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Students from HALB’s Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys in Woodmere, were among students from around the state who joined the Orthodox Union’s Teach Advocacy Network as lobbyists-for-a-day in Albany last week. They’re accompanied by Rabbi Ephraim Polakoff, 12th grade rebbe at DRS. Other photos from OU’s day in Albany are on pages 13 and 16.

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Far Rock’s Rav Pelcovitz zt”l

The Jewish Star’s Kosher Bookworm columnist, Alan Jay Gerber, is joined by Rabbi Dr. Shnayer Leiman is remembering Far Rockaway’s Rav Raphael Pelcovitz zt”l, who passed away last Wednesday at age 97. See page 25.

Anthony Scaramucci was presented with The Friend of Zion Award by (from left) NCYI President Farley Weiss, Journal and Dinner Coordinator Judah Rhine, and NCYI First Vice President Dr. Joseph Frager. Ira Thomas Creations

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Seven-hundred supporters of the National Council of Young Israel heard an upbeat political message, along with a reaffirmation of the group’s religious mission, at the organization’s annual gala last Thursday night in Terrace on the Park in Flushing.

“We thank President Trump for his love of Israel,” dinner chairman and NCYI First Vice President Dr. Joseph Frager said in opening remarks. Frager also thanked the president for commuting the egregious 27-year-long prison sentence of former Agriprocessors executive Sholom Rubashkin.

The gala saluted several worthy honorees, marked the 70th anni-

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Shabbos HaGadol • Parsha Tzav • March 23, 2018 • 7 Nissan 5778 • Luach page 24 • Torah columns pages 24–25 • Vol 17, No 13

By Elizabeth Kratz, JNS Hundreds of Jewish day-school students from around New York State streamed into the legislative chambers in Albany last Tuesday to advocate for increased state education funding for private schools.

Organized by the Orthodox Union’s Teach Advocacy Network — and accompanied by teachers, faculty, administrators, lay leaders and parents — the young lobbyists-for-a-day interacted with their state senators, assemblymembers, budget and finance chairs, and even the Senate majority leader. Students from several Long Island schools were among those participating.

Founded in 2013, the Teach Advocacy Network is the O.U.’s advocacy arm, created to pursue increases in state-funding assistance for private and parochial schools. Currently, it operates in six states — New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Florida and California — an area that encompasses between 80 percent and 90 percent of Jewish day-school students nationwide. New York’s advocacy arm is referred to as See OU lobby on page 13 “Teach NYS.”

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versary of the modern state of Israel, and cheered the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci received The Friend of Zion Award and delivered the evening’s keynote speech.

Master of Ceremonies David Drucker, senior editor of the Washington Examiner, introduced Nivia Rosemary Arauz Monzon, consul general of Guatemala, who was warmly welcomed by the crowd.

Guatemala’s president recently announced that his country also recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital See NCYI gala on page 8

Black Panther superhero is a Jewish creation

University: Making an Impact

By Gabe Friedman, JTA If you have checked in on the pop culture zeitgeist at all in the past few week, you know that the film “Black Panther” is breaking box office records and Hollywood assumptions about race.

The well-received Marvel flick was written and directed by African-Americans and features a mostly African-American cast anchored by Chadwick Boseman in the title role as a black superhero. But some fans might not realize that the original Black Panther character was actually created by two white Jews.

The superhero was the brainchild of writer Stan Lee (born Stanley Lieber) and artist Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg), who already were veterans of the comic book industry when they started working together at Marvel at the dawn of the 1960s. The first comic book series they produced in tandem was the Fantastic Four in 1961, but they would go on to create a slew of beloved superhero characters, from the Hulk to Iron Man to the XMen. Lee and Kirby’s Black Panther character debuted in July 1966, in a Fantastic Four comic strip (he would get his own series later in the 1970s). The leader of the fictional African country of Wakanda was the first black superhero featured in a mainstream comic book. In addition to having supernatural physical abilities (granted in part by a heart-shaped herb he eats), the Black Panther is a scientist with a degree from Oxford University. In the Marvel universe, Wakanda, which resisted Western colonization, is also the most technologically advanced nation on earth — a concept meant to shatter stereotypes about Africa.

Besides being a pop culture milestone, the Black Panther’s debut came at a crucial juncture in black-Jewish relations. The years after World War II and up to about 1966 (yes, that exact year, as explained below) have been referred to as a “golden age” in the relationship between the two groups. American Jews, who empathized with blacks as they themselves struggled to fit into white American society before and after the war, participated in the civil rights movement to an outsized extent, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. often praised Jews for their activism.

Jews “demonstrated their commitment to the principle of tolerance and brotherhood not only in the form of sizable contributions, but in many other tangible ways, and often at great personal sacrifice,” King said in 1965.

However, relations strained over time, as

Meet Dr. Eitan Okun, head of the Paul E.

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“From personal experience, I understand the heartbreak this disease causes families and loved ones, and I am relentless in my search to fight Alzheimer’s,” says Eitan Okun.

Prof. Okun is also working on more accurate methods to diagnose the disease earlier, as well as treatments to slow its progression. This research focuses on using MRI to catch the earliest signs of amyloid proteins in the brain.

Jews found their way into the upper echelons of America while blacks remained stifled in comparison, even after the passage of multiple civil rights bills in the 1960s. In October 1966, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale formed the Black Panther Party (which did not take its name from the character), and kick-started the Black Power movement, which scrutinized the ways that any whites — Jews included — interacted with blacks.

The aftermath of Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War subtly added to the groups’ separation. It was a turning point in the way that many groups — including blacks, who sympathized with other groups they considered oppressed — viewed Israel, and in turn some American Jews. In their eyes, Israel became another unjust colonial regime. Jews felt betrayed, as did blacks when some major Jewish groups began to oppose affirmative action.

So perhaps “Black Panther” represents an opportunity for healing. The film’s creators and a number of black writers have been praising Lee and Kirby for reaching out to non-white audiences and imagining an empowered African culture free from colonialism. Coogler called them “amazing” in an interview last week. Reginald Hudlin, who over a decade ago wrote a Black Panther TV series, called the duo’s character “perfect.” Stephen Bush, writing in the New Statesman, called them “genius.”

As for Lee, who is now 95, he has been rooting for the Black Panther film for a while.

“Congratulations @marvelstudios, #RyanCoogler, and the entire cast & crew on the soaring success of Black Panther! What a thrill it is to be able to witness all the records this dynamic, thoughtful movie is smashing,” he tweeted.

So perhaps it’s time to celebrate the message of reconciliation that “Black Panther” represents, just like Kirby — who passed away in 1994 — might have done. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kirby’s family compared him to Bernie Sanders, saying that he would have been delighted to see the character empower such a wide audience.

“A black superhero with both amazing mental as well as physical powers, from a technologically advanced society in Africa, sends as strong a message now as it did over 50 years ago,” Kirby’s granddaughter Jillian said in a interview cited by THR. “Today, my grandfather’s message will reach tens of millions of people of all races and nationalities, a concept my grandfather could never have conceived of.”

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At David’s Tower: Let there be (even more) light!

By Eliana Rudee, JNS The Tower of David may be 2,000 years old, but some of its most spectacular features are now brand-new. Cutting-edge technology is used to present Jerusalem’s story to a whopping 400,000 visitors per year.

These developments include a recently launched innovation lab; a renewed and expanded Kishle building, featuring layers of Jerusalem’s history; and the tower’s second light and sound show that will open to the public on April 1 (no fooling!).

Each of these upgrades boost the museum experience through sound, light, music, dance, drama and digital technologies.

Museums today must curate engaging messages for audiences, rather than simply expose to artifacts, explained Caroline Shapiro, director of international public relations for the Tower of David Museum. “Technology today is a huge part of that.”

As such, the Tower of David opened an innovation lab in January — the first of its kind in Israel — that seeks to integrate, pilot and develop tech solutions to support and enhance the visitor experience. For start-ups and industry leaders, it offers a workspace, equipment and a real time beta site; for guests, the use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) revolutionizes the museum experience and engages attendees in the digital age.

“It is the only innovation lab in the world to be housed in a tower built 2,000 years ago,” boasts Eilat Lieber, director and chief curator of the Tower of David Museum. “This building was the technology of the past, and in this building, we see the technology of the future. By using the right technology, history will come alive.”

“It’s like the VR of Birthright,” says innovation lab director Devora Mason. “Unlike 2D images, virtual reality creates empathy, so this could make people connect with Israel even further.”

Another upgrade to the museum that will use AR/VR technology is an expanded Kishle building, including a new opening in the outer wall constructed in January as a first step in establishing a world-class, multi-media archaeological center in the Kishle.

The Kishle building was erected as a military compound in 1834 by Egyptian ruler Ibrahim Pasha and later used as a prison during the British Mandate period.

The vision is to transform Kishle into a large visitor site, highlighting the archeological center within the historic structure alongside a new, two-story entrance and exhibition gallery building with modern conveniences, and plenty of space for lectures and events.

According to Jerusalem’s chief archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority Amit Re’em, the goal is to appeal to the young generation. “In my dreams, I see holograms rising from Herod’s retaining wall and speaking directly to the guests,” he tells JNS. “While we must be careful to keep it as a respectable site, we must also play the game of AR/VR to explain these ancient remains.”

Last, but not least, the new sound and light show at the Tower of David is set to open to the public on Sunday, April 1.

The first “Night Spectacular” opened in October 2008, portraying the story of Jerusalem through images, characters, color, light and sound projected onto the tower’s walls. To date, the show has attracted more than 2 million guests, illuminating archeological ruins and hidden pathways of the citadel for guests in an enveloping multi-sensory experience.

The new Tower of David presentation, together with the Israel Ministry of Tourism and the Jerusalem Municipality, tells the story of the David as he goes from shepherd to king.

It features the work of Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse and Michelangelo in a tribute to the

Introductory scenes to the new Tower of David Night Spectacular that opens on April 1.

The Kishle Building (left) and Jerusalem Chief Archaeologist Amit Re’em atop the Kishle Exhibit.

artists, painters and sculptors who immortalized the image of Jerusalem’s King David. It makes use of 20 speakers projecting an original musical soundtrack written by Étienne Perruchon, in addition to 18 powerful new laser projectors that will illuminate the citadel with 250,000 lumens and 35 million pixels in vibrant and high-definition images under the Jerusalem sky.

Ariela Rajuan, director of the Jerusalem Mu-

Eliana Rudee

nicipality’s Culture and Leisure Administration, says “the new night experience will continue to turn Jerusalem into an attractive and successful city.”

Likewise, Director-General of Israel’s Tourism Ministry Amir Halevy calls the new-andimproved features at the Tower of David a “very important product” that will keep up Jerusalem’s tourism momentum and offer “one more reason to stay another night in Jerusalem.”

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JERUSALEM (JTA) — Early on Monday, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, criticized the Palestinian Authority for not condemning two terror attacks in recent days that left three Israelis dead.

Later that day, at the opening of a Palestinian leadership meeting, P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas called Friedman a “son of a dog” and a “settler” after noting that the ambassador views settlements as legitimate and supported them as a private citizen, the Times of Israel reported.

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bic, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Friedman responded while at an anti-Semitism conference in Jerusalem using a stronger term, the Jerusalem Post reported. He added: “Anti-Semitism or political discourse?

I leave this up to you.”

“Tragedy in Israel,” Friedman wrote in his original remarks on Twitter very early Monday morning. “2 young soldiers, Netanel Kahalani and Ziv Daos, murdered in the North, and father of 4, Adiel Kolman, murdered in Jerusalem, by Palestinian terrorists. Such brutality and no condemnation from the PA! I pray for the families and the wounded — so much sadness.”

Kolman was stabbed by a Palestinian assailant from the West Bank on Sunday afternoon and succumbed to his injuries that night. Kahalani and Daos were killed in a carramming attack in the West Bank on Friday in which two other soldiers were seriously injured.

Jason Greenblatt, the top Trump administration Middle East peace negotiator, reacted to Abbas’ vitriol by saying that the Palestinian president must choose between “hateful rhetoric” and peace.

“The time has come for President Abbas to choose between hateful rhetoric and concrete and practical efforts to improve the quality of life of his people and lead them to peace and prosperity,” Jason Greenblatt said in a statement emailed Monday afternoon to reporters.

“Notwithstanding his highly inappropriate insults against members of the Trump administration, the latest iteration being his insult of my good friend and colleague Ambassador Friedman, we are committed to the Palestinian people and to the changes that must be implemented for peaceful coexistence,” Greenblatt said.

“We are finalizing our plan for peace and we will advance it when circumstances are right.”

President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, leads a three-person team seeking to restart Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

The other two members are Greenblatt and Friedman, and Abbas has made clear his dislike for Friedman in the past. In January, Abbas in a speech called Friedman a “settler” and swore never to meet with him.

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From left: Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, director of government relations for the Agudah; Dr. Pedram Bral, mayor of Great Neck; Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz, Agudah’s vice president of community services; Leon Goldenberg, member of the Agudah board of trustees; Mehran Hakimian, former president of the Great Neck Mashadi community, and New York State Senate Majority Leader John J. Flanagan.

Moshe Gershbaum

School security, tuition relief, mandated services and other issues of importance to the Jewish community were discussed at an Agudath Israel of America legislative breakfast last Sunday in Great Neck.

Co-hosted by Senator Elaine Phillips and featuring state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, over four dozen members of the local Persian-Jewish community heard about the Agudah’s ongoing activities that include advocating for the private school community as the finishing touches are put on the state’s annual budget.

Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz, Agudah vice president of community services, spoke about the organization’s close ties to the Perisan-Jewish community, particularly the accomplishments of its Iranian Rescue Committee, which evacuated a number of those in attendance from the Khomeini regime more than 30 years ago.

Rabbi Lefkowitz was introduced by Jonathan Hazghiyan, son of David and Jila Hazghiyan at whose home the event took place.

Dr. Pedram Bral, mayor of Great Neck, spoke about modifying guidelines for the state’s 529 savings accounts to match the newly broadened federal program in order to provide parents of children in grades K through 12 with tuition relief. Bral also emphasized the importance of beefing up security at all state schools.

Anti-BDS legislation and a bill that would make Holocaust education mandatory in all New York State high schools were two ongoing projects mentioned by state Senator Elaine Phillips, whose northwest Nassau County district includes Great Neck. Phillips praised the Agudah for its efforts, noting that Agudah advocates are in her office so frequently that at times it feels as if they are part of her staff.

Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan also emphasized the importance of ensuring the safety of every student in New York State and reiterated his support of anti-BDS legislation. Noting that he is one of the so-called “three people in the room” during state budget negotiations, Flanagan said that he was well acquainted with the pressing issues that affect the Jewish community and that he intended to be a strong advocate on those matters.

“I have your back,” he said.

The breakfast was well attended, noted Rabbi Lefkowitz, with many prominent local activists taking advantage of the opportunity to share their concerns with elected officials.

“It was clear that 529s and school security are both very high on the list of priorities and those who joined us were grateful for a vehicle to convey to the senate majority leader what they

would like to see included in the upcoming New York State budget,” said Rabbi Lefkowitz.

He invoked the legacy of the late Agudah president, Rabbi Moshe Sherer, whose advocacy efforts to reimburse non-public schools for mandated services continue to bear fruit today.

Leon Goldenberg, a member of the Agudah’s board of trustees, said that the breakfast was yet another shining example of the Agudah’s continued commitment to its goal of advocating for every member of Klal Yisroel. That mission, observed Goldenberg, can only be realized when community members do their part to interface with elected officials and other local leaders.

