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THE JEWISH July 24, 2015 • 8 Av 5775

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Vol 14, No. 28 • TheJewishStar.com

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Hikind mocks ‘Shomer’ Schumer Pressure mounts as Jewish senator wafes on Iran deal

By Ed Weintrob Boro Park Assemblyman Dov Hikind repeatedly mocked New York’s Jewish Senator at an anti-Iran-nuke forum in North Woodmere on Sunday night, calling on the self-professed Shomer Yisroel (guardian of Israel) to get off the fence and do his job.

Charles Shumer, who is expected to lead the Senate’s Democrats after Harry Reid retires, has repeatedly told Jewish crowds that his name, Schumer, means shomer (watchman, in Hebrew) and that he takes that role seriously.

Although he proclaimed at Achiezer’s gala dinner in March that “if there’s a bad agreement, Congress should have the ability to undo it,� he’s been noncommittal since the deal was announced. “I will always be Shomer Yisroel,�

Schumer pledged in March. “I will do everything I can to see that Am Yisroel chai.�

Hikind slamed Schumer’s reluctance to speak out against the deal, pointing to the senator’s absence from his usual spot in front of TV cameras on Sunday.

Hinkind urged New Yorkers to bombard the senator with phone calls demanding not only that he vote against the pact, but that he help mobilize Senate opposition in sufďŹ cient numbers to override President Obama’s promised veto.

Other Jewish communal leaders also piled on Schumer this week. In a commercial on New York cable news programs, the Emergency Committee for Israel displays Schumer’s phone number and urges, “Call Sen. Schumer and tell him he must stand ďŹ rm.â€?

Sunday night’s forum, at Temple Hillel, energized South Shore opponents of the Iran deal ahead of Wednesday’s massive rally in Times Square.

Continued on page 5

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Bibi restates his opposition Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiter- lions of dollars, at least $100 billion in the ďŹ rst year, ated his staunch opposition to the Iran nuclear deal money that will serve to increase its aggression in the during a Knesset session held in honor of visiting region and to spread terrorism to many countries.â&#x20AC;?

Renzi, who a day earlier visited Tel Aviv UniverItalian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Wednesday. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iran, which strives to export the Khomeiniist rev- sity with a delegation of Italian scientists, told the olution throughout the world, continuesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;on a daily Knesset that whoever boycotts Israel â&#x20AC;&#x153;doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t underbasisâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to call for Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s destruction,â&#x20AC;? Netanyahu stand that he is boycotting himself and doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t unsaid. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is spreading murderderstanding that he is betraying ous terrorism and undermining his own future.â&#x20AC;? stability across the Middle East.

He added that when he deI say as clearly as possible: The livers a speech in the disputed nuclear agreement signed with Palestinian territories during his Iran last week threatens not visit, he plans to emphasize that only us, but you in Europe, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;to recognize Israel is to recogUnited States, and the entire innize reality,â&#x20AC;? Haaretz reported. ternational community.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D;JNS.org He continued, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The agreement leaves Iran with the ability to achieve an arsenal of nuclear bombs in approximately a deCommunity leaders are urgcade, in 15 years maximum, being those concerned with the cause then all the restrictions on Iran agreement to contact their Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s production of advanced elected ofďŹ cials on all levels â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and non-advanced centrifuges local and state as well as federal. will be lifted, as well as on its They said Democrats espeenrichment of uranium to any cially should be contacted, since level it likes. members of the presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s party â&#x20AC;&#x153;Then Iran will be able to are likely to decide the fate of an break through to many nuclear 6HQDWRU 6FKXPHU QRZ PXP RQ ,UDQ KDG ORWV WR attempt by Congress to override bombs in zero time, with interVD\ D IHZ PRQWKV DJR DV UHSRUWHG RQ SDJH RI 7KH -HZLVK 6WDU LQ 0DUFK &RPPXQLW\ OHDGHUV DUH a presidential veto of any resolunational legitimacy. The deal XUJLQJ FRQVWLWXHQWV WR FDOO 6FKXPHU UHSHDWHGO\ WR tion opposing the Iran deal. also will enrich Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coffers, GHPDQG WKDW KH IXOÂżOO KLV 6KRPHU <LVURHO SOHGJH More on Iran: pages 5,6,7. even now, with hundreds of bil-

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the American-Israeli billionaire businessman and bigBy Aron Heller time Democrat donor Haim Saban, though most of his PETAH TIKVA (AP) — On the mound, Dean Kreextended family still lives in Israel. mer looks just like any other top-rated baseball pros“Half my family, I can tell you that they still don’t pect, whipping 90 mph fastballs and snapping nasty know what baseball is. They don’t understand the curves. game,” he said with a smile. “Israeli guys like upbeat When the 19-year-old pitcher greets his teammates tempo things where they can’t get bored ... People are in the dugout after striking out the side, however, aggressive here.” he sounds different. Kremer is speaking Hebrew, not However, the sport has made great strides since the English. arrival two years ago of Nate Fish as the Israel AssociaThe 6-foot-2 Kremer is the golden boy of Israeli tion of Baseball’s first paid full-time national director. baseball, the first citizen to be selected in the major Fish said there are currently about 800 players in Israel league draft and the country’s greatest hope of lifting in all age groups and he’s hopeful that some will go on the sport from its decades-long second-class status. to play college ball in the states.

Though he was born and raised in Stockton, CalFish, who has played with several major leaguers, ifornia, and is also an American citizen, the son of said Kremer would have been a much higher pick had Israeli parents identifies strongly as Israeli himself, he not already committed to UNLV. Regardless, he said spends his summers in the Jewish state and is fluent it means a lot to the status of baseball in Israel and he in Hebrew. He’s the ace of Israel’s national team and envisions a bright future for his current teammate on sent local pride skyrocketing when the San Diego PaTeam Israel, the 22nd-ranked squad in the world. dres selected him in the 38th round of the draft in “We are obviously proud of it. We want the world June. After deciding instead to play college ball, his to know that we have a guy who was just selected,” he stock is only expected to rise. said. “It’s tough to say what is going to happen with the “(I’m) definitely honored. I like to represent my guy, but he has all the things you need to be successful country in any way possible,” Kremer said before practice at the country’s only regulation baseball field ,VUDHO EDVHEDOO WHDP SLWFKHU 'HDQ .UHPHU SLWFKHV GXULQJ WUDLQLQJ QHDU 3HWDK 7LNYD at that level and get to the major leagues.”

Kremer, a righty who also throws a slider, curve and in the Baptist Village, in central Israel. “I’d love to be 7KH IRRW .UHPHU LV WKH ¿UVW FLWL]HQ WR EH VHOHFWHG LQ WKH PDMRU OHDJXH GUDIW

AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov splitter, gets the most attention in Israel for his fastthe person to get Israel baseball on the map.”

Israel fielded a qualifying team for the 2013 World Baseball ball. His manager, Richard Kania, says Kremer “touches Baseball has historically been the most popular sport among American Jews, and there are currently about Classic that was similarly staffed by top-notch American Jews the low-90s” and no one has ever seen that kind of velocity 15 playing in the major leagues, including All-Stars Ryan who were eligible to play for it under a “heritage” clause that around here. On a recent day, kids lined the gates to watch him warm up, awed by the sound of his fastball snapping Braun and Ian Kinsler. But in sports-mad Israel, soccer and allowed players with the loosest of ties to join the teams. basketball reign supreme while baseball is still mostly a cuThe team was coached by Detroit Tigers manager Brad Aus- against the catcher’s mitt.

Kremer himself seems to be enjoying the ride, bilingually riosity. For decades, it was the domain of a small but loyal mus and included former all-star Shawn Green, recently waived group of American imports and failed to catch on with the Oakland A’s slugger Nate Freiman, and Joc Pederson, a Los An- joking around with veteran teammates and also giving tips to rough-and-tumble native-born Israelis who, when it came geles Dodgers rookie who made this year’s National League all- aspiring youngsters. to imported American sports, took more of a liking to hard- star team and finished second in the Home Run Derby.

“Here it’s not as competitive but it is still a high level and hitting nature of football.

But Kremer, who enrolls at the University of Nevada Las it’s definitely developing,” he said. “I did get a lot of questions In 2007, a group of American supporters launched the Is- Vegas on a baseball scholarship this fall, has deeper roots in from the kids in the camp the past two weeks asking me quesrael Baseball League, a professional league comprised almost Israel. He’s been part of its baseball program since he was 14 tions about the draft, asking me like how to get better and I entirely of foreign players that folded after just one season. and grew up speaking Hebrew at home. His great-uncle is feel like watching my progress will help inspire them.”

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THE JEWISH STAR July 24, 2015 • 8 Av 5775

MLB first: Israeli selected in U.S. baseball draft

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Keeping ahead of increasing anti-Semitic hacks

By Robert Gluck, JNS.org When hackers from a group called Moroccan Islamic Union-Mail defaced the website of Congregation Beth Am Israel in Penn Valley, Pa., in July 2014, the synagogue chose to look forward rather than dwell on the result of the cyberattack.

“We rebuilt our site and have worked with our domain provider to strengthen security, with an eye toward preventing future hacks,” Rabbi David Ackerman, leader of the congregation, told JNS.org.

The defacement of Beth Am Israel’s website—meaning that the website’s usual content was replaced with propaganda through videos and statements—is part of a new-age trend in anti-Semitism. In particular, the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) audit of antiSemitic incidents that took place throughout America during 2014, data that was released in March 2015, identified a spike in cyberattacks by overseas hackers on synagogues, schools, and other Jewish institutions.

