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Yisro • Friday, February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778 • Luach page 19 • Torah columns pages 18–19 • Vol 17, No 5

The Newspaper of our Orthodox communities

Bibi warns Putin: Israel is prepared to stop Iran’s Syrian encroachment Mostly, visit was a charm offensive

Will act as needed in Lebanon as well

Analysis by Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA MOSCOW — The story behind the huge Victory Monument that was unveiled in 2012 in the Israeli city of Netanya is not exactly common knowledge even there. Featuring two stone slabs each 50 feet high and shaped like wings, the seaside statue honors the Russian Army’s enormous contribution in defeating Nazism. It is known colloquially in Netanya as “the sharks” because the statue reminds many locals of dorsal fins. But if Israelis sometimes forget its symbolism, Russian President Vladimir Putin does not. Putin attended its unveiling, and in a speech Monday welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin NeSee Bibi charm offensive on page 15

In his meeting with Russian President Putin on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu warned Putin that Israel will “stop” Iranian encroachment in Syria and Lebanon. “The question is: Does Iran entrench itself in Syria, or will this process be stopped. If it doesn’t stop by itself, we will stop it,” Netanyahu told reporters as he was leaving Moscow. “We also spoke about Lebanon, which is becoming a factory for precision-guided missiles that threaten Israel. These missiles pose a grave threat to Israel, and we will cannot accept this threat,” he added. Netanyahu said Iran is “in the process of” building weapons factories inside of Lebanon. “I explained our policy. These are not idle words,” he said. “The Russians understand our position, they understand well the significance that we give to these threats.” Netanyahu’s rhetoric comes after an IDF spokesperson made a rare plea to the Lebanese people, in a letter published by a Lebanese opposition news website, that their countries could head towards war if Iran and Hezbollah continue to build up their presence in Lebanon. “Lebanon has become—both by its own actions and omissions and by a blind eye from many members of the international community—one large missile factory,” IDF spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis wrote for the Lebanese website Ahewar. Netanyahu also said that he discussed the Iran nuclear deal with Putin, saying that he raised his “objections” to the accord. —JNS

Prime Minister Netanyahu and Russian President Putin at their meeting in Moscow on Monday. Kobi Gideon/GPO

LI’s Touro Law begins FlexTime program gural class to sit for the bar exam in July 2022. During the first two years of the program, students attend for 3 semesters — fall, spring and summer — completing 24 credits per year. The remaining 40 credits are completed during the third and fourth years and do not require oncampus summer attendance. Generally, the program requires on-campus classes every other Sunday during the first two years. Subsequently, FlexTime students will be able to take many courses entirely online, thus reducing the number of on-campus classes and

providing even greater flexibility. “The FlexTime JD will take advantage of a wide variety of in-person interactions, discussion boards, online peer assessment tools, videoconferencing, and social media platforms to build a vibrant community of teachers and learners, including a rich array of opportunities to interact with and participate in the broader Touro Law Center community,” explained Professor Jack Graves, director of digital learning at Touro Law.“It’s truly exciting and should open doors for many nontraditional law students.” —Source: Touro Law

Rabbi Billet filling an international post Rabbi Hershel Billet of the Young Israel of Woodmere has been appointed to the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad by Senator Charles Schumer. “For more than three decades, Rabbi Billet has been a pillar of the Jewish community in New York and is known for his steadfast spiritual leadership among both his congregants and peers,” Schumer said in a prepared statement. “Because of his moral values, knowledge

and commitment to people of all backgrounds, I am confident that Rabbi Billet is an exceptional choice to serve” on the commission. In his statement, Rabbi Billet said, “The USA is made up of citizens who represent a melting pot of people from different ethnic, religious, and racial backgrounds. We are all united as Americans but we are also all unique because of our diversity. We must never forget from where each of us has come. Therefore, it is a great a great honor to be nominated to serve.”

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Touro Law is launching a FlexTime JD (Juris Doctor) program to accommodate students who might typically enter a part-time law program, but need even more flexibility for work or family obligations. Admissions requirements are the same as those for Touro’s existing four and five year part-time programs. Touro Law — the Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center — is based in Central Islip near the federal courthouse. “This will provide students with maximum flexibility while maintaining a rigorous course of study that will prepare them for the realities of law practice,” said Dean Harry Ballan. “We have a long tradition of offering userfriendly educational opportunities that meet the academic and lifestyle needs of our diverse student body,” said Dr. Alan Kadish, president of the Touro College & University System. “Using the latest technology, this forward-thinking program will help law students pursue high level studies in a flexible way that works for their needs.” FlexTime students will be able to complete the requirements for their JD in just under four years, allowing successful members of the inau-

An independent agency, the 21-member panel has two core missions: to identify and report on cemeteries, monuments and historic buildings in Eastern and Central Europe that are associated with the heritage of U.S. citizens, particularly endangered properties; and to obtain, in cooperation with the Department of State, assurances from the governments of the countries in which the properties are located that the properties will be protected and preserved. — Jeffrey Bessen

Were they ‘Polish’ death camps? Yes, and no By Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA The Polish parliament’s bill to criminalize the use of the term “Polish death camps” prompted an avalanche of criticism in Israel by officials and individuals who warned that it is excessive and risks stifling research on the Holocaust. Following the bill’s passing on Friday in the lower house of the Polish parliament — it awaits the approval of the Senate and the president — Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called the bill “baseless.” Historians, including some from Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial museum, joined him in opposing it. In a statement, Yad Vashem said that whereas “there is no doubt that the term ‘Polish death camps’ is a historical misrepresentation,” the intended law nonetheless is “liable to blur the historical truths regarding the assistance the Germans received from the Polish population during the Holocaust.” Less guarded protest in Israel alleged that some of Poland’s critics of the term Polish death camps are blurring historical truths, and that there is a need for better understanding of sensitivities around the issue in Poland, Israel and beyond. Israeli centrist politician Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid opposition party — and according to recent polls, the lawmaker likeliest to replace Netanyahu if elections were held now — had a lot to say on the topic on social media. In a series of posts, Lapid said, “There were Polish death camps and no law can ever change that.” He added: “Hundreds of thousands of Jews were murdered without ever meeting a German.” “Poland was a partner in the Holocaust,” Lapid also wrote. His statements were historically inaccurate on several levels, according to Efraim Zuroff, a prominent historian on the Holocaust and the Eastern Europe director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “I understand his anger, but Lapid fell in the trap that the Poles made for him, in a sense,” Zuroff said. The claim that there were Polish death camps is “misleading,” Zuroff said. The statement is true only in that there were Nazi death camps on Polish soil. “Polish individuals may have been responsible for the death of many thousands of Jews,” he said, “but Polish state apparatuses were not integrated into the Nazi machine of genocide against the Jews, and in that Poland is actually an exception to many other countries in Nazi-occupied Europe.” Claiming that “Poland was a partner in the Holocaust” is also untrue, Zuroff said, because “there was no Poland” under German

According to Zuroff, with the exception of the Netherlands, Poland was the only country in occupied Europe where resistance activists set up a special organization dedicated to saving Jews. But at the same time, Polish resistance groups, such as the Home Army, refused to accept Jews in many cases — and in others killed them. “Everybody knows that many, many thousands of Poles killed or betrayed their Jewish neighbors to the Germans, causing them to be murdered,” Zuroff said. “The Polish state was not complicit in the Holocaust, but many Poles were. The country was a hotbed of anti-Semitism before the Holocaust, too. It’s foolish to ignore it.” If that’s true, it hasn’t stopped Polish historians and officials from doing just that. In 2016, a year after Law and Justice’s big election win, Polish Education Minister Anna Zalewska said there are “different scenarios” about what happened in Jedwabne, a town in eastern Poland where in Students from HAFTR outside the main gate of the former Auschwitz exter- 1941, locals butchered 1,500 to 2,500 of their Jewish neighbors, reportedly without interference from the Germans (remination camp in Oswiecim, Poland, in May 2017. visionist historians in Poland have disputed this for decades). In 2001, the publication of a book on Jedwabne by occupation. Polish sovereignty was dismantled and the country’s Princeton historian Jan Gross triggered a public debate on the territory was co-opted under Nazi rule. He said the claim that hundreds of thousands of Jews died in issue. In 2016, he was summoned to appear before police for Poland without seeing a German is “absurd,” adding “I don’t know saying that Poles killed more Jews than they did Germans during the Holocaust. Gross was suspected of insulting the honor of where Lapid got that figure from.” Zuroff believes the correct figure is “many thousands” of peo- the Polish nation, which is illegal in the country. In a separate but not entirely unconnected debate, some leaders ple, including in at least 15 towns and cities in eastern Poland, of Polish Jewry have accused the Law and Justice party of ignoring where non-Jews butchered their Jewish neighbors. Zuroff said Lapid’s claim is offensive to Poles because in addi- the rise of ultranationalists in Poland, which they said creates a tion to killing 3 million Polish Jews, the Nazis killed 3 million Polish security concern for the community and a “low point” in its history. non-Jews. The remaining millions of Jewish Holocaust victims were Other Polish Jewish leaders have dismissed the claims as part of a “political war” against the government. either killed in the former Soviet Union or camps outside Poland. “Before Law and Justice won the election, there was a feeling “The Nazis considered the Poles lesser humans,” Zuroff said. Which is part of the reason that the “Polish opposition to the that progress had been made, with successive Polish heads of state term Polish death camps in justified,” he added, though he also recognizing that, alongside the heroism of some Poles who saved Jews, others murdered them and betrayed them,” Zuroff said. “But said he does not support criminalizing it. So why are Israeli politicians and authorities on the Holocaust it seems that now the Polish government is reversing course and it’s generating a lot of anger, as is visible in Lapid’s reaction.” so outspoken in opposing it? Poland’s embassy in Israel, for its part, quoted on social meThe reason, according to Zuroff, is that the bill is part of a larger effort by Poland’s right-wing government, led by the right-wing dia what they called Lapid’s “unsupportable claims.” They show, Law and Justice party, to dismiss “any criticism of how Poles be- an embassy spokesman said, “how badly Holocaust education is needed, even here in Israel.” haved during the Holocaust.”

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Even in Vienna, there’s a kosher scene thriving

From left: A pastry display at Bakerie Ohel Moshe; Chabad House Vienna’s coffee house, and the new Elizabeth Kratz Mea Shearim Restaurant which Asian fusion cuisine.

dicates the rebirth of a resilient, traditional and vibrant community. While Austrians and the Austrian government have demonstrated an on-again, off-again relationship with their capital’s Jewish inhabitants, alternately expelling them and warmly welcoming them through the centuries, the community is, for now, on an upswing. Ten or more kosher restaurants dot the city, with most of them centered in Leopoldstadt, which is also filled with Jewish institutions, including Chabad, Tomchei Schabbos, and the Ronald Lauder Foundation yeshiva. The city’s three largest kosher supermarkets, which carry many fresh and frozen kosher brands, rival those in Israel or New York. Five kosher bakeries are also located in the district. Delicacies such as Mozart kugel (a uniquely Austrian, round chocolate-dipped treat filled with cake, cream and marzipan), as well as pink rum cakes and wienerbrot (a unique cross between

seedless rye bread and sourdough), are available in peak kosher form at Bakerie Ohel Moshe. Vienna has also become a popular first stop for American and Israeli Hassidic Jews from Boro Park or Bnei Brak, as they embark on kever tours of famed rabbis in Hungary, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine. These visitors arrive in Vienna weekly and are hosted once each week at the beginning of their tour in the Alef Alef restaurant. They make use of Vienna’s easy-to-navigate infrastructure, Shabbat-friendly hotels and guesthouses, and excellent array of kosher foods and baked goods to organize, pack and embark on their tours. Vienna’s permanent Jewish community — including both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews from Central Asia, Georgia, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Israel — is comprised of three parts, which also have subgroups. The first is the community of Jewish survi-

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vors (and their descendants) of the Shoah, most often from Budapest. The Budapest Ghetto was created later than the others, in 1944, and the Jews were not fully deported from there by the time the war ended in 1945. Many young female survivors from Budapest married Jewish men who survived the war and settled in Vienna. While many Jews took the opportunity to leave Europe for America or Israel, some of those who stayed built profitable businesses in the post-war years, many of which focused on Vienna’s textile and fur industries. The second wave of Jews are primarily Sephardic, Bukharians from Ukraine and the former Soviet Union, who moved to Vienna during the late 1970s and 1980s. Vienna’s first Bukharian synagogue opened in 1990. A third wave, from Israel and America, have come together to join kollels and to staff yeshivas created to educate Jews coming from the former Soviet Union. As this community has grown, it has brought with it a taste of modern Israel. Without a unified authority in Vienna like America’s Orthodox Union to provide kosher certification, the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien (Jewish community of Vienna), like its counterparts in Britain, Germany and France, provides a hefty list of branded food items available in Austria that are kosher without markings on packages. For their growing number of restaurants and bakeries, Vienna’s kosher-keeping communities have several certifying rabbis. A young couple, Janet and Izhak Faiziev, own a three-month-old Asian fusion restaurant called Mea Shearim, serving sushi, Chinese food and noodle bowls. The restaurant See Vienna on page 22

