Here’s what’s happening: The Star’s Calendar is back Page 2 Mt. Sinai is coming to Hewlett Page 6 Bookworm: Creation, flood, teffilin, mezuzah Page 6 Election season: Nassau’s county exec Page 14
THE JEWISH VOL 12, NO 38 Q OCTOBER 4, 2013 / 30 TISHREI 5774
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The fix is on
Mercy! Catholic hospital provides Bus crunch riles room for Shabbat food, rest, prayer By Malka Eisenberg With a growing number of Shomer Shabbat patients arriving at Rockville Centre’s Mercy Medical Center, a member of Catholic Health Services of Long Island, the need for hospital-based bikur cholim assistance has been increasing. A kosher kitchen and two suites — each with two beds and a bathroom — had been opened by Chabad of the Five Towns in 2007. After Dr. Aaron Glatt, assistant rabbi at the Young Israel of Woodmere, joined Mercy as Chief Administrative Officer in 2011, he arranged to open an adjoining shul, with a mechitza available for use as needed. Then, last May, Achiezer, an organization that facilitates care and aid for residents in need in the Five Towns and Rockaways, assumed the kitchen responsibilities. With the help of Gourmet Glatt, the kosher superstore in Cedarhurst, Achiezer opened a new kitchen, putting the crowning touch on a section of the hospital’s second floor that is dedicated to assisting Jewish caregivers during the week, on Shabbat and the holidays. “The beauty of Judaism is that even in times of struggle and stress, the yom tovs go on,” said Gourmet Glatt General Manager Yoeli Steinberg. “We need to maintain our strength, cheer, and good mood, to go on” — and
yeshiva parents
Photos by Penny Frondelli
The Shabbat room refridgerator at Mercy is well stocked, thanks to deliveries from Gourmet Flatt. should not be compelled to do without kosher necessities or miss having a seudat Shabbat, he said. “Achiezer and Gourmet Glatt — it’s wonderful,” said Dr. Glatt. “The patients and I thank them for providing this additional benefit.” He noted that there will
be a mincha minyan in the shul at Mercy, Monday through Thursday at 1 p.m.. after November 4. Tova Brill, a pharmacist at Mercy, exContinued on page 16
ByJeffrey Bessen Responding to the complaints of yeshiva parents that their children’s rides to and from school were taking way too long, the Lawrence Union Free School District and the Independent Coach bus company worked over the Jewish holidays to make the runs more efficient and the trips shorter. Superintendent Gary Schall said four buses were added and that routes were changed for some students. Also, because the yeshivas were closed, drivers had time to conduct practice runs and coordinate drop-offs and pickups at schools that are closest to one another. Lawrence’s transportation system is complex. More than 7,500 students are bused to more than 75 schools across Long Island and into Brooklyn and Queens, along more than 450 routes. Schall blamed a willingness to accommodate registrants after the April 1 deadline for this year’s problems, because the late registrations necessitated pickups that weren’t included on the initial route lists. He said that the district would hold to the deadline next year. The Jewish holidays “gave the district time to regroup and look to see where the problems were,” Schall said. Students returned to the yeshivas on Monday. “We have a fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers, and don’t add buses until we demonstrate a need,” Schall Continued on page 16
Fun and fire safety coming to Woodmere The Woodmere event will run from noon to 5 p.m. at the Woodmere Fire House, 20 Irving Place, and include fire truck rides, kosher food, live demonstrations and prizes. A fire prevention company will present a “live burn,” with emergency responders demonstrating how they get out of a house, “climbing down the walls with a rope while wearing the full 75 pounds of equipment.” Emergency medical technicians will stage a fake accident with a fake victim and ambulance to show “how they take someone out of a car accident.” Overall, the goal of this Continued on page 16
Shabbat Candlelighting: 6:13 p.m. Shabbat ends 7:11 p.m. 72 minute zman 7:42 p.m. Torah Reading Parshat Noah. Friday and Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Mar Cheshvan.
Judy honors Mariano Rivera The Jewish Star’s Kitchen columnist cries over the retirement of “an amazing human being,” and creates a delightful dish she’s calling MARIANOated fruit salad. Page 15.
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Woodmere FD volunteers, from left, Chief Ben Nelson, Donny Metzler, Adam Slotnick, Josh Kirschner, Darren Moritz, Jason Hagler and Chief Lenny Cherson.
By Malka Eisenberg Woodmere Fire Department volunteers will be opening their home on Sunday, Oct. 13, for a day of fun, fire education and recruitment. Darren Moritz, a volunteer fire fighter, noted the importance of learning fire safety, He recounted two incidents in Woodmere when children put a pizza box in the family’s stove to heat up the pizza inside. “There was a fire in the oven,” he recalled. “A fire extinguisher puts it right out — but it destroys the oven.” Fire fighters will demonstrate how to put out a fire using both water and fire extinguishers.
October 4, 2013 • 30 TISHREI 5774 THE JEWISH STAR
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Calendar Submit your shul or organization’s events or shiurim to JScalendar@TheJewishStar.com. Put event DATE in subject line. All submissions MUST include a price of admission or specify FREE, as well as an email or phone that can be published so readers can conďŹ rm the event. Submissions may be edited for style and space. Deadline: Wed. 8 days before cover date.
Book signings at Levi Yitzchak Library in Cedarhurst Author Ashira Greenberg signs copies of her book, “Don’t Judge by What You See.� On Oct. 7 at 8 p.m., Connie Krupin, author of “A Time to be Born, A Jewish Baby Journal,� will discuss “Jewish Genealogy: How Jews Got Our Last Names.�
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With Rabbi Shalom Axelrod of the Young Israel of Woodmere. Weekly series resumes at Traditions Restaurant, 302 Central Avenue, off Rockaway Blvd., Lawrence. 12:30-1:30 pm. Buy a $12 lunch, eat and learn. For info, call Alan Stern 516-398-3094.
Congregation Aish Kodesh. 9:15 a.m. given by Moshe Schmell
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Yitz Horowitz begins a series of Thursday night Chasidus shiurim covering Sefer Mesilos HaChassidus. Open to men of all levels of learning. Time will be devoted each week to the parsha as well as the yomim tovim as they come around. 8:45 p.m. Cong. Aish Kodesh, 894 Woodmere Pl., Woodmere.
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After 9 pm Maariv till 10 pm. Choose from a selection of classes including a chaburah (Torah study group) with Rabbi Shalom Axelrod and open Beit Medrash and chavrusa learning. Followed by chulent and kugel. Young Israel of Woodmere.
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6KHP 0LVKPXHO 6KLXU Rabbi Shmuel Klammer will be giving a shiur on the sefer Shem Mishmuel, Rav Shmuel of Sochachov’s inspiring discussions of themes from the parsha. The Shem Mishmuel incorporates a unique blend of Chassidus and parshanut. In the main shul 45 minutes before mincha or 45 minutes before the Hashkafa Shiur when Rav Weinberger gives the shiur Shabbos afternoon. Aish Kodesh, 894 Woodmere Pl., Woodmere.
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Aish Kodeshâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual hillula (day of rejoicing) marks the yahrzeit of its namesake, Harav Kalonimus Kalmish Shapira, zyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;a hyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d, the Aish Kodesh, the Holy Rebbe of Piacezna. Featuring the music of Yosef Karduner and divrei Torah by Rav Weinberger. Motzei Shabbat. $10 Aish Kodesh members, $15 non-members. Young Israel of LawrenceCedarhurst, 8 Spruce St., Cedarhurst. Call (516) 374-8596 or email aishkodesh.org.
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:KDW¡V LQ D QDPH" Jewish Genealogy: How Jews Got Our Last Names, a lecture presented by Connie Krupin, author of â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Time to be Born, A Jewish Baby Journal.â&#x20AC;? Learn the origins of our Ashkenazi and Sephardic surnames â&#x20AC;&#x201D; what they tell us about our great grandparents and what they reveal about ourselves. Levi Yitzchak Library. 564 Central Ave., Cedarhurst. $10 (register today and Connie will try to research your name for the event!). 8 p.m. Books are available for purchase and signing by author. For further information call the library at (516) 374-2665.
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Peninsula Library welcomes art historian Ines Powell presenting an illustrated lecture on the art of Florence, Italy from Donatello to Michelangelo. 1 pm. Free. 280 Central Ave., Lawrence. (516) 239-3262.
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Lawrence Board of Education working session at Lawrence Middle School, 195 Broadway, Lawrence. 8 pm.
