The Jewish Star

Shabbos Shuva, Parsha Vayeilech • Oct. 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 • Candlelighting 6:08 pm, Havdalah 7:15 • Luach, p. 25 • Vol 15, No 39

Would-be veeps clash over Iran nuclear deal Obama’s first term, helped line Analysis by Ron Kampeas, JTA up the international sanctions Seven times during Tuesthat brought Iran to the table. day night’s vice presidential Pence pointed out that Condebate, Democratic Sen. Tim gress in 2010 passed what may Kaine said the deal his runhave been the toughest sancning mate, Hillary Clinton, tions in U.S. history on Iran. worked on had helped “stop As a member of the Republican Iranian nuclear weapons.” leadership in Congress at the Seven times, Republican Gov. Mike Pence said no, it Sen. Kaine and Gov. Pence durimg time, he helped lead passage of did not.

Monday’s debate Namee/Getty Images the sanctions.

“The goal was always that Twice, Kaine said Israel’s military “says it stopped.” Both times Pence, the we would only lift the sanctions if Iran perrunning mate to Republican nominee Donald manently renounced their nuclear ambitions,” Pence said during the debate.

Trump, disagreed.

That was the goal of some congressional Who’s right?

As Kaine noted, Israel’s military brass has as- sanctions backers, particularly among Repubsessed that the deal has stopped Iran from ad- licans. The goal of the Obama administration, vancing toward a nuclear bomb — but missing and some of its Democratic backers, was to put in place U.S. sanctions as a means of undergirdfrom his citations is the “for now.”

See Would-be veeps on page 30 Clinton, secretary of state in President

Sign Up Today It Only Takes S

econds!

Apply Online a t mptrg.com/ap ply Or Call 516.479 .9166

Maidenbaum Pr operty Tax Redu ction Group, LL 483 Chestnut St C reet, Cedarhurst , NY 11516

849171

lo

n

g

is

la n

d

e JEWISH STAR

The site where a rocket fired from Gaza hit the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Wednesday. Flash90

Gaza rocket hits Sderot From left: Sari Braunstein, Marisa Braunstein, Liza Rosenthal, Chayala Liebman, Elaine Gross, Sami Schindelheim and Sharon and Bill Rothchild.

300 at gala salute LI’s AMIT leaders More than 300 friends and supporters of AMIT Children gathered at the Sephardic Temple in Cedarhurst to honor leaders of AMIT on Long Island.

Event co-chair Esther Press emceed the evening, which recognized Chayala Liebman of AMIT’s Shoshana Chapter in West Hempstead; Liza Rosenthal from the AMIT’s Efrat Chapter in Merrick; Elaine Gross from AMIT’s Batya Chapter in Plainview; Sari Braunstein from AMIT’s Shalhevet Chapter

in Great Neck; and Sami Schindelheim from AMIT’s Daroma Chapter in Long Beach.

Braunstein, a graduate of the Midreshet AMIT, the organization’s seminary in Jerusalem for post-high school women, presented the dvar Torah. She shared her personal story on the profound impact her year at Midreshet AMIT had and how it shaped the person she is today.

In addition, Sharon and Bill Rothchild, residents of Cedarhurst and members of the

AMIT Massada chapter, were recognized with the Marvin Leff z”l Leadership Award.

Bill Rothchild served as assistant director of development of AMIT from 2008 to 2014.

AMIT serves 33,000 students each year in 110 schools in 29 Israeli cities. Its goal is to enable students to realize their fullest potential and to strengthen Israeli society by educating and nurturing children from diverse backgrounds within a framework of academic excellence, religious values, and Zionist ideals.

prst std Us postage paid garden City, ny 11530 permit no 301

m o c . h a k k u s I L

866653

Largest Sukkah Dealer on Long Island • Etrog & Lulav Sets

Israel Hayom via JNS.org IDF tanks struck targets in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, after a Gazan rocket landed on a residential street in the southern city of Sderot. No injuries were reported in the rocket attack, though paramedics treated bystanders for shock and a nearby house and car suffered damage.

The rocket attack came after a calm Rosh Hashana holiday. Following the IDF’s retaliatory strike, Hamas ordered its operatives to leave their posts in western Gaza City.

The Islamic State-affiliated Ahfad alSahaba-Aknaf Bayt al-Maqdis terrorist group claimed responsibility for the rocket attack, though Israel holds Hamas responsible for all attacks launched from the Gaza Strip, which it controls.

Magen David Adom paramedics were among the first to arrive at the scene in Sderot. They reported glass shards from car windows scattered near the impact site.

A 15-year-old girl and a 60-year-old man were treated for panic attacks they suffered as a result of the strike.

At levaya, world leaders recall Peres, talk peace

By Andrew Tobin, JTA JERUSALEM — Israeli and world leaders gathered atop Mount Herzl on Friday to say goodbye to Shimon Peres, Israel’s last founding father.

Many of those who took the stage alongside Peres’ Israeli-flag-draped coffin offered their visions of the peace that eluded the former president and prime minister who died Sept. 28 at 93 after suffering a major stroke two weeks earlier.

President Obama, the last of the 10 speakers, called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ presence in the front row “a gesture and a reminder of the unfinished business of peace.” “[Peres] believed the Zionist idea would be best protected when Palestinians, too, had a state of their own,” Obama said. “The region is going through a chaotic time. Threats are everpresent. And yet, he did not stop dreaming and he did not stop working. … Now the work of peacemaking is in the hands of Israel’s next generation and its friends.”

Before the funeral ceremony began, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas shook hands beneath jumbo screens flashing photos of Peres over the years. The two leaders have not formally met since 2010, during a failed round of U.S.-brokered peace talks.

“It’s been a long time since we last met,” Abbas reportedly told Netanyahu.

“I very much appreciate that you came to the funeral,” Netanyahu replied.

But Abbas was not among the leaders Netanyahu greeted in his emotional eulogy for Peres, whom he described engaging in “nearly nightlong discussions” about which came first — peace or security. Netanyahu thought security and Peres peace, he said.

“We were both right,” Netanyahu concluded.

“Peace will not be achieved other than by permanently preserving our power. But power is not an end in itself. It is not the real power. It’s a means to an end. The goal is to ensure our national existence and coexistence.”

President Obama after speaking at Shimon Peres’ funeral in Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl national cemAbir Sultan/AFP/Getty Images, Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images etery. Inset: Peres in 2013.

Peres was long a hawkish defender of Israeli security. He played a major role in establishing the country’s defense industry, nuclear deterrence and settlement enterprise. But he was among the first of Israel’s leaders to warn about the threat posed by continued control of the West Bank and became a leading advocate of territorial compromise for peace with the Palestinians. Only after his election as president in 2007 did Peres receive the kind of regard in Israel that he enjoyed internationally.

Among the estimated 4,000 mourners were dozens of foreign dignitaries, including President Francois Hollande of France, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, and Prince Charles and former Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain.

Israeli politicians attended from across the political spectrum. Yair Lapid, head of the cen-

ter-left Yesh Atid party, arrived with left-wing Labor Party Knesset member Shelly Yachimovich. Likud lawmaker Yehuda Glick, an advocate for Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, came with a bodyguard. A Palestinian gunman nearly killed him in 2014.

Jewish billionaires and Israel backers Chaim Saban and Sheldon and Miriam Adelson of Nevada were also on hand.

Former President Bill Clinton, who brokered the Olso Accords that Peres helped spearhead in an effort to make peace with the Palestinians, referenced John Lennon’s peace anthem “Imagine” in his eulogy.

“Shimon could imagine all the people living in the world in peace,” Clinton said. “In his honor I ask that we remember his luminous smile and imagine.”

Clinton was part of a 33-member American delegation, which included Secretary of State John Kerry but not his predecessor, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who some reports had said would attend. Security at the funeral and around Jerusalem was tight, with some 8,000 police officials guarding and closing streets.

Amos Oz, an Israeli writer and a friend of Peres, argued in his remarks that a Palestinian state was the only option, saying there was “no choice but to divide this home into two apartments and turn it into a two-family house.”

“In their heart of hearts, all sides know this simple truth,” he said. “But where are the leaders with the courage to come forward to make it come to pass? Where are the heirs to Shimon Peres?”

With Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, starting Sunday, David D’Or, a prominent Israeli singer beloved by Peres, performed a rendition of the High Holiday prayer “Avinu Malkeinu.”

Peres’ three children then took the stage one after the other.

His younger son, Chemi, first spoke briefly about his father in English, saying, “He saw in all of you leaders, friends and partners in his quest for peace. We will treasure his memory and honor his legacy.”

Switching to Hebrew, he addressed his late father: “You kept your promise to your beloved grandfather when you bid him farewell on your first stop on the way to the Land of Israel. You never forgot what it means to a Jew. And I promise you that neither will I.” Notably absent from the funeral were Arab heads of state, though Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry came from Egypt, and Bahrain, Jordan and Oman sent representatives. Arab-Israeli leaders also skipped the event.

After the funeral, which included military honors, Peres was buried between Yitzhak Rabin and Yitzhak Shamir, two former prime ministers with deeply conflicting views on peace and security, but both fierce rivals of Peres.

3 Great CD Rates!

105 115 140 . . .

12 Month CD

%

18 Month CD

APY*

%

36 Month CD

APY*

% APY*

Also ask us about the Apple Bank BONUS Savings Account!

115 Cedarhurst Avenue, Cedarhurst, 516-295-2698 Open Monday-Friday 9am-4pm; Thursday 9am-6pm; Sunday 9am-1pm Beatrice Deevy, Branch Manager; Michael Lukin, Business Development

Established 1863 · Member FDIC

www.applebank.com

*CDs require a $1,000 minimum balance to open and earn interest. Early withdrawal penalty may apply. Annual Percentage Yield (APY) stated is effective as of September 6, 2016 and may be changed by the Bank at any time. CDs must be opened in person at an Apple Bank branch.

apple bk - JEWISH STAR - CDS - EFF DATE 9-6-16.indd 1

866700

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

2

9/8/2016 2:08:51 PM

3 THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

DESIGNER BRANDS, AMAZING PRICES

O C T O B E R 7 TH — O C T O B E R 1 0 TH

COLUMBUS DAY EVENT

$30

OFF YOUR $150+ PURCHASE *

$40

OFF YOUR $200+ PURCHASE *

G R E E N A C R E S S T O R E O N LY 1127 GREEN ACRES MALL, VALLEY STREAM, NY 11581

PRESENT THIS AD AT STORE CHECKOUT TO REDEEM OFFER SCAN AT REGISTER $40 OFF $200+ PURCHASE

20161029

20161030

*Offer valid Green Acres store only 10/7/16–10/10/16. Valid on transactions totaling $150 or more pre-tax. Not redeemable on sample sales, select licensed and leased departments and M.A.C cosmetics. One coupon per guest. This coupon has no cash value. Previous purchases and gift card purchases excluded.

Employees of Century 21 are not eligible for this offer. This offer may not be transferred or reproduced. In-store offer can be combined with C21STATUS Credit Card offers only. In-store offer cannot be combined with mystery gift card redemption.

859441

SCAN AT REGISTER $30 OFF $150+ PURCHASE

‘Magnificent’ sukkahs for Jerusalem A-listers

By Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, JTA JERUSALEM — Amit Zakoon’s flower business literally started with a seed, but it quickly grew into one of Jerusalem’s premier purveyors of luxury sukkahs.

“We work for all the rich and famous,” said Zakoon.

Studio Ya Ya, as Zakoon’s clients call the business, is known for executing simchas for Jerusalem’s A-list, including visiting U.S. presidents (from Bush to Obama) to big-time philanthropists like the Bronfmans.

These kinds of upscale events may keep Zakoon and his Yarok Yarok Events Design team busy year-round, but Sukkot is Studio Ya Ya’s time to shine. During this joyous festival, as thousands of pilgrims make their way to the Western Wall, sukkahs sprout on seemingly every balcony and celebrations are widespread throughout the city.

Studio Ya Ya designs many of Jerusalem’s largest and finest sukkahs, including those at the Waldorf Astoria, King David and Inbal hotels, as well as the president’s residence and the Bible Lands Museum. Over the years, its sukkahs have ranged from “biblical” — incorporating natural woods and fresh Jerusalem herbs into a design — to elegant, with a decor featuring strategically placed, plastic pomegranates painted in metallic shades.

Such luxury doesn’t come cheap: Hotels pay $35,000 to $75,000 for their Ya Ya sukkahs, Zakoon said, while design services for private clients range from $3,000 to $25,000.

“The sukkahs must be the most magnificent,” he said. “All the rich and famous come to the hotels, they come to their private second homes in Jerusalem and this holiday is one of the most important to them.”

For Zakoon and his team, that means the pressure is on. In addition to creating a visually stunning sukkah, the designers need to understand both the philosophical background of the holiday, as well as the legal requirements of building a kosher sukkah that will work for even the most religiously observant guests.

“We can make an amazing design, but if it’s not kosher, it’s not worth one shekel,” Zakoon said.

For example, the sukkah’s schach, must be made of predominantly natural ingredients and provide more shade than sun, be open enough to see the stars (so you’d get wet if it started to rain), said Rabbi Morey Schwartz, director of education for the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning.

While his clients may see rain as a blessing, for Zakoon it presents a challenge: He can’t use paper displays, paintings or any material that could be destroyed by the elements.

Sukkah at the Jerusalem home of Hudson Bay Capital Management CEO Sander Ross Gerber, with a color palette of orange, mustard yellow and cream.

Yarok Yarok Events Design

One of four sukkahs at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem in 2015, finding inspiration in the atrium’s existing flowers and water fountain.

The length of the decorations is also a consideration. Those up to 12-1/2 inches can be considered part of the schach, but anything longer is considered something separate, which could present a problem — those in the sukkah must be sitting under the schach. Thus longer decorations need to be very narrow. Ya Ya uses thin ribbons, for example, to add length but avoid conflict with Jewish law, and hangs larger decorations or lights directly above the tables, so visitors don’t risk sitting under them.

It’s not enough to get the details mostly right — Ya Ya’s design manager, Noa Kirshberg, said at some hotels, a rabbi gets on a ladder and takes exact measurements.

Fortunately, Jewish law doesn’t preclude stunning sukkahs — Kirshberg shows a reporter an album filled with photos of scrambling grape vines that were used to accent the Waldorf’s sukkah one year, to tables strewn with vases full of corn poppies and daffodils leveraged in a private home.

Studio Ya Ya starts planning for Sukkot as early as a year in advance. But when the holiday actually arrives, so does another challenge: While the structures can be erected ahead of time, the sukkahs

cannot be decorated far in advance because the flowers will wilt.

Since Studio Ya Ya designs and maintains as many as 20 sukkahs — ranging in size from nine to 4,900 square feet — Zakoon hires up to 40 freelancers, who work round the clock in the days leading up to the holiday. Because flowers cannot be maintained on yom tov, the Ya Ya team rotates among its sukkahs on the interim days to change out arrangements and freshen up anything that has shifted.

Another consideration? Repeat customers. Kirshberg noted that because hotels tend to get the same visitors year after year, Ya Ya aims for a fresh design annually. Also, each of the hotel’s sukkahs must be unique and match the hotel’s existing ambiance.

“The Waldorf is luxurious and the King David is traditional,” she said.

Studio Ya Ya’s hard work doesn’t just enhance the experience for hotel and museum guests, said Schwartz — the company is doing a mitzvah, too.

“Beautification is considered greater sanctification of G-d’s name,” he said.

Yarok Yarok Events Design

“Last year we saved over $1,500 in energy costs.”

David Gerassi David’s Famous Pizza & Borekas, Cedarhurst David is one of the many business owners across Long Island who have discovered the energy savings, business support, storm preparation advice, and more offered by PSEG Long Island.

Find out how PSEG Long Island can help take a slice out of your energy costs.

Sign up for a FREE Small Business Energy Assessment at PSEGLINY.com/Business

863195

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

4

THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

867197

5

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

6

Future unclear for Detroit’s Holocaust museum edwin black

O

f the many Holocaust memorials and museums scattered across America, one stands out among the best: The Holocaust Memorial Center in suburban Detroit, correctly billed as America’s “first Holocaust museum.” Conceived 14 years before the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington was commissioned by President Carter in 1978 (opening in 1993), the Detroit museum opened at its first location in suburban West Bloomfield in 1984.

The Detroit venue was first free-standing museum in the country devoted the Shoah, propelled by Rabbi Charles H. Rosenzveig, a Polish Holocaust survivor, in tandem with local fellow survivors, with a fiery determination not only to document the heartless brutality of the 12-year Reich war against the Jews, but to understand the underlying socio-economic and political causes powering the Nazi genocides.

Rabbi Rosenzveig and I enjoyed a special rapport; we shared the same fire and felt the same burn. In my case, it propelled me to write books on these topics, documenting corporate collusion and ethnic collaboration that made a life and death difference to so many.

Rabbi Rosenzveig invited me several times to lecture at the Museum on American corporate involvement with the Third Reich and the ethnic involvement that facilitated the destruction of six million Jews. This included documenting how IBM co-planned and coorganized the Holocaust with its punch card processes, as well as the involvement of General Motors and Henry Ford — a courageous act in a city where the automobile companies were headquartered and maintained powerful influences in the community.

We also shared a common heritage. Rabbi Rosenzveig was from Poland, lost nearly all his family, and told me he was not even sure how old he was. My parents were from Poland. We lost nearly all our relatives, and the two brave teenagers that became my parents were likewise unsure of how old they were. When Rabbi Rosenzveig and I sat together in the museum, the conversation was often just silence and that unspoken certitude that passes noiselessly between two people who understand the agony of a common mission. hen a new, larger, dramatically more architectonic museum opened in nearby Farmington Hills, it set the standard for such edifices. Many said the structure resembled a death camp, and drivers passing by complained its very appearance made them uncomfortable. The Wall Street Journal published an article in 2003, “Should a Museum Look as Disturbing as What It Portrays?” The article asserted that the center “may be the most provocative Holocaust memorial of them all,” with its stark exterior suggesting electrified wire and the bleak walls at Auschwitz. Rabbi Rosenzveig was actually fond of the impact his structure made. He did not believe in making an uncomfortable topic more palatable.

We both shared a fear that the Holocaust could happen again. In 2006, years before the Iran nuclear threat leapt onto the front page everywhere, Rabbi Rosenzveig invited me to speak at the museum’s annual gala. That night, I warned that “A Second Holocaust” could be enabled by petrodollars fueling the Iranian nu-

An illustration on Holocaust Center.org, the website of the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.

clear program. The idea was to enunciate this warning in Detroit, where gas-guzzling vehicles were still being manufactured. I felt it was additionally appropriate given Detroit’s status as a city that buttressed Nazism — thanks to Henry Ford’s gift to Hitler of an “international Jewish conspiracy” that rationalized his quest to expunge Jewish existence across Europe, and GM leaping to its role as “the arsenal of Nazism” with its manufacture of the Blitz trucks, JU-88 airplane engines, Panzer tank motor parts, torpedo heads, and land mine components.

