Five Towns Jewish Home 03.20.25

Dear Readers,

There are few times in one’s life when one can make a difference – a real difference.

We are now being offered an opportunity to really effect change. And it’s funny: we barely have to lift a finger and yet we can be making a tsunami of a difference.

Over the next few weeks, until May 4, 2025, the World Zionist Organization is holding elections for its upcoming congress. The congress takes place every five years in Eretz Yisrael, and there are 152 delegates out of 500 that come from the United States to sit in the congress.

Most people don’t know a lot about the WZO and even less know about the elections that are taking place right now. These elections, though, are essential for our survival as a Torah nation. The items being discussed in the congress and the funds being distributed are determined by the delegates who are sitting at the table.

So what does that have to do with you?

A lot.

You see, the only way these delegates can come to the table is if you vote them into their positions. And all you have to do to give them a seat is pick up your phone or head to your computer. The online voting process takes less than five minutes and will cost you a mere $5, less than a cup of coffee in many stores in the Five Towns. So, we’re not asking you to go out of your house to vote; we’re not asking you to shell out more than you spent on your lunch today. We’re only asking you to take a few moments and to take heart. We’re only asking you to understand the significance of what needs to be done and the importance of your involvement. Oh, and if you can urge your friends and family to vote too, you’d be making more of a difference.

As a delegate of the Eretz Hakodesh slate to the last congress, I was privileged to be sitting at that table. I witnessed firsthand how important it is to have the strong voice of the charedi community heard in a cacophony of voices trying to sway the future of the

landscape of the Holy Land. Over the past few years, Eretz Hakodesh helped to ensure that certain Israeli institutions are not hijacked by those spouting an anti-charedi rhetoric. Its presence was more than just a presence; it was a strong, stalwart, and fearless affirmation that Eretz Yisroel needs to remain a land with institutions rooted in kedusha and moral convictions.

Funds coming out of the WZO and its affiliates support agencies in Israel that offer vital programs to Israelis and Americans. But it’s more than money. It’s about representation and showing the world that Orthodox Jews speak for the Jewish community. You see, over the past several decades, Reform has had a very strong voice in the Israeli establishment. So has the Conservative movement and movements that promote alternative lifestyles and alternative ways of living a Jewish life. If these factions, and others like them, are elected to the WZO Congress in strong numbers, then they’re seen as representatives of American Jewry.

We cannot allow that to happen.

Your vote will determine who will be coming to the table and whose voices will be heard. Your vote will determine if the Kotel will continue to maintain its sanctity. Your vote will determine if necessary funds will be given to Orthodox communities in Judea and Samaria. Your vote will determine if marriage in Eretz Yisrael will be defined as it always has been. Your vote will determine if Torah values will be taught to Jews around the world or if they will be educated with ideals that are antithesis to a Torah life.

There’s a lot at stake, and it’s up to you.

You have the power.

Don’t wait. Vote today, now, by going to www. eretzhakodesh.org.

Shoshana

P.S. Feel free to drop me an email telling me you voted – I’d love to see how our community is energized to get out the vote!

Yitzy Halpern, PUBLISHER publisher@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Yosef Feinerman, MANAGING EDITOR ads@fivetownsjewishhome.com

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Dear Editor,

I hope this email finds you well! I’m writing with a matter of utmost importance. It has come to my attention that my name and persona were used in your recent Purim edition as the fictitious lawyer representing a local synagogue, Hachaim VeHashalom, in a hilarious (albeit entirely fake) news article.

While I would love to threaten legal action for this egregious misuse of my name and persona, I will admit that I was actually flattered and honored! Who wouldn’t want to be included in such an esteemed publication as The Five Towns Jewish Home? It’s not every day a modest attorney like myself gets to “represent” the most prestigious synagogue in the community in a comical legal matter, especially on Purim!

So, while I won’t be sending my legal associates after you, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for including me in the pages of my favorite newspaper and look forward to seeing my name, persona, and likeness in future issues. Let me know if you would like some recent pictures for your files to be included in future issues.

Additionally, as the synagogue’s counsel, I would like to propose the following one time settlement offer to the complainant and members of his class action. In lieu of litigation, I’m offering a fair settlement: All members of the complainant class will receive a shot of arak from a bottle personally blessed by Chacham Falafellafa himself. A more than reasonable resolution, don’t you think?

Additionally, while we sympathize with the frustration of the 12:45AM Maariv minyan quorum issue, we can’t guarantee a specific minyan time. But don’t worry! We’ll keep the doors open till at least 1:30AM, so you can either pray

or use it as an excuse to tell your wives you’re “going to shul”—we’re happy to be your alibi!

Thank you once again for the inclusion, and I look forward to future (hopefully less litigious) collaborations. Warmest regards, Gabe Solomon, Esq. Attorney-at-Law and unofficial Arak distributor

AKA Sheikh Gibreel ibn Ibrahim Al Baghdadi

Dear Editor,

The faces and names of the victims and hostages of October 7 are etched in the minds of millions, both Jews and nonJews. They represent the enduring hatred of the Jewish people, a spiritual law and a constant reminder. On Pesach, we will once again say, “In every generation...” What happened to “Never Again”? Before October 7, it was easier to believe that the past was behind us. Now, it is clear that today and tomorrow remain October 7.

It is our shared challenge, duty, and opportunity to keep the memory of our martyrs and sacrifices alive. To that end, I propose featuring those now-iconic images on sheets of Israeli postage stamps (with the families’ permission, of course), ensuring their constant use and circulation.

A Reader

Dear Editor,

It is difficult to define what happened during World War II, because it was such a unique and awesome and painful chapter in our history. The word Holocaust has been spoiled because so many other events, like a single mass shooting, or an incident showing prejudice is called a holocaust. Over the years, events have been called genocide. But

Continued on page 14

Continued from page 12 these events were all local. The Armenians who were living in or near Turkey were attacked by The Turkish Government. No other country joined Turkey. There were disputes in Africa between tribes. One tribe attempted to destroy another tribe. In Cambodia, a dictator murdered many people in his own country. These are examples of local genocides. There is no comparison to what happened during World War II. The problem started in Germany, but every Jewish life was affected. Even American citizens, who were part of the U.S. Army, faced special danger when they were taken prisoner.

World War II was a total war against the Jews. Hitler lit the match with his book “Mein Kampf,” My Struggle (against G-d). This was similar to Haman’s decree in the Megillah. What made this different from any other type of genocide was that the rest of the world all joined his war against the Jews. If a country was conquered by Hitler like Poland and France, or neutral in the war, like Cuba and Turkey, or the United States, who became the “arsenal of democracy” and demanded unconditional surrender; they all agreed with Hitler’s decree against the Jews. They refused to save Jewish lives. That task was left to individual “righteous Gentiles” and Jewish efforts.

There is one word, swastika, used by English-speaking historians, that is a complete lie about World War II. There is not one book, written in English, which gives the true meaning to the Nazi symbol – hakenkreuz, chopped cross. Swastika is a false and meaningless word. Hitler and Nazism destroyed the spiritual aspect of Christianity. Eighty percent of the German religious leaders agreed to change. Those who opposed it were “out of step.” Churches were open. The “god” they honored was their fuhrer, leader, the “heil (holy) Hitler.” Their bible was replaced by “Mein Kampf.”

In my opinion, the problem was the leadership in Rome, the Pope. He should have been in the forefront to, at least, fight for his own religion. But apparently, the “final solution” meant more to him than his own religious beliefs. All these facts are hidden by the word, swastika.

The bottom line is, Ein od b’lvado. There is nothing but Hashem. Psalm 91:4. “His shield and armor is His truth.” Psalm 94:14. “Hashem will not forsake His people.” Some day, Hashem’s truth will be known about World War II and the world will realize that through all the problems of the war, Hashem planted the seeds of the coming of Moshiach.

Elli Epstein Ocean, NJ

Dear Editor, Nirtza marks the conclusion of the Pesach Haggadah. Many Haggadahs have some version of the following note after this section: “While the traditional text ends here, it is encouraged to continue discussing Yetzias Mitzrayim until one feels sleepy.” Nirtza is not the end of the Seder but a transitional step from the written text to our conveying chiddushim on Yetzias Mitzrayim, as well as to offer praise and sing songs to Hashem. (The OU Guide to Passover 5785/2025). This includes Shir HaShirim, which appears the end of most Haggadahs. Additionally, there are a wide variety of commentaries one can learn from.

If the Seder does not end with Nirtza, then surely Pesach does not end with the conclusion of the Seder night (or nights). Rather, we should continue relating sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim, learning the laws of Pesach and offer insights all seven (or eight) days of Chag HaMatzos. The very idea of asking questions at the Seder should fuel further discussion as well.

B’ chol dor v’dor: each generation has its own form of redemption, and in each generation, we are tasked with discussing the Pesach story. We are further obligated to sing praises to Hashem for redeeming us from Miztrayim, and we are to daven for the final redemption. Additionally, given all the intricate laws of Pesach (especially this year with the three-day yom tov), we need to review them well. Each child is to be taught about Pesach on their level, too. While Pesach is a time when family can get together to enjoy each other’s company, talk and have festive meals, it would be a waste of eight beautiful days if one didn’t spend at least some portions of those days in learning, song, and davening. Of course, you can rest as well.

According to one opinion, Yisro was so drawn in by Moshe’s telling of yetzias Mitzrayim that he converted to Judaism. The Torah describes Moshe’s retelling : “And Moshe told his father-in-law, Yisro, all that Hashem had done to Paroh and the Egyptians” (Shemos 18:8). It wasn’t “just facts”; it was every detail conveyed with feeling. While it is not our job to proselytize, imagine the hashpa’ah you can have on family and friends at your own Seder – if you prepare right. In turn, you will hopefully be inspired by the insights of others into this holiday. That is not to say you shouldn’t help around the house as well.

In the zechus of our enhancement of Zman Cheiroseinu, may Hashem bring us from the avdus of galus to the final cheirus in Eretz Yisroel quickly and speedily in our days

Chaim Yehuda Meyer

Protests in Serbia

On Saturday, a major student-led demonstration against Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic hit Belgrade, with the rally, according to police, reaching at its peak 107,000 people. According to independent Serbian media, the rally was the largest in the country’s history and had far more participants than the police estimated.

That same day, most of the demonstrators left after the students who organized the protest instructed protestors to go home, as their safety at the rally could no longer be guaranteed. Still, thousands continued protesting.

The ongoing protests were triggered following the collapse of a train station concrete canopy on November 1 in Novi Sad. The tragedy led critics of Vucic to attribute the collapse to government corruption, negligence, and disrespect of construction safety regulations. The incident, which killed 15 people, inspired the March 15 rally, which protestors called “15 for 15.” During the protest, participants were silent for 15 minutes in honor of the victims.

Before the rally, Vucic said his forces would respond to unrest with arrests and draconian sentences. The night after protestors arrived in Belgrade, 13 people were arrested, according to Interior Minister Ivica Dacic. Public transportation in the area was shut down “for security reasons,” according to the transport company. However, it seems likely that the service cancellation was done to stop people from easily joining the rallies.

During the protests, participants held flags and banners, including those emblazoned with the words “he’s finished!” and “pump it up,” a slogan of the rally. The protestors marched or cycled for days across the country before reaching Belgrade on Friday, where they were warmly

welcomed by tens of thousands.

Vucic claimed that Western intelligence services were responsible for the mass student rallies.

India Arrests Crypto Money Launderer

At the request of the United States, India has detained Aleksej Besciokov, a Lithuanian man suspected of illegally running Garantex, a $96 billion cryptocurrency exchange that permitted terror groups, drug traffickers, and cybercriminals to launder money.

The U.S. had been pursuing the arrest of Besciokov, a resident of Russia who was in the Indian state of Kerala on vacation with his family at the time of his detainment. He awaits extradition to the U.S. Eastern District of Virginia.

Just a week before his arrest, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Besciokov, who they said was responsible for keeping Garantex up and running, and an accomplice named Aleksandr Mira Serda, a Russian who served as the exchange’s co-founder and “chief commercial officer.”

Besciokov and Mira Serda are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Besciokov is also charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the International Economic Emergency Powers Act—which also carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in person—and with conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

In 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department attempted to crack down on Garantex through sanctions. However, that didn’t work, as the company’s operations were reworked to dodge sanctions and trick U.S. businesses into collaborating with Garantex. Now, the U.S. is trying to stop money launderers by arresting them. Launched in 2019, Garantex was first sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control in April 2022 for receiving hundreds of millions in

criminal proceeds, including funds used to facilitate hacking, ransomware, terrorism and drug trafficking. Since those penalties were levied, Garantex has processed more than $60 billion.

Ex-Georgian Pres. Sentenced Again

Mikheil Saakashvili, a former president of Georgia who served over two terms from 2004 to 2013, was sentenced on Monday to four-and-a-half more years in jail. His latest sentence, which he has declared “illegal and “unjust,” brings his total up to over 12 years in prison.

Saakashvili was sentenced for illegally crossing into Georgia in 2021, during which he was in exile. According to rights groups, including the Council of Europe, he was jailed for political reasons.

Saakashvili, who tried to strengthen the country’s relationship with Western nations, is against Georgian Dream, the pro-Russian party that rules Georgia.

Last week, Saakashvili, 57, was also sentenced to nine years in prison for embezzlement. He was initially tried and sentenced twice in 2018.

After leaving Georgia following his presidency, Saakashvili mostly lived in Ukraine, which gave him citizenship in 2015 when he became the governor of Odesa, Ukraine. At the same time, he renounced his Georgian citizenship. In 2017, his Ukrainian citizenship was revoked, but it was reinstated in 2019 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who appointed the former Georgian president to oversee reforms in Ukraine.

“This [sentence] is basically sending a message... to President Zelensky, for them to scare him to show what happens when you don’t surrender your country... I did not surrender Georgia,” said Saakashvili in a video, adding: “No matter what, I will fight to the end.”

Zelensky and the European Union have called for Saakashvili’s release.

Georgia, formerly of the Soviet Union, is bordered by Russia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The majority of its population lives in Tbilsi, the capital.

Syrian Mass Killings

Early this month, armed forces affiliated with the new government of Syria entered the Syrian village of al-Sanobar, or “Pine Village,” and executed many members of the minority Alawite sect.

One video posted by a fighter shows him marching around a ransacked house where two males were killed, singing the words, “Ethnic cleansing, ethnic cleansing.” More footage showed him singing, “We’ve come to you. We’ve come to you with the taste of death,” while standing in front of several bodies.

A few thousand people live in the village. Thus far, reports have confirmed the killings of 84 people, while residents claim that more than 200, mostly men, were killed by the forces. The fighters killed individuals who were unarmed and not allied with the former government of Bashar al-Assad.

Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has disavowed any connection with the forces responsible for the killings and has said he started a committee to investigate the executions in an effort to hold the aggressors responsible.

The Assad family is part of the Alawite sect, which is a minority offshoot of Shia Islam.

On March 6, Assad loyalists ambushed Sharaa’s Syrian forces, leading to the deadliest battle since Assad’s fall at the end of last year. Since then, attacks have killed over 800 people, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights. The attacks on Pine Village started a day after the ambush. Three days later, armed forces organized the retrieval of all the bodies that lay on the village streets.

Plane Crashes in Caribbean

A small plane flying from the Honduran island of Roatan crashed into the Caribbean Sea on Monday. At least 12 people died as the craft headed to the port of La Ceiba on the Honduran mainland.

The aircraft “made a sharp turn to the right of the runway and fell into the water,” civil aviation official Carlos Padilla noted.

Five people were rescued after the crash.

“It’s been difficult to access the accident (site) because there are 30 meters of rocks and you can’t get there while walking or swimming,” Roatan fire captain Franklin Borjas said. “The divers helping with the rescue have zero visibility.”

Honduran musician Aurelio Martinez, a popular member of the Garifuna music scene, was among the dead.

“Martinez’s virtuosic musicianship and passionate performances made him a mainstay of the La Cieba music scene, where he was best loved for his take on punta rock, the high-energy, Garifuna roots-infused pop genre that took Central America by storm in the 1990s,” according to the Kennedy Center.

Fifteen passengers were on the plane, along with two pilots and a flight attendant, according to police.

The crash, which happened about half a mile from the island’s coast, was caused by an “apparent mechanical failure” on the British-made Jetstream 41.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro said she had “immediately activated” an emergency committee made up of the armed forces, firefighters and others to assist the victims of the accident.

Battle of Britain Pilot Dies

John “Paddy” Hemingway died this week at the age of 105. He was the last surviving pilot of the Battle of Britain. Hemingway was an Irish national who enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1938, before the war began. He was just

20 years old when he and his comrades in the Royal Air Force took to the skies to fight off wave after wave of Nazi aircraft that sought to pound Britain into submission during the summer and autumn of 1940.

German bombers had been relentlessly targeting airfields in southern England. At the time, Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously stood before the House of Commons to pay tribute to the young pilots who were defending Britain.

“The gratitude of every home in our island, in our empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their devotion,” Churchill said. “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

Britain has ever since revered “the few” for saving the country during its moment of peril. The Battle of Britain Memorial on the English Channel coast lists the names 2,941 Allied airmen who took part in the battle.

During dogfights with German aircraft in August of 1940, Hemingway was twice forced to bail out of his Hurricane

fighter, once landing in the sea off the east coast of England before returning to his squadron to resume the fight, the RAF said. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for gallantry in 1941.

Hemingway would dismiss notions of his heroism.

“The world was at war, and you couldn’t go somewhere and say, ‘I’m at peace and I don’t fight wars,’” he said in a 2020 interview with the BBC. “The main skill was luck. You had to be lucky, no matter how good you were. For instance, my boss, Dickie Lee, was the best pilot I’ve every seen, but he was shot down and killed. So he had no luck. I had bags of luck.”

At the end of the war, Hemingway served as commander of No. 43 Squadron, which flew Spitfires in northern Italy. He remained in the RAF after the war and retired in 1969 after more than 30 years of service.

Nightclub Fire in North Macedonia

Early Sunday morning, a fire ripped through a packed nightclub in the town on Kocani in North Macedonia. Fif-

ty-nine people lost their lives in the blaze, and more than 140 others were injured.

Arrest warrants have been issued for four people in connection with the fire, said interior minister Pance Toskovski. Bribes to authorities to skip licensing requirements and skirt safety regulations are commonplace in North Macedonia. Kocani’s mayor resigned on Monday over the emerging scandal.

Flares above the band at the nightclub ignited the ceiling of the club, which sparked the uncontrollable blaze. Club Pulse was crammed with young revelers, filled at double capacity. When the fire broke out, panic ensued, with everyone pushing towards the single exit. Many young people died of smoke inhalation and from being trampled.

Some of the injured were flown to neighboring Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece for treatment, authorities from those countries said.

North Macedonia

ter Hristijan Mickoski said on Facebook, “This is a difficult and very sad day for Macedonia! The loss of so many young lives is irreparable, the pain of the families, loved ones and friends is immeasurable.”

After visiting the injured in a hospital in Skopje, North Macedonia’s President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova said authorities were ready to do everything to help all affected.

“I simply cannot comprehend this ... what a disaster, what a tragedy.”

North Macedonia, a small country in the Balkans, is home to around 2 million people.

Lebanon and Syria Ceasefire

For two days, Lebanese and Syrian forces clashed along the border. At least seven Lebanese citizens were killed and 52 others were injured. Five Syrian soldiers were killed. On Monday, a ceasefire halted the fighting.

The agreement stipulated “enhanced coordination and cooperation between the two sides,” the statement from the

Syrian Ministry of Defense said.

Syria’s interim government accused terrorists from Lebanon’s Hezbollah of crossing into Syria on Saturday, abducting three soldiers and killing them on Lebanese soil. Hezbollah denied involvement; some other reports pointed to local clans in the border region that are not directly affiliated with Hezbollah but have been involved in cross-border smuggling.

It was the most serious cross-border fighting since the ouster of former Syrian president Bashar Assad in December.

Syrian News Channel, citing an unnamed Defense Ministry official, said the Syrian army shelled “Hezbollah gatherings that killed Syrian soldiers” along the border. Hezbollah denied involvement in a statement on Sunday.

The Lebanese and Syrian armies said they have opened channels of communication to ease tensions. Lebanon’s military also said it returned the bodies of

the three killed Syrians. Large numbers of Lebanese troops have been deployed in the area.

Lebanon has been seeking international support to boost funding for its military as it gradually deploys troops along its porous northern and eastern borders with Syria as well as its southern border with Israel.

Record Profit for El Al

El Al’s annual net profit grew to about $545 million in 2024, a record-breaking number, far surpassing previous years’ bonanzas. Many foreign carriers sus-

pended their Israel routes due to the wars that Israel has been fighting on many fronts.

The airline’s previous record high of $116 million was in 2023, driven by a fourth quarter that saw competition melt away after the October 7 massacre and the subsequent war in Gaza. In the fourth quarter of 2024, El Al made a net profit of $130 million, compared with the $40 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

El Al’s revenue in 2024 was $3.4 billion, up some 37% from $2.5 billion in 2023, the company’s previous all-time high. The airline’s gains enabled it to reduce its net financial debt — total liabilities minus cash and liquid assets — from $1.6 billion at the end of 2023 to $75 million at the end of 2024.

According to El Al, the carrier controlled 97.5 percent of the market share on flights to North America, with flights, on average, 96 percent full.

El Al’s CEO Dina Ben Tal Ganancia said in a statement that ticket prices rose “just 14%” on average per passenger in 2024.

The year “confronted us with complex national and business challenges, but we’ve proven our ability to handle them successfully,” she said. “Despite the challenges, we were able to maintain an aerial bridge between Israel and the world.”

Small airlines like Israir and Arkia are preparing to launch their own North American routes. United Airlines resumed flight services to Israel this week, and Delta Air Lines is scheduled to restart its Tel Aviv-New York route on April 1.

Tal Shoham Recounts His Ordeal

In an interview aired Saturday with Fox News, Tal Shoham, a former hostage who was released from Gaza on February 22, spoke about his 505 days in Hamas captivity.

On October 7, when Hamas and Gazan civilians invaded southern Israel, terrorists stormed into Shoham’s in-laws’ house in Kibbutz Be’eri, where he, his wife Adi, and their two children, Yahel and Naveh, who were at the time three and eight respectively, were staying. Sho-

ham confronted the assailants in an effort to save his wife and children but was met by “about 40 armed terrorists,” who were videoing and laughing at him.

He was then separated from his family, driven to Gaza in the trunk of a car, and forced out. Hamas demanded that he bow to them, but he said no.

“I said, ‘I can’t control whether you kill me or not,’ and I raised my hands — but I refused to kneel,’” Shoham said. “If you want to kill me, kill me, but you will not execute me like ISIS.”

The terrorists then marched Shoham through Gaza, where he was met by jeers from crowds of Palestinians. “I just waved and smiled,” Shoham said. “I didn’t show fear.”

For the first 50 days in Gaza, Shoham didn’t know whether his wife and children were alive. Thus, to cope with the unspeakable uncertainty, he had to “accept that my family was dead.”

“I sat on the floor and imagined myself at their funeral. I stood in front of a grave — one large for my wife, and two small for my children — and I eulogized each of them,” he explained. “I sobbed but didn’t let my captors see me cry. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, burying my family in my mind.”

On day 50, he got a letter from his wife telling him that she and the children had been released in the short-lived ceasefire in November 2023.

For 34 days, Shoham was held alone, after which he was put together with Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa Dalal. In June 2024, the three were brought to an underground tunnel, where Shoham stayed until being freed, and were held alongside Omer Wenkert.

According to Shoham, Hamas, even through the war, “never stopped digging tunnels. Not for a single day.”

Shoham emerged from captivity emaciated. He estimates that he consumed only 300 calories a day. For the first three days, he ate pita bread. Then, “food supplies dwindled.” He was then given tiny portions, as small as “three spoons of avocado and three dates” a day, “or half an orange from a tree in the yard.” In the tunnel, he would get plain rice and around 300 milliliters of water a day to drink and wash himself with. He was extremely malnourished.

At one point, he had a serious infection and internal bleeding in his legs, which forced Hamas to bring him to a doctor. The doctor provided him with blood thinners and vitamin supplements, which helped.

Wenkert was released alongside Shoham. David and Gilboa Dalal remain in captivity.

On October 7, Hamas kidnapped 251 people. Now, 58 remain in captivity, at least 35 of whom have perished in Gaza.

Boehler Backs Out as U.S.’s Hostage Envoy

After coming at odds with Israel, Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s candidate for special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, has dropped his candidacy. He will remain in the administration as a lower-level appointee to help release American prisoners and hostages around the world.

Recently, Boehler negotiated directly with Hamas, an unprecedented move meant to convince the terror group to release Hamas’ last living American hos-

tage, Edan Alexander, a U.S.-Israeli citizen held in Gaza, as well as the bodies of four deceased American hostages.

Israel was not informed ahead of time about Boehler’s direct talks with Hamas. The negotiations upset the Jewish state, which leaked information about the talks to the press on March 4. A few weeks ago, before the talks were revealed, Boehler started getting ready to withdraw his candidacy.

On Sunday, Boehler tried in interviews to ease Israeli concerns but instead made the situation worse.

He explained, “The most productive [approach] is to realize that every piece of a person is a human and to identify with the human elements of those people and then build from there.” Boehler also called the hostages held in Gaza “prisoners” and branded Palestinian criminals detained in Israel as “hostages.”

He added that he understands the concerns of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who has criticized Boehler, but noted: “I don’t really care about that that much — no offense to Dermer.”

“We’re the United States. We’re not an agent of Israel,” Boehler said.

Last week, Hamas said it would release Alexander. Two days later, the terror group reneged on its promise after

outlining a list of outrageous conditions for his release.

Shakeup at the Shin Bet?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently announced his intention to fire Ronen Bar, the director of the Shin Bet. The cabinet was expected to vote to oust Bar on Wednesday.

Netanyahu notified Bar of the decision recently in what Channel 14 described as “not an easy conversation.”

Strikes Continue in Gaza

As ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas collapsed this week, the IDF launched dozens of strikes throughout Gaza early Tuesday morning.

At least 404 Palestinians were killed in the strikes, according to unverified figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. It said another 562 were wounded.

Netanyahu’s office said the decision to resume strikes shortly after midnight “followed Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from U.S. special envoy to the Mideast Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators.”

Netanyahu is, according to some, attempting to place blame for the October 7 massacre on Israel’s security agencies, including the Shin Bet, as opposed to other entities in government, including political and legislative ones. Bar has previously said he would eventually step down from his position due to his agency’s failure to stop Hamas’ attacks. However, Bar has resisted calls for his immediate ouster, as he reportedly believes that Netanyahu will just replace him with a loyalist. Instead, he purportedly hopes to resign after all hostages are released and a state commission of inquiry on the October 7 massacre is established.

“At all times, but especially during an existential war such as we face, there must be full trust between the prime minister and the head of the Shin Bet,” said Netanyahu in a statement early this week. “But unfortunately, the situation is the opposite — I do not have such trust. I have ongoing distrust in the head of the Shin Bet, a distrust that has only grown over time.”

The premier added that he appreciates “the men and women of the Shin Bet” and that he believes “this step is critical for the rehabilitation of the organization, for achieving all our war aims, and for preventing the next disaster.”

According to the Attorney General’s Office, Netanyahu must speak with the attorney general’s office first before firing Bar, though the prime minister seems to have ignored that order.

At the Shin Bet, there is an ongoing investigation into Netanyahu’s top aides’ ties to Qatar.

Hamas has insisted on sticking to the original terms of the deal, which was supposed to enter its second phase at the beginning of the month. That phase envisioned Israel fully withdrawing from Gaza and agreeing to permanently end the war in exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages. But Netanyahu has long said that the war will only be over when Hamas and its government will be completely destroyed.

Witkoff has proposed extending phase one of the ceasefire for several weeks in exchange for the release of five living hostages. On Sunday, Witkoff said that Hamas’s response to the offer was a “nonstarter” and warned of impending consequences if the terror group did not change its approach.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that Israel had consulted with the Trump administration before conducting the strikes.

“As President Trump has made it clear: Hamas, the Houthis, Iran — all those who seek to terrorize, not just Israel, but the United States of America — will see a price to pay. All [heck] will break loose,” she said.

“Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes separately said.

On Tuesday, Hamas said in a statement that Netanyahu’s government’s decision to “overturn the ceasefire agreement” exposes the hostages “to an unknown fate.”

The terror group called on the mediators — the U.S., Qatar and Egypt — to hold Netanyahu fully responsible for breaking the ceasefire.

It also demanded Arab and Muslim countries to back “Palestinian resistance” aimed at “breaking the unjust blockade imposed on Gaza.” Hamas also urged the UN Security Council to urgently convene to issue a resolution obligating Israel to halt its “aggression.”

But Netanyahu’s government showed determination against the terror group, stating in a statement that, moving forward, Israel will “act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” adding that the operation is designed to achieve Israel’s war aims: the dismantlement of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and the return of all remaining 59 hostages.

