June 22, 2012

WTC clinic at Winthrop Hospital Page 3 Kosher Bookworm: Nusach Sepharad Siddur Page 5 Nachat! Graduation photos Pages 7 & 10 Who’s in the kitchen? Camp packing & rugalach Page 11

THE JEWISH

STAR

VOL 11, NO 24 ■ JUNE 22, 2012 / 2 TAMMUZ 5772 WWW.THEJEWISHSTAR.COM

ELECTION 2012

Three vie for chance to challenge Gillibrand The 2012 New York Republican Senate primary is scheduled for June 26. The contenders hoping to challenge Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in November’s general election are Wendy Long, Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos and U.S. Representative Bob Turner.

The Jewish Star compiled information about the three candidates from their websites.

Wendy Long Long, a conservative lawyer, grew up in New Hampshire and is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Northwestern University School of Law. She has lived in New York for 14 years. She was a law clerk for Judge Ralph K. Winter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, and then for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Long was a litigation partner with Kirkland & Ellis LLP when she left to assemble the Judicial Crisis Network (originally the Judicial Confirmation Network). She organized

WENDY LONG

GEORGE MARAGOS

BOB TURNER

a national nonprofit group to help win Senate confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. She is a member of Mitt Romney’s justice advisory team. She recently opposed a bill that would require microstamping of ammunition sold in New York, believing that it

would not reduce crime but instead cost New York jobs and money. She is concerned about the size of the federal government and the national debt, and would work to repeal the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Public schools are failing, Long says, and she considers improving public-school education an important issue. She is pro-life and an advocate of Second Amendment rights, and she supports a continued alliance beContinued on page 14

Becker, Scaturro battle for 4th District nomination

By Deirdre Krasula

FRANCIS BECKER

FRANK SCATURRO

They faced each other two years ago, but this time around, congressional hopefuls Francis Becker and Frank Scaturro are running in a significantly different district. On June 26, they will face off in the Republican primary in the 4th Congressional District, a seat now held by Democrat Carolyn McCarthy of Mineola.

When the district lines were redrawn in March, much of Valley Stream was taken out of the 4th District and placed in the adjoining 5th District. The east end of the village, as well as Gibson, part of South Valley Stream and a corner of North Valley Stream remain in the 4th District.

Becker, a Lynbrook resident and a Nassau County Legislator, defeated Scaturro in the 2010 primary, with 10,361 votes to Scaturro’s 7,733, but eventually lost to McCarthy by a margin of 7.2 percentage points. This time around, however, he said, the new district lines will work in his favor. “It’s really a wonderful opportunity, I believe,” Becker said, “for Long Island to get an opportunity to get representation in Washington that reflects our beliefs.”

With the new district lines, Scaturro said, it is even more important to replace McCarthy in Congress, but simply putting any Republican in the seat is not enough. Nassau County Republicans have not guided the

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Republicans will choose a challenger for McCarthy Continued from page 1 spending. county successfully in the past, he said, notBy taking these steps, Scaturro said, electing that its finances are being supervised by ed officials could keep spending to a percentthe Nassau Interim Finance Authority, a state age of the country’s gross domestic product control board. Scaturro said he believes that that reflects past spending rates.

Becker would only echo the Locally, Becker said, regcounty’s current Republiulations aimed at the financan policies in Washington. cial industry need to be re“Things have not gotten betevaluated. He also said that, ter,” he said. if elected, he would like to Since the 2010 election, follow U.S. Representative both candidates have had Peter King’s tough approach more time to campaign to homeland security. When while learning about the the areas surrounding New public’s needs. Becker said York City receive national that 4th District residents security funds, “we want to are concerned about high make sure that Long Island taxes in the county and gets its fair share,” Becker across the country, and said. that President Obama’s Scaturro is also conadministration, as well as cerned about financial congressional Democrats regulations. They need to like McCarthy, have alencourage growth in the lowed spending to get out Two Republicans are each economy, he said, but they of control. The federal are not currently doing that. government’s debt ceiling, hoping to challenge Caro- “We need a regulatory sysnow nearly $15 trillion, is lyn McCarthy, above. tem that encourages free unacceptable, according to markets and innovation,” he Becker. said, “rather than stifling innovation.”

Scaturro also decried spending and the Both candidates say they can beat McCarnational debt. In order to get the country’s thy in November. Becker said that his extenfiscal house in order, he said, a simpler tax sive record as a county legislator has helped code needs to be written. He would also residents develop trust in him, while Scalike to see the formation of a congressional turro believes his combination of youth and committee that would look into ways to cut experience will help him prevail.

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By Malka Eisenberg More than ten years after the World Trade Center attack, the image of three ophthalmologists vying with each other to jointly wash the dust encrusted eyes of a weary first responder binds and brings into stark relief Dr. Marc Wilkenfeld’s career, life and beliefs.

“Everyone wanted to help, they were anxious to be involved; there were not enough patients,” he said. “They were either dead or fine. There was nothing much to do after the first day.” But that image, he recalled, made him think of three Leviim (Levites) vying to wash the hands of one Cohen before duchenin (giving the Priestly blessing).

Currently, Wilkenfeld is Chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Winthrop University Hospital in Garden City. His expertise was the hazards found in the workplace or home until that fateful day. It still is, but now he also deals with those who came to help or lived in the area of Ground Zero, working with, living with and inhaling the acrid toxic dust and fumes spewing out of the wreckage that continued to burn until January 2002.

On June 13, Dr. John Howard, the administrator of the World Trade Center Health Program, proposed adding over 30 cancers to the list of WTC-related health conditions.

This new development, if approved, will supplement the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 and will expand the free coverage of these and the previously covered illnesses. “The rule was proposed by the Federal government,” said Wilkenfeld, noting that the addition of cancer to the list of covered conditions was proposed, but “nothing is definite yet and no one knows what the final regulation will be.” As far as the currently covered conditions, “as long as the doctor believes that it is related to 9/11,” the patient can be treated in the program.

The patient “needs proof that they were there, they have to get certified as eligible for the program.” It covers medications, the co-pay, surgeries, CAT scans, breathing tests, sleep apnea. “It’s all covered.” He noted that the patients receive “excellent care, the doctors have expertise. We hear the same stories every day, we know what to do.”

The proposal states that: “Title I of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 amended the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act) to establish the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program. The WTC Health Program, which is administered by the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), provides medical monitoring and treatment to eligible firefighters and related personnel, law enforcement officers, and rescue, recovery, and cleanup workers who responded to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and to eligible survivors of the New York City attacks. In accordance with our regulations, which establish procedures for adding a new condition to the list of health conditions covered by the WTC Health Program, this proposed rule would add certain types of cancer to the List of WTC-Related Health Conditions.”

The 9/11 Act was named after Detective James Zadroga of the New York City Police Department. He was on site following the attack and spent over 470 hours digging through the debris. He died on January 6, 2006 of respiratory disease directly related to his work following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Dr. Wilkenfeld has practiced occupational and environmental medicine for over 20 years at Columbia, Gouverneur, and now at

Cleaning up the Kishon River

Photo by Malka Eisenberg

Marc Wilkenfeld, M.D., Chief, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Winthrop-University Hospital in one of the new examining rooms there.

Winthrop. Some of the concerns he has addressed were illness in the workplace and chemical exposure. He has traveled and consulted on environmental and occupational medicine in industries, educational and government institutions across the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.

Wilkenfeld was living in Lower Manhattan at the time of the attacks and went to Ground Zero on September 12th. “We walked through the checkpoints,” he said.

“It was like a nuclear bomb hit. You couldn’t see where anything was, everything was covered with dust.” He noted that at the time, the federal government had said that it was “ok” to breathe the air. “We ask patients ‘did you wear a mask?’ and they all say ‘no, everybody said that it was ok.’” On September 14, Christine Whitman, then administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said that the air was safe to breathe, said Wilkenfeld, after the federal government sampled the air. Councilman Alan Gerson of district one in lower Manhattan brought industrial hygienists from outside of New York and tested the dust. They found asbestos in the dust.

“All the patients said that ‘just being there they knew that they couldn’t breathe,’ that it smelled bad.”

“If there is dust on a carpet eight blocks away and a baby is playing on that carpet,” said Wilkenfeld, “it is more complicated then it sounds. That’s why we are concerned about the dust.” Wilkenfeld pointed out that there was a lawsuit, brought against the EPA by people who were exposed to the dust. He said the “EPA commissioned a technical advisory panel but ended it before any final recommendations could be issued. The question remains if the clean up was proper. The government set up a medical program to treat people who were there.”

Aside from the cancers, the initial ailments that developed from the toxic cocktail that people at the site inhaled and were exposed to included chronic illnesses, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), asthma, sleep apnea, depression, PTSD, and mental health issues. “They saw body parts,” explained Wilkenfeld, “they saw people jumping from the buildings; they were searching for survivors and found body parts, they were sifting through the Arthur Kill landfill on Staten Island. These are usually very tough guys.

