On Sunday, Omer Neutra’s mother pled for her son’s life, at a weekly rally for the hostages in Central Park. Since the day he was carried into Gaza by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, there was hope that he’d return.
Until hope died with an IDF annoucement on Monday that Neutra, a native of Plainview, Long Island, and a citizen of both Israel and America, was dead, murdered by Hamas during their Oct. 7 invasion of the Jewish state. He was 21 when he died.
“For over a year now, we’ve been breathing life into your being, my beautiful boy, with no physical sign
back from you — but with hope and love of so many, we kept going and going, keeping you alive, speaking your name from every outlet and every stage, pushing away any hint of despair, not stopping to breathe or to take in the deep pain of your absence,” Omer’s mother Orna said at a memorial service on Tuesday in the Midway Jewish Center, a conservative synagogue in Syosset.
“And now things are clear, but not as we hoped.”
Mouners included family, friends, members of Neutra’s expansive community, prominent Jewish and elected officials, and Rachel Goldberg-Polin,
whose son Hersh was also kidnapped and killed by Hamas.
People are expected to travel from a wide area to visit the family as they sit shiva at the Midway Jewish Center, through Thursday; the Riverdale Jewish Community Partnership chartered a bus to transport its members. Shiva will be completed in Israel.
“The truth is that we prayed, and the truth is that we davened, and the truth is that we sounded the shofar to crash the heavens, and the truth is that we lit extra Shabbat candles,” said Joel Levinson, Midway’s spiritual leader. “And the truth is that we wanted a different end to this story.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul directed flags at all state buildings lowered to halfstaff following news of Omer’s death. President Joe Biden said American “hearts are heavy today” and that he was “devastated, outraged.”
“Omer planned to return to the United States for college [he deferred his enrollment at Binghamton University],” Biden said, noting that he met less than a month ago with Omer’s parents at the White House. “He dreamed of dedicating himself to building peace.”
“To all the families of those still held hostage: We see you. We are See Neutra on page 2
Trump warns Hamas: Free captives before Jan. 20
By Andrew Bernard, JNS
President-elect Donald Trump warned on Monday that if Hamas did not release its hostages before inauguration day, “those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied history of the United States of America.”
“Release the hostages now,” he demanded.
Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump said that there had been “all talk, no action” to free the captives so far.
“If the hostages are not released prior to Jan. 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume office as president of the United States, there will be all hell to pay
in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against humanity,” Trump said.
Jerusalem believes that 97 of the 251 hostages taken during the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, remain in Gaza after 423 days. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
Trump’s statement demanding the release of hostages came on the same day that the IDF revealed that Omer Neutra, an Israeli-American serving in the IDF who was previously thought to have been taken alive,
Ethiopian Jews mark Sigd with prayers for Jerusalem
Thousands of Ethiopian Jews gathered in Jerusalem on Thursday to celebrate Sigd, an ancient holiday that has taken on renewed meaning amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas.
The celebration, held annually on the 29th of the month of Cheshvan (50 days after Yom Kippur), saw worshippers converge on the Armon Hanatziv Promenade (which overlooks the Temple Mount from the south) and the Kotel for prayers and festivities.
Sigd, which means “prostration” in Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic), has been observed by Ethiopian Jews, the Beta Israel, for centuries as a day to renew their covenant with G-d and express their longing for Zion.
In Ethiopia, community members would ascend a high mountain to pray, symbolizing the giving of
this tradition with a focus on unity and cultural pride.
This year’s prayers referenced the safe return of the hostages held in Gaza, including Avraham Mengistu, a member of the Ethiopian community.
President Isaac Herzog, who attended the ceremony, emphasized the holiday’s relevance to current events, saying, “Our brothers and sisters have not yet returned home from Gaza. Their voices cry out to us from underground, reminding us that there is no greater mitzvah than the redemption of captives.”
The day began with fasting and prayers, led by spiritual leaders known as kessim, who are parallel to the rabbis found in other Jewish
Ethiopian Jews take part in prayers on the Sigd holiday at the Armon Hanatziv Promenade overlooking the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Nov. 28. Yonatan Sindel, Flash90
President-Elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday with Sara and Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s wife and son. @YairNetanyahu, X
Omer Neutra z”l.
the Torah at Mount Sinai. Now in Israel, the community continues
For The Jewish Star
See Trump hostage threat on page 2
Neutra was murdered…
Continued from page 1
with you, and I will not stop working to bring your loved ones back home where they belong.”
“This family has soldiered on through alternating deep sorrow and hopefulness, crushing anxiety and steely determination,” said Rep. Tom Suozzi, whose district includes Plainview. “I ask all of you to join me in holding the Neutra family close as they seek to find peace and meaning in this tragedy.”
Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to Israel, wrote that he “got to know his parents on a flight to Israel in December of 2023. I wore a dog tag with Omer’s name as reminder of Americans held hostage. Heartbroken for his parents.”
Congresswoman-elect Laura Gillen, whose South Shore district includes the Five Towns, expressed her “deepest sympathy and prayers for his family.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said Neutra’s family “did everything possible. They have tremendous dignity, strength and courage.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres, whose district includes Riverdale, took to X to criticize a New York Times headline reporting Neutra’s death.
The Times headline read: “American Thought to Be Alive in Gaza Died on Oct. 7, Israel Says.”
Torres responded: “The whitewashing of October 7th is not a bug but a feature of the mainstream media’s coverage of Israel. Omer Neutra was not ‘thought to be alive in Gaza.’He was held hostage by Hamas. He did not simply die on October 7th. He was murdered by Hamas in an act of terroism. Stop sanitizing savagery.”
By Izzy Salant, JNS
Michelle Rich, director of teen travel and international engagement at United Synagogue Youth, laughs as she recounts a memory she has of Omer Neutra.
“He was so smiley, and so happy and so jolly,” Rich said. “He was a good neshama.”
Not only was Neutra’s energy magnetic, but there was “so much” of it, said Eitan Gitlin, who attended the Schechter School of Long Island with Neutra and was also a part of USY. “He had so much ruach.”
Jared Rogers met Neutra in elementary school and was with him at Midway Jewish Center and Schechter and ran cross-country together.
“Omer was a natural leader,” he said. “He always made people feel safe and like they belonged. Always looked out for the little guy.”
Tali Schor, another classmate of Neutra’s from first grade and a former USY member, remembered when Neutra was wheelchair-bound in third grade after breaking his foot. “It was Purim and he was in costume, and everyone stood around him,” she said. “He was making everyone laugh even when he was in pain himself.”
For Neutra, love of Judaism and the Jewish state were “inextricably linked,” Schor said. “Judaism and Israel were everything to Omer, and that was true from the moment that we met him.”
When Neutra opted to join the IDF, “it wasn’t a choice, it was a conviction,” Schor said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted Neutra’s love of the Jewish state when expressing condolences to his family: “Omer was a man of values, blessed with talents and a Zionist in every inch of his limbs.”
“Making a sacrifice to protect Israel and all of us, he’s a hero for that,” Schor said.
Trump hostage threat…
Continued from page 1
was killed on Oct. 7 and that Hamas continues to hold his body in Gaza.
It also follows Trump’s meeting on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son, Yair, and the prime minister’s wife Sara at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump has previously indicated through surrogates that he wants a ceasefire-for-hostage deal to be completed by the time he takes office, but Monday’s statement is one of the most direct such calls the president-elect has made and the clearest indication that he would demand consequences if a deal fails to materialize.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog both thanked Trump.
“It is a forceful statement, which makes it clear that there is only one responsible for this situation, and that is Hamas,” Netanyahu said
on Tuesday.
“Hamas needs to release the hostages,” Netanyahu continued. “President Trump put the emphasis in the correct place, on Hamas, and not on the Israeli government, as is customary in some places.”
The prime minister said his government would continue to do everything in its power to release the captives from Gaza, warning Hamas that “whoever harms them, their blood is on their own heads.
“President Trump also said this yesterday, and this adds validity to this whole adage,” Netanyahu said. “We have already proven that we are fulfilling this edict, and we will not relent. We will return all of our hostages.”
“Thank you and bless you Mr. Presidentelect Donald Trump,” Herzog wrote on Monday. “We all pray for the moment we see our sisters and brothers back home.”
Ethiopians mark Sigd…
Continued from page 1
communities. Many worshippers wore traditional white garments. The kessim carried the Orit, the Ethiopian Torah written in the ancient Ge’ez language, and recited passages including parts of the Book of Nehemiah.
Deputy Knesset Speaker Moshe Solomon, a rabbi and a lieutenant colonel in the IDF reserves who made aliyah from Ethiopia via Sudan in 1983, highlighted the dual nature of this year’s prayers, focusing on traditional themes and current national concerns.
“The prayer was said for the success of the security forces at the front,” he noted. “It was said for the unity of Israel and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, for the return of the hostages, and for the healing of the wounded in body and soul.”
Sigd became an official Israeli state holiday in 2008 and continues to serve as a bridge between Ethiopian Jewish traditions and the wider Israeli society.
Qes Efraim Zion Lawi, the first Israeli-born
qes (spiritual leader) of the Ethiopian Jewish community, emphasized the holiday’s significance: “Sigd is about hope. The hope of living in Israel and rebuilding the Temple. Until the day that happens, we need to keep our Jewish and Ethiopian identities alive and thriving.”
The celebration included an exhibition at the Kotel showcasing the history of the Ethiopian Jewish community from biblical times. Later in the day, the fast was broken with festive meals and dancing, reminiscent of the traditional celebrations in Ethiopia.
Sigd stands as a reminder of the power of faith, unity and cultural heritage in the face of adversity. The holiday’s observance in Israel has evolved since the community’s immigration, with celebrations now lasting for an entire month leading up to the 29th of Cheshvan. This extended period provides an opportunity to raise awareness about Ethiopian Jewish culture and educate Israeli society about Beta Israel customs. —JNS
LADIES BRUNCH Marilyn Wolowitz
MARIAM BODNER CHAIA FRISHMAN LAUREN ZUCKERMAN
GUEST SPEAKER: RABBI JOEY HABER
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15 9:45 am
‘G-d gave me wisdom,’ says Orthodox receiver
By Dave Gordon, JNS
Sam Salz, a Jewish wide receiver for the Texas A&M Aggies men’s football team, displays the Sabbath prohibitions on his jersey.
Salz, 21, who wears a kippah and tzitzit, told JNS that he chose the number 39 to symbolize the lamed tet melachot, the 39 “work” categories banned on Shabbat.
“When the game is on Shabbat, I’m not there. If the game is after Shabbat, I’m there,” said the 5-foot-6 wide, 160-pound receiver from Philadelphia. “Thankfully, they allowed me to do that.”
The alumnus of Kohelet Yeshiva in Merion, Pa., isn’t afraid to get his hands on some pig skin on the field, even though he keeps kosher and refrains from playing on holidays and fast days — all with the support of his coaches and team.
When a game is scheduled for Shabbat, he drops off a meal and some Torah books at the facility prior to nightfall on Friday and walks the two miles to the stadium on Shabbat, ready to enter the game after sundown.
The first game in which Salz played was on Nov. 16, a Saturday, against the New Mexico State Aggies. The game began at 6:55 pm, nearly an hour after Shabbat ended.
Texas A&M, a public university with 60,000 undergraduate students on a 5,200acre campus in College Station, has about 500 Jewish students, Salz said.
“It’s probably one of the only campuses in the country where you can go and feel safe as a Jew,” he said. “There is really no antisemitism there.”
Fellow students are often intrigued by his Jewish practices.
“We always have conversations on perspectives. Judaism, especially to them, is such a unique thing,” he said. “Being in the Bible Belt, you’ll get the questions from the
Christian guys, who are curious on what we believe.”
“A lot of times, what we believe is not exactly represented accurately in the media. It never comes from a place of malice, but it always comes from a place of curiosity and interest,” he added.
Salz said that he is studying economics, but aspires to become a rabbi.
A rabbinic path might be more plausible than his football journey has been, especially considering he had never played football before and had only attended his first college football game in late 2021. Still, he vowed
that he would try out for a position.
He discovered the Jimbo Fisher Radio Show, hosted by the Aggies football coach. The show welcomed an audience, who could submit questions.
Salz asked Fisher what he looks for in a walk-on, non-scholarship player. The coach gave a three-minute answer, he told JNS.
