The Jewish Star

2 NY Dems draw redline over Israel Schumer and deBlasio pledge absolute support for Jewish state

By Ed Weintrob WASHINGTON —Two of New York’s most prominent Democrats — one a middle-of-theroad establishment leader, the other a far-left Progressive — told the AIPAC Policy Conference at the Walter E. White Convention Center this week that they were in Israel’s corner and intended to stay there.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio drew a red line that reflected what they described as absolute personal commitments to the Jewish state.

“America, our good and Progressive America, See 2 NY Dems on page 4

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Rep. Lee Zeldin and Rep. Grace Meng at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington this week.

The Jewish Star / Ed Weintrob

SKAers among LI students at confab These students from the Stella K. Abraham HS for Girls of the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach in Hewlett Bay Park were among thousands of high school and college students, including many from Long Island, at this week’s AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington. The girls were energized by the sense of community they found in joining with 18,000 people at the

AIPAC event. “It’s comforting to see that we’re not alone in our support of Israel,” said Student Council President Devorah Schreier. Michal Zelmanovitz said she loved the bipartisan atmosphere in which people with different political views can still bond over their love of Israel. And Talia Wein said she liked “seeing the diversity of the people here — all united for Israel.”

The Jewish Star / Ed Weintrob

Meng and Zeldin win AIPAC cheer

By Ed Weintrob WASHINGTON —Two Long Island members of Congress with impeccable pro-Israel records were warmly received at the AIPAC Policy Conference.

Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of East Meadow and Democrat Rep. Grace Meng of Queens reiterated their support and urged continuation of a long tradition of bipartisanship on Israel.

Meng, an early opponent of the Iran nuclear deal, said Iran continues to pose the greatest threat to the Jewish state, but she was upbeat in reflecting on “so many good things” in “a very Progressive nation.”

Discussing her commitment to Israel, Meng was asked why, as someone who is not Jewish, she cared deeply about it.

She responded that keeping Israel strong helps keep America and the world safe and, referencing Israeli children who live under the constant threat of rocket attack — with just seconds to seek shelter — she said she wants every child to be safe.

Zeldin said that “I want my Democratic colleagues to be successful in fighting back against anti-Semitism … to make their party strongly and passionately and without equivocation” supportive of “a stronger bond between the United States and Israel.”

“That’s more important than winning an election,” he said.

Despite left/right attacks, AIPAC is still needed Jonathan S. tobin

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s the annual AIPAC conference convened this week in Washington, the lobby’s status as a lightning rod for the pro-Israel community was more in evidence than ever before.

Attacks on the group have escalated in recent weeks, after Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) — the sole pair of BDS supporters in Congress — launched anti-Semitic attacks aimed at isolating and delegitimizing the lobby and the pro-Israel community in general.

This, in turn, led to a chorus of abuse aimed at AIPAC from both anti-Zionists and liberal Jewish groups that AIPAC is trying to silence critics of the Israeli government, or has grown too close to President Donald Trump and the political right.

But those wrongheaded liberals, as well as those seeking to depict AIPAC as a sinister manipulator of U.S. foreign policy, aren’t the only critics of the group. Some other supporters of Israel have also lost patience. he lobby was unable to rally support from members of Congress to stop President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. That was bad enough. But its unwillingness to attack or seek to defeat those who disappointed the proIsrael community on an issue that most activists regarded as a matter of life and death was a source of bitter frustration.

The same dynamic is now playing out in the aftermath of the fiasco in which the Democraticcontrolled House of Representatives essentially gave Omar a pass for anti-Semitic attacks on AIPAC and her Jewish colleagues. The same party leaders who were bulldozed by Omar, Tlaib and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of Queens

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are being given their usual a hopelessly Corbynized band of radicals is absolutely necessary. warm reception at AIPAC. Evangelicals and other ChrisTo those who point out tian conservatives are key to that the Democratic Party preserving support for Israel in is not only increasingly dithe United States. It’s also true vided on Israel, but that its that Orthodox Jews and the activist base seems to have small minority of American Jews been captured by leftists who identify as political conwho buy into false intersecservatives are the most reliable tional theories that demonsupporters of Israel within the ize Israel and its American Jewish community. Both groups Jewish supporters, that is make up an ever-larger percentinfuriating. age of the activists who show up Moreover, the shift in the at the annual conference. way that U.S. military aid But that doesn’t mean to Israel is funded — from AIPAC should act in ways that an annual budget vote to a unnecessarily alienate political 10-year-agreement negotiliberals and members of the ated by the Obama administration — also eliminates A sustained standing ovation greeted Nikki Haley even before she was formally introduced. non-Orthodox denominations that still make up, along with one of the functions that de- The former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. remains a favorite with AIPAC attendees. the unaffiliated, about 90 perfined the lobby for decades.

Aggravating the frustration of some of its the pro-Israel umbrella. That mission is not as cent of American Jewry.

IPAC was well within its rights to denounce critics was AIPAC’s willingness to criticize Prime satisfying as an ideologically pure approach that the possibility of Kahanists getting into the Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s maneuver by treats everyone as either friends or enemies with Knesset. Standing up against racism is which a party led by followers of the late Rabbi no grey area in between.

Meir Kahane might make into the Knesset in orI think AIPAC is too squeamish at times when necessary to preserve the pro-Israel tent, even if der to consolidate the right-wing vote and en- it comes to leaders or donors expressing opinions some Israelis view the issue differently.

It may be that the rise of Omar and her hance his chances for reelection. that might outrage either left or right. But those ut the argument that AIPAC has become ir- are the sorts of errors that are inevitable in any friends is the prelude to the collapse of liberal relevant is mistaken. Just like liberals who umbrella group where the leaders must keep the Zionism and the bipartisan consensus. But it is have wrongly interpreted its willingness to tent as big as possible.

AIPAC’s job to fight to the end to prevent that embrace right-wingers who love Israel as proof AIPAC’s mission is not the same as advocacy from happening, not to accept it or to focus on that it is a Republican front, so too does the right for one camp in Israel or one political faction pleasing conservatives whose support is not in get it wrong when it blasts as AIPAC as a weak in the United States, even when those positions question. Nor could it be as effective as it has sister for refusing to go to war with Democrats. are the most sensible. But if you are interested been in helping to mobilize support for anti-BDS Both ends of the political spectrum simply in preserving a bipartisan consensus on Israel, laws in Congress if it did.

Complaints from the right are as off the mark don’t understand what AIPAC does and why, that inevitably is going to mean a willingness to their criticisms notwithstanding, it is still doing forgive members of Congress who stray on key as those of the left. Those who want to sideline its job. votes. It also means understanding welcoming AIPAC don’t understand that as frustrating as a AIPAC has always sought to be a consensus Democrats and trying to strengthen their pro-Is- consensus big tent group may be, it is still an esorganization that united left and right under rael members rather than writing them all off as sential element to the pro-Israel advocacy.

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ocratic and Republican presidents starting with Bill Clinton repeatedly signed the six-month waiver delaying the act’s implementation.

Yet many do not credit AIPAC, but rather the evangelical Christian community and staunch Republican backer Sheldon Adelson, with pressing then-newly elected Trump to officially recognize Israel’s sovereign rights to its historic capital and formally move its Tel Aviv embassy to Jerusalem.

On Monday, Trump formally announced America’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights, another major and unprecedented diplomatic achievement for Israel. This, too, was accomplished without pressure from AIPAC and even took much of the American Jewish establishment by surprise.

Taylor Force Act In 2018, Congress passed the Taylor Force Act, which cuts U.S. funding to the Palestinian Authority in amounts equal to those paid out by the P.A. to jailed terrorists and families of martyrs killed in the act of attempted murder of Jews. The sophisticated P.A. terror funding and incitement scheme, appropriately termed “pay to slay,” is one of the most horrific violations of the Oslo peace process.

However, AIPAC wasn’t the entity to push for the passage of the law. Credit goes to American hedge-fund executive Sander Gerber, who identified and researched the scheme, then linked up with Stuart Force, the father of a young U.S. service veteran, Taylor Force, who was killed in a terror attack while he on a graduate school visit in Israel, and worked tirelessly to get the law passed.

When Gerber, himself a former AIPAC megadonor and board member, began actively pushing for the United States to withhold funding

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fense established by AIPAC. Yet in 2015, neither Obama nor Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned to AIPAC or to the Congress to negotiate terms. Rather, the largest such deal in either America or Israel’s history was negotiated directly between the two administrations. By signing the deal directly, Obama was able to take full credit for providing for Israel’s defense, while for the first time depriving AIPAC of its role of lobbying congressional representatives.

The Iran nuclear deal AIPAC chose to tread carefully when Obama promoted and signed the Iran nuclear deal — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions, or JCPOA — despite staunch opposition by Netanyahu. Quietly, many pushed back on Netanyahu for actively opposing the deal, including through a controversial speech from the floor of the House of Representatives.

While the Iran deal did little to make Israel safer, AIPAC chose their relationship with the party of a president who was at times hostile to Israel, over their relationship with one of Israel’s most successful and longest serving prime ministers.

Ironically, it was Netanyahu’s willingness to challenge Obama from the floor of the US Congress that gained the Israeli leader credibility in a Sunni Arab world that is similarly challenged by the Shiite-led Iran, and helped Israel to dramatically improve its previously non-existent relations with Sunni Gulf States.

Recognition of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights AIPAC played a role in the promoting passage of the bipartisan Embassy Relocation Act signed into law 25 years ago, and since then, both Dem-

that would end up in the hands of terrorists, AIPAC urged him to stop.

Gerber chose to forego his AIPAC board membership while AIPAC chose to forgo Gerber’s annual gift. In an unprecedented achievement, Gerber almost single-handedly pushed to get the Taylor Force Act passed through Congress in March of 2018.

Eroding Democratic support In the past several years, many Democrats have taken a harsher tone towards Israel, while Republicans have doubled down on their support.

As American Jews have historically voted DemoSee AIPAC on page 4

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Analysis by Alex Traiman, JNS Each year, AIPAC gathers nearly 20,000 of America’s proudest and most active pro-Israel advocates together for discussions of contemporary issues in Washington. If the entire Jewish community in the United States looked like a plenary session at the AIPAC policy conference, the Jewish people and the State of Israel would be in great hands, capable of solving nearly every challenge that faces the Jewish nation from abroad.

Anyone coming to the policy conference for the first time will be overwhelmed by the proIsrael sentiment. The ability to bring such a large contingent from around the country is testament to years of hard work building the strength of the America-Israel alliance.

Yet as has been highlighted in several of the keynote speeches and breakout sessions, cracks in the foundation of Israel’s most critical alliance are spreading. Many of these cracks have caught the wider AIPAC establishment by surprise, raising critical questions as to whether the pro-Israel lobby is well positioned to repair the fissures.

For decades, AIPAC’s influence has revolved around its ability has to mobilize members to financially support the campaigns of local officials that actively support Israel. They then lobby those same members to support congressional allotments for Israeli defense and other relevant security issues.

The $38 billion defense deal Towards the close of President Barack Obama’s term in office, Israel and the United States signed an historic 10-year, $38 billion defense deal to provide for Israeli security. There can be little doubt that the deal was built on the foundations for American support of Israel’s de-

THIS WEEK’S STAR

THE JEWISH STAR March 29, 2019 • 22 Adar 2, 5779

AIPAC successfully carries on, amid questions over policy and support

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8 PAGE PESACH CIRCULAR INSIDE

2 Dems...

Continued from page 1 must always protect the state of Israel,” deBlasio said at Monday morning’s plenary session.

Schumer concluded Monday night’s session by vowing that “as long as Hashem breathes air into my lungs … we will fight to protect the Jewish people here in America and in the state of Israel.”

