September 6, 2013

Happy New Year!

THE JEWISH VOL 12, NO 35 Q SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 / 2 TISHREY 5774

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Rebuilding our holy Temple, brick by brick

By Malka Eisenberg A model of the Bait Hamikdash — the Temple that was on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem — is coming to Long Island in the New Year, part of a campaign to make Judaism’s ancient spiritual citadel something tangible, right here, right now.

“People sometimes think that the Bait Hamikdash (Temple) has nothing to do with us,” said Rabbi Mordechai Persoff, educational director of Machon Hamikdash (Temple Institute). “It was 2,000 years ago, or it’s for the times of Mashiach another 2,000 years from now.”

The hands-on exhibit, in which children will actually construct the Temple, will visit the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) and the North Shore Hebrew Academy, among other area schools, in November, Persoff told The Jewish Star in an interview from Jerusalem.

He said the Temple represents “a lot more than korbanot (the Temple sacrifices).”

“Most important, it is something that belongs to us,” he emphasized. “Everyone has a part in it, not just the tzadikim (the righteous).”

The exhibition is not only about the physical building of the model, but about talking to the students’ “neshama (soul), their regesh

(feelings),” Persoff said.

Machon Hamikdash was founded and is headed by Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, who served in the paratrooper brigade that liberated the Temple Mount in 1967 and was one of the first soldiers to reach the Mount. That sparked his interest in the Mount and led to the organization’s creation 25 years ago.

Shortly thereafter, Machon Hamikdash began educational tours around Israel. The North American project was initiated by a shaliach (representative) to the U.S. who wanted to do something to educate American Jews about the Temple.

The Temple Institute’s bid to educate communities and schools in North America began last spring when Steve Frankel, director of the Mikdash Educational Center, joined Persoff and two others at Bnei Akiva’s Camp Moshava in Indian Orchard, Pa., on construction of a 1:50, 80 piece scale model of the Bayit Sheni (the Second Temple) that was built by Herod and is described in Mishna Mesechet Midot.

The model was previewed when girls from the Shulamith school in Flatbush visited Camp Moshava before Yom Yerushalayim. The first official showing was at a Yom Yerushalayim Chagigah at Moshava with Continued on page 16

Jewish Star photo by Bob Scott

DANCING INTO A SECOND CENTURY

100-year-old Abraham Antman danced with his daughter and Yoel Sharabi, master performer of modern Israeli and Chassidic melodies, at an concert for residents of Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Jamaica Hills.

3 weeks’ feasting: Gourmet Glatt rocks the holidays

Candlelighting for Rosh Hashana: First night (Wednesday) 7:04; Second night (Thursday) 8:02; Erev Shabbat 7:02.

Shabbat ends 8 p.m. 72 minute zman 8:30 p.m.

petizing — to create a seamless shopping experience that attracts people from a wide area beyond the Five Towns. Steinberg noted that someone from Belgium took a detour from JFK airport to buy some herring.

Meat and poultry cases stretch across the back of the store, with 12 butchers — more this time of year, said Steinberg, providing Rosh Hashanah specialties such as tongue, half of a sheep’s head, and various roasts. There are also prepared meats and poultry (to ease the burden of cooking for up to six meals in a row), and fresh Gourmet Glatt sausages and organic beef.

The store has large, varied grocery, dairy and produce departments, two aisles of frozen foods, gift baskets, parve ice cream cakes, and a range of gluten free products. “They Continued on page 16

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Jewish Star photo by Malka Eisenberg

Gourmet Glatt was named Business of the Month by County Executive Edward Mangano, at an in-store event on Friday. From left: Gourmet Glatt’s Yoeli Steinberg, Mangano, Cedarhurst Mayor Parise, store manager Moshe Ratner.

By Malka Eisenberg As the Jewish world focuses on teshuva and spiritually preparing for the New Year, it is also gearing up for three sets of three-day yom tovim (holidays), with Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot falling on Thursdays and Fridays followed by Shabbat.

Careful planning for this confluence of feast days by Gourmet Glatt, a kosher supermarket in Cedarhurst, may make holiday food shopping and preparation a bit easier.

The store began gearing up for the High Holidays on July fourth, said Yoeli Steinberg, Gourmet Glatt’s general manager.

“Everybody has notes from last Rosh Hashanah — what ran short, what didn’t sell. We try to fine tune the product ranges and refine the quantities,” he said.

Steinberg sits in a camouflaged office looking out on the store, a battery of computers arranged around the perimeter desk, a decorated birkat haesek (blessing for business) on the wall. Both casual and harried shoppers find a clean, attractive, well lit, well stocked, easy to navigate supermarket.

The store has partnered with famous area vendors — Zomick’s bakery, Chap-A-Nosh deli, Ossie’s fish market (with plenty of fish heads for Rosh Hashanah) and Schwartz’s ap-

September 6, 2013 • 2 TISHREY 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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By Malka Eisenberg Cedarhurst-based Kulanu Academy, the special education school and social service agency for special needs children and adults, now gives its parents the ability to link with geographically-disbursed services without traveling from their children’s school.

“It’s momentous for us,” said Amy Eisenberg, director of Kulanu’s Keren Eliana Parent Advocacy and Resource Center. “We will be the first agency on Long Island to provide this service — it’s most thrilling.”

The video conferencing will be used for New York State seminars and hearings, eliminating the need for parents to travel to Hauppauge or Albany, according to Woodmere resident Arthur Carp, vice president of operations of Quantalytic, who set up the equipment. The video conferencing equipment was donated by Shalom Maidenbaum, a local attorney.

“Kulanu is also investigating becoming a

provider of seminars to help other schools and institutions navigate the various bureaucracies associated with the developmentally disabled,” said Carp. “As you can imagine, there is a labyrinth of bureaucrats and paperwork to navigate for these parents to obtain services, not just from New York State, but also the Federal Government. There is a tremendous pool of expertise in these areas at Kulanu. Video conferencing is one way they will be able to develop audiences for their expertise and help other people.”

At an event last week in Kulanu’s building at 620 Central Ave., Amy Eisenberg introduced the video conferencing to 12 parents seated at tables facing a screen. They participated in a concurrent conference in Hauppauge where 50 other people attended.

Both groups watched a live speaker deliver a PowerPoint presentation at the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) in Hauppauge.

Photo courtesy of Kulanu

Amy Eisenberg addresses parents at Kulanu’s inaugural video conference “OPWDD is responsible for coordinating services for more than 126,000 New Yorkers with developmental disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorders, and other disabilities,” through approximately 700 non-profit service-providing agencies, explained Eisenberg.

She said that Kulanu families were “posi. tive” about the development, “having it in

Kulanu, a place they know, and close by instead of Hauppauge.”

“They don’t want to go out of the Five Towns,” noting that Hauppauge is three hours round trip. “It will be used for distance learning from colleges, parent training. We will be able to get to our people. It encompasses everybody.”

For further information Eisenberg at 516569-3083 ext. 138.

Birthright’s bar mitzvah gift: A global community

By Alina Dain Sharon, JNS.org Shira Kaiserman remembers her 2010 Taglit-Birthright Israel trip like it was yesterday. While the New Yorker’s group was visiting Mount Herzl, the guide began to tell them the story of Hannah Senesh, an Israeli national heroine who was caught and killed by the Nazis after parachuting into Europe to help rescue Holocaust refugees in 1944.

“As a woman you don’t really hear about a lot of modern-day Jewish women who made such a strong contribution to the Jewish people,” Kaiserman told JNS.org. She was so affected by the Birthright experience that she left a career in advertising for Jewish nonprofit work, now serving as the director of program marketing and social media at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan.

Kaiserman, 28, belongs to a new generation — maybe even a new category — of young Jews who have come out of the Birthright program, which in January marked its “bar mitzvah” anniversary. Some members of this Birthright generation have gone on to make different, and meaningful, choices across different areas of life.

Perhaps no one has seen the trip’s impact more tangibly than Susannah Sagan, the associate director of Ohio State University’s campus Hillel. At OSU, many Birthright participants return to campus and begin taking Jewish studies courses, getting involved with the university’s pro-Israel group, Buckeyes for Israel, or with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Some of these students “come back and start living in the [Hillel] building,” Sagan told JNS.org.

••• In the 13 years since philanthropists Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt joined forces with the Israeli government, the Jewish Agency for Israel, global Jewish communities, and other philanthropists to fund Taglit-Birthright Israel, the program has taken about 350,000 young Jews on free 10day trips to Israel.

