In the case of Sunday’s “Stand Together: An Event of Unity, Strength and Resilience” event, only about 2,500 people filled seats in the 41,000-capacity National Stadium in Washington, DC. But while the crowd was small
compared to the nearly 300,000 people who packed the National Mall one year ago, those who attended heard passionate and inspiring speakers and lively entertainment.
Sunday’s event was organized by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Con-
Progressive Torres: Why I back Israel
Rep. Ritchie Torres, the gay Black Latino progressive Democrat whose Bronx district includes Riverdale, is one of Congress’ most outspoken supporters of Israel and fighters against antisemitism. After JFNA presented him with its Yitro award, here’s what he said.
LIn its first report on the mass assaults on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, the city’s government has accused the Israelis of chanting “hateful and racist songs against Arabs.”
This language, which appeared in the fifth sentence of the 12-page report published on Monday, marked a shift from city officials’ earlier rhetoric, including Mayor Femke Halsema’s statement that “there is no excuse” for the assaults.
Herman Loonstein, a prominent Dutch-Jewish lawyer, accused the municipality of victimblaming, telling JNS that the document suggests that “the Jews did it.”
The report, titled, “Violence in Amsterdam Around the Ajax-Maccabi Match,” was published ahead of a debate scheduled for Tuesday about the events of Nov. 7, when at least 100 Arabs perpetrated a coordinated series of assaults against
ference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Two-hundred partner organizations were invited, and an estimated 2,000 people scheduled to attend the JFNA General Assembly the next day were also asked to attend.
Organizers first predicted that 40,000 peo-
ple would attend, then 30,000. In the middle of the five-hour rally, the emcee, actor and comedian Tiffany Haddish, asked: “Where are all the Jews out there, anyway?”
below and on pages 2 and 3.
Montana Tucker, an America singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, videographer and social media celebrity, opened the day’s program with these remarks.
Every day on my social media platforms, I am sharing the real and raw stories of those whose lives have been forever altered — hostages, survivors clinging to the pieces of their former lives, and families waiting for answers. When I walked the Grammys red carpet this year, I chose to wear a dress with a yellow ribbon reading, “bring
Israeli soccer fans following a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and the local Ajax team. It was the largest-scale series of antisemitic incidents in the Netherlands since the Holocaust and one of the largest events of its kind in Europe in recent decades.
The report’s release coincided with a fresh wave of unrest in Amsterdam that featured the torching of a tram amid antisemitic shouts about “cancer Jews” and anti-Israel protest actions across Amsterdam and Utrecht.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the Nov. 7 event a “pogrom,” as did many locals, including Geert Wilders, leader of the Netherlands’ largest political party and a partner in the ruling coalition. Wilders tweeted following the tram’s torching: “First a Jew hunt, now intifada.” He has called for deporting all perpetrators of the Nov. 7 assaults. See Amsterdam on page 2
Relatives of hostages Keith Siegel, Omer Neutra, Yair and Eitan Horn, Arbel Yehoud, Oded Lifshitz, Sagui Dekel Chen and Itay Chen, hold posters picturing their loved ones, beneath a giant photo of 5-year-old hostage Ariel Bibas, brother of 1-1/2 year-old hostage Kfir Bibas.
Coverage
JFNA photos by Stephen Jaffe and Larry Levin.
See Montana on page 2
See Torres on page 2
Amsterdam…
Continued from page 1
Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dick Schoof reportedly called the attacks a source of “shame,” as did Dutch King WillemAlexander, who referenced the abandonment and near annihilation of Dutch Jewry during the Holocaust.
Yet amid intense media coverage of the assaults locally and internationally, some voices criticized the Israelis and asserted or suggested that they had instigated the violence. •••
The introduction of Monday’s report by the municipality reads: On Nov. 8, the world awoke to terrible images from the pitchblack night Amsterdam had experienced. Four days later, anger and fear and disbelief are still felt. Images of Israeli soccer fans chased, assaulted and abused. Screenshots of antisemitic messages like the call for a “Jew hunt.” Films of hateful and racist chants against “Arabs.” Of pulling down and burning of a Palestinian flag and targeted assaults of Jewish and Israeli fans, featuring many antisemitic statements. With regards to this, city authorities declare that one party’s violence is never an excuse to more violence. Our city’s heart bleeds due to these events. Amsterdam residents everywhere feel pain.
“It’s a hopelessly naive report, a terrible piece of bureaucraticspeak,” Rabbi Meir Villegas Henriquez told JNS. He called it “cover for officials to not take responsibility.”
Loonstein, the lawyer, noted that the municipality’s reference to the behavior of Maccabi fans fails to explain why hundreds of people on Sunday defied a ban on anti-Israel protests on the Dam, which led riot police to arrest dozens. It also does not explain why dozens of people participated in rioting on Monday night, where a tram was torched on 40-45 Square, named for the victims of the Nazi occupation, he said.
“I haven’t heard yet that the Jews also torched the tram yesterday,” said Loonstein.
Several eyewitnesses told JNS that groups of Arab men were scanning the city center for Israelis systematically and not in response to any violence by Maccabi supporters that they’d witnessed. Three riot police officers who were on the streets of the city center on Thursday night told the De Telegraaf daily on Sunday that the Maccabi fans had not acted violently.
“I absolutely don’t see why it’s being claimed that Maccabi fans were out to stage confrontations — the opposite is true,” one officer told the Dutch daily on condition of anonymity.
Amsterdam Police Chief Peter Holla on Friday said at a press conference that Israelis had damaged a taxicab and stolen a Palestinian flag in the city center. One of the riot police officers interviewed by De Telegraaf said the flag had been hung prominently and deliberately to provoke the Israelis. Another police officer said that the circumstances surrounding an incident involving a taxi were not yet clear.
The police report says a group of taxi drivers “was mobilized” and headed towards the Holland Casino, where some 400 Israelis were present. “Police led out the Israelis to avoid a large-scale confrontation,” the report said. It did not say whether the taxi that was allegedly damaged was part of the “mobilization.”
Earlier in the day, footage surfaced online of two men attempting to burn a Palestinian and a Dutch flag at a soccer stadium. Men were chanting “Gaza is a cemetery” in the background.
Footage also showed dozens of men shouting “Let the IDF win” and “[expletive] the Arabs” in Hebrew as they entered a metro station after sunset.
Jazie Veldhuyzen, a councilman on the City Council of Amsterdam for the BIJ1 party, which says it promotes anti-racist policies but has often been accused of espousing antisemitism, is one of several Dutch politicians and opinion shapers who have blamed the Maccabi fans for the assault against them.
“Video footage of armed Maccabi hooligans, attacking people from Amsterdam that look like Arabs or Muslims with metal pipes, stones and fireworks. All under the protection of the Dutch police. Here you have your ‘victims’,” tweeted Veldhuyzen. He was among those present at the illegal demonstration Sunday at Dam Square. Lucas Winnips, a senior municipal adviser, was also present. •••
On Nov. 8, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, who was a leader of the left-wing D66 Party, was asked by a journalist at a press conference about the alleged provocations by Israelis. She replied: “There can be no excuse for what happened.”
Asked as to reports that the perpetrators were all Arab or Muslim, she said: “This is an issue that needs to be researched. The background and ethnicity of people, that’s not something I can comment on right now, nor do I want to.”
On X, De Telegraaf journalist Wierd Duk anticipated an inversion of the narrative about Nov. 7 which would turn the Israelis from victims to perpetrators.
“From this evening on, there will be a new dominant narrative in media, the political echelon and public opinion,” he tweeted on Nov. 10. “The framing is that the Jews again brought it on themselves — in this case that Maccabi hooligans misbehaved terribly, which is true — prompting our Moroccan-Islamist street heroes to react appropriately, with a few minor excesses here and there.”
Police arrested 62 people before and after the assaults, but none during them, police officials confirmed on Sunday. Of those,
10 were Israeli residents, 49 were residents of the Netherlands and the residence of the remaining three was still being determined, according to Monday’s report. On Monday, only four people were in custody, all of them Dutch. Police or prosecutors are looking into taking legal action against only 11 people, the report said. It did not say whether those suspects facing potential prosecution were Israeli or Dutch.
The document notes that, despite efforts to avoid violence, “nasty incidents happen regularly in Amsterdam, affecting Jews but also increasingly Muslims, Palestinians and other minority groups.”
In the conclusions of the report, the authors wrote: “What has happened in recent days is the result of antisemitism, hooliganism, and anger over the war in Israel and Palestine and other countries in the Middle East.” The report also said the ethnic identities of the perpetrators will be looked into in further research of the events of Nov. 7.
The assaults in Amsterdam happened on the eve of the anniversary of the Kristallnacht Nazi pogroms of 1938 in the Third Reich.
On Monday, police in Belgium arrested six suspected copycats of the Amsterdam assaults who are suspected of planning, using instant messaging, to attack ultra-Orthodox Jews.
ome victims of the Nov. 7 assaults were made to beg for mercy on their knees and say “Free Palestine.” Others, including at least one woman, were set upon by men without any verbal exchange. At least one man jumped into a canal to escape his attackers; another was hit by a vehicle. According to reports, attackers asked to check the passports of people they confronted on the street.
About 25 people were hurt during the assaults, with injuries ranging from moderate to minor.
As many as 2,000 Israelis returned to Israel on eight emergency flights out of Amsterdam over the weekend, El Al reported.
Following the Hamas-led onslaught on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, several European countries reported an explosion in recorded antisemitic incidents. In the Netherlands, the Center for Information and Documentation recorded an increase of 245% in antisemitic incidents in 2023 over 2022.
Torres…
Continued from page 1
has become resistance.
In that world of lies and blood libels and false narratives, the most important contribution that I can make as a member of Congress is not only my vote in the halls of Congress, but my voice in the public square. Those of us in public office must have the moral courage to cast the light of truth and hope in a world darkened by deception and despair.
Now, people often ask me, you know, Richie, you’re not Jewish, you’re Black, you’re Latino. Why do you speak out so forcefully and frequently against antisemitism?
And I simply reply — the question is not, why have I chosen to speak out? The question is, why have others chosen to be silent amid the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Tanswer to the question of why I choose to speak out lies in Torah. There’s a passage in Torah that appears as an inscription on the Liberty Bell. It reads, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”
The deeper message is that none of us is free until all of us are free. And so I see my freedom as a Black Latino from the Bronx as inextricably bound to the freedom of the Jewish people. I see the
security of my own nation and home, the United States of America, as inextricably bound to the security of the Jewish homeland. And I’m here to affirm that I am pro-Israel, not despite my progressive values, but because of my progressive values.
•It is progressive to defend Israel’s right to defend itself.
•It is progressive to stand for the US Israel relationship.
•It is progressive to demand to the release of the hostages who must be brought home.
I’ll end with this final message. When I’m speaking with the next generation of Jewish leaders, I tell them, in an age of amplified antisemitism, be proud of who you are.
Take pride in your Judaism and Zionism. Live not in shame but in pride. Live not in fear, but in freedom. Because where there is fear, there can never be freedom.
I am so proud to stand with all of you as a fearless warrior in the fight against antisemitism. We stand together. America stands with Israel.
G-d bless the greatest country on Earth, the United States of America. G-d bless the State of Israel. Am Yisrael chai. And G-d bless the greatest friendship on Earth, the US-Israel relationship.
Montana…
Continued from page 1
them home.” I wanted to do everything that I could to make sure no one missed my message, and to make sure the hostages and their families felt seen and heard. …
For me, this is extremely personal. My grandparents were Holocaust survivors, and my zaydi used to tell me stories about how he was beaten up daily by Nazi soldiers at the labor camp that he was enslaved to work at because they were trying to force him to say that he hated being a Jew and that he didn’t want to be a Jew anymore. My zaydi refused to give in, and he never gave up. He was never going to stop being a proud Jew.
My grandma, Lily, is still alive today, at the age of 96, She was just 13 years old when she was taken to Auschwitz. She had to watch her own mother get beaten up and dragged off to be killed in the gas chambers. She witnessed atrocities that no child should ever have to see.
