The Jewish Star

D

STAR

LO

N

G

IS

LA N

THE JEWISH Parshas Vayikra • Candlelighting 6:47 pm • Luach page 16

March 18, 2016 • 8 Adar II 5776

Vol 15, No. 12 • TheJewishStar.com

THE NEWSPAPER OF OUR ORTHODOX COMMUNITIES

Incumbents win C’hurst trustee vote

Swastikas on sidewalks bedevil 5T

Incumbents Ronald Lanzilotta and Myran Zisman won the ďŹ rst contested Cedarhurst trustee election since 1989 on Tuesday, defeating insurgents Daniel Burg and Yoel Goldfeder.

Village voters cast 1,122 ballots for Lanzilotta, 942 for Zisman, 295 for Burg, and

L7DO$P GHOLJKWV DW +$1& 0\UQD =LVPDQ

5RQDOG /DQ]LORWWD

272 for Goldfeder, according to an unofďŹ cial tally Tuesday night.

Burg, 40, and Goldfeder, 43, campaigned for change in a village with little turnover among ofďŹ ce holders. Lanzilotta, 82, has been a trustee since 2001; Zisman, 77, since 2006. Lanzilotta is also deputy mayor. The village has ďŹ ve trustees.

Lanzilotta said he’s looking forward “to continue working with everyone and doing what I have been doing.� “I can’t believe the turnout,� he added. “I love campaigning,� Zisman said. “On to four more years.�

Reporting by Vanessa Parker from Village Hall.

6DUDK .DOWHU VHFRQG JUDGHU DW +$1&ÂśV 6DPXHO (OL]DEHWK %DVV *ROGLQJ (OHPHQWDU\ 6FKRRO XVHV L7D/$0 WKH L3DG &KURPHERRN EDVHG ,YULW SURJUDP WKDW ZRUNV ZLWK WUDGLWLRQDO 7D/ $0 ,YULW FXUULFXODU +$1& LV RQH RI WKH ÂżUVW VFKRROV WR XVH WKH SURJUDP 6WXGHQWV LQ 0RUDK :DVVHUÂśV FODVV DUH SURXG RI WKHLU JURZLQJ YRFDEXODU\ DQG KRZ PDQ\ VHQWHQFHV WKH\ÂśYH EHHQ DEOH WR ZULWH

By Vanessa Parker When Craig Smulevitz arrived at his Oxford Road home in Cedarhurst after a double shift as a paramedic and a Mount Sinai Hospital patient-transfer center employee in the early evening on March 7, he was shocked at what he saw drawn in chalk on the sidewalk in front of his house Initially Smulevitz thought it was an isolated incident. Then a swastika was drawn outside another house up the street later that same night. “That’s bizarre and uncomfortable,� he said. “There is an anxiety because of Israel and what is happening there. My family elsewhere is very nervous.�

The police believe, according to Smulevitz, that teens are responsible for both incidents, and the incident was a crime of opportunity rather than planned bias attacks. Both swastikas were drawn backwards (resembling a Buddhist symbol rather than the infaContinued on page 4

Poll ďŹ nds McG-Kaminsky race neck & neck A Siena College poll released on Tuesday described the race to replace convicted state Senator Dean Skelos as nearly a dead heat.

Likely voters divided well within the poll’s 4.5 percent margin of error, with 47 percent for Kaminsky and 45 percent for McGrath. Both candidates were also tightly matched in their favorable/unfavorable numbers (favorable: Kaminsky 44%, McGrath 43%; unfavorable Ka-

minsky 20%, McGrath 23%).

Five weeks ahead of voting on April 19, the candidates “are engaged in the textbook deďŹ nition of a neck and neck race,â€? said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg.

When voters were asked which candidate would do a better job on each of seven issues, they found little difference. On two issues — ďŹ ghting corruption in state government and on the mini-

mum wage — Kaminsky had a small edge.

The McGrath campaign said the results showed that McGrath, “who is not a politician and was virtually unknown ďŹ ve weeks agoâ€? now “has all the momentum, all the engery and he’s going to win,â€?

The Kaminsky campaign said their candidate was doing well because “South Shore residents want to see change in Albany and locally.�

Schmulka Bernstein, Reserve Cut and the ďŹ ner things in Jewish life T

$ VWHDN DW 0DQKDWWDQÂśV 5HVHUYH &XW Doug Schneider Photography/Reserve Cut

By Juda Engelmayer his week, when I was teaching a class of continuing education students, we touched on some of the people I have encountered throughout my career. My wife and I owned Kossar’s, a well-known bialy bakery on New York City’s Lower East Side for 15 years, and a handful of celebrities used to walk in and buy our product.

Abe Vigoda, who died on Jan. 26, would not buy unless my wife dropped whatever she was doing, including baking the

bialys, and took care of him personally.

When I mentioned this to the students, however, most of them had no idea who I was talking about. He was Vito Corleone’s buddy Sal Tessio and Detective Phil Fish in Captain Barney Miller’s precinct; how could they not know who Abe Vigoda was?

It hit me then, that while I feel young, I grew up in a very different generation and so much of what was routine to me Continued on page 6

SUPER SPECIALS 829744

PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID GARDEN CITY, NY 11530 PERMIT NO 301

This week on pages 8-9

R LENDAntry A C Y IT UN Food pa COMM r e e r Ca nseling CAMP RSHIPS Cou revention SCHOLA icaid p n io t H Evic TAL HEALT Medollment N E M Enr tamps LING COUNSEicare Food s Medment CRISIS ENTION enroll IAL INTERV FINANCSELING COUN

st InteFrreee Loans

LEGAL NCE ASSISTA

stic Dome ce n Violev ention Inter

legislative breakfast

ed 4 i n g i p o ad h s p o one st need in e s o h t r fo

In recognition of our government and community leaders

SUNDAY | MARCH 20TH | 9:30 AM CONGREGATION KNESETH ISRAEL (THE WHITE SHUL) 728 EMPIRE AVENUE | FAR ROCKAWAY, NEW YORK 11691

honoring SENATOR JOSEPH P. ADDABBO NEW YORK STATE SENATOR

State Legislative Leadership Award

COUNCILMEMBER KAREN KOSLOWITZ

QUEENS DELEGATION CHAIR

City Legislative Leadership Award

STAFFPRO

DETECTIVE RANDOLPH HOLDER

ACCEPTED BY

DAVID GREENBAUM

POSTHUMOUSLY ACCEPTED BY HIS FATHER

Hakaras Hatov Award

JEFFREY S. LEB

MANAGING DIRECTOR FOR GOVERNMENT AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS FOR UJA FEDERATION OF NY

Chessed Award

Humanitarian Award

BETTY LEON

ADDABBO BOARD OF DIRECTORS VICE-CHAIR

Public Service Award

825945

March 18, 2016 • 8 Adar II 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

2

To RSVP or place an ad,

visit www.jccrp.org/breakfast or contact Barbara Satt at bsatt@jccrp.org or 718-327-7755 ext. 6113 THE JEWISH

STAR

By Paul Miller, HSC News Service A survey released Monday offers data backing up the argument that anti-Israel activity — by student groups, academics, and advocates of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement — contributes directly to incidents of anti-Semitism on campuses.

More than 300 incidents of anti-Semitism took place in 2015 at 100 public and private campuses examined in the AMCHA Initiative study.

AMCHA Initiative (AMCHA is Hebrew for “our people”) investigates, documents and educates around issues of anti-Semitism on campus.

The study confirmed incidents compiled from media reports and eyewitness accounts. The campuses selected to be surveyed have the largest

Jewish undergraduate populations in the country.

According to the study’s executive summary, three different kinds of activity were analyzed: “anti-Semitic expression,” meaning incidents with language or imagery that used one or more of eight tropes included in the U.S. State Department definition of anti-Semitism; “targeting of Jewish students,” meaning incidents involving behavior that targeted Jewish students for particular harm including physical assault, harassment, destruction of property, discrimination, and suppression of speech; and “BDS activity,” meaning the promotion or endorsement of an anti-Israel boycott, divestment, or sanctions effort.

“No student should ever be targeted for harm because of his or her perceived religious or ethnic identity, and yet, at far too many

schools, Jewish students are routinely threatened because of their identity,” said Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, AMCHA’s director.

Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., was found to have the highest number of antiSemitic incidents in the study, with 16 in 2015. A slew of California schools followed, as University of California (UC), Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UCLA rounded out the five schools with the most anti-Semitic incidents. San Diego State University, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford University, Northeastern University, and the University of Michigan completed the top 10.

Schools such as Vassar College, Oberlin College, and the University of Illinois at Chicago have recently made headlines due to alleged anti-Semitic activity. Vassar and Oberlin have

found the spotlight due to the anti-Semitic behavior of speakers and professors, respectively.

All three schools were in the AMCHA study’s top 18 schools in terms of reported incidents of bigotry toward Jews.

The study also revealed that 81 percent of colleges with one or more BDS advocates among the faculty had at least one incident of anti-Semitic activity, while 17 percent of schools with no faculty boycotters of Israel had incidents of anti-Jewish activity.

AMCHA’s survey concludes that the strongest indicator of campus anti-Semitism stems from campuses with anti-Israel advocacy groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine and faculty members that endorse boycotting the Jewish state.

Distributed by JNS.org

Vassar ‘Jewish Studies’ gives hate a forum ation to combat BDS Some Democrats say that legisl e (D-Nassau County) is Un-American - Chuck Lavin Feb. 28, 2016

ASK THESE NYC DEMOCRATIC SENATORS WHY

THEY VOTED AGAINST ANTI-BDS LEGISLATION. THEY REPRESENT 25% OF THE CONFERENCE.

Velmanette Montgomery

Jose Peralta

Bill Perkins

Gustavo Rivera

James Sanders Jr.

Ruth Hassel Thompson

THE NY STATE SENATE REPUBLICAN MAJORITY STANDS FIRMLY AND UNANIMOUSLY WITH ISRAEL TO FIGHT THE EFFORT TO BOYCOTT ISRAEL.

Tuesday April 19

SUPPORT ISRAEL. VOTE REPUBLICAN.

829976

By Ziva Dahl Eight academic departments recently invited Jasbir Puar to Vassar College to talk about “Inhumanist Biopolitics: How Palestine Matters.”

The Rutgers University associate professor of women’s and gender studies, whose incendiary, unbalanced hate speech masquerades as scholarship, has been busy presenting a version of this lecture at venues ranging from Poughkeepsie to Santa Barbara. Disguised behind a plethora of pseudo-intellectual jargon, she presents bigotry all too reminiscent of 1930s Europe to demonize Jews.

Let me give you a taste of her slanderous distortions and demonizing lies about Israel.

With no documentation or specific evidence, Puar asserted that Israel’s ultimate goals are ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, stealing of Palestinian land, and entrenchment and expansion of suffocating Israeli power. Israel’s “settler occupation” (her term), which she calls the “second Nakba” (“catastrophe” in Arabic), is all about using “asphyxiating” biopolitical control over body and environment to suppress the Palestinian people. To this end, she claims Israel uses scientifically executed “maiming” and “stunting.”

“Maiming” means shooting to intentionally cripple, shattering knees and hitting vital organs to minimize death statistics and ensure that Palestinian workers can be profitable without threatening the occupier.

“Stunting” is used to permanently debilitate and disable the Palestinians. This is achieved through population poisoning with uranium, lead and phosphorus, as well as “calorie starvation” in children. Through Israel’s actions, Puar claimed, it is creating physical, psychological, and cognitive injuries by controlling infrastructure, water, electricity, and land, restricting mobility and limiting telecommunications. Her personal observation is that 95 percent of Palestinians are permanently disabled.

Even congenital disabilities are blamed on the Israelis and, incredibly, Puar held Israel totally responsible for the collapse (via “remote home control”) of essential services in Hamas-controlled Gaza, which she called an “open-air prison.”

Puar’s libelous accusations included Israelis killing Palestinians to harvest their organs, a version of the age-old anti-Semitic “blood libel,” experimentation on Palestinian children, “field assassinations” of 120 Palestinians ages 12 to16 in a four-month span, and the intenContinued on page 10

THE JEWISH STAR March 18, 2016 • 8 Adar II 5776

Campus anti-Zionism incites anti-Semitism

3

‡ %(67 )/,*+7 ,16758&7256 ‡ 2%7$,1 3,/27 /,&(16( :,7+ +,*+(67 /(9(/ 2) )/,*+7 75$,1,1*

#OMMERCIAL 2ESIDENTIAL s ,ICENSED )NSURED

SURPRISE YOUR KIDS!!

855-I-KNOW-A-GUY

%,57+'$< 25 %$5 0,7=9$+ )/,*+7 352326$/ )/,*+7

www.iknowaguyinc.com

#ENTRAL !VE #EDARHURST ,IC ( s .9# 4RACK '#

777 "%34 0),/4 #/- \ s

828300

Â&#x2021; &$5((56 ,1 $9,$7,21

826644

Swastikasâ&#x20AC;Ś ONE OF THE SOUTH SHOREâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MOST EXPERIENCED DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGY TEAMS

IS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

From left to right: Elliott Eisenberger, MD Neuroradiology Ari Steiner, MD Abdominal Imaging and PET-CT Stephen Henesch, DO Pediatric Radiology (one of the only board-certiďŹ ed pediatric radiologists on Nassau Countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s South Shore)

TRUST THE TEAM OF BOARD-CERTIFIED, SUBSPECIALTY TRAINED RADIOLOGISTS AT RADIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATES OF LONG ISLAND (RALI) to provide you with the highest quality readings, diagnoses and support you expect from your caregivers and hospital â&#x20AC;Ś but in the convenience of a private physician ofďŹ ce setting thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s close by.

The radiologist you choose does make a difference. Choose the trusted, experienced imaging physicians of RALI when your physician orders an imaging study.

RALI is an afďŹ liate of South Nassau Communities Hospital.

