’s your message for your district as Firstly, I want thank the people the 10th District and the Great Neck community forfor voting you start your term?

District and the Great Neck community voting –– some ofof them went toto vote forfor the first Firstly, I want toout thank the people of thetime 10th some them went out vote the first time inDistrict People local and the Greatthink Neck community for voting intheir theirlives. lives.

People thinksometimes sometimesthat that local elections aren’t important, but through cam– some of them went out to vote for thethis first time elections aren’t important, but through this campaign they realized that everything starts locally. in their lives.

People think sometimes that local paign they realized that everything starts locally.

When you build from the foundation inin the correct elections aren’t important, but through this camWhen you build from the foundation the correct way, it’sit’s apparent later on. paign they realized that everything starts locally. way, apparent later on.

I urge people continue toto bebe involved.

When you buildto from the foundation in the Never correct I urge people to continue involved.

Never say, “Oh, don’t care.

My voice doesn’t count.”

Your way, it’sIapparent later on. say, “Oh, I don’t care.

My voice doesn’t count.”

Your voice and we saw that. ifinvolved. you don’t like Icounts, urge people towe continue toSobe Never voice counts, and saw that.

So if you don’t like something, instead ofof just complaining from say, “Oh, I don’t care.

My voice doesn’t count.”

Your something, instead just complaining fromthe the side, bebe the voice, upup for what’s and for voice counts, andstand we saw that.

So if right you don’t like side, the voice, stand for what’s right and for the thing you believe, and support the community. something, instead ofand just complaining from the the thing you believe, support the community.

I also think wewe need toand side, the voice, stand uptobe for what’s right for I be also think needto berespectful respectful toeach each other.

I think ininthe few the thing youthis believe, and support the community. other.

I think thiscountry, country, thelast last fewyears, years, really the unity the forfor each other.

I lost also think weand need torespect be respectful to each really lost the unity and the respect each other.

We the other.

I to think this where country, in thewere last few years, Wegot gotto thepoint point whereleaders leaders wereattacking attacking each It’s unnecessary.

It’s really lost the unity and the respect foraeach other. eachother. other.

It’s unnecessary.

It’ssuch such aproblem problem for forfor the totosee We got to the point where leaders were attacking forour ourkids, kids, thenext nextgeneration, generation, seethat. that.

We have toto bebe role models forfor our children and bebe each other.

It’s unnecessary.

It’s such a problem We have role models our children and very respectful toto each other even when don’t for our kids, for the next generation, towe see that. very respectful each other even when we don’t agree onon certain issues.

We have to be role models for our children and be agree certain issues. very respectful to each other even when we don’t agree on certain issues.

“One “Oneday dayyou’re you’reborn bornininaathird thirdworld worldcountry, country,and andthe the next you are and you your dreams.” nextday day you arein inAmerica America andworld youachieve achieve your dreams.”

“One day you’re born in a third country, and the next day you are in America and you achieve your dreams.”

The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Teen Talk

By Rebbetzin Sori Teitelbaum

Dear Teen Talk,

I would like to begin by thanking you for giving teenagers a forum where we can feel comfortable asking questions, receiving guidance, and

Teen Talk , column in

a new

TJH, is geared to wards the teens in o ur commu nity.

Answered by a rotati ng roster of teachers, rebbeim, clinicians , an d peers (!), te ens will b e hearing answers to many que stions the had perco y lating in th eir minds wished th an d ey had th e answers for.

have an overall sense of being heard.

I am a 15-year-old girl, the third of four daughters. I am, b”H, a smart, fun-loving, capable girl with many friends. Yet, at times, I feel as if everyone and everything would just go on fine without me. Is it normal to feel so dispensable and how can I overcome these feelings?

Answer:

Thank you for writing in with such an important question. Indeed, not only are you “smart, fun-loving and capable,” but you are wise beyond your years. There are many adults of all ages who at times share your feeling of being dispensable.

I believe the key to getting past these feelings is to understand the difference between “dispensable” and “replaceable.” No person or event or entity is indispensable. But on the other hand, no person, or event or entity is replaceable.

Whatever happens afterwards is not the same as before and therefore the very fact that it IS replaced is a reminder that something was destroyed.

Let’s take a simple example – a piece of furniture in a person’s home is destroyed. Or maybe a piece of jewelry was stolen. The insurance company pays for the furniture or jewelry to be replaced. But even if we replace it with as close a copy as possible to the item, every time we look at the replacement, we are reminded that the original was destroyed.

My husband and I recently made

Aliya to Ramat Beit Shemesh, and we spent the summer furnishing our new apartment. We ended up (by chance) at a wonderful store that builds all kinds of premium wood furniture. We were ordering our dining room furniture, and the proprietor wanted us to feel comfortable that he was legitimate, so he showed us the beautiful chair he had made for the Viznitzer Rebbe. He jokingly said

We surely can see this concept in the story of the rebuilding of the second Beit Hamikdash. The Navi tells us that when the second Beit Hamikdash was being rebuilt, the elderly, who were alive and saw the first Beit Hamikdash, wept in despair. However, the young people rejoiced because our Beit Hamikdash was being restored. The older people understood it was a replacement and not the

You have special talents that Hashem gave you, special skills that He gifted you with. he could make a replica for us and my husband would feel the holiness of the Rebbe in the chair. We explained to him that although it would look exactly like the Rebbe’s chair, it was not the actual chair that the Rebbe sat on, so it had a totally different value to it.

The chair is dispensable as it can break or become ruined – but it cannot be replaced.

same as the first Beit Hamikdash – and they wept. The replacement is never the original. As we know, many of the miracles in the first Beit Hamikdash did not exist in the second. You can replace bricks and stones, but you cannot replace miracles.

Yet another example are the two sets of Luchot. The second are a replacement of the first, but they are not exactly the same. The text differs from the first to the second. The lesson

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

here is that the first are not replaceable.

The input and idea are the same but they are not the same. Every time we read the second set, we are reminded of the fact that Moshe broke the first set. Even in the time of joy that Hashem forgave us and gave us the second set of Luchot, we relive the tragedy of the loss of the first Luchot.

People are not replaceable, either.

After my mother passed away, my siblings and I encouraged our father to remarry. No one should have to be alone. We understood that our mother, a”h, was not replaceable, yet our father

Are you a teen with a question?

If you have a question or problem you’d like our columnists to address, email your question or insight to editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com, subject line: Teen Talk.

needed to move forward. We were blessed for ten years that our father found another wonderful and special woman to remarry, Mira, a”h.

No one is replaceable.

We must use the unique talents and special skills that Hashem has given specifically to each of us to make a difference, to help those around us, to build up

others and to build up ourselves so that indeed we will truly understand that we are never replaceable. You have special talents that Hashem gave you, special skills that He gifted you with. Those special talents and skills make you someone who can never be replaced. You are needed in this world.

Rebbetzin Sori Teitelbaum is the rebbetzin emeritus of Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst. She recently retired from teaching at HAFTR middle school and high school in the Five Towns. She is a well-known speaker and is involved in all aspects of the community.

Rabbi and Rebbetzin Teitelbaum recently made aliyah and live most of the in Ramat Beit Shemesh.

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Dating Dialogue

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

Dear Navidaters,

Hey, Thanks for the awesome Shabbos reading content.

I figured I’d send in a question I have had on my mind for a while. I’m a guy in my late 20’s who has been dating for a bunch of years. Lots of the same names keep coming up, and these are all girls who I’ve already either dated their friends, so I know it’s not shayach or just don’t feel like they’re for me. Some girls’ families are just not my type, and some are not the right hashkafa based on seminaries, etc. Shadchanim seem to get annoyed with me when I decline the same girl, yet again, not realizing how annoying it is for me to have to come up with reasons every time the same girl keeps being redt to me.

What is the most appropriate way to get some “new” ideas instead of the same repeated recycled names?

Thanks!

Gavi*

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

The Shadchan

Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz, M.S.

Michelle Mond

G

H

avi, what you are basically asking us for is a way to fend off shadchanim. If you want to meet younger girls, say so. Girls do not reach the age of dating overnight.

You want a response to shadchanim who are suggesting the same girls or their friends to a guy who is dating for years and are possibly giving up on you.

I would suggest that you think about yourself. Ask yourself: Are you the same guy you were four years ago? Six years ago? Probably not.

Hopefully you have grown in many ways. Life experience, whatever your profession or yeshiva status is, does that. Do you think this is a male-only prerogative? Of course not. Women change, too. A lot of the former “not shayach” women are probably “shayach” for the newer you.

And let me tell you something about using the term “shayach.” I find it annoying to hear from someone to whom I am suggesting a dating partner. It’s a loose term and meaningless. It’s just a yeshivish way to say it’s not a fit. So I usually explore the comment and reflect it back, saying, “You think it’s not a fit,” hoping that I will get a clue as to what the objection is so that I can understand better. But when I get similar generalities again and again in different words, even to the question what kind of person does work for you, I feel discouraged and am not likely to try to fix the person up again.

Look into yourself. Examine why you are nixing so many suggestions and understand the criteria you cite (outdated educational experiences, general family culture, friends). It will be more helpful than asking us for a substitute phrase to use with shadchanim.

ello Gavi, Thank you for writing into our column.

I’m sure all of our panelists will delve into the main question you have, however, I would like to make a separate observation and suggestion from your letter.

You wrote: “These are all girls who I’ve already either dated their friends, so I know it’s not shayach or just don’t feel like they’re for me.

Some girls’ families are just not my type, and some are not the right hashkafa based on seminaries, etc.”

Here are my observations from your letter: 1. Shadchanim are suggesting ideas that you’ve passeled (discarded) because you know their friends and “feel” without meeting them that they’re not the right type.

2. You’re saying no to suggestions that keep coming up because you think you have their family all figured out and they are just not your type.

3. Based on seminary type yet again you are judging and making blanket statements before even giving them a chance.

Gavi, do you even realize how much you are limiting your own prospective matches with your attitude?

You further allude to shadchanim as the bad guys for suggesting these ideas. In your letter, you ask, “How can I not get anymore recycled names?”

Sorry for the rude awakening, but potential spouses are not empty soda bottles to be collected and recycled.

When you get an idea a few times, you are not getting recycled goods. These are beautiful, amazing, multi-faceted human beings from beautiful families. Each with their own maalos, middos, and refined character traits.

When you can start looking at the women you date with reverence, respect, and through the lens of maturity, you will then be ready to get real suggestions from shadchanim. The problem is not with the shadchanim’s suggestions; the problem is with your attitude.

I am not saying these names that keep coming up are your bashert, but I do not think you are mature enough to receive “the one” right now. Additionally, your attitude towards those helping you is all wrong.

I would like to tell you a story.

A guy came my way a couple years ago, and I thought of the absolute perfect match for him (literally, perfect!).

I approached him with the idea, and he immediately nixed it because she went to a high school that was not a typical Bais Yaakov. Although it is a frum girl’s school, it was a bit of a drive out of the Baltimore community, and he wondered why she would go to that school rather than the Bais Yaakov that was right within our community. I did not believe he was making the right choice, so I pushed him a bit, describing her incredible maalos and traits and amazing family. He then described that her family is less “yeshivish” than his, and the high school piece was something he couldn’t get past. For a couple more years I saw him around, still single. I kept thinking about this idea which I suggested at the beginning of his dating journey and how I wish he would just give it a shot. However, he had already adamantly refused based on judgment types.

Then, Covid hit.

