The Jewish Star - January 31, 2014

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Girls and tefillin 3, 13 Bookworm: Koren’s latest 5 Local rabbis at Agudah event 7 Kitchen: Super Bowl 8

THE JEWISH VOL 13, NO 5 Q JANUARY 31, 2014 / 30 SHEVAT 5774

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Sudden ice storm brings out our best It’s neighbor helping neighbor in 5 Towns and Far Rockaway

Father-son fun

By Rabbi Boruch B. Bender Founder and president of Achiezer write the following thoughts not as an Achiezer representative, nor in any official capacity, but simply as a lifelong resident of the Far Rockaway/Five Towns community. There are just certain moments that are enough to make anyone marvel at the amazing community in which we are blessed to live. As most of you no doubt recall, on Friday, Jan. 10, a sudden and unexpected sheet of ice blanketed the streets and sidewalks. It was an otherwise typical cold morning, and the frightening part was that it was mostly black ice and largely unseen to the naked eye. In a matter of moments there were literally dozens of accidents and emergencies. Cars slid into one another, mothers and children slipped and fell, and many elderly individuals suffered terrible falls and subsequent injuries. Just as quickly, our community sprang into action. Both Rabbi Kanner, venerable coordinator of Chevra Hatzalah, and the indefatigable Zvi Bokow called Achiezer, strongly suggesting that an urgent community warning be sent out immediately. Within moments the email was blasted. Dozens of shuls and individuals forwarded it to as many people as possible. Chaim Liebtag, the “never-resting” president of the White Shul, called within minutes, asking what else he could do to help. Volunteers Continued on page 15

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From shoveling to snowboarding, snow days can be a family experience. Rabbi Abi Goldenberg, Rosh HaYeshiva at Nishmas HaTorah of Lawrence, rides with his son Yosef near his home in Lakewood after last BTD Photo Sunday’s brief snowfall.

Super Bowl at halftime: Kosher

Kruter Photography, Kruter.com

During the 20 minute halftime break, viewers will have the option of shifting their attention from FOX TV to a videocast on nachumsegal.com, in what is being billed as the first ever “Kosher Halftime Show.” Lenny Solomon of Shlock Rock and a band of Jewish music elites including Avromie Weisberger, Jonathan Rimberg, Ari Boiangiu and Ethan Bill will perform, in a pre-recorded set. The usual halftime is “a key component of the big game,” Segal told The Jewish Star. But the acts “often contain inappropriate content and don’t

Shabbat Candlelighting 4:54 pm. Shabbat ends 5:57 pm. 72 minute zman 6:26 pm. Torah Reading: Terumah, Rosh Chodesh

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By Malka Eisenberg Nachum Segal’s online network is bringing a kosher option to halftime for families watching the Super Bowl this Sunday. Families often watch the National Football League’s main event together, and with this year’s Super Bowl 48 (XLVIII in Roman numerals) being held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, interest has been piqued in the New York area. Much of the traditional halftime show — this year featuring Bruno Mars and Red Hot Chili Peppers — is generally considered inappropriate entertainment for frum families. But there is an alternative.

appeal to many in the Jewish crowd. We wanted to make sure that there was a quality alternative that was kosher, entertaining and fun for everyone.” The concept was not a sudden decision, he said. “I have been thinking about doing a halftime show for a while, but I Continued on page 15

Beards and kippot still require Army’s OK By Alina Dain Sharon, JNS.org Despite a Pentagon directive loosening restrictions for U.S. troops who wish to wear religious garments or beards with their military uniforms, men and women in the military must still seek special approval from their commanders, and such requests can still be denied. Constitutional law attorney Nathan Lewin said that the requirement to seek permission — for such things as head scarves, turbans, and yarmulkes — violates religious apparel Rabbi Menachem Stern was sworn in as a U.S. Army chaplain in December 2011 following resolution of his lawsuit against the Army over its no-beard policy. Chabad.org

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statute 10 USC 774. Passed by Congress in 1996, the LAW allows members of the armed forces to “wear an item of religious apparel while wearing the uniform of the member’s armed force.â€? “The new policy states that military departments will accommodate religious requests of service members unless a request would have an adverse effect on military readiness, mission accomplishment, unit cohesion and good order and discipline,â€? Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nathan J. Christensen, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement. “All requests for accommodation of religious practices will be assessed on a case-bycase basis‌ Each request must be considered based on its unique facts, the nature of the

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January 31, 2014 • 30 SHEVAT 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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requested religious accommodation, the effect of approval or denial on the service member’s exercise of religion, and the effect of approval or denial on mission accomplishment, including unit cohesion,â€? Christensen said. Col. (ret.) Rabbi Sanford Dresin, director of military programs for the Aleph Institute and Aleph’s ecclesiastical endorser to the Department of Defense, said the loosening of restrictions is a “terriďŹ c thing,â€? but it remains to be seen how the changes will be implemented. Aleph Institute is one of three endorsing agencies for Jewish chaplains in the military. The new rules beneďŹ t Muslims, Sikhs and members of other faiths, as well as Jews. The Department of Defense decision conjures echoes of the case of Rabbi Menachem Stern, who was sworn in as a U.S. army chaplain in December 2011 following the resolution of his lawsuit against the army. The army had refused to budge for Stern on its “no-beardâ€? policy for several years, but ďŹ nally decided it wasn’t “going to take a chance with a lawsuit because they didn’t know what the judge could do,â€? Lewin, who represented Stern pro bono, said at the time. Lewin won a similar case for Rabbi Michell Geller in 1976. But in the 1986 U.S. Supreme Court case Goldman v. Weinberger, an Orthodox rabbi represented by Lewin was told by the U.S. Air Force he could not wear a yarmulke indoors while he was in uniform and on duty at his base. The rabbi argued that this policy violated his freedom of religion, which is protected under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court, however, upheld the military’s policy in a 5-4 vote. Justice William Rehnquist’s majority opinion in that case stated the military is a “specialized society separate from civilian society,â€? and that to “accomplish its mission the military must foster instinctive obedience, unity, commitment, and esprit de corps.â€? Then came the passage of 10 USC 774 in 1996. Under that statute, Lewin said, the Department of Defense “is not authorized to institute a system under which prior approval has to be obtained to wear an item of religious apparel,â€? although the military can later prohibit a soldier if it deems that the religious clothing item or facial hair interferes with “the performance of the member’s military duties,â€? or “not neat or conservative.â€? “If approval is denied, the applicant can go up the ladder within the military service to seek approval. If he or she goes directly to court, the service may claim that he or she has to exhaust internal military remedies, but I think there is a good argument if the applicant is denied the right to wear religious clothing (or a beard) while the process is ongoing that this is an infringement of a freedom-of-religion right that warrants immediate relief in a court,â€? said Lewin. Jews in Green, an independent organization representing Jews serving across the Department of Defense that is not afďŹ liated with the Department of Defense itself, applauded the new Pentagon policy. “The new policy doesn’t make any drastic changes....However, it does clarify the process for granting religious accommodation, and potentially opens the door for observant Jews to serve and observe mitzvot with greater ease,â€? Jason Rubin, a spokesman for Jews in Green, told JNS.org. Rubin added that the policy loosens regulations on religious observances such as Shabbat and dietary considerations. “Perhaps the most important thing about the update is that it shows the DoD’s recognition that religious observance is something that is important to our service members, and by making reasonable accommodations we can be a stronger and more effective force because of it,â€? he said.

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Should girls be allowed to lay teďŹ llin? At SAR in Riverdale, the answer is yes

From student of Aaron Soloveichik, a clear no

Rabbi Tully Harcsztark, principal of SAR (Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy) in Riverdale, sent the following email to parents at his school on erev Shabbat.

Rabbi Harry Maryles of Chicago posted this commentary, titled “Women, TeďŹ llin, and Berkas,â€? on his Emes Ve-Emunah blog, which covers issues in the Orthodox Jewish world at haemtza.blogspot.com. He received smicha from Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik at the Hebrew Theological College.

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ear Parents, The issue of women and teďŹ llin resurfaced this week in light of the Boiling Point article recently published at Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles and circulated on Facebook. It has since become an international topic of discussion. I imagine that many of you have read the articles and have had many conversations on the issue. Over the course of December, I spoke with students and faculty but I did not communicate directly with the parent body on the topic. Given the international publicity of this week, I would like to share my thoughts directly with you. Two girls who have put on teďŹ llin since their bat mitzvah approached me months ago to ask permission to put on teďŹ llin in school. Both students, in their respective ways, have shown real commitment to this mitzvah. Since their bat mitzvah, they have been taught, in accordance with their family practice, to daven each day with teďŹ llin. For me, this was a question of whether I could allow a young woman to practice as she had been taught — to daven each and every day in a meaningful way wearing teďŹ llin as an expression of her ʭʚʤ ʺʣʼʥʲ. I felt that my responsibility was to consider the person before me and the halakha, before considering the political fallout of the decision. In my opinion, the practice of these families has support in halakha. It has basis in the Rishonim (ʪʼʰʊʧʤ ʸʴʹʼ Ę ĘżĘĄĘšĘ¸ ʭʿʥʎʸ) - and R. Yosef Karo, the ʪʼʸʲ ʯʧʏʼʚ ʸʥʧʎ, seems to follow that opinion. I felt it appropriate to see this as a legitimate practice, albeit different than our communal practice but one that has halakhic justiďŹ cation. As such, I granted the two girls permission in the context — in a teďŹ lah setting — of a group of girls who were supportive of their practice. I felt it appropriate to create space at SAR for them to daven meaningfully. I explained this to our students in this way: it is a halakhically legitimate position despite it not being our common communal practice. But since there is support for it, I would be willing to create such space in the school. I did not, in so doing, create new policy nor invite any female student who wanted to don teďŹ llin to do so. These are girls who, I believe, have been ʚʴʰ ʸʹʼʎ (for a teen to get up at 6:20 each morning is meaningful commitment) for this ʤʼʜʎ. At its core, women donning teďŹ llin is a discretionary act in Jewish law. While our community has adopted as normative the view that women refrain from this act, I see the range of rishonim who allow women to don teďŹ llin as support to give space to that practice within our community. One can disagree with this decision on halakhic and public policy grounds. But the position is a coherent one and deserves careful consideration. But why? What was so important about

A Rabbi Tully Harcsztark

this? As the weeks passed and I heard the various reactions and responses, my feelings on the issue became increasingly clear to me. Perhaps this is best expressed by way of a story. I daven in R. Yosef Adler’s shul, Congregation Rinat Yisrael, in Teaneck. Many of you know Rabbi Adler as the principal of TABC. On that day back in December when I emailed the faculty, I met Rabbi Adler at a community event. He crossed the room and came over to me, took my hand in his two hands and said, “yasher koach, you made the right decision. In a world where there are so many things Continued on page 13

pparently there are now some Modern Orthodox schools that are permitting their female students to lay (put on) TeďŹ lin during Shacharis. First it was the Salanter Akiba Riverdale (SAR) and now Ramaz. The fact is that there is no halacha forbidding women from this religious ritual that I am aware of. But there is a religious principle that women are exempt from observing certain mitzvos (positive commandments like teďŹ llin that are time bound). Even though women are exempt from such mitzvos, they may, if they so choose, observe them. There are many examples of this, like sukkah and lulav. These are mitzvos that are time bound from which women are exempt and yet the vast majority of observant women carefully observe them. But with rare exception (Rashi’s daughters?) the mitzvah of teďŹ llin has never been one of them. In our day, it is still a rare occurrence, but we are beginning to see a lot more of it — as the above shows. I am not a fan. I can’t help but to believe that the source of such behavior is at the core based on the feminist notion of equality with men. Bolstering this view is the fact that Jew-

JEWISH STAR EDITORIAL

A tough story to cover When a story like this comes around, secular media — and some politicallydriven Jewish media — are apt to seek an exploitive angle, to “sell papers,â€? drive web trafďŹ c or, ominously, poke fresh holes in our already fragile communal unity. Several publications labeled this “TeďŹ llingate,â€? lest the implication of scandal be overlooked. As an independent newspaper, The Jewish Star covers the news objectively and dispassionately; we are observers, presenting others’ views. As part of the community, we are bound by its standards and by halacha. On the issue of girls’ laying teďŹ llin, where there is division, we are presenting the unabridged views of participants in the debate. We welcome additional thoughtful comments. There is, of course, unbridled discussion of this on the Internet and we know that many of our readers have already dived into that pool. We trust, though, that our readers will “keep some perspective,â€? as suggested by Ramaz Head of School Paul Shaviv in a commentary on page 13, and avoid catchphrases that belittle those with views different from their own or from those of their rabbis. There are many issues that threaten to tear apart the fabric of Torah true Judaism as outsiders gleefully watch. Let’s remember the many dangers inherent in l’shon ha’rah, as well as the importance of ahavat Israel, that we love every Jew. In time, this issue will be settled within the framework of Torah true Judaism.