[My grandparents] instilled in me a deep Jewish pride and a deep sense of responsibility to remember but also to speak out. It’s that responsibility that led me to create my Holocaust educational docuseries called “How to Never Forget.” …
As I traveled back to Israel and walked among the ruins left by terror, I knew that I had to share the stories of the most vulnerable, the children. These children had to witness similar atrocities as my grandmother witnessed. So I filmed a documentary called “The Children of October 7” [to be released in December].
If we allow terror to silence innocence, if we keep tolerating hate on our campuses, in our cities, in our lives, then we compromise our values, our laws, and ultimately our humanity. We cannot allow that — not now, not ever, never again.
From the beginning of our people’s history, there have been many attempts to wipe Jews off of the planet. But guess what? We are still here, and we will always be here. We are not going anywhere. We are strong, we are powerful, we are resilient, we are proud, and we will never give up.
So let’s say something and do something. Thank you for being here, for standing with Israel and for supporting the cause of justice and peace. Let us continue to stand together to strive for a world where freedom, justice and peace prevail. Am Yirael chai.
Principal Hillel Goldman accompanied students from Rambam Mesivta in Lawrence to Sunday’s rally in Washington, DC, to demonstrate their support for Israel and their fellow Jews.
Scenes from Sunday’s ‘Stand
Together’ rally in Washington
Students stand strong at rally
Students Sani Meena and Evan Cohen (pictured above presenting JFNA’s Yitro award to Rep. Virginia Fox, who chaired the House Committee on Education and Workforce) spoke as proud Americans, proud Jews, and proud Zionists. Meena is a pre-med human biology student at UC San Diego and chair of Hillel International’s Israel Leadership Network; Cohen is a computer science major and a French minor at the University of Michigan.
Shani Meena
Over the last year, professors and students have attempted to rewrite history and redefine our identities.
Since my freshman year at UCSD, we’ve listened to our student government debate resolutions holding Israel to a double standard. We’ve seen Students for Justice in Palestine build their apartheid wall in the center of our campus and plaster it with blood libels. And days after Oct. 7, still reeling in tragedy, we heard fellow students chanting for the annihilation of the only Jewish state.
But I stand up to them. When they chant from the river to the sea, I ask, you mean the genocide of the Jewish people? Our greatest threat to those who wish us harm is our unshakable pride. They try to silence us with fear and uncertainty, but we respond defiantly by being loud and proud.
Evan Cohen
I was fortunate not to experience antisemitism growing up, but I knew it was out there. Then, as I was about to graduate high school, there was the 2021 Gaza war. It was the first time I truly experienced antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
Just days after committing to study at the University of Michigan, my soon-to-be student government released a one sided anti-Israel statement. I reached out to the Israel club on campus, and I asked them, how can I help? They said, We need you to come to Michigan, and we need you to get involved. That’s exactly what I did.
Since Oct. 7, I’ve helped organize pro-Israel events on the Michigan campus, with thousands of students attending these events. Despite political or religious differences, we know that we’re stronger together. Our shared history and values mean that we have more in common than what might divide us.
What matters is that we stand united. What matters is that we stand strong. What matters is that we stand for Israel and for the Jewish people.
Singer Idan Raichel performed in the crowd.
Actor and comedian Tiffany Haddish, event emcee.
Mother and brother of Omer Neutra, hostage from Plainview, LI.
Supervisor
Don Clavin Councilwoman Melissa Miller
TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD
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TRAINING
TOGETHER WE CAN SAVE LIVES
Presented by U.S. Congressman Anthony D’Esposito
Held in partnership with the Marion & Aaron Gural JCC and Seafield
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18 TH
The Marion & Aaron Gural JCC 207 Grove Avenue, Cedarhurst
7:00 p.m.
- Town Hall Meeting
“Brain Under Siege: The Alarming Impact of Vaping, Marijuana, and Gaming on Our Youth” presented by Dr. Stephen Dewey
Join renowned neuroscientist Dr. Stephen Dewey as he unveils groundbreaking research on how brain studies are tackling the war on drugs. Through detailed PET scan studies, Dr. Dewey will reveal the profound effects of vaping, marijuana, and gaming on brain function, structure, and development from adolescence to adulthood. This eye-opening presentation will equip parents with crucial knowledge to safeguard their children from these hidden dangers.
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Riverdale hears how ELNET nurtures IsraelEuropean relationships
By Celia Weintrob
Have you ever thought: If European leaders could go on a Birthright trip to Israel, it might improve Israel’s relationships on the continent? Turns out that is happening.
The European Leadership Network (ELNET) has sent 35 delegations of European leaders to Israel in 2024 alone, ELNET President David Siegel told congregants at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale on Shabbos Lech Lecha, That follows 480 trips since its founding in 2007, showing Europe’s officials the real story about what’s happening in Israel.
Last week’s pogrom in Amsterdam awoke fears among Europeans, who are gravely concerned about Islamist terror. This is a view shared with Israel, creating a natural bond as Europeans watch what is happening and wonder: When it happens next, could it be me or my family?
Siegel, a former Israeli diplomat, observed that both Israel and Europe have multi-party parliamentary governments. This tends to lead to the parties farthest to the left and right gaining sway while the majority in the middle have trouble finding ways to be properly represented.
ELNET was founded in 2007 by Larry Hochberg, Hubert Leven and Newt Becker z”l, men who had been involved in the Rashi Foundation, AIPAC, FIDF, and the world of business and finance.
Europe is a vital strategic partner for Israel. Siegal pointed out that where he lives in Haifa, Cyprus can almost be seen with the naked eye — that’s Europe. Greece, Italy, Spain and France also share the Mediterranean coast with Israel.
But it’s not only a close neighbor in proximity. Europe is a key influencer of the International
Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, both of which have Israel in their sights. Europe is also the world’s largest democratic bloc. With Russia, China and Iran becoming more threatening, a strong Europe-Israel alliance is increasingly important. Israel has become a key weapons and defense importer to European countries.
Over the last 17 years, ELNET’s sustained relationship-building with key lawmakers, business leaders and decision makers have strengthened ties with between Europe and Israel, building — often under the radar — the groundwork for greater cooperation.
After Oct. 7th, 14 European countries halted funding to UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and the E3 (France, Germany and Italy) joined the US in dispatching military assets to defend Israel from Iran and the Houthis. Nine European countries partnered with the US and Israel to shut down Hamas’ finance operations. Ten countries have also introduced a full ban on Hezbollah activities and fundraising.
Economically, Europe is Israel’s largest trading partner. Germany leads on that front, but all European countries are essential allies and ELNET works to nurture these relationships.
An ELNET conference will convene in Paris on May 18-20. Participants will get to ask questions of those who influence the Israel-Europe relationship and shape the future of the next decade for the Western alliance.
Information about ELNET or its conference are at elnetwork.eu, or can be obtained from Chief Development Officer Jay Haberman at jhaberman@felnetus.org
Battle over Bamba: BDS Targeting Trader Joe’s
By Miri Weissman Israel Hayom
Anti-Israel activist organization CodePink has collected 15,000 signatures on a petition urging Trader Joe’s to remove Israeli products from its stores, while Jewish community groups have launched a counter-campaign encouraging supporters to purchase these same items.
“As the Israeli genocide continues to devastate Gaza and the broader Middle East, companies like Trader Joe’s must take a stand,” CodePink states in their petition.
“By stocking Israeli products, Trader Joe’s supports a system that perpetuates suffering.”
BDS (the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement) petition specifically targets several products currently carried by the grocery chain, including Bamba snacks, Israeli-made feta cheese, and Dorot frozen herb products.
The campaign takes aim at Trader Joe’s corporate ethos, referencing the company’s stated commitment to ethical business practices.
The organization is calling for Trader Joe’s to halt sales of Israeli products “until Israel ends the occupation, respects international law and ensures full and equal rights for Palestinians.”
In response, Jewish groups have mobilized
a “buycott” campaign, circulating messages encouraging supporters to purchase Israeli products and thank the retailer for continuing to stock them. The counter-campaign highlights Trader Joe’s previous stance against boycott efforts in 2005-2006 when the company maintained its Israeli product lines despite similar pressure. Both groups are utilizing grassroots organizing tactics, with CodePink distributing action guides and flyers for store demonstrations, while Jewish groups are sharing their message through WhatsApp and other social media platforms. Trader Joe’s has not yet publicly responded to either campaign.
Display of holiday challah at Trader Joe’s in Danville, California on Oct. 4. Smith Collection, Gado, Getty Images
Black Friday Weekend Sale Event
Friday, November 29th
Sat, Nov. 30th: 7pm - Midnight!
Sunday, December 1st
Marching for the hostages in NY’s Central Park
By Amelie Botbol
As they do each week, dozens gathered in Manhattan’s Central Park on Sunday to silently march for the release of the hostages still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, 401 days after their abduction on Oct. 7, 2023. Similar marches take place weekly in other communities, including Riverdale.
“It’s been a difficult couple of weeks,” Moshe Lavi, the brother-in-law of Hamas captive Omri Miran, told JNS at the march, which was led by hostages’ relatives and members of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum in New York.
“It encourages us to see people come here every week to the park to be with us, the families in New York. I wish we didn’t need to be here. I hope over the next couple of months, the political change here will bring about progress in the hostage negotiations and a change in the mindset of the Israeli government and the international community,” he said.
“All we can do is continue marching, speak up and not lose hope,” he added.
Prior to the march, Hamas captive Naama Levy’s aunt, Efrat Moshkoviz, and Atar Levy, who battled terrorists during the Hamas onslaught on Oct. 7, addressed the crowd.
“We have to keep fighting. With the change in administration, we need to start talking to different people, [but] it doesn’t change our actions,” Moshkoviz said. “Four hundred days makes it even more critical, along with every day that passes.”
In Jerusalem, Ayelet Levy Shachar, Naama’s mother, led a silent protest calling for the return of her daughter and the rest of the 101 hostages. In her speech, Moshkoviz addressed Naama.
“Time is passing and yet it stands still. It’s unfathomable that these words we said before are the same words we have been saying for 400 days and yet you are still not here,” Moshkoviz told the assembly.
“Maybe it is the very notion that there are no
words left. We find ourselves here united with your mom and those joining her in Jerusalem in a silent protest. No words are left to describe the unbearable amount of pain,” she added.
Ahead of the march, artists sang “Cover Me in Sunshine,” Naama Levy’s favorite song. The names of all 101 hostages were called out as the crowd chanted “Bring Them Home” after each name. All then prayed for their return and the crowd sang Hatikvah.
“We came here dressed in white to stand with 101 hostages, and stand with their mothers who are wearing white and demonstrating in Jerusalem today,” said Iris Carmel, who has been volunteering with the Hostage Forum in New York since its inception.
“Without their return, we won’t be able to re-
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cover. Nobody in Israel or in the world will feel safe until we bring them home. It will be the basis for healing, rebuilding our unity and building our future together,” she added.
Ron Segev, a survivor of the Hamas massacre at the Supernova Music Festival, currently in the United States to tell his story, attended Sunday’s march.
“Our brothers and sisters, parents, children, all of them are in Gaza in terrible conditions, and it’s not something I can accept silently. I am trying to put pressure on the US administration and on the terrorist groups holding our hostages. I am here to demand a change,” Segev said.
“I am 39, and I have a lot of younger friends who are having a hard time returning to normal life, and so do I,” he said. “Life is not just Oct. 7 and
not just our trauma, there is a lot beyond that. We must not give the pain the power to decide over our lives, because we still have a long life to live.”
Evette Jody Stark, who is disabled, managed the march with the aid of a walker. “I’ve been coming here for eight months every Sunday. We have to be supportive of the families. We all have mothers, fathers, cousins, sisters and brothers,” she said.
“It’s not just about being Jewish, there are dozens of countries that have had their people held hostage. The Nova music festival [near Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel, from where many of the captives were taken] was a dance and peace festival for all nationalities. People came from all over, and we still have seven American hostages held in Gaza,” she added.
People rally in Manhattan’s Central Park on Sunday, Nov. 10, demanding that hostages held by Hamas by freed. Amelie Botbol
WIne anD DIne
Giving Jewish thanks as part of ‘bikur cholim’
eTheL G. hoFMan
Thanksgiving is a major American holiday. No matter a person’s color, race, religion or political views, families and friends travel from coast to coast to celebrate together. The table is loaded with traditional dishes from the broad-basted golden turkey to an array of side dishes and pies.
