May 20, 2011

Landslide for Lawrence election Page 3 Ateret Cohanim stands tall for Jerusalem Page 10 Health: Genetic testing Page 16 Sports: MAY, HAFTR, DRS games Page 14

THE JEWISH

STAR

VOL 10, NO 19 ■ MAY 20, 2011 / 16 IYAR, 5771

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Hatzalah, growing in good health

By Sergey Kadinsky An essential part of the Five Towns landscape, the Chevra Hatzalah of the Rockaways and Nassau County, celebrated its 30th year with a model and renderings of a proposed garage and training facility for Woodmere, to better serve the growing Jewish community in the area.

“Do you know what it’s like to get a call in the midst of a winter storm at three in the morning? You clean your car, clean up the ambulance, warm it up, and it take up time,” said Cedarhurst resident Mordechai Goldfeder, 37, a FDNY paramedic who has been volunteering with Hatzalah for 19 years. “It’s a place to keep the ambulance warm and it will reduce costs.”

Currently, the 100-member organization has a garage in Far Rockaway, with ambulances stationed in Belle Harbor and Woodmere. Funded entirely by private donations, Hatzalah operates on a $900,000 annual budget that includes the maintenance of its ambulance fleet, purchase of drugs, and communications equipment.

“Our members have only one desire, to save lives. I am in awe of the chesed that they do behind the scenes,” said coordinator Rabbi Elozer Kanner, who has been a part of Hatzalah for 25 of its 30 years. Listing the costs of running the rescue service, Rabbi Kanner said that each ambulance costs $250,000 to purchase, with two parked in Woodmere.

Having won a series of challenges form the local Board of Zoning Appeals, Rabbi Kanner argued that the building would greatly enhance Hatzalah’s ability to respond to calls.

“If the ambulance is parked outdoors and it’s icy, that’s five to ten minutes digging yourself out. With a garage, we can respond sooner.”

Among those attending the annual fundraising barbecue were Rabbi Yaakov Bender, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Continued on page 2

Photo courtesy of 8thdaymusic.com

Shmuel Marcus, lead singer and Bentzi Marcus lead guitarist of 8th Day, rock the Jewish world with their music videos.

Ya’alili fever

8th Day on the 33rd day

By David F. Nesenoff As Lag B’Omer, the 33rd day of the omer, approaches and as this season’s mourning period is interrupted with joy, The Jewish Star speaks with the hit music group, 8th Day. Bentzi and Shmuel Marcus are brothers, living on the West Coast, whose original sound, videos and live performances continue to rock Jewish communities with their music and message.

David F. Nesenoff: Aside from the fact that you are the hottest music group around, who are you guys?

Bentzi: My brother Shmuel is a writer and I’m a guitar player. We wrote a couple

of songs and our family heard the songs, and then our friends heard the songs and the next thing you know we’re doing shows and recording an album. Growing up our family was very musical and there was a lot of music in the house. So we were having fun with it and now we have all these fans.

DFN: What are your backgrounds?

Bentzi: Shmuel is a Chabad rabbi. I was always into music and was a professional musician.

Shmuel: I have a shul. We did a fundraiser a few years ago and we hired some local band. At the time Bentzi and I had been writing songs and having fun with it and we said at the fundraiser “the rabbi will do one

song.” And the place went crazy and they said that we were better than the other band.

And then we got another gig and got busier and busier. It’s been a fun ride.

DFN: Where does the name 8th Day come from?

Shmuel: 8th Day is actually Shmini Atseret. On Succos for the first seven days karbonos [sacrifices] are brought for all the nations of the world and on the 8th day, Shmini Atseret, the medrash says that it’s like a king who has a feast and he sends home all the guests and it’s just going to be me and you.

That is the idea of 8th Day, it’s just me and you. It also has to do with seven days of creContinued on page 3

Shabbat Candlelighting: 7:52 p.m. Shabbat ends 8:57 p.m. 72 minute zman 9:22 p.m. Torah Reading Parshat Bechukotai This Sunday is Lag B’Omer

Counting is said on the evening before the given dates.

Thursday .................. May 19 Friday ...................... May 20 Shabbat ................... May 21 Sunday .................... May 22 Monday ................... May 23 Tuesday ................... May 24 Wednesday ............. May 25

30 Omer 31 Omer 32 Omer 33 Omer 34 Omer 35 Omer 36 Omer

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Woodmere resident Charlie Harary spoke of his first Hatzalah encounter.

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Continued from page 1 Far Rockaway, and his son Rabbi Boruch Ber Bender. Both are active supporters and volunteers for Hatzalah. “My father was a founder of Hatzalah, and everyone in Darchei Torah knows that. It’s been passed down to the students,” Rabbi Boruch Ber Bender said. “When they started, they used to transport people in the back of station wagons.”

The keynote speaker at the event, was real estate executive and Woodmere resident Charlie Harary, spoke of his first encounter with Hatzalah as a student at Queens College. “We were studying in the library for our finals and an African American student drops to the floor. Everything stops. One guy I was studying with took out his phone and within minutes four Jews in different yarmulkes walked in and had him stable,” Harary said.

Astonished at the speed and skill of the Orthodox volunteers, Harary’s classmates broke out in spontaneous applause and cheering. “I’ve never experienced such a raw Kiddush Hashem. That’s what it means to be a Jew.” While the volunteers dined, the Queens branch of Hatzalah took on the duties for the area. Amid the conversations, the static of emergency sounded off from the hips.

“Just this morning I rescued a fellow Hatzalah member who had a heart attack. We took him to a hospital with a cath lab,” said Far Rockaway volunteer Shlomo, who did not want his name used, fearing it could reveal the identity of his patient. “These are everyday stories, but everybody is human. If there is a death, it hurts. We talk with other about it and this helps.”

Although Rabbi Kanner did not reveal the amount raised at the May 15 barbecue, he said that Hatzalah is still battling a budget deficit as it struggles to keep up with some 3000 calls annually. The groundbreaking date has not been set for the Woodmere facility, but its expected construction cost is $3 million. Rabbi Kanner hopes to pour the foundation this year, as he continues fundraising.

“Only 65 percent of our community has given to Hatzalah, but they cover 100 percent of it,” said Harary. “We have to give a little bit more.”

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Continued from page 1

it has a better effect.

ation and the eighth day is beyond nature.

And also…my birthday is Shmini Atseret.

DFN: What is it about your music that is so attractive to so many people?

Bentzi: That’s a great question. I think we are bringing something new to the table as far as material. Our songs are all original and our sound is more unique than your typical Jewish artist. We were raised with a very eclectic musical sound. We listened to a lot of hasidic, hazanus and Yiddish and Klezmer and Chaim David and Magama and the late Moise Yess who was a huge influence. Also we love writing lyrics and coming up with new ideas.

DFN: The million dollar question, what is Ya’alili?

Shmuel: Anytime I go to a kosher restaurant or a Jewish bookstore, I get asked that question. What is Ya’alili? That’s exactly what it is. It’s a feeling.

Bentzi: It’s a vibe.

Shmuel: It’s also like a nigun. A nigun is sometimes greater than a song with lyrics because the lyrics limit the song to the subject matter. With a nigun people cry and it means a million things to a million different people.

Each listener can actually feel that the song spoke to them. If you leave it vague enough

DFN: What was the inspiration for the music video, which has become a real hit?

Bentzi: All the credit and all the thanks goes to our brother Chaim, an advertising executive, who was the visionary, the writer and the producer. We filmed it at Pomegranate in Flatbush. It was really amazing to do and a lot of fun.

DFN: How did you get those fish to talk?

Shmuel: That’s the second most popular question. What’s Ya’alili? And How’d you get the fish to talk? These are the two things on the minds of our people today. It actually comes through that we are having fun.

DFN: Yes, there is a sense of happiness and fun and joy and not heaviness. Does that come from your Chabad or hasidishe background?

Bentzi: I think it’s just who we are. Shmuel writes material that makes you smile.

DFN: Everyone knows Ya’alili. But your fans also love “It’s Shabbos now.” What was behind that beautiful song and video?

Bentzi: It is loosely based on our grandfather, my mother’s father, alav hasholem, who was a Bobover hasid and he would sing zmiros every Shabbos. And there was a leg-

end in the family that he was in prison in Europe and he made a promise to Hashem that if he gets out he would sing zmiros every Shabbos. Which he did. And his more popular one was Mayididut Minuchasay.

DFN: The song itself is perfect, it is so beautiful. There was a YouTube comment that someone just listens to it non stop.

That is indeed the only thing to do with that song, listen to it over and over again.

But the video appears to have been shot in one take, which would be a filmmaker’s nightmare.

Shmuel: It is one take.

Bentzi: It took many hours to rehearse it and get it right.

Shmuel: It was a film producer’s nightmare. Boris Erickson the director gets the credit for that.

DFN: Shmuel, you’re very dynamic and really sold that song in the video. People can’t keep their eyes off you in the video.

Bentzi: Aside from the one take shot, it also was shot in such a way that we were in slow motion but were still in time with the music.

DFN: Now let me talk to you about that.

Did you play the music faster and sing faster with the music when you taped it?

