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April 3 /10, 2015 • 14 Nissan 5775

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By Jeffrey Bessen After Shabbos ended on March 21, Rabbi Heshy Blumstein of the Young Israel of Hewlett and his family began preparing their home for Pesach. He covered the stove’s burners with a thick sheet of tin. “I didn’t open the windows and the carbon monoxide sensor went on. I was in fear for my family,â€? Blumstein said of a household that ranges in age from 2 to nearly 90. The Woodmere Fire Department responded, the rabbi said, and all was well afterward. Carbon monoxide is a potentially fatal poisonous gas. Blumstein was one of several speakers at the Woodmere firehouse last Friday who focused on household safety in the wake of the home fire in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood that killed seven children and left their mother and their sole surviving sibling seri$FKLH]HUÂśV 5DEEL %RUXFK ously injured. A %HQGHU DW :RRGPHUHÂśV war ming plate used to keep food ÂżUH VWDWLRQ ODVW )ULGD\ hot during Shabbos malfunctioned, according to city fire officials. There were no working smoke detectors found on the first or second floor of the house. Civic leaders throughout the Five Towns have begun a campaign to raise awareness of the importance of having functioning smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in homes. Achiezer partnered with the Woodmere department to host a free, two-hour fire safety clinic at Achiezer’s Lawrence office on Sunday. More than 100 free smoke detectors were available for people who needed them, and Woodmere firefighters handed out fire safety information. “It’s a tragedy that is supposed to leave us with a lasting effect,â€? Achiezer founder and president Rabbi Boruch Ber Bender said of the Brooklyn fire. “Learn what you should and shouldn’t do [in an emergency].â€? Cedarhurst, in collaboration with Home Depot, will provide hundreds of free, stateof-the-art, battery-operated smoke detectors to residents, said Mayor Benjamin Weinstock.

Strangers in strange land: Immigrant on Pesach By Maayan Jaffe, JNS.org The Passover seder begins by welcoming anyone who is hungry, an idea that comes straight from the Book of Exodus (23:9), which states, “You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Later in the Torah, Leviticus 19:33 says, “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.” Leviticus 19:34 repeats this refrain, “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the L-rd your G-d.” The immigrant experience is different for everyone, said Aaron Gershowitz, senior director for U.S. programs at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). He told JNS.org that the challenges of an individual’s journey often depend on the environment they are leaving and the community to which they are relocating. Take Inge “Irene” Brenner. She escaped from Nazi Germany on Dec. 28, 1938, for Havana, Cuba. From there, she traveled to the U.S., arriving to join her husband in April 1939 at age 19. She immediately took up work at a small factory where she steamed hat plumes. Her employer provided her with the required documentation to book passage for her mother, father, and sister to the U.S. Due to lack of funds, the family lived together in a tiny apartment in New York. “When I left Berlin I was 19 and completely single-minded, [telling myself] ‘I must get out and save myself and my parents’,” Brenner recalled. “We just couldn’t have existed anymore. That is what happened to the rest of my family that didn’t get out — all of them were murdered in the gas chambers. There was nothing else I could do but make it. You just had to make it.” Gershowitz said “the economics of surviving” often mark the first several years (or longer) of the immigrant experience. It is only after that period that immigrants become more like others — focused on family life, a career, and a future for their children. Over time, this was the case for Brenner. Once she and her husband could afford to leave the rest of the family and live on their own, they had two daughters whom they raised to be American Jews, as opposed to Jewish Americans. Brenner said she wanted to leave her horrible past behind for a new life, which she feels she received “by the grace of G-d.”

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“She was always proud to be Jewish, but it was always extremely hard for her to talk about how she got here,” said Benjamin Kopelman, Brenner’s grandson. Lev Golinkin, author of a memoir on the immigrant experienced titled “A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka,” noted the irony that Soviet Jews came to the U.S. in search of religious freedom, yet many of them choose not to practice Jewish traditions, his family included. “As soon as we could, we got away from the synagogue and Jewish organizations and melded into the secular American world,” he said. Golinkin, who arrived in the U.S. from eastern Ukraine in 1989 at the age of 9, surmised that people turned away from religious observance because it was precisely the Jewish faith that made them targets for persecution in the former Soviet Union. Before escaping, Golinkin was being homeschooled because he had been regularly teased and beaten for his Judaism. Therefore, religion, for him, was nothing to celebrate. “I wanted nothing to do with that. I saw being a Jew as a stigma, a disability,” said Golinkin. But as he grew up, his view changed. “It is interesting that the Israelites stayed in the desert and didn’t start over until that generation had passed away. They

needed a clean slate, they needed people whose memories are formed in the new land with the new traditions,” he said. Joe Berry of Stoneham, Maine, was born in Berlin in 1948 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1954. He said that when he arrived in the U.S. his native language was German, but at that time it was “not very popular to be a foreigner and I was very embarrassed speaking German in public.” Berry started speaking to his parents only in English, losing his German after a short time. He also recalled that people made fun of his German last name, “Be’er,” pronounced like the alcoholic beverage. When the family became citizens, they changed their name to Berry, pronounced like the fruit. Today, he said he wishes he could have learned more about his parents’ past. Barbara Kopelman — Irene Brenner’s daughter, who lives in Northbrook, Ill. — said that she has indeed thought about her family history. Once her four children got older and she had time to better understand that history, she realized every day of her life is a blessing. “Now, I give regularly to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and I try to help fight against anti-Semitism, keep peace and understanding alive,” she said. Each immigrant interviewed by JNS.org said that they have a great appreciation for the U.S., and that just as the Torah requires Jews to welcome the stranger and treat him well, Jews need to be grateful for the freedom and welcoming atmosphere they experience in America. “It’s extremely important to love America and the benefits we have,” said Benjamin Kopelman. In the Book of Jeremiah (7:6-7), we read about the consequences of loving the stranger, “If you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your own harm, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.” Golinkin said that one can only truly understand the story of the immigrant by going to “live in a strange land, to a place where people do not speak your tongue. It could be very powerful and humbling.” Understanding the immigrant, he said, is understanding the plight of the stranger and the meaning of the Exodus from Egypt.

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to remain relevant in a very competitive market,” said Gross, the great-great-grandson of Aron Streit, who started the business after emigrating from Austria. “The name Streit’s conjures up so many happy memories of not only my childhood but of the decades since,” says Karen Kriendler Nelson, whose relatives organized a pre-Passover family reunion at the factory. The current Streit’s production line dates back to the 1930s and the baking process is strictly timed. It may take no more than 18 minutes from the moment the flour and water are mixed to when matzahs emerge from a gas-fired, tunnel-like oven to cool in metal baskets that hang off rusty tracks, inching slowly to the packaging operation. Beyond the 18 minutes, the dough rises — forbidden for this food that symbolizes the biblical flight of the Jews from Egypt, who were so rushed they had no time to finish baking their “bread of affliction.” “Nothing changes at Streit’s,” declared Rabbi Mayer Kirshner, who oversees the factory’s kosher certification. Some of the nearly 60 workers represent a wave of immigrants from former Soviet republics, like machine operator Michael Abramov, who was born in Uzbekistan. He’s been at Streit’s for 25 years — the only job he’s ever had in America. “I’m not bored. I love this work. This is important. It’s our religion — it’s the history of the Jews,” said the 61-year-old Queens resident. Operations on Rivington Street will proceed until the new plant is running with state-of-the-art equipment that will speed up production. These are not your great-grandmother’s matzahs, kneaded and shaped by hand. Mass-produced and machine-packaged, they’re a modern effort to preserve tradition. But tradition is quickly disappearing in the neighborhood that was home to Jewish immigrants for much of the 20th century. Property values have skyrocketed, with galleries, boutiques and restaurants opening in renovated tenements. The Streit’s property — up for sale — is worth tens of millions of dollars. The employees are all being offered jobs at the new location, where Streit’s will preserve its motto — “the taste of a memory.”

