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THE NEWSPAPER OF LONG ISLAND’S ORTHODOX COMMUNITIES
Five Towners bring chizuk to Denmark
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Inclusion’s up in Israel
Jordan Hiller of Woodmere organized a chizuk mission to Copenhagen this week and was joined by several other Five Towners, including Rabbi Gedaliah Oppen, principal of Judaic Studies at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway High School. They joined 2,000 people (including the Danish prime minister and other digitaries) at a memorial service for slain synagogue security guard Dan Uzan, Hyâ€?D, paid a shiva call, and delivered presents to bat mitzvah girl Hannah Ben Tov. Rabbi Oppen ďŹ led this report before they embarked. On Feb. 14, Dan Uzan, Hyâ€?D, a 37 year old Jewish volunteer security guard, was murdered in cold blood by an Islamic terrorist, as he was protecting the synagogue in which the bat mitzvah of Hannah Ben Tov was being celebrated. Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who attended Dan Uzan’s funeral, proclaimed “an attack on the Jews of Denmark is an attack on Denmark.â€? I believe we should all be declaring clearly, emphatically and loudly that “an attack on any Jew, no matter where he or she is — whether in Israel, the United States, Paris or Denmark, or any place in the world — is an attack on all Jews and every Jew.â€? When Jordan Hiller, a former HAFTR student of mine, advised HAFTR Director of Admissions and Communications Leslie Gang that he was organizing a chizuk mission to strengthen and encourage the Jews of Copenhagen, I could not help but offer to participate. In announcing the mission, Jordan quoted the
By Leiba Chaya David Recent statistics indicate that approximately 1 million people in Israel have a disability, deďŹ ned as a health problem that interferes with their daily activities. This covers a wide range of challenges, including physical limitations, mental illnesses, behavioral disorders, and more. Yet perhaps the most important part of the deďŹ nition is “interferes with their daily activities.â€? Ahiya Kamara, Commissioner for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities within the Israeli Ministry of Justice, says Israel has come a long way toward creating a more accessible society. Hearing impaired since childhood, Kamara worked for many years as a disability-rights advocate and has been an active partner in drafting relevant legislation. The Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Law, originally passed by the Knesset in 1998, was recently revised to mandate “accessibility of services.â€? The revised ordinance requires service providers—bank tellers, bus drivers, government clerks, Israel Defense Forces soldiers, teachers, restaurant owners, museum guides, and virtually any person who serves the public—to ensure that their staff is trained to relate to people with disabilities with sensitivity and respect. Any business or public institution with more than 25 employees must work with an “accessibility consultantâ€? to develop a strategy for adapting services to the needs of clients with disabilities. Training seminars cover learning how to $ ZRPDQ GUHVVHG LQ D 3XULP FRVWXPH ZDONV E\ D KRPHOHVV PDQ VOHHSLQJ RXWVLGH Continued on page 4 WKH 0DVKELU PDOO LQ WKH FHQWHU RI -HUXVDOHP LQ 1DWL 6KRKDW )ODVK ULVH
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bat mitzvah girl on how her day of joy transformed into a tragedy, saying “I wish I didn’t have a bat mitzvah.� Who can blame her for feeling vulnerable, alone and abandoned? Yet we cannot let this be the case! “Kol Yisroel Araivim Zeh L’Zeh� (we are all responsible for the wellbeing of one another.�) When I mentioned the mission to my wife, Continued on page 14
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Frum groups aid Israeli poor at Purim By Judy Lash Balint Israelis take Purim seriously—kids get the day off school, many towns put on a lively Purim parade, and the streets are ďŹ lled with people of all ages running about in costumes, delivering mishloach manot baskets of prepared food goodies to their friends and neighbors before sitting down to the seuda, a festive meal that includes plenty of spirits. But these items add up, and Purim can expensive. For the one third of all Israeli children who live in poverty, Purim wouldn’t be Purim without the help of non-proďŹ t organizations that take the holiday’s other mitzvah to heart. According to Maimonides, “Matanot l’evyonim (gifts for the poor) deserve more attention than the seuda and mishloach manot because there is no greater, richer happiness than bringing joy to the hearts of needy people, orphans, widows and proselytes.â€? Despite Israel’s image as the hi-tech “start-up nation,â€? there are plenty of needy people in the Jewish state. In 2012, according to Israel’s National Insurance Institute, there were 1.75 million poor people in Israel (out of a population than 8 million), among them 817,000 children. Continued on page 14