Two years later, Republican presidential candidate John McCain echoed the same fear I expressed that night. In July 2008, running against Barack Obama and focused on Obama’s position on the Iranian nuclear program, McCain declared, “The United States of America can never allow a second Holocaust.”

Rabbi Rosenzveig died later that year. A Congressional resolution lauded him as one who “endured and bore witness to the horrific atrocities of the Holocaust.”

During his tenure, he elevated the Detroit museum to one of international stature. He helped many scholars. For example, he worked with renown Paper Walls author, David Wyman, on “The World Reacts to the Holocaust,” a massive tome published in 1996 by John Hopkins Press. Rabbi Rosenzveig was listed as co-author, and Wyman paid tribute to the rabbi in the forward as the man who “originated the concept of the book.” fter Rabbi Rosenzveig departed, he was succeeded by the Holocaust scholar Guy Stern, who served as interim director. He had also worked on the Wyman book.

Stern, who escaped Nazi Germany, was globally known for his expertise on the Holocaust and had received the Grand Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his academic accomplishments. Stern is still with the Museum, and now heads the center’s Harry and Wanda Zekelman International Institute of the Righteous.

Stern is not the only long-time devoted staffer at the museum. The center maintains a valuable Library Archive under the baton of Feiga Weiss. Rabbi Rosenzveig, personally employing the perspective that only a survivor can muster, did a number of the pivotal video interviews.

In 2012, I returned to Detroit for a museum co-sponsored two-event visit. I updated my 2006 warning about the Iranian nuclear program in a presentation at a nearby synagogue.

In the museum auditorium, we helped set the stage for a global recognition of The Farhud, the 1941 Arab-Nazi pogrom in Baghdad that attempted to exterminate that city’s Jews.

The Farhud has been referred to by some as the long-overlooked Sephardic Kristallnacht.

While the idea was bold and new when explored within the walls of the museum in 2012, it eventually caught traction worldwide. Last year, together with other Jewish leaders in a live-streamed global event in the United Na-

The detroit center must be preserved as a torch of Holocaust enlightenment that flickers the reminder, ‘never again.’

W

A

tions, we proclaimed International Farhud Day. While this observance is now globally known, the Detroit Museum boldly confronted the topic four years earlier.

With its special place in American Holocaust commemoration and documentation, the Detroit center must be preserved as it was intended to be and as it has been from its first day — a torch of Holocaust enlightenment that flickers the reminder, “Never Again.”

Too many Holocaust memorials have lost their original identity and transitioned to institutions which devote themselves to both Holocaust and genocide, or simply to global genocide.

As one who plumbs the dark recesses of the genocide of many groups throughout history, from A current exhibit at Detroit’s Holocaust museum is 'Holocaust by Bullets,' Herero Africans to Roma- which showcases Father Patrick Desbois and Yahad–In Unum’s historic nian Gypsies to the Otto- undertaking to ensure that 2.2 million Jews and Roma who were executman Armenians, I know ed by Nazi mobile killing units between 1941 and 1944 are not forgotten. that all of these shameful Yahad–In Unum has identified 1,893 execution sites in seven countries and videotaped 4,714 eyewitness testimonies. chapters must be thormy earlier events at the museum, was contacted. oughly illuminated to reduce the chance of their repetition. Holocaust He too declined all comment and failed to reresearch and memorial centers need to bring spond to several voice mails and emails attemptthose chapters within their walls to document ing to gather ordinary background information the similitude of blood and suffering at the about the museum. So no one knows just what hands of madmen. Otherwise “Never Again” is changes or transitions are in store — and what just a slogan and not a fateful warning to the in direction they may take the musum.

Despite the wall of silence, it has been learned world.

We in the Holocaust community do this best that a new director is being considered to aswhen we preserve intact and conserve Holo- sume the museum’s top leadership slot next year caust remembrance and the uniqueness of Ho- as part of the transition. Museum sources report locaust identity as an unparalleled and unique that a local rabbi with a distinguished record 12-year onslaught perpetrated worldwide in is under consideration. But until a decision is broad daylight with headlines blaring as a pro- made, the museum remains mum about its plans.

What the “transition” is — and what prompted paganda ministry issued press releases. ecently, it has been learned that Detroit’s the continued reticence — is unknown.

Holocaust remembrance and the museums Holocaust Memorial Center is contemplating changes. The institution is now everywhere, built with community money, being directed by Cheryl Guyer, who is both belong to the survivors and their succeeding “interim director” and “director of develop- generations. After all, it was their suffering, ment.” Her hats cover both the soul of the indelible stories, and unforgettable nightmares museum and fund-raising — two spheres that that excavated the depths beneath the concrete aren’t always in sync. Rabbi Rosenzveig went foundations, the walls, and exhibits. The boards against conventional economic wisdom to cre- of directors of such museums everywhere are mere trustees of the legacy. They don’t own it. ate the museum.

When contacted by this writer, Guyer con- They are custodians.

Therefore, Guyer should check with the firmed that the museum and its board is now undergoing a period of what she called “new community before any “strategic thinking or strategic thinking and transition.” She refused transition” is announced or implemented, and to elaborate. When asked again, she steadfastly shine the light of openness upon what is in refused to comment, saying, “We are not ready store. Survivors and their descendants hold the to talk about it.” In the ensuing days, Guyer de- trademark on Holocaust memory. For many, the clined to respond to more than eight email and mark is tattooed on their forearms; for many voice requests for further information for this others, it is permanently written in their hearts.

Edwin Black is the New York Times bestselling story.

The museum’s official media spokesman, author of IBM and the Holocaust, Nazi Nexus, Glenn Oswald, one of the most affable and re- War Against the Weak, and The Farhud. He can sponsive publicists in the field, who promoted be found at www.edwinblack.com.

R

7 THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

From left to right: Dr. Nadia Rao, Dr. Mindy Scheer and Dr. Diane Garrigan

Imaging with a woman’s touch Women’s health care needs are unique. The South Nassau Center for Women’s Imaging provides a comprehensive range of radiology services specifically for women. Our female physician group has more than 45 years of combined experience caring for other women. We take the standard of quality care to the next level by offering the most advanced technology in a comfortable, compassionate and caring environment.

The South Nassau difference: • Advanced diagnostic technologies, including digital mammography, high-resolution ultrasound and MRI of the breast • Convenient scheduling options for busy women • Designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology

440 Merrick Road in Oceanside – our only location Call 516-255-8220 or visit southnassau.org.

Services provided through South Nassau Radiological Practice, PC, dba South Nassau Center for Women’s Imaging.

CENTER FOR WOMEN’S IMAGING

864713

• 3D Digital Mammography

Sale Dates: October 9th - 14th 2016

Weekly Bartenura Balsamic Tradition Cup-aSoup Vinegar Chicken or No MSG 17 oz Chicken - 2.29 oz $ 99 $ 99 the case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .by ........

Manischewitz Hunt’s Tomatoes Whole, Diced, Crushed, Noodles Sauce, Puree - 28 oz/29 oz Fine, Medium, Wide, Extra 4/$ Wide69 - 12 oz $ ¢ ......................................................

6

8

5

2 99

Mishpacha Chocolate Chips 10 oz

4

Kemach Pie Shells 6 oz

3

2/$

2/$

......................................................

Osem Mini Mandel Lieber’s No MSG Soup 14 oz 14 oz $ 99

2

$

99

2

Wolff’s Kasha

Whole, Medium, Fine, Coarse - 13 oz

249

$

.................................................

Polaner Apricot Preserves 32 oz

349

$

3

399

$

Zetov Super Snacks 1.25 oz

79¢

2/

.................................................

Assorted - 6 oz

All Varieties 32 oz

Assorted 3 oz/3.5 oz

4

3/$

Shibolim Knockers

Imagine Broths

299

Carmit Chocolate Bars

5

$

5/$

.................................................

.................................................

Rice Select Texmati & Jasmati Rice

Gourmet Glatt Viennese Crunch

2/$

Except Organic, Orzo, Couscous - 32 oz

25 oz

99¢ .................................................

.................................................

.................................................

.................................................

14 oz

Except Quinoa, Long Grain or Pearled 5.2 oz/6.7 oz

Beit Hashita 18-25 Pickles in Brine 3/$

3

Wissotzky Tea

.................................................

Bloomeos Cookies Paskesz Blo Pops, Shock Pops, Assorted - 20 oz Cherry Gum Pops $ 49

10 oz

.................................................

Manischewitz Cello Tube Soups

4.5 oz

99¢

2

Oneg Crunchy Fried Onions

.................................................

Everything, Sesame, Unsalted 6 oz

Gefen Mushrooms Natural Earth Quinoa Stems & Pieces - 8 oz Except Organic 12 oz $ 99 ......................................................

12

$ 9999 $

.................................................

Mishpacha Matzo Ball Mix

All Flavors - 20 Count

99¢

16 oz

.................................................

.................................................

......................................................

Bartenura Gnocchi

5

2/$

Bloom’s Pretzels 12 oz

1

$ 29

5

Gefen Whole Hearts of Palm

249

$

.................................................

Bumblebee Solid White Tuna In Water or Oil - 5 oz

5

3/$

.................................................

Bloom’s Pretzels, ABC or Animal Cookies 1 oz

1

5/$

Assorted - 12 oz

499

$

Near East Couscous & Pilaf

5

3/$

.................................................

1099

$

party pack!

Gold’s Duck Sauce Assorted - 40 oz

249

$

.................................................

Betty Crocker Gushers, Lieber’s Alef Beis or ABC Cookies Fruit Roll-ups or Fruit 12 oz by the Foot 4.5 oz - 5.4 oz 2/$ 2/$

3

5

.................................................

Kosure Hot Cocoa Original Only - 10 Pack

349

$

.................................................

Coke, Fresca, Sprite, Dr. Pepper 2 Liter

5

3/$

4

2/$

Temp Tee Cream Cheese

Classic Cooking Kugels

11.5 oz

Sabra Hummus Assorted - 17 oz

3

Assorted - 17 oz

299

$

......................................................

499

$

Chobani Greek Yogurt All Varieties - 5.3 oz

$

.......................................

. . . . . . . . 10 ..............................................

10/$

Schtark Shredded Cheese

Bagel Cuts - 12 oz

1099

$

Miller’s String Cheese 18 oz

Except Pepper Jack - 6 oz

799

$

5

2/$

.......................................

.......................................

.......................................

Assorted 59 oz

1 lb

Assorted - 16 oz

Tropicana Orange Juice

Banner Nova Lox

2 lb

99

Ha’olam Sliced Slims

7

2/$

Ha’olam Ricotta Cheese

Mehadrin Cottage Cheese

4

$

39

399

$

799

$

Spring Valley Kreplach

Klein’s Ice Cream

All Flavors - Dairy or Parve - 56 oz

8 oz

599

$

......................................................

B’gan Chopped Broccoli

24 oz

399

$

.......................................

$

Bodek Broccoli or Cauliflower Florets

Spring Valley H’ors Doeuvres

$

399

......................................................

40 Pieces

24 oz

4

99

Oronoque Pie Crusts 2 Pack - 16 oz

2

$

99

.......................................

Luigi’s Italian Ices All Flavors - 6 Cups

299

$

Sharon’s Sorbet All Flavors 16 oz

299

STORE HOURS

137 Spruce Street

(516) 569-2662

SUN -TUE: 7 AM-9 PM WED: 7 AM-11 PM THURS: 7 AM-12 AM

Woodmere STORE HOURS

699

$

.......................................

.......................................

20 oz - 32 oz

All Varieties 32 oz

McCain French Fries Of Tov Chicken All Varieties Nuggets

5

2/$

1099

Cedarhurst

Chicken, Beefr, Turkey 16 oz

$

$

NOW 2 locations!

Kosher R Us Pelmeni

1099

$

1030 Railroad Avenue

(516) 295-6901

SUN - THURS: 7 AM-9 PM FRIDAY 7 AM UNTIL 2 HRS. BEFORE CANDLE LIGHTING

866760

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

8

9 THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

Sale Dates: October 9th - 14th 2016

Specials Navel Silver Tip $ 49 $ 89 $ 49 2 lb.

Pastrami 9 lb. Roast lb. Chicken .................9 .. ...................

Drumsticks

1ST CUT BRISKET

1099 lb.

$

Neck & Skirt

Ground Beef

Untrimmed

CHICKEN CUTLETS

379 lb.

$

Super Family Pack

Extra Lean

Beef lb. Stew

4

Family . . . . . . . . Pack ...........

649 lb. Neck of $ 49 Family Pack Veal ...................

11 lb.

Super Family Pack ...................

Roast Fresh $ 49 Boneless 9 lb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Deckel Shoulder Frozen $ 99 ................... of Veal $1099 lb.

4 lb.

Duck Turkey $ 99 Roast Wing 5 lb. .Missing ................

Roast ..................

White Meat Corned Breast ................... $ 99 8 lb.

Beef of Veal $ 99 $ 99 Small 8 lb.

8 lb.

With/Without Pocket Deckel Kolichel $

99

$

Kemach All Purpose Flour 5 lb

Dependable High Gluten Flour 5 lb

2

2

$ 99

$ 49

......................................................

Barilla Pasta

Except Lasagna, Jumbo Shells, Manicotti, Plus & Gluten-Free - 12 oz/16 oz

Frescorti Marinara & Pasta Sauces 26 oz

3/$ 5 5 ......................................................

4/$

Domino Sugar

Wesson Oil

4 lb Bag

Canola, Corn, Vegetable - Gallon

2

$ 29

6

$

99

......................................................

99¢ lb.

..........................

Red & Green Grapes

Sliced Mushrooms

Cortland Apples

99¢ lb.

..........................

Golden new york state Delicious 99¢ lb.

Apples

Butternut Squash

2 2/$ $

149 lb.

$

..........................

..........................

Bartlett Pears

Slicing 99¢ lb. Idaho Potatoes Tomatoes

69¢ lb.

Sleeve Celery

2/$3

Iceberg Lettuce

All Varieties - 12 Pack

Mini Knishes

$

Rice with Mushrooms Mini Bourekas

$

order your shabbos platters early!

Whole Sides Baby Salmon Fillets $ 99 lb.

1299ea.

Let Us Decorate All Your Succos Celebrations!

1499& Up

$

12

Brownies No Nuts

$

Succah Greenery

11

99

$

we have a full line of all your favorite prepared dishes throughout the holidays

5

Assorted Cheesecakes

1099

$

Family Pack - Package

Salmon Fillet Tilapia Family Pack Family Pack $ 99 $ 99 lb. lb.

10

Flat Onion Rolls Package of 4

549lb.

$

1

$ 49 ea.

Decorative Succah Balls

3499& Up Autumnal Arrangements $3499 & Up

Fresh or Artificial Floral, Wicker, Glass, Carnation & Topiary Style

order@gourmetglatt.com

Disposable Tableware for All Your Succos Meals!

Vegetable Roll

Baked Ziti

7

All Varieties - 12 Pack

6 5 ......................................................

2/$

99¢ ea.

6 Pack

99 ea.

Post 11 oz Cocoa or Fruity Pebbles; 12 oz Alpha Bits or Honeycomb; 14 oz Golden Crisp $ 99

Head

Homemade Cheese 99 lb. Blintzes

7 $ 99 4 lb. $ 99 7 ea.

Meat or Chicken Loaves

Original Only - 36 oz

29

..........................

..........................

Deli & Takeout

/

Amnon’s Pizza

$ 99 1 6 ......................................................

..........................

..........................

79¢ lb.

99¢ lb.

Jumbo Red Peppers

69¢ lb.

Medium Red Onions

199 lb.

$

All Flavors - 6 oz

2/$3

2/$3.

2/$3 Granny Smith Apples

Cello Mushrooms

$

/gourmetglatt

450

$

............................

Tamanecki Fried Onion $ Roll

495

............................

Spicy Kani Roll

550

$

Tuna Salad Roll

595

$

............................

Sushi Crisps

995

$

............................

Pomango Roll

1095

$

check out our new olive bar! $ 99 Mushroom Dip Pre-Packaged 2 ea.

Light Smoky Taco Dip Pre-Packaged $299ea. $ 99 Spinach Dip Pre-Packaged 2 ea.

Honey Mustard Onion Dip $ 99 2 ea.

Pre-Packaged $ Cabbage Soup Pre-Packaged 499ea.

Spinach, Pizza la Zucchini or $ 99 Regular Zucchini Kugel Pre-Packaged 4 ea.

Quinoa with Chummus At the Counter

new!

799lb.

$

We reserve the right to limit quantities. No rain checks. Not responsible for typographical errors.

866763

Sweet Pomegranates

YoCrunch Yogurt

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

10

Yomim Tovim memories for a sweet new year Judy Joszef who’s in the kitchen

J

erry has wonderful memories of davening with his father in Rabbi Landau’s shetible, in Flatbush, on the Yomim Tovim. Starting when he was a young boy, his father loved the timeless melodic nusach of the davening, and he sang joyously, complemented with a beautiful radiant and irrepressible smile.

Perhaps Jerry’s favorite moment was when he and his younger brother, Seme, would be shepherded under his fathers tallis during the Birkat Kohanim. It didn’t get much better than this for Jerry, and he always looked forward to intimately sharing this moment with his father.

He remembers asking his father why he and the other children were required to be guarded under their father’s tallaisim. His father explained that no one was allowed to look at the kohanim during the blessing.

Of course this peaked Jerry’s curiosity because he was always inherently curious and stimulated particularly when he was told he “couldn’t” do something This launched Jerry’s life-long career of asking klutz kashas (ridiculous questions) which has resulted in rabbis of all orientations to commence hasty full retreat mode to circumvent Jerry’s BTAstyle entreaties.

His father patiently explained that anyone who looked at the kohanim would turn blind.

This fascinated Jerry, as he knew the handful of kohanim in the schtieble and was unaware

they possessed these super powers. His father explained that the kohanim wouldn’t blindJerry; instead Hashem’s spirit would enter the shul during Birkat Kohanim and hover over the kohanim — of course, no one was allowed to look at Hashem. Therefore, he explained, he couldn’t look at the kohanim.

Jerry was flabbergasted. He asked where Hashem was before and after kohanim. Was he above the clouds and would then fly down to Rabbi Landaus shetible during Birkat Kohanim? Could people outside the shul watch him fly down and into the shul? Jerry’s father laughed and explained that Hashem was actually everywhere (this was before Uncle Moishy’s hit “Hashem is here, Hashem is there, Hashem is truly everywhere”).

Now Jerry was totally confused. If Hashem was everywhere, how and why did he need to enter the shul during the Birkat Kohanim blessing when he was actually already there? Jerry’s father, a saint of patience, explained that we can’t understand everything but this is what we were required to believe.

