The Jewish Star

THE JEWISH May 15, 2015 • 26 Iyar 5775

STAR

Behar-Bechukosai • Candlelighting 7:46 pm • 516-622-7461

Vol 14, No. 19 • TheJewishStar.com

THE NEWSPAPER OF LONG ISLAND’S ORTHODOX COMMUNITIES

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Rabbis ask your aid in ďŹ xing tuition crisis

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This article, by Rabbi Shmuel Marcus of Kehilas Ishei Yisrael, Kew Gardens Hills, and Rabbi Jonathan Morgenstern of the Young Israel of Scarsdale, was contributed by the Orthodox Union.

Everyone asks us, what can be done about the cost of a day school education?

Week after week, the tuition crisis comes to our attention, front and center. Rabbis, couples, and concerned members of the community call us, email us, and approach us after davening regarding the ďŹ nancial pressures threatening our schools and squeezing our middle class families.

Sometimes, they are parents squeezed by the prices who somehow make it work, but are always asking when it will ever get better.

And sometimes, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extremely generous and charitable individuals looking to quietly help the community at large in this struggle.

This problem has been given a name, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Tuition Crisis,â&#x20AC;? and is fuelled by the issues we all know: â&#x20AC;˘A slow economic recovery has too many families still hurting ďŹ nancially. â&#x20AC;˘Security costs have spiked. As we look around the world â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and sadly, very close to home â&#x20AC;&#x201D; we understand why. â&#x20AC;˘Energy costs are also on the rise. â&#x20AC;˘Technology in the classroom is an increasing, and increasingly expensive, need. â&#x20AC;˘Salaries, beneďŹ ts and annual raises for dedicated teachers and staff â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which account for almost 90 percent of a schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s operating budget â&#x20AC;&#x201D; must remain in place to recruit and retain high quality educators.

Likewise, we know what needs to be done. Our local schools must continue to be recipients of our tzedaka dollars, not just as a token of our appreciation for educating our children but also because halacha directs us to prioritize our local institutions when determining giving.

And while some schools have undertaken innovative tuition reduction initiatives, many have not, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still too much to ask of the schools alone. â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ďŹ x this without help from our government leaders. We must lobby those in state and local ofďŹ ce.

In fact, on each issue we have raised, there is constitutionally sound political action happening right now that could ďŹ x this crisis. â&#x20AC;˘A tuition tax credit to help provide millions in scholarship dollars is ready for a vote in Albany. â&#x20AC;˘Bills to provide security for our schools and allow them to pay cheaper rates for energy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a rate currently only available to some public schools. â&#x20AC;˘Technology assistance is another area in which we see activity.

Already, dedicated leaders in our communi-

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Pols will visit our day schools 702135

May 15, 2015 â&#x20AC;˘ 26 Iyar 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

2

Elected ofďŹ cials have schedule visits to some of our local schools, including SSLI on May 21 at 10 am, Shalhevet on May 21 at 1 pm, and North Shore Hebrew Academy on May 29 at 10 am.

Visits to the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway, and to the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, will be announced soon.

ty, along with professionals working for a variety of Jewish organizations, are reaching out to our elected ofďŹ cials to press them to support these programs.

They are also partnering with other faith communities that have similar issues, such as the Catholic Church 5DEEL 6KPXHO 0DUFXV and other Christian schools, so everyone knows this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t â&#x20AC;&#x153;justâ&#x20AC;? a Jewish issue.

But they cannot do this alone.

It is not enough to vote. It is not enough to be a member or donor to one of these organizations. And it is not enough to be a concerned 5DEEL -RQDWKDQ 0RUJHVWHUQ parent.

Our elected ofďŹ cials must hear from us as a community.

They hear from us on the threat of a nuclear Iran. They hear from us on the need to stand with Israel. They must hear from us on the need to support our children, our schools and our community.

Very soon, many of our local day schools and yeshivot will be hosting our local politicians. They do so in partnership with the Orthodox Union, one of the key organizations involved in this effort.

When they come to school they will see our unique brand of education in action, and they will meet our children.

But they should also meet you. You should attend these meetings. Please contact your school and ask when the meeting is, and please make every effort to be there.

We will be there.

Our community advocacy leaders will be there. Our kids, our teachers, and our school leaders will be there.

You should be there too. â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve all at points taken off work to travel to Washington to lobby and to rally on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Israel, or skipped our lunch break to protest at the U.N. Now, your community needs your help and attention too.

It does not matter whether you are a family on scholarship, a family working hard each day to make ends meet, or a dedicated supporter of Jewish educational needs.

You should call your school and arrange to be there.

It also does not matter whether you know that your own elected ofďŹ cial supports us.

They must be able to go back to their colleagues and say, â&#x20AC;&#x153;This issue really matters to my constituency.â&#x20AC;?

As we approach the holiday of Shavuot, we are reminded that every Jew stood at the foot of Sinai. Every Jew said â&#x20AC;&#x153;Naâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;aseh Vâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nishmaâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; we are ready to do whatever is needed of us.

Well, every one of us is needed now to step up on this crucial issue.

May we merit to see results that are at least equal to our communal effort.

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dom. … To pretend it was motivated by anything other than hate is simply hogwash.”

Geller was once part of the elite media machine she professes to despise, working for the business operations of the Daily News and New York Observer. Then, she was a self-described “apolitical” mother who paid little mind to world affairs.

“I loved my fashion. I loved my life. I loved my career,” she said with a smile. “I assumed my freedom. I grew up free, you know? I grew up in the freest country in the world. And I loved it.”

Then, she said, “9/11 happened. And it was shattering.”

Ignorant of terrorism, Geller said she dived deeply into the Internet to learn more. She joined a burgeoning online community obsessed with jihad and terrorism. She began opining in the comments sections. One day in 2004, a fellow commenter encouraged her to create her own blog.

“I’m like, ‘What’s a blog’?” Geller recalled. “And he said, ‘Shut up and start writing’.”

Today, Geller has nearly 68,000 Twitter followers and a devoted army of virtual supporters for her websites, books and public events. As head of an organization called the American Freedom Defense Initiative, she took in $960,000

in donations in 2013, paying herself a salary of $192,500, according to tax filings.

Donations pour in from the PayPal button on her website, Geller said, adding that she has “no idea” how much money she has raised.

Records do not list donors, but a recent report by the Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington, said Geller’s top donors included the Fairbrook Foundation, which supports a number of mainstream conservative groups.

In 2010, Geller famously led a campaign to prevent the opening of an Islamic community center blocks from the World Trade Center site, calling it the “ground zero mosque.”

She has filed numerous lawsuits across the U.S. in recent years, many of them related to her attempts to display incendiary ads in public transit systems. Most recently, New York City’s transit authority banned all political advertising after a judge upheld Geller’s right to run bus ads about Islam that said, “Killing Jews is worship that draws us close to Allah.”

Any depiction of Muhammad is offensive to some Muslims. At the cartoon contest in Texas, about 30 illustrations of Muhammad were propped up on easels. One depicted a pencil shoved through Muhammad’s body. Another showed Muhammad wearing a turban that doubled as a bomb, with a lit fuse protruding from the top.

Geller was hailed by many event attendees, some of whom took books for her to sign and posed for selfies with her.

Barbara Parlett works in Irving, a Dallas suburb with a significant Muslim population and the site of ongoing heated debates about a local religious tribunal established by three Muslims. “[How did] Islam come into my city and is trying to take it over? I felt like I just woke up or something,” Parlett said.

“So ever since then, I’m trying to stand up for Christians, for America.”

Geller was raised in a Jewish household on Long Island and champions Israel as a “beacon of freedom in a very oppressed and violent region,” but she said she is not motivated by religious fervor.

Sept. 11, Geller said, “threatened my freedom. It threatened the air that I breathe. This is nothing short of a battle between freedom and slavery.”

We are proud of our students from the Class of 2015 who have been accepted and intend to enroll in the following universities Albany University Bar Ilan University Barnard College Baruch College Binghamton University Boston University Brooklyn College Brooklyn College BA/MD Program California Institute of the Arts Columbia University Cornell University CUNY Scholars/Dean Scholars Dartmouth College Fashion Institute of Technology Hofstra University Hunter College John Jay College Kingsborough Community College Macaulay Honors College /CUNY (Baruch, Hunter, Queens) Nassau Community College

New York Institute of Technology New York University Pace University Princeton University Queens College Queensborough Community College St. Johns University SUNY - Purchase College Syracuse University Tel Aviv University The Cooper Union Touro College University of Connecticut University of Maryland/Honors University of Maryland/Gemstone Program University of Miami University of Pennsylvania Yale University Yeshiva University Yeshiva University Honors

Ms. Naomi Lippman, pp , General Studies Principal p • Rabbi Gedaliah Oppen, Judaic Studies Principal

HAFTR High School 635 Central Avenue • Cedarhurst, NY 11516 516-569-3807 • www.haftr.org

By Meghan Barr, AP Does Pamela Geller regret organizing the Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest that ended in gunfire?

No, the Hewlett Harbor native says confidently. In fact, she says, she probably saved lives by hosting the event and plans to have more just like it, with one difference: Next time, she’ll be wearing a bulletproof vest.

“I will continue to speak in defense of freedom until the day I die,” Geller said in an interview with the Associated Press, as a grim-looking personal security guard hovered nearby. “It’s just that simple. It’s not even a choice. It’s a calling.”

Geller has always hired armed security personnel to protect the scores of events she has spearheaded across the nation in recent years to decry Islamic extremism. But furor over Sunday’s shooting in Garland, Texas, has led to a specific threat against Geller, posted on a website related to the Islamic State group, and the New York Police Department is taking it seriously. Now she doesn’t travel anywhere without protection.

Geller said she believes she saved lives by hosting the contest because the two Muslim gunmen shot to death by police would have picked another soft target and killed innocent civilians.

“Would you regret saving lives?” she asked.

A master of rhetoric and clearly comfortable in the spotlight, the 56-year-old former media executive shifts easily from charming to combative. Her critics have called the cartoon contest needlessly provocative, practically an invitation for violence. But Geller argued that any blame should be focused on extremists who can’t be criticized or lampooned without resorting to violence.

