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THE JEWISH Jan. 22, 2016 • 12 Shevat 5776

Parshas Beshalach • Candlelighting 4:41 pm • Luach page 17

Vol 15, No. 4 • TheJewishStar.com

THE NEWSPAPER OF OUR ORTHODOX COMMUNITIES

Terror suspect found as Dafna is mourned

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Biz women network in Lawrence

By Celia Weintrob Seventy local women dined together last Wednesday, helping each other overcome business hurdles and hearing advice from the Aussie Gourmet.

The networking event, at Coffee Bar on Central Avenue in Lawrence, marked the ďŹ rst anniversary of the Five Towns/Far Rockaway chapter of Jewish Women Entrepreneurs.

Joy Glicker Lieber was named entrepreneur of the year for her accomplishments running the Bridal Secrets shop and Nip & Tuck alterations, at 415 Central Avenue in Cedarhurst.

Working with brides inspired her to create the Perfect Matches board game, now sold in Judaica stores around the world, to help newly engaged and married couples get to know each other better.

Lieber shared her top ten tips on how to make and keep a local business strong. First, she suggested, never give up. Second, take risks, leave no stone unturned. Third, ask for help, and network. Fourth, keep your eyes and ears open all the time. Fifth, have emunah, remember you are not in charge.

Continued on page 14

of the state for many years, Meir knew

By Efrat Forsher and Israel Hayom Following an intensive manhunt, how important a home is to those who do the Israel Police and the Shin Bet secu- not have one. She took in two foster chilrity agency on Tuesday apprehended the dren, as well as mothering four biological suspected Palestinian terrorist who mur- children. She is survived by her husband, dered Dafna Meir, an Israeli mother of six, in her home in Otniel on Sunday.

The suspect is a 16-yearold resident of one of the Palestinian villages in the area whose distant relative was reportedly killed while trying to carry out a terrorist attack two months ago. “The terrorist found a breach in the fence and that is how he entered the community and carried out the murder,� said the head of the Mount Hebron Regional Council, Yochai Damari. “I trust the au- ,Q FHQWHU WKH KXVEDQG DQG FKLOGUHQ RI 'DIQD 0HLU ORRN GRZQ DW KHU JUDYH GXULQJ KHU IXQHUDO LQ -HUXVDOHP Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 thorities to settle the score Nathan, and children Renana, 17, Akiva, with him to the fullest.�

On Monday, friends and family gath- 15, Noa, 11, Ahava, 10, and foster chilered in Otniel to pay their last respects to dren Yair, 6, and Yaniv, 4.

The funeral procession set out from Dafna Meir, the victim of the attack, who would tell people that life was as “good Otniel, where her close friends and husband eulogized her and wept while sayas honey.�

Having been a foster child and a ward Continued on page 20

Yeshiva Darchei Torah celebrates its 43rd year

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January 22, 2016 12 Shevat 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

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KOSHER BOOKWORM

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ith the sharp windy chill in the air there is an increasing wish for an early spring. Our religious tradition has long ago provided us with a meaningful expression of that wish in terms of ritual. We call it Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shevat, the 15th day of the month of Shevat, which arrives on Sunday night.

Rabbi Berel Wein in an essay entitled, â&#x20AC;&#x153;As the Season Turns,â&#x20AC;? had this to say: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shevat marks the turning point of the winter season. Even though there are many weeks of winter still ahead of us, there is no doubt that the season is turning. The days are becoming longer; the sun is higher and brighter in the sky and the ads for Pesach accommodations are more urgent and frenzied in tone. Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shevat is thus not only a new beginning for the fruits and trees of the Land of Israel, it is meant to signal a new beginning for us as individuals and as a people and a Jewish society.â&#x20AC;?

This astute observation serves to introduce a chapter dealing with Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shevat in a previously reviewed book entitled, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Seven Fruits of the Land of Israel,â&#x20AC;? by Chana Bracha Siegelbaum (Menorah Books, 2014).

The author devotes the ďŹ rst appendix of her work to a section called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shevat Gleanings,â&#x20AC;? in which she describes in clear and precise narrative her take on the various observances and historical narratives related to the holiday.

According to Siegelbaum, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shevat

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connection to the Land of Israel. Given current events today, an observance as well as recognition of our love for Eretz Yisrael is all the more timely, and warranted. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you seek to heighten the spirituality of your life by deepening your bond with Eretz Yisrael, the holiday of Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shevat assumes major importance. When blessing and enjoying the fruits during the Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shevat Seder, keep in mind that the fruits of the Land of Israel herald the redemption as we learn from the prophets: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;But you, mountains of Israel, shall give forth your branches

)25 <285 )857+(5 $77(17,21 This coming Thursday, 18 Shevat, marks the 30th yahrtzeit of the tragic passing of Dr. Judith Resnik and her fellow astronauts in the Challenger disaster. Resnikâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father, Meir, a talmid of the Chevron yeshiva, was a survivor of the Chevron massacre of 1929, and his daughter Judith, was a ďŹ rst cousin to Rav Shlomo Freifeld, ztâ&#x20AC;?l, founder of Shâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;or Yoshuv of Lawrence and Far Rockaway, a leading rabbi in the Baâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;al Teshuva and Kiruv Movement in our community all his life.

Her devotion to her Jewish faith brought much pride and nachas to all Jews. Her tragic death was felt by all, and inspired by their family rabbi, Rav Avraham Leibtag, ztâ&#x20AC;?l, I researched her lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story and collaborated in the writing of a book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Judith Resnik: Challenger Astronautâ&#x20AC;? (Dutton, 1990) together with Rose Blue and Joanne Bernstein.

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and yield your fruits to my people, Israel; for soon they will come.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Ezekiel 36:8) Based on this verse, the Talmud reveals that there is no more revealed sign of the End of Days than when the Land of Israel will produce fruits in abundance.â&#x20AC;? (Sanhedrin 98a) I conclude this segment with a further teaching by Rabbi Wein wherein he writes: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The relationship therefore of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel is precisely the same as that of the farmer to his orchard. â&#x20AC;Ś The Jewish people must invest their efforts and talent into the land of Israel in order to earn the right of permanent residence there.

In fact, this has been the story of the Jewish return over the past century and half. The attempt to permanently â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Plantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ourselves in the Holy Land is a continual and never-ending one.â&#x20AC;?

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Seder, which is somewhat similar to the Peasch Seder, was compiled by the students of the Holy Arizal. It is based primarily on the Kabbalistic work, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Chemdat HaYamim,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; later published separately under the title, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Pri Etz Hadar.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; The Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shevat Seder involves appreciating the fruits of the tree, particularly the Seven Species native to the Land of Israel. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Although the Pesach Seder is halacha, the Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shevat Seder is not obligatory.

Halachic sources do mention the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;minhagâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to enjoy an abundance of different fruits on Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shevat.â&#x20AC;?

In detailing what constitutes this unique ritual, the author cites various rituals based upon numerous varieties of haggadah texts, laws and order of blessings, and the selection of new fruits native to Eretz Yisrael.

Consider the following: â&#x20AC;&#x153;During the Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shevat Seder we have the opportunity to rectify the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge, the root of all eating disorders and sin, which corrupted the world and imbued us with the yetzer hara â&#x20AC;&#x201D; our ego.â&#x20AC;? This teaching is further elaborated upon in the teachings of Rav Tzakok HaKohen of Lublin in Pri Tzadik for Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shevat.

The author further elaborates upon this

THE JEWISH STAR January 22, 2016 12 Shevat 5776

Our Tu Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;shevat holiday heralds an early spring

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As The Jewish Star launches its Travel section, we’re publishing this story from the JNS.org archives, presenting some unexpected Jewish travel notes from years past. The Star will be covering both conventional and unconventional destinations in the weeks ahead (send your suggestions to Editor@ TheJewishStar.com), with an eye on the suitability of each location to an observant Jews. mong us Jews, it’s a common saying that there’s one of us everywhere.

These days, whether it’s the recently released Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier backpacking through India or South America, or those who run the Chabad house in Laos, the Jewish people make their presence known in nearly every nook and cranny of the world.

Throughout history, some Jews traveled to distant parts to escape persecution, others were explorers curious about the culture or science of new places, and some just ended up on strange shores completely by chance.

Here are some of the quirkiest historical cases of wandering Jews.

Isaac the Jew — In as far back as 797 AD, Charlemagne, the founder of the Carolingian empire who was later crowned Holy Roman Emperor, sent a man named Isaac the Jew to the Baghdad caliph Harun al-Rashid. In

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802, Isaac returned to Charlemagne’s court with an elephant as a gift to the king from the sultan.

Benjamin B. Jonah of Tudela — Sephardic Jew Benjamin B. Jonah of Tudela traveled in approximately 1160 to the Far East, about 100 years before Marco Polo.

The Hebrew account of his travels, Sefer haMassa’ot (Book of Travels), is one of the most important accounts of the Mediterranean world and Northeast Africa. It described the Jewish community in Rome under Pope Alexander III, holy places in the land of Israel and Jerusalem, and more. It is also an important historical document outlining the lives of medieval Jews.