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By Elizabeth Kratz, JNS While much of American and Israeli Jewry view Europe either as a “flyover continent” or as a vast and dangerous pit of anti-Semitism from which all Jews must flee, many overlook the fact that rising numbers of Jews are living in relative comfort in many of the continent’s largest cities. In Vienna, Jewish organizations, schools, stores and restaurants are cropping up. A community along the banks of the Danube canal is home to a 15,000 to 20,000 Jews, according to Austria’s largest newspaper, Der Standard, though the community’s own last census in 2001 counted only 8,000 Jews. After World War II, surviving Jews numbered about 8,000, well down from over 185,000 before the Nazis took control in 1938. During last week’s yeshiva break vacation I traveled with my family to Vienna to visit relatives. While we primarily visited with family and stopped at sights such as the famed Vienna Opera House, the Musikverein symphony hall, and various palaces and museums, we also, of course, had to eat and drink. Speaking with a shop assistant in Ferszt Vinothek, an entirely kosher wine store, I learned that the store sells a whopping 300 to 500 bottles of wine each week, depending on whether it is catering for bar mitzvahs, weddings or engagement parties. The shop is located in Leopoldstadt, also known colloquially as Matzoinsel (Matzo Island), where there has been an active Jewish community since as early as 1194, when Duke Frederick I promoted a Jew to the role of munzmeister (master of the mint). While the City Temple (Stadttempel) was the only Vienna synagogue to survive Kristallnacht, the growth of local Jewish life today in-

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With security, life drives on along Route 443 By Yaakov Lappin, JNS For security personnel who guard the strategically significant Route 443, one of only two highways connecting Jerusalem to the coastal plain along Israel’s Mediterranean coast, the difference between stopping contraband food or an armed terrorist isn’t very large. “I tell the soldiers here, if you caught food smugglers, you also prevented a future terrorist attack. Someone who smuggles eggs into Israel will then try to smuggle people. If he sees this succeeds, he’ll smuggle in terrorists after that,” said Lt.-Col. Arik Yaakobi, commander of the IDF’s Military Police Taoz Battalion. Should anything would happen to Israel’s Route 1, Route 443 would be the main connection between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. But unlike Route 1, it runs through Palestinian areas, in between hostile villages that overlook the traffic from nearby hills. “There is this big tension upon which sits the fabric of life here,” Yaakobi told JNS during a jeep tour of the area. “The big majority of the Palestinian population just wants to make a living honorably. We have to be able to distinguish between them, and the one who comes to attack. This requires a huge intelligence effort, and our ability to identify intentions.” These days, Route 443 experiences at least one attack a week, in the form of a firebombing or rock-throwing. While recent weeks saw uptick in incidents, as Israeli-Palestinian tensions rose following President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the numbers are lower than in 2015 and 2016. “This is a highly threatened crossing,” Yaakobi said, as his jeep pulled up at the Bell checkpoint. “This road leads to Ramallah, and several Palestinian villages. Soldiers here on the highest alert, with a bullet in the barrel.” Yaakobi, a 40-year-old father of three from northern Israel, commands units that are in

the level in line with intelligence alerts. When we see a rise in the chances of an incident, we raise the level of scrutiny, Yaakobi added. Soldiers rely on their training to pick up suspicious signs, whether in vehicles, drivers or pedestrians, and they must make split-second decisions around the clock. The Taoz Battalion intercepted five separate attempts by terrorists in recent months to arrive at the IDF’s Samaria Court with pipe bombs. Had the attacks not been foiled, they would have struck a highly symbolic blow against a military official building. At left: Lt.-Col. Arik Yaakobi, commander of Taoz Battalion, at Maccabim Crossing on Route 443. At right: The The young soldiers and officers stafamily of a Palestinian man who stabbed a soldier, at Bell Checkpoint in 2015. Yaakov Lappin, Hadas Parush/Flash90 tioned at these places make life-and-death decisions every time they let a car pass, charge of crossings between Israel proper and drive down Route 443 in the sections that run Judea and Samaria, guarding “gates” that stretch through the territories (though most cars are particularly at crossings that lead into central Israfrom the Jenin area in the north to the Ofer driven by Israelis). The Taoz Battalion maintains el or Jerusalem. “They have a second to look at the Crossing near Jerusalem. checkpoints and crossings, operating at vary- car. If the soldier clears the vehicle, they are actuStanding at Maccabim Crossing, Yaakobi ex- ing levels of severity, that scrutinize all vehicles ally saying, this person will not go to Tel Aviv or plained why Route 443 requires military protec- seeking to merge with the traffic. The battalion Modi’in to conduct a terror attack,” Yaakobi said. The personnel are assisted by a network of tion. “Without going into politics, what’s west also runs crossings such as Maccabim, through of the crossing is Israel,” he said. “To the east which Palestinians with permits enter Israel dai- high-tech cameras and other means, but most of the major decisions are still based on their trainis Judea and Samaria. A big part of the Israeli ly for work or humanitarian purposes. population does not understand this at all when “We’re trying to make the crossing process ing — and their eyes. “Israeli citizens have no idea any of this is goit drives here. There are six Palestinian villages faster and more efficient all of the time, to imon the right and left side of this highway.” prove the quality of life for all populations,” Yaa- ing on. Nor should they be concerned with it,” said Yaakobi. As his vehicle passed a gas station, Fifteen years ago, during the second inti- kobi said. fada, the highway experienced many security In March 2016, a Palestinian pedestrian ap- he recalled that an IDF soldier was stabbed to incidents, particularly firebombing and rock- proached the checkpoint just before it closed for death there in November 2015 by a terrorist, throwing attacks on cars. That led the Israeli the night. Soldiers gestured for the man to head who was shot dead by soldiers at the scene. “Lots of infiltrators try to enter Israel illegovernment to ban Palestinians from the high- back, and he turned around, as if to comply. “The soldiers also turned around, turning gally,” said Sec.-Lt. Inbal (full name withheld for way. In 2007, the country’s High Court of Justice their backs to him, and that was their mistake. He security reasons). deemed that decision illegal. “We have to grow accustomed to this place,” “The High Court said that the road runs produced a gun and shot them both. They were through Judea and Samaria, so the state can- injured in the legs. Both made a full recovery,” added Yaakobi, looking at the Maccabim Crossnot prevent Palestinians from driving here. It Yaakobi recalled. The terrorist escaped on foot, ing bustling with vehicles in multiple lanes, told the state to manage the security risk. That’s only to be arrested a few months later by the IDF. which were carefully watched over by young This checkpoint is at Level 4, the highest level soldiers who stopped a vehicle every once in a where we come in,” Yaakobi said. Today, anyone — Israeli or Palestinian — can of screening, the commander explained. “We set while. “It takes time.”

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WWII Shanghai refuge depicted in frum museum By Shiryn Solny, JNS As the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day last weekend, an exhibit at an Orthodox-centric Holocaust museum was recounting the story of Jews who found refuge from the Nazis in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. “A Precious Gift: Escape to Shanghai,” at the Amud Aish Memorial Museum in Brooklyn’s Mill Basin neighborhood, features original artifacts that trace the lives of Orthodox Jews from their time in Eastern Europe before World War II, through their travels to Shanghai, their religious lives in China, and their finding permanent homes elsewhere. The exhibit also highlights the heroic efforts of officials who risked everything to help Jews and explains that Shanghai was a safe haven because it did not require entry visas and maintained open borders for all immigrants until the late 1930s. The many artifacts on display include a transit visa issued by Japanese Vice Consul in Lithuania Chiune Sugihara, who disobeyed orders from his superiors and authorized travel papers for Jews; sacred religious texts printed by Jewish refugees in Shanghai; candlesticks with Chinese writing on them bought by a Polish Jew in Shanghai; and a marriage contract from a Jewish wedding that took place in China after the war. Small workshops for middle school students accompany the exhibit and focus on an individual story of a Holocaust survivor. One such workshop explores the experience of Judith Cohn-Goldbart, a Jewish girl whose family left Berlin for Shanghai shortly after Kristallnacht in 1938. She remained in Shanghai until years after the war and was a teacher at the religious girls’ school established there. Participants in the group workshops are given the opportunity to examine copies of original artifacts from Shanghai, such as a Jewish student’s report card. “It feels like they’re touching history,” Chavi

Felsenburg, acquisitions curator at the Amud Aish Memorial Museum and leader of many of the workshops, told JNS. “It just makes the story more real. It puts all the information that they gathered together in perspective.” She added, “I think people leave inspired. It really does affect them. [Within] the groups that come, very often I’ll have someone raising their hand saying, ’This was my grandmother. A kimono, pictured right, owned by a Jewish refugee in Shanghai. This was my aunt’.” Artifacts, shown above, reflect Jewish life in Shanghai. The items are Dovid Reidel, direc- on display in the Amud Aish Memorial Museum. Shiryn Solny tor of the museum’s research and archive not to give the items to any other musedivision, said Amud Aish received its first collec- um, Felsenburg said. tion of artifacts related to Shanghai in 2013, the “A lot of times donors will tell me that same year the museum opened. The vast collec- they feel like the people who perished [in tion the museum received at the time included the Holocaust], that is what they would notes a Jewish refugee kept from his doctors in like to have: that continuous connection Shanghai, pamphlets that came with medication to G-d,” she said. “They thought maybe it he bought and X-rays of his eyes. Another early wouldn’t come across in other museums Shanghai collection the museum received be- the same way. It’s more from a cultural perspeclonged to Cohn-Goldbart and was discovered by tive, but not from a spiritual one. So even though relatives who emptied her Los Angeles home af- some of the items were ordinary items that othter she died. They donated documents and items er people might have too, it’s about what they to the museum in large shopping bags, unsure meant to these people.” of what exactly they possessed, but hoping the The museum named this year’s exhibit “A Premuseum would give them some answers. cious Gift” for a number of reasons, Reidel said. The museum focuses on the Holocaust from “On one hand, it talks about that it really was the vantage point of Orthodox Jews — how they a gift from Hashem, the opportunity for several lived, how they maintained their religion and thousand — about 20,000 — Jews to be rescued more. Many items in the Shanghai collection through Shanghai,” he said. “But part of what were donated by Orthodox Jews who preferred we show is each of these groups, whether it

was German Jews or Lubavitch Jews, they were limited with what they could take along with them and you can see this one taking a sefer where he was writing his notes from yeshiva. … When they get to Shanghai they set up the yeshivas again, they’re printing sefarim, they’re building a Jewish school for girls.” Reidel continued, “The [exhibit] title refers to [a quote] that [Hashem] says, ‘I gave you my precious gift the Torah, do not forsake it.’ And that’s what you see. Wherever religious Jews travel they take along with them the Torah and ultimately that was crucial to rebuilding the Torah world that we have today.” Jewish Shanghai is best known for its connection to the Mir Yeshiva, which was founded in Lithuania and was the region’s only religious school that had most of its students (approximately 300) survive the Holocaust. Its students relocated to Shanghai, taught religious classes in the community and remained there until eventually moving to Jerusalem and Brooklyn, where they reopened branches of their school. For information about the Amud Aish Memorial Museum visit amudaish.org

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By Josefin Dolsten, JTA Avraham Yago, a married father of five who works as a linguistics professor at the University of Abidjan in the West African nation of Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), has visited Israel four times to learn about Judaism and practice his Hebrew. Yago, 64, grew up without any religious affiliation. As a teenager, however, he embarked on a religious journey that led him, by way of Christianity as well as studies at the Kabbalah Center in Abidjan, to Judaism. “For me, the Torah is the truth,” he told JTA from Abidjan, the country’s largest Couples who married in Abidjan after having undergone conversions to Judaism, on Dec. 10, 2017. Bonita Sussman city. Last month, after over 20 After the conversions, rabbis performed Jew- and books, said Nathan Devir, an assistant proyears of studying Judaism, Yago converted to Ju- ish weddings for six couples in what Kulanu be- fessor at the University of Utah who researches daism along with 47 others, most of whom are lieves is a first in the country. The converts be- emerging Jewish communities. members of the community he leads. long to two communities in Abidjan, Kulanu Vice “They are a very privileged kind of communiGathering in the coastal town of Jacqueville, President Nathan Sussman said. The larger one, ty, I think much more so than any other African community members answered questions in led by Yago, has 42 members, consisting of five communities could ever dream of being,” said front of a beit din, whose members flew in from families as well as singles. Another six people Devir, who visited the Cote d’Ivoire community Israel and the United States. For the immersion identify as a separate group. in 2015. The community counts among its memrequired of converts, they used a lagoon that Like most members of his community, Yago bers doctors, dentists, university professors and served as a mikvah. Male converts underwent a believes he has Jewish roots. That’s not unique diplomats. ritual drawing of blood since they were already in the communities that Kulanu works with. Last Members follow Sephardic Orthodox customs circumcised. year, the group brought rabbis to Nicaragua to and eat a pescatarian diet since they do not have The conversions were facilitated by Kulanu, convert 114 people, and in 2016 it helped 121 access to kosher meat, according to Sussman. a New York-based group that supports commu- people become Jewish in Madagascar. Both com“They dress very modestly. They’re very into nities around the world seeking to learn about munities also believe they have Jewish heritage, laws of niddah and mikvah,” she said. “On ShabJudaism. Kulanu, which has been in touch with with the Madagascar community believing they bat they have a full day of prayers.” the community since 2012, had brought a Torah are members of a lost tribe. Shabbat services are held in Yago’s home, but scroll, prayer books and other ritual items there The Cote d’Ivoire community is relatively af- he said the community hopes to construct a shul on an earlier visit in 2014. fluent, allowing them to buy Jewish ritual objects and mikvah.