Shmuel: They speed up the speed of the

song and the camera. Everything is being captured in a faster speed. Plus you’re running through the house and there are other people running.

Bentzi: And I’m trying to play guitar along with the beat.

DFN: It gave such an important look and brings great meaning to the song, it’s magical.

Shmeul: When we spoke to the director, who wasn’t Jewish, we explained to him about Shabbos and what it means… the past and the present, and he processed all that.

DFN: What is it you want your music to do to the world or to other Jews?

Shmuel: The song is the pen of the neshama. Every music has a neshama and Yiddish music has a Yiddishe neshama. We can feel when a song is coming from our soul and that it can set other people’s souls on fire.

DFN: You guys going to keep going?

Shmuel: We’re just getting started.

On Lag B’Omer, 8th Day will be in Crown Heights and in Kansas City. Their album Chasing Prophecy is available in Jewish stores and music websites.

The videos Ya’alili and It’s Shabbos Now are widely viewed on YouTube and on their website www.my8thday.com.

Four-person landslide in Lawrence election

By Sergey Kadinsky

Photo courtesy of HAFTR

Seventh graders (l-r) Ayelet Segal, Chloe Thall, and Haley Ottensoser, recognized essay writers.

HAFTR trio family stories honored

By Sergey Kadinsky A trio of local seventh graders wrote about their families and won recognition for their stories of kindness, poetry, and survival. The HAFTR team sumbitted their works to the Jewish Heritage Essay Contest, run by Torah Atlanta, a Jewish outreach organization. This year’s contest attracted 20 schools from around the country, with one from South Africa.

Ayelet Segal and Chloe Thall won second and third places, respectively for creative writing; while Haley Ottensoser won third place for poetry.

In her essay, titled “Tikun Ha’Olam-Changing the World,” Segal recounted a story from her aunt

about a woman she met in Israel.

A child of traveling hippies, the woman’s parents stumbled upon a large Conservative synagogue in Houston, Texas, where her uncle, Rabbi Jack Segal, accepted the gentile travelers, allowing them to use the shul’s facilities and sharing the kitchen with them. It was their first encounter with a Jew. After a week, the travelers vacated the shul’s parking lot.

Rabbi Segal’s kindness inspired this hippie family to convert and make aliyah.

Demonstrating the interdependence of people, Segal concludes by noting that her aunt was seeking to purchase a bat mitzvah gift from this convert. The recipient was Segal, who also ended up learning about her uncle’s ability to “change

the world.”

Thall recounted life lessons she learned from her grandmother, a Hungarian-born holocaust survivor. “Sometimes, I will rush in the door from school telling my mom that I’m starving. My Safta cannot stand this,” Thall wrote. “She explains to me what ‘starving’ really is. How she had no food and whatever she got, she and her sister, and her mother were so grateful for.”

For poetry, Ottensoser put her impression of the Western Wall into verse: A dove builds a nest in your cracks, Among notes of despair and hope.

You stand in the blazing sun and through many moons.

The visible campaign paid off as the joint ticket led by Asher Mansdorf, Murray Forman, Jeffrey Leb, and Sarah Yastrab, won by a huge margin Asher Mansdorf Murray Forman over their challengers. Lawrence School District trustee Forman, was reelected by a vote of 3,319 to challenger Nicole Di Iorio’s 2,199. Mansdorf defeated Gwynn Campbell by 3,256 to 1,903. Mansdorf and Forman ran on a platJeffery Leb Sarah Yastrab form opposing further tax hikes, while ed Inwood resident Patricia Pope reducing the budget by nearly one for the one-year trustee seat by a percent. Voters approved this $93.1 margin of 3,255 to 1,343. The promillion budget, which is expected posed library budget of $2,912,490 to result in an annual decrease of was passed by the voters. $96 in school property taxes for the “It was a great feeling to have average homeowner. the people come out and vote. The In the library election, the in- voters want reform and accountcumbents were ousted by nearly ability,” said Leb. Looking back at identical margins, reflecting the Mansdorf and Forman’s support of strength of this joint ticket. Chal- his run, Leb said that it made a crulenger Jeff Leb defeated incum- cial difference in earning the trust bent Stanley Nussbaum by 3,240 to of the electorate. “They’ve done 1,415, for the five-year term. Wood- great things for the school board mere resident Sarah Yastrab defeat- and I share their same goals.”

THE JEWISH STAR May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771

Ya’alili: 8th Day music videos rock Jewish souls

3

May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771 THE JEWISH STAR

4

Opinion Bye George!

I

n recent days, George Mitchell, the U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, resigned. The historic resignation and conversation that took place in the oval office coincided with Take Your Daughter to Work Day. It was an opportunity for young Sasha to continue her education of world politics and also a chance to break in her new mini-tape recorder that she received for her birthday from Julian Assange.

George: Mr. President, I want to thank you for the opportunity that I’ve had to serve our great DAVID’S HARP nation but unfortunately I must resign in order to spend more time with my family.

Obama: Oh cut it out George, nobody in their right mind wants to spend more time with their family. Look at me, I live and work in my house and I’ve got my daughter following me around. I’d resign in a minute if it would get me away from my family. Besides, by the time it takes a person to get their family to all get along, you could David F. Nesenoff probably bring about peace in the Middle East.

George: Well, Mr. President, that is precisely what I’ve been working on… Middle East peace.

Obama: Oh yeah, that’s right. Hey George, did you hear I shot Osama, right in the head, bull’s eye. It’s all top secret, but I actually flew out to Pakistan and shot him with my own gun.

George: That’s very funny, Mr. President.

Obama: No. I’m not kidding. I actually flew the plane all by myself, just me and a couple of secret service guys. Not even a flight attendant or crew. I served all the drinks and peanuts. Me, all me, I did it all.

George: Are you sure you’re okay, Mr. President?

Obama: I feel great, better than ever. The best I’ve ever felt. Did you hear, I’m an American citizen, now.

Just got the papers. Here look, look, look at them. You can hold them. Just don’t smudge it, don’t smudge, they’re still drying.

George: Yes, sir, that’s very impressive.

Obama: I’m on a roll, baby. So let’s get this Palestine deal taken care of, ASAP, STAT. George: I can appreciate your fervor Mr. President.

But I really must step down at this time. I don’t think there is more I can do for this situation.

Obama: George, I’m begging you to stay, I just don’t have the time to start looking for someone else to handle this, and it has to be fixed right now.

George: Mr. President, do you think there is imminent danger?

Obama: Yes for sure, at any moment Donald Trump can challenge me about what I’m doing with my Middle East policies. What seems to be the hold up over

there?

George: It appears that ever since you made restrictions and limitations for negotiating, by telling the Israelis that they can’t build on their own land… all talks have stopped. Usually we save the negotiations for when both sides sit down together, not before they sit down. The Palestinians refuse to come to the table.

Obama: What if I cut off aid to Israel? We give them billions.

George: It is certainly a thought, but the 3 billion dollars we give… most of that they spend in New Jersey. We would have to close down factories in Newark and Passaic; and American unemployment would rise.

Obama: I certainly don’t want the unemployment to get any worse; we’ve got an election coming up. Can I pay off the Palestinians to have peace?

George: Each year we give Gaza and Hamas close to a billion dollars and they keep shooting kassam rockets into Israel and trying to kill Jewish civilians.

We’ve given hundreds of billions to Pakistan and they wouldn’t even tell us that Bin Laden was in their capital city’s suburbs.

Obama: Say, did I tell you how I shot Obama, I mean Osama, I even get confused. Did I tell you that I not only flew the plane to Pakistan, but I built it with my own hands and gassed it up.

George: I thought we used stealth top-secret helicopters.

Obama: That was top secret, how did you know?

George: You told People magazine and Oprah.

Obama: They’ve got big mouths. I just had a thought. What if we just cut the land in half and gave each side 50 percent?

George: Well, Mr. President, the history in that region clearly shows that the Israelis got 25 percent and the Arabs got 75 percent. And then the Israelis gave up 50 percent of their 25 percent. And then the Israelis gave up all the Sinai Peninsula, which was 94 percent post 1967 lands. They also pulled out of all of the Gaza Strip and numerous villages and towns in the West Bank and all the while were engaged in major wars, Intifadas, suicide terrorist attacks and U.N. condemnations. And the Palestinians still want 100 percent of everything. The Israelis are still willing to negotiate with these very same people who have murdered and kidnapped Israelis, rejoiced over 9-11 and condemned the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Obama: You want to see the pictures? If you stay in the Middle East, I’ll let you see the Bin Laden headshots. Get it? Headshots? They’re real; we didn’t Photoshop this at all. To tell you the truth Sasha’s the only one in the building who knows how to use Photoshop, Facebook and ‘tweeter.’

George: Mr. President, I really must go now. But good luck with the Middle East.

Obama: I should just send in some good old American troops. You know I sent them to Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya. I’m gonna probably send some to Continued on page 5

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Only A Hudna

H

udna is an Arabic term meaning a temporary “truce” or “armistice” as well as “quiet”, coming from a verbal root meaning “calm”. It is sometimes translated as “cease-fire.” Hudna has a distinct meaning to Islamic fundamentalists; the prophet Mohammad struck a legendary, ten-year hudna with the Quraysh tribe that controlled Mecca in the seventh century. Over the following two years, Mohammad rearmed and took advantage of a minor Quraysh infraction to break the hudna and launch the full conquest of Mecca, the holiest city in Islam.