The issue of ending the ceasefire is a heartbreaking conundrum in Israel. On the one hand, most people understand that Hamas needs to be destroyed. At the same time, there are Israelis still being held in Gaza, their lives at risk every day until we can bring them back home.

Hostage Omri Miran’s wife Lishay tweeted a broken heart emoji shortly after the strikes began. Former hostage Noa Argamani posted the same thing.

Many members of Hamas were killed in the strikes this week, among them: Issam Da’alis, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Gaza and head of the governmental activity monitoring committee, a position roughly akin to prime minister; Ahmad al-Khatta, the director-general of Hamas’s justice ministry; Mahmoud Abu Watfa, who headed the terror group’s interior ministry, responsible for Hamas’s police and internal security services in Gaza; and Bahjat Abu Sultan, head of Hamas’s internal security forces, which is under the interior ministry.

Abu Ubaida Al-Jamassi, also a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Gaza and, according to some sources, the head of Hamas’s emergency committee — which has managed Gaza during the war — was also killed overnight.

Google

to Buy Wiz for $32B

This week, Google’s parent company Alphabet agreed to buy Israeli-founded cybersecurity unicorn Wiz in a cash deal

for a jaw-dropping record $32 billion.

The deal, the largest-ever purchase of an Israeli tech company, was hailed in Israel as a sign of the country’s technological prowess and resilience during the war period.

It marks the largest deal in Israeli tech after U.S. giant Intel Corp bought Mobileye, a Jerusalem-based developer of advanced vision and driver assistance systems, for $15.3 billion in 2017.

For Google, it is the largest acquisition the search giant has ever made, almost triple its record purchase of Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in 2012. As part of the deal, Wiz will join Google’s Cloud division.

“From its earliest days, Google’s strong security focus has made us a leader in keeping people safe online,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai, announcing the agreement. “Today, businesses and governments that run in the cloud are looking for even stronger security solutions and greater choice in cloud computing providers.

“Together, Google Cloud and Wiz will turbocharge improved cloud security and the ability to use multiple clouds,” Pichai added.

Alphabet had offered to buy Wiz in July for $23 billion but the Israeli company walked away from that deal partly due to concerns over the clearance of antitrust hurdles by regulatory bodies. At the time, Wiz co-founder Assaf Rappaport said that Wiz sought to remain an independent cybersecurity unicorn rather than being absorbed by the tech giant. The company set out a growth path to double its annual recurring revenue (ARR) to $1 billion by 2025 and was eyeing plans for an initial public offering (IPO).

In May, Wiz, which says that its cyber platform is tailored to secure everything developers build and run in the cloud, was valued at $12 billion after closing its last funding round of $1 billion.

The cybersecurity unicorn was established in early 2020 just as the pandemic started gaining strength around the world, sending entire enterprises and workers online and spurring a huge migration wave to cloud-based servers. Wiz was co-founded by Rappaport,

Yinon Costica, Ami Luttwak and Roy Reznik, the same team that founded the firm Adallom, which was sold to Microsoft for $320 million in 2015. They also led Microsoft Azure’s Cloud Security Group. Its customers include 40 percent of the Fortune 100 companies, such as Slack, Mars, BMW, DocuSign, Plaid and Agoda.

changed. No amount of money can undo the permanent catastrophic harm he has suffered, but this jury verdict is a critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility.”

A Starbucks spokesperson said, “We sympathize with Mr. Garcia, but we disagree with the jury’s decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive,” the statement said. “We plan to appeal. We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks.”

$50M for Starbucks Spill

On Friday, a jury in Los Angeles awarded a man $50 million in his case against Starbucks after he suffered burns when a hot cup of tea spilled onto his lap in 2020.

Michael Garcia had been waiting at a drive-thru window where he was awaiting a delivery for a food order on February 8, 2020. One of the drinks on the tray he was handed overturned, severely scalding him.

Court records show Garcia had ordered three venti-sized “medicine ball” hot teas and was picking them up at the drive-thru when the lawsuit alleges the barista “negligently” failed to properly secure one of the drinks into the to-go carrier. The unsecured cup fell directly into Garcia’s lap within 1.4 seconds of him taking possession of the tray, with the lid popping off and hot tea leaving him with third-degree burns.

“Starbucks says if our hands are off the drink, then no matter what happens, we’re not responsible,” said Garcia’s trial attorney Nicholas Rowley. “So, if I’m Starbucks and I hand you a drink that doesn’t have a lid that’s secured, and it’s a scalding hot, 180-degree drink, or if I hand you a drink that’s in a container and it’s loose and it’s not secured, and it falls right on you — the moment that I take my hands off of it, then you’re responsible and I, the corporation, am not.”

After the verdict, Rowley said, “Michael Garcia’s life has been forever

Garcia began receiving treatment at the Grossman Burn Center in L.A. six days after the incident.

Starbucks had initially offered $3 million to Garcia pre-trial, later upping that amount to $30 million to settle. Garcia agreed, but under the condition that they apologize, change their policies, and issue a memo to all store locations to double-check their hot drinks before handing them to customers, attorneys said.

When the coffee chain declined to agree to those terms, the jury eventually decided to award Garcia with Friday’s total.

Rep. Nita Lowey Dies

Rep. Nita Lowey, the former congresswoman who served suburban parts of New York City, including Westchester County and the Hudson River Valley, died last week at the age of 87. She was the first woman to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat who served with Lowey in Congress, ordered flags flown at half-staff Sunday through Monday in honor of her former colleague.

“A public servant in the truest sense, she was guided by the Jewish core value of ‘Tikkun Olam,’ repairing the world,” Lowey’s family’s statement read. “She was an indefatigable fighter and worked across the aisle to deliver results for her constituents and all Americans.”

Lowey was first elected to Congress in

1988 and served until she opted to retire rather than seek reelection in 2020.

“Frankly to have a job that I love so very much made this a very difficult choice,” Lowey, who became chair of the House Appropriations Committee in 2018, told The Associated Press of her decision to retire. “But I just felt it was time.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican who now represents Lowey’s congressional district, praised her “bipartisan spirit, commitment to our community, and dedication to the country.”

U.S. Strikes the Houthis

President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered “decisive” military action against the Houthis, a U.S.-designated terror group that has been wreaking havoc on the Red Sea since the war in Gaza started.

According to the Houthi-controlled health ministry, 53 or more individuals were killed and nearly 100 others were injured in Yemen after the United States launched strikes at the terror group. The strikes reportedly caused a power outage in the city of Dahyan and hit Houthi military sites in Taiz.

The strikes, according to national security adviser Michael Waltz, killed “multiple” Houthi leaders and were aimed at “holding Iran responsible” for the Houthis, an Iranian proxy group.

In response to “American aggression,” the Houthis said they launched 18 drones and missiles at the U.S.’s USS Harry Truman, an aircraft carrier in the northern Red Sea. Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the terror group’s leader, threatened in a statement to escalate the conflict if the “aggression” continues. The Truman wasn’t damaged, and those on board were not injured, two U.S. officials confirmed.

The Houthis have been attacking Red Sea vessels since late 2023 in solidarity with Hamas, another Iranian proxy group that murdered 1,200 people and took captive 251 others from Israel on October 7, triggering an all-out war. The Houthis stopped attacking in January, after a ceasefire started in Gaza. However, now that the ceasefire has ended, the Houthis have vowed to continue assaulting local ships.

Trump, in a social media statement, said the Houthis were behind an “unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.” He added that the U.S. would continue conducting aerial assaults on Houthi bases, leaders, and missile defenses “to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom.”

“No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World,” Trump added.

The president said that Iran must “immediately” stop supporting the Houthis and warned that “America will hold [Tehran] fully accountable” if the U.S. is threatened by Iran.

“The United States Government has no authority, or business, dictating Iranian foreign policy,” Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi responded. “End support for Israeli genocide and terrorism. Stop killing of Yemeni people.”

In a conversation with Russian official Sergei Lavrov, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke about the strikes. In the summer of 2024, Moscow considered providing weapons to the Houthis but decided not to after pushback from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Lavrov “emphasized the need for an immediate cessation of the use of force” in Yemen.

In January, Trump signed an executive order declaring the Houthis a “foreign terrorist organization.” The president called the tactics of his predecessor, Joe Biden, “pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going.”

Alien Enemies Act for Deportations

On Saturday, the United States deported 261 immigrants to El Salvador, over half of whom were sent out through the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which hadn’t been invoked since World War II.

President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to crack down on Venezuelans from Tren de Aragua, a transnational gang, deporting 137 illegals, mostly serious criminals. Another 23 people from El Salvador affiliated with the MS-

13 gang and 101 other Venezuelans were deported under other federal laws.

Following Trump’s deportation orders, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg temporarily blocked the order and ordered airplanes transporting the migrants to turn back to the United States. The three flights still landed in El Salvador, two of them leaving the U.S. before the order from the judge went out.

All three crafts stopped over in Honduras. Shortly after midnight, the first two planes arrived in El Salvador, while the third made it at 1:08 a.m. on Sunday.

“We believe this is a baseless legal ruling no matter when the flights took off,” said a Trump administration official, adding that the fact that two of the three flights were out of the country before the judge’s order “strengthen[s] our case.”

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil criticized the deportations.

“[Venezuela] categorically and forcefully rejects the U.S. government’s proclamation that infamously and unjustly criminalizes Venezuelan immigration in an act that evokes the darkest episodes of human history, from slavery to the horror of the Nazi concentration camps,” Gil said.

The Alien Enemies Act has only ever been invoked three times in U.S. history and only during times of war.

El Salvador has offered to jail illegal migrants and U.S. citizens for a small fee from the United States. Some, however, have raised concerns about the poor humanitarian conditions of Salvadoran jails.

U.S. Storms Kill 32

On Friday, a dust storm in Sherman County, Kansas, killed eight people and hit over 50 vehicles. Tornadoes also ripped through Mississippi, killing six people and injuring 29 others, and Missouri, where at least 12 people died. In Arkansas’ Independence County, storms killed three people and injured 29 others. Also on Friday, a dust storm in Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle, killed three others. In all, this storm outbreak has killed 32 people thus far.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, and

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared states of emergency.

The major storm system brought about high winds and deadly dust storms and started 100 wildfires. According to forecasts, eighty-mile-per-hour winds were expected to hit everywhere from Texas to the Canadian border, an area where over 100 million people live. The high wind speeds prompted the National Weather Service on early Saturday to issue blizzard warnings for parts of far western Minnesota and far eastern South Dakota, where 3 to 6 inches were predicted, and up to a foot of snow possible.

Oklahoma, where almost 300 homes were destroyed or damaged, had been grappling with over 130 wildfires. According to Gov. Kevin Stitt, the fires burned around 266 square miles.

Major tornadoes on Saturday continued traveling through the U.S., threatening the area from eastern Louisiana and Mississippi to Alabama, western Georgia, and the Florida panhandle, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

Finally Coming Home

Their trip was supposed to take eight days. Instead, they were stuck in space for 286 days at the International Space Station. This week, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams undocked from the space station for their long-awaited return to Earth.

Launched last June aboard Boeing’s problem-plagued Starliner capsule, Wilmore and Williams are sharing the 17hour ride home with Crew 9 commander Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, who were launched to the station last September aboard the same SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying all four of them home.

“On behalf of Crew 9, I’d like to say it was a privilege to call the station home, to live and work and be a part of a mission and a team that spans the globe, working together in cooperation for the benefit of humanity,” Hague radioed as the Crew Dragon drifted away from the station.

“To our colleagues and dear friends who remain on the station ... we know the sta-

tion’s in great hands. We’re excited to see what you guys are going to accomplish.”

The four are expected to splashdown off Florida’s Gulf Coast at around 6 p.m. on Tuesday evening. A SpaceX recovery ship will be stationed nearby to haul the spacecraft on board so the crew can be helped out of the Crew Dragon’s cabin and onto stretchers for initial medical checks.

For Wilmore and Williams, the long overdue trip back to Earth will wrap up a repeatedly extended mission totaling 286 days and 7 hours and spanning 4,576 orbits and 121 million miles. They originally expected to spend just eight days or so in orbit.

Wilmore and Williams launched to the International Space Station last June 5 on the first piloted test flight of Boeing’s Starliner. The spacecraft suffered multiple propulsion system helium leaks and thruster problems during rendezvous with the space station, and NASA eventually decided to keep them on the station and to bring the Starliner down, without its crew, by remote control.

NASA launched the next crew rotation mission — Crew 9 — in September carrying just two crew members, Hague and Gorbunov, instead of four. Wilmore and Williams then joined the Crew 9 fliers aboard the ISS for a normal-duration six-month mission.

NASA cleared the way for Crew 9’s return to Earth by launching four replacements — Crew 10 commander Anne McClain, pilot Nichole Ayers, cosmonaut Kirill Peskov and Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi — last Friday.

Normal practice calls for a five-day “handover” between crews so the new arrivals can be fully briefed on the ins and outs of station operations and maintenance. But in this case, handover was shortened to just one day to take advantage of predicted favorable splashdown weather in the Gulf.

All station astronauts spend two hours a day exercising to minimize bone and muscle loss in the weightlessness of space. Even so, Wilmore and Williams will face extensive rehabilitation over the next several weeks and months as their bodies readapt to the unfamiliar tug of gravity.

Hague and Gorbunov, who spent spent 171 days in space, will re-adapt more quickly, perhaps, but both will require physical therapy.

While 286 days is a long flight by normal NASA standards, it’s well short of the U.S. record for a single flight — 371 days, set by astronaut Frank Rubio in 2022-23. Rubio’s record also resulted from a system issue, when a coolant leak was discovered in the Russian Soyuz.

Given Williams’ two previous stays aboard the space station, she will move

44 up to No. 2 on the list of most experienced U.S. astronauts with 608 days in space overall. Only former astronaut Peggy Whitson has more time aloft, 675 days over four flights. Wilmore’s total across three flights will stand at 464 days aloft.

Harvard Tuition Free—For Some

This week, Harvard University announced that tuition will be free for students from families with annual incomes of $200,000 or less starting in the 202526 academic year.

“Putting Harvard within financial reach for more individuals widens the array of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives that all of our students encounter, fostering their intellectual and personal growth,” Harvard University President Alan M. Garber said in a statement. “By

bringing people of outstanding promise together to learn with and from one another, we truly realize the tremendous potential of the University.”

Now, around 86 percent of U.S. families will qualify for Harvard financial aid, although they still have to get into the venerated university.

Undergraduate students from families with annual incomes of $100,000 or less will not only have tuition covered but will also have free housing, food, health services and other student services.

According to Harvard’s website, the average annual tuition for an undergraduate student is $56,550. But with the addition of housing, food, health services and other student services, the annual cost of attending Harvard is $82,866, according to the university.

Harvard enrolls about 24,600 undergraduate students a year. In 2024, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, school accepted 3.59% of the 54,000 applicants for the Class of 2028.

About 55% of Harvard undergraduates receive some type of financial aid, according to the university. In the 20232024 school year, families of students receiving financial aid paid an average of $15,700 toward education costs, school officials said.

“We know the most talented students come from different socioeconomic backgrounds and experiences, from every state and around the globe,” William R. Fitzsimmons, Harvard College’s dean of admissions and financial aid, said in a statement.

“Our financial aid is critical to ensuring that these students know Harvard College is a place where they can be part of a vibrant learning community strengthened by their presence and participation.”

Under the previous financial aid plan, undergraduate students from families with incomes of $85,000 or less qualified for free tuition, housing, health services and other student services, according to the university.

Pro-Hezbollah Doctor Deported

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a doctor at Brown Medicine in Rhode Island, had a “valid” H-1B visa but was deported over the weekend after it was discovered that she held pro-Hezbollah beliefs and had attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

President Donald Trump made immigration a core component of his campaign victory and has pledged to deport millions of migrants without legal status. On Friday, a court ordered Alawieh’s removal from the country.

She was detained at Boston Logan International Airport on Thursday after returning from a two-week visit to Lebanon with her family.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Monday that Alawieh told customs agents during her detainment that she had traveled to Beirut to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

“Last month, Rasha Alawieh traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah— a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree,” the DHS said in a statement on social media

“Alawieh openly admitted to this to CBP [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] officers, as well as her support

of Nasrallah. A visa is a privilege not a right—glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied. This is common sense security,” the statement added.

Federal agents found photos of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah and Iran’s supreme leader on Alawieh’s cellphone.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin ordered an in-person hearing to be scheduled for Monday, requiring Alawieh to appear in court. By Saturday, Alawieh’s cousin Yara Chehab had filed a motion accusing customs officials of “willfully” violating the order by deporting her to Lebanon.

In a court filing on Monday, government lawyers argued that CBP officers were unaware of the judge’s order until after Alawieh had “already departed the United States.” They requested that the petition be dismissed.

Alawieh, who earned her medical degree from the American University of Beirut in 2015, had worked at Brown Medicine since July 2024, where she was an assistant professor of medicine in the nephrology department. She had spent the past six years in the U.S., pursuing fellowships.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement, “We call on the Trump administration to immediately readmit Dr. Rasha Alawieh, who was wrongly deported despite possessing a valid visa and despite a court order protecting her from deportation.”

The White House posted on X, “Byebye, Rasha.”

Republican Representative Donald McFarlane, a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, said on X, “We’ve been hearing outcries that Rasha Alawieh, a Rhode Island Doctor, and assistant professor at Brown University, and who has been here from Lebanon on a work visa...was wrongly deported by mean, evil customs officials.

“Turns out she was sent back to her native Lebanon because she is a fan of Hamas and Hezbollah, and explicitly admitted as much to immigration officials, after having just returned from attending a terrorist’s funeral. Apparently, she explained that she only supports these terrorists ‘spiritually’ and not politically or militarily.”

PepsiCo Buying Poppi

This week, PepsiCo announced that it entered into an agreement to purchase Poppi, the prebiotic beverage company, for $1.95 billion. The acquisition will allow PepsiCo to “evolve its portfolio” and

46 expand its “better-for-you offerings.”

PepsiCo’s purchase will mark the company’s first step into the prebiotic soda industry, which has grown in recent years with the popularity of brands like Olipop, Culture Pop and most recently, Coca-Cola’s Simply Pop

Poppi, bottled in bright and bold cans, is a soda that contains prebiotics from agave insulin and cassava root fiber; apple cider vinegar; fruit juice; and sugar. It first debuted on “Shark Tank,” when founders Allison and Stephen Ellsworth accepted a $400,000 investment in exchange for 25% of the company from Guest Shark Rohan Oza. Known at the time as Mother Beverage, the soda was rebranded and first found on Whole Foods Market shelves.

“With the help of an investment on Shark Tank, Poppi has gone from farmers’-market-favorite to sitting pretty on the shelves of every major retailer across the nation,” the company’s website says, noting that the sodas are “beloved” by celebrities.

Poppi’s sales topped $100 million by 2024, and those numbers continue to grow as the drink represents 19% of the U.S. market share.

The Israeli theoretical physicist recent set a new Israeli record in memorizing the magic number, reciting 25,333 decimal places.

Ashkelon, a Ben-Gurion University PhD student who recited the numbers in Spanish, now holds the world record for Spanish Pi memorization. The entire recitation lasted 6 hours and 28 minutes. The previous record in Spanish was 20,000 decimal places. Ashkelon had been living in Spain when he decided to embark on this feat.

His Pi prowess places him in ninth place worldwide and is the highest recorded in Israel in any language.

The scientist recited the numbers at Ben-Gurion University on March 10, since Pi Day — marked on March 14, whose date can be written as 3.14, the first digits of Pi — fell this year on Friday, “close to Shabbat and during the Purim festival,” Ashkelon said.

Mathematicians and academics from other institutions attended the event to validate his performance.

The most decimal places of Pi memorized is 70,000, achieved by Rajveer Meena of India on March 21, 2015.

For those who would rather forget math than have fun memorizing numbers, Pi refers to the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter. It is an irrational number that begins at 3.14 and then extends — infinitely — without repeating its decimal representation.

“Beyond its numerical value, Pi seems to weave together different realms of knowledge, including mathematics, cosmology, and even Kabbalah,” Ashkelon said.

When asked if he had any tips to help people memorize, Ashkelon said that the key is not “brute-force” memorization, but “engaging with the structure.”

Lost at Sea for 95 Days

For 95 days, Maximo Napa Castro was alone, listening to the waves of the ocean and wondering if he would ever be found alive.

The Peruvian fisherman had set off for a fishing trip from Marcona on the southern coast of Peru on December 7. He packed food for a two-week trip, but 10 days in, stormy weather threw his boat off course, and he ended up adrift.

His family launched a futile search for the 61-year-old. Last week, after surviving for 95 days on his own, an Ecuadorian fishing patrol vessel found Napa about 1,094 kilometers off the country’s coast, heavily dehydrated and in critical condition.

He had survived by eating roaches, birds and sea turtles.

“I did not want to die,” Napa said after reuniting with his brother in Paita on Friday, near the border with Ecuador. “I ate roaches, birds, the last thing I ate was turtles.”

He also said he stayed strong thinking about his family — including his twomonth-old granddaughter — even as he survived on rainwater that he collected on the boat and ran out of food.

For the last 15 days, he didn’t eat anything.

“The day of his birth was unique because all that he could eat (while at sea) was a small cookie, so it is very important for us that we celebrate because, for us, he has been reborn,” a niece shared. “For his dinner, we’re going to prepare a soup because he has to regain his strength, he has a sensitive stomach after not eating for so many days.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to make the food that he likes — a carapulcra (a traditional Andean stew), with duck and rice.” I guess it was worth the wait.

American Wins

L.A. Marathon

For the first time in 31 years, an American won the L.A. Marathon. Matt Richtman broke through the ribbon on Sunday with a time of 2:07:56, nearly three minutes faster than runner-up Athanas Kioko and more than five minutes faster than third-place finisher Moses Kiptoo Kurgat.

The former Montana State University star and native of Elburn, Illinois, is the first American to win the event since Paul Pilkington in 1994. Kenyans have dominated the men’s race in the decades since, winning 21 times since 1999, according to NBC Los Angeles.

A Huge Slice of Pi

Yehuda Ashkelon has a different idea of fun than most people. During Covid, when most of the world was hibernating at home, Ashkelon decided that memorizing the numbers of the mathematical constant Pi would be fun.

“During the Covid pandemic, I had more time for intellectual challenges, and memorizing Pi became an interesting exercise in cognitive discipline,” Ashkelon said.

“Numbers, like words, carry meaning when arranged correctly,” he explained. “One can group digits into patterns, transform them into a mental landscape, or even weave them into a story. The mind retains what it finds beautiful, so the challenge is to make the sequence feel alive — whether through rhythm, imagery or conceptual depth.”

Ashkelon is considering whether to continue memorizing more Pi numbers because, he said, “I was left with the strong sense that I could have gone much further.”

“Pi is not merely a sequence of digits but perhaps a trace of the deep structure of the cosmos,” Ashkelon said. Our minds are numb.

“I thought about my mother every day,” he shared. “The one thing that I want is a hug from my mum.”

He added, “I’m thankful to G-d for giving me a second chance.”

Napa’s mother, Elena Castro, said that while her relatives had stayed optimistic, she had begun to lose hope.

“I told the L-rd, whether he’s alive or dead, just bring him back to me, even if it’s just to see him,” she told TV Peru. “But my daughters never lost faith. They kept telling me: Mum, he’ll come back, he’ll come back.”

Napa was reunited with his daughter upon his return to Peru. She had brought him a bottle of alcohol from Peru to welcome him home. His family decorated his hometown with signs of celebration.

His family said they will celebrate his birthday since he missed out on a celebration while he was at sea.

“It’s definitely a surprise,” Richtman said moments after crossing the finish line. “You know, I came in feeling really good. It’s really hard to judge where you stack up against competition, but it was a really good group out there today, and I was really happy to run with those guys and then ultimately win it.”

Richtman said he drew inspiration from the atmosphere in Los Angeles.

“It’s such a great day for it, you know, the 40th anniversary, there’s so many legacy runners out here, and the crowd out here was amazing. There were people throughout the whole course and it really helps. It’s amazing how much a crowd can change the course of what you’re doing.”

Tejinesh Gebisa Tulu of Ethiopia won the women’s portion of the race with a time of 2:30:16.

There were more than 26,000 other runners in the marathon who pounded the pavement from Dodger Stadium and winded their way through Los Feliz, West

Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Brentwood before finishing in Century City.

A Dog’s World

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race culminated in an exhilarating finish on Friday after Jessie Holmes and Hercules and Polar, his dog team, raced through the finish line.

Holmes was first to the finish line in

the Gold Rush town of Nome, on the Bering Sea coast. The race began March 3 in Fairbanks after a lack of snow forced changes to the route and starting point.

That made the normally 1,000-mile race a staggering 1,129 miles across the Alaska wilderness. Holmes finished in 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes and 41 seconds.

“It’s hard to put into words, but it’s a magical feeling,” Holmes said shortly after crossing the finish line. “It’s not about

they did it. They deserve all the credit,” Holmes said.

He gave a special salute to his two lead canines, Hercules, his half-sprint dog, and Polar, saying, “He’s the brains behind the operation.”

Holmes lives in Nenana, Alaska, where he works as a carpenter and lives a subsistence lifestyle. From 2015 through 2023, he was a cast member on a National Geographic program that documents the struggles of Alaskans living in remote parts of the state.

Nearly a third of the mushers quit early, including eight who scratched and two who were withdrawn for not being competitive.

Sounds ruff.

$$$trawberry

If you thought that egg prices were through the roof, consider the Elly Amai strawberry.

Yup, you read that right. A single strawberry is eliciting gasps for being sold for a jaw-dropping $19.99 in a store in Los Angeles.

Each succulent red fruit is shipped from Kyoto, Japan, and is handpicked to have the “perfect” appearance before it’s packaged in its own case. They are on store shelves within 24 to 48 hours after being harvested.

this moment now. It’s about all those moments along the trail.”

This is Holmes’ eighth race. He had previously finished in the top 10 five times, including third last year and in 2022. In his first Iditarod, in 2018, his seventh-place finish earned him Rookie of the Year honors.

“It’s been a truly amazing 10 days, and I soaked in every part of it — the lows, the highs, the in-betweens. ... I’m really proud of these dogs and I love them. And

“The strawberries are organic, which account for .002% of Japan’s production,” a spokesperson for the store, Erewhon, shared.

These strawberries are sweeter than their American counterparts and are “not sour or tart,” since high-quality strawberries in Japan are “preferred to not have any sour or tart flavors.”

Each strawberry is cultivated in Kyoto for seven years to “have perfect symmetry, brilliant color and exceptional size.” Sounds like the top banana.

Around the Community

Purim Fun at HALB

eading up to Purim, students at HALB and Lev Chana had many opportunities to dress up and get in the spirit of Adar and Purim! HALB students enjoyed an incredible carnival with games, bouncy castles, cotton candy and more!

Additionally, on Purim day, students had a great time visiting their rebbeim, morot, and administrators.

Young Israel of Woodmere Celebrates a Decade of Leadership and Impact: Honoring Rabbi Shay and Rina Schachter

Last week, the Young Israel of Woodmere (YIW) community gathered for its 64th Annual Fundraising Dinner. This year’s highly anticipated event celebrated the remarkable leadership and dedication of Rabbi Shay and Rina Schachter as they marked ten years of service to the shul.

The event was filled with warmth and gratitude and 700+ community members who came together to express appreciation for the Schachters’ profound impact on the Five Towns and the broader worldwide Jewish community.

In the weeks leading up to the dinner, Rabbi Schachter sent out a heartfelt message to the community, reflecting on the past decade and encouraging participation in this milestone event. In his words:

“We are deeply humbled and grateful for the privilege of being part of the rabbinical team here at Young Israel of Woodmere. Serving under the leadership of Rabbi Shalom Axelrod, alongside Rabbi Glatt and Rabbi Wolf, and previously under Rabbi Hershel Billet’s leadership, has been an incredible honor. The opportunity to teach, learn, and grow together has been a source of great inspiration and joy for our family. Over the years, we have witnessed firsthand how Torah has brought us closer together as a community — building not just spiritu-

al bonds, but deep friendships that have enriched our lives in countless ways.

“As we reflect on the journey we’ve shared, it’s clear to us how much we’ve all learned from one another. The meaningful conversations, insightful questions, thoughtful reflections, and the wisdom each of you brings to our shared learning have enriched our understanding of Torah and strengthened our connection to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We have grown as individuals and as a community, and for that, we are eternally grateful.

“Our commitment to Torah learning and growth has also been intertwined with our deep love and support for Eretz Yisrael. As a community, we have stood together in support of Israel, advocating for those in need and acting with compassion and sensitivity during challenging times. In recent months, our collective efforts to support the hostages, their families, and others impacted by the ongoing conflict have been a testament to the strength of our bond, both within the walls of this shul and beyond. The values of Ahavas Yisrael and commitment to Torah have guided us through it all.

“As we approach our ten-year milestone, we are excited to celebrate this special journey with all of you at our Shul’s Annual Dinner. This is not only a moment to reflect on how far we’ve come, but also an opportunity to look

ahead to the work that still lies before us. The funds raised will enable us to continue to serve as a center for Torah learning and community connection, providing impactful opportunities for growth, support, and engagement—both as a shul and as a community committed to the values we hold dear.

