The Jewish Star

The

Behar

Lag BaOmer bunnies

May 31, 2019 26 Iyar, 5779

Vol 18, No 20

STAR

Serving LI’s Orthodox communities

The Jewish Star / Ed Weintrob

JEWISH Children loved the soft bunnies at the 5 Towns Lag BaOmer fest. Bonfire photo, p. 10.

5 Towns salutes vets

The Jewish community turned out in force on Sunday for an expanded CedarhurstLawrence Memorial Day Parade. The late-morning event drew marchers from several local day schools and Jewish organizations — including the Shulamith School for Girls, Rambam Mesivta, the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway, Kulanu, and the Chabad Friendship Circle. At top left, World War II veteran Max Marcus, 95, holds a photo of himself at 19 years old surrounded by the medals he earned overseas.

At bottom left, Tiger Scout Ezra Brodsky leads Troop 1818. At bottom right, Rabbi Kenneth Hain of Congregation Beth Sholom addresses the crowd. The Jewish Star / Christina Daly

Israel journal blasts left’s ‘academic thuggery’

By Ariel Ben Solomon, JNS When the Israel Studies journal published a special edition of its Summer 2019 issue focusing on the use of language to delegitimize Israel, the issue’s guest editors were accused of seeking to shut down debate, and the academic merit of their work was called into question. But it is their left-wing critics, they say, who are actually trying to shut down debate, and controlling the language used to discuss the issue is one of the main ways that they are doing it.

The special issue, titled Word Crimes: Reclaiming the Language of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, examines how terms such as “apartheid,” “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing” and “colonialism” have been used to delegitimize Zionism and the Jewish state.

“The language one uses to discuss Israel or the Palestinians affects how you think about the conflict,” Association for Israel Studies (AIS) president Professor Donna Robinson Divine, one of the editors, told JNS. Misused language has already influenced the conventional wisdom in much of the media, and even in academia and at think tanks, she said.

“Words such as ‘Holocaust’ are being misappropriated to apply to the Palestinians and make Israel appear savage, distorting the reality,” said Divine, who is a professor emerita of Jewish studies and government at Smith College, recently retired after more than 40 years of teaching.

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East executive director Asaf Romirowsky, another editor, told JNS that the motivation behind the edition was the “hijacking” of Israel-studies programs by terminology whose actual purpose is to shut down debate. He pointed to the BDS movement’s exploitation of the word “apartheid” as an example.

Indeed, he said, the edition’s critics are not interested in academic debate either.

“Our opponents in the Israel Studies Association and Israel Studies journal are attacking us personally instead of engaging in a debate,” he said. “It’s academic thuggery.”

Asked where the opposition was coming from, Romirowsky said mainly from hard-left academics who are extremely critical of Israel.

The journal’s third editor, Professor Miriam F. Elman of the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, told JNS that “nine out of 25 members of the editorial board of the Israel Studies journal signed a letter of dissent against the special issue. Though not a majority, they still acted like they spoke for everyone.”

Not content with this, she said, “There are also some prominent people, who are not on the board, like Ian Lustick of the University of Pennsylvania and Yair Wallach of SOAS University of London, who have not acted in a collegial manner and have taken part in an online

smear campaign.”

Some of the detractors, she added, went so far as to try to convince the AIS to boycott Israel as a venue for its annual conference, which is scheduled to be held next month at Kinneret College in northern Israel along the Sea of Galilee.

Elman noted that many of the detractors are Israeli and British academics associated with BDS. “It is curious,” she said, “that the same leaders of efforts to promote boycotts of Israel are now involved in trying to bring down this special issue and Professor Divine.”

These individuals, she said, are bypassing the usual editorial process and instead trying to influence readers directly.

Asked about the makeup of the AIS, Elman said that it was quite diverse, but that overall membership tends to the left of the political spectrum. It includes some scholars who support BDS, she said.

Elman said that while some of the criticism of the issue is superficially objective — for example, criticism that the essays are too short or do not have enough footnotes — “it appears that this is manufactured outrage in order to hide something deeper, either some personal vendettas or support for an anti-Israel narrative.”

The issue is garnering attention, she said, because it deals with the wider attack on academic freedom that has been growing in strength over the past several years; some academics are calling for the special issue to be withdrawn for the editors to be forced to issue an apology.

“Instead of going on the warpath and uniting with anti-Israel BDS activists,” said Elman, “these academics that disagree should focus on writing substantive rebuttals.”

She drew a comparison to the many wellpublicized instances of pro-Israel or conservative speakers being forcefully silenced on American university campuses.

“What does it say to graduate students and junior faculty,” she asked, “who now see that if you challenge this discipline’s orthodoxies, you are going to get shut down and trashed by online mobs?”

Asked about the relationship between the AIS and the journal, Elman said that there was no financial connection between the two, but a loose relationship whereby they promote each other. The AIS, she said, has no editorial control over the Israel Studies journal.

Far from being an attempt to stifle debate on Israel, said Elman, the point of the special issue was to emphasize that only if the language is reclaimed can such debate flourish.

She emphasized that “words have been manipulated and distorted over time, and it is worth reclaiming the language used to describe Israel and the conflict in order to foster robust discussion and inquiry.”

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‫ס"ד‬

Five Towns Community Collaborative Conference

 June 23, 2019 / 20 Sivan, 5779 at The Young Israel of Woodmere  Aish Kodesh, MAY, Bais Tefilah, Beth Sholom, BA, BKNW, Central, DRS, HAFTR, HALB, Hakotel, HANC, HaRova, OU- JLIC, Kaylie, Kneseth Israel, Kulanu, Lander, Mesorah, Michlalah, M' Basya Rochel, M’ Lindenbaum, MMY, Morasha, Moshava (I.O.), MTVA, YTVA, NCSY, Ohr Yerushalayim, Rambam, Shalhevet, Sh’eefa, Shulmaith, SKA, SFW, Project YES, YILC, YIW, YIWH, Y.U. YOSS

8:30 9:00

Shacharit Rabbi Hershel Schachter Shlit”a Shul Rabbonim

10:00

10:40

11:20

12:00

Rabbi Ephraim Polakoff

High Schools Rabbi Yisroel Kaminetsky

E”Y Yeshivot/Seminaries

Women Speakers

Rabbi David Katz

Rebbetzin Lisa Septimus

Planting & Building: Rav Wolbe’s Approach to Chinuch

Functional Illiteracy and 'Edutainmemt' - Balancing Substance and Excitement with our Children

Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum Imbuing RuchaniyutWarmth For a Cold World

Rabbi Tsvi Selengut Resilience and Reward: Teaching Our Children To Thrive in a World of Challenges

Rebbetzin Shani Taragin

Mrs. Debbie Greenblatt

Rabbi Yehuda Kelemer

Mrs. C. B. Neugroschl

Rabbi Reuven Taragin

Rebbitzen Aviva Feiner

Ahavat Yisrael Starts at Home

From FOMO to JOMOStrategies for Disconnecting From Social Media

Mrs. Ester Wein

Mr. Charlie Harary Esq.

End stage illness and sudden therapies (immunotherapy): A perspective from Halacha and Hashkafa

Rabbi Eytan Feiner 'Bas Ploni L'Ploni': In Pursuit of the Perfect Marriage

Embracing Questions: Making Space for the Conversations that our Teens Need to Have

Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman Religious Zealotry: Pros and Cons

Avoiding and Managing Marital Arguments

Rabbi Shalom Rosner

1:20

Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz TBA

The Blended Family “Beautiful New Beginnings” An Analysis of the Blended Family in Halacha and Machshava.

Using Kavod to Create a New Parent Child Dynamic

The Shabbos Table: Bringing Potential to Reality

Chinuch: What should we emphasize? Innovation or Tradition?

Rabbi Hanoch Teller

Rebbitzen Dr. Adina Shmidman

Rabbi Ira Wallach

12:40

Rabbi David Fohrman

The Master of Positivity: Reflections on the Life of Avi Mori Horav Dovid Kaminetsky ZT"L on His First Yarzheit

Parenting in Repair : From Passivity to Prayer (Yiftach, Manoach, Chana)

From the Desert Tents to Bungalow Colony- how Jewish families navigate privacy and community.

Speakers

Climbing Spiritual Ladders (and the Fear of Heights)

Patterns and Pathways of Mothering

Why the Ten Commandments Matter to You and Me - Every Single Day

Rabbi Isaac Rice

It's Not the Message That's the Problem, It's the Messenger

Dr. David Pelcovitz

Understanding the Power of Narrative to Inspire Others

Dr. Rona Novick Wired- What Technology is Doing to Our Brains, Bodies, and Relationships

Minchah

THE EVENT IS FREE OF CHARGE. Steering Committee- Debby Gage, Sheri Hammer, Doba Isaacs, Naomi Kaszovitz, Syma Shulman Levine, Jay Lerman, Shani Lerman, Joel Steinmetz

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To continue receiving information or to sponsor the event, please contact office@hakotel.org.il.

Follow the event online at: Facebook - 5TownsEducationConference / Twitter - @FTEDUCONF

German czar: Kippah plan meant to trigger talk

By Orit Arfa, JNS BERLIN — Germany’s “anti-Semitism czar” Felix Klein created an international stir after stating on May 25 that Jews would be ill-advised to wear a kippah “everywhere and all the time” in Germany. Reactions from the Jewish world and German leaders ranged from disappointment to outrage over what seemed to be an admission of Germany’s failure to combat anti-Semitism in the country most historically stained by this hatred.

In an email interview the next day, Klein clarified that his advisory “should rather be understood as a call to action.”

“I made this statement in order to trigger a discussion in the German public about the security of the Jewish community,” he said. “It is my aim that German society understands the fight against anti-Semitism as a common effort. The first step is to raise general awareness of the problem.”

His statements have indeed triggered a debate, as well as calls to defy the recommendation. U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, also a staunch Jewish civil-rights activist, called on his Twitter followers to “Wear your kippa. Wear your friend’s kippa. Borrow a kippa and wear it for our Jewish neighbors.

Educate people that we are a diverse society.”

The pro-Israel German daily newspaper Bild published a frontpage cutout kippah alongside pro-Jewish commentary by editorin-chief Julian Reichelt titled: “The kippah belongs to Germany.”

Several German leaders, including Foreign Minister Heiko Mass, praised the initiative and wore the cutout for social media.

Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, the Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi in Berlin, sent out his own advisory in response to Klein’s. “If we spread the message that people better not wear kippahs, we leave the field open to the opponents of democracy,” Teichtal stated to the Berlin Chabad community’s email list. “It is the responsibility of the state to ensure that all people can exercise their religion freely and in their own way. Hiding our identity is not an option.”

Klein’s statement has also triggered criticism over Germany’s handling of anti-Semitism and seeming hypocrisy, particularly over the federal government’s refusal to ban Hezbollah completely and to allow the annual Iran-backed Al Quds anti-Israel demonstration to go on, including in Berlin on June 1.

In the weekly, publicly-funded Jewish newspaper Juedische Allgemeine, Dr. Joseph Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, called for Germany to follow the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Canada and the Arab league in

A cutout kippah on the front page of Bild, above Julian Reichelt’s editorial: “The kippah belongs to Germany.”

banning the entirety of Hezbollah (and not just its military wing).

“Hezbollah is heavily financed by Iran,” stated Schuster. “A continuation of the distinction between their individual wings would be negligent and should therefore be corrected as soon as possible.”

In a press release recommending a 12-point plan to combat anti-Semitism, which includes banning Hezbollah and rejecting anti-Israel resolutions in international forums, the American Jewish Committee in Berlin acknowledged truth in Klein’s words.

“Jews cannot move safely everywhere in Germany if they are recognizable by a kippah, speak Hebrew or wear other Jewish symbols,” said AJC Berlin’s executive director Diedre Berger.

“Sometimes, the mere presumption is enough to become a victim of an anti-Semitic attack. We, too, have been experiencing this oppressive sense of insecurity for a long time. But this situation is completely unacceptable, especially in Germany.”

Klein, who grew up Protestant, came into his position, officially titled “Federal Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight Against Anti-Semitism,” in 2018 after a reported spike in anti-

Semitism, which also prompted Schuster in 2017 to issue a kippahadvisory. Klein said he changed his previous position on the issue.

“I came to this opinion after the presentation of the official figures regarding the big increase of anti-Semitic crimes in 2018, including attacks against persons wearing kippot in public,” said Klein. “If we join forces in civil society and in government, I am optimistic that we can successfully fight anti-Semitism and effectively protect the Jewish community.”