ADL said that in 2014, anti-Semitic hackers from the Arab/Muslim world targeted a Jewish high school in Albany; four Jewish institutions belonging to the Union for Reform Judaism in Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Georgia; a synagogue in Plantation, Fla.; and universities in California, Oregon, Utah, Missouri, Massachusetts. While past hacking efforts against Jewish institutions have primarily focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the more recent attacks have been carried out in the name of the Islamic State terror group, according to ADL. Jonathan Vick, ADL’s assistant director for cyberhate response, recommends that Jewish leaders “safeguard their databases, websites, e-mails, and other digital information against the ‘hacker-frenzy’ environment that now exists around the world.”

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Vincent Diamante via Wikimedia Commons

“If Sony, Target, and Home Depot can fall victim to hackers, so too can Jewish organizations,” Vick told JNS.org. “Simple steps can help prevent loss of data and other risks associated with doing business in the online environment.”

Vick said that those steps include having websites hosted by a reputable company that offers top-of-the-line security; never hosting websites on a personal server or on an institutional computer; having administrators regularly review the logs of who is visiting an institution’s website and Facebook page, and monitoring other unusual developments as they arise. Additionally, he suggests checking the Zone-H.org website, which provides a bulletin board where viewers can see firsthand what hackers have done to others.

Complicating the prevention of hacking, Vick said, is the fact that it is not easy to com-

TRIPLE PLAY

pile statistics on the phenomenon.

“It is difficult because you are relying on either the institutions reporting it or the hackers bragging about it, and neither of those are reliable barometers,” he said. “There are the bulletin boards on what we call the ‘brag websites’ that we monitor, where the hacker groups post their forays and the numbers are escalating. Either Jewish institutions are being targeted or the defacements against standard businesses include some sort of antiSemitic statement.”

In the aftermath of the hack on Beth Am Israel, Ackerman said it was “very reassuring to know that the ADL was monitoring our situation and that they knew of the group that had attacked our website.”

ADL holds a cyber-security webinar sponsored by synagogues and other organiza-

tions from across the Jewish denominational spectrum to give guidance, point out areas of concern, answer questions, and discuss matters such as e-mail security and social networking. On its website, ADL also offers a written guide on these issues titled “Protecting Your Jewish Institution: Security Strategies for Today’s Dangerous World.”

“It is not just about protecting the institution,” Vick said. “It is also about being targeted as a community.”

Not all hacking attacks pan out as planned.

The global hacking network known as Anonymous has had very limited success with #OpIsrael, an annual campaign to carry out a “cyber-Holocaust” and remove all traces of the Jewish state from the Internet. Anonymous most recently threatened a “cyber-Holocaust” for April 7, 2015—eight days before Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. The group stated, “We are Anonymous.

This is a message to the Zionist entity: We are coming to punish you for your crimes in the Palestinian territories.” But only a few Israeli websites were successfully hacked.

Nevertheless, ADL suggests that Jewish institutions be vigilant about Internet security procedures. According to ADL, organizations should contact their Internet service provider and/or website hosting company to discuss what measures are in place to protect against hacking; have a backup version of their website and keep that version’s content up to date (weekly or monthly), and modify website content to remove personal information such as e-mail addresses, Facebook pages, Twitter handles, home addresses, and phone numbers wherever possible.

“Anything can be hacked,” Vick said.

“Caution is the watchword. It only takes one incident to create a huge problem.”

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president, a relative moderate, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi,” Klein asked.

As for the substance of the nuclear deal, Klein pointed out that no nuclear inspectors from the U.S. or any of the P5+1 will be allowed to enter contested Iranian sites, instead having to rely on the IAEA, whose access Iran will be able to significantly delay or block entirely.

“What happened to ‘anywhere anytime’?”

Meanwhile, the deal actually “requires that America and others will train Iran how to protect its nuclear facilities from sabotage

by Israel and anyone else.”

Klein said that when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani — who he called “the biggest supporter of Islamic terrorism around the world” — cheers the agreement, “we must all shudder in fear, and unite against this disasterous deal.”

The Iranian leaders are Shiites who believe Mohammad’s chosen successor “will return to this world after a period of cataclysmic war” that will be followed by Islamic rule, he warned.

Klein reminded, however, that “the Torah promises that the Jews will be an eternal people. Unlike politicians, G-d doesn’t break his promises.”

“You didn’t come here tonight to hear us be correct,” Zeldin said. “America got played at the negotiating table.”

Sunday’s event was organized by Cindy Grosz.

After the Iranian deal: Practical pro-Israel steps DANNY DANON LIKUD MK Likud Member of Knesset Danny Danon is Israel’s Minister of Technology, Science and Space. espite years of our warnings, the United States and the P5+1 powers reached a nuclear agreement with Iran. As we had feared, the deal is indeed extremely dangerous.

Billions of dollars will soon flow into Iran and quickly make their way to the rockets and missiles of Hamas and Hezbollah. At the same time, the arms embargo that has stopped Iran from further developing its ballistic missile program will be lifted, threatening not just Israel, but also Europe and the U.S. Most importantly, in 10 years, when my daughter is called up for duty in the Israel Forces Forces, and the nuclear inspections will end, Iran will be fully within its rights to restart its nuclear program from the exact place it is at right now, without any repercussions from the international community.

Until that point, Iran is of course likely to continue to violate this agreement, just like they have done for so many international accords in the past.

From the minute the agreement was signed, my colleagues and I in the Israeli government began to hear from our friends around the world.

It has been touching to be reminded of the love and support that exists for Israel in both the Jewish and Christian communities across the U.S. and worldwide. Many of those reaching out to us are worried that we are seeing a repeat of 1938, when the Western powers capitulated to Nazi Germany.

Let me be clear—this is not a sensible analogy.

While it is true we are sad to see liberal Western democracies again appease a rogue regime, there is no comparing the Jewish people of the 1930s to the State of Israel today. There is simply no analogizing the stateless Jews of the pre-Holocaust Diaspora with the strong and independent Jewish state so many of us are blessed to live in today.

D

In addition to relying on ourselves for our own security, there are a number of practical steps that supporters of Israel around the world can take to make this bad situation slightly better. While the nuclear accord may have been signed in Vienna, the agreement now moves to the U.S. Congress and to the court of public opinion. There is much our friends can do to influence implementation of the agreement, or perhaps even the deal’s actual content.

Our friends in America are blessed to live in an open democracy. I am sure that many will make their voices heard about why this deal is so dangerous, not only to America’s closest ally in the Middle East, but to the U.S. heartland. Iran does not seek to build and acquire intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to threaten Israel—their current arsenal already does that. Rather, the Iranians aim to reach North America with those missiles.

Similarly, on a local level, there are many opportunities for friends of Israel to speak out on this important issue. Many U.S. states have their own sanctions in place to ensure that the Iranians cannot make economic gains as long they continue to threaten the stability of the Middle East and export terrorism throughout the world.

Municipal leaders in the U.S. can also influence their local chambers of commerce, which play a crucial role in investment overseas.

Finally, each and every person can influence the people around them—their co-workers, friends, and family members—and make sure they know the facts about this dangerous deal and how it will soon affect the entire free world.

In Israel, it is rare to have near-consensus on any single issue in the Knesset. It is even more uncommon for our Arab neighbors to agree with the stated policy of Israel. When both of these unlikely scenarios play out, it is clear that there is much to be worried about regarding the Iran deal. Our defense forces will do all that is necessary to defend our country, but at the same time, this type of unity should inspire all citizens and supporters of Israel as we continue to strive for a Middle East that is safer, more stable, and perhaps one day even peaceful.

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Continued from page 1 Participating with Hikind was Rep. Lee Zeldin of Suffolk — the only Jewish Republican in the House — and ZOA President Morton Klein.

Zeldin agreed that pressure must be applied on New York’s senior senator, pointing out that the fate of the deal in Congress is up to the Democrats. He urged everyone who is represented by a Democrat, has contributed to a Democrat, or has a special relationship with a Democratic official, to reach out to that official.

“There is an alternative other that war,” Zeldin said. “It’s a better deal.”

Klein railed against President Obama, pointing out that the Administration has repeatedly declined to use the term “Islamic terrorism” in the wake of terrorist attacks with obvious radical Muslim motivations.

He recalled sitting five seats from the president at a meeting of Jewish leaders in the White House, when Obama said, in Klein’s description, that “Israel’s not serious about peace, but the Islamic terrorist regime of the Palestinian Authority is sincere about peace.”

Klein reached back to Obama’s Chicago days when the rising politician considered the anti-Semitic preacher, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a mentor, and helped organize Rev. Louis Farrakhan’s Million Man march.

As president, why did Obama “embrace the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood which took over Egypt, but has been cold to the new

THE JEWISH STAR July 24, 2015 • 8 Av 5775

Hikind hits Schumer…

5

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Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how Obama will handle Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s violations STEPHEN M. FLATOW

O

ne of the major issues in the debate over the Iran deal revolves around the question of what will happen if international inspectors want to visit a particular nuclear site, and the Iranians say no.

But an equally important consideration is: What will happen if Iranian violations are actually discovered? The Obama administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s handling of Palestinian violations of agreements theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve signed offers an important clue as to how it will respond to Iranian breaches.