The evening included a concert with Shulem Lemmer who was at times accompanied by Rav Shay and Rina’s eldest sons and featured a heartfelt video tribute, and personal anecdotes from those who have benefited from Rabbi Schachter’s Torah wisdom and Rina’s dedication to fostering a warm and inclusive environment for women and families within the shul. Rina holds a unique position in the YIW family. She is not only one of the shul’s extraordinary rebbetzins but she is the creative designer crafting hundreds of flyers a year to promote the seemingly endless activities at the shul.

Under Rabbi Schachter’s leadership, the YIW community has experienced tremendous growth in Torah learning, youth programming, and chesed initiatives. His unique ability to connect with people of all ages and backgrounds has strengthened the spiritual fabric of the shul, while Rina’s dedication to women’s learning and community engagement has served as a role model for so many inside and outside the shul community.

Young Israel of Plainview Annual Dinner

The Young Israel of Plainview held its 53rd annual dinner on March 16, 2025, a beautiful evening that honored outstanding community leaders and celebrated the congregation’s continued growth.

This year’s Young Leaders, Adam and Yaffa Gartner, were recognized for their exceptional dedication and leadership. They have played a vital role in organizing events, modernizing the shul, contributing to the community’s educational

development, and fostering a warm and welcoming environment for all members and visitors of the community. Michal and Ed Rosenthal were honored as Guests of Honor for their unwavering support and tireless contributions to the Shul. Since moving to the neighborhood, Michal and Ed have integrated themselves into the fabric of the community, serving whatever role needs to be filled. Their generosity has enabled The Young Israel of Plainview to flourish and continue its

mission of providing a nurturing space for Jewish families in Plainview.

The dinner was attended by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who expressed his heartfelt support and gratitude for The Young Israel of Plainview’s vital role in the community. His presence underscored the shul’s significant impact in Plainview and in the broader Nassau County Jewish community.

As The Young Israel of Plainview continues to grow and enrich the commu-

“Rabbi Schachter has not only been a source of Torah knowledge and guidance but also a true friend and mentor to so many of us,” Ari Schulman, president of YIW. “Rav Shay and Rina are a powerhouse couple and bring their unique warmth and torah based insight to everything they do for our shul, our community and dare I say the world Jewish community.”

In addition to the tributes and speeches, the dinner featured a special video presentation highlighting the Schachter’s’ journey over the past decade and their vision for the future. The video captured moments of learning, chesed, and community-building that have defined their tenure at YIW.

As the evening concluded, Rabbi Schachter expressed his gratitude to the community and emphasized the importance of unity and growth. “This is not just a celebration of the past ten years,” he said. “It is a commitment to the future — to continue strengthening our connection to Torah, to one another, and to Hashem.”

The Young Israel of Woodmere community left the event inspired and uplifted, eager to continue building upon the foundation of Torah and chesed that the Schachters have so passionately cultivated over the past decade.

nity, it remains committed to engaging and inspiring individuals of all ages. The shul’s efforts to foster meaningful connections, provide educational opportunities, and create a welcoming space for all have been instrumental in building a strong, united, and vibrant Jewish presence in the region.

To learn more about The Young Israel of Plainview, please visit https://www. yiplainview.com.

Photos by Ira Thomas Creations

$2.3 Billion is Up

For Grabs

This money can be used to uphold the Kedushah of Eretz Yisroel or fund the woke left Reform and Conservative movements. The choice is yours.

By Dovid Gold

At the holiest place in the world, in a mixed event, a “Megillah of Independence” was read publicly by Conservative male and female “rabbis.” Across the state of Israel, Reform outreach programs, ensnaring thousands of traditional Jews, continue to sprout up. Summer camps that promote alternative lifestyles are offered free to Israeli children. What do all these projects have in common? They are all funded by the WZO and made possible by money that could, and should, support Torah causes instead.

Unbeknownst to many, the Reform and Conservative movements are on the march. While their influence has stagnated in America, they have found a way to spread their warped ideology across Eretz Yisroel. This is happening because their American constituents have mobilized to vote in WZO elections, while we have yet to secure the number of votes that truly represent our community.

With an annual budget of $2.3 billion, the WZO wields enormous influence in shaping Jewish community life in Israel and across the wider Jewish world. This massive amount of money allows the WZO to distribute hundreds of millions of dollars annually to causes it chooses to support.

Elections and Their Consequences Leadership of the National Institutions is determined by global Jewish elections in the World Zionist Congress, held every five years. Budget allocations are entirely based on political representation in these elections. For decades, this money was primarily being used to build the infrastructure of the State of Israel, not to spread ideology.

However, this changed with the newfound interest of the non-Orthodox streams of Judaism in the Zionist movement and the State of Israel. Facing a crisis of relevance in North America, leaders of the Reform and Conservative movements turned to Zionist ideas to revitalize their communities. In 1978 (almost a century after the emergence of the Zionist movement!), the Reform Movement established the Association of Reform Zionists in America (ARZA) as its representative body in the WZO. Around the same time, the Conservative Movement redoubled its efforts to expand its party, MERCAZ Olami.

These alternative forms of Judaism began to grow in influence within the WZO and demanded that large amounts of money be given to causes aligned with their values.

Brilliantly, these movements positioned themselves as the exclusive representatives of American Jewry, enabling them to secure leadership positions that allowed them to influence the overall budgets of the National Institutions. As a result, a decision was made several years ago for the National Institutions to directly fund diverse streams of Judaism. Millions of dollars are now allocated annually to the Reform and Conservative movements to finance their day-to-day operations. Based on an investigative review of the entire WZO budget, the total annual amount transferred to the Reform movements by the National Institutions is approximately 46,500,000 NIS. For example, a Reform summer camp received not only direct funding from KKL/JNF but also operated at an official KKL/JNF facility as part of a partnership with the Reform movement. These Reform activities have an unfortunate effect on thousands of unsuspecting Israelis who are just looking to add religion to their lives.

This reality has had a devastating effect on the traditional makeup of the Jewish state and is contributing to the religious-secular divide that plagues the country. For years this effort has gone largely unchecked by those who care about our Torah values. Fortunately, there is now something each of us can do about it.

The Entry of Eretz HaKodesh

For many years, the Yeshivah and Chassidic communities stayed away from the Zionist movement and the WZO; however, because of the political emergence of the non-Orthodox parties among other factors, that has now changed.

A group of activists, with the support of the leading Torah leaders of the generation, Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l and Rav Gershon Edelstein zt”l, founded Eretz HaKodesh to give Torah communities a voice in the WZO. In 2020, in their very first election, they won 25 seats in the Zionist Congress, finally bringing representation to frum Jews outside Eretz Yisroel.

In a few short years, Eretz HaKodesh has had a major impact. Its delegates have become a decisive factor between the left and right blocs, giving them significant

influence over key decisions. Representatives of Eretz HaKodesh have worked extensively to prevent the Reform movement from acting against Torah true values and from misrepresenting worldwide Jewry. They have worked to amend the wording of various resolutions and prevented new budgets from being allocated to activities that undermine our Torah values and Jewish tradition. For example, they successfully opposed a resolution by the Jewish Agency’s leadership urging the Israeli government to expand the non-Orthodox section at the Kosel.

Financially, Eretz HaKodesh has achieved impressive results, particularly in areas of education. The education department of KKL/JNF had a 270 million NIS annual budget in 2023. Today, the co-chairman of the 11-member committee responsible for its budget is a representative from Eretz HaKodesh. Through his efforts, millions of shekels have finally been allocated to the frum communities including over 3,000,000 NIS in scholarships for Israeli girls’ high school tuition.

A substantial portion of the education department’s budget is also now directed to Kiruv organizations. Furthermore, over $12,000,000 a year has been used to support an incredible network of programs for youth at risk. These programs have an impressive success rate helping young boys and girls rehabilitate themselves, take on responsibilities, and return to their families as changed individuals.

Future Opportunities

While Eretz HaKodesh has accomplished remarkable things, there is still much to be done. The frum communities still do not have a seat at the table in many of the committees and boards responsible for allocating the various funds of the National Institutions. Anti-religious factions have successfully excluded many of the religious communities from receiving money that should rightfully be going to them. For example, based on an agreement between the Israeli Finance Ministry and the KKL/JNF between one to two billion shekels a year must be spent developing community infrastructure in the peripheral communities of Israel. Dozens of religious towns in Israel should qualify to receive their share of this money. Until the religious parties expand their political influence within the WZO, this money remains inaccessible to them.

Indeed, the opportunities are very real and seemingly endless. Huge amounts of money have been earmarked for dozens of special projects across Israel, ranging from building high-tech hubs to rebuilding communities devastated by the October 7th attacks. Programs for children with special needs, extracurricular activities, and summer camps are all funded at least in part by the National Institutions. Ensuring that the religious communities benefit as they should from these programs remains an effort in progress.

Masa: A

Real Help for American Frum Families

One of the biggest funding opportunities for frum communities is Masa Israel Journey. Run by the Jewish Agency and the Israeli government, Masa gives grants to young Jews from around the world, ages 18-30, to spend 2 to 10 months in Israel. Tens of millions of shekels are allocated to this program every year.

Masa’s stated goal is to help young Jews connect with Israel and their Jewish identity. Yet the largest group of young Jews coming to Israel each year – yeshivah and seminary students – are mostly excluded from Masa funding. Instead, the money goes to programs that don’t reflect our Torah values.

But this can change. KKL/JNF gives 30,000,000 NIS to Masa each year, and control of its budget depends on the upcoming 2025 WZO elections. If frum communities show up and vote, we can demand our fair share of Masa funds providing desperately needed tuition relief to thousands of families.

We Will Do Our Part

Billions of dollars hang in the balance. Will the left-wing, anti-Torah bloc continue to receive limitless funds to shape Jewish society in their image, or will those who cherish Torah, gain access to the critical resources needed to strengthen authentic Judaism?

Be’ezras Hashem, those of us who care about the future of Am Yisroel in Eretz Yisroel will raise our collective voice March 10-May 4, and take action to ensure that our Torah values remain at the heart of our nation.

The time to make your voice heard is now. Vote for EretzHaKodesh today!

EretzHaKodesh.org

Around the Community

HALB in Albany

Mr. Richard Altabe and Lance Hirt joined a group of yeshiva educators, parents and lay leaders in Albany last week. They were part of the TeachNYS annual lobbying

mission to Albany where they met with legislators and with Governor Hochul to advocate for security funding, STEM funding and Universal Free Lunch.

ELA at Yeshiva of South Shore

In Mrs. Burg’s 3rd grade ELA class at YOSS, the students had a monstrous amount of fun! The boys were asked to let their imaginations run wild as they wrote about their very own scary monsters. They carefully described their creatures, giving them strange features and spooky abilities. After finishing their stories, each student took turns reading their creations to their friends, building excitement with every eerie detail. The classroom was filled with giggles, gasps, and lots of nervous excitement as the boys shared their frightful tales!

The fun didn’t stop there! After hearing their friend’s monster story, the boys were given the challenge of bringing these creepy creatures to life on paper. Each student picked up their crayons and markers to draw the monster they had just heard about, using all the spooky

details from the story to inspire their artwork. The classroom was a buzz of creativity as students worked on their drawings, sharing tips and laughing together. It was a week of imagination and friendship, where the boys not only worked on their writing and listening skills, but also had a fantastic time “scaring” each other in the process!

NYC Comptroller Brad Lander hosted Chabad rabbis from Crown Heights for a pre-Purim shmooze

Building Bris Kits at HALB

The fifth grade girls at HALB had a very special opportunity to create Bris Kits in school last week. This chessed was created by Danielle Renov l’iluy nishmat Yaakov Refael z”l ben Eliyahu Yerachmiel. The bags were packed with the beautiful nishamot of Ariel, z”l, and Kfir, z”l, Bibas in mind. It was a special opportunity for the girls to feel like they can help make a difference for others.

YCQ Celebrates Purim

Last Wednesday was an unforgettable day of joy, laughter, and meaningful experiences! Students had a blast at YCQ’s Annual Purim carnival, featuring exciting inflatables and games, while a visit from an ice cream truck added a sweet treat to the festivities. Throughout the day, students put their skills to the test, competing in musical chairs and an intense balloon tower competition. The spirit of giving was strong as students participated in a mishloach manot exchange with each other after previously volunteering with All About Kindness to pack mishloach manot for those in need. Of course, when the actual holiday of Purim rolled around on Friday, students were prepared to un-

derstand the Megillah and properly do all the mitzvot of the day. Thank you to everyone who made the week of Purim so fun and memorable!

Around the Community

Middle School Sports Chagiga

The Middle School girls at HALB enjoyed an incredible sportsthemed chagiga for Purim. They enjoyed delicious food, fun bonding ac-

tivities, singing and dancing. It was a beautiful display of excitement and unity for the girls and their morot.

Tzedakah in Action at Gan Chamesh

The children of Gan Chamesh explored the Mitzvah of Matanot L’Evyonim in a hands-on way. They counted Tzedakah, sorted it and used it to buy supplies at the food pantry. They also helped restock the shelves of

Shulamith Middot Scroll of Honor

Mazal Tov to the girls who earned the Shulamith Middot Scroll of Honor.

6th grade: Talia Bindiger; Rachel Mitgang; Rachel Rabinow; Lea Samuels; Avigail Schlusselberg; Karen Heller; Aviva Fischman; Sara Klein; Zahava Klein; Elianne Schwartz.

7th grade: Aviva Gidanian; Beracha Nakhaimousa; Eliana Yarmish; Shayna Pollak; Tehila Mizrachi; Perri Hirschprung

8th Grade: Amalya Roberts; Batsheva Feldman; Orly Munk; Sara Pearlman; Sophie Tuchman; Racheli Schreck; Shalva Friedman; Adele Pilchick

Mercaz Academy Brings Purim Joy to Plainview

The fact that Purim occurred on Friday this year made Mercaz Academy’s annual PTA-sponsored Family-Friendly Megillah Reading and Breakfast Seudah more popular than ever this year! Mercaz families and friends enjoyed the lively reading by parent Adam Farber, whose sense of fun kept the young audience engaged and ready to shake their ra’ashanim at the sound of Haman’s name. The crowd, young and old, was clad in beautiful and creative costumes, with lots of families in themed costumes (Bluey and the Heeler family, the Incredibles, and the cast of the Magic School Bus were all spotted in the audience).

Afterwards, the families enjoyed the delicious spread of French toast, scrambled eggs, pancakes, bagels and fixings, and (of course!) dessert – as well as the impromptu costume parade at the buffet line. The early seudah was festive as always and particularly helpful on a Friday Purim, when celebrating later in the day

could be problematic for many. Naturally, much of the crowd was made up of current Mercaz students and their families. However, this megillah reading is so much fun that it is attended not only by Mercaz Academy students, but by community members and many alumni and their families, years after a “child-friendly” reading is no longer necessary for them.

Many kudos to the Mercaz Academy PTA, who brightened Purim for everyone with their hard work, creativity, and this beautiful program.

The Purim Mesiba at YOSS Mechina included the Shnitzel Guys, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Shonek, and eighth grade rebbe and musician extraordinaire Rabbi Moshe Shonek, who brought ruach and laughter to the beautiful event

Names, Not Numbers at HANC Middle School

HANC eighth grade had an amazing experience last week. The grade was divided into groups and had the opportunity to interview Holocaust survivors. The students prepared extensively for these interviews. The students studied their survivor’s bio and used it to prepare questions to dis-

Purim

at HANC

The month of Adar is always full of surprises for HANC Elementary School students. At the beginning of the month, to the astonishment of the students and staff, the creative Bnot Sherut, Hanna Gimani and Sara Fried, decorated the lobby and all of the hallways. They worked on Sunday and through the night, completing their mission at 5:30 AM Monday morning! The lobby was full of balloons, and as the children went up to their classrooms, they found balloons hanging from the ceilings in the hallways, and each hallway was decorated according to a theme: zoo animals, outer space, seascapes, treasure hunts, all decorated with a sense of fun and discovery. They also hosted a “Find the Purim masks” contest, where the

cuss the survivor’s memories from before, during, and after the war. The experience was one the students will never forget.

As each survivor entered the building, he/she was greeted by our students. The interactions were wonderful. One of the highlights of the program was the

children walked through the school looking for hidden images of Purim masks to see who could find the most masks.

Last Thursday, the students and staff in HANC Elementary School in West Hempstead arrived with great anticipation for an early annual Shushan Purim celebration. To everyone’s delight, the children came dressed in all sorts of costumes which included superheroes, kings and queens, clowns, butterflies, Harry Potter characters, dinosaurs, action figures, inflatable costumes of horses and other surprise characters and one very creative slice of gefilte fish with a carrot on top! An even bigger surprise were the costumes worn by the staff. The teachers and the administrators were dressed up as construction workers, in recognition

intergenerational component. Seeing the faces of the survivors light up and seeing the students’ faces respond in kind was nothing short of magical. The survivor was escorted to the Beit Medrash which was turned into a real set complete with video, sound, and light equipment. The students took turns in the roles of inter-

viewer, sound, video, and observer. The students were trained and directed by the Names, Not Numbers® production crew. We thank Lou Lourdes for all of her hard work on the project. Special hakarat hatov to Mr. Dov Rosenberg and Mrs. Tova Rosenberg for all of their effort in making this week so special for the students.

of the hard working staff that is building the much anticipated new HANC school building that is due to open this coming September.

Later in the morning, each grade was invited to the annual Purim carnival, created and run by the sixth grade boys.

The students have been working hard for weeks, collaborating on ideas for the booths, designing each activity, creating posters and gathering the supplies they would need to enhance the children’s experiences. They set up the carnival in the lunchroom, and ran their own booths enthusiastically. The activities they created included: hockey shootout,

hit Haman, mini golf, face painting (provided by Hanna and Sara, HANC’s Bnot Sherut), skeeball, knee hockey, Purim pong, whack the clown, and a guess the mystery drink contest. The children also enjoyed jumping for joy in the jumpy house. To add to the fun, the children were also treated to popcorn and cotton candy. After visiting all of the booths, the students stopped by at the prize table where they could redeem their winning tickets. With festive music playing in the background, provided by sixth grade student DJ Leo Cohn, the tremendous sense of freedom and celebration was truly palpable.

N1 enjoyed a delicious graphing lesson at Shulamith ECC

Long Beach Firefighters Join Purim Celebrations at BACH Jewish Center

On Thursday evening, the Long Beach Fire Department helped ignite the ruach at the BACH Jewish Center’s Purim celebrations by participating in the synagogue’s annual Megillah reading and community Purim party.

The festivities began with Mincha prayer services, where Sam Pinto, Long Beach’s only Jewish professional firefighter, was called to the Torah. He later participated in the ancient Jewish tradition of Machazit Hashekel, symbolically counting half-shekel coins to represent the Jewish people. The celebration continued with the Megillah reading, followed by the synagogue’s annual party, where the Fire Department had the opportunity to engage with community members. Children from across the

Purim at HAFTR

barrier island also enjoyed the chance to “dress up” as firefighters and learn about the department’s operations and responses.

While participants dined, Rabbi Benny Berlin of BACH took the stage to present a commemorative plaque to the Fire Department on behalf of the congregation.

“As Jews, earlier today we observed the ancient Mitzvah of Machazit Hashekel, the Jewish census counted through half-shekel coins donated to the Temple in each person’s honor,” said Rabbi Benny Berlin, who also serves as chaplain for the Long Beach Police Department.

“Our sages teach us that our forefathers were counted twice in the Torah – once by half-shekel and once by name. The latter shows the value of each individu-

HAFTR was buzzing with excitement this past week as students across all divisions embraced the joy and spirit of Purim with cre -

al, and the former, by number, demonstrates the strength of unity. How fitting it is that our firefighters joined us in this tradition. Their collective efforts give us peace of mind, knowing that if an emergency arises, they will respond without hesitation. Yet, their individual skills and teamwork on the scene make them so effective.”

The evening served as a poignant reminder of the first responders’ essential role in Long Beach, highlighting the city’s spirit of unity. It emphasized how neighbors come together to support each other during times of challenge or celebration.

The Fire Department’s participation in BACH’s Purim celebration is part of the synagogue’s ongoing effort to include Long Beach’s local heroes in its events. It provided a meaningful opportunity

ativity, energy, and meaningful mitzvot. From lively performances to spirited competitions, this year’s celebrations were nothing short of unforgettable.

to express gratitude for the firefighters’ collective commitment, recognizing the risks they take to protect the community and its residents.

In Early Childhood, the youngest students kicked off Purim with a hands-on Purim Tevah v’Torah lesson exploring the senses, even creating their own kazoos! Their excitement only grew as they danced and sang with Morah Kaylie, laughed along with the ever-entertaining Yitzy Haber, and proudly showcased their creative costumes on Dress-Up Day. Their enthusiasm set the tone for a week of pure Purim joy.

The Lower School transformed into Purim-poly, a dynamic, student-designed adventure inspired by Monopoly. The fifth graders turned the gym into a vibrant Purim-themed carnival, complete with games like skeeball, mini-golf, and whack-a-mole. Students eagerly collected tickets to trade in for exciting prizes, thanks to the generous support of the HAFTR PTA, who also treated them to delicious Purim goodies.

Middle School students kept the ener-

gy high all week with themed spirit days, including “Dress Like a Teacher,” “Jersey Day,” and “Decades Day.” They combined fun with chesed, raising funds for Od Yosef Chai through a thrilling Chinese auction. The festivities continued with an action-packed inflatable carnival and a lively costume contest that brought out their creativity.

The High School took the celebration to the next level with an electrifying Thursday night Purim party. The evening featured a Megillah reading, incredible food, and an awe-inspiring performance by mentalist and illusionist Shlomo Levinger, leaving students amazed and entertained.

From joyous festivities to meaningful mitzvot, Purim at HAFTR was truly a celebration to remember.

Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer

Amato with Rabbi and Rebbetzin Feiner and Shaya Feiner on Purim

HAFTR Athletics are Soaring

By Reanna Frand

Since our annual pep rally, HAFTR High School’s athletics have exploded! HAFTR offers a variety of sports for students, and our winter sports have boasted huge accomplishments this season.

Team sports play an important role in a high school student’s life. The benefits not only impact physical health but also improve academics, time management, leadership, mental health, social skills, and more. Too often, students have been taught that the sole purpose of high school sports is to gain an athletic scholarship or to win a championship. In reality, sports teach students so much more. It encourages sportsmanship, teamwork, and communication.

Our boys’ varsity hockey and girls’ junior varsity basketball teams provide excellent examples of this. Our varsity hockey team, captained by Zach Newmark, Max Newmark, and Alex Ernst, has a near-perfect record at 9-2. This esteemed record leaves them at a comfortable second seed in the Eastern Conference. Their most recent game against the Rambam Ravens certainly highlighted their talent and finesse. Zacky Weiss helped the team push ahead with his hat-trick, and Moses Muller scored two goals. Alex Ernst hustled and kept up the momentum, but Jack Krup and Cooper Sobel perfected the defense to secure the win. This victory was a team effort. Every player assumed his role, leading to a large lead in the end. These athletes are certainly dedicated and committed to their sport, as most of them have been playing together since middle school.

Success continues with the JV girls’ basketball team, who recently celebrated three wins, placing them in a comfort-

able playoff position. After a challenging overtime loss, leaving the girls at a record of 2-5, the JV Hawks were motivated to change their season around in hopes of making it to the playoffs. After players scored and hustled on defense, the Lady Hawks sealed the close game against SAR with a win 30-28. Then, they traveled to NSHA, where they celebrated an incredible victory after what seemed to be a bleak start. Deena Boxer hit a buzzer-beater three to end the half. This gave the JV girls the necessary momentum to secure the win against NSHA 40-33. The game was a turning point for the girls, as they had previously lost to NSHA in overtime. This win showed them that they were growing as a team as one unit, led by Coach Diamond. Finally, the JV girls capped their season off with a 24-point win against the third-seeded team in the league. The girls came out with a bang, and never let Hillel rattle them. These events led the girls to have a 5-5 record, currently in the 4th seed of the league.

We are so proud of our athletes and can’t wait to watch them continue to bring home victories!

JSL Week 9 Recap

The final stretch of the JSL season, brought to you by FM Home Loans, delivered an unforgettable championship round featuring buzzer-beaters, dominant performances, and thrilling overtime battles. With titles on the line, teams left it all on the court, making for an incredible week of playoff intensity.

K/P Hockey

Yeled LI edged Smash House 10-9 in a Tier 1 Championship thriller, as Ben Perlman buried the game-winning goal with just two seconds remaining. NY Chaplain Group rolled past Growtha 10-4 in the Tier 2 Championship, with Asher Prince capping off his dominant season by scoring eight goals. SR Whee took home the Tier 1 Championship in a 7-4 victory over Posh Home + Bath, behind a five-goal explosion from Yaakov Rosenberg. 5 Towns Central secured the Tier 2 Championship in dominant fashion, defeating 5 Towns Landscaping 13-3, as Shaya Lowinger lit up the scoreboard with four goals.

K/P Soccer

Future Care Consultants won an 11-0 game over Doma, with Yonatan Waller putting on a clinic, scoring an incredible 10 goals. Maidenbaum controlled their 7-2 win over Hewlett Auto Body, fueled by Meir Zlotowitz, who netted a pair of goals in the victory.

1st Grade Hockey

John’s Auto claimed the 1st Grade Championship with a commanding 9-4

Twenty-four Middle School students of Great Neck’s North Shore Hebrew Academy (NSHA) – both Ashkenazic and Sephardic – joined together, on Purim Day, to chant the “Gantze Megillah” at its Cherry Lane campus in a unique program initiated in 2001 by Dermatologist Dr. Paul Brody, now called the “Dr. Paul Brody Megillah Readers Program” upon his retirement three years ago.

Cantor Yitzy Spinner instructed the Ashkenazic students and Judaic Studies Middle School Principal, Rabbi Simon Basalely and Elementary School Judaic Studies Principal, Rabbi Adam Acobas, instructed the Sephardic students this year. Each student read from the beautiful Megillah (Scroll of Esther) that was purchased by the NSHA, named the “Dr. Paul Brody Megillah,” upon his retire-

win over Seasons Express, led by goalie Efraim Shapiro, who made save after save to lock in the victory. Simcha Day Camp outlasted Anju 11-10, powered by Yaakov Kret’s dominant nine-goal performance.

2nd/3rd Grade Hockey

Sushi Tokyo Ninjas took down Built By Nate 8-4, as Isaac Weisz was a brick wall in goal, while Yonah Gelernter locked down the defensive end. Maidenbaum handled Ecom Beyond 8-2, as Gav Prince erupted for four goals. SR Whee shut out Town Appliance 12-0, with Rafi Taber making incredible saves in goal to preserve the clean sheet.

4th/5th Grade Hockey

Smash House took down Gerber Bedding 6-2 in a statement win, ending Gerber’s undefeated run behind a strong twogoal performance from Dovid Schattner.

6th-8th Grade Hockey

Wieder Orthodontics dominated Kosher Skinny Shot 13-4, as Tzvi Greenspan locked in an incredible performance in

goal. 925 Sterling cruised to a 10-5 win over Growtha, despite playing without star player Gavriel Abittan. Yosef Bryks stepped up with a four-goal game to power his team to the championship.

1st/2nd Grade Basketball

Eden Gardens claimed the Tier 3 Championship in a 23-16 victory over Premier Assist, led by Akiva Abramson’s elite passing and scoring. Tikva Fire earned the Tier 2 Championship with a 6-2 win over Newman Dentistry, highlighted by Ezra Mernick’s clutch inbound steal that led to a key bucket. Tiffany Dry Cleaners secured the Tier 1 Championship in a 36-14 victory over Smash House, as Dani Grabie dominated the floor, hitting tough fadeaway shots and finishing strong in the paint.

3rd/4th Grade Basketball

Posh Home + Bath captured the 3rd/4th Grade Championship with a 23-16 win over Better Image Contracting, as Yehuda Avigdor led the way with 14 points

ment, to be used by all student readers on Purim Day festivities.

Purim is the annual celebration of the salvation of the Jewish People by the Persian Queen Esther, who was Jewish, who beseeched her husband King Achashverosh (Xerxes), at the behest of her uncle Mordechai, to nullify the evil decree of the Persian Prime Minister Haman, who had planned to annihilate all the Jews.

The holiday, which this year was celebrat-

and three assists. Marciano Pediatric Dentistry won the Tier 2 Championship 29-14 over Wieder Orthodontics, with Dovid Bauman making smart passes and finishing consistently at the rim to score 14 points.

5th-7th Grade Basketball

Sdei Chemed took home the 5th-7th Grade Championship in dominant fashion, defeating Emporio 54-36 behind an all-time performance from Yosef Pultman, who recorded a triple-double with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in a championship effort. Sperling Productions secured the Tier 2 Championship with a 41-31 win over Binyamin Weissman Photography, as Avi Abrahamson knocked down shot after shot to lead his team to victory.