In a recent survey, 90 percent of reported anti-Semitic expressions were attributed to the “right wing,” although many cases were actually motivated by Islamic anti-Semitism and categorized as “right-wing” by default. The danger of kippah-wearing made headlines last year, when an Arab-Israeli posed as a Jew on the Berlin streets to test anti-Semitism attitudes and was attacked with a belt by a Syrian refugee. Kippah solidarity rallies in Berlin ensued.

The federal German government has already implemented one of AJC’s recommendations to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism, which states that denial of Israel’s right to exist is a modernday form of anti-Semitism. However, it has yet to become standard in government, security, judicial and educational bodies.

“We have to increase the knowledge regarding anti-Semitism in the police forces, prosecuting offices, courts as well as in the training of teachers,” said Klein. “Furthermore, the existing laws should be applied more rigorously. For instance, there is a rule in our penal law that allows greater punishment if a perpetrator commits a physical attack out of political hate motivations. The application of this rule is still too little. Apart from this, we have to increase our prevention work. This includes political education, knowledge about Judaism as an integral part of German culture and a modern remembrance culture.”

Klein addressed the matter of Hezbollah when he told the Jerusalem Post, “It’s very difficult to define the difference between a political and military wing of an organization. … It would be better to have a common European position regarding that matter. I know the discussion is not finished.”

Klein’s position is a nonpartisan one; he can make recommendations and leverage the government to implement them.

“We are about to set up a new commission for the fight against anti-Semitism between Bund [federal government] and Länder [federal states] on June 6,” he said, “where we will push forward these issues.”

On behalf of the Board of Directors and the Emunah of America family we mourn the loss of

DR. MORRIS (MOISHE) SHATZKES a”h

MRS. ROSE SCHARF a”h

Beloved brother of our distinguished Past National President, Charlotte Dachs

Beloved mother of our cherished Benefactor and Board Member, Melodie & Marty Scharf

Dr. Shatzkes was a brilliant physicist who contributed to and significantly impacted the science community.

The Shatkes family comes from generations of supporters of Torah, Jewish Values, and a love for Israel.

The Shatzkes/Dachs families have established many Emunah projects in Israel, including the Emunah Charlotte Dachs Mechina Program and Emunah Achuzat Sarah residential home.

The families generosity has and will continue to change Emunah’s children and families for generations to come.

May Charlotte and her siblings, his wife Miriam, children, grandchildren and family be comforted among the mourners of Zion.

Johanna Guttmann Herskowitz National President

Karen Spitalnick

Chairman of the Board

Mrs. Scharf was a survivor of the Holocaust, and an example of true Emunah. Rose valued family and passing along her Jewish roots, Rose spending as much time as possible with her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The entire Scharf family’s impact to Emunah and Emunah Bet Elazraki is an enduring legacy and will continue to change Emunah’s children and families for generations to come.

May her family and friends be comforted among the mourners of Zion.

Laurie Szenicer

Chief Executive Officer

Yehuda Kohn

Director Bet Elazraki

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Beyond final encore: What culture brings to J’lem donors worldwide with key community, coexistence and cultural projects, and convening the world’s leading urban developers, architects, religious and community leaders, educational experts and entrepreneurs to take part in designing the city’s vision.

The Foundation’s motto was positively apolitical: to look beyond “the conflict” and serve the daily needs of the city residents and visitors.

It was as pragmatic as it was naïve; the accelerated development met a stubborn political reality, accompanied by ongoing security tension, religious fanaticism, social disparity, cultural differences and acute demographic shifts that continue to impact present day Jerusalem.

Still, it was then, in the late seventies and through the early nineties, that the foundation of today’s cultural landscape was laid: the

Jerusalem Music Center, Jerusalem Cinematheque, the Khan Theater, the Train Theater, the Yellow Submarine (a live music venue, recording studio and rehearsal hall), the Sam Spiegel Film and TV School, The School of Visual Theater, the Vertigo Dance Company, the Science Museum, the Tower of David Museum, the Biblical Zoological Gardens and more.

Indeed, it’s hard to imagine Jerusalem without all these beloved cultural icons.

But what does it really mean to run a cultural organization in Jerusalem?

“Take the Israel Festival, which I am proud and humbled to direct, as a case study,” says Eyal Sher. “Like many festivals around the world, the festival is not merely a cultural event but an important stimulant, advancing education, empowering community, encouraging tourism and fueling the economy. But in Jerusalem, its most important role is no doubt facilitating encounter and dialogue.”

Revered for its rich history, holy sites, beauty and spirituality, Jerusalem is also the epicenter of the Arab-Israeli conflict, beleaguered by deadly terrorist attacks and violent hostilities, strained by religious tensions and economic disparity. With 270,000 Palestinian Arabs, 190,000 Ultra-Orthodox Jews and 480,000 secular or traditional Jewish residents, as diversified as Jerusalem is, it is also acutely fragmented and polarized.

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By JNS Staff Established in 1961 as a classical music festival in Caesarea, the Israel Festival, now in its 58th year and which runs this year from May 30 to June 15, was “relocated” to Jerusalem in the early eighties by the late Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek.

The eighties were kind to the capital, which was home to Israel’s governmental institutions, world Zionist organizations, the Hebrew University, the National Library, the Israel Museum and more. These were the years following the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, and the city was busy learning how to manage its complex political, religious, economic, social and cultural realities.

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should be a source of communication among men. I once again exhort my fellow musicians throughout the world to put the purity of their art at the service of mankind in order to unite all people in fraternal ties.”

The festival continues its tradition of integrating the old with the new. Alongside contemporary content, often characterized by multi-disciplinary forms, the festival features a number of performances inspired by classic masterpieces of the world, in a range of exciting and surprising adaptations by contemporary artists from Israel and abroad. There are guest performances from South Africa, Switzerland, France, Brazil and Poland as well as premiere performances from Israeli productions.

In addition to venue performances, the festival challenges artists from Israel and the world with site-specific events in Jerusalem’s unique setting. These include the Islamic Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History, the Tower of David, the downtown area, as well as the Eden-Tamir Music Center in Ein Kerem. Some performances invite audiences to take an active part, thus becoming an inseparable part of the artistic happening.

Over 30,000 visitors, Israelis and tourists alike, enjoy the Israel Festival each year. This year, there is a new edition to the festival’s line-up: the “Festivan.” The Festivan, a mobile stage truck, will bring a pop-up music show to different neighborhoods of Jerusalem for all to enjoy. The music will range from hip hop and spoken word to Mexican rock and Azerbaijani soul music.

“Running a cultural organization in Jerusalem is a bit like being a pioneer in the early days of the Zionist Movement,” says Sher. “It requires passion and resilience, a bit of naivety, a lot stubbornness and above all, a vision of what we believe this incredible city could be, what it should be, what it deserves to be.”

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CELEBRATE ISRAEL SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 2019

Join UJA and thousands of New Yorkers as we march up Fifth Avenue to show our support of Israel.

Celebrate — Tel Aviv-style — and join our float: Israeli DJ, beach party, fun giveaways, and more.

Bring a friend. Bring a date. Bring the whole family!

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Join Us ujafedny.org/celebrate-israel-parade

May 31, 2019 26 Iyar, 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

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The JEWISH STAR

Wine & Dine

Powerhouse foods to toast the arrival of spring Kosher Kitchen

JoNi SchocKett

Jewish Star columnist

B

lueberries are here, and so are the first baby lettuces of the season. We’ve had so much rain this spring that the lettuces may even be full grown by now. These two arrivals to the farmer’s markets and supermarkets are a delicious reminder that fresh produce is a seasonal delight.

Baby lettuces are delicious. It was the first way I got my kids to eat salad. We grew romaine and red and green leaf lettuces when they were younger, and we would go into the garden in the late afternoon to pick the best leaves for dinner. They loved the small, tender leaves and preferred dipping them in salad dressing and eating them by hand. I often snuck some baby spinach leaves in with the greens and they never knew the difference!

I love making salads with baby lettuces, baby spinach, some arugula, frisée and then some berries or other fruits — apples in fall, berries in spring and summer, oranges in winter. But now it is berry time! Whatever berries you choose will enhance your salads and make them super kid-friendly.

And blueberries? They are my favorite — along with raspberries. Blueberries are amazing little nutritional powerhouses. They are full of calcium, iron and magnesium, which are good for bone and blood health. They are high in fiber and antioxidants. These dark blue nuggets contain compounds known to fight liver and colon cancer, and so many micronutrients that it would take forever to name them.

Blueberries are also good for the skin and seem to help prevent wrinkles and age spots.

They are known to fight diabetes, and blueberry juice helps in the treatment of insulin sensitivity. These miracle berries help reduce muscle damage, improve eyesight, soothe cellular inflammation, and much, much more.

Blueberries are truly the powerhouse food. Eating them every day may even help with weight loss, as they are filling and may

help decrease the consumption of other, more calorie-laden foods.

An interesting fact about blueberries is that they are totally indigenous to North America.

Native Americans used them for food and clothing dyes for hundreds and hundreds of years.

They brought them to South America, and now the two continents do a seasonal swap. From April to November, we produce them and ship them to the wintry south. From November to April, while we shiver, Mexico, Central and South America ship the berries to us!

Enjoy your baby lettuces and blueberries!

Spring is here!

Lemon Poppy Blueberry Bread (Dairy) 1/3 cup butter or margarine 1 cup sugar, scant 2 extra-large eggs 1-1/2 cups unbleached flour 1 tsp. baking powder 3/4 tsp. salt, scant 1/2 cup milk, buttermilk or unsweetened almond milk Grated zest from 1 lemon, about 2 tsp.

1/2 tsp. pure lemon extract 1 Tbsp. poppy seeds 1 cup fresh blueberries 2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice Topping: 1/3 to 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 1/3 cup sugar Grease and flour a 9 by 5 inch bread pan. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Set a rack in the middle of the oven.

Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until very creamy. Scrape down the bowl as needed.

Add the eggs and beat until fluffy. Add the sugar, lemon juice, milk, poppy seeds and lemon rind and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking powder. Add in thirds to the liquid and mix on low speed just until blended, scraping down the bowl as needed. Remove the bowl from the stand, add the blueberries and mix with a spoon to evenly distribute the berries.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake until a tester comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes.

When done, remove the loaf from the oven and poke holes in the top of the cake with a thin skewer. Immediately pour the lemon sugar topping over the top and let the cake sit for 15 to 25 minutes. Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan and remove the bread and turn right side up.

Let cool completely. Makes one loaf.

Phyllo Berry Nests (Pareve or dairy) 1 package phyllo dough 1/2 pint blueberries 1/2 pint raspberries 1 pint strawberries, hulled and cut in half or smaller 2 Tbsp. sugar 1 stick melted butter (use only the clear, clarified part) Optional: 1 Tbsp. dark brown sugar or 10X sugar 1/2 cup whipping cream vanilla ice cream or yogurt lemon sorbet chocolate/fudge sauce Hull the strawberries and cut them in half.

Place in a large bowl. Add the blueberries and raspberries and sugar, toss and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Remove the phyllo from the box and cut into 1/4-inch strips. Place in a large bowl, toss to loosen. Place a piece of parchment on a cookie sheet and form the phyllo into nests about 4 inches wide and about 2 inches high.

Melt the butter and drizzle over the nests.

Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 until golden brown, about 8 to10 minutes. Serves 6 to 8.

Optional: Whip the cream with the dark brown sugar until thick, but not totally whipped.

Fill the nests with the berries and drizzle some of the brown sugar cream over the berries. Alternately, serve with fully whipped cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet or ice cream and drizzle with chocolate syrup.

Baby Lettuces, Spinach and Berry Salad (Pareve) 7 to 8 ounces baby romaine lettuces 7 to 8 ounces baby butter lettuces or other lettuces 7 to 8 ounces baby spinach leaves 4 to 6 ounces baby arugula 1 bunch frisée 1 small red onion, thinly sliced, sliced cut in quarters 1 pint blueberries, raspberries, canned mandarin oranges 1 cup candied walnuts, plain hazelnuts, toasted pecans, or sunflower seeds This is a simple salad. Toss the lettuces and the frisée. Place on a large platter. Make a circle

of the onions, another of the nuts and fill the center with the berries or whatever fruit you are using. You can use any salad dressing you like.

I used a raspberry poppy seed dressing for this one.

Raspberry Poppy Seed Vinaigrette Dressing (Pareve) 1/2 cup raspberry vinegar 1/2 cup canola oil 1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar (to taste) 3 Tbsp. seedless raspberry preserves (more or less, to taste) 2 tsp. Dijon mustard (more or less, to taste) 1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice pinch salt pinch white pepper 1 to 2 tsp. poppy seeds Optional: 1/2 cup fresh raspberries Whisk all ingredients together except for the raspberries. Add them to the dressing and stir just before serving. Makes about 1-1/2 cups.