“Cartoons are political critique. It’s a cartoon,” she said.

“Is that what we want to outlaw? We want to outlaw humor?

We want to outlaw comedy? If you want to know who rules over you, find out who you cannot criticize.”

Her activities have prompted the Southern Poverty Law Center to add her to its extremist files, calling her “the antiMuslim movement’s most visible and flamboyant figurehead.”

In an editorial last week, the New York Times said Geller “has a long history of declarations and actions motivated purely by hatred for Muslims” and called the Garland event “an exercise in bigotry and hatred posing as a blow for free-

THE JEWISH STAR May 15, 2015 • 26 Iyar 5775

Geller has no regrets about cartoon contest

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2K reward for 3 muggers in Bayswater

Shalom Task Gourmet event Force brunch supports CAHAL is a winner

Assemblyman Goldfeder Far Rockaway Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder and the Bayswater community is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of three young men suspected in an attack on a local man on Bessemond Avenue late last month. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As the father of two young children, I am disgusted by this horrible crime. Our families in Bayswater deserve to see these criminals off the streets,â&#x20AC;? Goldfeder said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I encourage anyone with information on this deplorable act to reach out and help us bring these perpetrators to justice.â&#x20AC;?

According to reports, at around 9:30 pm on Sunday, April 26, a man was assaulted and robbed by three assailants on Bessemond Avenue near Bay 25 Street.

The assailants were described by witnesses as males in their late teens to early twenties.

Goldfeder pledged to work closely with the NYPD 101st Precinct in its efforts to aid the ongoing investigation. Anyone with tips or information regarding the incident is encouraged to contact Goldfeder at (718) 945-9550. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was born and raised in Rockaway and my wife and I are now raising our two young children here. Every family in the community deserves to feel safe in their home and around the neighborhood,â&#x20AC;?

Goldfeder said.

Shalom Task Force Hundreds of supporters attended Shalom Task Forceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s third annual brunch on May 3 at the Sephardic Temple in Cedarhurst.

Brunch Chairman Moshe Wolfson referred to the once unmentionable topic Shalom Task Force has been addressing for 23 years: domestic violence in the Orthodox community.

The Professional Leadership Award was presented to Sheila Selig. Joyce Austein was recognized with the Dedicated Service Award.

A riveting video introduced Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski, the guest of honor. Rabbi Twerskiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Shame Borne in Silence,â&#x20AC;? was instrumental in motivating the Orthodox community to confront the problem of domestic abuse.

In his keynote address, Dr. Twerski recognized the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s accomplishments in addressing the needs of victims and creating preventative education programs to strengthen Jewish marriages. He emphasized the need to recognize these issues, and the necessity for each person to provide support for victims.

The funds raised through the brunch will enable Shalom Task Force to continue to provide its many services, including a conďŹ dential hotline, education and prevention programs for young adults, Shalom Workshops for engaged and marriage couples, and Sarahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Voice, providing legal services to victims.

Shalom Task Force founder Nechama Wolfson concluded the program by quoting Dr. Twerski: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have a job to do.â&#x20AC;?

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CAHAL Over 100 women attended a Shavuous cooking class led by Naomi Nachman, The Aussie Gourmet, to beneďŹ t CAHAL, the community-wide special education program.

Nachman demonstrated several delicious dairy recipes including a pesto sauce, chocolate martini, salads and crepes.

The event, at the home of Joy Losev on May 6, was chaired by Joy along with Breezy Beckerman of Breezyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on Central Avenue, Teri Lubin, Aliza Lieberman and Michal Weinstein. Along with Shira Cohen of CAHAL, they collected an extraordinary list of rafďŹ&#x201A;es that were sold at the event.

Noach Haller, CAHAL director of development, was impressed by the strong turnout. Nachman said she did not imagine â&#x20AC;&#x153;that I had to prepare for such a large turnout.â&#x20AC;?

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May 15, 2015 â&#x20AC;˘ 26 Iyar 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

4

Hear Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Israel Coalition A rally sponsored was staged in front of the UJA-Federation building in Manhattan on Monday evening to protest support reputedly given to a pro-BDS group by UJAFederation President Alisa Doctroff and reports that UJA-Federation has facilitated the participation of groups friendly to the BDS movement in the Celebrate Israel Parade on May 31.

Richard Allen, founder of JCCWatch.org, said Doctoroff â&#x20AC;&#x153;is a major funder of the New Israel Fund, a group that ďŹ nances the BDS movement against Israel on a worldwide basis.â&#x20AC;?

The BDS movement was recently described by Justice Hanan Meltzer of the Israeli Supreme Court as â&#x20AC;&#x153;political terrorism,â&#x20AC;? in a ruling that said Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Finance Minister can impose ďŹ nes and withhold funding from Israeli NGOs that support the call for boycotts of businesses in any part of Israel, the rallyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s organizers said.

The event â&#x20AC;&#x201D; billed as the â&#x20AC;&#x153;101 Shofar Rallyâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D;was organized by the Hear Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Israel Coalition, consisting of JCC Watch, AFSI, ZOA, JPEF, Endowment for Middle East Truth, the International Committee for the Land of Israel, Jewish Action Alliance, the National Conference on Jewish Affairs, Americans for Peace and Tolerance, and others.

Shofars were sounded to awaken leaders of UJA-Federation to the issue at hand.

Speakers included ZOA President Mor-

Detroit cemetery lives on within GM auto plant

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ton Klein, JCC Watchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Allen, Rabbi Allen Schwartz of Congregation Ohab Zedek, Rabbi David Algaze of Havurat Yisrael in Forest Hills, Americans for a Safe Israel Executive Director Helen Freedman, Dr. Paul Brody of Jewish Political Action Foundation, and Lauri Regan.

The New Israel Fund ďŹ nances organizations that promote BDS against Israel. Five NIF grantees which signed a letter to the Norwegian Government Pension Fund urging it to divest from Israel were Machsom Watch, Coalition of Women for Peace, Women Against Violence , Social TV, and Mossawa.

Other NIF-sponsored organizations including Gush Shalom, Adalahâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).

Grow your business!

By Jeff Karoub HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (AP) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Beth Olem Cemetery is like many aging, ďŹ nal resting places, with assorted tombstones in varying condition, sizes and styles, surrounded by a brick wall and iron gate.

Yet surrounding it on all sides is an unusual neighbor: a massive automotive plant.

The serene, green oasis is enveloped by the steel and concrete structures and grounds of General Motors Co.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Detroit Hamtramck Plant, which makes Chevrolet Volts, Cadillacs and other cars. To maintain plant security, public access to the cemetery is limited to a couple of days a year â&#x20AC;&#x201D; typically Sundays nearest to the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Passover â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and some special requests. This year, the opening around Passover was postponed a month until this past Sunday, when a couple dozen people showed up.

The 2.2-acre, 1,100-grave Jewish cemetery with burials ranging from the late 1860s to the late 1940s, has survived through historical quirks. The biggest was an agreement ironed out about 35 years ago to preserve the cemetery when GM got Michigan Supreme Court approval of its contentious bid to demolish roughly 1,500 homes and businesses, several churches and a hospital so it could build a new plant.

Visitors who clear GM security and drive about a mile around the plant are welcomed by an iron arch with partly rusted letters that reads, â&#x20AC;&#x153;BETHOLEM CEMETERY.â&#x20AC;?

Given the passage of time and infrequent access, cemetery ofďŹ cials say visitors with no connection to the deceased outnumber descen-

dants. Still, Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guests included Susan Brodsky, who saw for the ďŹ rst time the grave of her great-grandfather, Chlavno Cantor, who died in 1909. The connection was made through her daughter, Olivia Brodsky, who was working on a college genealogy project. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He said it was in the Cadillac plant,â&#x20AC;? said Susan Brodsky, standing next to the headstone that read â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cantorâ&#x20AC;? in English and the rest in Yiddish. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At ďŹ rst, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sitting there going like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Where?

Where? What is he talking about?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Then I started Googling â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;old Jewish cemeteries in Detroitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and it was pretty obvious. This was it.â&#x20AC;?

Ralph Zuckman is executive director of Shaarey Zedekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Clover Hill Park Cemetery, a suburban Detroit cemetery overseeing Beth Olem, said that while the arrangement is unconventional, the relationship between the automaker and cemetery ofďŹ cials has been â&#x20AC;&#x153;very good.â&#x20AC;? Some landscaping work and headstone repairs are needed, but the grounds and graves are in generally good shape given their age. Clover Hill Park is responsible and pays for upkeep, though GM has access in case of emergency.

The gravesite of Vichna Benstein, 18671898, was spotted by great-granddaughter Barbara Morse, who came with her sonin-law and two grandchildren. Soon they were reciting prayers and laying ďŹ&#x201A;owers and stones, per Jewish custom.

Morse, 69, said sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been coming off and on for 20 years to pay respects. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You can only come when GM says you can come, but I guess that we should be thankful that we can come twice a year.â&#x20AC;?

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THE JEWISH STAR May 15, 2015 â&#x20AC;˘ 26 Iyar 5775

Shofars blow against aid to BDS groups

5

May 15, 2015 â&#x20AC;˘ 26 Iyar 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

6 Thursday May 14 /81&+ /($51 with Rabbi Shalom Axelrod of YI Woodmere. Traditions Restaurant, 302 Central Ave, Lawrence. 12:30 to 1:30 pm. $12 lunch. 516-398-3094.

6,67(5+22' $118$/ 6833(5(77( at Beth Shalom, honoring past presidents Gabrielle Berlyne, Judi Bernstein, Suzanne Gurvitch, Sharona Thall, and life-member awardee Helen Friedman. Boutiques 5:45 pm, dinner 7 pm. Congregation Beth Shalom, 390 Broadway, Lawrence. 516-569-3600. /2$9(6 2) /29( with Hadassah Geisinsky. Women and girls are invited to learn the art of baking challah and to experience the beauty of this important mitzvah. 8:30 pm.

