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THE JEWISH April 22, 2016 • 14 Nissan 5776

Peach • Candlelighting with Shehecheyanu 7:23 pm • Luach page 20

Vol 15, No. 17 • TheJewishStar.com

THE NEWSPAPER OF OUR ORTHODOX COMMUNITIES

By Alina Dain Sharon, JNS.org hen it comes to projecting the Jewish vote in 2016, understanding demographics might lend some semblance of sanity to an election that most observers would compare to a roller coaster ride.

America’s primary election season is inching closer to its conclusion: the Republican National Convention in Cleveland from July 18–21 and the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia from July 25–28. Five candidates remain in the primary race: Democrats Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and Republicans Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), Ohio Governor John Kasich, and businessman Donald Trump.

Against the backdrop of the unpredictable primary stretch and the possibility of a contested Republican convention, JNS.org surveyed Jewish demographic experts for their take on how American Jews might vote in the remaining primaries and in November’s general election. +RZ -HZV YRWHV ZK\ LW PDWWHUV While Jews represent just 2 percent of the American population, surveys indicate that more than 90 percent of Jews who are registered to vote make it to the polls, compared to 74 percent of all Americans. Additionally, in 2013, 70 percent of U.S. Jews were living in New York, California, Florida, New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania—states whose combined 167 electoral votes make up more than half of the 270 electoral votes a presidential candidate needs to win the election.

In 2013, the Pew Research Center’s “Portrait of Jewish Americans� survey showed that 70 percent of Jewish voters were Democrats, compared to 49 percent Continued on page 22

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Analysis

The Jewish Star Democratic Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky declared victory late Tuesday in his unusually nasty — and expensive — battle with Republican attorney Chris McGrath for the state Senate seat vacated last December when Dean Skelos was convicted of corruption.

But McGrath issued a statement before midnight declaring that “the race is too close to call.�

In unofďŹ cial results with all precincts counted, the Board of Elections said 780 votes separated Kaminsky, with 33,978 votes (49.96-percent), from McGrath, with 33,198 votes (48.82-percent). The number of absentee and challenged ballots was unknown. A Green Party candidate had 772 votes (1.14-percent). “It will not be decided tonight,â€? McGrath said. “All the votes will have to be counted in the coming days.â€?

Kaminsky, of Long Beach, and McGrath, of Hewlett Harbor, together spent a reported $3-million in the race that both camps viewed as crucial to their control of the Senate.

“We sent a message that the special interests and all the smoked-ďŹ lled backrooms — we won’t take it any more,â€? Kaminsky told supporters at The Park sports bar in Long Beach.

The 9th District Senate seat represents the Five Towns and other South Shore communities.

In the presidential primary, the wide statewide margins tallied by Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump were mirrored in Nassau County and on the South Shore.

In the South Shore’s 4th CD, represented by Kathleen Rice, Trump had 65.70-percent to 22.72-percent for John Kasich and 10.45-percent for Ted Cruz; Clinton drew 62.24-percent to Bernie Sander’s 37.76-percent. Countywide, with 71-percent of precincts counted, Trump had 70-percent, Kasich 21-percent, Cruz 9-percent, and Clinton 61-percent to Sanders 39-percent.

Statewide, with 96-percent reporting, the Republican breakdown was Trump 60-percent, Kasich 25.2-percent and Cruz 14.8-percent; among Democrats, it was Clinton 57.7-percent, Sanders 42.3-percent.

Staying home for Pesach: No regrets JUDY JOSZEF WHO’S IN THE KITCHEN

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y the time you are reading this, it will probably be Shabbos morning. Although the paper will be on the stands Wednesday morning, let’s be honest — no

one is reading the paper over a cup of coffee, between Wednesday and the start of Pesach.

Either you’re on your way to your apartment in Florida, or last-minute packing for your trip to the hotel. If you’re staying home, you’re still shopping for last-minute items, cooking, baking and preparing. Should you be home for Pesach, and you have time to read my article, G-d bless you. Email your secrets to me on how you manage that!

I know I tend to poke fun at the people

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How Jews vote

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who go away for Pesach, and I kid that someone has to stay home and keep an eye on the neighborhood. But there’s actually something special about being in your own home with family and close friends.

If someone offered to foot the bill for my family and me, to be whisked away and pampered for eight days, I would jump at the chance, but I can say with all honesty that I wouldn’t trade any of my past Pesach experiences — as a Continued on page 15

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Teenage volunteers from the Orthodox Union’s NCSY youth program helped stock the food pantry at the JCC of the Rockaway Peninsula, last Tuesday in Far Rockaway, with fresh produce, oil, matzoh ball soup mix, eggs, chickens and more.

This is the first year that the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty teamed up with the OU to ensure that poor and near-poor kosher homes in the New York area are empowered to celebrate Passover with joy and dignity, said the OU’s Stephen Steiner.

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Argentine justice may yet triumph for Alberto Nisman, AMIA victims BEN COHEN VIEWPOINT

T

he Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank this week presented its Alberto Nisman Award for Courage to Judge Royce Lamberth. A senior district judge for the District of Columbia, Lamberth is no stranger to the Iranian-backed terrorism that cost Alberto Nisman his life as he investigated Tehran’s responsibility for the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires. In 2003, Lamberth ruled that the Iranian regime would have to pay more than $2 billion to the families of the 241 U.S. Marines murdered in Beirut in 1983 by a Hezbollah bomb.

“Based on the evidence presented by the expert witnesses at trial, the court finds that it is beyond question that Hezbollah and its agents received massive material and technical support from the Iranian government,” Lamberth wrote at the time. Much the same can be said of the AMIA atrocity, which claimed the lives of 85 people and which came just two years after another Iranian-sponsored attack in Argentina—the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, which killed 29 people and wounded hundreds more. But in Nisman’s case, his unmasking of Iranian culpability, along with the Argentine government’s decision to shield the mullahs from investigation, is what has fueled the widespread suspicion that this courageous federal prosecutor was murdered for speaking truth to power.

Since, sadly, Nisman is not yet a household name among Jews in general, some reminder of both his life’s work and the circumstances of his death is probably in order. In 2004, Nisman was appointed by Argentina’s then-

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president, Nestor Kirchner, to take over the AMIA investigation, which had descended into a farce by avoiding the Iranian connection and concentrating solely on low-level local operatives. With Nestor Kirchner’s support, Nisman formally accused Iran and Hezbollah of orchestrating the attack. His indictment named Iran’s top leaders as having approved the bombing, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, then-president Ali Hashemi Rafsanjani, and then-foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati.

In 2008, Nisman’s tenacity resulted in Interpol releasing Red Notices—which seek the location, arrest, and extradition of wanted persons—for the capture of several Iranian officials, including former deputy defense minister Ahmad Vahidi and Mohsen Rabbani, who served as the “cultural attaché” at the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires at the time of the bombing. By then, however, the political environment in Argentina had changed dramatically. Nestor Kirchner died in 2007 and was

succeeded by his wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. CFK, as she is commonly known, was in thrall to the radical agenda of Hugo Chavez, the former Venezuelan leader, as well as leftists and Islamist-sympathizers in her own circles.

By 2013, Nisman was out in the cold, as former Argentine foreign minister Hector Timerman—a man who, for his troubles, was described as “that f**king Jew” by one of Cristina Kirchner’s closest advisors—negotiated a shameful deal with the Iranians to create a “truth commission” in which representatives of both countries would settle the dispute over the extradition of the AMIA suspects.

With his own government working against him, Nisman began investigating the cover-up negotiated by Timerman. On Jan. 18, 2015, one day before he was due to present his findings to Argentina’s Congress, Nisman was found dead in his apartment in Buenos Aires from a bullet to his head.

One cover-up, it would seem, led to anContinued on page 18

Wanted: Excellent gefilte fish recipe TEHILLA R. GOLDBERG VIEW FROM CENTRAL PARK

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’m on the hunt for a good, old school and heimish gefilte fish recipe. I know, I know.

These days, the kosher culinary world is all about the cutting-edge sophisticated kosher interpretations of popular contemporary foods.

For me, though, the charm of holiday foods, and especially Pesach foods, is in the sentiment of nostalgic, traditional foods of childhood and Pesachs past.

At this point, I should probably let you know that I don’t really like gefilte fish.

I mean, I don’t care for the current popular version of gefilte fish. There was a time when I loved gefilte fish. When I was little, my mother poached homemade deboned gefilte fish dumplings that were delicious. Then, one day it all stopped. We moved from Israel, the “Old Country,” to the new, more modern one, America, where you didn’t have to spend hours making food from scratch.

As my family was transitioning between Israel and settling into Denver, we had moved into my grandmother Miriam Goldberg’s home for nine months. Well, what do you know. That jarred Manischewitz gefilte fish swimming in sticky translucent jelly — she thought it was delicious and had the house supplied with it in abundance!

In the sixth grade, moving countries, cultures, languages — it wasn’t easy. But adjusting from homemade simmered gefilte dumplings to that jarred stuff? That may have just been the hardest part of the whole move.

Like tall and round looking shtreimels, the hot Yerushalmi Kugel of Jerusalem —charred crisp black on the outside and creamy caramel-y noodles on the inside — this was the stuff of my Jerusalem Shabbat kiddushes. Contrast this with Denver in the 1980s; yes, there were those weeks of sponsored kiddushes with the most scrumptious version of cholent out there, but many Shabbatot were basic: Tam Tam crackers, raw onion-y herring, egg kichel, and petite meatball size gefilte fish balls.

These mini fish dumplings, served with the elegance of an hors d’oeuvre, stabbed with slim, adorned toothpicks, seemed less fishy and more adorable that the bigger version of purchased oval gefilte fish that came from that jar of jelly. You could just pop them into your mouth, accompanied, of course, by the hot strong condiment of gefilte fish’s partner in crime: chrain, or horseradish. This was before the sweetened Meal Mart chrain made its debut; the kiddush’s pinkish-magenta stained horseradish was so strong that for a second, you could feel a sharpness, your nostrils on fire.

But then the frozen gefilte fish in paper craze took over, and it seemed the good old days of tasty gefilte fish were over forever.

Secretly, if the jarred gefilte fish patties were rinsed of their gel, I was even beginning to prefer that to the paper-wrapped fish.

T

his year I decided, enough is enough. Time to reclaim the art of true home made gefilte fish making. I don’t mean that there will be a live carp swimming in my bathtub, nor will I be stuffing the actual skin of a whole fish. I’ll settle for purchasing already ground whitefish, pike and carp.

Not hailing from a Galicianer background, I will carry on my combined Litvak and Hungarian heritage, sweetening the fish judiciously; that is, just barely. I’ll poach them in water, in a stock of carrots, celery, fish bones and fish heads, onions and lemon slices. While the fish is poaching away, I will concentrate on grating the chrain. The goal: make it as horseradish-y as possible.

One of my father’s roles in seder preparation has been grinding the horseradish root for maror. He indoctrinated us early in the ways of this condiment.

After crying over a bowl of grated horseradish root, his nose red as a flame, he’d seal the stuff as tightly as possible to guarantee the strength of the horseradish wouldn’t fade one bit. Upon unsealing the maror package, the fumes alone had sinus clearing powers. It’s the hottest horseradish around.

In that spirit, I will sprinkle some vinegar, sugar and salt into the freshly grated horseradish. There will be some beets, but not too much of anything other than the root itself, so as not to mask the nostrils-on-fire quality of the chrain.