Lisa Elefant from Adopt a Shadchan started ZOOM groups for singles. These two singles made it to Lisa’s groups – both were placed in different Zoom rooms; however, when Hashem ordains something nothing can stop Him. Mistakenly, the girl ended up in a Zoom room with this guy (call it a glitch in the system, or

Sorry for the rude awakening, but potential spouses are not empty soda bottles to be collected and recycled.

call it hashgacha pratis), and they immediately hit it off.

When I heard they were engaged through Adopt A Shadchan, I literally screamed with glee and asked to hear the story. To which Lisa told me the above about the Zoom groups and “glitch” that brought his attention to finally meeting her face to face. I immediately texted the guy a hearty mazel tov, asking if he remembered my insistence on him meeting her years earlier. He responded, “I don’t particularly remember that but I am kicking myself; I was so dumb!”

Do you understand how dumb these silly judgments can be?

Do you realize what you can be giving up by merely passing ideas off just because you have said no to their friends?

Do you understand that a girl is not just a seminary on a resume but a human being that you must meet in person to get to know?

Have you looked deep into yourself to see what you have to offer as a husband in terms of refined middos, well-rounded personality, and proper attitude? I think once you work through yourself a bit more, you will be able to be zocheh to receive the right match, and you will be mature enough to give a “yes” when her name comes up.

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The Single Tzipora Grodko

I

completely understand. Well-intended shadchanim can lose focus and easily express frustration in the rejection of a suggestion, completely disrespecting the single and their judgement. Truth is (assuming you’re making healthy decisions in line with your values and character), it’s an illusion to believe that we are controlling most aspects of the dating stage. In addition to the numerous challenges that dating brings, the uncertainty and inability to measure our outcome based on our efforts is extremely difficult. Parents, friends, and kind-hearted individuals may give you suggestions and advice on how to “better succeed” at meeting your bashert when the reality is that it’s completely out of our control.

I truly believe that the best hishtadlus one can do is to invest in their personal character and

spiritual development. The more you focus on your personal growth, the greater your life will be, the less anxious you’ll feel, and the closer you’ll get to meeting your soul mate.

In order to get “the best,” you need to attract it by “feeling your best.” Feel liberated in knowing that it’s not the details in the “how” that will bring you closer to your bashert, but it’s the details in the “Who.” With a capital “W” that is, as in G-d.

Some may consider my response too idealistic, but I consider it the best practice that leads to peace of mind and ultimately true happiness.

The Zaidy Dr. Jeffrey Galler

Y

ou sound jaded by your experiences. Here are some suggestions: First, shadchanim are not mind readers. Their recommendations are

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

D

ear Gavi, Thank you for your email. I am very glad that you wrote in. I am sure many people will be able to relate to your quandary. I understand that when readers write in, we are often given only a snapshot, or a narrow and limited view, of an often bigger picture that if explored would lend

itself to a deeper understanding of the situation at hand.

I can only reply to what you have shared with us.

My concern for you is that you may be limiting yourself. I am feeling some closed-minded energy, as

based upon what they think you are seeking. When speaking to these shadchanim, please consider being much more specific, with more precise details, about the type of woman you’d like to date and the type of woman you’d like to avoid.

Second, you may wish to re-evaluate what you think you’re looking for. The qualities, backgrounds, and experiences that your brain is telling you to seek in a prospective mate may be very different than what your heart really desires.

Consider this crude analogy: Let’s say that you’re convinced that you wish to purchase a Honda automobile. If you go to many different Honda car dealers, test drive their various models, and are dissatisfied with all of them, shouldn’t you consider trying an Acura instead?

I know, it’s a highly inappropriate comparison. But, nevertheless, you may wish to revise, or modify, what type of woman you’d like to date.

Third, it’s possible that the shadchanim that you have contacted only have access to the same type of

prospects that you clearly do not find attractive. Consider consulting with different shadchanim who have access to different types of young women.

Fourth, why not completely bypass this antiquated matchmaking system? There are tons of young women out there who, like you, have not had success within this system. You can meet each other at your synagogue, at singles’ weekends, or at events sponsored by reputable organizations like YUConnects.

Albert Einstein (or someone equally intelligent) is reputed to have said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

if you are putting barriers in front of yourself.

Not dating the friends of women you have dated because you assume them all to be alike is going to be to your own detriment, if it hasn’t already.

Each woman is a universe to herself, independent of a friend of hers you shared a soda or an evening with. Unfortunately, this view of dating has roots deep within many singles. “I don’t date this type.” “I went out with his friend, so he must be…” These absolutes are absolutely unhelpful.

I ask you to consider exploring a shift in your mindset and whether or

not your current perspective is coming off as “difficult” to shadchanim.

While there are certain non-negotiables that every dater is entitled to have and make known to themselves and shadchanim (to filter out people who truly would be not be a good fit), there is also the concept of loosening our grip and releasing some of our own perceived control. I do wonder if you may be sabotaging yourself a bit here. Once we have a healthy understanding of what our non-negotiables are, we can date with open-mindedness. Open-minded energy (flexibility) will be very attractive to shadchanim and the women you date.

All the best, Jennifer

In order to get “the best,” you need to attract it by “feeling your best.”

Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and certified trauma healing life coach, as well as a dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in private practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. She also teaches a psychology course at Touro College. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 718-908-0512. Visit www.thenavidaters.com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email JenniferMannLCSW@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Health & F tness

Oils to Help Treat Inflammation

By Cindy Weinberger MS, RD, CDN

N

ot all oils are created equal.

I’m sure you are aware that oil isn’t exactly the greatest for you. Oil tends to be synonymous with fat, building a bad rep for itself. However, not always is oil necessarily bad for you. For example, when baking, and the recipe calls for margarine or Crisco, substituting with oil is definitely a healthier option. Additionally, some oils have health benefits and are considered healthier than others. Olive oil is famous for being considered a “good fat,” while other oils are called “bad fats.”

What constitutes oils as “good” or “bad” is the fat that makes up the oil. Olive oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are anti-inflammatory and are therefore needed in the body.

Oils made up of primarily omega-6 fatty acids are pro-inflammatory and should be avoided if possible. Oils that are rich in omega-6 fatty acids are linked to inflammation, which is a precursor for many diseases such as diabetes and heart diabetes. All foods that cause inflammation should definitely be avoided when on an anti-inflammatory diet. People with chronic inflammation are advised to adopt lifestyle habits that help reduce inflammation. An anti-inflammatory diet can be used to treat certain conditions such as Crohn’s disease, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and

certain cancers.

Oils that are high in saturated fat and omega-6 fatty acids will cause inflammation. The oils highest in saturated fats are coconut oil and palm oil. While coconut oil was thought to be very healthy for many years, it’s not the greatest. Its best use it for skin treatment and not in the kitchen. In addition, palm oil is high in saturat-

foods that will benefit from its rich flavor. However, olive oil has a very low smoking point and will smoke when frying and therefore is not recommended for frying. Additionally, olive oil has a distinct flavor and therefore is not recommended for baking either, since it will add an olive-y taste to your baked goods.

Avocado oil, made from avocados,

To treat chronic inflammation, a balanced diet needs the right oils.

ed fat and should be avoided in the kitchen as well. These oils are linked to various health conditions and can worsen inflammation.

The healthiest oil to use in the kitchen is olive oil. Olive oil is high in antioxidants called polyphenols which are linked to heart health and is also rich in antioxidants. Both of these reasons combined are why olive oil has been linked in countless scientific studies to reducing inflammation.

Olive oil has a rich flavor and is best when drizzled on sautéed, roasted, or steamed vegetables, salads, rice, used in salad dressings, and other

is primarily heart-healthy since it is made of oleic acids, a monounsaturated fat. However, avocadoes do contain some saturated and polyunsaturated fat, although the majority of its fat is heart healthy. Why is monounsaturated fat considered a healthy fat?

The monounsaturated fat helps lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise HDL (good) cholesterol, as well as reduce triglyceride levels and blood pressure.

All of these factors help promote heart health.

Avocado oil is also rich in lutein, an antioxidant that promotes eye health.

Avocado oil has also been shown to

reduce arthritis symptoms and other inflammatory conditions due to its anti-inflammatory properties. Because of its many health benefits, neutral flavor, and stability at high heat, avocado oil makes an excellent choice for all of your cooking needs. Avocado oil is also available in a spray form for frying. Hellman’s now makes avocado-based mayonnaise as a healthier substitution to regular mayonnaise.

Avocado oil can be used for salads, meats, chickens, roasting vegetables, baking, and even as a garnish. Pretty much, avocado oil should be your oil of choice for all of your cooking and baking needs.

To treat chronic inflammation, a balanced diet needs the right oils!

It’s OK to have more than one oil in your pantry, since they have different flavors and uses. For an anti-inflammatory diet, the best choices for oils are olive oil or avocado oil that are high in monounsaturated and omega-3 fats.

Cindy Weinberger MS, RD, CDN, is a Master’s level Registered Dietitian and Certified Dietitian-Nutritionist. She graduated CUNY Brooklyn College receiving a Bachelor’s in Science and Master’s degree in Nutrition and Food Sciences. She is currently a private nutritionist.

She can be reached at CindyWeinberger1@gmail.com or at 917-623-6237.

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My 40-Year Journey Away from Binge Eating

By Naomi Joseph, MS

Have

you ever stood in the dark at the kitchen counter dipping frozen, stale challah rolls alternatively in peanut butter and jelly that was opened before the flood, while on high alert for approaching humans?

Maybe salty and crunchy is your go-to, kiechel dipped in hummus and tahini? Cheeses of all kinds. Anything resembling cake. Before you know it, forty-five minutes have lapsed and if not for the crumbs and empty wrappers strewn before you, you would have no idea what you actually ate. And while you’ve done nothing to resolve the reason you’ve commenced the coping mechanism of using erratic eating behaviors once again, you feel calmed and are ready to move on to your next task.

Perhaps it’s homework with the kids or having the in-laws over for Shabbat. Maybe you need to return to your computer to finish that overwhelming project your boss is waiting for. Using cookies as fortitude has successfully helped strengthen your resolve to move forward. Or are you really just in a gluten fog, having sufficiently numbed yourself to the underlying pain, stress, or discomfort? Can your Grand Canyon-sized void ever really be filled with all the food you’re trying to stuff in it? You pray for a way out, for a “normal” life, where you’re “normal” with food and as a result are free to live in the body that was intended for you, but you don’t know how. The habit of reaching for food to pull you through is too engrained. You can’t tell anyone about it because it’s too shameful. What would people say? Nobody wants to be associated with being gluttonous or out of control. And if this isn’t you, then I guarantee it’s your slim neighbor, fashionable aunt, successful coach, or the unassuming rabbi’s wife. You would never suspect it because they are so “on the go,” “put together,” and “make it happen.”

Certainly nobody would have suspected it of me.

Yet I suffered with Binge Eating Disorder for over four decades. I was deeply engulfed in the war with

food, and now I am not. If you are like I was, and are looking for a way out, know that you are not alone, and there is always hope.

Binge eating disorder, as defined by eating disorders specialist Ira M. Sacker, M.D, is eating large amounts of food in a short amount of time without feeling hungry. You can experience a lack of control, or shame, guilt, embarrassment, and the desire to hide by eating in secrecy. Negative body image and self-hatred can further enhance emotional stress, depression, and anxiety. It is at one end of the eating disorders umbrella, with anorexia being on the other side of the spectrum.

Binge eating is reported to affect 2.8 million Americans – and those are only the ones who have come forward. The real number is estimated to be more than double that, and the numbers have increased considerably since the start of COVID, the world locked in with our kitchens, for better or worse. As a universal community, we seem to be at war with our refrigerators.