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THE JEWISH STAR February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778

Jewish community forms in Africa

February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

The JEWISH STAR

School News

Send news and hi-res photos to Schools@TheJewishStar.com • Deadline Mondays at Noon

DRS dad-son

This year’s DRS Father-Son Yom Iyun focused on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Shabbos, “to give the parents and children an opportunity to learn together in a meaningful way,” said Judaic Studies Principal Rabbi Elly Storch. Shiurim included “Origins of Chulent” and “Shabbos Nap in Halacha and Machshava.” Rabbi Storch moderated a panel on “Keeping Shabbos in the 21st Century,” which featured three community rabbis: Rabbi Yaakov Trump of Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst, Rabbi Sholom Axelrod of Young Israel of Woodmere, and Rabbi Aaron Feigenbaum of the Irving Place Minyan.

SKA reunion in Israel

Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls graduates now attending Israel seminaries happily greeted each other and Head of School Helen Spirn and Limudei Kodesh teacher and Israel Adviser Paghit Ralbag at the annual reunion at Michlala. Production clips and a student produced video sending warm wishes and divrei bracha from SKA administrators, faculty and staff were shown to heartfelt applause. After the reunion, Mrs. Spirn and Mrs. Ralbag visited every seminary their students attended; each SKA graduate had her own personal meeting to discuss her progress and explore her aspirations for the second half of the year. Since the founding of SKA over 25 years ago, many graduates have made aliyah.

YHT bat mitzvah chesed YOSS y’break travel At Yeshiva of South Shore the mid-winter break was truly a “Yeshiva Week,” highlighted by an annual program called Yeshivas Bein Hazmanim. Geared to the talmidim of grades 1 through 8, it gives the boys an opportunity to enjoy a respite — within a yeshiva environment — from their daily grind of schoolwork Despite the vacation, the boys come to yeshiva, daven with a minyan and then learn with rabbeim in an informal, non-classroom setting. Then the boys and their rebbes head out for a day trip. Over 60 talmidim attended this year’s program, which included two trips — to CoCo Key Water Resort in Mount Laurel, NJ, and to High Exposure where they confronted ninja warrior obstacle courses and rock climbing.

The girls of Morah Ben-Ari’s class in Yeshiva Har Torah participated in a chesed project before winter vacation. Having already celebrated their own bat mitzvahs, the girls decided to help enhance the bat mitzvah of a young lady with special needs. They made a short video related to her name, a photo montage, a centerpiece for her bat mitzvah, and a scrapbook with warm mazal tov wishes from each girl in the class.

CAHAL at Darchei science fair

As part of the science curriculum at Yeshiva Darchei Torah, CAHAL students displayed their projects at the seventh grade science fair. Rabbi Heller was in charge of the science fair, and he made sure that the students were involved in each step of this very special learning experience.The science fair is an example of a hands-on activity that facilitates research, writing skills and the organization of information so that it can be presented on a display board. Most importantly, students are able to discuss their projects with visitors and judges. One group of students did an experiment involving chewing gum. The Problem: Does chewing gum help you to concentrate? After outlining the hypothesis and explaining the experiment which included a graph that showed data, the conclusion was that gum helps increase concentration more than students thought.

4 YU scholars at Rambam

HALB challah prep Over 250 HALB moms and children gathered at SKA to complete the preparation of the challah and collectively say the bracha over hafrashas challah. This event brings to mind the critical role community plays in our schools and families, especially as we join in doing mitzvot for those in need of tefillah and refuah. Pictured: Lynn Grushko with first grader Hannah.

Out of a senior class of 40 students, all four Rambam Mesivta students who applied for the prestigious Yeshiva University Honors early admissions program were accepted Charles (Charlie) Grill’s favorite subjects include calculus and halacha. He is head blood drive coordinator and part of the Entrepreneur Academy. He has been part of many teams such as Flagfootball, Debate and Model UN. Charlie plans to spend a year in Israel after he graduates. Yoni Grossman brings kavana and an inspiring voice to Rosh Chodesh. A Dean’s List student and member of Rambam’s Masmidim after schoollearning program, he is the varsity hockey’s star goalie and a member of the school’s Fire Safety Squad, varsity softball team, and Arista National Honor Society. Yoni also plans on learning in Israel after he graduates. Sam Sicklick is president of Rambam’s Senior Council and was previously the vice president of Student Government. He has played on the varsity basketball team since tenth grade and also played for the hockey, soccer, and softball teams. Sam currently is on the Dean’s List and learns in Rabbi Ziskind’s Double Beis Medrash program as well as the YU Bekius program. Sam plans to learn in Israel for the next two years before learning in Yeshiva University. Akiva Schuck is vice president of Senior Council, and has been on the Principal’s List. He is on the hockey team, softball team, and rally committee. He is part of the Double Beis Medrash program and, last year, he was part of a committee to visit the German Consulate to discuss the school’s attempt to prevent the desecration of a Jewish gravesite. Next year, he plans to study in Israel before attending YU.

Shulamith library dedication

An upgraded Lower Division Hebrew library at the Shulamith School for Girls, sponsored by the Deutsch family in memory of Francine Solomon, Faiga bat Shlomo Zeev a”h, mother of Carolyn Deutsch, has been dedicated. Mrs. Deutsch spoke about the love her mother had for reading and conveyed to the girls that her mother would be so happy to see the joy the books brought them.

11 THE JEWISH STAR February 2, 2018 â&#x20AC;¢ 17 Shevat 5778

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February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

13 THE JEWISH STAR February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778

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February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

The JEWISH STAR

Wine & Dine

Remembering sweet recipes … written in Hell JONI SCHOCKETT KOSHER KITCHEN

his past weekend, the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Many of us also know it as the day that Auschwitz was liberated. The hashtag #We Remember was used throughout the day to acknowledge its solemnity and meaning in the annals of history and in the lives of those who survived. In one of my courses, “Language and Prejudice,” I teach my students that language can be an incredible force for good or, as is seen in the Holocaust, evil. I also teach them about identity and how language can attempt to strip people of even that. We also talk about how food is so strong a part of identity that efforts to eradicate this aspect of who people are was thwarted time and again, even in the Shoah. American POWs wrote recipes on scraps of cloth and paper. Inmates of Auschwitz and Treblinka and Terezin and more scrawled recipes on scraps and on stolen posters screaming Hitler’s supremacy. The recipes survived. Many of those who scribbled them did not. “In Memory’s Kitchen: A Legacy from the Women of Terezin,” was published in 1996. This book featured a collection of recipes written by the women in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp and reflected the starving women’s obsession with food. Even as they struggled to get through a day, they found scraps of paper on which to write their family recipes — as if they were writing them for their daughters — to maintain some semblance of continuity. Some of these recipes survived as “Minna’s Cookbook,” a compilation of recipes from the inmates of Terezin. The recipes are translated exactly as written from the writings of the authors’. Some recipes can be recreated; others are, sadly, a brief memory without proper instructions. Mina died from protein deficiency. Her cookbook made a decades-long journey to her daughter who had escaped to Israel in 1939. In 2011, June Feiss Hersh compiled a book of recipes that sustained those who survived and honored those who did not. “Recipes Remembered” is a compilation of those stories of harrowing experiences and the strength of the human spirit to survive and even flourish after enduring hell on earth for years. The stories are moving. That these recipes were remembered at all is astounding. A survivor I know, a relative by marriage, once told me that the first time she ever really felt that

everything would be all right was when she made her fist Shabbat dinner from chicken soup to mandal bread in the safety of her own new home. I asked her how she had the recipes from her mother and sister and she told me that she did not need any recipes, the recipes were in her heart and mind during the long years she hid in the Hungarian forest. To this day, whenever we visit her, she makes the same mandal bread that allowed her to feel that, finally, she was safe. While I usually have my own original recipes for this column, today I feel compelled to honor those who lived and those who perished with their recipes. I am always grateful for the abundance of food in my life and the lives of those I love; grateful that my children never cried in hunger. Never again!

From ‘In Memory’s Kitchen’

Pachter Cake by Mina Pechter This is all there is. There are no baking instructions. 15 decagrams sugar, 15 decagrams butter, 15 decagrams ground hazelnuts, 10 decagrams softened chocolate or 2 tablespoons cocoa, lemon rind, 3 tablespoons black coffee, 2 whole eggs, 2 egg yolks are stirred vigorously for 15 minutes. Then add the snow from 2 (stiffly beaten) egg whites. 20 decagrams flour. War Dessert This recipe was mostly illegible and also had no directions. The ingredients indicate how little food was available during the war, especially for Jews. 7 boiled potatoes, grated, 5-6 spoons sugar, 2 spoons flour, 1 spoon cocoa, 2 spoons dry milk, 1 spoon (illegible), I knife point (illegible). Bake slowly.

From “Recipes Remembered”

Reni Hanau’s Winter Celeriac (Celery Root) Salad (pareve) Reni remembers her mother making this for the family in Germany. They survived the war on the Isle of Man as prisoners of war. 1 celery root peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks 1/2 cup diced, kosher pickles 1/2 red onion or 203 shallots, finely diced 1/4 cup olive or canola oil 1/2 cup white vinegar Pinch of sugar

egar. Mix well and taste and adjust the vinegar and sugar to taste. Makes 4 to 6 cups. Henny Bachrach’s Almond & Apple Cake

Kosher salt and pepper Place the celery root and the carrots in a pot of salted, boiling water and boil for about 20 minutes, or until tender, but not mushy. Drain and add to a large bowl. Add the pickles, onions or shallots, oil, vinegar, and sugar. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend. Makes about 6 cups. Miriam Margulies’ Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

Miriam and her mother escaped from Vienna and came to America in 1940 after the Nazi’s took control. Her father made it to the states years after the war ended. This is one her mother’s favorite dishes. 1 large onion, peeled and sliced 2 Tbsp. canola oil 1 small head red cabbage, cored and shredded 1 tsp. unbleached flour 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 1/4 cup sugar Heat a large skillet and add the oil. Add the onions and cook for about 15 minutes, until softened and lightly golden. Add the cabbage and 1/4 cup of water. Mix and cover the pan. Cook over low heat for about 15 minutes, until the cabbage is wilted. Sprinkle with the flour and add the sugar and vin-

This recipe was created by Henny Bachrach, the mother of Holocaust survivor Irma Reich. Henny had no measuring cups, so she measured with the shells of eggs. That is left in the recipe. Irma was a child on the Kindertransport. She never saw her parents again. FOR THE BATTER: 8 large eggs, separated 1 cup sugar 8 ounces ground almonds Zest of 1 lemon Juice of half lemon 1 large red apple, peeled and grated MOCHA (COFFEE) CREAM FILLING: 1 cup heavy cream 1-1/2 tsp. sugar 1 Tbsp. coffee, cooled Raspberry jam for filling OPTIONAL: Coffee beans for garnish Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until thick and pale, about 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the bowl from the stand and, by hand, mix in the almonds, lemon peel, lemon juice, matzah meal and grated apple. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry peaks form. Gently fold the whites into the apple mixture and until no streaks show. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour. Cool completely before removing from the pan. While the cake is cooling, make the filling. Place the cream, sugar, and coffee in the chilled bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until thick, but not hard. ASSEMBLY: Carefully slice the cake in half to form two equal layers. Spread the bottom layer with a medium coating of raspberry jam. Place the second layer on top and add frost the top and sides with the coffee cream. Serves 8 to 12. NOTE: Mocha, in this case, means only coffee flavored. You can add some cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon, mixed into the coffee for a true mocha flavor.

Harissa obsession! Recipe for lamb meatballs By Shannon Sarna, The Nosher via JTA You might say I am a tad obsessed with harissa these days. Harissa roasted chicken. Harissa Bloody Mary. And now these harissa lamb meatballs. Sorry, not sorry. To take a step back for just a second, harissa is a North African condiment made from chilis, peppers, herbs, oil and other ingredients depending on the region, family, etc. It is very popular in Israel, where it was introduced by Moroccan, Tunisian and other Jews of North African descent. As Israeli food has gained a following in America, it’s a condiment that is increasingly easy to find in major supermarkets. I made an enormous batch of these meatballs for a recent shindig we hosted, and there was not one meatball left over, so I figured they might be a hit. For the party I served them with toothpicks, refreshing the platter as the evening went on. But I have also served them on top of a bed of freshly fluffed couscous and a little extra fresh herbs for a satisfying, but not too heavy, dinner. These can be made the night before, and they reheat very well on the stove over low heat.