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6HOI GHIHQVH IRU PHQ Krav Maga self-defense for men, with certiďŹ ed KAPAP (Hebrew acronym for Krav Panim El Panim, face to face combat) instructor Brett Halem. Train with Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original defensive tactics system; gain conďŹ dence and learn survival skills. Ten Tuesday evenings beginning tonight (Oct. 8, 15, 22, 29; Nov. 12, 19, 26; Dec. 3, 10, 17) from 8 to 9 p.m. $180. JCC of the Greater Five Towns, 207 Grove Ave., Cedarhurst. For more information or to register contact Rachayle Deutsch, (516)569-6733 ext. 222, rachayle.deutsch@ ďŹ vetownsjcc.org.
THE JEWISH STAR October 4, 2013 â&#x20AC;¢ 30 TISHREI 5774
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4 October 4, 2013 • 30 TISHREI 5774 THE JEWISH STAR
Jihad without borders
Dunetz insults us, again To the Editor: Speaking on behalf of the progressive Democrats who read your paper, I was annoyed to see yet another piece by Jeff Dunetz using Judaism as a justification for a partisan political position [“A Rosh Hashana message to our President,” Sept. 6]. Sentences like, “Jews who support progressivism are rejecting the free will given to us by our Maker, and giving it to the government,” are wrong not only because they are deeply offensive to those of us who are practicing Jews and also political progressives, but also because they are complete nonsense. I am not aware of any progressive who thinks, as Jeff asserts, that everyone is born with equal abilities, though I do know progressives who believe that everyone is entitled to the basics, like an education, health care, and shelter, and also entitled to a fair shot in society. Based on his laughable definition of a progressive as someone who believes that government should make all choices for the people, I think Jeff has progressivism confused with some comic-book version of extreme Communism. (Even in most Communist societies, people had some
Letter to the editor opportunity to make moral decisions of right and wrong.) It also happens to be an awful analogy, since Judaism is a highly regulated way of life, and since Jewish lawmaking is all about legislating a set of correct choices for literally every situation. Jewish notions of societal governance could not be more different than American ones. The great thing about the American way of life is that they can easily exist side by side, because the American way protects the Jewish way. By the way, progressivism, in the philosophical sense, is the Enlightenment era idea that advancements in science and technology can be used to improve the human condition. In the modern sense, it’s the idea that government can contribute to the creation of a fairer and more equitable society. (Fairer means equal opportunity, not equal wealth.) Thus, progressive movements pushed for things like women’s suffrage, civil rights, social safety net programs like Medicare, Continued on page 16
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By Boaz Bismuth, JNS.org Terror has been rearing its ugly head throughout the world lately. In Kenya, a Somalia-based, al-Qaidalinked rebel group, al-Shabab, burst into Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall and murdered dozens of victims in cold blood. In Nigeria, at least 160 people were massacred in two attacks by the radical Islamist organization Boko Haram. In Pakistan, a terrorist blew himself up outside a church in the city of Peshawar, killing more than 80 members of Pakistan’s Christian minority. In Israel, terror struck as well. Over the holiday of Sukkot, two soldiers paid with their lives. IDF Sgt. Gal (Gavriel) Kobi took a single lethal bullet to his neck in Hebron. Forty-eight hours earlier, Sgt. Tomer Hazan was murdered by his Palestinian host, Nidal Amar. During the same week, Iran, a country that supports and finances terrorism, sent its president to the U.N. General Assembly as if he were a beacon of peace. The attack in Kenya should ring alarm bells for the world. Osama bin Laden may be dead, but al-Qaida and its satellite organizations are alive and kicking. There is something very symbolic about the fact that Kenya is once again the target of a terror attack. This captivating country, so beloved of tourists, was the target of an attack in 1998 that served as a harbinger of the global terrorism we have experienced since the twin towers attack on Sept. 11, 2001. The 1998 attack in Kenya was the first salvo in a global terror war that has been raging for more than a decade, a war that affects many countries, and creates strange alliances, even between countries that don’t have diplomatic relations. On Aug. 7, 1998 at 10:40 a.m., a loud explosion was heard in central Nairobi coming from the direction of the U.S. Embassy. At almost the same time, a near identical explosion occurred near the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A total of 213 people were killed and 4,000 were injured in Nairobi on that day. The two truck-bomb explosions were the starting signal of al-Qaida’s war on the West as a whole, and the U.S. in particular. Still, no one saw the (bloody) writing on the wall. In Europe, anyone speaking of global terrorism was considered paranoid. University students turned out theses on the theme of tolerance, merely repressing the danger. They explained that terrorism is the weapon of the weak, because what other choice do weak people have? No one believed that within a few years, those same jihadists would operate in Madrid, London and Toulouse. Six months earlier, in February 1998, bin Laden, from his lair in Afghanistan, had declared the establishment of a World Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders. This was bin Laden’s declaration of war against the infidels. Even before the 9/11 attack, al-Qaida began seducing jihadist organizations from Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh to join him. But nobody understood what was about to happen.
The roots of terror Before the 9/11 attacks, al-Qaida had sent a clear signal in October 2000. Two terrorists in a small boat blew themselves up next to the USS Cole destroyer, anchored in Yemen. Analysts in the U.S. said at the time that the attack was in response to unrest in the Palestinian territories. The attack coincided with the start of the Second Intifada, and there were many Palestinian and pro-Palestinian activists in Yemen at the time. U.S. President Bill Clinton even said on the morning of the attack, “If [the terrorists’]
intention was to deter us from our mission of promoting peace and security in the Middle East, they will fail utterly.” That statement proved inaccurate, to say the least. In 2008, Barack Obama entered the White House, with the promise of ending America’s wars abroad. With a Nobel Prize in his pocket, he brought the troops home from Iraq and established a target date (2014) for ending the war in Afghanistan. In a speech to the nation last February, Obama even explained how America had overcome al-Qaida, following the killing of bin Laden, on his watch. The main message Obama wished to transmit was that Washington’s priorities are changing. The Middle East is out, Asia and the Pacific are in. But ironically, the attack on Nairobi brought Obama back to his roots— politically and personally. In a recent column in USA Today, journalist and novelist Louise Branson wrote that Obama, whose father was born in Nairobi, should support Kenya’s efforts to battle terrorism and visit Kenya as a sign of solidarity. “After 9/11, the French newspaper Le Monde famously carried a headline: We Are All Americans,” Branson wrote. “After the Nairobi attack, the message should be ‘We Are All Kenyans.’ Not just in our sympathy. But also in going all out to prevent another terrorist attack.”
Photo courtesy Michael Foran via Wikimedia Commons
Power games Modern terrorism is a big problem for the countries where it operates. It hurts not only their security and citizens, but also their economies. Terror organizations—like al-Shabab in the Horn of Africa, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) in western Africa, and even terror groups in the Sinai Peninsula—all engage in criminal activity to finance their activity. AQMI terrorists, for instance, specialize in smuggling cigarettes and alcohol via the Sahara desert. Kenya has added al-Shabab to its list of organized crime groups in the country. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta admitted that his country is getting help from “friendly countries.” Israel was the first country mentioned as such, after it provided logistical assistance with the Nairobi hostage crisis, advising the Kenyan government. Israel is a leader in the global terror war, but the diplomatic situation does not allow its involvement to be out in the open. Senior Israeli intelligence officers describe how in the 1990s, they warned friendly countries about the coming global jihad and were repeatedly rebuffed. In any case, Jerusalem understood even then that the world is changing, that Israel needs partners. For this reason, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government worked to forge new alliances and to strengthen ties with friendly nations in Africa, like Uganda and Kenya. Continued on page 16
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iberius is one of my favorite cities in Israel. It was the home of many great rabbis who lived or were buried there. The Sanhedrin ďŹ&#x201A;ed from Jerusalem during the Great Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire, and after several moves eventually settled in Tiberias. Many scholars believe that the Mishna and the Jerusalem Talmud were compiled by Rabbi Judah haNasi in TibePOLITICS TO GO rias. It also happens to be the location of Pagoda, my favorite Chinese restaurant in all of Israel. A sad part of Tiberias history occurred 75 years ago. On Oct. 2, 1938, an organized group of Arab attackers massacred 21 Jews. Three of the victims were women and ten were kids younger than 12. They were stabbed, Jeff Dunetz shot and burned. The New York Times on Oct. 4 described the brutal rampage: Not since the riots of 1929, when Arabs fell on Jewish men, most of whom were rabbinical students, as well as women and children, in the ancient towns of Hebron and Safed, has there been in Palestine such a slaughter as the attack of last night. The main synagogue of the town was destroyed by ďŹ re, and the district ofďŹ ces, the police station and the British police billet were ďŹ red on. The attack apparently was well organized,
since the Arab gang, before descending on Tiberias, cut all telephone communications. Coming in two parties from opposite directions at a signal, which was a whistle blown from the hills surrounding the town, the ďŹ ring began simultaneously in all quartersâ&#x20AC;Ś The bandits rushed to the central synagogue and, ďŹ nding there a beadle named Jacob Zaltz, killed him and then set the building aďŹ re. â&#x20AC;Ś The Arabs broke in and stabbed and burned to death Mr. Kabin [an elderly American Jew who had recently come to Palestine] and his sisterâ&#x20AC;Ś From there the bandits went on to the house of Joshua Ben Arieh, where they stabbed and burned to death Joshua, his wife and one son, and then shot dead his infant son. In the same house three children of Shlomo Leimer, aged 8, 10, and 12, were stabbed and burned to death. Proceeding farther, the Arabs broke into the house of Shimon Mizrahi, where they killed his wife and ďŹ ve children, ranging in ages from 1 to 12 years, and then set ďŹ re to the houseâ&#x20AC;Ś The Tiberias massacre was part of three years of terrorism by Arabs living in or near the holy land. There was no Israel and no disputed territories, just some communities of Jews, with many who had been living on that land for generations. Rather than put down the violence, the British Government decided to appease the terrorists with a British White Paper limit-
ing Jewish immigration into Palestine just as Hitler was beginning his ďŹ nal solution. As a result, the British sentenced many Jews to death at the hands of the Nazis. Perhaps itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no coincidence that the 75th anniversary of this massacre occurred the same week that President Obama rewarded the terrorist-funding Iran with a phone call based on unsubstantiated promises to moderate. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Supreme Leader has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons,â&#x20AC;? Obama told the UN. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a nice story but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s false. Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Supreme Leader Khamenei never issued such a fatwa; no one in the Iranian government has been able to produce one. The Iranian regime and its spokesmen have used the tale about Khameneiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anti-nuke fatwa for several years. Each time they told the story the Fatwa was given a different year of issue (2005, 2007, and 2012) but the actual â&#x20AC;&#x153;fatwaâ&#x20AC;? was never presented. The respected Arab-media monitoring organization MEMRI published two reports demonstrating that the Fatwa is a lie. The most recent was released in August 2013. Like the Palestinian claim that there was never a Jewish Temple on top of the Temple Mount, the Iranian regime believes that the frequent repetition of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;fatwaâ&#x20AC;? lie will result in its acceptance as truth. To date, Europeans refuse to accept it. EU legal advisers made an ofďŹ cial request
Appeasement of terror teaches the terrorists their murderous methods work.