Matthew Rifkin, MD, FACR Ultrasound and Abdominal Imaging Stacey A. Funt, MD Oncologic and Abdominal Imaging

Vinh Phan MD Musculoskeletal Imaging Rachel L. Piechowiak, MS, DO Interventional Radiology

Andrew J. Hwang, MD Musculoskeletal Imaging

Douglas W. Silfen, MD Nuclear Medicine, Interventional Radiology and Abdominal Imaging

Stephen W. Lastig, MD General Radiology and Abdominal Imaging

Sydney S. Yoon, MD Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology

David Pfeffer, MD Abdominal Radiology 828712

March 18, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 8 Adar II 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

4

185 Merrick Road, Oceanside, NY 11572 To schedule an appointment, call 516-766-6550.

Continued from page 1 mous Nazi symbol).

The ďŹ rst thing Smulevitz did, he said, was report it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There was a big response,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;About six police cars came, along with the Shomrim (the Rockaway Nassau Safety Patrol). They all canvassed the area and asked everyone if they saw anything. I was really surprised when it happened again hours later up the street.â&#x20AC;?

NCPD Det. Michael Bitsko from the Public Information OfďŹ ce urges everyone to report any information they have associated with this incident. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There has been no arrests as of yet with this case,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have Fourth Squad detectives still actively investigating this crime along with our Bias Crime coordinator.â&#x20AC;?

Sholem Klein of the Rockaway Nassau Safety Patrol (RNSP), a Far Rockaway-based security patrol organization, is also working with Nassau County police from the 4th Precinct to investigate the incident. â&#x20AC;&#x153;While the police continue to investigate these matters, RNSP will beef up patrols in and around the area,â&#x20AC;? Klein said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We urge neighbors to review any surveillance footage that they may have and notify us or local law enforcement so that those responsible for this disgusting crime can be held accountable.â&#x20AC;?

In the past few years, there have been several incidents where swastikas were found at the Long Island Rail Road Station in Cedarhurst. Cameras were installed in an effort to deter that from recurring.

Home security camera footage was reviewed to help ďŹ nd the culprits, Smulevitz said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;[Police] have a physical description, but no faces,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Maybe other cameras in the neighborhood captured more. The home security cameras captured things but so far there hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been any real update.â&#x20AC;?

The reason Tzirel Smulevitz, Craigâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife, thinks teens are involved in the crime, is because of their homeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s location. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kids come right down this block, loud and in the streets,â&#x20AC;? Tzirel said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Great community policing needs to be done here. Teens come driving through here, speeding. They come and go. We also have a [busy] bus stop at the corner nearby, where a large number of kids get dropped off and picked up at this stop.â&#x20AC;?

Smulevitz said that the incident was frustrating and hard to understand, since there is otherwise harmony in his community. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You intended to do more than a prank,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t walking home from school. You werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t gooďŹ ng off. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re hard working people. In this neighborhood, everyone gets along, Jews and non-Jews.â&#x20AC;?

To report anything related to this or other crimes, call Crime Stoppers at 800-244-8477.

Vanessa Parker is a reporter for the Nassau Herald.

hears. What most people often pass off as the events of the moment, leaders perceive as challenge of the day. hen my children were little as we visited Washington, the place we found most meaningful was the Lincoln Memorial, particularly the words of his Gettysburg address reproduced on the memorialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wall. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. â&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;?

Had Abraham Lincoln not been president, there might never have been a civil war, and America, and with it the western world, might still be wallowing in the miseries of slavery. How different such a world would be! One man, in the right place, at the right time, heard a calling, and understood what needed to be done.

Indeed, the ďŹ rst time the phrase Vayikra appears in the Torah as a calling (as opposed to naming something such as when G-d calls the light â&#x20AC;&#x153;dayâ&#x20AC;? (Bereishit 1:5 ) is when G-d calls to Adam (Bereishit 3:9) and says â&#x20AC;&#x153;ayekah?â&#x20AC;? (â&#x20AC;&#x153;where are you?â&#x20AC;?). Obviously G-d is not trying to ďŹ nd Adam; rather G-d is asking Adam, who had just eaten from the Tree, where he has allowed himself to go; yesterday Adam was so close to G-d, and now he is do distant he has to hide in the garden.

The paradigm of being called, and hearing that calling, is knowing where I am.

Reading this vignette of the boy looking longingly through a window at a pair of shoes, I wonder how many people passed by without even noticing that boyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bare feet, much less feeling his struggle. But one woman was not seeing a boy with bare feet, she was hearing a calling to do something about it.

This is perhaps our greatest challenge: to determine our calling â&#x20AC;&#x201D; each of us as individuals, and all of us as a collective. Do we hear that small voice, and will we rise to the challenge to do what it calls us to do? That is the challenge of the book of Vayikra.

Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem.

Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

RABBI BINNY FREEDMAN

W

THE HEART OF JERUSALEM

A

T

$Q HQGXULQJ V\PERO RI IUHHGRP WKH /LQFROQ 0HPRULDO DWWUDFWV YLVL WRUV ZLWK LQVSLUDWLRQ DQG KRSH National Park Service Digital Image Archives

a smaller letter, suggesting a difference between experiencing something as a coincidence and as a calling.

Rashi also notes (1:1) that when Hashem called Moshe, only Moshe could hear Hashemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voice and other people were unaware of G-dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s calling. Why does this unique calling of Moshe (as opposed to the more frequent description of G-d speaking to Moshe) occur here at the beginning of Vayikra?

Vayikra is also known as Torat Kohanim, the book of the kohanim because much of it involves the laws and obligations particular to the priestly service in the Temple. Considering that the Jewish people are called a Mamlechet Kohanim (a priestly nation), we can view the underlying message of Vayikra as an allegory of our responsibility to the world. Just as the kohanim are meant to serve, teach and model for the Jewish people, we as a Jewish people are meant to serve, teach and model for the world, to lead as a light unto the nations.

Leaders respond to a calling that, most often, no one else

Make the smart choice today.

Save energy year-round.

SOLERAÂŽ SOFT SHADES

Keep your home warmer in winter and cooler in summer with insulating Hunter Douglas window fashions. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re the smart and beautiful way to help lower your energy bills. Ask for details.

JANUARY 30â&#x20AC;&#x201D;APRIL 11, 2016

*

100 REBATE

$

ON EITHER OF THE FOLLOWING PURCHASES:

4 DuetteÂŽ Honeycomb Shades (PLUS $25 REBATE EACH ADDITIONAL UNIT)

4 SoleraÂŽ Soft Shades

(PLUS $25 REBATE EACH ADDITIONAL UNIT)

Lenny Koegel s 516-594-6010 DistinctiveWindowFashions.com Serving 5 Towns & surrounding areas since 1988

828906

I recently received this story via email: lady passing a young boy on the street noticed he was entranced by a pair of shoes in a store window. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My, but youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in such deep thought staring in that window!â&#x20AC;&#x2122; she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was asking G-d to give me a pair of shoes,â&#x20AC;? was the boyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reply.

The lady took him by the hand, went into the store, and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy.

She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. When he brought them to her, she took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet and dried them with the towel.

By this time, the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes.

She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. Patting him on the head she said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;No doubt, you will be more comfortable now.â&#x20AC;?

As she turned to go, the astonished kid caught her by the hand and, looking up with tears in his eyes, asked her: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Are you G-dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife?â&#x20AC;? his week we begin the book of Vayikra (Leviticus), whose name, which means â&#x20AC;&#x153;And He [G-d] called,â&#x20AC;? is taken from the ďŹ rst word of the ďŹ rst verse in the book: â&#x20AC;&#x153;And He called to Moshe, and G-d spoke to him from the Tent of Meetingâ&#x20AC;? (1:1).

Rashi points out that this is an unusual turn of phrase; normally G-d speaks to Moshe, whereas here G-d calls him. Indeed Rashi notes that when Balaam (the Gentile Prophet viewed by Jewish tradition as being a wicked personality) speaks with G-d, the word used is â&#x20AC;&#x153;vayaker,â&#x20AC;? meaning â&#x20AC;&#x153;G-d happened upon him.â&#x20AC;? The difference in these two Hebrew words is simply the letter Aleph. In a traditional Torah scroll, the Aleph appears as

*Manufacturerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mail-in rebate offer valid for qualifying purchases made 1/30/16 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 4/11/16 from participating dealers in the U.S. only. A qualifying purchase is deďŹ ned as a purchase of any of the product models set forth above in the quantities set forth above. If you purchase less than the speciďŹ ed quantity, you will not be entitled to a rebate. Rebate will be issued in the form of a prepaid reward card and mailed within 6 weeks of rebate claim receipt. Funds do not expire. Subject to applicable law, a $2.00 monthly fee will be assessed against card balance 7 months after card issuance and each month thereafter. Additional limitations may apply. Ask participating dealer for details and rebate form. Š 2016 Hunter Douglas. All rights reserved. All trademarks used herein are the property of Hunter Douglas.

THE JEWISH STAR March 18, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 8 Adar II 5776

Vayikra: Hearing, and answering, our calling

5

March 18, 2016 • 8 Adar II 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

6

TheJewishStar.com

THE JEWISH STAR The newspaper of our Orthodox communities

ESTABLISHED 2002 Proudly produced and printed on Long Island by The Jewish Star LLC 2 Endo Blvd, Garden City NY 11530 516-622-7461 Publisher & Editor: Ed Weintrob EWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com 516-622-7461 x291 • cell 718-908-5555 Advertising Director: Celia Weintrob CWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com 516-622-7461 x241 • cell 917-723-4500 Contributing writers: Rabbi Avi Billet, Jeff Dunetz, Rabbi Binny Freedman, Alan Gerber, Judy Joszef Editorial Designer: Stacey Simmons.

Photo Editor: Christina Daly.

Send us your news: General news, Newsroom@TheJewishStar.com.

Calendar@TheJewishStar.com by noon Friday.

Schools@TheJewishStar.com by noon Monday.

Health@TheJewishStar.com Comments to Letters@TheJewishStar.com.

Send photos as high resolution JPEGs. Content: The Publisher endeavors to insure that editorial content is within the bounds of normative halachah and hashkafah. A reader who feels anything we publish may be inappropriate in this regard is urged to bring the item in question to the attention of the Publisher.

Advertising is accepted at the sole discretion of the Publisher. The Publisher expects all advertising to conform to standards of content appropriate for distribution in an Orthodox community.

Kashrut: The Jewish Star is not responsible for the kashrut of any product or establishment featured in its pages. If you have questions regarding any establishment or product, including its supervision, please consult your rabbi for guidance.

Israel’s survival, on wing and prayer TEHILLA R. GOLDBERG

VIEW FROM CENTRAL PARK

W

e all know, at the very least, the bare bones story of Israel’s 1948 Independence War: the UN partition plan that the Arab nations rejected, the ensuing war in response to said rejection, the Haganah’s role, and so on.

I never thought about the technical aspect of how Israel was able to win this war, how the Haganah fought with primitive rifles against the Arabs’ sophisticated aircraft. No country supported Israel; the new state was literally alone in this fight, many of its fighters recovering WW II refugees. How Israel won remains a miraculous story.

In the truly stirring documentary film, “Above and Beyond,” you feel the miracle of it all in your bones.

A handful of US WW II veterans — young twenty-somethings who, after the devastating horror of the Holocaust, felt the call of history, and in rag tag fashion clandestinely flew a couple of planes to then-Palestine to help the new Jewish State fight off the oncoming Arab onslaught.

One of the pilots says something to the effect: “We arrived there with just these two low-level junk planes, but they were the strongest pieces of equipment in the whole land.” They were German, Nazi aircraft, an irony not lost on anyone.

This is a story of young American pilots with everything to lose — from their American citizenships, to jail time, to ultimately their very lives — who were fueled not only by their youthful male adrenaline and sense of adventure, but most especially, by the sense of historical clarity and purpose they carried

Distribution: The Jewish Star is available free in kosher food establishments, stores, synagogues, and curb-side news boxes on Long Island, in New York City and elsewhere. To request free delivery to your location, write EWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com, with the word Distribution in the subject line.

Subscriptions: To receive The Jewish Star by standard mail in the continental United States, send $36 for one year, prepaid. Faster First Class subscriptions in the continental United States are $150 for one year, prepaid.

Employment opportunities: Visit TheJewishStar.com to view job and internship opportunities. Click “Star Jobs” at top right of the homepage.

Member American Jewish Press Association and New York Press Association.

This newspaper contains words of Torah; please dispose of properly.

Copyright 2016 The Jewish Star LLC.

for their beaten down yet resilient people.

Tragically, some of the pilots did in fact pay the ultimate sacrifice, killed on their first flying mission, protecting Israel from seemingly certain destruction.

I never quite realized the proximity and sophistication of the threat bearing down on Israel. The Arabs, backed by their fullfledged military, were six miles from Tel Aviv.

It was a matter of: win this war, or within three years of the end of WW II, further mass destruction of Jewry.

After the movie showing there was a panel discussion comprised of two former Machal (a Hebrew acronym for Volunteers from Abroad), New Yorkers Paul Kay (Kaminetsky) and Sy Spiegelman, men in their 80s who were in Israel in 1947–48. These were ordinary people who did the extraordinary, people who add up to a generation that is slipping away. Joining them on the panel was a current lone soldier from America, Sgt. Sydney (Syd) Ryan, carrying on their tra-

dition of Machal, of volunteering for Israel from abroad. itting there on the stage were elderly men, but when they began recounting their youthful stories of Machal in 1947, you sensed the young pioneering boys who were still alive within them.

How did they come to join Machal in 1947?

For decades Paul, who was an electrical engineer in the US Navy, never knew who it was who called him. One day as he was working in a record shop in the Bronx, he gets a call from someone named Swifty basically telling him to meet him on a street corner. He is told if he wants to join the fight in helping Jews in Palestine, he should go to Lexington Avenue and 39th Street. If he sees a man in a leather jacket holding a newspaper, he should follow him into the building at the corner to the secret Palestinian Student Lounge — but if the man throws the paper into the wastebasket, he is probably being followed.

Continued on page 10

S

Some finer things in Jewish life…

JUDA ENGELMAYER

Opinions: Views expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the position of the Publisher.

Submissions: All submissions become the property of The Jewish Star and may be edited and used by the Publisher, its licensees and affiliates, in print, on the web and/or in any media that now exists or will exist in the future in any form, including derivative works, throughout the world in perpetuity, without additional authorization or compensation. The individual or entity submitting material affirms that it holds the copyright or otherwise has the right to authorize its use in accordance with The Jewish Star’s terms for submissions.