“Our community is fortunate to have such good friends in Albany and we look forward to continue working with them in the future,” said Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, director of New York government relations for the Agudah.

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NCYI gala…

Continued from page 8 and will move its embassy there.

Sander Gerber, CEO of Hudson Bay Capital and architect of the Taylor Force Act, talked about his advocacy efforts to pass that landmark legislation. In a somber tone, he noted how the P.A. celebrated after Taylor Force was murdered by terrorists.

“For the Palestinian Authority, it was normal, but for the Force family, it was not normal,” he said.

When Stuart Force, father of Taylor Force, was introduced, he was greeted with a standing ovation. He stated that Taylor, who was the first person in their family to travel to Israel — the family is not Jewish — did so after being deeply affected by a tour he took of Auschwitz and being positively influenced by a close Jewish friend.

As he concluded his remarks, Force noted that his family was looking forward to watching President Trump sign the Taylor Force Act into law following its passage by the full Senate, which he hopes will happen soon.

ZOA President Morton Klein spoke about the historic significance of Jerusalem to the Jewish nation and its lack of such import to Muslims.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said “We cannot tolerate any increase in anti-Semitism” and “never should we allow our children to be a party to hate.”

Each of the honorees addressed the crowd in a tribute video, in which they expressed the tremendous impact that the NCYI has had on their lives and their communities.

The honorees included Kenneth S. Abramowitz, managing general partner and co-founder of NGN Capital; Morty and Rozi Davis, owner and chairman of D.H. Blair Investment Banking Corp. and Chairman of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce; Michael and Susan Gross, active members of the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst; Drs. Robert and Jennifer

Honorees are seated, from left: Helen Freedman, Dr. Jennifer Lebovits, Dr. Robert Lebovits, Michael Gross, Susan Gross, Duvi Honig, Cindy Grosz, Morton Davis, Ken Abramowitz, Stanley Sved, Yocheved Sved. Standing, from left: Farley Weiss, Judah Rhine, Anthony Scaramucci, Dr. Joseph Frager.

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Lebovits, active members of the Young Israel of Greater Pittsburgh, Stanley Sved, former president of the Young Israel of Elkins Park and the Young Israel of the Main Line and former regional vice president of the NCYI; Rabbi Yosef Singer, spiritual leader of the Young Israel of Potomac and president of the Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington; Rabbi Duvi Honig, founder of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce and the non-profit Parnassah Network organization; Helen Freedman, co-executive director of Americans for a Safe Israel; and Cindy Grosz, a pro-Israel and education activist.

NCYI Executive Director Rabbi Marc Volk spoke about the NCYI’s historic and contemporary role, referencing its regional conferences which give Young Israel synagogues the unique opportunity to share ideas and experiences and collaborate on projects, as well as programs aimed at teaching college students how to properly address anti-Israel attitudes and anti-Semitism they may encounter at school.

Left: Stuart Force, father of Taylor Force, whose tragic death led to the landmark legislative effort to defund Palestinian Authority over its support of terrorists, with Sander Gerber, architect of the Taylor Force Act. Above: NCYI Executive Director Rabbi Marc Volk.

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Settlements, Orthodox power worry Lauder WASHINGTON — Ronald Lauder, an outspoken pro-Trump conservative and longtime advocate for the Jewish state, said this week that Israeli government policies threaten the country’s democratic character and even its existence.

Openly breaking with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an op-ed published Monday in the New York Times, Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, pressed hard for a twostate solution — a significant stance because the cosmetics billionaire has the ear of President Donald Trump, who is about to unveil a Middle East peace proposal.

“The Jewish democratic state faces two grave threats that I believe could endanger its very existence,” Lauder wrote. “The first threat is the possible demise of the two-state solution.

I am conservative and a Republican, and I have supported the Likud party since the 1980s. But the reality is that 13 million people live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. And almost half of them are Palestinian.”

Much of the column was an excoriation of Netanyahu’s policy in terms more commonly heard on the pro-Israel left, including the argument that Israel cannot be both a Jewish state and a democracy unless it relinquises control of the lives of the Palestinians living in the West Bank.

Lauder alluded to his closeness to Trump and to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and implicitly chided Netanyahu for his repeated claims that the only thing obstructing peace is Palestinian recalcitrance.

“President Trump and his team are wholly committed to Middle East peace,” Lauder said.

“Contrary to news media reports, senior Pales-

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tinian leaders are, they have personally told me, ready to begin direct negotiations immediately.”

Lauder also objected to the control that the Orthodox in Israel have over a range of issues including marriage and organized prayer at the Western Wall.

“By submitting to the pressures exerted by a minority in Israel, the Jewish state is alienating a large segment of the Jewish people,” he said.

“The crisis is especially pronounced among the younger generation, which is predominantly secular.”

Lauder was close to Netanyahu for decades, backing him during his first run for prime minister in 1996 and defending him in Diaspora arenas. Over the past several years, there have been signs that they have grown apart, stemming from Lauder’s refusal seven years ago to block a report unflattering to Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, that was broadcast on an Israeli television channel in which Lauder had a part ownership stake.

Lauder, chairman emeritus of the Estée Lauder cosmetic empire and president of the World Jewish Congress since 2007, has also been one of the most consistent voices of support for Trump in the Jewish community. The two have been friends since the 1980s, when they both emerged as influential moguls on the New York political and social scenes.

In 2001, Lauder, then chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations drewsharp criticism from the body’s constituent groups when he appeared at a rally in Israel against the then government’s proposed peace plan and its concessions to the Palestinians. —JTA

Joyous Purim at Bais Yehudah Tzvi Purim at Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi in Cedarhurst was a joyous affair, as Rav Yaakov Feitman danced with Rav Yochanan Cohen, Rav Dov Silver, and members of his kehillah.

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March 23, 2018 • 7 Nissan 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

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A councilman in Washington, D.C., has apologized for suggesting on Facebook that rich Jews who control the weather caused an unexpected snowstorm.

Democrat Trayon White Sr. posted a video early Friday morning in which he accused “the Rothschilds” of controlling the climate to make money — an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that has gained traction on web. He later removed the video, and issued an apology.

Pole says Jews chose ghetto life

The Rothschilds are a well-known European Jewish dynasty descended from a Jewish banker originally from Germany.

In the video, White said: “Man, it just started snowing out of nowhere this morning, man. Y’all better pay attention to this climate control, man, this climate manipulation. And D.C. keep talking about, ‘We a resilient city.’ And that’s a model based off the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters they can pay for to own the cities, man. Be careful.”

Internet conspiracy theorists claim that the Rockefeller Foundation’s Resilient Cities initiative, which provides grants to cities, including Washington, to address environmental and economic problems, is part of a plot to control and reduce the population of North America. And some conspiracy theorists also think the Roth-

schilds, working together with the Rockefellers, have technology to control the weather.

A YouTube video by a a Northern California conspiracy monger, claiming that the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers are part of a “genocide program,” has been viewed over 55,000 times.

White told the Washington Post, which called him for comment, that the video “says what it says” and expressed surprise that his remarks were considered anti-Semitic. He sent an apology to the newspaper for the post four hours after it appeared.

“I work hard every day to combat racism and prejudices of all kinds. I want to apologize to the Jewish Community and anyone I have offended,” he said in a text message. “The Jewish community have been allies with me in my journey to help people. I did not intend to be anti-Semitic,

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A former Polish politician who is the father of the country’s prime minister said that Jews during the Holocaust moved to ghettos of their own accord to get away from non-Jewish Poles.

Kornel Morawiecki, a former senator whose son, Mateusz, became prime minister last year, made the remark in an interview published Tuesday by the online magazine Kultur Liberaln.

“Do you know who chased the Jews away to the Warsaw Ghetto? The Germans, you think?

No. The Jews themselves went because they were told that there would be an enclave, that they would not have to deal with those nasty Poles,” said Kornel Morawiecki.

The Polish prime minister’s father also touched on alleged Jewish complicity in the Nazi-led genocide against the Jews. He spoke of the Zagiew ring of Jewish informants that the Germans used to infiltrate resistance groups.

“Who sent Jews to the Umschlagplatz?” Kornel Morawiecki asked, using the German word for places, often city squares, where Jews were rounded up to be deported to death camps. “Did the Germans do it? No! The Jewish police were on the Umschlagplatz!”

Leading scholars of the Holocaust rejected drawing parallels between Jewish and Polish collaborators with Germans, citing the fact that the former were prisoners destined for extermination and the latter were occupied civilians who by and large were allowed to lead their daily lives unless they violated Nazis laws. —JTA

For inquiries:

and I see I should not have said that after learning from my colleagues.”

White said that the Jews United for Justice, a group that advocates for progressive causes and which endorsed him in 2016, was “helping me to understand the history of comments made against Jews and I am committed to figuring out ways continue to be allies with them and others.”

A City Council colleague, Brianne Nadeau, a Democrat who is Jewish and represents the district’s diverse 1st Ward, said in a Facebook post that White had reached out to her to apologize and “expressed his sincere regret, I believe, for having offended members of the Jewish community.”

“I believe he is being truthful when he says he didn’t realize what his statement implied,” Nadeau added. —JTA

THE JEWISH STAR March 23, 2018 • 7 Nissan 5778

Councilman says ‘Rothschilds’ control weather

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Students lobby… funding increases. First, they lobbied for an increase in funding for school security—a topic that is front and center for all families these days in light of the mass school shooting in Parkland, Fla. The second request, Fagin said, added on to a historic achievement made last year by Teach NYS: “To partially fund STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs in private schools. Funds were allocated last year to reimburse private and parochial schools for the cost of STEM teachers. To our knowledge, not only was it the first for New York state, but a first anywhere in the U.S. We sought to expand on last year’s advocacy to extend STEM education.”

Fagin noted that the STEM request, in particular, got a favorable, enthusiastic reception.

“Representatives from the governor’s office and budget department really understand the importance of STEM education in the lives of every See OU lobbies on page 16

Maury Litwack (left), executive director of the Teach Advocacy Network, and state Senate Majority Leader John J. Flanagan (center) participate in a panel discussion during last week’s Teach NYS event in Albany.

Photos by Semeraro Photography

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COCKTAIL RECEPTION Eighth graders from Manhattan Day School, on the Upper West Side, turned out to support Teach NYS and lobby their lawmakers.

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Boys and girls from the Yeshiva of Central Queens joined the OU advocacy effort.

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These girls from ASHAR — the Adolph H. Schreiber Hebrew Academy of Rockland, in New City — joined with Teach NYS in lobbying for a day in Albany.

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THE JEWISH STAR March 23, 2018 • 7 Nissan 5778

Continued from page 1 The primary focus of the day’s advocacy was on the need for equitable education dollars for students who attend private schools in New York, which comprise 15 percent of the total students educated in the state.

Parents pay the same taxes as those whose children attend public schools; however, private schools receive less than 1 percent of state funding.

“New York state spends $20,000 per student to provide a public-school education for every child, and there are about 400,000 non-public students in New York state. That’s $10 billion dollars a year that they don’t spend,” said Allen Fagin, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, in an interview with JNS after the event. “As a matter of fundamental fairness, some reasonable portion of that savings should be used for private-school students whose parents are also paying taxes.”

Fagin shared that the students advocated in Albany for two targeted

13

March 23, 2018 • 7 Nissan 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

14

The JEWISH STAR

Wine & Dine

Pesach desserts: Old favorites and new treats JONI SCHOCKETT KOSHER KITCHEN

W

hen it comes to Passover desserts, there is no shortage of recipes and ideas. Ever since balaboostas began to create desserts other than sponge cake, macaroons, and stewed prunes, the world of kosher cooking has exploded with the most delicious and decadent dessert recipes for this week-long holiday. I could make a new Passover dessert every day of the entire year and still not cover all the excellent recipes I have read or my family’s favorite choices.

This leads to one of many Passover dilemmas; what desserts will I make?

The desserts for Passover are the crowning glory of a glorious meal. From deep chocolate flourless tortes, to light and airy meringues, almond cookies, pies, tarts and crumbles, the selection is endless and the temptation to make too many is over-whelming.

To add to the dilemma, each year newer and more delectable desserts make their ways into the pages of new cookbooks or the Internet or even on Facebook. Yes, I found a delicious recipe on Facebook that I have made several times.

The dilemma grows with each new and creative recipe that crosses my path or that I create. I have yet to make a recipe exactly as it is written. My mother called it my stubborn streak of never doing what I am told. I like to think of it as being creative and making each recipe I read my own.

My organizational style helps. I keep my seder menus in my computer and try to vary dishes from year to year. In addition, each year, I make a list of several dessert recipes; old favorites, new ones from the past few years and brand new ones I have created during the year or read in a new cookbooks.

This year, the list had 14 recipes!

There are only so many desserts anyone can make for the two seders, so which ones will I choose? Even my guests, mostly close relatives and dear friends, get in on the act, often asking during the weeks before, if I’m making some dessert they really liked For the past two years, I have sent a dessert list around and asked for votes. The winning results are presented after dinner at the seder. Everyone is happy and the winners feel especially honored! It’s a fun way to decide.

Hag Sameach or as my grandmother always said, “A Zissen Pesach.”

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake with Mocha Filling (Pareve)

This is your showstopper dessert for the seder. Make it up to 3 days before. It freezes perfectly and defrosts deliciously. Adapted from The Joy of Kosher.com COOKIE LAYERS: 1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) pareve margarine, softened

2-1/4 cups dark brown sugar 3/4 cup granulated sugar 3 large eggs 1-1/2 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract 3 (14-ounces each) bags ground walnuts 3 cups potato starch 3-1/2 cups chocolate chips or 3 cups mini chocolate chips CHOCOLATE OR MOCHA CREAM FILLING: 3 cups non-dairy whipped topping or heavy whipping cream 1-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract 10 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 1 cup (2 sticks) margarine OPTIONAL: 1 tbsp. coffee (2 heaping tsp. instant coffee mixed with 1 tbsp. boiled water) OPTIONAL: 1/4 cup white wine or Kosher l’Pesach Amaretto, coffee or chocolate liqueur COOKIE LAYERS: Place the softened margarine and the sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until completely blended.

Add the ground walnuts and potato starch and mix until completely combined.

Remove the bowl from the stand and mix in the chocolate chips. Place the dough in the freezer for one hour.

Correction

More online

The recipe in last week’s Who’s In The Kitchen column, “Plight of a Dashing Judy and her misplaced fob,” omitted this ingredient: 2 large egg whites, room temperature.

Visit TheJewishStar.com for a trove of recipes by our Kosher Kitchen columnist Joni Schockett and our Who’s In The Kitchen columnist Judy Joszef.

Line 6 rimmed baking sheets with parchment and set aside.

Scoop 1-1/2 cups of dough and form a ball. Place in the center of one of the cookie sheets. Flatten slightly. Return each sheet to the freezer and freeze for another hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place 2 or 3 frozen cookie dough trays in the oven and bake for 27 to 30 minutes, until center is set and the cookie is lightly golden.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Return to the freezer to cool completely.

Repeat with remaining cookie dough discs.

When all 6 cookies are completed, and in the freezer, make the filling.

CHOCOLATE OR MOCHA CREAM FILLING: Place the non-dairy whipped topping, the chocolate and the margarine in a medium saucepan and melt over medium heat stirring constantly. The mixture will look a bit curdled at this point. Add the vanilla and the coffee, if using. Mix to blend.