Consider the issue of incitement to commit terror. The Oslo Accords obligated the Palestinian leadership to â&#x20AC;&#x153;abstain from incitement, including hostile propaganda.â&#x20AC;? This obligation was reiterated in the 1998 Wye River agreement, which required the Palestinian Authority (PA) to â&#x20AC;&#x153;prevent incitement against the Israeli side.â&#x20AC;?

The United States government has never denied that the PAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anti-Israel incitement is a serious problem. In fact, after the massacre of four rabbis and a policeman in a Jerusalem synagogue last November, Secretary of State John Kerry said the attack was â&#x20AC;&#x153;a pure result of incitement, of calls for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;days of rage,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; of just irresponsibility,â&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;is unacceptable.â&#x20AC;?

There is, however, a big difference between talking about incitement and actually doing something about itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;as Israel has discovered. Back in 1998, when the Israelis began complaining seriously to the Clinton administration about the PAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s incitement, the administration should have taken Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s side and insisted that the PA stop it. But it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. Getting tough with the PA might â&#x20AC;&#x153;endanger the peace process,â&#x20AC;? the White House reasoned. And maintaining the appearance of a â&#x20AC;&#x153;peace processâ&#x20AC;? became the administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s priority. So instead of siding with its ally, the U.S. created a committee â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Trilateral U.S.Israeli-Palestinian Anti-Incitement Committeeâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which met a few times in 1999 and 2000 and then stopped functioning.

In a Washington Post op-ed last December, Prof. Shibley Telhami, one of the American members of the committee, said

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Department of State

that the committee reached an impasse because the Israeli and Palestinian representatives â&#x20AC;&#x153;could not agree how to deďŹ ne incitement.â&#x20AC;? He wrote that the Israelis â&#x20AC;&#x153;would present, for instance, a statement by a Muslim religious ďŹ gure against Israel, and Palestinians would respond by citing settlement construction or episodes of Palestinian humiliation.â&#x20AC;?

Telhamiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s self-serving description did not actually tell the whole story. The Israeli delegates didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t present just â&#x20AC;&#x153;a statement by a Muslim religious ďŹ gure.â&#x20AC;? According to one of the Israeli representatives, Palestinian Media Watch director Itamar Marcus, he and his colleagues would present statements that had been made by paid PA ofďŹ cials (some of whom were Muslim religious ďŹ gures) as well as statements that were broadcast by the ofďŹ cial PA news media.

But for Telhami and the other delegates, who were operating on instructions from the White House and the State Department, the goal was not to stop incitement; the goal was to keep the â&#x20AC;&#x153;peace processâ&#x20AC;? going. Confronting the PA on incitement might cause a crisis in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;peace processâ&#x20AC;?; so instead of sid-

ing with the truth, the U.S. representatives chose to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;evenhandedâ&#x20AC;? and not take sides.

The Obama administration never revived the Anti-Incitement Committee â&#x20AC;&#x201D; because if the committee did its job, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;peace processâ&#x20AC;? would be exposed as a sham. Thus, its response to Palestinian incitement is usually to ignore it. But if the incitement gets so bad that it results in a massacre, then Secretary Kerry will say a few words. But nothing more.

The Iran deal creates a similar situation. If the international inspectors are given genuine access to Iranian nuclear sites, and the Iranians have not done a sufďŹ ciently thorough job of hiding what they are doing there, the inspectors will ďŹ nd violations. At that point, the Obama administration will face a choice: acknowledge the violations and tear up the agreementâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or cover up the violations so that the â&#x20AC;&#x153;peace agreementâ&#x20AC;? can be preserved.

Based on President Barack Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s track record, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not hard to guess which path he will choose.

New Jersey attorney Stephen M. Flatow is the father of Alisa Flatow, murdered by Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorists.

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July 24, 2015 â&#x20AC;˘ 8 Av 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

6

TEHILLA R. GOLDBERG VIEW FROM CENTRAL PARK

L

ast Tuesday, we woke up to a different world, to the moment to which history will most likely point an accusing finger.

This deal with Iran? It’s a great deal — for Iran, not for the rest of the world. Certainly not for Israel or Sunni Muslims in the Middle East.

President Obama says, “the world has become safer,” and I wonder whether this phrase will become our era’s equivalent of Chamberlain’s illusory “peace in our time” after the Munich Agreement.

I just finished reading Daniel Gordis’ book, “Menachem Begin: The Battle for Israel’s Soul.” Looking back, there were plenty of skeptics (myself included) who not only felt that making a treaty with Egypt was a stupid move, but also a betrayal. To be sure, it was a great risk. The test of time has proven it was a risk worth taking. Peace, albeit a cold

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peace, has endured 36 years so far.

A part of me wants to believe that this deal with Iran that was signed, sealed and delivered in Vienna is similar in climate and effect to Begin’s deal with Sedat, and that the people in favor of the agreement who characterize those who oppose it as simply hysterical in their reaction are right. Unfortunately, this deal feels like the first formal step toward a nuclear world in the hands of lunatic mullahs.

It might be argued that in the short term the merit of this agreement lies not in disarmament but in buying time, so that as Iran’s nuclear program is slowed down and Iran becomes part of the community of nations, it will change and eventually learn to engage with the world in a constructive and diplomatic way. Which might be the case, if we weren’t talking about nefarious Iran, whose sole goal is terror and domination, as the Iranian leadership itself explicitly says.

Just last week, in the throes of negotiations, came Iran’s Al Quds Day. Its theme was the destruction of Israel, as well as the burning of Obama in effigy. Think America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade devoted to articulating dreams of murder, destruction and world domination.

I read somewhere that one American government official said that now that the deal is

struck, it would be a great humanitarian gesture for Iran to release its three American hostages as a way of expressing Iran’s reentry into the community of nations. I did a double take when I read that. To Iran, its reentry into the community of nations will mean one thing only: the purchase of deadly weapons on a monumental scale to bolster its proxy terror regimes of Hezbollah and Syria, now that sanctions are lifted and a ton of cash is being funneled its way.

There are three American hostages in Iran — and this wasn’t even a part of the negotiations? Releasing these American hostages should have been a sina qua non. The sanctions that strangled Iran worked; Iran was desperate. That is the only reason it came to the negotiating table. The P5+1 had the upper hand. What’s so frustrating is that it seemed that a good deal, or at least a far better deal, could have been extracted.

The phrase “anywhere, anytime” has proven to be a joke. Inspections with a 24day advance notice? Why even bother with such a farce of an “inspection”? The whole point of verification is an unexpected visit.

Excuse me, but a 24-day procedure is not an inspection, but an appointment with a nuclear terrorist whose weapons or nuclear facility (as small as one room) has been effectively camouflaged. The reality is that this

How to ensure Congress nixes deal JEFF DUNETZ POLITICS TO GO

S

ometime between now and Sept. 17, Congress will have a chance to vote thumbs down on the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran. Per legislation, it will have 60 days to act, counting from July 19, when the deal was turned over to Congress by the State Department. Unlike a treaty, which constitutionally requires a two-thirds vote of the Senate to be approved, the Iran deal is considered an executive agreement which usually does not receive congressional oversight.

Only because of the Corker-Cordin bill does Congress even have a chance to register a no vote on the Iran deal.

For those of you wondering the difference between an executive agreement and a treaty, here’s the easy answer: It depends on what a president calls it.

Generally executive agreements between the United States and other countries have been short-term in nature, only tying up the administration that makes the agreement, but that is not a requirement. The Supreme Court has ruled more than once that executive agreements are part of the enumerated foreign policy powers of the president. However they never defined an executive agreement as opposed to a treaty.

The vote on the executive agreement per the Corker-Cardin bill is the only way to kill the P5+1 deal — sort of. You see, while Congress can vote against the deal, its actions will only ensure that the sanctions imposed

by Congress on Iran remain in place; meanwhile, the Obama administration has introduced a resolution in the United Nation Security Council to lift the sanctions that the U.N. imposed on Iran even before a Congressional vote, making any congressional action less meaningful.

While the sanctions were imposed by the United States can only be lifted by Congress, the U.N. Security Council imposed many of the most damaging ones, and only the Council can lift those sanctions.

When Congress votes on the Iran deal it will need more than a majority; votes against the deal will need a two-thirds majority in each house to override a promised presidential veto. While it will be easy do get a majority down vote in both houses, the two-thirds vote will be tough.

Most commentators believe that the Senate will be the toughest place to get the vetoproof majority; I disagree and believe the House will be the more difficult of the two legislatures. In the Senate, the GOP, with 55 seats will need to draw a dozen Democratic seats (actually 11 because New Jersey Democrat Menendez will assuredly vote against the pact). o see which way the deal is going to go, there is only senator to follow: New York’s Chuck Schumer.

Schumer is seen as the most important supporter of Israel in the Senate by other senators and as someone who usually puts career first. As the designated successor to Harry Reid as the leader of Democrats in the Senate, it is Schumer’s the responsibility to get his colleagues to support the Iran deal.

T

At one point during the Chuck Hagel hearings, the nominee for secretary of defense, who had a long record of being anti-Israel, was in danger of losing the confirmation vote. But when Schumer decided to ignore Hagel’s past and supported the nominee, everything fell into place and Hagel was confirmed easily.

The question in the Senate is will Chuck Schumer put the best interests of the United States and Israel first, and reject the bad Iran deal, or will he blindly support a Democratic Party president? If Schumer supports the agreement it will be nearly impossible to the get the needed veto-proof majority. It’s as simple as that.