+HUR SLORWV DQG WKHLU SODQH )URP ³$ERYH DQG %H\RQG ´

Continued from page 1 has changed. A young lady in my class commented on how the Jewish deli is coming back — new bagel-and-lox shops were opening, and pastrami was becoming hip.

Last week I attended the very crowded but lively Kosher Wine and Food Experience at Pier 60 in Manhattan. Hundreds of new and terrific kosher wines were on display and available for tasting. When Abe Vigoda was in the height of his career, his Shabbat table likely had a jug of Kedem Malaga wine or that syrupy Concorde Grape. There were no real choices in kosher wines then.

For food, delis were all we could hope for if you kept kosher and did not want the fast food at Kosher Country in Coney Island.

There were the few higher-end Chinese food places like Moshe PeKing and the first Asian/ Jewish fusion restaurant, Schmulka Bernstein’s on Essex Street. Those were for special occasions, though; my engagement party 27 years ago, for example, was at Bernstein’s.

When summertime came, we would drive to bungalow colonies in the Catskill Mountains and live in sheds that resembled camp bunks, with smells of mildew and freshly mowed grass offsetting one another. If the students did not know Abe Vigoda, they certainly would not appreciate the Catskill sum-

mers, unless they knew Pearl and Marty Kantrowitz (Diane Lane and Liev Schreiber), and the fanciful historical fiction portrayed in the 1999 film, “A Walk on the Moon.”

Jewish life is different today. Different in that it is better and more varied in many ways. We have choices now, and the ability to do what many of our parents could not even hope to experience. Those summers in Monticello have been supplanted by more lavish trips, across the country or even overseas.

As a kid, we traveled by car. Planes were too expensive and gas was relatively cheap. I remember driving with my mother and siblings as far as Iowa in the summer of 1978. My wife’s parents drove to Alaska.

My kids had the luxury of being on airplanes almost from the moment they stopped screaming in their car seats. Sure, it was commercial, and in coach, but it was better than a long car ride. Later, I had a client with a private jet, and flying private was a real treat.

It had always been way too expensive, and I cherished every time I was on that eightseater. But who knows? Perhaps my grandchildren will see private flights become the commercial planes of the future.

Today, thanks to new smartphone apps and ingenious thinking, younger generations will fly private more than I ever did. A new company called JetSmarter has found a way to maximize the downtime and empty legs of private planes. Think Uber for planes.

As I grew up, the summer vacationland of the Catskills became Passover resorts too, and those who could afford it—and wanted to be away for Passover—would drive to hotels like

Grossinger’s, The Homowack, The Brown’s in Ellenville, Kutsher’s, and The Raleigh.

Many no longer exist, and if they did, they would be passé. They have been replaced by destinations like Aruba, Miami, Puerto Rico, and the spa reports in Arizona. Back in the day, people flew commercial to get there, but this year JetSmarter is offering a Passover getaway deal where you use their private flights to get to your Passover destination.

Things have changed. chmulka Bernstein’s is no more, but highend kosher steakhouses like Reserve Cut at the fancy Setai hotel on Wall Street have taken over. Unlike the airplanes, fancy kosher restaurants have been around for close to 30 years now, but Reserve Cut has upped the ante to the level of the likes of Le Bernardin. Its fusion idea is not old-style kosher Chinese, but Wagyu Beef Tataki. It has a worldclass wine cellar with thousands of kosher wines, and probably no Malaga or Concorde Grape. I love a pastrami sandwich, but I won’t say no to fine kosher French cuisine either.

From Abe Vigoda’s passing, and the memories of our bialy bakery, the tour through the past 46 years of my life so far has been warm, but bittersweet. What we had was good and fun. Some of my best memories were rooted in that rugged life, where we appreciated when we could get some of the finer things. Jewish life has come far, where the finer things are only getting better. I hope that my children’s memories can be as vivid as mine, without the rougher edges.

Juda Engelmayer is a senior executive at 5W Public Relations.

S

7

1315 Peninsula Blvd., Hewlett Sonni Johnson 125 Cedarhurst Ave., Cedarhurst Benjamin Messinger 260 West Sunrise Hwy., Valley Stream Mostaq Haider 3544 Long Beach Rd., Oceanside Maria Perciballi 330 Sunrise Hwy., Rockville Centre Maria Perciballi 2160 Sunrise Hwy., Merrick Monika Koronkiewicz

516-374-2500 516-569-8610 516-791-1401 516-766-1170 516-766-1272 516-690-8246 823518

join in. Founded by Jerusalem charity SHALVA, the 800 meter Community race gives everyone the chance to take part. With wheelchairs and walkers, the children of SHALVA join runners from around the city and the world to prove that they too can be champions.

SHALVA offers high-quality care for children with disabilities, empowering them and supporting their families. As well as helping to organize the Community Race, SHALVA also fields a sponsored team that runs to raise money for the charity. Much of the money raised by Team SHALVA 2016 will go towards the new SHALVA building due to open in September.

This year over 2,000 runners from outside Israel will fly in to participate. The 200-member SHALVA team will be the largest group of international runners. Among them will be Lisa Flanzraich, who explained, “Last year did the marathon in memory of my son Evan. I had signed up to do the 5k run but after seeing a young boy with a walker work so hard to finish the 800m Community Race, I knew I had to up my game and finish the 10kn run!” Joining Flanzraich and her fellow international runners in Team SHALVA will be over 600 other runners in the competitive and community races.

It’s hard to imagine that the sight of disabled kids putting their whole heart into their race won’t inspire even the most exhausted runner to find a little energy. With a week to go there’s still time to jump on a plane and join Team SHALVA or any of the other dedicated runners in the Jerusalem Marathon.

For more information about Team SHALVA see www.run4shalva.org.

829145

By Rachel Gross On Friday, the streets will be filled with thousands of pounding feet competing in the Jerusalem Marathon. With six tracks available, this is a race for everyone.

At 7 am, the runners for the 42.2km full marathon will set out from the Knesset following a course that will traverse the city from Mt. Scopus to the old train station and back to cross the finish line at Sachar Park.

Last year’s winner, Tadesse Yaee Dahbi from Ethiopia, completed the course in 2 hours, 18 minutes and 20 seconds.

With the compact nature of Jerusalem, even the shorter tracks allow runners to pass icon areas and constantly changing scenery.

The half marathon track passes the ancient Old City on its way to the modern East Talpiot before returning to the finish line at Park Sachar. For runners who want to compete but are not yet ready to face the full or half marathons, there are 10km and 5km options.

The 5km run has two groups, competitive and community, giving runners the chance to race with only themselves as competition.

“The Jerusalem Marathon is not just for champion runners. It’s not just for amateurs,” said Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. “It’s also for children with disabilities and the organizations that unite them and us.” The 1.7km family run starts at 10:30 am and gives young and old a chance to take part.

Children with disabilities might not seem like the obvious group to be taking part in a marathon, but the Jerusalem Marathon is designed to give every ability level a chance to

THE JEWISH STAR March 18, 2016 • 8 Adar II 5776

Marathon in Jerusalem is truly for everyone

Sale Dates: March 20th - 26th 2016

Weekly Hellmann’s Mayonnaise

Ronzoni Curly or Oven- Osem Mini Mandel 14 oz Ready Lasagna 8 oz/16 oz $ 49 $ 69

Quaker Chewy Granola Bars

.................................................

.................................................

.................................................

.................................................

Kedem Sparkling Grape Juice

Maxwell House or Sanka Instant Coffee

Snapple Iced Teas

Nature’s Own Apple Juice

8 oz/16 oz

$

64 oz

.................................................

.................................................

Gold Medal Flour Regular or Unbleached 5 lb

Assorted - 30 oz $ 99

2

2

$

......................................................

Wesson Oil Canola, Corn, Vegetable - 48 oz

349

$

99

All Varieties - 25 oz

......................................................

Ronzoni Pasta Spaghetti, Elbows, Ziti, Ziti Rigati,Penne Rigati, Rotini, Rigatoni - 16 oz

99¢

Hunt’s Tomatoes Whole, Diced, Crushed, Sauce, Puree - 28 oz/29 oz

5

5/$

2

$

99

................................................. ......... ... ..........

Princella Cut Yams

2 Count - 8 Count

40 oz

299

$

Paskesz Sour Sticks

Assorted

1.75 oz

1

5

2/$

2/$

......................................................

7-Up, Mug, Crush, A&W Polaner Apricot Canada Dry, Preserves Sunkist, 32 oz 2 Liter

349

$

4

3/$

......................................................

Kedem Mini Grape Alprose Chocolate Bars Juice Assorted 6.3 oz 3 oz

89¢

10

5/$

Ha’olam String Cheese 18 Pack

8

$

99

......................................................

699

5

Ziploc Containers

299

$

12 Pack - 12 oz

99

.................................................

4

2/$

Gourmet Glatt Honey Glazed Pecans

Glick’s Pie Shells 6 oz

239

$

6 oz

3

2/$

399

$

Get Ready for Purim!

Purim Super Sales!

Pez Candy

1

$

All Flavors 6.7 - 8.4 oz

2

Jolly Rancher Awesome Twosome 6.5 oz

Gefen Premium Dutch Cocoa 16 oz

Jolly Rancher Bites

Klik La Hit Bars ars

Watermelon & Green Apple 10 oz

Chocolate or Caramel mel el 1.2 oz

$ 79

$

$

79¢

.................................................

.................................................

.................................................

.................................................

1

Paskesz Lollipops or Gum Pops Assorted - 12 oz

299

Happiness Handmade Lollipops p 5/$

1

1

$ 99 .................................................

Florida’s Natural Nuggets Assorted 8 Count - .6 oz

.................................................

Shefa Fruit Sticks 10 Count - .5 oz

329

$

299

Klik Bags Assorted - 2.64 oz

All Varieties 59 oz

3/$

All Varieties - 10 oz

7

.................................................

.................................................

Shneider’s Delinut Dip 1.9 oz

6

5/$

Shneider’s Candy Planet Collection Assorted 10 Pack

549

$

Califia Almond Milk

Breakstone Sour Cream

Assorted 48 oz

Assorted 16 oz

2

$

5

2/$

Polly-O Ricotta Cheese

349

$

3

429

Sabra Hummus

21 Count

2/$

$

Tree Ripe Orange Juice

Mike & Ike Snack Pack

99

3

2/$

Regular or Light - 32 oz

.......................................

.......................................

.......................................

.......................................

Turkey Hill Iced Tea

. . .3 ...................................................

All Flavors 64 oz

Philadelphia Cream Cheese

Ha’olam Sliced Muenster or Mozzarella

La Yogurt

$

99

Mehadrin Leben

3

2/$

All Flavors - 6 oz

8 oz Cups

5

2/$

5

2/$

Of Tov Chicken Nuggets

Oronoque Pie Shells

32 oz $ 99

$

2 Pack

299

Van’s Waffles Assorted 7.5 oz - 9 oz

5

1

3

40 Count $ 99

10

Royal Gefilte Fish

24 oz

$

20 oz

499

Gefen Wonton Wraps Round or Square 12 oz 2/$

3

Kosherific Fish Sticks 25 oz

$

.......................................

.......................................

.......................................

.......................................

Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry Sheets

Ta’amti Bourekas

Yitzy’s Pancake Batter

Spring Valley Beef Kreplach

4

99

Gefen Eggroll Wraps

16 oz 48 oz $ 99 $ 49 .........................................................

Spring Valley H’ors D’oeuvres

B’gan Long Stem Broccoli Florets

2/$

.........................................................

Breyer’s Ice Cream

1

2/$

Except Reduced Fat - 6 oz

99¢

9

All flavors - 6 oz

17.3 oz

3

$

99 9

Assorted 24 oz/28 oz

3

$

99

Original Only 32 oz

599

$

599

$

8 oz

399

$

Call us: (516) 569-2662 A Fax: (516) 569-8376 A 123 Spruce Street, Cedarhurst, NY 11516

825653

March 18, 2016 • 8 Adar II 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

8

9 THE JEWISH STAR March 18, 2016 • 8 Adar II 5776

Sale Dates: March 20th - 26th 2016

Specials Neck & Skirt Minute Breast $ 99 8 lb. $ 49 Steaks $1299 lb. Beef of Veal 5 lb.

Patties Family Pack ...................

GROUND BEEF

479 lb.

$

...................

12 Pack

...................

Frozen $ 99 Shoulder Corned Duck 5 lb.

London $899 lb. Beef Missing Wing $ 99 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

8 lb.

Broil Variety ...................

Cuts Boneless ...................

Veal Chicken $ 99 Whole or Spare 8 lb. Cut-Up $ 29 Roast READY TO Bake!

Ribs 2 lb. Stuffed $899 ea. ...................

Pullets with ...................

Ground $ 99 Seasoned Chicken 4 lb. 1st Cut $ Brisket 1099 lb. Veal Family Pack

Super Family Pack ack k

CHICKEN CUTLETS

369 lb.

$

Untrimmed Super Family Pack

Kellogg’s Rice Krispies or Cocoa Krispies 9 oz/11 oz

2

$ 49 ......................................................

Bounty Paper Towels Original or Select-a-Size 12 Pack

99 14 ...................................................... $

General Mills’ 10.7 oz Trix, 8.9 oz Cheerios or 11 oz Cookie Crisp

6

2/$ English Cucumbers

2/$5

4/$4

Golden Delicious Apples

99¢ lb.

Farmland Skim Plus Milk Regular or Lactose-Free - 64 oz

59¢ lb.

Snow 2/$4 White Cauliflower

..........................

..........................

Bosc Pears

Romaine Lettuce

99¢ lb.

......................................................

Idaho Potatoes

Cello Onions

2/$3

3 lb Bag ..........................

Cello 89¢ ea. Lettuce

2

$ 99 ......................................................

Red Potatoes

69¢ lb.

Original or Reduced Fat - 36 oz

..........................

Fresh 89¢ ea. Kirbies

89¢ lb.

Head

Head

..........................

..........................

..........................

..........................

Sunkist Oranges

Crispy Broccoli

Macintosh Apples

Butternut Squash

4/$1

2/$4

89¢ lb.

purLP PLshloaFh PaQos speFLals!

