Tell us how we’re doing and you could win $500 in groceries Prizes include dinners, show tickets • 12 Winners! • See pages 17–20
The JEWISH d
n la
g
is
n
lo
STAR
TheJewishStar.com
So long, 5776
Parsha Nitzavim • September 30, 2016 • 27 Elul 5776 • Candlelighting 6:19 pm, Havdalah 7:26 • Luach, page 5 • Vol 15, No 38
The Newspaper of our Orthodox communities
Recapping year’s highs and lows
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, at a swearing-in ceremony for judges, is one of four female government ministers. Yossi Zamir/Flash90
PM Netanyahu and President Mulatu Teshome of Ethiopia view lions at the presidential compound in Addis Ababa. Kobi Gideon/GPO
Aly Raisman posing after winning a silver medal in the women’s individual all-around competition at the Rio Olympics. Getty Images
Buzzing into a sweet year
With the sweetness of Rosh Hashana in mind, beekeeper Curtis Crowell introduced boys at Hewlett’s Yeshiva of South Shore to the social structure of bees, how hives are constructed and how honey is produced. The youngsters were fascinated by his beekeeping apparatus with a live beehive inside. More photos in the SCHOOLS section on page 24.
Peres, last of founders, 93 By Ben Sales, JTA Shimon Peres, the former defense hawk turned Nobel Peace Prize winner and the last of Israel’s founders, has died. Peres, died before dawn on Wednesday at the age of 93, Israeli radio reported. Peres suffered a massive stroke earlier this month and was initially reported to be in stable but critical condition. His condition was reported to have dramatically deteriorated Tuesday afternoon. Israel Radio quoted his family, who were at his side, as saying he was “fighting until the end.” Peres was the phoenix of Israel politics, continually reinventing himself as the country changed. He began his career in the Defense
Ministry and was the architect of Israel’s nuclear program, but in his later years Peres was more closely identified with the quest for peace with the Palestinians. He was instrumental in negotiating the Oslo Accords, the landmark Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, and was present on the White House lawn for its signing in 1993. Though he served as prime minister
prst std Us postage paid garden City, ny 11530 permit no 301
Friends of Ezra Schwartz grieve the American terror victim at Ben Ben Sales Gurion Airport before the body was returned to Boston.
By Ben Harris, JTA Here’s a timeline of some of the major Jews news stories of 5776. September 2015 •Fifty-three major American Jewish groups issue a call for unity and recommitment to American and Israeli security following the Sept. 17 deadline for Congress to reject the Iran nuclear deal. Overall, 5 feel-good stories: P. 33 19 of 28 Jewish members of Congress sup• Jewish Star port the deal, which is vigorously opposed covers: P. 16 by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. •After an 119-8 General Assembly vote permitting the Palestinian flag to be raised at U.N. headquarters in New York, the flag flies there for the first time. Israel, the United States, Canada and Australia are among the dissenters. October 2015 •The Jewish Council for Public Affairs calls on Jewish groups to lobby for official American recognition of the Armenian genocide. Though most historians say the killing or deportation of 1.5 million Armenians by Turkish forces during World War I constitutes a genocide, See Recapping on page 32
three times without ever winning an election outright, and shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for a peace that has yet to materialize, Peres emerged late in life as Israel’s beloved elder statesmen and a rare figure capable of uniting a fractious society. Following the signing of the Oslo Accords, Peres emerged as Israel’s global See Shimon Peres on page 11