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Shemos • Friday, January 5, 2018 • 18 Teves 5778 • Luach page 19 • Torah columns pages 18 – 19 • Vol 17, No 1

The Newspaper of our Orthodox communities

Hoping that Iran avoids another ‘09 By Sarah N. Stern, founder and president, Endowment for Middle East Truth In 2009, shortly after President Barack Obama entered office, millions of people rose up against the ruling theocratic regime of Iran. The demonstrations began in response to the disputed election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had been favored by the ruling mullahs. The election had taken place on June 12, 2009, and two hours after the polls had closed, the results were announced, causing people to immediately take to the streets. By the next day, the peaceful demonstrators were met with the club-wielding Basij, a pro-government paramilitary group. By June 19, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the election a “divine assessment” and declared that protests would no longer be tolerated. By June 22, video footage of a beautiful young woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, 26, who had been fatally shot by the Basij while demonstrating, quickly spread throughout the internet and grabbed international attention. Unfortunately, there were many more anonymous Nedas. The government used this time to purge the opposition party as well as to conduct arbitrary arrests of journalists and human rights activists. The Basij See Iran on page 21

Transmitting the mesorah, l’dor va’dor Our Jewish day schools assist parents in transmitting the mesorah to the next generation, with the parents joining in at school on special occasions. At left, Meir Katz, a fifth grader at Yeshiva of South Shore, is ac-

companied by his father and grandfather at a multi-generational celebration of his class’ Haschalas Gemarah. At right, SKA ninth grader Priva Halpert studies with her father at the school’s father-daughter breakfast.

Food fight! Foes say Israel stole hummus By Ben Sales, JTA Are hummus, za’atar and cucumber salad Israeli foods? Celebrity chef Rachael Ray said they are — and the floodgates of Middle Eastern conflict opened: Palestinians claimed the foods as their own and are accusing her of cultural erasure. [One wacky critic, a leader in the Democratic Party, accused Ray of “cultural #genocide.” See column on page 15.] Israelis thanked Ray and accused her critics of ignoring Jewish Israelis of Middle Eastern descent. Ray (who isn’t Jewish) sparked the debate last

week — likely without meaning to — with a series of tweets about an “Israeli nite” meal. The foods she tweeted about included hummus, tabouli, stuffed grape leaves, chicken fried in za’atar and cucumber salad. The posts spurred a cascade of replies, most of them critical. Twitter users noted that the foods’ names are all Arabic and pounced on her for labeling them Israeli, rather than Arab or Palestinian. The criticism started out as jokey and satiri-

cal, with people labeling photos of hamburgers, tacos and pizza as “Israeli:” But the conversation took a darker and more serious turn, as some accused Israel of stealing Palestinian culture and land. The conversation rapidly became another bitter, repetitive debate between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel activists. One side tweeted a series of four maps meant to illustrate “Palestinian loss of land.” The other See Food fight on page 15

Zioness women: Progressives can be Zionists too a “rape culture,” 20 Zionist progressive friends marched together in support of the rally. But similar to what occurred at another radical feminist march in Chicago in June, their support was met with a ban on Zionist “symbols of nationalism and oppression.” “It was one of those moments that exposed the fictitious line between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism,” Berman told JNS. Berman felt attacked and ostracized when Palestinian activists wearing shirts that read “Palestine versus the world” were accepted at the SlutWalk, but her Jewish star was not. “Palestinian activists were allowed to hold that identity, so why weren’t we allowed to hold our identity as Zionist activists?”

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By Eliana Rudee, JNS Salt and pepper, peanut butter and jelly, Zionism and progressivism. Few question the inherent, irrefutable bond between the first two of those pairs, but civil rights attorney and co-founder of the Zioness Movement, Amanda Berman, argues that the latter is just as natural—and she has several thousand left-leaning Jews with strong Zionist identities backing her up on that sentiment. The four-month-old Zioness Movement was born in a “watershed moment,” several months after the inauguration of President Trump. At a radical feminist march in Chicago on Aug. 12, the stated aim of which was to dismantle what organizers described as

she asked. “Why such double standards, especially at a march for social justice?” In October, 50 Zioness members took on the March for Racial Justice, hoping to activate and empower progressive Zionists in New York, but they were met with a similar sentiment. “We were told that we don’t care about racial justice,” Berman said. “That was heartbreaking because we care very much about these issues.” Zioness was created as a civil rights movement that seeks to undermine “bigotry, misogyny, and social and economic inequality,” said Berman, who thinks there is nothing revolutionary about coming out as proud, progressive Zionists. “It’s the most natural alliance in See Zioness women on page 5

She weaseled out, others did not

Is Lorde a bigot? The New Zealand Jewish community is defending home-grown pop star Lorde from accusations in a full-page ad that she is a bigot and anti-Semite for canceling a performance in Israel, despite its disappointment over the singer’s decision. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach criticized the young artist in the Washington Post ad published on Monday. “While Lorde claims to be concerned with human rights, she hypocritically chose to proceed with her two concerts in Putin’s Russia, despite his support for [Syrian president Bashar al-]Assad’s genocidal regime,” the ad says. “Let’s boycott the boycotters and tell Lorde and her fellow bigots that Jew-hatred has no place in the twenty-first century.” Juliet Moses, spokeswoman for the New Zealand Jewish Council, stood by Lorde. “We think it’s inflammatory, we think it’s unnecessary to accuse Lorde of being bigot, and we think it essentially promotes intransigence on both sides of the issue,” she told the local media. “She has made that decision and we certainly don’t believe she should be bullied for doing so.” Moses later told JTA: “We are deeply disappointed that Lorde has succumbed to a small but loud group of extremist bullies. … By cancelling her show, Lorde has sided with those who support the isolation and demonization of the one Jewish state in the world. She has ignored the moderate voices, including the vast majority of Jewish Kiwis, who believe in dialogue and co-existence, and the leading musicians like Radiohead, Nick Cave, Guns N Roses and Justin Bieber who have performed in Tel Aviv in the last year.” —JTA

By Josefin Dolsten, JTA Pop star Lorde’s decision to cancel her scheduled concert in Israel has sparked some fierce reactions, even if most of them were expected. The 21-year-old New Zealand native’s move earned praise from proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, while a range of Israel supporters said her cancellation sends the wrong message. Lorde is far from the first artist to take political considerations into account when deciding whether or not to perform in Israel. Here’s how some Lorde at the iHeartRadio Secret Sessions in Los Ange- Thom Yorke of Radiohead at the Greek Theatre in Berkeprominent ones dealt with the issue les on Aug. 29. Kevin Winter/Getty Images ley on April 18. Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images in 2017. Ringo’s heading to Beatles-banning Israel group’s frontman, called those pushing a boycott dismissed comparisons between apartheid South Ringo Starr will perform this summer in Isra- “disrespectful.” Africa and the Jewish state and tackled the issue el more than 50 years after the nation’s govern“You’re not bringing people together. You’re through multiple tweets. ment stopped the Beatles from performing there. not encouraging dialogue or a sense of under“I play for fans[,] not politicians,” he wrote. The upcoming tour for the ex-Beatle drum- standing,” he told Rolling Stone magazine. Morrissey penned a song mer’s group Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band in- Nick Cave performed in Israel bashing critics of Israel cludes a June 23 concert in Tel Aviv. Other stops to take a stand against BDS The former Smiths frontman, never a on the tour, which was announced in November, The somber Australian rocker performed with stranger to controversy, didn’t play in the Jewinclude France, the Netherlands, Germany, Fin- his band, The Bad Seeds, in Tel Aviv in Novem- ish state this year (he last performed there in land, Denmark, Czech Republic, Austria, Spain, ber. He revealed at a press conference that he was 2016), but he did show off some serious love Luxembourg, Monaco and Italy. motivated to perform there after being asked to for the Jewish state. He included a song titled In 1966, the Israeli government said the band sign onto an artists’ pledge to boycott Israel. “Israel,” in which he calls the country’s critics could negatively influence the country’s youth. “[I]t suddenly became very important to me “jealous,” on his latest album, released in NoIsrael later apologized for the decision. to make a stand against those people who are vember. Fellow former Beatle Paul McCartney per- trying to shut down musicians, to bully musiOn the track he sings: “In other climes, they formed in the Jewish state in 2008. cians, to censor musicians and to silence musi- bitch and whine/Just because you’re not like Radiohead performed in Israel them … [T]hey who reign abuse upon you/ cians,” Cave said. despite calls not to do so They are jealous of you as well.” Boy George performed in Israel wearRadiohead was hit with a flurry of criticism ing a Star of David-emblazoned suit The 58-year-old rocker, who draped himself from both fans and high-profile artists when they The 1980s pop legend performed in Tel Aviv in an Israeli flag at a past show, also titled one scheduled a concert in Israel. But the English in November despite feeling the usual heat from of his new songs “The Girl From Tel Aviv Who rock band chose to disregard a letter signed by BDS activists. At the concert, he wore a suit dec- Wouldn’t Kneel.” The title is likely a reference boycott movement leaders and ended up play- orated with Stars of David and reportedly said: to Etty Hillesum, a Dutch-Jewish diarist killed ing their longest show in over a decade at Tel “When I go to Israel people say you shouldn’t go, in Auschwitz, who referred to herself as the Aviv’s Hayarkon Park in July. Thom Yorke, the you shouldn’t go. … I go where I like!” He also “girl who could not kneel.”

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Five key moments in USIsrael relations in 2017 F-35 jets from the U.S. and was the first foreign country permitted to acquire the advanced warplanes, at a cost of roughly $100 million each. Tal Inbar, who heads the space research center at the Israel-based Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, told JNS regarding the F-35 that the “technological jump of the plane compared to all other planes in the [Middle East] is enormous, but the jump in operational capabilities is no less important. The freedom of maneuver that the air force gets has been significantly strengthened.”

President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on May 23.

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By Sean Savage, JNS While President Trump appeared to dominate the U.S.-Israel relationship in 2017, some major stories in this arena had little or nothing to do with the president. Here’s a recap: Trump’s policy changes on Jerusalem On Dec. 6, Trump recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and declared plans to eventually move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to that city. The president called the policy changes “long overdue” and said recognition of Jerusalem as the capital is “obvious” given that all of Israel’s government functions—from the Knesset to the prime minister’s residence—are located there. “This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality,” said Trump. “It is also the right thing to do.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Trump’s decision reflects the “commitment to an ancient but enduring truth, to fulfilling his promises and to advancing peace.” Trump’s Israel trip Trump made Israel one of his first visits abroad as president when he touched down in late May to much pomp and circumstance. Trump’s trip included the first visit to the Kotel by a sitting American president. The visit did not come without controversy. A U.S. official’s remark that the Western Wall is part of the West Bank and not Israel stirred Israeli-American tension before the White House disavowed the comments. Western Wall prayer controversy The Israeli cabinet in June decided to freeze an agreement for a permanent egalitarian prayer section, overseen by non-Orthodox Jewish groups, at the Western Wall. The move reneged on a January 2016 agreement and sparked a crisis between the government and Diaspora Jewry, most of whom are liberal. ‘New sheriff in town’ at U.N. Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has been determined to change the culture of bias against Israel at the world body. At the AIPAC Policy Conference in March, Haley described herself as the “new sheriff in town” and vowed regarding anti-Israel elements that she would “kick them every single time” they display their bias. Indeed, Haley has taken aim at U.N. bodies that have repeatedly and disproportionately targeted Israel, including the Human Rights Council and the UNESCO cultural agency. In October, the U.S. announced that it would pull out of UNESCO due to its “anti-Israel bias.” In the wake of Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem, Haley blamed the world body for being the real obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace and vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that called for the withdrawal of the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem. When the same resolution was passed by the U.N. General Assembly, Haley said the vote “will be remembered.” Before the General Assembly vote, she said the U.S. would be “taking names” of countries that supported the U.N. condemnation of Trump’s Jerusalem move. Haley’s series of moves defending Israel at the U.N. came after the departing Obama administration in December 2016 refused to veto a Security Council resolution that condemned Israel’s settlement policy and described eastern Jerusalem as “occupied Palestinian territory.” Israel declares advanced Americanmade fighter jets operational Less than a year after receiving its first nine F-35 stealth fighter jets from the U.S., the Israeli military declared the fleet of aircraft fully operational in early December. “The announcement of the operationalization of the ‘Adir’ aircraft comes at a time in which the IAF is operating on a large scale on a number of fronts in a dynamic Middle East,” said Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin. Israel has agreed to purchase 50 of the

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By Josefin Dolsten, JTA Last month, the New York Times announced that its publisher, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., 66, is stepping down at the end of the year and will be succeeded by his son, 37-year-old Arthur Gregg (A.G.) Sulzberger. The familial exchange of power wasn’t unexpected. The younger Sulzberger is the sixth member of the Ochs Sulzberger clan to serve as publisher, a fifth-generation descendant of Adolph S. Ochs, who bought the newspaper in 1896 as it was facing bankruptcy. The family’s Jewish history — Adolph Ochs was the child of German Jewish immigrants — has often been the subject of fascination and scrutiny, especially during and after World War II, when the paper was accused of turning a blind eye to atrocities against Jews. Today the family’s Jewish ties are less apparent than they were in the past. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. was raised in his mother’s Episcopalian faith and later stopped practicing religion. He and his wife, Gail Gregg, were married by a Presbyterian minister. However, he has said that people still tend to regard him as Jewish due to his last name. A look back into the family’s history shows why. Adolph Ochs, the original member of the Ochs Sulzberger clan, married Effie Wise, the daughter of Isaac Mayer Wise, a leading American Reform Jewish scholar who founded the movement’s rabbinical school, the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. After Ochs’ death, his son-in-law, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, took over the reins at The Times. Sulzberger, a Reform Jew, was an outspoken antiZionist at a time when the Reform movement was still debating the issue. He and his family “were closely knit into the Jewish philanthropic world as befitted their social and economic standing,” wrote Neil Lewis, a former longtime reporter at The Times. The owners drew criticism for the way the paper covered Jewish affairs, particularly the Holocaust. Critics said the newspaper failed to give adequate coverage to Nazi atrocities committed against Jews, a charge that The Times later owned up to. Arthur Hays Sulzberger had experienced anti-Semitism, and he was worried about his paper being perceived as too Jewish, Laurel Leff wrote in her 2005 book “Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and America’s Most Important Newspaper.” “There would be no special attention, no special sensitivity, no special pleading,” Leff wrote. In a 2001 article for The Times, former Executive Editor Max Frankel wrote that the paper, like many other media outlets at the time, fell in line with U.S. government policy that downplayed the plight of Jewish victims and refugees, but that the views of the publisher also played a significant role. “He believed strongly and publicly that Judaism was a religion, not a race or nationality — that Jews should be separate only in the way they worshiped,” Frankel wrote. “He thought they needed no state or political and social institutions of their own. He went to great lengths to avoid having The Times branded a ‘Jewish newspaper’.” As a result, wrote Frankel, Sulzberger’s editorial page “was cool to all measures that might have singled [Jews] out for rescue or even special attention.” Though The Times wasn’t the only paper to provide scant coverage of Nazi persecution of Jews, the fact that it did so had large implications, Alex Jones and Susan Tifft wrote in their 1999 book “The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind the New York Times.” “Had The Times’ highlighted Nazi atrocities against Jews, or simply not buried certain stories, the nation might have awakened to the horror far sooner than it did,” Jones and Tifft wrote. In 1961, Arthur Hays Sulzberger stepped down as publisher, three years after having suffered a stroke, giving the position to his son-in-law Orvil Dryfoos. Dryfoos died two years later from heart