Rabbi Harry Maryles

ish feminist groups like JOFA have applauded this move, which of course means that it advances their cause. From the Forward: An Orthodox feminist leader strongly backs the decision by SAR to allow girls to pray with teďŹ llin. “I’m pleased whenever there’s an expansion of anyone’s ability to connect with G-d in a way that is halachically permissible,â€? said Judy Heicklen, the president of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance and a parent at SAR. “I’m proud of SAR for going out on a limb to help support these girls. I believe that there is an element of sincere desire to serve G-d in this way by these young women. But I have to ask why generally it is only those from homes that tend to support feminism that have any desire at all to do this? Is there for example a single girl at any Beis Yaakov in the world that has ever expressed a desire to lay teďŹ llin? Are they lacking in their Avodas Hashem? I have no choice but to question their ultimate motivation. Yes they are sincere. But why choose a particularly male modality and not for example extending their prayers to include additional psalms? They have been raised in an environment that sees the equality of the sexes as an objectively positive value and goal to achieve. In fact I actually agree with that, as I have said many times. When it comes to non religious matters — such as equal pay for equal work — I am as supportive as any feminist organization of that. And when it comes to treating the sexes with equal respect and dignity, there too, I am with them 100 percent. But when it comes to religious ritual, my feminism ends. Because for me and for any Jew who is interested in doing the will of G-d, the purpose is to follow His will and do the mitzvos that we are commanded by Him to do. While G-d allows us to do non obligatory mitzvos and values them, His obvious preference is for us to do those we are obligated to do. This is a principle in halacha called, Gadol HaMetzuveh V’Oseh, M’mi SheAino Metzuveh V’Oseh. Continued on page 13

THE JEWISH STAR January 31, 2014 • 30 SHEVAT 5774

Tradition challenged at Modern Orthodox high schools

January 31, 2014 • 30 SHEVAT 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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Awakening the thirst to create a better world T

here are some lessons you learn the hard way, and they are never forgotten. In Infantry Officer’s training there is an obstacle course known as the “A’son Teva” (Freak of Nature). It is an appropriate name for this visit to hell. No cadet can graduate Officer’s course without completing this test. We were made to do a number Rabbi Binny of dry runs before the Freedman actual test day, but being dry had nothing to do with it. In full uniform and gear, at one point you have to wade through an ice-cold river that gets up to your chest. When you wade out, the first thing that hits you is an 18 foot rope you have to climb. Soaked from the river, with all the extra weight of the water in your gear and on your drenched fatigues, not to mention the psychological pressure of commanders screaming at you, that rope for me was just an insurmountable mountain. You only have so much time to finish the entire course, which means you only have a little less than a minute to get up that rope, or you don’t make the grade, and have to do the entire course over again. I never thought I would ever make it up that rope. But there was an officer who was responsible for running us through the drill and teaching us the finer arts of the course, who was there with us on the final day when the test would count. He was a short little guy, who wore the beret of the paratroopers, and throughout the training I had wondered how he had made it through paratrooper training; he couldn’t have been more than five feet tall.

FROM THE HEART OF JERUSALEM

Just before we began the run, he walked over to me, seeing the tension on my face, and said, with a big grin: “Im Tirtzu, Ein Zo’ Aggadah” (“If you want it enough, it’s not just a dream”). This was Theodore Herzl’s famous response to all those who ridiculed his determined devotion to what they considered a fairy tale dream: building a Jewish state in the land of Israel. And I got it; you don’t climb ropes with muscle, you climb them with willpower. Leaving Mount Sinai behind them, in the middle of the desert, the Jewish people are given a new challenge: In this week’s portion, Terumah, Hashem (G-d) asks us to build for Him a Mishkan, a Tabernacle, also known as the Tent of Meeting. This Tabernacle would be the forerunner of the Temple, the Beit HaMikdash that would eventually be built in Jerusalem. Interestingly, the initial commandment to gather the materials necessary for building this Tabernacle was meant to be on a voluntary basis only. “…That they should take for me offerings (“Terumah”) from each person whose heart desires (to give)…” (Exodus 25:2). oshe is given a clear imperative to collect from the Jewish people all the money and materiel necessary to build the Tabernacle and yet, he can only collect from those who give voluntarily. Was this a command to volunteer? Or was there no obligation to donate unless a person was moved to do so? The Mitzvah to build the Temple is a Biblical Obligation, and according to Mai-

monides, one of the 613 Mitzvoth listed in the Torah. Which raises the question as to what this ‘enforced volunteerism’ was all about? One wonders what would have happened if no one had ‘volunteered’ to donate the necessary materials; apparently, there would have been no Tabernacle! And as this was the same eventual recipe for the Temple, that would mean without volunteers there would have been no Temple! So it would seem that one of the most crucial ideas in Judaism, the Beit HaMikdash, (Temple) is completely dependent on the whim and fancy of the Jewish people; something that needs to be understood. Even more challenging, the building of the Mishkan (and later the Mikdash) also seems to run counter to one of the basic principle of Judaism. Most of the major rabbinic authorities concur, that in general, “Mitzvoth Einan Tzrichot Kavanah,” which means that Mitzvoth do not require intent. Ultimately, the fulfillment of a mitzvah is dependent upon the commission of an action, and not on the Kavanah, or intent, that is meant to accompany it. If I am not hungry all day on Yom Kippur, and end up fasting the entire day, despite having no idea that it is Yom Kippur, or that there is a mitzvah to fast on that day, I nonetheless fulfill the mitzvah, because in the end, I have indeed fasted on Yom Kippur. Or if I jump into a pool to swim and it happens to be a mikveh, a Jewish ritual bath, the same would apply. But in this case, it is apparent, that with-

We need to create and regularly experience an environment that is conducive to spiritual growth.

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out the intent, or Kavanah, the mitzvah is meaningless! So this mitzvah of building the Tabernacle is entirely dependent on the desire of the individual. If the Jewish people don’t really want a Temple, then there won’t be a Temple. Why is this mitzvah so different from other mitzvoth that it so depends on the desire of the individual fulfilling it? Interestingly there are other instances where a Mitzvah, according to those same sources, does indeed require intent as a prerequisite to fulfillment. For example, if I am out for a run one fine Rosh Hashanah day, and, passing the local synagogue, I hear the Shofar, I have not fulfilled the mitzvah unless I know it is Rosh Hashanah, and I intend to fulfill the mitzvah when hearing the Shofar! So why is Shofar different from other mitzvoth (such as tefillin, or the eating of matzah, which do not require such intent and understanding)? Rav Chaim Brisker suggests quite simply, that unlike other mitzvoth, where the intention and feeling (the Kavanah) is additional to the mitzvah, here, the mitzvah of Shofar is the feeling. It is precisely the motivation to do Teshuvah (Repentance), and return to whom I was once meant to be, that is the essence of the mitzvah of Shofar. The same is true for Prayer; without the desire and understanding of what prayer is all about, I am in fact, not even close to fulfilling the mitzvah, which is why Maimonides rules in much the same way regarding prayer as he does with Shofar: without the proper intention and feeling, one cannot fulfill the mitzvah, because the mitzvah is to experience that feeling. All of which points to the fact that if the mitzvah of building the Mikdash cannot be fulfilled without the proper desire and inContinued on page 7

Giving credit when and where credit is due I

n just about all of the instructions for the making of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), the Torah utilizes the singular “V’asita” – and you shall do or make – the items for the Mishkan. “V’Asu” – and they shall make” – appears only twice. The Midrash Rabba (35:3) asks what should be the obvious question. These Rabbi Avi Billet instructions are being given to Moshe who was the conceptual theorist, the instructor, not an architect or a builder. So why is he the one being told “You shall make?” The Torah even tells us that Betzalel and Oholiav made the Mishkan. (36:1) The Midrash concludes – perhaps also obviously – that Moshe’s role was instruction (“Moshe L’Talmud”) while Betzalel’s role was one of action and doing (“Betzalel L’mayseh”). But where the Midrash moves from the obvious to the profound is in the very next sentence. “From this the Rabbis said to give merit for a task as if one has done it. This is what we find with Moshe: Betzalel did all the PARSHA OF THE WEEK

work for the Mishkan, and nonetheless the Almighty made it as if Moshe had done it, as it says, ‘And the Mishkan of G-d that Moshe made in the wilderness (Divrei Hayamim I 21:29)’.” While the Midrash does not spell out exactly what it means, a simple reading between the lines will enlighten our reading of this passage. The Midrash is not saying Moshe did nothing. The Midrash is also not saying Betzalel isn’t given credit. The Mishkan was absolutely built by Betzalel, and Moshe did not play any significant role in the physical construction of the building. How then does Moshe share equal billing as a maker of the Mishkan? Think of it this way: If you build a new house or fix up something in your home, who gets the credit? The workmen who poured the concrete and laid the tile? Or you? There may be some people who do the actual work in their homes, but then they say, “I did it myself.” If someone else did the actual labor, the people who sponsored the project will still say, “We built the house. We fixed up the kitchen.” No you

didn’t! All you did was pay for it. Or, as President Obama famously said, “You didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” But the truth is, you did build it. Had you not had the idea, had you not hired the architect to draw the plans, given your input into what you wanted, hired the contractor and the workmen, the new part of your home would not have been built. And of course, had you chosen not to pay for the resources and materials, it also would not have been built. In Iggerot Moshe Yoreh Deah 4:37, Rav Moshe Feinstein described the “Yissachar Zevulun” relationship as being a business arrangement in which the Yissachar partner provided the raw materials which the Zevulun partner processed and utilized to create a marketable product. “The partnership was not to be confused with Tzedakah.” In any type of partnership, it takes two to tango. But each side must contribute something that speaks to particular strengths. Moshe’s contribution was essentially being

The ideal in Judaism is for all people to make a contribution to society.

the overseeing contractor, while his man-onthe-ground doing all the work was Betzalel. Both will get credit for making the Mishkan, because both are working. It is important to remember that the ideal in Judaism is for all people make a contribution to society. It is absolutely OK for a person to be a learner, as long as the person is contributing to the community: whether as a teacher or as a commodities trader who provides raw materials to a business company partner who will create marketable goods out of them. Or whatever the person chooses to do beyond the Beis Medrash walls. Judaism views “tzedakah” as G-d’s gift to the fortunate to help the unfortunate. But in an ideal world, the so-called unfortunate are producers and not just receivers, because they are partners in creating their destiny. Moshe was not sitting in a Beis Medrash waiting for them to ask him what to do. He was out there with G-d’s instructions, clarifying the blueprints and seeing that the job got done. You don’t have to be the builder to get the job done. But you need to be making a significant contribution to the effort. Without that contributory effort, a person is no more deserving of credit (or payment or compensation) than a person who never showed up in the first place. Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