A series of studies by Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies has surveyed program alumni regarding the impact of Birthright on their lives and looked at those who applied to the program, but didn’t

Photo courtesy Taglit-Birthright Israel

Taglit-Birthright Israel trip participants with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participate, as a control group. Most recently updated in 2012, the studies show that Birthright often creates a new community for participants.

“The evidence is clear that Taglit inspires a stronger sense of Jewish identity,” said Brandeis University professor Leonard Saxe, a chief author of the research. While the surveys didn’t ask directly about leadership, it’s clear that Birthright “produces a desire to be part of the Jewish community,” Saxe added.

The research shows that former Taglit participants are 42 percent are more likely to feel “very much” connected to Israel compared to people who didn’t go on the trip.

More survey respondents who participated in the program are likely to belong to a religious congregation than those who did not.

Birthright participants are also slightly more likely than nonparticipants to make charitable contributions to Jewish or Israeli causes.

“My speculation is that in this era of electronically mediated social interaction, the need for actual connection is intensified,” Saxe said.

This holds true for the Manhattan JCC’s

Kaiserman, who said that before going on Birthright she initially “didn’t really do anything Jewish-related at all” after college, even though she had attended Jewish day school all her life.

Matthew Putterman, a 24-year-old analyst for a real estate financial services firm in Houston, went on Birthright in 2010. He grew up in a neighborhood without a lot of Jewish families and joined a non-Jewish fraternity in college. This void “was quickly filled during and after Birthright.”

••• While on the trip, Putterman was introduced to the Gift of Life organ donor program. Spurred partly by his own sister’s diagnosis of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, he eventually made his own bone marrow donation to a man suffering from blood cancer.

“The sense of global Jewish community developed during Birthright definitely helped to substantiate my initial feelings of wanting to help if at all possible,” Putterman told JNS.org.

One of the seminal aspects of the Birthright experience continues to be the mifgash

(“encounter” in Hebrew).

“Each group is joined by eight Israelis, and … usually seven out of eight are Israeli soldiers. They come dressed as soldiers only for the first two hours, but then they dress like civilians, and you cannot distinguish who is the American, who is the Israeli,” Gidi Mark, CEO of Taglit-Birthright Israel, told JNS.org.

According to the Birthright website, more than 55,000 Israelis have participated in the program since its inception, 87 percent of them Israeli soldiers. One of the Israeli soldiers who accompanied his trip visited Putterman in Houston.

“Asaf and his friend (also Israeli, traveling with him) were a big hit at our family’s Thanksgiving Dinner,” Putterman said.

“Without Birthright, Asaf might never have experienced a full American Thanksgiving, and I likely wouldn’t have returned to Israel after graduating from college,” he said.

Kaiserman said she had her “aha moment” regarding her choice of career after she saw an Israeli soldier on her trip “dressed in uniform and making this daily sacrifice for Israel.”

The Brandeis study showed that former Birthright participants are 22 percent more likely to indicate that they are at least “somewhat confident” in discussing the current situation in Israel in comparison to those who didn’t go on the trip.

After the experience, participants tell people, “You cannot say anything about the so-called bad Israeli soldiers, because we’ve been with many of them during our trip to Israel,” Mark said.

Program participants are also 45 percent more likely to marry someone Jewish than those who didn’t go on the trip. “It’s very important to me to marry a Jewish partner and to have Jewish life,” Kaiserman said.

Putterman is now dating a girl he met on his Birthright trip.

“It is definitely comforting to know that… the tough decision that inter-religious couples have to make on which faith to raise their children is not something that I will need to worry about,” he said.

But not all participants fall in line with Continued on page 15

THE JEWISH STAR September 6, 2013 • 2 TISHREY 5774

Kulanu brings hi-tech to special education

September 6, 2013 • 2 TISHREY 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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THE JEWISH

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Happy (JEWISH) New Year!

J

ews normally do things late. Yet, while 99 percent of the world celebrates the New Year on Jan. 1st, we celebrate months earlier — and dropping balls, and tumultuous crowds amassed in Times Square, are generally not involved.

For many, the secular New Year is “party time.” Five, four, three, two… You’ve made it through the last 12 months which means tomorrow, after the ViHIPPEST RABBI sine and Advil kick in, you pick up the pizza!

Boom! Done.

Jews however, are rarely “done” — especially as we prepare, with repentance and prayers for a fruitful year, for Divine Judgment. While Rosh Hashanah is a day for rejoicing, it is also a very serious day, marked Rabbi Simcha with prayer, ritual, and Weinstein introspection.

When we contrast the secular and Jewish new years, here are a few differences.

Resolutions On both the secular and the Jewish new years, we’re busy making resolutions. After exhaustive research for you, my readers, I found five of the top secular resolutions: 1. Go on a diet and lose 20 pounds 2. Join a gym 3. Drink less booze.

4. Stop biting my nails 5. Quit twirling my hair Of course, we know, that for many of us, these things will never happen. Like the stationary bicycle you bought that has become a handy clothes hook, by February first, many are biting and twirling themselves about paying for a gym the inside of which they have not and will never see.

Rosh Hashanah resolutions evoke deeper thoughts. A Jewish process of introspection and resolution for renewal is called a cheshbon ha-nefesh (an accounting of our souls).

The very act is like a monetary budget in

Living now for tomorrow

STAR

spiritual terms. Have I reviewed my deeds, character, intellectual and theological orientation, quantity and quality of mitzvah observance? Through resolving to fine-tune and correct character flaws and be better Jews, we renew our relationship with G-d and the world — not for just a month, but with a commitment to permanent change.

Food and drink On both the secular and the Jewish new years, food and drink are part of the festivities.

As opposed to the secular New Year’s Eve, on the Jewish New Year we imbue alcohol to sanctify the Kiddush rather than getting drunk. The food also has spiritual symbolism — apples and honey, challah dipped in honey, and of course honey cake all symbolize a sense of sweetness.

Music On Rosh Hashanah we don’t sing Auld Lang Syne, to which only 10 people in the world know the words. Instead, we listen to different types of music and await the trumpeting of the shofar. True, it’s hard to dance to, but the sound of the shofar is the piercing rally cry to freedom. The Torah tells us of a great shofar that will sound at the End of Days, at which will debut the ultimate freedom characterized by the Messianic era.

While as a rabbi, I obviously prefer the Jewish New Year over its secular counterpart, I must confess that January 1st does hold a special connection for me as it’s my secular birthday. I just pretend that all the noise, merriment and mishegoss is … for me.

But my most memorable Dec. 31 was in 2009. Shortly before midnight, I received the best birthday gift ever: a beautiful baby girl born at the Maimonides Medical Center.

I already had two wonderful sons, but there really is something special about “daddy’s little girl.” Believe me, I didn’t need fireworks, champagne or that glittering ball dropping in Times Square to celebrate that New Year’s Eve. There lies the crossover. My darling daughter was born in the United States on the secular New Year, and yet she brought with her the glory and majesty of the Jewish New Year — which is and always will be … renewal.

E

very year, on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, we read the story of the expulsion of Yishmael (Avraham’s first son with his handmaiden Hagar), and the binding of Yitzchak (Isaac). Both are stories of the sons of Avraham, and both involved Abraham’s ability to be willing to sacrifice or let go, of a son.

And yet, these stories are very different.

In the story of Yishmael, Avraham sends his son away, whereas in the story of Yitzchak, they come together.

From a Jewish FROM THE HEART perspective, Yishmael OF JERUSALEM seems to be a failure, ultimately departing from Jewish tradition and establishing the Arab dynasty. Yitzchak on the other hand, is one of our forefathers, and the ultimate progenitor of the Jewish people. Why do these two vastly disparate stories comprise the Torah readings in our Rabbi Binny Rosh Hashanah serFreedman vice, and what common theme is the message of their connection?

Avraham, against his natural instincts of loving-kindness, is forced by G-d to listen to his wife Sarah and send Yishmael (and his mother Hagar) away. The Torah tells us that this is because Yishmael is me’tzachek (literally, laughing) at or with Yitzchak.

And while the midrashim (Rabbinic legends) and commentators differ as to the exact meaning of this phrase, varying from lewd behavior to the taunting of Yitzchak, one thing is clear: Yitzchak, meaning “he will laugh,” is juxtaposed with Yishmael, the me’tzachek, or one who laughs now. Yitzchak’s life is about the future, while Yishmael is all about the here and now.