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By Verena Dobnik, AP The last Passover matzahs have rolled out of a century-old bakery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side — a neighborhood that’s been dubbed the “Jewish Plymouth Rock.” The Streit’s factory is the oldest in the nation still churning out the unleavened flatbread. About 2.5 million pounds of matzahs were baked for this year’s Passover holiday and distributed worldwide. Streit’s is planning to shut down its 9-decade-old ovens by year’s end and move to a 21st-century computerized plant somewhere in the New York area. The contract has yet to be signed. “For decades, immigrant Jews and their descendants have made pilgrimages back to the Lower East Side — the Jewish Plymouth Rock — to reconnect with their history and, of course, delight in the shopping and eating that gives the neighborhood its flavor,” said Annie Polland, a historian at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. “With the Streit’s closure, you have a significant chapter of Jewish Lower East Side history closing.” The bakery first opened during World War I, serving struggling Jewish immigrants. By 1925, the business moved to Rivington Street, where the original assembly line winds through four six-story buildings — once overcrowded tenements with narrow, rickety stairs that are still used. But the 48,000-square-foot factory doesn’t live off nostalgia. It’s a smartly run family business with annual sales topping $20 million on about 5 million pounds of matzahs sold around the country and worldwide. The other mass manufacturer of matzahs in the U.S. is Manischewitz, the largest producer of processed kosher food in the United States, with Israeli imports and traditional round handmade shmura matzahs also filling store shelves. Demand is growing for matzahs even among non-Jews who enjoy them as a healthy snack baked with no fat or artificial additives, and the old factory simply cannot keep up, said Aaron Gross, head of sales and marketing at Streit’s and one of three cousins running the day-to-day operations. “I’m fifth generation, and if we want this to last another five generations, we need to make sure that we strengthen the company

THE JEWISH STAR April 3, 2015 • 14 Nissan 5775

Streit’s down: matzah factory going hi-tech

A cluster of sweetness for Pesach JUDY JOSZEF WHO’S IN THE KITCHEN Judy was in Isarel for a simcha this week, returning just in time for the climax of Pesach preparation. As a result, she’s taking a break from column-writing, and we bring you instead a replay from 2012. y the time most of you will be reading this article, it will probably be over a cup of coffee, Shabbat morning. For those of you who stayed home for Pesach, the last minute shopping, cleaning, cooking, serving and clearing up after the seders have taken a toll on you, I’m sure. And for those of you with young children, your fun is just about to begin: Chol ha’moed trip planning. When I was a kid, things were different from what they are today. It was a treat just not having to get up and go to school. We didn’t lament that we were stuck home in Brooklyn while all our friends were in Miami. We looked forward to the special day trips we would take — we’d go bowling, to a show or museum in the city or a movie. I remember clearly one such chol ha’moed trip to the movies. My friends Lynn, Lisa, Henny, Fay and I all met at the bus stop, holding our bags of lunch and snacks for the day. Yes, in those days we actually took buses at age 13, and we walked about seven blocks to the bus stop (hope any teenagers reading this didn’t faint at the thought of that). Once at the theater and comfortably settled in our seats, we opened our paper bags (no designer totes back in the day for us) and took out our snacks and lunches that

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we made and packed. Yes, we actually made our own matzo sandwiches and packed our snacks, too (hear that kids?). As the aluminum foil was opened and we compared our lunches, the man in front of us turned around and told us to be quiet. So being the obedient girls we were, we just started munching on our matzo as we enjoyed “American GraďŹ tti.â€? Again the man turned around and asked us chew a little quieter. Obviously he didn’t realize there was no way to eat matzo quietly. I put my sandwich in the bag and had my snacks instead. A little later on, I took my matzo out again because I was starving. Again he turned around and in a loud voice asked me to put it away. (I’m sure my kids are wondering why, at that point, I wasn’t at the manager’s ofďŹ ce voicing a complaint ‌ read on kids). I leaned forward and took one last crunchy bite right in his ear, and then my friends and I high tailed it out of those seats and sat in the back of the theater. Not only did we get to see a great movie, we had a story to tell as well. Whether bowling, seeing a movie, going to a museum, attending a Broadway show or a baseball game, I’m sure all of us have special memories spent with family or good friends. This week, I thought I would share a fun recipe for chocolate, marshmallow, walnut and matzo farfel clusters. It’s easy to make with your kids, and a great way to spend a day together during chol ha’moed. Make an extra batch and have it for the second days of Yom Tov. It’s great as a desert or a snack. While making these tasty treats, and adding the matzo farfel, you can also impress the kids with these interesting matzo facts: •In 1838, a Frenchman named Isaac Singer invented a matzo-dough-rolling machine that

cut down on the dough’s prep time and made mass production possible. •In 1888, a Lithuanian immigrant named Dov Behr opened the ďŹ rst matzo-making factory in Cincinnati, Ohio. He adopted the name Manischewitz, named his factory the B. Manischewitz Company and developed an entirely automated method of matzo production. In advertisements, Manischewitz boasted that, “no human hand touches these matzos!â€? By 1920, he was the world’s largest matzo producer — making 1.25 million matzos a year. •The Manischewitz family sold the company in 1990 for $42.5 million; the brand is still the most popular type of matzo in the world. •Streit’s has been in existence since 1925 and offers every kind of matzo, from unsalted to sundried tomato, although the Passover-approved matzo — supervised by rabbis holding stopwatches to monitor the 18-minute rule — is still the most popular. •My father, Walter Feig, aâ€?h, worked for Streit’s in 1937 as a teenager. His job was to pull the string that allowed the our to ow into the huge mixing machines as soon as the whistle blew for production to start. Everything was timed to the second so they never went over 18 minutes from start to ďŹ nish. •In 1938, a matzo bakery was invited to the New York World’s Fair, but for unknown reasons never appeared. •In 1973, Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan shouted, “Man, oh, Manischewitz,â€? the matzo company’s slogan, in the middle of his moonwalk. •In 2008, competitive-eating champion

Joey Chestnut ate 78 matzo balls in eight minutes for a $1,500 prize. Bet he would have rather eaten these chocolate clusters! &KRFRODWH PDW]R IDUIHO PDUVKPDOORZ DQG ZDOQXW FOXVWHUV INGREDIENTS: 24 ounces parve chocolate chips 1 cup matzo farfel 2 cups mini marshmallows Melt chocolate in the microwave, stir well and set aside to cool a bit but not harden. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray or line with waxed paper. Add the remaining ingredients to the melted chocolate, stir till everything is coated and drop by the tablespoon onto the cookie sheet. Once the chocolate is hardened, remove the clusters, and whatever your kids don’t gobble down you can store in an airtight container. For those of you sending your kids to the movies, make sure to pack some of these as a snack. The chocolate and marshmallows will mufe the sound of the crunchy farfel, so your kids won’t have to worry about the grouch sitting in front of them!

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At Pesach, challenged Ukraine Jews bank on JDC By Jeffrey F. Barken, JNS.org As Ukraine continues to unravel, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) will try to help that country’s Jews celebrate as normal of a Passover holiday as possible in chaotic times. Separatists have seized territory across eastern Ukraine, including the city of Donetsk. Suffering defeats, the Ukrainian government has restricted its contested borders and closed banks. Food is becoming scarce. As a tenuous cease-ďŹ re holds, aid organizations are working to provide relief to civilians caught in the crossďŹ re. Among them, JDC is currently assisting more than 4,600 Jews who are either displaced by the conict or stranded in separatistcontrolled regions. Despite the upheaval, JDC-run Hesed social welfare centers and JDC-supported Jewish community centers on both sides of the ceaseďŹ re line will hold a variety of Passover events — including seders, matzah baking, and cooking workshops —for thousands of Jews. JDC volunteers and staffers will deliver nearly 48,000 free packages of matzah to Ukrainian Jews in need. At JDC brieďŹ ng last week in New York City — featuring Masha Shumatskaya, a Jewish activist who ed Donetsk last summer, and Oksana Galkevich, JDC’s Ukraine director of external affairs who spoke by videoconference from her post in Jerusalem — provided a stark overview of the history of the conict. “What’s happened in Ukraine over the past 15 months was very unexpected,â€? Galkevich said. “What began as a protest became a war, and then an economic collapse.â€? Born in Kharkov, Galkevich has spent the past 15 years helping to revitalize Jewish life in Ukraine and providing assistance to those in need. “An absolutely safe place does not exist,â€? she said.