A lot saw bad things. People say that they lost their best friend to illness; a number of police officers died in the actual event.” The caustic substances burnt their nasal and sinus passages and their stomachs. “It was like breathing lye,” he said. Some of the toxins

included asbestos, silica, lead, mercury, dioxins and volatile organic solvents such as benzene. Some of the sources of these toxins included 5000 tons of chrysotile asbestos that was used as a fire retardant in one of the towers of the WTC. Wilkenfeld noted that Mayor John Lindsay halted the spray of the asbestos on the second tower when Dr. Irving Selikoff of Mt. Sinai hospital said it was dangerous. Wilkenfeld said that there was lead in computer monitors, mercury in lighting, and other agents from burning diesel fuel.

He said that the people working there after the attacks should have been warned of the hazards and should have been provided with respiratory protection. “They should have had full face respirators with a strong filter,” similar to the masks distributed in Israel, he stressed.

Patients can be evaluated anywhere in the country, he pointed out. He was part of the initial advisory panel for the EPA. The first treatment was at Mount Sinai Hospital in 2002. Charities and private insurance paid for the treatment then. He said that “hundreds of thousands of people came with medical conditions and the government began funding in 2006 with centers in Mount Sinai, Bellevue, Stonybrook, Robert Wood Johnson Clinic, and at Queens College.” Another is now open in Brooklyn near Downstate Medical Center. The clinics had to request funding yearly until the Zadroga bill passed, providing $2 billion over five years.

Dr. Wilkenfeld explained that patients include police officers, construction workers, electricians, operating engineers, volunteer fire fighters, civilian fire department workers, carpenters, and medics (the city fire department has its own program). The program has coverage in California and Florida as well. “They know the cancers the chemicals cause from industrial hygiene and epidemiological studies,” Wilkenfeld explained. “We don’t want to wait till it’s proven 20 years from now and they then die and realize that it should have been covered. We treat now and keep doing studies. Early studies show a rise in cancer. Congress may need to appropriate more money to fund the program.”

The Winthrop University Hospital center where Wilkenfeld works is modern, with state-of-the-art equipment, and full service, able to treat all aspects of care, and concerned, friendly staff. The hotel-like sleep disorders clinic is across the hall. His specialty, he said, “is a good field. I can influence public policy for the good of public health.

I can help people.” He feels a unique tie to his work.

The Kishon River near Haifa, Israel was another story of environmental contaminants. “It was very polluted from runoff from industry in Haifa,” pointed out Dr. Wilkenfeld. “It launched a whole movement in environmental health and medicine to get it cleaned.” A suspected cancer cluster in Israeli naval divers who trained in the Kishon River and Haifa Bay brought attention to the pollution caused by industrial runoff and petrochemical refineries dumping toxic waste, begun by the British in the 1930s.

The continued dumping of waste caused destruction of marine life, increasing with each passing decade.

“There were a wide variety of pollutants,” stressed Wilkenfeld.

“To clean up the river, they have to dredge the sediment. It’s difficult and takes a long time. We learned that you shouldn’t release toxic emissions into a river. Occupational medicine is a branch of preventive medicine.

We have to try to concentrate on prevention. Once there is pollution it is very hard to fix. The situation has since improved, but cleaning up is a slow process.”

Young navy divers started developing cancers in their 30s, in the early 2000s, he said. The Knesset launched an inquiry, and compensated the soldiers since their service was related to what they developed. Marine life is returning to the river and the Israeli government is funding a clean up effort including dredging the polluted sediment and revitalizing the surrounding area.

Growing up, he said, “My parents’ balcony faced the World Trade Center. I saw them building it. I thought, ‘wow’ they are building a castle.” At the time of September 11, “I had just returned to New York from a factory in Quebec and went to check on my dad. He was close to 90 and he was sitting on his terrace. He knew something was happening and he watched the towers collapse.

I was looking for comfort and asked him if it was like Pearl Harbor, trying to find some commonality. ‘No, this is much worse,’ he had said. He said in 1941, when he was listening to the radio, he asked his dad where Pearl Harbor was and he didn’t know. ‘These are our neighbors,’ said the senior Wilkenfeld about the World Trade Center, ‘this was a personal attack.’ That’s why I take the whole thing very personally. It was great flying around visiting factories. But this is very fulfilling; I’m very happy to be a part of something that helps people that were affected by the tragedy. I’m trying to help, diagnose and treat them. The patients are the most important.”

The WTC Health Program—Long Island Clinical Center can be reached at 631-8551200. To learn more about the WTC Health Program, go to www.cdc.gov/wtc or call 1-888-WTC-HP4U (1-888-982-4748).

THE JEWISH STAR June 22, 2012 • 2 TAMMUZ 5772

Winthrop University Hospital local site for care of 9/11 illnesses

June 22, 2012 • 2 TAMMUZ 5772 THE JEWISH STAR

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Opinion The Dictator-Loving, Racist, Anti-Semitic NYC Councilman Running In Next Week’s Democratic Congressional Primary

Letters to the editor

T

To the Editor: The JCC of the Greater Five Towns has bid for the #6 School property that has been offered for sale by the Board of Education for School District #15. This acquisition will give the Five Towns what it is lacking: a community center where the entire community can come together under one roof.

Currently, the JCC is located primarily in “the little house on Grove Street.” From there and a multitude of satellite sites, the JCC provides essential services to the community, including a Nursery School, Senior support programs, Traumatic Brain Injury programs, Food Pantry, After School Programs, Holocaust Survivor programs and the list goes on and on. All segments of our community population can benefit or have benefited from the programs and services offered by the JCC. In order to expand and reach everyone who needs or wants to be part of the JCC, we need to move to a full service facility that will provide the classroom space, meeting room space, facilities for social and recreational activities for all ages and populations and the ability to be the community center our community deserves.

We urge the residents of School District #15 to support the efforts of the JCC to be an integral part of their lives and the lives of the community. The JCC is already “home” to so many of our neighbors and friends; let us be “home” to everyone.

hirty-year Congressional veteran Edolphus Towns retired in April leaving an interesting battle for the Democratic Party Nomination in New York’s 8th Congressional District-a district that is overwhelmingly minority (52.9% African-American, 18% Hispanic).

The race pits New York State Assemblyman Hakim Jeffries, the pick of the Democratic Party establishment, against New York City Councilman and former member of the Black Panther Party Charles Barron who happens to hate Caucasians, Jews, and Israel, and has an affinity for despots and tyrants. Here are some fun examples of Barron’s rhetoric.

On Whites: At a 2002 rally in support of reparations for slavery, he said: “I want to go up to the closest white person and say, ‘You can’t understand this, it’s a black thing’ and then slap him, just for my mental health.”

After his election to City Council in January POLITICO 2002, Barron called for TO GO the removal of all City Hall paintings of white men to replace them with black leaders: “We’re bringing the ’hood to the Hall!” Barron said at the time.

He then called Thomas Jefferson, whose statue stands in the City Council Chamber, a “slaveholding pedophile.”

In 1982, when BarJeff Dunetz ron was head of the Black United Front’s Harlem Chapter, he and Preston Wilcox, from the Institute of African Research, led more than a dozen fellow protesters in attempting to “forcibly remove” a white employee, historian Robert Morris, from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, where Morris worked as chief archivist (they believed the position should have been held by an African-American).

In April 2011 Barron accused President Obama of being a tool of white America: “Let’s be very clear, President Obama is merely a mouthpiece for a racist imperialistic American foreign policy controlled by generals and corporate elites.”

timent expressed at the event.”

On Jews: At the House of the Lord Church in Brooklyn, June 17, 2010, he said the Jews aren’t really Jews: “I am tired every time you criticize Israel, you are anti-Semitic. Well technically my pastor taught me about the Semitic people, the Semites are black.”

In an article about Jewish/Black relations, Barron was quoted as saying: “Even when leaders moved in to quell the violence, they never dealt with the perception that Jews get preferential treatment in Crown Heights. They only make up 20 percent of the population, but they’ve always walked these streets as if they owned them, and acted as if they were the only ones that mattered...” “....There is a way of thinking that says Black life is not as good as Jewish life. That way of thinking has real consequences. It puts a chip on the shoulders of those made to feel inferior and gives a false sense of entitlement to those placed on high. The fact that they [Jews] have their own ambulance service and volunteer police detail in the heart of the community speaks to that.”

Barron uses the modern version of the AntiSemitic blood-libel criticizing Israel and regularly employs Holocaust analogies likening Israeli actions to those of the Nazis.

On Israel: In June of 2010 he told CBS News: “[Gaza] is a concentration camp and you’re deliberately causing the death of people and you cannot continue to justify that by saying that you’re trying to secure Israel or you’re fighting against terrorism.”

In July 2009 he told the Amsterdam News: “They massacre the Palestinian people, bomb their homes, churches and schools, and then block anybody trying to deliver aid to them. What this amounts to is genocide.”

Later that same month he told the paper: “Gaza is a virtual death camp, the same kind of conditions the Nazis imposed on the Jew.” I don’t want to give you the opinion that Charles Barron hates everybody; there are people he strongly supports:

On the death of Qaddafi: “Out there, they don’t know that Qaddafi was our brother…. People say, ‘Didn’t he kill all those people?’ I say, ‘I don’t know anything.