Later, when Yishmael is cast beneath the bushes dying of thirst and calling out for water, G-d hears him ba’asher hu’sham (where he is).

The midrash, noting this unique phrase, has the angels in an uproar over G-d’s decision to save Yishmael.

After all, they say, the descendants of this lad will one day slaughter G-d’s Jewish children, so how can G-d spare him now?

G-d’s response? “I hear his honest remorse and pain now, and if now he is repentant, then he should be saved, whatever might come later on.”

The message, fitting for Rosh Hashanah, is that whatever mistakes we may have

made in the past, this moment is the beginning of the rest of our lives, and changing the now changes everything.

••• When G-d first “approaches” Avraham, the Torah tells us, “Vayehi achar hadevarim ha’eleh’, ve’HaElokim nisah et Avraham.

Vayomer lo Avraham, vayomer lo Hineni.” (“And it was after these things that G-d tested Avraham. And He said to him, “Avraham,” and Avraham said: ‘Here I am’.”)

(Bereishit 22) The word Hineni (here I am), used sparingly, is Moshe’s response to G-d’s calling at the Burning Bush, as well as the response

by Yaakov (Jacob) to Yitzchak’s calling for a blessing. Whenever this word is used in the Torah, it is indicative of an individual responding to a calling. Hineni means I am here, ready to serve. It is a moment of pure potential, in which a person rises to the challenge of becoming all they could ever be.

It is in this moment of Hineni that Avraham says to G-d, “I exist because You created me, because You love me; whatever You ask of me, I live to do.” This is the kernel of what life is about. If Hashem (G-d) created me, then I must have a purpose, and if Hashem loves me enough to have decided the world is better off with me still in it for at least another day, then all I want is to know is what Hashem wants of me. How can my being here, today, make the world better?

It is within the context of Hineni that we respond to life’s greatest challenges.

When Israeli reserve soldiers stop what they are doing and answer a call to battle, however painful that may be, they are saying “Hineni.”

When we stop what we are doing to do a mitzvah (an imperative action that needs to be done), helping refugees from an earthquake in Japan or rebuilding homes for the poor in Haiti, we are saying, “Hineni.”

At the binding of Isaac, Avraham’s “Hineni” aspires to a new level. Because when G-d calls to Avraham, Avraham says “Hineni” without having even an inkling of what is coming (unlike the reserve soldiers who understand that their country needs them in a time of peril).

Avraham is responding to G-d before G-d has even told him what he wants. This Hineni is all about the future: Whatever You ask of me, “Hineni.” This sets the theme of the story of the binding of Isaac: It is about what lies ahead. Where Yishmael is the the one who laughs now, Yitzchak literally means “he will laugh” in the future. Yishmael is about being in the present and Yitzchak

‘Whatever mis-

takes we may have made in the past, this moment is the beginning of the rest of our lives, and changing the now changes everything.’

Continued on page 5

Early to bed This edition of The Jewish Star “went to bed” early. It was printed before Shabbat for distribution on Tuesday of Rosh Hashana week.

Next week’s pre-Yom Kippur Jewish Star will be printed and delivered as usual on Thursday, Sept. 12. (Ad deadline is noon on Tuesday, Sept. 10.)

Our special double-issue for Sukkot will be printed early and then distributed

on Tuesday, Sept. 17. (Ad deadline is 5 pm on Sunday, Sept. 15.)

To place ads close to deadline, please contact Publisher Ed Weintrob: 718-908-5555 EWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com The Jewish Star will not be published during Sukkot week, on Sept. 27.

Shana Tova Umetukah!

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Rosh Hashanah / Coming to shul to honor the Number One partner in Creation

T

he Talmud in Niddah (31a) records that there are three partners in the creation of every human being: the Holy One, a father, and a mother.

Scientific advancement has allowed the process to include what some might call an “assist” by medical professionals, but everyone’s genetic makeup comes from PARSHA OF one male and one THE WEEK female, while G-d’s contribution makes it all come together.

On Rosh Hashanah, we utilize a term that is reminiscent of this process when we declare “Hayom Harat Olam” (today is the day of the world’s birth or, more accurately, its concepRabbi Avi Billet tion). On this day, we are cognizant of G-d’s role in the existence of every life form on our planet and we appreciate that Rosh Hashanah is the Day of Judgment for the entire world.

Perhaps on account of this, so many Jews make a concerted effort to be in the synagogue to note our collective recognition of G-d’s role in our existence and in the continued existence of the world.

Many synagogues like to tout their membership numbers. Depending on a particular community’s unique makeup, the “active membership” number is not always in sync with the “complete membership” figures. “Inactive members” are generally people who feel a kinship of some kind to the synagogue, most likely show up on the High Holidays, but otherwise are less involved in the weekly shul activities.

“Active membership” is usually defined as those who show up on a weekly basis, on Shabbat. But even the “active membership” numbers do not compare to the numbers that show up on a daily basis.

It is understood that Shabbat is a day when entire families come to the synagogue. We aren’t working, school is off, and where else does one need to be? But even if the weekday is not a family day in the synagogue, where are all the people — the active members?

Every shul has its dedicated members who do show up on a daily basis. Year in and year out, their shul attendance, with

‘How many peo-

ple never miss a day during the year of mourning, but as soon as the year of mourning ends, are never seen in the synagogue during the week?’

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the exception of vacations and sick days, is in the 90 percent range.

But many “active members” do not show up during the week. Many active members only become daily active members, ironically, when they are in mourning for the loss of two of the three partners in their own creation. How many people never miss a day during the year of mourning, but as soon as the year of mourning ends, they are never seen in the synagogue during the week?

As we come to the synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, let us take into account that the synagogue is open 365 days a year. Let us commit to being active members not just on the High Holidays, not just during mourning and not just on Shabbat, but also during the week.

While some get the drive to return to the synagogue when they are in mourning, let us merit to come to the synagogue as a tribute to our third partner in creation (who is listed as #1 in the Talmud!), because it is on His account that we live and breathe every day.

Shana Tovah to all.

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Continued from page 4 is about seeing and being ready to accept and to live up to the moment that is yet to come.

This is, in fact, one of the most essential ingredients of a loving relationship.

Imagine your daughter calls you up from school and you can hear the quiver in her voice, sense the tears that are on the verge of bursting forth, and you instantly know, “Hineni”— here I am, whatever you need.

Or when your wife calls down from upstairs, the ability to be in that Hineni mode is all about how much trust and love already exists in that moment. If my wife asks something of me, then it must be important, even before I know what it is. And this is the essence of our relationship with Hashem; If I could only know what it is Hashem wants of me, then all I would want is to live up to that challenge.

These two ideas, the being in the moment of Yishmael and the readiness to serve in the future of Yitzchak, are what Rosh Hashanah is all about.

On Rosh Hashanah, we have the chance to start over. We need to learn to balance our ability to live in the present and be in the moment, while at the same time, be accepting of and open to whatever life’s next moment has to bring.

As we begin the New Year, may we all be blessed to appreciate the beauty inherent in every moment, alongside the challenges, and may we be blessed as well with the strength to change the future — so that the world as it is, becomes the world as it could be.

Wishing you all a sweet, happy, and healthy New Year, Shanah Tovah, Binny Freedman

THE JEWISH STAR September 6, 2013 • 2 TISHREY 5774

Jerusalem…

A Rosh Hashanah message to our President, Barack Obama S ometime before we light the ďŹ rst candles of Rosh Hashanah, President Obama will send his holiday message to the Jewish community.

The President usually misses a big part of what the High Holidays are about — understandable since he isn’t Jewish and he was a student of the law rather than of theology. This year, I decided to send POLITICS TO GO the President a Rosh Hashanah message of my own, a message that explains to him why progressive politics is antithetical to the meaning of the Jewish Holidays.

With the setting of the sun on Wednesday, Jews will begin the observance of the Yomim Noraim (Days of Awe), a ten-day period bookJeff Dunetz ended by the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This year’s High Holiday period comes as your party and that of the opposition are pushing in two radically different directions, one which emphasizes personal responsibility, the other a reliance on government.

The High Holidays are all about personal responsibility. For earthly-type mistakes, we must ďŹ rst approach the people we harmed to request forgiveness and if necessary make restitution to them. Then we must discover what within ourselves led us to mess-up and correct the aw behind it. Only then can we approach G-d for absolution. Our Maker is not like a big government we turn to for an

easy ďŹ x.