The tradition goes back to the first Thanksgiving celebrated in 1621 when the Plymouth colonists known as the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Native Americans shared an autumn harvest feast. After a request by Congress, George Washington declared Nov.26, 1789, a day of national Thanksgiving; in 1863, Abraham Lincoln designated the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving, and in 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a congressional resolution declared Thanksgiving a federal holiday.
But every year, this weekend brings sad news, too. Someone may be sick, homebound or otherwise unable to come to the festive table; accidents and emergencies occur that result in hospitalization; deaths occur and shiva needs to take place.
In the Jewish tradition, family and friends rally around community members. Bikur cholim is a mitzvah and a comfort to others. The Hebrew words for visiting the sick serve as a testimony of the Jewish tenets of caring, compassion, devotion and the incentive to heal.
When these situations pop up and there’s no time to cook, I’ve often resorted to bringing a selection of packaged teas or coffee, or some staples like nuts and dried fruits, placed in a basket or similar container. Still, there’s nothing like a homemade soup or casserole to warm those in need or not home to prepare a proper meal.
You won’t be caught short if you plan ahead. Make a soup, casserole or cake, wrap well and place in the freezer for those times when you can be there to give. The “thanks” is built in. Tips for safe freezing:
•Freezing prevents food spoilage. It doesn’t kill food-borne bacteria, but it greatly slows down their ability to reproduce. Once thawed, it’s time to cook that food.
•Do not use glass. Glass can crack when subjected to rapid temperature changes
•Freezer and sandwich bags are not the same thing. Freezer bags are made of thicker plastic and should be used for freezing foods.
•Freeze items like soups in smaller containers. It speeds defrosting and avoids waste.
•Cool cooked foods completely before freezing. Putting something hot into the freezer warms the other foods, causing them to defrost and become unsafe.
•Do not defrost frozen meats, fish or poultry at room temperature or using hot or warm water. This can lead to food poisoning. Move to the refrigerator overnight to defrost.
•When there’s an abundance of fresh herbs, snip or chop, mix with a very little olive oil and divide into ice-cube trays. When frozen, transfer to a freezer bag and zip shut.
•To wrap a frozen casserole: Line the casserole dish with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Then add a layer of plastic wrap. Leave several inches hanging at the edges so that it can be pulled over the top to cover later. Transfer the food to the dish and freeze. Once frozen-solid, lift the lined food out of the dish. Wrap it up with the hanging plastic wrap and foil to cover tightly. Place in freezer. Wash the pan and store for another day.
•Label the frozen casserole with heating in-
structions: Remove the foil and plastic wrap and place in baking dish. Defrost in refrigerator for 24 to 36 hours before cooking. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover thawed casserole loosely with foil. Bake until heated through and bubbly at edges. The final temperature should reach 160 degrees.
Split Pea Soup With Franks (Meat)
Serves 10 to 12
Cook’s Tips: •Squash and onion are available all cut up and ready to cook. •Beef broth and hot dogs can be purchased in a supermarket’s kosher section or at a specialty store.
Ingredients:
• 4 to 5 frankfurters, thinly sliced
• 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1-1/2 cups diced onion or 2 medium onions, diced
• 1-1/4 cups dried split peas, rinsed and drained
• 12 to 14 baby carrots, cut lengthwise
• 2 cups coarsely chopped squash
• 8 to 10 cups beef broth
• salt and pepper
Directions:
In a large pot, fry frankfurters in hot oil over medium-high heat until slightly browned at edges, about 5 minutes.
Add onion, split peas, carrots, squash and 8 cups broth. Bring to a boil, skimming off any froth. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender and peas are broken down.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. If too thick, add a little more broth to desired consistency. Cool completely.
Pour into two containers, cover tightly and freeze.
Triple Mac ’n Cheese (Dairy)
Serves 10 to 12
Cook’s Tips: •May substitute any other hard cheese for sharp Cheddar. •Substitute Trader Joe’s 21 seasoning for nutmeg.
Ingredients:
2 packages (8 oz. each) elbow macaroni 1/3 cup Dijon mustard
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
4 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
3 cups small curd cottage cheese
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (divided)
2 large tomatoes, each cut in 12 wedges
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and run cold water through. Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with nonstick baking spray.
In a large bowl, mix the macaroni, mustard, seasoning, Cheddar and cottage cheeses, milk and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese. Transfer to prepared baking dish.
Arrange tomato wedges attractively on top. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake in preheated oven till heated through and beginning to brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
Cool thoroughly before wrapping, label and freeze.
Loaded Chicken, Peppers and Mushrooms (Meat)
Loaded Chicken, Peppers and Mushrooms (Meat)
Adapted from a recipe generously shared by my friend Shani Feinstein. Serves 8 to 10
Cook’s Tips: •Diced onions and peppers are available in refrigerated section of most markets •Save time and money by coarsely chopping 3 to 4 onions in the food processor. Then divide into
See Giving Jewish thanks on page 10
Triple Mac ’n Cheese.
Texasfoodgawker at Wikimedia Commons
Giving Jewish thanks as part of ‘bikur cholim’…
Continued from page
plastic bags and freeze. Ready to use as needed (this tip shared from Patti Saddler, my 80-yearsomething ElderNet client). •Rinse mushrooms by running cold water over, removing any soil. Pat dry with paper towels.
Ingredients:
• 12 chicken thighs, (about 3-1/2 lb.s) skinless and boneless
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup diced onions
• 2 yellow and green bell peppers, diced, about 1-1/2 cups
• 2 tsp. bottled chopped garlic
• 3 (8 oz.) containers of sliced mushrooms
• 1-1/2 cups ketchup
• 1/3 cup wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 Tbsp. prepared mustard
• 2 tsp. hot sauce or to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Arrange chicken in one layer in large baking dish. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions, peppers, garlic and mushrooms. Sauté over medium heat until softened.
Stir in the remaining ingredients.
Cool slightly before pouring over chicken. Cover loosely with foil. Bake in preheated oven 1-1/2 hours or until no red juices appear when chicken is pierced with a sharp knife. Cool, wrap and freeze.
Doc’s ‘Dump and Mix’
Vegetarian Chili Pie (Pareve)
An updated version of Dr. Walter Hofman’s prize-winning chili. Serves 8 to 10
Cook’s Tips: •Personalize: Add dried cranberries, grated tart apple or even a spoonful of creamy peanut butter, if desired. •Pepperidge Farm puff-pastry sheets are OU pareve. •Keep those kitchen shears handy. Snip cilantro, parsley or any herbs.
Ingredients:
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, Italian style
• 1 can (15-1/2 oz.) great Northern white beans
• 1 can (15-1/2 oz.) red kidney beans
• 2 cups bottled Bloody Mary mix
• 1 package (1.25 oz.) Tex Mex chili seasoning
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 Tbsp. snipped cilantro or parsley
• 1 package (12 oz.) veggie ground round
• 1 sheet prepared puff pastry
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Add onion. Sauté until soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Do not brown.
Add all remaining ingredients, except pastry, crumbling the ground round. Stir and bring to simmer.
Transfer to a 9x12-inch baking dish. Cool slightly.
Cut the pastry into 1-inch strips. Arrange in a loose lattice pattern on top of chili. Bake in preheated oven until chili is bubbly and pastry is golden, 25 to 30 minutes.
Cool completely before wrapping, label and freezing.
Vegetable Frittata With Tomatoes and Basil (Pareve)
This can otherwise be known as a Sephardic kugel. Serves 6
Cook’s Tips: •1 large baked potato yields about 1 cup mashed.
Ingredients:
• 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 cup diced onion
• 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 cup pareve mashed potato
• 1 Tbsp. snipped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 to 4 grinds black pepper
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 8 to 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with non-
stick vegetable spray.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and mixed vegetables. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.
Add the potato, basil and salt and pepper. Mix well.
Whisk in the eggs until combined with veggies. Transfer mixture into prepared baking dish. Arrange tomato on top, skin-side up.
Bake in preheated oven 25 minutes or until firm in center.
Cool completely, wrap and freeze.
New Homestyle Meat Loaf (Meat)
Serves 6 to 8
Instead of all beef, the combination of turkey and beef make for a moist, lower-calorie loaf. Hard-cooked eggs in center, boost protein, look attractive when sliced thickly
Cook’s Tips: •21 Seasoning is available from Trader Joe’s. Eliminates measuring out half a dozen seasonings. •Chili sauce may be substituted for ketchup. •Keep a supply of latex gloves handy to mix items like meat loaf or to toss a big salad.
Ingredients:
• 3/4 lb. ground beef
• 3/4 lb. ground turkey
• 1 cup matzah meal
• 1/4 cup seltzer water
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp. 21 Seasoning
• 1/2 cup ketchup, divided
• 2 hard-cooked eggs, shells removed
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the beef, turkey, matzah meal, seltzer water, beaten egg, Worcestershire sauce, seasoning and 1/4 cup ketchup.
Press half the mixture into a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.
Place the hard-cooked eggs, end to end, on top. Carefully press the remaining meat mixture on top. Spread the remaining 1/4 cup ketchup over top.
Bake in preheated oven, uncovered, for 65 minutes or until juices run clear when pierced with a knife.
Cool completely before wrapping, labeling and freezing.
‘Gesundheit Kuchen’ (Dairy)
A Hofman family favorite, this “blessing” cake recipe was brought over by German Jews in the early 1900s. Rich and moist, it was served at a bris, engagement party and other celebrations. Serves 15 to 18 Cook’s Tips: •Cream cheese no longer comes in 3-oz. packages. Use an 8-oz. package, plus a rounded tablespoon of cream cheese. •Wondra flour works well. It’s OU pareve. Or sift all-purpose flour before adding. •No need for a tabletop electric mixer. An electric hand mixer is all that’s needed.
Ingredients:
• 1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 9 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups cake flour
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• powdered sugar to sprinkle
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 10-inch Bundt pan with nonstick vegetable spray.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, cream cheese and sugar until pale and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, with 1 tablespoon of the flour to prevent curdling, beating after each addition.
Add vanilla, baking powder and remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well between each addition. Spoon batter into prepared Bundt pan. Bake in preheated oven until cake is golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool 5 minutes in pan.
Loosen edges with a round bladed knife before turning onto a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Wrap, label and freeze.
To contact Ethel G. Hofman, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
“Gesundheit Kuchen” (aka, “blessing” cake)
Ethel G. Hofman
Vegetable Frittata With Tomatoes and Basil.
Ethel G. Hofman
Dried beans. Pixabay
8
Combating antisemitism through virtual reality
By Nissan Shtrauchler, Israel Hayom
As Europe grapples with a surge in antisemitism, one of Germany’s most prominent Jewish leaders draws haunting parallels between current events and the infamous Night of Broken Glass. Charlotte Knobloch, who witnessed Kristallnacht as a six-year-old child, warns that public indifference today echoes the silence that preceded one of history’s darkest chapters.
“I can still see the crowds, smell the burning synagogue, feel the heat of the flames,” recalls Knobloch, her voice steady despite the weight of the memory. “We crept through back alleys and forests, desperately trying to hide my father — a well-known Munich attorney and senator. The next day’s destruction is seared into my memory. The Nazis, I believe, orchestrated this chaos to gauge public reaction. The German people’s silence spoke volumes.”
Knobloch, who last week celebrated her 92nd birthday, serves as president of Munich’s Jewish Community and stands as one of Germany’s most influential Jewish voices. On that fateful night in 1938, her father, Fritz Neuland, received an anonymous phone call warning of imminent danger. He quickly gathered his family — all except his mother, who refused to leave — and attempted to reach his law office nearby, which he shared with the later Bavarian prime minister, Wilhelm Hoegner.
A cautionary call to his office revealed the gravity of their situation. When an unfamiliar voice answered, Neuland, disguising his identity, inquired about his own whereabouts. The response — ”We’re also searching for Fritz Neuland” — confirmed his worst fears.
That night, the Neuland family wandered Munich’s darkened streets seeking sanctuary. Their attempt to warn a family friend ended in horror as they witnessed him being dragged from his home, bloodied and beaten. This friend would later perish in Dachau after a brief release from an initial concentration-camp internment.