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to Iran in 2005 to provide a copy of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;fatwa,â&#x20AC;? but in vain, MEMRI reports. To date, no fatwa has been issued against nuclear weapons. But that hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stopped Barack Obama from being snookered. It didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t end with the UN speech. As Iranian forces were taking part in the massacre of innocent civilians in Syria against the policy of Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s administration, the Iranians are still supporting terrorism throughout the world. Additionally, the facts show that Iran is enriching uranium way beyond the point needed for energy, Ignoring those facts, President Obama decided to have a direct phone call with the Iranian president last Friday afternoon. This is not to say that we shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t talk to Iran if they make overtures. However, it is a big deal to talk to the President of the U.S. even for a foreign leader. Discussions are usually held at lower levels until a country demonstrates with action that it is looking to moderate. Direct talks with the U.S. President are supposed to be an incentive, but Obama appeasing the terrorist nation, gave away this incentive for nothing. This was not the ďŹ rst time this President has shown a lack of backbone while dealing with terrorists (just ask the families of the four people killed in the Benghazi attack). Sadly it probably wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be the last. As we learned 75 years ago, appeasement of terror teaches the terrorists their murderous methods work. May the memories of those slain in Tiberias 75 years ago always be for a blessing. And may the President of the United States realize the error of his appeasing ways.
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THE JEWISH STAR October 4, 2013 â&#x20AC;˘ 30 TISHREI 5774
Appeasing terror: 75 years ago in Tiberias, today in the White House
October 4, 2013 • 30 TISHREI 5774 THE JEWISH STAR
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Mt. Sinai, KO’d in Woodmere, building in Hewlett By Jeffrey Bessen The Bronx-based Simone Healthcare Development, the company that made a deal with the Lawrence Board of Education to buy the Number Six School property last January, but lost the public referendum on the sale, has bought the 12,000-squarefoor Verizon building at 1436 Broadway in Hewlett for about $1.38 million. Simone officials said the company has arranged a long-term lease of the Hewlett property to Mt. Sinai Hospital, and is expected to expand the two-story building into 13,000 square feet of medical offices that would house primary, specialty and urgent care services. The plan is for the facility to open next spring. Mt. Sinai declined to comment.
“As hospitals and other health care providers look for new and innovative ways of delivering the best care,” Joseph Kelleher, president of Simone, said in a release, “we are partnering with them to develop and manage the new facilities they need in order to accomplish those goals.” Simone planned to lease the Number Six School property, a 6.7-acre site with an 80,170-square-foot building at 523 Church Ave. in Woodmere, to Mt. Sinai to create a 60-doctor, 30-speciality medical facility, but school district residents rejected the proposed sale in March by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. Community members who live near the property fiercely opposed the plan, forming the Community Coalition of the Five Towns and campaigning against the proposed sale. Losing
the school’s playing fields and the expected increase in traffic in an already congested area were the group’s two primary complaints. Coalition member Josh B. Justic said he does not have a problem with a medical facility, as long as its location is “beneficial for the community, and its size and scope are not excessive. I think the Verizon building in Hewlett meets those criteria,” said Justic, who lives in Woodmere. “No green space was lost from the sale, a residential area was not converted to commercials, and the smaller size of the building should limit the impact on traffic for Hewlett and the Five Towns.” This new medical facility would add to a number of urgent care providers in the Five Towns. There are facilities on Penin-
sula Boulevard and Broadway in Hewlett, and another is slated to open on Rockaway Turnpike in Cedarhurst. The federal Affordable Care Act that went into effect Oct. 1 is changing the health care marketplace, challenging hospitals and other health systems to provide care in new ways to lower costs, improve patients’ experiences and produce better results, said Melissa Mansfield, a spokeswoman for the Heathcare Association of New York State. “New settings are being developed to address population health management,” Mansfield said, “and we will continue to see new initiatives as we move away from feefor-service to overall population health.” A version of this story appeared in the Nassau Herald.
Soon after Creation, the flood: Is there a link? I
magine a singular commentary on just three verses of the Bible, the first three verses from the Book of Genesis, Parashat Bereishit, that we read in shul this past Shabbat. This singular commentary, authored by Rabbi Yosef Bitton — “Awesome Creation: A Study of the First Three Verses of the ToKOSHER rah” [Gefen Publishing BOOKWORM House, 2013] — is an extensive textual analysis that delves into the deeper meaning of one of the most fascinating sagas of both religious and human history, the creation of the world. On reviewAlan Jay Gerber ing this work during the week of Parashat Noach, I thought that it would be timely to focus on Rabbi Bitton’s take on the link between the creation and the flood. In the dealing with “over the face of tehom,” Rabbi Bitton teaches us the following: “Tehom is probably the most difficult word to translate in the second verse of the Torah. … Many classic commentaries have not delved into the meaning of this word, as they had done with other terms like darkness or tohu vabohu. Most translations rendered tehom, almost mechanically, as ‘deep,’ ‘abysses,’ or ‘sea abyss’… In the Torah itself the word tehom appears six additional times.” Of those six times, the next two times it is mentioned they are related to the story of the Flood. Consider the following teaching by Rabbi Bitton that thematically links the creation and flood: “The Flood: The first time the word ‘tehom’ appears in the Torah after verse 1:2 is also in Genesis, in the story of the Flood. It appears twice in this section: ‘In the second month, on the 17th day of the month, all the springs of the great tehom breached through, and the apertures of heaven were opened.’ [Gen. 7:11]. “The flood wasn’t just a massive rainstorm falling for 40 consecutive days. The Torah explicitly tells us that rain was the second-
ary cause of the flood. The first cause of the flood was the opening of ‘all the springs of the tehom.’ Water, or some other sort of fluid, coming from underground in enormous quantities was actually the primary reason for the earth’s flooding. In the original words of Rabbi David Aron de Sola, the Torah is describing here a ‘volcanic eruption which opened subterranean fountains and caused the seas to rise.’ ‘The springs of the great tehom closed up again at the end of the flood [Gen. 8:2]. In the context of the flood, tehom seems to indicate a liquid, or its source, which comes up from underground, i.e., hotsprings, or even submarine seismic movements, which opened and then closed up, allowing water and/or some other sort of liquid to come up to the earth’s surface and ‘caused the seas to rise.’” This thematic and linguistic connection between these two Biblical sagas is further developed by Rabbi Bitton in an as yet unpublished essay entitled, “The Flood: Earth’s Factory Reset,” that I am sharing with you, in part, to further demonstrate to you the intellectual prowess of Rabbi Bitton’s scholarship in Bible exegesis. “What made the world deserve the flood? Parashat Noach describes explicitly the reason for the flood, ‘ki malea haaretz chamas,’ because humanity was filled with violence and corruption.” “Why specifically a flood? “As observed by the rabbis, the choice of a flood has to do with that G-d seems to want to address problems that could not be cured simply by humanity’s punishment. It is as if G-d wished to bring the whole world to its most primitive state, and restart it from zero. Or, better said, rebooting the world back to Genesis 1:2.” Further on Rabbi Bitton explains that, “Life was not part of the original Creation described in Gen. 1:1. Life was to be fashioned at a later stage. In the same verse 2, we also read that early Earth was not only uninhabited but also uninhabitable; among other things, there was no dry land for mammals to live on. At this stage, the planet was covered by tehom,” Rabbi Bitton further states that “the flood
could be seen as G-d bringing the world back to its original state of ‘tohu vabohu’ a lifelessness caused by the absence of dry land. The effects of the flood reversed the makings of the third day, the earth again is a waterworld. Without dry land, there is no vegetation or life. … G-d reinstates mankind through some sort of a renewed process of Genesis. To accommodate the new human society, the world, by means of this flood, undergoes a total factory reset.” In conclusion, Rabbi Bitton makes the following admonition that deserves your close reading as you study the text of Parashat Noach. “At times, G-d intervenes with mankind by delivering a message. These messages
could be in the form of a punishment; the destruction of the Temples would be a case in point. However, some other times, things could theoretically get so bad, past every conceivable tipping point, that the only solution is a reset. In the case of the flood, G-d reset creation back to the second day.” “Awesome Creation” sets up the reader to experience a meaningful understanding of the Torah starting from level one, the first three verses of Bereishit. Without a firm grounding as provided by Rabbi Bitton in this work, a complete understanding of all that follows will be found wanting. My observations this week, and the quotes by the author as cited above should serve as an incentive to your continued study of Torah from some of the most learned scholars of our time.