The man was a freedom fighter,” Councilman Barron said, exemplifying the pro-Qaddafi sen-

THE JEWISH

On the murderous despot from Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe: “In the year 2000, when he said one farm, one farmer, he was vilified,” Barron told me.

“For 20 years they loved Mugabe because they didn’t take the land from the whites.” In South Africa, he goes on, whites “still own 80 to 90 percent of the land. That’s why they like Mandela. That’s why they like Bishop Tutu. They let the whites keep the land.”

As for the violence, Barron said that he had seen no evidence tying the government to the attacks on opposition supporters; that there were bad things done by opposition supporters, too; and that none of the reports on what’s happening in Zimbabwe were objective.

On Fidel Castro: Mr. Barron said that, comparing the American regime to the Cubans’, “There is no question in my mind that Castro is a better leader than Bush.

“If you want to look at morality and humanity,” he said, “Castro has exported medical equipment and medical services and engineers and architects. Every time you hear of Castro exporting something, it’s humanitarian aid.

When America exports something, it’s killing and war machines and bombs and troops.”

On June 26th, voters in New York’s 8th Congressional district will choose between Hakim Jeffries and Charles Barron. As things stand now, it would be unlikely that Barron would win the nomination.

Governor Cuomo and other New York Democratic Party icons such as former Mayor Ed Koch, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Councilman David Greenfield, and Assemblyman Dov Hikind and otheres support Jeffries. The Liberal Daily News and the Conservative New York Post support Jeffries as well. Additionally, Jeffries’ Assembly district is fully within NY-8 (in his last two elections, Jeffries won 98% of the vote) and the new parts of the district, Ozone Park and Howard Beach, tend to be a bit more conservative than the average New York City Democrat.

While Charles Barron is not likely to be the next Democrat nominated for Congress in this district, it is important to keep an eye on and expose haters such as him; it is the only way to ensure that they never move on to higher office.

Jeff Dunetz is the Editor/Publisher of the political blog “The Lid.”

STAR

Independent and original reporting from the Orthodox communities of Long Island and New York City All opinions expressed are solely those of The Jewish Star’s editorial staff or contributing writers Publisher and Editor Karen C. Green Assistant Editor Malka Eisenberg Account Executive Helene Parsons Contributors Miriam Bradman Abrahams Rabbi Avi Billet Jeff Dunetz Juda Engelmayer Rabbi Binny Freedman Alan Jay Gerber Rabbi Noam Himelstein Judy Joszef Editorial Designer Alyson Goodman Photo Editor Christina Daly Intern Bari Zund

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A call to support the JCC’s purchase of the #6 school

Diane & Michael Rattner Woodmere

Another voice in favor of the JCC’s purchase of #6 To the Editor: The Five Towns community has an opportunity to fill a void. A huge void that can only be filled by the expansion of the JCC of the Greater Five Towns into a full-service community center that would serve as a onepoint entry for the entire community to receive social services, recreational activities, a pool, a gymnasium, support groups and so much more.

The JCC put a bid on School #6 that was put on sale by the Board of Education at School District #15. As per the JCC’s advertisement, this is a great opportunity for “one great organization which deserves one great location,” that the Five Towns community should support.

A full service Jewish Community Center would serve as a place where the entire community can come together in a home for our community under one roof. Each and every Jewish community, from the most affluent communities to the most humble has a Jewish Community Center. Why does the Five Towns, which is an active, vibrant Jewish community, not have one?

Rina Gross Woodmere

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The Sepharad Siddur Brought Up To Date

A

mong the many new synagogues being established within our community today, it should be noted that the majority follow the prayer rite known as Nusach Sepharad. This rite has a long history, which was detailed by Dr. Philip Birnbaum, the pioneer American liturgist, in his introduction to his historic translation of the Sepharad rite close to a half-century ago.

Dr. Birnbaum stated the following: “The Sephardic – Hassidic version of the prayer book, which was introduced by Rabbi Baal-Shemtov’s disciples in the 18th century, is in accordance with the arrangements and the additions of Rabbi Isaac Luria, the famous Kabbalist of the 16th century, known as the Ari. There have been no less than six versions of the socalled Siddur Nusach he-Ari, a fact sufficiently explaining why Alan Jay Gerber the Sephardic prayer books abound in variant readings, within parentheses, in the text. It is unfortunate indeed that, unlike the Ashkenazic editions of the prayer book, the Nusach Sepharad has never been edited by men like Heidenheim and Baer. Complete laxity and inconsistency on the part of printers and publishers are frequently to be found by the reader, who is confused and does not know what to say and

what to omit.”

Birnbaum, in his edition, sought to correct these errors and to present a neat and accurate text of the Sepharad liturgy. His was the first major attempt to do so, together with a literate translation.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, in his “Guide To Jewish Prayer,” observed concerning Nusach Sepharad: “As no complete Siddur with the exact version of Rabbi Isaac Luria’s prayer text has ever been produced, the numerous Siddurim bearing his name are actually based on the directives found in the book, Peri Etz Hayyim, and in several Siddurim containing orders of prayer based upon his special regulations and comments.

“Nusach Sepharad, which was created by superimposing Rabbi Luria’s instructions upon the Ashkenazic rite, is thus a hybrid, which is in some ways a mixture of the Ashkenazic and Sephardic [oriental] rites.”

Rabbi Steinsaltz notes some liturgical variances in the Sepharad nusach: The recitation of Hodu before Baruch She’amar; The addition of the phrase V’yatzmach purkanay in the Kaddish; And, in the Kedusha of the morning service which begins with the phrase nakdishach, and in the Musaf Kedusha with keter.

Both the Birnbaum, and later, the Artscroll, edition attempted to establish a more uniform version of the Hebrew text, setting up their own respective versions of the variations that we inherited from previous editions. Further, the Artscroll commentary gave the liturgy its due, especially

its notations concerning the Musaf Kedusha, something that has yet to be duplicated by others.

This past month we witnessed the publishing of a newly revised, corrected, and authoritative Hebrew text for Nusach Sepharad, with a new, more understandable, and accurate English translation and commentary by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. This new edition is based upon the original Koren Sepharad Hebrew text first published in 1981.

Similar in layout to the previous Ashkenazic edition, this newly revised Sepharad edition should prove to be an invaluable addition to the libraries of those shuls, as well as individuals who follow this nusach.

Also, as with the previous editions, the layout of the printed texts, as well as the instructions and directions, will prove to be an added boon to the worshipper, thus enhancing the ease with which he and she will pray utilizing this user friendly format.

FOR FURTHER STUDY Several new books dealing with Jewish prayer have recently been published and each deserves your attention and patronage. First, we have “Laws of Prayer” by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Beracha. This work goes into great halachic detail in explaining the fundamentals of the laws of prayer, including the role of the chazzan, the proper place of prayer with chapters dealing, in great detail, with the content and purpose of the liturgical text of the siddur. This work is breathtaking in both its scope and detail.

Another work, “The How and Why of Jew-

ish Prayer” by Israel Rubin also covers much of the same territory. However, the layman should find his treatment of the material to be a bit more user friendly, less technical, and easy to comprehend.

Lastly, we have “Prayer Works: How Words of Prayer Move the World,” by Rabbi Noson Weisz, the well known lecturer and writer for Aish HaTorah.

Rabbi Weisz, in his work, approaches prayer by analyzing its mechanistic nature and structure through the modeling of the Shema and the Shemoneh Esrei. His depth of analysis is enhanced by his eloquence of language that serves the reader well by keeping your interest despite its length.

All of these works will serve as valued supplemental readings to the new Koren Siddur. In all these works, the English is strikingly eloquent, sharp, and accurate in both detail and content. You will be well served by this new siddur, and you will surely find your prayers more meaningful for this.

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THE JEWISH STAR June 22, 2012 • 2 TAMMUZ 5772

The Kosher Bookworm

June 22, 2012 • 2 TAMMUZ 5772 THE JEWISH STAR

6

An argument for the sake of Heaven

I

n Israel, even a bus ride can become an existential experience.

There are many Jews with a more conservative approach to modesty within Jewish tradition, who are very uncomfortable sitting next to someone of the opposite sex. I recall, once, on a long, crowded bus ride from Haifa to Jerusalem, watching a fellow in a long black coat and black hat struggling with this issue.

He was sitting towards the rear of the bus, when the fellow sitting next to him suddenly jumped up and off the bus. A woman standing in the aisle grabbed the seat, and this religiously garbed fellow now FROM THE HEART found himself trapped OF JERUSALEM next to the window with this woman between him and the aisle.

Not wanting to give up his seat, and yet uncomfortable that this woman had chosen to sit next to him, the fellow opened the window.

It was a cold winter day and the wind gusting in was clearly upsetting the woman who immediately glared at him, Rabbi Binny and in a loud voice said: Freedman “Could you please close the window?”