Tradition is tradition.

Besides, it’s a good dosage of oomph with which to smother the more gently poached and sometimes underwhelming flavored gefilte fish.

Now I just need to actually find that perfect tried and true homemade gefilte fish recipe.

Copyright 2016 Intermountain Jewish News

7 THE JEWISH STAR April 22, 2016 • 14 Nissan 5776

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RABBI BINNY FREEDMAN THE HEART OF JERUSALEM

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e was a battalion commander with the rank of Major in an elite Golani (infanty) unit. In most armies, that would have meant he was commanding battles from a rear position, but in the IDF, commanders lead the way.

While leading his troops in heavy fighting in the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil in July 2006, Major Roi Klein saw a Hezbollah terrorist lobbing a grenade towards his men.

Urban warfare is often fought in extremely close contact, which usually means there is a very limited response time; life and death decisions are almost instantaneous.

With no time to think, Klein instinctively threw himself on the grenade, absorbing the blast with his own body and saving the lives of at least five of his men. His soldiers would later share that the last words they heard him cry were not about the grenade, nor a command to his men, but rather the ancient words of the Shema: “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad” (“Hear Israel, G-d is our G-d; G-d is One”).

Major Roi Klein was a gifted saxophone player and a brilliant academic, completing his engineering studies with high honors. His friends would later describe him as a gentle soul, and remember his rolling laughter. He left behind a widow and two small children. He died absolutely knowing that G-d not only exists, but runs the world and fills every moment.

Can a person really know that G-d exists in this world? Is this possible in our limited, physical, distracting world?

Maimonides, in his Hilchot Yesodei haTorah (1:1) as well as in his Sefer HaMitzvoth (Positive commandment 1), says clearly that there is a mitzvah to know G-d exists: “Leidah she’yesh sham Eloka.”

But how can we be commanded to know?

As Rav Elchonon Wasserman in his Kovetz Ma’amarim points out, belief is a psychological state; if you do not believe, a commandment to do so is meaningless, and if you do believe, you do not need the commandment, so what is the point of such a mitzvah? ur tradition teaches that Moshe had the highest level of faith in G-d that a human being ever reached. While he began his journey in the midst of Egyptian

O

servitude, with the Jewish experience at its nadir, he grew up as an Egyptian prince. Why was it not orchestrated that Moshe — who was, after all, a Jew — enslaved, to rise from amongst his people in rebellion?

Could it be that in order for Moshe to develop the relationship with G-d necessary to fulfill his mission, he first needed to step away from the pain and suffering of Egypt and meditate in the tranquil solitude of the life of a Midianite shepherd?

Moshe does not (at least in the text) begin his true mission until he is 79 years old. Only then does he have a direct communication with Hashem at the burning bush. (The Torah tells us Moshe dies at age 120, after 40 years in the desert and one year allowing for the process of the ten plagues and the Exodus.)

And yet, Moshe reaches a knowledge of Hashem that is so deep and clear he will communicate directly with G-d in a fashion most of us can only imagine.

To understand this, we must first define what it means to know G-d. Rav Dessler in his Michtav Me’eliahu points out that there are different types of knowledge. Some things we know and can easily explain or put down on paper, such as how to use e-mail or physically get from one place another. But there are things that cannot be described but must be experienced. Once we experience such things, and know them yet can never fully explain them (kind of like trying to explain to a person what a jelly donut really is — you have to experience what it is).

This idea in the Torah is represented by the word da’at.

The Torah tells us (Bereishit 4) that Adam knew Eve (“Va’yeda’ Ha”Adam et Chava Ishto”) which subsequently led Eve to become pregnant and give birth to Cain and Abel.

Clearly, Adam did not read a manual on Eve, he had relations with her; knowledge (da’at) then, is all about relationships. And the mitzvah to know G-d is really the imperative, in order for life to acquire meaning, to develop a relationship with Hashem. And the goal is for this relationship to reach such a high level that it is no longer a question; it is the undeniable essence and even source of our reality.

All of which brings us back to Moshe. eveloping our relationship with Hashem begins with knowing who we are, and to know who we are, we first need to know where we are from. (Hence the first blessing of the Shemoneh Esrei blesses Hashem our G-d and G-d of our fathers, beContinued on page 18

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By Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman For Americans, it has been the Oklahoma City bombing, the 9/11 attacks, the San Bernardino shooting, and school shootings. For Israelis, it’s the daily threat of terrorism.

“We all share something that bonds us for life. The idea is to work together to not let [terrorism] destroy us, but to move forward by building a future of peace and being productive members of society,” says Sarri Singer, founder and director of Strength to Strength, a non-profit organization that brings bereaved family members and victims of terror from around the world together to heal.

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From April 5–12, Strength to Strength’s Young Ambassadors Program brought together 25 participants, ages 16–20, who have lost a parent or other immediate family member in a terrorist attack, or were injured themselves. The participants — from Argentina, Colombia, France, England, Ireland, Spain, Israel and the U.S. — spent a week together in New York for events focusing on empowering them to share their personal experiences of trauma and bring about healing.

“Everyone thinks that the survivors [of terror attacks] need help—and that’s true. But we forget that family members can be more traumatized than the victims themselves,” Singer said. Singer survived the terrorist bombing on the No. 14 bus in Jerusalem on June 11, 2003.

The weeklong youth program combines therapeutic activities with recreation and leadership training. Two trauma experts are on hand, and a representative—psychologist or other support provider—comes from each of Strength to Strength’s partner organizations.

Shahar Hatzav, 17, lost his father, Yaakov Hatzav, during the second Palestinian intifada when terrorists opened fire on the elder Hatzav’s vehicle, killing him instantly. Shahar Hatzav was 3 years old at the time.

“Living without a father is all I know,” Hatzav tells JNS.org. “I don’t know what I felt or thought [on the day of the attack]. I just know that I had to live without him.”

Hatzav says the Youth Ambassadors Program helped him realize that he is hardly alone as a person affected by terrorism. He says he can learn from how others around the world in similar situations are dealing with the terrorism-induced trauma.

Similarly, Amit Zoaretz, 17, immediately found commonalities ground between his own life and that of others affected by terror. His father, Col. Pinhas Zoaretz, was severely wounded in Gaza in 2004, undergoing multiple surgeries and a year of recovery.

“Most of us had to go through therapy and psychological treatment,” says Amit Zoaretz.

“For most of us, terror had a lot of negative impacts on our families and there are also similarities in how we were personally affected. We were all traumatized, but eventually we started to accept it.”

Zoaretz says the Young Ambassadors Program is all about dialogue and healing with words. Talking is essential for healing, he says.

Iara Nisman of Argentina—whose father, late state prosecutor Alberto Nisman, is suspected to have been murdered by Argentina’s government in 2015 for investigating the alleged Argentine cover-up of Iranian involvement in the 1994 AMIA Jewish center bombing—expresses similar sentiments. She says, “All of us have experienced terrible things. We understand each other.”

“These are future leaders, and hopefully they can be the ones to make a difference, to stop all of the terrible things going on in this world,” says Strength to Strength’s Singer.

“Many want to do that. They have been attacked, and they leave this program wanting to do something about it, to make a difference.”

Distributed by JNS.org

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By Sean Durns A new Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorist group has emerged—and by appearances, it may be expanding.

In less than two years, Harakat as-Sabeeren Nasran il-Filastin (The Movement for the Patient Ones for the Liberation of Palestine), also known as al-Sabireen, has committed several terrorist attacks against Israel, drawn worries from rival terror groups, and promoted its “brand” through an ambitious social media presence.

Yet major U.S. news outlets have failed to report the rise of this group, which calls for Israel’s destruction and openly advertises the support it

“South Nassau unblocked my artery and recharged my life.”

South Nassau Communities Hospital’s Catheterization (Cath) Lab is equipped to discover and treat blocked arteries and veins, using the most advanced technology and techniques.

Whether it’s time to schedule an appointment for cardiac diagnostics or you require immediate care, South Nassau is here to see to all of your heart’s needs.

At South Nassau, we work diligently to accommodate your religious needs for a more comfortable and enjoyable stay. We are pleased to provide a well-stocked Kosher Pantry/Respite Bikur Cholim Room, a Shabbos elevator and overnight accommodations at our kosher Shabbat Hospitality House.

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receives from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Much like other terrorist groups, including its rival Hamas that rules the Gaza Strip, al-Sabireen also had close ties with a charity calling itself al-Baqiyat as-Salihat (“the enduring good deeds”). Perhaps concerned with a potential rival to power in Gaza, Hamas closed al-Baqiyat as-Salihat in March 2016 due to “the organization’s engagement in political activities.”

Since its appearance, al-Sabireen has used money to successfully recruit disenchanted members of PIJ and Fatah. The latter comprises much of the Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank. Al-Sabireen also has recruited from smaller terrorist groups.

While its origins are murky, al-Sabireen’s objective and patron are clear.

Employing language that closely mirrors that of Iranian officials such as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, al-Sabireen’s charter encourages violent jihad against the “racist Zionist body” Israel and against what it calls “America the great Satan.” The group, including its leader and founder, Hisham Salem, a former mid-level PIJ operative, can be found on social media platforms, such as YouTube, promoting their proto-Khamenei, anti-Western, anti-Israeli, and Islamist ideology.

Matching words with deeds, al-Sabireen has drawn attention from the Israel Defense Forces after perpetrating several terrorist attacks against the Jewish state. Flush with Iranian funds—an estimated $10 million a year for what is thought to be 400 or so members— al-Sabireen has armed itself with Grad and Fajr missiles that can reach Tel Aviv from the Gaza Strip, a distance of about 35 miles.

Al-Sabireen also is armed with new Steyr .50 long-range sniper rifles—the same weapon that some Iranian-backed militias are using to expand Tehran’s regional influence in the formerly sovereign nations of Syria and Iraq.

Al-Sabireen has gone on record backing Iran’s Syrian ally and has adopted other positions in line with the mullahs, such as criticizing Iran’s nemesis and regional rival Saudi Arabia. By contrast, Hamas, which receives funds from the Persian Gulf states and Turkey, has been careful not to take sides overtly in the Saudi-Iranian “cold war” that is going hot in the Yemeni civil war and elsewhere.

Al-Sabireen has been richly rewarded with funds and assistance for its strict adherence to Tehran’s wishes. But the group’s undisguised support from the Shiite-majority country has raised eyebrows among the largely SunniMuslim Palestinian Arabs. Rumors suggest that al-Sabireen is a Shiite group, which—like its benefactor—believes in spreading the Iranian brand of Islam. When speaking to Arab press, al-Sabireen head Salem has publicly denied these claims, made by Hamas as well as alSabireen members themselves.

But al-Sabireen has reportedly adopted Shiite rituals such as the Day of Ashura, and the group is known to distribute Shiite literature and hold seminars on Shiite theology. Salem is also known to have declared that “the road to liberation of Palestine (the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state) goes through Karbala”—referring to the Shiite holy city in a manner that echoes Tehran’s rhetoric.

The group’s emergence has been entirely ignored by major U.S print news outlets. A Lexis-Nexis search that includes USA Today, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post, among others, shows only one single mention, by Washington Post online blogger Jennifer Rubin (“The effect of the nuclear deal is clear,” Jan. 20, 2016). Rubin appropriately noted that al-Sabireen is a sign of Iran’s expanding regional influence—including, even overtly, in areas not traditionally dominated by Shiite groups.