Yet as observant Jews, the reality of being sequestered for hours on end at our tables laden with decadent foods is anything but novel. We are no strangers to our homes being filled with Shabbat and yom tov cheer, where the guest list is as endless as the amount of tempting delicacies served. Delicious, unique dishes prepared with special care are meant to sanctify Shabbat, and we further sanctify the food by making blessings over it and taking pleasure in it. (Note how I said “special” foods, not “fattening” foods. Fattening is not part of the criteria, although it’s certainly part of the experience.)

What about the bubbah meisa that we don’t gain weight on holy days? Puh-leeze! Go to any nutritionist in any Jewish neighborhood, and they will easily be able to document otherwise. Just the challah alone can singlehandedly wipe out an entire week of careful eating and exercise.

We turn to our beautiful Jewish religion, the

most omnipresent, spiritual defense we have against the negative things we want to keep out of our lives, and invite in all the good, the spiritual, Torah, and a deep, meaningful connection to HaSshem. But at the same time, we get slammed with all of this food with the turn of every Shabbat, chag, bris, wedding, vort, sheva brachot, shiur, shalom zachor, kiddush, bar/bat mitzvah, and any and all events that seem to pop up on any given Tuesday.

They derail us from achieving the perfect balance our bodies were meant to be in and therefore keep us from being in a state where can focus on growing the spirituality inside of us. How can we best serve ourselves, Hashem, and our fellow man when our bodies are overstuffed with all this food? Our bodies that house our neshamas, the living, breathing, divine piece of Hashem that resides within all of us.

An ironic double-edged sword, indeed.

Studies on epigenetics have linked eating disorders to both descendants, and relatives, of Holocaust survivors and descendants of Eastern European immigrants. My father, a first-generation American, does not have Binge Eating Disorder, but he is a “fast eater” – hands down an Olympic gold medalist of fast eating, his torso leaning forward over his plate on the table, with one hand bringing his food to him mouth as quickly as possible, while the other hand encircles his plate, protecting what is rightfully his, ready to swat away anyone who dares to pilfer his perfectly procured meal.

Different eating disorders within our Jewish community have been wreaking havoc on shidduchim (“Yes, Mrs. Jacobson. I know it says size 2 on her resume, but what kind of 2? Like a 0-2, or 2-4?”), fertility (I know it did for us, ten years of trying for children before our twins were finally delivered. Thank G-d!), and self-worth (“I’m not as thin as she is,” “I don’t deserve to have all of those wonderful things because I don’t look like her”), which affects an endless array of basic life choices

TheJewish JewishHome Home| OCTOBER | JANUARY29, 6, 2022 The 2015

such as social circles, education, careers, and religious affiliation, just to name a few.

But just because our Jewish community undeniably has unintentionally inherited specific challenges when it comes to food, that’s not an excuse to keep shoving chocolate babka in our faces or throw our hands in the air and give up standing tall in the face of this particular adversity. Hashem wants us to be happy in our bodies, enjoy each and every moment we live within it, and bask in the glory of all this incredible world He has created has to offer us.

So we stand up. We employ all the willpower in our hearts. We visit the “diet-lady” (Not that the diet-lady’s ever given a fair shot. I mean…have you ever told the diet-lady you’re a binge eater?), Weight Watchers, our local diet doctors, order prepared food to our homes, enroll in the newest eating fad everyone’s on in the neighborhood…insert “diet” here. And it works! For a time. We drop weight, we get into our skinny clothes, and we swear it’s the last time! We believe with all our hearts that we are ready to begin our new lifestyle and live in the glory of this weight for good!

How long have you held onto your ideal weight?

For me, it’s never more than a year. It creeps up so slowly, you don’t even recognize that you weren’t guarding the gate, and all the old habits have slipped through undetected. It could be any number of things that bring it back on. Maybe it’s chag, or you’re planning a bar mitzvah, or it’s finals, or you have family in from out-of-town, and you decide to “treat yourself” and sit down to that one piece of cake you deserve. And you do deserve it.

I’m not saying don’t eat cake. But eating that cake, at that moment, as a person who is a binge eater and may not have the healthiest relationship with food, is laced with anxiety, and a complete set up. So what do we do? We berate ourselves for eating it, throw out the baby with the bathwater, and eat an entire box of cookies as a chaser because “well, I blew it anyway. Might as well.” That inevitably leads to an immediate course correction, back to out-of-control binging alone in the dark recesses of our kitchen, or the pizza shop, or alone with a newly purchased bag of Reeses’s Peanut Butter Cups in your car in the CVS parking lot. And then, of course, you feel awful upon fully realizing what you’ve done in the aftermath, so then you eat more to make yourself feel better, which only ma kes you feel worse.

So you eat more to make yourself feel better, and round and

round you go for months, years, decades, or lifetimes. And so we start again.

How tired are we of this dance? How do we end this for good? Stop the roller coaster, I want to get off.

Do you catch yourself saying things like: “I know what to do. I just have to do it”? If so, please know that nothing is further from the truth, so you can stop beating yourself up for not being perfect right now. If you’re at this stage of awareness as to why you’ve continued to binge eat, or otherwise use food to soothe yourself, give you strength, make you feel better, ease transitions, or any number of other unhealthy reasons that no

We binge eat because on some level we feel “not good enough.” longer serve you, don’t feel too bad. I was there for over forty years, so I’m giving you permission to give yourself some grace.

The reason we binge eat has nothing to do with willpower, or an undecided heart, an overwhelming social calendar, Shabbat, not caring enough, or because we just like food. And while we can go on blaming anyone, or all of those things, let me save you some time.

We binge eat because on some level we feel “not good enough.”

In the absence of getting to the root cause of why, and how those unfounded feelings became lodged in your psyche in the first place, this maddening cycle – whether it be with food, drugs, alcohol, shopping, relationships, exercise (insert addiction here) – will continue. This is one of those times where we must look back in order to move forward toward a healthier future.

It almost always starts in childhood. It did for me. Children are wonderful observers, but due to their young development, they aren’t always great interpreters of the messages they receive. The message could have been delivered by a well-meaning parent, spiritual advisor, sibling, coach, teacher, or the bully in the schoolyard. Someone you respected. As a child, you took their word (or outright berating or abuse) as gospel, as a deficit in your character. And in the process, traded in those skewed messages for your G-d-given gifts. The very gifts bestowed upon you by the Master of the Universe that made you feel worthy and good enough. The exact gifts you’ll need to reclaim your worth and get back to that just relaxed state with food.

In adulthood, we wear these heavy loads that were not even ours to carry in the first place, em-

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blazoned on our chests in pride, like the Scarlet “A,” as we allow them to define us. We hear them as “I’m shy,” “I’m not a great parent,” “I’m a perfectionist,” “I’m lazy,” “I’m a creature of habit,” “I’m a skeptic,” ”I’m successful in every area of my life, but weight is the one thing I just can’t beat,” and other rubbish we hide behind that keeps us from growing into the people that Hashem meant for us to be on this earth.

Nothing can be further from the truth. The truth is that you are a child of G-d. The heir of a King. You can be anything you want. If you have a burning desire to be a certain way, or do a certain thing, that is a sure sign that Hashem has put that desire in you. I promise you that He wouldn’t have, in all His infinite wisdom, put that desire in you if you didn’t already have everything inside of you to get the job done. And you can certainly get a handle on food.

I’ll never forget hearing this quote during Rabbi Alexrod’s Rosh Hashanah drasha. In Orot HaTeshuva 15:10, Rav Kook comments: “When we forget the individual essence of the soul… everything gets confused and full of doubt. This applies not just regarding the individual, but all of mankind in the aggregate. Their sin always stems from their forgetting who they are… Repentance involves a person’s first returning to himself, to the root of his soul. Once he does that, he will immediately return to G-d.”

But where do we start? There is an old saying that inspiration can’t come from within, because we have already inspired ourselves with all we have. For me, I had to look without. I found a therapist I clicked with, and together, through the pain, and the mess, we began to dig. The process was necessary and proved to be successful. It took years. I had a lot to unravel. While we all want immediate results, there is no pill to take, no quick fix, nothing we can pop into the microwave and have ready in the next thirty seconds. The process of gaining the awareness of the dark voices in your head, learning how to kick them to the curb, create new messages in their place, lean into your greatness, and take back your life will take energy, time, and money. But in the end, you will get to live the rest of your life as the incredible, fabulous, amazing YOU of your dreams, making traveling this long, winding, arduous road all the worthwhile.

I wrote my book and continue to speak out about eating disorders because I wanted to blow the shameful shroud off this very taboo topic so that people will not be ashamed to reach out for help. I figured if I could help just one person not go through what I went through for as long as I went through it, it would all be worth it.

Won’t you be that person who stands up for themselves, breaks the chain of shame, and walks into the light Hashem has put inside of you?

Naomi Joseph, MS, lives in the Five Towns and is the author of “Binge and Sprint: From Endless Cake to Recovery,” available now.

Her workbook, “Conquer Your Binge,” will be available later this year. Naomi is available for book clubs, and speaking engagements, and can be reached through her website BingeAndSprint.com, Instagram @BingeAndSprint, or email NaomiJosephNVP@gmail.com.

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Parenting Pearls

Lessons from Our Forebears

By Sara Rayvych, MSEd

M

ost readers don’t know that I grew up in what’s called a “mother-daughter” house.

For those unfamiliar with the term, it’s a home that has been converted to legally house two generations in one residence. Each family has their own private dwelling within the larger property. The most common arrangement is a mother living with her daughter’s family, hence the name.

In our family, my grandmother (“the mother”) lived with us, her daughter’s family. She had her own apartment within my parents’ house.

Each family had a separate entrance to the outside, but there was also a door between her apartment and our house that allowed us to pass between the two without going outside. Each family had both the privacy of a separate entrance but the convenience of easily going back and forth between domiciles. What this meant practically was that both my grandmother and my father had complete privacy from each other within their own abodes but we grandkids were able to run back and forth in our pajamas; being a little kid had its benefits.

I learned so many lessons from my grandmother just through seeing her in her everyday life. She didn’t have to lecture us because we could watch her behavior and hear how she spoke.

Those subtle lessons are very powerful. As an educator, I can attest to how influential living by example can be for a child. You can spend hours lecturing on the power of davening for the sick but that may be outweighed by a child seeing their morah stop and recite a tefillah when an ambulance, sirens blaring, passes beneath the classroom window. Giving our children the opportunity to speak with those they can learn from, particularly our respected bubbies and zaydies, is an opportunity for them to absorb the many lessons only the older generation can teach.

I was able to experience firsthand some of the many benefits of being raised by more than one generation.

My husband’s grandmother, Zinaida Tsarevskaya, left, with my grandmother, Catherine Chanin, at my husband and my l’chaim over twenty years ago

Having very involved grandparents was a unique similarity my husband and I noted we had in common when we were dating. As was customary in the former Soviet Union, his grandmothers both came to his home each day to tend to him as a young child while his parents worked.

Like us, our children have been blessed to have their grandparents near them. Grandparents have much of the experience young parents lack.

They also have the ability to shower love on their descendants without having to maintain the same level of discipline as parents. As my parents spread their wings (figuratively, since they’re going by train) and try a winter as Floridian snowbirds, I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to reflect on a few of the many advantages the young experience from forming a close relationship with the previous generations.

Valuing the Previous Generations We need to appreciate having access to the previous generation.

While my parents’ generation rarely met their grandparents, our children’s generation are often zocheh to having great-grandparents. This is a privilege not to be squandered.

My grandparents’ generation lived through very trying times, and

each family has their own story to tell. Many families experienced persecution in whatever country they originated. Even those that were in America found shemiras Shabbos and keeping halacha near impossible.

There was a certain strength they personified that is difficult to articulate.