Luis de Torres — In the 15th century, Sephardic Jew Luis de Torres worked as an interpreter who traveled with Christopher Columbus to Cuba. Torres and his fellow men were the first Europeans to witness the use of tobacco. Like Torres, many Spanish Jews of this period had converted to Christianity to escape persecution during the Spanish inquisition. Some continued secretly keeping the Jewish faith.

Christopher Columbus? — Regarding Columbus, the most famous explorer who “discovered” America, scholars have reContinued on page 3

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January 22, 2016 12 Shevat 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

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JUDY JOSZEF WHO’S IN THE KITCHEN Judy is off on a cruise, so we’re rerunning a “best of” column from a few years back when she didn’t get away.

It’s the last week in January and I’m here in New York. For as long as I can remember, during the yeshiva winter break, I’ve been away. Wait, I take that back, there was a time back in the ’90s when we stayed home and took day trips with the kids; it almost seemed like an experiment, to see if the children, years down the line, would have any longstanding psychological effects from having to actually remain at home.

So far, we all seem to have no symptoms, but we do have funny memories of vacations past.

One such memory was when Jerry and I, along with my daughter Jordana and her friend, were joining our friends on a cruise from Miami to the Caribbean. We were through customs and handed our room keys when Jerry said to me, “Isn’t it nice that we’re able to take along a friend for Jordana.” The second the words left his mouth and I saw a look of surprise on the agent’s face I knew we were in trouble. The agent explained that since she wasn’t my daughter and a minor (15), I would have to show an original permission or consent to travel letter from a parent.

Easier said than done, being that her mom was in New York. This was not going to be easy. Panic set in. We couldn’t board the

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ship and leave her in Miami, and the thought of Jordana stuck on a nine-day cruise without a friend was a frightening thought in itself. I then began to beg, plead and, yes, cry to the agent, until she agreed to a faxed letter.

In the hour it took for all the paperwork to be faxed and processed, we got to see some of the 3,500 passengers board. Not sure what was scarier for the girls, having gone through the terror of almost missing the cruise or watching men in their 70s in Bermuda shorts and knee socks, women with silver blue hair and lots of kids below the age of 10. Thankfully, they found dozens of “cool” teens to hang out with.

At the first port of call, Jerry found a guide to take our group of 14 to visit the El Limon waterfalls. It included a luxury van to the site, horseback rides to the falls and a private guide. The teens weren’t interested and then one by one the adults decided we wanted to head back to the ship and lounge at the pool. Jerry decided to take the tour and we warned him that if he missed the 4:30 set sail time he would have to meet the ship at the next destination.

I waited with baited breath for Jerry to return. At 4:27 pm, he staggered onto the ship

natives (witch doctors) served the boy stew.

Jerry nervously hoped he wouldn’t find any shrunken heads.

Jerry made it down to the waterfalls, and then went on to hike up through dangerously steep terrain with no handrails for an exquisite view that only those on foot can get to (Jerry took “on foot” literally, as he was, unfortunately, essentially barefoot while the few others who joined him to the top were clad in hiking boots). Lesson to be learned?

Only those in the best shape and not faint of heart should let Jerry pick the excursions when cruising.

Those of you not on a cruise this year, here is a recipe for bread pudding from the Holland America cruise line. No packing, flying, expenses or safety drills.

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just as the doors were about to close. He was barefoot, cut up on every exposed part of his body, but said he had an amazing time. “So glad I missed it,” I exclaimed. He went on to tell about an adventure that could only happen to him.

Being that he was only one person (and I had all the money and he only had about $15 on him) the guide said he could give him a guide (13 year old boy), who spoke a little bit of English (none whatsoever), and he would have to hike instead of ride on a donkey or horse. Within the first five minutes, his crocks were ripped apart on the “trail” that was full of boulders, thick clay mud and sharp rocks, but he trekked on. At one point the guide pointed to his stomach and rubbed it; he was hungry. They hiked through a primordial jungle, Tarzan and his guide, to what looked like a primitive hut where the

Ingredients: 1 quart milk 6 eggs, beaten 3 egg yolks, beaten 6 oz sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1-1/2 lbs day-old bread 3 oz butter, melted 4 oz raisins 15 ovenproof ramekins, sprayed with Pam Directions: • To make the custard, combine milk, eggs, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla; mix well.

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• Combine custard, bread and raisins; fill ramekins.

• Bake in a water bath in a 325 degree oven for 45 minutes or until custard is set.

It’s delicious served as is or you can add a scoop of your favorite ice cream.

THE JEWISH STAR January 22, 2016 12 Shevat 5776

Yeshiva break: Ship to shore, proof’s in pudding

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January 22, 2016 12 Shevat 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

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The humiliation of America BEN COHEN VIEWPOINT

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o numerous were the omissions, distortions, and flights of extraordinary fancy in President Obama’s Jan. 12 State of the Union address that you’d be hard-pressed to pick the most egregious passage. For what it’s worth, then, I offer my personal selection.

“On issues of global concern, we will mobilize the world to work with us, and make sure other countries pull their own weight,” the president said. “That’s our approach to conflicts like Syria, where we’re partnering with local forces and leading international efforts to help that broken society pursue a lasting peace.”

I was dumbfounded by the notion that Syria is even in a position to “pursue a lasting peace.” With the civil war entering its fifth year, Syria no longer exists as a unified country; that half of its population of 11 million has either been killed or forced to flee is a gruesome testament to that fact and to the unmitigated failure of our policy.

The Iranian and Russian-backed regime of Bashar al-Assad didn’t merit a mention in Obama’s remarks, perhaps because doing so would have reminded the president’s audience that Tehran and Moscow are calling the shots in Syria. Assad’s continued survival is largely down to Obama’s refusal to solidify his vague commitment to a future for Syria without the dictator in place. And while Obama would have us believe that there is no long-term future for Assad, the Russians and the Iranians have put boots on the ground for the express purpose of ensuring that he does have one.

Which brings me to the siege of Madaya, a town to the north of Damascus that was once a winter resort. For over a year, Madaya has been an open-air concentration camp. In early January, photos emerged of some of its 40,000 starving and emaciated residents, who have subsisted on such delicacies as stray dogs and boiled leaves for several months now. There was something of an outcry over these images, enough to persuade the Syrian regime to allow a U.N. aid convoy entry into the town. But its underlying strategy, using the denial of food and medical assistance as a weapon of war, has not changed.

Responsibility for this crime against humanity lies squarely with Assad’s forces and their allies from Hezbollah, the Lebanese Islamist terror group that is also heavily supported by Iran, and not with Islamic State. And

if the mockery of Madaya’s plight by Assad’s supporters on social media is anything to go by, it is a crime this brutal and vicious regime is extremely proud of. n Facebook and Twitter, Assad loyalists have posted photographs of sumptuous banquets — huge plates of kebabs, grilled fish, salads, desserts, and the like — “in solidarity with the siege of Madaya.” As the blog Beirut Syndrome pointed out, some of these people have fallen for the regime’s propaganda that the siege is a myth. Others, however, are positively rejoicing at the suffering of Madaya’s inhabitants, and are using the images of food for their amusement.

Take, for example, Jihad Zahri, a cameraman with Lebanon’s Al Jadeed TV, who posed for a selfie in front of his well-stocked refrigerator. Or Charbel Khalil, a Lebanese TV producer, who posted an image of starving Somalis on Facebook with the caption, “The Mayor of besieged Madaya and some members of the town council.” (Because, of course, if someone is starving, then they must be from Africa — get it?) These two specimens were among dozens of similar posts.

The point here is not so much the moral sewer these online shenanigans represent. One reasonably expects citizens of a civilized society like ours to recognize cruelty when they see it. Rather, it is the fact that Western policy has enabled this kind of behavior. Our collapse in the face of these war crimes simply encourages the dehumanizing rhetoric that Madaya’s people have been subjected to.

That it has now reached the level of gloating is not an aberration, but a natural outgrowth of the Syria policy that the White House has pursued — indeed, Madaya would very likely have been spared the siege had Obama made good on his 2013 threat to bomb Assad’s forces following their deployment of chemical weapons against their own population.

For that reason, any talk from Obama about healing Syria’s broken society is simply nauseating. The president’s sole imperative is

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to keep the nuclear deal with Iran alive, and he will not even look at a policy that might undermine this critical component of his legacy.

That is why Assad, Hezbollah, and their Iranian backers will carry on, getting away with these monstrous atrocities in Syria. It is why Islamic State has been able to exploit Sunni Arab resentment against the ruling Alawite minority to deadly effect.

It is also why the Iranian regime can seize U.S. naval personnel, parade them before news cameras in violation of the Geneva Convention, and then secure the gratitude of our own secretary of state, John Kerry, for finally releasing them. And it is why, when Obama makes the fatuous claim that the “people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead — they call us,” America’s adversaries laugh as heartily and cynically as those who gain pleasure from the suffering of Madaya.

