Monsey Times - March 9, 2018

March 9, 2018 Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei Light Candles: 5:38 PM Issue #21

845-356-CARE 77 Route 59 Monsey, NY

How Do We Protect Our Schools?

Don’t Ignore the Most important Change Needed in Schools

by Rabbi YY Jacobson Minutes of carnage have led to a lifetime of grief in Parkland, Florida.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018, began as just another day in this idyllic, calm city, where everyone felt safe. It was just another warm Floridian day. It ended as a nightmare which stunned a nation and altered the lives of so many families forever.

A unique pocket in our deepest heart is pierced when we watch parents, grandparents and siblings forced to bid farewell to their chil-

dren, gunned down so brutally, as they innocently walked the hallways of their beloved school.

Just 24 hours after the massacre, Lori Alhadeff stood near 17 cream-colored angels with gold wings that lined the park stage where a vigil was held Thursday night. One of those angels represented her daughter, Alyssa, 14, who was killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland.

Trembling, she said she was there for her daughter, and she was there to talk to anyone who would listen. “My daughter is dead, but all these children out here have to go to school. A shooter should not be able to just walk in,” she said, tears stream CONTINUED ON P. 5

Israeli, U.S. Astronomers May Have Uncovered Proof Of Mysterious ‘Dark Matter’ “Dark matter is the key to unlocking the mystery of what the universe is made of,” said Professor Rennan Barkana, head of the department of astrophysics at Tel Aviv University’s School of Physics and Astronomy.

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est stars in the universe through radio wave signals.

The discovery by the team, led

by Professor Judd Bowman of Arizo CONTINUED ON P. 17

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Op-Ed Why Left-Wing Anti-Semitism Matters

The anti-Trump resistance is in bed with Jew-haters and anti-Zionists.

Why liberals need to draw a line in the sand.

By Jonathan Tobin Is there a difference between leftwing anti-Semites and right-wing Jew-haters?

In theory, the answer is no. Hate is hate, no matter what it’s source. Except for some, including many Jews, the source of the hate does seem to matter. If, for example, you think right-wing hate is inherently more dangerous, you might give a pass to haters on the left or at least pay a bit less attention to them. Just as important, if you’re inclined to think that the source of anti-Jewish prejudice matters more than anything else, you might also disregard the relative danger each threat poses to the Jewish community.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what some Jews are doing right now with respect to the partnerships they’ve struck in the course of supporting the anti-Trump “resistance.”

The latest proof of this problem comes from the reports about Tamika D. Mallory, the co-president of the Women’s March movement that coordinated the massive counter demonstration to the inauguration of President Donald Trump and the follow-up marches that took place nationwide in January. Mallory attended a recent “Savior’s Day” address in Chicago given by Louis Farrakhan, the head of the Nation of Islam. But she didn’t just show up at the event. She was among those applauding Farrakhan as he spouted his usual litany of anti-Semitic invective, in which he specifically blamed Jews—and their “grip on the media” and Hollywood—for harming women. Afterwards, Mallory happily posed for a picture with the hate-monger.

The response from the Jewish #21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

left and those involved in her group: crickets.

The Women’s March has gained even more support recently because for many, it embodies the activism and spirit of the #MeToo moment in which women resolved no longer to be silent about sexual assault and harassment. But as the distinctive pink hats worn by its supporters that are supposed to depict women’s genitals remind us, the movement is just as much a protest against the Trump presidency as it is about Harvey Weinstein or any of the many others whose crimes and indiscretions have recently been exposed.

to eliminate Israel. Yet that’s become part of the price of admission for the march and the “resistance” it embodies. If you want to be part of the movement, you have to agree to disagree about Farrakhan and anti-Semitism with Mallory, and do the same with a vicious Israel-hater like Linda Sarsour, another one of the top leaders of the Women’s March who has said Zionists shouldn’t be part of the protests.

Why aren’t more mainstream opponents of Trump up in arms about this? The reason is that they consider the extremist views of some of their allies to be not as important as

The Women’s March has come to embody the virus of intersectionality or belief that all causes involving allegations of discrimination are somehow related. The “resistance” to Trump has become linked to a hodgepodge of other issues that seemingly have nothing to do with #MeToo. In that way, protests against sexual harassment have become linked to those against racism, such as Black Lives Matter, and more international concerns such as the Palestinian war against the existence of Israel.

It ought to be possible to protest Trump without getting into bed with Farrakhan and those who wish

the threats of anti-Semitism coming from the right.

The racist march in Charlottesville, Va., last August that led to clashes between members of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and other extremists with counter protesters from the left was deeply traumatic for many Jews. The torchlight march in which anti-Semitic slogans were shouted seemed like a rerun of the 1930s. The fact that President Trump drew a false moral equivalency between the two sides made it even worse.

But despite the attempt by some Trump critics to confuse the

Charlottesville marchers with the people who edit Breitbart.com and other more mainstream political forces on the right, the truth is that the Klan, the Nazis and their friends are actually a miniscule group with no influence and no connection to anyone in power.

The comparison with Farrakhan is important. He has a mass following among adherents of the Nation of Islam. And many others in the African-American community that don’t claim to share his views treat him as a respected ally. That includes members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who hosted him back in 2005 when he took a picture smiling next to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (which was repressed by a sympathetic photographer who didn’t wish to endanger Obama’s hopes for a higher office). Rep. Keith Ellison, the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee was also a longtime supporter of Farrakhan.

The same is true of people like Sarsour. The BDS (boycott, divest and sanctions) movement hasn’t won any major battles in America. But it has a foothold on many major American college campuses and is backed by many on the left. It is also inextricably linked to incidents of anti-Semitism and attacks on Jewish students, which occur wherever the BDSers raise their banner.

Liberal critics of Trump were right to demand that he disassociate himself from haters, as he belatedly did after Charlottesville. But a Women’s March that is prepared to turn a blind eye to Mallory’s connections and those of Sarsour cannot claim any legitimacy.

That’s especially true when the reaction of many of its supporters to complaints about their ties is to attack those pointing out the problem rather than holding their leaders accountable.

That said, the obligation of liberal Jews is to ensure that the Women’s March is free of any taint of anti-Semitism and hatred for Israel.

Source: JNS

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Letters To The Editor

“I had an incident tonight about 6:30 pm that left me shaken. I was driving up Lime Kiln from 202 this evening.

Yes, I forgot it was Friday and people would be walking. So it came as a surprise to me when I almost hit someone on my passengers side. He was all in black and I didn’t see him until I was upon him. I quickly swerved to avoid hitting him. To my surprise there was someone walking on the opposite side of the street as well. Again all in black.

As I swerved, my light caught his eyes.

The look on his face as he tried to shelter his young daughter as I moved closer to them was horrifying. I wish to apologize to this man. Please understand, I too had a young child in my car and was just as scared for my family’s safe-

ty as I swerved trying to avoid everyone.

Please remind people to wear reflectors if they are going to be out walking after dark. It will help all of us get where we are going safely. Can you also remind people of Section 1156b of the NYS Vehicle & Traffic Laws.

“When sidewalks are not provided, a pedestrian is REQUIRED to walk on the LEFT side of the roadway facing traffic. Just like motorists, pedestrians are expected to follow certain rules of the road, including: Pedestrians are to use sidewalk whenever they are safely available.” If we all follow the laws it will make working together more predictable and safer.”

Thankfully no one was hurt. Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have received a message like this one though I hope it will be the last.

Please wear reflectors when walking on our streets at night. Last November I sent out an email with a link to a commercial New York State

was running that clearly illustrates how reflectors or reflective clothing makes you visible to drivers, See the commercial HERE. As a reminder, the Village provides up to 10 free reflectors per household which can be picked up at Village Hall during office hours.

Additional reflectors may be purchased at our cost of $2 each. We are also happy to provide reflectors to Village synagogues upon request.

Also, if there is no sidewalk where you are walking, please walk on the left side of the roadway facing traffic where you are more visible to motorists and can see approaching cars.

Be Safe!

Best regards, Marshall Katz, Mayor Village of Wesley Hills 432 Route 306 Wesley Hills, New York 10952 United States

“In the nursing homes and hospitals of Greater Monsey, there are patients who are so bored and depressed. Yet at the same time, there are talented men easily capable of organizing the hundreds of boys’ yeshivos into semi-professional choirs, to perk up the spirits of those handicapped residents, who would love to hear fresh children’s’ voices, ages 8-12,

on an ongoing basis. So why don’t they coordinate with the many yeshivos to rotate daily, and do exactly that (at a decibel-level that’s tolerable to the older generation...) Why are these patients not offered something to look forward to each day, rather than languishing in their chairs? It would be a win-win proposition for everyone, the young and the old, no matter

whether they are Yekkish, Chassidish, Sephardic, Yeshivish, Lubavitch, Teimani, Modern...it makes no difference.

Entertainment crosses all boundaries.

NU?? What are they waiting for? Don’t they realize that there’s all forms of tzedakah, and one of them is Action?

Yes - even if it’s fun!”

Signed: Eira Heiseh La’yeheidim, Charveina Zacher L’teiv

Dear Residents,

This email can save your life!

I received the following message from a resident the other day:

Publisher • Barry Mase Social Media/Distribution • Yosef Mase Contributors: Rabbi Benjamin Blech • Jonah Goldberg Lee Smith • Rabbi Tzvi Nightingale Emuna Braverman Jonathan Tobin • Rabbi YY Jacobson Solange DeFrancesco • Dana Mase • Eliya Stromberg Rabbi Tzvi Weinreb • Rabbi Yissocher Frand Rabbi Yosef Chaim Schwab Rabbi Etan Moshe Berman Rabbi Label Lam • Rabbi Josh Blass Rabbi Emanuel Fishman Rabbi Doniel Frank • Rabbi Pinchas Winston Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Schechter Rabbi Nachum Scheiner Shmuel Abramson • Joel Petlin Michelle and Yaakov Steinhart Rabbi Naftali Reich • Rabbi Netanel Reed Bayla Sheva Brenner • Michael Gross Reuven Epstein • Jeffrey Adams Boaz M. Golani • Ed Yisroel Susskind, Ph.D. Beth Warren • Bassie Friedman Akiva Mase • Farley Weiss • Shmuel Zitter Mindy Oren • Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein Yechiel Lekowitz • Rabbi Berel Wein Lauren Wieder • Rabbi Yaakov Menken Yeshaya Rotbard • Aaron Subar Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan • Gavriel Jacobson Slovie Jungreis-Wolff • Sean Savage Jonathan S. Tobin • Rabbi Eliyahu Hoffmann Judah Harris • Chanalee Fisher Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks • Alan Roth Rafael Medoff • Dennis Prager Rabbi Yitschak Rudomin • Judith Colp Rubin Rabbi Shlomo Pearlstein • Rabbi Ephraim D. Becker Alan Zoldan • Elia and Eli Filhart ••• MonseyTimes.com Phone: 845-579-5478 Email: editor@monseytimes.com Advertising: ads@monseytimes.com Subscriptions/Home Delivery: delivery@monseytimes.com •••

Monsey Times welcomes letters to the editor, which can be emailed to editor@monseytimes.com. Letters may be edited for length, clarity and appropriateness. Monsey Times, an independent publication, promotes honest and rigorous conversations about issues affecting our frum community. The opinions reflected in articles from our contributors do not necessarily reflect Monsey Time’s positions, and publishing them does not constitute an endorsement from Monsey Times. We reserve the right to accept or refuse submissions and edit for content and length. We also reserve the right to refuse advertising that in our opinion does not reflect the standards of the newspaper. We are not responsible for the kashrus of any product advertised in Monsey Times.

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Op-Ed How Do We Protect Our Schools?  CONTINUED FROM COVER

ing down her face. “I hope she didn’t die for nothing.”

And now, the burning question, what can the nation do to prevent this in the future?

The numbers are mind staggering. Less than two months going into 2018, there have already been 18 recorded school shootings in the United States. That’s more than twice the number of shooting incidents compared to the same time last year. The number of shooting incidents in the country has also steadily been increasing since 2013, with the exception of 2016, which “only” saw a total of 48 school shooting incidents. The latest massacre in Parkland, Florida claimed the lives of at least 17 people, making it one of the deadliest school shooting incidents in America.

Over the last few days we have been bombarded by numerous solutions. Gun control; beef up security in schools; arm school staff; ensure more care for the mentally challenged in our society, since the murderer Nikolas Cruz apparently was a troubled and lonely child; help children become more social; and so forth.

All of these ideas are of vital importance. Every school in our country must, in this day and age, install metal detectors and examine every single person entering its doors. It is a challenging and sad feat, but it is a necessity. The other suggestions are also critical.

Yet, from the hundreds of reports and articles on the subject, I have not seen any serious discussion on what might be the most important issue at hand.

Guns are dangerous; very dangerous, and we need to control who gets hold of them. But they don’t kill on their own; it is people who use guns to kill. Limiting access to guns is important, but our greatest focus must be on affecting the people who might use these guns to perpetrate violence. To believe that the primary reason for just about all American gun murders is the availability of guns is akin to believing that the #21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

cause of all stabbings is the availability of knives. Of course, you have to be careful with knives. But what we need more than anything else is to educate our children that they are obliged by absolute moral values.

Ditto with mental and emotional challenges. After every massacre we read reports about how the murderer was a weird character, had mental problems, or “snapped.” When 20year old Adam Lanza shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 26 people, on Dec. 14, 2012, the horror was attributed to his suffering from Aspergers Syndrome. As 19-year old Nikolas Cruz turned up on Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and killed 17 people with a semiautomatic rifle, stories began circulating about a troubled and strange young man, expelled from his school, posting pictures of weapons and dead animals on social media.

All of this may be true. But as a result, the entire focus on future prevention is not on moral improvement of our youth, but on treating the mentally ill or gun control.

psychological and mental challenges, some very severe, who would never harm an innocent person. Why? Because the value of life and the sacredness of another human is etched in the depths of their psyches through the education they received. The thought of killing a child, even if entertained, never materializes.

That is wrong. Even most challenged people, suffering from a host of problems, can be taught that there is something called right and wrong; that G-d holds every human being responsible for his or her actions, that our Divine Creator observes everything we do and expects of us to be caring.

Autistic people, lonely people, troubled people, like everyone else, can be taught the difference between good and evil. You and I know many people who suffer from all types of

European Jews who survived the Holocaust “snapped” after seeing their families murdered. Yet I know of no survivor of the Holocaust who massacred innocent Germans, Poles, Ukrainians, Hungarians, or Frenchmen, let alone Americans. Why not? Because from their mother’s milk, and through all their years of education, they were ingrained with the absolute ethical value of “Thou shall not murder.”

After the Sandy Hook massacre, Michael Ryan wrote on CNN: “I

Sure, on some rare occasions mental illness may be the only possible explanation for evil. But the fact is that when American schools emphasized character development, and when nearly all Americans believed that there is a G-d who forbids and punishes murder, such massacres rarely took place. Our schools were safe.

When people “snapped” during the Great Depression some of them did kill… themselves, not others. Some

am not an expert on Asperger’s syndrome. But I am an expert on me, and I have Asperger’s. And attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. And a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Having all three disorders together is not unusual, my doctor says.

“Like you, I get angry sometimes.

And, like you, I would never think of channeling that emotion into violence. There is no direct connection between violence and autism. None.

I don’t break things. I don’t hit my dogs. I keep a small Tupperware container in the house to catch insects so I can transport them safely outside before my cats or wife see them.

I don’t disparage hunters, but I could never kill another creature. I just don’t have it in me. For the most part, I am just like you, just a bit quirky. All right, a lot quirky.”

Why did the moral standards of our youth deteriorate astonishingly, from one extreme to the other, over the last few decades? Both in outlook and in action, we observe an almost sub-human behavior among many of the youth. Things that youngsters would not imagine to do decades ago, are now the norm. Where did we go wrong?

We stopped focusing on the most important goal of education: values, character development, and cultivating a moral conscience in each of our youngsters. We stopped teaching children that the most important aspect of life is knowing right from wrong.

I grew up in a Jewish orthodox school in Brooklyn. There were many children who came from dysfunctional homes, who were poor, who were bullied, who were molested, and who suffered from emotional challenges. In the 16 years I spent in that same school, no child ever picked up a knife to another student or to a teacher. We lit smoke bombs, we harassed our poor teachers, and we were obnoxious. Some kids placed a raw egg under the seat of a teacher they disliked; others “built” 200 paper airplanes which they sent flying at one of the teachers (it turns out now, he more than deserved it.