Reservations required by May 12 at 5 pm. At Geisinsky Home, 234 Washington Ave, Cedarhurst. 516-295-2478.

JEWISH STAR

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Sunday May 17 /,'2 %($&+ 6<1$*2*8( %%4 Meet some more members of the community and see our beautiful beach suburb. 12 pm. Lido Beach Synagogue, 1 Fairway Road, Lido Beach. info@ lidoshul.org, 516-889-9650. =80%$ 7,48( Created by Naomi Weiner in honor of her bat-mitzvah. Zumbathon, amazing pre-camp boutiques, a tiny tots fashion show, family portrait sessions, dairy buffet and live concert. All proceeds go directly to Bnai Zion. Hewlett East Rockaway Jewish Center, 295 Main St, East Rockaway. Call for time.

Penina Weiner, 917-803-1333. ),9( 72:16 . 581 :$/. in support of Cahal. An amazing experience raising awareness of Cahalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission of establishing special education in yeshivas. All ages. 8:30 am. North Woodmere Park.

35( 6+$9827 %$.,1* with pastry chef Sarah Miller and chef Kiki Goldgrab, presented by Congregation Beth Shalom Sisterhood.

Space is limited. Sisterhood members $10; non members $20. 7 pm. At the home of Lisa Feit, 370 Kenridge Road, Lawrence. 516-833-3359, carolresnicksmall@gmail.com

Monday May 18 )($785(' (9(17 75,%87( 72 5$9 /,&+7(167(,1 ]WÂľO Five Towns communal event features keynote speaker Rabbi Menachem Genack, as well as Rabbis Kenneth Hain and Heshie Billet, Joel Steinmetz, Myron Kirschbaum, and Mrs. Rookie Billet. 8 pm. Young Israel of Woodmere, 859 Peninsula Blvd., Woodmere. 516-295-0950.

3,7&+ 3(5)(&7 Practice your crucial 30-second-pitch in this interactive workshop.

11 am to 1 pm. Sid Jacobson JCC, 300 Forest Drive, East Hills. 516-484-1545 x214.

67 *$/$ ',11(5 presented by One Israel Fund. Honoring Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Mrs. Suzie Schwartstein, Elisha Aryeh and Josh Hoffman. 6 pm. Three Sixty, 10 Desbrosses St, Manhattan. Dinner@ OneIsraelFund.org, 516-239-9202 623+,67,&$7(' 6,1*/(6 at the Friedberg JCC. Lively and relevant discussion group for singles over 50. Event is ongoing every Monday. $9. 7:45 pm to 9:30 pm. Corey Katz, 516-634-4151, ckatz@friedbergjcc.org /$',(6 1,*+7 287 Believe in yourself with Mrs. Jackie Bitton, dean at YDE Girls Yeshiva. Jackie will help you achieve your own â&#x20AC;&#x153;impossibleâ&#x20AC;? challenges and will have you laughing and crying with her inspiring tales. $18 per person; $36 sponsor; $100 event partner. 8 pm. At Home of Mrs. Becky Litvintchouk, 369 Clinton Ave, Cedarhurst. 516-295-2478.

Tuesday May 19 '5 5,&. 6+,(/'6 discusses his latest book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Chaim, 18 Chapters To Live By.â&#x20AC;? Refreshments. Free. 2 pm. White Shul (Congregation Knesseth Israel), 728 Empire Blvd, Far Rockaway. 718-868-3853. $118$/ /$',(6 1,*+7 287 presented

by Chabad of Roslyn, featuring Leah Rubashkin, speaking about ďŹ nding strength through challenging times. Full 3 course dinner will be served. Couvert $50, Sponsor $100. 7 pm.

Colbeh Roslyn, 1 The Intervale, Roslyn. Chaya, 845-642-7401

Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how to list an event in the FREE Jewish Star Calendar The Jewish Star is pleased to publish a comprehensive calendar of events for the Orthodox Jewish communities on Long Island. This is a free service. Organizations are invited to send information to Calendar@TheJewishStar.com, including a brief description of event, name and address of venue, price of admission (or specify free), and a phone or email where readers can conďŹ rm the event or request more information.

Submissions may also include a hi-res photo promoting the event (for instance, a featured speaker or honoree). The earlier events are submitted, the more weeks they may run. Deadline is Friday noon.

and Eyal Yifrach HYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;D. Remarks from Gov. Mike Huckabee, MK Danny Danon, former UN Amb. John Balton, and others. Performances

by Gad Elbaz, Alex Clare, LIPA!, Shloime Dachs and more. Free admission. 2:30 pm to 7:30 pm.

SummerStage in Central Park (enter Park at Fifth Avenue and 72 Street), Manhattan. 917650-5623 &(/(%5$7( ,65$(/ )(67,9$/ will showcase the best of Israeli innovation, cuisine, and fashion, and is intended for American Jews and New Yorkers of all faiths, ethnicities, and walks of life. $5 to $15. 2 to 7 pm. Pier 94 off the West Side Highway, Manhattan. 212-3621307.

Monday June 1

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<RP <HUXVKDOD\LP 0D\ FRPPHPRUDWHV WKH GD\ LQ WKDW DP ,VURHO UHFODLPHG DQG UHXQLWHG WKH +RO\ &LW\ 7ZR ZHHNV ODWHU RQ 6XQGD\ 0D\ DIWHU D EUHDN IRU 6KDYXRW LWÂśV WLPH WR &HOHEUDWH ,VUDHO DORQJ 0DQKDWWDQÂśV )LIWK $YHQXH 7KH )LYH 7RZQV DQG DOO RI /RQJ ,VODQG ZLOO EH ZHOO UHSUHVHQWHG LQ WKH OLQH RI PDUFK LQ WKH 0D\ SDUDGH 3LFWXUHG ODVW \HDU 6WXGHQWV RQ SDUDGH IURP WKH +HEUHZ $FDGHP\ RI /RQJ %HDFK 7KH -HZLVK 6WDU SKRWR E\ 'RQRYDQ %HUWKRXG '(66(57 5(&(37,21 honoring Moshe Cohen, Congregation Beth Shalom of Lawrence; Shlomo Feldman, Young Israel of Hewlett; Eliezer Fuld, White Shul (Congregation Knesseth Israel); Alyssa Schechter, Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst; Rabbi David Beitler, Irving Place Minyan; Paul Silverstein, Young Israel of Woodmere; Isaac Nahon, Young Israel of Hewlett. $35. 7:30 pm. Congregation Beth Shalom of Lawrence, 390 Broadway, Lawrence. Irwin Gershon, 516-677-1818.

Preceded by a reading of the Ten Commandments.

5:30 pm. At home of Rabbi and Mrs. Kramer, 2083 Seneca Gate, Merrick. 516-833-305.

Tuesday May 26 $57 .,%%87= 6800(5 5(6,'(1&< offers a shared, multidisciplinary space where artists can experience a retreat-like residency just a ferry ride away from New York City. Continues through Sept 10. Governorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Island. artkibbutzny@gmail.com

Thursday May 21 /81&+ /($51 with Rabbi Shalom Axelrod of YI Woodmere. Traditions Restaurant, 302 Central Ave, Lawrence. 12:30 to 1:30 pm. $12 lunch. 516-398-3094.

Saturday May 23 725$+ 7+21 for men and women. Stay up late at Chabad of the Five Towns studying Torah before itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s given. Women, 11:30 pm to 1 am. Men, beginning at midnight. 74 Maple Ave, Cedarhurst. 516-295-2478.

Sunday May 24 7(1 &200$1'0(176 ,&( &5($0 party. The Ten Commandments read at 11 am followed by a delicious dairy luncheon and ice cream party. Chabad of the Five Towns, 74 Maple Ave, Cedarhurst. 516-295-2478.

6+$9827 ,&( &5($0 3$57< and dairy buffet with Chabad of Merrick-Bellmore-Wantagh.

Wednesday May 27 ),') $118$/ &20081,7< (9(17 to beneďŹ t the soldiers of the IDF. Saluting our communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s active duty lone soldiers with master of ceremonies Ben Brafman, Esq. 7 pm.

Sephardic Temple, 775 Branch Blvd, Cedarhurst. 646-274-9661, Deborah.Sason@ďŹ df.org 35(3$5(' &+,/'%,57+ &/$66 7 to 9 pm. South Nassau Hospital, 1 Healthy Way, Oceanside. 516-377-5333.

Sunday May 31 &(/(%5$7( ,65$(/ 3$5$'( New this year is a one mile run along Fifth Ave prior to the parade. The creative theme for marching groups is â&#x20AC;&#x153;Israel Imagines!â&#x20AC;? 11 am to 4 pm.

Fifth Avenue from 57th to 74th streets, Manhattan. 212-843-9381, MStouber@rubenstein.com ,65$(/ '$< &21&(57 Let your voices be heard! This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concert is dedicated to the memory of Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel

%(7:((1 7+( &29(56 book club. Join our discussion of â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Children Actâ&#x20AC;? by Ian McEwan. Books are available at the Oceanside Library. 1:30 pm to 3 pm. Friedberg JCC, 15 Neil Court, Oceanside. Corey Katz, Director of Adult Services, 516-634-4151, ckatz@friedbergjcc.org

Sunday June 7 .8/$18 )$,5 Join us for games, crafts, games, face painting, pony rides, refreshments and more! 12:30 pm to 5 pm. Andrew J. Parise Park, Cedarhurst. MichelleSulzberger@gmail. com, 516-569-3083 ext. 106

Monday June 8 $118$/ &$1725,$/ &21&(57 in memory of Cantor Moshe Ehrlich zâ&#x20AC;?l. Featuring Cantors Yitzchak Meir Helfgot, Yaakov Lemmer, Chaim Dovid Berson, Joel Kaplan, Daniel Gildar. Conducted by Cantor Eric Freeman. 7:45 pm. Congregation Beth Shalom, 390 Broadway, Lawrence. 516-569-3600

Friday June 12 &%6 <287+ 6+$%%$7 Come join us as our teens and youth take over and lead our main shul davening for Friday night and Shabbat davening. Any parents interested in helping to sponsor our shul Kiddush for youth Shabbat please email MosheCohen.CBSYouth@gmail.com

Monday June 15 <,'',6+ )$50 6800(5 352*5$06 Learn Yiddish, work the land, and earn college credit. Continues through July 10. Yiddish Farms, 71 Dzierzek Lane, New Hampton. 845360-5023, yisroel@yiddishfarm.org

Monday July 13 <,'',6+ )$50 6800(5 352*5$06 An intensive two-week course grammar course for intermediate Yiddish speakers. Continues through July 24. Yiddish Farms, 71 Dzierzek Lane, New Hampton (Goshen, update). 845360-5023, yisroel@yiddishfarm.org

By Vanessa Gera WARSAW (AP) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; The young boy emerged from the rubble of Warsaw, clinging to the skirt of a woman he knew only as Mrs. Wala.