“For a child, the terror was incomprehensible,” Knobloch reflects, her gaze distant. “I couldn’t understand why firefighters ignored the burning buildings. SS troops smashed windows and kicked down doors, dragging people into the street. Though I already knew Jews were unwelcome in Germany, watching this violence unfold — feeling the cold, sensing the panic — overwhelmed me. When I began to cry, my father held me close, warning that my tears could betray us. The mob didn’t yet know we were Jewish, but discovery meant certain death in that atmosphere of hatred.”
By nightfall, the family found refuge with a non-Jewish friend in Munich’s outskirts. The violence of Nov. 9-10, 1938 left hundreds of Jews dead, thousands arrested and countless more deported to concentration camps. Synagogues across Germany burned while Jewish-owned businesses and property faced wholesale destruction. The Nazi-sanctioned “popular upris-
ing” raged unchecked by law enforcement until dawn.
After the Holocaust claimed several family members, Knobloch married and contemplated leaving Munich. Circumstances kept her in Germany, where her father joined approximately 60 Jewish survivors in rebuilding Munich’s devastated Jewish community.
Decades of relative calm followed, but recent years have brought disturbing changes. The rise of populist parties, particularly the farright Alternative for Germany — some of whose members express Nazi sympathies — along with anti-Israel demonstrations at universities and growing fear among German Jews about wearing religious symbols in public, deeply trouble Knobloch.
“Today’s Germany eerily echoes the 1920s,” she observes. “Hitler’s rise wasn’t supernatural; he was democratically elected. While Jewish life here has evolved significantly since the 1930s and 40s, and antisemitism plagues the entire world, not just Germany, the crucial question remains: How does the public respond? Will people remain indifferent? Education and accurate historical information are our strongest weapons against hate.”
In response to these concerns, Knobloch has partnered with the Claims Conference to launch an innovative virtual-reality experience — “Inside View of Kristallnacht” — developed in collaboration with Meta, UNESCO and USC Shoah, allows young people to witness the events through a child’s eyes — her eyes.
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Assessing some of the damage after Kristallnacht, “The Night of Broken Glass,” in Germany on Nov. 9-10, 1938. US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Charlotte Knobloch, a Holocaust survivor and Jewish leader, is at the center of a forthcoming virtualreality project about Kristallnacht. Claims Conference
TARGET TEHRAN
How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination (and Secret Diplomacy)
to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle
The Orthodox shul in Brooklyn Heights presents www.BnaiAvraham. org/form/Israel
East
Sunday, Nov 24
Israeli brunch 11 am Lecture and discussion Noon
Live from Israel, Ilan Evyatar, coauthor of “Target Tehran” and former editor-in-chief of Jerusalem Report, will talk about “Israel at War: Fighting the Iranian Axis,” presenting an up-to-date analysis of the wars in Gaza and Lebanon and Iran’s involvement on those fronts and elsewhere. His book was named a Wall Street Journal “Top 5 Books in Politics” for 2023.
RSVP for a FREE Israeli brunch in Brooklyn Heights (or request a Zoom link)
The “Israel Today: Culture and Conflict” series is sponsored and hosted by Congregation B’nai Avraham, 117 Remsen Street, Brooklyn Heights • No solicitations
In the American south, building a Jewish future one camper at a time
Commentary by Rabbi Mark Rose
In a world increasingly marked by division, antisemitism and social pressures, nurturing a proud, informed Jewish identity among our youth has never been more essential — and more challenging.
As director of NCSY Southern Region, I see every day how our Jewish Student Union (JSU) clubs across public middle and high schools provide a safe haven for Jewish students to engage, learn and grow in an environment that respects and celebrates who they are.
Reaching teenagers is no easy feat. Students these days navigate a maze of academic stress, social media, peer pressure, and too often, a society that doesn’t always welcome them. JSU’s approach is simple yet powerful: We meet them where they are — geographically, spiritually and emotionally. We don’t ask students to fit into a rigid model of what it means to be Jewish. Instead, we adapt our programming to their realities, fostering a welcoming space where every student can find a way to engage with their Jewish identity, no matter their level of observance or background.
Our mission is to inspire the Jewish future. This means addressing not only what it means to be Jewish but also why it matters in a world that often encourages conformity over cultural pride.
We aim to show students that being Jewish is something to be celebrated, not hidden, even in the face of rising antisemitism. Just last week, the Jewish world witnessed yet another stark reminder of the dangers that hate can bring — an attack in Holland’s capital of Amsterdam, coming heartbreakingly close to the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht. Our students are acutely aware that, despite the passage of time, the threats facing Jewish people have not disappeared.
JSU’s work extends beyond public schools, reaching out to students in Jewish day schools as well. Data has shown that despite years of Judaic study, many day-school graduates often stray from Jewish engagement as they navigate college and young adulthood.
Our work with these students is crucial, as they, too, will shape the future of the Jewish voice and leadership. Just as we support publicschool students, we guide day-school graduates in making a lasting connection with their heritage — one that they will carry with them as young adults. Nurturing a strong identity during these critical years helps ensure that when they face challenges or the lure of assimilation, they feel empowered to lead, advocate and proudly
carry forward Jewish values.
Through JSU clubs, we help students build a strong, resilient Jewish identity that they can carry with them beyond the classroom. This foundation is essential because many of our students will go on to college campuses where they may encounter even more hostility towards their beliefs and heritage.
When these young adults face challenges on campus, they need more than just fond memories of JSU meetings. They need the strength and tools to become leaders — ambassadors for their Jewish identity, defenders of Israel, and advocates for truth and tolerance.
At JSU, our goal isn’t merely to offer a social club or weekly gathering; it’s to guide students toward a meaningful commitment. Like a customer who doesn’t just window shop but engages, “buys in” and takes something valuable with them, we aim to inspire our students to actively participate in Jewish life. We encourage them to “own” their identity, not just as students but as the next generation of Jews who will carry forward our legacy.
Our clubs across the US South and Southern Florida are thriving because we’re more than a place to talk about Judaism; we’re a place where students find camaraderie, support and guidance in navigating their Jewish journey. Our JSU team builds relationships with students that go beyond high school. We invest in their growth, celebrate their successes and prepare them to step into leadership roles on college campuses and beyond.
We teach them that it’s not just about keeping Jewish traditions; it’s about standing up for them. It’s about understanding that what happened in Amsterdam — and countless incidents elsewhere — is wrong and must be met with a powerful, collective “never again.”
In a world that would often have young Jews hide or dilute their heritage to avoid confrontation, we teach them the importance of standing proud and saying “I am Jewish” without fear or shame. It’s this strength — instilled through JSU clubs — that will shape our future leaders, ensuring they not only inherit but also actively engage in the vibrant, resilient Jewish identity we cherish.
As we look forward, I am encouraged by the determination and passion of our JSU students. They remind us daily that the Jewish future is in good hands, and that with the right guidance and support, they will continue to uphold our values, traditions and pride for generations to come.
Participants on NCSY summer programs Yom NCSY 2019.
OU NCSY Summer
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 20 • 6:00-9:00PM
The Heritage Club at Bethpage 99 Quaker Meeting House Road Farmingdale
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There is an image that haunts us across the millennia, fraught with emotion. It is the image of a man and his son walking side-by-side across a lonely landscape of shaded valleys and barren hills. The son has no idea where he is going and why. The man, in pointed contrast, is a maelstrom of emotion. He knows exactly where he is going and why, but he can’t make sense of it at all.
The man is Abraham. He is devoted to his G-d, who gave him a son and who is now telling him to sacrifice this son. On the one hand, the man is full of fear: am I really going to lose the one thing that makes my life meaningful, the son for whom I prayed all those years? On the other hand, part of him is saying: just as this child was impossible — I was old, my wife was too old — yet here he is; now, though it seems impossible, I know that G-d is not going to take him from me. He would never have told me to call this child Isaac, meaning “he will laugh,” if He meant to make him and me cry.
The father is in a state of absolute cognitive dissonance, yet — though he can make no sense of it — he trusts in G-d and betrays to his son no sign of emotion. Vayelchu shenehem yachdav. The two of them walked together.
There is just one moment of conversation between them:
Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “G-d Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
Gen. 22:7-8
What worlds of unstated thoughts and unexpressed emotions lie behind those simple words. Yet as if to emphasize the trust between father and son, and between both and G-d, the text repeats: Vayelchu shenehem yachdav. The two of them walked together.
As I read those words, I find myself travelling back in time, and in my mind’s eye I see my father and me walking back from shul on Shabbat. I was four or five years old at the time, and I think I understood then, even if I couldn’t put it into words, that there was something sacred in that moment.
A civilization is as strong as the bond between the generations.
During the week I would see the worry in my father’s face as he was trying to make a living in difficult times. But on Shabbat all those worries were somewhere else. Vayelchu shenehem yachdav. We walked together in the peace and beauty of the holy day. My father was no longer a struggling businessman. On those days he was a Jew breathing G-d’s air, enjoying G-d’s blessings, and he walked tall.
Before each and every Shabbat my mother made the food that gave the house its special Shabbat smell: the soup, the kugel, the lokshen. As she lit candles, she could have been the bride, the queen we sang about in Lecha Dodi and Eshet Chayil. I had a sense, even then, that this was a holy moment when we were in the presence of something larger than ourselves, that embraced other Jews in other lands and other times, something I later learned we call the Shechinah, the Divine Presence.
We walked together, my parents, my brothers and me. The two generations were so different. My father came from Poland. My brothers and I were “proper Englishmen.” We knew we would go places, learn things and pursue careers they could not. But we walked together, two generations, not having to say that we loved one another. We weren’t a demonstrative family but we knew of the sacrifices our
parents made for us and the pride we hoped to bring them. We belong to different times, different worlds, had different aspirations, but we walked together.
Then I find my imagination fast-forwarding to August 2011, to those unforgettable scenes in Britain — in Tottenham, Manchester, Bristol — of young people rampaging down streets, looting shops, smashing windows, setting fire to cars, robbing, stealing, assaulting people. Everyone asked why. There were no political motives. It was not a racial clash. There were no religious undertones.
Of course, the answer was as clear as day but no one wanted to say so. In the space of no more than two generations, a large part of Britain has quietly abandoned the family and decided that marriage is just a piece of paper. Britain became the country with the highest rate of teenage mothers, the highest rate of single parent families, and the highest rate — 46% in 2009 — of births outside marriage in the world.
Marriage and cohabitation are not the same thing, though it is politically incorrect to say so. The average length of cohabitation is less than two years. The result is that many children are growing up without their biological fathers, in many cases not even knowing
who their father is. They live, at best, with a succession of stepfathers. It is a little-known but frightening fact that the rate of violence between stepfathers and stepchildren is 80 times that between natural fathers and their children.
The result is that in 2007, a UNICEF report showed that Britain’s children are the unhappiest in the developed world — bottom of a league of 26 countries.
Nowhere do we see more clearly the gap between Jewish and secular values than here. We live in a secular world that has accumulated more knowledge than all previous generations combined, from the vast cosmos to the structure of DNA, from superstring theory to the neural pathways of the brain, and yet it has forgotten the simple truth that a civilization is as strong as the love and respect between parent and child — Vayelchu shenehem yachdav, the ability of the generations to walk together.
Jews are a formidably intellectual people. We have our Nobel prize-winning physicists, chemists, medical scientists and games theorists. Yet as long as there is a living connection between Jews and our heritage, we will never forget that there is nothing more important than home, the sacred bond of mar-
See Sacks on page 22
Taking charge of ourselves and our environment
Binny Freedman served in Lebanon in the early 1980s.
Iremember that ride, passing Agam Karun (Karun reservoir) and then the road below the Beaufort fortress, imagining what that would have been like if the PLO still controlled that high ground.
Passing through Marja’oun and getting close to the border, you could taste it — home was that close. There was no shortage of stories of convoys being ambushed on this road and we were obvious targets in open safari trucks with no armor. Once you’ve been through such
an ambush you no longer focus on the beautiful scenery of Lebanon; every tree could be cover, every turn could have something nasty waiting around the bend.
But when you crossed over the border and drove the last few kilometers into Kiriat Shmoneh, helmets came off, flak vests were torn open and the sound of Velcro openings filled the air. Heading to the central bus station in Kiriat Shmoneh, we’d pass an intersection which came to be known as Tzomet Hasaftot, or just saftot (grandmothers), named for the elderly women who would stand there waiting with piles of free Baguette sandwiches and drinks for the soldiers heading home.
