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Parsha Beshalach • Tu B’Shvat • February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat • Five Towns Candlelighting 5:06 pm, Havdalah 6:07 • Luach page 23 • Vol 16, No 6

The Newspaper of our Orthodox communities

SHUL WOMEN Orthodox Union encourages leadership roles, up to a point

Planting in Israel in advance of Tu B’Shvat.

Tu B’Shvat How trees entered Israel’s

Yossi Aloni

holiday of fruits; thanks, JNF

By Alina Dain Sharon, JNS.org The Midrash in Kohelet Rabbah teaches that G-d told man, “Be careful not to spoil or destroy my world—for if you do, there will be nobody after you to repair it.”

For more than a century, Keren Kayemet LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) has followed that tenet by protecting and preserving nature in the land of Israel, this year embarking on a monthslong nationwide campaign of planting events to commemorate the holiday of Tu B’Shvat, which is celebrated this Shabbat, Feb. 11. More than half a million people are expected to participate in more than 130 Tu B’Shvat-themed planting events in Israel through Feb. 17.

While Tu B’Shvat is now popularly known as the New Year for Trees, this was not originally the case. In the Rosh Hashanah section of the Mishnah relating to the fruit tithes that Israelites brought to the Temple in Jerusalem, signaling the beginning and end of the crop year; any fruit that blossomed after Tu B’Shvat was considered produce from a new year.

In 1890, Rabbi Ze’ev Yavetz, a school teacher in Zichron Yaakov, took his students to plant trees on Tu B’Shvat. In 1901, the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, established KKL-JNF to purchase plots of land as a foundation for a future Jewish state. The organization acquired its first acres in the land of Israel in 1904, and later began a decadelong process of forestation across a landscape that had been largely stripped bare by its inhabitants at that time.

Over time, “Israeli culture adopted tree planting as a tradition” and later as part of the celebration of Tu B’Shvat, and “KKL-JNF followed suit,” said Hagay Yavlovich, director See Trees on page 8

By Elizabeth Kratz, JNS.org The Orthodox Union has issued an unprecedented statement announcing the establishment of a far-reaching policy regarding women and leadership positions in synagogue life.

Citing extensive research by a rabbinic commission, the OU concluded that its member synagogues may not employ women as rabbis, but strongly encouraged other types of leadership positions for women. The organization noted that it has established an office of women’s initiatives to advance this agenda, and distributed the statement widely to its hundreds of affiliated synagogues.

The full text of the OU’s statement is published on page 20.

In addition to stating outright that women can and should teach Torah, including on advanced and sophisticated levels, the OU statement also encourages women to lecture on Torah topics and share Torah insights; to assume communally significant roles in pastoral counseling, in bikur cholim, in community outreach to the religiously affiliated and unaffiliated, and in youth programming; and to advise on issues of taharat hamishpacha, in conjunction with local rabbinic authorities, when a community’s local rabbinic and lay leaders deem that step to be appropriate.

According to the statement, “The failure to fully embrace the talents of women and encourage women to assume greater lay and professional roles is a tragic forfeiture of communal talent. We should focus on creating and institutionalizing roles for women that address the needs of Orthodox Jews today, by removing barriers that impede women from further contributing to our community, in halachically appropriate ways. We should fully utilize their talents and commitment, thereby fostering shmirat hamitzvot, enhancing limmud Torah and expanding the richness and vibrancy of Jewish life.”

The statement followed an intensive study of the subject by a panel of seven influential American Orthodox rabbis, including Rabbis Daniel Feldman, Yaa-

kov Neuburger, Michael Rosensweig Hershel Schachter, Ezra Schwartz, Gedalia Schwartz and Benjamin Yudin.

The OU posed two questions to this panel: “Is it halachically acceptable for a synagogue to employ a woman in a clergy function?” and “What is the broadest spectrum of professional roles within a synagogue that may be performed by a woman?” The rabbis responded with a 17-page paper exploring their nuanced analysis of the issues in question.

The OU had commissioned the rabbinic study in the aftermath of a resolution passed last year by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) that forbade the RCA’s member rabbis from ordaining women as clergy. At that point, the OU appointed a committee to determine a process for how to address the issue

A whole lotta Trump…

There’s plenty of President Trump in this week’s Jewish Star, including: •Has Trump flipped on settlements and Iran? (p.2) •Despite Amona, settlers expect to win (p.4) •U.S. mum on new Israeli settlement law (p.10) •Two views on the refugee ban (p.11), and •Jeff Dunetz on Trump as the most pro-settlement POTUS (p.22). Visit TheJewishStar. com for online-only features including •Stephen Bannon and the Jews •What to expect when Bibi meets Donald, and •Unease over the perception of Jewish power in Trump’s inner circle. Pictured: Trump and Bannon at the White House. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

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of female clergy in the national organization’s member synagogues. This committee of lay leaders selected the panel of rabbis and presented them with the aforementioned questions. The OU said that the committee chose rabbis who each have “an exceptional national reputation for scholarship and integrity.”

Last summer, the OU invited feedback from a number of community leaders—both men and women—so that the rabbis writing the study could hear different perspectives on the issues. The rabbis reportedly heard from a wide array of women on the topic.

In his reporting on the subject, Jewish Week editor-publisher Gary Rosenblatt indicated his belief that the OU committee on female clergy was formed fully or partially in reaction to the 2010 See Women on page 23

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Has Trump flipped on settlements and Iran?

SAVE THE DATE

Analysis by Ron Kampeas, JTA WASHINGTON — Israeli settlements are no big problem. Wait — maybe they are, after all.

The Iran deal is trash. No, the deal is here to stay, despite being “weak.”

On Thursday, the White House pronounced on Israel’s announced settlement expansion that it “may not help” peace, and it put Iran “on notice” for testing ballistic missiles and announced new sanctions while the president fought with the regime on Twitter.

Was the settlements announcement a backto-Obama moment, auguring renewed U.S.-Israel tensions? Was it a return to Bush — W, that is — setting the stage for a compromise and anticipating resolution of an issue that has dogged U.S.Israel relations for decades?

Is the Iran nuclear deal, reviled by the Netanyahu government, on its last legs? Or is it getting a new lease on life?

Let’s have a look at what President Donald Trump said and what was actually done.

Chag HaSemikhah 5777

Five Towns Community Shabbaton

CELEBRATING THE NEXT GENERATION OF RABBINIC LEADERS

Parshat Terumah • March 3–4 Please join us for a Shabbat full of exciting Torah learning as we celebrate our community’s newest RIETS musmakhim.

Outstanding Torah scholars from Yeshiva University will join the musmakhim to celebrate this milestone with the entire community.

Settlements

The Shabbaton will feature lectures at synagogues throughout the Five Towns community.

Watch for details in next week’s newspaper.

Rabbi Elchanan Adler

Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander

Rabbi Hershel Schachter

Rabbi Marc Penner

Rabbi Eli Baruch Shulman

RIETS is proud to honor more than 130 musmakhim, many of whom have strong connections to our community, including: Rabbi Avi Anderson Rabbi Jacob Berman Rabbi Dan Cohen Rabbi Meir Cohen Rabbi Yoni Danzger Rabbi Daniel Elsant Rabbi Joshua Elsant Rabbi Natan Farber Rabbi Aaron Fleksher

Rabbi Yechiel Fuchs Rabbi Jason Grossman Rabbi Raphael Karlin Rabbi Nuriel Klinger Rabbi Simcha Lauer Rabbi Bradley Lipman Rabbi Ari Lipsky Rabbi Joshua Maslow Rabbi Mordy Prus

Rabbi David Roth Rabbi Moshe Rube Rabbi Ashie Schreier Rabbi Elliot Schrier Rabbi Eli Wagner Rabbi Moshe Watson Rabbi Michael Weingarten Rabbi Eli Wiesenfeld Rabbi Daniel Zuckerman

For more information and for sponsorship opportunities, please contact yulongisland@yu.edu.

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What’s new The Trump administration for the first time since his election pronounced on settlements.

“While we don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal,” the White House said in a statement.

Back to Obama?

No, not even close.

The Obama administration repeatedly and pronouncedly said settlements were an impediment to peace, and in its final days it allowed a U.N. Security Council resolution to pass that condemned the settlements.

“It is not this resolution that is isolating Israel, it is the pernicious policy of settlement construction that is making peace impossible,” former Secretary of State John Kerry said in December in one of his final speeches in the job.

Back to Bush?

Closer, but not quite.

Focusing on “the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders” sounds a lot like the policy President George W. Bush is said to have endorsed after he sent then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a letter in 2004, saying the United States recognized that some settlements constituted “realities on the ground.”

Israeli and U.S. officials at the time said Bush quietly agreed that this formulation would allow for “natural growth” in existing settlements.

The departure from the policies of George W. Bush — considered, with Bill Clinton, the friendliest president to Israel — and their predecessors is in the use of “impediment.” Bush used the word in 2008, at least to describe settlements built beyond existing settlement boundaries.

Sean Spicer, Trump’s spokesman, appeared to say Friday during a briefing that what’s built — established settlement, recent outpost, the whole shebang — can stay in place. The key word is “current.”

“We don’t believe that the existence of current settlements is an impediment to peace, but we don’t believe the construction or expansion of settlements beyond current borders is helpful,” he said.

Another major departure from the policies of both Clinton and George W. Bush is the absence of any mention of a two-state solution. Trump has said he wants to broker a deal, and has tapped his Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as his point man. But as of Friday, Spicer would not be pinned down on two states.

“At the end of the day the goal is peace, and that’s going to be a subject that they discuss, and that’s all I’m going to say,” he said in response to a reporter’s question, referring to the White House meeting scheduled for Feb. 15 between Trump and

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Then there was this jarring sentence at the end of Thursday’s White House statement: “The Trump administration has not taken an official position on settlement activity.” Translation: Wait until Netanyahu and Trump pow-wow and we may know more.

Iran

What’s new: On Sunday, Iran tested ballistic missiles. On Wednesday, National Security Adviser Mike Flynn said Iran was “on notice.” The next two days, Trump followed up with tough-talking tweets. The Iranians dished back, also on Twitter.

Back to Obama?

More or less, without the rhetoric.

The last time Iran tested a ballistic missile, in January 2016, Obama slapped sanctions on 11 entities and individuals. On Friday, Trump more than doubled that to 25.

The effect is the same: An acknowledgment that the missile tests do not directly violate the Iran nuclear deal, but a reminder nonetheless that because they do violate U.N. Security Council resolutions, they will trigger penalties.

Spicer acknowledged Friday that the sanctions were an Obama redux, noting that their architect in the last administration, Adam Szubin, who ran the sanctions regime for Obama, is acting Treasury secretary.

The sanctions were “in the pipeline,” Spicer said, and Szubin had lined them up well before Trump was inaugurated in anticipation that Iran would launch a provocation of some kind.

“He served in the last administration,” Spicer said of Szubin, “and these kind of sanctions don’t happen quickly.”

That said, there was a ratcheting up of rhetoric.

Szubin, as an Obama official a year ago, was specific in describing the penalties.

“We have consistently made clear that the United States will vigorously press sanctions against Iranian activities outside of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — including those related to Iran’s support for terrorism, regional destabilization, human rights abuses and ballistic missile program,” he said at the time.

Flynn, by contrast, was more vague – and, as a result, at least seemed more threatening.

“As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice,” he said Wednesday.

Announcing the sanctions Friday, Flynn again sounded a warning but did not make clear any precise actions.

“The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate Iran’s provocations that threaten our interests,” he said. “The days of turning a blind eye to Iran’s hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over.”

Trump sounded a similarly belligerent if unspecific tone on Twitter on Thursday and Friday, and like Flynn took swipes at the Obama administration for being too soft on the Iranians.

“Iran is playing with fire,” Trump said in his tweet Friday. “They don’t appreciate how ‘kind’ President Obama was to them. Not me!”

Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister who was his country’s lead negotiator in the 2015 deal exchanging sanctions relief for a nuclear rollback, replied quickly.

“We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defense,” he said in the same forum. “Let us see if any of those who complain can make the same statement.”

Spicer was asked at his briefing whether the tough talk meant Trump was ready to scrap the Iran nuclear deal.

“The deal that was struck was a bad deal, that we gave Iran too much and we got too little for it,” he said. Spicer did not say, however, whether Trump was ready to take that leap.

That’s consistent with the posture of Trump’s secretary of defense, James Mattis, who has agreed the deal is weak but advised that scrapping it would be unwise.

Peri walks for Lifeline in Miami

By Celia Weintrob Camp HASC was feted during a Shabbaton last weekend in West Hempstead, with events held at the community’s four shuls — the Young Israel of West Hempstead, Chabad of West Hempstead, Eitz Chaim of Dogwood Park, and Congregation Anchei Shalom.

Camp HASC Executive Director of Development Rabbi Peretz Hochbaum, himself a West Hempstead resident, said he was impressed with the large number of HASC staff who have come from the community over the years.

“We get 25 or so staffers each year from here,” Rabbi Hochbaum said. “There is amazing chesed in this community.”

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Peri Finkelstein with former New York Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa at the Miami Half Marathon.

and her mother returned home, only to leave again for a two-week trip to Israel with Chai Lifeline. The organization brought 14 severely disabled children, each with one parent, and medical staff. It was the first trip to Israel for the young people, all of whom have attended Camp Simcha Special, which provides hundreds of ill or disabled children with a summer camp experience.

Finkelstein is an 11th-grader at Henry Viscardi, a special needs school in Albertson where she is a member of the National Honor Society. She attended West Hempstead public schools until the eighth grade.

“When she graduates, she will go to college, we’re not sure where, possibly Adelphi or Hofstra,” said her mother. “She’s interested in doing marketing or business or maybe becoming an attorney who does disability law or advocacy.”

Before leaving for Israel, Peri offered advice for anyone who feels challenged by a goal: “Always know that you can do the impossible, because everything’s possible.”

The 11th Commandment:

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West Hemp shabbaton loves HASC

Sixty people attended dinner at Eitz Chaim following Friday night services. Later, about 100 people were at an oneg, led by HASC staff alum Mordechai Shapiro, at the home of Larry and Lisa Siegel.

Shabbos morning, participants davened in various shuls, and ate lunch with their hosts.

After asking for a refuah shlema for Rabbi Yehuda Kelemer and sharing fond recollections of attending services at YIWH while growing up, Head Counselor Rabbi Avi Pollak spoke about the recent passing of his sister.

“Caryn represented people with intellectual disabilities with grace and with pride,” he said.

“The acceptance, love and support that she felt from this unique community helped her develop the confidence that was the basis for her magic.”

Rabbi Pollak recounted speaking with a mother who had just dropped off her eldest child, suffering with severe autism, to begin seven weeks at Camp HASC. “I asked her, ‘are you going to go on vacation or do something out of town with your family, get away or something like that?’