Then she turned and walked off, and 7-yearold Mieczyslaw Kenigswein was alone, lost in the Holocaust. It was 1944.

That little boy is now 78, an Israeli with a Hebrew name, Moshe Tirosh. During a recent visit to Warsaw, he recalled surviving the rest of the war not knowing if his parents were dead or alive â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and how the kindness of strangers and random turns of fate saved his life.

Tiroshâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s earliest memories are of the hunger, disease and misery of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Affectionately called Miecio as a boy, he was nearly 5 when his mother, Regina, gave birth to her third child under ďŹ&#x201A;oorboards in the ghetto, biting her knuckles to keep from screaming during labor so the Germans would not discover the newborn.

With death all around, Tirosh said his parents made the excruciating decision to part with the infant to increase his chances of survival.

With the help of a young Pole, Zygmunt Pietak, his mother smuggled the newborn out of the ghetto and left him on a street corner with a card bearing the name â&#x20AC;&#x153;Stanislaw Pomorskiâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a fake surname meant to hide his Jewish origins.

Soon a Polish policeman came along and took the baby to a home for abandoned children.

The next year was 1943, and Tiroshâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father, Samuel, was helping other Jews plan the uprising in the ghetto when he decided to try to ďŹ&#x201A;ee with his family. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He was told there was no way to escape,â&#x20AC;?

Tirosh recalled. But his father was determined.

Now 6, Miecio and his 4-year-old sister, Stefania, were packed in rag-padded sacks and thrown over the high ghetto walls. The parents climbed over themselves, bribing Polish guards to turn the other way.

They ďŹ rst found shelter with a Polish family, the Raczeks, who took them in for money.

There, the family would go into hiding behind the apartment walls or in closets during inspections by Germans or visits by the Raczeksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; friends or neighbors. The danger of being betrayed to the Nazis was high and the punishment for helping Jews was severe: death to any rescuer and their entire family.

TerriďŹ ed, Mrs. Raczek decided after a few months she could no longer bear the risk.

Pietak stepped in again, this time to smuggle the Kenigsweins to the Warsaw zoo, where the zoo director and his wife, Jan and Antonina Zabinski, had been sheltering Jews.

It was a cold and rainy night in late 1943 when the family climbed into a horse-driven carriage for the trip to Warsawâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Praga district, a perilous journey over the Vistula River past German guards on both sides of a bridge.

Pietak sat next to the driver. When they approached the Nazi guards, he pulled out a bottle of moonshine and splashed the horses and himself with it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Halt!â&#x20AC;? the Germans ordered. When they smelled the alcohol, they shouted, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Polnische Schweine, Weg!â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Polish pigs, go away!â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;And thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how we got though,â&#x20AC;? Tirosh recalled. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was the same at the second crossing and we made our way to the zoo.â&#x20AC;?

By this time, most of the zoo animals had been killed or hauled off to zoos in Germany, and Zabinski had turned it into a pig farm.

Miecio and Stefania stayed in a basement

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for a few weeks while their parents hid out of sight in animal cages.

It was traumatic for the little girl, who often cried for her mother. Aware of the danger, Miecio covered her mouth to stiďŹ&#x201A;e her sobs.

The Zabinskis could not keep them indeďŹ nitely and, one day, the zookeeperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife brought Miecio upstairs and tried to dye his dark hair blond, hoping to make him look more â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aryan.â&#x20AC;? Instead, it came out red, earning him the nickname â&#x20AC;&#x153;Squirrel.â&#x20AC;?

Again with the help of Pietak, the family found new shelter in the tiny apartment of a captain in Polandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s underground army, Feliks Cywinski. Cywinski created a hiding place by pulling bricks out of the thick outer walls.

But that couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t serve for long â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the necessity of buying so much food for such a small household was certain to arouse suspicion.

So it was decided that splitting up the family would increase their chances of survival.

A childless shopkeeper agreed to adopt Stefania but it was more difďŹ cult to hide Jewish boys, who, because they were circumcised, were at risk of being uncovered as Jews.

Eventually, Pietak found a place for Miecio with a woman he remembers only as Mrs. Wala. She had a daughter about his age and agreed to take him in for money. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to go, but my father explained I would be safer with her,â&#x20AC;? he said.

During the bombardment of 1944, the merciless German response to the Warsaw uprising, sirens signaled for people to take

shelter and Miecio ran into a cellar with Mrs. Wala and her daughter.

The bombing caused the four-story building above them to collapse. Men in the cellar used poles to knock a way out.

The survivors emerged to an apocalyptic scene of destruction. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The street wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a street but a mass of rubble,â&#x20AC;? Tirosh recalled. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In one hand, Mrs. Wala held a suitcase and, in the other, her little daughterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hand. I held onto her skirt and we ran,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At one point, we stopped and I lost hold of her. And I remember this exactly to this day: She turned to me and made an expression that said she was very sorry that she was leaving me, and then she walked away with her daughter.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was left alone in the rubble,â&#x20AC;? he said.

With Germans shooting Poles in the area, Miecio pressed his hands together and kept repeating â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jesus, where is my aunt?â&#x20AC;? It was something Mrs. Wala had taught him to do should he ever be caught alone, in an attempt to appear Catholic.

Two Polish underground ďŹ ghters spotted him and pulled him into shelter. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This must be a little Jew,â&#x20AC;? one said. They gave him a card saying he was an orphan and sent him on. With the help of another stranger, he made his way to a church-run orphanage.

Soon, the orphans were evacuated to southern Poland, where Miecio lived out the rest of the war in a monastery in Stankowo, near Krakow.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;And there I endured hell,â&#x20AC;? he said, describing hunger, illness, ďŹ&#x201A;ea infestations and beatings by older boys who discovered he was Jewish after pulling his pants down during a bath.

The children subsisted on turnips and water, and whatever potato scraps they could steal from a nearby pigsty run by Germans.

Disease was rife; every day, nuns carted away the corpses of children who had succumbed.

But Miecio enjoyed the protection of a priest, Father Andrzej, who gave him a little of his own soup and ordered the other boys not to hurt him. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a matter of our Polish honor that this child survives the war,â&#x20AC;? the priest told the boys. The beatings became fewer, but did not stop altogether.

Then, on New Yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Eve in 1944, just weeks before the arrival of the Soviet army ended the Nazi occupation, a Polish farmer and his wife came to the orphanage to adopt a boy. With the children lined up, the couple went one by one, looking into their eyes.

Lifting Miecioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chin, the wife turned to the priest and said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Father, we want this one.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;No, you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t,â&#x20AC;? Father Andrzej said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He is weak, and always sick. Please choose another one.â&#x20AC;?

But the couple insisted, and Miecio was taken by sled through the snow to the farmersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; home.

That night, the farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife bathed him.

Despite his efforts to hide his private parts, she made the inevitable discovery of his circumcision. She then put him in a warm bed and spent the night sewing new clothes for him.

The next morning, the farmer returned Miecio to the orphanage.

Today, he is grateful the couple didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t keep him. Had he stayed on that isolated farm, he thinks, he might never have been found by his mother after the war.

With 6 million Jews dead and most survivors bereft of loved ones, the Kenigsweins were lucky: Both parents and their three children survived and, with painstaking effort, Regina Kenigswein eventually tracked down her children.

The woman who had adopted Stefania did not want to give her up but was persuaded when offered enough money.

The youngest, Stanislaw, was a sick and underdeveloped 3½-year-old. He had been evacuated with other foundlings to the southern Polish city of Czestochowa, where his mother found him.

She found Miecio 10 months later in a church-run orphanage in Krakow, where he was taken after the war. At ďŹ rst he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t recognize her. And the orphanage director, not knowing he was Jewish, didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to give him up. â&#x20AC;&#x153;How can he be yours if you are Jewish and he is a Pole?â&#x20AC;? the director asked.

The boy was told to pull down his pants, his circumcision once again the proof of his Jewish heritage.

After the war, Samuel Kenigswein made a fortune manufacturing shoe polish and in other enterprises, and two more children were born â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Rachel, in 1946, and Arie, two years later. Then the familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s luck ended: Samuel Kenigsweinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heart gave out in 1948, soon after his ďŹ fth child was born.

In 1957, the rest of the family immigrated to Israel. There, Tirosh became an army ofďŹ cer and married an Israeli woman. Today, he speaks with joy of his three children, six grandchildren and an extended family of 56. He doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say it, but it is understood: 56 people who could just as easily not have been here.

He doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say it, but it is understood: 56 people could just as easily not be here.

THE JEWISH STAR May 15, 2015 â&#x20AC;˘ 26 Iyar 5775

Survivor remembers: Lost in rubble of Warsaw

7

Dare we say it? Down with Shavuot cheesecake!

“Who’s in the Kitchen?” Well, Judy Joszef’s in her kitchen preparing for Shavuot and a family simcha, so we’ve given her the week off. Instead, we’re rerunning a pre-Shavuot recipe that’s a talker.

By Mollie Katzen, JNS.org Fresh cheese is a staple in classic Shavuot foods, traditionally wrapped in a soft, egglike blintz that is then fried lightly in butter.

Variations on this theme can keep things interesting and expand your kitchen craft.