After the show, Salz approached Fisher and asked him to sign a kippah and an inspirational note he wrote for himself, which read: “I made the Texas A&M football team this year. I became the first Orthodox Jew in college football.” Salz said he reread the note
several times daily for encouragement. As luck would have it, no sooner had Salz left the show, when a homeless man asked him for food.
Salz entered a store to buy something for the man and ran into Fisher and his assistant again. Salz asked the coach if he could observe tryouts to see what he would need to do to train. Fisher agreed and gave Salz his business card.
Salz contacted members of the team asking for their advice. When he arrived at the tryout, a man guarding the field eyed him suspiciously. He showed the guard the signed kippah and inspirational note, and he was allowed to enter.
Notebook in hand, he studiously recorded each training exercise. He found a practice field on the other side of the fence, where each day he would copy the drills he had written down.
“G-d gave me the wisdom to even go to that field,” he said.
Without professional-grade equipment, Salz trained with everyday objects. Trash bins stood in for the line of scrimmage.
A member of the Aggies surprised him weeks later when he told Salz that teammates had noticed his training. The determination paid off, and he received a call that he had made the team.
As it turned out, the first practice was on Yom Kippur, so the coach’s first exposure to the new Aggie was his religious obligations. He had no problem with Salz passing on that first practice.
“I am lucky, but it’s also determination, and G-d’s help, that brought me to where I wanted to go,” he told JNS.
“I want people to know that they should be proud Jews, and that your Jewishness should never stop you from doing what you want to do.”
Teaching OPPORTUniTieS :
inSTRUcTOR Of Science and inSTRUcTOR Of MaTh (positions can be combined), Maternity Leave Position, december 16 - february 13th, 2024-2025
The first position is for two high school introductory chemistry classes (10th Grade) and one high school introductory biology class (9th Grade). The courses follow the New York State Regents curriculum. The second position is for two periods of Algebra II math (11th Grade). The curriculum for the two classes is similar, with small changes to account for differing tracks. Appropriate candidates should know and feel comfortable with Algebra II material and be able to follow a curriculum that will be provided. All classes are taught in the afternoons between the hours of 1:23 and 5:10 pm, four days a week, MondayThursday. Teachers are asked to be in the building by 12:45 for department meetings and preparation. The ideal candidate will first and foremost be passionate about student growth as well as the teaching of Science and/or Math, and have a warm and engaging personality that can be used in developing meaningful relationships with each student. They will have mastery of educational pedagogy and the subject matter, but will also be strongly motivated by continued opportunities to grow and develop as an effective educator. We are looking for an experienced teacher leader who is comfortable working with both students and colleagues, and who is intentional about his/her educational approach. are you interested in joining our team? Please send a cover letter and resume to sschenker@yuhsb.org
Teaching OPPORTUniTy: Science (BiOlOgy/PhySicS) inSTRUcTOR 2024-2025 School year
We are looking for a dynamic, caring, organized, knowledgeable and thoughtful Science teacher to teach in a full time capacity for the remainder of the 24-25 academic year. The ideal candidate will first and foremost be passionate about student growth, and have a warm and engaging personality that can be used in developing meaningful relationships with each student. They will have mastery of educational pedagogy and the subject matter, but will also be strongly motivated by continued opportunities to grow and develop as an effective educator.
We are part of Yeshiva University, and benefit from the academic and cultural opportunities of teaching on the university campus. Our general studies faculty hours are 11:30 AM to 6 PM Monday through Thursday (no sessions on Friday), and we offer competitive salary and benefits packages.
Benefits include:
• Highly subsidized medical and dental plans
• Employer matched retirement plans
• Health and dependent care flexible savings accounts
• Commuter, Transit, and Parking plans
• Employer Paid Basic Life Insurance
• Tuition Remission Benefit
yeshiva University Tuition Remission Benefit: Do you want to pursue a degree while working at MTA? The YU tuition benefit covers 100% of tuition costs for employees enrolled in any YU program, 75% tuition costs for dependents in undergraduate programs, 50% for graduate programs, as well as generous tuition discounts for spouses. See tuition benefits document for more information.
are you interested in joining our team and becoming an MTa lion? Please send a cover letter and resume to lsilvera@yuhsb.org
Wide receiver Sam Salz #39, of the Texas A&M Aggies, during the game between the New Mexico State Aggies and the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, Nov. 16. Ishika Samant, Texas A&M Athletics
‘Never again’ is now, Tucker says at premiere
By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS
When American social media influencer Montana Tucker was approached with the idea of taking part in a documentary about the children survivors of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, she didn’t think twice.
The most deadly day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust had made an indelible effect on the 31-year-old Los Angeles dancer, singer and socialite, who had originally used her social media platform to address non-controversial social issues such as body image, anti-bullying and more recently Holocaust remembrance.
The massacre “completely changed my life,” Tucker said Monday evening at the world premiere of “The Children of October 7” at Jerusalem’s Museum of Tolerance. “Something inside me told me I had to do this.”
The premiere was attended by Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his wife, along with survivors’ families.
That something, said Tucker, was likely the influence of her grandparents, both Shoah survivors who had settled in the United States after World War Two but who had always reflected on how the Holocaust would not have happened if the State of Israel had been in existence at the time.
“Growing up I would hear denials of the Holocaust and I would think to myself, how could this be?” she said. “And now we are hearing the denials of Oct. 7 in the United States, on campuses and around the world, even though Hamas live streamed the attack themselves, and I’m asking myself again, how could it be.”
The chilling 35-minute documentary focuses on the testimonies of eight Israeli children between the ages of 10 and 16, including a 12-year-old who was kidnapped to the Gaza Strip and later released and whose father, along with another child in the film, is among the 101 hostages still being held by Hamas 14 months after the attack.
“It was clear that we needed to document
their testimonies for the historical record,” said the film’s Israeli producer, Eytan Schwartz. “All my life we grew up with the stories of Holocaust survivors on Holocaust Remembrance Day, and here we were at this moment where we needed to capture the moment of the children when they’re still children.”
All of the children who took part in the documentary did so with the permission of their parents or, for those whose parents were murdered in the attacks, their guardians, and the film was shot with psychologists present.
The gripping footage shows terrorists attacking civilians’ homes in southern Israel, some using an Israeli teenager to lure neighbors out of their safe rooms. The terrorists murdered
men women and children, even pets, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251. One scene shows heavily armed terrorists seizing a home in one of the hard-hit Gaza-envelope agricultural communities, broadcasting live on social media as the terrified family sat helpless on the floor. (“Are they killing us ?” a child is heard asking.)
But more than anything else the film focuses on the voices of the children survivors, who are interviewed by Tucker, recounting the horrors they experienced and describing how they are coping with their trauma and loss one year on.
“I felt I could not stay silent with all the lies being spread,” said Ella Shani, 16, a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri whose father was murdered in
the attack. “All we have is our voice.”
“Most people do not understand what we went through,” noted Alona Russo, 12 who appears in the film along with her sister Ya’ala, 10. The girl’s father was among those murdered that day. “People don’t feel that actual human lives have gone through this,” she said.
Rotem Matthias, who lost both his parents in the massacre and is being raised by his uncle, described a feeling of emptiness that he believes will stick with him forever.
“I can only learn to live with it in a better and more efficient way,” he conceded.
“By focusing on the kids, you’re bringing out the innocence of the children and making it very difficult for someone to come to argue with them,” said Yoni Riss, the museum’s CEO and the host of the event.
According to the film’s producer Schwartz, they aim to screen the documentary on a major American television network, although he conceded that US networks are wary of touching anything Israeli-made at this time.
Indeed, Tucker’s decision to focus on Israel advocacy after Oct. 7 and now to take part in the film — backed by her mother and agent, Michelle, who insisted that any proceeds of the film be used to help rebuild southern Israel — did not come without a professional cost. Hundreds of thousands of fans quit her social media sites, and she was faced with vitriol and antisemitic hate threats. Many prominent American Jewish actors and figures stayed on the sidelines over the last year, maintaining a stony neutrality, likely to avoid similar consequences.
“The hate just filled me even more,” said Tucker, for whom the premiere marked a fifth visit to Israel since Oct. 7. “I know I am 100% on the right side of history, 100% on the right side of humanity.”
Vowing to never give up on Israel no matter the cost to her career, Tucker said: “Never again is now.”
Montana Tucker at the “6:29: From Darkness to Light” Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem exhibition, writing a note for the hostages, on Dec. 2. Arnon Bossani
WINE AND DINE
Chanukah means latkes (and cheese as well!)
We all know the story of Chanukah, of Judah Maccabee and his four brothers who fought the powerful Greco-Syrian army and defeated, yet again, another power intent on destroying the Jews. And we have all heard of the tiny amount of purified oil that lasted, not for one, but for eight days, enough time to cleanse the Holy Temple for rededication.
What is less well-known is the parallel story of Judith who helped fight the Greco-Syrian army in her own way.
The legend has it that Judith was a beautiful young widow when the Greco-Syrian army laid siege to her little village of Bethulia, trying to starve it into surrender. The elders were ready to comply, when Judith stepped forward to proclaim that she would save the town. She dressed in her finest clothes, packed up her dishes and foods and left for the invading army camp. She asked to join them, saying that her people had decided to forsake G-d and asking only for permission to go to the river to pray each morning.
The Greco-Syrians complied and told their general, Holofernes, who was immediately taken with the beautiful young woman. For several nights Judith repelled Holofernes advances, but finally accepted his invitation to come to a feast in his tent, but only if she could bring her own food and dishes.
That night, Judith fed the general salty cheese which made him thirsty. She happily gave him lots of wine and he eventually passed out. She took his sword and beheaded him, wrapped his head in the bedclothes, put it in her bag and waited out the night. In the morning, she nonchalantly went to the river. Instead of returning to the camp, she fled to her village and placed the head of Holofernes on a stake in clear view of his army. When they saw this grisly sight, they panicked and retreated, and the village was saved.
We will never know if this legend is true, but I like to believe that there is a kernel of truth to the story of the beautiful, intelligent, and courageous young woman. We eat latkes to commemorate the miracle of the oil in the Holy Temple, why not add some cheese dishes to our Chanukah party menu in honor of Judith, whose brave actions helped save the Jewish people.
brown or they will stick to the pan. Gently turn them using a spatula and a fork.
again and let cool. When the potatoes are cool, peel them and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a rimmed baking dish with aluminum foil. Set the baking dish in the oven to heat.
Chop the onion and the leek into chunks and place in the food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Place in a large bowl. Coarsely grate the potatoes with a hand grater or in a food processor using a medium blade. Place in the bowl with the leeks and onion. Add the cheese, egg, oregano, salt and pepper and mix well. Add just enough bread crumbs to hold the mixture together.
Form the mixture into 3-inch patties. Place some on a plate to get you started. Heat a large skillet and add half the olive oil. Add 4 or 5 latkes to the oil so they are not crowded. Fry for about 5 to 6 minutes per side until golden on each side. Place on the baking sheet and keep in the oven until serving time.
Makes about 12 to 16 latkes.
Potatoes Latkes of Many Colors (Pareve)
These are made with many different colored potatoes and taste delicious.
3 to 4 small fingerling potatoes
3 to 4 small creamer (Yellow Finn) potatoes
4 to 6 medium zucchinis
3 medium onions
1 cup flour (generous)
3 extra-large eggs
3/4 cup finely shredded good quality cheddar cheese
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. salt
Canola oil for frying
Shred the onions and the zucchini using the fine shredding disc of the food processor. Strain the mixture through a very fine sieve or squeeze out the liquid by hand, placing the zucchini/onion mixture in a clean bowl. Add the eggs, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add the shredded cheese and mix thoroughly. Season with additional salt and pepper, if desired.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat until a tiny drop of water “dances” across the pan and quickly evaporates. Add about a quarter inch of Canola oil to the pan and allow it to heat for about 10 seconds. Carefully place a large tablespoon of the zucchini mixture in the hot oil and gently flatten with the back of a spoon. Don’t move or disturb the latkes until they are golden
Cook until golden and transfer to brown paper to drain. I always taste the first latke so I can adjust the seasonings. Continue until all the latkes are cooked, adding more oil as needed.
Makes about 15 to 20 latkes.