Tefillin and Mezuzah: Endless miracles Two very interesting books were recently published dealing with prayer, both written in a rather informal manner. While the Jewish method of worship has its formal mode, there are aspects of prayerful worship that have an informal air about it that gives the practitioner an opportunity to experience a “human side” to his/her conversation with G-d. In “Guardian of Israel: Miracle Stories of Tefillin and Mezuzah” [Sichos In English, 2013], Rabbi Aaron Raskin conveys great love for the sacredness of both the utilitarian and spiritual functions of mezuzah and tefillin. In a breezy and informal manner, Rabbi Raskin presents a plethora of everyday experiences that explore the deeper meaning of these two ritual objects, objects that we all take for granted in our daily lives. This compact book is organized into eight topics; each consists of up to a full dozen anecdotes that demonstrate how tefillin and mezuzot enhance our spiritual appreciation of life.
The second work, “Tefillah Tips: Engaging thoughts that inspire joy and stir the soul,” by Rabbi Joshua Kurland, a prominent student of Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld, zt”l, consists of 35 essays dealing with a pragmatic approach to prayer. According to its author, “each one conveys a single idea that can be immediately and realistically put to use in the reader’s very next prayer session. … I present the thoughts in this volume with the hope and prayer that the words that emanate from my heart will enter yours, and together our heartfelt prayers will enter the gates of Heaven. … I pray that the contemplation and joyful spirit that this book elicits will aid all of its readers in concentrating on their prayers and being inspired by them.” And so they will. In this I am sure, for the simplicity of this book will serve to strengthen many of our troubled people in these most troubled of times. In addition, consider this: this work enjoys the approbation of two great spiritual guides from our community, Rabbi Naftali Jaeger and Rabbi Shmuel Brazil. —Alan Jay Gerber
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Envisioning a New World, through a flood and a new beginning now, beyond noting it in the translation.] Despite the regret over the creation of Man, G-d chooses to rebuild the world not with a new, perhaps more perfect model of humans, but with one specific human who “has found favor in G-d’s eyes.” (6:8) In other words, the prototype seems to be what G-d wants. It’s just the wrongly mutated models which have caused God to “regret” the first 1650 (or so) years of human endeavor. Like Adam, Noach had three sons who are named in the Torah. Unlike the terms “Adam” (human) and “Basar” (flesh) which are used to describe the flawed human beings (6:6,13), Noach is called an “Ish” (6:9, 9:20) – the same term used to describe Adam when he is first introduced to his wife – before any sinning had taken place. “She will be called ‘Ishah’ (woman) for she had been taken from ‘Ish’ (man).” (2:23) “Ish,” it seems, is a better kind of human than an Adam or a Basar. The difference between Noach’s world and the world of Adam, however is laid out in how the world is described and what God sees and says. In the beginning, the land was empty and void with the spirit of G-d hovering over the water’s surface. G-d said, “Let there be light” and it was, and G-d saw the
Noach also had three sons. While they did not kill one another, he seemed to only be successful with two out of three.
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light was good. (summary of 1:1-4) In Noach’s time, “The land was filled with crime. G-d saw the world, and it was corrupted. All flesh had perverted its way on the earth. G-d said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me. The world is filled with [man’s] crime. I will therefore destroy them with the earth…’” (6:11-13) Which world would be the ideal? The world with the spirit of G-d hovering, or a crime-ridden corrupt world? The world where G-d says “Let there be light” or where G-d says, “The end of all flesh has come?” The world in which G-d sees light and calls it Good, or one in which G-d sees a corrupt world on account of the acts of Basar – all madeof-flesh beings – which must be darkened and destroyed so a new effort by a man described as being righteous could begin? There are different reasons why new beginnings might come about. A child is born – the child did not exist before, it has a clean slate and a world of opportunity before it. What life it will have will be determined by its parents and by what Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik called the “Covenantal Community” in which it is raised. When a person or family move to a new community or are the pioneers in creating a new community, they have a tremendous
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opportunity to build a world that follows the ideal of the spirit of G-d hovering, in which the focus is on creating light, and making a very clear division between light and darkness. And sometimes a new beginning comes about because what has happened in the past has brought a person to the pits of despair. An addiction, a bad breakup, a divorce, a death, being fired from a job, being frustrated with a spiritually empty life and returning to G-d, the pursuit of materialism turned to a pursuit of meaning in life. Both beginnings bring a tremendous potential. They begin with similar qualities. But the role a person plays in either beginning has a tremendous impact on whether the endeavor will be successful or not. Adam and Chava ate from a tree and threw their potential into the wind. They produced two sons, one of which died at the hands of his murderous brother, who himself was banished to a life of wandering. They only seemed to get real “nachas” from their third son, an ancestor of Noach. Noach also had three sons – and while they did not kill one another, they, too, had the opportunity to follow their father’s footsteps for good – and he seemed to only be successful with two out of three. Despite all our best efforts, nothing is perfect. But everything has potential. Our challenge is to tap into the potential for good in every person and opportunity. And hopefully, with G-d’s help, we can build a world that G-d can look down upon and say, “It is very good.”