There is an alternative, as there always has been: working for the elimination of the Assad regime and Islamic State. Make that point to White House officials, and you will encounter a patronizing grin followed by an explanation as to why we can’t be the world’s policeman, why we can’t afford to antagonize Russia and Iran, and why the threat to our own security from the Middle East has been grotesquely exaggerated by folks who don’t realize that the real challenge is climate change.

Excuse follows excuse in order to camouflage America’s international humiliation. But make no mistake: we have been humiliated, and Obama’s successor will have to forge a foreign policy from this point of departure.

The ‘get away with it’ factor TEHILLA R. GOLDBERG VIEW FROM CENTRAL PARK

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ith the recent article in the New York Times and the consequent rise in public awareness about the abuses of Marc (Mordechai) Gafni, and about the effort to marginalize or eliminate him from public life, I am wondering about leadership, why some leaders’ egregious errors are overlooked while other leaders, despite their disturbing ways, remain untarnished.

Not to glibly put Gafni and his abuses in the category of “well, we’re all flawed human beings,” why are the flaws of certain people perceived one way, while the legacy of others, regardless of their behavior, is bequeathed with dignity and regard?

This week we celebrated Martin Luther

King Jr. Day. A gifted minister, a man who inspired millions, who changed a nation, who at times spoke with the eerie voice of a prophet — he was a serial adulterer. What makes the public look away from the wrongs of one to the point of embracing his legacy, while shunning another?

Bill Clinton, president of the free world and still a force to be reckoned with, was sleazy! Yet somehow the public forgave. The same with Meir Kahane, an alleged adulterer, yet in certain circles — whether you agree or disagree with him politically — his teachings resonate in a community that would normally, unanimously, shun adultery. Why is he is embraced?

Although allegations swirled about Rabbi Freundel’s sketchy behavior, until he was literally caught red-handed in his mikveh scandal, it was overlooked. Why? Of course, there are so many more examples, from JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. on.

What is it about certain leaders whose be-

havior does not warrant their legacies being honored, yet they are? What is the “get away with it” factor that a public is responsive to?

Lehavdil, lehavdil, I am not comparing! But on some level this discussion recalls the Biblical David and Bathsheba scene. David takes a woman he sees bathing on a rooftop, yet the leadership remains his. When confronted by Natan the prophet, King David has the courage and integrity to admit his wrongdoing immediately.

King David overcomes this incident, including his orchestrated death of Bathsheba’s spouse, Uriah. I don’t mean to reduce the great King David to this one story, which upon deeper study reveals a wholly different narrative and understanding. I certainly don’t mean to link him to the above deviants. At the same time, the observation of human frailty and human vulnerability in leaders is an interesting one to contemplate, leading to the question of why some people’s legacies endure, while others’ do not.

Copyright 2015 Intermountain Jewish News

7

RABBI BINNY FREEDMAN THE HEART OF JERUSALEM

A

t 6:22 am on Oct. 23, 1983, a member of the Islamic Jihad got into his 19 ton yellow Mercedes Benz truck on an otherwise normal day, and headed for Beirut International airport, where the 24th Marine Amphibious unit was deployed.

The marines were expecting a water truck; instead, they got a truck full of explosives. The jihadist drove his truck into the Marine Barracks, killing 241 American servicemen, the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since World War II’s Battle of Iwo Jima. Sentries at the gate were under orders to keep their weapons at condition four (no magazine inserted and no rounds in the chamber), which made it difficult to respond quickly to the truck.

Only one sentry, LCpl Eddie DiFranco, was able to load and chamber a round.

However, by that time the truck was already crashing into the building’s entryway. The suicide bomber, an Iranian national named Ismail Ascari, detonated his explosives, which were later estimated to be equivalent to approximately 21,000 pounds of TNT. The force of the explosion collapsed the four-story building into rubble, crushing many inside.

On Feb. 7, 1984, as a result of this terrorist attack, President Reagan ordered the Marines to begin withdrawing from Lebanon; the withdrawal was completed on Feb. 26, 1984.

Following the U.S. lead, the rest of the (British, French and Italian) multinational force, was withdrawn by the end of February.

We should have seen it coming.

Ten years later, in February 1993, a different preaching the same terror, detonated another truck bomb below the North Tower of New York’s World Trade Center, murdering six people and injuring over 1,000. The attack was meant to bring down the North tower. Eight years later, on Sept 11, 2001, they succeeded, bringing down both towers and murdering close to 3,000 civilians.

We should have seen it coming.

On the same day in 1983, Less than ten minutes later, a similar attack occurred against the barracks of the French 3rd Company of Paratroopers, 6 km away in West Beirut. A truck exploded, bringing down the nine-story building and killing 58 French paratroopers. Many of the paratroopers had gathered on their balconies moments earlier to see what was happening at the airport. It was France’s worst military loss since the end of the Algerian War in 1962.

And now, 30 years later, over 100 civilians are dead, victims of yet another terrorist rampage in Paris last month. So what are we missing, and what is waiting for us in the years ahead. his week’s portion, Beshalach, witnesses the destruction of the ancient world’s mightiest empire. After ten plagues, Pharaoh cannot let go, pursuing the Jewish people out of Egypt and driving his army forward into the splitting sea, into what will be their destruction. At last, after 210 years of servitude, the Jewish people are free, and the empire which represented the ultimate evil at the time, which enslaved our people and murdered baby boys by throwing them into the Nile, was destroyed.

And yet, Devarim 23:8 enjoins us not to hate (abhor) an Egyptian, because we were strangers in their land! What is wrong with abhorring the descendants of such an evil people? Perhaps it would be better to be commanded to hate them, and never to forget what they did to us, lest the ugly head of evil rear its head again one day?

We are commanded to remember the day we left Egypt on many occasions, but there seems to be no emphasis on remembering the terrible evil the Egyptians perpetrated against our people.

Contrast this with what happens at the end of the portion (Shemot 17:8) when we are attacked by the Amalekite nation and go to war.

There (ibid. 17:14-16) we are told that no less than G-d Himself will destroy and erase even the memory of the Amalekites and we are apparently (ibid.

17:16) commanded to “wage a battle for Hashem” against Amalek forever! Indeed, 40 years later, on the eve of the Jewish people’s entry into the land of Israel, Moshe will remind the Jewish people (Devarim 25:17-19) to remember and not forget what the Amalekites did to us and to blot out their memory from under the heavens.

Why are we told to treat the Egyptian kindly and yet blot out the memory of the Amalekite?

After all, the Egyptians enslaved us for over 200 years, whereas Amalek fought one battle, on one day, against us in the desert.

Perhaps, as Rav Yonatan Sacks (in his Covenant and Conversation 5775) suggests, the difference is in what motivated these evil entities.

Pharaoh (Shemot 1:9) justifies his initial enslavement of the Jewish people by proclaiming that the “Israelites are becoming numerous and too strong for us.” In other words, they hated us and wanted to enslave us — for a reason. And what they did made sense; they utilized us for slave labor which, though evil, at least made sense. Even their killing of Jewish male infants was to prevent a supposed Astrological prediction that a Jewish messiah was being born, and hence there was no reason in the Egyptian eyes to murder the baby girls. But Amalek attacked us for no reason. y the end of WWII it was clear the Nazis had abandoned any logical pretense for destroying us. In the summer of 1944, when the German’s greatest challenge was supplying their front lines to stand up to the advancing Allied Forces, they were also diverting 80 percent of their rail assets to transport the 400,000 Jews left in Hungary to the death camps in Poland. It was madness — murdering the 6 million Jews meant destroying or exiling one of Western Europe’s strongest economic-base populations, along with hundreds of thousands of World War I veterans and vast amounts of genius and wealth. The correct decision, to put aside their hatred of us for a higher cause, could only happen if the reasoning for destroying us was outweighed by the reasoning for utilizing us. But that only works if there is a reason for hating us.

This was the fatal mistake many Jews made in the ghettos; it made no sense to murder such a large compliant labor force in the midst of a war, so they meekly followed orders assuming the best. They assumed the Nazis were logical and they could not think of a reason that would override the logical conclusion that it made more sense to keep them alive. They were not incorrect from a logical perspective; they were wrong because the Nazis’ hatred of us was not logical — Continued on page 18

THE JEWISH STAR January 22, 2016 12 Shevat 5776

We cannot find peace with illogical evil— it must be destroyed

Terrorist entities do not hate us for any good reason, they hate us because of who we are.

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Schneider heads $10M capital campaign at SNCH committed to ensuring that South Nassau provides the highest quality emergency medical services to the people and communities of the south shore of Nassau County,â&#x20AC;? added Joseph Fennessy, chairman of South Nassauâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s board of directors. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He has the undivided support and commitment of his fellow board members to achieve the goal of the campaign.â&#x20AC;?

Schneider, a local developer and owner of real estate, will help attract major donors and assist the hospitalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development ofďŹ ce with the planning and execution of fundraising strategies and initiatives. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is a great honor and privilege for me to serve South Nassau in this capacity,â&#x20AC;? said Schneider. â&#x20AC;&#x153;South Nassauâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emergency department â&#x20AC;Ś will beneďŹ t all the communities the hospital serves along the south shore â&#x20AC;&#x201D; from the Rockaways to the Massapequas. I am conďŹ dent we will be able to reach our goal.â&#x20AC;?