Ingredients: For the sauce: 1 to 2 Tbsp. olive oil 1 small onion, finely diced 2 garlic cloves Pinch caraway seeds 2 Tbsp. tomato paste 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes 3 heaping Tbsp. of harissa paste (you can add more to your taste) 1-1/2 cups of water 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. black pepper For the meatballs: 2 pounds ground lamb 3 Tbsp. minced mint 3 Tbsp. minced flat leaf parsley 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 large eggs 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. fresh lemon zest Vegetable oil for frying

Directions: 1. To make the sauce: Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Saute onion until translucent and soft, around 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic, pinch of caraway seeds and tomato paste, and saute another 2 minutes. 2. Add canned tomatoes, harissa and water, and bring to a low simmer. Cook 30 to 40 minutes, covered over low heat. The tomato sauce will be done when the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce has reduced slightly and is a deep color.

3. To make the meatballs: Combine ground lamb, mint, parsley, garlic, eggs, salt and lemon zest in a large bowl. Using your hands, combine until mixed throughout, but take care not to overwork the meat. 4. Form tablespoon-sized meatballs, using your hands or a cookie scoop. Roll gently and place on a plate until ready to fry. 5. Heat vegetable oil (or other neutral oil) over medium heat in a large saute pan. Fry meatballs in batches until brown, rotating them to ensure they have been browned on all sides. 6. Remove from pan. You may need to add a little more oil in between batches. 7. Add the lamb meatballs to the sauce (as well as additional liquid from frying) and allow to simmer another 15 minutes. 8. Serve with couscous and chopped fresh herbs if desired. Serves 6. Shannon Sarna is editor of The Nosher. Her first cookbook, “Modern Jewish Baker: Challah Babka Bagels and More,” was published in 2017 by Countryman Press.

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tanyahu’s thinly veiled warnings of Israel’s low tolerance for Iranian threats. “If you don’t check hatred toward Jews, it will spread to other peoples quickly enough,” Netanyahu said, invoking the lessons of the Shoah. “Our mission is to fight extremist ideologies when they are still small, to hit them on time and forcefully, as part of our responsibility for the future.” Sobibor, Netanyahu said, “was the turning point” in the Jewish people’s history and led to their having “a strong country with considerable offensive capabilities that can defend itself against fanatics who openly say they aim to destroy us. They won’t succeed. But we need to understand the danger they pose is not limited to us, but you, too.” He ended his speech with these words: “There will not be another Holocaust.”

“My flu-like symptoms turned out to be a heart attack.” NAME: HEIDI F. AGE: 60 HOMETOWN: Woodmere, NY CONDITION: Cardiac arrest PROCEDURE: Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) LIFE BEFORE HEART ATTACK: I was getting ready for my grandson’s birthday, when all of a sudden I became weak. I thought I was coming down with the flu. Before going to sleep, I called my son and told him that something didn’t feel right. We took no chances and called 911. The paramedics arrived and within minutes, I was in cardiac arrest. LIFE AFTER HEART ATTACK: I woke up a few days later and after many tests the doctors determined that the upper part of my heart wasn’t sending signals to the bottom part to pump blood, and that’s why my heart stopped. I was fitted with an ICD to treat my irregular heartbeat. After the procedure, I’m back to normal, I’m energetic, and I feel great. WHY CHOOSE SOUTH NASSAU? The entire cardiac team was amazing. No amount of words will ever help me express how thankful I am. They’re my heroes. They’re my angels.

To learn more about cardiac services available at South Nassau or to watch Heidi’s story, visit southnassau.org/cardiologystories. The American Heart Association recognizes this hospital for achieving 85% or higher compliance with all Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure Achievement Measures and 75% or higher compliance with four or more Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure Quality Measures for two or more consecutive years and for documentation of all three Target: Heart FailureSM care components for 50% or more of eligible patients with heart failure discharged from the hospital to improve quality of patient care and outcomes.

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Continued from page 1 tanyahu to this capital city, he referred to the statute as a significant sign in the renaissance of bilateral relations between Israel and Russia. “I remember going to the opening of the monument to the Red Army soldiers,” Putin said. “It was a very touching event. We are grateful to the leadership of Israel and the people of Israel for their respect for history.” Russians know, Putin added in his address, “that Israel carefully maintains gratitude to the Soviet Army and our soldiers for saving Jews and Europe from total extermination.” His praise for Israel was aimed in part at former Soviet nations where revisionist state historians, backed by governments wary of Russia and its expansionist politics, are downplaying or denigrating Soviet contributions — what Putin in his speech at the Jewish museum made more explicit with references to what he termed “Russophobia.” Appreciation for Israel’s recognition of Russia’s role in defeating Nazism “is especially important amid the destruction and desecration of monuments to Soviet soldiers who gave their lives to liberate prisoners of Nazi concentration camps, and save Europe and the entire world from Nazism,” Putin said. The politics of memory, as they are called in this part of the world, command an importance that may surprise outsiders. Struggling with stagnant or ruined economies amid rampant corruption, some of these countries might seem to have more immediate challenges. But these issues are of major importance to millions of voters across Eastern Europe. Case in point: the international outcry that followed Poland’s passing Friday of a controversial bill to criminalize the term “Polish death camps” and frank discussions of Polish complicity in the Shoah. By recognizing that such gestures are as important to Russia as, say, declarations about Jerusalem are to Israel, Netanyahu is leveraging Israel’s authoritative voice internationally on Shoah commemoration issues to curry favor with Moscow. “We never forget the crucial role of the Red Army in halting the Nazi machine,” Netanyahu said in his speech at the Jewish museum, addressing Putin. “You mentioned the monument in Israel: I initiated its erection in Netanya as a symbol of the appreciation we think must be eternalized for the Red Army,” Netanyahu said. Under Netanyahu, Israel has done more for Russia than erect a monument. Almost alone among Western nations, the Jewish state has essentially maintained total radio silence, and therefore neutrality, on the invasion of Ukraine, which prompted the European Union to impose crippling sanctions on Russia. In fact, Israeli trade with Russia has only grown since, with an increase of 25 percent in the first six months of 2017 over the corresponding period the previous year. Russia has not quite returned the favor — at least not publicly. Maintaining its decades-long tradition of voting against Israel at the U.N., Russia in recent years has supported some of the most blatantly anti-Israel resolutions passed to date, including language on Jerusalem that ignores Judaism’s tie to the holy city. And Russia continues to back Iran, including through massive arms deals. But behind the scenes Russia, whose army is notorious for its scare tactics against hostile entities, has not responded to repeated Israeli strikes in Syria and beyond —– including in areas that are under the control of forces loyal to Bashar Assad, Syria’s beleaguered president, whose overthrow Russia prevented militarily in 2016. Netanyahu has traveled to Moscow six times over the past two years to coordinate this modus vivendi. He said it was his goal on Monday, too. Putin is not the only one in the relationship who knows how to use historic symbols to drive home political messaging. Directly after their two-hour meeting, both men attended a ceremony at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center here honoring the 75th anniversary of the Sobibor Uprising, a prisoners’ rebellion at the death camp in northeastern Poland where 11 Nazis were killed and 300 Jews escaped. It provided the perfect backdrop for Ne-

THE JEWISH STAR February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778

Bibi charm offensive… VALLEY STREAM SD#14

February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

16 LSTA1 0201

Public Notices

PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES To place a notice here call us us at 516-569-4000 x232 or send an email to: legalnotices@liherald.com

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD SUPERVISOR

LAURA GILLEN

Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library Boehm Meeting Room Monday, February 5, 2018 at 7PM Light refreshments will be served Please RSVP to jstrand@communitychestss.org

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Community Chest South Shore | (516) 374-5800 www.communitychestss.org

LEGAL NOTICE PUBLIC NOTICE OF NASSAU COUNTY TREASURER’S SALE OF TAX LIENS ON REAL ESTATE Notice is hereby given that commencing on February 20th, 2018, will sell at public on-line 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 15th, 2018 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. Effective with the February 2017 lien sale Ordinance No. 175-2015 requires a $125.00 per day registration fee for each person who intends to bid at the tax lien sale. Ordinance No. 175-2015 also requires that upon the issuance of the Lien Certificate there is due from the lien buyer a Tax Certificate Issue Fee of $20.00 per lien purchased. Pursuant to the provisions of the Nassau County Administrative Code at the discretion of the Nassau County Treasurer the auction will be conducted online. Further information concerning the procedures for the auction is available at the website of the Nassau County Treasurer at: https://www.nassaucountyn y.gov/526/County-Treasurer Should the Treasurer determine that an in-person auction shall be held, same will commence on the 20th day of February 2018 at the Office of The County Treasurer 1 West Street, Mineola or at some other location to be determined by the Treasurer. 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/DocumentCenter/View/ 17674 A list of local properties upon which tax liens are to be sold will be advertised in this publication on or before February 15,2018. 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. 1-3715.

Dated: January 23, 2018 THE NASSAU COUNTY TREASURER Mineola, NewYork _____________________ 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 property under Federal 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 representation 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

Dated: January 23, 2018 THE NASSAU COUNTY TREASURER Mineola, New York 91250

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. Furthermore, as to the bidding, 1. The bidder(s) agree that they will not work with any other bidder(s) to increase, maintain or stabilize interest rates or collaborate with any other bidder(s) to gain an unfair competitive advantage in the random number generator in the event of a tie bid(s) on a tax certificate. Bidder(s) further agree not to employ any bidding strategy designed to create an unfair competitive advantage in the tiebreaking process in the upcoming tax sale nor work with any other bidder(s) to engage in any bidding strategy that will result in a rotational award of tax certificates. 2. The tax certificate(s) the Bidder will bid upon, and the interest rate(s) bid, will be arrived at independently and without direct or indirect consultation, communication or agreement with any other bidder and that the tax certificate(s) the Bidder will bid upon, and the interest rate(s) to be bid, have not been disclosed, directly or indirectly, to any other bidder, and will not be disclosed, directly or indirectly, to any other bidder prior to the close of bidding. No attempt has been made or will be made to, directly or indirectly, induce any other bidder to refrain from bidding on any tax certificate, to submit complementary bids, or to submit bids at specific interest rates. 3. The bids to be placed by the Bidder will be made in good faith and not pursuant to any direct or indirect, agreement or discussion with, or inducement from, any other bidder to submit a complementary or other noncompetitive bid. 4. If it is determined that the bidder(s) have violated any of these bid requirements then their bid shall be voided and if they were the successful bidder the lien and any deposits made in connection with said bid shall be forfeited.

LEGAL NOTICE “NOTICE TO TAXPAYERS” 2018 GENERAL TAXES The undersigned Receiver of Taxes for the Town of Hempstead, County of Nassau, State of New York hereby gives notice that he has received the General Tax Roll and Warrant attached thereto, dated, December 27, 2017 and will be in attendance to receive taxes at: 200 NORTH FRANKLIN STREET, HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK 11550 each weekday from 9:00 A.M. to 4:45 P.M. (Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays excepted) PENALTIES: The following scale of penalties is hereby prescribed for neglect to pay the General taxes after they become due and payable. First half. If the first half is not paid on or before February 10, 2018, penalty will be added at the rate of one per centum per month from January 1, 2018 calculated to the end of the month during which payment is made. Second half due and payable July 1, 2018. Penalty on the second half will be added after August 10, 2018 at the rate of one per centum per month from July 1, 2018 calculated to the end of the month during which payment is made. DISCOUNT WHERE APPLICABLE: If the full year’s tax (first and second half) is paid on or before February 10, 2018, discount where applicable will be allowed on the second half of the tax at the rate of one per centum of the second half. No discount is allowed on tax payments made after February 10, 2018. Taxes are payable by cash, certified check and money order. Uncertified checks will be accepted subject to collection only. Third party checks will not be accepted. Mobile and satellite offices, when open, will not accept cash. When requesting tax bills, please state the School District Number, Section, Block and Lot number(s) in accordance with Nassau County Tax Map designation. After August 31, 2018 the 2018 General Tax Roll will be turned over to the Nassau County Treasurer and all payments after that date will have to be made at the Nassau County Treasurer’s Office, Nassau County Office Building, 1 West Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501. DONALD X. CLAVIN, JR. RECEIVER OF TAXES TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD Dated: January 23, 2018 Hempstead, New York 11550 91176