Well, for Jerry, seeing was believing. He hatched a plan to peek out of his fathers tallis to watch what he believed would be an incredible spectacle of the spirit of Hashem soaring into the shul and hovering over the kohanim. What Jerry saw in Raiders of the Lost Ark — the scene where the ark was opened and the celestial spirits began to fly around, visibly soaring prolifically among the people — approximated what he imagined he would witness. However Jerry’s spirit was grounded when he peeked out and all he saw was his fathers friends in front of the shul, in their socks (some actually with holes in them), singing the kohanim prayer. This was a serious bummer for Jerry. He spent almost

an entire year worrying that he would turn blind — and it wasn’t even worth it.

As Yom Kippur nears, and I begin to reflect on memories of davening with my parents and grandparents, I miss them terribly, yet I simultaneously feel their presence and remember how much they loved me, and the wonderful times we spent together during the Yomim Tovim.

Jerry and I wish all of you a G’mar Tov, an easy fast, with a good year to follow and unquenchably beautiful memories of loved ones lost during our lifetimes.

Here’s a sweet way to break your fast, and start the new year.

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients: 1 packet instant rapid rise yeast 1 cup unsweetened plain almond milk 1/2 cup butter, divided 1/4 tsp salt 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour 1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 cup + 1 sugar, divided Directions: In a microwave safe dish place the almond milk and 3 Tbs of the butter and microwave at 25 second intervals just until melted. Remove from heat and let cool, so that if you were to put your finger into it, it would be very warm, but not burn your finger. If it’s too hot it will kill the yeast.

Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl and sprinkle the yeast into it. Let activate for

10 minutes, then add 1 Tbsp sugar and the salt and stir.

Next add in flour 1/2 cup at a time, stirring as you go. The dough will be sticky at first, as you knead it, it will become less sticky, at that point, transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute or so until it forms a loose ball. Rinse your mixing bowl out, coat it with canola oil, and add he dough back in. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a thin rectangle. Brush with 3 Tbsp melted butter, and top with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp cinnamon Starting at one end, tightly roll up the dough and place seam side down. Then with a serrated knife , cut the dough into 2 inch sections and place in a well-buttered 8x8inch square or round pan (you should have about 10 rolls). Brush with remaining 2 Tbsp melted butter,and cover with plastic wrap.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once the oven is hot, bake rolls for 25-30 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes and if you like you can top it off with this sugary delight.

Topping Ingredients: 1/2 C confectioners’ sugar 2 teaspoons milk 1/4 tsp vanilla extract Directions: Mix well till dissolved and drizzle on buns.

A Yom Kippur break-fast … with a bit of bling

By Shannon Sarna, JTA For many, the Yom Kippur break-fast is a bagels and schmear-filled inevitability — just add some lox, maybe some slices of tomato and orange juice, and everyone is happy.

For others, the break-fast is one of the most important meals of the year. Expectations can run high, and I know many people who anticipate the same dishes year after year after year.

But what if you want to serve something a little more than just bagels, or veer a little off course from your usual blintz soufflé? Consider these three newish dishes.

Simple banana bread is hard to improve upon, but when you add chocolate chips and moist (and healthy) canned pumpkin, you have a crowd-pleasing quick bread you can bake one or two days ahead of time.

Quiche is one of the easiest make-ahead comfort foods, and this version is brightened with fresh herbs, feta cheese and lemon zest.

Fresh fruit is also standard at break-fast meals. But by adding some cinnamon and candied walnuts to autumn fruit, you can take something simple and traditional and make it extraordinary.

PUMPKIN BANANA CHOCOLATE BREAD

This quick bread is so moist you don’t need anything to go with it. (Still, that shouldn’t stop you from serving it with some good quality butter, if you’d like.) It’s a delicious sweet treat that’s perfect for ending a fast, celebrating the season and kicking off a sweet new year.

Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) 1-1/2 cups sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 ripe bananas, mashed well 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

HERB, SPINACH AND FETA QUICHE

1-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ginger 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg Pinch ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus extra Sanding sugar (optional) Directions: Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a large loaf pan and then coat inside with around 1 tablespoon sugar, tapping out an excess (this is instead of flour).

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla.

Add mashed banana and pumpkin puree.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in 2 or 3 batches. Fold in chocolate chips using a spatula. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Add a handful of additional chocolate chips on top and sanding sugar if desired.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean.

Allow to cool 10 minutes, then gently remove from pan.

Quiche is the perfect make-ahead dish. It can keep in the fridge for two to three days, and then be reheated in the oven at 300 F for 20 to 30 minutes. It can also be served at room temperature. While homemade crust is flaky and delicious, you can also use a store-bought crust in this recipe.

For the crust: 2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 6 ounces butter (1-1/2 sticks), chilled and cut into cubes 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening, chilled Scant 1/2 cup ice water For the filling: 3 large eggs 1-1/2 cups heavy cream or half and half 6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled 8 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and excess liquid squeezed out 1/4 cup fresh chopped dill 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley a few sprigs of fresh oregano, leaves removed and chopped 1 teaspoon lemon zest 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper Directions: To make the dough: In a food processor fitted with a blade, add all crust ingredients except for water. Pulse a few times to mix. Begin adding water just until a ball of dough begins to form. Do not over-pulse.

Remove dough and work on a lightly floured surface until you can shape the dough into a flat disk.

Wrap in plastic and place in fridge for 1 to 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Roll out crust on a lightly floured surface until 1/4-inch thick. Carefully roll the crust onto your rolling pin and lay on top of springform pan.

Gently push the crust into the pan using tips of fingers and thumbs. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork all over.

Bake for 7-9 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.

Reduce oven temperature to 375.

Whisk together eggs, cream or half and half, feta, salt and pepper.

Add spinach and herbs to egg mixture. Pour into prepared quiche crust, taking care to try and evenly distribute the cheese and veggies.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

AUTUMN FRUIT SALAD

If apples and pears aren’t your fruit of choice, you can add these flavors to any fruit you like: pineapple, berries, grapes, etc. To sweeten the salad even further, you can add a tablespoon of honey or, for a more sophisticated Middle Eastern twist, add a tablespoon of pomegranate molasses.

Ingredients: 3 apples, diced 3 pears, diced 3/4 cup candied walnuts, roughly chopped 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1 tablespoon orange zest Juice of 1/2 lemon Directions: Whisk together cinnamon, orange zest and lemon juice. Add apples, pears and walnuts to bowl and toss. Place in fridge until ready to serve, up to 3 hours.

11 THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH KNOW YOUR RISK:

GET SCREENED:

Family history: • Breast cancer • Ovarian cancer • BRCA gene carriers

Mammogram: • Annual beginning age 40 (for average risk) • Earlier for people with risk factors (consult your doctor)

Personal history: • Lifestyle habits • Breast or ovarian cancer • BRCA gene carrier

Clinical breast exams: • Every 3 years between 20-40 • Annual >40 years of age

DECREASE YOUR RISK:

KNOW YOUR BODY:

• Limit alcohol intake • Nutrition: more fruit/vegetables, less red/processed meats & fats • Weight loss/exercise • Breast feeding (if able)

• Monthly Self breast exams • Contact your doctor right away for any changes/abnormalities To schedule a mammogram at St. John’s, please call 718-869-7780.

E P I S C O P A L H E A LT H S E R V I C E S I N C .

W W W. EH S .O RG

863988

ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPA L HOSPITA L

In pop culture, Judaism trended — among non-Jews JTA Famous non-Jews were very public during in the year just ended about their Jewish proclivities, from craving gefilte fish to singing the Passover classic, “Dayenu.”

Here are some of the moments in 5776 when gentiles were inspired by Judaism, from the worlds of sports, entertainment and politics.

Sports

Amar’e Stoudemire moved to Israel: The NBA star signed a two-year contract with the Israeli basketball team Hapoel Jerusalem in July. Stoudemire has a history with Judaism. He has described himself as “spiritually and culturally Jewish” and said he may have Jewish ancestry. He also has ties to the Hebrew Israelite community, African-Americans who believe they are connected to the biblical Israelites. “My family and I are excited to start a new journey in Israel, a country I have grown to love,” the basketball player said.

•Michael Phelps got a folk treatment with an old Yiddish name: Sports fans were confused after seeing round, purple-red marks on the bodies of several Olympic athletes in August, including swimming champ Phelps.

It turns out they were receiving a treatment called cupping — known as bankes in Yiddish — which consists of applying heated glass cups to the skin, in the hopes of drawing out evil spirits. We were skeptical at first, but after seeing Phelps win six medals in Rio… •A Japanese gymnast did her Olympics floor routine to a Hasidic tune: Sae Miyakawa did her Rio f loor routine to the Jewishcamp classic, “Kol Haolam Kulo,” which was originally written by Rabbi Nahman of Breslov.

While the Japanese team didn’t win a medal, her performance showed that the “klezmer

Stephen Colbert with the cast of Fiddler on the Roof.

YouTube screenshot

A clip from Yated Ne’eman featuring a partiallyvisible Hillary Clinton.

Sen. Ted Cruz makes matzah at the Model Matzah Bakery in Brooklyn.

Twitter

revival” resonates around the globe. But not everyone was happy with Miyakawa’s choice of music — an Israeli rabbi who reportedly composed the melody said he would seek royalties for the performance, which he slammed as “inappropriate” and “not very modest.”

NFL player Terrell Suggs cut down on gefilte fish to lose weight: The Baltimore Ravens linebacker is a big fan of the Ashkenazi fish patties — but he said that in order to get in shape, he had to hold back. “I like my fried chicken, my pizza, my peaches and my gefilte fish,” Suggs said in August. “I had to cut all that out. I still eat the peaches, though, and a little bit of the fish. But that’s about it.”

ended the segment by yelling “L’chaim!”

•Gina Rodriguez said Latinos in Hollywood should take a clue from Jews: The actress, a trailblazer for minorities in Hollywood, said in August that Latinos should learn from Jewish celebrities. “One thing that I love about Jewish culture is that anthill effect. Every ant brings food to the anthill and everybody eats,” Rodriguez told Latina Magazine. “Sadly our culture has been living the crab-in-the-barrel effect. We’re so afraid there isn’t enough room for all of us that we fight to get to the top. We don’t need to do that.”

Bonus: it turns out the actress is part Jewish!

unleavened bread in Brooklyn ahead of the New York primary in April, which happened just before Pesach. But even joining in to sing the traditional crowd-pleaser “Dayenu” wasn’t enough to help him win the Republican nomination; he came in third place with 14.5 percent of Republican votes.

•Donald Trump wore a tallit In September, the Republican presidential candidate donned a Jewish prayer shawl given to him by a pastor during a visit to a black church in Detroit. And it wasn’t just any tallit, but one that came “straight from Israel,” according to the pastor. The incident left many Jews, probably among them Trump’s Jewish daughter Ivanka, scratching their heads.

•Hillary Clinton broke barriers in a haredi newspaper: In addition to becoming the first female presidential nominee of a major party, this summer Clinton shattered another glass ceiling, of sorts: In August, the Yated Ne’eman newspaper, which typically does not publish photos of women, printed one of the candidate. The catch: only her arm and the very top of her head were visible.

Entertainment

•Stephen Colbert jammed with the “Fiddler on the Roof” cast: In March, on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” the host donned a black hat and fake beard as he danced and sang with cast members from the Broadway show, which is playing across the street from the Colbert’s Ed Sullivan Theater. The comedian joined Tevye’s daughters in singing “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” and

Politics

•John Kasich lectured haredi Jews about the Torah: During a visit to Borough Park in April, the Ohio governor shared his interpretation of the Bible. In a conversation that came off as somewhat condescending, Kasich asked a group of yeshiva students whether they had ever read about Joseph. He also said that Abraham trumps Moses.

•Ted Cruz baked matzah in Brooklyn The presidential hopeful helped make the

F R E E FF R E E C OR R DE LEE SS LIFT

CC OR S SE S L ISF T ODRLDEL LIFT

LIMITED ONLY LIMITED TIME TIME ONLY LIMITED TIME ONLY NOW OCT. 31, 2016 JULY 1THRU – AUGUST 31, 2016

TIME ONLY JULY LIMITED 1 – AUGUST 31, 2016 JULYOn1 Graber – AUGUST 31, 2016 Cellular, Roller, Solar, or On Graber Cellular, Roller,Wood, Solar,Faux or Wood, or Natural Shades; Natural Shades; Wood, Faux Wood, or Composite Blinds.* On Graber Cellular, Roller, Solar, or Composite Blinds.* Natural Shades; Wood, Faux Selections.

Wood, or *Excludes Graber Simple *Excludes Graber Simple Selections.

Composite Blinds.*

F

CORD

LIMIT JULY 1 –

On Graber C Natural Shad Com

*Excludes G

*Excludes Graber Simple Selections.

Lenny Koegel • 516-594-6010

DistinctiveWindowFashions.com

Serving 5 Towns & surrounding areas since 1988

16-3218 (7/16) 16-3218 (7/16)

866650

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

12

13 THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

‫ב”ה‬ CHABAD OF THE 5 TOWNS & CHABAD OF HEWLETT

THE JEWISH DISCOVERY Students from the Rambam Mesivta in Lawrence rallied for Alan Gross’ freedom, outside the Cuban Mission to the United Nations, in March, 2012.

Alan Gross: I’m grateful for kehila ‘insurance’

HEBREW SCHOOL LEARN IT. LOVE IT. LIVE IT.

Inspiring Jewish pride and identity NEVER HEAR THESE WORDS AGAIN “HEBREW SCHOOL IS BORING” SUNDAYS, 9:45 AM – NOON LOCATION: CHABAD 5 TOWNS 74 MAPLE AVE., CEDARHURST

GRADES K-8 • KINDERGARTEN AGE IS FREE! ACCLAIMED ‘ALEPH CHAMP’ HEBREW TEACHING METHOD Alan Gross and his wife Judy at a press conference on the day of his release, Dec. 17, 2014, in Washington.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

me, I readily agreed even though I did not yet know what a selfie was.

Tens of thousands of people in our community and around the nation prayed for me, spoke up for me, stood up for me, took action on my behalf and (epiphany two) demonstrably showed me that there is at least a little bit of Moses the leader in all of us.

I can praise and thank my wife, Judy, and my lawyer, Scott Gilbert, and our core redemption team in Washington from now until the end of time. I can thank all of the interfaith and political organizations for everything they have done to help redeem me.

But it was my kehila, my community, our community, that led a grass roots effort that tipped the scales in my favor. And no one — no one — can convince me that it was not this grass roots-to-the top effort that tipped the scales in the Oval Office enabling the president to make the historic decision to bring me home. …

So to each of you in this community, in our greater community, todah rabah for helping to restore my freedom. Thank you for bringing me home. Thank you for helping to underwrite that special insurance policy that redeemed me. Freedom is bliss!

Alan Gross was a U.S. government contractor, who spent five years in a Cuban prison.

It was my kehila that led a grass roots effort that tipped the scales in my favor.

www.Chabad5Towns.com 516.295.2478

Every child is welcome! Regardless of background or affiliation. Serving the communities of Cedarhurst, Hewlett, Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Harbor, Hewlett Neck, Inwood, Lawrence, North Woodmere, Woodmere and Woodsburgh.

867209

By Alan Gross, for JNS.org Now that I’ve had some time to reflect on my years of captivity in Cuba, I’m starting to feel settled into my new life in freedom and much more interested in the coming five years than in the five years that I lost.

In the 21 months since my release, I’ve realized that I probably would not be living in Washington today were it not for the extraordinary efforts of tenacious members of Congress and their staffs; forward thinkers at the Justice and State departments; folks at the National Security Council, who pushed and shepherded and pushed some more; interventions from Pope Francis; calls to the White House by labor leaders like James P. Hoffa, and the final decision to bring me home, ultimately made in the only office that could make such a decision, the Oval Office.

But that decision was five years in the making. What ultimately tipped the scales in the right direction, enabling President Obama to make such a historic decision? The answer I found was everyone, regardless of the activity or level of interaction.

In particular, it was the leadership and participation by members of my own Jewish community that helped to bring me home; I hope that my gratitude is being appropriately and unambiguously expressed.

When I finally did return home, I did not understand the incredible response from so many people, who came up to me to welcome me, wish me well, tell me how much they appreciated my service, and to let me know how hard they worked to bring me home and how hard they prayed for me.

This incredible reaction to my freedom and redemption, especially from the Jewish community, has since led to a few epiphanies.

Epiphany one: People responding to me, especially those in our Jewish community, were invested in me in some way, if not through their advocacy activities, then at least emotionally and through their prayers.

And my return to freedom at Andrews Air Force Base on Dec. 17, 2014 was their return on that investment. It has taken me some time to come to that realization. So when people ask if they could take a selfie with

PROGRAM

HEALTH, MIND & BODY Section sponsored by Alina Bergan DDS • 650 Central Ave, Suite F • Cedarhurst • 516-203-4556

Mental health challenges in the frum community What is special about the Mayanei Hayeshua Mental Health Center?

Our Mental Health Center will become the largest psychiatric center of its kind in the Middle East. We believe that halacha and Torah hashkafa can actually assist in psychiatric issues.

Social and communal interventions that are typical of Orthodox communities, such as social support, family support, rehabilitation programme, are already an integral part of the religious lifestyle. Our almost exclusively Torah observant staff have an exceptional level of expertise in their professional disciplines.

How important is it for mental health practitioners to appreciate the culture of the patients they treat?

It can be very hard to diagnose someone unless you clearly understand his cultural framework and understand what normalcy is in that culture. For example, a secular doctor might misinterpret ritual behaviour, religious observance and even reliance on a higher power as being abnormal psychiatric symptoms. This can leave to misdiagnosis and mistreatment.

Dr. Michael Bunzel, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak and medical director of the hospital’s newly-opened Mental Health Center, spoke about his center’s approach to dealing with mental health issues while maintaining a commitment to the halacha and the sanctity of human life. Medical ethics issues at Mayanei Hayeshua are overseen by a halachic committee of Gedolei Yisroel. This interview was prepared for American Friends MHMC.

Why has there been resistance in Orthodox circles to mental health issues?

There is a history of Orthodox suspicion of professional care of mental health problems. Halachic authorities such as Rav Moshe Feinstein used to be wary of psychological treatment because it was largely based on philosophies seen as antithetical to a Torah outlook. The split between the world of psychiatry and the world of the religious led to mutual distrust. Happily, the last 30 years have seen the emergence of new psychological treatments that

are no longer regarded as threatening. Psycholo- sensitive to their unique Torah outlook. If mental gists and psychiatrists now have greater awareness health issues are stigmatized, the people who are suffering live in a world of secrecy and that religion is not only not a barrier to their problems only are exacerbated. psychological rehabilitation, but can ofThere were times when anyone in Bnei ten facilitate this. The decline in resisBrak with a mental health issue would tance to mental health treatment among have to travel far away for treatment, the religiously observant community so as not to be seen. Opening Mayahas been helped by an increase in the nei Hayeshua’s mental health clinic number of religiously observant menright in the middle of Bnei Brak went tal health practitioners, and by the bistraight in the face of the stigma. Madirectional consultation that often takes yanei Hayeshua has the support of the place between rabbis and mental health top rabbinical leaders; rabbis now work professionals. I would go far as to say openly and constructively with our psythat we have a witnessed a revolution. chiatrists. The orthodox public is beginInstead of rabbis and their communities ning to recognise that shidduchim are resisting the treatment of mental health, Dr. Michael Bunzel not doomed if a great-grandson is on an they are now partners in the treatment.