To which he responded: “Could you please lengthen your dress?”

“You’re being ridiculous,” the woman responded.

“Your dress is ridiculous,” he replied.

“Why are you going to Jerusalem?” he asked, eyeing her short sleeves and short skirt.

“You should go to a yeshiva!”

“Why are you going to Jerusalem?”She retorted. “You obviously need to go to a pub!”

At which point various members of the ‘audience’ began to pipe in as well, and the bus ride very quickly degenerated into a fullfledged session of the Knesset!

Ever have the distinct impression that people are arguing just for the sake of arguing?

While we often have the opportunity to take a stand on important issues, sometimes people

seem to be arguing simply for the sake of arguing. Indeed, one wonders sometimes when seeing the issues over which people become embroiled, whether there is any logic to the debate at all.

Take for example, the issue of road rage, which has become a widespread phenomenon on our streets and highways. It is difficult to imagine what could motivate people to become so upset and get so serious about who passes whom on the highway.

At first glance, this seems to be exactly what happens this week in our portion of Korach.

Korach, who bursts onto the biblical desert scene, seemingly from nowhere, is obviously upset about something, but it is difficult to find logic as to what that really is. He challenges the leadership of Moses, as well as the priesthood of Aaron, and none of Moshe’s attempts to enter into a dialogue with either him or his followers bear any fruit. Eventually, he meets a horrible end, as he and all those involved in this insurrection are destroyed, either by fire or by earthquake.

This story raises some challenging questions: First of all, how could anyone in his right mind challenge the leadership of Moshe? After all Moshe has done, leading the Jews out of Egypt amidst a barrage of miraculous plagues, capped off by the splitting of the Red Sea, one would have thought his authority to be unquestionable, especially after witnessing his direct communications with G-d at Sinai. So what is this rebellion all about?

Further, to be honest, when one considers the actual contention of Korach, it does not seem all that unreasonable: “Ki Kol Ha’Eidah Kulam Kedoshim,” “For the entire congregation are all holy.” (Bamidbar 16:3) This seems to be the essence of democracy. After all, claims Korach, we all witnessed G-d at Sinai, and all of us are holy, so why do we need a priesthood? Why can’t we all serve in the Temple?

It is interesting to note that our portion begins with the words: “Va’Yikach Korach,” “And Korach took….”(Bamidbar 16:1) however, the verse never explains exactly what it was that Korach actually took, and we are left without the end of the sentence. What does this mean?

Parshat Korach

Moshe’s Bumper Sticker A

n unofficial theme of the book of Bamidbar is that the strings of narratives are connected thematically. The most quoted example of this is the first critique given to the spies of Parshat Shlach, who did not learn from the tale of Miriam’s tale-bearing punishment. After seeing what happened to her for speaking about Moshe, they did not check themselves before speaking ill of the land they had scouted.

I think a similar lesson can be applied to the Korach narrative – from the perspective of leadership.

Throughout the ToRabbi Avi Billet rah, whenever people did something wrong or complained and triggered G-d’s anger, Moshe was always the stalwart defender, telling G-d a thing or two about the leadership role he has accepted (to bring these people as far as he can) versus the one he has not ac-

cepted (to watch them all die as a new nation is created from Moshe).

Through it all, Moshe has averted a few disasters and has saved countless lives. This is why it is decidedly odd that Moshe says the second half of his final challenge to Korach and company, “If you die a natural death, G-d did not send me. But if a creation is created and the ground opens up and swallows them up and they go down, alive, to Sheol, then you know they have challenged G-d.”

How could Moshe offer two options for death – natural or supernatural? Is there no room for teshuvah (repentance)? What happened to the ultimate defender, who views life as the most precious gift? Could it be, perhaps, that Moshe is taking Korach’s challenges as a personal affront (as well he should!) and he is taking revenge in the most spiteful way he could? Is this possible?

If we look back at the two most recent narratives in the Torah – the spies and the wood gatherer – we see people being punished with death on account of their actions. And, in both cases, the view from the top is the same.

Rabbenu Bachaye posits that Moshe took the stance against G-d in defense of the peo-

What did Korach take?

Equally challenging is the fact that a closer examination of the story of Korach reveals quite clearly the inconsistency of Korach’s claim. After all, the same individual rallying the people to the cry of ‘we are all holy,’ challenging a system that creates a hierarchy of leaders and those being led, has no problem claiming that same leadership (the priesthood) for himself….

Ultimately, G-d makes it clear that Korach’s rebellion is so terrible, that it must be completely destroyed by earthquake, a punishment the Torah points out has never before been seen in the world, and is a new form of punishment created for the express purpose (by G-d) of dealing with Korach.

So what exactly is so terrible about Korach’s contentions? After all, this is not the first time the Jews have argued with, murmured against, or even challenged the leadership of Moshe?

There is a beautiful teaching in Ethics of the Fathers (Avot 5:20) which discusses the concept of debate or argument.

“Every argument (Machloket) which is for the sake of heaven (“Le’Shem Shamayim”) will ultimately endure, but every argument which is not for the sake of heaven will not endure.

And what is an argument (or debate), which is for the sake of heaven? This is the ‘argument’ of the students of Shammai and the students of Hillel.

“And what is an argument which is not for the sake of heaven (and therefore will, says the Mishnah, not endure)? This is the argument of Korach and his congregation.”

Interestingly, the argument fomented

by Korach, says the Mishnah, “Ein Sofah Le’Hitkayem,” will not endure.

Judaism here is taking an important stand.

The issue is not what Moshe and Korach were arguing about; the issue is why we argue at all.

The Torah does not tell me exactly what Korach took, because it isn’t important. Korach, says the Torah, was a taker. And in the end, the only cause Korach was fighting for was Korach.

That is why, suggests tradition, the Mishnah calls this argument the argument of Korach and his followers; really it should have said the debate of Korach and Moshe. Korach was really thinking only of Korach, and in the end, there

was no room for anyone else.

It is interesting that the Mishnah describes the argument, which is apparently a righteous, or legitimate debate, as one that is for the sake of heaven (“Le’Shem Shamayim”).

Why does the Mishnah not say for the sake of G-d?

Indeed, the term ‘heaven’ (shamayim) is a term that has its counter in the earth or the ground.

“Ha’Shamayim Shamayim La’Hashem, ve’Ha’Aretz natan Li’vnei Adam” The heavens belong to G-d, but the earth has been given over to mankind.

Heaven represents endlessness, that aspect of our selves which is truly unlimited. The earth, on the other hand, represents the finite limitedness of this material world.

The question to consider then, when involved in any debate, is which of these two am I feeding: is the goal of the debate to further the cause of heaven, or is it really only about me?

If all that I do is about what I can give back to the world, then ultimately I am recognizing that there is a part of G-d inside every human being; I am recognizing the endlessness, the unlimited, in all of us. That is a debate for the sake of heaven and such a debate, whatever side of the fence we choose, ultimately serves to bring us all a bit closer together.

But a debate that is in the end only about me, and about feeding my own ego, will only serve to set us all further apart. Such a position does not recognize the fact that everyone has a part of G-d inside of them.

That is why Korach is swallowed up in the ground, because that is what his argument was all about; ultimately, the world was better off without any Korach at all….

Which leaves us with the question we need to struggle with each and every day, and in each and every decision we make: Are we givers or takers? And is what we are doing in any given moment really an act of giving, or have we somehow become, even if for only an instant, a taker, from the family of Korach?

ple when he said, “Egypt will hear that you took the nation out of their land, but were unable to defeat the gods of Canaan” because Moshe was concerned for the desecration of G-d’s name. Why give Egypt the opportunity to speak ill of You? Similarly, Rabbenu Bachaye addresses the wood-gatherer story using a literal interpretation of the word used to describe his action, “M’koshesh,” as opposed to “M’laket” (which mean the same thing, but the former is normally used to describe a gathering of straw, while the latter is normally used to describe the gathering of wood), to suggest that in his Shabbat-desecrating activities the woodgatherer was denying G-d and the Six Days of Creation and was thus desecrating G-d’s name in the worst possible way.

If we can say about Moshe that his personal bumper sticker was “Desecrating G-d’s Name Stops Here!” then we can begin to understand why Korach was (as were Datan and Aviram) doomed once the challenge to Moshe and Aharon is understood for what it really was: a challenge to G-d, and a desecration of G-d’s Name. In 16:5-11 and 16:28-30, Moshe makes it clear that this is not about him. This is all about G-d. It is only about G-d.

The Kli Yakar points out the use of the words “Briah yivra” – if a creation is created, which is reminiscent of the account of Creation in the Torah. Stringing together two thoughts that appear in Pirkei Avot, he suggests that they were denying G-d’s role in the world. Firstly, the mouth of the earth was created in the final

hours of the Six Days of Creation (Avot 5:6) – a denial of this is a denial of Creation. Secondly, they did not want any leader, for they thought “all of the people are holy, and G-d is among them – so why should you raise yourself over G-d’s people?” The anarchist’s view contradicts the Mishnah (Avot 3:2) that says “Were it not for fear (of a king), men would swallow their friends alive.”