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The waters parted and fire was lit Even though weather forecasters predicted heavy rain (and the skies did open and the rains did come!), the perpetually optimistic Rabbi Zalman Wolowik remained confident that the giant Chabad of the Five Towns Lag BaOmer celebration — bonfire and all — would take place without a hitch. And it did. The rain let up before 5 pm and Five Towners, defying skies that remained threatening, apparently shared Rabbi Wolowik’s confidence. They started turning out in good numbers as the event opened at 5:30; many more arrived as the traditional bonfire was lit around 6 pm. Two dancing rabbis accompanied the blaze (at right). Children enjoyed a petting zoo, archery, bouncing balls, slides, a show, and more. Out-of-town visitors Moishe and Leah Feiner, greeted below by Rabbi Wolowik, were not dissuaded by the weather.

The Jewish Star photos by Ed Weintrob

5 Towns Memorial Day The Five Towns paid tribute to America and her veterans on Sunday, parading along Central Avenue in Lawrence and up Cedarhurst Avenue, spilling into Memorial Plaza in Cedarhurst’s Andrew J. Parise Park, where a large crowd assembled (bottom photo). Assemblymember Missy Miller of Atlantic Beach (left) waves a flag along the parade route, where Chabad’s Friendship Circle (right) exhibited good cheer and representatives of the Brandeis School walked proudly. Speaking in the park (middle right) are Rabbi Kenneth Hain of Congregation Beth Sholom (left) and Cedarhurst Mayor Benjamin Weinstock. At bottom right, from left: Dr. Paul Brody, who traveled from Great Neck to support the parade; Israeli entertainer Gad Elbaz; Michael Beilinson, Second Assistant Chief of the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department; and Lawrence Association President and parade organizer Penina Popack.

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By Ben Sales, JTA If the Jewish delegation in the House of Representatives would vote on opening impeachment proceedings today, President Donald Trump would probably be safe.

A tally by the JTA shows that only five of the 25 Jewish House Democrats support launching an impeachment inquiry at this point. Nine are on the record against it (at least for now) and eight appear to be on the fence. Three — one veteran Congress member and two freshmen — have managed to keep mum.

It’s safe to say that the two Jewish Republicans — Lee Zeldin of New York and David Kustoff of Tennessee — do not support impeachment. Zeldin called the Mueller report into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign and how it intersected with the Trump campaign a “witch hunt.” Kustoff said Democrats “can finally move on” following the report’s release.

Across the entire House Democratic caucus, and among some presidential candidates, a chorus of progressives call for impeachment.

They say the Mueller report, which probed 10 episodes of possible obstruction of justice by the president, plus the administration’s defiance of subpoenas, make impeachment the best way to investigate alleged misdeeds by the administration.

But Speaker Nancy Pelosi is so far urging caution, pointing to other investigative tools Congress has at its disposal as well as the near certainty that the Republican-controlled Senate would vote to acquit Trump.

Here’s what every Jewish Democrat in the House of Representatives has to say (or not) about impeaching Trump: Yes on impeachment Brad Sherman, California: The hipster of impeachment, he was into it before it was cool.

Sherman and Rep. Al Green of Texas filed articles of impeachment in July 2017. They accused

Rep. Jamie Raskin speaks with Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, at a hearing on Capitol Hill on May 8.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Trump of obstructing justice by seeking to end the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and by firing FBI Director James Comey.

Steve Cohen, Tennessee: He and four other Congress members filed articles of impeachment against Trump in November 2017. Along with accusing Trump of obstructing justice, these lawmakers accused the president of violating the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause due to his alleged business conflicts of interest.

John Yarmuth, Kentucky: Yarmuth co-sponsored Cohen’s 2017 articles of impeachment.

On Tuesday, he told The Hill regarding impeachment, “I’ve been there a long time.”

David Cicilline, Rhode Island: He tweeted that if former White House counsel Don McGahn did not testify before Congress on Tuesday, the House should begin impeachment proceedings. McGahn did not testify. Cicilline then wrote a thread of tweets he called “Impeachment 101,” which outlined the process.

Jamie Raskin, Maryland: He has emerged as a leading cheerleader of impeachment after being against it earlier this year.

“I flipped over,” he told PBS NewsHour on Tuesday. “Last week I was with where most

people were in saying let’s give it some more time. But now I just — I have seen enough. And I think that we do need to move forward at some point, and I hope quickly, to an impeachment inquiry.”

The maybes Jerry Nadler, New York: As the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Nadler controls one of the key stages of the impeachment process. Before the entire House votes on whether to impeach the president, his committee would investigate the matter and vote on whether or not to impeach.

So what’s his position? It’s unclear.

“It depends what comes out,” Nadler told CNBC last week. “It depends where the American people are, whether they want to go that way or not. I don’t want to make it sound as if we’re heading for impeachment. Probably we’re not … Maybe. It’s hard. I don’t know.”

Ted Deutch, Florida: Deutch, also a member of the Judiciary Committee, called Trump’s refusal to cooperate with Congress a “constitutional crisis,” according to Roll Call. But he’s not quite ready to call for impeachment.

“It’s a dangerous combination of obstruction of justice and obstruction of Congress,” he said on May 9. “At that point you need to look at however we would respond to a constitutional crisis. And impeachment is certainly one way to do it.”

Adam Schiff, California: The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said this week that the case for impeachment “gets stronger the more they stonewall the Congress,” according to The Hill. He added that the White House is “certainly pushing the Congress in that direction by obstructing everything.”

Susan Davis, California: The San Diego County congresswoman said last month that “There are many, many things there for us to See Jewish reps on page 13

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note remarks that opened the fourth While Torah is nual an- passed down way for the mesorahforever true, the ideal tive Five Towns Community Collaboraaccording Conference on to be conveyed the time, emphasizing to the middah of children — and Sunday.

“What is the Torah how an everlastingto our that the primary of Torah and the kids need now?” ingredent needed in Yiddishkeit is embeddedlove he asked. “What today’s chinuch simcha. their beings — worked in 1972 is in necessarily changes won’t work today.”

Twenty-six speakers, “You’re still talking over time.

Rabbi Weinberger, about what rebbetzins, educators, including rabbis, for you in 1972 and insisting thatworked d’asrah of Congregationfounding morah ers and community leadwhat should work lecturers that’s Woodmere Aish Kodesh in and mashpia at sue that challengeeach addressed a key isMoshe Weinberger, for your kid,” Rabbi the YU, reminded families and parents Shila”a, said in key- that Torah and educators in attendance frum communities. The event, schools in will not be received the Young Israel hosted at of Woodmere, if it’s not was orgaSee 5 Towns Rabbi Moshe hosts on page Weinberger, of 15 Kodesh in Woodmere, Congregation Aish delivered keynote

STAR speech.

Presenting their topics, from left: Baruch Fogel of Rabbi Touro College, “Motivating our children to motivate themselves”; Reb-

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Presenters at Sunday’s conference, from left: Elisheva director of religious Kaminetsky, SKA kodesh, “Empoweringguidance, limudei choices”; Rabbi

TheJewishS

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• Vol 16, No 34

betzin Shani Taragin, 7:53 • Torah columns Tanach coordinator and mashgicha 6:46 pm, Havdalah nika, and Morah”; ruchanit at Midreshet Towns candles Rabbi • Five rah V’avodah, Ephraim 5777 Congregation Polakoff, don’t”; “Miriam: Meyaledet, To• 24 Elul Bais 15, 2017 Rabbi Jesse Horn Tefilah, “Teens Meiech • Sept. technology: What and kotel, of Yeshivat HaNitzavim-Vayeil you know and ognize your bashert”; what you and “Helping children balance ideology Rabbi Kenneth pleasure”; Esther of Congregation Hain Wein, “How to Beth Shalom, rec- A-OK to “When it’s say yes.”

Reuven Taragin, Yeshivat Hakotel founder and director of Eytan Community Education Feiner of The Conferences, White Shul, “When Yitzchak met “Torah tips on Rivkah: Torah’s Star tion and maintain to build Jewish first menThe how a strong By marriage”; of martial the Hebrew joined love”; Michal Towns “Ahavas in Horowitz, The FiveRabbi Sunday Yisrael: In theory or Long Beach on at its in pracnew Academy of

Super Spec ialS chanukat habayit Avenue in celebrating a on Church elementary school Woodmere. beginnings that the humble

tice?”; Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, d’asra, Young mora Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, “Raising successful children”; Rebbetzin Lisa Septimus, yoetzet hala-

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Cedarhurst remembers

Star the loss,

By The Jewish to remember Cedarhurst pausedmiracles of 9/11, at the the n on Sunday. the heroism, and commemoratio village’s annual Rabbi Shay Schachter of WoodIn his invocation, of the Young Israel the Master and (top right photo) pray that G-d, all the strength mere said, “we world, grant us Creator of the to stand firm together against of and the fortitude of extremism, of bigotry, all forms of terror, and of all evil that can be hatred, of racism, forms in our world.” who found in different obligation to thosenever solemn a have “We 11th to injured on Sept. died or were said Mayor Benjamin but we also forget what happened,” “We saw evil, Weinstock (bottom).

America.” of best survivor saw the (middle), a 9/11 78,” reAri Schonburn Fate of “Miracle and waitand author of that day. He was called his experiences on the 78th floor when elevators ing to change hit.

Chief the first plane hurst Fire Department Lawrence-Cedar the playing of saluting during victims.

David Campell, 9/11 names of local Taps, read the

investiture follows formal the Emet first is “Torat ‘InvestFest’ fair shiva University,”Truth.” in

BALFOUR

TheJewishStar.com to an — we believe investiture speech Delivering his Wilf Campus in at YU’sThe Newspaper of our Orthodox communities Berman, with many assembly of 2,000 ty, Rabbi Dr. Ari values that personify YeWashington Heights, in by livestream, that of the “five more listening spoke of the Rabbi Berman the five central “Five Torot, or institution.” teachings, of our believe in Tor“We do not just Chayyim — Torat at Emet but also and values must that our truths he said. live in the world,” teachings, YU’s other central Adam,” “Torat he said, are “Torat Tziyyon, the Chesed,” and “Torat Torah of Redemption.” formal cereFollowing the community parmonies, the YU street fair at an “InvestFest” Am- tied street fair on Amsterdam Avenue.

11 was a along at the “InvestFest” See YU on page

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ceremony, YU’s new president, after the investiture for a selfie. sterdam Avenue who happily posed sought-after celebrity

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t was a minor news story when it broke in the summer of 2016. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced he was suing Great Britain over the Balfour Declaration, issued on Nov. 2, 1917. But as we observe the centennial of the document this week, it’s important to understand that although his lawsuit was a stunt, Abbas was serious. More than that, the symbolism of his See Tobin on page 22

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or the Palestinians, the year zero is not 1948, when the state of Israel came into being, but 1917, when Great Britain issued, on Nov. 2, the Balfour Declaration—expressing support for the establishment of a “Jewish national home” in Palestine.

So central is the Balfour Declaration to Palestinian political identity that the “Zionist invasion” is officially deemed to have begun in 1917—not in 1882, when the first trickle of Jewish pioneers from Russia began arriving, nor in 1897, when the Zionist movement held its first congress in Basel, nor in the late 1920s, when thousands of German Jews fleeing the rise of Nazism chose to go to Palestine.

The year 1917 is the critical date because that is when, as an anti-Zionist might say, the Zionist hand slipped effortlessly into the British imperial glove. It is a neat, simple historical proposition upon which the entire Palestinian version of events rests: an empire came to our land and gave it to foreigners, we were dispossessed, and for five generations now, we have continued to resist. Moreover, it is given official sanction in the Palestine National Covenant of 1968, in which article 6 defines Jews who “were living permanently in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion” as “Palestinians”—an invasion that is dated as 1917 in the covenants’ notes.

As the Balfour Declaration’s centenary approached, this theme is much in evidence.

There is now a dedicated Balfour Apology See Cohen on page 22

YU

Dealer on Long

Sukkah To Abbas Largest and Hamas, it was ‘original sin’

Ben Cohen

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At declaration’s centennial, a source of joy and derision

To British, Palestine just another colony

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Corbyn boycotts B’four event

Britain Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn— who in 2009 called Hezbollah and Hamas his “friends” — said he would not attend a dinner commemorating the centennial of the Balfour Declaration. Prime Minister Theresa May she would attend “with pride” and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu would be her guest.

“We are proud of the role we played in the creation of the State of Israel and we will certainly mark the centenary with pride,” May said. “I am also pleased that good trade relations and other relations that we have with Israel we are building on and enhancing.”