Cover and refrigerate until the mixture thickens and is completely cool, 6 to 8 hours or overnight.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer and install the wire whisk. Begin slowly and increase speed to high. Whip on high for 20 minutes or until the mixture becomes creamy and fluffy. Refrigerate for 2 hours and then rewhip for 3 minutes.

ASSEMBLY: Place the first cookie (I choose the largest one) on a large serving platter. If you like, you can brush the cookie with wine or Passover liqueur, like Almond or Coffee flavored.

Spread a few tablespoons of the filling on the cookie so that there is a 1.5 inch margin all around. Add a second cookie and repeat until all the cookies are used and then top with the remaining chocolate. Refrigerate until serving time. Remove from the refrigerator, 30 minutes before serving. Serves 8-12.

Apricot or Raspberry Almond Bars (Pareve or Dairy)

These are quick and easy and go well with tea or coffee through the week.

COOKIE BASE: 3/4 lb. butter or Passover pareve margarine, softened 3 extra-large eggs 1-1/2 cups sugar 2-1/4 cups cake meal 3/4 cup finely ground almonds or almond flour 4 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice 1-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract JAM FILLING: 20 ounces apricot preserves or raspberry preserves or half of both

3/4 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon or orange juice 3/4cup finely chopped almonds 1/2 cup slivered, blanched almonds Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Generously grease a 9x13 brownie pan.

Set aside.

Place margarine eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until blended.

Add the vanilla and lemon juice and beat until blended. Press all but 1-1/2 cups into the prepared pan. Set the 1-1/2 cups aside. Place in the oven and bake for 25-35 minutes until lightly golden.

Meanwhile, mix the apricot or raspberry jam with the lemon juice or orange juice to loosen it a bit. Spread over the base and set aside.

Mix the remaining dough with the chopped almonds and scatter evenly over the jam. Scatter the blanched almonds over the top and place back in the oven for an additional 30-35 minutes, until golden brown.

Let cool before cutting. Makes 24-36 bars.

Almond Coconut Tart with Chocolate Filling (Pareve)

Mark Bittman made a version of this. This one, more like a pie, has more filling and a delicious crust with a light toffee taste.

2-1/3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut or half ground almonds, half coconut 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup dark brown sugar 3-4 tbsp. butter or pareve, trans-fat-free margarine 2 eggs separated 1 egg yolk 1-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate 1 can full fat coconut milk Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9 inch pie plate. Set aside.

Melt the margarine and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix the coconut and sugars until blended. Add the vanilla, the melted margarine and two egg whites.

Mix well and press into the pie plate.

Bake for 15-25 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and let cool.

While the crust is baking, combine the chopped chocolate, the three egg yolks, the vanilla and the coconut milk.

Whisk constantly until the mixture is steaming, but not boiling. Do not let the mixture boil or it will separate. As soon as it begins to steam, whisk fairly vigorously another 10-20 seconds and remove from heat.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the shell and let cool completely.

Refrigerate until serving, preferably overnight. Garnish with whipped cream, pareve, whipped topping, chocolate curls, fresh raspberries, toasted coconut, sliced almonds.

Serves 8-12.

THE JEWISH STAR March 23, 2018 • 7 Nissan 5778

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Continued from page 13 student in the state,” he explained. “We highlighted the fact that STEM ed is a classic ‘winwin.’ It’s good for non-public schools, and it’s also a win for the state because it means that our kids are going to be well-educated in the kinds of fields required for the economy of the future. And in the process, they will become not only well-informed and productive citizens, but also be beneficial to the health of the state and its tax base.”

“We met with dozens of legislators—both from the New York State Senate and Assembly,” continued Fagin. “The kids had a wonderful opportunity to see and hear and participate in how state government works. It was a practical application of teaching how government works and how advocacy works,

State Senator Todd Kaminsky of the Five Towns and Assemblyman David Weprin of Queens address the Albany gathering.

Semeraro Photography

Orthodox Union Executive Vice President Allen Fagin speaks in Albany.

Semeraro Photography

and how we can work to move government in the direction we care about.”

In addition to individual legislative visits was a public session in which representatives from both sides of the aisle addressed the group as a whole. Legislators in attendance included Senate Majority Leader and John J. Flanagan (R-East Northport), Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach), Sen. Jeffrey D. Klein (D-Bronx), Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley (D-Brooklyn), Assemblywoman Carmen De La Rosa (DInwood), Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (DQueens), Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal (D-Queens), Assemblyman David I. Weprin (D-Queens) and New York Senate Finance Chair and State Sen. Cathy Young (R-Olean).

Following the speeches, the students and lay leaders broke into groups and went to the statehouse, where they met with more than 60 state legislators.

“I want to impart to you that the work that gets done [here] really is important,” Flanagan told the OU team. “Your advocacy—and I am particularly talking to the young boys and girls who are here—your personal advocacy makes a difference. You strengthen my resolve to work with my colleagues to ensure that your trip is productive in the short term and the long term.”

“For years, we were told by the leadership here in Albany that lobby missions are a gauge of how powerful an issue’s support is,” said Maury Litwack, executive director of the Teach Advocacy Network. “Today, we are sending the loudest, clearest message to Albany—our schools are here to stay, and we need full funding of the STEM program.”

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Please join as we pay tribute to the legacy of Rav Binyamin Kamenetzky, zt”l.

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This special evening will mark the re-dedication and re-naming of the Yeshiva that he founded and led for over six decades, as:

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First Torah reading in orbit and other fun facts

By Josefin Dolsten, JTA The Torah tells how G-d created the earth and the heavens, although the stories that follow tell us more about the former than the latter. A new exhibit doesn’t quite answer theological questions about space, but it does show the ways in which Jews have looked at, written about and traveled into the final frontier.

“Jews in Space: Members of the Tribe in Orbit,” named after a Mel Brooks gag, is an exhibit organized and on view at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan. It features both Yiddish and Hebrew books on astronomy and astrology, science fiction works created by Jews and sections on the history of Jewish astronauts.

During a tour given by Eddy Portnoy, YIVO’s senior researcher and director of exhibitions, who curated the collection with Melanie Meyers, JTA learned some unusual things about the relationship between Jews and the cosmos.

A book of horoscopes written in Yiddish.

Published in 1907 in Odessa, Ukraine, “The Revealer of That Which Is Hidden: A New Practical Book of Fate” gave Yiddish readers a view of astrology. Much like a modern-day horoscope, the book offered predictions based on the reader’s zodiac sign. Similar books existed both in Yiddish and Hebrew during the time period.

The first Jewish American to go into space was a woman.

Judith Resnik became the first Jewish American and second Jew (Soviet astronaut Boris Volynov was the first) to go into space when she flew on the maiden voyage of the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1984.

Born in 1949 to Jewish immigrants from Ukraine who settled in Ohio, Resnik worked as an engineer at the Xerox Corp. before being recruited to NASA in a program to diversify its workforce. She died in 1986 along with the rest of the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger

From left: A book from 1907 that contains horoscopes in Yiddish (Josefin Dolsten). Leonard Nimoy, as Spock on “Star Trek,” alongside co-star William Shatner (Pixabay). The science fiction magazine “Amazing Stories,” founded in 1926 by Hugo Gernsback (YIVO). Mission specialist Judith Resnik sending a message to her father from the shuttle Discovery on on its maiden voyage in 1984 (NASA/Space Frontiers/Getty Images).

when the spacecraft broke apart shortly after takeoff.

In 1985, a Jewish-American astronaut read from the Torah in space.

Jeffrey Hoffman, the first Jewish-American man to go into space, consulted a rabbi on how to observe Judaism in space. Hoffman, a Brooklyn native who was born in 1944, brought with him a scaled-down Torah and did the first Torah reading outside of Earth. He also had a set of Jewish ritual items specially made for his trip, including a mezuzah with a Velcro strip that he would attach to his bunk and a prayer shawl with weights to keep it from floating away in zero-gravity. He also brought a menorah to celebrate Chanukah, although he was never able to actually light it aboard the spacecraft.

The Vulcan salute on “Star Trek” has Jewish origins.

Actor Leonard Nimoy used an unlikely source of inspiration for his character Spock’s iconic Vulcan salute, which consists of a raised hand with the middle and ring fingers parted into a V. The gesture looks just like the one kohanim do during the Priestly Blessing. In his

autobiography, Nimoy explained that he had copied the Jewish gesture, which he had seen in a synagogue as a child. The Vulcan salute, which is accompanied by the phrase “Live long and prosper” (the kohanim’s blessing begins “May G-d bless you and guard you”), became so iconic that the White House mentioned it in a statement issued on Nimoy’s death in 2015.

A Jewish immigrant to the U.S. helped popularize science fiction. Hugo Gernsback, who arrived from Luxembourg, is sometimes called “The Father of Science Fiction” for publishing a magazine that helped popularize the genre.

Launched in 1926, “Amazing Stories” featured tales of aliens, robots and other beings, including ones written by Gernsback. His magazine brought science fiction — a term he coined — to the mainstream and inspired many writers, such as Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Jewish-American duo that created Superman.

Gernsback left “Amazing Stories” in 1929, although it held on in one form or another until 2005. Among the Jewish writers who had their first stories published in the magazine were Isaac Asimov and Howard Fast.

Astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman signaling directions to a European Space Agency astronaut in 1993.

NASA/Wikimedia Commons

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to a nearby bakery; breadlines in the Soviet Union led him to cherish the freedom to get bread whenever he liked.

Now his father lives in Venezuela under the watchful eye of the regime.

Smolansky’s party, Popular Will, grew out of grassroots efforts in the David Smolansky, a leadmid-2000s to resist er in exile of Venezuela’s sweeping changes opposition, in Washington to constitutional law on March 12. Ron Kampeas proposed by Maduro’s late mentor, the authoritarian leftist Hugo Chavez. Popular Will’s leader, Leopoldo López, is currently in prison.

Smolansky was a founding member of the party in 2009, and four years later, at 28, easily won his bid to become mayor of El Hatillo, a municipality in the capital city of Caracas.

He said his Jewish roots have always been fodder for his attackers.

“I have been accused of being the boss of Zionism in Venezuela, I was accused of being trained by the Mossad,” he said of the Israeli intelligence agency. “The walls of my house were covered in graffiti, ‘Zionist shit.’ It’s awful to see people on social media refer to me as a ‘shitty Jew.’” Smolansky does not identify as fully Jewish — he says he had a Jewish and Catholic upbringing (his mother is a Roman Catholic). But he said it played a role in shaping him; he misses being with his father on Yom Kippur.

“I go with my father to synagogue” on the Jewish Day of Atonement and twice, Smolansky said, he fasted with his father.

“It’s a very special day, you separate from al-

Crowds mass in Caracus, Venezuela, last May.

most everybody, you are with yourself and you think on the last year,” he said.

He frets at the diminishing number of Jews in his country, saying the community now numbers no more than 10,000, down from what Smolansky and some other observers say was 30,000 before Chavez came to power in 1998.

Smolansky, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University, is researching security for citizens, with an emphasis on the status of Caracas as one of the most violent cities in the world and the dangers that Venezuela’s government poses to the region, in part because of its ties to Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist militia allied with Iran. Venezuela’s proximity, Smolansky warns, places Hezbollah “three hours by plane from the United States.”

His outspokenness edges him close to some controversial postures: He will not rule out advocacy for a military coup to remove Maduro from

power, instead saying the army should fulfill its constitutional role — a loophole wide enough to drive a tank through on its way to the presidential palace. (The opposition is boycotting presidential elections set for April 22, saying the system is rigged.)

Smolansky, meantime, is seeking allies. Jewish Floridians he knows invited him to attend this month’s AIPAC conference, which he found “interesting.” He wants Israel to speak out: Since its relations with Venezuela are precarious and Israel has vacated its embassy in the Latin American country, Smolansky asks: What has it got to lose?

“It will be important to have a statement,” he said.

Above all, unlike his parents and grandparents, Smolansky insists his exile is not permanent.

“I don’t want to be disconnected from Venezuelans,” he said.

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By Ron Kampeas, JTA WASHINGTON — David Smolansky has become the exiled face of the resistance to the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

It doesn’t take long to realize why the major media constantly seek him out for commentary on the repressive socialist regime and its collapsing economy: Smolansky, 32, has packed a lot into his young life.

A journalist and former student activist, he is the youngest mayor in his country’s history. When he realized last year that he was targeted for arrest for his politics, he adopted a false identity, shaved his beard, wore a flat hat and cleared 35 checkpoints before making it into the jungles of Brazil.

And then there’s this: Political exile runs in his family.

“My grandparents left the Soviet Union in 1927, my father left Cuba in 1970, so I am the third generation of Smolanskys who’ve had to leave a country because of a totalitarian regime,” he told the BBC in December.

JTA met with Smolansky this week at a think tank off of K Street, the corridor for think tanks and lobbyists in the nation’s capital.

“They have been my inspiration,” he said of his father and grandfather. “They had to flee a country twice and bounce back.”

Both of Smolansky’s grandparents left what is now Ukraine because of anti-Semitism and the privations of living in the Soviet Union. They met in Cuba and married, starting a clothing business. They could not withstand the pressures on business brought by the Castro regime, and in 1970 left for a brief stay in Mexico before moving on to Venezuela.

“They didn’t have any freedom,” he said. “My family’s house [in Cuba] is now a ‘Center for Socialist Policy’.”

His grandparents died in 1989, when he was 3. His memory of his grandfather, Naum, is the pleasure he took in taking his grandson

THE JEWISH STAR March 23, 2018 • 7 Nissan 5778

Venezuelan draws strength from Jewish roots

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March 23, 2018 • 7 Nissan 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

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NSHA students lead Megillah service Fifteen middle school students at the North Shore Hebrew Academy in Great Neck chanted Megillat Esther for their schoolmates, faculty and families.

Over the 16 years, more than 275 NSHA students have been instructed in the sacred ritual of chanting the Megillah by Dr. Paul Brody, a dermatologist by profession who lives in Great Neck. This unique program enables students, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, not only to read for the NSHA community on Purim, but also to read the Megillah at synagogues, hospitals, nursing homes and private homes, for those unable to attend public readings. Rabbi Adam Acobas, principal, and Rabbi Jeffrey Kobrin, head of school, facilitate the students’ hectic schedules to enable adequate review time with Dr. Brody, who has chanted the Megillah for 45 years, including in the Great Synagogue in Leningrad in 1985.

The JEWISH STAR School News Send news and hi-res photos to Schools@TheJewishStar.com Deadline Mondays at Noon

At YOSS, it’s looking a lot like Pesach Pesach preparations are in full swing at Yeshiva of South Shore’s Early Childhood Center. The kindergarten boys enjoyed a taste test as they learned about the different parts of the seder. “L’Chaim” could be heard as they sampled assorted grape juice flavors. White grape juice got rave reviews, while peach left the boys confused. Traditional purple grape juice was the clear favorite. The talmidim also tried different kinds of karpas, and noticed how the salt water tasted like their tears. The children practiced baking matzos and even acted out working hard like avadim in Mitzrayim. They are counting down the days till they can demonstrate their knowledge at the seders!