The expansion project will increase the emergency departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s square footage from

He also is as an elected member of the 16,000 to 30,000 square feet, increasing its overall size by 87 percent and giving it the board of trustees of Hewlett Bay Park Village necessary room to accommodate and serves on the Nassau Counin excess of 80,000 patient visits ty Police Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Center each year. It will also establish for Law Enforcement and Inteldedicated areas for behavioral ligence Advisory Board. He is a health, geriatric and pediatric member of the board of direcemergencies. tors of the Boca Raton Police Schneider is founder, presiFoundation in Florida. dent and chief executive of Joel Schneider assists with fundSchneider Construction Corp., raising efforts for the Make-AJoel Schneider Management Wish Foundation and United Corp., J. Schneider Group, Ltd Cerebral Palsy Association of (The Schneider Group), and JS Greater Suffolk County. From Restoration Corp. His ďŹ rms have 2012 through 2014, Schneider successfully completed dozens served as the co-chair of Sibs of projects, including helping to Place, a free therapeutic prorestore properties that were damgram of South Nassau Comaged during Hurricane Sandy. He munities Hospital that serves -RHO 6FKQHLGHU has more than 35 years of experichildren ages 5 to 17 who are ence in the commercial and residential real living with a sibling or a parent with cancer estate and construction industries. or another devastating illness.

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Schneider has been actively raising funds for the hospitalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emergency department expansion, which will nearly double the size of the department. The emergency department is neede due to local population growth and the closing of the Long Beach Medical Center facing a projected 80,000 visits a year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no one more qualiďŹ ed and committed to take on the task of campaign chair than Joel Schneider,â&#x20AC;? said Richard Murphy, president and CEO of SNCH. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since being named a member of the hospitalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s board of directors, Joel has been deeply

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South Nassau Communities Hospital Respite Room

A HAVEN FOR HOSPITAL PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES

SOUTH NASSAU AND ACHIEZER RECOGNIZE THE UNIQUE NEEDS OF THE LOCAL ORTHODOX JEWISH POPULATION AND ARE WORKING TOGETHER TO MAKE YOUR STAY MORE COMFORTABLE AND ENJOYABLE.

To highlight these efforts, we are pleased to provide the Kosher Pantry/Respite Room co-sponsored by South Nassau and Achiezer. This room offers a quiet haven for patients to relax, rejuvenate and enjoy a variety of kosher amenities provided exclusively for their use. Thanks to Gourmet Glatt, the pantry is fully stocked throughout the week and has hot meals for Shabbos and Yom Tov. And during the winter months (November-March), there is even a daily Mincha Minyan at 1:05 p.m. (Monday-Thursday).

For more information about the Respite Room or our other services, call 877-SOUTH-NASSAU, visit southnassau.org or call Achiezer at 516-791-4444.

South Nassau also offers a convenient Shabbos elevator, and comfortable overnight accommodations are available year-round at our kosher Shabbat Hospitality House, which is complete with beds, linen, durable kosher food items and a refrigerator. Electric Sabbath candles are available. Access to the Shabbat Hospitality House is arranged through South Nassau’s Spiritual Care Program.

When you find yourself in our hospital, visit the new Respite Room located on the Ground Floor G Wing adjacent to the Volunteer Office, and see for yourself why more and more Jewish families throughout the area are choosing South Nassau.

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We’re working with doctors, nurses and our entire hospital staff to raise awareness of the sensitivities and sensibilities of Orthodox Jews; and we are working closely with our Rabbinical consultants to anticipate our patients’ needs before they arise.

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By Celia Weintrob Frum Divorce, an organization created to heal the pain felt by children and parents of divorce, is hosting its ďŹ fth annual Soul Cycle Shabbos retreat on Feb. 12â&#x20AC;&#x201C;14. Dubbed the â&#x20AC;&#x153;weekend for the soul, mind and body,â&#x20AC;? the event will feature world-renowned speakers and shadchanim. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The most difďŹ cult time for divorced people is Shabbos and holidays,â&#x20AC;? said Benny Rogosnitzky, a founder of Frum Divorce and member of the organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s board. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have your kids on Shabbos, and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have an invitation out, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so lonely. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what led to our hosting our ďŹ rst Shabbos weekend ďŹ ve years ago. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a great bonding experience, where everyone leaves full of hope and inspiration.â&#x20AC;?

Speakers will focus on starting life again and getting past the struggle.

Dr. David Pelcovitz, noted speaker on education, parenting and child mental health, and author of the book â&#x20AC;&#x153;Balanced Parenting,â&#x20AC;? will discuss dating after divorce â&#x20AC;&#x201D; what is appropriate to discuss on a date, should you even bring the divorce up, or simply be two people enjoying an evening out? These and other life issues which divorced people frequently face will be covered.

Rabbi YY Rubinstein will speak about overcoming life challenges. Rabbi Rubenstein has passed through many difďŹ culties including the death of his wife and will also touch on what it was like to convert to Judaism and ďŹ nd oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s footing in the Orthodox world.

Rabbi Yissocher Frand will consider love and what G-d wants from us.

Faye Zakheim, PhD, will remind the group about how beautiful they are, physically and spiritually. â&#x20AC;&#x153;During Dr. Zakheimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sessions, the audience is always smiling,â&#x20AC;? Rogosnitzky said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She speaks about reaching your potential, how youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going places, how much everyone believes in you and your abilities.

She is extremely uplifting and inspirational.â&#x20AC;?

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Attendees will experience speed-meeting, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Simon Sayz,â&#x20AC;? Saturday night entertainment and kumzitz, and Modi the comedian. Davening will be led by Chaim Kiss.

The event takes place at a Renaissance Hotel in West Harrison, New York. Accommodations for singles, double occupancy, as well as for parents bringing one, two or three children are available. It will be attended by a diverse group of serious-minded frum Jews from communities throughout the New York region who are seeking a weekend among peers to feel rejuvenated. Divorcees who attend must have received or have given a Get, â&#x20AC;&#x153;without exception,â&#x20AC;? Rogosnitzky said.

The weekend is also open to those who have never been married but who would seriously consider marrying a divorcee, and those who are widowed.

Frum Divorce was initiated by Rogosnitzky, Fran Shulman, Debbie Rochlin and Naomi Klass Mauer, associate publisher of the Jewish Press who is known for a column that highlights the plight of the agunah. The original idea â&#x20AC;&#x153;was to host support groups and events for kids from broken families, so they feel normal,â&#x20AC;? Rogosnitzky said.

Divorce is a growing issue in the Orthodox community.The UJA-Federation of New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2011 Community Study found the divorce rate has increased by 22 percent since 2002 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and that it is increasingly a problem for the religiously observant. In Brooklyn, among Orthodox Jews, the study found the divorce rate rose by over 20 percent. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I give credit to the religious community, which has become more accepting of the situation and trends, â&#x20AC;&#x153; Rogosnitzky said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Initially they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to partner with us, but now, when we reach out for speakers, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve realized it has to be dealt with and addressed.â&#x20AC;?

For more information or a reservation, visit frumdivorce.org or email frumdivorce@ gmail.com.

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Biz women network in Lawrence… Bibi visits Continued from page 1 “Envision your goal from the very beginning,” was Lieber’s sixth point, “just like a diet.” Seventh, be honest, be kind, be nice.

Eighth, stay away from negative people and don’t obsess about the competition. Ninth, be trusting, but also be careful. Tenth, look for every opportunity for free publicity. “We pay for advertising and pray for publicity,” she quipped.

Attendees participated in “Business Brainstorming,” sitting at tables of six with ladies they did not already know, to ensure networking.

After brief introductions, each tablemate posed a problem that has been holding her back in business, and the others offered solutions based on their own business experiences.

Many of the challenges related to work/ family balance, getting a new business off the ground, adding or prioritizing between several businesses to produce additional income, finding investors, promoting a new product, and finding new clients.

During the dinner entree, attendees situated themselves at different tables, again with new tablemates, for another round of challenges and solutions.

Between courses, the women were entertained and educated by private chef, blogger and Nachum Segal Network host Naomi Nachman, who dished out recipes for business growth and offered best practices on how to treat customers and employees while building a brand.

Table for Two, Nachman’s program on NSN, airs weekly.

Throughout the year, the local Jewish Women Entrepreneurs chapter hosts an ar-

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Dr. Zev Carrey has joined Mount Sinai Doctors Long IslandFive Towns

For more information, visit TheJWE.org or email FTFR@TheJWE.com.

Last week’s program at the Coffee Bar featured a dairy meal planned and prepared by chef Albert Bijou.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday traveled to Otniel to visit the family of Dafna Meir, a mother of six who was stabbed to death in her home on Sunday.

“With a great strength of spirit … they are Zionists, patriots, humane, who lost a wonderful wife and mother,” Netanyahu said. “Everyone who sees Dafna’s picture is immediately impressed by the light emanating from it. Whoever hears about her and her contributions understands that she was a special person.