“With a tear in her eye, she turned to me and said — ‘Nope, I’m going to take my little children to the park. For the past few years, I have not been able to take them out for fear that my son, your camper, would run off or get lost, or who See HASC on page 13

By Rossana Weitekamp Despite the rainy weather and the fact that 17-year-old Peri Finkelstein is on life support and generally confined to a wheelchair, she went the distance last week, walking the last mile of the Chai Lifeline marathon in Miami.

With the help of her family, friends and a walker, the West Hempstead resident has participated in the Half Marathon for the past six years, and this was the farthest she had ever walked.

“She did great. It took her about 40 minutes,” said her mother, Lori Finkelstein, who walked in the event with Peri; her husband, Paul, and their other children. In fact, Peri had her own squad —Team Peri — which joined the race with her, including her physical therapist, friends, and one of her biggest fans, former New York Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa.

Figueroa met Finkelstein eight years ago, and has helped raise money on her behalf for Chai Lifeline.

“Because of what he did, they accumulated over $281,000,” Lori said. “Nelson donates his time, he makes a lot of phone calls, does a lot of radio and newspaper interviews just to promote this fundraising effort.”

Last year, Finkelstein was the focus of a video called “A Thousand Steps” — which documented her goal to walk 1,000 steps in last year’s Half Marathon. She completed more than 1,400 steps.

Almost immediately after the marathon, she

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By Andrew Tobin, JTA AMONA — In a dramatic clash with residents of this hilltop outpost, the state seemed to have won.

Over two sometimes violent days, security forces evacuated the residents, along with hundreds of protesters, as ordered by Israel’s High Court of Justice. Yet afterward, the settlers did not seem defeated.

“We are winning the war for the West Bank,” said Eli Greenberg, an Amona resident who has served as a spokesman for the community. “I have no doubt I will live to see Amona rebuilt.”

It was easy for Greenberg and others to point to victories. During the political and legal skirmishes over Amona, the state approved thousands of new homes for settlers, including a new settlement to replace the outpost, and acted to end future evacuations. The Trump administration, some noted, barely blinked.

In an effort to save Amona, coalition lawmakers in November proposed the “regulation bill,” which would allow the state to seize private Palestinian land on which settlements were built. The bill passed this week.

Meanwhile, as Donald Trump moved into the White House, Prime Minister Netanyahu acted to advance the settlement movement. In the two weeks after President Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, Netanyahu approved the building of more than 6,000 new homes for settlers, some of them outside the Judea and Sumaria settlement blocs that Israel expects to keep in a future peace deal with the Palestinians. As Amona was being evacuated, the prime minister announced that he had approved a new settlement to replace the doomed outpost.

The Trump White House, after first declining to comment on the approvals, issued a statement on Thursday, saying only: “While we don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new

cated annexing parts of the West Bank since Trump’s election.

In a speech to the Knesset plenum on Wednesday, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads Jewish Home, pledged the evacuation of Amona would advance Israeli sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria.

“We lost the battle, but we are winning the war for the Land of Israel,” he said. “From this legal defeat we will establish a new legal regime in Judea and Samaria that will regulate the entirety of settlements, and from the painful loss of this foothold in this mountain will emerge the State of Israel’s application of sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria.”

But there are still forces pushing back An Amona resident arguing with police officers evacuat- on such a move.

The head of Israel’s political opposiing the outpost on Feb. 1.

Miriam Alster/Flash90 tion and the Zionist Union political coalition, Isaac Herzog, favors unilateral settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be separation from the Palestinians. In November, Herzog said the regulation bill amounted to lehelpful in achieving that goal.”

Settlement supporters have seen other signs gitimizing theft and called the legal wrangling that Trump is on their side, including his ap- over Amona a “virus” that endangered Israeli pointment of David Friedman, a vocal advocate democracy.

Israel’s attorney general, Avichai Mandeland fundraiser for settler causes, as ambassador to Israel and his invitation of a settler delega- bilt, has said repeatedly that the regulation bill was unconstitutional and predicted it would be tion to his inauguration.

“What I see about Trump is it’s amazing how struck down by the High Court.

Amichai Cohen, dean of the law faculty at he keeps his promises. I don’t think he will let Israel down,” said Amona resident Elad Ziv. Ono Academic College near Tel Aviv, said he “That’s why we are looking to Netanyahu to wasn’t sure how the High Court would rule on keep moving ahead in the West Bank. This is the bill. But he said its passage, which Cohen the time for Benjamin Netanyahu to prove him- characterized as a move toward Israeli annexation of the West Bank, could encourage the self.”

Politicians to the prime minister’s right have International Criminal Court to open a formal conveyed a similar message. Members of both war crimes investigation against Israeli settleNetanyau’s ruling Likud party and the fiercely ments “even though there are clearly bigger pro-settlement Jewish Home party have advo- problems in the region.”

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Israeli development aid in Africa an all-around win

By Shimon Mercer-Wood Spokesperson and consul for media affairs Consulate General of Israel in New York

Late last month, on the eve of Black History Month, a delegation of African-American journalists landed in Ghana to cover international development projects and the impact those projects are making in that West African country.

While Ghana has long held special importance for the African-American community — leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali all made pilgrimages to Accra, Ghana’s capital, and returned describing the experience as a formative one — there was something unprecedented about this delegation: It was organized and led by the Government of Israel, and its focus was on Israeli-Ghanaian development work in the fields of education, health and agriculture.

At the insistence of the Israeli ambassador to Accra, Ami Mehl, the program began with a visit to the slave dungeons of Cape Coast Castle.

The walk through the dark, narrow, suffocating chambers where hundreds of thousands of people were held, stripped naked, gasping for air and wading up to their knees in human waste, brought to mind the Holocaust, with which we as a people are tragically familiar.

While bearing in mind the singular nature of the Holocaust, comparisons to the deliberate dehumanization of victims to render them incapable of resistance were unavoidable. I will never forget standing with the black journalists in front of the “Gate of No Return” through which their forefathers may well have passed, leaving behind their names, their culture, their tradition and their human dignity.

Emerging from that gate to see the brightly colored fishing boats of Cape Coast, and the children of present-day Ghana joyfully playing in the surf, evoked in me the experience of ascending from the painful exhibit at Yad Vashem to see the

The Door of No Return in Ghana’s Cape Coast Castle in 2006. Erik Kristensen Flickr Wikimedia Commons

Inside a Project Ten Volunteer center of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Shimon Mercer-Wood

beautiful hillsides of liberated Jerusalem and the lively bustle of the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway.

From Cape Coast, we traveled to the town of Winneba, where the Jewish Agency for Israel runs a Project Ten volunteer center. The center, operated by young Jews from Israel and the United States, works with local partners on a range of development issues. We met a team of Israeli girls, fresh out of the army, who work at an afterschool clubhouse called “Books and Things,” where the children of Winneba receive not only a much-needed boost in literacy and life skills, but also attention, encouragement and patience that day-wage laboring parents are hard-pressed to provide.

Another group of young Israelis and Ghanaians were working together on a demonstration farm — a horticultural plot that will be used to study and introduce cheap but modern agricultural techniques and technologies for use by small-hold farmers in the region.

In Kumasi, we saw an award-winning early childhood education center practicing the methodology of Learning by Playing, introduced by Mashav, Israel’s Agency for International Cooperation. The teachers greeted us with a lively rendition of “Hevenu Shalom Aleichem.” From there we proceeded to a mother-and-baby neonatal unit where the “Kangaroo System,” introduced by Israeli medical trainers, has dramatically reduced the mortality rate of pre-term babies without reliance on expensive high-maintenance incubators.

Back in Accra, we were amazed by the cutting-edge 675-bed Ghana University Medical Center, modeled on the Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer and built by an Israeli company that provided a $217 million Israeli government loan, and more important, advanced training in Israel for 71 of the hospital’s medical staff.

All the projects exemplified Israel’s development strategy of “training the trainers.” Rather

than bestowing financial gifts or donating expensive but short-lived equipment, Mashav identifies and empowers cadres of local leadership who will be quick to assimilate the Israeli know-how and technology and are willing to then train fellow professionals to do the same. The multiplier effect continues to make palpable impact on Ghanaian lives long after the Israeli teams have returned home.

To be clear: Israel’s Africa policy is not an exercise in public relations. It stems from Theodor Herzl’s vision, as set out in “Altneuland,” of the Jewish state as a partner of African emancipation, which in turn draws from the Abrahamic vow to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. It is also a sound diplomatic strategy to build long-lasting alliances with a continent on the rise, which for years has held six of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Yet Israel is justified in its desire to be recognized for what it is and what it does rather than being mistaken for that which its enemies portray it to be. The most insidious of these enemies work systematically to depict Israel as somehow inimical to Africans and AfricanAmericans. Under the false flag of “intersectionality,” they have cynically sought to exploit racial justice campaigns in the U.S. to demonize and delegitimize the one Jewish state.

Our visit to Ghana and our encounter with the overwhelming pro-Israel sentiment of the Ghanaian people demonstrated that no lie could be more egregious.

I left Ghana for New York with a wish that more American Jews could feel the pride and satisfaction that comes with witnessing and participating in Israel’s efforts to help Africa realize its immense potential. In recent years, Israel has been coming back to Africa and Africa has been coming back to Israel. The greater the participation of American Jewry in the effort, the richer and more robust this rapprochement will be.

Public & legal Notices

legal notice PUBlic notice oF coUntY tReaSUReR’S Sale oF taX lienS on Real eState notice is hereby given that i shall on the 21st day of February, 2017 through the 24th day of February, 2017, beginning at 10:00 o’clock in the morning each day, in the legislative chambers, First Floor, theodore Roosevelt executive and legislative Building, 1550 Franklin avenue, Mineola, new York, sell at public auction the tax liens on certain real estate, unless the owner, mortgagee, occupant of or any other party in interest in such real estate shall have paid to the county treasurer by February 17th, 2017 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. 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 16th, 2017. nassau county does not discriminate on the basis of disability in admission to or access to, or treatment or employment in, its services, programs, or activities. Upon request, accommodations such as those required by the americans with Disabilities act (aDa) will be provided to enable individuals with disabilities to participate in all services, programs, activities and public hearings and events conducted by the treasurer’s office. Upon request, information can be made available in Braille, large print, audio-tape or other alternative formats. For additional information, please call (516) 571-2090 ext. 13715.

Dated: January 2017 t H e n a S S aU c o U n t Y tReaSUReR Mineola, new York teRMS oF Sale Such tax liens shall be sold subject to any and all superior tax liens of sovereignties and other municipalities and to all claims of record which the county may have thereon and subject to the provisions of the Federal and State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ civil Relief acts. However, such tax liens shall have priority over the county’s Differential interest lien, representing the excess, if any, of the interest and penalty borne at the maximum rate over the interest and penalty borne at the rate at which the lien is purchased. the Purchaser acknowledg-

es 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 days after such sale. if the purchaser at the tax sale shall fail to pay the remaining ninety per cent within ten days after he has been notified by the county treasurer that the certificates of sale are ready for delivery, then all amounts deposited with the county treasurer including but not limited to the ten per cent theretofore paid by him shall, without further notice or demand, be irrevocably forfeited by the purchaser and shall be retained by the county treasurer as liquidated damages and the agreement to purchase shall be of no further effect. time is of the essence in this sale. this sale is held pursuant to the nassau county administrative code and interested parties are referred to such code for additional information as to terms of the sale, rights of purchasers, maximum rates of interest and other legal incidents of the sale.

Dated: January 2017 t H e n a S S aU c o U n t Y tReaSUReR Mineola, new York 892030

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THE JEWISH STAR February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat

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Trees…

Continued from page 1 of the organization’s Seeds and Nurseries Division.

The first forest the organization planted in Israel was the Hulda forest in the central part of the country, with 18 olive trees planted there in 1907. The largest forest it planted in the Jewish state is southern Israel’s Yatir Forest, which spans 9,400 acres.

Today, the group continues to argue that forestation is an important way to offset pollution and the effects of climate change. Its statistics also say that its forests offset half a million tons of greenhouse gases each year. Israel currently has 247,000 acres of man-planted forest— equivalent to approximately one-third of the size of Rhode Island. By contrast, when the organization was established in 1901, less than 2 percent of that area was woodland. As a result, Israel is one of the world’s few countries where there are more trees today than a century ago.

After November’s fires Tu B’Shvat planting events are taking place in areas that have been specifically approved for that purpose. Meanwhile, other areas are still suffering from last fall’s devastating wave of brush fires.

David Brand, KKL-JNF’s head forester, told JNS.org the fires destroyed or damaged about 16,000 dunams (about 4,000 acres) of woodlands managed by the organization.

In the fires’ aftermath, the immediate goal of the agency and others, such as the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA), has been to remove safety hazards like fallen trees. Beyond this, it’s common practice

to wait one or two years before engaging in further activity in the affected areas to see where natural regeneration occurs and assess other conditions before deciding whether to replant.

“If natural vegetation provides the necessary [plant] output, we will not interfere,” Brand said.

In state-run nature preserves, the INPA has been building gaps in vegetation— known as fuel breaks—along roads, villages and inside territories. This method aims to stop fire damage from spreading, said Dr. Yehoshua Shkedy, chief scientist at the INPA. “We [also] bring sheep and goat grazing to nature preserves to reduce the vegetation,” Shkedy said. “Then we are able to do good maintenance of the fuel breaks.”

To plant or not to plant Over the years, the KKL-JNF organization—not just the Tu B’Shvat holiday—has become synonymous with the planting of pine trees in Israel. The pine tree is a coniferous species not native to Israel, but was chosen in the group’s early days for the tree’s ability to thrive in harsh terrains. Today, man-planted pine trees grow all across Israel, along with the country’s natural vegetation. “[In many of] the places where we planted pine trees, slowly the natural vegetation has been able to rejuvenate,” Brand said.

Yet Shkedy criticized KKL-JNF for this tradition of heavy planting, in particular pine tree planting. Those trees—though they helped create modern Israel’s landscape—are also highly flammable, and Shkedy believes the amount of trees in Israel today, especially pine trees, represents a fire hazard.

“It’s a fact. Look how many fires there are,” he said, adding that Israel does not “need to plant so many trees.”

Among Israel’s unusual trees is the Einstein’s Palm at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. In 1923, Albert Einstein and his wife, Elsa, visited the Technion, which was still a work in progress at that time. In honor of the visit, they were invited to plant two palm trees, which still flank the original building. A visit to Einstein’s palm helps unveil the story of this institution and the important part it played in the development of the country.

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While it is acceptable to plant for purposes such as sun protection in urban areas, Shkedy recommended not planting in such an “expansive” way.