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he contrast between the beginning of the book of Bereshit and our parsha is not only striking in terms of G-d’s vision for the world, but is even fascinating to compare on a textual level. After completing creation, “And G-d saw all that He had done, and behold it was very good.” (1:31) Compare that to the beginning of Chapter 6, “Hashem saw that man’s wickedness on earth was increasing. PARSHA OF Every impulse of his THE WEEK innermost thought was only for evil, all day long.” (6:5) Unlike the optimism that came with G-d’s declarations of “Let there be light” (1:3) and “Let us make Man” (1:26), we see, “Hashem regretted that He had made man on earth, and He was pained to Rabbi Avi Billet His very core. Hashem said, ‘I will obliterate humanity that I have created from the face of the earth - man, livestock, land animals, and birds of the sky. I regret that I created them.’” (6:67) [A very lively conversation can be had over the usages of “Elokim” (which I translate in verses as “G-d”) and the “shem havaya” Tetragrammaton (which I translate in verse as “Hashem”). In the interest of space, that conversation will be ignored
Practical meets art in a 12-sided Flatbush sukkah
Artist Shoshannah Brombacher works on Gideon Gur-Aryeh’s 12-sided sukkah. Aside for the need to build a sukkah to accommodate the one hundred member “units,” including families, Gideon decided to build a sukkah that would be unique and able to withstand the strong wind that was channeled through the buildings surrounding the courtyard. He worked as an electrician for 40 years and is now retired. His idea was to construct a 360 degree sukkah to break the wind, ultimately using ¾ inch electric pipe with pipes running on the top, middle and bottom with 12 walls and three double pipe fittings of a
30 degree angle at each corner, top, middle and bottom thus forming 12 corners. Each wall measures five feet. He had the fittings prefabricated in Los Angeles on a visit there and bought two white plastic tarps there as well for the walls. He also put in a center pole surrounded by a table with 12 pipes projecting outward spokelike to each of the 12 corners. This dodecagon structure also has four windows; Gideon emplaced a square box fan in each of the windows this year. The members “didn’t feel the heat this Sukkot,” he said
proudly. The sukkah has one door that Gideon ensured would be wheelchair accessible for the one shul member in a wheelchair. “I put wood on the ground and sink it down so it is straight with the grass.” He estimated that 40 people could sit comfortably in the sukkah or 60 people standing. Gideon tilted the schach, the natural roofing material, at a 10 degree angle to prevent its blowing off in the strong winds there and “sandwiched it between wooden boards” to weigh it down and so it would not come in contact with the metal pipes. He verified the kashrut of the sukkah with various authorities, he said. He considered making it bigger but was satisfied to note that the 12 walls represent the 12 tribes, the shvatim, of Israel. A professional artist and shul member, Shoshannah Brombacher, stepped forward when asked to decorate the sukkah. She did it because “I like the shul and I like and admire Gidon for what he did for the shul,” she said. Her paintings on the white tarps on the outside of the sukkah are Chagal like images of the Ushpizin, the guests, our ancestors, who are invited into the sukkah every night of the holiday combined with Chassidic images and Jewish symbols related to the ushpizin: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David. The paintings are in black and white. She said she only used black for lack of time since to use colors requires mixing and time for drying and she often draws in black and white. “I love black and white. Sometimes color distracts.” In an email interview with the Star, Brombacher said, “I liked the sukkah the moment Continued on page 13
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By Malka Eisenberg “I would have entered in the contest if I knew about it,” he said emphatically. Gideon Gur Aryeh and his wife Bina Hyman contacted The Jewish Star after they read last week’s report about the Sukkah City contest that led to a documentary movie. But his sukkah was not built because of a contest but because he saw a need and a problem that sought a solution. With planning and an artistic eye, Gur-Aryeh assembled a sukkah that is unique, spacious, practical and can be assembled and disassembled and stored from year to year. Gideon and Bina were both born in Israel. Gideon was in the reserves during the SixDay War in 1967 and climbed down from Har Habayit not long after it was liberated. “They were still shooting,” he recalled. He remembers the narrow space between the houses built up against the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, before they were taken down to clear the current Kotel plaza in Jerusalem today. Gideon is a member of the Yavneh Minyan of Flatbush at the Shulamith School for Girls on East 14th Street near Avenue M. The building frames a large grassy courtyard on three sides, with an elevated subway line along the fourth side. The Yavneh Minyan originally had no sukkah, said the rav of the minyan for 23 years, Rabbi Moshe Sokol. Sokol is also the Dean of the Lander College for Men in Queens. “The school (Shulamith) built a small sukkah,” explained Rabbi Sokol, but said that it was not adequate for the minyan. “Gidon decided to create something new, exciting and inventive and that’s what he did.”
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Jewish identity when they’re given a good reason to do so, and they’re fully legitimate.” The SSRI study said 24 percent of American Jews are 65 or older, and that American Jews are more than twice as likely as the rest of the population to be college graduates. About 65 percent of American Jews reside in six states, according to the SSRI report, including: more than 20 percent in New York, followed by 14 percent in California, 12 percent in Florida, 8 percent in New Jersey, and 5 percent each in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. For Jewish adults, more than 13 percent live in New York City, followed by about 9 percent in southern Florida, 8 percent in Los Angeles, 7 percent in New York City sub-
urbs, and 4 percent in Boston, its western suburbs, and western Massachusetts. Whether it be SSRI’s 6.8 million or Pew’s 6.7 million, the new reports paint a radically different picture than the National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) of 2000, which estimated just 5.2 million American Jews and 3 million who identified as Jewish by religion. The 2000 survey counted fewer American Jews than the estimate of 5.5 million from the 1990 NJPS, which had followed a boom in Jewish immigration to the U.S. following the movement to free Soviet Jewry. Saxe said the 2000 numbers “painted a devastating portrait” which “led to people suggesting that in 2020, 2030, there’d be no Jews left.”
The newly released Jewish population estimates carry significance beyond the numbers, especially when it comes to American Jewish support for Israel, Saxe said. “It’s really important, because if there’s only a group of less than 3 million people in America who are Jews, and it’s their religion, and they care about Israel, that’s significantly different from if there are 5 million or 6 million who feel a connection, feel a sense of peoplehood, feel that they are part and have a direct stake in what happens ba’aretz (in the land of Israel),” he said. Along with the new population estimates, the institute on Monday unveiled an interactive map of the U.S. Jewish population.
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By Jacob Kamaras, JNS.org New reports from the Pew Research Center and Brandeis University’s Steinhardt Social Research Institute (SSRI) estimate the Jewish population of the United States at 6.7 million and 6.8 million, respectively. Demographer Leonard Saxe, co-author of the SSRI report, believes the similarity of the reports paints a picture of stability that presents an opportunity to “get beyond the numbers” and instead focus on their implications. Pew’s Religion and Public Life Project on Tuesday released “A Portrait of Jewish Americans,” based on a survey of 3,475 Jews from Feb. 20 to June 13, 2013. The report estimated that there are 6.7 million Jews in the U.S., and that 78 percent of that population identifies as Jewish by religion, as opposed to by background or other criteria. A day earlier, SSRI released “American Jewish Population Estimates: 2012,” which concluded that there are 6.8 million American Jews (or 2.2 percent of the total U.S. population), with about 81 percent identifying as Jewish by religion (1.8 percent of the population). SSRI’s report was based on “data from hundreds of academic, government, and privately funded surveys that ask questions about religious and ethnic identification,” from 20062012. Saxe, the director of SSRI as well as the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, had estimated in December 2011 that the U.S. Jewish population was 6.4 million. Amid the release of the new figures, he said the population increase as well as the stabilization of the number of those identifying as Jewish by religion could be interpreted as either a positive or negative narrative, being that synagogue membership and engagement with other Jewish institutions have not risen at the same rate as the Jewish population. “You can either say, ‘Wow, this is a problem,’ or you can say, ‘This is an opportunity for the Jewish community,’” Saxe told JNS. org. The Jewish community, he said, needs to “focus on this gap between people who identify with [Judaism], consider themselves Jewish, and those people who participate in the community.” According to SSRI’s data, about 4.2 millin American adults identify as Jewish when asked about their religion, and about 970,000 adults identify as Jewish by background or other criteria. Factoring in the report’s estimate of 1.6 million Jewish children in the U.S., 1.3 million identifying as Jewish by religion, the percentage of American Jews identifying as Jewish by religion is about 81. For the counting of Jewish adults, the SSRI and Pew results came “within a fraction of a fraction of a fraction” of each other, Saxe said. But part of the discrepancy between the reports’ total Jewish population estimates, he noted, stems from how Pew measured Jewish children. Pew identified 1.3 million children “in households with a Jewish adult who are being raised Jewish or partly Jewish.” SSRI’s report, meanwhile, identified about 300,000 more Jewish children. “[Pew’s] definition of Jewish children is children who were being raised as Jewish children, but there are a lot of Jewish children who are not being sent to Hebrew school,” Saxe told JNS.org. “Twenty percent or more of the folks who go on Taglit (Birthright trips to Israel) are people who never step foot in a Hebrew school, never have a day of Jewish education. But because their parents are Jewish, they’re fully Jewish, and we accept them with open arms in the community.” Saxe made an analogy to an American who doesn’t vote and doesn’t happily pay taxes, but would still be counted as an American. He said that young people, many without any Jewish education, are “claiming their
THE JEWISH STAR October 4, 2013 • 30 TISHREI 5774
Jewish population study goes ‘beyond numbers’