Both men echoed a theme heard frequently at the three-day AIPAC event, attended by around 18,000 delegates from throughout the country, that support for Israel needed to remain bipartisan — even as the Donald Trump Republican presidency has been viewed by some as uncommonly supportive of Israel and as some Democrats, including three freshmen members of Congress, voice anti-Israel or anti-Semitic sentiments or both.

Several speakers sought to highlight Democratic support both for Israel and the fight against anti-Semitism.

“By the way,” Steny Hoyer, the Democratic House Majority Leader, said on Sunday, “there are 62 freshman Democrats — you hear me? Sixty-two. Not three.”

“I am not Jewish, nor do I represent a large Jewish constituency,” Hoyer said. “I’m an American that believes passionately in the idea of Israel … I stand with Israel proudly and unapologetically.”

In an implicit reference to Minnesota freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar, who circulated an old anti-Semitic trope that American Jews are guilty of dual loyalty, he added: “When someone accuses American supporters [of Israel] of dual loyalty I say ‘accuse me’.”

“Plain and simple, the Democratic Party supports Israel and we will continue to do so,” Schumer said. deBlasio was at AIPAC “to make a simple, clear, Progressive case for the state of Israel.”

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“Progressives fight oppression. Progressives shelter those in danger. We embrace inclusion,” he said. “When I’m in Israel. I see a multi-racial democracy. I see universal healthcare, free college, a strong labor movement. … Israel at its core is there to shelter an oppressed people.” deBlasio conceded that “as a Progressive I have some real disagreements with the current Israeli government — but that does not detract, it cannot detract, from the requirement that Israel must be defended.”

Both men pointedly attacked the Boycott Disinvestment and Sanctions movement and the increasingly frequent — and sometimes violent — expressions of anti-Semitism in America and around the world.

Schumer brought his audience to its feet as he intoned, “When we see or hear antiSemitism, we have a solemn obligation not to hold our tongues or parse our language, but call it out with courage, with clarity.”

Saying that “it has become too prevalent in our politics to identify anti-Semitism only when it comes from political opponents,” Schumer made apparent references to both Omar and Trump when he declared: “When someone names only prominent Jews as trying to buy or steal our elections, we must call it out. When someone says that being Jewish and supporting Israel means you’re not loyal to America, we must call it out. When someone looks at a Neo-Nazi rally and sees some very fine people among its company, we must call it out. When someone suggests that money drives support for Israel, we must call it out.”

“Never again means we must never forget the horrifying cost humanity has paid for antiSemitism,” deBlasio said. “We must never tolerate indifference and complacency with their lethal consequences. We must never listen to those who tell us we no longer need to worry.” deBlasio said “I deeply oppose” BDS as “contrary to the Progressive imperative to protect all oppressed people everywhere and always. … It affronts the very notion of Israel

as a guaranteed refuge for the Jewish people.”

Schumer recalled how boycotts were used as a weapon against the Jewish state both before and after its reestablishment in 1948. He quoted the BDS movement’s founder, Omar Barghouti, as saying, “We oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine” and that Jews “are not a people.”

Speaking just hours after Hamas rockets struck an area near Tel Aviv, Schumer emphasized that “Israel has every right to respond just as any other nation, including our own would.”

“Too many of our younger generation don’t have the same understanding of the threats facing Israel as my generation did,” he said. “They

AIPAC...

Continued from page 3 crat, it’s both ironic and troubling that the party supported by Jews has become less pro-Israel than the party supported by evangelical Christians.

AIPAC has been careful not to publicly criticize progressive Democrats, so as not to offend the party. It took Republican Vice President Mike Pence on Monday to call out the Democratic congresswomen who have said that Israel is buying off their congressional colleagues, as well as take to task 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls who boasted of avoiding the conference, though no official invitations go out to candidates.

And last week, another AIPAC mega-donor, Adam Milstein, went on the counterattack, tweeting messages demonstrating the known connections of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), as well as claiming that the anti-Israel organization does not share typical American values.

Yet instead of backing its longtime funder, AIPAC preferred that Milstein step down from his

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don’t know that as long as Israel has existed, she has had to defend herself from enemies who seek to wipe her off the map. That’s a fundamental problem we must confront head-on.”

Democratic New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez return to the theme of bipartisanship in remarks that closed the conference on Tuesday.

“If we want to sustain that bipartisan support in the 21st century, we must let no one use anti-Semitism or the U.S.-Israel relationship as partisan cudgels, he said. “These days, when it seems like bipartisanship is in short supply, the fact remains that we have always stood united behind Israel’s right to self-defense always.

role as a moderator of a panel on anti-Semitism in this year’s conference.

Criticism of Israeli politics While AIPAC has treaded carefully around Democrats’ comments about Israel, they retweeted a statement by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) harshly criticizing Netanyahu for helping to broker an alliance between certain religionist Zionist factions vying for seats in the upcoming Knesset.

It was the first time AIPAC had ever commented on internal Israeli politics, and the statements took many Israelis and particularly Netanyahu by surprise.

While AIPAC supports Israel’s democratic values, it must allow for the Israelis alone to determine which ideals are represented in its democratically elected parliament.

The tweet, along with the other recent examples, demonstrates that AIPAC must re-evaluate its mission and actions in the face of growing challenges. Otherwise, it will be the 20,000 staunchly pro-Israel activists in attendance that will carry the banner of AIPAC, while the organizers of the conference will continue to have diminishing impact on policies critical to the Jewish state.

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Next for Golan: Homes, farms, biz and hi-tech?

Analysis by Yaakov Lappin, JNS The decision by President Donald Trump to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights is a welcome shift that lines up with the reality of Israel’s permanent presence in that area.

On Monday at the White House, Trump, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as witness, signed a presidential proclamation officially recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.

Yet after all is said and done, recognition

by Washington — no matter how welcome — will have little real-life effect on the ground.

What will make a significant difference to the security, political and economic reality of the Golan Heights is the development of large-scale Israeli communities on it.

Although it has only controlled the Golan for a mere 21 years — from 1946 to 1967, compared to the 52 years that Israel has now controlled it — Syria will continue to demand the return of this strategically vital land that overlooks the entire region.

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a transfer of the Golan to Syria as part of a peace deal came up empty. Had Israel given up on the Golan, it would today face the presence of ISIS, Iranian units and Hezbollah cells on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The security of the north would have fared far worse than the current situation.

Today, the Syrian state is beginning a long process of reconstructing itself, but it can never go back to the pre-war reality.

Iran and Shiite militias will likely remain on the ground in Syria for many years to come, preparing bases of attack against Israel. They will, however, be looking at the Golan from across the border, rather than turning it into a missile and terrorism base.

From Israel’s perspective, a governmentled program to begin seriously populating the Golan would go a long way to promoting the national interest.

Currently, the Golan is home to 22,000 Jewish-Israelis and some 25,000 Druze, the latter focused in four villages and who are integrated in Israel, despite rhetorical sound bites about maintaining loyalty to Syria.

Unlike the West Bank, where 2.5 million Palestinians and 400,000 Israelis live, the Golan is almost empty, and unlike the West Bank, it enjoys broad consensus in Israeli society.

In April last year, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Noam Tibon, former commander of the IDF’s Formation, called for Israel to populate the Golan Heights, saying that this would not only result in economic and housing gains, but that it would also complement Israel’s military policies towards its quickly changing northern neighbor.

Tibon noted that “to the north of the Golan, Iran is consolidating its presence in Syria, creating a series of provocations against Israel, gradually creating a new reality. This is part of an overall Iranian regional project of building a conglomerate of areas under its control, and

View of the snow-covered Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights on Jan. 18.

Syria is a major aspect of this dangerous plan.

Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, is deployed across Syria as part of this maneuver.”

While the debate over whether to return the Golan was legitimate in its time, in the current era, with the Syrian civil war drawing to a close, this discussion has become irrelevant, argued Tibon.

“Syria is expected to suffer many more years of instability, and Israel’s most powerful enemies — Iran and Hezbollah — will continue to set up shop there, seeking to approach the border with Israel. Russia’s involvement in Syria has made these developments yet more complex. The idea of ceding the Golan is detached from this reality,” he said.

He described a program to populate the Golan as a civilian-economic component that would complement Israel’s strategic need to beef up northern defenses.

“This should be done not as a bargaining

Hadas Parush/Flash90

chip, but for the purpose of long-term settlement. The goal would be to create a population that could make a living from sectors beyond agriculture and tourism. For this purpose, the government should set up high-tech hubs and other advanced industries in the Golan, enabling the new population to have high quality jobs nearby,” said Tibon.

New Golan communities can be linked up to the country’s central coast, where the majority of Israelis live and where the economy is centered, with rapid train lines and an extensive network of highways.

Seizing on the momentum of Trump’s recognition, the next Israeli government would do well to act on this initiative and embark on a development program that would enjoy the support of both Israel’s left and right constituencies, while making it clear that Israel has no intention of ever forfeiting the Golan to Iran and its proxies.

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‫בס”ד‬

Exhibit recalls Ethiopian Jews’ exodus to Israel

By Moira Schneider, JTA CAPE TOWN — In 1983, when Danny Abebe was 9 years old, his Jewish family decided one Rosh Hashanah night to leave their remote village in Ethiopia — with some 700 others — due to war and a series of famines that had wracked the country.

“We didn’t know where [we were going], nobody told us,” he recalled. “We walked barefoot to Sudan — we walked 800 kilometers, over three weeks, walking 45 to 55 kilometers a day,” or between 28 and 35 miles.

Danny didn’t know it then, but he was part of the historic Operation Moses, the secret airlift by the Israeli government of some 7,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel over seven weeks between 1984 and 1985. At the opening of “Operation Moses: 30 Years After,” an exhibition at the South African Jewish Museum that showcases the stories of 10 such individuals — he spoke of the heartbreak faced along the way.

Gavin Morris, director of the South African Jewish Museum, said an important element of the exhibition is that it acknowledges the Jewish presence in Africa over two millennia.

“There’s a tendency to think of Jews in this day and age as white, middle- or upper-class people, where the reality historically has always been very different,” Morris told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

“We bring a lot of African schoolchildren through the museum — I’d like them to see that Jews are not homogenously white, Ashkenazi, middle-class people, but that we are a very diverse culture and community and the lived experience of the Ethiopian Jews is much closer to their known experience and is maybe something that would resonate a bit more closely.”

The Jewish communities of South Africa and Ethiopia once were the two primary Jewish communities in sub-Saharan Africa.

“As we are the sole remaining major Jew-

ish community on the continent, it is beholden on us as the South African Jewish Museum to be representative of the Jewish experience in Africa,” Morris said.

Some of the exhibition’s themes — such as racism and cultural gaps — are common to both South Africa and the Ethiopian experience in Israel. As one of the panels reads, though the number of Ethiopians marrying out of their community has increased in recent years, these couples can face “considerable challenges.”

One of the Ethiopian Israelis profiled in the exhibit — Shay Yosef, 36 — feels that “prejudice prevents him from finding a job in his profession but cherishes his Ethiopian roots and aims to impart Ethiopian traditions to his children.” Yosef is a qualified engineer, but works in security for the settlement of Efrat, where he lives.

Abebe recalled other challenges. His tiny village in Ethiopia was far from Western civilization.

“I had never heard of the State of Israel, only Jerusalem — my father always told us about it,” he recalled.

From being “a very primitive shepherd boy,” as he described it, Abebe became a journalist at Yediot Acharonot and today is the Johannesburg-based shaliach, or emissary, for the Habonim Dror Zionist youth movement. He calls the trajectory “crazy.”

Three years ago he took his children — three born in Israel and one in South Africa — back to his village.

“They were shocked,” Abebe said. “It was so far from computers, tablets.” But, he reflects, the life was “good, simple and nice.”