Game of the Week Seasons and Town Appliance went back and forth in a defensive showdown that had fans on the edge of their seats. The teams fought to a 2-2 tie through regulation, with neither side giving an inch. Overtime was just as intense, as both defenses held strong, keeping the game deadlocked and forcing a dramatic shootout. With a trip to the championship on the line, the tension reached its peak in the third round, where Dovid Feigenbaum came through in the clutch, burying the game-winner to send Seasons to the finals in one of the most intense finishes of the playoffs.

ed on Thursday evening, March 13th and Friday, March 14th is particularly significant on the Great Neck peninsula, which has one of the largest concentrations of Persian Jews in the world. The horrific assault by Hamas on October 7, 2023, on the Jewish people and the State of Israel, is a stark reminder of what could have occurred to the Jewish people 2500 years ago, had Esther and Mordechai not intervened, orchestrated by the “Hand of G-d.”

Each of the Ashkenazic NSHA students donned Dr. Brody’s maternal grandfather’s century-old Tallit (Prayer Shawl) when chanting their Megillah portion. It was Dr. Brody’s grandfather, Rabbi Jacob Brown z”l, who convinced him to read the “gantze [entire] Megillah,” after Brody learned the initial Megillah trope at the Cantorial Training Institute (CTI), now the Belz School of Jewish Music, of Yeshiva University.

The Gantze Megillah

Purim at HANC ECC

The month of Adar is a truly exhilarating time for the children in HANC Early Childhood Center in West Hempstead. The month began with learning the captivating stories in Megillat Esther and was followed by a myriad of projects that helped the children prepare many items they would need to have a full Purim experience. The children painted the city of Shushan on a new wall in the lobby, under the direction of talented artist and Nursery morah Mrs. Rena Maryles. The talmidim then dressed in costumes and acted out the dramatic scenes in the Megillah. In the block corner, the children created their own models of Shushan and decorated them to add extra details. Each child decorated their own Purim crown with jewels, glitter and pearlized paint, giving them a royal touch. They also created clown groggers from reusable beverage bottles and filled them with buttons, stones and Purim symbols. Using many of their skills and creativity, each class designed mishloach manot baskets with woven yarn or recycled cereal boxes and milk cartons. Each basket was packed with delicious treats that the children brought from home, and the children enjoyed assembling them. They then proudly delivered the baskets to the office staff, security guards, maintenance staff, and all of the helpers who work in the ECC. One basket was reserved for each child to take home to their family, so that they could enjoy the creativity of their own child as well.

Recording the story of Purim in their own words was such a great learning experience. The Nursery Alef students created a booklet called, “Purim, Purim What Do You See?” which included pho -

tographs of each child dressed in costumes portraying the different characters in the Megillah. In Nursery Bet, the children also dressed up, reenacted the dramatic events, and then retold the story in their own words. Their handmade Megillot will certainly be cherished by their families for many years to come.

With great anticipation, the big event was here!! Our Purim Carnival was fantastic, staffed by some of the eighth grade students from HANC Middle School. The children came dressed in costumes and couldn’t wait to try out all the different activities that were planned for them. They practiced their small motor and gross motor skills by shooting magnetic darts at Haman and knocking down Haman, played matching games with Purim symbols, guess the color of the lollipop in a Purim decorated box, created spin art in the shape of a hamantaschen, and found their way to Shushan through an obstacle course. Face painting was also provided to add to the enjoyment of the day. The children then joined the costume parade, sharing their creative, colorful costumes with all of their friends. Before the carnival concluded, each child visited the prize table to select a prize to take home. From the joy on their faces it was evident that the Purim celebrations were thoroughly enjoyed by one and all.

Rabbi B Visits Lev Chana

Lev Chana students and the first graders from HALB enjoyed an incredible interactive performance by the one and only Rabbi B! He brought joy and excitement to the students and teachers, gearing them up for Purim.

DRS Wins Basketball Championship

In a thrilling championship showdown at Yeshiva University, DRS clinched the Yeshiva League Basketball title after a dramatic battle against league rival TABC. The highly anticipated matchup between the two top teams of the season lived up to the hype. DRS took control early, jumping out to a 12-point lead by halftime. However, TABC showed grit and determination, mounting a strong comeback to tie the game with just 20 seconds left in regulation. In overtime, DRS seized the moment, pulling ahead by 8 points and holding firm down the stretch to secure the championship.

Joe Aron earned MVP honors for his standout performance, while senior Tzvi Tsaidi, junior Michael Solomon, and Gaby Spodek provided key leadership throughout the contest.

With this basketball championship, DRS has now made history. Combined with the two hockey championships already secured earlier this year, DRS becomes the first yeshiva since 2002 to capture three league titles in a single year — a remarkable achievement for the school’s athletic program.

The Wildcats end their season on a high note, solidifying their place among the Yeshiva League’s elite.

Around the Community

Morah Rechel Dina Pollack’s nursery students played a hamantasch game at Yeshiva Darchei Torah’s Harriet Keilson Early Childhood Center

SHS Career Exploration Day

SHS held its biannual Career Exploration Day last week. This handson learning experience offers students exposure to a wide range of industries, opening their minds to options they may not have considered. Professionals in attendance represented health care, education, law, government, arts, design, psychology, support services, architecture, engineering, business, marketing, and technology.

Beginning with a fair and continuing with two rounds of industry-based panels, students each chose their primary fields of interest and had the opportunity

Rambam Ski Trip

Shimon Sprei and Ezra Zucker, two seniors at Rambam, successfully planned a SeniorCorp Ski Trip. With the help of Rambam’s Director of Students Activities, Rabbi Yitz Milworn, these students took on real leadership roles, calling the ski resorts, and handling the busing and food arrangements, and learned skills for life.

When the students hit the slopes, it was a beautiful day of achdus, founded on the notion that students, even at a young age, can take on adult responsibility and turn their fun into service to others. The funds raised from their trip will go toward scholarships for those in need.

Rambam Mesivta is very proud to

Rambam Adar Fun: Chagiga, Talent Show, and More!

Rto ask related questions to the representatives at their sessions. They learned of the educational background requirements needed to enter each field, potential difficulties to be aware of, and tips for maintaining a reasonable work-life balance. Access to this insider information has proven beneficial in helping students make informed decisions towards their future career paths.

We are so appreciative of the forty professionals who donated their time and expertise to our students, encouraging them to pursue their passions and giving them the tools to do so successfully!

empower their students to take on these leadership roles and have their students learn and grow in order to serve.

ambam Mesivta welcomed Adar with a chagiga, hamantaschen, and Spirit Week! Students were decked out in their Adar finery for Jersey Day and Pajama Day and showcased their creativity on “Anything But A Backpack Day.” Instead of using their schoolbags, students carried their books in anything and everything from a guitar case to a mini-locker to a sled to a cinder block and more! The winner of the contest, David Bondar, “carried” his books in a watercooler on a dolly while Honorable mentions, Yitzi Brill with his barrel and Gershon Brill with his birdcage, rounded out the top.

At the school’s annual chagigah, there was raucous dancing followed by the Best

Costume Contest with Rafi Taubenfeld dressed as Zelda winning it all and Bezalel Graber as the Mandalorian coming in a close second.

The Talent Show was also a highlight of the day featuring songs, magic, a unicycle and more. The Rambam Band, led by Yonatan Hucul, Elazar Schwartz, and Shalom Yovits, earned the most votes from the audience and received their highly coveted Rambam plaques.

Finally, the long anticipated Rambam Purim Shpiel made its public debut to great acclaim. Thank you to seniors Daniel Shulman and Etai Kreitner for making it happen and to Director of Student Activities, Rabbi Yitz Milworn, for making this Adar one to remember!

Shulamith Science Scholars Program

Next up in the eighth grade Shulamith Science Scholars Program was an amazing speech from Mrs. Ilana Wiener. Mrs. Wiener taught the current eighth graders science when they were in seventh grade and she is now pursuing her masters in genetic counseling at LIU. It was so nice for the students to hear from their former teacher about the relevance of genetics, a

topic they are currently learning in science. The girls learned the difference between autosomal, dominant, and recessive genetic disorders and how they are inherited. Mrs. Weiner also eloquently explained how the sensitivity and care of a genetic counselor can make such a difference for someone who is hearing about a very difficult medical diagnosis.

Gesher Chumash Fair

Gesher’s second grade’s Chumash Fair was an amazing experience. The event was kicked off with an amazing thought by Rabbi Yaakov Trump, a father from our second grade class. He spoke about the chashivus of learning Torah and about being part of our mesorah. Then, each student had an opportunity to create their triboard spanning from Adam and Chava all the way to Yehoshua. The creativity and hands-on learning that each child

experienced were amazing to witness. Each student explored our Avos and Imahos and what they learned from each one.

When presenting their boards to the parents and grandparents, each child described how lucky they felt being part of our mesorah and what they learned from each Torah character.

Mazal tov second grade on this milestone.

St. John’s Episcopal Hospital Secures $1 Million in State Funding for Labor, Delivery, Recovery & Postpartum Unit

St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, part of Episcopal Health Services (EHS), has received $1 million in capital funding from the office of New York State Sen. James Sanders, Jr. These funds will help advance the ongoing development of the hospital’s new Labor, Delivery, Recovery and Postpartum (LDRP) unit.

“We are incredibly grateful to Sen. Sanders for his continued advocacy on behalf of Episcopal Health Services and his commitment to the construction of the St. John’s Episcopal Hospital’s Labor, Delivery, Recovery and Postpartum unit,” said Donald T. Morrish, MD, MMM, Chief Executive Officer of Episcopal Health Services. “EHS is dedicated to ensuring all women have access to high-quality care close to home, and this generous funding brings us one step closer to making this vision a reality.”

“Quality healthcare is essential for a thriving community. I am proud to support St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in enhancing maternal care, ensuring fam-

ilies in the Rockaways receive the best possible start,” said New York State Sen. James Sanders, Jr.

Construction of the LDRP unit began in May 2024. Once completed, the stateof-the-art facility will provide enhanced comfort, privacy, continuity of care, and specialized services for mothers and newborns who require additional support. The unit is expected to open by late 2025.

Episcopal Health Services Inc., (EHS) is a health system located on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, New York. The system provides emergency and ambulatory care to the densely populated, culturally and economically diverse, and medically underserved Rockaways and Five Towns populations. The system provides people of all faiths with comprehensive preventive, diagnostic treatment, and rehabilitative services, regardless of their ability to pay.

Feeling simchas Purim at Yeshiva Har Torah

Gesher held its Annual Dress Up Day

Around the Community

Gorillaz Win in Jewball Championship Bubble Show at Gesher

In honor of Adar, the Gesher children had a great time at our Annual Bubble show. Our students had the honor of having their fathers come and enjoy the show, too! A blast was had by all.

Joy Unwrapped!

Another season of Jewball leagues comes to a close with the GorillaZ defeating the Reapers 18-13 in what was the most intense championship game yet. Down to their last drive, QB Prager found the GorillaZ captain “The Rook” downfield for the game winner.

Benji “The Rook” Katz, Dovi “DK” Katz, and Steph “Sting” Dunin. Bottom: Jonathan “Spicy Zada” Yousefzadeh, and Tuvia “Blitz” Blisko

Hamaspik’s Annual Purim Gifts Bring Festivity and Joy to Five Towns Families

As Purim approached, parents of Hamaspik clients in the Five Towns received an intriguing email. “We can’t keep it under wraps,” the attractive pink and blue flyer proclaimed. The flyer included details about the Purim gift being prepared for each client, as well as instructions on how to receive it.

This year’s gift, a hand-held gaming device with 200 games, was handpicked by Mr. Joseph Moskowitz, gifts and events director, with the goal of being

both exciting and enriching for clients and their families.

The gaming device is internet and WiFi-free, with child-friendly, wholesome games.

“Thank you so much for the kosher game that kept my kids entertained in the car throughout the Purim festivities!” wrote one grateful parent.

“It gives me so much joy to see the pictures of our clients and their families enjoying their new toys,” says Mrs. Chava

YOSS Football Reading

The month of February saw an exciting and unique challenge for the boys at Yeshiva of South Shore, as they participated in a football-themed reading contest that combined literacy with a love for the game. The result was impressive: the students collectively read over 10,000 books, demonstrating both their commitment to reading and their enthusiasm for healthy competition.

The concept of the contest was simple yet effective. The boys were given the freedom to read any book of their choice outside of school, encouraging them to select books that matched their reading levels and interests. Each time a student

completed a book, they submitted a slip of paper that counted as a “yard line,” propelling their class further down the field toward the ultimate goal: a touchdown.

For every 100 books read, the class earned a touchdown, and the competition was fierce. This collaborative effort sparked excitement and motivation, resulting in a month filled with eager readers and a competitive spirit.

In addition to the overall team effort, the contest also honored individual students who stood out in their contributions. Each class had an MVP – the student who contributed the most to their

Laufer, regional manager of Hamaspik of the Five Towns. “Our mission is to bring services, support, and hope to our clients, and seeing the happiness radiating from their faces is our greatest reward.”

Hamaspik wishes our clients, and all of Klal Yisroel, a simchas Purim and an easy pre-Pesach season! If you’re seeking services or guidance related to developmental disabilities or mental health challenges, reach out to us at 718-400-8694. We’re here for you.

team’s reading success. The MVPs were presented with a trophy and a special bag of goodies, making their achievement even more memorable.

The MVPs’ dedication to the contest inspired others, and the recognition they received helped foster a positive, motivating environment for all participants. For many students, the opportunity to be named MVP was a highlight of the contest, encouraging them to continue striving for excellence in both reading and teamwork.

The reading contest was such a success that the students have already begun requesting another one! The ex-

citement, enthusiasm, and impressive reading achievements are a testament to the power of combining fun incentives with educational goals. The boys at Yeshiva of South Shore have proven that when reading is paired with an engaging, competitive twist, it can create an atmosphere of excitement and motivation that inspires students to reach new heights. With over 10,000 books read and countless touchdowns scored, the Football-Themed Reading Contest has set a high standard for future events at YOSS, with the students already eagerly asking for another contest next month!

Pictured left to right: Top: Avi Spira, Sholom “Pray” Prager, Yaron Markfeld,

Gidon Katz, CEO of IMP and an ex pert in marketing Israeli real estate to the global Jewish community for close to three decades, notes that now is the time to buy.

“In the course of the last 20 years or so, Israeli real estate has shown a consistent upward trend,” he said. “Some years prices rise significantly and some years slightly less, but they are always going up. Additionally, lower interest rates will lead to a substantial price increase in about a year.”

The following is a brief review of some of the most popular projects and communities that are currently being marketed at the Great Israeli Real Estate Event, to be held this month in Toronto, Canada, as well as in the tristate area.

Azorim: Crafting Modern Lifestyles in Jerusalem and Netanya

Azorim, a leader in Israel’s real estate development for over 60 years, has been shaping the urban landscapes of Jerusa-

Spring Into Your Israel Investment

A New Home in an Ancient Land

major traffic routes. The complex is also adjacent to stunning nature reserves and Netanya’s beaches.

The Weizmann and Sokolov projects in northern Netanya likewise offer sandy beaches within walking distance as well as easy access to top educational institutions and other important amenities. The projects are suitable for an observant lifestyle and also provide residents with on-site gym facilities and community room. Like their counterparts in Jerusalem, these buildings are equipped with sustainable technologies and smart home

A Beacon of Luxury W Residence is the flagship project of the Wolfson Group, the renowned development company that over the past decade has been instrumental in transforming the standard of Ramat Bet Shemesh residential living.

Located in the heart of Neve Shamir, W Residence, with occupancy estimated for the beginning of 2029, will redefine the RBS skyline. The project is in close proximity to all the urban conveniences, such as educational, commercial and community centers as well as to the expansive Yarmouth Park and many shuls. W Residence offers a range of spacious 2- to 4-bedroom units, as well as double apartments, each designed with an eye for sophistication and modernity. Residents will enjoy ultra-luxury facilities that rival those found in large cities, such as a lavishly designed entrance lobby, three elevators (including Shabbat elevators), and comprehensive security systems ensuring privacy and safety.

the placement of seating and play areas, every element is intended to enhance the lives of those who live here.

Moving to the coastal city of Netanya, Azorim is introducing a dynamic living concept tailored to those who dream of a home by the sea. Known for its stunning beaches and vibrant tourist life, Netanya is becoming a hotspot for buyers looking for a blend of holiday vibes and urban conveniences. Additionally, with its growing appeal to both domestic and international markets, the city offers excellent investment opportunities.

The East and West projects, in the upscale Park HaYam neighborhood, include 3 exclusive luxury towers that harmoniously blend function and aesthetics. The West project features spectacular views directly to the Mediterranean Sea. Those who purchase units in the East project will enjoy the services of one of three top-tier interior designers at no extra charge. The superb location offers convenient proximity to shopping, cultural and leisure centers, business districts, and

Yoni Barel, VP of Marketing and Sales at Azorim, said, “What sets us apart is our approach to creating environments that truly enhance the well-being of residents. Whether it’s the historic charm of Jerusalem or the breezy shores of Netanya, Azorim’s developments strive to leverage the unique attributes of each location. Our commitment to quality and community ensures that each project is not just a place to live but a place to thrive!”

Redefining Living in Ramat Bet Shemesh

For Americans seeking a seamless transition to high-standard living in Israel, the Wolfson Group presents a compelling opportunity in the up-and-coming Neve Shamir neighborhood of Ramat bet Shemesh: W Residence. This luxury project consisting of three luxurious residential towers that offer not just a home but a complete lifestyle upgrade.

Upon entering Ramat Bet Shemesh Aleph from Road 10, Neve Shamir immediately captivates with its strategic location across from Mishkafayim and with panoramic views overlooking the Elah Valley. Considered one of the most ideal neighborhoods for Anglos, Neve Shamir boasts extensive green spaces, outstanding educational facilities and sports complexes and a warm community feel.

The lifestyle amenities in the complex include a private swimming pool, fully equipped gym, sauna, and dedicated relaxation spaces. Each apartment features central air conditioning and will be finished to an exceptionally high standard of luxury evident in all areas: the kitchen, bathrooms, entrance and balconies with many apartments enjoying spectacular views.

With a robust presence in the real estate market since 1999, Ilana Fish brings a wealth of experience and a personal touch to every transaction. A longtime resident of Ramat Bet Shemesh, her deep-rooted connection with the community and commitment to customer services ensure that every client’s needs are met with the highest standards of professionalism as

Sales by Ilana Fish: A Trusted Name in Real Estate

est-developing areas. Presented by Acro Group, one of the fastest-growing public companies in the central district, this innovative project is not just a property investment; it’s an entrance ticket to the vibrant life Tel Aviv has to offer.

Go Yaffo is strategically positioned to capitalize on Tel Aviv’s growth, making it a prime choice for both investment and residential purposes. As one of the areas with the highest potential for appreciation, it promises not only a return on investment through capital growth but also an enriching urban lifestyle in Israel’s cultural and business hub for young professionals and young couples making Aliyah.

Understanding the challenges that foreign buyers might face, Yoel Epstein, Acro’s head of foreign clients, offers the Go Yaffo project with a host of tailored benefits to streamline the buying process. Clients from abroad can take advantage of appliance packages, an easy payment plan, and outstanding personalized ser-

The Bemuna Group brings its expertise in high-quality construction and development to Carmei Gat Special. Their collaboration with top architects and the financial backing of leading banks ensure that each home is not only aesthetically pleasing but also built to the highest standards of quality and functionality. Their commitment to providing value makes Carmei Gat Special an attractive option for those seeking premium, yet reasonably priced homes.

Since its establishment in 2017, the Carmei Gat neighborhood has quickly gained a reputation as a desirable locale for Anglo families, thanks to its affordable housing options and quality of life. Carmei Gat Special enhances this reputation by offering tailored housing solutions that meet a variety of needs and preferences. Its strategic location and the robust offerings of the community make it an attractive and practical choice for families and investors.

ing privacy and security.

Positioned in one of Modi’in’s most progressive and desirable districts, Moreshet is synonymous with a high-caliber lifestyle. The neighborhood is replete with lush greenery, featuring expansive parks and scenic walking trails. The community is well-equipped with shopping centers, entertainment options, and essential services and is in close proximity to top-tier educational institutions, so that everything you need is within reach. Moreshet also offers superb connectivity with major highways linking it to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and beyond.

two-family villas with private gardens and pools, boutique buildings with large and spacious 3- to 5-room apartments, and options for garden apartments and penthouses. Every unit is equipped with modern conveniences such as sukkah balconies and convenient adjacent storage units, ensuring a comfortable and high-standard living environment.

Community and Amenities

Carmei Gat itself is a vibrant neighborhood that enhances the lifestyle of its residents with a variety of parks, cultural centers, and extensive recreational facilities. It boasts bike trails and courts for basketball, soccer, and tennis, providing plenty of opportunities for outdoor activities. Additionally, the neighborhood is equipped with shopping centers, an amphitheater, schools, and synagogues, all contributing to a well-rounded community life. These amenities are especially appealing to English-speaking families who value both community spirit and the convenience of familiar facilities.

Ahuzat Hadar – Elevating Luxury Living in Modi’in

In the burgeoning Moreshet neighborhood of Modi’in, a new pinnacle of upscale living is making its mark. Ahuzat Hadar, a signature initiative by the esteemed Hadar Group, sets a new standard for luxury residential projects in Israel.

Ahuzat Hadar is an exclusive development comprising 45 opulent villas, each crafted with meticulous attention to detail. The design ethos is clear—spaciousness, privacy, and luxury blend seamlessly with the highest quality materials and forward-thinking architectural solutions.

Residents of Ahuzat Hadar will enjoy an array of exclusive amenities designed to enhance the living experience. The homes are spacious 6-room villas, smartly designed for modern families. Each villa comes with its own private parking and a garden. The villas boast unobstructed vistas of Anaba Park, combining urban living with the beauty of nature. Additionally, the development is gated, ensur-

Choosing Sternhartz Real Estate means opting for a boutique agency committed to excellence. We provide detailed, personalized service that covers every aspect of your purchase, ensuring a seamless and satisfying experience from start to finish.

Since 1962, the Hadar family has led Hadar Group to the forefront of the real estate industry. The group is celebrated for its robust portfolio of high-quality projects, both in Israel and internationally. Hadar Group combines decades of experience with a commitment to innovation, ensuring that every project meets the highest standards of construction and design.

Ahuzat Hadar represents a unique investment opportunity in one of Israel’s most sought-after locales. This project is a chance to invest in your future and experience unparalleled living standards.

Around the Community

A Most Meaningful Seder

By Rabbi Yechiel Spero

Any Questions?

Rav Shmuel Yerachmiel Kaufman, the famous mechanech from Detroit, loved telling stories from his early days in yeshivah. Each one was filled with humor, warmth, and memorable lessons. One of his favorites came from his time as a young talmid in Telshe Yeshivah. This story taught him — and many others — the power of a question.

It all began one ordinary day after shiur. Shmuel was new to the yeshivah and full of youthful energy. He was heading down the main staircase, not expecting anything unusual. But as he reached the landing, he suddenly found himself faceto-face with Rav Eliyahu Meir Bloch, the rosh yeshivah.

“Nu, Shmuel,” Rav Eliyahu Meir greeted him with a warm, fatherly smile. “What are you learning in shiur? Do you have any questions?”

Questions? Shmuel hadn’t thought about that. He was just trying to keep up with the shiur like any regular bachur! But here was the rosh yeshivah himself, patiently waiting for an answer. Feeling the pressure, Shmuel managed to fumble out a small point from the shiur — just enough to “speak in learning” with Rav Eliyahu Meir.

The rosh yeshivah nodded thoughtfully, gave him an encouraging smile, and sent him on his way.

Shmuel thought that was the end of it. But the next day, as he made his way down the same staircase, there stood Rav Eliyahu Meir again. It was as if he’d been

waiting for him.

“Nu, Shmuel,” the rosh yeshivah asked, his eyes twinkling with warmth. “Do you have any questions from today’s shiur?”

Shmuel was caught off guard again. Quickly, he thought of something to say, and once again, he managed to “speak in learning.” Rav Eliyahu Meir nodded, smiled, and wished him hatzlachah.

By the third day, Shmuel had a new plan. Not that he didn’t enjoy speaking to the rosh yeshivah — he did — but the surprise encounters were starting to feel a little intense. He decided to use a different staircase, hoping to avoid another “meeting.”

But Rav Eliyahu Meir wasn’t so easy to avoid. At the bottom of the different staircase, there he was, smiling as ever.

“Nu, Shmuel,” Rav Eliyahu Meir asked, “any questions from today’s shiur?”

This time, Shmuel decided to be honest and say it like it is. He took a deep breath and said, “Rosh Yeshivah, I don’t have any questions from today’s shiur.”

Rav Eliyahu Meir’s smile grew even warmer. “Ay, Shmuel,” he said. “But how can you learn without having any questions?”

Rav Eliyahu Meir was teaching Shmuel — and all of us — a timeless lesson. Questions are the key to true learning. A talmid who asks questions shows that he’s thinking, that he’s curious, and that he’s truly involved in the shiur

And here’s another secret: When you ask a question, you carry your learning around with you all day long. The question keeps you thinking. It keeps you

searching. It makes the Torah a part of you.

And that’s why the Seder is full of questions. From the Mah Nishtanah to the Four Sons to all the unusual things we

do — like dipping the karpas or breaking the middle matzah — it’s all designed to make us ask.

Why? What’s the reason for this? What does it teach us?

Even if you can’t think of something that’s really on your mind, don’t give up. Try your best to come up with a question, because even a simple question shows you want to learn more and understand more.

Tonight, at the Seder… …Be curious. Ask what’s on your mind. Don’t be shy. And if you’re stuck, try to think of a question anyway. Because the more you ask, the more you’ll connect to the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim — and that’s the whole idea of the Seder. It’s not just to tell the story. It’s for us to live it, one question at a time.

Reprinted from A Most Meaningful Seder by Rabbi Yechiel Spero with permission from the copyright holder, ArtScroll Mesorah Publications.

Things You Learn While Cleaning For Pesach

Bleach really does ruin clothing.

Your knees ain’t what they used to be.

Children do eat in the bathroom.

If you think the sanitation workers are going to come tomorrow, they won’t.

You can never have enough old undershirts.

Macaroons have no expiration date.

So that’s where the matzah from the eruv tavshilin went!

You have more shoes than DSW under your bed.

Your kids have more sport water bottles than the route at the NYC Marathon.

You will never end up using those ketchup packets that you collected “just in case.”

The junk drawer will always look like the junk drawer no matter how neat you try to make it.

That thing you should have thrown out last year, you should throw out this year, but you’ll throw out next year… yeah right.

No, you will never remember how to put the fridge back together again.

Yes, you will never have enough silver foil.

When needed most, you will be unable to tear off a paper towel using just one hand.

Despite the three containers full of varied type of nails, you will certainly have to visit the hardware store at least three times before yom tov to get just the right nail for different projects.

Those counter covers really are ugly; it’s not your imagination.

Going away for Pesach is totally not overrated.

Riddle Me This!

A window cleaner is cleaning a window on the 25th floor of a skyscraper. He suddenly slips and falls. He has no safety equipment and nothing to soften his fall, but he is not hurt at all. How did that happen?

Answer: He was cleaning the inside of the window, inside of the building.

Keeping it Clean Trivia

1. Which of the following is not in Mr. Clean Magic Eraser?

a. Melamine

b. Formaldehyde

c. Sodium Bisulfite

d. Mustard

2. Which two common household products should you never mix together?

a. Tired children and house chores

b. Bleach and ammonia

c. Vinegar and baking soda

d. Detergent and fabric softener

3. What should you put around an ink stain on your shirt to prevent the ink from spreading?

a. Vaseline

b. Cinnamon

c. An ice cube

d. Hairspray

4. John S. Thurman invented his gasoline powered vacuum cleaner in 1899, and some historians consider it the first motorized

vacuum cleaner. He had a horse-drawn door-to-door service vacuum system in St. Louis. How much did he charge per visit?

a. Thirty-five cents

b. One dollar and twenty cents

c. Four dollars and fifteen cents

d. Twelve dollars

5. Which of the following is not a common component of dust?

a. Skin cells

b. Decomposing insects

c. Rubber

d. Dirt

e. Lint

6. Despite his immense success, Mr. Clean didn’t receive a first name until 1963. That year, Procter & Gamble staged a “Give Mr. Clean a Name” contest. The winner was offered either $30,000 in cash or a $30,000 fully furnished house. Can you guess Mr. Clean’s winning first name?

a. Veritably

b. Cornelius

Yankel goes to see his supervisor in the front office.

“Boss,” he says, “we’re doing some heavy Pesach cleaning at home tomorrow, and my wife needs me to help with the attic and the garage, moving and hauling stuff.”

c. Major

d. Jackson

Answers:

1-D

2-B Mixing bleach and ammonia causes dangerous fumes.

3-A

4-D

5-C Just in case you are freaked out by skin cells being part of dust, here is how it works: The average person loses between 50-100 thousand skin cells every minute. Those flakes of skin accumulate in carpets and furnishings, dry out, and then are lifted into the air by drafts or air currents. Breathe in, breathe out…

6-A Veritably (and then he wonders why people call him by his last name all the time?!)