In a May 5th interview with the MAAN News Agency (an independent Palestinian news service) Hamas party POLITICO leader Mahmoud Az-Zahhar said that the party was willing TO GO to recognize a Palestinian State in some or all of “Palestine” but would never recognize Israel.

“If only Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are considered citizens of a Palestinian state,” he continued, “what will be the fate of the five million Palestinians in the diaspora?”

At the same time, the Hamas leader confirmed the decision reached with Fatah to maintain the truce with Israel, calling the move “part of the resistance, not a cancellation,” and noting that “truce is not peace.”

Az-Zahhar isn’t saying anything new or radical; the concept of hudna has been used often by Palestinian forces. In 1994, Arafat gave a talk at a mosque while visiting Johannesburg, South Africa. Journalist, Bruce Whitfield recordJeff Dunetz ed his remarks. As described by Middle East expert Daniel Pipes.

“The moment was an optimistic one for the Arab-Israeli peace process, Arafat having just six days earlier returned triumphantly to Gaza; it was widely thought that the conflict was winding down. In this context, Arafat’s bellicose talk in Johannesburg about a “jihad to liberate Jerusalem,” had a major impact on Israelis, beginning a process of disillusionment that has hardly abated in the intervening years.”

Later on in his speech Arafat compared his “peace” with Israel to Muhammad’s Hudna with the Quraysh in Mecca: “I see this agreement as being no more than the agreement signed between our Prophet Muhammad and the Quraysh in Mecca.” Arafat further drew out the comparison, noting that although Muhammad had been criticized for this diplomacy by one of his leading companions (and a future caliph), ‘Umar ibn alKhattab, the prophet had been right to insist on the agreement, for it helped him defeat the Quraysh and take over their city of Mecca. In a similar spirit, we now accept the peace agreement, but [only in order] to continue on the road to Jerusalem. In the five years since he first alluded to Muhammad and the Quraysh, Arafat has frequently mentioned this as a model for his own diplomacy.

According to Shoshanah Haberman from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Hamas has declared or offered Israel no fewer than 10 hudnas since 1993. In the cases in which hudnas were established, Hamas broke all of them.

Most recently, Hamas tore apart its hudna with Fatah when it took over the Gaza Continued on page 5

Yankie & Luzer It sounds like Lag B’Omer.

5

Bye George!

Continued from page 4 Egypt and Yemen and Syria. These dictators are all slaughtering their own people, so we’re going in there to drop some bombs on them and fix it all. Sasha don’t touch Daddy’s Nobel Peace Prize! Put that down, Daddy may not get another one. So George, what’s it gonna be? Get back over there and tell the Israelis to let some more terrorists out of their prisons and make nice, nice?

George: Mr. President, you know the Israelis resent that they have to keep releasing all

agreement between Hamas and Fatah was celebrated by the UN and across Europe.

In the next few weeks look for increased pressure from the EU and the United States on Israel to negotiate with the newly combined Hamas/Fatah Palestinian Authority. Israel should resist with all of its might, remembering the famous words written by Ze’ev Jabotinsky in The Iron Wall November 4, 1923: “It is incredible what political simpletons Jews are. They shut their eyes to one of the most elementary rules of life, that you must not “meet halfway” those who do not want to meet you.”

Jeff Dunetz is the Editor/Publisher of the political blog “The Lid” (www.jeffdunetz.com). Jeff contributes to some of the largest political sites on the internet including American Thinker, Big Government, Big Journalism, NewsReal and Pajama’s Media, and has been a guest on national radio shows including G. Gordon Liddy, Tammy Bruce and Glenn Beck. Jeff lives in Long Island. these terrorists from prison while we still have the harmless Jonathan Pollard locked up.

Obama: That’s ridiculous Jackson Pollack is a great artist and an American hero, so get over to Israel now. I would go myself but the electrical current adapter for my overseas teleprompter is missing. I think the kids used it for a Wii game and now the White House keeps blowing fuses every time we flip a switch. I’m telling you George nobody leaves a good job to spend more time with the family.

George: Goodbye Mr. President.

Obama: Don’t forget to take a White House souvenir long form birth certificate on the way out. Bye George.

David F. Nesenoff, The Jewish Star publisher with New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli at the Israel Independence Day celebration.

Israel celebrates in New York Over 700 people celebrated Israel’s 63rd birthday at the Crowne Plaza Manhattan Hotel last week, sponsored by the Israeli Consulate of New York. Attendees included Consul General Ido Aharoni, MK Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Minister of Environmental Protection, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, Police Commissonier Ray Kelly, Dr.

Ruth, Dan Rather, Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum, N.J. Burkett of WABC-TV, Jewish leaders and rabbis.

Security for the event was very tight. That same evening, at a different location, NYPD arrested two Queens terror suspects who are accused of plotting to blow up New York synagogues.

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Continued from page 4 Strip in a violent coup that led to the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians.

Hamas’ logic for a hudna is pretty simple: Use the hudna as an opportunity to regroup, and then break it when the group feels strong enough to launch an offensive.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler told the world what he intended to do with the Jews; the response of the world was “it’s just words, nobody could be that sick.” They were wrong. Hamas and and Fatah, both, have told the world what they intend to do with the Jews. The world is saying, “Ah that is just rhetoric and positioning.” They too have their collective heads in the sand.

Ismail Haniyeh, key Hamas leader and Prime Minister of Gaza, said that Palestinians mark Nabka Day (day of catastrophe, what Palestinians call the day Israel was established) “with great hope of bringing to an end the Zionist project in Palestine.”

Yet despite all the indications showing the unified Palestinian government will be nothing but another anti-Israel terrorist entity, the

THE JEWISH STAR May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771

Only A Hudna

Parshat Bechukotai

Of curses and mourning own. From the United States of America, as demonstrated through the tolerance and openness of this country, the history of G-d’s “appointed enemies carrying His sword” has taken an altogether different face. In some instances, the U.S. has taken upon itself the role of being the protector and defender of injustice in the world, fighting against those who carry the sword.

So why do we continue to mourn for the students of Rabbi Akiva? Let’s say their deaths were the fulfillment of a tochacha punishment. If it comes in waves, then our mourning practices should be limited to Tisha BaAv, as when every other event is commemorated.

I think the deaths of Rabbi Akiva’s students carry with them an even more profound significance. In their book, “Why the Jews?” Dennis Prager and Rabbi Joseph Telushkin point out that when picking a monotheistic faith as a substitute for paganism in the Fourth Century, the Roman Empire should have logically picked Judaism to be that replacement.

They claim that 7 to 10 percent of the people living in the Roman Empire were Jews, many of whom were converts. The philosopher Seneca even remarked that “the conquered have given their laws to the conquerors.”

Then Christianity arose from Judaism and presented a more appealing argument of spiritual rather than physical mitzvot plus a Messiah who had already arrived, and the rest, as they say, is history. What if Rabbi Akiva’s students, who lived (and died) at that time, had become the great emissaries of his Torah teachings? What if they had reached out to the greater world and invited people to join them under the wings of the Divine Presence?

In what way would our world look different? What if the whole world really “was” Jewish?

This, like any other “what if” regarding the past, is a pipe dream question, which can never be answered. In the U.S., I certainly do not ask the question with an eye towards changing any status quo. But the hypothetical question is still compelling, especially as we learn more and more about ancient civilizations.

The fact that there is hatred and war in the world, perhaps on account of the loss of the potential teachings that could have easily spread Judaism like wildfire, is most unfortunate. We continue to ask “what if” when we observe the mourning practices of Sefirat HaOmer because the opportunity they had in those days might never come again. And that is a reason to mourn.

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Do a search on the internet for “Klausenberger Rebbe” and you’ll find the deceased rebbe has a Facebook page. Add the word “tochacha” to your search, and you’ll find a story about a time he was in shul for the reading of the tochacha, and he told the reader to read the section in a loud voice.

Rabbi Frand, who tells the story, records the Rebbe’s explanation for this contrarian position to an ancient custom.

“This can be read quietly when you are afraid that it might happen and you don’t know what is going to happen to you once it happens. We, however, have already lived through this [in the Holocaust] and we are still here. This is now something that we are proud of… The tochaRabbi Avi Billet cha is now our badge of honor. It will no longer be read silently. It will be read completely out loud! We can say we were there. It happened to us and we have remained Jews of integrity.”

The tochacha carries with it G-d’s promise of His personal vengeance against those who do not follow His ways, followed by His promise to send a sword against His people when they veer from the path. The sword will presumably be carried by G-d’s appointed enemies.

In this period of Sefirat HaOmer, it is quite poignant to think of these promises at a time when we continue to observe certain “mourning practices” over the loss of the students of Rabbi Akiva, more than eighteen hundred years ago.

Which devastating time for the Jewish period was the fulfillment of the tochacha? Was it the destruction of the Temple? The period of the Crusades? The Inquisition? Chmielnicki? Pogroms? The Holocaust? Arab terror?