It was a simple act of appreciation but it always meant the world to me; I got to recognize a few of their faces after a while and I still remember, after a particularly rough few weeks when we finally got out for a long weekend,
As Mark Twain pointed out after visiting Israel, ‘It was a barren place better suited to wild beasts and marauders, rather than habitation by civilized man.’
one of the guys engulfing one of the saftot in a massive hug and lifting her up in the air.
It’s hard to explain what it felt like, to be back home, back in the place where you be-
‘Yashar’: How would you translate
I’ve set two goals for myself in writing this year’s series of “columns. One is to focus on a person who is barely mentioned in the parsha. The other is to discuss the parameters of “Good” vs. “Evil.”
This week’s Torah portion, Vayera, has its share of minor characters. But the outstanding personalities are clearly Avraham and Sarah, both precursors to millennia of heroes and heroines, all paragons of the “Good,” who
deserve the title yashar. (Before defining the term, I must make you aware that the Bible itself refers to Sefer Bereshit, as “sefer ha yashar” —in Joshua 10:13 and again in Samuel II 1:18. You might wish to look up these verses and see for yourselves.)
So, what does yashar mean? Some define it as “straight,” in the sense of a “straight line,” veering neither to the left nor to the right, geographically or morally. I prefer to define it as “upright,” as the verse in Kohelet, “The L-rd made men yashar but they engaged in many schemes (Ecclesiastes 7:29).
Some of the “near-synonyms” which will give you a better idea of what I mean by upright are the following: virtuous, principled, worthy, trustworthy, rightful, correct, faith-
ful, truthful. In short, a person of integrity. Why would the Bible itself refer to Bereshit as the “book of the upright”? For the answer, we must consult the Talmud (Tractate Avodah Zarah 25a) which quotes the sage Rabbi Yochanan who asserts that it is named the “book of the yashar/upright” because it “relates the story of Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob who were all yesharim/upright individuals.”
Who referred to our Patriarchs as yesharim? Of all people, Balaam! When asked by Balak to place a curse upon the people of Israel, he demurs and says, among other praises of the people he is asked to curse, “May I die the death of the yesharim/ the upright (i.e. the Patriarchs), may my fate be like theirs.” (Numbers 23:10)
long. But to this day, there is a feeling for me when I land back in Israel and get in the car and drive through the beautiful Judean hills home, of where I belong.
What is it about a particular place that makes it so powerful?
This week in parshat Vayera we are introduced to a powerful idea by no less than Avraham himself. It’s hidden in the details of the powerful stories we read this week and we might miss it, which is perhaps why the Talmud takes pains to point it out.
Avraham has challenged no less than G-d Himself to save Sodom (Bereishit 18), but G-d has decreed that a society based on such evil must be destroyed, and finally (ibid. 18:33) Avraham “returns to his place.”
The next day, when G-d prepares to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Avraham awakens
this word?
I urge you to recall the verse in Devarim which proclaims that the Almighty Himself is called yashar, as in Parshat Ha’azinu (Deuteronomy 32:4), “righteous and upright is He!” What does it mean to be yashar, and how does Avraham earn this appellation?
For this, I must introduce you to Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, the nineteenth century sage who headed the famed yeshiva in Volozhin, Lithuania, known by the abbreviation of his full name, Netziv. He devotes the introduction to his most famous work, a commentary on the Chumash entitled “HaEmek Davar,” to the definition of an ish yashar, an upright man. He begins with a description of the faults
Weinreb on page 22
Facing our shortcomings, then moving forward
Avimelekh, king of Gerar, is a tragic figure. He is a king, but is very insecure. He thinks his position allows him to do things no civilian could get away with, but every time he gets called on his behavior, he lays the blame on others and never takes responsibility.
In this week’s parsha, Vayera, after having taken Sarah to his palace, against her will, G-d
appears to Avimelekh and tells him, You’re a dead man because you stole a man’s wife. His response? “Didn’t [her husband] tell me that she was his sister? She also claimed that he was her brother. If I did something, it was with an innocent heart and clean hands’.” (20:5)
Really? Did she come to your home of her own accord? Did she consent? Isn’t taking a woman against her will a problematic behavior?
When he brings Sarah out to Avraham, instead of apologizing over the misunderstanding, he says, “How could you do this to us? What terrible thing did I do to you that you brought such great guilt upon me and my people? The thing you did to me is simply not
Things don’t always go our way.
done!” (Chapter 20:9)
Again, instead of taking responsibility for his presumptuous taking of Sarah, he blames Avraham for deceiving him, while likely knowing that had he known the truth, he would have had Avraham killed.
In Chapter 21, between the story of Yishmael and Hagar being sent out and the Akedah, Avimelekh makes another appearance. Along with his general Fichol, he offers to
make a treaty with Avraham, on account of his noticing that G-d is with Avraham. And so he says to Avraham, “Swear to me that you will not deal falsely with me, with my children, or with my grandchildren. Just like the kindness I did for you, that’s what you should do for me and for the land where you have lived.” (21:23) Avraham seemingly agrees (though see Alshikh’s comment which twists Avraham’s to have an entirely different meaning than we might assume).
Avraham takes Avimelekh to task over a well that Avimelekh’s servants had taken by force. His response? “Abimelekh said, ‘I don’t know who could have done such a thing. You
Celebrating Thanksgiving is a Jewish
With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, I would like to bring to your attention a wonderful and informative work entitled, “Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience” (Encounter Books, 2016) by Melanie Kirkpatrick, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.
Within this book we find the following piece of history that is of some interest:
“In his lovely book, ‘The Thanksgiving Ceremony,’ published in 2003, Edward Bleier, a Jew and the son of immigrants from Eastern Europe, describes a ritual he composed for use around
the Thanksgiving table. Bleier’s 20-minute ceremony acknowledges G-d but is nonsectarian. The ceremony is inspired by the Passover Seder which celebrates the Jews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt as told in the biblical book of Exodus. ‘The Thanksgiving Ceremony’ recounts
the Pilgrim story, and includes brief readings from the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, a speech by Martin Luther King, and other notable American texts. It concludes with the singing of ‘America the Beautiful.’
“Bleier’s Thanksgiving ceremony reflects another aspect of Thanksgiving Day gratitude that
tradition
has become part of the holiday: love of country. Since the Revolution, Thanksgiving has become a patriotic holiday, a time to give thanks for the blessings of liberty as enshrined in the American system of government.”
These sentiments are further reflected in an essay by Marc Angel, rabbi emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel (the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue), entitled, “Thoughts for Thanksgiving,” in which he shares with us the following:
“When President Washington called for a day of Thanksgiving, Jews observed this day with joy and pride. At Shearith Israel, the Rev. Gershom Mendes Seixas arranged a suitable service of prayer, and delivered an address in which he called upon Jews ‘to support that government which is founded upon the strictest principles of equal liberty and justice’.”
Parsha of the Week
Rabbi avi billet Jewish Star columnist
From Heart of Jerusalem Rabbi biNNY
Jewish Star columnist
Rabbi DR. tzvi
HeRsH WeiNReb Orthodox Union
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Tolerance of antisemitism births a pogrom
JnS Editor-in-Chief
Much like the reaction to the Hamas massacre of 1,200 citizens in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, it didn’t take long for some in the media and on the anti-Israel left to try to flip the narrative about what took place in Amsterdam on the night of Nov. 7.
Even as both the prime minister and king of the Netherlands apologized for the failure of the Dutch police to protect Israelis from a planned and coordinated attack on visiting Israeli soccer fans, many in the international media were suggesting that the incident was provoked by the Israelis.
According to the New York Times and the Associated Press, some Israelis in the country to attend a game between the Dutch Ajax team and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv, allegedly chanted antiPalestinian slogans and tore down a Palestinian flag. The leader of one left-wing Dutch political party referred to the visiting tourists as “thugs” who uttered “genocidal” and “racist” slogans.
The left-wing Forward also claimed that the victims were “violent hooligans.”
Dutch Jews who feared antisemitism but didn’t wish to be associated with Israel and its post-Oct. 7 war on Islamist terrorists felt trapped in a conflict they wished to avoid, according to the Forward, which said those Jews worried that the Amsterdam attacks would be “weaponized” by Zionists or by non-Jewish right-wing politicians like Geert Wilders, leader of the largest party in the Dutch parliament.
Wilders speaks for many in Holland and in Europe who are deeply critical of the way a massive influx of Muslim immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa is changing the character of their nations for the worse and that is also responsible for a surge in antisemitism. Yet for many on the left to even raise these issues is, by definition, racist.
In this way, even the spectacle of an anti-Jew-
ish pogrom in Western Europe is being used as yet another excuse to bash Israelis and to portray its perpetrators as victims of racists and xenophobes.
The fact that the outrageous attacks on Israelis were documented by videos widely circulated on social-media platforms and were committed on the eve of the 86th anniversary of the Nazi’s Kristallnacht pogrom against German Jews has not deterred those who believe that the Jews must always be in the wrong.
The point here is even if some of the visiting Israelis didn’t behave as exemplary tourists, the notion that violence against them is a justified reaction to the presence of Jews in the city where Anne Frank hid from the Nazis epitomizes how a global surge in antisemitism has been normalized.
The Amsterdam pogrom — and due to the way the mob-driven attacks to physically harm the Israelis were clearly planned and coordinated in advance on WhatsApp and Telegram, the specific term does apply to the violence — matters not so much because of the Kristallnacht anniversary or that it happened in a country that profits from tourists who flock to the museum on the site of the secret annex where the Frank family sought to survive the Holocaust. Its significance lies in the fact that though the imagery of Jews being “hunted” is particularly frightening, it is merely one more in a growing list of outrageous attacks on Jews not just in supposedly enlightened Western Europe but throughout the globe.
Rather than being exceptional, it is part of a pattern of behavior that is the natural outcome of a combination of factors that have emboldened those who hate Jews to act on their vile beliefs.
Antisemitic mobs in US
Though the current European variant of this plague of prejudice is distinct from what has been happening in the United States since Oct. 7, it is nevertheless closely linked to the mobs on college campuses and in the streets of America’s cities who have been chanting the same slogans the Amsterdam pogromists acted on. The terror in the Dutch city is an illustration of what happens when mobs seek to “globalize the intifada.”
In Holland and many other places in Western
Even if some of the visiting Israelis didn’t behave as exemplary tourists, that violence against them is seen as a justified reaction to the presence of Jews in the city where Anne Frank hid from the Nazis epitomizes how a global surge in antisemitism has been normalized.
Europe, Muslim immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East, especially the torrent of refugees from the Syrian civil war in the last decade, were welcomed with open arms. Governments who thought they were acting on the lessons that needed to be learned from Europe’s troubled past believed that they were obligated to take in those seeking a better life than could be had in their home countries.
Nevertheless, the desire to help those in need quickly morphed into a willingness to turn a blind eye to the way their own national identities and cultures were being transformed by the migrants. Rather than seeking to assimilate, the newcomers conducted what might be described as a reverse colonization from what had occurred during Europe’s imperialist past. The increasingly aggressive Muslim communities didn’t merely bring a culture of misogyny and antisemitism with them; their presence and numbers essentially normalized behavior and hatred that were supposedly banished from the continent after the Holocaust.
Red-green alliance
Just as troubling was the way advocates for Islamist politics were able to ally themselves with European leftists. Though their cultural attitudes were the opposite of what secular Europeans believed in, they did have something very impor-
tant in common: hatred for Israel and prejudice against Jews.
In this way, a bizarre red-green alliance of disparate groups that shared an anti-Zionist agenda became a staple of Western European politics. And, as we’ve seen in countries like France, Sweden and now Holland, this creates an atmosphere where “criticism” of Israel quickly morphed into support for the destruction of the Jewish state, as well as tolerance for antisemitic agitation aimed at intimidating and silencing Jews.
As Douglas Murray noted in his prescient 2017 book, “The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam,” the introduction of a large Muslim population into the continent whose values were incompatible with those of secular Europe led to a dynamic in which liberals found themselves unable to muster the will to defend their beliefs, lest they be labeled as racists.