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By Josefin Dolsten, JTA Though the Jewish community in South Korea is small, Jews visiting the country to compete in or watch the Winter Olympic Games won’t have to skimp on kosher food or Shabbat programming. The country’s Chabad emissary is setting up a pop-up restaurant in Pyeongchang County, the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics. During the Olympics, which start on Feb. 9, the temporary eatery will serve three meals daily, including Korean-style bulgogi beef, schnitzel, hot dogs and vegetarian items. Chabad will also teach Torah classes and put on Shabbat programming for tourists, journalists and other visitors, as well as deliver food to athletes inside the Olympic Village. “We have big events that we host at Chabad with hundreds of guests, but this is our first time to be able to cater for so many Jews all at once,” Rabbi Osher Litzman, told JTA from Seoul, where he has served as Chabad’s emissary since 2008. There are about 1,000 Jews living in South Korea, according to Rabbi Litzman. Most are U.S. service members, English teachers, diplomats or students from the United States or Canada who come to the east Asian country for a year of two. Rabbi Litzman and his family hosts Shabbat dinners at the Chabad house in Seoul, drawing 40 to 50 attendees weekly, and High Holidays programming, which attracts over 200 participants. Chabad also operates a kosher store and restaurant in Seoul and ships kosher food all over the country via an online shop. For Rabbi Litzman, the Olympics serve as a way to reach more people and expand Chabad’s work in the country. “It’s a great pleasure,” he said. “This is something that we have been waiting for.” Until the Chabad house opened in 2008, the only Jewish services were at the U.S. Army base in the capital, according to a website for expats. Today, the Chabad house serves as a resource not only to Jews but non-Jews as well. “There are many Koreans coming here on a daily basis. They want to learn about Judaism, to buy kosher food, ask questions, [receive] guidance,” Rabbi Litzman said. “We invite them to come whenever they want during the weekdays.” Non-Jewish South Koreans have various reasons for wanting to learn about Judaism, he said. “Some are just astonished by the fact that we

have so many enemies and we still survive and we thrive,” Rabbi Litzman said, “and others are thinking about the fact that many Jews are successful and in monetary areas they are trying to figure out how to do it.” Others, he added, want to learn about the Torah or Talmud, or come because they love Israel or have had positive experiences with Jewish people. South Koreans who want to learn about Hebrew and Israel have another place to go as well: the Israel Culture Center in Seoul. The venue teaches Hebrew and promotes Israeli culture, sometimes holding events with the Israeli Embassy. Founded in 2000, some 3,000 students have studied Hebrew — both modern and biblical — at the center, a representative told JTA in an email. The center also has a Jewish studies library that is open to the public. “Israel Culture Center will continuously work hard to be a place where Israel’s unique culture is introduced to Koreans and significant friendship is being birthed between Koreans and Israelis,” the representative said. South Koreans’ fascination with Judaism has been widely documented. “Each Korean family has at least one copy of the Talmud,” the country’s then-ambassador to Israel, Young-sam Ma, told an Israeli TV host in 2011. “Korean mothers want to know how so many Jewish people became geniuses.” (A New Yorker reporter who followed up on the claim suggested that he meant a one-volume popularization of the vast, multi-volume compendium of Jewish law and lore, and, indeed, found it at most of the bookstores he visited.) Many South Koreans have a positive view of Israel. Some 800 South Koreans live in the Jewish state, with many more going there to study Hebrew and the Bible. Most of these enthusiasts are drawn to Israel because of their religious beliefs as evangelical Christians. Christianity is the largest organized religion in South Korea, with nearly 30 percent of the population identifying as Christians. Unlike many Chabad emissaries, Rabbi Litzman said he and his family do not have to deal with safety concerns and anti-Semitism. “We feel blessed to be in such a country that there is admiration to Jews and especially to Israel,” he said, “and in general Korea is a very safe country.”

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Kidney donation is not on anyone’s radar unless it becomes personal. So i personally know a wonderful man, a father, a husband, a great friend, who became a victim to Kidney Failure, and is now in desperate need of a Kidney transplant. I am respectful to the family’s wish to remain anonymous. He is working with a remarkable non-profit organization, RENEWAL, to help him find someone who is able and willing to give a selfless GIFT. If you know someone who might want to SAVE a LIFE or for more information about kidney donation, please call 718-431-9831 or email R23247@renewal.org. Renewal’s website is www.renewal.org. All inquires to Renewal are strictly confidential and are without any obligation. They can also put you in touch with others who have donated a kidney and are willing to share their experience. All medical costs for evaluation and surgery are covered by the recipient’s insurance. Ancillary costs such as travel expenses and lodging, may be covered by Renewal. An email campaign has been found to be an effective form to create as wide a net as possible. Please share this message with as many as you can. You never know if there is someone out there who will respond to this urgent need and will become a HERO.

THE JEWISH STAR February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778

Dear Friends,

‫כוכב של שבת‬

SHAbbAT STAR

Names of Moshe’s sons: Solving the mysteries Rabbi avi billet

Parsha of the week

his week’s parsha begins by telling us that Yisro heard what G-d had done for Israel in taking them out of Egypt: So “Yisro, father-in-law of Moshe, took Zipporah, wife of Moshe, after her having been sent. And her two sons — the name of the one was Gershom, for he said ‘I was a stranger in a foreign land’; and the name of the one was Eliezer — for the G-d of my father helped me and saved me from the sword of Pharoah.” (Shmot 18:2-4) A few questions jump out at us. “Her” two sons? Were they not Moshe’s sons as well? When was Eliezer born? Why didn’t the Torah tell us of the birth of Eliezer in much the same manner it told us of Gershom’s birth? Why is each son called “the one” (ha’echad)? Shouldn’t it say “shem harishon Gershom … v’shem hasheni Eliezer” (the “first one’s name” was Gershom, and the “second one’s name” was Eliezer)? We are told that Gershom was named based on something that “he said,” referring to Moshe. But when it comes to the explanation for Eliezer’s name, the verse just goes into the explanation, without suggesting it was something that Moshe had said. And at what point was Moshe saved from Pharaoh’s sword? The answers to most of these questions will not be found in the simple text, which leads us to have to look to three sources: Midrashic and Talmudic literature, commentaries, and our own careful reading of the text to find hints from words, letters, and cryptic statements.

There is much debate over which child was circumcised in the hotel (Shmot 4:23-25), whose life was in danger in that episode, and what the significance of Zipporah performing the circumcision was meant to display. n the varied Midrashim, there is a wealth of information trying to fill in gaps in Moshe’s formative years, as well as explaining the timeline of his experience when he finally got to Midian and Yisro’s house. One view has Gershom being born years before the Burning Bush. Another has Moshe being held captive by Yisro for seven years, fed secretly by Zipporah, who became his bride upon his release. There is a point of view that agreements were made as to which child would belong to Moshe, and which would belong to Yisro’s family (though which role was assigned to which child is debated). Even the idea that Moshe had been saved from Pharaoh’s sword has conflicting Midrashim — one says Moshe’s neck turned hard as marble, another that an angel replaced Moshe, while the verse itself indicates Moshe ran away from Egypt and was never arrested (2:15). One of the side stories that can’t be overlooked in piecing together hints from the text is where Moshe’s tent was camped when Yisro arrived. Was he near the Israelites, or was he on the mountain (18:5)? What is going on when Aharon and the elders show up to eat with Yisro, “before G-d” (18:12)? Abravanel suggests Moshe went back to a place he had camped in his shepherding days (remember that he had visited the Burning Bush when he was working as a shepherd for his father-in-law).

Rabbi maRc d. angel

Please join us for the 22nd season of the Community -Wide Tanach Shiur

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PROGRAM HOSTED BY: Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst 8 Spruce Street

Rabbi Motti Neuburger Perek 38 of Tehillim v"g jubn rzghkt crv ,c kyhd ,nab hukhgk Sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Mordy Kriger in memory of their beloved parents: k"z rhtn cegh "r ic ctz 'r wv"g kmrv hk,pb 'r ,c gmbj vhj ,rn wv"g ehzhht ejmh 'r ,c vsbhv vbj

Co-Sponsored By:

Cong. Shaaray Tefila Rabbi Uri Orlian HILI Bais Medrash Rabbi Dov Bressler Kehillas Bais Yehuda Rabbi Yaakov Feitman Cong. Tifereth Zvi Rabbi Pinchas Chatzinoff Y.I. of Bayswater Rabbi Eliezer Feuer Y.I. of Far Rockaway Rabbi Shaul Chill Y.I. of Hewlett Rabbi Heshy Blumstein Y.I. of Lawrence-Cedarhurst Rabbi M. Teitelbaum Y.I. of North Woodmere Rabbi Yehuda Septimus Y.I. of Woodmere Rabbi Hershel Billet

A Priority-1 Community Initiative

For more information or dedication opportunities, please call Priority-1 at 516.295.5700.

prevalent custom in Ashkenazic shuls is for the congregation to stand when the Ten Commandments are read from the Torah. This is a symbolic re-enactment of the Revelation at Mount Sinai, when the Israelites stood below the mountain. Among Sephardim, the widespread custom is to remain seated during the reading of the Torah, including during the recitation of the Ten Commandments. This custom is based on the notion that all the Torah— from beginning to end—is holy. To stand only for the Ten Commandments might imply that only the Ten Commandments were given by G-d. (The Sephardic sages did not require standing for all Torah readings, since this would be a terrible imposition on the public.) During the 18th century, Rabbi Eliyahu Israel, a scholar born in Rhodes who was serving as rabbi in Alexandria, was asked: May a person be stringent with himself and stand for the Ten Commandments in a congregation where the custom is to remain seated? Rabbi Israel responded: “It is obvious that one is not permitted to do so because it appears presumptuous [mehzei ke-yuhara]. … Moreover, someone who does so [stands] in the presence of Talmidei Hakhamim greater than he, is deserving of excommunication [nidui].” If a self-righteous person stands while others are seated, this gives the impression that only

he is truly scrupulous about honoring the Torah, while the rest of the congregation are less pious. Individuals who stood for the Ten Commandments in a shul where the custom was to remain seated probably thought they were demonstrating honor to the Torah. Yet, Rabbi Israel penetrates to the inner motivations of these people: they viewed themselves as holier than the rest of the congregants. They took pride in their show of piety in contrast to the behavior of others. But this sense of pride and pretentiousness is repugnant. One should not defy the proper and well-established custom of a congregation, but should rather follow the prevailing custom. To call attention to one’s supposed piety is an act of impiety. It is rude and disrespectful, as well as presumptuously self-righteous. There is a thin line between genuine and counterfeit religiosity. One may show external gestures of piety and yet be religiously inauthentic. Rabbi Eliezer Papo, in his classic ethical text, Pele Yoetz, points out that one should strive to serve G-d humbly. If one wishes to adopt a practice that the law does not require, one should do so privately. One should not follow religious stringencies in public if the rabbis and members of the community do not observe these stringencies. G-d knows our inner thoughts, our real intentions. Our goal must be to achieve the highest level of purity in our service to G-d, to direct our deeds for the sake of Heaven. We need to be absolutely honest with ourselves, constantly cutting through our own rationalizations. Our judgment is easily clouded by self-delusion and feelings of self-contentment. We should be most concerned with real piety, not with external gestures of piety.

Do not follow stringencies in public that the community does not observe.

will be learning

Agudah of the Five Towns Rabbi Yitzchok Frankel Agudah of West Lawrence Rabbi Moshe Brown Bais Haknesses of N. Woodmere Rabbi A. Lebowitz Bais Medrash D’Cedarhurst Rabbi Dovid Spiegel Chofetz Chaim Torah Center Rabbi Aryeh Z. Ginzberg Cong. Bais Avrohom Rabbi Osher Stern Cong. Anshei Chessed Rabbi Simcha Lefkowitz Cong. Bais Ephraim Yitzchok Rabbi Zvi Ralbag Cong. Bais Tefila Rabbi Ephraim Polakoff Cong. Beth Sholom Rabbi Kenneth Hain Cong. Kneseth Israel Rabbi Eytan Feiner

his new life in Midian to a new level. Eliezer’s birth was at the dawn of his leadership and his shepherding of the Israelite nation — his preparedness to approach a king turned Moshe into a new man. This is why each child is introduced with “the name of the one,” because each was unique. Another view as to Eliezer’s “one”-ness is noted by Alshikh and Rabbenu Bachaye, based on a reference in Divrei Hayamim that Eliezer only had one son, Rechavia. The rabbis teach us (Brachos 7a) that Rechavia had over 600,000 descendants. Calling him “the one” just goes to prove the s trength of his family’s multiplication in that from one person came so many. While the questions with which we began have all been addressed, a couple of thought questions remain. Where is Mt. Sinai — in the Sinai desert (as we know it), or in Midian (modern day Saudi Arabia)? How much was Moshe’s existence in Midian under wraps — was there really a threat from Egypt looming, was Yisro concerned about being caught for harboring a fugitive? And, most curious to me, is Yisro’s age. We know Moshe was 80 when he appeared before Pharaoh. We also know it was not uncommon in that era and region for a much older man to marry a much younger bride (see: forefather Jacob). The Midrash suggests Yisro was very old, having served in Pharaoh’s court before Moshe was born. But what if he was actually a contemporary of Moshe’s, even the same age? Wouldn’t that change the dynamic of their relationship? Torah’s narrative is not officially a history book. But we are to learn from the human stories, the relationships, the shared experiences. This is what gives richness to the Torah’s narrative portions, and connects with our humanity on a most personal level.