It’s not that G-d couldn’t ďŹ x everything, but his direct involvement would destroy the delicate balance he established during Creation. The Creation narrative in Genesis explains that man is created in G-d’s image, not that we are dead ringers for the “big guy upstairs.â€? Only through free choice can man truly be “in the image of G-d.â€?

Free will is the divine version of limited government. G-d picks the winning direction but does not choose winners or losers.

Because we all are created in G-d’s image, Jews believe that �All men are created equal.� This does not mean, as many in the progressive establishment tell us, that when it comes to talents, looks, preferences, or natural abilities we are all equal. Nor does it mean we all should have the same big screen TV, wireless Internet, cookies and cream ice cream, or savings account balance.

Jewish tradition respects economic success, so long as it is obtained honestly and proper respect is shown for the social responsibility that comes with it. That social responsibility is a personal duty and a job for the community led by its religious leaders, not the government. The Hebrew word for charity, tzedaka, has in its root the word tzedek which means righteous, because we are taught that personally giving charity is one of the keys to being righteous.

What is actually meant by “all men are

created equalâ€? is that we all have the same ability to be inďŹ nitely good or wicked, we all have the same ability to forge a relationship with G-d regardless of our intellectual capability, social background, physical strength, golf handicap, wealth, etc. During the High Holidays, we evaluate how well we have used the “lot we have been givenâ€? for good deeds and to forge that heavenly relationship.

Some of the Sages have suggested that when G-d created the world, sparks of his holiness were spread across the earth.

Every time that a person makes the choice of performing a righteous act, one of those sparks is puriďŹ ed and sent back to heaven.

Through that process we become closer to G-d.

Progressive Democrats and the nanny-state government take away that choice.

Jews who support progressivism are rejecting the free will given to us by our Maker, and giving it to the government, retarding their spiritual development and as a result cancelling an opportunity to get closer to G-d. In a progressive society, the ten Days of Awe are not necessary; introspection is not needed because government makes all the choices .

In an English dictionary, the word sin is deďŹ ned as any act regarded as such a transgression, especially a willful or deliberate violation of a religious or moral principle.

There is no word in Hebrew matching that deďŹ nition.

‘Free will is the

divine version of limited government. G-d picks the winning direction but does not choose winners or losers.’

Instead Jews talk about chet (missing the mark). It is an archery term referring to an arrow that “missed the target.� The person who missed the mark is considered to have made the mistake due to a lack of focus, concentration or skill. The purpose of the High Holidays is for each Jew to determine why they missed the mark. The answer cannot come from someone else or from the Government. It has to come from inside each person.

The rabbis tell us that the only way to do teshuvah (repentance) is by personal reection and personal choice (as opposed to governmental regulation). G-d gives us a road map in the Torah, Prophets, Psalms and other sacred texts; he even gave us coaches (rabbis), but to truly change ourselves, and ultimately change the world, we have to discover for ourselves the best way to read the road map.

Progressive and liberal governments remove our free will; they make the decisions, determine the path, eliminate the need for introspection and our opportunity to ďŹ nd the sparks of G-d in the world. In the end, what those governments take from its citizens is the greatest joy of all, ďŹ nding for themselves the path that will draw them closer to G-d.

To all my rriends and readers, Le-shana tova Tikatevu ve-Techatemu (May G-d Write And Seal You In The Book Of Life For A Good Year).

Jeff Dunetz is the Editor/Publisher of the political blog “The Lid� (www.jeffdunetz.com).

Jeff contributes to some of the largest political sites on the Internet including American Thinker, Big Government, Big Journalism, NewsReal and Pajama’s Media, and has been a guest on national radio shows including G. Gordon Liddy, Tammy Bruce and Glenn Beck.

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7

n Central Avenue, in the kosher supermarkets, in shul, or on the LIRR, you hear the same conversation.

“What?! Rosh Hashanah is next week!?” And then the dreaded “three day yom tov — oy!”

I wonder why, every year, everyone is so surprised that’s it’s already yom tov time.

Truth is, it has been three months since the start of June. Kids were packed off to camp, parents went on vacation and we partook in lots of family and friends BBQs, lounged in our backyards, and enjoyed the lazy days of summer (some of us more than others, but it’s ok, I’m not jealous … well, yes I am, but WHO’S IN THE this isn’t about me).

KITCHEN I’m not sure if it’s the end of summer that has everyone in a tizzy, or the fact that we (the women, for the most part) now have to shop, prepare, serve and clean up three days of yom tov lunch and dinners, over three different weeks.

I should be fair and include the men. After Judy Joszef all they have to be in shul bright and early and they have to deal with wearing a suit, kittel and tallis which, they complain, keeps them very warm. Really, guys? Not sure why, as the women have to bring along coats, gloves and basically face masks to brave the arctic temperatures that the air-conditioning is set at so you, the men, can be comfortable. On top of that, you then have to come home have a huge meal, take a nap and get ready to daven and eat again at night! The women get to sit, in shul, when not having to stand during davening, so we

shouldn’t complain. And if you men want to experience uncomfortable, try wearing heals all during davening.

The first year my husband Jerry was davening in our minyan, I noticed during Aleynu, out of the corner of my eye, that he was still standing while everyone else was kneeling on the floor. I was horrified and tried to get his attention to tell him to bend down; I was waving frantically to the point that those around me thought I was ill. After shul he explained that it wasn’t his father’s minhag. So when you see him standing, you’ll know why.

Talking about shul, it’s definitely a whole different ball game then back in the days when I was growing up in Boro Park.

My father would ask for as many seats as we needed and presto, it was done. Today, we have to fill out questionnaires at the end of Pesach, informing how many seats we will need. Will we need all the seats we had last year, or are some of our kids in Israel or with in-laws? If we need extra seats we then act ever so friendly to my good friend David Weber, who has the power to grant them to us. Kidding aside, David has a job that no one envies — it’s time consuming, nerve-wracking and almost impossible, but in the end he not only makes it work, but does it with humor and kindness. Yashar koach to you David, and thanks. (Sorry I’m getting sentimental here, I’m going to need extra seats one day; want to stay on his good side.)

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all my loyal readers a chasima v’chasima tova, or as my Bobbie Rose a’h used to say, “I want to vinch you oon a git g’bencher yur!”

For those of you who still need an idea for one of the meals, I’d like to share a flanken recipe that is made with honey, in the theme of a sweet new year. Enjoy.

Men wear suits,

NO NEED TO GO ANYWHERE ELSE!

Honey Glazed Flanken Ribs Ingredients •1/4 cup sweet paprika •1 tablespoon onion powder •3 tsp Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste •1 teaspoon dry oregano •2 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder •8 pounds of flanken (about 6 ribs bone in cut into 5 or 6 inch strips •5/8 cup honey Directions Heat the oven to 300 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Rub the mixture all over the ribs and allow it to sit at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours at the most.

Place the ribs snugly in an oven dish with the fat side of each rib facing up. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for for 2 ½ hours. Remove the ribs from the oven and raise the temperature to 425 degrees F. Turn the ribs over and drizzle the honey evenly over the top of each rib. Place the ribs back in the oven, this time leaving it uncovered and cook another 10 to 15 minutes.

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kittels and tallaisim which, they complain, keep them very warm. Women have to bring along coats, gloves and basically face masks to brave the arctic temperatures set so the men can be comfortable.

THE JEWISH STAR September 6, 2013 • 2 TISHREY 5774

Shul time! Dress warmly, ladies, and prepare those sweet ribs O

September 6, 2013 • 2 TISHREY 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

8

Gourmet Glatt rocks as 3 weeks of feasting begins Continued from page 1 cook on Shabbos and prepare it before and can still enjoy their yontif and have just about the longer it is on the fire the more enhanced everything,” said Steinberg in reference to the flavor. If you start it Friday morning it is more flavorful than an hour before Shabbos. people with special dietary needs.

He pointed to a “full line of color coded The fragrance is in the home on Friday night. kosher kitchen utensils”: red, blue and green. You go to shul in the morning, come home Flowers range from “simple bouquets” to eagerly; the highlight of the Shabbos meal is chulent. Everyone sits around the table, “arrangements already in vases,” he said. some enjoy one teaspoon, some a bowlful.