While Western European leaders are always willing to denounce violence like the “Jewhunting” in Amsterdam when it becomes too egregious to ignore or downplay, they are largely responsible for setting these events in motion.
They did this, in part, by unthinkingly opening up their nations to a flood of people who had no desire to give up attitudes that Europe had sup-
JonAthAn S. tobin
Fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team in the arrivals hall of Ben-Gurion International Airport on Nov. 8. Jonathan Shaul, Flash90
They promised ‘never again’ but forgot vows
One thing should be clear by now to our allies in the fight against antisemitism: They failed.
Europe cannot keep its post-Holocaust promise of “never again.” That promise crashed and burned onto the world stage in Amsterdam last week as hundreds of Israeli tourists were filmed fleeing from a large crowd of antisemites who, divided into groups organized for the pogrom, shouted “Jew, Jew!”
These mobs forced Maccabi Tel Aviv fans to flee, to cover their children with their bodies while being beaten by the mobs and even to say while being forced to the ground with violence
Islamic extremists who support the terrorist axis have taken violent possession of the city, relying on the silence and connivance of the police and the indifference of ordinary citizens.
“I am not Jewish.”
The pogrom and its aftermath laid bare how only Israel — with its courageous and solitary fight against totalitarian, extremist Islam and its allies — remains deployed as the shield to the values that were promised to the whole world in 1945 after the defeat of evil.
Back then, the people in Amsterdam, in Paris, in Britain, in the United States and around the world said “never again” would they support authoritarian regimes who discriminate against the sick, those who are different, dissidents, women, gays, Jews and members of all other religions.
But in Amsterdam just days before the anniversary of Kristallnacht, we saw a different reality. Islamic extremists who support the terrorist axis have taken violent possession of the city, relying on the silence and connivance of the police and the indifference of ordinary citizens.
Then, just a few days later, we once again saw people in the street marching not in defense of the Jews and Israel but in favor of Hamas and Iran. These marchers were no longer second- or third-generation Muslims but blonde-haired boys wearing keffiyehs who spread lies about the Jews in praise of “Palestine.”
Europe has been devoured by a sense of guilt mixed with fear and cultural and moral confusion, which makes it prey to mistakes. The media, for instance, has tried to deny the antisemitism of the crowds who organized and prepared for their “Jew hunt,” instead framing the events as a clash between soccer fans or a response to aggressive actions by Israeli fans who boasted about their actions in Gaza.
There is no justification for the systematic hunting of Jews in the city of museums and bicycles and tulips. Although warned of what was being prepared, the city did nothing to stop it. Instead, officials said afterwards that they were ashamed of what had happened.
The warning is loud and clear, and Israel is alone to face its magnitude as early as Oct. 7.
The crowd of Muslim and Arabic speakers who attacked the Israelis, including kids, drew on their support for Hamas’s genocidal project of destroying Israel and all Jews.
I won’t go back to explaining how, during
the many years between the end of the Second World War and today, antisemitism has slipped into all the crevices of anti-capitalist ideology, anti-imperialist and then woke agenda (all the oppressed against all the oppressors) to make its new anti-Zionist guise lethal.
Now, the new chapter is definitively open. Never again is now, and it is Israel who must take charge of the situation and act strategically to defend the Jews of the whole world.
Fiamma Nirenstein is an Italian-Israeli author who served in the Italian Parliament. To reach her, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
The re-emergence of Jew-hate in Amsterdam
Those who’ve survived an atrocity are always more haunted by what the allegedly “good” people failed to do than by the actual crimes. They are haunted by those who heard their screams and did nothing, by those who denied that there even were screams, and by those who, like the police in Amsterdam last week, were warned in advance that something bad was to come but chose to delay any actions.
And then there are the cheerleaders who celebrate war-zone rapes or “Jew hunts” in modern-day Europe.
Last week’s pogrom was conducted by groups of Muslim men and taxi drivers who carefully planned a Hamas-like Oct. 7 rampage against civilian Israelis who had come to Amsterdam to watch a soccer game.
We know that Holland is the country that gave the largest percentage of its Jews over to Hitler, more than any other European country. Out of a pre-war total of 80,000 Jews, 64,000 Dutch Jews — 80% — were murdered.
According to Leon de Winter, a Dutch author and journalist writing in the Wall Street Journal, “Today there are about 20,000 Jews in Amsterdam and 40,000 in the whole country. By contrast, there are roughly 1 million Muslims in the Netherlands … about 90,000 Muslims live in Amsterdam.”
For the moment, I am thinking more about the Dutch non-Arabs who are celebrating the “Jew hunt” than I am about the Muslim attackers. These mainly Caucasian citizens — the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the Dutch who sacrificed their Jewish neighbors during World War II — are the ones who are now those chanting “Free, free Palestine” and in favor of killing the Jews.
This virus of Jew-hate, perhaps dormant for a while, has fully re-emerged.
Since Hamas’ pogrom of Oct. 7, anti-Israel protests around the world have been led by Muslims but always joined by non-Arabs. Calls to “Globalize the intifada” have become normalized. This is inevitable given that authorities refuse to stop such demonstrations and college administrators and professors defend Jew-hatred as a form of “free speech” and politically “just” since they view Israel as the “colonial occupier” of innocent Arabs.
Just scan the worldwide media coverage of the Amsterdam assault. Reuters and The New York Times downplayed what happened, calling it either a fight between soccer fans or a fight that the Israelis started, rather
than a “Jew hunt” in which mobs of Muslims in groups of perhaps five to 15 people were seen trying to run Jews over, beating them in the streets and forcing them to say “Free Palestine” if they wanted to live.
The day after the pogrom, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema did not call the rioters Islamists, Muslims or Moroccans … she referred to them as “scooter youths” as they rode mopeds to commit their crimes.
This “Jew hunt” was not perpetrated by Christian Caucasians as in the past. This time, it was pre-planned and apparently carried out by Holland’s Muslims, some of whom are likely second- or third-generation citizens. How can Holland deport those found guilty of perpetrating a pogrom on Jewish civilians if the perps are Dutch citizens? Can
the Dutch, both Muslim and non-Arab, be deprogrammed?
Probably not, at least not without a major, overwhelming, mandatory re-education plan.
In their works, prescient French novelist Jean Raspail and scholar Bat Ye’or, an EgyptianSwiss woman whose real name is Gisèle Littman, predicted the coming of “Eurabia” and the downfall of Western civilization. So did writers like Andrew Bostom, Oriana Fallaci, Richard Landes, Bernard Lewis, Douglas Murray, Robert Spencer and Ibn Warraq, with some pointing to instances in Europe of so-called “no-go” zones in areas with significant Muslim populations and little police oversight, sexual assaults of women some call “infidels,” honor killings and a refusal to assimilate.
Let’s not forget the assassination in 2004 of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by Moroccan-Dutch Islamist Mohamed Bouyeri, who was born in Holland and whose hit list included Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born Dutch parliamentarian. He stabbed a five-page note into Van Gogh’s body, which he addressed to Ali, who he called a “heretic” and a willing collaborator of “Zionists and Crusaders.” Bouyeri believed that a “Jewish cabal” controlled Holland.
Despite such warning signs, those who spoke against the rise of Islamic extremists were called “Islamophobes,” racists, fearmongers and conspiracy theorists.
De Winter wrote that the violence that took place overnight Nov. 7-8 “emerged from deepseated, historically entrenched antisemitism.” He also noted that “Moroccan youth have participated in weekly anti-Zionist demonstrations through the streets of Amsterdam.”
The attackers in Amsterdam did not paraglide into the city as Hamas did, but many were on scooters. De Winter believes that these Muslims are “collectively humiliated” by the Dutch “indifference” to their religion and by the “infidel” demands placed upon them to assimilate.
See Chesler on page 23
Amsterdam police officers clash with protestors at an anti-Israel demonstration in Dam Square on Nov. 10. Robin van Lonkhuijsen/ANP/AFP via Getty Images
Fiamma NireNsteiN
Phyllis Chesler
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Home at last, living in harmony in Jerusalem
Nothing can compare with the joy of finally returning to our home in Jerusalem this past week.
After a delay of almost two months due to the tragic illness and passing of my beloved mother-in-law, my wife and I were finally able to come back to Jerusalem and reconnect with our wonderful friends and family. And by friends and family, I mean all of Am Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael.
There are some in this complicated place with whom I vehemently disagree, but whereas before that fateful Oct. 7 I would be angry, even vituperative, at those on the other side of the political and religious spectrum, I realized immediately afterwards that the demands of ahavat achim, love of one’s’ fellow Jew, requires that we restrain our emotions and disagree with dignity and calm (even if the other side fails to do so). Not always easy, I admit.
But as many commentators have suggested, the reason for this horrible war was our engagement in sinat achim, hatred of our fellow Jew. The arguments over court reform, Haredi recruitment and many other issues, that rocked the Land and People of Israel to their very foundations, culminated in the catastrophe of slaughter on Shmini Atzeret
As we consider Avraham’s rescue of Lot, the story shouts, ‘See what Avraham did in a similar situation and learn!’
5784, a holiday that is all about love of one’s fellow Jew.
Because of our mutual hatred and disgust, G-d chose to hide His face.
The nation quickly realized the awful error and corrected, with acts of ahavat achim that for the most part continue to this day and have been a key ingredient in our slowly winning the war.
We’ve decimated Hamas and killed Sinwar; why can’t we find the hostages?
Once again, as Hashem hears my prayer and feels my sometimes desperation, He sends me guidance from this past week’s parsha.
Lech Lecha is about Avraham and his journey — his physical journey of travel, as well as his journey of self-discovery and establishing a personal relationship with Hashem. But Lech Lecha is also about his relationship with his wife, Sarai (later Sarah); his nephew, Lot, and his family; and his enemies, such as Pharaoh of Egypt. In fact, as Avram, later Avraham, becomes increasingly successful (Bereishit 13:2) it’s clear that he can no longer stay with his nephew Lot, and ultimately they agree to go their separate ways — vayipardu ish mei-
al achiv — the first breach in the Abrahamic family. And then a war breaks out.
At first, it has nothing to do with Avraham. Four Kings against five. Who cares? Well, it is taking place in the land destined to be the inheritance of Avraham and his descendants forever, the future land of Israel.
And then it gets personal. Avraham’s nephew and all he has are taken captive. When informed of this, Avraham without hesitation gathers his allies and disciples (numbering only 318) and chases them north as far as Hobah, above Damascus (more than 200 miles from Hebron), defeats them, and rescues Lot and all his possessions.
Isee this as an example of maaseh l’avot siman l’banim. In fact, the Ramban earlier in Lech Lecha cites this very principle — that what happened to our avot is a sign for their descendants and their actions lessons for the future. Although he does not cite the rescue of Lot by Avraham as an example, with our existing hostages a bitter reality, the story shouts, “My children, see what Avraham did in a similar situation and learn!”
First lesson: He verified his information “vayaged l’Avram,” even if it came from the
most nefarious sources (the Midrash tells us that the refugee who informed Avraham that Lot was taken captive was none other than the evil giant Og, who would later be cut down by Moses himself).
Second: He gathered his best friends and allies to help (Mamre, Eshkol and Aner). When I see the name Aner, I think of Aner Shapira, the friend of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who at the cost of his own life threw back seven grenades, saving the lives of many, including Hersh, who had taken shelter from the attack at the Nova music festival.
Third: He “armed” his disciples, notably, Eleizer. The number of disciples is low, 318. The Midrash says it was even lower, only Eliezer alone, whose name has the gematria of 318 (Nedarim 32a).
But as Rashi says, his “disciples” — chanichav from the word chinuch (to educate religiously) — whom Avraham taught to do mitzvot. The lesson for us is clear — religious young men who are educated to perform mitzvot, certainly in times of danger and national emergency, must be armed and ready for battle to help their fellow Jew.
Ukraine at war with Russia (N. Korea-Iran, too)
Last week was clearly a week for making history. That observation isn’t primarily sparked by Donald Trump’s presidential election victory — he’s now the only US president besides Grover Cleveland to win two non-consecutive terms — but to a much less reported event half a world away, whose consequences Trump will have to deal with when he takes office in January.