Gestures and realities

THE COMMUNITY-WIDE Motzei Shabbos Tanach Shiur FEBRUARY 3, 2018

According to Abravanel and Alshikh, the names of the sons were to remind him of all the good he had done and grandeur he had achieved. Gershom reminded him of his humble beginnings. Alshikh says Eliezer recalls his being saved from Pharaoh, while Abravanel suggests the name is a reminder that Pharaoh did not have him killed over all the Makkos that he brought on Egypt. Of course, this latter note indicates either that Eliezer was named with a premonition, or that his name was changed when Yisro came to Moshe. As far their being “her” sons, Alshikh says a man is attracted to her women on account of her children. On the other hand, it could just be the way Yisro describes his daughter’s kids (as we all do!) — after all, they are referred to as Moshe’s (“his”) sons in verse 18:5. lshikh suggests that Moshe indicated gratitude for living in Yisro’s house through naming his first son Gershom, but that he also never outwardly explained the meaning behind Eliezer’s name. Alshikh assumes Pharaoh also ruled over Midian (many Midrashim link Yisro to Pharaoh’s court), so Moshe did not feel comfortable speaking aloud about being saved from Pharaoh. Perhaps he didn’t feel that he had been completely saved until G-d told him at the Burning Bush that he could go back to Egypt, and would be protected in those journeys. As Eliezer was born around that time, he was named based on the new information Moshe had. (Malbim) Malbim also suggests that each child’s birth brought with it a new turning point in Moshe’s life. Gershom brought fatherhood and appreciation for

Each child was unique.

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February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

AlAn JAy Gerber

Kosher BooKworm

es, there is an inside story to the Exodus, the defining moment and experience that culminated in the liberation of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery and their open ob‑ servance of the Jewish faith in all its manifesta‑ tions. Rabbi Yanki Tauber of Woodmere has pub‑ lished the second volume in his “The Inside Story” series, this one dealing with Shemot, the Book of Exodus. Publication of this work is an apt lead‑up to Pesach, just a little over two months away. According to Rabbi Tauber, “The Inside Sto‑ ry” is a journey into the fascinating and empow‑ ering world of the Torah’s inner meanings.” This is not just a history book. Rather it is a spiritual dialogue between G‑d and the Jewish people, themed on every page to their physical and spir‑ itual liberation. This book reflects the teachings of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of blessed and sacred memory, who according to Rabbi Tauber delve “into the To‑ rah’s narrative to discover a program for life that is as sublime as it is tethered to reality, as inspir‑ ing as it is pragmatic, as original as it is rooted in tradition. … The 62 essays in this volume, which are based on the Rebbe’s writings and talks, each explore an event or insight from one of the 11 weekly Torah readings of the book of Exodus to illuminate the big questions of life as well as its most rudimentary concerns.” his week’s review present a chapter from Rabbi Tauber’s book, as an example of his method of analysis. Hopefully you will find it as inspiring as I did, and you will be en‑

couraged to read more of Rabbi Yanki’s literary works and religious teachings.

The Third Crown

By Rabbi Yanki Tauber [Moses] took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people. And they said: “Everything that G‑d has spoken, we will do, and we will hear.” Exodus 24:7 s the above‑quoted verse attests, our cov‑ enant with G‑d entails not only “doing” the divine will, but also “hearing” it — compre‑ hending it and identifying with it. In other words, we serve G‑d not only with our actions, but also with our minds and hearts, by studying His wis‑ dom and gaining a love and awe of His truth. Yet, as our sages point out, the people said, “We will do,” before they said, “We will hear.” This means that our observance of the divine commandments is not contingent on our under‑ standing. First comes the unequivocal commit‑ ment to do what G‑d commands. It was only af‑ ter we made that commitment that we pledged to also “hear” and understand. A beautiful Talmudic passage illustrates how G‑d valued this declaration by the people: “At the moment that the people of Israel put ‘We will do’ before ‘We will hear,’ 600,000 angels came, [one] for each Jew, and fixed two crowns upon his head: one for ‘We will do,’ and one for ‘We will hear’.” closer examination of the wording of this passage reveals an apparent inconsistency. Its opening words imply that the gifts borne by the angels were not for the declarations “We will do” and “We will hear” themselves, but for the fact that the people of Israel “put ‘We will do’ before ‘We will hear’.” So why did they each get two crowns, “one for ‘We will do,’ and one for ‘We will hear’?” The chassidic masters explain: Giving precedence to “We will do” over “We will hear” is not just a virtue in its own right, signifying an unquestioning commitment to the divine will. It also has a profound effect upon

Rabbi Tauber

the “doing” and “hearing” them‑ selves, elevat‑ ing them to a completely dif‑ ferent level of a c h i e ve m e n t and comprehension. When our fulfillment of a mitzvah is predi‑ cated on our understanding of its significance, the deed is bounded by the limitations of our mind and heart. Furthermore, each mitzvah has its own set of limits and conditions. Some mitzvot are more understandable, others less so. Some are more emotionally stirring, others less so. The mitzvah is thus reduced (at least in the experience of its observer) to a human deed, subject to the limitations and fluctuations of the human condition. But when we put “we will do” before “we will hear,” we are saying: “I will fulfill the divine will not on my terms, but on G‑d’s terms. I am do‑ ing this not because and to the extent to which I understand it, but because G‑d commanded me.” Our deed is thus elevated from a finite and temporal human act to the infinity, eternity, and equivocality of the divine. The same applies to the “we will hear” aspect

How Yitro’s contact with Judaism transformed him rAbbi dAvid etenGoff

he first 12 pasukim of our parasha, Yitro, re‑ late the story of Yitro’s departure from Mid‑ ian in order to join Moshe and the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. The Torah initially gives Yitro three appellations: Yitro, Kohane Midian and chotane Moshe (Moshe’s father‑in‑law). (Sh‑ emot 18:1) Subsequently in the narrative, how‑ ever, he is no longer known as Kohane Midian and is referred to either as “Yitro” (18:9‑10) or “Yitro chotane Moshe” (18:2, 5, 6 and 12) Names and titles are significant in Tanach, since they often encapsulate the essence of the person who bears them. As such, what does “Kohane Midian” mean, and why did Yitro lose this honorific? Rashi suggests the following Mi‑ drashically‑based explanation: “He [Yitro] was knowledgeable about every type of idolatry in the world, and there was no pagan deity that he did not worship.” (Shemot 18:11) According to this view, Yitro, in the persona of Kohane Midian, begins our parasha as the foremost idolatrous priest of Midian. Yet, for some reason, he aban‑ dons this role and lifestyle and transforms him‑ self into someone else entirely — namely, Yitro chotane Moshe. What can account for this radical spiritual and existential change? We are fortunate that Chazal focus on this problem in their explication of the first two words of our parasha, “Vayishmah Yitro” (“And Yitro heard,”) when they ask, “What matter did he [Yitro] hear that caused him to come [to Moshe] and convert?” (Talmud Bavli, Zevachim 116a) Their answer informs our understanding of Yitro until the present moment: Rabbi Yehoshua said: “He heard about the

war with Amalek, for as it states in juxtaposition to Yitro’s act of hearing: ‘Joshua weakened Ama‑ lek and his people with the edge of the sword’.” (Shemot 17:13) Rabbi Eliezer Hamoda’i said: “He heard about the Giving of the Torah and came [to meet Moshe and convert.] This was the case, since when the Torah was given to the Jew‑ ish people, its sound [the sound of the glory of this act] reverber‑ ated from one end of the world to the other, and all of the kings of the idol‑worshipping nations were overcome with a sense of fear and trembling and broke out in a song [of praise]. As the text states: ‘The voice of the L‑rd will frighten the hinds and strip the forests, and in His Temple everyone speaks of His glory’.” (Tehillim 29:9) his Talmudic passage emphasizes that Yitro heard something overwhelming — either the war with Amalek or the Giving of the Torah — that caused him to abandon polytheism, join the Jewish people and become a ger tzedek (righteous convert). Rashi underscores this idea in his commentary on the verse, “Moses saw his father‑in‑law off, and he went away to his land,” wherein he states that Yitro returned to Midian, rather than stay with the Jewish people, in order “to convert the members of his family.” (18:27) The Rav (my rebbe and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zatzal) describes Yitro’s authentic nature and response to the Giving of the Torah as the ideal reaction the non‑Jewish world should have had toward our acceptance of the Torah: “Jethro was a Gentile; he was, what might be called today, the Archbishop of Midian. He came to the Jews with an open mind. He wanted to observe for himself what the Jews had accom‑ plished and were about to engage in. He stayed with the Jews, and was so overwhelmed by their conduct, that he renounced paganism and

embraced Judaism. This is one illustration of a Gentile’s reaction to Jews and Mattan Torah. Chazal did not describe Jethro as one of the cha‑ sidei umot ha’olam (a saintly Gentile). Rather, they portrayed him as a decent person, whose positive reaction should have been emulated by other Gentiles who witnessed the exhibition of Mattan Torah. (Noraos HaRav, Volume V, page 81) According to the Rav, when Yitro stayed with us at Mount Sinai, it was not the wonders and miracles associated with the Exodus or the Torah itself that led him to convert to Juda‑ ism. Instead, it was our conduct, the way we behaved toward one another, that convinced Yitro of the falsehood of polytheism and the truth of Ju‑ daism. The Rav’s insight is reminiscent of the famous concluding pasuk in chapter three of Sefer Yonah concerning the people of Nineveh: “And G‑d saw their deeds that they had repented of their evil way.” When Yonah proclaimed his prophecy to Nineveh’s citizens, “in another 40 days Nineveh shall be overturned” (3:4), they instantly be‑ lieved him because “the people of Nineveh be‑ lieved in G‑d” (3:5). Therefore, they immediate‑ ly realized that there was only one way to nullify Hashem’s decree, namely to undertake a positive and comprehensive societal change that would affect everyone, from the king and his courtiers in their magnificent castles to the lowliest peas‑ ant in his ramshackle hut. I believe that Yitro witnessed precisely this kind of G‑d‑inspired change when he stood in the midst of our nascent nation. It was then that he saw, “the leaders of your tribes, your elders and your officers, every man of Israel, your young children, your women, and your convert who is within your camp, both your woodcut‑

Israel as a light to Yitro, and to the world.

ters and your water drawers” (Devarim 29:9‑10) serving Hashem through acts of lovingkindness toward each other. This is exactly what led Yitro to convert to Judaism, and encourage the rest of his family to join him in his spiritual journey. With Hashem’s help and our fervent desire, may we live lives that serve as models to all hu‑ mankind so that, as Isaiah the prophet taught us so long ago, we will be a “light unto nations” (49:6) and His “witnesses” to the entire world (43:10). V’chane yihi ratzon.

luach

Wed Jan 31 • 15 Shevat Tu B’Shevat

Fri Feb 2 • 17 Shevat Parsha Yisro Candlelighting: 4:55 pm

Havdalah: 6:06 pm

Fri Feb 9 • 24 Shevat Parshas Shekalim, Mishpatim Shabbos Mevarchim Candlelighting: 5:04 pm

Havdalah: 6:14 pm

Thurs-Fri Feb 15-16 Rosh Chodesh Adam

Fri Feb 16 • 1 Adar Parsha Tetzaveh Candlelighting: 5:21 pm

Havdalah: 6:31 pm

Five Towns times from the White Shul

19 THE JEWISH STAR February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778

The inside story of the Exodus

of our service of G‑d. In and of itself, the human effort to comprehend the divine remains just that: a human effort, delimited by the scope of human intellect and the particular prejudices of each individual mind. Certain aspects of the divine will are more comprehensible; oth‑ ers, less so. Certain mitzvot are more readily identified with, while others are more dif‑ ficult to relate to. The only way to gain an uncircumscribed apprehension of the divine truth is to live that truth, fully and unequivo‑ cally, in our daily lives and everyday activities. It is only when we put “we will do” before “we will hear” that our “we will hear” achieves a true understanding of the divine. ccording to this, however, the crown‑ bearing angels should have placed three crowns on each of the people. For the elevated doing and understanding that earned us our two crowns both derived from a third, underlying virtue: our unquestioning submis‑ sion to the divine will, expressed by our place‑ ment of deed before understanding. The answer to that can be found in a parable told by the Midrash: There was once a king whose country‑ men made him three crowns. What did the king do? He took one and placed it on his own head, and two he placed on the heads of his children. The two crowns delivered by the angels to each Jewish soul, one for “We will do” and the other for “We will hear,” represent the magnif‑ icence of a deed done solely for G‑d, and the depth of understanding gained by one who pur‑ sues wisdom to the sole aim of serving its divine author. There was, however, a third crown—a crown that is the source and root of the other two—which the angels did not bring: the crown of our unequivocal commitment to G‑d. This crown G‑d entrusts to no angel, awards to no soul. Instead of placing it on the heads of His children, G‑d does something that is an even greater demonstration of His regard for them: G‑d wears it on His own head. This is My pride and glory, G‑d’s crown says. This is where My wearing it is tantamount to your wearing it, for this is where you and I are one.