Shulamith principal reflects on walkout

HALB basketball Lions are the champs The HALB Lions Girls Basketball team went 9-1 in their regular season this year, culminating in their championship victory over RYNJ last Wednesday night. Leading up to the game, tensions were high as the HALB team was conscious of their loss to the RYNJ team in the championship last year. After RYNJ scored the first four points of the game, HALB came back within the first quarter and kept a steady lead to their 35–26 win. Here’s the happy team — back row: Kayla Muchnick, Helaina Singer, Emily Froleich (manager), and Danielle Abelson; middle row: Morah Farbman, Ahuva Singer, Leora Konig, Leora Ellenberg, Chloe Dershowitz, Kayla Wang, Rebecca Brown, Meghan Gottfried, Kayla Goldberg, and coaches Sara Fellus and Gabi Mlotok; front row: Naomi Sigman, Atara Sicklick (MVP), Simona Goldberg, Zahava Aryeh, and Jamie Feder.

Dear Shulamith Family, Wednesday morning was a powerful one as we commemorated the victims of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

In the wake of senseless crime and tragedy, we find that we are often shaken with a feeling of helplessness. While we recognize that we are not able to fix the challenges that face our country at the moment, we are not free to ignore the pain of those that lost their loved ones. We believe that there are moments like these that we are called upon to react.

The students of Parkland, Florida were high school teens. Yet, they will not have the opportunity to sign their high school yearbooks, laugh in their student lounge or attend their high school graduation. While so much may divide us, it is important for us to find the common thread of humanity that connects us. The survivors of Parkland High School asked teenagers around the world to care. And so, we did.

For thousands of years, we as Jews respond to pain with our tefillot, emunah, and commitment to kindness and Jewish purpose. While the light of others was tragically extinguished, we must re-

mind ourselves of our responsibility to light up the world, to be mekadesh shem shamayim with the power of our middot, empathy and chessed.

Some quote from students as they read bios of the victims: “Kindness, empathy, and peace are the core of our Torah values.”

“17 minutes — is one minute enough to commemorate a life? ” “We should never take a day of life for granted.

We must carry their inspiration and hopes into our lives” “How can we be leaders if we don’t stop to see others?”

The girls sang in Hebrew these poetic words, “We must always know to put our trust in Hashem.”

The program closed with tehillim and our tefillot for the peace and safety for the United States of America. May we be zoche to share smachot together.

Best, Rina Zerykier Principal Shulamith High School for Girls

By Sean Savage, JNS Amid speculation over the release of President Donald Trump’s much anticipated IsraeliPalestinian peace plan, a major piece of legislation making its way through Congress may have a profound impact on the already strained ties between the United States and the Palestinians.

This legislation, dubbed the Taylor Force Act—named for a 28-year-old former U.S. serviceman murdered in March 2016 while visiting Israel—seeks to cut off U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority over its payments to convicted terrorists and their families. However, after steady momentum late last year, including passage in the House of Representatives, the legislation has hit a snag in the Senate.

“A version of the Taylor Force Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously,” Michael Makovsky, president and CEO of JINSA, a pro-Israel think tank that has been lobbying for the bill, told JNS. “Apparently, Senate Democrats are more favorable to that legislation, but the Senate Republican bill has fewer exemptions.”

At the same time, while some may support the idea of holding the Palestinians accountable for paying terrorists or the families of terrorists killed in an attack, there is some hesitation that cutting off U.S. funding would destabilize the P.A., leading to its possible collapse and replacement in the West Bank with terror groups like Hamas.

Pastor John Hagee, founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel, one of the largest pro-Israel organizations in America with four million members, told JNS that the Palestinian “ ‘pay to slay’ policy must end now.”

Hagee, whose organization has been an early and fierce supporter of the legislation, said “each day that passes without this legislation becoming law is a day the U.S. government is failing to honor the memory of Taylor Force, failing to stand up for our ally Israel and failing to respect the wishes of the American people.”

Staggering amounts of financial incentives In a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee police conference earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that in order to achieve peace, P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas must “stop paying terrorists who murder Jews.”

“You know how much he pays? He pays about $350 million a year to terrorists and their families, each year,” stated Netanyahu. “That’s about a little less than 10 percent of the total Palestinian budget. That’s an incredible number.”

According to Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, in 2017 the P.A. budget for salaries to incarcerated and released terrorists will amount to NIS 552 million ($153.4 million), while the amount “allocated for the families of those killed or wounded in the struggle against Zionism rose by 4 to 8 percent, and is set at 687 million shekels ($194.3 million)” in 2017.

Altogether, he said, “the expenditures for supporting terror in the 2017 Palestinian Authority budget is 1.240 billion shekels ($344 million).”

Payments for terrorists are issued monthly, with those receiving sentences of three to five years being allocated NIS 2,000 ($566) a month, and those receiving 20-year to 35-year sentences earning NIS 10,000 ($2829) per month for life.

Married terrorists get a bonus of NIS 300 ($85) per month, with an additional NIS 50 ($14) monthly per child.

Status of the Taylor Force Act The legislation was introduced in the Senate in 2016 by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), and in the House of Representatives in February 2017. A Texas native, West Point graduate and U.S. Army veteran, Force was stabbed and killed by a Palestinian terrorist during a Vanderbilt University graduate-school trip to Israel.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he will do “everything in his power” to ensure the passage of the Taylor Force Act. Office of Senator Schumer

The two competing versions of the Taylor Force Act in Congress, however, have several key differences that have caused concern among advocates of the bill. Passed on Dec. 5 by the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 1164 adds several exemptions and loopholes to the original proposed Senate version.

“The bill that passed the House would limit U.S. funds and grants from the Economic Support Fund [ESF] from going to the P.A., PLO and any successor organization unless they are taking specific actions,” Tyler Stapleton, deputy director of congressional relations at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JNS. “The Palestinians also receive non-lethal assistance for the P.A. security forces and fund from the International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement. These funds would not be touched by the legislation,” explained Stapleton. “This bill would require a greater degree of

transparency from the P.A. or funds will be held up. Much of the ESF funds go to USAID [United States Agency for International development] programs. UNRWA [United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency] also provides services to the Palestinians, which the U.S. also helps to fund.

These funds would not be touched by the Taylor Force Act, but we have seen the [Trump] administration begin to withhold funds seeking concessions from the P.A.” According to a Congressional report from Dec. 2016, the U.S. on average has invested $400 a year in the Palestinians, with most of the money going to projects supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The report also stated that the U.S. was due to invest $363 million in the Palestinians in 2017, with the majority of those funds going to USAID programs, and $36 million going to the P.A.’s security forces.

The Taylor Force Act seeks to slash the USAID aid, but not target the security force’s funding.

Among the criteria set forth by the House version is a requirement that the U.S. Secretary of State certify in writing that the P.A., PLO and successor organizations meet a number of criteria, including terminating payments for acts of terrorism; revoking laws or decrees that implement a system of compensation to imprisoned terrorists; and certify that the Palestinians publicly condemn terrorism and seek to bring terrorists to justice.

The Senate version, S.1967, which was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last August, differs from the House version in several ways.

“The Senate version only refers the conditions mentioned above as applying to aid benefiting the P.A., and does not include the PLO or successor organizations,” said Stapleton.

“The Senate version also creates a Palestinian Authority Accountability Fund, which would See Taylor Force Act on page 22

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“The original law would of removed almost all of the aid to the Palestinian Authority. It said that if you don’t abrogate your law that pays Arabs to murder Jews, and then the more Jews you murder, the large amount you receive, then you will not be getting any more money from the U.S.” “Everyone is promoting a falsehood about this bill that it will end aid to the Palestinian Authority, but it only cuts the aid by a third. It is not what it was originally, and I question why AIPAC did not support the original and stronger version of the bill.”

For its part, the Trump administration, which has threatened to cut aid to the Palestinians and has already slashed funding to UNRWA—the United Nation’s Palestinian refugee agency—declared last September that it backs the Taylor Force Act. According to a State Department spokesperson, “the Trump administration strongly supports the Taylor Force Act, which is a consequence of Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization’s policy of paying terrorists and their families.”

Political support on both sides of aisle While the bill does have strong bipartisan support, there appears to be some political squabbling over getting it past its final hurdle in the Senate for a full floor vote.

Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, who now serves as national chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition, told JNS that the entire Republican caucus in the Senate is prepared to support the bill and blamed the Democrats for refusing to allow a full vote.

“Every single Senate Republican is ready to move ahead and vote on the Taylor Force Act,” said Coleman. “Senator Schumer says he is committed to passing the bill, but apparently, one or more Senate Democrats refuse to allow it to be voted on. This is a test of Senator Schumer’s leadership. It’s past time for Senate Democrats to join their Republican colleagues so the Taylor Force Act can be passed and sent to the President, who has said he will sign it into law.”

Yet in a statement provided to JNS by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office, the New York senior senator has said he is a “strong supporter” of the legislation and is working to get it passed.

“I am a strong supporter of the Taylor Force Act—a bill that aims to put an end to the Palestinian Authority’s appalling practice of compensating terrorists and ensure Taylor’s legacy will live on,” said Schumer.

He added that “President Abbas must be held accountable for the Palestinian Authority’s record of incitement and must stop subsidizing terror. It’s abhorrent that they provide payments to terrorists and families of those who have committed violence against Israelis and Americans.

As I told the Force family when I met them on Capitol Hill, I will do everything in my power to make sure Congress enacts this bill.”

JINSA’s Makovsky urged both sides to work out a compromise.

“I hope Majority Leader [Sen.] Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer can work out a strong compromise and bring a standalone vote on the bill to the Senate floor as soon as possible,” he said. “There can be no real peace between Israel and the Palestinians if the Palestinian Authority is encouraging terror against Israel and those who visit, such as Taylor Force.”

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Continued from page 21 be the home for ESF funds withheld because the Secretary of State was not able to certify [that] the above conditions were being met. After a year, the funds would be reprogrammed by the State Department and not necessarily benefit the Palestinians,” explained Stapleton.

“The House version allows withheld funds to be available for two years. The House version [also] makes exceptions for the East Jerusalem Hospital Network, wastewater projects and programs for vaccination of children. The Senate version only provides an exception for the East Jerusalem Hospital Network.”

However, Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, lambasted the current version of the bill, saying that it will only reduce aid to the P.A. by one one-third.

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According to the Alzheimer’s According to Dr. Okun, moving on Association, one in nine Americans to human studies is a matter of twoover 65 has Alzheimer’s. For those to-three years.“These critical trials 85 or older, that number is one in will determine whether the vaccine three. Over five million Americans actually works in humans. Depending live with the disease and it is the on the success rate and side effects sixth leading cause of death in the from that testing, we will be able to United States. Worldwide, over 47 know how much more time is needed million are afflicted with this irreto make the vaccine available on a versible brain disorder that shuts global scale. I am convinced that a down our memories and our ability vaccination approach is the way to go to think. It is a terrifying epidemic. with neurodegenerative diseases.”

Dr. Eitan Okun heads the Paul In addition to his potentially E. Feder Alzheimer’s Research Lab groundbreaking vaccine, Dr. Okun at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Dr. Eitan Okun at Bar-Ilan University. is working on new ways to diagnose Israel. He has devoted his life’s work Alzheimer’s earlier in its progression to finding a way to prevent the disease from taking hold of our and to do it more accurately. Using the latest in MRI testing, he minds. Recently, he has developed a vaccine that has shown great aims to catch the earliest sign of amyloid proteins in the brain. promise in laboratory conditions. He firmly believes that before “My researchers and I have been seeking to construct a long this preventative treatment will prove successful in protect- protein that could enter the bloodstream, make it through ing human adults from contracting this heartbreaking illness. the blood-brain barrier, bind to the amyloids, and then be “Alzheimer’s isn’t caused by a virus,” he explains. “What visible in an MRI scan,” he explains. “I am always looking actually causes it in most cases remains mostly unknown. The for new angles to attack this disease from various angles. vaccine that I am working on targets the amyloid beta proteins I have never been more optimistic that we will soon find a that accumulate in the brain of people with Alzheimer’s. We’re way to prevent it for current and future generations.”

Dr. Okun has been a “lifer” at Bar-Ilan, having earned trying to help the body to go into attack-mode against this prohis masters and doctorate in immunology there. His masters tein. So far, it has proved effective in studies with mice.”

The next stage is testing this potentially life-changing research analyzed how stress can affect a person’s immunity vaccine on humans. Two tricky questions are: 1) Which to various diseases. For his doctorate, he concentrated on people should be included in the test trails? 2) At what age the immune system — specifically how different modes of our immune systems respond to various threats. While his group should the test vaccinations be considered?

After years of careful research, Dr. Okun has a few ideas primary medical research today focuses on Alzheimer’s, he is also conducting studies in other important areas. In 2015, as to where to begin.

“There are two subgroups made up of people who have he received a grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation to higher odds of getting the disease,” he points out. “We have research to help look for Parkinson’s disease in an MRI. Dr. Eitan Okun, 39, and his wife and five children live in people who inherit the disease in their 50s. And then there is the group that gets Alzheimer most commonly and at the Kibbutz Alumim, in the Negev.

Source: Bar-Illan University. For more information, visit youngest age. These are people with Down Syndrome who AFBIU.Org or call 212-906-3900. often get Alzheimer’s in their 40s or even their 30s.”

President Reuven Rivlin welcomed American actress Mayim Bialik to his residence in Jerusalem on Sunday.

Rivlin told Bialik that he had heard so much from his grandchildren about her, her work as an actress and her strong support for Israel. The star of the hit TV series “The Big Bang Theory” is in Israel to participate in the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semi- Mayim Bialik meets Israeli President Reuven Rivlin a in Jerusalem on March 18. Mark Neiman/GPO tism.

“My family came to At the Global Forum, she was live in Israel when I was born, and they lived in a few places around scheduled to speak about her exthe country, so I grew up with a periences as a Jewish and Zionist strong Zionist identity,” she told actress, and about the difficulties caused by a climate of anti-SemiRivlin.

Bialik, 41, has a doctorate in tism and anti-Zionism.

Other speakers scheduled for neuroscience and plays neuroscientist Amy Fowler-Farrah on her the forum, an initiative by Israel’s show. A divorced mother of two Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Disons, she was raised Reform and aspora minister in the internationnow practices Modern Orthodoxy. al struggle against anti-Semitism, In many interviews she has de- included the president of Bulgarscribed herself as a Zionist and has ia, Rumen Radev; a former prime minister of France, Manuel Valls; family living in Israel.

Earlier this month, Bialik asked Israel’s education and Diaspora her followers on Facebook to nomi- affairs minister, Naftali Bennett; nate her to light the torch reserved Israel’s justice minister, Ayelet for a representative of Diaspora Shaked; and a former secretaryJewry during the opening Israel general of the United Nations culIndependence Day ceremony on tural organization UNESCO, Irina Bokova.

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THE JEWISH STAR March 23, 2018 • 7 Nissan 5778

Bar-Ilan University advances Mayim Bialik meets Alzheimer’s prevention vaccine Rivlin in Jerusalem

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March 23, 2018 • 7 Nissan 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

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‫כוכב של שבת‬

SHAbbAT STAR

Mitzvah or not, it’s our job to tell Exodus story Rabbi avi biLLet

Parsha of the week

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esach begins next Friday night, and with it comes the longest mitzvah we can fulfill, the telling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt. In Maimonides’ count it is positive mitzvah 157. In Sefer Hachinukh it is mitzvah 21, and it is fulfilled through reading the Haggadah or through a dialogue with another person, whether a child or anyone else.

Maimonides notes the verse of “When your child will ask,” which indicates that the telling of the story might have to be triggered by a question. More likely, the verse of “and you shell tell your child on that day” is the source for the need to relate the story.

Baal Halakhot Gedolot (Baha”g) does not include the telling of the story in the list of mitzvoth, suggesting that the telling is included in the general mitzvah to remember the Exodus, which is daily throughout the year.