He was a molester). But this was the extent of the crimes we could con-

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 CONTINUED ON P. 30

5

Thank You For Being A Friend

by Michelle and Yakov Steinhart “I have learned much from my teachers, and even more from my friends.”

That’s a famous saying from R’ Chanina, quoted in Maseches Taanis 7a. Most of us take for granted that we have many friends, and we assume that everybody else is just as fortunate. After all, friends provide support and companionship, and it’s through our friends and peers that we learn how to navigate the world.

Unfortunately, for many individuals with disabilities – and autism, especially -- friendship is not in the cards. Our son, Avi, made friends with classmates and bunkmates when he was in school and camp, but his hours at home were devoid of friendships. He would spend all of this time with us, or his siblings, therapists, neighbors, and babysitters. He did not have peers his age that would come and visit, spend time with him, and just be his friend.

About two years ago, we were contacted by the Friendship Circle of Suffern to find out if we were interested in having a teen visit Avi once a week to play with him on his terms and just enjoy time spent together.

Friendship Circle calls this program “Friends at Home.” They describe it this way: “Children with special needs are matched with teenage volunteers who receive a customized, one-on-one orientation and commit to visiting weekly throughout the school year. Having his or her

A letter Avi wrote before Daniel left for Israel.

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friend over to play—an activity taken for granted by most children—can instill immense feelings of belonging and self-value in a child with special needs. Through the consistent nature of these weekly visits and a ‘homey’ environment, volunteers are able to feel comfortable and confident in taking the time to build deep bonds.

While the children and volunteers socialize through a variety of activities based on the child’s interest, Friends at Home also provides parents with valuable time to rest and recharge.”

My Buddy and Me At the heart of all the Friendship Circle’s programming is the belief that every individual can be a productive member of the community and benefit from the social support offered by one’s peers. The group’s vision statement says: “We envision a world in which individuals with special needs and their families experience acceptance, inclusion, and friendship as valued members of society.”

When we got the offer, we didn’t know what to expect and whether it would be “worth it,” but we decided to give it a try. The following week, Daniel Koenig came to visit Avi. Daniel is a soft-spoken teen who radiates sweetness. Avi fell in love with him the first day. Daniel figured out how to take Avi’s lead, watching videos with him and then reenacting

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Avi and Daniel doing what they do best, chilling out in Avi’s room together.

scenes, complete with singing and dancing, based on whatever Avi chose that day.

Daniel is Avi’s first and only neurotypical friend. Avi has learned that there is someone his age who enjoys spending time with him for who he is. Daniel quickly learned the words to every Uncle Moishy and Sesame Street song, and he also welcomed our 7-year-old twins boys into his circle of friends.

Avi looked forward to Daniel’s visits every week and would often tell us, “Daniel Koenig is my best friend.”

Daniel quickly became an integral part of Avi’s Friday or Sunday afternoon routines. His kindness and connection with Avi taught us what it means to look at a whole person, and that accepting people and appreciating them is what friendship is really about. Daniel is a real mentch, and we feel indebted to his parents -- Elissa and Jeffrey Koenig – who believe very strongly in the mission of Friendship Circle, drove Daniel to our house every week, and even made their own effort to connect with us and with Avi.

In June of last year, the Friendship Circle honored Daniel at their volunteer appreciation dinner. Reflecting on his friendship with Avi, Daniel said: “The most meaningful extracurricular activity that I participate in is the Friendship Circle. This program has allowed me to create a special bond with an extraordinary person, Avi Steinhart. The lessons of love, appreciation and friendship I have learned from Avi will stay with me forever.”

We have learned the same lessons from the bond between Avi and Daniel. Daniel is learning in Israel this year, and while Avi and Daniel aren’t able to see each other right now, Avi has a picture of the two friends on his wall and he tells us often that Daniel Koenig is his best friend. We wish everyone has a friend like Daniel in their lives -- a friend who loves you, believes in you, and appreciates you just the way you are.

Michelle and Yaakov Steinhart live in the Monsey area and are proud parents of Avi, who has autism. They welcome comments and questions at Steinhart5000@gmail.com.

#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Before You Die, Your Life’s Movie

by Rabbi Benjamin Blech

What happens to us when we die?

Is death the end or a new beginning?

In the twenty-first century we still can only rely on faith rather than scientific findings to give us insight into the final end of our journey here on earth.

But a fascinating new Israeli study may reveal part of the puzzle. Conducted by researchers from Jerusalem’s Hadassah University and published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition, the study mirrors details that we have received by way of Jewish mystical tradition.

Elizabeth Kubler Ross, who dedicated her life to studying death and the dying, wrote that in her many years of being present at the moment when life slipped away what most moved her was the sight of the sudden serenity and peacefulness that invariably accompanied the passage from one state to another. She has chosen to describe death as “breaking out of a cocoon and emerging as a butterfly.” Our bodies during life represent physical limitations. Without them we are for the first time able to soar to heights previously unattainable.

While Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, filled in some of the gaps in our knowledge with esoteric descriptions of death and the afterlife, mankind struggled with the mystery of death without benefit of personal testimony from any of its victims. No matter how much we wanted to pierce the veil of secrecy that blocks our view of the beyond, we recognized our human limitations. Death is a one-way trip that doesn’t allow for a return visit to earth to reveal its secrets to the living. Even if we accept the idea of survival in another form after our bodies cease to function, we’ve been stymied by the lack of any real evidence simply because the dead cannot speak.

But in the last half a century something dramatically new has been added to the equation. While there are many who still dismiss it as unveri#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

fiable, life after life is slowly gaining ground even among those who’ve never identified themselves as particularly religious or spiritual. There have been countless cases of testimony from people who have died and been brought back to talk about it, thanks to breakthroughs in increasingly sophisticated resuscitation techniques.

Professionals who have done groundbreaking work in the field, such as Elizabeth Kubler Ross and Raymond Moody, have come up with the name NDE – “near death experience” – to describe the phenomenon.

We may argue – and many have – that anyone now alive by definition really didn’t die. But what allows us to think of those who have gone through this experience as having been closer to “the other side” then to what we call life is the fact that they were clinically dead. Their brains didn’t show even a flicker of activity. Their hearts had stopped beating. There was no way for sensations to register, for sights to be recorded, and for sounds to be heard.

And yet these people were able to “recall” what happened in the rooms in which their bodies rested, to describe who came and went after they heard themselves pronounced dead, and even to repeat conversations that took place in the presence of their “dead” bodies in minute and accurate detail.

With which part of their nonfunctioning brains did they remember, and how could they possibly see and hear? Their physical bodies were no longer capable of performing these tasks. Small wonder that almost everyone who went through an NDE experience, whether they initially were believers, diehard skeptics, agnostics or atheists, came to an unshakable belief in the existence of a nonphysical soul that survives the death of the body.

Death is accompanied by an all-important life review which gives us a full perspective about the life we lived.

Rabbi Hayim David HaLevi, prominent Sephardic former chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, in his classic masterwork Assey L’cha Rav, wrote a lengthy comparison between traditional Jewish belief as found in Talmud, midrash, and Kabbalistic works to the more recent re-

ports of NDE experiences. In his eyes, there’s profound significance to the secular world’s awakening to a most powerful spiritual truth – the existence of the soul whose continued existence cannot be negated with the passing of its corporeal body.

And now another part of the story is being uncovered. Jewish mysticism also taught that death is accompanied by an all-important life review.

As we approach a non-terrestrial existence, we are permitted a flashback which finally allows us to gain a full perspective on both our sins as well as our achievements, our failings as well as our accomplishments. Before we leave this earth we are given the opportunity to reflect upon the meaning of our past lives and the legacy we pass on to those we leave behind.

Interestingly, the new study by Hadassah hospital, led by Dr. Judith Katz, a neurologist at Hadassah University in Jerusalem, found that life reviews experiences (LRE) accompanying the dying process were frequent and shared numerous common elements.

People saw their past lives as if watching a movie, but the order of events they recalled did not follow chronology. As one participant put it: ‘‘There is not a linear progression, there is lack of time limits… It was like being there for centuries. I was not in time/space so this question also feels impossible to answer. A moment, and a thousand years… both and neither.

It all happened at once, or some experiences within my near-death experience were going on at the same time as others, though my human mind separates them into different events.”

Profound empathy for people with whom they shared significant moments during their lives was also recorded by almost all of the participants in the LRE research. A common element of LREs was the inclu-

Features sion of deeply emotional experiences from the perspective of others close to them. Here’s what one participant had to say: ‘‘I could individually go into each person and I could feel the pain that they had in their life … I was allowed to see that part of them and feel for myself what they felt.”

Another one: “I was seeing, feeling these things about him [my father], and he was sharing with me the things of his early childhood and how things were difficult for him.”

Perhaps the most significant conclusion was that “all interviewees in the study said after their LRE, they had experienced a major change in perspective regarding significant people in their lives or important life events.”

The researchers who reported their findings chose not to assess them from a spiritual perspective nor to link them to age-old rabbinic insights into the soul as well as the religious explanations for our final journey. Scientists hesitate to make science subservient to traditional belief. Instead they tried to offer other explanations for their findings – how the prefrontal, medial temporal, or parietal cortices, all “happen to be particularly vulnerable to hypoxia and blood loss resulting from traumatic near-death experiences.”

Of course that is possible. Far more probable to my mind though is what the wisdom of our tradition understood for thousands of years. Death, as the Rabbi of Kotzk put it, is “nothing more than moving from one room to another, from a comparative hovel to a magnificent domicile in heaven.” And as a final courtesy, before we leave for that trip God allows us a look back, to see the movie of our lifetime.

We may then be filled either with regret or with joy. To know that in advance is perhaps the greatest inspiration to lead a life filled with meaning and purpose.

Source: Aish Benjamin Blech, born in Zurich in 1933, is an Orthodox rabbi who now lives in New York City. Rabbi Blech has been a Professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University since 1966, and was the Rabbi of Young Israel of Oceanside for 37 years. In addition to his work in the rabbinate, Rabbi Blech has written many books on Judaism ...

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Philosophy of Life for the Non Equestrian

How To Be Powerless

by Dana Mase The weather has been crazy. First comes “Hurricane Sandy”. Before the storm took her first breath, I lost my power. Living in the cold and the dark became The. Main. Challenge. I bought candles and firewood. I tried hard to be tough and survival-like.

But by the eighth day with no power, I was tired, wired and longing for some comfortable artificial light. For some heat. For the basics to which I was accustomed but never knew how much I missed. Till it was gone.

When the power returned, I found joy in every illuminated bulb. Every spinning sound made by the old washing machine. Even the annoying high pitched tone of the dryer made me happy.

Appreciate what you have.

Two days later comes the Nor’easter. Horizontal streaks of snow flew hyperactively through the sky. Invisible

treacherous ice hiding under the snow covered roads made driving exhausting.

Today is Sunday, only four days after the blizzard. It is sixty degrees outside. I don’t need to wear a jacket. I don’t need to wear a sweater.

The sky is quiet blue and the breeze is soft like cotton balls. I feel like I am on a vacation.

Appreciate what you have.

Eric, the farrier, is here at the barn shoeing the horses and trimming their hooves. In between riding lessons, Eric wants to talk to me about Sweetie.

I get very attached to the horses that I work with because I see the beauty in them even if they are not that beautiful to anyone else. Sweetie happens to be one of my favorite horses to work with to teach little children.

She is as old as the hills and is as patient as the mountains. I always pick Sweetie for the tiniest children, and the ones who need a little extra care.

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Greta and Lacey in the snow

“Hey Eric” I try to say with confidence, but inside I am worried about what he wants to talk about. Eric says “Sweetie’s hooves look pretty bad. See here.” He picks up her front hoof and shows me the evidence.

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#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Features Even Modest Predictions About The Future Are Unreliable

By Jonah Goldberg Tuesday marked the 10-year anniversary of the passing of my old boss, William F. Buckley Jr., the founder of National Review (where I am a senior editor). This is not a column about Bill but about life and time — and how they don’t move in tandem.

In 2001, Linton “Lin” Wells, a former Navy officer turned in-house Defense Department intellectual, was asked to offer his thoughts for the Quadrennial Defense Review.

Here’s an extended excerpt: — If you had been a security policy-maker in the world’s greatest power in 1900, you would have been a Brit, looking warily at your age-old enemy, France.

— By 1910, you would be allied with France and your enemy would be Germany.

— By 1920, World War I would have been fought and won, and you’d be engaged in a naval arms race with your erstwhile allies, the U.S. and Japan.

— By 1930, naval arms limitation treaties were in effect, the Great Depression was underway, and the defense planning standard said “no war for ten years.”

— Nine years later World War II had begun.

Wells keeps going, but you get the point. At any period in our lives, even modest predictions about the future are very unreliable. Outside theoretical physics, time moves in a linear, arithmetic progression: i.e., one day at a time. Life works differently. I can predict what the date will #21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

be 100 years from now with perfect accuracy, but I can’t begin to tell you what life will be like.

And yet, many people make straight-line projections about politics, technology and all manner of things. “Trend X has been going in this direction for the last few years,” people say, “so trend X will continue inexorably into the future.” (OK, few people actually say it like that, but you get the point.) Intellectuals are often guilty of this kind of thinking, partly because they make a living looking for patterns and trends.

Writing in 1946, George Orwell argued that reflexive belief in the “continuation of the thing that is happening” amounts to a kind of “power worship.” At various times, everyone was sure the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, or the Ottoman and the Roman empires would endure forever, because no one could imagine beyond the bars of the iron cage of the moment. Similarly, every era has been infested with business gurus who couldn’t foresee the demise or decline of Standard Oil or IBM or, these days, Amazon or Google.

Sometimes people put their faith less in the idea of power and more in the power of an idea, convincing themselves that there is an unseen algorithm guiding events. Marxism was a classic version of this. The impersonal forces of the universe guaranteed that utopian communism was the last exit of history.

But other ideas have similar power. When Orwell wrote “1984,” it was widely believed that the state — Big Brother — would use technology to oppress people. Later, people became convinced that technology would keep Big Brother at bay by liberating people. With the rise of the internet, this idea has taken hold in much of the West. The truth is that neither proposition is an iron law.

Technology helped spread the Arab Spring, but it is also helping China throttle freedom. (And how did the Arab Spring turn out?)

Speaking of China, it was also widely believed that market forces, once unleashed, would unwind au-

thoritarianism. Why? Because that’s how it worked in the past. That’s not what’s happening in China, which is why President Xi Jinping is fast on his way to becoming president for life.

Shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, Francis Fukuyama heralded the “End of History” because liberal democracy had proven itself the only legitimate form of government. Since then, authoritarianism has had something of a renaissance around the globe.

Which brings me back to Bill Buckley. When he founded National Review, Buckley wrote that part of its mission would be to “stand athwart history, yelling Stop.”

The passage, widely misunderstood, contained a powerful insight: We cannot outsource life to the clockwork of the universe. There is no teleology, no “right side of history.” We make the world we want to live in, and we have a responsibility to do that work. Bill’s friend Whittaker Chambers believed that when he renounced communism and joined the forces of freedom, he was switching to the “losing side.” Chambers was wrong because he, and people like him, made a choice to fight for the world they wanted. In short, they chose life over time. And thank God they did.

Source: NewsMax Jonah Jacob Goldberg (born March 21, 1969) is an American conservative syndicated columnist, author, and commentator. Goldberg writes about politics and culture for The Los Angeles Times, where he is a weekly opinion columnist, and National Review, where he is a Senior Editor.

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Features The Self Aware Jew_ Not Afraid To Be Alone

By Rabbi Josh Blass Several years back, my kids and I spent a day in Great Adventure. Despite my better judgement, at some point I was convinced (or coerced) to go on a roller coaster aptly called the Runaway Train. Halfway through the ordeal, the car I was in sharply lurched over a bump, and before I could react, I felt my iPhone become dislodged from my breast pocket and begin its agonizingly slow descent into the pool of water below.

Like many of you, my whole life is in my phone and it’s hard to adequately describe the feeling of absolute panic as I saw the device take its fatal plunge. Thankfully, I got my phone through Yeshiva University, where I work, and within a week I had a new one with all of my contacts that they were smart enough to back up.

On my drive back to Monsey that evening I found myself routinely putting my hand in my jacket pocket to check my nonexistent phone to see if I had received any e-mails or texts, only to discover that I was, in fact, phoneless. To nobody’s surprise but my own, the world was still standing several hours later when I checked my e-mail from home. Within a day or two, that feeling of withdrawal was replaced by a far healthier one— namely, the feeling that when I was in the car with my kids, I was actually fully present, as opposed to constantly thinking about who I have to call, or trying to return a text at a red light. I also was reminded how much I used to love driving before I became a “phone junkie.” I would just sit in my car, listening to Eitan or Shlomo Katz, conscious of the beauty of the world around me and giving thought to the day behind or before me. It was my time to just connect with something both within myself and simultaneously bigger than myself, but slowly, over time, I

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began to live a life in which I allowed those moments to dissipate.