Their mesiras nefesh was legendary and a lesson for us.

There is a mitzvah to give honor to the elderly. Stories about respect are nice but seeing real-life examples of how we give kavod to our elders is the best lesson. By standing up in their presence and speaking with deference we demonstrate the appropriate way to address someone in a dignified way.

I remember well our trip in seminary to meet Rav Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg, zt”l. The awe our rav had when he spoke to the gadol made a real impression on us and made more concrete what an opportunity we had to meet such a distinguished individual. If our rabbi had spoken casually to Rav Scheinberg, I think we would’ve lost part of the lesson. This meeting had particular significance to me as my high school rebbi, Rabbi Eliyahu Alpert, is a grandchild of Rav Scheinberg.

While it’s slightly off-topic, as a small z’chus after the recent passing of Rabbi Alpert’s mother (Rav Scheinberg’s daughter), Rebbetzen

Zelda Baila Alpert, a”h, I’d like to share just one of the Torah messages Rav Scheinberg imparted during that meeting. As this was over 20 years ago, I will do my best to relay it accurately. When asked what was one lesson we should make sure to take away, it was to maintain “the supremacy of ruchniyus over gashmiyus.”

Our children often see us interact with elderly individuals, our local rabbonim, and talmidei chachomim.

More than telling our children how to behave, we can show them what we expect during our many personal interactions. Our actions speak far louder than our words, and our children take notice of our behavior – for good and for otherwise.

Not every child will have access to grandparents. There are more ways to bond with the older generation than just blood relationships. There are elderly individuals in shul, at the park, and even as your neighbors. You can strike up a friendly conversation at the park or grocery store. In preCovid days, I know of families that visited nursing homes. By shoveling snow or carrying groceries to the door, there are many ways a child can help and create a kesher with someone. Someone doesn’t need a longterm closeness with someone to learn from them; even a one-time “chance” meeting can be a learning experience.

Lessons from the Past While some societies worship youth and disregard the wisdom of the elderly, we know to value the knowledge that comes with experience. Previous generations were that many steps closer to Matan Torah and our illustrious forebears. We have much to gain from being around them.

There is so much to learn that it’s worth giving our children exposure to the lessons from previous days. I’ve personally heard so much about the increased level of respect, tznius, and basic derech eretz that was normal in previous days.

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I can’t say that everything in the past was perfect because it wasn’t.

There are definitely places where progress has been made but there is still so much where we have become desensitized that we all benefit from taking a few peeks backwards just to recheck our baseline.

My grandmother and parents made clear rules in advance of moving day which would ensure each individual had their privacy. The adults followed those regulations scrupulously, and the arrangement worked for over two decades until my grandmother’s passing. Honest-

researching this article, I was impressed by the extra level of privacy and respect for others’ space that used to be the basic standard. So often, we find the difficulties that occur when boundaries aren’t created and guarded. We’re afraid to say something or hurt someone else so we

Maintaining Healthy Boundaries While perhaps unrelated to the main topic, there is another crucial lesson that would be an injustice to ignore. An important lesson that I can appreciate as an adult looking back on my childhood home is the relevance of maintaining respectful boundaries. The far-reaching effect of boundaries doesn’t apply only to biological relatives but to everyone we encounter; I am simply using my family as an example to touch upon this critical issue. The details of creating and maintaining healthy boundaries is best left for a more thorough discussion another time.

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As they say, good fences make good neighbors.

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Our children will encounter many situations in their life, learning when and how to create their own boundaries is an important lesson that leads to greater shalom. Clear, but respectful, guidelines between two individuals or families are one of the many ways to maintain peace and show respect for another.

There is so much our children can gain from those older than them, both from those who know and love them personally but also from those who simply have greater life experience than them. Sometimes, it may take the maturity of a future adult to comprehend the lessons of their youth but at least we can plant the seeds in their young minds.

Sara Rayvych, MSEd, has her master’s in general and special education. She has been homeschooling for over 10 years in Far Rockaway. She can be contacted at RayvychHomeschool@gmail.com.

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OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

jewish women of wisdom

Fascinated by the Fifties

By Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz

I

t’s not just because I was born during that decade. There are more reasons I am fascinated by the fifties. It was a time of hope and a time of fear. It was a time of energy and a time of extraordinary bounty.

Consumerism grew but civic responsibility was present. It was a time of social conservatism and strong family values. The U.S. experienced an economic boom as well as baby boom after the war. However, the fears of communism and nuclear war were clear and present.

For us Jews, it was the postwar era of refugees trying to rebuild families, businesses, and communities. Individual Jews had to figure out how to put bread on the table and navigate in a new world without language skills and a support network.

For Jewish leaders, it was a time to encourage so many exhausted, poor Jews who put in a hard day’s work.

It was a time to encourage tradition as they started families and looked ahead. For Jewish educators, it was a time to put joy into children who didn’t experience joy in the homes of their survivor parents. For Torah leaders and laymen, it was a time to develop yeshivas and institutions to restore what was lost. American Orthodoxy that had established institutions before the war was invigorated by the arrival of survivors.

Yet, this was the era of the rise of the Conservative Judaism. Orthodoxy was called the “sickly weed” which wouldn’t survive in an optimistic culture of Americanization. The big temples and JCCs of suburbia where Jews settled during white flight from the inner city offered easy Judaism, kosher-style. It was a time when Torah leaders inspired young men to go out and build communities, gather youngsters in communities in youth groups, and create Jewish experiences for them. “It was up to us,” recalled the late unforgettable Rabbi Aaron Brafman, z”l. “If we wouldn’t do the work, Yiddishkeit would be lost.”

Hungarian Jews on a bus to Salzburg in 1956

There was a strong sense of responsibility among the rank-andfile Jews during the fifties, not just the famous leaders and laypeople.

What was it like to grow up then? I ask some recent friends who grew up in various cities. I am intrigued by the environment in the communities other than New York during this period. What was going on in shul? In kashrus? In the community? Were there schools? What did their parents say? What do they remember? I was curious so I proposed writing a series on this topic to one of the Jewish magazines.

One friend told me that Polish Jews left Paris for Uruguay because they thought there would be a World War III due to the tensions in Korea and the threat of nuclear war. The threat of Soviet communism for the frum Jews who had stayed in Hungary after the second world war was so real that they pulled up stakes and fled when the Revolution of 1956 failed. The scattered survivors of Hitler’s efficient eradication of Hungary’s Jews were determined to raise children who could live Jewishly.

The new State of Israel was fragile and beleaguered by the surrounding Arab countries. The success of the

Sinai Campaign which followed just a few months after the Suez Missile Crisis marked the beginning of a sense of security. Some of the 56ers chose to go to the U.S. rather than Israel where their “children would be cannon fodder,” I am told.

In one of the towns in Holland where there was a historic Jewish community for centuries, the kehillah structure was maintained, another friend told me. There was a strong sense of mission. By the late sixties, most of the Orthodox Jews emigrated to Israel.

In Chicago, where my mother’ forbears arrived one hundred years ago, it seemed that the community was united in nurturing Yiddishkeit in every shape or form during the fifties. “If you were frum, you were family. It didn’t matter which group you belonged to,” my aunt told me.

Everyone went to the same youth groups, visited with one another, and supported the budding schools and institutions with their labor and loyalty. Everyone worked hard together.

It’s this strong sense of fifties responsibility and mission that I find very compelling. It is so lacking today. It seems like the subjects we Jews talk about these days are third world

problems: materialism, technology, and pandemic travel restrictions.

Our kids have grown up with a strong Jewish infrastructure and Orthodox culture. Their children, too, are experiencing the same system that the postwar generation built with sacrifice and determination. Leaders and educators are trying to develop the missing passion and fight complacency about Torah life.

We baby boomers can remind the younger generations not to take their lifestyle for granted.

With all its flaws, the frum system as we know it is the scaffolding that supports us. The system enables our spiritual growth and the healthy development of Torah families. We are girded by institutions, leaders, and patterns that strengthen us. Sometimes, individuals and groups fail to remember that the frum system is not the enemy. It’s not necessarily causing the challenge one may be facing.

The frum system can use improvement. Good people have been stepping forward to address contemporary communal challenges. They deal with populations and issues that may not have gotten attention in the past. We are more individualized and sensitive in Jewish education.

We offer more choices. We recognize diversity in our communities. We have changed as a community and are changing because of the efforts of people who are motivated to build, train, and provide alternatives.

My message for the young is simple. Value the shoulders on which you stand. Value the work of the pioneers whose efforts built you and your children. Improve with a sense of mission and responsibility, without criticism and cynicism. Remember the fifties. Respect the strong foundations of our community. Revise with loyalty.

Join the conversation and email list of JWOW! by writing to hello @jewishwomenofwisdom.org.

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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In The K

tchen

Gnocchi with White Sauce

By Naomi Nachman

This past weekend, my daughter Leora asked me to make her gnocchi with a white (b�chamel) sauce. She had eaten it at a restaurant a while back and really wanted it again. We tried our hand at coming up with our own simple but delicious version of the dish.

White sauce is usually made with heavy cream.

In our version, we cut the calories in half by using 2% milk without cutting the flavor.

Ingredients ◦ 1 package Tuscanini gnocchi prepared according to package directions ◦ 2 tablespoons butter ◦ 2 tablespoons flour ◦ 2 cubes frozen garlic ◦ 1 cup milk ◦ Kosher salt, to taste ◦ Ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Melt butter in a large sauté pan on medium heat.

2. Add flour and mix well for 1 minute (clumping is normal).

3. Add garlic and mix well, then slowly add in the milk while continuously stirring the sauce. The clumps will thin out and the sauce will thicken as the

milk gets closer to boiling point. Add salt to taste. Then add in the gnocchi and garnish with crushed black pepper before serving.

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

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Notable Quotes “Say What?!”

If I had a dollar for every lockdown politician who decided to escape to Florida over the last two years, I’d be a pretty doggone wealthy man, let me tell ya.

- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when asked about Rep. Ocasio Cortez (Dem/Socialist-NY) seen around Miami Beach partying maskless over the past week

I could tell you, I mean, there probably be about half a dozen governors who had restrictions on their people and then were spotted at various points in Florida. Some of it’s been public. Some of it’s not been public.

- Ibid.

As we recognize that Covid-19 is not a deadly or even severe disease for the vast majority of responsible Americans, we can stop agonizing over “cases” and focus on those who are hospitalized or at risk of dying.

- Tweet by Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post, who in the past excoriated Republicans for taking a measured approach to Covid, including tweeting several months ago: “DeSantis downplays rising Covid-19 numbers ... that’ll work... says no one”

I guess I should’ve been at the beach in Delaware, right, and then they would’a been really happy with that.

- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when asked about the media reporting that he has been MIA in the second half of December, before explaining that he put out a daily schedule of events but since he had no press conferences, the media accused him of being “missing”

Now that Joe Biden is about to have an all-time Covid case high set one year into his administration, his allies are suddenly arguing cases don’t matter and it’s time to get back to normal for most people. Anyone with a functional brain has been arguing this since last summer.

We don’t just want to have, with Mars, flags, and footprints and then not come back for a half century like we did with the moon. In order to pass a very important great filter, we need to be a multi-planet species.

- Clay Travis, tweeting in response

- SpaceX founder Elon Musk on the Lex Fridman Podcast stating that he will land a person on Mars within a decade

Bad ideas will be abandoned eventually, but only after their believers have caused irreversible damages.

- Helen Raleigh, tweeting in response

I’ve always been a cockeyed optimist. I got it from my mom. I’m gonna stick with it.