The story in the Haggadah of the five rabbis in Beni Brak has their students stopping their discussion because it is time to say Shema. Were the principle of “One who is involved in a mitz-

vah is exempt from a different mitzvah” put into play, they wouldn’t have to say Shema! The Haggadah leaves this question open, but the implication is that they stopped in order to fulfill the mitzvah of Shema, which would indicates they were not in the middle of a mitzvah! av Zylberstein was asked why no blessing is recited on the fulfillment of telling over the story of the Exodus (the question opens the door to the obligation not being an actual mitzvah). He argues that a blessing is only recited on a very specific action, such as blowing shofar, sitting in the sukkah, shaking the lulav, lighting candles, eating a matzah, etc. But fulfilling telling the story is dependent on how the story-telling moves a person! At what point in the telling of the story do we get the feeling we’re supposed to have?

We can’t be sure, and so there is no good time to make the blessing. The Beha’gists will argue that there isn’t an actual specific mitzvah anyway!

In his Mishneh Halachot (13:68) Rabbi Menashe Klein gives four reasons for why there is no blessing, all while maintaining that the telling of the story is actually a mitzvah. It’s one of the

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only areas in a Jewish life when we say “V’khol hamarbeh, harei zeh meshubach” (the more you do, the more you are praised).

So which is it? A mitzvah, not a mitzvah; is it something we do out of a sense of responsibility but not obligation? think we go about telling the story wrong. We tend to think that we must focus on the role G-d plays in the Exodus. But the promise to Abraham was that “Your children will be strangers in a strange land … where they will be enslaved and made to suffer [a period of] 400 years.

And the nation which they serve will be judged by Me.” How much can we talk about slavery? Slavery, day in and day out, is the same.

The slave goes to work, works hard, is perhaps beaten, and drops down exhausted at the end of the day, only to repeat the following day.

But suffering is something we can spend a lot of time discussing. We can get into the mind of the tormentor. We can get into the mind of the slave. We can discuss the depths of cruelty, the lengths to which evil can extend, the legitimacy that Egypt gave to its depraved methods of tor-

When we feel the Exodus and the role G-d played in it, we will have done our part.

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ture, both physical and emotional, and how they reveled in crushing the Israelite spirit on a regular basis.

This will also help us relate and identify with two significant portions of the Haggadah.

•First is the requirement to feel and identify with the concept of our own redemption, to feel as if we too are leaving Egypt.

•The second is the reminder that in every generation there are evil people or nations who would like to destroy us. In the 1930s and 40s, it was the Nazis. In the 1950s through 80s, under Communists in the Soviet Union, the aim was to destroy the Jewish heart and soul. Nowadays, fascistic Islamic regimes and terrorists made from the same ilk would like to see Israel and the Jewish people wiped off the face of the globe.

When we can identify with being the victims of evil we can appreciate so much better what freedom is. When we feel the Exodus and the role G-d played in it, we will have done our part in telling over the story. We will have ingrained in the hearts and in the minds of the next generation who we are, and why we continue to tell this story.

It’s not about a mitzvah as much as it is about a sense of obligation that we owe to ourselves to remember our history. Our history determined who we are. And if we are to remain a distinct people, we must never forget.

Approaching Pesach and the future redemption Rabbi david etengoff

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his is Shabbat Hagadol, the Great Shabbat, an appellation that urges us to focus on the meaning of geulah (redemption), since it is juxtaposed to Pesach, the preeminent Festival of Redemption.

The Mishnaic sage, Rabbi Yehoshua, teaches a profound lesson concerning the inextricable relationship between Pesach and the future redemption: “Rabbi Yehoshua said: ‘In Nissan the world was created, the Patriarchs, including Isaac, were born and passed away… and in Nissan we were redeemed and will be redeemed in the future’.” (Talmud Bavli, Rosh Hashanah 11a) The connection between the Exodus and the future geulah provides a compelling rationale for Chazal’s choice of the last chapter in Sefer Malachi as the haftarah for this Shabbat: “Lo, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of the L-rd, that he may turn the heart of the fathers back through the children, and the heart of the children back through their fathers.” (Sefer Malachi 3:23-24) Another Mishnaic sage, Rabbi Yehuda, as quoted in the Aggadic work, Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, underscores the singular role that Elijah the prophet will play in enabling the fulfillment of Judaism’s messianic vision. He notes that the ultimate redemption of our people will take place if, and only if, the Jewish people undertake teshuvah: “Rabbi Yehudah said: ‘If the Jewish people do not do teshuvah, then they will not be redeemed.’ … In addition, the Jewish people will never perform teshuvah gedolah (great repentance) until the arrival of Eliyahu, may he be remembered for good. As it states in the in the text: ‘Lo, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of the L-rd, that he may turn the heart of the fathers back through the children, and the heart of the children back through their fathers.’ Blessed are

You Hashem Who desires [the Jewish people] to do teshuvah.” (Chapter 43) abbi Yehudah differentiates between the terms teshuvah and teshuvah gedolah. The first is within the grasp of the Jewish people if we have the desire to do so, whereas the second is unattainable “until the arrival of Eliyahu, may he be remembered for good.”

In my view, Sefer Hoshea provides us with an approach to understanding the content of these two terms, and the reason as to why Eliyahu’s intervention is vital for the attainment of teshuvah gedolah: “Return (shuva) O’Israel unto (od) the L-rd your G-d for you have stumbled in your sin.

Take words with yourselves and return to (el) the L-rd.

Say, ‘You shall forgive all iniquity and teach us [the] good [way], and let us render [for] bulls [the offering of] our lips’.” (14:2-3).

A careful reading reveals that the first pasuk employs the preposition “od,” whereas the second utilizes “el” in reference to the teshuvah process. The Malbim (Rabbi Meïr Leibush ben Jehiel Michel Weiser) notes that the word “od” in 14:2 signifies a sense of richuk (distance) between two objects or entities, in this instance, between G-d and the Jewish people: “The word ‘od’ connotes the idea that Hashem stood far away from them [the Jewish people], and that they needed to walk toward Him until they came near to Him, unto the place wherein He was to be found. This means that they had to reject their earlier sins, feel remorseful for what they had done in the past, namely, they had erred in multiple ways, both inadvertently and through reasons beyond their control, and that they now must seek out the proper path to return unto Hashem.”

According to the Malbim, when Hoshea states, “Return O’Israel unto (od) the L-rd your G-d,” he is teaching that Hashem was distant from our ancestors, and that it was necessary to

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make every conceivable effort to close the gaping chasm that separated us from Him. This, then, was the absolute mandate of that particular historical moment that continues to inspire us until our own time.

The second verse, wherein the idea of returning to Hashem is referenced by the term “el,” is an entirely different matter. For the Malbim, “el” refers to returning to Hashem out of love and devotion – teshuvah m’ahavah, rather than as a result of fear of punishment: “The second reference of ‘return to (el) the L-rd,’ encapsulates the notion of teshuvah based upon love. In this case, our purposive sins will not only be thought of as being inadvertent in nature; rather, they will be thought of as being meritorious acts. Thus, the forgiveness that our forefathers obtained from Hashem was on account of their sins being viewed as acts beyond their control, i.e. accidental acts, or errors — therefore, the forgiveness that they received was a result of their merits and righteousness being added to the divine equation (sh’yikachu emahem l’dvar zechut alyehem). … As a result, Hashem saw that after our ancestors grievously sinned, they returned to His service in order to love Him — with their complete minds and hearts – and no longer from fear of punishment.” hus, according to the Malbim, Hoshea provides us with a roadmap for returning to Hashem. that is comprised of two different possible routes. In my estimation, these approaches correspond to the expressions “teshuvah” and “teshuvah gedolah” that are found in the previously referenced words of Rabbi Yehuda. Teshuvah, based on our essential human need to positively reset our relationship with Hashem, is something that we are capable of attaining on our own. This is the case, since most of us can recognize that we have sinned and that this has driven a wedge between ourselves and our Creator.

Return O’Israel unto the L-rd for you have stumbled in your sin.

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In contrast, teshuvah gedolah, when viewed through the prism of teshuvah m’ahavah, is an entirely different matter, as its goal is to advance our connection with the Almighty based upon our love and devotion for Him. As we have seen, Malachi, in this week’s haftorah, teaches us that teshuvah m’ahavah requires a spiritual mentor to help us grasp its overwhelming import so that we may actualize it in our lives. Clearly, this guide is none other than the prophet Eliyahu: “I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of the L-rd, that he may turn the heart of the fathers back through the children, and the heart of the children back through their fathers.”

May the time come soon, and in our days, when the words we recite in the Harachaman section of Birkat Hamazon will be fully realized, heralding the ultimate redemption of our people: “The compassionate One! May He send us Elijah, the Prophet — he is remembered for good — to proclaim to us good tidings, salvations, and consolations.” V’chane yihi ratzon.

Luach

Fri March 23 • 7 Nisan Shabbos HaGadol Parshas Tzav Candlelighting: 6:52 pm

Havdalah: 8:02 pm

Fri March 30 • 14 Nisan Friday is Taanis Bechoros First Seder Friday night Friday candlelighting: 6:59 pm

Saturday candlelighting: 8:00 pm Sunday Havdalah: 8:10 pm

Five Towns times from the White Shul

AlAn JAy Gerber

Kosher BooKworm Following the recent loss of Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz z”tl, I asked Rabbi Dr. Shnayer Leiman, who knew Rav Pelcovitz for many years, to share his thoughts with us. Rabbi Leiman, author of “Rabbinic Responses to Modernity,” teaches at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University and is professor emeritus of Jewish history and literature at Brooklyn College. t is appropriate that you honor Rabbi Pelcovitz at this sad moment with a tribute to his memory. You already know what I’ve said about him on previous occasions.

I think it is important to stress Rabbi Pelcovitz’s enormous impact not only on the Far Rockaway Jewish community and its many Jewish educational institutions, but on the Five Towns and its many Jewish educational institutions.

Jews came first to Arverne, at the turn of the 19th into the 20th centuries. During the summer months, they were escaping from the sweltering heat of their tenements in New York City, seeking respite at the beaches of Arverne in the pre-air conditioner age.

From Arverne, they made their way to permanent residency in Far Rockaway. It is in Far Rockaway that Rabbi Pelcovitz would leave an indelible imprint on Orthodox Jewish life. Prior to his arrival in Far Rockaway in 1951, Orthodox Jewish life barely existed in the Five Towns. But as members of the Far Rockaway Jewish community began moving into the Five Towns, Rabbi Pelcovitz’s teaching, and the ambience of the White Shul, spread throughout the Five Towns as well.

Those who attended the levayah saw an incredible tribute paid to Rabbi Pelcovitz. The moving and eloquent eulogies by Rabbis Feiner and Neuburger, and by the members of the Pelcovitz family, and the presence of distinguished rabbonim and Jewish educational leaders from all over New York – all on very short notice – will long be remembered.

But nothing impressed me more than the huge crowd of lay Jews, young and old, the ba’alei batim of the White Shul, who attended the funeral.

As indicated, Rabbi Pelcovitz assumed the rabbinate of the White Shul in 1951. His funeral took place almost 70 years later. Virtually no one was left of the many tireless ba’alei batim who were his closest associates and who helped build the Far Rockaway and the White Shul that one sees today. Yet Rabbi Pelcovitz touched so many lives, that second, third, and fourth generations of White Shul ba’alei batim came to pay tribute to

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their mentor and teacher.

The main sanctuary of the White Shul, large as it is, and even with the opening of additional side rooms, could not contain the massive crowd that came to honor for one last time the Rabbi Pelcovitz they loved and admired. Yehei zikhro barukh!

—Rabbi Dr. Shnayer Leiman ••• In December 2016, on the occasion of Rav Pelcovitz’s celebrating 65 years of service at the White Shul, I published in the Kosher Bookworm two columns focusing on his career, which I’m pleased to excerpt here: uring a communal tribute at the White Shul, Rabbi Leiman devoted a large portion of his Shabbos Toldot presentation to the career of Rabbi Pelcovitz, who was ordained

by Yeshiva Torah Voda’at in Brooklyn and served several out-of-town synagogues before coming to the White Shul in 1951. He “was part of a long tradition of dedicated rabbis who not only transmitted Torah teaching from one generation to the next, but who also was particularly sensitive to the needs, spiritual and mundane, of his congregants,” Rabbi Leiman said, adding a personal note: “I was present in the White Shul 65 years ago, in 1951, when Rabbi Pelcovitz gave his first sermon. He was the first rabbi of the White Shul to speak regularly in the vernacular. The two previous rabbis delivered their sermons in Yiddish.

“Derashos, sermons in English! And, every sermon had a beginning, a middle and an end.

Every sermon had a message based upon the teaching of our sages. He was articulate, and sweetened his presentations with stories and parables and even aphorisms from the wisdom of the nations. He taught us Torah — not with fire and brimstone, but with love, sensitivity, and tolerance.

“He learned from the teachings of the gedolim of the past, from the likes of Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, and transmitted that teaching to thousands of young men and women here at the White Shul, and to audiences throughout the U.S.” Rabbi Leiman outlined the mesorah that Rabbi Pelcovitz represented as a teacher of the Jewish tradition: “In one of the presentations, I detailed some of the connecting links between Rabbi Pelcovitz, and the graduates of the Volozhin Yeshiva, the founding yeshiva, the eim ha-yeshivos of all the yeshivas that exist today.

“Briefly: Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzenski, a graduate of the Volozhin Yeshiva and the rabbi of Vilna, was rabban shel kol bnei ha-golah at that time. In 1935, when the rosh yeshiva of Mesivta Torah Voda’at in Brooklyn, Rabbi Dovid Leibowitz, and the yeshiva’s menahel, Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, parted ways, a new rosh yeshiva had to be appointed. Rav Shraga Feivel

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Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz in 2011.

consulted Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzenski who selected the rosh yeshiva of the R’Mailles Yeshiva in Vilna, Rabbi Shlomo Heiman, to succeed Rabbi Leibovitz. By sending Rav Heiman and his wife to America in 1935, Rav Chaim Ozer almost certainly saved their lives. Vilna Jewry was decimated during the Holocaust.

“Rav Shlomo Heiman served with distinction as Rosh Yeshiva at Torah Voda’at from 1935 until his passing in 1945. During that period, he produced a cadre of distinguished disciples, among them, Rabbi Ralph Pelcovitz, who received his semicha from Rav Heiman. …

“Just as Rav Heiman brought new life to Mesivta Torah Voda’at, so too Rabbi Pelcovitz would give life to the Far Rockaway Jewish community.

Under his watch, Far Rockaway became an “ir veem be-Yisrael (a metropolis of the Jews).” t was from Dr. Zev Eleff’s recent anthology, “Modern Orthodox Judaism” (Jewish Publication Society) that I first learned of Rabbi Pelcovitz’s observations concerning his view of the future of Orthodox Judaism and especially that of the Orthodox shul and its youth.

With the valued assistance of Rabbi Simon Posner of the Orthodox Union, I was able to obtain the full original essay by Rabbi Pelcovitz, titled “The Yeshiva Alumnus and The Synagogue,” which is excerpted here: “A careful study of various communities where a concentration of yeshiva alumni is found will reveal some strange and startling facts. True, a goodly number of yeshiva-trained laymen, among them some former practicing rabbis, are congregants of synagogues and do take an active part in community affairs.