KKL-JNF’s Brand takes issue with Shkedy’s viewpoint. Since pine trees are a coniferous species, he pointed out that among the roughly 4,000 acres of the agency’s territory destroyed or damaged by November’s fires, only 50 percent was manplanted coniferous or mixed coniferous forest, and the other 50 percent was natural woodlands, bushes, shrubs, various broad leaf tress and open areas. He also said other factors can affect the spread of fire, such as the harsh conditions of dry weather and strong winds that existed in November.

“Pine trees are flammable. Even so, [Israel’s] natural vegetation is also flammable,” Brand said.

Looking ahead Acknowledging the possibility of more fires and the need to be prepared for them, Brand said, “You won’t stop driving a car just because there is a risk of car accidents.”

Currently the organization has three nurseries for forest and woodland trees, bushes and spices, which grow about 1 million tree seedlings a year. Its tree policy has evolved over the years as a result of changes in the local terrain. Eighty percent of the growth in the organization’s tree nurseries today comprises broad leaf trees such as oak, almond or olive trees, and only 20 percent are pine seedlings. Thirty years ago, those figures were reversed.

Along with this reduction in pine tree planting, KKL-JNF still believes it is important to continue broader tree planting, because its leaders view the ecological contribution of trees and forests to the environment as substantially greater than the risk of fires. And they plan to plant more than half a million seedlings this year.

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February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat THE JEWISH STAR

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The hearT of jerusalem

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n 2001 over Rosh Hashanah, Israel was turned upside down. Prime Minister Ehud Barak had offered Yasser Arafat a chance to end the Palestinian conflict in exchange for 97 percent of Judea and Samaria plus additional land exchanges in the Arab populated area of the Galil. It was as close as they would get to having an independent Palestinian state but Arafat shocked President Clinton and turned it down. His response was the second intifada, which intelligence would later show was planned in advance and orchestrated from Ramallah.

My unit was called up overnight in an emergency draft order and we would spend the next six weeks in intense reserve duty; it was without question the most difficult reserve duty I ever had, mostly because the fighting was so near home. We were protecting and patrolling an area on the edge of Beit Lechem south of Jerusalem, just ten minutes from my home in Efrat. We had not expected to see such intense action but the most difficult part was that we would get into a gun battle in the afternoon, and then have time to stop at home for a few hours and see the family at night before going back out on patrol. It was a surreal kind of warfare, and the worst part was, being the company commander, my family always knew I was in the thick of it. ne night I managed to get home for a few hours to tuck the kids into bed. When I got up to leave, our 7-year-old son kept

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his hands firmly clasped around my neck. Explaining that I had to go, I tried to extricate myself when he stopped me in my tracks with five words: “Aba, tavtiach li shelo’ tamut” (“Dad, promise me you won’t die”).

How do you answer such a question? Only much later did we discover what had precipitated that question: he had found a bullet hole in my flak vest and realized there are no guarantees in life.

To this day I have no idea if that bullet hole was actually from one of the incidents I was involved in that month, or if it was just an old flak vest, but I am grateful all the same that Hashem saw fit to allow me to live through some difficult times. Which of course presumes that Hashem sees every one of us and decides, in every moment, whether we are worthy of being here and whether what we do matters enough. Does an omnipotent being really care about what we do and who we are? Do we matter, and does what we do really matter? his week’s parsha of Beshalach contains a fascinating detail which may bear on this issue. The Torah tells us that after the splitting of the sea, the Jewish people finally believed — “Va’ya’aminu ba’Hashem U’be’Moshe Avdo” (“And they believed in G-d and in Moshe His servant”) (Shemot 14:31) It’s hard to think of a more obvious and revelatory miracle than the splitting of the sea as the Jewish people left Egypt. And yet … really?! Ten plagues didn’t do it? Seeing all the

Egyptians drinking blood while the Jews were taking showers in clear water didn’t do it?

Seeing the entire Egyptian people in darkness while they were all in the light didn’t do it?

Seeing every first-born Egyptian die while the Jews remained unharmed didn’t do it? And seeing the entire Jewish people walk out of Egypt didn’t do it?

Now the sea splits and they get it? What was it about the splitting of the sea that made the Jewish people realize Hashem runs the world? Why didn’t the other miracles enforce that realization?

Jewish tradition notes that the Torah uses three distinct expressions to describe how the Egyptians drowned in the sea: They drowned like straw (“ka’kash”) (ibid. 15:7); they sank like stones (“ka’even”) (ibid. 15:16), and they sank like lead stones (“ke’oferet”) (ibid. 15; 10). Which was it?

The Midrash explains that some floated like straw, and it took a long time for the water to soak through until they finally drowned, while others sank like stones or lead which meant they died quickly and painlessly.

These different measures of the way in which they died was a direct effect of how cruel or compassionate they were in their treatment of the Jews. And the Chofetz Chaim suggests that when the Jews saw that those who were crueler died a more difficult, slower and painful death while those more merciful were spared some of this suffering, they suddenly

When Hashem takes us out of Egypt, we discover that we matter, and what we do and who we are makes a difference.

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understood that what every person does really matters. n the plagues, all the Egyptians suffered together and none of the Jews did. On the one hand this suggested that indeed Hashem runs the world, and that only He decides which direction the world will take. But it also implied there was no real difference between what happens to a more compassionate as opposed to a crueler Egyptian (and for that matter between what happens to different Jews regardless of their actions and beliefs). Which the Jews may well have interpreted to mean that we don’t really matter as individuals, and what each of us actually does and believes is not very important.

At the splitting of the sea the Jewish people suddenly understood that each of us, along with everything we do, matters. And more than anything else, this is the essence of the Jewish people’s relationship with G-d. When Hashem takes the Jewish people out of Egypt, he introduces the concept of a G-d that cares.

That too, is the secret to every healthy relationship: that we matter. That’s why we hang our children’s artwork on the fridge, even when we can’t tell which way is upside down.

The Jewish people were enslaved for 200 years, and the essence of slavery is that you do not mater as a person; all that matters is how much you can produce. When Hashem takes us out of Egypt we discover again that we matter, and that what we do and who we are makes a difference.

As we read of the Jewish people leaving Egypt at long last, it’s a good opportunity to send a message to those we love and to the world that everyone matters every moment of every day.

Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem.

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THE JEWISH STAR February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat

Beshalach: Everyone and everything matters

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February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat THE JEWISH STAR

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JANUARY 14—APRIL 10, 2017

Great Neck hears embassy talk

Lt. Col. (Res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar, Israeli scholar of Arabic culture, lecturer at Bar-Ilan University and a research associate of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, was the featured speaker at the Great Neck Synagogue Men’s Club and the Great Neck-based Jewish Political Education Foundation.

From left: Men’s club steering committee member Jack Lipsky; foundation Vice President and men’s club steering committee member Dr. Paul Brody, who arranged Kedar’s appearance; Kedar; men’s club Vice President Dr. Rob Knepper, and steering committee member Steve Blumner. Kedar stressed the importance of the U.S. moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. He said that in Israel, almost everyone, including the left, understands the importance of such a move.

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JERUSALEM (JTA) — The United States punitive action.

The Palestinian delegation to the United refused to comment on Israel’s passage of a bill that retroactively legalizes settler homes Nations also denounced the measure, saybuilt on private Palestinian land, saying the ing it was a clear violation of international Trump administration was suspending judg- law, including the recently adopted Security ment.

Council resolution 2334.

The White House’s immediate response to “Adoption of this law is a clear sign that the controversial “regulation law” on Mon- Israel is not interested in committing to the JANUARY 14—APRIL 10, 2017 day was to refer to its statement last week two-state solution nor in bringing about that said the expansion of West Bank settle- peace and stability to the region,” the statements “may not be helpful” to achieving Isra- ment said. el-Palestinian peace.

The pro-settlement Jewish Home party The Knesset passed the bill by a vote of first put forward the legislation in an effort 60–52 in a raucous session late Monday to save the West Bank outpost of Amona, night, applying Israeli law to West Bank land built without government authorization on for the first time. All but one of the lawmak- private Palestinian land, from a High Courters present from Prime Minister Benjamin ordered demolition. But the clause that JANUARY 14—APRIL 10, 2017 Netanyahu’s right-wing ruling coalition sup- would have circumvented the court ruling WINDOW FASHIONS ported the bill, while most of the opposition was nixed following coalition infighting, and Keep your home warmer * voted against. The law may still be over- Amona was evacuated last week and demolin winter and cooler in turned by the High Court of Justice. ished Tuesday. summer with select, The U.S. State Department said Monday, Even without the Amona clause, Israel’s ON QUALIFYING insulating Hunter Douglas “At this point, indications are that this legis- attorney general, Avichai Mandelblit, has PURCHASES shades.

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o say the implementation of President Donald Trump’s travel ban was clumsy would be an understatement. To say, however, that the principles involved were totally without constitutional justification would be unwarranted.

Since Trump’s inauguration, nothing has dominated the political conversation as much as hatred punctuated by hysteria. The aspiration toward civility that once served as a norm for political discourse in this country has been consumed in conflagration, riots, mass demonstrations and physical attacks.

In no other policy area, perhaps, has emotion dominated the intellect as much as it has in relation to the travel ban.

This temporary ban is directed at the same countries that the Obama administration named when it prohibited them from having access to the Visa Waiver Program.

In addition, President Barack Obama issued

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19 executive orders banning travel and a sixmonth order banning travel from Iraq. There was pushback on the Iraqi ban, so it was never enforced.

To be sure, removing a privilege, as in access to a visa waiver, and prohibiting entry are different things. Still, the security concerns were similar. And Iraqis would have been banned if Obama enforced his own executive order.

With the stroke of a pen, Obama changed the “wet feet/dry feet” rule affecting Cuban immigration. We will no longer allow the entry of Cubans who take to the sea to flee tyranny.

There were no mass demonstrations on the Cubans’ behalf, and the mainstream media showed no inclination to cover this story in any depth. e are bombarded incessantly on the news about how Trump’s executive order constitutes religious and nationality discrimination, and is unconstitutional. There is, however, abundant legal precedent for both religious and nationality discrimination, because immigration is about absorbing people from other nations about See Clumsy but legal on page 19

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here are all kinds of sayings reminding us that if we fail to learn from the tragedies of the past, we are doomed to relive them in the future. We appear to have failed to heed that warning.

On May 31, 1939, the German ship St. Louis left Hamburg for Cuba with more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing for their lives from Nazi Germany. They were offered respite in Cuba temporarily until their visa applications would be approved to enter the U.S. But anti-Semitic rallies of thousands of people were instigated throughout Cuba, demanding that these Jewish refugees be kept out. These money-hungry immigrants, exhorted the protesters, were not to be let in to take away their jobs. The Jewish refugees were turned away.

The St. Louis then attempted to dock in Miami. The country that welcomes the homeless and the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” also denied entry to the Jew-

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ish refugees seeking asylum, although the president and the State Department knew that they would be sending them back on a perilous and hopeless journey by refusing to let them land. With nowhere to go, the St. Louis was compelled to return to Europe.

The Jewish refugees were disbursed to fend for themselves, with 254 of them served up to be killed in the Holocaust. Thousands of other Jewish refugees were to be martyred having been denied entry into the U.S. by immigration laws deliberately kept strict to keep them out.

The reason given for refusing to rescue Jewish refugees from Hitler was to protect the country. The expressed fear was that the Germans could turn Jewish refugees into spies, by holding their families hostage back in Germany. Yet not one case of such espionage was ever documented to give credence to that fear. he noted Holocaust historian Prof. Deborah Lipstadt concluded that the Jews were denied entry due to the State Department’s wartime paranoia and outright bigotry. Sound familiar? The State Department stated that the Jewish immigrants presented a national security risk. Sound familiar?

These are the exact reasons why the U.S. See Shoah redux on page 13

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Shoah redux: Same flawed rationale

THE JEWISH STAR February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat

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Kosher Boulevard opens a new senior facility One of the New York’s finest assisted living facilities is opening a sister location in Brooklyn, 25 minutes from the Five Towns.

Boulevard ALP, a completely kosher residence established in Flushing in 2005, will open at Spring Creek at Starrett City in a few weeks. The new facility promises a comfortable option for a frum lifestyle, with a large chapel hosting daily minyanim, Shabbos and holiday services, and weekly shiurim.

The new building boasts many large and lovely rooms in which residents can gather, including a library and computer room, a beauty salon, game and activity rooms, a outdoor patio that can be enjoyed during warm weather, and a pleasantly designed dining room.

While each resident will have a small refrigerator, microwave oven and cabinets in their furnished studio apartment, all meals are served in the dining room to encourage

socialization. A mashgiach will be on premises from the Vaad of Queens.

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Boulevard ALP’s second floor houses a

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and the social work office will assist with transportation. Laundry and cleaning services are provided, and home care aides are easily accommodated.

Director of Patient Services Sandra Rivas, RN, and Executive Director Volvi Katz have been hosting tours and discussing amenities with families and residents looking to move from their own homes to an assisted living facility.

Boulevard ALP, which will accommodate up to 184 residents, is an ideal place for independent seniors to enjoy their golden years in a manner they’ve been looking forward to, with a full measure of wellness, vitality and satisfaction, with a staff dedicated to creating a warm, friendly, safe and secure environment that will be enjoyed by all, they said.

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12

HASC…

Continued from page 11 has now decided to refuse entry of any of the 1 million Syrian refugees who have fled their country seeking safety from the devastating ravages of a civil war, and who, like the Jews, are now told to seek asylum elsewhere.

As a result of the largest humanitarian crisis and displacement of human beings since World War II, 12 million Syrians have fled their homes. More than 6 million of them remain trapped and displaced within Syria. Five million of them have been taken in by caring neighboring countries. The U.S. had made a very limited commitment, but at least a commitment, to allow 100,000 of the remaining one million Syrian refugees—mostly single mothers and children—to immigrate to America, on top of the 16,000 who were already admitted.

However, a presidential executive order has just been issued barring all Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. indefinitely, and severely restricting immigration and travel from six other Muslim-majority countries.

“National security” once again was being used as a rationale for barring entry to certain types of refugees—this time to deal with the threat of terrorism. This is the fear — or more appropriately stated, the scare — that demands an extreme scrutiny of Muslims o seeking asylum in our country, though there is already a successful vetting program in place.

The vetting process is already extreme in nature, with biometric and database screening, security screening and multiple interviews of prospective immigrants by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and the National Counterterrorism Center. This vetting process takes up to two years to complete before allowing an entry. Importantly, with this scrupulous vetting system, not one American has been killed in a terrorist attack committed by a refugee from Syria or from any of the other six Muslim-majority countries targeted by the current travel ban.