Sean Durns is media assistant in Washington office of CAMERA. Distributed by JNS.org.

11

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April 22, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 22 Nissan 5774

A weekly section of The Jewish Star. In print. and online at TheJewishStar.com

Shulamith weighs links to Hashem

Developing a relationship with Hashem was the topic of the third in a series of panel discussions at the Shulamith School for Girls Middle Division in Cedarhurst.

Last Wednesday, students in grades ďŹ ve through eight were privileged to hear from community members Sarala Chrein and Ruchie Frei, as well as their very own Morah Chana Schwartz and Principal Rookie Billet.

Each panelist spoke about her own role models as well as occurrences in her life when the hand of Hashem

HANCsters add colors to Pesach Students at HANCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Samuel & Elizabeth Bass Golding Early Childhood Center have been very busy getting ready for Pesach, baking matzah and preparing their own Haggadahs. The yiladim at the ECC learned about how Hashem took the Jews out of Egypt, why we eat matzah, and what to do at the Seder. They canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to share their divrei Torah!

THE JEWISH STAR April 22, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 14 Nissan 5776

JEWISH STAR SCHOOLS

was clearly present. The panelists also shared tips with the girls for how they can ďŹ nd and recognize Hashem in their own lives.

The girls came away inspired and with much to consider. They shared some of their thoughts: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I feel like Hashem said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I want to have a relationship with you.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hashem is my parent. I check in with Him throughout the day because I know Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waiting to hear from me.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hashem is always there for me.â&#x20AC;?

SKA girls turn Shmot IQ into Torah Bowl win

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JEWISH STAR SCHOOLS

HANC hosts Project Ezra seder HANC High School and its Jewish Poor Committee hosted a Project Ezra Model Seder for elderly Jews on the Lower East Side. Organized by Project Ezra and HANC’s Director of Student Life Rabbi Daniel Mezei, and chairpersons David Rapanipour, Daniel Levy and Talia Kirschblum, the model seder involved eating, dancing and singing — including performances by HANC’s award-winning boys chorus and members of the HANC Band.

DRS honors signal approach of graduations Along with Pesach, the posting by schools of their graduation honors is a sure sign that spring is here. DRS Yeshiva High School was the first to announce their honorees.

9DOHGLFWRULDQ <RQL *XWHQPDFKHU Yoni Gutenmacher achieved an impeccable academic record, gaining entrance to the University of Pennsylvania while serving as a role model for his peers. Yoni serves as a captain of DRS’s Debate, Mock Trial, College Bowl and Model UN teams, as well as an editor of DRS’s newspaper and D’varim Hayotzim, the yeshiva’s weekly Torah publication, an AP Scholar with Distinction and was named a Commended Student by the National Merit Scholarship Program. Yoni will be studying in Yeshivat HaKotel next year.

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6DOXWDWRULDQ %ULDQ &KHUQLJRII Brian Chernigoff achieved amazing academic success at DRS. Brian was named an AP Scholar with Honors and designated as a Commended Student by the National Merit Scholarship program. He was awarded the maximum scholarship by Yeshiva University’s honors program, to which he was accepted early decision. Brian will be studying in Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh next year. .HWHU 6KHP 7RY -DFRE *ROGVPLWK Jacob Goldsmith has constantly demonstrated exceptional middot and is beloved and respected by all of his peers. The Keter Shem Tov honoree is selected by the members of the senior class. Jacob will be studying in Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh next year.

YOSS week: Rice visits, kashrut talk, mishmar fun 5,&( 9,6,7 During a visit to Yeshiva of South Shore, Rep. Kathleen Rice was presented with an award honoring her services to the community.

Rice has been an advocate for the Five Towns and Israel, being one of the first members of Congress to openly oppose President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.

She spoke to the eighth grade boys on what it was like during her tenure as Nassau District Attorney and how difficult it was to stand up against the president on the Iran nuclear deal. She stressed the importance of getting involved in community affairs and exercising their right to vote, when the proper time came.

The boys got a chance to ask

questions on a variety of issues and they were pleased to hear Rice’s strong commitment.

Pictured with Rep. Rice, from left: Rabbis Mordechai Kamenetzky, Binyamin Kamenetzky and Dovid Kramer. .$6+586 Rabbi Dov Schreier from the OU Kashrus Division shared with YOSS eighth graders an inside view on the world of kashrus. (Center photo.)

Talmidim learned of sophisticated elements in modern manufacturing and distribution that affect hechsherim on common food products.

0,6+0$5 Over 60 seventh and eighth grade YOSS mechina boys went on a special trip to Bounce in Syosset, celebrating the culmination of a successful year of meaningful extra learning at mishmar on Thursday nights. (Left photo.)

13

HAFTR travels to Jewish heritage museum Seventh graders from the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockways visited the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan last week.

The tour guides were all women who were either children of survivors or survivors themselves. The students displayed empathy to their guide, Miriam, hanging on her every word. They walked through the memorial with their eyes glued to each exhibit.

The tour began with an introduction to pre-Holocaust Jewish Europe and its thriving community. The students viewed a beautiful picture of a Jewish wedding that took place in Germany before Hitlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wrath, representing the normality of life â&#x20AC;&#x201D; celebration, family and religious practice.

Many students were surprised to see that the German Jews had â&#x20AC;&#x153;regularâ&#x20AC;? lives before the Nazis. They were drawing connections to their own lives through the pictures, artifacts and exhibits displayed.

The second ďŹ&#x201A;oor of the museum centered on the Holocaust era. The students viewed several video clips of survivorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; testimony; this was quite heavy, bringing many of our students to tears. They saw propaganda used by the Nazis to create anti-Semitism throughout the nation. They reacted to a board game played by German children, where the object was to eliminate the Jews. All were horriďŹ ed at how telling this was that the German children were methodically brainwashed to hate.

Our emotional roller coaster ended on the third ďŹ&#x201A;oor, post-Holocaust and the Jewish Diaspora. As we rode up the escalator the students were silent, affected by the harsh realities of the second ďŹ&#x201A;oor. Miriam, our tour guide, broke the

silence, she said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;they tried to take away our names and replace them with numbers, we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let them. We are all here today because our ancestors never stopped believing in Hashem and held on to hope.â&#x20AC;?

Attention was turned to eighteen trees growing out of eighteen tremendous rocks. Miriam explained, many did not think that the Jewish Nation would survive the Holocaust, saying it would be impossible to withstand the Nazi power â&#x20AC;Ś they were wrong. She explained that the impossible can be made possible with dedication, drive and emunah to Hash-

em. It is impossible for trees to grow out of rock or granite, but with hard work and dedication this was made possible.

Eighteen â&#x20AC;&#x201D; chai â&#x20AC;&#x201D; trees are growing out of rock, just as the Jewish nation continues to grow.

The mus0eum pays tribute to those who died by celebrating their lives, treasuring their traditions, identifying their achievements and faith, and afďŹ rming the very much alive Jewish community that is their legacy today. This was all taken in through the eyes of our students and into their hearts.

It was an amazing trip.

Hundreds of alumni come home to Darchei Torah

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Some had graduated the yeshiva over a decade ago while others were away for less than a year.

The alumni assembled at Yeshiva Darchei Torahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual reunion represented a cross-section of the yeshivaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s former talmidim, from full-time rabbeim and bachurim to attorneys and ďŹ nance professionals, reconnecting with their rabbeim and each other in an atmosphere that was infused with nostalgia and friendship.

The event began with a dvar halacha about Pesach from Rav Shlomo Avigdor Altusky, Rosh Yeshiva of Darcheiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Beis Medrash Heichal Dovid. This was followed by a buffet reception prepared by the yeshivaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chef, Chana Florans. A short program included Divrei Chizuk from Rav Yaakov Bender, Rosh HaYeshiva; an update on alumni activities from Rabbi Moshe Benoliel, director of alumni affairs; an award presentation to Menashe Malov, an alumnus of the yeshiva who has been helpful over the last decade in numerous ways; and rafďŹ&#x201A;e drawings.

The Yeshiva Darchei Torah Alumni Association works around the year to keep the alumni connected with their rabbeim and each other through a panoply of events and initiatives. For more information, email alumni@darchei.org Photos by Yechiel Ungar

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JEWISH STAR SCHOOLS

April 22, 2016 â&#x20AC;¢ 14 Nissan 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

14

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15

Continued from page 1 young child, teen, newly married bride, mom of one then two and three kids, for anything.

I have hundreds of wonderful, fun ďŹ lled and poignant memories, with my grandparents, parents in-laws and siblings.

How I appreciate what my mom, grandmother and all of the past generation did to prepare for this holiday. My grandmother and my mother never had a cleaning help, ever. They did everything on their own. My mom worked full-time and never complained when it came to all the preparations. We had one sink that was ceramic and counters that were Formica. She had to ďŹ nd the best insert that wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t too bulky for the sink and the counters had to be covered. We lived three ďŹ&#x201A;ights up in a private house and I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ever remember anything being delivered. Everything was made from scratch and tasted amazing. There were no ready-made Pesach noodles, cake mixes and salad dressings, and never, ever, did my mom or grandmother complain.

Fast-forward 45 years. I have granite counter tops and two stainless-steel sinks that are kashered by pouring boiling water on them. My ovens are self-clean and my freezers and fridges (two) are self-defrost. I can shop ahead and store things in the extra ones. Our parents didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have that luxury. So how dare I complain. Actually I feel so very grateful to be able to continue the customs that were handed down my great great grandparents, including the Romanian accent when we get to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;ShebsheďŹ&#x201A;ainu, zachor lanu,â&#x20AC;? which we sing as my grandfather sang it, â&#x20AC;&#x153;ShebshiďŹ&#x201A;aini zoochur looney ki li oilam chaaaasdo.â&#x20AC;? When we were younger, when it came time for that line, we would all sing it a bit louder and tap on the table. Today we shout it out loud and bang on the table, and Jerry, who adopted our custom, would dance around the room and re-

peat it a few times, just for my mom; she wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t very communicative in her last years, but her face lit up and she sang out loud and remembered her fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rendition.

Oh, and those memories of piling on the fresh chopped horseradish on the matzoh and closing our mouth after stufďŹ ng it in, and feeling the burning sensation come out through our ears. What, never did that? Maybe it was just a Brooklyn thing. erry remembers his Seders, with relatives at his home, and how everyone recited the kiddush individually. Each year, Jerry and his brother fought back the urge to laugh during their individual turn to say kiddush, and each year Jerry would hear all the aunts and uncles and parents say â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hershel, stop it. Stop making fun.â&#x20AC;? Even when it was his brotherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s turn, Jerry would get in trouble for his brother laughing. And it went on for years. He couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even get through telling me the story without cracking up and remembering fondly the fun-ďŹ lled Seders he shared with his brother and all his relatives.

Wishing you all a wonderful chag sameach, wherever you may be, together with family and friends. Make some wonderful memories that your children will pass on for generations to come.

With special memories of my grandparents, Ida and Sam Feig Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;H, who passed away before I was born but whose traditions I still pass on; my grandparents Rose and Mordechai Lovinger, who I spent many wonderful Seders with; and to my parents Ruth and Walter Feig Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;H â&#x20AC;Ś thank you for the wonderful memories, the hard work, and always putting the kids before yourselves.