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. at the New York Times’ New Work Summit in February 2016. Kimberly White/Getty Images for New York Times

failure, so his brother-in-law Arthur “Punch” Ochs Sulzberger took over. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, who died in 2012, identified as “nominally Jewish, although not at all religious.” He was “much more comfortable with his Judaism” than his father, wrote former Times religion reporter Ari Goldman. Still, stories related to Jewish topics were carefully edited, said Goldman, who worked at the Times from 1973 to 1993. “Those stories got a little more editorial attention, and I’m not saying they were leaning one way or another, but the paper was conscious that it had this reputation and had this background and wanted to make sure that the stories were told fairly and wouldn’t lead to charges of favoritism or of bending over backwards,” “he told JTA. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger raised his son, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., in his wife’s Episcopalian faith. But Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. still had some connections to his Jewish background. In high school he went on a trip to Israel that left him slightly intrigued by his background, Jones and Tifft wrote. While criticism from the Jewish community under his tenure was less harsh than during his grandfather’s time, many, particularly on the right, still saw the newspaper as being biased against Israel. Nevertheless, given its owners’ family history, its disproportionately large Jewish readership and its frequent coverage of Jewish preoccupations, The Times is often regarded as a “Jewish newspaper” — often disparagingly so by anti-Semites. That perception is “largely because of the family and because of the family’s Jewish name and Jewish roots,” Goldman said, “so whether they’re Jewish or not today, there’s a feeling that this is still a newspaper with a heavy Jewish influence.” And that family history lives on. A.G. Sulzberger is part of a generation at the paper that includes his cousins Sam Dolnick, who oversees digital and mobile initiatives, and David Perpich, a senior executive who heads its Wirecutter product review site. Dolnick’s mother, Lynn Golden, is the greatgreat-granddaughter of Julius and Bertha Ochs, the parents of Adolph S. Ochs, and was married in a Chattanooga, Tennessee, synagogue named in their memory. Perpich, a grandson of Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, was married by a rabbi in 2008. A.G. Sulzberger is best known for heading a team that in 2014 put together a 96-page “innovation report” that meant to prod The Times into moving more rapidly in catching up with the new digital media landscape. Asked recently about his working relationship with Dolnick and Perpich, A.G. Sulzberger spoke of their strong journalism backgrounds and invoked the family ethos. “If they weren’t members of the Ochs/Sulzberger family, our competitors would be bombarding them with job offers,” he said. “But they are deeply devoted to this place, and the three of us are committed to continuing to work as a team.

Remembering Jerusalem, Zioness women... Reform pulls back its no T

he Reform movement has started to retreat from its opposition to the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as capital. Following President Trump’s recognition announcement, Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) President Rick Jacobs issued a statement on Dec. 6 expressing “serious concern” that the president’s action “may well undercut the Administration’s peace process efforts and risk destabilizing the region.” The URJ’s opposition broke with the broad American Jewish communal support of the Jerusalem recognition. But on Dec. 22, the URJ publicly denounced the U.N. for condemning Trump’s recognition. Criticism of the URJ’s opposition to the U.S. recognition has been bubbling up from within the Reform movement’s ranks. The URJ’s former president, Eric Yoffie, wrote in Haaretz on Dec. 19 that “Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel. … It is comforting and gratifying when President Trump finally states what I know to be eternal and true.” Other Reform leaders were quoted in The Jewish Star as expressing their displeasure with the URJ’s original criticism of the president’s action. Yoffie pointed out that Trump’s announcement was praised by “leaders of the Israeli center and center-left. Knesset opposition leader Isaac Herzog, Yesh Atid chair Yair Lapid, Zionist Union chair Avi Gabbay, and former foreign minister Tzipi Livni all applauded the President’s words. When I am looking for guidance from Israel’s political leaders, these are the people to whom I turn.”

“I want the Jewish world to know that [the URJ’s] position is not my position, nor does it reflect the views of multitudes of, perhaps most, Reform Jews,” Ammiel Hirsch declared in a sermon at the Manhattan congregation he leads, the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue. Hirsch, who was the executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America for 12 years and served as a tank commander in the Israeli military, strongly challenged the URJ’s criticism of the timing of the Trump announcement. “Now is the not the right time?” asked Hirsch. “Two-thousand years later and it is still not the right time? … There were critics who accused the civil rights movement of moving too quickly. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s response: ‘The time is always ripe to do what is right’.” Hirsch told JNS there was an “evolution” in the Reform movement’s position between the organization’s official statements on Dec. 6 and Dec. 22. In his view, the URJ “is now supportive of what I believe should have been our position from the beginning.” Rabbis from other denominations told JNS that they are pleased at these developments. “In many corners of the Jewish community today, the reflexive response to anything connected to Trump is: ‘I’m against it’,” said Neil Cooper, spiritual leaders of the Conservative Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El near Philadelphia. “The December 6 statement was consistent with the attitudes of those URJ leaders who sat down with Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, yet refused to join President Trump for a High Holy Day phone call,” said Rabbi Pesach Lerner, president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, which represents some Orthodox rabbis. “It’s heartening that the pushback from other Reform leaders apparently forced a change of course.”

cial, economic and racial justice, and until we are not subjected to political litmus tests about our own self-determination and civil rights in the form of our state in our historic national homeland, none of us will be free,” she said. Berman pointed out that 74 percent of American Jews are registered Democrats and many of them care about sexism, racism, homophobia and yes, Israel. “But if young progressives are forced to choose between supporting social justice issues and their identities as Zionists, then we are going to be in big trouble,” she said. The response to the nascent Zioness Movement has been “unbelievably positive” and “humbling,” said Berman. Zioness member Gloria Einstein told JNS that in the 1970s, she abandoned her loyalty to Israel “because that was expected of a progressive, anti-war, feminist woman. It was just not okay to be actively Jewish or to acknowledge any loyalty to Israel.” Now, she says, “I will not do that anymore.” She lamented the fact that although she thought that “so many progressive Jewish organizations reflected my progressive views and supported my Jewish identity,” she was “badly wrong,” giving the example of progressive Jewish organizations that honor Palestinian-American BDS activist Linda Sarsour. The same week that Einstein attended a workshop of one such progressive organization and felt “the heartbreak that progressive Jews face as one after another organization betrays them and demands that they give up Judaism,” she learned of Zioness. Berman described the emails she has received to thank her for filling the void in which institu-tional Jewish groups and community organizers were previously “scared to engage in this issue,” and for giving progressive Zionists a political home. Women who fought in the feminist move-ment in the 1960s told her, “I have been waiting 50 years for this.” Now, it’s finally here.

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Continued from page 1 the world,” she said. “Zionism is the civil rights and self-determination movement of the Jewish people. It’s not about [Prime Minister] Bibi [Netanyahu], it’s not about settlements and it’s not about occupation. Zionism was a dream of the Jewish people for 3,000 years. Through millennia of oppression, persecution, exile and genocide, we have maintained our hope and dream that we would be able to have a state where we would be protected, and that the state would be in our historical homeland where we have been indigenous for 3,000 years.” She continued, “The manifestation of the Zionist dream is exactly what progressivism is about. It’s fighting for your own civil rights and own social justice, your own self-determination, your own right to equality, and to exist in safety and security—and progressivism is the same thing, it’s making progress for all of those among us, equalizing the playing field, giving everyone the same opportunity.” Berman shared her hope that “all marginalized communities have the same opportunities to ultimately achieve success in their fight for social and racial justice the same way that the Jewish people did with international recognition of our homeland,” and suggested that America could take a page from Israel’s playbook as the “most progressive, pluralistic, multi-ethnic and multi-religious country in all of the Middle East.” She added that Jews and Zionists “must continue to fight for our rights and our state, which remain constantly under attack.” She spoke of the intersectionality of bigotries, noting, “When anti-Semitism runs rampant, other bigotries run rampant.” “We cannot allow anti-Semitism to go unchecked and expect that we can fight other bigotries at the same time. We have to fight it all together. There’s a saying on the left that, ‘I’m not free until we are all free,’ and that’s how Jewish communities sincerely feel,” said Berman. Until Jews “are included in the fight for so-

How Orthodox shuls are targeting millennials By Derek Kwait, for the OU Like so many happy accidents, it started with Purim. Riva Preil, a physical therapist in her early 30s living in Manhattan, was recording a skit for her Orthodox shul’s Purim spiel when the head of the events committee asked if she’d like to get more involved. The question took her by surprise. “I never thought to do it,” Preil said of taking a synagogue leadership role. But at the urging of a friend she agreed. Soon, Preil organized a singles event. “Then I became addicted,” she said. Four years on, Priel runs the events committee at her shul, the orthodox Mount Sinai Jewish Center in Washington Heights, and sits on the synagogue board. She has been instrumental in making sure a different family from the congregation each week volunteers to host singles and those without a Shabbat meal. “Shul shouldn’t just be about attending, praying, leaving,” Preil said. “People can do that anywhere during the week. When it comes to Shabbat and holidays, people want more.” If synagogues are to succeed a generation from now, Orthodox lay leaders and rabbis say, they must get millennials involved. It’s a challenge for every Jewish denomination, but in Orthodoxy it means pushing the boundaries of what synagogues do without pushing the boundaries of Jewish tradition. What it comes down to, say community leaders, is getting millennials to take leadership roles and giving them the power to help shape synagogue life. “The future of Orthodoxy depends on how our synagogues engage millennials,” said Rabbi Yehuda Friedman, the Orthodox Union’s associate director of synagogue services. “It’s not just attending a synagogue, it’s part of a wider, more holistic identity. If young Jews are not engaged in living an Orthodox lifestyle at this time in their lives, we will lose them.”

Young professionals from Orthodox B’nai David-Judea Congregation in Los Angeles enjoy a beer tastZach Morrow ing event at their Hipster Chanukah party on Dec. 15.

Many synagogues have found that the best way to empower millennials is to hand them the keys. Across the country, young Orthodox Jews are organizing lay-led minyans, community Shabbat dinners, lectures, parties and an array of other things to help make their synagogues more welcoming for their generational peers. “Just because you’re Orthodox doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to shul on a regular basis,” said Tzvi Wolf, 24, chair of the committee for young professionals at B’nai David-Judea Congregation in Los Angeles. “For people in their 20s and 30s, if they’re building a family or working long hours or in grad school, getting up to go to shul on a Shabbat morning might not be on the top of their list of priorities.” Without programming specifically geared toward them, millennials might view shul as

a place for older people; millennial-organized programming gives them a sense of ownership, Wolf said. “Millennials want democracy in everything,” observed Rabbi Hyim Shafner of Kesher Israel in Washington, DC. “They grew up with the internet, they’re used to having their voices heard. You have to have to be creative, do things out of the box.” Shafner, who has worked with young Jews for most of his career, including eight years at a Hillel in St. Louis, now leads a congregation comprised mostly of young people. Sometimes he teaches Torah in bars in his neighborhood, Georgetown. “They want a community that’s more porous,” Shafner said of young people. “There’s what we do in shul, but there have to be things outside of shul as well.” In New York, Caleb Koffler, 24, a member of the young leadership committee of his synagogue, Manhattan’s Jewish Center, organizes a monthly lecture series featuring expert guests on hot topics in Orthodoxy, from theology to the Jewish ethics of freezing eggs. The lectures usually take place at the synagogue, but Koffler feels it’s important to have it somewhere else every so often to attract new people, so a few months ago he planned one for his apartment, supplemented by a large order of sushi. The Jewish Center’s Young Leadership Minyan regularly draws more than 200 young people on Saturday mornings. Though liturgically identical to the main service, the minyan’s board designed it to better match the aesthetics and values of single Jews in their 20s and 30s. “It starts later and the room is set up like

a hall, not a shul,” noted Alex Braunstein, 27, an immigration attorney and a member of the young leadership committee. “It’s a smaller space. The rabbi stands in the middle in front of everyone to speak, and the women aren’t sitting against the wall. They actually enter the space first, so the men have to go around them to get to their section.” Braunstein is in charge of organizing communal meals on Shabbat and holidays, a crucial part of millennial outreach in the Orthodox community. Having meals with friends she doesn’t see the rest of the week is an important part of her Shabbat experience, she said. The Green Road Synagogue in Cleveland is particularly aggressive in courting young Jews. The shul organizes activities like s’mores and tiedye T-shirt making in the park for young families and “escape room”-style game nights and candle-making for young adults. A recent new family welcome event drew 150 people. Rosalynne Sommer, 28, who serves as cochair of the synagogue’s young leadership group, seeks out new people moving to town by keeping her ears open and monitoring Cleveland Jewish Facebook pages. Sommer first came to Cleveland fresh out of college six years ago and intended to stay just two years while getting her master’s degree in social work, but she ended up staying. “The community I met at Green Road Synagogue and the people there are a large reason I’m still in Cleveland,” she said. To make every newcomer feels as welcomed as she was, Sommer tries to ensure that all newcomers — whether they intend to join a synagogue or not — get several weeks’ worth of Shabbat meal invitations and welcome gifts, plus information on synagogue events tailored to newcomers. “Cleveland is a booming city, especially for Orthodox Jews, and we want them all to have a warm welcome to the city and community,” Sommer said. Creating community must be the ultimate goal when engaging millennials, according to Shafner. “If you make it all about membership, that will turn them off,” Shafner said. “They want a community that’s embracing, they want a big family. They want to connect to people of all ages.” A synagogue can go a long way toward creating that family feel simply by having the right attitude, he said. “When young people start coming, the community shouldn’t say, ‘Oh no, this is so new, what are they doing here?’” Shafner said. “But rather, ‘All these young people could be anywhere and doing anything with their energy and they choose to be here. What a blessing’!”