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the uniqueness of this holiday’s theme by noting an overriding feeling of joy that permeates the holiday observance, both in ritual, of which this holiday abounds, and spirit, in terms of liturgy, and behavior. The Talmudic work of Sukka goes into great detail in terms of ritual observance. What makes this volume special are the layout and quality of translation, the use of sidebar graphics that direct the student learner to enhance his or her study of the text with enhanced commentary on historical background, notes, language, and most important of all, halachah. Unique to this work is the use of pictures in color graphics that augment the written text, giving the pages an enhanced visual image that serves to reinforce the comprehension of the ancient words. These visuals are drawn from numerous sources, including Rabbi Alex Israel, The Temple Institute, Neot Kedumin — The Biblical Landscape Reserve, and the Israel Antiquities Authority. My personal favorite is the picture of the sukkah built atop a camel, found on page 110, keyed to a discussion of this matter on Daf 23a, in the second chapter of Sukka. Each chapter begins with an introduction, and ends with a chapter summary. Each volume of this work has two open-

ings — on the left, an English side together with the Hebrew text, and the traditional side opening on the right that includes the entire tractate [mes-

echtah] text with the centered text and the Rashi commentary completely vocalized. This is intended to give this work a full study use, both in the traditional beit medrash study hall, and at home. Within the next few months other volumes of this work will be forthcoming, namely, Beitza, Rosh Hashanah, Ta’anit, Megillah, Mo’ed Kattan, and Chagigah. More are to follow, in sync with the ongoing Daf Yomi schedule, to its conclusion, making it the ďŹ rst ever English language Talmud published in its entirety in Israel. To give credit for such a daunting task, I would be remiss if I did not mention the crucial role played by this project’s executive editor, Rabbi Joshua Schreier. A native

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of Flatbush, , where his father, Rabbi Max Schreier served for over a half century as rabbi of the Avenue N Jewish Center, Joshua studied in Israel at Yeshiva Keren B’Yavneh, and Yeshivat Har Etzion. A graduate of Yeshiva University where he received his rabbinic ordination, he taught Talmud at the Ramaz Upper School before making aliyah to Israel in 1982. He currently lives with his family in Efrat. In Israel he taught at the Yeshivat Bnai Akiva in Beersheva and for 22 years in Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem. Four years ago he began his involvement with the Koren Talmud project, ďŹ rst as an editor, managing editor, and at present, its executive editor of the ongoing Talmud project. I conclude with the following quote from the publisher of Koren Publishers, Matthew Miller, who shared this observation with me during our last meeting: “This generation of Koren has stayed true to the original aims of Eliyahu Koren, zâ€?l: an obsessive attention to Halacha and textual integrity; the importance of design for the clarity of the texts; and profound Zionism, always recalling the centrality of Jerusalem in Jewish thought and practice. We’ve tried, and succeeded, in expressing these goals, in a modern idiom; we’ve extended this vision to the English speaking world. “Jewish publishing — these days, any publishing — is a difďŹ cult business; publishing to the standards to which we strive only increases our task.â€? Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

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ust over 50 years ago a new publishing company launched its very ďŹ rst project, the publication of a new specially typeset Bible in Hebrew called “The Koren Jerusalem Bible.â€? This work was historic in many ways, but for our purposes this week, I make note of this event to give it a perspective in the latest project by Koren, that being KOSHER the publication of a BOOKWORM ďŹ rst ever Israeli edition of an English translation and commentary of the Talmud Tractate of Sukka based upon the original Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz Hebrew commentary. This work is timed to the Daf Yomi schedule, for those following this worldwide learning regimen, that has the upAlan Jay Gerber coming study of Sukka to begin this Wednesday, Feb. 5. The irony is that the study of the rituals of a fall festival, as timed to be studied in this cycle, falls in the dead of winter. In his work, “Change and Renewal,â€? Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz describes the festival: “The experience of joy on a festival would be more understandable in the context of days of commemoration, days on which speciďŹ c events occurred and whose anniversaries evoke memories of joy. ‌ The festival of Sukkot, however, the ‘Season of our Rejoicing,’ is not a commemoration of any speciďŹ c historical event.â€? Rabbi Steinsaltz continues his thesis on

THE JEWISH STAR January 31, 2014 • 30 SHEVAT 5774

The Daf Yomi Sukkah, studied in the snow

January 31, 2014 • 30 SHEVAT 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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THE JEWISH

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Independent and original reporting from the Orthodox communities of Long Island and New York City All opinions expressed are solely those of The Jewish Star’s editorial staff or contributing writers Published weekly by The Jewish Star LLC, 2 Endo Boulevard, Garden City, NY 11530 Phone: 516-622-7461 ■ Fax: 516-569-4942 News releases: Newsroom@TheJewishStar.com ■ Calendar listings: Calendar@TheJewishStar.com Letters for publication: Letters@TheJewishStar.com ■ Ads: Advertising@TheJewishStar.com Publisher Ed Weintrob Editor Malka Eisenberg Editorial Designers Stacey Simmons Matthew Stammel Photo Editor Christina Daly

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Contributors: Rabbi Avi Billet, Jeff Dunetz, Juda Engelmayer, Rabbi Binny Freedman, Alan Jay Gerber, Rabbi Noam Himelstein, Judy Joszef, Rabbi Simcha Weinstein. Kashrut: The Jewish Star is not responsible for the kashrut of any product or establishment featured in the Jewish Star. This newspaper contains words of Torah; please dispose of properly. Submissions: All submissions become the property of the Jewish Star, may be edited and may be used by the Publisher in print, on the web, or in any media without additional authorization or compensation. All submissions may be edited for publication. Distribution: The Jewish Star is available free of charge in many kosher food establishments, stores, synagogues, and street-side news boxes in Nassau County and New York City. Mail subscriptions are available, prepaid: $9 per quarter on a credit card in Nassau and Far Rockaway, or $48 a year. Elsewhere in the US, $15 per quarter or $72 a year. Copyright © 2014 The Jewish Star LLC. All rights reserved.

Europe courts Iran, shuns Israel N

obody does double standards quite like the Europeans. Where the Middle East is concerned, there are two complementary messages coming out of the European Union at the moment. The first proclaims that Israel is a legitimate target for boycotts and divestment for as long as the “occupation” continues — and here, Ben Cohen, JNS “occupation” principally refers to the West Bank and the eastern half of Jerusalem, feebly eliding the fact that the Palestinian leadership, through its insistence on the so-called “right of return,” regards the entire territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan as “occupied.” As for the second message, that can be neatly summarized in a potential advertising slogan: Iran is open for business! According to the Washington Post, Europeans are banking on a business “bonanza” with Iran, now that sanctions have been relaxed in accordance with the deal on the mullahs’ nuclear program reached last November in Geneva. Both Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, and its Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, rubbed shoulders with the global business and political elite at the World Economic Forum’s annual powwow in Davos. Leading French companies, among them Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Airbus, are said to be sending executives to Tehran by the planeload. French car manufacturers like Renault and Peugeot are drooling at the thought of recovering their former, dominant positions in the Iranian automobile market. European carriers like Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines are increasing the number of weekly flights to Tehran in anticipation of growing demand. The Dutch Ambassador in Tehran, Jos Douma, even held what he ludicrously termed a “speed-date session” for companies wanting in on the Iranian gold rush. VIEWPOINT

You won’t, however, find a similar openness towards Israel within the EU. As the Financial Times reported, the enormous Dutch ABP pension fund, as well as two Scandinavian funds, are reviewing their investments in Israel over — as the Financial Times exquisitely phrased it — “concerns that the banks finance illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian-occupied territories.” This follows the decision by PGGM, another Dutch pension fund, to divest its holdings in five Israeli banks, citing their “involvement in the financing of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.” As the Dutch Jewish weekly newspaper, NIW, revealed, PGGM continues to invest in Chinese banks and companies with operations in Tibet — a nation that really knows what it’s like to live under a brutal occupation. But when Maurice Willbrink, a spokesman for PGGM, was pressed by NIW about the fund’s links with the Chinese regime, he demurred, explaining the importance of avoiding “prejudicing the ongoing dialogue.” I’ve observed that many American Jews tend to look at the European spectacle with bewildered dismay. How is it possible, they ask, that the continent of the Holocaust can play such an active role in economic warfare against the Jewish state? Don’t Europeans have the decency to realize that their history determines that they should be doing the opposite? None of these arguments wash with Europe’s political elite. Indeed, so determined are they to ignore the history of the last century that the EU’s Ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, had this to say about Israel’s insistence on Palestinian recognition of a Jewish state: “I don’t think we have any clear position on that because we’re not 100 per cent sure what is meant by this concept of a Jewish state.” What it means, Ambassador, is that never again will non-Jews control the security and wellbeing of the Jewish people. We’ve already been down that road with you, and we don’t intend to travel along it again. Ben Cohen is the Shillman Analyst for JNS. org.

We’re not 100 percent sure what is meant by this concept of a Jewish state.

Hillary Clinton’s Regrets E

arlier this week, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asked if she would like any do overs relative to being Secretary of State, responded that the September 2012 Benghazi attacks were her “biggest regret.” “You make these choices based on imperfect information and you make them, Jeff Dunetz as we say, to the best of your ability, but that doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be unforeseen consequences, unpredictable twists and turns. … [Benghazi] was a terrible tragedy.” Fourteen months after the attack we are still trying to find out what happened. Back in May, Gregory Hicks, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya, testified before the House Oversight Committee that at 2 am Tripoli time (8 pm eastern time) on the evening of 9/11/12, he spoke with Clinton and her senior staff. Hicks told the committee that he briefed Clinton on what was happening on the ground in Benghazi and that, in the course of his call, no one mentioned the Mohammed Internet video and the ongoing attack was discussed as an act of terror. General Ham testified that 15 minutes after the attack began, he alerted General Dempsey and Leon Panetta who were on their way to a previously scheduled meeting with the President. Ham’s account of that fateful day was included in 450 pages of testimony given by senior Pentagon officials in classified, closed-door hearings conducted last year by the Armed Services subcommittee. The testimony, given under “Top Secret” clearance and only declassified in December, presents a rare glimpse into how information during a crisis travels at the top echelons of America’s national security apparatus, all the way up to the President. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, a first-term lawmaker with experience as an Iraq war veteran and Army reserve officer, pressed Ham on “the nature of the conversation” he had with Panetta and Dempsey was that “this was a terrorist attack.” WENSTRUP: “As a military person, I am concerned that someone in the military would be advising that this was a demonstration. I would hope that our military leadership would be advising that this was a terrorist attack.” HAM: “Again, sir, I think, you know, there was some preliminary discussion about, you know, maybe there was a demonstration. But I think at the command, I personally and I think the command very quickly got to the point that this was not a demonstration, this was a terrorist attack.” WENSTRUP: “And you would have advised as such if asked. Would that be correct?” HAM: “Well, and with General Dempsey and Secretary Panetta, that is the nature of the conversation we had, yes, sir.” Leon Panetta’s testimony of a year ago corroborated General Ham’s testimony. Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February 2012 that it was he who informed the President “there was an POLITICS TO GO

apparent attack going on in Benghazi.” “Secretary Panetta, do you believe that unequivocally at that time we knew that this was a terrorist attack?” asked Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla. “There was no question in my mind that this was a terrorist attack,” Panetta replied. Further corroboration came in a then classified session on July 31 of last year. Rep. Westrup raised the question of what was the cause of the attack with Marine Corps Col. George Bristol, commander of AFRICOM’s Joint Special Operations Task Force for the Trans Sahara region. Bristol, who was traveling in Dakar, Senegal when the attack occurred, said he received a call from the Joint Operations Center alerting him to “a considerable event unfolding in Libya.” Bristol’s next call was to Lt. Col. S.E. Gibson, an Army commander stationed in Tripoli. Gibson informed Bristol that Stevens was missing, and that “there was a fight going on” at the consulate compound. WESTRUP: “So no one from the military was ever advising, that you are aware of, that this was a demonstration gone out of control, it was always considered an attack.” BRISTOL: “Yes, sir.” WENSTRUP: “— on the United States?” BRISTOL: “Yes, sir. … We referred to it as the attack.” According to these senior military leaders, from the very beginning the American people were lied to about this attack by the President of the United States and the Secretary of State among others. We were lied to about the nature of the attack being terrorism rather than the product of a demonstration. A year ago last week, Ms. Clinton gave her famous testimony where she blurted out, “What difference at this point does it make?” The difference is the American people deserve to know if they have been lied to, they deserve to know why the Secretary of State made no contact with Gregory Hicks in Libya after 8 p.m. And most important, the families of those killed on 9/11/12 deserve to know the circumstances under which their loved ones were murdered. Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

The American people deserve to know if they have been lied to.