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Beyond the destructive shelling of towns and cities, the biggest factor aggravating the crisis is the poor state of the Ukrainian economy. “Food prices have risen 100 to 200 percent,â€? said Galkevich. Elderly people stuck in separatistcontrolled regions are no longer being paid their pensions. “People are suddenly poor,â€? she said. Since the ďŹ ghting erupted, the conict has produced more than a million refugees in western Ukraine. JDC operatives have not faced a crisis of this magnitude since the end of World War II. “We have over 2,500 displaced Jews we’re helping. There may be more,â€? Galkevich said. “Most ed in the summer. They do not have clothes, pay, work, homes or a place in the community.â€? Among the displaced is Shumatskaya, a

23-year-old activist who holds a BA and MA from Donetsk National University and is uent in English, Hebrew, Russian and Ukrainian. “It was very easy to be a Jew in Donetsk; we had a synagogue, many Jewish families, and community life,â€? Shumatskaya said, recalling pre-war prosperity. She attended Jewish schools from the age of 7, participated in a local Jewish youth club, and is a graduate of the JDC’s Metsuda Young Leadership Initiative. But after the annexation of Crimea in March 2014, life began to change in Donetsk. “There was a protest. It wasn’t armed, but still very dangerous,â€? Shumatskaya said, recounting the events that prompted her to ee her home. “In April, a group of masked soldiers arrived. They established a checkpoint, declared themselves separatists, and declared a new republic. Then they started shelling the city and airport.â€? While the borders were still porous, Shumatskaya ed Donetsk by train, leaving her parents behind. She sought refuge in Kharkov, where she has since found work as an English tutor and volunteers at the local Hesed welfare center, one of 32 such centers operated by JDC in Ukraine. JDC is delivering aid to Jews stranded in the separatist-controlled regions, helping resettle interior refugees, and assisting Jews wishing to emigrate. Shumatskaya’s work at Hesed demonstrates a key component in what Galkevitch calls the “three frontsâ€? of JDC’s response to the crisis. Shumatskaya said she and other volunteers are calling every registered JDC client, asking, “Where are you now? Do you receive your pension? Where are your family members? What kind of assistance do you need urgently — food, medications, accommodation? Are you considering leaving the conict zone?â€? That list of questions guides volunteers, helping them provide the right assistance on an individualized basis. JDC must then assess

who is in the most danger and distribute resources accordingly. “We’re delivering food, medicine and water by bike and foot,â€? Galkevitch said. “If they (separatists) start shelling, that starts at 7 am sharp. You have to reach your client before or after.â€? Given the long history of anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe, JDC was bracing for dangerous conditions from the outset of the Ukraine conict. Yet ant-Semitism “has not played a prominent part in the crisis,â€? Galkevich said. Shumatskaya agrees. “People care about each other,â€? she said, citing an instance in which her mother received aid from JDC and shared her relief with non-Jewish neighbors. The fact that Jews are apparently not a scapegoat amid the destructive nationalist struggle in Ukraine may be a surprising development to many observers. Jews continue to feel welcome in the region, and many remain loyal to Ukraine. “We must remember that the Jewish community of Ukraine has undergone a remarkable renaissance since the fall of the Soviet Union and that local Jews are reluctant to leave behind that warm, thriving community and their homes and lives,â€? said Galkevich. JDC’s work in Ukraine is undertaken in cooperation with the local Jewish community and groups such as Chabad, and is supported by its board, individual donors, foundations, and partners, including Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, the Jewish Federations of North America, World Jewish Relief, and the Conference on Jewish Materials Claims Against Germany. Galkevich emphasized the importance of JDC’s “infrastructure of 32 welfare centers across Ukraine, built over 25 years.â€? “We never stopped working for these people,â€? she said.

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ifteen minutes will change your life and that of your family. This is not a new weight loss, exercise, prayer or study program. This is something that I noticed after 40 years of scheduling people — who for the most part were usually late. Lateness affects everyone’s day. Being late for an appointment can seriously undermine one’s best efforts and sabotage the best of intentions. So why are people late? The real reason is that they simply planned to be on time — and to avoid being late, one truly must plan to be early! I find that when appointments are made for the head or foot of the hour, as in 2 pm or 2:30 pm, that time will most often be misinterpreted as 2ish, or 2:30ish. Or course we know the appointment is for a specific time, but who else is punctual anyway? So 2 pm, is for all intents and purposes, is considered to be sometime around 2 O’clock. Now contrast that with an appointment scheduled for 1:45. Here the connotation is something more specific, more exact, more demanding, more precise. 1:45 sounds like it means business. Like that is your time, and if you miss it — well that will be bad! At the very least, 1:45 might be interpreted as being a clever way to make sure you are there by 2 pm. But even with that translation, one feels a certain strictness. Like this time business is serious — and these appointment times STAND OUT.

Rabbi Shlomo Adelman, Menahel/Principal of HANC High School in Uniondale, sent this note to HANC family. Our hearts ache with anguish and mourning over the devastating loss of Eliane, Rivkah, Sara, David, Yehoshua, Moshe and Yaakov Sassoon, seven children from the same family, who were tragically killed in a horrific fire in Midwood. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Sassoon family and the entire Jewish community as we grieve the lives lost in this unfathomable tragedy and pray for Tziporah and Avigayil’s speedy recovery. When I heard the tragic news right after Shabbat, my body went numb with shock. Losing a child is a tragedy beyond words, how does one even begin to process the loss of seven children from the same family? Despite not knowing the family at all, I felt compelled to attend the funeral. I saw an open door on the side of the funeral home which I assumed was for entrance. I was unaware that the main entrance in the front was already closed with upwards of 1,000 people in the streets. I walked in and realized that I had entered the family room. I will not soon forget the scene of an inconsolable father preparing to eulogize his seven children. I quickly exited into the chapel, unprepared for what was to come. I found myself in the very front of the room where family and close friends were sitting. A few seconds later, members of the Chevra Kadisha asked everyone to move aside. I backed into the podium as seven coffins containing the tehorim (pure souls)

were brought into the room one at a time right before my eyes. There are no words. The sight and sounds of that poignant scene that will stay with me for as long as I live. I then made my way out another doorway and stood approximately 10 yards from where the eulogies were taking place. Mr. Sassoon’s message was resounding. Quoting a pasuk from Shir Hashirim 6:2, “My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies,” Mr. Sassoon said: “Hashem took seven lilies. To you, Hashem, I give everything. My soul. Everything. This is my feeling.” He added, “There’s nothing to say, there’s nothing to say. My children were unbelievable. They were the best. They were a korban tzibbur (communal sacrifice).” “You have to love your children as parents. You have to love them as teachers,” he said. “I don’t know how I could have everything and now I have nothing. There’s only one way to survive this: complete and utter, total, surrender to the will of Hashem.” We don’t know why Hashem chose to take a young beautiful family in a tragic way. It’s not our job to know why. However, it is incumbent upon us to reflect on our own lives in order to appreciate what we have while we have it. Hug your children and appreciate that they are our most precious possession. May Hashem comfort the Sassoon family among the other mourners of Zion and Yerushalayim and may we know of no more sorrow.

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I am certain that those in a profession with multiple appointments scheduled each hour, are better disciplined to adhere to those times. But I find that by scheduling a wedding couple for a photo shoot 15 minutes prior or 15 minutes past an hour greatly increases their punctuality, compared with the mostly tardy arrivals of those scheduled at the head and foot of the hour, who never seem to complete their makeup, hair or clothing in time to beat traffic to my studio for the appointed time. Similarly, if I have a doctor’s appointment for noon, I am not so sure that I have to be there exactly at high noon. But when I see that the card say’s 11:45, I take that real seriously. I mean if I were to show up at 11:50, I might miss all the attention the doctor could give me. I would be L A T E. For small custom businesses and their clients, anyone you are doing a favor for, or who is coming to meet you, consulting services and even appointments to pick up or deliver something, just shifting the appointment time by 15 minutes to a less common — and seemingly more specified — time can make a huge difference in having to wait, which means greater productivity for all involved. It means being able to provide better service, being better prepared and greater efficiency for all. Truly it is a life changer. And the best thing is that these 15 minutes don’t take up any time at all! Save time with no time. So with no time like the present, let us try being timely before, after, or even on the hour. Gary Rabenko is artistic and technical director of Rabenko Photography and Video Arts, 1053 Broadway, Woodmere. 516-5939760, gary@rabenko.com

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On Pesach eve, 5 Towns gets extra trash pick ups and chametz burn By Jeffrey Bessen Sanitary District 1 will be collecting chometz on Friday from 7 am to 1 pm at garbage trucks parked by the Long Island Rail Road stations in Cedarhurst and Lawrence, Young Israel of Woodmere at 859 Peninsula Blvd. in Woodmere, and Temple Hillel at 1000 Rosedale Road in North Woodmere. There will also be all day trash collection of securely tied bags that are placed at the curb, from 7 am to 1 pm on Friday. A special home pick up can be requested by calling 516-2395600 between 7 am and 1 pm on Friday. District ofďŹ cials said an exact pick up time cannot be guaranteed. District Superintendent George Pappas credited Cedarhurst Mayor Benjamin Weinstock, Lawrence Mayor Martin Oliner, several local rabbis, County Legislator Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence), and Town of Hempstead Councilmen Bruce Blakeman and Anthony Santino, for helping to “organize this important community service.â€? :RRGPHUH EXUQLQJ The Woodmere Fire Department will hold its annual chometz burning from 6:30 am to about noon on Friday in the back of the ďŹ rehouse at 20 Irving Place in Woodmere.