“A sizable group, however, carefully avoid the synagogue and are conspicuous by their absence in many areas of community endeavor. They es-

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The Jewish Star

tablish smaller private minyonim or patronize a local shtibel. They avoid the synagogue, both as congregants and participants, though it should be noted that many are members in name only for reasons best known to themselves and/or the energetic membership chairman of the local synagogue.”

Further on, Rabbi Pelcovitz notes that “the hands of the rabbi would certainly be greatly strengthened in guarding the pristine traditional character of the shul if there were but a nucleus of strongly committed and articulate Orthodox laymen in the congregation.”

Lastly, consider the situations we currently face with at-rise youth — as well as at-risk adults — in our community: “What is so often overlooked by yeshiva graduates is the effect of their detachment upon their own children. What attitude toward the kehillah, its rabbi, communal responsibility, and unity is fostered when children are withdrawn from the mainstream of the Jewish community in which they live? Certainly this is an integral part of chinuch, on a par with formal academic education.”

Rabbi Pelcovitz asks: “What guarantee is there that those of the next generation will be properly trained to take their places in the Jewish community of their choice, once they leave the homes and shtibelach in which they have been reared?”

And lastly: “Where shall they turn in their shtibel-less suburbia for anchorage, affiliation and identification?”

My dear reader, these are the words of a very wise and scholarly rabbi, reflecting the situation still current in many spiritual venues unto this very day.

And consider that these teachings by Rabbi Pelcovitz were written in October 1960!

Lessons from Elijah for this Shabbat HaGadol rAbbi mArc d.

AnGel

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hen the Talmud asks a question for which no satisfactory answer is evident, it uses the word “teiku” as a way of indicating that we’ll have to wait for the coming of Elijah — messianic times — to receive the correct answer.

Elijah will resolve our questions and difficulties.

Why will we bring our questions to Elijah? After all, the messianic era will include the miraculous resurrection of the dead. That means that Moses will also be among us. Why don’t we bring our questions to him, rather than to Elijah? Moses is our ultimate and greatest teacher of Torah.

An answer was offered in the name of Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev. He explained: When Moses died, he ascended to heaven and has re-

mained there all these centuries. But when Elijah ascended to heaven, he still has managed to stay in touch with humanity. Elijah attends our Passover seders; Elijah is present at the circumcision ceremonies of our baby boys; Elijah turns up to help the poor and needy of every generation. While Moses has lost contact with humanity, Elijah has remained closely involved with us. Thus, we bring our questions to him, and not to Moses.

Only a sage who is fully aware of and sympathetic to our situation can offer proper religious guidance.

In the haftarah for Shabbat HaGadol, the prophet Malachi tells us that G-d will send Elijah the prophet who “will turn the heart of the parents to the children and the heart of the children to their parents.” Elijah will

understand the nature of the “generation gap”— that parents and children are not communicating with each other in a meaningful way. hen we think of the generation gap, we generally imagine it to refer to the rebellion of children from the traditions of their parents.

Children feel alienated from the “old ways” and want to break out on their own. Yet, Elijah sees the problem differently.

He first will work on turning the heart of parents to their children. He understands that alienation starts not with the children — but with the parents! The older generation doesn’t listen carefully enough to the younger generation. Parents may be too busy with work, or too busy with their own social obligations; they don’t spend

Elijah reminds us that religion must stay in touch with reality.

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enough quality time with their children. The children receive short, inadequate answers to their questions. The children see their parents say one thing but do another.

The children don’t rebel from their parents so much as they are driven away by their parents’ lack of involvement, concern, demonstration of values and sincerity. So Elijah will first work on parents to reconnect with their children. Afterward, he will work on the children and turn their heart back to their parents.

As we prepare to celebrate Shabbat HaGadol and the Passover festival, let us call to mind the image of Elijah the prophet and his ongoing significance to us. Elijah reminds us how vital it is for religion to stay in touch with reality; for parents to stay in touch with their children; for children to turn their hearts back to the traditions of the older generations.

Rabbi Angel is interim spiritual leader of the Lido Beach Synagogue and rabbi emeritus of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue.

THE JEWISH STAR March 23, 2018 • 7 Nissan 5778

Recalling Rav Pelcovitz of Far Rock’s White Shul

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March 23, 2018 • 7 Nissan 5778 THE JEWISH STAR

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Secrets of happiness (or unhappiness) revealed Ben Cohen Viewpoint

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hat makes us happy — or unhappy?

The 2018 edition of the World Happiness Report, published annually by a group of United Nations-linked development experts, asserts that a country’s happiness can be quantified based upon six variables — “levels of GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom and corruption.” This year’s report was released on March 14 at a launch event at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican. A subsequent event will occur on March 20, celebrating the “International Day of Happiness” at the United Nations.

Other than perhaps proving that the coldness of country’s climate does not determine its happiness level — in order, the happiness list is led by Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland —

there is very little in these rankings that could not have been guessed with simple common sense. The world’s happiest countries are almost exclusively democracies where the rule of law prevails, with free markets, a free press, and freedom of worship and conscience.

Among the generally happy countries above No. 30, those that spend more on social welfare are, by the measures used here, arguably a little happier than those that spend less. Most significantly, the overwhelming majority of countries ranked below 100 in terms of their happiness levels overlap with those classified as either “not free” or “partly free” in the annual Freedom House global survey.

Israel is, according to the report, a deeply contented country, ranked at No. 11 in the world. It ranks higher than fellow democracies, including the United States (No. 18), the United

Kingdom (No. 19) and France (No. 23), and well above brash, self-satisfied Qatar (No. 32) and dangerously aggressive Russia (No. 59). When Israel is compared with those countries facing broadly similar existential risks from rogue state neighbors and similar actors, it is striking that they — Japan (No. 54), South Korea (No. 57), Jordan (No. 90) — are considerably less happy.

That, in itself, is an extraordinary testament to Israel’s internal spirit. eanwhile, the Palestinians living under the rule of the Palestinian Authority rank at No. 104, confirmation that while Palestinian life is generally unhappy it’s not as miserable as some Palestinian advocates willfully make it out to be. For example, in terms of life expectancy, at 73 years residents of the Palestinian territories live eight years less than the average Israeli, but three to

The ‘politics of resistance’ has blighted many countries.

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four years more than the average Syrian, Egyptian or Sudanese.

On the other hand, Palestinian GDP at $3,000 per capita is at the lower end of the scale for the Middle East, though things aren’t much better on that score in Egypt, Algeria, Jordan and Iran, all of which are fully-fledged sovereign states. Most notably, there are 52 other fully-fledged sovereign states whose populations are more unhappy than the Palestinians (data for other stateless nations, like the Kurds, Tibetans and Sahrawis, is not available.)

One of those countries happens to be South Africa, which comes in one place below the Palestinian territories, at No. 105. Anyone who has tracked the campaign to boycott the world’s 11th-happiest nation will notice the bitter irony here. Many of South Africa’s leaders and key influencers have fronted the charge that Israel should be shunned as the reincarnation of apartheid, yet their own people, almost 25 years after the end of white minority rule, remain more unhappy than the Palestinians with whom they See Secrets of happiness on page 28

Why AIPAC can literally count on support Jonathan S. toBin

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t this year’s AIPAC conference, a great deal of attention was given to organizational efforts to present Israel as an attractive cause for Democrats and liberals to continue to embrace, after a Pew Research Center poll highlighted a growing gap between how Republicans and Democrats view Israel. While the GOP seems to be leaning more pro-Israel, the Democrats seem to be heading in the opposite direction.

Those numbers were easily explained by a Republican base dominated by Christian conservatives who are passionate about Israel, and a Democratic base whose activists are vulnerable to specious intersectional arguments that portray the Palestinians as the moral equivalent to blacks in the Jim Crow Deep South. The fact that the leadership of the Women’s March — the engine of the increasingly important anti-Trump “resistance” — is dominated by sympathizers of Louis Farrakhan, and Israel opponents like Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour, highlighted this problem.

But for all of the fears of the growing polarization between the parties, the predictions of the death of the bipartisan consensus on Israel

are, to paraphrase Mark Twain, greatly exaggerated. As a new Gallup poll shows, support for Israel in the United States hit record levels. Americans of every age, ethnicity, religious group and political stripe like Israel, and back it against the Palestinians; 64 percent favor Israel over the Palestinians. Those who question why U.S. foreign policy remains so pro-Israel need to reckon with the fact that most Americans just love the Jewish state. he assumption has been that President Donald Trump’s tilt towards Israel would alienate both centrists and liberals who see anything associated with him in a negative light. The unpopularity of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also supposed to be a drag on Israel’s popularity, as is the mainstream media’s continued assertions that West Bank settlements, rather than Palestinian intransigence, remains the obstacle to peace in the Middle East. But the numbers don’t back up those assumptions.

Gallup’s survey is useful because researchers have been asking these same questions of the public for decades. That makes the fact that Israel’s favorability ratings come in at an all-time high is something for both its friends and its critics to ponder. Indeed, in the last 12 months,

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which coincide with Trump’s first year in the White House, the already positive numbers increased again. In 2017, Israel was viewed positively by 71 percent of Americans and negatively by 27 percent. In 2018, the totals are 74 percent positive and only 23 percent negative — a net gain of nine points. To put that in perspective, there are no U.S. politicians and few foreign places or people viewed as positively by Americans as Israel’s net plus 51 percent favorability rating.

It’s true that a huge gap exists between the two parties. A staggering 87 percent of Republicans sympathize with Israel, as opposed to 49 percent of Democrats. But that still means that fully half of the Democrats stand on the side of the Jewish state. e’re also told that young people are rejecting Israel. It’s true that many college campuses have seen a rise in support for the BDS movement. But Gallup also tells us that 65 percent of Americans ages 18 to 34 back Israel. While that’s admittedly lower than the 80 percent of support Israel gets from those 55 and older, it still reflects a solid consensus.

Nor is there anything in the poll to encourage Israel’s foes. Only 27 percent of Democrats view the Palestinians favorably, as opposed to a mere

The idea that the pro-Israel consensus is fading is bunk.

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13 percent of Republicans.

What conclusions can we draw from this survey?

The most important one is that the idea that the pro-Israel consensus is fading is bunk. Israel is as popular as it has ever been in the history of American polling. While the shift of the Democratic Party to the left is troubling, the numbers also dictate that those competing for that party’s presidential nomination in 2020 must realize that smart politics will compel them to stay firmly in the pro-Israel camp.

There is also no evidence that Trump’s willingness to move the United States closer to Israel after President Obama’s eight years of seeking more “daylight” between the allies has discredited the pro-Israel cause. Nor is there any reason to think that Netanyahu or settlements has done so, or that the youth of America will eventually reject Israel once their elders die.

This shouldn’t breed complacency among advocates for Israel, and it must be understood that the situation elsewhere, especially in Europe, is very different. But hard as it may be for the Jewish state’s critics to accept, Americans care deeply for Israel. Support for it isn’t the result of a conspiracy or campaign fundraising. Americans love Israel, period. And Trump, Netanyahu, Israeli settlements — not even decades of Palestinian propaganda or anti-Semitism masquerading as anti-Zionism — can change that.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS.

andrew SilowCarroll

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late podcaster Mike Pesca has a theory that whenever President Donald Trump says “everybody” it means “almost nobody,” and when he says “nobody” or “anybody” it means “almost everybody.”

Try it: When Trump said, “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated” — well, nearly everybody disagreed. And when he says, “Everybody knows there was no collusion,” he means, “I insist there was no collusion, but am worried that nobody else, including Robert Mueller, agrees with me.”

That kind of verbal irony has become a way of arguing on social media. A Facebook friend complained recently that two weeks after Louis Farrakhan gave yet another antiSemitic speech, “no one really cares.” In fact, the Farrakhan speech was widely reported in

Evan Bernstein, left, and Oren Segal discuss the arrest of a St. Louis man charged in connection with bomb threats against JCCs, at the Anti-Defamation League national headquarters in New York, March 3, 2017.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

the mainstream media, from the Washington Post to CNN to Fox News to Rolling Stone, especially after a leader of the Women’s March attended the Nation of Islam leader’s speech and refused to acknowledge his hate or apologize. By waiting too long to release a tepid

statement on the incident, march leaders kept the story going another week. So did the right, which used Farrakhan’s re-emergence into the public spotlight as an opportunity to bash the left.

You could say people now care about Farrakhan more than they have in 20 years.

I don’t mean to pick on my friend; the “everybody” and “nobody” trope is everywhere these days. In part it is a symptom of news overload — important things that demand attention disappear at the speed of a tweet about some other thing that demands immediate attention. Everybody knows that Trump is adept at changing the subject, and almost nobody knows how to resist the bait. And while the web has democratized news and made it theoretically easier to get a story out to the public, it also means that many more stories and ideas are jockeying for attention. sually when people say that “nobody is talking about something,” they mean “not enough people are talking about a story the way I want them to talk about it.”

That could mean that the New York Times or

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CNN hasn’t put the story on the front page or at the top of the hour. Or that legislators have sent the issue to the back burner. Or that activists are focused on X when they should be focused on Y. Jewish activists and media professionals seemed to do a “Freaky Friday” switch over the weekend when the New York Times published an essay by one of its editors charging that American Jewish leaders have done too little to call out the troubling anti-Semitism of the past two years. Jonathan Weisman, who was a target of “alt-right” anti-Semites during the 2016 campaign, has written a book called “(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump.” In Sunday’s essay, he claimed the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Federations of North America and other leading Jewish organizations “have been remarkably quiet” on the rise of anti-Semitism.

His evidence is rather narrow, having to do with the Anti-Defamation League and its condemnation of two popular alt-right figures for spreading anti-Semitic theories. When Ohio’s See Talking anti-Semitism on page 28

Professor David Wyman, 89, historian with heart rafael Medoff

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lmost every time David S. Wyman delivered a lecture related to his remarkable book, “The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust 1941-1945,” someone in the audience would ask: Why would you, a Christian, take such a strong interest in a Jewish issue?

Professor Wyman, who passed away on March 14 at the age of 89, always found the question genuinely puzzling. To him, it was a given that a human being, no matter his or her religious faith, should care, and act, when innocent people are persecuted.

Wyman, a Harvard University-trained historian, was the grandson of two Protestant ministers. He never allowed his personal beliefs to influence his meticulous scholarship. But as his research led him to realize how little Christians in America did in response to news of the rag-

ing Holocaust, it shook him to his core. He told me there were times when he “cried for days” over his discoveries and would have to take a break from the research. David Wyman was the most admirable kind of historian: one with a heart.

He was equally pained to learn of the petty intra-Jewish turf wars and personality clashes between American Jewish leaders that undermined the political effectiveness of the Jewish community during the Holocaust. He told me how difficult it was for him to understand why the various Jewish factions did not set aside their quarrels and focus on what was happening to their brethren in Europe. I admitted to him that even after all these years, I, too, have never been able to fully understand it. n the years before “The Abandonment of the Jews” was published in 1984, the widespread assumption in America was that there was little or nothing that the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt could have done to save Jews from the Holocaust.

Wyman demonstrated that there were, in fact, many ways the United States could have aided European Jewish refugees.

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Prof. David S. Wyman with students in 1985.

Rafael Medoff

His groundbreaking research revealed that U.S. planes were within a few miles of Auschwitz and could have bombed it without detracting from the war effort; that immigration quotas were woefully under-filled, even as Jewish refugees were being turned away from America’s shores; and that the Roosevelt administration deliberately suppressed news about the mass murder of the Jews, fearing that publicity would increase pressure on the president to do something to help them.