The different denials of G-d and His ways served as indicators to Moshe that the people in question were following the same lines of perverted logic that brought down the spies and the wood-gatherer. As such, the precedent set by their respective punishments helped Moshe come to the easy and unfortunate realization (for Korach and co., that is) that their immediate death was pending.

For Moshe, the writing was so clearly on the wall that he did not need to do much. He had learned the lesson of the previous stories, and Korach and all the followers received the punishment that followed the recently confirmed precedents – the “measure for measure” for anarchists is that the ground swallowed them alive.

The relevant lesson for us is threefold: Remember, as always, that the most regular affirmation of our appreciation of Creation comes from a commitment to Shabbos. We must defend against the desecration of G-d’s name as best we can. We must strive to sanctify G-d’s name in all that we do.

Rav Binny Freedman, is Rosh Yeshivat Orayta in Jerusalem’s Old City.

7

Hillel Friedman

Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway High School Gabrielle Lovett, of Woodmere, is HAFTR’s Class of 2012 Valedictorian.

At HAFTR Gabrielle was Captain of College Bowl, President of Model Congress, President of the National Honor Society, and participated in the following: Math Team, Science and Engineering Club, Science Research, Volleyball, Food Delivery to the Needy, Intel Competition. She plans to major in Chemistry at Columbia University.

Hillel Friedman is HAFTR’s Salutatorian.

There is no question that he is extremely intelligent and high achieving. That is only the tip of the iceberg. Hillel believes that each one of us is a thinker, an adventurer and a discoverer. He advocates that we use our minds for innovation rather than memorization, for creativity rather than for rote activity, for rumination rather than stagnation. He also feels that the world needs people who have the intellectual courage and awareness to ask, to challenge and to innovate. Hillel also has had to cope with the serious illness of his father who has been wheelchair bound for much of this young man’s life. He has done an incredible amount for him and often, while there have been hospitalizations or treatments he has learned to be independent and self-sufficient.

Hillel has done an amazing amount of scientific research. One of his most recent projects has been on inhibition leading top 53

and DRM upregulation. He has also worked on a project dealing with bacterial contamination of various substances in an effort to identify a more bacterially resistant material to replace scrubs. As a matter of fact, he just worked on a paper that will soon be published about the effects of two different drugs on cell cycle progression and apoptosis in a disease called multiple myeloma. He even spent the past two summers doing intensive research in clinical pharmacology at Sloan Kettering in Manhattan. In the field of mathematics, Hillel has explored the enigmatic nature of prime numbers. As far as leadership in school and in the community, nobody surpasses him. He has been an editor for a major school publication, and is either captain or president of Debate Team, Mock Trial, College Bowl, and Model Congress.

He is even captain of our tennis team. I have personally seen him put together events for several hundred students and lead his teams to victory after victory. Whatever he can do to help others, he does with compassion with skill and with humility. From delivering food to the needy to helping youngsters who have serious illnesses in their families to being a youth leader, he truly gives of himself. Hillel also gives assistance to his peers in that he tutors countless students of all levels in almost every imaginable subject. Finally, he is a gifted musician who has undertaken independent studies in this area.

Hebrew Academy of Nassau County(HANC) Marissa Young, of West Hempstead is HANC’s Class of 2012 Valedictorian. Marrisa was very active during her years at HANC, earning many awards and accolades as follows: President – Student Senate, Editor in Chief – School Newspaper, Co-captain – College Bowl, Co-captain – Model United Nations, Varsity Softball, Debate Team, National Honor Society, Honor Roll, AP Scholar with Honor, Literary Magazine, National Merit Scholarship Competition Finalist, Gildor International Science Competition, Hempstead Boys and Girls Club Volunteer, Peer Tutoring Society, E2K Science Program, Ambassador to Bulgaria Service Mission, Young Israel of West Hempstead Youth Group leader, Ohel Leadership Program, Intern for United States Senator Charles Schumer and NYS Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, University of Rochester Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony Award, West Hempstead Community Scholarship Award, Sha-

Marissa Young ron Dratt Memorial Award, New York State Scholarship for Academic Excellence Award, Miriam Rosensweig Memorial Award. Marrisa plans to study political science at Columbia University.

North Shore Hebrew Academy High School, Stella K. Abraham H.S. for Girls (SKA) and HAFTR Middle School bios are on page 10

Daniel Edleman

Joshua Moskovits

Rambam Mesivta Rambam Mesivta’s 2012 Valedictorian, Daniel Edleman , and the Salutatorian, Joshua Moskovits . Daniel Edelman will be attending Yeshiva University in their Honors Program and Joshua Moskovits will be attending Princeton University.

Yonatan Mehlman

Elisha Ishaal

Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva H.S. for Boys Yonatan Mehlman has been named Valedictorian at Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva H.S. for Boys in Woodmere, New York. Yonatan has maintained a near-perfect grade point average throughout his four years at DRS. He is a member of the National Honor Society, an AP Scholar with Honor and a member of the Principal’s Honor Roll. Yonatan has assumed numerous leadership roles at DRS: he is Captain of the Debate Club, Editor of the Journal of Ethics & Jewish Law, a contributing writer for the Spanish Magazine, and a member of the Mock Trial Team, among others. During the summers he has studied at NCSY Kollel in Israel and has interned at Safe Water Network, a non-profit organization that is committed to providing sustainable, safe water solutions to the developing world. Yonatan enjoys an academic challenge and has excelled in all his endeavors. He has been admitted to the Honors Program with a full tuition scholarship at Yeshiva University, where he plans to study medicine. Next year, Yonatan will study in Israel at Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush).

Jonathan Aivazi has been voted the recipient of the Keter Shem Tov Award at Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva H.S. for Boys. The award, the ‘Crown of a Good Name’, denotes the student who has been selected by his peers as representing the fundamental principles of intellect, character and integrity. An outstanding student, a thoughtful and sincere individual, Jonathan exhibits the very best of the DRS graduate in both Judaic and Secular subjects. He is a member of the National Honor Society and the Principal’s Honor Roll.

He is an AP Scholar and a participant in the Jerusalem Science Competition. Jonathan is a contributing writer to the DRS e-newsletter, the Torah Journal and the Spanish Magazine, Ole. He has volunteered with special needs children and the elderly and has participated in numerous charity events. He has also been an active volunteer in his community’s syna-

Elisha Ishaal has been named Salutatorian at Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys. From the day he entered DRS, Elisha has been on an intellectual journey in both Judaic and Secular studies, earning outstanding scores in all subjects. His interests are varied, ranging from philosophy to politics, and science to art. Elisha is an AP Scholar with Honor, a member of the National Honor Society and a member of the Principal’s Honor Roll. Elisha, a contributing writer for the DRS Torah Publication, has been First and Third Place winner for two consecutive years at the YU Talmud Competition. Throughout his years in high school Elisha has worked as a carpenter, initially as an apprentice and later supervising a call center for maintenance work. Currently he is self employed and accepts private clients. Elisha has been awarded an academic scholarship to New York University, where he plans to pursue his college studies. Next year he will take a gap year to learn at Yeshivat Yishrei Lev in Israel.

Jonathan Aivazi gogue. Next year Jonathan will study in Israel at Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh, and will attend Queens College upon his return.

THE JEWISH STAR June 22, 2012 • 2 TAMMUZ 5772

Gabrielle Lovett

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THE JEWISH STAR June 22, 2012 • 2 TAMMUZ 5772

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June 22, 2012 • 2 TAMMUZ 5772 THE JEWISH STAR

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North Shore Hebrew Academy High School For the first time in the school’s 11 year history, North Shore Hebrew Academy High School has named three Valedictorians as a result of their identical 98 grade point average. The faculty could not distinguish one from the other as a result of their academic excellence, outstanding Midot and Torah values and their unparalleled extra-curricular and summer internships. The three students represent the school’s diverse student body, coming from Woodmere, Jamaica Estates and Great Neck. Mackenzie Berman will be attending Princeton University where he plans to study Financial Engineering. Jason Lefkovitz will be attending Cornell University’s Industrial Labor Relations School where he plans to study Political Science. Benjamin Markowitz will be attending Harvard University where he plans to study Economics.

Mackenzie Berman

Jason Lefkovitz

Benjamin Markowitz

HAFTR Middle School

Stephanie Greenfield

Valedictorians Stephanie Greenfield Stefanie served as the Editor of the School yearbook. Additionally Stephanie was a member of the debate team, Vice President of her 7th grade class and a member of the MAOR Honor Society. She was accepted into the John Hopkins Honor Program For Talented Youths. She also tutors other students in her spare time. She will attend HAFTR High School in the fall.

Justin Glickman Justin Glickman Justin is a member of the Maor Honor Society. He was captain of HAFTR’s Torah Bowl team, and was on the debate and basketball teams. He participated in Tomchei Shabbos, E2K science enrichment program , Mishmar, and served as a shadow for the Kulanu Sunday respite program for three years. Justin will attend HAFTR High School in the fall.