What he felt was missing from the exhibition, presented in collaboration with the South African Zionist Federation and which is on loan from Beit Hatfutsot, the Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, was the depth of suffering of those who made the journey — and those who didn’t survive.

The day before the group arrived at the Su-

“The gap between us and Israeli society was at least 100 years, even more,” he said. “Two days after our arrival, the Jewish Agency took us to an apartment in Arad and put us on the sixth floor. It was the first time I had seen a building, fridge, gas, a toilet — for us it was a big challenge.”

Abebe’s mother integrated into Israeli society much better than his father, a phenomenon he says is echoed across much of the community.

“My father is in Israel, but he’s still in Ethiopia. After 35 years, he doesn’t speak Hebrew and has never worked,” Berchko Adela as a young girl in Ethiopia, before Operation Abebe said, adding that no training or Moses. Now 68, she is a married mother of five in Ashdod. education had been provided to ease his passage from a primitive, rural lifestyle. danese border all those years ago, Abebe’s aunt In a 1996 report, Israel’s Ministry of Abdied, leaving three small children.

“That was the first time I saw my father cry,” sorption said that middle-aged and older imhe said. “We left her on the way — Mossad said migrants from Ethiopia had much lower employment rates than other Israelis, with the gap we had to continue.”

Nor does the exhibit mention the refugee widening with age. The report also acknowledged the need for more training programs to camp in Sudan where Abebe lived for a year.

“It was really, really hard for us — I would integrate Ethiopian men and women.

The first time he himself felt like a real Islike to see the real life suffering portrayed in raeli, Abebe recalls, was when he served as the the exhibition,” he said. first Ethiopian man in the Israel Defense Forces’ “I saw a lot of people passing away every Army Radio. day from disease. We had a small holocaust in As for his children, “for me it’s very, very Sudan — we lost 4,000 people” on the journey important to see them like everyone [else], to due to violence and illness. “I have to say — it’s give them the opportunity to grow up as Israeli, very hard to be here.” because it’s a big challenge,” he said. “I don’t So traumatic was the experience in Sudan care about myself.” that his father had refused to speak about it.

Referring to cultural differences between the “Only five, six years ago, one night I called Ethiopians and their host society, Abebe says simhim to ask him something,” Abebe said. “He ply that “everything was really hard.” told me, ‘Adeno, I’d like to tell you what hap“Just recently, we started asking ourselves pened there.’” Adeno was Danny’s birth name, about our tradition — 35 years later,” he said.

Daniel the “very American” name the Jewish “We were so busy trying to be Israeli, but we’ve Agency decided to give him, he said. The chal- realized how important it is to keep our culture lenges did not end when they arrived in Israel. and tradition.”

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Career Development: YU Jewish career development expo. Career opportunities, fellowships and funding, learning, summer educator trips, and innovations in the field. Free registration. 6 to 9 pm. 2501 Amsterdam Ave, Manhattan.

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Sunday March 31

Community Rally: Unity against hate and anti-Semitism. 10 am to 12 pm. Village Green Park, Great Neck. Contact draam@aol.com.

NCYI Gala: National Council of Young Israel annual gala at the Marriott Marquis. Guest speakers: Honorable Kevin McCarthy and Governor Mike Huckabee. Buffet dinner. 5 pm. 1535 Broadway, Manhattan. Dinner@YoungIsrael.org. $500.

Tuesday April 2

Tikkun Hamiddos: Michal Horowitz’s series “Tikkun Hamiddos: Measure of a Man,” continues with a class on anger and calmness. 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. 207 Grove Ave, Cedarhurst. 516-5696733 ext. 222. $15 per class, $65 for full series.

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Gush Gala: The Etzion Foundation invites you to join its jubilee gala, celebrating 50 years of personal development and national commitment at Yeshivat Har Etzion. 1:45 pm exhbition; 5:15 pm gala. 212-732-4874.

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The JEWISH STAR CAlendar of Events

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March 29, 2019 • 22 Adar 2, 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

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The JEWISH STAR

Wine & Dine

Feeding food allergic guests during Pesach Kosher Kitchen

JOni SChOCKeTT

Jewish Star columnist

H

ow many people will be coming to your Seder who have food issues, from gluten sensitivity to outright allergies? Allergy and sensitivity issues are becoming more and more commonplace and require a lot of sensitivity and care on the parts of cooks who will feed not only them, but also others who can eat anything.

Food allergies are on the increase, as are people’s decisions to eat a restricted diet for many different reasons. A British report from 2008 says that in the UK, where the advice was to avoid peanuts for babies and young children, Jewish children had tenfold increase in peanut allergies compared to Jewish children in Israel, where parents give their children peanut products in infancy. Now, US parents are advised to give their babies peanut products beginning at 6 months old. It was one of my grandson’s very first foods!

Three percent of adults suffer from severe food allergies, and others suffer from conditions that prevent them from eating many foods, including celiac disease, diabetes, and Crohn’s.

This year, we will be hosting two Seders and will have several guests with food issues. So what do we do to satisfy all of the above issues? I learned, after making several separate dishes for those with food issues, the answer is to simplify.

Rather than make separate dishes, make foods that everyone can eat and enjoy. Going gluten-free is really easy on Passover, and other issues can also be dealt with by feeding everyone the same dishes. This may leave out a few foods, but no one will be the wiser.

One of my guests is allergic to carrots. So I now make “green” chicken soup. I add sliced leeks, lots of celery, parsnips, and sometimes fresh spinach and the green parts of scallions. No one has asked for carrots. I make a huge platter of roasted veggies and let people take what they like. In addition, I make white and sweet potato dishes and avoid farfel, kugels, and other things made from matzah-based products. GF deserts are a snap, from pavlova to flourless chocolate cakes, cookies, almond cakes and more. There are always enough desserts for everyone.

Making a Seder like this avoids any discomfort for guests who prefer to keep their food issues private. You will be far less stressed, and that is definitely a plus. A zissen Pesach!

Simple Roasted Vegetables (Pareve) I use one bunch or head of each of the vegetables to feed 10. If your group is not into veggies, use less. If you have a huge crowd, use more.

Broccoli Cauliflower Baby carrots (with leaf tops) Portobello mushroom caps Asparagus Sweet potatoes Small creamer potatoes, red, purple and white Chives, snipped Large red onions, peeled and sliced Red and green peppers, quartered and seeded Cherry tomatoes Broccolini 1 large onion, finely minced 4 to 10 cloves garlic, finely minced Kosher salt Black pepper Rosemary sprigs Fresh tarragon leaves Paprika and other seasonings Finely minced hot pepper of your choice Balsamic vinegar Honey Pure maple syrup Line three rimmed baking sheets with heavy foil and then with parchment paper. Rinse all vegetables and dry as much as possible. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the cauliflower and broccoli into samesized florets. Place in a large bowl and toss with a generous amount of olive oil. Add the snipped chives and other herbs and spices that you like — a bit of hot pepper, some minced onion and garlic. Toss to coat and spread on the prepared baking sheet.

Cut and seed the bell peppers. Place in the bowl with cherry tomatoes and toss to coat.

Place on prepared pan and roast until the peppers are charred in parts and the tomatoes are shriveled and charred in places.

Wipe out the bowl. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into rounds, then cut the rounds in half.

Add to the bowl. Cut the small creamer potatoes in half and add to the bowl. Add olive oil and toss to coat. Add some minced garlic and onions, salt and pepper, tarragon leaves and rosemary sprigs and toss to coat. Place on the prepared sheet, drizzle with a bit of honey or maple syrup and a bit of balsamic vinegar and place in the oven.

Repeat this process with the zucchini, Portobello mushroom caps on one tray and the broccolini and asparagus (I cut the stalks into 3 pieces) on another tray. Season as desired and roast.

I usually roast a large tray or red onion slices

that are just brushed with olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar or pomegranate molasses to bring out the sweetness. I put some on each platter for color and because everyone seems to love them.

When the veggies are done, place on platters. I usually slice up the mushroom caps before serving. You can drizzle with balsamic vinegar or just season with salt and pepper.

NOTE: Place veggies that need about the same amount of time together on the baking sheets.

Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies (Pareve) 2-1/2 cups almond flour 1/3 cups finely chopped pecans 1/4 cup dark brown sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. baking powder 3/4 cup almond butter 1/2 cup pure maple syrup 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 2/3 to 3/4 cup raspberry preserves, chocolate hazelnut spread, apricot preserves Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the almond flour with the chopped pecans and brown sugar. Mix thoroughly. Add the salt and baking powder and whisk to blend.

In another bowl, mix the almond butter with the maple syrup and vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix completely.

Roll spoonfuls of the dough into balls. Place on the cookie sheet and flatten gently. Press the back of a 1/4 tsp. measuring spoon into the middle of the cookie. Repeat with all the dough. You should about 36 cookies.

Bake until the cookies are golden, 6 to 9 minutes. Remove from the oven and, if needed, repress the centers with the back of the spoon. Let cool completely.

Take 1/2 tsp. or more of jam or filling and

fill the indentation of the cookie. If you like, you can add chocolate sprinkles or dust some cocoa powder over the cookie. Let cool completely.

Makes about 36 cookies.

Olive Oil Almond Cake with Amaretto and Brown Sugar (Pareve) 4-1/2 ounces almond flour or finely ground almonds 1/4 cup matzah cake meal or GF cake meal 1/4 cup potato starch 3/4 cup sugar minus 3 tablespoons reserved for the top of the cake, divided 1/4 tsp. salt 5 large egg yolks at room temperature 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 1/4 tsp. almond extract 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (generous) See Food allergies on page 14

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The JEWISH STAR

Wine & Dine

60th birthday surprise Who’s in the Kitchen

JudY Joszef

Jewish Star columnist

Y

esterday was the last birthday celebration for my sixtieth birthday. It all started three days before my birthday, on March 1st. We were invited to the Grossers for Friday night dinner for my birthday, which was on March 4th. There was a birthday hat at my place setting and we celebrated along with two other couples who are very close friends.

The celebration continued the next night, when I walked into a surprise party at my friend’s house. I was shocked. It’s not easy to surprise me — I’ve been planning events since I was a little girl, so I’m usually on top of things. The one time I actually would have been surprised was my bridal shower right before I married Jerry. My friend Janet Grosser’s name came up in conversation, and Jerry said, “Oh, when I was talking

to Janet about your bridal shower...” He stopped, but it was too late. He looked at me sheepishly and said, “I messed that up, didn’t I?” Fast-forward to about three weeks before my sixtieth birthday. My friend Ilyce had texted two friends and me that her husband had scored tickets to an amazing comic at a comedy club on March 2nd. She wanted to know if we were all available. The Tuesday before the show, one of the girls texted to ask what time we were meeting on Saturday night, and if we should go out to eat first, as the club was not kosher. Ilyce invited us to grab a quick bite at her house before the show at 8:30. Since the show was at 10, I asked if 8:30 was a little too late. She assured us that the comedy club was near her house, so we’d have enough time to get there.

After Shabbat, I went upstairs to change. Black is slenderizing and goes with everything, so I tend to always show up in black. As I was about to slide on my black boots I stopped and asked, “Should I wear my red suede heels tonight, just to change it up a bit? After all, we’re going to a club.”

“Sure, why not,” Jerry said. “You’re almost 60.

Food allergies...

Continued from page 12 3 Tbsp. amaretto liqueur 5 large egg whites at room temperature Glaze: 2 Tbsp. light brown sugar 2 Tbsp. amaretto 1 Tbsp. water Garnish: toasted sliced almonds and fresh raspberries Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Set aside.

Generously grease a 9-inch round cake pan or 9-inch round spring form pan. Line the bottom with a round or parchment. Set aside.