- From a statement by actress Betty White – who died this week several weeks before her 100th birthday – shared last week with Fox News Digital via her publicist

I think that’s what life is about. I mean, you need to do what makes you happy.

- Sebastián “Ardilla” Álvarez, talking to CNN, after flying at 180 mph into and out of the 656-foot-wide crater of an active volcano in Chile, becoming the first person to do such a stunt

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There’s a lot of reason to be hopeful in 2020. But for G-d’s sake, please take advantage of what is available.

- Pres. Biden at his first Covid briefing of 2022

2021 is pulling out all the tricks…including raining fish in Texarkana today. And no, this isn’t a joke.

- Facebook post by the city of Texarkana, Texas, to alert residents that it was literally “raining animals”

Animal rain is a phenomenon that occurs when small water animals like frogs, crabs, and small fish are swept up in waterspouts or drafts that occur on the surface of the earth. They are then rained down at the same time as the rain.

- Ibid.

The first 100,000 [deaths in the U.S.] were probably not stoppable. And after that, I think there was clearly bungling.

- Dr. Amesh Adalja, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, talking about the U.S. Covid death rate

We have to address the fact that we have got to deal with the fact that folks are paying for gas, paying for groceries, and are – need solutions to it. So let’s talk about that. Short-term solution includes what we need to do around the supply chain, right?

So, we went to the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Savannah, Georgia, and said, “Hey, guys, no more five days a week, eight hours a day; 24/7, let’s move the products because people need their product – they need what they need.” We’re dealing with it in terms of the long-term. And that’s about what we need to do to pass Build Back Better. It strengthens our economy.

- Vice Pres. Harris’s answer when asked about inflation in a CBS interview

Cloth masks have no value other than theater - Sen. Rand Paul, M.D. (R-KY) on 710 WABC

We’re ending 2021 with what one analyst described as the strongest first-year economic track record of any president in the last 50 years. Let’s keep the progress going.

- Tweet by President Biden marking the end of 2021

I was sitting in my kitchen yesterday and there’s a sunroom off the kitchen. My wife was there with her sister and her good friend named Maryanne and she was saying, “Do you realize it’s over $5.00 for a pound of hamburger meat?” $5.00. You know, a pound of beef today costs 5 bucks compared to less than 4 bucks before the pandemic.

- President Biden during his first event of 2022

Stop. It’s a fake religion created by a psychopath. You aren’t bringing in new voters; you are turning them away. People are tired of pandering and [baloney].

– Tweet by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R- GA) after a Republican group sent out a “Happy Kwanzaa” message

Assuming that you are (a) bit curious as to why I am doing this, the reason is straightforward: the excellent educational opportunity available to me – which I took full advantage of at CCNY – gave me the basis to continue to develop.

- From a letter by an anonymous donor who mailed a box containing $180,000 in cash to City College of New York in Harlem

If science can’t be questioned, it’s not science anymore. It’s propaganda.

- Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers questioning the science behind Covid-19 mandates on the “The Pat McAfee Show”

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Political Crossfire

The 10 Best Things Biden Did in 2021

By Marc A. Thiessen

I

once again offer my annual lists of the 10 best and 10 worst things the president did this year. Regular readers know I have been highly critical of President Joe Biden during his first year in office – so, in the spirit of the season, we’ll start with the best things he did: 10. He launched the first test of a new system to defend Earth from a killer asteroid. On his orders, NASA launched a rocket into space testing “whether a spacecraft can nudge a celestial body in a way that will alter its orbit.”

9. He twice launched airstrikes against Iranian proxy forces in Iraq and Syria. He continued the Trump policy of taking military action against Iranian-backed forces who threaten or attempt to kill U.S. personnel.

8. He became the first president to resist Turkish pressure and officially acknowledge its 1915 genocide against Armenians. His statement sent a clear message that the United States would hold even allies to account for abuses of human rights.

7. He recovered the majority of the ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline to a Russian hacking collective.

After the company paid ransomware attackers who shut down its computer systems and caused fuel shortages up and down the East Coast, the Biden Justice Department followed the money and seized 63.7 bitcoin, valued at about $2.3 million.

6. He sidelined the court-packing movement on the left. Biden created a commission that included sensible liberals and conservatives which steered clear of taking a position on the most controversial ideas for changing the court.

5. He elevated Quadrilateral

Security Dialogue (the “Quad”) between the United States, Australia, India, and Japan. After eight dormant years under President Barack Obama, the Quad was reinvigorated by the Trump administration and raised to a ministerial-level meeting. Biden elevated it further to an annual leader-level meeting, rallying the Indo-Pacific democracies to counter China and help lead Asia in the direction of peace and security.

4. He stepped up U.S. support for Taiwan. He invited Taiwan to participate in his 110-nation Summit for Democracy, invited Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to his inauguration, invited Taiwan to share its expertise at the Global COVID-19 Summit, and continued to provide Taiwan with the defense capabilities it needs to defend itself against Chinese aggression. And his administration worked hard to beat back efforts by the People’s Republic of China to squeeze countries to de-recognize Taiwan.

3. He announced a historic trilateral security agreement with Australia and Britain to counter Chinese

hegemony. The new AUKUS pact will help Australia develop nuclear submarine capabilities that will allow it to project power in the Pacific, and increases cooperation on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing.

2. He accelerated Covid vaccine delivery at home and abroad. In the United States, more than 70 percent of American adults are fully vaccinated. And his administration provided more than 300 million doses – more than the rest of the world combined – to 110 countries free of charge. He also launched the Global Covid Corps, a coalition of companies that will support vaccination efforts in developing countries.

1. He signed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill into law. Biden campaigned on a promise to usher in a new era of bipartisan cooperation. Sadly, this was the only major piece of legislation to deliver on that promise. It will provide non-inflationary, longterm investments in roads, bridges, ports, and waterways. Its passage also saved the filibuster, by deliver-

ing for Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) – the two lonely Democrats standing in the way of filibuster elimination – and vindicating their effort to reach across the aisle.

Other achievements did not make the top 10. Among the honorable mentions: Biden issued an executive order prohibiting Americans from investing in 59 Chinese firms that allegedly are linked to the Chinese military; he signed bipartisan legislation to ban the import of products produced with Uyghur slave labor; he announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics, a pointed snub to protest the Chinese regime’s human rights abuses without hurting U.S. athletes; and he launched an initiative to find deported U.S. veterans and bring them and their families back to America.

There were also a number of policies that nearly made the list, until Biden reversed himself. He told a CNN town hall that if Taiwan were attacked, the United States would come to its defense – seemingly ending our misguided policy of “strategic ambiguity” — but then the White House backtracked and said there was no change in policy.

He called Russian President Vladimir Putin a killer and promised to oppose the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, but then greenlighted the project – a major victory for the Russian leader.

Both of these would have made the 10 best if he had followed through.

In my next column, we’ll review the 10 worst things Biden has done. (c) 2021, Washington Post Writers Group

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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Political Crossfire

The 10 Worst Things Biden Did in 2021

By Marc A. Thiessen

I

n my last column, I listed the 10 best things President Joe Biden did in his first year in office. Here are the 10 worst (winnowing this list down to just 10 entries was extremely difficult): 10. He canceled Operation Legend amid a record crime wave in U.S. cities. At least 12 major cities broke annual homicide records in 2021. Yet Biden ended the Trump Justice Department’s Operation Legend, which deployed federal officers to aid local law enforcement and helped arrest more than 6,000 criminals. Now, after suffering the most violent year in a quarter century, the mayor of Chicago is requesting federal help to fight violent crime – help that Biden withdrew when he took office.

9. He weaponized the FBI to intimidate parents who show up at school board meetings. Parents are furious about pandemic closures and schools indoctrinating their kids with extremist ideologies. Biden treated them like domestic terrorists.

8. In the midst of a historic labor shortage, he pushed vaccine mandates.

Forcing employers with more than 100 employees to fire unvaccinated workers – even if they have natural immunity from previous infection – or impose onerous weekly testing requirements would drive more Americans out of the labor force, at a time when businesses can’t find workers and there are more than 11 million unfilled jobs.

7. His war on fossil fuels drove domestic production down and gasoline prices through the roof. Then he begged the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – a foreign oil cartel – to produce more oil, which will result in the same emissions as domestically produced oil. It’s

like the 1970s all over again.

6. He greenlighted Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany. Then Biden inappropriately pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Russian energy dominance over his country. Democrats impeached President Donald Trump for far less.

5. He showed weakness in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

It’s no coincidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin is threatening Ukraine just months after Biden’s disastrous retreat from Afghanistan and his capitulation on Nord Stream 2. Then, channeling his inner Neville Chamberlain, Biden offered to hold talks to discuss Russia’s concerns on NATO and the possibility of “accommodations.” Pushing Ukraine to “accommodate” Moscow under threat of invasion would reward Putin’s aggression – and invite more of it.

4. He unleashed the worst border crisis in U.S. history. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported more than 1.7 million encounters with illegal migrants at the southern border, nearly four times the number the year before, the highest annual total on record – including 378,000 who were not from Mexico, Honduras, El Salva-

dor, or Guatemala. Seizures of deadly fentanyl more than doubled in 2021 and is closely connected to a surge in overdose deaths, which reached a historic high.

3. His $1.9 trillion in social spending disguised as “COVID-19 relief” helped unleash inflation and extreme labor shortages. This was the worst fiscal policy mistake in decades, passed with Democratic votes alone. And despite all that “COVID” spending, shortages of test kits, and treatments persisted as the omicron variant arrived.

2. He failed to deliver on his promise to put his “whole soul” into uniting the country. Biden threatened to veto his own bipartisan infrastructure bill, then went to Capitol Hill and urged members of his own party to take it hostage as leverage to pass Build Back Better. He failed to pass any other major pieces of bipartisan legislation, allowing himself to be captured by his party’s radical left wing.

1. His withdrawal from Afghanistan was the most shameful foreign policy calamity in my lifetime. Biden left hundreds of U.S. citizens and as many as 62,000 of our Afghan allies behind enemy lines and forced NATO allies to abandon their citizens and allies as well. He put the safety of U.S.

servicemembers at the Kabul airport in the hands of the Taliban and Haqqani network, a decision that led to the deaths of 13 Americans in a suicide attack. His “over the horizon” drone strike killed no terrorists but took the lives of 10 innocent people. And he repeatedly lied about the unfolding disaster – declaring that al-Qaeda was “gone” from Afghanistan; that no Americans were having trouble getting to the airport; that no allies were questioning the United States’ credibility; that none of his military advisers had recommended leaving a residual force; and that his Afghan debacle was an “extraordinary success.”

That’s a shameful list, but it only scratches the surface. Among the (dis) honorable mentions: Biden proposed what the New York Times reports were the “highest sustained levels of federal spending since World War II”; he increased vaccine hesitancy by insulting the unvaccinated; at a time when the threat from China is rising, he sent Congress a budget that actually cut defense spending after inflation; and he told Putin that 16 areas of the United States’ critical infrastructure were off-limits to Russian cyberattacks – which effectively told the Russian leader that the rest were not.

Little wonder that Biden suffered the fastest collapse in public approval of any president in modern history.

When he took office, he had almost 56% approval and was 20 points above water. Today, he’s more than 10 points underwater. That’s a 30-point swing in less than a year. No recent president has fallen from grace so far, so fast, so early in his presidency.

This was the worst first year of any president in my lifetime. (c) 2021, Washington Post Writers Group

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Political Crossfire

What Strange Things Does 2022 Have in Store for Us?

By David Ignatius

W

hat a long, strange trip this year has been, to paraphrase the Grateful Dead.

But as the late, lamented William Safire wrote in one of his year-end “Office Pool” quizzes, “If you correctly predicted everything that happened… you belong in jail.”