Prof. Lipstadt’s historical finding of the past is just as instructive today, and bears remembering by every Jewish-American citizen. Jews were denied entry solely due to wartime paranoia and outright bigotry.

Any American Jew who is unwilling to stand up and oppose this similar wartime paranoia and bigotry denying innocent Syrian-Muslim refugees’ asylum from the ravages of their war-torn country, and oppose the executive order’s religious discrimination, must be concerned about forfeiting his or her right to criticize the U.S. for its past failure to give asylum to innocent Jewish refugees who faced the unspeakable Holocaust.

Albert L. Kramer has served as the Presiding Justice of the Quincy District Court in Massachusetts, a Chief Policy Adviser to the Governor of Massachusetts and a Massachusetts state legislator. The Quincy District Court is distinguished for receiving many national awards for Judge Kramer’s innovative programs, two of which were featured on “60 Minutes.”

Continued from page 3 knows what. Now I can spend some easy-going time with them. That’s worth more than any vacation I could take’.”

Rabbi Pollak then told a story that unfolded two days earlier, while he was interviewing prospective campers “and their hopeful but sometimes desperate parents and caretakers, who don’t really have another option for the summer,” for just a handful of openings.

“I witnessed something I’d never seen before,” he said. “A young mother, with a double stroller and twin boys entered the room. Both of these absolutely beautiful children have a rare form of a seizure disorder, both suffering from various levels of developmental delay and intellectual disability.

“As she unbuckled the kids and they began to crawl

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13 THE JEWISH STAR February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat

Shoah redux…

and cruise around the room, it was hard to hold back our tears. We felt the need to hold those tears back, but she did not. She loves them, she cares for them with every fiber of every muscle in her body and spends her last penny to make sure they are cared for so well, but please, she begged, what a chesed you would do for her family and the other children and for her and her husband, if they could have a break for the summer, regain the ability to focus on each other, and to recharge for another year. Iy”H, these delicious little kids will be with us this summer in Camp HASC.” The shabbaton continued with games and snacks at the home of Jeremy and Meryl Strauss. Students from Yeshiva Netiv Aryeh in Jerusalem joined the HASC participants there.

Afterwards, Rabbi Hochbaum noted that he was touched by the feedback from weekend.

“I think this might be the best text message I’ve ever received,” he said. “It reads: ‘Camp HASC and my campers taught me that the everyday blessings of life are truly extraordinary.’ And that really sums it up.”

February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat THE JEWISH STAR

14

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16 February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat THE JEWISH STAR

JEWISH

February 10, 2016 • 14 Sh’vat 5777 Every week in print and online at TheJewishStar.com Send news and photos to: Schools@TheJewishStar.com Weekly deadline: Monday 5 pm

STAR SCHOOLS

HAFTR Poland mission is set to bear witness Midwinter break gives both students and teachers the chance to travel to all sorts of exotic places. This year, Rabbi Gedaliah Oppen Oppen, HAFTR High School principal of Judaic studies and Rabbi Moshe Hubner traveled to Brooklyn, where they met with Mrs. Ruth Lichtenstein, director of Project Witness, a Holocaust education resource center.

The meeting allowed Rabbis Oppen and Hubner to explore new ways to enhance HAFTR’s Holocaust studies curriculum as well as the upcoming Mr. Abe Scharf z”l HAFTR Poland Mission.

Mrs. Lichtenstein, who founded Project Witness, is editor-in-chief and publisher of the English-language daily newspaper Hamodia and Binah Magazine. She is a daughter of survivors and a granddaughter of the Gerrer Rebbe, Harav Avraham Mordechai Alter, zy”a, who was known as the Imrei Emes, and of Harav Itche Meir Levin, zt”l, the leader of Agudath Israel in pre-war Europe and later in Eretz Yisrael. She is the daughter of Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Levin, z”l, founding editor of the Hebrew-language Hamodia.

Born in Jerusalem and now living in New York, Mrs. Lichtenstein published Witness to History, an extraordinarily impressive text-

DRS sends delegates to AIPAC Each year the American Israel Public Affairs Committee partners with select Jewish day schools, synagogues, national youth groups and teen leadership organizations to bring 400 student leaders from to Washington, DC, for Israel advocacy and political activism training.

This year, DRS sent a delegation of four students to Washington for the three-day conference. The program helps mentor, train and educate high school students committed to strengthening the U.S.Israel relationship through the American political process.

The students met with members of Congress and participated in a tour of the Capitol.

During sessions, students were prompted to express their thoughts on what attracted them to such a program and why they thought it was important to lobby for Israel. This trip was only one aspect of DRS’s long-standing commitment to the State of Israel.

book that is part of the Project Witness curriculum. Project Witness is a comprehensive, nonprofit Holocaust resource center that offers academically-grounded and religiously sensitive Holocaust educational resources for communities worldwide. Through Project Witness, Mrs. Lichtenstein hopes to radically change the way the Holocaust is taught in day schools and yeshivot throughout the country.

Project Witness has also produced profound documentaries and other literature to assist educators embarking upon the difficult task of teaching students about the Holocaust.

Rabbi Oppen describes the purpose of the meeting as follows: “There is always room and a desire for improvement. HAFTR High School is committed to making certain each student grows intellectually, emotionally and spiritually from the Holocaust Studies course and from the Mission to Poland.The Mission has changed the lives of many students. They gain a new perspective and take great pride in being Jewish, they grasp what was lost during the destruction of the war, they recognize the extraordinary the history of our great nation and appreciate the wisdom of the quotes ascribed to the rabbis whose graves they visit.”

“It was indeed gratifying to see the positive

HAFTR’s Rabbis Moshe Hubner and Gedaliah Oppen at Project Witness headquarters. response our description of the HAFTR Poland Mission engendered at Project Witness,” noted Rabbi Hubner HAFTR is presently finalizing the itinerary for this year’s Mission which will iy”H include, for the first time, the city of Prague. Enhanced by insights gleaned from Project Witness, participating students anticipate a moving and meaningful Poland Mission.

Rambam honors leadership, chesed

The motto of Rambam Mesivta’s Student Activities Program is “A Team for Every Talent, A Club for Every Curiosity, A Place for Every Person.” This was on full display at Rambam’s annual award assembly where students were recognized for outstanding leadership and chesed.

Junior Akiva Schuck and freshman Uriel Sussman received plaques for their Leadership in Davening and setting the tone for their respective minyanim. Senior Benjamin Aryeh was crowned Question of the Week and Cap-

tion of the Week contest champion for the the 1st Semester. Seth Marcus was awarded the Torah Question of the Week Champion with Benjamin Kattan winning the Photo of the Week championship.

Sam Sicklick was recognized for his school Service and Ariel Blumstein was called up for his stewardship of the Chesed Club. Zvi Shleifer, Zev Granik and Joseph Stern were recognized for their work forming and running the Rambam Yachad Club.

The Assembly closed by acknowledging

the masmidim for their extra learning.

Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman then addressed the talmidim and shared with them a recent political cartoon that shed negative light on Israel. He spoke about the significance of activism and taking a stand against this type of slur and injustice. Even though the assembly was in celebration of wonderful accomplishments, the message was sent that the talmidim should never rest on their laurels but stay committed to taking a leadership role and helping Klal Yisroel in whatever way possible.

THE JEWISH STAR February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat

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17

Alumnae from SKA visit bereaved family in Israel

February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat THE JEWISH STAR

18

By Zahava Gros, SKA ’16 SKA alumnae and seminary students Zahava Gros, Henna Storch and Michal Yacker, accompanied by Principal Raizi Chechik, visited the family of Shir Hajaj, a young soldier who was tragically murdered in the recent truck attack in Jerusalem.

Ms. Chechik brought a personalized letter of condolence signed by students of the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls and, together with the students, hand-delivered the letter on Jan. 25.

The Hajaj family warmly welcomed them and shared many fond memories of their oldest daughter, Shir. They talked about how dedicated Shir was to her community, spending hours amidst her packed university schedule, tutoring young children and volunteering for Shachen Tov, a food distribution organization.

The Hajaj family described Shir’s pride and commitment to her service in the IDF, exemplified by the fact that she signed on for an extended period to give back to the country she loved. Displaying many photos, the family members tearfully expressed their

appreciation to the SKA student body for dedicating a day of tefillah and learning for their daughter and the other victims, ensuring that their memories live on.

Letters of condolences were also sent to the families of the three other victims of the attack — Lt. Yael Yekutiel of Givatayim, Cadet Shira Tzur of Haifa, and Cadet Erez Orbach of Alon Shvut. Mrs. Helen Spirn, Head of School, received a note expressing how much the letter meant to the Orbach family: The father, Uri Orbach, described how comforting it has been to receive condolences from people all over the world.

“We are so proud of the numerous ways our students connect to their brethren in Israel in times of sadness as well as times of joy,” said Ms. Chechik. “When we left the Hajaj family, we said to Mr. Hajaj ‘kulanu chaverim’ (we are all friends, we are all connected). And he so correctly responded, ‘lo, kulanu mishpacha’ (we are all family).

“That is the message that our SKA students really embody in all of their Israel advocacy efforts.”

Sukkah fair at HALB This past Sunday, Feb. 5, the HALB fifth grade boys held their annual “Super Sunday Sukkah Fair” under the coordination of fifth grade rebbe, Rabbi Moish Steinberg.

After learning the Sukkot halachot in Mishnayot Sukka, the boys were assigned a Sukkah to build and to explain. The models were beautiful and creative. One student, Elisha Skolnick, built a sukkah from cardboard boxes and crayons. “It was interesting to learn how you can make the walls for a sukkah out of any material as long as it lasts seven days,” he said. “I had so much fun building the sukkah with my dad!”

The parents and students enjoyed a wonderful breakfast and then reviewed each sukkah model. Student Murray Silver, remarked, “I enjoyed learning about the cases in Mishna and it was so good to see all of the sukkot that my friends built.”

Additionally, the boys printed an illustrated and explained Mishnayot Sukkah. The illustrations were created with an advanced program

called Sketchup. Those who came were impressed by the hard work and creativity shown by the boys. Most importantly, the students increased their love for Torah and they are excited to continue their learning.

893901

Wanted: School news editor at Star If you’re a fan of The Jewish Star’s popular school news section and have the skills to report and write school news and edit school news submissions, this part-time position might be for you. Work in our Garden City office or tele-commute. Send a cover note and resume to Publisher@TheJewishStar.com. Please put SCHOOL NEWS in subject line.

Clumsy but legal…

Cheers for Betsy DeVos

one in Boston show there are no simple answers regarding the ban’s constitutionality. At the time of this writing, the Department of Justice is appealing the Seattle ruling to the Ninth Circuit.

Clearly, the Trump administration could have circumvented the current crisis by taking a more cautious approach to the issue. It chose not to do that, and not to rewrite the ban once constitutional issues were raised. There is also the issue of whether a travel ban and an immigration ban fall under the same legal precedents. The argument, however, that the administration is in clear violation of the Constitution seems to be overly confident in view of previous court decisions.

Ultimately, it will take the Supreme Court to resolve this issue. For no matter what the Ninth Circuit decides, the verdict will be appealed.

Abraham H. Miller is an emeritus professor of political science, University of Cincinnati, and a distinguished fellow with the Haym Salomon Center. Follow him on Twitter @salomoncenter.

The confirmation of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education was applauded on Tuesday by the Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of America.

The OU said it believes DeVos will help “empower parents with the resources and choices to ensure their children receive the best education they deem fit for their children.”

Agudath said it “looks forward to continuing to work with Mrs. DeVos and with stakeholders from across the educational spectrum to create and implement policies that benefit every child in America.”

“Support for public education should include the entire public, including parents who seek for their children an educational alternative to their local public school,” Agudath said.

“We look forward to working with her to ensure all American children have access to great schools and the opportunity to realize their G-d-given potential,” said Nathan Diament, OU’s executive director for public policy.

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THE JEWISH STAR February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat

Continued from page 11 whom we make judgments.

During the Iran hostage crisis, President Jimmy Carter not only refused entry to Iranians—he deported students who were already here. He did not just implement his policy toward Iranians, but eventually toward all Shi’a Muslims.

The Iranians challenged Carter in court. In Narenji v. Civiletti, the Iranian plaintiffs argued that an immigration policy singling out non-immigrant students by their nationality violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.

The Appellate Court did not see it that way. The court strongly rejected the plaintiff’s petition and concluded that the U.S. attorney general holds wide latitude to draw distinctions on the basis of nationality in matters of immigration.

Decades later, the 9/11 Commission echoed those sentiments, noting that terrorists’ visas were part of their arsenal and that we had been derelict in having an immigration policy that was oblivious to the relationship between nationality, religion and terrorism.

As a consequence, the government implemented the National Security Entrance-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), which applied only to 25 Muslim-majority countries and North Korea.

The NSEERS program was challenged on the basis of discrimination against Muslims. The appellate courts uniformly upheld the constitutional validity of NSEERS. In Rajah v. Mukasey, the court explicitly noted how what seems to have escaped many in their reporting on the current imbroglio is that “classifications on the basis of nationality are frequently unavoidable in immigration matters. … Such classifications is (sic) commonplace and almost inevitable.” Obama ended the program in 2011. n the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Attorney General John Ashcroft launched a program to detain and investigate immigrants from Muslim-majority countries who had arrived in the U.S. during the previous two years. Among those swept up in this program was Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani national who had long overstayed his visa and was illegally working as a cable television installer in Brooklyn. Iqbal sued the government for wrongful imprisonment because of the attorney general’s use of nationality and religion as criteria for his arrest.

Iqbal’s case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which denied him a hearing. In very strong language, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, “The September 11 attacks were perpetrated by 19 Arab Muslim hijackers who counted themselves members in good standing of al-Qaeda, an Islamic fundamentalist group.

Al-Qaeda was headed by another Arab Muslim— Osama bin Laden—and composed in large part of his Arab Muslim disciples. It should come as no surprise that a legitimate policy directing law enforcement to arrest and detain individuals because of their suspected link to the attacks would produce a disparate, incidental impact on Arab Muslims.”

The verdict clearly sanctioned a disparate impact on Arab Muslims specifically and Muslims generally, as Iqbal was a Pakistani.

Although the rounding up of Muslims for being Muslim drew outrage in the Islamic community and a few newspaper editorials blasting the program, it generated nothing remotely like the mass demonstrations and media attacks against Trump’s immigration ban.

The constitutional issues raised by the Trump administration’s ban are complex, and the conflicting rulings by a federal judge in Seattle and

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Full text of the Orthodox Union’s statement on the leadership roles of women in our shuls The following is the complete text of the Orthodox Union’s statement: Within mainstream Orthodoxy, more women than at any prior time in Jewish history are learning and teaching Torah, with passionate commitment and at unprecedented levels of scholarship and professional achievement. Motivated by yirat shamayim and ahavat Hashem, they seek not only to learn, but to teach and inspire others. Similarly, highly qualified and dedicated women are increasingly assuming leading roles in Orthodox communal life, both as professionals and within the laity. These positive developments have transformed the face of synagogues and the Orthodox community.