Pre-Packaged - 1 Dozen Per Package

QoZ hot aŹ day!

8 7 Potato or Assorted $ Mini Turnovers - Assorted 7 $ All Mediterranean Beef 7 Specialties 6 Pack $ 49 Small Potato Kugel 4 ea.

Franks in Blankets

$

Mini Knishes

$

Whole Trout $ 99 lb.

Fresh 18” Pizza

order your shabbos platters early!

Sweet Potato Roll $

Pepper Tuna Roll

............................

............................

Tuna Salad Roll

Sushi Sandwich Roll 95 $

450

13

$

99

Aliza Beer Nutritional Meals 24 VARIETIES!

495

............................

............................

Spicy Salmon Avocado $ Roll

Orange Dragon Roll 95 $

9

Veal Sliders with 2 Side Dishes $

aŹ our FabbaJe Ls JrŸQhouse JroZQ!

8

Falafel Dip

Pre-Packaged

Tarter Dip Assorted Pies

Apple Charlotte ¢ ea.

99

Flat Onion Assorted - Package of 4 Board Mezonos Bagels

749ea.

$

1

$ 99 ea.

Matbucha

1

$ 49 ea.

Pre-Packaged Pre-Packaged

Three Bean Salad Quinoa Soup

Colorful Bouquets Blooming Tulips Bunch

999& Up $ 1499 $

order@gourmetglatt.com

Bunch

Sunflowers Bunch

16 $ 1999

$

Hyacinths

11

99 ea.

Whole Bronzini $ 99 lb.

7

595

$

10

$

550

SPECIAL OF THE WEEK:

Nile Perch $ 99 lb.

6

PoQday oQly!

99 ea.

99 ea.

99 ea.

99 ea.

699

$

69¢ lb.

Deli & Takeout

/

Broadway J2 Pizza

99

/gourmetglatt

Brown Rice

Pre-Packaged

Pre-Packaged

At the Counter

Marinara Pasta

At the Counter

299ea. $ 49 2 ea. $ 99 2 ea. $ 99 4 ea. $ 49 6 ea. $ 99 5 lb. $ 49 5 ea. $

We reserve the right to limit quantities. No rain checks. Not responsible for typographical errors.

825657

Sweet Cantaloupe

Vassar…

Continued from page 3 tional bombing of Palestinian hospitals and nursing homes. She labeled Israel an “apartheid state” that uses its world-renowned reproductive technology to control population demographics by collecting genetic data to identify who is Jewish, and specifically targeting Palestinian procreative organs. Paradoxically, she bragged that the Palestinian birthrate is triple that of the Jewish Israelis.

Puar concluded that Israel is imposing a collective punishment on the helpless Palestinians through psychic, bodily, and mobility impairments, all elements of biopolitics. She described the end goal as not just ethnic cleansing, but also the “cannibalism of a culture.”

When asked whether Israelis were creating a slow-motion genocide, she agreed that Palestinians are dying a slow death, but insisted that

the term “genocide” remains “tethered to the Holocaust” and its use is not allowed since Jews have thoroughly hijacked discourse regarding trauma and victimhood.

She supported Vassar’s BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) student government resolution and, after students stopped applauding, she advocated organized armed resistance against Israel.

This lecture was hate speech, pure and simple, demonizing the Jewish nation in the manner of Goebbels and Hitler, perpetuating the anti-Semitic “blood libel,” and blaming Israel for all the evil in the world. Shades of Der Sturmer or Mein Kampf.

About 100 students sat in rapt attention, many nodding approvingly and, by their questions, indicated agreement with her message.

Far worse was the utter silence of the half dozen Vassar faculty members present. Not one stood up to challenge the baseless lies and unadulterated exaggerations within Puar’s hour-long diatribe. Not one.

Behind me sat Peter Antelyes, director of Jewish Studies, and Joshua Schreier, the former head. When I asked Schreier whether he believed Puar’s outlandish accusations, he responded, “You prove to me that anything she said wasn’t true.” I was stunned.

How could Vassar’s American Studies, Africana Studies, International Studies, and Women’s Studies programs, as well as the English, Political Science, and Religion departments, sponsor such a lecture—especially since Puar already spoke at Vassar in 2012? And how could they do so without also offering an opposing view? These academics’ sponsorship was an endorsement of hate speech against Jews, setting an example for students to follow.

But “the most unkindest cut of all” is the sponsorship by Vassar’s Jewish Studies program. Surely one would think that Jewish Studies faculty, familiar with the 2,000-year history of persecution of Jews, would recognize blatant anti-Semitism. Is it too much to expect them to have the moral integrity and principles to re-

Tickets going fast!

Get yours before it’s too late...

EVE NT IV

ormance by rf e P le b a tt e rg fo n U

The MACCABEATS

Featuring Avi Kilimnick

by Powerful Message

CHARLIE HARARY

0 PM DOORS OPEN 6:3 0 PM EVENT BEGINS 7:3

05-265-4014 2 | 2 3 1 9 5 8 2 8 1 7 .CHAZAQ.org | WWW

n on Preemissees: Conncceession Statio

AM RABBI DR. ABRAH KI J. TWERS

6 1 0 2 , 3 l i r p A , t Sunday Nigh

ketttss:: f and Tiicckke nfo Inf FFor In

Info@Chazaq.org

n by Words of Inspiratio

nkkss....

Sushi, SSnacks, Dri

Free Parking on Premises

Continued from page 6 Paul met the mysterious man, and by the next morning he was on a ship from Baltimore to Palestine. He left a note for his married sister that he was okay but had gone. That’s it.

It turns out Paul had a relative who had emigrated from Europe to then-Palestine. This relative felt Paul was bumming around, needing something more rigorous to do than work at a record shop, and so he arranged for the mysterious call to be made.

Sy Spiegleman was part of the Bnei Akiva youth movement, which is how he came to join the effort. Still sharp, Sy, telling story after story from Tanach, reflecting his deep knowledge, links them to modern day places. He speaks of a community he fought to secure in 1948, referring to it by its name at the time. We are all mesmerized, picturing a little kibbutz or something, when he ends with “today it is called Ashdod.”

Sydney, a young American living in Kibbutz Lavi, is sitting alongside these pioneering American volunteers, a living embodiment of their work being carried forward. She described how her gap year in Israel gave her a “first taste of these incredible heroes” and she “began to understand [how] this country stands on the shoulders of these kids who were my age.”

“I was busy with fun, college-oriented escapades … but I kept telling my friends how inspired I was by them … how I wanted to be a part of that,” she said. “As months went on, I became that girl. … This is our people, our land, our country. … It was a leap of faith for me, getting out of my comfort zone, breaking the barrier of my little world, opening my eyes.

“I tell my mom, ‘don’t worry … I feel I am part of something so big … something so beautiful’.” he film “Above and Beyond” was chilling, revealing and inspiring. To see the birth of what is today known as the IAF, the stellar Israeli Air Force, from the stealthy risky decisions of a few young WW II pilots who were led by two idealistic dreamers, an American named Al Schwimmer and an Israeli, Modi Alon, is nothing short of amazing.

Transitioning from the film to meeting in-person the aging volunteers and the young IDF sergeant who is today carrying on their work, was to experience the fragile sense of Israel’s survival as hanging on a wing and a prayer. There was a sense of history, continuity and purpose in the room.

Even more strongly, you sensed that famous French saying, “The more things change the more they are the same.”

All these decades later — with all the astonishing strength and accomplishments of Israel, but also with the tragic daily murderous knifings — the Jewish spirit endures and it seems we are still existing on a wing and a prayer.

Copyright 2016 Intermountain Jewish News

T

Queens CColllege e th at m u iu or it The Colden Aud ushing, NY 11367 Fl , ue n ve v A s ve 153-49 Ree 829597

$ 6, $50, VIP Tickets: $18,, $3

fuse to sponsor this rank anti-Semitism and to debunk the demonizing lies? Have their brains been hopelessly addled by their ideological obsession with the post-colonialist view of Israel as a foreign Western colonial power victimizing “indigenous” Palestinians? Would the Africana Studies program endorse the views of a Klansman or the Women’s Studies program host a misogynist?

This is not the first time that Vassar Jewish Studies has supported anti-Semitic speech. The program in 2013 sponsored philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler, who advocated the elimination of Israel via the BDS movement. The program also sponsored talks by Max Blumenthal (who has been banished from the German parliament for anti-Semitic rants), Ali Abunimah (in 2014) promoting ethnic cleansing of Jews from the Middle East, and Sa’ed Atshan (in 2015) demonizing Israel as “apartheid.”

How can I sum up my thoughts on the Jasbir Puar event and its sponsors at Vassar? George Orwell in his 1945 “Notes on Nationalism” observed, “One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool.”

Ziva Dahl is a fellow with the Haym Salomon Center. A version of this article was originally published by the New York Observer. Distributed

by JNS.org.

Survival…

THE BIG

www.ProfoundMarketingAgency.c Ag com 732-930-5 co 5 87 58 71

March 18, 2016 • 8 Adar II 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

10

11

cilman Jim Gennaro, and as an analyst for the NYC Mayorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s OfďŹ ce of Management and Budget. In his new position as managing director, Leb has assumed overall professional leadership in developing and implementing the government and external relations strategy for UJA, JCCRPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest supporter, including efforts to maximize government and foundation funding for programs like JCCRP. Over the years, UJA-Federationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s government relations department has successfully helped leverage and secure hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for network agencies, including for educational programming, children at risk, people with disabilities and the elderly. JCCRP is deeply appreciative of all the work Leb and UJA continue to do on their behalf.

Betty Leon, Esq. will be presented with this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Public Service Award. Leon is a member of Community Board 14, chair of Peninsula Preparatory Academy, chair of the Addabbo Family Health Center, and a member of New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program planning committee (which advises the governorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ofďŹ ce on constructive use of Hurricane Sandy funding). She serves as executive committee chairwoman of the Rockaway Development and Revitalization Corporation (RDRC). JCCRP is forever indebted to Leon for expanding our medical insurance assistance program by facilitating our partnership with the Addabbo Family Health Center.

Finally, JCCRP would like to express sincere thanks to all of its sponsors.

)URP OHIW 'DYLG *UHHQEDXP -HIIUH\ /HE .DUHQ .RVORZLW] 2IÂżFHU +ROGHU 6HQ $GGDEER %HWW\ /HRQ

To RSVP for Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s event, email breakfast @jccrp.org, visit www.jccrp.org/breakfast, or call 718-327-7755 x6113.

274+/ %#4&5 %#*#. KU QHHGTKPI DGCWVKHWNN[ FGUKIPGF CPF EQNQTHWN ECTFU

5GPF 2WTKO ITGGVKPIU VQ HCOKN[ CPF HTKGPFU É&#x2026;ȜȡȺȳÎ&#x17D;É É&#x192;ȞȞȽÉ&#x20AC;É&#x201A;ȡȟȾÎ&#x17D;É&#x201A;ČśČˇÉ Î&#x17D;É&#x201E;ȡÉ&#x201A;ČŻČşÎ&#x17D;ČžÉ&#x20AC;ȽȾÉ&#x20AC;ČŻČťÎ&#x17D;ȳȲÉ&#x192;ȹȯÉ&#x201A;ȡȟȾÎ&#x17D;ȹȜȡȺȲÉ&#x20AC;ȳȟÎ&#x17D;ȡȟÎ&#x17D;Č˝É&#x192;É&#x20AC;Î&#x17D;ȺȽȹȯȺÎ&#x17D;É&#x2021;ČłÉ ČśČˇÉ&#x201E;ČŻÉ Î&#x17D; ȡȟÎ&#x17D;É&#x201A;ȜȳÎ&#x17D;Ć&#x17E;ȡÉ&#x201E;ČłÎ&#x17D;ĆŹČ˝É&#x2026;ČźÉ Ë´Î&#x17D;Ć&#x17E;ČŻÉ&#x20AC;Î&#x17D;ƪȽȹȚȯÉ&#x2026;ČŻÉ&#x2021;Ë´Î&#x17D;ĆŻČłÉ É&#x201A;Î&#x17D;Ć ČłČťČžÉ É&#x201A;ȳȯȲÎ&#x17D;ȯȟȲÎ&#x17D;Ć&#x;É&#x20AC;ȳȯÉ&#x201A;ČłÉ&#x20AC;Î&#x17D;ĆŚČŻÉ É ČŻÉ&#x192;Î&#x17D;Ć&#x203A;Č˝É&#x192;ČźÉ&#x201A;É&#x2021;Î&#x17D;

ƨȡȹȚÎ&#x17D;É&#x192;ČžÎ&#x17D;É&#x2021;Č˝É&#x192;É&#x20AC;Î&#x17D;ȹȯÉ&#x20AC;Č˛É Î&#x17D;É&#x201A;ȽȲȯÉ&#x2021;Î&#x17D;ČŻÉ&#x201A;Î&#x17D;Ć&#x203A;Ć&#x2122;Ć Ć&#x2122;Ƥ˜ ̴̰̾˚̸̴̹˚̲̾̾̾ ̴̳̯˚Ć&#x2122;Î&#x17D;ƯȡȺȺȽÉ&#x2026;Î&#x17D;Ć&#x2122;É&#x201E;ȳȟÉ&#x192;Čł É ČśČłČşČ˛Č˝ČźË˛ČąČŻČśČŻČşËˇČ˝É&#x20AC;Čľ Ć&#x203A;ȳȲȯÉ&#x20AC;ČśÉ&#x192;É&#x20AC;É É&#x201A;Î&#x17D;ĆŚĆąÎ&#x17D;Ě°Ě°Ě´Ě°Ěľ Ě&#x161;ȳȟÉ&#x201A;É&#x20AC;ȯȟȹȳÎ&#x17D;ȡȟÎ&#x17D;ČťÉ&#x192;ȟȡȹȡȞȯȺÎ&#x17D;ȞȯÉ&#x20AC;ȚȡȟȾÎ&#x17D;ȺȽÉ&#x201A;Ě&#x203A;

2CEM QH ECTFU RCEMU ECTFU

825644

As the annual legislative breakfast for the Jewish Community Council of Rockaway Peninsula (JCCRP) approaches, JCCRP would like to make the community aware of the important individuals who are crucial to JCCRPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wellbeing. JCCRP works hard to ensure the Rockaways and Five Towns community has a trusted and safe place to come for any and all of their needs. This cannot be done without the monumental efforts of a few select leaders being recognized at the legislative breakfast.