The necessity of turning the clock back to a quieter, simpler time seems to be absolutely critical, especially in regards to the ability to meaningfully connect during tefilla. In truth, man lives with the dialectic of needing to balance structure and form with building and cultivating a vibrant inner life. For instance, how does a couple married for 25 years create a structure that allows for the running of a home: cleaning the house, doing errands, paying bills, driving carpools, etc., while still having real passion and intimacy within that structure? How does a thinking, sensitive Jew live a life dedicated to the precise observance of the structure dictated by the Shulchan Aruch while still maintaining genuine religious passion and feeling? Nowhere is that dialectic most keenly felt than in prayer. Tefilla is the obligation that is most regulated —what to say, when to say it, with whom, where etc.—this is the structure that Chazal understood was absolutely critical for a life of daily committed service to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We inherently understand how meaningful, elevating and transformative daily, regulated tefilla can be and how that daily, regulated tefilla helps to shape our religious identity.

That said, daily, regulated tefilla is by no means the same as avodah she’b’lev— service of the heart. The structure of tefilla, far from discouraging the potential for one’s tefilla to become kevah—fixed, which is abhorrent to Chazal, almost ipso facto creates rote and routine. How is it feasible to have the structure of tefilla while also embodying the type of spontaneous, meaningful and passionate prayer that is so readily found in the writings of Dovid Hamelech?

The answer would seem to be found very simply in that which I experienced after the episode of the falling phone; namely, allowing ourselves to cultivate moments of aloneness more colloquially known as hisbodedus. The notion of hisbodedus has become popularized through

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the writings of Rav Nachman of Breslov, who strongly recommended that each person finds a set, full hour every day for hisbodedus, to just talk to G-d about one’s life, one’s challenges and hopes.

While Rav Nachman’s ambitions and innovations are impressive, the reality is that the very foundation of tefilla was that of hisbodedus. Avraham’s tefilla was that of the solitary early- morning encounter with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Yitzchak ventured

by himself into the fields to simply talk to G-d and Yaakov encountered G-d while alone and afraid during his escape from Eisav. From Adam Harishon on down, tefilla was always about man’s ability to remove the outer shells of his primordial life, to allow the noise of the immediate now to fade from the stage and in its place to find the emergence of the stillness and the peace of one’s inner life.

When should one allow for that hisbodedus? Rav Nachman often recommended to sit in a peaceful place in nature so that ‘”all of nature can join in his prayers.” While that may sound nice to some, for others that may feel a little too hippie-ish. That said, everyone can have moments of hisbodedus and healthy disconnection: sitting in one’s car listening to music, going for a walk on a Friday night, taking a few minutes during the day to regain one’s equilibrium when feeling anxious or stressed out or pausing for a few seconds to really think about the berachos one is saying on a daily basis. These are just a few mechanisms to push the pause button, take a breath and bring G-d and a spirit of calm into a life that often feels defined by static.

It would seem as though hisbodedus is the solution to the tefilla dialectic. If we can develop the ability to take time throughout the day to increase our conscious contact with ourselves and with the Ribbono Shel Olam, then when we walk into davening, even though it is structured and formulaic, we have developed the ability to truly connect, to close our eyes and allow the outer world to fade and to just stand enveloped by the presence of He Who created and continues to nourish our lives. That is the image of tefilla l’ani ki ya’atof—a tefilla that completely envelops us. Before cell phones were ubiquitous, a friend roughly my age spent a couple of years learning in Yeshivat Sha’alvim in the early ’90s with an extraordinary Israeli mechanech, Rav Michoel Yammer. My friend, who came from a pretty well-to-do family, told Rav Yammer before his return to the States that he was particularly excited to come back to his house because in his absence his parents had bought a fancy, built-in shower radio.

Rav Yammer was nearly apoplectic; “A shower radio!! The last refuge where man can just think and reflect—even there man can’t be alone!”

Let us continue to seek out refuge in the quiet corners of our lives. Let us understand that in order to connect, in the deepest sense of the word, we need to work to find some avenues of meaningful disconnection. Kein yehi ratzon that those efforts will lead to a tefilla that can reach the Kisei Hakavod.

Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Josh Blass was born in Baltimore.

He received ordination from RIETS and has spent the better part of the last 25 years at Yeshiva University. He is currently finishing his master’s in Jewish philosophy from the Bernard Revel Graduate School for Jewish Studies. He has taught in a number of high schools, including MTA and Bruriah. He is currently the rav of Kehillas Beis Yehudah in Wesley Hills. For the past 13 years, he has felt privileged to serve as a mashgiach ruchani in Yeshiva University.

Please feel free to contact Rabbi Blass at 917-623-4711 or blass@yu.edu

#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Features Jewish Genealogy: The Journey To Oneself

By Bayla Sheva Brenner My mother’s death brought to life a disturbing realization.

Although she will always be the precious woman I call “Mommy,” I never really knew her.

During shivah, I spoke about how she survived the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz and a death march, broken and alone. But I lacked a sense of who my mother was as a person–her dreams, her hopes, what her family was like (her father, mother, sisters), the color of her life before the black, unspeakable horror. I carried the same longing about my father, also a survivor, who passed away eight years earlier.

With parents who spoke little about their painful pasts, I had a skeletal knowledge of my ancestry. I had resigned myself to a constant undercurrent of disconnection.

Until recently.

In the deafening quiet that followed shivah, I felt a growing hunger to connect to my parents and to their families. I contacted anyone who had known my parents prior to and after the Holocaust, dredging up long-forgotten names. I searched the Israeli online directory and phoned anyone who had the same last names as my parents, asking if we are related. After several attempts, I found Cousin Judy.

In 1937, my father’s uncle fled Europe with his wife and seven daughters; the eldest had an infant, named Judy. My excited phone

#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

call to Judy led to many other finds.

I entered a wondrous new world of names and faces. I’ve called, e-mailed and Skyped cousins I never knew existed a short month ago, identifying faces in shared photos, traveling back and forth through generations. I felt my world expand.

The whirlwind continues.

I’ve joined the growing population of those hooked on genealogy.

Most genealogy addicts start out curious about their family history. As they find the missing pieces to their ancestry puzzle, the hobby turns into an obsession. With the plethora of genealogy web sites offering data going back hundreds of years, and the availability of DNA testing kits, family researchers can conduct their detective work without having to leave the house.

But what’s really pulling them back in time? According to Eviatar Zerubavel, professor of sociology at Rutgers University and author of An-

cestors and Relatives: Genealogy, Identity, and Community, individuals who are busy reconstructing their family’s past are not merely keeping track of their ancestral history; they’re refining their identity.

Coming Home to the Past Arthur Kurzweil, an original member of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS), and author of From Generation to Generation: How to Trace Your Jewish Genealogy and Family History (first published in 1980), concurs. “I didn’t only want to know my ancestors’ names; I wanted to know who they were,” says Kurzweil, who began his search in 1971. He not only discovered hundreds of relatives, he found his place in Yiddishkeit.

Like much of the youth in the late sixties, Kurzweil aligned himself with the “counterculture,” the Beatles and Eastern religions. At one point, Theodore Bikel, a popular Jewish folk singer of that era, visited Kurzweil’s college campus, and surprised his audience when he urged the college students to look into their Judaism.

Kurzweil took him up on it. He knew there had to be more to his heritage than what he had learned in Hebrew school. “I wanted to learn why my ancestors died for this,” he says.

For the first time in his life, he entered the Dorot Jewish Division of the New York City Public Library. He combed the card catalogue for Dobromil, the Polish shtetl where his father was raised, about which he had heard dozens of captivating stories growing up. His initial search brought up genealogical gold in the form of a Memorial Book of Dobromil. (Memorial books or Yizkor books recollect Jewish communities from Eastern Europe, and were typically created after the Holocaust by societies of immigrants from the same town. They often include maps, photographs, narratives and lists of Holocaust victims.) Kurzweil’s doubts about finding a face he would recognize while perusing the book shattered as he sat stunned, staring at a group shot of Dobromil businessmen taken in 1925.

In the second row from the bottom, fifth from the left, sat his great-grandfather, Avraham Abisch; the ancestor he had been named for stared back at him. (To be continued iy”H in the next issue of Monsey Times.)

Bayla Sheva Brenner is an award-winning freelance writer living in Pomona. She can be reached at baylashevabrenner@outlook.com.

Reprinted with permission from the Winter 2014 issue of Jewish Action.

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Features Today A Star Was Born

by Eliya Stromberg I went this morning to my son Ariel’s school in G’vaot in Gush Etzion.

(He has been attending this school since he is eight years old. He is now twenty-seven and lives there at school. Ariel has Down syndrome.) As a run-up to Purim the school had a musical event that totally satisfied the mitzvah of marbeh b’simcha, increasing joy. At least for Ariel and for me.

The event was billed kochav nolad, a star is born. During the year a dozen or so young men develop their musical talent with a professional music teacher. Today’s event gave each performer two to three minutes to be a star that shined in public.

Ariel plays drums to accompany his teacher on the keyboard. That Ariel has special needs and plays drums is not in itself impressive to me. Ariel has been blessed with physical abilities and strength that many children with special needs and even typical children do

not have. So I’ve had many opportunities to feel proud of his performances.

But today there was something more than Ariel’s strength and agility that made me proud and brought me joy.

Ariel was the sixth performer on the program. He followed two singers, two keyboard artists, and a drummer. I have to admit, including my son, it would be a stretch to say that any one of them is truly “talented”. One singer wasn’t on key. The other lacked expression. The keyboard artists were each about 97% accurate in hitting the correct keys. The other drummer was a bit too enthusiastic banging the skins.

And Ariel has always lacked rhythm.

But that’s not the point. I wish you could have seen Ariel’s face during his 2-minutes of stardom, and after.

He was as serious and focused on his "time" and "feel" as Keith Moon, Ginger Baker or Ringo Starr, all drummer greats, were about theirs. Ariel’s eyes followed his sticks as he aimed for the sweet spot in each drum. To end his gig, he hit the finale on the large cymbal and then coolly silenced it with his hand. With that he jumped from his seat still holding the cymbal, propelled by his own energy and drive. The music stopped, his tense shoulders relaxed, and Ariel tried to, but couldn’t, contain a smile that beamed “success”.

The boisterous applause of his peers, teachers and guests riveted his smile to his face. We cheered Ariel, not his performance. His star was born. He knew it. And so did I. Being his father I had even more to cheer. I cheered Ariel’s desire to be a drummer; that he wants to build himself. His dedication to his teacher and his lessons which resulted in him being on stage with drum sticks

in hand. I cheered his self-confidence to perform in front of us.

It wasn’t the fact that he is able to drum or the quality of his drumming that brought me joy today. It was seeing my son be the best he can be. And seeing how proud of himself he is to be it.

Isn’t that all a parent really wants of his children, to realize their potential and be the best they can be? (Unfortunately not. Many parents don’t experience joy from their children because they have expectations of their children which the children cannot or do not want to meet.)

In this month of Adar when we have the mitzvah, the obligation, of marbeh b’simcha let’s find joy in seeing our children be the best they can be, in whatever it is. Even if it isn’t what we expected.

Eliya Stromberg, PhD, is a former public school and Jewish day school principal. He is the author of Chosen Fathers: Life Lessons Learned From Fathers Of Children With Disabilities.

Meet Eliya Stromberg on Facebook or at www.fathersconnect.com.

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#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Monsey Sports Full Court Press

By Gabriel Jacobson Every player receives a trophy for playing; only one team emerges the victor. On February 24th, the Yeshiva Basketball League hosted their championship game. After 10 weeks of games, and a round of playoffs, it came down to this one all important game. With good sportsmanship and the utmost respect for their opposition, the teams played competitively for the win.

The evening starting with thrilling three point competition. The competition included adults and children. The last two contestants were Yitz Greenbaum (adult) and Benny Deutsch (high school). It came down to the final shot that Yitz let Benny choose the shot. Benny ended up victorious is the three point competition.

It’s virtually impossible to set comparable teams, as one will always have an advantage. Each team brought their A game to this championship. The furthest spread was a

Nothing like a tie score to keep the competition fierce

Left to right: Ezzy Katz, Moshe Gelbein, Yitz Greenbaum, Nochi Rappaport, Eli Friedman, Simcha Zevi Beren, Avi Shiller, Aron Mizrachi, Yosef Shwebel, David Samet, Gavriel Robinson

six point lead. At several points this was a tie game. There were several key moments in the game where the spectators were standing with baited breath, waiting for the next drive. Many proud fathers cheered while waiting for the opportunity to observe their sons score the next go ahead points or create a key turnover, giving their team the advantage.

The Black Team led by Yosef Shwebel at point guard, who scored 20 points. Aron Mizrachi scored 16 points and a tenacious defense was

Avi Gelbein and sons Binyomin and Moshe preparing for the game.

played by Gavriel Robinson to hold down green. Nochi Rappapport on the offensive side stuck to his position and picked up several rebounds and points. It was an overall team effort that helped beat green.

The Green Team led by Shuk who had 20 points. They controlled the ball in the offensive zone. Shuk led the team with strong drives to the basket. Hakakian did a great job pulling down rebounds both offensively and defensively. Though it wasn’t enough to hold off black.

To the players’ and spectators’ credit, as intense as the game was, there weren’t any complaints or claims against the refs. There is always that person who argues to try and gain the advantage. The crowd from the Yeshiva Boys League really adheres to their goal of play hard and have a good time. No fighting or arguing was heard. All in, both teams played a great game, making everyone a winner.

2018 Winners trophies

Moshe Gelbein passing in the ball from the side

Yosef Shwebel going for a layup

#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Game on!! Greenbaum starting the game

Hakakian grabbing a rebound

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National Jewish News Agudah Wins $7 Million For NY Yeshivos And Nonpublic Schools Yeshivos and other nonpublic Schools in New York City, Buffalo and Rochester will be seeing an additional $7 million in mandated services funding heading their way Yeshivos and other nonpublic Schools in New York City, Buffalo and Rochester will be seeing an additional $7 million in mandated services funding heading their way. This breakthrough came about through the efforts of Agudath Israel of America, which successfully pushed last year for an increase in the total per pupil reimbursement for state-mandated immunization recordkeeping and reporting.

As explained by Mrs. Deborah Zachai, director of Agudath Israel’s division of Yeshiva Services, nonpublic schools in New York State were being reimbursed at 60 cents per pupil for verifying, maintaining and reporting student immunization statuses, a rate that had been established in 1984. While state law capped reimbursements at the 60 cent level, it seemed incomprehensible that, more than 30 years later, the amount had not been adjusted to reflect rising actual costs including, higher staff salaries and new immunization requirements which have grown more complex over the years.

In working to address this inequity, Agudath Israel’s Yeshiva Services department conducted a survey to determine how long it takes to get the required documentation and which staff are involved in that process. A detailed analysis of actual immunization costs incurred by 63 yeshivos throughout New York City, Buffalo and Rochester, performed

by Avrohom Weinstock, associ-

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ate director for education services for the Agudah, showed that non-public schools were spending approximately $7.7 million in unreimbursed expenses each year to comply with the state immunization record-keeping requirements.

Seeing this as an action item that needed to be corrected by the legislature, Agudah advocates raised the point on numerous occasions, including at an Agudah Albany mission in March 2017. Ultimately, these efforts resulted in the State allocating $7 million for this purpose.

Additionally, the law was amended to allow for future increases in this allocation should the need arise.

After having spent the past several months clarifying the per pupil costs, the New York State Department of Education has announced that under the new measure, qualifying schools will be reimbursed at the rate of $29.39 per child, an increase of more than 4798%. This increase was welcomed by yeshiva administrators who oftentimes operate on shoestring budgets.

“This additional funding will help alleviate some of the financial challenges faced by already overburdened yeshivas and their parent bodies,” explained Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, director of New York Government Relations for Agudath Israel of America. “We thank our friends in the legislature as well as Governor Cuomo for recognizing these inequities and addressing them.”

Agudath Israel Hails Congress’ Expansion Of Disaster Relief For Houses Of Worship And Religious Schools WASHINGTON – Agudath Israel of is applauding congressional passage of a bipartisan budget bill that enables and enhances the eligibility of houses of worship and religious schools in regard to FEMA-administered disaster aid. Agudath Israel has been one of a small number of groups that have, for over five years, been in the forefront of this legislative effort and played a key role in this change.