As the Pentagon has now confirmed, the North Korean regime has deployed up to 12,000 troops to fight alongside its Russian ally nearly three years after Moscow launched its brutal aggression against Ukraine. They clashed with Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk salient, marking the first time that an outside party has fired a shot in this war.
Time will tell whether the North Koreans will make a significant difference to the actual
By choosing Pyongyang as his partner, Putin signaled that no state is off-limits when it comes to seeking allies.
progress of the war. A story that did the rounds in recent days centered upon a captured Russian soldier caught on video claiming that his unit was accidentally fired on by the very same North Koreans supposed to be fighting alongside them, suggesting that Pyongyang has dispatched cannon fodder rather than crack troops.
“We tried to explain to them where to aim, but I think they shot two of our own,” the soldier explained. “I decided it was better to surrender in this situation than to be killed by our own bullet.”
That probably shouldn’t be surprising; while North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has called his 1 million-man army “the strongest” in the world, none of the Hermit Kingdom’s soldiers have any meaningful combat experience.
The other aspect here is geopolitical — the coming together of two tyrannical regimes to crush the independence of a post-Communist democracy allied with the European Union and the United States.
By choosing North Korea as his partner in war, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has signaled that no state is off-limits when it comes to seeking allies. For as bad and repressive as Russia is internally, North Korea is even worse; as I’ve written before, the “Democratic People’s Republic” is not so much an independent country as it is a concentration camp with a seat at the United Nations.
With his relations with Western nations at a nadir, Putin has become increasingly reliant on countries like China, Iran and North Korea for diplomatic and military support, as well as those states that are either existing or as-
piring members of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) bloc of states, who present themselves as an alternative to the US-dominated international institutions that emerged after World War II. Iran has supplied Russia with missiles and Shahed drones that have been used to devastating effect against Ukrainian cities and towns.
In the case of North Korea, Putin and Kim signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” when the Russian leader visited Pyongyang in June that pledges both countries to
come to the defense of the other in the event of an attack.
For Moscow, the North Korean troops for the time being offer a practical alternative to recruiting yet more Russians to fight in a war that has already taken the lives of more than 700,000 of them, along with thousands of tanks and armored vehicles. For the North Koreans, assisting Russia will bring in muchneeded cash into Kim’s coffers, as well as Russian know-how in the development of Pyong-
Jerusalem viewed from the Mount of Olives. Dudlajzov, Adobe
See Mazurek on page 23
See Cohen on page 23
Palestinians in Hebron display posters of Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, on Oct. 20, 2023. Wisam Hashlamoun, Flash90
Dr. AlAn MAzurek
Great Neck, Jerusalem
GlOBAl FOCuS
Ben COHen
Continued from page 16 riage, and the equally sacred bond between parent and child. Vayelchu shenehem yachdav
And if we ask ourselves why is it that Jews so often succeed, and in succeeding, so often give of their money and time to others, and so often make an impact beyond their numbers: there is no magic, no mystery, no miracle. It is simply that we devote our most precious energies to bringing up our children. Never more so than on Shabbat when we cannot buy our children expensive clothes or electronic gadgets, when we can only give them what they most want and need — our time.
Jews knew, and know, and will always know what today’s chattering classes are in denial about, namely that a civilization is as strong as the bond between the generations.
That is the enduring image of this week’s Parsha, Vayera: the first Jewish parent, Abraham, and the first Jewish child, Isaac, walking together toward an unknown future, their fears stilled by their faith. Lose the family and we will eventually lose all else. Sanctify the family and we will have something more precious than wealth or power or success: the love between the generations that is the greatest gift G-d gives us when we give it to one another.
Freedman…
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early (the word used in the Torah, vayashkem, implies a sense of mission and purpose) and again, “returns to the place where he stood before.”
The Talmud tells us (Berachot 6b) that from this moment we learn the halachathat a person should always pray in a set place, a makom kavua. In fact, Rav Chelbo quotes Rav Huna who says that whoever has a set place for his prayers is considered to be a true student of Avraham, and when he leaves this world it will be said of him that he is humble and pious. What is so significant about the place where a person prays?
Iam indebted to Rav Dovid’l Weinberg, who teaches at yeshivat Orayta and who introduced me to the Shaarei Orah who has a magnificent idea on this topic.
The Mishna in Pirkei Avot (5:19) clearly contrasts Avraham with wicked Balaam. Whoever is humble and generous (literally “with a good eye”), says the Mishna, is a student of Avraham, and whoever is arrogant and stingy or with a negative perception, is a student of the wicked Balaam. The antithesis of Avraham is the way of Balaam.
Isn’t it interesting, says the Shaarei Orah, that when Balaam sets out to curse the Jewish people (Bamidbar 22-23), every time he fails, he changes his place. Indeed, Balak (ibid. 23:13) exhorts him to follow him to a “different place” from which to curse the Jewish people and spiritually defeat us.
Again and again, Balaam changes his place to try and achieve his aims and yet, again and again, he fails. The implication is that Balaam’s failure is not attributed to who Balaam is, but rather to where he is. In fact, at the beginning of that story there is a tension between the messengers of the Moabite King Balak and Balaam precisely because Balak wants Balaam to come to a place where he can curse Israel and Balaam is not sure he can or should go. It never occurs to those wicked people that their failure is the result of their wickedness, they simply assume it is because they are in the wrong place. This is the classic perception of blaming the ills of society on the environment. Avraham on the other hand, goes back to the same place to pray yet again, knowing he had failed there the day before (Sodom would still be destroyed). It is not where Avraham is, but who Avraham is that will make the difference.
To be sure, environment is a powerful influ-
ence and Jewish tradition teaches (and Maimonides rules halachically in Hilchot Deot, the laws of character traits) that a person must distance him or herself from a negative environment. But that does not mean we can ever lay the blame totally on the environment.
Once we know that we cannot place the onus entirely on the environment we are challenged nonetheless to create an environment that will be a positive environment.
Way back when we are created, the first thing G-d does is place us in the Garden of Eden (Bereishit 2; 8 and 15), an environment conducive to spiritual growth.
Yet it does not work, we make the colossal mistake of eating from the Tree against G-d’s wishes and must leave Eden. Eventually, we will build a Temple twice in an attempt to recreate that spiritually conducive environment. (We, not G-d, had to build it, just as the second Tablets were formed by man.)
We cannot completely rely on our environment but must nonetheless work to create a health environment. Perhaps that is why coming home to Israel is so special: nowhere else in the world is there a Jewish environment more conducive to growth than in Israel, both because of the history and energy imbued in this place by our holy ancestors long ago, as well as the fact that Israel is an entire country whose society and standing are determined by the Jewish people.
When the Jews began coming back home to Israel in the nineteenth century it was anything but an objectively wonderful place to live. As Mark Twain pointed out in a famous article he wrote for Harper’s magazine after visiting Israel at the time, “it was a barren place better suited to wild beasts and marauders, rather than habitation by civilized man.”
But we were never meant receive a place, we were always meant to be partners in building it; so, with G-d’s help, the desert of Palestine has been transformed into the modern State of Israel which is a veritable Garden of Eden in ifulfillment of the verse from Isaiah:
“Va’yasem Midbara ke’Eden” — There will come a time when the desert will be transformed into the Garden of Eden.”
Perhaps one day soon the entire Jewish people will realize there is nowhere else that is truly home, and we will succeed at long last in building together a model of what a healthy society can be, as a model for a better world.
Rabbi Freedman is rosh yeshiva at Yeshivat Orayta in Jerusalem. To reach him, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
Weinreb…
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of the generation of Jews just prior to the destruction of the Second Temple:
“In those days, the population contained many tzaddikim and chassidim [devout and pious folk] and those who toiled in Torah study. But they were not “upright” in their dealings with others. They held hatred in their hearts, one against the other, so that if they but suspected that another person was not as pious as they considered themselves to be, they accused him of being a Sadducee or an apikores, a sectarian or a heretic.
“In the extreme, this led even to murder and to every possible transgression. Thus was the Temple destroyed. … For the Holy One Blessed Be He does not tolerate such tzaddikim. … Even if such perversions are supposedly performed for the “sake of Heaven,” they bring about the erosion of the Creation and the ruin of civilization.
“It is to the credit of our Patriarchs that besides being tzaddikim and chassidim and lovers of the Almighty to the extent humanly possible, they were also yesharim! And so, they dealt humanely with other nationalities, and even with despicable idolaters. They dealt with them as peers and were concerned about their welfare because of their own universalist concerns.
“We see this clearly in the fact that Avraham extended himself to pray for Sodom. Even though he disdained the people of Sodom and their ruler because of their evil acts, he never-
theless wanted them to be spared.
“That is why Avraham is called av hamon goyim, father of the multitude of nations. Fathers desire the well-being of even their wayward sons.”
Netziv dedicates the rest of his introduction to the book of Bereshit to justify why it is called the Sefer Hayshar (the Book of the Upright). He demonstrates how both Isaac and Jacob exhibited similar tolerance and sympathy toward individuals who were less than worthy. Examples include Isaac with Avimelech and Jacob with Laban, as we will soon read in future weekly Torah portions.
I close by sharing with you an account of my several experiences leading groups of tourists on trips to Eastern Europe. Among the highlights of all these trips were the visits to the graves of Jewish religious leaders, many of which date back five or six centuries. Before each such visit, I would select a text written by or about the person whose grave we were about to visit.
One of those graves was the final resting place of Netziv, who died brokenhearted after his beloved yeshiva in Volozhin was forced by the Russian government to close its doors. Soon after that tragic disappointment, in 1892, he spent time in Warsaw and passed away there. He was buried in the large cemetery there. The famed Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk, who died several decades later, was buried next to him.
At the end of each of these journeys, I would ask the members of the group to comment upon their emotions and submit a written description of any life-changing experiences they may have had in the course of the weeklong adventure.
I still cherish those scraps of paper and remain amazed and inspired by how many of the participants reported with pride and sincerity that they found Netziv’s words greatly influential, if not actually life changing.
I encourage you, dear reader, to try to read Netziv’s introduction in its eloquent original. Perhaps you too will be affected by it sufficiently to expand your attitudes towards others in your surroundings and to join the company of our treasured ancestors, the yesharim Rabbi Weinreb is executive vice president emeritus of the Orthodox Union. To reach him, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
I know people like Avimelekh. In moments of weakness, I sometimes act like Avimelekh. How often do we forget that not every person and not every person’s actions are in our control? How often do we forget that when living and dealing with other people, sometimes things don’t go our way? Sometimes things fall apart, and we found ourselves in a difficult moment, a difficult day, a difficult week, a difficult reality, and all we want to do is blame others for the troubles in our lives?
To be fair, sometimes the troubles are other people’s fault! Sometimes rules change, laws change, people who were previously generous now have to tighten belts, people undergoing private tragedy or challenging times need to adjust things in their lives which means they need to make cuts in their relationships and commitments elsewhere.
What do we do when we are faced with realities that are disagreeable to us? There is no rule that fits all, because every situation is different and needs to be analyzed for its own merits. If we need to fight to change unjust rules or laws, then that is one fight that must be had.
But when the fault does truly lie in our mismanagement or our own bad choices or decisions, do we punt the football and blame everyone else? Or do we own up and say “How can I make this better?” How can we work together with the good people around us in order to create the outcomes we’d much prefer to see and experience?
Collaboration with others — both likeminded and differently-minded seems to me to be a better solution for all. How many things did Avraham and Avimelekh agree upon? Not too many, I would surmise. And yet they made a lasting peace, and Avraham even lived in the same land for many years.
If the man who had his wife taken away can get along with the man who abducted that wife, then most hurdles can be overcome when people choose to work together and not blame everyone else for their shortcomings. Avi Billet, who grew up in the Five Towns, is a South Florida-based mohel and rabbi of Anshei Chesed Congregation in Boynton Beach. This column was previously published. To reach Rabbi Billet, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
Continued from page 17
never told me. I heard nothing about it until today’.”
Blaming the victim, aren’t we, Avimelekh? It seems clear to me from what we are told in the text that people in Avimelekh’s land were governed by their ruler. What he said went, his word was the law of the land. Avimeleh’s servants would not evict someone from a well without the king knowing about it.
So what is the problem? Avimelekh, certainly in his own mind’s eye, can never see himself as being wrong. It’s always someone else’s fault! He is perfect! He never makes an error!