In the House, the math is more complicated. The deal’s opponents will need 291 members for a veto-proof majority; to put it another way, every single Republican will need to vote no on the agreement and 45 Democrats will have to join them.

Minority leader Nancy Pelosi has a very strong hold on the Democratic caucus, and she has committed to whipping the vote in favor of Continued on page 16

7 THE JEWISH STAR July 24, 2015 • 8 Av 5775

Once again, it’s ‘peace in our time’

agreement enables Iran to reach a threshold capacity of nuclear weapons.

I wonder about some of the unintended consequences of the negotiation. Saudi Arabia and Israel are talking? Interesting. Perhaps this deal will create new alliances between Sunni Muslims and Israel. Who knows.

What I do know is that tiny little Israel has not wanted to follow the military option. This is not 1981. It is obvious that aside from the humanitarian cost, a military operation endeavoring to destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure will be tough, if not impossible. Even if successful, it would only set Iran back a few years.

A strong negotiation with desperate Iran yielding a good deal for America, Israel and the world was the window of opportunity that just closed. The genie is now out of the bottle. That is a scary thought.

I wonder what kind of world Obama and the leaders who are hailing this as a success envision. What kind of world do they have in mind when the criteria for rejoining the community of nations are so pathetically low. Just temporarily suspend your centrifuges and bombs that could kill on an unheard of scale, and — voila! — you are back in the groove, doing business with the rest of the world. What about expecting and demanding real behavioral and political change?

Bottom line: When Iran, Assad, Hezbollah and Hamas are jumping for joy, that’s all you need to know. Indeed, we did wake up to a new world. Welcome to the new nuclear arms race.

After Sprintâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lousy service, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time for crepes JUDY JOSZEF WHOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S IN THE KITCHEN

I

did it. I ďŹ nally did it. I ended this relationship. It had lasted 18 years, through good times and bad. My family, friends and even acquaintances tried to reason with me, to let it go, it was time. I knew they were right, but I just couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t separate. Was it loyalty? Was I just so accustomed to being connected? But I woke up yesterday and decided I had to end this relationship once and for all. I got up my courage and marched into the nearest Verizon store and I said I was ready to switch. You see, I was a Sprint customer since I had my ďŹ rst cell phone, which I still have tucked into a drawer somewhere with other useless items that were ďŹ rsts, as well.

In the beginning everything was good. Then it started. I was missing calls, and had to call people back. After a while I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even getting a notice that I had missed calls. I called Sprint.

They argued that they could see my calls going through. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Maybe they were going through, but not to me,â&#x20AC;? I told them. I asked to be connected to a supervisor. I would repeat the complaint, only to be told I had to be connected to a manager, and I had to tell it all over again. Then I would be put on hold, and as luck would have it, my call would be lost, and so was whatever was left of my patience. I would call back and insist on a manager immediately, only to be told I had to go through the right channels ďŹ rst. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I did that and my call was lost, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why I was calling to begin with. There were times I was sure I was somehow being secretly taped to be on a TV show. In the end I was always adamant, threatened to leave unless they made it

Get the

right. So I would get a credit on the next monthly bill and be on my way till the next incident.

I was amazed that others had service in tunnels, when I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even have service in my house.

Sprint offered to send me a special piece of equipment that would help with my lost calls in my house. It didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work, and when I called Sprint I was sent through the right channels, which were always wrong. The last person I spoke to told me to put the piece of equipment near a window. She said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re right, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not working. Put in on the windowsill.â&#x20AC;? Still no signal. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Open the window and put the piece out,â&#x20AC;? she said. Nope. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Do you have trees in your backyard,â&#x20AC;? she asked? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yes I do, many of them. Would you like me to have them taken down?â&#x20AC;? She said that wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be necessary, but asked me to lean out the window as far as possible holding the wire connected to the equipment. Not sure why I actually did it, but there I was hanging out the window so far that my feet were off the ďŹ&#x201A;oor.

Signal still didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work. Luckily, the gardener didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have his cellphone handy, though he had himself a good laugh.

I was sent a new piece of equipment and I received 50 percent of my calls.

I reasoned that my daughterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s line was free and we both had unlimited calls, internet and everything else. We were grandfathered in. Into what I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sure. Sure it was free but service was also non-existent. To make matters worse, every time I had an issue with my cell, they said it was ďŹ ne. Not really.

I called Sprint, spent the usual 15 minutes being connected from one to another explaining I could hear the other person on the other end but they could barely hear me. They told me to call back on my cell. It went something like thisâ&#x20AC;Ś Sprint: Thank you for calling Sprint, can I help you?

Me: Yes, the person on the other end has dif-

&KRFRODWH &UHSHV IRU EHIRUH RU DIWHU WKH IDVW

ďŹ culty hearing me.

Sprint: Can you speak up?

Me: I am.

Sprint: I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hear you. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have to call back.

Me: Grrrrrrrr.

Then Hurricane Sandy hit and Sprint lost a tower.

No worries, I was assured, my service would be what it was before. Not sure if that was a good thing. They went on to say that within ďŹ ve months the tower would up. Turned into nine months which turned into a year and a half at which point they told me the tower was not being replaced. Hmm. But I stuck with them until yesterday. Which reminds me, I have to return that piece of useless equipment. I should probably enclose a note to the next lucky user, â&#x20AC;&#x153;You might want to purchase some sunscreen for when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re hanging out the window, tying to get service.â&#x20AC;?

Try as I might I could not come up with a recipe that has the word Cell, Phone, Carrier, or Service. The closest I could ďŹ nd was Crepe, which sounds close to the service I encountered.

Ingredients: 1-1/2 cups milk 3 eggs 3 tablespoons water 2 tablespoons canola oil 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1-1/2 cups all-purpose ďŹ&#x201A;our 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup baking cocoa 1/8 teaspoon salt FILLING: 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/3 cup creme de cacao Carton (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed Fudge Sauce: 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1/4 cup butter 1/2 cup sugar 2/3 cup half-and-half cream 10 mint Andes candies, chopped, optional Directions: For batter, place the ďŹ rst nine ingredients in a blender or food processor. Cover and process until smooth. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until light and ďŹ&#x201A;uffy. Beat in sour cream and vanilla. Fold in creme de cacao and whipped topping. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

For fudge sauce, in large saucepan, melt chocolate chips and butter over low heat. Stir in sugar and cream. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 min. Set aside and keep warm.

Heat a lightly greased 8-in. nonstick skillet; pour 2 tablespoons batter into center of skillet. Lift and tilt pan to evenly coat bottom. Cook until top appears dry; turn and cook 15-20 seconds longer. Remove to a wire rack. Repeat with remaining batter, greasing skillet as needed. When cool, stack crepes with waxed paper or paper towels in between.

Spoon 1/4 cup ďŹ lling down the center of each crepe; roll up. Top with fudge sauce.

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9 THE JEWISH STAR July 24, 2015 • 8 Av 5775

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Upset over film view of Rabin assassin’s family

it a nice, comfortable platform and perhaps even gives it legitimacy.”

The festival selection committee said the film “is not free of problematic moral choices” but that was important to screen since it “stirs sharp debate over the borders of representation in documentary cinema as it touches on one of Israeli society’s most painful taboos.”

Festival directors refused to remove “Beyond the Fear” from the competition lineup for best documentary, but in a compromise, agreed to screen it at a private venue on the sidelines of the festival at a nearby conference center.

That sparked accusations from Israel’s cinema community that the festival had succumbed to government censorship, and there were calls for directors to withdraw their films from the festival. Pressure from an Israeli organization for children’s welfare forced the filmmakers to blur Amir’s son’s face for the film’s Israeli screenings to protect him.

Even before the documentary was complete, the filmmakers knew their footage was explosive. The producers kept the project a secret to protect Amir’s wife and make sure they would be able to finish. They did not apply to any of the Israeli film funds that finance documentaries, said producer Sergey Tsirkin. In one scene, filmmaker Frank struggles with

the question of whether to complete the film at all.

“The story attracted and frightened at the same time,” says co-director Maria Kravchenko at the start of the film.

She completed the film after Frank’s death.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Kravchenko said she did not expect the film to change viewers’ minds about Amir and his family. “I just want (viewers) to stop for a moment and think,” she said.

The film shies away from interrogative questions for Amir’s wife’s — Kravchenko said she never discussed Amir’s actions with her. Instead, the camera follows Trembovler as she lugs groceries up a staircase alone, sends her son off to school, and drives to the desert prison where her husband is kept in a one-man cell.

She talks about falling in love with Amir, calling him an “idealist” who “sacrificed himself” for the sake of others. She speaks of her concerns about the impact of her marriage on her children from her first husband and whether it was wise to bring into the world a son who must carry the burden of his imprisoned father. The son’s circumcision was held on the anniversary of Rabin’s assassination.

The film’s title references fears of Amir’s family as well as fears of the filmmakers in telling their story, Kravchenko said.

Amir’s bedtime stories to his young son over the telephone, heard in the film, are biblical tales of heroes who persevered with God’s help despite the odds. The toddler tells his father that he prayed at the Western Wall, a key Jewish holy site, for the Messiah to come and free Amir from prison. In the film’s final scene, the boy covers his eyes and walks backward from the Western Wall, a Jewish tradition.