Knesset acts on J’salem land, business on Shabbos

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Israeli lawmakers approved a bill on Tuesday that would make it harder to cede parts of Jerusalem in a future peace deal. The legislation, an amendment to Israel’s Basic Law on Jerusalem, requires a vote by an absolute majority in the Knesset — 80 members of the 120 in the body — to give any part of the city to “a foreign party.” It passed 64 to 52. The measure allows parts of Jerusalem to be turned into its own municipality under Israeli sovereignty. That would allow the removal of Palestinian villages. Palestinian Authority President Abbas said the vote “clearly shows that the Israeli side has officially declared an end to the so-called political process.” Israel has issued “a declaration of war against the Palestinian people,” Abbas said. The legislation comes a day after the Central Committee of the ruling Likud party voted unanimously to approve a resolution that calls on

party leaders to exercise civilian law over parts of the West Bank. Meanwhile, a Knesset vote on legislation that would keep local mini-markets closed on Shabbat was postponed over government coalition fears that it would not have enough votes to pass. The bill, which was to be voted on Monday, gives discretion to the interior minister in blocking local by-laws that allow grocery stores and mini-markets to stay open on the Sabbath. Aryeh Deri, head of the Sephardic Orthodox Shas party, now holds the post. Likud lawmaker Yehuda Glick was unable to attend the vote; he attended his wife’s funeral on Monday and began the week of sitting shiva. Deri acknowledged in a tweet early Tuesday to calling the West Bank community rabbi of Otniel, where Glick lives, to find out if there was a way for him to come to the Knesset during the week of visitation to cast his vote. —JTA

7 THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2018 • 18 Teves 5778

Amtrak Repair Work at Penn Station Will Affect Some LIRR Customers Starting January 8 Here’s what the MTA is doing to help Beginning Monday, January 8, 2018, Amtrak will be conducting repair work at Penn Station that requires changes to Long Island Rail Road scheduled service. To help minimize the impact this construction will have on our customers, the LIRR is making changes that will allow us to maintain capacity into Penn Station. These changes include: • Rerouting five of the 98 morning rush hour trains that normally go to Penn Station • Rerouting three of the 86 evening rush hour trains that normally depart from Penn Station • Adding four trains before or after rush hours – two in the morning and two in the afternoon/evening – plus one additional PM peak train from Hunterspoint Avenue • Adding cars to five trains to increase seating capacity • Combining two evening rush hour trains with prior or subsequent trains that depart within the same time frame (approximately six to 11 minutes) and serve all affected stations What you can do For complete schedule change details, be sure to pick up our special timetables effective Monday, January 8 at your nearest station or at mta.info/lirr. In addition, all LIRR customers who travel to Penn Station should: • Consider riding at the start or end of peak hours to avoid congestion • Walk toward either end of the station platform to board the extra cars added to some trains • Consider travelling to Atlantic Terminal or Hunterspoint Avenue instead For more details about Amtrak’s construction project, and everything the MTA is doing to help,

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AN EXPLAINER by Ron Kampeas, JTA WASHINGTON — When the new federal tax bill was signed into law by President Trump on Dec. 22, an unexpected constituency benefited: parents who send their kids to Jewish day schools. Until now, the college savings plans known by their tax codes, 529s, could only be used for college tuition. But effective as of Jan. 1, up to $10,000 may be withdrawn annually from the taxfree plans to help pay for private school. “For private school parents, it’s another reason to consider investing using a 529 plan,” Roger Young, a senior financial planner at T. Rowe Price, told JTA. Experts are still not sure whether the new provision will have much of an impact. On the one hand, day school parents in some states now have an opportunity to save hundreds of dollars a year in tax breaks. On the other hand, the 529 system

State chapters of the Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of America are lobbying for more generous state-level 529 benefits. This is a windfall for day school parents, right? Not quite — it’s more like a gentle breeze. The state savings typically amount to hundreds of dollars. Say a state taxes income at 8 percent and allows tax exemptions on up to $10,000 -- that’s $800 in savings per child. The federal tax savings on revenue depend on the parents and their personal circumstances. “These are the kind of questions parents have to discuss with personal financial advisers and accountants,” Diament said. With tuitions at private colleges reaching as high as $70,000 a year, there may not be enough of an incentive to divert money to day school tuition. Money for a university accrues interest for 18

was designed for long-term savings and may not be the best vehicle for frequent withdrawals. This is what we know so far. Who benefits? Anyone who is paying or contributing to a private school education. “It will assist people in the middle class of the Orthodox community who are already struggling with their economics generally and paying for education as part of that,” said Nathan Diament, Washington director of the Orthodox Union, which lobbied for the change. The way 529s are set up, contributions are not tax deductible from federal taxes, but the earnings are. In addition, 35 states offer state income tax exemptions on contributions — generally between $2,000 and $10,000 a year — New York, for instance, offers the $10,000 tax deduction; New Jersey offers none.

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New tax law bonus: College savings for day schools

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years if parents open a 529 when a baby is born. A New York Times projection said parents dumping $200,000 into an account when a baby is born and doing nothing would have more than $370,000 to spend come college time. Accordingly, day school investments inherently will accrue less interest: If you open a 529 when a child is born, you’ll be making withdrawals when she is 5 or 6 years old. Parents with kids already in the day school system — and who have opened 529s, carefully planning to cover college tuition — may be less inclined to divert funds to day school tuitions. Parents of newborns may have a greater incentive to open a 529 now and accrue some taxfree interest in the next five years or so. Additionally, parents planning for an 18-year haul can afford riskier investments -- and potentially greater returns -- than parents who will want to start cashing in their investments within five or six years. “If you’re putting money into a 529 for elementary or high school expenses you need to carefully consider your time horizon,” Young said. “If you have a longer time horizon, you can be more aggressive.” Noam Neusner, a communications adviser who worked on tax policy for the George W. Bush administration, suggested grandparents could use the new break as a means of encouraging their children to go the day school way. “If you’re a grandparent contributing to a child’s day school tuition, this provides a way to ensure you can continue to support that investment into the future, regardless of if you’re alive,” he said. “You designate funds for the 529, and ensure that your grandchild has funds for future years in day schools.” Won’t day schools seize the opportunity to raise tuitions? Tax experts have speculated that in much the same way that universities have tailored tuitions to gobble up tax breaks, the same could happen at the day school level. But Jewish day school officials say that’s unlikely among their schools, which are striving to persuade more parents to make the day school commitment. They would rather use the new rule as an enticement to parents to sign up their kids rather than a new avenue for revenue, officials said. “Schools are already under pressure since the recession started [in late December 2007] to hold the line on tuition,” said Dan Perla, the director of financial vitality for Prizmah, a new umbrella body for Jewish day schools. If this is a victory for those who believe in ‘school choice,’ does this mean it’s a loss for public education advocates? The groups that lobbied for the change made no secret of a broader agenda: to chip away at American civil traditions that balk at funding religious institutions. In an online statement, Agudah calls the provision “a significant, symbolic, national schoolchoice victory” even if its benefits do not immediately accrue day school families who choose not to open 529s. Orthodox groups have welcomed the emphasis by the Trump administration and its education secretary, Betsy DeVos, on funneling more federal funds to private schools, including religious schools. That’s why the fight isn’t over. Having lost the battle on the federal level, secularists and public education advocates are likely to push back on the state level — meaning they may fight to adjust local laws in order to counteract the new provision. “It would provide tax breaks for families to send their children to private religious schools,” Americans United for Separation of Church and State said before the bill passed. “Congress should be finding ways to fund our public schools, not finding new ways to send money to private religious schools.” But Orthodox umbrella bodies are ready for the fight. “We’ve already had a meeting of state directors to fend off any challenges,” said Abba Cohen, Agudah’s Washington director. Perla of Prizmah said he did not anticipate too much pushback from state legislatures, which will be under pressure to preserve deductions after the federal tax law did away with so many of them. “States are already going to be under pressure to hold the line on state and municipal tax increases,” he said. “The political environment won’t be conducive.”

10 YEARS OF DEDICATION 10 COMMUNITY PATRONS P AY I N G T R I B U T E T O O U R E X E C U T I V E B O A R D

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School News

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After 45 years with HAFTR, Reuben Marron retires

Two days before Reuben Maron retired as executive director of HAFTR on Dec. 31, he was busy cleaning out his office. Jeffrey Bessen/Herald

By Jeffrey Bessen, Herald Community News Parents’ involvement with the school their children attend is very important to Reuben Maron, and over the past 45 years — initially with Hillel, which, along with the Hebrew Institute of Long Island, became the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway in 1978 — he has lived that belief. “I think it’s important when you send your children here, you should get involved,” Maron said. “It is very rewarding to work with the school. It’s helping to make it a better place for your children.” Maron, 75, a Woodmere resident and HAFTR’s executive director for seven and a half years, stepped down on Dec. 31, and his impact on the institution — which includes a lower school and middle school on its Lawrence campus and a high school in Cedarhurst — has been immeasurable, according to Yaron Kornblum, HAFTR’s board president. Ari Solomon, a HAFTR parent for more than 20 years who became part of the school’s administrative team in September, will serve as interim executive director. Solomon also directs the Hillel Day Camp on the Lawrence campus. Two of his children are HAFTR graduates, and his youngest is a sophomore at the high school. Another HAFTR parent, Aileen Gellman, a graduate and a board trustee, will be the director of finance. She also lives in Woodmere. A retired businessman who owned a Lynbrook sportswear company that had 100 employees, Maron became the school’s treasurer in

1982 and took on other roles as well, including board president from 1992 to 1995. He remained on the finance and past presidents’ committees, and was named executive director in 2009. He led an effort to increase the enrollment from under 1,000 to its current 1,400, including 270 children in the nursey program. HAFTR has built not one, but two sports complexes in the past five years, and has gone all in on STEAM education — science, technology, engineering, arts and math — including converting the high school’s old gym to a science laboratory. Maron’s connection to the schools that became HAFTR can be traced back decades. His wife of 50 years, Sandra, attended HILI, and her father and uncles were involved in that school. The Marons’ oldest son, Evan, entered Hillel’s nursery school in 1972, two of their grandchildren graduated from HAFTR, and five more grandkids, ranging from high school to nursery school age, still attend. “It’s vert gratifying to see this thing that I was involved in become something special,” Maron said. “We cherish our history. We work very diligently on it and it’s important to us. It’s enjoyable to see generations come back, parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. That’s very exciting.” He also helped connect the yeshiva with the public-school district, according to former Lawrence Superintendent Gary Schall. “Under Mr. Maron’s leadership, HAFTR has achieved increasing levels of academic excellence as it also continued to grow in size,” Schall said.

“He made every effort to connect to the greater Five Towns community, and initiated the Names Not Numbers program that included Lawrence Middle School students.” The program enlists eighth-graders from both schools to research the Holocaust, and interview survivors on video. When Maron became executive director, HAFTR was also involved with Rambam Mesivta, but the joint high school was floundering, he said, in part due to differing philosophies. In September 2009, they ended their relationship. Maron hired Naomi Lippman as general studies principal — she is now the HAFTR High School principal — and Rabbi Gedaliah Oppen as Judaic studies principal. “We decided who we are: a Modern Orthodox day school,” Maron said. Leslie Gang is a legacy student and an involved parent. A 2003 HAFTR graduate, she has worked there since 2007, initially as a first-grade teacher’s assistant, then as a lower school office assistant, and for the past six years as the director of admissions and communications. Gang’s children, Alexandra and Simon, are in kindergarten and nursery school, respectively. “Mr. Maron’s commitment to HAFTR has been evident from the very beginning,” she said. “He really has worked to ensure that the parents, faculty members and staff members of our school feel the support of the HAFTR administration. I have always felt honored to represent the school, not only because I graduated from HAFTR, but because of the sheer dedication of my supervisor, which I felt daily. It was inspiring.”

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THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2018 • 18 Teves 5778

Sale Dates: January 7th - 12th 2018

January 5, 2018 • 18 Teves 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

The JEWISH STAR

Wine & Dine

As veganism rises in Israel, why not try it at home? JONI SCHOCKETT kosher kitchen

ach New Year brings with it lots of food trends. Some of the hottest trends of 2017 were surprising — like charcoal-based foods, including ice cream, and, one of the hottest trends, avocado toast, which seemed to find its way, at a hefty price, into many trendy restaurants. Brussels sprouts were big in 2017. This often maligned vegetable (my family has always loved them) showed up in caterers’ menus, 4-star restaurants and more. I finally gave in to the “no steamed sprouts” cries and created a recipe with maple-roasted pastrami, red onions and sliced sprouts that was a surprising hit. It seems kale has gone the way of the dinosaur and will no longer show up on every lunch menu in New York and Boston, Boca Raton and beyond. So good riddance to that tough and bitter green. I admit to never really liking it, though I tried it in everything from smoothies to salads and more. Goodbye to the old and hello to the new. While we will have to see how long the new trends stay with us, there is one that has me very excited. This most exciting news comes from Israel which has, for years, been a food trendsetter with renowned chefs such as Yotam Ottolenghi and more. The headline in the Jerusalem Post on Dec. 26 was not so much of a surprise as it was a moment to kvell — “Veganism Set to Top Culinary Trends of 2018 With Israel at The Helm!” In Israel, 40 percent of the population claims that they have drastically reduced the amount of animal products they use. Eight to ten percent claim that they are vegetarians (meaning that they eat dairy, eggs and cheese) and five percent claims to be vegan, suggesting that Israel has the highest per capita population of vegans. (In America, 31 percent of the people include no-meat days in their diets, but only six percent claim to follow a strictly vegetarian diet and less than three percent are vegan.) The popularity of this lifestyle in Israel prompted the British newspaper, The Independent, to recently dub Tel Aviv the “vegan capital of the world.” Tel Aviv boasts over 400 veganfriendly restaurants! This shift towards vegan eating has strong adherents in generations X and Z who, for many reasons, including ethical and humane ones, are moving towards vegan eating at a rapid pace. According to the New York-based international restaurant consulting company, Baum and Whitman, restaurants are finally catching up and making huge menu changes.