As Rosh Hashanah nears, truckloads of It’s the camaraderie (sitting together around chicken, meat, produce and the table as a family). baked goods roll up to the “I walked this fellow store daily, said Steinberg, around the store. We bought and any item can be providall the ingredients: bared, he stressed — “whatever ley, chulent mix (assorted someone needs to have their beans), onion soup mix, garyontif fantasy is all here, unlic powder, onion powder, der one roof, the best of paprika, flanken, marrow what’s available.” bones, potatoes. I got him A wide variety of the to buy some kishke to put fruits for shehechyanu (blesson top and told him to get ing said when eating a new a crock-pot and how to asfruit, customarily said at semble the chulent.

Rosh Hashanah dinner) will “I wished him well and be available, he said, and the that was what I thought was store produced a full-color the end of that. This happroduce guide listing the unpened about two and a half usual fruits, what they taste years ago. But two years like, what blessing to make, later, a guy comes over to YOELI STEINBERG and how to eat them. me in the store — it took me In addition to sushi plata second, and I recognized ters, fruit platters, vegetable him. He is in his 40s. Since platters, meat and poultry platters at the different locations throughout that unbelievable first chulent, he, his wife the store, Gourmet Glatt will feature a ready- and children are well on their way to practicmade simanim (symbols) platter, with the ing orthodoxy, just from having the curiosspecial foods unique to Rosh Hashanah that ity about what chulent is and that I took the are ceremoniously eaten after the wine of time to walk him around.

“That’s what makes it worth it, changing Kiddush and the challah with honey, at which time a special declarative prayer is recited peoples lives.”

Gourmet Glatt gives back to the commu(“It should be your will our G-d…”) before each symbolic food is eaten, including apples, nity in a variety of ways, Steinberg said, supdates, carrots, cabbage and others. porting local organizations and fundraisers.

“Our aim at Gourmet Glatt, our philoso- “It makes a difference to people.” phy,” said Steinberg, “is what we can do as an entity to make our consumers’ lives easier Recalling the Hurricane Sandy and better.” He said the “top notch manageAs we near the anniversary of Hurricane ment team” works “in unison” and they “re- Sandy and see many still suffering or strugspect each other … have very friendly cus- gling from its after effects, with some busitomer service … train employees to be caring nesses still not back, Steinberg soberly recalls and sensitive. the stresses of that time.

“Making sure that everyone’s needs are “Sandy was a very big difficult challenge. met—it all turns out wonderful in the end,” People know on the home front how very he said. difficult it was at home. You can imagine a supermarket of this size and the tonnage of Some kiruv with your order? refrigeration. It was a very big job, to unstock Steinberg smiled as he searched his mem- and restock on a daily basis, it guides you, and not every product came back at the same ory for a standout story.

“Once I helped a customer who wasn’t fa- time. Until we reset all the items. It was a big miliar with chulent. He was an unaffiliated undertaking. I’m glad to have the store reset.

“I’m very grateful to Hakodosh Baruch Hu Jew. “They wanted to make it themselves, (G-d) for all the kindness he bestows upon they wanted the experience. I gave him the us. It is more apparent in challenging times. background about Shabbos — that you can’t We might just take it for granted on a daily basis.”

‘I’m very grateful

Jewish Star photo by Bob Scott

Meat manager Berel Wolowik

Jewish Star photo by Bob Scott

Billy and Meir of Chap-a-Nosh

Jewish Star photo by Bob Scott

Purchasing manager Howie Klagsburn

to Hakodosh Baruch Hu for all the kindness he bestows upon us.

We might just take it for granted on a daily basis.’

Jewish Star photo by Bob Scott

Flowers for Shabbat and Yom Tov

Jewish Star photo by Bob Scott

Pre-seasoned, ready-to-cook meat

Jewish Star photo by Bob Scott

Last Thursday, Gourmet Glatt’s Yoeli Steinberg presented a stack of the grocery store’s gift cards to Rabbi Simcha Lefkowitz of Congregation Anshei Chesed in Hewllett, for distribution to people in need.

Jewish Star photo by Bob Scott

Grocery manager Shloy Rubinstein

Jewish Star photo by Bob Scott

Scott of Ossie’s Fish Market

THE JEWISH STAR September 6, 2013 • 2 TISHREY 5774

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9

Punt the pomegranate:

5 seriously new fruits for Rosh Hashanah

By Binyamin Kagedan, JNS.org Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s be honest, people â&#x20AC;&#x201D; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2013, and with rows of bottled pomegranate juice lining every convenience store refrig-

erator, the sight of those hundreds of little red stains-to-be on Rosh Hashanah night is just all too humdrum. So when you usher in the Jewish New Year with a new fruit this holiday

season, why not treat your family to one of these uber-exotic natural delicacies? That is, if you can ďŹ nd them (and afford them).

Ackee

Kiwano

Mangosteen

Jabuticaba

Squared watermelon

The ackee is native to tropical West Africa, and was imported to Jamaica in 1778, where it now holds the rank of national fruit. A relative of the lychee and similar in taste and consistency, the ackeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fruit is soft and white and grows around three large, dark seeds.

Ackees are generally cooked and canned before being sold, with good reason: Eating an unripe ackee can result in a bout of the very bluntly named Jamaican vomiting sickness.

Also known as the horned melon, jelly melon, hedged gourd, blowďŹ sh fruit, or my personal favorite, the African horned cucumber. The kiwano is native to Africa but now grows in California, Chile, Africa, and New Zealand. Its ďŹ&#x201A;esh is bright green and jelly-like, and tastes like a cucumber with a hint of citrus. The peel can also be eaten and is rich in Vitamin C and ďŹ ber. Kiwanos can be eaten raw or cooked, juiced and mixed into lemonade, or even turned into gourmet ice cubes!

If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re like me, the name of this fruit conjures up the image of a family of stubborn and misinformed German-Jewish farmers.

Thankfully, the mangosteen is actually a tasty and widely desired fruit that grows almost exclusively in Thailand. Mangosteens are renowned for their delectable ďŹ&#x201A;avor and fresh fragrance, which prompted one botanist to say, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The mangosteen only has one fault; it is impossible to eat enough of it,â&#x20AC;? according to Mangosteen.com. Fresh mangosteens can be expensive and hard to ďŹ nd in the U.S., but the canned variety are easier to come by.

The jabuticaba tree is very striking, its fruit growing in clusters up and down its trunk rather than hanging from branches. It is native to southeastern Brazil, and is somewhat of a cultural icon for peoples of that region. The jabuticaba fruit is usually eaten fresh, but because it starts to ferment only three or four days after being picked, is also widely used in jams, wines, and liqueurs. Despite being deliciously sweet and chock full of anti-oxidants, the jabuticaba has not gained much popularity outside Brazil, as its very brief shelf life makes it impossible to export efďŹ ciently. In other words, good luck ďŹ nding a fresh one outside Sao Paolo.

Not only do these really exist, you can actually grow them in your backyard (see YouTube for the instructional video). Whether they should count as a new fruit is debatable, however. The secret of squared, or cubic, watermelons is that they are really just regular watermelons grown into squareshaped glass boxes. An enterprising farmer on the Japanese island of Shikoku developed this method about 20 years ago to make the large, cumbersome melons easier to store. Today, the product is fashionable among the elite of Tokyo and Osaka and can be purchased for a mere 10,000 yen (about $83, or 16 round watermelons).

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Leak: Israel a U.S. target A document leaked by whistle-blower Edward Snowden labels Israel as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;priority targetâ&#x20AC;? for U.S. surveillance, the Washington Post reports.

The Post published parts of Snowdenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leaked, highly classiďŹ ed, 178-page ďŹ le that details a $52.6 billion budget for counterintelligence operations that â&#x20AC;&#x153;are strategically focused against [the] priority targets of China, Russia, Iran, Cuba and Israel.â&#x20AC;?

Feds: No anti-Semitism The Department of Educationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s OfďŹ ce for Civil Rights has dismissed complaints against three University of California schoolsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Irvine â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that had alleged that anti-Israel activity on campus, and the schoolsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; insufďŹ cient response to that activity, created a hostile environment for Jewish students.

Israelis support U.S. attack About 67 percent of Israeli Jews support a U.S. attack on Syria, while 17 percent oppose an attack, according to a new Israel Hayom survey reported last Friday.

The same percent of Israelis who support the attack are concerned that if such an attack occurs, Israel will be drawn into a war.

Israeli Briefs by JNS the same time, Assad and his government are supported by Iran and its Lebanese terror proxy, Hezbollah, and have used chemical weapons against the Syrian people.