“The public gets a healthy feeling from the picture, from her story; they understand the uniqueness of this soul that was taken from us. I found the same spirit in the family, in Natan (Dafna’s husband) and the children.

They asked me only one thing—that we continue to lift up the Jewish people.”

Netanyahu also described how “boundless hatred” leads to incitement by the Palestinian Authority, the Islamic Movement in Israel, and Hamas.

“Whoever wants to see the truth about the roots of the conflict between us and the Palestinians should come to Otniel and see here a wonderful family that only wants coexistence and peace. truth.”

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday reacted to the murder in Otniel by stating that his government is “concerned over every drop of blood from any person,” and that “the [Palestinian] resistance will continue through peaceful means, and we will not call for anything else.”

—JNS.org

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ing, the rank of men in comparable fields.

Even if these numbers seem lower than they should be, one would be wise to look even just 15 or 20 years back—when less than half of Israeli women were working in steady jobs and the number of female executives was miniscule.

Some might assume that this transition required that women—and mothers in particular—lessen their commitment to family and Jewish values. I would argue, however, that pursuing a career can be as esteemed a Jewish value as education or child-rearing.

Within career development exists ideals such as building self-esteem, pursuing independence, obtaining a new skill set, and many other concepts that are connected to becoming a stronger person, and indeed, a better and more committed Jew. This mindset has become increasingly embraced within Israeli society—and hopefully Jewish society in general—over a period of no more than 10 years. The understanding has become that even while we as women must remain excellent mothers, and the welfare of our children remains paramount, this can and should go hand in hand with realizing our potential as career-seekers.

As such, take a look at the Israeli workplace today, and you will witness an encouraging picture in which women—including many women who by no means are sacrificing their religious observance and commitment—have positioned themselves at the highest levels. Corporate executives, factory managers, top-tier physicians and research-

ers, inventors, professors, journalists, security personnel—the list goes on and on. All these women have been able to find a way to achieve the heights of professional success while still managing the role of mother. Often, this entails a several-hour break later in the day, when the home-making role takes precedence, and then we return to our professional passions.

Admittedly, there is still some societal tension on these issues in Israel and elsewhere, and perhaps that tension is higher than the norm within the more religious and socially conservative elements of the Jewish community.

But the message that professional ambition does not necessarily require a family sacrifice needs to be reinforced. Rather, the message of the Jewish career woman in 2016 is to take pride in all aspects of our traditional and modern existence.

That ancient perception of the woman being “punished” by being positioned in the mother’s role must be adapted for a new reality, and indeed, we can rejoice in the fact that alongside the challenges of motherhood, we can proudly and ambitiously pursue the challenges of professional careers.

This is no longer a conflict, but instead the very realization of what it means to be a Jewish woman who embraces all the skills and talents that Hashem has given her.

Tzofia Hirshfeld is director of external relations for Israel’s Tzohar Rabbinical Organization, which recently hosted a conference focusing on the topic of “Mother at Work.”

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By Tzofia Hirshfeld, JNS.org When taking a look back at both Jewish history and Jewish tradition, one is able to witness remarkable changes not only in how our lives have changed on the practical level, but also how tradition has evolved to better match technological or social advancements.

Perhaps this understanding can be best appreciated when analyzing the changing role of the Jewish woman in her greater society— while still strictly adhering to halacha and norms of privacy and modesty.

Even more so, this trend can potentially be understood most remarkably when we look at modern Israeli society and how it has changed in a very short period of time.

The age-old traditional perspective on the Jewish woman offers a diminished role for the woman in relation to her male counterpart. This dates all the way back to Adam and Eve, when man was “awarded” with the role of the worker or the “breadwinner,” whereas the woman was conversely “punished” to bear the pains of childbirth and assume the responsibilities of a homemaker.

Over the generations, this dynamic created a situation in which the woman was subjugated into a lesser role in society, so that an inherent “inequality” existed between the genders.

It is therefore remarkable to look at Israeli society today. Some 70 percent of women in Israel are gainfully employed. And without entering into the debate over the wages of men and women, 30 percent of women are in management positions on par to, or exceed-

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January 22, 2016 12 Shevat 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

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RABBI AVI BILLET PARSHA OF THE WEEK

T

hey traveled from the Sea of Reeds, and they went out to the Shur Wilderness, and they walked for three days in the wilderness and they did not find water. And they came to Marah, and they were unable to drink water from Marah, for they were bitter. (15:22-23) Today we are going to ask two questions, leaving one unanswered, while learning a lesson from the second. First: Where was Yam Suf (the Sea of Reeds) and the splitting of the sea (note how it’s not a “crossing” of the sea)?

Second: Is this the three day journey of which Moshe spoke?

The first question is wrought with controversy. The Targum Yonatan notes the view that the sea split into 12 “lanes” to allow each tribe to go through at the same time. With 3 million people going through the sea, this would maximize the efficiency while minimizing the amount of time it would take to get to the other side of the sea-walls.

Ramban describes the Egyptian army’s drive to pursue as a shigaon (madness) because a people who had recently experienced 10 plagues should have surely noted the trap that running between walls of water would be.

Ibn Ezra notes the 12-lane opinion as he explains that they entered the sea and exited at the same location – the lanes were horseshoeshaped, allowing the Israelites to end up where they began. This notion is supported by the viewpoint of Chizkuni who says the only reason for going through the sea was for Pharaoh’s army to drown, but not to “get to the other side.”

Before 1869, there was no need to cross any waterway to get from Egypt to Sinai or Canaan.

Was the crossing in a lake – such as Timsah, or the Great Bitter Lake? Or was it in the Red Sea? And if the Red Sea, was it the Western side of Sinai, or the Eastern Sinai, to get them to the area of Midian, where the mountain on which Moshe encountered the Burning Bush was? (Google “red sea crossing at nuweiba” for an interesting theory, though their getting there in 3 to 6 days is problematic on account of logistics.)

In any case, we don’t know where the crossing was, so the possibilities abound.

What is the purpose of the three-day journey referenced here? Is it the three-day journey that Moshe had said his people would undertake? Is this a possibility, considering that once they left Egypt, and certainly after Pharaoh’s army was decimated, there never seemed to be any plan or reason to return to Egypt?

According to the Torah’s narrative — they went from Ramses to Sukkos (12:37), from Sukkos to Eisam (13:20), and then they turned back and encamped at Pi HaChiros (14:2) where they waited for Pharaoh’s army to arrive. Chizkuni explains “3-days” to refer to 3 stops (he skips Sukkos as a stop, and counts Marah as the third), which is most easily understood when we take Rabbenu Chananel’s interpretation that “3-days” refers to a the distance of a 3-day journey, which was really covered in 1 day.

It is hard to understand how all of this is so, as the first stops take place before the splitting of the sea, while Marah is afterwards. o matter how we understand the travels and distance of time, Rabbenu Chananel argues that they were really only without water for 1 day. People can’t survive 3 days without water, particularly children and pregnant

Leaps of faith and total overhauls of our lives don’t work. Every change must be deliberate, thought out.

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and nursing women (though read “The Indifferent Stars Above” for a different perspective on women surviving better than men because their bodies contain more water).

Many commentaries suggest that their walking 3 days and not finding water is a reference to their not finding Torah, based on the verse in Yeshayahu 55:1 which became the source for the halakha to not go three days without hearing the Torah read in the synagogue.

However, the fact that they could not find Torah after going through the sea is the first indication of a problem in their behavior.

They knew, as Moshe had always said, that their journey out of Egypt was meant to take 3-days, or be a 3-days distance away, to a place where they’d be worshiping G-d. And yet, as the Midrash Agadah and others note, Moshe had to prod them away from the sea because they were too busy plundering the riches of Egypt’s sunken army, as well as treasures from sunken ships that washed ashore. It seems that the wealth they took with them out of Egypt was not enough.

They had water in their vessels! They just couldn’t “find” water, because they were looking at the wrong priorities.

The Kli Yakar says, their inability to find water was “measure for measure” for their sin of plundering the riches of the sea. Water is compared to Torah, and they were looking for wealth, and not the Torah they were supposed to be desiring.

The same thing happened in Refidim – a name which comes from “Rafu Yedeihem” (their hands were lax about pursuing Torah) – and so there too they did not have water.

There is a certain element of faith which was necessary for the Israelites to achieve their

goals. They were tested, and they failed. Eventually they came around, they received the Torah, they had the holiest of experiences at the bottom of Sinai.

But the people had not been conditioned properly. It is hard to take people who know one way and to turn them into righteous tzadikkim overnight. A process is in order, a weaning, a teaching. Step by step. Little by little.

To improve ourselves as Jews, we have to learn the lesson that leaps of faith and total overhauls of our lives don’t work. Every change must be deliberate, thought out, and with a stepby-step approach to how to get to where I want to be. People who become baalei teshuva, and people who abandon religion altogether, might both suffer from this all-or-nothing approach.