“This is a profoundly important step forward for equal treatment of religious institutions,” said Rabbi Abba Cohen, Agudath Israel’s Vice President for Federal Affairs and Washington Director. “With this change, they will no longer be unfairly treated as ‘second class citizens’ in regard to disaster relief aid. Ultimately, the beneficiaries will be the communities they serve.”

Under FEMA policy existing at the time, houses of worship were denied disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and other natural disasters, including most recently Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Despite considerable advocacy by religious groups who argued that the policy distinguishing houses of worship from other nonprofits was discriminatory, FEMA maintained that houses of worship were not explicitly included in the federal program and were, per se, ineligible to receive the aid.

But after President Donald Trump expressed to Congress his view that houses of worship should be considered eligible to receive disaster relief, FEMA announced last month that, based on a recent Supreme Court ruling, it was revising its policy and would begin accepting their aid applications. Nevertheless, congressional supporters and

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groups active on the issue agreed that legislation was still necessary, so that the new FEMA policy would be enshrined in law and not be revoked or revised by future administrations.

Furthermore, while FEMA changed its policy in regard to houses of worship, it left intact the ineligibility of schools that were of a “religious character” or “of primary religious use.” This concern grew when FEMA indicated that the existing legislative proposal would not be enough to address the religious schools issue. “Though some Jewish schools have survived this test and have received FEMA aid, there is no question that many of our institutions – including yeshivos gedolos on the higher education level, as well as a growing percentage of elementary and secondary yeshiva day schools – might not be deemed eligible for disaster relief.”

“After working with Jewish schools for over two decades on FEMA-related problems, I knew we couldn’t let it stand,” Rabbi Cohen added. “It is vitally important, whether in this or other programs, that they equally and consistently receive the full benefit and protection of our laws.”

In the month leading up to passage, Agudath Israel worked intensively with the White House, FEMA, congressional sponsors and other religious school advocates, in bringing the problem to their attention, clarifying issues, answering questions and suggesting legislative approaches and language. In the end, Congress passed legislation that explicitly removed the respective restrictions on both houses of worship and religious schools..

“We owe enormous thanks to the Vice President’s Office, the White House Counsel’s Office and FEMA, as well as to Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Grace Meng (D-NY), and to Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), John Cornyn (R-TX) and James Lankford (R-OK).” #21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

National Jewish News Orthodox Jews In WW 2 Shanghai: New Exhibit Reveals Stories Of Rescue, Refuge, And Rebirth During The Holocaust Brooklyn, N.Y.– Amud Aish Memorial Museum has launched Precious Gift: Rescue and Shanghai, an exhibition and educational program for schools and private groups. During World War II, thousands of Jews from Europe–whose lives were in imminent peril–miraculously escaped the Nazis and found safe haven in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, China. Through original artifacts and primary source materials, the exhibition engages visitors with this little-explored aspect of Holocaust history, explaining the plights of Jews who sought refuge in foreign lands and the heroic efforts of those–from diplomats to everyday people–who risked their lives to help them.

In the exhibit, visitors are introduced to diplomats from Japan, the Netherlands, and Lithuania who defied orders by distributing visas that became lifelines for thousands. They

#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

also learn about the journey from Europe to Shanghai, daily life, and the flourishing of Jewish religious life in Kobe, Japan and Shanghai. Throughout the tour, guides note the significance of the various artifacts–such as the sacred Hebrew texts printed in Shanghai and a meal ration card with unused days–to illustrate the personal stories of those who lived through these difficult times.

Everyday life is explored in Precious Gift: Rescue and Shanghai by looking at the victims’ experiences.

In 1941, the Walkin family (husband, wife, and three young children) escaped Europe through Kovno via the Trans Siberian Railroad, arriving first in Kobe, Japan and then in Shanghai where they remained for the duration of the war. Their artifacts tell us about the Sabbaths and other holidays they celebrated and the difficulties they faced (shortages of food,

clothing, and medicine). In 1946 the family immigrated to the United States where they spent the next several years pursuing visas for the remaining Jewish refugees in Shanghai–Jews who had no homes or families to return to in Europe.

Precious Gift: Rescue and Shanghai is accompanied by an educational program for school groups which includes group workshops. One workshop explores the experiences of Judith Cohn-Goldbart, a Jewish girl whose family escaped from Munich to Shanghai. The Cohn-Goldbart artifacts narrate Judith’s childhood in Shanghai as a Bais Yaakov (girls’ religious school) student.

“The story of the Jews’ escape to Shanghai is one that students don’t typically encounter in school, and yet it carries with it important lessons: the power of faith, the importance of perseverance, the role of resilience, and

the imperative of survival,” said Rabbi Sholom Friedmann, Director of Amud Aish Memorial Museum. “Shanghai could not have been more foreign for these European Jews, yet the city largely welcomed them and allowed for their customs; so the Jews were able to practice their faith and establish their institutions without issue.

The only yeshiva to survive intact from Europe, the Mir Yeshiva, did so by taking refuge in Shanghai. It operates today, relocated to Jerusalem, and is the largest Yeshiva in the world.”

Background In 1938, the Jews of Europe were running out of options. The Evian conference’s failure to address the Jewish refugee crisis only emboldened Hitler, and Kristallnacht fol-

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 CONTINUED ON P. 19

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Op-Ed The Iran Deal Is Now Officially A Disaster.

So Where Were You?

by Lee Smith “Since the Obama administration and its negotiating partners struck the deal with Iran in July 2015,” Joshua Keating recently wrote in Slate, “the Middle East’s sectarian conflicts have only become deeper, more violent, and more intractable. From the half-million people killed in Syria to the rise of ISIS to the massive refugee crisis that has strained the world’s humanitarian capacity to its breaking point and contributed to the rise of right-wing populists in the West, it’s much harder now to say that Obama made the right decision in prioritizing the Iran deal above all else.”

No one who has been reading Tablet even casually over the past four years can be surprised to learn that Barack Obama’s signature foreign-policy initiative wasn’t just an arms agreement. It was an instrument used to rebalance U.S. interests, downgrading traditional allies like Israel, as well as Saudi Arabia, and upgrading Iran. The hope, Obama told an interviewer, was to create a geopolitical “equilibrium … in which there’s competition, perhaps suspicion, but not an active or proxy warfare.” Given the poverty of that hope, it should hardly come as a surprise that instead of the airy and ever-elusive notion of “geopolitical equilibrium” there is instead mayhem.

Yet Keating’s candid assessment is newsworthy because it comes from a writer who previously advocated for the JCPOA. As evidence he may have been wrong, Keating lists several examples of regional chaos—like the war in Yemen with civilians caught between Iranian proxies and Saudi forces. His change of heart, he explains, is also partly inspired by a confession made by White House aide Ben Rhodes in the recently released documentary about Obama’s foreign-policy team throughout 2016, The Final Year. Rhodes, writes Keating, acknowledges “that Obama’s reluctance to intervene to a greater extent in Syria was motivat-

16

ed in part by the desire to achieve the nuclear agreement with Bashar al-Assad’s patron, Iran.”

Keating now thinks that was a bad decision. “Looking at the devastating consequences of the Syrian war, not just for that country but for the region and the world, it’s hard not to argue that Obama should have made Syria his main and overwhelming foreign-policy focus, to the exclusion of nearly everything else, Iran deal be damned.”

policies being debated. No, the Iran deal was a form of virtue-signaling that used the lives of tens of millions of people living in the Middle East as props—and whose favorite hateword was “neocon,” a word that was enthusiastically applied to people of widely varying political leanings and stripes, especially if they were Jewish.

Jew-baiting aside, the true nature of Obama’s Middle East policies, which centered on the prospect and later the reality of the Iran deal from the

Still, Keating’s article must have come as a surprise to colleagues who, while perhaps no less aware of the current reality in the Middle East, would scarcely dare to reassess their advocacy of the Iran deal in print, even with Ben Rhodes’ permission. One response to Keating’s article shows why. “A smart reflection,” tweeted Washington Post foreign-affairs writer Ishaan Tharoor, “shorn of the neocon demagoguery and hysteria of the usual suspects.”

That is, the argument that Keating makes is wrong when it comes from overly emotional people who are driven by suspect loyalties. But Keating is one of ours, not some “neocon” demagogue.

The name-calling sheds light on the true nature of the Iran-deal debate, which started with Obama’s second term and continues well into Trump’s first. As it turns out, for many participants, whether in the press, Washington think tanks, or even the pro-Israel community, the debate was never about the quality of argument or evidence, or the likely impact of the

beginning of his presidency, was visible to anyone who cared to observe and analyze. Starting even before the beginning of Obama’s second term, when a nuclear deal with Iran became the White House’s priority, I explained in Tablet here and here that the Obama administration was never serious about stopping Iran’s nuclear program and was never going to use military force to do so. There was nothing particularly brilliant or penetrating about my analysis, which mostly relied on Obama’s own statements and actions. What astonished me was that hundreds of other people were apparently determined to twist themselves into pretzels in order to deny reality.

It was clear starting in 2014 that the point of the deal, as I explained here and here, was to realign American interests with Iran’s. I wrote that ignoring the anti-Semitism that inspires the Iranian leadership and filling its coffers would unleash the clerical regime and facilitate its expansionary ambitions, reaching even the Golan Heights. Iran wouldn’t spend the money from sanctions relief on fixing the economy, I

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showed, but rather on weapons, terrorism, and war.

I explained that tilting against American allies would put them, and U.S. interests, at risk, and increase the likelihood of war from the Persian Gulf to the eastern Mediterranean.

Obviously, the administration laid off Assad for the sake of the Iran deal, for as I wrote a year into the Syrian conflict, toppling Assad would punish his ally Iran, which was the last thing the White House wanted. Instead, the Obama administration was sheltering Assad even as the sociopathic Syrian despot sent more bodies through his meat grinder, even as he threatened to gas civilians. I explainedthat U.N. ambassador Samantha Power’s famous 2002 volume The Problem from Hell describing how the United States ignores genocides served as the administration’s playbook for ignoring Assad’s genocide of Syria’s Sunni population.

For all the current concern about Russia’s intentions to undermine American interests, I showed in 2012 that the Obama administration had made a deal with Moscow over Syria that allowed the Russians to keep their client Assad in power. I explained that no matter how much the Obama administration deployed pretend diplomacy to get Vladimir Putin to do the right thing in Syria, it was actually ceding American interests while facilitating a genocide to placate Russia.

And now, the most vociferous deniers and name-callers admit that what was plainly true all along is also true for them. Ben Rhodes admits the Iran deal was the priority that tied our hands on Syria, and if we had done anything about Syria there would have been no deal. Slate, which, like almost all of the press, pushed for the JCPOA while haranguing opponents in Congress and the pro-Israel community, now publishes a long article admitting the Iran Deal was a mistake. Yes, Josh Keating deserves credit for his re-assessment. But let’s be honest—he’s simply acknowledging a reality that it is no longer possible even for echo-chamber hacks to ignore, like the fact that Spain is no longer a powerful empire. Look,  CONTINUED ON P. 17

#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Israel News Israeli, U.S. Astronomers May Have Uncovered Proof of Mysterious ‘Dark Matter’  CONTINUED FROM COVER

na State University, which was published this week in the journal Nature

by Professor Rennan Barkana, Head of the Department of Astrophysics at Tel Aviv University’s School of Physics and Astronomy, suggests that the signal is proof of interactions between normal matter and dark matter in the early universe.

“Dark matter is the key to unlocking the mystery of what the universe is made of,” said Barkana. “We know quite a bit about the chemical elements that make up the earth, the sun and other stars, but most of the matter in the universe is invisible and known as ‘dark matter.’ ” Barkana said that while the existence of dark matter is inferred from its strong gravity, astronomers have no idea what kind of substance it actually

it is. As such, dark matter is one of the top remaining mysteries of physics.

However, when the scientists studied the radio signal from the early universe, they found that it had a larger amplitude than predicted, indicating that the primordial gas was colder than expected. This suggests that the gas cooled through the interaction of hydrogen with dark matter.

“I realized that this surprising signal indicates the presence of two actors: the first stars and dark matter,” stated Barkana. “The first stars in the universe turned on the radio signal, while the dark matter collided with the ordinary matter and cooled it down. Extra-cold material naturally explains the strong radio signal.”

Physicists have long expected dark-matter particles to be heavy, but the recent discovery indicates that they are likely low-mass parti-

Pattern of radio waves on the sky caused by the combination of radiation from the first stars and the effect of dark matter. Blue regions are those where the dark matter cooled down the ordinary matter most strongly. Credit: Professor Rennan Barkana.

cles, which has the potential to reorient the search for dark matter in the universe.

Based on this, Barkana predicts that dark matter produced a very specific pattern of radio waves that can be detected with large array of radio antennas such as the SKA, the

largest radio telescope in the world, which is currently under construction in South Africa.

“Such an observation with the SKA,” said Barkana, “would confirm that the first stars indeed revealed dark matter.”

Source: JNS

Op-Ed The Iran Deal Is Now Officially A Disaster.

So Where Were You?  CONTINUED FROM P. 16

see—there really are actual Iranian bases in Syria and real Iranian troops on the Golan Heights. Iran really did spend the $140 billion on weapons, not its own people—who riot in the streets against the regime.

What bugs me isn’t that the Obama administration and its media surrogates were wrong about one thing—like the JCPOA, or realignment, or the Syrian war. They were wrong about everything in the Middle East—just like George W. Bush was catastrophically wrong about Iraq. The difference is that back then, America still kept its word to its allies, Russia wasn’t in the Middle East, and Iran wasn’t flush with cash that we gave them to build a bomb. As it turns out, the smart kids were even dumber than the dumb kids. #21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

And four years of name-calling and groupthink didn’t alter reality one bit.

As it turned out, you didn’t have to be smart to get it right. You didn’t have to be a Middle East analyst. You didn’t need to have lived and traveled extensively in the region or know any Middle Eastern languages. Being honest, and making arguments based on evidence, sure would have helped, though.

Yes, the Obama administration made it uncomfortable for people like Josh Keating or Dennis Ross or Aaron David Miller or whoever else to say anything, even if they privately had their doubts. In 2012, I explained how the administration was targeting a politically active sector of the American public that was worried about the Iranian nuclear program— namely, Jews, especially Jewish Democrats. During the summer of 2015, when the White House was pulling

out all the stops to get the deal done, I reported here in Tablet how administration officials like John Kerry and even the president himself were threatening a particular group who opposed the Iran deal, calling them names like dual loyalists, war-mongers, beholden to donors, lobbies, etc. You know—the usual suspects and their neocon demagoguery.

To be plain, they were talking about you. About the pro-Israel community, the American Jewish leadership. About ordinary American Jews. About anyone who thinks or argues differently than they do—meaning everyone who was right when they were wrong.

Wake up. America is a free country—Augie March walked here, the same way that Walt Whitman did.

America needed the Jews at precisely the moment when they decided that it was more important to be “loy-

al” to a party and a president than to be faithful to their own genius and say the necessary thing.

Listen, it doesn’t matter how loud anyone yells or what names they call you. You can still register in any political party you want, and no one can kick you out, even the president of the United States. You can all stay Democrats—or become Communists, or even Republicans. But please, whatever you do, just stop playing the angles, and stop playing dumb. America has enough frightened conformists on both sides of the aisle who are afraid to say what they think or to think for themselves, without you.

America needs the Jews to think differently and help other people see the truth. As my boss here at Tablet once wrote, America needs its Jews to be Jewish. America needs Jews to speak uncomfortable truths, no matter who is in power, and no matter whose sacred cow gets gored. It will also keep us from being complicit in genocide—and try explaining that to your children.

Source: Tablet Magazine

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17

Community News Monsey Night Seder Bais Medrash Hosts Melava Malka Motzei Shabbos, Feb. 3, the Monsey Night Seder Bais Medrash, housed at Bais Medrash Shaarei Tefillah, 29 Parker Blvd., held its Ninth Annual Melava Malka. Over 150 people gathered to enjoy the gourmet repast offered and to imbibe words of Torah offered by Rabbi Moshe Weinberger, Rov of Agudath Israel of Avenue M and formerly a resident of Monsey and Rebbe at Mesivta Bais Shraga.

The chairman of the evening, Reb Nosson Schwab, a neighbor of the Bais Medrash and an active participant in its Daf Hashavua Program, introduced Rabbi Weinberger and of-

B’ezer Hashem, the Halacha Institute of Monsey just introduced a tremendous service to the Monsey Torah community and surrounding communities. A beis horaah has recently been established allowing for anyone seeking an answer to a halachic sheila, or practical halachic advice, to be able reach rabbonim experienced in offering halachic guidance in all relevant areas. This service is available several hours a day.