Potato Latkes with Artichokes and Feta Cheese (Dairy)
1-1/2 lbs. red-skinned potatoes
1 large leek, white part only, finely chopped
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 (9 ounces) package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and chopped
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 extra-large egg
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 to 6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled or shredded cheddar cheese
1-1/2 cups breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil for frying
Heat a large pot of water and boil the potatoes for about 15 to 20 minutes or until just barely fork-tender. Drain and add cold water, drain
3 to 4 red bliss potatoes
1 large Russet Potato
1 to 2 purple potatoes or another Russet or California Long White
2 large onions
2 leeks, white parts only, sliced and thoroughly washed
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
1 extra-large egg
1/4 to 1/3 cup flour or breadcrumbs
OPTIONAL: Add 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Scrub and dry the potatoes, but do not peel them. Remove any imperfections and eyes. Process them using the medium blade of a food processor. Place the potatoes in a large bowl and fill with ice cold water just to cover. Swish the potatoes around and remove from the water into a dry dish towel. Do not discard the water. Twist the towel to remove all excess water and place the potatoes in a large bowl.
Coarsely chop the onions and sliced leeks and place in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the regular s blade. Chop finely, but not so they become watery. Add to the bowl of potatoes and mix well. Add the salt, pepper, and the egg. Slowly pour off the water in the bowl in which you initially placed the shredded potatoes. You want to save all the white starch that has sunk to the bottom. When all the water is gone, add the starch to the bowl of potatoes and onions and mix well. Add the flour and mix well. If the mixture is too watery, add a bit more flour.
Heat a large skillet. Add the canola oil so that it is about 1/3-inch deep. When the oil is shimmery, add spoonfuls of the latke mixture and fry, undisturbed until you can see that the latkes are golden on the bottom, about 4 to 6 minutes. Turn and cook on the other side until deep golden. Repeat until all the mixture is used. Makes about 15 to 20 latkes.
Cottage Cheese Latkes or Pancakes (Dairy)
These are delicious as a Sunday breakfast or a latke addition to a dairy meal. My kids always loved these even for a light dinner.
1-1/2 to 2 cups cottage cheese (I like 1% whipped or 1% small curd)
6 extra-large eggs
Zucchini Cheddar Latkes (Dairy)
Oven Fried Latkes.
Kosher Kitchen
Don’t hold the cheese when it’s latke time…
Continued from page 8
1/2 to 3/4 cup unbleached flour or whole wheat flour if you like
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 Tbsp. sugar or pure maple syrup or agave syrup
Butter or trans-fat-free margarine for frying
OPTIONAL: Cinnamon, berries or dried cranberries or raisins,
Combine all the ingredients except the butter and mix well. If the batter is too thin, add a little more flour. Heat a griddle and add the butter. Drop the batter by spoonfulls onto the griddle and cook until golden on one side, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook through.
Serve with pure maple syrup or sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Add some sour cream or vanilla yogurt or serve with apple sauce. Makes about 12 to 15 latkes.
Oven Fried Latkes (Dairy or Pareve)
To make these pareve, leave out the cheese.
2 lbs. potatoes (preferably Yukon Gold)
1 large onion
1/4 to 1/3 cup unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs and 3 egg whites
3 tablespoons finely chopped scallions
3 Tbsp. finely minced onion
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Place one or two large nonstick baking sheets in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees.
Peel the potatoes and onion and grate in a food processor using a medium shredding disc. Pour the potato mixture into a strainer and strain out the liquid into a bowl, pressing down to remove most of the liquid. You want to drain out as much liquid as possible. Retain the liquid.
Place the potatoes in a large mixing bowl and add the eggs, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Carefully and slowly, pour off most of the liquid from the bowl into which you drained the potatoes, leaving the white starch. Add the white starch back to the potato mixture. Add the scallions, parsley, and salt and pepper, to taste.
Carefully remove one of the baking sheets from the oven. Drizzle canola oil over the hot pans and tilt to coat the entire surface. Spoon tablespoon-sized mounds of potato mixture onto the hot pan and quickly place back in the oven. Repeat with the other pan.
Bake until golden brown, about 6 to 12 minutes, turning after about 5 to 6 minutes. You made need to spray or add some more oil or try to flip the latkes onto places where there is still oil on the hot pan. Immediately sprinkle with
the grated Parmesan cheese. Serve with salsa, or marinara sauce. Makes about 10 to 14 latkes.
Mashed Potato Latkes with Smoked Gouda (Dairy)
To make these for a meat meal, substitute chicken stock for the milk.
3 large, russet potatoes – peeled, boiled and mashed
1/2 cup, more to taste, shredded smoked gouda cheese
1 to 2 onions, chopped
2 cups sifted unbleached flour
1/2 to 1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. baking powder
2 extra-large eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
Peel and chop the potatoes into chunks. Place in a pot of water and bring to a boil. Boil until
soft. Drain and mash. Add the cheese and mix well until the cheese is melted.
Meanwhile, while the potatoes are boiling, cut the onions into chunks and place in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped.
Heat a medium skillet and add about 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Sauté the onions until golden.
Place the flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the mashed potatoes and sautéed onion and shallots including any residual oil and mix until thoroughly combined. Place the eggs and milk in a small bowl and whisk until completely blended. Add to the potato mixture and mix to blend.
Heat a large skillet and add about 1/4 to 1/3 inch of oil. Form the potato mixture into patties and place carefully into the hot oil. Fry until golden, about 4 to 5 minutes each side. Turn and fry until golden. Makes about 10 to 14 latkes.
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Point your smartphone camera at the QR code and tap the link to find festive recipes for the holidays, including a red meat-free version of Pastelón.
Mashed Potato Latkes with Smoked Gouda. ediblecommunities.com
Potato Latkes with Artichokes and Feta Cheese. bethtzedec.ca
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Class picture in Crown Heights
By JNS.org and Chabad.org
The annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchim) concluded with a closing ceremony celebrating the tapestry of Jewish life worldwide and reaffirming Chabad’s unwavering dedication to reaching every Jew — everywhere, no matter the obstacles.
The gala banquet, on Sunday afternoon in
The annual “class picture” of Chabad rabbis took place Sunday morning at the 41st annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchim), under the iconic gables of Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights. The
Orthodox Union stands with Chabad in its bid to remind Jews of their heritage Facing terrorism, Chabad emissaries end
Everyone has their favorite Chabad story. Here is mine.
A friend once approached a Chabad shaliach who would stand at the entrance to the subway station each and every Friday morning, asking people if they were Jewish and offering to help them lay tefillin. It was exceptionally rare for anyone to stop and accept his offer and my friend wanted to understand how the shaliach kept at it week after week, despite his repeated failure.
The shaliach’s response was quintessentially Chabad: “My success rate is 100%. Every Jew that walks by me is reminded that he or she is a Jew.”
Chabad’s dedicated emissaries can be found in every corner of the globe, creating Jewish presence and outposts of Jewish life and caring, reminding Jews of who they are. According to� Pew, an astounding 37% of American Jews engage with Chabad from rarely to often.
Two years ago, a group of us from the Orthodox Union had the privilege of attending the dinner
Edison, NJ, united thousands of emissaries and their guests from countries near and far.
This year’s gathering in took on new meaning, taking place just a week after the murder of Zvi Kogan, 28, a Chabad rabbi working in the United Arab Emirates. Rabbi Levi Duchman, chief rabbi of the UAE and director of ChabadLubavitch of the United Arab Emirates, addressed the assembly with deep emotion.
He and his colleagues expressed a commitment to continue their vital work. “That is what Zvi would have wanted,” affirmed Rabbi Yehuda Marasow, a Chabad emissary to Abu Dhabi, UAE’s capital. “We are all now tasked with carrying forward his mission.”
The conference connected live with Rabbi Kogan’s family in Jerusalem, who were in mourning. Thousands stood together, sharing
traditional words of comfort, demonstrating unity and support for the grieving family.
The conference also honored the life of Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, who spearheaded the Kinus for the last four decades and dedicated his life to actualizing the Rebbe’s vision. His son, Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, who recently undertook his father’s role as director of the conference, took the stage in his father’s place.
event at Chabad’s annual conference of shluchim
We went to demonstrate appreciation for their lifesaving work delivering aid and support under fire to the Jews in Russia and Ukraine. As they went through the jaw-dropping roll call of their emissaries throughout the globe, the big screen showed Russia — 222. I leaned over and whispered to a colleague. “Do you see that? We struggle to find a few people to spend a couple of years of their lives teaching Torah in communities without a kosher pizza store, while Chabad has 222 people who at around the age of 22 decided to go alone to remote corners of Russia where they will care materially and spiritually for Jews, raise their own families, and remain until they die or the Messiah arrives.”
That is what the angels of Chabad do everywhere in the world and that was the mission of Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the UAE. No movement or group even remotely approaches Chabad’s relentless dedication to mission and its reach and success in reminding Jews — wherever they may be — of who they are.
No one, that is, other than the antisemites.
The vicious murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan painfully reminded every Jew everywhere that he or she is a Jew. It was not an isolated reminder. The tidal wave of antisemitism that has engulfed the world since October 7 has reminded countless Jews of
who they are and moved them to try to find their way home to Jewish tradition and community. Much as the Talmud notes how the empowerment of Haman stimulated more of a resurgence of Jewishness than the positive guidance of generations of prophets, we can observe how hateful antisemitism has outdone the ahavat Yisrael of Chabad in bringing Jews home.
Our hearts are broken for Rabbi Kogan’s family and for the entire Chabad community as they grieve over this devastating blow. We in the Jewish community would do well to pause and make note of the debt we owe them for their steadfast commitment to all of us, for the Jewish infrastructure they have created and maintain throughout the world, and for reminding us of who we are and the values we stand for.
The world would also do well to pause and learn from Chabad’s remarkable army of men and women who never hide or shirk their identity and values but choose instead to work fearlessly anywhere and everywhere to bring light to a darkened world. Their strength should inspire the many who continue to display weakness in their epic failure to act with moral clarity and courage and confront evil and who have chosen instead to cow to popular opinion and tie the hands of Israel.
portrait of thousands of black-hatted not just an annual conference but also the many faces of Chabad to the world. Rabbis from war-torn tioned in the towns along Israel’s
RABBI MOSHE HAUER
OU Executive VP
black-hatted rabbis represents tradition — since 1984 — Chabad who bring Judaism war-torn Ukraine to those staIsrael’s hostile borders; rabbis
serving college campuses to those bringing Judaism to communities that have sprung up in out-of-the-way places. This year, there was a noticeable absentee: Rabbi Zvi Kogan, the 28-year-old emissary who was murdered by terrorists in the United Arab Emirates last
week, may not have been there in person but he was on the minds of all those posing in the picture. “Our job has never been clearer,” declared Rabbi Levi Duchman, director of Chabad of the UAE and chief rabbi of the Emirates, at Kogan’s funeral last Monday in Israel. “To
remind every Jew who they are and why they are here. The world needs to hear our voices. Do more, stand prouder, fight harder, reach further. This … is about us and our people. We are not just here to survive. We are here to transform the world.” —Chabad.org
end world conference with renewed resolve
“My father always reiterated the Rebbe’s call to reach out to those who might seem beyond our reach,” he said. “Take a moment to think of one more person in your life, someone others might deem impossible to connect with, and take action.”
A moving moment came when Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff, Chabad emissary to the Jewish Deaf Community, addressed the assem-
bly in American Sign Language (ASL) and his speech was simultaneously translated for all to understand.
“For a deaf person, finding a place within the community can be challenging,” he expressed through his interpreter. “But we are here to change that narrative.”
He shared personal anecdotes about the isolation many deaf individuals feel within the
broader Jewish community, emphasizing the importance of accessibility and inclusion.
“Our mission is to ensure that every Jew, regardless of ability, feels a sense of belonging,” he declared. “Let’s continue our sacred work to reach every single one of them and inspire them, just as I was once inspired.”
A video shown at the gala highlighted Chabad’s work on Israel’s frontlines after 14
months of war. Rabbi Gershon Shnur of Chabad of Ganei Tikvah spoke about serving as an emissary while fulfilling his duties as an army reservist. Rabbi Shalom Ber Hertzel, serving in Israel’s far north since recent conflicts began, discussed the nation’s challenges and his role in providing spiritual support.