Wisdom Key

5-6 correct: Veritably Goldberg, you are pretty good!

3-4 correct: You are not bad. Your mind is just a bid dusty…all of those skin cells piling up.

0-2 correct: You should really stop drinking Windex.

“We’re shorthanded, Yankel,” the boss replies.

“I can’t give you the day off.”

“Thanks, boss,” says Yankel. “I knew I could count on you!”

Torah Thought

Parshas Vayakhel

By Rabbi Berel Wein

The haftorah for this week’s parsha describes the efforts of the great King Shlomo in the construction of the First Temple. King Shlomo himself is a great and tragic figure. The attitude of the Talmud towards him is an ambivalent one.

On one hand, he is the builder of the Temple, the expander of the kingdom, the builder of great fortresses, and the administrator of twelve districts of his country. He is also the wisest of all men who understands even the sounds of animals and birds, the author of three of the great books of Tanach, and someone upon whom the Divine Spirit itself has rested.

And yet, on the other hand, the Talmud questions his right to immortality, criticizes his excesses and hubris, condemns his tolerance of the public support of idolatry by his foreign wives, and even attributes the rise of Rome and the subsequent destruction of the Second Temple to his marrying the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh. Jewish legend has him driven off of his throne by a demon and having to wander in exile for part of his life. All of this naturally dims the luster of his great earlier accomplishment, of building the Temple.

The haftorah parallels the parsha in the description of the work in construct-

ing the Mishkan and its artifacts with the same type of artisanship in the creation of the Temple and its artifacts. Shlomo, so to speak, becomes the second Moshe in supervising the building of the house of G-d. But, in the case of Moshe, the building of the Mishkan was only one of his career’s accomplishments and was dwarfed by his major accomplishment of teaching and instilling Torah within the people of Israel. The building of the Temple by Shlomo was the high point of

are truly blessed because they can recover and advance. Making it late in one’s professional life can be disastrous to one’s reputation and life. The reverse trend may be true of accomplishments.

Early accomplishments can be very dangerous because they set a standard and inspire a sense of self-aggrandizement that will prevent any further achievements. Only gradual ascent and mature considerations, which usually are part and parcel of advancing years, can

In the case of Moshe, the building of the Mishkan was only one of his career’s accomplishments and was dwarfed by his major accomplishment of teaching and instilling Torah.

his career. Afterwards, he slipped off the mighty pedestal of greatness that he had attained.

The Talmud teaches us that “happy are those whose later years do not shame their earlier accomplishments.” My old law school professor taught us that every lawyer makes a bad mistake at least once in his professional career. He also stated that those who are fortunate enough to make that mistake early in their career

guarantee that those early achievements become lasting and untarnished by later behavior. The comparison between the two great builders of G-d’s house – Moshe and Shlomo – is illustrative of this truth. Building G-d’s house is a great achievement in itself. Maintaining it and using it for greater spiritual influence and instruction to the people of Israel is an even greater achievement.

Shabbat shalom.

From the Fire

Parshas Vayakhel Wisdom of the Heart

By Rav Moshe Weinberger

Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

According to the Gemara (Brachos 55a), “Hashem only gives wisdom to those who have wisdom...as it says (Shemos 31:5), ‘I have placed wisdom in the heart of those who are wise of heart.’” Similarly, we find that the Midrash Tanchuma (Shmos 35, Siman 2), quoting the pasuk in Shemos 31:3, says about Betzalel, “‘And I will fill him with the spirit of G-d, with wisdom,’ which implies that he already had wisdom. This teaches us that Hashem only fills those who already have wisdom with wisdom.” This is very difficult to understand. We even find in the Tanchuma that a woman asked Rabi Yosi bar Chalafta, “It should have said [that He gives wisdom] to fools!” Indeed, it would seem that fools need wisdom more than wise people do. Why, then, do these pesukim teach that Hashem only gives wisdom to the wise, who ostensibly need it less than fools do?

Rabi Yossi answered her with a parable. He asked her whether she would rather give a loan to a poor person or a rich person? She answered that she would rather give the loan to the rich person who needed money at that time because he was more likely to pay her back. Rabi Yossi then explained to her that it is the same with wisdom, which Hashem views as an important investment. He prefers to invest wisdom in those who He knows will use it wisely than in fools who are likely to squander it, or worse.

We see from these teachings that there are two basic types of wisdom. One type, which we shall call chochmas lev, wisdom of the heart, is a prerequisite for the second, primary, type of wisdom, which is wisdom itself. Wisdom of the heart makes a person a vessel for true wisdom. But what is “wisdom of the heart”?

The Ramban (on Shemos 35:21)

points out that none of the Jews who left the slave pits of Egypt ever had the opportunity to learn any trade or the artistic skills necessary for building the Mishkan and its vessels. So who were these artisans and craftsmen who built the various parts of the Mishkan and the garments of the Kohanim? The Ramban explains that there were people whose hearts moved them to volunteer. They had desire and determination to be a part of building a dwelling place for Hashem in this world. According to the Ramban, these people with no prior background in craftsmanship came to Moshe and said “I will do whatever my master says!” Hashem then filled their hearts with the knowledge they needed to build their part of the Mishkan. That is why the pesukim repeatedly say about the donors, volunteers, and craftsmen (see, e.g., Shemos 35:21), “Everyone whose heart carries him.” These people did not come with extensive skill-sets.

They came because their hearts motivated them to do whatever they could to be part of building Hashem’s house.

Reb Yerucham Levovitz, zt”l, says that the common denominator among the majority of wealthy and successful people and great rebbeim is that they exhibit tremendous motivation to accomplish; their hearts carry them. They are determined and filled with longing and desire to achieve their goals. In contrast, those who lack determination and enthusiasm, even if they have greater natural talents or intelligence, remain mediocre, never achieving greatness. With respect to the building of the Mishkan, the successful people were not experts artisans or craftsmen. Rather, they were those who accepted the work of the Mishkan upon themselves wholeheartedly.

This is the prerequisite for wisdom. Someone with wisdom of the heart has the humility to know that he may not be

100 capable on his own but he is willing to work to achieve his goal nonetheless. Such a person is given the deepest wisdom and the power to attain great things. This is related to why we eat matzah on the Seder night between the first two cups of wine and the last two cups of wine. Matzah, which is made of grain, is a manifestation of wisdom. We see this from the Gemara (Brachos 40a), which says “A child does not know how to say ‘Father’ or ‘Mother’ until he tastes grain.” In other words, on some level, basic intelligence is associated with tasting grain. Matzah, therefore, represents wisdom and knowledge. Wine, on the other hand, is a lack of knowledge. It is “a d d’lo yadda” (Megila 7b), something which causes a person to lose a certain quality of knowledge. Wine represents that quality of longing, desire, and faith which is beyond wisdom and knowledge and not dependent on what a person knows or is capable of according to natural human understanding. It means “I have given wisdom to the heart of the wise.” This is also connected to the Maftir for Shabbos Hachodesh, which says (Shemos 12:2), “This new moon shall be to you...” The moon manifests

a lack of knowledge. The sun, which is the source of illumination, is wisdom and understanding. But the moon means the longing for the light of the sun, the power of pure desire and will.

I read about a prominent rosh yeshiva who unfortunately passed away at a young age. Before he entered the next world, he wrote his son a letter, which was reprinted in a sefer. In the letter, he told his son that when he was a young

situation to the Rosh Yeshiva, he asked him, “Do you want to grow in learning?”

He answered, “Yes, but I sometimes have trouble.”

“What is the truth,” Rav Nosson Tzvi asked, “Do you truly want to grow in learning?”

The boy answered in the affirmative.

“If so,” the Rosh Yeshiva said, “if you truly want to grow in learning, then you will certainly succeed. You should know

Wisdom of the heart makes a person a vessel for true wisdom.

man, he was kicked out of several yeshivos and could no longer get into any yeshiva. He was advised to go to Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, zt”l, to ask for his advice, and so he went. Rav Nosson Tzvi was already stricken by the effects of Parkinson’s disease. The Rosh Yeshiva held his hand still so he could shake the boy’s hand, and when he explained his

that I was also weak in learning, but I very much wanted to succeed. I therefore worked hard, and I was successful. If you truly want to, you will also be successful if you work hard. You will blossom into a great person.”

In this letter to his son, he told him that Rav Nosson Tzvi’s words made a deep impact on him and that was what

gave him the confidence to follow his dreams, work hard, and eventually become the talmid chacham that he was. He concluded the letter by telling his son, “When we toil and are not broken by the obstacles we face, we will definitely merit to see the light. We see tremendous help from Heaven. Go according to this path, and when I leave the world, I will go up to the throne of glory to daven for you.”

Hashem gives wisdom to those who are wise of heart. Being wise of heart means wanting to accomplish something in our service of Hashem. When we want something and are willing to work for it without giving up, Hashem sees that we represent a good investment and will take us to the next level.

May each of us merit to tenaciously chase greatness and see the Divine assistance which will ultimately make us successful. Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congreagation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.

Think. Feel.Grow.

Eretz Yisrael Transcending Space and Time

By Rabbi Shmuel Reichman

Donny walked up to the podium. It was his high school graduation, and he was the valedictorian. After thanking his classmates, teachers, and family, he paused for a moment before sharing the following story:

Right now, I’m standing here as the valedictorian of my high school class. I excelled in my studies, I am good friends with my classmates, and I am heading toward a bright future.

Many of you may not remember, but four years ago, I moved here from another country. I was new to this school, and I had trouble speaking the language, but I was excited to start fresh and meet new people. That excitement was short-lived. On the first day of school, I was teased, bullied, and ignored. I had trouble with my classes, but things got even worse once I left the classroom. Nobody sat with me at lunch, and nobody tried to talk to me during breaks. But I had hope things would get better.

They didn’t. Over the next few weeks, things began to fall apart. I tried telling

my parents, but they were so focused on adjusting to their new lives here that they barely had time for me. I felt absolutely lost and completely alone.

One day, as I was walking home from school, I tripped, and my books scattered all over the street. As I bent down to pick them up, I heard a voice. “Hey Donny, would you like some help?” It was Moshe. Wait, Moshe? I thought to myself. He was so popular and fun, everyone liked him. Why would he be talking to me? But as I looked up, I saw Moshe heading toward me. He bent down and helped me pick my books. “Wow, these are a lot of books. I’m happy to help you carry them back home.” I tried to tell him that it was OK, that he didn’t have to help me, but he wouldn’t hear it. He was so nice and so friendly. On the walk back, he told me all about his dreams and aspirations and how he would never give up until he achieved his goals. He asked me about my own dreams as well. No one had ever asked me about my dreams before, and I began to feel hopeful for the first time

as I began sharing them with him. As we arrived at my house, he invited me over to his house later that night to meet his other friends. Before I could respond, he said, “I won’t take no for an answer. See you there!”

After that, everything changed. I got along with all of Moshe’s friends and started to pick up the language. I began to excel in my classes and genuinely enjoyed school. I had friends, I was learning every day, and I was beginning to pave my path. As the years passed, Moshe and I became best friends, taking on the world together, as a team.

As I stand here today, I want to share something with you – something that I’ve never shared with anyone before. That night, when I was carrying my books home, I wasn’t just heading home. I was heading home for good. I was absolutely lost and completely alone. The previous night, I had decided to end my life, to finally escape my misery. The reason I was carrying all my books home was to make it easier for my parents so that they

wouldn’t have to show up at my school to collect all my things. I was on my way back when Hashem sent me Moshe. If not for Moshe, I would not be here right now. Moshe saved my life. He was the first person to care about me, to make me feel like I mattered, and to show me that I’m important. He was the first to ask me about my dreams and to actually listen when I shared them with him. Well, because of Moshe, I’m still here; because of Moshe, I’m still dreaming. Sometimes, there’s more to greatness than meets the eye.

Kefitzas Ha’derech

Previously, we began exploring the deep and inspiring ideas relating to the greatness of Eretz Yisrael. In addition to the kedushas ha’aretz and the unique mitzvos of Eretz Yisrael, there is another fascinating phenomenon in the Torah that relates to the uniqueness of Eretz Yisrael. There are several instances where Chazal mention the concept of kefitzas ha’derech , literally translated

as “jumping the path.” This refers to the unique ability to travel at a pace quicker than the laws of nature would normally allow, thereby enabling someone to travel extraordinary distances in mere seconds or perhaps even instantaneously. How and why does this occur?

(There are several options regarding the nature of kefitzas ha’derech. The first is that when one experiences kefitzas ha’derech, they transcend the nature of time, moving at an extremely fast pace close to the speed of light. One would be moving through space at a transcendent pace. The second option is that one transcends the nature of space, gaining the ability to disappear and then reappear somewhere else. In this second option, it is most probable that no time passes between the disappearance and reappearance. One could suggest that this works as a worm-hole within time and space; one would enter at one end of time and space and instantaneously exit from the other side at a different point in space, but with no (or little) time having passed; see Ramchal, Derech Hashem. The third option is that both time and space are a single connected concept (space-time), and both of these are “bent” in order to achieve kefitzas ha’derech . While Einstein is credited for discovering spacetime, the Maharal (Tiferes Yisrael 26) discussed this topic centuries before Einstein was born, stating that time and space are not two separate concepts but deeply and intrinsically connected.)

Chazal mention a few cases of kefitzas ha’derech . One is when Yaakov travels from the house of Yitzchak, narrowly escaping Eisav’s clutches. Another is when Eliezer embarks on a journey to find a wife for Yitzchak. There are several others as well, but what do these cases have in common? Do they share any deeper connection?

Transcending Time and Space

Kefitzas ha’derech enables one to transcend the laws of time and space. Why is this possible? It is due to the unique location in which kefitzas ha’derech always occurs: Eretz Yisrael, the land that transcends the bounds of time and space. (Or at least on one’s way to Eretz Yisrael. For example, Rashi, at the beginning of Parashas Vayeitzei, quotes the Gemara in Chullin, which says that Yaakov returned from Charan (chutz la’aretz) to Eretz Yisrael through kefitzas ha’derech.) Yaakov’s return from Beis El back to the makom haMikdash took place within Eretz Yisrael and was a journey to the root of Creation itself. This journey

completely transcended time and space. When Yaakov awoke the next morning, he states: “Mah norah ha’makom ha’zeh, how awesome is this place” (Bereishis 28:17). Norah spelled backwards is “aron” (the holy ark), the vessel that would later be housed in that very same spot, i.e., the Kodesh Hakedashim, a place beyond space and time. Yaakov traveled to a place beyond place, a time beyond time. As such, he was able to transcend space and time through kefitzas ha’derech. The same was true for Eliezer when he traveled to find Yitzchak a wife. After the Akeidah (the binding of Yitzchak), Yitzchak became a paradoxical being,

Moving vs. Stationary Mikdash

It’s interesting to note that there were two forms of Mikdash within Jewish history. The first is a moving, traveling Mikdash, i.e., the Mishkan in the midbar. The second is a static, set Mikdash, i.e., the Beis Hamikdash in Eretz Yisrael. What is the meaning of this? Why are there two, what are the differences between them, and what can we learn from this?

While we generally think of the Mishkan as the precursor to the Beis Hamikdash, the Beis Hamikdash actually predates the Mishkan, in a sense. The roots of Beis Hamikdash appear

When the Beis Hamikdash is gone, when we have lost that ideal, we are called upon to recreate that light within ourselves.

living both beyond and within this world. The Midrash (Pirkei D’Rabi Eliezer) states that Yitzchak’s ashes lie on the mountain, at the spot of the Akeidah. This is because Yitzchak was sacrificed. He then returned to life, becoming the first person to experience techiyas ha’meisim (resuscitation of the dead). This is why the second bracha of Shemoneh Esreh , which is connected to Yitzchak, mentions techiyas ha’meisim: Yitzchak brought this concept to the world. Chazal note that the letters of Yitzchak’s name spell “keitz chai ” — he who lives (chai ) while [paradoxically] existing beyond life (keitz). Yitzchak is rooted beyond time and space, and yet, paradoxically, lives within it. And where did he take on this unique nature? On Har HaMoriah — the very same spot where Yaakov slept, the very same spot as the Kodesh Hakedashim , and the meeting place between the physical world and its transcendent spiritual source.

The journey to find a wife for Yitzchak occurred just after this episode, and it was a journey beyond time and space to find a wife for Yitzchak, who himself was beyond space and time. (Marriage as well is a connection that exists beyond the limitations of time and space. The nature of Eliezer’s journey — namely, to find a wife for Yitzchak — is another factor that contributed to kefitzas ha’derech, a journey beyond time and space.)

mikdash, it is our job to rebuild it, beginning within ourselves. This is the meaning of the phrase: “Bilvavi Mishkan evneh, within [myself], I will build a Mishkan [for Hashem]” – not a Beis Hamikdash, but a Mishkan! This is because when the Beis Hamikdash is gone, when we have lost that ideal, we are called upon to recreate that light within ourselves. We transform ourselves and our lives into a vessel that connects us to Hashem, receives His light, and projects it into this world. We thereby connect the physical to the spiritual, the finite to the infinite, and the limited to the transcendent. In transforming our lives into a Mishkan, we work our way back to the perfection of the Beis Hamikdash.

at the beginning of Sefer Bereishis by Akeidas Yitzchak and when Yaakov slept at the makom haMikdash (place of the Temple). This was the root of our connection to the transcendent and of our ability to bridge the gap between the finite and the infinite. This unique ability is most powerful in the makom haMikdash , at the heart and center of Eretz Yisrael, above the Even Shesiyah. However, as we have explained many times, every process has three stages:

• The first stage is the high, the inspiration, and an experience of perfection and clarity.

• Next comes the second stage: a complete fall, a loss of everything that was experienced in the first stage.

• Following this is the third stage: a return to the perfection of the first stage. However, this third stage is fundamentally different than the first. It is the same perfection and the same clarity, but this time it’s a perfection and clarity that has been earned. The first time it was given to you; now you have worked to build it for yourself.

Our foundation was the makom haMikdash — the gift our Avos gave to us. We then had to rebuild toward that ideal through the Mishkan in the midbar. Then, we were finally able to reconnect to that original perfection through the Beis Hamikdash in Eretz Yisrael.

Now that we have lost the Beis Ha-

We can now understand the sin of the Meraglim on a much deeper level. The spies not only spoke lashon hara; they rejected the uniqueness, holiness, and transcendence of Eretz Yisrael. While the entire world is infinitely spiritual, Eretz Yisrael possesses a fundamentally higher spiritual quality. Eretz Yisrael has no equal; there is nothing that can be compared to it. May we be inspired to continuously deepen our connection with Hashem and Eretz Yisrael, and may we become the ultimate vessels for Hashem in this world, fully fulfilling the words of “bilvavi Mishkan evneh.”

Rabbi Shmuel Reichman is the author of the bestselling book, “The Journey to Your Ultimate Self,” which serves as an inspiring gateway into deeper Jewish thought. He is an educator and speaker who has lectured internationally on topics of Torah thought, Jewish medical ethics, psychology, and leadership. He is also the founder and CEO of Self-Mastery Academy, the transformative online self-development course based on the principles of high-performance psychology and Torah.

After obtaining his BA from Yeshiva University, he received Semicha from Yeshiva University’s RIETS, a master’s degree in education from Azrieli Graduate School, and a master’s degree in Jewish Thought from Bernard Revel Graduate School. He then spent a year studying at Harvard as an Ivy Plus Scholar. He currently lives in Chicago with his wife and son where he is pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago.

To invite Rabbi Reichman to speak in your community or to enjoy more of his deep and inspiring content, visit his website: ShmuelReichman.com.

Delving into the Daf

Haman’s Sons in Bnei Brak

By Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

While ten of Haman’s sons met their fate by hanging – a real “family tree” if there ever was one – the Gemara in Megilla states that he actually had many more sons, maybe even over 200! What became of the rest of his family? The Gemara there fills in some of the details. The Gemara in Sanhedrin (96b) shares one amazing twist: some of Haman’s descendants went on to teach Torah in Bnei Brak. It is poetic justice – Haman’s very own bloodline helped ensure Jewish continuity, even though he tried to wipe it out!

There is a Pesach Seder anecdote about five sages in Bnei Brak who were so engrossed in discussing the Exodus story that they completely lost track of time. Could it be that the same Bnei Brak is where Haman’s descendants, now Torah teachers, made their mark?

First, another issue must be addressed. How could Haman’s descendants convert to Judaism and eventually become esteemed Torah teachers since we have a halachic prohibition against accepting converts from Amalek?

Wait, is there really such a prohibition? Interestingly, the Yad Dovid notes that this prohibition isn’t mentioned in the Talmud Bavli or by the Rambam, even though the Mechilta (Parshas Beshalach) does bring it up. This discrepancy might be the very reason the Bavli tells us that Haman’s descendants were able to convert.

Scholars have offered a few creative explanations to harmonize Haman’s descendants’ conversion with the prohibition against accepting convert from Amalek:

The Emek Bracha suggests that a beis din, unaware of this particular halacha, converted them, and once they were part of the community, there was no need to

distance them later.

The Sridei Aish points out that maybe these descendants were from Haman’s daughters, not his sons. Since nationality follows the father, a child born of Haman’s daughter and a non-Amaleki would be allowed to convert.

The Yad Dovid offers another answer based on the Tosefta in Kiddushin. Sancheriv mixed the populations so thoroughly that by the time of Haman’s descendants, it was nearly impossible to identify who was genuinely an Amaleki. As a result, even if they had Amaleki ancestry, they were no longer classified as such halachically and could convert. Still Chazal had a tradition that Amaleiki descendants went on to teach Torah in Bnei Brak.

The Megilas Sefer suggests that there was an incident where a Jewish family discovered an abandoned baby in a non-Jewish area, converted the child (with the typical opt-out option at 13), only to later learn that the child was from

this view, Haman sold himself as an “eved Canaani ” (a Canaanite slave) to Mordechai, and such a servant must observe most mitzvos. Once freed, these individuals could become full members of the community. So, Haman’s descendants, who were not slaves, could naturally become full-fledged Jews.

The Chasam Sofer uses the fact that Haman was an eved Canaani to explain a pasuk in the Megillah. The pasuk states

It is poetic justice – Haman’s very own bloodline helped ensure Jewish continuity, even though he tried to wipe it out!

Amalek. This child ending up becoming a great scholar and a teacher of Torah in Bnei Brak.

Megillas Sefer also suggests another answer. In truth, converts from Amalek are accepted, but they are not allowed to marry into the Jewish community.

Adding another twist, the Kli Chemda offers a surprising perspective: perhaps Haman was already Jewish! According to

(3:4), “When they spoke to him (Mordechai) day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai’s resolve would prevail; for he had explained to them that he was a Jew.” The pasuk is saying that Mordechai explained that he was a Jew and that he could not bow down to Haman.

The Chasam Sofer suggests an alternate explanation for the end of the pasuk.

Mordechai refused to bow and offered a rather embarrassing excuse. Mordechai explained to them that Haman was a Jew: an eved Canaani! He refused to bow down to his slave.

Some also suggest that an Amaleki might be allowed to convert using a legal loophole. He first accepts the seven Noahide laws, becoming a ger toshav, and then he may fully convert into Judaism.

And what about Bnei Brak? Well, one of the five sages reclining there was Rebbe Yehoshua, a native of Bnei Brak. The Mechilta tells us that he didn’t accept the view that converts from Amalek shouldn’t be allowed. Because of his authority, converts from Amalek were welcomed in his hometown, making Bnei Brak the very place where Haman’s descendants went on to teach Torah. Indeed, some suggest that among Haman’s descendants was none other than the great Rebbe Akiva, who was also mentioned as one of the five sages who reclined in Bnei Brak.

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.

Headlines Halacha

What Mighty Contests Rise from Trivial Things

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman

At a recent visit to my doctor, he cited a quote from Alexander Pope, the famous British satirist, “What mighty contests rise from trivial things.” His admonition was to ensure that I not neglect ensuring that I do not get an infection in the blood, because when one has complex machinery and technology implanted in the body, the machines do not deal well with infections.

This idea may also have basis in Chumash and Navi.

Small Acts

The story of Purim began with Klal Yisroel attending a party.

This seemingly small act of not listening to the advice of Gedolei Torah (Mordechai told us not to go), resulted in the emergence of Haman’s horrific plans. Rav Dessler, in his Michtav m’Eliyahu, explains that this is why the Megillah begins with the party of Achashveirosh.

Hashem took the world from Plan A to Plan B because Chava wanted to eat from a piece of fruit. Wow!

Another striking example is the story of Yosef and his brothers. The conflict began with something seemingly trivial:

“Now Yaakov loved Yosef more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a coat of many colors.” (Bereishis 37:3)

A mere garment—the kesones passim (coat of many colors)—became the catalyst for jealousy that escalated to attempted murder and ultimately Yosef’s sale into slavery. This “trivial” act of favoritism led to the Bnei Yisroel’s descent into Mitzrayim, centuries of avdus.

The Midrash Tanchuma (Vayeishev 1) comments on this, stating: “A person should never distinguish one of his sons from among the others, for on account of the weight of two sela’im of fine wool [the value of the special coat] that Yaakov gave to Yosef, his brothers became jealous of him and the matter evolved and our forefathers descended to Mitzrayim.”

Another example is Dovid haMelech’s seemingly small choice to remain in Yerushalayim rather than leading his troops in battle:

“And it came to pass, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that Dovid sent Yoav, and his servants with him, and all Yisroel... But Dovid tarried in Yerushalayim.” (Shmuel Bais 11:1)

This apparently minor decision led to him seeing Bas Sheva, aveirah, the death of Uriah, and ultimately bringing divine punishment upon himself and his household. The Gemara (Sanhedrin 107a) notes that Dovid asked Hashem why this trial came upon him, suggesting that even great figures can fall through seemingly trivial beginnings.

The Eigel HaZahav

The construction of the Eigel HaZahav began with a seemingly minor miscalculation about Moshe Rabbeinu’s return:

“And when the people saw that Moshe delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aharon...” (Shemos 32:1)

According to the Gemara (Shabbos

89a), the Satan confused the people by showing them an image of Moshe Rabbeinu’s bier, making them believe he had died. This confusion over timing—a seemingly trivial matter—led to avodah zarah, divine wrath, and nearly the destruction of Klal Yisroel.

Korach’s Rebellion

Korach’s rebellion against Moshe began with a dispute over leadership positions:

“And they rose up before Moshe, with certain of the Bnei Yisroel... saying: ‘Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy...’“ (Bamidbar 16:3)

The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 18:4) reveals that Korach was angered over the appointment of Elitzaphan ben Uziel as leader of Bnei Kehas. This seemingly minor administrative decision sparked a rebellion. It ended with the first schismatic movement in Klal Yisroel and the death of Korach and his followers.

Pilegesh b’Givah

One of the most tragic civil wars in our history began with the mistreatment of a single pilegesh (concubine):

“And it came to pass in those days,

when there was no king in Yisroel, that there was a certain Levi sojourning on the side of har Ephraim, who took to him a pilegesh...” (Shoftim 19:1)

This incident with one woman led to a devastating civil war that nearly annihilated all of Shevet Binyamin. The Gemara (Gittin 6b) discusses how this terrible conflict grew from what might be considered a private domestic matter.

The

Division of the Malchus

The split between the kingdoms of Yehudah and Yisroel—a national catastrophe that weakened the Jewish people for centuries—stemmed from Rechavam’s harsh response about taxes (April 15 th is coming, rabbosai ).

“And the king answered the people roughly...saying: ‘My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’” (Melachim I 12:13-14)

A mere tax dispute and harsh words led to the permanent division of the entire nation!

Throughout Tanach, we see the doctor’s advice validated time and again. Chazal perhaps alluded to this pattern as well. As stated in Pirkei Avos 2:1: “Be careful with a minor mitzvah as with a major one, for you do not know the reward given for the respective mitzvos.”

This idea extends to aveiros as well. The Gemara (Sukkah 56b) warns: “A breach in the wall calls to the thief,” teaching that small openings can lead to major intrusions.

Nothing in Hashem’s world is truly trivial when viewed through the lens of Chazal and hashgacha pratis. It was clearly worth the hour and fifteen minute drive to see him.

article should

viewed as a halachic discussion and not practical advice. The author can be reached at yairhoffman2@gmail.com.

As a little girl, I was enchanted by the story of Purim because of its heroine, Queen Esther. I was one of the little girls who dressed up in my mother’s high heeled shoes and fake fancy jewelry pretending to be a princess. For little girl dreamers, the ultimate Jewish princess was our own Queen Esther; she continues to be celebrated for her daring, bravery and beauty.

Walking in the Shuk looking for a costume for myself (everyone in Israel dresses up), there were hundreds of variations of Esther costumes and crowns for the choosing; alas, none for me and my giant head. In Jerusalem, because we don’t eat our seudah or give out mishloach manot on Friday, I have time to decide until Sunday, Shushan Purim.