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Beyond nukes: Iran pushes MidEast power play By Alina Dain Sharon, JNS.org While the outcome of the latest phase in nuclear negotiations between Iran and P5+1 powers remains uncertain, Iran is forging ahead with its quest for dominance in the Middle East region.

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group that has much closer ties to Iran. Yet Reuters has reported that Iran provided signiďŹ cant military and ďŹ nancial support to the Houthis before and after their takeover of Sana’a (Yemen’s capital) last September.

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is “the most important foreign player in Iraqi politics,â€? he said. “In the 2010 election the Iranians intervened directly to help keep then Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in power. It was the Iranians who [then] basically told Maliki in 2014 that he had to go,â€? said Gause. Iran exerts additional inuence over Iraq through “business, trade, investments, peopleto-people programs, religious pilgrimages, access to the holy sites of Shi’a Islam,â€? and more, Ottolenghi explained. That inuence, he said, has contributed to the current sectarian violence in Iraq. In the meantime, the rise of the Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria has become a major problem for Iran, which has made it clear that it is not going to allow its “allies in Bagdad to be pushed out of power by an [Islamic State] blitzkrieg,â€? Gause said.

Amirahmadi said that unlike IranianJudging from images appearing in Iranian Houthi ties, the relationship between Iran media of airplanes loaded with humanitarian and Lebanon-based Hezbollah is “brotherly.â€? aid headed for Yemen, and of Shi’a-Muslim Houthi rebels being shipped to Iran for medical treatment, it seems that Iran is making little effort to hide its afďŹ nity for the Houthis, said Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. While it is not necessarily possible to verify precisely what materials are being shipped from Iran to Yemen, Ottolenghi described “a track record of Iran sending ships of aidâ€? containing weapons. “We’ve seen it in ship*D]D ments to Gaza [and] shipThe Hamas-Iran relationments to Lebanon,â€? he said. ship more closely resembles The establishment of diIranian-Houthi ties than the rect ights between Iran and Iran-Hezbollah relationship. Yemen by the Iranian carrier Gause said Hamas and Mahan Air is another indi- $ VQDSVKRW RI ,UDQÂśV 0LGGOH (DVW LQĂ€XHQFH LQFOXGLQJ WKH 6\ULDQ FLYLO ZDU DQG +H]ERO ODK cation of Iran’s interest in ZKRVH Ă€DJ LV SLFWXUHG Ă€\LQJ LQ 6\ULD WRS OHIW /HEDQRQ Ă€DJ WRS ULJKW <HPHQ Ă€DJ ERWWRP Iran have been “allies of conthe Yemenite conict. That OHIW DQG *D]D ZKHUH 4DVVDP URFNHWV DUH SLFWXUHG JNS.org photo illustration via Wikimedia Commons venienceâ€? since 2007, when Hamas took over Gaza, “beairline has coordinated with In Lebanon, it has become clear that Hez- cause the Iranians were willing to support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) by “secretly ferrying opera- bollah “is willing to do whatever the Iranians them and Hamas was happy to get support from anywhere.â€? tives, weapons, and funds on its ights,â€? U.S. ask them to,â€? said Gause. Hamas has beneďŹ ted from training and In Syria, he added, Iran “supports [PresiUnder Secretary for Terrorism and Financial dent Bashar] Assad in every possible way by equipment from Iran, especially during last Intelligence David S. Cohen said in 2011. “The Houthis are aligned with Iran, but supplying the Assad regime with cheap oil‌ summer’s Gaza war. There have been reports they’re not the creation of Iran. They have more They supply the Assad regime with direct mil- of Hamas ďŹ ghters being sent to Iran for training, and the sophistication of the tunnels so thrown themselves at the Iranians than the itary support through the [IRGC-QF] force.â€? Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-Israeli Middle that Hamas terrorists built under the Gazaother way around,â€? said Gregory Gause, head of the International Affairs Department at East analyst who teaches contemporary Ira- Israel border indicates that they might have the Bush School of Government and Public nian politics at the Interdisciplinary Center received training from the engineering corps Herzliya college in Israel, believes the Assad of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Service of Texas A&M University. Dr. Hooshang Amirahmadi — a professor regime in Syria would not have survived with- ,PSDFW RI WKH QXFOHDU WDONV of planning and public policy at New Jersey- out Iran’s inuence. Amirahmadi said he believes Iran will be based Rutgers University and a candidate in ,UDT more aggressive in the region if the nuclear Iran’s 2013 presidential race — argued that Gause said that from the beginning of negotiations fail to produce an agreement, while the Houthis are Shi’a Muslims, as is the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iran had and would behave more moderately with a the Iranian regime, the Houthis should not established close relations with a number of deal in place. be equated with Hezbollah, a Shi’ia terror Iraqi political actors and militias. Today, Iran Saudi Arabia, Israel, and even Turkey —

though the latter country has been relatively quiet on the issue — all do not believe a deal will stop Iran from attaining nuclear weapons. “The issue is not the number of centrifuges or the amount of enrichment. It’s the trust. [Such countries] say [Iran’s] regime is a cheater ‌ [that] they will go behind the backs of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.S., and everyone else to build a bomb,â€? Amirahmadi said. Gause said Saudi Arabia — a Sunni-Muslim rival of Shi’a Iran — has failed in its “efforts to roll back Iranian inuence in the region.â€? The Saudis and some other Gulf states fear that Iran “will try to disrupt their domestic politics by trying to activate links with Shi’a communities,â€? he said. Bahrain, for instance, has a Sunni monarchy but a Shi’a-majority population. Countries like Saudi Arabia, said Gause, have “come to the conclusion that the U.S. isn’t going to take the lead in trying to block Iran’s regional games, and if that’s not going to happen, then they are going to have to do it.â€? Javedanfar believes that in the absence of a nuclear deal, Iran will seek to wreak havoc in the Middle East in order to strengthen its future negotiating position. “[Iran] will make chaos in the region, and they will make it so bad that they will try to convince the Americans that no security will exist in this region without Iran,â€? Javedanfar said. “They will create chaos in order to force the Americans to sit down and deal with them.â€? Even with a deal, he said, there is still “going to be instability in this region, because Iran is going to have more money—because some of the sanctions will be removed—and [Iran] will give it to all kinds of extremist groups in Iraq or the Assad regime, Hezbollah, and probably to the Houthis.â€? If Iran and Western nations do ultimately reach a deal, signs are already emerging that other Middle East countries would react by expanding their own nuclear programs. Last week, Jordan signed a $10 billion deal with Russia to build its ďŹ rst nuclear power plant. “The pushback against Iran’s success will be to match Iran’s recognized nuclear capability with programs that these countries will now start,â€? said Ottolenghi, who added that even with no nuclear deal in place, “as long as there is no pushback ‌ Iran will continue to interfereâ€? in other Mideast countries’ affairs.

THE JEWISH STAR April 3, 2015 • 14 Nissan 5775

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April 3, 2015 • 14 Nissan 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

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Congressman doth protest too much

THE King has a valid question; Rep. Israel offers poor response JEWISH JEFF DUNETZ STAR POLITICS TO GO