See Chabad emissaries meet on page 20
Campus Chabad empowers students to display pride
By Musia Kaplan, Chabad.org
“I never thought I would have to take off my Star of David necklace,” a student told Rabbi Levi Cunin a week after Oct. 7, 2023. Tears filled her eyes as she said, “I’m scared, rabbi. What should I do?”
Rabbi Cunin, who leads Chabad-Lubavitch at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., with his wife, Shaina, acknowledged the student’s concerns and said she had reason to be vigilant. Virtual flyers demanding “A Day of Revenge on the Jews” were circulating on social media. Protests by the Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC) were becoming increasingly aggressive. And the antisemitic graffiti around campus hadn’t escaped his notice.
“But,” Rabbi Cunin told the student, “we can’t react to antisemitism by hiding who we are. That’s never gotten Jews far before. Instead, let’s respond by being prouder Jews than before.”
This motto shaped the post-Oct. 7 year at IU.
In the spring of 2024, the PSC set up a pro-Palestinain encampment directly outside the doors of the Chabad House. In response, the students danced joyfully to Jewish music they blasted from the building.
When the PSC began a weekly sit-in at the Starbucks lounge — the most popular study spot on campus — Chabad responded again.
“We started a new class called ‘How to Outsmart Antisemitism,’” the rabbi said. “We hosted it in the Starbucks Lounge at the same time as the sit-in. We printed a banner offering ‘FREE FREE COFFEE.’ Our students were so excited that they would
show up at Starbucks early to reserve enough seats. Parents loved the initiative and sponsored the coffee. The class was a success, the students felt empowered — and best of all, the protestors got to learn about outsmarting antisemitism.”
“We were already a strong, active community before Oct. 7, but now our students have become louder and prouder,” said Shaina Cunin.
It’s a sentiment shared by Jewish students on college campuses across the United States.
Alex Bernat is a senior at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. “On Oct. 8, Harvard’s pro-Palestinian society released a now infamous statement blaming Israel for the massacre,” Bernat said. “That kickstarted a ridiculous sequence of events where they continuously demonized Jews, blamed the victims and disrupted campus life. As an open and proud Jew, I felt alienated from the Harvard community.”
But the rejection and vilification of Jewish students on campus had an unintended effect.
Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel, who leads Chabad at Kansas University with his wife, Nechama Dina, said, “After Oct. 7, Jewish students at KU discovered that many of their socalled friends didn’t like them as much as they thought they did. They also discovered that their Jewish classmates, who they may have never even spoken to before, considered them family. They become conscious of this incredible community that they are automatic members of. And they came to Chabad seeking to learn more, to understand more and to do more.” See Chabad campus inspires on page 20
recent visit to New York City.
Chabad at KU
Jewish Star Torah columnists:
•Rabbi Avi Billet of Anshei Chesed, Boynton Beach, FL, mohel and Five Towns native •Rabbi David Etengoff of Magen David Yeshivah, Brooklyn
•Rabbi Binny Freedman, rosh yeshiva of Orayta, Jerusalem
Contributing writers:
•Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks zt”l,
former chief rabbi of United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth •Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, OU executive VP emeritus
•Rabbi Raymond Apple, emeritus rabbi, Great Synagogue of Sydney •Rabbi Yossy Goldman, life rabbi emeritus, Sydenham Shul, Johannesburg and president of the South African Rabbinical Association.
Five Towns Candlelighting: From the White Shul, Far Rockaway, NY
תבש לש בכוכ
Fri Dec 6 / Kislev 5
Vayetzei
Candles: 4:09
• Havdalah: 5:18
Fri Dec 13 / Kislev 12
Vayishlach
Candles: 4:10 • Havdalah: 5:19
Fri Dec 20 / Kislev 19
Vayeshev
Candles: 4:13 • Havdalah: 5:22
Wed Dec 25 / Kislev 24
Erev Chanukah • First Candle Wed Night
Fri Dec 27 / Kislev 26
Chanukah • Shabbos Mevarchim • Miketz
Candles: 4:17 • Havdalah: 5:26
Fri Jan 3 / Teves 3
Vayigash
Candles: 4:22 • Havdalah: 5:32
Noting the birth of the world’s oldest hate
rabbi Sir
zt”l
Apassage from the Haggadah on Pesach — evidently based on this week’s parsha, Vayetzei — is extraordinarily difficult to understand:
Go and learn what Laban the Aramean sought to do to our father Jacob. Pharaoh made his decree only about the males whereas Laban sought to destroy everything.
First, it is a commentary on the phrase in Deuteronomy, Arami oved avi. As the overwhelming majority of commentators point out, its meaning is “my father was a wandering Aramean,” a reference either to Jacob, who escaped to Aram [Aram meaning Syria, a reference to Haran where Laban lived], or to Abraham, who left Aram in response to G-d’s call to travel to the land of Canaan. It does not mean “an Aramean [Laban] tried to destroy my father.” Some commentators read it this way, but almost certainly they only do so because of this passage in the Haggadah.
Second, nowhere in the parsha do we find that Laban actually tried to destroy Jacob. He deceived him, tried to exploit him, and chased after him when he fled. As he was about to catch up with Jacob, G-d appeared to him in a dream at night and said: “Be very careful not to say anything, good or bad, to Jacob.” (Gen. 31:24). When Laban complains about the fact that Jacob was trying to escape, Jacob replies: “Twenty years now I have worked for you in your estate — fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for some of your flocks. You changed my wages ten times!” (Gen. 31:41).
All this suggests that Laban behaved outrageously to Jacob, treating him like an unpaid laborer, almost a slave, but not that he tried to “destroy” him (to kill him as Pharaoh tried to kill all male Israelite children).
Third, the Haggadah and the Seder service is about how the Egyptians enslaved and practiced slow genocide against the Israelites, and how G-d saved them from slavery and death. Why seek to diminish this whole narrative by saying that — actually — Pharaoh’s decree was not that bad, Laban’s was worse. This seems to make no sense, either in terms of the central theme of the Haggadah or in relation to the actual facts as recorded in the biblical text. How then are we to understand it?
Nations that gave them refuge seemed at first to be benefactors — but they demanded a price.
Perhaps the answer is this: Laban’s behavior is the paradigm of antisemites through the ages. It was not so much what Laban did that the Haggadah is referring to, but what his behavior gave rise to, in century after century. How so?
Laban begins by seeming like a friend. He offers Jacob refuge when he is in flight from Esau who has vowed to kill him. Yet it turns out that his behavior is less generous than self-interested and calculating. Jacob works for him for seven years for Rachel. Then on the wedding night Laban substitutes Rachel for Leah so that to marry Rachel, Jacob must work another seven years. When Joseph is born to Rachel, Jacob tries to leave. Laban protests. Jacob works another six years, and then realizes that the situation is untenable. Laban’s sons are accusing him of getting rich at Laban’s expense. Jacob senses that Laban himself is becoming hostile. Rachel and Leah agree, saying, “he treats us like strangers! He has sold us and spent the money!” (Gen. 31:14-15).
Jacob realizes that there is nothing he can do or say that will persuade Laban to let him leave. He has no choice but to escape. Laban then pursues him. Were it not for G-d’s warning the night before he catches up with him, there is little doubt that he would have forced Jacob to return and live out the rest of his life as his unpaid laborer. As he says to Jacob the next day: “The daughters are my daughters! The sons are my sons! The flocks are my flocks! All that you see is mine!” (Gen. 31:43). It turns out that everything he had ostensibly given Jacob, in his own mind he had not given at all.
Laban treats Jacob as his property, his slave, a non-person. In his eyes Jacob has no rights, no independent existence. He has given Jacob his daughters in marriage but still claims that they and their children belong to him, not Jacob. He has given Jacob an agreement as to the animals that will be his as his wages, yet he still insists that “The flocks are my flocks.”
What arouses his anger, his rage, is that Jacob maintains his dignity and independence. Faced with an impossible existence as his father-inlaw’s slave, Jacob always finds a way of carrying on.
Yes, he has been cheated of his beloved Rachel, but he works so that he can marry her too. Yes, he has been forced to work for nothing, but he uses his superior knowledge of animal husbandry to propose a deal which will allow him to build flocks of his own that will allow him to maintain what is now a large family.
Jacob refuses to be defeated. Hemmed in on all sides, he finds a way out. That is Jacob’s greatness. His methods are not those he would have chosen in other circumstances. He has to outwit an extremely cunning adversary. But Jacob refuses to be defeated, crushed or demoralized. In a seemingly impossible situation Jacob retains his dignity, independence, and freedom. Jacob is no man’s slave.
Laban is, in effect, the first antisemite. In age after age, Jews sought refuge from those — like Esau — who sought to kill them. The
nations that gave them refuge seemed at first to be benefactors — but they demanded a price.
They saw, in Jews, people who would make them rich. Wherever Jews went they brought prosperity to their hosts. Yet they refused to be mere chattels. They refused to be owned. They had their own identity and way of life; they insisted on the basic human right to be free. The host society then eventually turned against them. They claimed that Jews were exploiting them rather than what was in fact the case, that they were exploiting the Jews.
And when Jews succeeded, they accused them of theft: “The flocks are my flocks! All that you see is mine!”
They forgot that Jews had contributed massively to national prosperity. The fact that Jews had salvaged some self-respect, some independence, that they too had prospered, made them not just envious but angry. That was when it became dangerous to be a Jew.
Laban was the first to display this syndrome but not the last. It happened again in Egypt after the death of Joseph. It happened under the Greeks and Romans, the Christian and Muslim empires of the Middle Ages, the European nations of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and after the Russian Revolution.
In her fascinating book, “World on Fire,” Amy Chua argues that ethnic hatred will always be directed by the host society against any conspicuously successful minority. All three conditions must be present.
1. The hated group must be a minority or people will fear to attack it.
2. It must be successful or people will not envy it, merely feel contempt for it.
3. It must be conspicuous or people will not
notice it.
Jews tended to fit all three. That is why they were hated. And it began with Jacob during his stay with Laban. He was a minority, outnumbered by Laban’s family. He was successful, and it was conspicuous: you could see it by looking at his flocks.
What the Sages are saying in the Haggadah now becomes clear. Pharaoh was a one-time enemy of the Jews, but Laban exists, in one form or another, in age after age. The syndrome still exists today.
As Amy Chua notes, Israel in the context of the Middle East is a conspicuously successful minority. It is a small country, a minority; it is successful, conspicuously so. Somehow, in a tiny country with few natural resources, it has outshone its neighbors. The result is envy that becomes anger that becomes hate. Where did it begin? With Laban.
Put this way, we begin to see Jacob in a new light. Jacob stands for minorities and small nations everywhere. Jacob is the refusal to let large powers crush the few, the weak, the refugee. Jacob refuses to define himself as a slave, someone else’s property. He maintains his inner dignity and freedom. He contributes to other people’s prosperity, but he defeats every attempt to be exploited.
Jacob is the voice that says: I too am human. I too have rights. I too am free.
If Laban is the eternal paradigm of hatred of conspicuously successful minorities, then Jacob is the eternal paradigm of the human capacity to survive the hatred of others. In this strange way Jacob becomes the voice of hope in the conversation of humankind, the living proof that hate never wins the final victory; freedom does.
Following the example of Yaakov, father to us all
In this horrific post-October 7 apocalyptic world, Rashi’s dictum, “Maaseh l’avot siman l’banim (the deeds of the forefathers are a signpost to the children),” has never been more relevant. We learn how to act and react to events, not from psychology texts, newspapers, broadcast news or social media, but from our heritage, as given to us in Tanach.
As we encounter this week’s parsha, Vayetze, we watch the maturation of Yaacov. And while his evolution will not be complete until his name change from Yaacov to Yisrael (which occurs later, in parshat Vayishlach), along with Yaacov we learn valuable life lessons.
While Chazal discuss many ways this is il-
Our lives are inextricably bound with the land of Israel.
lustrated in our parsha, I want to focus specifically on Yaacov‘s relationship with the land of Israel. Unlike his father Yitzchak, who was commanded to never leave the Holy Land and not to descend to Egypt, Yaacov is told by Yitzchak and Rivka to leave the land.
How many times did Yaacov leave and return to the land of Canaan, later called the land of Israel?
First, when he is sent away by his parents and returns 36 years later in parshat Vayishlach.
Second, when he travels to Egypt upon the discovery that his beloved son Yosef is alive and returns after his own demise.