Most chagim in Israel are celebrated for one day; it’s a cherished perk of aliyah. This year in Jerusalem, Purim is celebrated over four days – 1+3, the fast and 3 days of revelry; it’s called Purim Meshulash. Thursday, the same as everyone else, is Taanit Esther with Megillah at night. Friday morning, we too read Megillah and give out Matanos L’evyonim.

Friday night and Shabbat you say Al Hanissim and enjoy regular Shabbat meals, perhaps enhanced with much revelry and drinking; it’s Shushan Purim for everyone outside Jerusalem, a walled city.

In Jerusalem, on Sunday, there are more costumes (it seems like everyone has been in costume for days), mishloach manos, a Purim seudah and a big parade on King George. This is our first time celebrating Purim in Israel, and we are experiencing the full iteration of the chag. Apart from the “fast, feast and fun,” there are the historical, hashkafic and spiritual components that we are learning more about.

Beyond the reading of the Megillah, I have never really understood much about the implications of Purim’s tefillah implications. During a weekly neighborhood class on Middot led by the brilliant and charismatic Rebbetzin Dena Schoonmaker, a group of mostly young and middle aged women (I am the token old lady) get to reflect on their own behavior by working together to figure out how to do “better.”

School of Thought

Strength in Celebration

By Barbara Deutsch

This group of women has navigated the challenges of raising young families as the children evolve from birth to shidduch dating. With the wise support and guidance of Mrs. Schoonmaker, they grapple with many of life’s big questions.

Before our aliyah, I would accompany our daughter Rachel; now, I have my own seat.

The theme this year is hakarat hatov; this week, we related it to Purim. Bracha, one of the women in the class, shared an

In the Israel National Library, you can find history, books, concerts, parties and exhibits. There, too, you can find Kafka. We visited a unique exhibit wherein what remains of his prolific work are available and displayed. Franz Kafka was an anomaly: a Jew who did not connect with Judaism, he was sympathetic to Zionism, taught himself Hebrew and had a connection to the Belzer Rebbe but not to Judaism. Kafka lived a miserable life and did not consider himself Jewish.

Doing for others helps us enhance the paths that will encourage us to find the better in ourselves.

idea that resonated. Rabbi Brezak, a prominent local rabbi, proposed that every aspect of Purim be injected with robust simcha.

Rabbi Brezak posits that there are three components that enhance the tefillah: On Purim day, start with hodaah to Hashem for all that you and yours have been blessed. Next, ask for a bakasha for your future. Finally, and most importantly, make a request for someone else. Each round is accompanied by robust singing and dancing; especially for the children, the happy music makes it memorable.

Kafka wrote about alienation, disconnection, and the despair of having no control over one’s destiny. His very name has become synonymous with the absurdity of life. Paralleling his lifetime, the Kafka exhibit is purposefully narrow and full of twists and turns that make it difficult to navigate.

He died of tuberculosis at 41; before his death, Kafka requested his friend and fellow writer, Max Brod, to burn all of his books and personal manuscripts. Brod, a Zionist, came to Palestine bring-

ing all of Kafka’s work with him. The rest is history.

Max Brod saved his friend’s legacy. Franz Kafka is taught and read to this day because of Brod’s selflessness in working to preserve his writing. For the cynics, Brod died penniless.

There are many Kafkaesque features to be found in the story of Esther. Her life’s choices were not her own. Mordechai asking for her help in saving the Jewish people from Haman sealed her fate to remain forever in Shushan. Yet, Esther’s understanding of her role and Jewish destiny helped her to embrace her future destiny.

On Purim, we are pushed out of our comfort zone, often aided by liquor, to search for our Jewish joy. Despite the pain of the past year and a half, we persevered in our search for the positives in life. If Kafka had identified his Jewish self, perhaps he would have found happiness and contentment in real life. What happiness he was able to enjoy he found in writing fiction and long letters.

On Purim, by giving mishloach manot, matanot l’evyonim and praying for others, we actively pursue the guiding force of our very existence. Praying to free the hostages and heal our wounded clarifies our life’s purpose. Doing for others helps us enhance the paths that will encourage us to find the better in ourselves.

Kudos to all the Jewish little girls who will grow up to be the Queen Esther of their imaginations.

In Jerusalem this year, four days have been designated for accomplishing an answer to our tefillot; hopefully it will be enough.

Chag Purim was sameach!

Barbara Deutsch is the former associate principal at HANC, middle school principal at Kushner, and Dean of Students at Yeshiva of Flatbush. A not-retired educator, she is trying to figure out life in Israel through reflections on navigating the dream of aliyah as a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend.

The Fight for the Kedushah of Eretz Yisrael

A Conversation with Rabbi Nechemya maliNowitz, DiRectoR of eRetz haKoDesh

by Nachi Gordon of meaningful People Podcast

In this exclusive interview, Rabbi Nechemya Malinowitz shares his inspiring journey from Monsey to Eretz Yisroel and his critical role in preserving the kedushah of the Jewish homeland. Discover how every Jew can make a difference in shaping Israel’s future through the WZO elections.

Nachi: It’s so exciting to dive into this very important discussion. But first, can you tell me a little about Nechemya Malinowitz?

Nechemya: Sure. I grew up as a normal American kid in Monsey, New York. One day, out of the blue, when I was 19, my father – a very respected rav and Rosh Kollel – came home and announced that we were moving to Eretz Yisrael. My father was an extremely idealistic person, and he said, “If not now, then when?” He felt deeply connected to Eretz Yisrael and believed it was the right move for our family.

As the oldest of ten kids – my youngest brother was just 2 years old – I put up a big fight. But my father held his ground, and move we did. The night before we left, I finally said I would give it a shot. Baruch Hashem, we all successfully integrated and became part of the Israeli system. Today, I’m sold — I live in Eretz Yisrael, I’m an oleh, and I’m fully part of the system here.

In hindsight, this move changed the rest of my life and put me in a very unique position. Everything I’ve been able to do since then is a result of that move. I have the perspective of both the American and Israeli worlds, and I’ve been placed in unique positions that are tailor-made for such a person.

EncountEr with r av aharon LEib StEinman zt”L Nachi: I understand that before you got involved with what you do now, you had an interesting position with Lev L’Achim. Can you tell me about that?

Nechemya: Let me tell you a fascinating story. After moving to Israel, I continued in the Israeli yeshiva system, got married, and after learning in kollel, I became involved

in education, first in Camp Adirim, a well-known camp, and then, I became a rebbi in a wonderful yeshiva that helped struggling teens. I was happy there, and while the yeshiva struggled to pay us, I thought I was doing proper hishtadlus.

However, my father saw it differently. He felt it was time for me to do more hishtadlus. We decided to seek the guidance of Rav Aharon Leib Steinman, zt”l. This was around 2013, when he was the senior gadol in Eretz Yisrael.

We went to Bnei Brak together on a summer day, and it was incredible. Rav Aharon Leib, a European-born Rosh Yeshiva who was over 100 years old at the time, sat with us and asked rapid-fire questions about my role in the yeshiva. He asked if the boys had time to relax and unwind. He was so in touch with struggling boys from a completely different world than he was from.

At the end, he turned to me and said, “I think you should stay. But I don’t see why you have to be there all day. In the morning and afternoon, you should be in yeshiva, but at night, you should find something else on the side.”

I left with no idea what I was going to do, but I was determined to make it work. We went back to Yerushalayim, and I ended up davening Mincha that day in a shul I didn’t usually frequent. After davening, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and standing there was Rabbi Zeivald, the head of Lev L’Achim.

He said to me, “I’m looking for someone who learns but has a few hours at night to give to Lev L’Achim. We need someone who is American but has a connection to Eretz Yisrael.”

I couldn’t believe it! Rav Aharon Leib told me to get a job at night, and not three hours had passed before someone offered me the perfect opportunity. I attribute every-

thing I’ve been involved with since to this story.

roLE in LEv L’achim

Nachi: Wow. Why did Lev L’Achim need an American to work for them? What was your role there?

Necheyma: Lev L’Achim does incredible work all over Eretz Yisrael, and there are stories that they wanted to get the American public. My job entailed driving from community to community to see what was going on and report it back to the American press. Also, there were American visitors who the organization wanted to show their work. I became their tour guide, showing them the remarkable work that Lev L’Achim was doing.

The most fascinating part of the job was driving visiting American rabbanim and roshei yeshiva. Big roshei yeshiva came, and I had the opportunity to build amazing relationships with many giants. For a few days straight, I was their liaison, driver, and tour guide, and that connection was fascinating. I became close to many Gedolim and learned a lot from them.

In this role, I became a more known person in the Israeli world. One day, I received a phone call asking if I could help get the Americans involved in the Israeli elections.

Nachi: American citizens can vote in Israeli elections?

Nechemya: No. This was for the American Israeli community, which had about 20,000 families, which is probably around 50,000 voters – a huge number. Until this time, the American Israeli community didn’t get involved too much in Israeli elections, and they really didn’t have a voice in many important matters.

At that time, I came to be seen as someone who was very connected, and I was approached by Degel Hatorah, the Litvish party in Eretz Yisrael, to mobilize the community to vote.

My immediate response was to say that this was not for me. But I went to Rav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l, then and he said he thinks it’s very important for the American community to get involved.

This was a very important initiative and crucial for the American-Israeli community. This was my first experience

with the important lesson that those who don’t vote don’t get a voice.

Then the whole thing with WZO came up.

background of thE wzo

Nachi: What is the WZO?

Nechemya: The WZO built the State of Israel. It’s the umbrella term for the National Institutions created to establish and develop the state. The Jewish National Fund (KKL/JNF) is one of the most important – it literally owns the land of Israel. Then there’s the Jewish Agency, which handles aliyah and other initiatives, among other institutions.

Once the State was established, the WZO became the voice of the Jewish people worldwide. The organization was divided into three parts: one-third is controlled by the Knesset, and the other two-thirds are given to Diaspora Jews to represent their interests.

For years, not much happened with the Diaspora’s share. The WZO was primarily focused on building Israel’s infrastructure. However, in the 1970s and 1980s, Reform and Conservative Jews in America started getting involved. They realized their movements were dwindling and decided to focus on Israel. Historically, they had nothing to do with Israel – they even removed mentions of Zion from their prayer books because their goal was assimilation.

But American Jewry, as the strongest Jewish community in the world, has tremendous influence over what happens in Israel. They control 8 billion shekels a year to foster the Jewish people’s connection to Israel. This money can be used for a huge range of initiatives.

The Reform and Conservative movements saw this opportunity and used it to their advantage.

At that time, the frum world wasn’t involved in the WZO.

Nachi: Why not? Eight billion shekels sounds like a good reason to get involved.

Nechemya: You’re right. But, it wasn’t always so simple – there’s a lot of bureaucracy and maneuvering involved. But because of our silence, left-wing, woke groups in America have taken it over. They’ve used their voice to influence critical issues in Israel, like the Women of the Wall, education, and more — all in the name of American Jewry. And all they had to do was vote.

Nachi: Who can vote?

Nechemya: Any Jew in America can vote in the WZO elections. This gives American Jews a direct voice in decisions affecting Eretz Yisrael. The results are used to give a picture of the makeup of American Jewry which can be devastating to our community.

Let me give you an example: When a member of the Knesset comes to America, where do they go? They’re not going to Monsey, Lakewood, or the Five Towns. They’re going to places like Pittsburgh and San Antonio. Because that’s who they think represents American Jewry. And when they return, they say, “The Jewish people of America want gender equality at the Kosel.” And the MKs looking to build credence on the world stage begin to back that position.

These groups introduce new ideas to the Israeli public, like, “Let’s have a ‘funner’ bar mitzvah with the

mother also receiving an aliyah.” Most Israelis are traditional but don’t fully understand what “traditional” means. When they hear about other options for Judaism, they don’t know any better.

It’s about influence. The left has a foothold in Israel, and they’ve started fighting against the chareidi world. For example, the Supreme Court has ruled against chareidi practices, like banning kosher cell phones. Why? Because LGBTQ groups argued that every child in Israel should have access to their hotlines. Who’s going to court over this? The left-wing woke American Jews.

Nachi: Why do they impose their views on everyone else?

Nechemya: The progressive movement in America operates on the belief that “we know better.”

Here’s another example: In Israel, they went to court to ban separate-seating concerts, arguing that it’s illegal. They’re also in court now, just like in New York, trying to dictate what’s taught in chareidi schools.

The battles are wide-ranging. For instance, chareidi units are opening in the army but then left-wing groups are going to court to challenge them because of “segregation.” At the same time, they criticize chareidim for not serving in the army. Go figure.

Nachi: That’s crazy. So all of this happened because of voting in the WZO?

Nechemya: Absolutely. Only because the Reform movement got their people to vote over the past few decades has this been happening.

Nachi: When you say Reform, do you mean Americans or Israelis?

Nechemya: Their entire population and power base is from America. They have representatives in Israel, but their membership is primarily in America. But the State of Israel, as the Jewish state, wants to know what the Jews of the world think.

These battles are constant. For example, in Holon, there’s a huge fight happening right now – in the name of the Jewish people of America.

It also happens that there’s a huge amount of money, billions of shekels, given in the name of the Jews of America.

Nachi: Where does this $2 billion a year come from?

Nechemya: Most people will tell you it comes from donors or the government, but that’s not true. The JNF/ KKL collects 13% of the taxes whenever anyone purchases a house anywhere in Eretz Yisrael. They own the land, and they have a deal with the government, which develops the land. That money goes to the WZO, which then uses it to fight us – if we don’t vote.

Now, there are very few Reform Jews moving to Israel. It’s us – the Orthodox community – who are giving money to KKL. It’s us who are funding this.

EmErgEncE of ErEtz hakodESh

Nachi: So the WZO is giving out billions a year based on the voice of the Jewish people. And over the years, the left has been that voice. That brings us to Eretz HaKodesh, right?

Nechemya: Exactly. Some activists came to Rabbi Pesach Lerner and explained what was going on. He realized something had to be done and opened Eretz HaKodesh as the party to represent authentic Torah Judaism.

As a liaison in Eretz Yisrael, I was asked to get involved and help with the elections. Someone called me and said, “Can you help?” I initially said, “I can’t do this.” But then I went to Rav Gershon Edelstein, zt”l, who said, “This is something we have to do.” I also went to Rav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l, and asked him if the frum world in America should get involved. He said, “Yes.” I know many people who spoke to Rav David Feinstein, zt”l, and Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, shlit”a, and they all encouraged us to take action. They all said that if the frum people in America don’t use their voice, someone else will be that voice.

Somebody has to stand up and say that I want the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael to remain as it is. I don’t want anyone to change how the Mekomos Hakedoshim look, for example.

All of us come to Eretz Yisrael to experience its kedusha. We all feel it at the Kosel. We don’t want there to be anything at the Kosel that will lessen the kedusha. We love Shabbos in Geulah. We want it to be quiet and tranquil.

Nachi: So Eretz HaKodesh comes in and says, “We need a frum voice.” If you think American politics is hard, Israeli politics is beyond us. But now it’s starting to make sense. So, tell me about the process.

Nechemya: Sure. We needed a party to represent the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael. Like all elections, it’s either your voice or someone else’s.

Five years ago, we started Eretz Hakodesh. In the 2020 elections, out of 152 seats, we got 25 seats. That allowed us to make a real impact. We learned the system, created education programs, and started youth movements. We figured out the mechanics and identified which programs needed support.

There was a board that was pushing to add pluralistic ideas into every program of the WZO. Baruch Hashem, we were able to stop that.

In the education department of the KKL huge amounts of money are given every year to programs that promote the Jewish people’s relationship to Eretz Yisrael. Eretz Hakodesh has been able to give $50 million a year to Torah institutions with that money.

Nachi. So you are a pretty powerful guy?

Nechemya: Well not me specifically, but Eretz HaKodesh does have a seat at the table now and we can help many mosdos. And we hope to help many more wonderful causes in the future.

One of the most important things we were able to do was during Covid.

thE Nes during covid

Nachi: What did the WZO have to do with Covid?

Nechemya: A lot. It was mamash a nes that we were able to be the voice of the Jewish people then.

Covid hit Eretz Yisrael right after the elections, and they shut everything down. No one was coming to Israel. For the first three months, the country was closed. But by the summer, yeshivos and seminaries got nervous – what would happen at the beginning of the school year?

All the yeshivos and seminaries were in jeopardy. Rabbi Zecharya Greenwald came up with an idea: we created Igud, a coalition for foreign students. As the representative of the Jewish people, because of Eretz HaKodesh, I could legally stand up and say, “This is an important issue.”

I went to Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch and asked about safety. He said, “Do everything you can.”

I then went to Isaac Herzog, who was then the head of the Jewish Agency (today, he’s the president of Israel). I said, “As a representative of the Jewish people, I feel this is crucial. If these students can’t come, we’ll sever the connection between American and Israeli Jewry.” He agreed and said something had to be done.

We went to the Knesset and sat with all the politicians. We said, “Someone has to be in charge of this.”

Here’s the nes: The government said, “You do it. If you want this to happen, you have to take responsibility.”

The Igud was put in charge of issuing permits to students from America.

It was unbelievable. Hashem put me in this position to ensure that thousands of students – boys and girls across the religious spectrum – could continue learning Torah in Eretz Yisrael.

We were on the phone 18-19 hours a day. I had an open line to the government, and close to 35,000 permits were issued. It turned into a year-and-a-half-long project, and I had to hire a team to coordinate this massive effort. We worked out quarantine arrangements for the Mir and every yeshiva.

Nachi: So, those who went to learn in Eretz Yisrael that year – it was because of you.

Nechemya: Well, Hashem put me in this position just a month before we got that influence. It turned into a huge effort to help all Americans, even non-students.

Let me tell you a crazy story: About 20 students had no way to get home, Israelis learning in America for Pesach, parents were pleading with me. I said, “There’s nothing I can do.” But Hashem loves those who learn Torah. The head of the airport called me and said, “Here are 25 permits for

“Somebody has to stand up and say that I want the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael to remain as it is.”

the kids you’ve been bugging me about for the last three weeks.” It didn’t make sense, but Hashem showed His love for those learning Torah.

It was very complex. Other organizations were helping too – Chaim V’Chessed, Rabbi Paysach Freedman, Zvi Gluck from Amudim. We were all in touch, working together.

It’s important to point out that when I went to the Knesset to argue my case, they asked, “Who needs the Americans?” I said, “You do! There are approximately 20,000 students. If each one spends an average of $30,000 — including tuition and spending money — that’s $540 million going into the Israeli economy.” We’re talking about millions of dollars that impact the Israeli economy. It’s another way of bringing out how connected our community is to Eretz Yisrael.

thE upcoming ELEctionS

Nachi: Why does the state give so much power to the WZO?

Nechemya: You have to realize that the State of Israel sees itself as the state of all Jews, no matter where they live. It’s complicated, but they want to involve Diaspora Jewry. That’s why the WZO is part of the government.

The next election is running now, from March 10 to May 4. There are seven weeks of voting to give everyone a chance. Everything is online at eretzhakodesh.org — everything you need to know is there.

Nachi: I hear you have to pay to vote?

Nechemya: Yes, there’s an election cost – not a

membership fee. It covers the cost of running the elections and helps prevent fraud. It’s $5 per household. So that can be a few votes. Look at it as $5 to help save the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael.

Nachi: How well did you do last time, and how many voters can you get this time?

Nechemya: Last time, out of a total of 125,000 votes, Eretz HaKodesh got over 20,000—that’s 10% of the vote. It was the first time, and it enabled us to do a tremendous amount. But we can do better.

Think about it: How many frum people go to Israel every year? About 20,000 students and thousands of visitors from our world. How many Reform Jews go to Israel? Maybe 50? We’re the ones who care about Eretz Yisrael, and we should be the ones with the voice.

The sky is the limit. We can get 125 seats if every frum Jew votes. Even if not, we have coalition partners — Mizrachi, Likud, and others who want to help us. Bottom line, the more votes we have, the more we can fight for the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael.

Nachi: Let’s circle back to our original discussion. Based on your experience, what do you think about the concept of making aliyah? Do you feel it’s something we talk about enough in our yeshivos? Do you think there’s not enough emphasis on yishuv Eretz Yisrael?

Nechemya: It’s a question that depends on the individual. There’s no doubt that Eretz Yisrael is the best place to strengthen one’s connection to Hashem. However, we all know that the most important thing is maintaining that connection. What happens if that connection weakens after moving to Eretz Yisrael? That can happen due to challenges in chinuch, shalom bayis, or the ability to learn. It’s a real concern, and one has to be careful. You’re speaking to someone whose family made aliyah, and baruch Hashem, we’ve been successful. There are hundreds of families doing it without a problem, but one has to first make sure they’ll be okay.

I started a huge project called Libeinu, funded by KKL/JNF, to help American-Israeli students integrate into the Israeli system. It’s a massive topic. There are different societal norms, and when people move, they often have no support system – no grandparents, no siblings. They have no one to rely on. A typical Israeli yeshiva family won’t necessarily understand their struggles. It’s a totally different social environment, and it’s a huge adjustment. Through Libeinu, I’ve been able to help in some way.

The important thing is to sit with others and talk. One of my favorite things to do is strike up a conversation and say, “Let’s understand each other.” If we understand each other, 80% of the battle will go away.

Nachi: Any final thoughts?

Nechemya: Everyone can really make a difference. Every single person who can vote, should vote at EretzHaKodesh.org. You have a few weeks to make an impact for the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael.

Nachi: This has been fascinating. Thank you so much for joining us, and please continue your amazing work.

Rabbi Malinowitz meeting with Rav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l

Nation

IIsaac Fogel Finding Your Own Path

By Eliyahu RosEnBERg

n the frum world, communities are often categorized by levels of stringency. On one end, you have Orthodox Judaism. Then, you have “ultra-Orthodox.” Keep going and you’ll get to “ultra-ultra-Orthodox.” And then, in perhaps a category of its own, is Satmar. Whether that’s an accurate assessment or an overly-simplistic stereotype aside, Satmar undoubtedly has intense aspects to it. And that’s by no means a bad thing.

Satmar is, for example, halachically stringent. The community is very much committed to its way of life and its principles. Of course, as a member, you won’t get much lifestyle flexibility in Satmar, nor will you be exposed to much modern

In His Words…

culture. But for the thousands of proud Satmar Chassidim, those are just a few small sacrifices to make for the lifestyle they find meaningful.

Satmar isn’t only passionate about Torah and mitzvos, however. When it comes to chessed, no community comes anywhere close.

As such, when discussing Satmar, it’s crucial to avoid over-generalizations. Satmar is complex. Its views are more nuanced than most people believe, and its members, like all humans, are unique. To make assumptions about an entire community is unfair. Case-in-point: consider the Satmar Rebbe, who was strongly against Zionism. Yes, he held beliefs about the State of Israel that many frum Jews

if you want your kids to be on the same page as you, don’t ever make them feel like they’re either special, more than any one of their siblings, or worse. Treat them equally, treat them fairly.

Really, it’s all an illusion, because we’re not really in control of ourselves. There’s only hashem, and it only brings anxiety to live in the illusion that you’re in control.

We should keep away from labeling things good or bad, because it’s not really for us to say. Everything is meant to be, and hashem has a reason for everything.

would disagree with. But his story isn’t as simple as that. Decades ago, when an IDF commander came to him for a bracha, the Satmar Rebbe voluntarily took out a large sum of tzedaka money from the pidyonos (written requests for brachos accompanied by financial donations) and handed it to the Israeli official.

“Rebbe, I didn’t come for money. I came for a bracha,” the commander said.

“Yes, but I’m giving you this money. You’re a commander. It’s after a war. People died. Soldiers under you unfortunately passed away,” the Satmar Rebbe responded. “Make it easier for the families. Divide this money amongst the families of these fallen soldiers, so at least you can ease some of their pain.”

On another occasion, a Zionist writer and vocal critic of the Satmar Rebbe was diagnosed with cancer and traveled to the United States for treatment. To cover the medical expenses, the writer had to raise $10,000, which was a tremendous amount back then. But despite his best efforts, he was only able to collect $2,000. He was terribly sad. His situation seemed hopeless. How could he possibly raise the rest?

Well, guess who wound up giving him the $8,000? The Satmar Rebbe––who happily did so, despite knowing that the writer had spent his career condemning the community’s anti-Zionist views.

Indeed, the Satmar communities of Kiryas Joel and Monroe have also sent many packages of aid to the IDF. Some might view this as a contradiction—opposing Zionism while supporting its followers—but in truth, it reflects a deeper truth: Satmar’s opposition to certain

ideologies and practices is one issue. Its commitment to aiding fellow Jews in need is another story entirely.

The above stories were recounted by Yitzchak “Isaac” Fogel, a 20-year-old Jew who was raised Satmar in the community of Williamsburg.

Although he’s since found his own path, Isaac nonetheless values Satmar and by no means intends to criticize the sect. As it says in Mishlei, “Chanoch l’na’ar al pi darko.” Everyone has their own path. And thus, while the Satmar community wasn’t the right fit for Isaac, he doesn’t consider that a reflection of Satmar but of himself. He realizes that for many Jews, Satmar is the perfect path.

“Ultimately, it was an amazing and very interesting experience growing up in a world where this is your whole world,” Fogel shares. “You grow up in a place where this is the only place that really matters to you. This is the only family and community that matters to you. Yiddish is the only language that matters to you, the only language you really know… It’s just a very interesting experience.”

But during his childhood, Isaac didn’t yet have that appreciation for Satmar. Young Isaac craved seeing the world beyond his small community. He wanted to be unique, free from the limitations of his community’s expectations; free to walk the path he chose for himself. But at the same time, he wanted to fit in; he wanted to be understood. Thus, Isaac felt like a rope caught in an endless tug-ofwar: should he conform and be accepted, or venture out into the wild and find

himself? Lost and confused, teenage Isaac made his decision.

“I decided to wear shorts, tank tops, and be that cool kid. I dyed my hair blonde,” recalls Isaac. “At some point, I was thrown out of yeshiva. They took me back…but I left. And then it was a little complicated. I was on the streets for a few months trying to find out where I was going next.”

Like many lost souls, Isaac hadn’t at the time considered experimenting with other chassidic or Jewish sects. Instead, his thirst for control was so overwhelming that it became all he focused on. He became so fixated on controlling his life that he, unlike others in his shoes, fortunately steered clear of drugs and alcohol, which he knew would rob him of his agency.

“Really, it’s all an illusion, because we’re not really in control of ourselves. There’s only Hashem, and it only brings anxiety to live in the illusion that you’re in control,” Isaac declares. “But at least in the beginning, it felt very good to be making my own decisions.”

But ironically, Isaac’s obsession with control soon gained control of him. And to make matters worse, Isaac’s new world wasn’t as glamorous or free as he imagined it to be. Instead, it overwhelmed him and prevented him from discovering himself.

One day, while grappling with his challenges, Isaac heard about the yeshiva of Beri Weber, a popular Jewish singer. After doing some research, Isaac decided he wanted to go to the yeshiva. The only issue: his father wasn’t too keen on sending his son to a yeshiva in Monsey.

“My father told me, ‘Not a chance. Not happening.’ And I completely understand it from a father’s perspective: having your son living in Monsey, knowing he’s a rebel, and he just wants to do whatever he

wants. Meaning, this could end very badly,” he explains. “I really wanted to go to Beri Weber’s yeshiva, knowing that this is a place that is going to build me. He’s going to let loose enough for me to experience myself enough to feel comfortable. But at the same time, it’s going to be guiding me in a very healthy and loving way.”

So, Isaac, desperate to get into the yeshiva, got a little sneaky. He called the yeshiva and spoke to a staff member named Zecharia Pecker.

After speaking for a little while, Zecharia asked the boy, “Are you sure your parents are okay with this? We have a rule that the parents have to be on the same page with the staff here, and they have to be okay with you being in the yeshiva.”

“Yes, my parents are completely okay with it,” Isaac responded.

“Okay, well, if your parents are okay with you coming here to this yeshiva, I’d love to set up an interview,” the man replied.

“I couldn’t tell my parents, ‘I set up an interview without your permission,’” recalls Isaac. “So, I told my parents, ‘The staff at the yeshiva decided that they’re going to do you a favor, and they’re going to let you come in, not for an interview, but to learn what the yeshiva is all about.’ So, I told my parents that it was just going to be a schmooze. And I told the yeshiva that this was going to be a real interview.”

By the end of the interview, his parents were convinced. Isaac Fogel wound up going to Beri Weber’s yeshiva, which, in his words, “was one of the greatest things I’ve ever experienced.” It brought stability to his life and strength to his convictions, both religious and not. By the end of his time in yeshiva, Beri Weber recommended that Isaac learn in Israel to develop independence and maturity.

“People ask me, ‘Well, you had so

This article is based on a podcast, “Inspiration For the Nation,” hosted by Yaakov Langer. To catch more of this conversation, you can watch it on LivingLchaim.com or YouTube.com/LivingLchaim or listen wherever you listen to podcasts (just search for “Inspiration For The Nation”) or call our free hotline: 605-477-2100.

many questions on your beliefs and faith. How did you get your answers?’ And the answer is that the questions don’t get answers. Instead, the questions fall away at some point,” Isaac shares. “Imagine a two-year-old who wants a lollipop after eating tons of sugar. And his parents say, ‘No, you can’t have a lolly.’ And this kid is crying, ‘Why can’t I have a lolly?’ Does he still have that question when he’s 30? No. The question didn’t get an answer. It just fell away. So that happens as you learn more and you go more into spirituality.”