Spread the almond flour on the prepared baking sheet and toast until the flour turns golden, about 4 to 10 minutes. Stir and shake as needed to ensure even browning. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Combine the cooled almond flour, the matzah cake meal, 1/4 cup sugar, potato starch, and salt in a small bowl. Whisk to blend. Set aside.

In another bowl, blend the egg yolks, extracts, olive oil and amaretto and whisk to blend.

Add half the almond mixture and mix well.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until frothy on medium speed. Increase speed and add a pinch of salt.

When the egg whites begin to turn all white, add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar in a slow, steady stream while the mixer is running on high. Beat

until the egg whites are stiff and glossy.

Add 1/3 of the meringue to the yolk mixture and fold to lighten and blend evenly. Add the remaining meringue and fold gently to blend.

Sprinkle the remaining almond mixture over the top and fold gently to blend completely.

Scrape into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle the 3 Tbsp. sugar evenly over the top and place in the center of the oven.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes until the top has formed a crust and the cake is golden. Remove from the oven and run a very thin knife around the edge of the pan. Let the cake cool for 30 minutes.

While the cake is baking, mix the brown sugar, water and amaretto and heat until the sugar is melted and the syrup is boiling. Let boil about 15 seconds. Remove from the heat and let cool.

When the cake is cooled a bit (about 10 minutes) brush some of the syrup over the cake. Do this twice more while the cake is still warm.

Remove the cake from the pan and place on a serving platter. Brush with the glaze once more.

Garnish with toasted slivered almonds and fresh raspberries. Serves 8 to 10.

NOTE: To substitute lemon for the amaretto, use 3 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice in place of the amaretto in the cake. Omit the almond extract. Use three tablespoons lemon juice and 3 tablespoons white sugar for the glaze. Omit the water. Garnish with candied lemon slices.

Once you hit 60, you can dress any way you want.

I do.” I reminded him that he has dressed that way since I met him 15 years ago.

Our friends, the Finks, picked us up, Jerry holding the platter with the food on it. As we got into the car, Bev said “Why are you wearing those shoes?” I knew it, I knew they would be too much. I told her to give me a minute and I’d run in and change. She assured me they were fine, she was just concerned that they would get ruined in the snow. (She later told me she was just trying to throw me off).

We got to the front door, and as I was about to ring the bell, the door opened. It all happened so quickly. I remember looking straight ahead and seeing a couple or two who didn’t belong there, then someone holding a camera. That’s when I realized. I tripped on the doorjamb and almost fell backwards. Jerry was just as shocked. (He had been kept in the dark as well — that was one smart move.) There were friends and family from near and far. To say I was shocked would be an understatement.

On my birthday itself, Jerry and I, and our friends Rhonda and Aaron, did one of my favorite things — we went bowling. And yes, I wore my birthday crown!

The following night I went out with five dear friends who I have been close with since elementary school. We laughed, shared stories and had a blast, as we’ve been doing for over 50 years.

And last but not least, all my kids and my granddaughter, along with Jerry, took me out yesterday for brunch.

It was a birthday celebration that spanned almost a month, and I loved every minute of it!

Made turning 60 a whole lot a whole lot easier!

Speaking of surprises… surprise Kiss Cookies Ifyougiveablondakitchen.com Ingredients: One cup unsalted butter, room temperature 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 tsp. of vanilla 2 cups all purpose flour 1 cup finely chopped walnuts 36 milk chocolate kiss candies, unwrapped 1/2 cup confectioners sugar Directions: In a large bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy, and flour and walnuts. Stir until well blended.

Cover dough and chill in the refrigerator for two hours, then preheat oven to 375 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Measure about 1 Tbsp. of dough and shape around one chocolate kiss, rolling to make a ball. Place dough balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes or until cookies are set but not browned, the edges may be golden.

Allow cookies to cool for five minutes. While they are still warm, roll in confectioner’s sugar and set on a wire rack.

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‫כוכב של שבת‬

The JEWISH STAR’S

S HAbbAT We are all in Italy T

he first narrative in the book of Vayikra describes the eighth day of the dedication of the Mishkan, culminating with the deaths of Nadav and Avihu and the aftermath of that tragedy.

Aharon’s reaction of silence is well known.

But how did their mother respond to their untimely demise?

The Talmud (Zevachim 102a) tells us that on the day of the inauguration of the Mishkan, Elisheva had five reasons to rejoice, and one cause to mourn. Her brother-in-law was leader, her husband was High Priest, her son was assistant to the High Priest, her grandson was a kohen anointed for war, and her brother, Nachshon, was the prince of a tribe.

Her mourning was because her two sons died.

This narrative is presented in countless Midrashim, in slightly different formats, some of which focus on Koheles’s question of what joy is worth if people die anyway, or on the verse in Tehillim that says “Israel will rejoice with its Maker” at the right time. Elisheva rejoiced over all her good fortune and didn’t see what was coming (Pesikta D’rav Kahana).

The Midrash Tanchuma gives case after case of Biblical heroes who celebrated their good fortune, but starting with Adam and continuing with Avraham, Yitzchak, Yehoshua, and Eli the High Priest, they either sinned or otherwise suffered through difficulties in rearing children.

(In Yehoshua’s case, he died childless.)

There is a troubling Midrash (38:7) on Parshat Tetzaveh. Weaving together a number of verses, it says that when Aharon was to atone for Israel, he was told to take one bull and two rams (Shemot 29:1). The Midrash identifies the bull as Aharon and the two rams as his sons Elazar and Itamar, suggesting that Aharon was getting the hint that only two of his sons were destined to serve and two were slated to die.

But if that were the case, why not spare him the pain and allow him to just have two sons? The answer is that part of what made Aharon was his loss. We can say the same thing of Yehuda, who lost two sons, and of David, who lost four children in his lifetime. any years ago I read an essay entitled “Welcome to Holland,” written by Emily Perl Kingsley to try to explain life as a parent to a child with a disability. She compares it to preparing for a trip to Italy that ends with a flight attendant welcoming you to Holland. It is a journey that is not what you expected, but Holland has its fine points as well.

But in looking for it, I found another essay

by Zita Dulock, who hates “Welcome to Holland.” She argues that everyone ends up in Italy. Parenthood — Italy — is what everyone who has a child signed up for.

“But we’re all having very different vacations, because we’re very different people, raising very different children. Is life with my autistic child quite the same as what I thought parenting would be? Nope — it sure isn’t.

“But neither is life with my neurotypical See Italy on page 18

Part of what made Aharon was his loss.

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of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth; Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, executive vice president emeritus of the Orthodox Union; Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner, rosh kollel of Yeshiva University Torah miTzion Beit Midrash in Toronto. to contact our columnists, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

Choosing leaders, quizzing authority From Heart of Jerusalem

Rabbi biNNY FReeDMaN

Jewish Star columnist

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number of years ago, I had an uncomfortable experience. I ran into an old friend who, like me, is an alumnus of Yeshivat Har Etzion in the Gush. He had started a cutting-edge program for women interested in developing rabbinic leadership; in the Orthodox world, a rather new and somewhat controversial idea.

As he shared his enthusiasm for the project, I innocently asked what our rosh yeshiva and mentor, Rav Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l, thought about his project. His response: “Oh, I’m way past that!” took me by surprise and made me distinctly uncomfortable, though it took me a while to understand why.

On the one hand, there is something beautiful about a leadership that encourages its students to think for themselves rather than rely completely on their teachers’ opinions. As an example, I distinctly recall Rav Lichtenstein’s and Rav Amital’s strong reactions to students in the yeshiva who opposed their political views, stating unequivocally that such opposition was healthy, especially as they both felt Jewish law did not mandate a specific political opinion. It seemed so refreshingly different from the haredi world whose rabbinic leaders seemed to command fealty to every administrative decision.

And yet the Torah nonetheless clearly commands us to follow our leaders’ rulings: “You shall do according to what they tell you … and keep it according to all which they teach you. According to the Torah they will teach you … you may not deviate from that which they tell you, to the right or the left” (Devarim 17: 10-11).

So how does one balance the value of healthy questioning and diverse opinions with the danger of undermining rabbinic authority? his week, in the portion of Shemini, we read one of the most tragic episodes in the entire Torah: the untimely and devastating deaths of Nadav and Avihu, the elder sons of Aaron, on the very day they are all anointed for the first time as kohanim in the newly dedicated Mishkan.

There are many different opinions as to what transgression these two young leaders committed that necessitated their deaths. Did they bring a fire that was not commanded, caught up in the passion of the moment? Did they enter the holy Tabernacle drunk? Were they arrogant?

Rashi (Vayikra 10:2) quotes the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer in the Talmud (Eiruvin 63) that they died because they issued a halachic ruling in front of their teacher. They should have asked Moshe before bringing their “foreign” (not commanded) fire.

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But why would such a mild mistake require such a severe response? What warranted such a severe punishment?

Interestingly, the Talmud there notes that the same Rabbi Eliezer had a student who once issued a ruling in Rabbi Eliezer’s presence, whereupon R. Eliezer declared that the student would not live out the year. Indeed, the student died less than a year later. Obviously there is a larger issue at stake here. av Chaim Shmuelevitz, in his Sichos Mussar, suggests that the undermining of rabbinic leadership is a much bigger issue than just disrespect for a teacher. Judaism itself, as a viable ongoing tradition, depends on whether and how we respect the rabbis who teach us Torah.

Indeed, one can find this question in one of the most magnificent events in Jewish history, as well as one if its most infamous. When the Jewish people leave Egypt for Canaan, Moshe suddenly instructs them to head back towards Egypt (Shemot 14:2). Incredibly, the Jews listen to Moshe and turn around; there is not a word of protest. It’s almost as though G-d had designed this moment to demonstrate that we need to listen to our leaders unfailingly.

But the sin of the Golden Calf begins essentially because the Jewish people do not respect their elders. They did not consult with Aharon and Chur, whom Moshe had left in charge, even murdering Chur for his attempt to defy the mob.

Jewish tradition can only exist if we are committed to a leadership that we are prepared to follow without hesitation (though a teacher who wishes to forgo his honor may do so; Rambam Hilchot Talmud Torah 5:11).

So how do we differentiate between the value of different opinions and the obedience that true respect for Torah demands?

Perhaps we need to start with the question of what a rav, particularly a moreh halacha, is. In

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fact, one might suggest that if we are struggling with whether to adhere to the rulings of a rav, then he is not not really our true teacher. recently found an interesting point attributed to the great halachic arbiter of the last generation, Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l. Noting that the book of Vayikra is also known as Torat Kohanim (the book of laws pertaining to priests), Rav Moshe finds it peculiar that Moshe is exhorted to speak to the entire Jewish people first, and only in the second portion, Tzav, to the Kohanim.

Perhaps because in order to choose educated leaders, we have to first be somewhat educated ourselves. It is not an accident that the greatest Torah leaders belong to the communities of the most Torah-educated Jews.

True leadership begins with trust; we have to be willing to accept what our rabbis teach us even when we find it difficult. Otherwise they are no longer really our teachers. And a Judaism without rabbinic leadership is an orphaned Judaism. It cannot survive.

A rabbi can forgo his honor, and he can encourage divergence of opinion in matters of politics and daily living, but he cannot compromise his Torah principles.

We owe it to our children to become educated enough to appoint and choose Torah leadership well versed in Jewish tradition and Torah knowledge. And we owe them just as much to find a rabbinic leadership whose halachic decisions we can accept without hesitation, even when we find them difficult to understand.

As Rabbi Eliezer intuited, and the Torah teaches through the tragic story of Nadav and Avihu, a Judaism which disrespects or disavow our teachers simply because we do not like their rulings cannot survive.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem.