At left Rabbi Mordekai Shapiro of Ohr Torah of N. Woodmere and Rabbi Yitzchok Frankel of Agudath Israel of the Five Towns speaking with Rav Yaakov Perlow at Agudath’s Yarchei Kallah.

Asher Weiss, Av Beis Din Darchei Hora’ah and Rosh Yeshivas Darchei Torah, greeted the participants and delivered an opening lecture for the 14th year in a row, presenting a detailed, enlightening explanation of this year’s topic. Every year the yarchei kallah focuses on a different topic, explained Rabbi Frankel. This year was the Gemara Brachot, perek kaitzad mevorchim, the laws of blessings. He noted that they look for a topic that people are not studying currently, that all the rabbis have to literally “be on the same page.â€? He noted that last year the topic was Shabbat and the year before the topic was TeďŹ llin. The shiurim are open to men and there are separate shiurim for women and tours of sites in Israel includ-

Awakening the thirst... Continued from page 4 tent, then somehow, concerning the building of the Mikdash, the devotion and intention is the mitzvah. Which leaves us wondering why the Beit HaMikdash would be considered meaningless if it were built (or even planned) without the proper desire or intent? The Mishkan is our introduction to the concept of elevating the space-less through space; of reaching the unlimited through the deďŹ ned. Everything about the Temple was designed to arouse our desire to become better, to be better. The detail of the artwork, the nature of the materials used, the ideas behind the functions of different vessels, not to mention all the details of the process of offering up sacriďŹ ces; all this was designed to elevate a human being to a different consciousness. The essence of the service in the Temple was what a person felt, and not what he was doing. The goal was a rediscovery of who we could be, and a re-awakening of who we were meant to become. So if a person was going through all the right motions, but it wasn’t combined with an arousal of the heart, then he had missed the point; he was missing the essence of the entire mitzvah. The Temple was meant to be a lesson in the effect of the right environment on all that we do, and all that we are. This is also the essence of the idea that we as a people need to be in such an environment, the Land of Israel, all the time. (Hence the connection between the two.) One wonders, however, whether the idea goes even deeper. Sometimes, an action done without the necessary motivation, does far more than render the action meaningless,

sometimes, such an action can damage the soul. One wonders how destructive a prayer service mumbled without meaning, where the rabbi gets hoarse yelling at everyone to stop talking, can be. And one wonders whether it was this type of performance, devoid of any feeling or desire, that led so many Jews to leave the beauty of mitzvoth behind, in search of disciplines that would bring back the ďŹ re and joy they thirsted for. We look at the Temple as a building, made of stone, and ďŹ lled with gold. But that is just an illusion. The essence of the Temple was its ability, as an environment to engender the desire for a closer relationship with G-d and a determination to make a difference in this world. Never underestimate the power of the joy and desire of a single individual. “Me’Et Kol Ish Asher Yidvenu Libo,“ says Hashem. (“From each person whose heart desires [to give]â€?). The foundation of all that we do is the essence of what we really want. What do we want? This is the question Hashem asks us to consider as we embark upon the building of the Tabernacle, and later the Temple. We need to create and regularly experience an environment, be it the Temple, our Synagogue or even our Shabbat table, that is conducive to spiritual growth. But if we want to be in a place that will awaken in us the thirst for a better world, and the belief that we can be partners in creating it, the journey begins inside each one of us.The bricks and mortar, and stained glass windows, are just the right space; the real building begins with the heart. Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

ing the Tomb of Rachel and a tour of Jerusalem. Rabbi Mordechai Neugraschel, Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller and Rebbetzin Rena Tarshish spoke to the women. “It all came about 14 years ago during the intifada,â€? explained Frankel. “It was originally done as a support mission at the time. The hotels were empty, no one was coming, there were hardly any ights. It was the idea of Rabbi Shmuel Bloom, that instead of a mission of support, for Agudath Israel it was more appropriate for a mission of support to send people to sit and learn in Eretz Yisrael. It was extremely successful.â€? He said that about 40 people came the ďŹ rst year. “The second year there were more issues,

the threat of war, handing out gas masks and also concerns yes or no to come. Today more than 350 show up.â€? He also explained the source of the yarchei kallah concept. The term is Aramaic and literally means month of gathering. “They borrowed the term from the days of the Gemara. People shut down their businesses and would go to the Torah centers in Bavel (Babylonia) to Sura and Pumbedisa for the month of Elul before Rosh Hashana and Adar, before Pesach. They would stop what they were doing to spend time to learn.â€? He pointed out that this yarchei kallah is four days, from Monday through Thursday, allowing people to return home for Shabbat. Other yarchei kallah convene in Lakewood and in the Catskills during the summer, at the end of December in Brooklyn, and at the Mirrer Yeshiva in Israel over Thanksgiving weekend for their alumni. The goal is “always the priority of learning Torah — everything else is secondary,â€? he said. Most shiurim are in Yiddish; this was the ďŹ rst year they had an English track, and one shiur in Hebrew. One of the highlights of the event is when Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein, the son-in-law of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv ztâ€?l, speaks. Another yearly highlight is when Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman comes from Bnei Brak to address the group. Frankel pointed out that Rav Steinman is about 100 years old, baâ€?h, and comes “every year to give chizuk to the yarchai kallah. It’s a great privilege to be present when he arrives. People pack the room to see him — it’s standing room only.â€?

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By Malka Eisenberg Three-hundred-ďŹ fy men from the U.S. Canada, Mexico, Europe and Israel, transformed the Ramada Renaissance ballroom in Jerusalem into a Bais Medrash, pulsing with the cacophony of earnest Torah study, at last week’s 14th annual Agudath Israel Yarchei Kallah. Rabbi Yitzchok Frankel, rav of Agudath Israel of the Five Towns in Cedarhurst, called it “a fabulous four days.â€? “It’s hard to explain till you do it. It’s very exhilarating,â€? he told The Jewish Star by phone from Israel. Rabbi Mordekai Shapiro of Congregation Ohr Torah of North Woodmere attended as well. Rabbi Frankel said that people “baalei batimâ€? (laymen) come to learn and that some of the greatest scholars come to give classes. “Some of the foremost magidai shiur and poskim in Israelâ€? give classes in gemara, halach and hashkafa. Their students are doctors, lawyers, accountants and businessmen and for a brief four days, they put aside their daily concerns to immerse in the sea of Torah. “Someone who works in America, their cell phone can’t ring till 4 pm. It really takes you away, allows people working the freedom to really be totally removed from any sort of distractions.â€? The day begins with Shacharit at 7:30 am and lasts through Arvit after 7:30 pm. Rabbi Sholom Gottesman, co-chairman of Agudas Yisroel Torah Projects Commission and editor of Yeshurun, a hard cover journal of chidushai Torah, “puts it all together and sets it up.â€? noted Frankel. On the ďŹ rst day, following a three hour morning seder, Rav

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THE JEWISH STAR January 31, 2014 • 30 SHEVAT 5774

5 Towns rabbis at Agudath’s 14th yarchei kallah

7

‘Weather’ or not you’re ready … here comes the Super Bowl S daughter Elana, were so close to the players, they got to speak to Laurence Taylor, Phil Simms and Mark Bavaro through the game. (Ladies and gents, to those who don’t follow football, let’s just say that would be like hobnobbing with the likes of Sinatra, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Liz Taylor and Sophia Vargara.) “You were able to afford those tickets?” I inquired. Jerry replied, “No, I went for free. A friend of mine knew Sid Luckman and I was given his seats from time to time.” So there I was on my computer looking up Sid Luckman. Even though Luckman played for the Chicago Bears, the Mara family, which owns the Giants, was so impressed by Luckman that they gave him lifetime seats. He was the greatest Jewish observant NFL and college football quarterback and is in the Hall of Fame. He won four championships, was the leader of the Bear’s Monsters of the Midway, and dominated the NFL throughout his career. He would unquestionably make any postcard or pamphlet depicting famous Jewish athletes (see movie Airplane to understand what I’m talking about). Just yesterday, Jerry read an article that had Luckman — who retired five years before Jerry was born — listed as the fourth greatest Jewish athlete of all time, only surpassed

by Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg and Mark Spitz (my personal favorite). While Yoni, 6, and Jerry were riveted to the game, Elena, 4, would spend the entire game looking back at the crowd cheering on their beloved Giants; she loved the sound of the cheering and the ring of the cowbells. Sid Luckman heard the identical sounds but in his case the crowd’s adulation was meant for him, a Jewish observant kid from Brooklyn. Unless you’re one of the lucky (or unlucky, depending on the weather, I guess) few who will attend this year’s Super Bowl, try your hand at these easy to make, football themed snacks. Whether you’re hosting or attending a get together, they are sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Deviled egg footballs Ingredients: 12 hard boiled eggs 1/4-1/3 cup mayonnaise (regular or light)

Get the

depending how creamy tasting you like it. 1 3/4 Tbs. yellow mustard Salt and white pepper to taste When cool, peel the eggs. Slice the eggs in half lengthwise, remove yolks and place in a separate plate, and mash well. Add 1/3 cup mayonnaise and 2 tablespoons of yellow mustard. Add salt and pepper to taste, then carefully spoon into the white egg halves. Cut chives into small pieces and arrange on the eggs so that it looks like football lacing, see photo.