The beis horaah hotline has rabbonim answering in the afternoon,

fered words of hesped in memory of two participants in the Night Seder who passed on during the previous year, Hechaver Ray (Rafael) Levi, long-time Monsey resident, askan, member of Hatzalah, and supporter of the Night Seder, and Reb Nosson Munk, a member of the shul and long-time participant in the Night Seder programs.

The Monsey NIght Seder Bais Medrash has one mission only: to get as many people learning Torah as possible and offering as many opportunities to do so as possible.

Contact Rabbi Dov Perlstein at info@nightseder.com or call (845) 558-0600 to ramp up YOUR Torah learning! between the hours of 3pm until 6pm, and at night between 9pm and 1015 pm. The phone number is 845-3794849. The beis horaah can also be contacted via email at halachainstituteofmonsey@gmail.com. There are also sheila dropoff locations as well, which currently can be obtained by calling the beis horaah.

The Halacha Institute of Monsey also has a Kolel Choshen Mishpat, which is comprised of seasoned talmidei chachomim who are training to become future poskim and dayanim. The kolel is led by Rabbi Shlomo Perlstein who currently serves as a dayan and posek, and formerly served as a dayan in the beis din of Rav Nissim Karelitz Shlit”a in Bnei Brak.

Stein Yeshiva is honoring Shaya & Brachie Eisen of Pomona with the Parent Award on Monday, March 20th. To place a dedication or to attend the dinner, please call 914-965-7082.

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Toras Dovid Community Kollel Melave Malka

From Left to Right: Rosh Chabura Rabbi Avrohom Greenspoon Posek Rabbi Yisrael Simcha Schorr Shlitta Honoree Mr Moshe Lazar ,Found & Rosh Kollel Rabbi Yosef Simon, Guest Speaker Rabbi Label Lam

Ahavas Chesed Award honoree Mr Moshe Lazar with Founder & Rosh Kollel Rabbi Yosef Simon and Rabbi Reich

Monsey Times Announces New Upcoming Medical Guide The Monsey Times recently announced its upcoming medical guide, featuring special content on relevant subjects by the leading wellness professionals in the community. Created in collaboration with its editors, it’s an opportunity for medical professionals to strategically and seamlessly put their own content in front of a highly engaged audience, while building their brand.

The program allows leading healthcare professionals to leverage the independent editorial reputation of the Monsey Times to inform and educate the community on a broad range of topics that are of interest to its readers.

Partnering with the Monsey Times will give leading healthcare practitioners the opportunity to establish their position as thought leaders in the local medical community.

“Our Native Content Program will allow medical professionals to engage with our readers in a targeted way and within the framework of our highly read content,” said Barry Mase, Monsey Times publisher. “It is a smart, effective, and efficient way to build their local brand, and not rely on pushy, invasive ads.”

For more information about this new program, medical professionals can contact Alan Roth at (845) 3040705, and alanmroth@gmail.com #21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Torah & Inspiration How to Handle Toxic People

Three pieces of advice from ancient Jewish wisdom.

by Rabbi Tzvi Nightingale Like it or not, life is full of disagreements and disagreeable people.

The Mishna in Ethics of the Fathers sheds light on how to deal with people who can or have wronged us: Nittai of Arbel says: Keep far from a bad neighbor, do not become connected to an evil person and don’t ever give up on the notion of reward and punishment (Ethics of the Fathers, 1:7).

This Mishna is offering advice on three different levels of dealing with unsavory people.

The first and optimum choice is to avoid them altogether – “Keep far from a bad neighbor.” Some people we cross paths with are simply bad news, negative and toxic. The best advice is to try to completely avoid them.

As I often tell my kids, “Nothing good can come from this.” If you see a guy driving erratically on the highway, don’t try and teach him a lesson, don’t flash your lights or try to box him out.

Let him go on his way and keep your distance so you don’t get hurt by the collateral damage of his recklessness.

Don’t engage such people because “nothing good can come from this.”

Every morning we say an important prayer: May it be Your will, My God and the God of my forefathers

that You spare me today and every day from brazen and shameless people, from a bad person, a bad associate and a bad neighbor... from a difficult trial and a harsh litigant...

When it comes to being sued, very little good can come from it. Often when it comes to trials, court cases and the like, the best we are trying

tionship with them to a bare minimum.

Be cordial, be businesslike, don’t look to pick a fight, and don’t do anything social with them unless forced to because of circumstances, and as the Mishna says, do not befriend or connect with them. You might have to share space with these people, but keep your distance emotionally and mentally.

to do is get back to zero and limit the negative fallout. Nothing gets into the positive side of the scale in these situations and this is what this prayer and the first part of the Mishna are getting at: first and foremost we should do whatever we can do keep these people from entering our lives, including praying for it.

Unfortunately we can’t always avoid negative and toxic people. They may be family members, co-workers or your next door neighbor. That’s when the second statement of the Mishna comes into play. “Do not get connected to an evil person” is telling us that for those harmful people we cannot escape from, we need to keep our rela-

And finally we have the third statement of the Mishna that, at first blush, does not seem to fit in: “Don’t ever give up on the notion of reward and punishment.” The Mishna is addressing the situations when we can’t separate from bad people and, try as we might, they are in our lives and have had their negative impact on us. We are the victims of someone else’s bad behavior, bad decisions, evil designs and the like. We have suffered financially, emotionally, materially or physically from the rotten choices of rotten people. No matter how much we would have preferred to avoid them altogether (Mishna statement 1) or kept it to a minimum

(Mishna statement 2) sometimes it’s a sad fact of life that other people’s garbage stinks up our lives.

So what are we to do? Hold a grudge forever? Jewish tradition tells us that there is a God, there is Ultimate Reward and Punishment and that we should never lose sight of that fact. What goes around comes around; measure for measure is built into the fabric of Creation and the righteous will eventually prosper while evil withers. away.

We can see that on a national level where our enemies have disappeared to the trash heap of history while the Jewish People continues to grow strong and successful. The same is true on an individual level; eventually the good guys come out on top and the toxic negative people will self-destruct.

If we have suffered injustice, it will be addressed. Maybe not this year, maybe not next year maybe not in 10 years - but it will, if not in this lifetime, then certainly in the next. And if it’s any consolation, how often have we seen situations where someone did something terrible to us, we ended up hating them at the time but then years later, in retrospect, we saw the good come out from this.

Life is not perfect and unsavory people insinuate themselves into our lives. Stay away if you can, keep them to a minimum if you cannot and when all is said and done don’t forget that there is a just God who never forgets the evil done to you by another. Take a measure of comfort in that.

Source: Aish.com Rabbi Tzvi Nightingale is Director of Aish South Florida.

National Jewish News Orthodox Jews in WW 2 Shanghai: New Exhibit Reveals Stories of Rescue, Refuge, and Rebirth During the Holocaust  CONTINUED FROM P. 15

lowed soon after. Shanghai was the only place with unrestricted immigration and no entry visa requirement. It was the last hope for Ger#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

man and Austrian Jews to escape, and thousands did until 1941 when Jewish emigration was forbidden.

Shanghai then became a sanctuary for Orthodox Polish Jews who had fled to Lithuania only to find

themselves in the path of the Soviets and the Nazis. Chiune Sugihara, Japanese Vice Consul in Kovno, Lithuania, became their ally, disobeying orders by issuing transit visas to the Far East to every Jew who

applied. Upon arrival in Shanghai, the refugee population energized the tiny existing Jewish community, establishing Jewish schools for boys and girls and ensuring access to kosher food.

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19

News and Views From Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim AKA SCHEINER'S Yeshivas Kiymu v’Kiblu: Once again, the learning that took place at the Yeshivas Kiymu v’Kiblu – the learning program for the auspicious days of Purim – was a smashing success. What a sight to behold: a full house of people, taking time from their busy Purim schedules to put in some bona fide learning – on Purim Night and on Purim Day, as well as on Shushan Purim.

Many participants commented that they did have in their plans to get in some learning, but if not for this program, they may not have been had the structure to bring their plan to fruition. Additionally, participants related that this learning really set the tone for the entire day, going to do the mitzvos hayom, after filling up with some solid learning.

The Kiddush Hashem of this remarkable sight made an indelible impression on many passersby and even those who were not able to stay for the entire time were able to be uplifted and some even joined – some even for just a short time – in the exhilarating atmosphere of learning.

The Night Kollel Daf Hashavua Program is starting Meseches Tannis. Come join this new and exciting mesechta. The shiur takes place on Monday – Thursday evenings from 8:15 – 8:45.

The Night Kollel is starting a new shiur in the acclaimed Sefer: “Zerah Shimshon,” known to be mesugel for yeshuos and brachos. The shiur will be taking place every Thursday night: 8:15 – 9:00, in 18 Forshay Main Bais Medrash, followed by Maariv at 9:00.

The Kollel Boker will be taking a short break from their trek through Meseches Rosh Hashanah to focus on some inyana d”yoma, a Pesach-related topic. Over the next few weeks, the kollel will be learning the topic of selling the Chametz, Biur Chametz, and Serifas Chometz. Come join us and gain clarity in this fundamental topic.

The Night Kollel hosted another shiur from Rav Yitzchok Lichtenstein, in continuation of the topic: “Seder Kidushin and Nissuin – Halachah L’maaseh.” He discussed some of the halachos the chupa and the sheva brochos under the chuppah. He mentioned that in the Brisker dynas-

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ty they do not split the sheva brochos between different people, because the brochos are supposed to be interconnected, as a brocha ha’smucha lachavertah, which some opine is only applicable if it is the same person reciting both brochos. He also mentioned that in Brisk they are careful that the mesader kiddushin also drink some of the wine, since he is the one that recited the brocha.

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As the kollel is wrapping up this topic, there will be an MP3 available in the shul of all of the shiurim given on the topic of “Seder Kiddushin and Nissuin.”

Spotlight on the Shovavim Initiative: Ohr Chaim just recently finished their Shovavim program, where the young and old – both bochurim and married men, from across the spectrum of the entire community –

joined forces in the wee hours of the morning of the six weeks of Shovavim.

There was a packed house, with approximately 100 participants each week – for 3 hours each morning – of the six week program. This brings us to a total of around 2000 hours of learning! Many participants expressed their great enthusiasm for the beautiful and uplifting experience and conveyed their hope to be back next year!

‫פורים תשע"ח‬

#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Torah & Inspiration Accountability

By Rabbi Berel Wein

The main lesson of this week’s Torah reading, which may possibly be obscured by the wealth of Mishkan detail that appears in these closing chapters of the book of Shemot,, is the basic Jewish concept of accountability. Moshe accounts for all of the work that was done in the construction of the Mishkan/tabernacle and for every shekel that was expended in that project.

Moshe was troubled when he could not initially account for the one thousand shekels that were apparently missing and that did not allow him to balance the books fully.

Only later, when he was able to recall that the missing silver was used to fashion the hooks that held the curtains of the structure, was his account complete and fully accurate.

In the last analysis of life, accountability is the main challenge and test that faces us. King Solomon in Kohelet informs us that all of our actions and behavior will be accounted for in God’s system of justice. It is this concept of accountability that allows the basic axiom of Jewish life, reward and punishment, the temporal and eternal, to function.

One of the great weaknesses of individuals and societies is that they somehow feel that they are not accountable for their errors, sins, omissions and failures. We live in a world where everyone and everything is entitled to a pass. In our Torah-on-

ly educational system, the older the student becomes and the higher the level and reputation of the institution he or she attends, the weaker the demands of accountability become.

Without a system of testing, and with no realistic goals for scholarship there is a complete lack of accountability. In the long run this is destructive to the individual and to the system itself.

In democracies, elections held periodically are meant to hold political leaders accountable. Though in practice this does not always work, the theory of accountability is at least present in the society and the political system. In a dictatorship there never is any voluntary day of reckoning or demand for accountability.

No one likes to be beholden to the judgment of others, therefore we see that in businesses, educational institutions, social agencies and religious institutions, mini-dictatorships abound.

The prophets of Israel held the lead-

ers and the people of Israel accountable to the moral teachings of the Torah and to God Himself, so to speak.

Thus the prophets of Israel served as the necessary brake to an otherwise dictatorial, all-powerful monarchy.

The rabbis of the Talmud were acutely aware that they were accountable for their decisions and behavior. Often times that sense of accountability focused on the presence of another individual rabbi to whom one somehow felt accountable. The great Mar Shmuel mourned the death of Rav by saying that the “person that I feared and was accountable to is no longer with us.” The idea of accountability stretches over generations. We are all accountable for the past and for the future. And it is in that light that we will certainly be judged, and how the accomplishments of our lifetime will be marked and assessed.

Copyright by Rabbi Berel Wein and Torah.org

The Most Important Thing A Man Should Do For His Wife Giving in is a sign of strength, not weakness.

by Emuna Braverman For the past two weeks I’ve been addressing wives about the singular importance of putting our husbands first. Since it takes two to tango, I would like to address the husbands. What is the one tool that men could implement that would make a significant difference in their marriages? To answer this question, I turned to my husband.

He actually suggested a long list of behavior and attitudes but when asked to boil it down to one, he said, “Always give in and always let it go.”

Given my experience with him, I might amend it to “almost always” but that’s another conversation! But I can testify, he is very good at forgiving and letting go.

Men sometimes feel that to give in is to be unprincipled, that to give in is a slippery slope that will lead to no control, that to give in will silence your voice in the conversation. It’s a sign of weakness.

In truth, the ability to give in is a sign of strength, not weakness. Marriage is not about proving who is #21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

right; marriage is not about getting your way or asserting your importance. Marriage is about working together and, in this case, making your wife feel validated.

There are very few, if any, situations that are resolved by someone asserting that this is the way things are going to be done. The “my way or the highway” approach does not lead to successful relationships (did that really need to be said?). There may be sincere philosophical differences that require the intervention of a mutually agreed upon third party, but those situations are rare. Most disputes are over issues of relatively trivial value and giving in is the more generous approach. Does it really matter what color the walls are or which couch you choose? Can you trust your wife’s opinion about your children’s education? (If not, you may have a deeper problem that is beyond the scope of this piece.) Discussions are great; arrogance and assertions of power are not.

But what if you are a man who is all sunshine and light and yet your wife doesn’t always respond in kind?

She’s a ….human being! She has her good days and her bad days and sometimes, despite all your best efforts, the conversation becomes contentious. The two of you get into a fight. How do you move on?

At this point, the best, the wisest, the most successful course is to let it go. The Torah admonishes us not to bear a grudge. If this is true for all of our relationships, how much more so for our marriages! Just let it go.

The more you hold on, the more resentment will build. The more resentment, the worse your marriage will be, until all you have left are the bad feelings with no memory of what caused them to begin with. Most issues are just not worth it. Maybe you lost your temper – apologize. Maybe she lost her temper. Yes, she should also apologize – but move on. Move past it. Whatever “it” was, it’s not worth holding on to. Not at the cost of your relationship.

Usually after a particularly heated

discussion, my husband will say to me, “Are we friends again?” He is always willing to take the initiative. I confess to be less willing. Sometimes I’m grumpy and I mumble, “Not yet”. This is not the full credit response! But the point is, that even if you let go, your wife may still not respond in kind. It’s not magic. You’re not doing it to be noble or get your way or to get brownie points. You’re doing it because ultimately it’s good for your relationship and because that’s the kind of person you want to be.

So even if it takes her a little longer to come around, you’ve still taken the high road. You’ve still shown her that she and your marriage take priority over your ego, over proving who’s right, over your insecurities.

It is not easy. If it were easy everyone would be doing it. But just making the effort will make a big difference.

If this is new behavior, it might take a while for your wife to get used to it. She may be waiting for the other shoe to fall; it may take a few minutes, hours, days for your wife to recognize your silence and generosity. Don’t give up. You will be happy with the new man you have become – and chances are she will also.

Source: Aish.com

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23

Torah & Inspiration Shabbat Shalom – The Guf / Nefesh Peace Treaty

By Rabbi Schechter 35:1 “‫ויקהל משה‬ ‫את כל עדת בני‬ ,‫ישראל ויאמר אלהם‬ ‫אלה הדברים אשר‬

‫”צוה ד' לעשת אתם‬ “Moshe assembled the entire assembly of B’nei Yisroel and said to them, ‘These are the things that Hashem commanded for them to do.” Rashi tells us that this took place the day after Yom Hakippurim, when Moshe came down from Shomayim after having achieved a Kapparah for Klal Yisroel for the Chet Ha’eigel.