Just last night I discovered an old journal commemorating the shul dinner when my parents were honored. I read the words my grand-

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INGREDIENTS: 4 teaspoons olive oil 4 cups onions chopped 2 tablespoon fresh garlic, chopped 1/2 teaspoon salt Fresh ground black pepper 20 ounces of fresh spinach or 2 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained well 6 whole wheat matzos (or regular, unsalted) 12 egg whites 6 large eggs, 2 tablespoon margarine 1-1/4 cups feta cheese Salt and pepper to taste Instructions: 1. On a microwave safe plate, cook the onions in the microwave for 2â&#x20AC;&#x201C;3 minutes until soft.

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2. Heat oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-heat until hot. Add onions and garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in spinach and continue cooking for about 1-2 minutes until spinach is soft. Season with salt and pepper. Remove to a plate and set aside. Set aside the pan for a moment.

3. In the meantime, break up the matzos slightly and soak in a bowl of cold water for about 1-2 minutes until soft but donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let them get too soggy! Drain the matzos and squeeze out the water. Combine the matzo in a bowl with eggs and egg whites.

4. In the same pan, melt the margarine. Add the matzo/egg mixture, cooked onions and spinach and scramble, stirring constantly until eggs are cooked.

4. Divide among 4 plates. Sprinkle each plate with feta cheese and serve immediately.

Let everyone season their own with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 8 servings.

Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

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parents wrote honoring my parents. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I viscerally experienced profound feelings of love and loss which momentarily overwhelmed me and infused me with an unquenchable longing that they could once again share Pesach with me at my Pesach table.

As I reďŹ&#x201A;ected on this I further allowed myself to miss and yearn for my in-laws, Davidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parents, Lou and Elaine Pollack Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;H, who always shared Pesach with us as well as Jerryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mom Molly Joszef Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;H, who shared riveting stories of Pesach at her parents table as well as unforgettably contrasting the Jewish experience in Mitzraim with the incomparable dehumanizing conditions in the slave labor/death camp in Auschwitz. I will profoundly miss all of these loved ones who graced my Pesach table over the years.

Thanks to my cousin, who shared this Pesach dish she found on the internet.

THE JEWISH STAR April 22, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 14 Nissan 5776

Staying home for Pesach: No regretsâ&#x20AC;Ś

April 22, 2016 • 14 Nissan 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

16

The Pesach 5776 book list finale ALAN JAY GERBER KOSHER BOOKWORM

W

ell, it is almost here, Pesach that is. This week’s essay lists several additional excellent readings themed to the holiday.

We begin with one of my favorites, Rabbi Shmuel Goldin’s “Unlocking The Torah Text.”

If you can obtain the second volume, Shemot, count yourself as very lucky. And, when you get it, please read Rabbi Goldin’s teachings from Parashat Bo, the narrative of the Exodus itself.

What I was most taken by was his relating the story of the Jewish optician in Berlin in the 1930s. Hopefully, by next year, a new Haggadah by Rabbi Goldin will be forthcoming, and I urge the good rabbi to include this episode.

Rabbi Efrem Goldberg of Boca Raton, in his recent essay on Dayeinu, referenced a Haggadah commentary by Rabbi Nachman Cohen entitled, “The Historical Haggadah,” in which he teaches us the following: “Understanding what Dayeinu is really all about and why it is the centerpiece of our Seder requires us to zoom out the lens and instead of investigating specific lines, to look at the poem as a whole.

What do the 15 stanzas have in common? Why were these events or experiences chosen?”

Citing Rabbi Cohen’s take, Rabbi Goldberg continues: “If you look at the Chumash and in Tehillim, chapter 106 in particular, you will notice that every stanza of Dayeinu corresponds with an incredibly gracious act that G-d did for us and our absolute ungrateful response.”

Both rabbis present the following teaching that Rabbi Goldberg summarizes: “Explains

Rabbi Nachman Cohen, Dayeinu is our reflecting on our history and repairing the lack of gratitude we exhibited in the past. On the Seder night we look back on our national history, we review our story and we identify those moments, those gifts from G-d that we failed to say thank you for. We rectify and repair our ingratitude and thanklessness through the years by saying Dayeinu now. In truth, Dayeinu, each of these things was enough to be exceedingly grateful for. Freedom demands gratitude. If you are set free, but fail to acknowledge how you attained that freedom, you in fact remain enslaved to your ego and to your selfishness. … Gratitude is a byproduct of true freedom.” his year witnessed the publication of a unique and long overdue anthology entitled, “Mo’adim Perspectives: Pesach–Shavu’ot,” an anthology of essays by Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch, Rav Dr. Salomon Breuer and Rav Dr. Joseph Breuer, published by Feldheim and the Joseph Breuer Foundation and edited by Dr. Elliot Bondi, Meta Bechhofer and Dr. David Bechhofer.

An anthology dealing with practical halachah is entitled, “Peninei Halacha: The Laws of Pesach,” by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed and published by Yeshivat Har Bracha. This volume, now in an English translation, is one of the most practical works on this subject.

The Vaad Harabanim of Greater Washington recently issued its highly regarded online bulletin for Pesach. Of particular note are the following articles, “Matzah Baking: A Dying Art” by Rabbi Zvi Holland, director of field operations for Capital-K, and Rabbi Moshe Walter’s learned essay, “Appreciating Pesach In Light of Erev Pesach.”

Also recently published online is “The Pardes Companion to the Haggadah,” a collection of short, easy-to read essays that might be

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of use to many as a supplement to our Seder repertoire. Among the essays is “Kadesh” by Rabbi Alex Israel, director of the Pardes Summer Program, who hopefully will someday visit our community as a valued scholar in residence; “Yachatz,” an essay by Rabbi Levi Cooper, a distinguished essayist and scholar of chassidism, Rambam and Midrash, as well as a columnist in the Jerusalem Post; and Rabbi Michael Hattin, noted Bible commentator and author of the essay “Tzafun.”

I am honored to include in this year’s Pesach reviews Yeshiva University Press’ latest work, “Memory and Meaning,” by my former teacher, Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, dealing essays on the Yizkor liturgy that is recited on the last day of Pesach. In his notes to this volume, Rabbi Lamm brings to us the following timely teaching on the value of historic continuity: “Do not imagine that only the great and dramatic events are significant. In the eyes of G-d and in the eyes of history, we too are important if we but do all we can. For nobody is a nobody, and everybody is a somebody. We influence our children, or others’ children.

And they, in turn, will influence others. The fact that we are here today is a tribute to them; had one link in the chain of generations been severed, we would not be here today. We must, then, watch our step.”

I conclude with the following teaching by Rabbi Berel Wein of Jerusalem and Lawrence: “Thought control has always been the tool of tyrants and despots. It was our father Abraham who first stood up against this type of tyranny in ancient Mesopotamia, risking his life to proclaim the belief in monotheism in an enforced pagan society. That is one of the reasons why our Pesach Haggadah begins with the redemption from Egyptian bondage by re-

calling the story of Abraham.

“Freedom presupposes the right to be different and if there ever was a one-word description of the Jewish people over the millennia of our existence it certainly is the word, ‘different.’

It is the consistency of the freedom of the Jewish people, with its constant renewal and revitalization, that makes our freedom so special and of such an historical nature. Freedom from Egyptian bondage gave us the opportunity to think differently than the rest of the world and to accept the Torah and all that it entailed at a time when the rest of the world rejected it.”

Please read and learn from all the authors cited and may their writings help to better enhance your holidays.

On behalf of both my dear family and yours truly, may I extend to you, my dear readers, a most meaningful, joyous and safe Pesach holiday.

Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

How Coke pioneered Passover-friendly food biz

By Alina Dain Sharon n the 1930s, Rabbi Tobias Geffen of Atlanta began to investigate the hidden ingredients inside mass-produced foods and to evaluate whether those ingredients conflict with kosher laws. He then set a precedent by getting The Coca-Cola Company to make a kosher-for-Passover version of its soft drink, convincing the company to substitute the grain alcohol used in the processing of its drink to alcohol derived from molasses.

Geffen’s achievement was a response to the fact that in the 1920s, “Coke became an incredibly popular beverage in America,” and “Jews adopted a custom of making it available to children during the Passover seder in lieu of wine,” historian Roger Horowitz—whose book, “Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food,” was published this month by Columbia University Press—told JNS.org.

This step by Coca-Cola stood out at a time when few mainstream food manufacturers were making kosher-for-Passover products.

“Coke was an enormous consumer product in the 1930s, and jealously guarded its formula,” Horowitz said. Much of the company’s decision, he explained, rested on its confidence in Geffen that he would not reveal the drink’s secret ingredients, and the episode was “an enormous asset in persuading other conventional food firms to secure kosher certification.”

Geffen personally issued a kosher-for-Passover certification on Coke, eventually passing the baton to another rabbi. Meanwhile, the founder of the Orthodox Union’s (OU) kashrut division and kosher certification labeling, Abraham Goldstein, was another figure dedicated to the science of figuring out what’s inside foods and whether those ingredients

I

are acceptable for Passover as well as for kosher-obser vant consumption year-round. He was particularly interested in ice cream, surveying its manufacturers to determine what they were putting inside their products and ultimately deciding that Breyers ice cream, for instance, was acceptable to eat during Passover.

But Goldstein was simply reviewing foods as they existed at the time.

The fact that CocaCola chose to make a distinct version of its drink for Passover, therefore, was a big ex-ception.

Rabbi Moshe Elefant, Chief Operating Officer of the OU’s kosher-certifying arm, told JNS.org that subsequently, the OU began to certify Coke for Passover around 1989–1990, after the company removed high fructose corn syrup from its Passover drink and replaced it with sugar. These bottles are known today for their distinct yellow caps.

When the OU certifies a product as generally kosher, it is typically sufficient for rabbinical supervisors to make occasional visits to a company to make sure that the product is being produced in accordance with kosher standards. When it comes to Passover, however, making a product that is kosher for the

the mountains of Peru, where quinoa grows and is packaged,” where he needed to see if “the quinoa is packaged or processed in the same machinery or equipment as non-kosher for Passover products, [which] would for lack of a better word contaminate the quinoa,” Elefant explained.

As a result—and similarly to how kosher-for-Passover Coke is produced—about once a year, producers of kosher-for-Passover quinoa make a certain amount of quinoa specifically for Passover.

It is labeled “OUP,” with full rab7RS .RVKHU IRU 3DVVRYHU RI &RFD &ROD LV GLVWLQ binical supervision of the proJXLVKHG IURP RUGLQDU\ &RNH ERWWOHV E\ LWV \HOORZ duction process. Then the rabbis FDS Mark H. Anbinder via Flickr.com go home, and come back later for the next production round. /HIW 5RJHU +RURZLW]¶V QHZ ERRN oday, many food ingrediholiday requires full-time rabents, as well as the final food binical supervision. One other product, are often made far food that illustrates this situ- away from the grocery shelves, particularly ation is quinoa, a type of grain that was only in the Far East, Elefant said. Therefore, the in recent years certified as both kosher and OU has become a highly global operation, kosher for Passover by the OU. with a presence in 80 countries. In addition, “One of the staples of the kosher diet now “the equipment used to manufacture food is is sushi. But there’s a problem with sushi on all obviously new equipment that didn’t exist Passover because sushi is made with rice, in the time of the Talmud,” he said. and Jews of Ashkenazi descent don’t eat rice In the current era of mass food producon Passover. How are you going to survive tion, the OU has needed to find out how to eight to nine days without sushi? You make it make production equipment kosher without with quinoa,” Elefant said. the guidance of original source material with After many public requests for the OU to cer- instructions on the issue. tify quinoa, rabbis needed to make their deciContemporary rabbis need to be “exsion based on ancient texts and rules that were tremely knowledgeable in understanding written in an era when quinoa did not exist. the machinery that manufactures food,” and “After much deliberation and discussion, in knowing how to conduct the koshering we determined that quinoa is not part of process without breaking “a piece of equipContinued on page 19 that legume family. Then we sent a rabbi to

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SNCH toasts volunteers Dental school at Touro

By Rebecca Melnitsky â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so rewarding,â&#x20AC;? said an honored volunteer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You get so much more than you give.â&#x20AC;?