In Parshat Ki Seitzei we are told about a man who has two wives, one who is beloved (ahuva) and one who is detested (s’nuah) (Devarim 21:15). Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch notes that the term used there is the same as that used by G-d (29:31) and by Leah (29:33) in describing her own situation with respect to her husband.
Rabbi Hirsch quotes the Talmud (Yevamot) to suggest that the word s’nuah is the Torah’s way of expressing disapproval of a marriage. He then
But the Talmud tells us there’s one more time.
On the words “Vayifga Bamakom (he encountered the place” (Bereishit 28:11), Rashi quotes the gemara in Pesachim 88a that “the place” is Har HaMoriah (what we recognize today as Har HaBayit, the Temple Mount), where his father Yitzchak was bound in akeidatYitzchak
According to the gemara in Chullin 91b, Yaacov had already traveled far outside of Israel to Padan Adam and then realized he had not stopped by his father‘s most hallowed place. So Yaacov travels back to the land, to
This week’s parsha: Meet Leah, the hated wife
mentions the sifre where the word describes one who is “discriminated against undeservedly.”
Through his analysis of the difference between the word s’nuah and s’niah, Rabbi Hirsch raises a third possibility: that the term implies a wife who is “less loved.”
In considering this week’s parsha Vayetzei, Rabbi Hirsch calls her “the hated” (i.e., the less beloved) wife, and notes that “G-d chose precisely the one who felt slighted and disadvantaged, and made her the principal ancestress of His people.
The names that this less-loved wife gave to her sons show us that, precisely in her feeling of disadvantage, she exuded love for her husband; the names show us that she uplifted herself to fully appreciate the role of motherhood in the
Quite some time has gone by since we celebrated the holiday of Sukkot. Frankly, there is much about that holiday that I have already forgotten. But one memory remains etched in my mind, one biblical phrase that was part of the Sukkot service that continues to haunt me.
I refer to the words of the Book of Kohelet/ Ecclesiastes, a work which inspires me, and occasionally confounds me, all year long but especially when we read it in the synagogue on the Shabbat of the Intermediate Days of Sukkot/ Shabbat Chol HaMoed.
The L-rd guarantees Yaakov a successful journey and a safe return to the Land of Israel. aLan MazUReK
destiny of woman and the happiness of marriage, and that for both she cast her burden on G-d, Who sees and hears all and causes His Presence to dwell between man and woman.
“Her husband’s love was her goal, and with every child born to her, she hoped to add another layer to the foundation of this love. In the end, her hopes were fulfilled. What was denied to the bride and wife was granted to the mother of children.”
When faced with trying to understand the relationship that Yaakov had with Leah, if we want to be myopic, we can pretend to understand Yaakov on a level each of us might feel in such a situation.
Consider these possibilities:
•He liked Leah as a cousin, but never wanted to marry her.
•He had been tricked into marrying her, and
hated her because he was victim of a rouse.
•He had been tricked into marrying her, and he hated her because of her role in not owning up to her true identity.
•She was a detestable woman, so he hated her.
Some of these don’t really make sense. Because if Yaakov really hated her, it stands to reason he would have divorced her. After all, his marriage to her was made under false pretenses.
So what does it mean that “she was hated?”
Rabbi Hirsch suggests that a lot of this could have been in Leah’s mind, as she compares herself to her sister. It’s not farfetched to say that she was “less loved,” as the Torah doesn’t mince words in describing Yaakov’s love for Rachel. But
Consider this: Will it be one revelation or two?
This year, there is this one verse which caught my attention and hasn’t vanished with the passage of many weeks. It reads: Do not hasten your lips, do not hurry your heart to make a vow in the presence of G-d — for G-d is in heaven while you are here on earth; so, let your words be few. (Kohelet 5:1-2)
That short phrase, “[He] is in heaven while you are here on earth,” troubled me. Is the Master of the Universe so very distant from me? Was I not taught the He is close to us all? Do we not recite the verse in Ashrei three times a day which reads:
The L-rd is close to all who call on Him, to all who truly call on Him. He fulfills the will of those who revere Him; He hears their cry and saves them. The L-rd guards all who love Him. (Psalms 145:18-20)
This question brings us to this week’s Torah portion, Vayetzei (Genesis 28:10-32:2).
But first, a point of information, which may be familiar to many of you, but which is vitally important for all who study Torah. It is this: The Torah generally alludes to the Master of the Universe with one of two appellations: either Elohim on the one hand, or the Tetragrammaton YHVH, which
we pronounce Adonai. I will refer to the former as the “Almighty” and the latter as the “L-rd.”
The earliest rabbinic commentators are keenly aware of this duality and generally understand that there are two aspects to the divine, “Almighty” being the term used to express His din, or tendency toward strict judgement, versus “L-rd,” representing His rachamim, or His tendency toward boundless compassion. Socalled Bible critics have rejected this rabbinic approach and explain the duality very differently, but that is not a subject for this column. In this week’s parsha, we have several examples of the use of both terms for the divinity, occasionally in the very same verse. I will share with you one man’s approach to the use of two very different terms, Elohim and YHVH (“Almighty” and “L-rd”). It is an approach which
Jews standing in defiance of the natural order
There is war, and then there is madness. In war, one has to fight, but when madness sets in, sometimes one has to run.
Such was the question on a dark October afternoon in 1973, when the quiet beauty and desolation of the Suez Canal was ruptured by the roar of an entire army crossing the water, bent on bloodshed.
Israel believed it could not be breached and that the Arabs would not dare attack just six years after their humiliating defeat in the Six Day War. Only someone forgot to tell the Arabs. Which is why there were fewer than 500 Israeli
soldiers and three tanks facing the 70,000 Egyptian soldiers who crossed the Suez Canal.
So what do you do, when there are so many enemy soldiers headed your way that you don’t even have enough bullets to slow them down? Obviously, you run! Yet these brave men stood their ground, and all these years later, the state of Israel is still here to tell the tale.
The laws of nature dictate that the Jewish people should disappear, but we won’t.
There is a story in this week’s parsha, Vayetzei, which might help us understand what happened on that fateful day. Ya’acov after 22 years, is getting ready to make his escape in the middle of the night from the clutches of his cunning and wicked father-in-law Lavan.
And Lavan went to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the terafim that were her father’s. (Bereishit 31:19)
While Lavan is off shearing his sheep at dawn, and Ya’acov is saddling up the camp preparing to steal away in the darkness, Rachel takes the time to steal her father’s idols! What interest does Rachel have with the graven images of the father whose home and way of life she is about to willingly leave behind?
Rashi quotes the suggestion (from the Midrash) that she was trying to distance or separate her father from idolatry. However, the continuation of this story makes this suggestion appear
tenuous.
When Lavan finally catches up with Yaakov and his camp, Lavan challenges Yaakov’s decision to flee with Lavan’s children and grandchildren — but he is especially upset that Ya’acov stole these idols. But he cannot find them, because Rachel hid them beneath her camel’s cushion and is sitting on them!
Now, if Rachel had really taken these idolatrous images just so they would no longer be an influence in her father’s home, the logical thing to have done with them would have been to get rid of them, or bury them in the earth. Why is she keeping these idols?
Perhaps one way of understanding this strange story, is to place it within the wider context of the mission and struggle of the emerging Jewish people. Ya’acov, like his father Yitzchak and his grandfather Avraham, lived in a world
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Future depends on Trump to punish woke US
JonaThan S. Tobin
JnS Editor-in-Chief
Occidental College seemingly waved the white flag last week in its efforts to defend itself against charges of tolerating antisemitism on its Los Angeles campus. The school agreed to a “sweeping settlement” with the Anti-Defamation League and the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law that acknowledged the ongoing hardships, harassment and discrimination faced by Jewish students since the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Occidental’s apathy to all this, which was little different from what has been happening at dozens if not hundreds of other American institutions of higher learning, violated its obligations to prohibit such discrimination under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
But for many observers, the context for the agreement was not so much a belated interest by one school to address the wrongs suffered by its Jewish students. Rather, it was the fact that it came a few weeks after the election victory of Donald Trump. As one headline in a news article about the settlement put it, “College settles antisemitism claims before Trump can make good on accreditation threats.”
Trump repeatedly made clear during the 2024 election campaign that the educational establishment would be as much a target for his second administration as the denizens of the Washington “swamp” such as the liberaldominated federal bureaucracy that did so much to sabotage and obstruct his first four years in the White House.
More will hinge, however, on whether he makes good on this promise than the fate of school administrators or even the safety of Jewish students.
Trump’s war on woke
The president-elect vowed to punish colleges and universities that tolerated not just the sort of antisemitism that went on at Occidental and so many other schools. He’s also determined to rid American higher education of the plague of “woke” ideology. That’s a term that refers to the way left-wing ideologues have conquered academia and imposed toxic ideas like critical race theory and intersectionality that divide humanity into two permanently warring groups of “white” oppressors and “people of color” who are their victims. The left’s long march through U.S. institutions — and that includes the arts, corporate America
and government — has involved the indoctrination of a generation of students in the woke catechism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) that trashes equal opportunity (the opposite of “equity”) and includes only certain approved minorities while excluding everyone else, including minorities like Jews.
Seen in that context, antisemitism is just one aspect of the broad damage that the adoption of this new secular religion by those in charge of education has been doing to America. It’s also fueling a surge in racial divisiveness and a war on the canon of Western civilization that is the foundation of a society grounded in the rule of law, which made America a great nation as well as one that was particularly hospitable to religious minorities.
That means the stakes involved in whether or not Trump keeps his vow to reform education and to turn the antisemites out are as important as any involving his second-term agenda. It represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reverse the left’s conquest of academia. If he and/or his appointees falter in their resolve, the consequences for the country as a whole and for Jews will be incalculable.
But as the coverage of the issue in liberal legacy corporate media like the New York Times and the Guardian indicates, the educational establishment and their allies on the political left and the press are determined to oppose Trump’s goals. They have already begun a campaign to obfuscate the issue and demonize efforts to roll back the woke orthodoxy as part of what they routinely and falsely describe as the next administration’s putative authoritarian putsch. The truth is just the opposite since the real authoritarians are the bureaucrats and “educators” who have been imposing their distorted neo-Marxist vision on the country while also fomenting and enabling a new wave of antisemitism.
Ironically, the legal settlement with Occidental, which was celebrated by both the ADL and the Brandeis Institute as a victory in the effort to push back against campus antisemitism, was an indication of just how feeble the effort to counteract woke antisemitism has been up until now.
The agreement involved some elements that are necessary such as efforts to train school administrators to be more aware of antisemitism and to take into account the International Hol-
caust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s working definition of antisemitism when dealing with instances of Jew-hatred.
But the lawyerly document Occidental signed leaves plenty of leeway for it to evade responsibility for future violations. It can be defended as probably as much as could be achieved in such a negotiation at this point in time.
Title VI antisemitism complaints to the U.S. Department of Education — the primary mode of carrying on the fight against this scourge in recent years — involves a lengthy process that has, to date, never resulted in any real punishment for even the most egregious violators of the rights of Jewish students. Stripping a university of its federal funding — something that is a given for any institution that engaged in open discrimination against African-Americans or Hispanics — is the sole remedy that could, if fully implemented, mean a much-needed fundamental change in the way American higher education operates.
And as long as schools retain their woke administrators and faculty, as well as curricula that discard traditional standards and help fuel antisemitism, agreements like the one with Occidental are almost certain to fail to create the kind of change that is needed.
Draining the swamp
That is why Trump’s scorched-earth approach is so necessary, even as it is being denounced by the same people who are responsible for creating or perpetuating the current mess as too extreme or even needed at all.
Trump’s stated intention of “draining the swamp” throughout the federal government is being depicted as evidence of his supposed authoritarian impulses and racism. But this is exactly the sort of argument based on a high-handed dismissal of genuine concerns and problems that have caused so many Americans to lose faith both in our educational system and in Washington.
His threats can seem crude to those accustomed to politicians being guarded in their remarks. Yet the events of the last few years — starting with the moral panic about race behind the Black Lives Matter riots and then on to the post-Oct. 7 surge in antisemitism — demonstrated that a restrained “business as usual” approach won’t cut it when the collapse of our most cherished institutions is at stake. Their transformation into purveyors of neo-Marxist indoctrination and toxic ideas that enable hatred for both the West and Jews is a crisis of enormous proportions. It is happening at both the college and graduate levels, as well as in K-12 schools where leftist teachers’ unions have also imposed the indoctrination of critical race theory.