Moshe came down with the second Luchos, signifying Hashem’s forgiveness, and renewed love for His peo-

ple. They were worthy of carrying out Hashem’s command to build the Mishkan. Before telling us about the building of the Mishkan, the Torah inserts two Pesukim about Shabbos, and then proceeds to tell us about the Mishkan. We learn from Shabbos being stated first, that one cannot build the Mishkan on Shabbos.

The Gemara in Shabbos 97b tells us that the thirty-nine prohibited Melochos on Shabbos are learned from the thirty-nine categories of Melacha in the Mishkan. What is this direct connection between the Mishkan and Shabbos?

The Shechina has Hana’ah from the Birchas Hamozon that a person recites. The eating that one does is inherently difficult for the Shechina, as it says that a person’s sustenance is as difficult as Krias Yam Suf (Pesachim 18a). When one says Birchas Hamozon in the proper manner, it goes up to Shomayim, thereby bring-

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ing Shefa back down to this world, so that the person can have more sustenance. This is in respect to the weekdays, a time that the Shechina only has Hana’ah from the Brochos a person makes before and after eating.

The Birchas Hamozon makes a crown for the Shechina, and therefore sends back down sustenance with joy. However, on Shabbos, it is completely different. For on Shabbos the Shechina has great Hana’ah from the physical sustenance a person consumes, and has great joy. On Shabbos the Shechina has Hana’ah from both the physical food, and from the Brochos recited. (‫)זוהר הקדוש‬ A person is a compound consisting of a Guf and a Nefesh. Each one of them seeks what is good for itself.

The Nefesh seeks Torah and Mitzvos, for that is what is good for it; that is its sustenance and strength. On the other hand, the Guf seeks food, drink, relaxation etc… for that is what gives it its sustenance and strength. During the weekdays, when the Guf seeks what is good for it, it pains the Nefesh – for what is good for the Guf is not good for the Nefesh – the Nefesh would rather be learning Torah and performing Mitzvos. When the Nefesh seeks what is good for it, it pains the Guf, for the Guf would rather pass the time by doing business, and doing things which can further his Gashmiyos. It is only during the weekdays that the Nefesh and Guf are at odds with each other, however on Shabbos they make peace, for the eating and Oneg on Shabbos is also a Mitzvah; it is good for both the Guf and the Nefesh.

When one eats that which he is permitted, in a permitted manner, the Guf has benefit as does the Nefesh. So too, when one learns Torah on Shabbos, the Guf is not pained, for Shabbos is a day of rest anyways, when the person cannot work in business, thereby, this Torah

study will not bring a financial loss.

If the person wasn’t learning Torah, he would be “wasting his time” some other way, so he may as well learn Torah as far as the Guf is concerned. This is why people say to each other, “‫שבת‬ ‫” “וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קודש‬.‫”שלום‬ – The Gematria of “‫ ”קודש‬is 410, the same Gematria as the words, “,‫שלום‬ ‫ טוב‬,‫טוב‬.” On Shabbos, there is “‫”שלום‬ between the Guf and the Nefesh, and they do not fight with each other because it is, “‫ ”טוב‬for the Guf, and “‫”טוב‬ for the Nefesh. Each one is fine with the other having good, for it does not infringe on its own goodness. “‫ – ”וביום השביעי‬It is only on Shabbos Kodesh, that can be called, ‫קודש‬, for it is only then when the Nefesh and Guf are at peace. (‫)ברכת הרי"ח‬ Klal Yisroel were to build a Mishkan for Hashem. Perhaps they may have thought that they don’t really need it, and they were doing it for Hashem. First we are told about Shabbos. Shabbos is a time when Hakodosh Boruch Hu rested, and we are to rest. It is a time when our Guf and Neshama are to be at peace with each other, for everything is all for the sake of Hashem.

The Gemara in Pesachim 112a says, “More than the calf wanting to nurse from the cow, the cow wants to nurse the calf”. Hakodosh Boruch Hu, like the Parah, wants to heap much goodness upon us. It is we who are doing things to withhold it, yet Hakodosh Boruch Hu seeks to give it anyways. Klal Yisroel were to build a Mishkan so that they could do more on their part to bring goodness to themselves, for it was not that Hakodosh Boruch Hu needed it. May we use this awesome power of Shabbos to rise to great heights in Ruchniyos, so that the Shefa that Hakodosh Boruch Hu sends our way can get to us. In the Zechus of our recognizing that everything truly comes from Hashem, Who is Mashgiach over all, may we be Zoche to become purified, and be Zoche to see the rebuilding of the Bais Hamikdash, ‫!במהרה בימינו אמן‬ Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Schechter is the author of Parshah Pshetl.

#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Torah & Inspiration The Person In The Parsha

“Black Sabbath” We were walking down the long airport corridor on the way to the boarding gate. Somehow, it seems that whenever my wife and I have a flight to catch, anywhere, our gate is always at the furthest end of the long hall. We had plenty of time until the airplane departed, but somehow I experience an urgent need to rush whenever I am in an airport, and so we were in a hurry.

There was a couple coming toward us, equally hurried. At first, they didn’t even come into focus for me.

They were just anonymous faces in a crowded hallway. As they came closer, there was something vaguely familiar about them. I turned to my wife and said, “Don’t we know those people from somewhere?” “I don’t think so,” she responded, “but they resemble the Goldblatts.”

As we came still closer to each other, we realized that indeed they were the Goldblatts, but a twenty years older version of the Goldblatts we knew.

Of course, we were a twenty years older version too, so it was no wonder that they didn’t recognize us either.

But soon we were face-to-face, and the intervening years vanished, and the good memories resurfaced.

We all slowed down our rushed pace and took some time to reconnect with each other.

“We can never forget,” exclaimed Mrs. Goldblatt, “the Friday night that you had us over for a Shabbat meal.

What we remember most was the light—the candles, the chandelier, and the standing lamps in the corner. They made the entire dining room glow.”

“Yes indeed,” agreed her husband. “Real light and spiritual light; real warmth and the warmth of friendship.” #21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

I first met Mrs. Goldblatt in a professional context. She was the administrator of a large social services agency where I consulted. She was, to say the least, not a religiously observant Jew. But when her mother passed away, my wife and I paid her a condolence call. She did not “sit shiva” in any traditional sense, but let her friends and acquaintances know that she was home for the weekend and accepting condolences.

At that visit, we learned about her background. Her parents had been ardent communists, and in fact her father was the last editor of a once famous Jewish communist newspaper. She made it clear that she shared her father’s atheistic vision as well as his social ideals. Her husband’s weltanschauung was not very different from hers.

As we left her house, my wife and I uttered the same words to each other: “We must have them over for a Shabbat meal!” And so we did.

Now do not think for a moment that I am about to relate some wonderful story of a religious transformation. Quite the contrary. The Goldblatts came to our home one Friday night, we had a stimulating conversation, good food, and our kids behaved themselves. And then we went our separate ways, occasionally exchanging greeting cards over the years, but no more. As far as we knew, they remained religiously indifferent.

Until that encounter in the airport corridor, it was then that we learned how much of an impression that Shabbat dinner made upon them, and about how that one evening had changed their attitude toward Judaism. And of all the things that they remembered, it was the light and warmth that they remembered most.

When we were finally on our flight, I had time to think, and I found myself reflecting upon a verse in this week’s double Torah portion, Vayakhel-Pekudei, (Exodus 35:1-40:38). The verse occurs very near the beginning of the parsha and reads “...On the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord...You shall kindle no fire throughout your settlements on the Sabbath day.”

Two classic Jewish thinkers, neither of whom I mention frequently in this column, speak about this verse and its interpretation by an ancient sect of the Jewish people, the Karaites.

This group denied that there was any interpretation possible of the Bible except a literal one. They claim that there was no such thing as an Oral Law and rebelled against rabbinic tradition.

This sect persisted for many centuries and was persecuted, along with mainstream Jews, by our enemies throughout history. I have heard tell that there are still remnants of that sect in Israel and the Balkan countries.

But all I know about the Karaites is what I have read in the works of the great Jewish philosopher, Saadia Gaon, and in the biblical commentary of Abraham Ibn Ezra. Both of these sages see our verse and its interpretation as one of the major differences between traditional rabbinic Jews and the Karaite sectarians.

The rabbis understood this verse to mean that one could not kindle fire on the Sabbath, and that cooking was prohibited on that day. But they go into great detail about how to prepare in advance stoves and lamps that will heat and illuminate our homes and keep our Sabbath foods warm throughout the Sabbath day.

The Karaites understood the verse quite differently. “You shall kindle no fire...” meant, for them, that all fires had to be extinguished before sunset on Friday, and that the home had to remain dark and cold. They would partake of no warm food for the entire day.

Their Sabbath was darker still.

They forbade intimate relations between husband and wife on the

Sabbath, and they insisted that the biblical verse which enjoins us to remain in our places on the Sabbath was also to be taken literally. So they left their homes only to attend their houses of prayer, but not even to visit family and friends.

How different is the Sabbath prescribed by our rabbinical sages. They insist that our homes be well lit, and to this day we are careful to include at least one hot portion of food in our Sabbath day meal as a statement against the Karaite heresy.

The Goldblatts (this, of course, is not their real name) remain to this day as ignorant of rabbinic Judaism as I am of the Karaite version of our faith. But their one visit to our Shabbat table was sufficient to dispel their previous notion of the Sabbath as a day of darkness and despondency.

They learned that the Sabbath home is a home of warmth and light, and that the Sabbath day is indeed a gift from the Almighty’s special treasury.

My family and I are proud that we were able to create a Sabbath environment on that Friday night long ago which could teach that lesson to our dear and respected friends, the Goldblatts.

Would that each of us, less observant or more so, would create such a Sabbath environment this Friday night and for every Friday night for the rest of our lives. May we all bask in the glowing light and loving warmth of Shabbat this week as we read Parshiyot Vayakhel and Pekudei.

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb is the Executive Vice President, Emeritus of the Orthodox Union. Rabbi Weinreb’s newly released Person in the Parasha: Discovering the Human Element In the Weekly Torah Portion, co-published

by OU Press and Maggid Books, contains a compilation of Rabbi Weinreb’s weekly Person in the Parsha column. For more information about his book, go to https://www.ou.org/ oupress/product/the-person-in-theparasha/. For other articles and essays by Rabbi Weinreb, go to http:// www.ou.org/torah/parsha-series/ rabbi-weinreb-on-parsha.

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25

Torah & Inspiration “Watching” The Matzos

By Rabbi Nachum Scheiner In connection to the upcoming yom tov of Peasch, we would like to share with you a shiur that was given by Rabbi Nachum Scheiner, at the Night Kollel of Ohr Chaim.

There is a special halachah that we find in regards to baking matzo for pesach: one must take special precaution to oversee the baking and ensure that the dough does not become chometz. Although one should have been able to just check the final product and see if it has any of the signs that it is chometz, that is not sufficient and one must take precaution throughout the process to ensure that it does not become chometz.

The Shulchan Aruch Harav elucidates this concept. He spells out that the requirement of shmira is that once there is a possibility of the dough becoming chometz, one must take extra care to ensure that it does not become chometz. Consequently, as soon as the water is put into the flour and the kneading process commences, there is a possibility of the dough becoming chometz, unless one puts in extra effort to finish the matzo as quickly as possible.

“Watching” the matzos – when does it start?

The Shulchan Aruch codifies the time of the requirement of shmira as preferably from the time of ketzira, the harvest, or at least from the time of techinah, the grinding. However, in a case of extreme necessity it will suffice if one does shmira from the time of lishah, when the flour comes into contact with water, which is when it will become chometz if one does not take the proper precautions to ensure that it does not become chometz.

Based on this, one should be allowed to even buy flour from the local grocery. However, since today’s flour is usually bleached, which can make it become chometz, this is not an option.

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The reason why it is preferable to start watching from the time of the harvest is because of the possibility that the grain can come into contact with water and that may cause it to become chometz. The Biur Halachah recommends following the Pri Chadash and the Gra, who were extremely strict in requiring shmira from the time of the harvest.

The reason for requiring shmira from the time of grinding is because they would use a watermill and since the grain came into close proximity with water, one should take extra precaution to ensure that there is no contact with water, which can cause it to become chometz. The Mishna Brura points out that if one is using a windmill or grinding by hand this would

not be an issue and there would be no need – according to this opinion – to start shmira from that time.

“Watching” the matzos – through a non_Jew The Shulchan Aruch states that a non-Jew cannot be used to do the “watching.” He is not qualified for properly watching the dough from becoming chometz. There is a dispute in the poskim if a non-Jew can do the kneading and baking, with a Jew watching (omed al gabav). The Mishna Brura explains the opinions that allow is because the non-Jew will follow the instructions of the Jew. Another reason given is that even if the non-Jew is doing the work, the Jew, who is standing there, can be the one who is vigilant that it does not become chometz. This is because

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the requirement is to do shmira and that can be accomplished by the Jew standing on the side.

The reason for the opinion that does not allow a Jew to watch from the side, explains the Minchas Chinuch, is because it is almost impossible to properly watch something which is in someone else’s hands.

He marshals many proofs to this concept.

The question, however, can be raised: if we are careful to have shmira from the time of the harvest, should that, then, require us to have the harvest done only by Jews?

The Chasam Sofer addresses this

question and points out that there is a fundamental difference between the shmira that is needed after the harvest and the shmira that is required from the commencement of the kneading. Once the kneading begins, the clock has started to tick and the one working with the dough must do everything in his power to ensure that it does not become chometz. That, says the Chasam Sofer is something that cannot be done by a bystander. However, the shmira that takes place after the harvest is to ensure that no water comes into contact with the grain and that can be accomplished by a bystander.

This shiur, as well as many other shiurim, are available on the shul’s website 18Forshay.com, as well as in booklet form at the shul.

Rabbi Nachum Scheiner of Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim has been raising the bar of Torah learning with great success throughout the Monsey community. Rabbi Scheiner heads the Kollel Boker, the Evening Kollel, the Sunday morning Halacha Chabura, Yeshivas Bein Hazmanim, Yarchei Kallahs on legal Holidays, and the Friday morning Shovavim Learning.

#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Torah & Inspiration Halachic Questions And Answers

By Rabbi Pearlstein Question. – I cooked potatoes in a clean fleishig pot. I’d like to eat those potatoes together with cheese. May I do so?

Answers. This and similar questions are quite common, so permit me to explain the issue somewhat at length. The Torah writes in several places (in Parshas Mishpatim, Ki Sisa, and Re’ah) one may not cook meat and milk together. The halacha is, as well, that one may not use the same utensils for meat and milk, as b’lios (taste particles) that reside in the pot from its previous use, may be transferred from the utensils to the food inside the utensils. If one cooks milk in a meaty pot, the b’lios of meat in the pot will enter the milk and that will be as if one cooked meat and milk together, thus making the milk forbidden because of basar b’chalav (meat and milk together). The pot will become “treif” as well as it has b’lios of meat and milk together.

That, however, is only if one actually cooks milk in a meaty pot, or vice versa. If one cooks potatoes in a meaty pot, although b’lios of meat will enter the potatoes, that doesn’t necessarily create a halachic issue.

This situation is referred to as a “Nosein Taam bar Nosein Taam” or as its acronym a “na”t bar na”t”. That means, although meat blios that enter a pot render the pot meaty, nevertheless, if the meat b’lios that are stationed in the pot are transferred to another station, and at that point no issur was formed, then those b’lios cannot ever create an issur afterwards. In our case, the meat b’lios that were first stationed in the pot, and then afterwards in the potatoes are second “generation” b’lios; once they reach their second station and were not assur, they’re weakened to #21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

the point that even if they come in contact with milk afterwards, they cannot create an issur. Therefore, due to the “weakened” state of the meat b’lios in the potatoes (it’s already at its second station and they’re still muttar) if one were to put cheese on the potatoes there would be no issur of basar b’chalav. (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 95:2)

from the plate to the potatoes they are weakened.] Although we do not pasken like this opinion b’dieved, and if one already placed cheese on the potatoes, the potatoes may be eaten, however, acc. to the Rem”a, l’katchila, one should not rely on the fact that the cooked potatoes are na”t bar na”t and therefore one should not put cheese on the potatoes.