Has the stigma of mental health antidepressant. There is greater awareness that it is possible to use psycholed to mental illness in the Torahtherapy in a way that is guided by Torah values. observant community going untreated?

Our data shows that 65 percent of the adults What types of mental illnesses do you come and 70 percent of the children who come in for across in Torah-observant communities?

The Torah lifestyle protects against many ailmental health help would not have sought treatment elsewhere because other clinics are less See Mental on page 15

Healthy Teeth & Gums From A New Patient Knowledgeable, Caring Dentist With Exceptional Skills And A Gentle Touch Special!

Adult Cleaning,* Exam, and X-rays L’Shana Tova • Friendly Doctor & Staff who listen to your concerns and clearly explain your treatment options • For your convenience, same day treatment available • Efficient office with highest standards of cleanliness • Same day emergency appointments available • We see children starting at 2 years old

Call For Your Appointment Now!

516-203-4556

0% Financing Available OPEN SUNDAYS Request Your Appointment Online

Alina Bergan D.D.S.

650 Central Ave., Suite F Cedarhurst, NY 11516 www.alinabergandds.com

Only

$

99

Reg. $200

*In absence of gum disease

ChIld Cleaning,* Exam, X-rays and Fluoride

Only $

75

Reg. $150

*Children up to 12 years old.

One time Offer with coupon. Exp. 10/31/16.

SPECIAL!

In-Office Teeth Whitening

Only

$

Exp. 10/31/16

299

Reg. $500

866048

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

14

Mental health… diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric illness and depression, psychotherapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

School-based mental health and suicide awareness programs are helpful, and “Gatekeeper” training can help school staff, general practitioners and crisis hotlines to listen and refer more effectively.

Electroconvulsive therapy also provides rapid relief from suicidal thoughts. Mayanei Hayeshua has just received a generous donation from an observant U.S. foundation to buy advanced equipment for reducing the possibility of harmful side effects.

What can one say to someone contemplating ending their life?

Many people contemplating suicide think that because of their mental or physical illness, or other trouble they are experiencing, they are a burden on their family, their close friends, their community or their society. They get the idea into their head that their suicide might be beneficial to those around them by relieving them of the burden. That’s why it is so important for people contemplating suicide to understand and to hear that such an act inflicts much worse suffering on their loved ones. It is extremely difficult for family and friends to cope when they have lost a loved one to suicide.

How would you summarize your message concerning suicide in the religious community?

Like with all mental health issues, shame, stigma and silence only make matters worse. Suicidal thoughts are a part of mental illness, and therefore can often be treated and prevented if we are vigilant enough to recognize the symptoms. Halachic authorities now acknowledge the importance of psychiatric intervention, and have ruled that mental illness is often a question of pikuach nefesh, just like other medical emergencies. In the general society, suicide awareness and prevention initiatives are proving effective. There is no reason why the Torah observant community cannot do the same. The more open we are in addressing suicide in our community, the more we can help families who are affected by it.

Mount Sinai Doctors Five Towns is ready to serve your family’s health care needs. Our expert compassionate physicians see children, adolescents and adults. In addition to primary and pulmonary care, we offer obstetrics, gynecology, cardiology, and endocrinology

THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

Continued from page 14 ments that are more common in nonreligious societies … every psychiatric illness in Western society can be found in the Orthodox community.

Is the Torah-observant community immune to suicide?

I wish I could say yes, but unfortunately I cannot. … Despite the focus on emunah in particular and religion in general as protective factors against suicide, the Torah-observant community is not immune to this tragic phenomenon.

Are there any myths about suicide in the Torah observant community?

Yes, and these myths need to be addressed and corrected. For example, it is not true that “People who talk about suicide usually don’t commit suicide.” People who talk about suicide are a high risk group, and their veiled threats should not be ignored. It is also not true that “Suicide usually takes place with little or no warning.”

About 80 percent of suicide attempts are preceded by warnings, whether vague statements or clear threats. It is not true that “People who attempt suicide are fully intent on dying.” Only 3.5 percent of people who attempt suicide really want to die, while the other 96.5 percent are sending clear warning signals to those around them, warning signals that we must not ignore.

It is also not true that “People who attempt suicide remain suicidal forever.” Effective intervention can lead to erasing suicidal thoughts forever.

Since asking someone about their suicidal thoughts could increase the risk of suicide, is it not better just not talk to about it?

We used to think that asking about suicidal thoughts increased the risk of people considering suicide. We now know that the opposite is true, and that silencing the talk only increases rates of suicide. … Effective interventions include restricting access to lethal means such as weapons and drugs in the home, and preventing access to tall buildings and bridges. Other interventions include pharmacological interventions in all ages, psychiatric

15 ®

and have on-site radiology services.

Same day appointments are available with early morning, evening, and weekend hours.

Patients receive outstanding care from our physicians at 1436 Broadway in Hewlett, and get seamless access to the medical expertise and innovative treatment options of the entire Mount Sinai Health System.

MOUNT SINAI DOCTORS HERE FOR YOU

Linda Baron-Katz brings a message of hope for those in the Orthodox community living with a mental illness

ON LONG ISLAND

A memoir of the heartbreak and challenge of growing up with a mental illness like bipolar disorder, its stigma and the hope for recovery

856123

A children’s book about two different mental illnesses — depression and mania — makes it easier for children to understand these mental conditions Visit our website:

www.surviving-mental-illness.com For more information, contact Linda at baronkatz@gmail.com

866665

718-261-3772

For an appointment call 516-563-7200 or go to mountsinaidoctors.org/msdft2

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

16

YU to mark S.Y. Agnon’s Nobel Prize The Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies will host a conference on the works and influence of Nobel Prizewinning Israeli author S.Y. Agnon in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of his award. The event is set for Monday, Oct. 31, on the University’s Wilf Campus in Washington Heights.

The lectures will situate Agnon’s work in the context of his birthplace in Buchach, his adopted home in Jerusalem during the British mandate and early Israel, and the literary culture of his time.

Convened by Rabbi Shalom Carmy, assistant professor of Bible and Jewish philosophy; and Rabbi Jeffrey Saks ’91YC ’93BR ’95R, Agnon scholar and director of the Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions, other scheduled speakers include Dr. Zafrira Livodsky-Cohen, professor of Hebrew and director of Hebrew language and literature; Dr. Steven Fine, Dean Pinkhos Churgin Professor of Jewish History and director of the Center for Israel Studies at YU; Dr. Avraham Holtz, Simon H. Fabian Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS); Alan Mintz, Chana Kekst Professor of Hebrew Literature at JTS; and Dr. Wendy Zierler, Sigmund Falk Professor of Modern Jewish Literature and Feminist Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

“Agnon was creative in an extraordinary variety of literary forms,” said Carmy. “In addition to his fiction, he produced anthologies of Torah and chronicles of East European life, all this as the great impresario of the Hebrew language in all its classical layers that made him virtually untranslatable. In recent years, a flurry of attractive and accessible English translations, spearheaded by the work of Jeffrey Saks, has made him available to new audiences.”

The conference is organized by the Center for Israel Studies and its Joseph and Faye Glatt Program on Israel and the Rule of Law, and co-sponsored by Agnon House, Jerusalem, and the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies.

JEWISH October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 Every week in print and online at TheJewishStar.com Send news and photos to: Schools@TheJewishStar.com Yom Kippur week deadline: Sunday noon

Shulamith girls visit seniors

Kids make shofars at HAFTR Children at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway participated in the whole process of making a shofar when the Shofar Factory came to the school last week.

The students saw a wide variety of shofars — big and small, curly and straight.

They saw how the bone is removed, how the inside of the horn is cleaned, how both ends have to be open (otherwise no sound will be heard), and how the shofar curves up to Hashem.

Pictured: N4 students Michael Boriskin and Hattie Feit.

MDSers call O Kitta Gimmel at Manhattan Day School called the White House last week and asked to speak directly to President Obama.

The operator who answered 202-456-1111, the White House Comments Line, said they could not speak directly to the president. and suggested they email or write a letter instead.

The message “rang” clear. Only select members of the government are privy to the “secret number” that reaches the president directly, yet we can all reach Hashem directly on a daily basis and even more so on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The White House switchboard is manned by professional operators but Hashem Himself listens to the tefillot of all of Am Yisrael.

During the months of Elul and Tishrei, the lines to Hashem are always open.

HANCsters trek to Chabad

Seventh grade students of the Shulamith School for Girls in Cedarhurst visited the Long Island Living Center last Friday. They enjoyed speaking with the residents, singing holiday songs, and presenting a beautiful apple craft in honor of Rosh Hashana.

SHARE THE NEWS! FolloW THE jEWiSH STAR oN

STAR SCHOOLS

Rabbi Merrill’s third grade class at HANC’s Samuel and Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School carried Rosh Hashana cards with honey jars attached to Chabad in West Hempstead for delivery to elderly members of the community. The children were greeted by Rebbetzin Chaya Rochel Lieberman, who thanked them for bringing joy to members of the community who have difficulty getting out of their homes.

FAcEbook.com/THEjEWiSH STAR

TWiTTER.com/jEWiSHSTARNy

17

PASSION!

STELLA K. ABRAHAM HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

Join the debate at AIPAC’s Policy Conference Inspire your peers with a Tefilla discussion WRITE FOR AN AWARD-WINNING SCHOOL NEWSPAPER Join a championship basketball team Participate in the Bronka Weintraub Talmud Competition Lobby for Israel in Washington, DC Dance in our Annual Musical Production Run a Yachad Shabbaton Present an engineering project at the CIJE Fair Join a sunrise shacharit at the beach Share your thoughts in a MACs workshop Learn sushi making Submit an Intel Science Research project Coordinate a Holocaust Journal

JOIN SKA. FIND YOUR PASSION.

LIVE YOUR

DREAM!

OPEN HOUSE: Sunday, October 30th 9am -12pm Pre-register at www.halb.org/skaopenhouse

ACE AP CALCULUS BC Love your Torah classes Win a state Mock Trial meet Develop an online art journal Create a Women in Medicine club MRS. HELEN SPIRN, Head of School | MS. RAIZI CHECHIK, Principal MS. ELANA FLAUMENHAFT, Associate Principal| MRS. DEENA KOBRE, Associate Principal 291 Meadowview Avenue | Hewlett Bay Park, NY 11557 | 516.374.7195 ext. 111| www.halb.org/SKA | admissions@skahalb.org

THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

FIND YOUR

Chesed shel emet follows rabbi’s Facebook plea

By Hillel Kuttler, JTA BALTIMORE — The 30 or so people assembled at a shaded gravesite on a cloudy, early Friday morning probably didn’t know how much they would be moved.

Alongside an open grave, nine men stood to the right of Rabbi Yisrael Motzen, the funeral’s officiant. They had responded to Motzen’s appeal late the previous afternoon on the Facebook page of his synagogue, Ner Tamid.

“Help needed! True mitzvah opportunity!

An elderly woman with no family or friends passed away and will be buried tomorrow at 10 am at Baltimore Hebrew’s cemetery on Belair Road” he wrote. “We are looking for nine men for a minyan and help with the burial. Please PM me ASAP if you are able to join us. Thank you very much!”

And so, we came.

Across from Rabbi Motzen, 20 others had gathered, lined up nearly shoulder to shoulder. With great care, 15 of them had wheeled, gripped and otherwise escorted five elderly people, each of them frail, from the two special vans that had dropped them off 50 feet away.

The 20 were the staff members and residents of group homes for developmentally disabled adults who came to bid farewell to Marlene Schulman, who had lived there, too.

Rabbi Motzen had erred these people were her family and friends.

In the early 1940s, at age 4 or 5, Schulman was stricken with encephalitis, which caused permanent brain damage, according to a source at Chimes Maryland, the nonprofit organization in whose group home Schulman lived. Schulman’s parents, Herman and Irene, institutionalized her in Vineland, New

Jersey. When Herman became ill and could no longer pay for the private care, he and Irene moved Marlene back to Maryland in 1981 to live as a ward of the state.

Obituary notices placed in Baltimore’s Sun newspaper for Irene in 2005 and Wilma, the older sister of Marlene by five years, in 2011 make no mention of Marlene. An obituary could not be found for Herman, who died in 1981. The trio is buried together at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation’s other cemetery, in suburban Reisterstown.

On Sept. 2, “Seeking Kin,” my column that aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives, located Mark Schuster, Wilma’s son.

Schuster said he had been told decades earlier that Marlene, his aunt, had died. Many

wInDOw treAtmentS AutHOrIZeD DeALer •

Hunter Douglas • Graber • Comfortex • Lafayette • Kravet • Robert Allen

FeAturInG • Blinds •

Shades • Curtains • Shutters • Cornices • Austrian Shades • Roman Shades • Valances • Upholstery • Headboards • Tablecloths

years before that, Irene had reluctantly confirmed his suspicion of her having another daughter. More recently, his online search for Marlene came up blank.

Had he known of his aunt’s existence all these years, Schuster said, “I could have gone and visited.” He plans to contact Chimes to learn about her and the life she led.

What was she like?

Miriam Goliger, a Chimes employee who attended the funeral, said in a subsequent interview that Schulman “always smiled and asked how you were,” projecting warmth even though “she had what to be upset in her life about.” At the same time, she was “feisty” and spoke up for herself, Goliger said.

At the funeral, Rabbi Motzen posited that we cannot grasp what Schulman’s role on Earth might have been, but that like the new month being celebrated that very day, it offered a lesson: Perhaps, like the new moon, Schulman lived for the positive purpose of reflecting others’ light rather than projecting her own.

The medical director of the organization, likewise, confessed to not knowing Schulman. He read a poem and prompted the mourners to pronounce “Marlene” at the end of each pithy line about witnessing sunlight and seasons and leaves on the ground and other natural marvels. Another employee spoke.

One resident of the group home chuckled loudly, as he did at several other points in the service. No one shot him a nasty look or hushed him.

The rabbi explained to the Chimes contingent, most of them not Jewish, that their escorting Schulman to her final resting place was a “chesed shel emet,” the ultimate kind-

HOLIDAY SpecIAL

100 rebate

$

On

twO SILHOuetteS Or

twO pIrOuetteS Or

One LumInette

ness, because the beneficiary could never reciprocate. The mitzvah, he continued, included partaking in the burial.

Rabbi Motzen grasped the handle of a wooden shovel angling out from the dirt mound and dug in, heaving several loads onto the lowered casket. He rammed the shovel back into the mound. One of his recruits took it and repeated the act, and then another and the others until the grave seemed full.

Turning to his right, Rabbi Motzen took a hand spade and gently invited Schulman’s caregivers and friends to participate. An elderly man shuffled ahead, supported by Goliger and another aide. He took the spade, which the two women also held. They guided his hand toward the dirt, scooped some and overturned the spade onto the grave.

“Good job, Walter,” one of the women said as they strolled back.

A hush prevailed after the Mourner’s Kaddish was recited. Rabbi Motzen noted later on Facebook that it may be the only time the prayer would be said for Schulman.

“I’m glad that our community was able to provide a certain level of dignity and a proper funeral,” said one attendee, Harry Burstyn.

A few of Rabbi Motzen’s other recruits approached Goliger. They had noticed some of the women, Schulman’s housemates, crying at the graveside. They asked if they could volunteer at the homes or visit the residents.

“That’s really incredible, because [the women] don’t have anybody, either,” Goliger said. “With chesed shel emet, you usually don’t see the aftermath. For just a second, we got an eagle-eye view of this playing out.”

In this instance, at least, Schulman radiated her own light.

Hillel Kuttler writes “Seeking Kin.”

cuStOm tAbLecLOtHS Faux leathers and velvets • Challah covers, too • Hundreds of materials to choose from •

HOLIDAY SpecIAL 108” X 54”

$

100

YOur cHOIce OF SeLecteD FAuX LeAtHer pAtternS

Free eStImAteS

SOHO Window Fashion

581 WilloW Ave, CedArhurst in Maple plaza, next to DaviD’s pizza

Sohoblinds.com • 516-341-7600

862763

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

18

As a 13-year-old B’klyn girl, Ruth Bader wrote…

“ THRILLING! DON’T MISS DANNY BURSTEIN IN THIS ‘FIDDLER ’ ! ★★★★ ” – E LY S A G A R D N E R , U S A T O D AY

people have been left with scars that take a long time to pass away. We must never forget the horrors which our brethren were subjected to in Bergen-Belsen and other Nazi concentration camps. Then, too, we must try hard to understand that for righteous people hate and prejudice are neither good occupations nor fit companions.

Rabbi Alfred Bettleheim once said: “Prejudice saves us a painful trouble, the trouble of thinking.” In our beloved land families were not scattered, communities not erased nor our nation destroyed by the ravages of the World War. Yet, dare we be at ease? We are part of a world whose unity has been almost completely shattered. No one can feel free from danger and destruction until the many torn threads of civilization are bound together again. We cannot feel safer until every nation, regardless of weapons or power, will meet together in good faith, the people worthy of mutual association.

There can be a happy world and there will be once again, when men create a strong bond towards one another, a bond unbreakable by a studied prejudice or a passing circumstance. Then and only then shall we have a world built on the foundation of the Fatherhood of G-d and whose structure is the Brotherhood of Man. Telegraph via JTA

THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

Even as a teenager, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wasn’t afraid to speak her mind.

The jurist penned an essay in her synagogue bulletin as a 13-year-old, urging congregants to rid themselves of hate and prejudice.

The essay is published in Ginsburg’s new book, “My Own Words,” which contains a collection of her speeches and writings as well as her thoughts on growing up in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood.

The book reveals that Ruth Bader went to both Reform and Orthodox synagogues as a child, before her family settled on the Conservative East Midwood Jewish Center.

She wondered as a young girl why boys celebrated their bar mitzvah at age 13, while “there was no comparable ceremony for me,” a struggle that may have shaped her into the gender equality advocate she is today.

In the essay dated June 2, 1946, she speaks of the deep scars that the Jewish community had sustained in World War II, which had ended less than a year earlier, and urges congregants not to fall victim to hate and prejudice.

Here’s what a young Ruth Bader wrote: One People The war has left a bloody trail and many deep wounds not too easily healed. Many

19

(OUT OF 4)

FINAL PERFORMANCES— MUST CLOSE DECEMBER 31!