February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

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The Israel-hating Obama-Kerry show is back Jeff Dunetz politics to go

fter a year without their anti-Israel rhetoric and actions, the Obama team is back, and just as bad as ever. Last Wednesday, former President Obama and former Secretary of State John Kerry each made news demonstrating their negative feelings about the Jewish state. Obama’s reoccurrence was an act of Jewicide; the anti-Semitic former president was given a platform by Temple Emanu-El, a Reform synagogue in Manhattan. Obama used the opportunity to defend his abstention on an antiIsrael U.N. Security Council vote less than one month before the end of his presidency. Not only did the Obama-directed action in the anti-Israel U.N. deliver a vote that gave the Palestinians a free pass to continue to avoid negotiations, it tried to lock Israel into the untenable 1948 Armistice lines and it declared Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem occupied Palestinian land. As Security Council resolutions create

international law, this made the Jewish state’s presence in East Jerusalem, commonly known as the “Jewish Quarter,” technically illegal. This absurd action ignored the fact Jews have been living in the “Jewish Quarter” since the time of King David — except between 1948 and 1967 when Jordan kicked out the Jews and destroyed many Jewish holy sites there. The Simon Wiesenthal Center ranked Obama’s abstention number one in its annual listing of top “Global anti-Semitic/antiIsrael incidents” in 2016. The Security Council resolution that passed thanks to Obama’s abstention also asked U.N. member states not to use Israeli products that were created in the disputed territories — for all intents and purposes an endorsement of the anti-Semitic BDS movement. Per the Daily Mail in Great Britain, here’s what the former president said of his December 2016 decision to abstain: “The pace of [Israeli] settlement construction skyrocketed, making it almost impossible to make any kind of Palestin-

ian state. … Voting against the resolution would have damaged our credibility on affirming human rights only when it’s convenient not when it has to do with ourselves and our friends. … To be a true friend of Israel it is important to be honest about it, and the politics of this country sometimes do not allow for it.” bama reiterated what he had said while in the Oval Office, that the September 2016 signing of a $38 billion military aid package for Israel, the largest ever provided by a U.S. administration to any country, as proof of his support of the Jewish state. That excuse ignores that his eight years of trying to delegitimize Israel in the world community, as well as his flawed Iran nuclear deal, made it more likely that the military aid would need to be used to protect innocent Israeli lives. Meanwhile, Obama’s Secretary of State John Kerry continued his anti-Israel endeavors, possibly violating U.S. law at the same time. Israeli’s Ma’ariv newspaper reported that

Obama’s talk was an act of Jewicide by Temple Emanu-El.

Kerry sent a message to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, that he should ignore President Trump’s demands, because Trump would be out of office within the year. Kerry met in London with a close associate of Abbas, Hussein Agha, for what was described as a “long and open conversation that contained many headlines.” Agha apparently played the role of messenger, sending details of the discussion to senior PA officials in Ramallah. A senior Palestinian official confirmed to Ma’ariv there had indeed been such a meeting. Kerry asked Agha to convey a message to Abbas “ask him to ‘hold on and be strong. ‘Tell him, he told Agha, ‘that he stays strong in his spirit and play for time, that he will not break and will not yield to President Trump’s demands.’ According to Kerry, Trump will not remain in office for a long time. It is a good chance that within a year he will not be in the White House.” Kerry offered his help to the Palestinians in an effort to advance his version of the peace process and recommended that Abbas present his own peace plan. “Maybe it is time for the Palestinians to define their peace principles and present a positive plan,” Kerry reportedly said. He See Israel-hating on page 22

Israel cannot deny that BDS is in decline Ben Cohen Viewpoint

ecently, I’ve been nursing some concerns about the way the Israeli government is handling its response to the BDS campaign against the Jewish state, and with it the wider challenges of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism in the Western world. Some of my concerns have already been expressed with enviable clarity by two other commentators — my JNS colleague Jonathan Tobin, and the Times of Israel’s Haviv Rettig Gur. Following Israel’s decision this month to ban 20 BDS-related organizations from entering the country, Tobin made the broader point that the material impact of the BDS campaign upon Israel has been gratifyingly minimal. The true danger of this campaign, he continued, lies in its persistent targeting of Jewish communities in the Diaspora. Meanwhile, Rettig Gur’s critique of the official Israeli response to BDS included a wryly amusing account of how Israel has generated a handful of boutique-sized government min-

istries during the last decade. These ministries have no clear mandate, but are staffed by bureaucracies whose “primal” goal is survival. This drive, Rettig-Gur argued, explains to significant degree why the Israeli government’s own campaign to counter BDS is escalating. I want to amplify some of these concerns, and then offer a few of my own. s a general rule, governments engaging in campaigns to defend their own records, or to project a certain image of their country, is rarely a good idea, especially if the ultimate goal is to win over skeptics and adversaries — or at least persuade them to consider a given situation from more than one point of view. That is particularly true, I think, when the bone of contention is not the record of the elected government in power, but the deeper reputation and legitimacy of the nation that government represents. In the Israeli case, a campaign of this nature is so unnecessary that it’s counterproductive. Why, in effect, nationalize the counter-attack that is already being waged by the myriad of

community-based Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, of varying sizes and addressing different demographics, which represent grassroots opposition to BDS and its claims? More troublingly, what kind of credibility is there in a government ministry that was hastily repurposed to confront the BDS campaign only in 2015, more than a decade after the boycott campaign became a major concern for Jewish communities in the Diaspora? To my mind, the greatest error here is the denial of a basic reality that we should all welcome: the BDS campaign is in decline. That is not to say that BDS has failed definitively, merely that it has performed miserably when measured by its own very specific standard of political success. That standard is the global movement that opposed apartheid in South Africa, an explicitly racist form of government based on the formal segregation of white and non-white peoples by state authorities. BDS proponents lie that this shameful system has been resurrected in Israel, which neatly allows them to adopt the fight against apartheid in South Africa as their inspi-

BDS has failed to persuade that Israel is the new South Africa.

ration and campaign model. y the end of the 1960s, within a few years of forming anti-apartheid groups in university campuses and churches in Europe and America, the anti-apartheid movement had succeeded in indelibly linking the name of South Africa with racism of the most backward kind. The notion of South Africa as an affluent, leafy white suburb on the African continent was devastated by images of the suffering visited upon the large black majority by the small white minority. By the 1980s, banks in Europe and the U.S. were regarding South Africa as a reputational risk, supermarkets noticed that consumers were shunning South African fruit and vegetables in growing numbers, and millions of people heard Nelson Mandela’s name in anthemic songs demanding the jailed ANC leader’s freedom. By 1994, when South Africa held its first multiracial elections, there was simply no need any more for an international anti-apartheid movement — perhaps the greatest indicator of success for a political campaign whose goal is to end a particular example of injustice. Even with an entire world of social media that didn’t exist 30 years ago at its disposal, the BDS movement can only dream of inflicting similar reputational damage on Israel and its people. See BDS on page 22

tehilla r. goldberg

view from central park

heesh. I just don’t get it. Vice President Mike Pence arrives in Jerusalem, and makes a groundbreaking speech at the Knesset. He acknowledges that the modern state of Israel is on the cusp of her 70th year by speaking in the language of gratitude and reciting “Shehecheyanu ve-kiyemanu ve-higianu la-zeman hazeh.” His words were greeting with standing ovations and constant warm applause. I watched this speech only after I read a commentary in Haaretz titled, “Lucky The Jews Didn’t Understand What Mike Pence Was Really Saying,” by Amit Gvaryahu. What was the veiled message, I wondered? Before me was an article that cherry-picked sources to turn Pence’s words into a supersessionist declaration (regarding Christianity superseding Judaism). Much of Gvaryahu’s proposition centered around Pence’s use of the word ‘“faith,” as well as the light in which Abraham was cast by Pence. I am somewhat weary of Christian proselytization, so I watched the speech for myself, expecting a long Christian sermon or a repeated touting of the administration’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital statement. I kept waiting for the inappropriate references from which Gvaryahu deduced a coded message. Instead, unfolding before me, was an inspiring speech, unifying and inclusive of all three major faiths. Textual references were a thread throughout, but a sermon it was not. It was a parliamentary speech that included Hebrew Biblical references — oh, the horror! It also included references to political realities, acknowledging the goal of a two state solution as well as the compromises it will warrant. His speech even went so far as switching to first person and taking the opportunity to address the Iranian people (not the government, but the people). Had Haaretz’s Gvaryahu and I watched two different speeches?

Vice President Mike Pence at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial during his trip to Israel.

ranted, I did notice the use of the word “resurrected” when Pence mentioned the Jewish people rebuilding after the Holocaust by founding the state of Israel. What he said was literally true, but yes, that is a word with obvious Christian overtones. And yes, he did talk of Abraham’s faith at the akeda, the binding of Isaac, along with the covenant G-d made with Abraham in promising him descendants as numerous as the sand and the stars. I was surprised by Abraham heralded as someone who didn’t fight wars, because we know he did fight a war and won. But the arc and essence of the speech was consistently imparting messages of friendship toward Israel on behalf of America; of unity and appreciation of different religious faiths and paths; of the fight against ISIS; the miracle of the Jewish people; the history of Israel in the land of Israel; and, most important, respect and hope for a better world for all peoples. I am grateful for the friendship of Christian friends of Israel while I am also circumspect, because I worry about proselytization.

Haim Zach/GPO

However, when a friend, a leader, comes and shows such goodwill to the Jewish people, why can’t we just be gracious and say: Thank you? Why read into Pence’s speech something so farfetched, bordering on paranoia? In any event, Pence came and spoke as vice president of the United States of America, not as a preacher. Why conflate the two? Why perceive imagined ideas when none were articulated? Constantly being malcontent does not necessarily a sophisticated thinker or intellectual make. Sometimes, as Freud said, “a cigar is just a cigar.” This moving speech by Pence is such an example. Sometimes, a speech is just a speech. It was a truly strong speech of friendship and support. Respond accordingly, not with a lack of grace. pewing Pavlovian attacks toward anything coming from a camp you disagree with is counterproductive and ultimately rings hollow. Save your arguments for real, not fabricated, issues. It’s boring to hear a predictable response to anything that hails from a government whose fundamental policies you

Pence’s speech was a throwback to Begin, who peppered speeches with Biblical references.

Spare us your Holocaust hypocrisy! Jonathan S. tobin

ast Saturday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The date, which commemorates the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945, is the one most of the world uses to remember the Shoah, even if Israel and most Jewish communities primarily employ another date a week after Pesach for Yom HaShoah. Given the enormity of the event, it’s not inappropriate to speak of both as important days of remembrance. The problem is that many of the mournful and resolute words uttered by international leaders on Jan. 27 are laden with hypocrisy. The irony here is that most of the attention given this date last year was devoted to denouncing the early Trump White House for marking the day with a statement subject that failed to mention Jews. That deplorable omission became the centerpiece for the argument by some Trump critics that the statement was a dog whistle to anti-Semites and therefore in some way responsible for a series of bomb threats at Jewish Community Centers around the nation. Once those threats were found to be the

work of a disturbed Israeli teenager, the claim that President Trump was fomenting antiSemitism was quickly forgotten, but Trump’s critics are always looking for a way to depict the administration as offending Jews, such as the made-up Twitter controversy in which Vice President Mike Pence’s remarks about Israel rising from the ashes of the Holocaust was claimed to be an insult to dead Jews. ut the interesting thing about these kerfuffles is how little the pro forma expressions of outrage about what happened during the Holocaust correlates with any actual interest in standing up against Jew-hatred or preventing new Holocausts. Few forgave Trump for any of his offensive comments. But when it comes to actual policy, Trump has proven himself a stout friend of Israel eliminating the “daylight” that existed between the U.S. and the Jewish state under his predecessor. He’s also an unapologetic opponent of Iran, the nation that has been most devoted to promoting Holocaust denial while simultaneously plotting to perpetrate a new one on the Jews of Israel whom they have marked for extinction. Can the same thing be said for many of the leaders who spoke on Holocaust Day this year? The same European Parliament that solemnly marked Holocaust Day actually invited a terrorist-linked Iranian leader well-known for

promoting Holocaust denial to speak to them. Much of Europe has turned a blind eye to the flaws of the Iran nuclear deal, whose sunset clauses ensure that the theocrats of Tehran will get their weapon of mass destruction before long and bitterly blame both Trump and Israel for trying to disrupt their dreams of détente with the ayatollahs. Just as outrageous is the way so many in Europe repeat the canard that Israel treats the Palestinians the way the Nazis victimized the Jews. This is not only blatantly false and a diminution of the horror of the Shoah that amounts to Holocaust denial, it is an attempt to hijack the meaning of the worst tragedy in the history of the Jewish people so as to turn it into a weapon that will aid the efforts of those who wish to see Israel destroyed. Last fall, the EU Parliament faction that claims to speak for social democracy held an event in which speakers sounded this theme and honored a Palestinian terrorist with the podium. f that were not bad enough, the world is forced to endure lectures about the importance of the Holocaust from people like Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom. Israeli opposition party leader Yair Lapid has noted that Wallstrom’s incessant criticisms of Israel are not only disconnected from the reality of the conflict but also spread outright lies, such as her charges that Israel was conducting

extrajudicial executions of Palestinian terrorists. Wallstrom also blamed Israel for the rise of anti-Semitism in Sweden, which has escalated to violence, rather than acknowledging that the country’s leaders have legitimized slanders of the Jewish state and the Jewish people. Even if we take the question of Israel-bashing out of the equation, the truth is many of those who talk the most about the lessons of the Holocaust do nothing about real genocides when they happen in our own time. President Obama stood aside as hundreds of thousands were killed in Syria. He and his U.N. ambassador, Samantha Power (who was a champion of the idea of a “responsibility to protect” the victims of mass murder before she was in office) rationalized their indifference but still never missed an opportunity to strike a self-righteous pose about the horrors of the past. The same could be said for the Israel-bashers in Europe who treated the deaths of Palestinians during the course of counter-terror offensives in Gaza as war crimes, but were apathetic about a genuine catastrophe in Syria. So much of the breast-beating about the Holocaust we get from world leaders every January ignores one basic truth. The only real memorial to the Holocaust isn’t any statue or even the museums about the Shoah that have proliferated around the world. It’s the state of Israel, which remains the guarantor of the future of the remnants of the Jewish people that Hitler tried to exterminate. Those hypocrites who forget that or seek to undermine the Jewish state have no business opening their mouths about the Holocaust.