If one puts cheese on the potatoes the potatoes are muttar to be eaten; nevertheless, the Rem”a writes that l’katchila one should not use those potatoes with cheese. The reason is since there are Rishonim that maintain if the potatoes were cooked in a meaty pot (and certainly if they were broiled in a meaty utensil where there is not even a medium of water), that would not be considered a na”t bar na”t, as the b’lios are transferred to its second station rather powerfully. [This opinion maintains that na”t bar na”t only applies to a case where the potatoes were placed in a meaty plate, not cooked in a meaty pot. Although the potatoes were hot, by the time the b’lios are transferred

There is another point that needs to be discussed. B’lios in a pot can only forbid another food, if they are going to improve the taste of the food they enter. If the taste added by the b’lios into the food is going to be detrimental, those b’lios cannot forbid the food they enter.

Based on that rule, Chaza”l teach us that b’lios in a utensil that is “aino ben yomo” i.e. over 24 hours old, as they entered the utensil over twenty four hours ago, those b’lios become “pagum” i.e. ruined, and they cannot forbid the food they entered. For instance, if someone cooked meat in a (clean) milky pot, that wasn’t used for milk or any milk product for over 24 hours, the meat that was cooked

is perfectly kosher and may be eaten. M’drabonon one should not use an aino ben yomo milky pot for meat and vice versa, and in such a case the pot needs to be kashered; the meat, however, is muttar to be eaten, even l’katchila. The milk b’lios that entered the meat were “pagum” and thus cannot forbid the meat.

In this case, if the potatoes were cooked in a meaty pot that wasn’t used for meat for the previous 24 hours, technically, the potatoes are not meaty at all. The halacha that the Rem”a is stringent l’katchila about relying on a cooked na”t bar na”t, does not apply if the pot that was used was an aino ben yomo. Thus, one can use the potatoes in this case l’katchila with cheese.

The aforementioned is if one cooked it in the fleishing aino ben yomo pot, and then decided to use it with cheese. That, is muttar l’katchila. To cook the potatoes in a meaty aino ben yomo pot with the express intention of using it with cheese, that is subject to a machlokes between the Chochmas Adam who says one should not do so, and the Gr”a who seems to be lenient in such a case. Therefore, if one can use a different pot one should preferably do so. When there’s no other option, one may be lenient, and cook the potatoes in the aino ben yomo meaty pot in order to eat the potatoes with cheese.

Rabbi Shlomo Perlstein in an alumnus of Yeshivas and Kolel Ponovezh; he is a musmach of Rav Shlomo Zalman Ullman, and a talmid of Rav Dovid Feinstein shlit”a of Bnei Brak. He studied Choshen Mishpat under several of today’s premier dayanim, including Rav Mendel Shafran Shlit”a, and eventually joined the Beis Din of Rav Nissim Karelitz Shlit”a. After moving to Yerushalayim, he served there as a rav and rosh kolel. He recently moved to Monsey, and currently serves as a dayan, moreh horaah, and is Rosh Kolel of the Kolel Choshen Mishpat of the Halacha Institue of Monsey.

For more info: halachainstituteofmonsey@gmail.com

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27

Rockland News A Letter from a Concerned Resident 14 years ago the Town of Ramapo produced a Comprehensive Plan and the only mention of Seniors living in single family homes is to say they “no longer need or want the responsibilities associated with maintenance of a single-family home” while completely ignoring that many Seniors in the community DO WANT TO REMAIN and spent considerable amounts of money maintaining their single-family homes so grandchildren can visit them in the houses their parents grew up in. This was both discriminatory and degrading to people who expected to live in the homes they purchased over 50 years ago in the expectation they would be able to live out their lives here. Instead, Seniors like my parents have been harassed by developers who want them to give up living among homes they enjoy with lawns and gardens. The developers are surrounding them with the same urban monstrosities they moved away from. If they had

wanted to live among multi-family high-rises and be forced to endure bumper-to-bumper traffic they would have stayed in the city. The Town of Ramapo has shown in the past only heartless disdain for their long-time Senior residents.

Recently I, my parents and several of our neighbors met with Supervisor Specht at his request but any action he may take is only for the future. The Town needs to rectify the omission from the Comprehensive Plan 14 years ago and the resulting improper zoning for those affected by it NOW without delay!

Even though the Town of Ramapo has made it easy over the last 15 years for realtors and developers to push out many senior residents through their hostile zoning and planning, enough remain that Monsey should be designated a Neighborhood Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NNORC). I understand this is not a designation that affects zoning but

Senate Passes Bill Aiming To Stop Baby Formula And Over The Counter Medicines From Being Sold On The Black Market ALBANY, NY– Senator David Carlucci (D-Rockland/Westchester) announced the Senate has passed his legislation, S4048, which is aimed at keeping household products off the black market. The bill outlaws the sale of products like baby formula, aspirin, and ibuprofen by anyone not licensed to sell these products or expressly authorized by the manufacturer. Criminals know baby formula is in high demand and often a major expense for new parents so selling it on the black market has become all too common. Sen. Carlucci says the legislation would cut down on theft and keep consumers safe.

“There is a thriving black market that exists for some of these products and consumers have to be vigilant about what they purchase and

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from where. Thieves pray on the needs of consumers and in turn could be putting their health at risk deliberately tampering with these products,” said Sen. Carlucci, who Chairs the Consumer Protection Committee in the Senate.

The Senate had passed this bill last year, but it failed to make it out of the Assembly. The bill is now again in the Assembly’s hands.

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something must be done to protect Senior Citizens from a small group of developers and realtors who have no regard to the needs, desires, rights and established expectations of residents who, over the course of just a few years, found themselves besieged by urban tenements.

If the Ramapo Building and Planning Board & Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) were performing their tasks fully as required by law they would be advocates for the older residents of the community who BECAUSE OF THEIR AGE and their means are unable to provide the detailed neighborhood studies like traffic the Planning and Board and ZBA want the residents to provide to respond to the attorneys of hostile and predatory Developers at repeated Public Hearings that in many cases wear down elderly attendees. The Boards should be performing these tasks themselves! Senior residents should not have to hire attorneys to counter those of developers.

If they were sincere, supposedly religious Developers and Realtors would have respect for the senior residents they try to shoehorn tenements next to. But since they apparently forget the words of Leviticus 19:32 -”You shall rise before a venerable person and you shall respect the elderly” and for those construction expediters who seem to have learned their ethics from Snidely Whiplash, I humbly ask you, our State representatives, to legislate protection from heartless developers for these Senior Citizen residents of Rockland County and elsewhere by requiring NY State municipalities to establish and correct residential zones that respect and take into account the needs, rights and expectations of seniors who want to remain in their homes (which was NOT done

by Ramapo in 2004) and enforce those regulations properly.

Thank you.

Asher Kaufman Monsey, NY

Coast Guard Beaches Six Barges That Went Loose On Hudson The Coast Guard and partner agencies have beached six barges that broke away from their moored location on the Hudson River.

The construction barges were drifting south of the Tappan Zee Bridge last Friday afternoon.

The barges were beached in various locations between Dobbs Ferry and Yonkers. Another two barges are aground in the area of Palisades Park, New Jersey. The captain of the Port has instructed that a tug remain on scene with each barge until conditions stabilize, the Coast Guard said last Saturday.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New York received the initial report of the adrift barges from Irvington Police Department in New York.

A small-boat crew from Coast Guard Station New York arrived on scene along with Westchester Police Department, FDNY and other local agencies, and confirmed the location of all eight construction barges.

One of the multiple barges floating loose on the Hudson River on Friday.

Photo Credit: Palisades Parkway Police

The United States Army Corps of Engineers will conduct a first-light underwater survey of the channel between the Tappan Zee Bridge and the George Washington Bridge to determine if any underwater obstructions are present.

The Coast Guard will monitor the removal of the construction barges from their current location. There have been no reports of injuries or pollution at this time.

The Coast Guard is continuing to investigate the incident.

Source: Ramapo Daily Voice #21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Rockland News

Over the past two weeks, the children in ASHAR have been living Parsha in their classrooms.

The teachers have truly made their Parsha lessons into exciting, fun and hands-on learning experiences. The children were so excited to build a model Mishkan and to dress up like a Kohein and a Kohein Gadol doing their Avoda in the Mishkan-Hashem’s special house!

O&R Utilities Partnering With Tesla To Bring Power To Hudson Valley Orange and Rockland Utilities is partnering with electric car company Tesla to bring battery power to some of its 300,000 customers on the electric grid.

Spokesperson Mike Donovan says the utility company would install Tesla batteries in certain locations and use them to power businesses and homes. The hope, he says, is to take stress off the grid and save everyone energy costs by having to build fewer substations.

“We had planned a $65 million substation but pushed that back a few years to build a battery,” he says.

Donovan says O&R is starting small, installing only six to eight batteries in strategic areas that he says the company will determine later this year.

How many articles of clothing do we wear? 4

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Company officials say its partnership with Tesla is a three-year project. The first stage of installing batteries, they say, will take about 11 months.

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Op-Ed How Do We Protect Our Schools?  CONTINUED FROM P. 5

ceive of, even those in the school who were truly underprivileged.

Why was this so? Because each of these children absorbed in their mother’s milk, and during each day of education they received, that stabbing and killing another human being is absolutely evil; it is eternally wrong. It is not a social norm, or only against US law; it is essentially and intrinsically evil, and G-d holds each of us responsible for immoral behavior.

This is what penetrates the hearts and souls of children.

This is what children need to hear, each day of their lives.

Teaching children that murder is wrong because it is against the law, or it is not “nice,” does not penetrate the heart of hearts of many youth. It is a shallow argument. By teaching our children that the Creator and Ruler of the world has deemed certain behaviors as wrong and evil, and this Creator cares about the behavior of every person and expects of him/her to behave with goodness and kindness toward others, and will hold this child responsible for their actions, we can hope to ingrain these values in them in a far more effective way. The child must be given to understand that the world is not a jungle, for there is a Creator and Master who sees and evaluates all his actions, there is an, in the expression of the Talmud, an “eye that sees and the ear that hears.”

When morality is based on my own moods and inclinations, or the norms of the school or the society, I can end up justifying the most heinous crimes. Germany was the most advanced nation in science and philosophy, yet in the name of science it produced the most chilling criminals in the annals of human history.

King David put it in Psalms: “The genesis of wisdom is the fear of G-d.”

When children are inculcated from the youngest age with a “fear of G-d,” in the healthiest sense of the term, with a recognition that G-d has deemed certain behaviors evil, and He is watching them, there is a far greater chance for them to behave morally, despite inter-

30

nal turmoil and all types of challenges life my confer upon them.

Faith, of course, can also become a source of evil. Ask the Islamists. When we teach our children that G-d wants them to murder “infidels,” religion becomes toxic and dangerous. Yet the solution is not to dismiss the notion of absolute right and wrong, just as the solution for obesity and cholesterol is not to stop eating all together; it is to stop eating the wrong foods.

One whatsapp message going around today captured it well.

“Dear God, why do you allow so much violence in our schools?

Signed, a concerned student.

“Dear concerned student, I’m not allowed in schools. Signed, God.”

A father comforting his son following the school shooting at Parkland, Florida

A Single Man’s Revolution There is one man I know seeking to create some change in one city. [1] At the border of Crown Heights and Brownsville, in an impoverished corner of Brooklyn, stands the hulking, tan brick building that houses P.S. 191, the Paul Robeson School.

The school serves a student population that is remarkable in its disadvantage: 99% of its roughly 300 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade qualify for free or reduced-price lunches; some live at the homeless shelter next door.

But every morning at 8:30, half an hour after rambunctious kids come bouncing into the building in their blue school uniforms, this school becomes remarkable in a different way.

It gets quiet. For a full minute, there is only silence.

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After a teacher and a handful of students announce the moment of silence over the loudspeaker system and offer something to think about for that day — a personal goal, or how to help someone else — each and every person at P.S. 191, from the littlest 4-year-old pre-kindergartener to the principal, pauses for 60 seconds.

P.S. 191 has been observing this morning ritual for the past three years, ever since Avraham Frank, a Chabad Chasidic Jew heeding the late Lubavitcher Rebbe’s call (back in the 70s and 80s when the violence in schools increased dramatically) for a daily moment of silence in public schools, walked in off the street and introduced the idea to the principal. So far Frank, a white-bearded 64-year-old with a day job managing home attendants for New York City’s Human Resources Administration, has persuaded administrators at 13 public schools in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens to institute a moment of silence.

His goal, he said, is to get moments of silence into schools “all over the city.”

Though school-sponsored prayer in American public schools has been prohibited since the 1962 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Engel v. Vitale, voluntary, student-initiated, private prayer is not. In response to the ban on school-sponsored prayer, there has been a nationwide push for the introduction into public schools of daily moments of silence that students can use to pray or reflect.

“I have seen tremendous changes behavior-wise and in terms of punctuality,” said Sonia Witter-Clue, the supervising school aide. “The kids want to be here for the moment of silence. When they miss it, you can see they’re upset.”

Her 5-year-old granddaughter and 8-year-old son, both students at P.S. 191, love it so much that they insist on having a moment of silence even at home on the weekends, she said.

And it has had a direct impact on the kids’ academic success, said Hadar Gafhi, the school’s assistant principal.

“It focuses the children,” she said. During the moment of silence

“they’ve made their resolutions for the day and are ready to learn, and they get right to work,” Gafhi said.

“We’re seeing tremendous academic growth in our kids.”

Today, we need a paradigm shift in education both at home and in schools across the country. We must teach our children to be “mentchen” not only for the police not to get them in trouble or for people to disapprove of their behavior, but because there is something called right and wrong— and it matters. Kids will get that.

The Rebbe to Reagan Thirty years ago, on May 17, 1987, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, penned a letter to President Ronald Reagan in The White House. “…It is particularly gratifying that you… bring to the attention of the Nation and of the International community the need of upgrading education in terms of moral values, without which no true education can be considered complete.

“Consistent with your often declared position, that ‘no true education can leave out the moral and spiritual dimensions of human life and human striving,’ you, Mr. President, once again remind parents and teachers, in the opening paragraph of your Proclamation, that their sacred trust to children must include “wisdom, love, decency, moral courage and compassion, as part of everyone’s education.” Indeed, where these values are lacking, education is - to use a classical phrase – “like a body without a soul.”

“With the summer recess approaching, one cannot help wondering how many juveniles could be encouraged to use their free time productively, rather than getting into mischief - if they were mindful of - to quote your words - a Supreme Being and a Law higher than man’s…”

Source: theyeshiva.net This article was taken with permission from www.TheYeshiva.net. The author of the article is one of the most sought after speakers in the Jewish world today. To subscribe to Rabbi YY Jacobson's weekly essays or watch his classes, please visit www.theyeshiva.net.

#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Features Musings From The Challah Fairy

by Chanalee Fischer Schlisser Rabbi Berel Wein does not know this, but he taught me a most valuable lesson. In one of Rabbi Wein's many books, which are all fascinating and teach us lessons for generations, he tells a story about an incident he had with someone who angered him.

He wrote this person a letter, but before mailing the letter, what did he do?. He put it into his desk drawer for a day or two. When he had sufficiently calmed down from the episode, he could then make a productive and conscious decision of whether to mail the letter or not.

Why am I sharing this with you, my dear readers?

Two weeks ago, I went to listen to Parshat Zachor. I was disturbed and disappointed as to what occurred in the shul I was in. After Shabbos, I put pen to paper, figuratively, and wrote a nasty article for my Monsey TImes column. Luckily, Barry decided to post-

pone the issue for one week, and the article, which I deleted, will float for all eternity in cyberspace.

Suffice to say, I was not happy the way people behaved in shul, as the lack of respect and derech eretz for the sanctity of davening was compromised.

And then came Purim.....Challah Fairy had to be at work....baking does not go on vacation because of Purim.

Children and families who wait for challahs to be delivered to their schools each Friday to bring home for Shabbos, would have been very disappointed.

We started baking very early in the morning in order to accommodate "me", so that I could enjoy part of this wonderful day. The beautiful Megillah that my parents bought us as a gift was brought with me to the cafe in the morning, with plans to read it on my own while the baking was going on. "What"?, my mother asked, when I told her. "Why can't someone read it for you?". I explained to my mom...

when I read it on my own, there is no daydreaming.

And then just like that......as I procrastinated once again to sit and accomplish this feat.....a van filled with six of the nicest Lubavich boys drove into the parking lot and appeared like little messengers from heaven into the cafe...

Allow me backtrack for a moment.

Every Friday two of these six boys come to the cafe to wish me a good Shabbos. When they do, they produce, out of their knapsacks the weekly "My Story", about someone's encounter with the Lubavicher Rebbe and how the person's life was changed. I am disappointed when they cannot come.

They each leave with a challah for their Shabbos. I know.....you're thinking....I'll come to the Challah Fairy every Friday to wish Chanalee a good shabbos and she'll give me a challah....well....maybe!