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few weeks ago, I ventured the theory that rather than the so-called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Israel Lobbyâ&#x20AC;? controlling the administration, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the administration that controls the Israel Lobby. As evidence, I cited two recent episodes. Firstly, Secretary of State John Kerryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s much-vaunted effort to revive Israeli-Palestinian conďŹ&#x201A;ict negotiations, which, to this date, have gone nowhere for much the same reason that past efforts have failed: the Palestinian refusal to recognize Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s historic legitimacy by abandoning the so-called â&#x20AC;&#x153;right VIEWPOINT of return.â&#x20AC;? Nonetheless, American Jewish organizations faithfully broadcast Kerryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s message. Secondly, there was the Obama Administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mobilization of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to garner support on Capitol Hill for limited air strikes Ben Cohen, JNS against the Syrian regime. That also came to naught, largely because Obama himself was seduced by the Russian President Vladimir Putinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offer to cajole Syrian President Bashar al-Assad into giving up his chemical weapons. Both the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lobbyâ&#x20AC;? and the administration would likely reject the charge that one controls the other. Instead, they would portray the relationship as a twoway street, with lots of mutual backscratching going on. But outside the fevered minds of Israel Lobby conspiracy theorists, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clear that the administration holds the cards. Consequently, an otherwise spectacularly unsuccessful president has pulled off one small achievement, by closing off any prospects for sustained opposition to his Middle East policies from the mainstream Jewish organizations. And in exchange, the White House will provide its leading lights, like Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden, to speak at events sponsored by these same organizations in order to demonstrate to well-heeled donors that their inďŹ&#x201A;uence remains intact. From the White Houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s standpoint, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a pretty good deal. Which brings me to J Street, the leftist lobbying group that claims to be pro-Israel, and which has just held its annual policy conference. J Street wants to be seen as part of the Jewish mainstream, and its roster of speakers this year â&#x20AC;&#x201D; among them Biden, Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, and Middle East negotiator Martin Indyk â&#x20AC;&#x201D; certainly undermines the assertions of Jews on the right that its inďŹ&#x201A;uence is marginal. Nonetheless, J Streetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s moment in the sun is the result of fortuitous political circumstances, rather than any ingenious strategy
on its part. As the Washington Free Beaconâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Adam Kredo reported last week, the group has spent $100,000 reaching out to lawmakers to look kindly upon both Iranian diplomatic entreaties and Palestinian efforts to secure unilateral recognition â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a stance that directly contradicts the administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment to direct talks. As we are now at a juncture where the administration is attempting to engage Iran on a level not seen since the Islamic revolution of 1979, J Streetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s willingness to persuade American Jews that the mullahs can be trusted comes in very handy. Leave aside, for the moment, the abysmal spectacle of a Jewish organization prettifying the outreach of Hassan Rouhani, Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new president, who is as much of a Holocaust denier as his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, just not as bombastic. J Street has always had a tin ear when it comes to anti-Semitism, as its dogma determines that Jew-hatred, along with Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nukes and the Arab refusal to normalize relations with Israel, will disappear if only Israel would make territorial concessions to the Palestinian authority. There are more important reasons for alarm at the administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alignment with J Street. One, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the pettiness: AIPACâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s efforts on Syria have been hung out to dry, while the White House is apparently unconcerned at J Streetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s refusal to back Obama when he was dangling the prospect of air strikes against Assad. Two, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emblematic of the Obama administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach to foreign policy. Rather than maintaining our status as an unchallenged superpower, the emphasis is instead upon persuading nervous Americans that, unlike the evil George W. Bush administration, we are not going to go to war, and we are not going to tell foreigners what to do, even if their leaders are human rights abusing tyrants. In other words, what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen over the last month is the rapid decline of American power. In this drama, J Street, much like other left-wing groups, is an enthusiastic cheerleader, nothing more. The rest of us will have to calculate what that means for U.S. allies in the Middle East, not just Israel but the conservative Sunni regimes too. Their distrust of any deal with Iran will not be assuaged by Obama â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and if they decide to take unilateral action without American support, we really will be saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Welcome to the New World Order.â&#x20AC;?
What weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen over the last month is the rapid decline of American power. J Street, much like other left-wing groups, is an enthusiastic cheerleader, nothing more.
October 4, 2013 â&#x20AC;˘ 30 TISHREI 5774 THE JEWISH STAR
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kah, from when I was a kid, and here I saw a great chance. I am very grateful to Gidon.” As a member of the shul and an artist, she added that “the mitzvah of the sukkah is dear to me, even though as a woman I am not required to eat there, like a man. But of course
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Continued from page 8 I saw it. Not only because of the shape, it is nice and round, like yurt, and the spacious impression, but also because of the white canvas. In the mind of an artist this screams to be painted. I always wanted to paint a suk-
pipe where it is going so it is easier next year. I always mark it in Hebrew; this year I will mark it in English,” he said, in case someone else would have to put it together next year. “I have another plan for a sukkah five times the size, with one in the middle and four around — it’s my plan for when Mashiach comes,” he said. And he thought for a moment. “We can do that at the Kotel,” he said. “I’d love to do it at the Kotel.” To see other examples of Shoshannah Brombacher’s work, visit www.absolutearts.
THE JEWISH STAR October 4, 2013 • 30 TISHREI 5774
Flatbush sukkah…
I did/do sit in the sukkah with my family, and my community. It makes me happy that I could help to make a hiddur, an embellishment for a mitzvah. I love the Yavneh Minyan and I am happy to do something back for my community. Since I am an artist, I like to donate artistic work. Others can cook better, or do other things for the minyan; I am an artist, I paint. It connects me to our Jewish history. I often think of Betzalel, who was in charge of the artists and artisans working at the Mishkan in the desert. I would have loved to participate, be in that group.” Gideon noted that the school uses the sukkah before the sukkot vacation and that the principal, Rabbi Shmuel Klammer of Woodmere, “is very involved and appreciates everything we’ve done for them.” Gideon said that two people help him assemble the yurt style structure. “The president (of the shul) helped me with the frame,” he said. “Bina helps; last year she was decorating and setting up tables till 1 a.m.” When it comes to disassembling the sukkah, the tarp is folded or rolled and put in the boiler room of the building. “I mark every
For Nassau executive, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2009 all over again Other county races
John Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connell for the Nassau Herald
Tom Suozzi, left, and Ed Mangano, now battling for who will be the next county executive, were all smiles last Oct. 16 at the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University. That year, Suozzi was able to attack the previous Republican administration for bringing Nassau to ďŹ nancial ruin. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not the situation right now,â&#x20AC;? Klein said. When the candidates met in 2009, Suozzi had a lot of money in his war chest, but was saving it for a run for higher ofďŹ ce, Klein said, and Suozzi didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t devote the time to the race that he should have. This time around, the former county executive has vowed to be much more involved in the election.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was very close and I guess thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why the Democrats thought it would be a good idea to try it again,â&#x20AC;? Klein said of the last election, which was decided by fewer than 400 votes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think [Suozzi] was absolutely shocked. I think the Republicans were also very surprised that [Mangano] won.â&#x20AC;? In 2009, most observers picked Suozzi to easily win a third term. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outcome, Klein says, is very difďŹ cult to predict. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s likely to be a very close election,â&#x20AC;? he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;or it could be a runaway either way.â&#x20AC;?
County executive is not the only race that will feature familiar foes. Four years ago, Howard Weitzman lost his job as county comptroller to George Maragos. Like Suozzi, Weitzman is looking to get his old job back. In another race separated by only a few hundred votes, Maragos, a Republican from Russell Gardens, defeated Weitzman, a Democrat from Great Neck. Weitzman was the comptroller for eight years. District Attorney Kathleen Rice is seeking her third term as Nassauâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top prosecutor. She is the only Democrat currently holding a county-wide ofďŹ ce and is being challenged by Republican Howard Sturim. County Clerk Maureen Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connell is also up for re-election. The Republican is being challenged by Democrat Laura Gillen. Republicans, who hold a 10-9 lead in the county Legislature, are looking to retain power there, as well. This year, the Legislative district maps have been redrawn, meaning many voters will see a different incumbent on the ballot. The new districts, which were created by the Legislatureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s majority and approved in a 10-9 vote along party lines, will take effect on Jan. 1. The map was criticized by Democrats and independent voter rights organizations for carving up communities, including splitting up the Five Towns into four districts. Republicans have countered that the plan meets all constitutional requirements of one person, one vote, and created a third minority district. A version of this story appeared in last weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nassau Herald.
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By Andrew Hackmack Last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s election had all the hype, with the hotly contested race between President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney, and the battle for control of Congress. This year, there will be a battle for control of Nassau County. Republicans are looking to keep their majority in the Legislature and hold on to the executive branch. Democrats want to take back the power they lost four years ago. The marquee election is the rematch between Republican Ed Mangano and Democrat Tom Suozzi for county executive. Four years ago, Mangano, then a county legislator representing the Bethpage area, unseated Suozzi in a close election that took weeks to decide. Now Suozzi, of Glen Cove, is looking to return to his old ofďŹ ce in the Theodore Roosevelt Executive Building. The former twoterm county executive, after staying silent for the ďŹ rst three years after his defeat, has come out swinging, criticizing Manganoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ nancial policies. Mangano has counter punched, saying that he has not raised property taxes, and that voters threw Suozzi out of ofďŹ ce for a reason. On Election Day, voters will have a choice between two candidates with established records in the ofďŹ ce. Andrew Hardwick, the former mayor of Freeport, could be on the ballot as a thirdparty candidate on the We Count party line. Stanley Klein, a political science professor at LIU Post, said he does not see any issues that could be a game-changer in the county executive race like there were in 2001, when Suozzi ďŹ rst ran.