YouTube screenshot

1944, he was deported to Auschwitz, where his wife, whom he had married at 25, was killed. In 1950, he moved to Haifa with his second wife and their son, working again as a confectioner.

When asked at the time he was certified as the oldest living man what his secret was to long life, Kristal said, “I don’t know the secret for long life. I believe that everything is determined from above and we shall never know the reasons why.

“There have been smarter, stronger and better-looking men than me who are no longer alive. All that is left for us to do is to keep on working as hard as we can and rebuild what is lost.”

BUY NOW & SAVE UP TO $52* USE CODE: FRJWP815

TELECHARGEOFFERS.COM · 212-947-8844 O BROADWAY THEATRE, 1681 BROADWAY AT 53RD STREET Fi d d l e rM usica l .co m * All sales are final. No refunds or exchanges. Offer valid for performances through 11/20/16. Blackout dates may apply. Telephone and Internet orders are subject to standard service fees. This offer cannot be combined with any other discount and is not applicable to previously purchased tickets. Limit 8 tickets per order. Offer may be modified or revoked at any time without notice.

861070

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The world’s oldest man, 113-yearold Yisrael Kristal, a Holocaust survivor living in Israel, celebrated his bar mitzvah a century late.

Kristal, of Haifa, celebrated the rite over the weekend with his two children, grandchildren and nearly 30 greatgrandchildren, the Associated Press reported. He was recognized as the world’s oldest man in March.

He missed his bar mitzvah at age 13 due to World War I. His father was in the Russian army and his mother had died three years earlier.

His daughter, Shulamith Kuperstoch, told the AP on Wednesday that Kristal was “very pleased” as he recited the Shehechiyanu prayer of Yisrael Kristal. gratitude as a prayer shawl was draped around his shoulders while surrounded by his family.

“Everyone sang and danced around him.

He was very happy,” she said. “It was always his dream to have a bar mitzvah and he really appreciated the moment.”

Kuperstoch said her father is still in good health and remembers his life in the early 20th century, including seeing a car for the first time at age 9.

Born on Sept. 15, 1903, in the town of Zarnow, Poland, Kristal moved to Lodz in 1920 to work in his family’s candy business. He continued operating the business after the Nazis forced the city’s Jews into a ghetto, where Kristal’s two children died. In

PHOTO BY MICAELA ROSSATO

Oldest man celebrates his bar mitzvah — at 113

Lost Sephardi Jews are returning home, to Israel “There is such a longing to reconnect to my people Israel and to the land of my forefathers,” she said.

Around the world, there are an estimated 100 million to 150 million Bnei Anusim, according to Ashley Perry, president of Reconectar (Spanish and Portuguese for “reconnect”) and director general of the relatively new Israeli Knesset Caucus for the Reconnection with the Descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Communities. He was adviser to Israel’s minister of foreign affairs from April 2009 to January 2015.

The Spanish Jewish community was regarded as one of the strongest and most powerful until Catholic Monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ushered in the Spanish Inquisition, which lasted for centuries, forcing conversion to Christianity, along with persecution and expulsion. Some 200,000 people were forcibly converted between 1491 into the 16th century.

Many thought the Ethiopian aliyah would be the last major influx of lost Jews into Israel. The return of Jews from the Sephardic exile will be much larger.

For today’s descendants of Jews forced to convert, the group Reconectar provides them with personalized tools to explore, learn and connect with Judaism, the Jewish community and Israel. It also helps communities and organizations with this process.

An individual fills out a questionnaire on the group’s website, including an explana-

W

856186

J

Reconnecting with Judaism

• Leibedik One Man Band/Singer • DJ with DANCE MOTIVATORS • Projector/Screen Rentals • Full Orchestra • Karaoke • Shabbos Ruach A Capella Singers

Sonya Loya (right) leads Bnei Anusim on a tour of the ancient Sephardic community of Safed.

tion of why they would like to connect. Then the group responds by linking them with the right resources. Since the site’s recent launch, 300,000 people have visited Reconectar, of which 14 percent said they selfidentify as Jewish. Another 30 percent said they’re aware of their ancestry and want to know more.

“There are those who want to formally convert and become a part of the Jewish community and others who are just exploring, and everything in between,” explained Perry, who lives in Israel and is simultaneously bringing together politicians, diplomats, academics and heads of Jewish organizations to embrace the cause.

Why the passion?

Perry is dedicated to this cause as “It is a moral, ethical and even halakhic imperative,” noting that many great rabbinical figures, who ruled on the Jewish status of people forced to convert, determined they were still Jewish.

He said reconnecting Bnei Anusim with Judaism could have many benefits for today’s Jewish community, which faces challenges including anti-Semitism, the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, diplomatic disputes, shrinking affiliation and assimilation.

“We are taking a top-down approach and a bottom-up approach through the people,” he added.

Until 2008, Jay Sanchez was living in what he calls “blissful ignorance,” until he discovered that he’s likely a descendant of Spanish and Portuguese Jews on his mother’s side.

Sanchez embarked on a standard ancestral search when he learned his mother’s maiden name, Dorta, was associated with a small number of families spread predominantly throughout the Canary Islands.

“I found references to more and more

Dortas, and each and every one of them was referred to as either a Jew or a New Christian, until the 1700s, by which time the Dortas seem to have assimilated,” he said.

Today, Sanchez’s bookshelves are packed with Jewish books, as he grapples with his Jewish roots.

Many thought the Ethiopian aliyah would be the last major influx of lost Jews into Israel, Loya said. But she believes the return of Jews from the Sephardic exile will be much larger, with Bnei Anusim moving to Israel from Cuba, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, India, South America, the Canary Islands and the Southwest United States.

“Our Spanish Jewish community has been lost and raped of its identity and the beauty of what Judaism is,” Loya said. “My goal is to get them home.”

legal notice it is the policy of South nassau communities Hospital tcU not to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, religion, color, national origin, gender, handicap, disability, blindness, source of sponsorship, source of payment, marital status, age, sexual preference, genetic predisposition or carrier status in employment or in the admission, retention and care of residents and patients. all persons and organizations that have occasion to either refer prospective residents or patients to South nassau communities Hospital tcU are advised to follow this nondiscriminatory policy.

866298

Commercial & Residential • Licensed & Insured

855-I-KNOW-A-GUY www.iknowaguyinc.com 461 Central Ave Cedarhurst NY 11516 Lic #H04398900 • NYC Track #GC611686

866684

By Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, JNS.org Sonya Loya never felt Catholic; it was Judaism she was drawn to.

In the 1990s, the New Mexico-native, while in her late 30s, discovered her family’s hidden secret. “I found out my ancestors were Jews forced to convert during the Spanish Inquisition,” she said.

Loya traced her family line to a rabbinic dynasty in Spain dating back to 1430.

At her first Shabbat dinner, she witnessed the woman of the house lighting Shabbat candles, which sparked something inside her.

“That was what my grandma used to do,” Loya said. “The dreams I had had begun to finally make sense.”

When she shared her discovery with her parents and asked for their blessing to convert back to Judaism, not only were they supportive, but her father said he’d known since he was 6 that he was Jewish.

“His uncle … came back from liberating the [Nazi] camps and told his mother and brothers it was still not safe to be a Jew,” Loya said. “They swore my father to secrecy at that time; he held onto that secret for 64 years.”

Today, Loya runs travel tours to Israel for Bnei Anusim (a term for the descendants of forced Sephardi Jewish converts to Christianity) from the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish communities.

851958

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

20

21 THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

COME VISIT US

On Campus...Online...At A College Fair Discover a dynamic

college experience at Hofstra University

Small classes, large-university resources, a beautiful, energized campus, and easy access to cultural and educational opportunities both on campus and in nearby New York City make Hofstra an excellent place to study and work.

Attention High School Seniors! Learn how you can be a part of the Hofstra Pride during a Fall Open House: Sunday, October 23 @ 9 a.m. or Saturday, November 12 @ 9 a.m.

Visit hofstra.edu/FallOpen or call 516-463-6700 for more information and to register.

MANAGEMENTCOMPUTINGSTEM ENGINEERING BIOMEDICAL BUSINESS DESIGNSCIENCE ARCHITECTURE TECHNOLOGY HONORS

Ad_HU_Dynamic_FOH_Herald_HalfPg.indd 1 MATHEMATICS

9/14/16 4:45 PM

Undergraduate

Open Houses Sunday, October 16 Sunday, November 20 For more information, go to openhouse.njit.edu or call 800-925-NJIT

www.touro.edu/locations

www.yu.edu/admissions

www.admissions.umd.edu

866266

njit.edu University Heights Newark, NJ 07102

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

22

Send us your news!

General news: Newsroom@TheJewishStar.com Calendar@TheJewishStar.com by noon Friday Schools@TheJewishStar.com by 5 pm Monday Shuls: Publisher@TheJewishStar.com Health@TheJewishStar.com Comments to Letters@TheJewishStar.com Send photos as high resolution JPEGs

The JEWISH

The newspaper of our Orthodox communities • Established 2002

TheJewishStar.com

Let’s do business!

Produced and printed on Long Island by The Jewish Star LLC 2 Endo Blvd, Garden City NY 11530 • 516-622-7461

Ads@TheJewishStar.com.

Distribution: Publisher@TheJewishStar.com.

Simcha Papers: Publisher@TheJewishStar.com Content: The Publisher endeavors to insure that editorial content is within the bounds of normative halachah and hashkafah. A reader who feels anything we publish may be inappropriate in this regard is urged to bring the item in question to the attention of the Publisher.

STAR

Publisher & Editor: Ed Weintrob

Advertising Director: Celia Weintrob

EWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com 516-622-7461 ext 291 • cell 718-908-5555

CWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com 516-622-7461 ext 241 • cell 917-723-4500

Advertising Sales: Giselle Hirtenfeld, 516-622-7461ext 240 GHirtenfeld@TheJewishStar.com Tovah Richler, 516-622-7461 ext 306 TRichler@TheJewishStar.com

Advertising is accepted at the sole discretion of the Publisher. The Publisher expects all advertising to conform to standards of content appropriate for distribution in an Orthodox community.

Contributing writers: Rabbi Avi Billet, Jeff Dunetz,

Kashrut: The Jewish Star is not responsible for the kashrut of any product or establishment featured in its pages. If you have questions regarding any establishment or product, including its supervision, please consult your rabbi for guidance.

Editorial Designer: Stacey Simmons.

Photo Editor: Christina Daly.

Rabbi David Etengoff, Rabbi Binny Freedman, Alan Gerber, Judy Joszef

Member

Opinions: Views expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the position of the Publisher.

Submissions: All submissions become the property of The Jewish Star and may be edited and used by the Publisher, its licensees and affiliates, in print, on the web and/or in any media that now exists or will exist in the future in any form, including derivative works, throughout the world in perpetuity, without additional authorization or compensation.

The individual or entity submitting material affirms that it holds the copyright or otherwise has the right to authorize its use in accordance with The Jewish Star’s terms for submissions.

Distribution: The Jewish Star is available free in kosher food establishments, stores, synagogues, and curb-side newsboxes on Long Island, in New York City and elsewhere. To request free delivery to your location, write Publisher@TheJewishStar. com.

Subscriptions: To receive The Jewish Star by standard mail in the continental United States, send $36 for one year, prepaid. Outside Long Island, one year of faster service by First Class mail is available for $150.

Employment opportunities: Visit TheJewishStar. com/jobs.html to view job and internship opportunities.

This newspaper contains words of Torah; please dispose of properly.

Copyright 2016 The Jewish Star LLC

The Jewish Star subscribes to the JNS.org and JTA.org news services. They, or their contributors, own the copyrights on material attributed to them.

Columnist tells why he’s a political conservative Jeff Dunetz politics to go

T

he other day I sat through a discussion between Christian friends about conservatism and religion. One commented that some of the conservative theorists’ ideas about man’s imperfections come from the Christian idea of “original sin.” That’s where they lost me. Obviously I come at it from a different angle. To Jews, “original sin” is the pain we put our mothers through when they are pregnant and give birth to us — and everyone knows we believe that life begins when the kids get married and we move to Boca Raton.

Another thing we Jews believe is that we are supposed to enjoy our time on earth and the greatest joy one can have in life is connecting with G-d. And that’s why I fall on the conservative side the aisle, because liberalism, and most liberal programs, try to put a layer between G-d and man. Which is probably why, despite the reputation of Jews being liberal, polls have shown that the more Orthodox a Jew’s beliefs and/or practices, the more likely that Jew is to reject the stereotype and reject liberalism, and support politicians who are more politically conservative.

Conservative principals such as limited government, individual responsibility and traditional morals are all deeply rooted in Jewish tradition. Even the fact that America’s founders intended for the county to be led by people who based their political decisions on religious values (something that scares the heck out of most liberals) complements Jewish tradition.

It starts with the creation narrative in Genesis, which explains that man is created in G-d’s image. But we are also taught that our maker has no bodily form, so how can that be? The Torah is not teaching us that we are all dead ringers for the “big guy upstairs” — if that was the case, the pictures on everyone’s driver’s license would look the same and no one would be able to get a check cashed. And all of those crimesolving TV dramas would be boring because everyone would have the same DNA. “Created in G-d’s image” teaches us that just as G-d acts as a free being, without prior restraint to do right and wrong, so does man. G-d does good deeds as a matter of His own free choice, and because we are created in his image, so can we.

It is further understood that for Man to have

true free choice, he must not only have inner free will, but he must exist in an environment in which a choice between obedience and disobedience exists. G-d thus created the world such that both good and evil can operate freely; this is what the rabbis mean when they said, “All is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven” (Talmud, Berachot 33b). G-d controls all the options we have, but it is up to man to pick between the correct or incorrect option. hen it comes right down to it, free will is the divine version of limited government. G-d picks which is the correct direction and even gives us a guide book in the Bible, but he does not pick winners and losers.

It is up to each of us to pick the direction in which we want to proceed.

“All men are created equal,” means we all have the same ability to be infinitely good or wicked, or to forge a relationship with G-d regardless of intellectual capability, social background, physical strength, etc. It does not mean, as the liberals ascribe to, that when it comes to talents, predilections or natural abilities we are all equal. Nor does it mean we all should have the same big screen TV, wireless internet, or savings account balance. We all have the same right to be as successful as we can be with the cards we have been dealt.

Jewish tradition takes a positive view of both the institution of ownership and the accumulation of wealth. It respects economic success — so long, that is, as it is obtained honestly and proper respect is shown for the social responsibility that comes with it. That social responsibility is an individual duty and a job for the community led by its religious leaders, but not for the government. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong for the federal government to provide a safety net, but the primary responsibility is the individual and the local community.

The book of Vayikra (25:23) says: “If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter in your proximity, you shall strengthen him, proselyte or resident, so that he can live with you.” Notice it says live with you, it does not say live in a government facility. That’s because the obligation is on the individual. In rare times the community was called on to pick up the slack but it was never the community government, it was (and still is) the local rabbi who would lead the effort.

W

Some of the ancient sages have suggested 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 (such as giving charity) one of those sparks is purified and sent back to heaven. Through that process we become closer to G-d.

Liberal/progressive governments take away that free choice given to us by G-d.

Their philosophy is that left to their own devices, mankind will do the wrong thing (or at least what progressives say is the wrong thing). So these leftist governments do their best to take over the role of G-d and take away the free will we were given. Liberalism takes away our personal choice and gives it to the government — thus retarding our spiritual development and, most importantly, the opportunity to “pick up those sparks” and get closer to our maker.

Judaism also teaches us that we cannot rely on G-d to bail us out all of the time; the responsibility to take action falls upon each of us. There is the famous story of Moses splitting the Reed Sea teaches this lesson. In Shemot Chapter 14-15, Moses sees the Pharaoh’s troops bearing down on the Israelite nation, who are trapped against the sea. Moses starts praying to G-d, but G-d says stop praying and do something!

“And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward’.” That’s holy talk for “get off your arse and do something!”

The ancient rabbis tell the story that when Moses lifted his staff over the sea, the water did not part. The Egyptians were closing in, and the sea wasn’t moving. The Israelites stood on the banks of the sea, frozen in fear until a man named Nachshon took the responsibility upon himself to act. Nachshon walked into the water.

He waded up to his ankles, then his knees, his waist, his shoulders, and just as the water was about to reach his nostrils the water parted. his story teaches us that it’s one thing to have faith and believe that G-d will eventually help us, but we cannot get that help until we take personal responsibility and act on our own. This too is antithetical to liberal philosophy which teaches that government is the first place to look for help, rather

Conservative principals are deeply rooted in Jewish tradition.

T

than looking first within one’s self, family and community.

On the other hand, a liberal/progressive government teaches citizens that the government will always bear the responsibility of protecting you; there is no individual responsibility, just the collective bailout. Instead of each one of us assuming a personal responsibility and using our good deeds to gain closeness to G-d, we become part of an overall group in which individuals shoulder no explicit responsibility.

Many liberal Jews get very worried when they hear a political leader talk about G-d. If the political leader is a Christian (as most of them are in America) they see the person as a zealot who will eventually force everyone to become Christian. If the person is a Jew, they get angry that the Jew is wearing their religion on his sleeve.

In the book of Shemot, it is G-d who sets up the first Israelite government, he chose to have a political/government leader, Moses, and a religious leader, Aaron. Even though Moses was the governmental leader, the Torah teaches us that Moses used G-d’s law and morality to make his “political” decisions. In that first Israelite government established by G-d there was no wall separating church and state. Political leaders were expected to consult with G-d’s law in making their decisions. In fact, each of the kings were commanded to scribe a Torah during their reign.

If we are taught that a government set up by G-d was supposed to use the religious laws in their decisions, why is it not okay for a government set up by man?

America’s founders sought to guaranteed freedom of religion. But those First Amendment freedoms where not set up to protect government from religion, they were created to protect religion from government. For Jews, that should mean that the government cannot prevent the observance of such rituals as keeping kosher, circumcision, or covering heads. But it was never meant to prevent a local mayor from putting a Christmas tree on city owned property; nor was it meant for the Little Sisters of the Poor, or Hobby Lobby, to pay for birth control or abortion. n his farewell address, George Washington proclaimed that “of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.

“In vain would that man claim the tribute of See Columnist on page 26

I

Rabbi binny FReedman The hearT of jerusalem

I

was recently given a copy of Dr. Hagi ben Artzi’s book on the Six Day War, Megillat Sheshet Hayamim, based on the IDF’s post-war analysis. It contained the following fascinating story: On June 4, 1967, the day before Israel launched the preemptive war, the Egyptian minister of war, Abdel Hakim Amer, decided that a review of the Egyptian troops massed in the Sinai was in order. He invited senior military personal form Cairo to join him on an air tour of the lines on a special flight scheduled to take off from Cairo at 7 am the next morning, June 5. A delegation from the Iraqi army was invited to join as well and they flew in a second plane.