R H STA The JEWIS el ra Is h it w l in efesh’s 56th charter LIers goonal Nefesh B’N

IsraAID brings relief to U.S. disasters

By Ron Kampeas, JTA Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, and WASHINGTON — For 17 years, the then the wildfires in northern California.

Israeli NGO IsraAID has been performPolizer recalls that he was wrapping ing search and rescue, purifying water, up a visit to IsraAID’s new American providing emergency medical assistance headquarters in Palo Alto on Oct. 8 and and walking victims of trauma back to was on his way to a flight to Mexico to psychological health in dozens of disas- oversee operations after a devastating ter-hit countries.

No 25 earthquake there when he got word of • Vol 16, But no season has been busier than the wildfires. “I literally had Luach page 19 9:15 • to do a Uthis past summer and fall, its co-CEO Yo- turn,” he said Havdalah this week in an interview 8:07 pm, tam Polizer said in an interview — and ting Candleligh at the Israeli embassy in Washington.

Polizer spoke with the exhilaration of an executive whose team has come through a daunting challenge. “We’re the people who stay past the ‘aid festival’,” he said, grinning, describing the See IsraAID on page 5

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gressman from a district that voted for Trump, said impeachment could send Democrats back to the minority in the House. “We’re in this incredibly childish game of impeachment chicken, and everyone has to start acting like adults,” he said, according to Politico. “Let’s go back to actually doing the work of the American people that they sent us here to do.”

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida: The former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee said this week that Democrats should let the investigations play out, according to NBC. “I think we need to make sure that we do as much investigating as we can,” she said.

“And if that leads us to looking into impeachment, we’ll get there. But one step at a time.”

Elissa Slotkin, Michigan: Slotkin, a freshman, said Washington is too focused on matters of oversight and not enough on issues that affect her constituents’ daily lives.

“I believe in checks and balances and the constitutional division of powers, but I also know that I get stopped in the grocery store constantly and what people are asking about is the price of health care and the price of prescription drugs,” she told the Washington Post this week.

Susan Wild, Pennsylvania: The freshman representative said she wants to let the investigations play out.

“My concern right now is that I don’t feel that the institution of Congress is being respected,” she said this week, according to the Morning Call. “I think there is an active cover-up of documents and evidence, and that concerns me terribly, but I will ultimately wait to see what the committees of jurisdiction determine.”

Kim Schrier, Washington: The freshman congresswoman said Democrats should focus on defeating Trump in the 2020 election. “I stand by my earlier statement that the fastest way to remove the president from office is to vote him out in 18 months,” she told the Seattle Times.

Brad Schneider, Illinois: Schneider, in a statement Friday to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, said he supported the ongoing investigations into Trump’s conduct, and condemned the president for placing “roadblocks” in the way of the investigation. A spokesperson added that “He’s not calling to open impeachment proceedings now, and is supporting the ongoing investigations.”

“Congress’s decision must be driven solely by the facts and our constitutional responsibility to hold the President to full account,” Schneider’s statement said. “I have committed from the beginning that I will be guided by the facts and will follow them wherever they lead.”

No comment Rep. Nita Lowey of New York, the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, has not commented on impeachment. Neither has Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia. Neither responded to a JTA request for comment. Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey declined to answer the question in an interview with JTA this week.

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Continued from page 12 look at, for us to investigate, and I think that’s a reasonable thing for us to be doing right now,” according to a local TV channel.

Mike Levin, California: The freshman congressman said at a town hall in late April that he believes Trump obstructed justice, according to The New York Times. Responding to a question about impeachment’s potential political costs, he said, “I swore an oath to the Constitution, not to protect and defend the Democratic Party.”

Alan Lowenthal, California: “President Trump needs to be held accountable for abuses of power and unacceptable behavior outlined by the special counsel,” Rep. Lowenthal said, according to Random Lengths News. “We can’t take impeachment off the table — but the process must be open and must be credible in the eyes of the American people.”

Dean Phillips, Minnesota: Phillips, a freshman centrist, echoed Deutch in saying he is not on board with impeachment yet but feels like he’s on the way.

“There’s no question I’m growing more and more concerned,” he told The Hill this week.

“I put what’s in the best interest of the country and our constitutional responsibility first, and I don’t want to see our country go through that, but they are making it awfully, awfully difficult.”

Jan Schakowsky, Illinois: “I’m not sure,” Schakowsky said this week, according to Roll Call. “I want to hear these arguments … I believe that [Trump] has definitely committed impeachable offenses. The question is how do we proceed to follow up on all the misdeeds that we’ve seen.”

The nos Andy Levin, Michigan: Three weeks ago, Levin said Trump should “probably be impeached” but that it shouldn’t happen quite yet.

“We need to develop the story, whether it leads to impeachment or not,” Levin said, according to the Michigan Advance. “It’s a political thing, and we need to do our job under the Constitution to hold him accountable and we’ll see where it goes. But it’s just kind of superficial to say impeachment. We need to do the oversight.”

Lois Frankel, Florida: After the completion of the Mueller investigation, she told CNN that most Democrats were focused on quality-of-life concerns as opposed to impeachment, and that congressional investigations should run their course.

“We are not focused on the Mueller investigation, the report,” she said. “I mean, we acknowledge its importance, but we’re dealing with everyday bread-and-butter issues … We are going to do our constitutional duty. I think most of us Democrats have the patience to let that play out.”

Eliot Engel, New York: Engel, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said last month that Democrats “should be cautious” with impeachment, according to The Hill. But he voted for the separate impeachment motions in 2017 and 2018 when Democrats were in the minority.

Max Rose, New York: Rose, a moderate con-

Hidden secrets of Spain

THE JEWISH STAR May 31, 2019 26 Iyar, 5779

Jewish reps...

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May 31, 2019 26 Iyar, 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

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Parsha of the Week

Rabbi avi billet Jewish Star columnist

Learning all the mitzvot at Sinai

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he last verse of the Tochacha (Rebuke) of Chapter 26 in Bechukotai says the following: “These are the decrees, laws and codes that G-d set between Himself and the Israelites at Mount Sinai through the hand of Moshe” (26:46).

Anyone who paid attention last week probably recalls that the opening verse of Parshat Behar noted that the teachings following were all taught at Sinai. Rashi, quoting the Midrash, famously noted that just as the details of the Sabbatical year were taught at Sinai, details of all mitzvot were taught at Sinai.

One of the great commentaries, the Ohr HaChaim, questioned why Rashi needed to make such a pronouncement, when the statement could have been made regarding any mitzvah! Why was shemittah specifically isolated as the mitzvah whose details demonstrate that all mitzvot were taught at Sinai?

His answer focuses on the first half of the verse, which discusses what happens when the people come to the land — a common theme in Vayikra, to not live like the land’s Canaanite inhabitants or like their former Egyptian masters.

More pointedly, however, is the last verse in Chapter 26, as noted above, which seems to say the same thing as the opening verse in Behar, but much more broadly! Midrash Aggadah even makes the exact same comment that Rashi does in Behar: that the laws of the Torah, with all of its details, were taught at Sinai.

As the Ohr HaChaim noted, we don’t need to attach this sentiment to a specific mitzvah.

It stands alone, and is perfectly fine remaining in generic territory!

Rashi’s grandson, Rabbi Shmuel ben Meir (Rashbam), connects the two ideas, noting that the Tochacha had a relatively heavy emphasis on shemittah, suggesting that exile, rebuke, curses, drought, are connected both to shemittah and to Sinai. ost fascinating to me is the insight of Rabbi Moshe Alshich, who suggests that the verse in question (26:46) should really be the final verse in the Torah.

Let it not be lost upon us that the method through which the Torah and its laws were given were “through (in) the hand of Moshe!”

In other words, while most people are subject to forgetting, the Torah is indicating to us that the way Moshe received and absorbed the rules and laws of the Torah were through a kind of osmosis we can’t relate to. Even were others to forget, Moshe would not.

Thus the verse belongs here, at this time, while Moshe is very much alive, while Moshe is very much 80 or 81 years old, so the people can see and realize that he is available for consultation, for clarification, to teach another class, to give over more information — that he is at the ready to answer questions for those who seek to understand.

We know that Moshe lives another 39 years or so only with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, and we know the rest of the tale.

It is worth asking ourselves how seriously we take the role of Moshe in our day-to-day behavior. Not just in terms of considering the

Do we pick and choose which ones work for us?

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Every Jew matters to every Jew From Heart of Jerusalem

Rabbi biNNY FReeDMaN

Jewish Star columnist

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he famous 19th century blood libel in Russia that came to be known as the Beilis Trial was much more than the trial of just one man.

Judaism as a whole stood accused, and its faithful defenders were forced to fend off repeated attacks while world Jewry rallied to their support.

The judge challenged the defense. He said: “It says in your Talmud: You the people of Israel are called adam, Man, yet the nations of the world are not called adam. What then do you consider the nations of the world to be, if not men? Would you call them animals?”

The rabbi acting as defense attorney explained: “In Hebrew there are two terms for man: ish and adam. Israel is called Adam because this term appears only in singular; there is no plural form.

The Jews are described in singular because they are more than a mass of individuals. They alone, among the nations, are one. If a Jew on one side of the globe is in pain, a Jew thousands of miles away suffers with him. They are as limbs of one body.

“Tell me,” he continued, “if it were a Russian standing here accused of murder, would a Russian anywhere else on earth take an interest in his fate? Yet see how the Jews all over the world have come forward to help prove the innocence of their brother — for the Jewish people are one.”

The judge could not refute the truth. Beilis was eventually proven innocent. his week’s portion of Bechukotai contains one of the most terrifying passages in the entire Torah. It describes what will happen to the Jewish people if they break their covenant with G-d.

“If in spite of this you will not listen to me … I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries … scatter you amongst the nations … your land will be laid waste … and for those who remain, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf

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words of his warning to us in this parsha, though that is certainly important, but how we take the rest of the Torah, both what is written in the Torah itself, and what is given to us through the Oral Torah (Rashi on this verse notes how the verse refers to both the written and oral traditions).

In the Ani Maamin list, principles 6 to 9 reference the concept of prophecy and the Torah as being true for all time, while 7 and 8 specifically mention Moshe as the greatest of prophets and the giver of the Torah we currently have, in the format in which we have it.

Do we care about all the mitzvot? Do we pick and choose which ones work for us? Do we know the rules of lashon hara, for example, about which the Maharal of Prague, in his teshuvah drasha of 1684

will cause them to flee; they will run as though fleeing from a sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them…” (Vayikra 26:28-36).

The verses in this chapter are so frightening and painful that the custom is to read them in an undertone, as though we are afraid to say them out loud.

These are more than just random words. The Jewish people, over the last three millennia, have tragically encountered more than their share of the fulfillment of these frightening prophecies. Indeed, it is a wonder that we are still here. Though some individuals understandably may have felt that the story was over, the Jewish people themselves never gave up.

There is a strange comment hidden in the painful verses of Bechukotai that may allude to why that is. The aforementioned verses continue “they will stumble over each other as they would before a sword, though no one is chasing them; you will have no power to stand before your enemies” (ibid. v. 37).

Rashi quotes the Midrash here that explains: “Do not read this as saying they will stumble over each other; rather it means they will stumble because of each other — because of each other’s sins.

This teaches that all Israel are responsible one for another [kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh].”

One wonders how the rabbis learn such a positive principle from such a negative source. Why would the most terrifying portion in the entire Torah teach us such a heartwarming imperative?

It is interesting to note that the verse begins by speaking about Jews in the third person — “they will stumble” — but concludes in the first: “you will have no power before your enemies.”

Why this change? Perhaps it is not random. his is not the only Torah portion full of terrifying curses predicting a terrible fate that awaits the Jewish people should they neglect the covenant. The second is in Devarim 8. There too, the Torah tells us what will befall the Jewish people should we fail to live up to our moral mission. These are the only two texts that speak of a time when the Jewish people will suffer exile and

be scattered amongst enemies in a foreign land.

And yet there are some fascinating differences between the two. Notably, in Devarim, it is Moshe who speaks to the Jewish people. He ends the chapter on a despairing note: “You will try to sell your selves as slaves … but none will buy you.”

He speaks in the singular form, to each individual.

In Bechukotai, however, it is G-d who speaks to the Jewish people. He addresses them in the plural form, and the passage ends on a hope-filled promise: “But despite all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them nor despise them…

I will remember the Covenant made with the first generation…”

It is understandable that people in a society recognize that they are dependent upon each other. If everyone simply does what they like without regard for their neighbors, civilization falls apart. If crime reigns, people are afraid to walk alone, and if there are no speeding limits and everyone drives as they like, no one is safe.