October 4, 2013 â&#x20AC;˘ 30 TISHREI 5774 THE JEWISH STAR
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ence as a closer possible. When once asked to describe his job, Rivera put it simply, “I get the ball, I throw the ball, and then take a shower.” Rivera’s well deserved reputation for excellent performance balanced with conspicuous humility and respect for the game on the field, coupled with his loyalty and empathy for teammates. He acted as a mentor, friend and role model in the clubhouse, along with providing guidance to his adversaries on other teams and going so far as to sharing the recipe for how to pitch his devastating cutter for all who asked (Mariano was actually fined in kangaroo court for teaching Roy Halladay “the cutter” and then being beaten the three times Halliday pitched against the Yankees right after). These are just a few elements of his public and clubhouse reputation. These behaviors were reinforced with the chessed that Mariano performed when the public spotlight was off. His compassion and concern for the disadvantaged, sick, hurt and other members of society were indelibly touched by Rivera’s compassion, blended with a radiant smile and spiritual belief and capacity to deeply affect all he met privately; perhaps the greatest saves he achieved, which will never be ensconced in any record books. Of all the wonderful stories told about Mariano, one really touched me. It’s about a family that lost a young son in a tragic accident that also left the boy’s mother in a wheelchair. It was only a few weeks after the accident, when the family was invited to meet with Rivera before a game. When the family was introduced to him, everyone became emotional and Rivera addressed each sibling of the boy and told them that their brother would always be with them and that
Photo courtesy of Keith Allison on Flickr
Yankee closer Mariano Rivera in 2009. G-d had a plan for everything even though we are not be able to understand it. The part that never made it into the papers, until recently, was that the younger son asked if he could have the ball after the last out. The Sandman smiled and said “of course.” After the game, having taken so long to get out of the stadium because of the mom’s wheelchair, they figured no one would be in the clubhouse anymore so they walked toward their car without the ball. At the same time, Mariano was returning to the dugout and his first question was “where is that boy and his family that I promised the ball to?” As the family was about to pull out of the parking lot, the dad received a call asking him to come back to the clubhouse. Rivera looked at the young boy, called him by name
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Marinated Fruit Salad Ingredients: 3/4 cup honey 1/3 cup water 1/4 cup lemon juice 1/3 cup orange juice 1/8 tsp salt 3 cups pineapple chunks 3 cups cantaloupe 3 cups peach chunks I cup blueberries Combine honey and water in small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add lemon and orange juices and cool completely. Place fruit mixture in individual dishes and pour cooled marinade over it.
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and handed him the ball. Weeks later, the family received another call informing them that it dawned on Mariano that he never autographed the ball and that they should send it back. Lastly, when telling the story, the dad said that when he put out his hand to shake Mariano’s, the closer instead gave him a hug, pulled him close and said “you’re stronger and braver than I ever could be.” As we leave the friendly confines of our sukkah, where we treated our family and friends with chessed and cordiality, we emerge from our metaphorical home stadiums for the inevitable away games which we must play in between one Shabbat and the next, and one yom tov to another. Will our records be unblemished in our away games and will we pitch with the same consistency and grace as “The Sandman”? Since we have just finished eating non stop the last few weeks, thought I’d share a light, refreshing fruit dessert with you. I’m calling it the MARIANOated fruit salad.
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ith the close of summer and the close of the yom tov season, came the end of baseball’s regular season, and the greatest closer closed his last game. I’m a diehard Atlanta Braves fan, yet last week, when Mariano Rivera played his final game at Yankee Stadium and I watched clips of it after yom tov, I actually cried. Not because he had one the most iconic careers in major league history, winning more awards and holding more records than I could ever fit into this article, but because it was the WHO’S IN THE close of a career of an KITCHEN amazing human being. The son of a poor Panamanian fisherman, he became baseball royalty. He was signed to the Yankees in 1990 for $3,000, injured his elbow in ’92, was almost traded in ’95, then unexpectedly discovered his cutter and everything changed. He became Judy Joszef “The Sandman,” because when he entered the game as a saver, he could be counted on to put it to bed. A legend on and off the field, he treated everyone with respect and as an equal. He had impeccable consistency home and away. In public and private, with teammates and adversaries, he is the paradigm of immaculate behavior. He always had a team-first mindset and turned most discussions about individual accomplishments to team goals and his teammates, thanking them for making his pres-
THE JEWISH STAR October 4, 2013 • 30 TISHREI 5774
Gracious greatness: I will miss baseball’s ‘Sandman,’ Mariano Rivera
October 4, 2013 • 30 TISHREI 5774 THE JEWISH STAR
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Bus crunch riles Five Towns yeshiva parents… Continued from page 1 said, explaining that the district added four vehicles to help alleviate the travel-time issues. Each bus costs $25,000, he said. Angered by drivers who didn’t know their routes and delays that in some cases had their children on buses for more than 90 minutes, parents overwhelmed the district’s privateschool liaison, Sarah Weis, with calls and emails in the first three weeks of school last month. Lawrence resident Miles Fisher’s daughter attends North Shore Hebrew Academy High School in Lake Success. Until this week, her trip to school began at 6:25 a.m. and didn’t end until 8 a.m., when school starts. On the way home, her journey began at 4:45 p.m., and she didn’t get home until 6:20 p.m., Fisher said, adding that last year his daughter had a 50-minute ride. In the district-bus company discussions, the route was modified, with two children moved to another bus, and on Monday Fisher’s daughter’s ride was 10 minutes shorter. He is hoping for a trip that is no longer than an hour. State education law has no mandated maximum length of a bus ride, but according to the State Education Department, an hour-and-a-
half trip isn’t unreasonable, depending on the situation. “We want what is best for all the kids,” said Fisher. He also advocates “reverse busing” for some of the longer routes: The first children on the bus in the morning would be the first dropped off on the way home. Schall said that reversing a route — as is done in the Hewlett-Woodmere district, which also uses Independent Coach — is a legitimate request, but it would have to be analyzed. Joe DiBartolo, Hewlett-Woodmere’s business administrator, who oversees the district’s transportation system, said that the district, which transports 2,500 students to 90 schools on 250 different routes, uses reverse busing only when “it is the most efficient way and makes sense.” Michael Fabrizio, vice president of Independent Coach, said that everything is being reviewed and adjustments are being made to ensure that bus runs proceed more smoothly the rest of the school year. “It’s complex. It’s not your typical school district,” Fabrizio said of Lawrence and its volume of students and routes. “We saw where the problems were, and we’re ironing them out.” A version of this story first appeared in the Nassau Herald.
Jihad…
Fire fun in Woodmere…
Continued from page 4 What Israel, Kenya and Uganda have in common is the problem of nonfriendly neighboring countries. Somalia, a member of the Arab League, has become a problem for other countries in the region. Some even see it as a new Afghanistan, because it lacks a centralized government that can force its authority on all the factions in its territory.
A prize for destruction Terrorism cannot defeat the West, but it can definitely disrupt daily life, and we must concede that over the last decade it has not done a bad job of it. Witness the security checks before boarding airplanes or at the entrances to malls. The Muslim world suffers from jihadist organizations, which make them look bad, but nevertheless they oppose those who seek to fight terror. Witness the double game played by Saudi Arabia. Terror can destroy a country, especially one that lacks many resources and whose situation is sensitive. This is what is happening in Mauritania, where I served as Israel’s ambassador for four years. In the past, this western African country attracted tourists and even the prestigious Paris-Dakar motor race once passed through its territory. After the attacks began in 2006, tourism plummeted and the organizers of ParisDakar decided to move the event to South America. Now, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been granted a grace period after using chemical weapons on civilians, and Iranian President Hasan Rouhani arrived at the U.N. as if he were the man the world was looking to for salvation. After they helped sow terror, Assad and Rouhani may yet receive a medal for liberating us from it. In our world, it seems, anything is possible.