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Vol 14, No. 14

Friday April 3 • 14 Nisan 5775

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ast week, Iowa Republican Rep. Steven King brought up an issue in public that I have been asked to address countless times in private. “Here is what I don’t understand,â€? said King. “I don’t understand how Jews in America can be Democrats ďŹ rst and Jewish second and support Israel along the line of just following their president.â€? [See story on the cover of last week’s Jewish Star.] North Shore Rep. Steve Israel, self-appointed chief Jew in the Democratic Party caucus, decided to take King on. In Politico, he claimed that King entered the realm of “halacha — Jewish law — on what makes a good Jew.â€? Actually King never mentioned what makes a good or bad Jew, but Steve Israel, trying to turn around King’s words, simply said he did. King wasn’t even talking about Jews in Congress, but he could have been. In the six and half years Barack Obama has been president, I have not seen one Jewish Democrat in Congress stand up in public or on the oor of the House or Senate to disagree with the president’s anti-Israel policies. Sen. 1RUWK 6KRUH 5HS 6WHYH Schumer did say ,VUDHO SLFWXUHG RQ SDJH something on the ZLWK ,RZD 5HS 6WHYH .LQJ radio once, but it was on a Jewish radio show with a limited audience. Rep. Israel stated his case: “Especially galling is pronouncements by people who’ve never been to Israel that Democrats like me are failing the loyalty test. I am proud of travelling to Israel countless times, and I’m proud of all the work I have done to strengthen this alliance with Israel by working with members on both sides of the aisle.â€? Being a supporter of Israel goes way beyond simply traveling to Israel, however. Since Rep. Israel claims to be a huge expert of Jewish law, he should know that it says in

the Torah (Vaykra 19:16), “Do not stand idly by while your neighbor’s blood is shed.â€? King’s statement is not correct in describing all Jewish Democrats, but he is 100 percent correct in the case of Rep. Israel. Steve Israel represents New York’s 3rd Congressional district, including Great Neck and Roslyn, which at 22 percent is the third most Jewish district in America, and because it was the Long Island Democrat who objected to King’s statement, let’s look at Steve Israel’s record of politics vs. support for the state of Israel. After his inauguration, President Obama tried to legitimize JStreet as an important voice of the Jewish community. Even Alan Dershowitz, a strong supporter of Obama, called J-Street “neither pro-Israel nor pro-peace.â€? Funded by George Soros, since its inception, J-Street tried to ďŹ ght against Iranian sanctions and even tried to get the Congress to accept the Goldstone Report, which accused Israel of war crimes and was eventually discredited by its author Judge Goldstone. Despite J-Street’s anti-Israel activity, Rep. Israel lent his name (as did other Democrats) to the group’s ďŹ rst ever-gala dinner. And yet, Rep. Israel still publicly claims to be a big supporter of Israel. s President Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began to implement what some considered an antiIsrael foreign policy during the ďŹ rst Obama Administration, Steve Israel, who never before had been reluctant to speak out in support of Israel, was strangely silent. Even in May 2010, when President Obama demanded that negotiations begin rather than end with Israel ceding the disputed territories of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, plenty of criticism was heard — but not from then-DCCC Chair Steve Israel. In July 2011, when President Obama got caught trashing the Israeli prime minister on a open microphone to the president of France, Rep. Israel said nothing. He was also silent in 2010 when Prime Minister Netanyahu and a delegation was visiting President

Obama in the White House and the president made the unprecedented undiplomatic move of standing up and declaring, “I’m going to the residential wing to have dinner with Michelle and the girls. I’m still around; let me know if there is anything new,� leaving the stunned Israeli delegation to stew in a conference room for over an hour. During the 2012 election, Rep. Israel joined House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Reps. Andre Carson and Keith Ellison in a Democratic Party fundraiser for CAIR, which during the Holyland terrorist funding trial was named an unindicted co-conspirator because of its connections to the anti-Israel terrorist group Hamas, and to the Muslim Brotherhood. Rep. Israel brags to Politico about being on the committee that escorted Netanyahu into the House chamber for his recent speech, but he didn’t mention that before the speech he sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner that harshly criticized Boehner’s invitation to the prime minister as “partisan disregard of long-standing protocol.� Meanwhile, Rep. Israel was silent about the president’s apparent interference with the Israeli election. Obama allowed one of his former strategists, Jeremy Bird, to work in Israel with the groups One Voice and V15 in their efforts replace the Netanyahu government; these campaigns were partially funded by Obama’s State Department. Like Rep. King, I would never question Rep. Israel’s commitment to Judaism — that is between him and Hashem. I do not even question his commitment to the Jewish state. As both a Jew and one of his constituents, I do, however, question his priorities. What Steve Israel has proven over and over during the tenure of Barack Obama is that protecting his political ambitions by protecting the president’s anti-Israel policies is more important than speaking out and demanding that the president change the way he treats an ally like Israel. Rep. Israel seems to have taken Rep. King’s words personally. But to paraphrase Shakespeare, the Congressman doth protest too much, methinks.

For Steve Israel, protecting his political ambitions is more important than demanding that the president change the way he treats Israel.

A

17 THE JEWISH STAR April 3, 2015 • 14 Nissan 5775

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April 3, 2015 • 14 Nissan 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

18

ALAN JAY GERBER KOSHER BOOKWORM

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his week’s essay dealing with Liberty, Freedom and Jerusalem, is dedicated to the 150th yahrtzeit of Abraham Lincoln, on the 19th of Nissan, the 5th day of Pesach. In a recent essay, “The Challenge of Freedom,” Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo discussed the value that defines freedom: “Nothing is more dangerous to the well-being of the human species than the mistaken notion of freedom. Today, freedom is defined as the ability to do whatever one wants. Entire generations have been thrown into a life of meaninglessness, passivity and boredom in the name of this artificial freedom. It wreaks havoc on many fine souls who no longer have a sense of what they are living for. After all, a life with no mission and commitment is not worth living. “Even in the religious community we find many youngsters who observe the commandments by rote because of social pressure or fear of punishment. They dream of freedom, of liberating themselves from their many obligations. Yet, they are unaware that these very obligations are the manifestations of genuine freedom, and a life with no boundaries is a life of confinement.” In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln begins with mention of the word “liberty” and ends with the word “freedom.” To Lincoln, these two words had real, not abstract meaning. His passing on Pesach, the festival that celebrates liberty and freedom, serves to us as an emblematic message of faith and a symbolic lesson of the practical yet deeply meaningful value that these two words should continue to mean to us for all time. Rabbi Beinish Ginsburg in his commentary on the Haggadah, “The March of Centuries,” teaches us the following about cheirus: “A major theme of the Exodus and the night of the seder is cheirus, freedom from bondage and slavery. This theme is developed at length by the Sefer HaChinuch, who notes that many of the various mitzvos associated with the Korban Pesach all reflect the idea of

cheirus. G-d wants us to act like aristocrats while preparing and eating the Korban Pesach so that we will absorb the message that we became the chosen nation. We used to be slaves, but now we’re a free, important nation, a nation of priests and holy nation.” Thus, the concept of freedom is not one of license to mayhem, but that of a discipline of obedience to G-d’s mandate. In his commentary on the Torah, “Unlocking The Torah Text; Shemot” (OU Press, Gefen, 2008), Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, of Engelwood, teaches concerning the practical application of liberty and freedom to the Pesach experience: “The timing of the Korbam Pesach carries additional fundamental significance. G-d’s insistence that the ritual be performed on the night before the physical Exodus from Egypt highlights the difference between two dimensions of freedom in Jewish thought: “1. Dror (liberty): The removal of external constraints, physical or otherwise, that impede an individual’s personal choice and independent action. Dror is either conferred upon an individual by an outside force or attained by an individual through severance from that force. “2. Cheirut (freedom): The injection of positive purpose and value into one’s life. The individual who enjoys cheirut, by choosing to pursue a higher goal, actively frees himself from servitude to to the surrounding world and its potentially enslaving forces. Cheirut cannot be granted by another but must be attained by an individual himself. “One can be at liberty and yet not be free. One can be free even though he is not at liberty.” Rabbi Goldin continues: “The requirement of the Korban Pesach reminds us of the emptiness of liberty without freedom. Had the Israelites left Egypt without first experiencing the rituals of the previous night, their emancipation would have been incomplete. Liberty only has meaning when the removal of external constraints is accomplished by the injection of positive purpose. … Only through belief in and pursuit of a higher cause do we truly attain cheirut — freedom.” Now, please consider this observation by Dr. David Hackett Fischer a historian at Brandeis University:

O, not Bibi, killing a two-state fix BEN COHEN VIEWPOINT

P

resident Barack Obama is correct. There is, as he said last week, no realistic prospect of a Palestinian state being created through a diplomatic process for the foreseeable future. “What we can’t do is pretend that there’s a possibility for something that’s not there,” Obama said. “And we can’t continue to premise our public diplomacy based on something that everybody knows is not going to happen at least in the next several years.” So that, it would seem, is that. In 2012, Obama confidently told the U.N. General Assembly, “The road is hard, but the destination is clear: a secure Jewish state of Israel and an independent, prosperous Palestine.” Now, he has conceded that his own journey is over and the destination remains virtually invisible upon the horizon. The elixir that is a final settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has eluded Obama, just as it did his predecessors. That is not an outcome we should celebrate. I also applaud the vision of a secure Jewish state living peaceably with a neighboring, prosperous Palestinian state — only I would add the entire Middle East to the equation. But here is where any empathy I have with the president ends. It was entirely predictable that Obama would blame his predicament on one man: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The issue is a very clear substantive challenge: We believe that two states is the best path forward for Is-

rael’s security, for Palestinian aspirations and for regional stability,” Obama said. Then he added, drily, “And Prime Minister Netanyahu has a different approach.” The Netanyahu approach, as understood by Obama, was summarized in remarks he made the previous day. “Prime Minister Netanyahu in the election run-up stated that a Palestinian state would not occur while he was prime minister, and I took him at his word that that’s what he meant, and I think that a lot of voters inside of Israel understood him to be saying that fairly unequivocally,” said the president. He concluded that the “prospect of a meaningful framework” that would lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state was not in sight. In the future, Obama said, a credible negotiating framework would be one “that gives the Palestinians hope, the possibility that down the road they have a secure state of their own standing side by side with a secure and fully recognized Jewish state of Israel.” In this sentence, there was a faint admonishing of Netanyahu, the implication being that the Israeli government’s negotiating positions and actions in the current framework left the Palestinians with no hope at all. It’s here that we get to the heart of the dispute between Obama and Netanyahu, far beneath the surface noise of their mutual dislike. “The issue is not a matter of relations between leaders,” Obama said. And he is right. Ultimately, Israel maddens Obama because its people and its leaders—whatever their disagreements over how