That was a sentiment shared by many as South Nassau Communities Hospital honored its pink-jacketed army of volunteers at a lunch last week. The hospital also celebrated the 60th anniversary of its volunteer program at the event, attended by hundreds of people.

A dozen volunteers received awards for their service. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am proud to be part of this amazing group of men and women,â&#x20AC;? said Anne Fernandez, director of volunteer services at SNCH. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is an opportunity to thank each and every one of you for all your support to the mission of South Nassau.â&#x20AC;?

SNCH also singled out volunteers at the Hewlett-based SIBSPlace, which provides support to children who are living with a family member ďŹ ghting cancer or other serious illnesses. The program provides after-school

therapy, support and assistance for the children, especially as their parents may be in the hospital with the sick child.

The SIBSPlace Shining Stars were Joeanna Greenberg of Hewlett, Ronnie Hirsch of Woodmere, Audrey Turetsky of Freeport, Georgene Winick of Woodmere and Victor and Judie Horowitz of Oceanside.

For the past 14 years, the Horowitzes have volunteered at SIBS, which they call their second family. Judie said that at one SIBS dinner, a girl said that she was happy that her younger sister was in remission, but she was upset because she thought she could not come to the program anymore. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The directors immediately assured her that once you come to SIBS, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re family,â&#x20AC;? said Judie. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And family is forever.â&#x20AC;?

The girl and her sister â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who stayed in remission â&#x20AC;&#x201D; grew up, aged out of the program, and came back as volunteers.

Rebecca Melnitsky reporter for LI Herald.

New York Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rst new dental school in nearly 50 years is set to open this summer, Alan Kadish, M.D., president of Touro College and University System, said this week.

Touro received ďŹ nal state approval and will establish the Touro College of Dental Medicine at its New York Medical College campus in Valhalla. The dental college joins the Touro School of Health Sciences, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (with campuses in Harlem and Middletown), Touro College of Pharmacy, and New York Medical College, in New York State. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As New York Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rst new dental school in nearly half a century and the only dental school in the Hudson Valley, the Touro College of Dental Medicine will ďŹ ll a void in dental education and improve access to oral health care, particularly in underserved rural and urban communities throughout the region,â&#x20AC;?

Kadish said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The school will address the ex-

isting shortage of training options for dentists in New York State and create a pipeline for the next generation of dental professionals, while also seeing to the immediate needs of the community through its dental clinic.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;With dental care as the foothold of good overall health care, it is important that this area of professional health care education continues to grow,â&#x20AC;? Kadish continued.

Touro has appointed Jay P. Goldsmith, D.M.D., as the founding dean of the school.

Dr. Goldsmith was formerly a professor, program director, and deputy chief in NYMCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Department of Dental Medicine.

Edward F. Farkas, D.D.S., has been named senior associate dean for clinical affairs and chairman of dentistry. Dr. Farkas, a 1985 graduate of NYU, has been practicing general dentistry in New York City for over 30 years, and has been involved with the founding of the dental school from the outset.

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HEALTH, MIND & BODY

Argentine justiceâ&#x20AC;Ś progress of his work on behalf of the state.

This case is screaming for a transfer to the federal courts because it must be recognized that Nisman was murdered.â&#x20AC;?

A proper investigation into Nismanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death could well lead to a re-examination of the AMIA atrocity, whose victims have been denied justice for more than 20 years.

Indeed, one of Macriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rst statements as president was to say that he was not bound by the shabby agreement with Iran negotiated under his predecessor.

Even so, nothing is guaranteed.

Argentine political observers have noted that the judge now presiding over the Nisman investigation, Julian Ercolini, has been criticized over decisions he made concerning the business interests of the brutal military dictatorship that ruled from 1976â&#x20AC;&#x201C;83. At the same time, the prosecutor in charge of the Nisman investigation, Eduardo Taiano, is also leading the probe into Cristina Kirchnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s currency rigging. No wonder, then, that the former president is having sleepless nights.

As the court investigation proceeds, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s imperative that Jews outside Argentina understand what is at stake here. The AMIA bombing was the worst single anti-Semitic crime since World War II, and Iran was responsible for it. Nothing less than the conviction and sentencing of the perpetrators is acceptable. No more compromises and no more backroom deals.

Ben Cohen is senior editor of TheTower.org

The AMIA bombing was the worst single anti-Semitic crime since World War II.

Continued from page 7 cause if we do not know where we are from, we will never understand who we are.)

When Moshe ventures forth into the world of ancient Egypt (Shemot 2; 11-12) and sees the slaves as his brethren, he knows his history.

Moshe, the prince of Egypt sees his Jewish brother being attacked by his fellow Egyptian and is thus forced to confront the existential question: who am I? Am I an Egyptian or a Jew? It would seem that Moshe decides he is a Jew. But the next day when he confronts two Jews ďŹ ghting, they clearly do not view him as their brother.

With the end of this second encounter comes the realization that his killing of an Egyptian has been discovered and â&#x20AC;&#x153;achen nodah haâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;davarâ&#x20AC;? (it has become known). So he runs from Egypt, and (Shemot 2:19) becomes known in Midian as an Egyptian.

Moshe knows where he came from, but now he has to struggle with who he is. Perhaps this is why he drops completely off our radar; for the next 40 years Moshe will herd sheep for Yitro in Midian but we will not hear of him in the Torah; this is the stage of Mosheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s journey of self-discovery, immersing himself in the world of nature. This stage is described by Rabbeinu Bachya Ibn Pekudei in his Chovot Haâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Levavot as hitbonenut (to look closely for Hashemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s imprint in the world).

Eventually, Moshe will see a burning bush and feel he must turn to get a closer look, at which point no less than Hashem will call to him: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Moshe, Mosheâ&#x20AC;? (Shemot 3:4) and Moshe will respond: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hineniâ&#x20AC;? (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Here I amâ&#x20AC;?).

There were two â&#x20AC;&#x153;Moshesâ&#x20AC;? who went to Midian, the Jew and the Egyptian. Now

Moshe knows he is part of the Jewish people no matter where he may physically ďŹ nd himself.

At this point, for seven days Moshe will struggle with G-d. Once we know where we come from, and who we are, that we are not random, we must struggle with the ultimate question: Why are we here, what is our purpose? oshe ďŹ nally comes face to face with the fact that he, like all of us, was created by G-d for a purpose; his greatest challenge will be to embrace and to live up to that purpose.

Torah is the recipe for each of us to discover who we are really are and what we are doing here. Hence Mosheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ultimate struggle at the burning bush takes place at Horeb, which is Mount Sinai, where the Torah will ultimately be received.

And of course if the mitzvah is to know Hashem, it is precisely when we tap into our true purpose that we begin to relate to and experience Hashem.

Major Roi Klein, in the midst of battle in Lebanon, had long since understood where he came from and that he was created for a purpose. In his ďŹ nal moment in this world, fully embracing why he was in that place at that given time, he knew that G-d had given him that moment every bit as much as he had been given his entire life. And in so realizing, he lived up to all that he could be.

May Hashem bless us all to ďŹ nd such meaning and such purpose in every given moment.

Wishing all a wonderful and meaningful Pesach!

Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

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Continued from page 6 other. There was enough in terms of motive and actual evidence to suggest that Nisman was murderedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the Iranians had been openly threatening himâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;yet Argentinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s politically corrupted authorities insisted on treating his death as a suicide. And that was how the case proceeded until last November, when opposition leader Mauricio Macri deďŹ ed all the predictions and was elected as Argentinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new president.

With Macriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s election, the House of Kirchner has collapsed in spectacular fashion. Just this week, Cristina Kirchner appeared in court to answer charges of currency rigging. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They can send me to prison, but I will not stay silent,â&#x20AC;? she told her supporters before stepping into the dock. (Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trueâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Kirchner is among the last people on Earth to stay silent, and the prospect of a custodial sentence is a real one.)

This same criminality stained Kirchnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach to Nismanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death, and in Macriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new Argentina, that too has backďŹ red. At the end of March, an appeals court in Buenos Aires ruled that the investigation into how Nisman came to be shot dead would be transferred to a federal courtâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a sign that his death is being treated as murder, since such cases in Argentina are federal matters.

At that hearing, Pablo Lanusse, an attorney retained by Nismanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mother Sarah Garfunkel, declared without ambiguity that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nisman was assassinated so as to impede the

Knowing who we areâ&#x20AC;Ś

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April 22, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 14 Nissan 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;The tuna ďŹ sh itself as a ďŹ sh is inherently kosher for Passover. But all the other ingredients to make the tuna, [like] the vegetable broth that they sometimes put into the tuna â&#x20AC;Ś are not necessarily kosher for Passover,â&#x20AC;? added Elefant.

In yet another illustration, coffee doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always require an OUP label to be considered as kosher for Passover. The OU also recommends one-ingredient foods that are considered kosher for Passover without requiring the foods to be labeled with an OUP. Decaffeinated coffee, however, can only be consumed on Passover if the decaffeination process does not involve an alcohol made out of grains or corn. Brands that the OU deems appropriate for Passover include Nescafeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tasterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Choice and Folgers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had to review the entire decaffeination process to make sure thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no issue,â&#x20AC;?

Elefant said, noting that in these cases, the products were deemed appropriate for the Jewish holiday as they are. Yet in the case of Bosco chocolate syrup, which has also been labeled OUP, a separate version of the syrup needed to be made for Passover.

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lot online apps with Passover products. I see technology being used in a big way,â&#x20AC;? he said.

When a mainstream, non-Jewish company approaches Lubicom with an interest in marketing a special kosher-for-Passover version of its product, Lubinsky ďŹ rst determines if the product is unique, and if it is, he suggests that the company â&#x20AC;&#x153;be very user-friendly in teaching consumers how to use the productâ&#x20AC;? through recipes, meal ideas, and tie-ins with other products that are also kosher for Passover.

As for Coca-Cola, when it had removed high fructose corn syrup from its ingredients in 1990, it did so in response to Passover consumersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; demand. But in more recent years, Elefant noted, consumers â&#x20AC;&#x153;are actually trying to stay away from high fructose corn syrupâ&#x20AC;? for health reasons, prompting a growing number of food producers to remove the substance from many products and use natural sugars or fruit sugars as substitutes. This makes such products easier to certify as kosher for Passover.

In the end, Elefant said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;it always boils down to dollars and cents.â&#x20AC;?

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Consulting (an agency working with kosher food producers) for last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kosherfest trade show revealed the production of 600 new products for Passover, and that 40 percent of annual kosher food sales came during the roughly month-long period including and surrounding Passover.

Passover is the â&#x20AC;&#x153;most widely observed holiday on the Jewish calendar,â&#x20AC;? said Lubicom President Menachem Lubinsky, with an estimated 70 percent of all U.S. Jews attending at least one Passover seder.