As a more plant-based eating style overtakes the planet, why not investigate and try it out at home? A non-meat meal here and there is a fine way to experiment and get to know the vegetarian or vegan landscape. Kudos to Israel and to Tel Aviv for, once again, being a world leader, this time in the world of healthful, delicious and nutritious eating. Many Mushroom Skewers and More with Lemon-Garlic Marinade (Pareve)

This is a wonderful recipe to serve with a wild rice pilaf, for a great main or side dish. Lemon Garlic Marinade 8 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 6 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice 1/2 tsp. (scant) kosher salt 2-3 cloves garlic, minced Pinch red pepper flakes 2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, finely minced Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste Mix all ingredients together in a glass jar and refrigerate. Vegetable Kabobs 4 Portabella mushroom caps 16 large button mushrooms 16 oyster mushrooms 16 shitake mushrooms 24 cherry or grape tomatoes 1 zucchini, sliced, slices quartered 1 small red onion, quartered and separated 8 skewers Lemon Garlic Marinade

NOTE: You can use as many different kinds of mushrooms as you like, allowing about 6-8 mushrooms per skewer. Peel the Portobello mushrooms and remove the gills with a spoon. Wash and then cut the caps into quarters. Place in a large, shallow, glass baking dish. Clean the rest of the mushrooms and place in the baking dish. Add the tomatoes. Cut the zucchini and add to the dish. Pour the marinade over the vegetables and marinate for about 30 minutes. Carefully skewer the vegetables and place on a broiler pan. Place under the broiler for about 3-4 minutes per side, turning at least once, or until some char marks show and the tomatoes shrivel a bit. Serves 4 to 8. Seitan ‘Meat’ Sauce (Pareve)

3 to 4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 1 large onion, diced 3 to 5 cloves garlic 1 pound seitan 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes 1 can (3 ounces) tomato paste 1 green pepper, seeded and chopped OPTIONAL: 1 small chili pepper, seeded and chopped (for heat) 4 to 8 ounces sliced mushrooms 1 tsp. oregano 1/2 tsp. sea salt Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste Basil leaves cut in a chiffonade* Whole wheat pasta or zucchini spiral noodles OPTIONAL: Grated Parmesan Cheese for a dairy vegetarian meal Heat a large skillet. Add the olive oil and the onions and sauté until lightly golden. Add the minced garlic and heat through. Add the mushrooms and sauté until they give off their juices and reabsorb them, stirring frequently. Add the green pepper and sauté for another minute. Cut the seitan into small crumbles or break up with your fingers and add to the skillet. Stir to heat through, cooking until lightly browned. You may need to add more oil. Some may stick to the pan a bit, but just scrape it with a spatula. Add the tomatoes and the tomato paste and stir. Add the crushed red pepper, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix well. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently as the liquid reduces. Taste and adjust

seasonings. Serve over pasta, zoodles (zucchini noodles), or even with whole grain rolls for sloppy Joes. Serves 4 to 6. *To cut a chiffonade, roll a few basil leaves into a tight cylinder and then cut across the cylinder in thin slices. Add to the pan and mix well. NOTE: Seitan is a meat substitute made from wheat gluten. It is chewy like meat and takes on the flavors you give it. This is a great low-fat, kidfriendly substitute for hamburger. You can buy seitan in most health food stores either as a mix or ready to use. Spicy Oven-Baked Carrot and Yam Fries (Pareve)

You can make these with any spices you like. Omit the heat for kids, or adjust as you like. 2 large yams, peeled and cut into French fry shapes 6 large carrots, peeled and cut into French fry shapes. 4 to 5 Tbsp. extra0virgin olive oil or canola oil 1 tsp. paprika 1/2 tsp. black pepper 1/2 tsp. chili powder or cayenne pepper 1 tsp. onion powder 1 tsp. garlic powder 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. sugar Line 2 large, rimmed baking sheets with foil and then parchment and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the vegetables and set aside. Pat dry with paper towels. Keep the carrots and the yams separate. Pour half of the oil in a bowl and toss the carrots in it. Remove to the prepared baking sheet. Add the rest of the oil to the bowl and repeat with the yam fries. Place them on the second baking sheet. In a small bowl, whisk the spices, salt and sugar together. Sprinkle 1/3 on the carrots and 1/3 on the yams. Reserve the rest. Place the sheets in the oven. Roast for 25 to 35 minutes, until barely fork tender. Remove from the oven, increase the heat to 400 degrees and flip the fries. Sprinkle half of the spice mixture on each tray and return to the oven. Bake until deep golden brown. 8-15 minutes. Serves 6 to 10. NOTE: The yams will most likely be cooked before the carrots. Watch carefully.

Forget the oven: Use crockpot for best roast chicken By Shannon Sarna, The Nosher via JTA The crockpot has never been my favorite kitchen gadget. When I am prepping dinner during busy weeks, I typically don’t make longsimmering meals that require my attention but rather just throw a bunch of stuff in the oven. But on a recent day that was going to be particularly harried — with baby swim class, errands and a doctor appointment — I decided to try my hand at throwing an entire chicken in a crockpot. I first read this guide from The Kitchn and watched its short video, which I found helpful. Its tips included balling up some tin foil to raise the chicken up while cooking. You can also place the chicken under the broiler after cooking

to crisp up the skin, but I didn’t find this to be a necessary step to success. I seasoned the chicken well and just plopped it in the crockpot. Off to swim class, the doctor and the supermarket we went, to arrive home to the most wonderful smell, and a perfectly cooked chicken. I threw together a salad and some rice, and had dinner ready. The most surprising part of this process was how much I loved the tenderness of the chicken cooked in the crockpot — it was moist, cooked perfectly and pretty much fell right off the bone. I have spent countless hours reading up on the best way to make a roast chicken — tweaking my recipe bit by bit over the years. But this

easier, no-fuss method actually might be new favorite. If you really want to be a superhero, add some cut-up veggies and potatoes to the bottom of the pan for a simple, fast one-pot wonder. My own trick is to save the liquid and fat that collects at the bottom of the crockpot and use it to make fantastically crispy, fatty roast potatoes in the oven. You can also use whatever spice mixture you prefer, add slices of lemon or orange, cloves of garlic, fresh herbs or some beer to the bottom of the pan to season. But crockpot chicken is a fail-proof, fool-proof way to have delicious dinner ready for the busiest of days and the busiest See Crockpot on page 15

bigot who hit Israel and Rachael Ray stephen M. Flatow

Crockpot... Continued from page 14 of people. Or just if you’re too lazy to turn on the oven. Ingredients: 1 whole chicken 1 Tbsp. paprika 1 tsp. granulated garlic 1/2 tsp. ground coriander 1/8 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper 2 Tbsp. olive oil Directions: 1. Mix herbs in a small bowl with 2 Tbsp. olive oil. 2. Cover chicken all over with spice mixture, including inside the cavity and under the skin. You can let it marinate overnight if desired, but this isn’t necessary. 3. Ball up three pieces of tin foil and place in bottom of crockpot. Place chicken on top of tin foil. 4. Set crockpot on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. 5. After chicken has finished cooking, cut into pieces and serve warm. Shannon Sarna is editor of The Nosher.

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co-chair of the DNC’s Resolutions Committee. As a member of that committee, he helped draft the pro-Palestinian language that appeared in the party’s 2016 platform. His lunatic accusation that Israel and Rachael Ray are guilty of “cultural genocide” is the latest evidence that he should have no place in a respected, mainstream American political party. It’s time for the Democrats to disown James Zogby. New Jersey attorney Stephen M. Flatow, a vice president of the Religious Zionists of America, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.

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longtime Democratic Party official is accusing Israel, and celebrity chef Rachael Ray, of committing “cultural genocide” against the Palestinians. It’s just the latest in a long series of extremist remarks by James Zogby, but this should be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back. It’s time for the Democrats to disown Zogby. Ray’s sin was that in a tweet about an Israelithemed meal, she mentioned having “stuffed grape leaves, hummus, beet dip, eggplant and sun dried tomato dip, walnut and red pepper dip, and tabouli.” Zogby responded with this frothing-at-themouth tweet: “Damn it @rachaelray. This is cultural #genocide. It’s not #Israeli food. It’s #Arab (#Lebanese, #Palestinian, #Syrian, #Jordanian). First the Israelis take the land & ethnically cleanse it of Arabs. Now they take their food & culture & claim it’s theirs too! #Shame.” Space does not permit me to delve into Zogby’s ignorance concerning the history of various Mediterranean foods. Must we really restate the obvious fact that cuisine is not restricted by borders? I think we can all agree that if Americans enjoy lasagna, it does not mean the U.S. is committing “cultural genocide” against Italy. Nor will I waste time refuting the absurd claim that Israel has “ethnically cleansed [the land] of Arabs,” when there are obviously still several million Arabs residing in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Anybody who is sincerely interested in reviewing examples of ethnic cleansing in those areas can read up on Jordan’s expulsion of all Jews from the Old City of Jerusalem in 1948, and its ban on Jews visiting that part of the city (where the Kotel and Temple Mount are located) for the ensuing 19 years. It’s more urgent to understand who James Zogby is—and to ask why the Democratic Party continues to tolerate him in its leadership. ogby began his public career as a leader of extreme anti-Israel groups, such as the Palestine Human Rights Campaign, of which he was a founding member in 1977, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), which he co-founded in 1980. The ADC’s first action under Zogby was a campaign of protests, lobbying and newspaper ads opposing America’s extradition of Palestinian terrorist Ziad Abu Eain to Israel. Eain had fled to the U.S. after planting a bomb in Tiberias that killed two Israeli children and wounded 36 others. Chaya (Irene) Mark, of Connecticut, was permanently maimed. Eain argued that he should not be extradited because the bombing was a “political offense.” Despite’s Zogby’s fervent lobbying, Eain was extradited, tried and convicted in Israel, and sentenced to life imprisonment. After being released in a prisoner exchange, Eain was caught conspiring with other terrorists to hijack an Israeli bus and spent three more years in prison. Zogby never expressed a word of remorse for his crusade on behalf of the Tiberias killer. In 1985, Zogby founded the Arab American Institute (AAI). Zogby’s track record as leader of the AAI includes denouncing America’s arrest of Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook; justifying Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israel as “desperate acts of striking out against the master” (in a 1995 New York Times op-ed); and praising Hezbollah terrorists as “the Lebanese armed resistance.” When Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in 1996, Zogby accused him of engaging in “state-sponsored terrorism.” According to the Anti-Defamation League, Zogby has compared Israel to the Nazis and described Israeli counter-terror actions in southern Lebanon as “a Holocaust.” When Zogby charged, in 1999, that there were too many Jewish employees in the State Department, the ADL characterized his statement as

“crude anti-Semitism.” Nevertheless, Zogby managed to steadily rise through the ranks of the Democratic Party. He was deputy manager of Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1998 presidential campaigns. In 1995, he was appointed co-convener of the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Committee. He served as “senior adviser on ethnic outreach” for Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000 and Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign in 2008. n 2001, Zogby was elected to the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). He holds that prestigious position to this day. In 2006, he was also named

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Continued from page 1 responded with tweets of the Balfour Declaration, which endorsed Israel’s establishment in 1917, and graphics meant to convey that Palestinians don’t have their own nation. Some anti-Semitic and anti-Arab cartoons were mixed in along the way. Some Twitter users came to Ray’s defense by pointing out that these foods are cooked across the Middle East — including by Jews who were expelled from Arab countries and fled to Israel. (In addition, about 20 percent of Israel’s citizens are Arabic.) This debate isn’t new. Israeli food, like all aspects of Israeli identity, is multifaceted, sometimes contradictory and often controversial. Israelis hail from a range of countries across continents and have meshed their traditions in a messy and intricate amalgam. But whether due to location, demographics or taste, Middle Eastern cuisine — think hummus, falafel and shawarma — has come to dominate the Israeli food scene. Israeli Jews often don’t deny that these foods are Arab or Palestinian in origin. One of the most popular types of hummus in Israel is called “hummus Abu Ghosh,” named for an Arab town west of Jerusalem. The image of being able to “eat hummus in Damascus,” the capital of Syria, is sometimes used as a metaphor for Israel’s goal of peace with its neighbors. Palestinians, however, see Israeli claims to these foods as just one more form of oppression. Yousef Munayyer, who directs the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, wrote in a tweet thread that Ray’s tweets contribute to a culture in which “Palestinians, as a people, are often told they do not exist.” Ray didn’t initially responded to the uproar. But she did move on to tweeting about a Greek feast. To that, we can all say: opa!

THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2018 • 18 Teves 5778

Food fight... Dems should axe genocide-labeling

County Exec Curran, Hempstead Supervisor Gillen LAURA CURREN, County Executive By Erik Hawkins, Herald Community News Democratic County Legislator Laura Curran said that it was never her plan to get into politics. Nevertheless, on Jan. 1, in below-freezing weather, Curran took to the steps of the legislative building in Mineola and was sworn in by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as Nassau’s first female county executive. Curran brings with her years of frustrations — and hopes — that were expressed by voters in the Nov. 7 election, in which she was chosen over Republican Jack Martins. She succeeds Republican Ed Mangano, whose administration was marred by corruption scandals and who did not seek re-election. Vowing to repair the property assessment system and to retake control of the county’s finances from the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, Curran declared that “these are not partisan political issues — they are Nassau issues.” Cuomo, along with Senator Charles Schumer, expressed confidence in Curran as a leader who would get results for the county’s middle class. “This is a special day, and these are not ordinary times, and Laura Curran is no ordinary person,” Cuomo said. A former school board member and reporter for Herald Community Newspapers, Curran Laura Gillen is sworn in as Town was elected to the legislature in 2014, and made restoring fundof Hempstead Supervisor. ing for the NICE bus system, as well as pushing for downtown revitalization and transit-oriented development in Baldwin and Freeport, focuses of her advocacy. In October 2016, Curran was banned from attending minority caucus meetings after breaking rank to vote for $50 million in borrowing for capital projects. For much of the campaign, Curran and Martins refrained

Gov. Cuomo administers the oath of office to Nassau’s new County Executive, Laura Curran.

from attacking each other, with both stressing the need for ethics reforms in county government and mainly disagreeing on how to best implement the changes. As the race wound down, however, Curran went on the attack, zeroing in on Martins’s relationship with disgraced former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. Martins, meanwhile, tried to frame Curran as weak on crime and himself as the candidate who could best protect Nassau residents from the El Salvadoran street gang MS-13. A few days before the election, Martins distributed a racially charged mailer depicting three menacing, tattooed Latino men and bearing the message that Curran was “MS-13’s choice for county executive.”