Cheesecake is another way to expand the joy of this holiday. Small cheesecake bars, topped with early strawberries, are a wonderful way to usher in the transition-to-summer month of June. A Thai tea cheesecake is beautiful and surprising, rounding out your holiday with a sense of orange expansiveness—and it is actually easier than handcrafting blintzes.

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If you love cheesecake, but feel guilty after eating it, pursue it in a small way instead. These bars hit that spot perfectly, especially when adorned with a perfect small, ripe strawberry.

Yield: About 1 1/2 dozen.

Ingredients: 1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar 1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted 1-1/2 cups cottage cheese 1/2 cup (half an 8-ounce pkg) cream cheese, softened 1/3 cup granulated sugar 1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 2 large eggs, beaten Handful or two ripe strawberries (optional) Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (or 325°F if

using a glass pan). Have ready a 6-by-9 inch baking pan (ungreased) or the equivalent.

2. In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and the brown sugar, crumbling the sugar into the flour with your hands until uniformly distributed. Add the melted butter, and stir to thoroughly combine. Press this mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan.

3. Combine the cottage cheese, cream cheese, granulated sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and eggs in the bowl of a food processor, and buzz until completely smooth. Pour this mixture into the pan, spreading it into place.

4. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, or until the top surface is firm to the touch. Remove from the oven, and allow it to cool completely before chilling. Let it chill for at least two hours, and serve cold, cut into 1 1/2-inch squares. Ideally topped with sliced strawberries.

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From “The Heart of the Plate: Vegetarian Recipes for a New Generation” Yield: 8 or more servings Thai iced tea morphs into a dessert (it didn’t have far to go), and all I can say is, this is kind of amazing. No baking required— just a patted-into-place crumb crust and a stovetop-thickened filling. Cool to room temperature, then chill, and/or (in my perfect world) freeze.

Brew and strain the tea well ahead of time.

To get the proper strength for this recipe, steep 1/2 cup Thai tea in 2-1/2 cups boiling water for 10 minutes, then strain, pressing out and saving as much of the water as you can.

Chocolate crumb crust ingredients: 6 to 7 ounces graham crackers (10 or 11 long ones)

Cheesecake bars.

Courtesy Mollie Katzen

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tablespoon sugar 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted Chocolate crumb crust directions: 1) Place the graham crackers in a food processor and buzz to fine crumbs. You should have about 2 cups.

2) Transfer the crumbs to a bowl, stir in the cocoa and sugar, and pour in the melted butter. Mix to thoroughly combine, and then transfer to a 9-inch pie pan.

3) Spread it out to cover the bottom completely and evenly, letting it begin to climb up the sides of the pan. Pat it into place, gently at first, and then firmly—turning the pan as you go, and building a nice edge flush with the rim. Set aside.

Filling ingredients: 1/2 cup sugar 3 tablespoons cornstarch 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 large eggs

1-1/2 cups strong-brewed Thai tea, strained and cooled (see note) 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 8 ounces cream cheese Filling directions: 1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, eggs, and cornstarch until smooth.

Stir in the tea and vanilla.

2. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking frequently. Cook and stir for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the custard thickens to the point where it starts to resist being stirred.

3. Remove from the heat, and immediately add the cream cheese in pieces; it will melt in.

Whisk exuberantly until the cream cheese is completely incorporated, and the mixture becomes uniform. This will likely take several minutes.

4. Pour the hot mixture directly into the crust, and let it cool to room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold. Make the topping in the meantime.

Topping ingredients: 2/3 cups sour cream 2 tablespoons brewed Thai tea (optional) 1 tablespoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract Pinch of salt Topping directions: 1) Whisk together all the ingredients— until smooth and uniform.

2) Spoon on top of the pie, spreading it to the edges of the crust.

3) Carefully (so as not to disturb the top surface) cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate or freeze until serving time. Serve at any temperature from very cold to partially (or even mostly) frozen.

With more than 6 million books in print, Mollie Katzen is listed by the New York Times as one of the best-selling cookbook authors of all.

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May 15, 2015 • 26 Iyar 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

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NAVEL PASTRAMI

Rice, in Israel, meets Netanyahu on US relations â&#x20AC;&#x153;Israel is our closest ally in the region, and every dollar we invest in Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s security is a direct investment in American homeland security,â&#x20AC;? said Rice. â&#x20AC;&#x153;No matter how partisan the atmosphere in Washington has been or may become, we have a responsibility to ensure that support for Israel always remains a bipartisan priority. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We made it clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we take that responsibility very seriously and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re eager to continue working with him to enhance the security of both our countries and protect the people we serve.â&#x20AC;?

The delegation traveled to countries in the Middle East and Europe to examine evolving security threats to the U.S. homeland, including the ďŹ&#x201A;ow of foreign ďŹ ghters from Western countries to Syria and Iraq and recent terrorist plots and attacks against the United States and European allies.

OfďŹ ce of Rep. Kathleen Rice South Shore Rep. Kathleen Rice traveled to Israel last week as a member of a bipartisan Congressional delegation led by Republican Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

In Jerusalem, the delegation met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon, Minister of Defense Moshe Yaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;alon and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro. The delegation spoke with Netanyahu about Israeli counterterrorism efforts and the importance of the relationship between the United States and Israel. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The support and the alliance with the United States is a foundation of our national security,â&#x20AC;? Netanyahu said during the meeting. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a bipartisan position. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also bipartisan here. I think thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s complete unanimity about the importance of the relationship with the United States.â&#x20AC;?

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According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the summer slide can have longlasting effects on a studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s academic life. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Early summer learning losses have later life consequences, including high school curriculum placement, whether kids drop out of high school, and whether they attend college.â&#x20AC;?

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It’s clear: Israel is not Baltimore TEHILLA R. GOLDBERG VIEW FROM CENTRAL PARK

W

hen I was a young girl in Israel, Operation Moses came to Israel. I still remember the electric atmosphere that took hold of our country and community. “Kibbutz galuyot,” people kept saying, an ingathering of the exiles.

The social pressure of my circle was who could knit the most kippas for the new Ethiopian immigrants. It was exciting. You felt like you were living Jewish history — with a new “tribe,” so to speak, discovered and redeemed back to Israel.

Their harrowing superhuman stories of walking through the blistering Sudan for thousands of kilometers touched us all to the core. Here among us were living, breathing people who sacrificed so much, often heartwrenching separations from family left behind, just to come to the land. To say we were inspired would be an understatement.

Years later I moved to Israel as an adult.

I became friendly with the especially warm and kind guards at the Western Wall that I frequented often, bringing them my homebaked challah if I visited on a Sabbath or holiday eve. I became familiar with Idan Raichel, an iconic Israeli singer who developed a particular affection for the Ethiopian Jews, his music a fusion of Hebrew and Amharic.

I lived near the Ben Yehuda open market,

“The Souk,” where an Ethiopian restaurant was open late, way past the time the souk’s doors were shuttered.

I knew there were some bumps along the road. There was the halachic debate about the Ethiopians’ Jewish status. But with time, it was all smoothed over. Or so I thought.

Naively, and maybe because I felt an affection for this community of the very gentle people I met, I thought the Ethiopians had been integrated into Israeli society successfully.

Then last week happened. To my great sadness, the anger of marginalization, which apparently has been there all along, exploded. keep hearing people expressing sentiments to the effect of, “Look at that, when it comes to racism, Israel and America — no different” and “Israel’s Ethiopians are America’s Baltimore.”

While I will not sugarcoat the very real, painful problems within the Ethiopian community that reached a fever pitch, I will say, there are many basic features that make for very different scenarios and contexts.

I am not exonerating anyone. If an Ethiopian was beaten just beause he was Ethiopian, I am sure Israel will investigate the cop’s behavior. If so, it is indeed wrong and morally repugnant, but the police didn’t kill someone.

Until right before the end of the protest last Sunday, for hours since three o’clock that afternoon, the Ethiopian protesters were peaceful. After seven hours, yes, the behavior did turn ugly, but even then there was no looting or actual dangerous behavior.

Much of this is due to the fact that the

I

Ethiopian story in Israel is very different from that of the African-American story in the U.S. — the enduring American conflict.

•While African-Americans set foot on American soil for the first time because they were brought here as slaves, Ethiopians reached Israel fulfilling a lifelong dream to come to the land of their mythic Jerusalem.

Israel airlifted Ethiopians to Israel as a redpemptive, not enslaving, destiny.

•Israel never had institutional discrimination in place against Ethiopians, skin to the Jim Crow laws of America.

•Ethiopians became full Israel citizens.

All of this does not negate the fact that Israel may have made many mistakes in integrating Ethiopians into Israeli society. This will not be the first time in Israel’s history when it did less than a stellar job in integrating non-Ashkenazi Jews. grew up in proximity to Sephardic Moroccan Jews. Their bitterness was palpable.

They felt like second-class citizens. Not to mention the wounds in the Yemenite community, whose religious and cultural heritage was dishonored as it was stripped from from them.

Of course, this was all long ago. Since then Israel has changed, raising at least two new generations of Sephardim (Mizrahim) who are for the most part integrated into Israeli society, not carrying around the bitterness of their grandparents.

Apparently, this is not the case with the Ethiopians.

Granted, many in the Ethiopian community have come far. Just days before the protests began, I read that one of the Israeli

I

citizens honored with lighting the Israeli independence torch was Dr. Avi Yitzchak, a prominent Ethiopian citizen. Days later I read of him again, this time as the head of the IDF medical team in Nepal. He was the head of IDF mission ot Haiti in 2010, as well.

I’m sure there are many more such successful Ethiopian Israelis across the swath of Israeli society.

Yet the sense that there is discrimination socially, economically and culturally is real as well. Eating injera and humming an Idan Raichel song — it’s not enough.

The socialization process in the IDF is strong, and this is experienced by many Ethiopians. But it seems the sense of alienation and exclusion is too.

In many ways Israel has done a lot right in its integration of Ethiopians to Israel. But clearly a lot more must be done so the Ethiopians experience a stronger sense of inclusion, and a genuine reality of inclusion.