Netanyahu has handled his personal relationship with Obama—are rightly wary of his strategy of enabling Iran to become the dominant power in the Middle East, among the many consequences of which is that many Sunni Arabs turn to groups like the “Islamic State” terror entity in response. What this reveals quite sharply is that Obama has never really empathized with the emotions that govern Israeli perceptions of the wider region — outrage that nearly 70 years after the Jewish state’s creation, the Arab and Muslim world remains consumed by antiSemitism and eliminationist ambitions towards Israel; impatience when it comes to a peace process that promises so much and requires so many sacrifices, like the 2005 evacuation of Gaza, and yet seldom, if ever, makes good; fear of a nuclear Iran and contempt for the negotiating process that is abetting it. From Obama’s point of view, though, it’s all about the current distribution of power and resources. Israel, Obama believes, controls the land, has a prosperous economy, and is robustly protected by a first-class military that enjoys a close, productive relationship with its American counterpart. It also has the support of America’s influential and pros-perous Jewish community, which further cements the distinctive relationship between the two nations. And yet, despite all those advantages, Israel refuses to see that a complete moratorium on construction activities in Jewish communities in the West Bank and east-ern Jerusalem is in its best interests, thus

Obama’s legacy will be to kill off any remnants of support for a twostate solution.

fueling the anger of extremists who oppose the peace process, thus leading to repeated wars in Gaza, thus provoking international con-demnation and isolation, and so on and so forth. We cannot compel Obama to see things differently. But I do fear that his legacy, as it applies to Israelis, will be a wholly negative one: namely, to kill off any remnants of sup-port for a two-state solution. After all, it’s not just about the last seven years. The Oslo process, the second Palestinian intifada, the withdrawal from Gaza, and the assaults from Hamas in the south and Hez-bollah in the north, have all persuaded Israelis that hard, territorial compromises can ac-tually bring more war, rather than less conflict. Yes, a good number of Israelis might dis-like Netanyahu personally, and think that he bears a portion of the blame for the fractious relationship with the White House. But that does not imply their support for a peace process that defines Israeli concessions as the main yardstick of progress—suggesting, at the same time, that the compromises they’ve already made, like the 10-month freeze on settlement building that was implemented in late 2009, are worthless. “Each man kills the thing he loves,” wrote Oscar Wilde. And the president bears him out. Obama’s zeal to create a Palestinian state, and his elevation of that quest to the most im-portant goal of American policy in the region, has been profoundly disquieting for Israel. Not only do Israelis perceive Obama as placing undue pressure and censure upon Netanyahu, but they also perceive him as an appeaser of the Iranian mullahs and of the Assad regime in Syria. Should the phrase “two-state solution” become a permanent meta-phor for a failed policy, Obama’s contribution on that score will have been decisive. But he will choose to blame Israel and its outspoken leader instead. That, after all, has been one of the few constants of this administration’s Middle East policy.

19 THE JEWISH STAR April 3, 2015 • 14 Nissan 5775

Liberty, Freedom, Jerusalem: Lincoln’s 150th yahrtzeit

“Most Americans do not think of liberty and freedom as a set of texts, or a sequence of controversies, or a system of abstractions. They understand these ideas in another way, as inherited values that they have learned early in life and deeply believe.” (“Liberty and Freedom” by D.H. Fischer, Oxford University Press) To this I respond that the holiday of Pesach and its seder serve through ritual to reinforce among the Jewish people a deep and fervent dedication to both liberty and freedom. And the legacy of Abraham Lincoln was to serve, through his life’s dedication to liberty and freedom, to further reinforce these concepts as government policy to our own day. That is the lesson of Pesach this year in memory of the martyred president. But, there is more. There is Jerusalem. The annual Pesach seder ritual ends with the declaration and vow: “Next year in Jerusalem!” Recently, an excellent new book was published titled, “Lincoln and the Jews,” by Jonathan Sarna and Benjamin Shapell. This work contains the following little known episode concerning Lincoln and Jerusalem with which I will quote in full and thus conclude this week’s essay as we enter our week of Pesach observance: “Fittingly, the prophetic portion read in synagogues on the Shabbat [Chol HaMoed Pesach] when Lincoln was pronounced dead was Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, a chapter that Lincoln himself had quoted in one of his earliest known addresses. … The prophet’s message of comfort and hope, uttered against the background of death and destruction, was appropriate to the national mood in the wake of the war’s end, and even more so in the face of the assassination. For Jews, the prophecy also reinforced the age-old yearning proclaimed at the conclusion of the seder just days before [the assassination], ‘Next Year in Jerusalem!’ “Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln later recalled, shared a similar yearning. Writing from Chicago on December 17, 1866. She described a carriage ride they had taken that last afternoon on April 14. With the war over, she said, Lincoln had told her that they needed to make an effort to be happier — they had both been so miserable. ‘At the expiration of his second term, we would visit Europe, and,’ she wrote, ‘he appeared to anticipate much pleasure, from a visit to Palestine.’ In fact, she told her friends, he wanted to see Jerusalem before he died.” Benjamin Shapell, in his observation about the sufferings that Lincoln witnessed during the war years stated: “Perhaps Lincoln thought the answers could be found in Jerusalem, where G-d dwells, as do his ‘righteous judgements.’ Sadly, he would never find out.” My dear readers, please heed carefully Lincoln’s legacy and share this with all during this holy Pesach holiday of liberty and freedom — and Jerusalem.

April 3, 2015 • 14 Nissan 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

20

Question for Pesach 2015: What makes a leader? RABBI BINNY FREEDMAN THE HEART OF JERUSALEM

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here are moments in life when there are simply no words, when one is meant only to listen. Such moments may occur when sitting in a shiva home, but nowhere as often as when that family is mourning the loss of a son killed tragically in the course of his service in the Israeli army. In the winter of 2006, in the midst of preparations for our son Yonatan’s Bar Mitzvah, I received a call one dreads receiving: the Goodman family’s son Yosef had been killed in a tragic training accident when his parachute failed to open properly. Incredibly, having become entangled with his officer’s chute, Yosef z”l bravely chose to cut himself loose rather than cost his officer’s life. A few days later, sitting in the Goodman home, I learned just how special Yosef Goodman really was. A young fellow, with long curls and a certain boyish charm, was about to leave when Yosef’s dad spotted him and asked for just one more story. With a sigh and a smile began to speak. He had been Yosef’s first commander in an elite paratrooper unit. It is very hard to get in to this particular unit, and recruits in must go through a grueling week known as a gibush, during which they endure physical and psychological tests and obstacles to ascertain whether they have the “stuff” necessary to join the family of Israel’s elite commandoes. Near the end of that week, the soldiers were each given a shovel and told to dig a pit deep enough to get inside, with a time limit to get the job done. Ben recalled that when he had been given this test as a raw recruit, there was a natural inclination to keep an eye on the other guys, because their failure (or slower progress) meant you had a better chance of succeeding. After all, they were competing with you for the very few open spots in these elite units. During this test Yosef (by then known as “Goodman”) did something so unique that officers were still talking about it weeks later, as no-one could recall anything remotely similar ever having happened during a gibush. Halfway through digging his ditch, Yosef

noticed one of the other fellows had broken his shovel and was working without a handle. So, without thinking, he jumped out of his ditch, ran over to this fellow, gave him his shovel, and then ran back to his own hole to finish digging his ditch by hand. Then, just before the time ran out, Yosef ran back to this other soldier and grabbed back his shovel, so no one would know he had broken the regulations. No one had ever heard of a recruit doing such a selfless thing and all without even thinking about it — it’s the stuff heroes are made of. This was the same thing a man, much later, who without having much time to think about choosing to save himself or the life of his officer… hat makes a Jewish leader? Can anyone become a leader? Or do some have more of a proclivity for such roles than others? Can you train someone to lead? Or is it a G-d given talent he must be born with? Most of all, what character traits are essential for Jewish leadership? Few men in history have ever been confronted with such great leadership challenges as was Moshe. After over 200 years of Egyptian servitude, he had to confront the might of the greatest empire on earth and lead a stiffnecked people out of Egyptian bondage into a barren wilderness without any long term plan or the proper supplies for a trek with hundreds of thousands of people. Hashem sends him to Pharaoh and has him tell Pharaoh to let the Jewish people go, but Pharaoh not only refuses, Pharaoh makes things worse for the Jewish people (Shemot 5), forcing them to gather their own straw, and the people bend under the strain. So what keeps Moshe going? Simply put: Moshe has faith. A true leader believes in a mission, and he believes not only in G-d, but in himself. That said, Moshe was the humblest of men (Bamidbar 12:3), which means a true leader has to believe in himself but has to know it is not about himself; it is always about Hashem, about the bigger picture and larger mission. And even though the Jewish people stop believing in Moshe, complaining many times