They suffer, and if they have children, the children suffer too.

It is hard to know what is the right way. But the failure of the three days journey indicates that extremes are not the way to go..

Everyone needs to make a step-by-step plan, and allow for weeks, months, even years to slowly and gradually help you get to where you want to be, hopefully as a dedicated servant of G-d, on the trajectory to reaching His Glorious Throne.

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THE JEWISH STAR January 22, 2016 12 Shevat 5776

Cleansing our mitzrayim, but not by radical action

17

January 22, 2016 12 Shevat 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

18

No peace…

Continued from page 7 they hated us for who we are. Just like Amalek.

Hitler writes very clearly in Mein Kampf (it’s actually one of the few lucid points in the entire book) that he could never forgive us for introducing G-d into the world, and with it the idea of an objective right and wrong. Hitler’s dream of returning the world to its natural state of ‘might makes right’, and supremacy of the fittest who survive, could never exist side by side with the Jewish world of an objective right and wrong, where every human being is created in the image of G-d, and no one person is ever ‘better’ than another.

And this will never change; the Jewish people will never abandon its notion of an objective ethic, we will never stop believing in one objective right and wrong. In fact, the

Talmud expresses that “Whenever one does not show mercy to the created beings, it can be recognized that he is not from the seed of Abraham our patriarch” (Beitzah 32b).

So all Hitler could do was destroy us, and the only way to end that was to destroy Hitler. They hated us simply because we exist. You can fight causal hatred and evil by removing its cause; but you cannot fight pure evil, you can only destroy it.

One of the mistakes we are sometimes guilty of in the West, is to assign a rationale to hatred where none truly exists. The terrorist entities of the world: Hamas, ISIS, Hezbollah, Iran, and, yes, the Palestinian Authority, do not hate us for any good reason, they hate us because of who we are. That’s why whenever one reason is proven incorrect they come up with another, and it is the reason why, every time we find a solution for whatever we believe is the causal of their antagonism and hatred, a new one comes to the surface. Sadly, such hatred can never be resolved; it must be destroyed.

But this still leaves us with two possibilities: we can destroy the haters, or we can change the way they are educating their children. No one is born hating, hatred must be taught. Nazism had to (and still needs to) be destroyed, but once Germany was conquered and the next generation of German children was taught tolerance and love, things began to change.

And that is exactly what must be done today. It will not be easy and will not be quick, but we must find a way to educate the next generation of Arab and Muslim children to love and respect those with different perspectives and beliefs; it is the only to create a future that is better and brighter.

And as for Hamas, ISIS, Hezbollah, Iran, and all the other promulgators of hatred and violence for the sake of hatred and violence, perhaps it is time to understand what the Torah was sharing with us about Amalek thousands of years ago: there is no compromise with evil; it can only be destroyed.

Food for thought, from Jerusalem.

LEGAL NOTICE New York Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery State of New York Action Plan Amendment (APA) No. 12 to the Action Plan for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program Pursuant to Federal Register Notice FR-5696-N-11 When changes are made to the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery (GOSR) Programs that affect funding and/or eligibility, HUD requires that grantees create a substantial Action Plan Amendment that documents the proposed use of funds, and publish it for public input. HUD approval is also required for each major infrastructure Project. HUD approved the State’s initial Action Plan on April 25, 2013.

Action Plan Amendment 12 will address the following items: A. Proposed Allocation of Funds: Table updated to reflect the reallocation of funds between programs based on unmet needs and additional funding sources.

B. NY Rising Economic Development and Revitalization: The Small Business Grants allocation has decreased by $93.5 million.

This program is closed to applicants, and the decrease in the allocation accounts for revised Program data and unmet need analysis based on data of Program applicants. These funds have been reallocated to the NY Rising Homeowner Recovery, Condominium and Cooperative and Public Housing Assistance Programs as described in this amendment.

C. NY Rising Infrastructure Program: Additional sources of State and Federal funds for the Suffolk County Coastal Resiliency and Water Quality Improvement Initiative have been identified. Therefore, the allocation of CDBG-DR funds in the Action Plan is being reduced by $253 million and reallocated to the NY Rising Homeowner Recovery, Condominium and Cooperative, and Public Housing Assistance Programs as described in this amendment.

D. NY Rising Homeowner Recovery Program: The allocation to this program is being increased by $344,965,900 in order to address the budgetary and unmet needs of the Program.

E. NY Rising Condominium and Cooperative Program: The allocation to this program increases by $69 million to $75 million in order to address the budgetary and unmet needs of the Program.

F. NY Rising Public Housing Assistance Program: The amount reflected in the Proposed Allocation of Funds Table has been updated to reflect the commitment of $10 million previously made to the Public Housing Assistance Program and identified in the text of APA 8.

G. NY Rising Program Income: The Proposed Allocation of Funds Table has been updated to include an estimate of $100 million of Program Income anticipated

through the sale of Acquisition properties.

H. NY Rising Administration & Planning: Allocation increases by $30,034,100 to $220,844,100, which reflects the full 5% of New York State’s $4.4 billion Superstorm Sandy allocation to which the State is entitled under the terms of the March 5, 2013 Federal Register Notice. The Action Plan, amendments 1 through 11, and Action Plan Amendment No. 12, are available on the State’s website at http:// stormrecovery.ny.gov Copies of the Action Plan Amendment No. 12 are also are available without charge, to anyone requesting copies at info@stormrecovery.ny.gov or by calling the Recovery Hotline: 1-866-ASK-DHCR (866-275-3427). TTY: 212480-6062. Additionally it has been translated into Spanish, Russian and Chinese. Please take notice that the New York Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery (GOSR) will hold three (3) public hearings to give all interested persons an opportunity to present oral and written comments on Action Plan Amendment No. 12.

Public hearings will be held: Monday, January 25, 2016 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Suffolk County Legislature William J. Lindsay Complex William H. Rogers Bldg. #20 Rose Y. Caracappa Auditorium 725 Veterans Memorial Highway, Smithtown, NY 11787 Comments may also be submitted in writing at the public hearing, or via the website at http://stormrecovery. ny.gov, or by mail to the attention of The Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, ATTN: Public Comments, 64 Beaver Street, P.O. Box 230, New York, NY 10004, or for TTY at 212-480-6062. The public comment period for APA 12 will end on February 12, 2016 at 5:00 pm. Comments received after 5:00 pm on February 12, 2016 will not be considered.

The public hearings are accessible to people who are mobility impaired. Sign language interpreter services and/or other interpretation services will be provided upon advance request by contacting the Recovery Hotline: 1-866-ASK-DHCR (866-275-34276400 or email info@stormrecovery. ny.gov no later than three (3) days before the hearing for which the services are being requested. All public hearing dates, times and locations are subject to change due to inclement weather conditions. Information regarding any change in the hearing schedule will be posted at the above mentioned website at least two hours before the scheduled start time of the hearing. For more information about New York State’s storm recovery efforts and to download a copy of the State’s Action Plan, related amendments, or this current Amendment No. 12, please visit http://stormrecovery. ny.gov.

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memorable part of Thursday’s GOP debate was the exchange between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz about the Texas Senator’s statement that Trump had New York Values.

By lunchtime on Friday my twitter feed and email mail box was filled with notes asking if Ted Cruz’s statement about “New York” was meant as a slam at Jews. I can see where that would come from. After all, often people say nasty things about New York and/ or Miami as a veiled way of being being antiSemitic. But this is not true with Cruz.

The New York values exchange got the “Saturday Night Live” treatment over the weekend in a skit about the debate which ended with the Cruz character indicating that he used “New York Values” because he couldn’t say “liberal Jews.” The skit didn’t have the humor of some of the later parts of the show and their target was way off. Ted Cruz is the most pro-Jewish and pro-Israel candidate running in either party.

In the SNL skit, Cruz (played by Taran Killam) is asked to explain the NY Values statement. He answers,” I think most people know exactly what New York values are. And frankly, they are not the rest of the country’s values. Instead of celebrating Christmas, New Yorkers celebrate a pagan holiday called Festivus. Instead of watching American football, they challenge each other to (expletive deleted) contests. In New York people don’t

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say hi to their neighbors. They say “Hello, Newman.” When one of the moderators points out that the Texas senator is just describing “Seinfeld,” the fake Cruz responds by saying, “Believe me, if I could say ‘liberal Jews,’ I would.”

This slander of Cruz strikes at the very heart of the senator’s religious beliefs. For the Texas senator (like most evangelicals), the support of Jews and Israel is not a matter of politics, it’s a matter of faith.

As Peter Roff said in his Jan. 15 U.S. News and World Report column, “It is absolutely clear that Cruz was not speaking of Jews, Judaism or anything else having to do with the oldest of the Abrahamic religions. He was talking about liberals and liberalism of the kind that never, ever plays in Peoria.

“What he [Trump] does have is a liberal agenda, one that embraces abortion on de-

mand, the abolition of gun rights, higher taxes, contempt for the cops, controls on what people eat and drink, and the dumbing down of the city’s children in failing public school, just to name a few of the things on his list. These are the kinds of things Cruz meant when he referred to ‘New York values,’ values that are just too liberal for most of the nation to swallow.”