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March 29, 2019 • 22 Adar 2, 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

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Torah

Rabbi david eTengoff

Jewish Star columnist

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his week’s parasha contains one of the Torah’s most difficult passages: “And Aharon’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, each took his pan, put fire in them, and placed incense upon it, and they brought before the L-rd foreign fire, which He had not commanded them. And fire went forth from before the L-rd and consumed them, and they died before the L-rd” (Vayikra 10:1-2).

Many Talmudic sages, Midrashim and exegetes struggle to explain this tragedy by diligently searching for clues regarding the improper behaviors that led to Nadav and Avihu’s untimely deaths. One such suggestion is found in Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 52a:

“Moshe and Aharon once walked along, with Nadav and Avihu already behind them, and all Israel following in the rear. Nadav said to Avihu, ‘When will these elderly men die, so that you and I will be the leaders of our generation?’ But the Holy One, blessed be He, said unto them: ‘We shall see who will bury whom.’”

It should be noted that Rashi understood this narrative in a very direct fashion, and therefore states: “Because they wanted [to acquire] power and authority [upon the demise of Moshe and Aharon,] they [Nadav and Avihu] died.”

At first blush, the Talmud’s vignette is exceptionally difficult, since we have an explicit Midrashic passage that teaches us that Nadav and Avihu were greater than both their father Aharon and their uncle Moshe: “Rav Yitzchak began: ‘Your words were found and I embraced them, and Your word was to me a joy and a rejoicing of my heart, for Your name was called upon me, O L-rd G-d of Hosts’

(Yirmiyahu 15:16). Rav Shmuel bar Nachman said: ‘This statement was said to Moshe at Mount Sinai, and he did not understand it until events [i.e. the death of Nadav and Avihu] unfolded before him. Moshe said to Aharon: “My brother, at Sinai it was told to me that I would one day sanctify [the Mishkan], and that I would do this together with a great man. I initially thought that perhaps this house would be made holy either through my efforts or yours. Now [after the death of Nadav and Avihu,] I realize that your two sons are greater than both you and myself”’” (Midrash Vayikra Rabbah, Vilna edition, Parashat Shemini 12:2).

If, as this Midrash states, Moshe declared to Aharon, “I realize that your two sons are greater than both you and myself,” how is it even remotely possible that, according to the Talmud, Nadav could tell Avihu: “Oh that these old men might die, so that you and I should be the leaders of our generation?” In other words, if Nadav and

Between hope and humanity Rabbi siR jonaThan sacks

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t should have been a great celebration. The Tabernacle, Israel’s first house of worship, was complete. For seven days, Moshe performed the inauguration. Now, the eighth day, the first of Nissan, arrived. The Priests, led by Aharon, were ready to begin their service.

It was then that tragedy occurred. Two of Aharon’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, brought “strange fire, which [G-d] had not commanded them.” Fire “came forth from the L-rd” and they died. There then follow two scenes between Moshe and Aharon.

The first: “Moshe then said to Aharon, ‘This is what the L-rd spoke of when He said, “Among those who are near to Me I will show Myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honoured.”’ Aharon remained silent” (Lev. 10:3). oshe then commanded their bodies to be removed, and forbade Aharon and his remaining sons to engage in rituals of mourning. He gave them instructions to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future, and then proceeded to check whether the sacrifices

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of the day had been performed. He discovered that Aharon and his sons had burned the sin offering, instead of eating it as prescribed: “When Moshe inquired about the goat of the sin offering and found that it had been burned up, he was angry with Elazar and Itamar, Aharon’s remaining sons, and asked, ‘Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the Sanctuary area? It is most holy; it was given to you to take away the guilt of the community by making atonement for them before the L-rd. Since its blood was not taken into the Holy Place, you should have eaten the goat in the Sanctuary area, as I commanded.’

“Aharon replied to Moshe, ‘Today they sacrificed their sin offering and their burnt offering before the L-rd, but such things as this have happened to me. Would the L-rd have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering today?’ When Moshe heard this, he approved” (Lev. 10:16–20) The psychology is enthralling. Moshe tries to comfort his brother, who has lost two sons. He tells him that G-d has said, “Among those who are near to Me, I will show Myself holy.” According to Rashi, he said, “Now I see that they [Nadav and Avihu] were greater than you and me.” The holier the person, the more G-d demands of them.

It is as if Moshe said to Aharon: “Do not give up now. We have come so far. I know your heart is broken. So is mine. Did we not think — you and I — that our troubles were behind us, that

‘And Aharon was silent’ Rabbi dR. Tzvi heRsh weinReb Orthodox Union

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e was an old man, and in many ways came from a very different world than I. And yet he taught me more than anyone else. One of the things he taught me was that no one suffers as much as a parent who loses a child.

He delivered this lesson more than fifty years ago. He was my grandfather, and the family had broken the news to him that his youngest grandchild, my baby cousin, had died. It was a sudden death, totally unexpected, and everyone was distraught. Grandpa, too, took the news very hard.

He then did something which surprised everyone present. He rose to leave the room, beckoning to me — his oldest grandchild, then 14 — to accompany him. We entered a small adjoining room in which there were a few sacred books, including a siddur. He opened the siddur, read from it for several moments, and then looked at me and tearfully whispered: “There is nothing worse in the world than the death of one’s own child. A parent never recovers

from such a blow. May the merciful G-d protect us all from such a fate.”

I will never forget those words. I remember them verbatim today. And a lifetime of experience in counseling has confirmed the truth of these words over and over again. n this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Shemini, we read of just such a tragedy. On a bright spring day, somewhere in the Sinai wilderness, the Tabernacle is inaugurated. It is an awesome spiritual experience in which “a divine fire descends from on high, in which all the people sing in unison, and fall upon their faces.”

It is the moment of a peak experience, but especially for Aharon, the High Priest.

At that very moment, his two elder sons, Nadav and Avihu, step forward and commit a sacrilegious act that dispels the mood, and ruins the entire experience. Commentators differ widely as to exactly what was the sin. Scripture just says that “they offered G-d a strange fire, something He did not command of them.”

G-d’s wrath was expressed instantly. “A fire descended from before Him and consumed them, and they died in the presence of G-d.”

A parent, a father, lost a child. Not just one, but two. Not through a long illness but suddenly, unexpectedly. And not in any ordinary set of cir-

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Avihu had reached such spiritual heights, how could they possibly wish and wait for the demise of Moshe and Aharon? iven the difficulties inherent in a literal interpretation of the Talmud’s statement, the founder of the Daf Yomi movement, Harav Meir Shapiro of Lublin zt”l, analyzes this passage in a unique and trenchant manner. He begins by stressing the incredible level of holiness that Nadav and Avihu had achieved, as indicated in the verse: “And the L-rd spoke to Moshe after the death of Aharon’s two sons, when they drew near before the L-rd, and they died” (Vayikra 16:1).

In Rav Shapiro’s view, the underlying reason for their deaths was precisely their unmatched “closeness (hitkarvut) to Hashem, which led to their yearning and longing to be with Him” (Itturei Torah, Parashat Shemini, s.v. v’tatze aish, pg. 52, Rabbi Aharon Ya’akov Greenberg ed.). He notes that their holiness had not been achieved See Nadav on page 18

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after all we suffered in Egypt and in the battle against Amalek, and in the sin of the Golden Calf, we were finally safe? Don’t give up, don’t lose faith, don’t despair. Your children died not because they were evil but because they were holy. Though their act was wrong, their intentions were good. They merely tried too hard.”

But despite Moshe’s consolation, “Aharon remained silent,” lost in grief too deep for words. n the second exchange, Moshe is concerned with something else — the community, whose sins should have been atoned for by the sin offering. It is as if he had said to Aharon: “My brother, I know you are in a state of grief. But you are not just a private person. You are also the High Priest. The people need you to perform your duties, whatever your inner feelings.”

Aharon replies: “Would the L-rd have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering today?”

We can only guess at the precise import of these words. Perhaps they mean, “I know that in general, a High Priest is forbidden to mourn like an ordinary individual. I accept that. But had I acted on this inaugural day as if nothing had happened, as if my sons had not died, would this not seem to the people as if I were heartless, as if the

service of G-d meant a renunciation of my humanity?” This time, Moshe is silent. Aharon is right.

In this exchange between two brothers, a momentous courage is born: the courage of an Aharon who has the strength to grieve and not accept any easy consolation, and the courage of a Moshe who has the strength to keep going in spite of grief.

It is the birth of an emotional configuration that will characterize the Jewish people for centuries to come. Jews are a people who have had more than their share of suffering. Like Aharon, they did not lose their humanity. They did not allow their sense of grief to be dulled, desensitised. But neither did they lose their capacity to carry on, to hope. Like Moshe, they never lost faith. But like Aharon, they never allowed that faith to anesthetize their human vulnerability. hat, it seems to me, is what happened to the Jewish people after the Holocaust.

There were, and are, no words to silence the grief or end the tears. We may say — as Moshe told Aharon — that the victims were holy, that they died in sanctification of G-d’s name. Surely that is true. Yet nonetheless, “Aharon remained silent.” When all the explanations have been given, grief remains, unassuaged. We would not be human otherwise.

Yet, like Moshe, the Jewish people found the See Hope on page 18

cumstances, but in an act of sacred worship.

What is Aharon’s reaction? Does he moan and rend his clothing? Does he scream out in grief?

Or does he vent his anger against the G-d who took his boys from him?

None of the above. “Vayidom Aharon.” Aharon is silent. Shock? Acceptance of fate? Perhaps. Or, perhaps, the silence of a range and depth of emotions too overwhelming to express in words.

If the sage words that my grandfather shared with me are true, Aharon remained silent about his grief for the rest of his life. Had he used the words of his ancestor Yaakov, he could have said “I will go down to the grave in my agony.” oon after the episode in which my grandfather shared his wisdom with me, I had the occasion to read a book which taught me more about grieving parents. It is quite possible that it was during the winter of my cousin’s death that I was assigned the book Death Be Not Proud

by John Gunther in my English Literature class.

I doubt that this book is still on the required reading lists of tenth-graders today. But if it is not, I certainly recommend it, particularly to teenagers who are learning their first lessons about life and its tragic disappointments.

In the book, the author describes his son, who was taken from him by a vicious disease. He describes his son positively, but realistically. And he rages against the disease, and in some way, the Divine being who took his son from him. He insists to Death itself that it be not proud about its

victory over its victim, his dear child.

It has been decades since I have read Gunther’s book, and it may be that I do not remember it with complete accuracy. But I do recall the power with which the author conveyed the range of his painful emotions. And I will never forget those passages in which he insists that he will never recover from his loss, that the wounds of a parent’s grief for his child can never heal.

Many are the lessons that students of Bible and Talmud have derived from the sad narrative in this week’s Torah portion. But there is at least one lesson every empathic reader will surely learn as he or she attends to the opening verses of Leviticus 10.

It is the lesson contained in the mystery of Aharon’s reaction to his sons being consumed by heavenly fire. For within the deafening silence of “Vayidom Aharon” is depths of terror every parent dreads, and some parents have suffered: The dread of bereavement, of the loss of one’s child.

As always, in contemplating darkness, light stands out in contrast. Reflection upon death leads to an appreciation of life. The story of the death of Aharon’s children should, if nothing else, enable us to appreciate all the more those of our children who are alive and well.

As we embark upon this new pre-Pesach spring season, with all the springtime symbols in the way of life and renewal, let us celebrate and appreciate all of our own offspring, may they live and be well.

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‘Do not give up now. We have come so far.’

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THE JEWISH STAR March 29, 2019 • 22 Adar 2, 5779

Nadav and Avihu, and the attempt to draw near

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March 29, 2019 • 22 Adar 2, 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

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‘Unlocking the Haggadah’ Kosher Bookworm

AlAn JAy GerBer

Jewish Star columnist

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or all of you who are familiar with Rabbi Shmuel Goldin’s landmark commentary on the Chumash, Unlocking the Torah Text, this new work utilizing the ‘’unlocking’’ methodology will be a welcome addition to your Judaica library.