To ensure the safety of all these VIPs flying in a closed military air zone, Amer ordered all his anti-aircraft batteries to stand down at 7 am the next morning, adding that any anti-aircraft fire would need to be personally approved by him until counter-orders were issued following the flights.

The next morning, June 5, at the exact time that 200 Israeli planes launched operation Moked, designed to take out the Egyptian air force on the ground, the entire array of Egyptian anti-aircraft batteries simply shut down. After the war, it was determined that no one in Israel had known of this, and could not have planned for it — it was simply a magnificent coincidence. As a result of this, many anti-aircraft battery operators used the

time to get breakfast or nap, such that most of them did not even see the Israeli planes on their radars. This led to the unmitigated success of the first stage of the war; by afternoon Israel controlled the skies over the entire Middle East.

The Six Day War was really won … in six hours. The only question is: Who was the real Commander-in-Chief? his week’s portion, Vayelech, which takes place on the last day of Moshe’s life, has Hashem sharing that there will come a time when we as a people will reach our nadir, when we will be so distant from G-d that He will literally “hide” from us. This process, known as hester panim, is when events seem so terrible we might imagine Hashem is no longer willing to intercede on our behalf.

And when that happens, says the verse (Devarim 31:17), the Jewish people will say, “Is it not because G-d is not in my midst that these evils have come upon me?”

One might have thought this to be a positive development; after all their sufferings and exiles, the Jewish people finally realized that the true source of their travails is that they had abandoned their relationship w G-d. In the tochacha containing the curses in Bechukotai (Vayikra 26) we are remonstrated by G-d for having related to the events around us and even to G-d Himself be’keri (in a happenstance fashion, based on the word mikreh, coincidence), when we ascribe no

T

meaning or Divine plan to the events around us. So perceiving events as the result of having abandoned G-d would seem to be a step in the right direction.

Yet, G-d’s reaction in the next verse (Devarim 31:18) is followed by an even harsher promise of hester panim (hidden-ness): “Yet I will surely conceal my face on that day because of all the evil.”

Why is our suggestion that we have abandoned G-d so terrible?

Rav Frand, in one of his essays quoting Rav Bunim of Pshische, suggests that the issue is not that we have abandoned G-d, but more that G-d has abandoned us. It is precisely when we choose to see a world without G-d, that we do not allow ourselves to see a world with G-d in our lives.

Inexplicable events occurring at precisely the right moment to facilitate key successes in the Six Day War were nothing short of miraculous. However, after the war, many senior Israeli commanders, in awe at their stellar successes and sensing the hand of a higher power at work, nonetheless focused on the ingenuity and might of the IDF. After the war, a bumper sticker appeared on cars all over the country reading: “Kol hakavod le’tzahal” (hats off to the IDF). Only after the miraculous salvation of the country in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Israel was literally on the brink of destruction, did a new bumper sticker take its place, proclaiming: “Yisrael betach ba’Hashem” (Israel trusts in G-d).

This then, is the challenge of the portion

The ability to experience pure unremitting gratitude is our path to tikkun.

we read on Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat before Yom Kippur. Rather than what will happen in the world, the real question is how we choose to see it. Do we recognize that Hashem is the source of reality and do we acknowledge how blessed we are to live in such incredible times?

Tradition teaches that the source of our first mistake, back in the Garden of Eden, was actually not that we ate from the tree; that might have been forgiven. Rather, it was that we were ungrateful for all that Hashem had given us. G-d does not actually exile Adam and Eve from the garden immediately upon the partaking of the forbidden fruit. Rather, G-d asks Adam if he ate from the fruit, giving him the chance to “own up.”

Instead, Adam blames it on Eve: “The woman you gave to be with me…” (Bereishit 3; 11-12) Rather than appreciate what a priceless gift a life partner was, Adam was ungrateful, blaming the episode on Eve. This was the source of our first and greatest mistake.

Thus, the ability to experience pure unremitting gratitude is actually the opportunity to undo our mistakes (tikkun) and begin the journey back to a world as it was meant to be, literally as the Garden of Eden.

This year, amidst all the great challenges that we face as individuals, as a people and as an entire world, let us focus on how blessed we are amidst all the good we have been given, and find ways to live up to the responsibilities and opportunities they entail.

From Jerusalem, wishing all a shanah tovah and a ketivah ve’chatimah tovah, a sweet happy and healthy new year for all.

Contact Rabbi Binny Freedman: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

ASSISTED LIVING BY GURWIN

Broaden Your Horizons Books open gateways to love, adventure and human understanding. Since childhood, Dora has immersed herself in the wonderful experiences that reading provides. At Gurwin, her craving for great writing is satisfied by our remarkable literary selection, but her zest for life is fulfilled by her non-stop social calendar— the day trips… the art and music gatherings… and, of course, curling up with a classic novel. Dora is living a rich life in elegant surroundings— close to family, and comfortable knowing that she’s on her own… but never alone.

Isn’t it time you added some novelty to your life?

Arrange a personal tour today! (631) 715-8537

864782

Learn more about Dora at www.gurwin.org/assisted-living

17387_Gurwin_Dora_Herald_10.25x6.30.indd 1

11/13/15 3:07 PM

THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

World brightens as we acknowledge G-d’s gifts

23

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

24

Yom Kippur and the Jonah legacy aLan Jay GeRbeR kosher Bookworm

I

t is with certainty that Yom Kippur is the most intensely and widely observed of all Jewish holidays. Within the context of this observance there are numerous liturgical, biblical, theological and literary factors that establish the underlying theological themes of the day’s observance. One such literary ritual is the recitation of the Book of Jonah in the afternoon Mincha service.

Jonah is the focus of a new study, “Unusual Bible Interpretations: Jonah and Amos” (Gefen Publishing) by one of today’s leading Bible scholars, Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin, a musmach of Yeshivas Ner Yisrael in Baltimore.

Within this work Rabbi Drazin gives us a new translation, an easy to read commentary that explores the book’s numerous ambiguities that have drawn the attention of commentators for over 2,000 years.

In the chapter, “Prayer in Jonah and the

Meaning of Prayer,” Rabbi Drazin presents views that are challenging, when we consider that the Yom Kippur observance is centered almost exclusively on prayer.

“The Hebrew word used today for “to pray” is lehitpaleil. The root is p-l-l, which literally denotes ‘judge’,” writes Rabbi Drazin. “It signifies the person making the statement, and should be translated as ‘to judge one’s self.’ Understanding this, when people read the text of the siddur [machzor] … they should pay attention to what is written, reflect upon their behavior, goals, successes and failures, and ‘judge themselves’ against the ideas mentioned in the text and their own sense of self and their life goals. The text should be a stimulant for improvement, not a passive reliance on divine help.

“The biblical book of Jonah reflects this understanding of lehitpaleil. Jonah is greatly distressed and expresses his anguish in internal reflections.”

Rabbi Drazin details Jonah’s emotions, using the biblical text to reinforce the emotional turmoil he was going through.

This part of the Yom Kippur service, because of its placement, seems to self-margin-

alize the Book of Jonah, suggesting it is almost a sideshow wedged between the Avodah service and Neilah’s liturgical climax to the day’s observance. Hopefully the interpretative treatment in this volume will enhance the interest of worshipers in Jonah who will thus take its reading a bit more seriously.

“Is the book of Jonah a parable or did it actually occur?” asks Rabbi Drazin. “Who was Jonah? Why didn’t Jonah want to obey G-d? What is the significance of the fish that swallowed Jonah? Is it even possible to disobey G-d? Why is Jonah silent when G-d speaks to him?”

And, please, also consider this: “Why does the word repentance, which many assume to be the message of the book, not appear in it even once?”

If you would like to further study from the works of Rabbi Drazin, consider his previous work, “Mysteries of Judaism,” especially his chapters dealing with the high holidays, and of his detailed take on the whole concept of teshuva.

FOR YOUR FURTHER STUDY

One of the most fascinating public rituals at the very start of the Yom Kippur Kol Nidre service is the open recitation of the Shehecheyanu Blessing.

If your curiously has been peaked by this experience, you might want to check out an essay by Rabbi Johnny Solomon at Machon Ma’ayon in Israel, where he teaches halacha and Jewish thought, in the Autumn 2016 issue of Conversations, published by the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals (Jewish Ideas.org).

This 12-page essay include 59 footnotes that together will give you a comprehensive view of the significance of this holy blessing.

Contact Alan Jay Gerber: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

Remember to prepare for changes in new year RabbI avI bILLet Parsha of the week

T

he Torah reading on the first day of Rosh Hashana began at the point when Sara is remembered. The Talmud tells us in several places that Sara and Rachel and Chana were all remembered on Rosh Hashana. In the same breath, the Talmud tells us in Meseches Rosh Hashana that Yitzchak was born at Pesach time.

These dates, of course, are 6.5 months apart.

So, barring any information coming to light that Yitzchak was born 3 months premature, we have a problem.

It is possible that he was a preemie. Moshe

may have been 3 months premature as evidenced in how long his mother was able to hide him. But wouldn’t the Torah have told us if something were out of the ordinary (beyond that his parents were 100 and 90)?

It is also possible that Sara only noticed her pregnancy at the end of the firsts trimester because she hadn’t been menstruating anyway.

Perhaps in this light she felt remembered at that specific time — on Rosh Hashana. And six months later, Yitzchak was born.

Is this really why we read this portion on Rosh Hashana? In all seriousness, there are other tales from the lives of Avraham and Sara life which are so much more impressive.

I suggest that for Avraham and Sara, the birth of Yitzchak turned them into people with a new sense of purpose. They were not parents. They had so much more to live for than at any other time in their lives.

Where does our new reality lead us?

In Vayikra Rabba 29:12, we are told that on Rosh Hashana everyone is viewed as a new creature, with a new slate and, perhaps, with a new lease on life.

From Avraham’s and Sara’s perspective, therefore, this reading is perfect for this day and this time period. Because what any individual has been through during the year no longer matters. What matters is the current situation, in which a new book is opened, and how do we see ourselves on the opening page? vraham and Sara had been “old.” Now they were a young couple with a baby.

She becomes like a tiger-mom, demonstrating that no one will take advantage of her child.

There is one more piece to the puzzle. And that is the end of Bereshit 21, when Avimelekh appears to make a treaty. He says, “Swear to me here by G-d that you will not deal falsely with me, with my children, or with my grandchildren. Show to me and the land where you were an immigrant the same kindness that I have shown to you.”

A

Why would he think otherwise? Because his reality has also changed. Up until now, Avimelekh assumed that when Avraham died, his belongings would go to society; after all, if you have no heir, you can’t take it with you.

But now that Yitzchak has been born and Avraham has an apparent heir, Avimelekh’s destiny has changed as well. And so he realizes that a treaty is the only way he can secure the safety of his descendants.

And for us, the question is, where does our new reality lead us?

Are we adequately prepared for what is coming? Some changes are wonderfully amazing, some are devastating. Do we have a plan for the best, and for the worst?

In this coming year, many people will turn bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah. Do they understand the commitment and responsibility that accompanies coming of age?

Many people will get engaged and married.

Do they know that the life to be lived after the wedding requires much more preparation and See Remember on page 25

Teshuvah and the ongoing process of change RabbI davId etenGOff

O

ur haftarah, for parsah Vayelech, contains the famous declaration of the prophet Hoshea, “Return, O Israel, unto the L-rd your G-d (“Shuvah Yisrael od Hashem Elokecha”), for you have stumbled in your iniquity” (Hoshea 14:2), and provides this Shabbat with its name, Shabbat Shuvah. Herein, the navi urges the Jewish people to return Hashem and once again keep His Torah with heartfelt authenticity. This act of returning is known as teshuvah and serves as the spiritual and conceptual underpinning of the entire period of the Yamim Noraim.

In a well-known passage in the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides (the Rambam) asks, “What is teshuvah?” His answer informs this discussion until our own historical moment: What constitutes teshuvah? That a sinner should abandon his sins and remove them

from his thoughts, resolving in his heart never to commit them again as [Yeshiyahu 55:7] states: “May the wicked abandon his ways.” Similarly, he must regret the past as [Yermiyahu 31:18] states: “After I returned, I regretted.” He must verbally confess and state these matters that he resolved in his heart. (Hilchot Teshuvah II: 2) In sum, in the Maimonidean exposition, teshuvah entails four distinct elements: recognition and rejection of the sin (hakarah v’azivah), the determination to never repeat the prohibition (kabbalah al he’atid), remorse for performing the forbidden action (nechamah al he’avar), and the verbal attestation (vidui) of these commitments. iven this understanding of what teshuvah is, we are prepared to analyze its mitzvah status according to the Rambam — is it or is it not a precept of the Torah? In his introduction to Hilchot Teshuvah, Maimonides writes, “[This section] contains one positive com-

mandment, that the sinner should return from his sin before Hashem, and should verbally confess (v’yitvadeh).” It appears from this statement that the mitzvah is “the sinner should return from his sin before Hashem,” i.e. teshuvah, and that vidui serves as a handmaiden to this process. The very first halacha following this statement, however, stipulates: If a person transgresses any of the mitzvot of the Torah, whether a positive command or a negative command — whether willingly or inadvertently — when he repents, and returns from his sin, he must confess before G-d, blessed be He as (Bamidbar 5:6-7) states: “If a man or a woman commit any of the sins of man... they must confess the sin that they committed.” This refers to a verbal confession. This confession is a positive command (vidui zeh mitzvat aseh).

Herein, and in seeming opposition to his introductory sentence, the Rambam expressly states that vidui is the mitzvah. As one might

‘Return, O Israel, unto the L-rd your G-d’

G

suspect, these apparent differences led to two very different approaches among meforshei haRambam (expositors of the Rambam). The Minchat Chinuch (Rabbi Yosef ben Moshe Babad, 1800-1875) and the Avodat HaMelech (Rabbi Menachem Krakowski, 1869-1929) maintained that the Rambam held that there is no mitzvah of teshuvah — only vidui. In contrast, Rav Chaim Soloveitchik (1853-1918) his son, Rav Moshe (1879-1941), and his grandson, Rav Yosef Dov (1903-1993, known as the Rav), opined that in Maimonides’ opinion, teshuvah is, in fact, the mitzvah, whereas vidui serves as a constitutive element of the overall teshuvah process. (See Pinchas Peli, ed. of Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik’s Al HaTeshuvah, pages 15-45) he Rav zatzal has a novel understanding of the Rambam’s conceptualization of the mitzvah of teshuvah that is in consonance with his family’s approach to this issue. In his view, the Rambam perceived teshuvah as being similar in kind to the mitzvah of tefillah (prayer), in the sense that both of these commandments, at their core, are experiential and See Teshuva on page 25

T

Continued from page 24 personal, rather than physically demonstrative in nature. Thus he states regarding teshuvah: This is a commandment whose essence is [not exhibited] through various actions and performances; rather, it is a process that, on occasion, takes place over a lifetime. It is a process that begins with remorse, with the sense of guilt, with the recognition by man that he has lost the purpose of his life, with the feeling of loneliness, with [the acknowledgement] of error after error [until his life has become] an empty vacuum … and he continues through this very long process until he achieves his goal — the teshuvah itself. (Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Al HaTeshuvah, Pinchas Peli ed., page 44, this, and all translations, brackets, underlining and parentheses my own) The Rav continues with his analysis of teshuvah, focusing upon its singular ability to alter the very persona of an individual, and the role that vidui plays in this undertaking: Teshuvah is not tied to one particular and conclusive act; instead, it develops and grows in a slow and steady fashion until it brings the person to a metamorphosis. And then, [and only then,] after he changes and becomes a different person, is the act of teshuvah [ready to take place]. And what is the act of teshuvah? One may say that it is vidui. (Pages 44-45) Rav Soloveitchik expands upon the relationship that obtains between the mitzvah of teshuvah and vidui. His words are an intellectual and spiritual tour de force: [When the Rambam writes,] “When he repents, and returns from his sin, he must confess,” he is following his general approach in such matters: In Halacha, and in regards to the mitzvah action [at hand], he

served punishments, and remove all traces of our sins”). We know that the fulfillment of these requests is contingent upon our heartfelt teshuvah, and sincere desire to reconnect with our Creator. With His help, and through our most powerful efforts, may we return unto Him, and bring the following verse to fruition: “For on this day He shall grant you atonement and purify you [from your sins]; before Hashem, you shall be purified from all your sins.” (Vayikra 16:30) V’chane yihi ratzon.

Shabbat shalom and g’mar v’chatimah tovah.

Contact Rabbi David Etengoff: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

— remembered on Rosh Hashana — that all kinds of changes can happen. How we choose to operate when those changes come will make all the difference in how our lives will turn out in the coming year.

Contact Rabbi Avi Billet: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

Remember…

Shabbos Shuvah Vayeilech

Luach Fri. Oct. 7 • 5 Tishrei Candlelighting: 6:08 pm

Havdalah: 7:15 pm

Continued from page 24 planning than does the wedding itself?

Many people will finish school. Do they know what they’re going to do with their degrees?

How they’ll earn a living? Do they know that it is OK to pursue a trade (plumber, electrician) — as long as they’re doing something to earn a living?

Some people will get divorced. Is there a plan for how to make such a very difficult decision least difficult for everyone involved? If there are children, is there a plan for them? Has a pre-nup or post-nup agreement been signed, to assure the timely deliverance of a “get”?

Some people will die this year. Are burial plots already purchased? Have pre-need funeral arrangements been made? Does each spouse have the tools and abilities to function alone, or will the death of one inevitably lead to the death of the other (in one form or another)?

Some people will suffer injuries, car accidents, etc. Are there plans in place — health insurance, disability insurance, life insurance?

We never want to think things are out of our control. And hopefully the life changes that come our way will be on the positive side of the equation. But we learn from Sara and Avraham

Tues. Oct. 11 • 9 Tishrei Erev Yom Kippur Kol Nidre

Candlelighting: 6:01 pm Havdalah: 7:09 pm

Fri. Oct. 14 • 12 Tishrei Parsha Ha’Azinu

Candlelighting: 5:57 pm Havdalah: 7:04 pm

Sun. Oct. 16 • 14 Tishrei Erev Sukkot

Candlelighting: 5:54 pm

Mon. Oct. 17 • 15 Tishrei Candlelighting: 6:53 pm Havdalah on Tuesday: 7 pm

Fri. Oct. 21 • 19 Tishrei Chol Hamoed Sukkot Candlelighting: 5:46 pm

Havdalah: 6:54 pm

Times according to White Shul, Far Rockaway

SOX WORLD PLUS

liver an Let The Jewish Star deto your simcha! unforgettable treat

Holiday sale Where You Get The Most For Your Money

sale eSattO

sale

Panty hose & Tights

25% OFF

12 Den Sleek Sheer C top & non C top

3 for $1095 buy 6, get 1 free

Mfg. Sugg. Retail haneS BerkShire Calvin klein Dkny hue

C top 60 Den tightS

$ 3 for 15 or $549 each buy 12, get 1 free

Sale now through 10/31/16. not to be combined with any other special offers.