Meir Schnitzer, an Israeli film critic, called the portrayal of the son irresponsible. “The film follows him as if he is ... a kind of future Messiah who soaks evil into his bloodstream from the day he was born, until the moment he must supposedly complete his father’s heinous mission,” Schnitzer wrote in the Maariv newspaper.

“It bothers me that there is silence on this subject. We can’t touch the topic,” said an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Nehama Peretz, who attended the screening.

“This film maybe takes us out of our comfortable area … to see Yigal Amir’s family, and to think.”

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By Daniel Estrin JERUSALEM (AP) — A new documentary has set off an uproar in Israel for its peek into the family life of the country’s most reviled prisoner — the man who assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin nearly 20 years ago.

Despite an effort by Israel’s culture minister to sideline the film, audiences packed a hall this week for back-to-back screenings of “Beyond the Fear.” The film explores the thorny drama of a Moscow-born intellectual who married assassin Yigal Amir after he was sentenced to life in prison and, following a court battle for a conjugal visit, gave birth to their son in 2007.

The late filmmaker Herz Frank, who died two years ago, spent about 10 years following Amir’s wife, Larisa Trembovler, receiving unprecedented access to her and their son, Yinon. The film paints a non-judgmental portrait of the family, never directly confronting Trembovler over what her husband did, even as she talks of him as a hero. It documents mesmerizing tape recordings of the bedtime stories Amir tells his young son in telephone conversations from his maximum security cell, stories that, critics say, seem to serve as a lesson that his actions were noble.

Israeli filmmakers tend not to shy away from picking at their society’s most festering wounds, but painting an openminded portrait of Amir’s family has long been a no-go zone.

“I do think it really is one of the last remaining taboos,” said Shmulik Duvdevani, a scholar of Israeli documentary film at Tel Aviv University.

Amir, an ultranationalist law student who objected to Rabin’s peace moves with the Palestinians, shot Rabin following a rally in Tel Aviv on Nov. 4, 1995. Now 45 years old, Amir is serving a life sentence in prison.

The firestorm over the film’s compassionate look at his family broke out in the lead-up to its Israeli premiere at the prestigious Jerusalem Film Festival.

Rabin’s granddaughter called the film a “cynical use of the freedom of expression.” Culture Minister Miri Regev threatened to pull funding from the film festival for screening it.

“Can the state stay indifferent to the fact that its budget is funding the Jerusalem festival that will screen a film about the murderer of a prime minister?” Regev said in parliament.

“The state does not need to fund a film or a festival that gives

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July 24, 2015 • 8 Av 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

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Are we doing what is right? (What is right?)

RABBI BINNY FREEDMAN THE HEART OF JERUSALEM

H

ow did it come to this? The headline went viral across the western world and the Middle East: Our former Israeli chief rabbi has been indicted for taking millions in bribes and faces trial for numerous counts of bribery, fraud and money laundering ?

I am not commenting on the case itself, nor am I offering any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the former chief rabbi, as my information comes only from the media which is not a court of law. But if a chief rabbi can be put on trial for bribery and fraud, something is obviously wrong; if a chief rabbi can become corrupted, how can we avoid the same pitfalls? Is there a recipe for remaining true to one’s ethical principles?

This Shabbat we begin reading the fifth and final book of the Five Books of Moses, Sefer Devarim, in which Moshe gives his farewell soliloquy to the Jewish people: “These are the words that Moshe spoke to the children of Israel on the banks of the Jordan… “ (Devarim: 1:1) Yet, it takes 16 verses for Moshe to recount some the Jewish people’s journeys, before getting to what seems to be the actual beginning of his message: “And I commanded your judges … judge righteously between man and his fellow…” (Devarim 1:16) This is one of the major themes of the book of Devarim: to do Justice. It resonates throughout the book, not to mention within this week’s parsha, which speaks of not being partial in judgment, not to fear man, but be upright before G-d. But how do we stay true to these principles?

There is a fascinating statement in the Talmud regarding life after death. Accord-

ing to the Talmud (Rava, on Shabbat 31a), when we get to our final judgment the first question will be asked is: “Nasata ve’natata’ be’emunah?” (Literally: “Did you conduct your business in good faith?”) Were we honest? Did we do what deep down we knew what was right?

Now, don’t get me wrong; obviously being honest and ethical in our business dealings is important. But … seriously? This is the first question I will have to answer in “the great beyond?” Not “did you keep kosher?” Not “were you strictly Shabbat observant” and not even “did you serve idols,” “were you an adulter, or a murder (character assassination?).” No, we are asked, “Were you an honest businessman?”

This question is especially perplexing as one would have expected that “heaven” already knows the answer! Doesn’t G-d know everything, everywhere, always? So why does Hashem even have to ask?

This Talmudic statement is not part of a trivia list for when we die, but rather a message we are meant to live by and a question we need to ask ourselves, every day. Are we doing what is right? And how do we know what is right in the first place?

What happens when someone thinks what is right is really wrong, and what is wrong is really right? ears ago, a study was commissioned by a major hotel chain in America using data from five luxury hotels. It seems (at least at the time of the study in the late 1970s) that nearly half of the hotel guests on average were stealing something from their rooms, and the hotel chain, as a way of creating a preventative

process, wanted to find out why. Recall that these were guests staying in luxury hotels who could more than afford to buy their own towels, robes, or alarm clocks; so why were they stealing? Few of the guests simply responded with anything akin to “we could not resist”; most had responses which actually justified the stealing. Some suggested they were paying marked up hotel prices precisely because so many guests steal, so they had essentially paid for their pilfered items!

But what actually makes such a person wrong? After all, if I think something is right, why is it not right? Deists have a simple solution to this problem; those who believe in G-d believe it is G-d who decides something is right or wrong, not man. But what if someone does not accept the premise of a Divine?

Some suggest that we have a social contract dictated by society that determines right and wrong.

But what if an entire society, or even an entire world, decides that what is right is wrong, and what is wrong is right? Does anyone really believe that if Hitler had conquered the world it would have been “right” to round up all the Jews and Gypsies and throw them into gas chambers? Is it “right” in Iran to murder innocent people simply because they are Jews, Israelis, or Westerners?

As Bertrand Russel (a self-proclaimed atheist) once said, “To believe that the only thing wrong with cruelty is that I don’t like it, is to believe the absurd.”

There can only be an objective ethic if there is an objective source of ethics; hence, if human beings are determining ethics, they can never be objective, and will inevitably

Our Temple was not destroyed because we did not keep kosher.

The source of our exile was because we forgot what was right.

Y

lead to moral and ethical failure, and eventually to moral chaos.

Perhaps the Talmud’s question “Nasata ve’natata’ be’emunah?” uses the word faith (“did you conduct business in good faith”) with intention. It is only a faith-based ethic that can stand the test of time. Indeed, as Rav Kook suggests in his Mimrakei Emunah (Pollutions of Faith), whenever a person makes mistakes (chataim) it is always the result of a flawed relationship with G-d. If a person saw Hashem in front of him always, he could never take a bribe or steal funds from the unsuspecting. If a person clearly saw every human being as created in Hashem (G-d)’s image, he could never bring himself to purposely harm another human being.

It is not accidental that we always read this portion of Devarim and begin this last book of the Torah in the Shabbat before the Ninth of Av, the anniversary of the destruction of both Temples and the source of our exile. Our Temple was not destroyed because we did not keep kosher or even because of assimilation and intermarriage; the source of our exile was because we forgot what was right. s we begin the book of Devarim we need to consider how we have come to be living in a society where one’s word is no longer one’s bond, where so many of our leaders are corrupted and no longer mean what they say nor do what they should.

There is saying in Israel, “Al tehiyeh tzodek, tehiyeh chacham” (“don’t be right; be smart”). And while that may be true if someone is screaming at you at a traffic light, perhaps as a people, and as a world, we actually need to get back to being right.

We call ourselves the people of the book, which is the best-selling book of all time because it was given to us by a pretty impressive author. Perhaps it is time to get back to the recipe that made us who we are, all those thousands of years ago at Sinai.

Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem.

A

On Tisha B’Av, praying for better future RABBI AVI BILLET PARSHA OF THE WEEK

W

hen the Levush records the halakha from Shulchan Arukh 428 about when certain Torah portions are read during the year, he explains the rule that Tisha B’Av precedes parsha Va’Etchanan: “So that Devarim, which begins the rebukes of Moshe, will be read before Tisha B’Av.” This would have been easier for us to understand had the Shulchan Arukh done two things differently: 1. Explain that Devarim precedes Tisha B’Av (as was done for Bamidbar and Nitzavim, which precede Shavuot and Rosh Hashana respectively), rather than say that Tisha B’Av preceded Va’Etchanan.

2. Provide an explanation, such as a thematic connection.

For Bamidbar and Nitzavim, the purpose of their standing as a buffer between the rebuke of the previous parshas, Bechukotai and Ki Tavo respectively, and the coming holiday, is made clear. So if Devarim contains a rebuke, shouldn’t it also have a buffer between it and Tisha B’Av? We even read from parsha Va’Etchanan ON Tisha B’Av! Wouldn’t it

make sense to have Va’Etchanan be a reading of the past once Tisha B’Av is over, if the rebuke of Va’Etchanan is powerful enough to be the Tisha B’Av Torah reading?

We can argue that no buffer will help Tisha B’Av. It is a miserable day. It may as well be attached to rebuke. But why not just say that Devarim precedes Tisha B’Av, since it does, even more consistently than Bamidbar precedes Shavuot?