Wyman’s scholarship has stood the test of time. Some 34 years later, “The Abandonment of the Jews” remains the gold standard in its field. A few diehard FDR partisans have taken potshots at it now and again, but in the end, historical accounts based on political prejudice are no match for historical accounts based on documents.

The book won award after award and Wyman was presented with honorary degrees, inundated with speaking invitations, and featured on major television and radio shows.

But what he was most proud of was that his book not only educated Americans about their country’s response to the Holocaust, but helped ensure that another persecuted Jewish community would not be abandoned. n early 1985, more than 800 Ethiopian Jewish refugees were left stranded and starving along the Ethiopian-Sudanese border after an Israeli airlift operation was interrupted.

American Jewish activists, together with California Congressman John Miller, gave copies of “The Abandonment of the Jews” to Vice President George H.W. Bush and his aides, pleading See David S. Wyman on page 28

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Squawking as Israel goes astray at Eurovision tehilla r. goldberg

view from central park

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ltough I was just a little girl when I first watched the Eurovision song contest, I remember it like it was yesterday. With no TV at home, we had the privilege of staying up late and watching it at our neighbors. Sitting on their velvety olive-colored sofa, we all felt so much pride in Israel’s songs.

That was the golden age of Israel at the Eurovision. Israel won for two consecutive years in the 1970s. The quality of the actual music, plus the innocence of me being a child and my ignorance of what “Eu” in Eurovision even stood for and why that might be problematic, made it a joy to experience.

Add in that Israel was not subjected to the vitriol it absorbs these days, and the whole Eurovision concept was so very different.

“A-Ba-Ni-Bi” was a song that still passes the test of time and its lyrics and melody are still catchy and fun. It is a form of Hebrew pig latin

that linguistically and cleverly plays with the words and concept “I love you.” The following year, Israel won with the now classic “Hallelujah,” a song about unity, peace, gratitude and love. It is another song that stands the test of time and has an anthemic quality to it. In the 1980s, the iconic Ofra Haza sang and won recognition. n those days, Israel’s participation at Eurovision was in its infancy and it was very exciting, very Jewish and very classy. Some Arab countries boycotted Eurovision and refused to participate so as not to share a platform with the state of the Jews, whom they would not acknowledge (BDS is nothing new — it is simply a way of reinventing reasons and methods for expressing hostility toward Israel).

Jordan would not air the Eurovision competition on its radio or television stations, and when Israel actually won, the result was intentionally misreported by Jordan as Belgium being the victor.

Throughout the decades there have been many shenanigans regarding Israel and the Eurovision contest (which I suppose is not literal in its geographic reach as it clearly in-

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cludes countries of the Levant and does not limit contestants to Europe).

It’s not like I feel Eurovision is such an essential Israeli endeavor, but I do enjoy good music and it can be fun and a way of sharing a piece of Israeli music, culture and pride.

Then last week, Israel’s entry for Eurovision was leaked. Honestly, these days, I don’t usually keep abreast of Eurovision and its developments, but everyone was talking about it so I tuned in to see what all the fuss was all about.

Maybe it’s a matter of personal taste, but I’m so embarrassed, is all I could really say.

Boy has Israel fallen since its “A-Ba-Ni-Bi,” “Hallelujah” and Ofra Haza days. I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears — what passes as good music at all, let alone a song chosen to represent Israel at a musical competition. Oy! he singer, Netta Barzilai, might very well possess a fantastic voice with a fantastic range, but seriously, Israel? Before even addressing the inappropriate content of the music, you got it — the song is in English! The lyrics are not even in Hebrew.

At least “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” was a witty play on the Hebrew alphabet, with an inspiring message. Like its title, the refrain in “Hallelujah”

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was a word from the Psalms, and again, it carried an inspirational message. Barzilai’s song does not lend dignity to women. And speaking of women, here’s a little piece of trivia for you: In a field dominated by men, the conductor of “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” was a woman, one of three in all the years of Eurovision, and the conductor of a winning song to boot!

When Yitzhak Navon was Israel’s minister of culture and was displeased with one of Israel’s musical entries in Eurovision, he threatened to resign. Well, I’m not minister of anything so my opinion will have no impact (by the way he did not carry through on the threat), but something tells me I am not the only one who feels this way about this song, since a video mocking the entry that used the sounds of chickens squawking has gone viral and indeed it is quite hysterical.

Seriously, though, where is the gumption of the contemporary Israeli minister of culture — because this situation calls for an SOS intervention. Pronto!

Bring back musical quality, Jewish Israeli pride and, my goodness, at the very least: the Hebrew language!

Copyright Intermountain Jewish News

THE JEWISH STAR March 23, 2018 • 7 Nissan 5778

Talking about anti-Semitism? Everyone’s doing it

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Continued from page 27 Republican state treasurer, Josh Mandel, lashed out at the ADL in defense of the two conspiracy theorists, Weisman wrote, “I did not see any organized effort to rally around the institution, one of the few major Jewish groups in the United States that is still not predominantly engaged in debate over Israel.”

Coming after a period that included Charlottesville, the JCC bombings and a general feeling of disquiet following the 2016 campaign and the rise of the alt-right, it’s just weird to conclude that Jewish organizations are ignoring or downplaying anti-Semitism.

The ADL certainly has been loud and consistent in calling it out in the past 16 months, joined frequently by the American Jewish Committee, Simon Wiesenthal Center, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and, ahem, the Jewish media.

Weisman only gets it partly right when he talks about how “partisanship” has distorted the internal Jewish debate on anti-Semitism.

Partisanship hasn’t silenced or cowed the ADL

or left it isolated, as he suggests. But it has made it harder for Jews to agree on what constitutes the greatest anti-Semitic threat of the moment. Right-wing critics say the ADL goes after the alt-right in order to tarnish Trump.

They accuse the ADL of ignoring left-wing anti-Semitism as represented by the boycott Israel movement, which the ADL also consistently and assertively condemns. The Jewish left, meanwhile, says the Jewish establishment spends too much time vilifying domestic critics of Israel and should really be focused on the rise of white nationalism.

That’s certainly how the Farrakhan debate is playing out. The right has raised Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism as a symbol of all that plagues the left. And the left insists that the right’s focus on Farrakhan is meant to deflect from its own coddling of white nationalists and other hatemongers.

So nobody is talking about anti-Semitism?

Everybody is talking about anti-Semitism.

They’re just not listening to each other.

Andrew Silow-Carroll is JTA editor-in-chief.

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other countries sitting well beneath the top 50, such as Lebanon (No. 88), Venezuela (No. 102), Iran (No. 106), and Zimbabwe (No. 144).

The report also demonstrates that those nations in which happiness is on the rise are places where life expectancy is increasing and a growing range of support (medical, psychological, financial) is available to the public. For the Palestinians, it is instructive to see that the dial has barely moved on these fronts since the last global happiness survey was released. Given that talks with Israel are not expected soon, the P.A., its key donor countries, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and other institutions purportedly involved with Palestinian welfare have plenty of time on their hands to ask themselves why that is and how their own policies are reinforcing the problem.

Talking anti-Semitism...

with them to “do now what we didn’t do then.”

As a result, the United States sent a fleet of C-130 Hercules transport planes to rescue the refugees and bring them to Israel. Bush subsequently sent Wyman a handwritten note of thanks for inspiring the rescue mission. The note is proudly displayed in the Wyman family home in Massachusetts.

In 2008, Wyman visited an Israeli air force base, where he met Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel, who was involved in the 1985 airlift operation, and Moshe Gadaf and Ami Farradah, who, as 8-year-olds, were among the rescued Ethiopian Jewish children. All of us in that room were overcome with emotion as we watched the former child refugees and the Israeli general who helped save them embrace the American historian whose book helped bring about the airlift.

But the failure of the international commu-

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Continued from page 26 proclaim solidarity.

And yet, when you examine the variables used by the happiness report in the South African context, it’s not hard to see why this is. According to the World Health Organization, the country’s AIDS crisis is a key reason life expectancy is a shockingly low 62 years. At the same time, GDP per capita is under $6,000, corruption among the police and in many areas of the public sector runs rampant, and more than half of the country has been denied the basic education that is essential for the maintenance of a free and flourishing society. Despite, or maybe because of, all this, South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, still trumpets the boycott of Israel as an essential element of the “politics of resistance” that has similarly blighted

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nity to take serious action against contemporary genocides and other atrocities weighed heavily on Wyman. He watched in anguish as the Clinton administration turned a blind eye to the Rwanda genocide; as the Bush (No. 43) and Obama administrations did little to stop the Darfur genocide; and as the United States and its allies have blustered, but failed to act, as Syria’s dictator, Bashar Assad, massacres his own citizens.

Despite those awful failures, David Wyman never lost hope that the international community will one day learn the lessons of the 1940s, so that there will never again be a need to write a book about a defenseless people abandoned by the world.

Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and the author of 19 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust.

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CAlendar of Events

Send your events to Calendar@TheJewishStar.com • Deadline noon Friday • Compiled by Zachary Schechter Parsha Shiur: [Weekly] Join Michal Horowitz at the YI of Woodmere for a special shiur on the parsha. 9:30 am. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere.

516-295-0950.

Iyun Tefilah: [Weekly] Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum at the Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst. 9:45 am. 8 Spruce St, Cedarhurst.

Learn Maseches Brachos: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Eliyahu Wolf at the YI of Woodmere for a shiur on Maseches Brachos. 5:15 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950.

Halacha Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Yoni Levin at Aish Kodesh for a halacha shiur. 9:30 pm.

894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Shacharis including 9 am breakfast and shiurim on subjects such as halacha, gemara and divrei chizuk. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Gemara Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Moshe Sokoloff at the YI of Woodmere for a gemara shiu.r 9:15 am. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere.

516-295-0950.

Torah 4 Teens: [Weekly] Yeshiva program for high-school age boys & young adults with Rabbi Matis Friedman. 9:15 am-12:30 pm. 410 Hungry Harbor Rd, Valley Stream. Torah4teens5T@ gmail.com.

Something to Say at the Seder: Join Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt at YI of Woodmere for a shiur on Pesach. 8:15. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere.

516-295-0950.

Gemara Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt at the YI of Woodmere for a gemara shiu.

9:15 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516295-0950.

Friday March 23

Monday March 26

Friday March 30

Thursday March 22

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

Saturday March 24

Denim and Diamonds: Kulanu invites you to its biggest fundraiser of the year at the Mansion at Lawrence. 9 pm. 140 Central Ave, Lawrence.

516-569-3083 ext. 106.

Sunday March 25

Timely Torah: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Ya’akov Trump, assistant rabbi of the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, for a shiur on relevant Halachic and philosophical topics related to Parsha Moadim and contemporary issues. Coffee and pastries.

8 am. 8 Spruce St, Cedarhurst.

Learning Program: [Weekly] At Aish Kodesh led by Rav Moshe Weinberger following 8:15

Women’s Shiur: [Weekly] Dr. Anette Labovitz’s women shiur will continue at Aish Kodesh.

10 am. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Seeing Things Clearly: Weekly] Join Rabbi Shalom Yona Weis at Aish Kodesh for a shiur for women and high school girls titled “Seeing Things Clearly- Learning to View Our World and Our Lives Through Positive Lenses. 8:45 pm. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Tuesday March 27

Breakfast Connect: [Weekly] Breakfast Connect is a business and networking group that meets for breakfast at Riesterer’s Bakery and to discuss business and networking opportunities.

7:30-8:30 am. 282 Hempstead Ave, West Hempstead. 516-662-7712.

Women’s Shiur: [Weekly] Rebbetzin Weinberger of Aish Kodesh will give a shiur on the “Midah of Seder in our Avodas Hashem.” 11 am.

894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Wednesday March 28

Timely Tanach: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Ya’akov Trump of the Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst for a shiur on Sefer Shoftim. 8 pm. 8 Spruce St, Cedarhurst.

Chumash and Halacha Shiur: [Weekly] Shiur with Rabbi Yosef Richtman at Aish Kodesh.

8 pm. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Shiur and Tehillim Group: [Weekly] Join the women of YI of Woodmere at the home of Devorah Schochet. 9:15 pm. 559 Saddle Ridge Rd.

Yachad 5 Towns event

Pictured at Yachad’s wine, cheese and jazz event last motzei Shabbos, in the Woodmere home of Dr. Avi and Shulamit Penstein, are, from left: Rabbi Dovid Cohen, Rabbi Ahron Rosenthal, and Avi and Shulamit Penstein. Yachad New York Director Rabbi Rosenthal spoke about the growth of Yachad in the community and its various services for individuals with disabilities. Rabbi Cohen delivered an inspiring message as both a rav and as the parent of a child with downs syndrome.

Jewish History: [Weekly] Rabbi Evan Hoffman at YI of Woodmere. 8:15 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950.

Halacha Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Moshe Sokoloff at the YI of Woodmere for a halacha shiur. 8:40 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere.

516-295-0950.

Passover Seder: Join Chabad of the Five Towns for an uplifting Passover Seder. Adult: $40.

Child: $25. 8 pm. 74 Maple Ave, Cedarhurst.

Tuesday April 10

Exploring Sefer Tehillim: Join Michal Horowitz for a seres of lectures on Sefer Tehillim at the Gural JCC. $15. 11:30 am. 207 Grove Ave, Cedarhurst. 516-569-6733 ext. 222.

Wedensday April 11

Yom Hashoah: Greater Five Towns Community Yom Hashoah annual commemoration will be held at Beth Shalom featuring keynote speaker Israel Starck. 7:30 pm. 390 Broadway, Lawrence.

Thursday April 12

Yom Hashoah: Congregation Shaaray Shalom Yom Hashoah program featuring Abraham H. Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League.

7 pm. 711 Dogwood Ave, West Hempstead.

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Teach our childre n well 5 Towns conferenc e told: Deliver Tora with joy to h • 6 Tamuz, 5777

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note remarks that opened the fourth While Torah is nual an- passed down way for the mesorahforever true, the ideal tive Five Towns Community Collaboraaccording Conference on to be conveyed the time, emphasizing to the middah of children — and Sunday.

“What is the Torah how an everlastingto our that the primary of Torah and the kids need now?” ingredent needed in Yiddishkeit is embeddedlove he asked. “What today’s chinuch simcha. their beings — worked in 1972 is in necessarily changes won’t work today.”

Twenty-six speakers, “You’re still talking over time.

Rabbi Weinberger, about what rebbetzins, educators, including rabbis, for you in 1972 and insisting thatworked d’asrah of Congregationfounding morah ers and community leadwhat should work lecturers that’s Woodmere Aish Kodesh in and mashpia at sue that challengeeach addressed a key isMoshe Weinberger, for your kid,” Rabbi the YU, reminded families and parents Shila”a, said in key- that Torah and educators in attendance frum communities. The event, schools in will not be received the Young Israel hosted at of Woodmere, if it’s not was orgaSee 5 Towns Rabbi Moshe hosts on page Weinberger, of 15 Kodesh in Woodmere, Congregation Aish delivered keynote

STAR speech.

Presenting their topics, from left: Baruch Fogel of Rabbi Touro College, “Motivating our children to motivate themselves”; Reb-

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Presenters at Sunday’s conference, from left: Elisheva director of religious Kaminetsky, SKA kodesh, “Empoweringguidance, limudei choices”; Rabbi

TheJewishS

pages 28–29

• Vol 16, No 34

betzin Shani Taragin, 7:53 • Torah columns Tanach coordinator and mashgicha 6:46 pm, Havdalah nika, and Morah”; ruchanit at Midreshet Towns candles Rabbi • Five rah V’avodah, Ephraim 5777 Congregation Polakoff, don’t”; “Miriam: Meyaledet, To• 24 Elul Bais 15, 2017 Rabbi Jesse Horn Tefilah, “Teens Meiech • Sept. technology: What and kotel, of Yeshivat HaNitzavim-Vayeil you know and ognize your bashert”; what you and “Helping children balance ideology Rabbi Kenneth pleasure”; Esther of Congregation Hain Wein, “How to Beth Shalom, rec- A-OK to “When it’s say yes.”