As women have assumed an expanding array of roles, including leadership positions of all sorts, often closed to them in the past, it becomes our challenge — and responsibility — to help define the contours of professional synagogue roles that may be played by women that are permissible within the bounds of halacha and our mesorah — and that conform to the norms of traditional halachic process.

Accompanying this memorandum are the Responses of the Rabbinic Panel to two questions posed to it by the Orthodox Union, in reference to professional synagogue roles: 1. Is it halachically acceptable for a synagogue to employ a woman in a clergy function?

2. What is the broadest spectrum of professional roles within a synagogue that women can perform within the bounds of halacha?

The Need to Address These Issues

The Orthodox Union presented these issues to our Rabbinic Panel for several significant and interrelated reasons. First, many Orthodox Union synagogue Rabbis, and their lay leadership, have requested the Orthodox Union to serve as a conduit for definitive guidance in this complex arena.

Second, the Orthodox Union concluded that the community would benefit greatly by receiving comprehensive, fully elucidated responses regarding women’s professional roles that would inform and educate our increasingly sophisticated community membership. This was an instance in which brief and narrow responses — a simple “yes” or “no” — would be insufficient.

Third, over the past several years, certain synagogues have chosen to have women assume rabbinic roles and responsibilities, or rabbinic-like titles, never before practiced within Orthodox Judaism. As a lay body it was our impression that the issues presented were perceived, certainly by segments of our community, as aspects of Orthodox communal practice not necessarily governed by halacha. Other segments of our community believed that such practices were halachically impermissible. The need for halachic and hashkafic guidance was clear. And, as an Orthodox lay organization, the Orthodox Union felt it was of critical importance that we respond to these contemporary religious issues in the manner undertaken by our community for millennia — by presenting questions to our leading Rabbinic authorities, from whom we and our community’s Rabbis have regularly sought guidance on critical and sensitive matters of halacha and hashkafa.

The Process We Followed

The Orthodox Union recognized that matters of religious practice cannot be decided by lay bodies. It was our view that such determinations should be made — in the time honored tradition of Orthodox communities throughout the millennia — by a group of leading rabbinic scholars.

To that end, we identified rabbis each enjoying an exceptional national reputation for scholarship and integrity, each a significant, recognized talmid chacham; individuals to whom large segments of our communities’ rabbis routinely turn for psak on issues of significance and who have, as a consequence, dealt with national issues in communities both large and small, and both homogeneous and heterogeneous in hashkafa. We also sought to include several panel members who are, or were, themselves pulpit rabbis.

With these criteria in mind, we approached the following distinguished poskim (listed in al-

phabetical order), who each agreed to serve on the Rabbinic Panel: •Rav Daniel Feldman — Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, Yeshiva University; Rabbi of Ohr Saadya of Teaneck, NJ •Rav Yaakov Neuburger — Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, Yeshiva University; Rabbi of Congregation Beth Abraham of Bergenfield, NJ •Rav Michael Rosensweig — Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, Yeshiva University •Rav Hershel Schachter — Rosh Yeshiva and Rosh Kollel, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, Yeshiva University •Rav Ezra Schwartz — Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, Yeshiva University; Rabbi of Mount Sinai Jewish Center in Washington Heights, NY •Rav Gedalia D. Schwartz — Av Beis Din of both Beth Din of America and Chicago Rabbinical Council •Rav Binyamin Yudin — Rabbinic Faculty, Yeshiva University; Rabbi of Congregation Shomrei Torah of Fair Lawn, NJ Over a period of many months, the Rabbinic Panel met frequently, both in person and by phone. The Orthodox Union, is enormously grateful to each of these individuals for their past and ongoing commitment to the community, but in particular for the countless hours, and profound seriousness and thoughtfulness, with which they assumed this responsibility.

As part of our process, we also convened a series of forums to enable members of the Rabbinic Panel to hear from a broad and diverse group of women and men regarding their perspectives on the issues being addressed. Forum participants included pulpit rabbis, educators, yoatzot halacha, communal professionals and lay leaders. In addition to meeting in small groups with members of the Rabbinic Panel, forum participants, as well as other community members, submitted brief statements outlining a variety of perspectives; each of these written statements was provided to the Rabbinic Panel.

Some Observations on the Responses of The Rabbinic Panel

We note, at the outset, that the American culture of personal autonomy and the egalitarian ethos inexorably clashes with the Torah values of placing normative halachic conduct above individual choice and halachic dictates above individual freedom. This clash is particularly pronounced in the area of gender equality in religious practice.

Many have raised, and pondered, the following question: if women serve as CEOs or senior executives of major corporations — as they surely do — if they can head government agencies, and perform at the highest levels of professional achievement — as they surely do — how can we fail to provide them with identical opportunities within the institution seemingly most significant to us outside of our families — the synagogue.

As Orthodox Jews, we believe in the deference to rabbinic authority, accepting the authority of gedolim and poskim, who in each generation translate Hashem’s will into practical policy and specific application for the Torah community. Reared in the modern world, we believe in self-actualization and the ability to choose our own paths; yet as Torah Jews, we subordinate the Western emphasis on autonomy to our willing and unabashed embrace of deference to the values and principles conveyed by the Torah, as interpreted by our leading Torah scholars and halachic authorities. Halacha and halachic advocacy do not belong to the purview of circulated petitions, op-ed pieces or Facebook posts. Religious practice must, rather, be the product of a halachic weltanschauung, as elucidated by our mesorah and the careful, systematic explication of Torah and Torah values by renowned halachic authorities, applying time honored methods of halachic analysis developed over the millennia, and accepted over the millennia. The exploration of halacha must reflect the aspiration of uncovering G-d’s will, even when uncomfortable or dif-

ficult to comprehend.

Second, we recognize that too often, the centerpiece of our communal discourse has been on what women cannot do within our synagogue structure, rather than how they contribute to, enhance and advance synagogue life. That emphasis is, in our view, both misplaced and fundamentally counterproductive to advancing our communal needs and maximizing the contributions that can be made by the totality of our community, both men and women.

Accordingly, we note that just as the Rabbinic Panel has made clear that women serving in clergy roles or holding clergy titles is at odds with halacha and our mesorah, the Panel has also proclaimed — and celebrated — the important, and fundamentally successful roles that women can and must play within our communal and synagogue structures, including as educators and scholars. Women must be encouraged to share their Torah knowledge, and their enthusiasm and wisdom, with the broader community.

We therefore urge all segments of our community to recognize and focus upon what unites us.

As articulated by the Rabbinic Panel, women can and should teach Torah, including at advanced and sophisticated levels; give shiurim and divrei torah; assume communally significant roles in pastoral counseling, in bikkur cholim, in community outreach to the affiliated and unaffiliated, in youth and teen programming; and in advising on issues of taharas hamishpacha, in conjunction with local rabbinic authority, when found by a community’s local rabbinic and lay leadership to be appropriate.

Let us focus our energy and communal creativity on increasing and enhancing the contributions that women make to our shuls and communities, rather than being consumed with limitations.

Third, we feel it important to comment on Yoatzot Halacha. The Rabbinic Panel recognized that Yoatzot Halacha have strengthened religious observance in many segments of our community.

In these communities, the introduction of Yoatzot Halacha trained and certified by Nishmat, has resulted in a substantial increase in the number of hilchot nidda and related sheelot posed by women, who are asking far more sheelot than ever before, and receiving responses from a cadre of dedicated, knowledgeable and committed women. While the Rabbinic Panel did not unanimously encourage the institution of yoatzot, they concluded that a Yoetzet Halacha may be employed with the approval of the community’s rabbinic and lay leadership, and, where employed, should continue to work in close consultation with the community rabbi(s). We believe that the recommendation of the Rabbinic Panel that the utilization of Yoatzot Halacha continue to be evaluated by poskim and communities alike, is a useful one that will foster greater exposure to and awareness of the importance of this institution, and recognition of the significant role of yoatzot in many of our communities.

Fourth, in Kohelet, Shlomo Hamelech taught that: “Divrei hakhamim b’nachat nishmain.” The words of the wise are most likely to be heard when communicated pleasantly. Efforts must be made to create an atmosphere of education and persuasion, rather than fulmination and coercion. In that spirit, the Orthodox Union has striven, and will continue to strive to encourage achdut and mutual respect.

Ultimately, our community will be far better served by convening and promoting substantive dialogue and sophisticated discourse on issues that are, often, complex and nuanced. Such dialogue should bring together our eminent poskim and roshei yeshiva, our pulpit rabbis, and our laity, both men and women. Likewise, community leadership should endeavor, within the bounds of normative halachic conduct, to reach out and be inclusive, and resist pushing away any individuals who are committed to the observance of halacha and who seek to remain within the Orthodox camp.

The Broader Communal Agenda

Quite apart from the specific questions posed to the Rabbinic Panel, it is clear that numerous issues regarding the role of women within the Orthodox community remain unresolved, and re-

quire serious communal attention. Many of these challenges are not new, but have been highlighted to the Orthodox Union by comments of both men and women in the course of the series of forums that were convened by the Orthodox Union for the benefit of the Rabbinic Panel, and in the attendant written submissions we received.

We, therefore, underscore that the responses of the Rabbinic Panel that we transmit today are but the beginning of a process and not its end. We envision a continuing process of dialogue and exploration to begin to address these — and other — critical issues in a deliberate manner.

Many forum participants noted that our community would benefit greatly, and the synagogue experience would be enhanced by, an even greater presence of women functioning as educated, knowledgeable and halachically committed role models, teachers, and pastoral counselors, modelling the joy and fulfillment of Torah learning, of teaching, leadership, spiritual growth and emotional support in time of need. The failure to fully embrace the talents of women and encourage women to assume greater lay and professional roles is a tragic forfeiture of communal talent. We should focus on creating and institutionalizing roles for women that address the needs of Orthodox Jews today, by removing barriers that impede women from further contributing to our community, in halachically appropriate ways. We should fully utilize their talents and commitment, thereby fostering shmirat hamitzvot, enhancing limmud torah and expanding the richness and vibrancy of Jewish life.

Further, we must ensure that the community does not inappropriately disparage the sincere quest of many women for growth in limmud Torah, or in communal participation, as being improperly motivated. When applied, this blanket attitude not only alienates growth-oriented Torah Jews, but also diminishes the next generation’s access to talented and passionate teachers of Torah, and role models. This subject likewise merits the thoughtful consideration and attention of our community.

Other issues likewise require careful review, exploration and communal consideration. For example, consideration should be given, within acceptable halachic parameters, to developing appropriate titles for women of significant accomplishment, holding professional positions within the synagogue and communal structure, thereby acknowledging their achievement and status.

Though such titles could not — and should not — connote ordination or rabbinic function, the Rabbinic Panel has made clear that words — and titles — matter. In short, the dignity accorded such positions must be commensurate with the importance we place on them. As a result, we urge our community, with sensitivity, creativity and full regard for halachic and hashkafic norms, to constructively consider whether and, if so, how to design both appropriate job descriptions and titles for the critically important roles described above.

Such titles would make manifest the degree of skill, training, and preparation necessary for such roles, and the significant status and respect to be accorded to them. We further urge consideration of the related issues of tenure, compensation (including pay equity) and benefits accorded such roles. We resolve to utilize our organizational resources to foster such communal dialogue.

Finally, certain forum participants emphasized the need for greater communal attentiveness to, and rabbinic focus on, the spiritual engagement of women in synagogue services, particularly within certain community segments, and at certain critical life stages. For example, while many within the community, both women and men, feel an inadequate sense of “connection”, some women, upon completing their Jewish studies in high school and beyond, may not find the same sense of religious engagement in shul attendance as may be enjoyed by certain of their male counterparts. Whether, and, if so, to what extent, such feelings are widespread require careful communal attention and consideration and, if found to be significant, must be addressed in deliberate and concrete ways.

See Statement on page 23

The continuing war against Amalek Kosher BooKworm

T

his coming Shabbat is called Shabbat Shira inasmuch as the Torah reading is Parashat Beshalach whose centerpiece is Az Yashir, the Song of the Sea. Also, this Shabbat is Tu B’Shevat, the 15th Day of Shevat, the annual Jewish Arbor Day. What is least known of this Shabbat is the reading at the end of the Torah selection on the aggression that Amalek committed against the newly liberated and militarily defenseless Jewish people.

It is this later event that will be the focus of this week’s essay.

Recently, the Maggid Tanach Companion series published its latest volume, “Textual Tapestries: Explorations of the Five Megillot,” by Dr. Gabriel Cohen of Bar Ilan University and longtime head of Machon Gold in Jerusalem. Within this volume is to be found a series of seven essays dealing with Megillat Esther, the centerpiece of the ritual observance of Purim, scheduled just four weeks from now.

following: “The commandment to blot out the remembrance of Amalek applies ‘from generation to generation.’ The story of Esther, which fulfills the blotting out of Amalek in actual practice, is also remembered ‘throughout every generation’ (Esther 9:28). …

“It is clear that the Book of Esther recounts the continuation of the historic struggle between the people of Israel and Amalek. … Over the generations, Amalek has come to symbolize the enemies of Israel, and Haman’s hatred of Mordechai to be viewed as an expression of the historic loathing of Israel. The enemies of Israel justify their hatred of the Jewish people in different ways. They stress, for example, the differences between the Jewish people and the other nations.”

These brief citations from Dr. Cohn’s essay are meant to give you a hint as to the teachings that are to be found in this work.

There is much irony to be learned and much about the rabid nature of our adversaries that unfortunately, tragically continues unto this very day.

This coming week’s Torah readings reflect upon the ups and downs of our people’s life journey. And, the current events of each day reflect on how history, even as far back as

biblical times, sadly reflects upon us now.

In “The Religious Meaning of the Book of Esther,” Dr. Cohn writes: “We may thus see the Book of Esther as a completion of the Bible. It was intentionally written in an extremely ‘secular’ form in order to teach us that G-d’s providence is found even in places and situations that are far from holiness, and that the hand of G-d governs the world, even when His providence is concealed.”

WOMEN CONSIDER MEGILLAT ESTHER

Michal Horowitz will open a four-part series for women on “Understanding Ancient Texts with Modern Relevance” with an exploration and analysis of Megillat Esther.

The lecture, on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 11:30 am to 12:30 pm, at the JCC on 207 Grove Ave., Cedarhurst, is open to women only. Admission is $15 (or $50 for the series).