Susan Grieco (Curran), Berthoud Donovan (Gillen) / Herald

The mailer may have done Martins more harm than good in the long run, according to political analyst Larry Levy, of Hofstra. “There was backlash there that hurt Martins,” he said. “These kind of ads used to be used by Republicans to make voters feel that Democrats, if elected, would make Long Island look like the city. … It would either look black and Latino or look high-rise and urban.” On Nov. 7, Curran took 51 percent of the vote to Martins’s 48 percent — 147,102 to 139,204, approximately an 8,000-vote margin. “Tonight, Nassau voted to end the culture of corruption,” Curran said in her victory speech, “and to give our county the fresh start we deserve.” Continued on next page

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January 5, 2018 • 18 Teves 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

LAURA GILLEN, Town of Hempstead Supervisor By Ben Strack, Herald Community News Two months after Laura Gillen was elected Town of Hempstead supervisor, defeating Republican Anthony Santino in a historic victory, she was sworn in to office on Monday, the first Democrat to take control of the town in more than a century. The last Democrat to win the town supervisor’s post was Robert Seabury, who was elected by a five-vote margin in 1905. Gillen defeated Santino by roughly 2,000 votes, ending his more than two decades on the Town Board. “We’re going to break down the walls of silence and secrecy separating town hall from the taxpayers, and begin ushering in a new era of openness and transparency in the Town of Hempstead on day one,” Gillen, 47, said at Hofstra University’s John Cranford Adams Playhouse. Gillen was vocal during Santino’s final weeks. She blasted his successful effort to pass a contract amendment that would prohibit future termination of civil service employees, except for cause, saying that it would limit her administration’s ability to balance the town budget during fiscal emergencies. “I think every taxpayer in the Town of Hempstead is against that ridiculous amendment,” Gillen said last week. “We’re going to explore all avenues to rid the town of what I think is an immoral and potentially unenforceable amendment.” Gillen said she has been visiting town departments with her transition team, and will continue to do that during her first few days in office “to see how things are running, what’s working, what’s not working, where we could save money, where we can improve services, and trying to work cooperatively with the people who are in place and see if there’s anybody we need to replace.” “It’s no longer going to be a town that’s dominated by party politics,” she said. “It’s about people.”

With thoughts of Seward, special benediction for President Trump Commentary by Abraham H. Miller n the last day of his visit to Jerusalem in 1871, William Seward, secretary of state under President Abraham Lincoln, attended Sabbath evening prayers at the Hurva Synagogue. At the end of the service, the rabbi offered a special prayer of gratitude for Seward’s visit to the Jewish community of Jerusalem. It was an expression of appreciation to a world leader who acknowledged that Jerusalem is the eternal city of the Jews, one toward which they face in prayer and one to which they pray to return. It would be most fitting for synagogues throughout the world to offer such a benediction for President Donald Trump and Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. In the Reform synagogues of America, that is not going to happen. In a departure from Jewish history and tradition, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), denounced Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in the absence of a “comprehensive peace plan,” however mythical. Jacobs was joined in his denunciation by some 100 self-proclaimed “scholars” of Jewish studies, citing the ultra-left B’Tselem’s criticism of Jewish governance of the Arabs of Jerusalem. A day later, Jacobs was walking back his statement. Had it suddenly dawned on him that Reform hatred for Trump had sub-

sumed Jewish love for Israel? Or perhaps it was it Natan Sharansky’s stinging rebuke. Of course, in America, many Jews are progressives first and Jews as an afterthought. For progressives, there is nothing that Trump could do that would be worthy of praise. Trump derangement syndrome is a mental affliction that permeates much of the Jewish community. If Trump hastened the coming of the Messiah, the URJ and some Jewish studies scholars would either find reasons for criticism or attribute the achievement to someone else. It is only since Israel took over Jerusalem that all faiths have been free to practice their religious observances without governmental interference, let alone persecution. From 1948-1967, Jordan illegally occupied the West Bank and partitioned the city of Jerusalem into eastern and western halves. The Jordanians ethnically cleansed and murdered Jews living in eastern Jerusalem and on the so-called West Bank. Their occupation was rejected by the international community apart from the U.K. and Pakistan. The Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives was destroyed. Jews were barred from the Western Wall and the Temple Mount. Christian facilities were protected but not permitted to expand, and auxiliary facilities like hospitals were prohibited. Meanwhile, Jewish facilities were wantonly destroyed—including the beautiful Hurva Synagogue, where Seward received his benediction. Originally built in 1700, the synagogue

was finally rebuilt according to its initial plan in 2010. Of the 35 synagogues in Jerusalem, the Jordanians spared only one. t appears the Jewish studies scholars, in their zeal to condemn Trump, are no more scholarly than the URJ, as both have conveniently forgotten the history of Jerusalem. In the 69 years since Israel’s creation, there has not only been no comprehensive peace plan. There also has been no full recognition of Israel’s legitimate existence by the Arab and Muslim nations. The path to peace is the path of disruption. Repeating the same peace proposals that have been repeatedly rejected by the Arabs is an exercise in futility. Seeing that politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum of indecision, the Arabs will now have to confront a new reality. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and it’s not just America that is moving its embassy there. Whether Jewish studies scholars and progressive Jews acknowledge it or not, Trump’s position on Jerusalem will change the calculus of any negotiations. In the meantime, both Trump and Haley should receive the same benediction that was bestowed on William Seward. They have earned it. Abraham H. Miller is emeritus professor of political science, University of Cincinnati, and a distinguished fellow with the Haym Salomon Center. Follow him on Twitter: @ salomoncenter.

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17 THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2018 • 18 Teves 5778

Curran praised the County legislature’s recent unanimous bipartisan vote to create an independent inspector general post, and told those in attendance that solving the county’s issues “will take all of us working together.” Quoting John F. Kennedy, Curran implored residents “not to despair, but to act.” “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer,” she continued, “but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past — let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”

January 5, 2018 • 18 Teves 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

SHAbbAT STAR

‫כוכב של שבת‬

Read The Jewish Star’s archive of Torah columns at TheJewishStar.com/category/torahcolumns/browse.html

Even if it’s just a story, it’s a lesson too Rabbi avi billet

Parsha of the week

t is reasonable to claim that the Torah is divided into two parts: narrative and law. Sometimes, law is intertwined in the presentation of the narrative; sometimes the narrative informs our understanding of law. But sometimes the narrative is just that — a story enhancing the plotline of the Torah. Could it really be that narrative is meant only to tell us history? Are we not to learn moral teachings, ethical values, and life lessons? Most adherents of Torah as a book of values will say there is much to be learned from the stories. Admirers of the Torah will discover many moral lessons. But can this be said of every aspect of narrative? What about lineage listings? What about a particular detail that is inconsequential beyond it just being part of a story? Does it matter, for example, what color clothing someone was wearing, or what they were holding in their hand? Do we care, for example, what style of foot covering Moshe wore at the burning bush? n argument can be made that if the Torah gives the detail, it must be significant. But what of when the commentaries have nothing to say? Is it still relevant? There is no question that Moshe’s staff plays an important role in the annals of the Torah. But when it is introduced to us, it isn’t given

the kind of press time we might expect for such an iconic item. The staff’s first appearance comes as G-d is about to give Moshe the signs to demonstrate to the Israelites that he is being sent by G-d, as G-d says to him, “What is this in your hand?” Moshe says “matteh (a staff).” (4:2) G-d then tells him to throw it to the ground whereupon it turns into a snake, and back into a staff when Moshe grabs the snake by the tail. The staff appears again when G-d reminds Moshe to “take this matteh in your hand, that with it you will do the signs.” The signs? Only one sign concerned the staff. The other two had nothing to do with the staff! Three verses later we are told that Moshe “took the matteh Ha’elokim (the staff of G-d) in his hand.” A staff, stick or scepter in the hands of a leader is a clear indicator of the leader’s position. This is demonstrated in numerous cases in the Bible, and in Moshe’s case has an added element of being a symbol of the Divine. We might not view Moshe’s staff as a magic stick, but there are certainly people in his time who did, which is why he needed to take extra care to demonstrate G-d’s power, and not his own. Rabbi Isaac Caro, in his Toldot Yitzchak, has two concerns when it comes to Moshe’s staff. Why did G-d need to give him a staff — couldn’t the signs be performed without it? (Interesting that he assumes G-d “gave him” the staff, rather than that G-d assigned his

staff to do the intended job) Why does G-d not tell Moshe to take the staff until verse 17? Why wait until after giving Moshe the signs AND the conversation of 4:10-16? Moshe’s objection in 4:1 was that the Israelites “will not believe me or listen to me” that G-d sent me. To that he was given 3 signs, to help the people believe the claims of his assigned role. But then Moshe says, “I am not a man of words. … I have a heavy mouth and tongue” (4:10). G-d responds, and then Moshe essentially says, “Send someone else” (4:14). Rabbi Caro argues that had Moshe been told “Take the staff” before these unfortunate objections, the negativity created here would have been avoided. And he further explains that to each of Moshe’s objections — Who am I? (3:11), they won’t believe me (4:1), I can’t speak (4:10) — G-d gave an answer that Moshe didn’t fully accept, leading him to his real objection of “Send someone else.” G-d then gave him the stick to show him that just as a dry, dead piece of wood can become a force of power, Moshe could become a force of power representing G-d. o what is the lesson? We have the opportunity to raise our service of G-d to higher levels all the time. Sometimes we do it with accoutrements, and sometimes with items that help us perform mitzvos. A nice kiddush cup, menorah, mezuzah, Shabbos candlesticks, beautiful tefillin, tzitzis, etc.

We can raise our service of G-d to higher levels all the time.

People who read the Torah in shul have a tremendous dual responsibility: to represent the congregation through the mitzvah of reading the Torah, and to guide the person who gets the aliyah through reading their assigned words properly. This latter responsibility is particularly important when the honoree doesn’t know the words or can’t easily follow the reading. Which is why I cannot understand the readers who insist on not using a “yad” pointer when reading. Are you such a perfect human being that your eye never wanders and you never lose the place? Is it beneath your dignity to help the person next to you? Do you feel that using a “yad” dishonors the reading in some way? Do you think it reflects poorly on your skills? You are either unaware of the disservice you are performing for the person who has the aliyah, or you are simply arrogant. If the former, please consider yourself informed and take corrective action. If the latter, please also consider yourself informed and take corrective action here, and in every other area of your life as well. Perhaps Moshe was told his staff was necessary for the plural signs, because there is more than one way for a staff to be used. It doesn’t only turn into a snake. Sometimes it shows people the proper way. If Moshe needed a stick so he could understand his role as G-d’s messenger better, how much effort does it really take for a “shaliach tzibbur” (representative of the congregation) to pick up a tiny stick and help people fulfill their mitzvah better?

Shemot’s thoughts on anti-Semitism, future Rabbi maRc d. angel

he ancient and so-far uncured disease of anti-Semitism is reflected in this week’s parsha, Shemot. Pharaoh tells his people: “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come let us deal wisely with them … lest they join themselves unto our enemies and fight against us” (1:9-10). Pharaoh’s description is not only wrong, but reflects wild paranoia. Wasn’t Joseph a great leader for the Egyptians? Weren’t the Israelites actually a tiny minority of the Egyptian population? And weren’t they harmless shepherds who could hardly pose a military threat to Pharaoh’s regime? The Egyptians were stirred to believe the worst about the Israelites, even though the facts would demonstrate that this was a small, quiet and productive group that contributed to the wellbeing of Egypt. The disease of anti-Semitism continues today, with all its false accusations, paranoia and dangerous consequences. How are we to cope with this deep-seated irrationalism? How are we to explain this to our children and grandchildren? e teach our children and grandchildren that all humans are created in the image of God; that we should respect and assist others; that love of God necessarily entails love of God’s creations. Yet, these right and proper teachings are challenged by the realities which our children and grandchildren witness with their own eyes. They see thousands of missiles shot at Israel by

Hamas terrorists with the aim of killing as many Jews as possible. They see throngs of Palestinians cheering as missiles are launched to murder Jews. They hear the rantings of the president of Iran who calls for the annihilation of Israel. They read of anti-Semitic diatribes and attacks by anti-Semites throughout the world. They see the large number of countries at the United Nations who consistently vote against Israel and side with those who would destroy Israel. They know of the so-called humanitarian groups and journalists who seem to find fault only with Israel but rarely, if ever, with the vicious enemies of Israel. While we teach our young generations about love of God and the sanctity of human life, millions of fellow human beings are saturated with hatred, and many others are complicit with the evils of anti-Semitism by their neutrality or silence. How can we teach of love in a world filled with hatred? or thousands of years, our people have weathered the storms of persecution. Our enemies always disappear; we always survive. That is an iron law of history. And that bothers the anti-Semites greatly. Why do anti-Semites give us such a hard time? Why do people who do not even know us express hatred and malevolence toward us? Why do Israel’s enemies persist in demonizing the Jewish state, rather than in finding a way to co-exist peacefully and happily? Jews represent an infinitesimal fraction of the world’s population. Yet, so much negative energy is directed against us! I suppose we

should feel complimented to receive so much attention! Our enemies are astounded and troubled by the fact that such a tiny Jewish people has been able to accomplish so much. We gave the world Moses, King David, Isaiah and Queen Esther. Our Bible is venerated by Christianity and Islam and has been a major influence for human civilization. Our sages have produced an unmatched legacy of literature dedicated to righteousness, ethics and law. For thousands of years, our communities have striven to maintain the highest ideals of our tradition. Our enemies resent our persistent commitment to excellence: generations of Jewish doctors and teachers, social workers and scientists, artists and philanthropists, business people and diplomats. They resent the incredibly high proportion of Jewish Nobel Prize winners and other world-class intellectuals and writers. ome hate us because they see in us a highly educated, idealistic, charitable group. In contrast to their much larger groups, we are an annoying paradigm. How did a tiny Jewish state become a world leader in science and technology, agriculture and industry. How can such a small state, constantly embattled and boycotted by much of the Arab world, be amazingly successful in so many ways? How is it that only Israel, of all the countries in the Middle East, has been able to maintain a vibrant and dynamic democracy, a society that gives so much freedom to all its citizens? Whenour enemies cannot come to grips with their own shortcomings, they look for a scapegoat,

There are so few Jews, yet so much negative energy is directed against us!

and we are a convenient target since we are so small and yet so visible. If anything, their anti-Semitism is a blatant admission of their own failings and weaknesses. Those who devote themselves to hatred thereby destroy their own humanity. The Jewish persist in believing in the ultimate goodness of humanity. In spite of all our enemies and all their hatred, we remain eternally optimistic. We believe that reason and benevolence will prevail. We work to make society better and to alleviate suffering. We believe that even wicked human beings can be redeemed through love and compassion. When we come under fire from anti-Semites, we call on our collective historic memory to give us strength. We have survived the millennia due to the incredible courage and fortitude of our forebears. We are the children of the prophets who taught justice, righteousness and love to the world. Our teachings are right: the world simply hasn’t absorbed them as yet. ow can we teach of love in a world filled with hatred? How can we teach that all humans are created in the image of God, when so many humans are actively trying to murder us? How can we preach the goodness of humankind, when so much of humankind is engaged in violence? We teach these things because they are true, and because they are the ideas and ideals that can best bring fulfillment to humanity. In spite of so much hatred and evil in the world, the Jewish people teach love and righteousness. The day will come when hatred and bigotry will disappear from humanity. In the meanwhile, we must stay strong, courageous and faithful to our tradition. And to our collective Jewish memory. Rabbi Angel is interim spiritual leader of the Lido Beach Synagogue and rabbi emeritus of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in NYC.