Christian villagers in Wadi al-Nassara (Valley of Christians) in western Syria, home to around 50,000 Christians, have reportedly formed â&#x20AC;&#x153;popular defense committeesâ&#x20AC;? with the blessing of the Syrian government.

Uganda denies immigrant deal Uganda denies a report in Israeli media that it has struck a deal with Israel to accept thousands of illegal African migrants in the upcoming months. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not aware of any such deal. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no way Uganda would enter such an arrangement,â&#x20AC;? Uganda Foreign Ministry spokesman Elly Kamahungye said.

On Wednesday, Israeli Interior Minister Gideon Saâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ar announced a deal with an African country, later revealed to be Uganda.

PA blames Israel for Al-Aqsa arson Palestinian Authority media reports have blamed Israel and Jews for setting ďŹ re to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1969, even though the arson was proved to have been committed by non-Jewish Australian tourist Denis Michael Rohan, Palestinian Media Watch reports.

On Aug. 23, PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash told PA TV the Al-Aqsa Mosque â&#x20AC;&#x153;was set on ďŹ re 44 years ago by criminal hands, in the shadow of a criminal occupation [referring to Israel], and acting in collusion with the criminal occupation.â&#x20AC;?

The ofďŹ cial PA daily newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, referred to the perpetrator as â&#x20AC;&#x153;the radical Jew Michael Denis [Rohan].â&#x20AC;? Rohan was a member of a Christian sect, the Worldwide Church of God. He was hospitalized in a mental institution after his trial in Israel.

Syrian Christians: In the middle Better Israel-China link Caught between the larger Sunni-Shiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;a battles for supremacy in Syria, Christians are forced to contemplate an uncertain future.

Many Christians support Bashar al-Assad out of fear that if he is overthrown and replaced by Islamists, they will face greater persecution, especially from al-Qaeda-linked Sunni Muslim rebel groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, who have attacked Christians. At

In a sign of growing economic partnership, Israeli and Chinese transportation authorities have signed an agreement to signiďŹ cantly increase the frequency of passenger ďŹ&#x201A;ights between their countries.

According to the deal, Israel and China can operate 14 regular passenger ďŹ&#x201A;ights as well as seven cargo ďŹ&#x201A;ights between the countries.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Breaking Badâ&#x20AC;? star Aaron Paul is set to play the biblical hero Joshua in the upcoming ďŹ lm â&#x20AC;&#x153;Exodus,â&#x20AC;? directed by Ridley Scott and based on the epic story from the Torah, Variety Magazine reports.

Paul will be joined by the star of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Batmanâ&#x20AC;? trilogy, Christian Bale, who will play Moses, as well as stars Sigourney Weaver and John Turturro, who will portray the parents of the pharaoh Ramses. Australian actor Joel Edgerton will play Ramses.

Ridley Scottâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Exodusâ&#x20AC;? is the latest attempt by Hollywood to bring the biblical story of the Jews departure from Egypt to the big screen. The famous 1956 ďŹ lm â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Ten Commandments,â&#x20AC;? starring Charlton Heston, is widely considered a classic.

THE JEWISH STAR September 6, 2013 â&#x20AC;˘ 2 TISHREY 5774

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Breaking Badâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Aaron Paul plays Joshua in new â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Exodusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

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Considering Un’taneh Tokef as we observe Rosh Hashanah W ith the observance of Rosh Hashanah now upon us, this week’s essay will be devoted to several observations of this most beloved and respected holidays of our faith.

Whereas in other faiths and cultures the welcoming of a new year is marked with revelry and unbridled joy, in Judaism the mood is solemn, and the obserKOSHER vance is sober in diet as BOOKWORM well as liturgical tone.

Rabbi Daniel Yaakov Travis in his book “Days of Majesty,” teaches us that “a Jew should be in a state of constant awe of the overwhelming magnificence of Divine Majesty.”

“Only by suffering a momentary lapse in his awareness of G-d’s allAlan Jay Gerber encompassing Presence can one slip onto the path of transgression,” Travis writes. “Thus, even if unintentional, every sin carries with it some element of rebellion against His Kingship. Yet if one has strayed, there is always a way to return: by recognizing G-d’s Sovereignty anew.”

Thus, from this most valued teaching do we learn a basic and fundamental element of teshuva (repentence).

Dr. Erica Brown, in her essay “G-d as the Ultimate Writer” in “Who By Fire, Who By Water,” an anthology on the Un’taneh Tokef [Jewish Lights, 2010] writes the following: “G-d is a writer, the ultimate writer. And

once our fates are written, there is something about the ink that terrifies us: What if it is really permanent? The High Holy Day liturgy confirms this fear.

“Un’taneh Tokef introduces the idea of G-d as a writer, but the image of G-d as a writer of man’s fate as written and recorded is not only reserved for our machzorim. It is present in any number of biblical verses: “Forgive their sin, but if not, erase me from the record which you have written.” [Exodus 32:32] “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.” [Psalm 69:29] JOE BOBKER Dr. Brown makes further note of this ele‘From Fasting to ment of writing in the motif of our liturgy by citing the following: “Words build worlds. G-d built the world with words of creation and our Jewish world with words of Torah — then made us coauthors and editors in them both. We do more than walk beneath G-d’s quill awaiting evaluation; we write our own destinies, knowing that G-d will do the fact-checking.”

Dr. Marc Brettler, Dora Golding Professor of Biblical Studies at Brandeis University, in this same volume, in his essay, “A Biblical Perspective,” provides this heartfelt sentiment: “I find Un’taneh Tokef deeply moving. Its

words scare me, especially “who will live and who will die.” Its tunes, too, are haunting — both the traditional melody and the newer one introduced in 1990 by Yair Rosenblum to commemorate those killed in the Yom Kippur War from Kibbutz Beit Hashita. I appreciate why it has developed into such an important prayer and why a myth developed to suggest its divine origin.” Brettler has much more to say and his opinions and other works merit further study.

Finally, I wish to briefly cite the essay in this volume written by Rabbi Daniel Landes, the Rosh HaYeshivah of Jerusalem’s Pardes Institute, entitled, “The Four Holinesses of Un’taneh Tokef.” Consider this brief outline Feasting’ as the basis for your further study of this work of holiness.

These four holinesses are: Kiddush Hashem: Holiness of Martyrdom K’dushat Hayom: Holiness of the Day K’dushat Hashem: Holiness of G-d K’dushat Hachayim: Holiness of life I leave it to you to further explore Rabbi Landes’ other teachings and come to terms with the essence of what constitutes the core meaning of the Un’taneh Tokef, repentance, and of why it has had such a deep impact on Jews of all belief modes through the ages.

Also, if you have the chance, check out

‘Un’taneh Tokef [does]

not end in thundering threats, interminable curses, and endless intimidations, but with high hopes and even higher promises for a better future.’

the commentary on the Un’taneh Tokef in the High Holiday Birnbaum Machazor [Hebrew Publishing Co.] which goes into detail on the saga of Rav Amnon, author of this piyut (liturgical poem). The Birnbaum Machazor, and year round siddur as well, should continue to be on the bookshelf of every Jewish household. The footnoting and background material found therein are invaluable to all of us, no matter what denomination.

Another work written five years ago by Joe Bobker, entitled, “From Fasting to Feasting” [Gefen Publishing House], will surely place a cautious smile upon your face.

I direct you to the first section of this work that is devoted to the High Holiday season.

At the heart of this section he devotes almost five pages to Un’taneh Tokef with a much different take from the previously cited authors.

Nevertheless, Bobker ends with the following cautionary observation: “Individually and collectively, on Rosh Hashanah we face our destiny. As we begin the journey, it is instructive that we return to those deadly Un’taneh Tokef words. Why? Because a second careful reading reveals that they do not end in thundering threats, interminable curses, and endless intimidations — but with high hopes and even higher promises for a better future.”

I now leave you with a spiritual smile, with the following quote, also from the pen of Joe Bobker, from his essay, “Shofar So Good”: “Every year the shofar reminds us that faith sees beyond fate. Representing the first day of the rest of our lives, Rosh Hashanah is a magnetic call to remember where we come from, and where we are headed, down a path filled with a deep passion for repentance, prayers and good deeds.”

L’Shana Tova Tikatevu A Happy and Sweet New Year to you and yours

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munications and marketing, last spring the program launched a new â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tour Educator Instituteâ&#x20AC;? so that tour educators â&#x20AC;&#x153;are better preparedâ&#x20AC;? for â&#x20AC;&#x153;the cultural differences presented by a wide range of trip participants from now more than 60 countries.â&#x20AC;?