Surviving in wilderness, connecting with Hashem rAbbI AvI bIllet Parsha of the weeK

A

fter Moshe followed the instructions that made the waters of Marah drinkable, we are told, “There he taught them ‘chok u’mishpat’ and there he tested them.” The simple translation of the term “chok u’mishpat” is “a decree and a law,” while “survival techniques and methods” is Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s translation of choice, on the heels of Ramban and the Tur. Survival techniques?

Be a drone for a minute and take a bird’s eye view of what transpired. Slaves went out of Egypt and into the wilderness with limited provisions, not knowing if they were on a three-day journey or a full exodus. Now they’ve seen their masters drowned in the sea and they are on the other side; they know there’s no going back.

Maybe Ramban and the Tur are onto

something, maybe the Israelites need courses in “Wilderness Survival 101” and “How To Make It Through a Few Weeks Travel To the Promised Land With the Shirt on Your Back.”

Rav Kasher, in his Torah Shleimah Commentary (note 270) shares a few salient points, organized in progression. First, the Pesikta, which explains how the Torah begins with interpersonal laws. Second, the Ramban, who explains Moshe needed to give the people basic instructions for how to survive in the wilderness.

Third, how to call out to G-d when hungry or thirsty, without resorting to complaining. Fourth, that they should learn to love their neighbors and to follow the advice of the elders to “walk humbly with your G-d.”

Fifth, they should engage peacefully with neighbors who come from outside the Israelite camp, to engage in commerce. Sixth, he aimed to give them mussar (ethical behavior lectures) to avoid being like other traveling

bands who engage in every abomination.

Most directly, he quotes Rabbeinu Chananel, who emphasizes that Moshe had to teach them the ways of the wilderness. Another possibility is that G-d had taught Moshe botany, herbology and pharmacognosy, so he could use plant life they’d come across for medicinal purposes while traveling and engaging with other human beings. find all of these perspectives fascinating because they imagine a real experience for the Israelites. It comes before the gift and promise of the manna while people needed real solutions to real problems. It is one thing to consider the miraculous existence of the Israelites in the wilderness as something supernatural, it is entirely different to consider the truth. That they needed to learn the ways of the world — how to conduct a business transaction, for example. And they needed to learn military skills and tactical actions so

In the wilderness, they needed to learn the ways of the world.

I

they could confront an Amalek on the battlefield.

They needed to learn about medicine and what is safe to eat, what is helpful, and what is poisonous.

How many of us could survive without electricity? How many of us could survive in a wilderness or in forests? The story of Rav Yisroel Zev Gustman having had a lesson in edible plants from Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzienski before WWII is reportedly why he would lovingly water plants in his yeshiva later in life — as gratitude for the opportunity to survive made possible by the plants he knew were safe or beneficial owing to the lessons from Rav Chaim Ozer.

When my family visited Mount Vernon, we marveled over how meat would be stored without a refrigerator and how all kinds of household chores for which we rely on electricity were done without it. Perhaps we should all visit Amish country and learn a thing or two about how to live in a world without electricity.

Taking a slightly different turn, we can See Surviving on page 23

Learning how to praise, bless and thank Hashem rAbbI dAvId etenGoff

O

ne of the many beautiful tefilot that we recite on Shabbat and Yom Tov is Nishmat Kol Chai.

I find the following passage to be particularly striking in its spiritual depth and scope: “Were our mouth as full of song as the sea, and our tongue as full of joyous song as its multitude of waves, and our lips as full of praise as the breadth of the heavens, and our eyes as brilliant as the sun and the moon,

and our hands as outspread as eagles of the sky and our feet as swift as the female deer of the woods, we still could not thank You sufficiently Hashem our G-d and G-d of our forefathers, and bless Your Name for even one of the thousand thousands, thousands of thousands and myriad myriads of favors You performed for our ancestors and for us.”

This prayer focuses our desire to praise and thank the Almighty for the innumerable wonders and miracles He performed for our forebears, and for us. Yet we may well ask, what is the matir (permission) for finite man to praise, bless and thank the infinite Creator, for as the text suggests, all of our efforts will ultimately fall short of achieving their goal? My rebbe and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B.

Soloveitchik zatzal (the Rav), believed that the answer may be found in a careful understanding of a famous verse in this week’s parasha, Beshalach: “My strength and song is G-d, and this is my deliverance; this is my G-d and I will enshrine Him (zeh kali v’anvahu); My father’s G-d, I will exalt Him (Elokei avi v’arom’menhu). (Shemot 15:2) The Rav notes that each of the two sections at the end of the pasuk — “zeh kali v’anvahu” and “Elokei avi v’arom’menhu” — contain an aspect of the matir to extol Hashem. He suggests that the word v’anvahu “can be understood as a compound of the words ‘ani’ and ‘hu’ (I and he). We have an obligation to imitate G-d, and by offering Him appropriate praise we learn about and appreciate His at-

tributes. [The desire to be like Him, to fashion our deeds after a Divine design,] is understandable if seen against the background of a relationship based on a passionate love.

This emotion expresses itself in an overpowering longing for the complete identification of the lover with the beloved.” (From “Out of the Whirlwind: Essays on Mourning, Suffering and the Human Condition.”)

The desire to “to be like Him, to fashion our deeds after a Divine design,” is known as imitatio Dei. According to the Rambam (Maimonides) it is included in the Taryag Mitzvot (the 613 Biblical Commandments): “The eighth mitzvah is that we are commanded to emulate G-d, blessed be He, to the best of our See Learning on page 23

THE JEWISH STAR February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat

AlAn JAy Gerber

Among these essays is one entitled, “Continuing the War Against Amalek.” This excellent analysis of that sad and perfidious action, a Pearl Harbor-like sneak attack upon the Jewish people, goes to the very heart of why this event plays such a serious role in our history filled with so many other tragedies.

Please consider this from Dr. Cohn: “The war between Amalek and Israel, which begins in the Torah and continues in the Prophets, continues further in the Writings — in the Book of Esther. In various ways, the Book of Esther highlights the reality that the conflict is not a chance personal struggle between Haman and Mordechai, but rather the continuation of the national struggle between Amalek and Israel.”

Dr. Cohn helps give Amalek’s perfidious actions their historic due.

“According to the Torah, the remembrance of Amalek must be entirely blotted out. In his instructions to King Saul, Samuel emphasizes that this decree includes the utter destruction of Amalek’s property. … In contrast to Saul, who did not fulfill this command, the Book of Esther emphasizes that Mordechai and his men derived no benefit from the property of the descendants of Amalek.”

Further on we learn from Dr. Cohn the

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February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat THE JEWISH STAR

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Trump still most pro-settlement of any POTUS Jeff Dunetz politics to go

I

n the midst of the upheaval regarding President Trump’s travel pause, there was one Trump action that received little news coverage and what it did get was unfairly negative. When read with objective eyes, the administration’s statement on “settlements” was the most pro-Israel statement on settlement communities ever.

The immediate reaction by the liberal media was to report that Trump was getting tough with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The New York Times headlined, “Trump Embraces Pillars of Obama’s Foreign Policy.’ And from the pro-Israel community, the reaction was OMG Trump is taking a giant step backward from his campaign position. Both positions are wrong.

Let’s take a look at what each segment of the statement said: “We don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace.”

President Obama felt so strongly settlements were an impediment to peace that he made it a bigger issue than the Palestinians did. Obama used his belief that settlement communities were an impediment to peace as his rationale for abstaining from an antiIsrael U.N. Security Council resolution during the last weeks of his administration.

“The construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal [peace].”

The administration was giving Israel permission to build new housing units in existing communities as long as they did not expand their territory.

The White House did say that the building of entirely “new settlements” is not great, but said it without the venom of Obama. That is an 180 degree turn from the Obama view.

“As the president has expressed many times, he hopes to achieve peace throughout the Middle East region. The Trump administration has not taken an official position on settlement activity and looks forward to continuing discussions, including with Prime Minister Netanyahu when he visits with President Trump later this month.”

No hate no venom, no public condemnation, just a “please shut it down for two weeks until we can talk.” Further, the statement did not mention two-state solution, nor did it mention Jerusalem. Some might say the two issues are implied in the first line, but probably they were left out as not to walk back from the Trump campaign’s pre-

diversion of foreign aid is rampant. The U.S. should not support the creation of a state that forbids the presence of Christian or Jewish citizens, or that discriminates against people on the basis of religion.”

The Trump administration’s statement on settlement communities allows for Israel to build in existing communities, does not push for a divided Jerusalem or a state for a Palestinian Authority more concerned with enriching themselves and using Israel as a scapegoat than in making peace. ith all that said, why did the Trump administration feel the need to release the one paragraph statement?

Ron Sachs/Pool/Gety Images As with conversation beelection stance as outlined in a position patween Trump and the Austraper released by Jason Greenblatt and David lian president, and Trump and the Mexican Friedman: president, someone in the administration “A two-state solution between Israel and (perhaps in the State Department) leaked the Palestinians appears impossible as long an incorrect version of the story. In this case, as the Palestinians are unwilling to renounce a private communication with Israel was violence against Israel or recognize Israel’s leaked to the Jerusalem Post, and the adminright to exist as a Jewish state. …The U.S. istration felt they had to release a statement cannot support the creation of a new state to clear up the untruths in the Post article. where terrorism is financially incentivized, The anti-Israel source of the Jerusalem terrorists are celebrated by political parties Post article must be pretty disappointed in and government institutions, and the corrupt the statement the leak helped to generate.

W

Missile test: At last, a real threat from Iran Ben Cohen Viewpoint

I

admit that this sounds perverse, but Iran’s recent ballistic missile test was welcome in one important sense. Let me explain.

Just more than a fortnight into President Donald Trump’s administration, America and the world have been bombarded with all sorts of crises, to the extent that it feels as if two years of history has been packed into two weeks. Relations with Mexico are at their lowest ebb in more than a century. The administration continues to exasperate, most likely intentionally, European heads of state with its

on again, off again comments about the longterm health of the European Union and NATO. Trump even boasted of yelling at Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, leader of the stalwart U.S. ally Australia, over a previous agreement reached with the Obama administration concerning the fate of a handful of refugees.

And then along came Iran with its firing of a ballistic missile on Jan. 29, in open defiance of the nuclear deal it signed with the Obama administration and other Western governments.

That was quickly followed by reports that Iran had test-fired a cruise missile, the Sumar, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and has a potential range of 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles), meaning that it is well within reach of Israel and the European continent.

If we needed a salutary reminder that some threats should be ranked above others, then

the Islamist regime in Tehran provided one.

Dismissing American concerns with a cheap swipe at Trump’s “Muslim travel ban”—whatever else it may be, it is not that—Iran deployed Defense Minister Hossein Deghan, who also holds the rank of brigadier-general in the terrorist Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), to present the missile activities as a routine defensive measure.

“We have no other aim but to defend our interests and in this path we will neither seek permission nor allow anyone to interfere,” Deghan declared. Given that this is the very same Deghan who revealed, following a March 2015 test of the very same Sumar cruise missile, that the regime’s goal is to boost the precision and destructive power of these weapons, it is reasonable to conclude that defense of Iran’s interests means having

the ability to annihilate Iran’s neighbors.

Away from the fervid rhetoric and intellectually insulting spin on all sides that has accompanied Trump’s first steps into the world of governing, Iran represents a marked contrast when it comes to the clarity of the challenge it poses. By any standard, Iran’s regime stands out as a clear and present threat to the Western world. And even as we agonize over what is to become of that world, we need to recognize that the primary goal is to save it. Israel and the conservative SunniArab states may be first in Iran’s firing line, but only a fool would conclude that they are last as well.

In that sense, the Trump administration’s response to the missile test was heartening in one very simple sense: it noticed.

Ben Cohen is senior editor of TheTower.org.

Continued from page 20 We recognize that the issues raised above are hardly the only ones that must be considered.

We, as a community, should strive to identify others that must be placed on the communal agenda, and that require both meaningful attention and deliberation, and creative solutions.

The Way Forward

We offer the following observations: 1) The unity and health of our community will be impacted by the degree to which approaches are identified to substantively encourage, support and expand women’s engagement in synagogue communal roles, within the bounds of halacha as explicated by the Rabbinic Panel. It is essential that the voices of individuals who are yirei shamayim and committed to Torah values, both men and women, are heard in communal discussion and leadership. Accordingly, the Orthodox Union commits to explore and identify approaches by which the concerns identified herein, and other challenges and opportunities, can be discussed and studied.

2) The OU undertakes, and will continue to strive, to live by the principles enunciated in this Statement. On the professional side of the organization, the OU’s recruitment, training, mentoring and promotion of talented women within our professional ranks has been a key organizational priority for the past several years. We have significantly enhanced our maternity/parental leave policy, as well as our part-time and telecommuting work options, to create a more family-friendly work environment. We established the OU Women’s Affinity Group as a forum for professional women within our organization, where women can gather on a regular basis for seminars, networking and brainstorming on issues of common concern. We instituted a new compensation system whereby each program position within the OU is assigned a grade and corresponding salary range, thereby ensuring pay equity across the board. And while there remains much work

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Women…

Continued from page 1 establishment of Yeshivat Maharat, a sister school to Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, a rabbinical school formed by Rabbi Avi Weiss that advocates for a more “open” Orthodoxy and reinterprets certain well-established Orthodox practices, particularly in relation to women and LGBT issues.

But this week’s OU statement on women in synagogue life did not mention Yeshivat Maharat. Instead, the statement addresses how women now have more access to high-quality Jewish education than at any other point in history, and how women with the proper qualifications should be formally welcomed to work within Orthodox synagogues to serve not just as passive learners and educators, but also in other leadership roles.

Such women, according to the statement, “seek not only to learn, but to teach and inspire others. Similarly, highly qualified and dedicated women are increasingly assuming leading roles in Orthodox communal life, both as professionals and within the laity. These positive developments have transformed the face of synagogues and the Orthodox community.”

The OU statement did name one institution, Nishmat, the Israeli seminary that trains yoatzot halacha—women who serve in an advisory capacity on family purity issues for local Jewish communities.

“While the rabbinic panel did not unanimously encourage the institution of yoatzot, they concluded that a yoetzet halacha may be employed with the approval of the community’s rabbinic and lay leadership, and, where employed, should continue to work in close consultation with the community rabbi(s),” says the statement.

“We believe that the recommendation of the rabbinic panel that the utilization of yoatzot halacha continue to be evaluated by poskim (Jewish legal decision-makers) and communities alike, is a useful one that will foster greater exposure to and awareness of the importance of this institution, and recognition of the significant role of

Surviving....

We learn from Rav Kasher’s collection of ideas that there are many ways to live, to connect with the world, and to connect with G-d.

Continued from page 21 easily understand that just as there are different ways to live and survive in the wilderness, on the miraculous front and in the natural arena, the same principle would apply to how we live our Jewish lives today.