As we head into 2022, place your bets for the New Year in a Safire-inspired multiple-choice quiz. Winning prize for any reader who gets all answers right will be a visit from a three-letter agency. My picks at the bottom.

1) North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will celebrate 2022 by: a) Demanding removal of Treasury sanctions on his April 26 Animation Studio so he can resume cartoon exports; b) Launching Jeff Bezos into space; c) Partnering with Donald Trump to develop “Mar-a-Lago East” on the Sea of Japan; d) Conducting his seventh nuclear explosion and testing an ICBM that can reach the continental United States.

2) Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman will shock the world by: a) Taking the throne after King Salman’s death and beginning what could be a half-century reign; b) Offering clemency and freeing the children of former counterterrorism officer Saad Aljabri he has been holding hostage; c) Meeting President Joe Biden and halting cooperation with China on ballistic missiles; d) Joining the Abraham Accords and opening a Saudi commercial office in Tel Aviv; e) Shaving off his beard.

3) The Ukraine crisis will enter a new phase in 2022 as: a) Russian cyberattacks disable the Ukrainian power grid and hundreds freeze because of shortages of gas and coal; b) Donetsk separatists backed by Russia

overrun Ukrainian front lines at Avdiivka and enraged rightwing nationalists kill pro-Russian MPs in Kyiv; c) Russia, after creating chaos in Ukraine, invades to “restore order”; d) Russian forces gradually retreat from Ukraine’s border as the West offers limited security guarantees.

4) The 42-year-old “Iran crisis” enters a decisive stage as: a) Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s death triggers a succession struggle between military and clergy; b) Prodded by Russia and China, Iran reaches an interim nuclear deal with the United States that reverses nuclear progress in exchange for sanctions relief; c) Israel launches a military strike against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure after the U.S. midterm elections; d) Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invite Iran to meet with the Gulf Cooperation Council and open diplomatic relations.

5) The year’s most disruptive technology will be: a) Operational quantum computing that unlocks all current and historical encrypted data; b)

Reinvention of the World Wide Web as “Web 3,” using secure blockchain technology; c) Issuance of reliable cryptocurrencies by China, the European Union and other nations, also using blockchain; d) Undetectable “deep fake” techniques that affect financial markets and elections.

6) Space warfare becomes a redhot military topic in 2022 as: a) The U.S. Space Force disables a seemingly “hostile” foreign satellite based on what proves an inaccurate intelligence assessment; b) National Reconnaissance Office ground stations are hit by disabling cyberattacks leaving the United States “blind and deaf” in space for weeks; c) China demonstrates an antisatellite weapon capable of destroying satellites in geosynchronous orbits; d) The United States declassifies information about “exquisite” capabilities developed during the Cold War – causing Russia and China to revise security plans.

7) The most active Republican campaigner with the highest poll numbers during the 2022 midterm

campaign will be: a) former president Donald Trump; b) Sen. Ted Cruz; c) Sen. Josh Hawley; d) Rep. Liz Cheney; e) former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

8) Topping the list of Democrats seeking the presidential nomination if Biden decides not to run will be: a) Vice President Harris; b) Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; c) MSNBC host Joe Scarborough; d) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; e) Republican crossover and former representative Will Hurd.

9) The U.S. secretary of state in December 2022 will be: a) Secretary Antony Blinken; b) Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman; c) Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo; d) CIA Director William Burns; e) Sen. Christopher Coons.

10) The “black swan” crisis of 2022 will be: a) Backlash against President Xi Jinping’s unprecedented third five-year term from senior party and military leaders; b) Global economic downturn caused by a new COVID variant that is as transmissible as omicron but more vaccine-resistant; c) a devastating ransomware attack against Taiwan’s chipmaking giant TMSC by Chinese “private” hackers; d) Russia’s candidate wins control of the International Telecommunication Union and imposes new rules that aid censorship and curtail freedom; e) Saudi Arabia begins selling oil in Chinese yuan, in addition to dollars.

--Put down your wagers, folks. You can’t win if you don’t play, as Safire liked to say. My answers: 1) d; 2) d; 3) a, b, c; 4) b, d; 5) c; 6) c; 7) e; 8) Moot: Biden will run; 9) a; 10) e. (c) 2021, Washington Post Writers Group

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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Middle East Musings

Corporate Tax Rates & the Middle East

By David Billett

L

ost in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most influential tax changes in history can pass without an ounce of discussion in the global media.

Led by the United States, 136 countries have agreed to implement a global corporate minimum tax, which will establish two new rules. First, all corporations that earn more than 750 million euros ($870 million) in sales globally, such as Amazon and Apple, will be taxed at a minimum of a 15% corporate tax rate. Second, countries will have taxation rights over corporations that earn profits in their jurisdiction yet lack a physical presence.

For example, a corporation will no longer be allowed to do business in one country while also avoiding their corporate tax obligations. The second rule is specifically intended to target U.S. technology companies.

While at first glance the global corporate minimum tax may seem like a good idea, it must be rejected and abandoned immediately. The global corporate minimum tax will likely lead to a national security crisis in the Middle East, will inflict severe harm on small businesses, and will limit the growth of developing nations around the world.

Firstly, a global corporate minimum tax will deter foreign investment in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) and Bahrain. To date, the UAE and Bahrain each boast a zero percent corporate tax rate. Some may wonder, why would any country offer a zero percent corporate tax rate?

In essence, offering tax benefits is a powerful tool for a country to attract foreign investors and bolster their economy. If the UAE and Bahrain are required to increase their corporate tax rate, they will lose their competi-

tive tax advantage and will undoubtedly lose many investors, which will harm their economy.

As Iran grows in power and continues to threaten the balance of power in the Middle East, any act which

Secondly, small businesses that rely on corporate customers will be particularly harmed since corporate profits will decline. This increased tax burden will slowly force corporations to reduce their orders to small

If the UAE and Bahrain are required to increase their corporate tax rate, they will lose their competitive tax advantage.

can weaken those that are determined to counter Iranian influence must be abandoned immediately. A strong economy is the foundation of all military clout, and forcing the UAE and Bahrain to increase their corporate tax rate will weaken their economies and will ultimately assist Iran in exerting more influence throughout the Middle East.

businesses, which will result in small businesses being pressured to lower their prices. In essence, a large portion of the increased tax burden on corporations will be passed on to small businesses that are already struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thirdly, many developing nations utilize a lower corporate tax

rate to attract investors and to compete with more powerful countries.

Since these countries often lack the economic might, regional security, or political power to compete with stronger nations, a low corporate tax rate is necessary to increase their competitive abilities. While the global corporate minimum tax creates a façade of equality by implementing a minimum 15% tax rate, it will only result in wealthy nations increasing their tax revenue at the expense of the developing world.

The global corporate minimum tax rate must be immediately rejected. This rule will weaken the power of the UAE and Bahrain, who act as Israel’s closest allies and are stalwarts of peace in the Middle East. As the weakening of an ally is the strengthening of an enemy, Iran will reap the unintended benefits of this deal by exerting greater influence throughout the Middle East. This rule will also inflict severe harm on small businesses and will limit the growth of developing nations. Governments around the world must immediately abandon the global corporate minimum tax and recognize that enforcing this so called “equality” will only create an equally unfair society for all.

David Billet is a student at Fordham Law School, where he is an Associate Editor of the International Law Journal. In May of 2018, David graduated from Queens College, CUNY, with a B.A. in Accounting and a minor in Economics. David additionally writes articles that focus on foreign affairs, domestic policy, and global anti-Semitism. To date, his work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Israel Hayom, and almost twenty other media publications.

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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Forgotten Her es

Behind the Headlines at the Battle of the Bulge

By Avi Heiligman

S

ix months after the Allied landing at Normandy, France, in June 1944, the Germans decided to make one last offensive and ultimately force a peace treaty on more favorable terms. The Germans hoped to prevent the Allies from gaining control of the port of Antwerp and wanted to split the Allied lines. They were banking on bad weather, the element of surprise, and the fact that the American supply chain was spread thin.

Failing to recognize a major buildup of German men and vehicles, entire Americans divisions were on the run following the start of the offensive. Called the Battle of the Bulge, the Americans reversed the German gains in just a few weeks, but it gave a major scare to the entire Allied forces in the west.

Almost from the beginning General Eisenhower realized that this was a big offensive and started preparations for defense. 250,000 men and 50,000 vehicles were rushed to the frontlines. This included sending the 101 st Airborne, aka the Screaming Eagles, and elements of the 10th Armored Division to the important crossroads city of Bastogne. Casualties were high, and they were low on supplies but still held out. On December 21, five Ger-

man divisions had surrounded the city and demanded that the Americans surrender. The highest-ranking officer in the pocket, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, responded with one word: “Nuts!” On December 26, a week after being sent to the city, American reinforcements from General George Patton’s Third Army broke through the German siege.

The Battle of the Bulge is fairly

er had been killed, and he asked Chiwy to volunteer. Together with her friend, Renee Lemaire, the two nurses joined an aid station for the 10th Armored Division treating wounded soldiers. However, a German bomb hit the station on December 24 and killed Renee along with dozens of wounded soldiers. Chiwy was blown through a wall by the blast but survived. She continued to

The highest-ranking officer in the pocket, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, responded with one word: “Nuts!”

well-known, but there were forgotten heroes and stories that didn’t make first page news. Many local civilians decided to help out the beleaguered American soldiers despite the dangers. Augusta Chiwy was a Belgian nurse originally from the Congo and was in Bastogne visiting family when the Germans launched their surprise attack. Army Dr. John Prior from Vermont was desperate for any help as his ambulance driv-

aid Americans and wore an American uniform while going out in the battlefield to retrieve the wounded under fire. It is estimated that Chiwy and Lemaire saved hundreds of American lives during the Siege of the Bastogne.

The Medal of Honor was awarded to twenty soldiers for heroic actions during the battle. One of them went to Private James Hendrix from Arkansas. He was with Company C,

53rd Armored Infantry Regiment, 4th Armored Division and had landed in Normandy five days after D-Day. On December 26, the 4th Armored was on its way to Bastogne, and Hendrix was with the elements poised to break through the siege. They encountered heavy artillery and small arms fire, and the private got off of his vehicle and started firing at the two enemy artillery guns, forcing the crews to surrender. Later, he dismounted again to come to the aid of two wounded Americans and silenced two machine guns in the process. Sometime later, he rushed to a burning vehicle and rescued another soldier from the inferno.

Isadore Jachman was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1922. His family moved to the U.S. when he was two.

They soon settled in Baltimore, and Isadore went to school at TA and Baltimore City College. When World War II broke out, he volunteered (all paratroopers were volunteers for the hazardous duty) and joined the 17 th Airborne Division. Soon he attained the title of staff sergeant in Company B, 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the 17 th Airborne Division. To the west of Bastogne, the 17 th Airborne deployed to Flamierge, Belgium.

Isadore’s Company B, 513th PIR

TheJewish JewishHome Home| OCTOBER | JANUARY29, 6, 2022 The 2015

Augusta Chiwy is second from right in a photo from 1945

was pinned down by enemy fire coming from artillery, machine guns, and small arms. To add to the deadly barrage, two tanks were advancing on his positions. He grabbed a bazooka (anti-tank weapon) and ran across an open field to get a good shot at the Panzer tanks.

One of his shots damaged a tank, and the other retreated. Tragical-

President Truman awarding the Medal of Honor to Sergeant James Hendrix

ly, Isadore suffered fatal wounds in that attack. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions in 1950.

Years later, it was discovered that the statue the town had erected of an American soldier was actually of Isadore Jachman, whom they considered to have saved their village.