21 THE JEWISH STAR February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778

Thank you, Vice President Pence!

disagree with. Second of all, since when did Christians own the messages of the story of the akeda? Last I checked, drawing on a theme of faith from the very painful and difficult akeda narrative, is straight out of the Jewish dvar Torah playbook. I’ve heard that so many times, I can’t count. But what if Pence had read something Biblical through the prism of his own faith, that we don’t see eye to eye on? Is that so terrible? Third of all, it is a pleasure to hear a speech in the halls of the Israeli parliament with Biblical texts and motifs. After all, the modern secular political Zionist movement notwithstanding, Israel is the land of the Tanach, the Hebrew Bible. Why hide from who we are? There was a time when secular Israelis knew Tanach cold and could quote it freely — it wasn’t a source of shame or tension, but rather one of pride. Although I was just a little girl and not deeply aware of the ins and outs of Israeli parliament, I was living in Israel when Menachem Begin was at Israel’s helm. His peppering of speeches with Biblical references was a natural fabric of the Israeli discourse. In a sense Pence’s speech harkened back to that time. There was a gratuitous remark thrown into Gvaryahu’s piece about Arab MKs being kicked out for the speech, which I suppose gives away the bias of the author. Arab MKs were not kicked out because they were Arabs, as was implied. View the video. You see some Arab MKs intentionally disrupting Pence, shouting and waving signs. Obviously, security was going to have them removed. They made a choice and they knew very well what the consequence would be. When living in Israel and writing my column for the Intermountain Jewish News, on one occasion I was sitting in the press section of a speech that then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was making. Startlingly, shouts from the audience disrupted his speech as a group of Kahane Chai activists ripped off their collared shirts to reveal offensive matching T-shirts as they screamed something in protest. Obviously, they were escorted out. We have the Kotel and access to prayer at the Kotel. The embassy, I can live with it in Tel Aviv. My point is simply to reiterate and paraphrase Freud’s pithy observation that sometimes a speech really is just a speech. And what a speech it was. To which I tip my hat to Vice President Mike Pence, and say: Todah! Todah Rabbah! Copyright Intermountain Jewish News

February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

Vienna...

Continued from page 4 was recently written up as “koscher, cool und asiatisch” (kosher, cool and Asian) in Wina Magazin, an independent Jewish magazine published in German. The restaurant’s clean lines, ultra-modern design and unique tableware contribute to the hotspot’s modish appeal. “It was my dream to open a restaurant here where I grew up,” Janet Faiziev told me. She explained that the name of Mea Shearim comes not from the name of the haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem, but from a verse in the Torah (Bereishis 26:12) about the patriarch Isaac (her husband’s namesake) that states, “Yitzchak sowed in that land, and in that year he reaped a hundredfold

(mea shearim); G-d had blessed him.” As this young couple joins a vibrant landscape with at least five kosher restaurants within just a few blocks in the historic Leopoldstadt, it is with cautious optimism that the community continues to grow and support itself. The community is still heavily guarded both by private security forces and the Austrian government, as the Stadttempel was the site of a horrific Palestinian terror attack in 1981 that injured 21 and killed two. Like all Viennese synagogues, the Stadttempel, yeshivas and many institutions are protected by round-the-clock security. Otherwise, the community is as welcoming to its visitors as any other, and kosher food is plentiful and is served to the city’s many visitors with a smile. Elizabeth Kratz is the associate publisher and editor of The Jewish Link of New Jersey.

Israel-hating... Continued from page 21 his own peace plan. “Maybe it is time for the Palestinians to define their peace principles and present a positive plan,” Kerry reportedly said. He promised to use all his contacts and all his abilities to marshal support a Palestinian plan. He advised Abbas through Agha not to attack the U.S. or the Trump administration, but instead to concentrate on personal attacks on Trump himself, whom Kerry says is solely and directly responsible for the situation. erry described President Trump in derogatory terms and offered to go around the U.S. to help create an alternative to Trump’s peace initiative and work to gain for it ] support from Europeans, Arabs, and others in the international community. Kerry also hinted that many in the American establishment, as well as in American intelligence, were dissatisfied with Trump’s per-

formance and the way he leads America. He surprised Agha by saying he was seriously considering running for president in 2020. When asked about his advanced age, he said he was not much older than Trump and would have no age problem, that even many in the GOP do not know what to do with Trump, are very dissatisfied with him and need patience and breathing time to get through this difficult period. I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but Kerry’s actions sound like a violation of the Logan Act. “The Logan Act (1 Stat. 613, 18 U.S.C. § 953, enacted Jan. 30, 1799) is a United States federal law that criminalizes negotiation by unauthorized persons with foreign governments having a dispute with the United States.” The words of Obama and Kerry demonstrate the Obama administration is like an anti-Israel cancer that’s come back after a year in remission. Their attacks on the Jewish state will continue, as will our criticism of their hateful acts.

BDS...

a government-backed response is suddenly warranted. More seriously, it compromises the independence of Jewish and pro-Israel civil society organizations when they do the vital job of pushing back. Most of all, it sends a message of fear to the Jewish community: that the fight against BDS is being lost, that more and more of our friends and work colleagues are uncomplicatedly embracing the Iranian fantasy of a world without Israel, and that BDS is inflicting the kind of damage on Israel that South Africa experienced from the anti-apartheid movement. The Israeli government should see that the reverse is true. Nothing can hide the BDS movement’s abject failure to persuade the citizens of Western democracies that Israel is the new South Africa. There are many activists, writers and political leaders inside and outside the Jewish community who can claim credit for this heartening reality. The challenge now is to consolidate their success.

Continued from page 21 the BDS movement can only dream of inflicting similar reputational damage on Israel and its people. Meanwhile, Israel is now positively enjoying life as a member of the international community — the world’s 10th-most-innovative country, according to a Bloomberg News index released this week, respected and embraced in the worlds of technology, television drama, food and wine, as well as in its more traditional spheres, like agriculture and defense. All this makes the idea of a government ministry that is dedicated to countering a political demonization campaign seem even more incongruous. It suggests that the NGOs involved with this hateful campaign represent such a threat to Israel’s national security that

The JEWISH STAR CAlendar of Events Send your events to Calendar@TheJewishStar.com Deadline noon Friday • Compiled by Zachary Schechter

Thursday February 1

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

Friday February 2

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

Sunday February 4

Timely Torah: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Ya’akov Trump, assistant rabbi of the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, for a shiur on relevant Halachic and philosophical topics related to Parsha Moadim and contemporary issues. Coffee and pastries. 8 am. 8 Spruce St, Cedarhurst. Learning Program: [Weekly] At Aish Kodesh led by Rav Moshe Weinberger following 8:15 Shacharis including 9 am breakfast and shiurim on subjects such as halacha, gemara and divrei chizuk. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere. Gemara Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Moshe Sokoloff at the YI of Woodmere for a gemara shiu.r 9:15 am. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950. Torah 4 Teens: [Weekly] Yeshiva program for high-school age boys & young adults with Rabbi Matis Friedman. 9:15 am-12:30 pm. 410 Hungry Harbor Rd, Valley Stream. Torah4teens5T@gmail.com. Paint Night: YI of Woodmere will be having a Paint Night in honor of Tu B’Shvat with pizza and refreshments. $40 pr person, $50 walk-ins. 7:45 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516295-0950. Dating and Shalom Bayit: CHAZAQ and the Bukharian Jewish Congregation of Hillcrest present Rabbi Shay Tahan with a talk on “Dating and Shalom Bayit.” Free admission. Men and women welcome. 8pm. 81-04 166th St, Jamaica. 718-285-9132. Nachum Segal Kosher Halftime Show: As he’s done for the past several years, Nachum Segal will broadcast a “kosher” show during halftime of the Superbowl. 8 pm on NachumSegal.com. Previous shows were taped in restaurants around the New York area; tonight’s show will be recorded at the Wilf Children’s Hospital at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

Monday February 5

Women’s Shiur: [Weekly] Dr. Anette Labovitz’s women shiur will continue at Aish Kodesh. 10 am. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere. Seeing Things Clearly: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Shalom Yona Weis at Aish Kodesh for a shiur for women and high school girls titled “Seeing Things Clearly- Learning to View Our World and Our Lives Through Positive Lenses. 8:45 pm. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Tuesday February 6 956813

Women’s Shiur: [Weekly] Rebbetzin Weinberger of Aish Kodesh will give a shiur on the

“Midah of Seder in our Avodas Hashem.” 11 am. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere. Yeshiva Gedolah Anniversary Dinner: Yeshiva Gedolah of the Five Towns is holding its 15th anniversary dinner at the Congregation of Beth Shalom. 7 pm. 390 Broadway, Lawerence. Jewish History: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Evan Hoffman at the YI of Woodmere for a talk on Jewish History. 8:15 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950. Halacha Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Moshe Sokoloff at the YI of Woodmere for a halacha shiur. 8:40 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950. Gemara Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt at the YI of Woodmere for a gemara shiu. 9:15 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950.

Wednesday February 7

Sha’arei Pruzdor Scholarship Dinner: Mesivta Sha’arei Pruzdor invites all to join them for their first annual scholarship dinner. 7 pm. 111 Irving Pl, Woodmere. 516-374-6777. Timely Tanach: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Ya’akov Trump of the Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst for a shiur on Sefer Shoftim. 8 pm. 8 Spruce St, Cedarhurst. Chumash and Halacha Shiur: [Weekly] Shiur with Rabbi Yosef Richtman at Aish Kodesh. 8 pm. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere. Shiur and Tehillim Group: [Weekly] Join the women of YI of Woodmere at home of Devorah Schochet. 9:15 pm. 559 Saddle Ridge Rd.

Thursday February 8

Fire Safety: The HAFTR PTA and Board of Education and the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department present a special community-wide fire safety event. $18 per family suggested donation. 8:30 pm. 44 Frost Ln, Lawrence.

Saturday February 10 A Night of 100 Kosher Wines: YI of Long Beach and Lido Beach Synagogue join together to present are night of 100 kosher wines and 36 scotches and bourbons. $20 single, $35 couple. 7:30-10:30 pm. 120 Long Beach Blvd, Long Beach.

Sunday February 11

Pottery Event: CHAZAQ of West Hempstead is sponsoring a pottery event for women of all ages at Fun Time Pottery in Franklin Square. $36 in advance, $40 at the door. 10 am. 700 Franklin Ave, Franklin Square. 718-285-9132.

Thursday February 15

Achiezer Tribute of A Decade: It’s Achiezer’s turn to say “thanks” at tonight’s major fund-raising gala at The Sands Atlantic Beach. 516-791-4444 x113.

February 17, 18 and 24

Harmony XII: Kol Rayus song/dance extravaganza for women and girls featuring the N’Shei Zimriah Chorale Dance Troupe and benefiting TOVA. Tickets starting at $25. Motzei Shabbos start time: 8 pm. Sunday night start time: 7 pm. 2 Reilly Rd, Cedarhurst. 888-718-4253.

Tuesday February 20

TAG Annual Dinner: The Torah Academy for Girls is having its 55th annual dinner. 6:30 pm. 1395 Beech St. 718-471-8444.

Sunday February 25

Bnos Beis Yaakov Dinner: Bnos Bais Yaakov is having its 24th annual dinner. 1395 Beech St. 718-337-6000.

CAHAL

URI DAVIDI

LIPA

MARCH 11

THE JEWISH STAR February 2, 2018 • 17 Shevat 5778

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February 2, 2018 â&#x20AC;¢ 17 Shevat 5778 THE JEWISH STAR