Sale now through 10/31/16. Not to be combined with any other special offers.

sale %

Let The Jewish Star turn your photos and story into a unique and treasured keepsake … featuring any number of custom pages in any quantity you desire ... prepared by Long Island's professional Jewish newspaper team.

sale

25 OFF

linda leal

Perfect for weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, fundraising galas, anniversary parties, special birthdays, and as a salute to an outstanding executive or board member. The possibilities are unilimited!

women’s shells

JEWISH STAR January 1, 2016 • 20 Tevet 5776 THE

one wants to hire. and mischief, was Eliyahu, a bright boy full of laughter the neighborhood’s born in Brooklyn Heights, and attended in fact, he was in the top-tier Kiddie Korner Preschool — at the United founding class. He continued his education and completed Lubavitcher Yeshivoth on Ocean Parkway, Heights. After two his schooling in Toronto and Crown he returned to his years as a junior shliach in California, outreach for CongreBrooklyn Heights roots and now does at Brooklyn gation B’nai Avraham through programming professionals.

Jewish Law School, and with local young B’nai Avraham This reporter interviewed excited of Eliyahu. I briefly guests about their recollections the comic book rabbi, caught up with Simcha Weinstein, snappy dresser, serious who blurted, “Eliyahu Raskin — dragged back into the doer … we love him!” before being sea of dancers. one of the shul’s After the bedeken, Penny Rosen, founders, shared her thoughts of Eliyahu. and have loved “I’ve known him since he was a baby, talk,” she said. “I was him dearly even before he could books to read to him often at the Raskin house, bringing mind, he easand Yankel. Eliyahu has such an inquisitive reading with me, and ily picked up on nuances. He loved Eliyahu prewell after the boys could all read themselves, ferred my voices for the characters.

Chalav Yisroel Swiss “I remember once finding some lunch, staking cheese, and Eliyahu coming for Shabbos cheese board so his out that block of Swiss on the marble brothers would not get it first. a little, but it him “My best memory might embarrass Bar Mitzvah age and is very sweet. He was approaching no longer could sit had to sit in the men’s section, could mitzvah, he gave me on my lap. The night before his bar world to me.” a last huge hug, which meant the I have alPenny added: “In addition to his intelligence, kindness to all.” ways been impressed by his innate chatted about her While refilling her drink, Sonia Beker warm wishes for the happy couple. guy and full of fun.

“Eliyahu was always a high energy his siblings and other He loved socially interacting with streak. He was fearmischievous benign, a had and kids, invincible and unless, loved to take risks, always feeling still quite small, he endaunted. I remember when he was and fell, footing his missed tree, a thusiastically climbed But his energy injuring his head and requiring stitches. by this mishap. level and zest for life were not diminished sensitive young “Today, Eliyahu is a warm, humorous, family and everyone man, full of good spirits towards his to his rabbis and teacharound him. He was a great asset his knowledge and ers in his studies, and he’s applying B’nai Avraham as excellent people skills at Congregation now very busy climba teacher and in outreach work. He’s great success and joy ing the tree of life, and we wish him truly love him.” in his work and in his marriage. We vigorous dance set, While cooling off from a particularly was the very first kid Naomi Weinberger noted that Eliyahu bar mitzvah. She also she ever heard recite a maimer at his a group to tap out a recalls him sneaking away at times from ping pong, played often tune on her keyboard. “And he loved be volleying and then, at our home,” she added. “You would from Eliyahu.” giggling of lots and slam a “wham!” — line-by-line each Fran Bast related the following story I’ll bet you this bantime her dance line passed by. "Fran:

• 20 Tevet 5776 THE JEWISH STAR January 1, 2016

and Eliyahu Raskin Mazel Tov to the families of Shaindy Holtzberg Weintrob from The Jewish Star • Ed and Celia

in Crown Heights with was born in Brooklyn and raised Bais Rivka and her brother and six sisters. She attended office assistant everyhas been, since graduating, the

Ladies GiRLs

Mfg. Sugg. Retail

Continued from page 1

KiKi RiKi Shells Shells

11

10

C top 80 Den footleSS tightS

795 each buy 12, get 1 free

$

Buy 12 Get 1 FRee

Make your simcha or gala extra special, with a personalized newspaper devoted to your honorees and guests!

Sale now through 10/31/16. not to be combined with any other special offers.

1595 $ 1395 $

Sale now through 10/31/16. not to be combined with any other special offers.

Calvin Klein & Polo MenS UnDeRWeAR SockS LoUnGeWeAR

Fran: I’ll bet you $10 ner won’t go up. Eliyahu: Yes, it will.

Beer delivered, it won’t. Fran: OK I owe you $10, Eliyahu. debt settled!” related by Sita Eliyahu’s good humor was laughingly — all this reportHess at the bar (just seltzer! Sheesh we were just getting ing makes a person thirsty): “When Sukkot dinner in their to know the Raskins, we went for Raskin boys have a tensuccah. During these dinners, the the evening in dency to sit in different seats throughout Adam drank more order to be good hosts. As my husband in the succah) do to apt is one throughout the evening (as seats and alternately Eliyahu and Yankel kept swapping he was calling both of sitting next to him. By mid-evening too gracious far were them Eliyahu. Eliyahu and Yankel just appreciated what to contradict him (or maybe they

be). I teased Adam an excellent drinking buddy he could about it for weeks! always been so warm “Eliyahu is a lovely person. He has up our succah last year. with us. He even delivered and set We wish him and Shaindy all blessings!” to relate her memoPamela Roth took the opportunity ries over dessert.

Eliyahu had to “My son Josh remembers all the times as the Rabbi stood pick up Rabbi Raskin on his shoulders crazy faces. As for and waved his arms and Eliyahu made cheesecake assistant, me, I remember Eliyahu as my best in Shternie’s kitchen. baking cheesecakes for Shavuoth for the crust.”

He smashed the graham crackers Heights, on The couple will be residing in Brooklyn Clinton Street.

new hoiseRY line!

sale 25% OFF

sale 25% OFF

MenS & LADIeS UnDeRWeAR

Sale now through 10/31/16. not to be combined with any other special offers.

Sale now through 10/31/16. not to be combined with any other special offers.

Mfg. Sugg. Retail

Mfg. Sugg. Retail

sale %

25 OFF

laDieS & girlS

moDeSt Swimwear

new seleCTions!

Sale now through 10/31/16. not to be combined with any other special offers.

sale % OFF 25 Mfg. Sugg. Retail MenS SockS

TRIMFIT % 25 OFF Mfg. Sugg. Retail Sale now through 10/31/16. not to be combined with any other special offers.

Celia Weintrob • 516-622-7461 ext 241 • CWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com

867218

120 cedarhurst Avenue. • cedarhurst

516-295-4404

open Mon–Fri. 9:30-5:30 • Sun. 10-5

oPen laTe - Tues 9/27, wed 9/21, 9/28, 10/5 & ThuRs 9/22, 9/29, 10/6

861891

Give your guests a unique custom-designed edition of

25 THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

Teshuvah…

presents teshuvah in its objective sense, in its demonstrative sense, therefore, he writes [immediately after our law,] “How does one properly fulfill [the action] of vidui?” In his prefatory statement to Hilchot Teshuvah, however, when he defines the mitzvah, he hints at the inner experience of teshuvah … the convulsions of the soul that bring him [to the state wherein] “the sinner will return from his sin before G-d.” Then, when the teshuvah has grown to its full power, when he undertakes teshuvah [in practice,] “he will confess.” The Rambam, therefore, stresses and states that according to Halacha, “this confession is a positive command,” and it is the action (p’ulah) of teshuvah. The teshuvah, itself, however, is its fulfillment (ki’yumah) and it is an absolute necessity for vidui, for without it, there is no mitzvah of vidui. (Page 45) At this point, the Rav concludes his discussion by proving the similarity of teshuvah to many other mitzvot of the Torah: Teshuvah, in and of itself, therefore, is the fundamental mitzvah, albeit, a spiritually based mitzvah that has no physical aspect.

There are many other mitzvot that are similar in kind, such as tefillah, as we have already mentioned, and the mitzvah of “and you shall love your fellow Jew as yourself;” for this, too, is a mitzvah that is inextricably interwoven with a variety of actions, such as kindness and helping one’s fellow Jew, yet the essence of the love itself is a feeling and in the heart. (Page 45) In sum, according to Rav Soloveitchik, teshuvah, though highly subjective, is “the fundamental mitzvah” for the Rambam, rather than vidui.

Like tefillah and the commandment to love one’s fellow Jew, which also involve actions, the essence of the mitzvah of teshuvah resides in our hearts and minds.

We are on the cusp of Yom Kippur, when we will beseech the Almighty, “S’lach lanu, m’chal lanu, kappear lanu” (“Forgive us, waive our de-

Unmasking Soros and his antagonism to Israel Commentary by Armstrong Williams, JNS.org Billionaire George Soros generally does not hide the fact that he uses the considerable funds at his disposal to support his extremist, leftist ideals.

So when he does hide something, it should raise serious questions.

A series of leaked documents recently revealed that Soros’ philanthropy network, the Open Society Foundations, has been giving money to a number of anti-Israel organizations with the goal of smearing the Israeli government and undercutting its relationship with the United States.

The list of organizations is a veritable who’s who of hostile, anti-Israel actors. One of the leaked documents shows that between 2001 and 2015, Soros funneled over $9.5 million into a range of groups including Adalah, the Al-Tufula Center, the Arab Association for Human Rights, Baladna, The Galilee Society, Molad, the New Israel Fund and others.

Even worse, these documents showed that while the Soros network was systematically and methodically doling out its funds to these controversial groups, it was also working extremely hard to keep its donations and advocacy work quiet.

Can’t imagine why.

According to the private documents, which have now been published online, Soros and his network are engaging in these subversive tactics in an effort to “hold Israel accountable” for its supposed violations of international law. In truth, it seems more fitting that Soros be held accountable for his inscrutable policies. His so-called Open Society Foundations certainly don’t appear to be so open after all.

By secretly dispersing his money to influence politicians and the media, Soros hopes to drive a wedge between America and Israel without anyone noticing. This approach is wrongheaded and shameful. And it’s not new.

A similar strategy was employed by some of those same liberal groups to help the Obama Administration sell the catastrophic Iran nuclear deal. Top Obama adviser Ben Rhodes bragged openly to the media how the administration created an “echo chamber” by coordinating with front groups lined

Billionaire George Soros in Washington on April 17.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

up to praise and support the Iran deal despite its devastating drawbacks.

And here’s a piece of information that should surprise no one: one such organization that was working closely with the White House to champion the Iran deal asked the Open Society Foundations for some cash to help them spread their misinformation.

The American people on the whole were not fooled, but it ended up not mattering since Obama and his allies used parliamentary tricks to jam the Iran deal through Congress without it even receiving a vote.

Now, having played America for the fool, an emboldened Iran is growing more dangerous and menacing by the day, with no signs of slowing down its nuclear program or moderating its aggressive behavior. The deal was not negotiated for the benefit of the American people or our national security, but for Obama’s desire for a foreign policy legacy.

A similar pattern is emerging with regards to this smear

campaign against the Jewish state. By attempting to undermine the government of the only democracy in the Middle East, Soros is also undermining American national security.

It’s simple. Pro-Israel policies are pro-American policies and a strong Israel makes for a stronger America. But Soros misses that point entirely.

Unlike its undemocratic, authoritarian neighbors, Israel has a free press. It’s a bit ironic to consider this point, given that Soros is now spending an inordinate amount of time, money and effort trying to influence our own free press.

If you want to hold a government between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean accountable for violating human rights, then you certainly don’t have to look far. The leaders of the terror group Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority, that controls Palestinian areas in the West Bank, aren’t exactly known for respecting the sanctity of life or promoting democratic ideals.

The implications of exposing Soros’ dirty little secret are huge, but you wouldn’t know it from the remarkable lack of attention it has received so far in the mainstream media.

Where’s the indignation? Where are the Bernie Sanders supporters who decried use of dark money during the primaries, but are nowhere to be seen now?

Americans should be outraged. People need to wake up and counter this campaign to attack Israel. The AmericanIsrael relationship has been harmed enough by Obama’s policies. Our citizens should not allow radical billionaires to have a further detrimental effect upon this crucial alliance.

Israel is our strongest ally and closest friend. We must make that clear, and we must stand strong together. As Israel’s enemies skulk around in the dark and attempt to cloak their insidious campaigns attacking the Jewish state, those of us who love America and value our vital relationship with Israel should be proclaiming the many ways it makes us safer and declaring our ongoing support for Israel openly with pride.

Armstrong Williams, author of the book, Reawakening Virtues, can be heard on his talk show on Sirius/XM UrbanView 126.

Phony ‘Palestinian majority’ threat Columnist… stephen M. Flatow

A

group advocating Palestinian statehood recently took out a full-page ad in the New York Times to warn that there will be “a Palestinian majority” in Israel in less than a decade unless such a state is created. A reader of the ad might think he had fallen into a time warp and ended up sometime prior to the signing of the 1993 Oslo accords.

The ad, sponsored by the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, was headlined “Separation Between Israelis and Palestinians is Essential.” It featured what it called a “population breakdown from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River” — a frightening chart that showed the current Jewish population and that of projected estimates; in 2015, 52 percent Jewish; in 2020, 49 percent Jewish and in 2030, 44

percent Jewish.

Those constitute deliberate deception.

The number of people between “the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River” is not the same as the number of Israeli citizens. That territory consists of two entirely separate bodies of people: Israeli citizens and Palestinian Authority residents. Among Israeli citizens, there is an approximately 80 percent Jewish majority, and it will remain that way for a long time to come. Among the PA’s residents, there is a 100 percent Arab majority and that will not change.

Israelis vote in Israel’s elections. PA residents vote in Palestinian elections (when their dictator permits them). Israelis and Palestinians lead geographically separate lives. The cities where 98 percent of the Palestinians reside are governed by the PA, not Israel. Israelis do not venture into those cities. (When they accidentally go there, they risk being lynched.)

In short, the number of Palestinians has no effect on Israel’s demography. Even if there were, right now, twice as many Palestinians in the PA areas, Israel would still have the same 80 percent Jewish majority. ack in the 1980s, the “demographic argument” was one of the main weapons in the rhetorical arsenal of Jewish supporters of the Palestinians.

They even got then-Sec. of State George Shultz to embrace the idea that Israel faced “a demographic time bomb.” Pundits such as Thomas Friedman of The New York Times wrote innumerable articles about how Israel could not be both Jewish and democratic unless it allowed creation of a Palestinian state.

Then Yitzhak Rabin came along and turned everything on its head.

B

Commercial & Residential Licensed & Insured

855-I-KNOW-A-GUY www.iknowaguyinc.com 461 Central Ave Cedarhurst NY 11516 Lic #H04398900 • NYC Track #GC611686

851800

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

26

The Peace Now camp at first embraced Rabin’s Oslo accord because they thought it would lead to creation of a Palestinian state.

But Rabin wanted to test the Palestinians first. He wanted to make sure they were sincerely committed to peace. So, before agreeing to a state, he signed the Oslo II accord, in September 1995, which provided for Israel to withdraw from the areas where the Palestinians live.

But a Palestinian state did not follow, because, instead of embracing peace, the PA decided to sponsor terrorism against Israel, shelter terrorists from arrest, and inculcate its young people with anti-Israel and antiJewish hatred.

All of which brings us to today. The “occupation” is long over. The “separation” that the S. Daniel Abraham Center is now demanding was already implemented 21 years ago. The “demographic time bomb” was defused. Israel is still both Jewish and democratic.

Now you can see why the advocates of Palestinian statehood feel so frustrated.

They’ve run out of cogent arguments. All they can do now is try to wind the clock back to the days before Oslo, so that they can portray Israel as an occupier. That is nothing less than a callous, cynical attempt to manipulate the public. And it’s a grievous insult to the memory of Rabin.

Rabin’s separation plan tested the Palestinians. They failed the test. Now it’s time for the statehood advocates to admit this painful truth and stop living in the past.

Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.

Continued from page 22 patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.

Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

The Jewish picture of G-d is of a creator who instilled in us a personal responsibility to do the right thing, but he also provided us with the choice to accept that responsibility or not.

There is no room in Jewish law for a government that forces its interpretation of the right thing to do down our throats. There is also little room for a government that does not include religion and morality in its consideration set when making decisions.

Political conservatism matches Jewish tradition, because when it comes right down to it, conservative principals such as limited government, individual responsibility, and traditional morals are Jewish principals.

On the other hand, progressive/liberal governments take from their citizens the greatest joy of all — finding the path that will draw them closer to G-d and feeling that closeness get stronger with every mitzvah. It is the desire to achieve that joy that makes me a political conservative.

Contact Jeff Dunetz: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

867208

27

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

28

Lithuania government still won’t face its Shoah Commentary by Efraim Zuroff, JTA Residents of Vilna (Vilnius), Lithuania’s capital, had their pick of two events to mark the 75th anniversary of the Holocaust held this year on Sept. 23, their country’s official Shoah memorial day.

The choice was rather simple because of the stark differences between the ceremonies, which reflect a developing conflict between the government and some members of the country’s younger, liberal and more educated elite regarding the manner in which the Baltic country should commemorate the tragedy of its Jewish community.

The earlier ceremony, which took place at Ponar, the site of the murder of approximately 70,000 Jews from Vilna and its environs, was organized by the government and the small (3,500) local Jewish community. As might be expected, it had its share of pomp with military honor guards, fancy wreaths and numerous ambassadors in attendance.

Yet the lineup of speakers was disappointing. The president did not attend, nor did the prime minister or the foreign minister, nor even the mayor of Vilnius, who for unexplained reasons chose to take the day off.

The speakers on behalf of the government were second- or third-tier bureaucrats or veteran politicians no longer active on the political scene. Their platitudes about remembering the victims and honoring the legacy of the Holocaust rang especially hollow. After all, since independence, every Lithuanian government has made great efforts to minimize or hide the significant number and role of the local Nazi collaborators, and the fact that those Lithuanians who participated in the murder of Jews came from all strata of society — from the clergy, intelligentsia and professionals, to the hooligans and illiterate farmers. It was no accident, therefore, that Lithuania had the highest percentage of Jewish Holocaust victims per population (96.4

heroes who murdered or incited to murder Jews during the Holocaust — two additional issues that clearly reflect the government’s efforts to rewrite the history of the Shoah in Lithuania.

The size and makeup of the crowd were also indicative of the current situation. Of the 300 people attending, only the Jews present came voluntarily. The others were there either as part of their jobs or were high school students who had no choice in the matter.

This was in sharp contrast to the 80 people who came to the second ceremony, which was held at Veliucionys, also on the outskirts of Vilna, but among the most neglected of the 227 mass graves of Holocaust victims in Lithuania.