Was the Klausenberger Rebbe right? Or is the worst still to come? How do we reconcile this all with the reality of a promise that seems to be ongoing, and perhaps everlasting? Will we always be responsible for the bad behavior?

I think it comes in waves. It took 1700 years of Jewish wandering until this incredible country we reside in was created. The benevolence and freedoms this nation offered and continues to offer are a G-dsend for the Jewish people. In a word, outside of Israel and Jewish sovereignty, “we never had it so good” in a land that was not our

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May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771 THE JEWISH STAR

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7 THE JEWISH STAR May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771

Hebrew only please!

A Jewish newspaper should have a Hebrew column. So here it is.

We will try to maintain a level of vocabulary so that it will be easy enough for students to read and interesting enough for those more fluent to enjoy.

The second Passover

By Rabbi Noam Himelstein

Rabbi Noam Himelstein studied in Yeshivat Har Etzion and served in the Tanks Corps of the IDF. He has taught in yeshiva high schools, post-high school women’s seminaries, and headed the Torah MiTzion Kollel in Melbourne, Australia. He currently teaches at Yeshivat Orayta in Jerusalem, and lives with his wife and six children in Neve Daniel, Gush Etzion.

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May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771 THE JEWISH STAR

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The three basic methods of combination cuisine

Fusion food facts For the average restaurant patron, navigating the landscape of modern cuisine is becoming increasingly difficult. In part because we, as the consumers, are demanding a greater range THE KOSHER of creativity CRITIC from the chefs who cook for us and these ese chefs respond nd by changing ng up ingredients nts and techniques ues to accommomodate our diverersifying tastes. es.

This results lts in what is referred to as “fusion cui-Zechariah Mehler sine” which h is defined ass a method by which various cu-linary ingredients, traditions and d elements are combined.

There are three basic methods ds of fusion cuisine.

The first and simplest is when en the food from a series of different nt regions with similar culinary senensibilities is combined. This is most ost

commonly seen in restaurants that refer to themselves as “Asian Fusion.” Often this means that the restaurant offers dishes that utilize from countries throughout Asia not specifically focusing on any specific one.

The second method of Fusion cooking involves working with a

specific regional cuisine but then utilizing ingredients that are specific to another region. For me nothing exemplifies this style of fusion more then a wonderful hole in the wall called The Thai Grill in Jerusalem that makes a Thai stirfry but uses lamb that is distinctly Mediterranean.

The third and my favorite style of Fusion cooking is a food form that mimics one style of cuisine but uses the ingredients and flavors of another. A great example of this is Noi Due restaurant on the upper West Side. Its Sigari are Moroccan Cigars filled with ricotta and basil dipped in marinara. The result is a dish that is both distinctMoroccan and Italian. ly Moro recently decided to try creI re ating my own fusion dish that atin utilized this culinary techu nique. After seeking advice from a friend on what food medium to try this with, I eventually ended up making an Asian Edamame Hummus. The flavor is a wonderful blend of Asian and Mediterranean. I served it with a sprinkle of cayenne pepper and rice crackers.

In case you would like to try it for yourself here is the recipe: h

Ingredients Ingr

■1p pound cooked edamame ■ 2 cloves c of minced Garlic

■1 ■3

der

teaspoon of kosher salt tablespoons of wasabi pow-

■ 4 tablespoons lime juice ■ ¼ a cup of soy sauce ■ ¼ a cup of dark toasted

ame oil

ses-

Directions

Place edamame, garlic, salt and wasabi powder into the bowl of a food processor and blend for about 15 to 20 seconds. Add lemon juice and soy sauce and blend for an additional 20 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and run processor at a low speed while slowly drizzling in the sesame oil.

I hope this attempt will encourage others to try their hand at “fusion” cooking and answer the recent emails and questions I have been getting regarding “What is this whole fusion thing?”

Zechariah Mehler is a widely published food writer and expert in social marketing. Follow him on Twitter @thekoshercritic

Opinion Pitch black are the depths

A

nd then along they all came, all the 80 million upright Germans, and each one has his decent Jew. They say: all the others are swine, but here is a first-class Jew. The words of Heinrich Himmler in a 1943 address to SS Gruppenführer. The Nazis had instilled in the Germans a livid disgust towards the Jews as a whole. And yet when it came to the individual Jew—the neighbor, the coworker—the Jew FROM THE HEART could be a friend, even OF JERUSALEM a role model. He was an upstanding human deserving praise and meanwhile a repulsive animal deserving slaughter. It can’t make sense.

One day each year, the Jews across the world commemorated the Holocaust. To me, Yom Hashoa is a day to bear witness to the Samuel Fisher unbearable, to imagine the unimaginable. It is my responsibility to feel the Holocaust vividly, to be shaken into intolerable awareness. To keep the memory alive takes a lot more than words.

Each year I experience the humbling inadequacy of the human mind, utterly unable to grasp the facts of what happened. Take the most technical, unambiguous detail—six mil-

lion. Who can conceive six million?

Several years ago my dad’s parents, both survivors of the Holocaust, led our family on a trip to Poland. On our visit to Auschwitz we encountered the wall where Jews stood before the firing squad. We gathered in the place where Jewish victims had stood seconds before dying, in the spot where Jewish corpses had fallen forever. And my grandfather, who had grown up alongside these same Jews, whose classmates and friends had been these same Jews, turned to me and told me he could not begin to imagine it had happened.

On Yom Hashoa this year, a survivor visited our yeshiva. He described his time in a death camp. Through three days of unmitigated torture, he watched the building with the chimneys. It piped smoke day and night.

He constantly saw masses of Jews entering the building. He didn’t understand why he never saw anyone exiting. He was told that the building was for burning people. But that couldn’t be. He didn’t believe that.

He described the minutes preceding his scheduled hanging. This was before he knew the Allies would finally arrive and save his life. So he found himself staring death in the eyes. Right in front of his face, the gallows’ uncompromising structure stood tall and the thick rope swung in the frigid air. One might try to imagine the heart-pounding agony in such a moment, the sheer terror and despair. But no, he was calm, not even afraid.

What was to be afraid of? He couldn’t—he

didn’t— believe he was actually going to die.

This senseless world was total chaos. It simply couldn’t be real.

In the afternoon we visited Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial. As I walked through the exhibits, it was the personal items that grabbed me over and over and over. I saw a hair comb, a toy doll, a dish inscribed with the owner’s name. These items looked real from real people. There were pots and pans and a wristwatch; these things behind the display-glass could actually exist in the world.

I saw a video of Hitler speaking to the Nazi multitude. He looked so human, and his tone bespoke sincerity, passion, and emotion. This didn’t seem real. How could this be Hitler? How could this person be Hitler?

The world of the Holocaust, the unconditional hatred, the senseless cruelty, was a twisted fairytale, an absurdity bearing no semblance to reality. In Himmler’s address, the opening of this essay, he spoke of the Nazi mind, which befriended the Jew and meanwhile lusted for his blood. These murderers—many of whom held doctorates in philosophy, literature, and history, studies in ethics and humanity—were living a paradox.

The intellectual elite had become the most intellectually ludicrous of all.

How could this be? Because even, to the Nazis, such atrocities could not feel real. They could both embrace and destroy the Jew because the destruction was only a dream—it was part of his consciousness, and

at the same time he knew it couldn’t be. The horror so exceeded the conceivable limits of possibility that even to the first-hand perpetrator, the one most actively involved, the one most glaringly responsible, it was a confused cloud of the surreal.

The fact is, Germans in commando units used to find it necessary to drink heavily before the massacre missions. Top Nazis could not even watch the killing system without vomiting uncontrollably and leaving promptly. In the end, the greatest evil was in these choices—to commit that which they knew they didn’t understand. Those who refused to perform the killing, a significant group, were never punished.

Himmler continued in his speech, describing the Holocaust as “a page of glory never mentioned and never to be mentioned.” History textbooks don’t care about fairytales.

Records of fact don’t have time for horrendous dream worlds. And with that comes the great challenge facing my generation. It is our job to first feel the reality of a world thoroughly out of reach. And then to root in our children a story that will sound to them like a myth.

Samuel Fisher grew up in Newton, Massachusetts and graduated from Maimonides School in 2010. He is spending the year studying in Yeshivat Orayta in the Old City of Jerusalem after which he will attend Harvard College.

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THE JEWISH STAR May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771

Agudath professionals conference draws hundreds

9

By Sergey Kadinsky

For Generations A Symbol Of Jewish Tradition.

DAVID M. RUBIN Photo courtesy of Agudath Israel

Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel of Agudath Israel addresses conference.

Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel, spoke in support of reporting abuse to authorities. “Torah approves reporting abuse to authorities,” said Rabbi Flink. “It’s about preventing opportunities for abuse from happening.”

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Seeking to balance their professions alongside Torah guidelines, hundreds of participants attended Agudath Israel’s Halacha Conference for Professionals and the Business Community on May 15 in Brooklyn.

Topics such as wills and estates, organ donation, taxation and accounting, and abuse reporting were addressed in pairs with Agudath rabbis presenting alongside moderators accredited in medicine, law, family therapy, and accounting.