Devarim contains within it Moshe’s reference to the sin of the spies. The Talmud (Taanit 29a) tells us that the date when the spies returned with their report was the Ninth of Av. The negativity of that episode, and the devastation it wrought upon the nation, was so horrific, bringing it up in any context seems to be an example of pouring salt in very sore wounds.

We cannot say that Devarim precedes Tisha B’Av, because we know all too well that what Moshe recounted in Devarim not only preceded the original Tisha B’Av, but caused the original Tisha B’Av! The rebuke within Va’Etchanan, the portion we read on Tisha B’Av, speaks more to the

future than to the past; it is a reminder of how to raise children and grandchildren, and what precautions to take to get things right.

Moreover, unlike in Devarim, where the rebuke focuses on the past, Va’Etchanan begins with Moshe looking to future in his personal life as well. And this may be the lesson of how all of this is recorded in the Shulchan Arukh.

When it comes to Tisha B’av, like Devarim, we tend to lament over the past, and find all the flaws and hardships our People have endured. We may even point fingers and say why it happened, and who was at fault, and what the repercussions were and remain for our nation, even after so many years.

But that does not help us emerge from Tisha B’Av. Unlike Shavuot and Rosh Hashana, when we hope to achieve the highest heights of spirituality and connection with our Creator, on Tisha B’Av we want to be able to get out of our despair and look to a better future.

Va’Etchanan begins with Moshe pleading to G-d to let him into the Land. Even though he’s been told he won’t be allowed in, he still hopes that he can get in, or even just be buried there.

Sometimes we need to go to the deepest depths of despair to understand what our collective challenges are.

This is how we have to view this time period. For those who get into Tisha B’Av, who don’t go to work, who read the Kinot, who listen to stirring words delivered by fascinating lecturers, Tisha B’Av is more than just a depressing fast day, It is a porthole to many places in time in which the Jewish people suffered, and it is a reminder that as good as things are in comparison to the past, there is still no Temple in Jerusalem; There is still terrorism aimed at Jews around the world, and especially in Israel, and now we can tack on the threat of Iran and its nuclear ambitions coupled with a naivette that these dishonest fanatics can be negotiated with and trusted, and it remains depressing.

But we have something to look forward to. Because like Moshe, we can remain optimistic. We can understand the significance of Tisha B’Av preceding Va’Etchanan, because sometimes we need to go to the deepest depths of despair to understand what our collective challenges are, and we need to tack on Moshe’s incredible sense of optimism that we believe there is a bright future ahead.

Our job is to stand strong. To get through Tisha B’Av and be excited for the future. We must remain cautious, as Moshe was about his prospects for getting in to the Land, while we continue to pray and do our part, hoping that G-d will do what is best and right for our People.

By Sean Savage, JNS.org Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a Jew from Brooklyn. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s running for president. But is Israel on his radar?

Once considered a long shot for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has gained signiďŹ cant momentum in recent weeks and trails the presumptive nomineeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;former secretary of state Hillary Clintonâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;by only eight percentage points, according to a CNN/ WMUR poll released in June.

Sanders had a bar mitzvah and was raised in a â&#x20AC;&#x153;large Jewish community full of striving middle class Jews who wanted to get up through the education system,â&#x20AC;? said Alan Abbey, currently director of Internet and media for the Jerusalem-based Shalom Hartman Institute but formerly a political reporter for the Burlington Free Press in the early 1980s, when Sanders was ďŹ rst elected mayor of Vermontâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest city. Abbey described Sanders as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;frumpyâ&#x20AC;? politician who was â&#x20AC;&#x153;really able to connect with people and capture their imaginations.â&#x20AC;?

Abbeyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parents both attended Brooklynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s James Madison High School, a public school in Midwood with a largely Jewish student body, around the same time that Sanders did. â&#x20AC;&#x153;These were working class assimilated Jewish-Americans, and that culture is very deep in his bones,â&#x20AC;? Abbey told JNS. org regarding Sandersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s upbringing.

Sanders also spent time on an Israeli kibbutz following his graduation from the University of Chicago in the 1960s. Yet in Congress, Israel has been far from the forefront of his agenda, taking a backseat to issues like income inequality, challenging Wall Street, and raising the minimum wage. In the process, Sanders has become someone many consider the darling of the American political left. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sanders has been relatively quiet as a senator on Israel issues,â&#x20AC;? Tevi Troy, who served as the White House liaison to the Jewish community under president George W. Bush, told JNS.org. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Compared to Hillary Clinton, Sanders has been consistent in his role as a backbencher on Israel, while Hillary has gone back and forth a bit.â&#x20AC;?

Since being elected to the House in 1990, Sanders has been the only openly socialist member of either body of Congress. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I admire his courage. Most people who come from that part of the political spectrum run like hell from the word â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;socialist.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; He is very out front about it,â&#x20AC;? said Joshua Muravchik, who served as national chairman of the Young Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Socialist League from 1968-73 but now leans conservative and is a faculty member at the Institute of World Politics.

On his campaign website, Sanders lists â&#x20AC;&#x153;income and wealth inequality, getting big money out of politics, and climate change and the environmentâ&#x20AC;? as his top issues, with no mention of foreign policy or Israel. But as a high-proďŹ le progressive, he â&#x20AC;&#x153;comes from a part of the ideological spectrum

particular, last summerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conďŹ&#x201A;ict in Gaza brought to light his complex feelings on the Arab-Israeli conďŹ&#x201A;ict. Sanders was one of 21 of 100 U.S. senators not to sign on as a co-sponsor to Senate Resolution 498, which expressed support for Israel â&#x20AC;&#x153;as it defends itself against unprovoked rocket attack from Hamas.â&#x20AC;?

But during a town hall meeting last August in Cabot, Vt., when Sanders was verbally attacked by pro-Palestinian activists who yelled expletives at him for condemning Hamas for ďŹ ring rockets at Israeli civilians, Sanders responded to the hecklers with pro-Israel comments. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have a situation where Hamas is sending missiles into Israel â&#x20AC;Ś and you know where some of those missiles are coming from? Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re coming from populated areas,â&#x20AC;? Sanders said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hamas is very clear. Their view is that ,Q )HEUXDU\ 6HQDWRU %HUQLH 6DQGHUV GLVFXVVHV KRZ WR VSXU WKH $PHULFDQ HFRQRP\ GXULQJ DQ Israel should not have a right to exist.â&#x20AC;?

After the activists replied to him, HYHQW KRVWHG E\ WKH %URRNLQJV ,QVWLWXWLRQ Paul Morigi Photogra-phy/Brookings Institution via Flickr.com â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bullshit, F**k Israel,â&#x20AC;? Sanders went on to explain that there are more that has become extremely hostile to Israel,â&#x20AC;? noted Muravchik, author of the 2014 book â&#x20AC;&#x153;Making David Into Goliath: pressing issues in the Middle East, such as the Islamic State terror group, which he condemned for attempting to turn How the World Turned Against Israel.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Even if Sanders is relatively quiet on Israel, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a good parts of Iraq and Syria into a â&#x20AC;&#x153;7th Century caliphateâ&#x20AC;? that is chance that his leftist supporters are more critical,â&#x20AC;? echoed Troy. suppressing womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights.

During the same meeting, however, Sanders described IsAt the same time, while Sanders has kept his distance from his Jewish identity over the course of his career, he has raelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza as an â&#x20AC;&#x153;overreaction.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;His statement blaming Israel for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;overreactingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to Hamas not been able to completely escape it. Abbey said Sanders faced some anti-Semitism during his campaign for mayor of missiles, incitement, and terror tunnels is worrisome,â&#x20AC;? Troy said.

Sanders has also been outspoken in his criticism of Israeli Burlington in 1981. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When Bernie was gaining steam in the local political cam- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the NPR interview paign, blatant anti-Semitism bubbled up as a tool to try and with Rehm, he said he is â&#x20AC;&#x153;not a great fan of Netanyahu.â&#x20AC;? discredit him,â&#x20AC;? said Abbey. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They would use phrases like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Ber- He was also the ďŹ rst senator to announce that he would boycott Netanyahuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s much-debated speech to Congress in nie is from New York,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; which in some places is code for Jew.â&#x20AC;?

More recently, in an interview on National Public Radio March. Sanders called the speech â&#x20AC;&#x153;opportunisticâ&#x20AC;? and said he (NPR) in June, host Diane Rehm mentioned that Sanders has thought Netanyahu was using it as part of his campaign for â&#x20AC;&#x153;dual citizenship with Israel.â&#x20AC;? The senator was offended by re-election in Israel. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think that [Sanders] may try to straddle the issue [of that false statement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;No, I do not have dual citizenship with Israel,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m an American. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know where that Israel], but the base that he is trying to appeal to has gone question came from. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m an American citizen. I have visited overwhelmingly to the anti-Israel camp,â&#x20AC;? Muravchik said.

That same base, however, has been at odds with Sanders on Israel on a couple of occasions.â&#x20AC;?

In an interview with the Christian Science Monitor follow- other issues. Many on the left slammed him for siding with the ing the NPR incident, Sanders said he is â&#x20AC;&#x153;proud to be Jewishâ&#x20AC;? National RiďŹ&#x201A;e Association in his backing of a law that blocked families who lost children to the 2012 Sandy Hook Elemenbut that he is â&#x20AC;&#x153;not particularly religious.â&#x20AC;?