The breakfast will be taking place at the White Shul, 728 Empire Avenue in Far Rockaway, this Sunday, March 20, at 9:30 am.

The State Legislative Leadership Award will be presented to Senator Joseph P. Addabbo for his superb efforts on the behalf of JCCRP and the entire Queens community. Senator Addabbo consistently works closely with JCCRP. Most recently, he has been instrumental in assisting JCCRP to spearhead and coordinate the partnership between numerous Queens agencies to form the Queens Jewish Poverty Coalition. This effort assists all agencies in better serving the broader borough of Queens. The Senator and his staff have assisted constituents with problems involving housing, health, transportation, taxes, education, military, public safety and more, including efforts as a member of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force on Hurricane Sandy, to aid those affected by the superstorm.

JCCRP is pleased to present the Hakaras Hatov Award to StaffPro, accepted by managing director David Greenbaum, for outstanding service to JCCRP and the entire community. When Greenbaum brought StaffPro services to JCCRP in 2014, JCCRP was going through a trying transition after a restructuring with its human resources provider. StaffPro stepped in and offered an amazing solution and Greenbaum went above and beyond the call of duty.

As a result, JCCRP is now able to provide services on a much larger scale.

A few months ago, this community was shaken as it learned of the death of an exemplary police ofďŹ cer, Randolph Holder Jr., killed in the line of duty. Wile the community mourns for him, JCCRP would also like to present him posthumously with the Humanitarian Award, which will be accepted by his father, Randolph Holder Sr. In the words of Police Commissioner William Bratton, OfďŹ cer Holder â&#x20AC;&#x153;lived as a guardian, watching over the good, and died like a warrior, ďŹ ghting against the bad.â&#x20AC;? As a native of Guyana and with a family heritage of police service, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the job was certainly his callingâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all he wanted to do was to make a difference in his community and to become a role model. He achieved that in his short span as police ofďŹ cer, and Commissioner Bratton promoted him posthumously to detective. JCCRP sends heartfelt thoughts and prayers out to his family.

The City Legislative Leadership Award will be presented to NYC Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz for her devoted efforts on behalf of JCCRP. She has been a lifelong and tireless advocate in helping seniors, women, and families improve their standard of living and quality of life. Her service in the council today is a continuation of nearly 30 years of public service, having ďŹ rst served in the City Council from 1991 to 2001. Councilwoman Koslowitzâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role as a member of the City Council includes being Chair of the Queens Delegation. Since her appointment to the committee, JCCRP has beneďŹ tted tremendously from her support.

Funding for JCCRP and the community has increased enormously due to her tireless efforts.

JCCRPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chessed Award will be awarded to Jeffrey S. Leb, managing director for government and external relations for UJA-Federation of New York. Previously, Leb served as NYS political director of the Orthodox Union, as executive director and policy director for the Sephardic Community Federation, as chief of staff and legislative director for NYC Coun-

THE JEWISH STAR March 18, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 8 Adar II 5776

JCCRP legislative bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;fast this Sunday

By Judy Lash Balint Yoney Skiba welcomes guests to the fullsize Ethiopian hut in the yard of her home on Kibbutz Evron, near Nahariya, close to Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s northern border with Lebanon.

Skiba, who came to Israel as a child in the 1994 Operation Solomon, offers a brief talk to tourists about her aliyah experience and Ethiopian-Jewish culture; points out various authentic Ethiopian artifacts and artwork in the hut; prepares traditional injera sourdough ďŹ&#x201A;atbread; and demonstrates the preparation of Ethiopian coffee. Ethiopian-Jewish music heightens the experience that she offers to groups, students, Jews, and non-Jews interested in learning about the culture of a signiďŹ cant Jewish community and its efforts to integrate into Israeli society.

Skibaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mevrahatey (My Light) initiative is just one of hundreds of projects adopted by the Treasures of the Galilee umbrella group, with the goal of jumpstarting tourism in Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Western Galilee region. Some of the most offbeat and creative tourism initiatives in the area are headed by enterprising women like Skiba, who are looking to increase their business.

Founded by philanthropist and Nahariya native Raya Strauss Bendror, Treasures of the Galilee brings together community activists, academics, CEOs, mayors, and religious leaders from the Western Galilee to help fund tourism projects like Skibaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in an effort to create jobs and stimulate the economy of the region.

With cities rich in history like Akko (Acre), the natural beauty of the northern coastline, spectacular national parks, and one of the most diverse populations in the country, the Western Galilee deserves to be a top destination for visitors, Strauss Bendror explains.

After scouring the area for the best tourist sites, restaurants, B&Bs, galleries, wineries,

JEWISH STAR TRAVEL

<RQDW 0D]DQ H[SODLQV KRZ WKH 7UHDVXUHV RI WKH *DOLOHH LQLWLDWLYH KHOSHG KHU EHFRPH WKH RSHUDWRU RI $OWR 'DLU\ )DUP ZKHUH VKH LV SLFWXUHG

Judy Lash Balint

and craftspeople, Strauss Bendror and her team provided copywriters and photographers for each place so they could beef up their online presence, and all are now included in an app and website that make it easy to pinpoint places of interest and plan a trip.

While it lacks the religious sites of Jerusalem, Akkoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Old City is captivating and ďŹ lled with fascinating sites from hundreds of years of history and different occupiers.

One of the unique tourism initiatives in Akko supported by Treasures of the Galilee is Salima, a basket-weaving workshop

Linda Baron-Katz brings a message of hope for those in the Orthodox community living with a mental illness

and store run by Sima Oren in the restored Knights Hall in the Old City.

As she skillfully weaves slim branches of date palms into a colorful basket, Oren talks about her dream: bringing Arab and Jewish women together via weaving. The handmade works by women from the Akko area are sold under the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Women Weaving Peaceâ&#x20AC;? label, which includes Arab and Jewish women (ranging from secular to religious), new immigrants, Druze, and Bedouin.

Oren offers weaving workshops for visitors in Hebrew and English and uses them to invoke her optimistic mission statement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fantastic that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in this beautiful Crusader Hall,â&#x20AC;? she says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but the real crusaders are each one of us, who live in a new situation that no one prepared us for. We need to empower each other and we can accomplish that by doing what we love together.â&#x20AC;?

A short drive from Akko, in a restored building that once housed the kitchen of Kibbutz

Shomrat, former furniture marketing executive Yonat Mazan explains how Treasures of the Galilee helped her become the operator of the Alto Dairy Farm. Standing in front of a display case ďŹ lled with more than 15 types of hard cheese, soft cheese, low-acidity yogurt, and a special variety of low-fat goat milk cheese, Mazan describes how her family built a business that now incorporates a popular kosher cafĂŠ, visitor center, and factory store to showcase the kibbutzâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goat milk products. Her husband, Ariel, is the dairyman, and her ďŹ ve grown kids all play a role in the demanding business.

For anyone exploring the area, the cafĂŠ is a perfect place to stop for a leisurely brunch, sample some unusual cheeses, or pick up picnic supplies.

Still further north, a sharp switchback drive through some of Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most spectacular hill scenery brings visitors to Adamit National Park and the famous Keshet Cave. But instead of turning around and driving back down the hill after the park experience, Treasures of Galilee is promoting a culinary and cultural adventure to the nearby Bedouin village of Arab al-Aramshe.

Set in what is today a peaceful and rural setting, where sheep amble across the roads and spacious villas dot the hills, this village abuts the border with Lebanon and provides an opportunity to take a look at the fence and the UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon) forces.

Muhammad and Sued Mizal run the Sof Haâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Olam Smola (Turn Left at the End of the World) tourism experience from their home in the village, and they attract visitors via the Treasures of Galilee website.

Muhammad recounts the special relations between village residents and Jewish Israelis, relations that began even before the establishment of the state, when a strong bond was formed with the surrounding kibbutzim.

Spending time with the Mizals is an eyeopening experience that will broaden understanding of Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s place amongst its neighbors.

Like many Treasures of Galilee projects, it may not be tourism in the traditional sense, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part of the Western Galilee, a fascinating and beautiful destination not to be overlooked.

Distributed by JNS.org

Some papers may be bigger, but no Jewish newspaper on Long Island is better.

A memoir of the heartbreak and challenge of growing up with a mental illness like bipolar disorder, its stigma and the hope for recovery

THE JE ND

LA

NG

LO

IS

WISH

WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S STAR NEXT?

THE NEW SPA

0;3 4 867

A8;6

=: 516 PER OF -622-746 LONG 1 ISLAND â&#x20AC;&#x2122;S OR THODO X COM

-< &

MUNIT

< Th

eJewishS

IES

A childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book about two different mental illnesses â&#x20AC;&#x201D; depression and mania â&#x20AC;&#x201D; makes it easier for children to understand these mental conditions

tar.com

E 76/ ; E 755= 4)6, :)14; )/)16 E =/- 61<A .7:=5 76 ;< (*), ,-)4 15-; 9 : = )44A 76 6,)A 61/0< -,6-;,) A

As Israe li Prim demed e Mini Iran as Tuesdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nucl ster Netanyah ear agre u conIslandersa â&#x20AC;&#x153;stunning histo eme ric mist nt with have been who termed mobilizin the pact a ake,â&#x20AC;? Long Activ â&#x20AC;&#x153;bad g against day nighists scheduled the deal dealâ&#x20AC;? ofďŹ cials t in Valley Streaa public foru . m Sunwill spea and ZOA Pres m at which Wednesd k. A regional ident Mortonelected ay rally Klein in Time jor polit s Squa is planned ical, Stories media and comre, featuring for and com mamunity mentary leaders. : Pages 5,7,17.

On morn ing of Ira n

Visit our website:

$V D QXF OHDU GHD LQFOXGLQ O ZDV DQ J IUR QRXQFH P WKH 1 G LQ HZ <RUN D 9LHQQD DO L\RW IURP UULYHG DW %HQ * XULRQ RQ 1RUWK $PHULFD

DQ (O $ O 1HIHVK %Âś1HIHVK Ă&#x20AC;LJKW WKH )RU JURXQG \HDU RO RI (UHW] <LVURHO ZD G .DOH\ =HLWRX QL RI /R V SXUH MR V $ \ 3DJH V QJHOHV WRXFKLQ 3KRWRV J

deal, 221 aliyot re turn 780856

www.surviving-mental-illness.com For more information, contact Linda at

home E\ 6KDKDU $ ]UDQ

Get the facts!

828913

718-261-3772

baronkatz@gmail.com

829594

March 18, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 8 Adar II 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

Discovering treasures of Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Western Galilee

PRST STD US POSTAG GARDEN E PAID CITY, NY 11530 PERMIT NO 301

12

13

6HFWLRQ VSRQVRUHG E\ $OLQD %HUJDQ ''6 Â&#x2021; &HQWUDO $YH 6XLWH ) Â&#x2021; &HGDUKXUVW Â&#x2021;

Israeli ďŹ nds how to stop uncontrolled bleeding A

n Israeli researcher has discovered a new method that can stop uncontrolled bleeding of victims suffering from deep wounds caused by stabbings, such as the knife attacks that have been rampant during the current Palestinian terror wave in Israel.

Gallium, a biometal, is normally used to stop bone loss in cancer patients, but in liquid form (gallium nitrate) it induces â&#x20AC;&#x153;ďŹ&#x201A;occulationâ&#x20AC;? of the clotting protein in blood, resulting in external clot formation. This will signiďŹ cantly reduce the risk of deadly internal blood clots. Gallium can â&#x20AC;&#x153;dramatically increase the chances of survival by victims of terror or accidents,â&#x20AC;? as it quickly stops bleeding without causing blood clots, said Moshe Rogosnitzky, director of the Center for Drug Repurposing at Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ariel University and co-founder of the nonproďŹ t MedInsight Research Institute.

*DOOLXP FU\VWDOV

Rogosnitzky said that it is â&#x20AC;&#x153;vital to get this discovery from the lab to the clinic as quickly as possible. The sooner it gets to the market, the sooner it can be used effectively to save lives.â&#x20AC;?

An online fundraising campaign called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Stop the Bleedingâ&#x20AC;? was launched by U.S.based nonproďŹ t We Fund the Cure to help researchers fund the clinical development of gallium and increase its availability. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unfortunately, there seems to be no immediate end in sight to the kind of violent attacks facing Israelis,â&#x20AC;? Rogosnitzky said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gallium can provide instantaneous help to victims in Israel. Our goal is to place gallium in every ďŹ rst aid kit and every ambulance, ensuring that every stabbing victim has an increased chance of survival. In order to move forward quickly we need resources for clinical testing.â&#x20AC;?

Distributed by JNS.org

Wikimedia Commons

COMFORT KEEPERS ÂŽ OF OCEANSIDE

or Healthy Teeth & Gums

s &RIENDLY $OCTOR 3TAFF WHO LISTEN TO YOUR CONCERNS AND CLEARLY EXPLAIN YOUR TREATMENT OPTIONS s &OR YOUR CONVENIENCE SAME DAY TREATMENT AVAILABLE s %FlCIENT OFlCE WITH HIGHEST STANDARDS OF CLEANLINESS 0% Financing Available s 3AME DAY EMERGENCY APPOINTMENTS AVAILABLE OPEN SUNDAYS s 7E SEE CHILDREN STARTING AT YEARS OLD

In-Home Care That is Beyond Compare A C At Comfort f K KeepersÂŽ we provide id iin-home h care that h h helps l seniors i llive i happy, independent lives in the comfort of their own homes (or facilities).

New Patient Special!