The only reasonable response to this disaster is exactly the kind of tough-minded purge that Trump has envisioned. And far from this being an uninformed or extreme approach, Trump and his
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Arizona State University on Oct. 24, 2024. Ash Ponders for Washington Post via Getty Images
The impossible art of negotiating with terrorists
The first rule of negotiating with Islamic terrorists is don’t. The second rule is, if you do it, do it with heavy artillery. Islamic terrorists don’t negotiate. They make demands in hopes of securing concessions without actually giving up anything.
Three decades of negotiations between Israel and Islamic terrorist groups initially won a round of Nobel Peace Prizes and then degenerated into an endless war during which the terrorists took back every concession they made and used Israeli concessions to become a much worse threat.
Offering to negotiate with Islamic terrorists is a statement of weakness. Jihadists only offer to negotiate out of fear, weakness or to entrap us, and they assume we do the same thing. Nothing would ever convince them that we genuinely want to live in peace with them, or that we prefer alternatives to violence. So any time we offer to negotiate, they see it as weakness or a trick.
If our diplomats understood this cultural reality, they would stop being baffled when negotiations fall apart.
Terrorists start negotiations with maximalist demands to probe for weakness, and then switch between false promises and threats. When our diplomats they try to find a way to meet the demands, the terrorists have them.
Next, terrorists walk out. throwing Bobby Fischer-style tantrums over every minor detail. They invent a constant stream of new grievances to be outraged by. What are typical tactics for small children, sociopaths and Egyptian merchants utterly baffle our best and brightest, who can’t figure out how to cope with opponents who don’t play by United Nations rules.
We have been losing the war on terror because we do not know the enemy.
AThen the terrorists start extracting concessions in exchange for simply taking part in negotiations. The process becomes a substitute for the outcome.
Instead of negotiating the terms of a peace agreement, the negotiations themselves become the subject of negotiations, and the terrorists are bribed to stay and talk. Iran got billions in sanctions relief, and the PLO got to spring terrorists from prison. The US pushed Israel to give Hamas a ceasefire as a prelude to negotiating the release of hostages (although the Israeli government wisely refused to fall for the same trick yet again).
Islamic terrorists — from Iran to the PLO, from Hamas to Qatar — take the negotiating process itself hostage and warn that they will blow it up unless their demands are met. Hopeful peace negotiators who allow the terrorists to hold the process hostage become their useful idiots. From the Oslo Accords to the Iran nuclear deal to the Hamas hostage negotiations, it ends the same way.
In Islam, posture is reality and reality is malleable. A mighty war machine is an asset,
but posture is the willingness to actually use it. That’s why the Carter, Clinton and Biden administrations became international laughingstocks; it’s why the Bush administration came to be seen as a foolish foe.
Western liberals believe that peace will be achieved when all the wars end, but peace in the Muslim world is not a permanent state; rather it is a temporary truce in an endless war.
Liberals are obsessed with understanding the other side, but rather than understanding it, they adopt its grievances as their own. After generations of this indoctrination, our diplomats have internalized enemy propaganda as factual history and moral reality.
This makes the average members of the State Department or Foreign Service as able to negotiate with Islamic terrorists as Vidkun Quisling was at negotiating Norway’s independence with the Nazi Germany.
President Barack Obama told his nucleardeal negotiators that Iran had good reason to fear us because of our support for the Shah, and that it was their job to relieve the fears of the ayatollahs. Such kindly understand-
ing permeates our diplomats, who spend a lot of time “understanding” the enemy’s position through the rants of western radicals like Noam Chomsky and John Mearsheimer.
The State Department doesn’t understand our national security needs. It doesn’t understand the fears of non-Muslims and Muslim governments worried about Islamic terrorists. But it’s entirely up to date on whatever orientalist nonsense Marxists use to prop up the thirdworld terrorists they hope will bring western civilization crashing down after the Bolsheviks proved unfit for the job.
But booting every Georgetown grad who has read Chomsky doesn’t fix the problems of applying a process meant for civilized countries trying to reach an amicable solution to terrorists who see negotiations as a means of gaining an advantage before their next attack.
The international community, flawed as it is, maintains a level of trust that makes agreements among its members possible. But there is no trust to be had among Islamic terrorists, to whom all agreements are temporary, everything is subject to revision based on force and trickery, and all oaths are fatally false.
That’s why the first rule of negotiating with Islamic terrorists is don’t. It achieves nothing.
The only point of such negotiations is to state firmly and clearly what our intentions are. That is why they are also best conducted with heavy artillery.
Terrorists will not end their attacks in response to concessions or negotiations. They will temporarily end them in response to successful attacks, or permanently in response to their total destruction. That is how you negotiate with terrorists.
The gentle art of negotiating with terrorists demands that we know who they are and who we are. As Sun Tzu observed:
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
We have been losing the war on terror because we do not know the enemy. But worse still, we have forgotten who we are. And unless we remember, we will lose.
Daniel Greenfield is an Israeli-born journalist who writes for conservative publications. To reach him, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
dead Jew is used in anti-Zionist propaganda
name of the prominent Jewish lawyer, who was also an ardent Zionist and fought antisemitism. Lemkin died in 1959; the nonprofit was established in 2021. It has promoted a proHamas agenda since the massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, calling to punish Israel for fighting the terrorists.
An antisemitic scandal is gaining momentum after Jewish publications shed light on an American nonprofit that exploits the name of a late Jewish figure to promote an anti-Israeli agenda.
As referenced in a piece by JNS columnist Martin Sherman on Oct. 6, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention — named for Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish man of Polish origin who coined the word “genocide” during the Holocaust — has been using the Lemkin name while saying Israel is committing “genocide.”
Ira Stoll explored the issue in a Nov. 13 article in the Algemeiner. He noted that the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention did not receive permission from the Lemkin family to use the
Lemkin Institute has promoted a pro-Hamas agenda since Oct. 7.
As Sherman noted in JNS, “Lemkin Institute blatantly evaded mentioning that much of the Gazan death toll is due to the actions of Hamas leadership, which not only used its civilians as human shields but actively urged, threatened and physically prevented them from evacuating war zones for safer locations. Thus, the Jews, the victims of the archetypical genocide (the Holocaust) are now, by some perverted sleight-of-hand, being portrayed as the purveyors of a maliciously contrived and choreographed ‘genocide’ of its attackers.”
According to Sherman, the Lemkin Institute is obsessed not only with Israel but with its ally in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan. The nonprofit accused Azerbaijan — a key Israeli energy supplier and commercial partner — of committing “genocide” during its 2023 operation in Karabakh. This comes despite extremely low number of fatalities (mostly combatants from both sides) and the fact that ethnic Armenian civilians were granted passage to their motherland, Armenia.
Not a single statement was dedicated to the
massacre of 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7; but, there is a statement titled “Why we call Israeli attack on Gaza genocide” and a condemnation of a letter from European rabbis asking Armenian officials not to use the Holocaust for propaganda purposes.
The institute works side by side with the Armenian National Committee of America, which promotes an anti-Azerbaijani and anti-Israeli agenda. ANCA for years has relentlessly supported the Palestinian cause, calling Israel and Azerbaijan “genocidal.” Its communications director, Alex Galitsky, loves to bash Israel. As Israeli commentators note, such anti-Israeli propaganda rhetoric resembles what comes out of Iran. Many of those responding negatively to the criticism of the Lemkin Institute have symbols in their profiles such as the keffiyeh, red triangles and other signs of support for Hamas. Being unable to maintain a consistent narrative, they claimed that Lemkin was a questionable figure while arguing that the “real genocide” was taking place in Gaza, not elsewhere. This opportunistic habit of appropriating anything connected to Jewish identity seems to have backfired in this case, exposing the inconsistency and cynicism of such arguments.
To sum up: An anti-Israel nonprofit has blatantly appropriated the Lemkin name and is collaborating with antisemites (essentially, terrorist sympathizers) to erase Jewish culture, his-
tory and trauma under the guise of “genocide prevention.” These people did nothing to prevent genocide on Oct. 7 and instead attacked the victims.
They have a history of ignoring past genocides if it doesn’t fit into their narrative of blaming victims and appropriating anything of value, even the name of the late Zionist lawyer.
Ariel Kogan is a political analyst and an expert on the former Soviet Union. To reach him, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
Raphael Lemkin coined the term “genocide” during the Shoah. J. Sherrel Lakey via Library of Congress
Men ride a scooter with a Hezbollah flag past destroyed buildings in the town of Qana, as people make their way back to their homes in the south of Lebanon after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on Nov. 27. Anwar Amro, AFP via Getty Images
What’s tuition’s impact on day-school enrollment?
When I began exercising with a trainer more than a decade ago, the trainer asked me what my goals for improved health were. I explained to her that I was at the high end of my historical weight and wanted to lose at least 15 pounds. She replied that this would be fairly easy to achieve. All I had to do was cut my food intake by one-third, eliminate bread and all sugary foods, only eat between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and exercise at a gym at least three times a week.
“Wow, that’s so simple,” I replied sarcastically. As anyone who has tried to lose weight will tell you, losing weight and maintaining weight loss involves a variety of behavioral and lifestyle changes. Sustaining that lower level of weight is anything but simple.
The same can be said about sustaining and growing day-school enrollment. There is really no single tool, initiative or intervention that can be employed to successfully and sustainably grow a school’s enrollment. There are, in fact, a rather wide variety of factors and variables that are likely to impact student enrollment and retention. While the price of tuition is often one of these variables, parents weigh many other considerations when making enrollment decisions for their child in a Jewish day school. These may include perceptions of academic excellence, school leadership, class sizes, the socio-religious composition of students and families, and school location. The interplay of tuition pricing with these myriad other variables is what we term the value proposition. The key to increased student enrollment is improvement in a school’s value proposition.
Back in the early 2000s, many Jewish day schools with declining enrollments believed that they could increase and sustain their student populations simply by lowering tuition for some or all their students. They erroneously believed
that lowering their tuition prices was a cure-all for the enrollment challenges they were facing. Most of these day schools were disappointed and perplexed when tuition reductions failed to lead to material growth in student enrollment or retention.
With improvements in data collection and analysis, the day-school field has come to understand that it is the interplay between tuition price and school excellence (or perceptions of excellence) that drives improvements in value perception among existing and potential parents. Simply put, efforts to use a lower tuition price will not succeed in sustainably raising enrollment numbers unless a school’s academic reputation is already strong or poised for improvement.
There is abundant evidence to support this assertion. For starters, nearly every successful community-based affordability initiative contains funding for school excellence. These in-
clude well-established affordability initiatives in Montreal, Toronto and Greater MetroWest, NJ. These also include newer community-based efforts currently underway in Chicago, Seattle and Atlanta.
All three of these latter communities mandate that schools use some of the funding provided to them for affordability to reinvest in school programs that build on school excellence. These might include investments in STEM or STEAM labs, funding for arts or theater programs, or hiring of additional teachers or other staff. Each of the three communities noted above has reported gains in both new student enrollment and student retention, to varying degrees.
The same can be said for individual school efforts as well. New tuition models at Toronto’s Tannenbaum CHAT High School and San Diego Jewish Academy were all preceded or accompanied by significant investments in school excellence. Both have seen meaningful increases
in enrollment since the inception of these programs. So has Los Angeles’s Pressman Academy, thanks to a recently introduced tuition discount program for the children of Jewish communal professionals.
The picture in the Orthodox world is more nuanced. Because day-school enrollment among Orthodox families is already high, lowering tuition prices doesn’t always result in enrollment growth. One prominent Orthodox school in the Southeast introduced a middle-income cap program several years ago in an effort to spur enrollment. The effort failed to achieve its objective and was discontinued a year or two after its introduction. At the same time, low-cost, blended-learning schools that serve the Orthodox community appear to be successfully growing their enrollments. Yeshivat He’atid in Bergen County, N.J., has seen a rapid increase in its enrollment since it opened in 2012; more than 600 students now attend the school, with forecasts for continued growth.