The ceremony was part of an individual initiative, launched on Facebook, titled “Cia guli Musiskiai” (“Here lie our people”), by the popular Lithuanian author Ruta Vanagaite, my co-author of the A child in Lithuania marking the 75th anniversary of recent book “Musiskiai” (“Our People”), the Holocaust at a ceremony in Veliucionys, on the which deals with Lithuanian complicity outskirts of Vilna, one of the most neglected of the in the Holocaust and the government’s efforts to hide those crimes. The project, percent), a fact that is never mentioned at launched only several weeks ago, encoursuch events. ages Lithuanians to visit Holocaust mass Perhaps just as bad, if not worse, have graves all over Lithuania, many of which are been the efforts of all Lithuanian govern- totally neglected and never visited. ments to promote the canard of equivalency Veliucionys was purposely chosen as the between Communist and Nazi crimes, made site of the ceremony, since in researching our manifest in the infamous Prague Declaration book in the summer of 2015, we had enorof June 2008, which demands parity in the mous difficulty finding the site, which was treatment of the two totalitarian regimes. incorrectly marked and virtually inaccesThe only refreshing words of wisdom sible due to the thick vegetation all around heard at Ponar came from Jewish community it. Thanks, however, to extensive coverage of chairperson, Faina Kukliansky. In her surpris- the project by Delfi, Lithuania’s leading news ingly frank speech, she called upon the gov- portal, the local authorities cut the grass and ernment to finally publish a list of local per- even put up signs to make it easier to reach petrators, whose identities have been hidden the site. for years, and to change the names of streets We had no idea who would come, and and public institutions that honor anti-Soviet whether there would be similar ceremonies

elsewhere, but the results justified the effort.

The 80 people who came to Veliucionys included some leading Lithuanian cultural and media figures, and quite a few families with young children. Together we marched the mile and a quarter from the area where the Jews were kept for several days to the mass murder site. Quite a few came with memorial candles, which lit up the area around the monument in a heartwarming manner, and many observed the Jewish tradition of placing a stone on the grave.

Ruta related the fate of the 1,159 Jewish men, women and children who were murdered there, and the identity of their killers, Lithuanian volunteer murder squads. We later learned that similar events had taken place in the Kaunas Fort IV, Zagare, Lazdijai, Naujanerai, Vilkaviskis, Katkiskes and Saukenai.

This change did not occur in a vacuum.

It was preceded by the impact made by our book, and an amazing turnout by hundreds of Lithuanians to the Aug. 29 memorial march in Moletai, inspired by an op-ed on Delfi by playwright Marius Ivaskevicius, a native of that city who also participated in Veliucionys.

The people who came to these alternative events were almost all members of the younger, more educated generation of Lithuanians who understand that hiding the truth about the Holocaust will not erase the crimes committed by Lithuanians or spare their country the embarrassment. Only by admitting and facing their past will Lithuania emerge stronger and more able to look forward to a better future. The question then becomes: When will this positive change finally be adopted by the government?

Dr. Efraim Zuroff is the chief Nazi hunter of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the director of its Israel office and Eastern European Affairs.

What modern-day resistance means: Never again Commentary by Carla Brewington, JNS Women of the Jewish Resistance during World War II helped save fellow Jews from being massacred by the Nazis. They enabled some to find a way out of Europe and find safety in Israel. They did what they could to save a few. At times, there was success but often they failed, and sometimes they were only able to save just one. In many ways, that is how we must look at it. Even if one life is saved, it’s still up to us to try.

You may be wondering what this has to do with me. The answer is that being educated about the past will help defuse the possibility of wicked things happening again. If we’re able to help just a few comprehend that there is creeping antiSemitism escalating around the world, then we must do it.

I believe that’s why speaking out and educating people is so important. We must resist the spread of propaganda by those who want to see Israel erased from the map. We must tell the truth by letting the facts take the place of fiction. Peace can be negotiated but truth cannot.

The history of Israel begins with God’s promises to Abraham. Yes, I do believe that is where it all started, with a promise. And I do believe that God keeps promises. We may break covenants, but God never does. In the last few months, there have been an increasing number of Christians, churches and organizations who have been sucked into the antiIsrael cesspool. Far too many churches are choosing to divest from Israel, and more believers are embracing replacement theology, also known as supersessionism or fulfillment theology. These people adhere to the doctrine that the church has replaced the Jews as God’s chosen people, and they are the sole inheritors of God’s purposes, including the promise to Abraham. This includes the Episcopalian Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Lutherans, the Quakers and, sadly, there are more.

Some may think that anti-Semitism ended decades ago, when the horror of the Holocaust was exposed. That’s not true. The new anti-Semitism is expressed by those who are

Jewish women resistance fighters captured by the Germans during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, 1943. history images.blogspot.com

anti-Israel. Today’s anti-Semitism masquerades behind humanitarian relief, nongovernmental organizations and socalled “reconciliation” ministries. Recently, the charity group World Vision was outed when Mohammad El Halabi, the Palestinian director of the Gaza branch, was found to be directing millions of U.S. dollars to the terror group Hamas.

There will undoubtedly be more ministries outed for their hypocrisy in the future. I’ve read books on the Holocaust. I’ve learned about the stories of those who managed to survive the ghettos, labor camps, death camps and the ovens. I’ve also learned about some of the people who did not survive.

Six million Jews, 1 million of whom were children.

I’ve been studying the horror of what evil can lead to. I keep saying there are no words, there are only tears. But if that’s all we can offer, then we fail those who have perished,

and we fail those who survived the atrocities. I have friends that are children of Holocaust survivors, and I cannot look them in the face with only my tears. We must put effort to our grief. For some of us, it means writing articles and blogs and books. Writing to those who will listen and also to those who may never understand, but we must write anyway.

For some of us, it means standing up to speak. We speak to those who may never comprehend, but we speak anyway. We teach and educate because we know that is the road to peace.

To communicate, in whatever form, is to help dismantle the lies.

As women of the Jewish Resistance stood together to rescue those who could not fight back against their oppressors, so we must resist the propaganda thrown at us by the boycott movement against Israel, more commonly known as “BDS” which stands for boycott, divestment and sanctions and other such anti-Israel, anti-Semitic propaganda campaigns. Instead of boycott, divest and sanction, let us do our own form of BDS: Buy, Develop and Stand with Israel and the Jewish people.

Resistance does not always mean being armed with guns; it means being armed with knowledge and truth, not misinformation and lies. “Collective resistance” through education is a battle worth fighting.

We must shake off all complicity and compromise and not make the same mistake that neighbors and “friends” of the Jews made during and after the Holocaust. Europeans stood idly by and said they didn’t know what was going on, and they never saw or heard anything about the mass torture and murder of Jews. But the bystanders were actually colluding with the enemy by being silent. Silence is never an option.

Even decades later, mindless capitulation is dangerous. “Never again” must not be an empty phrase for those who care about justice.

Carla Brewington, who earned her doctorate at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA, is a Christian volunteer speaker for the pro-Israel education organization StandWithUs.

THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 858733

29

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

30

African Israeli denies Falash Mura racism claim “We are committed to helping ensure that the State of Israel welcomes Jews of all colors.”

“We say, we have black lives that matter in Africa.”

“In America, race has been a central area of Jewish concern historically.” hese are all statements that have been made in the course of a well-orchestrated public relations campaign to hasten the implementation of an Israeli government decision, reached in 2105, allowing the immigration of a number of Ethiopian citizens.

These Ethiopians claim Jewish lineage as Falash Mura, descendants of converts to Christianity, and family ties to Ethiopian Jews.

While the Israeli Cabinet decided that members of the community be brought to Israel, and this week sent a senior official to Ethiopia to begin implementing that decision, advocates for the community protest that the process has been delayed.

As the statements cited above clearly show, the campaign has become steeped in the language of the struggle against racism.

The dog-whistle message of this language is unmistakable: “Israel is delaying the implementation of this decision because the people in question are black. Had they been white, they would have long been living in Israel.”

In an op-ed for JTA, and in remarks to journalists and community leaders, one of the leaders of the campaign, Dr. David Elcott, left the unequivocal impression that the question is one of racial discrimination.

I met with Dr. Elcott, who presented his initiative as an heir to the civil rights movement. I was consumed with anger, literally unable to sleep for several days. I was surprised by the intensity of my emotional reaction. After all, having represented Israel in diplomatic missions across the world for over 10 years, I had already become accustomed to hearing many such calumnies against the Jewish state.

So why was I so enraged by this one?

It eventually dawned on me that I was outraged not as an Israeli but as an African. My own father came to Israel from Africa with the Ghana Embassy in 1965, at the height of the “love affair” being rekindled today between the Jewish state and the African continent. On the eve of the Six-Day War of 1967, my father threw in his lot with the embattled Jewish nation and was subsequently witness to its miraculous salvation. He went on to convert to Judaism, join the Israeli army and make Israel his one and only home. lways having been proud of my African heritage and lineage, I was incensed by the assumption implicit in the racial tenor of this campaign: “If it involves Africans, it’s probably about race. Race is, after all, the essential, defining property of Africans, isn’t it?”

The racial framing of their supporters’ campaign is not only in language but in argument. Advocates have claimed that Israel is applying a standard to black Africans that it did not apply to Europeans who were welcomed as olim even when questions arose about their Jewish lineage. This is simply and factually false. The one and only criterion for making aliyah, which in Israel is a

I

T

A

New Jewish immigrant children at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport after arriving on a flight from Ethiopia on Oct. 29, 2012. Uriel Sinai/Getty Images

legally binding term, is the Law of Return. It speaks not of being a Jew according to halacha but of having been born to a Jewish grandparent. The law has always applied and will always apply equally and unwaveringly to any human being — of any race and of any persuasion.

The fact that the government of Israel has had to make, and is in the process of implementing, a special ad hoc humanitarian decision to facilitate the immigration of these communities in the first place is precisely because the Africans were found not to meet the criteria for aliyah set out in the Law of Return. Nonetheless, in view of the hardships they face and on account of family ties to Jews in Israel, the Israeli government unanimously decided to facilitate the naturalization of people from these communities and even grant them full benefits as olim.

This demonstrates that Israel is not less sensitive to the community in Ethiopia, but in fact more sensitive to their plight than to that of any other such group in the world. Once this fact is obfuscated, the spotlight turns naturally and unjustly to the question of race.

Moreover, in the public debate in Israel over the Falash Mura and their relations, the staunchest voices against their immigration were often those of Ethiopian Jews. They complained that Ethiopian Christians, who had come to Israel by claiming Jewish lineage, had no intention of identifying as Jews and were even continuing to use the same anti-Semitic slurs against the Ethiopian Jews — “Falasha” and “Buda’” — as they had done in Ethiopia. Some even reported attempts by such groups to convert Ethiopian Jews to Christianity.

t is to the great credit of the Israeli government that it decided to allow immigration from Gondar and Addis despite the accusations. The objections of Ethiopian Israelis belie the notion that the question at hand is one of white versus black.

To continue portraying the issue as one of race is symptomatic of a difficulty to see Africans outside the prism of skin color.

In the year-and-a-half since I came to the United States, for every day of which I am truly grateful, I have encountered this attitude on numerous occasions, an experience not always pleasant. At so many dinner tables, speaking engagements and social gatherings, I have been met with incredulous stares and blinking eyes.

For some in the U.S., there is something inherently puzzling about an African Jew discussing, say, Middle Eastern geopolitics and not making reference to race relations. Again, it is assumed, if there is an African involved, it must somehow relate to race.

To be clear, I am not ascribing this attitude to straightforward racism. More often than not, the positions articulated toward me qua “racial issues” are supportive and sympathetic. But that does not make any less alienating the perception that everything I do, everything I am involved in and everything that concerns me must somehow be in the context of race. he desire of American Jews to see the implementation of a humane and compassionate decision by the government of Israel is a noble one. Their campaign is welcome and praiseworthy. Jews in America are and must always see themselves as stakeholders in the Jewish state and as rightful partners in its decision-making process. This government decision, as well as others, must certainly be followed through with effective and determined action. The 50 rabbis and community leaders who initially attached their names to a petition on the Ethiopians’ behalf, several of whom I know and cherish, were expressing the best of the ethical legacy of Judaism. This campaign could be a true blessing to the community and to the State of Israel.

But wrongly invoking racial conflict, misappropriating the language of the the struggle for racial justice in America and insinuating that the decisions of the Israeli government are informed by racism are harmful, hurtful and unjust.

Propagating the perception that Israel is on the wrong side of the fight against racism introduces a toxin into the relations between American and Israeli Jews — a toxin that will take years to expunge. Who can expect young American Jews to want anything to do with Israel if they are systematically led to believe it is racist?

Moreover, such language threatens to taint and discredit a cause that could otherwise be a beautiful example of the sincere and caring conversation within the Jewish people.

The Israeli government will continue to act to assist in the resettlement of remnants of the Falash Mura community with family ties to Israel. The campaign supporting it must continue as well. But for the sake of all of us, let us not make this a question of race.

Shimon Mercer-Wood is spokesman and consul for media affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in New York.

T

Would-be veeps clash over Iran nuclear deal…

Continued from page 1 ing the architecture for international sanctions.

The threat of not being able to do business with the United States was the stick used to bring in more reluctant partners. The carrot? U.S. willingness to moderate sanctions once the international community was on board.

After the international sanctions were in place, their goal became more fluid and subject to the back and forth of diplomacy, and less susceptible to the harder line adopted by the Congress.

Clinton’s accomplishment was bringing into the sanctions regime major trading partners like India, China and Russia, which made the sanctions biting. Including those nations, however, also guaranteed that the international sanctions regime would never hew to the restrictions that Congress had in place.

The international community as a collective was not ready for the absolute shutdown of uranium enrichment that Pence and others in Congress had sought and still seek. The more reluctant countries were ready to suspend trade with a major oil supplier for only a limited period. Other countries, including European partners, said that demanding a complete shutdown violated the letter of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty — Iran is a signatory — which allows a civilian nuclear program.

Iran insists that its nuclear program was never about weapons. Western powers, particularly the United States, Israel and France, are skeptical in the extreme, saying that while weaponization may not have been achieved, the level and breadth of uranium enrichment underway before the nuclear deal, and Iran’s investment in delivery systems identified with nuclear attacks, strongly suggest that the program’s ultimate goal was weapons.

The deal applies what its proponents describe as a strict inspections regime that would keep Iranian enrichment to levels that cannot be weaponized for eight years. [Editor’s note: Critics insist that the inspections regime is not strenuous enough.] Those limits are lessened for another seven years, which is when — after 15 years in all — relatively unfettered access for international nuclear inspectors ends.

“You essentially guaranteed that Iran will someday become a nuclear power because there’s no limitations once the period of time of the treaty comes off,” Pence said in the debate.

That’s not entirely true. After the 15-year period, Iran is committed to complying with the “additional protocol” to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, which allows inspectors to return on short notice. A credible finding by a Western nation’s intelligence service, or

by the International Atomic Energy Agency, could trigger such a return.

That provision underlies Kaine’s claim that the weapons program “has been stopped” — although, as The Times of Israel has pointed out, his running mate Clinton opts for less absolute language. Twice — at the AIPAC’s annual conference in March, and at the Democratic National Convention in July — Clinton said the deal “put a lid on” Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Does Israel believe the deal stopped Iran from going nuclear?

Kaine, making this claim, at first cited Israel’s military, and then specified a name: Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, the military chief of staff.

Here’s how Kaine put it: “Even the Israeli military says it stopped.”

And then: “That’s what the Israeli joint chiefs of staff is saying right now. Gadi Eizenkot, you can go check it.”

It’s true that Eizenkot and others have said the deal is keeping Iran’s suspected weapons program stalled, but what’s missing from Kaine’s claim is the implied “for now” in statements

by Israeli security brass, past and present.

Here’s Eizenkot, speaking in January, after the deal’s implementation was launched: “The deal has actually removed the most serious danger to Israel’s existence for the foreseeable future, and greatly reduced the threat

over the longer term.” And here’s Amos Yadlin, the former military intelligence chief: “For at least the next 10 years, the threat of nuclear armament in Iran has been reduced.”

Pence countered, “That’s not what Israel thinks,” and then cited Prime Minister Netanyahu, who continues to believe the plan is a bad one. But Pence’s argument sets up a bit of a straw man: Both of Kaine’s citations are of Israel’s military, not its political leadership.

Obama, in citing Israelis in defending the deal, has not gone so far as to say that Israel’s political establishment likes it; he says that the security establishment agrees that it is working according to plan.

“It’s the assessment of the Israeli military and intelligence community — the country that was most opposed to this deal — that acknowledges this has been a game-changer, and that Iran has abided by the deal, and that they no longer have the sort of short-term breakout capacity that would allow them to develop nuclear weapons,” the president said in August.

That comports with Eizenkot’s assessment in January: “Without a doubt the nuclear deal between Iran and the West is a historic turning point. It is a big change in terms of the direction that Iran was headed, and in the way that we saw things.”

DE OCADLI T. NE 21

$500

a freshly cooked word: ameriteranean

SHOPPING SPREES FROM Launching

Adj. fusing Mediterranean flavor with couture American cuisine.

our new menu

OR WIN ONE OF FOUR

$100 OR

GIFT CERTIFICATES TO

come

Win 2 Tickets To Or A Set Of 4 Tickets To

128 Cedarhurst Ave, Cedarhurst, NY 11516 • (516) 295-1800 • 11:00 am – 10:30 pm

in

“

INGENIOUS BUBBLE WIZARDRY.”

TELL US HOW WE CAN MAKE THE JEWISH STAR EVEN BETTER! -THE NEW YORKER

Answer our reader survey and enter online at TheJewishStar.com/contest.html Telecharge.com or 212.239.6200

For groups or birthdays call 866.642.9849

New World Stages 340 W 50th St

866769

GazillionBubbleShow.com

THE JEWISH STAR October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777

WIN ONE OF FOUR

31

Plaza Auto PAL Leasing

BS”D

CALL 718-975-9000 2750 Nostrand Ave Corner of Ave N Brooklyn NY 11210

WE SELL, LEASE & FINANCE

ALL MAKES AND MODELS

www.PlazaAutoLeasing.com

AS EASY AS PALS!

IN

MINUTES

YOU CAN BE ALL SET! • BEST PRICES Y R O T N E V N I E G U H • Y R E V I L E D K C I U •Q 9:41 AM

10 0%

S • EASY APPROVAL • DOOR TO DOOR SERVICE

CALL 718-975-9000

TO SAVE ON YOUR NEXT

LEASE OR PURCHASE OF A NEW OR USED CAR!

Try it and see why over 20,000 people have gotten their cars from Plaza Auto Leasing!

ARE YOU A PAL YET?

856448

October 7, 2016 • 5 Tishrei 5777 THE JEWISH STAR

32

GET MORE GREAT DEALS AT WWW.PLAZAAUTOLEASING.COM

DCA #1312589 DMV #7084665