Only

$

99

CHILD Cleaning,* Exam, X-rays and Fluoride

Reg. $200

* In absence of gum disease. Exp. 3/31/16

Each ofďŹ ce independently owned & operated

Licensed by the NYS Department of Health WWW.COMFORTKEEPERS.COM

AAR ENDOR P SED

828130

Do A Mitzvah For A Senior

ADULT Cleaning, * Exam, and X-rays

Care Services - Companionship - Meal Preparation - Incidental Transportation - Relief for Family - Light Housekeeping

#ALL &OR 9OUR !PPOINTMENT .OW

516-203-4555

Only

$

75

Reg. $150

* Children up to 12 years old One Time Offer With Coupon. Exp. 3/31/16

Alina Bergan D.D.S. 2EQUEST 9OUR !PPOINTMENT /NLINE

#ENTRAL !VE 3UITE & #EDARHURST .9 WWW ALINABERGANDDS COM

825708

Call for a free in-home assessment (516) 442-2300 Personal Care - Bathing, Grooming, Hygiene - Toileting and Incontinence Care - Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s/Dementia Care -Transferring and Positioning

So You Can Eat!

THE JEWISH STAR March 18, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 8 Adar II 5776

HEALTH, MIND & BODY

March 18, 2016 • 8 Adar II 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

14

Bigotry for political gain: Trump’s running game JEFF DUNETZ

POLITICS TO GO

T

D

uring an August press conference in Dubuque, Iowa, Donald Trump told reporters: “I know the system better than anybody. The fact is that whether it’s Jeb, or Hillary, or any of ’em — they’re all controlled by these people!

And the people that control them are the special interests, the lobbyists and the donors. You know what’s nice about me? I don’t need anybody’s money.”

When it comes to the political disease of being controlled by lobbyists, Trump is part of the problem. He’s one of those special interests who control politicians — not for the “people’s interests,” but to fill his already full pockets. And just as he’d done 16 years earlier, he’s used racism and bigotry to get his political point across.

In 2000, Trump, and his longtime friend and Republican strategist Roger Stone, paid fines because they failed to disclose the fact they were paying for anti-casino advertising. Stone was part of this year’s Trump campaign but was ousted in an internal battle. The St. Regis Mohawks wanted to build a casino in the Catskills and Trump, heavily invested in casinos in Atlantic City, secretly ran the ads to encourage people to call their New York legislators to vote against permitting the casino.

“Donald J. Trump and his associates have agreed to pay $250,000 in fines and to issue a public apology because they failed to disclose to the state lobbying commission that he had secretly financed newspaper advertisements opposing casino gambling in the Catskills,” the New York Times report. “It would be the largest civil penalty ever imposed by the commission.”

The Times reported that Trump agreed to spend $50,000 “on advertising acknowledging that he had paid for seven ads

hawks as violent criminals. The TV commercial was even more explicitly inferred that the St. Regis Mohawks were criminals.

It asked, “Are these the kind of neighbors we want? The St. Regis Mohawk record of criminal activity is well-documented.” rump’s 2000 bigotry doubled down on his 1994 testimony before Congress about Indian casinos. “What you’re going to have is, you’re going to have the biggest organized crime problem in the history of this country. Al Capone is going to look like a baby. … It’s going to blow. It’s just a question of time, and when it blows you are going to have a lot of very embarrassed faces sitting right where you folks are sitting right now. Thank you very much.”

At the same hearing, FBI testimony accused Trump of telling untruths and of fearmongering.

Rowena General, who was chief of staff for the St. Regis Mohawks in 2000, told the Times last year that Trump’s ad campaign was a cynical attempt to use fear about race and crime to protect his business investments in Atlantic City. The tenor of his presidential campaign, she said, was “not surprising at all, considering our experience with him.”

In defending his anti-Mohawk advertising, Trump sounded much like he sounds when he defends his more recent bigoted statements. “I wasn’t knocking the Mohawks, I was knocking their record,” Trump said. “That’s not because they’re Mohawks. That’s because their record is bad and was proved to be bad at the time.”

In 2000, Trump used his vast wealth to get what he wanted from the state legislature. He did it “under the table,” secretly funding political ads that used bigotry to smear the St. Regis Mohawks and to get his way.

Sixteen years later, Trump is using similar smears against just about everybody in his run for president. When one considers the way he has changed positions, using bigotry for political purposes may be the only thing politically consistent about Trump between then and now.

Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

'RQDOG 7UXPS VSHDNLQJ DW &3$& LQ :DVKLQJWRQ Gage Skidmore

that appeared last spring under the name of the Institute for Law and Society, an anti-gambling group in Rome, NY.” The Times quoted Trump as saying,” It’s been settled.

We’re happy it all worked out nicely.”

The statement of apology, which appeared in newspaper ads, read, “Donald Trump, Roger Stone, Thomas Hunter, on behalf of Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, Ikon Public Affairs and the New York Institute for Law and Society, respectfully apologize if anyone was misled concerning the production and funding of the lobbying effort.”

The anti-casino ads constituted a smear campaign against the St. Regis Mohawks. A newspaper ad referenced “hypodermic needles and drug paraphernalia” and suggested violent criminals “were coming to town,” depicting the St. Regis Mo-

HIAS, dumping ‘Hebrew,’ isn’t bubbe’s aid society ABRAHAM H. MILLER

I

n parts of Europe, Jews have been warned that wearing anything that identifies them as Jewish means putting a target on their back.

In Stockholm, Jews were asked to stay away from the Kristallnacht remembrance ceremonies for fear of sparking violence. French Jews are immigrating to Israel in increasing numbers. In Manchester, England, special police accompany Jewish children to school. The main synagogue in Florence, Italy, looks like an American military outpost in Afghanistan.

All of this is in response to a growing and flourishing anti-Semitism in Europe reminiscent of the 1930s. And while neo-Nazism and a remnant of fascism still lurk in the netherworld of European society, the new anti-Semitism is a direct consequence of the tide of Muslim immigration that has been rising throughout Europe.

In America, anti-Semitism has become an integral part of academic life (at Vassar College it seems to be central to the learning experience itself). At University of California, San Diego, it is possible to stand at a public forum and call for killing Jews, without the remotest consequence on a campus known for its multi-cultural sensitivity and commitment to diversity. Try expressing such sentiments about any other ethnic group and you would be thrown out of school without even a convening of the campus diversity and opportunity Star Chamber.

Invite a speaker to talk positively about Israel, and the Muslim Student Association and its leftist cohorts will be there to impose the heckler’s veto.

So amid all of this, it stands to reason that sponsoring the absorption of even more Syrian Muslim refugees, who have spent a lifetime being indoctrinated in Jew-hatred, is exactly what the Jewish community in America needs. Right?

T

hat’s the mantra of HIAS, formerly known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which last December found that the word “Hebrew” no longer worked and thus dropped it from the organizations’ name. Perhaps “Hebrew” would be off-putting to HIAS’s new clients: Syrian Muslim refugees.

In 2013, HIAS participated in the creation of a report that labeled opponents of Muslim immigration as bigots. Indeed, sane people of

good will who value our heritage and want to embrace immigrants who not only want to come to America but also want to be part of American culture, should demand to be on whatever infamous lists HIAS wants to create.

Speaking against HIAS in the Jewish community is like speaking against G-d or the Torah. People remember with reverence the HIAS of old—the HIAS that brought Jewish refugees to this country and helped give them a leg up

HIAS exec responds to slap Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS, responds to columnist Abraham H. Miller’s criticisms of the organization: The Torah reiterates, no less than 36 times, versions of the commandment to love the stranger as ourselves, for we know the heart of a stranger, as we were once strangers in the land of Egypt. The Exodus narrative is not just about the suffering and flight of the Jews, but it delivers a universal message about Jewish commitment to human rights and refugee protection.

The HIAS was established 135 years ago to protect refugees—Jewish ones—who were fleeing the pogroms of Czarist Russia. HIAS, which always refers to itself as the “global Jewish non-profit that protects refugees,” is not searching for a new mission. We remain true to the original one of refugee protection.

What HIAS has done is moved from its “Exodus” period of our first 120 years, in which HIAS focused on bringing Jews from oppression to freedom, to our “Leviticus” period, in which we fulfill Jewish values and assist refugees of all faiths and ethnicities based on our own Exodus experiences. …

The evolution of HIAS is about fulfilling our community’s promise that never again will we permit anything like the Holocaust to happen. What is the most effective strategy for doing this? By acting only when Jewish refugees

are in danger, or by constantly advocating for the universal protection of all refugees? HIAS has chosen the latter path. …

We cannot protect ourselves by being only for ourselves. We can only protect ourselves by protecting and implementing universal principles of human rights.

HIAS is already working on five continents to protect refugees of all faiths who have fled ethnic cleansing and other forms of persecution. In addition, we resettle 3,500 refugees each year through our U.S. network, primarily consisting of Jewish Family Service agencies.

These partners, like HIAS, have decided to continue programs welcoming refugees even though most refugees whom they now resettle are not Jewish.

And, as you should expect, when there are refugees who are Jewish, HIAS is still there to make sure they receive help. …

With the largest number of refugees and displaced persons since the Second World War, HIAS’s mission is as relevant as ever. In 1881, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society was established to help refugees find welcome, safety and freedom. HIAS has not strayed from that path. Today, HIAS does not help refugees because they are Jewish. HIAS helps refugees because we are Jewish.

Our bubbes would be proud.

toward acculturation. That HIAS, your grandmother’s HIAS, would never have dropped Hebrew from its name. It would have proudly embraced its Jewish roots. That HIAS would be helping the Jewish refugees fleeing Europe.

It would have been in Malmo, Sweden, from which half the Jewish community has fled. It would have been in Paris helping Jews escape the violence and bigotry of North African Muslims. That HIAS no longer even remotely exists.

HIAS’s webpage and its refugee advocacy have nothing to do with Jewish refugees or the plight of Jews suffering anti-Semitism. HIAS has become just another refugee advocacy group that is one of nine voluntary organizations designated as such by the U.S. government and receiving the bulk of its financing from federal funding. Like the others, which include the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Lutheran Social Services, HIAS has an economic interest in pushing for more and more refugees.

Regrettably, HIAS has rendered the Jewish community vulnerable to the anti-Semites who see its actions as part of some larger Jewish conspiracy, a charge not made against the Christian refugee resettlement groups which have the same economic motivations. Pasting a conspiracy onto Lutheran Social Services, which is largely responsible for the resettlement of Somalis in Minnesota, lacks the je ne sais quoi of a Jewish conspiracy.

Recreating in America the same anti-Semitic culture that thrives in Europe as a consequence of immigration does not promote the interests of the Jewish community. On HIAS’s website, black-and-white photos invoke Jewish refugees from the past, in sharp contrast to the colorized photos of its current work. Removal of “Hebrew” from its name marks the demise of the HIAS of old and its willingness to risk here in America the same anti-Semitism that pervades Europe.

Abraham H. Miller, emeritus professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati, is a distinguished fellow with the Haym Salomon Center. Distributed by JNS.org.

P

erhaps among one of the greatest Jewish theologians in the United States today is Rabbi David Fohrman of Woodmere. His writings about the story of Purim will be the main focus of this weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s essay.

In his work, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Queen You Thought You Knewâ&#x20AC;? (OU Press, 2011), Rabbi Fohrman presents his unique interpretation of the Purim story. In an interview some years ago, he shares his take on Bible interpretation and Jewish theology that speaks to us directly, absent the fancy words of so many pompous intellectuals.

Rabbi Fohrman informs us of the following thoughts that motivate his writings on todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s subject: â&#x20AC;&#x153;More than any other holiday, we associate Purim with children. We dress up, clown around, and everything seems so very jolly â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the Megillah included. We view characters as caricatures: Esther seems like Cinderella; Haman is a scowling villain wearing an oversized pirate hat; the king, a kind bumbling fool. But are these childhood pictures of the characters really accurate?â&#x20AC;?

Rabbi Fohrman explains the real theme of the Purim festival: â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you stop to think about it, Purim was deadly serious. The Jewish people faced the very real prospect of genocide. Long before the world ever heard of that word, or of concentration camps, we were almost wiped out on one, single, terrifying day. The story

made possible through the gracious efforts of Lawrence Mayor Martin Oliner and his wife Reva, in memory of their grandmother. I wish to conclude this weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s essay with the text of their dedication to thus serve as a model for others to emulate in support of the cause of Jewish teachings and Jewish books. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My grandmother, Esther â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Stellaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Ferber Kleinfeld, was a force of nature. Born at the turn of the century, Esther was the ďŹ rstborn of a family of seven brothers and sisters. Having a mother Courtesy Judica Plus who was either pregnant or ailing, my grandmother became â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the little motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to her siblings. Despite the mature burdens forced upon her, Esther graduated from Seward Park High School and continued to self-educate all the days of her life.

She read the daily New York Times, as well as the Yiddish paper, the Forverts. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Her siblings called her Stella. My Zaidy called her Esther. To me she was Bubby, a woman who could recount a story with color and ďŹ&#x201A;air, a woman who could play and sing all songs on the piano, a woman who I spoke to every day by telephone, a woman who gave me the best advice whether I realized it at the time or not. We dedicate this edition of Megillas Esther in her memory.â&#x20AC;?

Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

Torah is trying to communicate to us.â&#x20AC;?

These teachings by Rabbi Fohrman deserve your attention, and his book deserves your immediate patronage. They both, when taken together, will surely enhance your understanding as well as appreciation of the themes and readings of the Purim holiday. )25 <285 )857+(5 678'< This year we are witness to a new elucidated translation of the Rashi commentary on the Book of Esther by Rabbi Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg. Aside from the learned translation, this volume also contains 242 detailed footnotes to the translation that serves to further enhance your understanding of Rashiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s teachings about the text of the Megillah.

It should be noted that this work was

Come join tens of thousands of Fathers and Sons from Eretz Yisroel and around the globe learning...

V [F

Yeshiva of South Shore Father and Son Learning Program for:

HKVPY KIVUQ FKDK Thursday Íť Ď­Ď° Adar Íť Purim Day Íť March 24, 2016 Learning @ 12:45 PM Followed by Purim 'elt ZaĹ&#x2039;esÍ&#x160; (Mincha @ 1:45pm) Learning will take place at Yeshiva of South Shore (Cong. Anshei Chesed Beis Medrash) ParĆ&#x;cipaĆ&#x;ng Yeshivos: HALB

Siach Yitzchak

Yeshiva Ketana of LI

Yeshiva of South Shore

HAFTR

Yeshiva Darchei Torah

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO BE A SPONSOR, PLEASE CALL YOSS @ 516-374-7363

829749

KOSHER BOOKWORM

828910

ALAN JAY GERBER

of Purim was no fairy tale, it was real â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and it was harrowing. We owe it to ourselves to look at the story as adults and ask ourselves what is the real, true to life meaning that this experience with tyranny really comes to teach us.â&#x20AC;?