Additionally, dozens of countries looking to connect Diasporas with their motherlands are taking notice of Birthright. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve just been to a conference in Dublin where everybody was talking about Birthright-Israel as a pioneer in this. We were approached already by countries like Bulgaria â&#x20AC;Ś and we are happy to help those who approach us,â&#x20AC;? Mark said.

The true impact of Birthright on young Jews around the world, in terms of fostering leadership, may not be obvious for years. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Although only a small percentage of Taglit alumni have already become Jewish leaders, among young adults taking leadership roles, those who have participated in Taglit are over-represented. â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ Anecdotally, among the next generation of Jewish professionals, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re seeing many who come out of a Taglit experience and some who attribute their desire to work in the Jewish community to Taglit,â&#x20AC;? Saxe said.

Susannah Saganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really enjoy his own Birthright experience, but when he returned to the U.S., he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what it is but I think about Jerusalem every day.â&#x20AC;?

Shortly after, he returned to Jerusalem for a 10-week career internship. â&#x20AC;&#x153;These are the people who are going to sit on federation boards... on all the Jewish agency boards.â&#x20AC;? Sagan said.

With reporting by Jacob Kamaras

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Continued from page 3 survey ďŹ ndings. Dan Eisenberg, an assistant professor in anthropology at the University of Washington who went on Birthright in 2004, fondly remembers â&#x20AC;&#x153;hiking through beautiful landscapes and nice times,â&#x20AC;? and still remains friends with one of the Israeli soldiers on his trip. Eisenberg, however, still doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t consider it very important to marry a Jewish partner.

Eisenberg also said that despite the Birthright experience, he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t buy the story some Israelis tell that they are â&#x20AC;&#x153;somehow more true Jews because they are living in a land with some historical rootsâ&#x20AC;Ś and among a contemporary culture that is predominantly Jewish.â&#x20AC;?

Yet interest in Birthright continues to rise.

According to Jeffrey Solomon, president of Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, one of the philanthropic organizations involved with Birthright since its founding, last year about 34,000 students went on the program and about 42,000 will go this year, an approximately 25-percent increase. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is without question the best philanthropic investment we ever made. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a success beyond our dreams,â&#x20AC;? he told JNS.org.

This May, philanthropists Sheldon and Miriam Adelson donated another $40 million to the Birthright Israel Foundation, bringing their total contribution to the program to $180 million. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Exposing young Jews to Israel helps broaden their awareness and deepen their cultural identity,â&#x20AC;? Miriam Adelson said, according to Israel Hayom.

Birthright is also expanding in a variety of international directions. According to Gail Hyman, Birthrightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vice president of com-

THE JEWISH STAR September 6, 2013 â&#x20AC;˘ 2 TISHREY 5774

Birthrightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offspringâ&#x20AC;Ś

Rebuilding the Temple, physically and spiritually Continued from page 1 Kushner Yeshiva High Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 10th grade.

The educational material that accompanies the model begins with the history of the Mishkan (the Tabernacleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the center of Jewish observance during the 40 years of wandering in the desert and for about 400 years before the construction of the Temple).

The program shows the ďŹ&#x201A;oor plan, what was in the structure and where people went and what was done there. Younger children actually assist in assembling the building, adults usually observe the model and listen to the laws and lectures, photos and videos pertaining to the Temple.

The Machon has moved a few times and has now set up in a modern museum across from the Kotel Plaza on Misgav Ladach Street, the former home of the Moriah Book store in the Old City of Jerusalem. Over the years, the Machon has been building the sacred vessels for the service of the Temple including a solid gold menorah made of 95 pounds of gold-weighing half a ton, the table (shulchan) of the show bread, other smaller utensils, the laver (kiyor), and the garments of the priests, among other items.

The Temple Institute is a non-proďŹ t educational and religious organization dedicated to rebuilding the Temple on Mount Moriah, with the short term goal according to its website, â&#x20AC;&#x153;to rekindle the ďŹ&#x201A;ame of the Holy Temple in the hearts of mankind through education.â&#x20AC;?

In addition to continuing with the traveling educational model and program in the U.S. and another traveling model and program in Israel, the latest Machon project is

Photo courtesy of Machon Hamikdash

The Israel-based Temple model shown at a basket ball court in Beit Shemesh. â&#x20AC;&#x153;building a kosher Mizbeach (altar) from virgin, complete stones to be placed in the exhibit, the ďŹ rst time something like this has been seen on earth in 1,943 years,â&#x20AC;? said Frankel.

Persoff has been working there for 18 years and stresses the importance of using the new technologies in the educational presentations. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The ultimate goal is the next place we move the kelim (utensils) is to the Bait Hamikdash. It is up to Am Yisrael; we can teach and get the kelim readyâ&#x20AC;? but, and he quoted in Hebrew, â&#x20AC;&#x153;because of our sins we were exiledâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;a new light will shine on Zion â&#x20AC;&#x201D;with the help of Hashem and the help of the nation of Israel.â&#x20AC;?

Best Wishes For A

Photo by Malka Eisenberg

Steve Frankel standing behind model in the Beit Knesset at Camp Moshava, Indian Orchard, PA. A Bat Sherut is pointing at the model.

Persoff recounted participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; reactions as â&#x20AC;&#x153;wow, so nice, amazingâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;oy, we missed out.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;As in Hakhel [the assembly of all Jewish men, women and children], or in the Kol Nidrei prayers [when the service includes sinners], and the ketoret mixture â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the good

and bad smells together are a pleasing aroma for Hashem. Kol Yisrael Chaverim (all of the Jewish People are friends).â&#x20AC;?

For more information, contact Steve Frankel at SFrankel@Temple.org.il, 646-5134281.

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By Judy Lash Balint, JNS.org SEATTLE — Most Orthodox rabbis who earn the title “emeritus” retire to a quiet life of teaching and learning and visiting the sick. Emeritus Rabbi Simon Benzaquen, who recently retired after decades of service to Seattle’s Sephardic Bikur Holim congregation, does all of those activities, but now has a new and distinctly unorthodox career—as vocal accompanist to popular rapper Nissim.

Nissim, formerly known in Seattle rap circles as D. Black, was getting serious about converting to Judaism when he first heard Rabbi Benzaquen chanting Kiddush after Shabbat services several years ago. “I was blown away by his powerful voice,” says Nissim, who converted last year with his family under the Orthodox tutelage of Rabbi Benzaquen.

Fast forward to Memorial Day 2013, and the newly retired rabbi and newly observant 26-year-old rapper were appearing together on stage at the popular Sasquatch Music Festival at the Gorge Amphitheatre in eastern Washington, alongside stars like Elvis Costello and Mumford and Sons.

Spanish-born Rabbi Benzaquen, decked out in his usual rabbinic uniform of smart white shirt, black tie and suit and black hat, intersperses Hebrew verses over several of Nissim’s numbers. The young crowd of rap fans shows their approval by dancing and waving in rhythm.

Since then, Rabbi Benzaquen, who studied at prestigious yeshivot in the UK and has smicha from The Rabbinical Academy of Marseille, France, has joined Nissim on stage at gigs that include a Seattle live music club and the Capitol Hill Block Party, an annual showcase of the Pacific Northwest’s best bands and DJs. All through his career as a congregational rabbi in Westcliff, England, Maracaibo, Venezuela, and Seattle, Rabbi Benzaquen put his training in chazzanut from London’s Jews College to good use, but he never expected his recording debut to be on a rap album.

“I used to dismiss rap completely,” says Rabbi Benzaquen in his Spanish-accented English. “I thought it was inflammatory, full of four-letter words and derogatory towards women.

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the youth and young adults were immediately drawn to him, his knowledge of Judaism, and his natural emunah,” explains community activist Rick Eskenazi, a veteran member of Rabbi Benzaquen’s congregation.

Rick and a number of Seattle youth from the congregation and the local day school and yeshiva high school have accompanied Nissim and the rabbi to their shows and feature in several of Nissim’s new videos.

Along with the forthcoming album, Nissim’s future plans include a November visit to Israel for some intense Jewish learning and a possible benefit appearance for the Beit Shemesh Educational Center for disadvantaged boys.