Cocktail Hot Dog Football Players in Helmets Ingredients: As many cocktail franks as you want to serve. 1 jar of large pimiento-stuffed olives Mustard Al dente thin spaghetti (just enough to use as lacing for the footballs) Preparation: Players in helmets Boil cocktail franks according to package directions. • Cut 1/3 off the base of the olives. This will be the helmet. • To place the helmet, slice vertically through the back of the olive and place over the top of each cocktail frank • Pipe on mustard to form the mouth guard and finish by placing two mustard dots for the eyes. Preparation: Footballs Follow photo and use mustard for stitching in the center of the cocktail frank and use pasta for the other rings around the edges of the football. judy.soiree@gmail.com

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o, this being the third Super Bowl I am writing about, I’ve already used up all of my material. You know, the women that really don’t want to watch the game, the men that really don’t want the women there, all the rules of what and what not the women can speak about (icksnay on how cute the players are, love the color of the uniform, etc.) I’ve also written about the amount of food, mostly in the tons, that are consumed, and all the Pepto Bismol that is bought the WHO’S IN THE Monday after the game. KITCHEN I was stuck, and lamenting to my husband Jerry, that I had nothing of interest this year, except that the game would be played in frigid weather. I figured I would compare it to the Freeze Bowl between the Bengals and the Chargers, when he said, “I’ve got it, you’ll knock it out of the park with Judy Joszef this one: Sid Luckman.” “Sid Luckman?” I asked. “Was he an old friend of yours I never heard of, or is this going to be a never heard of story you pulled out of your Jerry-tool kit?” “Yes, one of those stories. We were able to sit in his seats, in the ’80s on the 50 yard line, first row right behind the Giants’ bench,” Jerry responded. (An aside to women who are not into football: Those seats is equivalent to standing in a pair of Louboutins or better yet wearing a custom tailored Channel evening gown. The seats don’t get better than those.) I heard all about how he, his son Yoni and

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January 31, 2014 • 30 SHEVAT 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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9 THE JEWISH STAR January 31, 2014 • 30 SHEVAT 5774

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3 Auschwitz lessons on remembrance day By Danny Danon, JNS.org I am overwhelmed, at Auschwitz, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, where I join somberly with fellow Israeli leaders to remember and to learn lessons for the future. The infamous arched sign over the gates to the concentration camp still commands: Arbeit Macht Frei. This was no mere motto. It was the ďŹ nal element of the Final Solution, an elusive promise that having endured the roundups and ghetto liquidations, the hunger and the forced train journey, here at last was the hint of humanity. Just obey the rules, my people were told, and somehow it would all turn out all right. Lesson number one: Reject the lies told to us, especially the ones that y in the face of reality and aim to annihilate rather than rescue us. This sign must be remembered each and every time our delegation enters the negotiating room to be solicitously asked for still more concessions, more prisoner and land retreats. It must be remembered when stern words that under no circumstances will Iran ever be permitted to acquire a nuclear bomb are predicated on the lessening of pressure and freeing up of sanctions against the terrorist regime in Tehran. Once again the world tells us “work with us, be good guys,â€? and everything will sort itself out. We continue to the train tracks known around the world where hundreds of thousands of broken Jews were herded past impromptu selection teams who decided who should live and who should die, which mothers to separate from how many of their children. Lesson number two: Those tracks could readily have been wrecked in but one eeting, focused air attack by Allied forces. Leaders of the caliber of Churchill and FDR were privy to those begged requests, yet no such bombing run ever occurred, not once. The genocide was not stopped for one day, not for one hour. And the lesson is clear, we cannot live without self-reliance. I do not blame the Allies for their failure to save countless lives by bombing the rail tracks. I blame the Nazi death machine, of course, but I also cannot help but casti-

gate Jewish weakness. Undoubtedly, Jewish strength and inuence, much less sovereignty, would have forever eradicated this picture of apathy and inaction. We were too low on the priority pole to compel those who had the power and the resources to act. They were admirably engaged in saving the West from Nazi bestiality, but saving the Jews was lost in the shufe of competing demands. Finally, as I gaze around, I see Members of Knesset from all parties. I see our government leaders. I see staunch Christian friends and allies from the United States and Europe. But I also see killing ďŹ elds and crematoria ďŹ lled with millions of the murdered. I cannot begin to imagine their horror or their sense of abandonment. Lesson number three is: We dare not forget. We must also remember the precious lives wantonly, cruelly ended in this place and others like it through the unholy trio of Nazi madness, Western indifference, and Jewish weakness. We must remember every day, every place we set foot, what happened at Auschwitz. And the memory must be totally pro-active, not passive. We must continuously ask ourselves, “How should I react to this situation TODAY, in light of the tragic lessons of the Holocaust?â€? How must we as a people, bring peace through negotiations, stop the Iranian threat, quash extremist Muslim terrorism‌ based on the lessons learned from the Holocaust? I am in Auschwitz and I realize we must continue to picture the black smoke of the crematoria, consuming a generation of Jews. Then picture a different sky in which Israeli jet ďŹ ghters streak across the horizon in pride and strength. The sky is empty at this moment, yet the two visions co-exist. We must keep both pictures ďŹ rmly engraved in our minds. And then, as we are wisely instructed, “We must choose life.â€? I leave Auschwitz with a huge life lesson engraved in my mind: We must be strong, and we can rely ultimately only on ourselves. If we remember that, we will not merely survive, but we will thrive. Danny Danon is Deputy Defense Minister of the State of Israel and the author of “Israel: The Will to Prevail.â€?

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This series will delve into the unique personalities of each of the Twelve Tribes — the sons of Yaakov and men who would become the Shevatim. Explore how descendants from each tribe seem to replicate the experiences of their ancestry. Analyze the experiences and personalities of the Shevatim and consider how their children, throughout Tanach, reflect upon them. t D P

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This series will survey the major events of Jewish history from the Babylonian Exile until the Bar Kokhba Revolt. It is during this period of the Second Temple that a fragile remnant of refugees transformed into a thriving Jewish people. We will trace how the Jews built survival skills for living in exile and under dominant political empires and foreign cultures by adopting, adapting, and resisting those forces. D P t S P

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The Theresienstadt concentration camp archway with the phrase Arbeit Macht Frei, meaning “work makes (you) free,� over the entrance. Godot13 via Wikimedia Commons

Orthodox ‌ and out of the closet ized that dream did exist in my mind and it could no longer be that way,â€? says Dickler. “I needed to replace it with a new dream.â€? At the time Elie came out, says Dickler, she was “in shockâ€? and “did not know what the future would hold.â€? Today, she says she has replaced the dream and she hopes her son will ďŹ nd his mate— another man—and the two of them will marry, maybe even have children. “I will have three son-inlaws,â€? she says with a smile. (Dickler has two daughters.) But while Dickler has been able to recreate her ideal, this is Participants discuss the complexities of being Orthodox not so easy for her community or for rabbis in Baltimore and elseand LGBT at the Eshel National Conference in January. where. male as one lies with a woman; it is an abhorThe R family from the northrenceâ€? (Leviticus 18:22), and “If a man lies eastern U.S., who asked that their name be with a male as one lies with a woman, the withheld in this article, says they left their two of them have done an abhorrent thing; synagogue after the rabbi spoke openly at the they shall be put to death—their bloodguilt pulpit against the Boy Scouts of America’s deis upon themâ€? (Leviticus 20:13). The Torah cision to open its doors to gay scouts. Their considers a homosexual act between two son came out of the closet two years ago. men to be an abhorrent thing (to’evah), punJean Prager of Bergen County, says when ishable by death—a strong prohibition. As a she told her rabbi about her lesbian daughter, result, Orthodox parents of LGBT children “he was very matter-of-factâ€? about it. He did are often struck with a complicated combina- tell the Pragers they should accept her, but tion of loving their child and wanting to ac- chose not to discuss the halachic aspects of it. cept him or her for who he is and feelings of Since then, according to Ken Prager, their rabshame/fear of community isolation. Having bi is trying to learn more about the subject. He an LGBT child was generally not something was even one of the 200 Orthodox rabbis to the parents ever considered. sign the Statement of Principles regarding ho“In the back of my mind, I always assumed mosexuality, which allows that homosexuality my three kids would grow up, marry some- is genetically and/or hormonally determined one of the opposite sex and have children. In and believes that reparative therapy may be the instant that Elie told us he was gay, I real- bogus and even harmful. The Pragers’ rabbi

also let them give an informal talk about the challenges of being the parents of a gay child and the unique issues they faced as members of the Orthodox community. Steve Greenberg, who was ordained by the Orthodox seminary of Yeshiva University and later came out as gay, said he understands where his colleagues are coming from. He said the moment an Orthodox rabbi says anything more liberal or accepting, it threatens his credentials. “Let’s say a rabbi believed that while he cannot change the law, the fact that some people may be built this way [LGBT], then they can’t be held accountable and can be considered people under duress. So it would not change the law, but it would not penalize anyone for being gay and allow people to be in committed relationships. ‌ Rabbis that suggest such things are at best questioned and are at worst kicked out and deprived of their Orthodox identities,â€? explains Greenberg. The result is Orthodox LGBT couples turning from the fold, and often their parents become less observant or connected. “This makes me somewhat sad, but I am upset with the community itself that judges and pushes away,â€? says Epstein. “No one is able to be a perfect Biblically-mandated Jew. It is an ideal for which we all strive. ‌ I think that Torah and G-d are far more understanding and loving than the people who sometimes claim to act on their behalf.â€? For now, Kabakov said Eshel will continue to shed light on the topic through rabbinic and community outreach, and to offer a platform for these parents to come together for support. This includes monthly conference calls and the upcoming conference. “It is getting better,â€? says Rabbi Greenberg. “Rabbis are more interested in truly being compassionate ‌ struggling with how to successfully be compassionate.â€? Dickler says “it is time to bring these issues out of the closet. It is OK to talk about it.â€?

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By Maayan Jaffe, JNS.org “Orthodox parents of gay children tend to feel isolated,â€? says Mindy Dickler, the mother of 21-year-old Elie, who came out as gay three years ago. Dickler, from Baltimore, is on the planning committee for the second annual Eshel Retreat For Orthodox Parents of LGBT Children. She says the conference, which will be held March 7–9 at the Capital Retreat Center in Waynesboro, Penn., gives parents a chance to feel that they are part of the Orthodox Jewish community again, and gives them hope. Eshel founder Miryam Kabakov said the ďŹ rst conference, last April, came after several parents of LGBT youths approached her to talk about their plight. She said many expressed loneliness or an inability to discuss what it meant to have an LGBT child with their friends or rabbis. “As soon as an [Orthodox] child reveals the secret, the parent takes on the secret and goes into hiding. And the parent has to go through his own process,â€? explains Kabakov. This “hidingâ€? is largely a result of the way that Orthodox Jews see the world and the words of the Torah. “Orthodox, or speciďŹ cally halachically [Jewish law] observant, Jews begin their discussions with what does G-d want from me, and how do I understand the texts and teachings of my faith to indicate what G-d expects and wants from me,â€? says Dr. Saundra Sterling Epstein, who has a gay daughter. “Our decisions are within the context of that discussion, so different from the non-Orthodox world in which this does not come to the table.â€? The basis of the prohibition against homosexual acts in Judaism derives from two biblical verses in Leviticus: “Do not lie with a

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January 31, 2014 • 30 SHEVAT 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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By Rabbi Jack Riemer, JNS.org There are lots of biographies of famous people lining the shelves of bookstores. There are movie stars who hire press agents, whose job is to make sure that everyone knows all about them. There are politicians who measure their success by how many times their names appear in the newspapers. But there are very few books I know of whose purpose it is to acquaint us with saintly people. That is what makes Rabbi Hillel Goldberg’s newly published “The Unexpected Road: Storied Jewish Lives Around the Worldâ€? (Feldheim Publishing, 228 pages) so important. Goldberg has collected some amazing stories about pious and saintly Jews of our time and of the recent past. They come from Salt Lake City and from Siberia, from Atlanta and from Auschwitz, from South Bend and from Moscow, from SantĂŠ Fe and from Slobodka. Some of these stories are not about celebrities, but about plain, simple, and ordinary Jews, whose one distinguishing characteristic is that they have devoted their lives to doing what is right. The following are some of my favorite proďŹ led individuals from this book: one from Eastern Europe, one from Israel, and one from America. Baruch Zeldovich and Bereh Pinnes Baruch Zeldovich and Bereh Pinnes were two brothers-in-law who, between them, supported most of the yeshivas in Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries. They had married two sisters. But how did they end up suing each other? Zeldovich was solicited by the Volozhin yeshiva, which was the Harvard of the yeshivas in its time. He agreed to cover the entire budget deďŹ cit of the school. Shortly thereafter, his brother-in-law sued him in a beit din (rabbinic court). Pinnes claimed that he had been a partner with Zeldovich in every venture for many years, and that therefore, the saving of the Volozhin yeshiva was an investment that he was entitled to buy into equally with Zeldovich. Who won? That detail has somehow not come down to us—the dispute was settled, but we don’t know exactly how. All we know of is the wondrous love of Torah and mitzvot that deďŹ ned the Zeldovich-Pinnes conict—and their subsequent partnership—as not a dispute over who had the right to get the money, but rather over who had the right to share in the mitzvah to give the money to subsidize Torah study. Rabbi Yehudah Getz If you asked for an appointment with Rabbi Yehudah Getz, the rabbi of the Western Wall for 27 years, he would say that he could only see you in the late morning or in