Jerusalem and the legacy of Rav Kook Kosher BooKworm

his week I am both honored and glad to bring to your attention a new siddur, “The Koren Rav Kook Siddur,” which is based on commentary by Rav Avraham Yitzchok HaKohen Kook, zt’’l. Much of this work has been adapted and translated by one of Rav Kook’s leading contemporary interpreters, Rabbi Bezalel Naor. The siddur translation is by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Rav Kook, the first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisrael, was famous for his harmonious blending of “the body and the soul” of Torah, as represented in the traditions of halacha and aggadah, both of which are reflected in every page of this 1,320 page volume. Given the current focus on the centrality of Jerusalem, I will bring to your attention several references to Rav Kook’s writings as they relate to the holy city in our Jewish liturgical tradition. In the Shabbat morning liturgy we recite Psalm 135, which concludes: “Blessed is the Lord from Zion, He who dwells in Jerusalem. Halleluya!” Rav Kook explains: “The People of Israel was destined to be a ‘kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ The two names of our capital symbolize different dimensions of our polity. ‘Zion,’ the city of David, represents the temporal aspects of ‘kingdom’ [mamlachah]. ‘Jerusalem’ corresponds to the kehunah, the priestly aspect that revolves around the service in the temple. But these two ‘crowns’ that the People of Israel wear, are inseparable.

Though different roles have been assigned to various members of our nation, and we all wear different hats [‘kings’ and ‘priests’], collectively, as a nation, we are that singular ‘kingdom of priests,’ top teachers and instructors to the entire world, destined to enlighten mankind about G-d.” Earlier in the daily morning service, we recite the following prayer: “May it be Your will, Lord our G-d and G-d of our ancestors, that the Temple be speedily rebuilt in our days, and grant us our share in Your Torah.” To this daily plea, Rav Kook shares with us the following: “Before we enter the inner sanctum of prayer, we connect to our Holy temple on the mountain in Jerusalem. ‘Let him direct his heart to the Holy of Holies.’ Our Rabbis taught: “If he was standing outside the Land of Israel, he should direct his heart to the Land of Israel; if he was standing in the Land of Israel, he should direct his heart to Jerusalem;if he was standing in Jerusalem, he should direct his heart to the Holy Temple; if he is standing in the Holy temple, he should direct his heart to the Holy of Holies; if he was standing in the Holy of Holies, he should direct his heart to the Holy Ark; if he was standing behind the Holy Ark, he should envision himself as if he is standing before the Holy Ark. “Thus we find that one standing in the east, faces west; in the west, faces east; in the south, faces north; in the north, faces south. The result being that all Israel direct their heart to one place.” Further on we learn: “This is not merely a matter of which direction one must face during the Amidah prayer. Rather, a visualization is called for. In one’s mind’s eye, one must imagine that one is actually facing the Temple.”

With the above teachings centered around Jerusalem as prologue, we, with further study from this most precious siddur, will reach a greater appreciation of the role that Jerusalem plays as the centerpiece of our faith. will conclude this week’s essay with an excerpt from a recent essay in Commentary magazine by Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik of Yeshiva University, entitled, “The Builders and Founders of the City”: “The Jewish link to Jerusalem goes hand in hand with the mystery of Jewish eternity. … [T]he enduring, miraculous nature of Jews and their city is something many Americans have understood, and they have revered the Jewish link to Jerusalem long before the modern Jewish state was born. “In 1871, William Seward, Abraham Lincoln’s one-time secretary of state, journeyed on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. As his travelogue recounts, ‘our day in Jerusalem has been spent, as it ought to have been, among and with the Jews, who were the builders and founders of the city, and who cling

the closer to it for its disasters and desolation.’ “Seward spent several hours on a Friday afternoon at the Wailing Wall, admiringly observing the Jews who were ‘pouring out their lamentations over the fall of their beloved city, and praying for its restoration to the Lord, who promised, in giving its name, that he would “be there”.’ Upon departing at sunset, he encountered a rabbi who begged him to attend Kabbalat Shabbat evening prayers at the Churva synagogue, then the most magnificent Jewish house of worship in the Holy Land. Seward sat through the entire service, which concluded with a special Hebrew benediction. ‘The rabbi informed us,’ the travelogue reports, ‘that it was a prayer of gratitude for Seward’s visit to the Jews at Jerusalem.’ “This was nothing less than what Jewish law calls Hakkarat Ha-Tov — an expression of Jewish gratitude to any world leader who publically embraces the Jewish link to their eternal city.” Rabbi Soloveichik concludes his eloquent essay with the following observation: “This obligation of Hakkarat Ha-Tov binds Jews today. And that is why, whether one is a supporter or critic of the president, whether or not the State Department follows suit in adding ‘Israel’ to the passports of those born in Jerusalem, whether the future peace plan proposed by this administration will be worthy of consideration or not, this speech should be recognized by Jews as one of the most important, and profoundly American, speeches President Trump has given. “It will be remembered by an eternal people, a nation whose memory exceeds that of any other, a nation afflicted with so many enemies and too few friends, who are enjoined by G-d never, ever to forget.”

Rediscovering Miriam’s role in desert generation rAbbi dAvid etenGoff

efer Shemot introduces us to the illustrious triumvirate of Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam — three of our people’s greatest prophets. Moshe and Aharon’s contributions are universally recognized, since the Torah teaches us that they were the pivotal figures in bringing Yetziat Mitzraim to its celebrated fulfillment. Miriam’s role in this divine drama, however, was no less remarkable. The prophet Michah publicizes Miriam’s fundamental involvement in the Exodus when he declares: “For I [G-d] brought you up out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.” (6:4) Chazal expand upon Michah’s words, and emphasize Miriam’s unique contribution to the Generation of the Desert, with Rabbi Yossi, the son of Rabbi Yehudah, saying, “Three great leaders (parnassim tovim) arose on Israel’s behalf, and they were: Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam; and three wondrous gifts were given through them: the Well, the Clouds of Glory, and the Manna. The Well was in the merit of Miriam, the Clouds of Glory were in Aharon’s merit, and the Manna was because of Moshe.” (Talmud Bavli, Ta’anit 9a) How did Miriam rise to this level? Chazal teach that Miriam’s prophetic gifts were revealed during her youth. Rashi presents this concept in his commentary on Sefer Shemot 15:20, in the context of the Song of the Sea (Shirat Hayam): Miriam, the Prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand: When did she prophesy? When she was [known only as] Aaron’s sister, before Moses was born, she said, ‘My mother is destined to bear a son’ [who will save Israel].” (Talmud Bavli, Sotah 12b, 13a) Miriam’s prophecy was why Amram, Miriam’s father, remarried her mother, Yocheved. The Torah states: “A man of the house of Levi [Amram] went and married a daughter of Levi [Yocheved].” (Shemot 2:1) Rashi, on our verse, provides us with the following explanation: “[Prior to this time,] he [Amram] separated himself from her [divorced Yocheved] because of Pharaoh’s decree [to mur-

der all male Jewish babies]. This is the meaning of ‘went,’ that he followed [literally, he went after] his daughter’s advice. [Based upon her prophetic insight Miriam] declared: ‘Your decree is harsher than Pharaoh’s. Whereas Pharaoh issued a decree [only] against the males, you [issued a decree] against the females as well [for none will be born if everyone follows you and divorces their wives!]’ ” (Shemot 2:1) s a result of Miriam’s prophesy-based challenge to her father to guarantee the future of the Jewish people, Amram and Yocheved were reunited and Moshe was born. It seems that Miriam understood Moshe’s future role as leader better than anyone else. Therefore, she literally stood guard over him and ensured his physical and spiritual survival. As our parasha states: “[When] she [Yocheved] could no longer hide him [Moshe], she took [for] him a reed basket, smeared it with clay and pitch, placed the child into it, and put [it] into the marsh at the Nile’s edge. His sister stood from afar, to know what would be done to him. Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe, to the Nile, and her maidens were walking along the Nile, and she saw the basket in the midst of the marsh, and she sent her maidservant, and she took it. She opened [it], and she saw him, the child, and behold, he was a weeping lad, and she had compassion on him, and she said, ‘This is [one] of the children of the Hebrews.’ His sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and call for you a wet nurse from the Hebrew women, so that she shall nurse the child for you?’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Go!’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother.” (Shemot 2:3-8) The significance of Miriam’s actions in her encounter with Pharaoh’s daughter must not be underestimated. As we have already seen, Moshe would never have existed without Miriam. Moreover, as the above passage intimates, without Miriam’s divinely inspired intervention, Moshe would not have survived, either physically or spiritually, to become the leader of klal yisrael. This idea is proposed by my rebbi and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik:

“Miriam is responsible for the emergence of Moses as a leader and redeemer of his people. If not for her, he would never have been imbued with great passionate love for his poor brethren. She suggested to the princess that a Hebrew wet-nurse be employed for the infant, preventing Moses from disappearing in anonymity and ignorance.” (Family Redeemed: Essays on Family Relationships, page 118) s noted above, Miriam was a prophetess before Moshe was born. Chazal teach us, however, that after Moshe was born, prophecy was taken away from her and given to Moshe (Midrash Aggadah, Shemot 15:20). If this was the case, why did they so readily join her in singing Shirat Hayam at the Sea of Reeds? The answer is twofold. One answer is found in the Aramaic translation/explanation (targum) of Michah 6:4: “And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam;” herein the targum explains, “and Miriam to teach the women.” As the teacher of all Jewish women of her time, Miriam was the ba’alat hamesorah (the mistress of the Torah and its traditions). Little wonder, then, that the Jewish women followed her in giving fervent praise to Hashem for the wonders and miracles He performed at the Sea of Reeds. The Rav provides a second, quite novel, explanation as to why the women followed Miriam in singing Shirat Hayam: “Yetziat Mitzraim did not start with Moshe Rabbeinu. The consummation, the full realization, happened through Moshe, but the Jewish consciousness, the Jewish emunah, the faith in the promise of Hakadosh Baruch Hu [concerning the Redemption], was not just incidental. The people actually cultivated it — and sacrificed their lives — in order that this particular identity, this strange identity, should continue until the final fulfillment, which Hakadosh Baruch Hu spoke [of] to Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov.” (Unpublished public lecture on Parashat Shemot, Dec. 30, 1980) Who were these guarantors of this Jewish consciousness? Who were the spiritual leaders of our people in Egypt? None other than the Hebrew

‘If not for Miriam, perhaps, Yetziat Mitzraim would not have taken place.’

m’yaldot (midwives) Shifra and Puah, identified respectively by Chazal as Yocheved and Miriam. As Rav Soloveitchik so beautifully states: “The verse ‘Now it took place when the midwives feared G-d, that He made houses for them,’ (Shemot 1:21) means that the Almighty has turned over the leadership of the people in Mitzraim to the m’yaldot. V’ya’ash lehem batim (that He made houses for them) means that they became leaders. The m’yaldot were entrusted with the leadership and the authority to watch, to lead, and to teach the message in Mitzraim.” For the Rav, Miriam was the more significant of the two m’yaldot and the more important leader. In his view, when the Torah describes her as “the Prophetess,” it thereby teaches us the extraordinary role Miriam played regarding the Exodus: “If not for her, perhaps, Yetziat Mitzraim would not have taken place. … So basically, after the people left Mitzraim, the leader of the people was Moshe. Before they left from Mitzraim, when Moshe was yet in Midian, during his long sojourn in Midian, the leader of the people was Miriam Hanaviah [Miriam the Prophetess]. We are now able to truly appreciate Miriam’s role as a great prophetess, consummate educator and leader of our people in Egypt. As such, the entire nation honored and respected her. May Miriam’s Torah leadership and spiritual bravery once again serve as beacons of truth and light, and may they help bring the geulah shlaimah (the Final Redemption) soon and in our days. V’chane yihi ratzon.