The truth is that from the moment he arrived in the senate, Cruz battled the President’s anti-Israel and anti-Semitic policies and, unlike Democratic Party supporters of Israel, many of them who are Jewish, Cruz battled Obama on Jews and Jewish issues very loudly and very publicly.

In September 2014 Ted Cruz delivered a keynote address to In Defense of Christians, an advocacy group aiming to bring attention to the plight of ancient Christian communities in the Middle East, and to protect the rights of other religious minority groups in the region.

Cruz began his remarks by discussing the group’s defense of Christians, Jews, and “people of good faith who are standing together against those who would persecute and murder those who dare to disagree with their religious teachings.” Those initial words were applauded.

But an uneasy quiet took over the crowd when Cruz began to speak of Muslim terrorist groups because the senator didn’t only mention ISIS and Al Qaeda, but added that “Hezbollah, Hamas, and their state sponsors like Syria and Iran are all engaged in a vicious genocidal campaign to destroy religious minorities in the Middle East.”

Cruz went on to explain, “Sometimes we are told not to lump these groups together,

but we have to understand their so-called nuances and differences. In 1948 Jews throughout the Middle East faced murder and extermination and fled to the nation of Israel. And today Christians have no better ally than the Jewish state.”

That’s when the boos began to break out.

The Texan responded to the boos with, “Let me say this: those who hate Israel hate America. And those who hate Jews hate Christians. If those in this room will not recognize that, then my heart weeps that the men and women here will not stand in solidarity with Jews and Christians alike who are persecuted by radicals who seek to murder them.”

The group’s president came out and tried to calm the crowd, but it didn’t help.

“I am saddened to see some here, not everyone, but some here are so consumed with hate,” Cruz said from the lectern. Someone in the audience shouted, “We are not consumed with hate, no, you are consumed with hate.”

With that Cruz had enough, “If you will not stand with Israel and Jews” he said, “then I will not stand with you. Thank you and G-d bless you.” And he left.

So to those who say that Cruz’s New York values comment was anti-Semitic, I respond by asking how many “anti-Semites” would fight the president on Jewish issues even when Jewish members of Congress were silent. How many anti-Semites would support Jews and Israel to a hostile audience. Heck, Ted Cruz was tougher on Chuck Hagel’s antiIsrael statements than Chuck Schumer was during Hagel’s confirmation hearing.

Ted Cruz is not now, nor has he ever been an anti-Semite and the very suggestion that was floated by Saturday Night Live and others around the internet disgusts this proud Jew.

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No ‘Hymietown’ redux. Cruz is no anti-Semite

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Victim was mother of 6â&#x20AC;Ś

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Continued from page 1 ing the kaddish.

As hundreds of vehicles made their way from Otniel to the Jerusalem cemetery where Meir was to be buried, dozens of Israelis came out to key junctions along Route 60 to wave ďŹ&#x201A;ags and show support for the family.

The eulogy given by Meirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eldest daughter, Renana, who saw her mother being stabbed to death in their kitchen, pierced the hearts of everyone at the funeral. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mommy, my beautiful mother, my best friend,â&#x20AC;? she said through her tears. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Do you see how many people care about you? You left an enormous void in all of our hearts. It is heartbreaking for me to know that you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be there with me at the IDF induction center, at my wedding, in the delivery room. I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

only lose a mother, I also lost my best friend.â&#x20AC;?

Just an hour before the deadly encounter, Meir and her daughter were hanging out in their kitchen. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Suddenly you reminisced about times in the past when I had sought advice from you. You remembered that on Thursday I asked you what nail polish to use, and then I chose the one that you suggested,â&#x20AC;? Renana said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You were always surprised that I consulted with you at an age when most teenage girls do exactly the opposite from what their mothers want. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You told me, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I enjoy the fact that my opinion matters to you.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Look, mother, how many people care about you and have come to accompany you on your ďŹ nal journey. It is hard for me to imagine that we will never laugh again, we wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ďŹ ght anymore, we wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sit and drink tea together at midnight.â&#x20AC;? +XVEDQG VSHDNV Dafna Meirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s husband, Nathan, also choked back tears as he eulogized his wife, saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We met as soldiers on the border with southern Lebanon. It took us an instant to fall in love. Just as I blessed your arrival, I am now blessing your departure.

You left me with six treasures. I will protect them for you. They are all unique, infused with your essence.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;My Dafna, she is one in a million,â&#x20AC;? he added. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She grew up without a home and managed to ďŹ&#x201A;ourish and rehabilitate.

That is why she decided to give back 'DIQD 0HLU to the world, and she did. â&#x20AC;Ś â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dafna was an enormous crown, a crown of truth. She was very direct, precise, sharp as a knife. Not everyone liked it, but everyone appreciated my Dafnaleh. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thank you for every minute together and sorry for all the times I hurt you. Our love is too strong to be a passing thing. Farewell.

Rest in peace.â&#x20AC;?

2SHQLQJ GRRUV WR FKLOGUHQ Other eulogies revealed additional aspects of Meirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life. They recounted the story of a young girl who grew up in foster homes and institutions and who wanted more than anything to provide a warm home to children without one. That is why she decided to take in not one but two children, brothers, in order to keep them together.

Orit Amiel, the foster care director who placed the boys with the Meir family, recalled the arduous process. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To our great joy, [the Meir family] agreed to take two brothers whom we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to split up. That is very rare,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;One of the children also has special needs, and the challenge was twofold. They did everything with love. They spoke up for the children on every possible platform and fought for them, be it in schools or elsewhere. They fought for them to keep in touch with their biological parents, and that truly attests to their greatness.â&#x20AC;?

Ever since Meirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story became public in the wake of her murder, foster care facilities have reported a spike in interest by potential foster families to take in children. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are so many children waiting for homes,â&#x20AC;? said Amiel. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Perhaps this exposure, through the Meir familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s devastating tragedy, will widen peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hearts and open more doors to children.â&#x20AC;?

A few days before her death, Meir penned a blog in which she described her fears regarding the deteriorating security situation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The situation is not easy and sometimes it feels like [a game of] Russian routlette,â&#x20AC;? she wrote. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Report distributed by JNS.org with other sources 818896

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he end of parasha Beshalach focuses on the epic battle between our nascent nation and the marauding desert tribe of Amalek: “Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, ‘Pick men for us, and go out and fight against Amalek.

Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of G-d in my hand.’ Joshua did as Moses had told him, to fight against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur ascended to the top of the hill. It came to pass that when Moses would raise his hand, Israel would prevail, and when he would lay down his hand, Amalek would prevail. … Joshua weakened Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. The L-rd said to Moses, ‘Inscribe this [as] a memorial in the book, and recite it into Joshua’s ears, that I will surely obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens.’

Then Moses built an altar, and he named it ‘the L-rd is my miracle.’…” n sum, there was a battle between Amalek and the Jewish people fought on both the physical and spiritual planes. Joshua was the general who commanded our people’s troops, and Moses served as the viaduct through which G-d’s protective beneficence flowed. The final pasuk — “For there is a hand on the throne of the Eternal, [that there shall be] a war for the L-rd against Amalek from generation to generation” — is very difficult to understand, however, since the tribe of Amalek ceased to exist as an identifiable ethnicity thousands of years ago.

If that is the case, how can there be “a war for the L-rd against Amalek from generation to generation?”

My rebbe and mentor, the Rav (Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”l) (1903-1993), answered this question in his famous 1956 essay, “Kol Dodi Dofek,” in which he presented a seminal idea learned from his father, Rav Moshe Soloveitchik (1879-1941) zt”l, regarding the future of the fledgling State of Israel: “Divine providence is testing us once again via the crisis that has overtaken the land of Israel. Let it be clearly stated: The matter does not just affect the political future of Israel. The designs of the Arabs are directed not just against the political sovereignty of the State of Israel but against the

very existence of the yishuv (settlement) in the land of Israel. They wish to destroy, heaven forbid, the entire community, ‘both men and women, infant and suckling, ox and sheep’ (1 Samuel 15:3).

At a Mizrachi convention I cited the view expressed by my father and master of blessed memory, that the proclamation, ‘The L-rd will have war with Amalek from generation to generation (Exodus 17:16) does not only translate into the communal exercise of waging obligatory war against a specific race but includes as well the obligation to rise up as a community against any people or group that, filled with maniacal hatred, directs its enmity against Kenneset Israel [the Jewish people].”

The Rav continued his development of the concept of Hashem’s war against Amalek by noting that our enemy is not a time-bound genealogically homogeneous entity, but rather, any group whose purpose and goal is the destruction of klal Yisrael: “When a people emblazons on its banner, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation: that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance’ (Psalms 83:5) it becomes, thereby, Amalek. In the 1930’s and 1940’s the Nazis, with Hitler at their head, filled this role. They were the Amalekites, the standard-bearers of insane hatred and enmity during the era just past.”