In my online interview with Rabbi Goldin, we discussed the method he used in his new book, Unlocking The Haggada: The Complete Haggada With In-Depth Commentary (Gefen, 2019).

Here is a summary of the author’s take: ••• “As I indicate in my letter to the reader, the

main focus of this new commentary on the Pesach Haggadah is on the big picture. I strongly believe that many Haggadot concentrate on the minutia, and that we often lose the sight of the forest for the trees. I want my volume to enable the reader to understand the overall flow of the Pesach Seder evening; where the rituals come from, their diverse origins, how each section of the Seder flows into the next, the major mitzvot of the evening, the essential structure and divisions of the evening, and, above all, the goals that the rabbis had in mind when they mapped out, in the Mishnah, the steps of Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim.

“My hope is that the text will appeal, as apparently my other books have, to both the scholar and the novice. I believe that there is enough original material in this work to enable those well-versed in the text to gain new insights, and, at the same time, that the flow of the text is

By invitation only rABBi mordechAi torczyner

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erhaps the most powerful sensory experience in Judaism is the korban. Surrounded by the sights and scents of spiritual devotion and ritual sacrifice, we immerse ourselves in an environment that enforces dedication to G-d.

However, on two occasions that experience is augmented by a particular sound: the formal recitation of a set of biblical instructions.

The first occasion was the eighth day of the miluim, when the kohanim began serving in the Mishkan. As the Talmud (Yoma 5b) explains, these one-time rituals were accompanied by a public recitation of the relevant biblical passages.

The second occasion is Yom Kippur; the annual rituals of the Kohen Gadol are accompanied by a public reading of their biblical instructions.

(See Mishnah Yoma 7:1, Rashi Yoma 68b, and Meshech Chochmah Bamidbar 19:20.)

Italy...

Continued from page 16 daughter. And neither is life with my husband.

And neither is my life, in and of itself.”

Her version of the essay is more like this: Welcome to Italy! Despite your plans, you can’t find your hotel, you should have learned Italian much better, you lost your luggage, it rained the whole time. Some found an incredible bed and breakfast, some discovered Italy through museums. Some spent the whole vacation not leaving their hotel.

“The truth is, this trip is nothing like what you planned it to be,” Dulock writes, “even if everything goes exactly as planned! Because you can’t predict how something will feel. You can’t predict how something will smell. You can’t predict what will captivate you, or terrify you. All you can do learn as much as you can, before you leave and when you land, and focus on being adaptable and flexible.

“Whether or not you enjoy the trip is entirely up to you.” he essay, of course, is about disabilities. But I think there is wisdom in it for loss. The Torah paints Nadav and Avihu in a very positive light in Parshas Acharei Mot: as they were getting close to G-d, they died. That doesn’t take away from their parents’ pain, but what a tribute, a source of some comfort to their parents.

I have found some parents who have suffered loss — whether to illness, car accidents, terror, SIDS, or other tragedies — to be extremely inspirational. Whether they have the strength to realize what “Italy” has become, or whether they

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Why do we require these readings? What do they add? abbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (Vayikra 11) suggested, “Reciting this portion established these rituals as fulfillment of Divine commands. No element was invented by a human heart and its subjective feelings; the totality of these actions was dedicated to fulfillment of a Divine command.” However, this explanation introduces a glaring question: Would not every korban, and perhaps every mitzvah, benefit from such readings?

We might answer based on Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi’s explanation of the sin of the Golden Calf (Kuzari 1:97). Per Rabbi HaLevi, the Jews’ central sin was not idolatry; we intended to serve G-d.

Our sin was in creating ritual in service of Hashem, sans Divine order: “Their sin was in making a form, which had been prohibited to them, and ascribing the Divine element to that which they had made with their hands and desire, without a Divine command.” This follows the foundational thesis of Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi’s Kuzari, that the legitimacy of all ritual stems exclusively from the underlying Divine commission.

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have worked through a tragedy to come to terms with moving on, they don’t want anyone to suffer as they have. Their drive to live has motivated thousands upon thousands of others.

I wonder if Aharon became famous as an ohev shalom v’rodef shalom (lover and pursuer of peace) after the deaths of his sons. Because if it was after their deaths, then he took his tragedy as a charge to remind people that life is much bigger than fighting over things that might be, in the larger scheme of things, rather trivial.

Those who emerged from the Holocaust to build families are more than inspiring. Their strength and tenacity is legendary.

The people of Israel who have lost sons and daughters in the IDF and to terror have shown resilience when they go from tragedy to joy, with all the emotional support needed to help them get there.

Elisheva learned that when there is joy, there will be joy — sometimes a lot of it. But she also learned that sometimes there will be sadness.

But that sadness, like the trip to Italy, is what helps us become the people we are.

When sadness comes, we need community to bring us back to reality, and then we need the rest of our lives to figure out what to do with that hole in our hearts. How we can infuse our lives and our circles with kedusha.

Rabbi Soloveitchik lost his wife, mother and brother in the same year. He wrote mounds and mounds of essays, some published posthumously, about suffering and navigating the curveballs life throws our way. Those who find the gift of life worth continuing will find that whether you’re in Holland or just a very different trip to Italy, it is the fundamental meaning and profound connections that we make in life that help us become

made clear enough for even a beginner to follow.

“In my mind, I see this volume serving as a road map to the Seder ritual; taking each participant by the hand, step-by-step, through each section of the Haggadah — gaining an understanding of how that section fits into the whole and never losing sight of the overall picture. Thus, to that end, the color coding and all other tools both graphic and layout, will, hopefully, allow each reader/participant to always know where he/she is in the Seder at any particular point.

“I guess that one way to put it is that I want my volume to let the Haggadah speak for itself.

I believe that many have Haggadot that bring agendas to the Seder as overlays to the evening’s

proceedings. I want the reader to return to the source: What is it that the Haggada itself is trying to accomplish and how does it achieve its goals?”

In our discussion, Rabbi Goldin made note that the ultimate purpose of the Seder is to inject each participant into the flow of Jewish history, and the Haggada is the guidebook in that journey.

It accomplishes these goals by surrounding our present with our past and future — and, by leading us through a Maggid journey that is themed by three stages: historical awareness, historical participation, and historical perpetuation.

With these themes stated so clearly, I am certain that you will greatly benefit from its eloquent teachings. To further accomplish this, an early acquisition of this and other high quality editions would be in order so as to allow enough time to study the texts for use at the Seder table.

According to many early authorities, the Mishkan’s initiation atoned for the Golden Calf.

Ramban (Vayikra 9:3) even suggested that the rituals of the eighth day were only added after the sin of the Golden Calf, for this purpose.

Yom Kippur, too, is associated with forgiveness for the Golden Calf; the first Yom Kippur was the day when the Jews completed their atonement and Moshe brought the second set of Tablets. In this light, perhaps the rituals of the eighth day, and of Yom Kippur, specifically need the explicit Divine command in order to demonstrate that we have learned our lesson and placed the error of the Golden Calf behind us. lternatively, perhaps we recite these verses to establish a sense of mission. Since Creation, sacred space has been defined by restrictions; one may not barge across the boundaries of a holy area. Adam and Chava did not enter Eden; they were placed there by G-d, and when they were removed it was with the institution of an angelic border patrol (Bereishit 2-3). Avraham and Sarah left Aram for Canaan on their own, but they entered the Holy Land only upon the command of “lech lecha” (Ramban Bereishit 12:1). Moshe stood atop Mount Sinai outside of the Divine cloud, until he was summoned to enter (Shemot 24:16-18, and see Shabbat 89a, Avot d’Rabbi Natan 1). The Jews did not enter Israel

until G-d invited them in (Yehoshua 1:2).

Here, too, the kohanim could not enter the Mishkan for their initiation, and the kohen gadol may not enter the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur each year, without the invitation expressed in the biblical text describing their roles and service. One enters Divine space not out of a sense of ownership and entitlement, but with an awareness that our presence before G-d is by Divine commission alone.

The same message of mission pertains in our own lives. Entering even the most mundane space with an arrogant swagger is offensive to G-d (Berachot 43b). Upon entering a synagogue we recite Tehillim 5:8, acknowledging that we enter G-d’s House by Divine generosity (Shu”t Maharshal 64). And as a rule, one may not ascend to the Torah for an aliyah unless called (Orach Chaim 139:3). The invitation humbles and orients us.

May we, like the kohanim of the miluim and like the kohen gadol on Yom Kippur, go about our lives with humble attention to the Divine summons which defines our mission, and so merit what Moshe promised (Vayikra 11:6): “The glory of G-d will be revealed upon you.”

Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner is the rosh kollel at Yeshiva University’s Torah miTzion Beit Midrash Zichron Dov in Toronto.

who we ultimately become.

Like Aharon and Elisheva, a community feels your pain. Like Aharon and Elisheva, we hope your tragedy will not destroy you, but will turn you into an inspiration.

kedushah of Moshe and Aharon and thereby become the next leaders of the Jewish people.

Although they were sincere, and their quest was truly l’shem shamayim, they were unable to comprehend the extent to which Moshe differed in kind and degree from any prophet that had ever lived, or would ever live. They could not fathom the gulf that separated them from Moshe and his level of prophecy. This lack of understanding led them to bring aish zarah — incense that had not been commanded by G-d — and eventuated in their tragic deaths.

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Nadav...

Continued from page 17 overnight. Rather, “Nadav and Avihu were already walking behind them” over a significant period of time, in order to “try to ascertain the levels of holiness that they [Moshe and Aharon] had achieved.”

As a result, when they said to one another, “When will these elderly men die?” Rav Shapiro asserts that they really meant: “‘At some unknown point in time, the moment will arrive when they [Moshe and Aharon] will depart from this world, and then it will be incumbent upon us to lead the generation. If that is the case, we must unflaggingly prepare ourselves for that time, so that we can continue to lead this generation in the same manner as Moshe and Aharon’ … yet, they were unable to do so, since no one ever arose that equaled Moshe’s level [of prophecy], and they died [without achieving their goal].”

In a very real sense, Rav Shapiro provides us with a brilliant analysis of our Gemara that complements, rather than contradicts, our Midrashic passage. Nadav and Avihu were incredibly holy and dedicated to serving Hashem and His people. This is why they were driven to emulate the

Hope...

Continued from page 17 strength to continue, to reaffirm hope in the face of despair, life in the presence of death. A mere three years after coming eye to eye with the Angel of Death, the Jewish people, by establishing the State of Israel, made the single most powerful affirmation in two thousand years that Am Yisrael Chai, the Jewish people lives.

Moshe and Aharon were like the two hemispheres of the Jewish brain: human emotion on the one hand; faith in G-d, the covenant, and the future on the other. Without the second, we would have lost our hope. Without the first, we would have lost our humanity.

It is not easy to keep that balance, that tension. Yet it is essential. Faith does not render us invulnerable to tragedy but it gives us the strength to mourn and then, despite everything, to carry on.

Poisonous New Zealand blame game

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t’s not often that I find myself in the same boat as Chelsea Clinton.

At a vigil in New York for the 50 Muslims slaughtered by a gunman at two New Zealand mosques, Clinton was accused by students of being a cause of the massacre.

The reason for this ludicrous charge was staggering: It was that she had criticized the anti-Semitic tweet by Rep. Ilhan Omar suggesting that Jews use their money to suborn American politicians in the interests of Israel.

“Forty-nine people died because of the rhetoric you put out there,” Clinton was told

by Muslim student Leen Dweik.