Rabbi Hillel Goldberg and his new book, with Beis Halevi, Rabbi Yosef Soloveitchik (1820-1892).

the afternoon, because he had a night job. No one ever asked what his night job was. Getz’s secret job, it turns out, was to walk in the dead of night from his home to a ďŹ vefoot-high cavern adjacent to the Western Wall. At that hidden spot, on a stone oor, there was a small lectern, an ark, and a table, each overlaid with red velvet. The spot was illuminated by a 25-watt light bulb. There, he recited the Tikkun Hatzot (Midnight RectiďŹ cation)—the lamentation for the destruction of the Jewish Temples, which has been recited at that same place and at that same hour ever since the establishment of the Beis El Center of Kabbalah in 1727. Getz performed that “night jobâ€? from the day he came to Jerusalem, after the 1967 Six-Day War, until the day he died. The Beis Halevi The third story comes from Rabbi Goldberg himself. He once read a memoir in which Rabbi Baruch Epstein described how he once heard the “Beis Haleviâ€? (Rabbi Yosef Soloveitchik) teach. In this memoir, Rabbi Epstein described how the Beis Halevi formulated his words, how he was both friendly and stiff, intimate and aloof, accessible and intellectual, and always in total control—unfazed by any question, person, or issue. As Rabbi Goldberg read this account, something went off in his head. There was something familiar about this description, but at ďŹ rst, he couldn’t remember where he had read it before. And then he remembered. He had not heard it—he had seen it! But Goldberg knew that was impossible.

The Beis Halevi died in l892, so he could not possibly have heard him teach. Then Goldberg understood. While in Boston for four years, he heard many lectures by Rabbi Yosef Soloveitchik, the great-grandson of the Beis Halevi. Listening to the great-grandson, Goldberg had heard the same substance, delivery, cadence, tone, method of analysis, and the same approach to life that the Beis Halevi had. This meant that the greatgrandfather, who died eight years before his great-grandson was born, must have transmitted his teaching methods to his son, and the methods continued to be passed down in the family. That is the type of continuity that unites Jews across generations! Did these stories really happen? I can only respond with a story that I’ve heard famed

Jewish attorney Alan Dershowitz tell. Once the Chafetz Chaim—Rabbi Israel Meir (HaKohen) Kagan—came to testify in a court case. Before he was sworn in, the defense attorney explained to the judge that this man was a great saint. And to prove the point, he described how the Chafetz Chaim had once entered his home and found a thief running away with a precious candlestick. The rabbi ran after the man, shouting, “Hefker! Hefker!—this candlestick is no longer mine. I declare it ownerless.� That way, the thief would not be guilty of stealing. The judge said, “Come on now, do you really believe this actually happened?� The lawyer replied, “I don’t know, your honor, but they don’t tell stories like that about you or me.�

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dent Reaga By Malka Eis n’s son) and Wallenberg enbe survivor Ve “I realize ho rg ra Koppel, at Wallenber ders the “re not existing; w close I could have g Heritage spo come to I’m here bec Foundation sure that the nsibility to maintain one man’s kin ause of the inaugural din an grace of dn ner. At right, He and his traditions of his family d en- Hungary du Robert Kopp ess and efforts.â€? Wallenberg ring Wo wif go on.â€? memorial in graduates of e Laurie have three ral dinner of el participated in the Wa llenberg wa rld War II. Budapest. children, local yeshiv inaugu- of the s Wa bo llen rn in 191 wealthy Sw ot, and are dation at the ber As the the Young Isr 2 edi me int sh Young Israel g Heritage Founmb o ael ban ers a the Jew Nazis accelerated the of Wood king interests in where he rec of ir s there, he architecture family. He pursued ited a chapte Jamaica Estates, the Koppel’s mother, Vera, mere. created pro war against (Schutzpass ing in the Un and business who also att r of tehillim. The only chi dinner, discus tec tive passes ) and ren ited States an , study- bu ended ban ld of two Ho sed her ted nes Koppel told ild d The Jewish locaust sur vivors, Wa s to histor y and convey need to bear wit- a king in Haifa before the securing a job in dip ings as Swedish territo and designated bu Star that he lomatic im the story of llenberg, a wa munity, ha ries protected by man who ris Raoul bu siness partner to a Hu r. He became ish shoul- mo ng sinessman ked his life re than 100 and was rec ngarian Jewish con ags out front. He wa ing huge Swedto ,000 Jews rui s arrested qu from the Na save to ser ve in the by Swedish Mi ted by the U.S. claim ering Soviet forces an zis in Aff d except for the nistry for For airs in Buda s some pest. eign again. by prisoners in Russia, was The Russian s later claim never seen ed that he Continued on page 12

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By Malka Eis enberg The Ortho million ove ter lauded secdox Union Advocacy Ce r last year. nFour NYS Execut tions of the just releas ed curity issues delineated inc ive budget for lude sefun education funding tha its increased educat ding, CAP and MSR ser vices, t will in tur ion beneďŹ t New York Jewish n universa al investment tax cre dit and day schools. l pre-K. Governor After the posed budg Andrew Cuomo’s pro SAFE et funding wit is focusing on educat - for public schools Act was passed ion ing “pr h the goal las t yea r, pro of funneling $500 millio im n surplus a rity me arily gun control and vidin ďŹ scal yea 2014-2015 asures,â€? acc as ording to Leb secuprojects,â€? exp “enough to start all the r advocating for pri , those vate schoo se that the lai ned Jef ls found f hurst, New Leb of Ceda y Yor r- millions were excluded from Affairs for OU k Director of Politi the of dollars in cal Ad building ass “The govern vocacy. istance. or put out a The SAFE get for Jew good budAct was a ish one tim citing “positi day schools,â€? Leb sai Governor Cu d, for bu e legislation ve itemsâ€? tha omo and Je ild real money of Political ff Leb, of Ce to the day t “will bring govern ing aid. The Affairs for OU Advocacy darhurst, New York or they are pas schools wh provided Director en for sec sed.â€? urity spend The total edu ing cat Shabbat Candl ion of mo bu $4.5 millio st $22 billio dget is alelighting 4:4 n for an d pri increase of 5 pm. Shabb vate schoo n $807 bot at ends 5:49 h the curren ls in pm. 72 minute t an d zm

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coming ďŹ sc al year. Mandated (MSR) and Ser vices Reimburseme Comprehens nt ive Attendan Policy (CAP ), ce state fundin are the biggest source g for of “CAP is tie day schools, he said. d into tru tion,â€? said Leb. “It’s a ancy prevenconstitution permissible ally fun schools.â€? Sch ding stream for privat e oo ls have dance and they get rei to take attenmbursed for the Continued on page 12

This week’s Tor ah Reading: Mis

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January 31, 2014 • 30 SHEVAT 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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Paul Shaviv, head of school at Ramaz on the Upper East Side, sent the following email to his school’s community on Monday: n Sunday evening, I attended a KJ [Kehilath Jeshurun] Men’s Club screening of the riveting documentary Turkish Passport, which drew in over two hundred people, including the Consul General of Turkey and several of his colleagues. The ďŹ lm describes how Turkish diplomats in Nazi-occupied France were able to save about 250 French Jews who had Turkish nationality, or family connections to Turkish nationality. (Turkey was neutral for most of the war.) But the ďŹ lm brought home the sheer horror, minute by minute, of Jews whom the Nazis hunted like vermin in Occupied France in the 1940s: the terror of walking in the street; the terror of the knock on the door; or of

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being caught and being demanded to show identity. In the middle of this, a handful of Turkish diplomats issued Turkish passports and papers to Jews, who were then able to claim that they were foreign subjects, and therefore “protected.� In Paris, the diplomats demanded the release of “Turkish� Jews from the infamous Drancy detention center. In Nice, the Turkish Consul and his Deputy insisted on climbing into a cattle truck with a group of Jews whom the Nazis were deporting despite their Turkish papers, forcing the Germans to free all the Jews a few hours later in order to avert a diplomatic incident. In 1944, when it was clear Turkey was going to join the Allies, the Turks organized trains to get “their� Jews out of France and into Turkey itself. About 1,300 Jews were saved in this way -- from a Europe that reeked with death, and where to be born Jewish was

At SAR in Riverdale... Continued from page 3 that distract our teens from focusing on mitzvot, we should support teenagers who seek to strengthen their connection to Hashem and to a life of mitzvot. If I taught girls in my school, I would make the same decision.â€? In fact, as he subsequently shared with me, he had made the same decision. A few years back, a woman from the community asked if she could daven at the morning minyan at Rinat — but, she said, I wear tallis and teďŹ llin when I daven. Rabbi Adler permitted her to daven in shul. A number of men in the community came over to him and said that they refused to daven in such a minyan. That story crystallized it all for me. I told my students (and I went to each of our four grades for a community meeting to explain the decision - as well as giving two faculty shiurim for staff) that I am not committed to the idea of SAR girls putting on teďŹ llin. I am not encouraging our girls to do so. But I am committed to having our boys and girls be able to daven in the same shul where a woman might be doing so. That when they see something different, even controversial, before deciding in which denomination it belongs, they must ďŹ rst take a serious look at the halakha and ask their Rabbi whether there is basis for such practice. I suspect that I would not differ much regarding normative halakha with most people in our community. But I would differ strongly with someone who thought this was cause for that person to be removed from the community — or that such practice could not be supported within the community shul. I permitted our two female students to daven with teďŹ llin because I believe that we should not be afraid of different forms of ʭʚʤ ʺʣʼʥʲ when there is halakhic ar-

gument to support it. I permitted the young women to daven with teďŹ llin because we should be proud, as a Modern Orthodox community, that we recognize the sanctity and dignity of each person and we ďŹ nd ways to support their spiritual growth in different ways. I am proud to say that many students have taken this as an opportunity to learn about their classmates and to learn the sources more carefully. They have engaged each other seriously and respectfully. They have helped shape an atmosphere of support, of care, of ĘŹĘ Ę¸ĘšĘŠ ĘşĘĄĘ¤Ę . And here is what we do not do: we do not loosely and without basis malign other Jews, call them names, disparage their motivations and their divine service in the name of ‌ what? I am not sure. I have been reading social media (a new practice for me) and I have been appalled. I have read people maligning these two ďŹ ne young women with insults and false characterizations based on...nothing. It is awful; it is abominable; it is unacceptable. Two girls who are ʣʹʧ ʊʏʎʼʢ ʺʼʸʚʍʼ ʺʥʚ ʊʸʎʼʚ, and ʺʼʰʥ ʤʸʼʺ. It has been awful to watch. It is Ę­Ęš Ę ĘŠĘśĘĽĘŽ ʲʸ at its worst (of kids, no less). We should be proud to be stringent in recognizing the dignity of others and valuing their divine service and stringent about how we talk about others, especially children. I know that not everyone agrees with my decision. I expect that and I respect that. It is my hope that we can champion, together, ahavat yisrael, love for each Jew; that we can come together as a community even when we disagree; that we can deeply respect each other with pride as we create space for us to work together, as a community, to strengthen ourselves in our ʭʚʤ ʺʣʼʥʲ.

to be born with an automatic death sentence. And then I reminded myself of the miracle that seventy years later, not only do we have Jewish life, and Judaism, but we have Jewish schools -- and we have Jewish children who want to observe more mitzvot, not fewer. Instead of daring to criticize these children, shouldn’t we be in awe of the miracle they represent? Isn’t it a miracle that there are ANY young people still interested in Torah? Shouldn’t every Jew be unreservedly applauding every child at a Jewish school? What would the Rema -- the main rabbinic authority quoted who states that we should ‘protest’ women who want to wear teďŹ llin -- say if he were alive today? Might he not perhaps be as radical as the poskim at the time of the Crusades, who threw the book out of the window when faced with the unimaginable horrors of their time, and the agonizing choices of life and death? Aren’t the midot of chesed and rachamim the most applicable for our times, and probably for centuries to come? So I came home from the KJ event shak-

ing my head, wondering why some people want to stop young people who want to observe more mitzvot. Yes, there are important issues around this particular question, and they deserve educated and civil discussion. But it wasn’t so long ago that our entire people, and our Torah, almost disappeared into the gas chambers and ovens of Auschwitz, or were vulnerable to slaughter in the thousands of still-anonymous killing ďŹ elds in towns and villages in every corner of Europe. As I once wrote: “In a post-Holocaust era, every child at a Jewish Day School is a precious gift to Jewish history.â€? Perhaps we should keep some perspective, and remember what is really important in life? Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, principal of Ramaz and spiritual leader of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, delivered a sermon last Shabbat at KJ on women and teďŹ llin. The sermon and its source notes provide halachic basis for Ramaz’s position.