Noting the contrast that sometimes appears between Torah views and conventional judgment, Agudath Israel board chairman Rabbi Gedaliah Weinberger quoted an example from famed prewar rosh yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, who argued that in certain life-saving situations, an older person would receive precedence over someone younger. “We have to make our community aware of the rulings of da’as Torah on those issues that impact on our daily lives,” Rabbi Weinberger said.

Speaking on end-of-life care, Rabbi Weinberger described the unprecedented legal challenges of following Torah guidelines in medical treatment of the elderly. “The conference addressed on how you and your loved ones should be treated according to Torah and not be left to languish and die,” said Rabbi Chaim Flink of Kew Gardens, who attended the conference. “Death should not be hastened.”

On the topic of abuse, Rabbi Chaim Dovid

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Local Ateret Cohanim supporter Nessim Tammam

Standing tall for Jerusalem

By Fern Sidman The Jewish presence in Jerusalem’s Old City and surrounding eastern neighborhoods continues to grow, with local supporters preparing for a June 1 celebration fundraiser at Terrace on the Park in Queens, raising funds for American Friends of Ateret Cohanim/Jerusalem Chai. Widely known for its promotion of Jewish settlement in eastern Jerusalem, this year marks the 32nd year for the yeshiva.

Founded by Matityahu HaCohen Dan, the yeshiva seeks to rebuild and secure the Jewish presence in Jerusalem by re-establishing Jewish communities centered around yeshivas in the the Muslim and Christian Quarters of the Old City.

Representing the Jewish residents of the Old City of Jerusalem at this year’s dinner is Chaya Shira (Frimer) Tanami who lives in the Yemenite Village, a neighborhood south of the Old City that had a Jewish presence prior to 1948. Among the recipients of the organization’s Bonei Yerushalayim award are Great Neck residents Nessim and Lynne Tammam.

“Jerusalem holds a special significance for me because I was born in Libya and grew up in a neighborhood that was very similar to the Old City of Jerusalem but needless to say, things were very different,” Nessim Tammam said. “The Arabs controlled every facet of our lives and we accepted subjugation in order to avoid suffering their wrath.”

In contrast, Jerusalem offered Tammam an opportunity to do the opposite. “The Jewish nation should stand tall and take pride in staking our claim to our biblical inheritance,” Tammam said. “We shouldn’t allow the leftwing media and other anti-Israel forces to define us as land grabbers. With appreciation to Hashem, we have returned to our rightful home in Jerusalem and we’re going the extra mile to buy back land that has been occupied

by Arabs.”

Tammam became familiar with Ateret Cohamin 10 years ago while attending his nephew’s bar mitzvah in Jerusalem. “I saw with my own eyes the tremendous efforts that the people in Ateret Cohanim were putting in to rebuild the Old City; the long hours of research and the time they spent negotiating with Arabs to legally acquire properties,” Tammam said.

Alongside real estate purchases, Ateret Cohamin also provides services such as playgrounds, schools, community centers, security technology, yeshiva tuition assistance and housing.

Shani Hikind, the Executive Vice President of American Friends of Ateret Cohanim listed off the neighborhoods that have a renewed Jewish presence, in part due to Ateret Cohanim. “I stand in complete awe of the courageous residents of the Old City, Kidmat Zion, Maalei HaZeitim and the Yemenite Village known as Silwan. I don’t know how many of us have the kind of mettle it takes to stand in their shoes,” Hikind said. Jerusalem belongs to every single Jew, irrespective of where he or she may be living at the moment. Each of has a vital stake in its future.”

Concerning the upcoming Yom Yerushalayim celebration, Mrs. Hikind said, “Right now, we are asking every single Jew to join us at the dinner on June 1st when we will thank G-d for Jerusalem’s continued survival throughout the ages.”

In spite of international pressure, families continue to move into the eastern neighborhoods. “The last ten years has seen signifi-

Photo courtesy of Ateret Cohanim

Israeli soldiers pose with children of Ateret Cohanim families at the Kotel. cant change in Jerusalem,” said Ateret Cohanim’s executive director Daniel Lourie.

“Currently there are 110 families living on the Mount of Olives. Eight brave families are now living in Silwan or the Yemenite Village, as it is known. Recently, Arabs began rioting in the neighborhood, blocking the road with huge boulders and setting tires on fire. De-

spite these dangers, we are telling the world by our presence there that Jews will not be intimidated.”

Despite the blatant hypocrisy of the world as it pertains to Israel, Lourie remains confident that Israel, the Jewish people and Jerusalem will not only survive but thrive. “We do what needs to be done as we have since

the beginning of time. By acquiring properties, reclaiming our heritage, working towards renovating Jerusalem for the future, we have and will continue to prevail over the forces of darkness.”

For more information on the Jerusalem Day celebration dinner, see this week’s calendar.

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May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771 THE JEWISH STAR

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THE JEWISH STAR May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771

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Mensch on the street

By Ariel Rosenbloom

What’s your favorite music?

“My favorite bands are Rise Against, or Bright Eyes, and Arcade Fire. My favorite song would have to be ‘Bowl of Oranges’ by Bright Eyes. I listen to rock’n roll and jam bands.”

EZRA STERN manager at Wok Tov, Cedarhurst “I listen to pop, and rap. My favorite song is ‘Written in the Stars’ by Tinie Tempah.”

MADELINE ROSENBERG Queens College student, North Woodmere

“Jewish music. I like Mordechai Ben-David.

I also like the Bee Gees and my favorite song is ‘Tragedy.’

“I listen to pop. What else you want to know about my life?”

EVA MULLER labor coach, Five Towns shopper, Cedarhurst

ARIEL BERGER student at HALB Elementary, Woodmere

“Basically, I have to say sixties and seventies music. Occasionally, a little Frank Sinatra. I can’t forget my wedding song, ‘Weekend in New England’ by Barry Manilow.”

“I like mainly the oldies, a lot of hebrew and middle eastern music. I like the Beatles, Bee Gees. Good old time music; when music was music.”

MITCH RAKITA owner of the “Cheese Store,” Cedarhurst

This Yom Yerushalayim Join

Ateret Cohanim/Jerusalem Chai In Honoring the True Heroes of the Jewish People Living Under Non-Stop Hateful Arab Attacks.

Represented by Chaya Shira (Frimer) Tanami of Yemenite Village (Silwan)

If We Are Not There For Jerusalem, Who Will Be?

DAVID GERASSI owner of “David’s Famous Pizza and Borekas”, Cedarhurst

Pay Tribute to Bonei Yerushalayim Awardees: Shlomo & Naomi Min-Ha’Har Gottfried Maalot Dafna, Jerusalem

Henoch & Tova Messner Monsey, NY

Nessim & Lynne Tammam Great Neck, NY

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May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771 THE JEWISH STAR

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THE JEWISH STAR May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771

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Sports MAY volleys to win twice over DRS

MAY and HAFTR split wins in doubleheader

By Sergey Kadinsky In a doubleheader game on May 13 between Mesivta Ateres Yaakov and HAFTR, each high school team won one game in a repeat of last year’s championship game.

In the first game, Ateres Yaakov’s Eagles took an early lead against HAFTR’s Hawks 4-0, but they caught on to tie the game, topping it out 6-5. Ateres Yaakov athletic director Rabbi Yossi Bennett credited senior Josh Friedman for his pitching as his teammates ran the bases.

The second game began in a mirror image, as HAFTR took on its own early 4-0 lead.

By the fifth inning, Ateres Yaakov climbed to tie the score, but HAFTR remained on top, in a 7-4 win. “Both teams played extremely well and have a very real shot at the title. Maybe we’ll be looking at another hometown rivalry in the championship game again this year,” Rabbi Bennett said.

Both teams moved on to the playoffs, with DRS taking on Ateres Yaakov on May 19. HAFTR kept up its winning streak by defeating HANC on May 15 in a doubleheader.

By Sergey Kadinsky

Photo courtesy of Mesivta Ateres Yaakov

Photo courtesy of Mesivta Ateres Yaakov

Moshe Wyner of Ateres Yaakov at bat in doubleheader against HAFTR.

MAY volleyball captain Josh Friedman spiking for the win against DRS.

Mesivta Ateres Yaakov tore into the DRS Wildcats with a doubleheader win on May 12 as the regular season transitions into the playoffs. The first match kept a tight balance, with the Eagles winning at 25-23 in the first game, and an eight-point climb in the second game.

The second match was “an easy win,” in the words of MAY atheletic director Rabbi Yossi Bennett. In these two games, the Eagles won at 25-21 and 25-22, clinching the first place spot in the Eastern Division of local yeshiva volleyball. This was the team’s third straight year entering the playoffs.

“We are extremely proud of our talmidim, not only for the dedication, commitment and teamwork with which they play, but, more so, for the menchlichkeit and sportsmanship,” said Rabbi Bennett.