What is remarkable is that the Jewish people maintained this social responsibility even when scattered to remote corners of the earth. We lived in different cultures and spoke different languages. While the Jews of Europe suffered the horrors of the Crusades, the Jews in Spain lived in a golden age. When the Jews of Europe were being destroyed in the Holocaust, the Jews in America and England had unprecedented freedom. Yet they never stopped fighting for each other.

This week’s portion of Bechukotai teaches us two things: it teaches us that we should never give up hope; itself a remarkable idea that only makes sense if there is meaning and purpose; if we are created for something greater than ourselves.

And it teaches us that it’s not just about the Jewish people; it’s about every individual Jew. Every single Jew matters. It is if we stop caring for every Jew that we are really cursed, and it is because every Jew matters to every Jew that we are truly blessed, even in exile.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem.

It is a wonder that we are still here.

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said is the worst of all sins a Jew could commit?

One of my favorite teachings of the Chafetz Chaim is this: “The Rishonim have written that if these sins [of baseless hatred] had the power to cause a standing edifice to be destroyed, then certainly their continued presence [among the Jewish people] will prevent a new Temple from being built … To our misfortune, even those who have an understanding of Torah law do not accord these sins the severity of other sins.

“It is written that a single congregation which is meticulous in maintaining peace amongst itself can merit bringing the Messiah. Thus, the coming of Messiah is in our hands. It is well known that true peace is impossible without zealousness in avoiding sinas chinam and lashon hara. Every

person who will strive to correct these sins will have a share in the building of the Third Temple, for without such people the Temple would remain destroyed forever, heaven forbid.”

Who was the greatest advocate of Jewish unity in the Torah? Unquestioningly, Moshe. (Pirkei Avot teaches of Aharon’s role in playing peacemaker between individuals.) Whenever there was a question of destroying the nation on account of the sins of a few, Moshe stood up to G-d and said, “They are all my people.”

I am fearful that in the disunity we see in some areas of Jewish life, we are forgetting the most important lesson of Moshe Rabbenu, and we are guilty of what the Chafetz Chaim warned against — preventing the Temple from being rebuilt.

Torah

Rabbi david eTengoff

Jewish Star columnist

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he first three words of our parasha, Bechuchotai, present a significant interpretative challenge. The phrase, “Im bechuchotai teleichu” could readily be translated, “if you will walk after (or follow) My chukim.”

According to this approach, chukim refers to those commandments whose reasons remain unknown. This class of mitzvot is most often contrasted with mishpatim, commandments whose rationale can be logically deduced.

The difference between these two categories is clearly presented in the following wellknown Talmudic passage: “Our Rabbis taught: ‘You should perform my mishpatim’ (Vayikra 18:4). These are mat-

ters that were they not actually written [by G-d] it is logical that they would have been.

These are some examples: the prohibitions of idol worship, illicit sexual behavior, murder, stealing, and cursing Hashem. ‘And you should guard my chukim’ — these are matters wherein the Satan [Rashi: the evil inclination] attempts to disprove their validity and veracity. These are some examples: the prohibitions of eating pig flesh, wearing garments comprised of linen and wool, relieving a brother-in-law of his obligation to marry his widowed sister-in-law (chalitzah), the ritual purification of the individual afflicted with tzaraat, and the scapegoat rite [of Yom Kippur]. [Since you cannot understand them] perhaps you will say that they are worthless and devoid of meaning! Therefore the Torah

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his week we read the Tochacha, the terrifying curses that happen to Israel if it betrays its Divine mission. If Israel loses its way spiritually, say the curses, it will lose physically, economically, and politically also. The nation will experience defeat and disaster. It will forfeit its freedom and its land. The people will go into exile and suffer persecution.

Customarily we read this passage sotto voce, so fearful is it. It is hard to imagine any nation undergoing such catastrophe and living to tell the tale. Yet the passage does not end there. In an abrupt change of key, we then hear one of the great consolations in the Bible: “Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away … I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their G-d” (Vayikra 26:44-45).

Then there are secular cultures, like the contemporary West, in which the existence of the universe, of human life and consciousness, is seen as the result of meaningless accidents intended by no one and with no redeeming purpose. We are born, we live, we will die, and it will be as if we had never been.

Hope is not unknown in such cultures, but it is what Aristotle called “a waking dream,” a private wish that things might be otherwise. In the eyes of ancient Greece or contemporary science, there is nothing in reality or history to justify belief that the human condition could be other and better than it is.

Judaism is not without an expression of this mood. We find it in Kohelet — “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” (1:9). But for the most part, the Hebrew Bible expresses a quite different view: that there can be change in the affairs of humankind. Our long journey’s end is redemption and the Messianic Age. Judaism is the principled rejection of tragedy in the name of hope.

The sociologist Peter Berger calls hope a “signal of transcendence,” a point at which something beyond penetrates the human situ-

ation. There is nothing inevitable or rational about hope. It cannot be inferred from facts.

Those with a tragic sense of life hold that hope is a childish fantasy, and a mature response to our place in the universe is to accept its fundamental meaninglessness and cultivate stoic acceptance. Judaism insists otherwise: that the reality that underlies the universe is not deaf to our prayers, blind to our aspirations, indifferent to our existence. We are not wrong to strive to perfect the world, refusing to accept the inevitability of suffering and injustice. e hear this note at key points in the Torah. It occurs at the end of Bereishit, when first Yaakov then Yosef assure the family that their stay in Egypt will not be endless. We hear it again as Moshe tells the people that even after the worst suffering that can befall a nation, Israel will not be lost or rejected: “Then the L-rd your G-d will … have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where He scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the L-rd your G-d will gather you and bring you back” (Devarim 30:3-4).

But the key text is here, at the end of the curses of Bechukotai. This is where G-d promises that even if Israel sins, it may suffer, but it will never die. It may be exiled, but it will See Birth on page 16

It appears strange to interpret the word in this manner.

The birth of hope Rabbi siR jonaThan sacks

states [ibid.]: ‘I am the L-rd your G-d.’ I am He who has decreed [the chukim], and you do not have permission to question” (Yoma 67b).

Rashi takes a different approach, however, and does not translate bechukotai as referring to chukim and the fulfillment of the Torah’s precepts even when their rationale is elusive. Instead, he explains our term as a synonym for intense involvement in Torah study: “If you follow My statutes: I might think that this refers to the fulfillment of the commandments. However, when Scripture says, ‘and observe My commandments,’ the fulfillment of the commandments is [already] stated. Therefore, what is the meaning of ‘If you follow My statutes [chukim]?’ It means that you must toil in the study of Torah.”

Rashi’s deviation from our above-cited Tal-

This is a turning point in the history of the human spirit. It is the birth of hope, as the very shape of history itself, “the arc of the moral universe,” as Martin Luther King put it.

G-d is just. He may punish. He may hide His face. But He will not break His word. He will fulfill His promise. He will bring His children home. ope is one of the greatest Jewish contributions to Western civilization.

In the ancient world, there were cultures in which people believed that the gods were at best indifferent to our existence, at worst malevolent. The best humans can do is avoid their attention or appease their wrath. In the end, though, it is all in vain. We are destined to see our dreams wrecked on the rocks of reality.

The great tragedians were Greek. Judaism produced no Sophocles or Aeschylus, no Oedipus or Antigone. Biblical Hebrew did not even have a word for “tragedy” in the Greek sense.

Modern Hebrew had to borrow the word tragedia.

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We are not wrong to strive to perfect the world.

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Life and death are in the power of speech Rabbi anchelle peRl Chabad of Mineola

Rabbi Perl responds to Newsday’s cover story on Tuesday reporting that athletic staff at Long Island public schools have resigned because of “invective from coaches, parents and spectators.” hat is the Jewish stance on cursing and curse words?

Researchers have found that about 0.7 percent of a typical American’s speech is made up of swear words. That might not sound like a lot, but given that an average person utters about 15,000 to 16,000 words each day, that adds up to a whopping 80 to 90 curses.

So which crime is worse — financial exploitation or verbal abuse?

“Money can be reimbursed,” the Talmud notes, “but the hurt from words is irreparable; money is a person’s property, but words hurt the person himself.”

Whether due to circumstance or nature, some people are more emotionally vulnerable than others. The Torah repeatedly tells us to

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watch our words with the widow, the orphan and the immigrant. Men are enjoined to speak sensitively to their wives.

The truth is that using bad language does more than keep you from being one step above. It actually pulls you down.

The Talmud speaks very harshly about vulgar speech. Although we generally think of speech as just a superficial act, in truth it has a strong impact on one’s inner self. The words that leave your mouth make an imprint on your mind and heart. No matter how high up you are on the rope of fine, noble character, a few rotten words can throw you back down to the ground.

And the flip side is also true — a crude person can become more refined if he improves the way he speaks. o is a choice word after stubbing a toe a horrible sin? Perhaps not. But being careful that all words that leave your mouth are holy is an important part of a living the “holy” life.

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Saying many coarse words has an effect on us over time. Obscenities are called “dirty words” for a reason: Using them sends a message that we don’t care enough about our speech to monitor what we say and choose cleaner options instead.

Many of us intuitively realize that when we want to seem intelligent and successful, swearing is out of the question. Few people would swear during a job interview or a first date.

In Judaism, important occasions aren’t reserved only for special moments — the Torah encourages us to take ourselves seriously and try to grow and reach our potential. Part of that is refining our speech and not allowing degrading expressions to drag us down.

There is an enigmatic instruction in the Torah — kedoshim tihyu, “be holy.” The sages explain that the Hebrew word kadosh, which is normally translated as “holy,” actually means to be “distinct” or “separate.” Separate from what? From vulgar language, for one.

It reflects a key Jewish truth that what we say matters. The Talmud speaks disapprovingly about people who use crude or vulgar language, but it goes beyond that. In Jewish thought, the way we interact with people and the comments we make shape us. If we speak and act kindly to people, we become kind. When we talk gently to others, we become gentle.

Three thousand years ago, King Shlomo wrote, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Mishlei 18:21). The words we say shape us in both clear and subtle ways; engaging in crude speech drags down both the speaker and the listener. With vulgarity and swearing such a huge part of everyday speech, maybe it’s time to experiment with going obscenity-free.

Consider giving up swearing for a week. It might not be easy, but the rewards — in clarity of thought and a more refined way of communicating — are well worth it.

Obscenities are called ‘dirty words’ for a reason.

15 THE JEWISH STAR May 31, 2019 26 Iyar, 5779

The Divine light of Torah study

mudic passage is based upon Midrash Torat Kohanim 26:3: “‘If you follow My statutes (chukim)’ — I would have thought that this refers to the mitzvot. This, however, is the case when the Torah writes ‘and My mitzvot you will keep and perform them’ — this is indeed referring to the mitzvot. [If so,] how do I fulfill ‘If you follow My statutes (chukim)?’

— this refers to intense involvement in Torah study.” t first glance, it appears strange that the Midrash would interpret the word chukim in this manner. The Malbim (Rabbi Meir Leibush ben Yechiel Michel, 1809-1879) notes, however, that our Sages explained the term in this manner on a number of occasions. By way of illustration: “Our Sages, however, explained the term chukim many times as referring to Torah study. This is noted in the Midrashim. [This explanation] is based upon the numerous Torah laws and interpretations that result from the standard rules of exegesis and grammar, and upon the explanatory principles [such as Rabbi Yishmael’s 13 hermeneutic principles] See Torah on page 16

A G-d versus gods

chok Hutner’s teaching on “Idolatry’s Strangeness,” and warrants your attention.

The footnoting here should be of particular interest.

Other idol worship traditions dealt with in this book include those of Molech, Baal Peor and Dagon.

Rabbi Klein’s teachings are staunchly traditional, coupled with a full appreciation for modern scholarship.

As in his previous works, he carefully footnotes his sources, giving the reader a chance to research everything cited in this valued work.

Rabbi Klein is a longtime member of the Kollel of Yeshivas Mir in Jerusalem and lives with his family in Beitar Illit. He received his rabbinic semicha from Rav Moshe Sternbuch, Rav Zalman Nechemiah Goldberg, Rav Yosef Yitzchak Lerner, and Dayan Chanoch Sanhedrai. He is a member of the Rabbinical Council of America.

Questions and comments are welcome and can be directed to Rabbi Klein at rabbircklein@ gmail.com.

n Shavuot, we commemorate the pact of spiritual loyalty that G-d and the Jewish people pledged to each other at Mount Sinai. Yet a plain reading of the biblical text shows us that not long after the Jews committed their loyalty to G-d, many abrogated their sacred promise and worshipped something else: the Golden Calf.