Mikalya Fuchs

Salutatorians Mikalya Fuchs Mikayla served as the Vice President of the student council (GO. She was on the Torah Bowl, and debate teams and participated in the Names Not Numbers holocaust documentary program. In addition, she participated in after-school math and science enrichment E2K program for 2 years. Mikayla will attend HAFTR High School in the fall.

Jonathan Bakshi Jonathan Bakshi Jonathan had a tremendous experience in HAFTR middle school. He is a member of the MAOR National Junior Honor Society. He was on the Torah bowl team from 6th through 8th grade and a member of the Bible club. He was selected to be on the Kochavim honor roll. He participated in Tomchei Shabbos and attended Mishmar weekly from 6th through 8th grade. Jonathan will attend North Shore Hebrew Academy High School in the fall where he earned a merit scholarship award.

Stella K. Abraham H.S. for Girls (SKA) Ahava Muskat, of Oceanside, is Stella K. Abraham H.S. for Girls’ Valedictorian for the Class of 2012. Ahava is a two-time peervoted winner of the Midot Award, acknowledged for her fine character. She was Captain of the Debate Team, Captain of Model Congress, Production Choir Head. Literary Editor of the Senior Yearbook and Literary Editor of the Literary Journal. She was also an SKA representative to Write On for Israel, a student Israel advocacy program. She has volunteered as a Homework Helper at SKA, as a visitor to patients at a local hospital and in JEP, a Jewish outreach program. Ahava plans to study at Shaalvim in Jerusalem, Israel post high school and then to attend Stern College for Women.

Five Town’s Community Chest Community Service Awardee Kymberly Baker accepted this year’s Five Towns Community Chest’s Community Service Award and Scholarship from board President Steven J. Spiro, as an outstanding Haftr senior who demonstrated an exemplary record of community service. Other award winners were Casey Frankel and Samantha Goldberg of Lynbrook, Lauren Feldman and David Kaufman of Hewlett, and Ellen Liebenthal of Lawrence.

Ahava Muskat

VOICE YOUR OPINION! E-mail letters to letters@ thejewishstar.com or fax to (516) 569-4942.

11

Trunks, camp & rugalach A

lthough it’s been seven years since my youngest has been to sleep away camp, the middle of June always evokes nightmares of “trunk packing.” As the middle of June arrives, I have to remind myself that I don’t have to go through that anymore. Come on, you all know what I’m talking about. Buying, labeling, folding and then the hard part, fitting it all into an oversized trunk and duffle bag. Oh, and let’s not forget the huge plastic under the bed storage bin that’s filled with snacks and the 24 bottles of water, or cans of soda. Hey, it was going to be three weeks till we saw our kids again; they had to survive, didn’t they? Starting the week before trunks were picked up, I had piles laid out of all the Judy Joszef clothes, toiletries (not sure boys actually used them) and whatever electronic devices that could sneak past the bureau of censorship. Once the trunks were picked up, I heaved a sigh of relief; I was free, well, at least till I had to start shopping for visiting day. More snacks, more socks and more soda. Wow, he drank a lot of soda, or so I thought, until David was interrupted during a meeting with a client. His secretary rushed in and said the camp director was on the phone and it was an emergency about his son. David, panicking, picked up the call and listened as the director told him that Daniel was warned not to sell soda to the other campers (he sold the cans for 25 cents less than the canteen). Upon hearing that, Daniel handed the business over to his younger brother who got a cut of the profits. The last straw was when Daniel said he did nothing

wrong, that the director didn’t say anything about Jeremy not being able to sell sodas.

David calmly explained that the next time he received a call from camp that involved the words emergency and Daniel, it had better be because he had killed someone!

When I went to camp I had a “valise” and a small bag of snacks. If we were hungry we would get snacks at the canteen. My husband, Jerry, on the other hand, never had to worry about missing home cooking. The first summer he attended Camp Raleigh, he and his brother Seme remember the first Sunday of camp. Off in the distance they saw their parents walking onto campus, their dad carrying a tablecloth and looking for a table and their mom and aunts and uncles schlepping huge shopping bags filled with homemade goodies. The director stopped them and said they really couldn’t be there, since it wasn’t visiting day. “Are you telling us we can’t visit our children when we want to? We’re survivors, we were in Auschwitz, what do you mean we can’t visit our children, this is America,” their mom said. The director was speechless and actually let them stay. They found tables and covered them with the tablecloths they brought. Out came the huge roast beef sandwiches, homemade shlishkes, kugels and the “famous chocolate rugalach.”

The rugalach were for the boys to store in their bunks, since they were dairy.

The next week they were back, and the director knew better than to say anything.

The tablecloths were whipped out and there was more food than the week before because all their friends said they loved Mrs. Joszef’s cooking.

By the third Sunday they arrived the brothers said, “you’re here, again?” To which their mom replied, “This is the thanks we get? We all get up early, I cook, Tanta Rochel went all the way to the bakery on East 19th to get the fresh rolls, we sat in traffic for 3 hours....”

Far cry from visiting day today. You can’t even get onto campus ten minutes earlier on visiting day, let alone on any given Sunday.

So to all of you sending off kids, why not try my mother in law’s famous rugalach (ask Fay and Steve Kollander, how great they are; they went to camp with the Joszef brothers).

To all of you campers, have a safe trip up and a wonderful summer. And the night before visiting day, if you don’t want to stay up all night cleaning out your cubbies and folding everything, why not try Daniel’s method: just send everything to the laundry, your cubbies will be spotless and everything comes back all folded.

MOLLY JOSZEF’S FAMOUS CHOCOLATE RUGALACH DOUGH ■ 3 cups flour ■ 1/4 cup granulated sugar ■ 1/6 teaspoon salt ■ 1 cup unsalted, butter, cut in chunks ■ 4 1/2 teaspoons rapid-rise yeast ■ 1/4 cup warm milk ■ 1/2 cup sour cream ■ 2 eggs, separated ■ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract CHOCOLATE FILLING cups white sugar cup unsweetened cocoa egg white teaspoon vanilla

■2 ■1 ■1 ■1

■ ¼ teaspoon cinnamon ■ ½ stick butter ■ 1 egg white ■ 2 tabiespoons hot water

Mix all dry ingredients, then add the wet ones and mix well. Set aside.

Place flour, sugar and salt in bowl of a food processor, (my mother in law does this by hand) and place cut-up butter on top.

Pulse to cut butter into flour until mixture is grainy and mealy. It doesn’t matter if the mixture is a little uneven.

Stir yeast, dash of sugar and milk together in small bowl to dissolve yeast. Add to flour mixture, along with sour cream, 2 egg yolks and extracts. (Reserve egg whites for glazing.) Mix just until it forms a ball, (By hand, stir to make sticky mass.) Divide dough into two sections. Wrap in plastic wrap. Chill 20 minutes or overnight.

On lightly floured board, roll each dough section 1/8-inch thick, then trim into 12-inch circle. Smear each with 1/4 cup cocoa mixture. Leave a small circle in the middle bare.

Cut into 12 wedges and roll from wide side to point into crescent shapes.

Beat egg whites and brush crescents with them. Place on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper and place in 375-degree oven. Immediately reduce heat to 350 degrees. Bake until medium brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Contant Judy at Judy.soiree@gmail.com.

Collecting Clutter

O

ur house is full of stuff we collect. Our home is not yet material for a show about hoarders, but things do continue to accumulate. The culprits are books, photos, seashells, curios, art projects, cool bags, newspaper clippings, magazines, emails, hamsas, spices, teas, chocolates, etc. The MIRIAM’S MUSINGS piles of books are teetering with more appearing each week.

Bowls of interesting seashells sit on shelves and windowsills. Souvenirs from our travels are featured in every room. Articles await my perusal and painted canvases lean against walls. We used to collect records, now cd’s, concert t-shirts, and Miriam Bradman Playbills, then and Abrahams now. Our kids collected Beanie Babies, Legos, Pokemon cards, and comic books.

I get motivated to do “spring” cleaning for Pesach, on a rainy day, before a voyage. What I think will take an hour ends up becoming a full day project. Getting rid of junk entails making a bigger mess first, as I go through our belongings and make piles to give away, throw away and put away. My daughter just

accomplished organizing her room in anticipation of leaving home in September. After separating her stuff into categories, a bunch of bags await the next step, disposal and dispersal. Meanwhile, my mom is emptying her own closets and passing some things on to me, so there’s no net gain of space.

Unless you’re a minimalist, you probably collect things, too. I do know exactly two people whose counters are clear and closets are neat. I don’t dare open my linen closet or pantry for a visitor. I consider it a big accomplishment when my computer desk has an open spot available. Neatening up my desk requires effort since I need all the items on it: address and reference books, files, cards and receipts.

I’m not disorganized; other than forgetting where my keys, cell phone and glasses are when I’m about to leave the house, I know exactly where to look for papers I need. I can even describe it in detail to my husband or kids, though they don’t manage to see what’s right in front of them. They try to help me by searching the pantry or refrigerator for something I need while cooking, but inevitably I end up grabbing it from the shelf they are staring at.