Clinton was not alone. In the United States, the mosque attacks were blamed on TV personality Bill Maher, philosopher Sam Harris, anti-jihadi ex-Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and US President Donald Trump (of course).

And in Britain, along with various other high-profile conservative and anti-jihadi writers, they were blamed on me.

When I wrote a blog post expressing horror at the attacks, I was engulfed by a Twitter storm. After all, I’d written the 2006 book Londonistan warning that Britain was sleepwalking into Islamization, and much that was similar since. ’ve always stressed that all Muslims must not be tarred with the extremist brush, that most victims of Islamist terror are Muslims, and that we should support courageous Muslim reformers. But that was ignored. I was accused of inspiring the massacre by promoting hatred of Muslims. And I was accused of hypocrisy for having said that Islamophobia wasn’t a real prejudice at all.

Media commentators and politicians joined in. In the House of Commons, Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi accused me and other journalists of encouraging “anti-migrant sentiment, anti-Muslim sentiment and anti-black and minority ethnic community sentiment.”

Much of this Orwellian frenzy is part of a campaign to silence all criticism of the Islamic world through character assassination of its critics. Anyone who calls attention to Muslim anti-Semitism, for example, is promptly tarred by “intersectionality” ideologues as a hate criminal. Thus, the New York students ranted: “Chelsea hurt our fight against white supremacy when she stood by the petty weaponizers of anti-Semitism.”

Certainly, there are people who are truly bigoted against Muslims, as against Jews or other minorities. Bigotry is based on falsehoods or irrational feelings.

But much “Islamophobia” consists of a rational fear of terrorism that is inspired by Islam and validated by authoritative religious leaders in the Islamic world; or a rational fear of the Islamization of the West, which the Muslim Brotherhood has declared its aim.

The New Zealand mosque atrocity was the result of fanatical hatred of Muslims; the campaign to outlaw “Islamophobia” is intended to stifle acknowledgement of fanatical hatred by Muslims. hose accusing anti-Islamists of promoting hatred have form in this regard. In 2014, my Commons accuser, Yasmin Qureshi, was forced to apologize for vile comments in which she drew parallels between the Holocaust and Israel’s activities in Gaza.

The NYU students who barracked Chelsea See Poisonous on page 21

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Anti-Semitic murderer disappears Viewpoint

BeN COheN

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uring the prosecution of Jared Lee Loughner — the shooter sentenced to life imprisonment for the January 2011 murder of six people and the wounding of 13, including his intended target Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, at a political rally in Tucson, Ariz. — there was one theme that dominated the proceedings: his mental capacity to stand trial.

Loughner had been a chronic user of psychoactive drugs, particularly cannabis, for much of his life. He had also been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Unsurprisingly, his legal team leveraged these facts to argue that their client was mentally incapable of going on trial.

Indeed, following a May 2011 hearing, Loughner was duly judged incompetent.

But over the objections of his lawyers, the shooter received court-ordered doses of antipsychotic drugs to restore his mental competency.

A little more than a year later, Loughner was fit to stand trial and pled guilty to 19 counts in November 2012. Doing so spared him from Arizona’s death penalty. He is now serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole. similar debate about the mental competency of a killer is going on in France at the moment, but the conclusions being drawn are dramatically different from the Loughner case. In the French example, the killer is someone with a strong mental health profile, and his lawyers, in contrast to Loughner’s, have made greater progress with the argument that their client’s mental deterioration, caused by his drug habit, renders him unable to go on trial.

Yet there is no dispute that Kobili Traoré, a 29-year-old Malian immigrant living in Paris, killed his neighbor Sarah Halimi, a 65-year-old Jewish widow, with his own hands in the early hours of April 4, 2017, after breaking into her apartment.

There is no dispute that in the weeks before beating her to death, Traoré had established himself in the mind of Halimi as a threat, having verbally abused her in the elevator of the building in which they lived, and having insulted her visiting daughter one afternoon as a “dirty Jewess.”

There is no dispute that, the day before he murdered Halimi, he visited the Omar Mosque in Paris, known as a haunt of Islamist radicals.

There is no dispute that, as he beat and kicked Halimi with blunt objects, including a telephone, Traoré bellowed “Allahu Akhbar” and “Shaitan” (Arabic for “Satan”) at his victim.

There is no dispute that, after he hurled Halimi’s broken body from a third-floor window to-

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wards a garbage dump below, he was seen making gestures towards the police officers who were called in by terrified neighbors that suggested Halimi had committed suicide.

What is very much in dispute is whether, despite this, Traoré is mentally able to undergo a trial for murder motivated by anti-Semitic hatred, which under French law is considered an aggravating circumstance. nlike Jared Loughner, he has not been diagnosed with a critical mental illness.

But according to a new psychiatric report commissioned by the investigating judge in the Halimi case, between the hours of 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., when Traoré’s assault on Halimi took place, he was so intoxicated from cannabis that he cannot be held responsible for his actions.

If this claim causes readers to raise their eyebrows, it should. There is, of course, a welldocumented connection between cannabis and episodes of psychotic violence, but these examples invariably involve users with preexisting mental health conditions. No one has indicated that Traoré suffers from schizophrenia or a related condition; the argument being entertained by the judge, therefore, rests on the claim that cannabis use alone robbed Traoré of his “discernement” — his judgment.

The second and third psychiatrists who assessed Traoré believe this to be true. The first psychiatrist, Dr. Daniel Zagury, manifestly did not, and was in no doubt that the killer’s mind was sound enough for him to stand trial for murder aggravated by anti-Semitic prejudice towards his victim.

Two years after she was murdered, the family of Sarah Halimi rightly remains anxious that the French judicial system will fail them. There should be no mistaking, then, that a final decision that goes against putting Traoré on trial,

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opting instead for some kind of medical supervision instead, will be an immovable stain on France’s reputation.

One might argue in the country’s defense that France takes great pride in its humane approach to criminality and mental illness, something that goes back to the early 19th century. One can also point out that France is a democracy with an independent judiciary, whose officials are not bound by the declared intention of President Emmanuel Macron and other elected politicians to combat rising anti-Semitism. n the final analysis, however, this means denying basic justice to the victim of a hate crime that was sickening even by current French standards of anti-Semitism and racism.

It means that France as a nation will be denied a further opportunity to learn how anti-Semitic beliefs can transition into anti-Semitic violence since previous and subsequent episodes in recent memory, such as the kidnapping and murder of Ilan Halimi (no relation) in 2006, or the terrorist shooting of three small children and a teacher at a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012, or the murder of 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll a year ago, have seemingly failed to teach the French public that lesson.

In the future, there are two possible ways for Sarah Halimi to be remembered in the French imagination. The first is as a woman whose dreadful fate was determined by the fact that she was a Jew and was murdered because she was a Jew. The second is as the victim of a violent individual driven to insanity by a cannabis habit, and whose anti-Semitic utterances can be dismissed as the ravings of a lunatic.

French Jews, along with Jews across the world who are watching the Halimi debacle with growing impatience, are in no doubt as to which of these portraits is the true one.

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Golan move highlights growing divide over Israel Jonathan s. tobin

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t was a day for Israelis to cheer the unprecedented degree of closeness between their nation and its sole superpower ally. Using his favorite form of communication, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted a clear intention to discard yet another longstanding U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Trump’s declaration that he was going recognize Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights is correctly interpreted as a blatant interference in the upcoming Israeli elections on behalf of his friend and ally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the same way his predecessors opposed the Likud Party leader.

But while Netanyahu called Trump’s statement “a Purim miracle,” his election opponents were no less enthusiastic. Yair Lapid, the No. 2 leader of the Blue and White Party, called it “a dream come true.” Moshe Ya’alon, the man likely to become defense minister if Blue and White forms the next government, called it “truly good news.”

Netanyahu’s opponents have good reason to resent the timing of Trump’s announcement. But only the far-left parties like the Communists of Hadash opposed it. Support for remaining on the Golan is a consensus issue in Israel, as virtually no one can envision a retreat from the strategic plateau that would allow it to become part of the chaos that is contemporary Syria. With Iranian and Hezbollah forces having occupied Syria as part of a successful intervention in the civil war that has torn that nation apart in the last eight See Golan on page 22

It’s all Iran, stupid! politics to Go

JeFF Dunetz

Jewish Star columnist

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ince President Trump announced that the US would recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, political pundits of both parties have claimed to understand the rationale behind Trump making the announcement. They are all wrong.

To paraphrase James Carville’s famous line from the 1992 presidential election, “It’s Iran, stupid.” Plain and simple: Trump is making the Golan move to protect American interests in the Middle East and prevent Iran from completing a land bridge to the Mediterranean Sea. Iran has deployed several thousand Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps troops Syria to help the despot Bashar Hafez al-Assad maintain power over his fractured country, demolished by eight years of civil war. For further support, Iran brought in Hezbollah allies, and to put the icing on the cake, thousands of Shiite fighters,

paid by Tehran and following its orders.

But don’t think that Iran is trying to help its buddy Assad out of the goodness of their collective hearts. Iran’s presence in Syria helps the rogue regime fulfill its number-one geopolitical objective: to become the controlling power in the Middle East.

To aid in this objective, Iran wants to create a “land bridge” to the Mediterranean. Control of territory leading to the sea will allow Iran to safely move people and supplies between the Mediterranean and Tehran whenever they want.

The smooth movement of people and supplies allows the Shiite Iran to advance its goal of replacing and or controlling the governments of Sunni Egypt, Jordan, and mostly Saudi Arabia, home of Islam’s holiest sites.

It’s pretty certain that the US consulted with and explained the President’s rationale to the countries threatened by Iran above before making his announcement. And while you might hear the leaders of those countries complain about the move for a week or two, announcing their refusal to recognize Israel’s ownership, the complaints are made for public consumption.

They are not indicative of real policy. These lead-

President Donald Trump, joined by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and administration officials, signs a proclamation recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, on March 25, White House photo

ers understand the dangers of a powerful Iran.

If those Sunni-dominated countries become dominated by Shiite Iranian mullahs, it will severely damage United States interests in the Middle East. Those interests include ensuring that the war against extremist terrorism isn’t fought on American shores (Iran is a leading financier of Islamist terror), safeguarding sales of oil to the West, and of course protecting America’s staunchest ally in the region, Israel.

Before the Six Day War, Syrian artillery rained down on Israeli farms and villages in the Galilee, and its military was poised to use the high ground to attack Israel. By taking over the most strategically important areas of the Golan in June 1967, Israel protected the Galilee area, and the IDF acquired an optimal line of defense to hold back any Syrian ground attack.

With Iranian forces having free reign in Syria, Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights is more critical for its basic security than ever before, a fact that Trump thankfully understands. ronically, Trump made the announcement during the Jewish holiday of Purim, when Jews across the world celebrate the defeat of the ancient Persians’ plan to destroy the Jewish people. Persia still exists today: it changed its name to Iran in 1935. In other words, Trump helped to foil another Persian plot on Purim.

When the President made his announcement,

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Jerusalem to meet with Netanyahu. Between meetings he sat down with an interview with Chris Mitchell, a reporter for the Christian Broadcasting Network.

“Could it be that President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace?” asked Mitchell.

“As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible,” Pompeo responded.

As a Jew, I believe it is possible also. One of the reasons we wear masks on Purim is to recognize the fact that many of the characters in the Book of Esther hid their true selves.

But the most significant “hidden character” in the Purim story is G-d. Jews recognize that it was G-d who helped us emerge safely in the battle against extermination by Haman, even though there were no open miracles like splitting the Reed Sea or stopping the sun. I cannot argue against someone who says that G-d opened Trump’s eyes to the need to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Trump’s Golan decision was important for protecting the United States from Iran. Having the Golan Heights controlled by a staunch ally like Israel provides a check on the Iranian land bridge and their movement of supplies, weapons, and people with the intent of damaging America and her interests in the region.