While still encamped at Mount Sinai, the Jews — or at least some Jews — violated their commitment and ended up worshiping an idol in the image of a Golden Calf. These sinners were duly punished and their cult was swiftly repressed … or was it?

Centuries passed, and following the death of King Shlomo, the cult of worship of the Golden Calf was revived with the erection by

King Yeravam of Golden Calves at Beth El and Dan. Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, author of G-d Versus Gods: Judaism in the Age of Idolatry (Mosaica Press, 2018), deals in some depth with this issue in the following manner: Are these outbursts of bovine adoration to be understood as isolated incidents or as part of a larger, deviant stream of Judaism? Is there any significance to the Jews choosing a cow to worship as opposed to any other animal or element of nature? Do these cases of cow worship have anything to do with the Apis Bull or the Osiris cult in Egyptian worship, which also venerated the beast?

Rabbi Klein addresses these issues and much more. He traces the history of avodah zarah as it appears throughout the Bible’s narratives utilizing up-to-date research and tradi-

tional rabbinic sources that will give you an informed yet understandable approach to this era of our people’s history, all stemming from the experience of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.

This historical narrative takes us through the entire Biblical account, spanning the period of the judges, kings and their priests, detailing the idol worship that swept these eras that included the worship of Baal and Asherah.

This first section of the book concludes with a chapter dedicated to explaining the rabbinic legend of “slaughtering” the inclination for avodah zarah and what that means for us to this very day.

One fascinating chapter deals with Rav Yitz-

Torah...

Birth...

The walking tour

Kosher Bookworm

AlAn JAy GerBer

Jewish Star columnist

O

Continued from page 15 that are as fixed as the laws of the heavens and the earth [i.e., nature] that Hashem established in His world” (Malbim, Vayikra 26:3, subsection 2).

In the Malbim’s estimation, this connotation of the term chukim is “based upon the standard rules of exegesis and grammar, and upon the explanatory principles.” Rashi’s interpretation of chukim as referring to intense involvement in Torah study is, therefore, congruent with the midrashic analysis of this term.

Based upon our passages from Midrash Torat Kohanim, Rashi and the Malbim, we are in a much better position to understand one of the key elements for rebuilding and strengthening our relationship with Hashem.

May our dedication to depth-level Torah study send a glimmer of light to penetrate the spiritual darkness that so often surrounds our souls, and envelops our time. With the Almighty’s help and our heartfelt desire, may each of us renew our commitment to the study of His holy Torah and thereby encounter Him anew, and relieve our finest moment at Mount Sinai.

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May 31, 2019 26 Iyar, 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

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Is there any significance to the Jews choosing a cow to worship?

Continued from page 15 return. Israel may betray the covenant, but G-d never will. This is one of the most fateful of all biblical assertions. It tells us that no fate is so bleak as to murder hope itself.

No defeat is final.

All the prophets delivered this message in their own way. Hoshea told the people that though they may be a faithless wife, G-d remains a loving husband. Amos assured them that G-d would rebuild even the most devastated ruins. Yirmiyahu bought a field in Anatot to assure the people that they would return from Babylon. Yeshaya became the poet laureate of hope in visions of a world at peace that have never been surpassed.

Of all the prophecies of hope, none is as haunting as Yechezkel’s vision of a valley of dry bones. No text in all of literature is so evocative of the fate of the Jewish people after the Holocaust. Almost prophetically, Naftali Herz Imber alluded to this text in the words that eventually became Israel’s national anthem. He wrote: od lo avda tikvatenu, “our hope is not yet lost.” here does hope come from? Berger sees it as a constitutive part of our humanity. Only hope empowers us to take risks, engage in long-term projects, marry and have children, and refuse to capitulate in the face of despair.

But I am less sure than Berger that hope is universal. It emerged in the spiritual landscape of Western civilization through a specific set of beliefs: that G-d exists, that He cares about us, that He has made a covenant with humanity and with the people He chose to be a living example of faith.

That covenant transforms our understanding of history. G-d has given His word, and He will never break it, however much we may break our side of the promise.

Without these beliefs, we would have no reason to hope at all.

History as conceived in this parsha is not utopian. Faith does not blind us to the apparent randomness of circumstance, the cruelty of fortune, or the seeming injustices of fate. No one reading Vayikra 26 can be an optimist. Yet no one sensitive to its message can abandon hope.

Without this, Jews and Judaism would not have survived. Without belief in the covenant and its insistence, “Yet in spite of this,” there might have been no Jewish people after the destruction of one or other of the Temples, or the Holocaust itself.

It is not too much to say that Jews kept hope alive, and hope kept the Jewish people alive.

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rABBi Dr. tzvi hersh weinreB Orthodox Union

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am the type of person who has always believed that the only way to learn about something important is to buy a book about it. For example, I have been fortunate to have traveled widely and to have visited many interesting cities. Invariably, I buy guidebooks before each visit, with detailed itineraries describing the “not to be missed” sites in those cities.

Eventually, I learned that there is a much better way to know a new city than to read a book about it.

It is more interesting, more entertaining, and more inspiring to simply walk around the city aimlessly. I have even stopped buying those books that provide maps of walking tours. Instead I just wander, and have never been disappointed in the process.

The list of cities which I have aimlessly explored has grown quite long over the years. It includes my own native New York, the holy city of Jerusalem, numerous cities in the United States, and several in Europe, such as London, Rome and Prague.

Despite the diversity of these cities, I inevitably end up in one of two destinations: either a used bookstore, or a small park, usually one in which children are playing.

The last time I had this experience, I was taken aback. I muttered to myself, “I guess my feet take me where my heart wants me to go.”

As soon as those words occurred to me, I realized that they were not my own words at all.

Rather, I was preceded in that reaction by two glorious figures in Jewish history: the great sage Hillel, and no one less than King David. That brings us to this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Bechukotai (Bamidbar 26:3-27:34)..” he parasha begins: “If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments, I will grant your rains in their season…”

That is the standard translation of this opening verse. But a more literal translation would begin not “if you follow My laws,” but “if you walk in My laws.” Most translators understandably choose the word “follow” over the literal “walk” in this context.

But the Midrash takes a different approach.

It retains the literal “walk,” and links it to the phrase in Psalms 119:59 which reads, “I have considered my ways, and have turned my steps to Your decrees.” The Midrash places these words into the mouth of King David: “Master of the universe, each and every day I would decide to go to such and such a place, or to such and such a dwelling, but my feet would bring me to

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synagogues and study halls, as it is written: ‘I have turned my steps to Your decrees.’”

Long before this Midrash was composed, but long after the life of King David, the rabbinic sage Hillel is recorded by the Talmud to have said, “To the place which I love, that is where my feet guide me” (Sukkah 53a).

The lesson is clear. Our subonscious knows our inner preferences very well — so much so that no matter our conscious plans, our feet take us where we really want to be. I may have told myself when I visited some new city that I wanted to see its ancient ruins, its museums, its Houses of Parliament. But my inner self knew better and directed my feet to the musty old bookstores where I could browse to my heart’s content. Or to off-the-beaten-path leafy parks where I could observe children at play.

This Midrash understands the opening phrase of our parasha, “if you walk in my laws,” as indicating the Torah’s desire that we internalize G-d’s laws so thoroughly that they become our major purpose in life. Even if we initially define our life’s journey in terms of very different goals, G-d’s laws will hopefully become our ultimate destination..” here are numerous other ways suggested by commentaries to understand the literal phrase “if you walk in My ways.” Indeed, Rabbi Chaim ibn Atar, the great eighteenthcentury author of the Ohr HaChaim, enumerates no less than 42 explanations.

Several of his explanations, while not identical to that of our Midrash, are consistent with it.

For example, he suggests that by using the verb “walk,” the Torah is suggesting to us that it is sometimes important to leave one’s familiar environment. One must embark on a journey to some distant place in order to fully realize his or her religious mission. It is hard to change in the presence of people who have known us all of our lives.

Ohr HaChaim leaves us with this profound insight, which the author bases upon a passage in the sourcebook of the Kabbalah, the Zohar: “Animals do not change their nature. They are not ‘walkers.’ But humans are ‘walkers.’ We are always changing our habits, ‘walking away’ from base conduct to noble conduct, and from lower levels of behavior to higher ones. ‘Walking,’ progressing, is our very essence. ‘Walking’ distinguishes us from the rest of G-d’s creatures.”

The phrase “to walk” is thus a powerful metaphor for who we are. No wonder, then, that this final portion of Vayikra begins with such a choice of words. All of life is a journey, and despite our intentions, we somehow arrive at Bechukotai, “My laws,” so that we end our journey through this third book of the Bible with these words: “These are the commandments that the L-rd gave Moshe for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.”

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View from Central Park

Intermountain Jewish News

Snow in May? Welcome to Denver

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y the time you read this, the sun will be shining again, spring will have returned, and last week’s record snowfall in Denver will be a distant memory. I am tickled pink with the charming snow that fell on Denver on May 21 —not just a faint dusting, but a crest of milk-white sparkling snow over all the spring blooms.

I do feel for all of the gardeners out there whose plants have been affected. And all those snapped tree branches; my parents sustained a few in their backyard! But seeing as I am only visiting Denver, and am currently plant-less and garden-less, I couldn’t help but fall under the magic spell of this record spring snow.

Snow always makes everything more beautiful. The quiet landscape is enchanting as the snowflakes gently fall, spreading inner warmth and joy.

The pale pink cherry blossoms and yellowbranched forsythia, now crested with snow, are even more illuminated. It seems like nature is putting on a beautiful show.

For me, snowfall brings with it an ebb and flow, a push and pull of indoors-outdoors. It is always an invitation to come outside, and at the same time, it brings with it the joy of watching the snowfall through a window pane as you stay cozy inside.

The surprise of it is fun, too. In our developed age, we might have perfected predicting the weather, but we still have absolutely no control over it, a humble reminder that there are some things in this world that will always be beyond our control. As much as the science of snow can be known, there is always mystery about weather’s arrival. Especially so with snow, which always feels like a playful gift from the Heavens. Just when we think it’s spring and the snow season is over, it comes along and says, “Hello again! Not so fast! Just because it’s days to summer break doesn’t mean I can’t surprise you with one more modest snowfall.”

We like to think we control things, and for the most part we have an ordered world.

Thankfully, we in Colorado do have the order and joy of the four seasons. But when a surprise snowfall like this comes along, it’s a reminder just how unpredictable things can be. After all, we are not in control of things, as much as we like to think we are.

As long as there are no volatile storms, I’ll take this gently beautiful, blanketing, snowy reminder of our surrender to the mysteries beyond ourselves.

I have my pictures that record the earliest times snow has fallen. A few years ago, in the first week of October, my nephew captured one of me holding the four species — myrtle, willow, a ripened date palm frond and a bright yellow etrog — all crested by snow. It was a snowy Sukkot! Not that surprising for Denver, though.

And I am accustomed to the spring snowfall of Pesach. Each year I wait for it. The backyard’s snow-crested cherry blossom tree spreading out over the jade grass, framed by my mother’s kitchen’s white French window is, for me, one of Pesach in Denver’s classic visions.

But a snowfall on practically the eve of Lag

We have no control over the weather.

The

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Thank Jimmy Carter for Iran mess Politics to go

Jeff duNetz

Jewish Star columnist

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s a country, two things we have learned from Barack Obama are that if things are going lousy, blame the previous administration, and if your successor fixes your mistakes, take credit for it.

There are times, however, when predecessors have earned the responsibility for the bad things going on in the world. A great example is former President Jimmy Carter and the rogue regime of crazies that is running Iran.

The “achievement” of Jimmy Carter’s that will endure for a long time is the fact that the Islamic crazies who are running Iran want to control the entire Middle East and blow up Israel and the United States. If, G-d forbid, the Iranian crazies ever get their hands on a nuclear bomb, the resulting deaths will be another reason we remember him.

A few years ago, an interesting Jerusalem Post analysis of Carter and Iran said in part: “Carter viewed Khomeini as more of a religious holy man in a grassroots revolution than a founding father of modern terrorism. Carter’s ambassador to the UN, Andrew Young, said ‘Khomeini will eventually be hailed as a saint.’ Carter’s Iranian ambassador, William Sullivan, said, ‘Khomeini is a Gandhi-like figure.’ Carter adviser James Bill proclaimed in a Newsweek interview on February 12, 1979 that Khomeini was not a mad mujahid, but a man of ‘impeccable integrity and honesty’.”

In other words, Carter and his foreign policy team had their collective heads in the sand.

The Shah, on the other hand, had the Peanut President down pat. He told his personal confidant, “Who knows what sort of calamity he [Carter] may unleash on the world?”