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and even verbally attacking Moshe as soon as things go south (Shemot 5:21), Moshe still believes in them. (A true leader has to believe in his people.) A leader often begins without followers. But eventually, if a leader is true to his mission and if his mission is not about himself, the measure of a leader is that they will follow. Who was the first Jewish leader? Avraham brought the idea of Judaism into the world, and certainly believed in a mission that was not about himself. But when he died there was not yet a Jewish people. All the followers he amassed who even followed him into battle eventually went their separate ways, and even his son Yishmael did not fully believe in his mission. Yitzchak, who carried on the faith, left behind only one son to carry on the mission; the Jewish people were yet to be born. Even Yaakov, whose 12 sons would be the family that would finally bring forth the Jewish nation, divided, rather than united, his sons. One might make a case that first true Jewish leader was actually Yehudah, who would eventually be the bearer of the royal lineage; the Davidic line is of the tribe of Judah. hen does Yehuda step into his role as leader? There are two moments in which Jewish destiny hangs in the balance, and in both instances it is Yehudah who seizes the moment. First, when famine ravages Canaan, and the sons of Yaakov must travel to Egypt to barter for food and save the family, the Viceroy of Egypt (Joseph, unbeknownst to the brothers) forbids them to return without their youngest brother Binyamin. But father Yaakov refuses to let Binyamin go. Binyamin is sole remaining son of his beloved Rachel, since passed on. If Binyamin cannot go, the family will starve; it will not be the first time people die because they cannot brave the unknown; preferring the present calamity to unknown dangers. Reuven, the eldest son, entreats his father to let him take Binyamin, but Yaakov will have none of it (Bereishit 42:37-38). And so Yehuda waits, until the famine worsens, and only then,

A true leader has to believe in himself, but has to know it is not about himself.

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knowing the time is ripe, does he ask Yaakov to let him take Binyamin under his care. This time, Yaakov relents and lets Binyamin go, saving the family, and ultimately the Jewish people. What is it about Yehuda’s request that changes the outcome? First, Yehuda waits until the timing is right, until Yaakov is ready to listen. (A true leader knows how to seize the moment.) And second, Yehuda’s argument is a different argument — “Anochi e’ervenu” (Bereishit 43:9): Yehuda promises he will be an areiv; he will take responsibility. (A true leader takes responsibility.) On a deeper level, however, areivut is more than responsibility; in modern Hebrew an areiv is a guarantor who signs on a loan. That does not mean the guarantor is helping to cover his friend’s loan, it means he is agreeing to make that loan his own. In an areivut situation I am not responsible for you; I am you. And it is this exact argument and this exact word Yehuda uses when later confronting Joseph to release Binyamin, caught with the royal goblet and threatened with a life in Egyptian servitude: “Avdecha arav” — I am not asking you to take me instead of Binyamin; rather, “I am Binyamin,” so you can take me instead. (A true leader feels the pain and struggles of his people because he is one with his people.) And this is what made Moshe great. Brought up as an Egyptian Prince, he still goes out and sees the suffering of his people; they are still his brothers. He sees an Egyptian beating a lowly Jewish slave, but he cannot walk away; because when the slave is crying out, Moshe feels the pain (Shemot 2:11-12). And ultimately, hearing the voice of G-d within himself (Shemot 3), he will know he cannot continue his life of safety and bliss in Midian. He will return to the land of his birth and take on the mightiest empire the world had ever known, because a true leader cannot sit when his brethren suffer. Within each of us lies the spark of leadership, and the opportunity to stoke that fire and change the world. This year, on Pesach, may we all be blessed to discover that strength within ourselves, and may we be blessed with true Jewish leadership, to change the world. Yosef Goodman simply could not continue digging while his fellow soldier struggled on, and that is the stuff true leadership is all about.

Universal Pesach question: Inviting the uninvited RABBI AVI BILLET PARSHA OF THE WEEK

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remember the first time I taught a class about Passover to a group of Jewish adults of mixed Jewish backgrounds, and I mentioned that the Korban Pesach ritual, the Paschal Lamb offering, that was so essential to the holiday in Temple times that it could only be eaten by Jews who believe in G-d, and by males who are circumcised. In fact, so closely is the Korban Pesach related to Bris Milah that they are the only two mitzvot in the Torah that, when not fulfilled, carry with them the punishment of karet (Biblically prescribed excision from the Jewish people), a punishment carried out by G-d. I was unprepared for the reaction. “You mean a non-Jew cannot participate in the seder?” One who googles the phrase “how to run a Passover seder” must put much care into what one clicks, because a number of the top

search hits will point to Christian websites dedicated to teaching people of their faith how to run an authentic seder. So it’s not just Jews who have non-Jewish friends who need to be concerned, but non-Jews themselves! I assured the questioner that as we don’t have a Temple now and no Korban Pesach, we don’t adhere to such a restriction, because the meat that we eat, while delicious, is not the required lamb that has limitations on who may eat it. And while I don’t know what goes on at too many seders other than those that I’ve experienced, I hope that all seders do an adequate job of focusing on the concept of the Israelites’ switch from slavery to freedom, the role G-d played in bringing that goal about, and a hope that the freedom we speak of metaphorically will again be experienced by the Jewish people when anti-Semitism is eliminated from the world. One of the themes of the seder is the number four — four questions, four sons, fours

cups of wine. I once heard Rabbi Kenneth Hain of Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence ask, “Why three matzahs? Shouldn’t we have four matzahs?” There is a tradition that each matzah represents a different kind of Jew — the Kohen, the Levite, and the Israelite. Rabbi Hain suggested the fourth matzah, the one that doesn’t make it to the table, represents the Jew who is too far removed from Judaism to even make it to the Seder. Bris Milah and the Passover seder are the two most widely practiced Jewish rites. I doubt it is because of the karet connection I mentioned earlier, but it is telling that they share this and so many other connections: the significance of blood, the concept of a covenant, a tribute to Elijah the Prophet, how you can’t do one without the other. What do we do about the missing Jew — the fourth matzah? First of all, I hope that all those who are

What do we do about the missing Jew — the fourth matzah?

bringing non-Jewish guests to their seders have plenty of seats filled by Jews who might not otherwise attend one. As for those of us who are not inviting non-Jews to our seder, are we doing our part to fulfill the words of Ha Lachma Anya, “let all those who seek come and eat, and all those who need come and do Pesach”? We live in a world when it is increasingly harder to invite people we do not know. We can’t simply invite strangers off the street without an introduction, or without having someone vouch for them. It is a terrible reality of the times in which we live. But if there are people we know, people in our offices, or people we have connections with who might not have a seder to attend, perhaps we can reach out and invite them for the first seder, and give them a little taste of how we celebrate and commemorate our collective journey from slavery to freedom. Who knows? Perhaps this gesture will be the first positive one the invited may have had in a while. And maybe, next year, we need not be concerned that this person is the fourth matzah, the Jew who doesn’t even make it to the seder.

21 THE JEWISH STAR April 3, 2015 • 14 Nissan 5775

It’s not manna from heaven, but this Passover, provide something just as crucial to the survival of the Israeli people.

In a country where terrorism and sporadic rocket barrages are an all-too-frequent occurrence, your gift to Magen David Adom ensures Israel’s national paramedic organization has the medical supplies it needs to save lives. So this year, while you recount the story of the Jews’ redemption from slavery, your gift will help modern-day Israelis survive the threats they face today. Thank you for making a gift today. And we wish you and your family a Pesach kasher v’sameach.