When I’m fed up with living around the piles, it weighs on me until I make the time for the business of clearing up. This happens on Fridays when we’re having guests for Shabbos. Laundry piles disappear from

the sofa and week-old newspapers I haven’t yet read are recycled. The week’s junk mail residing on the dining room table is finally thrown out.

I feel virtuous when I finally roll up my sleeves to begin the sorting process. It is so liberating when the job is done and I think my desk, the couches and table will stay clear forever, but it usually only lasts until Sunday.

Cleaning up requires discipline and non-sentimentality. I’ve heard that when considering a clothes closet, anything unworn for a year should be removed. Of course, it’s not as simple as that; I may have gained some weight I plan to lose, or have an item I truly love and can’t part with, so I won’t, I can’t give it away, yet… Finding something in decent condition to donate is reassuring, since I imagine the item having a new life in another home.

Perhaps part of this issue has to do with being a child of refugees. I take home hotel soaps and stick wedding bentschers in my handbag. Like making sure to eat everything on my plate, I’ve been ingrained with holding on to things until they disintegrate. It goes along with the necessity to always have my passport valid and accessible so I may leave/ flee immediately, if need be. This was actually put to the test once years ago, when we couldn’t travel abroad for a family emergency until we retrieved our passports out of a bank vault and got visas. Since then I’ve kept our passports close and ready, renewing way in

advance and paying extra fees for speedier service. Maybe it’s overkill, but better safe than sorry.

My husband would prefer fewer things lying around, but I’m attached to most of them; what I call homey, he calls messy. Each object is associated with a time, a place, a person, reminiscence. I recall details about my life when a photo was taken, where we picked up a particular tchotchka, which grade my child was in when he/she painted this picture, which beach we walked when I picked up that beautiful shell.

Magazines and self help books about minimizing abound and helping to un-clutter other’s lives is a lucrative profession. I get a daily email from Real Simple to encourage this behavior. I’m amazed by those who embrace this lifestyle, discarding things immediately, allowing for clear counters and empty space. Simplicity is a sensible, attainable, desirable goal, but I guess I’m just not that enlightened yet. In the meantime, I’ll thumb through our photo albums, hang up hamsas and admire seashells, all the while smiling at the memories.

Miriam Bradman Abrahams is Cuban born, Brooklyn bred and lives in Woodmere.

She organizes author events for Hadassah, reviews books for Jewish Book World and is very slowly writing her father’s immigration story.

She can be reached at mabraha1@optonline. net

THE JEWISH STAR June 22, 2012 • 2 TAMMUZ 5772

Who’s in the kitchen

June 22, 2012 • 2 TAMMUZ 5772 THE JEWISH STAR

12

Ohav Sholom Team Wins LI Kosher BBQ Competition On Sunday, June 10 the MOB aka “The Mavens of BBQ” placed in the top six in every competition, including first place in baked beans, and walked away with the overall 1st place Grand Champion trophy in the Long Island Kosher Barbeque Championship. The team from Merrick’s Congregation Ohav Sholom was competing for the first time.

They have now qualified to compete in other Kosher BBQ competitions in Atlanta, Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama, leading up to a potential national championship in Memphis, Tennessee.

Barbequing on behalf of the MoB were Ohav members Kenny Duftler, Hope Greenberg, Ari Jurmann & Craig Winnower.

17 teams competed overall in the competition, which is modeled after and sanctioned by the ASBEE World Kosher BBQ Championship in Memphis, Tennessee and has quickly

June 25 NEFESH B’NEFESH’S first ‘Tweetup’ series comes to NYC: “Social Media: The Israel Connection” Jeff Pulver, William Daroff, and Jamie Geller among social media personalities participating in events focusing on harnessing the power of social media as a bridge between Israel & the Diaspora Nefesh B’Nefesh, which works in cooperation with the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption and the Jewish Agency, will host two “tweetups”, entitled “Social Media: The Israel Connection,” for Israel-engaged Jews in the Tri-state area who are active in social media. The events will take place in New York on Monday, June 25th at 8:00pm and in New Jersey on Tuesday, June 26th at 7:30pm.

The events will include networking and targeted discussions focusing on utilizing social media as a bridge between Israel and the Diaspora. There will also be mini-presentations by popular social media personalities, including William Daroff, Vice President for Public Policy and Director of the Washington Office of The Jewish Federations of North America; Jeff Pulver, Internet Entrepreneur; Jamie Geller, Co-founder of the Kosher Media Network; Adam Soclof, JTA journalist and Dani Klein, Editor of the popular travel website yeahthatskosher.com. A (kosher) BBQ dinner will be served.

Joining the lineup of Tweeters will be Marc Rosenberg, Director of Nefesh B’Nefesh’s One Aliyah department (which helps singles and young professionals make Aliyah) and the organization’s social media coordinator Laura Ben-David who will be jointly facilitating the event. These seasoned professionals have been living in Israel for a combined 21 years and often speak to groups and blog on Israel and Jewish identity.

JNF House is located at 42 East 69th Street, NYC

Free summer fair and concert Jewish Community Council of the Rockaway Peninsula (JCCRP) Street Fair and concert will be from 2-8:30 pm between Cedarhill and Oak drive on Reads Lane in Far Rockaway. Children’s rides open until 6 pm and a concert for all ages featuring Noah

become one of the year’s most anticipated events within the Long Island Jewish community.

In addition to the BBQ Championship those who attended Sunday’s event at Westbury’s Temple Beth Torah were treated to good food, family fun and old-fashioned hospitality with events ranging from a pickleeating contest to a basketball skills tournament to an array of live entertainment and a Kiddie Corral filled with various children’s activities.

In fact, not to be outdone by his mom, Eli Greenberg had two wins in the youth competitions for Pickle and Hot Dog eating.

Part of the proceeds from Sunday’s event goes to hunger relief charities right here on Long Island, including Long Island Cares, the INN (Interfaith Nutrition Network), Hatzilu, Rock Can Roll and M’yad l’yad.

Photo courtesy of Jordan Smith X

Congregation Ohav Sholom’s Mavens of Barbeque (MOB) team, Hope Greenberg, Ari Jurmann, Kenny Duftler and Craig Winawer celebrate their win.

ON THE

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

Deadline is Wednesday of the week prior to publication.

Affairs Medical Center, will present guidelines for the treatment of religious OCD, discuss common challenges of implementing ERP to treat religious symptoms, and strategies to overcome these difficulties and provide the best care for religious patients.

For more information about the program, please visit: http://www.centerforanxiety.org/ files/WorkshopJuly2012.pdf To register, please visit: http://www.centerforanxiety.org/training.html

July 11 New advances in gynecological health before and after cancer Photo Courtesy of Village of Lawrence

SCN Deputy Director Patrick Daly, TOH Councilman James Darcy, Avi Fertig, NCPD Commissioner Thomas Dale, Rabbi Yehoshua Kalisch, Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky, Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, NC Executive Ed Mangano, Lawrence Mayor Martin Oliner, Leg. Howard Kopel, NC OEM Commissioner Craig Craft, Village Admin Dave Smollett, Cedarhurst Trustee Benjamin Weinstock, Mr. Paul Goldenberg, Director of Secure Communities Network at Security Forum hosted

by Mayors of Lawrence, Cedarhurst and Atlantic Beach.

Solomon of Soul Farm from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

Sponsored by Gourmet Glatt, The Paper Palace, Traditions Eatery, Apple Bank, and PIP.

June 28 Free Exercise Seminar: A free community forum hosted by South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, NY, will be presented by certified diabetes educator Cecilia Cassidy, BSN, RN. The forum will be held in South Nassau’s Conference Room B beginning at 7:30 PM. For more information or to register, call South Nassau’s Department of Community Education (516) 377-5333.

July 1 Religious OCD workshop at Center for Anxiety For those suffering from religious obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), the line between

strict observance and unhealthy obsession is blurred. While some obsessions and compulsions relate to excessive practice of outward observances, other symptoms of this unique disorder include excessive fear of punishment by G-d or fear of going to hell.

The most widely used and most effective treatment technique for OCD is exposure and response prevention (ERP). Using this modality, mental health professionals help OCD patients to learn relevant information and disprove their fears by confronting them head on and resisting engaging in any compulsions. When treating fears about germs, for example, patients might be encouraged to touch a handrail in a subway station and not wash their hands. ERP is much more challenging to implement when treating those with religious OCD, however, as confronting sin and excessive fear of hell are difficult to facilitate in practice and also raise important cultural and ethical concerns.

In order to identify the challenges involved in treating religious OCD, Elyssa Kushner, Psy.D., will lead the half-day workshop at New York City’s Center for Anxiety. Dr. Kushner, a clinical psychologist at the Philadelphia Veterans

Free National Teleconference and Webinar 8:00 p.m. (EDT) Stay current on emerging research regarding gynecological concerns before and after a breast cancer or ovarian cancer diagnosis. Topics to be discussed include birth control, fertility, pregnancy, nursing, early onset menopause, hormone replacement, and bone health. Ask questions to our experts during a live question and answer session following the presentation.