Lubinsky added that making special Passover runs of products does not stop at food.

Aluminum foil companies producing kosher-for-Passover foil â&#x20AC;&#x153;have to use cleaning agents that are [suitable] for Passover. They do a special run and they have an OUP on them. The amount of those products that is consumed for Passover is enormous â&#x20AC;Ś [and] itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good business [for the company to produce them].â&#x20AC;?

On the marketing side of the issue, Lubinsky sees a growth in the advertising of kosher-for-Passover products. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You see a lot of supermarket ads that highlight Passover specials. There are also a

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Continued from page 16 ment that costs millions of dollars,â&#x20AC;? Elefant said.

One issue that comes up with regard to Passover and food, according to Roger Horowitz, involves oils that may be used during the holiday.

For instance, corn oil cannot be used, so rabbis must ďŹ gure out how to control the oil while it is being shipped in trucks across long distances in order to make sure the oil is not contaminated. All tankers need to be washed and sealed by rabbis before they can be reloaded, and any holding tanks must also be monitored by rabbis. Then, inside the factories, sophisticated control systems are also in place. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have to embed kosher requirements into the very food system, and whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remarkable is how successful Orthodox Jews have been in embedding those requirements in our industrial food system,â&#x20AC;? Horowitz said.

Elefant cited another example of a product the OU has certiďŹ ed for Passoverâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;canned tuna. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Over the years, we have made [specialized Passover] runs of tuna for Chicken of the Sea, Bumblebee, etc.,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Chag Kasher Vâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sameach From

A Happy & Sweet Passover Craig Spatz President

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Wishing our friends Happiness, Peace, Prosperity, and all the joys of Passover!

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THE JEWISH STAR April 22, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 14 Nissan 5776

Kosher-for-Pesach Coke pioneered new bizâ&#x20AC;Ś

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April 22, 2016 â&#x20AC;˘ 14 Nissan 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

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Appreciate the full meaning of Hallels at Seder RABBI AVI BILLET PARSHA OF THE WEEK

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here are two Hallels, the paragraphs dedicated uniquely to praising G-d, in the book of Tehillim. One is Hallel Mitzrayim (the Egyptian Hallel), the other is Hallel HaGadol (the Great Hallel).

Hallel Mitzrayim is the one we are most familiar with, Tehillim 113-118, while Hallel HaGadol is deďŹ ned differently by different early Rabbinic authorities. Basically everyone agrees that it includes Tehillim 136 (Tosefta Tannit 2:17, Sofrim 18:3), while how far it extends in the chapters before and after Chapter 136 is debated in the Talmud Pesachim 118a. One view extends it into 135, while another view includes some (or perhaps all) of the Shir Hamaalots, which are chapters 120-134.

In Mesekhet Sofrim (ibid), the passage talks about the special â&#x20AC;&#x153;song of the dayâ&#x20AC;? which is to be recited on the different holidays of the year. Hallel HaGadol (ch. 136) is

designated as the special song of the last day of Pesach.

Before debating over the deďŹ nition of Hallel HaGadol, the Talmud tells us in the name of Rabbi Tarfon that for the fourth cup of wine at the Seder, we recite all of Hallel (meaning Hallel Mitzrayim), and we also say Hallel HaGadol.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi notes that there are 26 verses in Hallel HaGadol, corresponding to the 26 generations from Adam until the Torah was given, noting how â&#x20AC;&#x153;the world was sustained through G-dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kindness for 26 generationsâ&#x20AC;? before the world changed with the Torah having been given to the Jewish people. The refrain ending each line in 136, â&#x20AC;&#x153;ki lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;olam chasdoâ&#x20AC;? (that His kindness endures forever), could also be understood to mean that His kindness is for the world (note to grammarians: I am aware that there is a difference between a â&#x20AC;&#x153;patachâ&#x20AC;? and a â&#x20AC;&#x153;shva naâ&#x20AC;? under the lamed!).

Perhaps this is why it is called the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Greatâ&#x20AC;?

Hallel â&#x20AC;&#x201D; because it talks about the greatness of G-d, whose name has the numerical value (gematria) of 26 as well.

Both Hallels are part of our Haggadah.

We say the full Hallel Mitzrayim â&#x20AC;&#x201D; though broken up between â&#x20AC;&#x153;Maggidâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hallelâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; at the Seder, and we also say Hallel HaGadol.

In its own way, one can argue that Hallel HaGadol (136) parallels Dayenu in the sense that a number of statements about G-dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatness are declared, concluding with a phrase that emphasizes G-dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatness, kindness to our people, and a reason to give thanks.

All told, both Hallels cover a range of topics and reasons to give thanks to G-d â&#x20AC;&#x201D; mostly for the events of the past, but, in the case of the end of Hallel HaGadol, even until today. The conclusion of â&#x20AC;&#x153;G-d gives bread to all ďŹ&#x201A;eshâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Give thanks to the G-d of the

Through our recitations of these Hallels, we can come to an appreciation of the good we have in our lives.

Heavensâ&#x20AC;? are verses that indicate G-dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role in our lives until this day. opefully everyone has a place for the Seder and plans for the holiday. And hopefully through our recitations of these Hallels, which we should view as a privilege rather than as a burden tagged on to the end of the Seder, after the meal, we can come to an appreciation of the good we have in our lives. It is not always easy to see, between terror and anti-Semitism which continue to devastate our people around the world, and the struggles and difďŹ culties many face on a day to day basis (in relationships, ďŹ nancially, etc.), that G-d is in our lives.

Hopefully, when we sit down at the Seder and thank all those who helped put it together, we can also give thanks and Hallel to G-d for sustaining us until this time, and having given us the opportunity to once again sing His praises because we appreciate the role He plays in our lives, every day. Even when things are bleak, there is good to be found.

Both Hallels are meant to remind us of G-dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role in the past redemptions, in our current sustenance, and hopefully in the nottoo-distant future, in the ďŹ nal redemption.

Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

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Pesach, matzah and maror â&#x20AC;Ś and Hashem RABBI DAVID ETENGOFF

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he Haggadah is a multi-layered historical document that is the product of numerous Jewish cultures, in both Israel and the Diaspora. As a result, it may legitimately be viewed as one of the preeminent post-Tanach works, since it so effectively captures the hopes and visions of our people. Excluding actual quotes from the Tanach, one of the most ancient and fundamental sections of the Haggadah is the portion popularly known as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rabban Gamliel hiyah omareâ&#x20AC;? (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rabban Gamliel used to sayâ&#x20AC;?), which is originally found in the following Mishnah (Talmud Bavli, Pesachim 116a-b): â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rabban Gamliel used to say: Whoever does not mention these three things on Passover does not fulďŹ ll his obligation, and these are they: the Passover-offering (pesach), unleavened bread (matzah), and bitter herbs (maror). [The] Passover-offering [is offered] because (al shum) the Ever-present One passed over the houses of our ancestors in Egypt. â&#x20AC;Ś Unleavened bread [is eaten] because (al shum) our forebears were redeemed from Egypt. â&#x20AC;Ś â&#x20AC;&#x153;[The] bitter herb is [eaten] because (al shum) the Egyptians embittered the lives of our ancestors in Egypt.â&#x20AC;?

Rabbi Shmuel Halevi Eidels zatzal, known by his Hebrew acronym as the Maharsha, is renowned for his detailed two-part commentary on the Talmud Bavli that systematically examines both halachic and aggadic passages.

He applies his exegetical acumen to Rabban Gamlielâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assertion, and asks a fundamental question: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We never ďŹ nd regarding other mitzvot that we are obligated to ask, â&#x20AC;&#x153;al shum mah?â&#x20AC;? [â&#x20AC;&#x153;why?â&#x20AC;?] as is explicitly found in the Haggadahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s version of Rabban Gamlielâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s [statement], for in all other instances it is sufďŹ cient to recite a blessing [before performing the mitzvah; why, however, do we need to ask and answer this question regarding the mitzvot of pesach, Mmatzah, and Maror?] (Maharsha, Chidushei Aggadot, Pesachim 117b)

The Maharsha answers his query in regards to the Passover offering by citing the ďŹ rst Mishnah in chapter one of Mishnah Zevachim: â&#x20AC;&#x153;All offerings (zevachim) that are slaughtered without explicit designation as to their exact status (shelo lishman) are acceptable with the caveat that they will not count toward the fulďŹ llment of the obligation for which they were initially brought, except for the Korban Pesach and the Korban Chatat â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which are unacceptable unless they are unambiguously designated for their speciďŹ c purpose (lishman).â&#x20AC;?

He continues by connecting this Mishnaic passage to Rabban Gamlielâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement regarding the Korban Pesach: â&#x20AC;&#x153;And, therefore, Rabban Gamliel says that the eating of the Paschal Lamb by its owners must entail an explicit designation that the act is speciďŹ cally for the fulďŹ llment of this commandment. All of this is for the purpose of coming closer to the holiness [inherent in the mitzvot].â&#x20AC;?

At this juncture, one might ask: Why does the Maharsha place such singular emphasis on the theme of the movement toward holiness?

His further comments answer this question by revealing our forebearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; true nature prior to the Exodus: â&#x20AC;&#x153;And that which is stated, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the Korban Pesach is because the Holy One blessed be He passed overâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; [is necessary to teach us] that the Jews were in Egypt and under the sway of levels of impurity (literally, â&#x20AC;&#x153;klipot hatumahâ&#x20AC;?) [that] drew them near to engage in idol worship. As it is written: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;And I said to them: Every man cast away the despicable idols from before his eyes, and pollute not yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the L-rd your G-dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.â&#x20AC;? (Yechezkel 20:7) herefore, as Rav Eidels notes, the purpose of the Korban Pesach was two-fold, namely, demonstrable proof of our ancestorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; disavowal of idol worship, and incontrovertible acceptance of the Holy One blessed be He as the One and Only G-d, in light of the fact that this was a reprehensible act in the eyes of the Egyptians (who worshiped the lamb as a god).

Our Sages proved this from the verse: â&#x20AC;&#x153;You shall say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;It is a Passover sacriďŹ ce to the L-rdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;,â&#x20AC;? (Shemot 12:27), which refers to the eating of the Korban Pesach, since the

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slaughtering of the offering was already performed with the explicit intent to bring it for Hashem.

Next, the Maharsha examines the reason why the Haggadah pursues an in-depth analysis of Maror: One can say that Maror, as well, requires one to seek its rationale (al shum mah?) [and provide a cogent response thereto].

This is because another aspect of the servitude in Egypt was the enormous difďŹ culties our ancestors faced as a result of being under the hegemony of a spiritually impure government (memshelet hatumah). This requires an oral recognition, as the verse states: â&#x20AC;&#x153;And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the L-rd, your G-d, redeemed you.â&#x20AC;? (Devarim 15:15) We ďŹ nd that this act of oral remembrance is similar in kind to, â&#x20AC;&#x153;You shall remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you went out of Egypt,â&#x20AC;? (Devarim 25:17) and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify itâ&#x20AC;?

(Shemot 20:8) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; both of which require that the remembrance be oral in nature â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and all of this is to remove you from the spiritual impurities and bring you near to the Schechinah.