There are different theories as to how many correct paths exist in Jewish life and observance. Whether it is “eilu v’eilu,” 49 tameh v. 49 tahor, or 70 faces, there are a number of ways in which people can get close to G-d. Nowadays, we too often see people saying things like “My way or the highway.”

This is tragic, because seeing things in only one way is anti-Torah. It could be that one way works for me, but my way may not work for you and your way might not work for me.

I can’t find the quote, but in a recent “offthe-derech” memoir, I found a very provocative insight about this. The author suggested that Hassidism was founded on the notion that a person can come to G-d through multiple different paths. The author lamented that some Hassidic sects now have exactly the opposite view and are unembracing of the outside world and cold or indifferent (these are certainly generalizations) to Jews who are not like them (except when doing chesed or kiruv).

This kind of rigidity exists in many circles.

While we often acknowledge that what another person is doing shouldn’t bother us, we are very often judgmental and the way others live their Judiasm really does bother us.

It’s time to recognize that 70 faces means 70, and not “my way or the highway.” Do what works for you but don’t be critical of the person whose approach is different, but is nevertheless grounded in the Torah.

Learning...

Continued from page 21 ability. … This is explained in the words of the Midrash Sifri, ‘Just as G-d is called merciful, so too, you must be merciful. Just as G-d is called kind, so too, you must be kind.

Just as G-d is called righteous, so too, you must be righteous. Just as G-d is called pious, so too, you must be pious.”

Hence, for the Rav, when we fulfill our “obligation to imitate G-d and offer Him appropriate praise, we learn about and appreciate His attributes.” This, then, is the first matir for mankind praising Hashem.

The Rav maintained that the second reason we may praise G-d is to be found in the expression, “Elokei avi v’arom’menhu,” since “we ourselves did not originate the custom of praising Him; we do so based upon the tradition of those who came before us, we rely on their precedent.” When we extol the Holy One blessed be He, we are following the path forged for us by the great ones of Kenneset Yisrael and Adat Yisrael, two terms that the Rav defines in his work, “U’vikashtem Misham (And From There You Shall Seek)”: “Knesset Yisrael (the Community of Israel) — its definition: the inextricable connection between the first and last generations of prophet and listener, of Torah scholar and student, of the Revelation of G-d’s Divine Presence in the earliest lights of dawn, and the eschatological vision on that day to come. The Community of Israel is also Adat

yoatzot in many of our communities.”

The rabbinic response clarified the OU’s position on mesorah, which is commonly translated as tradition. The rabbis, however, essentially rejected the notion that mesorah is merely “tradition.” In the realm of deciding on such an important change, mesorah includes the background, reason and spirit of halacha.

The rabbinic response says, “The idea of mesorah is often mistaken as a mere historical record of Jewish practice. That misunderstanding, combined with both the absence of historical uniformity of normative practice, and the gradual evolution of halacha, can be misconstrued as compromising the authenticity of mesorah. Authentic mesorah is rather an appreciation for, and application of, tradition as the guide by which new ideas, challenges and circumstances are navigated.”

In light of their nuanced definition of mesorah, the rabbinic panel explains the reasons underlying its conclusion that women should not be appointed to serve in a clergy position, invoking legal sources, precedent and what the panel calls “halachic ethos.”

The panel’s legal sources include a prohibition against appointing women to communal positions of authority, a longstanding and documented tradition against such appointments, the ineligibility of women to serve as court judges, and a heightened need for gender separation in the synagogue.

Additionally, the Jewish community has been blessed with many female Torah scholars over time—none of whom were ordained. This has established the precedent of not ordaining women.

“The rabbinic role has traditionally been male, which cannot be changed,” Rabbi Gil Student, a popular commentator on issues relating to Orthodox Judaism, tells The Jewish Link of New Jersey. “However, new roles are innovations, which offer great opportunity for women. Particularly in this age of decentralized religion, entrepreneurial women can pave completely new paths in communal leadership.”

Elizabeth Kratz is associate publisher and editor of The Jewish Link of New Jersey.

Yisrael (the Congregation of Israel). It incorporates in its innermost being the ancient and true testimony of the myriad visions that have never been obliterated in the depths of the past, the continuity of history, and the unceasing transmission of the Revelation from generation to generation.”

Thus, in the Rav’s estimation, the second matir for praising Hashem is our indissoluble link to Kenneset and Adat Yisrael, and the knowledge they have transmitted to us since the dawn of Jewish history of how to recognize His indescribable glory during the prayer experience.

With Hashem’s help and our heartfelt efforts, may we find the strength and wisdom to walk in His ways, and follow the example set by our Sages, so that we may give the Master of the Universe “song and praise, lauding and hymns [and thereby recognize His] power and dominion, triumph, greatness and strength, praise and splendor, holiness and sovereignty, blessings and thanksgivings, from this time and forevermore.”

V’chane yihi ratzon.

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23 THE JEWISH STAR February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat

Statement…

ahead, our management ranks are now beginning to reflect the totality of the talent pool within our community, both male and female.

On the lay leadership side, following consultation with our Poskim, the 2015 OU elections included six talented women elected as national officers. Women populate our commissions and committees, bringing their skill and expertise to bear for the benefit of Klal Yisroel.

But there is much more that the OU can — and should — seek to achieve. The OU is, therefore, in the process of forming a new Department of Women’s Initiatives. This Department will be led by a senior professional, and will allow us to coordinate all of our programming for women, whether serving our community’s schools, shuls or individuals directly. The objective of this initiative is to advance the spiritual, religious and communal engagement of women at all stages of life, in all segments of the Orthodox community, in areas of personal and professional growth, including Torah study and community leadership.

3) We adopt as a statement of OU policy the Responses of the Rabbinic panel transmitted herewith and anticipate that Orthodox Union member synagogues will act in accordance with these Responses. The OU, through its Synagogue Standards Commission, will enter into a dialogue with synagogues to encourage and facilitate implementation of the Responses. In addition, the OU will explore various ways in which all shul members, women and men, can enhance their synagogue experience and realize greater spiritual enrichment.

Further, the OU will work with member synagogues, at the request of their respective Rabbinic and lay leadership and with their cooperation and guidance, to encourage women’s involvement in all appropriate areas of leadership and participation within such member synagogues.

Moishe Bane President Howard Tzvi Friedman Chairman of the Board Allen I. Fagin Executive Vice President/ Chief Professional Officer

edwin black

T

hree judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit rejected the appeal of Susan Abeles a Washington, DC, Orthodox Jew, who was punished by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) because she took off work for the last two days of Passover 2013, as she had done for the previous 26 years in which she worked at the agency. Abeles’ closelywatched case evoked amicus briefs by the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs (COLPA) as well as the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and the American Jewish Committee. Abeles’ lawyer is Nathan Lewin, the well-known advocate for Jewish religious rights.

For each of the 26 years Abeles worked for the Airports Authority since 1987, she took off for all Jewish holidays on which work is prohibited, including the last two days of Passover. Everyone at her job knew she was an Orthodox Jew. She consistently gave her supervisors a list of the dates of Jewish holidays at the beginning of each calendar year and her supervisors accepted that list as a request for annual leave on the specified Jewish holidays.

In 2012, new supervisors appeared.

Abeles provided them with a list of the Jewish holidays on which she would be absent and also, at their request, specified the holidays in their Outlook calendars. On the Friday before the last two days of Passover (which fell on Monday and Tuesday) she was unable

to speak with her immediate supervisor because that person was out on annual leave.

So, Abeles sent an e-mail reminding the next highest supervisor in the chain of command.

That supervisor replied with an e-mail that affirmatively said, “Thanks.� But when Abeles returned to work, she was slapped with an unexpected five-day suspension for being AWOL. Abeles sued. The case was transferred to a Virginia federal court on the Airports Authority’s motion.

In a 16-page decision written by Judge Allyson Duncan, the first AfricanAmerican judge in the Fourth Circuit, the court declared, “We conclude that MWAA did not discriminate against Plaintiff on the basis of her religion in violation of Title VII.� The Airports Authority argued that Abeles had failed to follow a formal “Leave Policy� procedure under which her immediate supervisor had to explicitly approve her leave in advance. That “Leave Policy� had not been invoked during her previous 26 years’ employment.

The Airports Authority also said it was exempt from the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because it was technically a “regional authority,� not a federal agency. The president of the United States, the governors of Virginia and Maryland, and the mayor of the District of Columbia appoint all directors of the Airports Authority. Attorneys for the Airports Authority defended the suspension on the asserted ground that Abeles was an “insubordinate� and “mediocre� employee

deliberate retaliation for observance of a religious holiday that I have seen in decades of experience in this field. If so thin a pretext as the MWAA offered can excuse punishment for religious observance, no employee with a bona fide religious duty is safe from arbitrary afterthe-fact punishment by his or her employer.�

Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel of the Becket Fund, quipped, “It takes some chutzpah for the government to punish a Jewish woman for celebrating Passover. It takes even more chutzpah to say that they are the only government agency in DC exempt from our civil rights laws.�

In a highly unusual move, the court delivered its denial in a so-called “unpublished decision,� which cannot be cited as precedent in any future cases in that circuit. When the ruling was handed down on Jan. 26 as “unpublished,� legal experts opined that the unusual status “reduced the likelihood that it would be noticed or criticized by lawyers.� A copy of the unpublished decision was obtained by this writer. When asked, Lewin stated that he knew of no other federal appellate “unpublished� ruling that was so lengthy and detailed.

A clearly shocked Lewin promised to file a petition requesting review by the entire roster of active judges of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and, if necessary, seek review by the Supreme Court of the United States. Lewin and/or his daughter partner, Alyza, have been before the Supreme Court 28 times, including in the famous Jerusalem passport case. The undaunted litigator promised, “This decision will not stand.�

Edwin Black is the New York Times bestselling author of “IBM and the Holocaust,� “Financing the Flames� and “The Farhud.� He can be found atedwinblack.com.

everyone knew she was a Sabbath observer and for 26 years had been absent on Jewish holidays.

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(notwithstanding the record of awards and high performance ratings she received during her tenure). Documents produced by the Airports Authority during discovery proved that prior to her absence on Passover her supervisors had considered nothing more than a “reprimand� for alleged “insubordination.�

They increased this discipline to a suspension without pay only because she had been absent on Passover.

During oral arguments, late last year in Richmond, VA, an exasperated Lewin, appearing on Abeles’ behalf, abruptly declared: “Your Honor, I’m an Orthodox Jew. When I’ve worked for people, I’ve given them a list of what the Jewish holidays are at the beginning of the year. And they know that means I’m going to be out for those days. This is a phony response by [the company] saying ‘we didn’t know why you would be out.’ Of course, they knew why she was out.

Everybody in the whole company knew that she was a Sabbath observer and for 26 years had been absent on Jewish holidays. “She listed all the Jewish holidays at the beginning of the year. And, suddenly, to penalize her even though she has listed them and has notified her supervisors on the day before she was gone — we submit that’s outrageous.� In his argument to the court, Lewin called the Airport Authority’s punishment an “ambush� of Abeles.

Lewin said after the Fourth Circuit’s decision was rendered, “The Airport Authority’s conduct was the most egregious example of

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for respect Rabbi Chanina, for were it not fare of the government, th 240 27th alive.� one another nation that for swallow NOVEMBER you for this blessed would th SUNDAY, to “proclaim SEE AD 26th We -thank MIDNIGHT Eternal G-d:8PM NOVEMBER the Biblical command 7th reality INSIDE th 26th 25th SATURDAY, translated into D! for all the inhabitants thereof.�created , NOVEMBER years has NOVEMBER KED WEEKEN the land that has FRIDAY, SUPER SALE! SATURDAY liberty throughout our constitutional government ONE JAM-PAC justice and MIDNIGHT MADNESSIC EVENTS IN We thank you for of democracy, freedom, American ideals religion or national origin.

TWO FANTAST and fostered the very dangerous regardless of race, equality for all, We know that we are living in from without, are threatened from within, Almighty G-d: of these blessings and times, when all and unimaginable brutality, and violence, putby forces of terror the seeds of bigotry, hatred by those who sow our way of life at risk. a government ting our lives and Dear G-d: Help us to form strength; And so we pray, with sound strategy and steadyof compasus acts which will protectus with words of wisdom and safety peace and harmony, which will unite will thereby bring all of humankind. sion; and which our beloved America and to to and well-being Amen.

Lookstein, spiritual And let us all say, that Rabbi Haskel the Upper Orthodox shul on Trump, This is the benediction Jeshurun, a Modern leader of Kehilath to Ivanka, daughter of President-Elect Convention.

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Billet Two of the leading vote and wins, might otherwise all else: The Talmud Five Towns, Hershelarticles “If she gets our opportunity to hold her “And this above rabbis in the an But there is reHain, published in we will have to our concerns.� full of disagreements. and Kenneth Intelligent up to the election who are is adversaries. accountable Rabbi Hain the days leading support for Hillon spect between about an election. “People like y in Israel’s cornerwho people may disagree we must which they expressed Trump and disagree. But and over Donald angry uncompromisingl ary Clinton the Green Line are do- We may strongly to get angry and become in the level of both sides of urged a moderation and secure Israel Clin- not allow ourselvesSee 2 rabbis on page 30 Mrs. want a strong advocating for discourse.

Hain, of Congregation ing a service in said. “If she is elected, After Rabbi wrote in the Rabbi Billet in Lawrence, and our ton,�

Beth Shalom that “our country, Jerusalem Post be fortunate to would Jewish community,as our next president,� have Clinton serve often in intemperate he was criticized, media channels. terms, in social of the Young Israel of defense Rabbi Billet, to Rabbi Hain’s Woodmere, rose post in which he disin a long Facebook of an election wake of cussed the complexity fought in the We’re not going campaign being of President Obama.� to suggest that vote for — of it’s unimportant urging their congrecourse, “eight dark years who you Hershel Billet, YouTube video in our community that does matter very much.

Hain (left) and in 2014.

Kenneth But opinions prefer to facilitate are mostly set, and Rabbis AIPAC conference at Theto Jewish attend the discussions rather gants Star we What we will say than without equivocation, thumb the scale. paramount to however, is this: our community’s It is interests that we Whoever wins tance, whoever the White House — and alsovote on Tuesday. wins the many of judicial races on state and local great importhe we in the Orthodox Election Day card — must legislative and be reminded that communities on responsibilities Long Island take seriously, that our civic we the actions of our elected officials,follow the races and monitor the issues we and that we will hold dear are respond if ignored Whether the issue is continuingor mishandled. (sometimes threatened) America’s long tradition of support for ish state of Israel, the security of the Jewlocation of state or insuring a fair shake for yeshivas in the aid, or facilitating alers who face discrimination hearings for in employment, Shabbos observconcerns, voting or a myriad other might be the easiest way — surest way — to let it’s Ultimately, Israel’sthe pols know we’re watching certainly the them. safety, along with shivas and the the solvency of success of our our yeparnasa, rests we each have a job to do. On with Hashem.