Panelists Tessa Cigler, MD, MPH, Weill Cornell Breast Center, Elizabeth Poynor, MD, PhD, FACOG, Private Practice, Shera Dubitsky, MEd, MA, Sharsheret Cancer Survivor in Sharsheret’s Peer Support Network. A transcript and audio recording will be available following the event at www.sharsheret. org. To register call 866.474.2774

Ongoing Support group The JCC of the Greater Five Towns will sponsor a new support group for the economically challenged as a result of the economic downturn. Key themes will include unemployment, financial issues, empowerment and support. Please join us on Thursday mornings at 10:15 a.m. at Temple Israel, 140 Central Ave, Lawrence until January 20th. This group is part of Connect to Care, an initiative funded by UJAFederation of NY. For further information and to pre-register, please contact Talia Rapps, L.M.S.W. at 516-569-6733 x213.

13 THE JEWISH STAR June 22, 2012 • 2 TAMMUZ 5772

Hebrew only please!

To Drink Hungarian Wine!

A famous story of Reb Nachman tells of a wine merchant`s wagon driver who was finally privileged to taste a drop of his master`s fine Hungarian wine. In later years, he was able to tell it apart from lesser wines ....

At a Shabbaton in Columbia University, a group was brought to tears by a young adult with Down`s Syndrome, who responded to a

lecture about one`s mission in life with the query: But what could my mission possibly be? Perhaps that question was exactly his mission .... It is difficult to ascertain our mission, but if you`ve tasted fulfillment in a particular spiritual arena, perhaps through chessed, you`ll feel it; you don`t forget the taste of Hungarian wine ...

By Rabbi Noam Himelstein

Mazel

TOV The Garden City Hotel invites you to celebrate your simcha with us And our A-List of Preferred Kosher Caterers Joel Katz’s / Prestige Foremost RAM Lederman Mauzone Newman & Leventhal

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

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June 22, 2012 • 2 TAMMUZ 5772 THE JEWISH STAR

14

Being aware of driving emergencies

By Malka Eisenberg A horrifying car crash a few weeks ago on the road from Tzfat to Tiberias in Israel killed eight members of the Atias family, leaving only one child alive. Although no one individual can possibly come to grips with the tragedy, questions of mechanical failure and safety were posed to a professor who researches highway safety and accidents at Ben-Gurion University’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, and to the American Automobile Association (AAA) to try to learn what might be done to survive a similar incident.

The car had passed inspection three months prior but the brakes failed on the steep hills to Tiberias. The driver, the father, was on the phone with the police as he repeatedly crashed into guardrails that ultimately failed to hold the out of control car.

The car reportedly crossed the divider, flew about seven meters in the air, overturned, crashed and burst into flames. The dead included Rafael, 42, Yehudit, 42, Avia, 17, twins Eliyashiv and Neria Shimon, 16, Shira, 11, Tair, 8, and Noa, 4. Only Rachel Efrat, 7, survived. They were returning home from a dedication of a Torah and a new shul near Tzfat. The father was the principal of the Miftan School there.

A report on Israel National News quoted the former head of the Israel police accident investigation team, Jacob Netzer, that the causes of the brake failure are still being investigated. He suggested that it may be possible to slow a car with malfunctioning brakes by shifting down the gears or skidding along the safety barrier.

A week after the accident, other owners of the same type of vehicle, a Mitsubishi Grandis, complained of the gas peddle sticking and having to shift into neutral with one driver pulling up the gas pedal with her hand and another stepping on the brake to free the gas pedal.

As the summer approaches with families heading up to the mountains, children going to camp, and visiting day, this accident and another recent one on the Bronx River Park-

Photo from Israel National News

Aftermath of the car accident that killed eight members of the Atias family. way where seven died, brought attention to highway safety and measures drivers might be able to take to prevent such an event.

David Shinar, Ph.D., George Shrut Professor of Human Performance Management of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva responded to email questions regarding the accident. “This was indeed a very dramatic and terribly violent crash,” he wrote. “All the information I have on it is from the press reports and from those I got the same impression. It was a brake failure due to totally worn out brakes - even

though the car passed the safety inspection (including the brakes) three months before the crash. The area is very hilly and involves a lot of wear and tear on the brakes. The car went over the guardrail, which is really not expected to withstand such forces.

“Whether the driver could or could not have done something to prevent this is very speculative,” continued Shinar. “This was not the same problem as that experienced by Toyota where the gas pedal got stuck. If he had an automatic gear there was little he could have done except possibly to shift down to L. Also the emergency brake relies on the same

brake pads so it would not have helped.

“So it is still a mystery how the car passed the inspection and how the driver was not aware of the bad brakes before - or why he disregarded that if he knew.

“It is a very sad story when a whole family perishes in a crash that was probably preventable.”

Robert Sinclair, Jr., Manager of Media Relations for AAA New York also responded via email. “Your message seems to point to different scenarios, one where brake failure occurred, another a stuck gas pedal and lastly a failed guardrail. All point to the need to be prepared for driving emergencies, regrettably something the vast majority of drivers have no training for.

“Brake failure is best handled by downshifting the transmission, automatic or manual, to help slow the vehicle, and using the emergency or parking brake. If higher speeds are involved, more extreme measures like running against a curb, guardrail or retaining wall would be needed. This would result in extreme damage to the vehicle, but it’s better than running into someone or something solid head-on.

“A stuck gas pedal is best dealt with by putting the vehicle in neutral and using the brakes to slow down. However, in light of the unintended acceleration debacle with Toyotas a couple years ago, most new cars are now built with braking systems that can overpower the engine, so for the owner of a newer vehicle, the advice is simply to step on the brakes, hard.

“Missing or inadequate guardrails are rampant on our roadways,” Sinclair continued, “witness the terrible crash on the Bronx River Parkway. The only way of dealing with them is to do all you can to avoid needing them by maintaining control of your vehicle, usually by keeping your speed down, being mindful of traffic around you and awareness of areas that lack proper guardrails.”

AAA New York offers safe driving courses that have as part of their curricula, advice on handling driving emergencies. More information is available on their website at www. ny.aaa.com.

Three to campaign for Gillibrand’s Senate seat Continued from page 1 tween the U.S. and Israel. She disapproves of President Obama’s support of same-sex marriage, saying that it compromises the First Amendment and citizens’ religious freedom, and she wants it to remain a state issue. Long lives in Manhattan with her husband and two children.

George Maragos Maragos was born in Greece, but grew up and attended school in Canada. He went to McGill University, and was recruited by Booz Allen & Hamilton, a consulting firm in New York, where he worked on military defense command and control systems. He then joined Chase Manhattan Bank, where he helped build Chase’s international data and money transfer network and eventually became vice president. He earned his MBA in finance from Pace University.

In 1985, Maragos became a naturalized citizen. He became the vice president of Citibank before founding SDS Financial Technologies, where he was president for 20 years. In 2009 he was elected Nassau County comptroller. He plans to promote a national

commitment to achieving energy independence in 10 years, and wants the U.S. to have all new legislation subjected to a jobs-impact assessment — and rejected if it would destroy jobs. He supports a balanced-budget amendment, the Keystone XL pipeline and natural gas exploration in New York, and withdrawing American troops who are overseas.

Maragos’s plan to improve education includes more rigorous testing for teaching certification and de-emphasizing standardized testing. He supports tax reform that would provide tax relief for the middle class and offer tax credits for child care and college tuition. He disagrees with the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank Act and would vote to repeal both. He is pro-life and would allow abortion only in cases of incest and rape, or when the mother’s life is in danger. He does not support same-sex marriage, and supports Second Amendment rights. Married for 37 years, he has two children and two grandchildren.

Bob Turner Turner was raised in Woodhaven. He earned an undergraduate degree in history from St. John’s University before attend-

ing its business school evening sessions. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs, Homeland Affairs and Veteran Affairs committees.

A 40-year veteran of the television industry, Turner founded Orbis Communications, which distributed advertiser-supported programming. He sold the company to Carolco Pictures and remained president until he joined Multimedia Entertainment. There he became president and CEO before moving on to Pearson PLC’s North American Television Operations, where he served as president and chief executive. He was also the first general manager of CBS Cable and president of LBS Communications. He was on the board of directors of the National Association of Television Programming, Readspeak Inc. and Liberty Imaging Inc, and was a founder and the first president of the Association of Syndicated Television Advertisers.

Turner is a U.S. Army veteran. He supports a smaller federal government and an amendment enforcing spending policies, specifically not spending more than revenues.

He is in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline and tapping into domestic energy. He wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, believing that it could potentially bankrupt the nation.

Wendy Long, NC Comptroller George Maragos and U.S. Representative Bob Turner are the contenders hoping to challenge Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

He is pro-life, and opposes tax increases. He has been married for 47 years and has five children and 13 grandchildren.

Lauren Zipkin compiled this report.

15

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June 22, 2012 • 2 TAMMUZ 5772 THE JEWISH STAR

16

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FAMILY SINCE 1932