It’s probably safe to say that Rabbi Benzaquen, a long-time member of the Va’ad HaRabanim of Greater Seattle, who is also a certified mohel, sofer, shochet, chazan and accomplished ketubah artist, is the only retired Orthodox rabbi who can add “rapper” to his resume.

A video interview with Nissim can be found at http://bit. ly/17rtOLI

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Nissim, formerly known in Seattle rap circles as D. Black, with Rabbi Simon Benzaquen.

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But now I feel that rap has got a bad rap! It’s the African American expression of everyday life.”

“Think about the Torah when it wants to teach us something,” he explains, “it’s often through shira: song or poetry.

That’s what stays with you. That’s why rap can be powerful today and convey a positive message.”

In a cut called “Sores” on the forthcoming album due for release mid-September, Rabbi Benzaquen does a moving voice-over of Hebrew verses from Psalms, set to his own haunting melody, as Nissim raps two stories, one about African American oppression and another about a Jew suffering during the Holocaust.

“Nobody captures emotion like Rabbi Benzaquen,” Nissim says of his mentor’s vocal talent.

For his part, Rabbi Benzaquen exclaims passionately in response, “There are no two peoples who should be more connected than African Americans and Jews. We could learn a lot from each other.”

Both Nissim and the rabbi see their music as an opportunity to positively impact the world. “I feel a mission to help bring back unity between the African American and Jewish communities who were so close during the civil rights movement,” says Rabbi Benzaquen.

“My main point is to elevate the world,” Nissim tells JNS. org. “I have 3-4 minutes of someone’s time, and I don’t want to waste it. I want to say something to help them; to help them think about their lives and get past the struggles,” he says.

But for some in the modern Orthodox community of South Seattle, Nissim’s presence in the community has proven to be a way to re-inspire their own members.

“When I first met him, I saw that Nissim had the potential to outreach to members of our community who normally wouldn’t take Judaism seriously, such as the teens and young adults who have stopped coming to synagogue. There’s nothing more inspiring to born Jews than converts who take Judaism seriously. As a hip hop rapper, and someone who’s worked with disadvantaged teens, Nissim was a natural, and

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meaning exiles or others), were persecuted.

Other traditions hold that the Ethiopian Jews hail from the lost tribe of Dan or are a remnant of Israel from Egypt or Yemen. What is indisputable is that they kept themselves separate and maintained Jewish traditions which pre-date Continued on page 19

647874

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Copyright Dr. Deborah Josefson

Two men inside the synagogue in Gondar, Ethiopia.

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maintain their right to stay in Israel. This is because unlike their predecessors, who left during Operations Moses and Solomon, those in this latest transport are not recognized as halachically Jewish. They are Falash Mura, or descendants of Ethiopian Jews, who in the 19th and 20th centuries converted to Christianity.

They are approved to enter Israel under the law of family reunification, but staying in Israel and obtaining Israeli citizenship is conditional on their conversion to Judaism.

This mass conversion is both controversial and unprecedented in the history of Israel. It goes to the heart of the “who is a Jew” question, posing an inherent challenge to the identity of the Jewish State; it also involves the State in a religious and personal matter — never before has the State been involved in facilitating religious conversions and traditionally, Jews discourage converts.

While their origins are obscure, a Jewish presence in Ethiopia was well established by the 4th Century CE when the Axumite Empire converted to Christianity and forced the Jewish population to retreat to the mountainous areas of Gojam, Lake Tana, Gondar and the foothills of the Simiens where they enjoyed a modicum of independence.

In the 10th century, a power struggle ensued and the Axumite dynasty was seriously threatened by a Jewish revolt led

by Queen Yudit, who sought to return Ethiopia to its Mosaic roots.

Ethiopian lore traces the Falashas’ origin to the contingent of Jews who accompanied Menelik I, the son of King Solomon and Queen Sheba, back to Ethiopia after his sojourn in Jerusalem. The Ethiopians themselves venerate Solomon and Sheba, and Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity holds many similarities to Judaism. Despite this resemblance, when Christianity became the dynastic religion, those espousing different faiths, such as the Beta Yisrael or Falashas (a derogatory term

646854

By Dr. Deborah Josefson “YOU, YOU, YOU, FARANJI, FARANJI, FARANJI.” These were the catcalls which greeted me last month as I exited the corrugated metal compound of the Jewish community center in Gondar, Ethiopia, and headed up the hill to the Jewish Agency’s headquarters, where I volunteered as a doctor for Jewish Health Care International’s Screening clinic.

My mission was to screen those approved for immigration for acute and chronic illnesses and to triage them for further care on arrival to Israel.

Like those in the compound, inside, I was protected; outside, I was subjected to the vagaries of persecution.

Both the center and Jewish Agency’s compound are now closed, as the Israeli government ended its support with the last official airlift to Israel of Falash Mura, Ethiopians of Jewish descent, on Aug. 28.

Gondar was the refugee camp for Ethiopian Jewry, a way station for those waiting to immigrate to Israel. Many of those I met have been waiting for over a decade, having left their ancestral villages in the hopes of someday making it to the Holy Land.

The Falashas, or Beta Yisrael, an indigenous population of Black Jews of Ethiopia, maintained their separate identity in Ethiopia for two millenia, facing persecution, assimilation and forced conversions before most were airlifted to Israel in the 1980s and 1990’s during Operations Moses and Solomon.

The last remnant of 450 souls approved for immigration arrived in Israel on two Ethiopian Airline charter flights in a program dubbed by the Jewish Agency for Israel as “Operation Doves Wings.” In five hours flight time, they traversed 2,500 years, journeying from a primitive society to a highly technological one where they will trade mud huts and subsistence agriculture for modern cities and supermarkets, hand woven clothes for factory manufactured garments, and high illiteracy rates for regimented Israeli religious and secular schools.

In addition, these new immigrants will face discrimination and mistrust by those who feel that they are economic opportunists, compelled to officially convert to Judaism to

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Continued from page 18 the oral law.

In all, over 92,000 Ethiopian Jews have been brought to Israel from 1979 to today, an absorption which cost the State upwards of $500 million.

The first wave arrived in 1934 along with Yemenite Jews who emigrated through Eritrea and Sudan during the Italian occupation. From 1965 to 1979, a trickle were smuggled into Israel through Sudan and Europe.

Eight thousand more braved starvation and death en route, migrating miles on foot, escaping famine and civil war to reach refugee camps in Sudan before being rescued

by Operation Moses in 1984-85. Another 14,000 or so were brought to Israel in 1991 in 36 hours of heroic flights during Operation Solomon when the government of Israel lubricated their release by supplying arms to Emperor Mengistu Haile Mariam.

These immigrants were recognized as Jewish by the Chief Rabbi of Israel in 1975, clearing their path for immigration under the law of return. The status of those immigrating now is murkier, as most of them are not yet recognized as Jewish.

Those who have at least one Jewish grandparent and relatives in Israel have been allowed to immigrate — but thousands more left their villages, farms and Christian faiths decades ago, making their way to transit camps in Gondar where they have been living as Jews. In Gondar they’ve been provided with free education, free food, free health care and institutional Jewish support in the form of a community center, Hebrew schools and a synagogue.

CLASSIFIEDS

Over the past month, the Jewish Agency has been withdrawing from Gondar, closing its clinics, schools and infrastructure and turning these buildings and institutions over to municipal authorities. In a messy process, they’ve left 12,000 souls who now identify as Jews, longing for a reunification with their families and facing discrimination in their native land.

Asher Seyum, the Jewish Agency’s diplomatic attaché to Ethiopia, was pointedly resigned to the situation. Seyum, himself a Falasha who migrated on foot through the Sudan to reach Israel at the age of 13 during Operation Moses, said it was wrong to give them false hopes.

“Who told them they were Jewish, who put them on those lists,” he asked, continuing: Why didn’t they come earlier? We can’t let everyone in. There has to be an end.

The political decision to close the gates is understandable, as the government fears an endless flow of immigrants with no connection to the Jewish people, but common sense and Jewish ethics dictate that those who left their homes to live as Jews for up to 15 years should be allowed to make aliyah. A temporary reprieve has been granted to the synagogue so that it will be open for the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe), but afterwards, the Torah will be retired or sent to Israel and the remaining Falash Mura will be left to languish in Gondar without support, with aliyah appeals taken on a case by case basis.

The Staten Island based author volunteered last month in Jewish Health Care International’s clinic in Gondar, Ethiopia and personally witnessed Operations Moses and Solomon.

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