On Israel, meanwhile, Sandersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s record is a mixed bag. In Continued on page 16

Hillary and anti-Semite Max: A worrisome link Max Blumenthal 9th on Wiesenthal list of progenitors of anti-Semitic slurs

By Abraham H. Miller, JNS.org It has not been a good month for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Not only is Bernie Sanders coming up on her in the clubhouse turn, but Hillaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recently ex-posed emails reveal praise for professional anti-Semite Max Blumenthal. The likes of this sort of praise have not been seen since the notorious David Duke commended Blumenthal for exposing the evils of Zionism despite his Jewish name and Jewish face.

In all fairness, Hillaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s praise was for Blumenthalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s earlier book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Republican Gomorrah,â&#x20AC;? where Max showed that his contempt for Christians could rival his contempt for Jews. We should remember that Maxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father, Sidney Blumenthal, has been a longstanding, trusted advisor to the Clinton brand. And Sidney has had no hesitation in publicly and actively defending his sonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most recent antiSemitic screed, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Goliath.â&#x20AC;?

This is not Hillaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rst rodeo with an anti-Semitic theme. Immediately after Suha Arafat (Mrs. Yasser) publicly launched an anti-Semitic blood libel at a public forum, accusing Israeli soldiers of shooting Palestinian children for their body parts, Hillary was out

the gate to give Suha a warm hug, as if afďŹ rming the veracity of her statement.

Jewish liberals, in lock step with Hillaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own convoluted explanation of this outrage, rendered this exquisite rationale for Hillaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s behaviorâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Mrs. Arafat must have lectured in Arabic, and Hillary did not understand what she said. Clinton would eventually go that route and try to save face and blame it on a mistranslation in her ear. Nonetheless, â&#x20AC;&#x153;in the Middle East,â&#x20AC;?

Mrs. Clinton said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;a kiss is a handshake.â&#x20AC;?

I doubt if most Jewish liberals will bother to read Max Blumenthalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Goliathâ&#x20AC;? because to do so would confront them with the political dissonance that is easily avoided by studied ignorance. Maxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book is obsessed with comparing the Israel Defense Forces to the Nazis and replays every canard about Israel that could be heard at a chapter meeting of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In fact, liberal writer Eric Alterman, who reviewed â&#x20AC;&#x153;Goliathâ&#x20AC;? for â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Nation,â&#x20AC;? wrote that it â&#x20AC;&#x153;could have been published by the Hamas Book-of-the-Month Club.â&#x20AC;? After Altermanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s review appeared, Sidney Blumenthal launched an email campaign attacking Alterman.

As foreign affairs conďŹ dant to Hillary Clinton, Sidney Blumenthalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s views on Israel should

be a campaign issue. After all, ignoring President Barack Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s associations prevented the Jewish community from anticipating both his hostility toward Israel and his pursuit of the disastrous agreement with Iran. That mistake should not be compounded in assessing Hillary.

Longtime friend and supporter of the Clintons, retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Der-showitz, said that Sidney Blumenthalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s advocacy of his sonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book could damage Hillaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pri-mary run. Dershowitz professed an understanding of how a father would want to protect his son, but then went on to note the obvious. When your son is a bigot, and expresses views that are akin to those of the KKK, Hamas, and anti-Semites generally, it is time to dissociate oneself from those views.

Max Blumenthal is not only anti-Semitic, he is also anti-American. As journalist Rick Moran notes, Max compared American sniper and war hero Chris Kyle to the notorious John Lee Malvo, the mass murderer who shot people in the District of Columbia area at random from a hole in the trunk of his car.

The comparison is the product of the mind of an ideologue who thinks his vitriol somehow rises to the level of intellectual insight.

Dershowitz is right about Max Blumen-

thal, but he is wrong about this being a campaign issue. Given a choice between their allegiance to liberal policies and their Judaism, liberal Jews will embrace the liberal political agenda even at the cost of the existence of the Jewish state. These folks have come to believe that tikkun olam (repairing the world) is best exercised by a political philosophy that will seize money from Peter and transfer it to Paul.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center listed Max Blumenthal ninth on its list of the top 10 progenitors of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel slurs.

But as Jewish liberals would probably say, what does the Wiesenthal Center know about anti-Semitism, anyhow?

Hillary has nothing to fear from her relationship with Sidney and Max Blumenthal.

After all, it is not as if Max Blumenthal said something disparaging about African-Americans or put his foot in his mouth like Donald Trump with regard to illegal immigrants.

Now, those are issues for which liberal Jews will take to the barricades.

Abraham H. Miller is an emeritus professor of political science, University of Cincinnati, and a senior fellow with the Salomon Center for American Jewish Thought.

THE JEWISH STAR July 24, 2015 â&#x20AC;˘ 8 Av 5775

Whereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sanders, Jewish contender, on Israel?

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Pushing Congressâ&#x20AC;Ś sion about â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;anywhere, anytimeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; managed access.â&#x20AC;? But on April 2, when announcing the framework deal, it was President Obama who promised that any agreement would include anytime anywhere inspections.

Another issue is that members of both houses of Congress and both parties â&#x20AC;&#x201D; even members ones who support the deal â&#x20AC;&#x201D; are angry the president is going to the U.N. before theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had a chance to vote. As for the Democrats who are wavering on he deal, they see the presidential move as an insult to congressional authority, perhaps because it is.

Overturning the Iran deal will take a supreme effort by people who believe it will not stop Iran from becoming a nuclear state.

First of all, people need to read the agreement and ďŹ nd the worrisome parts that the press hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t gotten to. For example, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a provision in Annex III of the deal stating the P5+1 countries will teach Iran how to respond to attacks on its nuclear plants.

Representatives and senators must be called by constituents and by donors. If you gave members of Congress money, let them know; tell them if they support the deal they lose your vote and lose your money.

When you are done calling and tweeting your representatives and senators, call them again, and get your friends to call and tweet too.

Find out who gives your members of Congress the big money, or who donates big money to Democratic Party causes. Convince them the deal is bad and get them to threaten their money also. You can ďŹ nd who donates what at Opensecrets.org, or at the FECâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s web site. In many cases your religious leaders know who the big money men are.

Talk to your rabbis. And if they are willing â&#x20AC;&#x201D; get them call the big donors also.

These are only a few Ideas. Look for other opportunities to put pressure on Congress. It is all up to you!

There is only one way to kill this disastrous deal and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a full-court press using every resource and every connection possible. So get to work! This isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t about politics â&#x20AC;&#x201D; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s protecting your children and your grandchildren, as well as the children and grandchildren of Israelis, from a nuclear Iran.

Sanders on Israelâ&#x20AC;Ś Continued from page 15 tary School shooting from winning a lawsuit against gun manufacturers.

Abbey believes Sandersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s willingness to go against liberals on certain issues counters a fundamental misunderstanding of what type of â&#x20AC;&#x153;progressiveâ&#x20AC;? the Vermont senator really is. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is interesting to look at his relationship with the left,â&#x20AC;? Abbey said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sanders is an old left-wing politician, more akin to a 1930s blue collar socialist working-class type.â&#x20AC;?

For example, Abbey said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;When he was mayor of Burlington, anti-war protesters were pressuring General Electric, which owned a factory that made machine guns, to shut down. Bernie had a lot of pressure on him, but when it came to supporting labor union workers who would lose their jobs versus the pie in the sky anti-war leftists, Bernie sided with the workers.â&#x20AC;?

When it comes to Israel, then, would a Sanders presidency resist the increasingly hostile views of his leftist base, or would he conform? A recent study by pollster Frank Luntz found that nearly half of U.S. Democratsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;47 percentâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;believe Israel is a â&#x20AC;&#x153;racistâ&#x20AC;? country, while an additional 76 percent of Democrats agree that Israel has â&#x20AC;&#x153;too much inďŹ&#x201A;uenceâ&#x20AC;? over U.S. foreign policy.

The historical roots of Sandersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ideology

are also a cause for concern, according to Muravchik. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sandersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s form of socialism in the 1960s and â&#x20AC;&#x2122;70s is to the left of Norman Thomas (a socialist leader in the 1930s who unsuccessfully ran for president six times), and he was more Marxist than Thomas ever was,â&#x20AC;?

Muravchik said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That is a place on the ideological spectrum that is very warm to America and Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enemies.â&#x20AC;?

Abbey believes that Sanders would continue many of the same policies as President Obama on Israel and the Middle East. Obama and Netanyahu have had a rocky relationship, particularly regarding their disagreements on how to deal with Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nuclear program. Nevertheless, Abbey feels that due to his Jewish upbringing and the time he spent in Israel, Sanders as president would bring a unique understanding about the Jewish state. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think there would be a piece of Bernie that would understand Israel and get the Israeli mentality more than Obama has and even Hillary Clinton would, despite her close contacts with Israel and American Jews over the last few decades,â&#x20AC;? Abbey said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bibi (Netanyahu) and Bernie would certainly disagree on many issues, but they would do it from a place of deep understanding and respect,â&#x20AC;? he said.

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Continued from page 7 the deal very hard. And she has a few things working to help her cause.

Most anti-Israel feelings in the House come from the ranks of the Democratic Party. The liberal/progressive theology is antiIsrael, not only because they believe the Palestinian Kool-aid that Israel is an oppressor, but they hate the fact that Israel is a Jewish state, not speciďŹ cally because it is Jewish, but because the concept is antithetical to their belief that government, rather than a G-d, is what should be giving our lives direction.