A view from Chicago‌ Continued from page 3 When a person does a mitzvah from which they are exempt, then one has to look at the motivation. If the motivation is based solely on the sincere attempt to do something that is pleasing in the eyes of G-d, it is laudatory. But if there are additional motivations outside of that parameter, one has to wonder about how much value that really has to G-d. If a woman seeks equality via practicing a ritual that is the province of men, then is she really serving G-d? Or is she serving the goals of equalizing the sexes. If the latter, then she is not serving G-d at all. Because Judaism is not about equalizing the sexes. There are those who will and say, ‘What does it hurt us if a woman decides to do a religious act that she is not required by Halacha to do?’ ‘Who are we to judge someone else’s motives?’ This is true. Is it a little weird? Sure. But it’s really none of our business how people choose to serve G-d, as long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others. But using that argument, I would posit that women who choose to wear Burkas should be left alone too. Or perhaps even praised for their heightened sensitivity to modesty in dress! Is their sincerity any less than a woman who lays TeďŹ llin? I think we have to grant the Burka ladies the same beneďŹ t of the doubt. And yet I would be willing to bet that most people, feminists included would seriously frown on this extreme practice, even though it hurts no one. Would Ms. Heicklen say here

too that she was pleased whenever there’s an expansion of anyone’s ability to connect with G-d in a way that is halachically permissible? I wonder. Tradition (Mesorah) is important. Doing things that are outside of traditional practices is one of the big failings of our time in my view. It casts aspersions on what our own parents considered valid when we go outside of their tradition. I am reminded of the famous story (urban legend?) about the descendants of the Chafetz Chaim who refused to use his Kiddush cup because it did not measure up the the Chazon Ish’s minimum Shiur for Kiddush. Yes, tradition can change and it has many times. But there was always a fundamental sociological reason for it based on existential challenges. This is called Hora’as Shah. I do not see any existential challenge to Judaism if women don’t lay TeďŹ llin or wear Burkas. In my view no matter how sincere they are (and I do not really question the sincerity of most of them), I believe that somewhere in the furthest recesses of their brains, there is a left wing modern Orthodox feminist motive to the former and an obsessive right wing Charedi motive via a preoccupation with Tznius in women’s clothing to the latter. So, for all these reasons, I am opposed to both. But at the same time, I would not protest it beyond this essay. I would simply let it run its course. Because I do not believe that either practice will remain a permanent part of our religious Jewish culture.

Long Beach ‘die-in’ wants hospital back By Anthony RiďŹ lato In an attempt to draw attention to what has become a raw issue for many residents, a demonstration was held over the weekend in front of Long Beach Medical Center, where about 30 protesters called on state and hospital ofďŹ cials to reopen the shuttered facility, which has remained closed since Hurricane Sandy. Braving the bitter cold and wind, demonstrators gathered at the corner of Lincoln Boulevard and East Bay Drive and staged what was described as a “die-in,â€? where they expressed the need for an emergency department on the barrier island. For about three minutes, demonstrators dropped to the ground and “played deadâ€? to illustrate that lives continue to be put at risk each day LBMC remains closed. Participants, including County Legislator Denise Ford, called on the state Department of Health, state representatives and hospital ofďŹ cials to open a 24-hour, 911-ambulance receiving urgent care facility.

“It’s been 14, 15 months since the storm, and being a barrier island, we’re isolated, and we need access to a round-the-clock emergency receiving center,â€? said resident John McNally. “It seemed like a powerful way to put pressure on the hospital and our elected ofďŹ cials in the state to ensure that this matter gets the attention that it really needs. Residents are frustrated.â€? Some participants toted signs calling for the hospital’s reopening, and a few even wore costumes, including Aija Dorsey, a 20-year LBMC employee, who dressed as a trauma patient, with medical bandages wrapped around her head and fake blood. LBMC closed after 10 feet of water ooded its basement during Sandy. After making major repairs, ofďŹ cials said two wings and the emergency department could open. The state health department refused to allow the facility to reopen, and called for LBMC to merge with another hospital. —Long Beach Herald. Photo by Kristie Arden

THE JEWISH STAR January 31, 2014 • 30 SHEVAT 5774

Ramaz head calls for ‘perspective’ in teďŹ llin talk

13

Pete Seeger’s view of Israel was a mixed bag

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According to an ICAHD press release, Seeger had donated portions of the royalties from his 1960s hit “Turn, Turn, Turn� to the group. On the other hand, Seeger participated in an online peace rally for the Arava Institute, an environmental academic program in Israel, in 2010. But after discover-

ing that Arava had ties to the Jewish National Fund, Seeger said, “I support the BDS movement as much as I can.â€? He visited Israel for the ďŹ rst time in 1964, joining with those working on kibbutzim. JTA.org and other sources Photo by Anthony Pepitone

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A list of local properties upon which tax liens are to be sold will be advertised in this publication on or before February 14th, 2014. Nassau County does not discriminate on the basis of disability in admission to or access to, or treatment or employment in, its services, programs, or activities. Upon request, accommodations such as those required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will be provided to enable individuals with disabilities to participate in all services, programs, activities and public hearings and events conducted by the Treasurer’s Office. Upon request, information can be made available in Braille, large print, audio-tape or other alternative formats. For additional information, please call (516) 571-2090 Ext. 13715. Dated: January 17th, 2014 THE NASSAU COUNTY TREASURER Mineola, New York TERMS OF SALE Such tax liens shall be sold subject to any and all superior tax liens of sovereignties and other municipalities and to all claims of record which the County may have thereon and subject to the provisions of the Federal and State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Acts. However, such tax liens shall have priority over the County’s Differential Interest Lien, representing the excess, if any, of the interest and penalty borne at the maximum rate over the interest and penalty borne at the rate at which the lien is purchased. The Purchaser acknowledges that the tax lien(s) sold pursuant to these Terms of Sale

may be subject to pending bankruptcy proceedings and/ or may become subject to such proceedings which may be commenced during the period in which a tax lien is held by a successful bidder or the assignee of same, which may modify a Purchaser’s rights with respect to the lien(s) and the property securing same. Such bankruptcy proceedings shall not affect the validity of the tax lien. In addition to being subject to pending bankruptcy proceedings and/or the Federal and State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Acts, said purchaser’s right of foreclosure may be affected by the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act(FIRREA),12 U.S.C. ss 1811 et.seq., with regard to real p r o p e r t y u n d e r Fe d e r a l Deposit Insurance Corporation(FDIC) receivership. The County Treasurer reserves the right, without further notice and at any time, to withdraw from sale any of the parcels of land or premises herein listed. The Nassau County Treasurer reserves the right to intervene in any bankruptcy case/litigation where the property affected by the tax liens sold by the Treasurer is part of the bankruptcy estate. However, it is the sole responsibility of all tax lien purchasers to protect their legal interests in any bankruptcy case affecting their purchased tax lien, including but not limited to the filing of a proof of claim on their behalf, covering their investment in said tax lien. The Nassau County Treasurer and Nassau County and its agencies, assumes no responsibility for any legal represen-

tation of any tax lien purchaser in any legal proceeding including but not limited to a bankruptcy case where the purchased tax lien is at risk. The rate of interest and penalty at which any person purchases the tax lien shall be established by his bid. Each purchaser, immediately after the sale thereof, shall pay to the County Treasurer ten per cent of the amount for which the tax liens have been sold and the remaining ninety per cent within thirty days after such sale. If the purchaser at the tax sale shall fail to pay the remaining ninety per cent within ten days after he has been notified by the County Treasurer that the certificates of sale are ready for delivery, then all amounts deposited with the County Treasurer including but not limited to the ten per cent theretofore paid by him shall, without further notice or demand, be irrevocably forfeited by the purchaser and shall be retained by the County Treasurer as liquidated damages and the agreement to purchase shall be of no further effect. Time is of the essence in this sale. This sale is held pursuant to the Nassau County Administrative Code and interested parties are referred to such Code for additional information as to terms of the sale, rights of purchasers, maximum rates of interest and other legal incidents of the sale. Dated: January 17th, 2014 THE NASSAU COUNTY TREASURER Mineola, New York #680363E

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Just Call Our Classified Department at 516-632-5205 LEGAL NOTICE PUBLIC NOTICE OF COUNTY TREASURER’S SALE OF TAX LIENS ON REAL ESTATE Notice is hereby given that I shall on the 18th day of February, 2014 through the 21st day of February, 2014, beginning at 10:00 o’clock in the morning each day, in the Legislative Chambers, First Floor, Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building, 1550 Franklin Avenue, Mineola, New York, sell at public auction the tax liens on certain real estate, unless the owner, mortgagee, occupant of or any other party in interest in such real estate shall have paid to the County Treasurer by February 14th, 2014 the total amount of such unpaid taxes or assessments with the interest, penalties and other expenses and charges against the property. Such tax liens will be sold at the lowest rate of interest, not exceeding 10 percent per six month period, for which any person or persons shall offer to take the total amount of such unpaid taxes as defined in Section 5-37.0 of the Nassau County Administrative Code. As required by Section 5-44.0 of the Nassau County Administrative Code, the County Treasurer shall charge a registration fee of $100.00 per day to each person who shall seek to bid at the public auction as defined above. A list of all real estate in Nassau County on which tax liens are to be sold is available at the website of the Nassau County Treasurer at http://www.nassaucountyny. gov/agencies/Treasurer/Annual_Tax_Lien_Sale/tax_sale_ listing.html

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Folk singer and political activist Pete Seeger, 94, died peacefully on Monday at a New York City hospital, according to his family. Famous for 1960s hits like “If I Had a Hammer,� “Turn, Turn, Turn,� and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,� Seeger was also well known for speaking out for worker’s rights and participating in the civil rights movement. But Seeger also left behind a complicated legacy when it came to Israel. In the early 1950s, with the legendary folk group the Weavers, he sang Tzena Tzena Tzena — in Hebrew (link: http://bit.ly/1aIbJvZ). A few years ago, he did a video for the Isabella Freedman Jewish retreat, in which he discussed key questions explored by Hillel (link: http://bit.ly/1k8xPrM). Seeger drew headlines in 2011 for coming out in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, expressing support for the BDS group Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD).