Integrating an outside group into a new people and a new culture and empowering the outsider takes time.

It’s been 20 to 30 years.

On the one hand, that is two generations; on the other, it is a blink of an eye given the monumental changes in the Ethiopian community.

Israel has done much good, but has also made her share of mistakes, and clearly has a way to go on this issue. Real change must follow.

I am immensely proud of Israel for the Operation Moses and Operation Solomon airlifts — miracles of our time. I am proud of the Israeli Ethoiopians and their contributions to society, and for just being there.

Like most blessings in life, I suppose kibbutz galuyot has its challenges too.

Copyright ©2015 Intermountain Jewish News

Muhammad cartoon stimulus, response, repeat ESTABLISHED 2002

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DARYL CAGLE

W

e just saw yet another terror attack provoked by cartoons of Muhammad, this time at a “Draw Muhammad” cartoon contest in Garland, Texas. A competent cop shot two home-grown terrorist gunmen before much damage was done.The event was organized by a group called “Stop Islamization of America,” led by Long Islander Pamela Geller (ssee story on page 3), that was best known for opposing the construction of a mosque in Manhattan. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists them as a hate group, which they deny.

Cartoonist Renald ‘Luz’ Luzier, who drew the famous Charlie Hebdo cover after the shootings in France, recently decided he would no longer draw Muhammad cartoons.

I can sympathize with Luz’s choice, since he’s now “typecast” as the premier Muhammad cartoonist — it seems reasonable that Luz wouldn’t want his career to be boiled down to being the “Muhammad cartoon guy.”

I’m an editorial cartoonist; I haven’t drawn a Muhammad cartoon myself, because I haven’t been inspired to do so. I shy away from drawing cartoons that some people would find offensive. I don’t use four letter words, or the “N-word” in my cartoons. I don’t draw sexually explicit cartoons. Offensive subject matter in cartoons can be so loud that it drowns out anything else I might want to say in a cartoon, except, “Look, I have the freedom to draw something offensive.”

Many cartoonists have drawn Muhammad cartoons, and racist cartoons, and dirty cartoons; that’s fine, that’s their business — but drawing offensive stuff just to draw attention to myself, or to prove that I have the right

to do so, just looks like lousy cartooning to me. The Charlie Hebdo cartoonists were doing more than that; they were addressing issues in French culture that were important to them, and rejecting all religions that they felt didn’t fit with their secular society.

I knew three of the five Charlie Hebdo cartoonists who were murdered earlier this year and I got to know more of them at French cartoon festivals. They have a genuine passion for their issues and our conversations always turned to a discussion of their religion-bashing cartoons. Here in America we’re not faced with the same social pressures and similar cartoons here should seem out of place.

The “Stop Islamization of America” people, who sponsored this contest, are poking the extremist Islamic beast to elicit a predict-

able response. This violent cartoon stimulus and response will surely be repeated.

It doesn’t matter that I personally don’t choose to draw Muhammad cartoons, or that most cartoonists don’t care to draw offensive cartoons. All editorial cartoonists are now being seen as recklessly poking surly Islamic beasts. My profession is being painted with the Muhammad cartoon broad-brush.

I was recently asked to speak at a local college, and I met the dean of the school.

The first thing he said to me was, “Now, don’t show any of those Muhammad cartoons.”

This is not unusual. When someone meets an editorial cartoonist, the conversation often starts with, “So, do you draw those Muhammad cartoons too?”

Like Luz was typecast, it seems editorial cartoonists are all typecast now.

ALAN JAY GERBER KOSHER BOOKWORM

T

his coming Monday, May 18, at 8 pm, the Young Israel of Woodmere will host a tribute to the memory of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, zt”l. Our essay the week is again themed to Rav Lichtenstein’s legacy, timed to the upcoming sheloshim of his passing on May 20.

The keynote speaker at Monday’s tribute will be Rabbi Menachem Genack of the Orthodox Union. In anticipation of his forthcoming address, I am privileged to share with you, my dear readers, an excerpt from a forthcoming essay by Rabbi Genack that should suggests Rabbi Genack’s deep regard for Rav Lichtenstein.

“Rav Aharon’s complexity was rooted in commitment,” Rabbi Genack writes. “He was a staunch advocate of the centrality of Talmud study lishmah, despite its difficulty. He gave no countenance to disciplines, such as Biblical criticism, which deny our tradition, and in the case of contradiction between Torah and general culture he did not hesitate about where our loyalties must lie.

“Similarly, Rav Aharon believed in the centrality of ethics which go beyond the letter of halachah. But, in a case where our moral intuition opposes halachah, Rav Aharon wrote, ‘the answer is perhaps practically difficult, but surely it is conceptually clear and unequivocal. … G-d’s command takes precedence, in every respect, over our moral sensibility and our conscientious objection.’

“Rav Aharon’s persona was multi-faceted, but not fragmented; his entire being was subsumed under his identity as an eved Hashem.

Finally, this wholeness is the quality that allowed Rav Aharon to see the best in others. In keeping with the Talmud’s teaching that ‘even the empty among you are full of mitzvot,’ Rav Aharon saw the potential in every individual.”

Rabbi Heshie Billet, the host rabbi of the YIW tribute, described Rav Aharon with the fol-

lowing heartfelt and truly eloquent sentiments: “Rav Lichtenstein was a man of broad vision, encyclopedic knowledge, and great courage. His words were always measured and well chosen. He was a Torah leader who always emphasized absolute commitment to halacha while teaching his students to live principled lives in the real world. He told us that he disliked the term ‘synthesis’ that some around Yeshiva used to use because it implied that when you add secular knowledge to Torah, you got an even greater product than Torah. ‘That,’ he said, ‘was impossible because Torah is all inclusive, kuloh bo.’ Yet, he saw secular knowledge serving as part of Torah and enhancing and sharpening our understanding of Torah.”

“Following in the footsteps of the Rav, he was a pioneer of women’s study of Torah on the highest level. He was an advocate of important improvements in the Orthodox community. … He was the person that we all turned to with the most difficult questions about life. He had 20/20 peripheral vision and saw all logical possibilities very clearly.

He was our living moral compass.” abbi Aryeh Ginzberg, the the longtime rav of Congregation Chofetz Chaim of Cedarhurst and Woodmere, is a leading essayist, speaker, and a proud and eloquent as well as an outspoken advocate of Agudat Israel, shared with me his heartfelt sentiments upon the upcoming sheloshim tribute.

I am proud to share with you this very personal tribute reflecting on the humanity and Torah-true gadlus of Rav Lichtenstein: “When one thinks about Rav Lichenstein, zt”l, his brilliant mind and total command of Torah comes to mind. For me personally, there is something else, too, and that’s his huge heart and his warmth and love for another Jew, no matter the age or hashkafic [religious ideological] background of that person. Permit me to explain.

“I only heard Rav Aharon speak once in my life and that was about 20 years ago when he was invited to give a shiur about Eretz Yisrael in my previous community in Hillcrest, Queens. I

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remember that total recall of his of the most obscure Rishonim on the topic and the clarity that he delivered that shiur. I have also learned and read many of his shiurim on other topics dealing with Jewish law that I proudly referenced in my own shiurim in my shul over these many years. But, there is more, much more.”

“There is one personal heartfelt experience that I had with Rav Aharon more than 40 years ago that I have never forgotten. I share this experience with you as my personal contribution to the greatness of his legacy: “I had only recently arrived in Eretz Yisrael at the young age of 16 years old to spend the year learning in Yeshivat Chofetz Chaim in Yerushalayim. It was about a month after I arrived when I met an old classmate who was learning in Yeshivat Har Etzion. We spoke about his experiences there and he invited me to join him for a Shabbos there.

This was decades before the invention of the cell phones and I really had no way to confirm the invitation for that next Shabbos.

I assumed that I can just go and show up.

As fate would have it, my friend completely forgot about the invitation and accepted an invitation to visit relatives in Bnei Barak that

next Shabbos. I was to arrive in the Gush that next Friday afternoon about two hours before Shabbos only to find out that my friend had already left, thus leaving me stranded not speaking a word of Ivrit, with nowhere to stay at that late hour — or so I thought.”

“Someone was kind enough to introduce me to Rav Yehudah Amital, zt”l, the great rosh yeshiva, who then introduced me to his co-rosh yeshiva, Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, zt”l, who was spending that Shabbos at the yeshiva. He immediately made this nervous 16 year old boy at home, going way out of his way to make sure that I had a comfortable room and that I had something to eat and drink after my long trip from Jerusalem.”

“This great rosh yeshiva throughout that entire Shabbos made me feel at home, constantly checking up on me personally to see to my every need, even inquiring to ascertain whether the food was to my satisfaction. Throughout all of Shabbos, Rav Lichtenstein sent boys from the yeshiva to engage in conversation and to make sure that I did not feel out of place.”

“I will always remember this act of chesed, inspired that this great talmid chochom more than 30 years older than me had nothing else to do all that memorable Shabbos but to insure that this 16 year old American yeshiva student should feel a little more comfortable in his yeshiva. When I approached him on motzai Shabbos as we were leaving to thank him for his warmth and hospitality, he brushed it off noting, that he didn’t do anything at all, and even insisted that we come back again. I never did return for another Shabbos, but the warmth of that Shabbos in his presence has remained with me ever since. Indeed, for me, Rav Aharon, zt”l, was a true ‘genius’ in chesed. Yehi zichro boruch.”

Chesed was the real hallmark of Rav Aharon’s legacy. The experiences reflected in Rabbi Ginzberg’s recollections, as well as those of Rabbi Billet’s, a former talmid of Rav Aharon’s, demonstrate that despite ideological variances, Rav Lichtenstein’s teachings truly are the real hallmark for achdus among all Jews, forever more.

Israel hasn’t been a bipartisan issue for decades JEFF DUNETZ POLITICS TO GO

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here are some crazy myths running through American politics today, things like the U.S. government was behind the twin towers attack on 9/11, Barack Obama was born in Kenya (or was it the planet Vulcan), and George Bush knew that Iraq had no WMDs — he just wanted to finish the job his father didn’t. Perhaps the most ridiculous myth that is believed the most is that support of Israel is bipartisan and should remain that way. The truth is Israel, is not a bi-partisan issue and hasn’t been bipartisan for over two decades.