AFMDA Northeast Region 352 Seventh Avenue, Suite 400 New York, NY 10001 Toll-Free 866.632.2763 northeast@afmda.org www.afmda.org

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Jewish Star Schools SKA girls ‘get the look’ with a twist of modesty fashion histories with the students, explaining at the same time how one can be fashionable and deeply committed to halacha. The students then split into workshops, giving them the opportunity to communicate with each speaker in more detail, ask questions and even get fashion tips. Using an app, the fashion stylists coordinated clothing and accessories in the latest trends while upholding to tzniutdik guidelines. Explaining their philosophy, they helped the girls see that “modesty doesn’t have to be frumpy.â€? SKA is grateful to Mrs. Elizabeth Kurtz for helping arrange for our speakers, SKA media coordinator Ms. Jordana Bienenfeld for producing a striking videos and the marvelous student-edited ďŹ rst edition of MACS Magazine, “GET THE LOOK,â€? that was handed out, director of student programs Rabbi Yosef Zakutinsky and his assistant Mrs. Yafa Storch for their aid and support, and director of religiuos guidance Mrs. Elisheva Kaminetsky, who conceived of and organized this amazing event.

SKA It was all about “Getting the Lookâ€? last at the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls in Hewlett. SKA’s MACs, the Modesty Awareness Committee by Students team, put together an incredible program on fashion, style and modesty with guest speakers from the Jewish fashion world. Proving that clothing can be in vogue and modest at the same time, the women behind @fashion_isha, @ mimumaxi and @terijon demonstrated to juniors and seniors the beneďŹ ts and power of tzniut in their own lives. Social media has made the fashion industry aware that there are large segments of the population that are interested in more modest fashion than that which is usually available. Postings on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, along with articles in fashion magazines, newspapers and websites, have made it clear that there is a ready audience for more modest clothing. Sharon Langert of Fashion-isha.com, Mimi Hecht and Mouska Notik of MimuMaxi, and the creative director of Teri Jon shared their backgrounds and

HANC week Pesach prep

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HANC students at HANC’s Samuel & Elizabeth Bass Golding Early Childhood Center and Elementary School, in West Hempstead, have been busy getting ready for Pesach. Students at both campuses have been learning about the story of Yetziyat Mitzraim and the halachot of Pesach. The students reenacted leaving Egypt, made haggadot, learned Pesach songs, made matzah covers and haggadah covers, and baked matzah. The students are very excited to use their haggadot and share their divrei Torah at their seders.

4th graders at YU Fourth Graders at HANC’s Samuel & Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School, in West Hempstead, enjoyed their trip to the Yeshiva University Museum in Manhattan. The students attended a metal embossing workshop where they learned about the repoussĂŠ technique of hammering metal to create beautiful artwork and the students saw a number of silver museum objects that were decorate using the same technique. Each student then designed and created their very own aluminum haggadah cover using the repoussĂŠ technique. The students also visited an exhibition called “Modeling the Synagogue — From Dura to Touroâ€? — which shows how synagogues model themselves after the Beit Hamikdash, as a way to remember and connect with the destroyed Temple.

6KXODPLWK JRHV VNDWLQJ Arielle Lipsky The Shulamith School for Girls Middle Division enjoyed its second schoolwide trip of the year, this one to the United Skates of America roller skating rink in Seaford on March 24. Many girls enjoyed roller skating for the very ďŹ rst timem, discovering how much fun it could be. Some faculty members daringly joined their students in the rink. When the facility ran out of roller blades, some girls happily switched to roller skates so their friends could have a chance to blade. There was so much achdut on this trip; the girls had a great time bonding with each other and with their teachers. Although there were some slips and falls, all the girls had a wonderful time. Thanksg fo to Morah Chana, Mrs. Steiner, and the G.O for planning such a fantastic trip, and to Mrs. Billet and Dr. Gross for the value they place on outings like this one.

23 THE JEWISH STAR April 3, 2015 • 14 Nissan 5775

HANC HS inducts 17 into National Honor Society HANC The National Honoro Society at HANC High School honored its 31 members and welcomed 17 new inductees, at its 39th induction ceremony last week. These students maintain a 92 average and represent excellence in Torah, scholarship, service, character and leadership — all central features of our school’s mission. In an elegantly set-up auditorium, Rabbi Shlomo Adelman, Principal/Menahel opened the

ceremony with a brief dvar Torah that emphasized the importance of living a life as a true ben or bat Torah, followed by Dylan Homapour, who led in singing the Star Spangled Banner and the Hatikvah. Associate Principal Carole Tabin spoke about excellence; honor society faculty adviser Marie Palaia introduced the group’s officers and welcomed them to the stage to light candles that represent the pillars on which the honor society stands. Chapter Co-President Adam Livi lit the

candle of Torah; Co-President Leah Scher lit the candle of scholarship; Co-Vice President Ari Levine lit the candle of character; CoVice President Naomi Liviem lit the candle of leadership, and Secretary David Rabanipour lit the candle of service. Associated Principal Carole Tabin, Assistant Principal Tziporah Zucker, and Director of Israel Guidance Rabbi Avraham Ismach presented the new inductees with their official certificates and membership cards, after which

Shulamith visits a Torah museum Arielle Lipsky Eighth graders from Shulamith School for Girls went to the Living Torah Museum in Brooklyn to expand their learning in kashrut. Tour guide Rabbi Shaul Deutsch showed them the wonders of domesticated and wild animals, which ones are kosher and which are not, how to tell which is kosher, and more. The museum was filled with animals that had undergone taxidermy, including a Nile crocodile, African elephants, rams, goats, lions, and oxen. The girls were taught that a giraffe is kosher and how it can be schechted. They blew shofrot taken from different animals, some straight and some curvy. Thanks go to Morah Bracha Cook for planning the trip, Rabbi Deutsch for being an informative and entertaining guide, and Morah Sassoon and Morah Rotenstein for chaperoning.

all members presented a rose to their parents and grandparents to show their hakarat hatov for guiding them to where they are today. A highlight of the evening was the Faculty Address delivered by Rabbi Daniel Mezei, director of student life and a beloved rebbe who was chosen by members of the honor society to address them. He highlighted some of the students’ accomplishments and spoke about the importance of continuing to be a beacon of light onto others. Rabbi Meze’s message, reminding each of the students that “you are our legacy, and we are relying on you,” left an indelible impression on all those in attendance. Director of College Guidance Karen Sheff, History Department Chairperson Myra Cohen, English Department Chairperson Sam Kintzer, and Math Department Chairperson Professor Quin Murrell, read the accomplishments of the senior members and thanked them for their service to HANC. The induction ceremony concluded with a recessional that led into an elaborate collation and Maariv.

HANC learns about Shemittah

Purim at Shalhevet Shalhevet The energy was palpable and contagious when Midreshet Shalhevet in North Woodmere celebrated Purim with an exciting and festive chagiga. Dressed in an array of costumes, the students entered a glow-in-the-dark ballroom complete with disco balls and glow lights. DJ Gary Wallin pumped up the room with lively music as the students and faculty danced together. Following dancing, the administration performed a skit, depicting a typical day at Shalhevet. The students were rolling with laughter as the administration imitated the students. Comedian Eli Lebowicz kept the chuckles going with a stand-up improv show. The girls participated in various comedic sets and had their friends giggling at their shenanigans. The chagiga wrapped up with a costume contest, won by sophomore Hailey Leibowitz. It was a great way to bring in the Purim cheer and celebrate together.

HANC Students in the second through sixth grades at HANC’s Samuel & Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School, in West Hempstead, learned a lot from guest speaker Avichai Koch, an Israeli farmer who spoke to the students about what it means for farmers to keep shemittah. Mr. Koch worked in high tech until moving to the Negev and establishing a farm in Moshav Tekuma 12 years ago. He said that he loves being a farmer, but things got more complicated this year when his 11 year old son asked if their farm could observe the laws of shemittah. As a result of their son’s request and their belief in Hashem and that if they kept shemittah Hashem would provide for them, the farm is keeping all the halachot of shemittah this year. Mr. Koch explained that while it’s a little funny to see all the greenhouses on their 20 acre farm so quiet, they are proud to be keeping the mitzvah. The students were moved by Mr. Koch’s story and they asked wonderful questions. Families who would like to help Israeli farmers who are keeping shemittah can send in a check made out to the “Shemittah Fund,” a resource that helps support farmers who are keeping shemittah.

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