* * *

At age 18, Isaac started a successful diamond jewelry business. For four years, he lived away from home; for some time in Monsey, Israel, and Borough Park. He’s since moved back in with his parents, who now live in Monroe. In Beri Weber’s yeshiva and in Israel, Isaac found himself. He found the balance he’d been searching for: remaining committed to Yiddishkeit, while enjoying the

freedom to be himself.

His advice to parents of children who are off the derech is as follows: “If you want your kids to be on the same page as you, don’t ever make them feel like they’re either special, more than any one of their siblings, or worse. Treat them equally, treat them fairly. Baruch Hashem, I think everybody settles down at some point, as long as they haven’t done anything that ruins their life forever, like with drugs. But for anything that is not life-changing that your kids do, including not being religious and many other things, just know that it’s part of a journey to try to experience different things, to find their balance in life. Don’t freak out. It’s completely okay. And they’re going to be amazing, wonderful people, and they’re going to live in society. They might even become rebbes, rabbanim, roshei yeshivas, business owners—special people doing so much chessed. Just accept and know that.”

Dating Dialogue What Would You Do If…

Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters

Dear Navidaters,

We have a boy who is ben bayis by us, a very solid incredible guy whom we’ve watched grow into the amazing talmid chacham he is. He has a lot to show for himself, as he is successful, good-looking, solid frum, and has great middos.

He’s been shidduch dating for a few years unsuccessfully. Now, he is dating a girl for a couple months, and we’ve never seen him so happy. But my husband and I are scratching our heads about it. This girl is a BT who has an unsavory past and negative reputation. Much of her old life is open for all to see on social media. She claims to have changed, but then why wouldn’t she have gotten rid of her old media accounts/pictures, etc.?

We haven’t given our opinion on her as he hasn’t asked, but we’re wondering if we should intervene. Do we assume he knows and is fine with it?

Any advice would be appreciated.

The Cohens*

The Panel

Dear Readers,

We want to offer YOU an opportunity to be part of the discussion! Please email us at MichelleMondShadchan@gmail.com, subject line “reader’s response,” if you would like to participate in the new “A Reader’s Response” columnist spot. We will send you a question and publish your answer in an upcoming Navidaters edition. If you have a question you would like the Navidaters to answer, please reach out to this email as well.

Looking forward!

Michelle, the “Shadchan”

The Rebbetzin

Rebbetzin Lisa Babich

Hi and thank you for your question. I definitely hear your concerns. I think if this was someone who was a ben bayis by me I would address it cautiously. What do I mean by that? I would gently probe/guide him and ask, “How is it going? How do you feel about your different backgrounds? Are you sensing nice middos? Have you heard good things about her?” I would do this in order to open the discussion and hear from him. This is called gentle guidance. He is an adult and someone who has been dating for a few years. He will want and need to make his own decisions; however, asking questions that make him think and that lend themselves towards dialogue between the three of you can be very helpful.

I also imagine that at some point if things continue to go well, he will want you to meet her. It could be once you see her in person you will have a lot more clarity on who she is. If he then asks you your opinions you can be honest about what you thought, but you may be surprised that your opinions and feelings change once you see her in person.

Guiding someone is a big responsibility and is never easy but there is a balance that has to be found. You want to guide them while also acknowledging that they aren’t a child. If they are adult enough to get married, then they are also adult enough to ultimately make

their own decision with your help and assistance.

Hatzlacha!

The Shadchan

Michelle Mond

This must be so difficult for you to navigate! Fortunately, your ben bayis sounds like a smart young man who can make decisions for himself. I understand your concern about the girl he is dating. You wonder if she is truly genuine or just putting on a show for him. That is a valid concern but realize that a show like that can only go so far; her true colors will eventually show. If he is smart and with it, he will notice any disingenuous signs as time goes on.

The most important thing you can do is to encourage him to take his time. All too often, singles think they need to make the decision by date number “X,” which adds way too much pressure to an already stressful situation.

Another thing you can do is make sure he is aware of the obvious. If her social media accounts are still up and active from her “previous” life, simply ask him, “By the way, have you checked out her social media accounts? It looks like they’re still active.. I thought you should know.” You are not giving away any big secrets by saying this, as it is public and out in the open. He can then discuss it with you and ask solicited advice. If it is a surprise to him, he will

then be able to make his own decision about whether this concerns him.

It is so hard to sit on the sidelines, I know. But you must recognize that he is the one who has to ultimately make this decision.

The Zaidy

Dr. Jeffrey Galler

Ah, the age-old conundrum: To intervene, or not to intervene? That is the question.

My initial reaction was to not intervene and to recall the very appropriate Hebrew expression:

“ Mei’olam lo hitztaarti, al davar shelo amarti.” Meaning, you will never regret restraining yourself from saying things you might later wish you hadn’t.

But then, a friend explained to me that the term “ben bayis” doesn’t merely mean that the young man is a frequent house guest; it could signify that you are almost like a quasi-parent.

That would explain why you do seem to know a lot about him and do seem to be very sensitive to his needs and feelings. So, on the one hand, it’s understandable that you care about him and want to get involved and be helpful.

But, on the other hand, he is an adult who can make his own decisions, he didn’t ask your opinion, he seems very happy right now, and anything you say at this point can ruin your relationship with him.

So, what to do? I have two possible suggestions.

First, you can invite the young man and his girlfriend for a Shabbos meal. There, you can observe them and their interactions. You can express how much you admire and appreciate her becoming a baal teshuva. And, you might, very, very subtly, mention how a BT acquaintance had discussed the challenges of modifying his social media presence to more accurately reflect his current religious status.

Or, second, if you are really, really concerned and troubled about the girlfriend, consider calling the young man’s

Guiding someone is a big responsibility and is never easy but there is a balance that has to be found.

rebbe or rosh yeshiva. Make sure that he promises to keep your call confidential. Make it his responsibility. Let the rabbi decide whether he, personally, should, or should not, intervene and discuss the situation with his student.

These suggestions can allow you to feel that you not only acted responsibly, but also avoided the potential negative consequences of ruining your relationship with him.

And, you can avoid the indecision that plagued Hamlet, in Shakespeare’s play. Prince Hamlet, who is consumed by overthinking the responsibilities and consequences of his actions, famously contemplated “To be or not to be” and was tormented by inaction.

Reader’s Response

A Divorced Reader

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Cohen, I’m going to be direct, because I’ve been in his shoes. I got married thinking I knew everything I needed to know. I was happy, in love, and convinced that whatever concerns people might have had were either exaggerated or irrelevant. And then, after the wedding, reality hit. There were things I should have known, things that would have made a difference, but no one told me. Maybe they didn’t want to interfere. Maybe they thought I wouldn’t listen. Maybe they thought it wasn’t their place. But I can tell you now, I wish

someone had spoken up.

I’m not saying this girl isn’t a good person or that people don’t change. But some pasts come with weight, and some choices leave a lasting impact. The fact that hers is still visible, still public, is something he needs to fully understand. It’s not about whether she’s a good person today. It’s about whether he’s thought about how this might affect their future, their kids, their community, and the way people will treat them as a

couple. It’s easy to say none of that matters when you’re happy. But things that don’t seem like a big deal in dating can become a big deal in marriage.

That said, here’s the tough part. If you bring this up, there’s a good chance he’ll get defensive. If he’s already decided she’s the one, anything you say could feel like an attack. But if he truly doesn’t know the full picture, then you have to ask yourselves if you’re okay with staying silent.

Pulling It All Together

The Navidaters

Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Cohen,

First of all, I really want to validate where you are. This is a tough spot, and I think a lot of people, maybe more than we even realize, find themselves in situations like this. You care deeply about someone, you know something that might be relevant to their future, and you’re left wondering: do I say something? Do I stay out of it? What’s my responsibility here?

There’s no simple answer because both sides of this are valid. On one hand, we all know stories of people who got married and later said, “I wish someone had warned me.” But we also know that the same people, if they had been warned, might have dismissed it, minimized it, or even resented the messenger. So how do we weigh that?

I think the bigger, philosophical question here is whether we have a duty to share what we know or whether we respect people’s right to make their

own choices, even if we think they might be making a mis - take. It’s almost like the psychological concept of duty to warn, but in the world of relationships, the lines are so much blurrier because this isn’t about something as clear-cut as safety. It’s about perception, values, and how much someone’s past really defines them.

And then, there’s another piece. What does it say that she hasn’t hidden her past? In the world of shidduchim, where people are often coached to keep things under wraps, to wait until the seventh date to reveal something so the other person is already emotionally invested, here’s someone who, for whatever reason, has not erased her history. That doesn’t mean she’s proud of it, but it does mean she’s not pretending to be someone she’s not. And in a system that often pushes people toward secrecy and shame, is there something admirable

If it were me, I’d want to hear it from someone I trusted, someone who came to me out of love, not judgment. Maybe I wouldn’t have wanted it then, and hindsight is 20/20. But maybe something like, “We love you, we see how happy you are, and that’s all we want for you. But we’ve been struggling with whether we should say something, because if we were in your shoes, we’d want to know. If you already do and you’ve made peace with it, then we’ll respect that completely.”

If we write off everyone who has made mistakes, there won’t be many people left to marry.

If he knows everything and still moves forward, that’s on him. If he doesn’t and no one says a word, then that’s on all of you. Either way, this has to be his choice, but at least make sure it’s an informed one. I wish someone had done that for me.

about that?

But back to your role. What will allow you to live with yourselves, regardless of how this plays out? If you say nothing and it turns out he was unaware, will you regret it? If you do say something and he gets defensive, will that feel like you’ve done your part, or will it hurt the relationship? If you were in his shoes, would you want to know? And maybe more importantly, would you have actually listened?

Whatever you decide, it has to come from a place of love, not judgment. If you do bring it up, it might sound something like:

“You know how much we care about you, and we’re so happy to see you happy. We’re not here to tell you what to do. We wouldn’t even know what to say. We just found ourselves in a place where we weren’t sure whether to speak up, and since we love you, we didn’t want to stay silent if this was something you wanted

to process. If you’d rather we don’t bring it up at all, we’ll respect that completely.”

And then it’s in his hands. Because at the end of the day, this is his life, and he has to be the one to own his choices. And if he knows everything and still chooses her, that’s his right. People have pasts, and sometimes those pasts make them into extraordinary people. If we write off everyone who has made mistakes, there won’t be many people left to marry.

I don’t think there’s one right answer here. It’s a question of values, self-trust, and deciding what kind of role you want to play in this person’s life, both now and in the future.

Whatever you do, I hope you handle it with grace, dignity, and respect, both for him and for her. Wishing you clarity in whatever path you take.

Warmly, Jennifer

a

please

Health & F tness

SSRIs: The Unsung Heroes of Mental Health A Journey Into Your Brain’s Chemistry

By Rivka Kramer, PMHNP-BC

If you’ve ever been prescribed an SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor), you’ve probably encountered a sea of jargon that might have left you scratching your head. “Serotonin,” “neurotransmitters,” and “reuptake” might have sounded like a chemistry class on a bad day. But what if we told you that SSRIs are like your brain’s personal bodyguard, helping it navigate through a world that can sometimes feel overwhelming, confusing, and out of control?

Let’s dive into the world of SSRIs and discover how they work, why they’re important, and why they deserve more recognition in the mental health world.

What are SSRIs?

Let’s start with the basics. SSRI stands for Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor – yes, it’s a mouthful, but once you break it down, it’s much more manageable. SSRIs are a class of medications commonly prescribed to treat mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, panic disorders, and OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). These medications work by increasing the levels of serotonin in your brain.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, which is essentially a chemical messenger in your brain that helps regulate mood, sleep, appetite, and even memory. Think of serotonin as the “feel good” chemical that helps you manage life’s ups and downs. When serotonin is at its optimal levels, you feel happy, balanced, and emotionally stable. But when serotonin is low, you might feel the weight of depression, anxiety, or other mental health struggles.

So, what’s the catch? Why isn’t serotonin just floating around happily in your brain all the time? Well, like any good party, serotonin needs some boundaries. When it’s released into the brain, it attaches to receptors on nerve cells and does

its job – regulating your mood. But after it’s done its work, serotonin is typically reabsorbed (or “reuptaken”) back into the nerve cells, a process that can sometimes happen too quickly or too often in people with certain mental health conditions. When this happens, there isn’t enough serotonin hanging around to keep you feeling balanced. This is where SSRIs come in.

SSRIs block the reuptake process, meaning they prevent serotonin from being reabsorbed too quickly. Instead, they allow more serotonin to remain in the space between nerve cells (called the synapse), where it can continue to work its magic. This increase in serotonin levels is thought to improve mood, reduce anxiety, and help regulate emotions, which can be especially beneficial for people experiencing conditions like depression or anxiety.

Imagine This:

Your Brain’s Traffic Jam

Think of serotonin as a bunch of cars

on a highway. Normally, after each car (serotonin molecule) makes its trip, it returns to the starting point, only to be sent back out again. But sometimes, the cars are coming back too quickly, leading to congestion and not enough serotonin to go around. SSRIs step in like traffic cops, making sure there’s enough space for the cars to move freely, helping to reduce the backlog and allowing serotonin to keep flowing, helping your brain stay on track.

What Conditions

Do SSRIs

Treat?

SSRIs are most commonly used to treat mood disorders, including:

• Depression: When serotonin levels drop, depression can take hold. SSRIs help restore balance to serotonin levels, improving mood and outlook on life.

• Anxiety Disorders: Anxiety is often linked to low serotonin activity in the brain. SSRIs help reduce the frequency and intensity of anxious feelings by ensuring serotonin stays active.

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): People with OCD may have issues with serotonin regulation. SSRIs can help reduce the obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors that often characterize this disorder.

• Panic Disorder : Panic attacks are often associated with imbalances in serotonin. By regulating serotonin levels, SSRIs help reduce the frequency of these debilitating attacks.

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): SSRIs are sometimes used to treat PTSD by improving mood regulation and decreasing intrusive thoughts or flashbacks.

Are SSRIs the Magic Pill?

While SSRIs are often described as a game-changer for those with mental health disorders, they’re not exactly a “magic pill.” The truth is, they can work wonders, but they’re not always the sole solution.

SSRIs usually take some time to kick in – typically around 2 to 4 weeks for noticeable effects – and they can’t cure mental health conditions on their own. They’re usually most effective when combined with other forms of treatment, like therapy, exercise, and lifestyle changes. Therapy helps individuals address the root causes of their mental health issues, while SSRIs help manage the neurochemical imbalance that may be contributing to their symptoms.

Think of SSRIs as your brain’s team of helpers, but therapy is the coach that helps you understand your emotions and build coping skills. Together, they form a winning combination.

The Side Effects: Not All Smooth Sailing

While SSRIs are generally well-tolerated, they’re not without their potential side

effects. Fortunately, most side effects are temporary and fade after the body adjusts to the medication. Some common side effects include:

• Nausea: This can happen when you first start taking an SSRI, but it usually goes away after a few days.

• Fatigue: Some people report feeling a little more tired or sluggish when starting SSRIs.

• Sleep Changes: SSRIs can affect sleep patterns, either causing insomnia or making people feel more sleepy.

• Weight Gain: Although less common, some individuals report gaining weight while on SSRIs.

These side effects can be annoying, but they tend to lessen as the body becomes accustomed to the medication. If the side effects are too bothersome or if they persist, a doctor may adjust the dosage or switch to a different SSRI or medication altogether.

The

“SSRI

Revolution” in Mental Health

SSRIs are often credited with revolutionizing the treatment of mental health disorders, particularly depression and anxiety. Before the advent of SSRIs in

the late 1980s, antidepressants like tricyclics and MAOIs (Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors) were commonly prescribed, but they came with a whole host of side effects that made them harder to tolerate. SSRIs, on the other hand, are generally better tolerated, which has made them a go-to choice for mental health professionals around the world.

However, despite their popularity and success, SSRIs aren’t perfect. Some individuals don’t respond well to SSRIs or experience only minimal improvement. That’s why it’s essential to remember that mental health treatment is highly individualized. What works for one person might not work for another, and finding the right treatment often requires trial and error.

Myths and Misconceptions

About SSRIs

While SSRIs have helped millions of people improve their mental health, they’re also surrounded by myths and misconceptions. Here are a few common ones:

1. “SSRIs are just for ‘weak’ people.” Mental health conditions aren’t a sign of weakness – they’re medical conditions that affect the brain’s functioning.

SSRIs help rebalance neurochemicals to make sure the brain functions properly, much like how insulin helps regulate blood sugar in people with diabetes.

2. “SSRIs will change who I am.” SSRIs don’t change your personality. Instead, they help restore balance to your mood and emotions, so you can function better. You’ll still be you – just a healthier, more stable version of you.

3. “SSRIs are addictive.” SSRIs are not addictive in the way substances like alcohol or nicotine are. However, stopping them abruptly can lead to withdrawal symptoms, which is why doctors usually recommend tapering off them gradually under supervision.

4. “SSRIs work instantly.” SSRIs take time to work. They don’t produce immediate results; it can take several weeks to notice improvements. Patience is key when starting SSRIs, and regular checkins with a doctor help ensure that the medication is working as expected.

The Unsung Heroes of Mental Health

SSRIs might not get the credit they deserve, but they’re the unsung heroes of mental health treatment, helping millions

of people manage their mental health disorders and regain control of their lives. While they’re not a one-size-fits-all solution, their ability to regulate serotonin levels has revolutionized the way we approach mental health, offering hope and healing to those who need it most.

If you’re considering SSRIs or are currently using them, remember that they’re just one piece of the puzzle. The combination of medication, therapy, self-care, and lifestyle changes creates a roadmap to mental wellness that can help you live your life to the fullest. So, the next time you think about SSRIs, remember they’re working behind the scenes, supporting your brain and emotions in ways you might not even realize. Your brain’s cheerleaders, always there to help you take on the world with a little more balance and a lot more hope.

Rivka Kramer is a Board Certified Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. She has a psychiatric private practice based in Cedarhurst, NY. She serves as a member of the board of JANPPA, the Jewish American Nurse Practitioner Psychiatric Association. She can be reached at 516-945-9443.

Parenting Pearls Modim Anachnu Lach

By Sara Rayvych, MSEd

Aperson can have everything in the world yet never be happy if they don’t appreciate and feel gratitude for those gifts. Each day, countless individuals will help us in different ways –most never expecting anything in return. Chessed is one of the pillars that support the world, and it’s truly the only way to survive as a kehilla.

Hashem gives us gifts on a daily basis – including life itself – yet we take these for granted. The truth is that it’s impossible to fully appreciate every big and small thing Hashem does for us. The greater we can appreciate these divine presents, the better our lives will be.

While we would like to think gratitude is something we should naturally feel, the opposite is often the case. We come into this world as complete takers, totally dependent on the care of others. This is ultimately a strength because it’s this continuous care that builds feelings of security and love in the newest family member. As crucial as these early moments are, it’s important to transition out of expecting the world to be handed to us.

We are surrounded by a society that is becoming ever more entitled. One small example is “thank you” cards. These once mandatory ways of showing gratitude have nearly become extinct. Within a few years, the gold standard will soon be a flippantly tossed, “Yo, thanks.” For many, the feeling is everyone owes them, while they themselves have no personal responsibilities. As these poor middos filter into our communities, parents need to be ever vigilant to be mechanech their children in proper behavior.

An Attitude

Gratitude isn’t as much a set of specific actions as it’s an attitude that pervades the household. As with all areas, parents set the tone. We can either assume we’re owed everything or appreciate what we receive. When we build an environment

of gratitude, we are encouraging the same in our children.

While I assume it’s a given, it’s worth mentioning a few of the many people we should appreciate in our daily lives. This includes school staff, healthcare providers and carpool buddies. We can thank these individuals directly but also speak about our appreciation for them within our children’s presence. “Wow, that nurse really went above and beyond in my care.”

We often pass people and never think to show appreciation for what they do. The overworked package delivery guy, cashiers, security staff and secretaries all assist us yet seemingly fade into the background. Our children will notice when we take the moment to thank them. It’s often these individuals that get disregarded because they seem to “just be there.”

Many individuals have a beautiful custom of writing, saying, or mentally listing what they are grateful for each day. It’s surprising what comes up when this is done routinely, and it’s something that can be easily instituted with children, such as during the dinner or bedtime routine. Children should not be forced if they are uncomfortable, and we can simply tell them some of our “daily gratitudes” if that is easier for them. In general, expressing gratitude should be encouraged but not forced.

Kibbud Horim

Children do have a mitzvah of kibbud av v’aim, but that doesn’t detract from our need to thank them for their help. While we certainly need to appreciate their unsolicited assistance, we also need to acknowledge when they respond positively to our request.

I humbly suggest we should even say “thank you” when children don’t respond appropriately right away but eventually follow through. We are recognizing what they have done, not harping on what they should have done initially. The chinuch to

listen when first asked is a different issue and should be addressed separately.

Beyond teaching gratitude, we may be further encouraging them in their mitzvah of kibbud horim. We would like to think they will want to honor us just because of the mitzvah (or gratitude for all we’ve done for them), but kids are not yet so altruistic. They are unlikely to help if we’re condescending or ignoring their contribution. Alternatively, they will be eager to help when they feel the love and gratitude we express for their assistance.

Demonstrating gratitude is one step towards educating a child in hakaras hatov. The next step is to be someone our child wants to emulate. It’s only by having a close bond with our child that will make them want to follow in our derech.

Ultimate Gratitude

Parents can easily become frustrated when children show a lack of gratitude for their adults’ efforts. The list becomes endless when we begin to describe all we do for them. The top of the list begins with giving them life. Let’s see them birth themselves! We met their every need from their earliest moments. We can’t even begin to count the number of sleepless nights and times we comforted a sick child. We provide food, shelter, healthcare, clothing, shoes and even toys. It’s not only foolish when they fail to recognize our contributions – it’s painful!

The previous paragraph could easily be used to describe how many behave towards Hashem. We don’t want this to de -

scribe ourselves, and we all need to show gratitude to the ultimate Source. Everything only exists by the will of Hashem and is designed to be for our benefit. Our acknowledgement of Hashem’s beneficence not only prevents us from being personally ungrateful, it also provides a blueprint for our children. Our children will be infinitely happier when they can appreciate all the small gifts that others ignore. The ability to walk and breathe, food in the fridge and heat in the winter are all necessary for our survival yet are mentally disregarded and rarely thought of further.

Many of our tefillos are dedicated to expressing this very sentiment. An entire section of the Amidah is dedicated to thanksgiving, and Modim is the one area of Shemoneh Esrei that everyone says personally during chazaras hashatz.

Appreciating Hashem’s gifts will give another benefit. They will be able to feel Hashem’s continuous love for them, as well as a recognition of their self-worth. When someone realizes just how much they receive on a daily basis, they can’t help but be overwhelmed with feelings of being loved from Above. Similarly, we must each be someone very special if Hashem feels we are worthy of all these gifts.

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.

School of Thought

By Etti Siegel

A:Q:Dear Etti, My child doesn’t get phone calls or play dates. What should I do?

- Worried

Dear Worried, I completely understand your concern about your child’s social life.

Friendships are a crucial part of childhood not just for fun but for building essential life skills like listening, problem-solving, and self-expression. They also provide confidence and emotional support, which become even more important as children grow older.

When kids struggle to make friends, it can impact their mood, self-esteem, and daily experiences, making school and social interactions feel overwhelming. Many children who feel lonely describe a sense of rejection or invisibility, and as a parent, it’s painful to watch without knowing how to help.

You did not share how old your child is, or if your child is male or female. My response, therefore, will be for all children of all ages.

There are many possible reasons why a child may have difficulty forming friendships.

Some children struggle to pick up on social cues and need more guidance in understanding how to interact with peers. This is particularly common for kids with ADHD, autism, or non-verbal learning disorders.

Others experience social anxiety, which can make new situations feel intimidating and even paralyzing, leading them to withdraw rather than risk embarrassment.

Depression can also play a role, as children who are feeling low may lack the motivation to engage, even if they would enjoy the company of friends once they’re there.

Some kids simply feel out of place, like a “rose in a tulip garden,” as psychologist Lauren Allerhand from the Child Mind Institute describes it, meaning they may need to find a group with similar interests rather than change who they are.

In some cases, immaturity is a factor – children who are younger than their classmates or develop social skills at a slower pace may need time to catch up.

If you suspect your child is lonely, it can be hard to know for sure unless they tell you directly. Many children, especially teenagers, may not readily admit their struggles.

Dr. Allerhand suggests that parents start the conversation by sharing their own experiences with loneliness, which can make kids feel more comfortable opening up.

For younger children or those on the autism spectrum, who might have difficulty identifying or expressing their emotions, it may help to first teach them what loneliness is by describing it in simple, relatable terms.

When talking to your child about friendships, it’s important to focus on listening rather than jumping straight to problem-solving.

Asking open-ended questions about past friendships can help them express what they miss and what they value in a friend. Making observations about changes in their social behavior, rather than interrogating them, can also encourage them to talk.

Asking open-ended questions about past friendships can help them express what they miss and what they value in a friend.

Psychologist Bethany Vibert from the Child Mind Institute recommends validating their experiences without overreacting, since too much visible concern may make them feel worse. Letting them know you’re there to listen without judgment can be incredibly reassuring.

As a teacher who is a parent and now a grandparent, I often advise parents to read to their children, choosing stories that expose children to the concepts you want to highlight, as that works so much better than lecturing. Books with short stories by Libby Lazewnik or a diary-type fun novel like Only Mimi by G. Schiff offer so much insight to children. Teens Talk by Sarah Masrey is another great example. There are so many choices nowadays of authors who write with social skills in mind that are great for older children (grades 3+ or 5+), while there are a number of picture books that help teach proper socialization for younger children, although older children may enjoy the stories and find them a great springboard for discussions.

I have found that children who read a lot often have

more skills, as they pick up on right and wrong vicariously through the characters, especially when some of that reading is done family style (parents reading to children before bed or on Shabbos afternoon).

If your child is struggling socially, you can support them by helping them make a plan. If they are nervous about reaching out to a friend, walking through the steps with them and coming up with a backup plan can make the situation feel less daunting.

Practicing social skills, whether through role-playing or encouraging interactions with family members, can also be helpful. Michelle Kaplan, LCSW, emphasizes that encouragement is key, especially for kids who feel anxious or depressed. Even if they resist social activities at first, they often realize afterward that they had a better time than they expected. Sometimes, children have difficulty making friends simply because they haven’t found the right environment. If they’ve tried sports teams but don’t enjoy them, they may have more success in an art class, swimming, or another activity that aligns with their interests.

If your child struggles with face-to-face socializing, consulting a mental health professional who specializes in children’s development may provide additional strategies to help them gain confidence and build relationships.

Your concern as a parent is already a crucial step in supporting your child through these challenges. While it may take time, helping them find their social footing is possible with patience, understanding, and the right guidance.

Hatzlacha!

- Etti

Mrs. Etti Siegel holds an MS in Teaching

Fd for Thought

Otoro

IBy Nati Burnside

f you’re a follower of the kosher food scene in the tristate area, you know that there are quite a few places to get omakase experiences these days. But for me, almost all of the restaurants that provide omakase also have a clear answer one way or the other on whether you should go that direction.

In other words, either you’re in an omakase place and that’s the reason you’re there, or you’re in a restaurant where omakase is an option and you’re probably better off selecting the interesting items from the menu instead.

Otoro is the exception. The new addition to the Queens restaurant scene has a menu of really interesting cold and hot bites to go along with a full sushi menu and omakase. If somebody asked me which route down the menu was a better one, I’m not sure what I would say.

Usually, I lean on what is the most unique, which means that I’d likely take the interesting menu options over the omakase. But in Otoro’s case, the omakase is actually different from others because of the presence of dry-aged fish.

My only choice is to lay both paths in front of you and let you make the choice.

When I was invited to Otoro, I went down the hard road first. That is, I looked at the menu and made my own decisions. As I noted earlier, Otoro seems to do things a little differently. The first example of that is the Crispy Potato. Basically, they make mini crispy latkes and top them with fish (spicy salmon with scallions or spicy tuna with jalapeño). I chose to get two pieces of each, and both were great, so choose based on whether you like tuna or salmon more. The crunch of the latke was similar to the usual bar of sushi rice this is often served on, but the change was welcome, especially given that potatoes taste better than rice.

Next up was the Lobster Roll. While plenty of places have imitation crab, Otoro goes for imitation lobster. Using a blend of curry spices on some branzino

confit, the chefs at Otoro mimic the filling and serve the “lobster” blend inside a toasted milk bun. I can’t say that it tastes like lobster (not because it doesn’t, but because I’ve never tasted lobster), but I can say that it tastes great. I can certainly recognize the textures that a lobster roll is supposed to accomplish, and this hits that note.