What the Shah didn’t know at the time was that the calamity involved him and his country. ichel D. Evans, an expert on Middle East affairs, says Carter considered Khomeini a “holy man” and believed every crisis could be resolved with diplomacy. It was this Kumbaya pacifism that got him into trouble.

“Carter never understood that Khomeini, a

cleric exiled to Najaf in Iraq from 1965-1978, was preparing Iran for revolution. Proclaiming ‘the West killed G-d and wants us to bury him,’ Khomeini’s weapon of choice was not the sword but the medias. Using tape cassettes smuggled

by Iranian pilgrims returning from the holy city of Najaf, Khomeini fueled disdain for what he called gharbzadegi, which is Persian for the plague of Western culture.”

That doesn’t sound like a man who wants to have a peaceful relationship with the United States.

Khomeini could never have succeeded without Carter. The Islamic Revolution would have been stillborn. Carter pressured the Shah to

Kumbaya pacifism got him into trouble.

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BaOmer? Now we’re talking! I felt like reciting the nightly blessing of counting to Shavuot with: “Today is 30 days, which is four weeks and three days

Former President Jimmy Carter with Palestinians on Aug. 27, 2009.

make what he termed human rights concessions by releasing political prisoners and relaxing press censorship.

In his article in the Jerusalem Post, titled Father of the Iranian Revolution, Michael Evans wrote that “Gen. Robert Huyser, Carter’s military liaison to Iran, once told me in tears: ‘The president could have publicly condemned Khomeini and even kidnapped him and then bartered for an exchange with the [American Embassy] hostages, but the president was indignant. ‘One cannot do that to a holy man,’ he said.”

But anyone who would allow students under his rule to take 60 diplomats hostage for 444 days, as Khomeini did, is not someone most people would consider a “holy man.” But Carter believed that most leaders had good in their hearts, even when they didn’t.

Evans’s article continued, “I sat in the home of Gen. Huyser, who told me the shah feared he would lose the country if he implemented Carter’s polices. Carter had no desire to see the shah of the Omer and Colorado’s latest spring snowfall in more than 40 years!”

I love seeing the unexpected fusion of spring

remain in power. He really believed that a cleric — whose Islamist fanaticism he did not understand in the least — would be better for human rights and Iran. He could have changed history by condemning Khomeini and getting the support of our allies to keep him out of Iran.” arter’s belief that every crisis can be resolved with diplomacy — and everything not solved by diplomacy is a wrong solution — ended up causing the deaths of thousands of Iranians, and setting the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Israel up for possible conflict with the rogue regime.

Khomeini had the help of the PLO when he came back to Iran. That alone should have been a big hint. But then again, Carter believed the Palestinian terrorists to be “good guys.” The PLO supplied weapons and terrorists to murder Iranians and incite mobs in the streets. No wonder Yasser Arafat was hailed as a friend of Khomeini after he seized control of Iran, and was given the Israeli Embassy in Tehenear Bilin outside Ramallah ran, where the PLO Mohamar Awad/Flash90 flag still flies overhead.

Fifty years after Jimmy Carter installed Ayatollah Khomeini and his team of radical Islamists into power, the government he helped to create threatens the lives and liberties of the American people, fires upon American troops based in Iraq, and is still seeking nuclear weapons, which the JCPOA allows them to do in 6 to 11 years.

But none of this had to happen — the hostages, the years of Iranian threats, hanging homosexuals for sport, throwing Christians in prisons, and other horrible torture of people who do not follow the Iranian political rules, and its radical Islamist sharia law.

The Shah of Iran was no Boy Scout, but thanks to Jimmy Carter, he was replaced by a terrorist-supporting radical Islamist state whose slogan is “Death to America.”

In recent weeks, people have been wondering if we are going to war with Iran, and as of now the answer is no. But America wouldn’t be having regular crises with the rogue Iranian regime if Jimmy Carter had a realistic view of the world.

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and winter — it makes for an unusual and special Colorado hybrid.

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17 THE JEWISH STAR May 31, 2019 26 Iyar, 5779

tehILLa r. gOLdberg

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18

Malmö 2020: World leaders v. anti-Semitism Viewpoint

BEN COHEN

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n October 2020, Sweden will host an international summit to combat anti-Semitism.

When Stefan Löfven, the Swedish prime minister, announced the parley last Friday, he didn’t disclose any further details, but the Swedish press depicted the event as a forum that would be attended by government leaders and heads of state.

So it’s worth thinking about. Before anything else, there’s the planned location: the southern city of Malmö. Over the last 10 years, Malmö has become a potent symbol of Europe’s rising antiSemitism and especially of its spread beyond the far right to the ranks of the left, as well as extremist elements within the city’s large Muslim community. The most immediate effect of this has been to shrink what was already a small Jewish population of 3,000 in 2009 by around 50 percent a decade later.

Indeed, Löfven’s presence in Malmö to make the announcement was partly caused by an antiSemitic scandal involving the local branch of his Social Democratic Party’s youth wing. On May 1, the party’s young activists were caught chanting the slogan “Long Live Palestine, Crush Zionism!” at an international workers’ day rally. Given that Malmö was the scene of violent anti-Israel demonstrations when the Israeli tennis team competed in the 2009 Davis Cup tournament in that city, one could perhaps regard these thundering denunciations of the Jewish state as an established local tradition.

Here, then, is the first potential danger of the 2020 conference: that it will allow Malmö to clean up its image as a center of anti-Semitism

without cleaning up its act. he fact that there is a controversy around the location of the conference points to deeper, even more perplexing issues — foremost, why actually hold such a conference at all?

There is one obvious reason in favor of doing so: It will be an opportunity for this generation’s world leaders to restate their opposition to anti-Semitism. Further, the conference will also be a platform for these leaders to explicitly condemn anti-Zionism — the denial of Israel’s right to exist — as a form of anti-Semitism. Whatever else may divide them, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, the federal parliament in Germany and U.S. President Donald Trump have all made this point emphatically in the last couple of years.

Now, potentially, they can do so again from the same dais.

The conference is also a reminder that many governments and international organizations have institutionalized the fight against anti-Semitism. Germany now has a federal commissioner devoted to the issue, while the U.S. State Department this year finally appointed a new special representative on anti-Semitism — a post originally created in 2005 during the first George W. Bush Administration.

The 57-member state Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has also held conferences and appointed special envoys to deal with anti-Semitism, along with other forms of prejudice. Most of the time, this modest bureaucracy conducts its business without overwhelming media attention; bringing their political bosses to Malmö will shine a much-needed light on the work they are doing on assisting victims of anti-Semitic abuse, Holocaust education, hate-crimes monitoring and similar challenges.

As yet unclear, however, is the degree to which a conference on anti-Semitism hosted by

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a left-wing government in Europe would be willing to address the elephant in the room: the antiSemitism that doesn’t come from the far right. would suggest that there are three key aspects to this question.

First, there is the need to recognize that anti-Semitism is politically promiscuous and can be found with equal venom on the left and the right. The slaughter of 6 million Jews by the Nazi regime, which will doubtless be a central theme at the conference some 75 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, should not ignore or obscure the presence of anti-Semitism in other political contexts.

Second, government efforts against antiSemitism have rightly pushed a broader message of tolerance and openness. In a period of growing far-right populism, that message needs to be restated.

But it also requires another, no less important layer: recognition that anti-Semitism is not just a problem of the ethnic majority, but of minorities as well, and particularly Europe’s multiple Muslim communities. At the present time, if a swastika is daubed on a Jewish building in Germany and the perpetrator remains unidentified, the

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police will categorize the crime as “far right,” despite having seen the profusion of signs equating the Star of David with the swastika at numerous left-wing, anti-Zionist demonstrations. That perhaps exemplifies why a wholesale transformation of how anti-Semitism is understood by law-enforcement officials, teachers and social workers is necessary.

Third, a truly honest, candid conference will examine the Holocaust not just as a historical Jewish tragedy with universal lessons for subsequent generations, but as a political weapon that is being wielded against Jews today. You can see this in Eastern Europe, where ultra-nationalists charge that Jews are exploiting the Holocaust for financial gain, and also in Western Europe, where many liberals and leftists will argue that the Holocaust has become a reputational shield for the State of Israel in its oppression of the Palestinians.

Both these calumnies need to be fought explicitly, even when they come from the mouths of some of the leaders who will probably turn up in Malmö next year.

As ever, the fight against anti-Semitism is a supremely political enterprise, and Jewish communities will encounter allies and adversaries across the spectrum. Distinguishing one from the other is not as simple as might seem since it’s easy for any politician to issue a generic condemnation of what most people are inherently against. It’s the politicians who recognize that anti-Semitism is an issue among their own colleagues and co-thinkers and friends — and not just their rivals — who can be trusted.

Germany’s problems about more than kippahs JONatHaN S. tOBiN

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ho could be surprised by the story that grabbed the attention of the Jewish world this past weekend? When Felix Klein, Germany’s first Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight Against Anti-Semitism (yes, that’s his full title) warned Jews about the dangers of wearing a kippah in public, it was hardly a shock that this would be the case in the country responsible for the Holocaust. Yet the alarming frankness of his admission has made it impossible to ignore the threat to Jews in Europe any longer.

Some of the anger that Klein’s comment generated was directed at both him and the German government. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin was offended by the recommendation, viewing it as a form of “surrender” to hate. It’s easy to applaud Rivlin’s defiant response, which sums up the spirit of Zionism: “We will never submit, will never lower our gaze and will never react to anti-Semitism with defeatism — and expect and demand our allies act in the same way.”

But perhaps Klein deserves some credit for telling the truth. Germany is far from the only European nation where Jews face routine violence in the streets.

In the United States, we know that anti-Semitism comes from both the far right and the intersectional left. But many partisans prefer only to focus on the hate that can be blamed, whether fairly or not, on their political opponents, and to turn a blind eye to that which can be linked to their allies.

In Europe, threats to the Jewish population come from both from haters on the far right,

as well as from a growing population of immigrants from Muslim nations. But too much of the commentary about this situation seems to be influenced by worries about the rise of right-wing nationalist parties, coupled with a refusal to confront the truth about Muslim hatred of Jews and Israel. n t i - S e m i t i s m Brandenburg Gate Berlin, Germany, May 15, 2016.

Hadas Parush/Flash90 from its tradiMuch is being made of an official German tional sources on the right is fueling hostility to Jews. In Germany, that takes the form of government statistic that shows that most violent resentment against a “culture of remembrance” attacks on Jews come from right-wingers, rather of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, not only has than Muslims. However, as a New York Times that culture failed to eradicate the lingering im- Magazine article about German anti-Semitism the pact of 2,000 years of anti-Semitic incitement, week before Klein’s controversial comments reit has also resulted in widespread resentment at ports, that statistic has been disputed by German the Jews. All too many Germans don’t seem able Jewish leaders and is now largely discredited. Gerto forgive the Jews for reminding them of their man authorities routinely ascribe any attack for which they can’t or won’t assign a direct motive grandparents’ guilt.

But that isn’t the only factor contributing to as the work of right-wing anti-Semites, whether there is proof of their involvement or not. Polls of anti-Semitism.

As in many other European countries, the re- German Jews show that a plurality of those who cent massive influx of immigrants from Muslim have experienced anti-Semitism say the person(s) and Arab countries has created a vast new con- responsible were Muslim extremists.

Nevertheless, most Jews think that making stituency. There is a long tradition of contempt for Jews in Islamic culture that has only been alliances with right-wing Europeans who believe exacerbated by their resentment of modern-day that Muslim immigration is eroding the national Israel. Muslim expressions of hatred for Israel characters of their countries is inherently danand Jews are now indistinguishable from tradi- gerous. Many of those involved in these partional European anti-Semitic invective. This has ties have, at best, problematic histories when created a bizarre alliance between Muslims and it comes to anti-Semitism. It’s hard for Jews to leftist academics, in addition to other elites who trust populist movements, whether in Germany, engage in similar delegitimization of Israel, Zion- France or anywhere else in Europe, even when they proclaim their support for Israel or a wish ism and Jews.

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to defend Jewish communities. Those who are willing to engage in hate speech about Muslims are probably also likely to do so about Jews. t is axiomatic that Jewish security in any country is tied to the way all minorities are treated. But those who want to minimize one source of anti-Semitism — whether from the traditional right, the left or from Muslims — in order to focus on another threat that they feel more comfortable denouncing are doing Jews who are at risk no favor.

At this juncture, the question of who the Jews should call their allies isn’t that significant. What is important is to realize that the sickness that once destroyed European Jewry has not only been revived, but that this virus has morphed into a new variant in which Israel has become the stand-in for traditional Jewish stereotypes and the excuse for a new wave of hate against all Jews.