Last Thursday, House Democrats again proved that Democratic Party support of Israel is not strong. On the same day as the watered down Corker-Menendez Bill requiring a congressional vote on any Iran deal was passed by the Senate, 150 out of the 188 Democrats in the House of Representatives sent the president a letter supporting his flawed framework for agreement with Iran, a framework which disagrees with the understanding of the deal as published by both Iran and France. No Republicans signed the letter.

The Democratic Party response should not be a surprise when one remembers their

Let’s wake up and smell the chullent! partisan response to the invitation to Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak to Congress in March. In a partisan manner, Democrats attacked the Netanyahu visit as being partisan. Rep. Charles Rangel, who sat through the recent congressional speech by Japanese Premier Abe, said that Bibi had no right to come to Congress and criticize U.S. policy, he should stick to speaking to AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee).

In 2010, when then-Mexican President Felipe Calderon spoke to a joint session of Congress and slammed Arizona’s immigration policy, Rangel was quiet; but with the Israeli premier, Rangel — along with former DCCC chair Steve Israel and most of the Democratic Party’s leadership — condemned Netanyahu’s visit, even though the visit wasn’t a matter of politics but a matter of survival.

When considering the history of the Corker-Menendez bill and reaction to the Netanyahu visit, politicians (and the media) are asking, “Are Republicans trying to make Israel a partisan issue?” The question should be, “Are the Democrats going to finally admit their love affair with Israel, which began with Harry Truman in 1948, has been over for years?”

Israel bipartisanship is a myth perpetuated by the Democratic Party in order to keep the Jewish vote, and by AIPAC, which needs

to keep the donations coming from liberal Democratic Party Jews who comprise the majority of their membership.

According to a Gallup poll published in February, American support for Israel is as high today as it ever was. According to that same Gallup report, in 1989 47 percent of both Democrats and Republicans sympathized with Israel more than the Palestinians.

But the opinion by party began to divide soon afterwards, as GOP support for Israel grew.

Today, 48 percent of Democrats sympathize with Israel more than Palestinians while 83 percent of Republicans are on Israel’s side.

Pew Research shows a similar pattern, with Republicans sympathizing with Israel slightly more than Democrats in 1973 (49 to 44 percent) and GOP support increasing to where it now stands at 77 versus 44 percent. ut it’s the media, which has the biggest pro-Democratic Party bias, that also presents coverage which is the most anti-Israel.

During the recent Gaza war, MSNBC coverage led by Ayman Mohyeldin was decidedly anti-Israel. Even when their factual errors were pointed out, they continued to broadcast falsehoods about Israel. For example, when Israel Ambassador Ron Dermer confronted Chuck Todd who had a daily program on MSNBC at the time:

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“A couple of days ago, you know, there was an attack on a hospital in Gaza and there was an attack on a refugee camp. One of your reporters actually rushed to judgment, said it was an Israeli drone. It turns out it wasn’t an Israeli drone. It was a rocket fired

by Islamic Jihad. Four rockets were fired within Gaza. One of them went to the sea, one of them hit that hospital, one of them hit a refugee camp, one of them went to Ashkelon and was intercepted by Iron Dome. So it’s important after you make an allegation, I would just ask you, Chuck, and your reporter in Gaza, correct the mistake he made.’

Neither Todd nor Ayman Mohyeldin corrected the false story. That was just one of the many instances of one sided attacks on Israel seen throughout the MSNBC lineup.

Party apologist websites such as the Daily Kos and Huffington Post have become the breeding ground for anti-Israel propaganda.

The Daily Kos is constantly accusing Jews of running the U.S. and pushing the country toward war. For example, Kos blogger Felipe IV posts an article with the title, “Zionist Jews are now a crowd in the Obama Cabinet,” in which Fillipe complained, “Most of the officials who will integrate [sic] the cabinet of Obama are renowned operators of the Jewish Zionist Financial lobby of New York.”

One just needs to read through the reports on CAMERA.org to realize that the Washington Post and New York Times, both “biContinued on page 17

THE JEWISH STAR May 15, 2015 • 26 Iyar 5775

Rav Aharon Lichtenstein: A sheloshim tribute

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May 15, 2015 • 26 Iyar 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

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Meaningless labor, and our path to a purpose RABBI BINNY FREEDMAN THE HEART OF JERUSALEM

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once met a fellow who was born in Germany, but managed to get out in 1938, in the nick of time. Some people don’t think of such a person as a survivor in the same way as someone who survived the death camps, but Shmuel (not his real name) lost his entire family; he was the only one who managed to get out. I asked him what made him realize it was time to get out, when the rest of his family could not see the writing on the wall.

He told me he wasn’t overly concerned when Hitler came to power in 1933; he was a young man with his whole life ahead of him, and everyone around him was saying it wouldn’t last, and that the Jews were the mainstay of the German economy, whom Hitler needed to get the country back on its feet. And he accepted all of this until one sunny afternoon in Hamburg.

He could hear them before he could see them: loud laughter and yelling; a large crowd seemed to be having a good time on one of the major avenues, and even a few passing policemen seemed to be enjoying a good time. A few seconds and a bloody nose later, he was on his hands and knees with a scrub-brush trying to erase words scrawled in red paint on the sidewalk.

Trying to avoid a beating, he scrubbed with enthusiasm while he took in the circumstances. They were in front of a German police station and they were scrubbing a red Star of David that had been scrawled on the sidewalk. When they were finished, and no trace was left of the red paint, a German police officer came over with a bucket full of red paint, and forced one of the Jews to take a paintbrush and scrawl a new large Star of David on the pavement. And then he looked at all the Jews on their hands on knees, backs bending from exhaustion, and screamed, “Scrub!,” as the crowd howled with delight.

And in that moment, Shmuel knew: this was not about logic, and whatever would follow did not have to make sense. There was no purpose to their hatred; they just wanted to break the Jews. It was time to get out. here is a powerful message hidden in this story, which may help us to understand an oft-overlooked mitzvah that appears in the first of this week’s double por-

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tion Behar-Bechukotai.

The Torah tells us, regarding a Jewish indentured servant (eved Ivri): “Lo’ tirdeh bo’ be’pharech, ve’yareta’ me’elokecha.” (“You shall not subjugate him in hard labour; you shall be in awe of your G-d.”) (Leviticus 25:43) In other words, when a person either becomes impoverished or has stolen but has no means with which to repay what he has taken, he can “sell” himself into servitude to work off his debt. In such an instance, the Torah prohibits his “master” from working him in a fashion defined as rediah’ be’pharech (hard labor).

Rashi (25:43) explains this to mean any work which is unnecessary: One cannot tell such a servant to “boil water if one does not actually need it,” or to “keep digging under this vine until I return.”

And, Rashi adds, lest you think it would be permissible to ask such a servant to do something that is unnecessary as long as you tell him you do in fact need it, the Torah adds, “ve’yareta’ me’elokecha” (“you shall be in awe of your G-d).” In other words, even if it is only in your heart, you still can’t do it.

It is interesting to note that this particular mitzvah, along with a few others relating to the poor and the destitute, follow the topic that introduces our portion: the sabbatical year, known as shemitah. Essentially, every seventh year, the farmers are meant to literally “let the land rest” This is the opportunity for each person to get back in touch with what all the hard work of the harvest was about in the first place.

So one wonders, what does this have to do with what type of tasks I am allowed to delegate to my indentured servant?

The common term for the sabbatical year, shemitah, is not used here; instead, it is referred to as Shabbat Ha’aretz (Sabbath of the land). What does Shabbat have to do with the agricultural value of letting the land lie fallow for a period of time?

The concept of pharech (hard labor) immediately recalls our enslavement in Egypt, when “the Egyptians enslaved the Jewish people be’pharech (with hard labor).”

(Exodus 1:13). Rashi there explains the concept of pherach as being “Avodah kasha’ ha’me’pharechet et ha’guf u’mashbarto” (“hard labor that exhausts the body and

breaks it).” (1:13) Which seem to be almost the antitheses of the type of labor we are referring to in our portion.

What is backbreaking about boiling water unnecessarily? In fact, if the indentured servant had a choice, wouldn’t he prefer to boil water in the kitchen for no one, rather than spend the entire day in the hot sun picking cotton (something the master is entitled to ask the slave to do)?

It is precisely when we spend our time doing things that we perceive to have no purpose that we are truly drained of all our energy, because we derive our greatest energy from the enthusiasm of knowing we are fulfilling some great purpose. once met a surgeon who was completely burnt out and miserable, because he had come to the conclusion that in the end, we all die anyway, so what’s the point of saving one more person? His words shocked me: “If I have to say ‘you’re welcome’ to one more 80 year old person for saving their life, I’ll lose it; ten hours on your feet only to head home exhausted and on call, so someone can eventually die in their sleep down the road? In the end, what’s the point?”

Can you imagine? The opportunity to save someone’s life became meaningless to this person and so it exhausted him. Yet, I also remember a close friend who was on a threeweek program in Israel called Volunteers for Israel, describe with great enthusiasm how much he felt fulfilled by the opportunity to sort nuts and bolts or fold bandages all day long for the Israeli army! I couldn’t imagine having the energy to sort nuts and bolts for an hour much less an entire day, yet here was a professional on vacation, thrilled at the opportunity, because to him it had a purpose that made the long tedious hours worthwhile.

Just like the survivor scrubbing the streets of Germany, the greatest blow to the Jews in Egypt 3,000 years ago, was the realization that the Egyptians were not working them to advance Egyptian society or help the development of industry, but simply to break them. They were not being asked to contribute, they were simply being broken down.

And this may well be what lies behind the particular mitzvah of the indentured servant.

Don’t make the mistake, says the Torah, of thinking you have simply acquired a person

We are so immersed in plowing our fields, we forget why we need the crops in the first place

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to work for you; rather, you have become a partner in rehabilitating someone and allowing him to successfully rejoin society.