Following his rigorous examination of Pesach and Maror, the Maharsha analyzes the reasons inherent in eating Matzah on Pesach night. Here, too, he follows some of the thematic elements which he elucidated in his presentation of Maror: So, too, regarding the matter of eating Matzah, as it is written: â&#x20AC;&#x153;You shall not eat leaven with it; for seven days you shall eat with it matzoth, the bread of afďŹ&#x201A;iction, for in haste you went out of the land of Egypt, so that you shall remember the day when you went out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.â&#x20AC;? (Devarim 16:3) This means that the eating of the Matzah is [to serve as a mnemonic device] to enable you to remember that you distanced yourself from the spiritual impurity that is symbolized by the power of the leavening agent that [is normally found] in dough â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all with the purpose to bring you closer to the holiness [that is symbolized] through the eating of the Matzah â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for when one eats the Matzah he/she becomes like the kohan who would eat the ďŹ&#x201A;our offerings (Menachot) in order to

draw near to the holiness [of the Master of the Universe].

In sum, the vital concept that emerges in the Maharshaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s investigation of Pesach, Matzah, and Maror is the notion of drawing closer to the Almighty. While this may well be the role of the mitzvot in general, it is the preeminent task of these three Seder-based commandments in particular.

As such, this may be one of the reasons why Rabban Gamlielâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s passage resonates so powerfully for so many of us as we continue to grow in our devotion to Hashem.

May this Pesach bring us closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and may it be our ďŹ nal Pesach in galut. Vâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;chane yihi ratzon.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag kasher vâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sameach.

Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

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shortly after the explosion. “Despite the immense heat and the fear that there would be more explosions inside the bus, they charged ahead into the bus to find trapped passengers and began extinguishing the fire and contain it,” said Maj. Roni Sonino, who was in charge of the Israeli firefighters at the scene.

Meanwhile, medics arrived and began evacuating the wounded. Initially, Israeli police were not sure whether the explosion was deliberate or a result of a technical glitch. But an hour later, authorities were certain that an explosive device had detonated, and Jerusalem District Police Commander Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevy said there is “no doubt that this is a terror attack.”

One of the seriously wounded individuals carried no identification, but was unclear late Tuesday whether he perpetrated the attack. Israeli police sources said that they are investigating all available leads to determine who was behind the bombing. In addition, Jerusalem will be reinforced with more police as a result of the incident. Halevy said that law enforcement had received no concrete warning of an impending attack. He added that Jerusalem police forces have already taken steps to prepare for the upcoming Passover holiday.

Avraham Rivkind, the head of the Shock Trauma Unit at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center Ein Kerem hospital, said the event took him back to the height of terrorism in the capital in the previous decade. “The X-ray images showed nails and fasteners penetrated the victims’ bodies, like in previous attacks in the capital,” he said.

Asher Bezalel, whose son Akiva was admitted to Shaare Zedek Medical Center for minor wounds, told Israel Hayom that “Akiva sat at the front and heard a massive explosion. He got scared and saw the driver open the door and people rushing out.

He was in shock. I tried to call him but he didn’t respond. We were worried until we got a phone call from a paramedic, who said he was being evacuated and he was in good condition. Thank G-d, we had a miracle. Akiva is supposed to celebrate his bar mitzvah in a few months.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “We will hunt down those who prepared this device, we will reach those who dispatched them, and we will reach those who masterminded this; we will settle the score with those terrorists.”

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said the number of terrorist attacks in Israel has dropped during the past couple of months because terrorists have realized that they achieve nothing.

“Usually it is the perpetrator who gets killed, not one of us. I believe a counter-terrorism policy that is motivated by rational thinking rather than gut reactions, one that is motivated by good judgement and responsibility, will ultimately prevail,” Ya’alon said.

President Reuven Rivlin said that “when we have a day like this—a terror tunnel is exposed in the morning thanks to the work of our dedicated security forces, and then civilians are rushed to hospitals while returning from work—it is clear that our fight against terrorism is not over; we are going to hunt down anyone who seeks to do us harm until peace is guaranteed.”

Gilad Bock, head of the Israel Bar Association’s Health Forum and a paramedic, was first to arrive at the scene. He took one of the victims who were seriously wounded to the hospital, and then, while standing outside the emergency room, he was asked to assist a woman in labor who was about to give birth in a car. “It was surreal,” he said. “Here I was, with one hand drenched in the blood from the bus victim, and the other hand was covered with the blood of the placenta. The situation was very uplifting.”

According to Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, the attack was carried out with a small improvised explosive device.

The attack is considered unique when compared to terror methods used during the wave of violence in Israel over the past six months—stabbings, car-rammings, and shootings. Explosive devices were very common during the second Palestinian intifada more than a decade ago. The recent wave of Palestinian attacks did not include bombings until Monday, thanks to the ongoing counterterrorism efforts of the Shin Bet and the Israel De-

fense Forces.

According to the Shin Bet, some 50 major attacks have been thwarted this year, including six abductions, three suicide attacks, 25 shooting attacks, 12 “sacrifice” attacks (in which the attacker knows he will most likely be killed by first responders or others), and four bombings. In 2015, the Shin Bet thwarted 239 major attacks.

Security officials stressed last week that the dwindling number of terror attacks was merely an “unstable and challenging lull.” They stressed that the upcoming Passover holiday, followed by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in June, will serve as a key security test.

The fact that Palestinian terrorist organizations—including Hamas and Islamic Jihad—were probably not behind the attack suggests that Israeli security forces’ crackdown on terror networks is still working. But as the last six months have demonstrated, Israeli intelligence agencies’ major challenge comes in the form of lone-wolf terrorists, who decide to carry out attacks without orders from above and do so without giving any indications of their plans.

That said, the lone-wolf argument may not be enough to explain Monday’s attack—due to the nature of the attack. The attacker, or multiple attackers, used an explosive device rather than a cold weapon (such as a knife). This will likely set off alarm bells among counter-terrorism officials because the assembly of a bomb, however small, requires significant planning and special means.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad both praised the attack on Monday.

“This action is a welcome development,” Hamas said. “It was carried out in response to the crimes of the Zionist occupation against the Palestinian people and as a natural response to the occupation’s crimes in Al-Aqsa mosque and its contamination.”

Islamic Jihad called the bus attack a “natural response to the crimes of the Zionist occupation.”

By Efrat Forsher, Yori Yalon, Lilach Shoval and Daniel Siryoti. Distributed by JNS.org.

832762

By Israel Hayom The smoke billowing from a burning bus. The sirens of the first responders. The smell of explosives. All of those came back to haunt Jerusalem on Monday when a bomb detonated on Egged Bus 12 as it made its way from the Talpiot neighborhood to the city center. Twenty-one people were injured in the blast, which shattered what had been relative silence on Israel’s terrorism front during the March and April.

As of Tuesday, two of the wounded individuals were in serious condition, another five were in moderate condition, and the others were described as lightly hurt. Two children, ages 10 and 13, were among the wounded.

According to the Israeli security establishment, there were 171 “substantial” terror attacks in the country in August 2015, rising to 223 that September and 620 in October. Then the monthly number of attacks began decreasing, from 326 in November to 246 in December, 169 in January, 154 in February, 20 in March, and only three during the first week of April.

But Monday’s bus bombing provided a rude awakening. The blast took place at 5:50 pm on Moshe Baram Street, a major artery in southern Jerusalem. The street was packed with cars.

“I got on the bus with my daughter; we heard a loud explosion and the entire bus was filled with smoke,” said Rachel Dadon, who sustained minor wounds. “The glass windows shattered. I looked for my daughter and I saw her burnt. I pray that she makes it through.” Dadon’s daughter, 15-yearold Eden, was rushed to the intensive care unit in a city hospital.

The bus driver, Moshe Levi, told Israel Hayom that there was nothing out of the ordinary in the minutes before the explosion.

“Everything was fine,” he said. “I was in a traffic jam on Moshe Baram Street and then suddenly a large explosion rocked the back of the bus. I opened the doors and shouted at everyone to run away.”

Six firefighting crews arrived at the scene

THE JEWISH STAR April 22, 2016 • 14 Nissan 5776

Bus bombing ends relative quiet on terror front

21

Projecting the Jewish vote…

Continued from page 1 of the general American public.

One exception, however, is Orthodox Jews.

The Pew study said that 57 percent of Orthodox Jews identify or lean Republican, while 36 percent identify or lean Democrat. But Orthodox Jews represent “a very small part of the Jewish population, just 10 percent,” noted Dr. Steven M. Cohen, a research professor of Jewish social policy at Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR).

Other Jewish groups likely leaning Republican are what Cohen calls “ethnic Jews” who are more “culturally conservative,” including immigrant Russian-speaking Jews, who “see a conservative political philosophy as most opposed to the government that oppressed them for decades.” :KHQ GLG 8 6 -HZV EHFRPH OLEHUDO" While today’s American Jews lean overwhelmingly Democrat, that wasn’t always the case.

“In the late 19th century, from roughly 1864 until roughly 1916, American Jews voted Republican in overwhelming numbers. We don’t have a lot of data to substantiate that … but what we do know allows us to make a judgment call,” said Dr. Steven Windmueller, a demographer from Hebrew Union College’s Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management.

Dr. Ira Sheskin, a demographer at the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies at the University of Miami, explained that “the nature of the parties does change over time” and that “back in the 1800s, Republicans and Democrats held different views than they do today.”

From 1916 onward, the Jewish vote went to the Democratic Party. By the time former president George H. W. Bush ran for re-election in 1992, he received only 16 percent of the Jewish vote, Sheskin noted.

Jews continued voting predominantly Democratic through President Barack Obama’s two campaigns. But while Obama garnered anywhere

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elder Bush’s 1992 campaign, when the sitting president won a particularly low portion (16 percent) of the Jewish vote.

According to data provided by Sheskin, Jews voted for Republican presidential candidates at an aver-HZLVK SRSXODWLRQ LQ $PHULFD DV RI Courtesy Dr. Ira Sheskin, University of Miami age rate of 32 percent across the 1972–1988 elections, similar to from 74 to 78 percent of the Jewish vote in 2008, depending on whose data is used, his Jewish sup- the 30-percent Jewish support for the GOP’s Mitt Romney in 2012. The same data shows that across port dropped to 69 percent in the 2012 election.

“Was that a reaction to some of [Obama’s] the 1992–2012 elections, Jews voted Republican at policies? His relationship with the government of an average rate of 22 percent, meaning that Jewish Israel, or other issues? It’s difficult to say, but we support for the GOP is “still well below what it was think there has been some small trending over the in the 1970s and 1980s,” said Sheskin. last 15 to 20 years toward voting for more Republi- :K\ GR -HZV YRWH 'HPRFUDWLF" Ahead of Passover, Dr. Leonard Saxe—direccans on the part of some Jews,” Windmueller said.

This growth in Jewish Republican votes might tor of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studbe attributed to younger Jews who don’t affiliate ies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute, with a party and who register as independents, both at Brandeis University—cites the holiday as although only 17 percent of Jews ages 18–29 the orienting story of Judaism that explains the identified as Republican in Pew’s 2013 survey. Jewish voting mentality.

Jews, Saxe said, “have always been a group conSingle-issue voters who vote, for instance, exclusively on Israel and Middle East foreign policy, cerned about the general social welfare, because we were the objects of discrimination and prejudice, may lead to more Jews voting Republican.

Sheskin cautions against reading too much the target of the horrific actions of the Nazis. We’ve into the aforementioned factors when it comes always been social-liberal and that’s been associto the Jewish vote. He said the uptick in Jewish ated in this country with the Democratic Party.”