By January, over 700,000 Allied troops were engaged against

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Isadore Jachman

a diminishing German Army, and in early February, the lines were about where they were when the offensive began. The German losses had been incredibly high, their reserves gone, and the Luftwaffe was permanently crushed. This led to final Allied push that saw the Nazis surrender in May 1945. The men and women who fought at the Bulge

and held out at Bastogne were a major part in the victory, and their sacrifices won’t be forgotten.

Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.

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8 bdrm colonial on oversized lot on quiet culde-sac- needs TLC. Ayelet (516)993-9561 $1,099M

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

HOUSES FOR SALE CEDARHURST 100' x 100' corner property for sale!! Large living rm, FDR, Kosher kit + den. En suite mstr bdrm plus 3 additional bdrs, fin bsmt, 2 1/2 bths, central air, sprinkler system, fully alarmed. Front porch, rear deck, Pvt drv + 2 story 2 car gar. Generator. Excellent cond!

Brisman RE/Raizy - 718-677-0988 or 917-975-8550 WOODMERE For Sale by Owner: 1980 sqft expanded ranch, 4br/2bath, full basement, new roof & gutters, near 3 shuls, 924k. customize space for your needs! near 3 shuls, 924k.

Call/text 516-289-4969

WOODMERE

Expanded Cape w. 4 bdrms, 2 baths, on quiet ABD block, renovated kitchen and baths.

Chana (516) 449-9692 $875K

HOUSES FOR SALE

WOODMERE: Beautiful, brick, colonial boasting 5 bdr 3.5 Bth in pristine condition.

Excellent location, near all!

Move right in!

RCUSA 516-512-9626 CAN’T AFFORD YOUR PROPERTY TAXES? MORTGAGE? Must sell for any reason?

Call for FREE Consultation.

Call now 212-470-3856 Cash buyers available!

CEDARHURST

WOODMERE

New to Market! 12 year old colonial on quiet street in Woodmere Park. 6 bedrooms, 3.6 baths. $2.150M

CEDARHURST

Renovated & Clean 4 bdrm, 2.5 bth colonial in the heart of Cedarhurst for rent ASAP Bryna 516-322-4831 $5,200/m

2 new construction colonial homes coming soon to Cedarhurst. POR Call Avigail 516-316-3452

LAWRENCE

Bright and spacious 2 bedroom apartment on 1st floor. Bryna (516)322-4831 $2,200/m

CEDARHURST

4 bedroom, 4.5 bath brick colonial on 1-of-a-kind 200 foot deep lot in Cedarhurst. $1.999M

CEDARHURST

1 bedroom apartment in the heart of Cedarhurst.

Bryna (516)322-4831 $1,895/m

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

113

Classifieds classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com • text 443-929-4003

COMMERCIAL RE

COMMERCIAL RE

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

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

INVESTORS WELCOME GREAT DEAL IN WOODMERE, amazing location, double lot, low taxes ,SD 14 Asking $599, won’t last 25 CONKLIN AVE, WOODMERE Call Alexandra at Realty Connect 1-516-784-0856

SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS CAHAL is seeking a secular studies MATERNITY SUBSTITUTE for February for a small boys 6th grade class and a PERMANENT AFTERNOON SUBSTITUTE. Email resume to shira@cahal.org or call 516-295-3666.

APT FOR RENT

Gesher (located in Cedarhurst) is looking for a part-time Rebbe beginning in January for First Grade boys. · Approximately a half-hour a day, Monday through Friday · Small group lessons · The goal of the Rebbe is to provide faster paced exposure to higher level kriah and chumash skills · Curriculum support provided · One-on-one private pay tutoring opportunities may also be available Please email your resume to jobs@gesher-ecc.org or contact (516) 730-7377 to set up an interview.

DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT A multi-tasker needed for general office work. The ideal candidate is someone who is detail-oriented, responsible, and can take ownership. Looking for someone who is eager to learn, and expand his/her skill set while possessing the ability to work independently and as part of a team.

Experience with Excel required.

Five Towns location. In-office position only, not remote.

Please send resume to 5tpart.timecareer@gmail.com

OFFICE FOR RENT LAWRENCE AVE & BAYVIEW Renovated. HVAC. Internet.

12’ ceiling. Parking. Minyan.

Kitchen.

LIRR. First month: $999 CALL, TEXT, WhatsApp 516-206-1100 info@mbequitygroup.com.

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 516-295-3000 www.pugatch.com

EAST ROCKAWAY: Retail Stores on Busy Corner, 1000SF& Up Available, Great High Visibility Location, For Lease…

Call for More Details Broker (516) 792-6698 FAR ROCKAWAY: House For Rent. On Beach 12th.

3 1/2 bedrooms.Just renovated, Central HVAC,LR/Dr, Finished basement..Call Raphael 917-822-1726 $3800/m

PRESENTED BY JORDAN GOLDSCHMIDT FROM GUARANTEED RATE AND DANIEL PEARLMAN FROM SHARONA BECK REALTY ,/

VIRTUAL FIRST TIME

HOME

BUYER

BOOTCAMP The Home Buying Process How to Get Qualified Financing Options Prepare for Home Ownership Local Market Stats The Closing Process And Much More...

REGISTER NOW FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A $100 AMAZON GIFT CARD

REGISTER NOW AT WWW.BIT.LY/MORTGAGEBOOTCAMP Jordan Goldschmidt VP of Mortgage Lending Guaranteed Rate (516) 998-6021 Jordan.Goldschmidt@rate.com NMLS: 2012660

Daniel Pearlman Real Estate Agent Sharona Beck Realty (516) 374-0242 Daniel@sharonabeckrealty.com

NMLS 2012660 Licensed by The Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act. nlmsconsumeraccess.org 1400 Old Country Rd Suite 206N, Westbury, NY 11590, (212) 318-9432, Guaranteed Rate, Inc. NMLS 2611 3940 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL 60613 (866) 934-7283 • rate.com Equal Housing Lender www.rate.com/privacy

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

BUSINESS MANAGER P/T (mostly) Remote Legacy 613, a dynamic Jewish outreach organization based in the NYC metro area, seeks a Business Manager.

The successful candidate will be responsible to oversee the budget.

We are looking for a dynamic selfstarter with excellent people and organizational skills.

Experience in not-for-profit Jewish organizations is a plus.

Excellent part-time opportunity with competitive hourly compensation.

Candidate will work with the director in developing budget and fundraising initiatives and generating reports to present to our Board of Directors.

Send resumes to info@legacy613.org

Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island has an immediate opening for a warm and caring full-time Kindergarten assistant.

Friendly environment and competitive salary.

Please email resume to preschool@ykli.org

Job Opportunity Are you looking to make a difference in the life of someone special? This job may be for you!

Seeking: a female worker for a high functioning 9 year old male in Cedarhurst area Shabbos and Sunday hours after 12:30pm Hours are flexible. Great pay!

Please call: 718-854-2747 Ext 1110.

Refer to job ID 11111

TAG JH looking for Math Teacher starting end of January email: tackerman@tagschools.org ASSISTANT TEACHERS CAHAL is seeking PM Assistant Teachers for young classes in 5-Towns and Far Rockaway. E-mail resume to Shira@cahal.org or call 516-295-3666.

Seeking experienced bookkeeper or CPA to take over the QuickBooks entering for a 501c3 nonprofit. Initial project includes restructuring the chart of accounts, bringing the books up to date, and transferring from QB Desktop to QB Online.

Ongoing tasks include ensuring that accounting is always current and producing reports as needed.

Candidate will be asked to train admin staff on QB Online.

Nonprofit seeking individual to become familiar with client and donor CRMs (Best Notes and DonorSnap) to maximize their administrative use. Individual will be asked to create systems and personalize the CRMs to the needs of the nonprofit.

Send resume to info@projectextreme.org

Job Opportunity Are you looking to make a difference in the life of someone special? This job may be for you!

Seeking: a female worker for a high functioning 6 year old female in Far Rockaway, twice a week from 2:30-5:00pm . Hours are flexible. Great pay!

Please call: 718-854-2747 Ext 1110.

Refer to job ID 6666 SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS CAHAL is seeking afternoon maternity leave substitute secular studies teacher for a small 6th grade boys class and PM secular studies permanent substitute.

E-mail resume to Shira@cahal.org or call 516-295-3666.

HELP WANTED SPEECH THERAPIST CAHAL is seeking a Speech/ Language Therapist for Special Ed classes in 5-Towns /Far Rock yeshivas. E-mail resume to Shira@ cahal.org or call 516-295-3666.

Special Care seeks patient Male or female com/hab worker 5:30-7:30 P.M. for 7-year-old boy with autism in Bayswater, Full/ partial coverage okay.

718-252-3365ext:102 / renay@specialcarefor.com Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, Woodmere, NY seeks a 4th grade Limudei Kodesh Assistant starting February 1st.

Hours are 8:00 am to 12;30 pm.

Resumes to raltabe@halb.org General administrative support needed for busy Five Towns office. Part-Time, in-office position. Flexible hours.

Looking for someone who is detail-oriented, dependable, and dedicated. Proficiency in Excel/ Word a must.

Please send inquiry/resume to flexiblestaffpositions21 @gmail.com

Cedarhurst 516-374-0242 119 Spruce Street, Cedarhurst 11516 358 Elm Street, West Hempstead 11552

West Hempstead 516-565-4392

G

IN OM

N

O SO

C New Listing: Far Rockaway

Semi Attached, 3 Br 1.5 Bath Side Hall Colonial in Desirable Area. Formal Dining Room, Full Basement, Needs TLC, Great Value.

Asking $649,000

Coming Soon: West Hempstead

Custom Cape on 14,000 SF lot on Dead End Street.

With TLC you can make this Private Spot into your Dream Home. Asking in 5’s. Call for Details.

Open House 596 Madison Ave, West Hempstead Sun 1/9 12pm -2pm

4 BR, 2.5 Bath Side-Hall Colonial in Desirable Presidential Area.

All 4 Brs on 2nd Flr, XL Family Rm, King Size Master Br Ensuite, Hw Floors, Alarm, Basement, 6,300 SF lot. $869,000

www.sharonabeckrealty.com info@sharonabeckrealty.com

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

CERTIFIED MALE CAREGIVER FOR OVER 25 YEARS Expert full time care. Experienced with many conditions. Upscale references available. Will travel.

Call Ralph (212) 658-0542.

(561) 351-7944 (cell)

NEW YESHIVA IN QUEENS SEEKING SECRETARY Must be detail-oriented, have great organizational skills, able to multi-task.

Experience in school programs a plus.

Send resume to: office@yeshivatbneitorah.org or call/text: 347-351-4573

Nursing Home Management Company in Brooklyn Looking to fill the following positions: Administrative Assistant MS office suite proficiency required Administrative Assistant experience required WE ARE LOOKING FOR AN EXPERIENCED FULL TIME BOOKKEEPER Excellent growth potential Frum environment Excellent salary & benefits Email resume to: resumetfs1@gmail.com Please put position title and FTJH in subject line

ASSISTANT REBBEIM and TEACHERS CAHAL, the community Special Ed program in Five Towns and Far Rockaway yeshivas has immediate openings available for: AM ASSISTANT REBBES for a 4th-5th grade class and a 6th grade class PM ASSISTANT TEACHERS for a 2nd-3rd grade class and a 6th grade class We have small classes and flexible hours.

Email resume to shira@cahal.org or call 516-295-3666.

SHULAMITH EARLY CHILDHOOD is looking to hire a full time teacher assistant for the current school year.