The Tuna Menrui is also something you probably aren’t finding elsewhere. “Menrui” is Japanese for pasta, but there’s no pasta in this dish. The name is in reference to the tuna being cut to resemble a bowl of pasta. Long thin pieces are twisted together, the sauce is a blood orange ponzu with great acidity, grapes are present for a sweetness, and a furikake seasoning blend gives some crunch and saltiness.

If you’re looking for a menu item where the fish is hot, try the Crispy Cod. It’s not a very complicated dish, but the strips of cod are battered, fried, and served with both a dill tartar sauce and fermented hot sauce. The dill really comes through as part of the tartar sauce, and the fermented hot sauce is a nice change of pace as it’s spicy but with a funky taste that some might appreciate a little more than others. The fish itself is delicious, and the breading is just the right thickness so as to not be too heavy or, worse, missing in action.

What if you’re just looking for a great roll of sushi and don’t want to deal with all the intricate dishes or commit to an omakase experience? In that case, let’s stay with cod and talk about the Black Cod Sear Roll. With cucumber and avocado on the inside, black cod is laid across the top. It is then brushed with a miso yuzu sauce, torched, and topped with scallions. Cod might not be the most common fish for sushi eaters, but it shines here. The taste is enhanced by torching the sauce to it and adding the slight bite of the scallion, while the rice and veggies provide a great base to deliver the goods.

Obviously, going down that road sounds incredible. And you could order all of those things for the same price as the 12-course omakase. But if you decide to order the 15-course omakase, that’s when you get exposed to more of the dryaged fish that Otoro specializes in.

The 15-course comes with soup, an appetizer, 11 pieces of nigiri, a hand roll, and dessert. The Sumac Miso soup was so powerful that it will warm you up and wake you up simultaneously. My favorite bite of the night may have been the appetizer of aged (14 days) kampachi with yuzu soy and fried garlic crumbles. It was heavenly. The fish was so delicate and tasty, while the garlic added just enough earthiness to remind me what planet I was on.

Using raw dry-aged fish for sushi is a trend that has been creeping into the non-kosher restaurant world (specifically in Los Angeles) in the last few years.

“Dry-aged fish was non-negotiable for me,” owner Isaac Babaev said about incorporating the trend into Otoro. “I knew it would bring kosher sushi to a whole new level.”

Well, he’s right. Three of the nigiri pieces I had were unbelievable. The seven-day-aged sea bream (with shaved egg

yolk) and striped jack (with pico di gallo) were both good enough to take the top spot on most nights. But most nights you don’t have 24-day-aged otoro tuna with ground truffles, chives, and gold flake. The fish melted in my mouth in an explosion of flavor that is hard to describe. The fattiness of the fish absorbed the flavors and carried them home in unbelievable fashion.

By the time the omakase ended with a toro scallion hand roll and chocolate olive oil ice cream for dessert, I was beginning to understand why the restaurant was packed to the gills (pun intended) on a random weeknight.

Make sure you find your way to Otoro in Queens if you are the kind of person who loves to try new things.

You might just get hooked.

Dairy - Sushi - Waiter Service

179-24 Union Turnpike, Flushing, NY (917)-683-7713

OtoroNYC.com

Vaad Harabonim of Queens (VHQ)

Simply peSach with Rivky kleiman

Simple Savory Strip Steaks

meat | yields 4-6 servings

New York strip steaks are precut slices of French roast. Savor the rich flavors of this meat, cooked to perfection. This show-stopping dish is sure to impress. Marinate, grill, and voilà!

IngredIents

• 4 New York strip steaks

Savory Marinade

• 4 cloves garlic, crushed

• ½ cup oil

• ½ cup lemon juice

• ¼ cup honey

• ¼ cup parsley flakes

• 1 tsp sea salt

• ½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper

PreParat Ion

Prepare the savory marinade: Combine marinade ingredients in a large resealable bag. Seal; shake well.

With paper towels, pat meat dry; add to bag. Seal; marinate for 30 minutes (see note).

Preheat a grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Coat with cooking spray. Remove meat from marinade; discard remaining marinade. Sear steaks for 2 minutes per side (or longer, depending on thickness of meat) until internal temperature reaches 125-130°F for medium rare.

Allow meat to rest for 10 minutes before slicing against the grain.

Note: Lemon juice is a great meat tenderizer; however, if meat sits in lemon juice for too long, the fibers will begin to break down, so do not marinate longer than 30 minutes before cooking.

Sweet and Tangy Potato Balls

pareve | yields 8 servings

I’m always looking for new ways to prepare potatoes. In this dish, the fabulous sauce is so fantastic I decided to double it! It gives the pillowy balls a coating that elevates the humble potato.

IngredIents

• 6 medium Idaho or russet potatoes, peeled and diced

• 1½ tsp sea salt, divided

• 3 Tbsp oil

• ¾ cup potato starch

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• ¼ tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Sweet and Tangy Sauce

• 3 Tbsp olive oil

• 2 large onions, diced

• 6 cloves garlic, crushed

• 2/3 cup ketchup

• ¼ cup brown sugar

• ¼ cup pure maple syrup

• ¼ cup Passover white vinegar

PreParat Ion

Place potatoes into a large pot; add water to cover. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Bring water to a boil; cook until potatoes are fork-tender, about 20 minutes.

Drain potatoes; return to pot over low heat until any excess moisture has evaporated.

Mash potatoes while hot. Add potato starch, egg, remaining

½ teaspoon salt, and pepper. Mix until combined.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil; reduce to medium-low heat. It is very important that heat is lowered; potato balls will fall apart and disintegrate over high heat. Wet hands or dust them with potato starch; form balls with 2 tablespoons of mashed potatoes or use a medium scoop to form balls.

Working in batches and taking care not to crowd the pot, add potato balls to the pot. The balls will sink to the bottom. As the potato balls begin to cook, they will slowly rise to the top. Cook for 10-13 minutes.

When all the balls have risen to the top, remove them with a slotted spoon; set aside.

Prepare the sweet and tangy sauce: Heat a 3-quart pot over medium heat. Add olive oil; heat through. Add onions and garlic; sauté, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 10 minutes.

Add ketchup, brown sugar, maple syrup, and vinegar. Bring mixture to a boil. Stir well; remove from heat.

To serve, pour sweet and tangy sauce over potato balls. These reheat beautifully.

Vanilla and Cinnamon Marbled Biscotti

pareve yields 20-24 biscotti

Freezer Friendly

Perfecting these biscotti was truly a feat. Now that my work is done, it’s your turn. Dunk, indulge, and repeat for the total biscotti experience.

IngredIents

• 3 eggs

• 1¼ cups sugar, divided

• ½ cup oil

• 1 Tbsp vanilla sugar

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 3¼ cups almond flour

• 1¼ cups potato starch

• ½ tsp sea salt

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp cocoa powder

Cinnamon Topping

• 2 Tbsp sugar

• ½ tsp cinnamon

PreParat Ion

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat eggs and 1 cup sugar until combined. With mixer on low speed, add oil; beat until combined. Add vanilla, baking powder, almond flour, potato starch, and salt. Beat until combined.

Remove half the dough; set aside.

Add remaining ¼ cup sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder to the dough remaining in the mixing bowl. Beat, scraping the sides, until just incorporated and dough becomes light brown; be careful not to overbeat. Return reserved dough to the mixing bowl. Pulse to marbleize, but do not blend doughs completely.

Divide dough in half; place side by side on prepared baking sheets. With moistened hands, shape each half into a (10-inch by 4-inch) rectangle.

Cover; refrigerate prepared dough for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Prepare the cinnamon topping: In a small cup, combine sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over biscotti loaves.

Bake on center rack for 30 minutes. Cool slightly; cut into 1-inch slices.

Store in an airtight container or bag.

Note: I prefer softer biscotti; to yield crispy biscotti, after slicing, turn each cookie on its side and return to oven for 10 minutes, turning after 5 minutes.

Grape Sorbet

pareve | yields 6 servings

This simple 3-ingredient sorbet comes together in moments. The result will exceed your “grape expectations”! Huge flavor with so little effort.

IngredIents

• 2 lb. sweet red or purple seedless grapes or a combination

• ¼ cup honey

• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

PreParat Ion

In a food processor fitted with the S-blade, process grapes until almost smooth. Pour through a fine strainer into a large bowl, pressing on the solids to yield 2 cups juice. Discard the solids.

In a small bowl, whisk together honey and lemon juice; stir into grape juice. Transfer mixture to a 2-lb. container; freeze for 4 hours.

Remove from freezer; pulse with an immersion blender just until smooth, taking care not to break the container with the blade. Freeze until firm. Alternatively, transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer; beat just until smooth. Return to container; freeze until firm.

For a very smooth texture, repeat step 3.

Tip: After blending the sorbet, transfer into individual mini disposable containers for an easy grab-and-go treat for adults and kids.

In The K tchen

Pesach Brisket

By Naomi Nachman

I created this dish last year for Pesach for my show Sunny

Side Up on Kosher.com, and it was a huge hit amongst our viewership. Just some simple, fresh ingredients along with the zest really made this dish shine.

Ingredients

◦ 3-4 lb. second cut brisket

◦ Zest of 2 lemons

◦ Zest of 2 limes

◦ 2-3 TBS olive oil

◦ 1 TBS kosher salt

◦ Black pepper, to taste

◦ 6 cloves garlic

◦ 2 cups cherry tomatoes

◦ 2 red onions, sliced

Preparation

Place vegetables in the bottom of a large baking dish and set aside. In a small bowl, add zest, oil, salt and pepper and mix together. Rub mixture all over the meat.

On a medium-high heat, sear the brisket on both sides till a nice crust forms.

Place meat on top of garlic, tomatoes, and onions, and cook covered for 3 hours at 325°F.

Remove from oven and cool slightly. Slice when cool.

Take most of the vegetables (leaving some for garnish) and the liquid and blend with an immersion blender to make a sauce.

To plate, take a large platter and add the sauce and place the sliced meat on top. Garnish with remaining vegetables.

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.

Notable Quotes

“Say What?!”

I was left with the strong sense that I could have gone much further. - Israeli theoretical physicist Yehuda Ashkelon, who recently set a new record in memorizing the mathematical constant Pi by recalling and reciting 25,333 decimal places, on whether or not he should memorize more digits of the infinite number

The other day, you were asked a question by another outlet: Can you guarantee that we’re not going to have a recession?

-Maria Bartiromo to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

Yeah. Well, look, it was a silly question. Can you guarantee there is not going to be a recession? I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee that the journalist who asked me the question that her news program is going to be on in a year. But, what I can guarantee you is that there is no reason we need to have a recession.

-Bessent, in response

“I’m from Brooklyn. Sometimes it helps me, sometimes it hurts me. But I know one thing: If I tried not to be from Brooklyn, I’d be worse than whatever I am.” Well, that’s a synonym for Jewish. So I was always Jewish. But it was never that vital to my career.

-Senator Chuck Schumer in an interview with The New York Times this week

We [Democrats] just assumed we were on the side of working people, so they would naturally assume it, and it didn’t happen. We lost them because they didn’t think we cared about them enough. We always did care about them, but we didn’t convey it. So now, as you said, we’re learning to convey in different ways.

- ibid, when asked how Democrats lost this year’s elections

Give us back the Statue of Liberty. It was our gift to you. But apparently you despise her. So she will be happy here with us.

-Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament and co-president of a small left-wing party in France, demanding that the U.S. gives back the Statue of Liberty to France

My advice to that unnamed low-level French politician would be to remind them that it’s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now. They should be very grateful.

- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt when asked to comment about Glucksmann’s demands

The astronauts were only supposed to be there for eight days, and they’ve been there for almost ten months. So, obviously, that doesn’t make any sense. SpaceX could have brought the astronauts back after a few months at most, and we made that offer to the Biden administration. It was rejected for political reasons, and that’s just a fact.

- Elon Musk, SpaceX founder, after his company brought back astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams this week after they had been left in space for 286 days

I have to just, speak of inflation – I love these socks. What’s with these socks? I’m trying to stay focused, but I’m very impressed with the VP’s socks.

- President Donald Trump during an Oval Office meeting with the prime minister of Ireland, ribbing Vice President JD Vance’s cream-colored socks adorned with green shamrocks

Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I’m concerned. He’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian.

- President Trump during an Oval Office meeting

It really comes as quite a shock to me that there was this level of, really, hatred and violence from the left. I always thought the left, the Democrats, were supposed to be the party of empathy, the party of caring and yet they’re burning down cars, they’re firebombing dealerships, they’re firing bullets into dealerships, they’re just, you know, smashing up Teslas.

- Elon Musk to Sean Hannity

I’ve only done productive things. So, I think we just have a deranged – there’s some kind of mental illness thing going on here because this doesn’t make any sense. -ibid.

Your governor who stands on national TV after the NYPD were assaulted by illegal alien gang members, we had a woman burned alive by an illegal alien on the subway…What’s one of the first things she does? She goes down to NYC and tries to fire the mayor who wants to help me find public safety threats.

- Border Czar Tom Homan talking about NY Governor Kathy Hochul

My philosophy is not to overdo it. -95-year-old Japanese speedskater Iichi Marumo

I’m thankful to G-d for giving me a second chance.

- Maximo Napa Castro, 61, a Peruvian fisherman who was lost at sea for 95 days and was finally rescued this week

What do you say to those who claim you’re using a 200-year-old law to circumvent due process?

- A reporter to Border Czar Tom Homan, referring to the Alien Enemies Act used by the Trump administration to deport criminals

An old law? Not as old as the Constitution. We still pay attention to that, don’t we?

- Homan, in response

I am outraged by the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. I strongly appeal for the ceasefire to be respected, for unimpeded humanitarian assistance to be reestablished and for the remaining hostages to be released unconditionally.

- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on X, after Israel continued with strikes in the Gaza Strip this week

We are outraged that you, Antonio Guterres, are the Secretary-General of the UN. Not a word about the fact that Hamas rejected two American proposals to extend the ceasefire and release more hostages—two proposals that Israel accepted. Not a word about the fact that Hamas exploits the transfer of goods to Gaza to rebuild its war machine in order to further attack Israel.

Not a word about UNRWA, which, under your leadership, employs Hamas terrorists, and whose facilities were used by Hamas to hold hostages. Indeed, we are outraged by your moral bankruptcy.

- Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein, in response

It’s definitely a surprise.

- Matt Richtman, on

Israel Today Chuck Schumer’s Moral Cowardice Has Enabled Antisemitism

Alan Dershowitz may have written a book titled Chutzpah, but if anyone’s picture deserves to be in the dictionary alongside that idiomatic Yiddish word, it’s that of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). There is fierce competition for such a dubious honor among politicians. But when it comes to the most shameless opportunist, most disingenuous, and most willing to betray the principles he never stops telling us he is dedicated to defending, the Senate Minority Leader wins the argument hands down.

Any doubt about that was erased when it was announced that he was writing a book about antisemitism, due to be released this week. But his office just canceled the senator’s book tour, which would have taken him to stops at prestigious Jewish venues in Atlanta, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, as well as a few scheduled appearances in California. The reason cited was “security concerns.”

That really seals the deal. At a time when Jews are facing an unprecedented surge in hate directed against them, that a Jewish leader who is protected around the clock by Capitol Police—and who claims to be a leader of his community, as well as the self-styled shomer or “guardian” of Israel—would choose to hide rather than face his critics says all there is to know about him, his book, and exactly why we don’t need to hear a word from him on the subject.

The shomer title is a piece of dishonest shtick that Schumer has been using his entire adult life, all spent in political office. It’s an attempt to cash in on the fact that his name sounds like the Hebrew word for “guardian” or “watchman.” In truth, its meaning derives from a German word that meant “shoemaker” or a good-for-nothing vagabond. That wouldn’t matter if the -74year-old had acted as the shomer of the Jewish community or a valiant supporter

By Jonathan S. Tobin

of Israel during his 44 years serving in Washington, the last 26 in the Senate. When running for re-election or speaking to Jewish groups, he puts on a show whose purpose is to portray himself as an ordinary guy from Brooklyn determined to look out for other Jews and the most devoted friend of Israel in Congress.

The truth has always been different. Schumer is—like many in his profession and much of humanity—solely interested in his own interests and professional advancement. But it has become hard to miss in recent years as his quest to be the leader of the Democratic caucus in the Senate came into conflict with a sea change within his own party when it comes to Israel and the Jews.

That produced episodes like the debate about the dangerous 2015 Iran nuclear deal promoted by former President Barack Obama.

Outside of the far left, the entire Jewish community and almost all Israelis were opposed to this act of appeasement to the world’s leading state sponsor of terror-

ism. Schumer didn’t feel he could get away with voting for it and also rightly feared that if he used his considerable influence to persuade fellow Democrats to join him in opposing it, it would alienate the president. More than that, it would doom his chances of becoming Democratic leader after Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) retired after the next election in 2016. So, he voted “no” but pledged not to advocate against Obama’s pet foreign-policy project.

He survived that slimy compromise in his usual manner in which he sought to assure both factions in his party—the remaining supporters of Israel, and the increasingly powerful and vocal intersectional left-wing hostile to the Jewish state—that they could rely on him.

An Attack on Israel’s Government

After the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, it became a lot more difficult for Schumer to keep talking out of both sides of his mouth.

In March of last year, just five months

after the slaughter of 1,200 men, women and children on Oct. 7, Schumer gave a speech on the floor of the Senate in which he demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resign and falsely accused the Israeli Defense Forces of targeting Arab civilians.

Why involve yourself in the domestic politics of a fellow democracy and seek to undermine its war of self-defense while it was fighting for its life against Palestinian terrorists?

The answer was that he did it to give cover to the Biden administration’s similar bashing of Netanyahu and the IDF. Schumer was in a position to rally support for the Jewish state during the war. He could have led the pushback against leftists within his own party, who were wrongly blaming Israel for genocide and pressuring President Joe Biden to slow-walk arms deliveries and engage in efforts that hampered Israel’s ability to eradicate Hamas. Instead, he used his unique position as Senate Majority Leader to legitimize critics.

That was a particularly loathsome but also predictably partisan performance for a man who had already shown a willingness to sink pretty low throughout his Senate career if by doing so he could gain favor from the Democratic base. He was, after all, the senator who in 2020 publicly threatened U.S. Supreme Court justices Neal Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh if they voted against his preferred position on abortion, saying, “You will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you.” But, as he always does, Schumer got away with it. Schumer has always been the sort of backer of Israel who couched his support in terms that regarded Jerusalem as only truly worthy if it did as its liberal American friends advised it to do. Like many other liberals, he still thinks of the conflict between the Jewish state and its foes as one that can be solved by a two-state

solution. The overwhelming majority of Israelis stopped believing that way after the 1993 Oslo Accords proved to be a disaster amid the carnage of the Second Intifada from 2000 to 2005. That the 2005 withdrawal of every Israeli soldier, settler and settlement from Gaza led to a Hamas terror state in the Strip solidified that consensus.

Like a great many American Jews, however, Schumer is still stuck in the past and feels that Israel ought to be saved from itself by forcing it to make suicidal concessions to the Palestinians. He continues to support a policy of imposing a Palestinian state on the region, even though Oct. 7 has demonstrated to Israelis from left to right what happens when the Palestinians get a safe haven from which they can plot attacks on them.

Advising Columbia University

Yet Schumer’s betrayal of the Jewish community would be more fully exposed later in 2024 , when a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives revealed that the senator was actually advising leaders of Columbia University in New York City not to worry too much about criticism of their failures to protect Jewish students in the weeks and months after Oct. 7 as the campus was turned upside down by antisemitic, pro-Hamas mobs. Schumer told them only Republicans cared about the issue.

The House subpoenaed the text messages from former Columbia University president Minouche Shafik to her board members about the advice given to her by the senator. While he talks a lot about how awful Jew-hatred is—mostly focusing on examples from the far right—he conveniently downplays or ignores what’s been going on inside the mainstream of his own party.

By telling Shafik that Columbia’s leaders should merely “keep [their] heads down,” Schumer showed his true colors. No one who gives a [darn] about antisemitism or the welfare of Jewish students would have said such a thing. It comes naturally, though, to someone who understands that the primary threat to his status as Senate Democratic leader and potentially to his heretofore safe seat comes from the antisemitic political left that is particularly strong in New York. Indeed, the alleged worries about Schumer’s “security” this week don’t come from supporters of Israel. Instead, they come from the base of the Democratic Party which is upset that he didn’t use a filibuster to prevent the nation’s

budget from being passed last Friday, thereby shutting down the government to spite President Donald Trump and the Republicans. In the past, left-wing Democrats excoriated the GOP for threatening shutdowns over budget votes and labeled the “filibuster” a vestige of “Jim Crow” racism. But the anti-Trump “resistance” is now warning Schumer that

be treated as an authority on the fight against antisemitism or the need to stand with Israel during its war against genocidal Islamist terrorists. Perhaps only a man whose only gainful employment during his life has been that of a politician and who has spent the last four and a half decades telling the world how much of a defender of the Jews he

Schumer has always been the sort of backer of Israel who couched his support in terms that regarded Jerusalem as only truly worthy if it did as its liberal American friends advised it to do.

he may face a primary challenge in 2028 from someone like “Squad” leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) for not doing their bidding and keeping the government funded.

This demonstrates just how little credit Schumer’s record of moral compromises and undermining Israel has earned him with his party’s base.

In the months after his comments to Columbia were revealed, Schumer twice frustrated friends of Israel. In the last weeks of the lame-duck Congress, he refused to allow a vote in the Senate on the Antisemitism Awareness Act that codified the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of the term into federal law. That measure overwhelmingly passed the House by a large margin and had majority support in the Senate. Still, Schumer was worried about alienating so-called “progressives” in his party who traffic in the hatred of Israel and Jews.

After the new Congress took office in January, he used a cloture vote and the threat of a filibuster to block the passage of a bill that would have imposed serious sanctions on the International Criminal Court and all who do business with it because of their antisemitic prosecution of the Jewish state on false charge of “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.

A Shameless Fraud

That’s an impressive list of actions that hurt Israel. And that brings us to his book launch.

After all that he’s done in recent years, he is the last person who should

is could believe what his press releases say. Only such a person so divorced from reality and the truth could have had the chutzpah to have a book published under his name (regardless of which staffers or ghosts actually wrote it) in which he proffers advice about how to fight a surge of

Jew-hatred he has done so much to aid. This is the context in which his Antisemitism in America: A Warning should be viewed. Its content is irrelevant to the discussion. Any book on the subject from a man, let alone a Jew, who was advising those who enabled and tolerated antisemitism at Columbia to continue to do nothing about the targeting of Jewish students has no standing to speak or write about the subject. Self-respecting Jews and decent people of all faiths and backgrounds should simply ignore the book as the work of a shameless fraud. His refusal to face his critics—be they in the Jewish community or from his party’s base that thinks he isn’t radical enough to suit them—is just one more indication of the same moral cowardice that he has exhibited time and again. A fair-minded history of his sorry career will label him as not merely a typical political opportunist. He’s also a disgrace to his people and a crucial ally, whether they appreciate him or not, of those who have fomented an unprecedented surge of hatred against Jews.

Jonathan

S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate).

Forgotten Her es Unlikely War Heroes

By Avi Heiligman

History books are filled with heroes from the battlefield. From army commanders to regular soldiers or even rear echelon troops, their stories are fascinating to learn about and study. Then there are those heroes who no one expected to ever be remembered for heroics while serving their country. From a 35-year-old immigrant earning the Medal of Honor to a young sailor being captured after falling overboard and fooling the enemy, here are some unusual tales of military bravery.

Thomas Cosgrove was born in 1829 in Ireland and came to America when he was 26 years old. No one would have imagined that the 5-foot-3-inch Irish immigrant farmer of slight build would become a Medal of Honor recipient. He joined the 40th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in 1862 and became a scout in Company F. On May 15, 1864, Cosgrove’s company was at Drewry’s Bluff, Virginia, when he was sent to scout out a location. Carrying an early repeating rifle, he entered a cellar and came across seven Confederate soldiers. Ordering them to come out one at a time, Cosgrove aimed his rifle in case any of them tried to escape. The Confederate soldiers tossed their weapons aside and did not attempt to run away.

Remaining with the 40th Massachusetts until the end of the war, Cosgrove became the first Union soldier to enter Richmond on April 3, 1865. As the lead scout for his regiment, he watched as the city residents left. Additionally, he was able to retrieve the banner taken from another Union regiment. For his actions at Drewry’s Bluff, Cosgrove was awarded the Medal of Honor.

One name keeps on coming up when researching unlikely war heroes, and that is Private First Class Desmond Doss. He became one of three conscientious objectors to have been awarded the Medal of Honor.

A conscientious objector is someone who refuses to be an active participant in the military or bear arms due to religious or moral beliefs. Even though they objected to killing or holding a weapon, many still

wanted to join the military in non-combatant roles. About 70,000 conscientious objectors served during World War II, with many of them trained as medics.

Doss was born in Virginia and chose military service over staying in the shipbuilding field. Doss trained to become a medic and was attached to Company B, 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. Training was particularly rough for Doss, as he was the subject of taunts, physical harm, and even death threats for his stance on not carrying a weapon. However, he didn’t let that bother him, and he soon became a hero on the battlefield. He earned two Bronze Stars for saving men under fire while in combat on Guam and in the Philippines. During the Battle of Okinawa, Doss climbed a 400-foot-high escarpment called Hacksaw Ridge using cargo nets. The fighting was brutal, and over the next few days he treated wounded in the toughest conditions.

Removing any indication that he was a medic so that the Japanese wouldn’t target him, Doss continuously put himself into dangerous situations to save lives. On May 5, he crawled to a soldier that had been wounded by fire coming from a cave and carried him 100 yards to safety. A week later, Doss was wounded by a grenade explosion while tending to wounded soldiers. Instead of calling other medics to treat him, Doss treated himself. Hours later, he crawled off the litter that was taking him to an aid station so that he could treat another critically wounded soldier. A bullet hit him, so with the help of a rifle stock, he crawled 300 yards to the aid station.

These are just a few of many similar stories of the men that Doss had saved in combat. For his actions for going beyond the call of duty, Doss was awarded the Medal of Honor.

The North Vietnamese dubbed Doug Hegdahl the “Incredibly Stupid One” as they got nowhere in trying to investigate the very young prisoner of war. Hegdahl was a seaman on the cruiser USS Canberra when he was blown overboard by a gun

blast in the Gulf of Tonkin. Local fishermen picked him up and gave him to the North Vietnamese. Soon he was moved to the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison where many of the American POWs were being held and tortured. The 20-year-old South Dakota native was the youngest POW at the prison. At first, they thought the tall and hefty sailor was working for the CIA. The Vietnamese didn’t believe his story that he fell off a ship, but the more they tried to get any useful information from him, the more they became convinced he wasn’t bright at all.

The opposite was true. Hegdahl was very smart and had a great memory. When told to write letters home, he pretended that he was illiterate. Since they thought he was so uneducated and wasn’t intelligent, he was allowed to roam around the prison. He managed to disable five North Vietnamese trucks by putting dirt and sand into the fuel tanks.

In 1969, twelve POWs were set free early, and the rest of the prisoners felt that it was disgraceful because they agreed that no one would accept an early release. The exception was Hegdahl, who provided valuable intelligence and information on the POWs and their conditions. He remembered the names of many of the American POWs and let the public know that they were being held in deplorable conditions. This exposed what the Vietnamese were doing, led to better conditions, and the North Vietnamese kept them alive until they were repatriated in 1973. Battlefield heroes come from all backgrounds. The difference between Cosgrove, Doss, and Hegdahl was that no one thought they were the type to step up and make a difference when put into the most difficult of situations. Ultimately, they proved them all wrong.

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.

Desmond Doss receiving the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman on October 12, 1945

Doug Hegdahl fooled the Vietnamese

Thomas Cosgrove

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The Blame Game

By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS

Blame it on something else! It’s never really us.

I’m running late. It’s the traffic! It’s hard to say we didn’t figure out the timing right.

I ate too much. The food was too good, not I’m weak on discipline.

The test was unfair, not I didn’t study enough.

The book was taken out already, not I should have reserved it.

That person took my dress, not she got there first.

Well, what I say is it’s all true. It is someone else’s fault.

If there was no traffic, we would be on time.

If there was no good food, we wouldn’t have eaten as much.

If no one else took out that book, it would still be there.

If the test was more about what I studied, I would’ve done well.

However, the bottom line is: this stuff happens, so the best we can do is either anticipate it or recognize its reality.

I guess, we do whatever works for us to live with it. If blaming it on something or someone else helps us accept it, then I guess that’s a benefit.

At the same time, since we can’t change the reality that other people exist , which certainly is a benefit in a million other ways, then figuring out how we can do better next time might be our best option.

Bottom line is, we’ve got to get through the daily challenges to figure out what works best for us and enjoy each day as best as we can.

There’s an old song, “Blame it on the Bossa Nova.” Do that if it helps. But if blame doesn’t move you forward and just gets you stuck in upset mode…

Then up your game, and it will up your gain!