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May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771 THE JEWISH STAR

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15 THE JEWISH STAR May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771

Photo of the Week

Achievement

Learning Center

Intensive Regents Review Chemistry June 12 Biology June 3, 10 Algebra June 1, 2 Geometry June 19 Algebra 2/Trig June 13 Earth Science TBD

1:00-8:00 1:30-4:45 6:30-9:45 9:30-4:30 9:30-4:30

Photo courtesy of Ateret Cohanim

If you have a photograph with a description, from local or afar, please submit to: newsroom@thejewishstar.com

Global History with Regents Author

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May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771 THE JEWISH STAR

16

Opinion Ethical conclusions on genetic testing

Knowing the results

A

few years ago, I attended a lecture given by Dor Yeshorim, an organization founded in 1983 to test prospective Ashkenazi Jewish couples for genetic diseases. My parents at the forefront of this effort, being among the first to support the Tay-Sachs Association in the 1950s as I had a brother who was afflicted with this genetic disease. I have been tested, as have all my relatives for carrier status, but before the organization was formed. I attended the lecture to determine if this organization might Michael J. be one I would refer Salamon people to.

I heard of the organization’s many successes but several things troubled me. The way that Dor Yeshorim operates is to test and give those tested a personal code number. When two people tested by the organization wish to marry both call with their code numbers to see if they are

Guest voices

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genetically compatible. There is no discussion as to what disease they may be a carrier for, just whether or not they are both carriers of the same disease. In the literature distributed, there was a reference to a study that states, “research studies confirm that carrier status knowledge can lead to anxiety, embarrassment, feelings of inferiority and depression.”

I came away from the lecture troubled for two reasons. The first was the research cited. It referred to a study reported in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Not only am I an avid reader of this particular journal, I have served on their editorial board. I was familiar with the article but not the conclusion so I reread it. In fact, the study found virtually the opposite.

The assumption was that being informed that you have the gene would be psychologically devastating. In fact, the study found just the opposite. Those suffering from sickle

cell anemia reported initial embarrassment but were happy to know their status so that they might adapt their lives to the situation.

A study of individuals with a genetic marker for Alzheimer’s disease was recently reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, finding similar results.

It appears that paternalistic assumptions to protect an individual by withholding information about their genetic status may very well be baseless.

The second issue, which is just now coming to the fore, is also very disconcerting. In their Ethical Guidelines, the National Society of Genetic Counselors state that genetic counselors “Enable their clients to make informed decisions, free of coercion, by providing or illuminating the necessary facts, and clarifying the alternatives and anticipated consequences.” According to these guidelines, adopted by virtually every genetic counseling organization worldwide, when testing

The assumption was that being informed that you had the gene would be psychologically devastating.

for genetic diseases the person tested is given the facts of their situation, what disease they carry, and what it implies.

Dor Yeshorim does not do this. In response, the medical director for Dor Yeshorim indicated that disclosing what a person is a carrier of is not relevant to Dor Yeshorim because they are “not obligated” to do so in direct contradiction to the Ethical Guidelines.

What then is the obligation that we have?

Too often we simply look the other way. We allow others to set the standard at a level of their own choosing and not at one that is the most ethical. The famous Zimbardo Prison experiments where subjects delivered what they believed were powerful shocks to others, conducted more than 30 years ago shows that we can all easily lose sight of ethical behavior when encouraged to. It is our obligation to see to it that this does not happen.

Not with ourselves or with those who have power for us.

Dr. Salamon, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is the founder and director of the ADC Psychological Services in Hewlett. His most recent book “Abuse in the Jewish Community,” published by Urim Publications will be available in June.

A Jewish Imperative to live in the Diaspora?

iving in caravans in a small settlement town during my years learning in Israel, my dream was always to settle the land.

As a religious Zionist, I feel that living in Israel is a tremendous and miraculous opportunity, and all Jews can and must consider making this life transition as we are all very familiar with the halakhic obligation of yishuv ha’aretz, the religious obligation to settle the Land of Israel. I would like to suggest, however, that in addition to this well-known imperative, there is also a crucial duty to reside in the Diaspora.

The Rambam, folRabbi Shmuly lowing the Babylonian Yanklowitz Talmud, allows for limited exceptions to the mitzvah to reside in the Land, including studying or teaching Torah, searching for a marriage partner, living in safety, or in the case of economic hardship.

The Jerusalem Talmud, however, suggests

that there is no prohibition against leaving Israel at all, even if one is already living there.

Some of the great 20th century authorities have argued that one is not obligated to reside in Israel today: Rav Yehudah Amital, the late rosh yeshiva and Israeli leader, once said, “In America there are many great Torah scholars, Rav Joseph Soloveitchik, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Satmar Rebbe and others. Is it possible that not one of them knows the halakhah?”

While Israel remains the destiny of the Jewish people, we also must not abandon the Diaspora. Firstly, the Torah demands that we, as a nation, commit to pursuing justice; to be warriors against injustice, it behooves us to be stationed everywhere around the globe.

This work as an ohr l’goyim, a light unto the nations, is our raison d être.

It is in the Diaspora where we can fulfill the Torah’s charge to combat global poverty, injustice, and oppression wherever it may be found. While Israel has been known to do inspiring humanitarian work, a nationstate’s primary concern must be the welfare and security of its own citizens. We must be concerned with Israel’s security as well but our responsibility is also broader. I’ve met

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thousands of other young Jewish leaders who have intertwined their religious Zionist identities with identities as global citizens.

Second, though Jewish thought can and should remain distinct from that of other cultures, and obviously, other religions, the Jewish intellectual tradition has always benefitted, and continues to benefit, from development in conjunction with a diverse array of neighboring societies. Taking a cue from Muslim scholars like Al Farabi and Avicenna, Rambam integrated Jewish thought and Greek philosophy without the need to sacrifice our halakhah or our identity. Today in America, as in the “Golden Age” of medieval Spain and the Talmudic academies of Babylonia, there is a great concentration of stellar Jewish academic programs and yeshivot.

Rabbi Nehorai goes so far as to suggest, “Exile yourself to a place of Torah – and do not assume it will come after you – for it is your colleagues that will cause it to remain with you” (Pirkei Avot 4:18). This should raise Diaspora self esteem as one must reside where they can develop their best intellectual and spiritual achievements.

Aliyah to Israel is on the rise. 17,880 immigrants arrived in Israel in 5770 as com-

pared to 15,180 in 5769 – an increase of 18%. There is no need for the demographic prophecies of gloom that if we don’t make immediate aliyah, Israel will fumble and that the Diaspora provides no hope for the Jewish future. Neither argument paints an accurate picture nor do they demonstrate the faith to survive that has driven Jews for millennia.

Many have argued for Shelilat ha’golah, the idea that one cannot sustain a Jewish life outside of Israel. One should be cautious of those who suggest that one can only live fully as a Jew in Israel. While there are particularistic mitzvot that can only be performed in Israel, there are also universalistic mitzvot that can only properly be achieved with the cooperation of Jews in the Diaspora.

One should not feel shame for choosing to reside in London, Kiev, or Chicago, but rather should proudly accept the responsibilities of supporting Israel while serving as a global ambassador for the Jewish people.

Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz is the Founder & President of Uri L’Tzedek, the Senior Jewish Educator at UCLA and a 5th year PhD candidate at Columbia University in Moral Psychology & Epistemology.

Mourning Rabbi Amos Bunim The Jewish Star staff recognizes the accomplishments of Rabbi Amos Bunim in his role as a founder of Torah Academy for Girls and Yeshiva Sh’or Yoshuv, greatly enhancing the quality of Torah learning in Far Rockaway. The Lawrence resident died on Shabbat Behar and was buried in Jerusalem. Zecher tzadik l’vrachah.

17 THE JEWISH STAR May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771

Healthcare profile: PM Pediatrics

Major care for minors gent care to kids. The mission of PM Pediatrics is to ensure that patients receive superior quality healthcare when they need it, featuring short wait times and convenient hours.

They provide specialized care and treatment for a broad array of illnesses and injuries including asthma, fever and other infections, dehydration, sprains and fractures, wounds requiring stitches and much more.

Each PM Pediatrics practice has its own on-site digital x-ray which produces high resolution images that are easily sent to physicians via CD-ROM or electronically.

Each location also features a comprehensive laboratory which performs complete blood, urine and chemistry workups, delivering immediate results for a broad range of tests.

PM Pediatrics takes special care to fax each patient’s medical record to their primary care provider the day of their visit, ensuring timely follow-up and continuity. They also provide access to specialists such as plastic

surgeons or orthopedists, as needed.

All PM Pediatrics offices are conveniently located and uniquely themed, providing caregivers and children with a healthcare experience that is unlike any other. The practices all feature play areas with video games, books, toys and games and TVs in every exam room. Bayside showcases a jungle theme, Syosset has a seaside motif, Selden’s decor brings patients into medieval times and Mamaroneck welcomes them to Main Street USA. This model of care, comfort and convenience has been enthusiastically received by patients, who have visited a PM Pediatrics location over 175,000 times since the first practice opened in Syosset.

PM Pediatrics Management Group, cofounded by Dr. Schor and Steven Katz, was established in 2003 to oversee all non-clinical aspects of the PM Pediatrics practices.

The management group is focused on several core business principles which contribute greatly to the success of PM Pediatrics.

Among these are market analysis and site development, staff recruitment and training, operational efficiency, collective purchasing power and financial management.