According to the opinion of Rav Moshe Soloveitchik, as presented and elaborated upon by the Rav, Amalek is not a tribe. Amalek is, instead, a state of mind. Consequently, Amalek has existed since time immemorial and, unfortunately, will continue to exist until Mashiach Tzidkanu (the true and righteous Messiah) arrives and destroys this force of evil in the world.

Anti-Semitism, and the denial of the existence and supremacy of Hashem, are the principles by which Amalek lives. Moreover, he has one undeniable goal: to destroy each and every one of the Jewish people so that Gd’s name, chas v’shalom (G-d forbid), would be obliterated from the world.

Therefore, we must ever be vigilant and stand shoulder to shoulder to ensure the physical and spiritual safety of our fellow Jews, wherever they may be. Perhaps, then, no truer expression was ever spoken by Chazal (our Sages of blessed memory) than kol Yisrael arevim zeh l’zeh (all of the Jewish people are responsible for one another). May these words, in our hearts and on our lips, serve as a beacon of light and a call to action forevermore. V’chane yihi ratzon.

Shabbat Shalom.

Amalek is not a tribe. Amalek is, instead, a state of mind.

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THE JEWISH STAR January 22, 2016 12 Shevat 5776

The never-ending fight against Amalek

January 22, 2016 12 Shevat 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

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JEWISH STAR Schools HANCsters mount art gallery Nursery Bet students at HANC’s Samuel & Elizabeth Bass Golding Early Childhood Center, in West Hempstead, were introduced to the world of art by taking part in Artist Studies in which they learned about famous artists and their techniques.

Each class focused on three artists including, Monet, Van Gogh, Kandisky, Mondrian, Seurat, Andy Warhol, Henry Matisse, Picasso, Michelangelo and Jackson Pollack, and anciant

Cave Art. After learning about the artists’ unique styles and techniques, each student created their own version of an artist’s famous paintings, using that artist’s style. The students then invited their families to join them for a gala Art Gallery.

“The goal of our Art Enrichment Program is to introduce our students to the beauty and wonder of art and culture,” explained morah Trudy Rubinstein, drector of the Early Childhood

Center. “The students love learning about different artists’ styles and they love exploring their own artistic skills.”

In addition to having their beautiful artwork on display, the students shared delicious goodies that they made in class — “A,” “R” and “T” cookies, paintbrush pretzels, and palette cookies.

It was beautiful to see students explore the world of art and bring out their own distinctive talents.

South Shore hosts b’fast

Shulamith girls compete at Torah Bowl Led by Captains Rivka Bennun and Meira Steiner, the Shulamith Middle Division Torah Bowl team competed at HANC in the Eastern Division on Jan. 11. For the second time in a row, Shulamith team members swept the

meet, going undefeated in all four of their matches. In preparation, the girls study on their own or with a chavruta at home. They also meet twice a week for practice which they conduct with the buzzers used in the

competition, in order to increase their speed.

The studying hones their learning, comprehension and retention. Everyone’s a winner at Torah Bowl, where the Torah lishmah (Torah study for its own sake) abounds.

Rambam guild: A creative writing workshop Once a month, over a dozen students at Rambam Mesivta meet over a shared love of the craft of writing creative fiction. The group was formed last year by current senior Zechariah Rosenthal and then sophomores

Gabe Greenbaum and Noah Schwartz to to create a forum in which rising writers could get guidance and feedback about their works.

Faculty adviser. Hillel Goldman, Assistant Principal and 9th, 10th,and 11th grade

English teacher, provides writing prompts for the group whose members then have three weeks to write 3 to 5 page short stories on topics that range from climate change, cavemen, twist endings, and much more.

Principal visits students in Israel HANC High School’s Menahel, Rabbi Shlomo Adelman, accompanied by the Director of Israel Guidance, Rabbi Avraham Ismach, last week visited alumni spending a year in Israel.

One highlights was the annual Shana Aleph reunion at Piccolini, an elegant restaurant in the heart of Yerushalayim. The students shared Divrei Torah, relived high school memories, and reconnected with each other. Alumni Kayla Plutzer, Leah Scher, Josh Geller, Adam Levy, Ezra Kushner, Dovid Chai Deil, Shlomo Amsellem and Yigal Kamel spoke at the event.

Upon return from his trip, Rabbi Adelman described the nachat that he received from the students. “It is so powerful to witness firsthand the incredible growth and development of our students. and how beautifully it builds upon the solid foundation that they received at HANC,” he said. “The hakarat hatov that each of the students has for their HANC experience was a recurring theme at each and every yeshiva and seminary visited.”

The Mechina boys, grades 6-8 at Yeshiva of South Shore,were privileged to hear from Rabbi Aaron Brafman, menahel at Yeshiva of Far Rockaway, at their Rosh Chodesh Shevat breakfast. Rabbi Chanina Herzberg, menahel ha yeshiva, introduced him warmly as both a friend of Rabbi Brafman and a YFR parent.

Rabbi Brafman spoke the about the fresh beginning Rosh Chodesh presents, the greatness each of us can strive for, and the potential every talmid has if only he works to achieve it.

Rabbi Rafi Draiman, menahel ha mechina, then introduced the new middah of the month, Nosei B’ol Im Chavero, sensitivity and empathy to share our friend’s burden, with a number of specific areas of focus such as including others at recess, concerns affecting others in school, and Acheinu Bnei Yisroel.

Special thanks are extended to Special Programs Coordinator Rabbi Shlomo Drebin, who helped arrange this event and led inspiring singing with the boys to mark the occasion. The boys followed with an activity to bring the message to light, where they had to literally carry their friends “burden” to succeed.

Thanks also go to the Ash, Keller, Levine and Srulowitz families who sponsored the event in honor of their sons and Rebbeim. It was an uplifting Kiddush Hashem.

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THE JEWISH STAR January 22, 2016 12 Shevat 5776

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Unconventional travelâ&#x20AC;Ś reached Africa. Nathaniel Isaacs is considered one of the founders of Natal, a region in South Africa. His record, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa,â&#x20AC;? described Zulu customs and lives.

Arminius Vambery â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Hungarian orientalist Arminius Vambery came from a poor Jewish family and was lame in one leg. This didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t prevent him from getting an education and teaching French in the mid 19th century in Constantinople (Istanbul) to the daughter of a sultan. In an effort to study the relationship between the Hungarian language and the languages of central Asia, he disguised himself as a Muslim and joined a group of pilgrims on a journey through parts of modern Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iran.

Vambery also may have introduced Hungarian author Bram Stoker to the Dracula legend, and Vambery himself is said to have been a model for the character Dr. Abraham Van Helsing in Stokerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s famous novel.

Eduard Schnitzer â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Another European Jew, Eduard Schnitzer, came from a GermanJewish family in what is now Poland and moved to the Ottoman Empire, where he worked as a doctor. He renamed himself Emin Pasha, an Ottoman name followed by the title of Pasha, which he had been accorded. Emin Pasha also spent time in Egypt, Khartoum, North Sudan, and Uganda. As a naturalist, he collected African plants but then was killed by Arab slave traders in 1892.

Alexander Salmon â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Unlike the abovementioned scientists and explorers, in 1841 an English Jew named Alexander Salmon arrived in Tahiti as a simple sailor. He settled on the island and married a royal princess, eventually becoming the Tahitian queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s secretary. He and his wife had nine children, and one of their sons later befriended Robert Louis Stevenson, author of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Treasure Island.â&#x20AC;?

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Continued from page 1 cently put forth the theory that he too was a converted Jew. A British historian argued that a triangular signature of dots and letters on Columbusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s last will and testament might have been a secret substitute for the Kaddish prayer. The Hebrew letters bet-hei, meaning bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ezrat Hashem (with G-dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s help), have also been found on several letters Columbus wrote to his son.

Hernando Alonso â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Also in the Age of Discovery, Hernando Alonso was the ďŹ rst Jew to be burned at the stake in North America. He was a successful colonizer who served under HernĂĄn CortĂŠs and ofďŹ cially lived as a Christian until a Dominican friar accused him of secretly observing the Jewish faith.

Simon von Geldern â&#x20AC;&#x201D; In central Europe, Simon von Geldern, the great-uncle of German writer Heinrich Heine, lived in the 18th century and traveled in Europe, Africa, the Near East and the land of Israel, where he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Joseph Halevy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; In the 19th century, French-Jewish explorer and scholar Joseph Halevy traveled to Africa to study a community of Ethiopian Jews. He wrote a report on his journey, Travels in Abyssinia, and afterward embarked on a new journey to Yemen, where he examined and deciphered hundreds of ancient inscriptions.

The arctic: Israel Lyons and Isaac Israel Hayes â&#x20AC;&#x201D; In the 19th century, Jews were involved in several arctic expeditions. Among these, British-Jewish mathematician and botanist Israel Lyons was appointed as an astronomer on a 1773 expedition to the North Pole.

Isaac Israel Hayes also directed missions to the Pole and to Greenland, and Jewish physician Emil Bessels proved that Greenland is an island.

Nathaniel Isaacs â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Jewish explorers also

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