Based on all the evidence we’ve seen, affordability is clearly an important factor impacting enrollment growth. It simply isn’t the only factor. Schools with stable professional leadership tend to exhibit stronger enrollment trends than schools without this leadership stability. Schools that respond to parental concerns with timeliness and sensitivity tend to exhibit stronger enrollment trends than schools that do not. Schools that offer a vision of Judaism and Jewishness that aligns with the lifestyles of its families are more likely to exhibit stronger enrollment trends than ones that do not. As with weight-loss programs, efforts to increase enrollment require much more than quick fixes, such as tuition reduction or a great advertisement campaign. In the long run, a whole-of-school approach that aims to strengthen educational excellence and leadership, alongside tuition initiatives, stands the best chance of recruiting and retaining students and their families.
Dan Perla is the senior director of consulting at Prizmah, the Network for Jewish day schools in North America. To reach him, write: Columnist@ TheJewishStar.com
First military rabbi killed in combat since ‘73 war
Hearing that Rabbi Avi Goldberg was killed shook me up a bit more than usual, though I did not know him. Somehow, it’s different when you share the same last name, even if we’re not related.
Then I read he was a Judaic-studies principal — realizing that another teacher of Torah had been killed in this war was a punch in the gut. Then I read he was a military rabbi. It turns out that each battalion has a military rabbi go into active battle with them.
Despite having joined the IDF Rabbinate myself as a reservist this summer, I was clueless about this until Rav Goldberg fell. I did not know him; a personal tribute this is not, though a serendipitous one-on-one conversation with his father outside the shiva tent did offer me stories about Rav Goldberg as a kid. Others have painted poignant sketches of the endless, wonderful qualities of Rav Goldberg and his wife, Rachel. But I felt drawn to understand his role and share it with the world; after all, if I — a member of the IDF Rabbinate — didn’t realize it, surely many
others didn’t either.
The story of Maj. Rabbi Avi Goldberg illustrates the evolution of the military rabbi’s role over the past decade. Military rabbis have become an inseparable part of combat battalions in Gaza and Lebanon. Many military rabbis in recent years are actually former combat soldiers who transitioned to rabbinical roles, understanding that those with combat experience would better serve alongside fighters as staff officers.
Rav Goldberg wasn’t originally part of the Military Rabbinate. He served as a combat soldier for many years, both in regular service and the reserves. He continued volunteering for reserve duty even after he could have received an exemption following the birth of his sixth child.
At age 40, when he was due to be discharged from combat reserve duty, Rabbi Goldberg decided to attend the military rabbis’ course so that he could continue volunteering with reserve and combat units. Two years ago, he completed the course and was named its outstanding graduate. In the past year, he served more than 250 days in reserves across three different rotations, until he fell on the Shabbat immediately following Sukkot, during heroic battles in Lebanon.
What does a military rabbi do on the front lines? Not dissimilar to their roles on bases, he gives speeches of spiritual encouragement and is
available to answer questions of Jewish law that arise suddenly. He also takes care that food distribution and other war-related issues are being handled in accordance with Jewish law to the greatest extent possible. All of this is under fire on a battlefield. These heroes are emissaries of every Israeli family who cares about the soldiers’ spiritual well-being.
An additional, crucial element of a battalion rabbi’s role is to handle the bodies of fallen soldiers in the field to ensure that they are treated with proper dignity and brought to Jewish burial as soon as possible.
On this sense, the military rabbis become emissaries of the fallen soldiers’ families. Have you wondered — as I have — how it can be that a soldier is, G-d forbid, killed in the morning yet the funeral manages to take place already later that day? The presence of the battalion rabbi in the combat zone is part of the answer.
In all these missions, Rav Goldberg performed impressively throughout the long months of fighting. During his eulogy, IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim said: “Throughout the war, you were there in body, soul and heart with the soldiers and alongside commanders, including in enemy territory, to strengthen their spirits, set a personal example, handle all rabbinical matters and, when needed, also to handle the fallen, exactly as you did that Shabbat afternoon.”
Rav Goldberg is the second casualty from the Military Rabbinate — and the first to fall in active combat—since the Israel-Hamas war began. It is a corps that has hardly experienced casualties since the Yom Kippur War. This is one of the unfortunate consequences of the corps’ soldiers
and personnel becoming central figures in combat units.
The Military Rabbinate became known in the past year mainly for identifying and burying Oct. 7 victims and subsequent war casualties. Its soldiers — people who did everything to provide peace of mind to families and relatives — have demonstrated extraordinary professional capabilities and mental resilience. Now, they had to handle and bid farewell to one of their own, the very finest among them.
In civilian life, Rabbi Chaim Goldberg teaches Torah, works as a psychologist for the Dead Sea Regional Council and writes for Jewish publications, including a regular column for the Intermountain Jewish News. To reach him, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
Rabbi Avi Goldberg. Torah Mitzion
DAN PERLA
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Chabad rabbis renew their strength at Ohel
Just days after burying their colleague Rabbi Zvi Kogan — murdered by terrorists in Dubai at the age of 28 — 6,500 Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries and Jewish leaders assembled at the Ohel in Queens, resting place of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson
The visit to the Ohel marks the pinnacle of the International Conference of ChabadLubavitch Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchim), held in Brooklyn and at a gala dinner in New Jersey from Nov. 27 through Dec. 2. The emissaries, representing Jewish communities from every US state and more than 100 countries, came to pray for their families, communities and humanity at large, carrying with them thousands of prayer requests from people around the world.
As emissaries waited in line outside the Ohel, reciting tehillim and studying the Rebbe’s teachings, many reflected on Kogan’s legacy and their own commitment to their mission.
One such petitioner was Rabbi Mendy Mann, of Chabad of Or Akiva and Caesarea in Israel, who together with his wife Malki joined the
ranks of Chabad emissaries in July of this year.
“I brought a prayer note from Israel containing all the names of our community members,” Rabbi Mann said. “Many people in our community have children who are serving in the military in Lebanon. It means everything to them to know that I’ll be praying for their sons and daughters at this sacred place. These prayers help give their children the strength to continue defending Israel.”
The visit culminated in the reading of the pan klali (“general letter”) that was signed by all emissaries and contained prayers for Israel, the Jewish people and humanity at large.
Among the emissaries in attendance was the delegation from the UAE, who just days ago stood in torrential rain at their colleague’s funeral in Kfar Chabad, Israel
The Kinus is the largest rabbinic gathering in the world, and features four days of workshops on topics running the gamut from mental health to fundraising, and social media to end of life counseling. —Chabad.org
Chabad emissaries meet in Brooklyn and NJ…
Continued from page 13
After the presentation, they led the assembly in a recitation of Tehillim, praying for peace and protection for the people of Israel.
The annual ceremony highlighting Chabad’s international reach took on a new multilingual twist as shluchim representing different regions were welcomed in their native languages:
•Rabbi Leibel Fajnland of Chabad of Reston and Herndon, Va., welcomed the audience in English.
•Rabbi Shmuel Bistritzky of Chabad of Savyon, Israel, addressed the crowd in Hebrew.
•Rabbi Yoel Migdal of Chabad on Campus in Buenos Aires spoke in Spanish.
•Rabbi Mendy Mottal of Beit Lubavitch Sèvres Centre in Paris delivered his greeting in French.
•Rabbi Zalman Lent of Chabad of Ireland greeted the audience in Gaelic, announcing new
initiatives in Dublin aimed at young professionals and college students.
Each shared updates on their outreach efforts, emphasizing the collective impact of Chabad’s global network. The iconic roll call served as a testament to the movement’s expansive reach, touching lives in communities large and small across the globe.
A video presentation featured Dr. Brian Levin, a urologist in Maryland, who shared his journey
of reconnecting with Judaism through Chabad. Inspired by his local emissary — Rabbi Nochum Katsenelenbogen of Chabad of Owings Mills, Md. — Levin began incorporating mitzvot into his daily routine and even encouraged his patients to do the same.
“Each of us has the potential to impact our surroundings,” he reflected. “By wearing my kippah at work, I realized I could inspire others and bring more kindness into the world.”
Campus Chabad inspires pride among students…
Continued from page 13
Rabbi Tiechtel likes to tell his students that when you squeeze an olive, you get olive oil, and when you squeeze a Jew, you get “Jewce” — the Jewish essence, the fiery soul, that flares up under pressure. “That’s why more Jewish students than ever are attending Shabbat dinners, joining Torah-study classes and taking on a mitzvah for the sake of our hostages and soldiers.”
According to Chabad on Campus’s data, from 2023 to 2024, there has been 30 percent increase in student engagement at Shabbat dinners, a 55 percent increase in engagement for Purim and Chanukah events, and a staggering 441 percent increase in students reaching out to Chabad just to talk. As of 2024, 480 Chabad Houses are servicing more than 957 campuses in 37 countries, bringing immeasurable support to thousands of Jewish students worldwide.
Even in universities with no protests or encampments, the “Oct. 8 phenomenon” was still visible.
In sunny Florida, Mushka Lipskier leads Chabad at the University of Miami with her husband, Rabbi Shmuly Lipskier. “The University of Miami was ranked the second-safest
OU stands…
Continued from page 12
What has been done and said in recent days by the ICC, the UN, the Vatican, and by some in the United States Congress has added wind to the sails of Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah, further fueled global antisemitism, and empowered the enemies of the Jewish people. If only they had the moral courage of a Chabad shaliach
The vicious murder of Rabbi Kogan reminds us Jews of who we are. The life of Rabbi Kogan and of his fellow shluchim should remind all people of good conscience to act with discernment and moral clarity, standing up fearlessly to evil and lovingly offering their support for the good.
American campus for Jews, right after Yeshiva University,” said Lipskier. “Our students were not bogged down by antisemitism after Oct. 7. This gave them freedom to go ‘on the offensive’ instead of the defensive.
“Our students are not only embracing Jewish life more than before, they are proactively spreading the joy and beauty of Judaism with their friends and families. The guys are wrapping tefillin on their friends. The girls are giving out Shabbat candles. It’s really amazing to witness.”
In the last four years, the relationship of University of Miami senior Jared Lewin with G-d and his own Jewish identity has shifted dramatically.
“I was already on my own spiritual journey when Oct. 7 happened,” Lewin said. “For me, it reaffirmed what I already knew: that being a Jew is central to who I am. But for many of my friends, it was a turning point. It made them realize that being Jewish is not just a side note in their lives. They started seeking to connect with their faith for the first time. And the best place to do that on campus is, of course, at Chabad.”
On campuses around the world, Chabad has been a constant presence, uplifting Jewish students, offering a safe space and helping them find a positive way to respond to negativity on campus.
But Jewish students needed something more. They needed advocates. Once again, Chabad emissaries stepped up to the plate.
“We became their voice,” said Rabbi Tiechtel. “Our first priority was ensuring our students’ physical and emotional protection. While students have the right to rally and protest, they don’t have the right to harass and intimidate. We brought awareness to how expressions like ‘Globalize the intifada’ or ‘From the river to sea’ impacted Jewish students.”
He continued, noting that “we helped Kansas University create guidelines that protected free speech while also ensuring Jewish students feel safe. We also tried to streamline the process of filing complaints, so that when antisemitic incidents did occur, students felt heard and addressed without having to jump
through bureaucratic hoops.”
Shaina Cunin said parents of prospective students frequently call her to ask about the state of antisemitism at Indiana University. “I tell them that unfortunately there is antisemitism everywhere. What they should be looking out for is there is a thriving Jewish community on campus. At IU, Jewish students feel empowered. They have never felt prouder.” Bernat, who is currently co-president at Harvard Chabad, described how Chabad spearheaded events to combat antisemitism and atrocity denialism. “We held a screening of the Israeli military film showing raw footage from Oct. 7,” he said. “We brought speakers to address the Jewish students, and bolster their courage and Jewish pride. Most recently, [hedge-fund billionaire and Harvard alumnus] Bill Ackman addressed the students about the importance of pursuing truth when it’s most difficult.”
There has been plenty of media coverage — from the New York Times to X — about antisemitism on campus and the failures of university leadership. Bernat feels a more important story has escaped the spotlight.
“Of course, it’s not pleasant to go to class and discover your professor canceled class in solidarity with an anti-Israel protest,” he said. “But that’s not the totality of the Jewish experience at Harvard. That narrative misses out on the incredible joyful parts of Jewish life here. Every single Shabbat, hundreds of Jewish students gather at Chabad for a meal that nourishes our bodies and souls. When I was sick last week, Chabad sent me homemade soup.