For more information about PM Pediatrics and their four convenient locations, one can visit www.pmpediatrics.com, or call (516) 677 - KIDS (5437).

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Those with children are well aware that youngsters’ maladies are usually not sensitive to daytime office hours. And for those who observe Shabbos, the Friday night emergency is not conducive to young and old alike either. This week’s healthcare profile focuses on a unique medical practice that offers advantages to parent, child and Shabbos observer.

PM Pediatrics is the preeminent provider of after-hours pediatric urgent care in New York, operating urgent care practices in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and New York City.

With locations in Syosset, Selden, Mamaroneck and Bayside, Queens, each walk-in site is open 365 days a year, from 5:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. on weekdays, and from 12:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. on weekends and holidays. Founded in 2005, PM Pediatrics has already won two consecutive “Best of Long Island - Best Pediatric Practice” awards (Long Island Press) for 2010 and 2011.

PM Pediatrics was founded by Dr. Jeffrey Schor, former Director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Associate Chairman of Emergency Medicine at New York Hospital Queens. PM Pediatrics is staffed by Pediatric Emergency Specialists who have special training in treating children in urgent situations while minimizing pain and unnecessary tests. The company was founded on the belief that there is a better way to deliver ur-

May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771 THE JEWISH STAR

18

The Kosher Bookworm

The Liberty Bell and the Torah connection

“P

roclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof” are words that were read in last week’s Parsha Behar, chapter25, verse 10.

This very verse is inscribed upon the world famous American icon, the Liberty Bell located in Philadelphia. Its very theme speaks to the very ideological foundations of our republic, of freedom and political and economic equality for all.

In a recent dvar torah, Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky said, “Truth be told, these words refer not to a revolution or liberation, they refer to the mitzvah of ‘yovel’ – jubilee. Every 50 years, all Jewish servants, whether employed for only a sixyear period or on an extended docket, and even those who desire Alan Jay Gerber to remain as servants to their masters, are freed. They return home to their families, and their careers of indenture are over.” Nevertheless, this verse was given new meaning in the minds of the planners of the Liberty Bell.

To those devout Christian leaders of pre-revolutionary Philadelphia, these sacred words represented for them and their people the hopes and aspirations for the better life that brought them and their ancestors to these shores from the despotic monarchies of Europe.

Having just celebrated Pesach Sheni and its theological echo of the festival of freedom, we would be well served to take a closer look at this American icon that carries so eloquent a tribute to the Jewish devotion and intense love for freedom.

George B. Nash, professor of history at UCLA, is the author of a beautiful book aptly titled, “The Liberty Bell” (Yale University Press, 2010) wherein he goes into great detail describing the plans, and personalities, led by Isaac Nash, as well as the pain that went into the erection of this bell back in the mid-18th century. To those devout Quakers who planned this icon, the use of the words to be inscribed upon it represented the fulfillment of a sacred religious obligation.

According to Nash, “These words from

the Bible were freighted with social cial and political meaning. These were ere words that would take on new layers ers of significance in different eras, in different contexts, and in different parts rts of the world. Little did the bell’s commmissioners know what lay ahead for this biblical verse.”

Nash speculates at what might ht have been in these people’s minds. ds. ”What effect did they hope such an inscription would have? The survivving sources do not speak clearly to us about this. But, something is known, n, and much can be surmised. Norris is had studied for two years in Enggland and knew Hebrew, Latin, and d French; he was also an avid studentt of the Bible.

“In consulting ancient texts, up-permost in Isaac Norris’ mind wass the assurance of Pennsylvania’ss bright future as a tolerant, fairminded gathering of peoples from many parts of Europe, and Africa.

Inscribed on this great bell should be words to inspire, words to hold people to founding principles.”

For us as Jews, these words take on much added meaning both in terms of the literary origin of the verse, the Book of Vayikra, and the political and civic meaning it has had upon our lives as loyal and proud Americans.

Further study of these words in the commentaries that I consulted all seem to focus on the Hebrew word for liberty, Deror.

In “Onkelos on the Torah, Leviticus” cus” (Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem) by Rabbis Israel Drazin and Stanley Wagner, we have the most extensive treatment on this verse in the English language.

“The commentators differ concerning the origin and meaning of the Hebrew ‘deror’, ‘liberty.’ Drazin and Wagner go into great detail tracing the of the translation and word origin, from the word meaning dwell, from the Hebrew, dur, to the name of a swallow that sings when it’s free, but dies when captive, to ‘dor’, generation. The term “free-

“Little did the bell’s commissioners know what lay ahead for this biblical verse.”

dom” of the Targun is derived from the Sifra and the Talmud [Rosh Hashanah 9a] and its meaning derives from Isaiah 61:1 and Jeremiah 34:8.

Both authors continue to follow this matter by referencing John Stuart Mill, and Isaiah Berlin from their works on the subjects of liberty and freedom, rather heady stuff for a chumash commentary. Yet, this reaching out to these great personalities speaks well of the authors as well of the sacred text

itself.

From all the above we should all come to deeply appreciate this one fact, above all else. The greatness of our Torah and Tanach is that it speaks to us today as it spoke to Isaac Norris and his fellow commissioners of the liberty Bell in the 18th century, and…. as it did to our ancestors in the desert from Moshe himself. How great is our inheritance and its legacy for all humanity.

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19 THE JEWISH STAR May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771

Ask Aviva

My wife needs help Dear Aviva,

My family lives off of my income, and my wife takes care of the housework and the kids. Things are getting tight, and I want her to look for a job. She keeps coming up with another excuse of why not. Basically, it boils down to needing to hire a babysitter/cleaning lady and she is against it. She says we can’t afford it, or she says that cleaning ladies don’t know how to keep the house organized, or she says that babysitters neglect kids. My wife likes to keep the house a certain way and I think she doesn’t want to relinquish control. I see so many other families with help, why is it so hard for her?

-Helpless

Dear Helpless,

You’re not helpless, because it sounds like your wife is doing a lot of the helping. Is she helpless? What do you do to assist her?

I know that you’re the one who is bringing in the soy bacon, but what do you do when you are off the clock? Don’t start scrubbing toilets, but be conscious of the footprint that you leave. Clear the table. Put things back where you found them. Consider washing the dishes that you use. Throw dirty laundry in the hamper. (I mean IN the hamper, not next to…)

I’m not trying to grill you—I’m fully aware of why you wrote in and I think your solution may lie in you partnering in her responsibilities. If you’re not involved with housework, you don’t really have a say over housekeep-

ing (from her perspective.)

Breach the boundary here, and just start taking over a bit. If your wife finds the linen closet newly organized, she’ll feel nice to have someone driving in her domain. Just make sure that you are organizing something that’s in need of organizing and completing the job. Imagine the extra work she would have if she went to put the towels away and found the linen closet in that darkest-beforedawn phase of organization?

Don’t go crazy trying to help her. Do small things every day that she can rely on (devoting 20 minutes at night to straightening up, or putting away the dishes in the drying rack.) After helping her, she will experience what it’s like to have a lightened load. Now that you are both on a more level playing field, you can begin to explore more options with her. Is there any work that she can do from the house? Or work that she can do when you are home and the kids are asleep?

If these things are not feasible, she will need to look into more traditional jobs. And that means that you will need to figure something out with childcare. Again, we have options. You can try to arrange a round robin with other parents in the neighborhood. If that doesn’t work and your wife is really uncomfortable with having help in the home, she may like the idea of dropping your kids off for babysitting. Some parents feel better about this because there are other people coming in and out, which would hopefully minimize any sort of mistreatment. If this is not available, you may just have to get a

babysitter, and nanny-cam her. Be sure to check references, and try to have a few days when you are home to train her. Try to make surprise pop-in visits just to keep her on her toes. (If you can’t, maybe a neighbor or relative can.)

But the key here is addressing your wife’s emotional resistance to outside help. Is she scared of a job? Or is she actually concerned about what she says? Whatever you do, be on

her team and don’t turn this into a point of contention. Change a diaper, grab a dustpan and show that you are there for her.

-Aviva Aviva Rizel is a Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice who can be reached at AvivaRizel.MFT@gmail.com.

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May 20, 2011 • 16 IYAR, 5771 THE JEWISH STAR

20

May 20-21 Lag B’Omer Weekend

YOUNG ISRAEL OF WOODMERE, located at 859 Peninsula Boulevard in Woodmere, is hosting popular singer Yehuda Green, who will lead Carlebachstyle Shabbat davening in preparation for Lag B’Omer. Following havdalah, a barbecue melaveh malka will begin at 10:30 p.m. in the lobby of the synagogue. Participants are encouraged to bring musical instruments. For more information, contact 51`6-295-0950

A Shabbat of Song

YOUNG ISRAEL OF OCEANSIDE, located at 150 Waukena Avenue in Oceanside, is hosting chazzan Moshe Weiss, who will lead Shabbat services and deliver a lecture on the history of chazanut.

Weiss serves as vice-president of the Cantorial Council of America. The YU Maccabeats will accompany his tefillot. For more information, contact 516-764-1099

May 22

Lag B’Omer Celebration

CHABAD OF FIVE TOWNS is holding a Lag B’Omer celebration at Cedarhurst Park in Cedarhurst.