Dunetz insults… Continued from page 4 child labor regulations, universal education, and in Louis Brandeis’s case, increased government efficiency through the use of scientific data. Theodore Roosevelt was a trust-buster who broke up monopolies that were impeding competition and pushed for child labor laws (or, in Mr. Dunetz’s language, a Communist who overregulated big business and denied poor small children the ability to make a choice to earn money). Perhaps Mr. Dunetz would have opposed civil rights legislation in the 1960s, since it removed from people the ability to make a moral choice about whether to discriminate. I will not be so arrogant as to say that my political beliefs are more Jewish than Mr. Dunetz’s are. Suffice to say, religion and politics do not mix. But Jeff would do well to be more respectful of other people, have the humility to understand that Judaism is above these secular political philosophies, and recognize that we all worship the same G-d and, finally, that regardless of our theories on the role of government in society, teshuva (repentence) is essential. Michael Brenner, Brooklyn
Continued from page 1 showcase is to “show how we do our job to help people and how to prevent fires,” said Moritz, who also hopes to recruit more volunteers. “We want EMTs and firefighters; we are looking for both,” he said. Mostly, though, it’s for the children, who learn to be aware of fire safety. “We will show what we do and how we do it. They can come and go at any time and it’s free.” He noted that the volunteers also stage demonstrations at schools. Woodmere FD currently has 25 to 30 active members and more who are “inactive,” ranging in age from 18 to 60, including many from the Orthodox community. After someone volunteers and they are voted in as a probationary officer, they receive complete training to be a firefighter or an EMT over the course of a year — training that, Moritz said, is very intense. They learn to use the equipment and to climb in and out of windows and up and down ladders, all while wearing 75 pounds of equipment. Moritz, who moved to the Five Towns almost three years ago, works at Wells Fargo in Hewlett selling mortgages. “One of the members (of the fire department) came to get a mortgage. There was a robbery next door and we were stuck in the bank so we started talking (about volunteering). I decided to do it.” Moritz stressed the importance of volunteer firefighting.
Jeffrey Bessen for the Nassau Herald
The Lawrence School District and Independent Coach report a fix is in the works for distant student travelers.
“They are giving their time and energy back to the community. You feel nachas; it feels good, important. We get a call 2 or 3 a.m., we take the call. We’re there 24 hours a day seven days a week; we put the community first.” When you rescue someone from a fire, he added, “you feel like you are Superman.” “After (Hurricane) Sandy, we were out there — you stayed and helped people who needed to be helped. We rescued over 300 people out of their homes, on Saddle Ridge, Church Avenue. “We put other’s lives ahead of ours. We worked through the night and went back to be sure everyone was OK, making sure people were alive, did house checks. We were on our boats, on foot, we walked miles at time to get people out. While some of our own family members’ homes were destroyed, we pushed forward to help others and then went back to our own homes.” The Woodmere fire prevention day welcomes adults and children of all ages. “They’ll enjoy it and learn a lot,” said Moritz. “It’s educational, fun, a great learning experience. It’s very good for the parents, too. They’ll learn together.” For more information on fire prevention day, call (516) 821-3600. For information on joining as a volunteer, call (516) 821-3606.
Catholic hospital Shabbat oasis… Continued from page 1 plained that the original bikur cholim kosher kitchen was set up by Chabad in memory of Carol Susan Brooks, Brills’ sister. The new kitchen, dedicated in honor of Abraham and Sara Silber by Barbara and Mark Silber, is administered by Achiezer and supplied by Gourmet Glatt. The Silbers saw the bikur cholim in South Nassau and “took it upon themselves to do it in Mercy,” said Shalom Jaroslawicz, project coordinator and hospital support services for Achiezer. “The Silbers are shoppers at Gourmet Glatt and knew that the supermarket was involved with the bikur cholim project at South Nassau Community Hospital. They approached Steinberg to make the connection with us.” “It’s a perfect opportunity to help,” said Steinberg. “The partnership between Achiezer and Gourmet Glatt creates an oasis in a desert. When caregiv-
ers find it they think it is a mirage; it comforts people who need to be there.” Steinberg said that the room is stocked with food, chalav yisroel milk, meals that are sealed, a hot water kettle, and a warming oven loaded before Shabbat — “it’s ready, there’s a warm meal.” “We help out many specialized organizations, we’ve become an institutional name when people look for help,” he said. “We have a team of volunteers who keep the space clean, keep it stocked, take inventory and bring food as needed,” said Jaroslawicz. “It’s the most troubling time, when someone is in the hospital; we try to make it easier. There’s always hot food, hot water, soup. It’s a place to sit down and forget for a few minutes in the hospital. Give them five to ten minutes, go in there, grab a bite to eat, or a whole Shabbos meal. They have whatever you could
want. It gives a little bit of a break and you get reenergized and hopefully be out with good results to be there for them. It’s definitely draining to be at a patient’s bedside.” “People find it themselves and have no idea,” said Steinberg. “They don’t know what they are going to do, they are very worried. No one should ever need it but once you discover it, you are so grateful.”
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By Jeffrey Bessen Hospitals need to raise funds to stay in the vital business of treating the sick and injured in our communities. Fees for services and government and private insurance payments are insufficient to fund the enormous expenses hospitals incur in salaries, physical plant operations and medical care for thousands of patients. A variety of health care industry and hospital-specific changes are having an impact on those fundraising efforts. Changes in the way medical services are provided, the stillstruggling economy, and talk — and the reality of — hospital closures affect fundraising. St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, the North Shore LIJ Health System and South Nassau Communities Hospital are among the local hospitals that are navigating a changing landscape.
St. John’s St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway closed its chemical dependency unit, which was expected to lose $1.4 million this year. It shifted its family practice, internal medicine and pediatric services to the Family Health Centers in Far Rockaway and the Arverne section of Queens last month. And the hospital is in the process of selling its two nursing homes, Bishop Charles Waldo McLean, in Far Rockaway, and Bishop Henry B. Hucles, in Brooklyn, to Michael Melnicke, who owns six such facilities. The sale is awaiting approval from the State Department of Health. Richard L. Brown, St. John’s’ interim chief executive officer, said that two primary fac-
tors led to the detox unit’s closure, which should help the hospital in the long run. “First, it was suffering from a dramatically declining patient [population],” Brown said, adding that the number of patients couldn’t sustain the unit. “Second, the national trend is to offer detoxification in an alternate manner, which is now being incorporated into St. John’s’ patient care. This was a decision that will have a positive impact on the long-term stability of the hospital, and that, in my many years of experience, should encourage potential donors.” Brown could be right about the fundraising, according to Margaret Carpenter, president of St. John’s’ Development Board, which raises money for the hospital through events and donations. “At the moment, I think it hasn’t affected us, and we are continuing with the fundraising,” said Carpenter, a Lawrence resident who got involved with St. John’s in 1983 and has been a hospital trustee for more than 25 years. Carpenter said that this year’s annual Ocean Walk, on Aug. 22, raised $37,500 — a small drop from last year, but, she added, “We think it’s excellent.” The Development Board has been successful in its money-raising efforts, Carpenter said. It collected more than $235,000 at the annual Chrysanthemum Ball, which was held in April after being postponed in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. That money will be allocated to St. John’s’ emergency, surgical and intensive care services. This year, a new event, a casino night,
will be held on Nov. 2 at the Sands at Atlantic Beach. Proceeds will benefit the Eric Matza Outpatient Imaging Suite. Matza, who died in May, was St. John’s’ development director. The board also made good on its obligation to support the hospital’s planned expansion of its emergency department. “We pledged $300,000, and have paid all we pledged,” Carpenter said, adding that the board is also purchasing five new wheelchairs for the department.
North Shore LIJ Even a large health system such as North Shore LIJ, which operates 16 hospitals, including Franklin Hospital in Valley Stream, has seen its fundraising level off at just under $100 million over the past four years, according to Ralph Nappi, the president and founder of North Shore’s Foundation. Nappi called that development a “disappointment” in light of all the work the foundation does. “It’s more difficult to raise money due to the economy,” said Nappi, explaining that the health system raises money through a combination of events organized by outside charity organizations and its hospitals, appeals to individual donors and foundation grants, and hosts a system-wide dinner every five years, as well. When North Shore LIJ acquires a hospital — most recently Lenox Hill in Manhattan, in 2010 — that facility’s fundraising efforts are brought under the foundation umbrella, Nappi said. “We pride ourselves on keeping costs down and raising a lot of money,” he said.
South Nassau Community Elizabeth Nardone, vice president of Development for South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, said that fundraising for the Oceanside facility has not been impacted by closures of other hospitals, though the slow economy has eliminated one type of funding. “Prior to my coming here,” said Nardone, who has been at South Nassau for 13 years, “the hospital was getting grants from elected officials, discretionary earmarks. Now, no more.” Nardone would not say how much the hospital raises, but she acknowledged that events, major gift-giving and government, corporate and private grants are all part of its fundraising strategy. “I think our fundraising is very stable,” she said. “There has been no push-back because other hospitals closed. The South Shore community sees the hospital as a resource, and since Sandy you can see how important a hospital in your own community is.” A version of this story appeared in the Nassau Herald.
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THE JEWISH STAR October 4, 2013 • 30 TISHREI 5774
As ‘Obamacare’ begins, hospitals seek funding
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