I wanted to know more about Rabbi Fohrmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s methodology to which he responded as follows: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think Biblical stories can sometimes lull us to sleep, almost like a lot of lullabies; these stories have really serious questions buried in them that are screaming to us â&#x20AC;&#x201D; we just have to read them with fresh eyes, open our ears, and listen. Imagine a kid started analyzing â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;rock a bye baby.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; He wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fall asleep so fast. His mind would be ďŹ&#x201A;ooded with questions: How high off the tree was the cradle?

Who put the cradle there? Did anyone call 911 when it fell? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The same goes for stories in the Bible.

Obvious questions are everywhere, questions that are hidden at times by our familiarity with the texts: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Why would G-d forbid us to eat of a tree that grants knowledge of good and evil? Arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t we better off knowing the difference between good and evil?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Why would we name a holiday like Purim after Hamanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lots? These are the devices our enemy used in attempting to kill us. Why name the holiday after that?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;These are the questions that the text demands of us that we ask of it. They are windows as it were, into deeper understandings of the text. We owe it to the Torah to ask these questions, or we risk ignoring what the

THE JEWISH STAR March 18, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 8 Adar II 5776

Unmasking the hidden story of Queen Esther

15

March 18, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 8 Adar II 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

16

Thinking Vayikra: Today, we are the sacriďŹ ces RABBI AVI BILLET

PARSHA OF THE WEEK

H

ow does the opening of the book of Vayikra, which we begin this Shabbat, relate to us today? Our service is not the Service of the Temple, it does not include sacriďŹ cial lambs and goats and bulls.

The portions that speak of the animal sacriďŹ ces have much to teach in the homiletic sense, but as far as practical use â&#x20AC;&#x201D; if we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the Temple Service, the Mishkan rules are not practical to our lives.

And yet, when one sees what is happening in the world with respect to how Jews are treated, one canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help being drawn to the ďŹ rst verse in Vayikra, Chapter 3: â&#x20AC;&#x153;If oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sacriďŹ ce is a peace offering and it is from the cattle, he may offer either an unblemished male or an unblemished female before G-d.â&#x20AC;?

A little over a month ago, President Obama spoke at the Islamic Society of Baltimore and said the following: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have to be consistent in condemning hateful rhetoric and violence against everyone. And that includes against Muslims here in the United States of America.â&#x20AC;?

In an article responding to the presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s speech, Dennis Prager addressed that quote, saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Two facts are relevant here. One is that religious hate crimes are exceedingly

rare in America. The other is that in 2014, the last year for which we have data, Jews were targets of hate crimes four times more frequently than Muslims.â&#x20AC;?

President Obama also said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are Christians [not Jews?] who are targeted now in the Middle East, despite having been there for centuries, and there are Jews whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve lived in places like France for centuries who now feel obliged to leave because they feel themselves under assault â&#x20AC;&#x201D; sometimes by Muslims.â&#x20AC;?

Beyond ignoring the targeting of Jews â&#x20AC;&#x153;in the Middle Eastâ&#x20AC;? (perhaps because it is politically incorrect to note how Jews are the victims of terror in Israel on a regular basis), Prager noted that the president mentioned the many Jews in France who are attacked â&#x20AC;&#x153;sometimes by Muslims.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sometimes?â&#x20AC;? Prager queries. â&#x20AC;&#x153;French Jews have recently been murdered, tortured and harassed more than at any time since the Holocaust. And virtually every one of those attacks has been perpetrated by Muslims.â&#x20AC;?

I have no qualms about noting who the terrorists are, especially in Israel â&#x20AC;&#x201D; â&#x20AC;&#x153;the Middle Eastâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; where Jews are always the targets, even though the terrorists sometimes get Americans (Taylor Force, RIP) and Arabs (Mohammed Wari, in Jaffa, who survived), having mistakenly (or not, since they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t care) identiďŹ ed their victims.

David Fremd was murdered by a terrorist in Uruguay last week. The list can continue, from last week alone.

W

hat are these sacriďŹ ces for? For peace?

For a world order that will be Judenrein?

Anti-Semitism is the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oldest hatred. It even pre-dates Islam, and might never be overcome. After the terror attacks in Paris a little over a year ago, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls delivered a powerful speech against anti-Semitism, a stain on all of Europe if not most of the civilized world. Whether his words had their desired impact is questionable, but it is hopefully a start in the right direction.

Rashi says shlamim (peace offerings) are called that because they bring peace to the world. Rashbam and Chizkuni says shlamim comes from the word tashlumim (a price that must be paid or a promise that must be fulďŹ lled). Ramban seems to say the same thing as he explains the term to have the same meaning as the phrase in Yeshayahu (44:28) which means â&#x20AC;&#x153;My desire he shall fulďŹ ll.â&#x20AC;? He also notes the similarity to the phrase â&#x20AC;&#x153;complete stones.â&#x20AC;?

Haktav Vâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;haâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Kaballah explains this second view of Ramban to mean â&#x20AC;&#x153;there is no ďŹ&#x201A;aw in the offering, because it comes only from a pure devotion of the heart.â&#x20AC;? As Rav Hirsch puts it, the word shalem means complete, and more accurately, â&#x20AC;&#x153;ďŹ&#x201A;awlessâ&#x20AC;? in the sense of the motivation of the person bringing the offering. Menachem Recanati opens his words saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The shlamim comes to bring peace in the world and to complete towards [the one bringing the offering] the trait of judgment. This is why it can be brought using a male or female [animal].â&#x20AC;?

R Pinchas Halevi Horowitz associates the shlamim with the thought articulated by King

David in Psalm 51:16-21, when he refers to what G-d truly wants, namely the sacriďŹ ces of righteousness: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Save me from blood, O G-d, the G-d of my salvation; let my tongue sing praises of Your charity. O Lord, You shall open my lips, and my mouth will recite Your praise. For You do not wish a sacriďŹ ce, or I should give it; You do not desire a burnt offering. The sacriďŹ ces of G-d are a broken spirit; O G-d, You will not despise a broken and crushed heart. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With Your will, do good to Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem. Then You will desire sacriďŹ ces of righteousness, a burnt offering and a whole offering; then they will offer up bulls on Your altar.â&#x20AC;?

While the resolve of the Jewish people will remain steadfast and strong, we are facing exactly this â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a broken spirit, a broken and crushed heart â&#x20AC;&#x201D; over all the sacriďŹ ces the Jewish people have had to give up, in both male and female victims, because Israel must battle to weed out terrorists â&#x20AC;&#x201D; male, female, adults, children â&#x20AC;&#x201D; from its midst.

While not impossible, it is a formidable task to weed out the evil people.

We hope there need be no more sacriďŹ ces until the day when Jerusalem is completely rebuilt with the Temple at its epicenter, and the only Peace sacriďŹ ces which will be brought are those that are â&#x20AC;&#x153;sacriďŹ ces of righteousness,â&#x20AC;? brought by those giving whole and complete devotions to G-d that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come at the price of an innocent personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life.

Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

Small aleph and the greatness of Moshe rabbeinu RABBI DAVID ETENGOFF

S

efer Vayikra begins with a call from G-d to Moshe: â&#x20AC;&#x153;G-d called to Moses, speaking to him from the Communion Tent.â&#x20AC;?

In a celebrated gloss, Rashi, basing himself upon Midrash Rabbah, Vayikra 1:13, notes that the use of â&#x20AC;&#x153;vayikraâ&#x20AC;? (and He called) is signiďŹ cant, since it stands in stark contradistinction to the manner in which Hashem communicated with the non-Jewish prophets of the world: â&#x20AC;&#x153;And He called to Moses: Every [time G-d communicated with Moses, whether it was represented by the expression] vayidabare (and He spoke) or vayomer (and He said) or vayitzav (and He commanded), it was always preceded by [G-d] calling [to Moses by name] (Midrash Sifra 1:2-3). [Kriah] is an expression of affection, the [same] expression employed by the ministering angels [when addressing each other], as it says, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;And one called vâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;kara to the otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Yeshayahu 6:3). To the prophets of the nations of the world, however, He revealed Himself through expressions denoting coincidence and impurity, as the verse says, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;and G-d happened to [meet] (vayikar) Balaamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Bamidbar 23:4). [Midrash Bamidbar Rabbah 52:5] The expression vayikar has the meaning of a coincidental happening, and also alludes to impurity.â&#x20AC;?

In sum, Rashi opines that the term vayikra connotes a number of crucial aspects of the unique Iâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;thou relationship that obtained between Hashem and Moshe: 1. A planned, respectful, and considered encounter 2. Deep and abiding affection 3. Angelic metaphor, allegorically representing Mosheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatness

4. Kedushah (holiness-based) and purity As Rashi emphasizes, it is essential to realize that this four-pronged approach was completely absent from Hashemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dealings with the prophets of the other nations, since His meetings with them were mere happenstance.

These incomplete revelations took place in secret and in the dead of night, without warning and by surprise, and lacked holiness and purity.

We are ďŹ nite beings; therefore, it is natural for us to view our relationship with Hashem from our own perspective.

As a result, many of us properly focus our efforts on becoming dedicated avdei Hashem (servants of G-d). Literally thousands of books have been written centering on this crucial and fundamental enterprise. Yet, as Rashiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comment above clearly indicates, G-d is a full-ďŹ&#x201A;edged partner in the I-thou relationship: Hashem was insistent that Moshe be treated with the warmth, dignity, and respect that he deserved. Stated somewhat differently, Hashem quite simply refused to interact with Moshe in any other manner than that which reďŹ&#x201A;ected his exceptional stature.

In contrast, Moshe wanted the Almighty to reveal Himself to him in the selfsame manner through which He communicated with the non-Jewish prophets of the world.

Mosheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s marked humility led him to reject special treatment or honoriďŹ c behaviors â&#x20AC;&#x201C; even if they emanated from G-d Himself.

According to Rabbeinu Yaakov ben Asher, in his commentary on the Torah entitled, Baâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;al HaTurim, this is precisely the signiďŹ cance of the diminutive aleph that appears in the ďŹ rst word of our parasha, vayikra: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Moshe was great and humble [at the same time]. Therefore, he did not want to write

vayikra. [and G-d called], he only wanted to write vayikar [and G-d happened to appear], which is an expression of an accidental meeting. Using this expression [vayikar] it would be as if Hashem only spoke to him in a trance or in a dream just as it is stated regarding Bilam. Therefore, Hashem explicitly commanded him to write the aleph [to represent his true stature]. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Moshe, however, further responded to Hashem and told Him, based upon his thoroughgoing humility, that he would only write a diminutive aleph that was smaller than any other aleph that would appear in the Torah. He, therefore, wrote it in miniature.â&#x20AC;? rom here we may learn that the miniature aleph was a compromise that enabled Moshe to fulďŹ ll Hashemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will, while remaining true to his humble nature.

Hashem accepted Mosheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach and this is, therefore, the manner in which every Sefer Torah continues to be written until our own time.

Midrash Vayikra Rabbah (1:15) underscores Mosheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s humility in a fascinating fashion. It begins with the following statement: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kol talmid chacham sheain bo daâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;at, neveilah tovah heimenuâ&#x20AC;? (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Any Torah scholar who is lacking in knowledge â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the carcass of an animal that died without proper slaughter is better than heâ&#x20AC;?).

This formulation is strange on a number of counts, including the most obvious: If a person is a Torah scholar, by deďŹ nition he has knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.

If this is lacking, how can he be a talmid chacham? As a result, daâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;at (knowledge) must mean something other than what it initially appears to be. A number of meforshim (commentators) suggest that daâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;at in this instance

The miniature aleph was a compromise that enabled Moshe to remain true to his humble nature.

F

has nothing to do with any cognitive content.

Instead, it refers to humility and, in particular, to the incredible humility of Moshe Rabbeinu. They derive this notion from the conclusion of the Midrash: â&#x20AC;&#x153;In order to know that this is true [i.e. â&#x20AC;&#x153;any Torah scholarâ&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;?], come and learn from Moshe the Father of Wisdom and the Father of the Prophets. [What did he do?] He took the Jewish people out of Egypt. Moreover, through his efforts, many wonders and miracles were performed in Egypt and awesome acts at the Sea of Reeds. Then, too, he went up to the highest heavens and brought the Torah [down to earth] from Heaven. He also was involved in the construction of the Mishkan. [Even given all of this, however,] he did not enter into the holy precincts of the Mishkan when G-dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presence was manifest unless, and until, G-d called him. As the Torah states: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;G-d called to Moses, speaking to him from the Communion Tentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.â&#x20AC;?

This Midrash underscores the crucial idea that Mosheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s awesome and amazing accomplishments did not lead him to arrogance.

None of us will ever be able to achieve the level of Moshe; nonetheless, we can try to emulate his humility in our approach to our Creator and thus, with Hashemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ultimate chesed vâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;rachamim (kindness and mercy), may we continue to grow closer to Him. Vâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;chane yihi ratzon.

Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

/XDFK

)ULGD\ 0DUFK Â&#x2021; $GDU ,, 3DUVKDV 9D\LNUD &DQGOHOLJKWLQJ SP +DYGDODK SP 7KLV ZHHNÂśV WLPHV SHU &KDEDG &HQWHU IRU -HZLVK /LIH LQ 0HUULFN /RQJ ,VODQG

17 THE JEWISH STAR March 18, 2016 • 8 Adar II 5776

Liquor & Wine

WAREHOUSE y p p a H m!

Puri

WINE TASTING Every Friday Kosher Wines Plus A Wide Array Of SPIRITS

00

5 OFF

$

Any Wine Purchase of $50 or more

00

10 OFF

$

Any Wine Purchase of $100 or more

00

20 OFF

Any Wine Purchase of $200 or more

LIQUOR & WINE WAREHOUSE

LIQUOR & WINE WAREHOUSE

LIQUOR & WINE WAREHOUSE

Must present coupon. 1 coupon per person/visit. No photocopies. Excludes Bartenura.