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Continued from page 1

in Crown Heights with was born in Brooklyn and raised Bais Rivka and her brother and six sisters. She attended ofďŹ ce assistant everyhas been, since graduating, the

one wants to hire. and mischief, was Eliyahu, a bright boy full of laughter the neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s born in Brooklyn Heights, and attended in fact, he was in the top-tier Kiddie Korner Preschool â&#x20AC;&#x201D; at the United founding class. He continued his education and completed Lubavitcher Yeshivoth on Ocean Parkway, Heights. After two his schooling in Toronto and Crown he returned to his years as a junior shliach in California, outreach for CongreBrooklyn Heights roots and now does at Brooklyn gation Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nai Avraham through programming professionals.

Law School, and with local young Jewish Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nai Avraham This reporter interviewed excited Eliyahu. I brieďŹ&#x201A;y of guests about their recollections the comic book rabbi, caught up with Simcha Weinstein, snappy dresser, serious who blurted, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Eliyahu Raskin â&#x20AC;&#x201D; dragged back into the doer â&#x20AC;Ś we love him!â&#x20AC;? before being sea of dancers. one of the shulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s After the bedeken, Penny Rosen, founders, shared her thoughts of Eliyahu. and have loved â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve known him since he was a baby, talk,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was him dearly even before he could books to read to him often at the Raskin house, bringing mind, he easand Yankel. Eliyahu has such an inquisitive reading with me, and ily picked up on nuances. He loved Eliyahu prewell after the boys could all read themselves, ferred my voices for the characters.

Chalav Yisroel Swiss â&#x20AC;&#x153;I remember once ďŹ nding some lunch, staking cheese, and Eliyahu coming for Shabbos cheese board so his out that block of Swiss on the marble brothers would not get it ďŹ rst. him a little, but it â&#x20AC;&#x153;My best memory might embarrass Bar Mitzvah age and is very sweet. He was approaching could sit longer no had to sit in the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s section, could mitzvah, he gave me on my lap. The night before his bar world to me.â&#x20AC;? a last huge hug, which meant the I have alPenny added: â&#x20AC;&#x153;In addition to his intelligence, kindness to all.â&#x20AC;? ways been impressed by his innate chatted about her While reďŹ lling her drink, Sonia Beker warm wishes for the happy couple. guy and full of fun. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Eliyahu was always a high energy his siblings and other He loved socially interacting with streak. He was fearkids, and had a benign, mischievous invincible and unless, loved to take risks, always feeling still quite small, he endaunted. I remember when he was his footing and fell, thusiastically climbed a tree, missed But his energy injuring his head and requiring stitches. by this mishap. level and zest for life were not diminished sensitive young â&#x20AC;&#x153;Today, Eliyahu is a warm, humorous, family and everyone man, full of good spirits towards his to his rabbis and teacharound him. He was a great asset his knowledge and ers in his studies, and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s applying Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nai Avraham as excellent people skills at Congregation now very busy climba teacher and in outreach work. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great success and joy ing the tree of life, and we wish him truly love him.â&#x20AC;? in his work and in his marriage. We vigorous dance set, While cooling off from a particularly was the very ďŹ rst kid Naomi Weinberger noted that Eliyahu bar mitzvah. She also she ever heard recite a maimer at his a group to tap out a recalls him sneaking away at times from ping pong, played often tune on her keyboard. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And he loved be volleying and then, at our home,â&#x20AC;? she added. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You would from Eliyahu.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;wham!â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a slam and lots of giggling line-by-line each Fran Bast related the following story Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll bet you this bantime her dance line passed by. "Fran:

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Fran: Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll bet you $10 ner wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go up. Eliyahu: Yes, it will.

Beer delivered, it wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. Fran: OK I owe you $10, Eliyahu. debt settled!â&#x20AC;? related by Sita Eliyahuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good humor was laughingly â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all this reportHess at the bar (just seltzer! Sheesh we were just getting ing makes a person thirsty): â&#x20AC;&#x153;When Sukkot dinner in their to know the Raskins, we went for Raskin boys have a tensuccah. During these dinners, the the evening in dency to sit in different seats throughout Adam drank more husband my As hosts. order to be good apt to do in the succah) throughout the evening (as one is seats and alternately Eliyahu and Yankel kept swapping calling both of was he sitting next to him. By mid-evening were far too gracious them Eliyahu. Eliyahu and Yankel just appreciated what to contradict him (or maybe they

â&#x20AC;˘ 20 Tevet 5776 THE JEWISH STAR January 1, 2016

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38 15, No In a fun evening 5 â&#x20AC;˘ Vol of Jewish unity, 1,000 South Shore over , page women will Participants will week in the â&#x20AC;˘ Luach learn the historical aromatic spiritual partake next cance of this signifilah 7:26 delicious making challah tradition of While this will likely together. Similar braid two challahs. bread as they prepare and Havda constitute a review pm,obvious scheduled throughout events the Admission, $36, for women in of the metropolitan are baking supplies, instructions, includes6:19munity, and around the lighting area ment, an Shabbos Projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the Orthodox comworld. entertain- age apron, raffle prizes, musical â&#x20AC;˘ Candle The third annual kiruv, with observant goal is to encour5776and a recipe book.

Thursday nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sElul Great Challah Jews using this kicking off the cial weekend speâ&#x20AC;˘ 27 Great Challah Bake is annual international Bake â&#x20AC;&#x201D; precursor to the Shabbos Project a friends and to offer less religious relatives, Project weekend 2016 Shabbos colleagues a taste weekend, on ber 30, and Saturday, 10, 6:45 pm, at â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is set for Thursday, Nov. Friday of Shabbos. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was moved the Sands Atlantic Septem dinated event taking Nov. 11 and 12, a coorto tears at the im â&#x20AC;˘ Last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bake Beach. women sight of place concurrently cities around the Nitzav attracted a alarge in 500 together,â&#x20AC;?dancing, singing, and baking 1,000 verse group of world. Guidelines and dichallah Parsh said Teri Gatti local on how to Schure, women, mothers Jewish women: business- observe the Sabbath will be distributed at the rector of the Cedarhurst Business executive diters of Holocaust of school children, daugh- Challah Bake, showing how easy District, who participated Improvement it is to do. in a previous or no knowledgesurvivors, women with little Bake.

See Shabbos Project Challah ladies who bake of Jewish ritual tradition, on page 2 and everyone in their own challah regularly, between. Many daughters, sisters, brought their To volunteer the major for this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cousins with them.mothers, aunts, nieces and , JTA of some of event, email lahBakeLIStyle@gm TheGreatChale Harris tured at last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ail.com. Debbie Greenblatt This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme

By Ben a timelin of 5776.

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JEWISH STAR January 1, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 20 Tevet 5776 THE

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be). I teased Adam an excellent drinking buddy he could about it for weeks! always been so warm â&#x20AC;&#x153;Eliyahu is a lovely person. He has up our succah last year. with us. He even delivered and set We wish him and Shaindy all blessings!â&#x20AC;? to relate her memoPamela Roth took the opportunity

ries over dessert.

Eliyahu had to â&#x20AC;&#x153;My son Josh remembers all the times as the Rabbi stood pick up Rabbi Raskin on his shoulders crazy faces. As for and waved his arms and Eliyahu made cheesecake assistant, me, I remember Eliyahu as my best in Shternieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kitchen. baking cheesecakes for Shavuoth for the crust.â&#x20AC;?

He smashed the graham crackers Heights, on The couple will be residing in Brooklyn Clinton Street.

To discuss your simcha opportunities, contact Celia Weintrob â&#x20AC;˘ 516-622-7461 ext 241 â&#x20AC;˘ CWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com

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Marine Le Pen: French Jews should sacrifice kippahs

By JTA French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said French Jews should give up the wearing of yarmulkes as part of the country’s struggle to defeat radical Islam.

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 that aired Friday, Le Pen expressed support for banning the wearing of yarmulkes as part of her broader effort to outlaw religious symbols in public.

“Honestly, the dangerous situation in which Jews in France live is such that those who walk with a kippah are in any case a minority because they are afraid,” Le Pen said. “But I mainly think the struggle against radical Islam should be a joint struggle and everyone should say, ‘There, we are sacrificing something’.”

Le Pen added: “Maybe they will do with just wearing a hat, but it would be a step in the effort to stamp out radical Islam in France.”

Le Pen is a leading contender in the upcoming French presidential contest, with a recent poll showing her advancing to the second round of balloting in May but still losing handily to front-runner Emmanuel Marcon. Her political party, the National Front, was founded by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who routinely minimized the Holocaust.

The younger Le Pen has sought to move the party past her father’s controversies, but French Jewish leaders still consider the National Front anti-Semitic.

briefs intimidated by anti-Semitic attacks on a house of worship,” the American Jewish Committee’s Chicago director, Amy Stoken, said in a statement.

Shabbat services went ahead as scheduled Saturday morning.

Khamenei rips Trump

Marine Le Pen, leader of a French far right party and candidate for the 2017 French Presidential elections.

Christophe Morin/IP3/Getty Images

“The train was silent as everyone stared at each other, uncomfortable and unsure what to do,” one of the commuters, Gregory Locke, wrote in a post on Facebook.

One guy got up and said, ‘Hand sanitizer gets rid of Sharpie. We need alcohol.’ He found some tissues and got to work.”

Locke’s post continued: “I’ve never seen so many people simultaneously reach into their bags and pockets looking for tissues and Purell.

Within about two minutes, all the Nazi symbolism was gone.”

“Nazi symbolism. On a public train. In New York City. In 2017,” he wrote.

At least one of the messages said “Jews belong in the oven,” according to the New York Daily News.

Straphangers clear graffiti

Subway riders used hand sanitizer to clean away swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti drawn in permanent marker on a train’s maps, advertisements and windows.

The Manhattan subway riders discovered the graffiti on Saturday night.

in the Jerusalem hills near Beit Shemesh

Sabra threatened in Calif.

The student government at the University of California, Riverside, unanimously voted to approve a resolution calling for the removal of Sabra brand hummus from campus dining services.

The resolution passed l-st week, 13-0 with one abstention. The resolution is not enforceable, and the UC Riverside administration says it has no plans to remove the hummus.

The removal, encouraged by Students for Justice in Palestine, was requested because one of the Sabra company’s joint owners is the Israelbased Strauss Group. The other owner is U.S.based PepsiCo. In 2015, the campus dining service removed Sabra hummus after being approached by the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter on campus. Tapaz2Go hummus, from Mediterranean Snacks, briefly replaced Sabra, but Sabra hummus was restored after the university realized that a political position was an underlying reason for its removal.

In March 2014, the school’s student government passed a resolution urging administrators to divest from Israel, but rescinded it the following month.

DePaul University briefly stopped offering Sabra hummus in 2011 before reinstating it, and a year earlier, students at Princeton University voted on the issue.

TA U among top schools

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February 10, 2017 • 14 Shvat THE JEWISH STAR

26

A new study ranked Tel Aviv University among the top schools producing billion-dollar startups.

According to the British marketing firm Verve Search, Tel Aviv ranks eighth in the world for training the founders of so-called unicorns, startup firms worth more than $1 billion.

Stanford University topped the list with 51 alumni responsible for founding unicorns, followed by Harvard with 37. Tel Aviv University had seven, according to the study, ahead of Cornell and the University of Southern California, which had six apiece.

The companies founded by Tel Aviv alumni include ForeScout, a computer security firm whose co-founders attended the school, and ironSource, which builds tools for app developers.

Chicago shul vandalized

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The front window of the nearly 90-year-old Chicago Loop Synagogue was smashed early Saturday morning and copies of swastikas were taped to its front doors.

Police were called to the scene at 12:30 am after witnesses saw the attack in progress, according to reports. The vandal was caught on surveillance camera. He is seen getting out of a dark-colored SUV and sticking the swastikas on the synagogue’s front door before smashing the plate glass window with a metal object.

“The Chicago Jewish community will not be

The supreme leader of Iran shot back at President Donald Trump, who warned Iran last week that it was “on notice” for testing a ballistic missile. In a speech to military officers in Tehran on Tuesday, Ali Khamenei said a response to Trump’s threats is forthcoming, according to a report on Khamenei’s website.

“Trump says fear me,” Khamenei said. “No. The Iranian nation will respond to your comments with a demonstration on the 10th of February. They will show others what kind of stance the nation of Iran takes when threatened.”

Khamenei said Trump had revealed the “real face of America.”

“We actually thank this new president [Trump]. We thank him, because he made it easier for us to reveal the real face of the United States,” Khamenei said. “What we have been saying, for over thirty years, about political, economic, moral, and social corruption within the U.S. ruling establishment, he came out and exposed during the election campaigns and after the elections. Now, with everything he is doing — handcuffing a child as young as 5 at an airport — he is showing the reality of American human rights.”

The latter is a reference to the case of an Iranian boy who was detained last month at an American airport following Trump’s executive order barring entry to citizens of seven Muslim majority countries. The White House defended the boy’s detention, saying he could have been a security threat.

Radiohead to play in Israel

The Grammy-winning British rock band Radiohead will play at Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park in July, Haaretz reported on Sunday.

The band, which has sold over 30 million albums around the world, became popular in the Jewish state after a version of its song “Creep” was featured in a 1993 commercial for the Israeli fashion brand Castro. The group performed in Israel that year, then again in 1995 as the opening act for R.E.M. Since then, the band has gone on to become one of the most successful rock outfits in the world.

’89 Hezbollah in Brazil

Hezbollah sent operatives to Brazil to attack Israeli diplomats, according to previously classified documents made public.

“This is an old story that sits in the past,” the Israeli consul in Sao Paulo, Dori Goren, told JTA. “However, we always need to be alert since Hezbollah has dormant cells in Latin America, there are large Shiite Muslim communities and there is the recent arrival of Syrian refugees. There is no need to panic, but we are always vigilant for Israeli missions are a continuous target.”

Polish cops raid offices

Police in Warsaw raided the offices of the Center for Monitoring Racist and Xenophobic Behavior in Warsaw as part of a fraud investigation.

The search on Friday came at the request of the Bialystok prosecutor’s office as part of its probe into fraud, a spokesman for prosecutors in Bialystok, told reporters.

The anti-racism center said on Facebook that it operates legally and accused Poland of “turning into a police state.”

“This is an attempt to intimidate a nongovernmental organization,” said Konrad Dulkowski, a member of the audit committee of the Association of Trzyrzecze Theatre, in an interview with the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper.

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