Reuven Taragin, Yeshivat Hakotel founder and director of Eytan Community Education Feiner of The Conferences, White Shul, “When Yitzchak met “Torah tips on Rivkah: Torah’s Star tion and maintain to build Jewish first menThe how a strong By marriage”; of martial the Hebrew joined love”; Michal Towns “Ahavas in Horowitz, The FiveRabbi Sunday Yisrael: In theory or Long Beach on at its in pracnew Academy of

Super Spec ialS chanukat habayit Avenue in celebrating a on Church elementary school Woodmere. beginnings that the humble

tice?”; Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, d’asra, Young mora Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, “Raising successful children”; Rebbetzin Lisa Septimus, yoetzet hala-

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BALFOUR

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Star the loss,

By The Jewish to remember Cedarhurst pausedmiracles of 9/11, at the the n on Sunday. the heroism, and commemoratio village’s annual Rabbi Shay Schachter of WoodIn his invocation, of the Young Israel the Master and (top right photo) pray that G-d, all the strength mere said, “we world, grant us Creator of the to stand firm together against of and the fortitude of extremism, of bigotry, all forms of terror, and of all evil that can be hatred, of racism, forms in our world.” who found in different obligation to thosenever solemn a have “We 11th to injured on Sept. died or were said Mayor Benjamin but we also forget what happened,” “We saw evil, Weinstock (bottom).

America.” of best survivor saw the (middle), a 9/11 78,” reAri Schonburn Fate of “Miracle and waitand author of that day. He was called his experiences on the 78th floor when elevators ing to change hit.

Chief the first plane hurst Fire Department Lawrence-Cedar the playing of saluting during victims.

David Campell, 9/11 names of local Taps, read the

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ceremony, YU’s new president, after the investiture for a selfie. sterdam Avenue who happily posed sought-after celebrity

Viewpoint

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Arthur James Balfour

t was a minor news story when it broke in the summer of 2016. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced he was suing Great Britain over the Balfour Declaration, issued on Nov. 2, 1917. But as we observe the centennial of the document this week, it’s important to understand that although his lawsuit was a stunt, Abbas was serious. More than that, the symbolism of his See Tobin on page 22

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or the Palestinians, the year zero is not 1948, when the state of Israel came into being, but 1917, when Great Britain issued, on Nov. 2, the Balfour Declaration—expressing support for the establishment of a “Jewish national home” in Palestine.

So central is the Balfour Declaration to Palestinian political identity that the “Zionist invasion” is officially deemed to have begun in 1917—not in 1882, when the first trickle of Jewish pioneers from Russia began arriving, nor in 1897, when the Zionist movement held its first congress in Basel, nor in the late 1920s, when thousands of German Jews fleeing the rise of Nazism chose to go to Palestine.

The year 1917 is the critical date because that is when, as an anti-Zionist might say, the Zionist hand slipped effortlessly into the British imperial glove. It is a neat, simple historical proposition upon which the entire Palestinian version of events rests: an empire came to our land and gave it to foreigners, we were dispossessed, and for five generations now, we have continued to resist. Moreover, it is given official sanction in the Palestine National Covenant of 1968, in which article 6 defines Jews who “were living permanently in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion” as “Palestinians”—an invasion that is dated as 1917 in the covenants’ notes.

As the Balfour Declaration’s centenary approached, this theme is much in evidence.

There is now a dedicated Balfour Apology See Cohen on page 22

YU

Dealer on Long

Sukkah To Abbas Largest and Hamas, it was ‘original sin’

Ben Cohen

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At declaration’s centennial, a source of joy and derision

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to an — we believe investiture speech Delivering his Wilf Campus in at YU’sThe Newspaper of our Orthodox communities Berman, with many assembly of 2,000 ty, Rabbi Dr. Ari values that personify YeWashington Heights, in by livestream, that of the “five more listening spoke of the Rabbi Berman the five central “Five Torot, or institution.” teachings, of our believe in Tor“We do not just Chayyim — Torat at Emet but also and values must that our truths he said. live in the world,” teachings, YU’s other central Adam,” “Torat he said, are “Torat Tziyyon, the Chesed,” and “Torat Torah of Redemption.” formal cereFollowing the community parmonies, the YU street fair at an “InvestFest” Am- tied street fair on Amsterdam Avenue.

11 was a along at the “InvestFest” See YU on page Star

Jewish of Yeshiva UniversiVayera • Friday, November 3, 2017 • 14 Cheshvan 5778 • Luach page By The president 21 • The fifth Torah columns pages 20–21 VolSunday 16, No 41 said •on

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of YI LawrenceYaakov Trump director From left: Rabbi Shenker, executive Cedarhurst; MarvinWeitz; Dr. Herbert Pasternak; of YILC; Dr. Mott Lance Hirt; and Rabbi Aaron / Theresa Press HALB Board Chair The Jewish Star Fleksher of HALB.

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Corbyn boycotts B’four event

Britain Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn— who in 2009 called Hezbollah and Hamas his “friends” — said he would not attend a dinner commemorating the centennial of the Balfour Declaration. Prime Minister Theresa May she would attend “with pride” and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu would be her guest.

“We are proud of the role we played in the creation of the State of Israel and we will certainly mark the centenary with pride,” May said. “I am also pleased that good trade relations and other relations that we have with Israel we are building on and enhancing.”

R H STA The JEWIS el ra Is h it w l in efesh’s 56th charter LIers goonal Nefesh B’N

IsraAID brings relief to U.S. disasters

By Ron Kampeas, JTA Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, and WASHINGTON — For 17 years, the then the wildfires in northern California.

Israeli NGO IsraAID has been performPolizer recalls that he was wrapping ing search and rescue, purifying water, up a visit to IsraAID’s new American providing emergency medical assistance headquarters in Palo Alto on Oct. 8 and and walking victims of trauma back to was on his way to a flight to Mexico to psychological health in dozens of disas- oversee operations after a devastating ter-hit countries.

No 25 earthquake there when he got word of • Vol 16, But no season has been busier than the wildfires. “I literally had Luach page 19 9:15 • to do a Uthis past summer and fall, its co-CEO Yo- turn,” he said Havdalah this week in an interview 8:07 pm, tam Polizer said in an interview — and ting Candleligh at the Israeli embassy in Washington.

Polizer spoke with the exhilaration of an executive whose team has come through a daunting challenge. “We’re the people who stay past the ‘aid festival’,” he said, grinning, describing the See IsraAID on page 5

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Leah in sec-t. (with mom of Woodmere for Girls in Cedarhurson Feinberg photos School said. More ar-old Elishevah at the Shulamith now there,” she The Jewish Star / Ed Weintrob trip” and a student out. Thirteen-ye came from year-long had been home. magic “on a 30 as olim, to come ond photo) love for Eretz Yisroel Nefesh B’Nefesh’s left Israel of my land. Jonawho flew promised Her parents her family’s journey fulfill “Part was she said.

Long Islanders aliyah to the for a enough to flight page 16. through Al’s charter the smiling in” and making he’s waited long will follow,” to do this it’s time, NBN’s El to Israel the first some of “all said she’s wanted family, friends, “Hopefully, everyone t of boarding boarding the move Here are on July 3, going Hills (left) and was land, said excitemen olim, for others Shpage 16 through on July 1 carpet ride of Kew Gardens While the olim on emerged the promised of the and her school, from teaching See. 201 carpet to Her love of Israel for many than Yehoshua holy land, — he retired palpable time. visits to the the dream

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By Ed Weintrob to the question, Newman Danit Tayri it’s finally time.” the answer For Chani , joinbut now she said. and children, of Woodmere magic to go, husband “We’re Jewish!”

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2017 • 1

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• Vol 16,

No 20

√ Web and Social Media

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Towns nowhere more than in the United States.

5777 • Five Tamuz, “The last few months have been un2017 • 20 believable,” he said, listing a succession • July 14, Parsha Pinchas of disasters that occupied local staff and Niveen Rizkalla working with IsraAID in Santa Rosa, Calif., in volunteers since August: Hurricane Harthe wake of deadly wildfires there. vey in Texas, Hurricane Irma in Florida,

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wedding TheJew on the 70th Bonnie ishStar.c EpisStar reported survivors 93rd om ty News s and St. John’s The Jewish and Shoah The Newspape , the Far residents years ago Herald Communi Last March, Woodmere of Jack Rybsztajn’ Bessen, closed five Rockaway Peninsula y of r of our Orthodox in patients Hospital the

By Jeffrey communit On the occasion anniversar hospital on percent jump Rybsztajn. his story continues. ies When Peninsula and Jack to get became the experienced a 35 million on July 12, center was desperatelocated. copal Hospital a $10.15 birthday medical Weintrob obtaining to help complete Jack Rybsztajnrelatives were which Rockaway y services.

By Celia a few war ended, emergenc week celebrated nt of Health creating primary After the to Brussels, where cargo trains, during legal using its officials last Departme given on ld hospiSt. John’s New York State that will also include from Stuttgart daring voyages then ultimately sister-in-law s the The 111-year-o Turntwo grant from services renovationacross the street. and arrested, and their future to Brussels Through y at 275 Rockaway headed y center the couple emergenc in a building right for he was discovered . ambulator in Brussels, journey. They had dismay had left on page 14 care space an off-site sites on the peninsula residence the to their See St. John’s Cyla, who tal also operates and similar finally completed kosher restauJack’s sister they arrived. pike in Lawrence to meet s ate at a stating that a one day before wall the Rybsztajn Palestine Brussels, a placard on the looking for anyone While in this was they saw address, wrote to rant, where with a Brooklyn been Rybsztajn , who had survived.

Mr. Jacobs, JN who Yechiel Rybsztajn containson of s, a package plus named RYBSZTA he is the afterward Brussels, man, saying nephew. Not long was received in Mr. Jacobs’ and a pair of tefillinto the United States. Rybsztajn ing a tallis g his travel for five years,” which in Belgium were so nice, papers authorizin Brussels “we stayed Poland. So However, gentile people of went through in Shaydels, the “The what we recalled.

He mentioned s into their a relief after was such coming to America.” the Rybsztajn on page 7 who welcomed See Shoah we stalled Isaac. a well-to-do couple

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The remain s of a chimn ey site, outsid e of Oswiecim at Auschwitz , Poland.

Polish denial

Country’s me lash out at Jedia ws

By Katarzy na Markusz , JTA WARSAW, a Polish law Poland — Debate ove r law rhetoric that proposes to ou tblaming Polan crimes has d for Nazi pro Semitic com mpted a wave of antiments in the Polish media RMF, one . mercial radio of the largest Polish com sta nalist who wr tions, suspended a jou rthe Jews.” Polote about the “war wit h sion station and’s state-owned televi apologized to ambassador for a tweet alle the Israeli Jewish oppo gin g tha t the siti an attempt to on to the law was part of seize Also, a forme Polish property. r priest beg an selling See Polish denial on page 2

The Jewish Star We should where we go carry words of Torah — even to the everyRabbi Eytan Su Feiner of FarperBowl.

White Shul Rocka drove that halftime on point home way’s Su provided foo nday in a webcast shi during ur that tball enthusia native to Ju stin Timberla sts with an altertertainment on NBC TV. ke’s mid-game enIn a vort Chasam So given over in the na fer time when , Rabbi Feiner said theme of kla the theaters l Yisroel will learn To re’s a and stadiums rah of the goyim “in “You’re go like never bef ing to have Jews learning .” he said. “Bu ore in the history of the Torah t world,” excitement, you know what’s missi ng the geshmak , the enthusia ? The sm. … Rabb i Feine

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Think abou t five-, ten-, 15 these meshuganahs wh o imagine the ,000 dollars on a ticket spent . And … people in ou spent $1,00 r 0 dollars for neighborhood who a pastrami san to enjoy the gras, gold lea SuperBowl [with Truffle dwich DOMA Land f and a flute of Champa s, foie + Sea in Ce darhurst]!” gne, at With the halftime, Ra Philadelphia Eagles ah bb cepts involving i Feiner explored To ead at rah preeagles and rying us on the wings of said, “With G-d careagles, on his of Glory, He sai risks. Let me d, don’t be afraid to tak Clouds citement, you see your mesiras nefesh, e some you r enthusiasm … for yiddis r exMay Hashe hkeit.” gles [to] wh m “take us on the win gs ere building of the we really want to get of ea, to the third Bais Ha mikdash,” he said.

Enroute to Su per Bowl, Sho ah thoughts r during his

By Andrew Gersh As thousand man, JNS s descended LII on Sund ay, they likely on Minnesota for Su per Bowl who greete did not exp d tional Airpo them in the Minneapoli ect to meet those rt: Minneso tans who sur s St. Paul InternaThesurvivors vived the Ho were featur a full-color locaust. ed in “Tr ph and 2 throu oto exhibition showc ansfer of Memory,” ased in ter gh Feb. 5. minals 1 The exhibit ues through ha ou Wisconsin an t Minnesota, North Da s traveled to venkota, South d Iowa since Dakota, 2012.

Travelers about Joe Grwho stopped to look at chenwald an osnacht, 94, who sur vivthe exhibit learned d several oth ed Au sch witz, number is vis er camps, an ible on his d whose tat Buarm, and tooed See Shoah about Eva Gross, 90, thoughts on page 20 The Transf

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The Jewish Star American pro-Israel pro supporters of Israel, Meanwh pu should not noucements by Presid mped by come the ile, Hoenlein told the dis and building count the importanc ent Trump, going to support of President Tru Post, “We wel- youn e ger sacrifice tha mp Hoenlein sai alliances with Democra of keeping don’t lik t, and say tha . We are not lebrit , left-leaning people e it, we is to d on ies to ts, Malcolm t be The Democra Monday. appreciation should dismiss him or cause they — the tru visit Israel and spread invite their cetic for th — ab no the go t Party should the good express off,” Hoenlei big change not “When they out the Jewish state. od news from where that he is doing. It is say Conference n, executive vice-chairmbe “written a we or tw we “W fol eet to their re. e should no lowers that of millions of t sacrifice ou ” Isr ish Organiz Presidents of Major Am an of the alienate ael is the exact apartheid r friend ation s peop erican Jew“We can’t s, told the Jerusalem “we should le,” he said, but at the s because it Aviv bar state, or write about theopposite of an and tweet ab be smart ab same time, ir time in a now to lose afford in the United Post. the Tel ou ou m, wa t t how we ma s, ho wh the Democra States right nifest it. We w we embrace or that has more of an eff at a great place it working ha tic left,” he everybody.”

Israeli leade should be op rd sai rs speaking ect, frankly, than me en to ing to build all the time, reaching d. “We are While some ,” Ho he connections.” out and try en sai lei d. n on the lef - the “demo administratio applauded changes tha cratic left” is t are lost to Israel, most t the Tru n broug of how to still in He told the relate to Iran, ht to the United Natio mp Post that an play, Hoenlein said. ns, on and on how effective wa est ini an Au to thority y to reach deal wi President Tru President Mahmoud Ab th Palmp “has had ba an impact,” s. he said.

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