We must defend the right of Jews to live anywhere they want and to express their identity in the public squares of European nations. But if after 74 years since the fall of the Nazi regime the growing Jewish community in Germany is no longer safe to walk the streets, then it’s no use pretending that attitudes that are the product of age-old hatreds exacerbated by contemporary political incitement can be ameliorated by standard community-relations tactics.

We should applaud those Germans who will now symbolically don kippot for a day or two to express solidarity with the Jews. But the problem isn’t merely a matter of head coverings or educational programs that have already clearly failed. It’s foolish to think that it’s possible to separate the routine delegitimization of Israel from the way Jews are treated. What’s happening in Europe is proving again that wherever anti-Zionism is legitimized, anti-Semitism grows and anti-Jewish violence follows.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS.

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By Anis Modi, JNS In the last two decades, Israel has been transformed from a thirsty country to a leading international exporter of water-treatment technologies, eyed by neighboring nations and those in Africa for its tackling of one of the world’s biggest problems.

A new film documents these developments in all its boggy detail.

“Sustainable Nation,” which screened as part of the 2019 Washington Jewish Film Festival, follows the stories of three Israelis who have been part of such dramatic change.

“The wars of the future will be fought over water,” said the film’s director, Micah Smith, at a panel following the screening. “I hope films like this can make people aware and start thinking about solutions.”

Whereas the Jewish state was facing a water shortage just two decades ago, today reclaimed water accounts for 85 percent of agricultural uses, with 80 percent of the country’s total water consumption coming from desalinated water.

“Israel successfully addressed this problem as a state,” said Amy Sapkota, director of CONSERVE, a water and sustainability center at the University of Maryland. “They brought together their geographic location and a ‘let’s get it done’ attitude, and that’s something we can learn from.”

According to the World Health Organization, by 2025 half of the world’s population will be facing water scarcity.

“Water is a problem today even in places where it wasn’t considered one before,” said Omer Guy, one of the innovators featured in the movie and chief agronomist at Phytec, a company that helps farmers conserve water through algorithm-based monitoring technology. “What we do in high-tech is to go in and come up with solutions no one has tried before.”

In the United States, Guy and Phytec help

A still from the film “Sustainable Nation,” which highlights Israeli water technology being used in the African country of Uganda.

Californian farmers manage their water resources. As the state grows more than one-third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of its mass-market fruits and nuts in the midst of severe droughts in recent years, the impact on the U.S. food market has been and will continue to be considerable.

“To me, water in California is worth more than anything,” said Brian Palla, a California farmer that uses Phytec’s technologies amid the state’s growing water crisis, in one of the film’s most touching moments. “If there is no change, we will be seeing a reduction in useful agriculture land because there won’t be enough water here.”

While agriculture and industry put a stress

on water resources in developed nations, large populations in other countries lack access to clean water for basic needs such as drinking and showering. According to the World Health Organization, contaminated drinking water is responsible for some 500,000 deaths every year.

Sivan Ya’ari, founder of Innovation Africa, tackles this problem through a unique, solarbased water-pumping solution that allows small villages in Africa to develop their own water resources. This method, as Ya’ari explains in the movie, also aims to empower local women by giving them control of the decision-making around the newly established resource. While the entity is able to monitor the health of the infrastructure over time, Ya’ari pointed out that

management of the facilities remains with the locals.

“What motivates me the most is the simplicity of the solutions,” she concluded. “We’ve helped so many villages through the years, but our work is still small compared to the need.”

To date, IA has helped 200 villages across eight African countries become water independent.

Alongside Ya’ari and Guy, Eli Cohen, founder of Ayala Water and Ecology, is hoping his company can help communities living near contaminated water sources in India. India’s outdated infrastructure has created a situation where sewage runs directly into rivers and aquifers, putting millions of lives at risk. Authorities have realized the need to tackle the problem, but are often hampered by “too much bureaucracy” and rely on the “wrong solutions” for their specific situation, according to Cohen.

By planning projects that center on bio-sustainable solutions, such as growing water-cleaning plants around polluted water sources, Cohen is hoping that his company can help the millions of Indians who lack access to clean water.

“The nexus between water, energy and food is a vicious cycle that we need to break,” said Cohen. “We’re breaking this nexus by using technologies that don’t need energy to clean water.”

Currently, Cohen’s company is fabricating a project meant to fight pollution in the Ganges River, which is worshipped by many Indians and is surrounded by 500 million-plus people living on its banks.

“We see news about Israel all the time, but it’s not about the amazing things in this film,” said William Piermattei, managing director of the environmental law program at the University of Maryland following the film screening.

“Solving this problem is going to take all of us, and like Israelis are doing, we need to reach out and take this on together.”

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May 31, 2019 26 Iyar, 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

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As Dayton protests KKK, some burn Israeli flag

By Marshall Weiss, Dayton Jewish Observer With a ratio of more than one law enforcement officer to one counterprotester, the May 25 rally of nine members of the KKK-affiliated Honorable Sacred Knights of Indiana came and went at Dayton’s Courthouse Square without arrests, violent incidents, citations issued, or use of force by police.

Between 500 and 600 counterprotesters — with 720 police officers in their midst — overshouted members of the Madison, Ind.-based Klan at HSK’s 1 to 3 pm rally on Saturday. The nine HSK members were behind a fenced-off area at the square, in the shadow of an 11-foot bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln. Officers were brought in from other cities across Ohio to assist the effort.

Chain-link fences also divided HSK supporters from those who came to protest HSK, who were placed several city blocks from each

other. Some counterprotesters brought assault rifles. At the rally were members of the New Black Panther Party, antifa protestors, church groups, LGBTQ supporters, and people of all ages and backgrounds.

That afternoon, someone posted a series of photos on Facebook showing people in the counterprotest area first attempting to burn an Israeli flag, then tearing it and stomping on it.

“I was shocked to see that,” said Sara Stathes, an owner of The Barrel House bar. “I saw some counterarguments [in the comments] as to why they might have done that, but at the same time it’s totally unacceptable. It made me feel sick.”

Stephanie Hausner, deputy director of the Israel Action Network of Jewish Federations of North America, explained that Students for Justice in Palestine equates Zionists and the KKK as fascists.

It was not apparent if those who destroyed the Israeli flag in Dayton were members of any organized movement.

City government began mobilizing to prevent another Charlottesville when HSK first secured its rally permit at the end of January.

“This was a multi-department team assembled to ensure residents and businesses would remain safe,” Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein said at a press conference hours after the May 25 rally.

She estimated the cost to the city for security was about $650,000.

“The Supreme Court has mandated that speech may not be financially burdened (just) because it offends many,” Dickstein said.

Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said at the press conference that the day’s events

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clearly presented a safety challenge to the city of Dayton and its residents.

“We knew there was a need to provide a perimeter around that area (Courthouse Square) based on some very concerning intelligence gathered over time that suggest the potential for elevated threat, clearly of significant weapon possession and display,” Biehl said, “and also individuals who were expressing some interest in engaging in violence related to this event directed at police and/or those in attendance.”

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said at the press conference that the local situation is part of a larger national conversation, particularly because of social media, the ability to organize through it, and the legal right to carry assault rifles in Ohio.

“When you have a law in this state that people can carry assault rifles willy-nilly, that’s a danger,” Whaley said. “And we have to be serious about that. We’ve said the whole time our priority was safety of our community.”

Biehl added that the consent decree the Klan entered into with the city of Dayton May 13 provided his department with tactical advantages. Klan members agreed to only carry side arms and were escorted in and out of Dayton by police, which Biehl described as “expedited entrance and exit.”

“Not a minute longer, quite simply,” Biehl said, “and that’s how it was intended and that’s how it was executed. That was my call and I have no regrets.”

Had the Klan failed to comply with any element of the consent decree, Biehl said, the rally would have been shut down, and HSK would have been responsible for any costs related to the rally.

“Was I certain that it would end in the manner that it did, with really no events to speak of?

No, I wasn’t certain of that,” Biehl said. “Did I have concerns? Sure, I had concerns. But I also know we were extremely well-planned.”

Businesses in the downtown area displayed anti-hate messages on signboards in advance of the rally, as did RTA busses.

Sara and Gus Stathes, owners of The Barrel House, put the message “Jewish Owned” on the signboard in front of their bar, a few blocks east of the counterprotest area on Third Street.

“We wanted to make the point that we’re not going to be intimidated out of running our business and living our lives in our city.”

When she opened the business the morning of the rally, she said friends started flooding in, either for a beer to calm their nerves or for a hug to say “I love you.”

Stathes said she went from friends’ hugs to seeing two people dressed in Nazi uniforms pass by on bicycles.

“I have never in my life felt the way that I felt today, and never thought I would have to,” she posted on her Facebook page.

When Stathes learned of the rally, she decided to hold a fundraiser; The Barrel House donated a dollar per pint sold on May 25 to the National Conference for Community and Justice of Greater Dayton. After she posted the fundraiser on Facebook, two local businesses each matched the dollar per pint.

“People came out strong to support that,” Stathes said.

At the same time as the downtown rally and counterrally, the NAACP hosted An Afternoon of Love, Unity, Peace and Diversity at McIntosh Park, a mile west, across the Great Miami River.

The city and law enforcement urged people to stay safely away from downtown. About 200 people showed up for the block party-style alternative. The Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton was among the numerous coalition partners for the NAACP event.

Members of the Dayton Jewish Chorale, comprising singers from Dayton-area synagogues, sang Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu — “peace will come upon us yet” — at McIntosh Park.

On Sunday afternoon, May 26, the NAACP led a ritual with local clergy to cleanse hate from Courthouse Square, which it performed 25 years ago at the same site, the last time a Klan rallied in Dayton.

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The JEWISH STAR CAlendar of Events Send your events to Calendar@TheJewishStar.com Deadline noon Friday • Compiled by Rachel Langer Monday June 3 Beth Sholom Dinner: 67th Annual Testimonial dinner to support Beth Sholom of Lawrence.

Guests of Honor Phyllis & Philip Kerstein; Lifetime Service Award Pilar & Richie Olmedo. 6 pm. 390 Broadway, Lawrence. 516-569-3600 ext. 21.

Tuesday June 4 Rosh Chodesh: Rabbi Sitorsky will speak for men at ECG Resources in honor of Rosh Chodesh Sivan. 1 pm. 148 Doughty Blvd Suite 312, Inwood.

White Shul Dinner: 97th annual dinner, honoring Rabbi & Rebbetzin Motti & Avigayil Neuberger, celebrating Rabbi Neuberger’s installation as associate rabbi. 1395 Beech St, Atlantic Beach.

718-327-0500; info@whiteshul.com.

Gesher Dinner: Celebrating 7 years of educational leadership at Gesher Early Childhood Center and inaugurating the Gesher Grandparents Dividend Fund. Ari & Chanie Friedman are guests of honor; Kesser Shem Tov Award to Ilan & Haviva Kranz. 7:45 pm. 410 Hungry Harbor Rd, Valley Stream. 516-730-7377; dinner@gesher-ECC.org.

Thursday June 6 Bake Sale: HALB PTA Shavuot bake sale at the home of Shira and Ari Hoschander. Also including items from Redefined Coffee and Ruthistoffee. 9 am to 12:30 pm; 7 pm to 9 pm. 45 Willow Rd, Woodmere.

Pre-Shavuot Shiur: DRS’s Lev Shlomo Adult Education invites men and women to a series of

community-wide shiurim. Rabbi Doniel Kalish speaks on “Unlocking Greatness to See Your Potential in Torah.” 10 am. 700 Ibsen St, Woodmere.

Friday June 7 Yarchei Kallah: Celebrate Shavuos with RIETS president, roshei yeshivah, rebbeim, faculty at the Stamford Hilton. World-class presenters with shiurim and lectures on a variety of levels.

Families welcome. 1 First Stamford Pl, Stamford.

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Wednesday June 12 Yachad Gala: Celebrating 35 years. Honring Lauri & Lewis Barbanel as Guests of Honor, Martha & Howard Hershkovich with Keter Shem Tov Award, and Tani Sussman with Community Service Award. 6:30 pm. 775 Branch Blvd, Cedarhurst. 212-613-8373.

Tuesday June 18 Emunah Supperette: The Esther Phillips chapter of Emunah will hold its annual supperette at the Chosen Island restaurant. 5 pm. 364 Central Ave, Lawrence. 718-868-3853. $54.

Sunday June 23 Israel Concert: Long Island’s Celebrate Israel Concert at Eisenhower Park. Featuring a performance by The Shuk! 7 pm. Henry Chapin Lakeside Theater, Parking Fields 6 & 6A, Westbury.

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