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JNS.org A few days ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the ofďŹ cial Palestinian Authority (PA) newspaper published an op-ed claiming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has preserved it [racism] and acquired it genetically from the days of the Nazis and the Aryan race,â€? Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported. “Instead of Netanyahu disassociating himself from any act that would remind him of Hitler’s racism, he imitates it and wants to replicate it against the people of Palestine, its inhabitants and nation and even against the citizens of the State of Israel themselves!â€? the article in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida stated. According to PMW, it is not uncommon for Palestinian rhetoric to compare Israel with the Nazis. Another PA editorial, published in 2013, stated that “history is a great lie written by the victors... Had Hitler won, Nazism would be an honor that people would be competing to belong to.â€? Itamar Marcus, the director of PMW, cited three factors in explaining the impact of the PA’s comparison of Israel to the Nazis.

“First, there is no Holocaust education in the PA,â€? Marcus told JNS.org. “For Palestinians, especially youth and young adults, Nazis are some undeďŹ ned demonic evil people who committed the ultimate horriďŹ c crimes against humanity. Second, this is exactly the way the Palestinian Authority demonizes Israel and at times Jews. Israel is said by ofďŹ cial PA sources to be doing the most horriďŹ c crimes against the Palestinian civilians—including doing medical experiments on Palestinian prisoners, ethnic cleansing, intentionally committing massacres against Palestinian civilians, spreading AIDS and drugs and the list goes on. Third, the comparison of Israel to Nazis by ofďŹ cial PA sources and PA ofďŹ cials is very common.â€? “Put these components together and you have a Palestinian population, especially youth and young adults, who are totally convinced that Israel is identical or worse than the Nazis. Given that it is this population that Israel will have to have peace with in the future the political ramiďŹ cations are tragic,â€? he added.

Helpers in a storm‌ Continued from page 1 from the Young Israel of Woodmere fanned out, clearing the pathways and sidewalks near the shul. David Kopelowitz, ready to go with his famous “Chesed machine monster 4x4 truck,â€? texted to ďŹ nd out who needed to be carried up and down stairs, who needed to get to doctors’ appointments etc. Avraham Friedman of Bayswater went to numerous homes of the elderly and vulnerable making sure that the dangerous ice was cleared away. All the while, every single Hatzalah ambulance in our community was busy racing around, bringing more than a dozen fall victims to the hospital. Chaverim volunteers passed up on their own Shabbos errands in favor of helping those with car trouble during this period. In the local hospitals, numerous frum people congregated in the emergency rooms. Phone chargers were swapped, snacks and tehillims were shared and our community cared for one another, in ways that we have never seen before. The personal climax of my day was a phone call that came in at approximately 2:30 pm, Erev Shabbos, from veteran Hatzalah member Eli Polatoff, now hospitalized at Mercy Medical Center, after a painful knee replacement. After conveying his heartfelt

thanks for the beautiful Shabbos package prepared by Meals ‘n More volunteers (under the guidance of coordinators Suri Bender and Eli Weiss), Eli moved into the primary focus of his call. While lying in his own hospital bed in terrible pain, Eli had gotten word from hospital CEO Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt that the fully-stocked respite rooms (lovingly replenished each week by over 100 incredible community volunteers, under the guidance of Shalom Jaroslawicz) just might not have enough food to accommodate the overwhelming number of frum patients this week. Once again, additional last second phone calls were made: We need more food! Disregarding their own Shabbos preparations, Yoeli Steinberg of Gourmet Glatt and Avi Krasnow of Chap A Nosh scurried around their stores preparing beautiful boxes of the most delicious Shabbos items so that yet another delivery could head out to our local hospitals. Need I say more? This is beyond Chesed. These dozens of heroes literally deďŹ ne selflessness, serving as personal examples of what it means to be there for a fellow Jew with no expectation of thankfulness, gratitude or the public eye. It is these people who make me personally feel proud to be a member of this special community.

Kosher halftime‌ Continued from page 1 never had the appropriate platform. Given the success of the Nachum Segal Network over the last year, and the fact that the Super Bowl was coming to our own backyard, it just seemed like the perfect time to launch it.â€? Segal said the show is suitable for all ages of Jewish kids and adults, and attempts to “maintain a family-orientedâ€? feeling, afďŹ rming that “Shlock Rock’s music is universal — everyone will enjoy this one-of-a-kind musical experience.â€? “Lenny always talks about how there is no set time and place for Jewish pride, that we should feel it at all times and should in-

tegrate into all ‘real world’ activities,� Segal added. “We’re hoping that the NSN ‘Kosher Halftime Show’ drives that point home.� The Orthodox Union and Empire Kosher Poultry are among the show’s sponsors. NSN is a Jewish English-language Internet platform featuring the 30-year-old “JM in the AM Jewish Moments in the Morning� radio show, and a wide range of Jewish programming that “is rooted in family values and that encourages a life committed to spiritual growth and the love of Israel.� All programs are streamed and archived on the Internet; some, including the Segal-hosted “JM in the AM,� is also broadcast on traditional radio.

Jewish Star Calendar •Send events to Calendar@TheJewishStar.com •Events MUST include a contact number or email •Deadline is Thursday 5 pm

7+856'$< -$1

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/81&+ /($51 with Rabbi Shalom Axelrod of YI Woodmere.Traditions Restaurant, 302 Central Ave., Lawrence. 12:30-1:30 pm. Buy a great $12 lunch, eat and learn. Alan Stern 516-398-3094.

/81&+ /($51 with Rabbi Shalom Axelrod of YI Woodmere.Traditions Restaurant, 302 Central Ave., Lawrence. 12:30-1:30 pm. Buy a great $12 lunch, eat and learn. Alan Stern 516-398-3094.

6$785'$< )(%

28 -2% )$,5 Rescheduled from January. 4 to 7 pm. Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Pl., Manhattan.

-(:,6+ 52&. Temple B’nai Torah presents, in one of their only New York appearances, Dan Nichols and Eighteen. These musicians bring a wide range of sounds and styles to energetic Jewish rock. 7pm. 2900 Jerusalem Ave., Wantagh. $15 adults and $10 children under 12. 516-546-9177. &20('< 1,*+7 “Live From Emunah It’s Saturday Night,� with comic headliner Avi Lieberman and dinner buffer by Upper Crust. 8pm buffet, 9pm show. $72. For info, email linda.emunah@gmail.com or call 516-2863509. %(1(),7 :,7+ /,3$ Young Israel of Long Beach annual Robert Chiger Scholarship Concert features Lipa Schmeltzer. 8 pm. $25. YILB Social Hall. 646-285-5301, 516-4319715.

681'$< )(% -1) %5($.)$67 Jewish National Fund breakfast features Micha Halpern, who will discuss terrorism, the Middle East, Muslim fundamentalism. Fundraiser with complmentary breakfast. Proceeds from this event support the purchase of new ďŹ reďŹ ghting equipment for Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services. 7:30 am registration; program 8 to 9 am. Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre, 295 Main St., East Rockaway. For more information, contact Howard Ingram, LI Associate Executive Director of JNF, at 516-678-6805 ext 110. RSVP to RSVPNY@jnf.org..org. -(:,6+ ,'(17,7< New series considers what it meant to our grandparents, what it will mean to our grandchildren. First in a series. Rohr Jewish Learning Institute, Chabad of the Port Washington, 80 Shore Rd., Port Washington. $99 for series includes textbook, which continues on Wednesdays through March 12. 516-295-2478.

021'$< )(% %22. &/8% $7 2&($16,'( -&& Mets ďŹ rst Monday of each month. Today: “The Painted Girls,â€? by Cathy Marie Buchanan. 1:30–3 pm. $5. Friedberg JCC, 15 Neil Court, Oceanside. 516-634-4151.

:('1(6'$< )(% -(:,6+ ,'(17,7< New series considers what it meant to our grandparents, what it will mean to our grandchildren. First in a series. Rohr Jewish Learning Institute, Chabad of the Five Towns, 74 Maple Ave., Cedarhurst. 8:15-9:30 pm. $99 for series includes textbook, which continues on Wednesdays through March 12. 516-295-2478. 0< )$925,7( 6()(5 Starting tonight: Five individual shiurim presented by outstanding educators from our local yeshivas. Tonight: Minchas Chinuch by Rabbeinu Yosef, presented by Rabbi Moshe Hubner, rebbe, HAFTR High School. 8:15 to 9:15 pm. Contact Rabbi Axelrod at rsyaxelrod@gmail.com or Eli Dworetsky at tiredcpa@aolcom. Young Israel of Woodmere, 859 Peninsula Blvd.

6$785'$< )(% %($7/(6 75,%87( &21&(57 “All Together Nowâ€? band presents a music journey through time to the Beatles’ ďŹ rst live television appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, the ingenious Sgt. Pepper’s Lovely Hearts Club Band, and much more. $36 (students, $18). 8:30 pm. Congregation Sons of Israel. 111 Irving Pl., Woodmere. 516-374-0655.

681'$< )(% :20(1¡6 +($/7+ $1' +$/$&+$ '$< Local physicians, mental health professionals and yoatzot will work together to help educate the community on a variety of important topics related to women’s health, including fertility, sexuality, breast cancer awareness, contraception, post-partum depression, menopause, and more. Special young adult track will discuss your ďŹ rst gynecological visit, understanding your body’s signals, and pursuing positive relationshiops. Sponsored by the Committee for the Yoetzet of the Five Towns. 10:30 am to 1:45 pm. $10 im advance, $15 at the door. Young Israel of Woodmere, 859 Penninsula Blvd., Woodmere. +,6725< 2) %522./<1 -(:6 New series begins at Temple Beth Emeth v’Ohr, Church Ave. at Marlborough Street in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. OfďŹ cial Borough Historian Ron Schweiger will examine when and why Jews came to Brooklyn and explain population shifts over the years. $5. 4 pm.

7+856'$< )(% /81&+ /($51 with Rabbi Shalom Axelrod of YI Woodmere.Traditions Restaurant, 302 Central Ave., Lawrence. 12:30-1:30 pm. Buy a great $12 lunch, eat and learn. Alan Stern 516-398-3094.

7+856'$< )(% /81&+ /($51 with Rabbi Shalom Axelrod of YI Woodmere.Traditions Restaurant, 302 Central Ave., Lawrence. 12:30-1:30 pm. Buy a great $12 lunch, eat and learn. Alan Stern 516-398-3094. <8 -2% )$,5 6 to 9 pm, Yeshiva University Wilf Campus.

78(6'$< 0$5&+ :20(1 $1' -(:,6+ +2/,'$<6 with Michal Horowitz. Special insights through fascinating facts and beautiful stories. First of a series covering Purim. $15 ($50 for all four classes). 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. JCC of the Greater Five Towns, 207 Grove Ave., Cedarhurst. 516-569-6733.

78(6'$< 0$5&+ ),') *$/$ Friends of the IDF event at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan. For information call 646-274-9655.

THE JEWISH STAR January 31, 2014 • 30 SHEVAT 5774

Nazi slander on Shoah Remembrance Day

15

A Better Kind of Cancer Care

“I came to Winthrop because treating pancreatic cancer absolutely requires a collaborative, team approach.”

Dr. John D. Allendorf is head of Winthrop’s Pancreatic Cancer Program and Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery. He joined Winthrop from the largest university hospital in New York City. A renowned pancreatic surgeon and innovator in robotic surgery, Dr. Allendorf and his team are giving new hope to pancreatic cancer patients.

“What’s important is to have a group of specialists that are expert in their respective fields and dedicated to a common problem. Physicians, nurses and other providers who work well together in an institution that encourages teamwork. Here at Winthrop we have six to eight physicians from different specialties all focused on each individual cancer patient. That is uncommon across the country and unique on Long Island. “I really believe that at Winthrop-University Hospital, we’re delivering a better kind of cancer care.”

259 First Street, Mineola, New York 11501 • 1.866.WINTHROP • winthrop.org

680945

January 31, 2014 • 30 SHEVAT 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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