Cannot be combined with any other offer. Offer expires 3/28/16.

JS

Must present coupon. 1 coupon per person/visit. No photocopies. Excludes Bartenura.

Cannot be combined with any other offer. Offer expires 3/28/16.

JS

Must present coupon. 1 coupon per person/visit. No photocopies. Excludes Bartenura.

Cannot be combined with any other offer. Offer expires 3/28/16.

JS

Herzog Jeunesse

Soreka

Cabernet

Cabernet

750ml

Twin Suns

$

$

9.49

GREAT NEW WINE, UNBELIEVABLE PRICE!

22.99

/btl

Must Present Coupon. Exp. 3/28/16. Not To Be Combined.

750ml

JS

$

11.99

/btl

Must Present Coupon. Exp. 3/28/16. Not To Be Combined.

Cabernet

JS

750ml

/btl

Must Present Coupon. Exp. 3/28/16. Not To Be Combined.

Domaine Ventura

Segals Fusion

Walders

Cabernet or Merlot

Red or White

Vodka & Vanilla / Scotch & Coffee

$

$

22.99

11.49

/btl

750ml

Must Present Coupon. Exp. 3/28/16. Not To Be Combined.

JS

750ml

$

Must Present Coupon. Exp. 3/28/16. Not To Be Combined.

Lavie

Glenfiddich

Chocolate or Chocolate Mint Liqueur

Scotch

$

12 Yr

15.99 750ml

750ml JS

200 ml

Must Present Coupon. Exp. 3/28/16. Not To Be Combined. JS

Widow Jane

$

15 Yr

55.99

$

12.99 750ml

6.99

Bourbon

14 Yr $

$

750 ml JS

45.99 $ 62.99 54.99

$

/btl

Must Present Coupon. Exp. 3/28/16. Not To Be Combined.

17.99

/btl

JS

750ml

750ml

Must Present Coupon. Exp. 3/28/16. Not To Be Combined.

JS

/btl

Must Present Coupon. Exp. 3/28/16. Not To Be Combined.

New York’s Finest and Largest Selection of Kosher Wines & Spirits 343 Rockaway Tpke. s Lawrence, NY s Tel: (516) 371-1133 Hours: Mon - Wed 10 am - 8 pm s Thurs - Sat 10 am - 9 pm s Sun 12 pm - 7 pm NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR TYPOGRAPHICAL OR PRICING ERRORS

JS

828298

$

FREE

March 18, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 8 Adar II 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

18

JEWISH STAR Schools HAFTR preps 3d mission to Poland In preparation for their upcoming mission to Poland, HAFTR High School hosted Itel Landau last Monday.

In April, Rabbi Gedaliah Oppen, High School Judaic principal, will lead the third annual Abe Scharf Memorial Poland Mission to the camps in Poland as well as other important sites in Europe. Together with Rabbi Moshe Hubner, popular rebbe and noted author, the mission aims to convey to the students the history of the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, and pre-war life in Europe. In preparation for this mission.

The students were extremely fortunate to be addressed by Mrs. Landau, great-aunt of Rabbi Baruch Fogel, a high school rebbe. A native of Vishov (ViĹ&#x;eu de Sus in Northern Romania), Mrs. Landau described her childhood and shared a picture of her second grade Bais Yaakov class. She also showed pictures from the townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s yeshiva to impart to the students the vibrancy of the pre-war Jewish life in her town.

From her escaping the factory and ghetto in Debrecin where she was being held to her chance to ďŹ&#x201A;ee to Romania, Mrs. Landau communicated what life was like for the Jews in Hungary in the spring of 1944. One student remarked that after many hours of learning about ghettos and deportation, it was clariďŹ ed in her mind now that she can understand that it was also a story of each and every person that lived and suffered it.

Mrs. Landau described her experience enroute to, and in, Auschwitz. The students were moved by her description of her experiences. She described how she and some family members were sent to a forced labor camp, and how they were eventually liberated by the Americans.

One story in particular had a profound effect on the students. Mrs. Landau told the students that during Pesach 1945, she and her family refused to eat bread even though they

were emaciated and starving. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The enjoyment of being able to keep Pesach as well as show the Germans who was really in charge was much greater than eating,â&#x20AC;? she said.

Mrs. Landau ended her speech with her personal post-Holocaust story, as well as imparting what she believes is the most important lesson for the students to take with them.

She told them how at one point in Debrecin, she noticing that it was devoid of people and life after the Jews had been rounded up to the ghetto. She began to sing a song that her sister used to sing.

The words of the song were Netzach Yisroel Lo Yishaker from Sefer Shmuel, which loosely translated means that the Jewish people are eternal. She said â&#x20AC;&#x153;I did not know if I would survive, but I knew that the Jewish people are eternal.â&#x20AC;? She then turned to the students and declared, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and that is what YOU are today; you are Netzach Yisroel Lo Yishaker.â&#x20AC;?

0UV ,WHO /DQGDX ZLWK PLVVLRQ SDUWLFLSDQW &KD\D 1HFKDPD 2SSHQ

DRS winning mock trials 'DYLV 5HQRY 6WDKOHUœV PRFN WULDO WHDP HQMR\HG DQ XQGHIHDWHG VHDVRQ DQG PDGH LW WR WKH ³6ZHHW ´ RI WKH 1DVVDX &RXQW\ VFKRROV FRPSHWLWLRQ )URP OHIW <HKXGD %HQKDPX 1DWKDQ 3H\PDQ %HQ\DPLQ %RUW] 6UXOL )UXFKWHU (OL 3HUO DQG (LWDQ .DV]RYLW]

After an undefeated regular season of mock trial competitions, the Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys in Woodmere won in the ďŹ rst round of the Nassau County playoffs and were a tough out in the second round, where they lost to Massapequa High School.

Team members sustained a season of success ďŹ rst through tryouts at the beginning of the school year; an exhibition match and then roles are selected ranging from prosecutors, defense lawyers and witnesses.

Meeting in school as well as at night, the

Emunah at SKA

At MDS, a new world of STEM In preparation for the STEM classes they will be leading this semester, Manhattan Day School math and science teachers had a unique opportunity to participate in a two-day hands-on robotics program. The lesson included everything from construction of robots using Lego parts, batteries and sensors to programming the robots to move using programming software. The goal of this program was to introduce innovative and creative ways teachers can engage students in a new kind of hands-on learning across the curriculum. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Students will be programming their robots based upon authentic real-world problems of the 21st century,â&#x20AC;? says Associate Principal Judith Melzer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We hope to develop our students as global leaders and innovators.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was great being able to put ourselves in the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; shoes, and participate in this hands-on learning experience with colleagues,â&#x20AC;? says Allison Hus, third and fourth grade teacher. â&#x20AC;&#x153;By doing the project ourselves, we were able to understand it better and learn from our mistakes with this new educational tool.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intellectually and visually challenging, innovative and fun,â&#x20AC;? says Miryam Alter, math teacher.

The professional development session was led by leaders of a program called Vista Teach, a company which uses Lego Education Robotics and makes practical teaching applications for teachers.

12 team members are coached by Dr. Janice Oliver and assisted by practicing attorney Elliot Blumenthal.

Eli Perl captains the prosecution squad, Eitan Kaszovitz is assistant captain and Nathan Peyman also argues cases. Prosecution witnesses are Benyamin Bortz, Yehuda Benhamu and Sruli Fruchter.

The Defense lawyers are squad captain Michael Fagin, assistant captain Yoni Gutenmacher and Dovi Schlossberg. Yosef Kaminetsky, Joe Greenberg and Shlomo Schwartz are the defense team witnesses.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m really excited to watch the students practice their trial and error skills in learning robotics,â&#x20AC;? says Shani Beilin, special education teacher. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We look forward to utilizing this training to help the students of MDS in this exciting new wave of science, engineering and mathematics.â&#x20AC;?

Manhattan Day School is a Modern Orthodox day school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Seeing Yad Hashem in our everyday lives was the theme of a unique Yom Iyun held at the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls on Tuesday, March 1. As SKA Head of School Helen Spirn noted in her letter sent home to parents, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Emunah is a fundamental principle of yahadut and what we embrace as religious Jews, but the world we live in can pose many challenges, especially to adolescents.â&#x20AC;?

SKA students were privileged to hear from Shifra Rabenstein, a woman who combines her incredible life story with knowledge to inspire students all over the country. Following her powerful presentation, the students process and shared their thoughts in small groups with teachers and each other.

After viewing an inspiring video, a panel of faculty members answered questions about ton emunah and bitachon, relating past experiences and difďŹ culties they faced in their own lives.

SKA senior Esther Stern found that Mrs. Rabensteinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s words â&#x20AC;&#x153;deďŹ nitely put things in perspective. It was also interesting to see our teachers in a different light and was so moving to see how they cope and work on their own emunah.â&#x20AC;?

Special thanks go to Rabbi Yosef Zakutinsky, Elisheva Kaminetsky, Yafa Storch and Jordana Bienenfeld Mallin, who with the support of SKA faculty and staff, created this meaningful program for the development and growth of the students.

A milestone at the North Shore Hebrew Academy (NSHA) Middle School, in Great Neck, will be reached when 19 students, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, chant Megillat Esther for their schoolmates, faculty and families, on Purim.

Over the past 15 years, more than 250 students at the NSHA have been instructed

by Dr. Paul Brody, a dermatologist by profession, (back row, third from left). This unique program enables students to read the Megillah at various shuls, hospitals, nursing homes and private homes, for those unable to attend public readings.

Middle School Principal, Rabbi Adam Acobas and the head of school, Rabbi Jeffrey Kobrin (back row, at far right), facilitate the students’ hectic schedules to enable adequate review time with Dr. Brody.

The students have attained a distinctive accomplishment, joining a small, qualified group who possess the knowledge to publicly chant the Megillah. Dr. Brody, who has read the Megillah for over 40 years, chanted it at the Great Synagogue in Leningrad in 1985, despite great peril; the gabboyim were actually members of the KGB!

Perfect DRS downs LA, wins YU Sarachek tournament Yeshiva University’s milestone 25th Annual Red Sarachek Invitational Basketball Tournament finished with a bang on Monday as the Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School Wildcats of Woodmere beat the Shalhevet High School Firehawks of Los Angeles, to win the tournament’s championship game 47 to 32. The win capped a perfect season for DRS. More than 20 yeshiva high school teams from across North America took part in the annual tournament, named for the legendary Bernard “Red” Sarachek, YU’s former longtime men’s basketball coach, from March 10–14.

Israel’s Ambassador of Goodwill, Jewish Hall of Fame athlete Tal Brody, paid tribute to Coach Sarachek and spoke to students and fans during the tournament. Sarachek also included a lively Shabbaton and tours of the university’s Manhattan campus to provide young all-stars with an inside look at YU’s unique educational environment and culture.

“Where else but at Yeshiva University can Jewish teens from communities throughout North America enjoy each other’s company and play serious basketball in a strong

Jewish environment?” said Rabbi Kenneth Brander, vice president for university and community life at YU. Other participating schools this year included, from the New York area, Rambam Mesivta of Lawrence, The Frisch School, Torah Academy of Bergen County, and Yeshiva University High School for Boys/Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy. Participants from elsewhere in North America included the Atlanta Jewish Academy, Cooper Yeshiva HS of Memphis, Fuchs Mizrachi School of Cleveland, Hebrew Academy of Montreal, Ida Crown Jewish Academy of Chicago, Kohelet Yeshiva High School of Philadelphia, Maimonides School of Brookline, Rabbi Alexander S. Gross Hebrew Academy of Miami, Robert M. Beren Academy of Houston, Southern California Yeshiva High School of San Diego, Valley Torah High School of Valley Village, CA, Yeshiva High School of Boca Raton, and Yeshiva University High School of Los Angeles.

For complete tournament coverage, visit macslive.com.

Rambam men help make a minyan

Davening with a minyan is one of the most basic and widespread practices among Jews throughout the world; yeshivas and shuls offer three minyanim a day as part of the regular schedule. The talmidim at Rambam Mesivta expanded this vital tradition to ensure that other shuls and programs have a daily minyan as well.

Groups of Rambam volunteers have fanned out to provide the “men” for a minyan at the Young Israel of North Woodmere and Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence. Last week on Rosh Chodesh Adar II, 20 boys provide ruach at Kulanu in a reverse inclusion minyan.

They frequently attend and fill in as needed when there is a need for a family that is sitting shiva.

Rambam’s Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, said, “If any family needs our boys to come all they have to do is call us, and if there is a way to make it work, we will.”

This week, Rambam along with other local yeshiva high schools, begin participating in the initiative of helping a group of students at Lawrence High School have daily Shacharit services.

THE JEWISH STAR March 18, 2016 • 8 Adar II 5776

No. Shore’s ‘gantze megillah,’ 15 years running

19

Plaza Auto PAL Leasing

BS”D

CALL 718-975-9000 2750 Nostrand Ave Corner of Ave N Brooklyn NY 11210

WE SELL, LEASE & FINANCE

ALL MAKES AND MODELS www.PlazaAutoLeasing.com

WHEN ADAR COMES IN, SO DO THE SALES! LIMITED TIME OFFER!

MUST TAKE DELIVERY BY 3/31/2016! CALL 718-975-9000 2016 HYUNDAI SONATA

ONLY $149/mo

$5,000 DAMAGE WAVER AVAILABLE! Features: Backup camera, Bluetooth, Power Windows and Door Locks

2016 HYUNDAI ELANTRA

ONLY $125/mo

$5,000 DAMAGE WAIVER AVAILABLE! Features: XM Radio, Security Alarm, Power Windows and Door Locks

2016 HONDA ODYSSEY LX

ONLY $269/mo

DAMAGE WAIVER INCLUDED!

Features: Backup Camera, Bluetooth, Power Driver Seat

CALL ABOUT 2016 HONDA PILOT AND TOYOTA HIGHLANDER!

IN STOCK! ALL MODELS!

ARE YOU A PAL YET?

All Leases 36 months/10k miles per year. Elantra deal requires lease conquest or loyalty. Due at signing 1st month, applicable taxes, bank fee, registration fees. Expires 3/31/2016. DCA #1312589 DMV #7084665

825649

March 18, 2016 • 8 Adar II 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

20