Back to my story.....The boys walked in and asked whether I heard the Megillah. I told them my plan was to read it on my own. One of the young men of-

fered.....If I read the Megillah to you and promise to be done in under twelve minutes, would you let me do it? Whoa....of course.....duh!!! I am not sure who was more excited.....me.....or them? I was not as excited as I was truly touched! Here were a bunch of kids....yes....they were kids. They look forward to Purim for the purpose of having fun, escaping from their daily routine. And what did they do Purim morning? They were actually looking for someone to whom they could ready the Megillah.....lucky me!

The young man who read the Megillah told me that his dad bought it for him for his bar mitzvah, on the condition that he learned to read it. This was definitely one of the highlights of my day.

His friends stood around for moral support and before I knew it, we were done.

And I heard and followed every word....

Thank you to these wonderful and committed Chabad messengers who appear when we least expect it; whatever they do, it is with pure simchas hachaim and ahavas Hashem.... there is not other way to explain it.

Ta'ali V'tatzlichi!!

To be continued.....

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31

Philosophy of Life for the Non Equestrian

How To Be Powerless  CONTINUED FROM P. 8

manent. “I don’t know how much longer she can keep going on like this. If it was my horse, I would put her down”. I don’t want him to say this. I want him to take back his words. But he doesn’t take them back. He just looks at me. I want to keep Sweetie around forever. But I know that’s not in my power.

Appreciate what you have.

It is 6:40 pm Sunday night and it’s time for me to drive my newly turned sixteen year old son Akiva to his bus. He goes to Yeshiva in Waterbury and comes home every other Shabbos. As we are in the car I ask him “Do you have your shoes?”. “Yes” he says. “Do you have your coat? It’s getting cold.” “Yes” he says. “Do you have enough money?”. He looks at me and says “Mom! I am more independent than you think!”. I say “I know. I am so

proud of you.” But as I watch him get on the big yellow bus and drive away my heart says “Slow down, slow down, you are growing up so fast.”

Appreciate what you have.

Whether we have electricity or not, we are all powerless. To think you have any power at all is a giant illu-

Aiden and Silver on a snowy day

sion. So be consciously aware. From the humble flicker of a candle to the brilliance of the sun. Get in the habit of being thankful for the people in your life. See the beauty in them.

Don’t wait until something is taken away to notice its absence. Instead, be aware of its presence. There is greatness in what you have been given today. Appreciate what you have. This is how to be powerless.

Dana Mase is the founder and executive director of Ride Kind Therapeutic Riding, and equestrian director for The Ranch at Bethel, a therapeutic boarding school for girls. Dana’s column, called “Horse Time,” teaches inspirational life lessons learned from working with horses and people.“ Horse Time” is featured in numerous worldwide publications. Dana can be reached at dana@danamase.com or at 845-356-1464.

Dear Basya Dear Busy and Distracted,

Dear Basya, As Pesach gets closer I am finding myself too busy to eat lunch. I find that I am actually not very hungry at lunch time, probably because I am so busy. Is it ok to skip lunch a few times a week? I am hoping it will give me that extra boost and make me lose weight faster.

Signed, Busy and Distracted

32

You are asking a great question, however, the answer is no. I really do not recommend skipping any food on our plan, but I find that skipping breakfast or lunch does the most potential damage. Although we may not feel the hunger immediately, it usually comes back to haunt us later at night in the form of noshing and nibbling. This is not to say that if you eat lunch you will never crave at

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night, but a proper lunch will fortify you and help you have the self control needed later on in the day.

I like to compare it to missing a night of sleep. If you stay up all night for a wedding, you may not feel the effects right away. However, if the children are extra challenging the next evening, you may be more short tempered with them, even though it is almost a full day later! This is not to say that the children would have otherwise been easy to manage, but

with a full night’s rest you are more likely to handle them patiently.

It is the same idea with skipping a meal. Even if we feel ok at the moment, the effects of the skipped food can come back at a later time and make trouble for us. So at this busy time of year (which will only be getting busier!) it is more important than ever to make sure to eat right!

Best, Basya

#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

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Features Helping Victims of 9/11 and First Responders

By Reuven Epstein, Esq.

Where were you on September 11, 2001?

If you were an adult on September 11, 2001, you almost certainly remember exactly what you were doing when you heard that terrorists had crashed planes into the World Trade Center, causing them to collapse. (For the record, I had just started a deposition, and all the lawyers decided that we couldn’t possibly continue. Instead, we tried to find out more information). More than any other event, 9/11 was so big, so shocking and so heartbreaking, it is impossible to forget that day - even after 16 years.

The Victims Compensation Fund (VCF)

But what about the victims of 9/11? Obviously, victims suffering from fatalities and serious injuries, can never be adequately compensated for their loss. Congress set up a fund to at least offer some financial compensation. The Victims Compensation Fund (VCF) has paid out billions of dollars to the thousands of victims, or their families, for the injuries they have suffered.

The Zadroga Act The collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11 also released 2000 tons of asbestos fibers into the air. It soon became evident that many the brave first responders were suffering from diseases that were related to their exposure to toxic dust and debris.

Workers cleaning up the debris and others were also becoming ill at alarming rates. Congress enacted additional legislation – the Zadroga Act, named after a responding New York City police officer - that allows responders, clean up workers, 9/11

survivors, and residents of the area to seek compensation if they were harmed by the toxic dust and debris.

This fund is also available to 9/11 survivors even if they were already compensated by the victims compensation fund.

Unfortunately, experts estimate some 35,000 people to be diagnosed with 9/11 related cancers between 2016 and 2025! Approximately 70 different types of cancers are covered, provided claimants can prove exposure. Although cancers are expected to be diagnosed through 2025, the required registra-

tion – a compensation eligibility requirement- expires soon, well before that date, (unless extended). A twohundred-page information packet is available on the government website, vcf.gov. Additionally, I have worked on 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund cases and would be happy to answer any questions.

Jeff and I are always available to answer any injury related questions you may have.

Reuven Epstein, Esq. and Jeffrey Adams, Esq. For more information See our website: www.rocklandinjurylaw.com Reuven Epstein received his law degree (J.D.) from Benjamin Cardozo Law School in 1988 and his Masters of Law from NYU Law School in 1990.

Mr. Epstein is admitted to practice law in the State of New York (1989); State of Connecticut (1988); United States Court of Claims; and the United States Tax Court. He can be reached at info@reuvenjepsteinlaw.com.

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#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Features Vehicle Maintenance

by Elia and Eliezer Filhart Maintaining your car is essential for keeping it on the road. It is tempting to avoid car maintenance in tough economic times, however, a well maintained car will last longer, get better mileage and is safer to operate.

According to the pros at the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence "neglect causes components to wear out faster than they would other wise." If a vehicle has a minor problem and is not addressed it can result in more expensive repairs later.

Some of the important maintenance items include oil changes and oil filters, air filters. proper battery care and checking the tires.

Oil Change: Motor oils have an important role in keeping the car's engine running. There are several different types

#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

of oil changes, such as conventional oil and synthetic oil. The car manufacturer suggests which king of oil to use on each vehicle. A conventional oil change is performed about every 3,000 miles while a synthetic oil change is performed at about 5,000 miles. It is best to have these oil changes so that sludge doesn't build up in the engine and causes other problems down the road. Frequent oil changes will keep your vehicle in better condition and the car will last a lot longer.

Filters There are three things that make an engine run, a spark, fuel and air.

The spark plugs ignite the air and the fuel (gas). Without gas the car cannot go, and air is needed to burn the fuel.

What stands between the engine and the dirty air outside in the air filter. This filter blocks about 98 percent of the dust and other contaminants. If the air filter is dirty it cannot

Battery Car batteries ill last as long as they are supposed to. This could be about five years unless neglected. If the lights are left on accidentally or the radio is left on, or there is an electrical short, this will lessen the time that the battery will last.

Tires do its job and dirt can enter the engine. Over time the dirt will reach the oil supply, which will wreak havoc on expensive internal compon ents.

Most cars today are equipped with cabin air filters. This filter keeps the air inside of the car clean and free of dust, smoke and other odors. The cabin air filter works similarly to the home air condition system. To keep you car running better and get a more comfortable ride keeping the air filters up to date is recommended.

Rotating the tires is very important for car maintenance. If the tires are rotated regularly they will wear evenly. Most tire warranties demand that the tires be rotated on a specific mileage schedule. This is usually between thre3e thousand and five thousand miles.

There are other maintenance items that need to be checked and I will write about them in a future article.

Have a safe drive, Elia and Eliezer SHOHAM CAR REPAIR 845-352-5553

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35

Features Wear A Mask

by Rich Marinelli I watch my grandson who is only one month old sitting in his swing.

I watch him when he is awake and when he is sleeping. I watch him endlessly. It soothes my soul, and I wondered why. In the commentary on this week’s parsha, it says that the Ketoret of the Kohanim is an acronym for what is supposed to emanate from them, that being Kedusha (Holiness), Tahara (Purity), Rachamim (Mercy), Tikvah (Hope). I think that these are the very things that a baby emanates. They are not touched by the negatives of this world and, as we stare at them, we enter a dreamlike state where we envision the world as they do, full of beauty and fascination. We could immediately warn them of the dangers this world poses, but we don’t and we shouldn’t, not yet. We wear a mask. We only give them glimpses of

reality so they can absorb it without becoming cynical.

My instructors taught me that when I come to train I need to clear my mind of all the negative thoughts and distractions that I have accumulated during the day. It’s the only way to be able to focus on the task at hand. As an instructor, when I enter the school I put on my Taekwondo instructor’s mask. Nothing from the outside matters; the only thing that matters is conveying the love that I have for the precious art that has been gifted to me. The students will always feel and react to your mood, so I use that mask to make sure they know that the dojang (Taekwondo school) is their safe place for learning and training.

When you’re in a conflict, whether verbal or physical, the tendency is to tense up, physically in the shoulders and internally in accelerated breath and heart rate. The mind be-

comes cloudy. This is when the mask is most necessary. You must convince yourself that you are up to the task and consequently you will be perceived as such.

When Ali beat Foreman to win the boxing championship, the fight was really won before it even started. At the weigh in Ali made this crazy face and started screaming like a mad man. Foreman was afraid of Ali not because of his superior skills, but because he thought he was crazy.

Ali’s mask won the fight.

The mafia was famous for giving their wise guys scary nicknames like Ice Pick Willie who was actually Israel Alderman. It made them feel tougher and also made others think they were tough. Tommie Lasorda wanted Orel Hershiser to be a fiercer pitcher so he nicknamed him “Bulldog” and called him that all the time. This mask transformed him from a very good pitcher to a spectacular one in 1988.

While I do believe that you should never really be angry at a small child, it is important that sometimes they

Men & Boys 11yrs & older

think you are. This is a really important mask. Use that mask sparingly and strategically and your children will learn quickly the difference between right and wrong.

When my daughter was in the hospital as a child, I was amazed by the energy of the staff, the doctors and the nurses. There was even a clown with a real mask. There were many sick kids, and yet there was nothing but smiles all around, so the kids were smiling too. That was because before they came to work, everyone had put on their masks, masks of holiness, purity, kindness and hope.

So next Purim put on your masks and fantasize that you can be greater than you currently are and that Amalek will be defeated once and for all.

Use your masks to make the world a better place to live.

Rich Marinelli 6th Dan Black Belt Chief Instructor Human Weapon Taekwondo

Sun 6:45-8:00pm Mon & Thur 7:45-9:00pm

Boys

Sun 5:30-6:45pm Tue 6:30-7:45pm

6-10yrs

Women & Girls 6yrs & older

(Female Instructor) Mon & Thur 6:15-7:30pm

12yrs & older

Sun 10:15-11:30am

Beginners Boys/Girls 5-11yrs

Hapkido/Self Defense Men & Women

Sun 4:30-5:30pm Tue 5:30-6:30pm Sun 8:00pm

16yrs & older

36

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#21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

Food & Wine

Hi Everybody! Every week, I want to publish a new recipe from one of our readers. I know there are a lot of great cooks in our special town so let's share our yummy recipes with each other!

Here is the place to do it. You can send in your fav recipe to editor@monseytimes.com.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Oven “Fried” Cauliflower 1 head cauliflower – leaves trimmed, washed, and dried well ½ cup Pereg plain matzo crumbs ¼ cup mayonnaise 1½ tsp. kosher salt ¼ tsp. garlic powder ¼ tsp. black pepper 2 Tbsp. olive oil Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Combine the matzo crumbs, salt, garlic pow-

Pesach Matzo Balls 2 eggs 2 Tbsp. oil 1/2 cup matzo meal 1 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. Pereg Zahtar 1/4 tsp. baking powder 3 Tbsp. water In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil. Stir in the matzo meal, salt, Pereg Zahtar, and baking powder until well combined, and then stir in the water. Note that the mixture will be very loose but will thicken as it stands. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

der, and black pepper in a bowl.

Place the cauliflower head on the sheet, rub the mayonnaise all over it, and then coat with the seasoned crumbs. Once the head is completely covered, pour the olive oil over the top of the head and let it trickle down. Bake for 45 minutes. This whole head of cauliflower makes a beautiful side dish, cut into slices to serve. Alternatively, you can use cauliflower florets. Coat them in mayo, sprinkle the seasoned crumbs and oil on top and roast.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Scoop approximately 1 oz. of the batter, gently form a ball, and add to the water. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and let simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the cooked matzo balls with a slotted spoon or spider strainer and add to soup.

LOOKING FOR NEW RECIPES? HAVE RECIPES YOU WANT TO SHARE?

Submit your favorite recipe by emailing

editor@monseytimes.com #21/ March 7, 2018 / 20 Adar, 5778

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37

Health CrossFit for Health

By Michael Gross

For the past 15 years, the biggest craze to hit the fitness industry came in the form of a workout program that emphasized interval training and Olympic weightlifting. It may not be for everyone, but CrossFit is certainly a great way to stay fit. We must note, however, that it is always most important to listen to one’s own body and it’s limits Intensity: CrossFit is a fast-paced, intense workout that can take less than 15 minutes a day because that quarter of an hour is going to be condensed, nonstop movement. It may only be three or four routines but it’s a concentrated shot of exercise and it burns the system — in a good way.

Time efficient: In a span of 15 or 20 minutes, you’ll be asked to com-

plete as many rounds of a specific circuit as you can. By the end of it you’ll have burned more calories than a regular workout.

Building relationships: Often times a gym is just a collection of random people focused on doing their own different exercises. At a CrossFit box, which is what they refer to as their gym, it’s a community. You’re surrounded by a group of people who encourage you and help you push your boundaries. Even the people who finish last get a round of highfives for pushing themselves as hard as they can. Everyone has the same goal in mind: to get in the best shape possible. The camaraderie in CrossFit is part of what makes this exercise experience so unique.

Dynamic workouts: The workouts are sometimes hard to describe because they are so multidimensional. When you’re doing CrossFit, you’re not just going to the gym to bulk up or to climb steps. It is a program that

mixes many different exercises that push all parts of your body to their limits. As they say, CrossFit’s specialty is not specializing. It’s constantly changing, which keeps your mind and body from getting bored.

Personal coaching: All CrossFit classes are led by a coach to ensure proper form, provide modifications, encouragement, uphold standards, and occasionally give you a “no rep” when they see you not doing something properly or not giving your full effort. Your coach will become an inspiration, counselor, buddy, nutrition advisor and your biggest cheerleader.

Increased joint mobility: This is a result of the varied functional movements involved in a CrossFit workout – you’re not just doing simple weightlifting, but moving your limbs in all different directions. Also, by learning the proper ways to lift heavy things off the floor and hold them overhead, your risk of injury in your everyday life significantly decreases.

Overall improved health: CrossFit was created to focus on these major domains: stamina, strength, co-

ordination, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, accuracy, endurance.

This is achieved by promoting neurological and hormonal adaptations across all of the metabolic pathways in the body. The combination of the vast variety of movements leads to a complete transformation of your personal quality of life.

Michael is a pioneer in the burgeoning indoor trampoline park industry. He is managing member of Bounce! Trampoline Sports, overseeing the development and operation of 8 locations currently for this franchised brand. His trampoline park located in Valley Cottage, NY was the first of its kind in the tri-state area when it opened in November of 2011. Michael is a founding member of the IATP (international assoc. of trampoline parks) and on the ASTM committee establishing standards for the indoor trampoline park industry. Michael has been involved with health oriented physical activities his whole life and continues a daily regimen of cross fit training at his home in the heart of the Catskill

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