Luach Fri Jan 5 • 18 Teves Parsha Shemos Candlelighting: 4:24 pm

Havdalah: 5:34 pm

Fri Jan 12 • 25 Teves Parsha Vaera Shabbos Mevarchim Candlelighting: 4:31 pm

Havdalah: 5:41 pm

Five Towns times from the White Shul

THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2018 • 18 Teves 5778

ALAn JAy Gerber

January 5, 2018 • 18 Teves 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

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A political chess game in Saudi Arabia Jeff Dunetz politics to go

ast week, Saudi Arabia hosted chess players from 70 countries who competed in the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship in Riyadh. It was an opportunity for Saudi Arabia to showcase the recent easing of its oppressive Sharia-based cultural laws. When the Kingdom signed a three-year contract to host the chess championship, they probably didn’t realize that doing so would put them between a rock and a hard place and tarnish the image of a more open kingdom. Ukrainian-born, world chess champion Anna Muzychuk refused to defend her title in Riyadh because, despite the recent loosening of the iron-fisted religious rule of Wahhabi Islam, the kingdom remains an oppressive environment for women. Her younger sister Mariya, a former world champion, joined Anna in skipping the event. While Saudi Arabia ended a ban on women driving and eased rules on gender segregation, the kingdom’s male guardianship system requires

women to have a male relative’s approval for decisions on such issues as education, employment, marriage and travel. And for the chess championship, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) negotiated what it called an “historic agreement,” convincing Saudi Arabia to relax its female dress code for tournament participants. But that did not go far enough for Muzychuk since the nation continues to oppress women, treating them as second-class citizens. “It was certainly quite difficult to take such a decision because I am a current world champion in these chess disciplines — rapid chess and blitz,” Anna Muzychuk told Reuters. “So if I do not participate in this tournament, I will lose both titles.” he Saudi chess repression goes beyond the kingdom’s treatment of women. They’ve also refused to allow entry to Israeli chess players. At first, they were refusing players from Qatar and Iran also, but FIDE negotiated for the Saudis to allow those countries to participate. FIDE did not attempt to convince the Saudis to allow Israeli players in, or tried but were unsuccessful. Either way they allowed to tournament to

continue despite the fact that the exclusion of the Israelis was against FIDE rules which state, “FIDE events (competitions, congresses, meetings) may be hosted only by Federations where free access is generally assured to representatives of all Federations.” Last Sunday, Moshe Shalev, the interim head of the Israel Chess Federation, told the Times of Israel “that the seven players had not been granted visas, despite indications last month that they would make history by being the first representatives of the Jewish state to publicly take part in an event hosted by the kingdom, which does not officially recognize the State of Israel.” Saudi Arabia should have known the tournament would be a political hot potato for them as soon as they agreed to host the tournament. While the monarchy and Israel have a behind the scenes alliance against Iran, and there were rumors that the heir apparent, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, visited Israel for talks in September, the Saudis probably realized that any public display of a loosening of tensions with Israel (especially while the government is easing religious restrictions) may

Saudi chess repression goes beyond women.

cause extremists to incite public rioting and a move to overthrow the crown. he spokesman for the Saudi Embassy in the U.S. tweeted on Tuesday, “Related to the purported politicization of the International Chess Tournament hosted by Riyadh: the Kingdom has allowed the participation of all citizens. The exception is whereby KSA has historically not had diplomatic ties with a specific country [Israel] — thus has maintained its policy” The contract between the Saudis and FIDE gives the kingdom the championship for two more years. If they are allowed to continue per the hosting per the contract, the Israeli Chess Federation has threatened to sue for the discriminatory treatment of their players. Saudi Arabian acceptance of hosting duties is a political blunder that’s put them in checkmate. They left themselves with a Hobson’s choice of hurting their reputation in the anti-Israel Muslim world by allowing the Israelis in their country, or hurting themselves in the world community if they didn’t. Part of Saudi Arabia’s status is based on the fact that the kingdom houses the holy city of Mecca and Medina, and thus the leader of the Sunni Muslim world. They made their decision to protect their status in the Muslim world, correctly realizing that despite their blow against international cooperation, other countries will still buy their oil.

Defining ‘occupied’ and semantic battle for peace Jonathan S. tobin

n a demonstration of how completely at odds his views are from those of the foreign policy establishment, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman reportedly asked the State Department to stop using the term “occupied territories” and instead refer to the “West Bank.” According to accounts that have filtered out of Foggy Bottom, the State Department said no. But we are also told that after pressure “from above”—i.e. President Donald Trump, the current boss of everyone at State as well as Friedman—the issue has yet to be decided. If this strikes you as a lot of bother about mere words, you’re wrong. These words are part of a high-stakes battle to determine the outcome of the debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For most observers, Friedman’s request demonstrated anew that he was a bad choice for ambassador since he has a record of support for the Jewish presence in the West Bank. But Friedman is correct that using the term “occupied” isn’t

neutral. It backs up the Palestinian narrative that Israelis are alien colonists in territories where only Arabs should have rights. Israel’s position is that the ultimate disposition of the West Bank or, to use the biblical as well as geographic term that was applied to the area before 1949, “Judea and Samaria,” is a matter of dispute in which both sides have a legitimate argument. To call the territories Judea and Samaria is also a political statement, just like “occupied territories,” that indicates siding with the idea that Israelis have a right to be there. But the use of words as weapons can lead to a muddle. “West Bank” is itself geographic nonsense. It is a relic of the illegal Jordanian occupation of this area as well as the Old City of Jerusalem from 1949 to 1967. At that time, the Hashemite kingdom had two “banks,” with an East—the area currently known as Jordan—as well as the West, which was taken by Israel during the Six-Day War. Although Gaza functions as an independent Palestinian Hamas terror state, and much of the territory as well as most of the Arab population of the West Bank is governed by the Palestinian Authority, the fact is Palestinians do consider

themselves “occupied” by Israel since it exercises security control over the area. Many Israelis also want to rid themselves of that burden, which brings their troops into contact with Palestinians in a way that further embitters both sides. nly a minority of Israelis supports the settlement movement that wishes to hold on to all of the West Bank forever. A majority of Israelis would probably embrace a two-state solution that would mean giving up many but not all of the settlements. But after the last 25 years, during which the Jewish state has repeatedly traded land and gotten more terror instead of peace, a cross-party consensus now exists that deems further withdrawals foolhardy until the Palestinians give up a political culture rooted in hatred and rejectionism. “Occupation” isn’t the only semantic battle. Critics of President Trump’s statement recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital dismissed it as mere words since the U.S. embassy isn’t being moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem anytime soon. Trump’s statement didn’t preclude a two state solution or a re-division of Jerusalem in order for

Palestinians must admit that their battle is lost.

part of it to serve as the Palestinians’ capital. Far from demonstrating U.S. favoritism to Israel, his was actually a neutral stance that acknowledged at least some of the city belongs to Israel. It is those who insist on “occupied” and in denying recognition of Jerusalem who are the ones showing favoritism, though not to Israel. PA leader Mahmoud Abbas responded to Trump by denying that Jews have rights over any of Jerusalem. Though at times Abbas has spoken in support for peace, this stand reaffirmed the steady stream of PA propaganda that denies the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders might be drawn. When push comes to shove, even Palestinian moderates still think of all of Israel, and not just the West Bank and Jerusalem, as “occupied” territory. That’s not just symbolism or semantics. That’s a prescription for endless conflict. Seen in that light, what Trump and Friedman have said doesn’t seem quite as outrageous as their detractors assert. Until the Palestinians are ready to concede that their century-old war on Zionism has been lost, the debate over whether the West Bank is disputed or occupied will be moot. As long as they think all land under Jewish control on either side of the 1967 lines is occupied, peace will remain a purely academic concept no matter which words are used.

Continued from page 1 came out on horseback and began to trample on demonstrators. Hospitals were prohibited from reporting the amount of casualties. Many of the demonstrators had been carted off to the notorious Evin Prison to be tortured and raped. Many have never been seen or heard from again. In the midst of all of this, freedom-loving dissidents throughout Iran were holding up signs saying “down with the dictatorship” and “Obama, where are you?” The leader of the free world was silent during the initial days of the protests, and when he finally did speak, President Obama’s words were, at best, muted. He said, “It is up to the Iranians to make decisions about who Iran’s leaders will be.” These people were looking towards the U.S. as the moral leader of the world, and one word from the president might have made a critical difference. One cannot help but contrast this to the words of President Donald Trump regarding the new anti-regime protests in Iran. On Sunday, he tweeted, “Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!” One has to marvel at the amazing courage of today’s demonstrators in Iran, who are able to protest despite the known brutality of the regime. Today’s Iranian protesters took to the streets because of government corruption, inflation and lack of economic opportunity. They are puzzled that their regime received $150 billion in unfrozen assets due to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, yet none of this has trickled down to the common man. They are probably disgusted that most of the key sectors of the economy are controlled by the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. We have no way of confirming this, but we are hopeful that the demonstrators might also be motivated by disgust over the regime’s foreign policy; its aggressive behavior and meddling in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Gaza; and its support for terrorist entities such as Hamas and Hezbollah. We know that at the time I am writing this, the demonstrations have spread to seven cities, and that they are robust and impressive in size. There is a lot more, however, that we do not know. We do not know whether or not the regime will once again unleash its immense brutality against the demonstrators. We do not know whether or not these demonstrations might blossom into a genuine threat to the regime. What we do know is that most of Iran’s current population has been born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and that more than half of Iranians are younger than 35. Many of them despise the country’s oppressive and brutal theocracy, and would love to experience the beautiful taste of Western liberties. We hope that just as we used Radio Free Europe to overthrow the chokehold of the former Soviet Union, we are also using Voice of America in Farsi to support the Iranian demonstrators. We hope that the CIA is on the ground doing whatever it can to support the legitimate voice of the opposition. We hope that we are using cyber technology to enable the demonstrators to break through the obstacles that the mullahs are imposing on social media and other methods of communication. We hope that the Iranian regime knows that if the outcome is at all similar to the un-fortunate result in 2009, both Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. will not hesitate to come together and impose crippling sanctions against Iran for its human rights violations. We hope for the stability of the region and the world, but mostly for the Iranian people, that this odious regime can be overthrown. But in the meantime, we hope that there will be no more Nedas. The Endowment for Middle East Truth describes itself as a pro-Israel and pro-American think tank and policy institute in Washington.

Herod … Trump … Trumpeldor TEHILLA R. GOLDBERG

View from Central Park

s a gesture of gratitude to Trump being the first American president to acknowledge the reality of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Israel Katz, Israel’s minister of transport, announced the naming of a new train station in the Old City of Jerusalem after Donald Trump. People are up in arms. Memorializing Trump’s decision at the threshold of Judaism’s holiest site just feels wrong. The new name for the Kotel train stop would be everlastingly associated with Donald Trump? It’s insane, I thought to myself. Then … wait a second, I thought. The reality, or the irony, hit me. Herod’s Gate! Herod, who refurbished the Temple so extensively, is memorialized at Jerusalem’s holiest site. Then — the city of Caesaria. And Tiberias — all Roman leaders! Personally, I focus on the steps leading down to the Kotel, through the Old City, and the legend of Rabbi Judah Hanasi is what speaks to me as I enter this sacred space. But Israel is layered with contradictions, replete with political machinations through the centuries, and made up of complexities of all kinds. Time and again, we have held onto Israel through political choices or favors. Granted, there is the spiritual dimension; there is the hope of a perfect redemption. But until then, Israel’s existence is part and parcel of political reality. Donald Trump is part of the political reality. Even the Second Temple, though initially built due to permission from Persia’s King Cyprus, was politically intertwined.

he modern state of Israel itself came into existence due to a narrow vote of nations who supported her creation at the U.N. — Stalinist Russia among them. The bottom line is, if we had waited for a more refined society like Great Britain, for example, to lend its approval to the UN Partition Plan that was the seed of Israel’s birth, Israel wouldn’t exist today. Infamously, Britain abstained. I have taken a special pleasure in walking and knowing the interwoven streets and alleyways of beloved Jerusalem … mapping my way through neighborhoods rooted in names of holy sages or famous Jewish historical or literary figures. But also rooted in the names of politicians. It’s complicated. Jerusalem street names ought to reflect her Jerusalem-ness. Not far from where I lived in Jerusalem was a Trumpeldor Street, named for Joseph Trumpeldor, a Palestinian Jew who fought for Britain in the “Zionist Mule Corps” during WWI and then died defending Tel Hai, in Israel. So there’s that precedent to the word “Trump” if not the person. A street name constructed from the word Trump would not be a first for an Israeli Street. And oddly enough, the carpool and hitchhiking pick up stops in Israel are knows as trempiadas, so the corny word play about the Trumpiada has been making the rounds, too. Of course the issue here is the person, not the name. You don’t think of an American president prominently named at the Kotel. It just feels inappropriate, not in the spirit of the place. Even Abraham Lincoln St. (with its famous phonetic Hebrew spelling leading to its mispronunciation, Ling Colon; another Jerusalem street story for another time) is tucked away in Jerusalem’s Rechavia neighborhood. The real issue with this declaration is its impulsiveness. Nothing formal on the ground has been exe-

cuted. Even if you feel that for symbolic reasons, as well as for historical integrity, moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is essential, wouldn’t it be a good idea to wait and see how Trump’s declaration plays out before naming a train stop for him smack in the holiest part of the city? haven’t been in Israel for a while, so I am not up to date on all the new train stops. But the way so many responded, I just figured this was a new Old City stop on the route. Which I was surprised by, because how on earth can the municipality excavate for a train stop in the Old City, the center of archaeological digs and treasures? Aren’t there endless laws and stipulations about building anything in the Old City of Jerusalem, let alone a train station? Then I happened on an article that said something like, the expected date of completion for the train station will be in about four years. A-ha! If this train station that everyone is having a meltdown over will be built in four years, then by Israeli real estate definition this actually means at least double, so eight years. By then, who knows what will be with Trump, with the U.S. embassy, and with the train station? But if somehow the US Embassy moves to Jerusalem without triggering bloodshed and peace is in fact achieved, then the Messiah will truly have arrived and the train station can be named for him. Similarly, if in fact history will prove that Donald Trump’s declaration about Jerusalem was a turning point for good in the Middle East, he will then have indeed become a part of Jerusalem’s story, and his name can grace an entire piazza in Jerusalem. But until such time, while I appreciate Israel’s desire to express gratitude, please, let’s stick with Rechov Trumpeldor. Copyright Intermountain Jewish News

Schumer is no friend of Israel Commentary by Rafi Metz In last week’s edition of The Jewish Star, Ezra Friedlander penned an article entitled, “Let’s stop shooting blanks at Senator Schumer.” Friedlander defends Senator Schumer from his critics who chided him for not expressing his written consent to the commutation of Shalom Rubashkin’s preposterous 27-year jail sentence (considering that Schumer is Jewish, whereas his nonJewish colleague Rep. Nancy Pelosi did indeed express her own written consent). Friedlander correctly asserts that the criticism of Schumer in this regard is unwarranted, since it’s fairly evident that Pelosi corresponds with Schumer on a host of important issues and it’s reasonable to argue that they corresponded on this issue as well, and that Schumer conveyed his approval to her written consent. The commutation of Rubashkin’s sentence seems to have been a non-partisan issue, having the support of both Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate. It is therefore reasonable to assume, again, that Schumer did in fact support Rubashkin’s sentence commutation, even if he didn’t communicate his position explicitly. But I dissent to the second part of Friedlander’s analysis, where his article metamorphoses into a quasi resume of Schumer’s Jewish and Israel credentials, apparently seeking to point out that of course Schumer is a friend of the Jewish community and a staunch supporter of Israel. I believe that this assumption is false. While Schumer presents himself as one of the most ardent supporters of Israel, it just a façade. This should not be construed as arguing that Schumer is necessarily anti-Israel – far from it. But since he’s senator of the most populous Jewish state in the nation, he’s simply acting like the cunning and deceptive politician that many on the political Right have suspected him of being for a quite a while. In other words, he isn’t necessarily anti-Israel — it’s that issues relating to Is-