Then there are members of the Congressional Black Caucus who feel that any criticism of an African-American president is racist. Most of them boycotted the Netanyahu speech in March as a protest that anyone would dare to disagrees with Obama.

Many of the Democratic seats in Congress (GOP seats also) gerrymandered and safe, in which case no matter what the voters want, they can vote to support their president without fear of retribution on election day. This is why in over six years of anti-Israel policies by Obama, not one Democrat has raised an objection to the presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Middle East policies (including the Jewish Democrats such as Steve Israel and Debbie Wasserman Shultz).

Adding to the problem of getting a vetoproof majority in the House is that the presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, met with the House Democratic caucus on Tuesday and called the deal an â&#x20AC;&#x153;important stepâ&#x20AC;? in putting the lid on that nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nuclear program. While she supposedly didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t urge the members to vote for the deal, according to Bloomberg she gave a â&#x20AC;&#x153;full-throated endorsement.â&#x20AC;?

While getting two-thirds of the House to vote no on the deal will be difďŹ cult it is by no means impossible. Remember the 1969 Mets? Now that was impossible and the good guys won anyway.

Secretary of State Kerry gave the dealâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opponents plenty of ammo with some of the false statements he made on Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s news shows. For example he told Fox News Sunday: â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no such standard within arms control inspections. We never had a discus-

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n the Jewish faith the observance of sad historical events also includes an essential human ingredient of optimism that serves to give us something to look forward to — in the case of Tisha B’Av, that would be the upcoming observance of the New Year.

In the latest volume in the series, “Moadei Hashana: Exile and Consolation” (Feldheim Publishers), its author, Rabbi Shimon Dovid Pincus, zt”l, teaches us the value of looking ahead and to cherish the tomorrow.

Consider this from his essay, “Living in Hashem’s World”: “Torah sources say that the Three Weeks are a preparation to Rosh Hashanah. The churban is not the end. It is a situation that will be rectified, may it be soon. … The answer to everything is emunah. We can’t explain everything. We can’t understand how a generation like ours is able to live a life of true spirituality; how

we can go through our lives in this world in a way befitting G-d’s will; how we can keep the oath we took when we came into this world, to learn and know the entire Torah.”

This teaching provides us with a hopeful, optimistic view of life, a life that will surely, with G-d’s help, witness the liberation of our people from the terror and hate that we witness daily worldwide.

Earlier in this book on the Three Weeks, Rabbi Pincus referenced the imagery of the bear from the verse in Eichah 3:10, “He is a bear lying in wait for me; a lion in a hiding place.” This imagery is further extended by the rabbi in his previous work in this series, “Moadei Hashanah: The Days of Awe,” wherein he teaches us: “One of the things we need to believe is that the month of Elul is a tremendous and awesome time. We know that our rabbis made a big deal of Elul. They were ardent about it. Rav Yisrael Salanter remarked that all the days of the year need to be like Elul -- and Elul itself is surely ‘Elul’.”

“People recount that Rav Salanter was enwrapped in great fear from Rosh Chodesh Elul on. Once somebody asked him, ‘What are you so afraid of? Is Elul a bear?’

Rav Salanter answered him, ‘Elul is even more terrifying than a bear. King David declared, ‘Your servant has smitten the lion and the bear.’ [1 Samuel 17:36] David

did not fear these animals. But he nevertheless said about himself, ‘My flesh stood on end from Your dread, and I feared Your judgements.’ [Psalms 119:120] David was seized by terrible fear of G-d’s judgment on Rosh Hashanah.”

The bear imagery in Rabbi Pincus’ teaching links the observance of Tisha B’Av and Rosh Hashanah in a manner unique to his style of learning. The bear is, both in looks and demeanor, a fearsome beast, an image that can be utilized in the teachings of our faith related to both destruction and to repentance. This goes to the heart of the style of the Torah legacy of Rabbi Shimshom Dovid Pincus, zt”l.

In my essay last year referencing Rabbi Pincus’ teachings I wrote the following: “In reading through these teachings, we come to better appreciate the value of Rabbi Pincus’ teachings as they come to be applied to our day-to-day lives year round, and of the value that will most certainly be applied by all spiritually, and practically.” This observation is even more applicable this year, with each new work being published of previously unpublished writings, now available for your spiritual enhancement.

Unlocking prison reform Bright and dumb RICH JENSEN FROM THE RIGHT Back on the Fourth of July, buried in the mumbo-jumbo of campaign rhetoric, was a statement by Democrat Martin O’Malley. The former Maryland governor said “patriotism” is rooted in helping others, and among those he singled out were people in prison.

I don’t recall a major party candidate in a U.S. presidential election ever making a plea on behalf of prison inmates. For that matter, I don’t recall a sitting president visiting a federal prison to lobby for improvements in America’s criminal justice system — because until July 16 it had never happened.

Our poorly run, overcrowded, shamefully inequitable incarceration system is all of a sudden under intense review.

At the El Reno prison in Oklahoma, President Obama stood outside a 9-by-10 cell that confines three men at a time. “These are young people who made mistakes that aren’t that different from the mistakes I made,” he said, referring to his experiments with drugs while growing up in Hawaii. “The difference is, they did not have the kind of support structures, the second chances, the resources that would allow them to survive those mistakes.”

The president made clear that his focus is on nonviolent offenders, many serving terms imposed under rigid mandatory sentencing laws which have caused the nation’s prison population to explode. He noted that while the U.S. has 5 percent of the world’s population, it has 20 percent of the world’s prison inmates.

Immediately after the president’s Oklahoma trip, House Speaker John Boehner added

his voice to those calling for new sentencing guidelines. With bipartisan support, relatively quick action seems possible. It’s worth noting, however, that only 15 percent of the nation’s inmates are held in federal facilities, so much of the needed reforms will have to occur at the state level — certain to be a slower process.

At this stage, the national focus — likely to work its way into the 2016 presidential campaign — revolves around two primary issues.

One is unreasonable sentencing, particularly for nonviolent crimes. The other concerns deplorable prison conditions, made worse in many places by the bad practice of privatizing prisons.

If progress is made on those hot-button issues, it will be significant. But the problems go deeper. For example, juvenile prosecutions and incarcerations are seriously out of sync with what we know about child development and what we should know about the steps necessary to rehabilitate rather than simply incarcerate young offenders.

High recidivism rates across prison populations create a spiral of crime, unemployment and more crime. Overreliance on solitary confinement and inadequate mental health programs contribute to the complex web of concerns.

Also, the continued existence of the death penalty, long after most of the civilized world has abandoned it, clouds our entire criminal justice system.

Some activists fear that the current flurry of interest is but a passing social and political fad. Meaningful reforms, they predict, will take decades.

“I signed a bill that made the problem worse,” Bill Clinton said the other day about a mandatory sentencing measure he ushered into law in 1994. It’s taken over two decades to get that concession. How long will it take to actually correct the injustice?

GARY RABENKO PHOTO PROSE He loved my photography twice before, but chose a friend to shoot this Bar Mitzvah’s video.

Each moment’s ideal angle will tell the story best and render subjects pleasingly.

Here I was hog-tied with regimented personnel on both sides. Their approach made a mockery of what video should be.

New York City’s top lighting and floral designers created a breathtaking venue. Light beams dazzled. Ultra large video screens had a cutting edge wow factor. Exquisite floral detail glowed under purposeful illumination. But before guests could experience the miracles all about, the videographers crushed it!

The client promised me that the crew would work around me, and with me. But they did not.

The moment it all comes together for the client is not a time to ask him to referee his venders. The lot was cast. Into the melee was I thrust. All night I would be competing with a large tripod on one side and two other ponderous cameramen on the other. If I backed up to see more persons, sought more flattering angles or searched for other family members, I faced glaring lights that robbed me of vision and had me photographing only backsides while key players drawn to the lights the whole night would play to the videographers.

The majority of the guests experienced much of the same frustration: blinded, bumped, closed off from those they came

to celebrate with. All the magnificent ambience created by the other venders and coordinated by one of the most wonderful party planners I have had the pleasure of working with was overpowered, overcome, buried by boorish brutish videographers who feel that they have to be on top of the subjects with 64 times the needed illumination, and lenses closed down to get ocean depth focus.

How magnificent their result could have been if they stayed back, on elegantly painted ladders, from the corners of the dance floor, letting the existing light tell the story. How much better too if they had the handheld skill to walk about the crowd — alongside me — with wide open optics on cameras that allow rapid follow focus.

Using the existing light would have been beautiful. Overpowering the existing light was wrong.

Shooting an event with the same approach one would use in a carefully choreographed and tightly directed studio session is not being more professional, it is being uncaring and insensitive, and will always fail to capture the subtle beauty in both the human and the decorative.

Photography and video record the same people at the same time in the same place.

Your event should not become a crew competition: don’t make it into a paparazzi event.

Your band will have a conductor (imagine if each instrument was deciding when, how and what to play). Your image producers should be working together too, under a skilled and responsible conductor who coordinates lighting, angles and approach.

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

Tell us how we’re doing! Write: Publisher@TheJewishStar.com

THE JEWISH STAR July 24, 2015 • 8 Av 5775

On Tisha B’Av, turning destruction into growth

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July 24, 2015 • 8 Av 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

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THE JEWISH STAR July 24, 2015 • 8 Av 5775

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