The event will include archery, bonfire, racing, a trampoline show, and a bubble show. The event will run from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, visit www.chabad5towns.com or call 516-295-2478.

Lag B’Omer Community Barbecue

CHABAD OF MERRICK, located at 2083 Seneca Gate in Merrick, is holding a Lag B’Omer barbecue with a kumsitz bonfire, kite flying, magic show, and music. The event begins at 4:30 p.m.

Suggested donation for this public event is $18 per family. For more information, contact Esther at 516-833-3057 or visit ChabadJewishLife.org

Lox and Learn: Megillat Ruth

ROSLYN SYNAGOGUE, located at 257 Garden Street in Roslyn Heights, is hosting Rabbi Baruch Dov Braun as its breakfast Lox & Learn speaker. Rabbi

ON THE

Calendar Submit your shul or organization’s events or shiurim to jscalendar@thejewishstar.com.

Deadline is Wednesday of the week prior to publication.

Raun will address the topic Megillat Ruth & The Merchant of Venice: A Comparative Analysis. The event begins at 9:30 a.m. Rabbi Braun serves as Assistant Rabbi at the Young Israel of Hillcrest in Queens. For more information, call 516-484-0697

Yeshiva building groundbreaking

YESHIVA GEDOLA OF THE FIVE TOWNS, located at 218 Mosher Avenue in Woodmere, is holding a celebration for its new yeshiva building with divrei Torah from Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky and Rabbi Mattisyahu Salomon. For more information, contact Baruch Moskowitz at 516-2958-900 ext. 6

56th Anniversary Dinner

YOUNG ISRAEL OF NEW HYDE PARK is holding its 56th anniversary journal dinner, honoring Paige and Eric Finkelstein, and Rita and Selig Lenefsky.

The dinner will be held at Colbeh, located at 75 North Station Plaza in Great Neck. This synagogue is celebrating its ongoing mikvah project, scheduled for completion this year. The cover is $360 per couple. For more information, call 718-343-0496

May 24

Acheinu parlor meeting

ACHEINU, the internationally known kiruv organization, is holding its Five Towns parlor meeting at the home of Dov and Esther Lebovic, located at 180 Harborview North in Lawrence. The guest speaker is noted maggid Rabbi Paysach Krohn, who will address the topic of raising and educating our children. A video on the topic featuring noted roshei yeshiva Rabbis Aharon Feldman, Yitzchok Scheiner, and Matisyahu Solomon, will follow. The event begins at 8 p.m. For dedications and information, contact Rabbi Simcha Levine at

877-522-3468 ext. 5141.

Soup, Side, Salad and Sweets Sampler

YOUNG ISRAEL OF WEST HEMPSTEAD is holding a Sisterhood food sampler event with HANC alum Shifra (Marcus) Rabenstein, who will speak on the topic Savoring Our Mothers’ Mesorah – Ensuring Our Children’s Legacy. This owmen-only event begins at 7:30 p.m. The event will take place at the home of Meryl and Jeremy Strauss, located at 256 Maple Street. The suggested donation $36, with proceeds going to benefit the Rabbi’s Fund.

For more information, call Nancy Greenberg at 516-539-9680.

Good Deed Award

CHABAD OF MINEOLA, located at 261 Willis Avenue, is welcoming “hero intern” Daniel Hernandez as its guest of honor in handing out the Good Deed Award for Long Island Teenagers. Hernandez is nationally acclaimed for helping save Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ life as she lay dying in an assassination attempt. This annual award honors local teens for exemplary deeds. The event begins at 5 p.m. For more information, contact Rabbi Anchelle Perl at 516-739-3636 or www. chabadmineola.com

May 29

L’Chaim 5K Run Walk for Israel

YOUNG ISRAEL OF JAMAICA ESTATES is sponsoring a 5K run/walk for Israel, with the starting time at 9:30 a.m. at P.S. 178, located at 188 Street and Radnor Road. The route winds through the scenic streets of Jamaica Estates and the fields of Cunningham Park. Funds raised in the run will benefit Israeli victims of terrorism and attracts

more than 1,000 participants every year. For more information, contact Linda at 718-479-7500 or visit http://run.yije.org

May 29

Inwood Memorial Day Parade

VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS is holding its Memorial Day Parade honoring local veterans and active duty members. The parade begins at 11:30 a.m. on the corner of Nassau Expressway and Bayview Avenue, proceeding towards the VFW Post at Doughty Boulevard and Mott Avenue, with food and drinks given out in the parking lot after the parade. For more information, call 516-239-9275.

May 30

Lawrence-Cedarhurst Memorial Day Parade

VILLAGES OF LAWRENCE AND CEDARHURST are sponsoring a Memorial Day Parade honoring local veterans and members of the armed forces.

The event begins 10:30 a.m. with a short service at the Lawrence Veterans Memorial, located at Central Avenue and Lawrence Avenue. The parade will then proceed on Central Avenue, ending at Cedarhurst Memorial Plaza, at Cedarhurst Avenue and Summit Avenue.

June 1

Jerusalem Day Dinner

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF ATERET COHANIM/JERUSALEM CHAI is holding its Jerusalem Day dinner at Terrace on the Park, located at 52-11 111 Street in Corona, Queens. The event marks the 32nd year for the Old City yeshiva. Among the honorees of its Bonei Yerushalayim award are Nessim and Lynne Tammam of Great Neck. The keynote speaker will be Deputy Knesset Speaker Danny Danon. The cover fee is $300 per person. For more information, contact Shani Hikind at 212216-9270 or ateret@juno.com.

June 12

Three Cantors perform

SUBURBAN PARK JEWISH CENTER, located at 400 Old Westbury Road in East Meadow, is holding a concert featuring cantors Eitan Binet, David Krasner, and Steve Shor, who will perform cantorial, Israeli, hasidic, and popular songs. The general admission is $18. The event begins at 7 p.m. For sponsorship and information, call 516-520-5733 or visit www.suburbanparklevtorah.com

Ongoing

Pictures of partisan resistance exhibit

HANC science team moves on to Israel level

On May 15, HANC was selected as one of two finalists in the Gildor International Science competition, earning them a chance at the final round in Israel with their team robot in specific tasks such as sensing direction, avoiding barriers and following another vehicle. “They learned a lot about the design and implementation of technology over the year and they taught me a lot about the fortitude and creativity of HANC students,” said teacher Matthew Breig, who coached the team.

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL AND TOLERANCE CENTER OF NASSAU COUNTY, located at 100 Crescent Beach Road in Glen Cove, is hosting “Pictures of Resistance. The exhibit runs through July 15.

Open daily from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday 12 p.m.to 4:00 p.m. Suggested donation is $10.00 for adults, and $5 for students and seniors. For information and directions call 516 571-8040 ext.

100 or visit www.holocaust-nassau.org.

21

Across

1. Gambles 5. Ahab’s father 9. They wear turbans 14. Western Gallilee city 15. Jetty 16. Subject for Freud 17. Poet, “Where the Sidewalk Ends” 20. Site of an early Arab-Israeli battle 21. USY on ___ 22. Noshed 23. Boxer Max 24. “Pee Wee Herman” actor 29. New York ballplayer 32. Boredom 33. Basketball coach Auerbach 34. 2009 play by David Mamet

Last week’s answers

35. Decomposes 36. Advice-giver Schlessinger 38. Asherah, e.g.

39. Clubs, for example 40. Yiddish article 41. Ever 42. Squeeze (out) 43. Director, “Analyze This” 46. Lots 47. Belonging to us 48. Not there 51. Talk show host Charles 55. Famous line from Shakespeare 59. Socialist journalist Block 60. Jewish absorption org.

61. South American rodent 62. Avodah ___ (false worship) 63. Shade trees 64. Bonanza finds

Down

1. First degrees 2. Real 3. “The Giving ___” by 17-Across 4. Vend 5. Narcotic 6. Surroundings 7. Increase, with “up” 8. Indignation 9. Gartels 10. Bury 11. Deep ___ bend 12. What the “heil” in “Heil Hitler” means 13. Arthur Miller’s “All My ___” 18. Emmy-winning Lewis 19. Genocide site 23. He’Brew, e.g.

24. As such 25. French film actress Aimee 26. Release 27. Strong desire

Answers will appear next week

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<RX VXSSRUW ,VUDHO ZLWK \RXU SUD\HUV &DQ \RX GHIHQG KHU ZLWK WKH IDFWV" There are anti-Semitic, anti-Israel groups working overtime to isolate and delegitimize the state of Israel.

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StandWithUs is a nonprofit, international Israel education organization that ensures that Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story is told on campuses and in communities, libraries, religious institutions, schools, and the media. Our programs are both proactive and also serve to respond to the anti-Israel misinformation being promoted today. We educate and empower people around the world through speakers, training conferences, special programs, Internet resources, missions to Israel, as well as colorful and effective educational materials on a full variety of topics.

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24

310.836.6140 â&#x20AC;˘ www.standwithus.com â&#x20AC;˘ P.O. Box 341069 Los Angeles, CA 90034-1069