Senator Charles Schumer speaks at the swearing in of Town of Hempstead Supervisor Laura Gillen on Monday. Berthoud Donovan

rael aren’t as important to him as they may seem. If you think that this is pure speculation and not rooted in fact, the last few years provide the necessary evidence for the case I am now arguing. It is by now common knowledge that Schumer voted against the notorious Iran Deal that former President Obama signed into law. Friedlander, not surprisingly, uses that as at least partial evidence for the case that Schumer is a proud supporter of Israel. The fact is, however, that while it is true Schumer did vote against the measure, he had no qualms about his Democratic colleagues voting for it, and he knew the Iran Deal would pass through Congress without his vote. According to a report in Politico (Oct. 11, 2015) by Josh Bresnahan, while many Democrats reached out to the New York Senator re-

garding the Iran Deal, he exerted no effort to convince them to vote against the measure. Bresnahan wrote that “with liberal groups furious over his opposition to the Iran nuclear deal, Sen. Chuck Schumer has been quietly reaching out to dozens of his colleagues to explain his decision and assure them he would not be whipping opposition to the deal, according to Democratic senators and aides.” This was purely a political maneuver from a very politically savvy politician. Schumer could maintain the façade of a proud Israel supporter by publicly condemning the deal, while simultaneously convincing his Democratic colleagues to vote for it, so as not to alienate himself from the more leftist and progressive wing of his party. Now if the above analysis wasn’t adequate to convince you that Schumer puts party and his opposition to Trump over country, then consider that in October 2017 – just three months ago – after President Trump announced his decision to nix the Iran Deal, Schumer then disconcertingly reversed himself, and now supports the deal. The reason is obvious. Jonathan Tobin explained it in the Federalist on Oct. 19 (“President Trump Is Right: Chuck Schumer Is A Hypocrite On Iran”). Tobin wrote: “This means that, although he still portrays himself as a defender of a Jewish state which is marked for extermination by Tehran, Schumer thinks bowing to the demands of the resistance is a smarter play than cooperating with the GOP. Even if that cooperation could end the sunset provisions in the JCOPA, and ensure that an Iran that has been enriched and empowered by the pact gives up its support for terrorism and an ominous missile-building program. … Schumer is signaling that Democrats regard opposing Trump as far more important than worrying about Tehran’s quest for regional hegemony, or its eventual acquisition of a bomb. Seen in that light, Trump’s accusation barely scratches the surface of Schumer’s hypocrisy.” Rafi Metz is a resident of Far Rockaway

THE JEWISH STAR January 5, 2018 • 18 Teves 5778

Iran…

The JEWISH STAR

CAlendar of Events

Send your events to Calendar@TheJewishStar.com • Deadline noon Friday • Compiled by Zachary Schechter Thursday January 4

Parsha Shiur: [Weekly] Join Michal Horowitz at the YI of Woodmere for a special shiur on the parsha. 9:30 am. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950. Iyun Tefilah: [Weekly] Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum at the Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst. 9:45 am. 8 Spruce St, Cedarhurst. Learn Maseches Brachos: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Eliyahu Wolf at the YI of Woodmere for a shiur on Maseches Brachos. 5:15 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950. Halacha Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Yoni Levin at Aish Kodesh for a halacha shiur. 9:30 pm. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Friday January 5

Erev Shabbos Kollel: [Weekly] Eruv Shabbos Kollel starting with 6 am Chassidus shiur with Rav Moshe Weinberger and concluding with 9 am Chevrusah Learning session with Rabbi Yoni Levin. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Saturday January 6

Couples Event: Emet Outreach presents “His Marriage, Her Marriage: Finally Understanding Your Spouse’s Reality” with Rabbi Bentzion Shafier. $35 per couple with RSVP by Jan 4th, $45 per couple at the door. 7:30 pm. 66-35 108th St, Queens. 718-820-9010. Agudath Israel 25th Anniversary Melava Malka: Join the congregation of Agudath Israel of West Lawrence for a special melava Malka honoring Mrainu Horav Moshe and Rebbitzen Brown with guest speaker Rabbi Moshe Weinberger. $360 couvert per couple. 8:15 pm. 631 Lanett Ave, Far Rockaway. Aiwl@aiwl.org. Mordechai Shapiro Concert: YI of Long

Beach and the Robert Chiger Scholarship Fund present Mordechai Shapiro at the Long Beach Hotel.. $30. 8: 30 pm. 405 East Broadway. 516-431-9715.

Sunday January 7

Timely Torah: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Ya’akov Trump, assistant rabbi of the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, for a shiur on relevant Halachic and philosophical topics related to Parsha Moadim and contemporary issues. Coffee and pastries. 8 am. 8 Spruce St, Cedarhurst. Learning Program: [Weekly] At Aish Kodesh led by Rav Moshe Weinberger following 8:15 Shacharis including 9 am breakfast and shiurim on subjects such as halacha, gemara and divrei chizuk. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere. Gemara Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Moshe Sokoloff at the YI of Woodmere for a gemara shiu.r 9:15 am. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950. Torah 4 Teens: [Weekly] Yeshiva program for high-school age boys & young adults with Rabbi Matis Friedman. 9:15 am-12:30 pm. 410 Hungry Harbor Rd, Valley Stream. Torah4teens5T@ gmail.com. CPR Courses: HAFTR will be holding CPR courses. $65 for American Heart Association Certification, $40 for non-certification. 10 am. 389 Central Ave, Lawrence. Denim And Diamonds: Join Kulanu for Denim and Diamonds, a gala to support Kulanu’s Scholarship Fun and Adult Service Programs. 5 pm. 140 Central Ave, Lawrence. Rachael@kulanukids.org.

Monday January 8

Women’s Shiur: [Weekly] Dr. Anette Labovitz’s women shiur will continue at Aish Kodesh. 10 am. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Jumpstart your career! • 6 Tamuz, 5777

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Star the loss, By The Jewish to remember Cedarhurst pausedmiracles of 9/11, at the the n on Sunday. the heroism, and commemoratio village’s annual Rabbi Shay Schachter of WoodIn his invocation, of the Young Israel the Master and (top right photo) pray that G-d, all the strength mere said, “we world, grant us Creator of the to stand firm together against of and the fortitude of extremism, of bigotry, all forms of terror, and of all evil that can be hatred, of racism, forms in our world.” who found in different obligation to thosenever solemn a have “We 11th to injured on Sept. died or were said Mayor Benjamin but we also forget what happened,” “We saw evil, Weinstock (bottom). America.” of best survivor saw the (middle), a 9/11 78,” reAri Schonburn Fate of “Miracle and waitand author of that day. He was called his experiences on the 78th floor when elevators ing to change hit. Chief the first plane hurst Fire Department Lawrence-Cedar the playing of saluting during victims. David Campell, 9/11 names of local Taps, read the

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t was a minor news story when it broke in the summer of 2016. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced he was suing Great Britain over the Balfour Declaration, issued on Nov. 2, 1917. But as we observe the centennial of the document this week, it’s important to understand that although his lawsuit was a stunt, Abbas was serious. More than that, the symbolism of his See Tobin on page 22

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or the Palestinians, the year zero is not 1948, when the state of Israel came into being, but 1917, when Great Britain issued, on Nov. 2, the Balfour Declaration—expressing support for the establishment of a “Jewish national home” in Palestine. So central is the Balfour Declaration to Palestinian political identity that the “Zionist invasion” is officially deemed to have begun in 1917—not in 1882, when the first trickle of Jewish pioneers from Russia began arriving, nor in 1897, when the Zionist movement held its first congress in Basel, nor in the late 1920s, when thousands of German Jews fleeing the rise of Nazism chose to go to Palestine. The year 1917 is the critical date because that is when, as an anti-Zionist might say, the Zionist hand slipped effortlessly into the British imperial glove. It is a neat, simple historical proposition upon which the entire Palestinian version of events rests: an empire came to our land and gave it to foreigners, we were dispossessed, and for five generations now, we have continued to resist. Moreover, it is given official sanction in the Palestine National Covenant of 1968, in which article 6 defines Jews who “were living permanently in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion” as “Palestinians”—an invasion that is dated as 1917 in the covenants’ notes. As the Balfour Declaration’s centenary approached, this theme is much in evidence. There is now a dedicated Balfour Apology See Cohen on page 22

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Corbyn boycotts B’four event

Britain Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn— who in 2009 called Hezbollah and Hamas his “friends” — said he would not attend a dinner commemorating the centennial of the Balfour Declaration. Prime Minister Theresa May she would attend “with pride” and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu would be her guest. “We are proud of the role we played in the creation of the State of Israel and we will certainly mark the centenary with pride,” May said. “I am also pleased that good trade relations and other relations that we have with Israel we are building on and enhancing.”

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Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, and then the wildfires in northern California. Polizer recalls that he was wrapping ing search and rescue, purifying water, up a visit to IsraAID’s new American providing emergency medical assistance headquarters in Palo Alto on Oct. 8 and and walking victims of trauma back to was on his way to a flight to Mexico to psychological health in dozens of disas- oversee operations after a devastating ter-hit countries. No 25 earthquake there when he got word of • Vol 16, But no season has been busier than the wildfires. “I literally had Luach page 19 9:15 • to do a Uthis past summer and fall, its co-CEO Yo- turn,” he said Havdalah this week in an interview 8:07 pm, tam Polizer said in an interview — and ting Candleligh at the Israeli embassy in Washington. Polizer spoke with the exhilaration of an executive whose team has come through a daunting challenge. “We’re the people who stay past the ‘aid festival’,” he said, grinning, describing the See IsraAID on page 5

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2017 • 1

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page 31

• Vol 16,

No 20

Israel’s 3,0 00

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Women’s Shiur: [Weekly] Rebbetzin Weinberger of Aish Kodesh will give a shiur on the “Midah of Seder in our Avodas Hashem.” 11 am. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

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wedding TheJew on the 70th Bonnie ishStar.c EpisStar reported survivors 93rd om ty News s and St. John’s The Jewish and Shoah The Newspape , the Far residents years ago Herald Communi Last March, Woodmere of Jack Rybsztajn’ Bessen, closed five Rockaway Peninsula y of r of our Orthodox in patients Hospital the By Jeffrey communit On the occasion anniversar hospital on percent jump Rybsztajn. his story continues. ies When Peninsula and Jack to get became the experienced a 35 million on July 12, center was desperatelocated. copal Hospital a $10.15 birthday medical Weintrob obtaining to help complete Jack Rybsztajnrelatives were which Rockaway y services. By Celia a few war ended, emergenc week celebrated nt of Health creating primary After the to Brussels, where cargo trains, during legal using its officials last Departme given on ld hospiSt. John’s New York State that will also include from Stuttgart daring voyages then ultimately sister-in-law s the The 111-year-o Turntwo grant from services renovationacross the street. and arrested, and their future to Brussels Through y at 275 Rockaway headed y center the couple emergenc in a building right for he was discovered . ambulator in Brussels, journey. They had dismay had left on page 14 care space an off-site sites on the peninsula residence the to their See St. John’s Cyla, who tal also operates and similar finally completed kosher restauJack’s sister they arrived. pike in Lawrence to meet s ate at a stating that a one day before wall the Rybsztajn Palestine Brussels, a placard on the looking for anyone While in this was they saw address, wrote to rant, where with a Brooklyn been Rybsztajn , who had survived. Mr. Jacobs, JN who Yechiel Rybsztajn containson of s, a package plus named RYBSZTA he is the afterward Brussels, man, saying nephew. Not long was received in Mr. Jacobs’ and a pair of tefillinto the United States. Rybsztajn ing a tallis g his travel for five years,” which in Belgium were so nice, papers authorizin Brussels “we stayed Poland. So However, gentile people of went through in Shaydels, the “The what we recalled. He mentioned s into their a relief after was such coming to America.” the Rybsztajn on page 7 who welcomed See Shoah we stalled Isaac. a well-to-do couple

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Video art

Timely Tanach: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Ya’akov Trump of the Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst for a shiur on Sefer Shoftim. 8 pm. 8 Spruce St, Cedarhurst. Chumash and Halacha Shiur: [Weekly] Shiur with Rabbi Yosef Richtman at Aish Kodesh. 8 pm. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere. Shiur and Tehillim Group: [Weekly] Join the women of YI of Woodmere at the home of Devorah Schochet. 9:15 pm. 559 Saddle Ridge Rd.

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son, great-grand holds his he holds his grandson, Jack Rybsztajn in inset below, father. Years earlier, is Isaac’s Marc, who

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Wednesday January 10

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Towns nowhere more than in the United States. 5777 • Five Tamuz, “The last few months have been un2017 • 20 believable,” he said, listing a succession • July 14, Parsha Pinchas of disasters that occupied local staff and Niveen Rizkalla working with IsraAID in Santa Rosa, Calif., in volunteers since August: Hurricane Harthe wake of deadly wildfires there. vey in Texas, Hurricane Irma in Florida,

SEE PAGE 27

Halacha Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Moshe Sokoloff at the YI of Woodmere for a halacha shiur. 8:40 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950. Gemara Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt at the YI of Woodmere for a gemara shiu. 9:15 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516295-0950.

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Yeshiva Ketana Annual Dinner: Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island will be holding its annual dinner at the Sands Atlanic Beach. 7 pm. 1395 Beech Street, Atlantic Beach. 516-791-2800. Seeing Things Clearly: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Shalom Yona Weis at Aish Kodesh for a shiur for women and high school girls titled “Seeing Things Clearly- Learning to View Our World and Our Lives Through Positive Lenses. 8:45 pm. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

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• June 30, 2017

How do you say “tradition” in Yiddish? The iconic musical “Fiddler in the Roof” — arguably the most Jewish Broadway show ever — will soon be produced in Yiddish by the National Yiddish Theater, according to The Wall Street Journal. Pictured: Danny Burstein on Broadway as Tevye 2015.

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The JEWISH

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Teach our childre n well 5 Towns conferenc e told: Deliver Tora with joy to h

Fidler’s returning, this time in Yiddish

Jewish History: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Evan Hoffman at the YI of Woodmere for a talk on Jewish History. 8:15 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950.

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