Rep. Tlaib, it’s time to start telling the truth stephen M. Flatow

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ashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) has a lot of “firsts” to her credit. She is the first Palestinian Arab elected to the U.S. Congress. She is one of the first two Muslim women to be elected to Congress. And now she is the first member of Congress to make a fraudulent claim about her own grandmother in order to score points against Israel.

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper on March 17, Tlaib was asked about her claims that racism and Islamophobia were the real motives behind widespread criticism of recent antiSemitic remarks by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

Rep. Tlaib told Tapper that both she and Omar were “an easier target” because they are “very vocal against human rights violations, especially in the country of Israel … we are coming from a place of personal experiences, as being people of color, with my living grandmother in the West Bank in the occupied territories, that we want to be heard and we want to be seen.”

Notice the crucial role that Grandma plays in the congresswoman’s argument. Tlaib knows that if she is perceived as just another Israelbasher, her attack on alleged Israeli “human

rights violations” carries no weight. So she has to prove that she has some special insight or connection, something that gives her claims credibility. That’s where Grandma comes in. ep. Tlaib wants to make it clear that she is not just some garden-variety Israel-hater.

No, she declared, she is “coming from a place of personal experiences.” Well, that’s different. She has a personal case against Israel. Ms. Tlaib was born and raised in Detroit. Residents of the Motor City don’t have too many “personal experiences” involving Israeli policies.

So Tlaib has stretched the meaning of the term “personal experiences” in order to build her case. She means that she has a grandmother who has “personal experiences.” Somehow, that transfers to Tlaib herself.

Tlaib understands the power of grievance rhetoric. Once she says “my living grandmother [is] in the West Bank in the occupied territories,” that changes the whole dynamic of the debate.

In fact, it’s a twofer: Her own grandmother is an “occupied,” persecuted person, which gives Tlaib standing; plus, it’s her “living grandmother,” a real live eyewitness, which presumably gives Rep. Tlaib’s assertions even more validity.

Except that Congresswoman Tlaib is lying.

Grandma Tlaib is a resident of the Palestinian Arab village of Beit Ur al-Fauqa. The Israeli occupation of that village ended in 1995. It has been governed by the Palestinian Authority, not Israel,

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for the past 24 years. For the congresswoman to claim that her grandmother is “occupied” by the Israelis — and therefore a victim of persecution and an eyewitness to Israeli “human rights violations” — is, simply, a lie.

In the autumn of 1995, then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed an agreement with then-PA chairman Yasser Arafat, known as the Oslo II Accord. It provided for the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the territories where 98 percent of the Palestinian Arabs reside, including Beit Ur al-Fauqa. The Israelis withdrew.

The occupation ended.

Arafat agreed that a portion of the non-residential agricultural land which Beit Ur al-Fauqa claims belongs to it would be assigned to the area under Israeli security control. Prime Minister Rabin requested this arrangement because that area is dangerously close to the Israeli towns of Beit Horon and Givat Ze’ev, and Route 443, a highway where Israeli automobiles are often subjected to Arab terrorist attacks. But the residential portion of Beit Ur al-Fauqa, as well as the rest of the adjacent agricultural land, has been under the rule of the P.A. for more than two decades now. Grandma’s house is not occupied. aintaining the myth of “the Israeli occupation” provides a convenient punching bag for those who are hostile to the Jewish state. It makes it seem as if Israel is the bad guy, as if Israel’s behavior is the obstacle to

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peace. But that’s a lie.

Congresswoman Tlaib is absolutely right that there are human rights violations in her grandmother’s village, but they are violations committed by the PA and its leadership. For example, the P.A. refuses to permit Grandma Tlaib and her fellow residents to vote for their town’s leaders.

Beit Ur al-Fauqa has been governed since early 1996 by a group of 11 administrators appointed by the P.A. So much for Palestinian democracy.

In addition, Grandma and her neighbors, like all of the Palestinian Arabs who live under PA rule, have not been allowed to vote for their national leadership, either. Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the P.A., is now serving the 14th year of an initial four year-term. He has accomplished this feat by simply never holding elections for his office. I wonder why her granddaughter the congresswoman never speaks about that.

Please, Congresswoman Tlaib, enough with the lies. Stop lying about the nonexistent “Israeli occupation.” Stop lying about the “Israeli human rights violations” that are actually committed by the PA. And for goodness’ sake, stop lying about your own grandmother.

Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995. His book, A Father’s Story: My Fight for Justice Against Iranian Terror, has just been published.

Continued from page 19 Clinton referred to Ilhan Omar “speaking the truth about the massive influence of the Israel lobby in this country.”

This mob onslaught constitutes an opportunistic weaponizing of tragedy. Opposing the jihad is said to be a “far-right position.” But there may be nothing “right-wing” about murderous racists or anti-Semites.

The New Zealand terror suspect is said to be “far-right” because he hates Muslims. But among his influences listed in his “manifesto” are not only the deceased British Union of Fascists leader Oswald Mosley, but also the People’s Republic of China and a video game called Spyro the Dragon. He claims to be anti-conservative, may or may not be a Christian, and may or may not be a Communist. What he is, he says, is an “ecofascist” who wants to reduce the world’s population to save the environment.

This is hardly a “right-wing” individual. A racist, certainly; maybe a nutcase, or someone who looks for any for outlet for his unfathomable sources of hatred; a nihilist, perhaps. His “manifesto” suggests his main aim was to incite social conflagration. He hoped his massacre would spark further attempts at gun control, which he believed would lead to civil war and the best opportunity to destroy the American “melting pot.”

And he claimed that his “true inspiration” was Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer who in 2011 detonated a van bomb in Oslo, killing eight, and then shot dead 69 young people at a summer camp on the island of Utøya. fter Breivik’s atrocity, I was the victim of an identical witch hunt. In his incoherent 1,500-page “manifesto,” in which Breivik quoted hundreds of thinkers and commentators going back hundreds of years, he twice mentioned my work. Also among his citations were Thomas Jefferson, the US Constitution, Mahatma Gandhi, Fidel Castro and Al-Qaeda, but I, and others who write about the progressive disintegration of Europe and Western civilization, were singled out as having caused the massacre — a charge recycled after the mosque attacks.

Yet the mainstream media never reported that at his trial, Breivik said he wanted to provoke a witch hunt against moderate conservatives to increase repression, polarization and radicalization; and that this had worked very well in the light of how many conservatives and Islam critics were then treated. Like me.

In other words, those who weaponize such atrocities against “the right” — that is, against those who don’t think like them — are doing these terrorists’ dirty work.

They are also morally twisted. While white racist attacks are on the rise, they are still greatly outnumbered by Islamist outrages. Last month alone, there were at least 150 deadly Islamist terror attacks in 22 different countries. Yet these received scant attention.

When such attacks do provoke comment, there are instant attempts to excuse the perpetrators, who are variously described as mentally disturbed, under the influence of drugs or the victims of online brainwashing. They are never apparently influenced by their Islamic culture.

Yet when white racists commit atrocities, they are said to be wholly motivated by their culture, and their actions blamed on conservatives and anti-Islamists who are said to be, like the white terrorists, motivated by “Islamophobia.”

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Poisonous...

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This, in turn, provides cover and encouragement for Islamists to ramp up verbal and physical attacks on the West. Thus Turkish Islamist leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan leapt on the bandwagon after the mosque attacks to claim that “Western media” had actually prepared the suspected terrorist’s “manifesto” and “handed it to him.” ears ago, disturbed by the West’s failure properly to address Islamist extremism, I observed there was a risk of a lethal spiral of interconnected violence. Islamist extremism and attacks would be ignored and excused by the authorities, while those calling them out would be blamed instead; this failure to act against Islamist extremism would result in fringe groups becoming violent against Muslims; such violence would increase the witch-hunt against anti-Islamists, which would, in turn, embolden and encourage more Islamist attacks, provoking in turn more white racist violence.

So, alas, it may now be proving.

Melanie Phillips is a British journalist, broadcaster and author.

Golan...

Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to oppose the embodiment of the mainstream pro-Israel consensus: the AIPAC lobby.

While Republicans responded to Trump’s Golan declaration with enthusiasm that matched Israel’s, most Democrats dismissed it, with some claiming that recognizing Israeli sovereignty undermines the virtually nonexistent chances for a comprehensive peace agreement.

But anyone with a grasp of Middle East reality knows that these complaints are disingenuous.

Politics is a zero sum game, and just as Republicans were always reluctant to back President Barack Obama on anything, the same is true for Democrats, who sometimes act as if the flawed president is the font of all evil.

Their distaste explains their refusal to support his move of the US embassy to Jerusalem, and the same dynamic is at play here.

But there’s more going on than the usual

Continued from page 20 years, Trump’s Golan message also sends a strong signal to Tehran about his support for Israeli efforts to thwart the creation of a new northern confrontation front.

But the lack of support for Trump’s stand on the Golan from Democrats further illustrated the growing divide on the Middle East. emocrats have been vocal in condemning any effort to make Israel a partisan wedge issue on the part of Republicans.

But we’re seeing that their idea of preserving bipartisan consensus in support of the Jewish state not only consists of opposition to positions backed by a broad consensus of Israelis, but a willingness on the part of many of their leading presidential contenders to follow the lead of radicals like Representatives Ilhan

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knee-jerk reaction in which anything that Trump does or says must be blasted. And the best indication of that is the behavior of those Democrats who are seeking the votes of their party’s base. he contrast to Trump’s statement on the Golan was the news, reported the same day, that leading Democratic presidential candidates were avoiding the annual AIPAC conference being held the next week in Washington. Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Beto O’Rourke all made it clear that they wanted An Israeli soldier walks near tanks deployed close to the Israelino part of the gathering at which Syrian border in the Golan Heights on May 10.

Lior Mizrahi/Getty thousands of pro-Israel activists — non-Jews as well as Jews — come togeth- Trump’s stand. And other House Democrats er to cheer as representatives of both parties have put forward a bipartisan anti-BDS resolution. But even that effort illustrates the divoice their support for the Jewish state.

It’s true that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, vide in their party. They know that the same House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Sen- members who blocked their effort to censure ate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will ad- Omar for anti-Semitism will not vote to condress the conference as they normally do. But demn the BDS movement.

Just as Democrats backed President Barack the absence of those seeking the presidential nomination — both major candidates, and Obama on the Iran nuclear deal for partisan lesser-known ones such as South Bend Mayor reasons, they are doing the same thing by Pete Buttigieg, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee opposing Trump on Jerusalem and now the and former San Antonio Mayor Julian Cas- Golan Heights. For all of their criticisms of tro, who one might think would benefit from Republicans, neither stand is consistent with showing up there — sends a strong message preserving bipartisan support for Israel.

Democrats don’t need to embrace a presithat the party is no longer comfortable being dent they hate in order to acknowledge that seen cozying up to the pro-Israel community.

The problem is that many Democrats are Trump’s positions on Jerusalem and now the listening more to left-wing anti-Israel groups. Golan are worthy of support.

But as their party shifts further to the left, That’s why the House wouldn’t pass a resolution focusing specifically on Ilhan Omar’s anti- many of their leaders are not only unable to Semitism. That Democratic candidates are, in bring themselves to endorse mainstream proessence, validating the vicious attacks on AIPAC Israel positions, but are also following the from Omar and Tlaib, and far-left groups like lead of anti-Israel and arguably anti-Semitic radicals in treating AIPAC as if it were radioMoveon.org, by staying away, is telling. hat’s not to say that all Democrats agree. active. That’s bad news for those who care Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), the chairman about Israel, no matter where their partisan of the House Foreign Relations Commit- loyalties lie. tee, was the sole leading Democrat to endorse Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS.

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