This is not to say that Avraham did not have appreciation for Avimelekh’s role in his own life. Avraham gives Avimelekh seven sheep as an indicator that his wells are his own, and as a reminder that Avimelekh must inform his people not to steal Avraham’s wells. Chapter 21 concludes by telling us, “Abraham lived [there] in the land of the Philistines for many days” — either he stayed in Gerar, or Beer Sheva was on the border with the land of the Philistines (see Ramban 21:32) and they lived in peace.
So why bring this up, if in the end, Avraham and Avimelekh did, in fact, share peace?
It might be true that “all’s well that ends well.” That idiom, however, does not take into account that while the ends might be nice, the process of getting there is sometimes far less than pleasant and, in some cases, not worth undertaking at all.
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Further on, Rabbi Angel shares this personal sentiment:
“It is sometimes heard in Orthodox Jewish circles that Thanksgiving Day is a ‘non-Jewish holiday’ and should not be observed by religious Jews. This view is historically wrong and morally dubious. Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday for all residents of the United States, of all religions. Jews participated in Thanksgiving from the very beginning of the United States’ history.
“This holiday belongs to Jews as to all other Americans. It is altogether fitting that Jews join fellow Americans in observing a day of Thanksgiving to the Almighty for all the blessings He has bestowed upon this country. Jews, in particular, have much reason to thank G-d for the opportunities and freedoms granted to us in the United States.”
With these sentiments in mind, we should note that within our daily is found the recitation of Psalm 100, the Psalm of Thanksgiving.
In his classic commentary on this psalm, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, of blessed memory, teaches us the following:
“When one day in the new future that is to come, all things on earth will be in such an ideal state that there will be no more cause for prayers and offerings; even then, prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving-offerings will never cease. For it would be only under such conditions that these acts would attain their true significance.
“Therefore, this Psalm of Thanksgiving is put here as a finale, as it were, to the preceding psalms which sang of the advent of the new era on earth.”
Previously published. To reach Alan Gerber, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
Tobin…
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posedly left behind during the Enlightenment. It was also a function of their willingness to normalize the presence of intolerant Islamists who shared their resentment of Zionism, Israel and the Jews with many in mainstream European political parties.
In essence, every college with an anti-Israel encampment or a campus culture where pro-Israel Jews find themselves ostracized and targeted by faculty and students is an example of how pogroms like that in Amsterdam become a possibility.
The takeover of American education by those advocating for toxic Marxist myths like critical race theory and intersectionality, which falsely label Jews and Israel as “white” oppressors who are always in the wrong and deserve whatever violence is directed at them, has led to the indoctrination of a generation that sees the barbaric atrocities of Oct. 7 as justified “resistance.”
In this way, the chattering classes in the United States have, like their European counterparts, essentially normalized antisemitic discourse about Jews and Israel under the guise of anti-Zionism and critiques of Israel.
It was no surprise that three elite university presidents were willing to tell Congress last December that it depended on “the context” as to whether advocacy for the genocide of Jews broke the rules of their institutions. If they feared the campus mobs of Israel-haters more than being labeled as soft on antisemitism, it was because current intellectual fashion has normalized hatred for Israel and the Jews.
It is a short leap from that position to one in which violence against Jews becomes not merely imaginable but inevitable.
There is a difference between America and Western Europe. The sort of official governmentbacked antisemitism that was once commonplace in Europe has not taken root in the United States. What’s more, the large majority of Americans support Israel and oppose antisemitism. As the recently concluded presidential election shows, voters also rejected woke ideology and elected a man who was pledged to fight its spread.
Warning to Americans
Still, the Amsterdam pogrom is a warning to Americans that should instruct them as to what happens when tolerance of antisemitism goes mainstream. That is true whether the result of the influx of antisemites from abroad or the spread of toxic, leftist “anti-racist” myths that seek to divide the country and fuel Jew-hatred.
The war against Israel may be only a sidebar to a general leftist war on Western civilization. But the peril of Jews in Europe and elsewhere signals that what is happening in Amsterdam could easily be repeated elsewhere.
Israel’s decision to rush planes to Holland to evacuate Israelis hiding in Amsterdam hotels from the mob in what can only be described as a 21st-century update of the Anne Frank story is another important reminder. In the era before the founding of the modern-day Jewish state in 1948, there was no Jewish army or air force to protect or evacuate Jews in need. Those who today disparage the existence of a Jewish state as an example of the dangers of nationalism are oblivious to the way the Amsterdam pogrom illustrated anew the need for a strong Israel.
While some on the left, including a sector of the Jewish population, may think that the problem is Israel and its refusal to let itself be destroyed by genocidal Islamist terrorists, recent events show that a Jewish state is imperative in a world where pogroms are still an unfortunate reality.
Those bent on eliminating it “by any means necessary” aren’t — contrary to many in the Democratic Party — articulating a moral critique of Israel. Instead, they are legitimizing Jewish genocide in the Middle East and everywhere else. When such dangerous ideas are tolerated, excused and rationalized, the world is merely a short step away from a time when pogroms like Kristallnacht or Amsterdam become the rule rather than the exception.
To reach Jonathan S. Tobin, write: Columnist@ TheJewishStar.com
Chesler…
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What next? Well, according to Dutch journalist and editor Esther Voet, the day after the “Jew hunt,” an Israeli TV crew was trying to broadcast a report from Dam Square in Amsterdam and was confronted by pro-Palestinian protesters. “They called for police protection to return to their hotels. The police refused.”
With the protesters behind last week’s pogrom still on the streets, we will likely see more pogroms in Holland and other parts of Europe. Will the police in those cases respond in a more timely fashion than the Dutch police did?
Time will tell. France, which is hosting a soccer match in Paris with Israel on Thursday, is deploying 4,000 security personnel to ensure that what happened in Amsterdam does not happen there. Israeli security officials, meanwhile, are telling Israelis to stay home.
Let’s be clear on this: Only Israel rescued the Jews under siege in Amsterdam last week. The Dutch government did not do so, nor did any neighboring European country. The world’s “peaceniks” and the United Nations were nowhere in sight.
What happened in Amsterdam reflects what has happened to Jews historically in Europe and throughout the Muslim world. Israel has not caused this Jew-hatred. Israel is, in fact, the only rational response to antisemitism. It is the height of madness to demand that there be no Jewish state or for Jews to willingly negotiate for an even smaller, almost tiny, part of the land in which we are the indigenous people, a people who have now returned to our inheritance.
Phyllis Chesler is an emerita professor of psychology and women’s studies at CUNY. To reach her, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
Mazurek…
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Fourth: “Deployed against them at night … he struck them and pursued them” — a long distance, as far as it took, without hesitation, without mercy.
Fifth: He was finally successful in bringing all, men and women, “the people back.”
Sixth: The most valuable lesson of all, that despite parting from his “brother” due to irreconcilable differences, Avraham did not hesitate to rescue Lot when Lot was in need. That is what real ahavat achim is all about.
Furthermore, after victory, Avraham refuses any reward for his actions, raising his hand and allegiance to “Hashem, G-d the Most High, Maker of heaven and earth.”
We are Avraham’s children. We must use every source of information to locate our hostages, bring our closest friends to assist us, arm our soldiers with the most advanced weaponry also also with Torah and mitzvot
We must act with cunning and guile, tirelessly, and strike our enemy without mercy, pursuing them as far as it takes, and with Gd’s help we will finally succeed.
This road has been long, but the brave forces of Tzahal have imbibed and executed these lessons well.
Stories abound of their bravery and heroism, but also how units of men and women of disparate backgrounds — religious and nonreligious, right and left — work cohesively and effectively as one, not allowing their different beliefs or opinions interfere with their mission.
It is our job to continue to support them in every way we can, to allow them to complete their task and like Avraham Avinu, bring our hostages home.
Dr. Alan Mazurek is a retired neurologist, living in Great Neck, Jerusalem and Florida. He is a former chairman of the ZOA. To reach him, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
Trump taps Huckabee as his envoy to Israel
President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he will nominate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel.
Trump said he “highly respected” Huckabee, a Southern Baptist pastor who “loves Israel and the people of Israel and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East.”
A staunch supporter of the Jewish state based on his biblical beliefs, Huckabee visited Israel many times and led thousands of US Christians on solidarity tours. His first trip to Israel right out of high school was just before the 1973 Yom Kippur war.
In the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist massacre in southern Israel, Huckabee led evangelical leaders on a visit to the hard-hit communities along the border with the Gaza Strip.
“After 50 years of coming here, nothing prepared me for this visit,” he said after walking through the charred remains of a border kibbutz.
During US-Israel Business Alliance symposium in Jerusalem in 2017, he delivered an impassioned speech highlighting the Biblical and historical connection between the land of Israel and the Jewish people.
Huckabee told an alliance dinner at the King David Hotel that Israel does not “occupy”
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yang’s nuclear program.
What this means is that Ukraine isn’t just fighting Russia but also North Korea and Iran.
The implications of this for Ukraine, as its civilians and armed forces face yet another freezing winter with dwindling supplies, are the gravest of all. But in the longer term, Ukraine’s ostensible allies will also bear the costs of this alignment of autocracies.
In the Middle East, the effects of Russia’s belligerent foreign policy have been manifest for more than a decade, given its aggressive backing of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime during the civil war in that country.
Israel has had to tiptoe around the Russian presence in Syria as it has attempted to deal with Iran’s use of both Syria and Lebanon as a staging ground for its proxies’ attacks upon the Jewish state. Because of that, in the wake of the Ukraine invasion three years ago, Israel considered and then essentially rejected the proposal that it should actively back the democratic government in Kyiv with weapons and training. That prudence was understandable, but it has not curtailed the Russians, whose attitude to the Jewish state is increasingly returning to the demonizing approach witnessed during
Judea and Samaria. “They don’t occupy, because they’ve owned it,” he said. “The only occupiers have been the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Turks, the Brits.”
In August 2018, Huckabee laid a ceremonial brick at the Israeli city of Efrat in Judea and said he might one day buy a “holiday home” there.
“If President Trump could be here today, he’d be a very happy man,” he stated at the time, standing in front of a red sign that said, “Build Israel Great Again.”
During his run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Huckabee had said he saw Judea and Samaria as an “integral part” of Israel and vowed to back settlement expansion there, a JTA report recalls. In 2018, he said that “there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian.”
On Tuesday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir tweeted Huckabee’s name alongside images of the American and Israeli flags with a heart emoji between them, JTA reported.
David Friedman, who served as the US envoy to Israel during Trump’s first presidency and was reportedly under consideration for the role again, stated that Huckabee is “a dear friend and he will have my full support.”
“Congrats Mike on getting the best job in the world,” Friedman wrote.
the Cold War as it cultivates terrorist groups from Hamas in Gaza to the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
For Putin, the war triggered by the Hamas atrocities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 has been a blessing. In terms of world attention, his war in Ukraine has been eclipsed by the fighting in the Middle East, with the grim result that the authentic genocide that Russia is waging against its southern neighbor has been largely ignored as patently false claims of Israeli genocide in Gaza have mushroomed.
As we enter the lame duck phase of President Joe Biden’s administration, a fundamental reassessment is therefore necessary — specifically, understanding how the wars in Ukraine and on multiple fronts in the Middle East interact with each other, and at what points Western, Israeli and Ukrainian interests intersect and where they might diverge. Ultimately, both Ukraine and Israel are fighting against the same set of enemies. At stake is not just their security — one might even say their very survival — but the values and policies embodied by both the NATO alliance and US foreign policy.
How America and its allies respond now will determine our stance towards this socalled “Axis of Resistance” for a generation. Ben Cohen is a senior analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. To reach him, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
In 2017, Gov. Mike Huckabee participated with several MKs in a special Knesset session during a US-Israel Business Alliance symposium that was part of an Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce mission. From left: MK Yoav Kisch, MK Miki Zohar, MK Betzalel Smotrich; Orthodox Jewish Chamber President Duvi Honig; Gov. Huckabee; MK Moti Yogev, Dr. Paul Brody of Great Neck; Odeleya Jacobs of Kew Gardens Hills; MK Shuli Mualem; MK Yehuda Glick, and Dr. Joseph Frager of Jamaica Estates.