Sheskin argued the Republican Party has shifted Republican voting had already started after the a great deal to the right over the last 20 years. He said it used to be “possible to be kind of liberal on ® issues like birth control and abortion, and the death penalty, and then be conservative on economics and be a Republican. It is very difficult to do that today.”

Another reason Jews lean Democrat, he said, is that they “are very pro-science.” For example, many Jews support the scientific consensus on climate change and may dislike when Republican candidates commonly deflect that issue on the grounds that they aren’t scientists. :KDW GRHV WKLV PHDQ IRU WKH HOHFWLRQ" Pew’s 2013 survey showed that 30 percent of Jewish voters described themselves as moderates. Saxe believes, therefore, that most Jewish voters are likely to support Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.

Sanders—a Jew himself—may be alienating some Jewish voters with his critical stance on Israel’s actions during its 2014 war with Hamas. In a recent interview with the New York Daily News editorial board, Sanders said that Israel launched “indiscriminate” attacks against the residents of Gaza in 2014, and inflated the number of PalestinAt Comfort Keepers®, we provide in-home care that helps ian civilian deaths in the war at least sevenfold to seniors and others live safe, happy, and independent lives 10,000. The Sanders presidential campaign also hired Simone Zimmerman, an outspoken critic of in the comfort of their own homes or facilities.

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Looking ahead to the Jewish vote in the general

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election, despite Ted Cruz’s staunch support for Israel, Cohen projected “if it were a Cruz-Clinton competition, Cruz wouldn’t win. out. Clinton is the more natural choice for most American Jews.”

When it comes to the fact that Sanders is Jewish, the demographic experts largely agree that his religion has little bearing on whether or not Jewish voters will cast their ballots for him.

Sanders’s Jewish identity, said Sheskin, “seems to be predicated on the fact that his parents were persecuted and had to leave Poland. … His Jewish identity might play a bit more of a role if he was active in the Jewish community in some way.”

The Sanders campaign comes 16 years after Joe Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew, was the vice president on Al Gore’s ticket, creating what Windmueller recalls as a huge amount of Jewish communal conversation and concern regarding whether the Gore-Lieberman campaign would lead to anti-Semitism and if Lieberman’s presence on the ticket was a good or bad thing for American Jews. At the same time, Lieberman’s active Jewish life created more “excitement” for Jews than the Sanders campaign, said Windmueller.

“There was a whole degree of excitement about the Lieberman presence on a national ticket. We don’t see that happening … with Sanders,” he said.

Sanders’s religion could have theoretically been a selling point for Jewish voters, but “in some ways it makes his position on the Gaza war stand out even more starkly,” Saxe said.

“I don’t think [being Jewish] will necessarily help him, which is not to say that he won’t get a large Jewish vote,” he said.

Similarly, experts agree that the fact that Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump is a convert to Judaism isn’t likely to motivate Jews to vote for her father, at least not any more than how Chelsea Clinton being married to a Jew would potentially convince Jewish voters to vote for her mother.

On the Republican side, the experts say it is much more difficult to determine how Jews feel about Donald Trump. In addition to his controversial statements on immigration, Muslims, and Mexico, which make him anathema to liberal voters, Trump initially said he intends to be “neutral” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He later backtracked on that stance, saying he simply wants to appear neutral so that he can make a deal to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“No one quite knows what Trump is or how to categorize him,” Sheskin said. Despite Trump’s recent speech to the AIPAC conference, which was perceived as strongly pro-Israel, Sheskin doesn’t “see how Trump could do anything that’s going to get him some reasonable percentage of the Jewish vote.”

While Cruz is projected to face an uphill climb among Jewish voters in the general election due to his conservative positions on social issues, there are fewer indicators for how Jewish voters might feel about Kasich. In New York, where there are large communities of Orthodox and Russian Jews, “we’re likely to see a very polarized [Jewish] electorate” in the state’s April 19 primary, Cohen said, though Sheskin believes most New York Jews will ultimately vote for Clinton in the general election.

Broadly speaking, many voters appear to feel torn about both parties’ candidates, a sentiment that echoes in the Jewish electorate.

“I spoke to a couple of [independent Jewish] voters in northern California … and they are struggling,” Windmueller said. “They don’t particularly care for Hillary, they don’t feel Bernie Sanders has much to offer because he’s so idealistic … and they’re really turned off by Trump and not comfortable with Cruz. … I think you have a whole corps of Jewish voters, Republicans and some independents, and even maybe a few Democrats, who in a sense are holding out until they see what happens in Cleveland at the Republican convention in July.”

23

POLITICS TO GO

D

onald Trump and his people have been whining like three-year-olds ever since he was trounced by Ted Cruz in Colorado.

But don’t believe the whines; Trump is carefully rousing his base, people who are angry.

Last Sunday evening after the Colorado results were announced, Trump posted on Twitter (his favorite whining vehicle), “How is it possible that the people of the great State of Colorado never got to vote in the Republican Primary? Great anger — totally unfair!” And “The people of Colorado had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians. Biggest story in politics. This will not be allowed!”

All week, Trump whined on. “The system is rigged, it’s crooked,” he told FoxNews. “The people out there are going crazy, in the Denver area and Colorado itself, and they’re going absolutely crazy because they weren’t given a vote. This was given by politicians. It’s a crooked deal.

Even as he campaigned through New York State leading up to this week’s primary, he kept on crying out, “Our Republican system is absolutely rigged. It’s a phony deal. They wanted to keep people out.”

Here’s the part that Trump is not mentioning. On Super Tuesday (March 1), there were 2,917 precinct caucuses for Colorado Republicans. At those caucuses voters selected delegates to the county assemblies and Congressional district conventions. Candidates to be delegates to the county and district get-togethers candidates can, but don’t have to announce who they are supporting for president. But every single Republican who attended and voted

tatives, just like they do in congress and state legislatures. Perhaps not the way I would do it, but it is closer to the republic form of voting that our government runs on.

Trump is a lot of things, but an idiot is not one of them. He had to know exactly what was going on in Colorado way before the state conventions but never complained.

So why would Trump make such an issue of a system, set way before he got into the campaign, in a state where his team “didn’t play”?

The week before the Colorado State convention was the Wisconsin Primary which Trump was supposed to win, however he lost to Ted Cruz by a huge margin. For a few days the news reports didn’t focus on “the Donald,” instead they talked about Ted Cruz beginning to make a move.

Trump’s campaign has been dependent on the candidate dominating the news cycle’s. It didn’t matter if he was saying or doing something outrageous as long as he was the center of the news. This strategy worked because he “sucked up” all of the coverage.

The Colorado results were a perfect opportunity for Trump to suck up the news coverage and to rally his supporters. The Tumpsters came back with a vengeance, inventing a story of Colorado Trump delegates who weren’t allowed to vote at the state convention, and attacking anyone who tried to tell the truth of what happened in Colorado.

It was a perfect ruse that fit into the Trump campaign strategy, incite people against the party, the government and anyone who disagreed with Trump.

But truth be told, the Colorado process is not unfair, nor does it disenfranchise anyone, but the complaining does make Trump’s supporters happy, even if to objective observers he looks like a crybaby.

Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

at those 2,917 caucuses knew that they were selecting people who will represent them in choosing the delegates to the national convention at the district and the state level.

From March 1 through 26, the representatives of the people who were elected to the county assembly vote for the delegates to the Congressional District and State Conventions. Those elected representatives picked three convention delegates in each of the Colorado congressional districts. All 21 of those delegates selected by the representatives elected at the Colorado caucus on Super Tuesday were Cruz delegates.

The Colorado State Republican Convention convened April 9–10. The delegates to the state convention were selected by the representatives who won the votes at the 2,917 caucuses way back on Super Tuesday. Thirteen of the thirty-seven total Colorado delegates to the Republican National Convention were chosen at the state convention. Those 13 delegates to the National RNC must either commit to a candidate OR commit to being unbound at the convention. All 13 delegates committed to vote for Ted Cruz were chosen by the representatives who were elected by the people.

The only delegates not chosen by the representatives elected on 3/1-Super Tuesday are the three 3 state party leaders, the state’s National Committeeman, the State’s National Committeewoman, and the chairman of Colorado’s Republican Party. These party big-shots get to go to the national convention but they are bound to a candidate they identify.

Not widely published was the fact that Paul Manafort, Trump’s new campaign big-shot and self-declared expert on the Holocaust (he accused Ted Cruz of using Gestapo tactics) said on Meet The Press,that “ we weren’t playing in Colorado and they did.” An admission that they lost Colorado because they didn’t put in the effort.

There you go, the voters selected represen-

Israel, Singapore ‘anchors of stability,’ says Bibi Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted his Singaporean counterpart, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, on Tuesday in Jerusalem.

“This is truly a historic occasion. I’m honored to be the first Israeli prime minister to welcome a prime minister of Singapore to our country,” Netanyahu said in his remarks before his meeting with Lee. “Today we are anchors of stability and strength in our respective regions. And we are working together in many fields, diverse fields, including water management, biotechnology, and we’re going to talk on this visit about intensifying our cooperation in cyber-security.”

In his remarks, Lee noted that it was his first trip to Israel since 1977, when he was a young military officer, and that he was “very happy to be back here again after all these many years to thank you (Netanyahu) personally, and to thank Israel for your help and support over the years.”

“We are very grateful to Israel that when in-

dependence was thrust upon us in August 1965, and when Singapore’s security and survival were in doubt, you helped us. The IDF helped us to build up the Singapore Armed Forces when other countries turned us down,” Lee said.

According to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, the two leaders discussed bilateral cooperation in cyber-security, economic matter, and trade. “We have a long and deep relationship between Singapore and Israel “Our business-to-business ties are strong. Israel is the second-largest contributor of foreign direct investments in Singapore from the Middle East, and we admire your technical prowess and ecosystem,” Lee said.

Lee is the first Singaporean prime minister to visit Israel since Singapore was founded 51 years ago. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1969. Lee was accompanied on his trip by his wife and a 60-member delegation.

—JNS.org

Where and when to dispose of it With the first Seder just hours away, Sanitary District 1 will collect last-minute chometz on Friday, April 22.

Residents are encouraged to dropoff trash to garbage trucks that will be parked by the Lawrence and Cedarhurst Long Island Rail Road stations, and outside the Young Israel of Woodmere and Temple Hillel in North Woodmere, from 7 am to 2 pm.

There will be all-day pick-up services available throughout the Five Towns for trash placed at the curb in securely tied garbage bags between 7 am and 1 pm.

Residents are asked not to store tied bags in garbage cans.

Residents can request a trash pick-up during the hours of 7 am and 1 pm by calling 516-239-5600, but an exact time for pick-up cannot be guaranteed.

The last time to eat chametz is 10:14 am, and the last time to burn chametz is 11:35 am, according to the Young Israel of Woodmere.

Sanitary District 1 provides sanitation and recycling services to 16,000 commercial, institutional and residential properties throughout the villages of Cedarhurst, Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Harbor, Hewlett Neck, Lawrence and Woodsburgh, hamlets of Hewlett, Inwood and Woodmere, and portions of unincorporated areas of Lynbrook and Green Acres.

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THE JEWISH STAR April 22, 2016 • 14 Nissan 5776

Lie-baby Trump lost in Colorado

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April 22, 2016 • 14 Nissan 5776 THE JEWISH STAR

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