When asked if he feels more fear or hope for the Jewish future, Rabbi Yossy Gordon, CEO of Chabad on Campus, replied: “The Rebbe wrote in a 1960 letter, ‘Youth has special qualities of untapped reserves of energy and enthusiasm. In addition, being still on the threshold of life, youth has a greater measure of goodness and purity’.”
“Chabad on Campus is tapping into those pure reserves of energy,” Rabbi Gordon continued. “I have never felt more hopeful about the Jewish future.”
Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel with a group of college students.
Chabad at Kansas University
Chabad rabbis visit the Ohel in Queens, resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, during the conference of Chabad Emissaries, on Nov. 29. Itzik Belenitzki, Kinus.com
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the area later called Jerusalem, to the place later called Har HaBayit. There, Yaacov has his famous dream (“Jacob‘s ladder,” with its ascending and descending angels) and has his first encounter with G-d. He is blessed with the gift of this land:
Haaretz asher ata shochev aleha lecha etnena u’lezarecha (the ground upon which you are laying, to you will I give it, and to your descendants).
There are valuable insights in this remarkable story. There are also various reasons why Chazal go to such a lengths to describe this almost extraneous point of why Yaakov needed to return.
The most important, in my opinion is that Yaakov needed his own zechut avot (the merits of his forefathers) to allow him to survive and succeed in the foreign land of Padan Aram. Thus, accepting that Yaacov did make this “extra” trip, he would have left and returned three times, not two.
Returning to the idea of maaseh l’Avot:
•As the children of Yaacov, we left Egypt and returned and with Yehoshua conquered Canaan after the 40 year sojourn in the desert.
•We were then exiled with the destruction of the first Beit Hamikdash, but returned after 70 years with Ezra and Nechemia.
•We enjoyed the Maccabean/Hasmonean monarchy and Commonwealth, only to be exiled again in 70 CE after the Roman conquest and the destruction of the second Beit Hamikdash.
•Now, miraculously, we’ve returned again (despite always maintaining some presence throughout the millennia) to the status of independent rule, with the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948.
Yaacov “left and entered” three times, and we “left and entered” three times, which explains the gemara in Taanit 5b. As Rashi notes in Bereishit 49:33, Rav Yochanan says Yaacov never died, for that verse in parshat Vayechi describing his demise, never uses the word vayamot, and “he died. Rav Yochanan goes on to quote the prophetic verse in Yirmiyahu:
Do not fear, O’ Jacob My servant, said Hashem, and do not be dismayed O’ Israel; for I will save you from afar and your descendants from captivity. (Jeremiah 30:10)
Yirmiyahu Hanavi is implying that just as Yaacov lives on, so do his descendants. While this is most often understood correctly, in a spiritual sense, given the equation of the three “returns” to Israel by both Yaacov and us, his descendants, we can understand it in a physical sense, as well.
In fact, reading the verses in Jeremiah, it is hard to understand why this chapter 30 was not chosen as the haftarah for Yom Haatzmaut. Besides verse 10 above there is this:
For I am with you, says Hashem, to save you and make a full end of all the nations where I scatter you, but I will not make an end of you. (30:11). … All your adversaries, every one, will go into captivity (30:16). … I will restore health to you, and I will heal all your wounds, says Hashem, because they called you an ‘outcast,’ Zion, who no one seeks (30:17).
Sound familiar?
Their children also shall be of (days of) old and their congregation shall be established before me. In the end of days, you shall consider it (30:24).
We live on as Yaacov lived on, for we are the people that always “choose life” (Devarim 30:19,20).
And that life is inextricably bound with the land of Israel.
Shabbat Shalom.
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
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was it real hatred that was going on here?
Reb Bunem of Pshischa had a different perspective in explaining Leah’s being “hated.” He suggests it is impossible that Yaakov hated her. Rather, she was hated by herself, the same way that a truly righteous person is very hard on his or herself. She saw her own flaws, knew her inadequacies, may have had leftover feelings of sadness from the thought that at any time Yaakov might divorce her, leaving her open to being picked up by Eisav.
As on target as Reb Bunem might be in protecting Yaakov from being a hater, the idea that Leah feels so inadequate is nonetheless sad to consider (even though I think it is a great explanation). We all know and see people who live lives of [personally inflicted] inadequacy. Some feel they can never date or marry due to some flaw they see in themselves. Some feel they can never get the kind of job they want or do the things they want to do because they won’t do it perfectly, or even well, or because they are “no good at anything.”
A wise woman I know likes to say, “There will be plenty of people who will put you down in your lifetime. Don’t ever be a person who puts yourself down.”
Leah carries the title of one of the imahot of the Jewish people because of her many good qualities. It is sad that this stain of being s’nuah is on her resume, even if it helped her become a great mother and cemented her place as the wife buried next to her shared husband.
Then again, maybe she became so great because of or in spite of her hated status. And that’s a thought worth mulling over.
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
around him to protect him from the local wildlife. Perfectly mundane situation.
Then comes the dream, with not one revelation but two. First the angels of the Almighty, the aspect of the divine that is distant from, although not always absent from, mankind, the “transcendent” aspect of the divine, the Almighty who dwells in the heavens and who comes down to earth for a brief visit but then scrambles back up the ladder. This assures Yaakov of some degree of divine assistance on his journey into the unknown. One revelation.
But then the L-rd appears, not attached to the ladder at all, but standing above Yaakov with rachamim, compassionate and reassuring. This is the “immanent” aspect of the divine.
The L-rd carries a much more encouraging message guaranteeing Yaakov not only a successful journey but a safe return to his homeland in the Land of Israel and promises him all the blessings that He promised Yaakov’s ancestors. He reveals to him not only that he will have many descendants but that these descendants will bring blessing to all of humanity throughout human history. A second revelation and a much more magnificent one.
We can generalize from this analysis to our own personal relationship with the divine, as well as for the relationship of the Jewish people with the divine during the entire course of our diaspora.
Our people, at this very moment, are beset by enemies from many quarters. Every day brings unspeakably tragic losses of life and limb and dispossession. Yet there are silver linings in every cloud, and if not miracles then near miracles occur daily.
Is the Master of the Universe in the mode of din or harsh justice? At times, it certainly seems so. But does He also display His other aspect, that of profound compassion? Yes, He does, and we can only hope for the time when “He who makes peace in His high places will bring peace to us and to all of Israel” and to the entire world.
To reach Rabbi Weinreb, write: Columnist@ TheJewishStar.com
Weinreb… Freedman…
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stands within the traditional rabbinic approach, with some variation. It is the work of a fascinating and brilliant Jewish scholar of the twentieth century named Rabbi Mordechai Breuer.
Rabbi Breuer was a major Torah scholar who developed a methodology known as “multiple perspectives”/Shitat HaBechinot, and who is responsible for the recovery and publication of what is generally considered the most accurate extant edition of Tanach (Keter Yerushalayim). He passed away in 2007. He applies his framework to this week’s parsha in his two-volume commentary on Sefer Bereshit, the Book of Genesis, entitled Pirkei Bereshit.
Here is one of the passages that he chooses to analyze:
Yaakov left Be’er Sheva and journeyed toward Haran. In time he chanced upon a certain place and decided to spend the night there, because the sun had set. He took some stones from the place and put them under his head, and in that place lay down to sleep. And he dreamed: he saw a ladder set upon the ground, whose top reached the heavens. On it, angels of Elohim/Almighty went up and came down. The L-rd/YHWH stood over him there and said:
I am the L-rd/YHWH, the G-d of Avraham your father, and the G-d of Yitzchak. The land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth. … Through you and your descendants, all the families of the earth will be blessed. I am with you. I will protect you wherever you go.” (Bereshit 28:11-15)
Note that both appellations for the divine are used in the same verse, first the “angels of the Almighty” climbing and descending the ladder, and then “the L-rd” standing above — not the ladder — but above Yaakov himself (see Rashi).
Thus, asserts Rabbi Breuer, Yaakov lies down to sleep with no spiritual intentions at all. The sun sets, he’s tired, and arranges some stones
Thirty years ago, a small group of men, peering over the walls of the Bar-Lev line, saw something that would have, indeed should have, sent them running through the desert to escape with their lives. And the Egyptians, based on all the rules of military strategy, doubled and quadrupled to be absolutely sure, were counting on this. But they forgot to study their history; Jews don’t seem to be able to count too well.
Rabbi Freedman is rosh yeshiva at Yeshivat Orayta in Jerusalem. To reach him, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
Tobin…
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transition team are consulting with experts like Christopher Rufo, author of an authoritative and essential book on the woke plague — America’s Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything — and incorporating the ideas of “Project Esther,” a serious plan for dealing with campus antisemitism produced by The Heritage Foundation.
All of this has produced panic on the left and even among mainstream liberals who have been conditioned by partisan political rhetoric to believe that Trump is a second Hitler. They worry that he is already going too far in seeking accountability for institutions that engage in racial discrimination and tolerate antisemitism under the guise of DEI “anti-racist” policies, believing that somehow this will destroy academic freedom. What his critics fail to recognize is that American education is already enduring a catastrophic transformation that has silenced dissent against woke doctrines that seek to trash the Western canon.
A necessary sledgehammer
Continued from page 15 steeped in pagan idolatry. The world was immersed in the power of nature, and the prevalent idea of the time was that there were hidden forces in nature that determined one’s destiny, and those who were sensitive to these forces of nature were able to intuit the future, and even manipulate the people and events around them.
Interestingly, Judaism’s position has never been that these forces are not real. The issue Judaism has with astrology is not that it is not true, but rather, that we are not bound by it, or limited to its interpretation. The astrologist will assume that whatever the star pattern teaches has to be, so if the stars say that you are an angry person, or that you will die young, then that is what will have to happen.
But the promise G-d gives Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’acov, on different occasions, is that “Your offspring will be greater than the stars.”
We are not limited by the natural patterns of the constellations. As a people, we don’t fit into the normal trends of history, and just because the laws of nature would seem to dictate that the Jewish people should disappear, does not mean we will.
In the natural order of things, 70,000 soldiers should not even blink when running through a scant five hundred men.
And this may be the meaning of Rachel’s decision to sit on top of these idols. All of these forces of nature have power over us only if we give it to them. But if they are just pillows to sit on, then they no longer control our lives; we do.
And we find this idea almost everywhere we look in Judaism. This is how David, at the time a simple shepherd boy, defeated Golaith when the entire army of Israel seemed helpless before him.
If you see the man before you as a giant, then he is indeed a giant, and he will rule over you, one way or another. But if you see that he is just a fellow who needs a lesson in manners, then to you, that is all he will ever be.
The only way to fix it is with the same sort of Trumpian sledgehammer that tossed aside failed ideas about the Middle East in his first term that enabled him, among other important policy changes, to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and forge the Abraham Accords. If that means executive orders reversing President Joe Biden’s DEI orders that created woke commissars in every federal agency and department, that should be welcomed. If it means closing the largely useless and counterproductive Department of Education and enacting far-reaching reforms that will defund institutions clinging to discriminatory ideas and actions, then that should be cheered by those who cherish the values of equal opportunity, merit and zero tolerance for hatred and discrimination.
More to the point, it will mean that policing antisemitism on campus will be shifted away from the ineffectual Title VI complaints to federal education bureaucrats to a campaign of lawsuits conducted not just by groups like the Deborah Project, valuable though they may be, but by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, with all of the vast resources at its command. In this manner, a message can be sent that will likely motivate the vast majority of college administrations to discard DEI and the tolerance of hate for Jews that accompanies it.
It is impossible to know whether the new administration will succeed. But rather than worrying that he is the wrong instrument to carry out this effort or wasting time decrying his rhetoric, it’s likely that only an outlier like Trump could contemplate such a bold project or have the will to see it to its logical end. Indeed, so grave is the threat that DEI and other leftist ideas pose to the country’s future that anything short of what he has discussed would be inadequate. Instead of expressing concerns or horror at his determination to enact real change, fair-minded Americans of all faiths and in both major political parties should be rooting for him to keep his word and to do everything he promised to punish colleges and universities, in addition to any other entity that promotes the sort of woke hate that has made life for Jewish students and anyone else who dissents against the new secular orthodoxy so difficult.
To reach Jonathan S. Tobin, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
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