If my purpose is to give such a person the opportunity to rediscover his worth in society, then it goes without saying how destructive such “busy work: can be. Which is why this topic is so closely connected to the sabbatical year which itself is specifically connected here to Shabbat.

The entire purpose of Shabbat is on one level to allow a person to slow down and reconnect with his true goals. We become so immersed in plowing our “fields” during the week, we forget why we need the crops in the first place. Are we living to eat, or eating to live?

Shabbat, with its magnificent focus on family and friends, and its distance from the distractions of our action-packed week, allows us the opportunity to rediscover our true worth as individuals, and to reassess what we are attempting to accomplish in our lives.

It is interesting that halachah teaches us that it is prohibited to give such “busy work” to anyone, be they a secretary or a building janitor.

And what Shabbat is for the individual, shemitah is for the nation. Imagine an entire country slowing down for an full year and living off the crops of the previous year.

Imagine having time to talk and debate, picnic and explore, study and struggle with all the questions that so often get put aside for that rainy day.

I wonder if this is not why these portions always fall in between Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israeli Independence day when we declared a State) and Yom Yerushalayim (when we recaptured our beloved city of Jerusalem in 1967).

For 15 years, between 1933 and 1947, we were a nation that had become (to quote the verse in the second portion this week, Bechukotai), “a plague amongst our enemies” (26:17). If ever a nation could be judged to have fallen into a collective depression, it was the Jewish people of 1945. Wallowing in the ash heaps of Europe, with nowhere to be and nowhere to go, unwanted by the entire world, we were without purpose, like a ship floundering in a raging storm. Three years later, we were a people filled with the power of fulfilling our destiny and realizing a dream 2,000 years in the making.

Long ago, we discovered the importance of filling life with purpose. Three-thousand years later, we are still challenged to stay in touch with that purpose, as individuals, as neighbors, and as a people, every Shabbat and every moment.

Be a blessing, to merit te blessings of Bechukotai RABBI AVI BILLET PARSHA OF THE WEEK

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he beginning of Parshat Bechukotai paints an image of the kind of blessing we hope to receive from G-d. There are three conditions that Israelites must fulfill before they can enjoy G-d’s bounty: walk in G-d’s decrees (which means to labor in Torah), observe the commandments (guard them in one’s heart, through remembering what we learn), and the actual fulfillment of mitzvos.

The message is logical. The Torah makes it clear here that when the Jewish people fulfill their end of the deal, life in the land will be incredibly blessed.

We ask G-d to bless us with rain, crops,

and produce, in overabundance. We ask for peace, for no dangerous animals to threaten, and for the sword to not even pass through the land. We pray that enemies will be easily chased away, and large numbers of them will be defeated by very small numbers of us.

We embrace the blessing of people being fertile and numerous in the land. We accept the blessing that the Mishkan will last in the land and not grow tired of us.

All of this culminates with the most amazing promise of, “I will make My presence felt among you. Thus I will be a G-d to you, and you will be a nation dedicated to Me.” (26:12) Some of the commentaries describe these last blessings as referring to the World to Come. Others say it is a reference to what will happen in the Land of Israel when all of the Jewish people are fulfilling their missive as Jews who observe and keep the Torah and try to do as many mitzvot as they can.

Ramban talks about G-d’s presence here as

the introduction to the concept of the Shechinah. He explains that the complete presence of G-d will only be felt when the heavens and earth can be complete, in the way they are meant to be. He cautions that these blessings were never achieved in their entirety — not by the masses nor by an individual — because their merits never added up.

Ramban concludes his commentary on this verse with a midrashic quote that was expanded upon by Rashi who describes the image of G-d “making His presence felt amongst you” as “G-d strolling with us in the Garden of Eden like one of us.”

Imagine such a vision. Imagine taking a stroll with G-d — what do we say or do; do we shoot the breeze, ask the deepest philosophical questions, or just bask in the glow of that moment and cherish it forever because what more do we really need?

This is the ultimate blessing.

There are many ways for blessings to

manifest themselves. They can be given from humans to humans. They can be given from G-d to humans. People can feel blessed — by G-d or by the good turns their lives take.

We can also be blessed to acknowledge G-d at all times, to be the ones to give blessings to others (as well as receive from others) and we can aim to see the blessing that Avraham received fulfilled in us — when he was first told to branch out on his own and make his way to the land that G-d will show him that he should BE a blessing to all who encounter him.

What an amazing life we would be living if we could only merit to be a blessing to all we encounter. And who knows? Perhaps if we lived life in such a way, we could merit to not have to wait for the Garden of Eden experience for G-d to be so closely among us.

Perhaps we can achieve the “completeness” Ramban referred to, and thereby merit all the blessings of Parshat Bechukotai.

PHOTO PROSE

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imcha photographers: Imagine the stories they could tell. The anxiety, sentimentality, tears, glamor, beauty, playfulness, excitement, poignancy — all should be found in a wedding album. Lineups with forced smiles posing to the camera don’t tell much of that.

Thirty years ago photographers began to be ridiculed for their habit of interrupting to get a shot certain to show more faces. “Just look up a moment!” they would prompt before a speech, a dance, and many key moments. We bristled then at those professionals. Was that the best way to tell the real story? And so the photojournalistic movement was embraced.

Maybe the real story was how folks related to each other, not how they related to the camera! Perhaps the photographer who worked hard to get a shot of parents qvelling, told more of the story than the pro with the direct attempt which at best gets the predicted cheese smiles, and worse, actually distracts from the moment. But doing that is certainly not easy if everyone is expecting, hoping, and dying to pose to the camera!

The concept of photojournalism confuses client and photographer today. If photojournalism is the art of great snapshots then that is an oxymoron because snapshots are devoid of skill. The word snapshot connotes

the image maker’s lack of technical control — but the image still requires composition, light and expression to be powerful. Those claiming to be photojournalists are often merely professional unskilled snap-shooters, riding a wave of photojournalistic popularity.

Ironically because we think of photojournalism as snap shooting with no science behind it, we assume photojournalists must possess special talents that transcend technical expertise.

This perpetuates the unskilled! Today skilled photographers are often undermined by people who try so hard to look just the way they would in their selfie;hey stop doing what they were doing to tell you that they are posing for a picture and that they have clean white teeth.

A dynamic speaker addresses an audience in a way that you would long remember, had you experienced it. When the photographer tries to go beyond a bland or awkward expression, people feel compelled to pose to the camera.

What can the photographer do?

If he tries to ignore them it seems he is unobservant. If he acknowledges but is slow to accommodate, this is interpreted as rude, impudent, or irritating. If he humors them and makes a photo, it leads to more and more requests for those “interrupt the simcha to take a picture shots,” and you know some will actually ask to see the photo — which is a whole other story!

Back to your wedding album: Do many of the photos tell the wedding story, or do they say how here we paused the story to pose for a picture?

Gary Rabenko is artistic and technical director of Rabenko Photography and Video Arts 516-593-9760, gary@rabenko.com

Shalhevet honors Dalia Midreshet Shalhevet Dalia Lemkus was a 26 year old Israeli girl who was murdered by terrorists earlier this year. She was at a hitchhiking station right outside of Alon Shavut when she was fatally and brutally attacked.

In honor of Dalia, the students at Midreshet Shalhevet learned in her memory. At the school-wide commemoration last December, students spoke, and eleventh grader Tamar Beer recreated a painting that Dalia had created for her future home. The painting was presented to the Lemkus family on erev Pesach.

Brenda Lemkus, Dalia’s mother, was overwhelmed with emotion upon receiving the painting and hearing that a girls’ school in Woodmere took such interest in their daughter Dalia and memorialized her in a positive and beautiful way.

Nachum Lemkus, Dalia’s father, was not at the meeting, but is currently in New York.

He will be visiting Shalhevet this Thursday, May 14,, to speak to the students and to bring the relationship full circle. This will be a moving and sentimental event, one that will forever be remembered.

Israel’s not bipartisan…

Continued from page 15 bles” of the Democratic Party, have long track records of anti-Israel coverage.

And don’t forget that Democratic Party icons such as Jimmy Carter and Zbigniew Brzezinski are actively anti-Israel, or that Hillary Clinton was the first person associated with any presidential administration who called for a Palestinian state and (except as a senator from New York) has never been pro-Israel. Or that this Obama administration is the most anti-Israel administration since 1948.

Yet still American Jewish voters cling to the Democratic Party. Part of it is because American Jews are being lied to. Jewish Organization such as AIPAC, the ADL, AJC, etc., all claim to be non-partisan while they are all worshiping the golden calf of Democratic Party big government politics. These organizations work harder to perpetuate their Democratic Party ideals than to support their Jewish missions.

There is a fear that if Israel becomes an openly partisan issue, the Jewish State would lose the support of the Democratic Party. But that’s already happened!

Here’s a piece of political wisdom: Jews tend to turn out on election day and thus can

be a very important voting block. But as long as Jewish Americans cling to the Democratic Party, the party will continue to be anti-Israel, because the Democratic Party leadership believes they can do anything they want to Israel and still keep the Jewish vote.

Remember the 2012 DNC convention when four pro-Israel planks were removed from its platform? Only the Jerusalem plank was added back; the ones about not dealing with Hamas, no Palestinian right of return to Israel territory, and the one about Israel not returning to the pre-1967 borders, remained out of the platform. And Obama still got 70 percent of the Jewish vote.

It’s time to wake up and smell the chullent.

If Jews continue to cling to an anti-Israel Democratic Party, Republican leaders will realize they cannot get blood (or votes) from a stone.

Sure they believe Israel is a strong ally of the U.S., but why be enthusiastically pro-Israel if it doesn’t help get votes? Right now it helps with the evangelical community, but what happens if that religious movement shrinks? Perhaps GOP support of Israel shrinks also, leaving the Democratic Party freer to be even more antiIsrael than it is today.

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THE JEWISH STAR May 15, 2015 • 26 Iyar 5775

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May 15, 2015 â&#x20AC;¢ 26 Iyar 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

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May 15, 2015 • 26 Iyar 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

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