Please email resume to earlychildhood@shulamith.org

TJH Classifieds Post your Real Estate, Help Wanted, Services, Miscellaneous Ads here.

Weekly Classifed Ads Up to 5 lines and/or 25 words 1 week ................$20 2 weeks .............. $35 4 weeks .............. $60 Email ads to: classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com Include valid credit card info and zip code

Deadline Monday 5:00pm

115

New luxury offices custom built 4,500sf in prime 5 Call Towns location!

Raizie (917) 903-1778 Call Donny (347) 992-6343

Put the power of Miller Realty Commercial to work for you today.

516.374.4100 www.ftmr.com COMMERCIAL • LEASING • SALES

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

You Are NoT ALoNe Confidential Hotline

888.883.2323 Call. Text. Whatsapp

Call our Confidential Hotline to discuss any issues about relationships or domestic abuse. We provide a listening ear to all.

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

No oNe Deserves To Be ABuseD

116

JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

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

TAILOR WANTED KGH dry-cleaners is seeking a tailor for p/t or f/t work.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday preferred, other days available.

Call or text 917-435-9753

Special Care seeks patient Male or female com/hab worker 5:30-7:30 P.M. for 7-year-old boy with autism in Bayswater, full or partial coverage.

718-252-3365ext:102 or renay@specialcarefor.com MDS REGIONAL NURSE: 5 Towns area Nursing Home management office seeking a Regional/Corporate level MDS Nurse to work in our office.

Must be an RN. Regional experience preferred. 2-3 years MDS experience with good computer skills required.

Position is Full Time but Part Time can be considered.

Great Shomer Shabbos environment with some remote options as well.

Email: officejob2019@gmail.com

Torah Academy for Girls seeks a vendor to provide breakfast, snack and lunch for our students for school year 2021-2022.

To submit a proposal, contact Mrs. Obadia at nobadia@tagschools.org for bidding criteria.

MISC Gemach Zichron Yehuda In memory of R’ Yehuda Aryeh Leib ben R’ Yisroel Dov We have a library of books on the subjects of loss, aveilus, grief, & kaddish. We have sets of ArtScroll Mishnayos to assist with finishing Shisha Sidrei Mishna for Shloshim or yahrtzeit.

Locations in Brooklyn, Far Rockaway, & Lakewood.

Email: zichronyehuda@yahoo.com

Reach Your Target Market Cabinet Hinge Repair

Classifieds

646-661-1388 info@nadlercabinet.com

Hinges | Tracks | Drawers | Soft Close | Alignment

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

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117

OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home

Your

Money

Resolutions for 2022

By Allan Rolnick, CPA

2

021 is over — a dank, foul, depressing funhouse mirror of 2020 — and for most of us, it couldn’t end soon enough. Covid fear-mongering is still here, taunting us with new mutations every time we finally think we’ve turned the corner. Americans still hate each other as much as ever. NFL teams have turned into quarantine clinics, and Tom Brady is still winning games. Is it any wonder so many people have started rooting for a comet to hit the planet and wipe out anything larger than the rodents?

January 1 is when we traditionally resolve to make our lives a little better. Amateurs join a gym, stop going by Groundhog Day, and forget to turn off autopay on their membership until August. (More-experienced weight loss wannabes go online and stop those payments sooner.) Others decide to finally quit smoking for good this time or drink less. The really ambitious ones look beyond those goals to learn a new hobby, get organized, or put their spending on a diet.

A side benefit of forming new habits is that many of the most popular resolutions come with built-in tax advantages. Your gym member-

ship may be deductible if your doctor prescribes it for treating a specific medical condition. IR 1999-55 holds that your stop-smoking programs are a deductible medical expense.

(You can also claim tax-free reimbursement from your flex-spending or health savings account.) And if giving up booze will last longer than “Drynuary,” the cost of rehab is deductible as well.

attention to taxes before you show up in our office come tax time.

Most Americans think of taxes as something they worry about once a year, on April 15. And for some, with simple situations, there’s really not much more to it. If your 1040 is limited to a couple of W-2s and a mortgage interest statement, you may not be able to do much more than make sure your withholding is enough to

The really ambitious ones look beyond those goals to learn a new hobby, get organized, or put their spending on a diet.

But we’re going to propose another resolution to save you even more. You won’t have to worry about it every day, and you won’t have to give up anything you’ll miss (even if it’s not healthy for you in the long run). Nope, we’re not going to guilt you into giving up that $5 latte that jumpstarts your morning. Our modest proposal is that you resolve to pay

cover your bill. That last thing you want is a surprise tax bill, especially when it’s easy to avoid.

But if you’re investing in a securities portfolio, taxes matter every time you trade. If you’re saving for retirement, taxes matter with every contribution. If you’re managing rental property, taxes matter with every improvement. If you’re running a

business of any sort, managing your taxes should be just as important as finding the right credit-card processor. It’s a year-round responsibility.

If you’re paying too much, it costs you in every paycheck (where your withholding could have been less) and every quarterly estimate (where the check could have been smaller).

So this, year, be better. Don’t make any portfolio moves without calling us. Don’t buy or sell any business equipment without checking first. Don’t show up in March with a stack of surprise settlement statements or 1099s. This might sound like overkill. Sometimes it might even be overkill. But it beats what we in the business call an “April 15 surprise.”

Do you know how it feels to get an April 15 surprise? It’s not great. It’s like something out of a Scandinavian horror movie. Resolve to keep us informed in 2022, and let us help make your whole year better!

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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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015

43

Life C ach

What’s the Plane Truth?

By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS

I

got on the plane. My flight wasn’t cancelled. Woohoo! Miraculous!

We used to worry about delays or bad weather holding up a trip.

But now, we must worry about the pilot needing to blow his nose! If he needs a tissue, you are probably staying home. He’s got to stay away, and your trip is over.

I called the airline for my pilot’s name and his mother’s name.

I figured that if I want to get off the ground, I better have him in my prayers.

It’s just not about packing up or getting to the airport on time anymore, it’s all about if the pilot was able to get out of bed that morning.

When I saw that my pilot was actually there, I was ready to hug someone. But, at the airport, the most it is actually safe to do to show appreciation is to wink or blink at someone. If you attempt to remove your mask in order to smile or get close enough to hug anyone, they’ll pounce on you faster even than they will on the criminal who is trying to smuggle through a bottle of water.

Planes are reputed to have the finest air filtering system. Yet no one

cares! Unless you are feasting from liftoff to landing, your mask better be glued right on to your face. Practically your only choice to achieve freedoms is to eat continuously.

I gained 15 pounds on my last flight. And it was only two hours.

I don’t know about you, but I get

ed. Nowadays, there’s a run on this miniature space. It’s the one place you get to hang out, unmask, and not feel suffocated.

Stewards and stewardesses used to make you feel catered to or at least cared for on an airplane. Now, they are more like wardens or mask

I gained 15 pounds on my last flight.

And it was only two hours.

a terrible reaction to my mask. It makes my chin itch So, it’s snack or scratch. And I just can’t tolerate the itching. So I eat and eat.

My luck – most gyms don’t even exist anymore to work off the excess weight.

Remember when you used to have to use the bathroom on the airplane? Was there anywhere more claustrophobic? You’d want to get in and get out before you suffocat-

monitors. Don’t get me wrong. They still come running over quite often.

But they are usually just checking out your level of mask compliance.

Things have gone so haywire, I now look forward to that dreaded air turbulence, just hoping it will jostle my mask off my face. I like to think of this as “No Fault Uncoverage”!

Do I sound obsessed with the mask mandate on the plane? Well, I’m actually not – they are!

Sure. I get it. We want to be safe and healthy. I’m all for safety and health. I just wish we knew more.

When they finished the safety talk, I’m thinking: did they even say whether you can you take off your mask when the oxygen drops down, G-d forbid? Then I’m thinking maybe they can siphon a smoothie through our masks and make the trip more enjoyable. I think breathing in my carbon dioxide is making me think desperate thoughts!

Bottom line: it would be great if they could unmask more accurate information so we could all breathe a little easier. And that’s the plane truth.

Rivki Rosenwald is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist working with both couples and individuals and is a certified relationship counselor. Rivki is a co-founder and creator of an effective Parent Management of Adolescent Years Program. She can be contacted at 917-705-2004 or at rivkirosenwald@ gmail.com.

The Jewish Home | JANUARY 6, 2022

119

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JANUARY 6, 2022 | The Jewish Home

much

(

ing in all of ic r p y a d y r e Best ev Island! g n o L & s n e e Brooklyn, Qu AY!

VERY D E S T C U D O R NEW P Free

Parking Over 150 Spaces!

Prices Good Sunday, January 9th through Friday, January 14th, 2022

Avenue A Whole Kernel Corn

Apple Dandy Apple Juice

1

$ 99 64 oz

2

3/$

SR Pumpkin Filling

5

2/$

1

1

Ta’am� Cheese Bourekas

Givat Co�age Cheese

2

9

$ 99 LB

7

$ 99EA

2

Dried Mango Cheeks

9

$ 99LB

Wing On

$ 39 LB

2

$ 49 LB

Green Squash

Crispy Kirbies

99¢

Chicken Breast

Chicken Legs

8

3

2

$ 49 13 oz

2

$ 79 8 oz

$ 99 LB

2/$

Super Pretzels

Mozzarella or Pizza

(California Roast)

Sweet Cantaloupe

4

Ha’olam Shredded Cheese

Corned Beef Chuck Eye Roast

1st Cut Brisket

79¢

LB

Cobia Fillet

5

$ 99 EA

1.23 oz

$ 69 20 oz

1199

$

3

1

Fresh & Frozen Gefilte Fish

6 Pack

$ 29 16 oz

4

$ 99 28.2 oz

Tu B’shvat 4 Sec�on Pla�er

Say Cheese Cheesecakes

$ 99 32 oz

1

$ 89 52 oz

1

$ 992/$ 5 LB

5 LB 6 oz

3

Endico Whole Green Beans

Avenue A Flour All Purpose or Unbleached Osem Bissli

1$299

$ 99 40 oz

Tree Ripe Grove Select Orange Juice

1

$ 99 17 oz

Avenue A Flour All Purpose Unbleached Bowl &or Basket Mango Cheeks $ 99

White, Whole Wheat, Garlic Pesto Only

1

Assorted

2

Kontos 12” Wraps

4.5 oz

Manischewitz Broths

$ 79 6 oz

5

$ 79 5.2 oz/5.5 oz

3

3/$

Kravy Dip Dip Crackers

$ 99 1 Liter

Assorted

Streit’s Matzo Ball Mix

5

2/$

1

12 Pack

Pringles

Goodman’s Rice & Vermicelli

Assorted - 20 Pack

$ 79 8 oz

Bowl & Basket Seltzer

2 oz

Celes�al Seasonings Teas

1

$ 49 6 oz

Lieber’s Minios Lorem ipsum Cookies

Lieber’s Chocolate Chips

$ 79 9 oz

15.25 oz

Lieber’s Pie Shells

29 oz

2/$

More for Less

TM

Italian Kiwi

2

6/$

LB

Tuna or Egg Salad Wrap

4

$ 99 EA

Empire Classic Turkey Breast

1199

$

LB

Keilim Mikveh on Premises | Pre-Shabbos Buffet Every Thursday & Friday!

Savings Plaza | 11 Lawrence Lane, Lawrence, NY | (516) 371-6200 | info@kolsavemarket.com | /kolsavemarket Hours: Sunday-Tuesday: 7am-8pm | Wednesday: 7am-10pm | Thursday: 7am-11pm | Friday: 7am-2 hours before Shabbos We reserve the right to limit quan��es. No rain checks. Not responsible for typographical errors.